Disclaimer: The characters of the Four Orders are entirely my own. The characters and universe of Star Trek belong to Paramount Pictures but the words are mine. The Four Orders is entirely my own creation.
AU/FO/DS9/ It has been years since everyone left – Benjamin, Worf, O'Brien, Nog, Julian and Odo. But then why Kira kept dreaming of them being together? And most disturbingly she kept seeing Jadzia, an old man, and a young commander playing tongo.
Old Friends never leave: Part XXIV
It seemed like yesterday when all she cared about was the boring issues of running a station, managing the expectations of her government and protecting the interests of both the Federation and Bajor.
Her idea to attack the Ichorian Imperium with the voices of diversity worked better than she had hoped. The power of the orbs granted each of its bears the ability to induce the necessary visions to get the opponents listen.
The visions aided them to convey their messages and through them they could see the reason the Ichorians kept coming back despite the danger. Their empire was vast and powerful, and they had rarely encountered an enemy they could not defeat. But eons ago, twenty four ships of unknown design had crossed their space. They attempted to take them over but they were defeated with blunt ease.
The trajectory of these ships led them to the Milky Way Galaxy. It was new and vastly unexplored. They sent numerous ships to explore this new domain. They had discovered many new worlds but no other living beings. They thought they were alone. Then the occupants of the unknown ships thusly named the Passing Stars returned. They tried to initiate contact but the Ichorians attempted again to possess them.
When that did not lead to the desired result, the Ichorian High Command declared the new galaxy property of the Imperium and this is where their problems began. As the first exploratory fleets arrived, they discovered that this galaxy is not at all empty. It was filled with life and though most of it was stuck to its origin planets they were evolving.
That was a bit of a problem for the Imperium. Their core laws forbade them from colonizing a living galaxy but the leadership of the Ichorians quickly chose to forgo that ancient law. Instead they increased the number of ships present in the new galaxy and ordered them to colonize forcibly the new domain.
This created a dissent in their ranks and soon a civil war broke. The war lasted for several thousand years. But most of the dissidents were defeated and the High Command retreated from this cursed new galaxy. However the reason, they keep returning is because not all of the dissidents were defeated and they kept igniting the sparks of rebellion and hence they are chased and exterminated.
"It is not working, Nerrys." Benjamin said. They have successfully communicated everything and still the Ichorians resisted the idea. He had no idea why.
"Yeah, I have tried everything I know." Julian added.
The orb bears gathered together. They needed a new strategy. Something in these Ichorians was resisting their idea. They have to figure it out otherwise a massive Ichorian fleet will come to their galaxy and they won't be able to stop the onslaught.
"You do not need to." A mysterious voice crawled into their heads.
"Who said that?" Trip asked. He was turning around trying to locate its source.
Nerrys recognized the voice. "Why don't we need to? They are coming."
"Well, it is pure logic when you come to think of it but you haven't stayed long enough in their minds to actually figure it out."
"WHAT?" O'Brien did not understand a word. He turned to Julian who shrugged. He was at a loss too.
"The first ships that came were sent by the High Command to probe this galaxy's defences. If anything, they would know by now that they are pathetic. But then again, the larger fleet has not come yet, and that bores the question why, doesn't it?"
Nerrys thought this one through. With the orb of time she had the rare opportunity to re-examine these events. As it appeared, she had missed something. The ships that came fought with great ferocity the skull ships but she had missed something there. As she reviewed the battle, she did notice that they had applied the same ferocity if not greater to the Borg ships and she had no idea why.
"Why did they attack the Borg ships with greater ferocity than the Skull ships?"
"I don't know." Worf replied. But it was clear that Nerrys was not talking to him.
"Nerrys, who are you talking to?" Odo asked.
"Show yourself, I know you are here." Nerrys ignored Odo and turned her voice to the dark nothingness around them.
Just when everyone thought, she had lost her mind, a bright light appeared. It grew in size until it became a figure of the most beautiful creature they had ever laid their eyes on.
"Child of Bajor," The figure greeted.
"Yes," Nerrys and Benjamin said together.
A frown appeared on the forehead of the newcomer. "There is only one child of Bajor present here, Captain, and it is not you." Lord Mystery said (for it was him). "You are the child of the Prophets but it is not the same thing as being of Bajor because they are not of Bajor."
