The U.S.S. Phoenix hung in the drydock revolving earth while repair crew worked busily to repair the
supposidly invincible ship. The Federation's war with the Romulans was over. Even though the Romulans
ended up suing for peace, Federation forces were undergoing repair and working on a slow buildup for
the time being. The Talosians were finally welcomed into the Federation, it was their intervention that
helped the Federation win the war.
On the other side of the universe....
Rogue Squadron was fighting a loosing battle. The group of X-Wings was retreating in formation to give
cover to the smaller cruisers. As more TIE interceptors swooped in, turbolasers from the Lancer class
Assault frigate just finished off a star destroyer, while a mon calamari battlecruiser moved in behind the
TIES.
"Rogue leader to Remonda, we'll make these TIES follow us down along your ventral ridge, then you fry
'em." "Acknowledged Rogye leader, we're moving in."
"This is Rouge leader, get as many of them as you can to follow you down allong the cruiser's ventral
ridge. Divert auxillary power to aft shields."
As the X-Wings got set up for their attack run, two Victory class star destroyers swooped in and destroyed
the fighters. The small Victory Star Destroyers were 2 of many ships captured by New Republic forces. All
together they had 3 Imperial Star Destroyers, the 2 smaller Victory class ships, and 4 Lancer-class
frigates. Their next plan was to steal a Super Star Destroyer. "Remonda to Rouge Squadron, this is
Admiral Ackbar. Our target is right in front of us, get set up for your attack run." "Acknowledged admiral,
all ships standing by." said Wedge Antilles
"We'll move the Star Destroyers & frigates in first so we can bring down her shields. Then the Remonda
will swoop in for the kill while in the mean time, all our fighter squadrons will provide cover."
Back to Earth..........
"Captain, sensors are picking up a large subspace distortion bearing 313 mark 4 off our starboard bow."
said the science officer aboard the Lexington. The Lexington was fully repaired and had just completed
her first post-war mission. She was now approaching spacedock for some R&R. "Come about 2/3
impulse. Prepare to launch a probe & then put us back on our original heading." said Captain Andrew
Lennox "Aye Captain." came the reply "Probe is launched, coming about back on our original heading
sir." "Good, notify me when we're docked." "Aye Aye." "Now for the R&R..." Lennox thought, rubbing his
eyes.
Mark Kimball was partying his ass off in his brand spanking $3.6 million dollar mansion in his hometown
of Omaha, it had glass elevators, skylights, everything a cool, hip bachelor could want. He popped a
bottle of Dom Perignon as he turned up some DMX. Everywhere in the 3 story pad, people were dancing,
drinking, fooling around in one of the 8 bedrooms, just having a good time. It was his 2nd straight week of
celebrating the UFP victory over the Romulans, and it looked as if there was no end in sight. "Hey Jake,
put on 'Back that Azz Up'by Juvenille will ya?!?" he shouted to Jake McKinzie, the un-official MC of the
day. He and McKinzie met while Mark was doing a tour of duty aboard the Ambassador class USS
Exodus. Right now though, he was gettin down with a fly girl. "What's your name?" he asked, his hands
on her hips. "Kendra, yours is?" she said, getting down with him "I'm Mark, what ship are you on?" he
asked, yelling over the music "I just got assigned to the Phoenix." she yelled back. Later that night, they
both ended up in his room, drunk beyond belief.
The next morning, Mark had an unruly awakening. His holo-communicator was beeping for 10 minutes
before he got up and got downstairs. "This better be important, I've got a 5 alarm hangover and I'm not in
the best mood..." he said to himself, turning it on. He pressed a few buttons & brought up the face of
Admiral Hayes. "Admiral, what can I do for you??" "Mark, I realize that your crew and the rest of Starfleet
have just fought an exhausting war & that you aren't up to any major missions." "No we aren't, so please
get to the f---ing point." Hayes smirked "Victory Celebrations..." he muttered "Before she docked, the
Lexington launched a probe to monitor a subspace distortion inside nebula RK-30 near the mars defense
perimeter. We just now got the data from the probe & went into total shock."
"The probe was able to punch through to the other side of the distortion and picked up this." he said as a
battle scene played out before him. "Since your encounter, the New Republic has been fighting a loosing
battle against the empire. New Republic forces have captured several ships including this one." he said
as a large diamond-shaped object appeared. "A super star-destroyer, with some work they'll be able to
get on the offensive again. Lucky f---ing them." Mark said, obviously irritated. "Look tom, could we just get
down to the part where you explain what the hell this has to do with me?!?" "Jeez..you have been up late
celebrating haven't you?" Hayes said with a chuckle "Sensor data recovered from the probes monitoring
RK-30 has included this." he said as 2 large wedge shaped ships, bigger than the first appeared. "From
what we can make out, their armed with the usual lasers and projectiles, but these ships are armed with
some kind of super weapons powerful enough to destroy an entire planet." "We believe that that
subspace distortion was created by the Empire, as a precursor to an invasion. Their ultimate goal, to take over
earth & thus conquer our galaxy." "Admiral....Tom,Mark said, raising his voice. If what your saying is true,
the federation wouldn't have the necessary power to stop this invasion. Plus those ships are 100 times
larger than the Phoenix!!!" "I know the federation wouln't have enough manpower or ships. That's why the
federation council has asked me to grant you, starfleet's finest, to go & rally together a superfleet of ships.
They have given you permission to cross what's left of the neutral zone plus whatever else you might
have to do." "I'm sending you everything we have on this, plus this entire conversation." "Your orders are
to report to the Phoenix at 0900 later this morning and get a fleet together." Mark was astonished, angry
and ready to piss bullets. "Look, I have just finished the war with the romulans and helped out with the
Dominion. Right now I've got a 5 alarm hangover so you better comfirm this shit before I pack my stuff
and get the hell out of town." Mark said, rubbing his eyes. "Mark, these orders came from the President of
the UFP himself. Report to the Phoenix tomorrow, or you'll be sending us all to hell!! Hayes out."
On the other side.............
