Times to be: Book 4: Wrath of Time

by Destinies Trek

Continuation of Book 3: Takuya & his crew return reunited to Earth in success. Little do they know that someone has been watching...waiting for the time strike. Will they be able to keep Earth from falling pray to its fate, or can Ryo's secrets save them?

1. Tempus Fugit

Disclaimer: Okay, I know it's been about- Shit! Eleven months since my last update! Well, I guess that explains why this damn thing is so long... Well, I guess there's no way for me to joke my way out of this one, so I'll move one the part that I know for a fact that about percent of everyone skips: I don't' own either Star Trek, or Digimon, just the junk and characters that I can find in the back of my warped mind, so DON'T SUE ME!!

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Unknown Holding Cell, Unknown Time

Commander Denice Wriggly struggled on top of the steel table, as she once again relived her old nightmares...

Enter Dream

"Multiple vessels have been detected; unimatrix 7-2-5, sector one-one-alpha-five-six. Activate." Came a single voice from an ocean of monolithic chatter. Commander Riggley struggled to block out the voices of the collective mind, as her eyes opened, and she felt her legs begin to move.

'No, I don't want to do this again!' Shouted the commander, as she struggled to hold her body, but couldn't stop her legs from moving. She watched, as she moved along the dark, crowded corridor of a damaged Borg vessel. Exhaust blew out from a damaged conduit, as other drones repaired it. After a moment of wandering, she came up to a consol, and tapped its controls with a quick ease.

"Vessels identified as Federation Starfleet. Designations, U.S.S. Prometheous, Starfleet registration number, NX-59650. Prometheous-class, prototype vessel, and U.S.S. Stargazer, NCC-93693. Galaxy-class. Opening hailing frequencies..." Said the Monotone voice of the collective, as the commander hit another button. The screen was split into quarters; the top left quarter, housed an image of the two ships, while the other half of the screen had blinked onto their respective command decks. Captains Fink, and captain Beck both gazed at her in shock.

"We are the Borg. You will be assimilated. We shall add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture shall adapt to service as us. Resistance is futile." Said the distorted voice of the commander.

'Help me captain! I'm still in here!' Shouted the commander, as she tried to scream. She tried to get control of a single muscle in her mouth, to at least utter a single word, or to twitch her cheek but to no avail. The Borg nanites had disabled the nervous pathways from her continues mind to the rest of her body.

"Commander... Return my first officer now, or we'll open fire on your vessel!" Said Captain Fink from the other side of the screen. She could see the pain in his glairing eyes; which was something that she had only seen once come from her captain, as he stared daggers at her... Or, more accurately, what had taken control of her.

"Negative, that unit is now Borg." Said the commander.

'No I'm not, I'm here!' Thought the commander, as she once again tried to move her mouth, and again, she failed, as the nightmare of that horrible day played out once again.

"Commander... You do not have to feel this again..." Came the soothing sound of a calm voice. The commander tried to feel for where it had come from. No one from the transmission had said it, and she knew for a fact that none of the thousands of other voices had spoken like that.

"I know you can hear me... All you have to do, commander Wriggly, is say the word, and I shall stop them." Said the soothing tone once again.

'Who are you!?' She demanded. She herd a slight "hmm" in reply, as she waited, and listened.

"You are lost commander... Lost and alone. You have struggled to break free, but have lost hope..." The calm voice replied. Wriggly felt as though she'd herd that voice somewhere before, but couldn't quite put her finger on it. She decided to probe into it further.

'You didn't answer my question! Who are you!?' She asked once again, this time, allowing her rage to ring throughout.

"You know who I am commander, and right now I am the only one who can take you home." Was the voices reply. Beyond her, the dream was still playing out as it always had, but within, she had the feeling, that she was being tempted by something as close to pure evil, as she could imagine.

"...I want nothing in return for my services, only continued existence." Answered the voice when it didn't hear her answer. The commander felt as if heavy weight fall onto her chest, as she herd that last sentence. She felt the sorrow, the sadness, the pain, the loneliness, but most of all, she felt the fear in the voice. A fear that didn't sound like it was for itself, but a grieved longing for the wellbeing of others. For a moment, she wasn't sure if it wasn't her who said it, but realized that she had been more petrified by the sudden intrusion of the voice. So, without further thinking, she answered.

'Alright... I'll let you. Stop them; Stop Terra Prim!!' She shouted. The pain in the voice disappeared, as it replied;

"As you wish, commander..." Then the dream began to fade into darkness.

"Hmhmhmhmhmmm..."

Exit Dream

T E N W E E K S L A T E R

Main Control Room, Hypnos Building, 0852 hrs.

"Sir, I have the Deadalus fleet on long range sensors..." Came Riley from the tracking sphere, as several dozen dots appeared on the screen above. Mr. Yamaki turned away from his conversation with Marcunou as he herd this.

"What's their status? How many ships do they have!?" He asked in an urgent voice. They had already been away for nearly three and a half months without even the slightest message. And the burst of Omega radiation they picked up sometime ago hadn't helped their hopes either.

"Hang on, I'm raising the Deadalus on sub-space now..." She said, as her chair moved to a new position on the other side of the sphere. Both Yamaki, and Marcunou where both becoming impatient with the delay.

"Tally, how many ships do they have with them!?" He shouted, as he pulled out his lighter, and began opening, and closing its lid out of habit. The other young tech worked quickly on her board, as she pulled up the data.

"I'm detecting twenty-four ships with Starfleet signature, one unknown vessel, and-" She suddenly stopped in mid-sentence, as she spook, catching both of the government agents attention.

"And, what? What is it!? What's wrong!?" He asked, as he stopped flicking his lighter. Above, he could see the stunned look on the operator's face under her screen-mask. By now, he had become accustomed enough to it, that most of the time, he was able to just ignore it, but this wasn't the time for him to be ignoring something like this.

"Sir... I'm- I'm detecting the Grani craft..." She said in disbelief, as she pulled up her screen and looked up to the larger screen above. Below her, the two government officials, along with all the other personnel in the room where struck speechless, as they all shared her look of disbelief.

"I've established a channel with the Deadalus!" Came Riley, breaking the cold stares of most of the crowd.

"Put 'em on my terminal down here!" Shouted the administrator, as he jogged over to his own station. On the screen, the words, "Processing" where displayed, as the transmission was routed.

"It's audio only... I'm patching it through now..." She said. The words disappeared, being replaced with the seal of the Federation, as the voice of captain Kanbara came over the speakers.

"Hypnos control, this is the Deadalus. Do you read us?" Said the captain. Yamaki hit the speaker control switch, as he spoke with a type of frank quickness in his voice.

"Captain, what's your statues? We're picking up two non-Starfleet signatures-"

"It's alright Yamaki; we're bringing a few unexpected guests home with us... I'm uploading all of the fleet's logs, and my senior staff's, along with my ship's logs... Now." Came the captain, cutting the administrator off in mid-sentence.

"Data transmission received. Decompressing..." Came Tally from the other side of the sphere screen. Yamaki held back an urge to shout at the young captain to stop this game of his and tell him what was going on, but instead decided that he would off on that until after he'd had a chance to review the log data. But apparently, his superior wasn't going to have the same kind of patients with the officer.

"Captain Kanbara! You will explain to me right now just what the hell is going on! I demand an answer!!" He shouted, as he pushed Yamaki away from the terminal. Silence filled their ears, as the sounds of the all machines in the room did their jobs, decompressing the logs, and sensor data from the Akira-class vessel, as captain Kanbara conversed with his crew.

"I'm sorry sir, but if I were to explain everything that transpired on the mission over an open, and insecure comm channel, then not only would it take too long, but that would also be a direct breach in Starfleet security protocol. It'll have to wait 'till we get back to port. Deadalus out." Said the young captain, as he closed the comm channel. Yamaki let out a low sigh, as he sat back in his chair. Meanwhile, Mr. Marcunou had already begun spun around to face the other side of the room.

"Riley! Get those logs decompressed, and on my desk NOW!!" Shouted Marcunou, as he stomped out of the control room, and out into the corridor beyond. Yamaki felt sorry for anyone who just happened to be in his way, as he watched the older man leave. Above, both of his sphere operators had pulled off their screen masks, and where now staring down at the scene that had just transpired below.

"Well, we better get to work... Riley, what's the fleets ETA?" Yamaki asked, as he stood back up, and walked over to the other side of the room.

"A little over ten hour's sir." She replied as she glanced back into her mask for a split second. Yamaki pulled out his lighter once again, as he began to flick its lid open, and close once again.

"Alright, continue with the decompression, and send it all directly to my office terminal." He said, as he too began for the door, except at a much slower pace then that of his superior. All the while still wondering, what happened aboard the Deadalus?

Captain's Readyroom, USS Stargazer, 1201 hrs.

"...Computer, end log." Came captain Beck, as he finished recording his daily personal journal. He herd the familiar beep of the computer, as it stopped recording, and prepared the file for whatever he wanted it to do next. Leaning foreword closer toward his monitor, he tapped several controls.

"Computer, save and encrypt personal log under protocol five-five-gamma." He said, as he entered his own personal access code. The terminal beeped, as it followed his orders, and the emblem of the Federation replaced the image of himself. He leaned back, as he spun his chair around to his personal view port. Outside the ship, he could see the Shinjuku shipyards along with several dozen vessels of varying smaller classes. Most dominant of those ships being Defiant-class­ vessels. On the other side of the shipyards, he could see the Phoenix busy assisting in the construction of different small stations, and satellites. It had only been a few months since they had been there, and already they had armed this planet to the teeth with their own technology in order to protect it. But, a single, disturbing thought kept running through his head; what would happen to these people after this crisis was over?

Boo boo boo. Boo boo boo. Went his terminal. Captain Beck turned back to see what was happening.

"An incoming message without a sender? Not again..." Sighed the young captain, as ran his hand down his tiered face. Over the past several months, they had lost so many people to the xenophobic faction, Earth Prime, which they hadn't really had much time to think about several 'other' things. Tapping the keypad on his consol, he activated the transmission. The emblem of the Federation disappeared; leaving behind the image of the Hypnos administrator appeared before him.

"Yamaki? Now, I didn't expect to see you on the other side of this message." Came the shocked and now curious captain. The executive cracked a slight grin at the captain's confusion.

"Sorry to disappoint you, would you rather talk to Marcunou?" He asked sarcastically. Beck pinched the bridge of his nose as he thought about the last he'd talked to the man. He could still hear his condescending attitude reverberating through his ready room.

"Sorry, but I got enough of that the last time I talked to a representative of the Romulin Senate back home..." Retorted the captain, cracking a small grin as he leaned back in his chair. Yamaki didn't share his amusement, as what little of the grin he had a moment ago disappeared.

"The Deadalus made contact with the Romulin Star Empire a little over two and a half months ago..." Came the administrator in a grim tone.

"WHAT!?" Asked Beck, as he shot across his desk, towards the monitor in shock. All the worst-case scenarios began to play out through his mind, as he tried to process this new piece of information.

"...That's not all captain... They've also recovered several other vessels as well; including your Enterprise, and our Grani." He continued. By this point, Beck felt as if he was going to drop dead of a stroke just from hearing all of this. He could feel the receptors in his cerebellum firing away, as they tried to process everything that they where receiving. For a moment, the teen captain lost himself in a fury of possibilities, good, and bad. He felt as if someone had taken the whole of the universe, and had begun to churn it all into a nauseating blur.

"Captain? Dennis!" Shouted Yamaki from the other side of the screen, forcing Beck to snap himself out from his self-induced trance.

"Has captain Kanbara transmitted his ships mission logs yet?" He asked, forcing himself to calm down. He lowered himself back into his chair, not taking his hands away from the cool, smooth surface of his desk.

"Yes they have, and we've already decrypted them. When I talked to the captain, he was a little more than cryptic about what happened... Now I know why." Replied the administrator as he trailed off. Beck forcibly relaxed himself, as he wondered about what Yamaki was getting at.

"I'm having a copy of the Deadalus' mission profile transmitted to you... Now." He said, just as the monitor began to beep once again. Beck miniaturized Yamaki's image to a corner of the screen, as he brought up the transmission. After opening the file, and skimming through several of the pages, his eyes widened as something caught his eye.

"I- It can't be..." He muttered, as he read over the enter line carefully, just to make sure that he hadn't missed anything. He felt the blood drain from his face, as realized that what he thought he saw was correct.

"I'm afraid it is captain... I've already informed Captain Fink about this new development." Yamaki said, allowing the calm silence to remain, as the thought. After a moment, Dennis locked his eyes back onto the administrators.

