Assimilation² (comic story)

Assimilation2 (full indicia title Star Trek:The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation2) was an eight-part Doctor Who/Star Trek: The Next Generation comic book mini-series. It began publication on 30 May 2012 in North America. , it was the only officially licensed crossover between the two franchises.

Publisher's summary
The two greatest science-fiction properties of all time cross over for the first time in history! When the Federation's most terrifying enemy strikes an unholy alliance with one of the Doctor's most hated antagonists, the result is devastation on a cosmic scale! Spanning the ends of space and time itself, Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the USS Enterprise find themselves joining forces with the time-travelling Doctor and his companions, with the fate of the galaxy hanging in the balance!

Issue 1
Stardate 45635.2: The planet Delta IV is invaded suddenly and without warning by the Borg. The Prime Minister of Delta IV and her aide are beamed to a secure command center, where they observe the invasion alongside Starfleet personnel. The Prime Minister notes the atypical nature of this invasion — the Borg have never before attacked without calling for their target's surrender, nor have they attacked so brutally.

A Starfleet officer notes that the Borg are not working alone — they are joined by a cybernetic race the Federation have not encountered before.

At that moment, the Borg and their new allies beam into the command center to attack and assimilate Deltans and Starfleet officers. The Prime Minister and three Starfleet officers escape to the U.S.S. Mattingly, a Starfleet Runabout, and leave the planet alongside other Starfleet ships.

In ancient Egypt on Earth, the Doctor, Amy and Rory are engaged in a chariot chase with the Pharaoh's palace guards, who pursue them with vigor.

Passing a market stall, the Doctor grabs one of the support beams and pulls it out of the ground. Fruit and baskets fall in front of the palace guards, stopping them dead. The trio continue their journey to the Pharaoh's palace.

Once in the palace, the Doctor, Amy and Rory attempt to stealthily make their way to the Pharaoh's throne room. Rory accidentally knocks over and breaks a large blue vase, attracting more of the palace guards. As the guards move in, the Doctor climbs up to a curtain rail and uses the sonic screwdriver to detach it from the wall, pulling it down and over the guards.

The three move quickly to the entryway to the throne room, where Rory talks his way past the guards and into the throne room.

The Pharaoh asks how the three could have gotten into the throne room. The Pharaoh's Vizier claims they have "clearly gone mad from the desert heat" and says he will dispatch them. He demands to know the Doctor's name. The Doctor says the Vizier will know him better by his race — Time Lord. The Vizier is shocked, reacts disbelievingly and attacks the Pharaoh. He begins to change into his true form, revealing himself as a shape changing alien.

The Doctor retrieves a small green crystal, an "interdimensional prison cell", and uses it to "trap" the Vizier. He informs the Pharaoh that the Vizier was in fact an escaped alien criminal who was planning to "harness the kinetic energy from the Nile to fire up a tachyon pulse inverter" and destroy half of the Earth in the process.

Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor states he'd like to go somewhere "cool. And foggy." Rory hands the Doctor the green crystal and there is a flash of imagery — Cybermen and Borg. The TARDIS rumbles, Amy and Rory stumble, but the Doctor maintains control, saying that they're "almost there."

They step out of the TARDIS in San Francisco, about 1945. Rory and Amy are wearing period-appropriate clothing and the Doctor states this was his intended target all along. He describes San Francisco as a "bubbling cauldron of capers and investigations" and advises his companions that they're "bound to run into something unusual here."

At this point they step into a bar where they see an android in a pinstripe suit.

Issue 2
While completing a routine scan of Data's neural net, Geordi La Forge and Data discuss the philosophical implications of their technological upgrades.

Captain Picard sends Commander Riker on a mission to check on mining operations on Naia IV, an aquatic world. Riker takes Data and Worf with him. On the planet, they meet two members of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers who are leading the mining operation, and Seelos, one of the indigenous, amphibious Dai-ai. Since the planet is largely covered in water, the mines are drilled from the tops of mountainous islands. Captain Ochoa, in charge of the mining operations, explains the difficulties of mining below sea level, and notes his concerns that "safety isn't the no. 1 priority". A pressure compartment suddenly fails and the section that Riker and his team are in floods. Worf rescues Ochoa and his aide, Lt. Amato, and Data rescues Riker.

In the aftermath of the flooding, Dr. Crusher tells Capt. Picard that eight people died and twenty-two were injured. Geordi tells Picard that the mine has been operating with very low safety protocols, but were under heavy pressure from Starfleet to meet regular quotas. Picard tells him that the pressure is due to the need to rebuild the fleet after the loss to the Borg at Wolf 359.

