Potential

by Texan

What happens when SG1, with resident Immortals, meet up with the Battlestar Galactica? A war that could span the universe

6. Persistence, Pt 2

Persistence

Part 3 of the Potentials Series

Dedicated to Ecolea, for without her Changing of the Guard series, none of this would have been possible.

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Part 2

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It took the better part of three months, but in the end, all the time spent in null space had been worth it. Their stocks of naquadah and trinium had been depleted by a fourth and their supply of naquadria was down to half of what they had mined in the asteroid field near B5. But it had been worth it. The hull now sported new armored plating that was a last line of defense should the shields fail. Indeed the new armor plating was now evident on all of the battlecruisers as well as the majority of the fighter squadrons.

The Nova class dreadnought, Normandy, had been fitted with the Ramos defensive shields, heavy caliber rail guns, and had both squadrons of its Aurora-class Starfury fighters removed and replaced with F-302 Mustang fighters. Racks were installed for launching breeching pods, and fully half of the Halsey's compliment of infantry personnel were transferred to the Normandy. The Omega-class vessel Scylla had gotten a makeover of another type, and it now bristled with anti-fighter weaponry. Some of the berthing areas had been sacrificed to make room for additional squadrons of fighters, so the ship now carried seventy-two Thunderbolts instead of the usual thirty-six. Charybdis was left virtually unchanged in terms of weaponry, but it was now home to the Centauri colonists. It had been a long and arduous three months, but now, as Marius gave the order to proceed, he thought they were ready.

And before he could lift a finger, there was a flash of light on his Bridge and there suddenly stood a man before him. He appeared to be wearing some sort of red and black jumpsuit, possibly a uniform of some kind.

"Should I even bother asking who you are?"

"That's not important young Ancient."

"Young Ancient? Isn't that an oxymoron?"

"And a sharp wit too! Oh you'll be much more fun than that dullard Picard. That man really has no sense of humor."

"You still haven't answered my question."

"I, mon Admiral, am Q."

"Q. Really? If you're Q, then where's M?"

"Ah, no, that would be the next dimension over."

"Ok, so you're Q and you have an odd sense of humor. Should I ask why you're here?"

"Very shortly you will be entering a region of space where there are several major powers. The United Federation of Planets. The Klingon Empire. The Romulan Star Empire. The Cardassian Union. The Dominion. There are others, but they are really of no consequence. Then there are the Borg."

"Borg? Sounds European."

"They are by no means European. The Borg were once a humanoid race, but in their quest for perfection, their quest for evolution, they latched onto the idea that assimilation would make them better than what they were. Quite literally, they believe that the sum of the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts. Their belief is in the Collective, and they are trying to create a perfect, master race."

"Sounds a bit like Hitler. The ideologies are nothing new to me, or to anyone on this ship for that matter. We will deal with it. Can you tell me what technology was stolen from the Ancient's outpost world?"

"They call it technology oh-one-seven-nine. They came upon the outpost world early in their explorations, and it has become the First World of the Collective. The device known as 0179 was recently unearthed from a cavern that had been flooded with molten rock at the time the Ancients left. They are making great strides towards deciphering this technology, but they have not as yet been successful. The tech? Oh yes, I didn't mention that, did I? It is the cross dimensional portal the Ancients used to come here so long ago. If the Borg are successful, they will spread across the many diverse universes and they will become an unstoppable plague. But they are also in possession of a technology they call oh-one-seven-eight, and that is what you would call a ShipGate. They are presently using the existing Gate network the Ancients laid down so long ago. They have built lower powered conduit openings, but the major hubs, or where several Gate pathways come together are left over from the time of the Ancients. I fear that they will eventually learn how to build their own hub control points and at that point, even the Q would be unable to stop them."

"Then we must stop them. And we must erase all knowledge of Tech-0179 and Tech-0178 from their collective consciousness. Tell me Q, you compared me to someone named Picard. Do I want to know about this Picard person?"

"Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the United Federation of Planets. The man has no sense of humor whatsoever. A real bore. The Federation has had a rather short but eventful history. Born out of the chaos that was this Earth's Third World War. They use teleportation tech like you drink water; that is to say, it's an accepted form of travel for them. I see that you have two forms of matter teleportation aboard your ship! Excellent! I think it will give them something to think about. Of course, the main thing for you to remember is that the Federation, for the most part, are somewhat arrogant. Once they establish that you are from another universe, they will try to assist you in your journey home. But they will not, ever, negotiate with you for their technology. They believe it better not to share their advanced tech with a 'lesser' race."

"Ya know, that sounds an awful lot like a certain Tollan I know. Any idea where we'll pop out?"

"I daresay, if Tok'Ra plans it correctly, you will 'pop-out' in the midst of a battle between the Federation and its allies and the Borg. The Borg have been trying, and failing, for a number of years to take Earth. With Earth in their firm control, the Federation would fall. But the one thing in your favor, Child of the Ancient, is that your Quickening will not allow you to be assimilated into the gestalt that is the Borg Collective. You are well prepared to face them in battle."

"Wait! One final question."

"Make it a quick one?"

"You mentioned the odds that we would appear in the midst of a battle between the Borg and the Federation and her allies. How can we assure the Federation and her allies that we mean them no harm?"

"Leave that to me."

And in a flash of light, the being called Q was gone.

"Alright people, you heard the man. Odds are we'll be appearing in the middle of a battle zone, so let's do this by the numbers. Sensors, I'll want full scans just as soon as we're clear of the wormhole. Weps, I'll expect full shields and full charge to the weapons as soon as you're able. Engineering, full power as we need it. Medical bay, stand by for possible influx of casualties. Colonel O'Neill, as of right now, your new flagship is one of those two WhiteStar heavy cruisers the Minbari gave to us. Teal'c will get the other one. Go down and get to know your crew, swap them out as necessary. Obviously I want you in a more protected ship in a firefight, and personally I can't think of a ship I'd rather take into battle than a WhiteStar. It just sounds right, to me."

"Do I get to name it?"

"What did you have in mind?"

"How do you feel about the O'Neill?"

"I can live with it. Go to your ship and start getting acquainted with it."

"Helm! Take us in to the vortex."

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Elsewhere

There were a few very brief flashes of light and suddenly two people found themselves in some sort of pocket of space, surrounded by soothing warmth and pleasant sounds. The fact that both of them were in sleep wear did not go unnoticed by either of them or by their benefactor, Q.

"Q! I demand you return me to my quarters aboard the Enterprise at once!"

"Q, I had really thought you'd grow tired of wanting to see me in my sleep wear."

"Jean-Luc, Kathy. My two favorite Federation Captains. I'll make this brief as I'm sure you have far more pressing matters to attend to. Consider this a warning of things to come. The Borg are coming. In force. Sector zero-zero-one is where they will attack en masse. You have a few days to try and defend yourselves, but it may not be enough. Some friends of mine will appear. Try not to shoot at them. They really are on your side."

"How will we know who your so called friends are?"

"Ah, Jean-Luc, ever the doubter of my sincerity. I'll just say that the ship my comrades are on makes anything in the Federation look like a bath tub toy. That should be enough for you to not fire on them."

"Thank you Q."

"I wouldn't have warned you at all, but Q insisted that I warn his Aunt Kathy."

"Then thank young Q for me."

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The Halsey emerged from the dimensional vortex just inside the orbit of Pluto and as soon as it had cleared the vortex, cloaking fields were switched on and the Halsey promptly phased out of normal space. This was a technology the Colonials had given them back when the first keel had been laid for the Immortal-class Strike Carriers. The Quantum Shift Generator or QSG, phased a vessel slightly out of alignment with normal space. It allowed the vessel to be in effect invisible to the naked eye and to most sensors.

"Sensors, report."

"Sir, we are just inside the orbit of Pluto. Long range sensors indicate a large mass of ships near Earth. Heavy weapons fire on long range scans."

"Good. Helm, plot a course into the system. Maintain cloaking status."

"Course plotted and laid in sir. Standing by to execute command."

"Stand by one. General Kassim?"

"Aye, Marius. I await your commands."

"I want you to pre-deploy your troopers to their Damage Control stations. Also, deploy one hundred troopers to each of the following areas: engineering, medical, bridge, weapons decks, flight bays. Station squads of troops through the rest of the ship at your discretion. For now, and until I or someone else in the chain of command relieves you, I want you and your command staff to report to the Intrusion Countermeasures Bridge. Take control there. Be prepared for hostile boarding actions. The enemy we are facing may teleport aboard with absolutely no notice. Our intelligence indicates that they are a highly adaptive cyber-organic species so your weapons may have a very limited effect on them, possibly only three or four shots each. Here's a typical image of our enemy. Pass that out to your troops and keep them on high alert. One more thing. May Allah keep you strong, my friend."

"As God wills, old friend."

"Helm, execute course change."

It didn't take long for the Halsey to traverse the distance to the inner system. The helmsman had done an excellent job in creating the course and the bridge crew were treated to breathtaking views of Jupiter and the Saturnine Rings and then there was the Asteroid Belt, and then they were in the inner system. Arrayed before them were so many different types of ships that is was nearly impossible to ascertain their number. They were pretty ships though. And they looked more like something one would expect in a cruise liner than in a warship. All of them did have what looked like openings for a hangar bay, but by the size of the openings, they guessed they were maybe for shuttles. Not for fighters. For the moment, the Halsey would remain cloaked, as would her escorts. The Nightingale would remain behind, protected by the Cydonia, Tollana, and the Centaurum. Normandy, Scylla, and Charybdis formed up with the Halsey.

Aboard the Enterprise-E, Captain Jean-Luc Picard was busily trying to coordinate the Fleet into something that resembled less of a shambles than at present. Already a dozen small ships of the Oberth-class had been destroyed, their hulls drifting in space. But they were not meant to fight off an enemy like the Borg. They had been designed as science vessels, first and foremost and not as ships of war. When the Borg fleet arrived in Earth space, Picard had sent them in first to probe the Borg vessels. They had fallen quickly. In previous encounters with the Borg, Starfleet had put up a large battle fleet against a single Borg Cube. But this time, the Borg didn't send just one Cube. Their new found method of travel, the ShipGates liberated centuries ago from a deserted world, had enabled them to bring a large number of Cubes to Earth space. So while Jean-Luc Picard and the Federation might have only anticipated one Cube or two at the most, the twelve that appeared were not expected. Nor were the Borg Queen's Diamond, or the Interceptors, and the four very large cubes that Starfleet was tentatively calling Tactical Cubes as these had considerable more armor plating on them than the standard Cube.

In prior encounters that Borg had always announced their presence with what seemed to be a generic message about resistance being futile. This time, they had emerged from what the sensor officers were calling controlled wormholes and had promptly taken up position around the Queen's Diamond. Without so much as a 'by your leave' they had attacked en masse, obliterating the dozen smaller Oberth class science vessels before dividing up in to smaller attack groups and attacking the Federation fleet. With their destruction, the Federation Council put out an emergency call to all of their member worlds and their allies. This was not a small incursion by the Borg. This was a make or break situation for the Federation.

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AIS Halsey

Main Bridge

The ship was as ready as it could possibly get. The battle before them loomed huge on the main viewer. From just inside the orbit of the asteroid belt, they detected the simultaneous destruction of several vessels. On the main view screen they saw the Borg, or what they were guessing were Borg, vessels appear. Various geometric shapes. Huge cubes. Smallish spheres. Diamonds. Rectangles. And then there the really huge cubes.

"Drop cloaking screens. Raise shields. Deploy battlecruisers. Order the Normandy and Scylla to take support positions to the fighter groups."

"Cloaking fields dropped."

"Shields at full power."

"Separation complete. Battlecruisers taking up assigned stations."

"Deploy squadrons."

"Weps, bring up main guns. Full power to all weapons."

From the vast hangar decks of the Halsey, and from the smaller hangar decks of the battlecruisers and the Normandy, fighters, bombers, and interceptors shot out into space. The bombers and interceptors formed up around Teal'c's WhiteStar, the Free Jaffa, while the fighters formed up around the O'Neill.

Their appearance had not gone unnoticed by the Borg nor by the Federation. The Borg responded in their usual manner.

"WE ARE THE BORG. LOWER YOUR SHIELDS AND POWER DOWN YOUR WEAPONS. YOUR BIOLOGICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL DISTINCTIVENESS WILL BE ASSIMILATED INTO OUR COLLECTIVE. SURRENDER YOURSELVES TO US. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE."

On the bridge of the Enterprise and on the bridge of the Voyager, as well as on most of the other ships of the Federation, the view of the massive ship sitting there made some hold their breath and others begin to pray to whatever Gods they believed in. The reports came in quickly. The ship was three miles long and very heavily armed and armored. The eight smaller ships that had detached themselves from the mother vessel were similarly armored. Then there was also two smaller ships moving in with what looked like small one- and two-man craft, and four more massive vessels that scanners indicated were a little over a kilometer and a half long. The crews on various Federation bridges had witnessed the deployment of hundreds of fighters.

"Fighters, sir?"

"Looks like it, Will."

"You suppose those eight smaller ships are support for the mother ship?"

"That would be my guess."

"But what about those other big ships? And those two smaller white ones?"

"I have no clue, Number One."

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"At the time I left the Collective, the Borg had no vessels of that type in their data stores."

"What do our scans show?"

"The hull is a combination of organic and crystalline composites. Beyond that, I am unable to ascertain. Their shields are reflecting the majority of our sensors sweeps."

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"A new player. What is your analysis?"

"Our sensor beams have been deflected. Preliminary analysis from visual observation indicates a high probability that the hull is an organic-crystalline combination. Shields are no match for our superior weapons."

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"Borg vessel. This is AIS Strike Carrier Admiral Halsey. We will not surrender, ever. But you are welcome to try and assimilate us, if you can."

The fight was resumed between the Federation ships and the Borg Cubes. The majority of the Cubes and their support ships were concentrating their fire on the Federation vessels. O'Neill and Teal'c took their squadrons to the aid of the Federation vessels and before long, space was awash with laser and phaser beams, and proton and quantum torpedoes and plasma bombs. The Borg Queen had drastically underestimated the Halsey and only sent a single Cube and two Spheres to face the Halsey and the smaller 'support' ships. She made the same incorrect assumption that Picard and his first officer had made; that the smaller vessels were strictly support vessels.

The battlecruisers separated into two groups of three and viciously attacked the Borg Spheres. For their part, the Borg vessels attempted to breach the protective force fields of the battlecruisers only to find that each shield vibrated at a different frequency and it took them some time to compensate for that factor. But by then, the combined firepower of the battlecruisers had destroyed one Borg vessel and had weakened another. But that was a smaller battle compared to the one between the Cube and the Halsey.

"Weps, fire full spread of Harpoons and Shipwrecks!"

"Firing missiles!"

"Damage control, report!"

"Minor damage to outer hull. Hull skin regenerating. Shields down by five percent."

"Sensors! Damage report on that cube!"

"Preliminary indications are that the enemy vessel is capable of regenerating its damaged hull faster than we can damage it!"

"Damn it! Weps, bring all forward facing guns on-line and give me one full salvo!"

"Aye sir. Transferring power to main guns now. And firing!"

When the Halsey had begun her journey, the main guns consisted of Colonial pulsar cannons, and Immortal rail guns. Those guns had been augmented when they were in Babylon 5 space with Minbari fusion and neutron cannons, Vree anti-matter cannons, Centauri particle beams, Vorlon grand cannons, and Shadow slicer beams. Because the Vorlon and Shadow weapons drew more power from the ship, those weapons were the last two pairs to fire. But the others hit the Borg Cube full force and brought down that ship's shields in a brilliant flash of light. In the next instant, the Vorlon and Shadow weapons fired, and space was lit up for light years around as the Borg Cube was instantly incinerated.

A short distance away, the Normandy and the Bellerophon were facing down an armored Borg Cube, firing their primary heavy plasma cannons as quickly as possible. The heavy volume of plasma fire was having a limited effect on the shields of the Cube, but the reverse was only slightly true. The triply redundant shields, each set at a different frequency, were preventing the Cube's weapons from penetrating the shields to the hull. Her Captain ordered a full and continuous barrage of weapons fire from all guns and missile tubes. After some eight to nine barrages of combined weapons fire, the Cube's shields failed spectacularly and the naquadah enhanced fusion missiles impacted on the armored hull of the Cube. The resulting explosion rivaled that created by the Halsey and the destruction of the Cube it faced.

The Borg Queen was of a different mind now. She pulled the majority of her ships away from where they were in battle with the Federation and moved them to the large vessels that had just vaporized a pair of Tactical Cubes.

On dozens of Federation bridges, the crews looked on as a pair of Borg Cubes were converted to just so much space dust. In the next instant they stared at their view screens as the Borg fleet disengaged from battling them to move to the vessels that called themselves Normandy and Halsey. The move by the Borg had given them enough of a respite to move their more damaged ships back towards Earth where the Star bases in orbit there could assist them. The remaining ships advanced to engage the Borg again.

Teal'c's squadrons had given just as much as they had taken from the Borg, trading three full wings of interceptors and one of bombers for a Borg Cube. O'Neill's squadrons had taken a much higher casualty rate, and he ordered them to pull back to regroup. Teal'c also ordered his squadrons to pull back and regroup. Between the two of them, they would reorganize their squadrons to best assist the Halsey.

By now, the crew of the Halsey found themselves facing down three of the Cubes, while another three went after the Normandy group. Two remaining Cubes and a pair of Spheres had pulled back and were guarding their Queen.

"Weps! All guns fire as they come to bear!"

"Aye sir!"

"Sir, message from the Kiev. The battlecruisers are moving at high speed to support the squadrons. They will be out of contact with the Borg for a bit."

"Tell the Kiev to pass this along to all battlecruisers. Re-arm all squadrons with stand-off weapons. As many as possible. Tell them to go after that group in the back. I think that diamond shaped vessel is their leader's ship. Take out its supporting vessels and capture the Diamond."

"Aye sir!"

"Engineering! More power to the shields!"

"Aye-aye, sir!"

Outside it was a battle meant for the amusement of the Gods. Beams of coherent light lanced out from one ship to another and where ever those beams touched, people died. Plasma bombs flew out from launchers only to impact harmlessly on Borg shields. Anti-matter cannons flashed incessantly delivering violent amounts of energy to the Borg shields. Neutron beams flashed orange and fusion beams flashed green, both bringing their deadly forms of coherent radiation at the Borg shields. Smaller particle beams fired continuously at the Borg vessels. All of these weapons firing in earnest to bring down the shields of the enemy vessels. And coming up from behind the Borg, the regrouped Federation warships, firing phased beams of light and projectiles that were almost too fast for the Mark One sensors aboard the Halsey to track.

The space around the Halsey was awash with deadly and violent forms of energy. Had an unshielded person been in the immediate area, they would have died from the intense radiation released by the various beam weapons. It was not a sight for the faint of heart.

A few light seconds away, the six battlecruisers were cycling the squadrons as fast as they were able to. Though only the Halsey could service the larger bombers, the battlecruisers were able to quickly service the fighters and interceptors. The fighters were loaded with two Harpoons and as many Venom missiles as they could safely carry. The interceptors were loaded only with the Venom missiles, as these craft were not designed to carry the large anti-ship missiles. If ever Marius had need for the battleship he had left for the IDB to build, it was now, although the Normandy was make a good accounting of itself. They had a brief respite when another Borg Cube fell to the combined might of the Halsey's guns, and yet another respite when another two Cubes fell to the Federation vessels. Three Cubes still remained and to these the Halsey was pouring out vast amounts of missiles, along with every beam weapon they could bring to bear.

The battlecruisers had finished loading the remaining fighters and interceptors with whatever weapons they had in their own holds. As one unit, the smaller armada centered around the Normandy, turned to make the short hyperspace jump to where the Borg Queen was watching the battle, safely, to her mind. As the Halsey and the Federation vessels turned to deal with the three remaining Cubes, the smaller AIS armada met and dealt with the Queen's support vessels; two Cubes and one Sphere. There had been another Sphere a moment ago, but for the moment, it was missing from the scanners.

The battlecruisers had learned bitter lessons with their first engagement of this battle. The Ryan and Kelowna had been severely damaged and had limped off the field of battle, escorted by two squadrons of bombers. The bombers had depleted their stocks of plasma bombs, but still had smaller guns to protect the two wounded cruisers. Four decks aboard the Kelowna were open to vacuum, the medical deck among them. As it was, the Ryan was towing the Kelowna away from the battle, though it too, was severely damaged.

The remaining cruisers now drove full bore at the Sphere, while the remaining squadrons flew at high speed toward the remaining Cubes. It was over before it could truly begin. The Sphere fell to the repeated pounding of the smaller Vorlon cannons mounted on the cruisers. As the Sphere was incinerated, the cruisers turned to assist the squadrons in their dealings with the Cubes. For their part, the squadrons were fairing better in this engagement than they had in the last one. The pilots were a bit more familiar with their enemy than they had been the first time around and now the tactics used by the Borg worked against them. Fighters and interceptors weaved in and about the Cubes at high speed, always at high speed. The great speed of the smaller craft was their only major advantage. And they distracted the Cubes long enough to allow the remaining bombers to drop all of their loads at once on the two Cubes. Before the cruisers could open fire, one of the Cubes disappeared in a flash of intense light. Now, small rockets shot out from the ships and attached themselves to the Borg Diamond, ensnaring it with cables made of trinium.

The Normandy, with small sections of her hull opened to vacuum, turned to face a damaged Cube that was attempting to intercede on behalf of the Diamond. A damaged Cube was making for the area where the battlecruisers had the Diamond trapped in a trinium cable net. The Normandy came about to face the threat posed by the Cube and fired its banks of plasma cannons and particle beams at the target with some minor effects as the majority of the shots were scattered by the weakening shields. Captain Ivanov ordered a full power burst from the augmented plasma cannons on what appeared to be the weakest spot in the shields to be followed closely by the launching of six naquadah enhanced fusion missiles. The result was an explosion that rivaled the death of a small star. The death of that Cube came at the expense of fully half of the ship's Aurora fighter compliment.

The remaining Borg Sphere had re-appeared on the scanners, far enough away from the main engagement areas to pose a problem to the Nightingale and her escorts. Captain Mollari aboard the Centaurum ordered the Cydonia and Tollana to deploy their fighters in support of the Nightingale, while his ship moved forward to intercept the Sphere. A beam weapon of some unknown type struck the Vorchan shaking it hard, but otherwise not penetrating the shields, for which Carn Mollari was grateful. Shield power had been depleted severely, however. Beams of ionized plasma and particle rays lanced out from the Vorchan, striking the Sphere's shields but otherwise not damaging the ship. In the distance, the Cydonia began moving up to assist the Centaurum, bringing her heavy weapons to bear on the target, but not firing as the distance between the two targets was still too great. The multiple rail gun and missile emplacements on the Centaurum began rippling off their rounds at the Sphere, each round serving to deplete the shields of the ship a bit more. Finally, Carn Mollari ordered a full salvo of energy mines be laid in front of the advancing Sphere, followed with a full salvo of fusion missiles. The combined effects of the energy draining mines, and the fusion missiles brought down the Sphere's shields long enough for the ion cannons and particle beams to rake over the Borg ship, ripping out great chunks of the vessel. Seconds later, one of the ion beams struck true on the now exposed reactor systems of the Sphere, and the ship became just so much space dust and expanding gasses.

The Halsey was not fairing well. The outer two shields had been destroyed, their generators melted to puddles of slag. The Borg had finally adapted to the Colonial heavy pulsars, and to the rail guns as their shields now deflected all attempts by those weapons to penetrate them. But the Federation were having some luck in that respect. Those aboard the Halsey watched as small saucer shaped ships flew at one of the three remaining Cubes firing some sort of pulse laser that sensors indicated were of enormous power. The repeated blows from these small saucer-like ships eventually wore through the shielding of the Borg Cube and it blew spectacularly; pieces of the ship pinging on the remaining Halsey shield.

It seemed as though the larger remaining Federation ships took a lesson from their smaller brethren and poured beams of laser light at the shielding of the next Borg Cube in line. Several projectiles of pulsating light were ejected from one of the ships and these flew straight at the Cube at a high rate of speed, easily piercing the shields of the Cube and detonating deep within the vessel, exploding the ship from within. Halsey took advantage of the distraction caused by the Federation upon the final Cube and let fly with the Shadow slicer, cutting into the Borg Cube and ripping away great sections. A final shot by the Vorlon cannon obliterated what remained of the Cube.

"All sections, report!"

"Shields down to fifteen percent power. DC teams are working on third level field generators."

"The Borg Cube used some sort of beam weapon to cut through our remaining shield and into the hull. The hull is regenerating itself, however, decks twenty-eight through thirty-one, sections fifteen to thirty were opened to vacuum. Bulk head doors slammed down, but there are casualties."

"How many casualties?"

"Unknown at this time sir. We are working on those numbers, cross checking the duty rosters, to determine the losses. The infirmary is overflowing with wounded. They're putting the wounded in some of the smaller aid stations. All stasis pods are in use and the sarcophagi are at full capacity."

"Keep me informed."

"Aye sir."

"Sir, the Shadow and Vorlon weapons overheated with that final salvo. It will take some time to repair. The heavy pulsar cannons are fully operational. We expended two hundred and thirty-three Harpoons and three-hundred fifty-seven Shipwrecks. Rail guns are serviceable, but several laser batteries and rail gun turrets were destroyed and will need to be replaced."

"Assign Damage Control and Engineering teams to that. After the shields, weapons are the top priority."

"Aye sir!"

"Sir, report from the hangar deck. Sixty-two fighters, twenty-one interceptors, and sixteen bombers did not return. Search and Rescue is being launched now to look for escape pods. Also, the Kelowna and the Ryan took severe damage in the battle. The remaining cruisers are towing in a Borg vessel."

"Oh God. Yes. Launch all SAR craft at once! Get me full reports on damages suffered by the cruisers as soon as possible."

"Sir, Normandy reports eighteen fighters available out of thirty-six launched. They report sixty-eight naquadah enhanced fusion missiles expended. Numerous rail gun and Venom missile turrets destroyed. They lost one generator to a power overload. Apparently, we didn't compensate for something in the newly installed shield matrix. Centaurum reports minimal damage to shields. Eight fusion missiles, twelve energy mines and twenty-two thousand rail gun rounds expended, along with one hundred and eight Venom missiles. Captain Mollari reports that since his vessel is at slightly less than full operational status, they will remain on guard station around the Nightingale. Scylla is Winchester on missiles. They ran through all of their stocks. Charybdis is undamaged and is launching her fighters as CAP."

"Order the Nightingale and its escorts brought up. Get them working on the Ryan, the Kelowna, and the Normandy forthwith! Have Nightingale begin an unrep operation on Scylla as soon as possible. Get the Forge Decks working on replacements for the turrets that we lost."

"Sir! Shield generators have failed out right! Overload in the secondary power buses."

"Sir, we are being hailed by a Federation vessel. It's an 'Admiral Janeway', sir."

"Main screen please."

"Viewer on."

"Attention unidentified vessel. On behalf of the Federation, I thank you for your timely assistance in dealing with the Borg. We see, however, that you have sustained damages. Do you require assistance?"

"Admiral Janeway. I am Admiral Ramos of the Alliance of Independent Systems strike carrier Halsey. At this time, we are launching search and rescue craft to look for downed pilots and escape pods. Any aid you can give on that matter will be greatly appreciated. We have large numbers of wounded and our shipboard medical facilities are overwhelmed. Any assistance with this matter will be of great value to our medical crews. Beyond that, we will be sending a strike team to the remaining Borg vessel to deal with the enemy therein."

"We will send over medical teams to assist you. Stand by to receive them. We should like to assist you in capturing the Queen's Diamond, if possible."

"So that's why the other ships tried to protect that Diamond! A Borg Queen. Interesting and interesting. You may participate in the interrogation of the Queen, if you so desire Admiral, however, you can be captured by the Borg. We, can not."

"Engineering to Bridge!"

"One moment, Admiral Janeway. Engineering, go ahead."

"Main engines are off-line! When the secondary power buses blew, they sent a wave of energy cascading through the power distribution system. We're going to need to completely rebuild the Hyperdrive systems."

"Understood. Get to work on that at once. Bring up the gravitic reactors to provide emergency power to the ship. Helm, move us out of the way of traffic. Admiral Janeway? Is there someplace we can go to, to lick our wounds?"

"The Starbase in Earth orbit, sir. Do you require a tow?"

"I think we can get there. If we need a tow, we'll ask for one. Halsey out."

"Channel closed sir."

"Helm, move us toward that large station in Earth orbit. Steady as she goes."

"Aye sir!"

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"Comms, get General Kassim and the strike team to the briefing room, ASAP!"

"Aye sir!"

"Alison, get your two cohorts and get to the briefing room, on the double!"

"On our way."

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Briefing Room 1

30 minutes later

The only people in the room were the Immortal members of the crew. Alex's strike team, General Kassim, Dana and Fox, Methos, Marius' bodyguard detail, and Marius himself. He looked at them all for a moment and prayed to whatever Gods he once believed in that Q was accurate in his intelligence, that the Borg could not assimilate an Immortal. Otherwise, the Borg would gain the powers of the Ancients; a power so immense as to be unstoppable.

"Alright, let's get this meeting underway. According to the Q entity, the Borg are unable to assimilate an Immortal, that our Quickening energies will instantly destroy the invading nanomachines they may inject into us. I don't know what that will feel like so in that respect I have no more information than you do. The Federation has identified the vessel we captured as belonging to the Borg Queen. From what Janeway said, the Borg Queen is their supreme leader, however, they do have other women, and I'll use the word women loosely, that can take the place of the Queen, should she fall in battle. Methos, as much as I'd like your sword arm with us on this battle, I think either you or I need to stay behind. So, flip a coin?"

"You go Marius. I'll stay. I have no desire to face robots that want to assimilate me. As the eldest of our kind, I think I will exercise that privilege."

"Very well, old friend. That makes us an even twelve going to invade and capture a ship with, according to Federation intelligence, close to eight hundred crew. Make sure your swords are sharp. Take their heads and then zat them three times. Let's make sure none of them will ever get up again to assimilate anyone else. Dana, Fox, I know that you are new to this whole 'being an Immortal' thing, and that you really haven't had much time to practice your swordsmanship, so if I may suggest, that we put each of you onto a different team. You'll carry back-up swords for your designated team mates, and you'll be responsible for vaporizing the beheaded Borg. Is that alright with you?"

"We'd rather work together, Dana and I, but we understand the need for caution. As long as Dana agrees, then I agree as well."

"Excellent. I'm going to suggest we break up into groups of three. Go to your quarters and draw whatever weapons you feel most comfortable with. Then meet me at the Asgard transporter room in half an hour. Methos, please stay for a moment?"

"Of course, Marius."

"Do your best to intimidate the Federation, yes? They seem arrogant to me. But maybe the first impression wasn't the best one? Also, assign someone to that dreaded of tasks, funeral duty. Have that person put together a list of the dead and we'll hold a brief ceremony at sunset tomorrow."

"A good idea. Give us time to publicly mourn our dead, and maybe show these Federation types that we are not as alien as they might think."

"Then you agree?"

"Yes. Watch your head, Marius."

"Always."

"Particularly since I have no desire whatsoever to be President of the Immortal Council."

"Smart ass."

"That's me. World's oldest smart ass."

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Marius met the others thirty minutes later in the Asgard transporter room. He was carrying a short sword like the kind he carried long ago in the Army of Rome. But this sword had a blade of trinium reinforced titanium, the same as his backup weapon, the one made for him specially by Hamza. His two team mates for this little jaunt into enemy territory would be Nefertiri and Kassim. They stepped into position and the engineering officer moved the Asgard crystals into the correct position to transfer them to the other ship. In a flash of bright white light, the three of them were gone. A moment later, another team of three would follow with each team being dispatched to a different part of the ship with orders to eventually meet in what had been tentatively identified as the Queen's chambers.

As they appeared on the Borg vessel, all three drew their swords. All three also had a pair of zat guns in holsters on each leg, and all three had a pair of backup swords across their backs. They expected to do much fighting and after some large number of fights, they had to expect their weapons to lose their edge. It would be something bad on their side as it would require much more strength to hack off a head with a dull blade. The ship was unlike anything they had expected. The chamber was open in the middle, with a great many catwalks all culminating in the same focal point, what Marius guessed to be the Queen's chambers. But to get there, they would have to fight their way through hundreds of Borg soldiers. Already he could see the first of many coming forward to meet them. It was Nefertiri who drew first blood with the quick slice at a Borg, taking its arm and a large portion of the shoulder.

Before they had left, Marius had drawn from the quartermaster a number of video cameras that were small enough to be almost weightless, yet robust enough to stand up to almost any abuse. The cameras were attached to the tactical vests they each wore and so they were transmitting the scenes of fighting and blood and carnage back to the Halsey. But the tactical officer aboard the Enterprise detected the video transmission and began watching it for a few moments before calling it to the attention of his captain.

"Sir, I am detecting a video transmission signal between the away parties of the vessel Halsey and the carrier."

"How many did they send to the Queen's Diamond?"

"I am detecting twelve individual signals."

"Main screen. Inform the fleet of the existence of the signals. Perhaps others will want to watch."

"Yes sir."

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The main view screen on the Enterprise, like on many other ships of the Federation fleet, broke up into twelve images, each one fed by a video signal from the members of the Halsey's away party. They watched and looked on, some becoming sick at the wholesale slaughter of so many Borg drones, some admiring the fighting skills of these men and women who charged at the drones with only swords, hacking off limbs and heads before firing some form of electrical energy at the now dead drones and vaporizing the dead. It was a sight none had ever seen before and a sight none would likely never see again. There! One of the drones got close enough to inject one of the away team members with its nano probes. But to their shock and amazement, the man fighting the drone simply shrugged it off and continued down the corridor. From the camera images of another near that man, they saw various Borg implants pop up from the skin of the man, only to be fried by some sort of electrical discharge emanating from the man's skin. The implant fell to the floor of the ship, useless and inert.

Whoever these people were, thought Picard and Janeway, they could definitely fight. But the barbarity of the methods shocked both of them to their very cores. Aboard the Defiant, Commander Worf also looked on, but in admiration for their fighting skill. These people were fine warriors who most definitely understood the first rule of combat; never leave a live enemy behind you. But Picard had other thoughts. He saw these people as primitives. Their ship used some weapons that were exceedingly primitive and some that were very much in advance of anything the Federation had at its disposal. But that could be answered in any number of ways. They used one man fighter craft to engage the enemy, something the Federation had rarely and only recently done, though he did know of a few races that did use fighters. Their scans could not easily penetrate the hulls of those ships, but from what they could tell, they used some form of primitive fusion engines to power their vessels.

Janeway saw all of that and more. She saw a race that had gone into space not for peaceful exploration, but for war. All of their vessels were designed for warfare, something she abhorred in the extreme. No wonder Q considered them friendly! They were as much barbarians as the Q were. How could she hope to ever call these people trust worthy. But for Seven of Nine, standing at the engineering station on the bridge, her viewpoint was different. The names displayed beneath the video footage indicated whose camera they were seeing. The one designated as Marius had stacked up a large number of kills and was leading his team directly to the chambers of the Queen.

Aboard all of the ships in that section of space, the Federation vessels, the Halsey, and the now arriving Klingon and Vulcan ships, they watched as Marius and his team were the first to enter the chambers of the Borg Queen. The other teams were still fighting their way to the chamber. The Klingon and Vulcan vessels were few in number, as they were the closest to Earth when the signal for help was sent out by the Federation President.

"Greetings. Human. You should be proud of yourselves. You have killed so many of my Drones. I had not thought that possible."

