Chapter Nine

The Pieces of the Puzzle Come Together

On board Defiant III

January 25, 2271

2:30pm

Bajoran General Kira Nurys and Starfleet Captain Stephen James Ashcroft looked at each other as Captain Sisko, along with two people who identified themselves as Interstellar President John Sheridan and Vice President Delenn, were on the screen. They were in his office, the "ready room", conversing with them and the both of them were still trying to figure out if this was real or some bizarre simulation on a holodeck.

Sheridan spoke to Ashcroft, "You have our permission to come down. We know your ships are up there, so you need no longer be cloaked. We pose you no harm. Just come down on the Defiant III and land at the coordinates we are sending up and everything will be explained to you, or as much as we know right now."

Ashcroft walked away for a moment, concern on his face. He figured that Sisko somehow knew they were there, and suspected that they may have been seen during the last of the Drakh attack, when they destroyed the fleet that was the "Plan B", intent on bringing the same plague to Minbar, as they had to Earth. Things seemed to be spinning out of control, but it seemed to Ashcroft that if he didn't go down there, it would be the wrong decision.

He turned back, straightened his uniform, and replied, "Mr. President, I am not technically the commanding officer of the Defiant III. That would be General Kira Nurys. If you don't mind waiting, we'll talk about this and let you know what we come up with."

"Understood.," said Sheridan with a nod, and Ashcroft commanded the screen to go blank.

He turned to Kira, "What do you think?"

Kira looked him in the eye and said, "I know we have to go down there. This seems to me to be right along the lines of my vision. We can take a small crew, and I know the Kai would want to come along. It's not like we can't escape if it's some sort of trap."

Ashcroft went back to his seat behind his desk, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes, staying silent for a few moments. Then he opened his eyes back up and asked Kira, "You sure about this?"

Kira nodded her head and Ashcroft spoke a command to the monitor, "Resume."

Sheridan was sitting on his desk, Sisko standing to his side, talking. Delenn, sitting in a chair in front of the desk, with her son, David, in her lap, was looking at the monitor. Sheridan asked, "So are you coming down?"

Ashcroft nodded and replied, "It's confirmed. We'll be down shortly. We have to transport over to Defiant III. Give us about twenty minutes."

Sheridan shook his head, "Twenty minutes," then looked at Sisko, who had a smile on his face. "Ok, see you then."

The link went dead and Ashcroft and Kira stood there in the ready room, silent for a moment. He turned to her and asked, "Well, I guess we're committed to the path now, aren't we?"

Kira nodded her head and they made their way to the transporter room, to join the rest of their away team.

Government Palace of Valendor

2:45pm

Sheridan looked around the room, and then shrugged at Sisko. "Sorry, forgot about the whole 'beaming in' thing."

Sisko smiled and said, "No problem. It's to be expected. Do you want to go back to the conference room and have them brought here, or do you want to meet them at the spaceport?"

Delenn spoke up, "We should meet them there. We should also bring along Wildstar and Forrester too, so they can be introduced to them right away."

Sheridan nodded and added, "We'd better bring along Shaniel as well, just to be sure. I don't want to risk offending the warrior caste, not with everything going as well as it is."

Garibaldi came into the room, walking with a brisk stride that belied his age and underlined his background in law enforcement. "They're getting a little restless in there. Nothing major, but they want to get down to business. Are they on the way?"

Sheridan nodded, then asked, "Wanna come with us?"

Garibaldi thought for a moment and said, "Sure thing. Let me go tell Jeff...," Garibaldi snapped his fingers in annoyance, "I mean, Valen,
and let him take over the meeting."

"Good idea. See you outside at the transport.," said Sheridan, and Garibaldi left to return to the conference room.

Valendor Spaceport

3:30pm

Sheridan looked up at the huge hulk that was the Defiant III, impressed with its size. Smaller than a Whitestar, it still was a formidable ship to deal with. Plus, it had the added bonus of having a cloaking device, which made that military part of his brain tingle. He would have loved to have had a few squadrons of these ships to go along with the Whitestars back during the Shadow War.

A huge ramp began to descend from the ship, and several people began to come down it. Sheridan recognized Ashcroft and General Kira, and was curious about who was dressed in the strange costume that had a similar nose as Kira did. Others in similar uniforms as Ashcroft's came down as well.

Ashcroft approached Sheridan and the two shook hands. "Mr. President, I'm Captain Stephen James Ashcroft of the Federation Starship Wildstar. My executive officer, Commander Katrina Litinova, is still aboard ship and may come down later as needed." He then pointed to a blond-haired, fit-looking woman and introduced her, "This is my chief of security,Lieutenant Commander Belinda Montgomery, and you already know General Kira Nurys of Bajor. She's the commanding officer of the starbase Deep Space Nine, which is close to where we came through the rift. And this is her exec on the station and commanding officer, Commander Paul Windsor..."

