AN: Salutations and bienvenue! I'm back! Sorry to leave this story like this so long, my dearest readers! Writer's block is a cruel mother and other projects demanded my attention. But enough of my excuses, on with the story!


"How is he?" Were once again the first words Vex said when she walked into Sick Bay, heading straight to Mrill, as she scanned a now conscious Zevil, who was sitting up thanks to the biobeds recline function. Vex had been trying to figure out her Ariat situation when Mrill told her Zevil was awake (this time permanently), and she practically ran over.

Zevil opened his mouth to answer for himself, but Mrill spoke before he could. "As you can see, he is conscious, and my scans show that his injuries are healing nicely." She gave a warning look to Vex. "But do not overstimulate him, his brain is still healing. He still needs to rest and spend some more time with the cortical analeptic treatments."

"Thank you, doctor, but I feel-" Zevil tried, but Vex spoke over him to Tyufia, who was standing near his bed with Tynizi standing next to her. Clearly, she and her gentle giantess had been told of Zevil being awake as well and came straight over, beating Vex there.

"So, the Psychic therapy worked?" Vex asked, honestly amazed that it worked. "What was it like in his head? As awful as I imagine?"

"Excuse me?" Zevil asked indignantly, but he was ignored yet again. He was getting flashbacks to their Academy days.

"Not as awful, but more vacant than what I'd imagine." Tyufia grinned cheekily, not even giving her friend and superior a glance as he let out an indignant huff. "Although I have to give credit to Tynizi, she's the one who helped me realize what I needed to do." She followed this up by standing on her tip toes to kiss her loves cheek, which made the giantess smile brighter and blush.

Vex was going to ask how Tynizi helped, when Zevil raised his voice and hands in the air to get their attention. "I am going to speak now, and the next person to interrupt or ignore me will spend the rest of their career in the most remote, inhospitable, and mind-numbing outpost I can find for the rest of their foreseeable future." He said in a growl, his eyes showing he was very serious.

After he was sure everyone believed him, he regained his composure and usual professionalism. "Commander Ejpiz, Dr. Mrill, would you please give Captain Vex, Commander Utprut, and myself a moment to speak privately." While it was said politely, he didn't pose it as a request.

Getting a nod from Vex, Mrill placed a small device on Zevils head and leveled him with a stern look. "That's a cortical monitor and it will tell me if you're overexerting yourself in anyway. If it does, I don't care if you're an Admiral or not, I'll put you back in that coma just so you can get some rest." Zevil nodded in agreement, and she walked off, giving warning glares to Vex and Tyufia saying with a look 'Don't push me or you're next'.

Tynizi gave Tyufia a parting kiss on the cheek and turned to leave but stopped and turned to Zevil. "I'm glad you're on the mend, sir. It's good to have you back." With that said, she left.

"Well, that was unexpected." Zevil said, taken aback by the apparent three sixty in attitude from the Bajoran.

"She finally got her head out of her ass." Vex told him, taking a moment to be proud of her subordinate, before turning a sheepish smile onto her old friend. "A lot of us have…Xavius…I-"

"Will have time enough to make amends later." He cut her off, giving a kind smile to show that those amends would be welcome, before going back to serious. "But first we have a few things to discuss on this voyage of ours."

Getting the hint, Vex nodded. "Computer. Activate a level 10 privacy forcefield. Authorization Vex-alpha-four-six-five-six-eight. Code: ultraviolet." An opaque energy field came into existence, cutting off the two standing officers and the bedridden one from everyone outside.

"Status report." Zevil ordered, all business, but Vex could see a small amount of unease in her friend's demeanor.

"Chakotay Protocol was put into effect." Vex told him, and she didn't miss how his shoulders seemed to become even stiffer. "We've been to the first set of coordinates from the ruins on Defera, a set in the S'hinga system, and another in the Manek system which is leading us to what we believe will be a new set of coordinates to discover there. So far there has been no sign of anything to use the device that the EDH gave us."

"No, we won't till the end, if my hunch is correct." Zevil said in a thoughtful voice, his hand to his chin.

"Actually, we learned what the 'treasure' at the end of this hunt actually is." Vex told both of her old friends about the Breen squadron and what they found in the wreckage.

"A Preserver Archive?!" Zevil said, he and Tyufia both looking aghast, although the admiral's eyes were shining with wonder. He would be lying if he said that his inner historian wasn't thrilled at the idea of unearthing a Preserver archive. Eons of knowledge and discoveries that he could hardly imagine…and it was in danger of falling into the Breens hands.

