Sickbay, Romulan Warbird Kazara.

"Quick's stable," Bluegrass told Wilykat, "but that's the extent to which the Romulans' technology can help.  Will's been cured all up, as he had only minor injuries."

            "Okay," said Wilykat.  He tapped his communicator.  "Ready, MegaMan?"

            "We're ready, Wilykat," replied MegaMan's voice.  Wilykat took a recording device from his belt and examined something.

            "Good," said Wilykat.  "Ready to transport."  He turned to Torreth, who nodded.  He tapped his communicator.  "N-Team Transporter, execute transporter sequence Silver-3."  Bluegrass, Quicksilver, and Steelwill were beamed to the Palace of Power Hospital.

            "Transport plan successful, Wilykat," said MegaMan.

            "Thank you, MegaMan," said Wilykat.  "Wilykat out."  He tapped his communicator again.  "The transport went as planned, Steelheart."

            Steelheart's voice replied, "Good, Wilykat.  Steelheart out."  Wilykat's communicator beeped.

            "Now," said Wilykat, "we're going to do the other transport sequence as soon as you're ready, Commander Torreth."

            "Yes," said Torreth.  "I'll call my senior officers together so that we may become ready for transport."

            "Very well," said Wilykat.

            "In the meantime, you may wait on the Bridge if you wish," said Torreth.

            "Thank you, Commander.  I shall do so."

            * * *

            Main Chamber, Central Cardassian Council Building, in the capital city of Cardassia.

            "The terms," said Ludwig, "are to be that we assist each other in war or peace.  The Federation, chiefly by virtue of its being represented by the U.S.S. Enterprise, has formed an unofficial allegiance with the N-Team, the group that is my enemy.  I assume it to be that the Romulans are doing the same."

            Be Sek, standing to Ludwig's left in front of the seated members of the Central Cardassian Council, said, "Prince Ludwig von Koopa plans that his army and the Cardassian Fleet co-operate in conquering the galaxy.  He can give us a cloaking device better than the Romulans' or Klingons' and a warp engine quicker than the Federation's."

            "Pardon me," said one of the councillors.

            "Please identify your area and speak."

            "I am the Bajoran Sector Councillor.  Reports are that the Romulans have impeded into the Cardassio-Klingon Zone and, with a powerful D'Deridex-Class Romulan Warbird, stopped the four Galor-Class Cardassian Warcruisers in the area."

            "That reminds me," said Ludwig.  Be Sek nodded.  "I also have a cloaked-ship-detector and an experimental sight-cloaking device.  As soon as I perfect the sight-cloaker, I shall give its specifications to you."

            "What is the function of a sight-cloaking device?" asked Be Sek.

            "It cloaks the ship and projects all of its signatures and EM reflections and productions to another point in space, and the projection can appear to move or to fire.  It is possible to fire while sight-cloaked."

            "Pardon me," stated another councillor.  "I am the Romulan-watch Sector Councillor."

            "Speak, please," said Be Sek.

            "Covert surveillance of Romulus indicates that three unarmed D'Deridex Romulan Warbirds are heading for the Neutral Zone."

            "No weapons?"

            "Not so much as a laser pistol, Head Councillor."

            "Where specifically are they headed?"

            "They are on a direct heading for Terra."  Certain races or languages called it 'Earth'; certain races or languages called it 'Terra.'  It meant the same either way.

            "Probably for negotiating an alliance with that blasted United Federation of Planets," said Ludwig.

            "Romulan-watch Sector Councillor," said Be Sek, "please have Romulus called and told that we shall interpret any act of theirs to ally with the Federation or the Klingon Empire as an act of aggression against the Cardassians and that we shall most certainly declare war on the Romulan Star Empire if they make such acts."

            "I shall do so, Head Councillor," said the Romulan-watch Sector Councillor, carrying out the request.

            "We should probably avoid the preliminaries and go directly to the permanent agreement," said Be Sek.  "We have been quite aggressive lately."

