We really aren't in Kansas anymore

by VasiliBeviin

After a virus is planted in the Warp Core of a Starfleet ship, a small crew is thrust into a galaxy full of war and conflict. Unsure of how to get home, they attempt to survive.

Chapter 1

Three weeks previous. Deep Space K-7.

The Patton Class Carrier sat docked in one of the long docking arms of the two hundred year old space station, worker bees floating around it, attaching new armor and other needed upgrades to the hull. Inside the ship, wires coated the floor as engineers worked around the clock to refit and upgrade the older ship. It had been damaged heavily in battle and was now going through a much needed refit.

One engineer walked through the ship, his tool box in one hand, music playing in an ear bud. It was so loud anyways that no one noticed the engineer just... disappear as he climbed through a Jefferies Tube.

And no one certainly noticed the man appear again in a place he wasn't supposed to be- the crew deck. Security cameras and other measures were not in place, so all he had to do to enter a cabin was open the door. The man, a Bolian, looked around, his eyes narrowed. He walked over to the replicator, and pushed his hand against it, popping open the computer panel. Leaning down, he picked up a small isolinear chip, and pushed it into the circuits of panel. With a nod, the panel was placed back on the replicator as if it hadn't been moved. The man's eyes drifted upwards to the air vents, and he turned in to bug, flying into the vents. No one knew he was even there.

USS Waterbury NCC 94394-C

Three weeks later.

Deep Space. 450 parsecs from Starbase 9.

'The Captain won't be happy about this Chief.'

Chief Kamis, a human, looked up from the Warp Conduit he was repairing. 'Oh is that so? I figured he would be overjoyed. Get back to work.'

The young Bolian turned quickly and hurried away.

'Chief, what the hell is going on down there? You said we could expect Warp speed in two hours. It's been six.' The Captain sounded more than annoyed.

The Chief let out a sigh as he stood up tapping his comm badge. 'Sir, for every problem we fix I'm finding thirty more. I have no idea why this is happening.' He wiped oil from his face as he leaned against the base of the warp core.

'So is that why we no longer have subspace, Chief?'

'It... yes sir. After I repaired the ODN relay in engineering the Subspace relay shorted out. I have all engineering crews working overtime. I... I don't have an ETA sir. I really don't.'

There was a long pause, one that caused the Chief to gulp. 'Just get my damn boat up and running Chief.'

Captain Bill Plourde turned to his XO, nodding to her. 'You have the bridge T'var. Keep us going at full impulse.' The Vulcan nodded, moving to the Captain's chair. 'I'll be in my ready room,' he said as he walked to his side office. The Captain let out a long yawn as the door shut behind him.

There was a stack of reports on his desk, PADD after PADD of requisition reports, intel about the Romulan fleet amassing near the Starbase, and of course report after report about the systems breaking down. 'This is a newly refitted ship,' he grumbled to himself, sitting down, feeling defeated as he slumped down the in his chair. His hand moved to the computer console on the desk, bringing up a screen. He tapped a button and the sound of Bach Cello Suite No.1 filled the small office space. The comm speaker chirped, 'Engineering to the Captain.'

Bill let out a sigh, shutting off the music. 'What is it Chief?'

'Sir... we... I think we found out why this is happening.'

The Captain stood up, straightening his uniform. 'What?'

'Sir, it's a virus. Someone used a replicator to somehow... we don't know how exactly. But they hacked into a replicator and were able to input this virus into the mainframe.'

Bill's face turned ashen, 'What kind of virus, Chief?'

'Dominion Tech, sir.'

Chapter 2.

Bill Plourde entered the engineering room, the Warp core dark, wires in piles on the floor around the entire area. 'What do we know, Chief?'

The Chief looked up from the console he was working at, his uniform unbuttoned, sleeves rolled up. 'Captain, every time we isolate and eliminate the virus in one place, it jumps to- another. This time it's lodged itself inside the Warp core computer. We're keeping it isolated right now, I don't want it jumping into the containment field controls.'

Sighing, Bill nodded as he ran a hand through his hair. 'What are our options, Chief?'

'I'm going to try to force the virus to jump back into the replicator system, at least then I can get Warp power back up. It'll short out the replicators and we'll have to eat rations but it'll be a lot easier to contain.'

The Captain nodded. 'Fine. Get it done, Chief.' He turned, leaving the Chief to go back to his work. Bill tapped his commbadge, 'Commander T'var ETA to Starbase 9?'

'Six days at full impulse, Captain.'

'…I see. Thank you, Commander.'

Two days later.

'Engineering to Bridge.'

Bill tapped his badge, standing up. The bridge was dark, with only a skeleton crew on duty. 'This is the Bridge.'

The Chief sounded exhausted. 'Sir, we have Warp power, and we have subspace again.'

Bill let out a relieved sigh, 'How fast?'

'Warp 9.9.'

He smiled, sitting back down. 'Good work Chief.' Bill looked to the ensign at the helm. 'Take us to Warp 4.5, Ensign.'

The Trill ensign nodded. 'Warp 4.5, aye sir.' Her fingers slid along the helm control, and the ship shuddered as he accelerated to faster than light speeds.

Bill leaned back in the Captain's chair, 'Switch to forward view,' he said. The Heads Up Display on the main bridge window disappeared, showing only the stars streaking by. He stretched slightly, sipping the cup of tea that was on the arm of his chair. Suddenly the ship- jolted. The few officers on the bridge flew forward. Sparks shot out of consoles along the ceiling, and alarm klaxons began to ring. Bill yelped as he was thrown forward, cutting his head on the broken glass of his tea cup. 'Report!' He shouted as red lights illuminated the bridge.

One of the ensigns crawled back up to a forward console. 'There was... a... I don't know. A flare up in the Warp core.'

'Engineering, report!' Bill shouted as he tapped his badge.

The sound of hissing could be heard from the other end of the comm. 'I don't know what happened sir! The core powered up fine, and as soon as we hit Warp, it just flared. I don't- I can't explain it!'

Bill sighed, slapping his badge again. He sat back down, wiping the blood from his forehead. 'Ensign,' he said to the Trill at the helm, a cut along her cheek. 'What's our position?'

The Trill looked down at her console, a frown on her face. 'I- um.' She muttered something, typing quickly. The HUD materialized on the forward window, a map appearing on the far left corner of it. 'I don't know sir. There... there isn't a single familiar star. The computer has no idea where we are.'

Bill leaned forward, 'Sensors are operational?'

'Aye sir. They're at full functionality. We're... someone far away from... everywhere sir.'

'Dammit...' He turned as medics arrived on the bridge, one doctor began to administer to the cut on his forehead. 'Doctor, any... any casualties?' He winced as he felt some antiseptic rub into his cut.

'One dead, dozens wounded. Mainly in engineering.'

Bill let out a long sigh. 'Who died?'

'Lieutenant Bralar, sir.' The doctor finished cleaning the cut, then walked to administer to the other wounded.

He was saddened. Bralar was one of the veterans of the Waterbury B, the Constitution Class Starship that was Bill's first posting as First Officer. He was a good man, a sharp Bajoran. 'Commander T'var.' He said as he tapped his comm badge.

'Captain.' The Vulcan's voice was tight.

'Where are you, Commander?' He stood up, rubbing the back of his head.

'Captain, I'm in engineering. I was down here when the... flare happened.'

Bill was about to open his mouth when the ensign at the helm turned. 'Sir! I've been able to pick up a nearby system. One sun. Six Planets... twenty seven moons. All but two of the planets seem to be inhabited.'

He nodded to the ensign. 'Commander. Have the senior officers ready for a meeting in two hours.' He tapped the comm badge then looked back to the helmsman. 'How far away are we from the system?' His eyes drifted to the map on the edge of the HUD.

'Two and a half hours present course. There's a lot of starship traffic coming in and out of the system. The computer can't even figure out what any of these ships are, sir.'

Bill nodded, sitting back down. 'Take us to half impulse.'

'Engineering to bridge.'

He looked up, leaning back in his chair as he tapped his badge. 'Yes Chief?'

'Sir, the virus is gone. Once the flare up happened in the core, it just.. disappeared. It's totally gone.'

The Captain sighed, looking at the HUD on the window, a blip on the map showing the system they were heading to grow larger and larger as they approached.

Two Hours Later, conference room.

The Senior staff was assembled in the tight room, everyone looked bruised up. The human Chief Kamis, head of security Lieutenant Commander Hedg'q a Klingon. The Vulcans Commander T'var and chief medical officer Doctor Nwifane. The Bolian Operations officer Lieutenant Commander Bandar, the Science Officer Lieutenant Commander B'por, another Klingon and Commander James Doolan, a human, and the Commander of the fighter squadron.

Bill entered the conference room, now wearing a new uniform, his red greatcoat. Something he picked up from his first CO, Vasili Sanstiev. 'Chief, what happened?' He said as he sat down at the head of the table.

The rest of the senior staff sat down. Kamis had a large bruise along his left eye. 'The- virus made a copy I think in the Warp Core's computer. It went dormant until we went to Warp, then it activated. Now I reckon, sir, that the virus was supposed to blow the containment fields around the core, then destroy it. Somehow it just... didn't. The field flared up, and pushed against the core itself. That's what threw us out of warp.'

Bill nodded, looking down. 'And what of the virus now, Chief?'

'It's completely gone sir. After it did what it was supposed to do it just... disappeared.'

'And the Warp core?'

'It went into an automatic lockdown. It won't be up and running for another... six hours at least.'

'And what about the Changeling who planted it?'

The Security chief spoke up. 'Sir, we've started phase sweeps and blood tests. Nothing. If I was forced to come up with a theory, this virus was planted during the refit. The Changeling is long gone.'

Bill sighed. 'That means it's wreaking havoc somewhere else. A Romulan threat AND a Dominion one.' He stopped, letting out another sigh. His head turned to the Chief Medical officer. 'Doctor, how are we looking with the wounded?'

The Vulcan looked up, 'No one is crippled or hurt to prevent them from being on duty. The body of Lieutenant Bralar is being kept in cold storage at the moment. '

'Commander Hedg'q. Status of our weapons?'

The Klingon had a gash along his eye from the accident. 'All weapons are fully operational, sir.'

Bill nodded. This was all too much to take in, but he had to deal with this all for now. His eyes flicked to Commander Doolan. 'Commander, what is the status of your fighters?'

Doolan offered the Captain a nod, 'All eighteen fighters are accounted for. None were damaged.'

'This is good news then.' He leaned forward and pressed a button on the table. A hologram of the system they were headed to appeared before the staff. 'There is not a single known star anywhere near us. We have no idea where we were thrown, or how far it is from the Federation.' Bill stood up, straightening his uniform. 'All but two of the worlds in this system are inhabited. One of them has a population of 95 Billion.'

Several gasps caused Bill to look up. He nodded, 'And that's not the bit that is shocking when you hear this. The entire moon is a city.'

Commander T'var spoke up. 'The entire moon, sir?' She raised an eyebrow, 'A planet would be believable- even though it is unheard of, but moon?'

'Indeed Commander. There's a lot of ship traffic going to and leaving the moon and its planet. The planet it orbits is habitable as well, but its atmosphere is polluted horribly.' He paused, pouring himself some water from the pitcher on the table. 'But, these planets are unknown to us. There is nothing in the computer database about them. Nothing at all.' He sat back down, taking a sip of his water.

'Sir.' The security chief spoke up, 'I suggest we enter the system at yellow alert. We don't know if the inhabitants will be hostile or not.'

Bill looked to the Klingon, then shook his head. 'No Commander. For all we know they could get spooked by us having our shields up, assume we're going to attack them. No. We go in at present speed, orbit the moon with the heavy traffic. We'll send down an away team to see what kind of people live down there.' He stood up once more. 'This could very well be a first contact situation. We need to be cautious. Dismissed.'

The officers stood up, filing out of the conference room. Bill remained sitting, watching the hologram of the system. He reached forward and pressed a button. The hologram zoomed in to the moon they were headed for. The lights across the moon were striking. An entire city stretching across a small moon. It was fascinating to say the least. He finally got up, placing his empty glass on the table.

Bill entered the bridge, looking around. The consoles that had been destroyed were finally fixed, and a full crew was manning the bridge. 'Report.' He said as he sat down in the Captain's chair.

'Sir, we've entered the system. Present course six-four-two mark nine-nine. We'll arrive in orbit of the city-moon in ten minutes.'

The Captain nodded. He looked to the HUD on the forward window, his eyes having trouble focusing on the information scrolling across it. 'I wish they would have stuck with the standard viewscreen,' he muttered.

T'var sat down in the First Officer's chair. 'Did you say something, sir?' She said with a raised eyebrow.

'Nothing, nothing Commander.' He leaned back. The moon and the planet it orbited were coming into view now. 'Have you ever seen anything like that, Commander?' He asked.

She shook her head. 'No sir. It is... fascinating.'

Bill thanked an ensign who brought a cup of tea to him. 'I've read the theories on city planets. Old Earth Science fiction from the 20th and 21st Centuries always featured ecumenopoleis. Earth always being one.' He chuckled, taking a sip of his tea. 'There was a fascinating setting I read of called the Warhammer 40k universe. Earth was a vast city planet that was horrible and dark, almost unlivable thanks to pollution and industrialization.'

The Vulcan looked bored as he began to drone, and most of the crew began to look down, trying to seem busy. 'Sir,' the ensign at the helm said, interrupting him. 'Sir, we have have taken an orbit around the planet. We are being hailed.'

Bill stopped talking, then his eyes drifted the the moon. 'On screen,' he said.

An image appeared over the window of a green alien with black eyes, and a long snout. It looked like a bug. 'Chowbaso Nar Shaddaa. Kee chai chai cun kata?'

The Captain blinked, looking to his first officer, then to the communications officer who shook his head. 'I am... sorry.' Bill said, standing up. 'I am Captain Bill Plourde of the Starship Waterbury. I can't understand you.'

The alien let out what could only be an annoyed sigh. 'Stoopa Koochoo.' It said before the connection went dead.

Bill turned to T'var. 'He seemed... annoyed, sir.' She said.

'I'm so glad your Vulcan intuition could pick that up, Commander.' He sat down, resting his head back.

'Captain, we're being hailed again.' The Ensign said.

'Great. Okay, let's see it.'

This time, a human of all beings appeared. 'Greetings, Welcome to Nar Shaddaa!' He said. The man wore a grungy pair of overalls, and had long matted hair.

'Hello,' Bill said, standing up again. 'I'm Captain Bill Plourde of the Federation Starship Waterbury.'

'Federation eh? You don't look like a bunch of Neimodians!' He laughed rather loudly at that. 'Are you folks looking to land?'

'Yes. We were going to land a shuttle, if that is okay.'

'Oh it's perfectly okay! Docking fee is fifty seven credits and two deci-creds.'

Bill looked to the Commander again, then back to the man on the screen. 'Erm, is that negotiable. We do not have... credits. We have other forms of currency, of course.'

The man looked off to the side, then back to Bill. 'Like what?'

'Gold Pressed latinum.'

He looked back off screen again, mumbling in another language. He nodded, then looked back to the Captain. 'That Gold of some kind?'

'Erm- yes.'

'Okay. 30 Kilos worth of that stuff then. Sending you landing coordinates. On behalf of the glorious Hutt Cartel, welcome to Nar Shaddaa.'

The screen went blank, and Bill sat down with a tired sigh. '30 kilos of gold pressed latinum How much do we have in the hold?'

T'var looked at the small screen on the arm of her chair. 'We have 300 kilograms in the hold.'

'Okay... okay. Load up fifty kilos into a shuttle.' He turned to the security chief, 'Commander Hed'q, you and Lieutenant B'por, and two security guards. Meet me in the hanger.'

The Klingons nodded, walking to the lift. 'Captain,' T'var stood up and walked next to him. 'I must remind you that regulations state-'

'I know what they state Commander. You have the bridge.'

Chapter 3

The shuttle craft sailed down to the moon on Nar Shaddaa, hundreds of thousands of ships of different sizes and shapes flying past. Bill piloted it deftly, avoiding the traffic as well as he could. B'por, the science officer was fascinated as she looked out the window.

'I've never seen anything like this.' She said.

Hed'q looked to Bill. 'Captain, since the universal translator most likely will not be of use to us how will we get anything done?'

'Not sure, to be honest Commander. It seems that they can speak English down there, which is good for us at least.'

Hed'q paused for a moment, his eyes drawn to a dozen ships that flew by with flashing lights. 'Captain. We are no where near Earth. When we identified himself, clearly the man confused the United Federation of Planets with some other kind of Federation. How are there humans out here?'

'I'll be honest, Commander. I'm trying not to ask myself that question. I don't want to go crazy.'

The shuttle landed in the docking bay it was assigned to, and a purple shield materialized over the entrance. Bill nodded to the two security guards. 'Offload the latinum, then wait aboard the shuttle.'

Hed'q, B'por, and Bill all walked out of the shuttle, and looked at the bay they were in. It had seen a lot of use clearly. The scorch marks along the shielded bay doors were very telling. The air smelled stale and polluted. The human they spoke to over the screen was approaching, with two large aliens that looked almost like pigs. They carried axes. 'Welcome to Nar Shaddaa!' He said with a false smile. He sneezed loudly, wiping his nose.

Bill couldn't help but notice the orange powder on the bridge of his nose. 'Thank you, mister?'

'Ah! Name is Malcolm Olrads, representative of the Hutt Cartel!

Bill didn't bother asking what this Hutt Cartel was, but he nodded to the security officers who offloaded the crate. 'Thirty Kilos of gold pressed latinum.' He said.

The man walked over to the crate, eyeing the two guards in the process. 'Nice weapons,' he said, motioning to their phasers. 'Never seen anything like 'em.' He bent down, his knees cracking as he did so. Malcolm opened the crate, and he picked up one of the bars of latinum. 'Yeah. Yeah this'll do.' He stood up and motioned for the two large aliens. They walked over and picked up the crate. 'Enjoy your stay.' The man said, leaving with the aliens.

'Extortion, Captain.' Hed'q said after they were out of earshot. 'I bet that man is going to take the latnium for himself.'

Bill shook his head. He motioned to the guards to stay by the ship. Picking up three bags, he handed them to B'por and Hed'q. 'We'll use this latinum to negotiate if we need to. They began walking to the exit of the bay. 'And no, no. The two guards with him weren't his own guards. I bet they work for this Cartel as well. Probably making sure he doesn't take the money.'

B'por had taken out her tricorder as they walked. 'This is a heavily polluted planet,' she said.

The three were wearing civilian clothes, and had phasers holstered. They walked out of the bay and onto a busy street. 'Wow.' Bill muttered as he walked to a fence about waist height along the edge of the street. He leaned on it and looked down, seeing a vast, deep canyon of metal. Neon lights shining up, signs and advertisements. He looked up, the skyline an impressive display of architecture of lighting. Speeding ships flew past the street along the canyons, diving down. He noticed pads jutting out from the streets above and below them, with the ships landing at them, picking people up. Aliens of all different shapes and sizes walked past them, paying the three Starfleet officers no mind at all. 'I think our first priority is to get some starcharts.'

'I agree Captain. Even then, however, it may take some time to upload charts to our computer, since this technology is so much more different than our own.' B'por said as her eyes drifted from the tricorder to the aliens walking all around them.

Bill nodded as they continued to walk. 'Yeah, either way, we're going to be in this system for a while. We need to also get our hands on some of their currency that they use. These uh, what were they?'

'Credits, sir.' B'por said.

'Credits, yes.' He rubbed his chin, 'We're going to be stuck in this galaxy for a while, I think.' There was a tinge of sadness to his tone. 'We're another Voyager, it seems like.' He shook his head as they continued to walk. 'A lot of humans.' His eyes drifted to the neon lights shining everywhere. 'Lieutenant Commander B'por,' he said to the female Klingon who seemed to be preoccupied with the sight of a large hairy alien about two meters tall. 'Commander B'por,' he repeated again.

She jumped, almost walking in to an alien with two long tails coming out of its head. 'Hm- yes sir?' She said, apologizing to the being as it swore at her.

'Commander,' he repeated with a sigh, 'Do you think it would be possible to upgrade the universal translator to understand the language on these advertisements.'

Her eyes drifted upwards to one of the many neon advertisements shining across the canyon next to them. 'I- I think so, sir. But we'll need some kind of software to do it.'

They stopped at a turbolift and all entered. 'Just remember how to get back to the shuttle,' Bill said to the two Klingons as he stared at the controls of the lift. After a moment he pressed one, and the lift zoomed upwards. The eyes of the three were drawn to the vast city-scape as they soared up and up. Two large round buildings floated in the middle of the city with heavy traffic stopping at them. Bill noticed a large landing pad along another tall building, where two small fightercraft took up, and escorted a gray ship of some kind. 'Military?' He said to Hed'q, pointing to what he saw.

The male Klingon watched the ship lift off, its wings folding out as it did. 'I think so, sir.'

Bill nodded, almost falling as the turbolift jolted to a stop. The drop down the canyon looked even deeper, if that was possible. The amount of lights down below looked so bright it was like molten lava shining up. They turned, leaving the lift behind them, and entered an area with blue and purple neon lights all around. The sound of ships zooming by was even louder, and it seemed to him that it would be something one had to get used to on this planet. 'Captain,' B'por said.

'Hm?'

She pointed to the side of the street. Holographic blue trees floated off of emitters. This area was totally packed with humans, all walking around, stopping at roadside shops to buy food and other items. 'The trees are... quaint.' Bill said, raising an eyebrow. His eyes were drawn to a building that a lot of foot traffic was walking in and out of, most people leaving were stumbling. 'A bar,' He said. 'As good a place as any to look for information.'

The three entered the building, and loud, thumping music greeted them. It was a packed place, with a large round bar in the middle. On the far end was a stage with a band playing. In one end of the bar was a series of screens on the wall, all having the same thing showing- aliens playing some kind of game in a stadium. Bill pointed to the screens, 'Looks like soccer,' he said to the two. They both nodded in agreement. The three walked over to the bar, finding a spot.

'What do you want?' The 'tender said as he approached them. He was a human with red hair and a scar across his neck.

'We're looking for information,' Bill said slowly. 'Our ship's computer was damaged and we... well, we our starcharts. Is there anywhere we can get new ones?'

The 'tender raised an eyebrow, 'Well, friend. I could help you out. But, you know how it is. Man's got to make a living, eh?'

Bill rolled his eyes, noting his colleagues were too busy looking at the various beings in the bar. Finally, he spoke. 'Well, I don't have credits, but how about gold?'

'Gold?' The man laughed, taking a swig of some kind of purple drink. 'Gold? Okay. What kind of gold?' He looked like he didn't believe this.

The Captain opened his bag and placed two bars of gold pressed latinum on the bar.

'Well... well. Gold.' The man said, picking one of the bars up. 'Okay. I can help you. Go have a seat over there,' he pointed to the back of the bar. 'I'll be right with you.' He flashed the three a smile, revealing two bronze teeth.

