Teaser

The light of an orange star played over the Starship Aurora as the kilometer long starship moved away from the transport vessel that had been alongside it. On the starship's bridge, the vessel's commander was looking at the face of a freighter captain on the screen. "We were happy to help," Captain Robert Dale remarked. "Safe voyage, and make sure to signal the moment you even think you see more of those Breen privateers."

The screen shifted. To Robert's side, Commander Julia Andreys crossed her arms and grinned. "At this rate, there won't be any pirates left in this entire sector block."

"It helps get the Alliance established in this area of space," Robert pointed out. "Mister Locarno, is our course ready?"

Nick Locarno nodded at the helm. "Course set for our next patrol point. Warp power at your command."

Before he could give the order, Robert was interrupted by the figure beside Locarno. Commander Jarod looked up from the Ops station. "We have a signal coming in on the IU bands. It's Admiral Maran."

"I'll take it in the watch office." Robert stood from the command chair, Julia standing right beside him. "You've got the bridge, Julie."

"Yes sir." There was a slight smirk on her face, indicating her amusement with using the formal address.

Robert smirked back and headed to his watch office. It was furnished with pictures and mementoes from his past life. A large picture of the Dale family was at one wall, with commendations and awards he and his sister had won during his childhood. For all the pain it had caused him to lose them, he kept such as a link to the life he'd had before he made that fateful discovery on his family property just a few years ago in what was, now, a different lifetime. Robert self-consciously checked his duty uniform collar in the reflection of his monitor screen before accepting the incoming call. The bearded, grizzled face of the old Gersallian fleet commander appeared. "Captain Dale. I've been hearing good things out of New Horizon. You've even got the Cardassians thanking us for what you've done to secure the region."

Robert let out a small chuckle. "Yeah. They weren't too happy about that refugee ship though."

"The President has fielded that issue. This Maquis situation is a load of political dynamite, but you were right to protect the refugees. But that's not why I called." Maran shifted in his seat and put his hands in front of him. "We have a new mission for the Aurora and Koenig, Captain..."

On the bridge Julia was settled into the command chair, looking out over the bridge of the advanced starship and letting herself briefly think of everything that had passed in their lives in the previous three years. The deaths of Robert's family, finding the ancient alien Facility built by the alien Darglan, building the New Liberty Colony and linking interstellar societies together into what was now the Allied Systems...

There was the bad, though, and the bad that dwarfed everything else had been the loss of the Facility to an unexpected threat, the Daleks. They'd barely gotten away and had lost friends, even if they'd succeeded in destroying the Daleks and preventing them from getting the Darglan technology.

She looked over the bridge crew for the moment. It was the time in the day when they were altogether, before shift changes and other duties brought in less familiar faces. Aside from Locarno at the helm and Jarod, the savant "Pretender" from Universe A4P5, the rest of the bridge crew was made up of Thomas Barnes, another lifelong friend and engineer, and the Delgado sisters; the older and aggressive Angela at Tactical and the younger, geekier Caterina at Sensors. Friends new and old were to be found in other spots on the ship, people Julia had known for years or those she'd met in the work they'd started in the Facility.

Her musings were interrupted when Robert stepped out of the watch office. He showed no clear feeling one way or another, though he moved with a clear purpose. Julia wordlessly stood from the command chair to shift to her own again. "New orders?", Julia asked.

"Yes." Robert got into his seat. "Nick, change of plans. We're not making the rendezvous with the Cunningham and the Traysala after all."

"Ready to plot a new course for you, sir." Locarno, as always, seemed the most at ease with the bridge environment. "Destination?"

"Bajor system," Robert answered. "We're heading to Deep Space Nine."

Undiscovered Frontier

"On The Firing Line"

The command crew of the Aurora was in the Bridge Conference Room off the main Bridge. The last to arrive was Scotty, having come up from Main Engineering, with Leo beating him by forty seconds from the Medbay. They found seats near the head of the table, with Robert flanked by Julia and their friend Zachary Carrey, commander of the Koenig. "I know how quickly rumor can get around on a ship, especially with our crew." Robert smiled thinly. "So I'm sure you're all aware of our change in orders."

"Deep Space Nine," Zack remarked. "I've always wanted to visit."

Caterina was almost bursting with enthusiasm. "The Multiverse's only known stable wormhole is there! I've been dying to get a look at it!"

"You'll get your chance, but I'm afraid this isn't just a port call." Robert tapped a key. "I'm sure everyone will recall Admiral Maran's brief about the Federation's disasterous first contact with the Dominion of the Gamma Quadrant."

"You mean when they blew a Galaxy-class cruiser to bits with just three attack ships." Angel crossed her arms. "Their weapons go through shields like they're not there."

"Yes. Starfleet has sent Commander Sisko into the Gamma Quadrant to try and make contact with them and see if we have any way of maintaining peace. But they're worried about counter-attacks through the wormhole, and so are the Bajorans."

"So that's where we come in." Julia put her hands together on the table. "The Aurora will be on hand to back up DS9."

"Exactly." Robert looked to Jarod, Scotty, and Barnes. "We've been given data on the Jem'Hadar ships the Odyssey and DS9's runabouts fought. Do you think you could go over them and find a counter to their shield-piercing guns?"

"Aye, sir," Scotty answered for the three.

"I'll help!," Caterina offered.

"You'll be busy, Cat," Robert said. "I want you directing all of our Darglan scanners at the wormhole. We need to learn all we can and see if our systems can glean more information."

Caterina nodded, smiling widely. She would have already been running such scans.

Unfortunately, Robert had to take the smile off her face. "I'll need options, Cat. We may need to close the wormhole."

As he feared, the smile disappeared and was replaced by a disappointed look. Her sister Angel was more understanding. "What will we be doing to make sure the Dominion isn't coming through?"

"I have orders on that too." Robert looked to Zack. "Zack, you're heading through."

"Wait... me?" Zack blinked. "You're getting to stay on DS9 and are leaving me with playing watchdog?"

"You wanted command of the Koenig, Zack, and that's what she's for," Robert pointed out. "We'll be sending a runabout through the wormhole every few hours to get your updates. If you need help, call. If they're too much, get your ass back through. And if you see an invasion fleet..."

"...come back through so you don't have to strand me on the other side of the galaxy," Zack grumbled.

Robert nodded and drew in a breath. The idea of leaving his friend stranded on the other side of the galaxy was not something he enjoyed contemplating. "We're due to arrive on DS9 in five hours. Let's get to it."

A couple of hours later Robert was mulling over paperwork in his watch office when the door chime went off. He mumbled, "Enter", and looked back to the digital paperwork. Julia stepped in and stood in front of the desk. "Do you remember what it was like when we didn't spend three hours a day, minimum, stuck in paperwork?"

"Mmhmm." Julia smirked. This was not a new rant.

"I remember when Beth introduced requisition orders back in the... old days." "The old days" being, of course, the first year working out of the Facility, and only a couple of years in the past. "I told her no way."

"And then she said she wouldn't turn over material from the stores until you did." Julia smiled widely. "She was just getting you ready for the real world there, you know."

"Yeah. I was hoping to find an excuse to bring her aboard." Robert sighed. "But she's settled onto New Liberty. I couldn't yank her away from that."

"We're not all cut out for adventuring through the stars." Julia's eyes fell a little. "Could we do it, Robby? Could we close the wormhole and leave Zack and Magda and the others trapped on the other side?"

Robert felt his throat go dry. "I... I don't know if I could," he admitted. "It's one thing if I'm the one being abandoned. To do it to one of you..."

"I know." She drew in a breath. "Well..." Seeking to change the subject, she switched tracks again. "Speaking of paperwork, our weekly systems review, and our readiness evaluation and..."

She couldn't help but giggle at the dark look she got from Robert as he accepted the data drive she was handing him.

Zack had his immediate effects slung over his shoulder for transfer back to the Koenig and was walking toward the airlock when he was intercepted by Barnes. "Sure you don't want company?", Barnes asked him. "I mean, between Jarod and Scotty this Dominion stuff can get handled..."

"I'll be fine, Tom," Zack remarked, smirking. "The Koenig crew has been coming together nicely. We'll handle whatever comes." He turned and saw the look on Barnes' face. "Tom?"

"Yeah, I know." The lanky engineer sighed and gave a shrug. "It's just..." He walked up, looking upset. "Don't you miss just... hanging out?"

Zack let out a laugh. "Yeah, yeah I do. I just think it's funny to hear that coming from you. I think Cat was the only one who outdid you in enthusiasm."

"Well, yeah, this stuff is exciting, but..." Barnes let it trail off. "Sometimes I just want to hang out again. Just the seven of us. Or just you and me, playing shooters and trash-talking."

"Yeah," Zack sighed wistfully, looking down at the deck as he thought of all the fun old times. He brought his head back up and gave Barnes a friendly pat to the shoulder. "Tell you what, I get back from this? We reserve one of the holodecks and hang out. Just like old times."

"Have a sim in mind?"

"Of course not," Zack laughed. "When have we ever had something like a plan for hangouts?"

"Only if Julie got involved," Barnes remembered.

"So, yeah, just get the reservation set up? We'll set something up when we get there." Zack nodded to him and checked the time. "I'd better get going. Look forward to seeing what we can come up with when I get back."

The space around Deep Space Nine was empty when the Aurora dropped out of warp. The ship pulled up toward the station and took a station-keeping spot well within support and transporter range. From the bridge Robert was quiet, allowing Julia to give the orders on establishing their position. He only reacted when the hail came in, standing as the screen shifted to show a balding human man in a Starfleet uniform, the second variant he'd seen with branch color on the shoulders instead of the main body. "This is Lieutenant Commander Michael Eddington, Starfleet Security and acting commander."

"Captain Robert Dale, Alliance Starship Aurora," Robert answered. "We're here to help secure the wormhole while Commander Sisko's mission is proceeding."

"Good to have you, Deep Space Nine is weakly armed." Eddington looked off screen for a moment. "I hope you understand if I'd prefer discussing our arrangements in person, and not over an open channel."

He nodded. "I'll beam over with a few of my officers shortly. Aurora out." When the holo-screen shifted to a view of the station, he looked over to Julia. "So, do you want to discuss who goes over or...?"

"Oh, no," she said, smirking. "I'm more than happy to stay and command the ship while you deal with the fun stuff."

"By 'fun' you, of course, mean 'boring'," Robert lamented. "Alright... I'm going to bring Meridina with me. Did we assign Lucy to anything...?"

"Nope. She's been busy doing the drudgery while you've got Jarod going over the Federation logs on the Dominion. I'm sure she'll be happy if you find her something else to do."

"Having an operations and tech officer along can't hurt, I imagine that with their jury-rigged Cardassian and Starfleet blend we might have some problems lining up the systems." Robert reached over and pressed the comm unit on his wrist. "Commander Meridina, Lieutenant Lucero, report to Transporter 3."

"Don't have too much fun," Julia teased.

Zack was never one for protocol, and instead of using the formal small wardroom on the Koenig's top deck he simply assembled his officers on the bridge. Magda was the one he had known the longest; one of their first rescues from a raid on a FARC facility back in the good old days of the Facility, she'd been serving in various capacities on the group's ships until settling onto the Koenig following the loss of the Facility. Here she had the Operations Officer and Second Officer job.