"Who the fuck are you?"

"I am the Beginning. I am the End. I am what all creatures in the universe hope to become. I am the Borg. You are a strong and resilient representative of species 5618, a race I had thought to be weak. But join with me, and I will make you perfect."

"Perfect? What is perfection?"

"Immortality. Eternal life and eternal time with which to seek out perfection. You can become more than you are, Human. You can achieve perfection."

"Hate to break it to you, your Highness, but your scanners seem to be off. You keep calling us Human, and perhaps we once were. But no longer. We have moved on to that level you seek. You seek Perfection? You believe perfection to be Immortality? My dear woman, we are Immortal. We are already your vision of perfection. But I am far from perfect. I have many flaws."

"This can not be! You are a mere human! You can not be perfection!"

"Watch this, your highness."

Marius drew his sword across his chest, while Nefertiri and Kassim drew their own swords across their arms or legs. Deep cuts formed on their skins, their blood welling up and dripping on to the floor. But the Queen watched, as did hundreds of thousands of crews on the Federation and Klingon and Vulcan ships. They watched as arcs of electricity danced upon the chests and arms and legs of the first team to breach the Queen's chambers. They watched as the deep cuts, some deep enough to allow the bone to show through, healed before their astonished eyes. The arcs of electricity danced across their bodies, healing where it touched, and pulling the blood back within them.

"Mere trickery! You can not be perfection! Only the Borg can achieve this! Join with us or perish!"

"Enough of this word play, your majesty. It is time for you to die. And when you are dead, we will take what we want from this ship, namely the location of your bases and your home worlds. We will go there and take what you have taken from us. And we will not be polite about it. We will do this by force of arms. You, my Queen, have taken technologies that did not belong to you. You took these things and you are trying to utilize them. And if you do so, this universe will never be safe from you. None of the universes will be safe from the disease that is the Borg."

"We have taken many such technologies. They were rightfully ours!"

"The properties of the Ancients were not yours to take. They belong to us. And now we want them returned."

"Ancients? You are not of species 5618. You are of species 003! You are the perfection we seek! At long last, we have found you! Join with me, join with the Borg, and all the myriad universes can be ours together!"

"I think not. I have no desire to rule, no desire to lead. I wish only peace and long life for my kind. But you have interfered with that desire. As such I must correct the mistake. Now, your crew are dead or will be shortly. You will surrender to us so that we may take what is rightfully ours."

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"Captain, the amount of information present in their databanks would be of immense use to Starfleet!"

"I agree, Will. We must do what we can to take that information."

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"Admiral Janeway, the information available to the Queen is immense. It would be of beneficial value to have that information in the hands of the Federation."

"On that we agree, Seven. But how to obtain it from these, what did he call themselves, Ancients?"

"If they are truly from Species 003, as the Queen has speculated, then they would be most formidable allies to the Federation. If they are not, and I do not see how they could be, then we must endeavor to obtain the information in any way possible."

"What do you know of Species 003, Seven?"

"As the numbering implies, they were the third species that the Borg attempted to assimilate. As a whole, the species vanished before any attempts could be made to assimilate them. The Borg had only the word of other races as to the nature of Species 003. Immortals. All of their race were Immortal. It became the quest that the Borg sought for so long. The Queens have always equated perfection with Immortality."

"But what about those deep cuts with their weapons? Could that have been some sort of illusion?"

"There is not enough data to determine either way Admiral."

"Keep working on it."

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"Well, your highness? Are you going to surrender?"

"The Borg do not surrender. A message has already been sent. More will come. You will be assimilated. The Alpha quadrant will be assimilated. I offer you one last chance to join with me, of your own free will."

"Free will. Interesting concept. It doesn't really exist. But it is a false belief that comforts us, doesn't it? I will not join with you."

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And so saying, Marius pulled up his Zat gun and fired one burst into her. She had not anticipated the move and her shield, though active, was not effective. The Borg had not yet learned to adapt to the weapon. The Queen fell to her knees, the pain obvious to anyone with the gift of sight. He fired a second burst, and she collapsed to the floor, quite dead.

"Marius to Halsey. Get me a stasis pod!"

"On the way!"

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The assembled Federation, Klingon, and Vulcan vessels watched as a brilliant white light flashed into existence and when it had faded, a strange pod like device lay in its wake. The others picked up the Borg Queen and placed her into the stasis pod and a moment later, the white flash returned, only to show no pod where once it had stood. A quick scan determined it to be a teleportation beam of some kind, but one that was unknown to any of the inhabitants of the Alpha quadrant. Moments later, the last Borg drone had been beheaded and vaporized by the away teams from the Halsey. Shortly thereafter, large away parties began beaming over to the Borg vessel from the Halsey. All were well armed, but scanners indicated the weapons were projectile in nature. For some reason, their scanners failed to pick up the personal shields all were wearing.

Aboard the Federation vessel Bataan, various officers looked at one another and came up with a quick plan. They could take this vessel from these others, quickly and efficiently. Their weapons were no match for Federation phaser rifles, and the way they were milling about gave the impression that these were merely security guards of some lesser type, sent to watch over the ship as it was towed to the Halsey. The Bataan had not taken part in the battle as it was not a warship per se. Rather, it was a troop transport, a member of the Istanbul class, designed to teleport large boarding parties to a target. The Captain of the Bataan, signaled his intentions to the fleet commander, and was given the authorization to carry out her plans. The fleet commander went so far as to assign the Chosin and the Corregidor to the task as well. Moments later, the Federation Marines began teleporting over to the Borg Diamond.

The first encounter was near the engineering spaces, where a guard detachment from the former 12th ACR was set up. They were there to protect the engineering teams that were pouring over the Borg systems, learning as they went. The Federation Marines came down the corridor, four abreast, firing their phaser rifles as they went along. For a brief moment, the guard detachment was stunned. To see any soldier walking in a line abreast was not only idiotic, but the epitome of a death wish as well. Then they saw the weapons fired and felt the impacts on their shields. They thanked God and Allah for a moment, before picking up their own Intars and firing at the intruders. A radio operator behind them was on his gear, sending out a warning to all other detachments that intruders were aboard.

For their part, the Federation Marines knew something was seriously wrong when their weapons fired on heavy stun were not effective at all. A few managed to change the settings to their highest setting and even managed to get off one or two shots, before they realized it was all for naught. The force shields the others were wearing prevented those beams from spearing the person inside. Then they heard the sound that no Federation Marine had ever heard before, at least outside of a historical holopic. The sounds of projectile weapons fired on automatic. The first ranks of soldiers fell easily.

Within minutes of receiving the intruder alert, other guard detachments had encountered and neutralized the invaders. More appeared and more were stunned into unconsciousness. The Halsey was informed and a moment later, a very angry Methos was ordering a communications channel opened to all of the Federation vessels in the area.

"Federation vessels. The men and women you sent to try and take the Borg ship from our custody have failed. They are now in our brig. But I do not understand why you have attempted to do this. Did we not help you turn back the assault against your home system? Did we not also suffer a great many wounded and dead because of this? Yet you boldly tried to take the ship from us. Well, you have failed. You must understand how this will be interpreted by our forces. We have understandably raised our alert level and all of our weapons systems are now painting your vessels with targeting beams. If you so much as fire a thruster, you will be destroyed."

"Halsey, I assure you that I did not give any such orders! I will find the people responsible for those orders and see that they are punished accordingly."

"See that you do, Admiral. In the meantime, we will keep your unconscious personnel in our brig. They had been disarmed and have been given POW uniforms. Whatever wounds they had have been fully treated. There were no casualties."

"I must thank you for that. You are far more civilized than I had thought."

"You and I, Admiral, we may look the same, but it is obvious we are not. Perhaps then we should begin anew? Someplace neutral I would assume?"

"I am more than willing to go over to your ship, provided I am allowed to bring some of my officers?"

"I think that will be acceptable. Pick your officers and stand by for transport, in say, ten minutes?"

"That will be fine. Janeway out."

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"I know what you're thinking Chakotay. You want to come with me. And I want you there. Pick a few others to join us and include the Doctor if you will. I'd like him to check over their prisoners."

"A good idea, Admiral. Who do you think ordered the boarding action?"

"Tuvok, open a channel to the Enterprise."

"Channel open."

"Captain Picard?"

"Admiral Janeway. Is there something wrong?"

"Did you order a boarding action on the Borg Diamond?"

"I did. The weapons evidenced by the video transmissions from the Halsey away team indicated they were primitive in nature. Projectile weapons, if you can believe it."

"Actually, I can believe it. However, Commander Pierson aboard the Halsey has informed me that all of the boarding parties were captured and are now be held as prisoners of war aboard the Halsey. I will be going to their ship shortly to negotiate for their release."

"That's impossible! They are primitives! How could they have captured over fifteen hundred Starfleet Marines?"

"Fifteen hundred! Are you out of your mind, Picard!"

"I did what was necessary for the good of the Federation. To give us an equal edge against the Borg, we must know everything about them!"

"And it never occurred to you to simply ask the Halsey?"

"Do you really believe they would have shared that knowledge with us?"

"It's irrelevant now. I will try to repair any diplomatic damage you might have caused with your unauthorized orders. Janeway out!"

"That woman does not understand the Borg the way I do, Number One. They will not give up simply because we destroyed the ships they sent here. They will keep coming and keep coming until they have either assimilated us all or destroyed us all. She can never understand the Borg they way I do! I have been Captain of the Federation's flagship a lot long than she has been in Starfleet, and that woman has the nerve to talk to me that way!"

"She is your superior sir."

"Not my superior, Number One, mere a woman of higher rank."

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"Halsey to Voyager. Are you and your party ready to transport over?"

"We are Admiral. If you will give us the coordinates, we will beam right over."

"Not necessary Admiral. We have a lock on you and your party now. Mr. Jameson, if you will, sir."

"Aye-aye Admiral."

The grip of the Asgard transporter beam took them by surprise. By comparison, their own teleporters seemed primitive in the way they disintegrated the body. It took longer, by their reckoning, than this unknown type of beam. From what they could tell of their journey, it appeared to be closer to whatever form of transport the Q used than anything like the Federation. Less than five seconds after the order had been given, Admiral Janeway and her party of six were standing in the Main Conference room aboard the Halsey.

"Admiral Janeway and party. Welcome to the AIS Admiral Halsey. On behalf of myself, my crew, and the Alliance, I bid you greetings on the hope that we may come to an amicable agreement concerning the events of this day."

"Admiral Ramos. Allow me to introduce the members of my party. This is Chakotay, Captain of Voyager. Commander Tuvok, his First Officer; Lt. Commander Belanna-Paris, Chief Engineer; Lt. Commander Annika Hansen, Tactical Officer; Lt. Commander Tom Paris, Helm Officer; and our ship's Doctor."

"I'm sorry, Doctor, but I didn't catch your name?"

"He's just the Doctor."

"Ah, I see. Sort of like 'Who's on first', then?"

"I don't follow you?"

"Never mind. Doctor, I would guess that you are here to examine the POWs to ensure that they are in good condition, yes?"

"I am."

"Very well. Excuse me a moment while I call for a guide for you, Doctor. Major Scully, please report to the Main Conference room. Major Mulder and Doctor Jackson, please report to the Main Conference room. Sierra Golf One, report to Main Conference room."

"Please, Admiral Janeway, have a seat. That extends to all of you. My command staff will be here shortly."

Five minutes later, they were ready to begin.

"Major Scully, while I think it would be beneficial to have you stay here, I would like for you to escort the Federation Doctor to see the POWs. He will be examining them to verify their conditions. After which, feel free to give him a tour of our medical facilities."

"As you say, Marius. Doctor, if you would follow me?"

"Admiral Janeway, honored guests, allow me to present my staff. Colonel Jack O'Neill, commander of our Fighter and Interceptor wings. Teal'c, commander of our Bomber wings. Major Samantha Carter, Chief Engineering Officer. Major Fox Mulder, Chief of the Diplomatic team. Doctor Daniel Jackson, Senior linguist and diplomat. My executive officer is not here as he is presently on the bridge overseeing our damage control efforts."

"Admiral Ramos, why did your CMO call you Marius?"

"Marius is the name I am most comfortable with as it is the name I have borne for millennia. But it will suffice to call me Admiral Ramos, if that is your wish."

"Millennia? How can that be?"

"The Borg Queen called us Species 003. I will assume from that comment that I or others like me have previously encountered the Borg. However, I believe she was referring to the race we call the Ancients. I am not an Ancient, though in time I may evolve to that level. Perhaps in another half million years or so. For now, I am quite content to live as a corporeal being. The Borg believe that Immortality is perfection. That is as big a lie as ever I've heard. Immortality is far from perfection. The years get quite lonely. I've seen so many of my mortal friends and wives die from disease or old age or war, that I would gladly give up my Immortality if only to be mortal for a moment or two."

"He is telling the truth, Admiral. My implants are indicating he is indeed a very young member of Species 003."

"But you look Human, Admiral Ramos?"

"And you find that puzzling? There is a truth in that appearance. Once, long ago, the Ancients were like us, or like you. They were human. Species 5618 in the terminology of the Borg. As time passed they grew. Their technology surpassed all in the known universe until they became as they are today. Immortal and non-corporeal. But while they could travel throughout the universe without the need for a ship, they found that universe to be a cold and lonely place. They had evolved to a higher plane, but they wanted something they could no longer have. They wanted children. We, Immortals that is, were created in their image. We were created for a specific purpose. To live and grow, to serve and protect, to nurture and guide. To defend with every ounce of our being, the humans of our world."

"But that doesn't explain how you look like us?"

"I was getting to that. At the dawn of time, there was a single race in the known and unknown universe. The Progenitors. They grew and matured. They explored the universe around them and found it to be a lonely place. No life, on any world they encountered. Though it must be said that the worlds they encountered were at a stage where life could be planted. And this they did. The Ancients were created in their image, to watch over the universe and their creations when they at long last passed beyond the veil. Just as we were created to take over for the Ancients when they too passed beyond. And so my dear Admiral, we come to Earth, where the Progenitors saw a world capable of sustaining a life not unlike their own. It was there, that they created the Ancients. And it was there that the Ancients seeded the early oceans with what would evolve to become the Human race. So just as Immortals were created in the image of the Ancients, and Ancients were created in the image of the Progenitors, so were you created in the image of both the Ancients and the Progenitors."

"Admiral, I believe Captain Picard and the Enterprise-D, on star date 46731.5, came across a holographic message embedded in the genetic material of several Alpha Quadrant races. That message is available in our archives and I believe it verifies the Admiral's story."

"Excellent Seven. I shall have to peruse that archive when we return to Voyager.""There is more, Admiral. My scans of these people indicates a different quantum signature. They are not from our quantum universe."

"Care to explain, Admiral Ramos?"

"Your crewmember is quite correct, Janeway. We are from a parallel universe. However, the history I gave you of the Progenitors is true for this universe as much for our own. The Ancients came here millennia ago to establish an outpost world from which to explore this universe. In time they left that world, vowing to return, when certain problems at home had been resolved. It is unfortunate that they did not return to this place. The Borg discovered that world and the systems on that world sent us a message. We are here to retrieve the technologies taken from the Ancient's outpost. If we need to destroy every last Borg in the universe to insure that they will never discover how to travel between quantum universes, then so be it. We have their Queen in our brig. We have engineering teams going over that ship out there. When our repairs have been completed and our dead buried and honored, we will take this fight to the Borg and we will take what is rightfully ours. If you wish to accompany us, you may do so."

"That may be an option for tomorrow, but for today, I think it best if we agree to a mutual exchange of trust?"

"You seem like a likeable person, Janeway. I think I shall trust you, for now. Perhaps it will work better this time. Major Carter, would you please escort their Engineering officer about the ship? Show her whatever she asks about."

"Aye sir. Commander Paris? If you will follow me?"

"Admiral, the name 'Marius' sounded Roman. Is it?"

"You have a perceptive mind, Janeway. In my universe, and two millennia ago, I was known as Gaius Marius, Pro Consul of the Roman Empire."

"Are there any others of your kind aboard this vessel?"

"Lt. Phillipson to the Conference room."

"You'll meet one in just a moment Admiral. Commander Paris? You are the helm officer for Voyager? Does that mean that you are also a pilot?"

"Actually Admiral, most Starfleet officers are pilots."

"Ah, I see. Do you fly fighters as well?"

"We have only recently begun to use one man craft the way you do, Admiral."

"A pity really. Colonel O'Neill? Would you care to show Commander Paris around our flight deck? Maybe give him a hop in one of the fighters?"

"Yeah sure youbetcha! Come along Commander. I need some extra flight time anyway."

"Sir! Lieutenant Phillipson reporting as ordered sir!"

"At ease, Alex. Admiral Janeway, does your history have a young Macedonian Prince, son of King Philip of Macedonia?"

"You mean Alexander the Great? Yes. We do. A young man prized for his intellect and skill in battle."

"Then may I present you Alexander, son of Philip, of Macedonia."

It was the same when any Earth military member, with the clearance, first met Alex. Jaws dropping to the floor and dazed and confused looks on their faces as the implication of who the young impish looking fellow was. Standing at barely five feet tall, the man bore the scars of battles hard fought and won. He had fought long and hard before his first death, and the evidence was plain on his body. After a few moments, Janeway and her remaining officers recovered sufficiently to continue.

"I wonder how many others there are like him?"

"Not many. Immortals, by our very nature, are more prone to spectacular deaths, than mortals. It is a hard life we lead, but we survive and we grow, and our power grows as we age. That power is what separates us from mortals. It is what allows us to reject the Borg implants, and what allows us to heal any wound or any infection. It is, the very essence of our being."

"I would love to talk more with you about this, but first I must ask you to release the Federation POWs in your brig."

"Of course. Why don't we do this. Let us pair off, one of your officers to one of mine, and allow my officers to escort you around the ship, show you anything you wish to see. Teal'c, would you please escort their tactical officer about the ship? Dr. Jackson, please join them as well."

"Of course, Admiral Ramos. I shall be delighted to escort the tactical officer. If you would follow me please? Daniel Jackson, you will join us."

"Coming T."

"Major Mulder, why don't you take care of Captain Chakotay's tour, and I will escort the Admiral."

"Sure thing Marius."

"Alex, if you would, please show Commander Tuvok around the ship. Answer any questions he might have. If you can't answer them, find someone who can in each section."

"Yes, Mr. President."

Marco showed Janeway everything aboard the Halsey. They ran into other touring pairs here and there and each time Janeway asked her officers what they thought of this ship, the answer was different. She could see that for herself though. On the one hand, the ship seemed as if it were hurriedly built, yet some of the systems seemed as though the technology was very old and much in advance of their own. Despite all the medical technology, the Federation could not bring back anyone from the dead. Yet these people could.

Starfleet vessels relied on a single force field of massive power. These people had three such fields surrounding their ship, each one on a vastly different frequency than the other with the inner shields more powerful than the outer shields. Starfleet relied on a single type of matter teleportation, whereas these people had two very different methods in use. The one they called the Asgard transporter had been the one she had been beamed aboard with. From her discussions with Admiral Ramos, it seemed that the Asgard beam was used for precision beaming while the other was used for beaming large numbers of ground troops into hostile areas, as the rings would serve to protect the personnel for a short moment after they reintegrated. She found that they used a number of different methods of achieving faster than light travel and foremost among these was something called a Hyperdrive. Using a Hyperdrive, the ship entered a parallel dimension called hyperspace, wherein distances between two points was vastly reduced. Apparently the laws of physics were not as stringent in hyperspace.

The travel method that shocked her the most, however, was the Stargate. Not for ship travel, she learned, but for moving vast numbers of personnel and equipment across thousands or millions of light years of space almost instantaneously. Controlled wormholes. Starfleet had been researching wormhole technology for decades with little success of creating a controllable wormhole. But here these people used and accepted it as fact. They had a similar concept to the Stargate called a ShipGate, that enabled ships such as the Halsey to traverse vast distances via a controlled wormhole as well. Because of the mass, she was told, the journey was not as instantaneous as with a Stargate. It could actually take ten minutes or so to cross a distance of a hundred million light years.

In terms of their weapons and computer technology, they were perhaps four hundred years behind the Federation. Even the NX-01 Enterprise, Archer's famous first command, had better computers. The only weapons that might have given Starfleet pause were something the Admiral called a Grand Cannon and the Slicer beam.

But it was the regenerative hull plating that made her sit up and take a real close look. The hull plating was a mixture of organic and crystalline components. It could learn from any damage it took and if it received the same kind of weapons fire in the future, it would accept up to ninety percent of the energy from that weapon and channel it to shields or weapons, or whatever system needed the extra power. Ramos explained that the shields were the first line of defense against any attack, with the regenerative hull plating a second line of defense, laser ablative armor as a third line, and reactive hull plating as a final line of defense.

All in all, Janeway thought, there is much we could learn from one another. But the Prime Directive must be obeyed! But did it apply to a race from an alternate universe? Starfleet had always believed that the Prime Directive applied to all equally, but in this case she was unsure. Could she afford to risk exchanging technology with them? Could Starfleet afford to pass up the chance to learn how to control a wormhole? Did bargaining for wormhole tech negate the Prime Directive? These were questions she did not have answers to. These were questions that Admiral Nechayev and the others within the fleet command structure would have to answer before any further steps could be taken.

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Observation Deck

AIS Halsey

Journey Day 145

The men and women in the Observation lounge were in full dress uniform. The visiting dignitaries from the Federation, from the Klingon Empire, and from one of the Federation member worlds; Vulcan, were also in their equivalent of full dress uniform. Along one long window stood the members of Alex Phillipson's Immortal strike team. Their uniforms reflected their age and their Sabers were shined to perfection. It was a solemn day. They would be bidding a final farewell to the two hundred and thirty nine souls that had perished in the attack on the Borg.

There were many who could not attend the ceremony, and many more who chose to honor their fallen comrades in different fashions. But in the end, it was all the same, whether a spoken word or a raised drink, it was all the same. A final farewell to honor those who had fallen in combat.

"Their guns, their lasers and plasma beams, have been forever silenced, and the blood these honored soldiers shed has returned to the stars from whence we came. They believed in something so precious, so perfect, that they were willing to die for it. They are gone now, but they will never be forgotten, so long as we remember them and their deeds.

"They were honorable men and women, these brave souls that fought for a people not unlike themselves. They fought so that those of us that remain could continue our mission, so that we would one day have the strength to defeat our enemies. Our enemy has not forgotten us. While we explore other worlds and other galaxies, our enemy at home grows stronger. One day soon, they will come for us, and for our part, we had best be ready. When the Stargate was re-opened a decade ago, we found ourselves in a universe filled with worlds whose peoples were like us. Indeed, they are us, for the Goa'uld took their ancestors from our world, enslaved them, and brought them to thousands upon thousands of worlds. But ten thousands years ago, our ancestors rose up and threw the yoke of Goa'uld oppression from our backs. They cast the Goa'uld off our world, and that enabled us to live in seclusion from the universe, for ten thousand years.

"Now, that we have returned to explore the universe, we must do for our brethren, what we did for ourselves so long ago. The Goa'uld must be cast off, their chains and their powers can no longer oppress us. For those that fell in battle a few short days ago, the chains that bound them here have gone.

"Eternal Father, King of birth, who did doth create the Heavens and the Earth, who bids the planets and the stars, their own appointed orbits run. O hear us when we seek thy grace, for those who soar and peril in outer space. Eternal rest grant unto them, oh Lord and let perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls and the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen."

The honor guard that was Phillipson's strike team turned as one and pulled their Sabers as one. They held them in salute as the rocket launchers, beneath the observation deck, let fly one by one, the empty caskets that were mere symbols of the departed. Teal'c's bomber wings flew one escort for each casket as the caskets made their final journey into the center of the sun, while O'Neill's fighter wing flew the missing man formation for their missing comrades, with a single fighter pulling up and spiraling away from the flight as it passed in front of the Observation Deck.. Throughout the ship one could hear, the wailing of bagpipes as they played a soul rendering rendition of Amazing Grace. A final tribute to those who had left their mortal coil and passed beyond the veil.

"That was a very moving ceremony, Admiral Ramos. I must commend you on the precision of the honor guard, and of your flight crews. Pray tell, what was the formation your fighters flew?"

"That was the missing man formation, Admiral Nechayev. It signals to those on the ground or aboard a ship, that losses were incurred during a recent battle by holding a place of honor for the missing comrades. The origins of that formation have been lost to history, but it is rumored to have been flown by British aviators during the First World War, when Manfred von Richthofen was interred."

"I find it utterly amazing that your own history and ours could be so similar yet also so different. That you and your people come from an alternate Earth is something our scientists have proven endlessly to us over the past few days. Simply put, your quantum signatures are not in sync with those of this universe. That proves to us the validity of your story. Yet I still find it amazing, especially since you are one of a handful of what you call Immortals. To have seen so much history is what amazes me so."

"Admiral Nakamura. The history that I have seen, well, when I saw what was happening it did not occur to me that it would become history. It is interesting to me to witness certain events and then to see what the historians make of those events. It is written that history is recorded by the victors, and that is certainly true. For instance, in a war on my Earth, sometime in the middle 1800's, there is a battle recorded by the winning side as a great victory against an overwhelming force of well trained soldiers. The losing side recorded that victory as a massacre to them. A senseless battle where hundreds of cadets at a military academy were slaughtered by the invading soldiers. The average age of the cadets was something like twelve or fourteen years of age, while the average age of the victorious soldier on the other side was something like thirty years of age. A hell of a difference in the way history is recorded simply because one side or the other won a war, don't you think?"

"Indeed. Such is often true. Tell us please, Admiral Ramos, what are your plans for the moment?"

"For the moment, Admiral Paris, our plans center on repairs. This ship can build all of the parts necessary to repair the other ships in our fleet and can build more fighters for our squadrons, but it will take us some time to train up more pilots for this mission. Once we've accomplished this, we will move off to attack the Borg wherever they may be. As we speak, the Nightingale has her mobile docking arms extended and the bays are occupied by the Ryan and the Kelowna. Without her services, I daresay the repairs to our fleet would take far longer than we can afford."

"You plan to attack the Borg in their home systems?"

"That is exactly what we plan to do, Janeway. They have items that rightfully belong to us. We plan on taking those items back, one way or another. But listen, while I have all of your attentions, might I make a comment on our recent misunderstandings?

"Whether the orders to beam troops over to my ship were legitimate or not is a moot point at the moment. What matters to me is that had my troopers not been using stun weapons, odds are that many of your Federation Marines would be dead. Whoever taught them battle tactics should be taken out and publicly flogged!"

"Why would you say such a thing? From my reading of the after action reports of their various commanding officers, the did everything by the book!"

"Then, might I suggest Admiral Paris that the book is in error here. My own troopers reported the actions of your Marines with disbelief. Marching up a corridor three or four abreast is a good way to get oneself killed in an awful hurry. Standing in front of a doorway as it opens is a certain way to get killed. If those are the tactics taught by your instructors at your academy, then I'd have to wonder just how you've won so many battles and wars."

"I sense a challenge here, Ramos. Perhaps you'd care to place a small wager on the outcome?"

"What did you have in mind, Paris?"

"A squad of say ten to twelve of your best troopers against a squad of the same size of my best Marines. I pick the time, you pick the place. Stun weapons only. Agreed?"

"That is agreeable. And to give you a fair shot at winning, I will not allow the Immortal strike team members to participate in this exercise. To do so would be unfair in the extreme."

"Nonsense, Ramos. I think Starfleet could agree to have one or two of your Immortals on your team. Shall we say a week?"

"Sounds fair to me, Paris. What is the wager, however?"

"Well, either way, we will be seeing one another at the negotiations table so that is not up for grabs. But, if the Starfleet team wins, then you will allow the Federation to join you when you leave for Borg space. If your team wins, then you can ask one favor from Starfleet. That favor may include asking for one specific technology which we will grant you outright, regardless of the outcome of the negotiations. Agreed?"

"Agreed. Night attack alright with you?"

"That is agreeable. Are your people familiar with urban combat operations?"

"That is also agreeable. Night operations in an urban environment. Should I assume that this will take place in one of your holographic imaging chambers?"

"We have a ship that has several holographic decks that can be merged to provide a very large environment for this test. To make it fair to your people, I think we can allow them to move in, say, one day in advance and make the Federation team the aggressors."

"Fair enough, Admiral Paris. I'll contact you as soon as I have the team put together. Shall we agree to twelve members?"

"Agreed."

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The next day, Admiral Ramos was in the main Conference room with the unit commanders of all of the special operations teams aboard the Halsey. British and Australian SAS, Navy SEALs, Army Rangers, and a Russian Spetsnaz team were all aboard the Halsey, each eager to show the others of their small but aggressive club just who the better man was.

"Gentlemen, the reason I've called you here today is that our Federation hosts would like a demonstration of our battle prowess. They seem to think the actions taken by the security troops aboard the Halsey during the attempted invasion by Federation Marines were flukes. They seem to think their Marines are better than anything we can put up. So, they've agreed to a small challenge. Twelve of our best against twelve of their best. Night time operations in an urban combat environment. What I need from you is the name of one volunteer from each of your units, the very best your units have to offer. I'd like to see a composite team put together to kick their arrogant asses all over the sector. They've even agreed to give us a sporting chance by allowing our team to go in a day early and to play the defending team against their aggressor team. As an added bonus, they don't seem to think that the Immortals on this ship are anything to brag about. The only member of the team that I will assign is Lieutenant Phillipson, and only because his mind is a tactical database the likes of which none of us have ever seen."

"Admiral, while I was aware that Phillipson was an Immortal, I am unaware of who exactly he was in history, though he does look very familiar."

"I'll allow Alex to answer your question Captain Duggray."

"I look familiar to you?"

"You do. You're an Immortal so I'll venture to say I've seen you in one of my history books, though I can't place the face to the period in history."

"I'll give you a couple of clues. I was most famous approximately three hundred years before the birth of Christ in the country of Macedonia."

"Macedonia? Around 300 BC? Oh, that is so very familiar! But I can't seem to place it. Oh. I got it. Alexander the Great?"

"Should I have given you less of a hint?"

"You're Alexander the Great?"

"I am, Captain Duggray. But more recently, I've been through basic training courtesy of the US Air Force. If you think basic training was bad for you, imagine it with a Drill Instructor that not only knows you're an Immortal, but also knows that no matter how hard he pushes you, you won't die permanently under his tutelage! With a dozen soldiers like him, I could have taken all of the known world when I was first alive. All I ask is that you do not reveal my true identity to any who don't need to know. I'd rather not have to deal with all the paparazzi when we return."

Within a few hours of the initial meeting, the special operations unit leaders had compiled a list of ten soldiers, drawn straws for the unit commander position, and had presented the list to Marius. Marius then had a chance to speak with the unit commander, one Major O'Connell of the SAS.

"So, Major, you have everything you need?"

"There are a few special items I'm having the Forge deck make up for us, but beyond that, yes, I do believe we have everything. And since they were dumb enough to believe we needed a day to familiarize ourselves with the terrain, then we'll take it. We'll set up defenses so thick with stun grenades and flash bangs, that they'll have no idea which way is up or down. I've got two snipers on my team and with a spotter assigned to each sniper, I think we can set up a nice kill zone for the Red team."

"Excellent work, Major! If there is anything you have need of, don't hesitate to ask!"

"Well sir, I was given the impression you might know where I could lay my hands on some rather old Scottish whiskey?"

"Win this for the Halsey and I'll give a case of that whiskey to each member of your team, and a dozen cases to you sir!"

"Well, with an enticing reward like that, sir, you can count on a victory!"

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Journey Day 153

The Holoship was in orbit near the Halsey and on its decks was a recreation of a well known scene of urban combat from the Federation-Dominion war, so recently won by the Federation. In the historical battle, the Federation had won easily, having out-thought their Dominion opponents. But rather than Dominion soldiers here, the Halsey's elite unit would play their part. The Federation elite unit would make two very simple but devastating mistakes in this encounter. They considered their enemy to be the Dominion, not fellow humans, and they expected 24th century tactics, not 20th century.

The Observation deck of the Holoship looked out over the vast imaging chambers of the ship. Monitors on the walls played images beamed from various cameras that had been pre-positioned to take advantage of the coming battle. The Federation had planned to use the images obtained as a training aid at their Academy, to show that the might of the Federation should never be underestimated. The Federation High Command was so sure of victory, that there was an advanced class from the Academy aboard the ship, observing the upcoming battle. Various instructors on tactics and infantry operations were aboard as well, to watch the events.

Marius and Captain Duggray watched as the Federation team broke up into four three-man teams and proceeded to enter the engagement area. The Fed teams advanced slowly, each providing cover fire for the other, but again, they were expecting a different set of tactics. Their first encounter of the engagement was with a set of well placed trip wires and motion sensor activated devices. In less than five seconds, the Fed team had been reduced by half, with one team stumbling into a set of trip wires with stun grenades and flash bangs on the ends, and the second Fed team walking into a claymore kill zone. For the purposes of the exercise, the claymores had been refitted with a two part stun effect; a high intensity flash, and an OC burst. The high intensity flash of light blinded the Fed team, as their eyes had adjusted to the low light conditions. As they grasped at their eyes, trying to rub away the bright spots, the second part of the claymore cocktail took effect and they were surrounded by a cloud of pepper gas.

As the three man team lay writhing on the ground, sniper shots came from the distance and stunned the three with Intar shots. Other than the three sniper shots, not a single man on the Halsey team had yet fired their weapons. The six remaining Fed team members took a look at their stunned comrades and vowed to win the engagement. The split up again into pairs and proceeded to leap forward rather quickly, covering the terrain, but not seeing it. They fired indiscriminately at their surroundings, hoping for a lucky shot that would disable one of their opponents. They had no way of knowing that the pair of snipers and spotters were three kilometers away. They should have been aware, however, of the remaining opposition team units moving up behind them; units moving not on the ground, but via the burned out shells of buildings in the urban environment.

The Fed team paused for a moment, to take a good look at their surroundings. But it was a pause out in the open and not under any sort of cover. They still failed to realize that there were snipers on the opposition team. Two more of their members went down in quick succession, as the snipers had decided amongst themselves which man to target. The four remaining Federation Marines dropped to the ground as their comrades fell, sweeping the immediate area with their motion sensors and looking for targets. Their hand held scanners were of little use however, as they relied primarily on passive emissions. Knowing that they relied on such passive measures, the team from the Halsey were all wearing thermal covers that betrayed no heat around them, making them appear to be inert lumps of debris. That would prove a costly mistake for the four Fleet Marines. As they rose to a kneeling position in preparation to move out again, four shots rang out and the four remaining Marines fell to the ground. The encounter had lasted less than thirty minutes with no casualties for the Halsey team and complete loss of unit for the Federation team.

"I never would have believed it had I not seen it with my own eyes. I thought our troops were better than this! I think they all need a refresher course in infantry tactics, especially since the best of them could not even cause so much as a single loss to your troops. I want to meet your troops, and ask them first hand what my own people did wrong. And I want my people there to hear their version of the events."

"Of course, Admiral Paris. Ensign, please inform Major O'Connell and his team that their presence is requested on the Observation deck."

"Aye sir!"

"Major O'Connell reporting as ordered sir!"

"Stand easy, Major. Admiral Paris and the rest of the Starfleet Command Staff would like to hear your version of the events."