"Mr. Yamaki, Inform the Phoenix about this, and call an emergency session to the provisional Starfleet command counsel. They need to know to what to do next. Stargazer, out." Said captain back, as he closed the channel. The picture of Yamaki disappeared, leaving behind the rest of the Deadalus' data. The young captain stared at the logs before him for a long moment before turning towards a single, lone picture standing on the edge of his desk. A crack ran across its surface over the face of a middle-aged El-Aurian woman. A long streak of white hair hung freely over the right side of her face, as she smiled widely. To her left, stood a commander Dennis Beck, and a lieutenant Monodramon, while to her right, stood the rest of the ships original command staff. The young captain ran his hand across its surface, but suddenly pulled back when he felt a slight pick. He felt the warm oozing of blood from the wound on his finger, as he stared the people whom over the short time that he had known them, had come to think of as family.

"It's alright guys... The long night, is almost over." He said, placing the picture back onto the smooth surface. "Tempus fugit."

Primary Airlock, Shinjuku Shipyards, Earth, 1901 hrs.

"He better have a damn good explanation why he allowed those other three ships to split from his fleet!" Said Mr. Marcunou, as he stood in front of the main airlock along with captains Fink, Beck, and Nonaka. His subordinate, Yamaki, stood behind the lot, compulsively flicking his lighter open and closed.

"Oh give him a break... After what he and his crew went through, I don't think they need you to criticize them for how they held themselves!" Came captain Nonaka, as she leaned against the bulkhead, her arms crossed. Captain Fink couldn't help but crack a smirk at her comment, not to mention at the official's response.

"You're being too forgiving captain! He lost nearly a fifth of his crew, as well as seven of the derelicts that survived the battle of Haldikar, including a Sovereign-class star-ship! So you'll forgive me if I don't think that he should necessarily be welcomed back with open arms!" Marcunou retorted. The young captain just smirked in reply, as she gave a small chuckle. She locked her eyes with the agent, as she stood back to her full height. Although she was still substantially shorter than the middle-aged man, she was still able to tower over him. Her violet eye's cutting through the steel of his demeanor like dagger made of diamond, as she spat back her reply.

"Your right, there will be... There'll always be a consequence for all of our actions... Some are avoidable, other not, the only thing that we can do about them in the end, is ask ourselves weather or not we can live with them... These things happen, it's only natural. Besides, if there's one thing that our history has thought us, it's that the battles that took place between them and the Romulin's would have happened eventually... The Romulin's are just that volatile of a species." The teen retorted. Marcunou tightened his stance, as he audibly began grinding his teeth together.

"She's right, what the Deadalus crew went through was inevitability. But I am surprised at how the Romulin's were able to respond with so many ships so quickly... I mean, if my knowledge of Ronulin military history is correct, then they should still only be beginning the recovery of their fleet from their war with the Venkari." Came Captain Fink, as he rubbed the bottom of his chin.

"Well I'm not really surprised... I mean, if the Grigari had been searching for this world in order to stop us, then it's only natural that they would have eventually been challenged by the Venkari. After all, the Venkarian Empire was the greatest power this side of the Galaxy after the decline of the Confederated Alliance..." Answered Beck, trailing off as he glanced up to one of the wall monitors to check the time. The Deadalus had only just entered the star system with their fleet less then twenty-minutes ago, and where approaching at one-quarter impulse power, or at only thirty-three hundred kph, so it was taking them a little longer to reach Earth's orbit.

"...And considering their level of technology, commander Pfreg's scout ship would have been more than a match for the entire Venkarian royal war fleet. After all, they where only a type one, level three civilization..." Finished Captain Fink, crossing his arms, as he bowed his head slightly, almost as if he was contemplating something. If he was, then it was something that wasn't all that hard to figure out.

"The Venkari?" Asked Mr. Marcunou, a perplexed look running across his face. The group of commanding officers shot him a startled looks.

"Forget it Marcunou... Either way, they're a race is now extinct..." Replied captain Nonaka grimly. Both Marcunou and Yamaki stared at the group in shock.

"What? How can you be so calm about something like that!? Yamaki asked, pushing past his superior. Captain Nonaka locked her eyes with his as she answered.

"Because Yamaki, the Alpha Quadrant was a completely different place during this era... Those races that had the technology either sought to build their own empires, or just stayed home, and only advanced their boarders once one or more species annihilated each other in war." Replied the young captain, as she shattered her blank stare with the administrator.

"Like the Borg..." Came captain Beck from the front of the group. The group looked up to the young captain, as he returned a cold stare. Ever since the anti-Starfleet insurgents had all but disappeared from half of the North-Eastern hemisphere of the planet, they had been getting sperattic reports of hellish, machine-like creatures appearing out of nowhere, and kidnapping people by the hundreds. Creatures that according to their reports resembled that one felled race. The group remained silent for several moments, each lost in their own thoughts. Some reminiscing with each of their encounters with the race known as: "The consumers of worlds." Others, about what they had seen in the recent months since the launching of the Deadalus, and the disappearance of captain Fink's first officer. After a few moments of silence, a loud whistle came over the stations comm.;

Ew wee yu. "All airlock stations, UTS Deadalus is preparing for dry-dock. Maintenance stations, prepare for magnetic locking procedures." Came the voice of the dock master, as a low rumble could be herd beyond the hatch, as gasses from the ships maneuvering thrusters bounced off the stations hull. After a few moments, the airlock rocked, as the sound of metal, scraping against metal reverberated throughout the small area, followed by the electric sound of a magnetic lock forming an air-tight seal around the other side of the massive twin doors. After another moment of waiting, a small access panel beside the lock lit up in a green hue, signaling to the group that the port beyond was pressurized. All moving into standing positions, they waited, as they herd the clanking of the hatches behind the locked doors release, as well as several foot steps. As the unseen sounds halted just in front of the hatch, the lock on the double doors clicked.

"What the-" Stammered Marcunou, as he laid his eyes on the small group that stood on the other side of the lock. Particularly at the tall, Vulcan woman who had a slightly greener-tinted completion than he was used too that stood on the other side of the hatchway. The captain crossed his arms as he watched his reaction.

"Well well well, look at scrap metal the cat dragged in..." Rika said as she spotted commander Andromon standing towards the rear of the group.

"Permission to come aboard, captain?" Asked captain Flamon, ignoring her jab at his situation. Rika grinned dryly at his bluntness, but still tilted her head slightly to one side.

"Granted captain. And judging by the way you skipped the come back, I'd say you've got something important ta' talk about..." She said in a matter-of-fact tone. The grin on Flamon's face disappeared, as he took a deep breath.

"There is... Captain Beck, there's some one aboard the Enterprise I think you may want to see..." Replied the captain as he turned towards the other commander. Dennis shot him a look of confusion, as he snapped to attention.

"What?" He asked, not sure who they could have possibly run into out there... Just then, captain Picard stepped through the hatchway, moving a few steps toward the young captain.

"Dennis, just before we where thrown into this universe, we received a refugee from Starbase 76... Captain, its empress Belshka."

Starfleet Detention Center, Earth, 1901 hrs.

The Temperature changed in the holding cell once again, as the ultimate-level Digimon sat, chained, to a single chair. It had been so very long since the virus-type had seen the outside. Time was something that was completely ambiguous in there. There wasn't any indication of day, nor night, and the number of guards always remained constant. Before, she had thought that she'd found a pattern in the environmental systems; the change in temperature always constant... But even that had become evidently erratic. The doors parted, permitting a single officer into the room; the beginning of her timely briefing no doubt.

"How are you doing this morning? Ready to talk?" Came the voice of the captain. The Digimon turned her head towards him, detecting something in his voice that was, different from usual.

"What do you think, captain... Everything in here sucks! Even your food rations!" She retorted. The captain gave a smirk, as he replied:

"Yeah, those aren't rations, that's hospital food from the mess hall; it's what we all eat here..." Replied the captain with a slightly sadistic grin plastered on his face. The Ultimate-level Digimon laughed as she tried to pull her arms free of her restraints.

"Oh, your loving this, aren't you captain? Seeing me in here shriveling away into nothing, while you stand out there with your replicater's, and transporters, and starships!" She said, the rattling of her chains becoming louder. The grin disappeared from the commander's face, as he watched her struggle.

"It doesn't have to be like this... We remove your restraints; give you your own private food dispenser-"

"What the hell good is that!? No matter what you do, where you put me, or what ever I get, I'll still be a prisoner! Your prisoner!" She said, her pull on her restraints gaining strength. Seeing this, the captain took another step toward the forcefield.

"That's only if you prove us right in not trusting you! Besides, you can live your life the way you want! There are other ways to take out your frustration, your need to forget whatever it was that happened to you in the pa-"

"What the hell do you know my past? Huh!?" She screamed, the struggle with her chains slicing deep gashes through her armor, crimson blood beginning to seep out from the wounds.

" Do you know what it's like, to only be able to live day by day- Minute by minute not knowing if you're gonna survive to see tomorrow!?" The titanium braces groaned and warped, as her struggle to free herself gain strength. The guards moved to stop her, but the captain raised his hand, signaling them to wait, as he continued to watch.

"Do you know what it's like to loose everyone, and everything close to you!?" She howled; her chains snapped, and she collapsed to the floor of the cell, sobbing. The captain looked down at her, feeling a tinge of something that he hadn't felt in so long... Extending his hand, he lowered the field, and stepped inside. Kneeling in front of the virus-type, he caught her in a soft embrace. Her crying stopped, as she realized what was happening...

"Yes, I do. I know what it's like to loose everything... My home, my mother, my father Even, my twin brother." He whispered in a calming voice. The rage that the ultimate-level Digimon had felt burning through her only a moment before, had disappeared, replaced by something that she had never felt before... It was, strange to fell this- this totally knew sensation. It felt, soothing to her. So much so, that she wished that it would never end, so she returned the embrace.

"As long as I live, and as long you promise to do the same. As a Starfleet officer, I promise to give you a safe-haven; a place to call home... Ladydevimon."

Akiyama Residence, West Shinjuku, 2207 hrs.

"Dad, um home!" Shouted Lieutenant Ryo Akiyama, as both he, and his partner, ensign Monodramon, walked through the door to the small apartment. Ryo's father was sitting on the couch situated on the other side of the room, thumbing through a PADD, scarcely looking up to see him.

"I thought you said that you'd be running late tonight?" He asked, as he set the device down on the coffee table in front of him. Ryo rolled his eyes at him, as he kneeled down to get off his boots.

"We where able to complete the installation of the dynometric warp-field converters early... Partly because Commander Barkley was called over to the San Diego Shipyards." He said, half-snickering at his commanding officer's quarks. His father however, didn't pay any attention to it, as he got off of the couch. Walking into the small apartment's side kitchen, he opened one of the cabinet's and with a slight metallic hum, pulled out a mug filled with muggy, olive-green water.

"Have you found out the expiration date of your first assignment yet?" He asked, placing the steaming mug on the counter-top. Ryo let out a sigh, as he leaned against the doorway. Monodramon meanwhile, was already busy raiding through the food menu on their replicater's control screen. Only pausing when he realized that neither of them where talking again.

"I thought we went over this already... I'm not leaving Starfleet; I'm not running away." Said the young lieutenant. His father meanwhile, crossed his arms at his answer.

"Ryo, how many times do I have to tell you, this isn't the time to be worrying about things like honor...? This is a dangerous place; we should leave while we have the chance-"

"And go where?! Dad, I was born on this world! It's my home; I just can't abandon it now! Not when I know that I can win!" He said, taking on a rigid stance in his attempt to convince his father. All of his life, they have been forced to run so far, never staying in one place for long. Then, the accident happened...

"Out there, Ryo... We have the chance, now that Starfleet's here, this world has everything it needs to survive, and we have all of the necessary resources to leave!" His father pleaded. Ryo however, wasn't buying it.

"Resources my ass! What the hell ever happened to the multi-phasic resonator!? If you really wanted to leave, then we would've done that a long time ago!" He shouted. Shocked by what he had just herd, his father took a step back in surprise; eyeing him suspiciously.

"How do you know about that?" He managed to ask hoarsely, recovering only slightly... Ryo felt his breath hitch as he realized what he had just said. It was true, that he had known all about his father's escape plan for some time, but he had never revealed it before.

"Tempus fugit Dad." He said his face growing stotic. "I can't tell you... At least, not yet." His posture relaxed almost into a slouch, as a moment of deafening silence clouded the air. Neither of the two spoke. Just as Monodramon was about to break the uncomfortable silence, each of their commbadges chirped. Ryo tapped his lightly, as he turned his gaze out towards the other room.

"Akiyama, go ahead." He said.

"Lieutenant, your needed aboard the Kaless, lieutenant Rassor's having trouble realigning the warp-cores magnetic interlock stabilizers. Bring Monodramon with you." Came the voice of Commander Barkley. Ryo felt relief flow throughout his body at the request.

