Starting the Search

The trip to the Delta Quadrant was going to take four months, and so there was very little to do except watch over the sensors and consoles for any sign of overheating in the propulsion systems. They settled into the slightly dull routine of shipboard life, but a couple of birthdays took place, and the wedding anniversary of Naomi and Mezoti was celebrated by the group with a quiet dinner in the Wildman quarters. The entire crew was given a slice of cheesecake and jelly and ice cream which seemed to please them. Once they had approached the point marking the crossing between the Alpha and Delta Quadrants, the Icheb had put into an uninhabited system for a variation of an old nautical tradition on Earth.

"WHO DARES TO CROSS THE LINE?" the large bird asked. Naomi was wearing a giant costume of a golden bird, and sat on a large throne on the holodeck in front of the entire crew.

"These chicks request that they journey beyond their limits" Mezoti said.

"Who are these trespassers?" Naomi asked.

"They claim to be explorers. I think them to" said Azan.

"They say that they have never heard of your kingdom" Rebi put in.

"But all know of the Great Bird of the Galaxy" Mezoti added. "When we saw them, we captured their pathetic ship and clapped them in irons to await your decision"

"Bring forth the first prisoner to be judged worthy of crossing my kingdom and their limits" Naomi said. The most senior member of the crew present was dragged forwards by Azan and Rebi – acting as Royal Guards. "Who are you, and why do you think you should cross into my kingdom?"

"I am Lisa, your Highness" the Lieutenant Commander said, adding a curtsey for good measure. "I did not know of your existence. If I had, I would not have presumed to intrude upon your domain. I am on a mission of great importance for the group of people I represent"

"Do you repent your sin? Do you regret trespassing?" Naomi asked.

"I do"

"My liege, I say we test her honesty by making her run the gauntlet. If she can complete it, then she is honest and true of word and character" Mezoti said.

"So mote it be!" Naomi ordered, then sat in her throne and watched as the officer was put through the gauntlet. It was made up of a few puzzles which had to be completed whilst getting soaked by gigantic water cannons.

"I humbly request that I enter your kingdom" the officer said as she stood in front of the throne

"Do you promise to never bear arms against me? Do you promise to not spread treason or commit the act thereof around my domain? Do you promise to defend my kingdom until death or victory?" Naomi asked.

"I do so swear it!" Naomi reached out and placed one hand on the woman's head and addressed the others waiting and watching

"LET ALL THOSE WITHIN THE SOUND OF MY VOICE TAKE HEED. THIS WOMAN HAS BEEN FOUND TRUE AND HONEST. SHE MAY ENTER MY KINGDOM WITHOUT FEAR FROM THIS DAY FORWARDS!" and over the next few hours, the rest of the crew were put through the gauntlet and the questions.

"My liege!" Azan called from the back the group. "I have discovered another wishing to enter" and he pulled Saghi behind him.

"Oh mighty Great Bird, I wish to cross the line and enter your domain so that I might aid my friends on their most worthy mission. My hesitation was at seeing how fearsome your Royal Bodyguards were. My purpose is to stand by my friends in their time of need" Saghi said.

"You willingly choose the danger?"

"I do" Saghi nodded. "They saved me from a certain death a long time ago. I could not call myself their friend if I was not willing to aid them in their most dangerous task. They, of course, have already passed over the line before they met me"

"Who was it?"

"Naomi Wildman, Mezoti, Azan, Rebi and Icheb" Saghi said.

"Then you need not go through the tests. If you are a friend of Captain Wildman, then you may enter the kingdom without fear of being attacked by my Royal Guards" Naomi said. A flash of light, and a well timed transporter beam, ensured that the crew saw Naomi vanish into thin air.

# # # # #

Six Weeks Later

"Approaching the Tintara system" the helm called out.

"Very well" Azan said. "Slow to one half impulse. Science station, began a sensor sweep of the area. Bridge to Captain"

"Naomi here"

"We have reached the Tintara system" Azan said. "We are running sensor sweeps now"

"I'm on my way up now" said Naomi.

"Sensor sweep completed, Commander" the science officer reported. "My scopes are clear. Nothing so much as a whisper" she added.

"Put us on a course that will take us out of the system after going through the middle" Azan said.

"And somebody get me a glass of Papilla juice" growled Naomi as she stepped onto the bridge. She was carrying a plate of French toast in her hands, and skilfully kept it upright as she took her seat. The Captain had been interrupted in the middle of breakfast, and she was not going to let it go cold on account of the fact it was one of her favourite breakfast foods.

