AN: Salutations, bienvenue, and Happy New Year! Not much for me to say now, so I'll shut and say on with the story!

Captains Log, stardate 86423.12

After parting ways with the Quinzel, Lecter, and Capaldi, the Hades has been ordered to monitor and patrol the surrounding sectors of where the Borg have been most active while a fleet can be assembled and the Borg's techniques of entering Fluidic space can be adapted to our ships so that we can open a singularity of our own to investigate the Borg incursion into the Undines space.

Zevil was walking the halls of his ship, something he had yet to fully do as of yet with the constant dangers going on with the Borg and now the Undine, thinking on the Iconian device and what the location that the Borg found it in means for the coming war.

-Flashback-

"Captain T'rras and her science team have conducted quantum scans on the device and sent the results to me. The scans show that the device was recovered in Fluidic space," Cray told Zevil over their secure sub-space channel, concern clear in his voice. "and it was recently placed there."

Before the Capaldi left, Zevil contacted T'rras and they agreed that, given her ship's superior facilities, she would examine the Iconian device and send the results to Cray. Given that her camouflage was that of a science ship, Zevil didn't need to lie too much when his people asked him questions about the transfer.

"Which proves the Iconians have been there, too." Zevil said, hand to his chin as he tried to see all the angles, "But why did they go there and why did the Borg take that device."

"They must have found it when they made their incursion into the Undines dimension. Perhaps the Borg used Iconian technology to improve their assimilation process." Said Cray, his usually stoic face showing the same level of concern as Zevil, perhaps more. "The Borg have been making incursions into Fluidic space for decades. They've tried to assimilate Undine before, but this is the first time they've come close to succeeding. Normally, the Undine's natural defenses fight off the nanoprobes."

"We'll have to look into this further." Zevil said resolve firm, but still very worried, "if the Iconians also attacked the Undine, this could just be the latest shot in a very, very long war against our dimension."

-End Flashback-

'Stop it.' Zevil shook himself, 'Don't focus on that, keep it in your mind, but now you need to look in on your crew.' Zevil thought as he made his way through deck Ten, nodding and saying hello to the crewmen he passed on his way there. 'I've been much too focused on the current dangers that I have neglected checking in on them.'

Realistically, he knew he couldn't check in with everyone onboard the Hades, but he could look in on his senior staff. Which was exactly what he planned to do as he walked into Ten Forward, looking for a particular senior staff member, and finding her with two other members of his staff. M'Mutt and Asouzi were sitting on a couch in a lounge area in a far corner with Yizura sitting in an armchair next to them.

"Hello you three." Zevil said as he walked up to her and the other two. The three officers looked up and smiled at their captain as he approached them. "May I join you?" he asked, they nodded, and he took a seat in another armchair next to Yizura. "Glad to see you up and about, lieutenant."

"Glad to be up and out of sick bay, Cap." Said Yizura with enough joviality to be real and not forced, a clear sign she was doing better. "Although I wish I was back on duty and not on sick leave, hence the civvies." She said with a gesture to herself, bringing attention to her long sleeve blue shirt, grey pants, and sneakers.

"It won't be for much longer, Yiz." Said Asouzi reassuringly. "You'll be back in your uniform and at your station before you know it."

"I hope it's soon," said Yizura with a slight grimace, "because I think if Ensign Osi has to deal with another situation like what happened with the Borg and Undine, she's going to have a nervous breakdown."

"I thought she did quite well, considering the situation." Said Zevil, meaning it. "The Ensign was a little panicked when she was following my orders, but she followed them to the letter and did so efficiently."

"I'm not saying that she can't do it," said Yizura, hand up in a placating gesture, "they wouldn't have let her out of the Academy if she wasn't, but to do bridge work, you need to think on your feet and Osi hasn't shown that yet." She shrugged, "When I get back on duty, I'll have her on lab work and put her on the bridges night shift, just to ease her into it."

