ASSAULT

PRESIDENT'S OFFICE, PARIS

JUNE 25, 2376

Picard sat in office , waiting for the leaders of Starfleet Command to come. Everything recently had all happened so fast, he thought that he needed a vacation. He looked at his clock, 0900 hours, they should have been here by now. Where were they? Had something happened to them? No, he shook his head, he was being insane. But his feelings had been right so far, and these were insane times. Then, at 0901 hours the Fleet Admirals walked in, thank god he thought. Now, however, came the really tough part, convincing them that they should attack DS9.

As Admiral West sat down, he said, "So Jean-Luc how do you like your new position? It suits you well, I think."

Picard replied, "I takes some-some, getting used to, Admiral. But I think eventually I will have it down."

"Excellent! I knew you were the right person for the job."

Picard started his speech, "As all of you know, Deep Space Nine was overtaken yesterday by the Dominion. I light of the weakened states of the Klingons, the Romulans, and now the Federation; some are skeptical if we can stop the Dominion. Over a year ago, I myself asked the same question, can we stop the Dominion. After a long fought war, we gained victory against the Dominion. I believe we can stop them again, with the help of this."

Instantly the viewscreen flickered on, showing the planet Earth in all its beautiful glory. The screen magnified to show a ship, silver, glistening and shining against the darkness of space. There was a look of awe on the faces of the Admirals, who had no idea what they were looking at.

Picard continued, "This is our secret weapon, the prototype for the most advanced warship that has ever been created. A new joint space venture between the Klingons, the Romulans, and the Federation. Using the best technology of each race, we have created a powerful ship. It is capable of speeds up to warp eleven, and is equipped with the new Romulan phase cloak which allows it to pass through planets, rocks, bases, ships that sort of thing. It can even fire when cloaked, making it virtually invincible. Now gentlemen, if you would like we will give you a demonstration."

Heads nodded from all around the table, and they all turned to watch the viewscreen. The ship executed a slight starboard turn, taking it away from the planet. It targeted a piece of space garbage, and fired it main weapons. The beams shot forward from the bridge section, and sliced into the debris, blowing it to pieces. The ship then executed a port turn, and slowing began to vanish into the darkness. With the new phase cloak, the ship went straight trough the planet of Earth, and uncloaked on the other side. The viewscreen had followed the ship, and emerged on the far side of the planet.

West spoke, "Very impressive, Mr. President. Why wasn't I aware of this?"

Picard replied, "My predecessor kept many things secret from Starfleet. Rest assured, Admiral, in time you will learn all there is to know."

"Have any real tests been done on this ship?" asked Admiral Shantee.

"We have been testing this ship for months, it has proved very impressive." replied Picard.

"Excellent! I think we should use it." said West.

Heads nodded all around the table, but Sherridan spoke up, "How will you gather a fleet, Mr. President? I mean one ship, no matter how advanced can't stop the entire Dominion."

"Admiral, the Klingons and Romulans have already agreed to send fleets, all we have to do is join them. And if I may say, with our new ship, the Victory, hope is on our side."

"Very well, Mr. President, you shall have the fleet you ask." exclaimed West.

Picard watched as the Admirals got up and left. Now, at last they were ready, in less than one day they would strike back at the Dominion. They now had a secret weapon, the Victory, which he hoped would give them the advantage they sought. Perhaps they should call on the Furies again, they seemed to have handled the Borg quite well. He sat quietly, alone in his office, thinking about all the decisions that he would have to make. Some that would eventually cost him, and cost him dearly.

VICTORY, EARTH ORBIT

JUNE 25, 2376

Picard walked onto the bridge of the newly christened Victory. Looking around, he was amazed at the technology that was behind this magnificent battleship. He turned and noticed the command chair, his chair, directly in the center of the bridge.

An Ensign turned to him, "Welcome aboard the Victory, Mr. President."

Picard was too much in awe to reply. "What? Oh- thank you, Ensign."

He continued his tour around the bridge and ended up at the viewscreen. It was huge! At least four times bigger than that of the Enterprise. He stared at the screen, seeing ship after ship after ship. Klingon ships, Romulan ships, Federation ships, and then right in front of his very eyes, the Enterprise. She looked magnificent, shining, gleaming against Earth's sun.

"Ensign," he said turning to the young Ensign in front of him, "Hail the Enterprise."

"Aye, Sir." came the reply.

In seconds he staring into the face, the rather large face on this screen, of Will Riker.

"Mr. President." greeted Riker.

"Captain Riker, I think Its time we get our fleet under way." ordered Picard.

"Of course, Sir."

The Victory turned slightly, and engaged its new warp engines. In a flash of blue light it was gone. The Enterprise warped away right behind, along with every remaining ship in the fleet. The Romulans went next, ship after ship went into warp. The Klingons were last to leave, and when the last ship had finally gone to warp, over ten minutes had passed. They headed for the wormhole to take back DS9. The entire fleet settled in and set course for what was to be the last battle. Either the Dominion would survive or they would, it was that simple.