"Admiral, all fighters in position, standing by on your order." said Wedge. Having recently being promoted
to General, that gave him the authority to manage all of the New Republic's fighters. "Allright, the A and V
wings will form up and go in with the star destroyers. E and Y wings will go in with the frigates and then X
and B wings will go in with the Remonda. All wings acknowledge." As the fighters moved into formation,
the super star destroyer launched it's fighters. "This is Admiral Ackbar, all ships engage!" he said as the
Star Destroyers & the Remonda moved in to take down the Super Star Destroyer's shields, while the
frigates & remaining fighters took care of the TIES. Using improvised combat formations, most of the
TIES were destroyed within 20 minutes, while high speed strafing runs and surgical weapons strikes
brought her shields down even quicker. "This is Admiral Ackbar, all ships engage!" he said as the Star
Destroyers & Remonda moved in to take down the Super Star Destroyer's shields, while the frigates and
remaining fighters took care of the TIES. Using improvised combat formations, most of the TIES were
destroyed within the first 25 minutes, while high speed strafing runs and surgical weapons strikes brought
her shields down in record time. "This is Ackbar to all ships, the Super Star Destroyer's Shields are down,
all craft head for the docking bays!" Just then, escape pods, multiple shuttles and troop transports left the
ship with minimal cover. "This is Rogue Squadron to all fighters, destroy as many of those things as you
can!" All of the fighters converged in an intricate attack formation and took the escape craft out in an
instant. "Ackbar to Antilles, get your fighters to the docking bay so we can secure this ship." he said, while
cheers, whoops and hurrahs were shouted as the New Republic forces mader another stunnning
conquest.
Mark had his bags packed and was busy cleaning up his place, looking for his crew at the same time. He
found 3 of them slumped over in the entertainment room in front of the bigscreen. Everyone else was
already beginning to wake up and get moving. "Hey you slackeys, wake up!" he exclaimed as Tommy
Donovan, Nick Baerwolf and Andy Grondek stirred. Mark sighed and then grabbed Tommy and Andy by
the collars. "Listen you jerk-offs, your gonna straighten up right now, then your gonna get your bags
packed and we're going to the Phoenix!!" he shouted as Tommy and Andy looked at him "Allright already,
let me go damnit!" Tommy said "Jeesus Mark, lay off. I got a bad hangover okay?!" Mark let Tommy go,
then looked at Andy. "I can guarantee you Commander, that mine is worse. Now get your shit together
and get to the transport site ASAP." Mark said with a sneer as his Helmsman and Chief Engineer
sauntered off. "Nick, for the last time, get up! We don't have time for this!!" Kimball's first officer slowly got
up, looked at him and then ran to the bathroom. "Get your stuff packed and meet everyone at the
transport site!" he yelled down the hall. He walked up to the bedrooms and looked around for his
communications officer, the vivacious Valerie Hoffa. Going down past the 5th bedroom, he saw her on the
bed half naked, while a young lieutennant saw him and saluted as he put his pants back on. "I'm sorry
Admiral, I'll be out in just a second." he said as Mark walked into the room "As you were lieutennant, hurry
up and get to your post." he said as he sat down on the bed and piled up Val's clothes.
She started to stir and was startled when she saw Mark sitting on the side of the bed. "Eeek!!" she
exclaimed, pulling the covers up to her face. "Get over what's his name and get dressed. We're shipping
out ASAP." he said as he walked out of the room and went down to the kitchen where his Tactical Officer
was handing out cups of coffee. "Mark, wasssup my man??" Drew Davis said, giving him a high five as he
pushed a cup his way. "You got your shit together Drew??" he said, taking a sip. "Yeah, I've piled
everyone else's crap in the lobby by the front door." he said, hopping up on the counter. "Sorry about the
rude awakennings everyone. I got buzzed at 0530 this morning by Hayes. He said the Lexington found
the makings of an artificial wormhole inside RK-30 and he said that probe results showed 'sufficient
evidence that an imperial invasion would take place' sometime soon. Everyone looked at him with dazed,
startled expressions. "We're supposed to rally up the Klingons, Romulans, Cardies and Dominion while
Starfleet does it's own thing." Nick ran back to the bathroom while Andy turned around and hurled into the
sink. "You've gotta be shittin me, we decimated most of the Romulan Empire while the Cardassians are
still rebuilding their entire world after the Dominion and now Starfleet wants us to bring all them
together?!?!?" Drew exclaimed, spitting out his coffee.
"Look, who knows how large a fleet the Empire can fit through one of those damn wormeholes?!?!?!!
We're the best of the best, so it's us who have to go out and do the dirty work. Starfleet has it's hands full
right now building up a staging area at the mars defense perimeter, near the nebula that wormhole is
inside of." he said, snapping a 12 round clip into his .44 AutoMag. "Mark, what the hell are you going to
need a semi-automatic handgun for during a battle?!?" Andy exclaimed with a burp. "Who knows what
kinda dampening fields those bastards have. If we get captured I just wanna be prepared. Now grab all
your crap and get to the garage." Mark replied as he rushed out the kitchen. Inside his garage was the
best of both worlds, a vintage 2160 Hummer Limmo, really vintage 1985 Corvette TTop and a modified
runabout. This thing wasn't modified for combat, it was modified for sheer speed and pleasure.
The forward viewports were replaced with a single larger one, which came around the sides a bit. The
Nacelles were modified stock from the Gettysburg class, so you could imagine that his garage had to be
quite big. On the inside is where it really counts. Extra EPS and Plasma Conduits were been installed, as
were upgraded warp coils that gave that thing extended range and power. The Cockpit chairs were re-
covered in plush black italian leather straight from venice. The audio system was completly overhalled
and replaced with Mark's favorite system; an Alpine CLX-5700, circa 2267. He had his own personal
playlist uploaded so that he could travel around the planet or in space while listening to his favorite tunes.
Since extra EPS and Plasma conduits were installed, the engineering systems were moved to the rear
half of the cockpit area. The rear half of the runabout was taken up by a holo-tank (a mini holosuite) and
an enlarged area for the bunks. Starfleet's standard bunks never really got rid of all the kinks in his back,
so he had them all replaced with waterbeds. The sheets and pillowcases were black tholian silk with the
Starfleet emblem done out in silver lining in the middle. Hey, a man's got to sleep good on vacation right?
After they got all their gear stowed away in the bunks, they drifted up to the cockpit and sunk down infront
of their consoles. "Allright, let's make this short and sweet." Mark said, as he and Matt glided the
Runabout out of his garage & up and away. As they left the planet, Val, Andy and Nick went back to the
bunks. "Hey, wait a minute, we'll be docking here in 10 minutes, if I let you sleep you wont wake up for 3
days!" Mark really loved the hot rodded engines, it could get them from the planet all the way to the
Phoenix in a fraction of the time it would take a normal runnabout.
"Ah, home sweet home." Mark said as everyone stepped out of the turbolift and onto the bridge. "As soon
as we clear the dock engage on a course towards dominion space." he said to Matt as he sat down in his
chair. Make it the founders homeworld instead." "Sure thing." Matt said. "Alright, everyone ready to go
save the Federation again??" Mark said. "Hell yeah!" Drew said "Let's go kick some ass!" said Nick
"Alrighty then, let's get the hell out of here. 2/3 impulse power." "Aye sir, 2/3." "We've cleared space
dock." mark said "Engage course at warp 7." Mark commanded
Matt's hands flew over the combined CoNN/OpS console, as the Phoenix leapt away. "We're holding
steady at warp 7, we'll be in dominion space in 6 days." he reported.
