Nervously the Commander of the vast alien armada of vessels paced around the command deck of what had become the flagship of her ever growing fleet as they left known space and out into the darkness of the Galaxy itself with only the four battleships to protect the large fleet of civilian ships as they passed through more hostile space then anyone could have imagined to reach this point, a distant Star-System on the furthest reaches of the galaxy in unknown and uncharted space for their species.
Stopping by the airlock which lead through three sets of air-tight doors and onto the command deck itself as the signal light next to the door turned yellow and finally green as the systems in the airlock scanned for any foreign illnesses or bacteria on their important guests as the doors slid open while the crew on the command deck stood to attention as the Commander walked towards their guests and saluted as a sign of respect for the guests, a salute from her own military.
"Admiral, Welcome onboard the Aurora, a word which in my language means… 'Saviour'. I am First-Commander Alicia Tiran, Commanding Officer of this vessel. Allow me to present my Executive Officer, First-Lieutenant Horal Dyor"
"Admiral" Said the male First-Lieutenant with a large smile.
"First-Lieutenant. First-Commander, I believe that you asked for me specifically? You would not talk with anyone else other then me, why?" Called out the Admiral.
"We have a lot in common Admiral, if you will follow myself and my Executive Officer. I will explain everything, afterwards a brief tour of this vessel perhaps?"
"Admiral, I can not allow you too…" Called out the Admiral's Aide.
"Please sir, the Admiral is amongst friends here, as are you all and you are safe. Please, come with us and we shall explain"
"Of course First-Commander" The Admiral said slowly.
"Admiral, I feel that I know you already from stories we have all heard, and please ma'am. Call me Alicia and name in my language means 'Pure'"
"Something we both share in common Alicia" The Admiral said with a smile on her aging face.
"Admiral, by the time I am finished with my tale, you will see that we have much more in common then the meanings of our given name. Admiral, my people and those who joined our fleet for protection, originate in what you would call 'The Delta-Quadrant', we left our homeworld, nine years ago and we have been travelling ever since"
"That is impossible in Nine years…" Called out the Admiral's aide.
"Not entirely, isn't that Correct Admiral Janeway? If you will listen to my story, you will discover that what I am saying, is the truth and you may even discover other things about what happened after Voyager left certain, Star Systems… as we visited many after you left"
Unable to resist the temptation of hearing what happened to several star systems after the USS Voyager left, her curiosity overtook her as she finally nodded and was led through the ship towards the nearest briefing room on the large alien vessel which looked almost eerily familiar to her somehow. Perhaps because the Command Deck on the ship resembled something like an old Earth Battleship of the early 21st Century, she could not tell.
Slowly sitting in one of the many chairs before a large computer-screen-like table, the First-Commander sat facing her as behind Alicia, her entire fleet of eighty civilian and combat capable vessels could be seen as more Federation Starships warped into their home system for protection detail in case the vast Alien armada turned hostile.
"Admiral, I wish to thank you for this leap of faith. May I once again apologise for the distress caused to your people by the arrival of my fleet?"
"You had a lot of people worried on Earth Alicia, myself included. Now, can we get down to business?"
"Very well Admiral. My people originate 55'425.32 light-years from this exact location, deep inside what you call the delta-quadrant. Thousands of years ago, my people where a highly advanced space-faring race who's art, literature, science and technology, music… even poetry where second to none in the known galaxy. With our warp-vessels we visited many worlds in search of peace and friendship, we did not know that we where one of the first space-fairing civilisations out there. Our proudest moment came when we completed a new way of propulsion, corridors of what you would call Trans-Warp" Said the beautiful human looking young female commander. "… We explored the galaxy as far as we could until one day, one of our scout-vessels fell upon a world in a dark corner of the quadrant, a world of cybernetic life-forms"
"The Borg?" Janeway said with a deep sigh in her voice.