            "Very well," said Ludwig.  "I should like to do so."

            "Pardon me, Head Councillor," said the Romulan-watch Sector Councillor, "but the Romulans have replied."

            "What have they said?" asked Be Sek.

            "I do not entirely understand.  The translation comes as, 'As the Terrans would say, go to hell!' "

            "It means," said Ludwig, writing something on a data-padd, "that they are not going to stop their attempt to ally with the Federation for anything."

            "Quickly, please, vote on a formal declaration of war against the Romulan Star Empire," said Be Sek.  He turned to Ludwig, who had just finished writing the treaty in Cardassian on that data-padd.  "Is that it?"  Ludwig gave the padd to Be Sek, who read its contents.  "Thank you."

            "No problem.  I added that either oral or written consent was required for declaration of war.  Since those Romulan bonebrains will not listen to reason, I think that it is only necessary to declare war on them."

            "Very well," said Be Sek.  "In the name of the Cardassian Union, I sign this treaty as the Cardassio-Koopulan Treaty."  Ludwig gave Be Sek a electronic stylus with which Be Sek signed the treaty.  Being returned the padd and stylus, Ludwig signed the treaty.  A witness from each side also signed, Bowser being the witness for the Evil Koopa Kingdom.  "Let it be known throughout the Cardassian Union that the Cardassio-Koopulan Treaty, allying the Evil Koopa Kingdom and the Cardassian Union, is now official Cardassian law."

            "Dad," said Ludwig, "return to the Warbird and inform them."

            "Yes," said Bowser.  He tapped his commbadge.  "Warbird, this is King Koopa on the surface.  Transport me back."  He was transported back up to the ship.

            Checking another padd, Be Sek said, "Ah.  The Central Cardassian Council has unanimously decided to officially declare war on the Romulan Star Empire, Prince."

            "Very well," said Ludwig.  He got out his personal data-padd and handed it to Roy.  "Roy, call up the proper file for specifications of warp drive, cloaking device, disruptor cannon, shielding device, and while-cloaked-detector, and translate that file into Cardassian."

            "Right," said Roy.  He did as ordered.

            "Have Romulus called and informed about the declaration of war, please," said Be Sek.

            "I shall do so," said the Romulan-watch Sector Councillor, ready to carry out the request.  Ludwig's commbadge beeped, and he tapped it.

            "Ludwig here," said Ludwig.

            "Ah, Ludwig, this is Larry," replied Larry.  "Three cloaked Romulan Vessels, armed to the teeth, are heading this way from Remus."

            "Get them!" said Ludwig.  "Capture the Warbirds, and execute the entire crew of each in any manner you choose, except for the head of the main ship.  Leave the ships intact, if possible, and bring them back to Cardassia, along with that head of the flagship.  Otherwise, you are free to use whatever plan-style you wish.  Got it?"

            "Yes," said Larry.  "We are leaving.  Larry out."

            * * *

            Darkwing Tower, Darkwing's Earth.

            Wilykat said, "Transport."  Darkwing slid his hand over a pad on his computer.  In the ceiling heated up transporter coils.  A bluish cylinder of energy appeared within which began to materialise the senior crew of the Enterprise, minus Will Riker.  While they were still phased, from the perspective of facing them, the cylinder went to the left until its rightmost boundary was a metre to the left of Worf, the leftmost Enterprise member.  As the Enterprise members finished re-materialising, so did the senior members of the Kazara materialise within the energy cylinder.  As the process terminated, the cylinder disappeared.  "All of those who were not here before, welcome to Darkwing Tower and to the N-Team's five sixths of the galaxy."  Something beeped.  "Darkwing?"

            "Oh, darn!" said Darkwing.  "Wilykat, computer records indicate that Ludwig just signed a treaty of alliance with those Cardassians!"  He opened the file and examined it.

            "Hm," said Wilykat.  "That means that we have a slight problem."

            "What an understatement," said Darkwing.  "That Ludwig will give the Cardassians cloaking technology."

