Chapter 12 – Welcome Back!

"Well, I guess this stack of PADDs will have to do."

Captain Janeway stood, staring at her desk. No less than four dozen PADDs cluttered it, covering every topic from the hypothetical integration of transporters aboard Redemption to the very real implications of said ship's arrival in the Alpha Quadrant.

"You have always been honest with me, Chakotay. Tell me. Do you think that this is going to be as big a deal as we're projecting?" She gestured at the pile of PADDs. "Or is Admiral Proudmoore right, that we're over-reacting?"

"A lesson in not over-reacting from a galaxy that seems to be perpetually fighting. I see now why their technology is so much more advanced than ours—they spend so much time trying to kill each other they have to keep building new weapons!"

Chakotay realized he'd been nearly shouting.

"It would be an amusing holonovel plot if it weren't so depressing. It's as if the stars themselves are at war."

"Well, we're less than an hour away. Let's hope we don't bring their conflict with us."

In the vernacular of the 20th century, it could be said that the "phones were ringing off the hook" or, to go back further, "the wires lit up" as Starfleet Command scrambled.

"Whatever it is, sensors just went off the scale! There must be a malfunction!"

"Check again, and recalibrate!"

"I want every available ship to converge on those coordinates, now!"

Admiral Owen Paris could only hope it wasn't the Borg, as rumors spread of a transwarp network with terminuses deep inside the Alpha Quadrant. He had to assume the worst, however, so he ordered the entire available fleet to meet the new arrival.

"Sir!" The woman from sensors had to stop to breathe. "Whatever it is, it's massive. Even Borg ships don't reach this size—it is bigger than Starbase 74."

Tactical interjected.

"I'm not detecting any active weapons fire, sir. Actually I'm not detecting much of anything—the energy emissions from its reactor are interfering with virtually all of our instruments."

"Well, at least let me see what it looks like" ordered Paris. "Put it onscreen!"

A massive, triangular grey thing appeared.

"It looks like an entire city."

Before the Admiral could vocalize any other opinions of the newly-arrived ship, a Starfleet hail interrupted.

"Sorry to surprise you. We should have called ahead."

"Captain, would you care to explain?" demanded Paris.

"We have someone we would like you to meet" replied Janeway.

Hours later, NRSS Redemption pulled up alongside Earth Spacedock, though a large area had to be cleared for it since at 19 kilometers long, it exceeded the keel length of any vessel known to the United Federation of Planets.

Captain Kathryn Janeway departed Voyager along with her senior staff officers.

"Had I known how many meetings I'd be pulled into, I would have stayed in the Delta Quadrant!" she'd said upon seeing her schedule for the first full day home.

"Yeah, maybe if we kept at it Q would give us another boost. Or someone could travel from the future with a secret shortcut!"

Harry chided his friend for "spending too much time in Captain Proton." Though Admiral Proudmoore hadn't been interested in it, once word got out of how realistic holodeck programs were, there was a veritable flood of requests to experience this new technology. As a result of Redemption being more than double-staffed with a complement of 650,000 due to carrying more support staff than crew, invitations to the holodeck were handed out by lottery. After scheduling and accounting for time in the Delta Quadrant spent computing hyperroutes, a paltry 4,500 people visited Voyager's two holodecks for 15 minutes each in ten-person groups.

"Even with transporters, there are still lines" warned a crewman to inbound personnel from Redemption who "won" the lottery.

Admiral Proudmoore stood with Kathryn Janeway before being presented before the Federation Council, with its President also in attendance.

"It seems some government annoyances transcend galaxies" he complained.

After being introduced, Janeway succinctly covered both Voyager's time in the Delta Quadrant and the chance meeting of the New Republic.

"In conclusion, not only has Admiral Proudmoore brought us home years sooner than we would have otherwise, but his arrival also heralds a new era of intergalactic relations. I look forward to being part of it."

A quick bow, and the Captain stepped off the stage from polite applause. Proudmoore, on the other hand, was less well-received, due to his perceived arrogance.

His last line was "There are many things to learn, which we will be glad to share."

"Somebody's full of himself" said Janeway irritably to Chakotay after the meeting adjourned.