"I want a secure comlink to the Excalibur now." "Send them everything we have on the empire and new
republic forces, plus everything relating to our first encounter," Mark snapped "and tell them to hurry the
hell up or their going to miss out on all the fun." "Aye sir, sending the message now." came Val's sultry
reply. Mark went to the library computer terminal and started looking over everything on this new threat,
then he got up and left the Bridge. "Deck 5." he sad as he stepped in the turbolift. He quickly proceeded
to his quarters & entered his password into his personnel cabinet. "Authorization Kimball Alpha Victor 007
." "Authorization Kimball Alpha Victor 007 accepted." the computer said as the door unlocked. Mark sifted
around & finally found the documents he was looking for. "Kimball to bridge," "Bridge, Baerwolf here."
"Nick, have everyone meet down in the briefing room , I'll join you there soon." "Aye sir." Nick said as
Kimball's commbadge chimed out "Kimball to Engineering." "Engineering, Thomas here." "Mr. Thomas,
would you and Commander Grondek please get up to the main briefing room on deck 5." "Yes Admiral,
right away." the commander said as Kimball stepped into the briefing room. He just realized that this was
the first time he'd ever been down here since he used his office & the observation lounge on the bridge
instead.
Let's sit down & get this thing going." Mark said "First off, you know how big those Imperial capital
warships are and how hard it is to destroy one. Well, I've got classified blueprints for 14 starships,
classified as dreadnoughts, battlecruisers, warships, frigates, destroyers & gunboats." "Although none of
these ships are as big as a star destroyer, what they lack in size is made up through superior fire power."
Mark said with a grin punching a few buttons and bringing up a holo-display and virtual blueprint. "Behold
the Hellbringer class dreadnought. 28 Type XII Phaser Arrays, 8 Mk XV Pulse Phaser Cannons, 6
Quantum & Photon Torpedo Launchers and a shield system with a capacity of 2,190,090 TerraJoules.
With the combined power of her deflector and navigational shields, she'll be able to fight forever." "We
should have about 400 of these puppies." Everyone in the room whistled in amazement. "Starfleet
estimates project that we'll be able to have a heavily armed mobile assault force of over 100,000 battle-
capable ships and over 3,050 assault craft & fighters." Mark said "This is just for starters." Then Mark
went through the 10 additional starships explaining their armament & tactical capability.
"This is the master plan provided to me by Admiral Hayes," he said as his hands flew over the holo-
display console "a modified diamond slot formation with 5 additional flanks." he said pointing to the
corners and the rear. "You should see a small model of each starship in formation. Making up the main
battle force in the center here will be the America, Hellbringer, Ambassador Mk II and Akira Mk II, plus us
and 1 additional Eagle class starship. The forward support flanks will be composed of omaha and
prometheus class ships here and here while the rear support flanks will be held up Galaxy and Olympus
class ships here and here." Mark said as he pointed to the holo-display "The main rear flank will be
composed of Defiant, Valiant, Clarke, Defender and Constellation class ships here, here, here, here and
here." Mark said pointing once again to the Holo Display. "Now Hayes has had his staff and Operations
working on this thing for a few days and it's still in the preliminary stages, but this is what everything will
look like once we get back to the staging area." he added. The rest of the journey was spent gathering
data and trying to estimate the size of a possible Dominion Armada.
The morning of their arrival, Mark was still sleeping, resting up after a night of "getting to know" Kendra.
"Bridge to Kimball." Mark, still out cold didn't hear the call. "Bridge to Kimball, come in." "Damnit Mark will
u get your ass out of bed before I come down there?!?!" That woke him up "I'm up, I'm up. Now what the
hell do u want??" "We've reached the founder's homeworld." "Good," Mark said grogily "assume a
standard orbit and de-cloak the ship." "The Jem'Hadar don't like being taken by surprise, neither do the
breen." "Good point, all duty personnel to yellow alert, I'll be up there in a second, Kimball out."
"Mmm....don't go Mark, stay with me." Kendra said, still half-asleep with her arm around him "I got too
babe, I'll see you in a little bit." He said as he put his jacket on & went out the door. On the bridge, Matt
was still asleep at the helm console, while the others were merely yawning. "All right people, now wake
up!!!" he shouted as he plopped down in his chair and yawned himself. "Hey yo, we've got 3 Jem'Hadar
attack ships and 1 breen battle cruiser coming in!" Drew said with a hint of caution.
Inside the Evil Empire at the other end of the universe, Grand Admiral Thrawn had succeeded in uniting
most of the Imperial Factions and was now meeting with the Emperor in his chambers aboard the
Devastator. "The progress with the artificial wormholes has been most encouraging, the best part is,
Kimball only expects one, the one we placed inside of his nebula. Our scans show that the outer region of
his space is sparsly patrolled, containing few outposts and only 3 Deep Space Stations. One of them is
quite intriguing." Thrawn said, as the Emperor stood next to a viewport and listened. "What is it that
makes this station more intriguing than the others??" The Emperor asked as Thrawn brought up a 3D
Holo Image of it in the center of the room. "It is called Deep Space Nine, controlled by elements of the
'Federation' to which Kimball belongs. It is the largest and most heavily fortififed space station in that
region." Thrawn said, tapping a console & highlighting the weapons emplacements. "Interesting, but when
you look at the population of the surrounding sectors, placing a large battle station in the region becomes
logical." The Emperor said, nodding his head. "Have you succeeded in uniting and gaining the support of
the Imperial Factions??" he asked. "I have my lord, over 5000 ships and even a larger number of fighters
will be at the mouth of the main wormhole by tomorrow night. A smaller force will be at the mouth of the
other around the same time."
Meanwhile, activity was buzzing aboard the Super Star Destroyer, now the Republic's new flagship
Liberator. The Republic assault force had heavily damaged, but not disabled, the massive behemoth.
Officers, crewman, techies and everyother able bodied person was roaming the corridors, well armed, to
get a general idea of the layout and try and find some of the "hidden" features. Every ship that fit the size
limit was docked inside the Liberator while the others ran escort. Han Solo and Lando Calrissian were
made Generals again. Han's longtime friend Dash Render showed up in the middle of all this and was
made Captain. Han and Dash got together and convinced shady smuggler Talon Karrade to join them
only after Karrade saw that the Republic was gaining an upper hand in their renewed campaigns angainst
the Empire. "Up until now the only capital warships we've had that can stand up to Star Destroyers and
even larger behemoths are the Calamari's converted Star Cruisers and outdated Rebel Frigates. Now
we've gained an upper hand, at least for the time being." Lando said, gesturing to the viewport where their
'collection' could be viewed. "Yeah, well first thing's first General, get this thing repaired and in movable
condition before the Empire finds out. If they do, we don't stand a chance in hell." Dash said. "I agree,"
Admiral Ackbar said "but we've got better chances now that the Empire has comitted most of it's forces to
oversee the Artificial Wormhole construction." he said as the others nodded in agreement.
