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Odyssey out of Time.

Balance of Power.

It was a dark time for the Federation. USS Voyager might have returned to the Alpha Quadrant with the help of the Asgard hyperdrive, but the Dominion War was still going on, and the war was certainly looking up for the Federation at the time given the crew's safe return.

The Voyager crew was highly experienced; with some of the crew being members of the former Maquis, their knowledge of guerrilla warfare tactics and their ingenuity made them extremely lethal and unpredictable in a fight against the Dominion, and between them and the experience their Starfleet crewmates had learnt during their time in the Delta Quadrant, Starfleet received far more help against the Jem'Hadar.

Many of the Voyager crew were separated and sent off to other ships to help with personnel shortages while others were given key roles in Starfleet Tactical

For a time, Starfleet was able to hold back the Dominion and were able to launch many attacks against the Jem'Hadar and Dominion held territories both in the Gamma Quadrant and the Alpha Quadrant, thanks to the Asgard Hyperdrive, which gave a significant advantage. Thanks to the hyperdrive and the Asgard-designed weapons, the Federation were able to match and defend themselves against Dominion ships and overrun many territories within the Gamma Quadrant. The tide of the Jam'Hadar was being held back.

And then it went wrong.

The Female Changeling was not the only Founder of the Dominion in the Alpha Quadrant. There were others who had been selected by the Great Link in order to help with the war effort. Like the Founders despatched to the Klingon Empire, the Cardassian Union, and the United Federation of Planets, these Founders were to cause as much damage as they could to weaken the Alpha Quadrant for the inevitable invasion, however, the Female Changeling brought with her seven of their number into the Alpha Quadrant.

A few of them were despatched into Federation space in the hope they could find one of the new Federation ships equipped with the Asgard hyperdrive engine design, and the new weapons. The Founders spent months looking for a way into Federation space without looking suspicious, but they were unable to reach any of the shipyards. Security was too tight even for them, but they were able to steal two runabouts equipped with Asgard hyperdrive. The Founders stole them both, one would be sent into the Gamma Quadrant where they proved their identity and handed the vessel over for examination. The same thing happened in the Alpha Quadrant.

Starfleet was horrified by the breach of security and a think tank of experts was drafted to think of ways they could detect changelings to make it impossible for the shape shifters to get into Federation facilities. The atmosphere was tense as they knew the Founders would soon be able to cross the galaxy without warp drive and the strategic importance of the Bajoran wormhole would fade as soon as they understood the hyperdrive's principles.

The war grew worse.

It was the only logical thing for the Federation to do, really; they needed to weaken the Dominion to slow down their progress in understanding the hyperdrive, but their means of doing so were poorly limited since many ships were exploring areas of the Delta Quadrant in order to ascertain the best places to colonise and the best places to find minerals, so many ships could not be spared. But all ships were ordered to launch attacks on Cardassian territory. In the meantime, the Federation council - reluctantly - gave the authorisation to use some of the most powerful, world-shattering weapons contained within the Asgard database. For too long, the Federation had held off from using them out of their sense of morality, but they were becoming increasingly forced to accept the realities of the dangers within the galaxy; the idea of their enemies breaking in, stealing two of their ships, and being in possession of one of the most advanced propulsion technologies ever was an alarming one.

As the wear escalated with stars being transformed into supernovas or black holes by the time-acceleration fields pushed through by Asgard beaming technology of the Isa device, a weapon constructed by one of the Asgard's most creative minds that blended temporal physics with matter-energy physics which resulted in the destruction of an inhabited star system, a weapon baulked at by the Federation, Starfleet inflicted terrifying levels of damage against the Dominion.

They destroyed many shipyards in both the Alpha and Gamma Quadrants.

A star was turned into a black hole near a region where the Dominion had a Ketracel White facility that was highly important in the Gamma Quadrant.

They came close to destroying the Founder's second homeworld, but they missed by twelve lightyears.

In the Alpha Quadrant, the ISA device destroyed a large chunk of the joint shipyards.

Many in Starfleet had hoped that by using the ISA device the Dominion would come to the negotiating table - that was one of the reasons why they had decided to use it; the use of weapons of mass destruction usually brought with it unconditional surrender. In the Second World War on Earth, the surprise detonation of two nuclear bombs in two Japanese cities was one of the deciding reasons why the Axis powers lost.

But the Dominion refused to even think of it when the Council sent a message to Cardassia directly. They asked the Cardassians and the Dominion to come to the negotiating table, but the Dominion refused - on the Cardassian's behalf. This incensed the Cardassians; millions of their soldiers were being killed in the conventional warfare battles, and the Federation was using a terrifying weapon that was capable of transforming stars into novas.

Many Cardassians were beginning to think they were over their head even before the war began with the hyperdrive-capable ships capable of breaking through their defences. And those attacks were getting worse, thanks to the Klingon and Romulan fleets. The Federation had given them the hyperdrive technology to keep them happy and to allow them both to go on the offensive.

Casualties were high.

Cardassian casualties.

With each attack and raid, the Klingons and Romulans were inflicting terrifying levels of damage whenever they attacked Cardassian colonies, the headquarters of the military orders of the Cardassian Empire. However, the war swung both ways, with both sides making use of hyperdrive once the Cardassians gained hyperdrive from the Dominion, so they were able to go deeper into Federation space, forcing the Federation to look for new ways of fighting back.

But the war took its toll. On occupied worlds, the Cardassians had to fight a two-way war, from space and from the ground on many of the worlds they conquered.

On top of that, many Cardassians were beginning to hate the Dominion. It had begun very shortly after the alliance was announced; many were thrilled at the prospect of allying themselves with the Dominion. They believed, at last, the Alpha Quadrant was theirs to rule.