Instead, for a First Officer, Zack had been given Lieutenant Creighton Apley, a Midwesterner like him but from the Sol System Republic in D3R1. He was Zack's opposite in many ways; professional, reserved, and almost stiff in his bearing, though with the occasional signs of warmth. He had a finely-combed head of sandy blond hair and brown eyes and a build that was sleek and athletic-looking.

Standing beside the two was Lieutenant Karen Derbely of D3R1's Free Colonies. The fact she wasn't scowling at Apley was a testament to the time they'd already spent on the ship. In fact, Zack thought she was a little bit more like Apley than he was; her light brown hair was kept in a bun at the back of her head and her demeanor usually reserved and quiet. The irritation in her blue eyes betrayed some impatience though; she wanted to get back to Engineering.

On a ship as lightly crewed as Koenig you typically only had about eight officers on the crew, maybe ten at most, and he usually rotated junior officers from the Aurora (or rather Magda and Jarod swapped them out as they saw fit). Of the others, he was only really familiar with Michael Ghali, the young Egyptian Copt from Zack's homeworld who was his ship's sole physician, and junior Lieutenant April Sherlily, Tactical Officer. Both were the shortest people at hand, while Ghali was also fairly thin while April was... okay, Zack had to admit the honey-haired woman filled out her uniform rather well and that combined with Magda and Derbely he certainly had his share of distracting subordinates. He felt thankful for Apley and Ghali since otherwise he knew he'd be dealing with constant needling from Julia and Angel.

"You've all had time to see the orders," Zack said, trying to keep his mind on business. "Any questions?"

"We're the tripwire," Apley remarked. "And the scout."

"Yeah. Runabouts will be coming and going every few hours to get status updates. I want an emergency solution, though. Derbely, think we can get one of our long-range drones rigged with warp and navigation to get back through without us?"

"I'll look into it," Derbely promised.

"Good. As for everyone else... make sure the crew knows that this mission has no set ending. We could be out there a day, a week, or a month. I know the ship's facilities suck and there's not much to do in off hours, but hopefully we won't be out here for too long. Let's keep our heads together."

He was answered by nods. The officers dispersed to their stations. Apley was at the helm and Magda at Operations preparing for launch while they waited the few minutes for Derbely to get back to engineering and confirm the reactors were coming online. "Launch Control confirms we're ready."

"Detach all umbilicals. Seal the airlock." Zack waited patiently for them to do so.

"Yes sir." Magda quickly implemented the orders. "Launch bay door opening."

Toward the rear of the Aurora's "primary" hull, where the ship thinned in height and the beam tapered inward to the "drive" hull, the main launch bay door slid open effortlessly. The docking struts retracted and with ease the Koenig lifted up and back from the bay. Zack allowed himself a smile as his ship slipped free to fly on its own power once more. "Mister Apley... take us into the wormhole."

"Aye sir." Apley nodded.

The impulsor drives on Koenig came to life. The ship flew away from the Aurora and Deep Space Nine with increasing speed. Ahead of them was open space, nothing there... and then the wormhole opened like a flower blossoming. The swirling blues and the inner gold had a natural look to them that the basic color of an interuniversal jump point typically lacked, and Zack enjoyed every moment of it. The gold mouth of the wormhole grew larger until it was replaced by swirling blues and golds on the inside. Nothing was said for the duration of the voyage, but when they emerged Apley was quick to report. "I've got our patrol pattern programmed already," he stated.

"Magda, cloak the ship. Apley, you can bring the warp drive online when ready."

Moments later, the Koenig shimmered out of sight as it leapt to warp.

Ops on DS9 was laid out in a way that slightly reminded Robert of the main Control Room back in the Facility, complete with the center table for the commander's "station", although smaller overall and with a transporter, turbolift, and commander's office attached. He was standing across from Eddington at that table, Lucy and Meridina flanking him. Eddington had just finished explaining the current condition of DS9's defenses, or rather lack of them. "What do you think, Lieutenant?" Robert made sure to avoid the familiarity he might use with his old friends in more private conditions on the Aurora.

"There's only so much we can do with the old Cardassian technology," Lucy answered. "And it looks like the current engineer has done a lot of work already with Starfleet technology, so if we do start working on it I'm afraid we'll just mess things up."

"The help I really need is in filling in for the command staff," Eddington explained. "Commander Sisko took everyone. And I just got here, I don't know half of what's going on with this station."

"I see." Robert looked between the two. "Lieutenant Commander Meridina, do you think you could help with station security?"

Meridina nodded respectfully. "I will do as needed to maintain peace and order here."

"Lieutenant?" Robert turned to face Lucy.

She nodded. "Sure, I can try to keep things running for Commander Eddington."

"If you can stand a watch here in Ops it'll give me a shift off," Eddington remarked, looking fairly tired. "Although as head of Starfleet Security I'm afraid I have to limit access to certain Starfleet materials. It shouldn't interfere with the operation of the station but if you find any blocks I'll be quick to deal with the issue."

"I completely understand."

"If that's all, then, I'd better get back to the Aurora," Robert said. "We're trying to determine if there's a way to deal with the Dominion shield-piercing technology."

"I'll send Chief O'Brien and Lieutenant Dax's notes on to your crew if it'll help," Eddington offered.

"That would be appreciated, Commander."

On the Aurora Science Lab 2 was the lab set aside for investigating matters of technology, energy, and power generation, and it was here that the brightest minds on the ship had met to go over the data on the Dominion weapons. Coffee was being provided in liberal quantities from the nearest replicators while, around a central holodisplay, Barnes and Scotty were examining footage of the Dominon energy beams striking the USS Odyssey. "It's nae goin' ta be easy," Scotty mumbled. "Wid ye look at the emissions? They cut through the shields like they weren't even there. Ah've never seen a phased energy signature like that before."

"I've seen that in the Darglan files before."

"Aye. Polarons, Mister Barnes. Polarons. Nobody has used them like this before. This is very advanced engineering..."

"The problem is going to be setting shields to stop them without sacrificing protection against more conventional weapons," Jarod mused from his seat, checking data readings more directly. "The range any countermeasure is going to have to cover will be enormous."

"That's why..."

They were interrupted by the soft "whish" of the main door opening. Julia strode into the room, looking over them in one sweep of her head. "Okay everyone, I know you love to get your brains together to deal with a challenge, but it's approaching 2200 hours. It's time you called it an evening and came back to this tomorrow with fresh minds."

"Yes mom," Barnes muttered sarcastically.

"Someone has to keep you guys from going crazy from sleep deprivation," she pointed out sarcastically. "You can give me a report on what you've found so far in the morning."

The sound of the alert klaxon jolted Zack out of sleep. He slid out of the hard cot in his quarters and reached for his uniform jacket, wondering just what might be happening. Upon arriving at the bridge he found Apley on watch; his XO moved straight to the helm as he took his seat. "What do we have?"

"Jem'Hadar attack ships entered range and have begun active scans with anti-proton beams," Apley reported. Behind them Magda and Sherlily arrived, relieving the junior personnel who were watching their stations.

"Anti-proton beams...?" Zack looked at Magda. "They won't penetrate our cloak, will they? I distinctly remember Cat talking about how anti-anything does bad stuff to normal matter."

"I don't know, it might," Magda conceded.

"On the other hand, there are other ways to detect the general presence of cloaked ships," Apley pointed out. "They might be looking to confirm we're here."

"You have a suggstion, Creighton?"

As always, Apley showed no response to Zack ignoring protocol and using first names. "We come to a stop and cut power. That would eliminate any telltale traces that might seep through our cloak."

"And leave us stationary and defenseless if the Jem'Hadar see us anyway," Sherlily pointed out.

Zack nodded, knowing both had good points. This was one of those hard decisions his new job put him in, the kind of decisions he preferred Robert and Julia making. All he wanted to do was fly the Koenig...

"What kind of systems are near here?", he finally asked.

"We've got a couple. If you're thinking of hiding I'm not sure it'll... wait." Magda looked back. "I've identified a system, 191 Lambda Seronis on the Federation charts, with a gas giant and asteroid field that give us some hiding spots. If the cloak is letting anything out, we have options for masking it."

"Good. Get us there, top speed."

Koenig was still invisible to sensors and the naked eye when she came out of warp close to the brown-red hued gas giant of 191 Lambda Seronis. Apley piloted the ship toward one of the poles and brought them to a stop. The indicators on Magda's station showed the Koenig's systems powering down to reduce their energy signature should it be leeching through the cloak somehow.

Moments later three Jem'Hadar vessels came out of warp, assuming a close search pattern. Zack breathed quietly as the indicators showed them getting closer, anti-proton beams lancing out again to try and probe the location of his ship. "If it looks like they spot us, make for the asteroids," he murmured to Apley.

"You don't think we can take them in a fight, sir?", Sherlily asked.

"Until the Brain Trust back on the Aurora can figure out the shield thing, I'm not going to risk it," Zack replied. "Just be ready to pull the trigger if we need it..."

The Jem'Hadar ships drew closer and closer. The holoscreen shifted to show them looming in on the Koenig. Red beams were quietly pulsing from the ships' emitters, the viewer translating the sensor input for the anti-proton beams for their benefit. Zack felt his heart pick up and tried to will it to quiet. The Darglan cloak was great stuff, it'd work...

Suddenly the red beams stopped. The Jem'Hadar ships twisted in space and went to warp, breaths of relief coming from Zack and his bridge crew as their forms elongated. Zack noticed his reflection in the surface of his control panel and the black bags forming on his eyes. So much for sleep with this adrenaline rush... "Magda, keep an eye out for more. Apley, put us back on our patrol route."

He was answered by a pair of "Aye, sir"s.

Robert woke up to the sound of his personal comm unit going off. He reached over from his bed and hit the reply button. "Dale here," he said softly, rubbing at his eyes.

One of the Gamma Shift officers, Lieutenant Daynara, spoke over the line. "A ship just came through the wormhole and docked with the station, Captain."

He sat up and rubbed at his forehead. "Make?"

"Karemma. They say they've brought someone who went on Sisko's mission into the Gamma Quadrant back. Commander Eddington has already been alerted and has asked you to join him."

"I'll be right there."

They chose to have the meeting in the security office. Meridina was seated in Constable Odo's usual seat, Commander Eddington and Robert flanking her. The figure in question gave a toothy smile at them and looked like he was used to the seat he was in.

"I hope you understand that I have to check up on my business, can we make this quick?", Quark asked.

"We need to know how Commander Sisko's mission is going," Eddington said. "And why you're back so soon."

"Our negotiations with the Karemma were a success," Quark answered. "They provided Commander Sisko with information on how to make contact with the Founders. As for my return... I've got a business to run and I didn't feel like charging into hostile space with Odo as my roommate."

"How was Sisko going to make contact with the Dominion's Founders?", Robert asked.

"The Karemma only have one contact with the Dominion, a subspace relay in the Callinon system." Quark shrugged and let out an awkward-sounding cackle. "That's all I can say, really. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go make sure my idiot brother didn't ruin my business."

Quark got up and almost reached the door when Meridina raised her head. "I should point out, sir, that you will need to pay a customs due on the cargo you brought over from the Karemma vessel. The Bajoran tariff laws are quite clear."

Robert noticed the bemused look on Eddington and the sudden irritation coming from Quark. "I remembered, I just wanted to settle back in first," Quark assured them.

"Of course," Meridina remarked, a thin and friendly smile on her face. "I simply thought it best to remind you should it slip your mind."

