Commander tomalok sat aboard the bridge of his flagship the Entat, an old Deridex warbird, pondering the current situation.
There had been no word from the federation since they quarintined the bajorine sector, the Klingons had denied having any connection to the forces that invaded the empire.
Then there was the matter of the Cardassians, there had been CARDASSIAN warships somehow allied with the Klingon invaders. It should have been impossible, the Klingons
suffered the worst during the war second only to the Cardassians, their combined fleets could have number no more than twelve HUNDRED !! and yet over nine thousand
Klingon and Cardassian warships were busy gutting the star empire from within.
" DAMN THE FEDERATION " Tomalok yelled clearly frustrated
" We trusted them to defend the Neutral Zone ! "
" There was nothing to be done commander " responded Lieana, Tomalok's second in cmd.
" Was there ? We did not need their help, if the defences along the border had remained we could have at least slowed the invaders ! "
" If it was not for them the Tal'shiar would have taken direct control " Said Lieana
That was true Tomalok thought to himself, at least they now only control the home system even though the shipyards there were probobly their best chance of defeating
the Klingons.
" This is not the place to discuss these matters " Tomalok said flatly " Lieana come with me "
" Yes Commander "
The two left the bridge and headed down to the most secure areas of the vessel, they passed several guard stations and finally came to a huge blast door.
" Why have we come here ? " asked Lieana
" I have something important to show you " He Responded
The door opened just enough for the two to move through before resealing itself.
" This " Tomalok began " Is what we recovered from the Iconia "
The lights grew brighter and the two caught sight of a series of machines including an odd circular portal.
" Iconia ?!? I thought there was nothing left after Picard was done with it "
" ... Picard only destroyed what was Fully functional, after the Enterprise left several vessels were sent to the site to excavate. They found this among other objects,
it has only a limited scope of transport where as the first machine could transport someone anywhere regardless of distance, time, or inhibition this can only transport to
a pre designated destination "
" .... What is it ? " She asked
" Information regarding it was also found nearby ..... Only some of it could be translated, however I believe it was called the Sky Gate........... "
__________________
Starfleet HQ that same time.....
" Thank you admiral. " Spoke the President " Now I would like to get down to business, would you begin Admiral Janeway ? "
" I would be honored Mr. President " Janeway responded.
" As you may or may not be aware of, these are indeed extremely dire times for us. "
Janeway moved to the controls for the massive display adorning the wall above the command center.
" This was the area of space we had communication with as of three weeks ago. "
The screen displayed a map of the galaxy with a large blob representing the very furthest reaches of the federations involvement.
" This is the current situation " She went on
The blob shrunk down to barely beyond the federations own borders.
" We have lost all communication with Cardassia, The Romulans, The Breen, and every other power in these sections of the galaxy. Communication with the Klingons
has been difficult at best, there are vague reports of attacks on outposts, colonys, and shipping from the orion system and the quarentine zone to our borders with our
respective allies in the Klingons and Romulans. None of the ships we sent to protect the evacuation of Bajor have returned or made any attempt at communicating,
we presume them destroyed. "
" I propose that we send three small forces made up of some of our fastest most powerful starships to investigate and attempt to reopen the lines of communication . "
" I agree, " Admiral Hayes spoke up. " However sending our best forces into the unknown is sheer folly, if they were to be destroyed we could be left at significant disadvantage "
" Admiral Hayes, I understand your conserns however my plan would require only nine starships "
" Nine starships ? " Asked the confused Admiral
" Yes one flagship and two escorts per force "
" And which three vessels do you have in mind Admiral " Asked Captain Picard
" The Enterprise, The Titan, and Voyager.......... "
_____________________
Garak could taste blood. The Klingons had invaded only a matter of hours ago, and yet Cardassia's capital cities were already burning. Even now Klingon warships bombarded
the planet and Klingon troops butchered any Cardassian in sight; Garak had done his best to keep their defences together against the raging torrent that had struck with
so little warning. None the less Cardassia had already fallen it was just a matter of when the Klingons would stop killing the populace. Garak and what remained of his staff
plus a few solders and terrified civilians that had tagged along were held up in an ancient fortress built by a forgotten king that once ruled a long forgotten kingdom;
even considering it's age the fortress had seemingly been built with it's current use in mind. Galtar'Mav as it was called had been built in the mountain ranges just south
of the frozen wasteland that made up Cardassia's northpole, it blended well with the terrain, rain water and ice/snow runoff flowed into giant storage vats deep below it's base
and most important it was made of stone. The Klingons would never know they were there, true they had little food onhand and would eventually starve, but that wouldn't be
a problem once their ship arrived..... IF it arrived.
