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X
Time's Odyssey.
- An AU short story diverging from the Voyager episode 'Timeless.' -
Reeling from the shock of learning Harry Kim had and yet seemingly hadn't gotten them out of the quantum slipstream tunnel, Captain Kathryn Janeway stood watching the star field around Voyager, unable to hide her disappointment they were still in the Delta Quadrant. As she stood on the command platform near her chair, directly behind Paris, Janeway was unable to hide the anger she felt their best hopes to return to Earth had been taken from them, yet again.
And she'd had enough. While Paris had told them they had shaved off ten years' worth of their journey, Janeway just saw it not as an omen they'd get a better chance at some other point, but as another sign of failure to return home.
"Captain, I'm picking up a temporal signature. It's coming from the exit point of the Slipstream corridor," Tuvok announced.
Janeway whirled around. "What is it?" Her voice was clipped in her disappointment.
"Unknown. It's coming through now."
Janeway was not in a good mood. She had sensed the worry every one of her senior staff had felt towards the slipstream after Paris told them he'd found a phase variance to make sure everything was going to be alright with the maiden flight of the slipstream, and while she had felt it too she had agreed with Kim's feelings they should take the risk. Others like Chakotay, Paris, Torres, Seven of Nine, and even Tuvok and Carey, her chief engineer, had argued the slipstream was too dangerous, especially after Paris showed them all the results of his tests and even took them to a holodeck to recreate the exact sequence of events where the slipstream corridor would tear them apart.
Janeway, faced with those odds and having Kim's idea of a shuttlecraft riding on ahead, sending them calibration data for the phase variance to compensate, decided it was worth the risk.
It was an opinion and command decision she didn't like being questioned. So they had gone into the slipstream anyway, sending Seven, Chakotay, Torres and Kim along for the ride. But something had gone wrong; Janeway could hazard a guess about what happened, she knew only too well that Harry Kim's desire to return home was all-encompassing, much like her own, but where she tempered her own hope although what she had to go back to was just her family, since Mark was no longer in the picture, thanks to years of experience as a Starfleet officer and a captain, she was able to think through their choices from a detached point of view which stopped her from mildly getting reckless, Harry Kim had no such restraint, knowing him as she did, Janeway had a feeling he had rushed through the phase variance counter calculations and transmitted them before Seven was ready.
Janeway would wait until the results of their findings of the investigation into what exactly happened with the slipstream, and why it failed so dismally, but she wasn't sure what kind of mood she was in with this latest twist of events.
"Brig us around, Paris," Janeway ordered brusquely. "Raise shields. Tell Commander Chakotay to wait in the Delta Flyer until we know what's going on." Her lip curled involuntarily at the rank she'd been forced to give the Maquis.
"Aye captain."
There was a brief flash of light from the exit point of the Quantum Slipstream corridor, and something grey and large emerged, but from where they were now as they had moved away from the exit point on impulse power, the mass wasn't large enough to give them any insight into what it was.
"Magnify," Janeway ordered.
The main view screen jumped forward in magnification revealing a large, blocky ship. It had a long gunmetal grey body with two shorter nacelle-like pontoons attached to it and some kind of control tower on top near the aft.
"How did it come through the quantum slipstream exit point?" Janeway asked the only question on her mind after seeing the ship emerge. She had other questions on her mind, of course, but that was the only one she could currently focus on right now.
"Unknown," Tuvok replied, making Janeway narrow her eyes and wonder if her old friend was being deliberately unhelpful right now. "Sensors did pick up a slight temporal signature."
"A temporal signature? This ship time travelled here?" Paris asked.
"Again, unknown. The sensors detected a slight subspace bubble which came from the signature. The exact manner in which it emerged is unknown," Tuvok said.
Janeway bit her tongue to stop herself from asking any more questions about where this mysterious ship came from. "Any life signs?"
"Negative, Captain."
"Captain," Harry's relief at Ops said, "I've just run a sensor sweep over that ship. It's armed with pre-warp weapons; nuclear missiles, and rail guns, although there are signs of more advanced technology on that ship. There's some kind of advanced computer and power signature on that ship, but it doesn't make any sense. The sub-light engines are fusion-based with gravimetric elements thrown in."