"Aye sir! Admirals. If that was your best team, then they need to be sent back to basic training. Their mistakes were childish and their maneuvers were moronic. Even though I'd read the after action reports made by the security forces of the Halsey, I still had a hard time believing that any unit would try to advance in a line abreast. Now that I've seen it with my own eyes, I wonder what and how you train your people to fight. Coming at an unknown enemy in line abreast formation is utterly stupid and a very quick way to get yourself killed. Had this been a real engagement with real live ammunition instead of Intars, you would be holding twelve very unnecessary funerals. You'll get more details in the after action reports from myself and my team, along with a critical analysis from Lt. Phillipson. You realize Admiral, that I had to stop Alex from laughing? He could not believe the tactics your people were using. Had they been more alert and aware of their environment, odds are good that you would not have lost half of your force in the trip wire and claymore kill zones. But they walked in boldly as if nothing would dare to attack them. Only once did they attempt to take any cover and that was after my snipers had taken out two more of your men."

"Where were your snipers anyway?"

"Positioned in buildings, about one hundred feet off the ground and about three kilometers downrange from the outer ring of trip wires and claymores. As soon as your team hit that outer ring of traps, my team moved in to take position along their flanks and to their rear."

"May we assume that this Lieutenant Phillipson you mentioned was the Immortal assigned to your team?"

"That would be correct."

"And might we speak with him?"

"He's standing behind you, actually."

"You are Lt. Phillipson?"

"Reporting as ordered, sir!"

"You look very young to have all this experience your Admiral Ramos credits you with."

"Immortality can be awkward like that. I've heard of Immortals that were less than fifteen years of age when they transitioned to Immortality. I was the ripe old age of thirty-one when I joined the Immortal ranks. As they say, Admiral, appearances can be deceiving."

"Indeed. But while you may have lived a long and adventurous life, how can we be certain that your analysis of this engagement is worth anything beyond what Admiral Ramos claims it to be?"

"Because of who I was before I awoke into my Immortality. I do not know how similar your history is to ours, but does the name Alexander of Macedonia mean anything to you?"

"He was son of King Philip of Macedonia. He was a great military leader for his time."

"It is the same in my world. Only I didn't die as the history books suggested I did. And I would have been much happier as a man of science and advanced education than as a warrior. But I was born into a time when the knowledge of warfare was more important that the knowledge of philosophy. And when my father was killed, I could do naught but take his place as the King of Macedonia."

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A few days later, Marius was sitting in his office, going over the daily reports concerning the repairs to his fleet, when Major Carter entered his office.

"Good afternoon, Major Carter. How can I help you today?"

"Have you had a chance Marco, to go over the footage taken from our first encounter with the Borg?"

"Not really. I find I don't have much time anymore to do the things I used to like to do. Was there anything specific in the record that should catch my attention?"

"It took my staff and I a while to piece together the audio and video records of the engagement, to try and identify the types of weaponry used by the Federation and to catalog their effectiveness. One weapon in particular caught our attention and that is what they term a transphasic torpedo. We're not entirely sure how it works, but suffice to say, it emits a force field of sorts that phases it slightly out of our dimension, allowing it to pass through anything. They used it with remarkable accuracy against the Borg to the point where usually only one or two shots was required to destroy a Borg cube. My team guessed that the weapon phases out of our dimension just after launch and phases back in when it is inside of the target."

"Sounds like something we should ask them for during the negotiations next week."

"Actually sir, Major Mulder indicated to me that the odds of obtaining weapons technology from them is on the order of slim to none. They have something in effect called the Prime Directive that prohibits them from interfering in the natural progression of a civilization. How that applies to a civilization from another dimension like us, is anyone's guess."

"Wonderful. So they are like the Tollan?"

"That would be as good an approximation as any other. But there is something else you should be aware of, and that is that we really don't need their transphasic technology."

"But you just said…"

"Yes sir. But there again, a member of my staff pointed out the obvious to the rest of us. We already have transphasic technology is the form of the Colonial QSG. Applying that tech to our conventional missiles, we could have the equivalent type weapons in short order. They wouldn't be as fast, but then again, they wouldn't have to be."

"Excellent work Major! That will give us one hell of an advantage the next time we meet the Borg. And the item I'm working on might give us even more of an advantage. Please take a look at this design. It is for what I am tentatively calling a corvette.

"For the corvette, I looked at the one from the Earth Alliance database provided to us in the last universe. It's approximately the same size as our WhiteStars, but I daresay easier to build. The existing design has particle beams, rail guns, missile racks, and pulse cannons. I figure we can update the rail guns, install force shields, and install smaller versions of the Vorlon and Shadow guns on that ship. Four main guns, either all the same, or a mix of the heavy weapons we currently field, and brimming with defensive rail gun turrets and anti-matter short range packet launchers. But I'll leave the final specifications to you and your staff. I'm not asking that you build a fleet of them either. I'd hate to put all our eggs in one basket as it were. But even a pair of them would be helpful in our next encounter with the Borg."

"I'll get my team working on this forthwith sir, but truthfully, we were already tossing around some ideas like these."

"Perfect! Then I'll let you get back to work, cause unfortunately, I have an ever growing pile of reports to fill out."

"Have fun, sir!"

"Out!"

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Starfleet Headquarters

San Francisco, Earth

While Major Carter and Admiral Ramos conversed high above their heads, the highest ranking Admirals in Starfleet, along with a few invited guests, were meeting to discuss the upcoming negotiations with the Halsey fleet. The Federation had for decades sought a way to create a wormhole, but it was a technology that eluded them. Sure, they had a wormhole in the Bajoran system, but it was an artificial construct created by alien entities with ties to the Bajoran people. It was also the only stable wormhole in known space, or at least in the space known to the Federation and its allies. Still, if they could achieve the technological breakthrough required to create a stable wormhole at any given moment, it would mean that travel of any great distance would be nearly instantaneous. It was something they desperately wanted. Hell, it was something all of the major powers in the Alpha and Beta quadrants wanted, and something the remaining powers of the Gamma and Delta quadrants would want as well, not to mention the Borg either.

And now it had fallen, almost literally, into the laps of the Federation. But to trade for that which they wanted so desperately would mean a violation of their own rules. In particular, it would mean a violation of the Prime Directive, that sacrosanct of Starfleet rules regarding the non-interference of another civilization. It was true that the Prime Directive generally referred to non-warp civilizations, and perhaps in that specificity they had an opt out for their rules. The civilization represented by the AIS Halsey was non-warp. Yet they had achieved other methods of faster than light travel. But the methods they used violated several laws of physics in this universe so as to make the Federation scientists wonder how they were viable.

By all that they knew, warp travel was the only method of traveling at FTL speeds. The principle was simple. Encase a ship in a warp field bubble that allowed the ship to reduce its mass relative to the universe outside the bubble, therein defeating Einstein's principle of FTL or EMC2, where the energy required to achieve FTL travel was equal to the mass of the object times the square of the speed of light. As the mass increases, so does the energy required. So for an object with one kilogram of mass, the energy required to achieve FTL was X where X is an achievable amount of energy. But to understand what X means for an object the size of the Halsey, it would be equivalent to the amount of energy produced by Sol in a year, but used every second. It was a phenomenal number, and if these people had found a way around that, well, that would be something for the scientists among them to discuss and debate.

"But Jean-Luc, can we afford not to give them what they ask for in exchange for the knowledge of creating stable wormholes?"

"Frankly, Admiral Janeway, I do not see that we can afford to bend the rule of the Prime Directive on this one occasion. To do so would bring up the eventuality of bending the rule in the future. We have succeeded in staying the course on so many occasions, Kirk notwithstanding, of not giving in to our desires. Admiral Kirk was a different man in a much different Starfleet. Archer was much the same, if I read early Starfleet history correctly. Archer, was the first to go out and explore new worlds and to contact new civilizations. He was followed in kind by Kirk, who led us to victory in so many engagements and wars. But that was an era that we are trying to forget. How can we face our descendants, knowing that we gave in to a baser desire?"

"While true that Kirk and Archer were different types of officers than what we have today, those were different times, Picard. Archer was from a Starfleet that predated the Federation. He didn't have the weight of hundreds of member worlds to back up his statements. Hell, even the Vulcan's were merely acquaintances at the time, not real allies. But Kirk was a man of a different sort. He was a leader at a time when the Federation was already in place. His exploits and his missions were what laid the foundations for so many treaties with so many civilizations. He did try to enforce the Prime Directive on several occasions, but it was a wilder Galaxy then, and Federation and Starfleet technology was primitive, even by our standards. I doubt that either of those two men, if alive today, could become officers in our modern Starfleet. But they are not germane to our discussions, are they Picard?"

"No, Admiral Janeway, they are not. What is relevant is our desire. Our desire to obtain a technology that I am beginning to wonder if we should want or not. To have that in control of the Federation only would make us the target of every spy in the known universe. Is that something we want? I should think not!"

"Please Jean-Luc, control yourself. The question we should be asking ourselves is what they will want in exchange for that technology, not whether we should obey the Prime Directive. I think, in this case, that the Prime Directive does not apply."

"Admiral Nechayev! How can you say that?"

"Admiral Paris. Think about it for a moment. What does our Prime Directive state? No Starfleet personnel or any Federation citizen or representative may interfere with the normal development of any alien civilization or culture or may give them any superior technology which that alien culture is incapable of handling wisely. We know that this applies to pre-warp civilizations equally as well with warp civilizations. But if we look at this matter closely, General Order Number One only refers specifically to warp or pre-warp cultures. That the culture represented by the Halsey uses an altogether different method of FTL travel might be the one way with which we can safely state that the Prime Directive does not apply."

"All this knowledge and you look for a loophole?"

"Q!"

"Hello Kathy. Young Q wanted me to say 'Hello' for him. But I see that nothing has changed with you Primitives! Still arguing over points of law that have no relevance to the universe at large. Do any of you realize what is at stake here? Do you? No? Then I will tell you! You see things in so few dimensions and you grasp so little, but the gist of the matter is life as you know it.

"Yes, the Borg are very bad. But you are very good! It is a battle that will always happen, no matter the universe. Good is always destined to battle evil; sometimes to win, and sometimes to lose.

"The Borg are the very antithesis of your Federation. You primitives have a unique ability to build communities and therein lies your strength! Yet you fail to realize that potential and that is a sad thing indeed. The Borg assimilate all they touch and those assimilated cultures have very little hope of ever returning to what they once were. But the culture represented by the Halsey is facing an enemy vastly different from the Borg. Their enemy doesn't want to assimilate them. No, their enemy wants to annihilate them! Their enemy has already achieved what the Borg so desperately want; perfection! Perfection via artificial sentient life. And if that weren't bad enough for them, the enemy of the Tau'ri has formed an alliance with the enemy of their Colonial brethren. The resulting alliance will overwhelm their defenses and will plunge their universe into an eternity of what you so naively call Hell. Slavery and genocide versus assimilation. You tell me which of the two you would prefer? I can arrange for you to meet their enemy and knowing you primitives like I do, you'd probably extend a hand in peace and friendship rather than outright destroy them like you should!"

"Their fight is not our fight, Q! We have enough problems with the Borg and we don't need to add others!"

"Katie, Katie. I had so high hopes for you. Very well. Observe! I will give you a glance into their universe, for it is within my power to do so, and you will see for yourselves what the threat to them is. You see before you two creatures, humanoid in appearance only. The one in the white robes calls himself Count Iblis, though he is known by many names, the most familiar to you would be Lucifer. The other calls himself Anubis.

"Once, long ago, Anubis was a blended human. What the Tau'ri call a Goa'uld. But a thousand years ago, in their timeline, he was banished by his own kind for being too cruel and sadistic, which is an ironic thing. The symbiote within the man attempted to ascend to the plane of the Ancients, but they rejected him as they sensed within him, the same type of evil they had sensed within Iblis hundreds of thousands of years ago. Now he maintains his shape through the usage of a primitive dimensional armor. He wears a long black cloak with a long hood that covers his face, though to look at his face would mean your death. He is the epitome of what you have in your historical archives of the Grim Reaper. Let us now listen in for a moment or two."

"Your new Kull warriors are quite effective, Lord Anubis. But with a little cybernetic manipulation, you could increase their potential as warriors a thousand fold. There would be no more need to force grow the bodies or to have your Queen sire symbiotes without their genetic memory. Together, we can build the perfect warrior and the primitive humans of Earth will be unable to stand against us!"

"You speak wisely, Iblis. I shall take your counsel under consideration. My Kull warriors are bred for strength and loyalty, not for their intelligence factors. Perhaps a blend of your Cylon technology with my Kull technology could yet give us the perfect soldier with which to conquer this universe once and for all. Then, and only then, can we continue this operation in all the limitless alternate universes with ease. No one will be able to withstand us! Now or ever!"

"And this, you see, is your greatest threat. Not just to your precious Federation, but to all life in this universe. What the Tau'ri are attempting to do, in their limited capacity, is to prevent Anubis and Iblis from coming here. If Anubis and Iblis become as powerful as they hope to be, then neither the Ancients nor the Q Continuum will be able to stop them. The combined powers of what you so euphemistically call evil would overwhelm all in their path. And frankly, I have no desire to repeat warfare the likes of which the Q are capable of, as I'm sure Admiral Janeway will attest to."

"Thank you Q. You've given us much to contemplate."

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An hour after the meeting on Earth, Picard and Janeway were standing in the Admiral's office aboard the Halsey.

"Please! Sit. May I offer you anything to drink? Coffee? Tea?"

"Coffee for me, would be nice."

"Tea for me. Earl Gray if you have it."

"Steward! Two coffees and one Earl Gray tea, please."

"Aye sir."

They chatted amiably for a bit and a few moments later the beverage service had been delivered. With a wave and a nod, Marius dismissed the Mess Steward and then they were able to get on with business.

"So, Captain. Admiral. I must admit I did not expect to see anyone from your Federation for at least a few days. I rather suspected you would need at least that long to formulate your plan for our proposed upcoming negotiations."

"Truthfully Admiral, I had hoped we would not enter into negotiations with you. Personally I find you to be a primitive example of an era in our own history that is best forgotten. But some matters have come to our attention, courtesy of the Q, and we find it is now in our best interest to assist you wherever possible."

"Captain Picard. I've really no idea why you have insisted on taking such a hostile approach towards us. But rather than dwell on that I would much rather like to know what the Q have told you to change your mind."

"Q showed us images from your universe. Here is the file. We'll give you a few moments to look it over."

Picard and Janeway were anxious to observe his reactions to the file. But he had a poker face that would put a Vulcan to shame. At least until the part about the new and improved Kull warrior came on. Then his face showed abject horror. After a moment he composed himself once again and turned his attention back to them.

"I see. This is not good news at all. We'd had only one encounter with a single Kull warrior prior to our departure, and it was a formidable weapon of war. The assault team poured plasma fire, projectile fire, and high explosives onto the target and it merely shrugged them off as you or I would to a bothersome mosquito. The only advantage we had to date was that there were problems in gestating the humanoid hosts for the warrior parasite. These problems caused the host body to deteriorate over a short period of time. If, however, Anubis is successful in tying cybernetic technology to his new warrior class, then I fear we will have a bold new enemy when we return home. An enemy against which we will be hard pressed to fight. May I keep this recording? I'd like my engineering and science teams to look over it and begin formulating tactics against it."

"Of course. That brings up the other issue we are here for. Fleet Command has decided to advise the Federation President in the affirmative in terms of a technology exchange. Quite frankly, the science of wormholes that you seem to take for granted is a sort of Holy Grail for us. Any information towards that end would be greatly appreciated."

"Any information we have on the subject, whether Stargate or ShipGate related will be handed over freely. But as to which technologies we will ask for in return, frankly I'm unsure. Perhaps a comparison of all of our technologies is in order? I would gladly extend an invitation to any scientists or engineers of yours that wish to examine our ships in more detail."

"Very well then. There is one additional request we have. Some of the infantry instructors were aboard the Holoship when your team wiped out our team during the simulation. There has been a request forwarded by them to the head of Starfleet Academy to ascertain the possibility of a guest speaker or two for the upper class of cadets. The Admiral at the Academy requested the tactician for the exercise be allowed to speak to the cadets, but if any other of your Immortal crews wish to come along, then the offer is extended as well."

"I shall have to ask Alexander if he would like that honor. But I for one, would like a tour of your Academy, and perhaps I could be convinced to speak to a class or two. I shall have to ask my XO if he would be interested."

"Your Executive Officer is also Immortal?"

"Yes. All of the Immortals on the ship, if you added our ages together, would not equal his. He is the eldest of our race and a direct descendant of the Ancients. The remainder of us are results of experiments conducted by the Ancients."

"And how does that feel, knowing you were created in a petri dish?"

"It feels good to be alive. I have seen so much history and so much death, that one would think mental defects might become a problem. And they are at times. I've seen generations come and go. I've seen the best and worst that humanity has to offer. There have been moments of excitement, moments of depression, moments of joy, and moments of sadness. But all in all Captain Picard, it has been a good life, and for that, I am grateful."

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Journey Day 164

It was a week before the Forge Deck could begin building the necessary hull materials for a new class of ship that would now accompany the Alliance fleet and her Prometheus-class escorts on their mission. Major Carter's team had interfaced well with the Starfleet teams of engineers and scientists. An early result of that interaction was that the new corvettes, as they were being called, would have both hyperdrives and the Federation Warp drives. For longer distances, the Hyperdrive had no equal. But for shorter distances, the warp drive was preferred as it was less energy intensive.

For many of the Starfleet vessels, the warp engines provided the majority of power. However, the larger vessels also sported fusion generators that provided additional electrical power to the ships' systems. And while fusion generators can be quite powerful, they were also quite a bit larger than the naquadah generators. This then became the first technological exchange between the Tau'ri and their Federation counterparts.

The Federation Council had alerted its member worlds and neighboring governments that they would be launching an offensive against the Borg in their home sectors. Within days of this announcement being made, two battle groups appeared in Federation space; a Klingon group, and a Cardassian group. A similar group was expected from the Romulans, in an unprecedented act of understanding the common goal. The Romulan Empire, though not at all friendly with any of the other major powers of the Alpha Quadrant, all too well understood the implication of the Federation plan, and the consequences of its failure. The added bonus that the Borg were now in possession of very advanced technologies made all parties equally aware of the danger and the possible benefits to their own empires.

Federation space in sector zero-zero-one became a sight that none could ever remember prior to this time. There was a complicated mixture of ships and crews in abundance. As things were progressing, there was a dire need for a face-to-face meeting between all interested parties. Since neither the Klingons, the Cardassians, nor the Romulans could say anything bad about the Tau'ri, they acquiesced to a preliminary meeting aboard the Halsey. Only one representative from each empire would be allowed aboard the Halsey, and each was allowed one aide, though each pair would also be assigned one pair of Immortals as guards. But at last, the five major powers of the Alpha Quadrant and their new found Tau'ri guests were in one room. For the Halsey, Marius had asked Mulder to accompany him, as his psychological insights would serve him best. The Federation had chosen Admiral Janeway as their representative and she had in turn asked Seven of Nine to accompany her. The Klingons would be represented by Chancellor Martok, with Ambassador Worf as his aide. The Cardassians had sent Gul Tinkar along with an aide that was, according to the Federation, a member of their Obsidian Order. The Romulan Empire would be served by Admiral Sela, as the Emperor thought it best to have a half-Human/half-Romulan emissary to this most unusual meeting. She was joined by a member of the Tal Shiar as her aide. The Obsidian Order and the Tal Shiar were both intelligence organizations within their respective governments; both had the power to do as they pleased within their own empires.

Mulder look out at the sea of faces before him. He wondered, not for the first time, if Marius had placed too much faith in him for this crucial meeting. It was one thing, he thought, to profile a human. Quite another altogether to profile an alien. As preparation for this meeting, he'd gone over the data that had been provided to his team by the Federation. He'd already guessed that even the Federation records were incomplete on the subject at hand, as even in his own universe, no one government could know absolutely everything about another government. He vowed to observe the initial greetings and the initial discussions quietly, to best gauge the responses of the others present.

For his part, Marius felt that he was in over his head. But he felt a light tingling sensation and realized that Tok'Ra, whom he hadn't seen in quite a few days, and Q, were hovering in the background, unseen by anyone else in the room. It gave him a bit more confidence than he felt. As he began the introductions, he decided to introduce himself by his true name.

"Greetings to all. I am Admiral Gaius Marius Augustus, Commander of the AIS First Fleet, President of the Immortal Council, and representative of the Alliance of Independent Systems. My aide for these series of meetings if Major Fox Mulder, Chief of Diplomatic Relations. I bid you welcome to the AIS Halsey, and I hope that our time here will be productive."

"Greetings. I am Martok, Chancellor of the High Council of the Klingon Empire! My aide is Worf, son of Mogh."

"On behalf of the Cardassian Union, I bid you all greetings. I am Gul Tinkar of the Cardassian Defense Forces. My aide is Tukat."

"Hello to all. I am Admiral Kathryn Janeway, Representative of the United Federation of Planets. My aide for these meetings will be Lieutenant Commander Annika Hansen, formerly known as Seven of Nine, tertiary adjunct of Uni-Matrix Zero-One. She is here to provide insight into the Borg Collective."

"I bring to you all greetings from the Romulan Star Empire. I am Admiral Sela, Commander of the Praetorian Fleet. My aide is Commander Toreth."

"Admiral Sela, I find your references to an early Earth Empire most interesting. In particular, the word 'Praetorian'."

"My mother, told me of this, once, long ago. The similarities between the Romulan Empire and the Roman Empire of old Earth. Is this of what you speak?"

"It is. During the time of the Roman Empire, I was her Pro Consul, and General of the Prima Legion. I also served as Commander of the Praetorian Guard. Perhaps there are other similarities?"

"There may be. I shall have to ponder this development."

"Chancellor Martok, forgive my ignorance, but was it not explained that weapons would not be allowed?"

"I have no weapons!"

"Your knives are what I refer to. But if it makes you feel safer, you may keep them. Be aware, however, that the guards assigned to you are exceptional warriors. You and your aide may be stronger and bigger, but edged weapons have been in usage by Immortals since the beginning of our history. All of the Immortals assigned to you, have at least five hundred years experience with edged weapons and in warfare."

Each person at the table took Marius' statement differently. For Janeway, it was another example of how primitive these Tau'ri were. For Seven, the statement of longevity was met with awe, as these Immortals were the Borg's definition of biological perfection. Martok and Worf both began to look upon these people as potential equals. Any race that used edged weapons would know the true meaning of what it was to be a warrior. The two Cardassians, on the other hand, saw the similarities between the Federation and these Tau'ri, between the Klingon warriors and these Immortal warriors, and between the Romulan Government, and this former Roman and thought with dismay that there were too many similarities for his tastes. There must be some common ground for us! For her part, Sela found herself in the middle of a riddle. Could there be any truth to the similarities between her government and this Roman empire of Old Earth? She had a feeling that she would be spending many hours learning about this Roman Empire. Toreth, on the other hand, had already read everything she possibly could on the Roman Empire, and recognized the name 'Gaius Marius'. She would have an interesting report to make to the Senate this day.

"We have here a most unique opportunity, to put the fear of the universe into the Borg. It is said, that the Borg fear no one or no thing. Your empires have fought several skirmishes with the Borg to this point. Whether you choose to join us in our offensive is irrelevant. The Halsey will be going to Borg space. We will be taking the battle to them. We will take back what is rightfully ours. The Borg can not be allowed to develop the technologies stolen from the Ancients. To do so would be allowing a plague to spring forth on the limitless dimensions of the universe.

"Do not take this lightly. You will be far from home and even further from your lines of supply. You must plan with great foresight and take into account every possible contingency. For our part, the Halsey was initially designed as a fleet support vessel. We can build every ship in our fleet up to the size of the Halsey. Our squadrons of fighters and bombers have been rebuilt since our last encounter with the Borg. Our reserve pilots are getting as much training as we can give them, and we anticipate being at three-fourths of our previous strength by month's end. Additionally, we are transitioning a number of atmospheric pilots for space warfare, though that will take time that I feel we may not have."

"The Borg came here via some form of advanced transwarp portal system. How will you track them to their home sector?"

"An astute question, Commander Hansen. What you call a transwarp portal is what the Ancients called a ShipGate. This type of gate creates a stable mono-directional wormhole, which we can use to travel thousands of light years at a time. We suspect that the Borg made no changes to the original design of the Ancients. Using that as a premise, I instructed our navigational officer to send out a signal ping on all of the known Ancient control frequencies. The response was an affirmative one. Unbeknownst to any of you here, the Borg have constructed a vast network of ShipGates, enabling them to appear in hundreds of systems with little or no warning. Because we also use the technology of the Ancients, our scanners can detect the approaching wormholes generated by the SG system. Since they use the SG system, a test was made of the Stargate system as well. The only Gates that responded were those aboard our ships, the test gates we installed on Earth and on Vulcan, and one other Gate, which is on a planet near the furthest SG.

"Furthermore, early this morning, a single cloaked probe was launched along the SG network. We have confirmed that the planet with the Stargate on it is a Borg world. What I propose is the following. A multi-pronged attack, using troops sent via Stargate, troops beamed to the surface, and a fleet to engage the Borg in space."

"A bold plan worthy of a Klingon! Tell us more of this Stargate technology."

"As I stated a moment ago, we set up two test gates for the Federation to examine. If you'll pay close attention to the screens in front of you, you'll see the Gates as they exist at this moment on Earth and on Vulcan. The wormhole created with this technology is both mono and uni-directional. It is one way when troops or equipment are sent through. That is, if the Gate is opened on Earth with the intended destination being Vulcan, then any troops or equipment will go from Earth to Vulcan. To return, the Gate must be closed down and then re-opened from the Vulcan side. Audio and video signals, as they are already a form of light energy, can move in both directions at once.

"To this end, we can, when in close proximity to the Borg world, open a wormhole between one of our ships and the Borg world. We can keep the wormhole open for thirty-eight minutes at any given time. This will allow us to send the initial troops and equipment to establish a foothold on that world. As soon as our troops on that side of the wormhole report their situation, we can send more troops and can continuously reinforce their position so long as we have the troops to do so.

"The moment we have established that foothold, the AIS Prometheus-class battlecruisers will penetrate the atmosphere of that world to lend fire support and additional personnel and equipment to the fight. Simultaneously, the Halsey and the corvettes and fighter squadrons assigned to her will engage the Borg in Space around their world. I do not know that we will be able to reverse the Borgification of the inhabitants, but we will certainly attempt to take as many prisoners as we can for this purpose. Failing that, we will retrieve our personnel on the surface, and commence a planetary bombardment, to prevent the Borg from retaking our foothold.

"Once we have established and secured that position, we can begin receiving supplies via the Stargate and ShipGate systems. Questions so far?"

"The Borg will resist your attempts to take one of their colony worlds. Have you any visual data from your probe?"

"Routing it to your screens now."

Janeway had known Seven for years, yet in all that time, she had never seen anything so scare her compatriot as the information on the screen.

"Lieutenant Commander Hansen, since you are familiar with Borg vessels, perhaps you could describe for us what we are seeing?"

"Of course. In orbit about the planet are six Borg stations. I see dozens of Borg constructors, building a network of defensive satellites and long range detection arrays. Borg defensive satellites are of two varieties; disruptors and plasma torpedoes. Though they are small, each satellite is equipped with a shield system comparable to a Borg cube. The shield frequencies rotate quickly and are set on random patterns, so that no two satellites will have the same shield frequency at the same time.

"There appears to be at least four shipyards in the system. The smaller pair of shipyards are utilized to build the smaller Borg vessels, such as the Interceptors and Spheres. The larger ones are used almost exclusively to build Cubes, Tactical Cubes, and Diamonds. The Diamond shaped vessels are used exclusively by the Borg Queen and her potential replacements. From the visual telemetry of your probe, I count forty-eight standard Cubes, fifty-two Tactical Cubes. There are also hundreds of Interceptors in the sector. I also see an older ship design; the Assimilator. It appears as though that particular vessel is in the process of being recycled.

"Though all Borg vessels are dangerous, the Assimilator is potentially the most dangerous type of craft. The Assimilation beam has the power to penetrate all of the known Alpha quadrant shielding systems and can quickly strip a ship of its crew and simultaneously beam back Borg replacements. In effect, the Assimilators are used to take over other vessels."

"What of the shields on the AIS vessels?"

"I have examined your shielding technology. Though primitive by Borg standards, the fact that you utilize triply redundant shields all on different rotating frequencies, will prevent the Assimilation beam from penetrating your shields. Your organic hull technology also seems to be resistant to the Borg Carving beams, and this may prove a useful advantage."

"Excellent, Lieutenant. Any other questions? Gul Tinkar? You have a question?"

"I do. What is your time estimate for preparations?"

"Well, the longer we take to prepare, the better off we will be. But if we wait too long, the Borg will come here before we can go there. A wise man on my home world, once said, that to do battle in a far away place, you must travel to that battle with little or no supplies. You must appear to be stronger than you are. If we show up in that system with a supply convoy, the Borg will react in a predictable manner. That is to say, they will attack our convoy first, cutting us off from what they believe to be our supplies. However, our goal is not to fight a prolonged fight, but to take control of that system as quickly as possible. Once we establish our foothold in their space, we can strike outwards, taking one colony world or colony system at a time until we control a sizeable portion of their space. Then, and only then, can we entertain any suggestions for a truce, if the Borg so desire one. But as to a launch date for this mission, I would say at least three months before we can be ready to attack. Three months would enable our ground forces to learn to work with one another, to learn our mutual strengths and weaknesses, so that we may best compensate for each other.

"Do not misunderstand me. I fully intend for this to be a joint operation. I am told that Klingon warriors are fearsome ones, and the Romulans are very cunning and skilled at tactics. The Cardassians are skilled with intelligence gathering and are not above torturing a being for information. These things and more are important to the success of the mission. But herein lies the difficulty. Would a company of Klingon warriors take orders from a Romulan? Or a Cardassian? Or a Human for that matter? We have time enough, I pray, to answer those questions. We have time enough to build not one but three fleets. And we have time enough to prepare."

"Why three fleets?"

"Simple really, Admiral Sela. One fleet shall remain here to prevent the Borg from doing what we are planning. One fleet shall engage the Borg, with a second fleet on standby near the battle zone. The second fleet will be there to lend support should the first fleet be overwhelmed or suffer too many losses, but once they are called in it will be an all or nothing situation. If we fail there, there will be no falling back. The Borg will come here and it will be up to the fleet we leave behind to hold them at bay. If the third fleet fails, the Federation will fall. And if the Federation falls, it's a sure bet that the rest of you will fall as well.

"Now, I've given you all much to think on. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of details to be worked out, and I will leave those details in the very capable hands of the AIS Diplomatic staff. Three months from now will be too late to develop a new plan."

The various members of the five represented governments went to their own ships, to contact their governments for guidance in this matter. All except Marius, who had no government to contact.

For their part, Q and Tok'Ra felt the meeting had gone quite well.

"Those are interesting children you have created Tok'Ra. Ambitious and bold. But the Borg population is vast. They will need everything in their arsenal just to secure a foothold."

"Of this I am well aware Q. But as you stated to the Federation so eloquently, to fail is to allow the Borg to solve the dimensional question. And to allow that sort of plague loose on the universe is not a good thing."

"As always, old friend, your gift for understatement is without equal!"

"Understatement or not Q, this is not a war of their making. I fear for my children. I must contemplate this situation. I must find a way to help them win this war. Surely there would be no harm in our talking? Perhaps, with a discussion, I can find a way to help them without fighting it for them?"

"There are always methods of war that are difficult to see. I will discuss this with the Continuum. Where will you be?"

"With my Children. As I should be."

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Elsewhere on the Halsey, Marius kneeled alone and in the dark, praying to a God he wasn't sure existed. 'Am I doing the right thing?' he wondered. He prayed for Divine guidance.

Aboard the Federation Starship Voyager, Janeway was delivering her report to Fleet Command, while Seven of Nine pondered the question of biological perfection. The Borg's long stated goal for that was Immortality. Perfection. Immortality. Since leaving the Collective, she had not thought on that question, yet with it now staring her in the face, how could she not want it? If this race had achieved it, could she? Could the Borg? Could any species achieve biological perfection?

Chancellor Martok delivered his report to the Klingon High Council. He was enthusiastic for the coming war and his statements of the glorious cause were made with much vigor. Worf, on the other hand, had no real lust for war. He had seen it often enough and had fought the Borg and lived to tell the tale. But a skirmish with the Borg is a far different thing than taking the battle to them. Was this a good day to die?

Admiral Sela was preparing to make her report, thinking on the events of the meeting. Commander Toreth, however, was already speaking with the Emperor.

"I had not thought it possible, that a prophecy of the Old Ones could be realized. But he is the one foretold so long ago. Gaius Marius Augustus. My Emperor, it is right that we help him, to assure our rightful place in the universe!"

"I will go myself. I must see and meet this Roman for myself!"

Commander Toreth would wait for his arrival.

Gul Tinkar was of a different mind. Since the fall of Cardassia Prime during the Dominion War, their infrastructure had been spread thin. Could Cardassia give what was needed? This he could not answer. But his aide saw it differently. Could they afford not to give what was needed? The new technologies to be found with the Borg Collective could elevate them to the power they once were! The Cardassian Council had to be made to see that so plainly evident truth!

On a distant world, called Ferenginar, the Grand Nagus learned of the meeting too late to attend. But they had the data from a spy probe of the tests of the Stargate system between Earth and Vulcan. A transport system such as that could bring a fortune so vast as to be impossible to envision. Their best war vessels were no match for anything the four major powers possessed. But perhaps the Ferengi could persuade them to allow them to supply all that was needed? If they could obtain the wormhole tech, any price in ships and supplies would be too little by comparison. But whom could he trust to negotiate on behalf of the Ferengi?

In a quadrant of space known to the Federation and her contemporaries as the Gamma Quadrant, a now healed raced of shape shifting aliens looked upon the data obtained from the Alpha quadrant. The Borg would eventually come for them, they knew. But could an old enemy be made to see reason in this situation? The Founders pondered this through the Great Link, hoping to reach a position from which they could argue favorably with the major powers of the Alpha Quadrant.

And back on Earth, in the universe and dimension from which the Halsey came, plans by a certain Senator were coming to fruition. He was poised to enter the race for President against the incumbent, John Patrick Ryan.

"My fellow Americans. I have thought long and hard over the previous months and have come to the conclusion that our great nation can ill afford to be a part of this petty alliance of alien worlds that President Ryan has engaged us in. As a member of the Senate Oversight Committee in charge of the Star Gate Program, I attempted on numerous occasions to have the program halted. Pandora's Box, that mythical place from which all the evils escaped, has been kept open. If we do not close it and cut ourselves off from the universe, we will find ourselves gone. Our new alliances with the people who call themselves Colonials and Immortals will bring naught but misfortune to all that we have worked so hard and so long to accomplish. For this reason, I am officially declaring my candidacy for the office of President of the United States of America. May God bless us all. Good night."

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Journey Day 178

Two weeks had passed since the meeting of the major powers in the Alpha Quadrant. It was perhaps, the first time in Federation history, that all of the major powers of the Alpha Quadrant had been at such a meeting. Sure, there had been peace conferences and trade conferences, but those had been orchestrated by the diplomats. This meeting of the minds, had been for the military leadership. And it was the first time that they had met to discuss such a grand strategy; to destroy the Borg threat once and for all.

The four major races had long ago abandoned the idea of using small one or two man fighter craft, but from the Tau'ri, they were learning the potential of the fighter once again. Of course, each race thought they could do better and each race was given the opportunity to prove itself in a test designed to bring about new fighter designs to the front. These new ideas were being cobbled together quickly just to be the first to field a prototype. In an era dominated by large vessels, the fighter was being reinvented.

