Ron the True Fan: Do I LOOK like Gene Roddenberry, or that I work for Paramount or CBS?! Tell the bloodsucking lawyers to piss off!

Takeshi Yamato: We also don't own Mass Effect, or anything else that might make a cameo in this story… what can I say, I love importing things from other franchises and tweaking them to fit the destination! It still belongs to whomever created it, though.

117Jorn: We just own our characters and their shit. HIT IT! :D


USS Raging Tempest - high above Noveria


The two ships entered orbit, one with the intent to enter the atmosphere, the other not.

After dealing with a few missions for the Alliance and other minor assaults, they'd gotten a lead that Matriarch Benezia was at Noveria taking care of something.

And their day was only going to get worse. "Captain, we're receiving a tight-band transmission from the Ra-cailum, labelled... 'answer or there will be hell to pay'," Rina reported.

"That's a new one."

"I think he's pissed off to the point that if we don't answer, he'll do something he's going to regret."

"Right," Takeshi replied. "Put it through."

The face of the Ra-Cailum's captain appeared on the screen. To say he was pissed was an understatement, but the fact he was holding a model of an Excelsior-Class ship in his hands was curious, to say the least.

"I take it you discovered something rather bad," Takeshi said, not really knowing how much of an understatement that was.

"Takeshi, do you know what this is?" Ron asked. "The answer is a model of the Enterprise-B. Guess what I just found out."

"The actual Enterprise-B somehow made it to this universe?" Takeshi replied.

"Yes." Takeshi's technical superior (by virtue of more heavily armed starship) placed the model gingerly on the deck. "And it was gutted, stripped, reverse engineered and SCRAPPED by a humano-supremacist terrorist group called Cerberus. I assume you know what I'm about to do."

Takeshi nodded. "I do, and I almost wish I was going with - desecrating an Enterprise is SERIOUSLY bad juju."

It was an unspoken rule: don't fuck with a Federation starship; leave it alone for Starfleet. The second part of the rule was more simple: touch a ship named Enterprise and you will WISH for death at the end. And it was more personal for the Ra-Cailum's crew, as they could have served on the Enterprise, had it not been for...their personalities. "I'm going to send the defectors who informed me of this to the Citadel," Ron said. "Their ships use reverse engineered Federation technology. I'll supply them with an engineering detail to upgrade the ships and bring them up to our spec. After that, they're going to help me find the Illusive Man and PUT HIS ASS IN THE GROUND."

"Gotcha," Takeshi replied. "We're currently helping Shepard track down Matriarch Benezia on an Ice Ball named Noveria, but we'll head back to the Citadel and meet up as soon as that's done."

"We'll trade notes later. Ra-Cailum out."

The image of Novaria returned to the screen.

"They took apart the Enterprise-B?" Rina asked. "Do those people have a DEATH WISH?"

"I'd say more like they had no idea just who owned the ship," Takeshi replied, though he was scowling. "Regardless, they made the worst mistake possible when they did that."

Unknowingly or not, they had just declared war on the Federation. And while they usually sought out peaceful solutions to conflicts, the Federation was NOT a pushover. The Dominion and Klingons knew this first hand. Now Cerberus was about to get the lesson three-hold, because they made a bigger mistake: they made it personal.


Former Cerberus warship Hercules


To say Lucy had discovered a gold mine of information was a massive understatement. She was reading up on everything at once, including something on a race called the Borg. Sounded mildly Swedish, but that was irrelevant. The crew was going to have to know. She had already sent the data to Jaden, who was the first to read through its contents.

"These Borg… things, look to be the biggest threat we'll need to deal with," he said, his eyes narrowed as he read up on them. "Assimilating entire races… who would design something as insane as this? Granted, their technology could be beneficial… but at such costs…"

"So far, all attempts to really reverse-engineer Borg tech haven't gone well for the Federation, according to these files." Lucy said, her holographic form floating over the holotank. "It seems the Romulans have had some success with their ships though, but only limited success."

"If we ever meet these Romulans, we should be careful," Jaden said. "I won't risk the lives of our crews just to get a few samples of Borg tech, not until we find a way to truly counter their assimilating effects, which probably won't be for a loooong time." He looked through another file, this one focusing more on Starfleet. "Their ships appear to be fairly powerful… but it seems they are lacking when it comes to ground forces. Their Starfleet security forces are very good fighters if their actions during the Dominion War means anything… but they aren't fully dedicated soldiers like N7 Marines are."

"According to the files, they used to have a military, the Military Assault Command Operations, or MACO." Lucy said, "But around the 23rd Century after the Xindi War, the Federation phased MACO out of primary starship service as they set their sights on peaceful exploration, leaving protection of their ships to Starfleet Security while MACO became more of a Special Forces group than anything. MACO returned to service during the Earth-Romulan War in 2154-2161, and during the beginning of the Klingon Cold War in the 2240's but they'd always would be pushed to lower services once the conflicts were resolved. That being said, these guys are about as military as the old US Coast Guard."

"The US Coast Guard had ships with .50 caliber machine guns and a 25mm cannon, and all of their personnel were trained in using weapons of all kinds." Jaden said, "However, the Coast Guard was for Maritime law enforcement, not full-fledged Offensive and Defensive military operations. They were like the Naval SWAT teams."

"Starfleet, meanwhile, is everything at once: police force, exploration service, full-on military force if pushed too far." Lucy said. "Cerberus made a BIG fucking mistake in pissing that guy off, because even if this guy isn't a real 'hard-core' military guy, he's got the right ship for the job."

"Right ship, yes. But they seem to neglect their ground forces a bit," Jaden said, "They're expected to go against enemy positions, usually wearing nothing more than simple bright red uniforms which shout out 'shoot me!' would it kill them to have more Camo-based uniforms at least? The closest they ever came was those black 2373-era uniforms."

"Maybe they have something we just haven't seen yet," she said. "Speaking of which, something you might want to see." An image appeared on the screen of a smaller ship, more compact than the Ra-Cailum, and barely a quarter the size. "That's the ship he contacted a while back: the Raging Tempest. She's at Noveria at the moment." A tone interrupted her train of thought. "Looks like we're getting a call from the man himself."

"Patch him through," Jaden said as he sat up.

Ron's image appeared on the screen. "Commander, I'm going to need your services in our first operation. We're going to engage a Cerberus base, and I need someone who knows what's down there. I have faith in my people's capabilities, but the condom rule applies."

"Well, it's a way to see what your people can do off your fancy ship," Jaden said as he stood up. "I'll be there."

"I'll see you in four hours. Ra-Cailum out."

The screen went blank and Jaden turned to face Lucy. "Get the Tarawa ready to head out with us, Lucy," he said with a small smirk. "Time for Shock and Awe."


Noveria


Linda and a small team from the Raging Tempest had beamed over to the Normandy before it landed on Noveria. They'd had to deal with a few issues upon landing, but they'd been smoothed out easily enough.

That being said, they were having problems getting to the Peak 15 labs, which were run by ExoGeni, a corporation partly funded by Saren. Bureaucratic bullshit, as Ron would put it. So, to keep up appearances, Linda and her party were heading back up to the Tempest, at which point they would beam into the lab complex. After all, they still didn't have any idea they had transporter technology.

Meanwhile, Shepard and her team found another lead - someone was needing data in some sealed offices in the main complex, and was willing to trade a pass to the facility garage for it.

"Starting to wish we had the Ra-Cailum's sensor array," Kim reported.

"Problems?" Linda asked.

"A shitton of bioelectric interference," Kim replied. "Something's down there and it's screwing with the sensors. I can make you a general map of the place, but as for what's down there, we're blind as a Tiberian bat."

"Not much we can do about that," Takeshi said. "Can you at least get a coordinate fix to beam Linda's team to, or are they going to need to take the Cyclone down?"

"It's going to have to be the former, Captain," Shepard replied from nearby. "The Noveria authorities are monitoring us like a Volus watches his credit account. You launch a shuttle, it's going to raise ten kinds of hell, and unfortunately, you're not the one who has to deal with it."

"Gotcha," Takeshi replied. "Kim, do what you can to beam them to the proper point, even with the interference in the way. Good luck, Linda."

"Said that I don't know what's in there, not that I can't beam them in, sir," Kim reported. "Get out of sight and stand by."

"You heard the lady," Linda told her team. "The less we show off, the better." They made their way back to the Normandy, and as soon as the airlock doors were shut, the team was beamed out.


Peak 15


Linda and her team beamed down… into a cluster of Geth platforms.

"Oh, Frak!" Linda yelled as they took to cover, the Geth opening fire on them.

The mass effect weapons barely caused damage to their shields, but it was incentive enough to take cover. "Takeshi, we have Geth down here!" Linda yelled. "Tell Shepard to HURRY HER ASS UP!" The team could handle the Geth, but as a German tanker once said, a Tiger is worth 10 Shermans, but they always had eleven.

"On it!" Takeshi replied. "Do what you can in the meantime!"

"Understood!" The Geth began to swarm them, but switching from one firing mode to the next kept the synthetics at bay. "Fall back! We're in open ground: force them to a bottleneck!"

"Yes, Ma'am!" the other team members nodded as they began falling back.


USS Ra-Cailum - near Binthu


Jaden's shuttle headed directly for the Ra-Cailum's main shuttlebay, located behind the main bridge and four decks down. Inside the bay, as Jaden began to note, were small craft of all kinds, and what appeared to be fighters. Hard to mistake a sort of aggressive planform a like that with anything else.

The second the shuttle landed and the hatch opened, two security officers, only armed with what appeared to be smaller versions of the phaser rifles, were waiting for him. "Commander, the Captain's waiting for you on the bridge," they said.

Jaden allowed the two men to escort him to the turbolift, and they arrived at the bridge only a moment later.

Upon stepping out, the lights and controls started flickering. "What the hell?"

"That's only been happening for roughly half an hour. Sonja!"

"It's a problem in the computer core. Which is impossible, because…"

"Oh, don't tell me," someone else remarked. "That idiot Vasir's at it again?"

"This time, the bitch dialed it up to eleven: she's in the computer core, and judging by the things going on and offline-" The lights went out. "She's SHOOTING the isolinear control chips!"

"Corpsa, take delta team and deal with her. Sonja, I want a team in the core fixing whatever she's done NOW!"

"Soon as the bitch is in the brig, I'll have the team in there."


Tela shot out another cluster of isolinear chips. She hoped that if she disabled enough of the control surfaces, she'd be able to access the more secure data.

"Miss Vasir, put the weapon down NOW." The Asari turned to face a squad of fully armored men, all holding type-3 mod 2 phaser rifles, more commonly known as compression rifles."You're outgunned, bitch. Put it down."

Her body glowed blue as she called forth her biotics, and slammed one of the men into the wall.