That wonder and joy plummeted into his stomach like a stone, turning into dread fast. "Vex, we have to stop-ugh!" Zevil started to say as he shot forward, but regretted it as soon as he did, his back seizing up. "Oh Valix, that is unpleasant." He groaned in a strangled voice.

"Of course it's 'unpleasant', dumbass! You collided with a tree with the force of an exploding grenade!" Vex scolded as she and Tyufia helped in recline back into his previous sitting position. "I'd smack you upside the head for being an idiot if I didn't think it would land you right back into the coma!"

"And I am not calling Six back just to say that her boyfriend is back in a coma!" Tyufia hissed, just as exasperated, arms crossed and her 'older sister' glare in full effect. "Do you know how mortifying it was for me to not only tell her you were in a coma, but that I knew for a while that you two were dating and I needed her to talk you out of your brumation cycle?"

Zevil sighed in relief as he was back in a reclined position, but the stiffness in his shoulders didn't go away "That wasn't the only thing I've been trying to hide as of late." He said as his face took on a resigned air as he looked down at his lap, not looking at his best friends. "I've done quite a lot of temporal manipulation recently."

Vex let that hang in the air between the three of them for a moment. Honestly, she hadn't been sure what she was going to say to her friend when she had first learned about Delta recruits and their mission, but she did now as she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, making him look up into her understanding eyes.

"You did what you thought was right and ultimately for the greater good of the Galaxy at large. Anyone in your position would have done the same…I know I would have." She told him seriously and meaning every word of it. "You learn in Intelligence that there are some jobs you just have to do, even if they go against your own ethics or feelings…something I forgot recently."

"Granted, fucking with the space-time continuum is really stupid." Tyufia chimed in, but her words were softened by her rubbing Zevil's other arm soothingly, her usual smirk on her face. "But like most of your command decisions, you calculated the risk and acted with precision."

Zevil gave his friends a watery smile. "Thank you, my friends." He said before quickly composing himself. "I should also apologize for what I said in our argument earlier."

"Water under the bridge." Vex said quickly and meaning it. "We both said things we regret and shouldn't have, and we've known each other too damn long to let something like some stupid words ruin our friendship." She held her hand to seal the deal on their reconciliation and Zevil happily took it.


"Tell me something good, people." Vex ordered as she stepped onto the bridge and made her way to the captain's chair. She had spent some time with Zevil, getting him and Tyufia fully apprised of the current situation, but Mrill had interrupted them and sent Tyufia and herself off so Zevil could get some more rest.

Her timing had been fortuitus as her combadge chirped and the bridge informed her that they were entering the Raveh system and she was needed. As Vex walked to her chair, she spared a glance at Ariat, who was quiet and looking more completive than usual. 'Head in the game Jicsi.' She scolded herself as she took seat.

"Evidence of ships warping in and out, but none being picked up on scanners in system." Vic told her, studying her readout judiciously. "We are picking up evidence of a running skirmish on the surface of the planet, ma'am."

"Skirmish? Are the Breen attacking the locals?" Vex asked as she brought up the scan data up on her holo-interface. "There aren't any reports that there are any inhabited worlds in this sector."

"Negative. There are no signs that planet is inhabited by any sentient species." Toros informed stoically. "It appears that the Breen are attacking an archaeological dig site."

"Who was digging down there? Was it a Federation team?" Vex asked, perplexed that she hadn't seen any reports of any Federation activity in this sector when she started this mission.

"No, Captain, I am not reading any Federation species in the life signs we're picking up." Toros told her. "However, the life signs we do see are dwindling."

"We must make haste and beam to the surface as soon as possible if we don't want the Breen to escape with another piece of the star chart, Captain." Xrithath said already heading toward one of the lifts. "I will gather the rest of my away team and meet you in the transporter room."

"And lets, you know, try and save the civilians too for the heck of it." Vex said sardonically as she got up from the chair. "Toros, you have the bridge. Vic, Dinah, Tynizi, and Number One: you're with me."

The five woman team made their way to the transporter room in silence, all mentally preparing for the fight ahead. As they walked into the transporter room, they saw that their Klingon guests were fully kitted out with an eclectic assortment of weapons: Ariat was armed with a pair of Cardassian Phase-Disrupter pistols, the Nausicaan Gog had an energy lance with wicked looking blades, M'krrt had a Hirogen tetryon sniper rifle, Keeyas had a Klingon pulse wave disruptor, and Xrithath had some kind of mini-canon (that practically looked like a rifle in his huge hands).