"I've contacted some friends of mine in Imperial Security, they're sympathetic to whichever cause I
choose to support at any one time." Talon said with a grin. "They've just finished putting together a
squadron of TIE Defenders at a secret base near the Outer Rim. In exchange for updated sensor
technology and a portion of my bank account on Coruscant, they're gonna hand the squadron over to
Mara who will in turn, bring them to us." Raised eyebrows and hushed whispers filled the room. "How did
you accomplish this?" asked General Dodonna "With the exception of Solo and Calrissian, none of you
know much about my past. The Wild Karrade was the Empire's prime Test Ship. They tested every new
piece of technology aboard and in exchange I would provide them with up to date information on
starfighter development projects." He turned to look at Mara, standing at his side. "Mara here, was closly
associated with the Emperor in the era after the Clone Wars. She was the Emperor's hand." he said,
eliciting stairs and comments. "I'll send her to the Outer Rim to pick up the fighters and by the time she
gets back, you boys will have this thing up and running I trust." Everyone turned to look at Han and
Lando. "He's telling the truth," Han said "during the Katana fleet crisis, he was able to get a limited
number of the standard TIES to help us out while we searched for Niles Ferrier." Lando finished.
"We've got an upper hand over the empire, the first ever in a very long time. Let me tell you that if we
want to keep that upper hand, and make it stronger, then we're going to need all the help and resources
we can get our hands on." Wedge said, patting Karrade on the back as he came over to the group. "I've
always considered a plan such as this, but now Captain Karrade has given us the resources to do it. I can
commit as many pilots as you need Captain." Wedge said, turning to Talon. "Why thank you Colonel, I'm
sure we'll need them. What's important is what the Admiral thinks." Talon replied as all eyes turned to
Ackbar "We have carried out missions like this before, but never on a scale such as this. Your plan
Captain, will require careful and precise planning." Ackbar said, now turning to Wedge. "Colonel Antillies,
once we recieve our last shipment of fighters, your orders are to take as many of your pilots as needed
and report to Karrade's ship. Captain Rendar will provide recconaiscence and support." Ackbar said, as
smiles lit up the room. "Thank you Admiral, I'm sure you won't be dissapointed." Talon said as Wedge &
Dash looked at eachother then looked at Mara and smiled.
"Let me get this clear Admiral," the Female Shapeshifter said, rubbing her head. "A warlord from the other side
of the universe has found a way to create artificial wormholes. This Warlord, or Thrawn as you call him, intends to
bring an armada of immense size and power through his wormhole into Federation space." she said, looking at Kimball
with a quizzical expression. "Yes, Starfleet Command believes, that an outbreak of unlimited, unrestricted warfare,
Total Chaos in simpler terms, would threaten not only the Federation, but every other major power in this Galaxy."
he said with a sigh. "Do you have data that confirms this?" she asked "Yes, quite an extensive log. We've also
been able to obtain specifications of 3 Capital-Scale Warships that would make a Dominion Heavy Dreadnought look like
a knat." he said, handing her a PADD. The founder sifted through the data and her eyes widened when she read through
the specifications of the Eclipse class Super Star Destroyer. "You are right indeed Admiral, they do outsize and outman
all of our ships and all of the Federation's I'm sure." She said with a sigh, handing him the PADD "Their warships have
strengths and weaknesses many times greater than any ship I know, but there is one weakness that will do them in." He said
tapping on the PADD and bringing up a segment on Turbolasers. "They use laser-based pulse cannons as primary weaponry on most
if not all of their ships." he said, handing her the PADD. "Federation Shields could easily repel firepower of that sort, but with
ships of great size like the ones I've shown you, the Federation is definatly going to need help." She read the segment and turned to
consult with her Vorta Aide, Keevan. "Admiral, this data seems quite genuine enough and I'm certain that the Federation would be overrun
standing on it's own. I'd like to keep this so I can hand it to the Vorta for a thoughrough dissection." "That's no problem. We'll give you
5 days to look over it and assemble an armada. After that, we'll depart for Cardassian Territory and I'll make the same speach to Damar and the same
with every other leader until I assemble a complete Armada. Then, we'll head for the Mars Defense Perimeter where the other end of this wormhole
is located. There, everyone's going to be invited to a briefing session, 2 bodyguards each." He said, getting up. "It was an honor." Mark said as
he beamed back to the Phoenix. "Wassup with the Dominion, are they game or not?" Drew said in the transporter room. "They're game, I'm giving them 5
days to get a fleet together and after that we go to the Cardies and then on and on until we get back to Mars with every Dominion, Cardassian, Klingon
and Romulan Warship we can muster. By that time, Starfleet should have quite a large armada built up." Mark replied, getting into a turbolift.
The afternoon of the 5th day was one of great anticipation. Right before their eyes, the crew witnessed a military buildup
in record time. Waves after waves of Scarab shaped fighters flew escort around immense Super Dreadnoughts with a number
of smaller battleships thrown in.
"Admiral, I'm recieving a coded signal from the Dominion flagship, they're ready to get underway whenever we are." Val said, listening through
an earpice. "It's about time," Mark said, sitting down. "Helm, plot direct intercept for Cardassia Prime, maximum warp." he said with a sigh as surrounding
space lit up like a fireball as the Phoenix and Dominion Armada went to warp. Legate Damar was on his 4th glass of Kanar, looking over the recent reconstruction
reports in his new office when 3 Soldiers came in. "What's so important that you had to come in here and make me loose my place?!?" Damar said, heavily irritated
"It seems that a very large Dominion Armada has entered our space, time to orbit just over 5 hours." The Soldier said, handing Damar a data padd. "They've better
come with a peace offering.....I'm not in the mood." he muttered "How many ships in this armada?" he asked. "Legate...I'm not sure you'll want to.." The Soldier
said as Damar cut his words off. "I asked you a question, how many ships in this Armada?!?" he said angrily. "120,000." The soldier said with a gulp
"There is 1 Federation Warship among them though." The soldier said, trying to reassure Damar as he looked up. "Do we know which ship it is??" Damar said, tossing
the PADD on his desk. "We've identified it as the Phoenix Legate." The soldier said, half smiling. "Good, that means I will get a full explanation, just not from
you. Dismissed!" He barked as the soldier and 2 others left the room. "The Phoenix..." he said to himself, thinking. Back on the Phoenix, Mark fell asleep in his oversized
center seat when a beeping from the comm console woke him. "Huh?" he said looking around "Put that message on the screen." he said, realising they were being hailed.