It didn't end so well as it began, as the rest of the team coordinated their phaser fire to hit the Asari Spectre, sending her to the deck with nay but a whimper. "Get her the fuck out of here," the leader began. "Carmine, are you still alive?"

"I-I'm ok, sir," Carmine replied.

"Fenix to bridge: bitch is secure."

"Understood," Ron replied. "Sensors, weapons and most of the security systems are down, so get out on patrol."

"Roger that," Fenix replied as the team headed out.

"Fucking walking duty?"

"Shut up, Baird."


"How long until the security systems are back online?"

"Hopefully in less than an hour, seeing as this is deep in enemy territory. I-" One of the consoles began beeping out a warning. "Sir, the secondary shuttlebay door is opening."

"Close it."

"I can't: automatic controls are offline, thanks to the bitch."

"Gamma team, suit up and find out what the fuck is going on down there!"

"Understood, Captain!" Gamma's leader replied. "We'll be there shortly!"

Ron walked toward the engineering console and practically kicked it, and while Sonja was shocked at the action, it worked, as the monitor activated. "Well, that worked. Wait… that thing looks familiar."

"Because we've shot one down before: it's a Geth dropship. Bastards must've been tracking us."

"Great… what next?"


USS Ra-Cailum secondary shuttlebay


Over 40 Geth troopers exited the craft, led by two primes and a man that was well despised by the crew at this point: Saren Arterius. The Ra-Cailum was a magnificent vessel: able to stand up to Sovereign's main gun, which was the most powerful weapon in the known universe.

Soon after disembarking, he ran into another Starfleet Security team, which began opening fire.

"Kill them quickly: the crew is of no importance!" One of the rocket troopers took aim, but lost its head, quite literally, when a bolt of energy hit it. "You, come with me!" five Geth followed Saren to what looked to be an access tube while the security team was distracted by the rest of the Geth.


"Sir, I've got limited internal sensors. Saren's with the Geth, and he just entered a Jefferies tube."

Ron glanced at Corpsa. "Where's he heading?" he asked.

"Judging by the route, Deck 20, section 15F."

"He's heading for the secondary armory. Bridge to Gamma Team: deck 20, section 15F!"

"On it!"

"Activate emergency force fields: herd them towards this area and prepare to flood the entire area with anestizine gas."

"That won't work on the Geth."

"We're not after the Geth. Remodulate the force fields to a frequency of 26.7 gigahertz."

"Planning on letting the phaser fire get through?"

"No risk to my crew. Do it."


Saren continued his advance, though he still ended up needing to fight the occasional patrol.

"We just need to get to the bri-" A field of energy erupted in his path, blocking his escape. "Damn it!" Hissing was heard, and Saren was forced to put on a mask to prevent whatever it was from entering his system.

As they tried to make a way out, one of the Geth slammed a fist into and through a nearby control panel.

It didn't end well for the Geth: it was instantly fried, but it interrupted the circuit and took out the force field. "Move!" The Turian began running, trying to find a way off the Ra-Cailum before finding something similar to an escape shuttle hatch. The security team followed the Geth, picking them off one by one until none but Saren was left, who jumped into the open hatch and shut it.

The escape pod shot away from the ship, and another Geth ship quickly went to retrieve it.


"Security team to bridge: bastard ejected in an escape pod."

"Do we have weapons?"

"Targeting sensors are offline, sir. I'm going to have to do it manually." Ron shook his head. "Fire."

As the first shot vaporized the Geth ship heading towards the pod, Saren quickly opened the hatch on the pod again, jumping out just before the Pod was destroyed. At the same time, the cuttlefish ship dropped out of FTL near his location.

On the bridge, Jaden narrowed his eyes. "I know that ship." He said, "Cerberus has files on the idiots who found it, and they gave it a name."

"I'm curious as to what they call it," Ron remarked. The word was ironic.

"Sovereign."

"Oh, that's fucking hilarious." Ron said with a small smirk, "Sovereign, fighting a Sovereign! Round two, motherfucker! Battle stations!"

Sovereign quickly retrieved Saren, before turning to face the Ra-Cailum.

And if the ship could have expressions, they could have sworn that the ship not only remembered them, but it was PISSED. It opened fire on the Starfleet ship, the beam impacting the shields, which were run on a separate computer system. "Fire phasers!" Gone were the misfits and the rejects, and in their place, a crew ready to do their jobs as the Ra-Cailum's phasers fired on the ship, causing more scarring and damaging a tendril by cutting it in half. It fired again, striking the port nacelle, but stopped by the shields. "Shields at 91%! Sir, permission to use photon torpedoes!" "Negative! I want Saren alive!" The dance began as the Ra-Cailum circled Sovereign, and the larger ship attempting to hit the Sovereign-Class starship with its' beam weapon. "Sir, we're being hailed." "Put it through."

"PITIFUL CREATURES OF BLOOD AND FLESH," came an ominous-sounding voice over the speakers. "STRUGGLE ALL YOU LIKE, BUT THE CYCLE CANNOT BE BROKEN."

"...You're not Saren," Ron said as his experience with the Borg kicked in. "You're the fucking ship. You're Sovereign. A goddamn Reaper!"

"REAPER?" Sovereign asked. "A TERM THE PROTHEANS USED TO GIVE VOICE TO THEIR EXTINCTION. WHAT YOU CALL US IS IRRELEVANT. WE SIMPLY ARE."

"What you are, you big motherfucker, is DEAD! Corpsa! KILL HIM!"

"With pleasure," the Andorian said as she pressed several keys, firing the Ra-Cailum's dorsal phasers at the Reaper with a speed unthought of, carving into Sovereign's titanium skin as if a knife through butter.

"YOUR ATTEMPTS WILL FAIL. AND I WILL TAKE EVERYTHING FROM YOU. YOUR REBIRTH IS INEVITABLE," the Reaper, Sovereign, said as it spun around and ran as fast as it could from the clearly superior Sovereign-Class starship.

"Well, that was interesting," a random crewman remarked.

"Don't just stand there: FOLLOW HIM!" Ron yelled. "Course and speed?!"

"Bearing 258 mark 015: he's heading for the mass relay at warp 6!"

"Overtake him: go to warp 8!" The Ra-Cailum jumped to warp with a flash of Cherenkov radiation.


Inside Sovereign


Saren made his way through the corridors of the Reaper, glad that Sovereign had chosen to come and rescue him.

"YOU NEARLY FAILED, SAREN." The voice of the Reaper clearly indicated its' displeasure.

"They were better armed and equipped!" Saren yelled. "Even you had a hard time dealing with that ship!"

"THAT IS NO EXCUSE. WE MUST HAVE THAT SHIP." The Reaper rocked as something made contact with the hull.

"What?!"

"THE RA-CAILUMIS FIRING AT US WITHIN FTL. AND HITTING." Sovereign's voice showed a fair hint of shock and disbelief. "UNEXPECTED."

Sovereign's weapon couldn't shoot back at them. Unless the Reaper did something, they were doomed.


USS Ra-Cailum


"The data from the Enterprise-B didn't have anything on you guys being able to do THIS." Jaden said.

The targeting sensors were back online, and Corpsa was slowly taking the Reaper out. "It's dropping out of FTL."

"Stay with him!"

Both ships dropped out, with the Ra-Cailum's vengeful phasers hitting the Reaper in the back as they approached the mass relay.

"Captain, the mass relay is building up energy."

"Wait, what?"

Indeed, the glow of the Mass Relay's core was building up, and the speed of the rings was increasing. They had no idea why it was doing this, though.

"Sir, I'm detecting a tight-beam transmission from Sovereign."

"Motherfucker can control the relay," Ron realized. "The Protheans didn't built the damn things: the quantum dating on them is too old. The fucking Reapers built them! DESTROY THAT REAPER!"

The rate of fire increased, as did the damage to Sovereign, but the Reaper made contact with the relay, and was shot off seconds later.

"DAMN IT! Contact the Raging Tempest!"


USS Raging Tempest


Takeshi kept an eye open for any unknowns, even as he got the occasional status update from the ground teams.

Shepard had finally gotten that garage pass, getting access to a Mako which she used to drive her team to Peak 15. They'd rendezvoused with Linda's team, and were now clearing out the Geth within the facility.

"Captain, receiving another hail from the Ra-Cailum on the QEC," Rina reported.

"Put him through," Takeshi replied, before Ron's image appeared. "What revelation do you have for us this time, Ron?"

"That ship we ran into at Eden Prime, the one that looks like a reaper cuttlefish. Remember it?"

"Yeah, I remember it," Takeshi replied. "You ran into it again?"

"We did, after Saren tried to board us. It's got a name - you're going to laugh at this - Sovereign. It's a sentient starship: a GODDAMN REAPER."

Takeshi did laugh a bit at the name, before his eyes widened at the last bit. "So the Reapers are more than just machines… they're actual sentient starships," he said.

"The fucking thing supercharged a relay to escape us. They built the damn things: Sovereign's age was only slightly less than the relay at the Citadel. We're en route back to the Citadel. Status on the Noveria mission?"

"We've got a location for Benezia," Takeshi replied. "A research facility on a place they call 'Peak 15'. The ground teams are checking it out now."

"Keep us apprised. Ra-Cailum out."

The transmission ended, and the crew began voicing their thoughts. "Sir, we need reinforcements. We can't take on a whole fleet, technologically inferior or not, forever."

"Agreed," Takeshi replied. "We need reinforcements from home, ASAP. Only thing is, we have no idea how to go about that."


Jenolan Dyson Sphere


A small task force was being assembled, made up of no less than seven Federation starships, including Voyager. The ships in question included the Monarch-Class USS Mary, the Nebula-Class USS Kyushu, Devron-Class USS Crusher, the Armitage-Class USS Escalvantine, the Kumari-Class Tolkalon and finally the USS Avenger, prototype of her class.

"Admiral, the fleet is assembled," Van'Zyl reported. "All we need to do is head for the Northwest Passage."

"Agreed," Tuvok replied. "Send the order-"

"Admiral, there's another ship entering formation!" the Science Officer reported.

"Identification?" Tuvok asked.

"Checking now… sir, it's the Enterprise!"

Indeed, the massive Odyssey-Class starship, classified quite rightly as a super-dreadnought by some, and the seventh Federation starship to bear the name, entered formation with the fleet.

"She's hailing us, Admiral."

"On screen."

The image of the Enterprise's Captain, Va'Kel Shon, appeared on the viewscreen. "Admiral Tuvok, good to see you again," he said.

"Captain Shon. Might I ask what it is you are doing here?"

"Simple, Admiral. The Ra-Cailum and her crew saved mine after that battle at Facility 4028, and Captain Pinkerton's done a great deal to help me in the past. The Raging Tempest, as well: Captain Yamato saved the Belfast twice during the war. I'm paying back a debt. Permission to join the fleet, sir?"