"Thank you very much," Quark said, a fake smile on his face and the insincerity oozing. He went straight for the door.

"Well, we're no better off than we were before," Eddington sighed. "We still have no idea of how the Commander's mission is going."

"For the time being we'll just have to stay alert." Robert folded his arms. "I'll get back to the Aurora and make sure our next probe relays the new information to the Koenig. Zack may be able to investigate this Callinon system if it's not too far from the wormhole."

"I'd feel better if I knew we had a way to close it," Eddington remarked. "Just in case."

"I've got people looking into it," Robert assured him.

Caterina was using her bridge watch well; while she kept an eye on sensors most of her attention was on using the Aurora's varied sensor systems to scan the Bajoran Wormhole. The Darglan systems on the Aurora had already given her insights into the wormhole's stability and function, but trying to get rid of it...

"I don't want to blow it up," Cat complained to herself.

"Blow what up?"

She looked behind her to see Locarno standing behind her. With Robert speaking with Admiral Maran and Julia riding herd on the other brainy types, Locarno was taking the morning bridge watch instead of manning the helm as usual. He didn't look the most comfortable with the work, something she supposed came from his past with Starfleet. "The wormhole," Cat replied. "Look at it! Look at the neutrino plumes and subspace waves and... it's beautiful."

"And it's a bridge that could let a nasty race of soldiers invade the Alpha Quadrant," Locarno reminded her.

"Can't we... I dunno... mine it or something then?"

"Only if you know for sure how many ships are coming through."

"So maybe a force-shield ins... no, well, maybe... gotta talk to Tom about that."

Locarno let out a forlorn sigh. "Lieutenant, sometimes it's best to just focus on what you've been ordered to do."

"But what if I don't like what I've been ordered to do?"

"Then you do it anyway, or you realize you've got the wrong job and you resign."

All Cat could do in reply was sigh.

Whoever ran DS9's systems was a saint.

That, at least, was Lucy's view after she jolted her hand back, the shock still crackling through it. The habitat ring conduit still blinked in a way that showed it was defying her attempts to repair it. These Cardassians are lousy designers, was the next thought in her head, followed with admiration that someone had managed to mix the better Federation technology in and make the entire blasted mess work.

With her fingers still numb, Lucy reached over for her comm. "Lucero to Ops," she said, and at least the comm systems had successfully picked up her comm and the others from the Aurora crew helping out. "This conduit is completely out, everything I've tried has failed."

"That area is uninhabited, so don't worry too much about it," one of the station's engineers answered. She didn't know the Bajoran man's name yet. "A little odd that it went down like that though..."

"The Cardassians can't build for crap," Lucy muttered. "I'll head on to the crossover, one of my people is having trouble with the turbolift maintenance there."

"I read you."

Lucy rubbed her hand a little and slammed the conduit shut. After she did so she gave a quick glance around her. Something felt... off. "Is somebody there?", she asked aloud. She heard no reply, but there was a... sense in her head, as if she might be in danger. Damned Cardassian station and its poor lighting... Figuring the dark corridors were just making her jittery, Lucy pressed on in the other direction.

Admittedly, she did so with a bit of a spring in her step, as her hindbrain continued to scream at her to get away.

"...so we had another attempted break-in on the station's material stores." One of the Bajoran deputies was reading from a PADD while Meridina and her assistant chief of security listened quietly. Like Meridina, Lieutenant Parga Draynal was from N2S7; a male Dorei of teal complexion and purple spotting from the temperate rainforests of Jamara on Doreia, he was the professional service officer in contrast to Meridina being a swevyra'rase of Gersal. Meridina had as much a rapport with him as she could manage given his mental reserve, and she knew he was not keen at all on their commanding officers. He merely needs time to see their potential. Though Meridina was aware of other... considerations that she and her other superiors had toward the command crew of the Aurora. Would he understand the significance of their coming? Would he be able to believe in the Coming Dawn?

"Black market?", Parga asked the Bajoran.

"I doubt it, sir," the deputy answered. "I think we might have people looking to stockpile materials in case of a Dominion attack."

"They act out of fear," Meridina murmured. She could feel that emotion permeate the entire station with her senses, both her mental abilities and the life force powers she had use of. "We need to be as reassuring as possible, but to be safe, we shall double the guard. Lieutenant, see who we can get from our staff on the Aurora."

"Immediately sir."

Meridina watched both of them leave the security office and began to ponder... just where was this feeling of portent coming from? Was it forboding or was it the universe trying to tell her something through her connection to it? Regardless, she would have to be on guard.

Ship's Log: 14 January 2641; ASV Koenig. Commander Zachary Carrey recording. The Koenig is currently half a parsec from the Callinon System, where we've found fresh Jem'Hadar warp trails but nothing else, so I've ordered the ship back to our patrol route.

We're on our third day in the Gamma Quadrant and so far there has been no activity in the vicinity of the wormhole. The Jem'Hadar patrols that were in the area seem to have fallen back for the moment. I'd like to think this was a good sign and we won't be dodging patrols and wondering if their anti-proton scans can find us, but instead... this doesn't seem right. Something is going on with the Dominion, and I'm not going to rest easy until we either hear from Commander Sisko's mission or I'm back on the right side of the wormhole.

The Koenig was essentially a set of powerful phaser cannons strapped to a set of engines; while it meant she could punch above her weight against "normal" starships, it also meant there was very little for the crew of the ship in terms of creature comforts. No holodecks, no arboretums, no libraries, there was only one's personal computer hookup in whatever bunk area they were assigned and the crew mess area. Carlton Farmer had made it clear that the ship was never meant to stay out for too long on its own but would need to remain based elsewhere.

With nothing else to do, the crew generally chatted in the mess, and Zack was not one to play the distant commander. He ate with them and shared jokes and commentary, as was occurring now. With Derbely on the other side of the table and a couple of FedStar crew further down, Zack was enjoying what passed for food from the ship's no-frills replicators and talking about some of the early space combats they'd seen in the Koenig.

"How long do you think we'll be out here?", one of the crewmen asked.

"That's up to Admiral Maran," Zack mused. "I hope it's not much longer, but until we know more about what happened to Sisko..."

"And if he got these buggers to be peaceful or not," the other crewman asked, with a clear Australian accent. Or Australian-like anyway.

"Yeah." Zack took a bite from a chicken sandwhich. "I know it sucks. When we get back I'm going to gripe at Captain Dale and Commander Andreys to let you guys have the run of a few holodecks for a few days, if we don't stay at DS9 for shore leave. But just hang in there."

"We are, sir. Don't worry," the Aussie-accented one answered.

The crewmen finished their meal and left, leaving Zack with Derbely. "So, just between you and me," she murmured, "what do you think is going to happen?"

"Can't tell you anything more than I told them," Zack remarked. "Yeah, I'm not BSing anyone on this ship. Not the way I want to do things."

"Sometimes it can be better for morale if you hold back things, sir," Derbely pointed out. "Don't make things seem too bad, I mean."

"If I have to play macho and make people think things are in control when they're not... I'll deal with it when it comes. But we're all in this together." Zack took another bite. "So you and Apley... I can remember ferrying Ambassadors Morrison and Sriroj back before the Alliance talks. It always seemed that you Colonials and the Sol Republic people can't be in the same room without fussing."

Derbely smirked at that. "We believe in freedom ahead of everything. Sol types think that only political freedom matters and that the government should play nursemaid to people. And they're more than willing to insist we do the same and talk about how our lower classes need to be 'liberated' when we snub them."

"And they say you Colonials are a bunch of anarchists in thrall to cutthroat robber barons who leave the working class to starve while exploiting them ruthlessly." Zack smirked. "My Dad usually sounds like your side, but Mom always thought things like food stamps and social services were good for people."

Derbely smirked. "Between you and me, sir? I'd agree with your Mom. Just because I'm from the Free Colonies doesn't mean I think everything in our worlds is grand and the Sols are entirely wrong."

"Huh. And I guess that's why you and Ap..."

There was a tone from his comm. Zack reached his right hand over to press the comm where it was attached to his left wrist's comp device. "Carrey here."

"Commander, we're picking up a distress signal. Sir... it's... it's from the U.S.S. Defiant."

Zack's expression darkened. "Sisko's ship." He stood up, ignoring his unfinished sandwhich and chips. "I'm on my way to the bridge now. Triangulate it as best as you can and have a course ready."

"Yes sir."

"I'm on my way to Engineering," Derbely pronounced, not waiting for any specific orders to do so. Zack nodded at her and led her to the door. He made his way to the turbolift and called out, "Deck 1". Seconds later the lift opened and admitted him to the small corridor that held the door to his ready room and to the bridge beyond. When he stepped out onto the bridge Apley left the command chair and took the helm. "Course laid in."

"Punch it." Zack settled into his command chair and watched the viewscreen shift to show the elongated streaks of light that signified warp flight. "Time?"

"Three hours, sir."

"And when does the Rhine come through for our next check-in?"

"Two hours, thirty minutes," Magda reported from Ops.

"We'll alert them as soon as they show up."

A display of the Aurora and the machinery of her deflector shield systems was prominent in Science Lab 2. The generators went from green to yellow to red under a simulated timer, leading to an exasperated growl from Barnes. "Ah tried tellin' ye," Scotty sighed. "The power output ye're tryin' tae push through the generators is too much. They cannae take the strain."

"I'm waiting to hear better solutions." Barnes tapped his screen and reset the sim. "Because right now this is our only idea that works. Even if we only have to run it a little while..."

"Ye're goin' tae burn out the generators, puttin' strain on 'em an' the emitters like that!"

Jarod let out a groan from where he was seated. The two engineers turned. "Any luck, Mister Jarod?", Scotty asked.

"None," he grumbled. "The sims show my shield modulation won't hold. The Dominion beam weapons will still go through."

"Dammit," Barnes mumbled. He altered a few settings and ran another sim. Again the generators turned yellow and then red... but somewhat slower. "See that, Scotty? I trimmed the power flow a little. The shields still have coherence up until the generators go out."

"Ye're still nae goin' tae get more than half an hour, at most," Scotty pointed out. "To make this work for longer we wud have tae build an entire new set o' generators."

"Half of an hour with shields that work is better than unlimited time with shields that don't do crap," Barnes pointed out.

"He's got a point," Jarod remarked from his seat.

Scotty drew in a sigh. "Aye, he does. Go ahead an' implement it, Tom. But make sure the Captain understands the risks."

"I will, don't worry. I don't look forward to having to rebuild the generators either, if it comes to that."

All it had taken was one lecherous look from the Ferengi bartender for Lucy to decide to dine with the Starfleeters in the Replimat instead. She replicated an enchilada with salsa con queso. chicken, rice, and beans and found a seat. Sadly the taste was atrocious compared to what her mother used to cook, but it was the best to be had right now.

At first she was dining alone, but soon enough Meridina was sitting opposite from her, a plate of some kind of Gersallian salad before her. "That's right, you don't eat meat, do you?", Lucy asked.

"The members of my Order stick to plant-based foods, yes," Meridina remarked. "But I will not take offense to your meal containing meat. It is a personal choice."

Lucy nodded in understanding. "So how are you faring with trying to keep security on this craptastic station?"

