There's a LOT going on in my schedule this month and part of next. It's actually possible that I might MISS a mid-week update here or there... but I assure you, it's only because I want to be sure and reread and triple-check everything to make sure it's as good as it can be. We are entering the final arc of the storyline after all! I want to leave everyone with a great Trek memory here! So if the updates are a couple of days late, don't worry - usually I shoot for 7 - 10 days between postings! Oh, and it's "Disclaimer" time again!

DISCLAIMER: The following is fan fiction utilizing events and characters from all five "Star Trek" television series along with bits and pieces from the feature films. It is fan fiction only… there is no intent here to collect income or infringe on the trademarks, copyrights, or patented work of others. Please DO NOT use this material for anything other than pure reading enjoyment. If you have been missing at least occasional new "Star Trek" episodes in your life, this is the place to come.

Star Trek: Absolution

If anyone is interested as to how I'm judging distances between planets, Federation border specifics, etc. Well, let's just say that "bravofleet dot com" has a really great Trek database which includes a detailed map of the alpha & beta quadrants. So if you get a chance, be sure to check it out!

I have not kept up with the "Star Trek" novels the past few years, but this storyline takes place shortly before the events in the "Star Trek: Nemesis" feature film. Since many of the book plots have at times varied from what we see on screen anyway, what you will read is based upon the stories that we viewed at home on TV and while munching popcorn in the movie theatres.

Chapter XVI: Intelligence Gathering

Deanna Troi brushed back her long dark hair and smiled reassuringly at the woman sitting across from her in her private quarters. It had taken a while to complete the process of updating Tasha Yar on the facts behind the history of this Federation, the one that had never quite swerved into an all-out war with the Klingon Empire.

"Our history has unfolded quite differently than the non-stop fighting that you were accustomed to in your timeline," she explained. "Our Federation has had its share of conflicts too, but fortunately for us none of them has lasted for decades or stretched our resources to the breaking point. Our recent conflict with the Dominion did span a number of years and was easily the costliest war that I've observed in my lifetime."

Troi herself was extremely pleased that Riker, Data, and the rest of the Enterprise command crew had safely returned. It was true that she was fully trained and qualified as a Starfleet Commander, but her specialty was working with people and everyone aboard knew it. Her Betazoid empathic sense was telling her that this Tasha – the woman who had traveled from one timeline to another – had known only hard labor and suffering during her time in a Romulan prison camp and was badly in need of new friends right now.

Yar had moved directly from a long-term, stressful Klingon war into a brief life of luxury as the prisoner and consort of a Romulan Admiral more than thirty years in the past. After her first escape attempt with her newborn daughter Sela had failed, she had been banished to a lifetime of imprisonment.

"So the younger me from this timeline really did die?" Tasha asked her, watching Troi nod in reply. "All these years I've been wondering whether or not Guinan was right… and if so how she could possibly have known that."

"We're not exactly certain ourselves how Guinan knows some of the things she does," Deanna told her. "She has had these special 'insights' on several occasions, and they could simply be the result of traits native to her species or perhaps the lingering after effects of an encounter she had many years ago with an astronomical phenomenon known simply as the Nexus." She shrugged her shoulders, remembering so many things past. "Your death was extremely painful for me in particular, because I hadn't known you for very long, and you gave your life in an attempt to save mine."

"I bet you never thought you'd have the chance to say thank you," Yar said with a light laugh, struggling to find humor despite the waves of emotion she was feeling.

"No, I can't say that I did," Deanna said with an amused laugh. She took a deep breath and really looked at Tasha, noticing her gray hair, wrinkled eyes and fatigued appearance. "You were so young and fresh out of Starfleet Academy when I knew you, and now it's obvious that you have endured so much that I sincerely want to find a way to help you."

"Any life you can offer me here is better than where I was," Tasha decided. "To be honest, I never expected to have the opportunity to escape again. But the warden who ran the camps on the planet I was on liked to fly in periodically for surprise inspections. He always got VIP treatment and traveled with an entourage of women who were hand picked because they liked to party. One night he drank way too much and the women got bored and started hitting on the guards." She shrugged. "Needless to say the Centurions stationed in prison camps don't see females hanging around too often so it was pretty easy for me to get the drop on one of them and steal his disruptor. From there I ordered him to quietly give me access to the landing strip, and then I stole the warden's scout ship."

Troi shook her head with sadness. "That sounds like a really dangerous risk you took," she commented. "You're quite fortunate to have made it all the way back to the Federation."

