Star Trek: Mission Delta

[4thdimension]

Scott Ortiz surveys the scene after materializing on the surface. Jem'Hadar Shroud inspired personal cloak provides cover.
Copywrite Tommy Charles.

[4thdimension]

Hirogen Warship finds itself in a tight spot as the Prometheus's Multi Attack Mode provides too many targets to keep track of. The Federation's armor proves nearly impenetrable.

The Hirogen vessel design is property of Paramount.
Picture, Copy write Tommy Charles

[4thdimension]

The Hirogen divert power from life support to fire continually from all weapons platforms but the aft shields fail as the Prometheus comes around for another pass, the powerful Federation vessel's Phasers tear through it's ablative armor.
copy write, Tommy Charles

I know this is a bit of a spoiler, but I couldn't wait to get the art up there...

[4thdimension]

Geordi La Forge paced the bridge, his eyes latched onto the murky planet below. Thirteen minutes had passed since the Marines launched from the Prometheus, every one feeling to the Captain like an age unto itself. Like a general on an old Earth battle field, La Forge had sent his men into battle, and now there was nothing to do but wait.
The energy on the bridge was tight and confined, like a phaser beam ready to be released on the prow of an enemy ship. La Forge saw it as the lingering effects of the Dominion war. Even those crew members who had been in the Academy at the time had been tainted by the cold tendrils of war. He saw this energy overflow as the tactical console released a steady alert. A preprogrammed message in case of changes in the sensor readings f the surface. As La Forge moved toward tactical he registered the almost hostile reactions of the crew. Officers itching for a fight, disappointed when what they thought was a call to arms was nothing more than a simple alert. All save the Vulcan T'val , as usual his true state of mind was nearly impossible to detect.
"The sensors are detecting an increased concentration of technology signatures within two kilometers of the crash site sir." The Vulcan reported flatly. La Forge slapped a fist into his hand and turned to the view screen with an energy that matched that of his bridge crew, he'd been right. The Hirogen were revealing their strength. He couldn't see them through the atmospheric interference, but atleast now his fears had been confirmed. Captain La Forge hated running on assumption.
"Show me what you can Mr. Reed" He said to his communications officer. A moment later the Dominion vessel could be seen in relief on screen. It's dark outline provided a tantalizing view to the Captain, Hirogen vessels represented by orange triangles amassed around the ship. Reed seemed to pick up on La Forge's displeasure with the primitive image. "I apologize for the view sir, that's the best we can do through that interference."
The Captain waved off the remark, stepped still closer to the view screen. More orange triangles arrived, surrounded the colossus star ship. "It looks like our package has been delivered." He said, staring deeply into the screen. His bridge crew stood motionless, watching as the orange triangles converged on the Dominion vessel. "Stand alert people, the moment those transponders come online and we get our people back I want to be able to punch it to trans warp." La forge called out, snapping his crew into action. All but , he T'val was motionless at his station, staring into his console. His face was an emotionless mask.
"What is it Mr. T'val?" He moved a step closer as his tactical officer looked up, he swallowed once, and his right hand griped the console just a bit tighter, the gesture undetectable to anyone who handn't spent enough time by a Vulcan's side.
" The two Hirogen war ships have matched our orbit sir. They have formed a search pattern bearing 01, mark 4. Distance is four thousand kilometers." T'val said, his voice as cool as glacial ice. His right eyebrow rose in defiance of his anti emotional conditioning. "They are closing sir, apparently despite our cloak." La Forge's gut clenched into a tight knot. Things were going very wrong, very fast.

[4thdimension]