"Acknowledged. Akiyama out." He said, tapping commbadge to close the signal. He looked back to his Dad, a frown freezing around his face.

"I'm sorry Dad, but we have to go... Ensign." He said, as he walked out of the kitchen, Monodramon hesitated for a moment, glancing over to Ryo's father, before following him as well. After listening to the door as it latched shut, his father looked down at his mug. The liquid inside had lost its heat moments ago, but still, out of habit, he picked it up, and stared at its contents.

"No son, I'm sorry... For making you look back for so long... For making you forget..." He took a sip of the cooled liquid, swallowing it quickly before the bitter taste forced him to spit it back out...

"About your mother."

O N E W E E K L A T E R

Main Engineering, USS Enterprise, 2021 hrs.

"How's that test coming along?" Asked lieutenant commander Gordi LaForge, as he stepped up beside the consol where Naomi was working. She looked up at the commander; the implants in his eyes spun, as he adjusted the spectrum frequency back into normal light mode. She hadn't really known the commander for very long, not even a year, but already she knew what each rotation in his optical implants meant. When she first met him, she couldn't understand why he just didn't get rid of his original, defective eyes, and have an artificial set installed in their place. But now...

"Not too good..." She said, shaking her head.

"So far, the only thing that I've been able to confirm is that the Tamer who used to own this thing was humanoid, though I can't pin down the species... And I still can't figure out who the partner Digimon was, or even it's class... And the quantum scan just didn't make any sense what so ever!" Replied Naomi, pinching the bridge of her nose, forcing a frown to spread across the engineers face.

"Hmm... Have you tried using the new Hypnos program?" The commander asked, tapping a few commands into the terminal. She felt a stinging pain in her left arm, no doubt a malfunctioning pain receptor again. She made a mental note to talk to Doctor Selar about it later.

"With seven different algorithmic variations... I don't know how the Director Zaquar did it, but I'm sure I've tried enough patterns to confuse even the most narcissistic Q!" Said the young Tamer, as she rubbed her left arm. She'd felt some of the pain receptors go off a few minutes ago as well, and she had been temped to step out for a moment to give it a break, and by the way she saw her superior's expression relax, he must have noticed.

"Hey, are you okay Naomi? You know, your looking pretty rough." Said commander LaForge; Naomi looked back down at her consol.

"I'm fine... Just annoyed." Replied the young officer, as she tapped in a few different commands. Frowning, the engineer placed his PADD onto the smooth surface of the terminal, while he leaned in on its edge.

"What?" She asked, noticing Gordi's suspicious look.

"Naomi, when was the last time you slept?" Asked the engineer. Naomi looked down at the panel.

"I'm fine Gordi-"

"I'll call doctor Selar if I have to-"

"I said I'm fine!" Shouted the operations officer, as she slapped the consol in front of her. All of engineering turned deadly quiet, as everyone looked at the two officers. Naomi looked away from the engineer.

"Sorry..." She muttered. She heard the rest of engineering resume its normal buzzing of motion, as she felt the pressure of the commander's hand on her shoulder.

"Maybe it would be a good idea if you took the rest of the day off?" Said the commander. Naomi stood up, and turned to the engineer.

"Maybe your right... Maybe I'll take this time to take Calumon down the holodeck." She replied. She saw a wan smile spread across the commander's chocolate-colored face.

"That's not too bad an idea..." Replied the engineer. She returned the smile. As she was about to leave, she heard the beeping of the consol where she'd been working.

Beep, beep. "Analysis complete. Digitonic signature identified." Replied the computer. The two officers starred at the computer in confusion. Naomi dismissed the thought for a moment, as she looked at the screen.

"What the- Computer, display results." She said, as she sat back down. She read the condensed binary data, as it scrolled by. She didn't recognize any of the patterns as they went by. And apparently, neither did commander LaForge. They looked at each other queryingly.

"Computer, exactly what are we looking at?" Asked Gordi.

Ber, ber. "The route data code of the Digimon currently connected to this D-Ark." Promptly replied the computer. Naomi starred at the coding for a long moment.

"Computer, render and display a picture of this Digimon." Said the young officer, as she began tapping in commands to her consol.

Ber, ber. "Unable to comply. This Digimon is not within the D-Ark-analyzer database." Replied the computer. The two officers looked at each other for a long moment, before the computer responded again.

Ber, ber. "D-Ark access-override granted." Came the computer.

"What!?" Snapped both Naomi, and LaForge, as they looked at the screen. The entire row of wall set panels began to flicker, as the small digivice began to take over all of the systems functions. Commander LaForge ran the diagnostic table at the center of the entrance way, as he began shouting orders to his staff.

"I'm trying to disconnect the D-Ark!" Said Naomi, as she manipulated the controls on the flickering consol at dizzying speeds. She looked up at his screen, and watched as gigaquads of information began uploading from the digivice.

Ber ber. "Warning, magnetic interlock stabilizers depolarizing. Anti-matter containment breach imminent." Came the voice of the main computer, as a power surge caused the one of the few remaining pieces of Borg technology to explode. Commander Wildman worked the surface of the panel quickly, as she attempted to stabilize the connection between the digivice, and the main computer. Behind her, she could hear Geordi shouting something to her, but she didn't quite notice it the first time...

"Commander, pull it!" Shouted commander LaForge again. Naomi looked over her shoulder to the engineer.

"What!?" She asked. LaForge looked up from the table. He glared at her with his implants.

"I said disconnect the digivice!" He shouted. Naomi looked over the little blue device sitting on the edge of the consol next to her. She grabbed for the magnetic patch cable, witch too, was flickering madly, as enough electricity was flowing through to power a warp core. As she grabbed the cable, she could feel the heat searing at the flesh of her hand, as she held on. The burning aroma of cooked meat filled the commander's nose, as an explosion suddenly rang out from across the bay, tossing an engineer into an opposing workstation, and watched as the flesh on his face turned crisp. She snapped away from the sight; she had more important things to worry about. She looked back down at the device, and gave the cord the beginning tug of what was sure to become a tug of war... Then without any resistance at all, the magnetic seal released. Instantly, the computer system returned to normal, as well as the rest of the bay.

Ber ber. "Magnetic interlock stabilizers returning to normal polarization. Warp-core breach averted. Warp-core off-line." Came the calm voice of the computer as the heart of the ship began to shut down. She breathed a sigh of relief as she slumped back into her chair. After a short second, the picture of a chevron star identical to the one that Starfleet used appeared on the screen. Naomi looked up at its black surface, studying the emblem. The image was different with this one, was that it was horizontal, not vertical, and it had an inverted shadow trailing it. The emblem looked oddly familiar, almost as if it were something she should already know. The screen blinked away from the picture of the emblem, replacing it with the face of a beautiful, raven-haired woman, wearing a primarily black uniform, with a red strip stretching down, horizontally across the left side of her shoulder. After a moment of just starring at her, the woman smiled, and said;

"Hello... And, I'm sorry... For tempus fugit." And disappeared, being replaced with an unfamiliar LCARS OS display.

Unknown Place, Unknown Time.

Darkness... It stretched as far as she could see. At first she thought she was dead. She remembered the destruction of her ship... The death of her entire crew... But the last time she died, she had ended up in the Q continuum...

"Where am I" She said, as she turned her head, desperately looking for something. Anything to tell her that she was still alive. But, there was nothing.

"Maybe I really am dead... Maybe this is hell." She thought, as she stopped looking. She looked down at her body, and saw that she was still wearing her uniform. But now, all the damage that had been done to it during her fight was gone. She felt a shift, almost as if a breeze had just passed her. She grinned lazily.

"Maybe I'm not dead after all... Maybe, this is just like 'that time'." She said, as she thought back; farther back then even the oldest Q would be able to remember.

"But, if this really is like then why is it taking so long for the shockwave to reach me?" She thought, as she remembered the last time she had experienced this kind of feeling. She thought back to her family. How they had died with the rest of her people. She thought it ironic that her people where now extinct, but that they had also found a way back into existence... The space around her shimmered, as it began to change its color. Bits of matter, and strings, the building blocks of matter, began to form. But, something was different with this kind of string. It danced in a way that was too formal for something that had only just formed... No, it danced in a way that was both formal, and beautiful. Not raw and erratic like most. And the fact that it was connected, not open ended, meant that either, it had evolved billions of years in the span of seconds, or that it was almost as ancient as she was.

'Woorwararwwowooowhwohwohww...' Came a voice from the direction of the string she was looking at. She moved herself closer to the object, and saw more, and more strings appear. She watched them for a second, as they danced to their eternal music. She saw thousands of different colors, as she moved closer through the strings. She began hearing sounds... Familiar sounds... The sounds of life.

"Cu- Could this be?" She said, as she moved farther beyond the strings. They began to grow smaller, as they began to gather, and take on more familiar spherical shapes, as she moved farther, and farther away. She continued to move, until she saw what was happening. She watched the bright blue hue of electrons, as they moved far more quickly then the surrounding particles. It was then that she realized, that she wasn't just anywhere, she was just in a totally different, yet at the same time familiar, dimension.

"I don't believe it... It actually worked!" She thought, as she looked around the area she was in, and saw in the distance, that there was a small hole in the darkness. A tunnel that extended into the vast abyss. She watched as two blue streams of light flowed both ways through the tunnel. She maneuvered herself close to the tunnel, and looked into the light. As she looked closely, she saw that all of the light that was flowing through actually had small breaks in it. She realized that she was looking at a flowing stream of digital information. But not just any kind of data... No, this data had a Starfleet signature. She looked around the area, looking for a way to access the data streams. She touched a line of still data, causing it to twitch. After a few moments of shifting, and mixing the lines of coding, she finally saw the patterns to their codes, and so began manipulating the streams. Both of the data streams began moving faster, and faster through the tunnel, as more, and more data flowed through them. She turned herself towards the streams, as they both flowed at incredible speeds. The tunnel looked as if it was about to collapse under the shear force of the data stream, as they continued to expand. She gulped, as she maneuvered herself close to the flowing stream of data particles.

"Aaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!" She screamed, as she felt the force of the data stream pull, and stretch her very being, as she traveled along the path of the link. Instead of thinking about the pain, she focused on the faces of her crew... All of her previous crews. The faces of so many people flowed through her head. Humans, Vulcan's, Andorian's, Digimon, Q, Voth, Hirogen, Bajoran's, Jem'Hadar, even Grigari, they all meant something to her. She had fought so long to protect them. Even as they fought so hard to kill her. The intensity of the steam faded, as she was tossed out of the tunnel. Ignoring the soreness pulsing throughout her body, she looked around the new place she in. The candy blue hue of data as it flowed around her brought back memories of past and long forgotten times. She spotted several gigantic pillars flowing out into the darkness. As she looked to where the pillars were stretching out to, she spotted a bright orange dot in the distance.

"That must be the terminal..." She said to herself, as she moved herself closer to the screen. Time seemed to speed up, as she made her way to the dot. As she slowed down, she saw that it was square in shape. It glowed orange, and blue, and she could hear the screams of people beyond its horizon. She looked out, and watched as dozens of people wearing black suits ran in every which way around the room beyond. She watched as they struggled to help each other... As they put out the fires that had begun to burn, and to carry out the blood-soaked survivors.

"My god... What have I done!?" She thought, as she watched the horror scene beyond. Memories of death, and pain rose to the surface of her mind, but she ignored them, as she noticed a girl. A young-faced, blond girl, with several small horns poking out in a vertical line on her forehead. She held the steaming white-silver wire in her hands, as she huffed heavily. She glanced up to the screen, and raised her right eyebrow queryingly as she looked at her.

"She reminds me so much of someone I used to know..." She thought, as she couldn't help the light smile that had found its way to her face. She glanced around the outside room, as she thought about what she should do next...

Main Sickbay, USS Prometheous, 1153 hrs.

"Chief medical officer's personal log, stardate: Unknown. It's been over two and a half moths since we first arrived in this universe, and so far, it's been anything but quite. We've had a steady stream of casualties thanks to the Earth Prime resistance. At least their attacks have slowed down lately; I don't think my medical staff would have been able to keep their sanity had we been forced to deal with so many civilians being beamed in for emergency care..." The Doctor stopped for a moment as he replayed his last sentence over again... Had he been an organic being, he would have felt a pang of regret force his stomach to churn. He had taken the upgrades that his creator, Doctor Zimmerman, had created for him, as well as the other E.M.H.'s, but he was thankful that he had the ability to turn them on and off as he pleased... He tapped a key again, as he continued.

"We've finally been able to get the last of the patients in critical care out of shuttle bay three... If only it had been under better circumstances-" The Doctor paused, as he herd the doors to his sickbay open. He looked up to see lieutenant Akyama standing in front of the doors.

