Predator1701 - Shall we compromise and say it's 400 meters for later stories?

Odyssey out of Time.

The Two Unexplored Quadrants.

"Benjamin, we're approaching the end of the hyperspace corridor now," Dax reported, and indeed on the HUD, the twisting blue, purple, turquoise hues of the hyperspace conduit changed back to the typical black expanse of space with the glow of distant stars with the graceful clawed orb of DS9.

"Open a channel to the station," Sisko ordered. "Chief, tell Dr Bashir we're going to transport the survivors of the outpost to the infirmary. Tell him to get ready as well, and tell him to look after him."

"Aye sir," O'Brien replied at the same time Worf said, "Channel open."

On the HUD, the image of Kira appeared. "Major, we've rescued the survivors from the outpost. Dr Bashir will be beamed over with them."

"Understood," Kira nodded. "What are you doing now, heading for the Gamma Quadrant?"

"Yes. We'll be heading to the Idran system, and perhaps a few more systems that the long-range probes picked up on before the Jem'Hadar destroyed the late starship Odyssey," Sisko's reply and announcement of his plans drew looks of surprise from the rest of the bridge crew. They had assumed their orders were to just rescue the outpost survivors and head for the Gamma Quadrant, they hadn't known he was going to decide this.

Kira voiced the thoughts of the bridge crew. "I thought Starfleet wanted you to just head over to Idran and head for Earth the day after?"

"They did. But last night I realised it was an opportunity to look further into the Gamma Quadrant, and then perhaps take a quick look at the Delta Quadrant before coming back." Sisko was mindful of the looks he was getting from the rest of the Odyssey's bridge crew, and his voice became more serious as he stared at his first officer on the screen. "Kira, ever since the threat of the Dominion came out, and aside from that time Jake and I took that light sail ship to Cardassia, we haven't really done much in the way of exploration. I thought about this all last night, and I decided to go a little bit further with the plans, that's all. We won't be gone for long," Sisko explained.

"Okay, well I hope you guys come back," Kira said, realising that he was right, and this might be what the Emissary needed.

Sisko wasn't surprised by the pragmatism from Kira. Given her life where she was forced to fight Cardassians every single day since the day she was old enough to grab a weapon, it was not a surprise. "We will," Sisko was relieved he had ordered O'Brien to study the Asgard hyperdrive and to bring backup power generators. For what he wanted to do, the last thing he wanted was for them to be stuck decades away from home.

"Captain, Dr Bashir has left the Odyssey with the survivors, but he's left one of his nurses on board just as a precaution," O'Brien reported.

"Did you get that, Major?" Sisko asked Kira.

"We did. I'll tell Starfleet Command we've got them. I take it the plan is for them to recover on the station before being moved back on the Odyssey, and taken to Earth when its time for you to take the ship there?" The if you actually do get back was left unspoken by Kira, but Sisko ignored it. He knew he was taking a risk, especially since the Idran system was practically on the wormhole's doorstep, but the rest of the Gamma Quadrant and the Delta Quadrant wasn't.

But Sisko believed that it was an acceptable risk.

He had just gotten it into his head that he needed to take Odyssey out into the galaxy and the explorer in Sisko wanted to use the Odyssey's Asgard hyperdrive to visit parts of the galaxy which, until now or in the last five years since the wormhole had been found leading to the Gamma Quadrant, had been inaccessible unless the crew of a ship either went into suspended animation or had kids to replace them as they spent decades crossing the divide between starting point to the endpoint.

But now, thanks to Asgard technology, the Federation had the means of crossing the divide.

"Yes, Major. That's the idea. We'll see you… when we see you," Sisko had been about to say they'd be back in a few hours, but they might spend a little longer taking scans thanks to the equipment he knew Dax had installed on the Odyssey before they'd started this. "Dax set a course for Idran."

"Course laid in."

Sisko took a moment to savour this. "Open hyperdrive conduit. Engage."

The HUD changed to the spherical hyperspace window and the Odyssey jumped into hyperspace. For a moment Sisko watched as the hues of the hyperspace conduit made him wonder how the Asgard, and indeed, the Ancients of the other universe saw hyperspace travel and wondered if they had ever felt this effect was magical. He knew he would need to look into Asgard history to discover if the species only made use of hyperdrive technology to travel through space.

"Mr O'Brien, you'd better check on the hyperdrive to see if the ZPM is nearing its end," Sisko said as they came out of hyperdrive after a minute.

"I'll do that now, sir," the chief promised as he nodded his head full of curls.

"Benjamin, we're in the Idran system. I got confirmation from the Federation listening posts on the other side of the wormhole," Dax reported from her console.

"You're able to get the position from there?"

"The signals are quite strong, and Kira's been bouncing a message through the listening post for the last few minutes."

Sisko came to a decision. "Take a scan of the solar system and then take us to the listening posts. We'll send the Major a little message before we head deeper into the Gamma Quadrant."

Worf turned. "Sir, is that wise? We might encounter the Dominion."

Sisko turned his dark eyes to Worf. "I know it's a risk, Mr Worf. But I was thinking we travel close to the galactic rim and then make our way over to the Delta Quadrant."