Captain Elizabeth Shelby sat before a console in her temporary quarters aboard the Prometheus, she pushed golden locks from her heated face and looked again into the dark eyes of Admiral William Ross; a look that would have beaten a weaker man into submission. Shelby was shocked by what the Admiral had been saying, and if she admitted it to herself, she was a bit hurt too.
"But Admiral, he's endangering our position here!" Shelby cried. Though she had asked for, and received the right to speak freely, she was nearing the end of Ross's patience, and she knew it. She looked away again, forcing herself to calm down, as Ross remianed silent on the other end, waiting for the more rational retort he wanted. "Sir, if the Hirogen take this as an act of war, what will we do?" Despite her best efforts her voice began to rise again. "The Borg are on our doorstep and your just sitting there while La Forge decides he wants to dance with the Hirogen?" The Admiral put up a hand, Shelby fell silent immediately. The two lock eyes and Shelby looks down, she'd crossed the line. The Admiral set back, locked his eyes on the young woman, wanting to ensure that he gets his point across.
"Shelby, have you stopped to think about just what you want your asking La Forge to do? Do you even realize who it is that's stranded down there?" Shelby opened her mouth but snapped it shut again as the Admiral gave her a warning glare. "I'm not talking about Picard Shelby, though that IS enough to warrant Captain La Forge's actions. I'm talking about Odo." Shelby looked down and away, as if she hadn't even considered the changeling. "Shelby, who do you think it is that keeps the Dominion at bay? Who do think has been influencing them since the moment the Female changeling singed the surrender papers? Or do you think their change of heart is just out of good will? Do you know what the Dominion will do if one of the their Founders dies while on a good will mission in our benefit? That will mean war Shelby." He looked off screen for several seconds before continuing, his voice soft and sincere. "There are things you don't know Captain, things you are better off not knowing. Right now I need you to complete your mission, and follow your orders. Continue analyzing the Borg Transwarp signatures and report any new information. As for Captain La Forge." He sighed and leaned forward, making a bridge with his interlaced fingers. "I know you are on the frontier out there Captain, and that means that you can't radio into command about every decision. Even those that may have wide spread affects on the Federation. La Forge served under one of the greatest frontier Captains in Star Fleet history." Ross looked down and away, as if committing himself to the spoken words for the first time. "I will personally take responsibility for Captain La Forges actions."
Shelby forced herself to breath deeply and slowly, nodding and biting back tears that came on suddenly and unexpectedly. Shelby had been a career Star Fleet officer all of her adult life, and she hadn't cried even in the thick of the War. She realized that the source of the threatening tears wasn't shame, it wasn't anger. It was the sudden lifting of gnawing fatigue. It was the lifting of the burden of responsibility. Though both Shelby and Laforge held the same rank, and though the Prometheus was La Forge's ship, Captain Shelby had seniority, and she had been dredged in the fear that she would be held responsible if something terrible happened there that day. She held the tears back, and smiled at the Admiral.
"Understood sir." She was waiting for the Admirals cue to terminate the link when she realized what he'd said. "Sir...is there anything you can tell me?" He leaned back again and smiled.
"Only that it does concern the Defiant, and her mission."
"You know where she is don't you?" She asked, her eyes narrowed, her voice soft.
The admiral waved his index finger back and forth a few times, in the human gesture that meant, 'I know, but you don't need to know.'
"When the time comes, I'll need you to be ready to do what needs to be done Captain. For now, get me the analysis of the Borg Transwarp signals. Ross out." A moment later and Captain Elizabeth Shelby was left staring at her own reflection in the dark screen.

[4thdimension]

Scott Ortiz slammed himself into a bulkhead as a Hirogen hunter came slinking around a corner in the dark corridor. He made the sign for his unit to stop, and dropped down to one knee. The hunter had heard them, and though he could not see them, he could smell the cold, hard armor which their bodies where encased in. The tall alien opened fire, sending a beam of searing orange plasma their way. Ortiz cursed himself for allowing the beast to get off the shot, drew a bead on him, and fired. The blue beam struck the Hirogen squarely in the chest and he fell to the deck slowly, deep crimson blood streaking behind him. Every member of his unit pressed a small button on their left wrists, indicating to Ortiz that they hadn't been hit.