"I might join her if we have to go up against another one of those Assimilated Undine." Said Asouzi with a shudder and Zevil could feel there was a touch of real fear when Asouzi thought about the monster they just fought.

"No way are you leaving my shift!" M'Mutt said in mock indignantly, "I still need to beat you at 'Stump the Spy'! Unless you want Rupert to be the only one to beat you."

"Are you kidding?" said Asouzi, her gloom being replaced with a mixture of indignation and determination. "He has become unbearable since winning a few days ago. Someone else has to win or else we are going to have to get stronger holo-emitters to accommodate his huge head!"

Everyone chuckled at the image, including Asouzi. 'Well done Lieutenant.' Zevil said in M'Mutt's mind, knowing that M'Mutt had brought up the holo-officers win to chase away Asouzi's demons. This earned him a sly wink from the Caitian that went unseen by their companions.

"So, what brings you down to mingle among us mere mortals, cap?" Asked Yizura good naturedly before turning coy, "Or did you just want to see me?"

"I hate to burst your bubble, lieutenant," Zevil said with chuckle, "But I wanted to check in with all of my senior staff to see how you all are doing. Besides Tyufia, Six, and Dr. Citte, I haven't had the time do so with the rest of you since we got the Hades."

"And here I thought I was special." Yizura said with sniff of mock insult and turning away from Zevil, causing M'Mutt and Asouzi to roll their eyes. Yizura had always been a touch dramatic and playful, making her fun to be around but a little tiring to be her friend, but they wouldn't trade her for anyone else.

"If it makes you feel better, you were the first person I wanted to see and make sure everything was okay after your injury." Zevil placated in a soothing tone.

Seeming to do the trick, Yizura turned back to him with a smile on her face. "I really am fine, Cap. Vaalm said I can be on light duty starting tomorrow and be back to full duty and back on the bridge in a few days."

"Good," Zevil said before turning to M'Mutt, "and how is it flying the Fury, Lieutenant?"

"Amazing, sir!" said M'Mutt with fervor. "She moves like an Orion dancer and packs a punch like a Klingon bat'leth fighter: smooth and fluid movements with a savage attack when you least expect it!"

"And how do you know that's how an Orion dancer moves?" asked Asouzi in a teasing tone, causing M'Mutt to stammer unintelligently.

Never one to miss a chance to get in on teasing her friends, she added. "Do we need to look at your holodeck programs just to see there are no viruses in them?"

Zevil chuckled as he watched the women good naturedly torment M'Mutt, who was not helping his case by vehemently denying he used such programs. He was glad to see his people were still so close after all they had gone through.

After talking with the three officers for a while longer, Zevil left them to find the next officer on his list: K'Thoke. After requesting his location from the computer, Zevil headed to holodeck 5 where the computer said he was.

Zevil approached the door but it didn't open. "Computer, open door to holodeck 5."

"Unable to comply," said the ships computer. "Door has been sealed by Lieutenant K'Thoke."

"What program is running in holodeck 5?" he asked, his eye's narrowing in suspicion, he had a bad feeling he knew what program was running.

"Klingon stress therapy 7." Said the monotone voice of the ship's computer and Zevil cursed internally.

"Computer, override the locking controls for this door. Zevil-omega-five-seven-one-one-two." Zevil ordered the computer. There was a positive tone and the doors opened to a barren mountainous area with multiple levels and several caves.

Walking into the holodeck, Zevil was only moderately surprised to see that K'Thoke was fighting several Klingons at once, armed only with a bat'leth. Zevil wasn't surprised to see there were rips in K'Thoke's uniform that showed bloody cuts, but that didn't stop his anger from flaring.

"Computer, end program and reset the safety protocols. Now!" Zevil ordered just as K'Thoke was about to deliver a horizontal slash at an oncoming Klingon, only to hit air as the area and the Klingons disappeared.

