Zone Ordinance I by NotLion

This is the Preface to Zone Ordinance I.  Some of the stuff in the earlier
part of the Preface alludes to another JQ fic of mine called "Wherever You
Go," which hasn't been finished yet.  It ends where Lyan Zeta and Jonny
Quest trap the demon Elise in a 'Green' Orb and hide her on Qatus, where
no one can find her.  They think. 


 * Selection: Jonny Quest, Voltron, Star Trek: TNG and Semi-Real-Life. 
 * Series: "Zone Ordinance" 
 * Title: "The Search for Hadji" 
 * Author: [email protected]
 * Rating: PG (Vulgarity) 
 * Categories: ALT, X, H, E
 * Warnings: Vulgarity, and not much JQ in this chapter. 
 * Archivers: No.  Except Suze.... 
 * Disclaimer: World Events Productions owns Sven, unfortunately. 
Paramount Pictures own respective ST:TNG characters.  Hanna Barbera owns
respective JQ:TRA characters.  All dialogue is original and property of
me. 


INTRODUCTION: The Addition


	The barrage of torrential rain that threatened to flood Central
Florida was centered around a certain neighborhood, where a certain girl
sat at her desktop computer, trying desperately to keep the computer's
sounds to a minimum.  Not only was it past her computer curfew, but it was
a rather obstreperous thunderstorm outside... to use a computer during
that sort of weather was strictly forbidden. 
	But heck, that's what surge protectors were for, right? 
	Indeed, this was no ordinary computer nerd, but in fact a teenage
girl whom you might know named Lyan Dymphna Zeta.  Rather plain and
ordinary, with a high girlish voice that completely went against her inner
butch nature; and her sentient, tangled, chocolate, wavy hair hanging to
her shoulders.  For reasons unknown to her person, she'd been gifted with
stellar transportation powers usually only possessed by the Divine
Rite.... that is, various Gods of monotheist and polytheist religions, and
other lesser deities. 
	That is, Lyan Dymphna Zeta had the power to bend the fabric of
'time' as we know it and twist it around in odd proportions so as to pass
between dimensions, and travel through them at any given time to any given
place.  And, unless required of her, she never liked to use those powers. 
	She much preferred being a second generation Trekkie and a cynical
computer nerd, in the safe confines of her small den.  All that excitement
from controlling the universe and whatnot was apt to result in an early
death by heart attack. 
	But right now, all of that didn't matter, and she was just an
ordinary, obsessive teenage girl, trying to get the most excellent screen
captures as was possible from her plethora of taped Star Trek episodes....
only late 1980's and early 1990's 'Next Generation' of course.  She wasn't
quite sure what she would do with them, just about everything you could
say about Star Trek TNG was already said on the millions of other
fanpages, but it was nice to have some pictures anyway. 
	The absolute perfect scene was arriving.  Jean-Luc Picard was
about to get plastered by a snowball from the holodeck.  Just a few more
seconds.... her thin, toned finger hovered above the silent button on the
mouse, ready to click the capture button.... 
	....And a loud knocking sound occured right at that moment,
breaking her concentration.  The pointer of her mouse missed the capture
button entirely, and the scene finished mere seconds later.  She howled in
agony and dropped her head on the desk, having missed the same scene
numerous times. 
	Seeing as how it was late at night and her parents were probably
sleeping, or at least trying to do so, given the weather conditions, Lyan
grudgingly got up and went to the door.  Peering through the small
spy-hole in the door would've been pointless because of the thick
smattering of rain, so she simply opened the door and hoped for the best. 
	Her face paled as she recognized her night visitors, and she
almost passed out on the floor.  "LORDY," she hissed, dragging the two
trenchcoat adorned men into her den, "Could you all have maybe picked a
better time to drop by?  It's raining, my parents are sleeping, and I'm
TRYING to watch Star Trek!" 
	A flaxen-haired boy of about sixteen removed his sopping gray
fedora and tossed it on the couch.  He hung his matching trenchcoat in the
closet, bringing his stonewashed, pale blue jeans into full view, along
with his worn black t-shirt.  He shook the wetness out of his sneakers and
the droplets off of his umbrella.  "Nice to see you too, Leo." 
	"Don't call me Leo," she warned, her golden eyes keeping back her
temper.  "And just what is your business here, Jon-boy?" 
	Jonathan Tobias Quest scowled and plopped down on the couch next