Janeway raised an eyebrow. Gravimetric engines were exotic enough, but it was rare even for advanced races to use something like that when impulse engines were generally seen as more efficient and practical. This was something new. "Prepare an away team," she ordered.
"Captain, the Delta Flyer is hailing," the ops relief officer reported. "They're asking if they should take a look."
Janeway wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone from the Delta Flyer right now, especially if Harry stupid Kim had been partly the reason why they hadn't gotten back home. Still, she saw something they could do, especially that useless ex-Borg bitch. "Tell them to join the away team who are going to be investigating that ship," she ordered.
X
Chakotay was relieved to receive the orders to go to the mysterious ship which had just as mysteriously appeared, he wasn't looking forward to the demands from Janeway when they got back.
Everyone had warned the woman the Quantum Slipstream Drive that was being experimented with was doomed to failure, but of course, the almighty Captain Kathryn Janeway was so obsessed with getting home she ignored the dangers, regardless. A part of Chakotay had hoped the slipstream jaunt would be successful, and they'd return to the Alpha Quadrant in one piece. Or at minimum just outside the Alpha Quadrant border; just being that close would have been a boon for their trip home.
But no.
Voyager was still stuck in this backwater region of the galaxy.
At the same time, Chakotay wondered what had caused the Slipstream to collapse, but hopefully, this ship could provide a greater diversion. Chakotay wasn't interested in any more fights with Janeway, especially since he'd needed to learn how to pick his battles carefully over the years. And he had needed to fight the woman, tooth and nail for every scrap of rights the Maquis had in a never-ending battle, regardless of how many times they'd proven themselves. The good thing was some of the Maquis and the Fleeters had formed friendships, and in the case of himself and Sam Wildman after the pair of them had been stuck on that damn planet they'd named New Earth, spouses.
"I can't believe it," Chakotay heard Harry say. "How could it have failed? How could I have sent a message when I didn't?"
Chakotay didn't say a word as he piloted the Delta Flyer straight for the other ship. As they approached he could see this ship up close was far in away extremely primitive by design, but the scans picked up some truly advanced technology, even more, advanced than anything on Voyager. Out of the corner of his eye, he sensed movement. He turned and saw Seven standing next to him. The ex-Borg drone was also staring at the ship closely, her eyes puzzled.
"Do you recognise it?" Chakotay asked.
Seven shook her head. "No," she said slowly. "It doesn't ring a bell."
Ever since Seven had found a way to get rid of the Borg mannerisms which had been holding her back, and the time she had spent on the holodeck or reading from the computer and from books the way people spoke, everyone had been taken by surprise by how far she had come. Instead of sounding like a robot, Seven was now more human than ever, just a little socially awkward. And guarded. It was obvious to everyone she didn't really trust the Voyager crew, him included, but she wasn't afraid to let everyone know, and she was also unashamed to reveal the lengths she had gone to regain her lost humanity. Only she had done a better job than Janeway had by herself, and that was mostly by design.
"It looks primitive, but at the same time, the power emanations and the readings don't make sense," Seven went on, studying the ship thoughtfully.
"No, pre-warp, definitely but I don't recognise the model or the design from the outside," Chakotay frowned. "Is there an atmosphere on board that ship, Seven?"
Seven checked. "Life support on that ship is down."
"Go to the back. Prep the spacesuits. You and I are going to board it together, while Harry monitors." Out of the corner of his eye, Chakotay noticed Harry's noticeable flinch. Good. The young ensign needed to learn how to temper his impulsiveness.
As Seven left, Chakotay manoeuvred the Flyer to move closer so they could enter transporter range. Moving closer gave Chakotay the opportunity to look over the ship. It looked primitive enough, but until he boarded the ship he refused to give such a harsh judgement. If there was one thing he had learnt it was never to judge anything until he had studied it closely.
"The spacesuits are ready, Chakotay," Seven's voice called over the com.
"I'll be right there," Chakotay replied, standing up and he turned to Harry. The Asian officer didn't look happy but accepted the inevitable. "Harry, keep a lock on us."
Harry nodded. "Understood."
X
When the blue haze of the transporter beam died away, Chakotay needed a moment to reorientate himself as he and Seven stood in a corridor of the strange ship. Aside from strips of emergency lighting, the entire corridor was dark, making them switch on their hand torches. They had set the transporter to beam them close to the bridge of the ship. From there they could access the computer, and learn more about this ship and where it was from.