Major Carter and her staff had finished the modeling of the new corvettes and were busily churning out hull sections for what was turning out to be a formidable little ship. Well, little in comparison to a Prometheus class ship. The finalized design called for three large gun platforms on 'top' of the ship, and one on the 'bottom'. The gun platforms each had two massive gun barrels and were designed to fire a projectile that, with the assistance of the Federation, achieved a velocity of just over Warp 3 soon after leaving the barrel. The projectile was made of a trinium-titanium alloy that enclosed a naquadah enhanced Solonite warhead capable of delivering an explosive force equivalent to two gigatons of TNT. But even with that, the warhead was small and each projectile measured only one foot in diameter by three feet in length, though the warhead itself was only a foot long. The added length encased the single warp drive unit that would accelerate the projectile to its target, and overload as the projectile hit its target. The amount of explosive added to the warhead was negligible in that the minute amount of antimatter that powered the warp drive was infinitesimally small.

Major Carter's design team had kept in place the existing twenty missile launchers of the Olympus-class, but enlarged them slightly to fire the standard Harpoon and Shipwreck missiles. The Federation engineers had added in strips of what they called phasers to the periphery of the vessel, allowing it to fight off small vessels and incoming torpedoes. Sort of like a CIWS system aboard sea going vessels of the US Navy, but utilizing energy based weapons. The additional firepower meant that the vessel would be able to hold its own against the Goa'uld Udajeet fighters when they returned to their own universe. The best part was that the corvette could aim its guns toward a planet to conduct bombardment of a target, so long as it was broadside to the planet. The new ships would also be home to four externally connected shuttle pods that were being designated exclusively for Search and Rescue missions, but would also carry a single rail gun. For the moment, the ships were designated as Olympus-class corvettes.

About the time that Carter and her team were beginning to lay down hull sections for the new ships, Doctor Helios of the Colonial contingent had gone to visit Marius with the design for a gun battery. He stated that in the early days of the Cylon-Colonial war, the Colonies had fielded these automated gun batteries in orbit about their worlds. He had revisited the design and with modifications possible from technologies he now had access to, the gun batteries could act as small vessels. The top would have a dual turret for an energy weapon, while the bottom would field a dual launcher for naquadah-enhanced Solonite missiles. The gun units were fully automated and no crew would be needed. He had gone so far as to included a self destruct mechanism on the platforms that would target the nearest enemy vessel and ram it, setting off whatever fuel remained aboard along with a Naquadah-Solonite charge. Each platform would have enough missiles for thirty-two shots, and enough power for the Vorlon style Grand Cannons to fire thirty shots. Marius approved the design, and because of their size, the new platforms could be churned out in vast numbers.

It was shortly after that meeting with Dr. Helios, that Marius found himself caught up with the unending piles of paperwork on his desk. He looked up the shuttle schedule and saw that Alex's strike team was due to visit the Starfleet Academy and so he decided to tag along. It would give him a chance to get a better feel for these Federation humans and it would give him the opportunity to see Earth once again. It felt like years since he'd set foot on a planet and he wanted nothing more than to feel solid ground beneath his feet.

With Methos in firm command of the ship, Marius went down via shuttle to the Federation landing facility in San Francisco. Except for the fact that the aircraft were really surface to orbit ships, and that there were aliens walking everywhere, the hustle and bustle of the docking facility could have been easily mistaken for any major airport on his world. There were still security checkpoints at or near the boarding areas, but there were also decontamination rooms near the arrivals stations. But there was something wrong with what he saw. Marius just could not stop feeling that. Most of the people he saw were wearing the uniform of Starfleet, though there were a smattering of civilians in the room. At least that was how Marius saw them, considering they were not wearing uniforms. He caught up with Alex and his team, and together they took a shuttle to the Academy, where they were met by what appeared to be a few cadets.

"Admiral Ramos?"

"That would be me. And you are?"

"Cadet Lieutenant Barnes, sir. The Admiral sends his regards and regrets that he was unable to meet you on such short notice. He stated that had you given more warning, perhaps even a few hours, he would have put together a more proper welcoming ceremony."

"Nonsense. I think this is more suitable. We don't want to disrupt your daily routine here after all."

"Very good sir. I will be your guide for your visit here. The others here will each take one of your party for their visit and we will meet back here at 1700 hours."

"Excellent! Lead on Cadet. Lead on."

If you've seen one military academy, you've seen them all. Or university for that matter. Lecture halls, auditoriums, libraries, labs. It all ran together fairly quickly. He half listened as the Cadet Lieutenant described the functions of the various labs and classrooms. He saw firsthand, the training areas where cadets destined for the role of Fleet Marine were put through their paces. He shook his head as once again he saw the poor entry discipline exhibited by these cadets. Had no one ever come to the conclusion that standing in a doorway was a good way to get shot? Even though he had been a pilot for the last century, he had also served as an infantryman in earlier wars. Had he stood in a doorway to clear a room, his old DI would have shot him on the spot to teach him a lesson. The comparisons with his basic training regimens and with the one that these cadets were going through was like night and day.

He flashed back for a moment to basic training at the onset of the Second World War and remembered his DI using live rounds to ensure the rookies under his tutelage kept their heads down. Ok, so these DI's were using energy weapons, and yes, an energy weapon at full power would vaporize a target. But setting them at such a low level such that a shot could be shrugged off was defeating the purpose. He was still shaking his head as he walked onto the training course and approached one of the DI's.

"Sir, what you are doing to these cadets, showing them the gentler side of warfare is cruel. The first time these cadets face down a barrage of weapons fire, they'll be lucky to come out alive!"

"And you are?"

"Admiral Marco Ramos, AIS Halsey."

"Ah yes. I've heard of you. Your team trounced the best men and women I'd ever trained. I think that fight was highly unfair."

"Unfair? In what way?"

"Your people come from a time when warfare is more of a professional pursuit, and less of an honorable one."

"You could not be that dense! Any of your students here, if put into battle, would die the quick death of the stupid! It takes a lot of smarts and common sense to survive on the battlefield. I can understand that since most of the major battles your Federation has fought recently have been ship against ship, but I'm sure there were some ground engagements. What rate of ground force attrition do you find acceptable? What is the first duty of a ground pounder?"

"We find a rate of attrition of ten to fifteen percent acceptable in any ground engagement. And everyone knows that the first duty of the Fleet Marines is to die defending the Federation!"

"So out of one hundred Marines, you expect to lose fifteen soldiers? In a very short time, you'll have a fighting force that is not at all effective! And you're wrong sir. The first duty of any soldier is not to die for their country, but to make the enemy die for theirs!"

"Therein lies the difference between us, sir. Our troops are trained to fight honorably. Your soldiers are trained to fight professionally. That is, to use every dirty trick to make the enemy give up their lives. Your people are little more than barbarians. We do not condone that sort of fighting."

"Then I feel sorry for you, sir. You are destined to lose every member of this cadet class in a ground engagement. That is simply wrong."

Marius walked away wondering if such attitudes were the predominant one in the Federation. Surely the art of warfare could not have been forgotten so easily? Ok, so in their defense, they've fought more ship to ship battles than we have, well, at least in space. It does seem as if the role of the Fleet Marine is more designed for boarding party action than for ground engagements. Maybe a demonstration is in order? But what sort of demonstration? Then Marius hit on a nice solution that would give his ground pounders the training time and at the same time would enable these Federation types to see how our tactics work and how we can best integrate our commands. Because in the coming battles against the Borg, an integrated command structure would have the best chance of survival.

"Admiral, there's an Admiral Ramos to see you. He does not have an appointment."

"Please, send the Admiral in."

Janeway's office was not at all what he had pictured in his mind. It was a not so balanced blend between comfort and utility, with comfort definitely coming out ahead of utility. There was a display to the left side of what Marius guessed to be various classes of Federation ships and shuttles.

"Admiral Janeway. I apologize for not setting an appointment prior to my visit, but as I happened to be in the neighborhood, I thought I might stop by to visit for a bit."

"Not at all Admiral Ramos. You are more than welcome to visit anytime. Now then, is this purely a social call? Or do you have some business to discuss?"

"All business, I'm afraid."

"Continue."

"When the Halsey set out from its construction dock, a number of systems were untested. Since then, we've been cast into two different parallel universes, this being the second one. Our defensive systems have now been rather thoroughly tested under combat conditions, but there is one part that has not been tested and for this to occur, I feel that you, or rather, Starfleet could be of some assistance."

"Continue."

"You may have noticed the two, for lack of a better term, outrigger pods mounted on either side of the Halsey. These are troop deployment pods. While they do not possess any engines capable of FTL speeds, they do have engine systems that will enable each pod to make a planetary landing. What I propose is that some area of land be loaned to us so that we may test these deployment pods. Furthermore, our ground forces could stand with some additional training. So perhaps we could accomplish a number of objectives here. If your Fleet Marines would care to act as defenders in this situation, then my troops will act as the aggressors. We'll conduct a planetary landing, under fire, and deploy our troops. Your people will defend a target and mine will do what is necessary to capture that target. In order to prevent needless casualties, I recommend both sides use only stun weapons."

"What will this accomplish?"

"It will give us the opportunity to iron out any bugs that may be present in our plans for planetary landings. It will give you the opportunity to see how effective, or ineffective, our ground pounders will be. And it will give us a starting point for integrating our commands for the coming battles with the Borg."

"Your idea has merit, Admiral. I will discuss this proposal with the Admiralty, and we'll have an answer for you in a few days. In the meantime, the design bureau has forwarded to me their plans for our new fighters. Two of these are simple modifications of existing craft, while the third is a new ship altogether. The first one is the Peregrine. This is a relatively small fighter designed to work in conjunction with the larger ships of the fleet. It came about as a result of the war with the Dominion and was designed to counter the Jem H'adar fighters. It carries a limited armament and a crew of two. It is capable of limited warp flight. The second is the Defiant class. Though it was designed for escort duty, it has become one of our more formidable warships. It carries a crew of fifty, two torpedo launchers and pulse phaser cannons. It is capable of high warp. These two ships together would form the bulk of our new proposed fighter squadrons, with the Peregrines acting as interdictors and the Defiants acting as escorts."

"Sounds like a workable concept. What about your third ship?"

"There is no designation as yet, but the early designs show it to be somewhere between the Peregrine and the Defiant in terms of size. It will have pulse phaser cannons like the Defiant, and two torpedo launchers. Estimated crew size of thirty. Instead of the standard complement of torpedoes, it will have only tri-cobalt weapons, designed for long range fire support or planetary bombardment."

"Interesting. Our own ideas of what constitutes fighters and corvettes are vastly different. Our carrier based construction docks are currently churning out hull sections for two new classes of vessels, Admiral. One is a corvette. It will have four main guns, six forward facing torpedo launchers, and ten missiles launchers to either side. We've added in an array of point defense weapons, ablative and regenerative armor, and our standard shielding package. It carries a crew of sixty. The second vessel is a mobile unmanned gun platform. The top portion of the platform has a single twin barrel turret, while the bottom portion has a single twin launcher for missiles. There is a limited amount of point defense weapons aboard. They are QSG shielded and are designed to ram the nearest enemy target once their ordinance has been expended."

"QSG shielded?"

"A gift from our Colonial brethren. The QSG is a Quantum Shift Generator. It allows the vessel it is installed onto to phase out of normal space, thereby allowing it to survive in combat for a longer period."

"Similar to a cloaking device?"

"Not really. A cloaking field hides the vessel. The QSG shifts the vessel out of phase. It is still visible, but nearly impossible to target or hit with any sort of normally phased weapon."

"Interesting. This has been a productive, if unexpected meeting, Admiral. I will meet with the Admiralty later this day and we will have an answer on your landing problem, within a few days."

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A day later, Marius had not yet heard anything from Admiral Janeway, but he had pre-emptively briefed his ground force commanders and had ordered less than lethal munitions handed out to all ground units. It would be a grand thing to witness, both in space and on the ground.

"Admiral, we have a Ferengi vessel requesting permission to land."

"Are we expecting any Ferengi vessels?"

"No sir. We've passed along an inquiry to the Starbase, but all they said was to watch them closely. They have a habit, apparently, of taking anything that's not nailed down."

"Great. Alien kleptomaniacs. That's all we need. Any identity on the Ferengi vessel or its occupants?"

"The vessel is the Acquisition, and the passenger that wishes to come aboard is identifying itself as the Grand Nagus."

"Sounds impressive, I think. Permission granted. Send a security detail to the hangar bay and have them escort the Grand Nagus to my conference room."

"Aye sir."

Marius stood in the conference room wondering if what Janeway had just told him of the Ferengi was entirely truthful. She had been surprised that the Grand Nagus himself was requesting permission to come aboard the Halsey. She warned Marius that the Ferengi were all about profit. Marius had thanked her and was now standing here, staring out at a pair of Prometheus class ships as they flew past.

"Welcome, Grand Nagus, to the AIS Halsey. I am Admiral Marius. Please, sit. Steward, bring in some refreshments please."

"Aye sir."

"You've an impressive ship, Admiral Marius. Very impressive. But let us get down to business. The Ferengi are aware of your planned move to invade Borg space. While our ships are designed more for commerce than for battle, we do have warships to offer you. For a price of course."

"Oh of course. But you didn't come all this way just to try and sell us a few warships, now did you?"

"You are a smart one, aren't you? Your statement has a definite ring of truth in it. I have heard that your FTL systems can allow your ships to cross thousands of light years of space in far less time than what is currently available. Is this true?"

"Warp drives are quite suitable for the short distances within each quadrant, however, our method of travel can allow us to cross from one quadrant to the next in mere hours, perhaps as long as days. I am told that the Federation starship Voyager found herself cast some seventy thousand light years from Earth, some years ago. They had anticipated a seventy year journey to get home, unless they found a few shortcuts along the way. The Halsey can make that journey in perhaps a little more than a week. I say a week, because we don't possess accurate star charts of the area we would need to transit. Without those charts, our ship could easily end up emerging from hyperspace into the middle of a star. Not something I'd care to experience."

"A week? To cross seventy thousand light years? Amazing! Simply amazing! Tell me, would you be interested in licensing that technology to us?"

The Grand Nagus was thinking of all the far flung markets his people could have access to if he managed to get this new form of FTL. The potential for profit was something only an astronomer could appreciate, in terms of the large numbers.

"Anything is possible, sir. The question is, however, would you be willing to settle for non exclusive rights to this technology?"

"Do you mean you would also give this technology to the Federation?"

"Among others. On that point, there can be no compromise."

"I see. But the Ferengi Alliance would be able to utilize this method of FTL travel?"

"I don't any reason why not. But first, allow me to ask you a question?"

"By all means!"

"I'm assuming that your Alliance has Star bases, yes?"

"We call them commerce trading stations, but yes."

"Very well. Commerce trading stations. These stations, what sort of recreational facilities would they have for a ship, say, like the Halsey?"

"Holo-decks, gaming rooms, bars. The standard fare available at any pleasure station."

"Excellent!"

"I sense an opportunity for profit."

"An astute observation, Grand Nagus. How quickly can your people assemble a trading station? A station that would have, in addition to the pleasure facilities, say a limited repair and refit capability for ships of various races?"

"A matter of a few weeks. Our ships and my people are quite adept at such construction."

"What about defensive and offensive capabilities for your stations?"

"Our weaponry is limited. We prefer to spend more on profit making items than on weapons."

"I see. That may indicate a problem for what I have in mind, however, it is easily overcome. What I propose is the following. A large fleet will be gathered here soon to invade Borg space. Once we establish a foothold in Borg Space, I would like for your people to build a station there. The AIS will provide you with defensive gun and missile platforms to offset the weaponry of your station, but you must be able to supply the station quickly and efficiently. Does that present any problems for you?"

"The Ferengi Alliance has thousands of supply vessels, all of them armed, with which we could supply a far flung outpost."

"Because of the nature of this action, would it be possible to include limited manufacturing facilities in or near to the station? For the purposes of making replacement hull sections or weapons such as torpedoes?"

"This is also possible. However, unless we can locate a nearby source of raw ores for refinement, we will have to bring in all materiel by supply ship."

"Not a problem. The materials are available in that part of space. Here is a mineralogical analysis of the target sector. This next document is a limited analysis of the planets in the target system. All of them, are under control of the Borg, though only four of them have any sort of habitation evident."

"How were you able to obtain such detailed scans without Borg interference?"

"Our probe is still there, in hyperspace, shielded by a quantum shift generator which phases the probe out of normal space."

"And the Borg have not detected your probe?"

"Apparently not. So, Grand Nagus, is this preliminary deal acceptable to you?"

"It is. Most assuredly so!"

"Then, might I suggest that you round up the ships necessary to accomplish the construction of your commerce station, and what ever other ships you feel might be needed? Perhaps also, and this is just a suggestion, you might consider either purchasing or commissioning a number of ships to serve in the role of station defense?"

"You did say you would provide defensive platforms, yes?"

"Yes. Any ships you can provide would only serve to enhance the defense of the station. You must understand, that this will be an undertaking unlike any other. The combined powers of the Alpha quadrant, together with the Halsey and her support ships, will be taking the battle to the Borg, instead of letting the Borg come to us. I imagine the Borg will not like a large fleet of ships suddenly appearing in their space. I imagine, even after we take that first planetary system, that the Borg will do much to re-take that system."

"I see your point. Very well, I will see what is possible."

"Of course, Grand Nagus. Good day sir."

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Journey Day 186

It took the Admiralty at Starfleet nearly a week to agree to the proposed ground-based war games that had been put forth as an idea by Admiral Marius. The two 'teams' were rather different. One, the defending team, would be using energy based weapons. The aggressor team would be using projectile weapons with the MILES modifications. The defenders would be made to wear the MILES receiver units on their person which would reflect hits made by the aggressor team. It was an easy and effective compromise as the landing teams from the Halsey were already familiar with the MILES gear, but the defenders were not. The defenders, however, were intimately familiar with energy weapons and the stun settings therein, but the aggressors were not. The outcome of the dissimilar engagement would be that the Fleet Marines would become accustomed to the sound of projectile weapons as they were used on the battlefield, and the defenders would become acquainted with the effects of even a grazing shot from an energy weapon.

A mock-up town was built to simulate the type of environment that would be encountered on a Borg world. From what Marius could see, the Fleet Marines were overly confident in their ability to render the Halsey landing pod a mission kill before it even made landfall. But it would not be that easy to kill. The Halsey landing pod would employ a few tactics that the Fleet Marines had not ever seen.

When the time came to deploy the pod that would begin the exercise, Marius was with Admirals Janeway, Paris, and Nechayev aboard a Federation Danube-class shuttle. At precisely zero-five-hundred hours, the training exercise commenced. Marius was providing a narrative for the Starfleet admirals.

"For the purpose of this exercise, it was agreed by both parties that the Defenders would not commence their attack until the deployment pod had entered the atmosphere. So let us watch as the pod begins its deployment and atmospheric insertion."

The shuttle stood off at a distance of ten kilometers from the Halsey, but they were enjoying close up feeds from a number of cameras and sensors. When the order was given to commence separation, a number of explosive bolts were fired, beginning the process. As the shuttle looked on, mooring clamps were released with small puffs of vented atmosphere. The starboard pod seemed to drop straight down for a few hundred meters, but that was actually a combination of the pod applying a negative thrust and the Halsey applying a positive thrust to gain separation from one another.

The pod styled for a moment as it oriented itself with the planet below. A few seconds later, small thrusters moved it away from the Halsey. As soon as it had cleared the mother ship, larger engines at the rear of the pod engaged and the pod began a controlled descent into the atmosphere. The shuttle moved into the skies near the ground target to watch the controlled entry of the deployment pod. What Marius had not told the Admirals was that the pod commanders were under orders to engage the QSG shortly before atmospheric interface. With the pod shifted slightly out of phase and with minimal shielding, the defenders on the ground had no chance to hit the incoming vessel.

The deployment pods had the same type of gravity drives that were present on all of the small support ships and fighters in the Halsey's inventory, and thus the landing went smoothly. When the pod was five meters above the ground, pitons were fired from several points along the hull, and the pod was winched into landing. At two meters above the surface, leveling struts deployed and the pod auto-leveled upon landing. The QSG was still on and repeated shots by what Admiral Paris called photon artillery had no effect as they simply passed through their target, exploding harmlessly beyond the deployment pod.

As the pod's engines shut down, five things happened almost simultaneously. First, the QSG shut down, bringing the pod back into normal phase. Second, the shield generators became active, shielding the pod and the terrain all around the pod, out to a distance of three kilometers, and a height up to five kilometers. Third, ramps fell all along the hull and streams of men and vehicles began flowing out. Fourth, the top of the pod opened up like a clamshell, with overhangs forming where vehicles were taxied out and made ready to launch. The fifth and final stage of initial deployment was the launching of a SeaKing AEW helicopter and a pair of AV-8B Harrier jump jets to protect the helo.

The ground troops did not have shields of their own, but the vehicles in their ranks, the M113A3 APCs had mobile shield emitters on them, and thus they were able to project five hundred meter shield bubbles where the troops could advance without fear of incoming fire. At this point in the opening stages of the engagement, the defenders were growing frustrated as their long range artillery was having little effect on the aggressors.

The ground commander for the Aggressor team was a veteran of the US Army's National Training Center. He knew how best to place his limited armor to the best advantage. The twelve Stingray light tanks went forth, interspersed among the ground troops and the APCs. The eight Paladins moved out to positions behind the deployment pod, away from the views of the Defenders. With the capability of firing up to four rounds per minute at a maximum distance of thirty kilometers, these units would protect the advancing troops by laying down smoke rounds, followed by explosive rounds. For this training exercise, the explosive rounds would be replaced by sound generators that would 'explode' on impact and emit a very short range multi-directional MILES laser beam. The idea was that artillery could cut the numbers of Defenders down to a reasonable number.

As some ground units advanced faster than the shield equipped vehicles, they were disabled by incoming fire from the Defenders. Three tanks were disabled quickly when the lead tanks' shield generator failed, revealing all three tanks to enemy fire, and cutting the available light armor by a fourth. But while the enemy was concentrating on the incoming ground troops, they were oblivious to the goings on at the deployment pod. The Paladins had moved into position and were sending their second of five smoke rounds towards the enemy. The MLRS had moved into position and were elevating their launcher units to engage the enemy. Before Admiral Nechayev could ask a question about the MLRS, the units fired their salvos and a few seconds later the rockets came into range over the target area, deploying their submunitions. Each rocket in the salvo carried six hundred and forty-four submunitions. With twelve rockets per salvo and eight MLRSs in the group, the effect was a little under sixty-two thousand sub munitions landing in a three kilometer square. Each submunition had a noise generator and a very short range multi-directional laser emitter to simulate a hit from an anti-personnel weapon of this caliber.

The result of the first salvo was a decimation of the Defenders. In less than a minute, their strength had been cut in half. The Starfleet ground commander surrendered after the fourth missile salvo had left him with a fighting force of less than a hundred. The Aggressor teams had lost a total of three tanks and twenty-three soldiers when their APC had suffered a shield generator failure. But otherwise the Aggressor team was largely intact at a field strength of just over 3,300. The Defender team had gone from an initial five thousand Fleet Marines, to just under a hundred. All of this had occurred in under ten minutes.

"Warfare is all about deception, Admirals. Your troops on the ground saw what we wanted them to see. Things that are, by your standards of technology, exceedingly primitive. They saw men with rifles, vehicles with projectile type cannons, and vehicles with rockets. They didn't anticipate that those very same vehicles could fire rounds that would be of benefit to both sides."

The three Admirals from Starfleet were still staring, dumbfounded at the scene below them. It was true that the Federation side had an advantage when it came to technology, but the Admirals had made the same mistake the commanders on the ground had made. They had underestimated the effectiveness of a primitive combat force. Chancellor Martok saw something else. He saw men that he could fight alongside without fear of their running away. These infantry troops, he thought, would make good Klingons.

"The initial rounds fired by the Paladins were smoke generators. Those work to screen from visual sight one side from another. The smoke is a visual tactic that has little if any effect on sensor technology. But while the smoke blew over your lines, the final rounds came in from the Paladins, exploding in their midst, and setting off the first of many of the MILES receiver units. Next, came the units with the Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, or MLRS. Those units are the ground commander's personal shotgun as they are an area ordinance. Each rocket launched from one of those units carries 644 sub-munitions, designed to either explode on contact with the ground, or remain dormant until stepped on, or to hit the ground and bounce back up into the air before exploding so as to maximize the area of effect. When you consider that each salvo from an MLRS consists of twelve rockets, and that there were eight launchers on that pod, well, your ground commander was faced with the sudden appearance of close to sixty-two thousand bomblets over his troops. There was no where for them to hide. But that was only a small part of our deception.

"You saw the deployment pod as it came down and landed. You saw how your artillery had no effect on it. Why you ask? Because the pod commander was under orders to complete the landing with the QSG engaged. That is, the pod was shifted out of phase and therefore your photon artillery, in normal phase, could not hit what wasn't there to hit. After landing, the first items to be deployed were pod based shield generators which protect an area around the pod in a radius of three kilometers and up to five kilometers in height. After that, the ground troops moved out with tanks and armored personal carriers, both of which had mobile shield generators set at five hundred meter radii. In short, Admirals, your people expected us to be primitive, which we are, but they failed to remember that even something as primitive as a rock and sling can kill in the hands of a skilled hunter. In many ways, you remind me of the Goa'uld. You are just as arrogant as they are, and just as stunned when we primitives win.

"But, I fully realize that you are not the Goa'uld, and that you face an enemy that makes the Goa'uld appear as children bullying others on the playground. And if we are to persevere in the battle ahead, then we must work together as a team."

"On that note, we fully agree with you, Admiral Marius."

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In the days after the war game had been completed, the defensive and offensive units assigned to the Halsey had taken a much needed shore leave. But while ground units and pilots shuttled back and forth between Earth and the Halsey, the Forge deck was busily churning out hull sections. Already two new corvettes had been completed and were moving about in the Sol system being put through their paces by their new crews. True to his description to Admiral Janeway, each corvette carried a crew of sixty in what was a highly automated ship with several layers of redundant systems for the fire controls and targeting sensors. All that meant was that the little corvettes could take a large amount of damage and still be effective in battle.

In one of the lesser used shuttle bays aboard the Halsey, the engineers were busily assembling a launching system for the new gun platforms. These were small units, no more that two meters long and wide and perhaps three meters thick.

Marius had gone over the extensive information made available to him from the Intelligence Directorate of Starfleet and had discovered something it seemed the Feds had overlooked. Yes, they and the other major powers of the Alpha quadrant did already have small one or three man fighter craft, which they were busily updating for the coming exhibition to the Halsey, but they didn't have any dedicated carrier vessels. Their fighter squadrons were based on stations or on planets and that would be a major disadvantage in the coming fight, as the fighters would have neither a Starbase nor a planet to launch from. The Federation Peregrine class fighters measured in at just under thirty meters. He doubted that those fighters could easily fit into any of the shuttle bays found on Starfleet vessels.

The early data on the Klingon entry was something altogether different. The Klingons were calling it a Targ class fighter, but Starfleet Intelligence was calling it a scaled down version of the B'Rel class scout ship. It was sixty meters long and sported a crew of fifteen. It was twice as wide as it was long and one and a half times high as its length. Marius wondered, not for the first time, if the powers in the Alpha quadrant could do anything small. The Romulans were bringing something referred to as a scout class ship by Starfleet Intelligence, that sported six disruptor cannons and two torpedo launchers, and, more importantly, could make planetary landings and carried fifteen to twenty ground troops. The Cardassians were sending something called a Hideki class patrol ship, which was, by far, the largest entry into to fighter array yet. It fielded four disruptors, one of something called a wave cannon and a single torpedo launcher. It also had a crew of thirty.

But then when compared to the fighter designs the Halsey had picked up from Babylon 5, or the designs they already had with them, all of the designs fielded by the major races of the Alpha quadrant were huge! Even the prototype X-302 had been smaller than these ships these races were fielding. The largest fighter type ship in the Halsey's inventory was the modified Al'kesh bombers they used, but even those were only two or three times bigger than the 302 fighters. At only fifteen meters, the F-302 class was comparable in size to a Thunderbolt Starfury, for which they had designs.

Marius thought on the matter for a few moments before pulling up the schematics for the Thunderbolt. With some minor modifications, he could present that fighter as a viable alternative to what these people were trying to develop. On first glance the Thunderbolt looked like a fighter, and it was a formidable one at that. It had a plasma pulse cannon that could deliver a punishing blow to any fighter and it had hardpoints for ten fusion missiles.

But the armor was weak, and the engines even weaker, and it had no shielding or inertial dampener systems which meant it stood little chance against shielded fighters, and the pilot and gunner were at the mercy of higher gravity. So the first thing Marius changed was the power plant, replacing the fusion drive unit with the standard graviton system used on all ships in the AIS fleet. Second, the fusion batteries came out and were replaced with much smaller naquadah generators which improved the acceleration from one kilometer per second to five kilometers per second, and gave a faster recharge rate for the particle cannon that rode under the nose. So instead of taking fifteen seconds to recharge the cannon, it only took five seconds. Additionally, because the fusion batteries had been replaced with the smaller generators, there was now room for storage capacitors which could store power for additional shots with the larger nose cannon and so in effect, the recharge rate was cut to two seconds between shots.

The armor was changed next, replacing the standard titanium alloy with a trinium skeletal structure layered with the crystalline energy refractive hull armor now in use by the Halsey and her support fleet. Add to the mixture, the Ramos force shields and inertial dampeners, the fighter could now withstand a lot more abuse and perform maneuvers that would leave a normal Thunderbolt pilot plastered to the canopy like a squashed bug on a windshield. The hard points he changed very little, modifying them to accept the standard rails used for the Venom air-to-air missiles in their current inventory. With the design completed, he sent it down to the Forge deck and requested one be built as a test bed for further technologies. The Forge deck chief reported back that such a simple task could be done in twenty-four hours.

Then he looked through the Federation historical archives to see if anything could be built or modified quickly to serve as a carrier for the Thunderbolts. After several unsuccessful search parameters, he hit upon something the Federation, or rather Starfleet, used in their very early days of exploration. A J-class freighter. If docking points were substituted for the cargo boxes, and if they were to add six additional cargo points, update the engines, and add more defensive weaponry, they could easily build a ship that could carry one full wing of eighteen fighters into battle. The existing design, if the cargo pods were replaced with docking ports, could field fifteen fighters. Adding three more docking ports brought that to eighteen. Adding three more cargo pods, either at the fore end or the aft end, would give them space to store additional missiles, and a small crew to run the Maint-Bots that would service the fighters. It would be something to ask the Federation, when next he spoke with them. For the moment, however, he sent the file with his notes and ideas to Major Carter.

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Journey Day 195

A day later the new fighter was complete and Marius was waiting on the hangar deck for Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c.

"Ah, Colonel, Teal'c. Good to see you. I trust all is proceeding apace with the training of the replacement pilots?"

"Yep. Last class is scheduled for dissimilar ACM today. After that, they'll be assigned to operational squadrons and we should finally be up to full strength again."

"Excellent! Well, the reason I asked you to join me was to present you with a little gift. This is a prototype fighter that combines tried and true technology of ours with tried and true tech from the folks at Babylon 5. She's got more powerful engines, stronger generators for weapons, an eighty-five megawatt plasma pulse cannon in the nose, a particle beam under the nose with an equivalent power at point of impact of just shy of 750 kilotons. She has shields like all of our other ships, and ten hardpoints for naquadah enhanced fusion missiles. She can also be armed with Hydra Rocket pods or Hellfire missiles for surface attacks. There's room for a pilot and a gunner. Thought you two might like to take her for a ride."

"Sweet!"

"I thought as much. Go on. Get out there and put her through her paces!"

"Yeah sure youbetcha!"

Marius watched from the observation deck as the Thunderbolt took the active catapult and was rocketed into space. The new fighter seemed to perform well enough, and at the very least, Colonel O'Neill seemed to be having a lot of fun. He couldn't remember when the last time he had as much fun as just being able to go out for a quick spin in a fighter. The last time he could recall doing that was during the Second World War, when he'd been assigned to a fighter squadron in the Pacific. But even then, the flights were far from normal and safe. Too many mortal friends lost at the hands of the enemy. Marius shook off the flashback and wandered back to the Bridge.

"Admiral's on deck!"

"As you were. Duty Officer, make your report."

"Sir. Forge deck reports completion of all replacement fighters and bombers. Repairs to all escort ships now completed. Six corvettes are now available for interdiction duty. Four dozen gun platforms are now available for rapid deployment. Engineering decks report all routine maintenance completed and full power available to all systems. Pod commanders report all personnel and equipment accounted for and locked down for next deployment. Navigation reports sensor pinging completed."

"Sensor pinging? What sensor pinging?"

"Sorry sir, Commander Pierson ordered it."

"Ordered what?"

"He ordered a sensor ping be sent out on all known frequencies of the Ancients. The pings revealed an extensive network of sub-space beacons marking entrance/exit positions for ShipGates."

"How extensive?"

"After uploading Federation star maps into our navigational computers, we have identified one beacon in each planetary system known to almost all of the member races of the Federation. Additionally, there are thousands of gates in the quadrants referred to as Gamma and Delta by the Federation."

"Anything else?"

"Yes sir. Using the frequencies provided to us by the Ancient Tok'Ra, we have been able to download the most recent sensor logs of the Gate network. Intelligence is going over those logs now and they expect to have a preliminary report available by eighteen hundred, sir."

"Very well, continue your report."

"Aye sir. Sensors report all clear. All defensive weapons systems fully operational and on stand-by mode. All offensive weapons are at ready alert status. There are two squadrons of Cobra interceptors on CAP, two more on ready alert, and two more on Alert-five."

"Conn, Sensors."

"Go ahead."

"Long range sub-space sensors are picking up a large fleet of ships headed this way. Silhouette matches those of Dominion ships, according to the Federation database."

"Comms, get me Admiral Janeway."

"Aye sir."

"Admiral Ramos? Is there a problem?"

"Maybe. Our long range sensors are picking up a large fleet headed this way. Using the ship recognition database you provided us with, we've identified the ships as Dominion battlecruisers, battleships, and strike fighters. We're estimating approximately twenty-three battleships, forty-one battlecruisers, and several thousand strike fighters."

"We're supposed to have a truce with them. They shouldn't be this far into our space. Admiral, any assistance you could lend us would be appreciated. We're still making repairs to a large part of our fleet after our last encounter with the Borg."

"Will do, Admiral. Halsey out."

"Duty officer!"

"Duty officer, aye sir!"

"Sound general quarters."

"Aye sir!"

"General quarters! General quarters! All hands man your battle stations!"

Around the ship, several things were happening at once. The fighters on CAP remained where they were, waiting for reinforcements before moving to intercept the incoming fleet. The ready alert and alert five aircraft launched, followed shortly by ninety percent of the fighter and bomber squadrons aboard the Halsey, her eight escorts, and the Normandy. The six corvettes that were undergoing trials moved up to take flanking positions around the Halsey, bringing their guns to bear on the incoming fleet. Scylla and Charybdis stayed back to protect the Nightingale. And from one hangar bay, twenty-four gun platforms, half of their current inventory, were released and positioned in a spherical formation around the Halsey, that being the best formation to effectively cover the Halsey with overlapping fields of fire.

Aboard one of the incoming battleships, two figures looked on at the long range sensor data. Both were of the race known as the Founders. One was in female form, the other in male form. It was evident that the unknown ship had detected them first. They had detected the sweeps of the long range sensor beams and they had determined that the beams were of a type not in use by the Federation. Their initial scans of the large vessel in Earth orbit indicated it was approximately forty-eight hundred meters long, or three times the length of their own battleship. But beyond the scans returned regarding overall size of the vessel, the other scans were meeting some sort of scattering field. Whatever technology this new race as represented by the large ship in Earth orbit possessed, it was so unlike Federation technology. In many ways, however, the ship and the smaller vessels that supported it seemed almost primitive. It was a strange juxtaposition of information coming in via the scans.