They all found an empty table. It was round with a bright light under it. Hed'q let out a quiet growl, 'This music is too loud,' he muttered.

Bill chuckled, thanking a waiter as three glasses of some kind of ale were placed on the table before them. The captain sniffed one of the drinks, then took a sip. 'It's not bad,' he said. To their right, they noticed two tables put together with men all wearing heavy armor slamming their fists on the tables. They were yelling in some kind of guttural language as they watched the game being played on the screens.

Hed'q let out another growl at the loud noises. 'Commander, relax, drink a little.' Bill said with a grin. His eyes were drawn back to the crowd of armored people as the bartender approached them. He walked over to one with black and blue armor, the only one wearing a helmet, and said something to him, then pointed to the Starfleet officers.

The man stood up, approaching them. He looked armed to the teeth, a missile of some kind in the jetpack on his back, two pistols on his hips. His helmet had a T-visor, and it made him look rather intimidating. The man sat down without invitation. 'Su'cuy gar.' He said in the guttural language. He switched to English after that. 'So, Jerak tells me that you need starcharts.' The man said.

'I- yes. Our computer malfunct-' Bill began.

The man raised his hand. 'I don't give an osik about the reason.' He paused, stretching. 'Fifteen bars of that gold you have can net me about two thousand credits. You give me fifteen bars, and I help.'

Bill looked to the two Klingons, both had their eyes narrowed. 'What can you do to help?'

'Give me access to your computer, I can upload starcharts. Takes a couple hours, but I can do it.' The man looked to the two Klingons for a moment, then back to Bill. 'Where is your ship docked?'

'Our ship is in orbit, we came down on a shuttle.' Bill responded, taking a sip of his drink.

The man tilted his head. 'Eh? Alright. Give me the coordinates of your ship, I'll head right over. Pay is ten now, five later, elek?'

'Erm, right. Yes. That's acceptable.' Bill opened his bag, taking out ten bars. Hed'q went to say something, but Bill shot him a look that told him to shut up. 'Here are the coordinates of our ship,' He said, showing the man a PADD. 'How about in three hours?'

The man nodded. 'Right. Six hours.' He stood up, collected his gold and walked back to his comrades.

Bill looked to the two Klingons, and finished his drink. 'Let's get back to the shuttle.' He said as they stood up.

'Captain I think this is a bad idea,' Hed'q said as they left the loud bar and walked back onto the metal streets, the neon lights seemingly even brighter than before.

'I know, Commander. But there isn't much else we can do.'

The Klingon growled. Bill looked to B'por, 'Commander, you've been quiet.'

'Sir...' she began. 'Sir- I.' She sighed. 'There are drug addicts everywhere. I can tell the symptoms. I think its a very common part of society here.'

Bill sighed, looking down as they walked. 'There's nothing we can do to interfere, Commander. The Prime Directive.'

'It's not right.'

'B'por.' Bill softened his voice, they stopped walking. 'I've seen things in my career that made me want to order my ship to open fire on planets just to save someone. The Prime Directive prevents that. This isn't the 22nd Century. There is no more cowboy diplomacy. Starfleet gives us rules to follow. And we follow them.'

The Klingon looked to her Captain, 'Even if we see people suffer?'

Bill looked down, then back to her. 'Even then.' They remained silent as they walked back to the turbolift. 'We are not gods, Commander. We can't save everyone.'

As the lift sailed downwards, they saw a massive ship float along the canyon infront of them. It looked like a yacht almost, and there was a large... slug like alien sitting in it. Two smaller ships floated along side it. 'I've never seen an alien like that,' B'por said quietly.

Bill nodded in agreement. Suddenly, another ship zoomed, stopping in-front of the barge. Alarms from the two escorts blared and aliens tried to find cover. The ship blocking the way was large, about the size of a Constitution Class. Two heavy cannons turned on the barge and opened fire. There was an explosion, and the area where the giant slug was exploded, the alien was thrown into the canyon, disappearing.

The explosion was so loud and bright as the Yacht went up in flames that even as the lift zoomed downwards along the buildings, they felt the heat.

'This is a violent place,' Bill said, wiping sweat from his face.

Chapter4

Three Hours Later

Vasili Bev'miir had thought those people were odd, of course, but when his D5-Mantis flew over the pole of Nar Shaddaa, and revealed their ship, he was more than surprised. 'Oh-Seven,' he said to his droid. 'You ever see a ship like that?'

The droid whirred, 'No master.'

He tapped a command into the computer, 'This is the Beroya requesting permission to dock.'

Static came over the comm, and he heard a female voice devoid of emotion. 'Acknowledged. It appears your ship may not be able to fit in our hangar. Lower your shields and be prepared to beam aboard.'

Vasili looked to the droid, 'Beam?' He said. The droid simply shrugged. He cautiously lowered the shields, sliding a finger across the touchpad controls. Suddenly he felt himself grow lighter, bright lights filled his view, blinding him even through his helmet. Then suddenly they disappeared, and he was... not on his ship anymore.

His hands went for his guns, but he stopped when he saw the man from the bar hurry in to the room, hands raised. 'No, no! It's fine! You were transported over!' He said.

Vasili's looked around, noticing everyone in uniforms of some kind, red, yellow, and blue. The man from the bar wore a greatcoat of some kind, red and black. Clearly he was important. 'I've- never seen anything like that,' Vasili finally said, stepping off of the pad he was on.

'Yes, I didn't want to use the transporter, but there was no way of getting you aboard other wise. Please, follow me.' The door slid open and the two were in a sleek hallway. Crew going about their daily business, walking into lifts and out of them.

Vasili saw all kinds of aliens he had never seen before in his life. Blue ones with antennae, human looking aliens with pointed ears. Some ugly little short and hairy ones too. 'Oh-seven I'm safe, pilot the ship until I get back,' Vasili said into his comm, thankful that he could mute himself to the outside. His eye winked at the HUD, turning a recorder on. Then he un-muted himself, 'So, where is your main computer?' He asked.

The Captain turned as they walked. 'Just down this way.'

The two entered a large room, with a giant core of some kind in the middle, red and blue lights flashing around it. The room itself was just as tall as the core in the middle, with catwalks going all the way up to the ceiling. The crew seemed to be busy, but they all stopped what they were doing when the two entered the room. Military. Definitely military.

'As you were,' the Captain said, and the crew immediately went back to work. 'This way,' he said to Vasili. A man in a yellow uniform was half inside a wall panel, yelling about something, 'Chief.' The captain said to the man. A loud yelp is what greeted them as the Chief slammed his head on something in the wall.

'What is-' he stopped, taking a breath as his eyes focused on Vasili. 'Ah, you're the fella. Right. Now, how long will this procedure take?'

Vasili shrugged. 'Could take three hours. Could take six.'

The man let out a sigh, 'Yeah fine. Right.' He turned, and pulled another panel off the wall. 'Here's the nav-computer.'

Vasili's HUD blipped, and he switched the view to the rear, noticing two red clad aliens enter, guns on their hips. Aruetiise are so easy to scare. He switched the view back to his front, looking at the computer panel. 'Right,' he said out loud. Leaning down, he pulled a cord out of his gauntlet and attached it to a port. His eyes looked at the information scrolling across his HUD. Blinking, he activated the software transfer, inputting the starcharts into the ship.'

'So, you're not an android, are you?' The captain said.

Aruetiise always love to talk. 'Nope.'

'I... see. Well, if you need me, ask the Chief and he'll patch you through to me.' With that, the- Captain turned and walked past the two security guards.

Vasili rolled his eyes, then opened up his comm. 'Daerek,' he said into it, making sure he was muted to the outside.

'Elek?'

'Daerek. It's me. I'm on some kind of... different ship for a job.'

'What's different about it?' His cousin sounded annoyed.

'Well, their hold was too small for the Beryoa, so they somehow were able to make me materialize on their own ship. '

There was a long pause, 'You do a little spice on the Smuggler's moon?'

'I'm not lying.'

'Well, why are you tellin' me this?'

Vasili let out a sigh, 'Because this is tech I've never seen before, Daerek. This ship isn't that big, it's about 500 meters long. We could get some good stuff from it. Make Mand'alor a happy man.'

Another pause. 'Can you put a tracker aboard?'

'Aye, way ahead of you. I'm uploading starcharts to their main computer. They're bloody trusting. I don't think they're from around here. Story doesn't check out.'

'What was the story?'

'That the computer malfunctioned and deleted ALL of their starcharts.'

'They sound smart alright.' His cousin sounded bored still.

'I'll get back in touch once I'm off this ship. The tracker is going to be embedded in their nav-computer. Totally untraceable.' He winked at the comm icon, and shut it off.

Bill sat down in the bridge chair, the crew busy around him. 'Let's see engineering,' he said as a cup of tea was handed to him. He relaxed slightly, then watched a view of engineering appear over the window. The armored man was going about his work, just standing there, a wire connecting from his armor to the computer. 'How long has it been?' Bill said.

T'var looked over to him. 'Three point seven hours sir.' She said.

'Should be done soon then.' Bill looked back at the screen.

The man stood up, and pulled the wire out of the jack, then looked to the chief, who tapped his comm badge.

'Engineering to Bridge.'

'Bridge here,' Bill said.

'Sir, it's done.'

Bill looked to T'var, then back to the screen. 'Good. I'll be right down.' He stood up, 'T'var you have the bridge. Take a look at the new starcharts.'

The Vulcan nodded as Bill walked to the turbolift and headed to engineering.

When he got down to the engineering room the man was standing by the computer panel. Bill had the case of latinum, five bars inside. He handed it to the man, then motioned to the door. 'I'll walk you to the transporter room. We really appreciate this.'

'Mhm.'

It was off-putting, a person who didn't want to talk. 'Well, we really appreciate this. Ever since we lost our starcharts it's been such a damned pain.'

'Aye.'

Bill twitched slightly, but didn't say anymore as they walked down to the transporter room. He motioned to the pad, and the armored fellow stepped atop it. The Captain walked to the console. 'Before you leave. I noticed you and your comrades in the bar. You all wear armor. Why is that, if I may ask?'

The man's helmet tilted towards Bill. 'We're Mandalorian,' Is all he said. 'Do it.'

Bill nodded and slid the control up, the transporter buffer gleamed as it activated, and the man disapeared. He let out a sigh, then tapped his comm badge. 'Commander T'var. How are the starcharts?'

There was a long pause, then he heard the Vulcan. 'Sir, the charts are adequate. And the computer has been able to translate the language it is in.'

He smiled at that, walking out of the room, 'Good,' he said as he walked. 'Two birds one stone.'

'...Yes sir. We seem to be in the Y'Toub system. Controlled by an alien species called Hutts.'

'I see. I see. Well. I think it's time to leave. Commander I'll be on the bridge shortly, take us out of orbit.'

'Aye sir. Bridge out.'

Bill sat back down in his chair as the ship soared away from Nar Shaddaa. 'What looks like our best bet for decent help?'

T'var stood up and walked to one of the consoles in front of the command seats. 'There are several factions in this Galaxy mapped out on the charts, sir.' She typed a command in and the charts appeared up on the viewscreen. 'The Galactic Republic here, Sith Empire out here, then the Hutt Cartel here, where we are. There are also the Mandalorians marked in this system off here.' As she spoke the systems she referred to appeared in different colors.

Bill nodded as he watched the star systems appear. 'And of course we know nothing about any of them.' He sighed, looking up at the ceiling for a moment. 'Show me this Republic again, please.' He said.

The Vulcan nodded, bringing up Republic space. 'They seem to be in the middle of this galaxy, sir. Their capital is called Coruscant.' She typed something, and the map zoomed in to the world. 'It is another city-wide planet, an ecumenopolis.'

Bill nodded, looking at the planet as it floated on the screen. 'How long will it take us to get to that planet?'

'Fifteen days at Warp 4, which is what both myself and the Chief recommend for now. We don't know if dilithium is used in this galaxy to power their drives. So we need to be careful.'

He let out a sigh. 'Damn.' Bill stood up, walking closer to the screen. 'Coruscant it is. Make it so, number one.' He turned around, and tapped his commbadge. 'Bridge to engineering.'

'This is Engneering.'

'Chief, how are we looking with the replicators?'

'Well sir, they're back online.'

'Okay. For the sake of power conservation I'm instituting a replicator ration system. The same goes with the holodeck.'

'Aye sir, I'll let the crew know.'

Bill tapped his commbadge, shutting off the line. An ensign turned to him, 'Course laid in sir.'

He nodded, sitting back down in the captain's chair. 'Execute.' He said to the helmsman.

The ship shuddered and the stars streaked past as they left the Y'Toub system behind. 'With any luck, we can get some more currency on Coruscant. It seems that gold is worth a lot, but we only have so much. We need their credits. That has to be a priority.'

T'var nodded. 'Of course, sir.'

Bill shook his head, letting out a sigh. 'We're in for the long haul, Commander.'

Vasili loaded the gold into his hold, then walked into the cockpit. His droid stood up from the pilot's chair and sat back down at the co-pilot seat. He pulled his helmet off, revealing a scarred face. His eyes looked to the white and black starship he was just on, watching its engines power up red and then soar off away from the Smuggler's moon. Oh-Seven looked over the computer as it poured data out. 'Master, the tracker is working. The ship just entered hyperspace.'

The Mandalorian smirked, leaning back in his chair. 'Good. We'll keep an eye on them. But for now, I have business back on Manda'yaim.' His gloved hands slid across the helm controls, and he set a course for Mandalore. 'I'll get that tech though. They don't even know who Mandalorians are. That means they don't know what to expect.' He laughed to himself, his eyes watching the blip of the unknown ship on the tracking radar.

Beroya soared away from Nar Shaddaa. 'Master, we are away fron Nar Shaddaa's gravitational pull.

Vasili nodded. 'Right. Engaging hyperdrive.' He pulled the lever down, and the ship lurched forward, the bright tunnel of hyperspace illuminating before them as they zoomed away.

Chapter 5

The Waterbury had been traveling for almost twenty days, and they were finally close to the planet Coruscant. Bill was forced, to his chagrin to lower the speed from Warp Four to Warp Three. It put them five and a half days off schedule.

'Bridge to the Captain.'

The comm jolted Bill awake as he slept in his cabin, sending him flying to the floor. 'Ngh- this is the Captain.' He rubbed the bruise on the back of his head.

'Captain, we are twenty minutes from Coruscant.' T'var sounded as bored and emotionless as ususal.

'On- On my way.' He said, sitting up. Bill stood up, stretching. 'Coffee, cream and two sugars.' He said to the Replicator. His cup of coffee materialized and he took a sip, wincing. The Replicators had been on the fritz for a few days, and it looks like this time it forgot the sugar. 'Going to be a long day,' he muttered to himself.

The bridge was bustling with activity, a full crew on staff today.

'Captain on the bridge!

'As you were,' Bill said as he walked to his chair. He was wearing his normal uniform today. 'Report.'

Commander T'var looked over to him, 'We are in orbit of the planet Coruscant, sir.'

The bright ecumenopolis floated before them. Bill stood up and walked up to the forward window. 'Nar Shaddaa looked dark and depressing. This planet looks bright and energized.'

'Yes sir.' The Commander said.

'Captain,' the Comm officer spoke up. 'We're being hailed by Coruscant Traffic Control.'

Bill nodded, walking back to the chair. 'On screen.' He sat down, straightening his uniform as he did.

A human in a military uniform appeared on the screen. 'Unknown ship this is Coruscant Air Traffic Control. What is your business on Coruscant?'

'Greetings. I'm Captain Bill Plourde of the United Federation of Planets. We are looking re-fuel our ship and resupply in the process.'

The officer on the screen looked down for a moment, then back up at them. 'Your ship configuration is unknown. Would you consent to a search of your ship?'

Bill raised an eyebrow, looking to T'var for a moment. 'What for, if I may ask?'

The man looked bored. 'With the war on, we need to make sure you're not Sith spies of course. Do you consent?'

'Fine. Yes, we consent.'

'Good. Take up a standard orbit, a shuttle will be aboard shortly.' The screen shut off.

'Friendly people,' Bill said as he looked over to the Commander.

The Comm officer spoke up once more, 'Sir, the shuttle is approaching. They are requesting permission to dock.'

Bill looked over to the officer, 'On screen.'

The shuttle appeared on screen. It was small enough to fit in the aft hangar bay. 'Direct them to shuttlebay Aft.' He said finally.

The officer nodded and spoke into his headset.

'Commander, you have the bridge.' Bill said, standing.

The shuttle jolted as it left the atmosphere of Coruscant. Jaelor Olrads, Jedi Knight and his Zabrak Padawan Zatlif sat behind the pilots, looking out of the viewport at the ship they flew towards. 'Jaelor, this is stupid.' She said impatiently.

Jaelor looked over to his young Apprentice. 'Master.' He corrected her. The man leaned back in his seat, adjusting his robes. 'And it is not stupid.'

'We have better things to do! We're Jedi for kriffs sake!'

'If we were not in this shuttle, Padawan, you would be in the archives studying with Master Dural. Is that what you would rather do?'

The Zabrak shot him a look. 'Fine. Fine.' she muttered.

'And this is important work we are doing, Padawan.'

'I don't agree, Master.'

Jaelor motioned to the viewport, the unknown ship in front of them. 'This ship is totally unknown, Padawan. The Republic archives can find no information about this ship type. The aliens seen on the bridge of it when ATC contacted them are unknown. They all wear uniforms, so they are clearly military. Yet the uniforms are unknown to us as well. This could be a positive first contact, or they could be another enemy wishing to do the Republic harm. THAT is why the Council, and the Senate, AND the Supreme Chancellor asked us to go with the troopers.'

Zatlif opened her mouth to say something, then shut it. 'Fine.' She muttered. 'Fine. This is still stupid.' The Zabrak lowered her voice, 'And you're stupid for accepting this mission, JAELOR.'

The Jedi Knight frowned, but looked back to the viewport as they approached the ship. He placed his hand on the saber attached to his belt.

'USS Waterbury, this is shuttle ST-321- Aurek. Requesting permission to dock.' The pilot, a Mirialan, said into the comm. '

After a moments pause, a woman's voice could be heard over the comm-speaker. It was cold and emotionless. 'This is Waterbury. We are sending you coordinates to the aft shuttle bay. You may land when ready.'

'Acknowledged.' The pilot looked the controls, directing the shuttle along the unknown ship's hull, the white and black of the ship reflected thanks to the bright sun. The pilot tapped something and the viewscreen turned darker.

Jaelor stood up, leaning over to the pilot. They whispered to each other for a second, then the Jedi sat back down. 'Curious.' He said.

Zatlif looked back to her Master. 'What is curious?' She said, still annoyed.

'Their shields are down.'

She rolled her eyes. 'Well, they'd have to be if we wanted to land.'

'No, Padawan. You are not hearing me. Their shields were not up in the first place.'

The usually cocky Zabrak opened her mouth, then shut it, her face furrowed. 'Oh.' She said, confused.

The shuttle bay opened as they flew along the aft side of the ship. 'Those must be the propulsion drives,' Jaelor muttered as he looked at the long red and blue glowing rods. His eyes drifted to the bay as the shuttle slowed and began the landing process. The wings folded up, and the pilots were dead silent. The Jedi's eyes focused on the ceiling of the bay as they landed. 'Fighter craft of some kind,' he said to Zatlif, pointing to the odd shaped craft attached to cranes. With a thud, they felt the ships' weight rest on the landing claws. The two Jedi stood up and turned to the Republic troopers. 'Soldiers,' Jaelor began. 'This is a delicate situation. We're going to be cautious, but I don't want these people to get spooked. Understood?'

The white clad soldiers all nodded an affirmative.

Jaelor looked to the pilots, nodding. The ramp hissed as it opened. 'Safety on, soldiers. We're not Sith, remember that.'

The hanger bay was busy, two shuttles docked to the sides, with three fighters attached to cranes on the ceiling. The Republic shuttle had just landed, and it was big. Its two wings folded upwards, and it rested on two landing claws. A ramp lowered down from it and a bay opened. Five soldiers in white armor marched off, their rifles raised suspiciously. They stood at attention and two beings walked down the ramp.

One of them was was older, he wore brown robes with some armor beneath them, the other wore a long skirt with robes, she was not human unlike the other man. There were horns atop her skull. She followed after the older man, clearly a subordinate. Bill walked forward, stretching out his hand. 'Greetings, I'm Bill Plourde of the Waterbury.'

The older man took his hand, followed by the young woman. 'Greetings, the man said. I am Master Jaelor Olrads of the Jedi Order. This is my Padawan Zatlif.' The young woman bowed her head slightly, but she looked beyond bored. 'We represent the Government of the Galactic Republic. My soldiers will begin their scans now, if that is permitted?'

Bill nodded. 'Yes, of course.' he was taken aback by the calm that radiated off of the two beings.

'I can have someone show them around the ship, if you wish?'

Jaelor nodded. 'That would be most helpful indeed.'

The Captain motioned to a security guard, who ushered the Republic soldiers out. 'Would you like to look around as well, Mister Olrads?'

He nodded. 'Please.'

The Captain led the two representatives out of the shuttle bay. 'This is an Patton Class Carrier. First of its kind.' Bill said as they walked through the sleek hallways, the lights reflecting off of the armor of the older Jedi.

The older man nodded. ''That is an interesting name.' He said, his hands folded behind his back.

'Yes, it's named after a famous General in my homeworld's history. A man called General George S. Patton.'

'And, what homeworld is that, exactly?' The Jedi said.

Bill paused, stopping in front of the conference room. 'That's what I think we should talk about. The door opened, 'Please.' He said.

The two entered the room, and were greeted to the senior staff. ''This is the senior staff of the Waterbury. My First Officer, Commander T'var. Our Chief Medical Officer, Doctor Nwifane. Operations Officer, Lieutenant-Commander Bandar. Our Science officer, Lieutenant-Commander B'por. Chief Kamis here is the head of engineering, and Commander James Doolan, Commander of the fighter squadron. Our head of security, Lieutenant-Commander Hed'q is with your men.'

Jaelor nodded, 'I am Master Jaelor Olrads, of the Jedi Order, and this is my young apprentice, Zatlif. We represent the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic.'

Bill motioned to the two added chairs. 'Please, sit.' He said.

Everyone sat down with a shuffling of chairs. The Jedi looked towards Bill, his apprentice glancing around the room. 'The Senate was, spooked to say the least when ATC reported to the Army that there was a totally unknown ship in orbit.' Jaelor began. 'That is why they sent us.'

The Captain nodded. 'We went out on quite a limb to get here.' His eye drifted to Commander T'var for a moment, before he looked back to the Jedi. 'We're not from this Galaxy.'

Jaelor blinked, Zatlif rolled her eyes. 'Excuse me?' He said. Clearly this was a man not used to being speechless or being taken-aback.