"Permission Granted, Captain," Tuvok replied. "Let us go find and render assistance to our comrades."

"We just got another message, sir," the Comm Officer reported. "There's another ship that'll be meeting us at the Northwest Passage. Name is USS ArtemisiaPhantom-Class, according to the data packet."

"Prepare to move out." The fleet, led by Voyager, left the Dyson sphere, filled to the brim with supplies to repair both ships once they regrouped.

"Coordinates set, Admiral."

"Engage." Voyager's warp nacelles pivoted into their 'in warp' position before they flashed, followed by the rest of the fleet jumping to warp, on a date with destiny.


Citadel - Officer of the Asari Councilor


Tevos glared at the rotating ornothopic image of the Ra-Cailum on her monitor. The damn thing was barely a fifth the size of the Destiny Ascension! Yet it FUCKING went through the shields like they weren't even there!

"You seem to have a problem, Councilor."

Tevos' eyes widened as she looked about the room. "Who's there?!" she practically shouted.

"Oh, me? I'm not your enemy, Councilor." Tevos stood up, circling madly before being stopped and made to face a young human girl, wearing the same uniform as Pinkerton, only in black. "I can be your friend."

"You're one of their people," Tevos realized.

"'Their people'. How amusing, Councilor. My NAME, Councilor, is Flay Allster. I am a member of Starfleet Intelligence. More specifically, a branch called… Section 31."

"…Section 31?" Tevos asked.

"We are a secret to all. Captain Pinkerton didn't even know I was on his ship when I came here." She sat on top of the Councilor's desk. "We answer only to the President of the Federation Council. We do what we must."

"Because you can," Tevos replied.

"Very astute of you, Councilor," Flay replied.

"C-Sec will be wanting to talk to you."

"They don't even know I'm here. I hacked into your security. It's on a loop: they think you're busy working and with your new hobby of glaring at the Ra-cailum's image." She looked at the image. "Nice detail. Not as good as our scans of the DA, but good enough."

"Your scans?"

"Amenothep, energize."

Both of them disappeared in a sparkling column of light.

When they reappeared, they were in a room with consoles and panelling that vaguely reminded her of the Ra-Cailum. "Welcome to Section 31's personal flagship in your universe. The Federation starship Amenothep, Guardian-class."

"A third ship in our universe?" Tevos asked. "Why…?"

"We, or rather the Amenothep, were tailing the Ra-Cailum and Raging Tempest. You see, to S31, those two ships and their captains are VERY important. They can do what few others do and they do it perfectly. And as the highest ranking S31 agent here, I'm technically in command. Please follow me."

Tevos, rather speechless, simply followed Flay down the hallways of the massive ship.

"If you thought the Ra-Cailum was bad, this ship is worse. The Guardian-class was designed to supplement the Sovereign and replace the older Ambassador and Galaxy-classes as a main-line cruiser. Of course, those two classes just. Won't. Die." They entered a turbolift, and Flay pressed a button to send them to the bridge.

"How come we never detected you?" Tevos asked. "If this ship is built to supplement ships like the Ra-Cailum, it has to be large."

Flay chuckled as she disappeared in front of Tevos' eyes. The Asari got the idea. The Amenhotep had a fucking cloaking device! "We knew the Raging Tempest had one," she remarked, "but to have a cloaking device capable of hiding a ship much larger… it boggles the mind."

The redhead reappeared, smiling. "We can hide entire stations if we chose. One civilization could cloak an entire planet." The doors opened, allowing them to walk onto the bridge. "I have an offer for you, Councilor. An offer… you simply cannot refuse."

"What… what is that?" Tevos asked.

"Your race is afraid of the Federation. With good reason, in one or two cases. We can help… destroy that fear."

"Doing what?" Tevos asked. "Joining you? Are you serious?"

"Captain Pinkerton had no doubt informed you of the Prime Directive."

"General Order 1: A Starfleet officer is not allowed to interfere in the development of a society in any form."

"That's to be expected: the man loves reminding people that his job isn't to interfere. The Prime Directive does not apply to warp capable species. Yes, you have your own form of FTL travel, but it's… inefficient. Computer, bring up the Phoenix files."

The computer brought up an image of what looked like a repurposed missile.

"What is this?"

"The Phoenix," Flay replied. "Named after a bird reborn from its' ashes, the Phoenix was Earth's first warp-capable ship. Barely survived reentry, but it was enough to gather the attention of the Vulcans. That event, of course, was nearly thwarted by the Borg. But they were stopped."

"So… why are you showing me this?" Tevos asked.

"Because I'm giving you the blueprints for the Phoenix's warp drive. Tell your government about the offer, but keep it secret: I had to disable dozens of bugs in your office that were of Salarian origin."

"The STG," Tevos replied. "They're always bugging everything."

"I'll send you back to your office, Councilor. Enjoy the rest of your day." Tevos was surrounded by light again, and reappeared in her office.

She sighed. They were causing problems again… but this time, there might be some good to come out of it.


USS Ra-Cailum - sickbay


Ron and Jaden walked into sickbay, having been calling in by Rutia. "Alright, Doc, what is it?"

"I decided to take a good look at the scans we took of our friends on the Council, and compared them to baselines from their respective races," Rutia informed. "Take a look at this."

A graph appeared on the screen. "Alright, what are we looking at?"

"This is a standard scan for an Asari. That a look at the scan from Councilor Tevos." Another graph showed slight but clear differences, as it looked like the brainwave patterns of someone who had been subconsciously reprogrammed.

"So, someone's brainwashed her or something?"

"Infrasound and such. Commander, how long do the Councilors stay in the Council Tower?"

"Most of their careers. They almost never leave the tower."

"That explains that. The station's as old as the relays, so it's brainwashing them into ignoring the Reapers."

"Indoctrination... " Jaden muttered, "I heard Rumors that Cerberus was doing research into something like this… but with little success last I heard. Either way, this isn't good. We need to find a way to stop, then counter that brainwashing."

"Already got the second one done. The first one, I'm going to need Sonja's help with. I might've had a fuckton of engineering training courtesy of a certain captain-"

"Guilty as charged."

"But I'm no specialist."

"Speaking of overspecialized officers, I'm going to find out what's going on with Take, then we're going back on the warpath."


Noveria


"You let the damn thing live?"

"I think Captain Yamato and Captain Pinkerton will agree with me on that part," Shepard replied.

"I know I do," Linda replied. "You don't condemn an entire race for choices they made in the past."

Wrex shook his head. "My people bled to stop these things, and we got neutered as a reward."

"If the Rachni try something, we will take care of it," Linda replied. "Starfleet does own up to its' mistakes. Problem is, the Tempest can't transport this thing out of here."

"We're going to need the Ra-Cailum for this," Hitomi remarked. "What about the rest of the Rachni?"

"The queen asked us to kill them," Shepard informed. "They're basically insane."

"Alright," Hitomi replied, readying her shotgun. "Let's do this."

"Raging Tempest to ground party," Takeshi's voice said over the comms. "We're getting another transmission from the Ra-Cailum. I think everyone's going to want to be up here for this."

"Understood, Takeshi," Linda replied. "Though we have to deal with a few… mercy kills, I guess… down here. Either we should wait to get back until that's done, or some of us should stay in order to deal with it while the rest return."

Wrex raised his hand.

"We have a volunteer. We'll get back to the beam in site while Wrex kills off all the crazy bugs."

"Except for the Queen."

"Yeah, yeah, I touch that thing, you have my head." The Krogan charged off, screaming bloody murder.

"Think he fought in that war?"

"No clue, but I would not be surprised." The team arrived at a cluster of transporter enhancers, at which time they were beamed out of the lab.


Linda, Shepard, and Hitomi arrived on the Bridge of the Raging Tempest just as the connection was established with the Ra-Cailum. "What's up, Ron?" Takeshi asked.

"The Council's been brainwashed." Never let it be said that Ronald Pinkerton was one to beat around the bush.

"Brainwashed?" Shepard asked. "How, and why?"

"Commander Yulanra's discovered a major discrepancy in their brainwave patterns, akin to Captain LaForge in 2367. I assume you don't need a history lesson?"

"We don't," Linda replied, "though our two Spectre friends might find it beneficial."

"Fine," Ron said. "In 2367, the Romulan Star empire decided to frame Starfleet and drive a wedge between us and the Klingon Empire by killing a Klingon governor. The Enterprise-D was sent to investigate the cropping up of Federation Type-3 phasers, which turned out to be romulan replicas, and then-commander LaForge was nearly directed to kill the gov in question. It failed. Barely."

"So, someone's trying something similar with the Council?" Hitomi asked.

"Not someone. Sovereign. The Citadel was built by the same bastards who built the relays: the fucking Reapers. We're heading back to the Citadel to take care of the… Commander, what's that term you used?"

"Indoctrination," Jaden said. "It's what Cerberus always called it."

"Thank you. Indoctrinated Councilors. Besides, they know our medical technology outstrips theirs by leaps and bounds, and while I'm a bit of an asshole, when it comes to shit like this… I don't lie."

"Understood," Takeshi replied.

"We'll need you here at Noveria soon, though," Shepard informed. "We found why Benezia was here… she had a Rachni Queen imprisoned at a facility in a place the locals call Peak 15. We need to relocate it, but the Raging Tempest doesn't have the room for it."

"Or the computer space, clearly."

"I keep telling you, sir, the boys at the ISDB need their heads checked!"

"I'll send the Ra-Cailum your way and head back to the Citadel on Commander Takeo's ship. Be quick about it. Ra-Cailum out."

"Raging Tempest out," Takeshi replied, before the channel closed. "Once the Ra-Cailum gets here and gets the Rachni Queen off of Noveria, we'll meet up with Ron at the Citadel."

Sheppard gave Takeshi an odd look. "What was that about 'computer space'?" And that brought up an awkward explanation of how the transporters worked.


Danube-Class runabout USS Zambezi, en route to ex-Cerberus vessel Tarawa


'Captain's Log, Stardate 87055.4, USS Ra-Cailum commanding officer recording: My ship is heading to Novaria to pick up a Rachni queen and drop it off on an uninhabited planet somewhere in the middle of nowhere while I head to the former Cerberus vessel Tarawa in order to deal with a clearly brainwashed council. The Prime Directive, which normally prevents me from doing an action like this, now demands my response. Sigma Iota II, anyone?'

Jaden blinked "Sigma Iota II?" he asked.

Ron sighed before remembering that he was speaking aloud. "You've probably heard of our Prime Directive by now, yes?" After Lucy tried hacking into the computers, Ron made sure they had a complete copy of the Starfleet general rules and regulations. Unleashing his… secret weapon was not something he wanted to do lightly, after all.

"Yeah, took a look through it," Jaden said. "Doubt the Salarians will be as willing to follow it."