"That's not how I am taught."
"That is your problem, Captain Sisko, not mine." Lord Mystery said coldly. He turned to Nerrys completing ignoring him. "You finally noticed that which you had missed before and I guess you want to know why."
"Yes,"
Lord Mystery walked around them then gestured them to circle him. The area around them shifted and felt like going through time as the stars that appeared around them were not those that they knew.
The images around them showed iceberg ships fighting each other. They understood that this was the past as it began. Soon the images shifted again and showed other battles but in each new battle the rebel ships were fewer until there were none. It was now easier to recognize the High Command ships and those of the rebels.
Then everything shifted again, and here they saw the battle at DS9. It was more than clear that those ships were High Command. When the Borg ships first arrived and began their onslaught, the High Command ships were barely interested and found them only slightly pesky.
But that changed with the arrival of the new batches of Borg ships as they succeeded in destroying one of theirs. The battle then changed drastically. The ferocity of the High Command ships increased exponentially.
Everyone thought the reason for that was because of the loss of a ship. But Lord Mystery decided to show them the Borg ships from a different perspective. There they should have noticed something different but they did not.
"Even with the power of the Orbs, you people are still blind." He observed. "Observe closely the battle again."
The battle rewound. But no matter how times it did they could not notice the obvious for Mystery element.
"Observe closely the actions of the Borg." He said.
They refocused but still could not fathom what he was implying. They saw the battle unfold again but nothing seemed to popup.
"They are pathetic, Mystery, stop wasting your time." Another voice joined them. It belonged to another figure that remained blurred.
"Not now, I am busy."
Mystery and the other figure vanished out of sight.
"I was..."
"Relax, Mystery, you will be back with them. They can't see it besides it is not that obvious."
"On the contrary, it is."
"Yes, but only to us not to mention, you did not see it too."
"I think I know what I am showing."
"The Borg ships were not sacrificing themselves for any reason." The other said. "They were communicating with the others."
"WHAT?"
"I think now you do understand. Now, go and explain it."
"But I destroyed four of them..."
"That was part of the plan."
"So, the orb bearers are for nothing."
"On the contrary, they will guide them to their new home. "
Lord Mystery reappeared.
"What happened? Who was that?" Nerrys asked.
"One of the owners of those twenty four ships," Mystery replied. "Alright, what you failed to notice is that the Borg ships were not there on the command of the Borg Queen."
"WHAT?" They all exclaimed.
"Did anyone bother to notice that the Borg ships did not greet their newest guests with their usual greeting?" Mystery asked. "That is because those ships were under the command of the last vestiges of the Ichorian rebels."
"WHAT!"
"You do remember that no all of them were defeated, yes? Well, what was left of them was assimilated by the Borg. However, when the Ichorians reappeared, the rebels overrode their Borg programming and took over a significant part of the Borg fleet and came to confront them."
"But they lost?" Trip said.
"Yes and no," Mystery replied. "This battle had more than one purpose. The Borg ships are no match for the Ichorian scout ships but that was not the direct intent of that encounter."
Nerrys started to understand. They had another purpose. She reviewed the battle again and this time spotted the very different tactics of the Borg. They were not only attacking. Other instruments were at play – the communication arrays.
"They were transmitting messages!" She exclaimed.
"Bravo, yes, they were using the communication array of the Scout ships." Mystery also understood now. "The major fleet that currently looked engaging in the Delta and Gamma quadrants is not that of the High Command but of the rebels, the next generation of them anyway."
They finally understood why their plan did not work. There was no need to convince them as they were already on that course.
"Does this mean that the High Command will engage them again?" Dax asked.
"Yes, when they find out. I believe that would be in another century or so. Gathering so many ships takes time."
"But they are destroying races in both quadrants." Sisko protested.
"No, Captain, they are not. They are only removing those that are most likely to cooperate with the High Command. "
"So, we are useless." Julian said.
"Oh, no, you still have a purpose."
"Which is what?"
"Guide them to their new home, here." Lord Mystery replied and showed them an area on the galactic map. "They need to establish their presence so when the High Command returns they would be ready."
They wondered how many the High Command would bring if the rebels have taken control of over half a million ships. Still they have some work left out but they needed to figure a better way to communicate with the rebels.
To be continued in the last chapter for the series...
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Lordheaven