"Good Morning, Naomi" Azan said. "We are on course heading out of the system on full impulse power. We should go past all planets and the local sun in approximately twenty nine hours"

"Go to long range sensors" Naomi ordered. "Scan for traces of a Starfleet type"

"Starfleet?" the science officer was surprised.

"Knew there was something…" Naomi swallowed some more of her breakfast before speaking. "Starfleet Command believes that long range probes have detected Starfleet signatures… active ones. Nobody has any ideas why this is, but I am one of the few to have extensive knowledge of the area. Our orders are to find as much technology as possible and bring it home. Anything too big to fit in our cargo bay is to be cut into small pieces and fired into the nearest sun. Set course foe the D'kora system – Warp 6"

"Ready, Captain" the helm replied.

"I want continuous scans of the regions ahead. Despite the data in Voyager's computers, and the navigational data of the Borg computers, this is still an unknown region of space. If we didn't keep an eye out for dangers, we could run into a plasma storm, comet or even Santa Claus without knowing. I don't know about you, but I'd rather not go home as one of the group that killed Christmas…" the bridge crew laughed at the joke. "Helm, engage"

"Aye, captain" and Icheb jumped to warp.

"Commander Wildman will conduct a briefing at 10:30 hours. I want all department heads present there" Naomi said.

#

"D'kora" Mezoti said, "Is a system made up of five planets. The first two are uninhabited as of the latest information we have. The next one out from the sun is a gas giant of remarkable resemblance to Jupiter. The outer two are in what is known as the habitable zone" the display screen in the briefing room changed to show the outer two planets more closely. "D'kora IV supports a Pre-Warp society, and therefore the Prime Directive is in operation with regards to what we do there. D'kora V is capable of supporting life, but it does not, however, do so. There are four major continents with a number of small to large islands dotted around the oceans. It is twice as big as Earth, but has the same gravity as most other Class M planets" Mezoti pressed a button and the screen changed to show just the fifth planet. First it did a vague white outline, then gradually filled in the planet until it showed a wire frame of the planet and the landmasses over the top of a cloudy planet. It looked like Earth, but with the reddish atmosphere of Vulcan

"Do the readings indicate that planet?" asked the head of the security department.

"We are uncertain" Mezoti said. "We shall have to closer and conduct more scans. It does seem the most likely option though from the five planets. However, the question is not who, or what, is using Starfleet equipment, but how it got this far out of Federation space" she said.

"Could it be another lifeform like the Caretaker?" asked the Chief Medical Officer.

"Perhaps, but very unlikely" Naomi Answered. "I have been over the logs and reports from both Captain Janeway and Commander Tuvok. Both state that the Caretaker was adamant that there was only one other like it in the Delta Quadrant. The later encounter with Saspella also confirms that she was the only one of its kind there. Whatever they are could have sent another to find out why they lost contact, but somehow I do not think that is very likely"

"I concur" Mezoti said. "Since the death of the Caretaker, there have been no other ships which have gone missing in such a manner"

"And I do not think that Section 31's remains made it this far out" Azan said.

"I was wondering who was going to say that" said Naomi shaking her head. "The people on D'kora IV have a number of optical telescopes in orbit of their planet. I would assume they have some type of spacecraft to patrol the system. We shall therefore drop out of warp just before going into the system and engage the cloaking device. Once we have set up an orbit on the side of the planet that is facing away from D'kora IV, we shall drop the cloak and begin launching survey shuttles. They will be too small to be seen with Pre-Warp scanners, and we can cloak the Icheb long before they could see us"

"Whilst we are here, I would like to run the standard planetary sweeps. We would have more up to date information about the geological makeup of D'kora V. We would also be able to detect any traces of Warp capable starships with Starfleet signatures. If somebody is using captured vessels, we can run their warp core traces through the database" Mezoti looked around at the room. "Any questions?"

"Very well then" said Naomi when nobody asked anything. "We'll commence scanning from a lightyear out, dismiss. Commander Wildman, you will remain please" and Mezoti was mildly surprised.

"Is there something you want?" she asked.

"Computer, lock the door and disable communications to this room" Naomi took off her comm badge and put it on the briefing room table. "Spill it" she told her wife.

"Spill what?"

"Cut it out, Mez" Naomi said. "I can tell when you are upset or nervous about something"

"Have you seen the most sensible course that the computer suggests?" Mezoti was toyed with the PADD in her hands.

"Of course I have" Naomi said.

"Well the course might have been a little… incomplete" Mezoti looked down at her feet.

"What do you mean?" Naomi frowned as she stood and went over to her wife.