JEM'HADAR FLEET, DS9

JUNE 26, 2376

Jo'hor sat in his chair, thinking about everything. Starfleet thought that Valdus' assassination, the Klingon civil war, and the destruction of San Francisco was a plan by the Dominion. When in reality it was a plan by the Furies. Starfleet had no idea what they were up against. They thought that they were fighting the Dominion, but no they were fighting the Dominion and the Furies. The Fury planning had given them the perfect opportunity to strike, and the Dominion could not pass up a chance for revenge. His thinking was interrupted when he heard the blaring alarms. He walked directly to the bridge.

As soon as he was out of the doors he said, "What is going on?"

"Hundreds of Klingon ships, Romulan ships, and Federation ships have come out of warp and attacked us, Sir." said one Jem'Hadar.

"That is impossible! There is no Federation, nor no Klingons, nor no Romulans! Attack them back!."

The station shook and rocked as the weapons found their marks. Jem'Hadar fighters came pouring out of the wormhole, opening fire on anything and everything. The fleet now started to move back, for the Jem'Hadar ships were getting torn apart.

The Jem'Hadar said, "Sir! This is not possible!"

Jo'hor walked over to his console, "What is it?!"

"I am not understanding this, but look." he pointed to the screen right in front of him.

The screen showed the Jem'Hadar fleet getting ripped apart, but the Federation fleet had backed off. The red dots of phaser fire appeared to be coming from nowhere.

The view on the Victory was unbelievable, the Jem'Hadar ships didn't know what hit them. Victory dodged in between ships, firing as she went. The Jem'Hadar fleet seemed to be looking for who was attacking them, but they found nothing.

Jo'hor was amazed to see this, the Dominion was getting ripped apart by nothing. Just then the station shook with the force of fire.

"Lock on, and fire!" ordered Jo'hor.

"I have nothing to lock on to, Sir." replied The Jem'Hadar officer.

The station shook again and again, consoles exploded, sparks flew.

Another Jem'Hadar exclaimed, "Sir, Shields are down, we have to evacuate!"

Transporters were activated on every Federation ship, as the fleet moved in for the kill. Jem'Hadar ships limped away in utter defeat.

Jean-Luc Picard materialized in Ops. He stood staring into the face of the Vorta, named Jo'hor.

"Greetings, Captain. Its been a long time, hasn't it?" said Jo'hor.

"That's Mr. President to you."

"Indeed, well, we're moving up in the world, aren't we?" replied Jo'hor.

Jo'hor turned to beam aboard his ship, but Picard stopped him, "I want you to see the reason we were able to defeat you."

He pointed up to the screen, where out of the darkness a strange ship emerged.

"Very Impressive! Unfortunately, I have to go." Before Picard could act, Jo'hor was already on the bridge of his ship, heading for the wormhole and thus to the Jem'Hadar homeworld.

JEM'HADAR HOMEWORLD

JUNE 26, 2376

Jo'hor walked angrily into his office at the Jem'Hadar homeworld. He sat roughly down in his chair. His assistant was in the room at this time.

"I can't believe it! Defeat! All because the Federation had a new ship that could fire while cloaked." he yelled.

"Sir, there's a comm channel for you." said his assistant.

"Yes. That will be all."

The assistant hurried out the door, as Jo'hor activated his comm unit. The face came to him in no time, it was Zutegre.

"Jo'hor, I am displeased with the way the battle turned out."

"It could not be avoided, the Federation had a new weapon, a ship that could fire when cloaked."

"I do not care! I will forgive you, this time! No more foul-ups.

"Thank you, Emperor."

"I will rendezvous with you in one day." said Zutegre.

"You're coming here!" exclaimed Jo'hor the sound of fear rushing through his voice.

"Yes, I have a little unfinished business to attend to, then you shall have your revenge. Zutegre out."

PRESIDENT'S OFFICE, EARTH

JUNE 27, 2376

Picard walked into his office to find the door had been opened. He continued walking toward his chair. Someone was in here he thought, and then his chair turned and he saw the face.

He was stunned, "Who are you?" he asked.

The voice that replied was cold, and evil, "You must be President Jean-Luc Picard. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Zutegre. I am Emperor of the Furies."

Picard understood, all of this had been a plan by the Furies not the by Dominion. "What do you want?" he asked.

"I understand that you have just defeated the Jem'Hadar."

"Yes, it was a great victory for us."

"You will find that a victory is not always a victory and a defeat is not always a defeat. You see the Jem'Hadar are now under our control, we have all the ketracel white, and the Jem'Hadar are our allies."

It hit Picard instantly, the bad just got a whole lot worse. The Jem'Hadar and Furies allied with each other. Mar'tok was right, the darkness had come.