"I don't think they would have spared my life a second time," mused Tasha softly. "But no matter how long I lived among them I didn't become like them – I didn't kill anyone on that colony. The only casualties they suffered were battle damage resulting from their ships firing on me first. I was simply trying to leave their Empire for a better life."

"Why did they spare your life the first time?"

"Because I was Sela's mother, and the Admiral who fathered her still had feelings for me. He was a compassionate man and very good to me until I tried to take Sela out of there… as the daughter of an Admiral she was growing up way too elitist and Romulan for my taste."

Troi shifted in her seat as she listened. "That's the part I don't understand," she stated. "Sela told Captain Picard that you were killed during your first escape attempt… she made a point of mocking your death and trying to convince him how Romulan she was."

Tasha laughed at the comment. "Sela tried to convince everybody of her loyalty for a long time – many in the military simply didn't trust her because she was half human. She plotted and schemed and despite all that… from everything I heard through the rumor mill the Federation still managed to outwit her at every turn."

"Unfortunately for her, Sela had the misfortune to continually cross paths with a mutual android friend of ours," Troi pointed out. "He's really quite clever and it's extremely difficult to out maneuver him."

"Data?" Tasha threw back her head and laughed even louder while Deanna watched the wrinkles by her eyes crinkle together. "That makes me feel a lot better," she said finally. "I heard that my daughter got outwitted pretty badly on several occasions, but I had no idea it was Data that she went up against. I suspect she never knew what hit her."

"Speaking of Data, I read his report summarizing the conversations he had with you. At one point you stated that Sela is now in one of those prisons. Are you certain of that?"

"That's correct. She was sent there for failing once too often. Me… well they never wanted me to breathe free air again simply because of the threat I represented due to the changes in the timeline that my presence here had already sparked. They were afraid of the Federation finding out too much, and they also spent years firing weapons around those quantum singularities that power their older warbirds trying to recreate the time portal." Tasha shook her head with disgust at the memory. "Their scientists aren't nearly as open-minded as Starfleet's – many times I was almost ready to yell at them that perhaps being in the vicinity of Narendra III was the missing factor… you never can tell where space and time are weakest. But I was determined not to help them, and they wouldn't have listened anyway because they had already made up their minds to try and recreate the accident on the Romulan side of the Neutral Zone."

Troi reviewed her notes on the data pad in front of her. "Data had quite a bit of time to visit with you while you were both on the surface of Stadia, and his report also mentions that you believe the Klingon war was most likely averted simply because the Enterprise-C happened to be at Narendra III at a pivotal moment in time. That starship attacked four Romulan warbirds all by itself in defense of a Klingon colony and apparently convinced them that the Federation's ongoing offers of a peace treaty were genuine and worth serious consideration."

"That's exactly what Guinan and the Captain Picard from the other timeline believed," nodded Tasha. "When the Enterprise-C first appeared to us we knew that it had traveled forward through time – probably through a time portal created by the weapons fire combined with the singularities from the warbird engines. Guinan's unique perception of the incident helped convince Picard that the Enterprise-C had to go back even if it was lost with all hands in the process. Our historical records confirmed that the starship was supposed to be destroyed in that battle but had instead accidentally left its position 23 years in the past…"

"…and traveled into the future. From the Klingons perspective back then it must have appeared as though the Federation turned its tail and ran away from a fight," Troi guessed. "I'm somewhat of a student of Klingon philosophy and I'm sure they didn't care for that at all."

"We considered several options, including bringing both Enterprises back to fight them off," said Tasha, her expression clouding over with emotions as she continued to remember those events from so long ago. "But we also knew that any evidence traveling back with us from the future would quite probably contaminate the original timeline just as much as the Enterprise-C's abrupt departure had."

"So you went back with their crew because Guinan claimed you were already dead here?"

Tasha's eyes teared up. "I didn't know for certain," she said, "But Guinan was positive of it. She called my death here a meaningless one, a death that served no useful purpose."

"That wasn't very nice of her," Deanna decided. "She's usually not that blunt about sensitive issues like that, especially when it wasn't a meaningless death – I was being held prisoner by a hideous alien entity and you were risking your life to save mine."

"Perhaps she's not that blunt here, but there we were living in a state of non-stop war and we were all pretty hard on each other at times," Tasha pointed out. "What she said motivated me… the Enterprise-C had lost most of its command crew and while we were repairing her the Klingons attacked us and killed her Captain as well. That was when I asked Captain Picard for a transfer so that I could come back with the remainder of Captain Garrett's crew and turn the tables on the Romulans." She glanced down at the floor of the room and softly chuckled. "It's not very often that you get to take a time out in the middle of a battle, repair most of your damage, and then return right at the point where you left." She smiled at the memory. "When we came back we had weapons restored, full shields and Captain Picard had even allowed Geordi to spike half a dozen of the Enterprise-C's photon torpedoes, effectively doubling their maximum yield."

