Babylon 6 rotated silently in the shadow of a massive gas giant. The new station was designed entirely for battle. Even the Vorlons and Shadows had offered to supply some technology for this final stronghold against the Borg invasion. Still, it could offer little resistance to fully armed cube. Even so, the EA, Minbari, and several others were putting their final hope in the station. Situated on the edge of Borg territory, the inevitable showdown for control of the star system would be the Armageddon of their galaxy.
A middle-aged officer burst into the room, "Kosh, are you here?"
The cycloptic exterior of the Vorlon turned from an image on a nearby screen to look at the ambassador. Kosh waited to hear what the Narn had to say that was so urgent.
"Kosh," The ambassador took a moment to calm his voice, "I know you have a way to contact the other First Ones. Why haven't you? We know they're out there, in some nearby galaxy. You're the only one who can reach them, and you know we can't stop these… these Borg without their help."
Strange noises eminated from the Vorlon for a moment, "Some would say that the Borg deserve this galaxy, as they have the power to conquer it."
"I've heard of you before," N'Kal looked at the ambassador for a moment, "Until now, I didn't believe that you'd be complacent in a time like this. Why won't you contact the First Ones?"
"Not even they are masters of time," The Vorlon responded, "Now, only time can defeat the Borg."
"Time? What good does that do us?" The Narn demanded, "When the Borg decide to attack, they'll wipe us all out in weeks."
"It may do us more good than you now realise. For now, you must wait."
***
"General, this was a very expensive operation, and we've never done anything like it before. If this doesn't work out, I'll have your head on a platter."
"Don't worry, Mr. Secretary," The general responded, "Our best people are convinced that this is the only solution."
"We'll see," The Secretary of Defense answered curtly, and left the office.
The General left a moment later, and headed for the surface. SG1 was already standing near the massive electric fence that had been completed only a short time ago.
Jack looked at the thick, frost-covered bundle of cabling and equipment that stretched off into the distance. Marines patrolled the entire perimeter of the sensative equipment.
"General," Jack turned to meet his commanding officer, "Where exactly does this stuff go?"
"The Marines didn't seem interested in talking about it," Daniel added.
"The Pacific Ocean," General Hammond responded, "We couldn't get enough energy directly from a power plant without risking the entire power grid. Luckily, the Enterprise was in dry dock for repairs. We decided to use its nuclear reactor to power the stargate for this mission."
"So… this is all superconducting wire…" Daniel began.
"All the way to the Ocean?" Sam asked, "That must have cost a fortune."
"The Secretary of Defense had to a cut an entire battleship from the budget to pay for this operation," General Hammond explained, "So we'd better get this right."
***
President Yedri extended his hand to Picard, "I'm not sure I understand everything that's happened… but thank you. They would have found us before long."
"What happened?" Picard asked, "How did they destroy the planet?"
"It was 2114, December," Yedri responded, "The screamers contacted some of us telepathically. They studied us, and decided we weren't worthy of survival. Some kind of miniature black hole appeared and eight ships came through. They destroyed earth with a beam weapon, then put a factory Venus. That would have been the end of humanity, but luckily we still had some of the defense domes in place from World War III. About three of our domes survived the initial attack. Even then, we only survived because Kennedy Dome was able to repair one of the space shuttles. We started working together, and learned to survive on these asteroid colonies. After awhile, we built a shuttle with enough storage capacity to support a colony-sized crew indefinately. We sent it in the direction Alpha Centauri, and hoped for the best."
"Has this area always been filled with fluid?" Picard asked.
"No," Yedri answered, "We found out later that the factory on Venus was designed to eat through the planet and turn it into a primordial soup. We're not sure how it works, but the facility had already finished off Venus and Mars when the Borg arrived, and it was on its way to our asteroid field."
"What happened when the Borg came?"
"We noticed a disruption in the fluid, and a big metal Cube came in out of nowhere. It sucked in the Venus factory, and a couple of the Screamers' ships came out of a black hole to attack them. The Cube was damaged, but it won. Then, it started searching the asteroid field. They found Kennedy Dome and Alexandria Dome. We aren't sure what happened next, but no shuttles have returned from either one since then. They were getting dangerously close to us, when about twenty Screamers showed up and took care of the Cube."
"Mr. Yedri," Picard began, "The Borg are native to our dimension, and we believe they have been using your science fiction to locate targets for their attacks."
"Why us?" President Yedri asked.
"We aren't certain," Picard tried to explain, "But we need your help to stop them. We believe that we can use data from your computers to determine what the Borg have been attacking. Will you help us?"