            Torreth said, "Three heavily-armed, cloaked Romulan Vessels are on a direct heading for Cardassia.  If Ludwig isn't ready, the three vessels will pulverise his efforts."

            "Ludwig would not be so careless as to be unprepared," said Wilykat.  "He would keep his guard up so that the vessels would not come as a surprise."

            "Also," said Torreth, "three unarmed D'Deridex Warbirds are headed for Earth from Romulus."

            Picard did not have to look at Troi any longer.  "In that case," said Picard, "Earth should be notified."  He tapped his communicator.  "Captain Picard to the Enterprise.  Please come in."

            "This is Commander Riker," said Riker's voice.

            "Number One, I would like you to send Earth the message that three unarmed Romulan Warbirds are headed from Romulus there."

            "Unarmed?"

            "Entirely," said Picard seriously.

            "Very well, sir," said Riker.  "What is the intention?"

            "Alliance negotiations," said Torreth.

            "Did you hear that, Number One?" asked Picard.

            "Very well," said Riker.  "I shall notify them immediately.  Riker out."  Steelheart materialised in the centre of the room.

            "Good day," said Steelheart.  "For those of you who have not met me before now, I am Commander Steelheart, leader of the N-Team.  I assume that you have done the proper welcoming, Wilykat?"  She turned to him.

            "I have, Commander," said Wilykat.

            "Ma'am," said Darkwing.  Steelheart looked at him.  "Those stinking Cardassians and that blasted Ludwig have signed a treaty of alliance.  I even had to use the universal translator because, in the records on Ludwig's Warbird, the treaty was written in Cardassian."

            "What are its terms?"

            "Entire co-operation."

            "Entire co-operation," said Wilykat.  "Hmph.  Ludwig's going to bloody well co-operate, all right. . . that is, until the Cardassians and his kingdom have conquered the galaxy; then, he'll turn around and conquer the Cardassians, as well.  If the Borg shall have become stopped first, that is, or unless Ludwig is controlling the Borg."

            "Yes," agreed Steelheart.  "Wilykat, can you research your race's history?  I think that the Borg implants were created by outlaws from your race."  Wilykat digested the information.  Outwardly, he showed no emotion, but, inwardly, he was quivering.

            "Yes, ma'am," said Wilykat.

            * * *

            Holodeck 3, Deck 11, Enterprise.

            Wilykit and Wesley had just reached the top plateau of Death Mountain.  Being so high up did not affect either of the two, and neither did looking down on the rest of the Kingdom of Hyrule.  "Death Mountain," said Wilykit.  "Hyrulians generally are slightly weaker than humans.  Most of them get very dizzy and fall off when they look down from here because their visual perception is less advanced than humans' or Thunderians'."

            "Thus the name 'Death Mountain,' " said the male.  The female nodded.  "Tell me, how did German get to be the chief language of Hyrule?"

            "Some Hyrulian monarch from a couple of millennia ago only knew German and English, so he made an idiotic law stating that those two languages were the only legal ones.  Zelda's predecessor repealed that stupid law and stated that German and English were merely official, presently the only two official languages of Hyrule.  He and, after him, Zelda ordered that the ancient Hyrulian palaces and monuments be restored.  More Hyrulians are relearning the languages that used to be spoken, most notably French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese."

            "Hm.  A reformation, perhaps?"

            "Perhaps, Wes.  I am not entirely certain."  The arch formed, and the door opened.  Wilykat entered the holodeck and looked around.

            "Death Mountain, right?" asked Wilykat.

            "That's right," said Wilykit.

            "Hi, you two," said Wilykat.  He stepped in farther and completely got off the archway; the door closed; and the arch disappeared.  "Planning on visiting the real Kingdom of Hyrule?"

            "Yes," said Wesley.  " 'Kit told me you hate German, Wilykat."

            "Yeah, and you know why I do?" asked Wilykat.  "It sounds too harsh.  Why couldn't that king have known a Romance language instead of a Germanic?"