"Computer, end log." He said. The image of his recording disappeared from the screen, as he looked back up to the lieutenant.

"Okay lieutenant, what did you do this time?" He asked. The young officer gave him a smirk, as he arched an eyebrow.

"What makes you think that I came here for treatment?" Replied the lieutenant. This time it was the Doctor's turn to smirk.

"Well, you can't be here to visit ensign T'shosh, since it's not Monday, Tuesday, Friday or Saturday; your not holding a PADD so mister Barkley couldn't have sent you down with another set of his recorded symptoms, and I can't find any record in my memory files of me calling you down, so that only leaves one last option..." Said the Doctor, as he walked over to one of the instrument trays, and opened a tricorder. The lieutenant however just leaned in against the wall, his hands resting behind his head.

"As logical as any Vulcan... And as any Human, Um trownin' it all out the airlock." He retorted. The Doctor let out a small chuckle, as he turned back to face him. It was true that a little routine had developed since the ensign had first arrived in his sickbay, but that was out of nicety. Between the unrest planet-side, the constant work that needed to be done to arm the ship with the Phoenix's weapons, pouring over the mission data, and the hypochondriac they had for a Chief Engineer, they'd all been kept busy.

"Then, what are you here for?" He asked. Again, the young lieutenant looked him square in the eye, and smirked.

"I've got it." He said simply. This time, it was the Doctor's turn to arch an eye brow.

"What?" He said dumbfounded. The smirk on the lieutenant's face widened into a full-out grin, as he moved over to one of the wall-mounted panels. With the tap of a few buttons, he had brought up a file that the Doctor hadn't seen before. All of the information that was being displayed was in standard Starfleet programming language, but it was raw, and unencoded.

"I was down in Main Engineering, running through the data packets that we purged from the Enterprise sensor buffers, when I came across this..." He said, as he condensed the data into a frequency matrix. The Doctor thought that it looked familiar, but he just couldn't place where he'd seen it. Just as he was about to say something about it, the lieutenant's had twitched, bringing up two other sets of data...

"This is one of the logs that we got from the Deadalus, and this is the one I got from the transporter room..." He said, as he condensed them too. The Doctor felt his eye's widen, as he looked the three sets over, and over again.

"My god, they're identical! Buh- But what could they have been caused buy?!" He asked, as he pointed to the screen in shock. The lieutenant's grin softened, almost in a disturbingly sad way. The Doctor didn't like where this was conversation was heading, but if it meant keeping at least one more struggling patient from slipping away, then he was willing to accept what ever the cost was...

"That's the thing... I spent all of yesterday, and most of this morning looking for just that reason... To be honest, I think I may have even questioned whether or not T'shosh could've been saved," He began to say, but the Doctor could see that there was something that was holding him physically back, almost as if, he fighting back tears... A dim clamping sound could be heard, as he continued.

"That's just about the moment when commander Barkley asked me to help him monitor the power output reading from the Orb that the Deadalus brought back from Halldikar..." He said, as his hand once again began to dance across the consoles controls. After a moment, another DataStream began to filter through, and to the Doctor's surprise, he was able to recognize the code fragments as they flew by. Had he had his bio-synthesis software running, he knew that he would be feeling his his pulse and his blood pressure hitch skyward, as well as the rush of simulated neural transmitters firing off, as he realized what exactly he was looking at.

"That... Can't be!" He muttered, taking a few steps closer in a subconscious attempt to get a better look. Before the Doctor's reaction could even register, Ryo had already finished the condensing of the stream into something recognizable... A wan smile softened the lieutenant's face, as he unclenched his jaw.

"No matter how hard we try, every mystery we encounter, we'll always find the answer standing right beside us..." He said. The Doctor snapped himself away from his musings at what he had herd the young teen say.

"Lieutenant...?" He asked. This time, it was Ryo's turn to snap back from the Doctor's prodding.

"Sorry Doctor, it's something that my mother used to say to me..." He said, the distant look returning to eyes for a split second. Had it been anyone else, that flash of uncharacteristic emotional control would have gone unnoticed. Whether it was because the Doctor was programming, or because of the amount of time that the two had spent over the past months trying to help the ensign, the Doctor wasn't really sure. But he did know when something was bothering one of his crewmates... Especially, his friends.

"What's wrong Ryo?" He asked outright, catching the lieutenant off-guard. Ryo eyed him suspiciously for a split-seconded before replying;

"Um fine Doc; really!" He said, plastering a wide grin across his face, as he rubbed the back of his neck. The Doctor knew when someone was lying through their teeth, but he decided to ignore it for the time being... Right now, they had an ensign to save.

"...Anyway, after I realized what exactly I was looking at, I just simply put two and two together and-"

"-Found exactly what's been causing every treatment we've tried to be ineffective!" Finished the Doctor. The lieutenant let out another bemused chuckle, as he turned back towards the ensign.

"Now, all that we have to do... Is wake her-" The deck rumbled beneath them, as the red-alert klaxons began blaring. The Doctor sent the lieutenant a quizzical glance, as the voice of the ship's second officer cam over the comm.

Boo boop. "Red alert! All hands report to stations!" With that, the lieutenant gave the Doctor a court nod, as he quickly turned, and ran for the main diagnostic consol. Quirking a brow, the Doctor watched, as his hands glided across its surface.

"Lieutenant?" He asked. Ryo glanced up from the consol, the nearly vacant look returned again for a split second as he said;

"I'm heading down to control to help secure it's shielding... I have a feeling they're gonna need it. You get to work on analyzing the particle stream as soon as holographically possible!" The Doctor gave a curt nod of agreement, as the whine of the transporter filled the room.

Earth Prime Resistance Cell 277, 1205 hrs.

"An anomalous energy signature has been detected in orbital sector four-four-one. Activate." Came the monotone voice of the small collective. Several drones stepped out of their alcoves, as they moved to several terminals that lined the walls of the darkened cavern. Meanwhile, at the center of the chamber stood an enclosed capsule. As the drones moved about the small, concrete room, the black tube began to shift.

"Disregarded, whatever the disturbance is, it isn't of any concern to us..." Came the calm voice of the creature within the cylinder. As the young woman stepped out, the drones stopped working for a quick moment, as a holographic screen appeared before the young woman. On it, the image of several silver and white structures floated about in the black, starry background. Within seconds the screen flickered as it magnified to a higher resolution, revealing the bright blue hue of dry warp-plasma, as it either vented out into empty space, or created static feedback along the shell of its nacelle housing.

"Locutus... What are doing up there? Don't tell me you're trying to find me..." She said in amusement, as she watched the image they had tapped into from one of the orbital satellites. She watched as the Sovereign-class starship began moving out from the docks skeleton in an attempt to save the yard.

"Enterprise warpcore containment failure in twenty seconds..." Came the monotone voice of the collective. While it had been almost a month since they had begun the reconstruction of the collective, most of the drones they had created where still going through the final stages of the assimilation process. Even though it only took less a few moments after infection for all of the base control implants to be constructed and take control, they still had to construct all of the necessary tools, and equipment from scratch. Never the less, they had adapted to their circumstances, and where almost ready.

"Something's not right up there..." Came a deep voice from behind her. The Queen didn't look to see who it was, because she already knew. It had been him who given her the resources to build her new collective... At a price. Nodding in agreement, she glanced over to one of her maintenance drones, and said:

"Activate neural transceiver, theta-00586-A-3." She said. The image on the screen shifted from their hijacked signal, to the innerness of the Enterprises primary engineering center. The young woman tilted her head slightly, as she watched the happenings on the screen. Ever since the Federation Flagship had reach earth, they had devoted almost all of their resources to breaking the encryption sequence that commander Data had encoded into what remaining Borg technology they couldn't remove, or decided that they didn't have to remove from the only time they had attempted to assimilate that vessel; but in the end, they were able to successfully adapt. However, she still didn't trust the one whom had given them that ability. A plasma relay overloaded on the screen, forcing the young woman to return her thought back to the events that where unfolding on the screen.

"Naomi, disconnect it!" Shouted the unit known as lieutenant commander LaForge to the young officer standing in front of the consol, where she could see gigaquads of data was being uploaded faster than even she could process. The familiar girl stared at the panel, mesmerized by what she was seeing. It remained the young woman of when she too was that age; before she had taken control... Before she had lost her original body...

"Commander, pull it!" Shouted the commander once again. Snapping away from her trance, the young girl snapped her head to glair over her shoulder at the engineer. She wasn't sure, but there was something about the look in her eyes that didn't seem right. Almost as if, she had something in mind that she couldn't yet see...

'Confused, oh great Queen?' Came that annoying voice again. Really, it was becoming a bother to her to deal with the remnants of her current host so haphazardly like this.

"I suppose you could say that... I don't understand that look."

'You- Queen of all Borg- The beginning, and the end of the collective, can't understand something? Now that's not like you...' Replied the voice. The Queen could feel the sarcasm dripping from her tone. But she did have to admit, it was ironic that, for the moment, she had to rely on something other than assimilation in order to understand what was a mystery for her. Never the less, she couldn't let her other occupant to know that.

"It doesn't matter... I'll know exactly what she was thinking... Once we are ready-"

'Good luck trying, you'll need it if your gonna go after her.' The voice retorted. Another feeling of curiosity struck throughout the Queen at what she had just herd. Behind her, she could hear a growl emanated from the creature, as the pair continued to watch the events unfold on the display.

"What do you mean?" She asked. She could feel the voice within her snickering again, yet another common annoyance, before she replied.

'You really don't recognize her? Now that's a surprise! After all, from her point of view, you've been chasing her, her whole life!' Said the voice, like a snake, pouncing on its prey. Before the Queen had even noticed, all of the commotion that was happening on her personal screen stopped, as the screen deactivated. She snapped her head in no particular direction, as she silently whispered into the minds of her drones her newest orders.

"We will comply." Answered several of her drones, as they quickly set off on their tasks. She then turned towards one of the only completely functional consol systems in bunker. Within seconds, the screen began scrolling through what was left of her fragmented memories. She could feel the voice of her host watching her, attacking her every action, as she looked throughout her most recent memories from before she had lost her collective, only replying to interject to her host's arguments... The attacks had become more and more serious as of late. Any normal human would have gone insane by now, but to her, it was really nothing more than a nice little change of pace...

"Looking for something?" Came an unfamiliar voice. Shocked, both the Queen, as well as her host stopped their arguments, as she slowly turned to see the form of a relatively young humanoid woman.

"You! Ha- So...That's how you escaped. Very creative... Captain Oich." Came the deep voice of the creature, as both the Queen, and the other consciousness watched the exchange with curiosity.

"And you, you've redecorated..." Replied the young woman. "I don't like it." A dark grin appeared on her allies face; obviously, he had just come up with a plan... One that involved her- Or, more accurately, her resources.

"I suppose that's what I get for not hiring someone to do it for me." He retorted. Captain Oich cracked a dark smile of her own, as she herd a chuckle reverberate throughout the cavern.

"Tempus fugit old friend. Maybe I should lend you a hand!" And with the extending of her arm, the Queen was knocked off her feet. After a moment, she regained her senses; the voices of her drones washed over her, as she discovered what she had done... Starfleet was coming.

Deck 6, Section 4, Captain's Quarters, USS Stargazer, 1331 hrs.

The dim lights of the room spread a grim shadow across the deck, as two people, a young, reptilian woman, and a humanoid Starfleet officer sat in silence. The dark-green scales of the woman's face glowed darkly, as she finished reciting her journey.

"My God... Ah- I can't believe your brother would do such a thing!" Came the young officer, covering his mouth as if he were ready to vomit. The young woman looked at her battered and scarred hands, holding back tears.

"It's alright Dawn, he died believing in what he thought was right-"

"No Bell, it isn't! He tried to kill you! He- He betrayed you, and Cheq, and Gerolizch and the rest of your peop-"

"-What he did was inexcusable, yes... But his preceding actions, his logic behind them... It was flawless! All of it..." She spoke softly, as if any firmness in her voice might cause the young human to break. Captain Beck looked into her eyes, and watched, as a single tear began to fall down her cheek. She had been through a lot in the past few years. Lost her homeworld, exiled from her people, being forced to run so far ahead of her own kin...

"It must have been hell," He said. The young woman looked back to the officer, the sad look extending away from herself, as she watched.

"...To be forced to run from the ruins of your home, to lose all that was dear to you, to not be able to shed a single tear for those whom your people slaughter, even as their screams burn through the endless night..." Continued the young woman. She lowered her head once again, as the sounds of the bloodbath haunted her. Seeing this, Dennis reached out, grabbing the young woman's hand as he spoke.