"What about us?" Yedri asked, "We have no homeworld, and we have no intention of going back to the colongy."
"Of course," Picard considered the situation for a moment, "There are many uninhabited worlds within Federation territory. We may be able to give you asylum. I will have to consult with the Federation council first."
"Very well," Yedri nodded, "Once we have made arrangements with the council, I'll show you how to access our computers."
***
"OK, where are we?" Jack asked.
"This must be where Ishan dialed in from," Sam responded, looking around the cavernous room.
"It… looks different in person," Daniel stated.
"Let's spread out," Jack ordered, "Look for anything that might give us an idea on how to get out of this room."
"Um…" Daniel began, "I don't think…"
A bright flash blinded the rest of the SG team, and Daniel vanished from the room.
***
Daniel quickly looked around. The architecture of this room was similar to the huge gateroom, with the walls, floor, and ceiling covered in elegantly designed fabric. The clean and smooth appearance of the cloth suggested that it was far more resiliant than any similar material from earth.
"Sorry about not warning you," Ishan apologized, "They recognized you from our databases, and immediately brought me in to take care of it. I really did want to get a chance to speak with you personally before we brought the rest of your people in."
"Why me?" Daniel asked.
"You did seem to be the least dangerous one, judging by the last time I worked with you."
"Thank you… I think."
"Now, don't worry about the rest of SG1. I've already sent someone down to speak with them. Anyway, down to the business at hand. I gather that you're here because of your trouble with the Borg."
"How did you know that?"
"With all the spies we have throughout the multiverse, did you really think yours was exempt."
"No… I suppose not."
"The Borg are a bit of a problem," Ishan answered, "We haven't come up with a way to beat them just yet. Don't worry about it, though. We have our best people working on it."
"Why did you have to separate us to say that?" Daniel asked.
"We really don't have time to argue, so I wanted to deal with only one of you. You'll have to tell the others. We don't have the resources available for guests at the moment. The Borg are causing problems throughout the multiverse, and all of us are working almost non-stop to slow them down as much as possible. I'm afraid you and the rest of SG1 will have to go back to earth. When we come up with a solution, we promise that you'll hear about it right away."
"Well, wait," Daniel said, "Maybe we can help. We've fought the Borg, and we've worked with you before."
Ishan looked at him quizically, "You really want to help, even if it means facing the Borg in a direct conflict? You could be assimilated."
"Maybe I'm not technically in the military, but we have a duty to protect our world. We aren't afraid of risking our lives if it improves earth's chances in this war."
"I meant what I said," Ishan responded, "We don't have the manpower to make special accomodations for your people. We'll provide you with room and board, but we won't have anyone around to give you a tour or explain how things work."
"We'll manage," Daniel answered.
A half-smile appeared on Ishan's face, "Alright. I'm going on a mission tomarrow, and I could use a hand. I'll send you the files, and you can come with me to the briefing in the morning… about two hours from now. You can go on the mission with me, if you think you can handle it."
"We'll do what we can."
"That's a pretty ambiguous way of responding," Ishan observed, "I think you'll do just fine."
***
"You're trying again?" Beka asked.
"Ever heard the phrase, 'Fortune favors the bold'?" Dylan asked.
"The bold, not the suicidal," Tyr responded.
"It's a fine line, Tyr," Dylan answered, "The Borg say they've destroyed Tarn Vedra. I want to be sure."
"You want to risk my ship even though the Borg already said that they've destroyed that planet?"
"There's more in that system than Tarn Vedra. Even if they've destroyed that planet, the colony on Vir Vedra could still be standing, or the emergency facilities on Mejj Vedra. We lost Andromeda, Trance, and Harper trying to stop the Borg. I'm not going half way on this. I'm going to make sure they aren't still in that system, and I will repair as much damage as I can. If you don't want to risk your ship, fine. I'll hire another ship, and I'll fly it myself if I have to."
"How?" Beka asked, "You couldn't afford to pay a Nightsider to spit on you. Besides you know I'm the only one here with a chance of pulling it off."
"I'll find a way."
"I can't vouch for them," Rev said, "But I will help you."
Beka huffed, "Fine. I'll take you to see the Vedrans."
Tyr stood, looking dispassionate as always, "Kill yourselves if you want, but if what you say is true, the weapon stores are gone. I have no reason to go."
"Alright," Dylan responded, "We'll pick you up when we get back."