"That's funny, I don't remember seeing weapons in Toros' security report on your arrival." Vex, her tone more playful than suspicious. "Wherever did you get those?"

"We wouldn't be very good spies if we couldn't smuggle a few weapons, now would we Captain?" Xrithath said, an amused twinkle in his eye.

"Suppose I can't." Vex said with a good natured chuckle before she gestures to Tynizi, "Commander, set us up."

Tynizi nodded and went to one of the walls near the transporter and pressed her palm to it, activating a hidden bio-scanner that triggered the wall to open and reveal a weapon self. "Okay, we have a phaser sniper rifle for Dinah," she tossed said rifle to the android, who caught it easily, "a blast rifle for Vic and a split beam for the Captain," both women caught the rifles, "a pair of pistols for the Commander," the Aenar wasn't even facing woman and caught them in each hand, "and for me…" Tynizi turned around wielding a portable phaser cannon, "the Shax special."

"Oooo!" Gog's eyes grew wide at the sight at the massive gun. He came up right to Tynizi, eyes never leaving the weapon. "Auto fire, pulse wave, or beam?" he asked, his words sounding like they went through a blender and hurt coming out of his mouth.

"A continuous beam with an overloaded beam as a secondary firing function." Tynizi said with no small amount of pride. This was her personal weapon that she had modified and maintained by herself. She named it after a fellow Bajoran that has a reputation of going guns blazing.

"Talk about guns in your free time you two." Ariat snapped as she took her place on the transporter. "Or have you all forgotten we have a bunch of frozen fools encroaching on our prize?"

Vex narrowed her eyes at her former flame and for a moment wondered if she was still thinking about what they talked about, before she snapped out of it and boxed those feelings away for later. "Before we rush in, I'd like to propose a strategy." Vex went to the transport console and activated the holo-emitters to project a 3D map of the area they were transporting into.

"Scans show the enemy is clustered around the exact coordinates of the map fragment." Several red dots appeared in that area of the hologram. "I think we should use two of our heavy weapon holders as bate." two blue dots appeared at the front of the red dots, "While they're focused on them, two teams of three will attack them from the sides," this time green dots appeared on the sides of the red, "and our snipers provide us cover fire and overwatch from a safe distance." Two purple dots appeared a distance behind the blue dots.

"Hmmm, a sound strategy, Captain." Xrithath said as he looked over the map and the placements of the enemy and ally dots, before turning to Vex. "I volunteer to be one of the two heavy gunners." Seeing the protests forming on Vex's face, Xrithath held a clawed hand to stop her. "My Sompek Blast cannon is not only superior to Gog's lance in terms in power, but it can also produce a regenerative field that will keep us both alive should the unfortunate happen."

"Trust the Klingon to make a weapon that kills and can keep you fighting." Vex said with an amused chuckle as she got a closer look at the weapon in question. It certainly looked like something a Klingon would call beautiful, with its clunky looking parts and it's blade at the end. Looks could be deceiving though, no one knew that better than a spy like everyone in this room.

"Captain," Dinah said, speaking up for the first time and knocking Vex out of her inspection of the interesting weapon. "I believe it would be wise to have lieutenant M'krrt and myself transport down first and set up our 'snipers' nest' and confirm the position of the enemy."

"Good idea, Dinah." Vex said, turning to the maroon feathered Aurelian at the transporter controls. "Send them to a position roughly a kilometer away from the main camp and each other, Chief."

The transporter Chief tapped away at the controls for a moment before looking back up at Vex. "Found the perfect spots, ma'am. Two trees with an unobstructed view of both the camp and the surrounding area."

"Thanks Chief." Turning back the others, Vex addressed the KI officers. "Before we head down there, you all should tune your communicators to our com frequency, just in case this op goes ass up and/or we get separated." Vex gave them the frequency and both Dinah and M'krrt stepped onto the transport and were transported away.

On the surface, both officers appeared perfectly placed on their respective branches and quickly set up their snipers' nests. "How's it looking down there you two?" came Vex's voice over their coms.

"Transport was smooth and flawless, Captain Vex, my complements to your transporter Chief." Said M'krrt as he looked down his scope as he took a closer look at where they believed the Preserver map fragment was. Activating the scanner in his scope, he soon found what they were looking for. "Captain Vex, take a look at these scans I'm sending you. I think you'll find them quite interesting."