Meridina showed only the faintest of smiles at Lucy's choice of words, having gotten used to such in her months on the Aurora. "It has been something of a challenge. I think the Bajorans especially show some resentment and would prefer their security people being in charge, but they acknowledge that my place is only temporary, until Constable Odo is back on duty."

"All I know is that I'm going to buy a drink for Chief O'Brien. The man is a genius to get this place running as well as it is," Lucy muttered. She still felt an involuntary shiver from that conduit in the habitat ring. Looking back she felt like she had narrowly avoided being killed.

Meridina gave her a concenred look. "I sense you've been in fear lately. What's wrong?"

"Oh, just this gloomy Cardassian station and its dark hallways. I was trying to fix some conduit in an uninhabited area of the habitat ring and it got to me." Lucy felt another shiver from thinking of this place. "I felt like every fiber of my soul was demanding I get out of that area pronto."

Meridina did not react immediately, but she clearly took some interest in this. "Perhaps I should patrol this section then."

"It's really not necessary, Meridina, it's just that this place feels gloomy and oppressive and it gave me the jitters."

"Indeed." Meridina couldn't argue with that. When checking the cells she'd felt enormously troubled. Her swevyra had led her to feel the terror of the various prisoners who had been held there before, in the Cardassians' time controlling the station and Bajor itself. But while she had a strong swevyra, she knew from personal experience that all other life forms had some. For Lucy to feel this way with her own swevyra being so undeveloped... yes, something seemed rather wrong. She'd have to take it up with Eddington.

"Anyway, that's just the tip of the iceberg," Lucy continued. "This station is a testament to the Cardassians' cheapness and it's a damned wonder the place has stayed intact."

"Never underestimate the capabilities of others in sustaining these places when it has become their home. The power of life permits such to happen very easily." Meridina finished a bite of her food. "I would be interested in checking out this area of the habitat ring if you would..."

Meridina's comm beeped, prompting her to reach over and press it. "Commander Meridina speaking," she said quietly.

It was Eddington on the other end. "Commander, I'd like to see you in Ops soon, I have to finalize a report to Starfleet Command and I'd like your input on the security situation."

"understood. I will be in ops shortly."

Lucy waited for the channel to end before speaking up. "That guy is a bit of an ass, isn't he?"

"Commander Eddington is fairly self-absorbed, yes. But that is his way. I do sometimes feel like he is being deceptive towards us."

"Well, yeah, he's got to keep us from taking all of those juicy Starfleet secrets."

"It's more than that," Meridina insisted. "I should be going. I will meet with you later, Lucilla. Good luck with your work."

"The same to you, Meridina," Lucy replied. She watched Meridina leave and returned to her meal.

A table over from Lucy and Meridina, Ensign Kyle Liton from Aurora's security teams overheard their exchange. A spooky area of the station? He'd seen enough like that already, but maybe it'd look good if he took some initiative and checked the area up? Just in case? Commander Meridina and Lieutenant Draynal might put a good mark on his record for that. "Excuse me," he called out to Lucy. "Lieutenant? I overheard you talking about something wrong in the habitat ring..."

The crew on duty on the Aurora bridge was a mix and match of the main command staff and their backups. Cat, Angel, and Locarno were in their usual places but with Jarod and Barnes off working with Scotty on the shielding issue, their replacements were at their stations instead; Lieutenant (j.g.) Shen Xiao-Li at Engineering and Lieutenant Rapa Jupap, a bronze-feathered Alakin, at Operations. Robert was looking over a report from Meridina on DS9 while Julia devoted her attention to the goings-on of the bridge.

On the viewscreen the Rhine blossomed open again. "We have a signal from Lieutenant Lawson," Rapa chirped. "The Koenig picked up a distress signal from the Defiant and is moving to investigate."

That got everyone's full attention. Robert ordered, "Put me on" and, when that was confirmed, he spoke to Jack Lawson directly. "Jack, take the Rhine back through and let me know the moment we get any update from the Koenig."

"We're going back through."

Julia beat Robert to the next order. "Get a crew for the Susquehanna. We'll leave the Rhine on the other end so Zack can keep constant contact with someone."

"Good thinking." Robert nodded. "And get Lieutenant Commander Laurent to check up on his pilots. If we end up going in, we're going to need the fighter support."

"Already done."

"Coming up on the origin of the Defiant signal, Zack."

"Keep an eye out for anything, Magda." Zack watched the ship drop from warp on the screen. Apley's piloting was exact, bringing them right up to...

Nothing. The screen didn't show a ship at all, just a buoy of some sort. "Does it match Federation markings?"

"Yes. But there's something off," Magda said. "I don't think we should..."

There wa sa burst of ruby energy from the tip of the buoy. The resulting eruption of light became a sphere that blazed across the void. Apley tried to fire the warp systems but they were too late; the field struck the Koenig. It didn't rock hard, but Magda was quick to report on whayt had happened. "That was some of energy burst, our cloaking field is down!"

"Bridge!" Derbely's voice was taut with restrained worry. "Whatever that was, it's knocked the warp drive offline! I'm trying to get it it going again, but it's going to take me at least ten minutes!"

Zack swallowed. "We're visible?" [i]And crippled.

"Very..." Magda saw lights appear on her board. "And we've got Jem'Hadar ships on sensors. Reading three of them."

"Have they seen us?"

"I'm not... okay, yes. Jem'Hadar ships are on attack vector!"

Zack barely shifted in his command chair, biting slightly into his lip. They couldn't run and they couldn't hide, so that left...yeah. Watching on the screen as the Jem'Hadar ships bore down on the Koenig, Zack felt a rush of excitement at the impending combat. "Time to show them what she's got! Target the lead vessel and fire!" Zack gripped his chair arms tightly. "Apley, Attack Plan Bravo, now!"

Under Apley's piloting the Koenig began a three-dimensional zig-zag approach of the oncoming Jem'Hadar, including a couple of twists to avoid their fire as the first beams of purplish-white energy erupted from the prows of the bug-like Jem'Hadar ships. The first shots missed, as did April Sherlily's, but the second... Zack tried not to grin as a full barrage from the Koenig's forward weapons battered the shields on the enemy ship until they collapsed, upon which the followup blasts blasted huge chunks out of the ship until it exploded in a fireball.

The other two ships retorted immediately, and this time Apley couildn't keep them from hitting. The ship rocked violently under them. "Armor is holding, but we took concussion damage to sections of Deck 2," Magda reported.

"Yeah, shield-percing," Zack mumbled. That put them at a distinct advantage, even if he'd gotten in the first hit through being aggressive. "Evasive maneuvers, Apley. Try to give April good shots without opening us up for them."

"Will try to, sir," Apley replied.

The Koenig twisted and turned and shifted around under Apley's control, maneuvers that kept another direct hit from landing on them but allowed several glancing strikes that further degraded their armor. Aplehy couldn't give April a good shot at either of the remaining Jem'Hadar since that would open them up to be hit by the other. This fight isn't in our favor, not when we're literally wasting energy with our shields... Suddenly Zack had to smile. He smacked the button to open a comm line to Engineeirng. "Derbely! Change of plans!"

"Sir?"

"Divert all power from the shields into the engines and weapons and the SIF and IDF, leave only enough to block beaming. I need every volt you can give me!"

Derbely was quiet for a moment, even as Zack realized he'd probably got the unit wrong. Data-infusion or not, he couldn't remember everything. "Diverting every joule, sir," she finally answered.

The Koenig's maneuvering became tighter and her acceleration picked up. "Apley, make it look like we're breaking away to try to run! Full impulse! And get ready for a whiparound!"

"Yes sir... wait, a what?"

"A whip... Attack Plan Whiskey, Apley, Attack Plan Whiskey!"

Apley nodded in understanding. "I've got you now, sir."

Under Apley's precise control the Koenig broke off from the fight. The Jem'Hadar put their engines to full in trying to keep up with the overpowered engines on the Koenig. "Showing stress in the impulsors, Commander, we can't keep this up..." Derbely's voice was tight with warning.

"Be ready to divert power to the phasers at my mark, Derbely. April, you'll know when to shoot..."

The Jem'Hadar in pursuit were firing into their aft, scoring armor from the ship where Apley couldn't make them miss entirely. "Steady... steady..." Zack felt sweat on his forehead as he looked at the display and the distances. "...now!"

With extra power in the ship's structural support field and inertial dampeners, the Koenig twisted in space harder than even Zack had ever pushed it before. Power flowed into the phasers as Apley lined up the shot for April. She hit her trigger.

Bursts of intense phaser fire erupted from the Koenig's forward emitters. With the extra power the cannons' capacitors recharged more quickly than usual, allowing April to bring the rate of fire up without reducing power in each burst. The Jem'Hadar didn't react in time, plowing their ships straight into the intense barrage. The ship in the lead was torn apart under the barrage and the vessel behind it had its shield stripped away. Another shot erupted from its bow, slicing into Koenig's armor, but April had already triggered the torpedo launchers. The twin torpedoes, looking like sparks of blue-white light, hit the unshielded Jem'Hadar ship straight on. The naqia warheads detonated and the Jem'Hadar ship was blasted apart.

"Any more ships on scope?", Zack asked Magda.

She checked the screens. "None right now."

He let out a breath and hit his intercom button. "Derbely? How long before we get warp and cloak?"

"Depends on what you want first. It could take me hours to get everything back up."

Zack nodded. "Go for the cloak then. We need to hide."

"Roger."

"Magda, get me the Rhine."

Magda nodded and operated her panel. Zack felt his heart sink when he heard the familiar longer chime that said a command wasn't going through. "I can't raise anyone on subspace. There's some kind of large scale jamming effect in the area."

"Dammit." Zack ran his hand through his hair. "Can you boost the power?"

"i've got it as high as I can go already. We can't get through."

I knew they were up to something. Now I have to figure out what this trap was set for... "Keep an eye out for more attackers then, and let me know the instant we can get a message through." Zack pressed the intercom key for the entire ship. "This is Commander Carrey. We're remaining at combat alert for the time being. I need all trained personnel assisting Chief Derbely in getting our cloak and warp drives back up. We need to hustle everyone." Having said that, he stood up.

"Sir?"

"You have the bridge Apley, but you'll probably need to stay at helm."

Apley nodded. "But where are you...?"

"Tom used to drag me into Engineering on the Kelley to make me help him. I'm not an engineer, but I at least know some of the tools and what bolts to put in. I'm going to lend a hand to the repair teams." Zack flashed him a knowing grin. "I did say all trained personnel, after all." With that said he left the bridge.

Robert forced himself to take a breath as Lieutenant Pagagd made his report. "So there's been no contact since Koenig arrived at the distress signal source?"

The Alakin lieutenant flying the Susquehanna moved his head in a fashion similar to the headshake. "Nothing. We can't tell if the signal was terminated at the source or if there is some form of interference."

"Not from a runabout." Robert looked to Julia, who could see what he was thinking. "The Aurora might be able to find out."

"Are you sure about going through?", Julia asked. "Our orders..."

"If Zack stumbled into something, we need to know. He might have been spotted by an invasion fleet, for all we know."

"Agreed."

"Signal DS9, tell Eddington we're going through to investigate what's going on, and get our people beamed back over ASAP," Robert ordered Jupap at Ops. "Julia?"

"I'm getting Jarod and Tom back on the bridge," she confirmed.

"Good. We'll need all hands on deck for this one."

Zack leaned over the accessway where one of his engineers, a Dorei man, was working to restore warp power. "Sure you don't need that hyperspanner?"