K'Thoke looked up, wild anger in his eyes as he looked at the intruder into his program, only to wince and quickly stand to attention when he saw it was his Captain with a scowl on his face. "Admiral, sir, I was just-"

"I am going to stop you right there, Lieutenant," Zevil said coldly hand up. "before you dishonor the both of us and attempt to lie to me."

A flash of outrage went across the Klingons face, but he quickly schooled his features to one of neutrality. "No, sir. I would not compound my dishonor by doing that, sir."

"I'm glad to hear that, Lieutenant." Zevil said, "However I am concerned that this is the second time we are in this situation." his tone then defrosted and became disappointed, "I thought that we had moved past this K'Thoke."

The mask of neutrality melted away as a shred of shame crossed his face. "No sir, this is not the same as then." The 'then' that the both of them were referring to was when Zevil took command of the Cardinal and K'Thoke came under his command.

K'Thoke resented that a cadet fresh from the Academy was now his commanding officer when he had been in Starfleet for eight years and he had not been promoted since making lieutenant. He had stayed in the Federation despite the Chancellors order for all Klingons to return to Qo'noS and prepare for war with the Federation, and he was still passed over for this 'child'!

He was filled with such rage, but he had already brought dishonor to his family by staying with Starfleet, so he would not bring further dishonor to them by being a less then exemplary officer, so he found a different way to vent his frustrations using a set programs that the Counselors called 'Klingon therapy': hand to hand combat, of varying intensity, against one or more Klingon warriors. The only problem was that K'Thoke took it a step too far and deactivated the safety protocols.

K'Thoke had believed that he was doing a good job of keeping these 'therapy sessions' secret, but what he didn't know was that Zevil and Tyufia both had sensed the resentment coming off him and that Citte had reported that some of his equipment had gone missing.

After looking into his activities, Zevil confronted the Lieutenant and gave him a choice, either he takes the black stain on his record that a formal write up would bring or they settle their issues like they would on a Klingon ship: one on one combat. K'Thoke chose the latter, confident that he would easily defeat someone he saw as lesser then himself.

He soon found out he was wrong when in only a few minutes of the fight, Zevil had him on his back, Zevil's foot on his chest, and his bat'leth poised to be driven into his throat, but Zevil removed both his foot and bat'leth, and offered his hand to help him off. It was that moment that K'Thoke began to respect Zevil and his later feats of valor and prowess cemented that trust and turned to pride at having such a fine captain to serve under.

"Then please explain to me what this is about, Lieutenant." Zevil ordered firmly, but concern was lacing his voice, dragging both their minds away from the past.

K'Thoke was quite for a while, trying to bring his feelings into words, before finally saying "I have not…felt right since we returned from that Cube."

"How do you mean, K'Thoke?" Zevil asked, feeling the Klingons unease and anxiety. "Was it fighting the Assimilated Undine that has brought on this disquiet you feel?"

"No, sir, it was not fighting that abomination that has caused my unease, it was a great honor to fight such a worthy foe." Said K'Thoke, a hint of his usual Klingon pride shining through his voice as he remembered that fight. "No, it was that laboratory where the qa'meH quv were being experimented on that has me in such disarray.

"Even though I remained in Starfleet, I agreed with the Empire that those vile shape changers should be either destroyed or driven out of our dimension." Said K'Thoke with venom in his voice, his hate for the Undine hitting Zevil like a ship going to warp. "But then I saw what the Borg were doing to them and I…felt sympathy for them. THEM! The very monster who wished to slaughter us like Targs before a feast!" at this last statement he flung his bat'leth at the opposite wall.

Zevil quickly grabbed it with his mind, stopping it meters before it could be lodged into the holodeck's wall. "Feeling sympathy or showing mercy for an enemy is not wrong, K'Thoke, even if that enemy would not show you the same." Zevil walked up to the large Klingon, bat'leth floating into his hand, and he held it up for K'Thoke to take. "It shows we are not only on the side of right, but that we have honor."