They could have beamed onto the bridge, of course, but Chakotay had also wanted to examine the ship a little bit before they got to the bridge.
But then they saw the bodies. Flipping open their tricorders, Seven and Chakotay examined the corpses. They looked human and a quick scan of the bodies showed they were humans, but a quick look at the insignia patches rang a bell. One of them was a flag, of the United States of America, from old Earth history. Sharing a puzzled look with Seven, although suspicion was settling in his mind, Chakotay scanned the bulkheads around him.
"Quantum dating shows this ship is 300 years out of sync," Chakotay reported while he examined the readings.
"The 21st century," Seven nodded in her helmet.
"And that's not all. When I took a look at the quantum date check, there was a phase reading," Chakotay said.
"A phase reading?" Seven tensed.
"This ship comes from a different reality, Seven. There's a totally different quantum reading in the walls and the people. These people come from a parallel universe," Chakotay came up with a theory. "It must have been travelling through space before it was pulled into subspace, and it came out when we passed close by." As theories went, it was all Chakotay had in mind, but he needed to be certain. "Come on. We still need to check the rest of this ship out."
Together they went through the corridors and studied each crew member they came across.
"If these people and this ship came from another universe, how did they develop?" Seven asked herself.
"What do you mean?" Chakotay asked.
"I've been looking in Earth's pre-warp history. They had spacecraft, primitive by our standards, but nothing like this. And they didn't have contact with the type of advanced technologies and hardware we detected."
Chakotay stopped, actually stopped in the corridor as he realised what it was Seven was telling him. But it was fantastic. "Do you think these people have had contact with aliens?"
"It's the only logical answer, Chakotay. The only thing that makes the slightest amount of sense," Seven replied. "But if they did gain access to alien technology, does that mean the Federation, or something like it, exists in this reality only 300 years early?"
It was an interesting question, but Chakotay wondered if the Federation did exist. From what he knew of the 21st-century humans on Earth, they could barely look after themselves. What hope could they have with a Federation of Planets?
"We'll soon find out when we get to the computer. But in the meantime, let's investigate and gather information about this ship," Chakotay said as he tried to take his mind off of what he had just learnt and the implications of the possibilities in front of them.
They had just beamed onboard a ship which came from another universe, from a different point of time, loaded with technologies that were clearly not human, or pre-warp, by any definition of the word. Did the Federation even exist in that universe, or did the humans there find a way of reverse-engineering alien technology?
It was an old story.
The Klingons had captured Hur'Q technology when the aliens invaded Qo'Nos and the Breen had given the Ferengi warp technology; it was possible something similar had taken place in a different reality.
"They all died from some kind of collapse, like subspace itself killed them as they passed through it," Chakotay said.
Seven was examining the corridors. "The alloys of the metal of the walls are a mix of primitive carbon steel, and some other elements that are known to the Borg. There's also crystal-based circuitry; the crystals themselves conduct the processing of a given task and there are several of them in a control system. It's a more robust form of the bio-neural circuitry on Voyager; the organic nature of the crystals allows for greater processing speed than more conventional systems."
"A crystalline-based computer system?" Chakotay was impressed. "I know there are races who use crystalline-based memory storage devices, but the Federation doesn't use anything like that. Can you tell how robust the system is, Seven?"
"No, not with the power down," Seven replied while she took another scan. "Chakotay, did the 21st century have artificial gravity plating of any kind?"
"No," Chakotay went still at once.
"Well, either someone missed that in the history books, or these people have been experimenting with a technology that is alien in origin and they somehow made it work. There's artificial gravity plating under the floors. It's comparable to what we use on Voyager, but it's generated from the gravity field from the gravimetric engines," Seven replied.
Chakotay knew that once the graviton had been discovered and the formulas for manipulating them had been perfected, that kind of gravity technology was rendered obsolete even though he knew it existed in the hands of several older races. "Either these people had the knowledge but felt this was good, or they didn't."
"It would be interesting to see which one it is," Seven nodded, and as they walked to the bridge, the former drone couldn't help but look at Chakotay. "Let's hope we find something that will stop Janeway from heaping abuse on us," she added.