Plainclothes operatives whose actions and appearance were as unmemorable as possible reported to their Section 31 superiors: evidence existed that certain personnel suspected to be members of rival spy agencies (such as the Tal Shiar or Klingon Intelligence) were both present and obtaining information at the presentation of the new arrival. Though access logs showed nothing suspicious, it was simply assumed these individuals copied and transmitted all scans coming from Starfleet assets as Redemption was escorted in.

This technical data whizzed around ("At Warp 10" they said) not just Starfleet and its unacknowledged Section 31 but also among members of the Federation Council. A motion for closed session easily passed.

"This ship is outrageous!" bellowed Andorian representative Oshral Th'irhaaloss.

Ambassador T'luk tried to tamp down the combination of excitement and emotion sweeping the room, as she was wont to do as a Vulcan.

"There is no logical reason to treat this ship as an imminent threat. While the technology possessed by this 'New Republic' is of concern, we have extensive experience in handling such situations."

Such statements drew negative reactions from many human representatives. Though humanity and Vulcan were allies and had been for centuries, it still smarted that Vulcans deliberately held back the development of human starships, essentially on the grounds of "we know better" (or so humans felt).

Jaovruss Khol of Taller Prime shook his fist.

"We need more information! How do we know this isn't a trick? The Dominion might well have sent this ship!"

T'luk tried to talk down Khol.

"There is no basis for this conclusion. For it to be logically sound, a series of increasingly-improbable assumptions must be made. For instance, that the Dominion possesses even greater technological advantages than we thought, that they deployed a ship prior to the war's end without anyone knowing, their naval architecture changed radically as this vessel bears no resemblance to any design we've seen from them, and the Dominion either takes on human puppets or has found a new Changeling. None of these premises are even remotely supported."

Debates between the logical Vulcan and generally hotheaded Tellarite were inevitable; other Councilors rolled their eyes or busied themselves elsewhere.

On Qo'noS, Chancellor Martok initially viewed this new arrival with guarded optimism. Forged in the fires of the Dominion War, relations between his government and the Federation reached a high ebb, but if this turn of events were mismanaged it could easily turn into a disaster. Already, reports of the Federation's "new weapon" stirred anger among members of the High Council.

A few of the Great Houses quietly advocated for "gutting" the Federation once the Dominion War ended, but Martok's sheer force of personality (and force of the more physical sort) kept them in line—nobody ever learned of these plans.

"If Starfleet's Section 31 gets a single word about this, I will personally disembowel you!" he'd roared. The threat of dishonor for bringing conflict to the Empire through deceit also acted as a significant demotivater against actually carrying out any subterfuge.

By comparison, Martok now faced open revolt. Members of Klingon Intelligence did not trust Starfleet to share all information about this new ship or its people.

Martok's blood boiled at such thoughts—the soldiers of the Federation had fought and died with the warriors of the Empire to drive back the Dominion. And now they were being thought of as a threat simply because the "New Republic" and its ship were mostly human? That was odd—extragalactic humans—but he refused to assume the worst like some High Councilors.

The Romulan Senate and Praetor Hiren were not nearly as conflicted as their Klingon counterparts. The Tal Shiar made sure of that by providing enough intel to keep the politicians happy, but also selectively withholding anything that might cause a stir. Most importantly, Remans were kept ignorant of these developments (or so it was thought). The Tal Shiar was aware of the newcomer's massive technological advantages, but held back exactly how large these disparities were. It was also not reported that despite having the ability to "exceed quantum slipstream velocities," these people lacked transporters, replicators, and cloaking devices.

"Of course" smirked Sela, as she was deployed on a Tal Shiar ship. "I can easily pass for human among these newcomers…"

Quite perceptive of the fact that she drew attention by human standards, Sela began sorting through various wardrobes of garments. Using Tal Shiar-supplied images of what New Republic humans looked like, Sela would adopt the alias "Nova Terra." Long blonde hair and some prosthetics would conceal her very Romulan ears.

"Look, but don't touch" she laughed to herself.

A/N: I invented all members of the Federation Council whole-cloth since Memory Alpha says canon sources on the subject of Federation governance are fuzzy, so no harm no foul in my opinion.