"So you fought the battle that was supposed to be fought… surviving this time despite the fact that history had previously considered everyone dead."

"Yes we did," grinned Tasha. "We lost a lot more people, including a close friend that I had made during our short time together. But we destroyed one warbird, crippled the warp drive on another, and severely damaged a third before we were finally boarded and they forcibly stopped us from shooting at them. We were hoping the Klingons could get help to us in time to drive off the remaining two ships but the assistance never came. The Romulan Admiral promised to spare us as long as I promised to become his permanent companion and the other members of the crew agreed to serve on his house staff. We didn't have much of a choice, and at the time we were all grateful that he showed us any kind of mercy. Despite already knowing the odds against us during that battle, I sincerely wasn't looking forward to dying."

"So the Romulans continued to hold you prisoner for all these years despite the fact that you had no inside knowledge of their military operations and no tactical value to them whatsoever…"

"That's right," Tasha snapped as repressed anger deep within her finally freed itself. "Sela for certain never wanted to see me happy and she certainly didn't want me dead. Then she couldn't drop by and visit her mother occasionally – and gloat." Again Tasha laughed to herself. "That was in the earlier years – before she kept screwing up her assignments. I think it's rather ironic that the last time I saw her was during a project on a work crew I served on. We were busy building an addition onto the prison complex and prisoners from one of the other camps were also assigned to the same project." Her eyes flashed with anger at the memory. "I looked across a wide excavated ditch and suddenly there she was, trying not to stare at me with shame in her eyes. I just smiled and continued working… since she was now a prisoner just like I was."

"That must have been very emotional for you…"

Several tears ran from Tasha's eyes and she put a hand over them and wiped them away. "I don't quite know how to explain it – part of me will always care for her because she's my daughter, but having grown up in the Federation I simply couldn't stand the government and its corrupt value system that she grew up swearing to serve. There was simply no way those differences wouldn't tear us apart."

Troi carefully observed Tasha's emotions and keyed some notes into her data pad. "I think that's enough for now," she said sympathetically. "Captain Picard and I both appreciate your taking the time to fill us in on these details… we've had unexplained gaps in some of our own historical records that now make a lot more sense. He would've greeted you personally…"

"…But something major is in the works," Tasha grinned. "I've been away for awhile but not for that long Counselor – I overheard some interesting conversations about the Dark Nebula while Data and I were on board the Defiant."

"None of that is your concern right now," Deanna pointed out to her. "The Captain promised to stop by to see you immediately after his meeting concludes." She paused with a quizzical look in her eye. "Do you think the Romulans still consider you a threat to them?"

"I… don't know," Tasha said slowly. "I guess I haven't had time to think about it much."

"Well Captain Picard has," Troi informed her. "As soon as he received Data's report that you were alive and safely in our hands he made some inquiries to see about getting you a new identity." She stood up and handed a second data pad to Yar, keying in a sequence on its screen that displayed for her a list of files that were stored on it. "This is a historical background on the planet Bajor… it is a beautiful planet guarded by a space station with a Starfleet presence on it and a really wonderful place to live. If you like what you read here we can set up an alternate identity for you and give you the happy life that you've been denied up until now."

"That would be great Counselor," Yar said with a relieved sigh.

"If you have any other questions or need additional help you are welcome to use the ship's computer to call me night or day. Please let me know if you need anything else."

Yar glanced around the room and then out the star-filled window port behind Deanna. "So far I have just one question really," she said with a definite hint of curiosity in her tone as she carefully observed several of the other starships in the fleet floating alongside them.

"And what would that be?" Troi asked with a small smile.

"I want to know what happened to the Enterprise-D!" Tasha said with a loud laugh. "Granted, this is a very beautiful and modern-looking starship, but what in the hell was wrong with the old one?"

Admiral Janeway was the last to arrive in the Enterprise briefing room. Like Picard, she was extremely relieved to sit down at the conference table and look around at the familiar faces from the Captain's team of well-trained, experienced command officers and see them all safely back from their various missions, healthy and accounted for. The two Xindi representatives, Jommyn and Pykiim, were also present so that they could coordinate their fleet's plan of attack with the Federation starships. On the far side of the room a large, portable viewscreen had hastily been assembled so that the aquatics could also take part in the discussion.

