Chapter Nine

"Wake up, Will," someone murmured above him. An arm hooked behind his back and pulled him upright and he opened his eyes to look into the smiling face of Beverly Crusher. "You took a beating, but you'll be all right. How do you feel?"

"Like a shuttlecraft landed on my head," Riker groaned. He glanced around the room, taking in a sickbay that he assumed belonged to the Hood. "I see the Hood won. Is everyone else all right? What happened?"

"Later, Will. First, there's someone who wants to see you," Beverly smiled softly at him, then turned around and Deanna came into the room, followed by several other people.

"Deanna," Riker grinned. Troi threw her arms around him and the two clung to one another while Crusher beamed at them. "I'm okay, Deanna."

"Well, of course you are! You had the very best taking care of you with Voyager's Doctor and Beverly. I knew you would be fine." She stepped back and looked at him disapprovingly. "Don't do something so stupid again, Will."

"Believe me, if there'd been an option other than flying into the blast radius of a missile in order to shoot it down, I would have taken it," Will sighed. He looked up over Deanna's shoulder and saw Picard and Janeway. "Captain, Admiral. I'm glad to see you are both all right. How's Ro?"

"She's fine, Number One," Picard said. "She spent some time with a dermal regenerator after the Hood picked us up and now she's working with Geordi and Data to fix up some of the damage to the Hood."

From beside him, DeSoto spoke up. Riker's head jerked to the left, he hadn't seen DeSoto enter. "My ship took quite a pounding thanks to this little escapade of yours. But I suppose it's now my escapade too."

Riker grinned at him. "Are we under arrest, Bob?"

DeSoto sighed, then his face changed slowly to a wry smile. "Not exactly. Starfleet Command is under the… mistaken impression… that my ship and I were an active part in this whole disastrous plot. Technically, I'm AWOL too."

Riker laughed. "Welcome to the club, Captain DeSoto!" He stood, slowly rolling his head from side to side. He looked up. "Well, Starfleet is probably chasing us like a bat out of hell. Where are we that we haven't been arrested?"

"We haven't left Athos IV," Janeway said. "We have one last thing that we need to do before we leave and we wanted you to be conscious for it."

"Well then," Riker said. "Let's get up and get going, shall we? I wouldn't want to be in the Badlands any longer than I had to be."

The group entered the bridge of the Hood that was in surprisingly good shape. In front of the viewscreen Riker could make out a pair of legs that belonged to Ro, the rest of her obscured because she was lying under the conn panel making repairs. Geordi stood above her, his hands running over the panel. At tactical, Lieutenant Neeley was running systems tests with Data and Chakotay.

DeSoto took the helm. "Ms. Ro," he said as he sat down. Ro's legs slid forward and she popped up to her feet.

"Sir?" she asked.

"Captain Picard and Admiral Janeway thought you would like to do the honors," DeSoto said. Ro shot a glance over towards the turbolift, glancing at both of them and nodding at Riker and Deanna.

"All right," she answered. She looked over at Neeley. "Lieutenant… Neeley, right? On the surface you should detect one Starfleet issue combadge – it's about seven years out of date, but it should still be functional. I want you to target it with two low-yield quantum torpedoes, but set them to a maximum blast radius. They don't need to be powerful – trust me, what's on the surface will supply the punch." She looked back at DeSoto. "Put some space between us and the planet. After those things go off, I doubt it'll still have a breathable atmosphere and we don't want to get stuck in a blast of that magnitude."

"I'll say," DeSoto agreed. "Very well." He grinned down at Geordi, who was sitting adjacent to the helm. "It's been a long time since you were helmsman of this ship, La Forge. The conn is yours. Get us a safe distance from the planet, preferably not in the middle of the plasma storms."

Geordi grinned widely. "Aye sir." He pulled the conn panel back into place over his lap and set a course away from Athos IV. The planet shrunk slightly on the viewscreen and each of them watched intently.

Ro clenched her fists. "Target my combadge and fire," she said flatly.

At tactical, Neeley pressed two buttons, then her hand pressed down softly. Two torpedoes twinkled as they descended towards the planet and then vanished as they cut under the atmosphere. Then there was a bright blast, bright enough to blind the entire bridge crew if the viewscreen hadn't automatically lowered the intensity of the light, which obscured the planet. When it had passed, Athos IV sported a huge crater where the launch site had once been.

Ro sighed. "Now it's over," she said. "That's the end of it."