"Yes sir."

"I'm here to help, Ensign."

"I know sir."

Zack sighed and stood up fully. He looked over and saw Derbely was looking at him intently. Not just intently, but with irritation. He walked up to her. "Chief! Anything you can use me for? I want to help."

"Oh, I've got just the job for you. Over here, sir." Derbely led him to a corner of engineering by the port accessway, and as Zack followed her he realized they were quite far from the rest of the crew. "Commander... honestly, I appreciate the thought, but with all due respect... go back to the bridge and do your job."

The heat in her voice made Zack wince a little. "Derbely?"

"All you're doing is making my people nervous," she continued. "You might see yourself as just another crew member and want to be all nice and friendly with them, and that's your perogative in the mess or in the ship's halls, but in this situation? Stop trying to be their buddy helping them out! You are their commander. They don't want you hovering over their shoulder, looking like you don't trust us to get the ship repaired. They want you on the bridge, in control of the situation, and out of their hair."

Zack opened his mouth, a protest about to come out. But he stopped at the last moment. "I... I didn't realize..."

"Of course you didn't. You're not an academy trained officer, you didn't learn this stuff. You made your way as... what, a freedom fighter?"

"Something like that."

"It's different in a service," Derbely continued. "You're here because you've got potential, or at least that's what the higher ups believe. Hell, I do too. But you've got to learn your place here. You're not just another guy on the crew who can do whatever is needed whenever, you're the CO, the commander of this ship. So go command, Zachary, and leave Engineering in my hands. I'd at least like to think I'm damn good at this."

At that Zack had to chuckle lowly and nod. "Yeah, you are. Thanks for the pep talk. I'll head back up."

She watched him disappear around the corner and let out a sigh of relief. Returning to Engineering, she let out a loud, "Alright, everyone, let's get to it. The Commander needs that warp drive up and now! Payao, Dawson, Hackett, I want you on that starboard coupling, Mayai and Whitcomb..."

The wormhole blossomed open and admitted the Aurora to the Gamma Quadrant. On the bridge Robert listened as Julia gave orders to the Rhine and Susquehanna to maintain their current missions and keep Eddington informed of what was going on. "What do you have on long range sensors, Cat?", Julia asked.

Caterina looked over her displays. "Looking... wow. Major distortions in subspace, it looks like a jamming field. This is... I mean, they must have dedicated reactors and emitters hooked up on half the star systems in this sector to power this kind of field..."

"Then we have to find the Koenig and see what they've found." Robert looked over at Julia. "Agreed?"

"I'd prefer not sending the ship deep into Dominion territory without backup."

"I know, Julie. But we're already on the firing line out here, and we need to find out what's going on. Locarno?"

"I have a course laid in for Koenig's last known position," Locarno said. "At maximum warp it's still about five hours out."

"Engage when ready, Mister Locarno." Robert tried to hide his nervousness. This was not in the letter of their orders, but he had nothing else with which to investigate. "All hands, Code Red." As alert klaxons went off around the ship, sending the vessel's nineteen hundred crew to battle stations.

"Engaging warp drives... now."

The Aurora warped away, bound straight for Dominion territory.

"We have warp power," Derbely announced triumphantly over the intercom, reducing the tension on the bridge of the Koenig.

"Good job, Chief. Bridge out." Zack looked to Apley. "Mister Apley... what do you make of this?"

"Sir?"

"We get pulled into a trap. But the trap's barely sprung. Three attack ships?"

"I'll remind you, sir, that three such ships blew the hell out of a Galaxy-class starship just a few months ago," Magda reminded him.

"Yeah, but... shouldn't they have gone for a bit more? To make sure they could destroy or board us?" Zack shook his head. "No, something doesn't feel..." His eyes widened. "They needed us for another trap. We're the bait. Apley, get me a course..."

"Sir!" Magda looked intently at her scanner displays. "We have a ship approaching at warp."

"Dominion?"

"No, warp signature is definitely not Dominion."

Zack nodded. "On screen." When the screen shifted to show the approaching ship, he had to smile. "About damn time."

On the bridge of the Aurora everyone was working quietly while Jarod continued to actively scan and call out to the Koenig. "The jamming is still pervasive across the sector. They must have facilities at half of the sector's star systems to power this field."

"Any sign of the Koenig?"

"Nothing... wait... I'm getting a warp signature." Jarod checked it. "It matches Koenig."

"Send to the helm, take us there."

"Why isn't Zack cloaked?", Julia asked, a concerned look on her face.

"Maybe he got in a fight and it was damaged?", Cat proposed.

"Either way, we can't take chances. Be ready for anything." Robert looked over to Barnes. "Tom, did anything get decided on the shields?"

"Scotty and I think we have a way to deal with the polaron beams so we can keep them from going through the shields," Barnes answered. "But there's no way to tell for sure, and the power we're going to have to draw will burn out the shield generators in less than half an hour."

"Then let's hope it doesn't come to that." Robert settled his hands on the arms of the chair and tried to keep his heart steady. "Bring us out of warp when we come up on the signature."

The Aurora slowed from warp travel on the outskirts of a star system with at least one Jupiter-sized gas giant and another over half again as large. "I'm not able to get an exact fix on the Koenig," Jarod informed them. "Cat?"

"That star puts out a lot of background radiation," Caterina said. "It's making it hard for me to get scans of the area."

Julia looked to Robert. "Trap."

"Trap," he agreed. "Angel, the moment we see..."

"I've got warp signatures!", Cat shrieked. "There's got to be at least half a dozen..."

The ship suddenly rocked violently. The Jem'Hadar warships loomed on the holo-viewscreen, coming out of a warp jump with weapons blazing. Spears of purplish-white light struck at the engine nacelles of the Aurora, going right through their normal shielding like it wasn't there. The armoring on the exposed nacelles absorbed some of the blow, but an indicator on Barnes' screen went red. "Upper port nacelle just took a direct hit to the plasma chamber, we're leaking plas..."

A Jem'Hadar ship suddenly exploded, blown away by the bow-mounted pulse plasma cannons under Angel's aim. The turreted pulse phasers and the phaser strips lashed out at the ship's attackers, draining and battering shields at all successful hits. But nevertheless the ship rocked violently once more as a Jem'Hadar beam struck the stream of plasma coming from the damaged nacelle. The excited plasma transferred the weapon's energy straight into the nacelle, where an internal explosion went off and knocked it out completely. "Warp drive is offline!", Locarno shouted.

"Tom! The shields, now! Locarno, evasive pattern!"

"Here goes nothing," Barnes mumbled. "Shifting the shields now."

The rocking of the ship subsided and the shields began to take on a purplish hue, making them visible.

"It's working, but the shield generators are showing strain," Barnes warned. "I'm not sure how much longer we can keep this up."

"It'd better be for a while," Caterina warned. "There are more Jem'Hadar ships coming in from the inner system. I'm picking up about fourteen all around."

Robert thought his heart was going to fall out of his feet. "Fourteen?"

"A couple are hanging back with the cruisers, and it's thirteen now... okay, twelve."

Angel flashed a merciless grin, having just put a solar torpedo into one of the Jem'Hadar attack ships weakened by the ship's weapons.

"Let's use the time of immunity we have. Locarno, switch to attack maneuvers, give Angel all of the shots you can." Robert hit the intercom. "Scotty, we need warp, now."

"Ah'm doin' what Ah can, sir. The warp systems have tae be re-aligned tae work with the damaged nacelle."

"Give me a time estimate, Mister Scott!"

"At least half an hour."

"The shield generators don't have that long!", Barnes protested.

"Scotty..."

"Ah'll dae what Ah can, Captain, but Ah cannae break the laws of physics!"

"This ship routinely breaks the laws of physics," Robert guffawed.

"Ye cannae expect me tae break them all easily, now can ye? Give me as much time as ye can, Ah'll get warp power back!"

"Laurent wants to know when he's getting clearance to launch," Julia said.

Robert bit into his lip. "The fighters' shields will be just a useless, and we will need to run in a hurry anyway. I'll only release the fighters as a last resort."

The Aurora moved quickly for a ship of its size. The smaller Jem'Hadar ships, the same type of attack vessels that had destroyed the U.S.S Odyssey, tried to stay to the sides and away from the deadly bow and aft cannons that had already destroyed one of their number in a single barrage. But even on the sides they had to contend with the pulse phasers and phaser strips, and said weapons were taking their toll.

But there was a larger vessel present, a wide gray shape with its purple-hued nacelles held away and down from the ship. It remained away from the Aurora, and more importantly, its shields were suspiciously down.

Scotty was giving orders when he heard an unfamiliar sound, at least somewhat unfamiliar... even if he quickly realized what was going on. "Computer, seal off Main Engineering Control!", he shouted, forcefields popping into place to lock him and about ten other engineers in place.

The other engineers heard the command and went for cover, which saved most of their lives.

The Jem'Hadar were about the ugliest aliens Scotty had ever seen. Their scaly, horned visages were stolid and terrifying as they finished materializing and began to shoot at the engineers. One fired right at him and Scotty almost flinched even as the bolt, one that would have blasted him in the neck otherwise, dissipated against the forcefield. The Jem'Hadar who shot at him snarled and motioned to the others to secure Engineering. "Bridge, we have boarders!", Scotty shouted into the intercom.

"We know!" was the reply he got from Barnes.

The Jem'Hadar had beamed straight onto the bridge with only a second's warning from Jarod.

A second was all Angel had needed. After confirming automatic fire control she pulled her Darglan-made energy pistol from the holster on her right hip and brought it up toward the nearest column of white light. As soon as the Jem'Hadar materialized she fired, sending a blue pulse into his torso that brought him down. She fired again at the next target and got him too, but the third got out of the way just in time.

Julia sprang to her feet. At the range her pulse pistol was more liability than asset; instead it was her foot doing the damage, a snap kick to one Jem'Hadar's throat that, despite its own fleshy armor, did enough damage to stun the alien. Julia followed that up with a punch to its cheek that sent pain down her arm as well, but which allowed her to get the leverage to grip the Jem'Hadar's firearm and force it toward his fellows. A shot went off and killed one Jem'Hadar aiming for Locarno while the following shots went wide.

Not to be outdone, Robert leapt from his chair and tackled the nearest one as soon as he materialized. His punch had the misfortune of striking the horns on the edge of his foe's cheek ridge, tearing flesh from his knuckles and drawing blood. His second punch streaked crimson fluid over the Jem'Hadar's cheek, whipping it to the side. Weapons fire went off overhead, but he was entirely focused on this Jem'Hadar as its gloved hands gripped his throat. His chest heaved, demanding air, and he threw another punch. When this didn't work, Robert reached desperately for his holster. He felt his vision begin to black out and felt like his windpipe was going to be permanently crushed regardless.

He brought his pistol up to the chin of the Jem'Hadar and pulled the trigger, sending an energy pulse into his skull and killing the alien instantly. The Jem'Hadar's hands went slack and allowed him to pull free. He sucked in air greedily and rolled over.

Angel put another pulse into a Jem'Hadar trying to shoot Julia and turned to see one bringing a blade up at her sister. "Cat!" Before she could shoot, Cat twisted in her chair and grabbed the Jem'Hadar's arm before the polearm could be brought down on her. She wasn't nearly strong enough to hold him, but it did let her bring up her other hand and shoot her own sidearm point-blank into his throat. The Jem'Hadar toppled over onto Cat's panel and then to the floor.

