Back on the bridge of Voyager, Tuvok stoically notes, "The Borg cube has engaged the unknown warships. However, it appears that the unknown warships appear to be more than a match for the cube, as the Borg vessel is causing very little damage to the warships."

As the turbolaser fire from the alien ships is chewing chunks out of the Borg ship, Kim remarks joyfully, "The cube seems to be no match for the alien warships, Captain."

Chakotay smiles as a chunk of the cube 10 times the size of Voyager is blown off. Janeway quips the old axiom, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," and she tells Chakotay, "Begin with the repairs to Voyager quickly, as once the fleet is done with the Borg, they might turn their attention to us." Janeway then turns to Kim and asks him, "Have they answered their hail?"

"No ma'am, the other ships haven't. However, they have sent out energy surges that the Borg cube just repeated, which might be their communications systems. Seeing how different it is from our subspace communications, then it might not be compatible with our equipment. Also, I noticed what might be a transporter signal that shows that the Borg might have transported a drone to one of those ships." Janeway turns back to the viewscreen, and watches as the Borg cube explodes in a massive fireball, buffeting Voyager with debris. Anxiously, Kim reports, "Captain, I detected a communications signal from the cube just before it explodes, and it was in the direction of the wormhole that brought us here. It's a fair bet that the Borg are going to find out where we went."

A short time later, Lt. JG B'Elanna Torres reports, "Captain, I think that Harry and I have found a way to communicate with the other ships."

After working the Ops console for a moment, Kim reports, "Channel open, Captain," and Janeway hails what appears to be the lead ship.

"This is Captain Kathryn Janeway, of the Federation Starship Voyager. I wish to convey the gratitude of myself, and my crew, for your help."

A gravelly, raspy voice greets them, "You are quite welcome, my dear. I am General Grievous of the Confederacy of Independent. Do you require assistance?"

Smirking, Janeway responds, "My ship has received serious damage during our fight with the Borg, and we require repairs that we cannot attempt without a spacedock."

Grievous tells her, "We will latch onto your ship with a tractor beam, and tow your ship to the nearest Separatist base for repairs."

Janeway exchanges a look with Chakotay, who whispers to her, "We should probably go along with them, since if they can do what they did to a Borg cube, then what chance do we possibly have against them?"

Janeway considers for a moment before telling Grievous, "I will welcome any help that you could provide for us."

Grievous wheezes for a moment, before telling them, "Prepare to be tractored." The Invisible Hand latches onto Voyager with a tractor beam, and the Separatists fleet jumps into hyperspace.

A short time later, Seven is reporting to the rest of the Bridge, "According to these sensor readings, we are no longer in our galaxy."

"You can't be serious, how could we have left the Milky Way," Kim incredulously exclaims.

Seven just regards him coldly before telling him, "That is what the readings indicate, and until we find new evidence, that is the assumption that we must follow."

Before an argument can break out amongst the Bridge crew, the fleet decants from hyperspace and approaches the Separatist base orbiting the planet of Jabiim.

Impressed at the 20 kilometer long station, Janeway wonders aloud, "How far did we go?"

Checking his sensor readings, Paris turns around and incredulously exclaims, "Captain, we have gone over 180 light years. It would have taken us weeks to cover that distance by ourselves."

Seven replies, "I have confirmed Mr. Paris' readings."

Paris shoots a dirty look at Seven, who ignores it, and Chakotay wonders, "What else can this Confederacy do?" Janeway just shrugs her shoulders and exchanges a worried look with him.

A short time later, the command crew of Voyager eagerly is waiting as a CIS shuttle settles down in the shuttlebay. General Grievous confidently walks down the exit ramp, flanked by two of his personal IG-100 MagnaGuard droids. The Starfleet crew is first taken aback at the sight of the monstrous cyborg, but Grievous instead moves aside and introduces Count Dooku, the leader of the Separatist alliance. Putting on her best diplomatic face, Janeway says formally, "Greetings, welcome aboard Voyager. I am honored to meet you in person."

Dooku appears to study them for a moment before noting, "I have been made aware of your claim to be from another part of the universe, and I can sense that it appears that you are telling the truth."

Chakotay respectfully asks, "How can you know that just by looking at us?"

Dooku points to Neelix, Tuvok, and B'Elanna, "Because I have been from one side of this galaxy to another, and I have never seen anyone from their species before." Dooku walks right up to Seven and notes, "My dear, you appear to share certain characteristics with the unknown attackers that the good General here dispatched for us."

Seven bluntly states, "I was once part of the Borg Collective, but I was liberated by the crew of Voyager."

Dooku seems impressed, and wonders, "I am very interested in the technology that the Borg drone used to instantly appear out of nowhere."

Janeway smiles to herself, and replies, "Might I suggest that I take you on a tour of Voyager, and along the way, I will show you the transporter device."

