Chapter 3
Deep Space 9,
To call station Deep Space 9 not busy was a massive understatement. When the Huallaga came out of warp we could see that every one of the big three powers had one or more ships at the station where they were either docked or parked in a holding pattern nearby. I had seen the wormhole open up before as well, during that little...'problem' we had with the Jem Hadar fleet that showed up 40 years too late.
I was amazed to see 2 Romulan Republic Scimitar subtype Dreadnoughts as well. To me it was an indication the Republic noticed that the Deferi could still use help, but I did wonder as well whether or not those 2 big ships were a bit of overkill. Although Starfleet Intelligence suspected there were Breen Dreadnoughts in the sector nobody had ever actually seen them on sensors or otherwise. The heaviest ships the Breen had deployed up until now were their Chell Grett Cruisers, and most of those had either been chased off or destroyed outright once Federation or other Alliance forces arrived on the scene.
Still, I was sure that most of the reports that I had seen on the area didn't have the answer to one question. Why were the Breen still persisting in their efforts to subjugate the Deferi? I supposed that nobody really knew or understood why yet. Although the odds weren't in my favor, I was hoping the data package that captain Kurland would give me, would allow me in turn to fill in some of the intelligence gaps I still had.
Station ops appeared to have been waiting for us. They reported that due to the traffic around the station they couldn't provide us with a docking slot. The coordinates that had been attached to the message would have me beaming in on the Promenade, a hell of a way to attract attention when I wanted to avoid that instead.
The beam in was nothing special. I materialized near an airlock that wasn't in use and with a few leaps I was in the elevator, on my way to ops.
Ops was the nerve center of Ds9. From here, Sisko had first encountered the Jem Hadar and faced down the Klingons when they invaded Cardassia. It was here also that the Dominion war began and ended with the treaty of Bajor. Ops nowadays wasn't very busy. I noticed only two officers in the far corner, apparently handling traffic control while Kurland himself was standing near the Master Strategy Display Table or 'the bathtub' as some had begun to call it, seemingly deep in thought.
He had aged a bit more since the last time I had seen him, and, the worry across his features was a bit more evident as well. He glanced up at the direction of the elevator not recognizing me the first time as his face went back to studying the display before it clicked that I had arrived and he glanced up again, this time with a smile.
"Hello Admiral, good to see you again."
It didn't bother me that he didn't salute. We were Starfleet, and not any kind of imperial Navy or anything else comparable. I took his offered hand and shook it. "Good to see you again as well, Captain. I hope things on the station are well?"
Kurland nodded "As well as can be, considering the volume of traffic, and the engineering overhaul this place is going to need somewhere in the near future." He then proceeded to give me the full rundown on what was still wrong with the station and what was going to be needed to fix it. I had to stop his little rant a few moments later.
"I'm sorry captain, but I'm not here to conduct an engineering survey of the station. Im here for something else entirely."
The remark brought Kurland back to where I needed him. "Ah yes, that. Please follow me." We went up another flight of stairs and entered the captain's office. The captain motioned for me to wait while he opened a case. Only then did he hand me another padd. It was the data package I was supposed to received
I began to read the attached intelligence file immediately. About a quarter of the way in I noticed I knew most of the stuff in the report already. When I got to the halfway point, which was about 20 minutes later I realized not much had changed. I kept on reading to see whether or not I was right.
Then I found something I didn't know about. The paragraph was titled 'Mirror Universe incursions."
"The mirror Universe imperial forces continue to use the power of the plasma storms in the Badlands to attempt and gain a foothold on this side of the universe. They have been unsuccessful in all of their attempts, but at great cost to all of the involved Alliance forces. Attempts to set up a surveillance network are interesting, but also a waste of time. The influence and effects of the plasma storms and spatial currents they generate are such that the Mirror universe imperial forces could gain a foothold and sneak a substantial fleet in. Should this occur the Federation and with it the Alliance would be in even deeper trouble then with the return of the 40 year old Jem'Hadar fleet.
Unfortunately problems for the respective fleets do not stop there.
The Mirror Universe Empire is still in possession of the Dimensional Transporter Technology. With this, they can and will move into our universe. While it will not be in fleet strength, great care must be taken anyway. It isn't hard to imagine a single ship slipping through while alerted forces are fighting off a bigger intrusion. Any single Imperial ship that does get out of the Badlands, has the potential of becoming a commerce raider or worse, which will necessitate deploying forces to either cover vital installations or escort convoys, or hunt down and destroy those ships that do make it through."
I skimmed through the rest of the file which contained known positions of Breen ships near Defera and the surrounding systems and a few recommendations on how to fight them. I quickly touched a few buttons on the pad, sending the file to the ship via thumb print approval.
Then I looked at James Kurland, who was now sitting behind his desk, clearly thinking about something else entirely. And yet again, I could read the worry of his face. "Is there anything else I should be concerned about?"
The old captain's head shook no "I'm worried. I figured that with the Iconian problem over we would start to look out again. But that.." He paused, as if he was looking for a word "that thing with the Na'kuhl.."He trailed off.
I knew what he meant anyway. The 'First contact' failure we had with the Na'kuhl was going to have some very interesting repercussions within Starfleet itself as well, but that wasn't my problem right now. My problem was avoiding the upcoming debate and getting underway.
My left hand raised I signalled Kurland that I wanted him to stop talking. "James, I believe this is a debate we will have to have with each other on more then one level. But not right now. Right now I have something else on my mind."
A meek "Sorry." came on reply, by then I was already out of his office and heading for the elevator.
Not ten minutes later I was back aboard my ship and our course out of the pattern towards our first destination, Defera was set.
Back on DS9, 20 minutes after the departure of USS Huallaga.
"Captain Kurland to the strategic operations desk." Kurland frowned as the request for his presence at the desk of Lieutenant-Commander Arix was repeated. If Mesi Achebe, his current XO had run into trouble… the station was a designated fallback point incase of heavy trouble.
He was at the Ferengi her station not much later. "Report."
Without looking up the Ferengi female gave her report "Sir, one of the satellites that is monitoring the plasma storms in the Badlands transmitted this image that I'm bringing up on the main screen...now."
The main screen in ops flashed on, and there, prominently on display was the stern image of an Avenger class Battlecruiser, heading out of the Badlands.
"Why did you call me out here, Arix?"James Kurland sounded a little agitated. He still had a lot to do according to the duty schedule.
"Sir, after crosschecking with commander Achebe it turns out that the task force isn't missing any Avenger class ship. Nor do we have any Avenger class ships out on patrol or on other duties out that way. That ship isn't one of ours, and sir, she's was vectoring for Defera…."