'Indeed. There was a freak accident with our Warp core. One that the Chief still hasn't been able to figure out. But, it thrust us into this galaxy. Outside the erm-' He looked to the Commander.

'The Y'Toub system.' she said.

'Yes, the Y'Toub system.

Jaelor folded his hands in his lap. 'Well, if what you say is true, and I sense no malice. But if what you say is true that is bad area to be... thrust into the Galaxy in.'

'We really knew nothing about it.' Bill said. 'We were able to use some gold pressed latinum to pay for landing fees and someone to instal starcharts into our main computer. That's how we got here.'

The Jedi nodded slowly. 'You picked a bad time to just stumble into our galaxy.'

'Why is that?'

Jaelor looked to his Apprentice, then back to Bill. 'There's a war on. We've been at it for almost forty years now. With the Sith Empire.'

Bill nodded slowly, 'I did see the Sith Empire mapped out on the starcharts we were given, yes.'

'People are calling this the Great War. I've been fighting it almost my whole life.'

The Captain leaned forward. 'War is a... terrible thing. But, we need to get back to our Galaxy. There is conflict brewing. Threats from all sides. We need to be back in the fight.'

Jaelor leaned back in his chair. 'How do you expect to do that, if I may ask.'

'We don't know. Chief Kamis thought that maybe trying to recreate the condition of our arrival would do that, but there is no possible way.'

The Jedi looked to the Captain, nodding slowly. 'I could ask the Jedi Council to see what we could do. Though, I am sure they would want something in return.'

Bill tried not to sigh out loud. Prime Directive he thought to himself. 'Such as?'

Zatlif spoke up, 'Help us kill those damned Sith on Drom-' She let out a groan as Jaelor glared at her.

'Accept my apologies. My VERY young Apprentice speaks out of turn. I'll have to speak with the Jedi Council. The Grand Master of the Order is meeting with Chancellor Saresh on Coruscant, so I can speak with her as soon as she is available.'

The Captain nodded, his eyes glancing at the alien Apprentice for a moment before he looked back to the older Jedi. 'Please do, Mister Olrads.'

A whoosh made everyone look to the door as it opened. Hed'q was standing in the doorway with the soldiers. 'General Olrads, the ship is clean.' One of the men said.

Jaelor nodded, standing. 'We will go back to the planet, and will be in contact with you. If any of your people wish to have shore leave, they may land. I'll have ATC send you the coordinates for landing zones. 'I will speak to you all soon.'

Bill stood up with them, 'I'll walk you back to the shuttle,' He said with a nod. The three left the room, soldiers forming up behind the two Jedi.

The shuttle was already powering up when they entered the shuttle bay. Bill turned to the Jedi, holding his hand out. 'It was a pleasure, and on behalf of the crew, I thank you for any assistance you can give us.'

Jaelor grasped Bill's hand, shaking it, and Zatlif did the same. The two Jedi walked up the ramp into their shuttle, the soldiers following behind them. Bill moved to the hallway, sealing the door to the shuttlebay. He looked out of the viewport in the door as the shuttlebay doors slid open, and the Shuttle lifted off, its wings folding down as it did so. With a whoosh, it was gone.

'We can't fight a war, sir.' Hed'q said. 'We can't help them.'

Bill nodded, 'I know. I have a feeling we won't get the help we need here.'

The shuttle zoomed away, past the long engines of the Waterbury. It turned, flying over the large saucer of the ship. Within moments the ship was behind them.

'When I said that they would have to do something in return for us most likely, did you notice the brief moment of panic the Captain felt.'

Zatlif looked to her Master, nodding. 'I did.' She looked past him, her eyes watching space go by in the viewport. 'Can we trust them, Master?'

'I think so.'

'By the way,' Zatlif lowered her voice, and slapped her Master over the back of his head. 'Don't yell at me.'

Jaelor shot her a look, 'Not now, Zatlif.' He said. Leaning back, the Jedi looked to the viewport as the shuttle entered the atmosphere of Coruscant, the bright blue sky and Galactic City in its full glory. 'I don't know what they're going to do if we can't help them.'

'You don't think they would go to the Sith, do you?' She responded.

'I... don't know. They seem like good people, though. Maybe we should send them some information about the Sith. As a good-will gesture.'

'Do you think the Chancellor or the Council would let you?'

'I don't know. I'm sure I could convince them, Padawan,' he answered.

They flew over the vast pipelines delivering water to Galactic City from the Manarai Mountains and the Works, speeder traffic got heavy as the flew past the Jedi Temple, now being rebuilt after the Sith Bombardment.

The shuttle zoomed past the Senate, two new Warships were docked at the starport across from the tower. Jaelor noted the troops filing up the ramps of them as the shuttle landed in the military docking section. 'Where are they going?' Zatlif asked as the shuttle touched down, its wings folding up.

Jaelor stood as the ramp opened, and bright sunlight filtered in to the shuttle. 'Mygeeto.' he said, 'The Sith staged another attack. We're sending six legions to take care of it.'

'Six?' The Zabrak said incredulously, 'Six? But they had to come from somewhere, what theater is getting bit in the ass because of this?'

'You're not with the soldiers, you don't need to swear like one,' her Master replied. 'And I believe they were taken from the front at Rhen Var.'

She sighed, 'We're not going to win if we stretch this thin.'

'I wasn't aware you were a General, my very young apprentice.' Jaelor said to her as they both walked off the ramp.

Outside in the parade grounds, massive walkers marched up the giant ramps. Artilery canons followed behind them. Gully Jumpers landed and took off, delivering more soldiers to go to the new front. 'Commandos?' Zatlif said, pointing to one of the Gully Jumpers. Six heavily armored soldiers in black armor jumped off of it. They hurried up the ramp as another Walker marched up.

Jaelor's eyes drifted to the soldiers. 'Looks like.' He said.

The wind picked up as starfighters flew across the skyline, landing in the open hold of the- warships. The massive ramps of the two ships closed as the last soldiers filed on board. The sound was deafening as the engines kicked on, thrusting the giant ships up into the air. The two Jedi's robes billowed as they took off.

'Come on!' He shouted over the sound of the engines. 'We'll meet with Master Shan at the Senate tower!'

Chapter 6

'Captain, we're picking up large ships leaving the planet's atmosphere.'

Bill Plourde sat down on the bridge, a cup of tea was handed to him. 'On screen.' He said.

Two massive warships were pushing out of the atmosphere of the city-planet. Six large engines seemed to power them. They were bulbous and elongated at the top, with a bridge section jutting out. Within moments the two ships had left the atmosphere completely, and disappeared in bright flashes.

'Well.' Bill said, unblinking. He looked surprised. 'So they certainly don't use Warp drives that I've ever seen. Send a playback of what we just saw to the Chief.'

The comm officer nodded, turning in her chair to look back at her console.

Bill sipped his tea, leaning back in his chair. 'Commander T'var.' He turned to his right, the Vulcan raised her eyebrow,

'Yes Captain?' She answered.

'I want you to take Commander Hed'q and Commander B'por with you down to the surface. Just look around, study. I want to know what kind of people they are down there.'

The Vulcan nodded and stood up. 'Commanders Hed'q and B'por, report to Shuttlebay A.' She said, walking over to the lift.

As the door hissed shut, Bill turned back to the viewscreen, now centered on the ecumenopolis before them. He sipped his tea again, and just watched the traffic come and go.

The shuttle zoomed through Coruscant's atmosphere as Hed'q piloted it deftly through the heavy traffic that was coming through. 'Nar Shaddaa was so dismal, at least this planet has some light to it,' B'por said as she calibrated her tricorder.

'Indeed, Commander.' T'var said, her eyes forward.

The shuttle turned as they flew lower along the vast skyscrappers. To the left, a massive ziggurat could be seen with four spires in the process of construction. A fifth spire in the middle was the only one fully built. The building towered over the rest of the city-scape. 'Maybe that's the Senate that Olrads mentioned,' Hed'q said offhand as he piloted them past the colossal structure.

They hurtled past, finally spotting the landing pad that they were ordered to. It was in the across from a tall domed building. They landed carefully, and the three got out. 'Be sure you have your latinum on hand,' T'var said to the two Klingons as they stepped out of the small craft.

The trio was met by a man in purple and red robes. He was an older human with a kindly face.

'Welcome! I am Vice Chancellor Aldar Amaer.' He said with a flourish and bow. T'var noted the expensive silks his robe was made of, and the gold attached to it.

'I am Commander T'var, First Officer of the USS Waterbury,' The Vulcan replied. 'This is Commander Hed'q, Head of Security, and Commander B'por, science officer.' The Flatness of her voice was off-putting, as she noticed the man tilt his head. Humans were very illogical when it came to the need to have a tone whenever they spoke.

The two Klingons nodded their heads as they were introduced to the Vice Chancellor. 'Supreme Chancellor Sarash would very much like to speak with you, if you're representing your ship, that is.'

'Indeed we are.' T'var said.

The Vice Chancellor paused, still confused by the lack of tone. 'Erm, right this way. I have a speeder that can take us to the Chancellor's office at The Palace of the Republic.' The group strolled across the landing pad to a luxurious red speeder. A hairy alien, about 1.5 meters tall opened the door so the Starfleet officers could enter. He hurried around the other side and sat down in the drivers seat. 'I hope you don't mind an open cock-pit,' The Vice Chancellor said as the speeder lifted off of the pad.

Wind blasted against the speeder as they zoomed across the city-scape. Aldar pointed to the large domed building they had noticed when they were landing. 'That's the Senate building right there!' he shouted over the heavy gale.

B'por raised her voice to talk over the wind. 'What about that large building with the five spires?'

The man's face darkened for a brief moment. 'The Jedi Temple. The Tax payer is footing the bill to rebuild it after the Sith bombed half of Coruscant to take the building out.'

He grew less talkative after that, his gaze directed to the outside of the speeder. B'por looked to the two other officers, raising an eyebrow. T'var noted the man's change in demeanor, clearly there was... anger over these Jedi. It was an order of some kind, she knew this from what Jaelor Olrads had said, but it was clear some did not approve of them.

The speeder shook as it landed on another pad, this one atop another tall skyscraper. The Vulcan noted just how tall it was. Behind them the Jedi Temple was in perfect view, but still just slightly taller than this Palace. Two guards in long blue robes with Roman-styled helmets guarded the door infront of them. They both had rifles slung over their backs. The two guards parted for the group as they walked to the door.

It opened with a hiss, and the loud noise of the constant air traffic of the planet was completely muted as the doors shut behind them. The walls were made of a red- material. Very regal, the Vulcan noted. They walked through another set of doors, and entered a vast halway. It could probably hold two Galaxy Class Starships. The hall was bigger than anything she had seen on Earth or Vulcan.

The Vice-Chancellor led the trio through the gargantuan room, their footsteps echoing against the polished marble of the floors. Tapestries adorned the walls with the same symbol, a round seal with wings of some-kind within. They stopped at another door, this one had to be pushed. Vice Chancellor Aldar stood to the side for them, and two guards pulled it open, revealing a large office. The walls were made of gold colored material, the sun reflecting off of them to make the room feel relaxed. On the far end was a desk with a massive window behind it, showing a view of the city. Sitting at the desk at the end was a green skinned alien woman with two long tentacles coming out of her skull. She stood up when the group entered.

'Please, come in!' She said, walking around the desk to greet them.

T'var noted the Vice Chancellor did not enter with them, and the great doors shut with a loud thump.

'I am Supreme Chancellor Saresh, and I take it you are the representatives of the ship from another Galaxy?'

She was acting kind and welcoming, but that was only a facade, the Vulcan realized. She was cunning, and beneath the kindness of her eyes was someone who would use anything for political advantage. 'We are. I am First Officer of the USS Waterbury, T'var of Vulcan. This is the head of Security,' she motioned to the Klingons, 'Hed'q, and the Chief Science officer B'por.'

The Chancellor nodded. 'I see. I welcome you again to Coruscant. Please, have a seat.' She- motioned to some chairs assembled in-front of the desk.

As the trio sat down, T'var noticed how they desk sat higher than the chairs. It was almost Cardassian in design. Force your audience to look up at you. It cements your power as the one in charge.

'Now,' the Chancellor began, 'I have been briefed by Master Olrads. He has told me everything. And I think the Republic could help you.'

T'var raised an eyebrow. She knew a but was coming. Logic dictated that would happen.

'But, we need your assistance.'

'What kind of assistance?' T'var responded, her hands folded in her lap.

'Well, we are at war. Your ship has advanced weaponry. We would like the chance to examine- what you have on-board. It could give us an edge in the war.'

'I would have to discuss that with my Captain, ma'am.' T'var already knew the answer, but she had to follow the chain of commander. 'My Captain has asked me to request, however, assistance with the currency of your Galaxy. These credits. We do not use Currency in the Federation, as it is up to a member world to decide if they wish to keep their own economic systems. We do have gold pressed latinum on board the Waterbury, but we could use Credits.'

Saresh smiled, but there was a cold emotion to it. 'Of course. Please take your time. And extend an invitation to your Captain to visit the surface. As for the Credits, I could have someone come aboard your ship and look into it.' An aide walked over and whispered something to the alien. 'Ah,' she said, standing. 'An emergency session of the Senate has been called. Would you three like to look in?'

'If that is not too much trouble, m'am.'

'None at all!'

The senate building was a buzz with activity. Hundreds of different kinds of aliens filled into rooms in the rounded lobby. A Guard showed the Starfleet officers to a set of stairs leading up to another lobby. The Vulcan noticed some beings in brown robes similar to Jaelor Olrad's filing into the room they were lead to.

The lighting changed as the officers entered. The Senate chamber was a gargantuan circular room with pods all along the walls. The Jedi paid the officers no attention as they entered their own pod. 'You'll have to stay here,' the guard said to the trio, pointing to where the pod attached to the wall.

A large podium rose up in the middle of the chamber, stopping about midway up. The Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor sat in it. The loud rumbling of talking beings quieted. Vice-Chancellor Aldar stood up, holding a great staff in one hand. 'The Chair recognizes the Senator from Coruscant.' He sat back down as a pod detached from the far end of the domed wall.

A human with graying hair combed back stood up in the pod. A small yellow droid floated around him, clearly a camera, T'var noted. He spoke, his voice deep and booming across the chamber. 'Supreme Chancellor, Delegates of the Senate. I speak today not only in the name of the citizens of this beautiful world, but in the name of all citizens of the Republic!' His hands waved as he spoke. This man was a professional politician. 'I have been given access to the budget for the rebuilding of the Jedi temple, and I was shocked to see that another two billion credits have been earmarked for the creation of a fountain room!'

The Jedi in the pod in front of the group sighed, looking down to the floor of their pod. The rest of the chamber grew louder. 'ORDER!' Shouted the Vice Chancellor.

The Senator continued. 'Before that, they wanted ten billion- which they received if I might add- ten billion for construction of a LAKE DISTRICT underneath the temple! They have also put in a request for six billion for the construction of a menagerie, and I am sure the Senate will grant them that!' He paused, letting the noise of the other Senators grow louder before he continued. 'I have constituents who voted for me who live in the darkest part of the planet, with no access to the sun, let alone clean water! Yet we can afford to build a lake for the Jedi in their palace? What's next? A zoo?!' The man sat down as Senators rose up in their pods, shaking their fists at his pod, some clapped though.

The Jedi in the pod stood up, and it detached from the wall, leaving an open space in front of the Starfleet officers. 'The Chair Recognizes Master Tol Braga of the Jedi High Council!'

An alien Jedi stood at the front of the podium, a mask of some kind on his face that covered his mouth and eyes. His voice was deep, yet came out robotic because of the mask. 'I appreciated Senator Telios' performance, as did most of the Senate!' He said. The Senators laughed. 'But, that is all it was, a performance. We are only rebuilding what was in the Temple before the bombardment. Nothing more. The Jedi deserve a space to meditate and train, do they not? We serve at the pleasure of the Republic. We are not Kings. We do not want a Palace.!'

Boos erupted from the pods. 'ORDER!' Shouted the Vice-chair.

The Jedi continued, 'We do not believe, I promise you all that, we deserve luxury at the expense of the common citizen. But, if it is luxury you wish for, Senator, how about we go over your record!'

More boos. 'ORDER. WE SHALL HAVE ORDER!' Came the loud shout again.

'Let us talk about his high-rise apartment at 500 Republica! He used his Senate expense account to pay for a steam-bath. Ten Thousand credits worth of alcohol to entertain guests from the Trade Federation and Intergalactic Banking Clan! Instead of normal security, he used tax payer money to pay for specially made droids from Mandalore of all places! As we defend the Republic alongside the brave soldiers of the Armed Forces, this man receives security from the Mandalorians! Enemies of the Republic!'

The crowd started shouting and the Jedi sat down, folding his arms across his chest. The Coruscant Senator's pod floated back up. 'The Jedi are the reason we have been fighting this war for so long! They have mismanaged the army! The navy! They are the ones who pushed the peace accord that hurt the Republic so! They are the causes of the bombardment in the first place!' Cheers erupted as he shouted at the Jedi representative.

The Senator didn't wait for the Vice chair to quiet the crowd down, he simply raised his voice. 'Let me bring to the account the record of one Jaelor Olrads!' The Jedi sitting behind Tol Braga made gestures at the Senator, but he kept speaking. 'During the last war! Olrads' actions led to the death of an entire Commando squad over Hypori!'

He paused as the shouting in the chamber grew too loud and the Vice chair had to bring back- order.

'During the year-long campaign, Olrads led an asault on the Sith-held Larakil City for a Holocron held by the Sith! He took the 431st Legion along with the 110th Infantry commanded by one Kohs'rah, and led them in an all out attack against the fortified walls!'

The Senator paused to pick up a datapad, holding it in the air, 'NINTY PERCENT of the force was lost. That is 4,150 men and women. Along with fifty out of one hundred artillery pieces. UNACEPTABLE LOSSES! But did the Jedi take him away from his command? No, they left him there!'

He paused, taking a breath as the shouting grew to a fever pitch, Senators across the domed structure waving their fists at the Jedi pod. 'I propose to the Senate that we cut the funding for the rebuilding of the Jedi Temple to the two point eight trillion we are at, and not a deci-cred more! No more requests by the Jedi to steal more tax payer money!'

Cries of 'Vote now!' Errupted across the domed structure, Senators of different species rising up to their feet, gesturing to the Chancellor's podium. 'ORDER!' Shouted the Vice Chair as he leaped to his feet. 'ORDER! ORDER! WE SHALL HAVE ORDER!'

The noise died as the Chancellor rose to her feet, the Twi'lek's soft voice louder than the shouting that remained. ''The Jedi question has indeed been a point of contention. It is for that reason that I allow this vote, and do not use my power of veto. The vote then, is to cut funding for the rebuilt Jedi Temple at a fixed amount of Two Point Eight trillion Credits. Congressmen, Senators, Representatives, the vote begins now!' She sat back down, the yellow camera droid doing a flyby of the woman as Senators rose up again, shouting. A hologram appeared overhead. Showing red numbers and green numbers, both ticking.

The session lasted for another two hours, and ended with a vote, 1300 to 700 to cut the funding for the Temple rebuilding. The Starfleet officers noticed how sour the Jedi looked as they left the chamber that night. 'This is typical. We're the ones doing the fighting, yet we get spat on in the very chamber we swear to protect,' one of the Jedi muttered to her comrades as the group of representatives walked out of the large tower.

The Starfleet officers all walked back to a Taxi. The vast towers of the city gleaming in the night, with lights going as far as the eye could see. Large ships were lifting off from the starport across from the Senate chamber, clearly the Senators leaving the planet after their jobs had finished. 'That was illuminating, I recorded the session for the Captain. I think he would appreciate this.' T'var said to her comrades as the Taxi slipped through the never-ending air traffic of Coruscant.

The Taxi driver, a fat human, looked over his shoulder. 'You folks sat in on the Senate?' He asked, burping and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

The Vulcan raised an eyebrow, looking at the driver. 'Indeed.' She said.

'Waste of taxpayer money those kriffing fat banthas.' He shook his head, holding the controller for the Taxi with one hand as he placed a brown stick in his mouth, lightning. He blew smoke out of his mouth and nose, then went on talking. 'I say we round up all 2,000 Senators, load them into a cargo ship, then crash 'em on to Fest. I guarantee you that would make all of our lives a whole damn lot easier! 2,000 nerf-herding Senators get to freeze to death, and we could live in peace! Worse than the damn Jedi sometimes.'

The taxi landed on their pad, coming to a stop a few inches off the ground. T'var placed a few slips of latinum in the man's hand. 'We do not have credits,' she said simply. The trio walked back to the shuttle, untouched since the morning. Within moments they took off, leaving the pristine city-scape of Coruscant behind them.

'Waterbury this is shuttle Rubicon, requesting permission to dock.' Hed'q looked beyond exhausted as he piloted the craft along the starboard side of the Waterbury, turning under one of the Nacelles.

'Rubicon this is Waterbury, you're clear for landing.'

The aft shuttlebay doors slid open, revealing the bay of their home. The Klingon's fingers danced across the LED controls as he kept the craft steady, letting it almost glide into the sleek bay. The ship shook as it landed and the doors behind them came to a shut. A green light appeared on the screen moments later, signifying that the bay was pressurized again. 'That was quite a trip, Commander,' Hed'q said to the Vulcan, offering her a grin. T'var merely stood up and walked to the ramp, leaving the shuttle. 'Never try to be nice to a Vulcan,' He said with a sigh. B'por chuckled, patting his shoulder as they collected their things.

Chapter 7

'Vote now! Vote now! Vote now!'

The sound coming from the recording was loud in the ready room of the Waterbury as Bill sipped a synthale. His uniform was unbuttoned, and he was wearing a pair of slippers. A chime from the door made him look up from the screen. 'Enter,' he said as he stood up.

Chief Kamis entered. 'Sir,' he said.

Bill shut the recording off. 'Ah, Chief. What can I do for you?' He asked the younger officer.

'What was that you had on, Captain?'

'Hm? Ah, T'var got invited to see a session of their Senate. She knows how fascinated I am by politics and the like. Very reminiscent of the old British Parliament. Did you know, Chief that in the British Parliament-'

Kamis let out an internal sigh. The Captain was going to drone on and on about history or some such. 'Erm, sir. I'm really sorry to interrupt. But, I was able to confirm that the virus in the Warp core was indeed Dominion in the design.'

Bill stopped talking, placing his glass down. He sat down on the edge of his desk, folding his arms over his chest. 'Damn.' He replied, looking down.

'Yes sir. It should have destroyed us. But, that's not what worries me right now.'

'What is it that worries you then, Chief?'

'I was able to look into an archive of the computer from moments before it kicked in. Allows- me to examine the virus more without having to worry about it. Well, sir. This virus was heavily replicated. It can only mean that a lot of them were made. I mean a lot of them.'

Bill's eyes went wide. 'And I'm sure most of them work, then.'