"Unfortunately yes. However at the time, they where little more then a few scatterings of worlds but they captured our Scout and assimilated it along with it's technology. Over night they became more powerful and with access to our Trans-Warp network, they began to span out quickly. Luckily, our scout ship was little more then a drone with no life forms onboard. Once the Borg had captured it, the navigational database had self destructed as programmed so they could not find our homeworld right away. After time of course, the inevitable happened. My ancestors pulled our fleet back to protect the homeworld, but left some of our smaller ships hidden on other worlds with warnings about the Borg. They attacked our world and destroyed roughly three-quarters of our civilisation"
"Why did they not assimilate your world?" Janeway said, almost shivering at the thought.
"We… resisted. They took heavy damage to their ship and eventually, we destroyed it. But not before our technology had been assimilated into the collective. With barely anything left of our people, we went underground, literally we moved the survivors of our entire civilisation underground, as close to the magma chambers as we could get for natural heat. Generations of my people lived and died without seeing the sun or the stars. But, it was all for a reason. Many of my people's greatest scientists where killed, we had to re-learn as much as possible, it took centuries. 100 years ago, a Borg Probe-ship appeared over our planet as they had many times over the centuries, but this one was different as it did nothing…"
"Nothing?" Called out the Admiral's Aide.
"Yes Commander, the ship just sat there, slowly orbiting the planet. We waited, hours turned into days and eventually after two weeks… my grandfather boarded the ship after they had learned how to access the transporter systems. The ship had been deserted but for the acceptation of four dead drones, eventually they learned how to control the ship and hide it beneath the surface in a secluded chamber for analysis. They spent years learning the secrets of the Borg ships and eventually, after eighty years… my father began construction of the ship you now sit in, she was designed with the sole purpose of protecting our people, as was the other…"
"The other?" Janeway said slowly.
"Do you see the large vessel, thirteen vessels back? It took eighteen years to complete that ship, a vessel 1.5 of your miles long and capable of carrying our entire species. Aurora's job is to protect 'The Ark' and what remains of my people. Nine years ago, Aurora was ready to launch as was the Ark… but we had a problem" Alicia said slowly.
"The Borg knew about you?"
"Yes Admiral, they where on their way to our homeworld… you see, we discovered that a Trans-Warp conduit was close by our homeworld. My father took command of this ship with a plan, lay in low orbit and power-down, since a ship was close they transmitted a distress call claiming to be a highly advanced species with 1'000's of people onboard. The Borg could not resist and when they had appeared, we attacked swiftly with our new weapons systems. The Sphere was destroyed instantly and we where able to safely launch the Ark before anymore ships got in the way. Admiral Janeway, we had been expecting a Borg invasion for generations, the Sphere had sent out a distress signal. As the Ark disappeared into Warp, so did we. Our orbital satellites transmitted what happened one hour after we left, forty-two Borg ships appeared over our world, ranging from Probe ships to the large Cubes. Our back-up plan kicked in instantly, in case we where ever assimilated and our world became a Borg planet…"
"You destroyed your planet, didn't you?" The Admiral's Aide said quickly.
"Not just the planet Commander, but the entire Star system. Eighteen Trilithium enhanced warheads where launched from a probe-ship we had created and hidden on one of the smaller planets near the star. The warheads detonated within the star, destroying the system instantly. Do not look so shocked Admiral, we would do anything to survive the Borg, as would you. We took heavy damage during the battle with the Borg, my father and forty-eight others where killed, as the surviving senior officer… I took over command and met up with the Ark… we travelled for two years from system to system, looking for supplies and possibly a home for what remained of my people. Then we started to hear a legend about a ship from the far side of the galaxy, alone, under constant attack and trying to get home and we saw a kindred spirit that vessel and her crew we had come to know as Voyager. By which time, our fleet of two had grown as a handful of ships had joined us, some from worlds destroyed by the Borg to species who just wanted to leave and find a new home"
"That still does not explain how have come so far in such a short time, especially with Warp-Drive" Called out the Admiral's Aide.
"I am getting to that issue sir, please forgive my abruptness, we have dealt with much in our short history as the Admiral may understand"
"More then you know" Janeway said with a nod.