K'Thoke's eyes flashed and he stood up straighter as he took the weapon back. "Thank you, sir, you are of course right, and I will think on your words." He put his hands behind his back and stood to attention. "I am ready for any punishment you deem necessary and adequate to befit my crime, sir."

"I will not be punishing you Lieutenant." Zevil made a gesture to K'Thoke's injuries, "You have clearly punished yourself enough. Report to Dr. Citte heal your wounds, and if he asks tell him to refer to me."

K'Thoke nodded and started to leave, but stopped at the door and turned to Zevil, "Thank you again, Admiral. I am proud to serve under an officer like you." And without another word, he left and Zevil smiled in gratitude.

After that emotional rollercoaster, Zevil was always glad to help his crew when they needed him, but he was really hoping his next port of call was a little less heavy, that port being Engineering.

As Zevil walked into the large room, he silently marveled at the sheer size of the warp core. It was truly huge at thirty feet tall, pulsed with red energy, and Zevil had virtually no idea how it worked beyond the basics. He was sure his sister knew, being an Engineer aboard the U.S.S. Medusa, but he had never been able to do the simplest repair job for a Shuttle. He was happy to leave that sort of thing to his sister, Six, or Rupert.

Speaking of the photonic lifeform, Zevil saw him with a Caucasian human man over by the warp core diagnostic console and started to walk over to him. "These power levels seem a little off, Perkins, keep an eye on them laddie." And then he vanished.

Zevil looked around and saw him reappeared next to a Benzite woman with a padd that she handed to him, "Very good Mezda, I'll sign off on this a little later." Gone again, this time popping up next to a human Asian woman working under a console. "No, no Jackie, use a hyperspaner. More versatile then the decupler."

This time when he disappeared, Zevil couldn't find him. "Admiral!" Zevil jumped and let out a yelp of surprise at the unexpected voice behind him. "This is a real treat, sir!"

"Damnit, Chief!" Zevil chastised as he turned around to face his Chief of Engineering. "I've told a thousand times I hate it when you do that. Please, if you're going to 'pop up', please do it in front of me."

Rupert had the where with all to look sheepish. "Och aye, sorry sir. I forget to walk or appear in front of people when my mind is occupied." He then flashed a smile at Zevil, "So what brings you to my neck of the woods sir?"

"Just checking in, making sure everything is alright with my crew." Zevil said, returning the smile. "How are things here in Engineering?"

"Everything's ship shape, sir, and I intend to keep it that way." Rupert said with pride. "We've already repaired all external damage thanks to the Worker Bees and are 75% done with the few internal damages we sustained."

"Excellent, glad to hear the WBH's are doing so well." Zevil said as they started walking up the ramp that circled the room. "With the official part of this visit done, how are you doing Chief?"

"I'm doing well sir!" Rupert jovially told the young as they walked along the ramp that wrapped around the perimeter of the room. "Just glad to be able to walk around the ship with out using my mobile emitter."

While photonic officers were becoming more and more common place on starships, not many ships had holo-emitters on all their decks. Before the war, the Daystrom Institute and the Soong Foundation had started an initiative to install holo-emitters on all Federation ships, and they were partially successful, but then the Empire declared the peace was over and Starfleet Corp of Engineers had to focus on keeping ships flying and fighting.

Zevil smiled at the older man. "It must be nice to finally feel free aboard the ship you serve on and maintain."

"Aye sir." Rupert replied, voice full of joy and even though Rupert was a synthetic lifeform, Zevil could feel the sense of freedom coming off him. "To move about this beauty of a ship like I'm one of the crew."

"Rupert," Zevil said, placing his hand on the Engineer's shoulder with one hand, using the other to gesture at the officers below, "You are a part of this crew and I hope we, as your fellow officers, have never made you feel otherwise."

"No, sir!" Rupert said vehemently with a grin on his face. "I'm proud to call these people my crewmates and they would say the same about me." His grin turned into a cocky smirk. "Even if I beat them at galactic trivia." Both men had a good laugh at that as they made their way back down the ramp.