"Weyoun, transmit the message."

"As you wish, Founder."

----------------------------------------

"Bridge, comms. Receiving a message in the clear from the incoming fleet."

"Put it on the overhead."

"...For the Federation. We come to you in the spirit of peace. We wish no strife with you. We have heard of the recent attacks by the Borg and of your plans to take the battle to them. As the Borg have also been attacking our outlying colonies, we have sent this fleet here to Earth, to assist you in your efforts. We hope that this gesture will be received in the spirit in which it is made. This message is for..."

"Weps."

"Weapons aye, sir!"

"Weapons tight. Order all squadrons to remain at their present locations. Weapons tight. Comms, anything from the Federation?"

"Wait one, sir. Message coming in, sir. They are asking us to stand down for the moment."

"Acknowledge receipt. Weps, stand down from general quarters, but keep us ready to fight if need be."

"Aye sir."

In space, at the front of his attack squadrons, was Colonel O'Neill in his Thunderbolt fighter. There had been no time to return to the ship to exchange this prototype fighter for his regular bird. But he liked this one a little more than his regular F-302 assignment. The response time seemed faster and the fighter seemed more nimble, but then again this fighter had been created by Humans, unlike the Goa'uld created Udajeet which the 302s were based on. The fact that the Thunderbolt had bigger, more powerful guns and a lot more hardpoints didn't factor into the equation, or so O'Neill kept telling Teal'c. When the order came to stand down, Jack was both disappointed and happy. He'd seen enough war to know that the ships facing them would kill a lot of his newly trained pilots. But he regretted not being able to take the Thunderbolt into combat. The next order from fleet command took him by surprise. A flyby of the incoming fleet. Fleet Intelligence, an oxymoron if ever he had heard one, wanted detailed scans of the Dominion fleet.

With Teal'c manning the sensor array, Jack brought the fighter around and made a short hyperspace jump to close with the alien fleet. The small strike fighters of the Dominion fleet did not move to intercept him and before he could really appreciate the beauty of the Dominion battleship, they'd made the jump back to the Halsey.

"Weyoun, do you have any information as to how that ship was able to close the distance so quickly? That did not look like a standard warp engine signature."

"No Founder, we do not as yet have the detailed analysis of the sensor logs. But this much we have learned from the quick examination of the sensor data. The hull of that small ship, we are surmising it to be a fighter, is bio-metallic in nature."

"A combination of biological and in-animate. How utterly unusual."

"Founder, we are receiving a message from the Federation. They are inviting us to join them in a conference aboard a vessel called the AIS Halsey."

"Send an acknowledgement and inform the Federation that we stand ready to join them."

"Of course. We live to serve the Founders."

This particular incarnation of Weyoun was the tenth one. The ninth had been lost when the cloning facilities in the Alpha quadrant had been destroyed by the Cardassians. Number Nine was in the process of animation when the cloning facilities were hit and destroyed. Number Ten, was brought on-line shortly thereafter, however Weyoun 10, was located in the Gamma quadrant, not the Alpha. But that was the end of the war with the Federation. And so Weyoun was relegated to the more normal roles the first clones in his line had previously occupied.

But now they were in the Alpha quadrant, in Federation space, in the very sector where Starfleet itself was headquartered. The array of ships facing them was unlike any he had seen. Sure there were perhaps three hundred Starfleet vessels in the system, but those were dwarfed by the very large ship in orbit over the third planet. The Borg were just starting to make forays into Dominion space, deep within the Gamma quadrant. From what they had learned from the interrogation of a single Borg drone, Borg space encompassed nearly half of the territory within the Delta and Beta quadrants. The Dominion had already determined that even with every ship in the fleet attacking the Borg, the losses would be overwhelming, and the Borg would keep coming. So when the details of this pending invasion of Borg space were made known to them, it was decided that the ageless multi-universal adage regarding the enemy of their enemy was true.

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AIS Halsey

Main Conference Room

The room had been rearranged for this meeting. There were perhaps two hundred or so races represented in the room. The majority were members of the Federation, but not all. The tables were circular and were arrayed in a step pattern. The representatives of the six major powers now present in the sector, sat at the lowermost table. The next four tables up from there had the member races of the Federation. The last two ranks of tables were taken up by various functionaries and translators, diplomatic aides and security personnel. The Ferengi representative was at the second table, not a member of the Federation, but not a major power either.

"Greetings to one and all. I am Marius, Admiral and Commander of the First strike fleet of the Alliance of Independent Systems. My flagship is the AIS Halsey. I have met some of you, but the majority of you I have not yet had the pleasure.

"The purpose of this meeting is to determine two things. First, to insure that we are in agreement over the proposed course of action. The action in question is whether or not to send a strike fleet into Borg space for a series of pre-emptive strikes. If we can drive the Borg out of the Beta quadrant, if we can turn them from offensive action to defensive action, if we can seize the primary colony worlds in the Beta quadrant, then we will be able to negotiate with them from a position of strength. Second, and this comes into play only if we decide the first condition in the affirmative, then we must decide how large a fleet to send. The first question I can not answer for you. That is something you must decide amongst yourselves. For this reason, I will leave the room to allow your discussions to proceed unimpeded by my presence. I will be in the practice room across the hallway. Please do let me know what you have decided."

And with that, Marius left the room. The sheer number of people present in the conference room promised that debate would be long. First he meditated. Then he drew his sword and began a series of katas designed to clear his mind.

Back in the conference room, Admiral Sela of the Romulan Star Empire was speaking.

"This war is as much our war as any of yours. These Borg have taken numerous Romulans in their incursions into this part of the Galaxy. At this time, the Romulan Senate has empowered me to vote in the affirmative."

"In all my years as a Klingon, I never thought I would agree with a Romulan, but I find that I am in full agreement with Admiral Sela. The Borg have taken hundreds of Klingon warriors and condemned them to a fate worse than death; assimilation, a living death. We must make our stand here and now or there will be no one to face the hordes when they do come in force. The Klingon Empire stands with their ancient enemies, the Romulans, against this threat."

"I never thought I would see the day, when a Klingon like Chancellor Martok, would agree to work with a Romulan, with any Romulan. But these are strange times. Though our fleet is not what it once was, I have been authorized by my government to make the following statement. Either we stand together or we die separately. The Borg threat must be met as a united front. The Cardassian Union stands with the Romulans and the Klingons."

"You know who we are. The Founders. The leaders of the Dominion. Though we have not had the pleasure as yet to encounter the Borg in large numbers, that does not mean we have not encountered them at all. A few of their ships have breached our outer systems and they have laid waste to nearly a dozen colony worlds. Just a few years ago we were at war with the major powers of this quadrant. Now I am afraid. Afraid that we must stand with you or perish silently in the face of the Borg threat. The Dominion has sent this fleet here to this place to set it at your disposal. We will stand with you."

"The Federation has had numerous encounters with the Borg, and we have lost several hundred ships to their invasion forces. But no more. The Federation Council met yesterday to discuss this very issue and the outcome was unanimous. We will begin to mobilize several large fleets to take the battle to the Borg. We must either defeat them outright, or cripple them so that they will not be able to bother us for some time. The fleet shipyards at Utopia Planitia have received their orders. They are already hard at work building more ships for the fleet. We must stand together in unity to defeat this enemy."

"If I may be allowed to speak?"

"Please Grand Nagus, you have the floor."

"Thank you Admiral Nechayev. As many of you are aware, the Ferengi Alliance does not possess the power to meet the Borg and defeat them. Our ships are built for commerce, not for war. But we will support you fully in this most bold of endeavors. I have sent word to Ferenginar and a fleet of D'Kora-class Marauders have departed Ferengi space. They are escorting a smaller fleet of construction vessels which when you have secured a foothold in Borg space, will be put to use constructing a station and a basic set of shipyard facilities for repair and rearmament of your ships. The Marauders are flying empty, and will take any supplies the races assembled here today deem necessary. This is our contribution to the effort. The Marauders will stay with the station and will serve as its defense. Admiral Marius has promised us additional support for assistance in defending the station."

It was a few more minutes before the discussions died down and someone was sent to the next room to fetch Marius. That someone happened to be Chancellor Martok. He came into the room but before he could speak, he saw something he did not expect. In all his years as a Klingon, Martok had seen various styles of fighting exhibited by Humans, some even with swords woven into the fighting, but never had he seen a Human wield a sword so expertly. Martok was hard pressed to tell where the sword ended and Marius began. Or vice versa. He watched mesmerized for a few moments before recalling why he was in the room.

"Admiral, we have reached a decision. We will fight."

"A wise choice, Chancellor Martok. The Borg must be put down."

"Few Humans have ever spoken or acted like you. Explain this."

"As you very well know, the Halsey and all who serve on her are not from this place, not from this universe. The Halsey started out with crew from three primary sources; Colonial, Immortal, and Tau'ri. In our universe, the various races among the stars know my kind as the Tau'ri. The Ancients called us by this name. They created and left Guardians for us. We call these guardians, Immortals. I am of the Immortal race. We are rather long lived. I am not old by my race's standards, though I am old by yours at a mere twenty-six hundred years."

"Twenty-six hundred! To have seen so much and fought so many glorious battles! It seems that perhaps you Immortals may have something in common with we Klingons. Come! Let us return to the conference room to plan out the most glorious of campaigns!"

"Admirals, distinguished guests. I am told you have decided in the affirmative on the first condition."

"That is correct."

"Very well. Now we must decide how large a fleet to send."

"Admiral to Bridge."

"Duty officer, aye sir."

"Please route real-time sensor data from the probe in Borg space to the conference room."

"Aye sir!"

The lights dimmed and a large holographic display became active. It surrounded the tables and everyone had a very clear picture of what they were to face in the coming weeks and months.

"This is live, real-time imagery from our probe in Borg Space, in the system known as J25 to the Federation. There are seven planetary bodies in that system, but only four have any sort of habitation evident. Three are M-class and the last is L-class. There are two J-class worlds which the Borg are mining gases from. The last one is the nearest to the system's star. It has been designated a Y-class, per Federation standards. The last planetary body is our initial target. Detailed mineralogical scans from the probe have revealed the presence of deep bands of numerous metals that we will need for the construction of additional ships and armaments. Though we do not use dilithium, the planet does have a significant deposit of this mineral. The minerals of importance to us are naquadah and trinium of which this planet also has significant deposits.

"From evidence gathered by the probe, it is apparent that the Borg have not detected its presence in the system. This could be for one of two reasons. First, the probe is located in hyperspace. Second, the probe is phase shifted out of normal space. Either way, the fleet will make the jump to a system sixty light years from J25. At that point, we will open a number of hyperspace portals such that the fleet can enter hyperspace. We will proceed through hyperspace to the target system and will emerge into normal space in the middle of the system. At that point, the Ferengi contingent will proceed to the Y-class planet to begin setting up the necessary facilities for the fleet, while the fleet itself will proceed into the system and attack the Borg.

"At that point our goal will be to destroy as much of the defensive systems as possible and to seize control of the four planets in question. The Borg will face an interesting surprise. They have at their disposal certain technologies stolen from the Ancients. Their transwarp corridors are one of these technologies, though the Ancients called that particular technology, the Gate network. The Borg have not modified this technology. That is not their way. They assimilate, but they do not innovate And we will use this against them.

"Because we too use the technology of the Ancients, we have the ability to shut down their transwarp corridors. Thus, while they may be able to bring in reinforcements from nearby systems, they will not have access to their transwarp network. We, on the other hand, will have access to this network, and that will enable us to leapfrog some systems and advance deep into Borg held territory. But let us not talk too much on our tactics as yet. We must discuss the relative strength and weaknesses of our various ships and how best to employ them.

"Now, for our part and in relation to our capital class ships, we have the strike carrier Halsey, eight Prometheus-class battlecruiser escorts, two WhiteStar frigates, one Nova-class dreadnought, two Omega-class destroyers, one Cotton-class fleet supply and repair vessel, and one Vorchan-class attack cruiser. There are sixty-eight hundred ground troopers aboard the Halsey, broken up into two units; a Marine Expeditionary unit, and an Armored Cavalry regiment. Both units have long and medium range artillery support and aircraft for close support of ground personnel. Each of the escorts has an additional sixty man unit for quick strikes. The battlecruisers have eighteen each of the F-302 Mustang attack fighters or Cobra-class interceptors, along with two Bulldog-class troop transports. In terms of long range weapons, each battlecruiser has a pair of launchers for the Harpoon class missile, twelve launchers for the smaller Penguin class anti-ship missile, a pair of heavy rail guns, and a pair of heavy plasma cannons. In terms of defensive weapons, each battlecruiser has twelve anti-fighter plasma cannon turrets, twenty-four anti-fighter rail gun turrets, six electro pulse turrets, and eight anti-matter packet ejectors.

"We have recently added to our inventory, a corvette that fields four large cannons, and a total of thirty torpedo launchers for the Harpoon and Shipwreck missiles. Additionally, we have begun to deploy anti-fighter gun platforms that field both a turret and a torpedo launcher. The AIS fleet now has ten of our Olympus-class corvettes and forty-eight platforms available as of this morning. In a week's time, we can double those numbers. We are also beginning production on anti-matter mines which our two WhiteStar frigates and our Olympus-class corvettes will be able to deploy.

"Fighters. The Halsey has several hundred fighters at its disposal, including the F-302 Mustangs and Cobra class, along with Al'kesh bombers and Bulldog troop transports. We have just recently built a new prototype fighter which is being tested as I speak. The armament on the Halsey includes Harpoon and Shipwreck class torpedoes, fusion, neutron, plasma, and particle beam cannons, and several hundred anti-fighter batteries of the types mentioned previously. The Halsey also has two grand cannons and two slicer cannons. These are fairly recent additions to our weapons suite and are quite powerful in their own right. Are there any questions so far? If not, I will turn this over to Admiral Nechayev."

"Thank you Marius. The Federation, as I'm sure you are all aware of, fields several dozen different classes of ships, ranging from purely exploration and science, to ships dedicated to warfare. While none of the following ship classes are set in stone, the suggestion is to field the following classes: Akira, Defiant, Galaxy, Intrepid, Nebula, Saber, and Steamrunner, with Sovereign-class dreadnoughts as command and control vessels for our fleet. We will also be including a pair of Olympic-class medical ships, and eight Curry-class long range transports that will be modified to act as motherships to the large Peregrine fighter contingent we are sending. The smallest caliber of phaser is the type VI as equipped on the Peregrines and the various shuttles of the fleet. The heaviest caliber are the type XII as found on the vast majority of the fleet. All ships, including the Peregrines, will field photon torpedoes. The large capital vessels, will also field quantum torpedoes. The Sovereigns and the Steamrunners will have in addition to the two torpedo types already mentioned, transphasic and tri-cobalt torpedoes.

"The Akira-class heavy cruiser will carry five hundred ground assault troops. The Galaxy-class heavy cruiser can carry up to twenty-five hundred ground assault personnel. The Nebula-class strike cruisers will be home to another fifteen hundred infantry. The Steamrunner-class light cruisers will be the long range attack option for the fleet. For this mission, the scientific and diplomatic modules will be removed adding storage space for more torpedoes.

"Starfleet is also in the process of modifying several construction ships by adding heavier shields so that they may work in adverse conditions, and is also adding several repair vessels, that will be able to perform limited underway repairs to badly damaged ships. Four more Istanbul-class transports are also undergoing shield modification and transporter enhancement. These transports will carry the ground vehicles for the infantry personnel. This is what Starfleet will be bringing to the table, as it were. That is all we have at the moment. Admiral Sela? Care to proceed?"

"Thank you Admiral Nechayev. The vessel that will be made available to this endeavor is the D'Deridex class battleship. This the frontline ship type of the Romulan Star Empire. Each one carries seven hundred and fifty ground assault troops and a small compliment of ground assault vehicles. We do not have any small vessels of the type described by Admiral Marius as fighters, but we are interested in viewing the prototype fighter that he spoke of. If they are not too difficult to adapt to our personnel, then we would be able to field perhaps a thousand fighter pilots for this cause."

"Admiral Sela, the prototype fighter is a Thunderbolt class heavy fighter, with a two man crew; a pilot and a gunner."

"Then we will be able to provide you with one thousand crews for this fighter, provided it is adequate to the task."

"I'll be more than happy to show you the fighter after this meeting is done for the day."

"Very well. Chancellor Martok? I believe you are next sir."

"The Klingon Empire will be sending three basic ship types to this sector to add to the already growing fleet. The B'Rel-class cruiser, the Vor'Cha-class attack cruiser, and the Negh'Var-class battleship. The Vor'Cha and the Negh'Var both have assault troops aboard. Two thousand for the Negh'Var and five hundred for the Vor'Cha. Our Imperial shipyards are in the process of modifying several old D-7 and D-5 class cruisers to serve as troop and equipment transports. We also do not field any fighters, but I am interested in viewing this prototype fighter you spoke of Marius. If it proves compatible with Klingon physiology, then we will add two thousand complete crews to the effort."

"On behalf of the Cardassian Union, I have been authorized to offer three ship classes for the coming battles. The Galor-class destroyer with room for three hundred ground assault troops, and the Keldon-class heavy cruiser with five hundred infantry. We will also include a small number of Hideki-class patrol ships for long range scouting missions or system patrols. The Hideki-class is not considered a capital ship, but it can be an effective anti-fighter platform. The Cardassian Union does not field any fighter type ships, and we unfortunately have only a limited number of trained crews we can add to the equation."

"The Dominion is pleased to offer twenty-one battlecruisers, forty-three battleships and four thousand attack fighters. In the coming weeks, if you so desire, we can bring in additional fleets or battlecruisers and battleships, but our remaining numbers of attack fighters are needed to patrol Dominion space and to protect against Borg incursions."

"Do the individual governments of the Federation member worlds wish to contribute any vessels or personnel?"

"The Bajoran government will contribute twelve assault ships, each with three hundred ground assault troops."

"The Talosian governing council will add ten warships to the armada, to serve as station defense for the Ferengi station. We are unable to contribute more than this."

"The Angosian government regrets that we can not contribute any warships, however, we are fully prepared to call-up one hundred thousand ground troops for this cause."

"Andoria will provide ground assault troops for the cause. We regret that we can not do more."

"Nausica will provide ground troops for the coming battle."

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"Admiral Nechayev, the Alliance has one request to make of the Federation at this time."

"Please, continue."

"After an exhaustive search of your historical archives, my design teams and myself have come to the conclusion that with very minor modifications we can convert some of your old J-class freighters into carrier vessels for the Thunderbolt fighters. If we could have the design specs for this older class of vessel, I can get our own mobile shipyard busy cranking them out."

"As the vessel in question is well over one hundred years old, and as the technology required to make it is something we have long since stopped using, I don't foresee any problems with your usage of this particular design. But I'm familiar with this ship. Just how many fighters do you think you could mount on her?"

"Replacing the cargo pods with docking ports, we could mount fifteen externally. Adding three more docking ports brings that number to a full wing of eighteen. Adding an extra deck maybe, or three cargo pods, can give us the crew spaces and storage spaces we need to replenish those fighters during battle. Adding point defense weapons, and making sure the carriers stay well behind the front areas, and giving them corvettes for escort duty would help alleviate the fact that these ships make inviting targets."

"Eighteen fighters does not sound like much in the scheme of things."

"True. But eighteen fighters times say ten ships, adds a nice force multiplier to our efforts. Living conditions aboard would be very Spartan though."

"I will pass along your request to the Admiralty, but at this point I do not see any reason not to give you this design."

"Thank you."

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The numerous other members of the Federation all pledged additional ships or personnel, some both, some only material support. The result was a fleet that numbered well over ten thousand ships. No one in the room could even begin to comprehend the logistical nightmare that was involved with such a large number. The first logical decision that was made in the aftermath of pledges of assistance was the division of ships into smaller fleets. Each fleet was composed of four task forces of two hundred and fifty ships each. This number did not include fighters or shuttles, though there would be numerous fighter squadrons assigned to each task force.

The initial plan called for the strike fleet centered around the Halsey and the Enterprise to lead the attack wave. The Halsey-Enterprise fleet would claim system J25. When that was done, the remaining nine fleets would jump in and begin claiming the systems around J25 to create a buffer zone against Borg reprisals. It was also decided to give each Borg system one opportunity to surrender. Tactically or strategically placed systems would be conquered. Systems that had nothing to offer would be bombarded from orbit. It was a cold decision, but a necessary one. Once the Halsey and her crews could be certain that the Borg would not use any of the stolen technologies, they would be free to leave this place and continue their journey. But that was a point in time far removed from the present.

The Romulans and the Klingons and many of the minor powers in the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma quadrants had very much liked the little prototype fighter. But each wanted to make certain changes to the little ship. The Romulans had exchanged the pulse plasma cannon for a pulse disrupter cannon and the naquadah enhanced fusion missiles for a pair of micro plasma torpedo launchers. The Klingons also changed out the pulse plasma cannon in favor of the pulse disrupter cannon, but left the naquadah enhanced fusion missile launchers alone. With minor changes made to the layout of the control systems, both fighter prototypes were subsequently accepted by both governments and production began in earnest at their own respective shipyards. Because the fighter was so small, the shipyards were able to turn them out in large enough quantities to allow the new fighter squadrons to train in them almost immediately.

The Klingon Empire opted to convert a few existing military freighters to perform the same duty as the new Jeep-class escort carriers that the Alliance was building. The Klingon design would field three squadrons of eighteen fighters each. The Romulans, however, decided to design a new carrier class vessel specifically for the new fighters. They named the new class, Praetor.

Soon enough, the first three new fleets had been assembled and were ready to make the initial jump via ShipGate to a system sixty light years from J25. It was a system unclaimed by any of the major powers. It had no habitable planets and was of no strategic importance other than serving as a jumping off point for the insertion into hyperspace. It had been decided to take all three existing fleets into hyperspace, though only one would make the transition into the target system. The remaining two fleets would wait in hyperspace on the chance they would be needed. The two Olympic-class medical ships would wait with them.

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Borg Space

Journey Day 286

There was a massive fleet in hyperspace. Three massive fleets actually. Each one composed of one thousand capital ships. Each fleet was in turn made up of four task forces, each one with an equal number of ships. Task force One-Alpha was centered around the AIS Halsey. Marius retained command of the Halsey and her support ships, but command of the task force had been given to Captain William Riker. Riker's flagship would be the newly commissioned Acheron, a Sovereign-class vessel. Command of the First fleet had gone to Admiral Kathryn Janeway. The loose alliance of powers of the races aligned against the Borg had held a lottery, of all things, to decide who would command what task forces and who would command which fleets. Riker had drawn the number One-A from a glass bowl, and so he assumed command of One-Alpha. Janeway had drawn the number One from a similar glass bowl and she had assumed the duties of Fleet Commander. Captain Jean-Luc Picard had drawn the number Three-Charlie, and would assume the command of task force Three-Charlie, in the Third Fleet. Chancellor Martok and Admiral Sela had drawn the numbers three and two, respectively.

By everything their sensors told them, the Borg were blissfully unaware of the fleet lurking in the reddish-blackish maelstrom of hyperspace. Perhaps it was something that the Borg had never encountered before or had never assimilated from another race before. In any case, it was a decided tactical and strategic advantage to the fleet that possessed that particular technology. Seated in a chair behind and to the left of Marius was the Borg Queen. She was surrounded by a six-layer multi-frequency force field, which kept not just her person, but all transmissions emanating from her safely within the field bubble. In any case beyond the force field, there were jamming and dampening fields outside that initial field bubble. She would watch as her 'subjects' died. She would watch the end of the Borg.

"Comms, give me a fleet wide channel please."

"Line open, Admiral."

"Ships of the fleet. Here's a final bit of advice before we open the doorway. There is a legend among my people of a great soldier from an earlier war. He was known as Private Murphy. He was famous for the bits of advice he gave to other soldiers. The most critical thing to remember in the battle ahead is this: No plan of action will ever survive contact with the enemy, and all warfare is based on deception. But the most important thing I can tell you about Murphy is that he was an optimist.

"In order to gain a bit of tactical advantage over our enemy, I recommend we launch all fighters now, and have them fly with us as we exit hyperspace. Instead of seeing a mere two hundred and fifty ships, the Borg will see a thousand or more ships entering their space. Remember our goals. If we can capture the shipyards intact, do so, but not at the expense of your lives. Capital ships; concentrate fire on the larger vessels of the Borg fleet. Fighters; go after the smaller ships and defense platforms. Don't concentrate on eliminating the enemy ships, but if you can remove some of their weapon emplacements, that will make it easier on our capital ships.

"One final note. Today we begin a campaign that will demonstrate to one and all, that the descendants of the Progenitors can overcome their differences, that we can work together towards a common goal. The Borg will rue the day they decided to try and assimilate us. Thank you, and God speed."

"Duty Officer."

"Aye sir?"

"Sound general quarters."

"Aye sir!"

"General quarters, general quarters! All hands man you battle stations!"

"Sensors, as soon as we clear the jump point, I want constant active sweeps of the sector."

"Aye sir!"

"Navigation. Shut down the ShipGate network. Only ships with authenticator transponders can use the gate network as of this moment."

"Aye sir! Sending changes now sir!"

"Weps, warm up all weapons. Load all phase shifted torpedoes. Nukes for long range, HE for medium and short range."

"Aye sir."

"Comms, get me Colonel O'Neill."

"Bridge, O'Neill."

"Colonel. Watch your six."

"You got that right!"

From the perspective of the Borg it was as if space opened up all around them. Blue spots formed all over their planetary system, followed nearly a second later by hundreds, perhaps tens of hundreds of ships of dozens of varieties. The Borg on duty in the sensor rooms sounded the alarm quickly but efficiently. Borg Cubes of two types, Standard and Tactical advanced from their positions to meet the invaders head on. Dozens of Borg Spheres and hundreds of Interceptors left orbit of the nearby planet and formed up into small groups in support of the larger cubes.

"WE ARE THE BORG. STAND DOWN YOUR SHIELDS AND YOUR WEAPONS. WE WILL ADD YOUR BIOLOGICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL DISTINCTIVENESS TO OUR OWN. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE. YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED."

"Attention Borg fleet. This is Admiral Kathryn Janeway. You have one opportunity to surrender unconditionally. You have thirty seconds to comply."

The Borg complied. They fired everything in their arsenal at the incoming fleet. The three Sovereigns of task force One-Alpha each launched pairs of transphasic torpedoes targeting the larger Borg Cubes, while the smaller Steamrunners began launching torpedoes at the defense platforms in the inner system and at the planet below them. Fighters weaved between beams that had become so thick it was almost possible to walk on them, if one were so insanely inclined. Fighters and bombers made fast pass strafing runs at the numerous installations in the sector and one by one and three by three, weapon emplacements began to fall silent.

The Steamrunners were having a limited success on the planet because of the high powered shields surrounding the various cities on it. But the Nebula strike cruisers joined in the fray, targeting the shield generators with transphasic torpedoes and reducing the effective shield power to a mere fraction. Photon torpedoes began leaking through the shields, striking targets on the surface, and causing hundreds of secondary explosions.

The Borg were quickly becoming overwhelmed with the sheer amount of firepower targeting their system. A transmission was sent, and additional Cubes from the nearby systems were dispatched. A second transmission was sent, and a larger Borg fleet assigned to the Core Worlds tried to open a transwarp portal with no success. The ShipGate network, or transwarp network as the Borg called it, was inexplicably not responding to transmitted commands. Even at high warp, it would take this Core Worlds fleet, the nearest to the attacked system, the better part of two months to arrive.

As soon as Admiral Sela saw the Borg ships depart the nearby systems, she ordered her fleet to attack those systems. One task force went to each system and in a matter of a few hours, the systems that had been deprived of their defense forces had been erased of the Borg. On the Bridge of the Halsey, one could almost imagine that the Borg Queen was crying. Her eyes appeared moist, but no tears fell. She was dismayed that her fellow Borg were so complacent. They had believed no humanoid power could ever mount so impressive a fleet and attack them in their own space. And she could do nothing to stop it.

These Immortals. Their own existence verified to her the idea of biological perfection. It was the goal the Borg had long sought. And now here it was for her to gaze upon, but not touch, not achieve. Could their own philosophy of perfection be so wrong?

But no. That was an illogical thought. The Borg had existed for centuries. They had always done what was in the best interests of all species. Bringing them closer to perfection. It was the right thing to do. Wasn't it?

More Borg cubes and spheres appeared in the sector, responding to the frenzied distress calls of so many Borg in the system. But they were just as quickly dealt with. Here and there, a Borg vessel managed to find the correct shield rotation frequency and in those cases, the Borg beam weapons sliced open ships like a white hot knife through butter. The smaller ships in the task force met their deaths in this fashion. Escape pods were mixed in with the debris in the system. Debris that would be put to good use rebuilding damaged ships.

"Weps, deploy landing pods. Take the planet below us. Signal the fleet of our intentions."

"Aye sir."

The deployment pods, both of them this time, were released from their mooring clamps and styled for a moment, before beginning their atmospheric insertions. Each pod was to land on opposite sides of the planet's largest city, so as to catch the Borg in between in the jaws of a vise. It wasn't long, perhaps a few minutes, before the first pod was down and beginning to deploy its personnel and equipment. From above, the Al'kesh bombers came down into the skies of this M-class world and laid down heavy patterns of plasma bombs and of conventional high explosive bombs.

The MLRS units moved out to a position a bare thirty kilometers from the city proper and began sending salvoes of rockets with their submunitions into the air. The Paladins moved up alongside the rocket units and began laying down a heavy cover of smoke and HE-frag shells along a five kilometer wide corridor that stretched for ten kilometers in either direction away from the city border.

The Al'kesh bombers flew back to the Halsey, their ordinance expended. But they were quickly replaced by a combination of Harrier jump-jets and Apache Longbow helicopters providing close-in support for the advancing ground troops. It was the combination of arms and weapons types that confused the Borg on the ground. On the one hand, there were energy weapons, beams and bombs, and on the other there were projectile and chemically based weapons, bombs and bullets. Their personal force fields could adjust easily to the energy based weapons, but they were designed to prevent fast moving objects from penetrating. The bullets and bomb fragments coming at them were not fast moving. Well, they were, but when compared to a beam weapon, they were as slow as the tortoise is to the hare. But faster moving weapons are easily defeated with the shields. It was the slow but steady moving ones that do the most damage.

The orbital bombardment by the Steamrunners and Nebulas had been well placed and coordinated. The destruction was widespread, but affected only the more critical systems. Groups of weapon emplacements had been vaporized. Shield generators destroyed. Hangars had been sealed and what looked like garages for ground attack vehicles, covered in debris.

It would take a week or two before all of the Borg drones could be rounded up and placed in specially rigged containment areas, each on the size of a regulation football field. As the containment areas were filled to capacity, an aerosolized version of the Borg nanites was sprayed into the air. The first of these modified nanites had been harvested from Seven of Nine. Starfleet engineers and medical scientists had worked minor miracles to reprogram the nanites. Then had come the task of replicating the new 'biological' agents for use in the field. Each ship in the fleet possessed enough of the new nanites to spray a planet the size of Jupiter.

It was an ingenious reprogram. The nanites would invade the target body, in this case a Borg drone, and attack the nanites already present in the body. The attack was in the form of a small burst of EMP to neutralize the offending nanite, then a probe would insert itself and upload a new program into the nanite. The result was that even a dozen nanites in a target body could fairly quickly reprogram all of the existing nanites in the body. The program was a simple one. It ordered the nanites to withdraw all evidence of bio-mechanical implants and to use the newly freed materials to repair whatever damage had been done by the implants.

So when a containment field reached capacity, the new nanites were sprayed into the area. One by one, the Borg drones dropped where they stood. Their coloring slowly returned to normal and they fell into a deep healing sleep. As soon as the planet was deemed contained, the two Olympic-class medical ships moved into orbit and began beaming up the former drones to numerous operating areas. Here, the final implants were removed and the drones returned to the surface. When the drones awoke, it was to a brand new existence. Some committed suicide, not being able to deal with the lack of others in their minds. Some, began the arduous task of creating a new life for themselves. Others wanted to join the fight, but the Alliance bade them only to provide repairs or new ships for the fleet. They asked them to create their own governments and to consider the threat of the Borg. It would be a slow process, but it was a necessary one.

At the end of three months, the difference in the sector was a noticeable one. System J25 had become a protectorate of the Federation. The systems immediately surrounding it had become protectorates of the Klingon Empire. Those systems around this next layer fell to the Romulan Star Empire to administer. The next concentric ring of systems became the domain of the Cardassian Union, and the one after that fell to the Dominion. And then the cycle repeated itself until at the end of three months, a sizeable dent had been made in the holdings of the Borg. But J25 was where it had all started and so it was the mostly heavily fortified. It was the location of several dozen shipyards that were watched over by a military station built by each of the major powers, a commerce station watched over by Talarian and Bajoran ships and by Tau'ri defense platforms.

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Journey Day 466

Task force One-Alpha had jumped to a system far from J25, on the border between the Beta and Delta quadrants. Seven of Nine had identified this system as Planetary system ninety-two-sixteen. It was the home of a major transwarp hub, and the home to a Borg queen. The Borg had still not managed to adapt to the disabled transwarp network, though there was repeated evidence in the gate beacon logs of attempts to subvert the network. Commander Data himself had designed the new gate sequence algorithms. Unless the Borg were very lucky or extremely patient, Data theorized that it would take them several hundred years to break the ever changing encryption pattern.

Task force One-Alpha had started out with two hundred and fifty ships. But now, with their seventh engagement looming, their strength had been cut down by a little more than half. Most of the Sabers and B'Rel were gone. Only one badly damaged Hideki was left. In their most recent Borg encounter, the Hideki had been in the wrong place at the wrong time and had been nearly shorn in two.

But all in all, most of the Beta quadrant was no longer in Borg hands. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of worlds had been freed. The reprogrammed nanites had done their job and had fallen apart as per their revised command set instructions. In each former Borg drone, there was a small number that remained inactive but very much intact, ready to fight off new Borgification nanites. It was an imperfect process, but it worked. But now they were preparing to jump into a new system. The fleet was in hyperspace, that reddish-blackish maelstrom that allowed the fleet to hide from Borg sensors and jump in where they least expected it.

"Sensor officer, give me a readout on what we can expect?"

"Aye sir. Looks like the Borg have this system in their full control. I count three M Class worlds, all with a very substantial Borg population. There are six planets in this system. The remaining three are one L Class and two Y class. The majority of the population is situated on the M Class worlds, but the other three also have small populations. There appear to be mining communities on the L and Y class worlds. The Nexus is located between the second and third planets, at what we would call the L5 point out from the second world. I asked the navigation officer to ping the Nexus. It looks like this hub structure is a starting point for all of their transwarp portals in the Beta quadrant."

"Then we need to take that structure as intact as possible. Warp travel is well and good, but the ShipGate network is infinitely faster. What sort of stationary platforms do they have in the system?"

"Still counting those sir. So far, we have cataloged and located over six hundred beam platforms and more than a thousand torpedo platforms, with the bulk of them, well over eighty percent, protecting the Transwarp Nexus. We have counts on other craft, however, sir. Two hundred and twenty-three Tactical Cubes, over a thousand of the smaller Interceptors, and several hundred of something we haven't seen before. Funky looking ships, shaped kinda like a crooked 'L'."