"What made you decide to head for the Delta Quadrant, anyway?" Dax asked curiously.

Sisko shrugged. "Curiosity," he replied simply. "I wanted to see just how good the hyperdrive was."

"O'Brien to Sisko."

"Sisko here. How's the hyperdrive?"

"I think we have enough power into the drive to last another few trips, sir. But I don't wanna risk connecting a secondary power system to the hyperdrive unless the drive burns out."

Sisko remembered hearing about how too much power could burn the hyperdrive out, and that was the last thing he or his crew wanted to do. Sisko's prime job was to take Odyssey to Starfleet, and he planned to do that, and one of his hopes - besides giving them records of how the Odyssey or the hyperdrive technology could make future expeditions and ships on 5-7 year missions of exploration, Sisko wanted Starfleet to look into the technology the ZPM represented and create something similar.

It couldn't happen if the ZPM was depowered and useless.

But he knew he was taking a risk, but that was necessary. Still, he came to a new decision. "We'll skip the rest of the Gamma Quadrant, and we'll go to the Delta Quadrant instead," Sisko took solace in the fact a captain didn't need to explain their command decisions unless they were seen as mad. "Dax. Plot a course to one of the listening posts, prepare a message for DS9 like a picture of Idran or something like that. When you're done, lay in a course for the Delta Quadrant."

"Aye, sir," Dax was inputting the instructions into the Odyssey's computer enthusiastically; it was clear that she too had seen a chance for them to carry out Starfleet's purpose of space exploration, even briefly.

Sisko leaned back into the command chair as Dax opened the hyperspace window again and they travelled through the hyperspace conduit. While they were en-route to the Delta Quadrant, Sisko tapped his com badge. "Sisko to O'Brien, how is the hyperdrive?"

"It's working perfectly, sir. The ZPM has enough power in it for a few more trips, but I don't wanna push it too far."

"Do you think we'll need to add the antimatter generator to the drive sometime soon, Chief?" Sisko was now worried he had made a premature mistake in coming up with the decision to head for the Delta Quadrant on his own initiative. One wrong move and they could be stranded there for a long time.

"I doubt it, sir," there was overwhelming reassurance in O'Brien's voice that put Sisko at ease, but only just. "We have enough power in the ZPM for a few more trips, but that's it."

"Don't worry, Chief; we'll only be in a small region of the Delta Quadrant for a short span of time. We'll take a few scans and then head back for the Alpha Quadrant," Sisko replied.

"If this works, how long do you think it'll be Starfleet sends ships to explore the Delta and Gamma Quadrants?" Dax asked.

Sisko was silent for a moment while he processed the question in his mind. "I'd say it would be a while," he admitted a moment later. "With the Klingon War and the threat of the Dominion which hasn't helped the peace, the Federation might decide to put off on issuing exploration missions for a while."

Jadzia sighed regretfully. "You're probably right, but it is a shame."

Sisko glanced affectionately at her. "Don't worry, Dax, soon we'll be zipping everywhere," he reassured her.

"I hope so, Benjamin. I hope that if our conflicts with the Borg and the Dominion are over, we can get back to exploring the galaxy properly," Dax turned back to her console, but she had made her point. Sisko understood her stance and she agreed with it; with how the galaxy was becoming increasingly hostile with the games and the lies, and the conspiracies on Earth with Admiral Leyton's attempted coup against the government and the discovery of the changeling on Qo'Nos who had been pulling the strings behind the scenes and even now was making the Klingon Empire want war against their worst judgement, the finger of suspicion being turned to the Cardassians for their civilian government taking control, a return to the way the Federation had been before the disaster of first contact with the Dominion occurred instead of the increasing evidence they were going to fight a long and bloody war in the near future became more likely would be a welcome relief.

Perhaps with the Asgard core and the technology on this ship, they would have a fighting chance against the Dominion. The Odyssey's technology would be more than a help for them in the next few years. While Sisko and his people had questions about what that Earth had been thinking allowing the United States Air Force to assume that almost god-like view, they had to admit their actions against the Goa'uld, especially after the attack on Earth was impressive, especially for a people who didn't have much in the way of advanced technology beyond nuclear power.

"Captain, a ship is approaching; thanks to the Runabout in the port fighter launch bay, we know the ship is travelling at warp 9," Worf reported suddenly.

Sisko knew that O'Brien had installed one of DS9's runabouts into the fighter launch bay of the Odyssey to help provide the sensors with contact and astrometric information.

"A ship?" He repeated, wondering if they had appeared in some territorial empire's space.

"Yes, sir. There's only one life sign onboard; according to the Asgard sensor array, the pilot is a female but the scans indicate her DNA has been badly damaged, and there are organs and body parts which don't belong to her genetic profile," Worf said, sending a look of concern to Sisko and Dax, although Sisko was surprised by how sensitive the Asgard sensor array was. Dax wasn't as surprised. She knew already. "They're hailing us. Audio only."

"Put it through."