            "English is Germanic," Wilykit reminded him.

            "Technically, but English is a mix," argued Wilykat.  "Its harshness has been dulled by French and other Latin derivatives that have been integrated into it.  I'm glad of that, too, because my ears cannot stand the harshness of totally Germanic languages."

            "Well, too bad, my friend," said Wesley.  "German's what I've been learning since the beginning of my first sophomore year at the Academy."

            "German's not so bad, 'Kat," said Wilykit.  "I can stand it, and my ears are technically more sensitive than yours.  Besides, you've never listened to Der Ring des Nibelungen {dehr rihng dehs né-beh-lung-ehn} [German] (The Ring of the Nibelung) by German composer Richard Wagner {rré-shahrd vahg-nehr}."

            "Yeah," said Wilykat.  "You're right."  He sighed.  "Ludwig's signed a treaty of entire alliance with the Cardassian Union, which has declared war on the Romulan Star Empire just because the Romulans are sending three completely unarmed D'Deridex Warbirds to Earth for alliance negotiations with the Federation.  I mean, what's this galaxy coming to?"

            Wilykit said, "If Ludwig's detection devices are truly as good as the N-Team's, - which I seriously doubt but it is possible - can't he see those blasted Borg, or does he want them around?"

            "Steelheart suspects that those blasted Borg may be creations of the technology of outlaws who were members of the Thunderian Wilykat Race."

            "Outlawed members of the Wilykat Race?" she asked.  "How possible?"

            "I don't know," said Wilykat.  "Ever since that blasted cubicle appeared outside the Q-gate, I've thought back to the legend we discovered on Thundera, about the evil, imprisoned Thunderian rebels who escaped the prison mines on Thunderius and stole a starship from that planet.  They were supposed to have escaped to the Galaxy of Léi.  That ship was capable of sustaining warp 10, enough to get to Léi from Leos in several years."  He looked at Wesley.  "Tygra had told us that it was merely a legend, that it wasn't true.  I had hoped that he was correct about the veracity of the legend, but the place whence the Borg are coming fits into that story.  The story described the physical structure of the Thunderian rebels as being similar to our own, suggesting that they may still be alive."

            "If the Borg were originally a combination of Thunderian technology and Thunderians themselves, this is a bad situation," said Wesley.

            "Steelheart has told me to research our race's technology," said Wilykat.  "I'll bring along a laptop."

            "Okay," said Wilykit.  Wilykat checked a chronometer in his left bracelet.  "What time is it?"

            "It's twenty-one hours, fifty-five minutes," answered Wilykat.

            "I see," said Wilykit.  "Five 'til ten p.m."

            "Wha-. . . but I said it. . ."

            "Yeah, so who cares about such formality?  Try again,. . . li'l bro!"

            "Don't call me that, 'Kit!  I hate it!"  Wilykit put her left arm around his back so that her left hand went on his shoulder.

            "Okay, Wilykat.  Just cool down, please."

            "All right, Wilykit.  I guess I did overreact.  Blast; I'll have to try again."  Wilykit's eyebrows went up sympathetically.

            "Sorry," she told him.  "Your trick didn't work."  Wilykat looked down.  "Yeah, I know.  I didn't mean to make you so disappointed."  Wilykat looked back into her eyes.

            "Wilykit, you always try to outformalise me," said Wilykat.  "I thought that I could surprise you by outformalising you, but. . . -sigh.-"  He looked back down.

            At this moment, Wesley's voice echoed into her mind, Wilykit, I know what may cheer him up.

            What? Wilykit asked in reply.

            Kiss him.  Like you do me.

            Won't that make you jealous?

            Not if you're trying to cheer him up.  I've been reading a portion of that book.  I'll explain it to you later; for now, just do as I said, please.