"So, is anyone else thinking this is gonna be a tough nut to crack?"

"Amen to that, sir."

"Comms, get me the Acheron."

"On sir."

"Captain Riker. We have completed our preliminary scans of the system."

"As have we. The Borg seem to have a lot of ships in the system."

"It is my understanding, from Admiral Janeway and Seven of Nine, that this system is home to a Borg Queen."

"That is my understanding as well."

"I think, William, that we will be in need of more than just our task force. The Borg have not gained the ability to detect us in hyperspace as yet. So we will wait here for reinforcements. In the meantime, I think it is time we had a bit of a conversation with our resident Borg Queen."

"An interrogation?"

"No, a conversation I think. And I have the perfect person in mind for our side of the conversation. Would you like a feed routed to your ship?"

"Yes, that would be useful. I'll send word to Fleet Admiral Janeway that we are in need of reinforcements."

"Thank you Captain."

"Channel closed, sir."

"Thank you Comms. Get a hold of Major Mulder, and have him meet me in my office."

"Aye sir!"

----------------------------------------

"You wanted to see me Admiral?"

"I did Mulder. I find myself in need of your particular talents."

"I'm sure one of the psychiatric staff would be of more use to you."

"Smart ass. It's not for me. I want you to interview the Borg Queen."

"Interrogate?"

"No. Just a series of conversations. It's been my experience that a captive enemy tends to spill more if it's not an interrogation."

"Looking for anything in particular?"

"I'm not sure. The battles from here on in will be more intense. Anything we can do to offset that will be beneficial."

"Done. I'll head down there now."

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Since her capture in Earth space, the Borg Queen had been a resident in the small auxiliary brig aboard the Halsey. They had not allowed her any sort of communication with the outside world, to the point of not even granting her access to ship board news services. Though it was difficult to ascertain whether she knew the Halsey had traveled deeper into Borg space or not, the general feeling among the senior officers of the fleet was that she was fully aware of the invasion forces and what they had accomplished, since watching the initial engagement at J25.

Major Fox Mulder walked into the auxiliary brig a bit unsure of his marching orders. It was one thing to interview criminals accused of multiple killings or the numerous sociopaths he had profiled as part of his tenure with the Behavioral Sciences Unit at the FBI. It was quite another to be sitting here to interview a person accused of genocide. For that's what the Borg were; genocidal killers of an order aspired to by the likes of Hitler. It was true that they didn't outright kill the species they invaded. They did something far worse that kill. They assimilated. And in doing that, they took away the inherent right to live life as the individual desired. They stripped away individuality, which to any humanoid creature was far worse than death. It was a living death.

To the Borg Queen, these creatures were small minded. The idea of individualism had long ago been stripped away from the Borg. They were the gestalt of what all humanoid creatures should strive to become. They were the embodiment of 'Carpe Diem'. They were the idea of perfection. But they regarded themselves as far from perfect. They strived to achieve biological and technological perfection. In all their travels, they had observed biological perfection only in the ruins of the Ancient's outpost, deep with the Delta quadrant. In the history written on the walls, they had learned about species zero-zero-three. They had learned of this species' Immortality, and they had adopted that goal as their own vision of biological perfection, with the knowledge that one species had achieved that goal, they felt certain that it was possible for another species to achieve that goal. And so they had embarked on the journey to perfection, never realizing that the universe abhors perfection. One only has to look around themselves to see the imperfection that runs rampant in the environment. But for all their far reaching goals, in this area, the Borg were far from perfect.

"Hello. I am Major Fox Mulder. Uhm, I am unsure as to what to call you."

"Pitiful human. Must you use a designation for everything you see?"

"It does tend to make things easier to call a person by their name."

"I am the Borg. The beginning and the end."

"The Borg assign designations, do they not?"

"This is correct."

"Then what is your designation?"

"I am a Borg Queen."

"I see. And if you should die, will there be another Borg Queen?"

"Yes. There must be continuity. There must be a clear line of leadership."

"Then you are the leader of the Borg?"

"You imply disparity where there is none."

"But you are the Queen of the Borg, yes?"

"Yes."

"Then you are their leader, at least to my understanding of such things."

"If you must use such small minded ideas to understand something that is inherently beyond you, human, then do so."

"As you wish, your Majesty."

"Are you here to interrogate me?"

"No. I am here because I am curious. Tell me of the Borg, of your history."

"You wish to understand the Borg, pitiful Human?"

"I wish it."

"The Borg are many thousands of years old. We have walked among the stars since before our written history began. One of our first exploration ships chanced upon a world populated by Species 003. It was our first encounter with perfection. The inhabitants of that world had long since left, but their writings spoke of their perfection. They had achieved biological and technological perfection. Their technical creations worked exactly as designed, and they were immortal, the very idea of biological perfection."

"So you believe that Immortality is biological perfection?"

"Perfection of the biological entity would allow said entity to live thousands of years without fear of death or disease."

"And you believe that this Species 003 were biologically perfect?"

"Yes."

"We have accessed your archives. And what you have just told me is the same conclusion we reached based on the data available to us. Do the Borg have any other designation for Species 003?"

"No. We do not need designations, or names, as you refer to them. Our system of designations tell us all we need to know about a species or a technology."

"I see. So then, the fact that this particular species was designated zero-zero-three tells me that they were the third species you encountered. Would this be a fair assessment?"

"Yes."

"And had you encountered a thousand other species before zero-zero-three, then their designation would be much different, yes?"

"It would be numerically different, yes."

"And were any of that species still on that world when you found it?"

"No. Their writings told of a passing beyond. We determined that the species moved on from this part of the universe to another part. As they are Immortal and can not die, we determined that it was a rather fanciful way of describing some type of mass migration."

"The species you designated zero-zero-three, is one we know of as the Ancients. They are one and the same. And they did, in a sense, pass beyond. They evolved to a point where corporeal bodies were no longer of necessity. They exist now as only so much coherent energy. But not all of them evolved."

"Those that were imperfect did not achieve this new level of existence?"

"No. Only those that were old enough were able to evolve, to pass into the next stage of their evolution. But it takes hundreds of thousands of years to achieve that level of 'Ancientness'. I, for one, am looking forward to spending a few hundred thousand years in this body, exploring the universe and all that it has to offer."

"But you are not of Species 003. You are Human. You can not live for thousands of years. Your lifetime is a flicker of light in the grand scheme of the universe."

"I only appear Human. In point of fact, up until a year ago, I was completely Human. Now I am a member of the species you have designated zero-zero-three."

"Do you have control over the elements? Can you make your body re-grow missing parts?"

"Those abilities come with time, Your Highness."

"As fascinating as this dialogue has been, Human, it will soon come to an end. I know of your plans to invade Borg space. But you will fail."

"Look at the wall, Majesty. You will see a holographic representation of the known galaxy, including all the information we pulled from Borg archives. The area in red are current Borg holdings as of the time when your Diamond was captured."

"The area is vast, and will soon encompass the entire galaxy!"

"No. This was the area you knew, some months ago. This revised map is the area today. Note that the red Borg controlled areas have shrunk dramatically. The Beta quadrant is fully in the control of the alliance of Alpha quadrant powers."

The look on the face of the Borg Queen was definitely a Kodak tm moment. The sheer shock at being told that her people had lost an entire quadrant of the Galaxy made her sit down and become quiet. Mulder took this as an end to the current conversation, and walked back to his office to write the first of what he felt would be many reports.

The Queen looked upon the revised map and wondered if it could possibly be so. Then she noticed what the Humans must also have noticed. Nexus three-five-eight. It lay ahead of the fleet of which she was a prisoner. Because it was one of seven central nexii, it had a transwarp portal that led directly to the First World of the Borg.

It was not the world they had evolved on, this much was true, but it was the world they had assimilated as their own. Whatever ancient and long extinct empire had laid claim to that system had ringed it with defenses the Borg were unable to duplicate, but were able to control. The best thing had been the artificially controlled star at the center of that particular system. Whatever ancient technology had developed those control systems, they had enabled the star to remain a yellow sun for much longer than previously thought of. The control mechanisms constantly siphoned off helium and injected hydrogen to the star to maintain a constant balance. The process was self sustaining and the siphoned off helium underwent fission which created the very hydrogen the star needed to live. The ancient inhabitants of this system only had three worlds to call their own, but each was the size of five Jupiter class worlds. The defenses were self-repairing and self-replicating. The offensive platforms of the system were such that when it was first encountered, the Borg lost nearly five thousand Cubes before gaining control of the weapons systems in the system.

The technology in that system had enabled the Borg to make quantum leaps forward and it began the long term philosophy of the pursuit of perfection through assimilation. But this Human that had interrogated her, was something of a conundrum. Outwardly he was far from perfect. If what he claimed were true, then he was a member of a race the Borg considered long since gone from this plane of existence. And the commander of this vessel had made similar claims. Could what the Human had claimed be true? That Species 003 had not moved on but evolved? She needed more data before she could reach a conclusion. But how could she obtain any relevant data from behind a force-field barricaded prison cell?

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Somewhere in hyperspace

Methos had the watch for this shift. He was going over the current loss reports. The Halsey had started out with a full compliment of attack squadrons, an armored cavalry regiment and a Marine expeditionary unit. Now, with their seventh engagement looming, with more than two dozen worlds liberated by them from the Borg, the levels of staffing in those units was reaching a dangerously low level. In their last battle with the Borg, the Halsey had relied more and more on automated systems. Unlike these Federation types, the Halsey was far from home. Staffing with new personnel was impossible for them. Even with staff borrowed from other ships in the fleet, and with personnel rescued from damaged and destroyed ships of the fleet, the Halsey was still running dangerously under-manned.

The arrival of seven Federation personnel transports with Task Force Two-Alpha went unnoticed until the Commander of the newly arrived task force called the Halsey.

"Commander Methos, on behalf of Admiral Janeway, I have been authorized to offer the replacements aboard these transports to your vessel and your support ships. The Admiral is fully aware of the sacrifices made by your crews and is even more aware that no reinforcements from your home world are available. In the spirit cooperation and in the hope of continued success in our quest to liberate all these systems from the Borg, the Admiral is pleased to offer the men and women aboard these transports as replacements for your lost crews. To a man, all of them have volunteered to serve aboard the Halsey."

"Thank you and Admiral Janeway for the kind words, Captain Metzer. Please pull along side so that we may begin making personnel transfers."

"Of course, sir."

It was a Godsend, these new crew members. The Borg had long ago adapted to the standard tactics used by the Alpha quadrant powers and were adapting to the tactics used by the Halsey. But the one thing in favor of the fleets allied against the Borg is that reinforcements to the Borg were only available from nearby systems. They had not been able to circumvent the encryption put into place by the Allied powers onto the controls for the ShipGate network, or what the Borg referred to as their Transwarp network. It was a sticky situation, trying to stay one step ahead of the Borg especially since the Borg had a nasty habit of adapting to what should be a losing scenario for them.

It was, perhaps, time to change tactics. But if all warfare is based on deception, then maybe it was time to increase the amount of deception practiced by the Halsey and her support ships. To this end, the engineering teams under Major Carter had been working on something to deceive the enemy. It would buy them at most a few minutes in combat, and at worst, only seconds. It was a combination of technologies from three universes and it was something that the Borg might consider a new player on the battlefield. It wasn't a new class of ship, at least by AIS standards. In fact, it was a very old class. Ha'tak. The standard pyramid ship used by the Goa'uld for thousands of years.

The latest arrivals from Allied space had brought to the Halsey not only replacement personnel, but also replenished their stocks of naquadah and trinium. Using those refilled storage pods, the AIS and Federation engineering teams had utilized the different types of replication technology at their disposal to quickly build up three pyramid ships. Unlike their Goa'uld counterparts, these ships were a combination of technologies from the Federation, Earth Force, and the AIS.

Goa'uld vessels typically had one force field and several dozen weapons emplacements, with two shuttle bays for Al'kesh bombers and two hangar bays for Udajeet fighters along with room for a thousand ground troops. The first modification to the ship had been made in the engine room. Alongside the standard hyperspace window generator, the engineers had put down a pair of fusion generators, and a warp drive core. The design teams then put another eight fusion generators scattered about the ship that could provide emergency power to the engines should the engineering sections be damaged.

The next major modification came to the shielding system. Standard Goa'uld designs had one shield. Standard AIS ships had three shields. Federation ships used single shields on rotating frequencies and deployable armor in addition to the laser ablative armor on their hulls. So they started with laser ablative armor. Then they added the regenerative armor that had been used on Vorlon and Shadow ships for centuries. This they covered with two independent sets of deployable armor. And they topped it off with six sets of independent shields all on different frequency rotations.

Then came the shuttle and hangar bays. The Thunderbolt fighter had become accepted to the various Alpha quadrant powers and these were placed in the fighter bays. Into the shuttle bays went the Federation Peregrine- and Romulan Praetor-class heavy fighters. The designers kept six Al'kesh bombers in each bay and these had been heavily modified such that the Klingon warriors assigned to those ships could use them easily. But even these fighters and the Al'kesh bombers had been modified to grant them better and more protection in the field.

The Federation designers took a lesson from Species 4872 when it came to the weapons. The pyramid ship had four faces and each face had numerous gun emplacements. At the corners of each face their was a single Vorlon Grand Cannon that could be fired independently of each other, or could be combined at a focal point into one massive beam. Each beam had the explosive power of a two gigaton explosive, but the combined beam output was on the order of eight gigatons of explosive power. The individual beams were of an equivalent power of the type XII main phaser used by the Sovereign class ships the Federation used. But if the Borg thought it could be easy to destroy the heavy weapons emplacements and thus negate the tri-focused beam, then they had failed to learn something very important in existence.

It was something that appeared often enough in nature. A human being has two eyes, two ears, two lungs and two kidneys. Redundancy. It's evident in nature and it was a lesson the AIS engineers had taken to heart. Each lower corner emplacement had a maximum firing of one hundred and eighty degrees, but because there were adjoining guns at the corners, the guns were limited to ninety degree firing arcs. If a one corner gun fell, it could be replaced by the one adjacent to it. And if all of the corner guns fell, then the focal point beams could be made by other, less powerful guns of the pyramid. In that case, it took six working guns on the same side to generate the power output of the three combined heavy beams. But they also worked at lower power output with only three guns.

Then there were the launcher emplacements for Goa'uld plasma torpedoes, QSG equipped, naquadah enhanced Shipwrecks, and the Romulan plasma torpedoes. The sum result of their efforts was either a ship that would confuse the Borg, or a ship that the Borg would ignore until the right moment. The plan was to have the three Ha'tak class pyramid ships appear shortly after the battle was engaged with the Borg and to not join in at first. It was a deceptive tactic on the part of the Allied powers. Each of the Thunderbolt fighters would project a holographic image of an Udajeet fighter. Each of the Peregrines and Praetors would project images of Al'kesh bombers. To anyone from the universe of the AIS, it would appear to be a small Goa'uld attack force.

To make the deception complete, all personnel on the pyramid ships wore a sensor scrambler on their person that would make it seem to the Borg that all aboard were of the joined nature of the Goa'uld. The 'leaders' of each ship, would speak with the modified vocal patterns of a symbiote controlled humanoid. One of the three leaders had even adopted the persona of a Goa'uld that was long dead in their own universe; Ra. Though the Borg would not know who this 'God' was or more precisely, where he was from, they would believe them to be a new player on the galactic block. And when that deception grew old and tired, the surviving pyramid ships would be remade into an Asgard cruiser. And each new deception would be calculated to make the Borg pause even if only just for an instant. And it was those single instants of pause that the Allied powers were looking for. For in that split second of indecision on the part of the Borg, the allies could strike hard and fast. And hopefully with all the combined seconds of indecision, the tide would completely turn in favor of the Alpha quadrant allies.

But this next battle, the upcoming seventh engagement for the Halsey in as many months would mark a major turning point in the war. This next system was the control center for the Borg in the Beta quadrant. With it out of the way, the Beta quadrant would be effectively liberated of Borg presence, though there were still a few out of the way systems that would still be in Borg control. But with this nexus in Allied control, the allied powers could launch quick strikes into those systems and finally clear the Beta quadrant of Borg infestation.

That would leave the Delta quadrant as the major stronghold of the Borg. True, there was a encroachment of Borg into the Gamma quadrant, but it was in the Delta quadrant where the Borg controlled nearly seventy-five percent of the quadrant. But that was a battle yet to happen. And there was a part of Marius and Methos and all of the others aboard the Halsey that hoped they wouldn't have to pursue the Borg to the very ends of the galaxy.

For now, the fleet was assembled in hyperspace. It had taken a week to get all four task forces of the First Fleet together in one area. Third fleet was enroute but would take another day to arrive. The time to invade was designated and the fleet made its final preparations. The three Ha'tak class mother ships would remain in hyperspace and would jump in using their Hyperdrive engines ten minutes after the battle was engaged.

"Sir, fleet-comm signal from the Acheron. They signal ready to jump to normal space."

"Very well. Acknowledge the signal. All stations, this is the Bridge. Prepare to jump to normal space. Mr. Jameson, sound general quarters and set condition red."

"Aye sir!"

"Jump...now!"

To a casual observer it seemed as if the heavens had opened up into a thousand thousand blue points. And each point was spewing into normal space dozens of ships, all firing at preset targets chosen when the fleet was still in hyperspace. In the first seconds of the engagement, more than a thousand defense platforms, of both the beam and launcher varieties, were destroyed. The Borg responded with their usual communication.

"UNIDENTIFIED VESSELS. YOU HAVE ENTERED BORG SPACE. STAND DOWN YOUR WEAPONS AND POWER DOWN YOUR SHIELDS. YOUR BIOLOGICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL DISTINCTIVENESSES WILL BE ADDED TO OUR OWN. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE. YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED."

"Ya know, you'd think that with so many of their systems now in our control they'd change their tune. Just once, I'd like to hear a different opening message."

"Amen to that, Jameson. Order the corvettes and the bombers to target their static weapon emplacements."

"Aye sir."

"Sir! Those new Borg ships are moving in! They have one of the Akira's in some kind of tractor beam! Comms from the Akira claim the Borg are beaming off the crew!"

"Damn it. Inform the fleet to target those new ships! Priority one!"

The Borg were losing more drones than ever before. This combined enemy had been able to do what no other single species had done before. They had actually made a serious dent in the amount of Borg drones available. So much so that the Borg had resurrected an older ship design with an older weapon. The Borg Assimilator vessel was designed to target wounded ships, lock on with a tractor beam, and beam massive numbers of alien crews off of their ship where they would emerge into a nanite mist. The nanites were of the assimilation type. The assimilated crews would then be beamed back to other ships and the ships converted for Borg use. It was something the Allied powers could not allow.

It was at this point that the three Ha'tak class cruisers emerged from the Transwarp conduit and into the system Their first broadcast was a standard Goa'uld greeting.

"I am Ra. King of the Gods. My brethren and I have heard the cries of one of our own and have come to free our Queen. Stay out of our way or feel our wrath!"

"Goa'uld vessel. This is the AIS Halsey. You can't have your queen. But you're welcome to try and take her!"

"Jaffa, kree!"

To the local Borg commander, it appeared as though these three new ships were intent on attacking the invasion forces. What they didn't see was that the approach vector these new ships were taking would place them at point blank range to the vanguard of the Borg fleet. But the Borg were ignoring the new ships for the moment and were content to sit back for a moment to regroup while these newcomers attacked their enemy. Apparently the Borg believed in the old Human adage about the enemy of one's enemy. The Borg even ignored, for the moment, the power buildup in what they determined to be weapons systems, as they believed those systems were targeted at the Allied invasionary ships. Indeed, the targeting scanners were locked on the allied fleet, but that was all a part of the deception. The guns were being directed optically, and not by the targeting scanners.

When the three cruisers had closed to what they deemed as point blank range, the large tri-focused beams were released. The effect on the Borg ships was devastating. The beam from each ship was of sufficient power to pass through not one, not three, but five Borg Cubes at once. In three single blasts from their main guns, the vanguard of the Borg fleet, the ships on the extreme pointy end, had been eviscerated.

"Warfare is all about deception, eh Mr. Jameson? You think the Borg ever read Sun Tzu?"

"Somehow I doubt that sir. But it looks like they might be fast learners. Borg targeting scanners now attempting to lock on to the Ha'tak."

"Make sure that Colonel O'Neill and his attack cruisers return the favor. Those pyramids may be smaller than this ship, but it looks like the engineers did a really good job on them."

Deep within the complex that was this Borg transwarp nexus, a Borg Queen watched over the unfolding battle. The appearance of such a large fleet this deep into Borg space had been something of a shock, and the subsequent appearance out of some unknown form of transwarp conduit of three pyramidal shaped ships who led a successful attack against the most experienced of their Tactical Cubes was rather unexpected. But then again, her own promotion to Queen had been unexpected. She had been taken from the same world as the previous Queen. Indeed, all Borg Queens came from the same world. Whether that was a good thing or not depended on the viewpoint of the person asking themselves that very question.

This particular Queen had been raised to her position following the loss of the Queen sent to the Alpha quadrant to assimilate the Federation home world. But that Queen had been lost along with all drones in her armada. Now it was her turn to oversee the empire that was feared throughout the four quadrants by all sentient beings. The mere presence of the Borg was enough to make even the strongest of species run away as fast as possible. Few dared to fight the Borg and those who did inevitably succumbed to the sheer numbers of Borg ships available. But this fleet of ships invading their space, this was something different. Other species had banded together against them in the past, but none had been able to adapt to the changing battlefield as effectively as these Federation ships.

The sudden appearance of the pyramid ships and the new species calling themselves 'Goa'uld', had been an unexpected event. Their method of FTL travel was unknown and this was a not so pleasant event for the Borg who made it a near religion to know all scientific and technical knowledge in the known universe. Even more so was the new and different FTL method the Federation was using that enable them to appear and disappear from Borg sensors, much to the chagrin of the best analytical minds of the Borg Collective. Perhaps it was time to change tactics?

"Halsey to O'Neill. Go with phase two."

"Roger that."

Almost as one unit, the three Ha'tak cruisers pivoted on their axis and made a short hyperspace jump to the space immediately surrounding the Borg Nexus. The fighters and bombers that O'Neill had kept in reserve were now launched and immediately began making strafing runs at the periphery of the Nexus, slowly whittling away at the stations' defenses. The smaller guns on the cruisers were pounding away at the structural members of the station while low power shots from the tri-focus guns were vaporizing large sections of the station. Each cruiser was concentrating on a different part of the Nexus.

The cruiser under Phillipson's command had drawn the task of capturing the transwarp hub complex. Each of the cruiser's was home to three thousand troopers in addition to the two full wings of fighters and one of bombers. But since there weren't that many available troopers aboard the Halsey, Federation Marines and Klingon Infantry were used to supplement the Halsey attack troops. But since Alexander was the senior special ops aboard the Halsey, by virtue of his long and historical military service, the majority of the troops under his command were also special operations types. One hundred of the men came from the ranks of Russian Spetsnaz. Another hundred came from the elite Second Ranger battalion. Four complete SEAL teams, and five hundred more from Army's elite Delta Force. These elite men and women were supported by two companies of Marines from the Halsey's MEU, and five companies each of Federation Marines and Klingon infantry.

O'Neill's cruiser was busily pounding away at the Nexus, directing his fighter and bomber squadrons to the best of his ability. But it wasn't like a video game, where players could re-spawn. When a beam of coherent light touched one of his fighters, that pilot ceased to exist. No chance of having another life to continue 'playing' on. A person would have to be a robot to not feel the loss of each and every person under their command. Fortunately, O'Neill was no robot. Unfortunately he was human. And like a human he felt each and every loss. But like a good commander, he felt their loss not so much as death, but as a lessening of his projectable force. He would feel the deaths later when the battle was over.

In addition to the crews of the fighters and bombers, he had an elite team of Quick Reaction Forces aboard his cruiser. The shield around the Borg Nexus was weakening with every hit from the tri-focus beams, even at low power. O'Neill was reticent about ordering a full power charge because the goal of this attack was to take the Nexus as intact as possible. The idea was to capture it and use it as a staging ground for the final push into the most heavily defended and populated regions of Borg controlled space. It was where all the fleets would come together to regroup and make repairs. It would be the last chance the people of the fleets would have at a little rest and relaxation before launching the final campaign.

A small portion of the shield fell and was brought back up within seconds by the Borg, but it was long enough to beam over a large contingent of O'Neill's QRF. The advantage of the ring transport system meant that the personnel being transported materialized and were ready to go before the shielded rings were retracted out. It gave the soldiers just a few extra seconds to target the oncoming Borg and hold the landing zone. The first troopers to beam over were tasked with holding the beam-over point and this they did while coming under massive fire from the Borg drones. The Marines with the P90's and M16's laid down heavy fire mowing down the ranks of drones as they approached the intruders. Because so much lead was flying towards the drones, a goodly number of them fell dead before they managed to adapt their shields to disallow the passage of the slower moving projectiles.

When the Marines saw that their fire was no longer having any effect, they thumbed the selector switch on their weapons and began pouring out plasma beams at the approaching enemy. By this point in time, the second, third, and fourth contingents had managed to ring over, adding their own beam weapons to the fray.

At the transwarp hub complex, Alexander's SpecOps teams were making a good accounting of themselves, pushing far into the complex, though, in defense of the Borg, not many drones were stationed aboard the complex. Many of the systems were automated to the nth degree, and there was little call to have a large number of drones aboard the hub. It was a crucial mistake by the Borg thinking that the hub was too well defended by other systems to merit a large drone presence.

On the remaining cruiser, Methos had a different task to the other two. Observations made by the numerous hyperspace probes situated in the system had revealed the presence of a large shipyard facility. Along with the other tasks of capturing the Nexus and the Hub, the shipyard was also a priority for capture. Methos' squadrons were supporting O'Neill's with the fight at the Nexus, but he had kept seven fighters in reserve to attack the shipyard and bring down its shields. As soon as the shields were down he began beaming over a capture crew of specialized troopers and combat engineers.

Deep within the Nexus, in a heavily shielded room, the replacement Borg Queen looked upon the viewscreens of the battlefield and saw the unexpected; a loss. In the long and storied history of the Borg never had such a thing happened. Yes, there had been attacks upon lonely outposts, and yes there had been the attack some years previously by Voyager and Janeway on the minor hub facility in the Delta quadrant, but never had there been an all out assault on such a heavily fortified hub complex.

And here it was happening. The word surrender was not often heard from a Borg drone and never from a Borg Queen. But this was an unusual time. Faced with the outright destruction of this major hub complex and the possibility that the fleet attacking them would have a clear and unfettered path to the First World of the Borg, the Queen ordered a retreat. The order went instantaneously to all remaining Borg vessels still in the system. As each ship received the command, it pivoted and turned away from the attacking ships and entered high warp a second later. Around the system, the attacking ships and the crews within were stunned into silence as they watched their enemy abandon the fight and run away. Probes were launched to follow them and those probes would follow until the defending fleet exited warp travel some sixteen hours later.

But for the moment, the crews of the Allied fleet were quiet. The enemy had fled. There were ships scattered throughout the system, some lifeless and some nearly so. The arduous task of rounding up the ships and treating the wounded began in earnest. On Riker's command ship, half the crew were dead and the ship was listing badly to starboard. The engine room had been hulled late in the fight and a junior engineer had only just managed to shut down the warp core before it breached. But there were many decks without life support, and without access to a shipyard, the Acheron would be out of the fight for months.

The Halsey had suffered major damage during the fight when the Borg had gotten lucky with a rotating frequency torpedo that had managed to penetrate the triple redundant shields of the ship. It was a small projectile, compared to a standard Federation photon torpedo, but it had a large yield. Only the internal shields and blast doors had prevented the explosion from doing excessive damage. But the main hangar deck was out of action for now. The Cydonia needed a complete overhaul of the weapons arrays to replace the burnt out systems and melted plasma acceleration conduits, and the Ryan's engine section had been shorn off completely.

The planets in the system were seeded with the de-Borgification nanovirus and within minutes of contact, the drones on those planets were falling to the ground as there implants fell out, burnt to a crisp from power overloads.

The good news coming from Methos' cruiser was that the shipyards had been captured intact, complete with nearby storage yards filled with the raw materials necessary to build or repair starships. The SpecOps teams from Alex's cruiser had taken the transwarp hub complex with little loss of life, and O'Neill's QRF was in control of the major centers on the Nexus. The small isolated pockets of resistance would soon be flooded with an aerosolized version of the de-Borgification nanovirus.

Overall, the loss of life among the Allied fleet was less than expected. It always pained Marius to hear the projections of the dead and the wounded. It was a necessary evil when planning an attack, but it was still a morbid practice. The fact that less people than expected died was something that befuddled the statisticians. To Marius, it was a Godsend. But it was still a bad thing to lose anyone in war. And the task of writing letters home to loved ones was never an easy thing. To explain how their son or daughter or husband or wife or brother or sister gave their life for something nearly impossible to explain to someone outside the military. Worse yet, they lost their lives fighting a war in a universe far removed from their own.

With any loss of life in a war zone, the maintenance of moral was a dangerous issue. The system they were in was several weeks away at high warp from J25, where the Ferengi had been true to their word in establishing a rest and relaxation station. Out here on the leading edge of the war, there were no such facilities. The limited entertainment venues on the Halsey and on other ships in the Allied fleet were being stressed to their limit. And as a result, tensions were running high and fights were breaking out around the fleet. The reasons were always petty; perceived invasions of personal space, items misplaced reported as stolen. This rise in minor altercations is what brought both officers Roberts into Marius' office a day after the battle.

"Lieutenant Roberts. Commander Roberts. Is the crew keeping you busy enough?"

"Quite sir. There's been a sharp increase in minor crime over the past three months. Considering how far we are from a liberty port, I'd have to say that's the root cause of this increase."

"I see. What sort of minor crimes?"

"Mostly fights over some perceived infraction. It hasn't escalated beyond that, but there's no predicting if it will. It would help a lot sir, if the Halsey could make a liberty call sometime soon. We've got to get back to the JAG office, but here's the latest reports for your review sir."

"Thank you."

Marius looked over the reports and noticed the trend. It started a couple weeks after they left the station in J25, and was gradually escalating in severity. There were so many things left to do that his in-box had become an in-file cabinet. The planets in the system had been secured by Federation troops because his own troop detachment had lost too many in previous months. Though it was painful to think on it, he recognized that the MEU and the ACR units were now at both less than a third of their original strength. It was an order that was easy to type up, this combining of the two units, but it was also something that he knew would be difficult to implement. The rivalry between the various branches of the world's militaries was always a contentious thing.

But as Marius was pondering the idea of turning the Halsey around to take a much needed break at the recreation station in J25, the sensor officer informed him that a large contingent of Ferengi ships had entered the system, under a request from Janeway to build another recreation station in this system. The Federation had sent to all of the liberated systems, First Contact teams to assist the local populations with their return to 'normalcy'. The new station for this system, to be built by the Ferengi, would soon be joined by the various Allied powers as they took control of the Nexus and utilized the shipyards to effect the more pressing repair needs. It would take time, but for the moment, the Halsey would be on a lesser combat status.

On the bridge as on the rest of the ship, the news of the minor stand down was received with whispers of gratitude. The stresses and strains of constant combat were taking a toll on the men and women assigned to the Halsey. Combined with the loss of life from the original crew and the constant terror of knowing that each ground or flight mission could be their last, the news of even a minor stand down, was welcome indeed.

Marius put in orders with the Ferengi for enough supplies to replenish their fresh food stocks with enough to spare for a large scale celebration. Not a victory celebration for that was premature, but on their calendar and in their home universe, the day of giving thanks was approaching quickly. Though it was a holiday celebrated primarily by the United States, in this case, it seemed appropriate for all to celebrate a day of thanks. Thanks for being alive. Thanks for their survival. And thanks that the loss of life was not higher than it already was.

The ACR and the MEU were both at less than one third strength in terms of personnel and thus Marius had ordered the two units melded into one combined forces unit. The equipment that had been common to both units prior to their joining were now stored aboard one pod with the excess vehicles and stores kept on the remaining pod. The original compliment of fighters had now been almost exclusively replaced by the Thunderbolt fighters, and the ever increasing numbers of Peregrines that had lost their own motherships. From the previous ranks of fighter pilots, only a few scores remained and they were still alive because they had learned the best methods for staying alive while fighting.

From the little more than eight thousand crew members that had started this mission, perhaps four thousand were left. A fifty percent attrition rate would devastate any frontline unit from any world. But those were the numbers with which he was faced. By the time they were done with this damned mission of Tok'Ra's, Marius feared that the crew would be not enough to maintain fighting capacity. If only there was some way of taking his remaining crews out of danger.

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It was movie night aboard the Halsey. Something that happened fairly regularly aboard the ship, but not so that anyone would notice. When most of the crews were on alert, the time taken out of their schedule for a movie was time badly spent, especially when tired crews could be sleeping or relaxing. But now with the majority of the crews on stand down, and only the fighter pilots still on what amounted to a DEFCON Three status, there was time enough to relax with a good book or a good movie.

There were members of the non Tau'ri delegations aboard that had not experienced a movie the way a Tau'ri had, that is in two dimensions only. The Colonials had had three dimensional technology for some time, and the Federation had utilized holographic technology for their recreational pursuits. The Paris couple was among those attending the movie night aboard the Halsey. Tom Paris had an affinity for all things from the twentieth century and his wife Belanna went along to make sure he stayed out of trouble.

Marius was not among those watching the movies this night. Instead, he was looking over the damage sustained in their latest engagement. The Halsey was in need of a space dock to rebuild the destroyed engineering section and to replace the damaged hull plates. The Cydonia and the Ryan were in the same need, but for other reasons, just as severe. The hull of the Halsey had been breached! His ship. Well, his designs in any case. It hurt him. He wondered if this is what a parent felt like when their off-spring fell and hurt themselves. Though he had raised several children in his lifetime, none were biologically his. At least none that he was aware of. Tok'Ra's revelation at the Gathering that Immortals could have children was still a sobering thought in his mind.

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A week went by before the former Borg shipyards had been reprogrammed sufficiently to build replacement hull sections, though they still had a definite Borg styling. The bad part of that reprogramming was that the Borg shipyards could only build the hull sections the Federation and its counterparts needed, but not the organo-crystalline structures the Halsey and her escorts needed. Those still had to be grown in the Forge decks aboard the Halsey. At the moment, however, the Forge deck was churning out defense platforms to help secure the system from further incursions by the Borg. And there were still fighters patrolling the system, though according to the latest probe data, the Borg had not moved from the system they had traveled to. The speculation among the crews in the fleet was that the Borg were experiencing some form of confusion over their staggering losses and the capture of two of their Queens.

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Brig

AIS Halsey

Major Mulder was returning for another session with the captive Borg Queen. Though now he had two Queens to observe. He wondered if either of the two captives knew of the other. If they didn't, he speculated the reaction would be severe.

"Good evening, your Highness. I trust all is well?"

"More 'conversations' human?"

"Yes. I found our last chat so enlightening that I felt I had to return for more insights. Your 'race' is a unique one. You are not one species, but many species. Whether you like it or not, the Collective and the Federation have much in common. The Federation is a conglomeration of many races, or many species, all of them working together towards a common set of goals. The Federation exists for mutual protection against aggressors, for scientific advancement and exploration, and for peaceful purposes. The Collective, on the other hand, while it is also a combination of many races, and while you do seem to have a common goal, it is not as enlightened as the Federation. You take what others have. You kill and murder to obtain those items you deem necessary to your goals. You don't negotiate. You don't bargain for those things."