to his hat.  "Business is the word, alright, this isn't a social call. 
Tell 'er, Sven." 
	The other visitor, who was even now stripping off his wet
overcoat, grunted in protest.  Oral explanations were not his favorite
things to do, especially since the near-fatal accident with some heavy
machinery several years ago that had tuned his voice up a few octaves, and
the rather annoying sing-song accent that seemed a permanent part of his
character.  Sven glared at Jonny like a tiger who was getting mortally
irked by the young child poking him with a stick through his cage. 
	"Fine," Jonny said finally, rolling his eyes and groaning in mock
disappointment, "We've got bad trouble.  It looks like the witch Hagar
from the Denubian Galaxy in Eraway somehow got to Qatus and freed Elise
from the 'Green' Orb.  Then, she and the demon got back to Eraway and
kidnapped Hadji."  Jonny snapped.  "Just like that, out of the Maine
Compound." 
	Sven nodded.  "Ve used all uf de trecking ekvipment yeux left us,
end deduced det none uf de tree are still in Eravey." 
	"Oh goody."  Lyan probed the side of her forehead in exhasperation
and sat down in the chair that faced her computer.  "Hagar was able to
free Elise from the Orb that we left on Qatus?" 
	"I SAW Elise, Leo," Jonny stressed, his deep blue eyes sparkling
with intensity.  "She was in MY HOUSE.  She went into HADJI'S ROOM.  Hagar
was with her.  I went in to stop them, and poof," he snapped again, "The
three were gone in a flash of glittery light." 
	"So...... we have to get Hadji back, of course, and put Elise back
where she belongs.  But can we do it, just the three of us?"  Lyan looked
at her two comrades, and Sven shrugged his broad shoulders. 
	"You know, I've been thinking about that," Jonny mused, stroking
the imaginary hair on his chin.  "I mean, our circle isn't quite complete. 
We've got an Orbital Controller who can get us places," he nodded at Lyan. 
"We've got a burly Viking who handles all of the physical needs of the
team," he gestured at Sven. 
	"And then we have me," Jonny continued, "The one with the
experience with most of the villains we encounter and the morbid link to
the Underworld.  What we NEED," he paused for emphasis.  "Is a brain.  A
prodigy.  Someone with some actual mental capacity." 
	The three of them digested that thought for a minute, and while
she was thinking, Lyan's vision lazily drifted toward the still-running
television screen.  The bridge of the Enterprise-D.  A young teenage
ensign at the conn..... 
	....and then it hit her. 
	Lyan stood up and walked to the bookshelf in the far corner of the
room, where she drew out a thick silver-covered book, an index of basic
trivia that the Orbital Controller should always know.  It had been a
parting gift from one of the seraphim.  She found what she was looking
for, and tucked the book under her arm. 
	"Vhat ded yeux geht?" Sven asked, as Lyan walked to the centre of
the room and stirred up some air with her right index finger. 
	Gradually, the air she was stirring began to take substance, and
sparkling particles of solid matter began to swirl in midair around her
finger.  She placed her left palm under the swirling glitter, as if in
case some of it were to fall.  More and more particles appeared until they
formed a complete sphere, a hollow one that was transparent like a bubble. 
	Lyan placed her right palm over the sphere, and brought her two
hands further apart from each other, making the sphere grow larger.  She
kept on this way until it was at least seven feet in diameter, and there
was a 'sound' of shimmering light as she removed her hands from it. 
	An Orb.  Of glowing pink. 
	She gestured with a tilt of her head, and easily stepped inside
the Orb.  Once inside, the Orb was solid.  From the outside, it was
aqueous.  Her two comrades followed her, leaving their trenchcoats and
umbrellas and whatnot still in her den.  "Where are we going?" Jonny
inquired. 
	"Andelpe," she answered, "Universe A.  We're going to pick up our
prodigy before we go after Hadji."  Jonny blinked at the prospect and
decided to keep quiet.  Lyan's small tabby cat walked in at that moment,
and cocked her tail questioningly at the entity. 
	"Bye Cindy," Lyan cooed, and the Orb vanished in a poof of
sparkling glitter. 
	Cindy meowed in inquiry.  Her grassy green eyes searched about the
room for a moment, and she stretched out to her full length on the carpet
to watch the television, which was still running Star Trek episodes. 
Onscreen, a bright young ensign at the Enterprise's conn was offering an
explanation for some anomaly or another. 
       Little did the cat, or anyone else, know what the young man's fate
would soon deal him. 
    