The Kraxon eased itself into Cardassia's magnetisphere directly above the north pole. It had been one of the few Cardassian starships to survive it's many hard years of
service and had been rewarded with an array of unconventional upgrades. The only reason it was able to reach Cardassia at all was because of it's Romulan cloaking device
stolen during the Dominon war, although it had been caught twice by enemy warships enroute, it's upgraded weapons and shielding also stolen this time from the dominion
allowed her to dispatch the enemy before they could send for reinforcements.
Suddenly Garak's stealth communicator came to life
" Static.......rak.................in......pos..io.......bea...t.......impos..ble.....shut....w..l....arriv....thre...minu.......... "
Garak stole himself, pulling himself up off the stone floor. He remembered that last Klingon punching him as he drove a blade through the warrior heart, Garak rubbed his jaw
moved him tounge and spit out three teeth.
" Get everyone ready to move, we are leaving " Garak told his Lieutenant Taruv
" Yes Sir " Taruv said, already moving to perform his task.
The Bloodwing, a Var'tok heavy cruiser had detected something strange near it's position and discovered a Cardassian warship in orbit of the planet. Her captain was overjoyed
there had been so few Cardassian vessels to destroy and here was one ripe for the picking, the only thing bothering him was he knew the three minutes it took to reach it
would seem like an eternity.
Gul Ranor saw it, the Klingons had spotted them. He knew it would happen but why did it have to be one of the BIG ones ?
" ETA ON THE SHUTTLE " he demanded
" It's landing now sir " Responded a bridge officer
Garak and the others were waiting when the shuttle landed.
" GET THE CIVILIANS ONBOARD FIRST " Garak yelled over the sharp wind and the scream of the shuttles engines
Everyone ran, first the Civilians crammed into the shuttle then the soldiers and Garak's staff. Bodies were packed wall to wall with barely enough room to breath.
There was only enough room left inside for one more person, it was either Garak to Taruv.
" Get on board Taruv I'm staying " said Garak resigned to whatever fate awaited him.
" I'm sorry Sir " Garak heard Taruv say before everything went black
Taruv watched as the shuttle lifted off and blasted out of the atmosphere before heading back into the fort, this place would be Cardassia's only hope he thought as headed below.
" The Shuttle has docked Sir " an officer managed to say before his console exploded in his face killing him
The Klingons were on top of them, a second or two off and they might not have made it but the bridge crew did their job and engaged the warp drive having entered coordinates
for federation space after activating the cloak. Ten seconds later the bridge crew were all dead from exposure to intense radiation .
There had been no word from the federation since they quarintined the bajorine sector, the Klingons had denied having any connection to the forces that invaded the empire.
Then there was the matter of the Cardassians, there had been CARDASSIAN warships somehow allied with the Klingon invaders. It should have been impossible, the Klingons
suffered the worst during the war second only to the Cardassians, their combined fleets could have number no more than twelve HUNDRED !! and yet over nine thousand
Klingon and Cardassian warships were busy gutting the star empire from within.
" DAMN THE FEDERATION " Tomalok yelled clearly frustrated
" We trusted them to defend the Neutral Zone ! "
" There was nothing to be done commander " responded Lieana, Tomalok's second in cmd.
" Was there ? We did not need their help, if the defences along the border had remained we could have at least slowed the invaders ! "
" If it was not for them the Tal'shiar would have taken direct control " Said Lieana
That was true Tomalok thought to himself, at least they now only control the home system even though the shipyards there were probobly their best chance of defeating
the Klingons.
" This is not the place to discuss these matters " Tomalok said flatly " Lieana come with me "
" Yes Commander "
The two left the bridge and headed down to the most secure areas of the vessel, they passed several guard stations and finally came to a huge blast door.
" Why have we come here ? " asked Lieana
" I have something important to show you " He Responded
The door opened just enough for the two to move through before resealing itself.
" This " Tomalok began " Is what we recovered from the Iconia "
The lights grew brighter and the two caught sight of a series of machines including an odd circular portal.
" Iconia ?!? I thought there was nothing left after Picard was done with it "
" ... Picard only destroyed what was Fully functional, after the Enterprise left several vessels were sent to the site to excavate. They found this among other objects,
it has only a limited scope of transport where as the first machine could transport someone anywhere regardless of distance, time, or inhibition this can only transport to
a pre designated destination "
" .... What is it ? " She asked
" Information regarding it was also found nearby ..... Only some of it could be translated, however I believe it was called the Sky Gate........... "
__________________
Starfleet HQ that same time.....
" Thank you admiral. " Spoke the President " Now I would like to get down to business, would you begin Admiral Janeway ? "
" I would be honored Mr. President " Janeway responded.
" As you may or may not be aware of, these are indeed extremely dire times for us. "
Janeway moved to the controls for the massive display adorning the wall above the command center.