"The Borg do not negotiate with anyone. We are the future of the universe. We strive to perfect ourselves. Species zero-zero-three is perfection in the biological sense. The android Data, of the Federation, is a close approximation of the Borg ideal of technological perfection. You, human, who claim to be a member of zero-zero-three should be fully aware of your potential. Yet you associate yourself with these flawed humans with their small minds. Tell me why. I want to understand this."

"The Ancients, those whom you call Species zero-zero-three, created us in their image. Not to rule, though we have. Not to dominate, though we have. We have been Generals, Emperors, Kings. We have been rogues, soldiers, and thieves. All of these we have been and more. We were created by the Ancients to serve as guardians, as teachers, but how could we possibly protect and serve if we had not ourselves been in their place? Why do we associate ourselves with, to use your words, these small minded humans? Because we are them. They are us."

"I do not understand."

"You may. With time. But on to the real reason I am here this afternoon. You are aware, no doubt, that we have made further incursions into your space?"

"I am aware of this."

"Are you aware that this ship is presently keeping station in the system you refer to as ninety-two-sixteen?"

"That is not possible. The system you have mentioned is one of the most heavily fortified systems in the Borg Collective. Such a thing is not possible."

"Perhaps. Would it surprise you to know that your fellow Borg fled the battle? That not only did we win the fight for this system, but that we captured the Nexus intact? And the shipyards. And the transwarp hub complex? And, more importantly, your successor?"

As Mulder uttered those last few words, the wall that had been to the first Borg Queen's left side withdrew from its place to reveal another cell. A cell with a Borg Queen.

"My successor, I presume."

"She is that. Though aside from threats and as yet empty promises of retaliation, she has not been at all forthcoming in terms of conversation."

Mulder left the room and walked to the security office where he would observe the interactions, if any, between one Queen and another.

"The human said our drones fled the battle. Is this true?"

"It is."

"As a Borg Queen, you should ordered them to fight to the end. Our way is not to flee."

"You have been out of touch with the Collective. These human vermin have taken control of the entire Beta quadrant. Their allies have struck at our holdings in the Gamma quadrant, and pushed our borders back to the Delta quadrant. We are fighting a war on multiple fronts. They have taken thousands of our worlds and liberated untold trillions of drones. We have had to resurrect an old ship design to offset our losses in drones."

"The Assimilator?"

"Correct."

"If that ship is once again in our ranks then I fear our losses must be severe."

"They are. I feel I must confess that we were not ready for this sort of response to your failed attempt to assimilate the Federation home world."

"Nor did I anticipate this sort of response. They have fought us before and they always seem to win, but on those earlier occasions, it was always only one Cube sent to their space. My plan should have worked."

Mulder walked back into the brig at this point in the conversation. He was joined by Marius and Tok'Ra, who chose to remain invisible to the Borg for the moment.

"Your Highness, even you should realize that no battle plan survives the first moments of combat. You could have planned for years and choreographed the events to an ultimate precision, but it still would have done you no good."

"Admiral Marius. You have chosen to take over this interrogation from the one who claims to be a member of Species zero-zero-three?"

"No. I am here merely as an observer. Have you explained to your fellow Regent, that myself and Major Mulder are members of the species you refer to as zero-zero-three?"

"No. It is an un-necessary falsehood."

"And what sort of evidence would you believe?"

"Admiral, Jameson."

"What is it, Mr. Jameson?"

"Sir, a report from the Federation engineering crew on the Nexus. This gate complex leads directly to what they are calling the First World of the Borg Collective."

"Excellent. Inform the fleet that this will be our next target."

"Aye sir. Jameson out."

"Tok'Ra? Do you recognize this planet?"

"Eetium, Marius. Hic qua videeum."

"The Place of Your Legacy. Euge."

The two Borg Queens had looks on their faces that could be considered atypical for them. One of them, the one who had been in captivity the longest, looked on with awe, while the newer captive looked on in astonishment. Floating between Admiral Marius and Major Mulder was this gaseous golden cloud. It had no discernable form yet it spoke and when it spoke, there was a definite intelligence behind the voice. If this were a trick of holography perpetrated by these pitiful humans, then Bravo, for it was well done. But if it were not a trick?

"Marius, I think our guests are speechless."

"I do believe you are correct in that, Mulder. What do you think of the Borg, Tok'Ra?"

"They are primitive, Marius. True that they appear more advanced than the Tau'ri and the Federation, but by comparison to my fellow Ancients, they are as backwards as some of the races that your fellows in the SGC have encountered in their travels. They do innovate. They assimilate. They are no more than thieves, Marius. You must go there. You must take back what is rightfully the property of the Ancients. As our inheritors, these things belong to you and to the other Immortals."

"Ironic isn't it your Highness? You think of the Federation and her allies as primitives, yet in the eyes of our creators, you are primitives. We will go to this First World and we will take what is rightfully ours. And there is nothing you can do to stop us."

"Wait! What is that creature?"

"Egoo ani anqueetu. Abicierum Borg. Borg derentius. Borg feggus. Perennial adventus, Borg."

"We do not understand this language. Human. Translate!"

"Hehehe. Of course, Your Highness. 'I am the Ancient. Give it up, Borg. The Borg are insane. The Borg are finished. Catastrophe is approaching you, Borg'."

With that, Marius and Mulder left the room while the gaseous entity that was Tok'Ra seemed to stare at the two Borg Queens before disappearing into nothingness.

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The mold was set. The target was declared and the probes launched to that system. Early data indicated several thousand Borg cubes in the system, along with tens of thousands of defense platforms. More than seventy percent of those platforms were of Borg manufacture, but the remainder were responding to the sensor pinging. And there were other devices in the system responding to the pings as well. After a brief consultation with Tok'Ra, a plan began to take shape. He asked for a strategy planning session and for representatives from each of the races presently in the system.

It was a most unique meeting. Gul Tinkar of the Cardassian Empire. Chancellor Martok of the Klingon Empire. Admiral Sela of the Romulan Empire. Admiral Janeway of the Federation. Colonel Starbuck of Colonial Mars. Lieutenant Phillipson of Immortal Luna. Alyt Merann of the Minbari. Captain Carn Mollari of the Centauri. Theirs was an unenviable task; to create a strategy that would decimate the Borg in one final blow by taking from them the First World, the outpost of the Ancients. Hic qua videeum. The Place of Our Legacy.

"With an exact map of the local space, we can use a technique the Minbari mastered in warfare. The vortex created by a jump point can incinerate any ship that happens to be caught in it as it forms. With another ship sending coordinates, we can use this to a great effect."

"Excellent Merann. We can use the ships already in the system to paint the targets to allow the ships still in hyperspace to jump in at the precise point."

"Paint the targets? How do you mean paint the targets, Alexander?"

"My apologies, Tinkar. Painting the target means to illuminate it with a sensor beam. I propose to send in the Halsey first, with her cruiser escorts. Once they send the attack signal, the first ships will jump in from hyperspace, taking out the targeted ships. Then we'll turn the defense platforms against them and use them to take out as many ships or Borg platforms as possible."

"This sounds like the beginnings of a workable plan. But what of the other platforms found in the target system?"

"Ah yes. Those are hidden in small folds in what Tok'Ra calls dimensional space, but we believe that to be what the Federation calls subspace. These are not weapons platforms. They are repair and refueling stations that were once used by the Ancients to stage patrols in their system. We will use those platforms to stage one squadron per platform. It sounds like a small number of fighters, but there is a method to our madness.

"Three fighters will be of the Mustang variety with the remainder of the squadron made up of Thunderbolts. The Thunderbolts will be there as escorts for the F-302s. Those Mustang fighters will be carrying four missiles, two per wing. Shipwreck missiles. SS-N-19s. Naquadah enhanced anti-matter warheads with an explosive equivalent of one gigaton. From the probe data we have identified several targets that if taken out in the first moments of battle will decide who wins and who gets assimilated. Our task, therefore, is to take out these targets as quickly as possible. There are four platforms where we will stage the attack squadrons."

While the meetings regarding strategy ran on and on, others were working hard to repair the damages done in the most recent battle. There were now three full fleets in the region, with two more on the way.

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Brig, AIS Halsey

There was no interrogator in the room, but the two Queens were monitored all the time. The Queen who had been in residence the longest had already come to a particular conclusion. The younger Queen would reach that conclusion in a few minutes. But it was the same conclusion that they reached. If they were to save the Collective to which they were responsible, then they would need to do something heretofore unthinkable. They would need to alter their way of thinking. But change is something that is difficult at best to achieve. Though neither of the two had ever heard of a Tau'ri by name of Machiavelli, they both recognized something fundamental, that there is nothing more difficult to accomplish, nor more dubious of success, nor more dangerous to achieve than to initiate a new order of things. Though perhaps they had already realized this evident truth.

In any case, it would soon prove a moot point. The four special attack squadrons had launched four hours previously and were approaching a point one light-hour from the target using the ShipGate network. From there, they would use Goa'uld cloaking devices to sneak into position on the platforms. The fleets were in hyperspace in the target system and were waiting for the Halsey to make her appearance. The Halsey and her escorts would paint as many targets as possible for the incoming fleet to destroy with the jump point vortices. But for this final mission in this universe, Marius agreed with Mulder. The two Borg Queens would be on the bridge.

"Welcome your Highnesses, welcome. I trust you understand the need for restraints to your persons whilst you are on my bridge?"

"We would do no less, human."

"I'm glad you understand. Do you know where we are?"

"Your ship is in a transwarp conduit."

"Actually, what you call a transwarp conduit the Ancients called the Gate Network. Your Collective has taken the technologies from what you call the First World and perverted them. The Ancients came to this place hundreds of millennia ago to explore, but troubles in their home system forced them to leave here. Now, they have returned to reclaim what is rightfully theirs. And we will do so very, very soon."

"The Collective will not allow this to happen."

"Your Collective will have no choice in the matter."

The view screens aboard the Halsey showed the conduit in all its ancient glory. The sensation of movement was almost negligible, yet the Halsey was traversing two hundred and fifty light years every minute. And as suddenly as their journey had begun, it was time.

"Admiral, we are approaching the exit point."

"Very well. Disengage Hyperdrive. All stations, this is the bridge. Red alert."

The Halsey emerged from the transwarp conduit in the middle of the system and Borg Cubes, large and small, moved quickly to surround the vessel. The eight battlecruisers detached from the Halsey and took up escort positions. The two WhiteStar heavy cruisers flew along side the Halsey, their weapons ready to incinerate any ship that came near. The Borg started things off with their standard greeting.

"UNIDENTIFIED VESSELS. YOU HAVE ENTERED BORG SPACE. STAND DOWN YOUR WEAPONS AND POWER DOWN YOUR SHIELDS. YOUR BIOLOGICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL DISTINCTIVENESSES WILL BE ADDED TO OUR OWN. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE. YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED."

"Borg vessels. Ya know, y'all really need to change your greeting. It can get quite old really fast. I have two people here who wish to say hello. Jameson, widen transmitted image."

The newly raised Borg Queen looked upon the image being transmitted from this large vessel in Borg space. Standing on either side of the inferior human were not one, but two Borg Queens. The one who had been sent to Federation space, and the one who had let system 9216 fall. This in of itself, was an unexpected event.

On the command deck of the Halsey, Marius gave the order for phase one of the attack. A signal was sent to the four squadrons on the periphery of the system, and they started their attack runs. And on the Halsey, her eight battlecruiser escorts and two heavy cruiser escorts, the targeting beams began painting the Borg vessels. The fighters would advance to a specific point and await the final go order, just as the ships waiting in hyperspace were awaiting their own go order.

"UNIDENTIFIED VESSEL. YOU WILL RELEASE THE QUEENS. DO THIS AND WE WILL ALLOW YOU TO LEAVE THIS SPACE UNMOLESTED."

"I'm afraid you still don't understand, Borg vessel. We have no desire to release these Queens to your custody. The planet below us is ours. We have come to reclaim what is ours. Surrender or be destroyed."

"THE PLANET BELOW IS THE FIRST WORLD. WE WILL NOT SURRENDER."

"Weps, send the control codes for the platforms."

"Tactical, deploy gun platforms. Stand by to deploy fighter squadrons."

"Mr. Jameson. Transmit go order to special attack squadrons. Time the detonations to coincide with special attack."

"Aye sir. Transmitting go codes now. Sensor officer, paint as many targets as possible. Order all escorts to comply."

"Affirmative."

From four positions in the system, the fighters launched the missiles. Forty-eight missiles were visible for a split second before they phase shifted. The F-302s, their ordinance expended, pulled about and made high speed runs to the Halsey, to re-arm and refuel. Just as the missiles impacted their targets, space around the Borg fleet opened up in dozens of blue portals. Where the vortices opened, Borg vessels were ravaged by unimaginable energies and ripped to shreds.

The Borg Nexus behind the fleet and in stationary orbit over the planet flashed as twelve naquadah enhanced Shipwreck missiles impacted on the superstructure of the station. When the flash had subsided, the largest pieces of the Nexus could be measured in inches. At the Borg shipyards in orbit around the second moon nearest the planet, another twelve naquadah enhanced Shipwreck missiles impacted in a diagonal spread across the shipyard, with each explosion feeding into the next. When that subsided, the shipyards and the vessels they had been servicing, were no more.

The remaining twenty-four missiles were targeted at the largest Borg Cubes seen to date. They were, in the words of the elder Borg Queen on the Halsey, Heavy Tactical Cubes, completely encased in external armor. From the spy probes they had sent to the system weeks before, the Allied fleet had observed eight of these new Cubes. There were more in the system now than just eight, but that was beyond the control of the Allied fleet. Three missiles were targeted at each Cube. The missiles began impacting their targets and their were bright flashes as naquadah mixed with anti-matter to fuel tremendous explosions. As the explosions subsided, the bridge crew of the Halsey sat in awe. The Cubes had survived their encounter, but there were large portions vaporized by the missiles.

Elsewhere, the defense platforms left by the Ancients had been subverted by the Halsey control codes and were turning their beam weapons against Borg controlled platforms. The defense platforms released by the Halsey began pouring out fire and torpedoes at a high rate of speed at the nearer targets. As soon as the munitions of each platform had been expended, those same platforms rammed into the nearest Borg vessel, expending what was left of their fuel in fiery explosions. The corvettes were turning their multiple torpedo launchers towards the bulk of the Borg fleet and firing four round groups of fusion missiles. They were also turning their heavy guns to bear on the larger Borg Tactical Cubes and pouring out a steady stream of phaser fire in a constantly rotating frequency. It was having a limited effect.

The armored Cubes were now being painted by targeting beams from the Halsey and then space opened up again with several dozen more blue energy vortices. The combined effects from the missile strikes and the sheer amount of energy unleashed by the opening into hyperspace ripped into what was left of the Heavy Tactical Cubes, ripping them to shreds and spilling thousands of Borg drones into the cold hard vacuum of space.

The ships that had just come through the jump point vortices now added their own targeting beams to the hundreds of targets in the system, and a new wave of jump points formed. The Normandy came through the jump point, incinerating one target and firing all of her guns at the numerous Borg Interceptors in her immediate area. The impacts from the heavy pulsar cannons, the heavy ion cannons, and the Vorlon and Shadow cannons eviscerated the small Interceptors surrounding her normal space insertion point.

More targeting beams and more jump points. More ships to add more targeting beams and more jump points. It was chaos for the Borg. The sheer amount of energy necessary to tear open a hole in space was something the Borg couldn't defend against. More and more Borg ships fell to this new type of attack. Until, at last, they realized their fate.

"ENOUGH! UNIDENTIFIED VESSELS. WE ARE STANDING DOWN OUR WEAPONS."

"Halsey to fleet. Stand down, but remain at red alert."

"Halsey to Borg Queen. What are your intentions?"

"VESSEL HALSEY. WE WISH TO UNDERSTAND YOUR CLAIM TO THIS SYSTEM. YOU WILL MEET WITH ME."

"Borg Queen. Lower your shields so that I might beam aboard. I will bring three aides with me."

"AGREED."

"Methos, you have the conn. Keep a target lock on myself and my team. Beam us out of there if things go to hell."

"I hope you know what you're doing, Marius."

"Amen, brother."

When the sensory officer confirmed the lowering of shields on the Queen's Diamond, the Halsey beamed over the away team. Marius was accompanied by Alison, Kyra, and Reagan. They stood behind him, swords drawn, in defense of their President. The Borg Queen, for her part, stood in front of Marius. Her own bodyguards surrounded them, weapons drawn in defense of their Queen.

"Explain your claim to this system."

"This system was home to the race you refer to as Species zero-zero-three."

"That is correct."

"Among the technologies you have laid claim to that were on this world, are technologies zero-one-seven-eight and seven-nine."

"That is also correct."

"There are other technologies here that belonged to and were created by Species zero-zero-three."

"Correct."

"Do you agree that those items and that this world were the property of Species zero-zero-three?"

"They were. That species was no longer here when the Borg encountered this world. We laid claim to it after the defense platforms in this system destroyed over a thousand exploratory Cubes. Obviously the fact that this system was so well guarded intrigued the Collective and this world was taken.

"And if a member of Species zero-zero-three were to appear, would you concede that they would have a hereditary claim to this system."

"As all members of that race long ago left this system and moved on, the event you speak of is improbable."

"But if it were possible, would you concede the claim."

"No. But it would give that creature a position from which to bargain. You have no such claim."

"On the contrary, your Majesty, I do have such a claim. Myself and my three companions are members of Species zero-zero-three."

"Impossible! You are five-six-one-eight! You are Human! You can not be perfection. You are flawed!"

"You're right. I am flawed. I am far from perfect. But I am Immortal."

"LIES! SEIZE THEM!"

Around the four person group that was Marius and his escorts, a gaseous cloud suddenly appeared. It was golden in color and it encompassed the four Immortals, preventing the nearby Borg drones from reaching them.

"STOP! I will not permit you primitives to harm my children!"

"WHAT ARE YOU?"

"Egoo ani Anqueetu. I am an Ancient. These are my children. You, Borg, are flawed creatures. You can never achieve what was a natural course of evolution for the Ancients. The First Ones, the Progenitors saw to this when they seeded the universe with their genetic code. The genetic predisposition towards Immortality was removed from all of the genetic code they seeded here. Immortality is not achievable by you. Accept it. You strive for perfection in a universe where none exists. The only thing you have succeeded in doing is turning the Borg Collective into the most hated species in the universe. You are, in the words of one of my children, genocidal sociopaths.

"YOU ARE NON-CORPOREAL. YOU HAVE NO NEED FOR THESE TECHNOLOGIES. WE HAVE NEED FOR THESE TECHNOLOGIES. THEY ENABLE US TO COME A STEP CLOSER TO OUR GOAL."

"You would deny my children these technologies which rightfully belong to them?"

"WE WILL CEDE ACCESS TO THESE TECHNOLOGIES ONLY TO A CORPOREAL EXAMPLE OF SPECIES ZERO-ZERO-THREE. WE WILL NEGOTIATE ONLY WITH A CORPOREAL ZERO-ZERO-THREE."

Marius touched the link on the back of his wrist and called the Halsey.

"Methos, I need you and Jack here. ASAP."

"We've been monitoring the channel. We're on our way."

----------------------------------------

On the bridge of the Federation Sovereign class Voyager-A, there was a brilliant flash of light. Before Captain Chakotay or anyone else on the bridge could react, Admiral Janeway had been grabbed by Q.

"Hello Kathy. I trust all is well?"

"I wondered when you would turn up Q."

"I am here on behalf of the Q Continuum. Now that the Ancient has revealed himself to the Borg, the Q will be stepping in to act as a neutral arbitrator."

"I didn't think the Q would ever intervene in the affairs of us lesser beings, Q."

"Because the Borg have taken technologies belonging to the Ancients, and because those technologies have enabled them to advance much further than they would have naturally, the Q have decided to intervene at this point in time."

Q snapped his fingers and the bridge of Voyager reappeared beneath Janeway's feet. Chakotay moved to her side as did Seven from the other side. The three of them were caught up in the next snap of Q's fingers. Another snap and O'Neill, Methos, and Marius disappeared from the Borg ship. Still another snap and the three Borg Queens disappeared from their positions on the Borg Diamond and on the bridge of the Halsey, only to reappear in a place unfamiliar to any of them. There were more flashes of light on various bridges of numerous ships. When the light receded, there were several others seated in what appeared to one and all as a viewing area. While those in the viewing area could see and hear what was to come, they could not interfere in the proceedings.

Janeway was seated at a table, curved along the front, with Chakotay and Annika seated to either side and slightly behind her. At a table opposite her were the three Borg Queens. Between the two was a third table, also inwardly curved along the front where Colonel Jack O'Neill was seated with Methos and Marius seated to either side and slightly behind him. Opposite him sat Q on what looked like a throne.

"Greetings to one and all. I am Q. Do not bother attempting to contact your vessels. They will never notice you missing. This is a conveniently located parallel dimension suitable to our needs. Time here has no meaning. Though time may seem to move for you here, your comrades will not notice the passage of time. When this arbitrage is completed and you return to your respective domains, no time will have passed."

"WHAT IS THIS PLACE? WHY HAVE YOU BROUGHT US HERE?"

"Borg Queen, obviously you were not paying attention. You have been brought here by the Continuum to settle this matter of stolen technologies."

"THOSE TECHNOLOGIES AND THIS WORLD ARE THE PROPERTY OF THE BORG COLLECTIVE. THERE IS NOTHING TO SETTLE. THE NON-CORPOREAL BEING THAT CLAIMS TO BE A MEMBER OF SPECIES ZERO-ZERO-THREE HAS NOT PRODUCED THE CORPOREAL MEMBER OF THEIR SPECIES AS WAS REQUESTED."

"They did. You just were not paying attention. Primitive race that you are, you claim to be seeking perfection. If there is anything perfect in this galaxy, it is the Ancients. Flawed though they may be, they are what you seek. Yet it is the one thing you can never hope to achieve, biological perfection. The gene sequence that permits Immortality has been stripped out of every species in the galaxy. The Progenitors saw to it that this be the case. The Ancients were informed of this, such was the reason they left here. The Q were informed of this, and for this reason we have endeavored to keep the status quo in terms of genetic development. But allow me some latitude to demonstrate for the parties to this case the three possibilities that exist as a result of your war."

It seemed as though a screen came up all around the four tables, but it could better be described as a holographic environment. The scene showed the planet below and the fleets in attendance. There was a flash of light near a Federation Steamrunner class starship as several pulsating beacons were ejected at a very high rate of speed. The pulsing beacons made straight for the planet where they entered the atmosphere in an indiscernible pattern before striking the ground and penetrating to some extreme depth and then exploding. The planet almost seemed to stop rotating for an instant before it bulged outward and exploded into countless thousands of fragments each no bigger than a standard basketball.

The Borg reacted quickly to this attack and attacked all of the ships in the system. Blue vortices opened up, taking more and more Borg vessels, but the Borg had the numbers on their side. Here and there, they captured Federation vessels, turning these ships against others in the Allied fleet. The AIS strike carrier and her escorts were taking a beating. In a bright flash of an explosion, the shields surrounding the Halsey failed and the Borg poured dozens of torpedoes into the ship. Large chunks of the ship went flying off the Halsey even as her escorts rushed in to aid their stricken comrade. The first to go was the Cydonia, named for the plain on Mars where the Colonial colony had been established. The shockwave from the exploding liquid naquadah engine enveloped the O'Neill, a WhiteStar class heavy cruiser, and six Borg Spheres that had been attacking the cruiser.

The Halsey was giving as much as it took. A lucky strike by a Borg torpedo launched from a captured Steamrunner, sliced the port deployment pod off the carrier at the docking ports, spilling atmosphere and soldiers into the cold hardness of space. An order was given, and the remaining ships of the Allied fleet escaped into hyperspace, with the Halsey buying time for the escaping fleet. Four battlecruisers and the remaining WhiteStar made the jump taking what remained of the fighter squadrons. The Normandy and the Nightingale remained behind to lend their support to the Halsey. The Centaurum could neither make the jump nor lend any fire support. The bridge of that ship had been struck and she drifted lifelessly on the field of battle. Scylla made the jump, but Charybdis lay dark and lifeless, adrift in space.

Marius, Methos, and O'Neill watched as the Borg regrouped and began pouring heavy fire into the Halsey and her remaining escorts. One by one, the escorts fell. The Halsey's outer armor had been stripped away and the Borg cubes were carving up the carrier like a butcher working on a side of beef. Then the screen blanked for an instant.

The next scene showed a vastly different Borg armada headed towards sector zero-zero-one. The Federation and her allies and what remained of the AIS fleet did their best to hold the line, but lost. The battle was short and quick, with Vorlon cannons and Shadow beams tearing into the allied fleet, ripping ships apart and devastating the defense fleet. Everywhere, there were QSG equipped torpedoes entering Allied ships and exploding them from within. In a time span of less than ten minutes, the Allied fleet lay in ruins, and the Borg were beaming down to the surface of the Earth. The scene advanced rather quickly at that point, showing the Borgification of Earth first, followed by the major then minor member worlds of the Federation.

With the Federation under their control, and the industrial resources of over a thousand new worlds at their disposal, the Borg advanced quickly, taking Romulus, Quo'nos, and Cardassia Prime. The Dominion put up a token resistance before the Borg incinerated the world where the Founders lived, turning them and their world into ash. The Borg were unstoppable. In less than two standard Earth years, the Borg had taken control of the entire Milky Way Galaxy using the transwarp network and hyperspace.

Then came what neither the Tau'ri, the Federation, or the Q wanted. A Borg vessel using a dimensional gateway and establishing footholds in galaxies where there was no race of sufficient power to stop them. It was a future that made the Borg in the room drool with anticipation and made the other humans in the room sick with dread. The Continuum in general, felt nothing, but Q the Judge felt the distress emanated by his son as he watched 'Aunt Kathy' become a Borg.

"That is one possible future that can occur as a result of events at this temporal juncture. What follows is another."

It was an almost identical scene to the one before. A Steamrunner launching several torpedoes at the planet below and the subsequent explosion of said planet. The Borg attacked hard and fast, but lost the battle rather than winning it as they had in the previous event. The Allied fleet went on to win battle after battle and skirmish after skirmish, until the final Borg outpost had been obliterated. The Allied fleet returned home, battered, and smaller than when they had set out, but victorious.

The Halsey had suffered such a high rate of personnel loss over the course of the four year war with the Borg, that it was almost entirely crewed by Federation personnel. When the Halsey pulled up to the Federation station in Earth orbit, strike teams from the Federation boarded the ship and took control of it from the remaining Immortals and Tau'ri. The Federation had wanted wormhole technology ever since the Halsey had first appeared in their space, and with the majority of the Tau'ri crew now dead, they took the opportunity to take what they saw as necessary steps. Wormholes solved the Federation needs for extreme long distance travel. In a matter of years, the Federation had absorbed the remnants of the Klingon, Romulan, and Cardassian empires. A year after the last Cardassian outpost had been taken, the Dominion fell silent with the incineration of the Founders home world.

The next scene saw Federation exploration ships making the long jump via ShipGate to the nearest galaxy. They established a foothold in that new and unexplored area of the universe. More ships came, loaded with colonists for the new world, and with the raw materials needed to build a massive station and an elaborate set of shipyards. It was an uninhabited system on the edge of a vast galactic empire. An empire that had been quite content to stay where they were and had no desire to leave their galaxy. But one of their exploration ships entered this foothold system and discovered the Federation ships. First Contact went badly and resulted in the destruction of the exploration vessel.

The last scene showed the Federation home world as a lifeless hunk of rock adrift in a lifeless system of planets. Large ships were crossing through Federation space with no one to oppose them. The major worlds of what had once been a power that had stretched across all four quadrants of the Milky Way, lay lifeless and dark. This enemy had been thorough. Not a trace of the works of man could be found on any world.

"That was a second possible run of events. The third, is entirely up to you. Though it may be true that there are an infinite number of possibilities in terms of possible outcomes, they all will end with either a Borg Universe, or with the Federation meeting its eventual doom at the hands of enemies far more insidious that the Borg."

The Borg seemed quiet and introspective for the moment, as did the Federation. Janeway was appalled at what her counterparts would do to get their hands on the technology to control wormholes. With one scenario, the Borg came out as the victors in a war, and with the second, the Federation came out on top only to fall to an enemy far more vicious than the Borg.

It was Jack O'Neill who spoke first.

"Well, wasn't that just something! On the one hand, we have the Borg over there who keep saying that resistance is futile. One the other hand, we have backstabbing Federation types who want what we have. Quite a pickle, ain't it? Maybe the time is right to strike a deal, yes?"

"SILLY HUMAN. WE WANT TO SPEAK WITH THE ANCIENT. NOT YOU."

"Well now, that's just too bad. Ya see, some years ago, Tok'Ra, in all his wisdom, slimed me. I became an Ancient when he passed through me in a sort of dimensional hug. He did it so that his son, Methos, would have a companion for eternity. Now, I'm not the kind of guy that looks a gift horse in the mouth, but what the hey? Immortality is all well and good, but I was so looking forward to dieing in my sleep a few decades from now."

"YOU EXPECT US TO BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE AN ANCIENT?"

"Silly pathetic Borg. He expects you to believe what is true and apparent especially to the Q. Though we believe the Ancients could have made a better choice than such a primitive human, I can see why they would choose him. His intellect puts to shame anything the Borg Collective could muster. The fact that his gray matter has previously held the sum total of knowledge as collected by the Ancients, leads the Continuum to believe that this version of the human species is far more advanced than their Federation cousins. Without a doubt, there exists none in the Federation who could have handled a download of that size and magnitude."

"Uhm thanks. I think. I'm not sure if I've just been insulted or not. You have a strange way of speaking Q. While I'm at it, where is M?"

"Such a sense of humor! If a bit twisted. I'm sorry, but M is the next dimension over. In any case, I for one, am eager to hear how an Ancient would solve this matter."

"Ha and ha. Is there a solution? Cause if there is, it's hard to see with all the rhetorical bullshit flying about. But here's what I think. First, the Borg, and just how in the hell did you come up with a name like that anyway? But as I was saying, first the Borg need to give up the techs that belong to the Ancients. They need to evacuate the world that was and is their outpost, and I mean evacuate completely. Then we'll go down and take back what is ours. The Borg must completely wipe out any databanks that have information regarding the Ancients technologies.

"Second, the Federation and the Borg need to sit down at a table and discuss their differences. Maybe the AIS can mediate a peace treaty that would be beneficial to both parties.

"Then, we can leave this place and leave you to your lives. That's all I have to say on this."

"Wise words, oh Ancient. It would behoove the Borg and the Federation to listen to them."

"Question for ya Q, if I may? Can the Q insure that all of the knowledge of the Ancients is purged from the Borg computers? Can you make them forget they ever encountered such tech?"

"It is a grandiose task you request, but if they agree to the first and second stipulations, then we will make sure that all such knowledge is removed from this dimension."

"Thanks. So what do you say? Are you two willing?"

"The Federation is willing to negotiate."

"The Borg are also willing to negotiate. We will not, however, give up those technologies. We will order the evacuation of the planet below."

"Well, that's a start."

Q allowed the parties present to communicate with their respective ships. A general stand down from open warfare was ordered by the Allied fleet as well as by the Borg. Borg vessels in orbit around the planet began beaming up the inhabitants in large numbers. It would take time, but the planet would soon be empty of life. Marius took the time to pass along an order to Alex to send a team down to the planet. A team that should include Major Carter, so that she could ensure the Ancient's technologies were retrieved. He also ordered Alex to take anything and everything on the planet that looked remotely important, and even those items that looked exceedingly ordinary.

Here and there, on the holographic screens present in the room, Federation shuttles flitted to and fro, picking up escape pods. The Borg were using this lull to re-position their ships, and the Federation was doing the same. Damaged ships were sent to the rear of the fleet, and those that were fully operational or nearly so, were moved to the front and flanks of the fleet spearhead. Crews on the Halsey were busily putting spare shield generators into operation, trying to bring at least some shield coverage to the most critical areas of the ship.

"Ok, well that's a start. Now we just need to hear what both sides want to offer to the other, or demand of each other. Q? How should we do this? Draw straws? Flip a coin? How do we determine who speaks first?"

"Since we are presently located in Borg space, what say we allow the Borg to speak first?"

"Sounds good to me. Borg Queen? You're up first."

"Ancient one. The Humans are fortunate to have you as their leader."

"Wrong on that one, Borg. I'm not their leader. I'm just a cog in the military chain of command. I answer to a civilian leadership."

"But you speak for them here?"

"What do you say, Admiral? Can I speak for you? I'll put you in for a commendation? Come on, what do you say?"

"Sure. Why not."

"Well then. I guess I speak for the Tau'ri on this matter. But I don't speak for the Federation. That's a whole other can of worms."

"You have a most peculiar sense of humor, Ancient one."

"Quit calling me that. Makes me feel real old."

"Very well. What is your designation?"

"My name is Jack O'Neill. I'm a Colonel in the United States Air Force. Commanding officer of SG-1, and second in command for the SGC."

"O'Neill. We shall use that designation, if that is allowable."

"Fine by me."

"We shall begin with the history of the Borg. Five thousand years ago, the first one was created. Species zero-zero-one were both the creators and the first race we assimilated. They were an advanced race that wanted to explore the far reaches of the Galaxy. But they could not. An accident rendered most of the home world of species 001 uninhabitable. They were already experimenting with cybernetic organisms. A scientist took the opportunity to meld the inanimate with the organic. The result was what the Federation would call a cybernetic organism, or cyborg. The programmed mandates have always been the same. Seek perfection. Assimilate all. With the passage of time, the name was shortened to Borg. But we were still limited to our home system.

"Decades passed before we made contact with another race. We took from them, the ability to travel the stars. For many more decades, we built up our first fleets, and explored the space immediately around our home system. Then we came to this world beneath us. Our first scout ship, primitive by our standards today, was obliterated upon entering the system. It sent a distress call which was answered by one of our larger battleships. Upon entering the system, it too was destroyed. We named the species there, though as yet unseen, Species zero-zero-three.

"Over the centuries that followed, we sent more and more ships to explore other systems, eventually encountering Species one-five-nine, from which we obtained the secret of nanotechnology. With this new science, we remade ourselves into what we are today. But still, the assimilation into our confederation of worlds was lacking Species 003. We made more attempts, but all failed. In the years since we finally assimilated that planet, no other species had been as resistant to assimilation, until we encountered the Federation.

"It wasn't until the Collective had assimilated its thousandth species that we were able to withstand the defenses in this system. We subdued the defensive systems and landed on the planet below to find it empty of any life. It was a conundrum that vexed us. Two more centuries passed before we could decipher the writings on the walls there. And two more still before we could begin to understand that the species here had not died as we had first thought, but rather, they had left. We also discovered that they were Immortal, that they could live forever. This became our goal, to be like them, to become them. We were programmed to seek perfection. The Borg equated perfection with Immortality. It became the very ideal to which all Borg have since aspired; Immortality. Perfection."

"And of course, you wanted all species to share in that Immortality bit, right? Well let me tell you that it's not all that it's cracked up to be. Living forever sounds well and good, but my two friends here tell me it's a real downer."

"But how can this not be a most excellent thing to pursue?"

"Adam? You want to answer that?"

"Thanks Jack. So you think Immortality is perfection? Never having to face death, never growing old. Living for eternity. You think this is perfection? Think again. For a mortal human, becoming an artist is a life choice. For an Immortal, that's just a hobby to help pass the years. In my lifetime, I've had many, many wives. I've been a slave owner. I've been a slave. I've raised dozens of children, but I can not have any of my own. No Immortal can. I've outlived every one of my wives. Knowing that their lives are but flickers in our own, how can an Immortal take a mortal wife? Because the years are far too long to be that lonely. Ours is a solitary existence. Fear. Paranoia. Terror. We experience these as much as any mere mortal. Why? You want to know why we experience these symptoms? Because of who we are. Mortals tend to want to categorize everything. Place things and people into neat little cubbyholes. Unfortunately, Immortals don't fit nicely into that perfect world in their minds. If you seriously think Immortality is perfection, then I have serious doubts about the sanity of your race."

