Zelda and Paris returned to the Dyson. Admiral Kathryn Janeway was not having the best of mornings so far. There was, however, concrete medical data to suggest that once she had consumed the proper amount of black coffee to which she was undeniably addicted, the problem would rectify itself in short order. Not wanting to sully her image in front of the crew, the Captain nursed her lukewarm mug of java in the privacy of her Ready Room.

Her combadge chirped. "Captain to the bridge," Chakotay's voice said in a somewhat excited manner. Given the Commander's mostly wooden demeanor, any sign of emotion on his part was worth taking notice of.

With a sigh, Janeway rose from her seat and stormed through the door onto the bridge. "This had better be important," she growled, still not fully awake.

"It is," Chakotay assured her. "Harry, please repeat what you told me."

"Admiral, sensors have detected, uh, a hole in space," Captain Kim reported.

Janeway looked to the Ops station and gave Harry a withering look. "A 'hole? Can you be more specific?"

"There's a bit of space where the stars don't match the area surrounding it," he explained.

"Onscreen."

The view screen lit up with a star field that was unmistakably wrong in a certain radius. The stars in that small window did not match. "Tuvok, what can you tell me about what's on the other side of that window?"

"Sensors indicate that the other side of the anomaly is within the outskirts of the Kabrel system, Captain."

"Kabrel," Janeway said wistfully. "That's just a hop, skip, and a jump away from Deep Space Nine. We may actually have a chance to get resupplied by friends. Mr. Paris, set course for the Kabrel system. Maximum warp! I don't want to miss this opportunity if I can help it."

"Aye, Captain!" Tom said enthusiastically. "I can't believe it! "We're going home!"

"Take us through."

"Yes, ma'am!"

Within minutes, they had passed the threshold and had dropped to impulse. "Harry, run a sensor sweep of the surrounding systems. I want to be sure we're in the right place."

"We just crossed the the Alpha Quadrant in an instant."

"Admiral," Harry said from Ops, "Sensors have confirmed that we are in the Alpha Quadrant, just outside the Kabrel system!" He had ridiculous grin plastered onto his face. "We're home! Just a bit further to Earth!"

"We should report in to the nearest starbase first. Follow all the protocols. We wouldn't want to ruffle any other admirals' feathers," Janeway said with a small grin. "Set course for Deep Space Nine. Warp three."

"Aye, ma'am," Tom said happily from his station.

"Captain," Tuvok said with traditional Vulcan calm, "a vessel is decloaking off our starboard aft."

Damn! Janeway had not come all this way, after almost four years of being stranded in the galaxy's armpit, just to meet some uppity Klingon or Romulan trying to make a point. "Shields up. Charge phaser banks and arm photon torpedo tubes. And put the ship on screen."

The view screen showed a small vessel that was unmistakably a Starfleet ship, but it didn't follow the traditional saucer/nacelle design.

"They are hailing us," Tuvok said, his eyebrows raised.

"Good. I'd like to get some answers. On screen," Janeway said as she sat back down in her chair."

The screen resolved into the image of a young brown-haired woman in a Starfleet uniform that was of a design that Janeway hadn't seen before. The shoulders were a faded purple-grey color, but the officer had a blue collar – or was it an undershirt of some kind? – indicating a position in the sciences. "Starfleet vessel," the young woman said, "identify yourself."

Janeway was not in the mood for dealing with a young science officer with an attitude. And Federation ships did not have cloaking devices. "I'm Admiral Kathryn Janeway of the Starship Dyson. Mind if I ask who I have the pleasure of talking to? And why I'm dealing with a Federation ship that seems to be in illegal possession of a cloaking device?" she asked, her voice dripping with sarcastic hostility.

"Dyson?," the woman said thoughtfully, ignoring Janeway's attempts to bait her. The other end of the conversation went mute as the woman in the command chair turned to consult with one of her officers. Only then did Janeway notice the spots running down her neck that marked her as a Trill. Maybe she isn't so young, after all.

The other starship un-muted its com system. "Dyson you are aware we dont recognise you as federation?"

Janeway eyes went wide at the harsh truth that she knew the Trill was speaking. " I assure you we are Federation this is a prototype ship."

"I see," the Trill woman said, her face not giving anything away. "Dyson, you will accompany us back to Starbase 375 for a debriefing. But before your crew disembarks, you will all submit to blood screenings, and security details will comb your ship for any irregularities. Failure to comply will result in hostile action." The brunette's stoic face softened a bit. "Please, don't bring it to that. I really hope you are who you say you are. We need all the help we can get."

Janeway was perplexed by the science officer's remarks, but they did feel ominous. "Is Deep Space Nine not equipped to handle our needs?" Janeway asked sincerely.

The woman, who had still not given her name or rank, seemed on the verge of answering. "I'm not authorized to discuss that at this point. Report to Starbase 375 immediately, Captain."

This was getting to be bit much, and without her morning coffee, Janeway's patience was running thin. "I'm so sorry, but unless you have a means of enforcing your request… Are those Lieutenant Commander's pips on your uniform? Unless you plan to force us there, Commander, then I'm afraid I'm going to have to pull rank on you and order you to back off. And by the way its Admiral"

The Trill actually laughed at that. "Admiral, let me be clear. You will be coming with us."

"Admiral!" Harry called from his station, "Five more ships are decloaking! Four Klingon Birds of Prey and one Vor'cha-class cruiser. They have us surrounded."

Janeway looked back to the brunette Trill, who had not flinched during their encounter. "Keep your shields and weapons online during the trip, Captain," she said. "If we encounter the enemy on our way, I'd like to have your guns on our side."

Finally, after arriving at Starbase 375, a security team had beamed over to Dyson and started taking blood samples of the entire crew, starting with Janeway. Most of the team had been content just to see the blood at all, which made Janeway rather uneasy. But it was then scanned and downloaded into the Starbase's computers.

Janeway was still on the bridge, surrounded security teams in these new uniforms that she didn't recognize, though they almost universally had a yellow collar. This was not how she had envisioned coming home.

"Dax to Janeway," the Trill's voice said harshly over the com. "Please report to Cargo Bay Two."

Oh, damn. Janeway hadn't even thought about how she was going to explain the prevalence of Borg technology on the ship. If the paranoid officers who had greeted Voyager were any indication, this would not go well. "On my way," Janeway said, not liking being ordered about by a Lieutenant Commander.

Heading to the turbolift, Janeway noticed that she had an escort of two security guards. The ride down to Deck Eight felt a lot longer than usual. After disembarking, the Captain couldn't help but feel she was being taken to her own execution.

Arriving at their destination, the doors opened to reveal security teams combing through the various Borg technology with great care. Dax stood overseeing the efforts, her hands clasped behind her back in a manner not unlike Seven of Nine.

"Commander Dax," Janeway greeted the woman in person for the first time.

The trill turned to face Voyager's Captain. "Captain Janeway. I'm happy to say that we can verify the identities of your crew." Dax's eyes turned steely and cold. Janeway sighed. She felt like she was about to lecture an ignorant child. "Yes, Commander. About fucking time."

Dax actually smiled, and it reached her eyes. "Glad to hear it. You'll want to report to Admiral Quinn as soon as you can. Fortunately for you. And let me be the first to say that it's damned good to have you back."

Admiral Quinn walked in just in time to see Janeway punch Dax in the jaw knocking the Trill to floor

" Next time you try to order an Admiral around remember who your talking to bitch"

It was also likely that Dyson would be stationed out of DS9 for the foreseeable future. In approximately four hours, they would arrive at Deep Space Nine.