"It's not your fault. And to an extent, its not that of your people's either-"

"But it is! My people are outcasts! We where abandoned by the Voth, just because we chose to follow the teachings of Old Doctrine... Of what we thought was the original, unmodified Doctrine! And even then, my people still chose to worship Old Doctrine in the same manner as New Doctrine!" She cried the tears that she had been fighting back, now falling freely. Beck wiped away some of the tears, as he brushed a piece of her raise collar out from her face.

"Belshka... Hmp... Up until about three hundred years ago, religion reigned as the deciding force in every fractured society on my world. Even now, on that planet circling below you... The human's down their are also going through that very same era of enlightenment, and transition." He said, looking out the view port at the beautiful, blue, green, and white, cloud-covered orb spin below them, in it's eternal stellar dance. Belshka looked out the port herself, as she saw the legend of her people. When the young empress had first awoken, and told where she was; the very first thing that she asked for after speaking to Captain Picard, and Mr. Marcunou, was to go to the nearest planet-side view-port. So, they took her to mess hall, and there, she stared in wonder at the planet below.

"The world of distant origin. Such a beautiful place... And for it to have given birth to two space-faring spices..." She said, as she got lost in the sight before her. That time that captain Beck had set foot on her homeworld; breathed it's air, and felt it's soil... It had been astounding, to say the least. That world had been selected by her people, not as a permanent home, but as a place to prosper. And that, for many generations, they did... But it still wasn't home to them; they still longed to return to their homes... To their Distant Origins.

"The stone, and the spark..." Whispered the young captain. Belshka eyed him quizzically, as he stared off into the distance.

"What...?" She asked in confusion. Beck cracked a wan smile, as she took a deep breath.

"It's from something that I read..." Said the captain. "In the Federation, there's this people called the Bajoran's, whom have developed a "unique" view of science, and religion..." He paused, looking over to his desk; at one of the pictures that sat turned back-wards away from his seat. Feeling the young monarch's eyes on his back, he continued.

"...According to Memory Alpha, Starfleet's primary data library, one of the most," The words that he interesting, quotes that they interoperate, is what's called the "Eighth Song of the Prophets"... But really, it's more of a poem; "In one hand holds the stone, the other the spark. To make a fire, they must come together"." He said, his wan smile fading, as he became even further lost in thought. Belshka's quizzical look faded as she realized what he was saying. It wasn't that in order for a society to move on they must first cast out all baseless faith, and only embrace logic; it meant that blind faith without logic was dangerous, and that blind logic, with imagination or a belief that an idea can succeed, was pointless...

"I know... Even if the Voth don't want to admit it, this is the place where they too came from... After all of this, we are still all the same; Humans, Voth, Grigari... We're all the same, we're all-" The ship rumbled beneath them. A split-second-later, the ship's acting first officer, lieutenant commander Monodramon, popped in over the comm.

Boo boop. "Red alert! All hands to battle-stations!" He said. Captain Beck gave Empress Belshka a firm nod as he stood.

"Tempus fugit." He said.

"Tempus fugit... Unfortunately." She replied, making a B-line to the door. The young captain tapped his commbadge as he followed her into the corridor.

"Beck to bridge, I'm on my way."

Starfleet Detention Center, Earth, 1344 hrs.

"I can't believe that your actually placing your trust in that bitch, Gene!" Came captain Nonaka, as she and captain Fink strolled through the grey corridors. While it was true that the young captain didn't yet fully trust the virus-type Digimon fully, he had seen something in her eyes...

"I know Rika, but I truly think that she's being honest with us." Said Fink. The other captain huffed as she shook her head.

"She attacked the downtown area, and was partially responsible for your first officers kidnapping!" Retorted Rika. Gene slowed to a stop; his head hanging low, as he stared at her. She didn't have to see him to know that he was. The two of them had grown to be close friends in the past months, and with that, she had acquired a sense of his persona, and what all of his little actions meant.

"We both know that what she did in the past was inexcusable... But now she's found something that she never even realized she was missing... A sense of belonging- A place to call home." He said. Rika thought back to her mother, and her grandmother. In the original timeline, her, and her team hadn't stayed in town long after Guilmon was born... In fact, it was right about then that the Borg had first attempted to assimilate them, and that Ryo, had rescued them.

"...And by the way Rika, when I said, "We both know...", I wasn't talking about you." He said, as he stepped thought the doors, that led to the maximum prisoner cell-block. As the young captain stood outside the block, she could hear the strangest of sounds coming from inside. So before the doors could close, she leapt through the door. Inside, the very first thing she saw was lieutenant Guilmon sitting next to the cell, with Ladydevimon laughing away on the other side. She looked over to the guards, and saw that they too looked as if they too where enjoying themselves... Captain Nonaka had traveled far and wide, and seen so much in her short life, but this was a first. To see one of her enemies fraternizing like this with her friends- She shot a glance over to Fink, and for a split second, she saw something that she saw him smile. It wasn't that the young captain was depressed, but he no matter what happened, she had never seen him happy either.

"Ya know, it's rude to stare..." Came Gene, not taking his eyes off of the pair in front of him. Rika looked at him, dumbfounded. Realizing that he right, she nodded, as she carefully took a place by his side.

"...You don't trust me, do you." Came the ultimate-level Digimon. She felt her stance stiffen, as she responded...

"No, I don't." She said plainly. Ladydevimon gave her a slight chuckle, as she shook her head.

"Honestly, I don't blame you... I've done absolutely nothing to earn your trust, and even if I did, it still wouldn't mean anything..." She said. The captain had to agree with her on that; not long after her supposed "Break-down" she had provided them with allot of information concerning Earth Prime, and some of their plans... But she knew that there was something that she was holding back.

"Yes, but that also places you in a unique position... Possibly," She paused for a moment, as she noticed that her college still hadn't budged at all. In fact, he seemed to be transfixed on something inside the cell. Bit right now wasn't the time to be musing on such things, so she pushed away to the back of her mind, as she continued. Right then, Ladydevimon decided to jump in...

"Your right, it would... And yes, it would also give me the chance to play on both your trust, and your emotions, allowing me the maneuvering room to plan my escape... Or worse yet, your downfall." Rika hardened her stare, as she carefully watched the creature behind the field. It was right about then, that she noticed that lieutenant Guilmon had disappeared. For a moment she thought that he just didn't want to see his new friend fight with one of his commanding officers, but then she came to her senses, and realized that he was still in the room... He just wasn't paying attention.

"But captain, there's one more thing that I know you haven't even considered;" Snapping out of her thoughts, Rika relocked her eyes on the other Digimon, and saw something that she hadn't really expected... She was smiling, gently!

"That I've already lost everything close to me... Even my honor. I have nothing left to lose, not even my life... That was something that I forfeit the second that I was caught... And I'm sorry to disappoint you, ma'am, but this conflict isn't something that's worth giving my life over." She continued. Rika still felt the suspicion keeping her senses in focus, but fore some reason, she just couldn't keep her sense of cold hatred for the woman that she once had. She felt as if she was looking into a mirror, and seeing a time that was...

"Everyone, get down!!" Shouted Captain Fink, grabbing Rika's sleeve, and pulling her to the floor. The room rumbled, as a ploom of plasma erupted through the security doors. The room spun, as the ringing in her ears began to let up.

"Sirs!" Came the voice of one of the security officers, as he ran to them. Fink pulled himself into a kneeling position, giving the room before slapping his commbadge.

"Fink to Prometheous, lock on for emergency beam-out!" He shouted. Captain Nonaka stared at him, as he ran over to the woman who had been standing next to the door when it exploded. Rika saw her, and knew from first glance, that she was already dead.

"Prometheous, respond!" He shouted, slapping his commbadge once again.

"Hmhmhmhmhmmm... Oh and what do we have here? Four blind mice, and a traitor." Came a cynical voice from behind. Regaining her senses, Rika leapt into a crouch, as she locked her gaze on the mega.

"Piedmon!"

Starfleet Command Complex, West Shinjuku, 1357 hrs.

"Thunderclap!" Shouted Justimon, causing the ground beneath the Asuramon to collapse.

"Fire Fist of Shiva!" Shouted the ultimate, aiming his fist at the fractured Earth, propelling himself upwards, and back onto 'solid' ground. He laughed, as he saw the group having so much trouble with their team little team.

"Do not become too complacent Asuramon, this battle still could turn in their favor..." Came Machinedramon, not turning away from the pair of hybrids before him.

"Frozen Hunter!" Shouted Beowulfmon, charging at the andriodic Digimon at full force. Meanwhile, Machinedramon raised his clawed hand, successfully blocking the attack.

"You shouldn't be getting too full of yourself just yet; we may be evenly evolved, but my strength is superior! Infinity Hand!" He shouted, as he fired his arm at one of the adjacent building, taking Beowulfmon with it.

"Hurricane Gail!" Shouted Zephrymon, blatting her attack at the ultimate's limb, effectively knocking it off course. Grabbing onto the ledge of one of the buildings, Beowulfmon he used his inertia to arch his decent back to the ground.

"Thanks lieutenant." Said the young officer, as he regained his footing. The lieutenant just barely acknowledged her chief's gratitude, as she fired off another blast.

"Hurricane, Gail!" As the blast of cascading atmosphere charged towards the android, another explosion rang out from behind the group; sending ash, and debris flying through the air.

"What the hell!?" Shouted the commander, as he leapt to avoid being hit by a steel girder. Another explosion erupted, this time, from beneath him.

"Cleansing Light!" The attack ran thought the explosion, shattering the boulders before they could cause any more damage. As the commander landed, Asuramon leapt into the air, as he prepared to take advantage of this new development.

"Fire Fist of- Gahh!" He shouted, as a sword shot out from the debris, impacting him in his throat. Commander Akyama stared at the sight in horror, as he watched the ultimate-level Digimon disintegrate.

"Asuramon!" Shouted Machinedramon, turning just in time to see his constituent completely disappear. Just as Zephrymon, was about to counterattack, two more creatures, erupted from the ground half a meter from where the sword had come from.

"How dare you try to turn my own attack on me! Twin Sword!" Shouted Piedmon, as he tossed a bundle of swords at the Digimon in gleaming white, and red armor. Raising his shield, he charged at the incoming blades, running through them as if they where nothing more then wooden planks.

"I'll stop deflecting your weapons the second you tell me how the hell you where able to get past our anti-lepton emitters! Royal Joust!" Shouted Gallantmon, as he fired off a blast from his lance.

Shift to Ground

"Deadalus, please respond! We're under attack down here, we need reinforcements! Deadalus!" Shouted ensign Katou, as she prepped a hypospry for the injured woman in front of her. Around her, several other people either laid dieing, or where trying to kept the injured alive for as long as possible.

"Look out, there's another one!" Shouted one of the security officers, as she pointed a phaser towards a dark figure standing in one of the turbolift doorways. Jerry reached for one of the fallen phasers, and, spinning on her toes, aimed it dead on at the figure. Just as she was about to fire, she herd the familiar voice of one of her close friends.

"Hold your fire! She's on our side!" Came captain Nonaka, running in front of the viral type, just in time to keep anyone from getting a clear shot. Jerry stared at the sight in confusion, as she lowered her weapon.

"Rika?! What's going on!?" She asked, her voice reaching an optic that she hadn't thought was possible for even her. The captain lock eyes with her, as she answered:

"It's a long story, so I'll explain it later... But right now, this room is extremely unstable; we've got to get everyone out here now!" She shouted over the din of the fight raging on just outside. Jerry looked down at her tricorder, taking readings of her own of the room's structural integrity. Seeing that the captain was right, looked back up to everyone else in the room.

"Alright everyone, you heard the captain! The foundations been compromised! Quickly, grab whoever you can carry, and get them out of here!" She shouted desperately over the din of the battle, as she grabbed the secretary that she had been treating earlier, and began to drag her through the lobby. The room shook once again, causing a girder to collapse, crushing the elderly man below it. Jerry bit her bottom lip, as both her, and the half-dozen others ran as fast as they could out of any hole they could find. Finally, as they made it out of the building, she spotting a group of officers taking refuge behind several large chunks of debris. Running over to the group, she noticed one of her old friends kneeling behind.

"Lieutenant!" She shouted, as she, followed by the rest of her people, back behind the slab.

"Jerry? What the hell are you doin' here!?" He asked, clearly stunned by her sudden appearance. Just as she was about to respond to his question, the captain beat her to it.

"That doesn't matter right now... I want a statues report, lieutenant!" Shouted Rika, handing off the fallen officer to Ladydevimon, as she moved closer to Beck. Not wasting a second, the other captain went into a detailed, but brief synopsis...