'Today has been far too long.' Zevil thought as he walked into his quarters, very glad that his day was finally over. "Computer, a Valixian brandy and play a random music file from my relaxation folder."

There was a positive tone and the replicator materialized the drink while the audio system played a relaxed big band jazz tune at a low volume. Zevil unzipped his jacket, got his drink, and sat down in one of the arm chairs that faced one of the large windows.

He sighed as he took a sip of the clear emerald green liquid and sighed contentedly. 'After a day like this, both good and bad, I'm glad it's finally over.' He thought as he looked at the passing stars dotting the endless void, finally at peace… then his door chimed.

'Damnit, I jinxed myself.' He thought before he did a quick psychic scan outside his door and smiled when he felt Six's mind on the other side. "Come in Six." He said and stood up as the door opened, letting her in. "Please tell me you're here to keep me company and not here to tell me there is an armada of Tholian Orb Weavers surrounding us?"

Six raised her eyebrow in curiosity before making a show of looking out the large windows of Zevil's quarters. "Since I do not see any Tholian ships outside your window, it must be the first option." She said with her small smile as she walked up to him and kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Zevil placed his hands on her hips and smiled at her as he broke the kiss. "Hi."

She smiled back at him, a full smile, not one of her small amused smiles. "Hello. Hard day?"

Zevils eyebrows shot up in surprise. "I thought I was the mind reader in this relationship."

She cocked an eyebrow at him. "The soothing and beautiful music, plus," she pecked him on the lips quickly, "the taste of synthetic Valixian Brandy on your lips was a clear give away that you wished to relax after a difficult day."

Zevil chuckled. "Long, not difficult," he gestured to the couch, "join me for a sit down and a nightcap?"

"Yes, three fingers of Aldebaran whiskey, please." She said giving him one more kiss before going over to sit on the couch as Zevil went and got her drink from the replicator.

"I didn't know you liked Aldebaran whiskey." Zevil said as he came back into the room with the cloudy and bright green drink.

"Apparently it was my favorite drink when I was Lorelei Green." She told him, lifting his arm up to wrap around her shoulders and snuggling into his side.

Zevil smiled softly at the gesture and tightened his hold on her a little. "Is that a new memory? If you got it on your own that's amazing Six!"

Six took a sip of her own drink, humming contentedly at the taste, "It's slower than when I was having sessions with Counselor Remington, but they are still resurfacing."

Desirae Remington was the Counselor for Zevils crew since he took Command of the Le Fey and she was well liked amongst the crew, but she was one of the many that had died during the space battle that ultimately destroyed the Le Fey.

"I'm sorry it's taking so long to get a new Counselor." Zevil said sadly, "I've sent in a request to Command to get us a new one, they're just taking their sweet time to get us one. That was actually what made my day feel so long."

At her questioning look he explained, "I visited with some of the senior staff today and I can tell that some of them are going to need an expert to talk to." Zevil shook his head, "I helped where I could today, but I'm sure a more qualified person would be of better assistance."

"I am sure your best was more than adequate, Xavius." Six said, bringing her hand up to turn his head to look at her, "Sometimes it only takes a sympathetic ear to help those that need it."

"You, my dear, are a very wise woman," Zevil said, raising his glass to her, "And I am very glad I am the main beneficiary of that wisdom."

She chuckled and clinked her glass with his, "Bridge to Fleet Admiral Zevil." But before they could take a sip of their respective drinks, a male voice over Zevils combadge stopped them.

Zevil sighed and set his drink down, "No rest for the wicked, or the just for that matter." Zevil said before he tapped his badge. "Go ahead."

"This is Lieutenant Parker at the comms, sir," said the officer, "Sorry to disturb you, sir, I know your off duty, but we just got a priority one message from Captain Nicholas Martin. The transmission is waiting for you over subspace."