Once that was done, they walked their way back to the waiting transport that would take them to the government palace. The commanding officer from the Yamato that he'd been introduced to, Derek Wildstar, strode up to him and asked him, "So what inspired your...Starfleet, is it?...to name your ship the Wildstar?"

Ashcroft smiled and replied, "Well, I hate to bruise your ego, but we didn't name it after you," which won him a chuckle from Derek, "No, we named it because she was built to get into the tough scrapes. Usually Federation starship's primary mission is that of exploration, and that is what ours is, but every ship has to be ready to defend itself when need be. Years ago, the top brass decided they needed a class of ships that could fight not just one ship, but also several. Thus, the Andromeda-class was born. The Andromeda's gone now, lost in the war with the Dominion and the Jem'Hadar, which I'll tell you about sometime, so we are the main flagship for the class right now. My friend, Captain William Riker, commands the Hercules, which is the other ship in the class."

Derek nodded, but didn't have a chance to ask Ashcroft anymore, because they arrived at the transport and boarded. It looked bizarre to him, more like a fish than a ship. Back during the battle with the Drakh,Derek had noticed them out of the corner of his eyes, and he noted how impressed he was with their look. They were beautiful, but they were also powerful.

It was a short trip, but an enjoyable one, as he took in the beauty of the ancient city below. According to Delenn, it was built after the arrival of Valen during the last Shadow war. Even though all he knew of the Shadows was from his conversations with Ivanova, he got the impression that they were an enemy that would have been almost impossible to beat.

Of course, with Yamato, he was certain that he had a chance at victory. He looked over at it and smiled, seeing it docked at the harbor, and still plenty of Minbari gawking at it.

They landed and made their way out of the transport. Ashcroft found his way over to Kira, who was bringing up the rear. "Something bothering you, General?"

Kira nodded and said, "Yeah, I guess you could say that. This city reminds me too much of the one in my dreams, but this isn't it."

Ashcroft nodded and replied, "Knowing the way things are going, we might just see it after all."

Government Palace of Valendor 5pm "And then I slam the guy's head into the table and said, 'Shazam? No, that's not the magic word!'," said Garibaldi, and the crowd laughed at the story, loudest among them was Valen himself.

A knock came at the door, and Garibaldi yelled out, "C'mon in," which had the folks inside the room howling with laughter. Ivanova stuck out her tongue at her and opened the door, letting in the new arrivals. "Ah, they're here! I guess we're all set to get down to business now!"

Sheridan showed the new arrivals to some seats at the round table, and Garibaldi cracked that the assembled were the new Knights of the Round Table with Sheridan as their King Arthur.

"Now, Garibaldi, what makes you think I'm not Arthur," jested Valen.

Sheridan gave his former chief of security a look, but couldn't help himself smile. Things were tense, so having a little bit of fun before the meeting helped ease it. But now it was time to get down to business.

"I know that I didn't mail out invitations, but I want to thank you all for coming. We're all here for a reason, and we are about to find out that reason. Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce to you, Genon, a member of the Legendora race.," and Sheridan pointed to the figure that was cloaked in a dark gray robe.

Genon undid his hood and stood up, and everyone who had not already seen him gasped at the color of his skin, which looked to be burnished gold. He raised his hand and spoke, "I welcome you all here, and thank you for coming. We have a lot of work ahead of us, and a lot of fighting to do. The enemy that I am here to tell you about is well known to us who are Legendora. It is our brethren, called the Ragendora, who split off from us ages ago because they sought to enact their own agenda of conquest and domination."

He produced a data crystal and plugged it into the reader, and images began to dance in three dimensions on the table. The ships they saw were made of dark metals, and were formidable. They looked like something out of a Lovecraft novel, and their power looked to be immense.

Genon explained, "They have dedicated themselves for the eons since they split from us to building their war machine to take over the various universes that exist. The Ragendora want to see only themselves as rulers and gods, and will destroy any race that opposes them. We have searched the various timelines for the right people to lead the fight, and we have selected all of you to help us. I must tell you that there is always the chance that we might still lose this war, despite our efforts, but if we do nothing, we will all fail and we will all die. I know most of you have doubts in your hearts, but don't doubt this: the Ragendora will not give up until they have destroyed their enemies."

This sobered them all, and Ashcroft looked around and saw that someone needed to ask the one question hanging over them: "So what do we need to do to win this fight?"

Starsha stood up and walked over to Genon, and spoke with her soft but firm voice, "This is what we need from you..."

TO BE CONTINUED....

To Return to the Introduction to Crossing Lines, click here