As she leads the Separatists out of the shuttlebay, Chakotay turns to Tuvok and discreetly tells him, "Keep your security officers on alert for trouble," before he falls in line with Grievous.

Tuvok taps his combadge and says, "Security, code 3 green," and moves to join the tour.

Eventually, the tour reaches the transporter room, where B'Elanna describes, "This device is similar to the one that the Borg uses, with a few differences."

Grievous demands, "What kind of differences are there?"

Seven steps in on B'Elanna, and replies, "The Borg have been evolving and assimilating species for over 5000 years, and that it was one of those past species that developed the transporter system that the Borg currently use."

Dooku asks, "I wonder if the Federation uses the transporter on people as well?"

Janeway happily tells him, "Oh yes, the transporter is quite safe. It is also much easier and convenient than using shuttles to ferry people around."

Dooku cryptically tells her, "Most impressive," but he doesn't sound very sure about it. After the tour has concluded, Dooku tells Janeway, "Now, we shall negotiate for your protection back to the anomaly while your ship is repaired." He takes Janeway and Tuvok with him to negotiate for protection back to the wormhole.

An indeterminate time later, Voyager is being escorted back to the wormhole by the Separatist's fleet. Janeway is in her ready room as the door chimes. "Come in," she answers, and Chakotay comes in with a concerned look on his face.

Chakotay sternly tells her, "The new technology has been successfully installed and integrated with the warp drive, Captain."

Janeway looks him over and directly asks him, "Chakotay, what's wrong?"

Chakotay asks her, "Permission to speak freely?"

"Granted."

"Kathryn, what the hell possessed you to think that you can trade Federation technology and all of our information about the Borg to the Confederacy when we hardly know anything about them? I remember when you told Ensign Hogan that you would destroy this ship before you handed over any of our technology, and we both know what that cost him!"

Sternly, Janeway replies, "That's what it took to get our hands on the hyperdrive, which will get us back home in a week, rather than the 65 years that we have left."

Interrupting, Chakotay tells her, "We know almost nothing about the interests of the CIS. This new wormhole that we wandered into appears to be just as stable as the Bajoran one, and if the CIS is in reality a hostile force, then we will be openly leaving their home galaxy to the mercy of people that made destroying a Borg Cube look easy."

"I know about the reports of the "Clone Wars" that are raging right now, of the CIS rebelling against the Galactic Republic. But right now my priorities are and always have been to getting this crew home."

Cutting her off, Chakotay angrily tells her, "We have just violated the Prime Directive by giving transporter technology and information to a movement that is rebelling against a legitimate government, technology which will most certainly interfere with the natural evolution of this galaxy. What's more, even you can see that this Confederacy is just a collection of mindless machines, and that with people like General Grievous and Nute Gunray, they wouldn't hesitate to attack the Federation if they thought they could get away with it!"

Finally standing up, Janeway angrily tells him, "You have not proof whatsoever that our new allies are thinking of anything but what's best for their people, and I promised my crew that I WILL get them home, no matter what the consequences are. Things are different now. If I hadn't traded for the hyperdrive, then we would have decades of travel left through Borg space, and there is no way that we could get back to our homes and families." Softening up a bit, she continues, "I'm sorry Chakotay, but I have to take this chance. In less than a week, we will be home."

Before Chakotay can reply, Tuvok hails them from the Bridge, "Captain, we have been hailed by Count Dooku, and he says that it's urgent that you speak with him."

"On my way Lt.," she replies and the two feuding officers leave her ready room. Once there, Janeway greets Dooku, "Hello again, Count. How may we be of assistance?"

"I am informing you that I am sending two Ambassadors with you on your journey back to the Federation, in order to open up relations between our two great civilizations. I can foresee that both of our cultures will achieve great things in the many years to come." The entire bridge crew seems to be swayed by Dooku's words, with the exception of Tuvok, who just raises an eyebrow in response.

Janeway happily replies, "Of course I will take your Ambassadors to Earth."

A short time later, Voyager decants from hyperspace at the Gateway Wormhole. Down in the transporter room, Janeway and Chakotay greet Nute Gunray and a mysterious woman named Asajj Ventress in the transporter room. "Welcome aboard Voyager, I am…"

Urgently, Tuvok calls down to the transporter room, "Captain, to the bridge! Red Alert!"

"If you'll follow us," Janeway tells them, and the four people leave the transporter room to go to the Bridge. Once there, they see that three Borg Cubes have arrived through the Gateway wormhole. The Separatist fleet begins firing on the Cubes, but it is not as easy this time to destroy the invaders. However, eventually the Borg ships are destroyed.

Dooku hails them, "I believe that you are now ready to make your journey back to the Federation."

"Thank you, Count, for all of your help. I hope to one day come back and talk to you again." Dooku tilts his head slightly, and cuts off communications. Paris pilots the starship to the wormhole, and once through, sets a course for Earth, taking off into hyperspace.