Crossover "Seeking the Past" - Undiscovered Frontier Season 1 (Star Trek/Mass Effect/B5/Others)

1-15 Opening
    • Teaser


    Ship's Log: ASV Aurora; 20 August 2641. Captain Robert Dale recording. We are still in our station-keeping position beside Arcturus Station while Mastrash Ledosh and Ambassador Weekes finish negotiations with the Systems Alliance for aid in the war with the Reich. Ledosh has expressed his confidence that the Systems Alliance Parliament will pass an aid bill shortly.


    Lucy Lucero kept her breathing still and her eyes on Meridina. The Gersallian woman stood motionless before her. The wooden practice blade in Meridina's hands was held upward in a ready position, much like the one in Lucy's hands. They were wearing brown padded robes over sleeveless magenta vests and matching pants; an exercise outfit befitting their current activity.

    Lucy felt Meridina's movement a moment before it came. Her arms moved almost by their own accord, not Lucy's conscious decision, and there was a sharp thwack as wood met wood. She had successfully parried Meridina's first attack. She sensed more attacks coming and met them in turn, each second passing by with a thwack. Lucy backpedaled on her feet and waited for any opening to show itself. A sharp pain went through her forearm when the tip of Meridina's practice weapon smacked against it during a missed swipe.

    Then she saw it. Meridina shifted her weight to change her attack pattern. Lucy swung the blade for Meridina's weak side. Meridina had to move to avoid the strike and that involved pulling her weapon back from an attack. Lucy sliced at her another time and smacked the side of Meridina's hand. Another slash and Meridina took a step backward. Lucy, feeling she had the advantage, moved in for a cut at Meridina's hip.

    Meridina's free hand popped up as if to catch Lucy's sword. That was not normally a maneuver one would find in a sword fight since, in a real one, you would likely lose some or all of the hand. But Meridina's purpose was evidently not to grab the sword.

    Lucy felt like she was struck by a battering ram. She flew back six feet to the edge of the mat and landed with a huff and a dull pain in her ribs. For a moment she felt out of air and needed to suck in breath.

    In that moment, Meridina rushed in for the final blow. One strong strike knocked Lucy's practice sword away. She pressed the tip of the wooden practice blade to Lucy's throat. "You are bested, my student," Meridina remarked plainly. Her blue eyes shined with restrained mirth. "Although I believe your swordswomanship is improving."

    "I give up," Lucy sighed. She held her hands outward in surrender. Meridina pulled her blade away and used a free hand to help Lucy up. Lucy held a hand outward and reached for the weapon with her power. It went to her hand, hilt-first. "I'm a little confused, Meridina."

    "By what?"

    "I'm not planning to join your Order," Lucy said. "So wasn't my training only supposed to be in basic swevyra stuff so I don't become a raging murdering psycho? How does sword-fighting fit into this?"

    "It teaches patience and fine control of the swevyra," Meridina explained. "Though you will not be issued a lakesh, there is no provision against teaching you basic use of that blade or any other."

    "Ah." Lucy considered that. "It sounds like you've given it a lot of thought."

    "Indeed." Meridina lifted her blade to a ready position. "Again."

    Lucy sighed and mirrored Meridina's stance. A thought crossed her mind and she fought against the urge to smile.

    As soon as Meridina moved to attack, Lucy moved as well. Instead of parrying the attack she ducked it and sent her blade toward Meridina's left side.

    Her senses told her things had gone wrong a brief moment before Meridina's body shifted to the right, avoiding Lucy's blow. Lucy felt Meridina's foot make contact with her ankle and lower leg. In one quick sweep Meridina used that position to knock Lucy off her feet. Lucy hit the mat with a resounding thud and an "oof". Meridina's wooden blade again pressed against her neck. "A clever tactic," Meridina noted. "But you must remember that those with swevyra like ours can sense the imminent future and read our opponents' movements."

    "I'll keep that in mind," Lucy sighed. She accepted Meridina's help in standing up again. "And shouldn't you just call it 'Life Force powers'?"

    Meridina blinked. Her brow furrowed. "Such a term is longer. Why would I use that when our word swevyra suffices?"

    "But it doesn't, though," Lucy pointed out. "Everyone has swevyra. But not everyone can use this… this 'force' you're training me in."

    "So you believe to call the use of our talents something different?"

    "Well, it might make things easier to say more quickly."

    "Referring to our 'abilities' should suffice, then." Meridina brought up the blade. "Now, let us try this again."




    With the Alliance Ambassador to the Systems Alliance working with Ledosh this time, Robert found he had time for a bridge watch. Julia was beside him at the first officer's station, looking over the results of their battle drill. "Commander King and her crew are working well in our practices," she said to Robert. "They're really good at covering for Commander Laurent's fighters."

    "She's a consummate professional," Robert agreed. "Which is why I'm surprised she's able to work with us so well. Most of the pros seem to dislike us."

    "Well, despite what others have said, she doesn't actually have her head up… somewhere sensitive," Julia said with a grin. "As for the other training measures, Commander Worf's suggestions about our targeting algorithms have increased accuracy across the board. And Jarod's work with Commander Data means we're getting about five percent better performance out of our computer systems.

    "Good to hear that. We need every edge we can get." Robert tapped his fingers on his chair.

    "You should relax," Julia said in a low voice.

    "You heard about Grenaris?"

    "The Reich retreated," she said. "The first Klingon ships helped to drive them off."

    "But the colony itself was mostly gone," Robert said. "Only a few hundred people were left. Our troops mostly found empty homes and a few mass graves. Not enough for the population. Intel thinks that before the fleet showed up, they dragged most of the population back into their space to be slave labor."

    Julia frowned. "Yeah. It's depressing to think about it. But things are looking up. Our talks have all been successful so far. The Dorei Federation's mobilizing their full fleet now and several of the wavering countries in the Alliance are coming over to supporting the war."

    "Yeah. Now if we can just confirm they have no clue where to look for that Facility, I'll feel a lot better."

    The door to the bridge slid open. Robert and Julia looked back to observe Ledosh coming in. They stood. "Mastrash, is there anything we can do for you?"

    "The talks proceed well," Ledosh assured them. "But the Systems Alliance has a… term that must be dealt with."

    Robert and Julia exchanged looks. "Which would be?", Julia asked.

    "To ensure the security of Earth's territories in this galaxy, the Systems Alliance is reluctant to dispatch the fleets to justify their participation. Additionally, they have the obvious required term."

    "Our IU drives." Julia sighed. "And we thought getting the Romulans to accept that deal was tough. There's no way this universe's leading races let the local branch of Humanity have our IU drives first."

    "Exactly. Provision of the technology in the current environment will be politically destabilizing to a degree the Systems Alliance, nor our own Alliance, can easily afford. As such, President Morgan has given me direct instructions to commence further negotiations immediately to win the approval of the other races."

    "Which means the Citadel Council."

    "Indeed. I trust you are ready to plot a course."

    "So… we're going to the Citadel," Julia said.

    Ledosh nodded in affirmation. "Yes."



    Undiscovered Frontier
    "The Flow of Life"    ​



    The bridge crew had all assembled on the bridge by the time the Aurora was ready for the transit. Caterina was sitting at the science station and buzzing with excitement. "I've been waiting months to do this. Months!"

    "It will be a most interesting experience." Data had taken up Tom Barnes' old post at the engineering station beside Caterina. "The Mass Relay system's existence may have a considerable impact on how we understand subspace physics."

    "And I'll be scanning the entire time," Cat assured him.

    Robert nodded. "Alright, Nick. Let's earn your paycheck."

    "I hear that." Locarno activated the impulse drives. "I'm receiving telemetry from Arcturus for the Relay that connects to the Citadel. Setting impulse drives to three quarters and following the approach course."

    Aurora accelerated through space toward the appropriate mass relay. It was several kilometers long - the size of a space station by itself - and shaped almost like a tuning fork of sorts with rings spinning in the inside hollow section. Hollow, that was, save for the surging sphere of material at the heart of the relay, glowing bright blue. "Element zero, right?", Robert asked Cat.

    "Yup. Definitely. It's really widespread in this particular universe." She remained focus on her sensor screens.

    "A thousand kilometers and closing," Locarno reported.

    Everyone seemed ready to hold their breath as the bright glow of the Mass Relay grew in the holo-viewscreen. Locarno ticked down the distance. "Ten kilometers…. we will make transit in five… four… three… two… one!"

    Energy surged from the core of the Mass Relay and gripped Aurora, crackling almost like lightning connecting the ship to the Relay's core. The viewscreen showed what looked to be a corridor of space appear ahead of them and the ship surged into it, like a boat swept along in a current.

    The corridor abruptly disappeared. They were back in normal space. "Transit is complete." Locarno checked his board. "All drives are good. It looks like our drift was at about two thousand kilometers."

    "Nice run, Nick," Julia said in congratulations.

    "Fascinating," Data added, Cat having relayed some of the sensor readings to the engineering station.

    "You said it." Caterina tapped away at her board. "The Relay creates a massless corridor through space and uses the responding gravitational warping to…. this is so incredible."

    Data nodded in agreement. "I would theorize that the technology essentially creates a subspace tunnel between two points in space utilizing mass effect fields."

    "Given they call the technology by that name, it's probably a good guess," Angel pointed out.

    "We're coming up on the Citadel, Captain," Locarno reported.

    All eyes went back to the holo-viewscreen. Now it showed the opaque clouds of a nebula, dull blue and gray in color, parting slowly as Aurora flew through them. Lights appeared through the cloud that became more prominent until they emerged fully into the pocket of space within the Widow Nebula, revealing the Citadel.

    The station was rotating around a ring; in the middle of that ring was a connecting pathway leading to a platform and tower pointing "up", in the same direction as the massive arms that came up from the center ring. In the space between the arms, several starships and spacecraft were coming and going, some of them very large. "Going by the recognition profiles in our computers, the majority of the defense fleet is made up of Turian warships." Jarod tapped a key. "Although there's one definite exception."

    That exception loomed ahead of them. The ship in question was wider than the Aurora was long, a central hull with a large hollow section and large arms extending from each cardinal point. "That's not a Turian design," Julia noted.

    "It's Asari," Jarod confirmed. "According to the Systems Alliance recognition profiles it's the Destiny Ascension, flagship of the Asari Republics. The construction of the ship is more advanced than anything we've seen in M4P2. The materials… I think the only ship that could match it would be the Kentan."

    Everyone recognized that name; the flagship of the Gersallian Interdependency, one of the largest dreadnought-starships of the Multiverse.

    "According to our information packet, those five arms are called the Wards, they're over 43 kilometers long and about three hundred and thirty meters thick," Jarod explained. "They have near-Earth gravity and provide the majority of the housing and most of the commercial districts. The ring is only point three Gs and is known as the Presidium. It contains the most expensive living areas and major offices for most of the galactic businesses, not to mention embassies and consulates for every major race in the galaxy."

    "And the tower is where the Citadel Council is based," Julia finished for him.

    "This place is so awesome," Caterina said in awe. "Tell me we're getting shore leave."

    "We don't have any orders forbidding it," Robert remarked. "Just remember we're here on a diplomatic mission. I want all hands reminded that they have to be on their best behavior when on liberty."

    "Tom is going to hate missing this sight," Cat sighed.

    Mentioning Barnes caused Robert and Julia to look at each other with a bit of sadness. It was only a further reminder that their group had become reduced by Zack's decision to leave for now. "Yes," Robert sighed. "I think they'd both love it."

    "Citadel Security Traffic Control is transmitting a station-keeping zone for us," Locarno said.

    "Let's not seem too hasty. Reduce impulse to point one five and switch to thrusters when we're within the station arms."

    "Yes ma'am." Locarno acted to implement Julia's approach orders.

    Julia looked over to Robert. "Time to get the Mastrash, then. You'll be going over?"

    "Yes." Robert looked at his multidevice. "He and I are due at the Earth Embassy in an hour to meet with the Systems Alliance's representation. Ambassador Udina is supposed to have arranged a spot for us in the Citadel Council's itinerary for later today."

    "Good luck." She grinned at him. "I think you're starting to get the hang of this diplomacy."

    "So says the woman who actually called the Romulans' bluff," he responded with a knowing smile. The smile dulled a moment later. "I wish Zack was here. This would be a fun place to just take some leave and explore a little."

    "I know." Julia nodded. "I just hope he's doing okay."

    "Well, you never know what he's getting up to these days…"




    It looked like the start of a blessedly-quiet day for Admiral Adama when he arrived in Galactica CIC. Tigh looked up from the central table. "Good morning, sir. How are you?"

    "Sleeping better," Adama admitted. He held up a mug. "Still getting used to this 'replicated' coffee."

    "Godsdamned stuff tastes like it came from a dog's ass, if you ask me," Tigh grumbled. "I don't know how the Alliance's people put up with this replicated stuff. I'd rather go back to service rations than have another plate of that so-called 'pasta' from last night."

    "Somehow I think Commander Carrey would agree," Adama said. He went over to the table and accepted the night's reports from Tigh. "The drive checks are going well?"

    "We're having to fabricate some new parts for a couple of ships showing wear and tear," Tigh said. "And Zarek's making a lot of fuss over some issue with the Astral Queen's power grid." Tigh frowned. "Apparently the new shield systems installed over there are overloading their capacitors whenever they're tested. Zarek wants Koenig's engineers back over."

    "Did you tell him that Lieutenant Derbely insisted on a full armed escort if she ever had to go back?", Adama inquired.

    "He offered to escort her himself."

    "Of course he did." Adama set the reports down. "Now…"

    "Sir." Gaeta looked up from his station. "I'm picking up something on the subspace sensors. I… well, I'm not quite sure I know what it is."

    Adama looked at him with some intensity. "Is it a Cylon ship jumping in?"

    "No, I think it's a warp signature… wait. DRADIS contacts appearing, approximately fifty thousand kilometers from the Fleet. I'm not reading Cylon ships…"

    Duala held her earpiece close. "Sir, Lieutenant Navaez from the Koenig just opened a channel. She says not to worry, it's the relief convoy."

    Some scattered applause sounded in the CIC. Adama felt a pleased little grin come to his face at the news. "Well, that's good news. I'd better alert the President."

    "We're getting a signal, sir. It's from a vessel, a Dorei… 'starbird'?... called the Xinal. Captain Tiniri Pakalos commanding."

    "Put him on."

    Duala operated controls for the new system installed nearby; a holo-emitter and recorder that not only provided an image to send back to the caller, but created a holographic flatscreen that displayed video coming in from another ship. Adama found himself facing a blue-skinned alien, one of the Dorei, with light purple spots on her spotline and dark blue hair cut short to her neck. Bright teal eyes looked back at him. "Admiral Adama of Galactica? I am Captain Pakalos of the starbird Xinal, escorting the Alliance relief convoy."

    Adama nodded. "Captain Pakalos, we've been looking forward to this meeting. You're a day earlier than we expected."

    "Yes. Our engineers were able to sustain a higher warp speed than we had anticipated. We have some need to finish this duty quickly so we might jump out."

    "You mean you're due for the war," Adama said.

    "Indeed. Xinal is needed at the front to fight the Nazi Reich. We will only stay long enough for the fleet to finish unloading your supplies, and then we and the fleet will jump to another universe before going to S4W8."

    "I understand." Adama nodded. "Commander Carrey keeps us informed about the progress of the war. The Colonies stand with our new friends and pray for a swift Alliance victory."

    "We thank you. We shall see how swift the battle is." Pakalos nodded her thanks as well. "Speaking of Commander Carrey, I will need to meet with him before long. Do you know where I can find him? His Operations officer stated he transported over to one of your ships."

    Tigh smirked for a moment. Adama nodded and allowed himself a little grin. "Yes, um, Commander Carrey selected today to begin a special project of his. I believe he called it a..." Adama looked to Tigh briefly, who was allowing the smirk to become a grin. "... 'civilian morale-building exercise'."




    Cloud 9 had met Zack's expectations. The specialized dome and its ability to simulate actual sunlight, the environmental systems creating just the right amount of warmth without being a summer broiler, and the fresh and soft grass that really added to the environment.

    He took his place and looked out at the crowd of children. With only so many thousands of children in the Fleet, and only so many parents willing to okay this, it was surprising to see how many had turned out anyway. There were a couple hundred kids easy. And those were just the ones visible in the bleachers; others were spread out wherever they could find room.

    He tapped his multidevice under his uniform, knowing the commkey by heart, and that activated the speakers that would boom his voice across the entire park. "Alright everyone, I'm Commander Zachary Carrey of the Koenig. And today I'm going to teach you something special. It's a past-time from Earth…" He held up the object in his right hand. "...called baseball." He tossed the white ball with red stitching in the air a few times. "This is a baseball. And the object Lieutenant Apley is holding…" Zack indicated his XO, standing beside Tom Barnes. "...is called a baseball bat."

    Apley nodded and swung the bat a few times in his hands. Like Zack and Barnes, he was wearing a specialized uniform just for this occasion; a white baseball player uniform with the Koenig emblazoned on it and the name Koenig written in fancy cursive lettering above the insignia. Like any proper uniform the back had their names and bigger versions of their jersey numbers compared to the small ones over their hearts on the front. Zack had his old high school number of 22 on his jersey. Apley had opted merely for 1 and Barnes, with much snickering, took 69.

    "The goal of this game is for the pitcher to throw the ball at the batter and to try and make him miss it in the process. The batter, of course, tries to hit it. If he misses, it's a strike, and with three strikes you're out." He made a little motion, the umpire hand signal for being called out. "If he succeeds, he gets to start running for the bases." Zack pointed to each base in turn. "1st, 2nd, and 3rd." Three more Koenig crew were on each base; Chief Alberto Gonzales, Petty Officer Constance Felder, and Crewwoman 1st Rate Dreyna Sapana, who stood out as the only Dorei among them. Three more Koenig crew were in the outfield and April Sherlily was at short stop beside Zack. "If you hit the ball and it goes beyond these white lines…" He held his hands out and pointed to the foul lines from Home to the 1st and 3rd bases. "... it's a foul ball. If any of the team on the field catches your ball in mid-air…"

    In short concise sentences Zack laid out the entire issue with how outs and runs worked, and ultimately how bases were scored and how three outs meant the teams switched places. Some children asked questions, including the expected ones inquiring about throwing the ball to make it impossible for someone to hit - Zack was quick to point out that these were called "balls" and too many led to a walk, a free base, so long as the player didn't swing for them - and soon enough the basics of the game were understood. "Your chaperones will hand out little rulebooks later," Zack assured them, holding up a copy.

    As he did he looked out at the adults, most of whom seemed at least modestly interested in the game he was described as well. The real surprise, though, was the presence of President Roslin. She was finally out of her wheelchair and sitting in the bleachers, out of immediate sight of everyone. Billy was with her.

    Zack forced himself to turn his head so he didn't linger too long and give Roslin's presence away. "Time for a demonstration!", he shouted. He nodded to Barnes, who got down on his haunches and brought up his catcher's mitt. Apley flexed his knuckles and brought the bat up.

    "Hey, batter batter batter! Hey batter!"

    Apley smirked at Barnes' attempt to distract and was ready when Zack threw the ball at him. It was a fastball. Too fast for Apley, who swung a moment too late to hit. The ball instead sailed into Barnes' mitt.

    From a spot behind home plate, Samuel Anders called out "Strike one!" The pyramid player took his role as home plate umpire with relish. Zack had explained everything in the sport to him and made the rulebooks available; it didn't have the physical contact of Anders' own favored sport, but Anders had proven supportive regardless, and he and Kara Thrace had made sure to attend Registration Day.

    Barnes threw the ball back to Zack, who caught it effortlessly with his mitt-clad left hand. He started playing with the baseball for a moment before nodding, seeing Barnes' signal, and throwing a curveball. There was another swing from Apley.

    And this time, he was rewarded with a resounding CRACK.

    Wood met baseball and the white orb went flying into the air. Zack watched it sail over his head and toward the backfield, where the middle outfielder raced toward the fence to grab it. But it was useless; the ball sailed over the chainlink fence that had been put up by Cloud 9 work crews over the course of the past couple of days.

    Apley tossed the bat to his side and began a leisurely jog toward first base.

    "And that, everyone, is what we call a home run!", Zack declared, extending an arm to the fence. "If the ball leaves the field between the foul lines, everyone on base gets to score a run. That's the equivalent, more than the equivalent, of a deep corner shot for you pyramid fans. And now, while Lieutenant Apley gets to strut his way to Home plate and live a little dangerously from one-upping his captain…!" That prompted some laughs. "...we're going to start with some registrations! We'll form teams of…"




    Registration was well underway when Zack had an opening to walk over to Roslin and Billy. "Madame President." He nodded to her. "You came to see the start of training camp?"

    "It sounded interesting," Roslin answered. She nodded to the lines of children forming to sign up for teams. "And I think parents will be more tolerant of your baseball over pyramid."

    "Yeah, a lot of Moms never want to see their kid tackled." Zack crossed his arms and grinned. "Thanks for your support. I don't think Cloud 9's staff would have been willing to put up the baseball fields without you."

    "No thanks are necessary." Roslin shook her head. "It's for a worthy cause. With everything that's happened, it will be nice to see children getting to be children. And their parents will feel better."

    There was a tone under the sleeve of Zack's uniform. He rolled it back to reveal his multidevice. "Carrey here," he said.

    Magda spoke through the comm link. "The relief convoy is here, Commander."

    "Woh, really? They're a day early?"

    "Yes sir. And Captain Pakalos wants to see you at your earliest convenience."

    Zack sighed and looked back to where the registrations were ongoing. "I'd better take this." He nodded to Roslin. "I hope you enjoy your day, ma'am."

    "Thank you, Commander."

    Zack walked away to go find Apley. He'd need his XO to take over for him before beaming over to Xinal.
     
    • 1-15-2
    • Julia reminded herself, for the umpteenth time, that she wasn't allowed to arbitrarily ban anyone from liberty on the Citadel.

    It would make the job so much easier. Here she was, in her office, scrambling through the staff listings to assign leave periods to personnel, by order of those with the least amount of recent shore leave and the most time on the ship. But the way things were going, half of the crew would be over on the Citadel. Which meant more chance for trouble if anything.

    The door swished open and Meridina stepped into Julia's office. "Commander, I have a request to make of you. I desire to spend some time on the Citadel."

    "Shore leave?" Julia blinked. "You… actually want shore leave?"

    "I suppose that is accurate," Meridina said. "I wish to take Lucy for the purpose of her training."

    Julia blinked again, finding this conversation a surprise. "How… how does that work? I mean, training her in whatever it is, why do you need the Citadel for that?"

    Meridina seemed to consider her words very carefully for a moment. "It has to do with how swevyra flows. How it works. I believe the term in your language would be 'the flow of life'."

    "Okay?"

    "To fully grasp her potential, Lucy must be exposed to the currents of teeming life. And not simply that to be found on a station like Arcturus or in the Defense Command building. The Citadel is the first place we have visited since beginning the training that has the necessary abundance of life to qualify for this task."

    "So you basically need to visit somewhere that's packed full of beings." Julia considered that. "Alright. Okay, I'll grant the leave for both of you. You can leave when Lucy's shift ends at 1600 and you'll be scheduled to return tomorrow morning by 1000."

    "More than sufficient, Commander."

    Julia nodded. "Alright, I'll put you and Lucy down for that." Julia brought up the list. "Shouldn't be too hard on things. Although you may face a line at the Transporter Stations with all of the crew who want to check things out."

    "I apologize if this has caused any undue disruption."

    "Two people I can handle. But when two thousand people all want liberty, I have to do a little juggling. Don't worry about it, I'll be fine." Julia grinned at her. "Go and enjoy… whatever it is you're going to do."

    "My thanks."




    Robert and Ledosh spent two hours getting briefed by Ambassador Udina on the Citadel Council's protocols and membership. As the white-clad Human ambassador spoke Robert got the feeling that half of the things he was saying about the Council were born from his own frustrations with them.

    "Ever since your contact with Captain Anderson, the Council has been nervous," Udina was saying as they piled into the lift that would carry them to the top floors of the Citadel Tower. "The aliens of the galaxy are already jealous and suspicious of Humanity's advancement since the First Contact War. Now your Alliance has come along and they're even more frightened of us. They fear that the United Systems will give Humanity an edge over the rest of the galaxy and oppose the Citadel Council's authority."

    "Captain Anderson expressed similar concerns at our first contact," Robert noted. "But is it really that bad?"

    Udina snorted. "I spend half of my time reassuring panicking alien delegates that the Systems Alliance is still acknowledging the interstellar law overseen by the Council." He sighed. "I can't imagine the United Systems sending two Humans to negotiate will do any favors to your position."

    "Ledosh isn't Human, he's Gersallian," Robert pointed out. "And they've been space-faring as long as the Asari have."

    "My apologies, Captain, but he looks Human."

    "We are not unfamiliar with the surprise that merits," Ledosh said with his customary refined patience. "It is apparent that President Morgan did not anticipate the full extent of distrust that the Allied Systems labors under. I know he would have not hesitated to dispatch a Dorei or Alakin emissary had he known better."

    "It might not have done any good, Emissary Ledosh. This is about more than latent anti-Human prejudice in the Citadel. It's about the apparent threat that your Alliance poses to the Citadel's political authority in this universe."

    "We have experience with other concerns such as this, I am hopeful that diplomacy will triumph over base, speciest fears."

    The lift door opened. "You're about to find out," Udina muttered. He led them out of the lift and into a courtyard.

    The courtyard area began with a circular opening area and went on to a larger courtyard with wings spreading in both directions. Beings of multiple species of M4P2 milled about, giving some looks to the newcomers; Robert in his black-and-burgundy formal uniform and Ledosh in his fine robes. Udina's words weren't entirely an exaggeration; Robert could swear he was feeling the fear and distrust in the air. He had seen images to know that some of the figures around him were of the Council-seated races - Turians, Asari, and Salarians - but the short and bulbous species in the environmental suits were a new experience, as were the massive aliens with arms that hunched down to touch the ground as well, making him think of a gorilla.

    They passed by a skycab taxi panel and climbed stairs toward an extended platform. Three figures were standing beyond it, control panels beside them.

    Robert stared.

    He… had seen this place before, hadn't he? He could remember the heat and flame. The feeling of the end of a hard fight. The blue-eyed Turian with cybernetics all over his body, urging surrender. The voice vowing never to stop.

    No. There was business at hand. Robert forced those thoughts out as Ledosh commenced speaking. "...and honored Councillors, it is my honor to greet you on behalf of the Allied Systems."

    "Emissary Ledosh." The Asari Councillor, Tevos, nodded gently. "It is our pleasure to welcome a diplomatic mission from the United Systems. We have had much curiosity about your intentions."

    "I am afraid other matters have repeatedly delayed the official assignation of an ambassador to the Citadel." Ledosh extended a hand toward Robert. "This is Captain Robert Dale, commander of the Aurora."

    "We are familiar with Captain Dale." This was from the Salarian Councillor, Valern. He activated a light-based device over his forearm - Robert recognized it as an "omnitool", not unlike the multidevice on his own arm in function but definitely more sophisticated in appearance - and called up an image. "He was the Alliance officer who commenced direct first contact with Captain Anderson of the Systems Alliance several months ago."

    "Yes, Councillor." Robert stepped up beside Ledosh. "It's my honor to meet you and to visit the Citadel. We've heard so much about it since the contact."

    "But you're not here just for mere diplomacy, are you Captain?" Valern was looking over something. "You're here to seek the assistance of the Council."

    Robert didn't bother to deny it and Ledosh did not motion for him to stop. "Yes, for the same reason our Alliance was so late in getting diplomatic representation established."

    "But yet you managed to send an ambassador to your fellow Humans," the Turian - Councilor Sparatus - remarked bluntly. "That might suggest something of your priorities… and intentions."

    "The dispatching of Ambassador Weekes had already been finalized before the war broke out," Ledosh observed. "Our Council had yet to vote on the appointment to the Citadel due to the need to deliberate the preconditions the Council requires." By this Ledosh was specifically, if not directly, referring to the arms limitations in the Treaty of Farixen that restricted naval development by various races. "An error, certainly, and one they are currently rectifying. For the time being, the President has empowered me to negotiate with the Citadel Council."

    "We have already reviewed your credentials." Tevos glanced to either side, taking in her fellow Councillors' expressions, before she looked to them and continued. "We presume this has to do with your current war?"

    "It does," Ledosh said. "The Alliance believes that the Reich may pose a serious threat to the rest of the Multiverse. There is a possibility they will locate a Facility of the Darglan, a now-extinct species that my people encountered when we became space-faring. Their Facilities contain the capability of providing any who discover them with the interuniversal jump drive technology the Allied Systems employ."

    "The Systems Alliance is already prepared to give aid to the United Systems," Udina noted. "But since it would require our ships to be outfitted with the interuniversal technology, the Cabinet would prefer that an agreement be reached with the Citadel Council before we act."

    The Turian Councillor clearly didn't like the sound of that. "I fail to see the threat." Sparatus gave a dismissive wave with his three-fingered hand. "They are your enemy, not ours. And this idea of disseminating your technology to just one species is blatantly unacceptable."

    "I have authority from the President and Council to offer it to your species if you agree to assist us in the war."

    "I fail to see why we need to shed our blood in a war between Humans."

    Tevos frowned and looked over at her colleague. "I have examined Human history, Councillor. The Nazi Regime of Earth would prove a hostile foreign power if it ever achieved the interuniversal technology. Inevitably conflict would start."

    "Then we'll worry about that then," Sparatus insisted. "But I fail to see how we benefit from any arrangement with the United Systems. They only serve to foster Human aggression and lawlessness."

    "That is an outrageous accusation!" Udina slammed his fist down. "The Systems Alliance has been a willing supporter of this Council and the structure of interstellar law! We're not some Terminus scum for you to pass judgement on!"

    "Should this proposed situation come to pass, we would be at a disadvantage." Valern also spoke now. "I would suggest we further deliberate the matter in private session."

    "Of course," Ledosh said. "We will make available to you all information on the matter. I hope to speak with you again soon."

    Councillor Tevos nodded. "Emissary Ledosh, Captain Dale, please enjoy your stay on the Citadel."




    With the Council meeting ended they returned to Udina's office. "Now you see what I have to deal with," Udina remarked dismissively from his desk. "They're all a bunch of self-important jackasses."

    "The age of their institutions may have indeed bred unkind arrogance into their mentality," Ledosh conceded. "But I would counsel patience."

    Robert took the seat beside Ledosh. "I've only read enough to know their names. What are the Councillors like?"

    "Sparatus is a typical Turian. He considers himself a soldier, votes as Palaven demands, and when he doesn't have their instructions to fall back upon, he goes with whatever policy seems the most ordered to his sensibilities. He's a stubborn ass when it comes to anything new. Which often means he opposes anything Humanity might request from the Council that doesn't involve using us as a barrier to frustrate Batarian expansion." Udina poured himself a small drink from a nearby bottle. "Valern is more independent-minded. He'll vote however he feels necessary for Salarian interests. I suspect he's the most concerned about the Nazi threat. Salarians prefer to win their wars before the first shot is fired through intelligence operations. They have little hope of that if the Reich does gain the drive technology."

    "And the Asari?"

    "She likes to think herself as the mediator of the Council and the most reasonable being in the room. But she won't move ahead of whatever popular opinion is on Thessia, and for all of her talk about putting the needs of the galaxy first, she's like a mother panther when it comes to Asari interests." Udina considered things for a moment. "If you want to get her sympathy, you would need to appeal to the Asari as a whole and hope your advocates prevail in the debates. Getting a matriarch or two on your side wouldn't hurt."

    "Thank you for your advice, Ambassador Udina," Ledosh said.

    "You're welcome. As for the next round of discussions, I think it best, Captain Dale, if you allowed myself and Emissary Ledosh to do the talking. We'll have you there as an eyewitness if we need you."

    Robert gave a curious look to Ledosh. Ledosh merely nodded. "It is a reasonable request."

    "I'm not much of a diplomat, so I can't argue with that." Robert stood up. "Well, I'll leave you gentlemen to handle the fine terms of whatever we're proposing. Ambassador Udina, if I may ask…"

    "Yes?"

    "It's been a few months since I had any chance for a proper leave. I'd like to see about taking a colleague out for a good dinner while we're on the Citadel. Would you have any suggestions?"

    "Hrm." Udina smiled a little. His omnitool came to life and he tapped at the controls for a moment. Robert looked down at his multidevice and accepted the incoming signal. "I would recommend the calamari," Udina said.

    "Thank you." Robert tapped his device's commkey. "Dale to Aurora. One to beam up."




    Meridina had selected the Zakera Ward to take Lucy through. They were wearing the robes of the swevyra'se as opposed to uniforms and had gone down unarmed, save for Meridina's lakesh, to avoid any problems with the Citadel's security service. Now they were weaving through the crowds of foot-traffic moving through one of Zakera's commercial areas.

    Lucy shifted through the crowds to keep up with Meridina. She was about to speak when a monotone-sounding voice called out to them. "Strangers," it said, "this one would like to know if you are aware of the Enkindlers and their gifts to the galaxy."

    Meridina turned and, like Lucy, faced the pinkish-skinned alien. Its central body was fairly small, the tip having lit up while it spoke, and it seemed to sway a bit while standing on some of its tentacles. Meridina bowed her head to the alien respectfully. "Some other time, perhaps, but I am quite interested in hearing about your beliefs."

    "This one urges others to not delay in discovering the truth. Have a pleasant day."

    They continued on through the Ward. "Is it just me, or was that a talking jellyfish?", Lucy asked. She had to shift slightly to avoid colliding with a short, stout alien in an environmental suit. "Oops, sorry!"

    "It was, yes. But I would appreciate it if you focused on the whole."

    "The whole?", Lucy asked her.

    Meridina stepped off to the side, near an entrance to what looked like an electronics shop. Lucy followed her. "Breathe in, Lucy. Let your swevyra feel the life around it."

    "Oh, that sort of thing." Lucy nodded and grinned. "Okay." She closed her eyes and breathed in. Meridina had taught her how to calm her mind and sense things through her life force. With her eyes closed and that sense shut off, it was easier to concentrate on that sense that had been growing within her since 33LA. She felt like she was in a sea of light. Streams of the same coalesced and split around her. "I…" She swallowed. "I can feel it."

    Meridina smiled softly. "Good."

    "It's…" Lucy swallowed again as she tried to seek for the words to describe what she was feeling. "It's beautiful. It's so warm and bright."

    "That is the Flow of Life," Meridina explained. "It is not easy to feel aboard a starship, or even a normal space station. Not until you have become sensitive to it from long practice with your own swevyra. But here, among these multitudes? You need only open your swevyra to feel it."

    "It's so…" Lucy drew in a breath. "This is what it's like for you? All of the time?"

    "It can be. As I said, you don't feel it as much when you only have a thousand or so beings around. But in the heart of this great habitat? Any could feel it. I suspect many of them do, even if they do not understand it."

    Lucy nodded. Her heart soared at the rich feeling of life around her, making her feel invigorated. She could even sense some of the emotions coming through. Not necessarily positive ones, in some cases. Joy, happiness, but also sorrow, despair, anger, frustration…

    …pain.

    Lucy's eyes opened wide. She could feel the being's pain. She could feel the fear.

    "I feel it too." Meridina nodded. "This way."

    They worked their way back through the crowd. After moving down several more storefronts there was an obvious gap between them. A cry was coming from within the alley. But nobody in the crowd heard it, or if they did, they didn't seem to care.

    They stepped into the alley and moved down to halfway between the stores before it became evident what they were facing. Lucy recognized the light blue-suited alien as a Turian, with a brown-tinged complexion and reddish-brown eyes, kicking away at something at his feet.

    That something, Lucy realized, was another figure writhing in pain. Lucy didn't recognize this alien; he was in an environmental suit, but unlike the short alien she'd seen before this one's suit had a clear face-plate and two eyes faintly shining within, and the build looked more Human regardless of the three-fingered hand. "P-please stop," the alien begged. His accent was thick, and whenever he spoke a light on his helmet, near the mouth, lit up.

    "What were you looking at?!", the Turian demanded. "What were you looking to steal, suit rat?!"

    "I… didn't…"

    The protest earned the alien another kick to the gut. He wheezed a complaint.

    "He is telling the truth."

    Meridina's statement caused the Turian to look their way. Lucy sighed and crossed her arms in a nonchalant way.

    "Like you know anything," the attacker retorted. "It's a Quarian, they'll steal anything that's not nailed down behind a kinetic barrier. And sometimes even that stuff with how the little suit rats are with technology."

    Meridina shook her head slightly. "Whatever your… preconceptions of this being's species, I can tell you that he was only indulging mild curiosity. I have felt no falsehood from him."

    "Whatever. Go mind your own business."

    Lucy shook her head, figuring what was coming next.

    Meridina started walking toward the two beings. "I am sworn to protect the innocent," she informed the Turian. "Please." She held a hand up to him. "You are satisfied at this being's innocence. You will leave him alone."

    "I…" The Turian blinked. Meridina noted that with interest; she could feel the being's mind, used to order and firmness, resist her impression. She repeated herself with a little more power. "I guess he wasn't up to anything after all," the Turian finally declared. "And that'll show the suit rat what people here in Zakera Ward think of his kind."

    His kind. Lucy felt a stab of hot anger at that term. It was easily changed in her mind to her kind. "You know how it is with her kind. Do what you want, Patrick." And then had come the beatings and the other cruelties and…

    ...Meridina's free hand settled on Lucy's arm as the Turian stalked out of the alley. "It is alright," she insisted.

    "Bigot," Lucy grumbled. "I ought to go back and…"

    "That is not the Light speaking, Lucy. That is darkness. You are seeking revenge, not justice, with that thought. Be calm."

    Lucy wasn't sure she was wrong or right. But at the first inkling of slight cold in her very core, she quickly snuffed the thought out. He's not worth it, she insisted to herself, even as the image of batting the Turian across several walls briefly eased her frustration.

    Meridina stepped up to the remaining alien. She knelt down and put a hand on him. "You are safe now."

    "I've… I've got a broken rib," the being whimpered. "I thought he would kill me."

    Meridina settled a hand on the being's chest. She closed her eyes. "Lucy, pay attention to this, please." Since Lucy could be counted on to do so immediately, Meridina didn't bother wasting time. She focused her life force, drew upon the Flow around them, and felt that warm power surge through her very self. With the warm power she felt into this poor creature's body, felt the bruises and the broken bone, and felt the light begin to mend the injuries.

    "How… how are you doing that?", the alien asked.

    "I am a swevyra'se of Gersal," Meridina answered. "I can heal with my own swevyra."

    "Life force," Lucy translated.

    "You are beings from the other universes, then?" The alien looked at them with what Lucy sensed to be awe and surprise. "I… I never imagined I'd see one of you so soon. I am Lan'Durah nar Qwib-Qwib."