Both Zevil and Six quickly got up. "Very good Lieutenant but wait on my order to put it through to the monitor in my quarters." Zevil said as he zipped up his jacket before turning to Six. "Sorry to ask, but-"

"It's all right," she said, "We both agreed that we wanted privacy about this." She kissed him on the cheek and slipped into his bedroom where she would be out of sight of the monitor.

Zevil smiled as he tapped his badge as he stood in front of the monitor, "Zevil to Lieutenant Parker, put him through." A second later, Martin at his desk on Earth Space Dock appeared on the screen. "Captain Martin, I wager you're here to tell me the taskforce is ready?"

"As per usual sir, you are correct." Said the older man, all business. "We looked through the data you recovered from the Borg Cube, and it indicates that the Borg have established a foothold in Undine space. The Undine seem to make very little distinction between alien races, so it's quite possible that the Borg presence in their home is causing their aggressive behavior."

"Which is something we can't afford." Zevil said with a worried and thoughtful frown. "A full-out war with the Undine is a war we can't win, the one we're wagging with them in the shadows is bad enough. Their biotechnology surpasses even our most advanced tech."

"I agree, sir." Said Martin. "We've assembled an expedition to remove the Borg presence from Fluidic Space and found a system where the fabric of the two dimensions are breaking down."

"Is that wise?" Zevil asked concerned, "In the long run I mean. If the fabric is so thin there, aren't we running the risk of permanently opening a rift to Undine Space and causing harm to the fabric of reality?"

"There is a risk of that, but we believe it's minimal." Martin said, trying to reassure Zevil. "However, the risk of all-out war is greater than a permanent rift to Fluidic space. This is our best shot at creating a stable quantum singularity."

Zevil sighed, now knowing how Tyufia feels when he had a good, but also very bad, idea. "Then the Hades will be there. Send me the coordinates."

"Coordinates sent, Admiral. You'll meet the Expedition leader once you get there." Said Martin. "I suggest you avoid any conflict with the Undine while in Fluidic Space. They'll have the advantage, and you'll end up in a fight you can't win. Good luck sir. Martin out."

Zevil sighed as Six came out of his bedroom. "Well," he said turning to her, "I guess we're going to take a trip to another dimension."

Zevil informed his senior staff of the situation and they were soon dropping out of warp in the Kuda system. "Wow," said M'Mutt as they neared the rendezvous point where they saw several ships waiting there on the viewscreen, "that's a lot of ships."

"And they're from all over too." Said Asouzi looking at the sensor data from her station "I'm seeing Federation ships, Republic ships, and ships from the Klingon Empire," she looked up from her monitor, "and they're not even shooting at each other."

"Well don't jinx us Lieutenant Commander." Admonished Tyufia before she turned Zevil. "So, who's leading this circus? Please tell me it's not us."

"No, thankfully it's not us," Zevil informed his First Officer. "however, I don't know who it is either. In all the excitement, Martin didn't tell me, and I didn't get the chance to ask. He did say the Expedition leader would meet with us as soon as we arrived in the system."

"Admiral we are being hailed by a Federation starship, most likely the expedition leader." Informed Six.

"And there we go." Zevil said to Tyufia with a smile before turning to Six, "Which ship is hailing us?"

"The registration is coming in now, sir." Six responded. "It's the…" she started to say before stopping her single eye going wide.

Zevil turned to the former drone, a mixture of concern and curiosity on his face and coloring his tone, "Everything alright Lieutenant Commander?"

"Yes, sir, everything's fine." She said with a shake of her head. "The ship hailing us is the U.S.S. Voyager."

Zevil stood up in surprise as, almost to prove her claim, the viewscreen brought up the image of the famous ship itself. "By the Night Cloak." Zevil whispered almost reverently.

AN: A nice little surprise for my second favorite Zevil (the first being yours truly, of course). Got to know our other characters a little more today, tell what you all think. Till next time, I bid you adieu!