"Hey, I'm the captain, and I give the orders on this ship," Beka said. Tyr raised his eyebrow at her. She looked back at him, and spoke coldly, "We'll be going past Chicago drift before we hit anything too rough. I'm sure you won't have any trouble finding a place to stay."
A middle-aged officer burst into the room, "Kosh, are you here?"
The cycloptic exterior of the Vorlon turned from an image on a nearby screen to look at the ambassador. Kosh waited to hear what the Narn had to say that was so urgent.
"Kosh," The ambassador took a moment to calm his voice, "I know you have a way to contact the other First Ones. Why haven't you? We know they're out there, in some nearby galaxy. You're the only one who can reach them, and you know we can't stop these… these Borg without their help."
Strange noises eminated from the Vorlon for a moment, "Some would say that the Borg deserve this galaxy, as they have the power to conquer it."
"I've heard of you before," N'Kal looked at the ambassador for a moment, "Until now, I didn't believe that you'd be complacent in a time like this. Why won't you contact the First Ones?"
"Not even they are masters of time," The Vorlon responded, "Now, only time can defeat the Borg."
"Time? What good does that do us?" The Narn demanded, "When the Borg decide to attack, they'll wipe us all out in weeks."
"It may do us more good than you now realise. For now, you must wait."
***
"General, this was a very expensive operation, and we've never done anything like it before. If this doesn't work out, I'll have your head on a platter."
"Don't worry, Mr. Secretary," The general responded, "Our best people are convinced that this is the only solution."
"We'll see," The Secretary of Defense answered curtly, and left the office.
The General left a moment later, and headed for the surface. SG1 was already standing near the massive electric fence that had been completed only a short time ago.
Jack looked at the thick, frost-covered bundle of cabling and equipment that stretched off into the distance. Marines patrolled the entire perimeter of the sensative equipment.
"General," Jack turned to meet his commanding officer, "Where exactly does this stuff go?"
"The Marines didn't seem interested in talking about it," Daniel added.
"The Pacific Ocean," General Hammond responded, "We couldn't get enough energy directly from a power plant without risking the entire power grid. Luckily, the Enterprise was in dry dock for repairs. We decided to use its nuclear reactor to power the stargate for this mission."
"So… this is all superconducting wire…" Daniel began.
"All the way to the Ocean?" Sam asked, "That must have cost a fortune."
"The Secretary of Defense had to a cut an entire battleship from the budget to pay for this operation," General Hammond explained, "So we'd better get this right."
***
President Yedri extended his hand to Picard, "I'm not sure I understand everything that's happened… but thank you. They would have found us before long."
"What happened?" Picard asked, "How did they destroy the planet?"
"It was 2114, December," Yedri responded, "The screamers contacted some of us telepathically. They studied us, and decided we weren't worthy of survival. Some kind of miniature black hole appeared and eight ships came through. They destroyed earth with a beam weapon, then put a factory Venus. That would have been the end of humanity, but luckily we still had some of the defense domes in place from World War III. About three of our domes survived the initial attack. Even then, we only survived because Kennedy Dome was able to repair one of the space shuttles. We started working together, and learned to survive on these asteroid colonies. After awhile, we built a shuttle with enough storage capacity to support a colony-sized crew indefinately. We sent it in the direction Alpha Centauri, and hoped for the best."
"Has this area always been filled with fluid?" Picard asked.
"No," Yedri answered, "We found out later that the factory on Venus was designed to eat through the planet and turn it into a primordial soup. We're not sure how it works, but the facility had already finished off Venus and Mars when the Borg arrived, and it was on its way to our asteroid field."
"What happened when the Borg came?"
"We noticed a disruption in the fluid, and a big metal Cube came in out of nowhere. It sucked in the Venus factory, and a couple of the Screamers' ships came out of a black hole to attack them. The Cube was damaged, but it won. Then, it started searching the asteroid field. They found Kennedy Dome and Alexandria Dome. We aren't sure what happened next, but no shuttles have returned from either one since then. They were getting dangerously close to us, when about twenty Screamers showed up and took care of the Cube."
"Mr. Yedri," Picard began, "The Borg are native to our dimension, and we believe they have been using your science fiction to locate targets for their attacks."
"Why us?" President Yedri asked.
"We aren't certain," Picard tried to explain, "But we need your help to stop them. We believe that we can use data from your computers to determine what the Borg have been attacking. Will you help us?"
"What about us?" Yedri asked, "We have no homeworld, and we have no intention of going back to the colongy."
