4

"Star-Date 2501.12…" Jean-Luc Picard recorded in his ship's log. "The Enterprise has been pulled away from a routine check at Robinson's Planet to converge with several other ships to DS-9, but along the way we have met up with the USS Voyager commanded by Captain Kathryn Janeway, a good friend and ally in our defeat of the Borg. It seems she has recently encountered a rather curious communication from DS9 ahead of our arrival."

"Imperial…" The transmission was highly distorted and complicated by technology blocking the signal. "Has been killed… Starfleet… ultimate weapon…"

"Captain…" On the bridge of the Enterprise, First Officer Data stood at ops with Security Officer Kara Zor-El of Titan Colony trying to clear the message. "The signal used to block this transmission resembles the frequency used by the Empire over our communications. By reverse triangulating the signal, we may be able to decipher the original message."

"Make it so…"

"It's an Imperial blocking frequency all right…" Kara reversed coordinated the message as Janeway watched their progress from her ship. "I'm afraid I can't get much of the original message, but…"

"I'm sure you can get it." Janeway sat in her seat on her ship as Picard stood and watched over their efforts on his ship. Her crew had tried Romulan and Cardassian blocking technology as well as Ferengi and Cassiopeian, but when Data recognized it as Imperial, they all realized that things had turned worse.

"If I am not mistaken…" Data spoke as his positronic brain already deciphered the message. "I believe the voice is that of Commander Kira Nerise of DS9. There may have been a hostile take-over of the station by the Empire."

"The Empire…" Aboard Voyager, Luke felt a shudder in the Force. "That would contradict our reports of the Empire leading an attack on the Cardassian home-world."

"Captain…" Harry Kim detected a signal coming in. "Message coming through from DS9…"

"Share it with the Enterprise…" Janeway responded. "Put it on screen."

"Captain Janeway…" Commander Sisko appeared on screen. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, commander…" Janeway pretended to be aloof. "Why shouldn't I be?" On the Enterprise, Counselor Deanna Troi reacted with concern.

"We were expecting you at 05:00 and it now just under two hours later." Sisko seemed concerned. Jadsia Dax and Commander Odo flanked his image. "We became worried that you were having trouble."

"We had to drop out of warp to impulse power." Janeway immediately improvised. "It seems our warp core is once again reacting badly to our efforts to improve upon it. I apologize for not informing you with the details."

"Captain…" Deanna turned to Picard. "His speech pattern is oddly delayed… almost rehearsed… I think it could be coming generated from a holodeck."

"Do you require assistance?" Sisko asked Janeway.

"No…" Janeway looked by her side to Luke with a knowing-grin. "It may take us a bit longer, but we will arrive within the hour. Janeway out." She signed off with a deep gasp to cut the signal. Picard was beside himself with angry trepidation. He mulled the situation over. He hated these conflicts with the Empire. With the Borg, he knew what he was dealing with, but with the Empire, he was practically playing chess trying to determine what Palpatine was doing and constantly falling in line just as the Emperor predicted he would. Just once he'd like to make a move that madman had not orchestrated.

"Captain…" Kara spoke up. "We've deciphered the message."

"On-screen, share it with Voyager…"

"To all ships in our vicinity…" Kira's video message was unscrambled but still suffering from the cleaning process. It warped, folded and went in and out from the blocking process. "Imperial forces have seized DS9 and Bajor… I'm afraid most of my crew has been killed…" It backed up again and repeated itself. "…has been killed. Starfleet must be warned…" Her shuttlecraft was being wracked by fire from TIE fighters. "We have reason to believe that the Empire…" The signal backed up and showed Jadsia tinkering to keep them in flight. "…Empire has converted the station into a weapon…" It went out entirely.

The truth shocked Captain Janeway. Luke held his head in his hand and tried to be strong. Picard looked to Deanna and then to Data.

"Kara, relay the message to Starfleet and all Federation ships in our vicinity…" He took charge.

"All stations on Red Alert…" Janeway was taking charge of things on her ship. "Picard, I'm following your lead in this."

"We better hold off for now…" Picard spoke. "Right now, the Empire may think they have the upper hand, but let's not go blasting into this right now." He stood at his seat next to Counselor Troi. "Let's share our info with Starfleet and plan a method of attack. The Empire may think they're holding all the cards, but let's see if we can slip in another deck."