'Aye sir. For all we know, that virus was uploaded into every ship in Starfleet. This could be the prelude to a new Dominion invasion. It could wreak havoc. Entire fleets enter warp to meet a Dominion attack near DS9, and they're just blown out of space.'

The Captain slumped. 'We can't even warn Starfleet.' He let out a sigh. 'There were ten ships being refitted at K-7. The Enterprise was there! What if that damned Changeling put it aboard all the ships at dry dock?'

'It... it is possible, sir.'

Bill ran a hand through his hair. He walked around his desk and looked under a panel, pulling a bottle of green Aldebaran whiskey out. 'You drink, Chief?'

'I erm, not really sir.'

He chuckled. 'Pull up a chair.' As the Chief sat down, Bill took two glasses out of the same panel. They clinked together as he placed them on the desk. He poured the liquid into them, and passed one to the young man. 'To the Federation,' Bill said, taking in a mouthful of the liquid. His eyes drifted up when the Chief started to gag on the strong beverage. ''They make good whiskey out on the Aldebaron colonies.' He said with a laugh to the choking man.'

The chief finally calmed down, and took another small sip. 'Sir. He said, wincing from how much the drink burned as it went down. 'I don't know how we can get back home.'

Bill leaned back in his chair, holding the glass of whiskey up to the light. 'Yeah.' He said slowly, sighing. 'You know what the Republic's Chancellor wants?'

'What's that, sir?'

'She wants access to our phaser banks and photon and quantum torpedos. God forbid she finds out about the transporters.' He shook his head, taking another gulp of whiskey. 'Now, I can't morally allow that to happen, even if it meant maybe helping us get back home. It's been eating me up ever since the Commander got back.'

The Chief nodded, 'What about those um- the Sith, sir?'

Bill looked up. 'Even worse. I've been reading from Republic Archives all day. 'The Sith do- some... well, they aren't good people. These Jedi the Republic has, they keep the peace, they're warriors for good. Almost like monks. The Sith are ruled by the anti-Jedi, I guess you could say. They love to do bad things. Destroy worlds, enslave their enemies. Very xenophobic too.'

He paused to take another sip of his drink. 'I'm sure if they saw the crew we had, that'd give them reason enough to blow us out of the sky. Bolians and humans, Vulcans and Klingons, Telarites and Andorians, Trill and Bajorans, and even a few Cardassians. No. We can't go to them. The Republic are our only chance. But I can't give them what they want.'

The Chief remained silent, his eyes focused on the glass in his hand.

'I don't know Chief. You know when I was in the Academy I loved reading about Admiral Janeway and the Voyager. Hell, I got to meet her once, at a symposium on the Borg. I didn't want to wash my hand for a week after she shook it.' He chuckled, looking to the window in the room. 'I envied her. She broke Kirk's record, you know. On species she made first contact with. I envied that the crew of the Voyager had that chance. And now look, here we are. We have that chance. And I'm just... I'm just not happy about it, Kamis.'

Kamis nodded slowly, placing his still full glass down on the glass surface of the desk. 'We'll get through it sir. You're the best Captain I've had in my career. Do you remember when we came across that Terran strike force. It was just us, and you looked at the senior staff. You looked at us sir, and you said.-'

'We're outnumbered and outgunned. But the security of the quadrant depends on what we do. If we can stop those Terran bastards for at least one hour, that'll give Starfleet all the time in the world to mobilize.' Bill chuckled, looking up at the Chief. 'That was a hell of a fight.'

'It was, sir. It really was. I remember when Doolan and his boys launched from the hold, they zoomed ahead. The phaser canons opened up on them as we zoomed down. You ordered a hard to port, then bellowed at the top of your lungs to fire the photons. And all it took was six torpedos and the nacelle of that Intrepid was gone.'

Bill laughed, taking another sip. 'And then ten more of those buggers warped in as their friend went down in a plasma explosion. God. I remember Doolan yelling over the comms. Telling me we needed to fire everything we had. Those Terrans opened up on us, the Peragrines were small enough to avoid the phaser sweeps, but we took a beating.'

The Chief laughed as well, leaning back in his chair. 'Aye sir. And then all the sudden, Bandar turned to you on the bridge and shouted that even more warp signatures appeared. Then we saw a Romulan fleet there, firing all it had, destroying the Terran invasion right in-front of your eyes. You lamented about how you'd owe Romulans of all people a favor now as they towed us back to K-7.'

The Captain smiled, his eyes still on the window. The planet of Coruscant could just barely be seen. 'And here we are.'

'Sir, we got through worse. You survived when Waterbury A went down at the start of the war. You kept us alive at the Battle of Spectre station. You kept us alive when we attacked those Terrans. We'll get through this.' The Chief stood up, 'I have to get back to the engineering room, sir.'

Bill nodded, standing. 'Thanks Chief.' He said.

'Anything sir.' The Chief turned and walked out the door.

As it hissed shut, Bill sat back down. He downed his glass of whiskey and poured another drink. His fingers pressed against the screen, and the Senate session turned back on. It was 2400 hours and this was a two hour long recording. He stood up and walked to the window in the cabin, looking out on the space before him. Every single star was unknown. A new world to explore, a new species to meet. And they were the only Federation ship with the chance to do it. The only ship.'

Chapter 8

On Coruscant, Jaelor Olrads let out a sigh as he looked at the night sky. He had spoken with Tol Braga after the disastrous Senate vote. Zatlif found him outside on the balcony overlooking the central spire of the temple. She placed a hand on his back. 'You okay?' She asked him.

Jaelor nodded. 'Yeah. Demoralized, but I'm fine.'

'The Chancellor seemed eager for the vote to happen.' The Zabrak noted as she leaned against him.

'Course she was. Saresh has always been looking for ways to gain political power. The factions against the Jedi are the largest. She just gained a lot of points with them. Secures her re-election.'

'But what if the Order becomes more popular?'

'Then she'll try to earmark a couple trillion to the Order, and those factions will jump back to her side. She wins either way.'

It felt darker, even as the the lights of the city shined in the distance. 'You've seemed distracted for two days, though. Ever since those Federation people appeared.'

He turned to look at her. 'I can't place it. But, I feel that we need them. The Force keeps almost pulling me to look up to space where they are. I can't place it. I really can't.

'How about you ask to see if you can negotiate with them?'

Jaelor shook his head. 'Nope. The Council wants us to head to Dantooine. Some kind of farming dispute. Chancellor Saresh is taking care of the negotiating personally. '

The young woman groaned. 'I hate Dantooine. Smells like nerf dung and farmers.'

Jaelor looked back to the Zabrak. 'That is all it is, to be fair.' He said with a smile.

She punched his shoulder, laughing. 'There's that sense of humor.'

He chuckled, shaking his head. 'We have an early day tomorrow. Transport takes off at 0500. Let's get some sleep.'

The two turned to the doorway. 'It'll be okay, Jaelor. I really do feel like it will be.'

'I don't know about this, Vas'ika.' The towering dark skinned human looked across the table at the black clad Mandalorian. The Oyu'baat at 2400 hours was still just as loud and packed as ever. A match of Bolo Ball was on in the corner. A man in old style Beskar'gam placed a few mugs of black net'ra gal on the table. 'I've never heard of aruteiise having that kind of tech- before. '

Vasili let out a sigh, 'Mand'alor , these aruetiise weren't typical ones. They gave me some cocked up story about their nav-computer getting wiped. When they hire me to put some starcharts back in the computer, wanna know where they take me? To the engine room.'

The Mand'alor, chieftain of the chieftains raised an eyebrow. 'The Engine room?'

'Elek.' Vasili took a large gulp of his ale. Manda'yaim and the other Mandalorian worlds. He wiped the ale from his mouth, then continued. 'I saw aliens I've never seen before. Their hyperdrive didn't even look like a hyperdrive. They didn't even know what a Mando'ad is. They weren't normal aruteiise, Mand'alor.

The Mand'alor turned his eyes to Vasili's comrade. 'What do you think, Daerek?'

The red clad Mandalorian looked to Vasili, then Mand'alor. 'All due respect, sir. I agree with my alor on this one. I saw the recordings, they can just transport people from one place to another.'

Vasili continued on from Daerek's statement. 'As long as the shields are down, they could do it. I put a tracker in their computer. I can find out where they are. We can track them. We can take that ship for the Mando'ade. We could take on the Dar'Jetiise AND the Tsad Droten.'

Mand'alor nodded slowly as he took it all in, taking a long gulp of his black ale. 'I'm going to bring this up to the other Alore when we meet in two weeks. Vas'ika, if this works we could ensure the survival of the Mando'ade for the next ten thousand years. Keep an eye on that ship.'

Chapter 9

The Alpha Quadrant

Roland Napier, Captain of the USS Appomattox was feeling impatient. They had arrived at the last known coordinates of the USS Waterbury and found nothing. No evidence of destruction, no evidence of a fight. The Commander and Chief of Starfleet was livid when he learned of the disappearance of one of Starfleet's best carriers. Add that to the destruction of the USS Cherokee, an old Excelsior Class, and the Galaxy Class USS Persian mid-warp, and the whole of Starfleet command was on edge. 'Could it have been... I don't know Ferengi scavengers?' He asked. Napier was tired of waiting in this part of space where nothing was happening.

His Andorian first officer Rizra T'vaph shook her head. 'No sir. There would still be evidence. '

Roland smacked the arm of his chair. 'I'm tired of this damned-' He stopped when he heard a loud blip from the Comm officer's console. 'What is it, Garah?'

The Klingon at Comm looked up as he listened to the message coming in through his head-set. 'A Dominion...' The Klingon's eyes went wide. 'A Dominion fleet just appeared out of the worm hole. Deep Space Nine is under attack, sir.'

Roland's eyes went wide. 'Set course to Deep Space Nine.' He said, turning to the helm officer. An alarm went off.

'Sir, detecting a subspace variant of unknown proportions on sensors.' A Trill officer at one of the consoles said, her fingers sliding across the LED screen. 'It- wait, it's gone sir.' She looked at- him, puzzled.

Roland looked down, then realized. 'Red alert, shields up, prepare photon torpedos.' Red light illuminated the bridge as the standard red alert alarm sounded throughout the small Akira class starship.

'Sir, detecting a ship de-cloaking in front of us. '

Roland growled to himself, he should have realized what the variance was sooner. 'On screen.' He said through clenched teeth, wanting to hit himself when he saw the Romulan warship in front of them. D'Deridex class, one of the largest ships the Romulans had.

'They have Tal Shiar markings, sir.' The tactical officer said with a frown.

'We're being hailed,' the Comm officer said.

'Let's see it.'

The view of the warship was replaced with a stern Romulan wearing the trappings off a Commander. 'I am Commander S'tev Merek. Lower your shields and prepare to be boarded in the name of the Romulan Star Empire.'

Roland growled to himself, standing up. 'The Romulan Star Empire has no authority, as it is not recognized by anyone in the quadrant anymore.'

Merek had a smug look on his face, that Romulan look that made anyone want to go mad. 'That may be so. But we are the legitimate Romulan government. And we are at war with the Federation. You are much smaller than us, Captain. And you are outgunned. Now. I say this again. Lower your shields, or we will destroy you.'

Roland turned to the comm officer and nodded. She cut the connection.

'Sir, they're powering up disruptors.' The tactical officer said.

'Power to forward shields, prepare a spread of photon tor-'

'Captain,' the operations officer interrupted. 'Another ship is de-cloaking.

Roland's face turned pale as he watched another D'Deridex appear. 'It's powering its disruptors as well!' The tactical officer said. Suddenly, Merek's Warbird turned, its disruptors opened up on the new Warbird. Roland looked up at Operations.

'R.R.W. D'Tanix, sir. It's Romulan Republic!'

The two identical ships exchanged fire, swooping around each other. ''Target Commander Merek's ship. Full spread of photon torpedoes!'

S'Tev Merek of the Tal Shiar swore loudly as the D'Tanix de-cloaked behind them. His actions had been quick- but not quick enough. 'Prepare a full spread of Photon Torpedoes. Target that traitorous scum's engines. Level 10 yield.'

The ship jolted as the D'Tanix fired its disruptors. 'Commander! Decks nine and twelve are reporting plasma leaks! Deck fifteen is reporting wounded.'

Merek sat back down in his chair. 'Fire torpedoes!' He shouted.

'Their shields are down to 29 percent, the Reman at tactical shouted.

'Hard to port, disruptors on full. Target the head. I want aft disruptor pulses to fire at will!'

The Warbird shook as it exchanged fire with the other. An explosion sent the comm officer flying across the bridge, a piece of metal embedded in his neck. An ensign fell forward as the ship shook. S'Tev pulled his disruptor pistol out and shot her. 'Commander, the Federation ship has opened fire! Heavy damage has been sustained.' The Tactical officer paused, listening to reports. 'Sir, plasma leaking in the Quantum singularity!'

Merek's eyes went wide. 'Eject the Singularity!'

'Engine room is reporting in. They're attempting to do just that, sir!'

'Keep firing on those traitors!'

That tactical officer looked to the Commander, eyes wide with panic. 'Which ones?'

Merek stood up, rounding on the officer. 'ALL OF THEM!'

'Captain, direct hit.'

Roland smiled as he sat in the Captain's chair. He watched as the enemy Warbird fired wildly. 'Their Commander is panicking.' He noted.

'Captain, we're detecting... they're ejecting the Quantum Singularity.'

He stood up, eyes wide. 'Get us away from that Warbird. Tell the D'Tanix to do the same!'

On the screen, the enemy Warbird was on fire in multiple spots. The round quantum singularity slowly pushed out of a hatch on the top of the D'Deridex. Suddenly it exploded, green light pulsing in space. The Appomattox, and D'Tanix and the Tal Shiar Warbird all got sucked in towards the bright light. 'SHIELDS! POWER TO SHIELDS!' Roland shouted as he was thrown forward. The lights on the bridge shut off, and there was nothing but silence as they were sucked towards the singularity.

The D'Tanix bridge was chaos as the ship was sucked into the singularity. Any Romulan knew what happened once one exploded. But they weren't dead. At least, Vrel D'nak, Commander of the RRW D'Tanix didn't think he was dead. 'Report,' he said, wiping some green blood from his forehead. 'Report!' He said loudly, spitting some more blood onto the floor. His eyes drifted to the helm officer who was impaled on a piece of metal sticking out of the floor- the remains one of the computer consoles. 'Report!' He shouted again.

'S-sir,' the Tactical officer, Sub-Commander Berrok said as he lifted himself up off the ground. There was a large gash along his cheek. 'It- emergency power is working. We've lost our shields, and the aft disruptors.'

Someone was whimpering. Vrel glowered. 'Discipline! We are still Romulan!' He took a breath, leaning on the arm of his chair. 'Where are the others? Is that bastard Merek dead?'

The operations officer, Sub-Commander Jivok spat some blood onto the floor. 'The Federation ship is floating ahead of us, but- no sign of Merek, sir.'

He swore loudly at that, punching the chair. 'At least they have no singularity. They can't have gone far.'

'If... If I may, Commander.' His First officer, Tillel said slowly. 'I- The Tal Shiar have created back up singularity drives, in case they need to eject.'

Vrel turned, his eyes wide. 'Excuse me?' He said, his voice icy. 'And why did I not know about this?'

'Because,' she winced, leaning against a console. 'Because you did not read the intelligence briefing I put on your desk.'

Vrel sighed, slumping into his seat. 'How long until we regain power?'

The Operations officer spoke up, 'Six hours.'

'Damn. Get to it then.'

'Commander,' the Ops officer said again. 'I- erm. This can't be right.'

Vrel sighed, feeling impatient and tired. 'Out with it then Sub-Commander. What?'

'I- I think we were thrown far off course. I can't- none of these stars appear on our starcharts. I- sir, the Federation ship is hailing us.'

'On screen.'

A scarred and bloodied Romulan appeared on the screen. His bridge looked about as chaotic as the Appomattox's. 'Thank you for your assistance, Commander.' Roland said.

'We seem to have been thrown off course.' So, straight to business it is then.

'Aye. My crew can't get any fix on our location. If you don't mind the joke, Commander. I'd say we aren't in Kansas anymore.'

The Romulan, it seemed, did mind the joke. 'My engineers are working on figuring out why this happened.'

'Aye, mine are too. We have a theory, but we don't want to get ahead of ourselves. We'll be in touch.'

The screen went black, revealing an unknown starscape.

'If the Waterbury somehow was thrown to where we are... maybe the Singularity caused the anomaly they experienced to be more volatile, sir.' The Chief Engineer, Werner Flinto was nursing a broken arm, but he was working hard.

Roland turned to the Engineer. 'But not a single star is recognizable?'

The Science Officer, Lieutenant Commander Aytes shook his head. 'Totally unknown, sir.'

'Okay. You have two hours. Try to figure it out.' He turned to the ensign at the helm. 'Put us next to the D'Tanix, maybe if anyone comes near us seeing the two ships together will give us a better chance.'

Chapter 10

S'tev Merek's warbird was heavily damaged, but they survived. Fortunately after whatever freak accident had thrown them to wherever they were, the engineers had activated the back up Quantum Singularity. It was working at one hundred percent efficiency, and allowed them to at least cloak as the tech crews repaired the vital systems.

The Tal Shiar veteran was in his office, the lights off. He ordered them to put some space between the two ships and himself. He could find them again, after all, he was one of the best operatives in the Tal Shiar. He even trained some of the hardest Obsidian Order agents in the history of Cardassia. No, he would find them again. And he would see Vrel D'nak hang for his crimes, and that Federation officer would hang with him.

'Commander?' A voice said over the comm system. It was coming in with a lot of static.

'What.' He answered as he poured a glass of Romulan ale.

'We're picking up a system on the scanner, sir. Populated worlds. Lots of traffic coming in and out. Lot of smaller ships.'

Merek looked up, 'Status of the ship?'

'Shields are working again, engines are fine. Disruptor bank two won't be operational for at least several hours.'

Merek hurried to the bridge, straightening his uniform. Crews had just finished ejecting the dead out into space, and new people had taken their places on the bridge. 'Take us to the edge of the system, keep the cloak up.' He sat down in the Commander's chair, watching the viewscreen.

'Commander. Ship approaching. Two canons on its forward bow, one aft. Its about two hundred and fifty meters in length. Minimal shielding.'

S'tev leaned forward. 'On screen.' He said.

The viewscreen blinked, some static appeared but it quickly faded away as the ship they targeted came into view. It was a bulky ship, looked to be maybe a freighter. Its engine was in a long piece jutting out from the main body of the small ship, its bridge was on the bottom of- the head of the vessel. 'Any escort detected?'

The tactical officer shook her head.

'Helm, put us in between open space and that ship. Course heading eight-seven-two mark three-nine. '

'Aye commander.' The helm officer said as his hands slid across the controls. The ship shook gently. 'We're in position.'

'Do we have communications?'

'Aye Commander.'

He nodded to the comm officer who activated a switch. 'Unknown vessel. This is Commander S'tev Merek of the Tal Shiar vessel S'leia. You are ordered to power down your shields and prepare to be boarded.'

'They're powering up weapons sir.'

'Tactical, can you pinpoint where their shields are being generated from?'

'I can sir.'

S'tev smiled. 'Fire pulse disruptors, low frequency. Disable their shields.'

The bridge shook as they fired. The ship before them shook and hung forward in space. 'Shields down, sir.'

The Tal Shiar officer smiled. 'Boarding party with me.'

The crew of the ML-39 Brute patrol ship Star of Jabiim didn't know what hit them. A ship de-cloaked infront of them, and transmitted in an unknown language. The next thing they knew their shields were down. The Captain of the vessel, A Bith named Nome Suregs was ordering his inexperienced crew to get weapons together. He had a bad feeling they would be boarded. 'Have they activated their tractor beam?' He shouted to his pilot, a Bothan as he put on a blast helmet.

The Bothan shook her head.

This isn't what he needed. He was running spice for the Hutts. He knew how they got when- pirates stole cargo that belonged to them. The people who lost the cargo were the first to go. 'Okay, get to the airlocks everyone!' He yelled to the ragtag crew. Suddenly four beings literally appeared out of thin air in a green flash in the bridge. 'FIRE!' He shouted, terrified.

The beings had rifles of some kind, and disintegrated the crew, including the pilot, leaving only Nome. The leader of the beings shot the Bith in the leg, sending him crying to the ground. He'd never seen aliens like this before. Green skin with pointed ears. The Alien's leader leaned over Nome. The Bith winced as the alien slapped his face.

S'tev looked at the creature. It was uglier than a Gallamite. He slapped it again, and it whimpered in pain. 'Sub-Commander V'pek. Take this thing back to the ship. Prepare it for interrogation. He turned to Sub-Commander S'rapek, the intelligence officer, 'Upload all information from their computers.' The alien was beamed out of the bridge as Merek motioned to the two remaining soldiers with him, as they left the bridge and moved through the dank and cramped freighter.

The Romulans kept their disruptor rifles raised as they marched through the ship, opening every door they could find. There was nothing of value. One of the soldiers stopped at the end of the long hallway at a sealed door. 'Can we open it?' Merek asked.

The soldier moved to the control panel, and ripped it out of the wall. He stuck his hand into the circuitry, and within moments the simple lock gave way. The heavy blast door opened, revealing the cargo hold. Crates stacked up to about shoulder height in the small bay. S'tev walked over to one, opening it. Bags of a brown dust. 'Put a transporter beacon in here. I want this cargo beamed directly to the lab.' The soldiers nodded, beginning their work. Merek tapped his wrist-comm. 'This is Merek. Energize.'

He walked back on to the bridge feeling refreshed. 'Commander, the ships cargo is aboard, all personnel are back. '

The intelligence officer walked onto the bridge with PADD. 'We'll need to figure out how to translate the data, Commander.' The officer said, sitting down at his chair.

Merek nodded. 'Target the ship, full disruptors.'

The small freighter disappeared in a bright flash, leaving only debris in its wake. 'Engage Cloak,' The Commander said.

The lights on the bridge dimmed as the cloak energized, masking them completely. 'Set course for one of the dead planets in the system, we'll use its darkside to mask us better. Get to translating the language, I'll inform Sub-Commander V'pek that he needs to do the same so we can interrogate that alien. I want a report on my desk in five hours.'

Captain Bill Plourde had been negotiating with the Republic for almost a week now. And all that had come of it was they were able to exchange the latinum for about six hundred thousand credits. Bill's shuttle landed back on the Waterbury after a long day debating with Chancellor Saresh. They were getting know where. She just refused to believe him about the Prime Directive. In the meanwhile, they had managed to instal a HoloNet transmitter, to pick up Galactic News. His officers were enjoying that, at least.

The tired Captain walked into his ready room, unbuttoning his jacket as he did so. 'Computer. Music. Bach Cello Suite No. 1.' He said. The computer beeped an affirmative and the sounds of Bach filled the room. He slumped into his chair, kicking his feet onto the desk. He was thinking of using his holodeck ration to recreate life on a Royal Navy Vessel in the 19th Century. He always enjoyed the sea air, it would be a nice change to everything. 'Computer,' he said after a moment, 'Dim the lights.'

