Chapter
Seven
The
Starfleet
Deep Space 9 Space Station
Bajor
System
July 17,
2377
The U.S.S.
Wildstar pulled into upper pylon one and docked, and General Kira Nurys was waiting at the airlock to go aboard the
massive ship. The ship's captain, Stephen James Ashcroft, had been in command
of it for well over a decade, and Kira didn't think
he'd ever give up the main seat on board. The Wildstar was a massive ship
compared to others in Starfleet, over twice the size of a Galaxy-class ship. It
held five Defiant-class ships, as well as two squadrons of fighter craft. It
could also separate its saucer section from the warp drive section, and have
two ships fight at once, because the saucer section also had a warp drive.
Ashcroft was the one who learned about ablative armor from then-Commander Sisko, and had the Wildstar coated with it to make it even
tougher.
The airlock
opened and Ashcroft stepped out of it and onto the main deck. "Request
permission to come aboard, General.," he said, formally. Instead of
staying professional, Kira laughed and hugged him.
"Please,General! This lack of professionalism
will have a negative effect on the troops," he said sarcastically, which
made her laugh even louder!
Kira kissed him on the cheek and said, "It's good to see you
again, Stephen!"
Stephen
brushed his hand against her cheek and replied, "You too, Nurys."
Several years
ago, on the pleasure planet Risa, they had met and
had a brief love affair, but the spark didn't last and they soon became very
good friends. He smiled as he ran his hair through her long, red hair.
"Never thought you, of all people, would grow your hair long," said
Stephen.
They made
their way to his quarters on board, as his ship was due to stay on the station
for several days, and he decided to spend some leave time there. Once settled,
they made their way to her quarters for dinner, which would consist of spicy
Bajoran hasperat sandwiches, a favorite of his.
Stephen took a
bite out of his hasperat, then quickly gulped down
some water and waves his hand in front of his face, which elicited laughter
from Kira. "Damn, Nurys! You sure packed that
full of spices, didn't ya?"
Kira laughed again and was about to take a bite out of her own
sandwich when the flash of light hit her again.
She was back
on that strange planet again, but this time she was near a shipyard of some
kind, near the coastline. The ships being constructed were alien to her, and
seemed to have warp nacelles.
"Hello,
Nurys.," called out a familiar voice.
Kira turned around and noticed the familiar form of her former
commanding officer, Starfleet Captain Benjamin Sisko,
walking towards her. He was the same as the last time she saw him alive:
baldhead, goatee, and his dark skin were a contrast to the light-colored
textures around them.
"Sisko," she asked in astonishment.
Sisko nodded, "The one and only." He chuckled and smiled,
then drew serious as he continued saying, "Nurys, the time is drawing near
for you to enter the
Kira looked at him in shock and asked, "What is coming, Ben? What
are we going to be facing?"
Sisko walked up to her and put his hands on her shoulders. "I wish
I could tell you all that is going on, but it would overwhelm you. Just do what
I ask and all will be explained soon enough."
He started to
walk off. Kira realized the vision would end soon,
but she asked one last thing before she left. "Sisko,
are you dead?"
Sisko's shoulders clenched a bit, and he turned around and looked
at her uncertainly. "I don't know, Nurys. I honestly don't know."
Kira blinked her eyes and she was back in her quarters. Stephen was
busy finishing off his hasperat, and looked up to see
Kira staring out at him.
"Something
wrong, Nurys?"
Kira got up from the table and walked to the window, and briefly
watched the wormhole, the
Stephen got up
from the table, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and walked over to her.
"I'm sure whatever these visions are have some meaning, because you've
never struck me as someone to have her head in the clouds. Why don't we sit
down on the couch and you tell me what is going on?"
Kira nodded, and they sat themselves down on her couch, where she
began to tell her story.
On Board
USS Wildstar NCC-1971
July 20,
2377
9am
Captain
Stephen Ashcroft was in the conference room with his command staff, along with Bajoran
General Kira Nurys, Chief Miles O'Brien, and Kai Pila Neral. He had just gotten
through his briefing on the visions Kira had been
experiencing when his executive officer, a fierce looking Russian woman named
Katrina Litinova, spoke up. "Captain, this is
hardly enough evidence to take the Wildstar into the wormhole along with
the Defiant III. With all due respect to General Kira,
we need more evidence to go by."
"Very
well, Litinova, I can provide it. Yesterday, I stood
in front of the Orb of Prophesy myself and I had a similar vision to the
General's.
What I can tell you is that, while the people in my vision didn't give a lot of
details, it was clear to me that they need our help, and that we need to enter
the wormhole."