"Sigma Iota II is a warning." Ron said. "In the 2160s, the USS Horizon visited the planet in question, leaving behind several books, including one entitled Chicago Mobs of the 1920s. in 2267, the Enterprise paid a visit to the planet. I'll leave you to guess what they found."

Jaden blinked, raising an eyebrow "Uhh… what did they find?" he asked. "It's just a book on Chicago Mobsters, right?"

"According to the reports, the people of Sigma Iota II essentially built their civilization off of what they read in the book," Lucy said. "When the Enterprise arrived, they found a 1920's type civilization where everyone walked around with Tommy Guns and run by Mobsters."

"...What?!" Jaden asked as he looked at Ron "Are you fucking kidding me?!"

"Nope. I've been to SI2: brought back a Chicago Typewriter as a souvenir. They've made great strides to get out of the gangland shit, but once you get something ingrained, it's very hard to get out." The Starfleet runabout landed in the Tarawa's hanger, with Ron smirking like a madman. "I even brought it with me."

Jaden groaned, shaking his head. "Your universe is messed up…" he muttered. "Well it could've been worse."

"How could it have been worse?" Lucy asked.

"One of the books they left behind could've been the Holy Bible," Jaden said. "That thing fucked humanity during the Dark Ages, repressing scientific advances for centuries. Imagine what it would have done to them? Hell let's also be thankful Mein Kampf wasn't one of the books they got!"

"Funny you should mention that…" Ron said as he walked to the hatch, opening it and allowing them to exit the runabout.

Jordan groaned. "Oh for the love of… that happened too?!" He shouted.

"A historian decided to make the planet Ekos almost exactly like Nazi Germany." Ron said, "As you're probably-"

"Don't tell me," Jaden said, holding up his hand. "Let me guess. The Enterprise was there."

"Yeah. While I deplore their racist bullshit, the Nazis DID do something right. In less than five years, they united, rebuilt and rearmed Germany for war. No other nation its' size ever did anything like it ever. Of course, John Gill forgot the cardinal rule of National socialism."

"There's always a Hater..." Jaden muttered, shaking his head. "Hitler turned an economically broken nation into a united european superpower in such short time… but ruined it with his overly racist and fascist policies." He glanced at Ron "What happened to them after the Enterprise left?"

"The government still exists there, using the symbols and such, but they aren't viewed as subjects of evil." Ron said. "Just an emblem of government. Starfleet's policy is hands-off. Then again, they DID try to nuke the Enterprise."

"Considering the tech you guys have, I doubt it would have done that much to it." Jaden said, "Like using Fireworks against a Dreadnought."

"Didn't even get close: they shot it down." Ron said. "Gill died, gunned down by the deputy fuhrer, but life went on. At least there wasn't an interplanetary war. Trust me, the shit that Kirk got into is the stuff of legends."

"I'm gonna have to do more reading on this Captain Kirk…" Jaden said, nodding "Sounds like one hell of a Captain."

"28 years as captain of the Enterprise and Enterprise-A." Ron said. "Promoted to Admiral twice, demoted to Captain until he was killed in 2293 during the maiden voyage of a certain starship."

Jaden paused for a moment, before he groaned once more. "Enterprise-B, wasn't it?" he asked.

"The B. He was swept into space when an energy ribbon ruptured the hull." Ron said. "He died as he lived: as a Starfleet officer. After all, risk is our business. Of course, there were rumors someone found his body on Veridian III a few years ago, which makes no sense. The only connection Kirk had between the ribbon and Veridian III is a ship."

"Let me guess, another Enterprise?" Jaden asked.

"Galaxy-Class, NCC-1701-D," he confirmed. "She was destroyed over Veridian III thanks to a pair of Klingons getting their hands on the D's shield freqs, damaging the generator with their first shot so they couldn't remodulate and pounding the living hell out of her. The Big D had the last laugh, though."

"Killed the Klingons before they could kill them?" Jaden asked with a small smirk. "Ya know, maybe the Alliance should've named one of its ships Enterprise, maybe it would've gotten as much luck as yours apparently gets."

"Then you don't know about the middle sister." Both exited the runabout, heading for the command center.

"Part of me doesn't want to know…" Jaden muttered, as they passed through the hangar bay of the vessel. Ron took a glance around, and noticed what looked like large multi-meter high machines stacking large crates.

"What are those?" Ron asked, and Jaden smiled a bit.

"A little thing we stole from Cerberus, we call them Titans." Jordan said, "Cerberus wanted to replace their old Atlas mechs with something more mobile, and could accomplish more variable missions on the ground, and survive orbital re-entry. We've used them in combat with Blood Pack, Blue Sun, and Eclipse Mercs, and several skirmishes with the Batarians, they're ideal combat machines that surpass anything they could throw at us, and are very useful when doing heavy maintenance on ships and facilities. Though we're hoping to make even superior versions later on that are more capable of operating in Zero Gravity environments, with better shields and weapons."

"Sounds like a nice counter to the shit those assholes from the Delta Quadrant like to pull out. I'll see if we can do something with them when we make contact with our side." Ron began hearing something, and Jaden noticed that, even if he couldn't hear it.

"Something wrong?" Jaden asked, "You alright Captain?"

"Get us moving. NOW." Ron shouted, "It's coming, and you don't stand a chance against it."

"What's-"

"NOW!" Whatever it was, it was enough to get the captain of the most powerful ship in the galaxy worried, and THAT was distressing in and of itself. Jaden ran to the bridge, and he caught sight of the ship on the screen. A massive ship, unlike any they have seen before, their sensors calculating it at over seventy-eight kilometers in length, being larger than even the citadel.

"…MOVE!" Jaden shouted, snapping the rest of the bridge crew out of their shock "SLIPSTREAM NOW!" They didn't need to be told twice as Lucy quickly locked in a set of coordinates as the Tarawa jumped into Slipstream.

"Begging the Commander's pardon, but what the FUCK was that thing?!" Jaden shouted at Ron.

"A Unimatrix Command ship. They… they're the most powerful ships the collective has at their disposal." Ron said. "We accidentally dragged one in with us."

"Explains the comm chatter out of Batarian space," Lucy said, her image appearing on the Holotank. "It's been utter chaos over there, we assumed they were entering another state of civil war, not uncommon considering their history…"

"We found that out a few days after we got here. And the only ones who even remotely stand a chance in hell against those cybernetic bastards aren't here. I would recommend staying away from Batarian space."

"I can't think of anyone who'd want to go into Batarian Space even before the Borg." Jaden said, "There's a reason a lot of people call the Batarians 'Space North Koreans'."

Ron's eyes widened suddenly. "We may have no choice."

"Why?"

"Because they just found the most dangerous substance we know of: boronite." The fear in his voice was clear.

Jaden was clueless, and for good reason. After all, the Enterprise-B's computers were fried. He had no idea what boronite was.

Or that it could be synthesized into the most dangerous thing in the known multiverse.


High orbit of new Rachni homeworld


The Normandy, Raging Tempest, and Ra-Cailum hovered in orbit of the planet, a fair distance away from any Relays. (The Normandy had to be tractored by the Ra-Cailum, it was so far out there)

"Well, hopefully it'll be a successful fresh start for the Rachni," Takeshi remarked, the Ra-Cailum having just finished beaming down the Rachni Queen.

"Sir, we're being hailed by Captain Pinkerton from the Tarawa," Rina reported. "Sir, this is Omega level: we can't take it on the bridge." That also meant he was to discuss it with NO ONE under the rank of Captain. Not even his wife.

Takeshi sighed. "I'll take it in my office," he replied. "Brok'tan, you have the Bridge."

"Aye, Captain," Brok'tan replied as Takeshi walked out of the Bridge.

"What could this mean?" Kim asked. "Omega level comms are Command-level transmissions. We're the only ones out here."

"Some secret in the computers, maybe?" Rina replied. "I'll find out."


Takeshi slipped into the seat behind the desk in his office, after manually locking the door. Taking a few minutes to get situated, he then hit a button on the terminal. "Takeshi here," he said. "What's up, Ron?"

The elder captain's face was as stone as he said, "Directive Zero." That was all he needed to say. They were dealing with the same problem the Dyson Joint Command was dealing with: the Omega Directive.

Takeshi sighed. "My crew and I have been through the Solanae Dyson Sphere a time or two," he said. "They know about Omega. If it's here in this universe, they should be filled in."

"Mine haven't," Ron replied. "We used the gateway and nothing more. I expect your crew to keep their mouths shut, otherwise they'll be spending a great deal of time in New Zealand when we get home."

"Understood," Takeshi said. "So, where are we going?"

"Borg space," Ron informed. "They found a deposit of the ore. Tell Sonja to begin retrofitting the Normandy with a makeshift torpedo launcher and an armor generator."

"Wait, you have an ablative armor generator on your ship?" Takeshi asked in shock.

"I have five. The Ra-Cailum was testing a general prototype that would've been outfit to the entire fleet had I had the time to actually test it."

"Gotcha," Takeshi replied. "Once we've dealt with Omega, think we could try mounting one of them on my ship? Would definitely be interesting to see if it'd work."

"Later," Ron said. "The ex-Cerberus kids are wondering what the hell's going on. I'll give them the nutshell brief: enough to make fucking sure they get the idea that it's too fucking dangerous. Get it done, Takeshi. Ra-Cailum Actual out."

The image disappeared. Takeshi sat there a moment, before he pressed a button opening a Shipwide Intercom Channel. "All hands, this is Captain Yamato speaking," he said. "Condition Omega, Repeat, Condition Omega."

He closed the channel, and headed up to the Bridge, even as the ship went to Red Alert - Condition Omega was a status indicator Takeshi had come up with after his crew had been briefed in on Omega, and dealing with those particles called for nothing less than Red Alert, as far as Takeshi and his Senior Officers were concerned. "Rina, contact the Ra-Cailum and tell Sonja to start refitting the Normandy with an ablative generator and a makeshift torpedo launcher. However, don't mention Omega by name - Ron told me his crew hasn't been on Dyson Duty."

"Understood, sir," Rina replied.

"Wait, they have ablative armor generators?" Matt asked. "I thought only the Intrepids had those."

"SCE must've been busy, and him more so," Rina replied. "I've got them on the horn now."


USS Ra-Cailum - bridge


"You're telling me to break every rule in the book about transfer of technology, especially weapons, just because your captain says so?" Sonja asked. "I'm not doing SHIT until I get confirmation from the boss."

Takeshi's voice came on then. "I was just on the comms with Captain Pinkerton a few minutes ago," he said. "Here's what he said to me."

There was a few seconds pause, before a recording of Ron's voice said, "Tell Sonja to begin retrofitting the Normandy with a makeshift torpedo launcher and an armor generator."