She watched with more than a little amusement as Picard graciously poured her a cup of hot coffee from a pitcher setting on the table. He also placed a fresh pasty onto a plate for her and rose from his seat to respectfully set the snacks in front of her. Clearing his throat, the Captain reseated himself as Janeway took a sip of coffee. "Pay close attention everyone," she commented, smiling cheerfully at Picard. "What you have all just witnessed is just one of the ways to score points with a senior officer." The room momentarily filled with a burst of laughter, effectively breaking the noticeable tension that had previously filled the room.

"Our objective is simple," Captain Picard began, making a visual survey of the expressions on the faces of the people sitting around him. "We must capture the enemy base in the DNX-920 system and it is absolutely imperative that we do so. Thus we are gathered here to come up with a suitable attack plan that will accomplish this mission and also minimize the loss of life on both sides."

"Have you given any further consideration to the option presented to us by our visitor from the 31st century – Daniels?" Riker wondered with more than a little interest.

Picard's answer was to reach into a small briefcase he had sitting on the table in front of him and extract three metal cylinders. "Section 31 has also suggested that we destroy the star," he said with a look of complete revulsion. "And not only did their representative approach Dr. Bashir with trilithium to back up that offer but he also gave two of these cylinders to other Captains in our fleet." The Captain shook his head with utter disbelief. "Apparently, Section 31's idea of 'chain of command' is that if you can't convince fleet leadership of the validity of your argument, you try to influence other people to take matters into their own hands."

"Section 31 as it once was is no longer in business," promised Janeway, folding her arms confidently in front of her. "If they try to approach any of you, your orders are to report the incident to us immediately."

The work station on the table in front of Picard abruptly chimed for attention. "Captain Picard, this is Counselor Troi calling from the bridge. I apologize for interrupting your meeting…"

"Don't worry about it Deanna," replied the Captain. "I haven't exactly had time to address all of the items on my agenda, so let's take things one at a time… how is our guest doing?"

"She's fine sir," Troi replied. "I've already filed my report on the incident. She's resting comfortably and has agreed to read the documentation that you've picked out for her. After our meeting concluded, I stopped by the bridge to check on ship's status and was just informed that we have an incoming transmission from Commander Hazelton on Deep Space Nine. He has it flagged as high priority, so I thought you'd want to know right away."

"Please route the transmission to our viewscreen down here," Picard requested. "And have the tactical officer also transmit the message decryption sequence to the other ships in the fleet so that their commanders can decode the communiqué and listen in on the new information as well."

"Connecting you to Deep Space Nine… now," Deanna's voice confirmed.

The viewscreen fluctuated for a few seconds and then steadied into a recognizable image with an electronic chirp. Commander Hazelton stood near the center of the visual with a large white bandage covering the left side of his forehead and temple. He looked extremely fatigued as well and had obviously seen better days.

"What can I do for you Commander?" Picard asked.

"I just wanted to let you know that whatever is happening inside the Dark Nebula has already begun to spread outside of it," Hazelton said with obvious concern. "I was attacked in my quarters last night by a Federation Ensign named Ronald Baker. Or at least… what our medical team has discovered used to be Ensign Baker."

"Please explain Commander," requested Janeway from her seat next to the Captain.

He took a deep breath and held up a data pad. "I've read the report that Dr. Bashir sent to us regarding his study of the prisoner you have… and I think you'll find our other Doctor's analysis extremely enlightening." He slowly turned to his right. "Computer… please activate Deep Space Nine's EMH program."

Beside him, a tall balding man with a slightly irritated expression on his face appeared seemingly out of thin air. "Please state the nature of the medical emergency," the holographic Doctor requested, glancing expectantly at the Commander.

Hazelton pointed at the viewscreen in front of him. "I want you to give Admiral Janeway and Captain Picard the results of your analysis on Ensign Baker," he requested. "Tell them exactly what you told me earlier this morning."

The Enterprise crew and both Xindi representatives sitting around the conference table watched with interest as the holographic Doctor immediately perked up. "I'd be happy to," he said cheerfully, glancing into the visual pickup on his end of the transmission. "Simply put… Ensign Baker is now a Guardian," he stated ominously. "The sentient personality that was in Ron Baker's mind when he stepped aboard this station has somehow been replaced with a new consciousness, one that very closely matches the brain patterns of the prisoner you're holding on the Defiant."