"Go!" Ortiz went first, crossing over the dead Hirogen and making the turn into the corridor beyond. He fired his rifle four times, dropping the hunters who stood within. They hadn't been caught flatfooted, they had been ready to fight, but they never even saw their target. Ortiz and the nine Marines pressed onward, though the ship was a contorted maze. At times, between the bouts of phaser fire Ortiz swore that they had been in this corridor or that before. Time blurred, and Ortiz began to panic. How long had they been going in circles? They began to trip over the bodies of fallen Hirogen as they ran down the corridors, each drab one looking the same as any other. "Hold!" Ortiz cried. The unit paused as one, Ortiz brought up the communications menu with a glance and a blink at it's icon in his Heads up display and a moment later X'tharan was on the line.
"I'm right above you Scott. Problem is the orange bastards are jamming the sensors. And guess what? It's the same frequancy that's jamming the Prometheus." Ortiz swore under his breath, shook his head from side to side, making sure they were alone in the corridor. "Yeah, it's them Scott. Their generating the interference planet wide."
"Can you cut through it?" He held out hope but didn't really believe he would hear anything else.
"Negative. Not in time. Look, you've got hundreds of Hirogen entering that ship. I can still beam you out....you have the transponders."
"Negative." Ortiz shot back at once. "that's not an option X'tharan. Hold your position and wait for Picard's transponder to come online."
"Yes sir, X'tharan out." The part of Scott's mind that registered the Orion's obvious fear for him was shut down. he sniffed the air instinctively, though he could smell nothing in the cold air enclosed in his suit. He opened a com link to his men.
"Hold for ten seconds." He said. He closed his eyes, retracing his steps. Four Hirogen around the first bend, six around the second. Several small doors, likely Jem'Hadar quarters had been passed, none had opened. Then several minutes had passed as the unit had found themselves facing more Hirogen. The Hirogen knew they were there, but the Marines were like ghosts, invisible, and silent. None had provided a challenge, but that hadn't been the issue at all. Picard didn't have the benefit of a cloak, and every moment spent running around in circles meant a greater chance that Picard would be found gutted, or, and it made him catch his breath to realize it, worse. Ortiz had read the report on the Hirogen given by Admiral Janeway, Captain Chakotay and Captain Tuvok. The Hirogen had been known to digest and eat their prey alive, just like the spiders of Earth.
Ortiz jumped up as his ten seconds ran out, began running the opposite direction. His men followed, as they back tracked to the Jem'Hadar quarters. They moved as one, Ortiz pulling his dagger and stabbed it into the small crack between the two panels. The servos in his arms activated and added to his strength. He pulled the door apart and rushed inside. All of the Marines piled into the small room;Jem'Hadar living quarters turned out to be little more than a pin. There was no bed, only a hard shelf to either side of the room, and a computer terminal on the far wall. Ortiz didn't know why the Founders would provide their slave army with computers in their quarters when they hadn't even provided proper beds, and he didn't care. All he cared about was that he'd been right, some how.
The computer was dead of course, but Ortiz had expected that. He lowered his wrist to the terminal and a small metal tube shot out, breaking through the metal. A red light began blinking in his heads up display, and his energy supply ratio fell from ninety three percent to seventy three percent. A moment later the computer spoke into his ear, it's simulated female voice informing him that the nanoprobes had done their job. The computer flickered to life and a moment later the computer brought up the menu that Ortiz needed. He lowered his cloak, his men did the same. The computer brought up the internal sensors for the half a second that the generator from the suit could power the Dominion system. It was enough. The screen showed him where they were. It showed them where Picard was, and as the environmental sensors colored the bridge in a deep red, printing it's current temperature on screen, Ortiz pushed past his men and left the room in a dead run.