The lights to the office dimmed to a relaxing low as the music of Bach continued to play in the office. His eyes drifted to the window as they orbited Coruscant still. The sight of the planet, once a fascination to him, was now one that bored him to know end. If they were going to be stuck in this galaxy, he at least wanted to explore. He was going to give the negotiations another day at the most. After that, he would leave, find a star and just go for it. That seemed to be acceptable to most of the crew as well, for all two hundred of them were growing sick of shore leave on the ecumenopolis below.

The music grew louder as it picked up, causing him to smile. He stood and walked over to the replicator. 'Tea, Earl Grey. Milk and two sugars.' The replicator beeped an affirmative and a warm cup of tea materialized before him. This was his day to relax, he decided the moment he took a sip of the tea. He moved back to his chair, and began to sit, he was feeling a lot better now.

'Bridge to the Captain.' The voice of T'var said loudly over the comm.

Bill let out a long sigh. Something always happened when he got his tea. '...Yes?' He said, trying to hold an even tone. He shut the music off.

'Sir. We are... we are picking up a subspace frequency. It's Starfleet.'

Bill hurried out to the bridge, eyes wide. 'Starfleet?'

'Indeed, Captain. USS Appomatox. They're asking if anyone is out there.'

Bill's heart was pounding in his head. 'Send a reply. Enclose our coordinates to them.'

The Comm officer nodded, turning in her chair to quickly tap out the message. 'Sent, sir.'

He couldn't relax now. 'How would... how would Starfleet get a ship here?'

T'var looked to be thinking. 'Another accident perhaps?'

Bill sat down in the Captain's chair, leaning back. His mind was racing, he just couldn't fathom how that happened. 'Do you think they knew we were missing?'

'I do not know, sir.' The Vulcan replied.

Another freak accident? No, that couldn't be it he thought to himself. For all he knew, Starfleet declared the crew MIA at best, KIA at worst. He couldn't even fathom what to think.

Chapter 11

The comm officer of the Appomattox stood up excitedly. They had sent out a subspace distress signal several days before and actually received a reply. The Bajoran officer hurried to the Captain's ready room, where he was meeting with Commander Vrel. He tapped the chime hurriedly. 'Enter,' came the voice of the Captain's thick Scottish accent. The doors parted.

'Sir- sir.' The officer was panting and Roland raised an eyebrow.

'Are you okay, Ensign?' He noticed the Romulan looking with that damned sour gaze again.

'We- a reply sir! Someone, the Waterbury replied to our distress signal. They- they sent coordinates!'

Roland looked to the Romulan who was visibly shocked. They both ran out to the bridge. 'I'll send the coordinates to you, Commander Vrel,' Roland said as the Romulan hurried to the lift. Within moments they received a confirmation that the Commander was back aboard his ship. 'Send the coordinates to D'Tanix.' The ensign at the helm nodded.

'D'Tanix reported they are ready, sir.'

Roland nodded, sitting down in the Captain's chair. He straightened his uniform, pulling it down. 'Lay in the course.'

'Course laid in.' The Ensign at the helm replied,

Roland's heart was still pounding in his head. 'Inform D'Tanix that we will travel at Warp 5.'

The comm officer nodded and spoke into his comm. 'They have acknowledged sir.'

'Good. Good. Signal D'Tanix we are ready. Engage.'

The two ships both hurtled into warp, soaring through space as they headed to the USS Waterbury.

The crew of the Waterbury was ecstatic, they were re-invigorated by the news. Another Starfleet ship! It traveled through the ship like wildfire. 'Captain's Personal Log, Stardate 91776.38. We have been stuck in this unknown Galaxy for just over two months. It has been trying, especially with the Chancellor of the Republic, a woman named Saresh trying her hardest to get a hold on our weapons systems. She refuses to acknowledge the Prime Directive that I am beholden, both by orders and by a firm belief in them.' He paused, taking a breath.

'The negotiations for help have been frustrating, that is- until a day ago when we received a message via subspace from the USS Appomattox. It is welcome news to know that we are no longer alone in this Galaxy. With any luck the Appomattox is on its way. Maybe with our two crews combined we can at least figure out a way to get back home. ' Bill stood up, stretching.

'Hope is a wonderful thing. It truly is. Not even a day ago, my crew was melancholy, tired. They felt demoralized. The message reinvigorated everyone. I heard there was a party in engineering last night as well. It warms my heart to know that everyone is doing better because of this. We wait with bated breath for the arrival of our comrades. We truly do. End log.'

Bill rolled his shoulders, walking to the door. He slipped his boots on, tucking his trousers into them. He made sure his uniform shirt was smooth after he put it on, and then attached his comm badge to it. Turning to the mirror by the window, Bill ensured that his captain's pips were in the right spot. The door opened and Bill stepped out into the crowded hallway as many hung-over crew members tried to go about their daily duties.

The bridge was on skeleton crew this afternoon as Bill had allowed for some much needed rest and relaxation. Whomever had the holodeck to themselves was a very lucky person today.'

'Captain,' the comm officer said. 'The Supreme Chancellor is requesting a meeting.'

Bill sighed, he didn't want to go down to the planet. 'Tell her that I-'

'Sir, she is requesting to come aboard.'

The Captain frowned, leaning back in his chair. 'Fine.' He said after a long pause. 'Inform her that she can.' He would not allow this day to become sour, though. He would not.

The Republic shuttle landed in the aft bay three hours later. The Chancellor did not come alone, however. Several Senators were with her. Bill loved politics, he always did. But he did not like the politicians. 'Welcome to the Waterbury!' He said, approaching the group. 'I'm Captain Bill Plourde, of the United Federation of Planets.'

A grey haired Senator approached Bill, shaking his hand. 'I am Senator Telios of Coruscant,' he said.

'It's a pleasure to meet you, Senator. '

The rest of the people introduced themselves. Along with the Chancellor and Senator Tellios was Senator Vulonok of Chandrilla, and the Minister of Defense General Salim Otega, both humans.

'So, what can I do for you, Chancellor?' Bill said as he led them to the conference room.

'These negotiations are getting no where, Captain. We both know this,' Saresh said as they filed into the room. The window along the wall showed Coruscant in its glory.

'Chancellor. I respect your position. I truly do. But the Prime Directive is an important part of Starfleet and the Federation's policy. ' Bill's eyes drifted to the Minister of Defense who snorted.

'Look,' the General said. 'I don't give a damn. We could blow you out of the sky if we wanted to.'

Bill's fists clenched. 'No one threatens my crew or my boat, General.'

The Chancellor placed her hands up. 'The General is brash.' She said quickly. 'That is not going to happen, I promise you. I was thinking maybe we could comprise?'

'And how would you like to compromise, Chancellor?' Bill sat down on the other end of the table, his back to the window.

'We would give you another one million credits for just the schematics of you torpedo systems. That is all.'

Bill sighed, leaning back. 'You understand the moral quandary you put me in, yes?' They wouldn't give up. Last time it was the phaser array.

'Frankly, Captain. I do not understand, nor do I care. I am trying to do what is best for a Republic demoralized and hurt by war. That is all. And I will do whatever it takes to end the Great War we are in. Anything.' Her eyes narrowed.

Bill knew they wouldn't stop. He knew that it was better to give in, than risk harm to the ship and crew. His eyes drifted to the Chancellor for a moment, then he tapped his command badge. 'Commander Hed'q.' he said.

'Yes Captain?' The Klingon's voice came over the comm.

'Report... down to the conference room. With a PADD detailing our photon torpedoes and the launching system. '

'Yes sir.'

Saresh and the others looked pleased with themselves. 'My tactical officer will give you what you need,' Bill said as he nodded to the Klingon who entered.

The Chancellor nodded to the General who spoke into a comm. 'The Credits are being offloaded in your cargo bay.'

Bill nodded, 'If you will excuse me. I believe you know the way back to your ship.' He turned and walked out of the room, heading to the turbolift. It seemed he couldn't just have one decent day lately. Politicians. He really did hate them.

The bridge was quiet as he arrived. 'Captain, the Republic delegates have departed.' the Operations officer said.

'Good,' Bill said, leaning back as he sat in the Captain's chair. 'And what of the cargo they left?'

'It has been placed in cargo-hold A, sir.'

He sighed loudly, closing his eyes. 'Good,' he said after several moments. 'We'll wait for Appomattox, then take off for greener pastures.'

The Supreme Chancellor walked into the office at the Palace of the Republic. 'Can we replicate their torpedo system, General?' She said as she sat down behind the large desk.

'I think we can, Chancellor,' General Otega said. 'I've ordered the Ministry of Defense to look at the schematics.'

'Good. Good.' Saresh pressed a button on her desk. An aide walked in with a glass of Alderaanian wine. 'Maybe that torpedo can assist us in the war against the Sith.'

'Indeed, m'am,' he replied, standing next to the desk. 'Any little bit can help.'

Saresh waited for the aide to leave the glass of wine on her desk. As the door hissed closed, the Chancellor looked to the General. 'What about the matter of the spy?'

'SIS reported that they had to use a Clawdite. But we have one aboard.'

Saresh sat back in her seat, smiling broadly. 'Good. Good.' She picked the glass of wine up and held it to the light. 'We will see what else those people have that they refuse to share with- us.'

Chapter 12

It had been weeks since the crew of the IRW S'leia had taken the captive, but the intelligence officers were successful in adjusting the universal translators to translate both the language of the stolen computer files, and the language of the captive- an alien called a Bith. Merek entered the Med-bay, with the Bith on the table, his arms bloodied, his face bruised. Cuts along his chest. The interrogator tools hanging above his head, tears coming from his black, beady eyes.

'For a simple smuggler, you certainly took a while to crack.' S'tev mused as he watched the alien writhe in pain. 'Oh, don't take that as a compliment. There's never anything to gain with heroism.' He rolled the sleeves up on his shirt, then shrugged his shoulders. 'Really, you were a fool to give up what little information you had after such a long time. I was inclined to let you go. After all, we don't kill our captives, we aren't Cardassians.' The Doctor in the corner let out a chuckle at that, and Merek allowed himself a smirk at the alien. 'But, your conduct was most unbecoming. Doctor?'

The older Romulan stood up, 'Yes, Commander?' He said, wiping some blood from his apron.

'Space him.'

The alien let out a whimper, then began to beg. 'Please, please no. I- the Hutts will pay you to release me, I'm- I'm a very valuable pilot to the cartel.'

Merek smiled, a condescending Romulan smile. He leaned down, looking into the creature's eyes. 'I read about this Hutt cartel. Thanks to the computer files we took from your craft. I don't think these Hutts would want you alive after your utter failure.' He patted the alien's cheek and stood up. 'Doctor,' he said.

'With pleasure, sir.'

The Bith's screaming could be heard down the hall as he was dragged to the nearest airlock. 'Brdige to the Commander,' his comm-unit chirped.

'This is the Commander,' replied S'tev as he held his wrist unit up to his mouth.

'Apologies for interrupting you, but we were able to rig the subspace relay, and we have made contact.'

S'tev smiled, more good news. 'I'll be right there.'

The comm officer on duty saluted his Commander as he entered the bridge. 'We have him, sir.'

'On screen.' Merek straightened his uniform as he sat down in the command chair. On the viewscreen an image of a hooded being came into view, two spikes on the armor that wrapped over his robes jutted into the air. It wore a mask of some kind, with a visor across the eyes. 'I bring you greetings, from the Romulan Star Empire.'

'Who are you?' The figure said, his voice cold and deep. Behind him, a group of other beings stood. They seemed to be in a meeting room of some kind. All wore dark robes and masks.

'I am Commander S'tev Merek of the Imperial Romulan Warbird S'leia. And I have a proposition for you, Darth Marr.'

The Appomattox and the D'Tanix both warped into Coruscant space at the same time. Operations quickly spotted the Waterbury in orbit over the vast city planet. Roland- for the first time in many years- was speechless when the planet appeared on the viewscreen. 'The entire planet is... one big city?' He said, sitting down in the Captain's chair. The crew was silent- as the two ships sailed alongside the Waterbury. 'Hail the Waterbury,' Roland said to the comm-officer.

The officer turned to the Captain, nodding when the frequency was opened.

'Waterbury this is Appomattox. Do you acknowledge?'

Several long moments passed by. A figure appeared on the screen, a man in his late thirties. ''This is Waterbury, we acknowledge. Good to see a friendly ship. We have to admit, didn't expect to see a Romulan Warbird with you, though.'

Roland let out a laugh. 'Aye,' he responded. 'They saved our butts when the Tal Shiar jumped us. Permission to come aboard, though? Commander Vrel and I would like to talk to you in person.'

The Captain of the Waterbury nodded. 'Of course. Beam over when ready.' The screen went blank.

The conference room was filled with energy when Bill greeted Roland, shaking his hand firmly. 'This is Commander Vrel of the D'Tanix.' Roland said, introducing the Romulan. 'He was hunting the Tal Shiar vessel when they attacked us.'

'It's a pleasure, Commander,' Bill said to the Romulan as he took his hand. 'Please, sit.'

The three sat down around the black table. Roland's eyes traveled to the planet that covered the window along the wall. 'I've never seen anything like that.'

Bill nodded, pouring himself a cup of coffee. 'Yeah. They build big in this Galaxy.' He shook his head, taking a sip of his drink. 'How did this happen?'

Roland looked to Vrel, then back to Bill. 'Well,' Roland began, 'We're not really sure. The Appomattox was ordered to scan the space where you disappeared for any signs of what- happened. There was nothing at all. Suddenly, the Tal Shiar Warbird de-cloaked, was about to open fire on us, when Vrel here de-cloaked too. We both started firing on them, when they ejected their singularity core. Next thing we know, we're both in this Galaxy, with minimal power, and the Tal Shiar ship was gone. There was no sign of them. We have no idea if they survived or not.'

Vrel nodded, leaning back in his chair. 'Republic Intelligence has learned that all Imperial Romulan Warbirds have been upgraded to hold a secondary Quantum Singularity. So if the first one is damaged beyond repair, they can still function. We believe that he cloaked and is- out there still. But there has been no sign of his Warbird.'

Bill nodded, this was all news he didn't need right now. After a sip of his coffee he looked to the Romulan. 'If you don't mind me asking, why were you tracking him?'

The Romulan's face hardened for a moment. 'S'tev Merek posed as my First officer, infiltrating my crew after I defected to the Republic. He attempted to sow discontent between myself and Starfleet vessels in Romulan space. He got away before we could stop him.'

'I... see.' Bill said, looking back to the planet. 'He'll be back for you, then.' The Captain of the Waterbury said after a few moments of silence. 'There's a lot you need to know about this galaxy too, I think-'

'Bridge to Captain.' The voice of T'var came over the comm.

Bill sighed, tapping his badge. 'This is the Captain,' he replied, his eyes looking up at the ceiling.

'Captain, we've been hailed by the Jedi transport Corellian Star. They are requesting to land.'

Bill looked to the two men, frowning for a moment. 'Direct them to the Aft shuttlebay.' He said after several moments.

'Jedi Transport?' Roland asked.

'It's... a long story. A long, long story.' Bill said as he stood up. 'Would you two wish to accompany me?'

Roland and Vrel nodded, standing with the other Captain. They followed him out the door and down the narrow hallway. The door to the shuttlebay was sealed, and from out the small viewport in it, they could see a large red and white transport land. It had a wide bridge, like a hammerhead shark, and a narrow body. The shuttlebay doors closed behind it, and the ramp lowered. Jaelor Olrads and Zatlif his apprentice hurried off of it. Jaelor wore a simple brown- tunic and robe, and Zatlif wore the same. The two Starfleet officers and the Romulan opened the door and walked in to to meet them.

'Master Olrads,' Bill said, holding his hand out. 'This is Captain Roland Napier of the USS Appomattox, and Commander Vrel of the Romulan Warbird D'Tanix. They're both from my galaxy.'

Jaelor bowed his head to the group. 'It is a pleasure,' He said. Zatlif jabbed him in the side. 'But, I come on most urgent business. In good conscience I could not leave you in the dark.'

Bill raised an eyebrow, looking to Roland and Vrel, then back to the two Jedi. 'What?' He said.

'I- SIS has had a spy infiltrate your ship.'

The Captain of the Waterbury felt his stomach sink. 'That's- how is that possible?'

'I learned they kidnapped one of your crew members on leave on the surface below, and replaced her with a Changeling.'

The Jedi looked surprised when the three before him tensed up. 'They- there is a Changeling in this galaxy?' Bill said. He looked and sounded livid.

Jaelor looked to Zatlif for a moment, then back to Bill. 'A Clawdite. SIS employs them often to infiltrate hard-to-get-to places.

The three men didn't appear as tense after the revelation. 'How did- how did you learn about this?' Bill said.

'I was at SIS headquarters and noticed the datapad detailing the mission. An ensign Rovarno.'

'Commander Hed'q.' Bill said quickly, tapping his comm. He turned his back to the group in the shuttlebay, looking up as he waited for the response.

'This is Commander Hed'q.' The gruff voice of the Klingon head of security came on over the comm.

'Take a security team to the bridge and escort ensign Rovarno to the brig.' Bill felt like there was a hammer pounding his head.

'Right away sir.'

He turned to the group. 'Master Olrads. I can't thank you enough for this. Truly, you give the- Republic you serve a good name.'

The Jedi bowed his head. 'I did this because I feel that the Republic I serve is leaning in a way that I cannot support as a Jedi. My Apprentice and I were thinking of your predicament. We think... that we may have a solution.'

Bill looked to Roland and Vrel, then back to the Jedi. 'What is it?' He said.

'There is a world in the unknown regions, known as Rakata Prime. Hundreds of years ago, a great station orbited it, known as the Star Forge. It was destroyed, but maybe in the wreckage which is still on the planet you can find a way to get back home.'

The Captains exchanged looks with each other. 'That- it is better than waiting here for a sollution,' Roland said to Bill.

'Indeed it is,' the Waterbury's Captain replied. 'Do you know how to get to this world, Master Olrads?'

The Jedi nodded, 'I have the coordinates. But, I wish to go with you to Rakata Prime. If that is okay.'

Bill raised an eyebrow. 'May I ask why?'

'There is a lot of history there, and I wish to see the world for myself.' Jaelor ignored his apprentice who sighed.

'You may stay, then.' Bill said. He motioned to the door, 'I'll have some quarters ready for you both.'

'May we see the Bridge, Captain?' Jaelor asked, folding his hands behind his back. 'I have been curious to see how it differs to our bridge design.'

Bill paused for a moment at the door, 'I don't see why not.' He said after a moment. The Captain led the group out into the hallway and tapped his comm-badge as they walked to the turbolift. 'Commander T'var.' Bill said.

'Yes, Captain?' Responded the cool voice of the Vulcan first officer.

'Contact the surface. I want to speak with the Supreme Chancellor. Now.'

The bridge was quiet as the two Captains, the two Jedi and the Romulan walked onto it. The- Supreme Chancellor was already on the screen, looking annoyed. 'This is not a good time Captain,' she began. 'An Emergency session of the Senate has been called over-'

'I don't care.' Bill interrupted. He noticed the two Jedi stay in the corner where they would not been seen on the camera. 'My security chief has a Clawdite from your SIS in my brig. I want Engisn Rovarno back on the Waterbury. Now.' His voice was ice. The crew had only heard him sound like that once before, during a battle against Klingon pirates.

'Captain,' she said, offering him a condescending smile. 'I don't know what you are talking about.'

'I want Ensign Rovarno back on my ship in one hour.' He was not going to budge.

The Chancellor watched him, then sighed, relenting. 'We will have her on a shuttle. I am sorry Captain, but you must understand why we did-'

Bill turned to the comm officer, making a cutting motion across his throat.

Zatlif let out an impatient sigh when she noticed her Master walking around the bridge, examining the LED controls and various screens. 'Fascinating,' she heard Jaelor mumble when he looked over the tactical console.

She was about to say something when the human named Roland gasped. 'I forgot to tell you, Captain Plourde.' Roland's face went ashen. 'I- all of this. I forgot.'

Jaelor stopped, sensing the atmosphere in the room change. Zatlif felt the same thing, watching the two Captains.

'What?' Bill said, the look on Roland's face clearly didn't help.

'Before we were sucked in to this universe. We- we received a general subspace transmission from Deep Space Nine.'

Zatlif had no idea what a Deep Space Nine was, but the look on Bill's face meant it couldn't be good. 'What did it say?' Bill said after a moment.

'The Dominion was amassing in the Gamma Quadrant. All Starfleet ships were ordered to Deep Space Nine with permission to exceed Warp 10 if needed.'

The bridge grew silent when what Roland said sunk in. Bill slumped into the Captain's chair, sighing loudly. 'There was a virus in our Warp Core. It was intended to activate when we went to Warp. It- it was made to destroy the core. The virus did not do what it was supposed to, and- created a subspace flare of some kind. That's how we ended up here.'

Roland looked to the Romulan who had a look of illumination on his face. 'The explosion of the S'leia's Quantum Singularity must have reacted to the tachyons left over from your... transport to this galaxy. That must be why we are here. That can be the only way.'

Bill nodded, his face still pale. 'That- it does make sense. It does make sense. '

Roland sighed, 'But the virus also explains the explosions of the Cherokee and Persian mid warp. There was a rumor Enterprise had found virus in the Warp core before she left K-7. But they ejected it and were doing a complete overhall of the system.

The Waterbury's Captain looked up, 'That means the Enterprise won't be able to get to Deep Space Nine in time for a Dominion incursion. We're at war on two fronts! The Klingons, AND the Romulan Empire. Plus the Borg threat, and the Undine.' He placed his face in his hands. After several moments of silence that you could cut a knife with, Bill looked up, to Master Olrads. 'Can you give the coordinates to the helm?' He said.

Zatlif still felt the sadness and panic in him, but the Captain's face was now stoic, as if he pulled himself together quickly. Jaelor nodded, 'Of course,' he said, walking across the bridge to the helmsman. Within moments, Jaelor stepped back after handing the human-like alien with an odd nose a series of coordinates.

'Coordinates set, Captain.' The alien said.

Bill straightened up in his chair. 'Brdige to Engineering.' He said. Moments later a voice came over the speakers.

'Engineering, aye sir?'

'Chief. What's the status of the dilithium in the matter-antimatter chamber?'

Zatlif glanced to her Master. She tried hard not to roll her eyes. This was boring. She'd rather be in the Archives reading than listen to technobabble. But she could tell Jaelor was eating it up, of course.

'Captain, the crystals are well enough. Electromagnetic fields are functional. I wouldn't exceed Warp 4.5, if I'm honest sir. We need to make the crystals last.'