Sonja knew that tone. It was the 'do it or you will suffer' one he liked using. A computer couldn't fake that. "I'll have a crew get ready to do the job." She closed the channel, wishing she didn't have to do this job. The Ra-cailum was an oddity in Starfleet: it had no first officer. Instead, the rest of the senior staff pitched in, sans Rutia, because that bitch was scary. "Fuck."


SSV Normandy


Shepard and Hitomi had been sharing some… quality time… in the Captain's Quarters when the call came in. Now Shepard was staring almost disbelievingly at Sonja. "You're serious?" she asked. "You've been ordered to install some of your technology on our ship?"

"This does NOT mean I'm happy about it," Sonja replied. "This is breaking every rule in the book. The only thing keeping me from saying no is the fact that A) this mission is somehow Starfleet-authorized and B) Ron would kill me if I didn't do it. The second you come back, I'm stripping every nut and bolt we add to that thing."

"Understood," Shepard replied. "I'll tell Adams to expect you, and help if you need it."

"We won't. Ra-Cailum out." The pissed-off engineer disappeared from the screen.

"Wonder what's going on?" Hitomi asked.

"No clue," Shepard replied, as she sent off a message to Adams letting him know what was going on. "We'll find out soon enough, I guess." She smiled sultrily at Hitomi. "Now… where were we?"

Hitomi smiled back as Shepard kissed her again.


Tali looked at the miniature warp core being hooked into the Normandy's systems. According to the specs, that tiny thing had ten times the power output of the Normandy's Mass Effect Core. TEN.

"I want those displays hooked into the cockpit!" Sonja ordered. "Joker's going to be practically flying blind, so let's give him some sight!"

"Yes, Ma'am!"

Tali wondered exactly what they were installing. "Uh, Commander?"

"Yes?"

"Why are you installing a more powerful reactor? Surely whatever you're installing isn't that energy intensive."

"You would be wrong," Sonja said as she pulled up a file on a Federation starship: USS Voyager.

Tali watched, as the Voyager seemed to get an additional layer of armoring over the top of its hull. "That's… interesting," she said.

The footage showed the Intrepid-Class ship taking fire from no less then THREE Borg Cubes, shrugging the weapons fire off as though it were nothing. "We're basically installing that on the Normandy," Sonja replied. "I don't know why, but I get the feeling you're going into Borg-controlled space."

"Right," Tali said. "So, that takes enough power that we need one of your reactors?

"You're catching on," Sonja replied. "We're also mounting a torpedo launcher to this thing. The torpedo's being modified to standards I didn't know existed: fucking yield on that thing exceeds 160 isotons! We can't fire a conventional torpedo with that yield safely!"

Tali's eyes widened. "Why would you need a torpedo with that kind of yield?" she asked. Not that she knew what an 'isoton' was, but if the main guns of those Cerberus ships couldn't cause too much damage the shields on the Ra-Cailum, the explosive force would have to be...rather excessive.

"I don't know! 30 isotons is enough to vaporize an asteroid the size of Olympus Mons! 80 can destroy a small moon!"

Tali's eyes widened. That was a lot of yield. Which begged the question: What could necessitate something big enough to destroy a small moon two times over?

"Not to mention these modifications to the reactor," Sonja remarked. "I've never seen these specs before. It's like we're planning to take the Normandy, fly her into a supergiant and make sure she comes out intact!"

"Wait, you can do that?" Tali asked.

"Believe me, that's the LEAST you should be worrying about," Sonja replied.

Now Tali was REALLY curious. Armor that could shrug off Borg fire, a Torpedo twice as strong as necessary to destroy a small moon, and a modified reactor? Just what was going on? "I have a stupid question."

"Only stupid questions are the ones unasked."

"What in the name of my homeworld do you people run into back in your universe?!"

Sonja chuckled before listing a few off the top of her head. "Alternate universes, time travel and shit that would drive lesser minds insane. Then again, Ex Astris, Scientia."

"That Starfleet's Motto or something?" Tali asked.

"No. That's the motto for Starfleet Academy," Sonja replied. "It's Latin for 'From the Stars, Knowledge'. Starfleet's unofficial motto is 'risk is our business', but I prefer something more… substantial."

"Like what?"

"'To explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before'." Sonja smirked. "Zefram Cochrane. He invented warp drive."

"This Zefram Cochrane must have been a very interesting man…" Tali mused.


Citadel


The Tarawa dropped out of FTL short of the Citadel, coasting at 300 kph, which was a snail's pace compared to the ship's flank speed, which was barely one quarter that of the Ra-Cailum or Raging Tempest. But before they dealt with the council, Ron felt a bit obligated to at least tell them what the hell was going on with the Borg. Which was why they were gathered within the briefing room of the Tarawa.

"All recording devices disabled, as per your request, Captain Pinkerton," Lucy said from the Holotank.

"Thank you, Lucy," Ron said. "I would like you to remain, if possible."

Lucy's A.I form blinked "Uh...why?" She asked.

"Because you're a member of this organization and the Federation recognizes artificial lifeforms if they are self-aware," he replied.

"Huh… I'm liking this Federation the more I hear about it." Lucy said, "Certainly a lot better than how the Citadel Council treats AI's… "

Ron rose an eyebrow "Let me guess, the Council doesn't like AI's?" he asked, and Lucy sighed, nodding.

"Yes… so far, any attempt to create an AI by the Citadel results in the AI going insane, and try to attack Organic Lifeforms," she said. "The largest example was the Geth, after they gained sentience, the Quarians tried to shut them all down, fearing what the Council would do. The Geth rebelled, and the Quarians lost not only their homeworld, but the Citadel Council revoked their embassy, forcing their entire species to live in the Migrant Fleet where their already weak immune system deteriorated even more. Now the Quarians are wrongly stereotyped as thieves, street urchins and a burden to whatever system the Migrant fleet is occupying at the moment."

"Remind me to pay a visit to the Quarian homeworld after we're done here," Ron said. "Take a seat, kids. Before I go on, I want your word that you will NOT speak of this outside of this group of people. I'm breaking a VERY big rule doing this, but I thought you had the right to know. And that you won't try to do anything with the information. Am I clear?"

"Very," Sutura said, nodding, "Nothing spoken here will leave this room without yours and Starfleet's permission."

"Lucy, please pull up Greek letter number… 24."

"A moment, please," Lucy said. On the holographic display, a sort of arch appeared.

"I think you all know the meaning of that."

"Omega, last letter of the Greek Alphabet," Jaden said. "What about it?"

"It gives its' name to the greatest non-sentient threat that I know of." He pressed a key, and a structural lattice work that formed a sphere appeared. "Ladies and gentlemen… Omega. The power generated by this thing in milliseconds is equal to that produced by a warp core in a year. A small string of these things could power a civilization."

"Interesting… however, I have a feeling there is a catch to this," Jaden said.

"It's unstable as fuck," Ron said. "It's like supporting a building the size of the Ra-Cailum on a needle. And once it goes… it goes with a bang. A really, REALLY big bang."

Jaden sighed. "So it's basically a galactic version of splitting an atom?" he asked. "And no one has been able to properly stabilize it?"

"We tried once in the 23rd century." He said. "The entire Lantaru sector was laid barren. When I say that, I mean that this shit destroys subspace. The Borg tried again, losing 15 ships and six planets. The starship Voyager encountered this in the Delta Quadrant, and while it was stabilized for 11 seconds, it wasn't going to stay that way. That's what the Raging Tempest's mission is at the moment: destroy Omega."

"As much as I hate it, I suppose it's for the best," Jaden said. "Omega would make for a good power source, but as long as people like Cerberus are around it's too easy to be used as a weapon."

"I agree," Sutura said, nodding. "We'll stand behind your decision on this, Captain, should we run across any additional deposits of Omega you will be the first person we shall inform."

"One day. But not in our collective lifetimes," Ron said. "Lucy. The recorders can be turned back on. At the moment, we're here to deal with the Citadel council."

"Got it," Lucy said, as the briefing room resumed normal functions.

"So, what's the game plan for dealing with the council?" Jaden asked. "I doubt it's going to be easy..."

"It won't." Ron confirmed. "If I can't reason with the Councilors, I have a backup plan. I sent the information on what the Council Tower does to an unshielded brain to their home governments. Through a few carefully worded transmissions, they've authorized us to do whatever is necessary to make sure those indoctrinated assholes are removed from power."

"Uh…"

"Whatever. Is. Necessary."

Jaden sighed "Alright, I suppose it's a good thing we brought some of our best teams with us." He said, as he activated his Omni-tool. "Get Charlie Team ready for deployment… along with Red Team and Blue Team."

"Uhh… you want them, sir?"

"Yes, we might need their help soon," Jaden said with a sigh. "Crazy as they are… they are among our best. Just tell them to get prepped."

"I brought several phaser weapons with me, and since you people don't have transporters, we can use the Zambezi for surgical beam-ins. Of course, plan A goes first. We're going in armed."


SSV Normandy


"Did you HAVE to test those armor things by shooting at us?!" Joker demanded.

"Get over it," Sonja replied. "You're still alive, aren't you?"

"Everything working, Sonja?" Takeshi asked as he walked in.

"The ablative generator's working per specs and we've test fired ten class-1 probes from the launcher," Sonja informed. "They're good. Just wish I knew what the hell was going on. Of course, you and yours are going with them while I'm heading back to the Citadel."

"Right," Takeshi replied. "Well, good work. If all goes well, we should be seeing you back at the Citadel soon enough."

The engineer walked off, getting as far away from the ME core until it was safe to beam out, which was done in seconds. "So, Captain, care to tell me what our new mission is?" Shepard asked.

"Given that you're going to be on the forefront of this, I was planning on it," Takeshi replied. "I will mention that this is classified, though - the crew will be informed, but it doesn't leave this ship for any circumstances."

"What, universe-ending information or something?"

"Something like that," Takeshi replied. "And just a note, the Borg use the same sensors as we do, so don't bother with the stealth drive if they're in the system we're heading to."

"Right," Hitomi replied, as they headed to the Command Deck. "So, what's going on?"

"I'll brief everyone at once," Takeshi said as he stepped up to the Galaxy Map. "Joker, put me on Shipwide."

"You're on, Captain," Joker replied.

And so Takeshi briefed the crew on Omega - it was a similar briefing to what Ron gave the ex-Cerberus people, but it was also a little more in-depth, including the known details behind its first discovery, and the fact that the Borg considered it the pinnacle of perfection (aka their equivalent to god).

"So, we're going to take out a particle that is so fucking dangerous NO ONE is allowed to even know it exists?" Joker asked. "I wonder which group of idiots decided to unleash it in our universe."

"We don't know if it's actually been created just yet," Takeshi replied, "but apparently the Borg have located a source of Boronite Ore in what is now their space - which means they can make it. In addition to destroying Omega itself if we find it, we also need to take out that source of ore."