"This is Dr Danara Pel of the Vidiian Sodality calling unidentified alien ship; you have just entered hostile space. Please leave. If you are detected by my people, they will attack and subject your crew to organ processing," a pleasant but worried voice said over the comm line.

"Organ processing?" Dax whispered in thought.

Sisko studied her face curiously, knowing she was wondering what in the name of God could make a race do anything like that. "What do you think, Dax?"

"I don't know," the Trill woman shook her head. "If her DNA code has been badly damaged, it could mean her body and the rest of her people were attacked by some kind of disease or virus. But we need more to go on."

Sisko nodded. "Open a channel. This is the Starship Odyssey, of the United Federation of Planets. We do not come from this part of the galaxy and we would like to know more about what you mean by organ processing. I am Captain Benjamin Sisko. Dr Pel, could you please elaborate-."

"Federation? The United Federation of Planets, from Earth?" Dr Pel's voice was full of surprise and excitement.

Sisko exchanged looks with Dax and Worf. They were as surprised as he was. How could someone on the other side of the galaxy know of the Federation? "You know about the Federation? How? We're thousands of light-years apart?"

"I could ask you how you are here. From what I know your ships use warp power, too."

"We do, but we have recently…retrieved a ship which has access to a more powerful propulsion technology than warp technology, but you've encountered the Federation before?" Sisko asked, knowing it was the only logical answer.

"Yes, I have. Not long ago I was heading for a remote colony to answer calls of a Phage outbreak when I began to die, but I was rescued by the crew of the Starship Voyager."

Voyager? Sisko's mind harked back to the Intrepid class ship he had seen launched two years before. She was sent out to the Badlands in pursuit of a Maquis ship that had a member of her security team onboard as a spy as part of the Federation's desire to find a way to bring down the Maquis. But the ship went missing and was presumed lost despite the extensive search of the Badlands and the surrounding areas of space.

But….for her to be here….

It was almost unimaginable.

"Captain Sisko, are you still there?" The Vidiian woman's voice snapped him out of his thoughts and he had to shake himself mentally to get his mind back on the job.

"Yes, I'm still here. But what you're telling us is hard to accept; I command a deep-space station, the same deep-space station that Voyager had docked onto prior to the mission where she was lost. On our side of the galaxy, there has been an exhausting search, but how did they find themselves here?"

"Benjamin, we're entering visual range," Dax suddenly reported.

"Did you hear that, Doctor Pel? Can we speak over the visual feed?"

"Yes, but…are you sure you'd want to look at me?" The sadness in the woman's voice was so profound, it was shocking.

"Yes, we do," Sisko wondered just how bad it was for whatever it was that had damaged this woman's DNA codes to make her ask that.

"Very well, but be warned, Captain."

The image on the HUD shifted and an image of the woman appeared on the screen. Sisko gaped at the decayed looking face with almost rotting flesh stretched tightly over the skull. The most disturbing thing about Dr Pel's face was she had a few strands of long brunette hair. The strangest thing was the implant on her left temple that was flashing red, but Sisko didn't know what it could be.

"Dr Pel?"

"Yes, Captain, this is what I look like. Hideous, aren't I? You wouldn't believe I once looked healthy, and I once had a holographic body courtesy of Voyager's Doctor?" The Vidiian's face was so sad that Sisko felt his heart go to these people.

"You mentioned something called the Phage, what is that? A virus? Some kind of disease?"

The Vidiian sighed. "Yes. It's a disease that hit my society 2,000 years ago. My people are technologically advanced and we had always viewed ourselves as artistic explorers, teachers, educators and philosophers. We are not a warlike race, Captain. We merely wished to explore culture and space and help others. But the Phage has destroyed that enlightened existence and stopping it has become an obsession where my people have needed to become organ pirates. The Phage has ripped that once noble life out of my people, and has transformed us into walking corpses. The Phage damages and consumes our bodies and destroys our DNA, but it adapts every single time we try to stamp it out completely, and our medical research is constantly trying to stop it, but we fail despite the most promising attempts. Millions die from it daily, and anyone can contract it from any age. I myself first contacted the symptoms when I was 7 years old."

"My God," Sisko whispered, conjuring a number of images of the disease hitting a society so hard it would do this. "H-How did the Phage attack?"

"I don't know, Captain. We investigated its source, but we were never able to discover how it suddenly attacked us so thoroughly and so completely. We don't know if it was a bacteria contained in a meteorite or an attack from a patient race. All we know is when it struck, there was little we could do to stop it. It's torn my society to pieces and transformed us into monsters in every sense."

Sisko remembered the warning that Dr Pel had given them when they'd arrived. "You mentioned organ processing, what does that mean?"

Although he didn't know her well, Sisko could guess the woman wanted to be sicker than she was. "While our immunogenetics is struggling to keep up, we have discovered that some races have some degree of resistance to Phage, not enough to cure it, but enough to slow it down while at the same time giving us a chance to survive. I said we had become monsters, Captain Sisko, and that's why I came to you and came to warn you; you are in a sector of Vidiian space. If my people discover that you're here, they will attack and they will extract your organs and use them to save lives even at the expense of your lives."