Back on the ship, Vex and the others gathered around hologram of the surrounding area as it zoomed in on a central crater with a large lone mesa in the middle of it. "Is that thing hollow?" asked Vex as she leaned in.

"Indeed, Captain." Said M'krrt over the comms. "The frozen rock face near the center of the crater shows signs of a hollow interior, and while I'm too far to get a detailed look at the contents of it, I am getting readings that are consistent with Preserver power sources."

"Captain, I have an update on the Breen raiding parties on the surface." Dinah cut suddenly. "They're moving in a search pattern, which lead me to believe that they haven't found it yet."

"Any sign of the survivors?" Vex asked, considering if her plan would still work.

"Negative, Captain." Came Dinah's quick reply. "I hypothesize that the Breen have successfully scared them far enough away from their search area or…" Dinah didn't elaborate on the "or…", it was rather obvious what might have happened to them.

"Alright then, so we hopefully don't need to worry about friendly fire." Vex said, locking up her feeling about the civilian casualties for later. "M'krrt, Dinah: stand by to lend us some cover fire once we've beamed down." She turned to Xrithath and Tynizi. "You two are up first and then the rest of us will transport in for the pincer maneuver."

"They shall fall before us." Xrithath growled as he turned a walked onto the pad, Tynizi right behind him and both reading their canons. Soon they were transported to their designated location. "Come Lieutenant, lets show these frozen fools why it is unwise to get on the bad side of a Gorn and a Bajoran."

"Took the words right out of my mouth, sir." Tynizi said as she hefted her canon and fired at the closest Breen soldier, vaporizing him instantly and gaining the others attention. Before one of them can return fire, they were quickly downed due to a sniper shot to the head.

"Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam!" roared Xrithath, saying the famous Klingon battle cry "Today is a good day to die" in perfect Klingon, and gaining the rest of the valleys attention. He fired round after round of electrical blasts that not only hit their targets but arced onto the surrounding soldiers. The Breen soon concentrated their fire on the two lone officers. "We now have their undivided attention, Captain. I suggest you and the others transport in now before the Lieutenant and I take all the glory for ourselves."

"On our way!" Said Vex as she and the five other officers got on the transporter with weapons ready. "I'll lead Gog and Vic, while Commander Iset takes Zasva and Keeyas."

"Mixing the teams while making sure we have a tactical, engineering, and science officer on each team." Ariat said as she checked over her guns one last time, her tone approving. "Impressive, lover."

"Well, you know me, I'm full of impressive surprises." Vex said and to Ariat's surprise, she winked at her. "Energize." She ordered and they were soon teleported onto the surface in their prearranged groups. Not even waiting for the order, Gog let out a battle cry and charged right into the nearest group of Breen, slashing at suited the attackers with his lance like it was an actual sword but also blasting away when it suited him.

"Wow." Vic said as she and Vex watched Gog go to town on the Freezer suited fiends. "I knew Nausicans were intense, but this guy takes it to another level, and is that gurgling sound he's making…laughter?"

"You'll have to forgive Gog, Captain Vex, Commander Rogers." Said M'Krrt over the coms. "Even among his own blood thirsty kind, Gog attends the battle field with a lust that even gives Klingons pause. You should have seen him when the General brought him on board. That was quite the altercation."

"You'll have to tell us all about it if we get out of this alive." Vex said, her rifles sights set on a Breen about to shoot Gog in the back, shooting him before he got the chance. "How are the others doing?"

"All teams are progressing with little difficulty, Captain." Dinah answered, getting a head shot on one of the Breen in back of the main group that the others were closing in on. "There are only thirty-five percent of the Breens forces left."

"Then we should hurry up and make that zero percent." Said Ariat as she and her team took down more Breen. "I've always been curious been curious, Zasva dear, but how do you reconcile taking lives and fighting with the pacifism your people are known for?"

"Not all Aenar adhere to the pacifism ways, especially if they feel like their purpose is to fight and defend others." She said as she pointed her gun behind her and shoot a Breen attempting to sneak up on her. "Just like not all Cardassians are evil, manipulative, imperialists like you are."

"My imperialist leanings only go as far as the Klingon Empire, thank you very much." Ariat shot back as she literally shot back at a Breen that nearly blasted her ear off. She then pointed her guns at Zasva, who turned around and aimed her guns at Ariat. Both women glared at one another, before both made slight changes to their aim and shot two Breen de-cloaking, leaving a total of four dead Breen on the ground. They held their glares a moment longer before both smirked and let out low chuckles.