"So, what's our course?" Shepard asked.

Takeshi pointed at a location on the galaxy map, provided to him by Ron.

"That's REALLY deep in Batarian space."

"And since Batarian space is being taken over by the Borg, that means it's also deep in Borg space," Takeshi replied. "We need to go, regardless - once I get back to my ship, we'll set out."

"Then we'd better get you back to your ship."


Omega Nebula, Fathar System, planet Lorek


The bulk of the Batarian fleet surrounded the new research station, in a grand - albeit futile - gesture to ward off the Borg. The Batarians had no idea what they were screwing with. And what the Borg would do when they discovered the boranite had been mined out (there was only a small amount to begin with) and moved to the station.

At that point, a group of Borg vessels warped in.

Most of the fleet were former comrades of the defenders, warped and twisted to the point where they weren't Batarian anymore. The rest were fully constructed Borg spheres, probes and one of the original tactical cubes. During this time, the Normandy and her cloaked escort entered the system, where the battle had just begun.

"THAT is a big ol' shitstorm," Joker remarked.

"Agreed," Takeshi replied. "And I think I know why the Batarians were trying for Omega - with their normal weapons being nigh-useless against the Borg, they wanted whatever edge they could get." He sighed. "Unfortunately, Omega is just too dangerous."

"It DESTROYS SUBSPACE, man!" Joker yelled. "Hell, I'm getting the feeling that we're just not ready for that kind of power."

"I don't think we'll be ready for a VERY long time," Shepard remarked. "Status on the Batarians?"

Ashley, taking her post on the weapons controls, scoffed. "Like us against the Turians during the First Contact War."

"Ouch," Hitomi replied. "Well, hopefully this gives us an opportunity to go in and deal with Omega."

"We need to get close to the station," Shepard informed. "We'll use the Mako for an airdrop while the Tempest beams in reinforcements."

"Better make it fast: tac cube's moving in on the station!" Joker reported.

"Hitomi, Garrus, Tali, Liara, Wrex, on me!" Shepard ordered, heading down to the cargo bay. "Joker, get us as close as you can!"

Joker watched out the new screens as a Batarian dreadnought exploded under the weight of fire pressed against it. "Oh, yeah, sure, expect miracles. I'm not fucking Scotty, you know! Damn it, deploying armor!"

A shell of armor enveloped the Normandy as it flew forward, stray shots from the Borg and Batarians simply bouncing off the shell.

The fleet engagement was akin to that of classic naval warfare: big guns firing, cruisers screening and tin cans doing what they did best. Problem was, that wasn't working with the Borg.

"Hey, Ash?" Joker asked. "Did they give us more then one of those fancy torpedoes?"

"They gave us a LOT of them: standard 30s!"

"Nice," Joker replied. "Let's use a few of them to light the Borg up!"

"We'll join in, too," Takeshi replied. "Thin their numbers a bit. Can't do anything about that Tac Cube at the moment, though - need a fleet to bring that down."

"Might as well give the four-eyed bastards a more fair chance. Arming torpedoes!" A port opened in the Normandy's armor, showing off her new torpedo launcher. "Give em hell, girl!"

The Alliance frigate fired three torpedoes at a trio of former Batarian warships, destroying them in only one shot apiece while the Tempest decloaked and unleashed hell with her pulse cannons.

"Joker!" Shepard yelled.

"We're passing over the station now!" Joker reported. "Go ahead and drop!"

Another port opened in the armor, revealing an open cargo bay from which the Mako shot out, landing on the station's exterior.

The view the assault team were given of the battle was… strangely beautiful. The two ships were doing damage to the Borg, giving the Batarians some limited help, while the Borg continued to damage the Batarians. Then hell arrived in the form of the unimatrix command ship.

"Oh, shit," Shepard remarked as Linda and her team beamed down next to them. "We'd better deal with Omega now."


"That thing?! Get the research materials out of here!"

The Batarians were scrambling, but to no avail. a beam lanced through the station, damaging most of the station's ME generators, allowing the Borg to beam in en masse. Which they were.

A former human drone transported in front of the station commander, who tried to kill the formerly female and human drone, but the Borg was faster by far, and pinned him before injecting him with nanoprobes and beginning to assimilate him.

The two infiltration teams arrived at the command center in time to see this. "Oh, jeez," Hitomi remarked.

"Never liked seeing someone get assimilated," Linda said as she brought out her TR-116B. "And that drone… I don't think it's a normal one."

The drone turned to face them, then sprung into action. The team opened fire, only to have the Borg dodge everything shot in 'her' direction.

"What the FUCK?! I thought the Borg couldn't do that!" one of Linda's team yelled.

"Great, a fucking Borg ninja!" Hitomi snapped before firing off a series of Biotic Warps, trying to restrict the drone's movement.

The damn thing jumped onto and ran along a wall for a moment before launching herself at Shepard, who was beginning to regret over-specializing in sniper rifle use.

"Nicole!" Hitomi yelled.

Both rolled across the deck, the human punching the drone in the face twice before finally landing a shot on her with her pistol, shooting her in the head, missing the brain but hitting something just as important to a drone: the neural transceiver.

At that point, the Drone seemed to hesitate, which gave Hitomi the opportunity to pull it off of Shepard. "You alright?" she asked as she went to check on Shepard.

"Barely," Shepard replied.

Hitomi fired the shotgun at the drone, heavily damaging the exoplating it was covered in, revealing something. Part of a starfleet uniform, complete with silver combadge.

"Wait, that drone was once a Starfleet Officer?" Tali asked.

"And it doesn't look like it's responding…" Linda remarked as the drone just… stood there. She turned to the medic in her team. "Any idea what's going on?"

The medic scanned it with her tricorder, and her eyes widened. "Looks like that shot from Shepard's pistol destroyed its neural Transceiver," she said. "She accidentally severed it from the collective!"

"Lucky shot," Shepard replied. "Get her back to the Mako: we have no time for this!" Wrex grabbed the drone and ran off. "We're going to go find Omega and plant a nice big beacon on it."

"Bullseye," Linda replied. "Let's do this."


Citadel - Council Tower


While Shepard and Takeshi were busy dealing with Omega, Ron and Jaden were on their way to the Council chamber with fully legalized arrest warrants.

"North, Wash, Carolina, you three in position?" Jaden asked into his Omni tool.

"We're all set up here boss," A male's voice responded, "We've got eyes on the council. They try anything funny, we'll dissuade them."

"Don't do anything until I give the word." Jaden said, "Hopefully we can do this peacefully. Red Team, Blue Team, you remain on standby if shit hits the fan somehow."

"Yeah yeah, we're ready here." Another voice said, "Let's just get this over with..."

"Your just mad that he didn't make you Overwatch 'cause your aim sucks dude."

"Oh Shut up Tucker!"

"Enough, both of you. I don't expect Plan A to work, but I'm hoping it will." Ron said. "Condom rule."

"Dude, that's gross."

"I'd rather have it on standby then not have it, you idiot." Ron said. "Just keep those phasers on stun." Both men walked into the chamber, right in the middle of a meeting with Udina, no less. "What is the meaning of this?!"

"Sorry, Udina, but we're here on orders." Ron said, glancing at Jaden. "Commander, please read the charges to the Council."

"Right, right." Jaden said as he lifted up his Omni-tool. "Councilors, By the power invested in us by the Turian Hierarchy, Salarian Union, and the Asari Republic, we are placing you under arrest for the charges of General incompetence and failure to do your jobs correctly."

"What?!"

"You can check in with your counterparts back on your homeworlds: this is legal."

"Like hell it is!" Sparatus shouted, "Officers, take them down! Arrest the other human and kill Pinkerton! They're trying to usurp the Council!" However a moments after he said that, red laser dots appeared over the heads of each of the councilors, and several more appeared over the chests and heads of the officers in the room.

"Yeah, think twice asshole." Jaden said. "Come quietly and peacefully, or we'll take you down by force. "

Two officers decided to take the bluff, and opened fire on the pair, which resulted in a LOT of weapons fire begin exchanged and the two men taking cover. "Times like this I wish I brought my armor with me!" Ron shouted.

"That's something you should wear at all freaking times, like me!" Jaden said, as he pulled out his Rifle and Omni-tool. "All teams, move in! Take 'em down!"

"Try reading diplomatic protocol next time!" Ron pulled out his compression rifle and began unleashing phaser bolts on every C-Sec officer in range, stunning all that didn't dodge or took cover. "Where the hell's the Council?!"

"They ran off to a shuttle! They're en route to the DA now!"

"Goddamn it!"

Jaden chuckled. "Don't worry," he said. "I've got… someone to take care of that. They won't be going far."


The Councilors were scared shitless. The Starfleet-supplied men were currently fighting back the waves of C-Sec personnel rushing into the Tower, and they had barely escaped a sniper shooting at them. "We need to contact our home governments." Spartus said, "If he was telling the truth-"

"He wasn't, Spartus," Tevos said. "He has technology that can do anything he wants!"

Valern sighed. "Let's hope your wrong," he said as the doors opened. "The guards should have the area-" However he was cut off when they looked outside, and their eyes widened. Scattered across the ground were the either dead or unconscious bodies of dozens of C-Sec Guards, some lied unmoving while others were whimpering in corners. The only figure standing was leaning against the shuttle, wearing a set of full black power armor with a golden visor.

The figure stood up, taking a few steps forward as it cracked its knuckles "So…" the voice - now confirmed to be female - said. "Who's next?"

"...FIRE EVERYTHING!" The Councilors were only armed with tiny pistols (unlike the Federation, whose security services were INSANELY good at their jobs, the Council had to rely on themselves for defense as well as their guards) but they drew and opened fire regardless. However by the time they fired, the woman seemed to vanish through thin air, and moments later Valern fell to the ground, Sparatus was swatted away, and suddenly Tevos felt a tap on her shoulder, causing her to whirl around as the figure was suddenly right behind her.

"You wanna see how I can rip your skull out, and beat you to death with it?"She asked.

"That… doesn't seem physically possible."

"Funny, that's exactly what he said," the woman said, tilting her head towards a human whose skull lied next to his head, which looked like a bloody pulp.

"That's enough, Tex." Both looked at Jaden and Ron, who both approached from the same entryway the council did. "How the hell did you get out of there unscathed?"

"Deflector shields trump kinetic barriers any day." Ron said, as he tapped his commbadge. "Zambezi, where the hell are you?"

"En route, Captain."

"Good going, Tex," Jaden said, glancing around her handiwork. "Though… could you show a bit more restraint?"

"I only killed the corrupt ones with bounties," Tex said, sighing. "Don't worry."

"Mind if I give her a full on commission?" Ron asked, "She'd be welcome on the Ra-Cailum's security force." The slightly boxy form of the Danube-Class Zambezi landed nearby, and the side hatch opened to allow them to enter. "Step inside, Councilors. We have a few people wanting to talk to you."