    "I am Meridina. This is my student, Lucy Lucero." Meridina looked up at Lucy. "Please, assist me in helping him stand."

    Lucy stepped up and pulled Lan'Durah's left arm over her shoulders. She and Meridina easily lifted the Quarian to his feet. "I've read up on some of the species of this universe, but I don't remember seeing yours," Lucy said. "You're a… what was it?"

    "I'm a Quarian," Lan answered. "I'm here on Pilgrimage."

    "Pilgrimage?"

    "Yes. When we reach adulthood, Quarians are sent away from the Fleet to travel the galaxy."

    "How are you feeling?", Meridina asked him.

    "Better. My ribs still hurt." The Quarian looked at her. "Thank you. I did not think Humans cared for my people any more than the other species do, even Humans from another universe."

    "I am not Human, I am Gersallian," Meridina said simply.

    "They just look like us," Lucy added. "It's confusing to us too."

    "I… I see… unh."

    "You still have some bruising," Meridina warned him. "I am not so good a healer as to completely heal your injuries. Do you have somewhere safe to stay?"

    "There's a shelter about two hours' walk from here. It would only be ten minutes if we could rent a skycar, but…"

    "Thankfully we worked out conversion of our money into galactic standard here," Lucy said. She held up her left arm and the multidevice showing slightly under her robe cuff. "I'm guessing that as the student, I pay?"

    "I donate my salary from the Alliance to charity and the Temple," Meridina explained with a small smile. "Save a small portion I maintain for socialization purposes."

    "'Socialization purposes'?", Lucy asked.

    "Gifts," she clarified. "Lan'Durah, can you walk?"

    "I think so." When they let go he managed to maintain his balance. "Yes."

    "Then let us go. And you can tell us more about your people, and we can speak about ours. And thus knowledge is spread and the multiverse made a better place."




    It wasn't far from Transporter Station 3 to the Aurora gym. Robert entered from the bow door and faced a number of his personnel doing weightlifting exercises on the machines to his right. On the left, others were doing aerobic workouts. The distinct smell of sweat from multiple sources created a sort of pungency in the atmosphere that brought back memories of high school sports training, made even more complicated by non-Human perspiration.

    He walked past the aerobic area to another series of mats meant for martial arts exercises. He was quite surprised to see something different from what he had expected.

    Instead of Angel and Julia going through their forms clad in sports bra and shorts, they were wearing martial arts robes - 'Gis', right? - and moving slowly and in sync. At first he thought it was t'ai chi since Julia occasionally did that and had failed to get Angel or himself to join, but the movements didn't seem quite…

    That was when his brain called attention to the figure in front of them, making the same movements and clad in the same kind of martial arts robe. Commander Worf was clearly in the lead, making a movement and the two miming it almost exactly. That, more than anything, was interesting as hell for Robert, and he said nothing until the big Klingon led them through what looked like a final movement with arms circling outward and then inward, hands coming together and stopping. After a final breath his posture relaxed. "Well done. That will be all for today."

    Angel and Julia nodded at him. "Are you interested in visiting the Citadel, Commander?", Julia asked him. "You'll be one of the easiest liberties I've arranged all day."

    Worf nodded respectfully. "Thank you, but I have other duties to attend to. Commander Kane and I will be discussing your Marine contingent's tactical employments this evening for our training exercises."

    "Alright, I understand. Just remember that the offer's open." Julia turned away.

    By this time Angel had stepped up to Robert. They briefly kissed. "You're late for the lesson," she said to him.

    "I'm not here for that," he answered. He held her hands. "I was actually coming to suggest dinner."

    "Sure," she replied. "The Lookout? Hargert's breaking out leftovers since so many crew want to visit the Citadel, but…"

    "Actually, that's what I was going to suggest," Robert replied. "Ambassador Udina directed me to a nice restaurant in one of the Wards, somewhere called the Silversun Strip. I thought you might like to make it a date."

    "A date." Angel smiled at him. "Really?"

    "Well, we haven't had one since we got back together," Robert pointed out. "It's been all Nazis and diplomats and Darglan Facilities and Cylons since. This is our first chance to celebrate getting back together with a proper date."

    "Huh." Angel seemed to think about it. In a way showing she had already made up her mind. "Good. Let me go change and I'll meet you at Transporter Station 2?"

    "I'll meet you there."




    Zack spent longer than he'd wanted conversing with Pakalos on the situation with the Fleet. It was annoying to have to repeat everything he'd already reported to Admiral Maran in his weekly updates and daily logs. Pakalos hadn't seen some of those reports, unfortunately, and wanted to be assured that there was no known risk of Cylon attack.

    Once that meeting was over with, Zack had then been waylaid by Pekanas, the Gersallian in charge of the convoy itself and distributing its materials, and been pulled into a conference call with Roslin, Adama, and Zarek on distribution of food packs, replicator stocks, and the other essentials being carried in the convoy.

    Altogether, this meant that it was well into the afternoon when he finally got to beam back to Cloud 9 and check up on Registration Day. Apley had outdone himself as usual in getting the teams organized and prepared. The younger children would be learning with T-ball or the Junior Little League rules - stuff like automated machine pitching or coach-pitching - and those of sufficient age would play straight-up regular baseball. Enough kids had signed from each age group that they would have small leagues to compete in.

    Kara and Anders met him as he walked up to the playing fields. "I think half of the kids in the Fleet will be playing," Anders said. "I should be jealous," he added with humor.

    "I'm sure plenty of them will go right to pyramid soon enough," Zack laughed. He shook hands with the athlete. "Seriously, thanks for this. Having the captain of one of the most popular sports teams from the Colonies endorsing this has been a big help."

    "Hey, it gives the kids something to do," Anders said.

    "And you," Kara pointed out.

    "Yeah, and me," he agreed.

    "Interesting sport," Kara said. "I would've read you for a more active one, though, Carrey."

    Zack smiled at that. "I've always loved baseball. Now, if you want a sport more like pyramid, next time you see her you should talk to Julia, I mean, Commander Andreys. She was team captain for the girls' basketball team back in High School. Won trophies and everything."

    "I might have to do that." Anders looked back. "Oh, there's someone here looking for you."

    "Oh?' Zack blinked. "Who?"

    "Someone pretty." There was a mischievous smirk on Kara's face. "Already looking to break hearts out here, Zack Carrey?"

    "I haven't had time," he retorted playfully, but he was wondering what they meant. "Who was it?"

    "I think she… wait, she's over there."

    Anders pointed toward the end of the fields and Zack looked over. A figure in white was waiting in the distance, one arm crossed over and gripping the other armor's elbow as if in anxious impatience. "I'd better go see what's up," Zack said. "See you in a couple of days for the start of training camp?"

    "Wouldn't miss it!"

    Zack gave Anders a thumbs up and started jogging over to the figure in white. Whomever she was, she was looking away, so Zack couldn't be sure of who she was. Caucasian, at least, dark hair… wait...

    She turned as he got within twenty feet. He looked at her face and stopped moving. That's… how…?

    "Clara?", Zack asked, incredulous.

    Clara Davis, resplendent in a white nurse's uniform, smiled widely at him and ran up to him. She grabbed him in a hug. "Zack! Zack, I don't believe it, I never thought…"

    Zack took her by the shoulders and stared at her. "Clara, what are you doing out here? I thought you were back on Earth?"

    "I was." She smiled widely. "But I... I wanted to come out here, Zack. Like you did. So I resigned from the at-home service and volunteered for the New Liberty Aid Corps."

    Zack's jaw was hanging open. He realized how silly he must look and forced it closed. "Well, I… wow, Clara. That was bold."

    Clara smiled sweetly at him. "I didn't think I'd see you again so soon. Right after I got out of training I was asked to join the medical staff for the convoy. With the war going on they were really short of nurses so… here I am!" She gestured to the park. "So, this is yours, right?"

    "Yeah. Something for the kids."

    Clara nodded. "Given everything these poor people have lost… that's really sweet of you, Zack."

    "Thanks."

    They looked toward each other for several seconds of quiet. Clara took a moment to check the multidevice on her right forearm. "Oh. Sorry, Zack, I need to… they'll want me back soon. They're sending us to Galactica tonight to get orientated with Doctor Cottle and his nurses."

    "Ah." Zack nodded. "Well, they're good people. Doc Cottle, Admiral Adama… they'll treat you well." Well, now that we've got that Cylon business out of the way anyway…

    "Maybe you and I… I mean, I know you're doing the command thing and… well, maybe we can have dinner?" Clara swallowed. "I mean, no… no obligations, just a quiet dinner."

    "I… well…" It was Zack's turn to swallow and let his mind race. And his heart beat a little faster. He was still reeling from the surprise of seeing Clara here, and now that she was here, well… who knew? "I… Clara, I'm going to be pretty busy myself."

    He immediately felt like kicking himself when he saw Clara's expression reflect a feeling of rejection.

    "I'll let you know tomorrow," Zack promised, urgently. "Okay? I should know how my schedule's going to look over the next few days, maybe I can slip a few hours out for a dinner."

    The look on her face brightened a little. "I understand," she said. "I mean, the life of a nurse can be tough too, maybe I won't have time for dinner either…"

    "Yeah. Well, we'll see tomorrow, right?"

    "Right." She smiled a little. "Right." Clara took a step back. "So I'll just… I'll go now. Work."

    "Right." Zack nodded. "Work."

    He watched her leave and felt like every part of him was twisting into a knot. Clara, out here?! It just… she was… why did she leave home? A thought struck him.

    Could it be because of me? Did she come out here hoping she'd see me one day?

    Mock applause caused Zack to look to his right. Barnes was standing there, out of catcher gear but still in the Koenig baseball uniform, continuing the slow CLAP CLAP CLAP of his mock applause. "Zack, Zack, Zack…"

    "You saw it was Clara?", Zack asked.

    "She was asking around for you," he answered. "She didn't see me, I was up to my ears in seven year olds signing up for the Junior League stuff." Barnes stepped up and poked Zack in the ribs. "Dude, you have to be the dumbest jackass in this entire universe. Maybe even the Multiverse, but I think Rob might have you beat. Clara just asked you out on a date and you… dude, where is the Zack Carrey ladykiller extraordinaire I remember? Where's the guy who was the terror of every father in half of Kansas?"

    Zack snickered at that. "He grew up, I guess."
     
    • 1-15-3
    • It felt strange to be in public wearing civilian clothing. Robert felt a little out of place regardless; his formal dinner suit was similar to what he'd once worn to the prom - black dinner jacket, light blue dress shirt with blue tie, dress shoes - and it seemed that dress ties had gone out of fashion in M4P2. The eyes drifting his way were often full of curiosity. Sometimes disbelief. I suppose I look like I'm dressed up for Halloween.

    Or it could have been Angel, he supposed.

    Angel was not the dress type. But she could still pull it off, and this was something he'd ordered to commemorate their getting back together, just in case they had a chance for a dinner like tonight's. It hadn't even caught up to them until they were in the Gl'mulli negotiations. The color was dark blue with light blue trim. It was a shoulderless dress that fit around her like a tube top, revealing her muscled shoulders and arms completely. It flowed down to her knees, with splits on each side that revealed her muscled, shapely legs with every step. He'd taken the time to re-comb; Angel had her hair pulled back into a ponytail. She'd applied some cosmetics, not normally her thing; blue eyeshadow and reddened cheeks.

    "This looks pretty expensive," Angel said as they went down the stairs to the restaurant Udina had recommended. Ahead of them another Human was standing arm-in-arm with an Asari, both dressed up. "Are you sure you can afford it?"

    "I looked over the menu prices and checked the going exchange rate for Alliance credits to M4P2 Galactic." He smirked. "I might have to sell a kidney after we're done, but I'll manage."

    Angel laughed at him. "You know, we could have settled for something cheaper."

    "Maybe." He took her hand. "But I think you deserve better. I… gave you a good scare, and a lot of it was from my bone-headed need to play the hero all the time."

    "Mmm. Let's see how dinner goes, and I might forgive you."

    They were next. The maitre d' actually had something like a French accent. "Captain Dale of the Aurora, plus one," Robert said. "Ambassador Udina recommended you."

    "The Ambassador is most gracious. Please, this way."

    They walked into the restaurant proper. Angel glanced down and noticed that they weren't just walking on a glass floor, but on what looked to be a fish tank set into the floor.

    They made it to the table. A well-dressed waitress came up and offered them menus before moving on. "Are you up for calamari?", Robert asked.

    Angel made a face. "Ew. No. I don't eat squid."

    "Well, thankfully they have a good selection, from the look of things. I guess we could start with an appetizer."

    "I never got the point of those. It just makes you less hungry for your meal."

    "I'll let Hargert know that the next time he serves up some of those treats before dinner."

    Angel made a face at him before smirking. "You've outdone yourself tonight. But I don't date you for your taste in fine dining."

    "What do you date me for? I mean, why did you decide you wanted to try again? Besides the 'we might die tomorrow' thing?"

    A mischievous, seductive little smirk crossed her face. "You mean beyond the obvious?"

    Robert blushed and smiled. "If by 'obvious' you mean things having to do with our bedroom, then yes."

    "Well…" She reached across the table and took his hands. "You're nice. I mean, you make friends, and you're kind to people, and you treat Cat like she's your little sister too. The only other times I've tried to date, guys resented how close Cat and I were. You never have."

    A small pang of guilt over some thoughts he'd had at times, jealous thoughts about where he ranked compared to Cat, didn't stop him from nodding. "What can I say? She reminds me of Susannah. A lot." Robert sighed. "I mean, they're not exactly alike, but…"

    "It's okay." Angel smiled at him. "I know what you meant."

    "I just hope she's enjoying her shore leave too."

    Angel gave him a look. The muscles in her arms tensed. "You and Julie let her come down here?"

    "She's staying in the Presidium. It's the safest place in the Citadel. And she knows not to stray and to contact us if there are any problems."

    Angel relaxed visibly. "Alright. Yeah, I suppose that is the safest area."

    "With all of the statues and aliens and such, I'm sure she's having the time of her life," Robert assured Angel.




    Caterina could hardly contain her glee while running along the lakeside walkways in the Presidium. That alone got her some attention from the locals; her purple "GEEK PRINCESS" shirt and pink skirt gave her a further exotic appearance compared to the 22nd Century fashions worn by the other Humans.

    "This place is amazing!", she proclaimed to herself. The lower gravity of .3Gs meant that skipping along quickly was hardly a problem. She could cover distance quite quickly when she moved to a new location. Whenever she saw a new alien species she quickly consulted her multi-device. So far she'd seen her first Turian, her first Salarian, a Volus, an Elcor, and a couple of Hanar. The Hanar were especially interesting, even if all they wanted to was to talk religion or whatever it was.

    Caterina came up toward the first of the lifts that went to the Citadel Tower. She didn't go that way though; she spotted something even more interesting. She went up to what looked like a model of a Mass Relay. The plaque claimed it was a Prothean trophy of sorts to celebrate their creation of the Mass Relays. She took a quick scan of it before moving on.

    She crossed to the other side of the Presidium and continued along the walkway. On her left Caterina noticed a large statue towering up over the side of the Presidium lake. She got closer and looked over the dark material of the statue. "Krogan Memorial," she read. "Krogan? I wonder if they're really that big." She consulted her multidevice, which showed her archival footage of big lizard men in armor charging through things and shooting guns. "Yikes!" MP42 has some great aliens, but scary ones too.

    After getting a really good look at the statue Caterina continued with her exploration. Ahead of her was an entrance to what looked like another shop or office. But the markings were different than any others she had seen. With her curiosity piqued, Caterina walked into the entrance. An Asari woman was behind a panel, conversing with a Salarian who departed a moment later. He seemed happy and content - at least Cat thought he did - to the point he virtually failed to notice her.

    "Hello." The Asari woman looked at Caterina. Her skin was more purple than blue, and she had violet face markings. Her suit looked like it was made to tease, with no material covering the belly or shoulders and other various gaps to show skin, but with more risque bits still completely covered. The Asari looked over Caterina for a moment. "That's an interesting set of clothing."

    "Um, yeah," Cat said. She blushed a little. "I sort of stand out, more than I thought I would. Uh… what is this place?"

    "You've come to the Consort Sha'ira," the Asari answered. "I am Lantaea, the receptionist today."

    "The Consort?" Caterina's blush deepened. She suddenly had a very good idea of what this place was. "Oh… uh… I see… I…"

    Lantaea laughed softly. "You're not the first Human to think that of the Consort. This is not a brothel. The Consort and her followers provide all sorts of companionship to those who come here. A shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen. Many come here to lay down their burdens and make their lives better."

    "So… you're like psychiatrists?", Cat asked.

    "We do not give therapy in that fashion. Our purpose is not to help with mental illness but to give comfort."

    "Oh. I… I see." Cat's blush didn't go away, but it did fade. "I'm terribly sorry for interrupting. How much is it to see the Consort then?"

    "Payments can vary. Comfort should not be out of price for any being," Lantaea answered. "The real limitation is time. I'm afraid the Consort's schedule is filled for the next several months."

    "Oh. Well, that's fine, I… won't be here. My ship leaves as soon as the talks are done, so..."

    "Oh. You must be from the universe-traveling ship that just arrived." Lantaea smiled at her. "Oh, that sounds so exciting. If I weren't entering my matron stage, well, I'd love to get to travel to other universes and see all of the other species that exist out there."

    "I know," Cat agreed ecstatically. "I feel the same way about exploring. I just love seeing new things. And all of the different species, there are so many in some of the other universes!"

    A voice called out from down the hall to Lantaea's right. "Lantaea?"

    Lantaea looked in that direction. "Yes, Consort?"

    "Ask our young visitor if she would like to speak to me. If so, send her back right away."

    "Oh. Of course." Lantaea looked at Caterina. "You don't know how lucky you are. I really encourage you to try."

    Caterina smiled and nodded. "Of course I will."

    "Go beyond the waiting seats and to your right, Sha'ira is back there."

    Caterina was bursting with curiosity as she began to walk through the greeting area. Other Asari were seated with members of various species, talking gently and holding hands or rubbing shoulders gently. Caterina only gave them a cursory glance while walking ahead and making the turn into the Consort's room. The Consort was waiting for her on one of the couches. She patted the seat beside her. "Come, sit down young lady."

    Caterina did so. The Consort looked at her and smiled. "Such an interesting choice of clothing. You stand out in the crowd of people. And your curiosity rivals any Asari maiden's."

    "I just… I've always loved science," Cat said. "And finding new things. That's what science is about… at least to me, I mean."

    "Yes. I can see that." Sha'ira offered her hand and Cat took it gingerly. "You seem reluctant."

    "Me? Oh, I just…" Cat blushed.

    "It's quite fine." Sha'ira shook her head. "I am not offended. And I understand."

    "Why did you want to see me?", Caterina asked. "I mean, you're so busy and all of that."

    "You are not the only one with curiosity." Sha'ira's blue eyes glinted in the light of the room. "To start, what is your name?"

    "Me? I'm Caterina. Caterina Delgado." Almost as an afterthought, she added, "Lieutenant Caterina Delgado, I mean. I'm the Science Officer on the Alliance Starship Aurora. United Alliance of Systems, I mean, not Systems Alliance. I'm sure that's confusing."

    "How fitting," Sha'ira said. "Please, tell me more…"




    It had taken the better part of an hour to secure a skycar taxi due to demand, but eventually they had one. Lucy found the controls simple enough after a few moments' examination. With the skycar they were able to go toward the furthest end of the Zakera Ward in a flight of several minutes. The area looked like it was on the edge of an industrial and warehouse district with more housing toward the center of the station. The non-descript blue building had markings tagged on it with alien languages. Lucy's multi-device scanned the graffiti and translated it; it consisted of a host of bigoted slurs and such filth. The actual proper markings identified it as the Pilgrims' Shelter.

    Lan stepped ahead of them and pressed a key on the door. "Viya, it's Lan. They're friendly. You can open the door."

    There was no response.

    Lan sighed. "Keelah. Viya, I'm not being coerced. If I were being coerced, I wouldn't mention that time you nearly caused a…"

    The door opened. Another Quarian moved into the doorway. This one had a violet-tinted face plate and what looked like a red headscarf that matched the primary color of her suit. "Lan, you bosh'tet. You went into that tech shop again, didn't you?"

    Lan coughed. "Well…"

    "I told you, that Turian is bad news." The Quarian girl, presumably Viya, looked at Meridina and Lucy. "And you brought Humans here? It's not like we can host them for dinner, Lan!"

    "They saved me," Lan said. "They're from the Alliance of the other universes, Viya!"

    "And I'm next in line for the Admiralty Board," Viya retorted.

    "We mean you no harm," Meridina said. "We wished to see Lan back safely due to his injuries. If you wish, we will depart."

    "That won't be necessary," another voice called out from within the building. A female Turian in what looked like red-hued combat armor stepped into view. Her complexion was light gray, with sky blue eyes, and Lucy noticed a pistol on her hip. "If they wanted to cause trouble, Viya, they would have started already."

    Viya sighed. "Fine. Come on, Lan. We need to get you patched up and make sure your suit wasn't damaged."

    Lan followed Viya around the corner. "Please step in," the female Turian said. "I don't want to leave this door open longer than I have to."

    Lucy and Meridina sensed the tension and obeyed immediately. The door sealed behind them. "I am Meridina, a Knight of Swenya's Order on Gersal," Meridina said as an introduction.

    "Lucy Lucero."

    "I am Oresta Deneri."

    "You seem to be concerned with potential trouble?", Meridina asked.

    Oresta sighed and looked toward a set of large doors nearby, the same that Viya had led Lan into. "There are a lot of people who consider Quarians to be easy marks for whatever vendettas stew in their tiny minds." Her expression softened toward the two. "I am happy to see that I am not the only one who considers Quarians worthy of protection."

    "Yeah, we've gotten the feeling it's not common," Lucy said.

    "Too many people close their minds and listen only to their prejudice." Oresta sighed. "Including the idea that Quarians are all thieves. It doesn't help when some of them act in ways that reinforce that prejudice. Some Quarians steal when they become desperate enough; a few because they're just bad and were exiled from the Migrant Fleet because of it. Mostly it's because they're starving, or because they don't quite realize what private property is. When you live in spaceships your whole life, the concept of privacy and individual belongings can be alien." Oresta shook her head. "And the ones who want honest work usually get turned away. Most of these people are just kids looking to bring home a useful piece of equipment so they can get accepted onto a ship in their Fleet. From what I've seen, they're lucky to make it back at all."

    "Lan explained his people's history to us," Meridina said. "What confuses me is why your Citadel Council did not help them find a world to resettle."

    "Garden worlds don't come cheaply, as you should know," Oresta pointed out. "And the Quarians unleashed a sentient AI race on the galaxy, so a lot of people believe they had it coming. Nobody wants to see a garden world written off as a Quarian world. They argue the resources of a garden world are put to better use by other species."

    "Gee, that sounds familiar," Lucy sighed.

    "I'm surprised that you don't know this already. Humans have already dealt with Quarians, I'm sure."

    "We are not from your galaxy, well, universe," Lucy explained. "We're from the United Alliance of Systems."

    Oresta stared at them. "Really? Because I figured those claims were just made up to cover for the Systems Alliance experimenting with new technology."

    "They are not. We can show you our vessel if you want."

    Lucy nodded. "I'm sure it's on all the local news channels. It usually is when we go somewhere new..."

    "That won't be necessary," Oresta said. "Whether you're just crazies going along with a Human trick or actually from another universe or whatever, what matters to me is that you're willing to help these people."

    "I am always willing to help the innocent," Meridina pledged. "Might we be of further assistance?"

    Lucy had been hoping she wouldn't say something like that, but since the offer was given she wouldn't contradict her instructor. So much for training.

    Oresta seemed to think on it. "Alright. I could use some help. Some of our equipment is down, and I've got a few sick Quarian kids running high fevers after taking suit damage."

    "Lucy, I believe your technical expertise may come in handy here," Meridina stated. "I will tend to the sick."

    So I go from learning more about my power to… being a technician. Hooray. When that won Lucy a sideways look from Meridina, she answered by sticking her tongue out.

    Nevertheless, she joined Meridina in following Oresta.




    Angel decided she enjoyed what she felt to be an overpriced cut of lamb and sparse portions of stir-fried vegetables and beef. The wine had been an expensive, if enjoyable, touch, and she felt just a bit tipsy after she and Robert left the restaurant arm-in-arm.

    It felt strange. But good. This was what two people were supposed to do when in a romantic relationship; actually have romance. No ranks, no briefings, no paperwork. A nice dinner and just talking about things.

    "We have to do this more often," Angel said to Robert.

    "Well… I do have one more kidney I could sell…" He smiled at her. "I'm glad you liked it. We haven't had an honest-to-God date since… what? The prom?"

    "That depends," Angel answered. "Do you count that night we had to eat out at the Burger King on HIghway 15?"

    "Didn't we have Susie and Cat with us?"

    "Yes, but they spent the entire time playing and studying."

    "Hrm. Maybe?"

    They shared a laugh at that. After following the stairs leading up and out of the restaurant they worked their way via walkways to the main level of the Silversun Strip. "Well, there are a few ways to finish the evening," Robert pointed out. "There's an arcade over there, a casino…"

    "...'Armax Arena'?" Angel smirked. "That sounds interesting." She looked at him and smiled. "But not something for a romantic date." She used her left arm to wrap around his shoulders and pull Robert close. Their lips touched into a kiss that grew in intensity. When she was done kissing him, she suggested, "Maybe we should just rent one of those skycars and explore the Citadel."

    "That sounds good to me," Robert answered. "Let's…"

    His multidevice beeped.

    "If that's Julia, you're going to need a new XO soon," Angel growled.

    Robert sighed and pressed the comm key on the unit. "Dale here."

    Much to Robert's relief, it wasn't Julia. "Jarod here. Captain, I need to see you in Science Lab 1. It's urgent."

    Angel shook her head and sighed from frustration. Dammit. One night. That's all I ask. I know we've got responsibilities but all I want is one freaking night.

    Robert noticed how sour Angel was getting and replied, "I'll… be there shortly, Jarod. Dale out."

    Angel was biting into her lip. "I know," she said, already prepared for his likely protest. "I know, okay? I know you have to do this. I know you're the Captain and that things get hectic. I just..." Angel shook her head and sighed with exasperation. "Dammit, Robert, sometimes I wonder why I'm trying this, trying us, again. If I didn't care so much for you, I'd have already given up."

    Robert swallowed. "I know. I'm… I can't tell you how grateful I am that we got to try again. Maybe when things get better we can… well, if it's Jarod calling me…"

    "...then it's obviously really important. 'Safety of the ship' important." Angel nodded. "Right. I understand. It's… it's okay." She forced a smile. "We got to have dinner. At least we got to finish the dinner, right?"

    "Yeah. That's the best part." Robert pressed his multidevice again. "Dale to Transporter Station Two. Two to beam up."

    Angel reached for and took his free hand before the transporter activated.




    Jarod watched Robert and Angel enter and winced. He hadn't realized it was that kind of evening for Robert. He quickly looked back and started bringing up the findings. "What's going on, Jarod?"

    Jarod nodded to Data, who was sitting nearby at another console. "We were checking up on that data compiling program Caterina's been running on the 33LA data when we found something."

    "As in from the Darglan data?"

    "No. I wouldn't have called you back for that." Jarod hit a few keys and brought up a screen of communications data. "Someone's tried hacking into our systems with a VI smart virus."

    That caused Robert to frown. "What? How are they getting past our new firewalls?"

    "They didn't," Jarod assured them. "We have the virus trapped in a specialized drive tied into the computers. It was something I put together after the Cylons got to us, a little false command module to trick automated hacking systems from penetrating the actual systems."

    "I have been analyzing the virus in question," Data explained. "As Commander Jarod already specified, it is a virtual intelligence construct with enhanced data-mining and access siphoning capabilities. It was programmed to implant itself into the ship's library database and glean information through the communications system. This includes all regular updates you receive from Alliance Defense Command."

    Angel held up a hand. "I thought we had a monitoring program or whatever to keep someone from remotely trying something like this?"

    "We do," Jarod answered. "I've been going over it to see how it let this through our systems. But right now this virus is a priority. The last thing we need is for another to be sent that isn't tricked by my data trap."

    "This virus is tapping into our comms, right?", Robert asked. "It's trying to access critical data?"

    "It is," Data confirmed. "I have been analyzing the machine code, the format of the virus VI is unique and not on any records available to myself or to you."

    Angel crossed her arms. "So we show up at the Citadel and by the end of the night, someone is hacking us. Isn't that a coincidence?" The last sentence was said with particularly thick sarcasm. She looked at Jarod. "But you said something was urgent. It's not just this, is it?"

    "No." Jarod shook his head. "The VI is set to send regular updates into the Citadel's extranet transceivers every several hours. If we don't have it send an update soon, whoever sent it will know it's been caught."

    "And their next try may not be so easily discovered. Right." Robert nodded. "Feed it data that's not essential to Alliance security. Maybe that will tell us what they're looking for."

    "How about the day's declassified war updates?", Jarod recommended. "Battle reports, casualty lists, and basic strategic analysis findings. Nothing anyone won't find on our public sites anyway."

    "I like it." Robert leaned a little against the work station beside Jarod, looking intently at the screen. "Put it up."

    "Sending data now. I'll also include our paperwork for the last shift for good measure and a few other bits of minor data."

    "Go ahead and throw in the basic version of our report on the day's discussions," Robert added.

    "Right. Doing so now. I'm transferring the day to the command module."

    "And I will create a command path for the VI to access the Aurora's short-range communications array," Data added.

    "Keep me updated." Robert looked apologetically to Angel. "Walk you to your quarters?"

    Angel nodded. "Sure. The way things sound, you could end up having a busy night anyway. You'll just have to make it up to me sometime."




    Zack spent that evening's conference with Pakalos and Adama in a state of partial distraction. He made himself follow along enough that he knew what was being said, but beyond that all of his thoughts were about Clara. He was trying to wrap his head around the fact that she'd actually come out here. Homely, sweet Clara had left home and come into space. For him?

    "...offloading will still take another day, even with the transporters," Adama was saying. He gave Zack a look. "Commander, how many of your crew could you spare for helping to offload the convoy?"

    Zack almost missed the question. He thought for several moments longer than it should have taken him - if he'd been concentrating anyway - before answering, "Maybe a dozen or so crew, if we're not active with anything else. I can give you half of my crew if the Koenig can go into operational standby. Powered down systems, that kind of thing."

    "An extra dozen or so personnel would help," Pakalos observed. "With the Xinal present you can afford to go into standby."

    Zack nodded at that, although he couldn't quite hide his irritation at it. This would put more workload on his crew while they were still at least two to three months away from returning to Alliance space at the Refugee Fleet's current pace. While the Fleet had accepted his people well enough, materials rationing and the sheer lack of space limited the recreation that liberty could grant, even on trips to Cloud 9. "I'll inform my XO when we're out of the meeting. I can give you twenty-six officers and crew."

    "Have them report to Commander Druma, my Executive Officer," the Dorei woman instructed. They can join the work crews in fourteen standard hours?"

    "Sounds right."

    "Then I believe that is all the business we had to discuss?" Pakalos nodded to Admiral Adama. "By your leave, Admiral?"

    "This meeting is dismissed," Adama agreed.

    Fisk grumbled something under his breath and was the first one out. Pakalos didn't bother departing that way. She pressed the comm-bracelet on her left wrist and the Xinal's transporters whisked her away in a swirl of purple light.

    Zack stood from the table and started walking to the door. Before he could get to it Adama called out to him. He turned. "Yes, Admiral?"

    "Please, take a seat." Adama gestured to one of the empty chairs. By the time Zack took it Adama was sitting beside him. "So, what's your distraction?"

    "Hrm?"

    "I've been around long enough to recognize that look on a man's face," Adama stated.

    Zack thought about not saying anything. About just excusing it as deep thoughts and continuing on. But he stopped himself. He knew Adama meant well. "One of the volunteer nurses the convoy brought out to us is a girl, I mean, a woman I know, Clara Davis. She's from my world. I went to school with her."

    Adama replied with a nod of understanding. "And you didn't expect to see her out here?"

    "No. Never. She was always attached to our hometown." Zack shook his head. "It's me. She came out here because of me. She didn't know I was on station here, but it's why she came into space."

    There was no immediate response from the older man. "I see." Adama sat back in his chair. "You and this girl were close?"

    "Closer than I used to think," Zack admitted. "When we were young I pushed her away. I didn't think it would work out and I didn't want her heart to be broken. I… well, when I was that age, I was a heartbreaker. Always looking for girls."

    Adama nodded. "Some of us are at that age."

    "But now she's here." Zack sighed. "And a part of me is telling me that we could try to be something. And another part of me is reminding me why I walked away in the first place. I don't want to hurt her. I don't want her to be yet another broken heart I've left behind." Zack took in a breath. "Frankly, Admiral Adama, I don't deserve her."

    Adama had been listening silently while quaffing at his mug. When Zack was finished talking he nodded. "It's a tough decision." He crossed his arms. "Do you want my advice, Commander?"

    "Sure."

    "You're young. And when you're young, you think you've got time." Adama put his hands together in his lap. "You think you have all of the time in the world. But slowly, day by day, that time runs out. Suddenly you're older. And you realize that not only have you run low on time, but you never had that much to begin with." Adama leaned forward. "Especially in our line of work, Commander."

    Adama's words had Zack thinking. Thinking, among other things, about his father. About how time had run out there, just as it seemed things were working out.

    "And if I may be blunt, Commander… it's not your place to decide who Miss Davis deserves. That's her choice, not yours."

    There was no immediate response from Zack. He brought himself to nod after a few moments. "Yes. I guess you're right."

    Adama nodded. "Good. I'll talk to you later, Commander." He stood from the chair and walked out, leaving Zack alone with his thoughts.

    Zack came to a decision. He stood from the chair and left as well, heading toward the interior spaces of the Galactica.




    Lucy decided there was something worse than trying to fix a broken down food paste processor that looked like it had been built out of spare parts, spit, and a bit of hope.

    Namely, doing that on behalf of what seemed to be a species of mechanics.

    Viya, the female Quarian who had been at the door, was hovering over her left shoulder. "No, look, the capacitor is…"

    "...completely fried," Lucy sighed.

    "But that was a high capacity unit!", another Quarian male protested. "Are you sure that it's not a fault in the wiring?"

    "Reasonably sure." Lucy sighed and glanced at her multidevice's holo-display. "Yes, you have quite a few faulty wires in here too. But the capacitor was overloaded by whomever used it last."

    "I was only getting a meal!", a third Quarian, a girl with an even younger-sounding voice than Viya, protested.

    "Keelah, Dira, it's not like we're blaming you," came yet another voice.

    Lucy growled in frustration and closed her eyes. Find your center. Find your center. No, you do not want to smack one of them across the head. Ugh, why did I end up playing mechanic for a group of mechanics? "There's a saying among Humans," she finally uttered. "'Too many cooks in the kitchen spoils the meal'."

    "Really?" That was the first male who promoted the idea of bad wiring. "I thought Humans always cooked in groups? I remember working for a restaurant in the Tayseri Ward…"

    Lucy shook her head. "It's a figure of speech. An analogy. What I'm saying is... having everyone standing around me throwing out suggestions isn't going to get this thing fixed any faster."

    "Please hurry, I'm hungry," yet another of the Quarians protested.

    Most of the others backed off. Viya knelt down beside her. "The capacitor shouldn't have fried like that. It was rated to twice the power draw that this processor uses."

    "Isn't that a bit inefficient?", Lucy asked her while opening another part of the device's frame.

    "We make do with what we can. Oresta isn't made of money."

    "Where does she get her funds?"

    "Well, we pitch in whenever one of us manages work," Viya answered. "And there are a few other shopkeepers or merchants who sympathize and give small donations. I hear C-Sec provides old material sometimes, she was in C-Sec once and they like having somewhere for Quarians to go. It reduces… trouble."

    Lucy frowned. "Your people shouldn't be treated like this. It's wrong."

    "It can't be helped. Many species still blame us for the Geth. It doesn't help that we exile our criminals, so many of the Quarians other aliens meet are our worst. Or people like me. In the Fleet, equipment is not owned by people. Anyone can use a tool as long as they put it back when they're done."

    "Oresta said something like that," Lucy noted. She used a screwdriver to pry open the last part of the frame. The distinct smell of smoke from an electrical fire wafted into her nostrils. She looked at the blackened interior and sighed. "There's your problem. That capacitor was faulty, it looks like it drew in too much energy and overloaded the device."

    "Bosh'tet scavengers," Viya swore. "They must have known." The Quarian looked it over and sighed. "I was afraid of this. This unit is completely destroyed."

    "Where can you get another one?"

    "I can see if Oresta can afford it. But she just spent most of her budget on parts for our suits. And not all of the top suppliers will sell to us anyway." Viya activated her omnitool. It flickered as the hard-light projections finished powering up.

    "I'll love it if we ever upgrade to those," Lucy said. She held up her arm and tapped her multidevice. "These things are ultralight materials, but they still have a bit of bulk to them."

    "Stay away from these models then. My original omnitool was fried out by a virus some bosh'tet loaded into our extranet site. This replacement barely functions." Viya tapped at the keys on it. "Maybe we can repair the unit? I might be able to get replacement parts…"

    "You'll be replacing so many that it'll be just as costly, and you'll probably get plenty of bad parts in there." Lucy thought it over and sighed. "To hell with it." She tapped the commkey on her multidevice. "Lucero to Aurora. Patch me through to Lieutenant Jupap."

    After a moment the Alakin operation officer's voice chirped over the line. "Jupap here, Lieutenant Lucero. What can I do for you?"

    "Tell Chief Lostri that I'm calling in that favor. I need one of the backup replicator units at my position as soon as possible. I'll sign the requisition, don't worry."

    "I see. I'll speak to the chief immediately and arrange the transport. Jupap out."

    Viya looked at Lucy. Despite the faceplate obscuring all but the two points of light that were her eyes, Lucy could imagine the quizzical expression that had to be on the Quarian girl's face. "What are you doing?"

    "I'm giving you a replicator," Lucy answered. "It'll use your raw biomass feed for the dispenser, and with better efficiency. And it's a design that won't fail for a long time."

    "You… you're just giving us a piece of your technology?" Viya was stunned. "You're allowed to do that? You won't run into any problems with license holders?"

    "I am the license holder," Lucy declared. "Well, me and Jarod and Tom Barnes. Point is, if I want to let you use one so you can all actually eat, that's my choice, and I'm sure Jarod and Robert - Captain Dale, I mean - will back me."

    "As am I." Meridina walked up to them. "Lucy. I see you are doing well?"

    Viya backed away from them respectfully; Meridina in turn led Lucy into the far corner. "I didn't expect to be playing mechanic when we came down," Lucy admitted. "How did it go for you?"