Before Angel could shout a congratulations, a bolt of energy crashed into Cat's shoulder and sent her flying.

Jarod's shouted warning had come a moment too late. Despite some desperate struggles in his time he had never really been a fighter, and it showed as the Jem'Hadar almost shrugged him off before shooting at Caterina; only Jarod's arm pulling on the Jem'Hadar kept the blast from hitting her square in the torso. "Cat!", he screamed, and with renewed desperation he drove his fist into the Jem'Hadar's neck as hard as he could. The alien grabbed him by the chest and threw him away, but was then struck in the side by one of his fellows.

Julia had thrown the Jem'Hadar away to get him off Locarno. She went to go for her gun when she heard Robert cry "Behind you!" and moved... which prevented her from getting impaled by a polearm weapon. It still ripped across her side, tearing fabric and flesh and drawing blood, and she cried out as she stumbled against the conn. She turned and grabbed the polearm below the blade, preventing the Jem'Hadar from driving it into her skull. The alien was strong, too strong, and her arm muscles protested as the blade drew closer.

At about that moment, a shriek of rage filled the bridge. Angel came out from behind tactical with an expression twisted by fury. Her pistol went off, striking the Jem'Hadar trying to kill Julia, and then it claimed the Jem'Hadar that had shot Cat and attacked Jarod. The second to last Jem'Hadar went down to a shot from Barnes, who finally looked up from his station.

The last turned from the slain body of one of the bridge backup officers and leveled his gun at Angel. A bolt of energy went past her and struck the Jem'Hadar in the forehead, killing him instantly.

Having taken the shot, Robert pulled himself back up, having finally regained his breath. "Tom, what happened?", he barked hoarsely.

"That's the damned problem with modifying the Goddamned shields to block specific crap, sometimes it doesn't Goddamn cover the other bands very well," he replied angrily. "They were able to beam through the modified shields."

"Can we block it?" Robert looked around. Angel and Jarod were tending to Caterina and Julia, despite her own bleeding wound, was checking the other officer and verifying he was dead. Damn. I didn't even know that guy's name, Robert thought at seeing the still body on the floor by Secondary Tactical.

"I'm trying to put up a Goddamned magnetic field with the tertiary generators, hopefully the bastard will work or we'll be up to our necks in those Goddamned hornheads!"

"Status on the rest of the ship? How many boarding teams?"

Julia fell back into her seat. Blood was soaking her trousers now and she looked like she was going a little white, but for the moment she seemed determined to ignore the wound. "They sent boarding parties across the ship. Commander Kane's Marine teams and Meridina's security detachments have swept them from the primary hull areas, but there's still a bunch around Engineering."

Dread seeped into Robert; holding the bridge might be for nothing if Scotty had been overrun. He hit the intercom button. "Engineering. Mister Scott, are you there?! Scotty?!"

"Aye, Ah've got the defense fields up, but these bastards aren't givin' up. We need help down here."

"I'm sending in security. In the meantime do what you can."

The turbolift opened. Leo ran out, his nurse Nasri and three others with him. "Give me room," he barked at Angel, who was cradling her wounded sister.

"Angel, Leo will help her, get back to Tactical," Julia ordered.

Angel did so. And the volume of fire increased as she vented her rage through the firing rate of the ship's weapons.

The Jem'Hadar were busy with a device attached to one of the control stations outside the sealed off area Scotty's defenses had created. They're tryin' tae get intae the interuniversal drive schematics and systems!, he realized, seeing how their hacking device was operating. He relayed the information through the ship's systems to Jarod, knowing the savant Pretender was better at dealing with computer threats than he was. Instead he was throwing his efforts into setting up internal systems to jam any data links the Jem'Hadar had outside the ship, preventing them from transferring any stolen data. He glanced at the shield readings; the generators were starting to become overstrained repelling not just the full force of the Jem'Hadar ships' attacks but maintaining the particle flow that kept the shields from being pierced by the polaron beams. And once that field was gone... all the jamming in the world wouldn't keep the Jem'Hadar from simply beaming back to their ship with the data.

The Jem'Hadar seemed to be consolidating themselves in Engineering, as more were showing up in the area on the internal scanners. Scotty watched groups blip out here and there as life signs depicting the security teams and Marines moved in. But he wasn't sure they'd get here quickly enough.

And then one signal went straight down one of the main access corridors toward the Engineering section. In seconds four Jem'Hadar blips winked out. And it kept coming. Who in blazes?

When the life sign arrived, Scotty looked up and recognized the ship's security chief, Commander Meridina. She was wearing light body armor of some sort, hued dark purple, with a blue robe over it, and her rank insignia affixed to the armor's neck area. There was no firearm in either hand, simply a... sword?

Her hand reached out and two Jem'Hadar went flying like they'd been slammed by an aircar. Scotty watched in amazement as she brought her hand up again and, with a hint of effort in her lovely features, sent another pair flying. The other Jem'Hadar all turned toward her and fired, but she had already moved away from her prior position with a speed that looked almost superhuman. Her blade sang in the air and met the shots from their rifles, causing them to ricochet away. One even slammed into another Jem'Hadar, killing him instantly.

With a jump off one of the framing walls for a naqia reactor space, Meridina was suddenly in melee range of most of the remaining Jem'Hadar. As she hit the ground the Jem'Hadar nearest her flew backward, struck by more invisible force, and as for the others... her blade was lethally precise as it sliced through armor and flesh. No movement was wasted, slashes into enemies seeming to pre-empt the attacks of others so she could deflect their shots away and protect herself. When two got out of her sword's range Meridina brought her hand up and sent them flying into the bulkheads.

It seemed like only ten seconds had passed, and every Jem'Hadar in Main Engineering was dead. Meridina looked to him and nodded. "Commander Scott, you are unhurt?"

For a moment he couldn't find his voice. For all he'd seen in his years on the Enterprise, the Multiverse still seemed to find ways to surprise him. "Aye, lass," he finally managed. "Ye've got tae remove their computer device, they're goin' for the IU drive!"

She said nothing and looked to the device they'd fixed to the computer. Meridina brought her hand up and concentrated; the device was torn away from where it had been fixed and flew toward her, allowing her to slice it in half with her blade. This done, Meridina actually fell to a knee and closed her eyes for a moment. "Are ye okay?", Scotty asked.

"I am... fine. I am merely fatigued from using so much of my life force so quickly," she replied.

He nodded... and then the ship shook violently under them. He looked over in time to see that one of the shield generators had failed.

The Dominion fire was breaching the shields again.

The Aurora was surrounded, a great beast beset on all sides by lesser creatures trying to pull it down. But she was not going quietly. Under Angel's aim the ship's plentiful arrays and pulse cannons were punishing the Jem'Hadar attack vessels swarming them. Despite her great size she turned with surprising speed, bringing her forward battery to bear on one Jem'Hadar vessel finishing an attack run. The Jem'Hadar pilot tried to get out of the firing arc but was a second too slow; thick bursts of sapphire energy erupted from the bow emitters on the Aurora and blanketed the Jem'Hadar ship, turning it into a white fireball in a second.

"We just lost Primary Generator 2," Barnes informed everyone on the bridge. "Secondary generators are taking extra strain. If we don't swap back to normal configuration soon we're going to lose them all."

"And if we do that... our shields might as well not be up," Julia retorted weakly.

Robert looked over at her with concern, seeing she was getting paler. Blood still seeped from her wound despite all attempts to staunch it. "You should get to the medbay," he whispered to her.

"After we know the ship is fine," Julia hissed in response.

The ship rocked again. "Those big ships are hanging off," Angel growled. "And their shields are still down."

"They'll go up the moment we move toward them." Robert put his hands together. "Locarno! Full ahead on the main contacts, I don't care if you have to run the small guys over!"

"Aye sir!"

The Aurora made another turn, her aft plasma cannons firing and blasting another Jem'Hadar attack ship to pieces through its weakened shields. Torpedoes erupted from the aft launcher and caught another Jem'Hadar ship moving to chase while those on the sides, seeking to get in the ship's way and corral them, were given full salvoes from the bow launchers as well as the pulse cannon turrets and phaser strips. One ship, struck several times from the latter, nevertheless got in front of them and looked like it would force them to plow through the ship. Angel was quick on the trigger, blasting the Jem'Hadar ship to nothingness with the pulse plasma cannons.

The cannons rested only a moment before they blazed to lifeagain, their sapphire fury slamming into the freshly-raised shields of one of the Jem'Hadar cruisers. The two ships began to maneuver while the attack ships continued to pour fire into Aurora, having it returned by the amidships' weapon emplacements. One Jem'Hadar ship burst into flames as its shields failed.

The big ships engaged fully now, their beam weapons slamming into Aurora's modified bow shields. The ship shook violently under the barrage. "Primary Generator 6 is out!", Barnes shouted. "The strain on the secondaries is burning them out, swapping to tertiary!"

"Aren't we using the tertiaries for..."

"I'm keeping a couple active for the magnetic field, but that just makes the rest worse."

"Angel...?"

"I'm trying to kill them as fast as I can!"

Robert looked back to the holoscreen and saw another barrage from the forward cannons continue to strip the shielding from one of the cruisers. A spread of solar torpedoes began impacting on the same shields, but the last met nothing before it slammed into the bow of the Jem'Hadar ship. The explosion blasted out entire sections of the enemy's ship along the bow, but it didn't kill it. As fire from the other bow-facing weapon emplacements converged on the cruiser, some lashing out instead at the second cruiser, both fired torpedoes of their own. White drive fields covered the projectiles as they moved across the distance, being met halfway by the point-defense particle interceptors. Bursts of blue energy hit the torpedoes and detonated some.

But only some.

The Aurora shuddered once more, the violence of the rocking growing until the unmanned ship status console on the bridge rear even went off with a shower of sparks from feedback in the system. Red indicators appeared on Barnes' display. "Primary 3 is out! Rob, the strain on the secondaries is too much! I need to trigger the shields back to normal or we're losing the entire system!"

And then they can beam in at will. Robert switched the intercom over to Engineering. "Scotty! We need warp power now!"

"Ah need more time, Captain!"

"We're out of time, Scotty!"

"Then make more, sir!"

Robert cursed under his breath as the ship rocked hard. There was real panic in Barnes' voice when he spoke again. "Rob! It's got to be now! I've done all I can, the shielding system is on the verge of overload!"

"Do it," he murmured. "Locarno, evasive maneuvers!"

"I'll do what I can."

Given the ship's size and despite its agility, Robert wasn't sure it'd be enough. The rocking underneath him got worse and Jarod was quick to confirm that the Dominion weapons were ignoring their normal shield setting. "We're taking damage on multiple decks in the forward hull.. Starboard scoring..."

"They're going to start focusing on our nacelles again," Angel pointed out.

"And then we'll be crippled. Angel, do what you..."

"I'm trying dammit." There was clear frustration on her face; for all her shots were effective, it was clear that they might not be enough. This was punctuated when beams from the cruisers sliced into their forward hull. As the ship continued to shift beneath them, Angel bellowed, "I've lost Turret D in the fore section!"

Scotty, any time...

"New contacts!", Jarod suddenly shouted.

Robert felt his gut twist with dread, anticipating the Dominion was bringing in fresh reinforcements to put them down for good.