Security
Officer Belinda Montgomery then spoke up, "What will it hurt going into
the wormhole? If nothing happens, we come back and we're none for the worse. If
something is up, we should definitely check it out. Whatever this supposed new
enemy is, we know it's not the Dominion, because they have been very compliant
with the terms of their surrender.If this is a new
enemy, we need to find them before they find us."
Litinova thought for a moment, then nodded, "All right,
Lieutenant Commander, you have a point. I have my reservations, but I agree we
should check it out.," she then turned to the captain, "When do we
leave?"
"Right
now. Everyone we need is on board, as well as the two Orbs that we requested.
Windsor will command the Defiant III and Kira
will stay on board here. We can leave at once."
No one said
anything for a couple of moments, and Captain Ashcroft activated his
communication link, "Ashcroft to Bridge. Set a course to take us into the
wormhole. Impulse speed."
One of the
officers on the bridge, Garcia, acknowledged the command. "Course plotted
and engines engaged, Captain. Estimated time to wormhole, ten minutes."
"Thanks,
Garcia.," replied Ashcroft, who then turned back to those assembled in the
conference room, "If there's nothing else, then you are all
dismissed."
Everyone made
their way to the door, and almost all of them left, save for Montgomery.
"Sir, are you sure this is the right thing to do?"
Ashcroft
picked up his computer PADDs and said, "Yes, I
do."
Montgomery
came back from the door and they shut back, and the two of them were alone in
the room. "Permission to speak frankly sir."
Ashcroft
laughed and said, "In other words, you want to drop ranks and tell me that
I'm nuts, right?"
Montgomery
nervously shrugged and said, "Well, the first part is correct..."
Ashcroft
interrupted her, "I'm kidding, Belinda. C'mon and tell me what's on your
mind."
"Well,
sir, I'm worried that you are letting personal feelings for Kira
get in the way of your judgment. This story of 'visions' is a bit farfetched,
if I do say so myself."
Ashcroft
turned and looked at her and said, "I've also had similar visions about
this myself."
Montgomery
looked at him stunned, as if she didn't understand what he had just said.
"Sir, are you sure..."
"Yes,
Belinda, I am. Look, we've known each other for a long time, and you are my
right hand person on this ship. So I trust you to keep what I have told you a
secret. If Litinova finds out, she might raise a
bigger stink about this than she already has."
"You
don't think she'd take over the ship from you over this?"
Ashcroft
waived her worries away, "No, no, no. Litinova
and I get along well enough, but she plays things by the book a little too
much. She's only been on board for a couple of months, and she's still trying
to fit in. Believe me, Belinda, if I thought she were plotting to get me out of
my command, she'd have been outta here a long time ago."
Montgomery
nodded and asked, "What if the visions are indeed true?"
Ashcroft
sighed and replied, "Then we are in a whole world of trouble."
On Board
USS Wildstar NCC-1971
July 20,
2377
10:45am
The Wildstar
had proceeded slowly along the inside of the wormhole and was just about to
come to the end of it when the flash overtook them.
Ashcroft was
aboard his old ship, the Arcadia, and he was in the presence of his first wife,
Victoria, who, along with their one-year-old son, Brandon, had been killed
aboard the ship during an attack by the Tholians.
"Steve,
it's been a long time," she replied.
"Vicki?
Is that you?"
Victoria
nodded, "In a way, yes. The beings in the wormhole have somehow brought me
back to help you out. You are about to be sent into another universe, and you
must proceed to a world called Minbar."
Stephen
nodded, but he wasn't paying as much attention to her words as he was her body.
He still remembered her flowing long black hair, and how it felt in his fingers
when they made love. He missed coming back to his quarters and finding her
playing the piano again, with their newborn son on the floor playing with his
toys.
"Did you
hear me, Steve, or are you daydreaming about me again," she asked with a
smile on her face.
Stephen
coughed and said, "Yeah, go to another universe and find a world called
Minbar. Vicki, where's Brandon?"
Vicki smiled
and said, "He's fine. We're having a great time and wish you were here,
but you have a lot to do before you come to see us again."
Stephen shook
his head and asked, "What do you mean?"
"You have
a destiny, my dear husband, beyond this war. There is a lot that will happen in
your life and you must be ready it. You will play a very important role in the
future of the Federation, and it will not be easy, but it will be worth
it."
"Why are
you telling me this?"
Vicki smiled,
walked up to him, and kissed him on the lips. They briefly embraced and then
she was gone, and he was back on the bridge.
His exec,
Commander Litinova, looked at him with wide eyes,
"It's true. I saw my late parents and they told me..."