    "Their sick will recover." Meridina smiled thinly. "I am happy to help where I can. And these people do need it. Do you not feel how the Flow is here?"

    Lucy hadn't been thinking of that. She thought on it and felt for that swell of living energy she'd felt earlier. It was there, but here it seemed… weaker. The warmth wasn't as great, the light not as intense. "What's wrong?"

    "You didn't feel the Flow when we were alongside the Refugee Fleet," Meridina pointed out. "I had not trained you to feel it yet, true, but even if you had known, it would still have lacked the brilliance of what I showed you earlier. This is why. The Flow of Life comes from Life itself, but Life has Light and it has Dark. As you know."

    Lucy thought back to her anger at the Turian beating Lan. And even further back, when her panic and fear drove that cold within her that zapped lightning into the Changeling at 33LA. "Yeah. I know."

    "In this area of the Citadel, there is despair and frustration and fear. And, yes, hate." Meridina shook her head. "These are the source of the darkness that can enter a heart. The Flow of Life reflects this; the Flow is colder, less vibrant."

    "Yeah." Lucy looked out at the Quarians in the shelter. Some were lying down, others were in corners talking. She could sense those kinds of emotions in them. The desire to go home, to return to what they knew, the fear they'd never go back and the despair that caused. Lingering animosity, even hatred, for the other species that treated them like this. "And then it reinforces itself. A self-reinforcing loop that creates misery and suffering. It makes people do evil things."

    Meridina nodded. "This is why Swenya created her Code. She recognized this pernicious cycle and knew that the only way to break it was to strengthen the Light. This is why we are called swevyra'se. The suffix is based on Old Gersallian, an addition to words to signify fortification and improvement. By following the Code, we strengthen not only our swevyra, but the swevyra of all, by using our Light to break the cycle of Darkness and to make the Flow of Life vibrant."

    "Why was it so vibrant back in the commercial district, though? I mean, some of those people had to be feeling dark things."

    "Yes. But not all. Many beings may not be always feeling things that are Light, but nor are they in Darkness. And Life inherently gravitates toward Light in that case. Darkness in the Flow comes when many in the same area are caught in it."

    "Wow. This is pretty heavy stuff, isn't it?"

    "I believe so, yes."

    Before the discussion could continue there was a tone from Lucy's multidevice. She tapped the commkey. "Lucero here."

    "Lieutenant, we have your replicator unit ready. But I'm afraid we can't beam it to you. There's some form of mass energy field over your location."

    "Really?" Lucy looked at Meridina. "Where is Oresta?"

    "I believe she was taking a late dinner."

    "Standby, Aurora. I'll signal you when it's time."

    Meridina led Lucy out of the main room of the shelter and into the side halls. They went up a flight of stairs, passed by spare rooms occupied by more Quarians, and entered another mess hall. Oresta was alone eating. She looked up at them. "I would invite you to eat, but I don't have levo-compatible food here," she explained.

    "I understand." Meridina nodded. "Lucy has something to speak to you about."

    "Your food processor is fried beyond repair," Lucy explained. "I can get you a replicator unit to replace it, but you've got some kind of shield over the building."

    "Yes." Oresta set her utensil down. "I maintain a kinetic barrier over the building when I'm preparing to rest for the evening. It's not very powerful, but it keeps intruders out and prevents people from putting rounds through our walls." Oresta sighed. "Honestly, it's the only reason I get any sleep at all."

    "Can't you lower it?", Lucy asked. "If just for a few moments?"

    "I can't risk it," Oresta said. "The barrier's old and temperamental. Once it's been shut down, it takes an hour or longer for it to be ready to go back up. And that's on a good day."

    "So we're stuck in here?"

    "No. The barrier is one-way. You can walk out whenever you're ready," Oresta said. She put her hands together. "You just can't come back in."

    "But your food processor is down," Lucy pointed out. "The Quarians won't have anything to eat until I can get that replicator going."

    Oresta shook her head. "They'll survive the night. If you're that concerned, though, I'll be lowering the barrier in about eight to ten hours."

    Lucy frowned in frustration. Meridina set a hand on her shoulder. "It is an understandable limitation."

    "What if I can get your kinetic barrier back up and running immediately?", Lucy proposed. "Or find some other way to get around it? Would that work?"

    The Turian woman looked intently at Lucy. "You are not going to let this go, are you Lucero?"

    "I don't think they should have to go hungry," Lucy insisted. "Not if I can do anything to get this done."

    The two remained locked in a mutual gaze. Meridina was quite impressed with Lucy's will on the matter; certainly she was confident she could make this work.

    Finally Oresta sighed. "I'll tell you what. Go look over the barrier. Bring Viya with you, she helps me maintain it. Let me know what you find. If you can find a way to turn it off and back on without frying my system, I'll let you do it."

    Lucy answered with a smile. "Thank you."

    "Don't thank me until it works," Oresta insisted.

    The answer was a nod. Lucy turned away, intent to go get Viya and find a way to make this work.
     
    • 1-15-4
    • As he had expected, Robert got the call from Jarod right as he was ready to settle into bed. And so he had wearily put his uniform back on and trudged back to Science Lab 1 where Jarod and Data were looking over a display. Julia arrived a moment after he did. "Alright, what do we have?", Robert asked.

    "The virus went through all of the data we fed it," Jarod said. "It gleaned most of it and then transmitted into the extranet."

    "We attempted to track the data flow." Data shook his head. "However, the network architecture of the local galactic datanet presented too many issues with accurate tracking. We lost our trace of the data after several node changes, including networking into the Turian Hierarchy's military network."

    "So this is the Turians' doing?", Julia asked.

    "Perhaps. But it is just as likely that whoever planted the virus was tracking through their systems as a decoy," the android pointed out.

    "So we're back to square one." Robert sighed.

    "Not quite," Jarod said. "We analyzed the virus VI's approach to the data. It was trying to look like it was grabbing everything, but there were clear traces of a pre-programmed emphasis on certain data."

    "That being..?"

    "Reports from Universe S4W8," Data replied. "And all available material on the Alliance's war efforts, diplomatic initiatives, and current strategic position."

    "Someone wants to know how good or bad the war is going for us," Robert observed wryly. "And I'm betting I know who it is."

    "You think the Citadel Council is spying on us?", Julia asked.

    "The more they know about our needs, the more they can squeeze out of us," Robert pointed out. "From what I've heard and Udina said, the most likely suspects are the Salarians."

    "That is possible," Data agreed. "I would need a long period of study to compare Salarian coding language and practices to the VI virus."

    Julia shook her head. "They wouldn't make it that easy, If they're being sneaky, I mean, I think they'd try to implicate someone else's coding style."

    "Possibly the System Alliance's," Robert agreed. "They seemed awfully concerned about our relations with them."

    "In the meantime, we should probably shore up the computer defenses and prepare to let that drone go."

    Robert almost concurred with Julia's suggestion. But he began to think about the consequences to the mission. The Salarians, or whomever, would undoubtedly try again, and might not be so easily found the next time. Additionally, it was clear that the data they took was intended to play hardball.

    He smiled a little at his thought. "Actually, Julia, I have a better idea. Don't destroy it. Not yet."

    Julia looked at him. "Oh?"

    "Yes." He looked to Jarod and Data. "This thing wants to find out how the war's going. Let's give them a good idea of it. Let's bring their worst nightmare to life."

    Jarod eyed him for a moment before smiling widely. "Oh. I see."

    "You want us to plant information that would lead the Council to a favorable decision," Data said.

    "Not plant so much as… forecast." Robert leaned over them. "Let's start with a report from Defense Command on the counter-attacks near Grodni III…"




    Cloud 9 was late in its night cycle. Late enough that the only remaining eatery open was the ship's bar, where the bartender was closing up for the night while the other workers swept up. Only a few people remained for late dinners.

    And only one table near the bar had two occupants.

    Clara had taken a few minutes to swap into a sleeveless green blouse with blue highlights and a matching knee-length skirt. She'd applied some eye shadow and lipstick on the way in. Zack, for his part, had quickly transported back to Koenig and used precious replicator rations to get a button down shirt, red primarily, and matching pants.

    Now, slightly-unfinished meals sat between them, along with a glasses of port wine. Zack looked self-consciously at the wine and felt thankful Opani had stocked some detoxicants from Aurora before they left. Wine wasn't as bad as harder stuff, but the last thing he wanted was to dip back toward the bottle.

    Clara had never taken the smile off her face from the start of the meal. "Thank you," she said.

    "Hrm?"

    "For tonight. For this." Clara gestured to the table. "I had the feeling earlier that you weren't happy to see me. I thought that maybe you had talked to Julia and she'd, well, reciprocated I guess."

    Zack shook his head. "No. No, she did not reciprocate when I told her." He sighed. "After all of these years, I got my answer."

    "i'm… sorry," she managed in reply. "I suppose… it's best that you got your answer, at least?"

    "I guess."

    "So if you and her aren't…" Clara stopped. "You didn't seem happy to see me today, that's all I'm wondering."

    "I was more stunned than anything," Zack admitted. "And… well, I honestly felt this strange mix of flattered and, I don't know, sadness I guess. That you uprooted your life because you wanted to follow me into space."

    "I don't regret it, Zack," Clara insisted. "It's so wonderful out here."

    "It is," Zack admitted. "That's not... " He sighed and tried to find the right words. "I've always felt, Clara, that you deserved better than me."

    Clara giggled at that. "Really? I deserve better? What do you think is better than you? Look at yourself, Zack. You're not the sports star heartbreaker of the county anymore. You're commanding a starship, you're doing responsible things… you're a hero now, you know that right?"

    "So I've been told by a few people."

    "Back on New Liberty, you and Julie Andreys and Rob Dale and the others… they respect you more than anything. And all of the people in this Fleet can't say anything bad about you. They talk about you saving one of their ships from being blown up and helping to rescue the last survivors from their homeworld."

    Zack nodded. They don't talk about things like 33LA, do they? "I see your point."

    "So, I want you to understand one thing perfectly, Zachary Carrey." Clara reached forward and took his hands with her's. "You deserve to be happy. And…" She swallowed nervously. "...if you want to…"

    Zack felt himself swallow. It was almost surprising how fast things were now moving, and they made it even harder for him to even consider saying no. "That's… wow. I…" He searched for the right words to say. "I know it hurt you back in school when I…"

    She shook her head. "That was back in school. And we were different."

    "I'll say." Zack looked into her blue eyes; twin pools of brilliance that seemed to reflect the assertive and gentle woman Clara had grown into being. They had a confidence to them she had lacked all of those years ago. He realized how much he enjoyed that. How much he enjoyed having her around. Someone who he could be himself with and not have the baggage of everything that had happened over the past few years.

    The night wouldn't end with the late dinner after all.




    Lucy felt there was only one possible explanation for what she had before her.

    Universe M4P2 technology actively hated her.

    The kinetic barrier generator that Oresta maintained was as bad as the dead food processor. Cobbled together, barely functioning, and looking ready to shut down for good if it was glared at the wrong way… and Lucy was very much glaring at it.

    "Ancestors, it is a miracle that this piece of junk still works," Viya said.

    "I'll say. And getting you a forcefield generator is an entirely different beast than a replicator. That's defense technology."

    "So what do we do?", Viya asked. "Nobody's going to starve to death. But there's at least ten of our people who didn't have anything to eat."

    Lucy grunted with frustration and sat back from the side of the barrier generator. "Well, I can't tell Oresta we can make this work. She's right; if this thing gets turned off and turned right back on, it'll blow a fuse at the very least."

    "Is there an alternative?", the young Quarian asked.

    Lucy thought about it. The problem was that there were too many failure points. The kind of work to get around them wouldn't be done for hours. Almost to the point when it would be time to turn it off anyway. It'd be for nothing.

    "I would need equipment from the Aurora," Lucy said. "And that would mean needing to get back within the field."

    "Well, maybe you can get your tools transported down as well?", Viya asked. "And then we could fix the barrier. How long would it take?"

    Lucy looked over the parts. She'd need to replace the main power supply, the capacitors, or install shunts to help absorb the power draw. "Fifteen minutes if I'm fast."

    "Then we can do it in ten," Viya said.

    "Oresta will probably tell us to wait until the morning anyway. She seems pretty worried that people will attack your shelter."

    "She's probably right. The local Eclipse band tried to make her pay protection once. She called C-Sec and they arrested one of the Eclipse leaders on the Citadel." Viya shuddered.

    "Eclipse being a gang of some sort?", Lucy asked.

    "Mercenaries, gangs, it's the same thing," Viya replied with anger. "They pick on everyone. And they were angry with us for getting their boss arrested. One night they came and tried to kill us all. Oresta and a few of the others managed to hold them off until C-Sec arrived, but it was too close. One of my friends nearly died from getting a wound and suit puncture. That's why Oresta bought this piece of garbage in the first place."

    "We probably don't want them on to show up while we're doing this then." Lucy sighed and stood up. "Well, I think that's all we can do. I'll be back in the morning with some parts and that replicator and we'll get everything set up." She stifled a yawn. "And then I'll be off to duty."

    "Thank you for this," Viya said. "You've put a lot of effort into this work for us."

    "It's nothing." Lucy shook her head. "I just hate seeing people treated like this. I saw it back home too. I saw Human beings treating other Human beings like animals."

    "What did you do about it?"

    "I reported it to the authorities." Terrible memories shifted through Lucy's head. "And because of that, the man in charge had me kidnapped and gave me as a plaything to his son to torture for fun." Lucy quivered at the memories of what Patrick Duffy had done to her in that dark room.

    Viya's hand touched her shoulder. "Keelah. That sounds horrible. Thank the ancestors that you got away."

    "My friends rescued me." Lucy sucked in a breath and forced those old memories out. That would never happen to her again. Never. "Working together. And then we all worked together to…"

    She stopped. Could it be that simple?

    "To what?", Viya asked.

    "Of course," Lucy said. "It should… it… the kinetic barrier…!" She sprang to her feet and took Viya's hand. "Let's get your friends. I know how to get that replicator here!"




    Meridina watched with quiet joy as Lucy finished her work with the others. "Does everyone have their omnitools ready?" A chorus of affirmatives answered her. Lucy tapped her commkey. "Lucero to Transporter Station 4. Do you still have my order ready?"

    "We do, sir. But that field's still keeping us from beaming it."

    "Increase the subspace tunnel's power to twenty percent above normal. That should handle the distortion from the kinetic barrier."

    "Doing so now… but I still can't get a proper lock."

    "Let me handle that." She looked to the others. "Listen, in order to complete the transport, our ship's system needs a solid signal or target lock, and the kinetic barrier makes that very hard. By linking all of your omnitools together and connecting them to my multidevice, we can create a solid signal for them to lock onto. Is everyone ready?"

    The Quarians began operating their tools en masse. Lucy's multidevice confirmed the growing networked connection. Once they were all linked she called back. "What about now?"

    "Trying now… it's working. I've got a lock."

    "Send it down."

    White light appeared at a corner of the room. Lucy noticed it wasn't as smooth as usual - the kinetic barrier's mass effect field was clearly distorting the subspace tunnel - but with the power behind it the tunnel could be sustained long enough for the matter to shift through.

    One perfectly functional replicator unit now sat on the ground.

    "We got it. Thank you, Transporter Station," Lucy said energetically. "Lucero out."

    The Quarians milled around the device, but all were ready to accept Lucy's direction on installation. She took charge and made sure everything was installed as it should be. It was marvelous to see how well the Quarians learned the new technology and what it showed about their technical prowess. Lucy hoped that knowledge would do them well; some might even be able to gift what they learned to their Fleet in order to go home.

    Soon enough, the first plates of dextro-amino food product were appearing. The residents of the shelter cheered the sight; the hungry among them were quick to take advantage of the new source of food. "Mmm. This is better than the nutrient paste," Lan'Durah insisted. "It almost tastes like real food!"

    Lucy giggled at that. "I never thought I'd hear someone say that about…" She stopped to yawn. "...replicated food."

    "Thank you so much!", a Quarian girl cried out. "I was ready to start eating the inside of my suit, I was so hungry!"

    Lucy accepted the handshakes and nods and applause on her way to Meridina's side. She yawned again when she got there. "I need some sleep," Lucy admitted.

    "Yes." Meridina's face beamed with pride. "You did well, Lucy. Do you feel it?"

    Lucy stopped for a moment and felt for the energy around her. "It's… brighter. Warmer." She smiled.

    Meridina matched that smile. "Yes. Thanks to your actions, these people are feeling joy. The Light is brighter within them now."

    "Just by giving them food."

    "No. Not just that." Meridina set a hand on Lucy's shoulder. "By giving them hope. You have reminded them that there are people in the world who follow the Light and will not show hatred to them. You have strengthened the Flow of Life." Meridina's eyes sparkled with happiness. "This is what it means to be swevyra'se, student."

    Lucy nodded. The smile was still on her face.

    "We should return to the Aurora. Preferably before you fall asleep where you stand." Meridina's eyes betrayed the hint of mirth within. "Let us say our goodbyes and depart."




    There was a great deal of satisfaction for Robert when he returned to bed. All's fair in espionage, I guess, he thought to himself as he laid down. He was tired enough to go to sleep rather quickly.

    He soon wished he hadn't.

    The dream started. He was back in the Citadel Council's chamber. Flames licked everywhere. The Turian with blue eyes and cybernetic enhancements was standing there. "Those who serve will survive," he said. "If you continue to resist, we'll all die."

    "Serve what?", Robert called out.

    Everything went dark. A reddish tint filled the air. And then there was a thunderous sound, like a horn blown through a sound synthesizer, mechanical and utterly alien.

    He looked up to see a four-legged thing - a creature, a machine, he wasn't sure - stomping over him. They were in the Wards of the Citadel. Flames flickered everywhere, consuming bodies. Creatures, species, he'd never recognized abounded around him. Every few moments they seemed to change, becoming different, as if new sets of beings were replacing the other ones. On and on, even as that horrible sound echoed again, an unending cycle of death.

    There was a loud tone.

    Robert woke up.

    His mind was slow and bleary. He glanced at his chronometer; 0320. Another nightmare. He rubbed at his head and drew in a breath.

    The tone went off again.

    His sleepy mind quickly realized what it was. He reached over to his dresser and hit the key to activate the intercom. "Dale here," he said, groggy.

    "Captain." The voice was that of Lieutenant Prymi. "'We're getting an encoded message relayed through the Systems Alliance communications network. It's from Admiral Maran and is marked 'Extremely Urgent'."

    Robert breathed in a sigh and rubbed his eyes. "Alright." He slipped out of bed. "Relay it to my quarters."

    "Right away, sir."

    Robert walked over to his desk and activated his systems. "Computer, authorize opening of message, personal code Dale Tango Echo Kilo Lima Nine Three."

    The computer beeped compliance. Text and relevant astrographical data popped up on the screen.

    Robert felt his stomach twist as he read what was written within.




    Artificial daylight shined in Zack's eyes when he woke up. That confused him for a moment. The Koenig had no windows, how did…

    Oh.

    He remembered, groggily, that he wasn't in his bunk on Koenig. He was in an actual bed. With sheets and everything. His multidevice was sitting on the nearby dresser, displaying a time that was not too late and promised of at least some time before his crew would wonder where he went off to.

    Zack turned his head the other way and saw the naked shoulders and back of Clara. His right hand reached up and touched her back gently. His finger ran up and down her spine and over her shoulder blades.

    After a couple moments of this there was a giggle. Clara rolled over and on top of him. A happy little noise came from her throat before she gave him a deep kiss that brought every sleepy nerve to full wakefulness. His heart pounded in his chest. "Good morning," he said after the kiss ended.

    "Good morning," she answered. She pressed herself against him and settled her head beside his. Her blue eyes seemed to sparkle in the light coming through the window. "Last night was…"

    "Indescribable," Zack murmured happily.

    "I was going to go for incredible," Clara corrected softly. "But they both work." She kissed him on the cheek. "How do you feel, lover?"

    "I feel…" Zack closed his eyes and thought on it for a moment. And he realized what had happened. What he felt like now, what had been missing. "I feel… like I'm not alone anymore."

    "That's good." Clara's breath was warm on his cheek. "I don't want to scare you, Zack, but I have to say…"

    "Hrm?" He used his right arm, which felt like its blood flow was being slowly interrupted, to pull her closer. As if she could get any closer...

    "...that I think I might be in love."

    Once upon a time, Zack might have been scared of those words. "With me?"

    "Why not?"

    Zack sighed. "I used to be a jerk back in school."

    "Not always," she pointed out. "You still cared for Tom, no matter what anyone else thought of him. You weren't mean to people, maybe a little selfish, but you weren't mean and you even tried to protect me with…" She giggled. "...what happened under the bleachers, and after last night I know you made a claim that was a complete lie."

    Zack blushed at that. "Yeah, I guess. But it worked. Nobody poked fun of you."

    "True." Clara kissed his chin. "You're not that skirt-chasing horndog anymore, Zack," she insisted. "You're grown up. You're responsible. You deserve to be happy."

    Zack felt a tear in his eye at that. "Yeah." He turned his head and put his left hand on Clara's cheek. "And so do you." He swallowed. "And I feel like I'm in love with you too. You've always been someone I could think about as… I mean, someone I had feelings for. And that's why I'm not sure about…" He stopped and thought of what he was about to say. "I have duties now and all, so I'm not sure how often we can be together. I mean… once we arrive in Alliance space, I might be ordered elsewhere."

    "I know," Clara said. She took his left hand with her's. "And I'm okay with that. But right now, we're here, we're together, and we're in love. That's enough for me. Is it enough for you?"

    Zack didn't have to think twice on his answer. Not after so much time being alone, pining for someone he couldn't have, and knowing what that was doing to him on the inside. "It is," he assured Clara. "It's more than enough."

    And with that said, he kissed her as deeply as she had kissed him.




    Robert was getting ready to beam down to the Citadel Embassies when there was a knock on the door. "Come in," he said, pulling his uniform jacket on. He had expected to see Angel or maybe Julia.

    Instead, it was Caterina who stood in the doorway. "Um… hi," she said. She was in her uniform already, with the uniform skirt in place of pants.

    "Cat?" He blinked. "Don't take this the wrong way but… what are you doing here? I thought you were going to Science Lab 1 to help Data and Jarod on that Darglan data?"

    "Oh, I am. But I needed to make sure I got this message to you," she said. "Um, yesterday, when I was down in the Presidium and everything… I met this lady. Asari lady. Her name is Sha'ira and she's called the Consort and I know how that sounds but it wasn't like that and…"

    "Cat, a breath?"

    Cat stopped, as if his command was the only reason to take that necessary breath. "She wants to see you, Rob," Cat said. "It was sort of odd, she knew things about us… and she wants to see you."

    Now that sounds totally suspicious, doesn't it?, Robert mulled to himself. He nodded. "Alright. I'll… well, I'm due at Ambassador Udina's office in ten minutes, Cat, so I don't have time right now. But I'll try to get to her, okay?"

    "Yeah. I understand." Cat nodded. She turned to leave before stopping and looking back. "And I think Angel is, like, twenty percent happier now. She must have really enjoyed last night."

    "Not as much as she might have," Robert sighed. Seeing Cat's bewildered look he blushed. "Not what I meant!", he added hastily. "We only got to have dinner, I mean. Then Jarod called me back."

    "Oh." Cat nodded. "Okay, I get it. I'd better get going now, Jarod was going to make us waffles for breakfast, and he's good at that!" A look came over her face. "Of course, he's good at everything…" She sighed and on that note walked out of the door.




    Robert arrived while Udina and Ledosh were going over something. "They are squeezing you," Udina declared. "These terms are outrageous."

    "Ambassador, Mastrash."

    They looked up and over at him. "Ah, Captain, good morning," Ledosh said.

    "Captain Dale." Udina nodded, but he didn't look entirely pleased. "I wasn't aware you'd been called for. You may not be needed in the Council today, Captain. Especially if the talks fail, as they might given the Council's unacceptable behavior."

    "Last night the Council gave us preliminary items, requirements for their support and what support they would give." Ledosh seemed serene next to Udina's irritation. "They are rather… extortionate."

    "Extortion is a good term for this, Emissary Ledosh," Udina grumbled.

    "What terms?", Robert asked. "Obviously they'd get IU drives."

    "Yes," Udina said. "But the Systems Alliance would be forbidden from using drives on any ships not sent to the front, and Council-appointed officers would be placed on each ship to enforce compliance. And that's not all!"

    Ledosh handed Robert the list. He read it over and sighed. The Council was essentially demanding the Alliance all but submit to Council authority on several matters. Some didn't sound off. One was for limitations on the amount of Alliance ships - especially dreadnoughts - that would be assigned to M4P2. But the other terms were excessive; trade barrier rules favorable to the Council races; the Alliance would be forced to submit any and all diplomatic disputes in M4P2 to Citadel Council arbitration and would be forbidden from pursuing treaties without Council approval; the Citadel would have the power to veto new Alliance colonial settlements and defensive installations; on top of the IU drive technology, the Alliance would be required to immediately provide technology, free of any compensation, in virtually every area that they had an edge over the Citadel Council's members, and were not allowed to share any technology or materials directly with Earth and the Systems Alliance. "They're even demanding territorial concessions in S4W8, I see," Robert said. "And resource concessions in our M4P2 colonies. The right to patrol Alliance space to enforce Citadel interstellar law." He smirked as he finished the list. "I was almost expecting a term requiring that the Alliance Senate seat a Citadel delegate with veto rights."

    "These terms are rather harsh, which is why I believe they may be a feint of some sorts."

    "It sounds like that old trick in compromising, asking too much so that you can 'compromise' it down to what you actually want," Robert said. "Because I figure that what they want is future security against our Alliance and the Systems Alliance opposing them directly. The drives alone might not be enough."

    "We will see when our talks resume, as they will shortly," Ledosh said.




    The Council was already in place when Robert followed Ledosh and Udina into place. "We have examined the terms provided last night," Ledosh said. "I fear I must dispute some of them."

    "That is reasonable, Emissary Ledosh," Councillor Tevos said. "And unnecessary. After further discussion last night and this morning, we have decided to withdraw or revise many of them ourselves."

    Udina looked surprised at that. Robert sighed in relief, although not the relief they would assume he felt.

    Ledosh nodded. "I see. Then let us discuss matters."

    "It has become clear to us that the risk of this Third Reich salvaging the interuniversal drive is greater than we had presumed," Valern said. "The Citadel Council must act to protect this galaxy."

    "Of course. And the Allied Systems are more than willing to make necessary concessions to your security, so long as they do not damage our own security needs in this universe. The request for the Alliance to sign your Treaty of Farixen and limit itself to only four dreadnoughts in this universe during peacetime, for instance, is one that we can eminently agree upon." Ledosh held up a noteputer and tapped several keys. "I believe the other terms can be negotiated upon, as stated. Do you have your revised starting terms?"

    "We do," Sparatus said. He started operating his omnitool, bringing up a list on the holographic screen in front of the address platform. Robert noted that they had watered down several of the terms; evidently they'd decided that the threat from the Reich was great enough to not try and drag excessive concessions from the Alliance. Although they still want a veto over the UAS signing alliances with species or governments in M4P2. They are really paranoid about us joining with the Systems Alliance.

    Ledosh examined the terms carefully. "I believe these terms, as a starting point, will work. I see no blatant contradictions with President Morgan's instructions."

    Now's the time to drop the bomb. Robert stepped forward politely. "Gentlemen and lady of the Council, I feel there's something I need to share with you. New intelligence that came to me directly from Defense Command last night."

    Udina had a look of irritation. Ledosh's gaze was less hostile, but still firm; he understood something crucial was about to be revealed.

    "You may speak, Captain," Tevos said.

    "Thank you." Robert held up his multidevice and used it to transmit the report he'd received, including map data. "As you know, there is a Darglan Facility in S4W8 that could provide the Reich the means to manufacture its own IU drives. Once we learned of its coordinates, Alliance Defense Command arranged for stealth probes to be dispatched to the region. These probes lack the sufficient sensor capability to actually find the Facility, but they might have helped narrow down the location. What they have found instead, however, is this…" Robert brought up the second bit of map data; the area of space, including the fringe of Reich-held territory, now showed several icons: Nazi swastika emblems. "The Reich has deployed multiple scouting vessels to the region. They are currently maintaining active, wide-band scans."

    Udina frowned. "You're saying they know where it is."

    "Or they at least have an idea."

    "How could they have learned the coordinates?", Ledosh asked. "They can't have penetrated our security…"

    "Indications are that this is new," Robert explained. "Defense Command believes that they arrived at this by process of elimination; they knew we destroyed something on 33LA, so they examined sensor logs of the region. Eventually they may have found logs from a ship refined enough to detect the same telltale evidence of a dimensionally-transcendental field that led us to 33LA."

    "Then they would have needed to go through all existing records to find similar readings." Valern put a hand to his chin. "Perhaps we have time then. They clearly do not have the technology to easily pinpoint the coordinates in question."

    Robert nodded. "That's our estimation too. Defense Command analysts suspect they could spend anywhere from six weeks to four months scanning for the Facility before they get an idea where it is. We have that long to find the coordinates we need. Which means we have that long to deal a big enough defeat to the Reich's war fleet that we can get ships over there with a good chance of sweeping them out."

    Tevos looked to her fellow Councillors. Sparatus had his arms crossed and was clearly mulling something. Valern nodded to her. Tevos looked to them and said, "I think it best that we recess for the moment, the Council needs time to deliberate this new report and confirm its authenticity."

    Robert nodded. "Of course."

    The three men stepped away from the Council, who moved away as well to deliberate in private chambers. They traveled to the lift heading down to the Presidium. Only as they neared the bottom did the silence end. "It would seem that we are now running out of time," Ledosh said.

    "It should light a fire under them, though," Udina said. "They know our history. They know what a regime like Nazi Germany's can do, will do, to them if it ever gains the advantage. Their terms should soften even more now."

    "And I may indeed accept some of those," Ledosh said. "But it is preferable to give them some concessions that they may yet yield out of fear. In the short-term they are concerned, but if I take advantage of that, then in the long-term they will feel cheated."

    "That is your choice, Emissary. Just remember, the Systems Alliance has been willing to stand with you from the start. Don't let them drive a wedge between us."

    "Of course not, Ambassador."

    They arrived at the bottom. Udina went on ahead to the Embassy; Ledosh reminded behind with Robert. "Even before your report, they folded their opening terms rather quickly. They seem to have had a loss in confidence," Ledosh noted. He smiled at Robert, who didn't react to that but with a single thought: He knows.

    "Perhaps they realized that they were playing games when a threat like the Nazi Reich was looming over them," Robert said. "And that the smart thing was to set aside the politics and prepare for a fight before their survival is at stake."

    "Perhaps," Ledosh agreed. "You are returning to your ship?"

    "Shortly," Robert said. "I have somewhere to go first. Someone who's asked to see me, apparently."

    "Ah." Ledosh nodded. "Very well. I shall see you when the Council calls us back, Captain."
     
    • 1-15 Ending
    • Data had found, to much consternation, that the Citadel had rules about "synthetic life forms" that were… harsh, to say the least. It had flustered his efforts to get to visit the Citadel so that he might write on it in his journal and relay interesting finds to the others from the Enterprise.

    Then he got to go anyway.

    "I am most thankful for this opportunity, Commander," he said to Julia Andreys, who walked beside him in the Presidium. "Given the laws in effect on artificial life, I did not think it wise to seek a shore leave without a superior officer present. Otherwise I might have prevailed upon Commander Jarod or Lieutenant Delgado for the opportunity."

    "It's alright, Data," Julia said. "I wanted to get a look at it too."

    "Of course." Data looked out at the waterway running along the middle of the Presidium. "Have you noticed the small insectoid creatures moving about?"

    "The visitor's guide called them 'Keepers'. Apparently they're some sort of bio-drones that maintain the station."

    "Curious. I have noted a constant signal connecting them. A control system would explain much." His eyes swept over the station. "It is a fascinating structure."

    "That it is."

    Data contemplated the sight before turning his head to face Julia again. "Commander, if I may ask, what has motivated your decision to pursue this career? Is it the same humanitarian goals that Captain Dale spoke of at our first contact two years six months ago?"

    Julia took a moment. "Well, I see eye to eye with him on that, Commander Data," she said. "But it's not just that." There was a thin smile on her face. She leaned against the nearby railing and put her hands together. "I've always felt like I could do more. That I could be more. Honestly, Data, I think I would have left our hometown eventually regardless of Robert finding that facility. I want to do something with my life and earn a chance to gain more responsibilities."

    "In other words, you wish to experience command," Data observed.

    Julia tilted her head slightly as she considered that wording. "Yeah, I suppose that works."

    "And yet you chose to be the First Officer and not the Captain?"

    "Well…" Julia nodded. "I wanted to make sure Rob was alright too. He's… very much a do-er, and doesn't have the same tolerance I do for working in a system. I thought he would do better if he was Captain and I could back him up than if it were the other way around. Besides… he started all of this. Taking charge over him? That wouldn't feel right."

    "I see." Data calculated his next question carefully. "Do you wish to become Captain eventually?"

    "Well…" Julia thought on that question for a moment. "Actually… yes, I believe so. I do want to become a Captain. Especially of the Aurora. I just don't want it to be at Rob's expense."

    "I believe Commander Riker has likely entertained similar considerations over the past years." Data began to visually scan the environment again. "I admit, I am perplexed by the dearth of sentient life forms in this galaxy."

    "Oh?"

    "Yes. By all calculations, there should be many more species in existence than we can observe."

    "Well, not necessarily. I mean, we have yet to find other species in my home universe," Julia pointed out. As she said that, she thought of what she'd heard about this galaxy's history. The Protheans had vanished fifty thousand years ago, and after what happened to Zack at Adrana they'd learned that it'd been a quarter of a million years since the violent extermination of the Adranian species. She wondered if there was a connection. Something to find out later, I guess. When we're not at war with Nazis. "And we've even seen what would be the homeworlds of several other species from other universes."

    "Do you not think it odd that Humans are apparently the only common species to all known universes?"

    "All the time. But I'll leave that mystery to people like you, Jarod, and Cat to solve."

    "Of course, Commander." Data observed that Worf was now a short distance away. "I see Commander Worf accepted the offer of a visit. I am curious to discover how he is enjoying the Citadel."

    "Let's see what he thinks," Julia remarked.

    They walked over to where Worf was inspecting a tall statue of a humanoid. The species made Julia think of a horned toad with the shape of the head. "This is the Krogan Memorial," Data observed.

    "Yes." Worf looked it over. He held up a hand noteputer from the Aurora with a historical article displayed. "Do you not see?"

    "What?", Julia asked.

    "These beings, these 'Krogan', they are a strong species. A warrior people." Worf looked back to them and frowned. "And the species of this galaxy used them like war targs. They uplifted them to fight an enemy they could not face and then sterilized them when they grew to fear the Krogan. It is a disgrace."

    "Well, that's one way to look at it."

    The alien voice prompted them to turn. A Turian stood nearby in C-Sec blue with matching blue face-markings on his gray skin. "Of course, there's also the fact that the Krogan bred out of control once they were off their homeworld with all of its wonderful monsters that eat people. So once their population expanded too far they started seizing worlds from the other species. They nearly captured my species' homeworld before we turned them back. The genophage was considered a better alternative to wiping them out."

    Worf appraised the man with narrowed eyes. "So you defend what was done to warriors who saved your kind."

    "It was a hard choice, but something had to be done. In our place, would your people have made any better choices?"

    It was clear his answer wasn't cutting it with Worf, but the Klingon merely snarled and looked away.

    "Excuse me, Officer…"

    "Vakarian."

    "Yes, thank you. Officer Vakarian, I noted you were not far from the Commander and myself earlier," Data stated. "Are we under police surveillance?"

    Officer Vakarian had something of a sense of humor, or so it seemed to Julia and Data. He feigned deep, philosophical thought for a moment. "Well, let's see. We have an officer from a diplomatic mission out of another universe walking the Presidium with an unshackled AI escorting her. Are you really surprised we were going to keep an eye out? It's as much for your safety as ours. The last thing we need is someone mistaking you for a Geth and causing a riot."

    "The Geth haven't been outside of their section of the galaxy in centuries. How would people know what one looks like?", Julia asked.

    "Exactly my point, Commander." The Turian nodded. "Anyway, I'm only here for your protection. Go ahead and enjoy the sights. Just, for my sake and your own… stay out of Chora's Den."

    Data blinked. "I recognize that name from a list of drinking establishments in the visitor information packet. Why should we avoid it?"

    "Because it's run by a criminal and has some of the worst cutthroats and scumbags in the Citadel coming and going," Vakarian answered. "Odds are they'd take a look at you and decide to take you apart to see how many credits they could earn from your parts."

    Worf smirked. Julia thought it was a rather dangerous one too. "They," Worf said, "would try."

    "Yeah, but then there'd be a fight and I'd have to break it up. It'll include shooting people and you won't believe the amount of paperwork they'd put me through. And after it was all over I'd have Executor Pallin riding my ass on how I let officers from a diplomatic mission end up in that situation in the first place. So I'd really prefer it if you don't try my luck."

    "Well, Officer, we'd better not take any more of your time." Julia checked her clock on her multidevice. "We're due back to our ship in a few minutes anyway."

    "Oh, no trouble. I just got yanked off a case tracking a bunch of illegal organs, nothing too important," he replied. "But seriously, thank you. I think your synthetic friend is starting to attract attention."

    Julia nodded and looked to Data. "Ready to return, Commander Data? Commander Worf?"

    "I have seen a sufficient amount of the Presidium," Data answered.

    Worf nodded. "I will accompany you back as well."

    "Right." Julia touched the commkey on her multidevice. "Andreys to Aurora. Three to beam up."

    Several seconds later white light formed around all three of them and they seemed to be whisked away by it. Garrus Vakarian watched that happen and sighed.

    A C-Sec rookie stepped up beside him. "Sir? Are you alright?", the young Turian asked.

    "I'm fine, kid," Garrus said. "I'm just imagining what a pain in the ass it will be for us when the gangs get a hold of those teleporter devices they use. Now, if you'll excuse me..." Garrus walked past the younger officer. "I have an investigation to get back to."







    After leaving Ledosh, Robert followed the Presidium path to one of the Avina interfaces. It greeted him with that feigned VI cheer. "I need directions to the Consort," he said simply.

    "The Consort's office can be found…"

    Robert followed the directions provided until he got to the Consort's chambers. An Asari at the entrance nodded. "I am Nelyna," she said. "You are the Captain of the Aurora, yes?"

    "I suppose the uniform gives it away," Robert answered.

    "The Consort is with a client at the moment. She will be just a minute, I believe…"

    Three minutes later a Turian, older-looking, came out. Nelyna nodded to the Turian and addressed him amiably as "General Oraka", who scheduled his next meeting with the Consort. "You may go in now, Captain."