[4thdimension]

Captain Picard had lost consciousness moments ago, no longer able to fight the stifling heat. His lungs burned, his heart pounded. The force field flickered, threatening to fail. if it did Picards flesh would be incinerated in moments. On the other side the changeling Odo boiled like a primordial soup. He is alive, for now. The Founders were very resilliant creatures. Outside of the bridge, Trox, the young Hirogen hunter eased up on the trigger of the atmospheric manipulator, cutting the flow of the super heated ions. He knew that he would have to stay where he was for several more minutes. If he moved now the force field being generated by the weapon would shut down, scouring his own flesh. A sound behind him caused him to shift his weight, so that he could look through his peripheral vision. Nothing was there. Trox turned back to the bridge, to the life preserving forcefield, and thought of the trophy that he could make from the humans gleaming bones, and wondered whether there would be anything left of the demon.

[4thdimension]

Geordy La Forge watched the two Hirogen warships on the main view screen, they reminded him of sharks, and they were circling. The engeneer within him was working over time spitting out possibilities on how the Hirogen had detected them. They had not shown signs of knowing their exact location, but surely they knew that a large vessel was in orbit. La Forge set his jaw and set down in his command chair.
"Red alert. Captain Shelby to the bridge. T'val, distance to the nearest vessel?"
"One thousand, two hundred and seventy three kilometers. They have maintained this distance for the last two minutes Captain. I do not believe they are capable of narrowing the search any further." La Forge let out a breath.
"Let''s hope so, I don't want to have to engage them while our people are still on the surface." La Forge relaxed a little. Even with the Hirogen ships circling so close, this may turn out as planned. The Stinger was equipped with a cloak itself, and as soon as it reentered the shuttle bay they could leave in high warp under cloak.
"Captain....six more Hirogen vessels have entered the system. They match the two that are circling." T'val's calm voice seemed to mock the situation. La Forge shifted his weight in his chair, trying to think fast. With eight ships they could simply plow into the Prometheus, or shoot blindly. Leaving the planet was out of the question, yet the alternative was looking less and less appealing.
"Maintain our position helm. T'val, what's their ETA?"
"Three minutes Captain." Something very subtle in his voice told Geordy that he was not finished. "The Hirogen vessels appear to be releasing a gas cloud sir." La Forge jumped up from his chair, his hands tightening into fists. This was unheard of, and La Forge knew at once what they were up to. It was obvious, and ingenious.
Shelby came in from the turbolift and took her seat by Geordys side. At first she didn't register what she was seeing, then, as the blue gas cloud passed completely in front of the view screen and first plasma bolts hit the ablative armor protecting the Prometheus, it all came clear. As Laforge gave the order for evasive action, the gas was pushed around the ship. The Hirogens sensors didn't need to see the ship itself, they could fire for the empty space in the nebula between the two ships. It was like shooting fish in a barrel, and the Prometheus shuttered every few seconds.
"Shields at 44%" T'val cried to be over heard over the klaxon.
"Stand by phaser banks, arm transphasic torpedos!" La Forge called out from his command chair. Shelby rocked at his side as the hull was struck again, and again. The two Hirogen warships circled faster and faster, firing mercilessly. "De cloak, fire all phaser banks, full spread. break us free!" The cloak fell, channeling energy into the weapon systems. The Prometheus spat red phaser energy into the shields of the Hirogen vessels. The Federation vessels twelve phaser banks had no trouble reaching out to both vessels, and for a moment the attackers broke off, as if surprised at the ferocity of the weapons.
"That's right, this isn't Voyager your dealing with." La Forge said loud enough for his crew to hear. In the moments that the attacks abated the view screen cleared, and the stars could be seen again. The Prometheus was free. "Bring us around for another pass. I want a lock on their engines, transphasic torpedoes, surgical shot." La Forge cried to T'val at tactical. "Helm, prepare for evasive maneuvers. Keep us out of that cloud."
"yes sir." Bates at the helm acknowledged. His fingers flew across the panel with ease. He had been one of only four star fleet officers who had been trained to pilot the original Prometheus years earlier. La Forge knew he couldn't ask for a better man at the helm.
Both Hirogen vessels broke out of their circular course around the artificial nebula and increased their orbit, heading straight for the Prometheus.
"Captain...I am unable to aquire a lock. I am receiving identical interfearance as we have received from the atmoshphere." T'val reported. "Manual targeting, phasers only." La Forge dared not fire the transphasic torpedoes blindly. The weapons from the future would rip through the Hirogen's shields without effort, but with only twenty of them in his launchers, six more Hirogen ships on the way, and no word yet from his Marines on the surface, La Forge had to hold back on playing his ace.
Bates ran his fingers over the holographic controls and veered away from the ships as they passed, T'val got off two shots from the phaser arrays. The ships loomed huge in the view screen, La Forge getting a real idea of just how large they were.
"Hirogen reinforcements are in weapons range." T'val called from tactical. "Shields are at 76%." The shields had regenerated quickly in the time they had bought, but it wouldn't be enough, not up against so many ships. La Forge looked at Shelby, and she stood, exiting the bridge.
"Lance Officers prepare for Multi Vector Attack Mode." La Forges voice was sent throughout the ship. Lance officers, those who's job it was to command the three separate vessels that the Prometheus would soon become were beamed from all over the ship to their command posts.
"Multi Vector attack mode in 9....8...7...6....5....4...3....2....1..." There was a strong jolt, and then Geordi felt the inertial dampeners adjust to the lower mass of the vessel. Now it was three against eight.
"Manual targeting, phasers only. Take out those shields!" La Forge cried to his small fleet. Acknowledgments came in from the other two ships, and they formed up, in a tight circle, twelve phaser beams struck out in a tight band, hitting a single Hirogen vessels shields, causing them to flash blue, flicker, and die.
The untouched Hirogen ship fell back, joined the charging six ships and as a group they fell back. As the Prometheus passed the Hirogen ship it's automated sensors locked on for the first time, and a quantum torpedo ripped from La Forge's section, destroying the ships engines in an orange inferno that lasted for a blink of the eye. A cheer erupted on the bridge.
"Stay on it people, we're still outnumbered here." As if in answer, the Hirogen fleet fired as one, and orange plasma plowed into the Federation vessel's separated hull.
The crew did not go flying from their posts under the brunt of the impact, thanks to feet of ablative armor, but La Forge could tell that their own shields had failed. T'val confirmed it. Geordy swore to himself. This was no good, their Borg inspired regenerative shields had fallen in one blast.
"All five vessels targeted us Captain. Ablative armor is at 98% and holding. Captain Shelby and lieutenant Ronan still have use of their shields." T'val made the report and then held onto his post as the ship rocked again, this time much harder. With no shield to buffet the impact, the ablative armor sent waves of inertia into the ships girders. There was a moment when the inertial dampeners struggled to keep up, where Geordy gritted his teeth against the spinning of the ship. The view screen flickered and died, the lights dimmed to emergency status.
"Status!" La Forge yelled over the din of the emergency klaxon, but he already knew what had happened.

[4thdimension]