"Thanks Adam. Couldn't have said it better myself."

"It's the truth Jack."

"Your son is wise, Tok'Ra. Much of what he stated can be the same for the Continuum. We are long lived, true. But the one difference between us, is that we can have children."

"IF IMMORTALITY IS NOT PERFECTION, THEN WHAT IS PERFECTION?"

"Perfection is a state of mind, oh Queens of the Borg. Perfection is in the eye of the beholder. Perfection is to you what something full of flaws is to me. A person's perspective changes the image of perfection. There is no such thing as perfection because every person's ideal of perfection is different."

It was as if an imaginary hand had slapped the three Queens of the Borg, hard. The recognition of the truth as they now saw it. The sudden insight plainly evident on their faces. The moment when they realized that perfection was unreachable and unattainable. It was a sobering moment of gestalt.

"IF PERFECTION IS WHAT ONE MAKES OF IT, THEN HOW DO WE STOP SEEKING IT?"

"Quit. Cold turkey. I don't think there is any substitution therapy for this one. But here's a few ideas. First, make amends for everything you've done in the name of perfection. Second, and this ties in to the first, allow all of the drones in the Collective to undergo the de-Borgification process. After a period of five years as a normal being, if they so choose, they may re-join the Borg, but by then you'll no longer be a Collective in the sense you are today."

"EXPLAIN."

"I think the Federation have shown that your former Borg drones, once stripped of all their cybernetic accoutrements, can function as individuals. Lieutenant Commander Hansen is an example of that. In order to make amends for all the criminal actions the Collective has taken over the centuries, you must release all but one-hundredth of one percent of your drones. Under this plan, you will retain a very small number of drones, but you will cease to be a matriarchal dictatorship. Perhaps you should review the various forms of government and choose one that will enable you to make the most progress in the least amount of time.

"Third, the Collective will immediately mothball ninety percent of the vessels under their control. These mothballed ships will eventually either be salvaged for their materials, or added to the Allied fleet for peace-keeping duties. The Collective will retain ten percent of the total number of vessels as a local defense force.

"Fourth, the remaining members of the Collective will assist the newly liberated former Borg worlds in their de-assimilation. The Collective will provide aid to those worlds, in conjunction with the Federation in assisting those former Borg worlds in becoming independent.

"Fifth, you will turn over any and all technologies the Borg or the Collective found both on the planet below, and in this system in general. You will erase every trace of data regarding these technologies from your archives; all of your archives. Then, and only when we are sure that no trace of these technologies remain, will we do what is necessary and destroy the world beneath us.

"Finally, should any former Borg world, once it becomes independent and is capable of supporting interstellar trade decide that it wants to join the Federation as a member world then it shall be allowed to do so, provided it undergoes whatever procedure the Federation has in place for normal membership requests. If that former Borg world decides to re-join the Collective then it will be allowed to do so.

"What do you say, Q? Think this plan of mine will work?"

"For a primitive human, even a newly minted Ancient, you seem to have come up with a bold and far reaching plan. One that will be difficult at best to implement. Have anything to add, Kathy?"

"The Federation wishes only for peaceful relations with our neighbors. Warfare is always a last resort. While it is true that Federation history is rife with wars, and while true that Earth history itself is colored with numerous wars, it is also true that we of the Federation are trying to move forward and learn from our past mistakes. Unlike the Tau'ri, we do not respond to unknown situations with gunfire. They are shining examples of the type of barbarians our ancestors were once like. There is no place for them in our universe. There is no place for them anywhere."

"Lady, you are so full of shit your eyes are brown! The only reason you are even here is because there are men and women like myself who are willing to lay down their lives so that you can go about your peace loving ignorant life. You are alive today because there were men and women in your history like myself that stood watch along a fence line or in a tower to preserve your way of life. If they could see you know, these ancestors, I'm sure they'd be spinning in their graves at what you have become. What you have now is probably the best example of an idealistic communistic society. All of you work together for the good of the state. Your society did away with money. Your society did away with capitalism. Your society did away with everything that makes Tau'ri society worth fighting for.

"I can't imagine any world where I would rather die by my own hand, than to live like a sheep."

"ENOUGH! It seems obvious, even to me as a Q, that these two examples of humanity originating from Earth, are very different from one another. Had there been an influence on the Federation Earth that the Tau'ri Earth had in the form of the Goa'uld, then perhaps the local version of humanity would be different. But they fought an atomic war and didn't make First Contact with an extra terrestrial species until 2063. On the other hand, the Tau'ri made first contact with an extra terrestrial species when that species went to the Tau'ri Earth sometime around 10,000 B.C. Janeway, you should feel safe in the knowledge that the war these Tau'ri are fighting has been on-going for at least twelve thousand of their years.

"If there are no other objections, then this treaty is concluded. The Q Continuum is taking a vested interest in these proceedings. We will make certain that all parties to this treaty adhere to the guidelines laid down here today. Any violation of this treaty will be met with swift reprisal by the Continuum. Is that clearly understood?"

"The Borg will comply."

"The Federation is in agreement."

"Sounds good to me. So, does this mean we can go home now?"

"Tok'Ra, you have fulfilled your promise to the Continuum. Your task here is complete."

"It is. I sincerely hope that the Continuum can do what it says it will. I trust that we are now, as the Tau'ri say, even."

"We are, Tok'Ra."

With a snap of his fingers, Q returned all of the parties to their ships of origin. The impact of the meeting was felt at once. The Borg stood down from their millennia long goal of perfection through assimilation and warfare. The Federation stood down from their attacks in Borg space. The Borg queens formed a new intermediate type of government. Instead of one person in charge, the three of them would take command as a triumvirate. It was a temporary stop gap measure until such time as the Federation could assist them in reforming their government. Fortunately, that was outside the purview of the Halsey.

"Mr. Jameson, damage reports, if you please."

"We gave as good as we got. Engines and shields are still down. We're down to minimal stores of trinium and naquadah. I've had the sensor officer looking for a world with these minerals, but no luck as yet. Lieutenant Phillipson reported all complete on the planet. They are conducting a quick search of the previously unopened Ancient's storage vaults looking for anything else that might be helpful. The Federation has started taking their crews back. It's going to leave us shorthanded and dramatically so."

"Very good, Mr. Jameson. Weapon's status?"

"Main guns are off-line. The control circuits melted in the battle. Ninety percent of the anti-fighter turrets were destroyed. The losses to our squadrons was heavy. Combined with the previous losses to our ground fighting forces, the Halsey will be hard pressed in any new battles."

"We will do what we can for now. First priority is engines and shields. Assign enough engineering crews to get those systems up as soon as possible. Then we'll worry about weapons. I'll be in my office. Adam, you have the bridge."

"Aye, Marius."

----------------------------------------

The losses in the air wing of the Halsey had been severe. There were three, perhaps four squadrons left intact. The fate of the fourth squadron was pending the completion of SAR operations still ongoing. But even if the SAR teams found all of the pilots alive, it would mean a severely crippled air wing. Their supplies were almost gone. Though it pained him to do so, he had very little choice but to contact the Federation for assistance in locating the mineral resources they needed.

"Comms, open a channel to the Ferengi station for me. I want to speak to the station master. Route it through to my office."

"Aye sir."

Federation or Ferengi. Which was the lesser of two evils?

"Channel open sir."

"Thank you."

"Admiral Marius I presume. I am Tog, station master of the Ferengi trade station. How can we mutually increase our profit today?"

"Greetings Tog. You are familiar with the minerals trinium and naquadah?"

"I have heard of these. You wish to place an order?"

"I do. How much do you have?"

"Enough to fill the storage pods on your impressive vessel four times over."

"Good. What would you like in return?"

"The secret of the gate network."

"The secret of the gate network. I see. Well, perhaps if you sweeten the deal, we can come to an arrangement?"

"I am told you also require a radioactive form of naquadah called naquadria? I have some of that available as well. Will that make our deal sweet enough?"

"Still a bit bitter for my tastes. You are aware of the fact that the Federation will not share certain technologies with us? They have provided us with what they have termed first generation anti-matter generators. They will not even allow us access to what their own historical databanks call the Cochrane drive. Perhaps if you add in the engineering schematics for this drive unit and for basic shields, along with the designs for photon torpedoes and phaser weapons, that will be sweet enough."

"That deal may now be too rich for me to complete."

"Well, perhaps this will help. Two engagements ago, our landing forces came across a series of vaults on a Borg world. We think perhaps these vaults were used by the former inhabitants to store precious metals, but my scientists have not been able to identify the liquid metal we found therein. The vaults were drained into barrels and these barrels were shipped up to the Nightingale. The science staff aboard the Halsey managed to identify the chemical structure. I don't know if our science is compatible with yours, but here's the formula. Let me know if you want it. If not, there might be something else I can add to the deal."

Tog looked at the screen with the chemical formula displayed on it. Had he been human he might have pinched himself!

"Admiral, I believe I do have a customer in mind for that liquid metal you have. Just how much are we talking about?"

"Well, as I said, we found it in the storage vaults of one of the Borg worlds we captured. The vaults were behind a heavy force field, and we figured it was something important, but all we found was enough of this liquid metal to fill twelve thousand barrels of this metal."

"Did you say twelve thousand? I shall have to contact the Grand Nagus to see if he has a customer for that much of this metal. As a show of good faith, I will transfer enough of the metals and minerals you require to effect repairs to, I believe the name of the vessel is, Normandy."

----------------------------------------

Stationmaster Tog was an average Ferengi, but even he knew that twelve thousand barrels of liquid latinum would upset the galactic economy to a degree unprecedented before today. So much latinum flooding the market would make that metal almost worthless. This was something way above his usual trade. He had no choice but to contact the Nagus.

"Tog! You shriveled up lump of beetle dung! Why are you contacting me on a secure frequency?"

"Grand Nagus, the Hew-man named Marius has made a request for some items. In return he has offered to pay with some liquid latinum that his people found on a conquered Borg world."

"And?"

"Twelve thousand barrels of it!"

"That much latinum entering the market would destabilize trade for decades! What is on his list of items?"

"Naquadah, naquadria, trinium, titanium. Some first generation Federation technology, including phase cannons, photonic torpedoes, the Cochrane drive, and shields so primitive even a child would laugh! They ask for this because the Federation will not give them anything. Their Prime Directive!"

"I see. What news of the front?"

"The Borg have surrendered!"

"Excellent! New markets and you are in the best place to build a monopoly! I will go there myself to oversee these negotiations. You will, of course, get a percentage of the deal."

"Thank you, Nagus."

----------------------------------------

"Bridge, this is the Admiral. The Ferengi will be making deliveries to us over the next several days. Use the materials as they become available to effect repairs to the Normandy. Put all engineering teams on the repairs. Have the remaining squadron leaders report to the officer's mess in thirty minutes. Ask SG-1 and Colonel Starbuck to attend as well."

"Aye sir. Bridge out."

----------------------------------------

Officer's Mess

"Ladies and gentlemen, we seem to have a problem. I've seen the casualty lists, and as much as I hate to do this, I'm standing down from flight operations effective immediately. We just don't have the pilots available to bring our forces back up to full strength. With the war against the Borg now over, the Federation have recalled their flight crews from the Halsey and from our support vessels. Our ground forces have been decimated as well and we now have only one combined forces unit as opposed to the two units we started out with."

"Sir, I have an idea."

"The floor is yours Major Carter."

"If we can borrow the Federation Holoship, then we might be able to train new flight crews. At the very least we can train up a number of crews to boost our limited forces."

"Explain your concept Major. It was my impression that it took at least a year to train a crew for combat flight duties."

"Under normal circumstances it takes longer than that. But these aren't normal circumstances. With the inertial dampeners in our planes, the need to learn about techniques to combat high-gravity stress is not important. With the automation levels of our planes, the need for the crews to watch every single gauge and screen is obsolete. A highly trained crew would need to worry about that, but we don't have that luxury; to train them fully that is. So what I propose is to use the Holoship to create a virtual space combat game simulation, with progressively harder levels and more adaptive enemies. The ones that advance will be transitioned into real aircraft. The ones that don't will still have their regular duties."

"Ok. Anyone else have any ideas?"

"Take the existing squadrons and break them up. If we go with Major Carter's plan, then we need to have experienced squadron leaders at the helm of these rookies. Break up the existing squadrons and make the current pilots in to flight leaders."

"Excellent suggestion Starbuck!"

"Thank you sir. Just trying to do my bit."

"Anyone else?"

"I request permission to take nine of the best rated crews that will come out of Major Carter's new training program. I will take these nine crews and give them additional training as a precision strike force. I request the creation of a new fighter that can combine the firepower of an Al'kesh and the maneuverability of a Thunderbolt."

"A bold plan and a bold request, Teal'c. It is no wonder why you were ranked as First Prime. If that's all you have, then we go with Major Carter's plan. I'll make the request of the Federation for a limited time use of the Holoship. Major Carter, I'll need you to be ready the moment the ship arrives in local space."

"Aye sir."

"Anything else?"

"If we pull all fighters from the other ships in the fleet, then form up new squadrons, we could probably field at least one squadron per ship. It's not much, but for those ships that have lost their own squadrons, it's at least something."

"Good idea, Colonel. Take care of that will you?"

"Yeahsureyoubetcha!"

----------------------------------------

Four weeks later

Borg Space

System of the First World

It took the better part of a week for the Federation Holoship to arrive in the system and four full days and nights for Major Carter and her staff to program the holographic imaging systems with the desired combat simulation. Mid way through the second week, the first batch of potential recruits went through the simulation. It was advertised on every bulletin board aboard the Halsey. Anyone that wanted to could apply for the program. After a three hour introduction to the combat systems of the F-302, the recruits were let loose in individualized combat missions. The simulation was so real, that a few pilots got space sick in the first few moments of the program.

Of the first batch of ninety recruits, ten washed out as soon as they entered the simulation because of violent motion sickness. The remaining eighty advanced through the first few levels without much incident. The next phase of training put two planes in the same simulation as a way to show the pilots how to work together in combat. The recruits faced Jaffa pilots in Goa'uld Death Gliders, Federation Peregrine-class fighters, and their eventual flight leaders in Thunderbolts.

By the time the first week of training was complete, only forty crews had survived the crash course in flight instruction. These forty went on to the next level, while a new batch of three hundred went into the first phase. The second phase of training was in formation and squadron flight operations in the F-302. Here they put the new pilots through their paces, flying tight and loose formations, trying to build up a sense of teamwork and camaraderie, attempting to demonstrate to them the benefit of flying with a wingman or three. The veterans tried to show them flying tricks to use when faced with long odds, techniques that would keep them alive long enough to get help from another flight crew.

At the end of the third week of training, ten crews had been identified for Teal'c's special squadron. They transitioned from the F-302s to the Thunderbolt fighters with little difficulty. Teal'c put them through their paces, learning about atmospheric flight, how to use their nose cannon to the best effect, and strafing runs in support of ground troops.

The training program on the Holoship had worked to a good level of success with a full three hundred and ten flight crews surviving the training program, out of seven hundred that made the attempt.

The training was going exceptionally well, and morale was holding steady, so it was some surprise when Commander Roberts appeared in Marius' office.

"Commander Roberts. Is there a problem?"

"Maybe, sir. It seems that two of the SAS men aboard want to remain behind in this place. They claim they've fallen in love with a couple of local women. A Klingon female and a, uhm, Betazed female."

"Uhm, ok. So what's the usual procedure when military personnel decide to marry a local?"

"On Earth, the woman in question, women in this case, could apply for citizenship and emigrate to the homelands of their spouses, or the personnel in question can, if they have enough time in service, request separation from their units and stay in whatever country they found the woman of their dreams. But this is not that case. If they remain behind, odds are they'll never be able to return home. If their chosen women decide to come with us, there's no guarantee the men they've chosen will survive until we get home."

"There are no guarantees in life, Mr. Roberts. Who are these two soldiers?"

"Douglas and Robert MacShane."

"Brothers?"

"First cousins actually."

"I see. Well, bring them in to see me. I'd like to talk to them, find out their intentions before we contact the respective governments of the women involved."

"They're in your outer office, sir."

"Very well. Show them in Commander."

"Gentlemen, be at ease."

"Sir!"

"Commander Roberts tells me the two of you want to get married?"

"Aye sir! But not to each other, sir!"

"No, he did mention there are two women involved."

"Yes sir!"

"And what are your intentions, gentlemen?"

"We wish to be married sir!"

"I know that. I meant for afterwards. Do you wish to remain here, with no chance of ever seeing your families again? Or would you want your brides-to-be to join you on this ship and prevent them from ever seeing their families again?"

"We hadna thought about that, sahr."

"I thought as much. Where did you meet these women?"

"Morga served on the Halsey in the last battle. She was part of the Klingon detachment."

"Triessa was assigned to the Halsey as part of the medical staff sir."

"Just how serious are you two about getting hitched?"

"Quite serious sir. We know that the Halsey will be moving on soon. We wish to get married as soon as possible. Then we'll cross the next bridge when we come to it."

"Very well. I'll contact their respective governments and ask if they'll permit the marriages to take place."

"Thank you sir!"

"Go on. Git!"

----------------------------------------

"Comms officer, open a channel to Quo'nos One. I need to speak to Chancellor Martok."

"Aye sir. Channel open sir."

"Martok."

"Marius. I have received glowing reports from the Klingon detachment recently departed from your vessel concerning your man Alexander. The Klingon commander wishes to know if all of your race fight as well as he?"

"Alexander is like me, Chancellor. He is an Immortal. One can not have survived for centuries without knowing how to fight. But I shall pass along the praise. He had equally good things to say about your warriors. He told me that had he had even ten of your Klingons when he was in power so many centuries ago, he would have been even greater than he was. But that is not the point of this call."

"Oh? How may the Empire be of service to you this day?"

"It seems one of my men, an SAS Sergeant-Major by name of Robert MacShane, has fallen in love with one of the female Klingons that was stationed aboard the Halsey. Her name, I believe, is Morga. He has asked for my permission to allow them to marry. Ordinarily I would allow such a thing to happen, however, as we are not from this universe, it has made things a bit difficult. I am in need of your advice."

"Love is a strange thing, Marius. It can strengthen a man as well as cripple him. But why does this matter vex you so?"

"The marriage does not trouble me. It's what happens afterward that concerns me. Should he choose to remain here with his bride, he will never be able to return home. Should his bride choose to join him on the Halsey, the same will apply to her. More so, the Earth I am from is still fractured into nation-states. There are people on my Earth that would stop at nothing to experiment on an alien race. I know this, because they have attempted this very experimentation on me."

"I see. This is a matter I will discuss with Morga as soon as possible. But I feel that both she and her chosen mate will make the right decision for them."

"I wish I had your confidence, Chancellor."

----------------------------------------

"Comms officer, I need another channel opened. Admiral Janeway, if you please."

"Aye sir. Channel open sir."

"Admiral. I trust all is well?"

"As well as can be expected. It seems as though the Borg are holding up their end of the treaty quite well. They have released from the Collective several hundred worlds already. Federation aid teams are scrambling about trying to make contact with all of those worlds. I fear it will be a monumental task."

"But one that has been a long time in coming, no?"

"True. How goes the training program?"

"Quite well actually. At the end of this week, we will graduate three hundred and ten crews from the program. Major Carter tells me the holodeck simulations have worked far better than expected. Such a shame you won't trade that technology with us. But that is not the point of this call, I'm afraid."

"What seems to be the problem, Admiral?"

"One of my troopers, a Color-Sergeant by name of Douglas MacShane has fallen in love with one of the replacement medical personnel you sent over to us before the last engagement. She's a Betazed as I understand it. Triessa, I believe is the name. He has asked for permission to be married to her. Ordinarily I wouldn't have any problem with one of my crew asking for this, however, as we are from another universe, this presents a problem. Either he remains here with his bride and never return home, or she joins him and then she can never return home. Since she is a Federation citizen, I thought perhaps you might have a solution for me?"

"I will have to contact the Betazed home world to see if her family will permit this union. She is of the Eighth House. Her family is part of the ruling class there."

"I see. That might make things more difficult."

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. Admiral, I must ask something of you that is totally unrelated to this matter."

"By all means, go ahead."

"The Federation has been trying, for several decades, to create a technology that will allow us to form a directional wormhole. Then your ship appeared and while you are technologically less advanced than the Federation, you do possess the technology that we seek. I have been empowered by the Federation Council to obtain this technology. You have expressed an interest in our holographic technology. Is there anything else that you would like?"

"Weapons technology."

"I'm afraid we can't do that."

"Violation of your Prime Directive, yes?"

"That is correct."

"Does it still apply though we are from another universe?"

"It still applies."

"I see. How about medical technology, then?"

"Depends on what you have in mind?"

"Your EMH program is of interest to us, as are your standard medical tri-corders and other basic medical tech."

"But you can bring a person back from the dead. Why would you want something as simple as a dermal or bone regenerator?"

"Because the vast majority of Earth and Mars do no have access to our sarcophagi. These are extremely limited in number. In fact, the ones we have aboard the Halsey are on loan to us from Lord Yu. The sarcophagi also have a rather noticeable side effect. Prolonged or repeated exposure to the inner mechanisms affects the mind of the user, like a drug. We track usage of the device, and can not allow a person to use it more than ten times, or else risk severe psychotic episodes."

"I see. That could be a problem, the psychosis I mean. I shall transfer a medical instrument database to you, provided that is all you require?"

"One more thing. We would like your duo-tronic computer systems. Such a thing would mean reduced workloads for my crew. As we are operating at less than half-strength, we would definitely have a need for that."

"You realize that we can only give to you second generation equipment."

"Admiral, even second generation duo-tronic computer equipment is light years ahead of our computing systems."

"Very well. I shall ask Starfleet to send out enough equipment to retrofit your current systems aboard the Halsey. Beyond that, we will grant you the design schematics for creating more of the same for your other vessels."

"Very good. Then I believe we are in agreement. We'll transmit the specs of the wormhole devices as soon as the retrofit is completed?"

"That is acceptable. In the meantime, I will speak with Triessa, and with her family on Betazed."

"Thank you Admiral."

----------------------------------------

A few hours later

"Admiral, there's a Ferengi vessel wishing to dock. The Grand Nagus is aboard."

"Allow it to dock, then have the Nagus escorted to my offices."

"Aye sir."

----------------------------------------

"Grand Nagus. Welcome. I had not expected to see you again?"

"I would not have come here at all, but Stationmaster Tog tells me you have some liquid metal you wish to part ways with. I believe you know what it is?"

"I know that it's valuable. Very valuable. I know that releasing the amount I told Tog we had in our stores would destabilize most planetary economies. But in truth, Nagus, I have three times as much of this latinum as I told Tog."

"Three times as much? Oh my. Shall we begin negotiations?"

"Yes. Let us begin. You already know, of course, that the Federation will not trade any of their technology to us. I had hoped to come from this place with something I could use to fight our enemy at home, but they are being quite stubborn in their resolve."

"It has been my unfortunate experience as well, Admiral."

"Please, call me Marius."

"Rom. My name is Rom."

"Ok, Rom. Weapons technology is high on our priority list, but so are the materials necessary to effect repairs to our ships and bring our fighter squadrons back up to full strength. So let us begin there."

"Our shipyards have the patterns necessary to build any of the ships in your fleet. Any of the traditional ships that is. Unfortunately we can not build the organic hulls you also use."

"We'll build the organic hulls to fit over the standard armor of our ships. That's not a problem concerning this deal."

"Very good. What type of ships would you like for us to build? And how many of each?"

"Let's start with a second Nova-class dreadnought, with a full compliment of thirty-six fighters."

"That is not a problem for us."

"Ok. The Jeep-class carriers we asked the Federation to build for us worked exceptionally well. But in the war so recently fought, we lost almost all of them. How about we start with four of those."

"Not a problem. More?"

"Another ship like the Nightingale. Six more Olympus-class corvettes to replace the ones we've lost in battle. Two more of our Omega-class destroyers, and a pair of Hyperion-class heavy cruisers."

"At current market prices, that will cost you six thousand barrels of liquid latinum. Is there more on your order?"

"There's more. Tell me Rom, how do the races of this galaxy prepare a world for colonization?"

"I can not speak to the other races, but the Ferengi Alliance launches a colony ship towards a designated target. The ship carries terraforming arrays which can transform an uninhabited planet and make it ready to receive colonists. The ship will also carry enough supplies and equipment to supply the colony until it becomes self-sufficient."

"I see. What type of ship would that be?"

"It's a highly modified D'Kora-class transport. The D'Kora-class is the backbone of our fleet. It is available in many configurations. One of these is as a colony ship, with room for five hundred colonists and their equipment."

"Excellent. We'll add six of those to our order. We also need to replace a few of our shuttles. And we have need for a dedicated scout ship, and a dedicated freighter. What can you recommend along these lines?"

"The vessel you used as a carrier was originally a freighter. We can easily build a few more for you. As to a scout ship, there are several options. The Federation has a civilian version of the Oberth-class that we have the designs for. We can easily build these for you and you can arm them however you wish."

"What's the crew compliment of an Oberth?"

"The civilian model is eighty crew."

"Doesn't the Federation ever do anything small? No, I was thinking more along the lines of maybe a crew of five to ten."

"Then what you want is something more along the lines of what the Federation calls a Danube-class runabout. It is warp capable and can be crewed by as little as one person, though two is generally a better option. Weapons are up to you."

"What is the speed of the Danube?"

"The Federation Danube can run at a maximum warp speed of four point seven, but we can install a Ferengi warp drive and jump that to warp 7 or perhaps slightly better."

"And this brings my total to what now?"

"Eighteen thousand barrels. But you still have more, yes?"

"Yes."

"What else?"

"I think I have enough ships now. Let's look at personal equipment."

"Very well. The Ferengi maintain an extensive catalog of military and civilian equipment."

"Good. I'm sure you can meet all my needs then. First thing we need is to replenish all of our food stocks, and of course, to stock all of the new ships with food. Next, disruptor rifles or phaser rifles. Tanks. Shielded personnel carriers. Artillery units."

"Twenty-four thousand barrels."

"Holographic technology. Medical technology. Computer technology. Replicator technology."

"Those last four, do you want just the schematics or working examples? Or both?"

"Complete schematics and working examples."

"Thirty thousand."

"Still six thousand left. Any suggestions?"

"I'm sure we can come up with something."

----------------------------------------

A few months later it had been three years to the day that they had arrived in this particular universe. The repairs to the Halsey and her escorts had been completed, and the cargo holds on the Halsey and her escorts had been fully refilled. The AIS fleet had grown considerably. A new Nova-class dreadnought, the Ardennes, had been added to the fleet. A new Nightingale-class also joined their ranks; the Attendant. A total of six Jeep-class light carriers had been built; the Langley, Yorktown, Ranger, Wasp, Hornet, and Forrestal. The six new Olympus-class corvettes had been christened the Poseidon, Zeus, Hera, Athena, Ares, and Furies. The Chimera and the Hydra joined their two sister destroyers in the Alliance battle group, along with the two Hyperions which had been named the Lexington and the Concord. Six D'Kora-class colony ships had been added to the growing fleet, but they were as yet unnamed and had very little to offer in the way of guns.

Through a typographical error on the ship order, the Ferengi had built eight freighters, not the four that had been requested. But the AIS went ahead and took delivery of the extra vessels. They filled the cargo holds on the extra vessels with all the essential ores the AIS needed. Along with all the other ships, the AIS took delivery of ten Danube class scout ships, all equipped with what resembled a roll bar, but was really a torpedo launcher for the micro-photon torpedoes that the Federation used on their fighters.

Two marriages had taken place. The Klingon ceremony vastly different from the traditional Betazedian one. Both brides had opted to join the Halsey on her voyage home. In the case of Morga daughter of Torla, her family, what little was left of it anyway, had decided to join her on this vessel. So where Marius had expected just one Klingon, there were now thirty-one of them aboard.

Triessa's family had also wanted to join her on this voyage, but they were too numerous and doing so would have deprived Betazed of one of their ruling families. So as a compromise, an equal number of Betazedians as Klingons were chosen to join the Halsey crew.

The refit of the Halsey had been accomplished in less than a month. For a few days, it seemed as though there were more Federation engineering teams aboard the Halsey than there were of her own crew. They crawled through every nook and cranny, through every engineering access tunnel aboard the ship, until it seemed as though all of the old cables were laid out on the decks, strewn about like a cat might do to a ball of yarn.

But at last it was complete, and the changes to the onboard computing power were immediately noticeable. The science staffs aboard the ship were immensely grateful for the additional computing power that they could now access for carrying out various projects. But the other changes were not so readily apparent. Sensors had been improved by an order of magnitude, now that they could process the returning beams as fast as they received them. Many of the daily ship duties that her crew had once had to perform, could now be majorly automated, saving the crew for more pressing duties.

Grand Nagus Rom had thrown in a few freebies, which might have unusual for the Ferengi in general, had not the order been so big, and the payment so grand. Added to the order were complete files of the complete design specifications for all Ferengi vessels currently in service, including the information on the technologies that led to their designs. The final item that the Nagus had ordered transferred was a complete holodeck imaging system along with the plans and specifications for making more of them.

While the Starfleet engineers had been busily retrofitting the computing technology aboard the Halsey, a smaller team had been outfitting the infirmary and the smaller aid stations with stationary holographic emitters, so that the EMH program could be uploaded and run whenever necessary. The emitters were currently Federation technology, and as such had been rigged with traps such that anyone examining them would cause the microscopic emitters to short themselves out. Major Carter spent some time tweaking the EMH program and uploading minor changes to its database to encompass Goa'uld and Asgard healing techniques. She gave each one a name, so that they could refer to one another if necessary. The only odd thing was their predilection for certain hobbies. One of them liked taking pictures all the time. The other professed to a love of opera and could quite often be heard singing beautiful arias. Yet another claimed to be a writer of holonovels.

The one truly strange thing to happen before they left this universe was a call from the Borg Triumvirate to Admiral Marius.

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"Admiral, you have an incoming message from the Borg."

"Oh? Route it through to my office."

"Aye sir."

"Marius of the Tau'ri. We bid you greetings. We trust that all is well?"

"Quite well. We have nearly completed our tasks and are preparing to depart. Is there something I might be of assistance with?"

"We have had a request from a number of former Drones. They are the last remaining members of Species 58, 149, 218, 312, 343, 927, 3259, 4228, 6339, and 6961. They have served the Collective well for countless centuries. Now that they have regained their individuality, they had requested to join your vessel on its voyage."

"You understand, your Highnesses, that if they do join us, they can never return here?"

"They understand this. Species 927 has been responsible for many of the cybernetic enhancements made to the Borg Collective over the centuries. They were once a gifted race, dedicated to the pursuit of medical advancement through artificial means. Perhaps you will have use for them in the coming voyage?"

"That is an unknown factor, your Highnesses. Just how many former Drones are we talking about here?"

"One hundred and eighty-six of 58, two hundred and fifteen of 149, forty-three of 218, one hundred and forty-nine of 312, three hundred and sixty-seven of 343, ninety-one of 927, four hundred and thirty-seven of 3259, sixty-eight of 4228, two hundred and thirty-nine of species 5174, seven hundred and fifty-three of 6339, and nine hundred and thirty-one of species 6961."

"Very well. When can they be ready for transfer?"

"They are ready now."

And so, three thousand, four hundred and seventy-nine former Borg Drones joined the Halsey and her crew on the next part of their journey. Those Species' members had most of their implants removed prior to the transfer, retaining only the implants that would serve them the most in their new roles, such as sensor implants.

"Comms, open a channel, all frequencies."

"Ready sir."

"Friends. The time has come for us to depart this place. We sincerely hope that you continue to work on your differences. Divided as you once were, you were individually weak. United as you now are, you are a summation greater than your individual parts. This is something I have been given to understand that you will need in the years to come. I am transmitting some files now. As soon as your ships acknowledge receipt, we will be on our way. Halsey out."

"Comms officer, transmit files."

The files being transmitted to the Federation, to the Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, and to the Borg and the Ferengi, were the complete set of data necessary to construct a Stargate network for planetary travel, the complete plans for the construction of jump gates, but not jump engines, and the codes needed to access the Stargate ship-sized gates. With transmission acknowledged by all parties, the Halsey turned away from the assembled fleet.

The ship moved away from the fleet. All of her escort vessels were safely docked and secured for the dimensional jump. Her fighter squadrons had been recalled and the gun platforms safely tucked away in her hangar bays.

"Admiral, we are reading a huge increase in neutrino and chronometric radiation."

"Record everything. Perhaps we can one day go to their universe. I think it would be a grand day."

"Recording everything."

The Halsey was picking up speed now, though nowhere close to the warp threshold. From the front of the vessel, four projectors came to life, seeding space with the energies needed to breach the barriers between dimensions. A moment later, the breach opened, and the Halsey vanished from sight.

Lieutenant Commander Annika Hansen returned to her quarters after her shift had ended on the bridge. As a former Drone, the idea of perfection had long ago left her. Yet she had seen the Borg ideal of perfection! And it had left her wanting. She saw the screen on her desk flash its notification that a message had been delivered.

"Commander Hansen. I had not the time during my stay there to meet with you personally, though I feel you are the best 'bet', as it were for this next mission. A mission, I daresay, that no one in your home universe can ever know about. You have lived for several years without the Collective. You have persevered, adapted, and overcome many obstacles in your path towards individualism. There are many former Drones that will look to you as an example for their path towards regaining their individuality. The obstacles I see in their path are the Federation and her neighbors, and the Collective. They will attempt to use the former Drones to their advantage. If these former Drones wish to live in a place where their true value and worth will be of use, not abused, then you have but to use the gift I am leaving for you."

Behind her there was a flash of intense light and when she turned around there was a device sitting on her chair. It had a reflective surface surrounded by what appeared to be carved stone and what resembled a control interface next to it.

"The device you are now looking at is what we call a dimensional mirror. It was created by the Ancients for individual travel between the dimensions. The device is preset for my home universe. All that you need do is activate the device with the control interface I have given you, and then touch the mirrored surface. The process is completely painless, and after the touch, you will find yourself in an office on Immortal Luna. It can be used by yourself, or by any one you believe to be at risk from the Federation, her neighbors, or the Collective, or any new empires you encounter. Please be advised, however, that anyone you send will not have a way back to your universe. You, however, are free to visit and return as you may so desire.

"The Ancients were a very powerful and very wise race, but they were not without their faults. I'm sure that when the Halsey left, every sensor on every ship was trained in our direction. The phenomena that you and others witnessed was not due to some new as yet undiscovered form of science. Within every Immortal is, for lack of a better word, an energy field. It is this field that allows us to detect others of our kind and to interact with nature and the universe itself. Only when an Immortal is very old, will the ability to breach the dimensions become available. None of us are able to do that except for Tok'Ra, our Father and Creator. Any attempts to discern the secrets of the mirror will render it inert. I trust you will use this device wisely and for the purposes of good. Good day Commander."

Seven of Nine, former tertiary adjunct of Unimatrix Zero One, looked at the mirror in contemplation of life and perfection. Herself and others of her kind, the Borg, would never know perfection, but here was a way to study it and to learn from it. Seven resolved to go down with the next away mission at the next former Borg world they stopped at, to offer the other former Drones a new choice.

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