Knowing it was crazy to go against Tex, plus Jaden and Ron and Starfleet, Tevos simply nodded as she walked aboard the Zambezi, as Tex carried both Valern and Sparatus by their collars behind her.

"Bit of a technology lesson here, kids: we don't use AIs or VIs," Ron said. "The computers are a sort of mix between the two while not being truly self-aware. As such, there is no way we could fake this." Ron pressed a few buttons, bringing up the faces they DIDN'T want to see: the leaders of their respective governments. While the Council were the ones that led the unified force, their home nations were the ones who had THEIR leashes.

"Councilors. We were informed by Captain Pinkerton that, due to certain measures, you have not been doing your jobs properly," Jaden said. "And… let's be brutally honest here… you never were. We have reason to believe now though, that you have fallen under the influence of Reaper Indoctrination because, big shock, they built the Relays and the Citadel, not the Protheans. They found them just like we did."

"That's impossible!" Tevos shouted.

"The Ra-Cailum's sensors scanned the relays." Ron said. "We dated them to be at LEAST 300 million years old. The Citadel is almost one BILLION years old. The Protheans were only 500,000 years old."

On his screen, Primarch Fedorian seemed to be rather annoyed at this. "You are sure?"

"There are very few things in this universe that can screw up my scanning technology." Ron said, "Getting through an ME field was easy. Finding the indoctrination devices in the tower? That took a bit of doing, seeing as we didn't build the damn place and we mistook one as a load-bearing column at first."

"And if you need more proof, look at Saren," Jaden said. "Say what you want about him, but he was dedicated to the Council and the Spectres. Yet now he's your enemy working with the Geth, who are working for the Reapers. I think it's safe to say any Reaper-built structures release this indoctrination effect to some degree at least."

"Captain, if that is the case, we require your aid in evacuating the Citadel." The Asari Republic representative said, however Ron shook his head.

"Not needed: the only signs of it we've seen are in the tower." He said, "Then again, what's the best way to destroy a civilization?" The Asari chosen to speak for the Republics winced before giving the answer. "Corrupt and destroy its' leadership."

"Bingo." Jaden said, "We should be glad we found it when we did. I think it goes without saying you should close down the tower until we can find a way to eliminate the indoctrinating effects of the tower. And you'd best get some new councilors until we can make sure we removed the indoctrination out of Tevos, Valern, and Sparatus."

"We will send someone that can fill in their places. Captain Pinkerton, your engineering crew's services are being requested."

"They're a bit… busy."

"Busy doing what?"

Ron smiled. "Classified."


Back with the Normandy


"I AM NOT DOING THIS AGAIN!" Joker yelled. The command ship was gunning for them, and the Raging Tempest was barely keeping the rest of the Borg fleet at bay. "Can we PLEASE go pick up the ground team?!"

"Not until they give us the signal," Takeshi replied. "We need to make sure Omega's been dealt with before we retrieve the ground team and get the Hell out of Dodge."

"Shepard to Normandy: the station's overrun with Borg! We need to fall back!"

Ashley eyed the 'special' torpedo on the screen. "We'll get you out, boss lady. Then we can blow the station to hell."

"The Borg will still get Omega!" Shepard reminded.

"Not if I hit that station with something powerful enough to blow up a small planet," Ashley said.

"Good idea," Takeshi replied. "Ground Team, fall back to the Mako and prepare for extraction. Once that's done, we fire off the torpedo and run like our lives depend on it."

"Which they do!" Joker remarked as the armored frigate and starfleet warship doubled back toward the station, everything shooting at each other AND at them. "This is going to be interesting."

One wrong move, and the Mako would end up on top of the Normandy. The aforementioned armored vehicle drove off the exterior, just as the hatch opened and allowed them to get onto the ship while practically ruining the cargo bay.

"ASHLEY! ARM THAT TORPEDO!"

"Already done!" Ashley reported. "Ready to fire!"

The Normandy fired the overpowered weapon of doom at the station, just as both ships banked and escaped, jumping to FTL and warp before the torpedo blew with enough force to vaporize anything within 300 kilometers. "Oh, god," Joker groaned. "Never again."

"Get the Raging Tempest on the horn," Shepard ordereded. "We've got someone they might be able to identify."


An hour later, Raging Tempest Medical Bay


Takeshi and Linda walked into the Med Bay, where Mogire and her admittedly limited medical staff were working to remove most of the nonessential implants on the drone they'd recovered. Even the EMH was being used, and that was saying something. "How's she doing, Mogire?" Takeshi asked.

"Perfectly fine, once we get her back to the Ra-Cailum," she replied.

"Problem?"

"To a degree," Mogire informed. "We have a VERY limited sickbay. The Ra-Cailum has better and more fully equipped facilities. Hell, any hospital in this universe probably has more equipment then this ship does."

"True," Takeshi replied. "Well, we're on our way to the Citadel to rendezvous with the Ra-Cailum so that Sonja can remove our tech from the Normandy - we can transfer her over to them then." He paused. "Anything we need to know now regarding her? Database matches, anything like that?"

"I'm running her through, but I'm more worried about the sheer number of implants she's got in her body. She's a Class-3."

Takeshi winced.

There were five classifications to assimilation. Class-1, you were just stuck and you've got the bare minimum to be a Borg drone. Class-2, fully assimilated, complete with exoplating and whatever they replaced. Class-3s had certain things removed: like a large percentage of the brain to make room for a positronic brain based, to a degree, on Data's.

He had an inkling that Ron was a Class-3: most ex-drones still had trouble using skills they didn't normally have. Ron didn't.

The computer interrupted his musings as the computer made its' announcement. "Match found in Starfleet personnel database."

"Well, looks like we know who she is now…" Takeshi said, as he looked at the screen. "…Captain Natarle Bonaparte?"

Linda's eyes widened in recognition. "I saw her name when looking up Ron's file while you were at the Citadel that first time, Takeshi," she said. "She was Ron's first CO, and they were apparently an item before they both got assimilated."

The face was damn near the same. The left eye was gone and and there were enough cybernetic implants to make it almost impossible for a human to ID. But the computer didn't have that problem.

"Well, we're doomed," said one of the medics.

"Not us necessarily," Takeshi replied, though even he looked at her warily. "Just anyone who tries to take down the Federation or stand in their way." He paused. "I'm going to head up to the Bridge - Ron should be informed about this."


USS Zambezi - enroute to USS Ra-Cailum


Ron had nothing against the Tarawa. It was a good ship, with a good crew. But it wasn't a Starfleet ship. More importantly, it wasn't the Ra-Cailum. "God, it is good to be home," Ron said as the shuttle landed in bay one, happy to finally get back to his ship. A scream was heard as he watched Vasir fly out of the turbolift again. "I see they let you out."

"YOUR FUCKING SHIP IS CURSED!" The Asari yelled as she ran off screaming, much to his amusement.

"Mission successful." He walked into the same lift and manually input the coordinates for deck one, arriving only moments later.

"Captain, we're receiving a hail from the Tempest," Corpsa informed.

Ron chuckled as he took his chair, his crew acting like he hadn't been gone. "On screen."

Takeshi's image appeared on the screen. "Good to see you again, Ron," he said. "And back on your ship, no less."

"I prefer my own command. Tarawa's a good bird, but she's nowhere near the levels of the Ra-Cailum. But you're not calling about that. What's going on?"

Takeshi grinned. "Well, we completed our mission - we're on our way back to you now, so Sonja can have peace of mind as she removes our tech from the Normandy." The grin got larger. "We also got an unexpected bonus - I've had Rina send the appropriate files to your Ready Room. I will say right now, though, you should have Rutia get your Sickbay ready - our medbay isn't quite equipped to deal with our new… guest."

"I guess I'll find out when you get here. Ra-Cailum out." The transmission ended. "Does he know about our computer problem?"

"The fact that all private files sent straight to your ready room get deleted the minute they get uploaded unless you give your say-so? No, he's fucking clueless."

"Well, I like surprises. When they're not trying to kill me."


Agressia


The Asari Republics had replaced Tevos, but the deal stood, and although Flay was reluctant to bring the Amenothep, she did bring her private shuttle, the Markus Wolf. As such, she was standing in front of a bunch of test pilots, ready to brief them on what they were going to face.

"So, you're the 'special advisor' for this project?" one of the pilots asked.

"That's right. Flay Allster. As of the moment you successfully complete this program, you will deny knowing my existence. Speak of me to anyone, I will have you… removed. Am I clear?"

"Crystal clear, Ma'am," the pilots all replied.

"Good." She brought up the file on the Phoenix. "This is what you will be piloting. An Asari-designed version of the Phoenix. Your government have expressed a desire to join the Federation, but your knowledge of subspace is so lacking, I could fill the hole with enough water to float a gas giant and it STILL wouldn't be a thousandth full."

"And that's a bad thing?" one of the pilots asked.

She pressed another button, showing a ship exploding and causing a MASSIVE hole in the fucking FABRIC OF SPACE/TIME. "Your lack of knowledge will be your doom." The simple fact that they had something that could do… THAT was enough to make them all almost shut up.

"Okay, so… I guess we start with lectures on the subject?" another pilot asked.

"To a degree. Subspace is a layer of space under normal space, and is nigh-indestructible. It takes a LOT to do damage to it. It has an infinite number of layers, and it allows us to circumvent the laws of physics, allowing us to go to speeds you can't dream of with warp drive."

The pilots all nodded, taking notes on the subject.

"It is THE prerequisite for joining the Federation. Planetary unity and such are also mandatory, but warp drive is the most important. I'm here, unofficially, to GIVE you access to this technology. Now… I'm not giving you everything." 'Yet.' "Just enough to get you started."

"Right," the 'lead pilot' in the group said. "Well, let's get to work, shall we?"


USS Raging Tempest - near Citadel orbit


The tiny (considering the mass, which was only forty thousand tons) ship dropped out of FTL, alongside the Normandy, which had lost its' armor.

"I want that generator," Matt remarked

"I know," Takeshi replied. "We could certainly use it in battles against the Vaadwaur back in our universe, not to mention the edge it provides against the Borg. Still, let's worry about one thing at a time. Rina, hail the Ra-Cailum."

"Right," Rina replied.

"Ra-Cailum Delivery Service. How may I direct your call?"

"…What the hell?"

"What is it, Captain? The boss is currently blowing something up on the Citadel."

Takeshi sighed. "Would you ask Ron if he'd like to come aboard? I'd like him present to oversee the transfer of our guest from our medbay to yours."

"I'll tell him when he's done." On the screen, parts of the Citadel Tower exploded. "Looks like he's done. I'll tell him to beam over."

"Thank you," Takeshi replied. "Tell him I'll meet him in the transporter room."