----
            
	A golden-skinned android sat patiently at the Enterprise's ops
station, making the usual diagnostic check on the ship's functionality and
the area around the ship itself.  Data was its (his?) name, and he was
fully functional. 
      "Everything appears to be in order, Captain," the android replied. 
He was not simply an android, he was an android who had successfully
attained the rank of Lieutenant Commander, and he would not hesitate to
tell you that it took years of service at Starfleet Academy in San
Francisco and a few more years of service as an ensign on various
assignments to earn that title. 
      The Enterprise had it's share of ensigns as well.  There were many
young adults roaming about the ship busy about their tasks, most in their
twenties or thirties.  One such ensign was an engineering student, and was
busying himself at another diagnostic board to the rear of the bridge. 
There were a few more on the bridge also, either conversting with one
officer or another or hovering around ops or the conn to claim it when
their shift arrived. 
      Ops was occupied.  The conn, or helm, was occupied.  Ops by the
aforementioned android, ageless for eternity, and constantly inquisitive. 
The helm was currently manned by an eager young ensign, and young is
intended to mean late teens, who never seemed to be willing to give up the
conn to someone older, or anyone, for that matter. 
      The captain of this fine vessel, Jean-Luc Picard, knew almost as
well as anyone that the helmsman wouldn't relinquish duty any time soon. 
That being the case, he decided that he might as well give the poor boy
something to do.
      "Mister Crusher," he began, pausing to gather his thoughts, "Set
course for the Lylatian system, Warp 5." 
      "Aye sir," Ensign Wesley Crusher replied, and merrily clacked in the
desired coordinates. 
      "Engage."  A tap of screen and the Enterprise was off, shooting in
some direction at Warp 5.  The warp nacelles, strategically placed on the
ship, sliced through the fabric of time and cut through, speeding through
reality as we know it. 
      "And now," Picard began, "With that done, I --" 
      "Sir!" 
      Picard blinked.  He wasn't used to being interrupted.  "Yes, Data?" 
      Data punched in a few sequences on the ops screen.  "Something is
entering Warp Space with us, sir." 
      "So?" 
      "It appears to be following us." 
      "At what speed?" 
      Data typed in a few more commands.  "Unknown." 
      Picard grunted inwardly.  "What do you mean unknown?!" 
      "What I mean sir, is that our equipment can't get any readings from
the..... the entity..... such as speed, or size, or shape..... only that
it is there, and that it is heading in the same direction that we are." 
      "Wondrous," Picard grunted.  "Mister Worf, open --" 
      "Already done, sir," Worf replied, in a curt Klingon fashion.  He
shook his chocolate-skinned head and typed in a few commands.  "I have
opened the hailing frequences, and have discovered something unnerving. 
They have no means of communication." 
      "WHAT?!  What sort of ship is that?!"  Picard sighed and rubbed his
bald head in frustration.  "Mister Crusher, slow to impulse speed.  I want
to get a good look at this thing." 
      "Aye sir." 
      Data was preoccupied with his position at ops, Worf with his at the
communications station, all other ensigns were trying to ignore the
situation by keeping intent with their tasks, and Jean-Luc Picard had his
head in his hands, as though thinking, or distraught.  Only Wesley Crusher
was looking to the front of the bridge, out to the vast expanse of space,
marred by a glowing object....that which had also slowed and dropped out
of Warp Space. 
      "It's not a ship at all, sir...." Wes mumbled, his face growing
paler by the second.  "It's a..... a...... a pink orb?" 
      Picard raised his head to the viewscreen and his jaw hung slack. 
Never in his decades of service to the Federation had he ever seen
anything like this.  It was just a pink sphere, hovering in space, and it
seemed to have occupants.  Three people inside the thing, just standing
there. 
      And they were..... waving? 
          