"We're stuck behind a rock, Hypnos has been disabled, we were under fire from a pair of ultimates, but one of them was killed, and has since been replaced by a mega... Gallantmon, Justimon, Beowulfmon, and Zephrymon are attempting to fight them off, but I don't think-"

"Okay, I get the picture!" Came the captain, cutting him off just at the end. Rika bit her lip, as she a maelstrom of ideas flew through her mind. Ensign Katou on the other hand, was more worried about the lives of everyone whom they had pulled out from the lobby, as she ran her tricorder probe over one of the said patients. Beside her, she could see that the prisoner, Ladydevimon, was just sitting there... Staring, watching, as she treated the injured.

"Ensign... Ensign!" Came the captain from behind her. Jerry snapped her attention back to her superiors.

"Jerry, are you alright?" Asked captain Nonaka, her hard scowl softening slightly, as she watched. Jerry took a deep breath, as she glanced back down at the injured officer.

"Most of these people have severe internal bleeding... If I was a trained medic, then I might be able to keep them stable until we could get them to a real hospital, but..." Jerry stopped, as she watched her tricorder for a long moment. As the ground beneath them shook, and rumbled, she reached up to the young mans face, and gently, closed him eyes... Seeing this, Rika placed her hand atop of her own, her face stone cold, as she lowered her head.

"You're all idiots..." Came a slightly deeper voice from in front of them. Both officers snapped to attentions, locking a hard glair on the speaker.

"What did you say!?" Asked captain Nonaka, slightly growling at what she had just herd. Ladydevimon remained stotic, as she replied.

"I said, your both idiots..." She replied. Jerry watched as the face of her old friend twisted into something into something truly frightening.

"How dare you! These people are dieing, and all you can do is be-"

"Rika..." Came a low, timid voice from behind the captain. Rika turned to see ensign Katou's hand grasping her shoulder, her head tilted down, and away from her. Rika stared in both confusion and disbelief... Just what did she think she was doing!?

"Rika, don't. She's right... Absolutely right." Replied the ensign. Rika could feel her confusion melt away into her disbelief, and that, heating into rage.

"Ensign, just what the hell are you saying?" She asked. A shiver ran though the hand that laid on her shoulder, as she watched the young ensign lift her head... Stunned, Rika looked into her friend's eyes, and saw something that seemed so alien to the girl...

"I'm saying, Rika, that what she's saying, is true... We shouldn't be sitting here, worrying about how to keep these people alive, even as they die instead-"

"-Instead grabbing whomever you can carry, and get them the hell outta' here." Finished the ultimate. Rika snapped her attention between the two. Finally, Rika turned to the lieutenant, whom was trying to set up a make-shift deflector screen, to keep the larger debris, and any smaller projectiles out.

"Lieutenant," She said, instantly pulling the lieutenant away from his work, giving her a silent 'sir!'. Rika felt her face harden once again, as she placed her hand on his tricorder.

"Have everyone grab whom ever's still alive, and have them run! Get them ta' run the hell out of here!" She said. The lieutenant stared at her dumbfounded, causing her scowl to harden further in annoyance.

"That's an order, lieutenant, not a request!" She said. The lieutenant opened and closed his mouth, as if her was trying to say something, but instead, settled for:

"You herd the captain everyone, let's go!" He said, putting away his tricorder, as he searched for a fallen officer who was still alive to carry. A pair of low sighs came from two behind her. Rika didn't like having to runaway, but there where times when that was necessary.

"Hm hm hm hm hm... Calling a formal retreat, captain...?" Came a deep voice from behind the them. The group spun to see a large, creature, clad in black, and silver amour, standing behind them. Ladydevimon stood slowly, locking the creature in a death-glair.

"Ka- Chaosalphamon..." She muttered. Another low chuckle emitted from the creature, as he uncrossed his arms.

"So, you still recognize me, my little pet... Then you should also know what's coming next..." Replied the mega-level Digimon, as he lifted his arm.

"Now prepare to DIE!" he shouted, before firing off a blast of energy at the team...

Deck Six, Section 14, USS Prometheous, 1400 hrs.

"So this is it... The beginning..." Said ensign Monodramon, as both he, and Ryo ran through the corridor. The lieutenant however, just barely gave his friend a grunt, as they turned a corner.

"Out of the way!!" He shouted, warning anyone there, that they where coming. They passed several ensigns as they made it to the Hazard Ops transporter room. The transporter chief gave them a strange look, as the pair stopped to catch their breaths.

"Sir... What are you doing here?" Asked the confused chief. Ryo didn't even make eye-contact, as he ran up to the rear consol, where he began to tap in several commands.

"Sir, what the hell are you-"

"I'm sorry chief, but it's better if your unconscious for this..." He said to the ensign. He watched the Trills eyes widen, as a crimson beam tore out from behind him. Ryo caught the ensign as he fell, and him laid out on the deck. Giving him another apology, he stood back up...

"You've been practicing, haven't you?" He asked Monodramon, whom in return, gave him a wan smile.

"Ehy, I had ta' do something while you where busy with helpin' the Doctor!" Ryo cracked a slight grin at his old friends reply. Working quickly, he rerouted command protocols for the transporter. He knew that in order to get off of the ship, they would need to lower the shields first... But then again, no one had ever really bothered to mention that to him.

"The room's sealed..." Came Monodramon, as he replaced the panel to it's place. Ryo looked up from the consol, as he watched his partner hop back onto the transporter pad.

"The transporter?" He asked. Ryo cracked a sly grin, as he finished tapping in their destination.

"I've matched the matter-stream transport frequency with the shield harmonics... We're ready-" He said, as he leapt over the consol, as the sound of the computers countdown rang throughout the room. Just as the lieutenant touched the pad, the pair where swept into it silver silhouette.

Shift to Battle sight

"GIGA CANNON!"

"SHIELD OF THE JOUST!!" Replied Gallantmon, as he blasted off his own attack. The two waves clashed, creating a shockwave that sent much of the debris around them flying...

"Had enough yet?" Asked Guilmon from within the hybrid form. The ultimate-level Digimon only growled, as he locked his gaze onto the pair.

"Thanks for the hand captain." Said commander Akyama. Fink grinned inwardly to himself, as he watched the officer. There names, and histories may have been different, but the more he interacted with the two duplicates of his old friend, the more he was convinced that they where all one person at one point... Just now, the way he had thanked him... The way he never took his eyes from his opponent, the steel in his duel voice, his rigid, yet relaxed stance... He seemed more like an old tiger, ready to pounce if the intruder got too close, but also ready to back down, if the other complied.

"Foolish captain... Didn't your mother ever tell you to never look away in a fight!? FINAL SPELL!!" Captain Fink shot back to reality, as he watched the ultra-sonic blast-wave speed towards him. Knowing that there was no way he could dodge it, he raised his shield...

"SHIELD... OF..."

"Captain! FROZEN HUNTER!!" Shouted Beowulfmon, as he shot off his own attack. Gallantmon braced himself for the impact of what he was about to do...

"What the hell are you-!?" Gallentmon's inward grin returned, as he continued to spill power into his shield. If he was right, then he would be able to negate the power of the sonic blast... But the proceeding flash, and sonic boom would be enough to disable all of them... That is, if it worked.

"...THE JOUST!!" The world suddenly faded to white, as Gallantmon caught the edge of his own words. But just as his vision melted away, he thought that he had seen a blur of black rush past his eyes. He felt dizzy, and disoriented. His felt his legs jolting beneath him... His left arm felt numb, so much so, that he couldn't even feel his shield's controls. It was then, that he felt the back of his head smash into something hard. His legs still jolted as he felt the jagged edge of something sharp cut through his amour on the only arm he still had feeling in. He felt his left shoulder pop, as it twisted across his chest. After a moment, the fog began to clear. His eyes locked themselves ahead of him, as he stared into to the eyes of a creature dressed completely in black, and silver armor. He looked down at his shield, and saw that part of it's side had been blasted off, and was now digging into his damaged armor. Beyond, he could see that Piedmon wasn't in that great of condition either... Him, being held down, by Justimon.

Shift to Ground

Ensign Katou watched in horror, as both the giant, black night held down her superior, and her friend grasped their enemy's neck in his hands, ready to twist at a moments notice.

"-Ensign!? Ensign!?" Jerry was trusted from her blank mind, as captain Nonaka began to violently shake her shoulders. She turned, and stared into the young captain's violet eyes.

"Ensign Katou, we have wounded... Focus on them." She turned, and saw the field of the dead and dieing... It broke her heart, as she watched another of the severely injured convulse, and then relax. Jerry thought back to that time, so long ago...

"There's nothing we can do for them-" Her jaw locked itself in place, as she held back a tear. She took a deep breath to calm herself, even if her attempts where ultimately futile. Not giving herself time to readjust, she glared into the captains eyes.

"We can't help them. Not unless you know how to counteract that, weird anti-lepton surge!" She shouted, piercing through the command officer's roughened exterior with her glair. The captain turned away from her critical eyes, as she watched the stalemate closely.

"There is... But they won't survive long enough to get them that kind of help..." Uncharacteristically replied Rika. Jerry blinked, holding back the urge to look back at the other casualties. She forced herself to look back to the battlefield before them.

"Master... What are you doing here?!" Came Machinedramon, as he looked down at the now halted fight. Beside him, Jerry could see Beowulfmon lying against the smashed side of a car. Coughing, and holding his side as he phased in and out of molecular cohesion. Ahead of the them, stood the other Justimon, his blade charged, ready to pounce on whoever was to move first. Jerry clutched her chest, as she tried to keep herself from collapsing, and sobbing. She wasn't sure how long she had been staring at the group, before she noticed the sound of a low chuckle... And it wasn't coming from the dark knight.

"Ha ha... Why don't you answer him, or, weren't you counting on me showing up?" Asked Justimon, in a low voice, catching just about everyone off guard.

"Hmn, as prompt as ever, mister Akyama..." Replied the black creature. Jerry couldn't help but feel a sense of deja vu. A deja vu that she just couldn't place...

"Well you know what they say; A Vol-shCh (Vah-all-shh-cha painstick/cattle prod) won't move the fat P'TaQ (Peh-tah-ka without honor)!" Replied the lieutenant. A cold chill ran up the ensign's back, as she listened to her friend speech. In the year that she'd known him, never before could she remember him acting anything like this... It was almost as if, he was a totally different person!

"Lieu- Tenant... What- Is he, talking about...?" Asked Gallantmon, as he struggled to breath from under the dark knight. The non-existent grin that Jerry could see beneath the mega's mask, melt away, as turned towards his commanding officer.

"I'm sorry captain, but I'm afraid that I lied on my entrance ticket for Starfleet..." From across the field, Jerry could see the duplicate commander revert back, as he stood.

"Lieutenant, what the hell does that have anything to do with-"

"Save it! You lied on it too!" He shouted. Everyone watched the pair critically, as they processed what they were hearing.

"We both know full well, that this world... Not even this era, is the place where either were born... We are Human, we are from Earth, but our Earth... Is gone." Jerry felt her breath catch in her thought, as she tried to process what she had just herd.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I don't believe it, you haven't even told them yet! Oh, this far too much!" Laughed the New Digimon. Beneath him, Jerry watched, as a piece of the mega began to phase in and out of cohesion.

'What's going on? Captain Fink wasn't injured that badly, so why does it look like he's-' she stopped in mid-thought, as the trio continued their game of wordplay, Jerry realized why they where having such a hard time keeping up...

"-The anti-lepton field!" She whispered quietly. Not wasting any time, she flipped her tricorder back open, and began ruthlessly scanning the area around her.

"Ensign?" Nonaka prompted. She ignored for a moment, as she scanned the radiation surrounding them. As soon, as she her tricorder had a lock, she glanced up to the captain.

"That new Digimon, he's generating a field of some kind of Anti-lepton radiation... And he's pouring it directly into Gallantmon! It's disrupting the bio-quantum link between their Human, and Digimon halves!" She quickly explained, locking her eyes back onto her tricorder, as she continued her work.

"How!? If he's using that kind of radiation, then shouldn't he be effected as well?!" Asked Rika. Jerry didn't answer, because she was already two steps ahead of her.

"I've already thought of that... If I can lock onto the frequency, then I can direct an anti-digiton pulse to temporarily disrupt his control!" She said, as the tricorder continued to scan the frequency variances.

"Of course! Because leptons, and digitons are both nearly identical types of sub-atomic particles-"

"-A burst of digitons at the same frequency would disrupt it." Finished the ensign, as she silently prayed that her plan would work.

Shift to Justimon

The lieutenant silently watched the lone creature, as he continued to hold Piedmon pinned to the building behind them. He had surprised the mega by slapping him with his enlarged, armored hand that he normally used for his thunder clap. While the way he'd used it had been unique to it's original function, Piedmon on the other hand, apparently disagreed, as he continued to struggle beneath it.