Just a few feet away, Dr. Keeyas would soon be surrounded by Breen, six in total. "I want you all to know that ass a doctor, I took an oath to do no harm." She growled at the suited fiends, surprising them by throwing down her weapon. "Sso, rest asssured," the doctor flexed her claws and got into a loose fighting stance, "I will make ssure your deathss are quick and painlesss." Faster than a being her size should move, Keeyas shot forward and grabbed two Breen by their helmeted heads, roughly twisting and breaking their necks, killing them instantly.

The four remaining Breen quickly turned their weapons on her and opened fire. Using both bodies as shields, Keeyas waited for a break in their fire to throw both bodies at each pair, hitting them both and knocking them to the ground. Not wasting time, Keeyas pounced onto the two fallen Breen to her left and rammed her claws deep into their throats, practically beheading them and getting her claws coated in blood and frost from the suits.

She turned on her heels and rushed last two that were barely getting to their feet. She rammed her hand through the one on her left, using her claws to easily pierce through skin and organs, grabbed hold of his spine and snapped it like a twig. While doing that, she reached over, pulled him to her, and sunk her powerful jaws into his neck and ripped his head off his body.

Once she spat out what little of the Breen was left in her mouth, Keeyas took notice of her surroundings and saw that her two teammates were staring at her in complete shock. "What? Do I have ssome of that idiot in my teeth?" she asked, seemingly oblivious to the carnage she reeked.

Ariat and Zasva just started at her for a moment before Ariat spoke first. "Just a little bit in your back teeth, doctor." As Keeyas picked at her teeth, Zasva gave Ariat an incredulous look. "What was I supposed to say?!" She harshly whispered. "Let's hurry up and get this damn map fragment!"

Soon, all three of the ground teams met up as they took out the last of the Breen forces on the surface. "How's it look Dinah, M'krrt?" Vex asked as they formed a defensive stance, waiting for the all clear from the Android and Farisan.

"Breen threat has been contained, ma'am." Dinah said from her perch, M'krrt saying the same over coms. "Shall we join you at your location, Captain?"

"Negative, Dinah. I want you two to keep an eye out, just in case more of Breen show up." Turning to Xrithath she said. "We should take this opportunity to find a way into the cave. Any ideas?"

"Just one." Xrithath then aimed his cannon at the wall, set it to full charge, and let loose a powerful blast dead center, blasting a huge hole in the wall.

"…That'll work." Vex said with a surprised chuckle and amused shake of her head. Being careful of the debris, Vex walked in and started looking around. Inside the cavern was what looked like an ancient looking console and the same kind of holoprojector on the floor that was reported on Defera. Wanting to be sure, Vex turned to her subordinates "Tynizi, Vic, Zasva, is this projector the same kind that you saw at the temple on Defera?"

"Looks the same to me, Captain." Said Tynizi as she surveyed the area but keeping an eye on the exit.

"Scans match the ones Dinah and I took too." Vic said as she pulled out her tricorder and scanned the area. "They also match the ones we took at that moon and all other known Preserver sites."

"Well, I guess the only thing to do now is to activate the console." Vex said as she stood in front of said console, giving it an unsure onceover. "Although how to do that is the major question."

"I'd wager it's rather easy." Said Ariat as she stood with Vex and looked over the console. Vex gave her a questioning look, so she explained. "The Preservers we're carful not to make their technology easy to find, however they still wanted us, their "children" to use and learn from it."

"So, in theory, it should be as easy as pressing a button." Vex said and she suited word to action and pressed one of the buttons. Suddenly the holoprojector lit up and projected the last piece of the star chart. "Yes!" Vex cheered Ariat letting out a surprised laugh at the sight of the star chart. "We did it!" Without thinking, Vex turned to Ariat and hugged her close in triumph. Both women enjoyed the hug, but soon realized what they were doing.

Before they could spring apart and try and save face, the swirling lights of transporter energy filled the room and produced dozens of Breen soldiers, out numbering them two to one and pointing their weapons right at them.


AN: Wow. All this time and I leave you all on a cliffhanger. To quote my favorite wascally wabbit "Ain't I a stinker?" Don't worry, I'll do my best be faster with these chapters. I plans for this universe MaliceUnchained, Kretolus, and yours truly have made and I shan't abandon them!

Till then, I bid you adieu!