    Robert entered and walked past a number of other people being tended to by Asari. He passed them and entered the rear chamber. A single Asari was waiting for him, wearing the same semi-revealing suits as the other Asari outside. "Captain Dale," she said simply.

    "You would be the Consort, Sha'ira," he answered.

    Sha'ira walked up to him. "Yes." She nodded and smiled gently. "Your officer Caterina Delgado is quite the interesting young lady. Passionate, energetic, and youthful. But with hidden depths that will come out in time."

    Robert nodded. "I know. Cat's got a lot of potential."

    "Many of your crew do." Sha'ira took his hand. "You and your friends are more than what they seem. The fates of many, perhaps of us all, are on your shoulders. I think you know what I mean." Sha'ira drew closer, almost uncomfortably so. Close enough that Robert almost expected Angel to show up and punch her and then him over it.

    And that thought seemed to make her back off a little. "Ah yes, I apologize. You are with another, yes?"

    "I am."

    "Of course. I did not intend to give you discomfort, Captain. But I must share this with you." She looked at him intently. "Some of us are dreamers. We dream of what might come. And we don't always like what we see."

    Robert stared at her.

    "Yes." She nodded. "I have dreamed as well. Fire and death and darkness." She kept his hand in hers. "And I have dreamed of life and happiness and joy. Do not let your fear of the former consume you, dear Captain. You mustn't, if you and the others are to bring us the better future."

    Sha'ira stepped away from him momentarily. When she turned back she was holding something. It was some form a trinket, a small orange disc around a gold frame. She pressed it into his hands and cupped them around the frame. "Take this," she said. "It will be of use to you in the future both near and far."

    "What is it?"

    "I do not know," she answered. "It was something found long ago on an alien world with no name I know of. Perhaps the secret to that world can be found in it. Or others. All I know is that you must have it."

    Robert looked over the object again It seemed innocuous. But… there was something about it. Something important that he could sense.

    So he gently slid it into the internal pocket of his uniform jacket. "Thank you," he said. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

    "Yes," Sha'ira said. "You can remember that you have a role to play. It must be played right, it must be played well. And above all else, above all distractions, you must remember this." She looked at him intently. "However, whenever, the Darkness might fall… it is always banished by the coming of the Dawn. Remember that, Captain Dale. You must all remember that."

    Robert remained quiet.

    Sha'ira nodded. "Now, please, I believe I have another client coming. If you wish to see me again, you need only ask Nelyna."

    "Uh, yes." He nodded, not sure of what else to say. There was, indeed, nothing else to do but leave.







    In a star system far from the Citadel, a single well-suited figure looked over reports flashing in front of him. Nearby a woman was reciting reports.

    "We have reason to believe that the spying VI was caught," she said. "The Salarians may not suspect it. But our analysis of the data compared to other sources we have indicates it has been doctored."

    "I see." The man turned. There was a flicker of light by one of his hands, the object there hidden in the shadow of the dimmed room. "They are not to be underestimated."

    "They should be our allies," the woman insisted. "They hold the key to everything we…"

    "In due time," the man counseled. He drew the object up to his mouth. There was an intake of breath and the light dimmed slightly. After a moment he continued. "How are our own efforts going?"

    "We haven't achieved any significant infiltration yet, and we might not for some time. These Alliance people can be… different. We may require more time to study."

    "The means will present themselves in time, Miss Lawson. For now, I don't want anything too rash to be executed. The United Alliance of Systems is a wild card in this galaxy. I want to make sure that when they come into play, it's in our hand." The man used a swipe of his hand over the nearby hardlight display to change the images to show several pictures. "I have a feeling about these people," he said. His blue eyes, shining with inhuman mechanical precision, looked over the images of Captain Dale, Commander Andreys, and their shipmates. "Make sure we have full write-ups on the command staff of the Aurora. I want to make sure we have every angle covered. I want weaknesses and strengths listed and analyzed."

    The woman nodded. "Of course, Illusive Man."

    "As for our other operations to other universes, I'd like to see Operative Grenville's latest dispatches from Solaris…"







    At another location in the galaxy, a lone figure sat in a quiet room. A low din of noise filled his head. In front of him was an image.

    It made his blood boil.

    The recording from the Council continued at the stroke of a key. "...likely within the week. As such, the Council expects you to prepare a report on Batarian activity in the Verge and Traverse. The Turian fleet will be…"

    He turned it off. The Council was coddling the Humans again. Again. When the threat they posed was greater than ever…

    "This conflict will be irrelevant," another voice said. It was deep and distorted, not the heard speech of an organic being.

    "Irrelevant? These Humans from other universes threaten everything!"

    "Calm yourself, Saren. It is vital that you continue to give no indications to the Council of your new loyalty. Perform all duties with the diligence they would expect of you. It will not be a delay."

    "And what about our army? Some of the Geth still oppose us. We haven't gotten them all."

    "We will have enough. Now go, Saren. And remember…"

    "Yes, Sovereign?"

    "I must know more about these Humans from the other universe. That vessel, the Aurora... the design is… familiar to me. They are a potential complication to our return."

    Saren stood from his place. "I'll keep you updated when I can."

    "Good. Now go."







    Tag



    Robert met Julia on their mutual way to Science Lab 1. "So, how did the diplomacy go?", Julia asked.

    "After what happened yesterday? The Council has softened a couple more terms. Although Emissary Ledosh is giving concessions anyway. He's concerned about buyer's remorse setting in once the fighting kicks up."

    "Making the Citadel Council upset with us does seem pretty stupid," Julia agreed. They stepped together into the turbolift. "It looks like everyone's been enjoying leaves to the Citadel. And I haven't heard of any problems yet. Maybe I should go back and pay the Wards a visit."

    "I know a great restaurant to recommend," Robert said.

    "Yeah." Julia remained silent until the turbolift opened. "But we're running out of time, aren't we?"

    "Yeah," Robert said. "We are."

    They stepped into Science Lab 1, where Caterina, Jarod, and Data were looking over data. "You wanted to see us?", Robert asked.

    "Jarod and Data found something!", Cat exclaimed. "Something I've been dying to find for years!"

    Robert and Julia exchanged looks. "Okay. Jarod?"

    "We've been compiling more data from the 33LA database. The raw data, even when compiled, isn't always useful," Jarod explained. "It's fragments from larger data files we didn't recover. But we did find this."

    Robert looked up at the screen. A series of four characters appeared. "E5B1", Robert read out. "Why does that sound familiar?"

    "That's the designation for the Darglan home universe," Caterina said, brimming with excitement."

    "You mean the one we've never gone to because we don't want to run into whatever wiped the Darglan out?", Julia pointed out.

    "Exactly." Jarod looked to Data. "But that's not the real part of the discovery. Data found an encoded element to the data we've recovered that, when you use the actual characters as a decoding key, creates this." Jarod hit a key.

    More numbers appeared.

    "It would appear to be a set of coordinates," Data said. "To a star system toward the Galactic Rim. Additionally, I determined a designation attached to the coordinates. Once I compared the designation to what remains of your Darglan databases, I was able to determine what the designation translated into."

    "What?", Robert asked.

    "Home," was the answer.

    Robert and Julia looked at them in stunned silence. "You mean…", Julia finally managed.

    She was cut off by Cat, who yelled enthusiastically, "It means we have the coordinates to the Darglan Homeworld! We'll be able to find out more of what happened to them! Maybe find some of their ships and other salvageable technology. Or even a guide to other Facilities!"

    "I'll have to get permission from…"

    There was a tone on Robert's multidevice. He pressed it. "Dale here."

    "We're getting a channel from Admiral Maran for you, sir," was the reply from one of the junior bridge officers.

    "What timing," Robert said to the others. He brought up his device and spoke into it. "Relay the call to Science Lab 1."

    On a nearby screen Admiral Maran appeared, respectable-looking as always. "Congratulations on the success you and Mastrash Ledosh enjoyed Captain. I look forward to reading your report."

    "Sir, Commander Jarod and Commander Data have urgent information I need to share with you."

    "Oh?"

    "We have the coordinates to the Darglan homeworld, Admiral."

    Maran sat back in his chair. "You've found them?"

    "They did."

    "Well." Maran seemed lost in thought. "We've been avoiding that universe, haven't we? Do you think we should risk running into whatever wiped them out?"

    "It might be a necessary risk," Julia said. "There's no telling what we can unearth. It might help us find the Facility in S4W8 first."

    "True." Maran thought about it. "I'll confer with Defense Command and the President. For now you'll be back on your main mission of providing diplomatic transport. As soon as Ledosh is done finalizing the treaty, you're clear to return to Alliance space in M4P2. We should have a destination for you within the day. And on that matter..." He folded his hands together. "Given what we now know about Nazi activities, there is a strong chance you may have to engage them in a fight for control of that Facility. I want you to have the best chance to succeed, and I'm not the only one…"







    At Maran's request, Robert returned to the Citadel. He beamed straight to the Embassy for Earth and returned to Udina's office. Udina nodded when he entered. Robert noted that he wasn't alone. "Captain Anderson."

    The commander of the SSV Tokyo nodded. "Captain Dale," Anderson replied in his customary deep tone. "Good to see you again. I hear you've been in the thick of the fighting."

    "We did our share of it in the early weeks," Robert confirmed. He nodded slightly. "Then they pulled us out of the front to do diplomatic duty."

    "So I've heard. You made quite the impression at Arcturus." Anderson noted Udina's look. "It would be interesting to talk, but I'm afraid I'm here on business."

    "Admiral Maran said something about that."

    "Yes." Anderson nodded. "He informed Command that your ship would be the one to go after the Facility when its location can be verified. Given that we know the enemy's looking for the Darglan base as well, we can't be sure that our side finds it first. You may have to fight for it."

    "The thought crossed my mind," Robert said. "Commander Meridina and Commander Kane have been running tactical drills. We already have a tactical expert from Starfleet along who's providing further expertise."

    "All well and good. But I hope you'll accept our assistance as well. We're ready to send you someone with intensive training and experience in the kind of operation you might have to perform to prevent Darglan technology from falling into the hands of people like the Nazi Reich." Anderson looked toward the railing, where Udina's office could look out on the Presidium.

    Robert turned his head and saw there was someone standing in the corner, wearing the same Systems Alliance uniform as Anderson but with fewer rank bars. She had been looking their way and toward the Presidium and now approached. She was between Angel and Julia in height and carried herself in the same nonchalant, confident way Robert had seen other well-trained officers walk. Her hair was red, almost blazing with the richness of that color, and kept short in a bob cut hairstyle, with the hair covering her ears and a bang and some threads just over the right eye. Brilliant green eyes gave further color to a bronze complexion lightened by time living in space; Robert would guess that she was about his age, maybe a year or two older.

    "Captain Dale?" The woman had a North American accent, spoken with a tough, husky sort of voice. "I'm Commander Shepard."

    Robert gave her a look. "No first name?", he asked.

    Shepard smiled at that. "I don't bother with it. Usually nobody ever uses it but my mother," she replied. "Jen Shepard, then." She extended her hand.

    Robert nodded and brought his hand up. "Rob Dale." They shook hands. "It'll be a pleasure having you aboard the Aurora, Commander Shepard."
     
    • 1-16 Opening
    • Teaser


    Lucy's heart raced as she rushed through the blue corridors. The pack on her back was a burden she was starting to get used to after all of this time. Not that it made running any easier given the light combat armor she was in.

    The Marine ahead of her, a male Dorei with light blue skin and purple hair and spotting, checked a corridor junction carefully. He made a hand signal to certify that the way was clear and moved into the junction.

    A deep voice rumbled over the commline in Lucy's helmet. Commander Worf, of course. "Team 2, this is Team 1. Have you reached the objective?"

    "Team 1, negative," Commander Kane answered. "We had to blast our way through an ambush. We're coming up on it, though."

    "You must move more quickly. We are running out of time." There was the sound of a disruptor going off in the background. "We will not be able to hold this position for much longer."

    "I read you, Team 1." Kane looked to Lucy and the other Marines escorting her. "Okay people, let's double-time it!"

    Lucy restrained a groan that started to form in her throat. She needed the air anyway, given the speed with which Kane's people were now running.

    They found the portal they were looking for at the end of the next corridor. Inside was equipment Lucy had not seen in almost two years. "This is it," she said. "The central field emitter for the DT field."

    "Do your thing, Lieutenant, we'll watch your…"

    "Panzergrenadiers!", shouted one of the Marines.

    Everyone turned to look down the corridor they'd come in from. A file of human figures in heavy black armor were stomping their way. The distinctive stahl helm design of the helmet, with two red eyepieces, was enough of a giveaway even without the hooked cross swastika insignia in white over the heart.

    Lucy got out of the way as a series of disruptor pulses erupted from the arm cannons mounted in the Reich's elite armored infantry suits. The Marines scattered and took cover around the doorway. "Close the door!", Kane shouted. "Lucero, get that thing going!"

    Lucy swallowed and nodded. She unslung the pack on her back and located what she had been looking for: the main field array machinery. She set the pack up against it and opened up the controls for what lay within: a naqia bomb big enough to vaporize them all when it went off, not to mention the machinery in the room. She started arming it. "I need a few minutes!"

    "You've got two!", Kane shouted. He pulled a grenade off his belt and armed it. He threw it in a blind toss into the hall. There was a thunderous blast that sent heat flooding into the room. "Teams 1 and 3, this is Team 2, we've got PGs!"

    "How many?", was the question from Team 3's commander, Meridina.

    "At least a squad, from the looks of it." Kane fished another grenade from his belt. He armed it. "We're setting the bomb now. If you can't get to us, get out."

    "Die well, Commander Kane," Worf replied.

    Lucy swallowed at that. So that was it? After all this, after all the planning, she and the others were going to be left behind? Obviously. We're outgunned and this bomb has to go off. We can't afford anything else happening. She activated the bomb. "Weapon armed. What time do you want me to set it for?"

    Kane looked at her. "Set it…"

    Before he could finish an object flew through the door. "Grenade!", one of the Marines shouted. Kane jumped to cover it.

    Before he could, it went off. Lucy was blinded by a flash and thrown back against her bomb. All cries from the others were cut off. When Lucy's vision came back there was nothing left but charred corpses. She felt like she could barely move; the blast wave hadn't been entirely dispelled by her armor. A small display in the corner of her helmet told her she was suffering from multiple internal injuries that were causing hemorrhaging.

    And at the door, the shadows of the first enemy armored troopers were looming. "Surrender and you vill be spared!", an accented voice called out through a speaker.

    Lucy knew better. Even if she was spared, and even if she survived her injuries, it wouldn't do any good. She'd wish she'd died here.

    Her quivering hand fought her, but she forced it to reach over and hit the initiation key on the bomb.

    Everything went white.




    The video stopped playing. "Congratulations are in order." Commander Jen Shepard of the Systems Alliance Navy clapped. "You completed the mission. Of course, you also ended up turning it into a suicide mission." A wry look appeared on her face. "But those can happen."

    The briefing room of the Aurora was filled with several of the command crew, Meridina's lieutenants in security, and Kane and his officers and senior NCOs.

    Shepard, wearing the blue casual uniform of the Systems Alliance Navy, nodded to Lucy. In turn, Lucy frowned and crossed her arms. "We wouldn't have gotten trapped if the DT field machinery chamber was in the right place."

    "Oh?" Shepard looked to her side. "Commander Worf?"

    The Klingon, wearing the gold of Starfleet security, nodded. "Commander Shepard and I agreed that it was best to defy your assumptions. You presume the Darglan built their Facilities to a universal model; they may not have."

    "That assumption cost you," Shepard added. "And it got you trapped."

    Lucy didn't have a reply to that. But she didn't stop frowning.

    "Are we sure the Nazis will have armored infantry present?", Angel asked from the other table, where she was seated with Robert, Julia, and Jarod. "They're pretty rare."

    "But they still fit into the Facility," Shepard pointed out. "Given the stakes involved we can't assume they'll hold back anything."

    "Our advisors are correct." Meridina nodded. "We must account for any possible tactic by the foe."

    "Right." Robert nodded. "We'll schedule another exercise soon. I'll be joining this one."

    "I do not see the point in that," Worf said. "You are the ship's captain, it is not your place to join the operation."

    "I understand that, Commander Worf, but as you and Commander Shepard were quick to point out, we've got to be ready for anything." Robert gestured to Lucy. "So far Lucy and I are the only ones who have been proven able to access secured features of the Darglan technology."

    "I, too, have had said technology recognize me," Meridina pointed out.

    "Still, if something happens and neither of you are available, I may need to go down and assist," Robert pointed out. "So I should be ready to operate with the others."

    Shepard answered that with a nod. "A good point. Alright, we'll put you through your paces with the others."

    Jarod winced from where he was sitting. "And hopefully you won't get the same hit to the shoulder I did."

    "Babies." Angel smirked and crossed her arms. "I got two ribs broken by Worf in the last training round. You didn't see me crying, did you?"

    Robert suppressed a chuckle. Angel hadn't cried, no, but she hadn't been very happy the next couple of nights. Even with Leo's ministrations, it took time to fully recover from injuries like that.

    Before he or anyone else could speak again, a tone sounded over the speakers in the room. "Data to Briefing Room 1." Worf's comrade had taken the bridge watch for the duration of the meeting.

    "We're here, Commander."

    "Mastrash Ledosh wishes to speak with you, Captain."

    "Patch him through."

    Robert turned away and toward a wall monitor that the signal got relayed to. Ledosh appeared on the screen. He was in an office in one of the government buildings of the planet below. The skyline of Galkingrad was visible through a window behind him. "Captain Dale. I am pleased to report that the negotiations are over."

    Robert blinked. "That fast?"

    "Indeed. It would appear that the Slavic Union was already quite willing to commit to the war. While they will not commit to resuming the talks on Alliance membership, they are already in the process of finalizing a treaty of military alliance against the Nazi Reich. I am assured that their fleets and troops will be deployed as soon as IU drives are made available. It would appear that they have rather unkind memories of this universe's Nazi Germany."

    I bet. "Will Ambassador Winthrop be needing your assistance for any longer?"

    "No. I will be returning shortly, Captain."

    After Ledosh disappeared Robert looked to the others. "Another ally." Julia smiled. "Hopefully our factories for the IU drives can keep up with the new demand."

    "Given the roll we're on diplomatically… yeah." Robert nodded. "Anyway, I'll be returning to my office to see what Admiral Maran and the President have for us next. Commanders, is there anything else?"

    "There is not," Worf replied.

    "Thank you for your time and effort then. I look forward to getting my ass kicked like the rest of us." Robert nodded to everyone. "I'll see you all on the bridge."




    Robert had barely gotten to his ready room when Data made the call. "Captain, I have Admiral Maran on the IU comm line."

    "I'm ready, Data," he answered aloud, settling into his seat. He shifted a little and was comfortable when Admiral Maran appeared. The Gersallian admiral didn't seem to have any more gray hair on his dark-haired head than Robert had noticed last time. Maybe Gersallians have different ways of showing prolonged stress. "Admiral. Ledosh has the treaty."

    "I know, I just got the notification myself."

    "So, where to next, sir? Lemara? New Granada? Wittelsbachwelt?"

    "None of the above." Maran put his hands in front of him. "Four days ago, the Challenger jumped at the galactic coordinates you sent to us. They have since reported their arrival at what appears to have been the Darglan Homeworld."

    Robert's mouth hung open silently for a moment. His eyes were widening. "The mission was approved, then?"

    "Yes. Because of your diplomatic mission still being ongoing we held off on sending you. But you and Mastrash Ledosh have accomplished all that we could ask in C5O2. We're pulling you from the diplomatic tour for the time being."

    Robert's heart was starting to beat faster from excitement. "So we've got the green light?"

    "Yes." Maran nodded and smiled thinly. "You and your friends were the start of this, Robert. You've been around Darglan technology the longest. And you'll be the ones putting any discoveries to use. You deserve the chance to be there for this. Your new orders are to lock onto Challenger's drive and to jump to her location immediately for the excavation of the Darglan Homeworld."






    Undiscovered Frontier
    "Looming Shadows"    ​


    Ship's Log: ASV Aurora; 14 September 2641. Captain Robert Dale recording. After concluding negotiations for support with the Slavic League in Universe C5O2, President Morgan and Admiral Maran have given us clearance to join the excavation of the Darglan Homeworld in Universe E5B1. I'm hopeful that we might find something there that will help us find the Darglan Facility in S4W8 before the Nazi Reich does.

    And I'm thankful to say that     Mastrash Ledosh will be joining us for this mission should we have need of his talents. There is no telling what other species may exist in this universe and we may have need of his diplomatic skills or his other capabilities before we are done here.


    Robert felt the familiar sensation of an interuniversal jump as he stepped out onto the bridge. Julia waited until the ship was safely through the jump point before getting out of the command chair and moving over to her own. On the viewscreen in front of them was a somber sight, but not unexpected; a ruined garden planet.

    "The Darglan Homeworld," Caterina said with tears in her eyes. "It's… I…" She stopped herself and returned to her work. "Sensors are showing no life on a macroscopic scale. The planet's biosphere has been completely destroyed. I am detecting ruins across the planet."

    "What happened here?", Julia asked.

    "The planet's surface is showing signs of massive amounts of past tectonic activity. Like the planet nearly blew itself apart from the core upward."

    Data looked over her readings from his own station, even if he was using Tom Barnes' engineering station for the moment. "Given the damage pattern, I would surmise that the Darglan Homeworld was subjected to orbital bombardment from all sides. The tectonic activity and the damage to the surface would indicate that whatever force destroyed this world used thousands of projectiles capable of penetrating to the planet's core, where they detonated with a force in the multiple gigaton range. The resulting devastation destroyed all life within hours." The android seemed perturbed by the destruction. "I must express my concern that we may not find anything of value on the planet due to the scale of the devastation."

    "Give us a standard orbit near the Challenger, Mister Locarno," ordered Julia.

    At Locarno's control, Aurora moved into orbit of the broken world. A pinpoint of light on the screen grew until it became a ship. "Well, would you look at that," Locarno said. "Beautiful, isn't she?"

    The other ship looked surprisingly like the Aurora. Blue-sheened hull, a visible distinction between a primary hull and drive hull with the navigational deflector dish at the front of the drive hull, but with the two hulls flowing together enough that there was no "neck" like was standard in many large Starfleet designs. She was only half the size, though, and with only two warp nacelles (moving upward) to the Aurora's four.

    "I am not familiar with that design," Data said. "But it appears to be based on the Aurora."

    "You're right," Robert said with a small grin. "This is one of the new Discovery-class starships in the Alliance fleet. One of the first ship types to be built specifically for the Alliance and not from one of our members' navies. She must have just finished her shakedown cruise."

    "They're hailing," Jarod said.

    The face on the screen was familiar, and drew a smile from Robert. "Madeleine. Captain Laurent. Good to see you," he said.

    The African woman on the screen smiled at him. "Robert. Julia. You are all doing well?"

    "Yeah. Nice new ship. I'm glad you got the command."

    "So am I. She's not the Weaver or Kirby, certainly." Captain Laurent nodded. "How is my little brother?"

    "He's doing well. Our fighters are kept in top shape," Julia answered, referring to Lt. Commander Patrice Laurent, the Aurora's fighter group commander.

    "Good for him. I'm proud."

    "How's Nasira?", Julia asked. "I heard she became your XO?"

    "Commander Fanous is on the planet now with our excavation team." Laurent's expression shifted to a more business-like look. "We've already done preliminary surveys. I was about to send my report when your jump drive system locked on to us. We found something."

    "Already?", Robert asked. That sounds very good…

    "It's not what you think, Robert," Madeleine warned. "We found the wreckage of a ship on the northern continent. Fresh wreckage. And signs of prior excavations."

    Julia and Robert exchanged worried looks. "So we're not the first ones here," he said. And if there's any trace of the technology down there…

    "From what we can tell, the vessel in question was badly damaged when it crashed. We've recovered bodies. Some are Human, others are of a species we have no record of."

    "Any indications as to what technology they use?", Jarod asked.

    "We know they do not have naqia reactors. And no warp drives. The ship isn't intact enough to let us know what kind of alternative FTL system they have. Our orbital scans show no signs of any other vessel having come through here for weeks."

    "I understand." Robert nodded. "Who's your science officer?"

    "Philippe, of course."

    Cat smiled at that. "I'll have to call him then. Maybe we can find out more together."

    "Why don't you beam over? Our science labs are based on your own."

    "That's an excellent idea," Julia said. "Cat and Data can go over and look over what's been found."

    "We will be waiting for them."

    "Then there's just the matter of joining the ground teams in surveying any promising spots," Julia said. "I can lead a group down with Jarod to check any other sites."

    "We have a few that still need to be checked out," Madeleine said. "I'll relay coordinates. The radiation isn't heavy enough to prevent transporter operation."

    Robert nodded. "Do that. We'll keep in touch."

    "Yes sir. Signing off." Madeleine Laurent disappeared from the screen.

    "It's always good to see a familiar face doing well," Julia said. She stood up. "I'll go assemble the ground team."

    "And I'll go with Data and beam over to the Challenger," Caterina said. "I can't wait to see her. Farmer based so much of her off of our ship, but she's got one extra science lab over us and dedicated naqia reactors for each one. The labs are completely independent from the ship."

    "Keep me updated," Robert requested. He pressed the intercom key on his chair. "Dale to King."

    "Yes, Captain?," replied Commander Elizabeth King, commanding the attack ship Sladen that was docked to Aurora as a temporary replacement for the Koenig.

    "Assemble your crew. Now that we're in E5B1, I'd like the Sladen to launch. Just as a precaution."

    "Yes, Captain, my crew will be ready to launch in half an hour."




    Caterina and Data appeared in the transporter station on the Challenger. A young Human woman in the beige of Operations crew looked up - she looked Central Asian to Cat. "Welcome," she said. "Lieutenant Duwala is waiting for you in Science Lab 2. It is about fifty meters down the passageway toward the ship's aft."

    "Thanks," Cat said to her. "Oh, and at ease."

    They stepped out into the main corridor and started following it. Caterina smiled in appreciation at how closely it matched Aurora's own blue-walled halls. The partitions for emergency bulkheads to slide into place were a little rounder, that seemed the only difference.

    "This vessel was also a design by Captain Carlton Farmer, was it not?", Data asked.

    "Well, partly," Cat answered. "Captain Farmer was still busy getting the Aurora finished. But he did oversee the work and make the final plans."

    "I see. The Starfleet influence in the ship's layout and design is unmistakable."

    "Just how he wanted it," Cat said. "So, how are your emotions? I mean, you've got that chip stuck in you, right?"

    "Yes," Data confirmed. "I have been experimenting with turning it to higher settings to judge my readiness for constant use of emotions."

    "And what have you learned so far?"

    "I believe I can set the chip to 40% potential power without risking a loss of control."

    "You're getting there, then! That's great!"

    Data looked at her with curiosity. "You seem personally invested in my development of emotions. Why?"

    Caterina shrugged, though she was still smiling. "Why not? I enjoy them. Being happy, being curious, that little bit of warmth inside you and everything."

    "I am not sure I would describe my emotions as a 'warmth' as of yet."

    "I'm sure you will once you can have stronger emotions safely."

    Data considered that. "Ah. I understand. This 'warmth' comes from the intensity of an emotion."

    "That's one way of putting it."

    "I shall endeavor to see if I can feel the warmth you speak of."

    They found the entrance to the Science Lab and entered. Two Alakins, an officer and a technician, were in one corner going over what looked like a piece of debris.

    "Caterina! Oh, it is good to see you." Philippe Duwala was looking up from a scanning device he was seated beside. Like Cat his uniform contained the blue of a science officer. The lights in the room reflected off the dark skin of his shaved head. "How are you?" He stood and walked up to them. "It's been too long."

    "I'm doing okay," she answered, accepting a hug. She gave him a quizzical look. "What happened to your hair?"

    "Oh." He seemed to blush a little. He lowered his voice. "Rodrigo thought I looked better bald. Personally I think that it's just him."

    "How is he? You're still together?"

    "He's the tactical officer, and yes, we are." Philippe smiled. "Two years now. All because of you and the others."

    "You're the one who actually had to ask him out," Cat pointed out, smiling. "And, oh. Sorry." She looked to Data. "I'm sorry, Data. This is Philippe Duwala. Philippe, Commander Data, formerly from the Federation Starship Enterprise."

    "He was one of your colleagues during your time operating the Darglan Facility?", Data asked. He briefly accessed his memory banks for the discussion where Robert Dale had explained what they did to Captain Picard, himself, and Counselor Troi during their first contact.

    "Yes," Philippe said. "They freed me and many others from certain death in that horrible jail."

    Data blinked. "Would it offend you if I asked why you were held? For the purpose of curiosity only, I assure you."

    "No, it's quite alright," Philippe said. "Some of us were political prisoners. I was being held because I am gay."

    Data seemed perplexed. "I do not understand. Homosexuality was considered a crime?"

    "There were a lot of countries on our Earth who made it one, yes," Cat answered. She frowned. "I think some still do. Even with spaceships flying over their heads now."

    "It is old sufferings, it compares nothing to what I have now." Philippe gestured to the room. "All of this is better than dwelling on the past." He stepped back over to the scanner and they followed. "Anyway, it is best if I show you what we have so far."

    "Still nothing from the actual Darglan ruins?", Cat asked.

    "Not yet, I am afraid. Nasira was hoping that a site on the secondary southern continent would yield results." Philippe tapped several keys. "For now I am analyzing the ship that we found. It crashed on the northern hemisphere." Philippe brought up an image of the vessel's wreckage. The dust from the upended dirt of the planet obscured some of the coloring of the ship, but Cat noticed there were some purple to be found. "I've spent two days studying it. I believe it was broken into three distinct pieces from the impact. There were no survivors of the crash."

    "Have you determined whether it was an accident?", Data asked.

    "Unlikely." Philippe frowned. With a touch of a key he brought up a blackened piece from the crash. "I took this sample from the site, and there is more where it came from. My analysis shows thermal damage consistent with energy weapons. Apparently a form of particle beam."

    "So someone shot them down." Caterina shook her head. She had a frown now as well. "And the ship doesn't have a warp drive?"

    "No. There is no sign of warp field generation technology. But some of the technology on board was quite advanced. The data systems seem to be based on crystal media. And the hull…"

    With a touch of a button he brought up a microscopic analysis of the damaged part of the hull. Caterina and Data took a long look. "Is that what I think it is?", she asked.

    "Fascinating." Data was closely examining the piece. "It appears to be some form of scar tissue. As if it was healing itself in an organic fashion."

    "It's not like our self-repair systems," Philippe confirmed. "No sign of replicated use. The material was literally re-growing itself. Like a body healing a flesh wound."

    "This is so cool," Caterina said. "This… this is bio-armor." Noticing Data's curious look she added, "I saw it in the Darglan archives a couple of years ago. The theory, I mean, the Darglan never made it work. Their self-repair systems are based on the same principle idea, but they had to use replicators. No, this… this is actually having an alloy compound that behaves like living tissue. It heals itself and can even adapt to the things that hurt it. Over time it grows more resistant to whatever has caused damage before."

    "Some scientists in the Federation have speculated on such material being possible as the final evolution of memory metal technology," Data said. "However, to find an actual example is quite the discovery."

    "And someone still managed to defeat it," Philippe sighed.

    "Well, it might have been relatively 'young' material," Cat pointed out. "Subjected to an overwhelming attack that it had no hope to adapt itself against. The important thing is that we've found something like this."

    "Now we just need to figure out who they are."

    "Doctor Grieber finished examining the bodies this morning. She says that a few were Human, but most seemed to be another species we have never seen before." Philippe tapped a key and brought up an image. It was a humanoid form, blackened and burnt by fire, wearing what had been cream-colored clothing, almost robes. A crest seemed to be coming from the top of the being's skull that wrapped around the back of the head.

    "Wow." Cat sighed. "It's horrible to meet a new species from their remains. Well, let's start with the ship. We'll go over what we have…"




    I'm on the Darglan Homeworld.

    Julia looked out at the toppled ruins that had once been skyscraping structures. The environmental systems in her suit kept her warm against what her instruments were calling a biting chill. They also provided her the oxygen to breathe, a must-have given the planet's atmosphere had literally been blown away by the bombardment it had been subjected to. How could someone even accomplish that? What could?

    "This is where it all began," she murmured to herself. "Everything."

    "Commander."

    She turned slightly. One of the operations officers, Lieutenant Thanh, was looking up at her from within the fallen building. Back to business, Julie, she thought to herself. "Yes, Lieutenant?", she asked.

    His response came over the speaker in her helmet. "We may have found something."

    "I'm coming." She made her way down carefully, avoiding anything that might cause a rip in her suit. There wasn't much that could - the material was resistant to the kinds of tears you might otherwise get - but with a toxic atmosphere outside of her suit it seemed ridiculous to take that chance.

    "This way."

    Thanh led her into the partially-toppled building they had been standing on. Julia had to climb down a ladder placed by her excavation team to get through a hole in what was once a wall. The lights on their helmets were the only source of illumination in the dead, lightless ruins beneath what had become the surface.

    There was more light ahead, though. The team had set up their lights in this chamber. Julia stepped into it and watched the five other members of the excavation crew scanning. Immediately she realized that this was something of interest; she could tell that several of the now-dead consoles had once been computer control systems, much like the ones the Facility had used. "This was a data center of some kind," she said.

    "As near as we can tell. But there's no sign of the actual computers." Thanh indicated one side of the room. Julia went over and inspected it. "What do you think, Commander?"

    "What I think, Lieutenant, is that someone took the hardware," she answered. Julia pressed the comm-key for her multidevice. "Andreys to Aurora."

    "Aurora here," Robert answered.

    "It looks like we're not the only ones who have been here, Captain," Julia said. "We've found what looks to be a data center of some sort, but all of the actual computer hardware has been taken."

    "...Damn. See what else you can find out, Commander, and head back up. Data and Cat should be done soon."

    "I read you." Julia nodded to Thanh. "Lieutenant, I need this entire chamber scanned. Not a single cell or atom gets missed, okay? We need any sign we can get of the people who were here."

    "Yes Commander."
     
    • 1-16-2
    • Julia was the last one to get back, heading straight to the conference room on her arrival. Robert had assembled the rest of the command staff to attend; Madeleine and Philippe were observing from the Challenger and King from the Sladen. Jarod and Scotty both showed surprise when Cat and Data shared their findings. "Bio-armor?", Jarod asked. "You're kidding."

    "Not at all," Cat said, smiling. "Philippe found it. It shows all of the signs. It fits the Darglan entry."

    "Bio-armor is good, right?" Angel asked.

    "Imagine hull armor that reacts like organic tissue." Caterina looked at her sister. "When it's injured, it heals, and it heals in a way to further resist injury."

    "Scar tissue." Leo nodded. "Of course, it takes days or weeks, even months, for most species to heal physical wounds."

    "Yes, but isn't that because of energy requirements? The body has to 'grow' new cells, new tissue, to replace the damaged tissue." Caterina's voice was faster than normal; she was Excited. "But if you hook it up to a starship's power source, it heals itself more rapidly."

    "Doesn't it need food, then?", Julia asked.

    "I… dunno. The Darglan never said what nourishment would be necessary. They never got that far."

    "It must be remembered that bio-armor, as stated, is not simply organic tissue," Data added. "It is more accurately a material with starship-grade resistant capability that behaves like organic tissue in this matter. Much like memory metal can alter itself upon receiving programmed stimuli, this material is capable of behaving like organic tissue, but at much faster rates than would be feasible for most known species."

    "Aye. So it's more like livin', thinkin' hull," Scotty said. "That kind of thing wud put our self-replicatin' armor repair systems t' shame."

    Philippe nodded. "That was what the sample we recovered indicated."

    "I wonder." Robert put his hands together. "Could this have anything to do with what happened to the Darglan homeworld? A species advanced enough to make this bio-armor stuff could also make nuclear warheads capable of penetrating to a planet's core."

    "The two technologies are not necessarily reliant upon one another," Data pointed out. "But both point to the existence of at least one, perhaps two, advanced civilizations in Universe E5B1."

    "Great, I'm liking this place more already," Angel sighed.

    "That just leaves us at our current impasse." Robert looked at Julia. "Did Thanh and the team find anything?"

    "We know there was a databank down there, and someone removed it," she answered. "Recently, given the state of the storage compartments."

    "Do you think whoever did it is responsible for destroying that bio-armored ship?" Madeleine asked.

    "We have no facts to prove or disprove that assertion, Captain Laurent." Data looked from her to Robert. "Captain Dale, I would suggest a further study of the planet might find other sites worth attempting to access. While I calculate that further discoveries are low, we have no information on which to determine where the databanks were taken to; our odds of success, though low, are still better than the alternative."

    Robert nodded at that. "I agree, Commander Data. Captain." Robert looked to Laurent on the screen. "Let's set up a…"

    "Bridge to Captain Dale," a voice stated; it was Jupap. "Sir, we're packing up a gravitational distortion forming in nearby space."

    "What?"

    "Look!", Angel called out.

    Everyone followed her finger to the window port of the conference room. In the distance, beyond the curve of the dead Darglan homeworld, a point of light was forming. It shined blue for a moment. "Doesn't that look…?", Julia began. She was not the only one to notice the apparent similarity with an interuniversal jump point.

    The point suddenly expanded into a swirling vortex of blue color. A single point of light appeared in the middle, becoming a starship that was emerging from the vortex. It was fairly small, no more than 200 meters long, about the size of an attack ship like the Koenig or Sladen.

    Nobody had to be asked. Everyone rushed from the conference room to the bridge. As they stepped out onto the bridge Jupap stood up from the command chair. "They are hailing," he said.

    "On screen," Robert replied. He and Julia got to their chairs just as Ensign Mataran, the Gersallian junior officer acting in relief of Jarod and Jupap, triggered the comm line to open. The viewer activated to show the bridge of the other ship.

    The other bridge had a single central command chair with personnel toward the rear manning two stations. The figure sitting in it was in a dark uniform with a vest, or rather something like vestments, over his uniform jacket. A green gem with a gold frame depicting two humanoid figures was attached to the right side of the vest. The wearer was a humanoid species with light skin and a crest of bone on the top of and around the skull. Caterina looked to the screen and said, "The same as on the ship" in a low voice.

    "Unknown vessels, I am Suvall of the Anla'shok, commanding White Star 54. Please identify yourselves."

    Robert kept his hands on his chair. First contact situations were things he was starting to get used to, but it was always important to remember the basics of them. "Greetings. I'm Captain Robert Dale, commander of the Alliance Starship Aurora. You have my greetings on behalf of my people, the nations and species of the United Alliance of Systems."

    The alien appraised him quietly. "I have never heard of your Alliance of Systems. The Human Earth Alliance I have. But they have no ships like yours."