Chakotay sighed. "Please don't, Seven. I'm not looking forward to that discussion; I'd rather see my wife and daughter."
Seven smiled as she thought about Sam and Naomi, whom she'd made a quick friend. She wished she could have that kind of relationship, which had surprised many since Chakotay and Samantha Wildman hadn't seemed like the obvious couple. And yet they were. Ever since their brief exile to that world deeper in the Delta Quadrant, after they'd been bitten by an insect, they had gotten close and romantically involved, and when they had returned they had gotten married and they'd had a daughter, Naomi. But ever since she had worked out she was a lesbian, Seven had needed to grow further as a person, and she had done that when the Doctor had found a way of allowing her to break some of the Borg programs, and allow some of Annika Hansen's personality out, taking the knowledge of other former drones assimilated from Earth to help her gain the knowledge she should have done had her parents been responsible instead of dragging her across the galaxy to find the Borg.
Seven remembered Janeway hadn't liked the concept, believing it to be cheating, but Seven didn't care what the woman thought. "I know, but you know Janeway," she pointed out.
"Sadly, I do," Chakotay grumbled.
Some of the Maquis had wondered why Chakotay hadn't organised a mutiny because of Janeway's questionable decisions and mindset, but Seven and Sam Wildman both knew there was no point, so while they were sure the idea of setting up a mutiny was tempting and compelling, it wouldn't do much good.
It was at times like this, however, that Seven asked herself why Chakotay bothered since he could have found a better way to get them back to the Alpha Quadrant, instead of exploring every chunk of space. So much for Janeway's priority of them getting home.
Finally, they entered the bridge and found more bodies in archaic-looking uniforms. Seven spotted a computer station and quickly went to it. After scanning the station for a couple of minutes, Seven's hands flew over the controls and the lighting brightened and the environment quickly changed.
"We can take our helmets off in a moment, Chakotay," Seven told him, turning to see him crouching over the body of an attractive blonde-haired woman wearing a black military uniform. "How did she die?"
Chakotay looked up grimly. "They all died when the life support systems were shut off," he said grimly. "What have you found out?"
"Nothing yet, I was just about to take a look," Seven turned around and checked the station.
"Well, I've found out the name of the ship."
"What is it?" Seven turned around curiously.
"The Odyssey. She was launched in the 21st century," Chakotay replied. "That fits with the Quantum dating check," he continued, "but how did they end up out here? Do they have some kind of primitive warp drive onboard?"
In the meantime, Seven had managed to get into the computer of the Odyssey. "No, they don't," she replied quietly as she concentrated on reading the flow of information. "It seems that a decade ago, from the Odyssey's relative perspective, there was an Ancient wormhole generator which opened up a wormhole in a manner similar to an Iconian Gateway, allowing for instantaneous travel through a galactic network of wormholes to different worlds in the Milky Way, and they developed their technology and gained more knowledge of the universe."
"A wormhole portal network like the Iconian Gateways?" Chakotay whispered. As a man who'd studied archaeology passionately, it had been a dream to discover such a gateway after reading about the Enterprise's discovery in the Neutral Zone. But finding out alternate humanity had discovered something similar was not what he'd expected. No wonder these people's technology was advanced even if it didn't look like it.
"Yeah. And they used it in a war against a race of parasites who stole human bodies, a race called the Goa'uld. Eventually, they began building spaceships like the Odyssey to defend themselves, although in recent years their program accelerated when Earth was devastated by a Goa'uld attack, and knowledge of the Stargates - the name of the portals - became known," Seven's expression showed how worried she was by the implications of the news she'd imparted.
"What?" Chakotay was horrified. "Earth was attacked?"
"Yes. Earth is apparently still rebuilding, and they were with the help of their allies, but they began accelerating the building of spaceships and weapons to defend Earth from any other attacks. The Odyssey was one of their ships, and they were sent to the…. Ida galaxy?" Seven frowned in disbelief. "They were part of a small fleet of ships, who would receive a gift from their allies, a race known as the Asgard, and be used by humanity."
"What was the gift? And how could they get to the Ida galaxy?" Chakotay demanded.