"Yes Admiral, I know. As I was saying, from two ships, we had grown into a fleet of twelve very fast, civilian transports, freighters even the odd warship which had joined our cause all from species who had agreed with our terms of compliance and mutual protection. We shared our advanced technology with those who agreed with our terms, My Executive Officer, First-Lieutenant Horal Dyor is one of the few survivors from a world which had been assimilated by the Borg and one of the first to join us. We formed a Council of representatives from all of the ships and posed the question of wither or not we should locate Voyager…"
"Located us, why?" Janeway replied slowly.
"In the event that you needed our help. We where heading out of Borg held space as where you, our weapons had proven themselves against the Collective on numerous times and many of our growing fleet knew what lay ahead for you. With the mutual protection that we could give to each other, we would have both been safe. Once, we had even gotten close to you, had your ship on our long range sensors…"
"I don't remember that, reports of a fleet would have been mentioned" Janeway said with a questioning look.
"Our fleet at the time consisted of twenty ships, three long range scout class shuttles flew ahead of the Aurora at that time and with our sensors linked via sub-space, we had a range much greater then your own Admiral, for the first time we actually had a good look at Voyager, but it didn't last…"
"What happened?"
"You held your first experiment with the Quantum Slipstream Drive Admiral. With a support vessel before Voyager, you disappeared before our Scout ship could make contact"
"I remember that. It was almost a disaster for the ship" Janeway replied slowly.
"We had given up hope of ever locating you again. A year later, one of our finest scientists had completed the work originally created by my father… a new propulsion system. Our fleet had grown once again to forty-nine ships and our resources where stretched to almost breaking point, we had to act quickly. We knew your heading and by that time, we where still committed. Those of the fleet that where capable where equipped with the new drive system we had invented and tested successfully, you see Admiral, the Aurora and the Ark are capable of Warp 9.0, however we where limited by the slower ships to Warp 5.5 and could go nowhere at those speeds. For the first time, we pulled the fleet in to almost dangerously tight formation and activated the new drive. Using an easier term to describe it, space had been folded around the fleet itself generated by two-thirds of the fleet itself. With a short jump for a long range test, we found ourselves just short of 100 light-years away. A huge success for us"
"Impressive achievement Commander" Called out the Admiral's Aide.
"Thank you sir. We completed a full diagnostic on the new drive, we found that the drive could expand to encase a much larger fleet, meaning that the dangerous formation was no longer needed. Two weeks later, we tried again on a much larger scale. We leapt forward 2'025 light-years in mere seconds. That is when our problems started…"
"With the propulsion systems?" Janeway said with a large sigh.
"No ma'am. The drive worked perfectly, it was where we leapt to that was the problem. A similar situation to what we have here ma'am, we leapt into a war-game scenario and they where not best pleased by our sudden appearance since all ships in the area surrounded our fleet. 250 fighter-type vessels and 80 Starships of various sizes. Acting quickly, we sounded our surrender before anyone was hurt. Due to the power drain from the jump-engines, our weapons where off-line while our systems recharged, however… we have our own support craft ranging from long-range scout craft to warp capable 400 warp capable fighters scattered throughout the fleet, which I put on high alert. May I state Admiral for the record, it was only for defence, we would never attack any species"
"That is good to know Commander" Nodded the Admiral.
For what seemed like a long fifteen minutes from their perspective, the young female commander of the alien fleet explained everything which had happened during their encounter with the alien fleet as they negotiated a peace treaty with the new species they had encountered.
"We had learned that the species had recently ended a devastating war with a neighbouring star-system and that our sudden arrival would appear as if they are making 'New allies' which could have dire consequences with their former enemies and it did not take long before they showed up in force…"
"What do you mean Alicia?"
"120 Starships of assorted sizes where approaching with hundreds of fighters, bombers and escort fighters had been detected by our sensors. The instant they dropped out of warp, they began to attack our civilian ships, almost destroying our Medical Frigate. That is when I ordered our fighters to engage their fleet, defensive fire only of course"
"Of Course" Janeway replied with a sigh once more.