"...to go
to a world called Minbar. And I thought the universe couldn't get any weirder.,"
said Ashcroft, who then spoke to the officer at the helm, "Deitz, take us out of the wormhole."
"Aye aye, sir," replied Deitz,
and they were just about to exit the wormhole when there was another flash and
the ship lurched briefly.
"What the
hell was that? Report," commanded Ashcroft.
Litinova looked over her console, and could not believe what she
was seeing. "Sir, whatever this place is, it isn't the Delta Quadrant.
Star patterns are all wrong, and we aren't picking up any of the usual
communications. We are being hailed though."
"Put it
on screen."
The screen
came up and there was a dark haired woman on screen, in a uniform very
different than Starfleet regulations allowed. It became clear very quickly that
they were not in their own universe anymore:
"Can
anyone help us? This is commander Susan Ivanova of Babylon 5. To any ships in
grid epsilon. We are under attack. I repeat, we are under attack. The captain
is dead, defense grid is down, they are boarding us, they are coming in all
over the place. We've tried to evacuate as many as we can, and Garibaldi has
rigged the fusion reactor, but.. my god, here they come. Switch to external
cameras. They've got weapons lock.Here comes. Here
comes. Aah!"
Then the feed
switched to another ship, and another bridge, with a crew wearing a totally
different kind of uniform. The commanding officer spoke:
"This is
Captain Derek Wildstar of the Space Battleship Yamato. We are on our
way. Hang in there, Babylon 5."
Ashcroft
stared at the screen and was silent for a moment. Then he turned to his
security chief and asked, "Montgomery, scan the area for any space
stations or orbital platforms."
"Aye,
sir.," replied Montgomery, and she briskly worked her console to perform
the scans, which gave her an answer very quickly, "Sir, I have picked up a
station about 20 million kilometers away from us. I'm not sure if they have
seen us, but there is what looks like a warship and several smaller vessels
making their way here. Orders?"
Litinova spoke before the captain could give any orders, "I
don't think they have spotted us, because the second message came from behind
us. I recommend we cloak and move aside and see what happens."
Ashcroft
nodded and gave the orders, "Alright, Montgomery, activate the cloaking
device. Deitz, take us to impulse and move us about
50 million kilometers away from this area. Keep scanning those ships as well as
the rift we came through."
Deitz and Montgomery both said, "Aye, sir," at the same time,
and went to work. Ashcroft leaned back into his command chair and closed his
eyes.
"Do you
have any reservations now, Katrina?"
She looked at
him with a sober expression on his face. "No sir, I don't anymore. It's
just...so unbelievable."
"On that,
my dear commander, I wholeheartedly agree!"
Queentown,
Iscandar
Date
Unknown
Sisko and Valen were walking away from the shipyards where the fleet
was being constructed. They both walked in silence back towards the transport
which would take them to the royal palace.
"When do
we return to your time?"
Valen looked at
him and shrugged, "I'm not exactly sure. The Legendora want to be sure
I'll survive the time jump, so they have been treating me with some medications
that I haven't a clue as to their effectiveness, but I haven't felt this good
since I was 18!" Valen let out a soft chuckle.
"18?
That's so long ago that I can't even remember how it felt! So are you sure
it'll be alright for me to come along?"
"Certainly.
Although I should warn you about my assistant Zathras,
because he has the habit of popping up in the most unexpected places.
Kind of like a few officers that served under me!"
They shared a
laugh as they entered the transport and headed towards the heart of the city,
and, after a brief flight, they landed and walked inside the palace.
Meeting them
there was Starsha, Alex Wildstar, the Legendora liaison, and a creature dressed
in a variety of furs and pelts. Valen motioned to Sisko
to approach the creature, and he made the introductions, "Captain Benjamin
Sisko, this is Zathras. Zathras, this is Captain Sisko."
"Pleased
to be meeting you, Sisko.," said Zathras, "I was just telling the others that we are
ready on board to make the jump back to our own time."
Sisko nodded and replied, "That's good news. Thank you, Zathras." He then turned to Valen, "So when do we
go on board
Valen smiled
and said, "As soon as the shuttle pilot comes out of the ladies
room."
Coming out of
the women's bathroom was an Asian woman of medium build, dressed in a similar
uniform as Valen. She came up before them and asked, "Well, are we all
packed and ready to go? Don't want anyone to forget his or her
toothbrush!"
Valen laughed,
"Sisko, this is Catherine Sakai, my fiancée back
when I was Jeffery Sinclair, a Human."
Sisko shook her hand and, without another word, the lot of them made
their way to the transport.
TO BE CONTINUED....
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