"-Impudent little-! I'm going to reduce you to a keychain and cut you-"

"Silence!" Shouted the dark-clad knight at his strongest asset. The mega immediately stopped, a low growl emanating from him, just laud enough for the young officer to hear. He tilted his head, as another low chuckle escaped his throat.

"I can see you've been working on your tempore since we last spoke... Chaosalphamon." He said, slightly grinning. He could see the amusement in his eyes instantly change to irritation at the mentioning of him name.

"And you... You're much quieter then our last meeting. I didn't even have the time to react as soon as I heard your feet... Commander!" Retorted Chaosalphamon. Ryo could see his grip slacken as he spoke. He knew that he was just testing him, to see how he would react... But he couldn't help feel a limb or two flinch slightly at the sight.

"Lieutenant, just what the hell is going on here!?" Asked the other Justimon. Ryo glanced over to his counter part, while not letting his old enemy out of his sight.

"I may as well tell you, sir... This creature-"

"Don't you dare!" Shouted Chaosalphamon, cutting Ryo off in mid-sentence. Ignoring him, he continued.

"...Is Doromon. His Doromon!" He shouted. Instantly, he saw his counterpart freeze in place, at the mentioning of his name. Ryo slammed his eyes shut, trying to keep from so many painful memories from flooding back. Below his enlarged hand, he could feel the struggling mega, pause, as he knew he was observing the scene before him.

"Da- Doromon... I- It ka- Can't be...!" The commander stuttered. Ryo herd the sound of metal clacking against stone, and knew that it was his counterpart, falling to his knees. After a moment, he could feel Monodramon whispering directly to him.

"Ryo, open your eyes... It's the least you can do." He said. The lieutenant knew that he was right... After all, in the next few moments, he knew just how much history would change, and how much they would lose.

"You- You think your smart- So glorious- So intrepid... But you just don't realize just how much it all really means in the end... How much, you can't take with you... Into the darkness..." Whispered Chaosalphamon, as this time his grip slackening greatly. Ryo could hear Gallantmon gasping heartily for air, as he finally began to shift back into both, captain Fink, and lieutenant Guilmon, both collapsing to the ground, still gasping for breath.

"Master! What are you-"

"I SAID SILENCE! DIGITAL MATRIX CORRUPTOR!!" Shouted Chaosalphamon; lifting his hand, and firing three nearly blindingly red beams. Each beam exploded as they made contact with Machinedramon metal armor, Ryo had to cover his face to keep himself from being blinded. Just then, he felt something sharp tear through the heavy armor of his right hand. The sadistic laugh of the mega-level Digimon rang out, as he felt that same sharp tip slide across his torso.

"TRUMP SWORD!" He shouted. Feeling the white-hot pain of the wound, he felt all the strength drain from his legs, as he collapsed forward.

"Hahahahaha! Your not so tough now, are you!" Shouted the mega.

"What's happened to you...? You- My god, what's happened to you!?" Asked Justimon, stumbling over his words

"YOU BASTARED!!" Shouted Beowulfmon, as he lock his tri-bladed sword with one of Piedmon's, just as he had brought it down to cut the lieutenant in half. Ryo looked up at the hybrid, as he struggled to hold the mega back. Behind the pair, he could hear his commanding officer coughing, as well as the sound of sputtering.

"Doro..." Whispered the commander once more, his form nearly falling out of phase. Ryo bit back a the sense of regret, as the channel locks that held back so many different images, and feelings that he thought he had locked away in a box and stashed away in the back in his mind long ago, as he watched his duplicate just stare blankly at their old friend.

"No, that Doromon died a long time ago, commander... He died," Chaosalphamon pulled something out from his sleeve, a picture, and flicked it off into the air. Ryo didn't need to see what it was to know what was printed on it.

"When Ryuu was killed by the Vorsothians." He finished. He looked away, as he saw both his duplicates, as well as Chaosalphamon's heads cock towards him in shock.

"How do-" Commander Akyama began, clearly caught off guard by his duplicates response. For a spit second, he didn't even realize what he was doing... He looked into Chaosalphamon's eyes, and saw something that thought the creature was incapable of... Hate. Absolute hate. He felt his mind disappear into a grey fog. For so long, he had convinced himself, that his oldest friend, no matter what he did, was simply incapable of such a thing.

"LIEUTENANT!" Shouted commander Akyama, as he futilely grasped onto his shoulder. His mind snapped out of its trance, forcing him to lock onto whatever was before him, and what he found, disturbed him to every extent. He was still staring into Chaosalphamon's glair, but instead of having at least ten meters of space between them, he had pinned the mega-level Digimon to the same building that he had pinned his commanding officer to; his own sword made by forcefield pressing against his throat. He could feel himself growling ferally, as he listened to the group behind him.

"For so long... We've worked..." He said, his voice a whisper. The three creatures around him all stopped their chattering, as they listened to him speak.

'Ryo...' Said Monodramon, as he too was forced back into that time. The elder Tamer held back a tear, as he continued to remember...

"...We laughed... We lived... We learned... You, where his partner. You swore to protect both him, and our world..." He continued.

"And then, he died... And so did the universe..." Finished the mega, and for a split moment, he saw all of the haltered drain from his eyes, being replaced by something that he thought that he'd never see again... The look of a Doromon's curiosity... Then suddenly, he too for a moment, he felt all the anger, fear, and all the pain at seeing him like that disappear. But those few seconds of bliss, didn't last long...

"No... NOOOHHH!!" Roared Chaosalphamon, as he fired his the DMC, forcing Ryo to slam into his duplicate. The initial force of the blast was enough to send the pair flying into giant piece of debris that had fallen from one of the near-by buildings. The lieutenant groaned in pain, as he attempted to push himself off of his duplicate, not realizing it was taking everything he had left just to keep himself standing. He opened his eyes, not realizing that they where even shut, to see pillars of smoke billowing away from a pair of holes in his armor. He glanced down at his hand, and watched as it phased.

"Impudent fool! I'm going to enjoy watching your blood drain from your lifeless remains!" Knowing that he wouldn't be able to do much else, he struggled to lift his head back up to look at his old friend, as he knew what was to happen next...

"NOW!!" Came a shout from behind the group. Ryo watched as Chaosalphamon suddenly stopped, and began doubling over in pain.

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!!" He shouted, but fortunately, his ancient friend's scream of pain was blocked out by his own. His entire body felt as if it where being torn apart, proton, by neutron, by electron... Then without warning, he felt himself disconnect from Monodramon. He felt his bond with his old friend slip away, as his knees connected hard with smashed the concrete below.

Shift to Ground

"We did it; HE'S DOWN!" Shouted ensign Katou, as her, and captain Nonaka gasped for breath. They had activated the amplified version of the anti-lepton pulse just as that creator, Chaosalphamon as her Ryo had called him, was about to land a mortal blow on her friend.

"Wha- What the... Hell, did you- Do!?" Retorted Chaosalphamon meekly, gasping from air far heavily then they were. She didn't really know that much about sub-atomic particles aside from the basics, but what she didn't' know, captain Nonaka was able to fill in the rest...

"Hah... It's simple... We- We tapped into the anti-lepton field that, you're generating... Hah, hah..." Rasped captain Nonaka, as she struggled to catch her breath. Jerry knew that if she kept talking in her condition, she might begin the hyperventilate. So gasping a few even breaths in herself, she finished for her superior:

"And we, used, the digivice to emit an... Anti-digiton wave to excite- the anti-lepton... Particles... Hah, hah, hah..." She said, as she struggled to catch her breath, locking her eyes on the mega, his own gasping slowing.

'No; he's recovering faster than I thought!' The ensign thought to herself. Chaosalphamon stumbled to his feet, trying to regain his own balance.

"You- You're just like her..." Grunted the mega. Jerry shot him a querying look, confused, as she tried to place what he had just said.

"Who?" She said. "I'm like who?" Chaosalphamon looked up to, his eyes blank, searching, for something that wasn't there...

"Mother." Came lieutenant Akyama from behind... Jerry felt her eyebrows arch at what the engineer had said... Then, it hit her; she never had really met his mother. In fact, from what she knew, she was dead.

"No- The mega whispered.

"Was...? Doro, what are you saying?" Came commander Akyama, as he took a few steps away from the rock that he'd been partially crushed into. Lieutenant Monodramon only partially conscious behind him.

"I mean... Your mother is dead, Commander Ryo Akyama..." He replied. The commander's eyes widened in disbelief, as Chaosalphamon began to chuckle.

"I'm sorry, Ryo..." Came the lieutenant, placing a knowing hand on the officer's shoulder. The commander looked at his duplicate confusingly. His jaw hung open, as if he where trying to find any kind of words that he could use to reply, but the lieutenant gave blinked, shaking his head slightly.

"I know it hurts, but she did it, protect you..." He said, turning to Chaosalphamon. "All of you." The steel in his voice evident. He turned toward Rika, tossing her a small item that he had hidden in his sleeve. Jerry could hear the surprise in her voice, as she held the device in her hands.

"Ca- Commander." She said, her hands dropping slightly. Jerry caught a look at what she was holding, but seeing the small device didn't answer any of her questions.

"A commbadge?" She said, again looking the device over again. The device was scarred, burnt, and broken, yet the ancient captain was holding it as if it could shatter into a thousand pieces at any second.

"Not just any commbadge... My commbadge." She said. "I gave this to my current first officer, my Ryo Akyama... Two years before I took command of the Phoenix." Jerry felt every single hair stand on end, as she realized exactly what was happening; why her friend was acting so strangely...

"Tempus fugit..." She whispered, so low, that no one seemed to notice.

"Unfortunately ensign... Although, I think this kind of paradox is gonna need a name of it's own." Replied the lieutenant. Stunned, ensign Katou watched the other officer, scrutinizing him, to see if there was anything else he would pull before this would be over.

"You're wrong, commander. This paradox already has a name..." Came the mega, holding the weapon his left hand up towards the sky; clenching, and unclenching his fingers, as he spoke. "And it's name, sir, is: THE KATOU PARADOX!" He shouted, and for a moment, as Jerry stood there, time itself seemed to slow down... What Chaosalphamon had just said- What Ryo had been talking about all this time... Somehow, she was root element in all of it. Even as Chaosalphamon flew towards her, she couldn't help but stand still. After everything that had happened; the appearance of the Prometheous, and the Stargazer... Her commission aboard the Deadalus... The Earth Prime Resistance movement, even the death's of commander Matsuki's family... They where all her fault. Or rather, the fault of her future self. So she stayed there, and accepted what was to be her fate. Until...

"NOOOHHH!!" Shouted lieutenant commander Akyama, as the ancient officer saw what his oldest friend had done.

"You..." Said Chaosalphamon, as he stared at the creature in front of him...

"Beowulfmon..." Jerry murmured, as she felt the blood that had spattered from the mega's weapon run down her cheek. Jerry stared at the pair for a long moment, comprehension escaping her. Blood ran down the edge of Chaosalphamon's weapon; a look of shock playing through the mega's eyes, as Beowulfmon's lips curved in a grim grin.

"Sorry bastared... But this paradox, ends here." He rasped. Jerry lost her footing, and stumbled; the feeling of her heart crushing returning to her, as her eyes locked onto wound. Beowulfmon began to phase, before his thractial code revealed itself.

"Fool," Said Chaosalphamon, as he began scanning the code. "You shouldn't have done that..."

"Lieutenant!" Shouted Captain Fink, as he struggled to a standing position. "Chaosalphamon, stop what you're doing NOW!" Shouted the captain, as he pulled out his phaser.

"I don't think so..." Replied the mega. An angry crimson beam spat out from the weapons nose, impacting the Digimon's armor, but not much else.

"Ha ha ha ha ha! That won't work captain... I've already absorbed most of his power!" Came the mega. Jerry watched in horror, as the lieutenant's digital form faded back to his Humanity. She slammed her eyes shut, holding back tears, and grasping the sides of her head, as she tried to block out the pain of watching someone she was so close to, die...

"I'm sorry... ensign, Katou..." Rasped Koji. Jerry felt her wall crumble at the sound of his voice... So calm, so relaxed, and not a trace of pain. She opened her eyes, and forced herself to look at her superior.

"For what?" She asked. The grim grin that danced across his lips, spread out to a sincere smile that spread across the lieutenant's face, as he weakly chuckled at her question.

"Because... I'm afraid that I won't, be able to- To keep my promise for dinner, tonight..." He said. His physical form was beginning to demolecularize. The tears that she had so desperately been trying to hold back where now running freely, washing the crusting blood away with it. After all that- After everything that was happening to him, that was the only thing that he could think of. Jerry fell to her knees, as sobbing.

"Don't cry Jerry... After all- You, have a- Lion's heart..." And with that, he disappeared completely; his digivice and his commbadge falling from his form, clanking as they hit the ground. Jerry stared at the two devices, as the battle around her continued.