"How did they get to him?" Dr. Crusher asked curiously, her attention suddenly riveted on the viewscreen. "We've been told that only human and Cardassian civilian citizens were abducted from the demilitarized zone. How did they get their hands on a Starfleet officer?"

"The answer to that question is rather easy I'm afraid," the Doctor decided from his position standing next to Hazelton. He held up the small device that had been found in the Commander's quarters earlier in the morning. "They brought the Guardians to us. Ensign Baker was no doubt attacked at some unknown point in the recent past, probably by someone carrying one of these. It's a small storage device that contains an internal power source, a bio-compatible gel-pack similar to those used on Intrepid-Class starships, and undoubtedly the entire compressed consciousness of one of the Guardians."

"An intriguing concept," Data noted. "The Breen and reptilians have undoubtedly constructed the portable units so that they do not have to bring victims all the way to their hidden base in the Dark Nebula in order to convert them. Such a method would allow them to begin at the bottom of a government's chain of command and slowly work their way up by converting people of lower rank first. Those people would then naturally have direct access to the people in higher positions of authority."

"That is quite likely," Commander Hazelton confirmed. "Ensign Baker left his post during the night shift and very fortunately for me his absence was noticed. He had already disabled the security to my quarters and tried to attack me as I slept. If he had succeeded I would now undoubtedly also be an unwilling part of their growing spy ring."

"They are already planning ahead for a large scale invasion," commented Worf with a huge frown. "Having a Guardian in command of Deep Space Nine would give the Breen direct control of the wormhole, and that means our enemies would effectively have complete access to three of the four quadrants in our galaxy."

Geordi glanced past the Klingon tactical officer and at the viewscreen beyond him with more than a little skepticism. "So you're telling us, Commander, that one of these 'Guardians' has trusted the Breen to store his or her entire consciousness in that tiny device?" Geordi looked around the table at the others with a look of concern. "How long could they effectively store a complete personality profile like that when it's reduced to mere data? Even when stored in a bio-compatible gel-pack, it wouldn't last forever…"

"The Doctor here has told me that it's a pretty impressive form of technology," Hazelton decided, taking the electrical unit from the Doctor and holding it up so that everyone could get a better look at it. "We've theorized that as long as the internal power source in this unit continues to function, it is quite capable of sustaining the entire consciousness of at least one Guardian for years at a time. The only threats to the compressed data would be a sudden interruption of its power supply or damage to the gel-pack inside of it." The Commander turned and nodded gratefully at the holographic Doctor. "Computer, deactivate the EMH," he said, watching the image next to him fade quickly away.

"They obviously succeeded in their effort to convert your Ensign and they also tried to get to you," observed Janeway. "It's the same kind of sinister attack on the Federation that the alien conspiracy was so many years ago. We've survived these attacks before and we will again," she said confidently before glancing at the Commander's image with a hint of sadness in her voice. "Isn't there anything you can do for Ensign Baker?"

"I'm afraid not," Hazelton concluded, shaking his head. "His neural life sign patterns are almost a precise match with the data included in your report as submitted by Doctors Crusher and Bashir. He's a Guardian all right, and the Ron Baker we knew and trained at Starfleet Academy no longer exists. We've discovered evidence indicating his memories and all of his personal experiences are still present and stored within his brain, but the sentient personality that was Baker has been destroyed to make way for this new individual. Since Commander Tuvok has just returned from his mission in the demilitarized zone, I had him mind meld with the Ensign earlier this morning. I realize information obtained in this manner is not conclusive proof by any means in a court of law, but Tuvok has been able to positively confirm the hostile nature of the entity that now inhabits Baker's body. It will use his memories and experience to plot and kill us without hesitation in order to achieve its objectives. Additionally, Tuvok has detected residual memories passed along during the transfer process indicating that the being inside the Ensign's mind has switched bodies using this process before – at least three times."

"That's absolutely barbaric," Riker said angrily. "Who knows how many races they've conquered in their own universe by using this revolting perversion of technology? If someone's sentience is reduced to a mere data stream, can emotions or personal values like morals and ethics even survive? This sounds to me like a very cruel, heartless way to conquer one civilization while terrorizing others."

"You have no idea," the Commander replied with a look of distaste. He pressed the back of the electronic device carefully and the two rectangles attached to the central one snapped outward to the left and the right into their normal, angled positions. A large needle also extended from the center of the unit. "This has been designed to simulate a cortical stimulator, but the transfer process appears to occur much faster if the victim is awake and emotionally vulnerable. As you can see, this was built to not only keep a person conscious while the Guardian's personality is transferred into him but also to terrorize the victim. The needle injected a disorienting drug into my system to stimulate fear and keep my mind from focusing. All of this specifically designed into the device to minimize my ability to resist and speed the transfer."