    Huh. Another Alliance. Maybe we should have gone for 'Federation' after all. Robert nodded. "I understand that, sir. We are not from your universe. Our Alliance possesses interuniversal jump drive technology. We're here on a scientific mission."

    "I see. Do you know anything about the ruins of our sister vessel on the planet?"

    "Only that it crashed some time before we got here. My condolences for your people on the loss of the crew. We have already removed some of the remains and prepared them for burial. We can turn them over to you if that is your desire."

    There was a clear sign of anger, but Suvall clearly had the discipline to restrain it. "I see. We will take delivery of the remains for identification. May I ask why you are conducting a 'scientific investigation' on a dead planet? The species that lived here was annihilated a thousand years ago."

    Robert kept his expression neutral. He could understand the point of view of Suvall. They appeared to be grave robbers. He contemplated how much to tell the alien. "The species that used to dwell here, we have found indications of them in our universes, we recently covered the coordinates to this system from what they left behind," Robert said. Not a lie. But he wasn't ready to reveal what the Darglan were just yet. Not when it might cause even more excavation teams to show up. "We know them as Darglan."

    "Yes. They were victims of the previous war with the Shadows." Suvall seemed to consider what to say. "I will recover our dead and see to the disposition of our ship. I request that you not interfere."

    "Of course not," Robert said. "If I might ask, Suvall, whom do you represent? Your 'Anla'shok'. May I know your species?"

    "I am a Minbari. The Anla'shok - 'Rangers' in your Human language - are an order of my people devoted to the memory of Valen. We serve as the defenders of the InterStellar Alliance." Suvall seemed to consider something. "If you wish to make contact with our Alliance, I suggest you journey to Babylon-5 and speak with our representatives there."

    "Babylon-5." Robert nodded. "Thank you for this information. If you require any more help, please, ask. My people value the chance to meet new species and cultures."

    "I will consider your offer if it is necessary. Farewell." The image on the screen disappeared; they now had a closer look at the White Star vessel, with its prominent weapon emplacements in the nose and on the front of what looked like engine nacelles.

    "He was a little standoffish, don't you think?", Julia asked.

    "Different culture, maybe." Robert nodded to everyone. "Just keep a gentle eye on him. Set alert status to Code Blue as a precaution, I don't want to make any obvious movements of distrust or hostility, but better that we're on partial alert if anything should happen." Robert stood up. "Commander Andreys, please inform Captain Laurent and Commander King of our situation. I'll be in the ready room preparing a report to Admiral Maran."

    "And then?" Julia asked.

    "If he and the President agree, I ask Suvall to direct me to Babylon-5," was his answer.




    Meridina arrived in Ledosh's quarters as instructed. Even as she stepped in quietly, she saw he was in an active Council meeting via the IU communications system. "...our people to war!," a familiar voice was saying. She restrained the sigh she felt forming; it was her father.

    "I concur with Mastrash Karesl," another voice announced. Mastrash Goras, Meridina thought. "And yet this Council continues to support our people's subordination to the Alliance. What has it brought us to make up for this pain and misery? Nothing, I say!"

    "You speak as if this conflict were a simple political affair!" a third voice called out. Meridina figured it to be Mastrash Ginram, a younger Mastrash who just made the Council after a lifetime of improving the healing techniques of the swevyra'se. "The Reich is born of incredible darkness. They have slaughtered hundreds of thousands of innocent colonists these past two months. I refuse to believe that we could still adhere to Swenya's Code if we were to ignore this evil."

    "The Code is not so dogmatic as to require us to put our species' future and livelihood at jeopardy!" thundered a retort from Goras. "The Alliance was a mistake…!"

    Before he could finish an old voice chimed in. "You have made this argument before, Mastrash Goras. And it was rejected. We have pledged to support the war as a conflict against darkness."

    "Mastrash Maklir, it is clear that that Mastrash Ledosh and his pupil are going beyond the bounds of this Council's instructions," Goras said. "Let us not forget that Meridina is the one who was present for the provocation that started the war. And now she is training one of the Humans in our ways in defiance of the rules of our Order."

    "Meridina is training Lucy Lucero in the basic use of her swevyra, nothing more," Ledosh said, joining the conversation. "I have witnessed the training personally and vouch for it.""

    "You stand up for your pupil, Mastrash Ledosh, but your objectivity is questionable," Karesl answered. Meridina kept a neutral expression, though her heart ached at this continued reminder of her father's opposition. "You are pushing this interpretation of the Prophecy of the Dawn. Would it not fit your assertion of the Dawn Bearers having arisen to have some of their number wield strong swevyra?"

    "Not to mention the use of this Council's influence in regards to…"

    "Mastrash Goras, I have heard enough on that matter," Maklir growled. "The time has come for a vote on your proposal. May all vote as their swevyra guides them."

    Meridina watched quietly as the vote was held. Ledosh voted against, and he was in the majority again. She could imagine the sour look of disappointment on her father's face.

    "The motion is defeated," declared Maklir, who had not voted. "This Council meeting is adjourned. Mi rake sa swevyra iso."

    "Mi rake sa swevyra iso," the Council intoned over the speaker. Ledosh joined them as well before cutting the line. He turned and faced her. A weary look on his face could not be hidden. "I'm sorry you had to hear that."

    "They give you further trouble?"

    "Karesl and Goras are proving a most effective pair," Ledosh sighed. "They have yet to break the solid majority I have built in support of the our interpretation of events. But I fear that failure may yet lie on our horizon. If Goras and Ledosh find you are training Lucy Lucero in our ways, the Council will turn on you. You might face ejection or worse." He looked to her. "If you wish to be more cautious, that would be understandable. Even preferable." There was concern in his eyes and in his heart. "You have been my best student, Meridina. I do not wish to lose you."

    "You will not, Mastrash. I promise you that." Meridina smiled warmly at him. "And in time, even my father will see that this is the time Swenya spoke of."

    Ledosh drew in a sigh at that. She was so eager, not knowing what her desires truly entailed. But he could say nothing about it. "It would be gratifying, yes," he admitted. "But for now, we have other work. I take it Captain Dale wishes to commence further talks with this Minbari?"

    "He wanted you to be ready for the morning," Meridina said. "He will beam over to Challenger with you and others to examine their findings and options."

    "Of course. Let him know I will be ready by 0600."




    For over a year, Robert had been looking forward to visiting one of the Discovery-class ships, if just to see how they adapted the ships' design from his Aurora.

    Now he was materializing at one of the Transporter Stations on Challenger. Captain Laurent was waiting for him and for those coming with him; Data, Cat, Jarod, Ledosh, and her brother.

    "Madeleine." Laurent greeted his sister warmly.

    "Patrice. Thank God you are okay." She stepped up and embraced her younger brother. "I was worried about you while Aurora was in the war."

    "It was close," Laurent said. "Sometimes too close. But my pilots and I have come through every time."

    Madeleine wiped a tear from her eye. She looked to Robert. "Captain. Welcome to the Challenger."

    He accepted her offered hand. "I've always wanted to see one of these ships," he admitted. "A shame there's no time for a tour."

    "I know. All business, then?"

    The station operator looked up. "Captain, Sladen is ready for transport."

    "Of course." Madeleine Laurent led them off of the station's transport pad.

    A moment later white light appeared and Commander King's austere form coalesced from within it. She stood at attention. "Captain Laurent. Permission to come aboard?"

    "Permission granted, Commander King," she answered. "If you will all follow me? Lieutenant Duwala is waiting for us in the conference room."

    Captain Laurent led them through the Challenger's halls and to the nearest lift. The bridge was clearly based on Aurora's, although it turned secondary tactical into a multi-function operations station and the coloring was more blue and green than Aurora's bridge. Robert was surprised to see a Drekara, a purple-skinned silver-horned race from L2M1 that had remained outside of the Alliance for the time being, sitting at operations. There were two on Aurora, true, but they were among the hundred or so civilian personnel that had volunteered to work on his ship as crew support or science specialists. This one was in Stellar Navy uniform and was at Operations.

    There was little time to comment further, though. They went on into the ship's conference room. Robert shook hands with Philippe before taking his seat beside Laurent, opposite of her first officer Commander Nasira Fanous, another old face from the Facility days. "Hello again," she said to them in an Arabic accent.

    "Good to see you," Cat replied, smiling at her. "Congratulations."

    Nasira nodded by way of thanks.

    "We're expecting a call from Admiral Maran," Robert said. "But before that, we need to cover what we've learned so far. Commander Data, have you and our science officers discovered any more suitable sites for excavation?"

    Data operated the control in front of him to bring up a holographic likeness of the Darglan homeworld. Several points on most of the continents appeared. "Scans indicate there may be surviving structures in these areas buried underground. However, only two of them can be excavated by the means we have at hand. Specialized machinery will be required to safely access the other sites."

    "We can handle those two sites easily," Madeleine said. "What about the Aurora?"

    "I don't know yet," Robert answered. "I'm not sure we'll be staying, honestly. There's no telling what's in those Darglan databanks that were taken. If making contact with this 'InterStellar Alliance' can get us information on who took them and where, we might be able to do something about it."

    "Hopefully nothing diplomatically troublesome, Captain?" King asked primly. "We have one war already."

    "Hopefully not," Robert agreed. "Although that brings up the presence of Suvall's ship." He looked to Madeleine. "Since we don't know everything about their capabilities, would you feel comfortable remaining here alone? Or should I detach Commander King's ship to keep watch?"

    Madeleine smiled at that. "We can take care of ourselves, Captain, but thank you for the offer."

    Robert answered that with a nod of understanding. "Of course." He turned to Ledosh, who was looking out the window at the broken world below. "Mastrash?"

    For a moment the Mastrash didn't respond. When he did, he looked back to them. "My apologies," he said. "I was simply contemplating the significance of this. My people have writings of the Darglan, histories and memories of their kindness and curiosity. To see their homeworld reduced to this, to know those brilliant people will never again be seen… I can only consider it a terrible blow to the Light. The day these people were destroyed was a day of victory for the forces of Darkness."

    "It is horrible to know that a people with such accomplishments were wiped out so brutally," King noted.

    "As for the Minbari, I am willing to go over to their ship and discuss the matter with them," Ledosh said. "If they are the ones in possession of this bio-armor technology, it would seem prudent to ensure good relations."

    "We can make the offer," Robert began, "but…"

    They were interrupted by a tone over the ship comm system. "Captain, the Aurora is relaying an IU transmission over to us."

    "Transfer it to us, Mister Packhurst," Captain Laurent said.

    Everyone looked to the screen in the wall. Admiral Maran appeared. "Captains. Mastrash. Commander. Good to see you all. I've read your reports. A commendable job done so far, Captain Laurent, Lieutenant Duwala."

    "We have found two more sites that could be excavated by the Challenger, sir," Madeleine Laurent said. "But we cannot access others."

    "Understood. I'll see about getting an excavation team out. Have your officers send my office a list of possible requirements." Maran checked something on his desk. "As for this White Star ship, their suggestion is one that the President has agreed should be followed up on. Mastrash Ledosh, we leave the diplomatic first contact up to you. Obviously we would enjoy learning what happened to the databanks taken from this world. We are prepared to make compensation for access to the data."

    "I understand. I will do what I can, Admiral."

    "Captain Dale, I entrust this mission to you as well. Time is of the essence, as you are no doubt aware." Maran put his hands together on the desk. "You must depart immediately for Babylon-5."




    Ship's Log: ASV Aurora; 16 September 2641. We are currently en route to the space station Babylon-5 to commence diplomatic first contact with the species of this universe. While our primary goal is to establish the basis for peaceful relations, it will also provide us an opportunity to find out about the unknown excavators who took the Darglan technology.


    Robert and Julia were ready when King arrived in the conference room with Lieutenant Caldwell. After these past several weeks they found they were starting to get a little used to not having these weekly meetings with Zack and Lieutenant Apley; nevertheless this was a reminder of a friend no longer present with them.

    "Cross-training has been a success," Caldwell noted to them. The young officer was not dissimilar from his austere commander, if a little warmer in demeanor. He was looking over notes and reports. "And your engineering crews managed to deal with that issue we were having with the warp field generators."

    "We have people who served on Koenig so they're familiar with those systems," Julia said. "What about your launch readiness results?"

    "Readiness in an emergency is now at fifteen seconds from the alert," Caldwell said proudly.

    "That's good." Robert nodded slightly. He grinned at the young officer and couldn't help but notice that Caldwell was probably just a couple of years younger than they were, and they were certainly closer to him in age than they were to King. "Koenig's record was twelve seconds. Give another few weeks and you'll be beating that one."

    That seemed to get a reaction out of King. "I look forward to the challenge. as does my crew." She eyed Robert steadily, as if daring him to make another similar statement. He got the feeling he'd touched a nerve.

    Julia noticed the same thing. "Yes. Now, about your torpedo locker…"




    When their meeting was over, King stepped up to Julia. "Commander, a word?"

    "Of course." Julia led her over to the side of the room, beside the empty wall across from the windows, while Robert and Caldwell left. "What may I do for you, Commander?"

    "I'm curious, Commander Andreys. Yesterday Captain Dale brought Commander Laurent to the meeting on the Challenger."

    "Yes?"

    "And yet there was no need for the commander of Aurora's fighters to be present," King pointed out. "The discussions were all scientific and diplomatic. The only apparent reason to bring him was because his sister is the Captain of the Challenger. Doesn't that strike you as inappropriate?"

    Julia crossed her arms. "To a degree, I can definitely see that. The Captain, well… it's family. A brother wanting to see his sister? That's a wish he lives with every day. One he knows will never come true."

    "Still, it was a clear breach of protocol, Commander."

    Julia smiled. It was a thin smile from thought and slight amusement. "You'll find, Commander King, that things can be a bit less… by the book around here. I'm sure it'll take some getting used to."

    "I see. Well, thank you for discussing the matter with me, Commander," King said. "I will be off now."

    "I'll see you around, Commander," Julia replied pleasantly.




    Jarod entered the Lookout alongside Lucy. "And what do you want to do about…?" she began.

    "We can discuss that later," he assured her. "Do you smell that?"

    Lucy sniffed the air. Her stomach rumbled involuntarily. "Oh. Sausage stew. Hargert has to have life force powers of his own, it's the only way to explain how he could know."

    "I'm surprised he doesn't just make tubs of the stuff," Jarod remarked. He looked around for a table. Many were filled with junior officers and senior crew, but there was one with a couple of empty seats. He walked up. "Do you mind if we have a seat?" he asked the occupants.

    "I've got no problems with that." Shepard looked to the other seat. "Worf?"

    The Klingon seemed to consider his response. "I have no objection," he finally stated.

    "Don't mind him." Shepard smiled. "He's just having a bad day."

    Lucy and Jarod were sitting by this time. "Are we going to regret it with the next exercise?" Lucy asked cautiously.

    "No, I don't think so."

    "What is wrong, Commander?" Jarod asked Worf. "You seem upset."

    Worf eyed Jarod and Lucy with consternation. "I received a report from my brother," he admitted. "Forces from our House were involved in the retaking of one of your colonies. Altaplano."

    "So… we won. Then why…"

    "Our warriors found graves. There were no living colonists left. Just bodies piled into graves."

    Lucy frowned. "Well, there goes my appetite."

    "I respect the reason I was sent to train you," Worf said, "But I am tired of diplomatic missions when there is a great foe to fight."

    "Some of us feel the same way." Lucy looked at Shepard. "What about you, Commander?"

    "I'm still getting used to the idea that I'm in another universe preparing to fight honest to God living Nazis," she answered. "My mother told me stories sometimes, back when I was growing up."

    "Well, I suppose it'd be like if we were preparing to fight the French and Indians from the French and Indian War," Lucy noted.

    "There are historians who argue that events from the time of video technology being available remain in the cultural conscious longer than those that preceded that capability," Jarod said. "People from any century will remember the Nazis more easily than they'll remember the Mongols or the Crusades. At least for some cultures."

    "That is a Human point of view," Worf said. "Klingons do not need video to remember the deeds of our great heroes."

    "It's cultural even among Humans." Lucy indicated a nearby table with junior officers. "Ensign al-Rashad told me that her parents still celebrate the anniversary of Saladin taking Jerusalem from the Christians."

    "It's where you come from that can matter. When it comes to Nazis, I'm half-Jewish myself," Shepard noted. "Or maybe it was a quarter. I'll have to ask my mother."

    "Your mother's where you got that from?"

    Shepard nodded at Lucy. "We're from the old Canadian provinces of North America. At least my parents were. I spent my childhood on space stations and starships. My parents had signed up for the Systems Alliance Navy before I was born."

    "So your Mom and Dad are…"

    "My mom's posted on a dreadnought." Shepard frowned. "My Dad… we were setting up a family home on Mindoir. It was something for when Mom finally retired. And then the Batarians attacked the colony in a slave raid. Dad pushed me into a hidden panic room in our prefab home unit before getting his rifle out." A pained look filled her green eyes. "We found his body after the attack."

    "My condolences," Lucy said. "I… never knew my father. And I lost my mother a few years ago."

    "Your father died with honor," Worf noted.

    Shepard gave Worf an intent look. "He still died. And I was just sixteen."

    "I was six in Human terms when I lost my parents," Worf admitted candidly. "The Romulans killed my parents on Khitomer. I was adopted by a Human from the Starfleet vessel that responded to the attack."

    By now it was clear to everyone that Jarod's face had become a mask of thought. "I still haven't found my parents."

    "So." Lucy sighed. "Between the four of us, we have… three biological parents still alive?"

    "I hope," Jarod muttered. A pained look came to his eye.

    Lucy could sense that they had touched a sore point. Even with their victory over the Centre earlier in the year, it hadn't brought Jarod any closer to finding his family. She put a hand on his shoulder. "Jarod. You'll find them. You've got all that data, there's got to be something in it, right?"

    "I haven't had time to go through it in a while," he revealed. "Not with everything going on."

    "But you will," Lucy urged. "Don't worry about it."

    There was silence at the table for several seconds. "Greetings, everyone," a cheerful voice said. It was Albert, carrying with him plates of lunch-meat sandwiches, potato crisps, and bowls of steaming sausage stew. "Please, enjoy your lunch."

    After taking a bite of the stew and swallowing it, Shepard grinned again. "You people are going to spoil me. We would kill for galley cooks this good back in our Alliance."

    "Hargert spoils us all, Commander," Lucy pointed out with a wide grin.




    Everyone was on the bridge for their imminent arrival. Ledosh and Meridina arrived last and took up a position behind the command seats. "We're coming up on the coordinates provided by Suvall," Locarno said.

    "Here goes another first contact," Julia said. "Nervous for this one?"

    "A little," Robert admitted. "I always am."

    "Look on the good side," Angel said from tactical. "You don't have to worry about them having a big swastika painted on the hull."

    "That was definitely one of our most memorable first contacts," Jarod agreed.

    "Dropping out of warp in five… four… three..."

    At the end of Locarno's countdown the Aurora's warp field disengaged. The ship slowed back to sublight speeds. In front of them was a brown, lifeless planet. "Magnifying," Jarod said.

    In orbit there was a structure, basking in the light of Epsilon Eridani. The hull was mostly blue with silver; it was a long object with two long extensions on one end and an extended, non-rotating section on the other. The rest of the station was built around a rotating cylinder. "A five mile long O'Neill cylinder!" Caterina exclaimed with giddiness. "Isn't it awesome!?"

    "It would appear the station does not have an artificial gravity field," Data remarked. He was sitting at one of the auxiliary stations in the back of the bridge beside the deck plan MSD. "I am detecting fusion-based power sources."

    "We're being hailed, audio only," Jarod said.

    "Put them on."

    "This is Babylon Control, Aurora, please proceed to the following location for station-keeping. President Sheridan is waiting to receive you."

    "I have our coordinates," Locarno stated. "Maneuvering to take up position within beaming range of the station."

    Robert looked to Ledosh. "It looks like Suvall called ahead to warn them we were coming."

    "Indeed." Ledosh tilted his head slightly. "It behooves us, then, to not keep him waiting. How do you wish to proceed?"

    Robert thought on that. "As usual, it's probably better not to spook them. We'll take a shuttle over. Lucy, Meridina?"

    Lucy stood from Engineering and Meridina nodded. "Of course."
     
    • 1-16-3
    • Lucy took the piloting duties for bringing their shuttle in. The docking area was a buzz of activity as they came in. Dockworkers in special EVA machines were busy shifting around freight crates in zero-G. A passenger shuttle from a starliner near the station came in in front of them and veered off to what was likely a general docking terminal for such craft. The station's traffic controllers had, however, directed them elsewhere.

    When they arrived there was a small honor guard waiting for them. The Aurora crew recognized the "Ranger" uniform they had seen on Suvall while others had a blue-gray uniform with the number 5 on the arms with a target symbol. Leading them was a man with curly dark hair. Standing near him was a woman with dark brown hair wearing a deep blue uniform with brown shoulder epaulets and a colored bar under a stylized E-A symbol.

    Two figures stood side-by-side among the guard. A Human man near middle age, with a well-trimmed beard the same wheat color as his hair, was in a dark blue business jacket with a white dress shirt underneath and matching dark blue pants. At his side was a woman who looked to be from Suvall's species, having the same bone crest on her head, but with flowing black hair around it. Her choice of clothes seemed a cross between the modest dresses Robert could remember from Sunday church and robes.

    Ledosh took the lead. He bowed his head. "I am Ledosh, Mastrash of the Order of Swenya of Gersal, named Diplomatic Emissary of President Henry Morgan of the United Alliance of Systems. This is Captain Robert Dale, commander of the Alliance Starship Aurora; Lieutenant Commander Meridina of Gersal, Captain Dale's Chief of Security and a Knight of the Order of Swenya; and Lieutenant Lucilla Lucero, also of Aurora."

    The answer was a nod. "I'm President John Sheridan of the InterStellar Alliance. This is Vice-President Delenn, my wife." He gestured to the uniformed woman. "Captain Elizabeth Lochley, station commander, and Station Security Chief Zack Allen. It's my pleasure to welcome you to Babylon-5." Sheridan's voice was warm and welcoming, and he spoke with the air Robert attributed with commanders like Maran, Sisko, Picard, and Anderson, or the late Admiral Lithgon. "I must admit that we've been curious ever since Ranger Suvall reported your presence. Other universes and interuniversal travel sounds, well…" Sheridan chuckled. "...rather farfetched."

    "I used to believe the same," Robert answered.

    It was Delenn who spoke next. "Suvall mentioned that you found traces of the Darglan species in other universes. I would be interested to know anything you can tell us about them. They were among the first victims of the previous war with the Shadows."

    "We have some understanding of what they were like," Ledosh said. "Millennia ago they made contact with my species, the Gersallians. Though some of our records of that era were lost to internal upheaval, we still remember something of them."

    Zack Allen raised a hand. "So, wait… you're not Human?"

    "No, we are not," Meridina answered politely. "It seems to be the will of life to have made our species resemble your own so closely."

    "The universe has its own will," Delenn observed. "Shall we go? We have a conference room ready."

    "Of course."




    The initial conference lasted some time. It served as an exchange of basic information; the status of E5B1 on the side and the wider Multiverse on the other. And, of course, the Darglan… and why the Aurora had gone to their homeworld.

    Chief Allen had not joined them for the meeting, leaving Sheridan, Delenn, and Lochley to react. "So, you found a universe with a history where Nazi Germany conquered the world." Lochley's voice betrayed disbelief, although they had already shown some of the relevant records. "I think I might have just left."

    "That option was considered, but we had already put much effort into the colonies there," Ledosh explained. "And there were… concerns about appearing weak."

    "I understand that." Sheridan gave them a nod. "What concerns me is that these people might be on the verge of finding this Darglan technology you use. The kind of threat that would pose to our universe would be unacceptable."

    "That gets us to one of the reasons we came," Robert said. "We've discovered that there have been prior excavations of the Darglan Homeworld."

    "Yes." Delenn nodded. "Although we have tried to prevent other species from doing so, there have been times when we were otherwise occupied. Especially as of late, with the Shadow War and other conflicts taking our attention."

    "Unfortunately, an excavation some time ago took what appeared to be Darglan computer databanks," Robert explained. "They could have data on them that we could use. And there's no telling what's on them."

    Lochley was examining a starchart. "So this is the planet you're talking about?", she asked.

    Robert nodded. "Yes."

    "And it doesn't have a jumpgate?"

    "If you're referring to those four structures you've got arrayed together near the station, then no, it doesn't have one."

    Delenn and Sheridan were looking over the map too. "That area of space is fairly remote," Sheridan observed. "It's too far from most of the Alliance races to explore."

    "A ship going out there would have to possess its own jump drive. Now, for a civilian expedition ship with its own jump drive, well, those things are expensive. I can't imagine such a ship having a lot of range or room for the excavation supplies they'd need. They would need a safe port of call nearby. And since this is mostly Minbari-held space around this radius, you can be sure they stayed away. And that means the only viable port of call for them…" Lochley tapped the map. "...is here."

    "So you believe this group came through here?", Meridina asked.

    "This place is a magnet for trouble," Lochley insisted. "I'll have Allen assist you."

    "Thank you for your understanding and kindness." Ledosh nodded his head. "I will leave Captain Dale and his crew to that investigation while we continue the arrangement of permanent diplomatic relations."

    "Of course, sir," Robert said.

    "We may need you to relocate, then," Sheridan admitted. "We're scheduled to leave for the new Alliance capital on Minbar in a few days."

    "Ah. I understand." Ledosh nodded and looked to Robert. "Captain, depending upon the course of your investigation, I may need to leave your vessel. I believe I can do the greatest good by remaining with President Sheridan."

    "If you need anything from your quarters on the ship, I'll have them brought to you," Robert said.

    "Thank you. Now, to move on to other elements of this discussion…"




    Robert decided to linger a little after he left the meeting. Babylon-5 was an interesting place to be, and the sight could be just as stunning as some of those on the Citadel. He rode one of the trams that went along the inside of the cylinder, allowing him to look out at the awesome sight of the station's spinning interior.

    Now he was standing on a walkway above the station's bustling market, the Zocalo. Aliens of various species jostled and fussed and haggled with each other at their kiosks and stands and full shop spaces. One humanoid species had tentacles over what looked to be their mouth; another had fish fins on their heads, and yet another were bipeds with insectoid helmets.

    "Quite a sight, isn't it?"

    Robert turned his head. President Sheridan had walked up beside him. "Mister President? They're done already?"

    "Oh, no. Delenn and your Master Ledosh are still handling the diplomatic details." Sheridan looked out at the market and smiled. "It's quite the view. I've always liked it up here."

    "It is," Robert agreed. "I've been to other stations before. But there's something about this one…"

    "I've lived here for nearly four years. This station is special." Sheridan seemed to consider what he was going to ask next. There was a look of thought on his face and a glimmer of curiosity in his eye. "Do you know which race is which, yet?"

    "Aside from the Minbari, I don't know any of them," he admitted.

    "Well, to start off, that one is a Pak'ma'ra." Sheridan indicated the one with the tentacles hanging over its mouth. "It's always best to stay a foot away when talking to one."

    "Why?"

    "Because, Captain, they're carrion eaters."

    Robert blinked. "You mean they eat dead…"

    "...everything," Sheridan said. "And I do mean everything." Sheridan pointed out the fish fin species. "Those are Abbai. And those…" He pointed to the ones with the insectoid helmets. "...are Gaim."

    "A lot of species," Robert said. "We only have three in our Alliance."

    "I suppose they don't all resemble Humans like your Gersallian friends?"

    Robert chuckled at that. "Not at all."

    "Good. It can be a pain in the neck sometimes, dealing with all of the different cultures and points of view, but in the end... you get used to the pains and enjoy the diversity."

    "Do you do this for any new visitor who shows up?", Robert asked.

    "Oh, hell no," Sheridan laughed. "I was coming up here anyway."

    Robert realized why. "One last look?", he asked.

    Sheridan nodded. "One last look." He leaned against the railing. "Enjoy it while you're here, Captain. Otherwise you'll never know what you're missing."




    Meridina and Lucy accompanied Captain Lochley to the station's security offices. Chief Allen was present, as was a blond-haired woman in a brown and gray suit. "Tessa Holloran," she introduced herself. "I'm the new Minister of Covert Intelligence for the Alliance."

    "Minister." Meridina nodded respectfully. "I thank you for your assistance."

    "Don't thank me yet," the woman replied. "I just got into this job. I'm not sure how much I can help you."

    "So far we've tracked dozens of ships capable of forming their own jump points." Allen pointed to a list on his nearby screen. "Any one of them could have gotten to that part of the Minbari frontier."

    Lucy looked at the list. A thought occurred to her. "How many of them could destroy one of your White Star ships?"

    For a moment there was no reply. "Wait, what?", Allen asked.

    Holloran seemed to get what she was referring to. "You mean, could they have destroyed White Star 58."

    "It crashed on the planet for a reason," Lucy pointed out. "What if they caught the excavators? I got the feeling the Minbari don't care for people who go hunting for stuff from the Darglan homeworld."

    "Well, those ships aren't invincible," Allen said. "Although with civilian expedition ships I find it hard to believe."

    "Not if they're carrying hidden weapons." Holloran was now looking over the list and the specific ship types. "I can think of several ways to do it. A hidden plasma cannon compartment in the hull, for instance. Then they just needed to lure them in. You said White Star 54 is investigating the crashed ship?"

    "Yes."

    "Then I'll have to give them a call. They might have recovered data."

    Holloran left. "So." Allen looked to them. "This 'other universes' thing, how does that work?"

    "Um. Well, it punches a hole through the fabric of reality and allows us to go through it." Lucy shrugged. "Anything more technical and I'll have to call Caterina to explain it. And she'll probably spend more time pestering you with questions about all of the alien species on the station or how the station's systems work."

    "Ah. Alright." Allen nodded, apparently satisfied with that answer. "And how did that thing work… where you didn't use the jump gate or a jump point?"

    "Warp drive. You use subspace to create a field of warped real-space around your ship so you can propel yourself to faster than light."

    "Sounds more convenient than hyperspace jumpgates, then. You should be happy your excavators didn't have it." Allen looked back to his screens. "You know, depending on how much time they've had to sell this stuff, you probably won't see it. There are all sorts of groups and species and people out there that would pay big credits for goods like that."

    "Maybe so, Chief Allen. But the attempt must be made."

    "Just giving you a fair head's up."




    After his return to the Aurora Robert went to the ready room office off the bridge and prepared his report of the day to Admiral Maran, primarily concerning the first contact. He included his feelings and observations on the ISA and the species it contained. As for his impressions on Sheridan…

    ...well, he had to admit he was impressed. Sheridan had that air of command about him. He was confident without being arrogant. The people on the station, regardless of their species, were supporters. Delenn seemed to compliment him well; she reminded Robert of Meridina and Ledosh with her quiet, willful demeanor and contemplative outlook.

    After a chime at the door Robert looked up. "Come in."

    Julia, of course, stepped in. "I have our new personnel report. We managed to get personnel shuffled to cover that shortage in the support staff."

    "That's good. I know we've been putting some stress on them even without the combat situations."

    "Until we can finally get trained replacements, we'll have to hope that arrangement holds out." Julia took a seat opposite from him. Through the window Babylon-5 was spinning quietly. Epsilon 3 was now between the station and the system's star so the station was now lit up against the night-side of the planet below. "Will we be here long enough to send people over for shore leave?"

    "Maybe. They know about our transporter technology now, but we'll need to make sure we send anyone over into their customs area. Just to prevent problems."

    "Leo wants to go over and check out their medical facilities," she continued. "With so many species to care for he's curious about them. And he thinks anything he sees over there can come in handy if we start getting even more species in the Alliance and on the crew."

    "I'm all for it." Robert checked over the report Julia had handed him. "I see we're still about fifty crew short."

    "Those new transfers we got before we went off to Slavia were offset by having half that amount transferred off to other posts," Julia explained. "We're still manned sufficiently, though. There's no need to worry about having things stop working."

    "Good. I have a feeling we'll need to be in top shape soon."

    An electronic tone, sounding like a warbling with a beep at the end, came from Robert's multidevice. "Dale here," he said into it.

    "Captain." It was Meridina on the other end. "We may have found the excavating vessel."

    "Excellent." He exchanged a confident grin with Julia. "I'll get a staff meeting ready in an hour. I'll see you there."

    "We will be there.," she confirmed.




    The command staffs of the Aurora and Sladen were seated together in the conference room. The main screen had Halloran and Captain Lochley displayed. A secondary screen showed the image of a fairly-sized starship with a central rotating area. "This is the Balboa," explained Lochley. "She's a survey vessel for Interplanetary Expeditions."

    "IPX has been quiet about the Balboa's recent activities," Halloran continued at that point. "Several weeks ago they put in to Babylon-5 to replenish their stores and offload findings. Whatever they took out they marked as miscellaneous findings and stored on the station. A week ago another ship with clearance loaded the crates Balboa left and departed immediately."

    "Huh." Julia raised a finger to indicate she wanted to speak. "Wouldn't that put it right around the time that your ship got shot down over the Darglan Homeworld?"

    "It is," Lochley confirmed.

    "It would appear that this organization is involved in many, how do you say, 'shady' dealings," Meridina revealed to her shipmates.

    "They're effectively working for Earthforce," Holloran revealed. "They've been providing samples of lost alien technology for Earth Dome to study for years. Especially after the Minbari War."

    "I don't suppose there's any hope of buying it back from them, is there?", Robert asked.

    Lochley shook her head. "Highly unlikely."

    "Then… what do we do?"

    Lochley cleared her throat. "I… think I should step out." She turned and left the range of the video recorder.

    Holloran kept watching in one direction until there was the faint sound of an electronic door sliding shut. "Captain Lochley is an Earthforce officer. It's best if she doesn't get mixed up in this."

    "I have a feeling, Minister, that you're about to ask us to do something shady as well," Robert said.

    "In a manner of speaking, I suppose." Holloran tapped a key on her console. "I'm sending you all of the information I have on the ship that picked up the things Balboa dropped off. It's called the Pedicarus. It's been chartered from Akdor. They're a neutral species but they have strong ties to Earth."

    "You think this Akdorian ship is being used to smuggle the Darglan technology?"

    "I think the Akdorian ship is actually an Earth vessel used for covert operations," Holloran said. "Thankfully, Mister Garibaldi left me with an intact network of informants and agents to go with my own. My contacts confirm the Pedicarusis currently in the Venir system, not far from the Darglan Homeworld. My guess is they've got something to pick up from another excavation team before heading back to a drop point with what they've got."

    "And you think we can intercept them and take it back," Robert mused.

    "I never said that," she said. "What you do is your business. I provide intel, nothing more. Good luck."

    "Is it just me," Angel said aloud, "Or were we just advised to go steal this stuff back?"

    "I think we were." Jarod nodded.

    "It's a shaky line," Julia said. "On the one hand, it's essentially piracy."

    Angel nodded. "And on the other hand, these people killed an entire crew of Rangers to try and keep their activities a secret. It makes you wonder what else they could be up to."

    "Right." Robert nodded. "Is this something… can I even bring this to Maran's attention?"

    "I think it ill-advised to speak a word of this to our superiors," King answered.

    Before Robert could ask her to elaborate, Jarod spoke up. "If you do…" Jarod put his hands on the table. "...then you make him complicit. In fact, it could be seen as something the Alliance government sanctioned. This universe's Earth could declare war on us."

    "And it might not endear us to their allies either," Julia noted.

    "And if we don't…" Robert sighed. "...then we lose any hope of finding out what was in those databanks." He looked to King. "Commander King, I'm open to suggestions on this matter."

    "I suggest that you remember that in time of war, the law falls silent."

    "In other words…", Julia began.

    "In other words, Commander Andreys, sometimes you have to make a hard choice if you want to win the war," King noted. "You can't rely on principle or your own sense of ethics." She gave them a hard look. "Sometimes you even have to make a sacrifice of them."

    Robert frowned at that. "I think I get what you mean. Better to do this than risk us not finding that Facility before the Reich does."

    "Exactly."

    "But." Robert shook his head. "We don't even know those databanks have what we need. If we do this… we'll be committing an act of piracy on a possibility it might help. I'm not sure I want to go that far."

    "Then maybe you should reconsider your career choice, Captain." King noticed that the others were giving her hard looks and sighed. "I don't like it any more than you do. The honor of the Alliance Stellar Navy must be maintained. But that honor will not shield our worlds from Reich warships attacking us with interuniversal drives. I'd rather be guilty than terrified. My crew feels the same way."

    Robert swallowed and looked to his friends and colleagues. "Well?"

    "Sometimes, we don't get to be the good guys, I guess," Locarno sighed.

    "It's not my call," Leo mumbled. "But I don't like it.."

    "I'm with Commander King," Jarod said.

    "Same here," Angel added.

    "I... " Cat swallowed. "I don't know."

    "A bloody terrible choice if ye ask me," Scotty mumbled. "But if it has t' be done… better t' do it."

    "The intent of an act is the important part. Darkness comes from that intent as much as the act itself," was Meridina's contribution.

    That left Julia. She looked to Robert and nodded slowly. "We can at least investigate," she suggested. "We can send Commander King and the Sladen."

    "And Jarod and Caterina can go along to help identify any signs of Darglan tech?"

    Julia nodded. "Send Lucy too."

    Robert drew in a breath. "Alright. I… suppose we can do that, at least." He looked to King. "Commander, I'm leaving this mission in your hands. It'll ask too many questions if Aurora herself departs. Head to this Venir system and investigate. If you feel you have a shot, and you can confirm the Darglan technology is aboard… then retrieve it."

    "Of course, Captain." King nodded. She stood. "We're ready to depart immediately."

    "What will we tell people about the Sladen's launch?", Angel asked.

    Julia's reply was immediate. "We're supposed to get a check-in from Challenger within the hour. We delay the launch until then and say they requested reinforcement."

    "Right." Robert nodded to King. "Good luck, Commander."

    "Thank you, Captain. I shall endeavor to complete this mission satisfactorily," was her reply.




    Cat arrived at the walkway to the Sladen's dock entrance a moment before Jarod. She had her bag of essential day-to-day things slung over a shoulder, the same as him. "So." She breathed. "Maybe this goes better than the last time we did something sneaky?"

    "Let's hope," Jarod said.

    Lucy rounded the corner with her own bag and Meridina behind her.

    And behind her was Commander Shepard, in full combat gear, duffel bag slung over one arm and equipment and equipment bag over the other.

    Jarod and Cat looked at the three. "Um… she's going too?", Cat asked. Her voice was almost a squeak from disbelief.

    "Commander Andreys and Meridina suggested you might need the help," Shepard said.

    "If something happens, though, your people could get some of the blame…"

    She cut Jarod off. "My orders were to do whatever I needed to help you secure that Facility against the Reich. If that means getting that databank back from a bunch of state-sanctioned pirates? That comes with the N7 on the suit."