"The gift was the latest of Asgard weapons and technology, and a database which was copied and placed on several ships as the last gift the Asgard would ever give to the humans of their universe. Chakotay, I've just run a separate search for the Asgard. They were one of the most advanced races in their universe, and they possessed a faster-than-light engine called the hyperdrive. It opens a portal into a deeper realm of subspace, and the ship tunnels through it, and is propelled through space at incredible speeds."
"I seem to have heard that before," Chakotay replied dryly.
"I'm serious, Chakotay. There's no reason the hyperdrive on the Odyssey shouldn't work. And get this, this ship is powered by a power source that would boost the hyperdrive's performance to the point the ship would travel 8,6805 light years per second."
"What?" Chakotay was struggling now to stop his excitement from getting the better of him.
"It's true, although even without that power source, the Odyssey would travel 1,9290 light years per second, we'd get back to the Alpha Quadrant in no time!"
Chakotay sighed. "Janeway is going to like this."
X
Captain Kathryn Janeway was not in a good mood. After months of hard work designing, testing and building the Quantum Slipstream drive copy using scans accumulated from Arturis's far superior ship, they should have been in the Alpha Quadrant. Instead, they were still stuck here, or at least on the face of it, given Chakotay's report of the hyperdrive technology on the Odyssey.
"1,9290 light years per second? We would be home before we could push a button!" Harry, forgetting that he was in the doghouse, gushed. But he stopped when Paris nudged him and shook his head to get him to shut up.
"No, we're not, Ensign, not until we fully test this type of drive," Janeway's voice made Kim remember that he was currently persona non grata with the captain right now. "Commander," her habit of putting emphasis on Chakotay's commissioned rank still brought the Maquis captain up short, "how is the Odyssey itself?"
"I'd say it's in good enough shape."
"How did the ship come into this universe?"
"From what we could tell, the Odyssey was being chased by a species called the Ori, who was tracking the ship through hyperspace, but the ship went through a temporal distortion, and it got caught in our slipstream," Seven replied.
"That doesn't really explain how it got here," Janeway pointed out.
"I don't have any idea, Captain," Seven shook her head. "But the ship is here, and I think we can take advantage of its presence here."
Janeway turned to look out of the observation lounge's windows. The Odyssey was right there, its blocky shape dwarfing Voyagers as she worked out what she was going to do. "I want teams of engineers to go over the Odyssey," she decided. "By the end of the week, I want enough information to set up a test flight. Nothing too far, perhaps a few light years from our current location. If it works, we will use it to return to the Alpha Quadrant but not until we're positive that it works. I want the hyperdrive to be examined, and I want you all to understand this, I am not in the mood to have any more slip-ups. We might be ten years closer to home, but I want to get further than that soon. Dismissed."
X
As the engineering and science teams boarded the Odyssey and examined the technology as well as the historical database, an understanding of how the humans of this alternate reality had gained advanced spaceflight came out, but the discovery of the Asgard database. Once the Voyager crew examined the hyperdrive, they began understanding how it worked; while the power source of the hyperdrive was worn out, they discovered the naquadah generators kept on the ship in reserve which could supply enough power to the hyperdrive to make it work.
After 6 days, the Voyager crew was finished examining the ship, a test flight was set up.
X
Tom Paris was put in charge of the test flight, and he took the Odyssey 8 light years away from Voyager - it was his decision to go that far; it was a good distance away from Voyager, but it was close enough for the Federation starship to catch up. Travelling through the hyperspace conduit was an eyeopener, which was similar to the Quantum Slipstream drive conduits, was faster and once they emerged from hyperspace, the small group of Starfleet officers on the Odyssey checked over the systems before they contacted Voyager, signalling the all clear.
X
The tests took the crew weeks to finish. During that time the Asgard database was accessed and the sum of knowledge of the Asgard civilisation, a highly advanced intergalactic power in their reality, was revealed along with knowledge relating to the Ancients, a race of humans who had spread humanity throughout their universe. Thanks to the Asgard, the Voyager crew learnt of more advanced transporter technologies, Naquahdah both as a power source and as a weapon, and hyperdrive technologies, but the most incredible discovery was the Stargate. Once the file was cracked open and the Latin translation was cleared from Astria Porta to Stargate, and the functions were discovered, many of the crew realised what it could mean.
