The Rise of Iconia

Chapter 7

A/n: Same thing as always. We don't own the original stories. Please review!

Chapter 7

Enterprise-D had performed beautifully with the ZPMs connected to her power supplies. They were not the super variety, but there were three of them, just like in the pre SZPM power room of Atlantis. The three ZPMs were designed to act as one. A single ZPM had a power output approaching that of a D's warp core. The big difference was that a ZPM could yield all of that power at once without exploding. The three modules now in her engine room were not capable of yielding three times the power at once. Instead, they would yield the same amount of power for three times the duration. Granted that was not a very long time - something measured in microseconds, but the explosion of power would be like transferring a warp core overload through the power couplings of D.

After D, Yomato received a set of ZPMs, then the remaining Federation vessels. Many of Starfleet's command staff thought it unnecessary to install such a power supply in A, but Captain Scott secretly spoke to the twins, and they developed a conversion unit specifically designed for the aging ship. As they were installing the unit the Iconian Scott held up a small module for the engineer's inspection. "This wee part... it'll give the ol' lass a second wind."

Captain Scott eyed the small piece of equipment. "Aye? And what is it?"

The twin smiled. "That's the question, now isn't it, Lad? Ye install that in line between the power modules and the conversion unit, and if it sees that ye have dropped in a set of Super ZPMs, it'll switch the system over ta' runnin' them." He turned to Commander LaForge, who was assisting while D was picking up some cargo containers. "Here's one for D, too, Lad," he said, holding out a similar piece.

LaForge eyed the piece of equipment. "Scotty," he said, "I watched Janus install something identical to this when we were finishing the install on D."

"Did he now?" Scotty replied with a chuckle. "I'm not surprised. We both worked on this design together."

It was not the idea of the Iconian council to install SZPMs aboard the Federation vessels, but Scotty, Geordie, and Janus knew that at some point they may be needed, so building the power converter unit to automatically detect whichever module it contained seemed like a smart idea.

"Not that I'm looking a gift horse in the mouth, Scotty, but how would we get our hands on a set of super ZPMs?" LaForge asked.

"I just happen to have what you need to turn your standard modules into super ones." He picked up a small case that he had brought with him. Inside, it contained eight pale orange crystals. "Three and a spare for each o' ye," Scotty said, smiling. He tapped a control on top of one of the ZPM slots, and the module slid up into view. Inside it, could clearly be seen a green crystal. "To make the switch, ye slide that wee green one out, and slide this orange one into it's place. This is the inhibitor crystal. Take care that ye don' deplete the modules all the way, though, otherwise they won't work as a super module."

"Aye, I understand," Captain Scott said. "If ye deplete it, there's no good crystal left to carry the load!"

"Aye, Lad," Scotty confirmed. "Stop drainin' 'em at around ten percent, otherwise they'll do ye no good."

Nine Years After the Iconians Arrived...

Picard was sitting in his ready room, sipping a cup of Earl Grey when he received an 'eyes only' communique from Starfleet. He entered his cypher into his desktop terminal and his worst fears were confirmed as he looked at the screen. He slowly set down the cup of tea and thumbed his alert switch for the command crew. His ears registered the alert by the computer for Martok, Worf, and Riker to come to his ready room, but he didn't really hear it. The door chime sounded twice before he absently said, "Come."