Scott Ortiz crept up on the crouching Hirogen, his rifle a mere few inches from the base of it's skull. Scott looked back at the acoustic dampeners he'd installed on either side of the bend in the corridor to confirm that both status lights were still green. The mobile force field prevented sound waves from the battle that was ensuing around the bend in the corridor from reaching the small Hirogen's ears. His nine Marines were cornered beyond, their backs to the dampener. Hundreds of Hirogen vied to reach the Marines, scrambling over the bodies of the fallen. Ortiz knew that the battle wouldn't last long. He'd come to respect this race in his time here, had they not been invisible he knew perfectly well that they would not have made it this far. Star Fleet was underestimating these people, and when he got back he planned to write up exactly what he thought about it. Officially his branch of Star Fleet didn't exist, but he knew that he had to do something. To hell with what the Admiralty thought. They were in over their heads here.
He turned his attention back to the situation, reasoning that soon the aliens would tire of the hunt and simply throw an explosive into the corridor. The only thing between him and the captain now was the sparkling orange force field the alien in front of him had erected. It was crouched on one knee, holding what appeared to be the source of the heat in both arms. A simple, thin barrel attached to a control interface. Ortiz could make out another force field coming from either side of the barrel. He took a step closer, cursing himself as his foot crunched on a bit of debris from the bulkhead. The Hirogen turned, its dark eyes narrowed. It stared for a moment through the Marine, then turned back.
Ortiz pulled Ortega dagger from his knee and set the tricorder embedded in the arm of suit to scan for the frequancy of the force field. A crude device, the Hirogen forcefield generator provided little resistance to the Marine's probes. Regardless, the procedure took ten seconds, time that Ortiz knew Picard didn't have. He pressed the stud on the dagger with his thumb, the blade came online, sizzling with an intense orange brilliance. He took another step forward, The orange force field shrieked as if in protest to the penetration, an Hirogen blood sprayed the walls.
Ortiz turned, alarmed and dismayed to see a Hirogen hunter on the other side of the acoustic forcefield, a Marine rifle in the other hand. He blinked once, dropped his cloak, waited for the Hirogen to see him, and then fired through the forcefield. The field rippled as the Federation beam cut through, vaperizing the Hirogen. His men had just given the ultimate sacrifice, but atleast their commander had the chance to avenge them. Not everyone had the oppurtunity. Taking it however, had been costly. Setting his weapon to it's highest yield had depleted it's charge. Useless, he threw it aside, pulled his phaser, and turned to the second forcefield. He did a quick search of the downed Hirogen, gave up and gripped the handle of the strange weapon. It hung firmly in mid air, supported by the oscillating second force field.
He became keenly aware that by now he may be the only living human on the ship. He stole a glance backward and grimaced as he saw Hirogen fire blasting at the acoustic forcefield. The mobile field generator was no where near resiliant as the one found on a star ship and Ortiz was amazed that it had lasted this long. He turned again to the Hirogen weapon, mocking as it was, hanging from the force field. The Force field behind him began to fail, and the wine of super heated plasma could be heard impacting the tightly oscillating electrons within.
The cries of enraged Hirogen met his ears as well, and as he slid the dagger through the remaining Hirogen force field, bringing down onto the cold alloy of the weapon, a golden sheet of steam welled up form the bridge, forming a powerful vortex. The steam seemed to stagger a moment, then shot toward the barrel of the atmospheric manipulator. He watched in awe as the Changeling ripped the weapon apart like a dog would a plastic toy. The forcefield fell, and the blast of super heated air ate at Ortiz's suit, causing layers of plastic to vaporize. The puddle of protoplasm a few feet away set still for the first time in minutes as the steam coalesced a fell back within it.
The heat within his suit rose by thirty degrees before his on board life support system caught up. He charged the bridge. The protoplasm stuck to his boot, and he nearly lost his balance as it was snapped back. The changeling rose behind him in a tower of golden goo; Ortiz sent his dagger through Picard's force field, severing the Vorta Visor from the plasma rifle. The force field fell, and the Marine slapped the transponder onto the Admiral's chest. A moment later he was gone. Ortiz felt the firm hold of the transporter on himself, panicking, he turned, threw the second transponder to Odo, which he caught with a long tentacle. The next moment he found himself aboard the Stinger, the Founder by his side. Within the mangled bodies of the Nine laid Picard, steamed red, he laid still. A moment later he and the founder dissapeared in the Prometheus's transporter beam. The transponders had worked.
X'tharan stood rigid beside the fallen members of her team. Ortiz placed his had in the Orian's. She turned, tears gleaming from her green cheeks.
"The transponder didn't have time to confirm life sings, it detected hostiles in the area and pulled them all up. " X'tharan remarked, her eyes locked on her fallen comrades, her face blank.
"'Cha, I need you at the helm." Ortiz spoke softly, his words muffled through the face plate. This wasn't the time to get sentimental. They were Marines. Their brethren wouldn't want them to fall here because they'd lost their mold over a few dead bodies. Even as Ortiz heard himself spewing the rhetoric to himself he felt sick. He squeezed her hand tighter, hit the command to dematerialize the face plate. The warm air of the shuttle made his eyes sting, made him feel the wet tears on his own face. "They are avenged." He whispered into her ear.
"No....not yet." She pulled away, slammed a fist into the control on the wall to seal the cargo hold from the flight deck and took the helm. The soft visage of a grieving Orian female fled as she brought up the tactical control screen, punching in the code to activate the transphasic torpedoes.

Odo layed on a biobed in sickbay, the doctor and several nurses buzzed around another biobed somewhere to his left. His body hung loose like melting gelatin, sending limp tendrils of brown goo to the floor. His smooth face drooped and sagged onto the bed. The form of his body seemed to melt and re coalesce. As the rattling ship sent vibrations into Odo's dying mass he kept repeating a single word, over, and over again: Kira.