"On screen Admiral." Val said as Damar's face enveloped the viewer. "Federation Ship Phoenix, state your purpose." Damar said, stairing right at Mark.
supposidly invincible ship. The Federation's war with the Romulans was over. Even though the Romulans
ended up suing for peace, Federation forces were undergoing repair and working on a slow buildup for
the time being. The Talosians were finally welcomed into the Federation, it was their intervention that
helped the Federation win the war.
On the other side of the universe....
Rogue Squadron was fighting a loosing battle. The group of X-Wings was retreating in formation to give
cover to the smaller cruisers. As more TIE interceptors swooped in, turbolasers from the Lancer class
Assault frigate just finished off a star destroyer, while a mon calamari battlecruiser moved in behind the
TIES.
"Rogue leader to Remonda, we'll make these TIES follow us down along your ventral ridge, then you fry
'em." "Acknowledged Rogye leader, we're moving in."
"This is Rouge leader, get as many of them as you can to follow you down allong the cruiser's ventral
ridge. Divert auxillary power to aft shields."
As the X-Wings got set up for their attack run, two Victory class star destroyers swooped in and destroyed
the fighters. The small Victory Star Destroyers were 2 of many ships captured by New Republic forces. All
together they had 3 Imperial Star Destroyers, the 2 smaller Victory class ships, and 4 Lancer-class
frigates. Their next plan was to steal a Super Star Destroyer. "Remonda to Rouge Squadron, this is
Admiral Ackbar. Our target is right in front of us, get set up for your attack run." "Acknowledged admiral,
all ships standing by." said Wedge Antilles
"We'll move the Star Destroyers & frigates in first so we can bring down her shields. Then the Remonda
will swoop in for the kill while in the mean time, all our fighter squadrons will provide cover."
Back to Earth..........
"Captain, sensors are picking up a large subspace distortion bearing 313 mark 4 off our starboard bow."
said the science officer aboard the Lexington. The Lexington was fully repaired and had just completed
her first post-war mission. She was now approaching spacedock for some R&R. "Come about 2/3
impulse. Prepare to launch a probe & then put us back on our original heading." said Captain Andrew
Lennox "Aye Captain." came the reply "Probe is launched, coming about back on our original heading
sir." "Good, notify me when we're docked." "Aye Aye." "Now for the R&R..." Lennox thought, rubbing his
eyes.
Mark Kimball was partying his ass off in his brand spanking $3.6 million dollar mansion in his hometown
of Omaha, it had glass elevators, skylights, everything a cool, hip bachelor could want. He popped a
bottle of Dom Perignon as he turned up some DMX. Everywhere in the 3 story pad, people were dancing,
drinking, fooling around in one of the 8 bedrooms, just having a good time. It was his 2nd straight week of
celebrating the UFP victory over the Romulans, and it looked as if there was no end in sight. "Hey Jake,
put on 'Back that Azz Up'by Juvenille will ya?!?" he shouted to Jake McKinzie, the un-official MC of the
day. He and McKinzie met while Mark was doing a tour of duty aboard the Ambassador class USS
Exodus. Right now though, he was gettin down with a fly girl. "What's your name?" he asked, his hands
on her hips. "Kendra, yours is?" she said, getting down with him "I'm Mark, what ship are you on?" he
asked, yelling over the music "I just got assigned to the Phoenix." she yelled back. Later that night, they
both ended up in his room, drunk beyond belief.
The next morning, Mark had an unruly awakening. His holo-communicator was beeping for 10 minutes
before he got up and got downstairs. "This better be important, I've got a 5 alarm hangover and I'm not in
the best mood..." he said to himself, turning it on. He pressed a few buttons & brought up the face of
Admiral Hayes. "Admiral, what can I do for you??" "Mark, I realize that your crew and the rest of Starfleet
have just fought an exhausting war & that you aren't up to any major missions." "No we aren't, so please
get to the f---ing point." Hayes smirked "Victory Celebrations..." he muttered "Before she docked, the
Lexington launched a probe to monitor a subspace distortion inside nebula RK-30 near the mars defense
perimeter. We just now got the data from the probe & went into total shock."
"The probe was able to punch through to the other side of the distortion and picked up this." he said as a
battle scene played out before him. "Since your encounter, the New Republic has been fighting a loosing
battle against the empire. New Republic forces have captured several ships including this one." he said
as a large diamond-shaped object appeared. "A super star-destroyer, with some work they'll be able to
get on the offensive again. Lucky f---ing them." Mark said, obviously irritated. "Look tom, could we just get
down to the part where you explain what the hell this has to do with me?!?" "Jeez..you have been up late
celebrating haven't you?" Hayes said with a chuckle "Sensor data recovered from the probes monitoring
RK-30 has included this." he said as 2 large wedge shaped ships, bigger than the first appeared. "From
what we can make out, their armed with the usual lasers and projectiles, but these ships are armed with
some kind of super weapons powerful enough to destroy an entire planet." "We believe that that
subspace distortion was created by the Empire, as a precursor to an invasion. Their ultimate goal, to take over
earth & thus conquer our galaxy." "Admiral....Tom,Mark said, raising his voice. If what your saying is true,
the federation wouldn't have the necessary power to stop this invasion. Plus those ships are 100 times
larger than the Phoenix!!!" "I know the federation wouln't have enough manpower or ships. That's why the
federation council has asked me to grant you, starfleet's finest, to go & rally together a superfleet of ships.
They have given you permission to cross what's left of the neutral zone plus whatever else you might
have to do." "I'm sending you everything we have on this, plus this entire conversation." "Your orders are
to report to the Phoenix at 0900 later this morning and get a fleet together." Mark was astonished, angry
and ready to piss bullets. "Look, I have just finished the war with the romulans and helped out with the
Dominion. Right now I've got a 5 alarm hangover so you better comfirm this shit before I pack my stuff
and get the hell out of town." Mark said, rubbing his eyes. "Mark, these orders came from the President of
the UFP himself. Report to the Phoenix tomorrow, or you'll be sending us all to hell!! Hayes out."
On the other side.............
"Admiral, all fighters in position, standing by on your order." said Wedge. Having recently being promoted
to General, that gave him the authority to manage all of the New Republic's fighters. "Allright, the A and V
wings will form up and go in with the star destroyers. E and Y wings will go in with the frigates and then X
and B wings will go in with the Remonda. All wings acknowledge." As the fighters moved into formation,
the super star destroyer launched it's fighters. "This is Admiral Ackbar, all ships engage!" he said as the
Star Destroyers & the Remonda moved in to take down the Super Star Destroyer's shields, while the
frigates & remaining fighters took care of the TIES. Using improvised combat formations, most of the
TIES were destroyed within 20 minutes, while high speed strafing runs and surgical weapons strikes
brought her shields down even quicker. "This is Admiral Ackbar, all ships engage!" he said as the Star
Destroyers & Remonda moved in to take down the Super Star Destroyer's shields, while the frigates and
remaining fighters took care of the TIES. Using improvised combat formations, most of the TIES were
destroyed within the first 25 minutes, while high speed strafing runs and surgical weapons strikes brought
her shields down in record time. "This is Ackbar to all ships, the Super Star Destroyer's Shields are down,
all craft head for the docking bays!" Just then, escape pods, multiple shuttles and troop transports left the
ship with minimal cover. "This is Rogue Squadron to all fighters, destroy as many of those things as you
can!" All of the fighters converged in an intricate attack formation and took the escape craft out in an
instant. "Ackbar to Antilles, get your fighters to the docking bay so we can secure this ship." he said, while
cheers, whoops and hurrahs were shouted as the New Republic forces mader another stunnning
conquest.