"So not only does that thing kill, but it also keeps the victim conscious and tortures him throughout the entire process," Picard said, also sounding more than a little outraged.

"That's correct. Ensign Baker used a hypo spray to inject me with a common sedative. It wasn't a large dose, just enough to guarantee that he would prevail against any fight I put up long enough to slap this thing on my forehead. After that, he wanted me awake and in terror."

"How many people have they done this to already?" Dr. Crusher wondered.

"At this point we simply don't know yet," Hazelton said. "But I thought I should warn you right away. We're passing the data from the analysis conducted by you and Dr. Bashir directly to Starfleet Command and to the Cardassian Union through Gul Mullis. We've already begun scanning everyone aboard Deep Space Nine for these brain patterns – they're as easy to identify as fingerprints once we know what to look for, but there are a lot of people on this station." He paused and everyone could see his look of concern. "What bothers me is that they can take these things anywhere and use them on anyone whose species is compatible – eventually we'll have a moral obligation to warn the Romulans, the Ferengi, maybe even the Gorn… along with anyone else whose government is a potential target of this invasion."

"Thank you for your report Commander," Picard said gratefully, noticing the weary expression on Hazelton's face. The DS9 leader nodded with respect and the viewscreen immediately flickered and steadied on a new transmission from the aquatic-Xindi starship.

One of the underwater Xindi swimming in the background drifted gradually toward the visual pickup and raised one of its finned arms for emphasis. "We must attack them now," the underwater creature warned, "Before they learn that we have discovered this part of their plan and begin transporting more of those devices outside of the Nebula. They are moving slowly right now to keep their secret as long as possible, but that will soon change."

"I agree," Riker said. "We have to close that portal as quickly as possible and if there are any more of those devices – destroy them."

"But how do we know they're not simply trying to survive?" Geordi asked. "This is the second attempt by the Guardians in two centuries to move into our galaxy. How do we make the determination that their home isn't suffering from some kind of environmental travesty that will eventually wipe them all out? They could be just trying to survive as a species."

"Starfleet has observed them carefully on both occasions," Data pointed out. "Refugees normally ask other governments for assistance. They do not generally try to covertly move large numbers of their people into foreign territory, and they most certainly do not try and take over the established governments they are seeking help from. That is called invasion."

Admiral Janeway glanced toward the Enterprise Chief Engineer with an ironic smile. "We call ourselves explorers and try to discover and greet new races with an air of optimism," she observed. "But that doesn't mean we turn a blind eye toward the threat that some of the races we meet may represent. While my ship Voyager was stranded in the delta quadrant we met up with a gruesome species called the Vidiians." She frowned at the memories that suddenly flowed rapidly back through her mind. "They were a people who were legitimately suffering from a plague known as the phage. How they decided to combat this plague violated every moral and ethical guideline that our own medical people have followed for years. Other sentient life forms became simply 'spare parts' for them, and they regularly captured and harvested the organs of people from other races to replace those damaged by the disease eating away at their population. It was really quite disheartening to watch them sacrifice every moral principle in the book in an effort to keep their own people alive. To this day, it is one of the most selfish, revolting incidents that I personally have witnessed."

"That doesn't sound like the kind of people we would want to try and establish peaceful relations with," commented Riker.

"You see my point Commander," Janeway said with a grim smile. "The fact that the Federation traditionally wants to maintain peaceful relations with other races has historically worked against us as much as it has helped us. It means that we have to behave civilly toward other species even when they're not showing us that same courtesy. It's one of the basic principles of Starfleet and why we are so patient – to give those who are used to everyone they meet being hostile or untrustworthy the chance to recognize that we are not." She leaned back in her seat with a sigh. "But that doesn't mean we stand back and do nothing when someone threatens our people. As Section 31 is so fond of pointing out, we do have a right to protect the security of the Federation – they're simply more paranoid about it than the rest of us."

"I believe that a preemptive strike is necessary and justified under these circumstances," Data decided. "If we hesitate and provide the Guardians with the opportunity to gain a larger foothold in our galaxy, they will undoubtedly use the time to construct more trans-dimensional portals on other worlds so they can continue bringing their people over here. The portable unit that Commander Hazelton captured should properly be recognized as a clear warning sign that the invasion of our galaxy has already begun."

The Captain touched his Comm-badge without hesitation. "Picard to bridge."

"Troi here."