            Okay, if you insist.  Yes, she was so determined to cheer up Wilykat that she would do anything.  From reading literature, she knew this worked a lot on humans.  But Thunderians?  She would have to find out.  Gently, she pushed Wilykat's head back up so that he was looking level.  He had a curious expression on his face.  Wilykit gulped.  She wondered if she wanted to do this.  She put the four fingers of her right hand around the back of his neck, pointing back with her thumb.  She begged her conscience to tell her what to do, but there was no reply.  Slowly, she released him.  First, she relaxed her left hand and brought her left arm to her side; then, she brought her right arm to her side.  She looked at Wesley and said, "I can't, Wesley.  I don't think it's right."  Wesley nodded understandingly.

            "I see," said Wesley.

            "Wilykit," said Wilykat, "you don't have to."  He put his left hand on her right shoulder.  "Because you haven't read that part of the book yet, you don't understand very special exceptions to certain things in our society."  He crossed his arms.  Wilykit sensed something.  He was not being completely honest in regard to his show of emotions.  His words were very true, but he was not so upset as he wanted her to believe.  In fact, it seemed as though he were laughing at her behind her back.  She looked at him curiously, and his face showed innocence.  "What?"

            "You're up to something," said Wilykit.

            "Am I?" asked Wilykat.

            "Yes.  Not just because we're telepathically linked.  I know you better than to trust that you would be so upset."

            "Well, Wilykit," said Wilykat, allowing his face to change slowly to a devilish grin, "you need proof that I am not upset.  However, you may be right."

            "Uh, oh," said Wilykit.  He only grinned like that when he had a devilish little trick to play on her.  "I'm not sticking around."

            "That may be what you think, 'Kit!"  Wilykat snapped his fingers, a signal to the computer.  The scene automatically changed to Lake Hylia.  Wilykat and Wesley were on the shore, but Wilykit was standing on the ground that turned to water!  She fell in.

            Sputtering, Wilykit said, "That wasn't funny!"

            "Yeah," said Wilykat.  "That change was too obvious."

            "Get him, Wes!" said Wilykit.  Wilykat had not taken in account the fact that Wesley was right behind him.

            "What's he going to do?" asked Wilykat, Wesley sneaking up behind him.  "Tickle me?"  Wesley gave him a big shove.  "Whoa!"  Wilykat could not stop his momentum in time to avoid falling into the lake. . . which he did with a big splash.

            "Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Wilykit.  "Now, that was funny!"  Wilykat, when he got stable, looked at her.  He was trying really hard to frown, but he could not avoid his amused smile.

            "Very funny," said Wilykat.  "Luckily, we can't drown with that safety lock in place."  Wesley really wanted to ask for it.

            "Here, 'Kit," said Wesley.  "I'll help you out."

            This guy had been a real help to Wilykit, and she knew that, but she also had a mischievous streak about her that got the better of her this time.  "Okay," said Wilykit.  The floor of the lake was about two metres from the surface.  Wesley could swim; she had checked.  At the shore, Wesley was stretched out on the ground, his body roughly parallel to and about half a foot from the shoreline.  When Wilykit reached the shore, Wesley held out his hand for her to grab it.  He knew he would get his uniform wet, but he could easily rectify that.  Wilykit instantly realised that Picard would not like the deck of his ship wet.  As she grabbed Wesley's arm, she noticed that it felt like he was inviting her to pull him in.  "Be careful, Wes; you'll get pulled in."

            "I will?" he asked innocently.

            "Yes," said Wilykit.  They were both unaware that Wilykat had swum up to the shore where Wesley's other end was.  Wesley was on his side in a position so that Wilykit could easily pull in Wesley.  Also, Wesley's legs were not parallel to the shoreline; they were crossing it.  Wilykat was getting an idea.  "You don't want to get pulled in, do you, Wes?  I mean, Picard would be mad to get water all over his deck."

            "You let me deal with Picard," said Wesley.  "Are you sure that I care?"

            "Wesley, is your human testosterone acting up?"

            "You can never tell," said Wesley.  "But Thunderian females' oestrogen has the same function with regard to muscular growth.  It might also explain your behaviour."