Mark had his bags packed and was busy cleaning up his place, looking for his crew at the same time. He
found 3 of them slumped over in the entertainment room in front of the bigscreen. Everyone else was
already beginning to wake up and get moving. "Hey you slackeys, wake up!" he exclaimed as Tommy
Donovan, Nick Baerwolf and Andy Grondek stirred. Mark sighed and then grabbed Tommy and Andy by
the collars. "Listen you jerk-offs, your gonna straighten up right now, then your gonna get your bags
packed and we're going to the Phoenix!!" he shouted as Tommy and Andy looked at him "Allright already,
let me go damnit!" Tommy said "Jeesus Mark, lay off. I got a bad hangover okay?!" Mark let Tommy go,
then looked at Andy. "I can guarantee you Commander, that mine is worse. Now get your shit together
and get to the transport site ASAP." Mark said with a sneer as his Helmsman and Chief Engineer
sauntered off. "Nick, for the last time, get up! We don't have time for this!!" Kimball's first officer slowly got
up, looked at him and then ran to the bathroom. "Get your stuff packed and meet everyone at the
transport site!" he yelled down the hall. He walked up to the bedrooms and looked around for his
communications officer, the vivacious Valerie Hoffa. Going down past the 5th bedroom, he saw her on the
bed half naked, while a young lieutennant saw him and saluted as he put his pants back on. "I'm sorry
Admiral, I'll be out in just a second." he said as Mark walked into the room "As you were lieutennant, hurry
up and get to your post." he said as he sat down on the bed and piled up Val's clothes.
She started to stir and was startled when she saw Mark sitting on the side of the bed. "Eeek!!" she
exclaimed, pulling the covers up to her face. "Get over what's his name and get dressed. We're shipping
out ASAP." he said as he walked out of the room and went down to the kitchen where his Tactical Officer
was handing out cups of coffee. "Mark, wasssup my man??" Drew Davis said, giving him a high five as he
pushed a cup his way. "You got your shit together Drew??" he said, taking a sip. "Yeah, I've piled
everyone else's crap in the lobby by the front door." he said, hopping up on the counter. "Sorry about the
rude awakennings everyone. I got buzzed at 0530 this morning by Hayes. He said the Lexington found
the makings of an artificial wormhole inside RK-30 and he said that probe results showed 'sufficient
evidence that an imperial invasion would take place' sometime soon. Everyone looked at him with dazed,
startled expressions. "We're supposed to rally up the Klingons, Romulans, Cardies and Dominion while
Starfleet does it's own thing." Nick ran back to the bathroom while Andy turned around and hurled into the
sink. "You've gotta be shittin me, we decimated most of the Romulan Empire while the Cardassians are
still rebuilding their entire world after the Dominion and now Starfleet wants us to bring all them
together?!?!?" Drew exclaimed, spitting out his coffee.
"Look, who knows how large a fleet the Empire can fit through one of those damn wormeholes?!?!?!!
We're the best of the best, so it's us who have to go out and do the dirty work. Starfleet has it's hands full
right now building up a staging area at the mars defense perimeter, near the nebula that wormhole is
inside of." he said, snapping a 12 round clip into his .44 AutoMag. "Mark, what the hell are you going to
need a semi-automatic handgun for during a battle?!?" Andy exclaimed with a burp. "Who knows what
kinda dampening fields those bastards have. If we get captured I just wanna be prepared. Now grab all
your crap and get to the garage." Mark replied as he rushed out the kitchen. Inside his garage was the
best of both worlds, a vintage 2160 Hummer Limmo, really vintage 1985 Corvette TTop and a modified
runabout. This thing wasn't modified for combat, it was modified for sheer speed and pleasure.
The forward viewports were replaced with a single larger one, which came around the sides a bit. The
Nacelles were modified stock from the Gettysburg class, so you could imagine that his garage had to be
quite big. On the inside is where it really counts. Extra EPS and Plasma Conduits were been installed, as
were upgraded warp coils that gave that thing extended range and power. The Cockpit chairs were re-
covered in plush black italian leather straight from venice. The audio system was completly overhalled
and replaced with Mark's favorite system; an Alpine CLX-5700, circa 2267. He had his own personal
playlist uploaded so that he could travel around the planet or in space while listening to his favorite tunes.
Since extra EPS and Plasma conduits were installed, the engineering systems were moved to the rear
half of the cockpit area. The rear half of the runabout was taken up by a holo-tank (a mini holosuite) and
an enlarged area for the bunks. Starfleet's standard bunks never really got rid of all the kinks in his back,
so he had them all replaced with waterbeds. The sheets and pillowcases were black tholian silk with the
Starfleet emblem done out in silver lining in the middle. Hey, a man's got to sleep good on vacation right?
After they got all their gear stowed away in the bunks, they drifted up to the cockpit and sunk down infront
of their consoles. "Allright, let's make this short and sweet." Mark said, as he and Matt glided the
Runabout out of his garage & up and away. As they left the planet, Val, Andy and Nick went back to the
bunks. "Hey, wait a minute, we'll be docking here in 10 minutes, if I let you sleep you wont wake up for 3
days!" Mark really loved the hot rodded engines, it could get them from the planet all the way to the
Phoenix in a fraction of the time it would take a normal runnabout.
"Ah, home sweet home." Mark said as everyone stepped out of the turbolift and onto the bridge. "As soon
as we clear the dock engage on a course towards dominion space." he said to Matt as he sat down in his
chair. Make it the founders homeworld instead." "Sure thing." Matt said. "Alright, everyone ready to go
save the Federation again??" Mark said. "Hell yeah!" Drew said "Let's go kick some ass!" said Nick
"Alrighty then, let's get the hell out of here. 2/3 impulse power." "Aye sir, 2/3." "We've cleared space
dock." mark said "Engage course at warp 7." Mark commanded
Matt's hands flew over the combined CoNN/OpS console, as the Phoenix leapt away. "We're holding
steady at warp 7, we'll be in dominion space in 6 days." he reported.