"Of course," Picard considered the situation for a moment, "There are many uninhabited worlds within Federation territory. We may be able to give you asylum. I will have to consult with the Federation council first."
"Very well," Yedri nodded, "Once we have made arrangements with the council, I'll show you how to access our computers."
***
"OK, where are we?" Jack asked.
"This must be where Ishan dialed in from," Sam responded, looking around the cavernous room.
"It… looks different in person," Daniel stated.
"Let's spread out," Jack ordered, "Look for anything that might give us an idea on how to get out of this room."
"Um…" Daniel began, "I don't think…"
A bright flash blinded the rest of the SG team, and Daniel vanished from the room.
***
Daniel quickly looked around. The architecture of this room was similar to the huge gateroom, with the walls, floor, and ceiling covered in elegantly designed fabric. The clean and smooth appearance of the cloth suggested that it was far more resiliant than any similar material from earth.
"Sorry about not warning you," Ishan apologized, "They recognized you from our databases, and immediately brought me in to take care of it. I really did want to get a chance to speak with you personally before we brought the rest of your people in."
"Why me?" Daniel asked.
"You did seem to be the least dangerous one, judging by the last time I worked with you."
"Thank you… I think."
"Now, don't worry about the rest of SG1. I've already sent someone down to speak with them. Anyway, down to the business at hand. I gather that you're here because of your trouble with the Borg."
"How did you know that?"
"With all the spies we have throughout the multiverse, did you really think yours was exempt."
"No… I suppose not."
"The Borg are a bit of a problem," Ishan answered, "We haven't come up with a way to beat them just yet. Don't worry about it, though. We have our best people working on it."
"Why did you have to separate us to say that?" Daniel asked.
"We really don't have time to argue, so I wanted to deal with only one of you. You'll have to tell the others. We don't have the resources available for guests at the moment. The Borg are causing problems throughout the multiverse, and all of us are working almost non-stop to slow them down as much as possible. I'm afraid you and the rest of SG1 will have to go back to earth. When we come up with a solution, we promise that you'll hear about it right away."
"Well, wait," Daniel said, "Maybe we can help. We've fought the Borg, and we've worked with you before."
Ishan looked at him quizically, "You really want to help, even if it means facing the Borg in a direct conflict? You could be assimilated."
"Maybe I'm not technically in the military, but we have a duty to protect our world. We aren't afraid of risking our lives if it improves earth's chances in this war."
"I meant what I said," Ishan responded, "We don't have the manpower to make special accomodations for your people. We'll provide you with room and board, but we won't have anyone around to give you a tour or explain how things work."
"We'll manage," Daniel answered.
A half-smile appeared on Ishan's face, "Alright. I'm going on a mission tomarrow, and I could use a hand. I'll send you the files, and you can come with me to the briefing in the morning… about two hours from now. You can go on the mission with me, if you think you can handle it."
"We'll do what we can."
"That's a pretty ambiguous way of responding," Ishan observed, "I think you'll do just fine."
***
"You're trying again?" Beka asked.
"Ever heard the phrase, 'Fortune favors the bold'?" Dylan asked.
"The bold, not the suicidal," Tyr responded.
"It's a fine line, Tyr," Dylan answered, "The Borg say they've destroyed Tarn Vedra. I want to be sure."
"You want to risk my ship even though the Borg already said that they've destroyed that planet?"
"There's more in that system than Tarn Vedra. Even if they've destroyed that planet, the colony on Vir Vedra could still be standing, or the emergency facilities on Mejj Vedra. We lost Andromeda, Trance, and Harper trying to stop the Borg. I'm not going half way on this. I'm going to make sure they aren't still in that system, and I will repair as much damage as I can. If you don't want to risk your ship, fine. I'll hire another ship, and I'll fly it myself if I have to."
"How?" Beka asked, "You couldn't afford to pay a Nightsider to spit on you. Besides you know I'm the only one here with a chance of pulling it off."
"I'll find a way."
"I can't vouch for them," Rev said, "But I will help you."
Beka huffed, "Fine. I'll take you to see the Vedrans."
Tyr stood, looking dispassionate as always, "Kill yourselves if you want, but if what you say is true, the weapon stores are gone. I have no reason to go."
"Alright," Dylan responded, "We'll pick you up when we get back."
"Hey, I'm the captain, and I give the orders on this ship," Beka said. Tyr raised his eyebrow at her. She looked back at him, and spoke coldly, "We'll be going past Chicago drift before we hit anything too rough. I'm sure you won't have any trouble finding a place to stay."