[4thdimension]

On the other side of the galaxy, Admiral Katherine Janeway walked alone in a field in Indiana. The night was warm, crickets chirped all around her and the stars twinkled at her from above. As if calling her back. In the distance she could see her family's old white farm house, the silo and the pond. Fragments of childhood. Janeway pressed on through the field, her skirt flitting lazily in the breeze.

She wished her mind was as light and as clear as this evening was, but peace was about as far away as Voyager had been from Earth all those years. She'd protested when Star Fleet Command ordered the first official exploratory mission into the Delta Quadrant. Even with transwarp drive whoever was sent would be far from established supply lines. Star Fleet stifled her protests by building Deep Space 12 in record time. Using modified Borg technology, and the newly assembled Graviton Catapult Star Fleet had assembled the station on the outskirts of the Delta Quadrant in less than six months.

She encountered the Catapult technology, like so many other forms of advanced technology, while in the Delta Quadrant. The alien Tash had allowed them to examine the transwarp generator before jumping through it to his home system. Voyager hadn't been able to replicate the necessary components for their own Catapult, but Star Fleet was another matter.

All of this worried Janeway, she feared that things were going too far, too fast. She spent months in meetings with Command, telling them again and again that the other side of the galaxy had no great powers to maintain a balance like here at home. There were no neutral zones, no treaties, no threat of mutual annihilation. Instead there was one warring species after another, none of which were likely to embrace the tenets of the Federation. At least, not any time soon.

She did have hope for some of the species. The Hierarchy perhaps, or the Krenim. Yet the Kazon, the Viidians, the Devore, the Voth, the Malon, the Hirogen , all of these would love to expand into the Alpha Quadrant. Then again, she knew, so would the Heirarchy, and the Krenim. She wondered, as she made her way past the first branches of a thick stand of trees by the field, what had become of these powers now that the Borg presence had been taken out of the equation. Star Fleet had not yet been able to confirm that the Borg had been destroyed, and perhaps they hadn't, but Janeway had a gut feeling that they wouldn't be causing any problems for a while. But atleast the Borg had been predictable.

She couldn't easily explain the dread she felt about it all any better than that, and she hadn't swayed Star Fleet. Really, only Admiral Paris had been on her side through the whole thing. They filled Deep Space 12 with civilians eager to live on the frontier, and sent Star Fleet vessels on the first survey missions. At first they used only warp, hugging the station and staying with a few sectors. Janeway had felt some measure of relief, feeling that Command was going to give the quadrant a chance to get used to the idea of the Federation being on their turf.

Then she'd felt even worse. Many of the species that would hear of their presence hadn't had happy run ins with her own ship. What was it she had always said? "This is Captain Katherine Janeway, of the Federation Star Ship Voyager." All of those species, all those times she'd claimed to be lost in space. How many would think she'd been lying? How many would think that her track through their corner of space had been a scouting mission?

Her fears redoubled. Anxiety led to restlessness, and restlessness led to a leave of absence. She knew she wasn't really cut out for a desk job anyway. She hadn't been in San Fransisco in three months, but she was still well informed. As she stepped around a thick tangle of briers and navigated the dark ground she tapped a small civilian communicator on her chest, three times.
"Neelix here." The Talaxian's voice made her smile. She had to admit, entering the Delta Quadrant had had it's up points. Ambassador Neelix had been among the first Dela Quadrant natives to visit the new station. Janeway had sent a Defiant class vessel to his little asteroid, to offer him the chance to live up to his title of ambassador to the Federation. He'd been delighted and amazed to hear that his friends had reached home so early. He brought his new family to the station, and educated Star Fleet about the Delta Quadrant. He'd sent Janeway several messages, outlining is feeling that Star Fleet was begining to have second thoughts about their eagerness to penetrate the quadrant, but these gave Janeway little comfort. Neelix had brought his family to Earth for the first time a week before. They'd started at Star Fleet headquarters in San Frasisco, now they were in Europe.