"I want a secure comlink to the Excalibur now." "Send them everything we have on the empire and new
republic forces, plus everything relating to our first encounter," Mark snapped "and tell them to hurry the
hell up or their going to miss out on all the fun." "Aye sir, sending the message now." came Val's sultry
reply. Mark went to the library computer terminal and started looking over everything on this new threat,
then he got up and left the Bridge. "Deck 5." he sad as he stepped in the turbolift. He quickly proceeded
to his quarters & entered his password into his personnel cabinet. "Authorization Kimball Alpha Victor 007
." "Authorization Kimball Alpha Victor 007 accepted." the computer said as the door unlocked. Mark sifted
around & finally found the documents he was looking for. "Kimball to bridge," "Bridge, Baerwolf here."
"Nick, have everyone meet down in the briefing room , I'll join you there soon." "Aye sir." Nick said as
Kimball's commbadge chimed out "Kimball to Engineering." "Engineering, Thomas here." "Mr. Thomas,
would you and Commander Grondek please get up to the main briefing room on deck 5." "Yes Admiral,
right away." the commander said as Kimball stepped into the briefing room. He just realized that this was
the first time he'd ever been down here since he used his office & the observation lounge on the bridge
instead.
Let's sit down & get this thing going." Mark said "First off, you know how big those Imperial capital
warships are and how hard it is to destroy one. Well, I've got classified blueprints for 14 starships,
classified as dreadnoughts, battlecruisers, warships, frigates, destroyers & gunboats." "Although none of
these ships are as big as a star destroyer, what they lack in size is made up through superior fire power."
Mark said with a grin punching a few buttons and bringing up a holo-display and virtual blueprint. "Behold
the Hellbringer class dreadnought. 28 Type XII Phaser Arrays, 8 Mk XV Pulse Phaser Cannons, 6
Quantum & Photon Torpedo Launchers and a shield system with a capacity of 2,190,090 TerraJoules.
With the combined power of her deflector and navigational shields, she'll be able to fight forever." "We
should have about 400 of these puppies." Everyone in the room whistled in amazement. "Starfleet
estimates project that we'll be able to have a heavily armed mobile assault force of over 100,000 battle-
capable ships and over 3,050 assault craft & fighters." Mark said "This is just for starters." Then Mark
went through the 10 additional starships explaining their armament & tactical capability.
"This is the master plan provided to me by Admiral Hayes," he said as his hands flew over the holo-
display console "a modified diamond slot formation with 5 additional flanks." he said pointing to the
corners and the rear. "You should see a small model of each starship in formation. Making up the main
battle force in the center here will be the America, Hellbringer, Ambassador Mk II and Akira Mk II, plus us
and 1 additional Eagle class starship. The forward support flanks will be composed of omaha and
prometheus class ships here and here while the rear support flanks will be held up Galaxy and Olympus
class ships here and here." Mark said as he pointed to the holo-display "The main rear flank will be
composed of Defiant, Valiant, Clarke, Defender and Constellation class ships here, here, here, here and
here." Mark said pointing once again to the Holo Display. "Now Hayes has had his staff and Operations
working on this thing for a few days and it's still in the preliminary stages, but this is what everything will
look like once we get back to the staging area." he added. The rest of the journey was spent gathering
data and trying to estimate the size of a possible Dominion Armada.
The morning of their arrival, Mark was still sleeping, resting up after a night of "getting to know" Kendra.
"Bridge to Kimball." Mark, still out cold didn't hear the call. "Bridge to Kimball, come in." "Damnit Mark will
u get your ass out of bed before I come down there?!?!" That woke him up "I'm up, I'm up. Now what the
hell do u want??" "We've reached the founder's homeworld." "Good," Mark said grogily "assume a
standard orbit and de-cloak the ship." "The Jem'Hadar don't like being taken by surprise, neither do the
breen." "Good point, all duty personnel to yellow alert, I'll be up there in a second, Kimball out."
"Mmm....don't go Mark, stay with me." Kendra said, still half-asleep with her arm around him "I got too
babe, I'll see you in a little bit." He said as he put his jacket on & went out the door. On the bridge, Matt
was still asleep at the helm console, while the others were merely yawning. "All right people, now wake
up!!!" he shouted as he plopped down in his chair and yawned himself. "Hey yo, we've got 3 Jem'Hadar
attack ships and 1 breen battle cruiser coming in!" Drew said with a hint of caution.
Inside the Evil Empire at the other end of the universe, Grand Admiral Thrawn had succeeded in uniting
most of the Imperial Factions and was now meeting with the Emperor in his chambers aboard the
Devastator. "The progress with the artificial wormholes has been most encouraging, the best part is,
Kimball only expects one, the one we placed inside of his nebula. Our scans show that the outer region of
his space is sparsly patrolled, containing few outposts and only 3 Deep Space Stations. One of them is
quite intriguing." Thrawn said, as the Emperor stood next to a viewport and listened. "What is it that
makes this station more intriguing than the others??" The Emperor asked as Thrawn brought up a 3D
Holo Image of it in the center of the room. "It is called Deep Space Nine, controlled by elements of the
'Federation' to which Kimball belongs. It is the largest and most heavily fortififed space station in that
region." Thrawn said, tapping a console & highlighting the weapons emplacements. "Interesting, but when
you look at the population of the surrounding sectors, placing a large battle station in the region becomes
logical." The Emperor said, nodding his head. "Have you succeeded in uniting and gaining the support of
the Imperial Factions??" he asked. "I have my lord, over 5000 ships and even a larger number of fighters
will be at the mouth of the main wormhole by tomorrow night. A smaller force will be at the mouth of the
other around the same time."
Meanwhile, activity was buzzing aboard the Super Star Destroyer, now the Republic's new flagship
Liberator. The Republic assault force had heavily damaged, but not disabled, the massive behemoth.
Officers, crewman, techies and everyother able bodied person was roaming the corridors, well armed, to
get a general idea of the layout and try and find some of the "hidden" features. Every ship that fit the size
limit was docked inside the Liberator while the others ran escort. Han Solo and Lando Calrissian were
made Generals again. Han's longtime friend Dash Render showed up in the middle of all this and was
made Captain. Han and Dash got together and convinced shady smuggler Talon Karrade to join them
only after Karrade saw that the Republic was gaining an upper hand in their renewed campaigns angainst
the Empire. "Up until now the only capital warships we've had that can stand up to Star Destroyers and
even larger behemoths are the Calamari's converted Star Cruisers and outdated Rebel Frigates. Now
we've gained an upper hand, at least for the time being." Lando said, gesturing to the viewport where their
'collection' could be viewed. "Yeah, well first thing's first General, get this thing repaired and in movable
condition before the Empire finds out. If they do, we don't stand a chance in hell." Dash said. "I agree,"
Admiral Ackbar said "but we've got better chances now that the Empire has comitted most of it's forces to
oversee the Artificial Wormhole construction." he said as the others nodded in agreement.
