Star Trek: Search for Hell's Gate

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, ships, or other material featured in canon Star Trek material. I do however own this story and the names of several characters. No copyright infringement intended.

Chapter 1

The mission was different. The ship was different. The crew was different. Everything was different except for one critical thing. The leader…

Sarah Downs, a troubled Starfleet captain, had untaken an anything but perfect career. But the troubles of the Dominion War were far behind her at this point.

She had been a young, fresh faced commander when "Call of Duty" was replaced by "kill the ugly bastards before they kill us." During the war with the Dominion, Starfleet and the Federation alike realized the harsh reality; the galaxy wasn't as civil as people sitting in offices would like.

Her thoughts about earlier incidents aside, Downs had taken command of one of the most feared ships in the quadrant, the Prometheus Class Cruiser. Her and her crew's objective was simple; eliminate or cripple the Borg transwarp network.

As long as this tool was intact, the Borg could be anywhere in the quadrant almost instantaneously. The risk of a Borg assault fleet emerging over San Francisco at any given time was too much for Admirals and members of the council to even think about. They had to take action.

So someone had the bright idea to create another war hero that would most defiantly have a future in politics. To make it even better, they chose someone who despised them for everything they had ever done…

"Get those sensors online! We've got to leave within the day and I'm not going into the Delta Quadrant blind!" Downs yelled over the sound of EPS conduits being fitted and consoles being moved and removed. The bridge of the Raptor was going to be the only one of its kind in the fleet.

A young Vulcan female walked onto the bridge in her yellow security uniform. Immediately placing a type-2 phaser in the weapons locker located in her booth.

Examining her controls, the captain watched her from across the bridge. "Lieutenant T'Friak?" Downs yelled as the Vulcan started to the turbolift.

Straitening and pulling down her uniform the Vulcan turned and placed her hands behind her back. "I'll take that as a yes then," Downs said as she walked towards the security officer. "I'll need you to start turning this ship into a flying fort, we're going into the Delta Quadrant. A lot of people will want to shoot us out of the sky. Work with Harvick down in Hazard Ops and make sure they don't get the chance."