"Certain parts of our course have us enter Norcadian space" and everything fell into place for Naomi.

"You think that your people will try to take you back?" she asked quietly.

"I don't want to lose you" said Mezoti in a whisper.

"They will never get their hands on you" Naomi held her tightly. "And, if you remember, we have a score to settle after all. If we find those people that killed my mom, Neelix, Seven, Captain Janeway and everyone else, I'll use them as target practice"

# # # # #

"Approaching D'kora V, Commander"

"Very well" Rebi said. "Rebi to Naomi"

"Naomi here"

"We are approaching the planet now. I thought you should be aware"

"Thanks, Rebi. Standard approach I should think. Keep the cloak up, and watch out for ships from D'kora IV. We'll be joining you in half an hour"

"Understood" Rebi said. "Bridge out" and he closed the channel and look to the helm. "Slow to three quarters impulse power, and adjust our position to the planet so we are in an optimal scanning orbit" he ordered.

"Slowing to impulse"

"Science officer, give me a pre approach scan" Rebi glanced over.

"Scanning… There are no ships close to D'kora V. I am reading some small vessels around D'kora IV though. They seem to be shuttles and cargo craft of some kind"

"Understood" Rebi said. "Maintain our approach" and the Icheb flew through space – invisible to the naked eye. They slipped into orbit and began scanning the surface for anything that would give them a clue as to who or what was using Starfleet equipment.

# # # # #

After four days they had exhausted the Science department with all of the tests. When Naomi was satisfied that the planet was safe to land on, she granted the crew a day's shore leave to stretch their legs and get some fresh air. She and the rest of her friends took a shuttle and hovered low over the waters of a large on the northern of the continents. They opened the rear ramp and used it as both a diving platform or to sit on the edge and go fishing from the shuttle. There had been no fish until a few hours before when Azan had replicated a fish, taken it to sickbay and ordered the young nurse on duty to make it live. The fact that the date was April 1st had nothing to do with the matter. When they had had enough, they landed in a clearing and lay by the lakeside and took in the sun – allowing the warmth to caress their skin slightly.

"Icheb to Captain Wildman"

"If this isn't God, then I'm hanging up…" muttered Naomi.

"Captain, we've got a slight problem on our hands here" a nervous Ensign said.

"What is it?" the woman brought herself to a more alert state.

"One of the ships from D'kora IV has blown its engines and lost main power. They are going to drift into the sun in about five hours. They have sent out a distress call, but their people have nothing that will get to them in time" the young man was doing what all Ensigns were taught at Starfleet Academy – pass the buck on higher up.

"Standby to beam us and the shuttle to Shuttle Bay 2" Naomi said. "Captain out" and roused the others from their drowsyness.

"Whurzisit?" asked Mezoti.

"One of those little science ships from D'kora IV has blown its engines and is drifting into the sun" Naomi said. "They have nothing else in range" she added.

"Uggggg" Mezoti said. She could snap awake when needed, but dozing off in a warm sun had always got her. Rebi applied 10cc's of Coffee directly to her system, and she was soon as full of energy as a supernova. She was irritated when Azan went round taking stuff off the ground whilst whistling what sounded very much like 'Pack up your troubles in your old kitbag', and made a note to go back in time and kill the person who came up with that song.

#

"At their current rate of increasing speed, they will have only twelve minutes left" said the science officer.

"Are we going to let them die?" asked the Ops officer.

"Saving them would constitute a violation of the Prime Directive" Azan reminded him.

"But then again" his twin added, "Starfleet vessels are sworn to respond to a distress call – no matter who gives the call"

"Caught between a rock and a hard place" said Mezoti quietly. The viewscreen on the bridge showed the small and fragile looking science vessel hurtling towards the fiery sun.

"Damned if we do, and damned if we don't" Naomi weighed the decision in her mind. "Captain to Sickbay"

"Sickbay"

"Evacuate the place except for your most trusted staff. We're taking on some… guests of a secret nature. Wildman out" Naomi looked around. "Clear the bridge" she ordered. "Computer, discontinue recording of all systems until further notice"

'Acknowledged' it replied.

"Tractor beam is ready at your command" Mezoti said from the Engineering station.

"Grab them, Mez" Naomi said. "You two" she referred to the twins, "See what you can do about planting some false information into their computers to say that a quick eruption from the surface caused enough of a shock wave to push them back a little" and they set to work. Although they could not reveal their existence to people that did not have Warp Drive, Naomi could not just sit back and watch people die. She intended to make a note of it in the ship's official log about the incident, and the details of what she had done would also go in the entry.