----
    
	"I think we found the Enterprise," Lyan whispered with an aura of
confidence, and kept waving enthusiastically. 
	"I remember!" Jonny gasped, and dropped his hand.  "I was stranded
on that thing with the rest of my family, and --" 
	"I wrote that story." 
	"Will you stop saying that?!"  Jonny glared at Lyan.  "It's rather
disheartening!" 
	"It's as I told you before," she explained methodically, in a
lecturing tone.  "In each of the twenty-six Universes there is an exact
physical carbon copy of everyone.  They may have different names and
lives, they may not.  You," and as she spoke, she opened the
silver-covered index, "You come from Eraway, like Sven.  Over there, it's
the year 2039.  Your copy in Ricci, my universe, appears in the form of a
cartoon character.  As does everyone in Eraway --" 
	"That's great," Jonny interrupted, "I've heard that before." 
	"You still seem to need reminding." 
	"I promise to be more careful." 
	Sven was silent, arms folded, looking out through the pink tint of
the Orb to the monstrocity that was the Enterprise 1701-D.  It was a huge
exploration vessel, designed to Boldy Go Where No One Has Gone Before. 
The ship itself was a testament to all that man could accomplish in this,
the twenty-fourth century, 2366 to be exact.  Enormous and Galaxy-class,
it could achieve the highest Warp speeds as were possible, as evident by
the massive Warp nacelles stationed on various places of the ship's
exterior. 
	Just to the left of this poetic thought, Lyan and Jonny were still
talking in debating tones. 
	"I'm curious though," Jonny finally asked, after a long pause. 
"If you say everyone has a copy in every universe, then how is it that I
exist in Eraway in 2039, and I exist in your Ricci in 1998?" 
	"At the same time," Lyan explained, "Refers to not time itself,
but at the same instance spanning all of the universes." 
	"Okay, I think I get it...."  Jonny rubbed the side of his face in
thought.  "If that's so, who's Wesley's duplicate in Ricci?" 
	"A guy named Richard William Wheaton.  He's an actor." 
	"Ah." 
	Sven inclined his head, still looking at the ship.  "Shall ve
board now?" 
	"I guess..." Lyan shrugged, and the Pink Orb disappeared from
outer space. 