But then the cruiser in front of them exploded.

Pulse phaser fire converged on the aft of the Dominion cruiser, and with its shields focused on the bow to deal with the Aurora's punishing weaponry there was little to stop the bursts of amber energy from blasting into hull. Blue and blue-white energy fields heralded the firing of torpedoes that slammed into these wounds. The Dominion warship disappeared in a burst of white energy from its aft.

On the bridge of the Koenig, Zack Carrey let out a war whoop into the open comms. "We got 'em!" He grinned and looked to one partition on his viewscreen.

Commander Benjamin Sisko had his own thin smile from the bridge on the U.S.S. Defiant. "I'll go right, you go left."

"You heard the man, Apley," Zack said, the grin not disappearing from his face.

The Koenig and the Defiant split away from the scattering debris of the dead cruiser and went after the attack ships harrying the Aurora on each side. Amber energy punished the Jem'Hadar from all sides and solar and quantum torpedoes were fatal once their shields were compromised. The attack ships began to pull away, regrouping and dealing with the new threats that had appeared.

This left the surviving cruiser to face the full fury of the Aurora. Its beams scored more hits on the Aurora's armored hull, sending gouts of flame and debris erupting in two points where it penetrated the armor and breached the hull. The Aurora retorted with a fresh barrage of thick sapphire bursts from its six forward pulse cannons. The shields on the Jem'Hadar cruiser were already slightly weakened from the ongoing battle; facing this firepower for the first time they began to flicker. Phaser beams and pulses played over them from the Aurora's plethora of bow-facing armament. On the bridge Angel allowed herself a feral smile as she fired both bow launchers with full torpedo spreads. The pulse plasma cannons thundered again, weakening the cruiser's shields further, and the torpedoes slammed into those shields until they finally buckled. The Aurora's weapons began to draw blood as well, creating its own plumes of fire along the dark gray hull of the Jem'Hadar ship. The capital phaser arrays were retargeted under Angel's control; the Aurora quickly returned the favor from the beginning of the battle by slicing into the Jem'Hadar cruiser's warp nacelle. After several shots it exploded violently.

The Jem'Hadar attack ships were faring no better. The Jem'Hadar could not get away, and attempts to counterattack led to exposing themselves to the attack of the second ship. One attack ship twisted away from Koenig and moved right into the Defiant's moving firing arc. The Defiant's phasers blew off the ship's starboard nacelle, allowing Koenig to finish it off with a barrage into the crippled vessel's main body.

"Looks like the Aurora crippled that surviving cruiser," Magda reported. "We've only got two contacts left..." Another burst of phaser fire flashed on the screen. "Make that one. It looks like they're breaking away and back toward the Aurora. Wait... I'm reading a surge in the warp drive!"

"They're going to warp-ram the Aurora," Zack realized. He re-opened the comm line to [i}Defiant[/i]. "Are you..."

"We're on it," Sisko assured him. On the screen, the Defiant pulled up on the Jem'Hadar ship's rear and let loose with its full weapon complement. The Jem'Hadar ship's shields failed under the onslaught and a torpedo took out its port nacelle. As it shifted to starboard, flame and plasma flowing from its trunucated pylon, Apley lined up the Koenig on the crippled ship. April Sherlily was quick to the trigger; phaser fire converged with that of the Defiant and the Jem'Hadar ship exploded.

"Put me on with the Aurora," Zack ordered Magda. When he saw Robert appear on his screen beisde Sisko, he asked, "Are you alright?"

"We could be better, but it's a good thing you showed up when you did." Robert seemed to shift his view. "Commander Sisko?"

"Captain Dale."

"I'm guessing that the Dominion didn't say anything about making peace?"

"They made it fairly clear they're not interested in anything but taking over the Alpha Quadrant," Sisko confirmed.

"They've made it pretty damn clear to me. We're moments away from warp power. We're going to be limited to... warp factor 8, according to my engineer, on account of our damaged nacelle. Can the Defiant match it?"

"We'll be right beside you."

"Good. Zack, Commander, thanks for the rescue. Aurora out."

Both disappeared from the screen. Apley brought the [i]Koenig up to the [i}Aurora[/i]'s port, Sisko's ship on the starboard. "Keep an eye out just in case they want round two," Zack said, his grin finally straightening as the exhuberance of the moment faded. "Stand the crew down to Code Yellow."

"Aye sir," Apley answered.

"Status of that cruiser?", Robert asked.

Jarod checked his displays. "Their shields are collapsed, weapons are offline. They're trying to accelerate toward us but their impulse engines aren't working at full capacity, they can't overtake us at impulse."

"Hopefully..." Robert let the remark trail off. His hand went to the overused Engineering intercom button. "Zack and Commander Sisko got you that time, Scotty."

"Ah owe the lad some Scotch," was the reply. "Warp power is coming back online... now."

An indicator on Locarno's board lit up. "Setting course for the wormhole, warp 8."

"Take us home, Nick."

"Taking us home, sir."

Robert allowed himself a breath of relief as the familiar thrum of the warp drives engaging filled the bridge. The streak distortions of warp speed appeared on the screen. "Keep up sensor sweeps for more Dominion ships, just in case they're going to come for us again. And get a message to the Rhine as quickly as possible to alert DS9 that the Defiant is with us."

"Doing so now," Jarod answered.

Content that everything was handled, Robert said, "And now for..." and looked over toward Julia. He stopped midsentence when he looked at her.

Julia's eyes were barely open and she was slumped to the right in the chair. Blood was dripping onto the bridge carpet around the arm of her chair; the entire side of the chair and her uniform were soaked with the blood flowing from her wound. Panic swelled inside him and he slammed the intercom again, this time to Transporter Control. "This is Captain Dale, beam Commander Andreys to the medbay now! Emergency intra-ship beam!"

The edge of the Dominion frontier and the relatively open space around the wormhole came up before things had settled enough that Jarod could take the bridge and allow Robert to get to the medbay. Signs of combat appeared along some areas, with walls scorched by energy blasts and some dried blood on the insulation carpet floors, as Robert made his way to the main medbay on Deck 12, just behind the center of the primary hull. The medical staff was still checking on injured crew and he made certain to stay out of their way.

And then there were the beds with the sheets covering their occupants, a grim reminder that he'd lost people. He knew some had joined his mission after being rescued from plantations or labor camps or ghettos, the others had signed up for service in the new Alliance, inspired by the birth of the Multiversal Age that he had played such a crucial role in. They had put their faith in him and he had failed them.

Despite this, those who were awake saluted or nodded or otherwise showed... support? Understanding? He wanted to apologize but bit it back. It'd sound hollow.

As the doubts of whether he'd made the right decision circulated in his head, Robert made eye contact with Leo. He was finishing up an examination of Caterina, with Angel sitting beside her and holding her hand. Her shoulder looked fine now, though the light bronze skin was now showing through a hole in her uniform. Both sisters looked up at him and nodded. It was a reminder of what else he might have lost.

"She's over here," Leo told him. He led Robert to the bed that Julia was laying on. She was awake, surprisingly, and the wound was closed up. Her features had regained some color. "We're safe?"

"At Warp 8 we're still about eighty minutes out from the wormhole," Robert told her. "But we don't have any Dominion forces on sensors. The Susquehanna already went through and informed DS9 and Admiral Maran of what happened and that we are on our way back."

"Good." Julia reached out and took his hand. "Stop feeling guilty."

"Hrm?"

"I can see it in your eyes. You're blaming yourself." She shook her head. "You can't help blaming yourself each time something like this happens."

"It was my call, Julie, and look at how many people it hurt."

"It's part of the job," she reminded him. "It's what we do out here. You should be getting used to it by now."

"I don't know if I ever will," he admitted.

"You look like hell."

"Says the woman who nearly bled to death on the bridge from pure stubborness," Robert retorted.

Julia smiled weakly. "Yeah." She took in a breath. Her green eyes twinkled with mischief. "By the way, sir, as your First Officer I feel compelled to remind you that you have departmental after-action reports to review and sign and your own report and log to write."

That prompted a sigh, even if Robert smiled in the process. "Between the risk of getting blown up and seeing my crew die and all the paperwork, tell me why I do this job again?"

"Because..." Her smile grew a little. "It's our home now. And you like exploring the Multiverse."

"Not as much as Caterina," he joked, but he couldn't defy what she said. "Get better, Julie. I'll need someone to keep me from skimping on the paperwork."

"You better believe it," she promised.

Ship's Log: 15 January 2641; ASV Aurora. Captain Robert Dale recording. The Aurora and our accompanying vessels have returned to Deep Space Nine without further attacks by the Dominion. Repairs to the ship are proceeding smoothly and we expect to have everything in working order over the next couple of days. Lieutenant Caterina Delgado has already been cleared to return to light duty and I expect Commander Andreys will be ready to resume her post shortly.

We weren't all that lucky. The Aurora crew took ninety-four casualties in the battle, with thirty-eight fatalities. Every Jem'Hadar who boarded was killed in the fighting. Their remains are currently in quarantine and await a final decision by Alliance Command for their disposition.

Despite the losses, I have to admire how the crews of the Aurora and Koenig have come through this incident. This was our first major combat as a crew and we survived it. The Dominion won't forget this black eye very soon.

Robert had gone over everything in his report. His decision to go into the Gamma Quadrant to investigate, his decision to not launch fighters in the attack, his tactical decisions. On his viewscreen Admiral Maran had listened quietly as he took full responsiblity for the losses. The wolf-haired Gersallian admiral waited for him to finish before asking, "And what would you do differently now?"

Robert paused. "Well, sir... I would have been more circumspect with the approach to the fake power signature. If I had come out of warp outside the system and run a full scan, we might have caught the trap before the Jem'Hadar could warp-jump us."

"A more cautious approach, though given the nature of the trap I think the Dominion would have found a counter." Maran drew in a sigh. "Robert..." His switch to Dale's first name indicated he was switching to the mentor role, not the superior officer. "I've gone over your report and Commander Andreys' and Commander Carrey's. You made good decisions. Everything you did had a clear justification under rules of engagement and the orders I sent. You didn't do anything wrong and you need to stop feeling guilty over it. People died, yes. It's never easy to deal with. I've commanded for decades now and I've never found it easy to deal with. Frankly I wouldn't trust a commander who did find it easy, because that's a sign that life is becoming cheap to them. But when you're out there, on the firing line, it's going to happen no matter how good your performance is."

Robert listened to him speak and nodded when he was done. "I understand, sir."

"Good. You're doing fine, Captain, and I want you to keep on that track. As for your orders..." Maran put his hands together. "We don't know what the Dominion's going to do yet. We do have other missions for you, in S5T3 and elsewhere, but for now you're going to stay on station at Deep Space Nine. I'll alert you when things change."

"Understood Admiral."

"Good. Maran out."

The launch deck of the Aurora was filled with the crewmembers from the Aurora, Koenig, Defiant, and Deep Space Nine. Over forty capsules were laid out, the tricolor with torch flag of the United Alliance of Systems laid out over thirty-eight of them and the blue flag with the starfield and crossed olive branches of the United Federation of Planets on the remaining capsules. Master Chief Layarn Maylo, a grizzled old Lushan Dorei veteran of the Dorei Federation's space forces, called the assembled to attention after a nod from Julia.