"Make no mistake Admiral, my orders where clear as all of our pilots know, cripple the attacking ships beyond their ability to be considered combatant, after which, we would assist them with repairs if they required it. We are a civilised people Admiral Janeway, unfortunately… we realised that our new allies where not as they took the opportunity to attack those ships which had been taken out of the fight"
"That is disgusting" Called out the Admiral's Aide.
"Yes Commander, it was. However, I would not stand for the needless slaughter of a defenceless people…"
"You turned your fighters on your allies" Janeway said, completing her sentence.
"Yes, we did. By that time, the Aurora's weapons had recharged which allowed us to assist our fighter squadrons. With the ships on both sides neutralised, taken out of the fight, I called for a meeting of the heads of state from both worlds, right here in this very room where we negotiated a peace treaty between the two powers. The negotiations lasted for fifteen hours and eventually, a peace was signed"
"Very impressive Commander. It must have been difficult"
"It was Admiral. The war had been going on for centuries, they evolved on the same planet, the same species. When they colonised a new world after a lasting peace, the peace broke down as the homeworld had demanded a 'Tribute' from their brothers and sisters on the colony, quickly the peace broke down and the war reignited with devastating consequences on both sides. I think it was fear of what our fleet was capable of which turned the tides"
"Three days later, we leapt away leaving behind a treaty which would hopefully last…" Called out a voice as a young girl entered the room and nodded to the Commander.
"Admiral Kathryn Janeway, this is Mila Tiran, my sister and the scientist I spoke of earlier"
"Scientist? How old are you Miss Tiran?" Janeway said in shock
"A pleasure ma'am. By your calendar, in fourteen hours, I will reach the age of 17" She said with a large smile as she sat in a vacant chair.
"… 17? And you…"
"Admiral, Mila has been working on our propulsion systems for as long as she can remember. She has spent half of her life onboard this vessel"
"Very impressive" Janeway replied slowly.
"Ali, Starfleet Command is requesting an update from our guest as soon as possible. They wish to know the status of our fleet. Our long range sensors have detected a very large and impressive Fleet of Federation Starships heading this way"
"I see. Admiral, we should break for the moment while you contact your superiors, you may use the console in the adjacent room. But before you do so… the reason that I have brought my fleet to his quadrant of space must be addressed, I will make the records of our travels available to your Federation if required to do so" Alicia said as she stood at attention.
"I was wandering about that Commander" Janeway said quickly.
"I know. We have literally tens of thousands of souls within our fleet, we have travelled thousands of light-years across hostile space. Not all of our travels have been easy for us and our jump-engines are almost expended from the constant use and require a severe overhaul. Your Federation is a vast alliance of worlds, what we are proposing is that our people be granted the use of an uninhabited world for which to establish a colony of our own. Many of our vessels are old and obsolete…"
"That maybe difficult Commander…"
"I have faith in your negotiation skills Admiral. In return for a world, we will freely share our advanced technology with your Federation if our request be granted"
"A most generous offer Commander" The Admiral's aide said quickly. "What if the Federation Council denies your request?"
"It is a fare question and I respect you for asking Commander, thank you. We will simply leave Federation space and find a world on our own away from any empire, when the Federation is ready, we will be waiting for your people…" Alicia replied.
"Take this in mind when you contact your superiors. I have thoroughly scanned your fleet Admiral, forgive me Ma'am, it is our standard procedure. A most impressive level of technologies, however… your technology is roughly 100 years behind our own. You can not imagine what we could give you, you have only heard a fraction of what our fleet is capable of… a technology that our own Council is more then willing to share with your Federation. Your fleet equipped with our advanced technologies can finally explore regions of space that you do not even know exist. Prior to this conversation, and with the agreement of our Counsel and your Starfleet Command, I transmitted a small segment of our star-charts to your commanders…"