Bill sighed, and Zatlif felt the Captain struggle to not explode. 'Thank you Chief.' He said after a long pause. He turned to Roland and Vrel. 'We've sent the coordinates to your ships.'

The two men nodded and hurried to the turbo-lift. After several minutes an officer nodded to the Captain. 'They've beamed off the ship, Captain. Prisoners have been exchanged.'

'Very good. Seal all airlocks. Aft thrusters at one quarter impulse. Take us away from the planet.'

Zatlif exchanged a look with Jaelor. Clearly he was just as confused as she was about the meaning of the phrase 'beamed'. The Waterbury lurched as it left its orbital position. Zatlif looked at Bill, watching in awe as he looked like he was in his own environment.

'We have cleared Coruscant's gravitational pull.' The alien at the helm said, his hands sliding against the touch screen controls. 'Appomattox and D'Tanix are reporting the same, sir.'

Bill nodded, thanking an officer as a cup of tea and a dish was handed to him. 'Very good.' He said, 'On screen.'

The similar looking Federation ship, and the gargantuan Romulan ship appeared on the screen in formation with the Waterbury. 'Captain, they have signaled the all ready.'

'Captain, if I may.' Jaelor said, stepping forward. Zatlif looked at her Master, frowning.

'To get from Coruscant to Rakata Prime in a straight line would take no time at all. But, we would have to go through the Deep Core. It's almost impossible to navigate due to black holes.'

Bill nodded at the Jedi. 'Starchart on screen.' He said. The view of the two ships changed to one of the Starshart. The Captain motioned to Jaelor.

The Jedi walked over to the screen, examining it. 'We would be required to head this way,' he pointed to a position north of Coruscant. 'To Ord Mantel. From there, we move to Ansion. From Ansion we move to Illum,' his hand moved westward on the map, to a dot. Then down to Rakata. From Illum there isn't much mapped, as you can see. ' Zatlif didn't like the sound of it, and wasn't comforted when her Master's hand moved south from Illum, across nothing to Rakata Prime. 'But, that is the only way to do it.'

Bill looked like he was doing calculations in his head. 'We'll have to go Warp Three,' he said almost to himself. Four- no, six weeks.' He turned to the Ensign. 'Chart the course, send course adjustment to Appomattox and D'Tanix.'

The helmsman nodded, and within moments the course adjustment appeared on the starchart. 'Appomattox and D'Tanix have acknowledged and changed course heading appropriately.

Bill took a sip of his tea. 'Engage Warp Engine. Speed, Warp three.'

The ship shuddered as the Impulse drives cut and the Warp engine powered on. The stars sailed past the window and they left the great ecumenopolis of Coruscant behind.

Chapter 13

Dromand Kaas, ATC station Aurek.

The young lieutenant on duty let out a bored sigh. He hated working ATC. He kicked his feet up and rested them on the console. The screen in-front of him showed the empty space with a few Imperial battleships orbiting the planet. He had been ordered to keep an eye out for an unknown ship but it had been hours since the order came in from the surface. He began to- doze, moving his cap over his eyes. Suddenly an alarm went off, sending the young officer clattering to the ground.

He panicked, looking around before he stood up and threw his headset on. His eyes drifted to the screen, and saw nothing but empty space. Suddenly, a ship appeared out of thin air.

It was a lot larger than a Harrower Class Destroyer- the largest ship in the fleet. It had a green coat of paint, with a long head protruding from it. 'U-unknown ship! What is your cargo and des-destination?' He shouted louder than he intended into the comm.

Minutes passed before he received a response. 'Besh-Seven-Vax.'

The officer opened up a datapad, scrolling through code identifications. His face went ashen when he saw the code. 'R-right away. Welcome to Dromund Kaas,' he muttered into the comm.

He watched a small green shuttle launch from the massive ship and soar down to the planet. The unknown ship took up an orbital position. The officer didn't realize he soiled himself for another ten minutes after that.

Dromund Kaas was a rainy and damn planet. The lightning storms in the atmosphere kept the pilot of the Romulan shuttle on edge as he piloted the Commander down to the surface of the world. S'tev Merek was feeling impatient as he sat behind the pilot, his hands folded in his lap. He didn't bring his disruptor pistol with him- he felt that it would not help negotiations. The shuttle followed the coordinates they had been given, and a vast city came out of the mist and heavy rain. 'That must be it, Kaas City,' Merek said outloud.

The shuttle flew past large skyscrapers, all draped and decorated with the symbol of this Sith Empire. They soared around the tallest building in the city, and landed on a pad atop one of- the spires jutting out from it. 'Wait here,' Merek said as he stood up, straitening his uniform.

The landing pad was covered by a roof, thankfully, and the harsh climate of the planet was blocked out thanks to it. By the doorway leading into the vast tower stood two guards in red armor and cloaks. With large and ornate helmets. They held pikes of some kind. 'We will lead you to Darth Marr,' one of the guards said, his voice sounding robotic coming from the speakers of his helmet.

The Romulan followed the two into a gargantuan hall. Guards lined the walls, and red and black tapestries hung down with the Imperial symbol. They stopped at a large doorway, and the two guards parted to stand on either side. With a groan, the door opened. Revealing a vast chamber with a round, domed roof. Along the walls were twelve chairs, six on either side. The room was empty except for one chair. And Darth Marr sat in it. He did not stand for the Romulan. 'Welcome to Kaas City.' He said, his voice a deep drone.

'I thank you,' Merek said. The statues along the walls of a hooded man were... unnerving. 'I greet you on behalf of the Romulan Star Empire.'

'I did not believe your story of coming from another galaxy at first. It was only after intelligence agents briefed me on three unknown ships over the capital of the Republic that I considered your offer. '

'Three?' Merek said. He knew two would be the Federation ship and the traitor. But he did not know of a third.

Marr pressed a button on the arm of his chair, and a hologram appeared in the middle of the room, taking up most of the floor. There was the Federation ship, and the traitor and... another Federation ship.

'Clearly they are dealing with this Republic.' S'tev said, trying to hide his surprise at the third.

'What is it you want in return for helping us?' Marr said. Straight to the point.

'The chance to kill the traitor. And his Federation allies.'

Marr let out a laugh, one that sent a chill down the spine of the intelligence operative. 'You are but one man, Commander. What is it you can offer me?'

'I was able to learn much about your Empire. I learned at one time you wanted to create a stealth armada. But the nature of the crystals you wished to use, along with the treacherous actions of one of your own made this a short lived dream.' He watched Marr, pausing for a moment. 'I can allow your scientists to look at my cloaking device. I can have my engineers assist your people in reverse engineering it.'

Marr did not move, but there was an edge to his voice. As if this was too good to be true. 'And all you want is revenge?' He said.

'That is it, My Lord.'

Marr did not speak for several moments. He finally stood, walking through the large hologram in the middle of the hall. He stood in-front of the Romulan, towering over him. 'You- have a deal, Commander Merek. But,' he paused, holding his hand out. The Romulan began to choke as the air was pushed from his lungs. 'Do not betray the Empire. Any sign of treachery. And I will end you.' He lowered his hand, and the Romulan dropped to his knees.

'Of- of course, my lord.' He said, holding his throat with a panicked expression. In all of his years he had never seen power like that. The computer records were true, it seemed.

The Dark Lord of the Sith walked to a small doorway behind his chair. 'Our engineers and scientists will return to your ship with you to begin.'

Grand Moff Alvarah Melanh stood waiting for the Dark Lord as he left the council Chamber. 'My Lord,' the Moff said as he bowed to the Sith. He hated bowing to anyone.

'What is it, Grand Moff?' Marr said as he walked past the older officer.

He pushed any bad feelings to the back of his mind as he hurried to catch up with the Sith Lord. 'You asked Intelligence to track the three unknown ships over Coruscant. Our agents in the Republic military report that the left the system.'

Marr stopped walking and looked at the Moff. 'Trajectory?' He said.

'Ord Mantel, my Lord.' He tried not to cower. He was a Grand Moff.

The Dark Lord nodded. 'I feel that Ord Mantel is not their goal, though.'

'Indeed, my Lord. Our agents will be keeping an eye on them. But, my lord. We learned that two Jedi are on one of the ships.'

Darth Marr looked at the Moff, and he was thankful the Sith Lord wore a mask. 'Who?'

Alvarah looked at the datapad, scrolling through the information. 'Jaelor Olrads, and Zatlif, his Padawan.'

'Olrads. Contact Darth Xekllem. Give him my private comm channel. Have your people come-up with a list of possible locations that the unknown ships are going to.' Marr turned, his cloak billowing behind him as he walked down the hallway, his two guards flanking him.

'Of course My Lord.' The Moff said as the Dark Lord marched out of sight.

The Harrower-class dreadnought Fist of Malak soared silently through deep space. The Imperial third fleet was under the command of Darth Xekllem, a mysterious Dark Lord with a mostly robotic body. The bridge of the dreadnought was deathly quiet as the master of the ship stood by the forward viewport, hands folded behind his back. He wore a dark robe over his robotic torso, and a pair of armored greaves over his specially made legs. The mask he was forced to wear made him look as if he was an ancient Sith demon. The Sith Lord towered over most thanks to the upgrades to his body. It had been many years since the accident that cost him most of his body. The Jedi who did this to him had long eluded his gaze.

The fleet sailed through an asteroid field as it chased down smugglers. This was his punishment. Hunting lowely spice addicts and criminals. His gaze was drawn to Starboard as an asteroid struck the command tower of one of the Terminus-class destroyers in the fleet. The bright explosion would have blinded the crew of the Fist if the transparasteel windows hadn't been tinted specially for that reason.

'My Lord.' A nervous voice interrupted the Dark Lord from his musings.

'What is it, Captain.' The Sith's robotic voice cold. He did not enjoy interruptions.

'A transmission from Dromund Kaas. Darth Marr demands you make contact with him. ' The Captain of the Fist looked terrified, and Xekllem could feel the fear radiating off of him.

'Take the fleet out of the asteroid field so I can send a clear transmission.' He pushed past the Captain, walking down the bridge that separated the two command pits on either side. The crew and soldiers saluted him as he passed.

The private communications pad in his office was glowing as he stepped on to it. 'My Lord Marr,' The cyborg said as the image of Darth Marr appeared before him.

'Lord Xekllem,' the deep voice of Darth Marr echoed in the small chamber. 'How goes your heroic work for the Empire?'

Arrogant fool. 'It goes well, my Lord Marr. I am honored that you requested my presence.' He hated the human. He hated all of the humans on the Dark Council.

'Sith Intelligence has tracked Jaelor Olrads down.' Marr sounded as if he was baiting the cyborg.

'Olrads?' Xekllem kept his tone even.

'Indeed. You remember him. One of the Jedi who put you in the state you are in.'

'Why are you telling me what Sith Intelligence has found in regards to him. He does not lead soldiers anymore. He does nothing of importance.'

'Because the Jedi and his apprentice are on one of three unknown starships that appeared in this Galaxy from another?'

The human had lost it ever since the Emperor went silent. 'Another Galaxy? Is that so?'

'I am serious. We have an alien from their galaxy cooperating with us. Master Olrads is helping the three who have most likely allied themselves with the Republic.' Marr looked off to the side, and someone handed him a datapad. 'They believe the three ships are traveling to Rakata Prime.'

The unknown world. 'And I ask again why you are telling me all of this.' He was getting impatient. He knew what the Dark Councilor was going to order.

'I want you to deploy the 3rd Fleet and beat them to Rakata Prime.'

'Republic intelligence would pick up a movement as large as my entire fleet deploying.'

Marr laughed. 'I am aware, Lord Xekllem. They will send their entire fleet to take you. And we will arrive with new array of weapons to combat them with. Intelligence is sending you the make of the unknown ships- and the specifications on their shields, drives, and weapons. All thanks to our friend who is cooperating with the Empire.' Marr inclined his head, and the hologram vanished, leaving Xekllem in the dark chamber.

After several long moments of silence and darkness, the Sith stood up. He walked to the door, and hurried down the vast hallway. 'Captain,' he said as he spotted the Fist's Captain hurrying the opposite way.

'Y-yes, my Lord?' He said, turning around quickly. The fear that radiated off of him was disgusting.

'Deploy the fleet. Order all ships to engage a synchronous hyperdrive jump to Rakata Prime.'

'Yes my Lord. May I ask wh-' He stopped talking when the Sith turned his back to him and walked back into his chambers. 'Rakata Prime,' the officer said with a sigh.

Chapter 14

The Oyu'baat Tapcafe in Keldabe on Mandalore was abuzz with activity as the Chieftains of the clans and other dignitaries had arrived for a special meeting called by the Mand'alor. Vasili Bev'miir stood in the corner, his arms folded across his chest as he waited for the meeting to start. After Mand'alor had viewed the footage Vasili took when he was on the unknown ship, he became convinced. Shouts of 'Oya!' began to spring up among the chieftains. Some slapped the tables with their heavy crushgaunts. A bolo ball match was playing on the screens around the bar, but they had been muted, something that very rarely happened in Mandalorian- establishments.

The Mand'alor stood up, his gold and red armor gleaming somehow even in the dark and smoke filled Oyu'baat. 'Vasili Bev'miir,' he began, pulling his helmet off as he spoke, 'Has shown me some interesting intel he got his hands on. He got a job uploading new starcharts on an unknown ship out over Nar Shaddaa.' Some of the Chieftains snickered. As far as jobs go, that really wasn't one a Mandalorian admitted to.

'Now, I looked at footage he took when he was aboard this ship. This isn't some di'kutla hallucination Vas'ika here approached the unknown ship. And they used a device to transport him from his own ship, on to theirs. They did the same to get him back to his.' He stopped talking, letting it sink in.

The Mandalorian Chieftains began to murmur to themselves. They all knew what this kind of tech could mean for them. Mand'alor spoke up after a moment or two. 'Vas uploaded a tracker into their nav system. Typical aruteiise didn't notice it. Now, they didn't even know what a Mandalorian is!' He roared with laughter that the last part, and the rest of the room joined in. That was a genuinely funny thing to a Mandalorian, after all.

'I'm putting this to vote. Should we go after this ship, and take the technology they have? Or do we keep just hiring ourselves out while this war rages around us?'

The Chieftains all started the bang their tables. The old tapcafe, made of wood and stone felt like it was shaking as their fists slammed onto the surface of the tables. 'OYA!' They shouted, almost as one. Some shouted 'Kandosii!' It was one of those moments Vasili was proud to be a Mando'ad. They were all sons and daughters of Mandalore. And they were going to take what was theirs.

The situation room in the Palace of the Republic was illuminated with monitor screens along every single wall, with officers pulling reports and checking and double checking intelligence. They all came to attention when Chancellor Saresh entered. 'What's going on?' The Chancellor said as she sat down at the long conference table in the middle of the room. Assembled around it were the heads of the various armed forces, and some Jedi.

General Otega turned the holo-emitter on, and a report appeared in the air before the table. 'Five hours ago, the Sith third Fleet deployed from its patrol route near Mon Gazza. Two Harrowers, twenty five Terminus destroyers, and twenty S-class light star cruisers.' He paused, opening up a new holographic image- this one of a starchart. 'SIS and Navy Intelligence think that they are moving to encircle Rakata Prime in unknown Space.'

The Chancellor was staring at the image intently. 'That's a lot of ships to encircle a planet that is completely devoid of sentient life.' She said.

'Indeed, ma'am. We thought the same thing. SIS agents in Sith Space have also detected the Imperial tenth fleet has deployed from its position over Korriban. We believe they are also going to Rakata Prime.'

An Admiral nodded as he looked to the Chancellor. 'Madam Chancellor, there is something on that planet. We don't know what it is. But there is something there. The Navy feels that whatever it is, the Sith cannot be allowed to get their hands on it. I have drawn up orders,' he paused, taking a datapad out of his bag and sliding it across the table. 'I have drawn up orders to deploy the second, third, and sixth fleets to Rakata Prime. We can find what they are looking for, and crush a sizable amount of the Imperial Navy in the process.'

The Chancellor leaned back in her chair. This would be the largest Naval engagement in the war if she ordered it. Hundreds of thousands would die. 'Master Jedi,' she said after several moments, looking to Master Oteg, the small green Jedi Master. 'What do you think?'

His voice was a calming one. 'I believe that the loss of life experienced would be great. But in this war, we will lose many to fire. I agree with the Admiral.'

She had been hoping he would tell her not to. Her eyes drifted down to the datapad, and after several long minutes, she placed her hand on it, and let the 'pad detect her thumb print. 'Bring our people back in one peace, Admiral.' She said as she slid the pad across the table. Everyone around the table stood up as she left.

Jaelor Olrads found the hum of the engines of the Waterbury much more relaxing than normal ships. He wore only his tunic and loose trousers and a pair of boots. Zatlif was pacing on the other side of their quarters. 'Patience Zatlif.' Jaelor said, looking up from his meditation. 'I'm sure the whole of Coruscant could feel the amount of impatience radiating off of you right now.

The Zabrak rounded on him. 'THIS SHIP IS SO SLOW!' She shouted at him. 'IT WOULD TAKE US FIVE DAYS TO GET FROM CORUSCANT TO RAKATA PRIME. WE HAVE BEEN- TRAVELING FOR ONE MONTH!' She let out an angered cry, shaking her fists. 'I HATE THIS!'

Jaelor chuckled, sitting up. 'Patience, Padawan.' He said to her.

The young Zabrak looked livid. 'Patience? Patience PADAWAN?' she mimicked his voice. 'Oh I'm Jaelor Olrads and I'm so perfect and calm and a Master swordsman I'm the best Jedi in the universe Master Shan even wants to sleep with me.' She stopped the mimicking and walked over to him, poking his chest hard. 'I am going to kill you.' She was out of breath.

'We will be there soon, Zatlif.' He said, placing his hands on her shoulders. 'You're getting cabin fever, as the troops in the Navy call it.'

She glared up at him. 'I am going to take my saber, and decapitate you.'

Jaelor looked to the viewport as he sensed the vibrations of the engine change. The stars no longer streaked by. They were no longer in Warp. 'I think we are there, Padawan.' He said, walking over to the windows. He could see a lone world in the blackness, far in the distance. Rakata Prime.

Rakata Prime was a blue world, silent in the black void. It looked peaceful, even as the three ships left Warp and approached it. Bill Plourde stood up from his chair when it appeared on the screen. 'Scan it,' he said to Lieutenant Zhl'leilik Tenassa, the science officer on duty.

'Aye sir,' The Andorian said. She turned back to the science console and looked at the scanner. After a few moments, she looked back up. 'Class M planet. But no sentient life other than wild animals, it would seem.'

Bill nodded. 'Thank you, Lieutenant.' He said, looking back to the blue planet. 'Helm. Put us in a standard orbit around Rakata Prime.'

'Aye sir.' The ensign at the helm responded as the ship sailed towards the serene world.

'Contact D'Tanix and Appomattox, open a hailing frequency.' He said to the comm officer. As the Lieutenant at Comms completed his order, Bill tapped his badge. 'Master Olrads, Miss Zatlif,' please report to the bridge. The view on the screen switched, and Captain Napier and Commander D'nak appeared on a two way connection.

'It's a beautiful looking world,' Roland noted. The Romulan actually nodded at that.

'We're taking up a standard orbit around the planet.' He paused when the turbolift opened and the two Jedi walked on to the bridge. 'Master Olrads, I'm going to go to the surface with you two, along with a small away team from my ship. Captain Napier, Commander D'nak, I have a- feeling we won't be alone soon. Could you keep your ships ready for a fight?'

The Romulan and other human nodded.

'Good. I'm going to have the Waterbury's fighter squadrons on full alert. And once we beam down, I'm going to order the shields be raised and we switch to condition yellow.'

'I agree, Captain.' The Romulan said. 'I will do the same.'

'As will I,' the Scottish captain of the Appomattox said. The screen went black as the two dropped the connection.

'Master Olrads, Miss Zatlif, if you will follow me to the Transporter room.' Bill said, walking to the lift. As the three entered, he taped his comm. 'Commander Hed'q, Commander B'por. Report to Transporter Room B.'

Chapter 15

Rakata Prime was full of palm trees and very temperate. The remains of old starships that crash landed hundreds of years before jutted out of the water or were embedded in the land itself, nature growing around it. The away team of Jaelor Olrads, Zatlif, Bill Plourde, B'por and Hed'q materialized on one of the many beaches. The Starfleet officers took tricorders out, scanning the planet.

'There's no life,' B'por said as she looked around. In the distance, farther inland behind vast hills and plains the top of a Temple could be seen.

Jaelor walked off to one of the large pillars of black metal sticking out of the ground. 'The remains of the Starforge.' He said quietly, looking up at the group. He pointed to one of the ships that jutted out of one of the mountains in the ocean. 'That's an old Republic cruiser. About five hundred or so years old.' He said to them. 'But the temple is where we want to go.'

The away team made their way through the jungle, encountering no animals or people. It was almost mid-day by the time they got to the Temple. Sweat caked Bill's brow, his uniform was sticking to his chest. The others had no fared any better. They had been climbing up hill for hours, and they were now on a large cliff. At the end was the white temple that was their goal. 'The Temple of the Ancients,' Jaelor said to the group as they took a breather at the edge of the treeline.

'Three hundred years ago the Rakata still lived on this world. They once ruled most of the Galaxy. But three hundred years ago, they were here, a forgotten race.' Jaelor spoke as he looked at the Temple. He paused to take a drink from his canteen before speaking again. 'The Sith Lords Malak and Revan had created a fleet with the station that orbited Lehon called the Star Forge. They waged a vicious war against the Republic, and declared themselves Dark- Lords of the Sith. Revan was the master, and Malak the Apprentice. During a battle, Malak turned on Revan as a Jedi strike team boarded his ship. He was knocked unconscious when Malak's ship opened fire on Revan's. So, the Jedi captured Revan, and took him before the council. They wiped his memory. ' He looked to the group, who were all almost enraptured by the story. Even Zatlif was staring at him.

'Revan slowly began to gain his memories back, and the Council ordered him to be trained again. He went on a mission to find the starcharts that would lead him here, to Lehon. After he found it, the Republic Fleet attacked the Star Forge. Hundreds of ships on both sides were lost, and Malak had the Forge churning his destroyers out even as more were lost. Revan led a stike team onto the station and he killed his former apprentice. The inhabitants of this world, though, died out generations after that battle. Leaving only these temples that scatter the world. '

'Nerd.' Zatlif muttered to herself at the end of the story. Jaelor chuckled, smacking the back of her head.

Bill was fascinated by the story clearly. He stood up, then looked to the Temple. 'Let's go see history, then.'

The Jedi had to use the force to open the doors, as they hadn't budged in three hundred years. It was the first time the Starfleet officers had seen the powers of the Jedi, and they were impressed. The inside was stale and moldy, the brown stones that covered the walls had moss and vines growing from them. Their footsteps echoed as they all walked through the ancient building.

B'por took her tricorder out. 'Sir,' she said as it beeped. 'I think I'm reading a large energy source. Below us.'