When she found out about the Stargates and the wormhole physics of the other reality, Janeway entertained the possibilities of such technology; with the Stargates and the Asgard's intergalactic hyperdrives, the Federation could truly travel anywhere. Indeed with the Stargates, one could step through the Gates and arrive on a planet instead of spending time on a liner.
Seven of Nine and B'Elanna Torres, whose own talents as an engineer had been curtailed thanks to Janeway's anti-Maquis prejudices, were also fascinated with the technology, but because they didn't have the resources for building Stargates themselves, they would need to test it out later. Once she had understood the physics, it wasn't long before Seven began understanding the Stargate's technology.
In the meantime, a crew was put on the Odyssey to prepare for a hyperspace trip to Earth. Once the preflight checks were completed, and the Naquadah generators were hooked to the Odyssey's hyperdrive, Commander Chakotay took the command chair. "Odyssey to Voyager," he said. "We're standing by."
"Very well. You may proceed." Just like that, Janeway cut the link. Chakotay sighed and he turned to Paris, thinking this seating arrangement was much better since the crew was closer to him. He had arranged for Paris to be part of the crew because of his piloting capabilities and also because, unlike Harry, his indifference towards returning home meant he wasn't going to make some stupid mistake.
Also on board were Sam, B'Elanna and Seven.
Paris met his gaze, both thinking the same thing. They had never really liked Janeway; for Chakotay, it was how she not only refused to listen to him but how he knew his position was tenuous, for Paris, it was because Janeway reminded him of how his father, Admiral Owen Paris, treated him and everyone else while blackmailing him into being part of a sting. Tuvok and Janeway had both been aware of covert transmissions to the Kazon Nistrim, and they failed in tracking them down, so they had set up a sting to flush the spy out, and they had turned to Tom.
But it had soon become apparent to them that Tom had no real desire to go home, so they had looked into his medical records and discovered how badly he took confinement and in an act of senseless cruelty, Janeway had been the one to threaten Paris and he hadn't forgiven her since. In an act of spite, he had told Chakotay what was going on because part of the facade was to act up, being late for duty, mouthing off at Chakotay, and the two had agreed to play along, and it was the start of a long friendship.
"Is the course laid in?" Chakotay asked.
Paris turned to the helm. The controls were primitive but they weren't any problem for him. "Yes. I've double-checked twice."
Chakotay tapped his combadge. "Chakotay to engineering."
"We're ready, Chakotay." God, it was so good to hear B'Elanna back in her old niche. "But I'd like to control the hyperdrive trip from here to check everything's going smoothly. No offence, Tom," she added to her boyfriend.
Both men shared a knowing smile. "You just want to be the one to get us into hyperspace first, don't you, B'Elanna?" Tom grinned.
"Okay, you got me. Who'd miss something like this for the world?"
"Well, since I'm the one who worked with the tests, I'll give you this one," Tom smiled.
"Okay. Engaging the hyperdrive…. Now!"
As the Odyssey formed the subspace window while making sure Voyager was directly behind them, which opened up the deeper realms of subspace to the strata called hyperspace, Chakotay had seen hyperdrive flights before but as the blue-hued tunnel appeared on the HUD in front of him, he hoped this would prove to the one that would finally get them back home. But as they sped through the conduit thanks to the bubble projected by the Odyssey which made it much easier and less power intensive or navigationally difficult than forming the temporary wormhole-like tunnel you would find with a Borg transwarp conduit or a quantum slipstream conduit.
As he mentally counted down the seconds, Chakotay knew more and more of the distance between where Voyager had started from to the Alpha Quadrant was being stripped away; they'd already shaved ten years off thanks to the quantum slipstream drive, and now they were shaving more light years off of their journey time home.
Finally, they emerged back into normal space. Chakotay gasped and he heard the excited murmurs from the rest of the bridge crew when they saw just where they had emerged into.
"Voyager's just come out of the hyperspace conduit, Chakotay," Tom reported.
Chakotay nodded, his eyes fixed on the blue marble that was Earth. Home. Suddenly Chakotay saw something that made his heart stop; a number of bat-like ships that he instantly recognised as Breen warships, and other ships he recognised thanks to Sveta's pictures of the razing of the DMZ colonies when they'd regained contact with the Alpha Quadrant. Jem'Hadar warships and Breen warships were attacking Earth. The starships that were defending Earth were taking heavy damage.