Chakotay sank into one of the science station chairs, watching as Athos IV glowed as the damaged atmosphere tried to adjust for the massive explosion that had added a huge crater and cracked the planet's crust. Plumes of black ash were soaring up into the sky and volcanoes triggered in response to the blast, the planet's dusky grey atmosphere fading to a darker black. "The Maquis are gone," he said quietly. "That was our last legacy, but it was a legacy I don't want us to remember."

Janeway strode over to him, placing both her hands on his shoulder in comfort. From next to DeSoto, Picard was the one who spoke. "Thanks to what we've done, Commander, this won't be the legacy of the Maquis. They will be remembered for what they did and how they died – for the righteousness of their cause, not the mistakes they almost made." He turned and nodded at DeSoto. "Get us out of here, Robert. We're finished here."

DeSoto nodded towards Geordi at the helm. "Commander La Forge, set a course out of the Badlands, your discretion on course and speed. Do me a favor and avoid the plasma storms, I'd really like to get out of this bloody place without doing any more damage to my poor ship."

Geordi nodded and set a course out, the Hood sailing sedately over and below the roiling sea of plasma, safely avoiding the larger funnels of plasma like those that had annihilated the Cardassian ship.

Most of the bridge crew was locked on the viewscreen, taking in the primal fury and natural beauty of the Badlands, but Ro was making her way over cautiously towards Riker and Troi. Deanna noticed her in the corner of her eye and smiled to herself, poking Riker surreptitiously.

Ro finally walked up beside them. "Commander, thank you for what you said on the Flyer. I…" her voice fell away and she waited for him to respond.

Will nodded at her. "As much as we fought, Laren, I always respected you. We fought over everything that we could possibly have fought over, but in the end I think the Enterprise always ran better for it." He shrugged. "I think maybe we fought so much because, in a lot of ways, we're alike. I'm glad you're back, Ro."

Ro nodded and wandered off. Deanna leaned up and whispered something in Riker's ear and he turned back to her in astonishment. "Deanna!" he hissed. She laughed uncontrollably under her breath.

From helm, Geordi looked up. "We're coming up on the edge of the Badlands," he reported. On the viewscreen, the plasma storms began to fade as the Hood progressed steadily onwards and then the ship skated out of the storms, leaving the deadly region behind. DeSoto sighed in relief.

Behind him, Neeley's eyebrows rose. "Captain, I believe we have company," she said. She tapped a few buttons and the viewscreen switched from the sedate stars that had been there to a different picture. Three Federation starships hung in space, waiting for their return. One was a Sovereign-class starship, the Yorktown. Another was the boxy, wedge shape that was indicative of a Defiant-class escort – her ID code said she was the Kumari. The last ship was the largest, four glowing warp nacelles behind a large triangular forward saucer.

DeSoto grimaced. "The Prometheus," he said with a sigh. "Admiral Nechayev."

Neeley looked up, then tapped a button on her console and put through the hail from the incoming fleet. "USS Prometheus to USS Hood, you are ordered to stand down your weapons, lower your shields, and prepare to be boarded. Repeat, you are ordered to stand down your weapons, lower your shields, and prepare to be boarded. If you do not comply with these instructions we will initiate deadly force."

DeSoto rolled his eyes. "Friendly bunch, aren't they," he said. He looked up at Picard. "Well, my friend, it appears that we are under arrest."

Picard held up a hand. "Lieutenant Neeley, I want you to respond to that hail. Tell Admiral Nechayev that we'll return peaceably to Earth and return the transwarp coil, but that we have some Bularian canapés that we think she should try for herself over here."

DeSoto raised an eyebrow. "Bularian canapés?"

Admiral Alynna Nechayev strode into the Hood's conference room, her aide waiting patiently outside. At the table sat Captain Picard, Captain DeSoto, Admiral Janeway, and the rest of their conspiracy members. She planted her hands on the table, glaring down the line at each of them. "Have you all lost your minds?" she asked. "Do you have any idea how much trouble you are all in?"

Picard interrupted. "Mr. Data, would you be so kind to put the image we discussed on the main viewer?" he asked. Data nodded and the screen that overlooked the conference table blinked to life, an image of one of the antimatter warheads that had been on Athos IV appearing. "Do you recognize this, Admiral?"

Nechayev shrugged. "Of course, it's one of the old long-range tactical antimatter missiles that were created during the first Cardassian war. They were never used and were sent into mothballs – it was decided they were simply too powerful and using them would invite retaliation." She looked at Picard, eyeing him. "What's going on, Jean-Luc?"

Chakotay leaned forwards. "After my ship and I were lost in the Delta Quadrant, a former Federation officer by the name of Michael Eddington defected to the Maquis from his post as the chief of security on the Defiant. He used connections inside of Starfleet to obtain a supply of several dozen of these warheads – a connection that was as high up as an Admiral."