    "Fair enough, I suppose," Jarod admitted. He checked the time. "Commander King is set to launch in the next five minutes. We should get going."

    "This is going to be interesting," Lucy mused as the four boarded the Sladen.




    Robert and Julia were on the bridge observing as Sladen launched. The profile of the Trigger-class attack ship fit the Koenig so well they could almost confuse the two. "Do you think we're making the right call?", Robert asked her.

    When Julia looked at him her eyes, normally so vibrant and clear in their light green color, he could see the same doubts he had. "I don't know," she admitted. "Whoever these people are, we know they're willing to kill. That might work for us, if they don't want things made public.."

    "...but it could also work against us." Robert nodded. "Yeah."

    On the screen the Sladen jumped to warp.




    Leo decided he liked Babylon-5.

    He had been beamed in at the dock and gone through customs, as standard, and from there it was off to the commercial areas. The number of species to be found, the vibrant thrum of life, gave the station a feel that was lacking in places like Harris Station, or even Arcturus.

    One of the Narn in station security directed him to the Medlabs. They weren't very busy at the moment, it seemed, although there were a few patients around.

    "You're from the Aurora, I'm assuming?", someone asked, a female voice with an English accent.

    A woman in a light blue suit emerged from an office area by the door. Her dark hair was brushed into a professional-looking hairstyle and complemented the cocoa-brown color of her complexion. Leo noted the Staff of Hermes insignia on the suit; some things truly did not change. He grinned and nodded. "Doctor Leonard Gillam."

    "Doctor Lillian Hobbs." She offered her hand. "Chief of Medlab. Well, soon to be, I should say. Doctor Franklin doesn't officially hand his position over until tomorrow. What can I do for you, Doctor Gillam?"

    Leo pulled a digital pad from his uniform pocket and handed it to her. "I was hoping you might have the means to synthesize some of these components?"

    She looked it over, reading the chemical formulas that would look like numbers and chemical names to the uninitiated. "What is this for? I don't think I've seen a combination quite like this."

    "It's for the Dorei on our crew," Leo explained. "There's a case of Andrili influenza going through our Dorei crew. This is a treatment to suppress the virus until their immune systems can defeat it. Unfortunately, I ran out of the medicine weeks ago and with the war the fleet quartermaster hasn't replenished my stock yet. And I'm short on these three compounds to make my own."

    "Hrm… let me see." Hobbs went to her computer and punched in the necessary information. "I believe we have enough of each in the quantities you need. My facilities can make the treatment for you if you'd like."

    "I don't want to impose, our biologist contingent is more than capable…" Seeing Hobbs' bemused look, Leo sighed. "Alright. Sure. And keep the formula, who knows when you'll start having Dorei around here as well."

    "That will be a sight," Hobbs agreed. She typed in the order. "I'm sending the order to our pharmacists now. It will take them some time to make the treatment. A few hours, certainly. Would you like to wait?"

    Leo smiled at that. "I cleared my schedule just in case. I've still got more of the station to see."

    "Just stay out of Brown Sector and you'll be fine."

    The door swished open behind Leo. He turned and saw another man enter. His skin tone was closer to Hobbs' than Leo's, and he was wearing the same uniform. He looked at Leo and for a moment showed confusion. But that quickly cleared. "You're from that other Alliance that arrived?", he asked.

    Leo nodded and offered a hand. "Doctor Leonard Gillam."

    That hand was accepted. "Doctor Stephen Franklin. A pleasure to meet you." Franklin looked to Hobbs. "Doctor, I was just coming by to make sure everything was going smoothly."

    "Well, aside from all the bruised egos that you picked me to take over…" Hobbs grinned with amusement. "Things are getting along well, I'd say."

    "Well, I'm sure they'll get used to it." Franklin turned to Leo again. "Doctor, did you need anything?"

    "Oh, Doctor Hobbs has that handled," Leo said. "I was just about to tour the station a little while I wait for everything to be done."

    "Good. What do you think of it so far?"

    "Lively and interesting," Leo answered. "I'm guessing after a while you get used to it, though."

    "Oh, you might be surprised." Franklin chuckled. "This place can still surprise me sometimes, and I've been here for almost five years." He looked over the computer panel by Hobbs and, just as Leo turned to go, looked back up. "Say, are you hungry? Either of you?"

    Leo shrugged. "Well, I haven't had lunch yet."

    "Neither have I."

    "Well, I've found out that being Head of Xenobiological Research gives a pretty good salary. So how about a meal? Because I have to admit that this whole idea of other universes out there, other species we haven't seen and Humanities with different timelines and histories, it's interesting."

    Leo considered that easily. "As I told Doctor Hobbs, I cleared my schedule."

    "Well, that sounds wonderful." Hobbs stood up from her chair. "I'm all for it."

    "Great. Let me finish this and… we're good to go."

    Leo followed the two doctors out. He hadn't planned on eating on the station, but given the chance to talk to two physicians of this universe, how could he pass that up?




    It had been years since Caterina had last needed to sleep on a ship like the Koenig, or Sladen in this case. She hadn't missed it. And if anything, Sladen was worse than Koenig's sleeping quarters had ever been.

    "Hey." Jarod's voice jolted Cat awake. They had joined Lucy for breakfast the morning after departing Aurora. "Are you okay?"

    Caterina tried to answer. She had to yawn first, after which it came out. "I didn't sleep well at all."

    "Its the bunks," Lucy said. "They're harder than the ones we had on Koenig."

    "It's not that so much as…" Cat rubbed her arms. "It feels like I'm in a coffin."

    "Well, look at it like this." Jarod smirked. "None of us likely got any good rest since we're so used to beds back on Aurora."

    "Except for Shepard. She was fast asleep." Cat moved her spoon around the bowl of replicated cereal. "And I mean completely asleep."

    "That's because I'm used to it." Shepard moved up to their table with a breakfast straight from the replicators. She was wearing a basic duty uniform of the Systems Alliance. "I served on a frigate when I was fresh out of boot, the Monte Cassino. We slept in bunks that were basically coffins with a transparent lid."

    "Really?" Cat made a face at that thought. "That's harsh."

    "Space is at a premium on ships, and frigates have to cram everything into small frames to work. You have to make trade-offs." Shepard looked around. "Honestly, this ship feels more like a warship than your Aurora does."

    "The Aurora wasn't built to just be a warship." Jarod took a moment to sip at a cup of orange juice. Also replicated, which was why he had to stop himself from making a face with every drink. "When we filled in her decks and loaded her systems, the idea was a ship that could do multiple missions for our organization, and later for the Alliance."

    "From what I read you built that ship in another Facility like the one we're looking for." Shepard emptied a carton of milk into a bowl of cereal at the side of a plate of eggs and bacon. "So if you had one of those yourself, wasn't there a database you could look through to find this other one?"

    "We looked for other Facilities back then." Caterina shook her head. "But the computer systems had been wiped of any."

    "It was likely a security measure," Jarod pondered.

    Lucy finished swallowing and watched Shepard finish a length of bacon. "I thought you were Jewish?"

    Shepard smiled thinly at that. "Oh, this? It's replicated, remember? Didn't come from an actual pig. Of course, I've never been very observant anyway. A quarter, after all."

    "She has you there." Jarod met Shepard's smile with his own. "Anyway, we'd better finish up breakfast. We should be at Venir soon."




    Meridina was ready in the morning when Ledosh was done putting his things together. He insisted on carrying his bag despite her offer to take up the burden. She kept pace with him as they walked to the transporter station nearest his guest quarters. "I am surprised you did not insist on going with this mission on the Sladen," Ledosh remarked to her.

    "I had the feeling that Commander King might feel… uncomfortable," Meridina admitted.

    "You believe Lucilla Lucero is ready to work on her own?"

    "I believe she can be trusted with her power. Although she is not ready for fighting with her swevyra. But that is why I suggested Commander Shepard go as well."

    "I see." Ledosh stopped and turned toward her. He sensed no one were about to witness their conversation. "Have you told Captain Dale yet?"

    Meridina shook her head. "It does not seem the proper time. He is busy enough running this vessel. I do not wish to complicate his duties further."

    "His swevyra is already giving him insights into our potential futures," Ledosh observed. "You may not have a choice, Meridina. He may awaken the full extent of his life's power on his own."

    "If that comes about, I will do what I must," Meridina said. "I doubt he will be any more receptive to moving into the temple than Lucy is."

    "Yes. I doubt that as well." Ledosh sighed. It would make things easier, and certainly less troublesome for Meridina, if Lucero or potentially Captain Dale would indeed commit to the Order in an open way. A way that would make it possible to ensure their full training in the confines of their traditions and laws. But it was not something that could be forced, and so he said nothing on it.

    They resumed their walk to the transporter station. Once through the door Ledosh walked up to the pad. Meridina remained nearby, beside the door. "My best wishes for your trip to Minbar, Mastrash. I will keep you informed of further developments."

    "Thank you, Commander. Mi rake sa swevyra iso."

    "Mi rake sa swevyra iso."

    Meridina remained to watch the transporter send Ledosh away to the station, where he would meet up with Sheridan and Delenn to join them on the White Star ship transporting them to the new capital. It made her happy to see her teacher getting to make himself useful to this new Alliance he had helped construct. Sheridan's Alliance had even more species in it than their own and provided a further example of how the Allied Systems might develop.

    With this task done, Meridina departed for her office and a new day of work to come.




    Commander King's summons brought everyone to the Sladen's bridge. "We're arriving at the Venir system," Lieutenant Caldwell informed everyone. "Dropping us out of warp."

    The screen shifted to show the change from warp space to normal. A distant garden planet was spinning in the distance. A pinprick of black was set against it. "I'm detecting one ship," said Ensign Skarsgard. Her accent was Norwegian and fairly thick. "It is in geostationary orbit over a ruin."

    "Have they detected us?", King asked.

    "No sign of any reaction to our arrival," was the reply.

    "Lieutenant, prepare a manual weapons lock. Just in case." King turned to the others. "Well, we are here. Commander Jarod, Lieutenant Delgado, Lieutenant Lucero, I am awaiting suggestions on how to sneak you aboard? If we transport you, it will require decloaking and we will be spotted."

    Lucy got a nod from Jarod. "We take a portable transporter set down to the other side of the planet," Lucy answered. "And beam onto their ship from there."

    "You mean by shuttle, I presume?"

    "Yes. They might still detect us from the other side of the planet if we use transporters."

    "How will you manage a transporter lock?"

    "A narrow-beam channel with the ship," Cat answered. "We use your sensors to provide the proper coordinates."

    King nodded. "All very good, save one problem. How do you propose to get our shuttle to the planet's surface undetected?"

    "That's the hard part," Lucy admitted. "And the most dangerous."

    When the explanation was over, King would agree with that assessment.

    She would also agree it was their best shot.
     
    • 1-16-4
    • Sladen moved into place in low orbit, just above where the atmosphere would start interacting with her, and signaled the all-ready to the shuttle Marsh.

    Said shuttle dropped from the opened hanger door of the Sladen. The shuttle wasn't running any lights, indeed, had barely any power going. It was quickly gripped by the planet's gravity and plummeted downward.

    In the shuttle Caterina was holding both her hands together and going white with fear during the rapid descent. The turbulence jostled her around in her harness and added to the discomfort. "I can't believe we're doing this," she said. "This is insane!"

    "That's what Commander Kane said," Lucy answered. She kept her hands on the controls and ignored the screaming warnings about their descent. The systems demanded she power up their systems and fire the engines. But she couldn't do that, not yet. Not until they were low enough that the planet completely masked their energy signature.

    "Are you sure about this?", Jarod asked nervously from the co-pilot seat.

    "Completely," Lucy insisted. She breathed in and felt the same feeling as before on Abydos. Her instincts again sung to her, telling her she still wasn't too late, that she could remain inactive a bit longer.

    Cat started breathing more and more quickly. This is crazy this is crazy I can't believe we're…

    "Take a breath."

    Cat looked across the back of the shuttlebay, where Shepard was strapped in. She looked completely confident and cool. "It's scary, yeah. But have faith in your friend. She knows what she's doing."

    Cat swallowed and nodded. And closed her eyes to try and keep her stomach from heaving.

    Lucy felt it when it was time. She triggered the shuttle's power systems with one hand while the other activated the thrusters. The shuttle lurched underneath them as its engines generated thrust to counter the gravity of the planet below. "I'm landing us in a clearing, a semi-arid part of the planet. Hold on."

    They all held on. But they still felt the impact. It was bone-jarring in its violence. Cat cried out in surprise at the feeling.

    After a moment, Lucy let out a breath and exchanged a smirk with Jarod. "See?," she said. "And that was easier than Abydos. I did that in a runabout."

    "I remember…" He stood up. "Alright everyone, let's get set up. The longer we're here, the more likely they might detect us."

    "Can I throw up first?" Cat asked wearily. "Because I think I might throw up."

    "Nothing like a high speed insertion, it can get the blood flowing." Shepard released her harness. She immediately reached over and pulled out a brown plastic bag. "And for our science specialist here…"

    "Thank you," Cat murmured.




    When they transported, it was into a darkly-lit cargo bay. Everyone activated the personal cloaks they were wearing. They could still see each other with the help of optical gear - in Shepard's case, the visor on her helmet, in which similar gear had been installed by the quartermaster department on the Aurora. As soon as they were in place Shepard pulled the shotgun magnetically attached to the base of her back. The weapon machinery slid out into ready positions. "I'm on the door," she whispered to them. "Let me know when you find anything."

    "Let's get to work." The three pulled out scanners tied to their multidevices and began scanning.




    Commander King was waiting with quiet, tried patience for a report from Jarod and his team. Their plan had been riskier than she preferred and she had almost decided on the direct attack instead. What had held her back was, at least she thought, her own dislike of the idea of attacking a civilian ship like this. Like a pirate. As much as it might be necessary for them, it was a contradiction to her own principles and those of the fleet she represented.

    King was not so lost in her own thoughts that she was startled by the young Ensign Skarsgard's sudden report. "Sir, we're picking up a gravitational disturbance. Consistent with the locals' jump drives."

    "On screen," the Englishwoman ordered. The screen shifted to show the blue vortex forming in space. A dark vessel emerged, a circular hull on what looked like ion engines, without markings to show any allegiance. There were visible weapon ports on the hull. The profile didn't make King think of a combat starship, though, and she considered it more likely that they were self-defense weapons.

    "It looks like they're taking up station-keeping beside the Pedicarus."

    "So it would appear. Mister Trymi, set torpedoes to wide yield and target their sensors."

    "Yes Commander," the Dorei weapons officer replied.

    "Do you want me to change position, Commander?", Caldwell asked.

    "Give Mister Trymi an attack angle against their sensors, Mister Caldwell." King put her hands on her command chair's arms. Alarm klaxons went off and lights flashed red. "All hands, Code Red, man battle stations. I repeat. We are now at Code Red running status, man your battle stations."

    "They are launching a shuttle," Skarsgard said.

    King watched the winged vessel emerge from the port near the middle of the circular ship. It moved in toward the Pedicarus.

    And given the scans of that ship, it seemed to be heading toward the cargo bay.




    The warning sounds gave the team just enough time to activate breathers before the atmosphere in the cargo bay was drawn out by the Pedicarus' life support systems. "Sladen to Commander Jarod." King's voice came over the headset Jarod was wearing. "Another vessel has sent a shuttle over."

    "I see. Standby." Jarod frowned. With their cloaks on they couldn't be seen, but if they jostled something outside of the cloaking field… "We need to hurry this up."

    "I'm picking up traces," Cat answered. "We've got something over this way."

    "Confirm it so we can get out of here." With that said he went back to work.

    The external doors of the bay opened. Without atmosphere there was no worry of getting sucked into space, thankfully, meaning there was no need to secure themselves and they could keep working. The winged aerospace shuttle flew in on retrothrusters and settled in the bay's open receiving spot. By the time the shuttle shut down the doors were already closing. The faint hiss of the air circulators told him they were pumping an atmosphere back into the cargo bay.

    The shuttle door opened and several black-garbed Humans stepped out; three men and two women. One of the women was African, one man Semitic, the second male Asian, and the two remaining ones were Caucasian. They looked around pensively but said nothing.

    Jarod felt his heart start beating faster. Something was wrong. It was as if they knew something was wrong, that they knew he and the others were here…

    They drew weapons from holsters. Small silver pistols. Three started spreading out. One, the Caucasian male, turned to face Jarod. His face betrayed some bewilderment. But his eyes seemed to…

    There you are.

    It took Jarod a moment to realize that the voice in his head was not his own.

    That was all the time the other man needed to raise his pistol and open fire.




    King felt apprehensive at the entire situation. The arrival of this other ship jeopardized their entire plan.

    The plan. What is the plan? What are we doing here?

    King blinked at that. That thought… that thought couldn't be hers. It didn't feel….

    "Commander. Commander, they've got mindwalkers," Trymi said.

    "What?", she asked, confused.

    "Mindwalkers," Trymi repeated. "Can't you feel?"

    "Feel…" King shook her head. She swallowed and focused. Something, someone, was in her mind? Her mind?

    "I'm… picking up a weapons charge." Skarsgard's voice sounded strain. Like she was fighting just to be able to speak.

    "Evasive maneuvers," King demanded. Even as she demanded this, a part of her seemed to be fighting back. No. Don't. Just stay still. It will be fine...

    "Now!" Trymi shouted to Caldwell, his voice desperate. "Focus! Force your mind into action! You must throw the mindwalkers out!"

    Caldwell's hand was trembling as he reached or the controls of the Sladen. He triggered the thrusters and engines, throwing the ship into an evasive maneuver.

    A moment later, particle fire ripped through space they had been occupying.




    Lucy felt the minds probing for them before any of the others realized what they were facing. Meridina had trained her on facing mental incursions; mathematics, nursery rhymes. She started playing music in her head while calculating the warp mechanic profile of a starship, sludging through the numbers.

    Unfortunately, this seemed to only confirm her presence to the mind-reading attackers, who were circling around her through the boxes. One was clearly heading toward Cat.

    Well, if you want to read minds...

    Lucy reached her hand to the nearest of them, the Asian man. She reached out with her life force and grabbed him. He led out an audible shout of surprise as he flew upward in the air and slammed into the ceiling of the cargo bay. She brought her other arm up and tore the gun from his hand.

    The other, the Caucasian woman, turned away from where she was hunting Cat and brought her weapon up. Lucy's arm swept her way. The first man cried out again as he went flying helplessly in that direction and slammed into his ally. Lucy took out her pulse pistol and fired a wide-arc stun bolt at both.

    Her hair stood up on her neck. Every instinct in her body demanded she moved, and she did… just as red energy flared up right where her head had been. Their weapons, particle guns of some sort? High speed, too… She started to scramble away. She heard a cry of pain.

    Jarod!

    Lucy turned back to his aid. In the distance she heard the roar of a mass effect shotgun. Shepard, of course.

    She found Jarod nursing a shoulder and visible. Another male, Caucasian, was standing over him with a silver gun pointed at him. Jarod's face was twisted into a rictus of effort and agony. Lucy felt the sense of violation and anger from him; the man was tearing into his mind.

    The mind-reader had sensed her coming and moved just as she shot. She fired again and again but couldn't land a hit. He was quick, but only humanly-so. He was using her own mind to determine where the shots were going to go.

    He lunged toward her, an ungloved hand reaching out to grab her by the head. Lucy saw the strike coming and ducked under it. She summoned her power and threw it all at him. The man cried out in pain as the raw force from her will slammed into him and sent him flying back into the cargo bay's dock door. She shot him with the stun bolt as he tried to stand up again.

    "What's… what's going on?!", Cat cried over the radio.

    "Cat, have you found the Darglan computers?!" Lucy shouted back. She knelt beside Jarod to check his injury.

    "Um… I think…. it's somewhere here, definitely most of these crates."

    "Tag them for transport!"

    Jarod nodded. "It's fine," he muttered. "Just a shoulder hit." He grimaced and cradled his left arm with his right. Lucy helped him to his feet.

    And then she felt it. A powerful force tore into her mind, brushing away her distracted efforts to block them. Lucy cried out and dropped to her knees.

    What are you?, the voice demanded. It was a woman, African, wearing the same dark suit and a silver pistol in her hand. Your mind is too stable to be a teek…

    "Get out of my head!", Lucy cried out.

    I think I'll take you back. You might just be the breakthrough that we're looking…

    There was a surge of energy in the air. It was… different, at least to Lucy, and with a component of unrealness to it. As if the fabric of everything was warped by its presence.

    A figure wreathed in blue light shot out from the crates and slammed into the mind-reader so hard that she was sent flying into the shuttle she and her allies had flown in on.

    Commander Shepard brought her shotgun up. A loud thundering filled the cargo bay. Blood erupted from the torso of Lucy's attacker from the slivers of metal accelerated to lethal velocity by the mass effect field generated by Shepard's weapon. Lucy dwelled for a moment on how nasty it was to see death that way. I'm getting too used to energy weapons.

    Jarod cradled his head with his right hand, his left arm still limp at his side. "Telepaths," he groaned.

    "I've heard Asari can do something like that," Shepard said. "But only if they have physical contact."

    "How did you get away from the one that came after you?", Lucy asked, rubbing her own head from the headache she felt.

    "With a big damned headache and the poor bastard not knowing I'm a biotic," she answered. Shepard's omnitool flashed into existence as she ran her hand over Jarod's wound. "Looks like some damage to the joint. We should probably get you to the medbay."

    "I'll second that." Jarod nodded and reached for his multidevice. "But first things first. Jarod to Sladen." He waited for a response; given their situation the system would have automatically activated the channel with his voice command.

    There was no immediate reply.

    "Jarod to Sladen, please respond," Jarod said, urgency creeping into his voice. "We need pickup."

    After a couple of moments King's voice came over the line. "Commander… we are under mental attack… and the ship is being fired on. It's taking everything… to fight off the mind control. I'm not sure we can beam… you back."

    Jarod pursed his lips. "Damn. You can't even lower shields?"

    "... perhaps… but our operators… most of the crew is debilitated."

    "I need to get back there," Lucy said. "Meridina taught me how to fight these kinds of attacks, I should be able to use the transporters."

    Jarod thought on it. "Commander King, I'm going to get Lucero back over there. Lower the shield in ten seconds. We just need five seconds from then and everything will be ready."

    "...I believe I understand. Counting now."

    Jarod nodded and smiled. "Right." He started counting while his hand moved over his multidevice control. "Three… four… five…"

    Lucy was suddenly whisked away by the transporter. The Sladen transporter room materialized around her. Nearby the operator was leaning against the controls, moaning from an apparent pain in his head. Lucy could feel that there was nothing wrong; the pain was in his mind.

    She started reciting a poem her uncle had taught her as a little girl, and just in time. A mental power began to descend on her, trying to force her into inactivity.

    Oh no you don't. 'I love you, you love me…' Mentally she recalled that godawful theme song to "Barney the Dinosaur" from her childhood and played it in her mind. Lucy kept that song up while she used the controls to beam Cat straight to the cargo bay, where she could use the cargo transporters to retrieve the crates they'd identified.

    As she went to beam the others back the ship rumbled; a strike on the unshielded armored hull. But not a severe one; their foe wasn't a heavily armed ship at least. She had no trouble beaming Jarod and Shepard back. Both reached for their heads upon return. "Think nursery rhymes, annoying earworm songs, math problems," she urged them. "Things like that can cloud mind-readers. I'll get to the bridge."

    On her way there, running down the hall, she called up Caterina. "Cat?! How is it coming?!"

    "I've gotten most of it."

    "And the mental attack?"

    "My head hurts. But I keep thinking up the math problems I use when I'm bored. Do you think they're good at space-time field variations in a warp field under gravitational influence from a nearby star?"

    Good one, Cat. "Just get that stuff off."

    When Lucy got to the bridge, they shook again. "Damage on Deck 3," Trymi reported.

    Lucy could tell he was the only one functioning. "Don't we have any more Dorei for the bridge?"

    "No. There are only four Dorei aboard. Two engineers and Doctor Liushan's nurse." King was starting to look better. "It feels like they're weakening."

    "They're probably focusing on our people using actual stations." Lucy could see that Skarsgard was completely nonfunctioning at ops. Caldwell was working at the helm, but only with massive effort. "Lieutenant, give me the helm."

    "...no...I can…"

    "That's them talking," Lucy insisted, even as she felt the pressure on her mind increase. She thought up a new musical theme, from some 80s show her mother had liked and which she thought was an annoying earworm. "Please, move."

    Caldwell clearly had to force himself up and away. Lucy slid into his chair and ran her hands over the controls. "Evasive maneuvers."

    "Take us out of here, now," King demanded.

    Lucy operated the controls with care and precision, all forced on her by the sustained mental attack. Sladen broke free of her tormentor and moved toward open space. The first moment she could, Lucy hit the warp drives. Sladen shot away from the Venir system. Everyone present could breathe a sigh of relief as the mental pressure abruptly vanished.

    While Lucy left Caldwell's seat and allowed him to resume the helm, she turned to King. "I gave Cat enough time to finish her transports. We have what we came for."

    "Excellent. Lieutenant Caldwell, set our course back for Babylon-5, best speed."




    After getting King's leave to depart from the bridge, Lucy went down to Deck 2 and the ship's small medbay. Doctor Liushan was looking over Jarod, who had removed his uniform jacket and shirt so she could get to the blackened, reddened wound on his shoulder. Shepard was standing nearby. "Are you going to be okay?", Lucy asked. The wound looked nasty.

    "I'll live." Jarod winced as Liushan applied a medical solution. "So, this universe has Human telepaths. Or is this another situation like the Gersallians? Aliens who look Human?"

    "They scanned as Human." Lucy raised her arm to show the display on her multidevice.

    "We'd better tell Robert so he can report this." Jarod nodded at Lucy. "You look like you went through it pretty well."

    "Meridina's taught me some mental defense tricks. Things like repeating nursery rhymes and doing math. I go for bad music earworms myself. The idea is to distract people looking into your mind." Lucy smiled at him. "You should be even better at it than me with that powerful mind you've got."

    "I'll keep that in mind for next time. And I hope it's never." Jarod looked over at the wound. "Those particle guns are nasty."

    "Most weapons are," Doctor Liushan remarked. "Please hold still."

    "I'll talk to you both later. I'm sure Commander King wants a report on everything that happened."

    "Right."

    Lucy left the medbay and found Shepard was following her. "Hey." The other woman stepped up, moving in the combat gear like it was no heavier than a casual set of clothes. "How were you throwing people around like that? Is that the 'life force' stuff Commander Meridina uses?"

    "It is. I… have the same potential she does, so she's been teaching me to use it," Lucy explained. "Your biotics are different. They feel different."

    "It's probably the dark matter." Shepard nodded. "Anyway, I'd better go stow my gear and get to work on the report. I'm sure Anderson and Admiral Hackett will just love to hear about people who can read thoughts and take over minds."

    "Yeah. It's… pretty nasty, when you think about it." Lucy sighed. "I just wish we knew more about what they wanted."

    "I doubt it had anything to do with us."

    "Probably not. At least, not until now." Lucy checked her multidevice. "I'd better get that report ready for Commander King. See you for dinner?"

    "Well, it's not like there's a lot of options on this ship," Shepard pointed out. "Sure. We can see if all of this trouble was worth it, I hope."

    "I hope so too."

    They turned away from each other. At the last moment Shepard looked back. "Wait, what was done about that shuttle we took down?", she asked. "It's got some of your technology aboard, doesn't it?"

    "I set the remote auto-pilot before leaving the bridge," Lucy answered. "They should be bringing it aboard soon."

    "Right. Clever." Shepard nodded. "See you at dinner."

    Lucy answered with a nod and resumed her walk to the bridge of the ship. As she did so she felt a sense of unease. What, indeed, were those telepaths looking for? What was their interest in these excavations?

    The unease turned to dread at the prospect of what the answer might be.




    Captain Padilla of the Pedicarus tried to fight back the terror he felt as the second shuttle landed in his cargo bay. Nearby his crew members were taking an inventory while the ship surgeon, Ruslov, was draping the second dead telepath with a sheet.

    The reason for his terror stepped out of the shuttle. The man was in a black uniform, black gloves, and the only thing breaking that up was the bronze pin on his chest; a pin with a Psi letter insignia.

    Padilla swallowed as his guest surveyed the dead and checked on the injured. Finally the man looked at him with a curious look on his face. "Captain, you're rather frightened. Why?"

    Convinced he was about to die, or suffer something worse, Padilla explained, "Your people died on my ship. Under my watch. I know you hold me responsible."

    The shrugged. "Well, that depends. Did you take all reasonable security measures?"

    "Yes."

    "Did you abet this attack?"

    That question stung. Suicidal pride and anger surged from underneath the terror. "No! Never! Never on my ship!"

    The telepath clearly noted that surge of emotion. A thin smile crossed his face. "Spoken like a true captain. Captain Padilla, I must say… you're doing me a great disservice. If you've done everything you reasonably could, taken all reasonable precautions, and been completely honest with me… why do you think I'd take this out on you?"

    The thought came unbidden. Because you value your kind more than mine.

    "Ah. Honesty. How refreshing. I find that it always helps to get to the core of these things, Captain Padilla. It prevents misunderstandings." The telepath came uncomfortably close. "I'm not a monster, Captain. You are under no threat from me as long as you do your job and do it right. You may go."

    Padilla didn't need to be told twice. He took off.

    The telepath, meanwhile, looked back at his fallen colleagues. Given the others were only injured and stunned, it was clear that the team that raided Pedicarus were a varied group. Isley, al-Susi, double check the inventory. I want to know what these raiders took.

    Right away, Agent Bester.

    Alfred Bester's smile was not of mirth. Someone had killed his people. He wanted to know why.

    And then, he would teach them a very important lesson about killing his telepaths. A very painful lesson, too. An important education, to themselves and others, about the results of striking at the Psi Corps.




    The tram running the length of Babylon-5's cylinder moved steadily along the multi-mile span over the station's internal area, creating a vista of gardens and structures and food-growing areas. Nick Locarno let out a low whistle at the sight. "Great view," he said aloud.

    "Aye." Scott stood beside him, wearing his favored engineer outfit - a black vest and trousers with a long-sleeved white shirt. "A work of art, she is."

    "It makes you think about why we do this." Locarno went over and settled into his chair on the tram. "Half the point of joining Starfleet is getting to see new sights."

    "For some, aye. I dinnae join t' go sightseein' myself." Scott looked over at Locarno. "How are ye daein', lad?"

    Locarno considered his answer for a moment. "Well enough, I suppose."

    "Good. Good. Ye've gone far since we met."

    "It doesn't erase the past." Locarno turned and looked out at the open cylinder again.

    "Well, of course not. But ye're doin' worthy things on th' Aurora. Ye've made up for it."

    "Joshua Albert isn't someone I can just 'make up for'." Locarno swallowed. "It's not something I can just... "

    A hand pressed on his shoulder. "It's alright, lad. Ye dinnae have t' go intae it. I understand." Scott nodded. "Now, there's got t' be a place where a man can get a good Scotch. Want t' help me find it?"

    Locarno considered that for a moment. He smiled thinly and nodded after that consideration ended. "I'm up for a drink myself."

    "That's the spirit, lad. That's what shore leave is all about, after all."




    The morning routine began as usual for Julia. Replicated coffee, Turkish blend, to wake up, accompanied by a replicated croissant. Both were consumed while she went over the reports from the Gamma Shift Watch Officer. There was nothing of key importance in those reports, just indications of the ship running smoothly. The only concern was the backlog in minor parts needed to restore a couple of machine shop replicators to working order; the Quartermaster Division hadn't yet sent those needed parts, just as they were still short a couple dozen crew.

    She allowed herself a small sigh over that. It irked her that they were having these little niggling problems.

    But there was little time for more. A morning shower came, just a quick one, since after that she went to the nearest holodeck for martial arts practice - Angel's early morning availability had evaporated once she got back together with Robert, denying Julia her typical sparring partner - and after half an hour beating up holographic adversaries and another half an hour jogging through a holographic park it was back to the shower for real and a proper breakfast in the Lookout to follow.

    Her mind was full of considering what delectable breakfast Hargert had prepared this time when the morning routine came crashing down from the loud beep from her multidevice. She looked at the door to the Lookout and sighed. So close. Her finger found the comm key on the device and opened the line. "Andreys here."

    "Commander." It was Data. "I need to see you and Captain Dale immediately. I am currently in Science Lab 1."

    "On my way."




    Data's call had interrupted Robert's shower. It shouldn't have; he was running late for breakfast with Julia in the Outlook, actually, but Angel had provided a usual diversion upon their waking up and he was running behind.

    Now his stomach was growling in frustration from the lack of breakfast. And given the look on Julia's face, hers was doing almost the same.

    Data seemed oblivious to their plight, though. He remained seated at one of the work stations. Raw data was displayed on the screen; it looked like communications wavelengths. "You wanted to see us, Data?"

    "Good morning, Captain, Commander." Data was wearing the newer Starfleet uniform with the gold of operations on the shoulders and the main body black. Robert thought of it as the "DS9" uniform, as that was his first encounter with that particular Starfleet look. It looked closer to their own uniforms with the branch colors as trim around the shoulder blades.

    "What is it, Data?"

    Before he could say more, the door slid open and Meridina walked in, also in standard duty uniform and with her lakesh weapon on her hip. "Commander Data. You wished to see me?"

    Robert and Julia exchanged looks. For Data to want Meridina, their security chief, made this summons more ominous than out of the ordinary.

    "Yes." Data looked back to his panel. "While I have been running enhancements to the data compiler software that Lieutenant Delgado was applying to the Darglan data from 33LA, I have also been continuing communication with Starfleet for the purpose of keeping Captain Picard and Admiral Nechayev appraised of our progress."

    "Understandable" was Robert's reaction.

    "In addition to the standard communications, I have also been continuing contact with Commander La Forge on our own ongoing research into improving warp core safety systems, including a proposal to follow the Alliance's example and switch warp core use over to naqia material. This process includes sending significant amounts of scientific and design data through the Aurora's interuniversal communications array. To prevent communications difficulties, I do this during the ship's night periods when activity is reduced. However, on several occasions over the past several weeks, I have noted an unexpected reduction in available bandwidth during these transfers."

    "Reduced bandwidth." Julia crossed her arms. "You mean there's data flowing through our IU transceiver. Even in low use periods?"

    "Exactly." Data tapped several keys to bring up relevant data. "According to my analysis of your standard communications activity, this activity is tied into standard fleet communications. But the amount of data in the records does not match the activity recorded."

    The implications were clear. "Someone's sending that data. Off the record." Julia looked to Meridina. "We may have a spy aboard."

    "Or someone using the transceiver for unauthorized purposes," Meridina pointed out gently. "Either way, it is a security breach. I will commence an investigation immediately."

    "You have my full cooperation, Commander," Data promised. "I will…"

    Data was interrupted by Robert's multidevice. "Bridge to Captain Dale." The voice was that of Lieutenant Luneri.

    He pressed the key to open his end of the channel. "Dale here."

    "The Sladen just dropped out of warp. Commander King has signaled that the mission was a success but that she needs to see you urgently."

    "Excellent news." Robert nodded to Julia. "Commander Andreys and I will be waiting for Commander King in the Main Conference Room. Get all requested personnel to report to the dock for transferring material to Science Lab 1."

    "Acknowledged."

    "I wonder what happened," Julia said.

    Meridina looked at them. She felt Lucy now and, more importantly, felt her perturbed feelings. It gave her some concern. "I believe something may be wrong."




    "Human mindwalkers?" Meridina was the first to react to what Lucy and Jarod described. "My people were not aware that Humans could even become such."

    "Another mystery of this universe to explore sometime." Jarod was still favoring his left shoulder. "But at least we managed to find and recover the Darglan databanks. Data and Cat are going over them now to see if we can find the data we're looking for."

    "Of course, it won't take long for these people to realize the Alliance is responsible for this." Julia was frowning. The possibilities she was considering were not good. "We could have made an enemy."

    "I thought it unwise to attempt to destroy the two vessels," King said. "Given the scale of mental control they were exerting, staying any longer risked my entire crew."

    "No, you made the right call," Robert agreed. "This is just another complication we'll have to deal with over time."

    "I will send your testimonies to the Farisa Genut on Gersal," Meridina stated. "They may be able to determine the best defense measures to take against the threat these mindwalkers may pose."

    "If it's not shapeshifters who can pretend to be anyone, it's mind-readers who can make people into puppets." Angel rubbed her temples with her fingers. "This whole thing is just horrifying."

    "We'll leave it to the experts to figure this out." Robert tapped the table impatiently. After all this time… they were so close now. So close to getting to the Facility. A part of him felt horrified at the thought of destroying it. If we can take it, hold it… maybe there's another ship like ours that can be finished out. Or examined so we can produce more like the Aurora. The manufacturing technology alone…

    "So we've almost done it." Leo was looking pensive. "This means we'll be going back to the war."

    "We will," Julia said. "We'll need to be there to break through to wherever the Facility is in that area."

    "I'll make sure the medbay is fully stocked then. It's a good thing I've been working with Doctor Hobbs over on B5. They have the means to provide some of the things the Quartermaster's been holding up."

    "I don't know how long we'll be here, so stock up while you can." Robert stood from the table. "Alright everyone, we've got reports to make and work to do. This meeting's over."

    "Don't forget that you're due for tomorrow's training exercise," Angel reminded him, smirking.

    "Oh, I remember that." He hid the wince he felt. Somehow he was certain Worf and Shepard were preparing quite the day for him.
     
    • 1-16 Ending
    • "So you're leaving shortly?"

    Leo nodded in reply to Doctor Hobbs' inquiry. The two were sitting in the Fresh Air restaurant, enjoying another meal that Hobbs had insisted Leo try out. "With Emissary Ledosh off to Minbar with your President Sheridan, we really don't have a purpose here," Leo explained. It wouldn't do to remark on the real reason they hadn't left immediately, so he added, "It's just a matter of our superiors deciding where they need us."

    "Well, hopefully it won't be too dangerous." Hobbs settled her silverware down and took a drink of the wine offered by the waiter who just left. "I suppose it's a good thing, then, that all of your orders are completed."

    "I can't thank you enough," Leo said. "With the ship going back in action, I want to make sure the crew is fit and well."

    "Obviously." Hobbs frowned. "Doctor Gillam, can you explain something to me?"

    "Hrm?"

    "Your ship is the most advanced starship in the Allied System fleet, right? And you do missions personally decided upon by your President?"

    "That's right," Leo said, having put down his own wineglass after a sip.

    Hobbs gained a pensive look to her. "Then explain how your vessel can be denied replenishment of even basic medical stocks?"

    "Well, the war, I imagine."

    "Doctor, you shouldn't underestimate the power of a good quartermaster to find ways to get things where they need to go. You may need to consider other reasons for these materials not getting to you."

