Chapter Ten
Arrival/Return/Escape
On the far side of the wormhole, all is well until space itself seems to have faded into oblivion. A large mass appears and moves slowly enveloping light and shadow. All of the known galaxy cannot know what could happen to the coming days and months.
As the command staff of Deep Space Nine are gathered, along with O'Brien and Worf, Garek can't help but wonder why he is there.
"Mister Garek. Your services over the years have been exemplary. Let's just get down to business. We want to make your assistance permanent. How would you like to be the new intelligence officer." Kira says.
"That sounds very intriguing, general. I would have to accept. After all who knows more about spying than me?" He responds.
"Doctor Bashir. Perhaps Odo. Maybe Mister Worf has some insight. But none of them have the experience we need for this assignment. You do." She adds.
"I do believe that I'll enjoy this assignment. After all we live in interesting times." Garek says as he stands up and looks out into operations and sees Ambassador Spock and Captain Scott.
"We do indeed." Kira answers.
"Prepare to undock. Once underway set course for the wormhole." Worf orders on his new command.
"Aye, sir. We have cleared the station. Setting course for the wormhole." Nog replies.
As the Valiant commanded by Worf, the Defiant commanded by Kira with Garek aboard, and the Appalachia goes back to the Gamma quadrant, they prepare for the worst as they enter the wormhole.
"We're underway. All systems readied for possible attack." Acknowledges O'Brien form the Defiant.
"All systems ready. There won't be any surprises this time." Chakotay answers from the Appalachia.
"I hope this won't be like last time." Nog nervously inputs.
"It won't be Lieutenant. It could be a whole lot worse." Garek responds maliciously.
Meanwhile in ops on the station, Janeway, Picard, Riker, Spock and Scotty look on as the wormhole opens up to let the ships in and then closes again. They hope for the best but prepare for the worst. Unsure if the same events could transpire or if there could be more of a threat than already has been established is what is to come for the intrepid officers.
"And thus we do of wisdom and of reach with wind laces, and with assays of bias, by indirections find directions out." Spock quotes.
"Hamlet Act II scene one." Picard responds.
"Aye we are in need of wisdom," Scotty adds.
"Perhaps the wisdom of one, or of many?" Janeway asks.
"The wisdom of what could be." Riker responds.
AS the three ships exit onto the far side of the wormhole they are horrified of what they see. The sleeper ship is right on their doorstep, and it is coming to life. Except for the glimmer of the lights of the starships, there is no light on reflecting on it. The vessel is massive, much larger than the three ships. Its exterior seems almost to absorb the light and give nothing back.
"Scan for life signs. Scan for anything that could be a power signature." Chakotay orders.
The ops officer does so and responds, "There are various power fluctuations aboard the vessel. But there are indeterminate life signs."
Paris moves from his post as first officer and goes to the helm.
"Can we get any closer?" He asks the helmsman.
"No, sir. There seems to be a dampening field in place." The conn officer responds.
"That is what could be masking the life sign readings." The ops officer chimes in.
On the Defiant, Kira feels uneasy leaving the station after the return of her confidant Odo, and the strange vision from Sisko. She can't help but wonder if his pleas for staying away were legitimate or not. She soon gets her answer.
The sleeper ship emits a pulse of disruptor fire to all three ships. They rock about as though they hit an object.
"Return fire!" orders Paris as he returns to his post.
"Fire phasers! Prepare a full spread of quantum torpedoes! Fire!" orders Worf aboard the Valiant.
"Full phaser and torpedo spread. Fire!" orders Kira.
All the phasers fire on the Valiant. Defiant fire he dorsal phaser banks and photon torpedoes. Appalachia fires from he dorsal main bank and ventral main bank and fires torpedoes. Valiant then fires quantum torpedoes. All the weapons bounce off the dampening field and disperse throughout the sleeper ship. The vessel gains more strength, and fire back. There are main hits on Valiant and Defiant in their warp engines. The Appalachia is hit hard in the engineering section and main torpedo launchers.
"Captain the main torpedo tubes have been destroyed. There is a hull breech on decks 12-15. Emergency force-fields are holding." Announces the ops officer on Appalachia.
The situation on the Valaint is a different story. "The warp engines are offline. Main power is down to 20 percent. All weapons systems are temporarily offline." Informs Nog.
"Fallback and assist the others" Worf orders. "Open a channel to General Kira."
"Channel open." Nog responds as they are hit again.
"General, we are without defenses. We need to fallback. We need you to cover us-" Worf says as he's cut off by another hit.
"Kira to Worf. Come in Commander." She asks.
"They're comm. systems is down, General." Informs O'Brien. "We can't cover them because this thing is coming at us from all directions."
As the ship shudders again, the computers start to spark and smoke begins to fill the bridge. In sickbay, Bashir treat the wounded that came from the engine room. He gives a hypospray to a crewman with plasma burns. Then he hits his comm. badge, "Can you keep it a little more civil up there? I'm trying to treat patients." He asks.
"We're trying Doctor. But this seems to be to much for us." Garek responds.
Back on the bridge, Garek picks himself up off the deck from the last weapon blast and goes to Kira, and says, "I have a plan."
In engineering on the Appalachia, things are getting worse. "Containment field strength down to 30 percent." The computer announces.
"Dammit. Pull power from the living quarters. We need to stabilize the containment field."
"But what about those crew-"and inept crewman asks Torres.
"Believe me there isn't anyone there. And if we don't repair the containment field there won't be a ship left to worry about." She yells.
On the bridge, the crew continues to thwart the attack to no avail. The science station explodes killing the science officer in the process. Chakotay goes over and swears under his breath, "Damn!"
"Report!" he barks out.
"Shields down to 20 percent. Phasers are offline. We have only 12 torpedoes left, but we can only fire them out the rear tubes. The containment field around the warp core is failing. We have 12 confirmed dead, 45 injured." The tactical officer informs.
Open a channel to Defiant." He orders.
"Channel open." The tactical officer responds.
"Chakotay to Defiant. I think we better think of retreating. We can't maintain power much longer." He tells.
"This is Kira. I think you're correct Captain." She answers from the shambles that used to be the bridge. Except for the engineering station, helm and command stations the rest of the stations are in flames or burned out. They are hit by another hit and then it all stops. The sleeper ship stops firing. All is quiet until a glow begins forming on the outer hull of the sleeper ship.
"What's happening?" ask Paris.
"There is weapons fire from inside the ship. Power fluctuations all across the board. Wait-"
Just then an explosion occurs blasting out part of the interior of the sleeper. A vessel comes out from the interior of the ship. It is burned and is barely maintaining impulse speed. Its warp nacelles are glowing a dark purple-blue, and it's Bussard collectors are not lit.
"What kind of ship is that?" Chakotay asks.
All the ships scan it. And all come up with the same conclusion.
"It appears to be a prototype ship. A Starfleet ship from the mid-22nd century."
"What ship?" Kira asks.
As the ship comes closest to Valiant, they use their sensor to extrapolate the hull registry.
"The ship is N-X-0-1. E-N-T-E-R-P—"
As everyone knows where this is leading all three commanders say in unison, "Enterprise!"