"Chakotay to all hands on the Odyssey; battle stations!" He yelled over his com badge. "Dominion attack on Earth. Activate shields and charge weapons."
To his left and right, Ayala and Paris instantly got to work. "Mr Paris, get us closer," he ordered.
"Activating hyperdrive now, sir," Tom replied.
The trip through the hyperdrive conduit was dreamlike short and they got to Earth quickly, just in time for Ayala to target the ships with the plasma beam weapons while he added the Odyssey's relatively primitive nuclear missiles and railgun volleys to the fight. The Dominion and the Breen were both highly advanced and had both become stronger by testing and advancing their technology through warfare and combat. As a result, their shields and weapons were top-notch, but the Asgard had centuries of knowledge and expertise above them both and they had constantly strengthened their technology due to their war with the Replicators. And they had given their technology to the humans of their reality. The Dominion's phased polaron weapons didn't make a dent and while nuclear missiles were primitive, their naquadah enhanced warheads gave them a boost of power neither Jem'Hadar nor Breen truly expected. And the Asgard plasma beam weapons were stronger than phasers or disruptor fire and cut through the shields quickly. It wasn't long before the two allies began losing ground just as Voyager joined the Odyssey and pushed back. The Voyager crew had spent many years in the Delta Quadrant, and they had come across many enemies forcing them to become inventive when it came down to fighting and defending themselves. Chakotay knew Tuvok had received word from Starfleet and his family as well as everyone else. He had learnt the Dominion used polaron-based weapons and he had adjusted Voyager's shields accordingly in case Voyager encountered an enemy in the Delta Quadrant who used something similar.
Chakotay had kept the Vulcan at arm's length for years, but he was thankful the man had the sense to look logically to the possibilities other races and powers could have weapons similar to the Dominion.
X
Voyager's return and the surprise appearance of the Odyssey sent shockwaves throughout the Federation. Not only had a long-lost ship returned, but the database of an ancient and super advanced civilisation was also quickly studied, and before long starships were fitted with Asgard plasma beam weapons while ion cannons were tested, and installed on space stations to defend Federation worlds.
But Asgard hyperdrive technology was rapidly taken and studied. With the full resources of the UFP behind the project, Starfleet quickly installed hyperdrives powered by neutrino ion generators, and they took the war to the Dominion in both the Alpha and Gamma Quadrants. Heavy damage was soon inflicted on the Dominion.
Voyager's own collected knowledge was also quickly studied, and knowledge of the quantum slipstream drive was taken as was the mechanics of the Nyrian translocator. Combined with the Asgard transporter beam technology, many Dominion and Cardassian and now Breen ships found themselves taken out of the fighting as photon weapons were beamed onto their ships and detonated
The combined Federation, Klingon, and Romulan fleets soon beat back their enemy when the Breen energy-dampening weapon was soon battered down. During the battle, the Cardassian fleet changed sides in rage at the Dominion's destruction of Cardassian cities, in answer to the Cardassian rebellion.
With access to the Asgard transporter and the translocator technology, the siege of Cardassia Prime ended quickly with the ships' warp reactors being removed and destroyed, along with many other components and quantum warheads destroying them all. Fortunately, at the same time, the Female Changeling was cured of the disease that was killing her, and she surrendered to save lives. Odo, the changeling who had saved her, travelled to the Gamma Quadrant where he cured the others. In the Great Link, he showed his memories and experiences - he showed them the good times and the bad times, but he showed them while the Solids could be dangerous, and he accepted the point of view of his people, he showed them how kind many of them were.
He showed them the love/hate rivalry he had for Quark.
He showed them the dinners he'd had with the station command staff.
He showed the Great Link some of his adventures, his cases, the moments of injustice and true justice, and how he had gained interest as a law enforcement officer.
Odo would have a long, hard time convincing his people the solids were not what they thought, that if they had eased themselves into meeting them centuries before, they might never have been beaten, hunted, or killed.
Meanwhile, the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Quadrants were rebuilding after three years of a brutal war. Once the damage was repaired, Starfleet returned to their mission of exploration. Instead of just travelling the galaxy, Starfleet now had access to Asgard hyperdrive technology and soon they were exploring beyond their known regions of space.