    Leo leaned forward. He couldn't get the frown off his face as he thought about that and some of his own lingering suspicions. "You're saying you think our bosses are sabotaging us?"

    "Probably not your highest superior. But if someone has it out for you in the other high ranks? You may be surprised what bureaucrats can cause."

    "Food for thought," Leo agreed. "And while we share those thoughts, our actual food is getting cold…"



    Julia decided the others were right. As space stations went, Babylon-5 was a unique place to visit.

    The Zen garden was carefully maintained by the look of things, and from the top of its central structure she could look out at the entire cylinder. Buildings, farmland, gardens, everything needed to help sustain a quarter of a million sentient beings in the vacuum of space.

    "Quite the view, huh?"

    She turned her head and faced Shepard. Both were in their respective duty uniforms, which highlighted their other physical differences. Shepard was a bit shorter, her blazing red hair a shorter cut to Julia's long golden-blond hair, her skin a bronze contrast to Julia's own fair complexion, and where Julia's eyes were a lighter green that tended toward aquamarine, Shepard's were a strong emerald green.

    "It is," Julia said. "Not as much as one for you, though?"

    "After a while, space stations all start to look and feel alike," Shepard admitted. She took up a place beside Julia and looked out at it all. "It's still a good view, though. And I'll admit that there's no station quite like this one back home."

    "There's nothing like this back home," Julia said. "The International Space Station's barely a collection of life support pods compared to this."

    "Well, everything starts somewhere." After making that observation Shepard leaned against the edge of the building. "Of course, I grew up in space. You're a Kansas farmgirl."

    "True."

    "Since you're the XO, do you mind if I ask why you haven't volunteered for mission training yet?"

    At that Julia smiled. "Oh, I was tempted. I got to go down to Abydos earlier this year and it reminded me of how much I missed being in the thick of things. But someone has to keep the ship running while everyone else is busy."

    "Right." Shepard nodded. "I don't blame you for that. We'll need someone staying on the Aurora and keeping their ships occupied while we do our jobs. I was just wondering what your motive was."

    "Sometimes I wonder about it too. But when it comes down to it… the Aurora is my responsibility. It's more important to me than getting to run around punching people."

    "Even Nazis?"

    Julia smirked at that. "Even Nazis."

    "Because… you know, Nazis. Who doesn't want to punch Nazis?", Shepard asked. "They're just special that way."

    "That's what holodecks are for." Julia leaned against the edge as well now. "And the rest of the time, I get to be the responsible one."

    "Hello."

    The new voice caused them to turn. Captaiin Lochley stepped out of the stairwell leading to the bottom of the building. "Commanders." she nodded at them. "I see you're enjoying the view?"

    "It's a good view," Julia said. "One of many I've enjoyed since coming out into space."

    "I'm glad to hear it." Lochley continued walking until she was on the other side of Shepard from Julia. Now the older woman - Julia guessed she had to be in her mid-40s - was leaning against the edge right alongside them. "I haven't been here a year yet and it's already grown on me."

    "A place like this can do that," Shepard said.

    "I hear you might be leaving us soon?"

    "We're just waiting on new orders," Julia replied.

    Lochley nodded. "Well, while you're here, would you ladies like the full tour?"

    Julia and Shepard exchanged curious glances. Technically they had places to be. Shepard had to finalize the next training exercise with Worf. Julia had a ship to run.

    "I've got no objection," Shepard replied.

    "I don't either." Julia stood to her full height. "Lead the way, Captain."



    It was late again when the encrypted call came through to Commander King. She sat at her desk and accepted it. Admiral Davies appeared on her screen. "Commander." He nodded. "I see you had quite the adventure."

    "Mental attack, Admiral, is not something I would recommend enduring. It put my training to the test."

    "And it held. That's good. We'll find that useful information when we begin training officers for resisting mental attacks." Davies leaned forward in her chair. "Now this mission to Venir. This may be what we've been waiting for. An unauthorized rogue operation that risks putting the Alliance into another conflict? I'm ready to go to the Committee with this."

    At that, King shook her head. "Admiral, it won't work. I'm afraid my testimony would undermine that purpose."

    "Pardon me, Commander?"

    "I advised them to launch the mission, Admiral."

    An interested look crossed Davies' face. He was irritated, certainly, but more curious than mad. "Well. Alright. Why?"

    "Because, sir, it is vitally important that we find that Darglan Facility. The black ops mission to Venir recovered the Darglan databases that can give us the answer we need." King kept her voice tone solid. No emotion, just fact. "I recommended the mission be launched. And I persuaded Captain Dale to authorize it without informing Command."

    King waited for Davies' reaction. It came with a nod. "I can see the reasoning. Very well. We'll wait for another chance. Hopefully we'll get one before the Koenig can finish escorting the Kobolian refugees to the frontier."

    "Why do we have such a deadline? Certainly Koenig can be re-assigned to another command."

    At that Davies made a displeased look. "President Morgan and Admiral Maran are directly involving themselves in that affair. The moment that President Roslin signals that they're settling a world, Koenig will be sent back to the Aurora and you'll be re-assigned. And since the aid to the Refugee Fleet is being routed through the Gersallian and Dorei government, we can't cause any delays to buy you time. It's all up to you, Commander. Find me something useful."

    King considered that. "Admiral, what if there is nothing? I admit that, to my surprise, Captain Dale and his people have proven capable with the missions they've been given. If, perhaps, a tad informal…"

    Davies' tone turned harsh. "That is unacceptable. You know as well as I what's going on behind the scenes. They're a part of something, something that we need to expose for the safety of the Alliance. Find it, Commander. Soon. Davies out."

    The transmission ended. Silence reigned in King's office. She knew what Davies meant. She knew what was going on.

    But she had become more and more convinced that the Aurora crew did not.

    And if that was true, Admiral Davies' mission would be literally impossible.



    It had been a long time since Robert had been pushed as much as he was being pushed today. He was with a team that included Commander Meridina, Lucy, and several of Kane's Marines. The simulated halls and rooms of a Darglan Facility were near perfect, if not entirely in order. Again, Worf and Shepard were messing with their expectations.

    Which meant more Panzergrenadiers.

    They had caught their team in a trap in the control room for the Facility. There was no way to go out but one door. Lucy's attempt to use the transporters had failed; the simulated Nazi forces had already taken over and locked them out. Simulated weapons fire filled the doorway and several grenades had flown in, just for Lucy and Meridina to bat them back.

    "Fire in the hole!", one of the Marines shouted. Private Hakimzade, an tall and powerfully-built Uzbek woman, raised her arm. She was in heavy power armor, a Marine Assault Suit, and as her arm came up a compartment shifted open. A missile erupted from it and flew out the door, where it exploded with tremendous force.

    This caused a slight cessation in the shooting. "Follow me!", Meridina cried, and the Marines followed her out as her lakesh swung in the air. Between Meridina's powers and the Marines' fire, they cleared the way forward. Robert moved with them, firing his pulse rifle and spraying sapphire pulses wherever a dark Panzergrenadier suit appeared in his vision.

    It was strange and exhilarating and, despite it being a simulation, still utterly terrifying. Robert unloaded his weapon's full fire mode at one of the armored troopers approaching them from the side corridor. At that power and fire mode even a powered armor suit wasn't enough. The attacker collapsed.

    Robert checked his weapon as they rushed on. He'd exhausted the power pack. He ejected the spent pack and reached for his belt for a replacement. It was like an old walkie-talkie, save no antenna, and he started pushing the hefty battery into place.

    That was when Lucy went flying into him.

    They both fell over and became a sprawled out tangle on the floor. Lucy shifted under Robert's legs and he started to sit up.

    Just in time for a large Panzergrenadier suit to loom over him. A big armored fist moved across his eyesight, joined by the large anti-personnel auto-cannon above it. His personal shield could only hold out for a couple of seconds, then it would turn him and Lucy into something more like hamburger than people.

    It was a simulation. They were on the holodeck. There was no real danger.

    But while his rational thoughts knew this, something inside him reacted to the visceral nature of what was unfolding. It didn't care that they were in a training simulation. All it cared about was that he was about to die and messily and he needed to do something and just make this thing go away...

    And something inside him resonated with that thought.

    Robert threw his arms out and cried out, "Get away!"

    The enemy did.

    Or rather, the enemy went flying.

    It went flying into the nearest enemy, knocking him over and stopping that foe from firing, and both of them got blown apart by Private Hakimzade's own heavy armaments.

    For another five seconds the firing continued, then ceased. They had defeated the enemy team. Robert started to lift himself off of Lucy. He looked down at her and offered her a hand. "Here."

    She continued to stare at him. Her blue eyes were wide with shock.

    "Lucy?", he asked.

    "You… you…" She swallowed. "Robert, do you know what you just did?"

    In the heat of the moment he hadn't thought of it. He just knew that something had knocked the enemy back. He looked on at the other Marines, who were all staring at him.

    And Meridina too. But she wasn't staring. Instead there was a bright intensity in her blue eyes as she stood there, lakesh glinting with its protective EM field around the memory metal blade, looking every bit the knight in her dark purple armor and blue robe.

    And then it came to him. He'd… he hadn't even touched the armored soldier. He'd just…

    "Robert." Meridina's voice was calm and still. "We need to finish the mission. And then, we need to talk."



    The simulation was a success. They took a couple of losses, including a very irritated Lucy, and afterward had their debriefing with Shepard and Worf. Neither of the experts made any comment about what Robert had done. Apparently they were leaving that for Meridina to handle.

    When it was all said and done, Robert returned to his quarters. Babylon-5 was still spinning outside of the window, and it gave him something to look at.

    His mind kept flashing back to that encounter. The sudden thing that had happened, that feeling within him.

    There was a beep at the door. He ignored it at first. But it didn't stop. Finally he said, "Enter." The system unlocked his door.

    Meridina and Lucy entered. "Robert…" Lucy spoke first. "Robert, there's something you need to know."

    "I already know," he said, in a small voice. "The dreams… I guess they were the first sign, weren't they?"

    "Yes." Meridina's voice was calm and gentle, as usual. "You have the gift."

    And indeed, he had dreamed that too. "I think I've known for a while," he admitted. "But… I didn't want…" He turned toward them. He faced both; Lucy and her concerned look, Meridina's calm expression. "I don't know if this is something I want," he said. "This is…"

    "You still have that choice," Meridina assured him. "Lucy had intentionally called upon it, which is why it awoke for her. Your use of the power was instinctive and unprepared. It has not awoken yet. It might never, if you refuse to use it. Over time, it might even quiet. Particularly if you are not exposed to its use in others."

    "What do you mean by that?", Robert asked.

    "She means that being around it makes you more receptive to it," Lucy answered. "It's… it's the Flow of Life, it's around everything, and use of the power can make you feel it within yourself. It's how it started for me. Being around Meridina and knowing it was there."

    "Yes." There was something soothing in the way Meridina's voice remained level and calm.

    Robert considered that. "Which means that the more you two are around me, the more likely I'll start to use this… ability. This 'life force' stuff."

    "Exactly." Meridina nodded. "The true question, Robert, is this. Do you wish to learn?"

    The question was direct and to the point. He thought about it. Did he want to learn how this stuff worked? To wield whatever this was?

    Do I want to have nightmares every night? was one thought that went through him. He'd been following Ledosh's advice, trying to remain positive as he fell asleep and to dream of good things. But the nightmares still came. Not as often as before, granted, but they hadn't gone away.

    "What do you two think?", Robert asked them. "Do you think I should?"

    Lucy's response was first. "I think… I think it has to be your decision, Robert. I can't tell you whether you should or not. It's different for each of us."

    "I will not be untrue to you. I do believe there is great good you can accomplish if you did learn, Robert," Meridina admitted. "It can never be anyone's choice but your own, and I cannot advise you either way. Listen to your heart and decide if you can trust yourself with the power. It is a heavy burden. Darkness and corruption will tempt you. But I know you are meant to have it. I believe it is your destiny. But you must be willing to do so. It is your choice, not mine."

    Robert had heard those words before, in the depth of his dreams. He swallowed. "I…" His mind went through all of the possibilities. If this was something he wanted. Something he…

    There was another chime at the door. Robert called out "Come in" and the door slid open.

    Angel stepped in. She gave a look to Meridina and Lucy before looking at Robert and rushing up to him. "Rob, what happened in that training simulation?!", she asked, her voice insistent. "I mean, I just saw the recording, you… you…"

    "I've got their power," he said. "And… I have to decide whether I'm going to use it or not."

    Angel looked back to the two. "Can you give him some space?", she asked them. "This isn't something he can decide on the spur of a moment."

    "Of course." Meridina looked to Lucy. "Let us depart."

    After they went out the door Angel embraced him closely. "My God. This is… those nightmares, right? Those nightmares are from this?"

    "Apparently so."

    "Then we need to find a way to make it stop," she said. "So you can sleep again."

    He thought on that. Was that the way to go? Make the power go away? Could he make it go away? "Maybe, I… Angel, I don't know what I'm going to do about this." He sat on his bed. Angel sat beside him. Her hazel eyes burned with protective concern. "Maybe this is something I'm meant to do."

    "Robert." Her voice was firm and disapproval was evident. "This stuff is torturing you every night. You've woken up screaming how often in the past few months? And then there's all the pressure you have as the Captain. You really think you'll be able to do all of the weird training and stuff Meridina will require? There aren't enough hours in the day for it, Rob. This thing… you've done enough, okay? You're doing enough, you're doing your part, you don't need to take that on too."

    Robert considered that argument. The truth was that he did feel fairly exhausted often. The sleep interrupted by nightmares, the stress of captaincy, the monotonous boredom of the need to sign requisition orders and personnel directives and action reports and everything else… How could he find the time to learn this life force stuff on top of that? He'd stretch himself so thin…

    Angel was right. It wasn't something he could do.

    "You're right," he said to her. "So don't worry about it. I'll tell them no."

    Angel nodded at that. "Good." She nuzzled his neck. "You do so much already, Rob. You're always doing so much to make this work, to make things better for people. But you've got to look out for yourself too, enough to keep yourself sane. Don't let all of this crush you, okay?"

    He nodded at that. His full answer came a moment later when he kissed Angel on the lips.



    Tag



    Robert had decided he wanted one last look at Babylon-5.

    He hadn't come alone either. Angel walked beside him as they went through the Zocalo, just two people among a crowd of various species and Humans as they went about their day. "It's not as big or populated as the Citadel," he observed to her. "But it's got a charm of its own, doesn't it?"

    "It does," she agreed. And then she gave him a kiss on the cheek.

    They wound up in the station's central corridor. Traffic moved around them, mostly foot traffic, as the station's crew and denizens went about their day. "Captain Dale!", a voice called out.

    Robert looked up to a catwalk above them. Captain Lochley was already moving to the side, heading to the stairway down.

    Robert and Angel went over and met her at the base of the stairs. "Captain Elizabeth Lochley, station commander," he said for Angel's benefit. "This is Lieutenant Angela Delgado, the Aurora's Tactical and Gunnery Officer."

    "Captain, ma'am," Angel said, nodding.

    "Lieutenant." Lochley returned the nod. "Are you on duty?"

    Robert shook his head. "We just didn't change out of our uniform. I… wanted to show Angel the station before we left."

    Lochley had already noted they were holding hands. "Of course." She smiled in understanding. "It's a wonderful place. Delenn used to call it a dream given form."

    "I was doing some reading on its origins. It was certainly the result of a lot of stubbornness. The good kind." Robert grinned at Angel when saying that; she was quite stubborn herself.

    "After the Earth-Minbari War, we knew that a place like this was needed," Lochley answered. "And in the end, it's worked out."

    "Glad to hear it." Robert felt a thought come to mind. "Maybe… well, the InterStellar Alliance has moved to Minbar, but maybe this station could serve one day to do the same for all of the species and governments of all of the known universes?"

    Lochley laughed at that. "It would certainly make my job more complicated. But it would be worth it. I've had enough conflict in my life."

    "I know that feeling," Angel said. "But sometimes you have to fight."

    Lochley gave no answer to that. Before anyone could say more, Robert's multidevice let off a tone. He reached down and accepted the incoming transmission. "Dale here."

    "Captain, Jarod and Cat need us all in Science Lab 1, immediately." It was Julia on the other end. "I think they've found something."

    Robert nodded at that. "We're on our way back now. Dale out." He looked to Lochley. "Well, Captain, I'm guessing this is goodbye for now."

    "Hopefully just 'for now'," Lochley said. "I wouldn't mind getting to see your ship again. It's a lovely vessel."

    "Thank you. And I'd love to get to see this place again." Robert looked around. He could almost feel the history here, the gravitas of the station and the role it had played. "Hopefully we'll be back sooner rather than later."

    Lochley responded by offering her hand. Robert took it and they had a handshake. When that was over he pressed the commkey again. "Dale to Transporter Station 1. Two to beam out."

    Lochley watched as the two were taken away by bursts of white light. "I'm going to have to get used to that," she murmured.



    Everyone had gathered in Science Lab 1. In one corner of the room, solid shapes of blue and green had been placed in transparent storage containers. Wires ran around and into them. "It took several attempts to make the databanks work," Data explained, "but after connecting them to your tertiary auxiliary computer core, I was able to use the raw processing power to bypass the security measures and begin decrypting the data kept within."

    "So have you found anything?", Locarno asked.

    Jarod nodded. "A lot of things, actually. Technical schematics for smaller, more efficient versions of our pulse plasma cannons. Transwarp drive studies. New universal coordinates."

    "But what about the Facility we're looking for?", Robert asked. "That's what we need."

    Jarod looked to Cat, who nodded. "We found fragments of a transmission stored in the databanks. Here." She hit a key.

    An alien voice began talking in a language they didn't understand. "I'm applying our datafiles on the Darglan language… now."

    The alien voice became overlaid with a simulated one. "...are going to come for us, you know it, Lamin. We have no choice/decision, we must go back/up to the other places-of-being/cosmos/universe."

    "Then they will come for us, Gramul! And the Vorlons will not protect/safeguard our survival in that case. We promised them never to touch/utilize/manipulate this technology again!"

    "The Dark Ones will ignore the Vorlons, they want us gone/exterminated, they always have! This is our only hope! Here, I have the coordinates and lists/inventories, all I need is access to the drive design plan/schematic/layout and..."

    "Gramul, no! What have you done?! That information is…" There was a low rumble in the background. "...what is that? Why is the sun/star/source-of-light going out, there isn't an eclipse…"

    "Ancestors/Revered Ones, no. No. I… I was too late…"

    The transmission cut.

    Everyone remained silent for a moment. It was Shepard who asked, "Is that when their world was destroyed?"

    "We don't know for sure," Jarod admitted. "But given what we were told by Suvall and Delenn about the Shadows killing the Darglan, and the information from the recent Shadow War… it fits."

    "The Shadow Planet-Killer is an amorphous cloud formed by what is apparently nanotechnology of some form," Data said. "It surrounds a planet and fires gigaton-scale atomic missiles into a planet's core. Given the description stated by the one called 'Lamin', it would seem to indicate this discussion happened just as the Shadows deployed this weapon on the Darglan homeworld."

    Cat shook her head. Her eyes were bright with tears. "It's so horrible. The Darglan were such a nice people, why would these Shadows want them dead?"

    "Maybe the Shadows were just evil bastards?" Angel suggested to her sister. "I mean… 'shadow' is kind of a nasty thing to call yourself, I think?"

    "At least from our cultural perspective," Data pointed out. "That said, it appears the name 'Shadow' is not their species' name, but rather a designation given to them by the Minbari."

    "They were talking about Facility coordinates," Meridina noted. "Were they contained in the data?"

    "They were," Jarod said. He hit a key. Three sets of coordinates popped up. Two were of Earth, one for their home universe. "It looks like there was a second Earth to get one," Jarod said. "But the data for that is missing the universe designation. The third set, though…"

    It was, indeed, a set of coordinates. Exact coordinates, and a set that they'd seen part of before.

    And beside those coordinates were four symbols.

    S4W8.

    "We did it," Julia breathed. "We have the coordinates." She looked to Robert and grinned. "We did it."

    He nodded and returned the grin. "Now we tell Admiral Maran. And we get ready." Robert looked to everyone. "Now…" He thought on what to say.

    "Now we have to get around the Nazi fleet and beat them there," Leo finished for him.

    Robert nodded. "That's right. This was the easy part. Now the real work begins."
     
    • 1-17 Opening
    • Teaser


    4 October 2641

    D -10 Days

    Robert and Angel woke up to the sound of the alarm chime they had set with the computer. Just as on any other morning. Mornings that would have seen them make pleasant morning talk before going off to shower and a breakfast to start their day.

    But this wasn't any other morning.

    They got ready with urgency. Shower, a quick breakfast without a word, and then into their uniforms before departing Robert's quarters.

    As they moved down the deck, Julia joined them. Her hair was brushed and pulled back into a proper ponytail and her uniform was without a single crease. Her green eyes burned with the same intensity their own eyes had.

    Jarod joined them next. Cat arrived alongside Leo, and then Meridina came up with Lucy. Scotty nodded in greeting as he moved into place with them.

    They met Data, Worf, and Shepard coming up to the Transporter Station. Worf, as well as Data, were in their standard Starfleet uniforms; Shepard was in the blue uniform of the Systems Alliance Navy, complete with the striped shoulder boards.

    The door slid open. Locarno was there and nodded. Commander King, not to be outdone, was already present with her crew. "So." Robert looked at them all. "This is it?"

    "This is it," Julia agreed.

    "Let's go, then." Robert nodded to the Egyptian man at the transporter station. "Are they ready?"

    "We just received the clear signal from Command, sir. You are cleared for transport straight to Defense Command."

    Robert didn't bother thinking about what had happened the last time they were in Defense Command. That was the past. This was about the future, their future, and stopping a terrible threat looming over everything they cared for. "Then let's go."




    In the central structure of Defense Command, about ten stories down from the Defense Committee special room where they had been grilled just four months ago, Robert and his crew stepped into a large chamber illuminated by a giant holographic starmap. Lines were drawn through the space depicted and insignias were displayed in each partition; the torch of the United Systems, the emblem of the Phosako State, and the swastika of the Nazi Reich.

    There were already several tables laid out, as well as lines of chairs. Robert, Julia, Jarod, and Caterina went to one table marked with the seal of the Alliance President. Cat was visibly nervous, prompting Robert to put a hand on her shoulder. "It'll be fine," he promised her in a low voice.

    The reason for her nervousness was clear; there were more tables and even more chairs. And some were already taken up. Robert recognized various uniforms of Alliance member states, the Systems Alliance, Starfleet, several other allied states… and to his surprise there were even a number of Rangers from E5B1.

    The others took up chairs in the seating area. That is, except for Worf, Data, and Shepard, who went to the tables for Starfleet and the Systems Alliance respectively. Robert watched her salute Captain Anderson and an older man with lighter skin and a scar on one cheek that went down to his mouth. She took a seat beside Anderson.

    Worf and Data, meanwhile, joined a Starfleet table where Captain Picard was present, as was Admiral Nechayev. An older man wearing what Robert saw to be one star admiral rank was sitting beside Nechayev. The holographic name marker in front of him identified him as Rear Admiral E. Jellicoe, Starfleet.

    The Alliance table was only occupied by one flag officer for the moment, Marshal Gulinev. The gruff Russian nodded in acknowledgement to Robert and the others standing at attention before him. They took seats marked for them.

    Over the next several minutes, the seats filled in with more officers. The Citadel Council table was soon filled with Turians, primarily, save a small party of Asari led by a Matriarch named Aethyta. A couple of Salarians in the uniform of the Salarian Special Tasks Group sat at one end of the table.

    The main doors opened and heads turned. Everyone watched as a large group of Klingons stomped in. Robert and the others recognized Councillor Kurn among them, but he seemed to defer to another Klingon with a large, medal-adorned overcoat. Said Klingon's wild eyes darted around the room. He looked to the Alliance table and Robert realized he was looking right at them. A smile came to the Klingon's face. They watched as he led the Klingon contingent up to the central platform and the Alliance table. "So, you are the captain they say caused the war," the Klingon in the overcoat said. He smiled a toothy grin. "I thought you would be older."

    Robert smiled thinly. "I enjoy surprising people."

    That prompted a chuckle from the Klingon leader. "Your ship looks impressive, Captain. I will enjoy seeing how it fares in the battle to come."

    "And my crew and I will enjoy showing you how good we are in a fight."

    That caused another chuckle. "I look forward to judging that for myself."

    The Klingon led his contingent to their table. Robert swallowed at seeing the chair he took; adjacent to Klingon lettering was the English translation: Chancellor Gowron, Klingon High Council.

    "You just faced down the leader of the Klingon Empire," Cat squeaked.

    "He was testing us," Jarod observed. "That's all. Don't let it get to you, Cat."

    "But… but look at all of these leaders…"

    Cat stopped when the door opened again. This time it was President Morgan leading a group of figures. Admiral Maran, Admiral Davies, General Hatcher of Military Intelligence, and Defense Minister Hawthorne all walked in behind him and made their way to the Alliance table. Indeed, save for Davies' chief of staff, they took up all of the remaining seats.

    The Aurora officers were thus the only other people sitting with them. It was intimidating as hell.

    But there was one last surprise. The door swung open one last time and admitted a final contingent. They were mostly Minbari in white and yellow robes, a couple of Humans and Minbari in Ranger uniforms, and finally...

    Vice President Delenn walked regally through the seating and to the steps leading to the middle platform and its giant holodisplay. She and her group took the last table.

    "Ledosh has had a busy week, I guess," Julia murmured.

    Robert nodded back. He looked back to the crowd of people attending. Officers and officials from all of the allied powers that were working with the Alliance. Phosako, Klingons, Gl'mulli, Dre'kari...

    Admiral Maran stood. "Greetings, gentlebeings, and welcome to Alliance Defense Command. I am Admiral Maran of Drelin. And it is my honor to present to you the President of the Allied Systems, Henry Morgan."

    There was polite applause from some as President Morgan stood and walked to a podium. "Thank you all for coming. This strategy summit has been called to address the main issue over which our states have allied against the Nazi Reich of Universe S4W8. We have been able to confirm that there is a Darglan Facility in said universe, and in range of the Reich's fleet. Indeed, we know that even now they are looking for it, although they may not know the extent of what they are looking for." Morgan's expression was stern. "If they discover this Facility, it is a certainty that they will discover the means to develop the interuniversal jump drive developed by the Darglan. And that is what we are gathered here to prevent."

    That prompted nods.

    And, much to Robert's consternation, Morgan looked directly at him. "I now call Captain Robert Dale of the Starship Aurora to the floor. Captain Dale and his crew will present the planned operation to secure the Facility."



    Undiscovered Frontier
    "Tides of Fire"    ​

    D -11 Days



    The fabric of space tore open with crackling green energy. The resulting vortex in space formed just long enough for a single vessel to fly through, surprisingly swift for her kilometer-long hull.

    Such was Starship Aurora's arrival at Earth L2M1.

    On the bridge of the ship, Robert and the others took in the sight of the plentiful starships arrayed in orbit. A Federation Excelsior-class ship, the Crazy Horse, was nearest to them, along with a couple of smaller Federation vessels of the Miranda-class. A massive Klingon battlecruiser that Robert had never seen before loomed ahead, joined by an even larger pair of warships; dreadnoughts from M4P2, the Systems Alliance Kilimanjaro and a Turian dreadnought.

    And among them was a massive blue starship, taller than it was wide or long. "That's a new one," Locarno mused.

    "I have it in the newest recognition charts," Jarod said. "It's a Minbari Warcruiser."

    "The Minbari are attending the strategy conference?"

    "According to her ID signal, she's called the Branmer. On special assignment to the Rangers."

    "Quite a lot of people are here," Julia mused. "Isn't that the Negh'Var? Chancellor Gowron's flagship?"

    "This is going to be one hell of a strategy summit." Robert stood up. "Already everyone. Let's get to Briefing Room 1. We need to go over our presentation."




    In the Aurora's large Briefing Room, Data and Jarod had taken charge. A star system was now displayed over the central holoprojector. "This is System BB29938," Data stated. "Known on Federation starcharts in our home universe as Gamma Piratus. The system includes one Y-class planet, one O-class, three gas giants, and one M-class planet where the Darglan Facility is located. According to the data recovered from the Darglan computer banks, the Facility is located on the tertiary continent in the northern Hemisphere."

    "Under a mound, I'd guess," Julia remarked. "Given our Facility was and the data center on 33LA."

    "Likely so." Data tapped a key and zoomed in on the planet and the location. "The area is a river valley with several strategic peaks that could be utilized for ground-based defensive emplacements."

    "Do we know what's inside of it?", asked Commander Shepard. The System Alliance Marine was seated in Alliance blues between Worf and Meridina.

    "That data was not forthcoming in what we recovered," Data replied.

    "If it's anything like our Facility, it'll have a utility ship and maybe an Emergency Ship," Julia pointed out. "I mean, one of our Kelley-class ships and a hullform for another ship like the Aurora."

    "The tricky question's going to be if we can keep the place," Angel pointed out. "I mean, once the Nazis know it's there, how do we keep them out?"

    "If we get there in time, we could shut down the surface transporter," Cat pointed out. "Our jump drives let us jump into the Facility itself, I mean. We don't need the surface access."

    "It would buy us time at least," Shepard observed. "We could use it if we have to set demolition charges."

    "Granted, we need to make sure the actual portal to get in and out works." Jarod drew attention to himself with that comment. "There's no data on how intact the place is, whether the local systems are functioning. I think we need to bring signal enhancers so we can beam right into the Facility if we need to. But that's not the real problem we're facing." Jarod pressed a key. The image of the system zoomed out until it was but a speck on a larger map of their section of the galaxy. Additional markers popped up. "The real problem is getting there." Jarod pointed to various red specks. "There are at least ten enemy warships in the area around Gamma Piratus. And the enemy fleet base at New Austria is within two days' travel at standard warp. The moment they see us coming, they'll react."

    "What if we send a Discovery-class ship?", Cat suggested. "I mean, they're fast, and they can cloak. Maybe the Challenger, or I hear the Gagarin is ready to fly."

    "The Reich has tachyon detection grids and other technology that can detect a cloaked vessel given time," Data noted. "The Klingon raids on their supply lines have determined this capability as in place. Even if such a vessel evaded initial detection, it would be incapable of resisting an enemy arrival at the site."

    "And we may not have time either." Jarod pointed to the spots. With a keystroke the red dots began moving in a pattern. One easily recognizable. "They're getting closer than before. Whatever method they're using, they're fine-tuning it. It could be a couple weeks, if not sooner, before they actually find the Facility."

    "So we can't sneak around without setting off an enemy fleet to come after us," Julia said. "And we don't have time to try something more subtle. That leaves us with the direct approach."

    Robert nodded. "A direct assault."



    D -10 Days


    "I have shared our findings with Admiral Maran and Defense Command," Robert explained to the gathered. "The fact remains that given the location of enemy forces, the best way to secure the Facility at Gamma Piratus involves defeating the Reich fleet and eliminating their fleet base at New Austria."

    "A difficult target." The uniformed military officer of the Phosako contingent wiggled his chin. "We have planned for such a strike for months, but currently our forces are insufficient for such a bold strike."

    "Given the strategic situation on your front, I'm not sure you can afford such an attack." This was the Turian military commander beside Primarch Fedorian. The holographic display before him identified him as General Adrien Victus. "Although it would certainly be a bold move."

    "The Klingon Empire is ready to dispatch ten more squadrons to the war," Gowron stated. "We would have the forces, together, to eliminate this base. But getting to it will be difficult."

    "If I may?"

    Robert looked to the new voice speaking up. Delenn stood from the ISA table. "I am still unfamiliar with some of the aspects of your interuniversal jump drive technology," she admitted. "Would it not be possible to simply jump to this New Austria system from one of the other universes?"

    "Ships do not jump from one exact point to another, Madame Vice President," Robert explained. "There is a spatial aspect margin to each jump. And it can be random. Unless you lock one jump drive onto another, or to a receiving device designed to provide such an anchoring effect, any jump point you open would be to another point determined by various complicated circumstances. And if you did it with multiple ships, then each jump point opened would have a different arrival point over many light years of space. My ship could arrive two light years outside of this solar system while yours might arrive in orbit over Jupiter, or somewhere outside of Alpha Centauri. If a fleet attempted a large-scale jump without something to anchor their jump drives to the spatial location of New Austria, they'd be scattered across the better part of a sector. The Nazi fleet could engage and destroy them in detail."

    "So they would see these points open from so far away?"

    "Yes." Robert nodded. "Given the large reaches of space, it's very unlikely that a jump point would open close enough to a sufficient gravity source to hide the point from long-range sensors. They'd see enough of our fleet coming to know."

    "I see." Delenn nodded. "Thank you, Captain Dale, for that explanation."

    "You say the enemy is growing closer to the Facility?", Davies asked. "Are you sure we don't have another few months? Admiral Relini has rebuilt the 9th Fleet and should be able to win a decisive engagement by the end of November. By New Year's, we'll have two more fleets to send at New Austria."

    "The pattern of their movements suggests that we have only three weeks before their search pattern moves into Gamma Piratus," Data stated from the Starfleet table. "Commander Jarod and I have run multiple strategic simulations. Four weeks was the absolute longest before discovery was unavoidable."

    "And we probably only have two or so," Jarod added. "I'm sorry, sir, but we've run out of time."

    Davies didn't respond with any hostility to that. He nodded with understanding. "So we need to launch the attack," he said. "But we don't have forces fast enough to blast their way to New Austria before the enemy fleet could intercept us. We would get overwhelmed and destroyed."

    "You have said your jump drives can lock onto one another for jumps?", Delenn asked. "If you cannot get a fleet to the location, could you not send just enough ships that a fleet could lock onto them?"

    "There is a hardware limitation to how many locks a jump drive can sustain," Jarod answered. "At best, maybe three different jump drives could lock onto one. To take out a fleet and the base? We'd need to get the better part of a fleet there, and the enemy would likely intercept…"

    Robert noticed Jarod go quiet with thought. And he wasn't the only one. "Commander?", Admiral Maran asked.

    Jarod blinked. And then he smiled, and it made Robert's heart lift to see that. Jarod had something in mind. "Commander Jarod?", he asked.

    Jarod stood. "We can outfit probes to act as drive anchors," he said. "A lot of them. Enough that entire fleets could jump to a single location fast enough to engage the Reich forces at New Austria."

    Picard was quick to act on the idea. "Commander, is what you are proposing technically feasible in such a short time?"

    "A week, at most," Jarod proposed. "We just need to manufacture the same systems our jump drives use for anchoring other drives. It has been proposed before." Jarod looked to Cat, who blushed and smiled. "So I've been giving it some thought."

    "What do you propose for our battle strategy?" The speaker was Admiral Hackett, the scar-faced man at the System Alliance table beside Prime Minister Shasti. "Once we come through a jump point we'll need time to form the fleet up for a general action."

    "We can seed the anchor probes with probes configured to jam enemy targeting sensors," Cat proposed. She swallowed. The fact that she wasn't stuttering out of reaction to all the eyes on her was purely from her mind focusing enough on the technical issue at hand. "I mean, I've seen Nazi sensor systems in action before, I know their limitations."

    "That would let us buy time to maneuver any intercepting enemy ships into an advantageous position," Robert added. "Then we send a launch signal on our IU bands and the fleet can jump in and engage."

    Maran stood. "If this can be done, I would move that the Coalition commit to this operation. A committal of such force to destroying the Reich fleet base at New Austria would send ripples through their communications and logistics networks. It could cause a collapse across the entire front."

    The Phosako leader - Turrellso - seemed to ponder the idea. The colors of his eyes seemed to shift, as they always did in the somewhat feline eyes of the Phosako, as if to go with the thoughts in the blue-furred being's head. "Such an accomplishment would have a severe effect upon the Reich's hold on star systems across several sectors. Many worlds in the region were settled by subordinated nations with little love of the Reich. Such a blow to the Reich's aura of military invincibility would have interesting socio-political ramifications. Ramifications to our immediate and long-term strategic advantage."

    "In other words, Premier Turrellso, you believe that a victory by our fleets at New Austria could very well win the war," President Morgan stated.

    "Indeed, Mister President. I will not say so with certainty, of course, the variables are simply too complicated to make a guaranteed calculation. But it would certainly do extreme damage to the Reich both materially and psychologically."

    "We would shatter the Reich's aura of military invincibility." Robert nodded. The more he thought of this plan, the more he liked it.

    Hackett nodded with approval. "The Fifth Fleet will be finished outfitting with IU drives and enhanced energy shielding by the end of the week," he said. "We can be in position to launch an attack in nine days."

    "The Citadel Fleet will be prepared by that time," Victus added.

    "If this works, I will commit eight squadrons to the battle." Gowron smiled his toothy smile again. "I will lead them myself from the Negh'Var."

    "The InterStellar Alliance has not agreed to any military action on behalf of your coalition," Delenn stated. "But I am Entil'zha and I will commit the Rangers to fight against this evil. A week should be sufficient time to outfit enough of our ships to assist in this battle."

    "I'll have an Alliance fleet ready as well." Maran nodded. "That leaves one matter. We need a ship that can penetrate their defense perimeter and deploy the anchor probes. The ship has to be fast enough to avoid interception and big enough to carry the anchor probes we'll need, not to mention tough enough to endure enemy fire to set up their fleet for the ambush."

    Robert swallowed. He knew just which ship fit that criteria.

    And indeed, Maran looked to him. "Captain Dale, the Aurora is the only ship that can accomplish this mission effectively. We can deploy some of our fast ships to follow you in and distract their defenses but I'm not sure they can follow you all of the way in. Is the Aurora ready for an operation like this?"

    It was a good question. Were they ready? This was everything they had been building up to, after all. All of the diplomatic work, all of the searching for answers… everything, really, since the strike on 33LA.

    It all came down to this.

    Robert looked to his crew. Julia's green eyes were on him. She nodded, almost imperceptibly. Angel, Jarod and Cat, Lucy and Meridina, Leo, Nick Locarno and Scotty, Laurent, they were all looking at him with the same thing on their faces.

    "Admiral, sir," he said, turning to Maran. "We've been training for this for weeks now. Commander Shepard and Commander Worf have put us through our paces. So, yes, we are ready. As ready as we can ever be."

    "Good to hear it, Captain," Maran said. "Now, General Victus, Admiral Hackett, let's start with you. Can you give us a complete rundown on…"

    Robert went back to the table and set beside Julia. She smiled at him. "Here we go," she said. "Good reply."

    "Thanks," he answered. "Hopefully the Nazis won't be as ready for this as we are."

    "Don't think of it like that," Julia chided gently. She kept her voice low so as to not disturb General Victus as he listed the Turian warships being prepared for the war. "Think of it this way; it won't matter if they're ready or not, because we're going to kick their asses."