After Riker returns to the ship, Picard tells him that upgrades to the ship's holodeck have been completed, and a new Dixon Hill adventure awaits him. Riker, Data and Crusher don 1940s attire and begin the programme. They hear the Doctor's TARDIS materialise, but put it down to a bug in the upgrade. The Doctor, Amy Pond and Rory meet the Starfleet officers in a bar, where the Doctor immediately recognizes Data as an android. Riker and Crusher assume that the Doctor, Amy and Rory are holodeck characters and the holodeck is malfunctioning again. Riker ends the programme and is surprised to see the TARDIS and its three occupants still present.

Worf escorts the trio to the ship's observation lounge. The Doctor recognises him as a Klingon, but notes that his memories are being altered. Before he saw Worf, the Doctor had never heard of them. In the observation lounge, Picard introduces himself to the Doctor, who notes that they "shouldn't be here, really." Deanna Troi scans the TARDIS travellers' minds, saying that Amy and Rory are slightly nervous but completely trusting of the Doctor, and sensing wisdom and sadness in the Doctor, but no ill intent. Picard is slightly skeptical.

The conversation is interrupted by news of the attack on Delta IV. When the attacking fleet is put on screen, Picard recognizes the Borg and the Doctor recognizes the Cybermen. The Doctor says, "We shouldn't be here, Captain." Picard replies, "I believe you're right..."

Characters

 * Eleventh Doctor
 * Amy Pond
 * Rory Williams
 * Unnamed Egyptian Pharaoh
 * Unnamed alien criminal
 * Cybermen
 * Data
 * William Riker
 * Beverly Crusher
 * Deltan Prime Minister
 * Unnamed Aide to the Prime Minister of Delta IV
 * Jahson
 * Unnamed Starfleet Admiral
 * The Borg
 * Geordi La Forge
 * Jean-Luc Picard
 * Worf
 * Deanna Troi
 * Captain Ochoa
 * Lieutenant Amato
 * Seelos

Issues

 * STTNGDWA 1
 * STTNGDWA 2
 * STTNGDWA 3
 * STTNGDWA 4
 * STTNGDWA 5
 * STTNGDWA 6
 * STTNGDWA 7
 * STTNGDWA 8

Previous Doctors

 * A building appears in the holographic San Francisco with a sign saying "Tom's Bakery" as is a nearby street sign saying "4th". This is a reference to Tom Baker, the Fourth Doctor.

Companions

 * Rory Williams' time spent as an Auton Roman soldier has left him experienced with steering chariots and, apparently, intimidating Egyptian soldiers.

The Doctor's TARDIS

 * The TARDIS experiences some "dimensional feedback" when it arrives in the Enterprise-D Holodeck recreation of 1941 San Francisco.

Technology

 * Prisoners of some facilities used by the Atraxi, the Shadow Proclamation and the Visendi Detention Complex are transported in small green crystals, referred to by the Doctor as an "interdimensional prison cell and interstellar delivery service, all at once." The size of the crystals suggests some manner of compression technology not dissimilar to those of the Teselecta or a Slitheen skinsuit. The crystal containing the unnamed alien prisoner apparently fell to Earth, suggesting it was either being transported or that the crystals have the ability to propel themselves through space.

Production Errors

 * Production stills and promotional photos are clearly the reference for various characters throughout the story. In issue #1, the Doctor's hair changes style from panel to panel.

Continuity

 * For the purposes of this story, the notion of the Star Trek franchise existing in the Doctor Who universe (and vice versa) is temporarily suspended, replaced instead with the idea that the two franchises exist in parallel realities.
 * The Star Trek franchise has been referenced multiple times in Doctor Who, particularly in the revived series. Notable references have been made in The Empty Child, The Impossible Astronaut, and The God Complex. For full details, see the article Star Trek.
 * Similarly, the Star Trek franchise has referenced Doctor Who numerous times, specifically in reference to items such as the "," referring to the Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver, and the occasional reference to reversing the polarity. A more specific on-screen reference occurs in the season one episode "", when an LCARS computer display lists the first six actors to play the Doctor as the descendants of a guest character (at time of broadcast Sylvester McCoy's episodes had yet to air in the US). Non-canonical spin-off novels have referenced Doctor Who more specifically, including mentions of Kasterborous and the Time Lords themselves. For full details, see the article Star Trek (franchise).
 * The Doctor wonders aloud if the escaped alien prisoner was heading to an Atraxi prison or a Shadow Proclamation facility. He concludes the alien is most likely heading to "the Visendi Detention Complex."
 * The alien prisoner is able to change its form as could Prisoner Zero, (DW: The Eleventh Hour) though its "normal" form is markedly different.

The Doctor, Amy and Rory

 * Rory's memories of being an Auton soldier and references to the companions being married place this post-DW: The Big Bang.

Enterprise crew

 * Stardate 45635.2 places "Assimilation²" between the  episodes "" and "".