"I've contacted some friends of mine in Imperial Security, they're sympathetic to whichever cause I
choose to support at any one time." Talon said with a grin. "They've just finished putting together a
squadron of TIE Defenders at a secret base near the Outer Rim. In exchange for updated sensor
technology and a portion of my bank account on Coruscant, they're gonna hand the squadron over to
Mara who will in turn, bring them to us." Raised eyebrows and hushed whispers filled the room. "How did
you accomplish this?" asked General Dodonna "With the exception of Solo and Calrissian, none of you
know much about my past. The Wild Karrade was the Empire's prime Test Ship. They tested every new
piece of technology aboard and in exchange I would provide them with up to date information on
starfighter development projects." He turned to look at Mara, standing at his side. "Mara here, was closly
associated with the Emperor in the era after the Clone Wars. She was the Emperor's hand." he said,
eliciting stairs and comments. "I'll send her to the Outer Rim to pick up the fighters and by the time she
gets back, you boys will have this thing up and running I trust." Everyone turned to look at Han and
Lando. "He's telling the truth," Han said "during the Katana fleet crisis, he was able to get a limited
number of the standard TIES to help us out while we searched for Niles Ferrier." Lando finished.
"We've got an upper hand over the empire, the first ever in a very long time. Let me tell you that if we
want to keep that upper hand, and make it stronger, then we're going to need all the help and resources
we can get our hands on." Wedge said, patting Karrade on the back as he came over to the group. "I've
always considered a plan such as this, but now Captain Karrade has given us the resources to do it. I can
commit as many pilots as you need Captain." Wedge said, turning to Talon. "Why thank you Colonel, I'm
sure we'll need them. What's important is what the Admiral thinks." Talon replied as all eyes turned to
Ackbar "We have carried out missions like this before, but never on a scale such as this. Your plan
Captain, will require careful and precise planning." Ackbar said, now turning to Wedge. "Colonel Antillies,
once we recieve our last shipment of fighters, your orders are to take as many of your pilots as needed
and report to Karrade's ship. Captain Rendar will provide recconaiscence and support." Ackbar said, as
smiles lit up the room. "Thank you Admiral, I'm sure you won't be dissapointed." Talon said as Wedge &
Dash looked at eachother then looked at Mara and smiled.
"Let me get this clear Admiral," the Female Shapeshifter said, rubbing her head. "A warlord from the other side
of the universe has found a way to create artificial wormholes. This Warlord, or Thrawn as you call him, intends to
bring an armada of immense size and power through his wormhole into Federation space." she said, looking at Kimball
with a quizzical expression. "Yes, Starfleet Command believes, that an outbreak of unlimited, unrestricted warfare,
Total Chaos in simpler terms, would threaten not only the Federation, but every other major power in this Galaxy."
he said with a sigh. "Do you have data that confirms this?" she asked "Yes, quite an extensive log. We've also
been able to obtain specifications of 3 Capital-Scale Warships that would make a Dominion Heavy Dreadnought look like
a knat." he said, handing her a PADD. The founder sifted through the data and her eyes widened when she read through
the specifications of the Eclipse class Super Star Destroyer. "You are right indeed Admiral, they do outsize and outman
all of our ships and all of the Federation's I'm sure." She said with a sigh, handing him the PADD "Their warships have
strengths and weaknesses many times greater than any ship I know, but there is one weakness that will do them in." He said
tapping on the PADD and bringing up a segment on Turbolasers. "They use laser-based pulse cannons as primary weaponry on most
if not all of their ships." he said, handing her the PADD. "Federation Shields could easily repel firepower of that sort, but with
ships of great size like the ones I've shown you, the Federation is definatly going to need help." She read the segment and turned to
consult with her Vorta Aide, Keevan. "Admiral, this data seems quite genuine enough and I'm certain that the Federation would be overrun
standing on it's own. I'd like to keep this so I can hand it to the Vorta for a thoughrough dissection." "That's no problem. We'll give you
5 days to look over it and assemble an armada. After that, we'll depart for Cardassian Territory and I'll make the same speach to Damar and the same
with every other leader until I assemble a complete Armada. Then, we'll head for the Mars Defense Perimeter where the other end of this wormhole
is located. There, everyone's going to be invited to a briefing session, 2 bodyguards each." He said, getting up. "It was an honor." Mark said as
he beamed back to the Phoenix. "Wassup with the Dominion, are they game or not?" Drew said in the transporter room. "They're game, I'm giving them 5
days to get a fleet together and after that we go to the Cardies and then on and on until we get back to Mars with every Dominion, Cardassian, Klingon
and Romulan Warship we can muster. By that time, Starfleet should have quite a large armada built up." Mark replied, getting into a turbolift.
The afternoon of the 5th day was one of great anticipation. Right before their eyes, the crew witnessed a military buildup
in record time. Waves after waves of Scarab shaped fighters flew escort around immense Super Dreadnoughts with a number
of smaller battleships thrown in.
"Admiral, I'm recieving a coded signal from the Dominion flagship, they're ready to get underway whenever we are." Val said, listening through
an earpice. "It's about time," Mark said, sitting down. "Helm, plot direct intercept for Cardassia Prime, maximum warp." he said with a sigh as surrounding
space lit up like a fireball as the Phoenix and Dominion Armada went to warp. Legate Damar was on his 4th glass of Kanar, looking over the recent reconstruction
reports in his new office when 3 Soldiers came in. "What's so important that you had to come in here and make me loose my place?!?" Damar said, heavily irritated
"It seems that a very large Dominion Armada has entered our space, time to orbit just over 5 hours." The Soldier said, handing Damar a data padd. "They've better
come with a peace offering.....I'm not in the mood." he muttered "How many ships in this armada?" he asked. "Legate...I'm not sure you'll want to.." The Soldier
said as Damar cut his words off. "I asked you a question, how many ships in this Armada?!?" he said angrily. "120,000." The soldier said with a gulp
"There is 1 Federation Warship among them though." The soldier said, trying to reassure Damar as he looked up. "Do we know which ship it is??" Damar said, tossing
the PADD on his desk. "We've identified it as the Phoenix Legate." The soldier said, half smiling. "Good, that means I will get a full explanation, just not from
you. Dismissed!" He barked as the soldier and 2 others left the room. "The Phoenix..." he said to himself, thinking. Back on the Phoenix, Mark fell asleep in his oversized
center seat when a beeping from the comm console woke him. "Huh?" he said looking around "Put that message on the screen." he said, realising they were being hailed.
"On screen Admiral." Val said as Damar's face enveloped the viewer. "Federation Ship Phoenix, state your purpose." Damar said, stairing right at Mark.