"Commander, please adjust course as necessary and proceed immediately to the Dark Nebula at warp seven," he instructed. "The commanders of the other ships are monitoring our briefing here and will also change course along with us. It is time to put this particular problem to rest, one way or another."

"Acknowledged," she replied curtly.

"Geordi did make a good point about storing an entire consciousness," Dr. Crusher decided. "The fabric of the mind is a very delicate thing – even using bio-technology I don't see how they could preserve the essence of emotion, the spirituality of each unique personality…"

"Based on their behavior so far, I don't see them taking the extra time to construct ethical subroutines like Data has either," Riker noted. "By now the personalities stored as raw data on those devices are probably mostly devoid of emotion, driven by whatever instincts have survived the transfer to a simple electronic storage device." He pointed to the three cylinders still sitting on the table in front of Picard. "I've known you for a long time Captain, and my educated guess based on my experience as your first officer is that destroying the star will not be one of your options." He chuckled as the Captain reacted with surprise at the prediction.

Picard shifted in his seat and glanced at Admiral Janeway with a brief smile. "You know Number One," he said to Riker, "It has been my experience that the more some people become fixated on one particular solution to a problem, the more likely I am to believe that there must be other options available." He shook his head negatively. "If that star is destroyed at some point in the future, it will be due to the severe gravitational forces at work within the Nebula and most certainly not due to actions taken by this fleet." He carefully picked up the trilithium and put the metal rods back into his briefcase. "I say we find another way."

"Agreed," said Janeway. "I have had several confrontations with time travelers from the future myself, and have discovered to my dismay that the timeline has been monitored by future Starfleet operations as early as the 29th century. In each case, unless they have physically forced me to comply with their wishes I have never taken orders from them either. We are here now and it is our responsibility to make our own decisions based on the facts that we gather."

"What is our best strategy for attacking the Nebula?" Worf asked. "Do we try to plan ahead or simply confront the ships in their fleet and demand that they disengage?"

"From the reports that I've read since returning to the Enterprise, placing cloaked Klingon ships and soldiers in the demilitarized zone caught the Breen forces stationed there completely by surprise," commented Data. "Despite the fact that the Dark Nebula task force is using a tachyon detection grid, we may be able to take advantage of their newfound cautiousness by convincing them that the same thing is happening again."

"An interesting idea Data," decided Picard. "What do you have in mind?"

"If we were able to severely disrupt a major part of their network and render it ineffective, the enemy ships in the task force would have no choice but to abandon the grid altogether and attack our fleet. Otherwise they would run the risk of us slipping cloaked ships through the disabled portion of the network, while the visible ships in our fleet patiently waited until we had them caught in a crossfire. They will not want to risk making that same mistake again."

"But we don't have a fleet of cloaked Klingon ships this time," Janeway pointed out. "Our objective will be to get the Enterprise and several support ships through their perimeter so that we can attack the planet, and our fleet will very likely suffer casualties. Even if we are successful in taking out the ground to air defenses on the second planet in that system, we also will be taking a big chance by landing troops around that base. The Breen and the reptilians already have a large complement of their own soldiers in place and have had plenty of time to prepare them for our attack. Given what we've learned about their efforts there, they would have to know that an assault from Starfleet was inevitable."

"I did not say that this would be easy," Data pointed out.

"No, but you're on the right track Data," said Riker carefully. "The key to victory is to make certain that while there is mass chaos taking place on the Nebula's perimeter, we also find a way to make sure something similar occurs on the planet."

"Geordi and I could modify several of our photon torpedoes," Worf suggested. "We have carefully studied the sensor data regarding the layout of the enemy base and have noted that both the perimeter and central tower are protected by very powerful force fields. The only way to circumvent their defenses and significantly disrupt their ground operations would be to set up a cascade effect in the atmospheric radiation cloud they have created and then let the reaction follow the exhaust trail back down to the ground."

"That's a great idea Worf," LaForge decided. "Even if we set up a reasonably harmless reaction that simply neutralizes all of that radiation they're venting into outer space, it should cause enough unwanted feedback in their systems to take out their main computer when it reaches the ground. They have the underground reactor shielded pretty well, so there's no danger of a major explosion. They could restart their systems pretty quickly, but it would give us the distraction that we need."

"It's definitely a plus for our battle plan, but I still don't see that as causing the soldiers on the ground to lose their cool," Riker pointed out. "We want to send that camp into utter chaos, just like we did on the colonies back in the demilitarized zone."