Aside him, Ro shrugged. "We decided never to use the warheads because we had no way to launch them and didn't want to spend the resources needed to construct a proper launcher. They sat and rotted on Athos IV until the Cardassians and Jem'Hadar arrived on that world and captured the supply." Ro leaned back in her chair. "I received a message confirming that the missile launcher – a launcher we'd never constructed – had been activated. We suspected that a member of Starfleet might have been involved since there were no Maquis left and we didn't know the Cardassians knew about the warheads and that's the reason for all the deception and… illegal activity on our part in recent days."

Nechayev sat down heavily. "Were the warheads still on Athos IV?" she asked.

Picard nodded. "It turned out a Cardassian Gul, Madred, had taken control of the facility and sent the message to Lieutenant Ro in order to lure me to Athos so that he could finish what we'd started almost a decade ago during the Minos Corva incident."

Nechayev nodded. "I remember him." She glanced at Janeway. "How did you get involved?"

Janeway laughed. "By accident," she said. "They needed Chakotay to help shut down the missiles and we were somewhat… involved… when Commander Riker arrived to recruit the Commander to this plan."

Nechayev glanced down at the table. She sighed. "A month ago Starfleet Intelligence received a report from the Cardassian Intelligence Bureau that Gul Madred had disappeared, headed for regions unknown. He and many other Cardassian military officers object to the new civilian government in Cardassia, but most of them understand that it's necessary – there are those that do not. Madred disappeared with another Gul, Jasad, and a Cardassian Galor-class warship. It was believed that they were after you, Jean-Luc, which is why we recalled the Enterprise for shore leave and retrofitting."

Picard's mouth dropped open. "And you didn't see fit to tell me about this?"

Nechayev winced. "We were planning to, but the Enterprise got involved in the transwarp project and you disappeared before we got the chance."

Riker laughed. "Unbelievable. We could have avoided all of this mayhem if the Admiralty was just a little bit better at communicating." He glanced at Nechayev. "So, are we all going to prison for this?"

Nechayev glanced at him. "Well, Commander, you'll have to face a board of inquiry and a court-martial, but I suspect that you'll all be exonerated once the facts get out, especially if the public should find out about the whole mess and that this rogue Gul was prepared to kill civilians with old Maquis weaponry."

Data was sitting quietly next to Nechayev. "Admiral, there is still one more question that needs to be answered – there was a high level Starfleet official who was supplying the Maquis with weapons and ammunition during the resistance."

Nechayev glanced around the room and then she sighed. "Yes, Data. I know. I was," she admitted.

The room went silent as the conspirators shared incredulous looks. Finally, Picard looked at Nechayev and asked, "You, Admiral? You were the foremost member of the Admiralty who was opposed to the Maquis, even through the Voyager court-martial. You were under direct orders to stop the Maquis by whatever means necessary and you forwarded those orders to dozens of other Starfleet officials, like myself and Captain Sisko and even Admiral Janeway here."

Nechayev looked up, her eyes cold and hard. "No, Captain. My orders were to protect Federation interests in the demilitarized zone and to preserve the peace. I did what I had to do in order to preserve the peace, but after you negotiated the treaty that handed Federation citizens over to the tender mercies of the Cardassian Union and they started being abused, I took what action I could to protect those civilians. We abandoned those people to their worst enemy, Jean-Luc! You were as opposed to it as I was. If not for me and other officials inside of Starfleet, the Maquis would have starved to death and the colonists they protected would have all been killed or turned into helpless refugees, as what had happened to Bajor. I wouldn't have that on my conscience." She winced. "Those missiles were intended to be used as torpedoes, not long range planetary warheads. I couldn't smuggle out any more photons without drawing suspicion. In hindsight it wasn't that smart, but the Maquis were desperate for ammunition at the time."

Riker sighed. "Wow," he said tiredly. "What a mess."

Nechayev stood. "You destroyed the missiles?" she asked. "There is no longer a threat?" Janeway nodded an acknowledgement. "Good. Now, there's the question of what will become of all of us. We might all go down together for this – the person who set it in motion," she gestured to herself, "the ones who did the fighting," she pointed at Ro and Chakotay, "and those who threw away their careers in order to correct the remaining mistakes of that… turbulent time." She sighed.

Janeway shrugged. "We will be court-martialed," she said quietly. Nechayev nodded. "I think maybe we should tell everyone the real story. Tell the truth, to everyone. There's enough sympathy for the Maquis in the Federation now that there's very little chance that any of us will face censure."

Riker glanced at Nechayev. "How many people knew that you were supplying the Maquis with weapons and supplies during the resistance?"