Bill looked to the Klingon, then to the Jedi. 'Down then?' He said. They found a stairwell that winded down into the depths of the Rakatan temple, the smell of mold getting even stronger the deeper they descended.

The stairs ended after an eternity, and the group entered a tight hallway, about as tall as Bill was. The Klingons had to crouch, and even Jaelor had to bend his head slightly. At the end of the hallway, a crystal floated over a pedestal. It was radiating different colors and a humming could be heard from it. 'I think this is it, sir.' B'por said as she approached it. The Klingon held her hand out and went to touch it.

'Wait, don't!' Jaelor said as he felt the energy it contained flare up.

It was too late. The Klingon screamed as the energy within consumed her. There was a bright- flash, and she was gone. A pile of ash on the ground where she had been moments before. Her tricorder resting atop it. Bill's face went pale when he saw his officer disintegrate, and he dropped to the floor. His eyes couldn't look away from the pile of ash. Hed'q gripped his Captain's shoulder tightly.

Jaelor looked to Zatlif, then walked to the pedestal. 'I think... I think only a Force user can- touch it.' He said to himself, holding his hand out. He closed his fingers around the crystal and pulled it from the pedestal. It glowed in his hand, vibrating. The Temple began to shake, pillars that held the ceiling up collapsing around them. 'We need to get out of here!' Jaelor shouted over the thunderous sound of the entire room collapsing.

Hed'q pulled Bill to his feet and pushed him out the hall way. It collapsed behind them as they ran, dust polluting the air, making it harder to see. The four ran up the long, winding stairs, terrified as they began to collapse as well. It was almost luck that saved them, when they got to the top of the stairs. Jaelor panted, leaning on the wall as the stairs collapsed down the gaping pit that they had been in.

Bill was almost out of his state of shock. 'We- should erm, should get back to the ship.' He said after a long silence. The dust was still in the air, and it coated the four of them. 'I- yes.' He straightened himself up and cleared his throat. 'Plourde to Waterbury,' He said as he tapped his comm badge.

'This is the Waterbury.'

'Lock on to our position and beam us aboard.'

'Acknowledged.' There was a pause on the other end. 'We have locked on.'

'Good. Energize.' Bill's eyes were on the pit, dust still settling over it as the four were beamed back to the Waterbury.

Chapter 16

'Master Olrads, please take the... crystal to Chief Kamis. Warn him he can't touch it directly. He'll put it in a containment field to study it.' Bill said to the Jedi as they materialized back on the Waterbury. Jaelor and Zatlif walked out of the room, hurrying to Engineering. Hed'q and Bill headed to the bridge.

The Bridge officers looked up when the Captain entered, and realization dawned when they didn't see B'por. Bill looked to the Andorian Science Officer. 'Lieutenant Zhl'lelik Tenassa. I am promoting you to the rank of Lieutenant-Commander. And to the position of Chief Science Officer.' Bill turned away from the stunned Andorian. 'Status Report,' he said.

T'var stood up from the Captain's chair. 'We are detecting multiple signatures coming out of lightspeed on the edge of the system, sir.'

Bill frowned, sitting down in his chair. 'On screen.'

Far from them, the magnified view of the edge of the system appeared on screen. They were Imperial Warships, about sixty of them. And they were headed for the planet. Bill's eyes went wide. 'Red Alert.' He said.

'Captain!' The Comm officer shouted as the lights dimmed to a red on the bridge and the klaxons started to go off. 'Appomattox and D'Tanix are signaling they saw the ships.'

Bill's eyes couldn't leave the large ships. They were huge. The largest of them looked to be about one thousand meters or so long. The rest were about seven or eight hundred. 'Tell- tell them to form up on us.' He tapped his badge. 'This is the Captain.' He said as his voice carried across the ship. 'A Sith fleet is here. And I don't think they want to have tea with us. It looks to be three against Sixty. You're a good crew, a capable crew. It has been on honor severing with you all.'

He turned to the comm officer after he tapped his badge off. 'Are they hailing us?'

The officer shook his head, his face ashen.

'Tactical. Order all fighters to launch.' They only had eighteen fighters. Hopefully they could do some damage to the enemy.

'Sir, more ships are appearing!'

On the screen, another fifty or so Imperial Ships appeared behind the first fleet. 'By God.' Bill whispered, standing up. 'Order... order the fighters to keep a standard formation around our perimeter.'

The hangar bay of the Waterbury was chaos as alarm klaxons went off, shining red light onto the reflective surfaces of the floors and walls. The Federation Fighter pilots, all wearing flightsuits and helmets hurried up ladders to their ships. The small peregrines hung from claws in the air, and would detach when the pilot took off. 'All crews to your stations!' Shouted the automated alarm as the pilots boarded their craft. There were fifteen in the forward bay, and three more in the aft. They would all launch.

James Doolan sat down in his fighter, buckling in. He ran his hand across the control console, turning everything on. The lights reflected off his helmet. The viewscreen turned on, revealing the hangar bay. He felt the fighter shake slightly as the claw that held it shook. 'Comm check.' He said into the mic. The Commander received eighteen affirmatives.

The shield that covered the bay door shut off, signaling that the deck was clear. The large bay doors parted, one sliding up and one down. The bay was exposed to the vacuum of space. 'All craft, prepare to detach from docking claws.' Doolan said into the comm system. His hand moved up along the wall of the cramped fighter cockpit. He opened a transparent box, revealing a red switch. The doors of the hangar were fully open. He felt his docking claw lower, putting him about twenty meters above the ground. The Commander pulled the switch, and he felt the claw let go of his fighter.

He punched the controls, pulling back and felt the g-forces pull against his body as his fighter zoomed out of the hanger bay into the blackness of space. His radar blinked multiple times as all the fighters ejected from the hangers and the Waterbury was soon far behind them. 'Standard defensive formation,' Doolan said into the comm, pulling up and flying back closer to the Waterbury. The other fighters acknowledged and soon formed up. The ships in the distance were getting closer. They were huge even from the position the fighters floated at.

The bridge was deathly silent, save for the sound of the red alert klaxons. 'All fighters have been launched,' Hed'q said at Tactical. His face was determined.

Bill nodded, running a hand through his hair. He was sweating. 'Captain!' Comm shouted, turning around. 'More ships are appearing!'

The Captain let out a defeated sigh. It was getting worse. The screen was still showing the vast Imperial fleet which had spread out as it approached the three vessels. Flashes illuminated space behind the enemy, and more ships appeared. But they couldn't be. 'Republic ships?' He said, eyes wide. The Imperials ships stopped almost instantly as they turned to fight the Republic. More Republic ships appeared. And more. Space lit up between the two sides as almost three hundred ships began to fire at each other. Explosions dancing across the black void.

Jaelor hurried on to the bridge in time to see the battle start. 'By the Force,' he muttered. It had been a long time since he saw a battle like that.

Bill turned to his first Officer. 'Opinion, Commander?'

The Vulcan rose to her feet. 'The Prime Directive states non-interference is preferable. But I believe that logic dictates we should join in the fight on the side of the Republic.'

'And why is that, Commander?' Bill ran a hand through his hair again. His face was still coated in dust.

'Because, Captain. The Sith were attempting to attack us. And I am sure when the initial shock of battle ends, some of the ships will come back for us.'

The Captain sighed loudly, his eyes drifting back to the battle. 'Comm. Contact Appomattox and D'Tanix.' He trailed off as he watched the war unfold before them. 'Tell them... Tell them we are going to attack.'

He sat back down in the Captain's chair. 'Prepare fore torpedo tubes. I want photon torpedos on a level 10 detonation to be ready to fire. Load the aft tubes with quantums.' He straightened up in his chair. 'Take us to full impulse. Engage.'

The Imperial Flagship Fist of Malak had managed to destroy one of the Thranta class battleships of the Republic Fleet. Xekllem had allowed the Captain of the Fist to Command. The normally nervous officer seemed to be at home. 'Hard to port,' he said calmly as he watched the battle from the viewscreens. The bright red lights of the turbo laser canons were almost blinding as they fired away. The dreadnought was alongside a Republic Valor-class cruiser. The two ships began to pound away at each other with their heavy canons. The Fist shook as it took the hits.

Xekllem was getting impatient. They were losing. Reports were coming in from his large fleet. They had lost dozens of ships, hundreds of fighters. They hadn't anticipated a Republic response like this. They pulled ships off blockades in the Rim just for this battle. Fighters zoomed across the viewport, and one crashed into the turbo laser that protected the bridge, destroying it. The Sith turned and headed to the hangar. He was going to get into his ship.

His Fury-class Imperial Interceptor was his pride and joy. One of the few things he carried about in this universe. It took off smoothly and flew out of the busy hangar bay. Soon he was away from the Fist and in the thick of it. His hands deftly slid across his controls as he flew behind a Republic fighter. He locked on easily and fired. The top of its cockpit exploded outwards, sending the pilot into the void, and his fighter into a Republic gunship. The Sith lord laughed to himself as he easily shot down another Republic fighter.

His comm beeped, and the voice of the Captain of the Fist came over the speakers. 'My Lord, the unknown ships are joining the battle.'

Xekllem sneered, pulling up and over one of the ships that was chasing him. He saw the three unknown ships soaring towards the, The fighters around it firing their odd laser canons. He sensed something, though. A familiar presence. So, the Jedi was on the ship. He knew what he had to do.

James Doolan's hands sweated as he pulled his joystick down, flying below one of the Sith fighters that flew at him. He let it fly by, and then spun around, punching his thrusters. He was behind it. The Commander's thumbs pressed the phaser controls. The beam buzzed out and struck the fighter in the middle, in what must have been the cockpit. It exploded in a fiery blast. His eyes were drawn to the radar as he spun the ship around, avoiding a fiery piece of an exploding Republic fighter. 'S-3 you have one on your tail.' Doolan said into the comm as one of the Peregrines tried to shake the Sith fighter on its tail, its green lasers barely missing.

He hit the boosters, attempting to at least scare the fighter off. He wasn't quick enough, and S-3 went up in a ball of fire. Doolan punched the control console swearing loudly. He flipped a switch on his joy-stick and pressed down on the trigger it revealed. His fighter jolted as a quantum torpedo launched from it, slamming into the wing of the Sith fighter, causing it to fly off, spinning out of control, before slamming in to the bridge of a Sith frigate. The frigate swung down as its bridge disappeared in a ball of fire. 'S-7, S-4. On me.' Doolan shouted into the comm, spinning his ship as he flew back towards the fighters.

The bridge of the Waterbury was silent as the battle raged on. 'Attack pattern beta.' Bill said as he sat in the Captain's chair. He felt the ship lurch as the helm followed the command. 'Full spread of photon torpedoes. Aim for the larger Imperial Battleship. Grid position...' He turned to look at the screen on the arm of his chair. 'Grid position X-E-10.'

'Aye sir.' Hed'q said as he directed the photon torpedos. The phasers lanced out from the Waterbury, striking enemy fighters and ships, burning them in the sky.

The ship jolted as the torpedos launched, and they soared along the hull of the large battleship, slamming into it just above one of the two docking bays between the ships two long prongs that jutted outwards. The shields keeping the higher docking bay pressurized shorted out, and ships and crew were sent flying off into space.

'Captain. The Republic flag ship is signaling. They have sent us the coordinates of the weak spot of the largest Imperial cruiser. '

Bill nodded to the comm officer. 'Lock on to the coordinates. Fire a full spread of quantum torpedoes.'

The sound of torpedoes launching was almost a comforting one for Bill. The red balls of light soared across the battleship and slammed into a point on the long wing that jutted out from either side of the Command tower. 'Their shields are down, sir!' Hed'q said from Tactical. 'The Imperial Fleet is beginning to retreat!'

An alarm went off from the tactical console. The Klingon starred down. 'Sir, a ship- our. We're- losing power to our shields.'

The Waterbury lurched as it took heavy fire from the enemy ships. 'How?' Bill said as he stood up quickly, running over to tactical.

'I don't- Sir, we're being boarded. A ship has attached itself to the hull.'

Jaelor closed his eyes, balancing himself against a console. 'I will... it is a Sith Lord. I will stop him.' The Jedi said, hurrying to the Turbolift.'

Bill and Hed'q exchanged alarmed looks. 'Commander. You may fire at will.' He said, moving back to the chair.

Chapter 18

Jaelor and Zatlif had their robes off, and sabers in hand as they walked through the lower deck of the Waterbury. The ship shook as it took more hits, and the lights faded off for a moment, before being replaced by red emergency ones. They entered the aft hangar bay, it was totally empty, save their ship.

'I have found you at last.'

The two Jedi spun around. The Sith was on the catwalks above them. It jumped from high above, landing in front of the two. 'Darth Xekllem,' Jaelor said, activating one of his lightsabers. The green blade reflecting off of his armor. Zatlif's double-bladed saber came to life as well, the white light of her blade bright.

'I have become much more powerful, Jedi.' He threw his robe off, letting it drop to the floor, revealing a black chassis, armored. He was much taller than Jaelor remembered. It must have been the cybernetic legs. 'You weakened my position in the Empire, Jedi. You shamed me for what you, and Kohs'rah and the others did that day on Hypori.' He grasped two lightsabers and activated them, the crimson blade reflected off of the jet black of his body. The silver and black mask that was his face emotionless. It made him look as if he was a creature from Corellian tales of hell. He leaped forward, his blades spinning.

Jaelor narrowly avoided one of the blades, his own saber swinging to strike along the Sith's shoulder. Zatlif flipped over him, her own blades coming down to cut his back. The Sith spun, kicking the Zabrak in the face. Two more sabers detached from Xekllem's belt, activating in the air. The Dark Lord cackled as they spun and attacked Zatlf. Meanwhile he was able to put the full force of his attacks against the Jedi Knight.

Sabers clashed, blinding bright lights reflecting. Jaelor held his hand out, force pushing the Sith back several meters. He used the lull to activate his second blade- a light blue one. He was a master of Makashi, specializing in dual-wielding a saber. With his two blades he leaped at the Sith, his own twin crimson blades meeting Jaelor's. The fight was truly on.

The Imperial experimental fleet entered realspace as the battle took place thousands of kilometers away from the jump point. Its Commander, Maim'fru'daruano, known as Imfruda to the humans stood on the bridge of the Harrower he was commanding. His white uniform was impecible, the Chiss' blue skin gleamed in the light. 'Captain,' an officer said, walking across the bridge to the Chiss. 'All ships are reporting ready.'

The former intelligence operative nodded. He was commanding one hundred ships, most of them Harrowers. 'Begin.' The enemy would not survive this assault.

Bill watched as another Republic ship exploded when a Sith frigate flew full force into it. They were winning, but they were running out of ships quickly. On the screen the Appomattox zoomed by, its phaser lashing against the fighters that tried to penetrate its defenses. The D'Tanix fired a massive plasma torpedo and it engulfed the bridge of the Imperial flag ship. It's thrusters died and the ship began to almost fall in space, its bow remaining upright as the stern fell backwards. 'How many Republic ships are left?' Bill asked Hed'q.

The Klingon was reading his screen. 'Forty- no, fifty seven.'

'So much death,' the Captain said with a sigh. 'Okay, prepare to-' He trailed off when he saw one hundred Imperial ships decloak. Most of them were similar to the flagship they just destroyed. And there was one Romulan Warbird among them. 'Dear god.' Bill said, falling back into his chair.

The fight raged on in the shuttle bay. Zatlif battled against the two lightsabers that the Sith controlled with the force, and Jaelor fought tooth and nail against Xekllem. He spun around, his blue and green sabers a flurry of color as he tried to batter away at the Dark Lord's defenses to no avail. It was if the Sith was not even feeling fatigue. The ship shook again, the emergency lights fading then coming back on. They could hear the battle outside in space get even louder, as if it just picked back up.

Jaelor let out a grunt as the sith kneed him in the stomach. Even as he wore armor, the cybernetic legs bashed through it. He dropped to the floor, his sabers falling. Suddenly Xekllem was flung across the room, slamming full force into the one of the Federation- shuttles. Zatlif let out a scream as one of the sabers cut into her side, sending her falling. She had let her guard go to save Jaelor. His world went blurry when the Zabrak fell. The sabers were back in his hands and somehow in a fit of rage he had destroyed the two sabers being controlled with the force. Zatlif was on the ground, clutching her side. She was writhing in pain.

The Sith growled, the robotic sound sending a chill along Jaelor's spine. He stood up, turning to face the Dark Lord. They charged at each other, their sabers clashing as Jaelor fought with everything he had. He let the Force take control, pushing the Sith back with every swing. The Dark Lord was on the defensive, wavering under the blows of Jaelor's attacks.

The ship shook as the shields buckled under another barrage of fire. Plasma began to burst from conduits in the hangar and the emergency lights blinked out again. The sabers casting the only light in the large hangar bay. Another lurch, more plasma shot out of the conduits detaching from the ceiling. A shuttle fell from one of the tall docking claws, dropping on top of the Jedi craft. Jaelor kept us his attacks. He needed to end this.

The Waterbury soared along the body of one of the new Harrowers, its phaser lashing out at the vast ship. Turbo laser batteries battering against the shields of the Starfleet ship. A series of quantum torpedoes launched from the aft tubes as it pulled up, flying over the command tower. The bright white missiles punched into the back of the tower, explosions ripped across it.

'Report!' Bill shouted as the ship shook once more. An explosion ripped across the comm console, the ensign who manned it was thrown backwards.

Lieutenant-Commander Tenassa stood up from the science console, looking to the Captain. 'Sir!' The Andorian shouted over the sound of the exploding on the bridge. 'Sir! Plasma leaks on all decks! Shields down to...' She paused, looking up. Her eyes wide. 'Shields down to twelve percent!'

Bill's eyes were wide. 'Chief!' He shouted, tapping his comm badge.

'Engineering!' Came the reply, the sound of chaos coming through as well.

'Status report, Chief.' Bill tried to remain calm. He was still sitting in the Captain's chair.

'We're taking too much fire! Our shields won- Blimey. Captain, we have a warp core breach!'

Bill stood up, almost falling as the ship took another hit from one of the new Imperial reinforcements. He looked to the bloodied bridge crew. Everyone was wounded. Another jolt- as the ship took a full broadside from the lead Imperial ship. It was as if a bomb had dropped in the pit of his stomach. He felt numb. 'Abandon ship.' the veteran officer said, almost whispering. 'Abandon. Abandon ship!' The bridge crew hurried to the turbo-lift. Bill sat back down in the Captain's chair, closing his eyes. 'All crew. This is the Captain,' he tapped his comm badge. 'We have a Warp core breach. Abandon ship. I repeat, abandon ship.'

The Sith and Jedi sabers clashed as the ship collapsed around them. Catwalks falling from the ceiling onto the floor, conduits exploding outwards. Jaelor flipped over the Sith, landing behind him, his sabers spinning in a flurry of attacks.

One of the Dark Lord's sabers exploded in his hand. He spun in mid air, his saber coming down across Jaelor's shoulder. A quick parry was all that saved the Jedi from decapitation. The cyborg let out a robotic growl, leaping backwards, kicking the Jedi in the face as he did so.

Blood spurted from Jaelor's nose, but the Jedi kept fighting, He threw one saber, letting it arc around the Sith. With his now free hand, he collapsed another catwalk with the Force, letting it fall atop the Dark Lord.

Xekllem let out a roar as he somersaulted to avoid the collapsing metal. Jaelor's blue saber spun past the Sith and cut into his back. Sparks exploded outward, and the Dark Lord fell to his knees.

Jaelor almost fell to the ground as the ship shook again. Another shuttle fell from the ceiling, exploding when it hit the floor. He approached the Sith after he caught his blue saber. With both in his hand he stood infront of the Sith. Sparks popped and cracked along his chassis. One of his arms were disables. And his breathing was erratic. Without another though, Jaelor sliced across the Sith Cyborg's chest. With a last groan, Xekllem, Dark Lord of the Sith, died.

The Jedi was still panting as he deactivated his blades, hooking the hilts back to his belt. He turned and hurried across the hangar to Zatlif. She was still alive, still clutching her side. 'Leave me, you idiot.' She said when he reached her. 'You're... sentimental.'

Jaelor lifted her up, causing a lot more pain to her wound. He pressed a hand to the still hot slice across her side, using the force to contain it. 'I'm not letting you die I can't.' He said. Their ship's bridge exploded as another shuttle fell from the ceiling onto it. 'Come on!'

The Waterbury's port nacelle went up in a ball of fire as the lead Imperial ship fired a full broadside. Imfruda smirked when the reports started to come in, as Republic ships were beginning to either surrender or be destroyed. 'Sir,' an officer hurried to the Chiss. 'Escape Pods are launching from the Waterbury. Shall we fire on them?'

Imfruda turned, his hand resting on his chin. 'No. No. Let them live. Open fire on the Republic flag. Full broadside.'

The Waterbury tilted onto its axis and then exploded. But it was brighter and more powerful than they had expected. Large pieces of the ship slammed into the side of Imfruda's- dreadnaught. 'Report.' The Chiss said evenly, his eyes not leaving the sight of the explosion.

'Shields are down, engines damaged heavily. Port batteries are disabled.' One of the officers shouted from the command pit.

'Pull us back to grid seven-four. Order the Bane of Taris and Korriban's Protector to take our place in the battle line. ' He paused, looking to the Comm station on the other side of the bridge. 'Contact Kaas Naval Control. Inform them we are winning, but may need reinforcements.'

His eyes drifted back to the viewport as a Terminus-class destroy collided with one of the Harrowers, sending the two ships up in flames. Some ships burnt husks had been caught in the gravitational pull of Rakata Prime. 'Contact the Captain of the Emperor's Pride. Order him to take the position that Sadow's Fury held.' He clenched his fist, pushing back the creeping intrusive thoughts. He had to be the epitome of cool and collected. 'Launch all remaining fighters.' His eyes were scanning the battle, and he was seeing openings in the line. 'Take us back into battle. Increase shielding to the port side.'

Chapter 19

On the Appomattox, Captain Roland Napier was gripping the arms of his chair, his knuckles white. 'Lower shields.' He said. 'Attack Pattern Omega.' The ship lurched as it took a direct hit from one of the Imperial ships. A communications console exploded, the officer manning it fliped over her chair. Outside the battle raged on. The Imperial reinforcements had kept a steady line, slowly attempting to advance against the Republic's thinned fleet. The Republic Flagship had taken so much fire that it was no longer viable in the battle.

'The escape pods are aboard!' Tactical shouted.

'Shields up. Prepare a full barrage of Quantum torpedoes.' He paused. 'Fire.' The ship shook as a barrage of torpedoes.'

'Captain.' The science officer said. 'Sir. There's a... a rift in space. Where the Waterbury exploded.'

Roland's eyes went wide. 'On screen.'

Bill walked onto the bridge as the rift appeared on the screen. His face was bloodied and- dirtied. 'What's this?' He said. Roland could tell how demoralized the man was. On the screen was a pink and purple rift. About the size of a small fighter.

