Crossing Lines

Chapter 10
Absences Are Noticed

Starfleet Deep Space 9 Space Station July 31, 2377 12 noon

The USS Enterprise-E and the USS Hercules were docked at the station,
and her respective captains, Jean-Luc Picard and WIlliam Riker, were anxiously waiting for the acting commander of the station, Lieutenant Commander Hoshi Fuziyaki, to come back into the office. They had been sent by Starfleet Command to investigate why the USS Wildstar and USS Defiant III had not returned from their mission in the Delta Quadrant.
Picard and Riker were both friends of Stephen Ashcroft's, and were worried about him and his crew. They knew that he rubbed the admirals and other bureaucrats in Starfleet Command, but he was someone who you wanted in any fight.

Lieutenant Commander Fuziyaki came into the room and made her way around to the seat behind the desk. "Captain Picard, Captain Riker, sorry I'm late. I had to deal with a situation at Quark's and since we're short handed..."

Picard held up a placating hand, "That's quite all right, Lieutenant Commander. I was wondering when you last heard from the Wildstar and the Defiant III."

Fuziyaki looked Picard in the eye and said, "Not since they went into the wormhole, sir. We've sent runabouts into the Delta Quadrant and there's been no sign of them. Sensors indicate they never came out of the wormhole."

Riker's face looked as if he'd taken a body blow, and he asked, "Have the runabouts done scans inside the wormhole?"

Fuziyaki nodded, "Yes, sir, they have, with no results. As far as I can tell, the ships haven't been destroyed."

Picard stood up and walked around the room, then turned back to Fuziyaki and said, "And the runabouts came back without incident?"

"Yes, sir. We scanned them for everything we could think of, and nothing was out of the ordinary. I wish I had an answer to you, but I'm at a loss."

Picard looked at Riker and then back at Fuziyaki, saying, "Well, we're going in and look for them."

Fuziyaki blushed and said, "If I may, sir, are you sure that is wise?"

Riker spoke up in response, "No, it's not, but we have to find out what happened to them."

Fuziyaki stood up, "Then I wish you both good hunting. We'll have all the runabouts on standby if you need them."

Picard and Riker stood up and began to leave, with Picard saying, "Thank you, Lieutenant Commander Fuziyaki. We'll keep in touch and let you know what happened." They then left the office.

Fuziyaki turned around and looked out the window into space, noticing the worried expression on her face. She whispered to herself, "I just hope there's something left to find."

On board the EAS Excalibur January 25, 2271 11am

Captain Matthew Gideon looked out into hyperspace, lost in thought, as his executive officer, Commander Daniel Matheson, was busy receiving reports from the various sections in his earpiece. Gideon had stuck by Matheson through thick and thin, and he'd been repaid by having the finest exec in the fleet.

Matheson looked at the scanner, then turned around and spoke to the Captain, "Sir, we're ready to jump into Babylon 5 space at your command."

Gideon looked up at his exec and nodded, "Good, jump into normal space."

The jumpgate began to flash and a huge yellow vortex opened up inside the gate, with the Excalibur flying through and heading for the station.

"Sir, we have a communication from the station. A Commander Moriyama is on the line.," said Matheson.

Gideon turned to him and said, "So Lochley hasn't returned yet?"

Matheson looked down for an instant and said, "No, sir."

Gideon nodded, sighed, and said, "Prep a shuttle for launch, I'm going over."

Just then, one of the radar techs, Kazmarek, noted an alert coming in from Sector 14, and spoke up, "Sir, we've got an unidentified object...check that...two unidentified objects in Sector 14."

Gideon and Matheson walked over to the display and saw what the tech was seeing. The two shapes didn't look anything like an Earthforce ship, but he had to ask anyway, "Is it the Titans?"

"No sir."

Matheson turned to the captain and asked, "Shall we hail them, sir?"

"Not yet. Let's proceed to the sector at full speed and find out who they are and why they're here. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can get the resupply done and back to our primary mission."

"Yes sir."

Gideon nodded and then said, "You have the bridge.," and walked off of it and back to his quarters.

He entered his quarters, threw his uniform jacket onto a chair and stared out the window for a brief moment. "If you're there, you might as well show yourself."

"I didn't know you had telepathic abilities, Matthew."

Gideon turned around and saw that Galen, the technomage, was in his quarters, as he expected. He knew he was on board, but hadn't seen him in days. Technomages were the modern equivalent of wizards, only they utilized technology to simulate magic. They had met years ago after Galen rescued Gideon when a Shadow vessel destroyed the ship he’d been serving on.

Gideon shrugged and said, "A man has to have his secrets. Do you have any idea what is up out in Sector 14?"

"Those ships coming through aren't of this time, Matthew. I've never seen them before. And the worst thing is, one of them looks like something from Earth's past."

"Earth's past? You mean one of those deep space sleeper vessels?"

"I mean an ancient Earth battleship."

Gideon shook his head, scarcely believing what he was hearing. "You mean to tell me that, in some other time, they took an ancient, sea-sailing battleship and made it space worthy? What did they do, put a jump engine on it or something?"

Galen was unfazed, "Something like that, although their technology is much different than ours."

"Moriyama said they headed out to Minbar, but we've had no word as to what's happened."

Matheson chimed in on the link, "Sir, we're about to reach the sector."

Gideon responded, "Good, I'll be up there shortly.," then turned around and noticed that Galen was gone. The door to his quarters never opened.
"I really hate it when you do that," he called out to no response.

Founders Homeworld August 2, 2377 9pm

Odo had just come out of the Link and oozed himself into solid, humanoid form, walking onto the rock island in the middle of the sea of his people. They were changelings, non-corporeal beings who could, with the proper training, make themselves into practically anything or anyone.
Odo, who was the former chief of security on board Deep Space 9, waited for the Jem'Hadar officer to beam down for the daily briefing.

Suddenly, he heard a sound unlike any he heard before. The sky, which was already dark due to the fact that their world was a rogue planet,
free of the gravity of any sun, turned darker as some kind of cloud began to encircle the world. Odo looked skyward, and he noticed flashes in the sky, not knowing what they were.

The sound grew louder as he noticed the cloud was some sort of machine of some kind. He looked around at those in the Link, and he noticed ripples on the surface.

Another of his kind came into shape and made its way onto the surface.
"What is that thing, Odo?"

Odo shook his head, "I don't know."

Then, points of light began to glow in the sky, and they rained down upon the surface of the planet, sending up rock and other materials.
"Odo," said the other changeling, as it threw itself into Odo's arms.

Odo said one last word, "Kira," before the blast vaporized him and every one of his kind.

The Ragendora planet killer pulled away and then folded space and disappeared. Their experiment had worked, and they readied themselves for the next test. They were pleased with the results, and looked forward to the chaos that it would create once word of the planet's destruction spread.

TO BE CONTINUED....

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