#

"How are they?" Naomi asked as she entered Sickbay. The four person crew looked very much human, and wore what appeared to be jumpsuits of some kind that looked like uniforms.

"I have treated their radiation poisoning in the standard way" the Doctor said. "I have also fused together a number of broken bones and stopped some internal bleeding in their Captain" he added.

"And you are sure that the rescuers will not know you have treated them?" Naomi asked him.

"They will notice a few abnormalities when they examine the crew, but I have done everything so that they will assume anything is down to radiation"

"A pity that the Doctor isn't here" Naomi said. "No offence to you, of course, but the Doctor would have loved to get his hands on a new species" and the Icheb's CMO nodded in agreement. Voyager's Doctor had more experiences of his own then many other medical staff had in their entire careers.

"I am going to run another bloodwork" he said. "It should be alright to put them back in the ship now, but I just want to be sure…"

"Well the rescue ships will be in what passes for their scanners range in about half an hour" Naomi told the Doctor. "They should be put aboard before that"

#

"Ship's Log, Supplimental. The crew of the science vessel have been returned to their ship after being treated for severe radiation poisoning as well as other injuries. In order to minimise the breaking of the Prime Directive, all four of them were kept under sedation during treatment. It was my decision alone as Captain to break the regulation concerning contact with Pre-Warp societies, however I remind those that listen to this recording of the Starfleet regulation that demands we respond to a distress call – no matter who gives it. I say again for the record that I alone took the decision to break the Prime Directive, and ordered my crew to do so. We are continuing the search in the systems laid out for us by Starfleet Command. All other aspects are well. I am pleased to report that ship and crew have functioned well"

#

"So what have we found?" asked Naomi the following day.

"Sensors revealed the presence of Starfleet equipment, but it has been gone for a number of years" Mezoti said. "I suspect that the ship landing here might have been using this planet as a stop over"

"Sensors did detect a faint warp trail leading to the system that's next on our list" the science officer said.

"Very well…" Naomi looked again at the data. "We'll leave the system in one hour. Have all teams finish collecting scientific data as quickly as possible. Dismiss" and the assembled crew left the briefing room. Only her friends remained in the room as Naomi had mentioned she wanted to speak to them about something after the meeting.

"I have applied a couple of tests that Icheb came up with" Mezoti said.

"And?"

"You are correct in your guesses" her wife said.

"I could leave if this is supposed to be secret…" Saghi offered.

"No… you have a right to know this information" Naomi sighed. "During some of the soil sampling, the computer noticed a couple of energy markers from what seemed to be a transporter. I thought I knew what the patterns were, but I asked Mez to go over them herself and double check my results. We now know who is using Starfleet equipment and maybe even ships" and the twins and Saghi looked at her.

"Who?" asked the Bajoran.

"The most mortal enemy that has ever existed" Naomi said. "The Borg" and the others paled at the mere mention of the name.

"After all of this time…?" Azan said in a near whisper.

"They have not been seen for over twenty years" Rebi said.

"The last Federation starship to encounter the Borg was us before we came back to the Alpha Quadrant" Naomi said. "They may have been taking ships that they captured at Wolf 359, repairing them and then bringing them back to the Federation as Trojan Horses. We'd all go happy as Larry with the shields down, and we're all servicing the Collective the next moment"

"Is there anything that we can do?" asked Saghi. Unlike the others, she was not an experienced Starship crew and had not been in a battle – minus the one that had nearly killed her.

"I have no idea" Naomi admitted. "Who knows what they have assimilated over the last twenty odd years. On the plus side though, we have got the most modern ship in Starfleet. That should help us when we finally meet them, but first we are going to make a courtesy call to Norcadia. There is a little debt we have to settle with them first…" and Saghi saw the expressions of Azan, Rebi and Mezoti harden into stone.

"We do indeed…" Azan said.

"For Voyager's crew" Rebi added his piece.

"Captain to bridge" Naomi opened the channel she had been keeping on standby.

"Bridge. Lieutenant Commander Kiska here"

"We're going after a new target" Naomi said. "Access Delta Quadrant navigational charts, plot a course to Norcadia Prime and proceed at Warp 9.5"

"Aye, Captain" Kiska's voice was of somebody who was ordered to do sudden course changes all of the time.

"Once you have done that, send a subspace message to Norcadia Prime" Mezoti stirred from her thoughts.

"What shall I say to them?" Now the only other Bajoran on the Icheb was curious to say the least.

"Once they are within range of the long range sensors, drop the cloak and send the following message: 'Mezoti is back… start running'"