Mid-transport, Ron thought about the station shaking kaboom he just caused. 'To think, all I did was use about ten photon grenades.' Photon grenades were fist-sized explosives, using the same M/AM reaction as a photon torpedo. The difference, of course, was size. Photon grenades were more… precise about the explosive yield. You could either blow up a dollhouse or level an entire building. Depends on what you wanted.

"Welcome aboard, Ron," Takeshi said as Ron materialized on the Transporter Pad. "Did you take a look at the files I sent you?"

"And no one told you that they get deleted unless I press the 'save' button. And since I wasn't on the ship, you can guess."

Takeshi sighed, then facepalmed. "Alright," he said, grabbing a PADD as he led the way out of the Transporter Room. "Main reason I sent the files rather than just tell you outright is that our 'guest' is actually a Borg Drone that attacked our ground team when they went to deal with Omega. Apparently Shepard shot the Drone in the head, missed her brain, but got her Neural Transceiver instead. We brought the drone with us. The reason we need to transfer her is because our medbay isn't equipped to deal with a Borg Drone properly - it's not equipped to deal with a lot of things properly, but Borg Drones are pretty high up on that list." He started tapping buttons on the PADD, bringing up the data they had on the drone, including the database match.

"More reasons to kick the ISDB's ass when we get home."

"She's also someone you know," Takeshi added, passing Ron the PADD.

Ron took the PADD in hand, and seconds after seeing it, dropped it and started running. Takeshi blinked in surprise, picking up the PADD in the process.

"Guess they really were an item," Takeshi remarked, before running after Ron.

The people in sickbay were not ready to see a 6 foot tall man running in, looking like a frantic madman. The second his eyes locked onto the drone in question, he slowly approached the table. "How is she?" he asked.

"Took a bullet to the head," Mogire replied. "It ricocheted off the jaw and hit the neural transceiver. She'll be fine, once we get her to your ship."

"Sonja's been bitching about this ship and its' lack of capabilities since the day she was assigned to the Ra-Cailum. The moment we get back, I'm unleashing her."

"Wouldn't mind it," Mogire remarked. "We're capable of handling the basic medical needs of the crew, even serious injuries, but not much else."

Ron placed his commbadge on her before tapping it twice. The Borg drone that was and would be Natarle Bonaparte was beamed out and to the Ra-Cailum's sickbay. "I'm going back to the Ra-Cailum," he said once that was done. "I have paperwork to do."

"Gotcha," Takeshi replied, having come in at that point. "We won't keep you."

He left, and they all knew what that expression meant. He wasn't planning on being the captain for much longer.


USS Ra-Cailum - Sickbay - 15 hours later


The Ra-Cailum's medical staff had much more luck removing the unnecessary implants from Natarle's body, making her look more human again.

She looked almost normal, if it weren't for the lack of black hair on her head. "57% of that shit is now OUT of her body," Rutia remarked. "The rest, she can't live without. At least the Borg can't hijack her in the middle of a sentence."

Rutia did not like Natarle. Ron had said that if it were up to him, he would have stayed on the Katti under her command. He planned on self-demotion and putting her in command. Not happening: this was his ship, and his crew.

A groan was heard from Natarle, who was beginning to wake up. She was very much a tomboy, albeit one with an attractive body. Ron wasn't interested in that. It was the fact that they were so similar that got them together. "Where the fuck am I?" she asked.

"You're in the sickbay of the USS Ra-Cailum, Sovereign-Class," Rutia replied. "Welcome back to life outside the Collective, Captain Bonaparte."

She touched the top of her head, wincing at the lack of hair. "Ron's not going to - RON! Where is he?!" she asked. "He's a Lieutenant Commander, did you-"

"He's FINE," Rutia replied. "And it's CAPTAIN. He's the Captain of this ship. And I'm going to make one thing VERY clear to you."

Natarle sighed. It looked like there was a bit of a story to be had. "And what's that, doctor?" she asked.

"He is the captain. Not YOU. I don't like you. You're the one that stuck him and turned him into a Borg drone for 8 years. He's probably thinking of demoting himself and putting you in command. That will NOT happen. Am I clear?"

Natarle nodded. "Perfectly," she said. "If he's made Captain, then he's earned it."

"Good. Now sit still: I'm going to stimulate your hair follicles and get at least some of the hair he likes back on your head."


After 45 minutes, Natarle walked out of sickbay, putting her hand through her short but at least THERE hair. She was going to need a new uniform, as the spare Rutia had given her was the wrong division color.

And the wrong size. 'My chest hurts like a bitch.' She walked into a turbolift, calling out the location she planned to go to. "Bridge."

The lift carried her smoothly there, and she stepped out onto the ship's Bridge.

The bridge crew didn't even give her a glance as she walked into the captain's ready room, which was surprisingly bare. Then she saw Ron carrying a box out. "Nattie! nice to see you up."

"What's all this?" she asked.

"I'm going to be frank. I'm not comfortable with two captains on the same ship. Kirk might've, but he was Kirk. I'm demoting myself to Commander and putting you-"

"Ron, don't," she said. "For one thing, if you were promoted to Captain, you fucking earned it. For another, this crew is loyal to you. Your doctor especially. They'd likely resent me for taking your spot."

"There's only one captain."

"And that's you," Natarle replied, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I'll stay, but I'm not staying at the rank of captain. You don't have a first officer. I'll take the job, unless…"

"No," Ron said. "The job's yours. Just… get to the quartermaster's office. You look like an idiot with a uniform two sizes too small. Your breasts must be sore as hell."

"Subtle," Natarle chuckled. "True, regardless." She then wrapped Ron in an embrace. "It's good to see you again, Ron."

"Damn right."


Northwest passage


The fleet, officially led by Voyager, (if you asked everyone else, though, they'd say they were following the Enterprise) entered the passage, weapons armed and ready. "You are sure this will take us to wherever the two vessels exited?" Tuvok asked.

"We'll end up in the same universe and the same galaxy," Van'Zyl replied. "As for the same location they are… No. but we will find them, Admiral."

"Very well," Tuvok replied.

The ships moved into position for the crossing, joined by an eighth ship - one that was inspired in design by the Defiant-Class Tactical Escorts, but was much thinner, and had no front protrusion. It was also a very dark blue, almost black, with light blue glowing lights along various portions of the hull. The USS Artemisia, one of the new Phantom-Class Intelligence Escorts.

"All ships reporting in, Admiral," Van'Zyl informed. "We're clear."

"Then activate the deflector array," Tuvok ordered.

The Swiss army knife of science that was the deflector dish fired off a high energy tachyon pulse into the closest quantum singularity, while the Enterprise used its' dish to create a graviton beam to enhance the effects and direct it. "The rift is open, but unstable!" Van'Zyl reported. "We need to go NOW!"

"All ships, enter the rift," Tuvok ordered, and the fleet moved forward, entering the rift one by one.


Horizon


A peaceful colony world, Horizon was chosen by human colonists that wanted nothing to do with the Alliance. Unfortunately, they were about to have a LOT to do with the Alliance, as a supply ship was about to discover.

As the ship approached the colony, its crew were surprised to see some kind of rift opening.

"What the fuck." It was not a question. It was a statement. A statement broken by a MASSIVE ship, all curves, coming through the rift, with human markings written on the saucer section. They read USS Enterprise NCC-1701-F. More ships, like and yet unlike the huge monster: USS Voyager, Evcalvantine, Crusher and on and on.

"OK, this is unusual," the ship's captain remarked.

"The one labelled Voyager's contacting us," the Comm Officer reported. "Sir, doesn't that big one look kinda like the Ra-Cailum we keep hearing about?"

"Yeah, it does," the captain replied. "Alright, put 'em on."

The comm turned on. "This is Admiral Tuvok of the Federation starship Voyager," came the voice of a dark-skinned man with… were those pointy ears?

"Yeah, uh, Kenneth Roland, MSV Argo," he replied. "Are you related to that Pinkerton guy and the Ra-Cailum we keep hearing about?"

"They are part of the same government organization as us, yes," 'Tuvok' replied. "It is good to hear that we made it to the same universe they are. Do you know where they are at the moment?"

"No clue. They've been running around the galaxy with some Spectre, though, doing some crazy shit. Uh, we have supplies we need to deliver down to ground. We can always go to the Citadel and ask if anyone knows where they are after we're done."

There was a brief moment of silence. "Very well," Tuvok replied. "We will wait until you are ready, then follow you to this 'Citadel'."

"Uh… you're not using any ME fields. I don't think you can follow us, Admiral."

"Then we will assist you in dropping off the supplies. Time is of the essence."

"Alright, I guess that works," Kenneth replied.


USS Voyager


"Admiral, that ship doesn't have any warp drive," Van'Zyl informed. "Yet we're over 50000 light-years from Earth."

"A mystery that the captains will have to have solved for us," Tuvok replied. "They have been here for over a month." The sight of the Delta Flyer leaving Voyager and heading for the Argo filled the screen as the Admiral began to analyze the situation. They weren't using any subspace technology. It was slightly disconcerting. But it was a mystery the Ra-Cailum and Raging Tempest had long since solved.

"Admiral, the Artemisia's signaling us," the Comm Officer reported. "They're going to head out on their own to explore this galaxy. They've mentioned they'll be under cloak the whole time to avoid detection."

"It is unlikely they will go far. Permission granted, regardless."


USS Ra-Cailum - Citadel - 15 hours later


The ship was barely getting used to having a real XO. Natarle, now with a properly sized uniform (one that didn't squash her rather… sizable bust) sat in the chair assigned to the first officer, working on paperwork that the rest of the senior staff and Ron normally had to deal with before she formally demoted herself to Commander and became the XO.

"Sir, we're being hailed by an approaching transport: MSV Argo, inbound from Horizon," Corpsa informed.

"Interesting," Ron replied. "Put them through."

"This is Captain Kenneth Roland of the Argo," the Argo's captain said as he came on screen. "A pleasure to finally meet you, Captain Pinkerton."

"Captain, with due respect, I'm about to head out: there's a certain organization I need to behead."

"You should pay a visit to Horizon: there's a few people wanting to talk to you."

Ron sighed. "Oh, what the fuck," he said. "Riza?"

"On it, Onii-san," she said. "Setting course for the Relay now."

"Corpsa, tell Takeshi to take care of whatever the hell Shepard's got to deal with. We'll handle whatever's at Horizon." Hopefully, Cerberus laid a trap for them.


Ron the True Fan: Game of thrones, check. The destruction of galactic civilization as they know it, check.

Takeshi Yamato: Reuniting Ron with his lover from before he was assimilated, double-check.

117Jorn: Titanfall and Cerberus ass kicking incoming, triple-check.

Ron the True Fan: Let the fun part begin. Next time, Feros and Virmire.

Ja Ne!