" This was the area of space we had communication with as of three weeks ago. "
The screen displayed a map of the galaxy with a large blob representing the very furthest reaches of the federations involvement.
" This is the current situation " She went on
The blob shrunk down to barely beyond the federations own borders.
" We have lost all communication with Cardassia, The Romulans, The Breen, and every other power in these sections of the galaxy. Communication with the Klingons
has been difficult at best, there are vague reports of attacks on outposts, colonys, and shipping from the orion system and the quarentine zone to our borders with our
respective allies in the Klingons and Romulans. None of the ships we sent to protect the evacuation of Bajor have returned or made any attempt at communicating,
we presume them destroyed. "
" I propose that we send three small forces made up of some of our fastest most powerful starships to investigate and attempt to reopen the lines of communication . "
" I agree, " Admiral Hayes spoke up. " However sending our best forces into the unknown is sheer folly, if they were to be destroyed we could be left at significant disadvantage "
" Admiral Hayes, I understand your conserns however my plan would require only nine starships "
" Nine starships ? " Asked the confused Admiral
" Yes one flagship and two escorts per force "
" And which three vessels do you have in mind Admiral " Asked Captain Picard
" The Enterprise, The Titan, and Voyager.......... "
_____________________
Garak could taste blood. The Klingons had invaded only a matter of hours ago, and yet Cardassia's capital cities were already burning. Even now Klingon warships bombarded
the planet and Klingon troops butchered any Cardassian in sight; Garak had done his best to keep their defences together against the raging torrent that had struck with
so little warning. None the less Cardassia had already fallen it was just a matter of when the Klingons would stop killing the populace. Garak and what remained of his staff
plus a few solders and terrified civilians that had tagged along were held up in an ancient fortress built by a forgotten king that once ruled a long forgotten kingdom;
even considering it's age the fortress had seemingly been built with it's current use in mind. Galtar'Mav as it was called had been built in the mountain ranges just south
of the frozen wasteland that made up Cardassia's northpole, it blended well with the terrain, rain water and ice/snow runoff flowed into giant storage vats deep below it's base
and most important it was made of stone. The Klingons would never know they were there, true they had little food onhand and would eventually starve, but that wouldn't be
a problem once their ship arrived..... IF it arrived.
The Kraxon eased itself into Cardassia's magnetisphere directly above the north pole. It had been one of the few Cardassian starships to survive it's many hard years of
service and had been rewarded with an array of unconventional upgrades. The only reason it was able to reach Cardassia at all was because of it's Romulan cloaking device
stolen during the Dominon war, although it had been caught twice by enemy warships enroute, it's upgraded weapons and shielding also stolen this time from the dominion
allowed her to dispatch the enemy before they could send for reinforcements.
Suddenly Garak's stealth communicator came to life
" Static.......rak.................in......pos..io.......bea...t.......impos..ble.....shut....w..l....arriv....thre...minu.......... "
Garak stole himself, pulling himself up off the stone floor. He remembered that last Klingon punching him as he drove a blade through the warrior heart, Garak rubbed his jaw
moved him tounge and spit out three teeth.
" Get everyone ready to move, we are leaving " Garak told his Lieutenant Taruv
" Yes Sir " Taruv said, already moving to perform his task.
The Bloodwing, a Var'tok heavy cruiser had detected something strange near it's position and discovered a Cardassian warship in orbit of the planet. Her captain was overjoyed
there had been so few Cardassian vessels to destroy and here was one ripe for the picking, the only thing bothering him was he knew the three minutes it took to reach it
would seem like an eternity.
Gul Ranor saw it, the Klingons had spotted them. He knew it would happen but why did it have to be one of the BIG ones ?
" ETA ON THE SHUTTLE " he demanded
" It's landing now sir " Responded a bridge officer
Garak and the others were waiting when the shuttle landed.
" GET THE CIVILIANS ONBOARD FIRST " Garak yelled over the sharp wind and the scream of the shuttles engines
Everyone ran, first the Civilians crammed into the shuttle then the soldiers and Garak's staff. Bodies were packed wall to wall with barely enough room to breath.
There was only enough room left inside for one more person, it was either Garak to Taruv.
" Get on board Taruv I'm staying " said Garak resigned to whatever fate awaited him.
" I'm sorry Sir " Garak heard Taruv say before everything went black
Taruv watched as the shuttle lifted off and blasted out of the atmosphere before heading back into the fort, this place would be Cardassia's only hope he thought as headed below.
" The Shuttle has docked Sir " an officer managed to say before his console exploded in his face killing him
The Klingons were on top of them, a second or two off and they might not have made it but the bridge crew did their job and engaged the warp drive having entered coordinates
for federation space after activating the cloak. Ten seconds later the bridge crew were all dead from exposure to intense radiation .