'We're scanning it.' The ship jolted again. 'But we need to get back to the battle. Increase to- half impulse, all phasers to full.'

The bridge of the Mandalorian warship Ne'ta Tal, literally black blood was quiet as the Mandalorian fleet soared through hyperspace. Vasili Bev'miir was given command of the fifty or so Mandalorian starships. Mand'alor would officially condemn the attack once the Empire learned of it, to avoid retribution. 'Alor'ad, we're approaching the target.' The voice of one of Bev'miir's clan-mates interrupted his thoughts.

The black and blue clad Mando looked up. He placed his helmet on. 'Buy'ce!' he shouted. The Mandalorians on the bridge all did the same. 'Take us out of lightspeed. Activate deflector shields.'

A resounding 'Oya!' echoed across the bridge. As one, fifty three Mandalorian warships, about all about the size of the Imperial Terminus-class appeared in realspace. There was a battle before them. One the Mandalorians did not expect. A battle-line of Imperial warships blocked their path as they battered at Republic ships. Vasili's eyes were drawn to several unknown models in the battle. 'We're being hailed, alor'ad.'

Vasili nodded, and the image of a Chiss appeared on the holo-projector. 'Vasili.' The Chiss said with a nod of his head. He wore a crisp Imperial uniform. 'I was not aware Mand'alor sent a relief force to help us. How fortunate.'

'Imfruda. Been a while.' It had been a long time. 'We're here for the unknown ships.'

The Chiss had an edge to his voice. 'I'm sorry, old friend. Ner vod. But I cannot allow that. They have committed crimes against the Empire. Turn your fleet around or I am afraid you will have to face the consequences.'

Vasili folded his arms across his chest. He kept his helmet steady but looked around at the warriors on the bridge. They all wanted this fight. They needed this fight. 'I'm sorry, Imfruda.' The Mandalorian Alor'ad finally said. He reached forward and ended the communication. 'Deploy the fleet. Formation olan.'

Vasili walked to across the expanded metal deck of the bridge to the viewport. Three large transparasteel windows. Two Imperial Harrowers turned from the battle and began to soar for them. 'Oya.' Vasili said to himself. 'Ib'tuur jatne tuur ash'ad kyr'amur' Today was a good day for someone else to die.

On the Appomattox, the crew was silent as they saw the new arrivals. They had begun to battle the Imperial cruisers. 'This is chaos.' Roland said, shaking his head. Bill was sitting in the councilor's chair next to him. 'Bloody chaos.' He stood up. 'Who even are they?!' He shouted as he pointed at the viewscreen.

Jaelor limped on to the bridge. He made sure Zatlif was in the infirmary before he did anything else. 'Mandalorians.' The Jedi said with a gasp when he saw the battle on the screen.

Roland turned, 'Manda-what?' He was clearly annoyed.

'Mandalorians. A warrior culture of nomads. They normally are helping the Imperials.'

Soon the entire Imperial fleet had turned away from the remains of the Republic fleet. 'Recall the Waterbury's fighters. Make room in our shuttle bay.' He said to the operations officer. The ship jolted as it took fire.

'Captain, it's the S'leia!'

They had forgotten about the Romulan. He had been fighting with the Imperials. His ship and the D'Tanix had been dueling for the entirety of the fight. 'On screen.' Roland said, his fists clenched. The Romulan warbird came in from behind, it's disrupters firing away, trying to destroy the weakened shield of the Appomattox. 'Increase power to shields. Full spread of photon torpedos. Level 9 yield. Fire.'

Roland sat back down, a determined look on his face. The Akira-class flew over the enemy warbird, it's phasers lashing against it.

The D'Tanix had taken a beating. At one point they were fending off three Imperial cruisers and the mad Commander of the S'leia. Vrel had sixty percent of his crew dead, the bridge on fire. 'Find the S'leia.' Vrel said as he coughed blood. He had only three officers left on the bridge. Most of the remaining crew was putting out plasma fires that broke out across the ship.

He tried his hardest to sit up in his chair, but there was a piece of metal sticking out of his chest from an explosion that destroyed the operations console near his chair. The screen blinked. It was full of static and took a few moments for the view he asked to appear. The Tal Shiar's warbird was using everything it had to destroy the Appomattox.' Vrel looked to his officers. 'Abandon ship.'

The alarm rang out throughout the entire Warbird as the abandon ship order came over the comms. 'Go.' The Romulan veteran said to the crew. 'Go. That is an order. You are soldiers of the Romulan Empire- The Republic. I order you to survive.'

The remaining officers hurried off of the bridge, leaving the Commander alone. The alarms beeped from all sides as the escape pods launched. No one was there to keep the singularity core going. The ship was doomed. With a grunt, the Romulan limped over to the helm, and pressed his hands against the controls. He could get one more boost of impulse power. That was all he needed. Commander Vrel D'nak, a veteran commander of the Romulan Star Empire, and Romulan Republic pressed the execute command.

The Appomattox flew underneath the enemy warbird, their phasers lancing from all directions at the Warbird as its green disruptors lashed against their shields. The fighters from the Waterbury couldn't land because of the dogfight between the two ships, so they assisted in the battle, their photon torpedos slamming into the structure of the S'leia. A disruptor lance caught one of the small fighters, destroying it instantly. Two more collided into it when the Warbird swung up.

As the Federation starship swung to port, the D'Tanix flew in at full impulse, and collided with the S'leia. The two ships exploded in a bright flash of light, fire and wreckage pulsing out in all directions. The Appomattox and the fighters hurried away from the explosion as the two singularity cores exploded, sucking in everything around it.

A vast shockwave that hurled the Appomattox forward, damaging her engines signified the end of the explosion.

On the bridge of the Appomattox, it was silent. They had watched in helpless shock when the D'Tanix flew in and slammed head on into the S'leia. Roland had formed a bond with Commander Vrel, and he felt demoralized as he sat back down in the Captain's chair. 'My God.' He said to himself, his face in his hands. Everyone felt... tired. 'Let's- um. Let's signal the Republic ships. We should form a perimeter in-case the fight over there comes to us.

Chapter 20

Imfruda was watching the battle unfold. He was feeling furious. Vasili had been someone he once considered a friend. And the Mandalorian had the gall to attack him. He'd lost four ships to the renewed fight, and was having trouble issuing orders to the rest of his fleet. They were starting to lose. He could feel it. 'Contact that Mand'alor.' Imfruda said after a long moment. He needed to end this fight.

Vasili Bev'miir was standing over a holographic map of the battle line. He was arranging ships on it, nodding to himself. 'Jate. Ori'jate.' He said.

His ships had inflicted heavy damage on the heavier cruisers in the Imperial fleet. Smaller ones had been to retreat away from the system. His fleet was slowly pushing forward. A flare- on the map signified another dreadnaught exploding from sustained attack. 'These four will swing around and cut off an attempt at retreat here.' He pointed to a grind point.

'Alor'ad. We're getting an emergency transmission. From Mand'alor.'

Ah. The congratulations he deserved was coming. 'Let's see him.'

The holoprojector turned into an image of the Mand'alor. 'Su'cuy, Vasili.'

'We are winning the battle, Mand'alor.' He felt pride right now.

'I am ordering you to stand down. Go back to Mandalorian space.'

The entire bridge crew turned to the holo-pad. Vasili felt shock. 'Excuse me?' He said, his fists clenched. 'Ex-excuse me?'

'You heard me, Vasili. I can't help it. Stop engaging the Imperials.' The display of Mand'alor disappeared.

The Mandalorian was shaking with anger and fury. 'RAGH!' He shouted, taking his pistol out. He fired ten shots into the projector, leaving it a smoking ruin.

'Alor'ad...' One of the soldiers approached him slowly. 'Sir.'

Vasili spun around and put a laser blast through the man's neck. He dropped the floor, clutching the burning hole before he died. 'Retreat. HAAR'CHAK. RETREAT.'

Imfruda did not enjoy threatening the Mand'alor with Imperial retribution. But it had to be done. He told the human that if the attackers did not stop this battle, he would inform the Dark Council of this. They would order the utter destruction of the Mandalorian worlds. It worked.

The Mandalorian fleet began to disengage his ships. 'Sir, the Republic ships have consolidated. There are still thirty of them left to our twenty six.' The officer looked down as a message came through. The datapad with it slid out of the computer terminal. 'Sir.' The Officer read it, then looked down. He walked over to the Chiss and handed it to him.

The Chiss looked at the message, anger and panic growing. Moff Alvarah Melanh could not bring reinforcements. A new engagement over Rhen Var was more pressing. They were ordered to report back to Dromund Kaas. He slammed the 'pad onto the floor of the ship. 'Order the fleet to form up in defensive pattern aurek-six. Prepare for a hyperdrive jump out of the system.'

Imfruda turned and walked off the bridge. This was going to be the victory that would send his career in the navy to a whole new level. It was the Imperial Intelligence debacle all over again. He felt the panic welling up inside of him, but pushed it back. As he left the bridge and the ship lurched as it made a hyperdrive jump, the Chiss leaned against a bulkhead, closing his eyes. He took a breath, trying to calm himself. The battle was over. It wasn't. Fair.

'Sir...' An officer said softly.

The Chiss straightened up almost instantly, turning to look at the officer. 'What is it, Lieutenant?'

'Sir... The Dark Council demands you make contact with them.'

Imfruda tried to hide the fear he was feeling. 'Thank you.' He said stiffly. The Officer saluted and hurried back to the bridge. The former Intelligence Operative turned and walked towards his cabin. He could feel his heart pounding in his head. His vision was getting blurry. Mail'fru'daruano, former member of the Chiss Defense Force. Formerly known as Cipher 17. Now known as Captain Imfruda stopped at the door to his cabin. The door slid open for him, and he turned to look out into the hallway once more before he entered the room, locking the door behind him.

Republic reinforcements jumped into the system, with the Chancellor's flagship at the lead. Fighters secured the space around Rakata Prime. On the Appomattox, the mood was subdued. The Waterbury had lost thirty six crew members before she exploded. The Fighter squadron was down to seven. Commander James Doolan was killed when S'tev Merek's Warbird fired wildly at the fighters harassing it.

Roland had ordered Captain Plourde to be sent to temporary quarters. He had severe shell-shock after witnessing the destruction of his ship. 'Captain,' the comm officer on duty said. 'The Republic Flagship is hailing us.'

Roland let out a sigh as he sat down in his chair. 'On screen.' He said with trepidation.

The Twi'lek Chancellor appeared. She was on the bridge of the flagship, with crews hurrying around behind her. 'Captain Napier,' she said with a nod. 'I can't thank you and your comrades enough for helping in the battle. Where is Captain Plourde?' Her eyes scanned the bridge.

'After his ship was destroyed in the battle my counselor ordered him to to quarters.' He looked at the woman. 'What can I do for you, madam Chancellor?'

'I am requesting your presence aboard my flag. I wish to present you and Captain Plourde with a medal for the actions of yours and the crew of the Waterbury.'

Roland looked to his first officer, then back to the screen. 'I'll be aboard shortly.' He turned to the first officer after the screen went black. 'Is it a trap?'

Commander T'vaph, an Andorian shook her head. 'I don't think so, sir.'

The Captain stood up, shaking his head. 'You have the bridge, Commander.'

Chapter 21

Roland had arrived on the Valor-class flagship twenty minutes after the request. His shuttle touching down in the massive hangar bay. He was very impressed with the amount of fighters and gunships inside. Two troopers in white and yellow armor escorted him to the bridge where the Chancellor waited.

'Captain,' She said, bowing her head. 'Thank you for coming.' The Supreme Chancellor motioned to General Otega, who opened a small velvet covered box. There were three medals inside of it. 'These medals are presented to you, on behalf of a grateful Republic.' The General approached, and pinned it to the uniform of the human. 'And I ask that you give this to Captain Plourde. With our most genuine apologies for our actions.'

'What of the third?' Roland asked.

'If you could find the family of Commander D'nak and give this to them. Inform them of the heroic way in which he saved the Republic.' Roland sensed some sadness in her voice. She wasn't totally a scheming politician.

The General closed the box with the two medals left inside, and handed it to Captain Napier. Suddenly an alarm klaxon went off. The crew hurried to stations. 'What is it?' Roland said, still holding the small box.

A soldier looked up from the row of consoles in the middle of the bridge. 'The rift in the system... something's coming out!'

The General hurried to a holopad, tapping a command. A narrow tube appeared out of the rift shown on the projector. 'Prepare to fire if needed.' He said.

Roland was staring at it, then his eyes went wide. 'Wait! Don't!' He shouted, hurrying to where the General was. 'Hail it.' He said, panting. His head was pounding, eyes wide.

The General was staring incredulously at the Captain. He looked to the Chancellor who simply nodded. With an annoyed sigh, he hailed the object, 'Receiving a response. Audio.' He put it on the main speakers.

'This is Captain Va'Kel Shon of the Federation starship Enterprise. Is anyone out there?'

Roland almost dropped the box in his hand, he couldn't help but let out an excited noise. It was a probe. 'Enterprise, this is Roland Napier of the Appomattox. And... we have a hell of a story for you.'

The entire bridge crew of the flagship was silent as the rift grew larger. A sleek starship, double the size of a Harrower-class dreadnaught slipped out of the now massive rift in the middle of the system. 'I've... never seen something that large,' General Otega said, eyes wide.

Roland was smiling broadly as he spotted the identification number on the saucer. USS Enterprise. NCC 1701-F. He hadn't been this happy in a long time. 'Enterprise.' He said, still not believing his eyes. 'The Captain is requesting to come aboard, Madam Chancellor.' Said a comm officer.

'Let them- I- yes.' She stuttered, not expecting to ever see a ship as large as that one.

A shimmering light appeared in the middle of the bridge as three people appeared out of thin air. Soldiers raised their weapons. 'No, don't!' Roland said. 'It's normal, don't worry!' The atmosphere was tense as three people in uniforms identical to the one the Starfleet officers appeared. A male Andorian. A male human, and a female Bajoran.

'I am Captain Va'Kel Shon, of the USS Enterprise.' The Andorian said, approaching the dais where Roland, the Chancellor and the General stood.'

'Captain Shon. Where- erm. Where did the rift appear in our galaxy?' Roland was shaking slightly.

The Andorian smirked at the human, his antennae moving slightly. 'Close to DS9 as a matter of fact. We were fighting off a Dominion fleet when it formed. Scared them back into the Gamma Quadrant. It gave us enough time to reinforce the wormhole.' He looked at the various aliens, and the unknown bridge. Then at the large fleet outside. 'This is a hell of a thing. But, Roland. Where's the Waterbury?'

Napier looked down, 'She went down. The rift formed after her warp core exploded. We think it was because of a crystal that they found on the planet.' He motioned to the blue orb in the distance. 'It had some kind of... power on it. But... the rift, is it stable?'

Shon nodded, the Bajoran spoke up. 'About as stable as the celestial temple.'

Roland noticed the Bajoran, then smirked. 'I... see.'

Captain Shon turned to the Supreme Chancellor. 'I assume you are.. the leader of one of the major governments, Madam?'

'Indeed I am. Supreme Chancellor Saresh of the Galactic Republic.' She said.

'Well, I have been authorized by the President of the United Federation of Planets to open diplomatic relations with the major governments of this galaxy. I would like to discuss these developments with you in private.'

Jaelor Olrads was sitting in the infirmary of the Appomattox when Zatlif woke up. The saber wound had been totally healed by the Starfleet doctors. 'Where... am I?' She said, looking around.

'On the Appomattox. I got you off the Waterbury before it went down.'

'You should...' she stopped talking as she coughed. 'Should have left me.'

He smirked at her. 'Too bad I'm the Master.'

'What's... what's happening?' She asked.

'Well, it seems that a massive starship has come out of the rift that was created after the Waterbury exploded. From what the Waterbury's Chief has told me, it seemed that when their warp core exploded, it interacted with that force crystal and created a rip in space. A stable rip at that.'

He softened his voice, moving a hand to take hers. 'But, Padawan. Zatlif. We have a lot to talk about.'

Bill was woken up and told to look out the window of his quarters on the Appomattox. He almost fainted when he saw the Enterprise. 'We can go home...' He said, smiling. 'We... we can go home.'

Jaelor entered the ready room of the Appomattox. Roland was there with the Captain of the Enterprise. 'You wanted to see me, Captain Napier?'

'Ah, Master Jedi. This is Captain Shon of the Enterprise.'

The Jedi shook the hand of the blue alien. Roland continued to speak. 'I saw the camera footage of that fight with the man who boarded the Waterbury. Both Shon and I were... well, blown away by it. If I may be so frank. We wanted to congratulate both you and your Padawan.'

Jaelor looked down. 'Thank you, Captains. But... there is something I wished to ask you.'

Roland nodded. 'Of course, what do you need?'

The Jedi sat down. 'Would you be willing to loan myself and Zatlif a shuttle? We... are not going to go back to Coruscant.'

Napier seemed confused, then nodded after a moment. 'You two didn't hide it that well, you know.' He said with a chuckle. 'I'll have my Chief show you to a shuttle. Thank you again for what you have done.'

The shuttlecraft took off from the hangar of the Appomattox. Jaelor and Zatlif were wearing civilian clothes, their sabers tucked away. 'Where to, Pad- Zatlif?' He said.

The Zabrak looked up at Jaelor, smiling to him. 'Talus. I want to find my family.'

Jaelor looked over to her, his fingers dancing across the controls as they went to Warp. 'So be it.' He smiled, and leaned over to kiss her cheek. They Warped away from the Fleet, off into the stars.

Epilogue

One and a half years later.

Starfleet had built a starbase on the other side of the rift, having a now constant presence in the other Galaxy. Relations between the Republic and the Federation were great, and an exchange of technology and ideas had begun, even as the war raged on for the Republic in the other galaxy.

Bill Plourde was given a year's leave to rest after the destruction of the Waterbury, and went home to Bristol, England. He had finally been ordered to report to Earth Space Dock, however for his new posting.

Commander T'Var, Lieutenant-Commander Hed'q, Senior Chief Petty Officer Kamis, and Lieutenant-Commander Tenassa met their Captain at the Starfleet Port of Call in London. 'We've been assigned to you again, sir.' Comamander T'Var said. They all wore the new Starfleet uniform, reminiscent of the 24th Century's uniform. A white jumpsuit, with the color of their station a stripe across the shoulders. Rank pips along the collar on the neck. 'It is... pleasing to see you, sir.' The Vulcan continued.

Bill was so happy to see his comrades, hugging them all. 'Do you know what ship we're getting?' He asked.

The three shook their heads. 'I bet it'll be one of those massive ships. The ones that are overcompensating for good engineer.' The Chief said as they walked onto the shuttle. Bill laughed.

'Has anyone told you that you're a snob of an engineer, Chief?' The officers, sans T'Var of course chuckled.

As the shuttle took off and and pushed into the atmosphere, Hed'q kept his hands on the helm. They flew into space, the shuttle's powerful impulse engines pushing them to the large space dock that orbited Earth. 'This is Shuttle AX-29. Requesting permission to enter.' Hed'q said into the comm.

After several moments, the large doors pushed open. 'Coordinates have been transferred to us.' The Klingon said, piloting them through the large docks within the station. They passed cruisers and carriers being refitted for the renewed war against the Dominion. A large Odyssey Class came into view, the thirteen-hundred meter long ship preparing to undock. 'I never liked that class,' Kamis muttered. He had a look on his face like he was praying they didn't stop at that one.

The shuttle floated over its large saucer, and then they saw it. The white finish of a new refit. Shaped similar to an old Constitution Class. Across the saucer, the light along the name and identification turned on. USS Waterbury. NCC 94394-D. The officers all smiled, and Bill let out a relieved sigh as he leaned back in his seat. 'Welcome home,' he said. Starfleet had only commissioned six Exeter-class starships. And they got one of them. It was a fitting tribute he felt, to the original Waterbury. One of the original Constitution Classes in Starfleet. Not as famous as the Enterprise, but that was to be expected.

They soared along the body of the starship, passing the nacelles. Hed'q adjusted the helm as they did, and angled for the shuttlebay. It was shaped like an old Constitution class. The doors slid up, opening for them.

'Captain on deck!' The new crew shouted as Bill and the other officers walked off of their shuttle.

'As you were.' Bill said. The engineering crews went back to what they were doing. Unloading cargo and other supplies. Chief Kamis left them as they walked into the ship. He wanted to look at his engineering.

The bridge was sleek. A command chair in the middle atop of a small dais. Holograhpic- controls on four pillars that surrounded the captain's chair. He saw new helm controls as well, with a holographic display similar to that of the other Galaxy next to them. Bill sat down, smiling broadly. 'Status report.' He said, straightening his uniform.

'All supplies and crew present and accounted for,' T'Var said, her eyes scanning the holograhic display on one of the pillars. 'Engineering is reporting all ready.'

The Captain smiled, he was about as giddy as the first time he boarded the original Waterbury as First Officer. 'Do we have orders?'

T'Var paused, tapping the display. 'Report to Cardassia. We are to deliver industrial replicators to the Cardassian government.'

'Well.' Bill rolled his shoulders. 'Something I wouldn't have expected.'

'And, sir.' The Vulcan took a small device out of her pocket. 'A message from the other side of the rift. Jaelor Olrads is well, and sends his regards.'

Bill laughed, taking the small device. Something to listen to later. 'Well, for now. Disengage docking clamps. Close all airlocks. Port and starboard at station keeping. Take us out at one-quarter impulse, helm.' He pulled his uniform slightly. The Waterbury shook as it moved free of the docking clamps. The viewscreen switched to the forward view as the Exeter-class passed the dozens of ships being refitted in the dock. Soon they came into the view of the spacedoors.

'Request permission to open spacedoors.' Bill said, smiling as an ensign handed him a cup of tea.

The helm officer muttered into the earpiece comm he was equipped with. And the vast doors spread open, revealing the blackness of space.

They passed out of Earth Spacestation, and were out in the vacuum. Within minutes they had cleared Earth Space. 'Helm, set coordinates nine-two-nine-two point seven. Two-seven-eight point nine. Two-three point two.' He paused. 'Bridge to engineering. Do we have Warp Drive?'

The order came down to engineering, and the Chief rose to his full height. 'Alright you dogs, let's see what this boat is made of.' He turned to a lever and pulled it down. The engineering crew hurried to work as an alarm rang out through the room. Catwalks stretched high along the ceiling around the tall red and blue flashing Warp core. It glowed as the crews went to work. Kamis Hull, Senior Chief Petty officer of the USS Waterbury smiled as he folded his arms over his chest. 'Engineering to bridge!' He called out proudly. 'We have warp power!'

Bill chuckled on the bridge as he heard the comm. The ensign turned to the Captain. 'Course- laid in, Captain.' The Telarite said.

'Let's stretch her legs. Engage.'