Nechayev shrugged. "My aide who was killed during the Dominion War. Commander Eddington himself only knew that the supplies came from a higher up inside the Starfleet command structure but we never told him who exactly."

A tiny small crossed Janeway's face. "It would be somewhat ironic if we all went down for this together," she said quietly, gaining the attention of the others. "But I have an idea that could arrange for our court-martial to end without any of us losing our careers – especially with current public opinion being what it is in favor of the Maquis." She glanced at Data. "Data, is our subspace transmitter still being jammed by the Prometheus?"

"Yes, Admiral," Data responded. "We are unable to get any messages in or out."

"But the Prometheus can?" Janeway asked. Data nodded his agreement. Janeway turned and grinned at Nechayev. "I think it's time we officially became Maquis," she said. "You said we'd probably get exonerated after all the information got out. I have a message I want you to send to Tom Paris for me." She grinned widely. "It's time to face the music – but I intend to write the score and be ready to dance."

The four starships reentered the Earth solar system, bypassing Jupiter and Mars to come into orbit around Earth. The conspirators were held aboard the Hood along with the Hood's crew, who were also in trouble for disobeying orders and going after the Delta Flyer. Their communications were locked down, but they were allowed visitors while awaiting court-martial – Admiral Nechayev had seen to that.

A small shuttlecraft, a typical Starfleet class two, was soaring up from Earth towards the Excelsior-class Hood. On board were some visitors: Tom Paris, B'Elanna Torres, and Miral were the ones registered on the docking manifest. In the back section, his lifesigns smothered by the ship's engine and a device he had brought along specifically for that purpose, hid Jake Sisko. Why do I always choose the most dangerous and possibly illegal stories to cover? Laughing quietly, Jake grinned to himself. If you want the good story, you have to take the risks.

"Welcome to Quark's Bar, Grill, Gaming House and Holosuite Arcade! Come in, come in! Remember, we're the place where Jake Sisko got his start as a reporter! Come watch his fascinating news reports straight off the information feed from the FNS in that very same place!" Quark turned to his waiter. "Broik, go get the bigger screen for the news reports," he whispered as the guests milled about, ordering drinks and spinning the Dabo tables. "I had no idea that Sisko's kid would become so popular. Nog should have become a reporter."

According to the FNS, Sisko would have an exclusive scoop on a major story – although he had refused to tell anyone what the story was until after it had already aired. Quark, recently released from prison at the behest of the Grand Nagus, had jumped on the opportunity to make up for lost profits.

Quark tripped over a large foot that was sticking out by the bar. "Morn, watch where you put your foot," Quark complained, kicking the foot. Morn turned and looked at him with a blank expression, then turned away to watch the monitor that Broik was setting up.

"This is the Federation News Service, reporting from San Francisco on Earth. My name is Jake Sisko." On the screen, Jake grinned. "I'm sure all of you are aware of the recent events that took place on Earth involving the Maquis captain who served on Voyager, Chakotay, and Voyager's captain, the newly promoted Kathryn Janeway. Thanks to special inside sources among Voyager's crew and associates, I now have the entire story of those events and several first person interviews with the people who were involved themselves – including Captain Phillipa Louvois, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Commander William T. Riker of the Enterprise, Captain Robert DeSoto and Lieutenant Lisa Neeley of the Hood, and Voyager's EMH, Commander Chakotay, and Admiral Janeway herself."

On the screen the image changed as he named each person, a short biography lingering on the display. "This incredible story began with a Maquis survivor, a former Federation officer who served under Captain Picard on the Enterprise before defecting to the Maquis seven years ago, Ro Laren returning from exile in the Badlands to inform her former commanding officer that…"

The rest of the commentary didn't register in Quark's mind. The image on the screen was Talia, the woman who'd set him up and sent him to prison. She's used him to find Picard! I've been an unknowing participant in this conspiracy! The outrage! The potential profits!

Quark immediately flung himself over to his computer, plugging in various numbers. Where's that address Jake gave me if I ever needed to contact him. It's got to be here somewhere…

Admiral Owen Paris was returning home after a long day at work. There had been a huge buzz around the office about some news report, but he'd been exceptionally distracted. Since the Hood had arrived he'd been going through every piece of evidence, all the information he had in an attempt to find out what exactly Janeway and Chakotay had been thinking, but so far all his searching had been for naught. They just… vanished. For no apparent reason other than their illicit relationship. I can't believe Admiral Janeway would do something so disloyal, there has to be another explanation.