In front of the capsules was the raised platform that Robert was standing on. His command crew and the officers of the Koenig flanked him to one side. On the other side, Commander Sisko and his senior staff stood in dress uniform, with the Romulan Subcommander who had joined the Defiant's mission in attendance as a matter of protocol. He stepped up and allowed the comm system to channel his voice. "I'm afraid I'm not the best orator. All I can say is... we're here today to mourn our lost friends. They died fighting in a battle that they didn't want, in a conflict they never started, but for a cause they believed in. They hailed from the Allied Systems and the Federation of Planets and they came out here to serve those organizations, to serve Starfleet and the Stellar Navy, because they believed in what these flags stood for. Each one of them was unique. Each had dreams and desires and beliefs that were their own. Each contributed to the diversity that makes the Alliance and the Federation so rich and cibrant. We are diminished by their loss."

He swallowed. "I wish I could say we wouldn't have to do this again. It's easy to forget when you look out at the wonders of space that it's dangerous out here. When we step into space, we're taking the risk that we won't be coming back. It's a price we all have to pay. We owe it to ourselves to be honest about that because..." Robert drew in a breath, remembering older pain in his heart, memories that he cherished and the gulf still in his heart from his lost family. "...because otherwise we're only going to know regret." For a moment he remained silent but, figuring he had nothing else to say, he turned to Sisko. "Commander."

The Federation commander nodded. He cut an impressive figure; a cleanshaven face and thin hair. When he spoke, it was with a strong baritone. "I would like to thank Captain Dale and his crew for proposing this joint service and providing the space for it," he began. "I know many of you have lost friends and comrades that you cherished. I can tell you from hard experience that it never gets easier." The weight of his words made it clear that he was speaking from experience.

Robert listened quietly as Sisko finished his statement, remarking on the need to move on and remarking on what this could mean for the future and the relationship between the Alliance and the Federation. It was rather good, and Robert considered it fairly better than his own.

After Sisko was done, the capsules were taken to EM catapults set up at the rear of the launch deck and the landing bay door. It opened while an honor guard of Commander Kane's Marines provided a gun salute with twenty firearms (accomodation of similar practices by other cultures within the Alliance had led to a compromise number from the tradition of 21 guns that Robert knew). the wail of bagpipes from a Scots crewwoman in the science department gave the familiar tunes of Amazing Grace while a blue-complexioned Dorei interspersed with one of the Dorei remembrance hymns when the Dorei slain were brought up. Chief Maylo read the names of the slain Alliance and Starfleet personnel as the capsules were launched, one by one, into the void. When he got to "Paul Shetty" Robert drew in a breath; he'd found out that the young Ensign was the one fatality in the boarding of the bridge. The one he couldn't name. Now I'll remember that name forever.

When it was all done and over, the crews dispersed. The crew lounge was opened to the visiting DS9 crew and a couple of holodecks were going to be utilized for other gatherings. Robert found Sisko watching quietly as the landing bay door was closed. "I wish we could have met under happier circumstances," he said.

"As do I." Sisko turned and faced him directly; their eyes met easily given the similar heights. "Thank you again for offering to host this ceremony. It will help forge a bond between Starfleet and your Stellar Navy."

"I agree."

Sisko nodded. "You know, I couldn't help but notice some... familiar aspects to the Koenig."

Robert tried not to smile. The Koenig's nacelles might be swept forward a bit and her deflector nose shorter, but she had a clear link to the Defiant. "Carlton thickened her out a bit compared to the scouts we were using," he remarked.

"I considered Captain Farmer a friend," Sisko said.

"As did I. He was a good man."

"Yes. He would be proud of what you've done with his life's work."

The two commanders began to walk off of the launch deck toward one of the turbolifts. "I wish he could have been here," Robert sighed. "I'm tired of losing people I care about."

"It never gets easy," Sisko agreed. "Captain, I hear you're to remain around Deep Space Nine for the time being."

"Yes." Sensing just the slightest bit of an edge to Sisko's voice, not a harsh one but there, Robert quickly added, "If you're worried about me trying to pull rank if things happen, I wasn't given orders justifying it and, honestly, I'm more interested in your advice in any crisis, not issuing you any commands. Even if my rank is higher, Commander Sisko... you've got me beat on seniority by a hundred miles."

"That's good to hear. I'm looking forward to working with you as long as you're here." The two men stepped into a turbolift. "By the way, given what I've heard of your origins..."

"Yes?"

"I was wondering..." Sisko looked at him and smiled. "What do you think about baseball?"

So much for the holodeck, Zack thought to himself with a wry grin, even as he heard Caterina squeal, "Dabo!" at the top of her lungs and in perfect rhyme with the well-endowed Bajoran brunette minding the wheel. Around them members of the Aurora, Koenig, and Deep Space Nine crews were milling and celebrating, synthehol and real booze flowing from the Ferengi bartender. Zack looked up from his glass of Saurian brandy and allowed himself a good, long look at the raven-haired Lieutenant Dax as she chatted with Jarod.

"This isn't exactly a private holodeck party, buddy," Barnes mumbled from the stool beside Zack.

"Tell me about it." Zack looked over to where Apley, Derbely, and Sherlily were at a table getting served. "Maybe tomorrow?"

"Are you kidding? Scotty's having me do a partial rebuild on our primary shield generators given all the strain my brilliant plan put them under." Barnes shook his head. "Maybe next time."

"You know..." A new voice entered the conversation. They looked up and saw Quark looking at them. "I give discount rates to serving Starfleet personnel to use my holosuites, if you have a program you want to run I'm more than willing to extend the same rates to you."

Zack looked back to Barnes. "Well, Tom, what do you think?"

"Sure. I can check and see if our programs are compatible."

Before Quark could say it, Zack held out his credit chit. "Go ahead and reserve it. If our programs don't work..."

"Oh, I'm sure they will, and if they don't I have a large library of many..."

"Quark!" Eyes turned to face two new figures, recognized as Chief O'Brien and Doctor Bashir. "How many holosuites are open?," O'Brien asked.

"One," Quark answered. "Which I'm afraid these gentlemen have reserved." He looked to Zack and Barnes.

Bashir looked crestfallen. "I've been looking forward to running this Battle of Britain holoprogram..."

Barnes' face lit up. "Wait, did you say 'Battle of Britain'?"

"Well, yes."

"And you've got a hologame of it? Nice! I grew up playing 'Finest Hour' on my family's PC, but that doesn't hold a candle to what a good holodeck can do." Barnes looked down at Zack. "Hey, Zack, I know you take to piloting spaceships more, but wouldn't this be cooler? Flying around old World War 2 prop fighters and shooting Nazis, it can't get better than that!"

"It's their holoprogram though," Zack pointed out.

Bashir and O'Brien looked at each other. "I don't know, Julian. What do you think about bringing a couple of Eagle Squadron lads along with us?"

"The more the merrier," Bashir answered. "We'll need all the help we can if we're going to keep Jerry out of England's skies."

"I guess we have our program picked then," Zack said, standing up. He and Barnes let the two DS9 officers take the lead toward the top floor and the holosuites there. For a moment, going up the stairs, Zack looked out over Quark's and smiled. It would be great if we stayed here a while, he thought to himself.

"C'mon, the Jerries are waiting!", he heard Barnes call out, prompting him to continue walking.

Meridina was sitting across from Odo in the security office. Lieutenant Draynal and Ensign Liton were standing by the door, both security chiefs looking at them while one of Odo's subordinates stood beside him. "There was nothing in the area," Draynal reported before looking at Liton. "Except Ensign Liton, who was supposed to be off-duty."

"Sorry, Commander," Liton apologized. "But I overheard you and Lieutenant Lucero and thought I might give the area a quick check."

"You know it's a violation of protocol to go on an investigation alone without authorization," Meridina pointed out.

"Well, we're on a space station ma'am, what's the worse that can happen?", Liton asked.

"On this station?" Odo made a "harumph" sound. "Anything." He looked over the PADD. "I'm not sure why you were in that section, all of our security scanners are clear."

"Lieutenant Lucero expressed concerns about the area, I thought it warranted a look," Meridina answered. "I did not mean to infringe, Constable."

Odo nodded. "I have no objections, Commander. Was anything found?"

"Nothing," the Bajoran deputy, a Bajoran named Pakos, said.

"Yes," Draynal agreed. "Your man Pakos joined me on the examination. The only thing we found was Ensign Liton."

"I was just doing some scans, but I didn't find anything too strange. Minor organic residues that could be years old."

"Then it was nothing," Odo said. "I'll keep your reports on file regardless. Commander, I would like to arrange a direct link to your office on the Aurora."

"I will arrange one." Meridina stood. "I wish you well, Constable Odo. Mi rake sa swevyra iso, Constable."

Odo's reply was in a pleasant tone. "The same to you, Commander."

Meridina filed out with her security people. "Lieutenant, beam back to the ship with Ensign Liton," Meridina said. "I'll be with you shortly."

They walked off. As they did so, Meridina felt a sudden sense of intense dread. She looked around, wondering where that sense had come from. Something is wrong, she thought to herself. Something is dreadfully wrong.

Tag

Julia was standing on the second level of Quark's, a little buzzed from the springwine provided by Quark. Her side still felt a little itchy from the dermal regeneration treatments but Leo's healing had done its job. She looked over the rail and saw Caterina squeal "Dabo!" again, gathering her winnings as Quark glowered from the bar. Angel was sitting at a nearby table with Leo, both laughing and cheering Cat.

Moving her eyes along to take in the scene, Julia looked out on the Promenade and saw Robert standing alone at the rail overlooking the first level, his eyes fixed on the window. The Aurora was sitting there while, behind it, the wormhole plumed open to let a runabout through as part of their watch.

She walked up beside him. "Beautiful sight, isn't it?"

"Yeah," he said.

Juliea leaned her head against his shoulder. "Feeling better?"

"I am. The service was a great idea. I gave full credit to you when Sisko asked."

She smiled thinly. "That was honest of you." They remained silent, observing their ship through the window quietly. "Maybe this will be a sign of things to come."

"What do you mean by that?", Robert asked.

"Look at us." Julia motioned. "We're here. On a space station, watching a tunnel to the other side of the galaxy. We took on an old and powerful alien empire and gave them a bloody nose. Our crew is in there mixing it up with DS9's crew."

"Yeah. Speaking of that, I may need you to take tomorrow's second shift."

"Oh?"

"Sisko wants to see a baseball game. I'm going to invite him to the Aurora so we can run a holo-viewing of one of the baseball games in D3R1."

"Oh, clever." Julia smirked. "Well, Robby, I suppose that since I was on my ass for a couple of days I can give you a night off."

"Thank you," he answered, chuckling afterward. Looking into her green eyes, seeing her lips formed in a smirk that was becoming a grin, Robert tried not to sigh. His ribs suddenly ached, but the memory that made them do so was a good one. He could remember the Kansas dirt, the collapsing mound... and Julia's lips pressed to his. She's my friend. She's the most important person in the cosmos to me, was his thought, even if they hadn't done anything afterward... would not do anything, honestly. The relationship he had with Julia was so much more than anything that could be romantic; it was born of a lifetime of shared triumphs and shared grief.

"Come on," Julia suddenly said, grabbing his arm. "Tomorrow we go back to work, but we still have the night to celebrate."

"Celebrate?"

"This." She waved her hand around the Promenade. "This entire new life."

Robert nodded. "Well, since you put it that way..."

He let her lead him back into Quark's.