"James you go left while I go right we meet in the Promenaed in twenty minutes twenty-five if you or I take the long route"
"actual location?"
"Quarks I guess and of course you know what happens is you don't report in"
"right back at you admiral"
well twenty-five minutes later James runs up to Quarks to see the admiral trying to catch her breath
"anything…James?"
"no…you?"
"nothing" she hits the bar in frustration when they hear very bad news from a Bajoran security officer
"Odo is down!"
they get to his location as he wakes up
"Odo what happened?" asked Sisko obviously concerned about him being knocked out somehow
"the intruder got me from behind when I was checking the cargo hold"
Jewel growls at that knowing how hard it is to hurt Odo "that's it this intruder is as good as knocked out for a good five hours if I catch him, James maximum stun"
"gladly"
"you and I are doing a level by level search if you find him shoot, no time limit but check in every half hour"
"yes sir"
as it turned out the intruder wasn't very far and threatened to kill Garak if they didn't meet his demands
"I managed to take down the changeling though it took me a few tries I can easily kill this Cardassian"
as the intruder was boasting Jewel got in front of the intruder while James snuck behind him suddenly James spoke up
"look behind you"
the intruder turns and gives Jewel the opportunity to stun him
"good work James"
"you too"
unfortunately the intruder had friends and they tried to get other civilians but due to many years in training especially the first two years of using bows and arrows James and Jewel had split second timing and took out the other intruders before they could harm the civilians
"so, think the brig can hold the many James?"
a Bajoran officer speaks up
"we'll make it work they hurt our boss they deserve to be locked up for a bit"
"works for me" replied Jewel glad that they were going to be punished
and so basic repairs are made and then her crew heads to Earth for additional repairs and new orders
once on Earth they had a meeting with the President
"first of all I want to congratulate all of you on surviving what had to be the hardest years of you lives second I was informed by captain Sisko that you have non regulation weapons on your ship could you explain that please?"
"certainly Mr. president it was so that we could survive on a desert like planet for two years these weapons are called bows and arrows and with your approval I would like knowing how to use them part of the requirement to be part of my crew"
"how long has your crew used them?"
"six years Mr. president"
"than by all means that's allowed and I'll even go one step further I'm making the basic use of bows and arrows a required course in the academy starting next year"
"thank you Mr. president"
"you guys look like you're not comfortable without them weapons so before we do anything else get your weapons off your ship I'll let security know I've approved it"
they all look very relieved to hear that they could get their bows an arrows which had become a part of them in the past six years
"admiral Jewel to USS JEWEL five to beam up"
and so they got their weapons and then by some unspoken agreement only Jewel and James went back down meet the president in his office
"since it's been a while since you've been around a lot of people and done anything besides surviving and getting home I'm assigning you to the demilitarized zone for at least one year so that you can get used to working with people again"
"if I may make a suggestion sir?"
"go ahead"
"I suggest you split the crew up for six months an then we can come back together and do our original mission of exploring"
"but wouldn't that disrupt the unity of your crew?"
"actually it won't sir because since we've lived together for nine years we know each other quite well"
"of course but you will still be in small groups so you can support each other"
"thank you Mr. president"
well once the meeting was over the went back to the ship and in the food area had a shipwide meeting where there were initially protests of being separated
"OK do you want a year of boarder patrol or being separated for six months than exploring like we use to come on guys we've been together nine years and in a way most ships aren't we survived the Delta Quadrant nothing but death can separate us besides we'll still be together sort of he's keeping us in small groups so that we can support each other"
a timid ensign speaks up
"so it's only for six months?"
"yes and as a bonus I managed to get those that were fresh out of the academy on the Enterprise and Voyager and the Voyager crew can help because they went through the same thing except they were out of contact for most of the journey and it only took them seven years instead of nine and captain Picard is also an excellent captain plus if needed you can talk to counselor Troi who's half Betazed"
"what about the rest of us?" asked a Lt. who had every right to be a little concerned since it had been a long time since they had been apart and it was going to be scary for them
"the assignments were pretty random but like I said earlier you'll be with at least three other people from this crew"
well a few days later the crew wither went to where their new homes would be for six months or on ships that would take them to their assignments and the USS JEWEL was left docked for complete repairs and upgrades. Two months later on the ENTERPRISE