"Neelix, it's good to hear your voice. Are you enjoying Paris?" Janeway said, her voice instantly carried across the globe. She kneeled down to a small grave beneath a huge oak in the woods behind her home. The small rough stone shone in the moonlight. She ran a tentative finger over the name, feeling the grooves in the polished surface.
"Oh yes, Captain! The food here, it's amazing." Janeway shook her head, smiled despite herself.
"I told you Neelix, call me Katherine." She heard the Talaxian give a little tut of pleasure from the other end, took in the babbling brook of French conversation going on around him, and suddenly wished she'd spent her time off better.
"I'm working up to it..." He hesitated before he said it, as if he was trying a new fruit in his kitchen aboard Voyager. "Katherine. There I said it." This time Janeway laughed. She stood up, took another moment looking down at her old friends grave. She couldn't really blame Mark for what had happened to the Chow, she'd lived a long full life anyhow, and she was an old dog by the time she got back to the alpha quadrant.
"Oh Mark." She groaned to herself. Lately she'd realized that she was still in love with her ex fiance, even after all those years. She was fairly certain that he felt the same, but his wife wouldn't like that. Besides, Emily was a good friend now.
"What was that Cap...Katherine?" Neelix's lighthearted voice brought her back to the moment.
"Never mind Neelix. Give Dexa and Brax my love."
"Wait, have you given Admiral Ross an answer yet?" Neelix siad, sensing that she was about to terminate the connection. Janeway left the trees behind, walking into a clearing. She could see the farm house far off to the right, the gleaming hull of the Delta Flyer floated a few feet off of the ground before her.
"Yes Neelix. I'm going."
Neelix's reply was lost to her as the Flyer opened and Captain Chakotey jumped to the ground, a fresh Star Fleet uniform in his arms. She hurriedly said goodnight to Neelix and tapped the communicator,shutting it off.
"You look good Captain." She called out to him. Chakotay smiled warmly.
"Sounds better when you say it. Seven says I'm, 'sufficient.'" Janeway shook her head and laughed. She took the uniform, ran her fingers over the deep maroon command shirt. She looked up into his eyes, looked quickly away.
"How is Annika?" Despite whatever lingering 'what ifs' there might exist between her and Chakotay, her voice was warm at the mention of her friend, and his latest flame. Annika was family.
"Efficient, as usual." Chakotays voice was crisp, his words tight, the way it was when he was about to dress her down for some silly plan she was about to embark on.
"Before you say it Chakotay, I've put allot of thought over this the last few weeks. This decision isn't made lightly." She turned and walked toward the trees a few paces, then turned back to him. "What else can I do? Teach at the academy until I can't anymore?" She looked up at the sky, at the stars. "That's my home. That's where I belong."

"Funny, a few years ago you would have given anything to be back here." He said. She shook her head, her hands on her hips.

"It's been five years Chakotay." Then she let her guard drop, and got to the heart of it. She couldn't hold her feelings back from her best friend. "I'm needed again, it feels good." The admission of what was commonly called 'Admiral's disease' lingered between them. She could tell that Chakotay was working on how to convince her to just live with it.
"Ninety years ago, a great man man named Kirk felt the same way, and he got sucked into the Nexus for his trouble." Chakotay said quietly. He held her gaze, challenging.
"And he died on Viridian III under a couple tons of metal, but he made a difference." She shot back.
"You can make a difference at the Academy Katherine." He spoke softly, almost pleading.
"I know the terrain, and I'm a recognizable face to dozens of Delta Quadrant species Chakotay. If the Defiant has been seen by any of them..." She paused for a moment, then forced herself to voice the fear that currently gripped the highest ranks of Star Fleet. "Or captured by them, those species are more likely to communicate with me then Admiral Picard, or Captain La Forge" She thought of Picard with a pang of envy, who's wisdom had kept him well away from an Admirals desk, and in the thick of things.

Chakotay wasn't giving up that easily. "'Recognizable' isn't exactly what you want to be, is it? Didn't the Hirogen send your image across their space, listing you as 'worthy prey', to be caught at all costs?" Though she knew he meant it as a small joke, she shivered. She still had nightmares of the Hirogen. "At least let me go with you." His look was so intense, so honest that she felt her lips begin to consent, then bit down hard.
"No, your needed on Voyager." She said it with such force that Chakotay took a step back and looked down.
"Yes mam, Admiral." Chakotay said to his boots, doing a fairly good impersonation of Harry Kim. She groaned, and walked over to the Flyer.
"Not you too." She said. Chakotay shot her a look. "Nevermind." She called back. "It's just the Delta Quadrant Chakotay. How bad can it be?" She let the question hang in the air as she pulled herself into the intrepid shuttle.

[4thdimension]

X'theren braced herself against her console, her eyes staying on the tactical read out that hovered lazilly before her. The three dimensional display blazed as two more transphasic torpedoes ripped through the hull of the Dominion warship and exploded from within. Hirogen cruisers by the dozens zipped by the Stinger, firing plasma from every direction.
"Shields down to sixty percent,that's it X'theren, pull us up." Ortiz called through gritted teeth from the next seat over.
"Do I have to?" She growled. Ortiz grimaced and pulled up the sensor grid, honing in on the upper atmosphere.
"I didn't bring you because you think like a Klingon. Fly the plane." X'theren stiffened in her seat. Ortiz's tone had become cold and distant. Below them two more transphasic torpedoes hit the Dauntless, then Ortiz felt the Stinger rising through the thick atmosphere. There was a shudder, and the sky filled with bright blue flash.
"What the hell was that?" Ortiz cried.
"Tri-cobalt devices." She said. Ortiz shot her a look of utter unbelief. "What? You wanted to leave them a Dominion warship to study?" She called up a holo-image of the carnage below. The ground where the Dauntless had been a moment before was a black crater.
"Didn't need to waste all those transphasics." Ortiz muttered under his breath as he routed tactical to his station.
"Look around you." She shot back. Ortiz glanced over at the hovering holo-image of the surrounding sky. The Hirogen cruisers were holding back,circling the ascending Stinger. "One thing any alien understands is superior firepower." Ortiz smiled.
"Nice" He set back in his chair and closed his eyes, trying not to think of the bodies that lay mangled in the cargo bay. "The Prometheus is in multi vector attack mode, their under attack. Better load the rest of those torpedoes." Three shrill beets came from the helm.
"Sensors are picking up" She glared at the screen.
"What?"
"There's a cloud. A cloud above us." Ortiz shook his head, ran a hand through his hair. X'theren shot him a deadly look. "No. An artificial cloud. I don't know how the sensor sweep missed it from the surface but saw the Prometheus. Must have something to do with the interference their generating. It's blocking long range sensors." Ortiz set up, his fingers on the trigger.
"Take us in."