----

	It reappeared on the bridge of the Enterprise. 
	With perfect charisma, Captain Picard rose from his chair and
straightened out his uniform.  "This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS
Enterprise.  Please --" 
	"Skip it," Lyan interrupted, putting up her hand.  "I know who you
are and I know what your ship is, and I know what I'm looking for."  She
stepped out of the Orb, followed by Sven and Jonny, and the pink glowing
thing stayed stationary, floating patiently in midair. 
	"Then what is it you're looking for?!" asked a built man around
mid-thirties, the First Officer of the Enterprise, Commander Will Riker. 
	At this point, everyone in the room was focused on the three
intruders.  The working ensigns stood still, along with Worf, who was
growling inwardly.  Up at the front of the bridge, Data at Ops and Wesley
at Conn had turned their chairs around and were also looking at the
scuffle. 
	Lyan turned around and smiled daintily at Wesley, who sank deeper
into his chair.  She flicked her head back and looked at the captain,
whose head was inclined slightly in wonder.  He nodded at Wesley while
watching Lyan, "You want our helmsman?" 
	"Yes." 
	Picard paused.  "Why?" 
	Lyan strode around the bridge with an air of superiority.  "We
don't want him because he's your helmsman.  We want him because he's a
prodigy.... someone who can comprehend things others can't.  Someone with
problem solving skills --" 
	"I can't simply surrender him to you," Picard replied firmly,
standing straighter in front of the girl, who was taller than he was. 
"I'll have to know where he's going, why he's going there, who he's going
with --" 
	"Sir, shouldn't this be MY decision?" Wes interrupted, his
eyebrows raising in slight disbelief. 
	"Shut up, Wesley," Picard snapped, and turned back to Lyan.  "What
is your purpose?" 
	"We," she gestured, indicating herself, Jonny, and Sven.  "We are
the Zone Ordinance.  You may not know it yet, but there ARE multiple
dimensions.  Parallel universes.  And our job is to keep them all in order
and keep people from disrupting the timeline and changing things...."  She
sighed and shook her head.  "We need an addition to our team." 
	Picard tilted his head back and digested the statement.  "Well,
I'm sure it's an honor for our young ensign, but I'm afraid --" 
	"I want to go." 
	The captain glanced at the conn and saw Wesley, usually as timid
as anything, sticking his chin out in slight determination. 
"......what?!" 
	Wesley repeated himself, saying it slowly and nodding his head for
emphasis after every word, "I.. want.. to.. go." 
	Picard shook his head in disbelief.  "I don't believe this.  It
usually requires threats and torture to get you away from the conn, now
you want to leave the Enterprise entirely?" 
	"With all due respect sir, you HAVE been trying to get rid of me." 
	Riker chuckled under his breath.  "This is true..."  He
immediately put on a stony face after a death-inducing glare from Picard. 
	"The Traveller did say he was destined for greater things....."
Picard mumbled, looking at the ground.  He raised his head and sighed. 
"Make it so." 
	Wesley beamed in triumph and stood up.  "When do we leave?" 
	Lyan shrugged.  "Now, if you like." 
	"I guess it's better without long goodbyes....." 
	Lyan smiled and gestured to the Orb.  "This is our way out.  Dare
you?" 
	Wes's brows knit in thought as he approached the orb, reaching out
to it and stretching his fingers through the liquid exterior.  "Is it
safe?" 
	"This kind is," Jonny grunted, and stepped into the pink mass. 
Sven and Lyan followed, the latter extending her hand outside of it and to
Wesley. 
	"Are you game?" she asked. 
	He paused for one last glance around the bridge, handed his comm
pin to the captain, and took Lyan's hand and stepped into the Orb.  It
shimmered out of existence instantaneously. 
	As one, the bridge crew released a strong breath. 
	"I thought we'd never be rid of him..." Riker mumbled, as five
ensigns grappled and fought each other for the conn.  Other crew members
said similar things. 
	Data turned around in his chair and addressed the First Officer,
"I do not understand the feelings of hostility towards Wesley.  He's a
very bright young man." 
	"That's the problem, Data.  He makes the rest of us look bad." 
	Data digested that for a minute, indicated with a nod of his head,
and said, "Ah," before facing his station. 
	Promptly, Doctor Beverly Crusher entered the bridge from Turbolift
A and approached the captain.  "Captain, I think I've found a --"  She
paused and looked around the bridge, noticing everyone's apparent good
humor.  "What's going on?" 
	Picard beamed widely, "Doctor, the most wonderful thing has -- I
mean," and he changed his expression, remembering exactly whose mother
this was, "It's a sad day for the Enterprise..." 

----

Comments?  I promise there's more JQ stuff later..... thanks Lightning for
suggesting I post this. ^_^ Please reply to [email protected].... NOT my Hotmail
account, please! 


          ~Lion (Get it? Lyan? Lion? Ha!)