"A disruption of that magnitude will be difficult to achieve without landing unseen forces there," Jommyn spoke up. "The Xindi ships in this fleet will fight right alongside yours, but we do not possess cloaking technology either. With your Klingon friends continuing to maintain order in the demilitarized zone, I don't see how we can successfully place friendly forces on the ground in the DNX-920 system without the Breen and reptilians detecting and attacking them as they arrive and disembark."

"We have the honor during this mission to be led by the famous Admiral Janeway," one of the aquatics on the viewscreen said unexpectedly. "She has already pointed out to us the evil nature of the Vidiians during the time she and her crew spent in the delta quadrant. My people are very interested students of her journey and have noted that she inevitably ended up making enemies in that region… but not before finding a few allies as well. We would suggest to her that perhaps negotiations that she has held in the past could be useful to us in finding a solution to our current problem." They watched the aquatic carefully, and as soon as the last of his words were translated he swam back away from the viewscreen in his ship's simulated oceanic environment and pulled up next to two of his underwater crew mates. All three of them cheerfully waved a webbed hand at the screen.

The Admiral sat quietly with a surprised expression on her face for a minute, quietly thinking over the aquatic's comment. "I'm not sure I see what you mean…" she said before an idea struck her and she suddenly began chuckling with growing confidence. Continuing to laugh, Janeway stood up with a big smile on her face. "Jean Luc, thanks for the coffee and the pastry. If you'll please excuse me, I need to use your ship's subspace transmitter." Without another word she hastily left the conference room.

"Everyone is welcome to submit additional ideas and options as you see fit," Picard decided as he watched the door slide shut behind the Admiral's trim figure. "Our fleet will not reach the Nebula for another six hours, and we will no doubt make several modifications before then to our battle plan. We all know what has to be done and the consequences that we're facing. There exists here the potential for a very large scale invasion of our galaxy, not to mention an attack on the center of the Federation government itself. I don't think I have to remind anyone that the Breen project must be terminated one way or another before this day is done. That is all, you are all dismissed." As his officers began filing out of the room Picard turned toward Jommyn and Pykiim. "This certainly can't be easy for you," he said sympathetically. "The reptilians are also a part of your Xindi race…"

"What they have chosen to do is pure evil," Pykiim stated flatly. "Your android officer speaks the truth – destroying other life forms for their own survival is simply not the act of a peaceful people. Thanks to Starfleet's brave men and women, all Xindi have known the truth about the Guardians and their hostile interests in our universe now for over two hundred years. The reptilians have voluntarily made their own choice not to accept the truth and that continues to be very disappointing to us." The arboreal shook his head disapprovingly with his full length of hair flopping awkwardly back and forth. "I just hope that someday we can find our insectoid brothers and reach out the hand of peace toward them. We still have absolutely no idea where they ended up traveling to."

"Our people will fight alongside yours," Jommyn repeated, right before he and Pykiim solemnly left the conference room to return to their ships.

Picard was still sitting alone in the conference room twenty minutes later when Janeway returned. He had several data pads setting on the table in front of him and was intently studying the data on each. "We could end up losing a lot of people on this mission if our plan goes wrong," he said with some anxiety. "We've already got a couple of aces up our sleeve, but I would certainly welcome another."

"I think you should return to your quarters and get a few hours of rest," the Admiral suggested. "I've just finished burning up your sub-space transmitter and can guarantee you at least one more of those aces."

"Really?" he said with obvious curiosity. "Would you care to elaborate?"

"Not quite yet," Janeway decided. "But rest assured, you will have the disruptive chaos that is needed on the ground phase of this second mission to save lives. After the battle, we'll also be welcoming a new Federation ally into our midst."

"Now you've definitely got my curiosity piqued. Just what are you planning Admiral?"

"Let's just say we're going to fight fire with fire and leave it at that for now." She leaned closer until her face was right in front of his. "Get some rest Jean Luc," she repeated. "You've been up for almost two days planning this. I'll handle the preparation of our security forces and make sure they're ready to land when we arrive at our destination. The Nebula is only hours away and you need the sleep."

"Is that an order Admiral?" he asked with a weary smile.

"Yes," she insisted. "Make it so…"

He chuckled heartily at the unexpected accuracy of her impression of his most famous command phrase. "I hope you will permit me a few minutes to first stop by and say hello to an old friend," he said in all seriousness. "Tasha Yar is someone I never thought that I would ever see again." She nodded as she watched him rise to his feet and tuck the briefcase under one arm before leaving the conference room. Her mind awhirl with new possibilities, Janeway seated herself in his empty chair and started her own review of the data pads on the table.