[4thdimension]

The Prometheus's primary hull swung at a sickening angle, it's inertial dampeners struggled to keep up. As Laforge pulled himself off of the floor and took a look around the red bathed bridge he began to calculate the force with which a harpoon would have to hit his ship to penetrate the armor. A damned actual harpoon. Laforge cursed.
"They are coming about." T'val called from behind him. "we will be exposed to the firing ark of their primary weapons in four seconds." They had managed to avoid these so far. The Federation vessels were much more maneuverable then the Hirogen. Far less powerful, the smaller muti-directional plasma canons had done no real harm, barely scathing the ships armor when they penetrated the shields. Laforge knew however that a direct hit from three canons that were several magnitudes more powerful would crash through the shields and begin to eat away at the armor, the ships last line of defense besides the primary hull itself, and he didn't want to go back to those days.
"Ronan, Shelby, get this ship off me. lethal force, authorization Laforge omega one."
"Confirmed Laforge." Shelby said over the comlink. There was no longer any trace of mutiny in her voice.
"Brace for impact!" LaForge cried. The huge Hirogen warship loomed before them, three cannon turrets glowed yellow in it's hull, reaching full charge. There was a gleam of silver to either side,transphasic torpedoes ripped through its shields. The warship erupted in a blinding flash. The primary hull of the Prometheus swung wide, momentarily out of control as the harpoon went limp on the other end.
Laforge jumped up from his seat, striking the air with his fist. "Good shot Shelby! Let's get this ship back together."
"That will not be possible Captain." T'val said, cutting through his excitment. "The Hirogen weapon is embedded in the port docking clamps."
"Damned lucky shot." Hall piped up from the conn. The two other fragments of the ship hovered beside them, unable to do anything. The small armada of Hirogen ships grew larger, moments away from weapons range. Laforge was staring at the screen.
"Ronan, Shelby, get the hell out of here, random vector. Maximum warp. Jump to transwarp towards the station in three hours unless your still being pursued.."
"Negative Captain. We stay together." Ronan cut him off.
"This isn't the time Commander. Let them chase you at warp, try to drag some of them off. I'll give the Stinger another few seconds and then ill jump to warp. This mission is over."
Just then the Stinger burst through the orange cloud layer, the transporter room sent an automated alert to the bridge, the closest Hirogen ship fired a full barrage at the black shuttle. The shuttle's shields sputtered and failed, the warp core erupted in a blue flash. Everyone watched as the debris spread out from the explosion. The Hirogen ship turned for another pass, it's shields blazing against the planet's atmosphere.
"That's it people! Move, move!" The spell was broken, the shards of the Prometheus swerved in opposite directions, heading into high warp.

[4thdimension]

Ortiz materialized in sickbay, X'tharan stood beside him, her hands shook violently despite her best intentions. Admiral Picard lay several feet away from them, the medic's frantic attempt to stabilize him was dying down. His skin was still the shade of boiled lobster, his breath was slow and labored.
"Bio signs are stable, let's repair that skin."

.................................................. .................................................. .....

[4thdimension]

"Sickbay to Captain LaForge." The summons jerked Geordi from a deep mental stupor. He watched the stars streak by from the main view port in his quarters for a moment longer and then slapped his com-badge.
"La Forge here, Go ahead Doctor." He said softly. He rose from his work bench, placing Data's inert head carefully into a zero G stasis chamber. It was at least, what he hoped would some day become Data's head. The intrepid Android's memories and database were stored safely aboard the Prometheus and he had Dr. Soongs prototype. Data's first body. Integrating the two, and breathing new life into his lost friend was proving to be infuriatingly frustrating. Now into the fifth year of his labor he was close to having to admit defeat. He also admitted to himself with more than bitt of guilt that his heart just wasn't in it today. he sighed and placed a scanner down on the work bench.
"Admiral Picard is requesting to see you." The soft spoken Dinolbulin said from the other end. Geordi was at the doors before the man had finished speaking.