Owen walked up to his house and stopped. The front door was open again and on the lawn were a large number of vehicles. The lights were on brightly through almost all the windows and he could hear the sounds of a party. Tom didn't throw a party while I was out of the house, did he? I'm not home that early. He's not sixteen anymore, damn it.

"Tom!" he called as he walked in the door. "What are you thinking! Who are all these…" Owen paused as he turned and entered the living room. Gathered around the video monitor were several dozen people, some wearing Starfleet uniforms but many not. He recognized Seven of Nine sitting in one corner with Commander Tuvok. On the couch Tom and Harry were laughing uproariously at something on the monitor, B'Elanna holding little Miral in her arms and doing her best not to laugh along with them.

There were dozens of other Voyager crewmen. Ken Dalby was sitting near Tuvok with Mariah Henly. Rose Jenkins was wearing her new Lieutenant's uniform in a chair adjacent to Lieutenant Rollins and Ensign Vorik. "What the hell?" he muttered. "Tom!" he cried again, louder. "What's going on here?"

Tom just laughed and pointed at the monitor. Owen turned and focused his view on the screen. "So you asked Captain Louvois to throw the Maquis trial so that you could break Chakotay out – all to prevent the people who controlled the missiles from learning that you were coming to stop them?" Jake was asking.

On the screen, Janeway rubbed the back of her head. "It sounds crazy, doesn't it," she admitted. "I had much the same response when it was suggested, but it was the only way we could get Chakotay out of the system without giving away the fact that he was headed to the DMZ. Of course, as it turns out Gul Madred knew we were coming anyway so it didn't matter, but…" Janeway grinned. "It was fun," she admitted, her face taking on a slight blush.

In the room the Voyager crew erupted into laughs and cheers.

Owen collapsed into a chair, gesturing at Tuvok to come over. "I think you'd better tell me everything, Commander," he said loud enough to be heard over the din. "Then Tom has some explaining to do."

The room grew quiet as footage from the Delta Flyer and the Hood from the battle that had taken place in the Badlands played on the screen, culminating with the destruction of the Cardassian vessel. On the screen, Jake was interviewing DeSoto and Neeley. DeSoto was the focus, Neeley was sitting quietly next to him trying not to be noticed. "Captain DeSoto, you didn't know about this plan until well after your ship had been sabotaged and the transwarp coil stolen, yes? Why did you agree to go after Captain Picard and Admiral Janeway to provide assistance?"

DeSoto smiled. "When you're a starship captain, Mr. Sisko, you get used to all kinds of things. The boring missions where you haul your behind back and forth between starbases, the combat missions where your ship gets pounded into wreckage, and the exploration missions. One thing that you learn is that when your fellow captains ask for your help, they wouldn't ask if they didn't actually need it. Captains help each other out, Mr. Sisko. Out there, all you have is each other." DeSoto laughed suddenly. "Besides, if there's one thing that Captain Picard and Admiral Janeway aren't, it's completely crazy. And this mission was just that… completely crazy." He sobered for a second. "We were lucky to come out of the Badlands in one piece," he admitted. "If not for Chakotay's completely off-the-wall Maquis tactics and Lieutenant Neeley here's fine combat instincts we wouldn't be here to have this conversation."

On the Hood, the conspirators watched Jake Sisko's news broadcast. Riker laughed at the screen as Neeley shied away from answering questions. "Shy, Lieutenant?" he asked, his arm wrapped securely around Deanna. Beside them sat Picard and Crusher, talking quietly. At the end of the table was Ro, watching the broadcast. Data and Geordi sat on the other side. On the table were a large number of long-discarded poker chips and cards.

Neeley glared at him. "Not at all, Commander. I just don't like public speaking." She shrugged. "Jake's a good kid. I've known him for a pretty long time." She shook her head. "God, Starfleet Command is going to be so pissed that we managed to sneak Sisko aboard the Hood for this interview. It pretty much destroys any chance they had at punishing us the way we deserve." She glared at Geordi, Data, and Janeway. "Or the way you people deserve for making me look like an idiot the other day."

Janeway patted Neeley's shoulder. "Sorry about that, Lisa. It won't happen again."

Neeley nodded. "You're right. Next time I'm tying Ensign Sutter to the transwarp coil and he's never leaving its presence."

Data raised an eyebrow. "Lieutenant, that would have very detrimental effects on the heath of Ensign Sutter…"

Riker cut him off. "Sarcasm, Data. Sarcasm." Data nodded his understanding. Riker leaned back and grinned at Janeway and Chakotay who were sitting close together, Chakotay's hand resting surreptitiously on Janeway's leg. "Welcome back to the Alpha Quadrant," Riker said with a grin.

Ro kicked back, planting her feet up on the table. "It's been fun," she said.