"NO! You bastared!" Shouted captain Nonaka as she picked up a phaser rightful, and attempted to fire it at the mega. The world around Ensign Jerry Katou seemed to disappear, as she watched the static dance across the lieutenant's digivice; his last words echoing in her head. Every time she got close to anyone, they always ended up suffering. She knew from her own training that it was all really just a series of painful coincidences, but no matter how many times she tried to tell herself that, those words just seemed more, and more hollow. She thought back to that day when she was only six years old... She was in a bank, with her mother. She had taken her straight from daycare to run a quick errand, when several men came, and began terrorizing everyone there. She didn't know it at the time, but all that they where really after, was the money that was held there after all, it was a bank. But when she didn't stop crying, one of the men pointed a gun at her, and when they threatened to shoot, her mother leapt in to protect her... She could still see her, laying on the ground there. She even remembered what her last words were;

"Don't be sad Jerry... Please, be a brave girl for mommy. Be the one- With a lion's heart." Jerry sniffed back more tears, as she closed her eyes.

"You insolent fools... Can't you see I've already won!" Said Chaosalphamon, as held captain Nonaka by the shoulder, her body elevated about a foot off the ground.

"Like hell! The only thing you've won, is your head, a place above my replicator!" Spat captain Nonaka, her hands grasping at his arm. The mega couldn't help but laugh at her futile attempts to release herself.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!"

"Bastared..." Came a low voice that cut through Chaosalphamon's hysteria like a serrated blade. The shocked group turned to the ensign, the young woman, whom hadn't so much as ever been able to insult a microbe, as she slowly stood. Her head, hung over the deactivated Digivice.

"What was that?" Asked Chaosalphamon, tossing the captain into a nearby building, where she landed with a grunt. Ensign Katou remained quite for a short time, as she ran her fingers down the face of the device.

"I don't know who you are..." She began, the tears that had previously soaking her face, now almost completely dried.

"Or where you came from... But," Jerry lowered the two devices; her arms slumping to her sides.

"What the hell gives you the right," Her head began to lift slightly, her eyes locking with the mega's. "To take someone's life!?" Her face was filthy with dirt, blood, and tears... But if looks could kill, then the sheer look in Jerry's eyes should be causing Chaosalphamon to implode into a singularity. The mega however, noticing her death-glairs, couldn't help but chuckle.

"Who ever said that I was killing someone? Look around you little girl! See the world around you? This entire star system was built from the rubble, the dust, the ashes that where once my home, my people, my whole universe! As far as I'm concerned, you are nothing more, then accessories to murder." He replied. Jerry felt her hands ball into fists, and a warm liquid begin to drip down some of her fingers. Every cell of her being was being set aflame with anger, but held back her fuse, as she felt that flame turn into one of hatred.

"How can you saw that?" She whispered, her voice becoming more and more horse with every passing second. She wanted to say more, so much more, but held herself back, as she didn't trust herself to say anything further. Chaosalphamon however, didn't plan on letting her have that curtsey...

"I can see everything, you know... I know of what he had planned for the two of you in the mess hall this evening... What was going through his head, when he first told you not to try your chief's cooking... Even how he really felt about you..." He said, his grin erupting into a sadistic smile.

"And, Jerry Katou... There's one more thing;" He said, his smile growing wider. "You don't possess anything close to a lion's heart." Jerry felt her grasp on Koji's digivice tighten, as her jaw locked itself in place.

'Jerry...' Came a voice. The ensign snapped out of her blinded state, as she tried to see who had called her, and then, she looked down at the digivice. She stared at the screen for a moment, as the image of something began to phase through the static. It was then that Jerry realized who had called her...

"What are you doing?" Asked Chaosalphamon, taking on a defensive stance. Jerry looked back to the despicable mega, the surge of anger that had nearly overwhelmed her, now a little calmer...

"If that's the way you see the world... Then I-" She paused, almost as if she were listening to someone else speak to her... "Then we, have no choice, but to stop you." She said, as she held both her hands away from her sides; her voice taking on a double tune, almost as if two people where talking at once. Chaosalphamon's eyes widened, as he realized what she was planning to do next.

"EXECUTE NOW! FUSION EVOLUTION!" The world around her faded into a veil of white, as she felt the digicode make contact with the digivice. For a long moment, she just stood there, waiting for whatever was supposed to happen next. But after another few minutes of waiting, she decided to check her surroundings... She looked for something... Anything really, but no matter where she looked, she only saw white.

"Jerry?" Came a familiar voice. The ensign spun to see if it was who she thought it was.

"Koji..." She said; tears welling up in her eyes again. The lieutenant shook his head, a wan smile playing across his lips.

"No, I'm-" He paused, almost as if he were at a loss for words. "Think of me, as a ghost of the lieutenant..." Tears fell freely down Jerry's face, as she heard this...

"But," He said. "There is something here for you... Something, that he wanted me to ensure you would have." Jerry stood there for a long moment, and stared in wonder.

"This, was his final gift to you! Use it, to let your lion's heart roar!"

Shift to Commander Akyama

"BEOWULFMON!!" Shouted ensign Katou in a duel voice. Lieutenant commander Ryo Akyama stared at the scene before him. In the past ten minutes alone, he had just seen the temporal prime directive broken in eight places, three different paradoxes form, one of their best officer's lose him life, and something impossible. And apparently, Chaosalphamon shared his feelings...

"What's going here!? How did you-"

"Chaosalphamon!" Came the ensign, her double voice echoing around them. "I don't care... In the time that you have spent here, you have created multiple paradoxes in time; terrorized half a galaxy, and killed- Slaughtered, hundreds of billion of people, if not more... You no longer have a voice!" She said, as she leapt at the other Digimon at blinding speeds. Rika couldn't even tell who had hit who, as she herd the clanking of there weapons. Then, after a minute, as the dust cleared away, she saw their two forms, locked in a complete deadlock.

"And what are you going to do about it?" Asked the insane mega. "You are more than an echo of the dead." Rika watched the mega's sadistic grin widen, but for some reason, it seemed different this time.

"You are a fool, Chaosalphamon... I know you are, because I can see it in your eyes." She said. Chaosalphamon laughed at this, as he said:

"What do you see; Fear?" He asked. The ensign's face remained stotic, as she replied...

"No... I can see them. The crew, of the Pegasus." She said. Both the mega and the first officer gasped, as he broke away from their deadlock.

"Ha- H- Ha- How?!" He chocked out.

"I know, because the scan works both ways." She said. Then it hit the him; Koji hadn't just given her his digivice, and the codes therein, he had given her everything... Even what he could copy, and download from the mega's own digicode.

"Bitch!" He exclaimed. "DEMONIC SWORD GRADE ALPHA!" The commander watched, as the insane mega summoned a familiar weapon, and leapt at his new target.

"Com- Mander..." Came a ragged voice, as something grabbed his ankle. Ryo looked down to see a wounded Ladydevimon grasping at his foot.

"Commander..." She said, gasping for air, as she tried to look into his eyes. "His- Weakness..." She gasped out. Ryo kneeled down to her, and grabbed her hand, as he listened.

"It's alright, I think I already know..." He said reassuringly. A look of surprise spread across her face; and with a court nod, he stood back up, and pulled out his multi-phasic resonator... The one that he had stolen from his father.

"Ensign, the next time he attacks, try and-"

"I already know, commander..." She said in her double voice, as she turned back towards him. "Lieutenant Minamoto already discovered his weakness..." Slightly stunned, the commander felt a grin curve up his face, as he eyed the ensign.

"Even if you've found my weakness, you still can't reap it's usage with out destroying this miserable world!" Shouted Chaosalphamon, as he wound his arm back. "DIGITAL MATRIX CORRUPTER!"

"Frozen Hunter: Static Shell!" She said as she lifted her sword, and formed the photonic wolf. But just as she was about to strike, a seemingly forgotten voice range out from above her...

"Multi-phasic resonator ready!" Ryo shouted, the hum of the ancient device causing the air around him to ripple slightly. So, in a matter of seconds, he had the small device out, and programmed.

"Then activate it, NOW" She shouted, not even taking the time to glance over to the commander.

"Just what the hell are-" He stopped, as he realized exactly what she had up her sleeve. "You bit-"

"TEMPUS FUGIT!" They both shouted, the ensign her sword forward, along with her photonic wolf, and his captured attack.

"NOOOOOOO!!" Shouted Chaosalphamon. As the attack collided with his body, Ryo watched as the mega's own attack was used against him. The first officer of the Phoenix watched, as the combined power of the two attacks impacted, and interacted with the anti-lepton remnant field that he was generating begin to tear a rift in the very fabric of space-time. The swirl of the golden vortex mesmerized the commander for a long moment.

"No... Something's wrong; the vortex- Why isn't it closing?" He asked more to himself then to anyone else, as he began to check his resonators settings.

"Forget it commander; the multi-phasic resonator's already lost it's lock on time-space..." Came lieutenant Akyama. Ryo turned a sneer to his duplicate, but as he looked into his face, he saw something that he hadn't expected to see: remorse. But why? The commander swallowed the flurry of questions that he wanted to shoot the officer down with, as he asked the only question that really mattered at the moment;

"Lieutenant; if you know anything else that we really should know, then spit it out, or else I'll have you tossed in-"

"I'm sorry, Ryo..." Replied the lieutenant, as he reached up to rest his hand on his shoulder, but just before his hand could come in contact with the fabric of his uniform, he pulled away. It took him a moment for him to realize it, but once he worked it all out, everything began to make sense!

'Of course! His quiet omnipotence- His sudden shifts in character- His possession of knowledge, and materials that only he should have... The vortex it all make sense now!' He thought to himself.

"Lieutenant- Your not just me, you are me!" He said, nearly staggering back as he stared at himself.

"Commander?" Came Captain Fink, as captain Nonaka, and lieutenant Guilmon helped him to his feet.

"Your a future me!" He said, to everyone's shock. The lieutenant nodded in silent agreement; his posture stiffening, almost as if he were waiting for something else to happen...

"Tu fui ego eris- I was once you, and you will become me... For us," Corrected the lieutenant, motioning to Monodramon. "Time lost it's meaning long ago. I'm sorry..." He said. If it weren't for the fact that it was himself that explaining all of this, then the commander would have been asking a few more questions; but sometimes, that was what the aftermath was for. Right now, they had one hell of a paradox on their hands... And he didn't like where this was heading...

"There is a way to keep the vortex from expanding any further..." Came the lieutenant. This time, the commander did stagger back several steps, as he was caught off guard.

"WHAT!?" Both captain's shouted in unison. "You mean that damn thing's expanding!?" Asked captain Nonaka. The lieutenant cracked a tired grin, as he nodded in confirmation.

"Unfortunately. It's expanding fast... By the time you get back to your ships, it will have already expanded to the size of this entire city block, and begin creating fractures in space-time." Explained the lieutenant. Commander Akyama looked down at his resonator; cursing himself for using it... Then, all in an instant, he understood what the lieutenant was getting at... What the solution to the paradox was... Turning to his own Monodramon, he looked him in the eye, and nodded.

"Captain Nonaka..." He said, pouring everything into his voice, trying to keep everything together. "As the first officer of the United Timeship Phoenix, and as a Starfleet officer, I hereby resign my commission." He pulled off his commbadge, lieutenant Monodramon following suit.

"Ryo? What the hell do you think your doing!?" Asked captain Nonaka, dropping Captain Fink's arm, allowing him and Guilmon to stumble as he tried to regain his balance.

"I'm sorry Rika, but the resonator is the only way to collapse the vortex without causing multiple paradoxes from forming..." He said, as the pair reached the rifts mouth. "Gnōthi seauton, Wildcat..." He said. Before the captain could stop them, both he, and Monodramon tossed her their commbadges, before both turned back to the vortex, and leapt through, closing the rift behind them.

Earth Prime Resistance Cell 277, 1649 hrs.

"Subspace scan complete: Unable to locate Chaosalphamon unit." Came the monotone voice of the hive. The Queen watched the holographic screen with interest, as her drones worked tirelessly around her.

"Locate obstacle zero-three-gamma, and assess" She said. The view on her screen changed to one of the Starfleet vessels in orbit. The Stargazer...

"Target assessed; refit to Galaxy-class dreadnought completion at thirty percent." Replied the monotonous voices of her collective.

"Forget it, you'll never be able to defeat them, even if you do manage to disable most of their ships." Came an only familiar voice from behind. The Queen had grown quite used to her little intruder by now; just as much as she was to her host...

"Oh, don't worry, I don't plan on disabling them..." She said, her normal smile returning to her face. "Now that the master is gone, I am now free to rebuild my collective. And I will start, with my family..."