    "I can get behind that." And as he said that, Robert found himself wondering. I wonder what they're up to on their end. What are they planning? Do they have anything in mind for the Facility as well?

    And, of course, a question that had nagged him for months.

    Are we ever going to run into Lamper again?




    Over a world marked with towering spires and marble monuments to the glory of the founding regime, a spiraling set of structures dominated the orbital spaces. Various ships filled the spaces around it. Some were plain-looking private vessels, merchant transports and spaceliners and the like. But most were gunmetal gray with the blue ramscoops and red field emitters of the Reich's feared warships. All had the swastika of the Party and State emblazoned on them and a number had the twin lightning bolt-shaped “S” letters marking a ship in operation by the Schutzstaffel.

    One ship completed its approach to a docking port. On the bridge of the cruiser Reich's Glory, Kapitän-des-Raumes Joachim Lamper noted their arrival in his log. "Frigattenkapitän, make sure all wounded are offloaded," he ordered his Executive Officer, Frigattenkapitän Hermann Falk.

    The dark-haired Neusachsenische replied with a nod. "Jawohl, Kapitän."

    "And do not let that little creature Geisser avoid giving us the replenishment we need," Lamper continued, moving toward the lift. "We need every torpedo and missile we can get from the fleet locker."

    "You can rely on me, Kapitän Lamper," Falk swore.

    A mere nod was Falk's reply from Lamper. The older man stepped into the lift and barked the proper command to head to Deck 7. From there he moved through the spartan halls of his ship, ducking compartment beams and accepting salutes from his loyal crew. He noted their devotion with pride, pride that he had brought them through so many battles. After the Nebula, as costly as it had been, it had seemed like victories would never end… but of course the Alliance had recovered. And more than recovered....

    He moved beside one blackened area. Specks of blood were still visible. One of his crew had his skull smashed at this spot during the last battle near Grodni 3. Those Klingon beasts had torpedoed the Reich's Glory quite extensively in the action. That their "Birds-of-Prey" had succumbed to his tactics and disruptor fire did not erase the fact that his ship had taken damage and casualties. Fifty dead, Lamper contemplated bitterly. We are reaping a bitter harvest in death for this war. And it will not get any better.

    A chief petty officer saluted him on his way off the ship and obediently logged his departure from the ship. Once through the airlock Lamper started walking down the wide terminal bay for the line of docks his ship had connected to. A passing anti-grav transported stopped. A young woman, a brunette with freckles, saluted him. He recognized her dark uniform; the womens' auxiliary for the Raumkriegsmarine. Women could not serve in combat capacities, obviously, but German women dedicated to serving their Fatherland were found places in the auxiliaries as clerks, secretaries, drivers, galley cooks in central bases… anywhere that combat was not a persistent possibility. "Kapitän", she called out. "Do you need a ride?"

    "Ja." He nodded politely and accepted the seat beside her. This made the journey to the central areas of the New Austria Naval Base far faster than he had anticipated. So much the better; he wanted to report to Admiral von der Goltz as soon as he could.

    The trip was still on the slow side. Other anti-grav vehicles were carrying stores and supplies to be transferred to ships, allowing power from transporter use to be conserved only for high priority cargo transport. And yet more vehicles carried personnel, bright-eyed young men being taken to ships as replacement crew. Lamper wondered how many were bound for his vessel to replace the men who had died in the past weeks.

    Once they were out of the docking areas their journey became swifter. The Base had a commercial area full of civilians, young Germans and those of trusted nationalities who were permitted residence on German military outposts, all seeking better opportunities providing services to the fighting men of the Raumkriegsmarine. Their uniforms gave Lamper and his driver the right of way on their trip. Within minutes they had crossed this section of the commercial areas to arrive at the administrative sections. Here Lamper took leave of his young driver, who blushed with thanks at his praise of her ability. She drove off and he entered the nearest lift, taking him all the way to the peak of this section of the station. A tower jutting out of the toroid-shaped main body of the Base.

    Every door on the level belonged to an admiral. Logistics staff admirals, planners, chiefs of staff to fleet commanders, it went on. And, alone among the most important, was the office marked as belonging to Admiral Georg von der Goltz, commander of 5. Raumkampfflotte. An older blonde greeted him, also in the uniform of the auxiliary, and waved Lamper in.

    Admiral von der Goltz was looking over reports at his desk. The commander of the battle fleet to which Reich's Glory was assigned looked up as Lamper came to attention and raised his arm in salute. "Sieg Heil," he declared.

    "Heil Sauckel," von der Goltz answered, hand raised at his desk. "Be seated, Kapitän."

    Lamper did so. He knew better than to inquire; the Admiral would speak when he deigned to, not a moment earlier.

    "Your performance at Grodni 3 has won the approval of Vizeadmiral Haus," von der Goltz stated finally. He looked up from his digital reader. "He has submitted your name for consideration for a Ritterkreuz."

    "It was a simple action, sir. I do not consider my victory of sufficient weight or skill to warrant high praise."

    "Well-spoken, Kapitän." The older man appraised Lamper with light blue eyes. Brown hair had long darkened to wolfish gray, now growing white at his brow. "Whether or not the commendation goes through, the promotion will."

    "Promotion, sir?"

    "As of the first of the month, yes." Von der Goltz cracked a slight smile. "Congratulations, Flottenkapitän. You will take command of 12. Kreuzergeschwader, to be led by Reich's Glory. Effective at the end of the month."

    Lamper remained quiet for a moment. He had not sought such a promotion, at least not yet, and had assumed that his past conflicts with the SS would poison the ability of the RKM to promote him. "I am honored, Herr Admiral. I will redouble my efforts to protect the Reich."

    "I know you will." Von der Goltz put his hands together. "But before your promotion and new assignment come into effect, you and your vessel have another assignment to fulfill."

    "Admiral?"

    "You have been requested for special duty, Kapitän," the admiral explained. "I do not expect it will be pleasurable, however."

    Lamper knew what that meant. "The Schutzstaffel."

    "Indeed."

    The new voice came from the corner of the room. Lamper had not paid attention to the office, having seen it before, and so he had not noticed the extra occupant. The black-suited man turned.

    "Sturmbannführer Fassbinder," Lamper said evenly. He noted the change in the rank insignia on his former SS detachment commander. "Or rather Obersturmbannführer. Congratulations, Fassbinder, I am sure the SS has been quite pleased with your performance."

    "Of course," the SS man replied. His piercing blue eyes focused on Lamper, as if to emphasize his genetically-engineered Aryan appearance. "As the RKM has with your own. Your victory over the barbarian beasts the Alliance has drawn into the war will do much to pave our way to conquest."

    Lamper felt bemusement at that. Conquest? Against a foe whose homeland was safely protected by the unbreachable barrier between universes? The Alliance's security measures to protect their IU drives from being salvaged from destroyed ships were quite effective, so the idea that the Reich could strike back for the moment was farfetched…

    Or was it? There was something in Fassbinder's eyes, a glint of triumph that had to be more than typical SS arrogance.

    Could he be wrong? Could the SS have found a way to unlock the enemy's technology? If so… Lamper reeled at the prospects before him. We may actually win the war.

    "The SS will be commencing an operation soon," Fassbinder continued. "It will be led by Oberführer Eicke from the Eichmann. We will require your ship to provide additional escort for the Eichmann."

    Lamper took that with surprise. "Truly? The SS, with all of its own ships, lacks sufficient cruisers to protect one of their dreadnoughts? You must come to the RKM for aid?"

    "We have our own operations to consider, Kapitän. Our forces are spread thin in relation to these operations, many of them critical to our victory in this war." Fassbinder's smile was sharp with enjoyment. Lamper knew he was enjoying being able to drag Lamper and his crew around.

    "The orders come straight from Oberst-Gruppenführer Lammers," von der Goltz informed Lamper.

    Lamper nodded. Lammers was one of the highest ranking officers of the SS. Moreso, he was chief of staff for the Führer himself. If Lammers was directing this operation, it meant that this had the Führer's personal attention.

    Which did nothing, admittedly, to make Lamper feel better about this.

    "My ship is at your disposal, Obersturmbannführer," Lamper said. "We will require repairs and crew replacements, but it should not take us long to be ready for action."

    "Take your time, Kapitän, we still have some time before departure." Fassbinder nodded. "In the meantime, I will be pleased to reacquaint myself with your ship and to check on Sturmbannführer Stammel's progress."

    "Of course." Lamper looked to von der Goltz. "May I depart, Herr Admiral? My ship requires attention to ensure we are fully prepared for the coming mission."

    "You are dismissed, Kapitän."

    Lamper left immediately. He felt the need to, reeling as he was with everything being set into motion. I am promoted, I may get a Ritterkreuz... but first I must endure the SS and their schemes. Damn it all.
     
    • 1-17-2
    • D -9 Days


    Robert and Julia were quiet observers to the discussion going on in Science Lab 2. Jarod, Data, Scotty, Caterina, and Lucy were arrayed around a central table. And now they were joined by Commander La Forge. "You're going to need a stronger material to handle the power draw," La Forge observed, looking over the holographic design over the central table. "Otherwise the entire thing will melt down within a minute."

    "We don't need it to be active for longer than a minute," Jarod reminded him. "Anything heavier and we'll have to bulk out the anchor probe. The jammers will have a harder time protecting them."

    "What if you…"

    As the engineers and science people continued to fuss over Jarod's concept of a deployable probe that could act as an IU drive anchor, Robert gave a side glance to Julia. "Are you following a word of this?"

    "As much as I can," she answered. Louder, she asked, "Is this possible or not?"

    The talking ceased. And everyone nodded. "It'll take some work," La Forge said, "but give us a few days and we can have dozens of these things replicated before you're scheduled to leave. We just have to work the kinks out."

    "That's good enough for me."




    D -8 Days


    The skyline of the Minbari planet Tuzanor was a sight to see, full of fine crystalline spires. It made Meridina almost wish she was there.

    "The negotiations continue to go well," Ledosh said. "A number of the Alliance species of this universe are ready to begin trade with us. President Sheridan has been most magnanimous…"

    "I am pleased your mission continues so well, Mastrash."

    "Was there anything else you wished to report?" He asked. In a very delicate tone of voice.

    Meridina swallowed. "Captain Dale… has shown indications of further awakening of his swevyra."

    Ledosh digested that news. "I see. What have you told him?"

    "It is not fully awake yet. I informed him that it could, or that he could keep it asleep. He seemed inclined to the latter." Meridina found she could not keep the disappointment out of her voice. Her eyes went over to the open tome on her desk.

    "I am not surprised. It is his choice, of course. Do not lose heart. The future has yet to be written. There is no telling what it might bring." Ledosh smiled thinly. "I have some happier news for you, though. I have taken a new student, one who has volunteered to join our Order." Ledosh looked offscreen and nodded.

    A woman appeared in the image. Meridina recognized her immediately and smiled gently. "Gina Invieve," she said softly. "I am delighted, if surprised, to see you in those robes."

    The Humaniform Cylon woman nodded. "I didn't want to tell you until it was certain," she said. "But it is. I have your gifts. And I wish to use them as you have, Meridina. I can protect life, as I believe God would truly intend for me."

    Meridina nodded. "I understand. Mastrash Ledosh will help you achieve your full potential. Just as he did with me."

    "You flatter your old teacher, Meridina, and do not reflect enough on the fact that you were a superb and talented student," Ledosh countered. "I wish you and the Aurora crew the best. Do not worry of the future, it will tend to itself. Mi rake sa swevyra iso, Meridina. May the Light illuminate your path."

    "Mi rake sa swevyra iso, Mastrash, Gina." Meridina nodded. "I look forward to the day when you take your place as a swevyra'se, Gina. It will pave the way for your people to come to the Light."

    The Cylon nodded, her smile still on her face. The two disappeared from the image.

    Meridina went back to the security reports she was going through. She barely had time to finish the first page before the door chime sounded. At her call of "You may enter", the door slid open and Lucy entered. She was still in uniform instead of the training garb that she might have otherwise worn given the time. "You are finished with the others?", Meridina asked.

    "We have a final design. Commander La Forge, Data, Scotty, and Jarod are overseeing the manufacturing so I can get on to other things." Lucy looked around Meridina's quarters. She spotted the book on the desk and went over to it. "This is beautiful writing," Lucy said. "What's the language?"

    "An older dialect from Swenya's time." Meridina gently took the book and closed it. "It contains ancient wisdom of the Grand Foundress."

    "I'd enjoy getting to read it some day." Lucy stood beside Meridina while she put the book away. "But that's not why I came here."

    "And not for training either?"

    "Actually, I was going to say I wanted to work on that issue Data found. The transmissions going out."

    "We have yet to find an origin point on the ship," Meridina stated. "It would appear that whomever is sending the transmissions knows how our protocols work."

    "I figured that. But there's more than one way to find out what's going on."

    Meridina considered it. And her instincts, her swevyra, told her that Lucy joining the investigation would be of value. She nodded. "Very well. Let us return to my office, I will bring up the relevant logs for you."

    Lucy nodded. "Great. I'll get right to work. I'd like to get this all sorted out before the week's up." That was, before they went off to rejoin the war.




    D -7 Days


    Leo sighed with contented relief at the inventory list before him. He had gone straight to the Stellar Navy Medical Command offices in Tacoma to ensure complete replenishment of his stocks, and this time he'd gotten it. Combined with what Dr. Hobbs had fabricated for him during the visit to B5, the medbay was now fully stocked and ready for prolonged operations.

    About damn time, Leo pondered. He looked out at the medbay and its empty biobeds. Save for a couple cases from bruised bodies from a rugby match between their crew and one from the British Stellar Union cruiser Spartiate, the crew had not required his services since their return to L2M1 Earth. His medical staff was using the time for some much-needed rest and preparation for the trouble to come.

    With nothing better to do Leo typed in commands in the ship medical system, preparing to give a call to New Liberty to see how his colleagues from the Facility days were doing. Before the call could go through he had one from the bridge. Jupap's voice chirped primly over the comm line. "Doctor Gillam, I have an active call from Commander Carrey, and you're the only one I can reach right now."

    Leo smiled thinly. "Pipe him down here, Jupap. And remember, you're due for that blood test later."

    "Of course, Doctor. I will be there by 1800 hours. Jupap out."

    Leo sighed contentedly at that. Jupap, and most of his people, actually seemed to prefer getting medical checkups out of the way, a far cry from the Human (and Dorei) tendency to avoid them.

    A moment later Zack popped up on the computer screen on his desk. "Hey, Leo, its been a while", Zack said cheerfully. "I guess you're the only one who can talk to me right now?"

    "Just about." Leo smiled and nodded. "Rob's in planning sessions with the allied commanders. Julia's running around getting crew replacements trained and ready and doing all the other stuff people need done. Angel's running tactical simulations, Cat and Commander Data are going over the Darglan databanks are helping Jarod and the engineers… it’s pretty hectic here, honestly, unless you're in the medbay."

    "Well, here we are then. I guess you're going back to the war?"

    Leo nodded.

    Zack visibly sighed. "Damn. There goes my sleep."

    "I'm sure you've got your own things to worry about, Zack, don't worry about us," Leo urged him.

    "Leo, everything out here is fine. The Cylons are still staying away and we're just a couple of jumps away from the Dorei frontier. You guys are heading off to fight the damn Nazis again. And I should…" Zack caught himself.

    Leo nodded in understanding. He knew how that sentence would have ended. "We'll handle things on this end, Zack, alright?" Leo thought for a moment. Time to change the subject, I guess. "How have you been doing? Julia mentioned that Clara ended up out there?"




    After the conversation was over, Zack looked away from his desktop computer screen and stared off into space for a moment. I got what I wanted, alright, he pondered to himself. He'd wanted to leave, to spread his wings, and he had. He'd worked closely with Adama, he and his crew had conducted multiple scouting missions on their own and trained with the Colonial forces, and now, on top of all that, he'd turned most of the children in the Fleet into baseball fans....

    ...and he was with Clara. As many times as their schedules could manage, for dinner and a night of making love in one of the suites on Cloud 9. For the past several weeks, he'd been happier than he'd been in years.

    But now it gnawed at him. His friends were going off into what would be the most harrowing battle of their lives. And he wouldn't be there to watch their back, to make sure they came out of this safely, to give them the backup they might need…

    He let that thought linger for a moment. And then his thoughts turned into ideas. Ideas that grew more concrete as the minutes passed.

    There was a tone over the intercom. "Commander, sir, they're ready to beam you over to Galactica for this week's meeting." Apley's voice barely seemed to reach him. "Commander?"

    Finally Zack moved. "Tell them I'm going to be a couple minutes late. I need to discuss something with Tom and Karen." He hit a key on his desk to cut the line and hit a second to open another one. "Commander Carrey here. Lieutenant Derbely, Lieutenant Barnes, please report to my office immediately. I have something to discuss with you."




    D -5 Days


    Caterina had the last of her breakfast strudel in her mouth when she arrived at Science Lab 1 for the morning. Data was already present. Captain Picard and Commander La Forge were standing near him. All turned to face her. She stopped chewing and forced the mouthful down with a hard gulp. "Uh… good morning…?", she said, sheepish.

    Picard smiled gently. "Good morning, Lieutenant."

    "Um… did you need me to get Capt…"

    "We're just here discussing this find with Mister Data," Picard assured her. He looked back to the data on the screen. It was from the Darglan databanks, showing imagery of the Darglan capitol world. The orange-complexioned, tall-skulled aliens were walking around in multitudes, clad in clothing of various colors amid buildings of brilliant azure sheen.

    "Oh. Yes, we recently got that video file out. It's an old presentation of Darglan urban planning concepts," Cat answered.

    "So it is." Picard let out a sigh. "Such a brilliant culture. I only wish there was more of them to examine."

    "Yeah." Cat's voice betrayed her sadness. "What the Shadows did to their Homeworld, it wasn't…" She swallowed.

    La Forge was looking over the same screen Data was. "Data, this is amazing. I'm surprised these databanks are working so well. The amount of raw computer information you're processing is a lot for using a tertiary computer system."

    "Well, it might be the Darglan computer technology being designed to interface with itself at maximum efficiency," Cat proposed. "Not that Data hasn't been brilliant!" She took a seat beside Data and looked up at the Starfleet captain. "Captain Picard?"

    Picard seemed to come out of his reverie for a moment. "One of my regrets was never getting to visit that remarkable Facility you and your friends operated out of, Lieutenant. I never had the chance to consult with the information it must have had on such a remarkable species, the potential it had for furthering exploration…" He looked at her with sad eyes. "...and to think we will likely end up destroying this Facility as well."

    "Maybe we won't have to," Cat suggested. "Maybe we can secure it from invasion and use it."

    "It would be nice."

    "Yeah." Cat felt an old pain flare up inside of her and couldn't keep it out of her voice.

    "Lieutenant?"

    "Sorry." She shook her head. A tear was in her eye. "I was just thinking about Control. The Darglan AI that ran the Facility. He helped me go through their records and learn a lot about what they had found in the Multiverse. He was destroyed when we lost the Facility to the Daleks. He and Captain Farmer and al-Qiba and Simon and..." She stopped as the tears built in her eyes. She remembered seeing the Daleks kill her science team. The terror they had kept her in when they tried to make her free them from the Facility quarantine.

    "You have my condolences, Lieutenant," Picard said gently. "I see these are painful memories for you."

    It took Caterina a few more moments to regain her composure. "Thank you," she said. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

    "A team of scientists from the Coalition are coming tomorrow to remove the databanks to be studied elsewhere," Picard explained. "I'll be leading the examination team with Commander La Forge. I just wanted to see what progress you and Data have made so far."

    Cat nodded at that. As much as she wished she could continue deciphering what was in the databanks, taking them into battle with the Nazis was too much risk. She understood that they had to be removed. "Well, we've managed to defragment or decrypt about fifteen percent of the data in the drive so far..."




    A crowd had gathered in the gymnasium. And given what she was feeling, Lucy could figure out why.

    It wasn't just the sensation she got whenever Meridina used her own extensive life force abilities. It was also that strange, distorted sense that rippled through her whenever Shepard's biotic powers were in use. Lucy was thus not too surprised to see that the two of them were in the boxing ring, Shepard in exercise wear - sports bra and gym shorts colored with System Alliance blue - and Meridina in a tight-fitting purple bodysuit.

    Blue energy flared around Shepard and released itself in a wave of bolts that knocked Meridina back into the ropes. Shepard ran up into punching range and threw several expert punches, her form reminding Lucy of both Julia and Angel in their fighting styles, that were carefully blocked or avoided by Meridina. Shepard seemed to realize her opponent could see the blows coming before they were thrown, so she adjusted, going faster and throwing quicker strikes. Meridina's ability to sense where blows were coming still helped, but she had less time to react, and a couple of the jabs landed on her torso.

    But Meridina wasn't just staying on defense. She had been biding her time, waiting for the right moment. It came when Shepard threw a punch toward her face. Meridina ducked the blow and extended her arm outward. An invisible blow from her energy threw Shepard all the way back to the opposite ropes. Meridina gathered her strength and reached out with her power again, lifting Shepard into the air and tossing her into the corner. And then the next corner. And then...

    …and then Shepard's arm flailed out. Space twisted and a bolt of biotic dark matter flew out and slammed into Meridina. It didn't just knock her back, though, but instead propelled her into the air toward where Meridina was holding her up. Shepard orientated herself in mid-air toward Meridina and, in the moment as Meridina let go of her, shot forward like a thunderbolt on a wake of biotic energy. She crashed into Meridina and both went flying over the ropes and onto the mat outside the ropes.

    Lucy rushed ahead of everyone, concerned for their well-being, and came up on the two exhausted combatants. Meridina and Shepard were sprawled out beside each other. Their chests heaved with the heavy, panting breaths they were taking. They looked at each other.

    "Draw?", Shepard finally proposed between pants.

    "A draw… yes," Meridina agreed.

    Lucy sighed and knelt beside them. "Should I call Leo or…?"

    "Nothing's broken," Shepard said. "We're fine."

    "Well, once you're ready to pick yourselves back up from the ground…"




    Julia was escorting the uniformed System Alliance officer from the Kilimanjaro when they arrived at the Lookout. "This is our crew lounge area," she explained. "And there…"

    There was a table where Meridina, Lucy, and Commander Shepard were taking a lunch. Shepard looked their way first. A pleased smile came to her face and she stood from the chair. "Mom?"

    Commander Hannah Shepard was returning the smile, waiting for her daughter to finish approaching and accept a hug. "Jen." The older woman was of a lighter complexion than Shepard's tanned bronze. Red hair as rich as her daughter's was kept in a regulation military bun. The resemblance between the two was easily noticeable, although Hannah's nose had a different shape, and her cheekbones were more visible.

    "I'm glad you got to visit."

    "Just for a while. I'm due back on the Kilimanjaro in three hours. We're jumping back home to meet up with the Fifth Fleet." The elder Shepard held her daughter's arms. "But I couldn't leave without checking up on my little girl."

    "It's great to see you again." Shepard directed her mother over to the table. Albert was already stepping up with lunch - he had added a plate, Julia noticed, undoubtedly at Hargert's order - and waited patiently while introductions to Lucy and Meridina were offered.

    With that task done, Julia went over to the bar and took a seat. She looked back and felt bittersweet feelings at the reunion of the Shepards.

    It wasn't often she thought about her parents. It hurt so much when she did, that wasn't surprising.

    "Ah, Commander." Hargert was standing opposite from her at the bar. "Guten Tag."

    "Guten Tag," she answered amiably. "What's for lunch? I think I could use your sausage stew."

    "Not today," he said. "I'm saving that for before we depart. A pre-battle meal to lift everyone's spirits. No, today we have pickled ham, some curry and rice…"

    Julia let him finish listing out the prepared meal for the day before she asked, "So, you'll cook our final meal before you disembark?"

    "Oh, no, not at all," he said. "I have no intention of leaving."

    Julia shook her head. "You probably should, Hargert. The fighting in July was bad enough. We're going into what might be the biggest battle of the war so far."

    "I know," the old German said. "And that is why I must remain. Albert and the others will be disembarking, yes, but I can run this place by myself for a short time. Long enough for us to win."

    "You're sure?"

    "Very sure, Commander." Hargert smiled thinly. "I have done much of what I wanted to do with life. I would rather spend what little time I have following my heart, not being a miser with what time I have left."

    "I… understand, I think," Julia said. She gave him a smile. "At least we can look forward to good meals then."

    "Always," Hargert promised.



    D -4 Days



    Locarno's morning took him to the Lookout for breakfast. He sat one table over from Scotty, Jarod, and Cat, who were still talking about the anchor probes they would be using at New Austria.

    He was only part of the way through his breakfast when someone walked up. "Is this chair open?", Captain Picard asked.

    Locarno looked at him intently for a moment. And then he nodded. Picard sat down with a breakfast plate of his own. "Mister Hargert is a fine cook," the older man noted before taking a bite and chewing on it.

    "The best." Locarno waited for Picard to swallow before setting his fork down and looking at the man who had done so much to destroy his Starfleet prospects. "I'm surprised you're still aboard, Captain. We're departing for our jump out location this afternoon."

    "I will be leaving in a couple of hours," Picard revealed. "I am simply awaiting your Miss Delgado's reports on the 33LA data." He nodded over to where Cat was laughing at something Jarod said. Scotty was shaking his head with a bemused smile. "You seem to have done well for yourself, Mister Locarno."

    "I've survived." Locarno tried, and failed, to keep some of the anger from his voice.

    Picard noticed that. "I find it hard to believe you are angry with me over the exposure of your own mistakes."

    "No." Locarno shook his head. "No. I made those mistakes. And I've spent three years trying to atone for them. To try to… make right what happened to Joshua." He turned his head slightly to direct his eyes at Picard. "But that's not why I'm mad as hell at you, Captain."

    Picard seemed to consider it for a moment. A pained look came over his face when he figured it out. "Ensign Sito," he sighed.

    "You sent Jaxa to her death," Locarno charged.

    "You know as well as I do what it means to be in Starfleet. The risks that we might take. She knew those risks. She volunteered."

    "Did she volunteer because it had to be done? Or because she felt she had something to prove?" Locarno felt a deep sense of loss welling up within him.

    "You have my condolences for what happened to her. She was a fine officer, she did Starfleet proud," Picard insisted. "If you think for a moment that I caused that to happen to her, that I wanted to see her harmed, you don't know me very well at all, Mister Locarno."

    There was silence for several moments. The anger in Locarno's mind, his heart, was joined by a deep sense of grief and pain. "I sent her messages," he admitted. "I sent them to everyone. Inviting them to join me and the others. A new life for them. No judgements for what happened to Josh. Maybe if I'd been more persuasive…"

    "Lieutenant." Picard kept his voice calm and level. "It's never easy to lose comrades. It's even harder to lose those you feel responsible for. I know how much you cared for the cadets in Nova Squadron. Regardless of the mistakes made, once the truth was brought out, your willingness to sacrifice your own future for their sake was admirable. And I think you have a fine future ahead of you here, in the Alliance. So, I would ask you to consider my words carefully. Sito Jaxa died doing something noble. She went into a difficult situation knowing what might happen and did so because, as a Starfleet officer, she felt it was her duty. Whatever happened, it was not because she was pushed into believing it was necessary for some form of atonement over Joshua Albert's death. Sito Jaxa died as a hero, Lieutenant. You don't do her any service by thinking her a mere victim of your old mistakes."

    Locarno listened to those words. Picard had hit it right on mark; he had to fight that feeling of guilt, that Jaxa had gotten herself killed trying to make up for what Locarno had persuaded them all to do. "Alright," he said. His voice was hoarse with emotion. "I understand." He pushed his plate away; with the way he felt right now, his appetite was gone.

    As he stood up, he looked to Picard. "And Wes?"

    "Wesley is…" Picard sighed and smiled gently. "...he is pursuing another destiny."

    "Right." Locarno nodded. "Good for him, then."

    With nothing left to say, Locarno left the Lookout.




    The completed probes were laid out in the shuttle bay "Ready for testing," La Forge said, looking over his console. "Firing thrusters."

    The two probes shifted and lifted into the air on twin jets of blue energy. Under Commander La Forge's guidance the two black objects flew out the back of the secondary shuttle bay, built into the bottom of the drive hull.

    "All thrusters check out normal," Jarod observed.

    "Jump anchor is givin' an all clear," Scotty added. "Jammin' probes at full power… now."

    For a moment there was nothing. A voice came over the intercom after the silence. "Delgado here," Caterina said from the bridge. "The jamming field is up. I can't get an accurate sensor fix on either probe."

    "Scotty, I'm detecting a slight variance in the jamming field emissions," La Forge said.

    "Aye. We'll have t' adjust th' model with more bandwidth."

    "You should have enough spare power for that." La Forge looked to Jarod and Scotty with a grin. "It looks like we did it. Your probes are working."

    "We need just one last test." Jarod hit a few keys. "Sending out the request. We're getting an answer…"

    Behind the Aurora space split open. The ship that emerged was recognizable to Jarod and Scotty, eminently so. "Bridge to Secondary Shuttle Bay." Julia's voice came over the radio. "The Kirby gives its regards. The test worked."

    "Thanks, Commander," Jarod answered. "We're wrapping things up here." He looked to the others. "We did it." Upon standing he offered his hand to La Forge. "Commander La Forge, we couldn't have done it without you."

    Knowing full well they could have, La Forge nevertheless accepted the compliment. "Thanks. It was a pleasure to work with you both on the project." He smiled at them. "Take care of yourselves out there."

    "Th' same t' ye, Geordi. After all…" Scotty's eye twinkled. "...there'll be another Enterprise soon enough, an' she'll be needin' a chief engineer."

    La Forge's smile became an enthusiastic grin. "Here's hoping."




    "Captain Picard!"

    Picard had been about to enter the Transporter Station to depart when he heard Robert's voice. Robert was almost running when he approached. Given his youth and fitness, he didn't sound winded when he said, "Captain, I need to ask you something."

    "Yes?"

    Robert nodded his head toward one side. They stepped into an adjoining corridor in the ship to be alone. "I wanted to ask for your input on something," Robert said. "It concerns our plans for what might happen at New Austria."

    "You have my full attention."

    Robert led him down the corridor fully until they arrived in a set of open state quarters. One of the handful of VIP quarters available on the ship, much as the Enterprise had contained. Once the door was locked behind them, Robert laid out some of the plans they'd been making. Picard nodded in quiet affirmation. "Given your likely tactical situation when you arrive in the system, you have accounted for everything that is possible."

    "I think we can give the fleet an even better tactical situation, and a chance to eliminate any enemy force sent out to catch us. But that's why I've come to you."

    "Oh?" Picard thought on that. "You…"

    Robert asked him his intended questions. Picard's brow furrowed. "It will be risky. What you propose has not been attempted before."

    "But will it work? I imagine that you, of all people…"

    Picard nodded. "I would recommend having Mister Data take over your navigation. That would enhance your chances to an acceptable level."

    "I thought so." Robert nodded and extended a hand. "Thank you, Captain Picard. Good luck with that Darglan database."

    Picard accepted his offered hand. "Bon voyage, Captain. I'll see you again after the battle."




    The familiar gunmetal gray halls of the Eichmann filled Obersturmbannführer Fassbinder with pride. He walked through the decks of the ship, surrounded by the finest Aryans in the Reich, and was reminded of his place in the vanguard of the Race. He could feel the power around him, an invigorating coolness that sharpened the senses and reminded him of purpose. His heart swelled with pleasing hatred for that which stood opposed to the glorious destiny of the Race, the Party, and the Reich. The alien, the untermensch, the foreigner, the traitor… the Schutzstaffel stood ready to deal with them all.

    And the Alliance… provided an enjoyable merger of all those enemies into one body.

    He entered the wardroom as directed. "Heil Sauckel!", he declared, arm raised ramrod straight.

    "Heil Sauckel!", other voices declared. Like he, they were all model Aryans. Blond-haired, blue-eyed, well-muscled and fit, epitomies of the perfection of the Race.

    Fassbinder walked into the room and took his place at the table. All eyes were on the Eichmann's commander, Oberführer Eicke. His countenance burned with ferocity. Even among the SS, his hatred for the enemies of the Reich was legendary for its fierceness. He had once provoked war with the Kameli species in his efforts to slaughter Remnants. His devotion to finally fulfilling the centuries-long pursuit of the Final Solution was the stuff that the Party made legends out of, even if his great count of annihilated Jews had been marred by his recent defeat and the escape of the last Jews to another universe.

    At the hands of Dale and his crew, added Fassbinder mentally. If only Lamper had destroyed them in the Nebula…

    "Obersturmbannführer." Eicke kept his hands together on the table. "Report."

    "Stammel and his people have been informed of our plan," Fassbinder said.

    "And…" Eicke scowled. "...Lamper?"

    "He knows little. But he is not entirely foolish. I suspect the purpose of our mission will come to him before long."

    "Of course." Eicke nodded. "All we await now is the necessary conditions."

    "Will the enemy do as expected? Do they even suspect?"

    "We have indications of their interest in this region of space," Eicke answered simply. "They know what is here. They will move soon, that I am sure of. Every day our ships get closer to the discovery. They cannot allow this. So they will act." Eicke's lips curled into a snarl. "But that is not why I arranged your promotion, Fassbinder, nor why I assigned you to my command for this operation."

    Fassbinder was already quite certain of that fact. "You believe the enemy will send the Aurora."

    "It is clearly used for special missions. Its disappearance from the frontlines corresponded with the arrival of the Klingons and a surge in Alliance reinforcements. Now we have word of even more alien vessels appearing in Alliance space. A spying vessel was recently destroyed near Leuwewelt by patrols. The recovered bodies were of some sort of amphibian-like species. And our interception of Alliance civilian channels indicates that a species called the Turians are said to be deploying ships."

    "They were sent to gain allies, then."

    "And the Alliance will undoubtedly employ them to beat us to the prize." Eicke's blue eyes burned with hatred. "And I do so hope they do. I wish to see that ship burn for what they have done. Of the victory they robbed us of."

    Fassbinder had his own thoughts. That feeling he had, that since meeting the Aurora his destiny had been laid out, and that the ship was the key to it. "Recovering the vessel intact may also be a boon."

    "Perhaps. But their crew will burn." Eicke put his hands on the table. "Now, Obersturmbannführer, tell me everything you know, everything you may have overlooked in your report to the Reichsführer."




    After the briefing Fassbinder retired to his quarters. They were spartan enough, barely furnished, with a hard cot to sleep on. Creature comforts would only soften the edges of an SS man, after all; power came from struggle, be it a fight or the struggle to endure in cramped living conditions.

    His one luxury was the line of books. The Great Hitler's books, of course, written before his rise to power and later after he won the Second Great War with England and France and broke the Bolsheviks of Russia. Works from all of the greats, the founders of the Party, and those from great leaders since then.

    Destiny. That is what they made him think of. The Destiny of the Race, of the Reich. Only now had it become so clear. They were special, after all. Alone, out of the infinite reaches of the Multiverse, they had conquered all before them. Their Germany alone had proven fit to fulfill the First Führer's vision and build the Thousand Year Reich.

    Fassbinder's mind dwelled on that. He remembered that old gelding, that German man from the Aurora. "Hargert", they had called him. The smoldering disgust in his eyes, the way he had rejected Fassbinder, rejected everything he believed in, everything that was supposed to be. And that was how the Germans of the other universes felt. Wherever a German was taken in the Alliance service, it seemed there was nothing but cowards or traitors.

    They are not Germans, Fassbinder insisted to himself. They are not! They are fakes! Unworthy of the name of our people, our Race!

    That fury felt good. The thoughts of what he would do to people like Hargert. He retired to his bed with those thoughts.

    Good thoughts to go into the dreams with. The dreams of power, of glory, of burning worlds and the hakenkreuz flying in glorious victory, of Robert Dale and his crew broken at Fassbinder's feet…

    ...the dreams of his destiny.




    The nightmare was a new one.

    It came to Robert in bits and flashes. The Aurora bridge filled with smoke, battle-damaged. Visions of the others in what looked like Facility Control, under fire from Reich troopers. He watched them rush around, trying to hold on, trying to buy time for… something...

    He saw Meridina dead. Shepard unconscious. Data laid out against a console, a smoking, charred hole in his torso.

    And the Aurora. The bridge roof and wall disappeared. He was holding onto a hand, a grip that was failing…

    ...and he saw Julia, pulled into space, screaming wordlessly as she was expelled to the horrible cold death in the vacuum.

    Robert woke up screaming, "Julie!"

    A hand pressed to his side. Angel sat up beside him. "Another one?"

    For a moment he processed his thoughts, sleep-dulled as they were. Finally he nodded. "New one," he croaked.

    Angel nodded wordlessly and leaned against him. "Settle down. Go back to sleep. It'll be fine. Don't worry, it'll all be okay."

    He nodded stiffly. The images had been so real. And that realness to them was filling him with a sense of dread. Was something going to go wrong on the mission?

    Was he going to make a bad call again?
     
    • 1-17-3
    • D -3 Days


    Lucy woke up extraordinarily early. This was not entirely by her desire; she'd had nightmares about Nazi armored troopers and Patrick Duffy's torture dungeon and a general sense of unease.

    Realizing she wasn't getting back to sleep, Lucy got ready for the day and went to Science Lab 1. Why she went there and not to the gym for morning training or the Outlook for an early breakfast… well, that was something she was still contemplating.

    The Lab would have been empty under other occasions. The civilian scientist contingent had been disembarked over the course of the week and all projects were currently on hold. And with the Darglan database removed to the Archer for Captain Picard's team to continue analyzing, there was nothing special left to do in here. Even more analysis of the 33LA data hadn't granted anything more than more known universal coordinates.

    Yet there was someone present. Lucy recognized the Starfleet uniform immediately. "Commander Data?"

    Data looked back at her. "Ah. Good morning, Lieutenant Lucero."

    "Don't you ever sleep?"

    Data's response was immediate. "Only if I desire to. How may I help you?"

    "I just…" Lucy sighed. "I just… a thought, I guess. About the computer systems."

    "Does this pertain to the secret messages that have been discovered?"

    "No. I'm looking into that myself, actually, and making some progress on the how, if not the who." Lucy shook her head and took a nearby seat. "No, I just have this feeling of… missing something."

    "What do you believe you are missing?", Data inquired.

    "There's just something about this. About the computers." Lucy tapped keys and brought coding up. "I mean, is this Darglan technology doing things we didn't anticipate? First the Cylon virus that we defeated gets the digital equivalent of a gutting inside the auxiliary core. Then the core decodes the database and finds just what we need?"

    Data considered that. "Do you suspect there is an issue with the auxiliary core? I can initiate a diagnostic or a complete core restore."

    "No. No, that's too much work with just a couple of days left for us. I just want to look things over." And try to get this sensation out of my head...




    The captain's stateroom on the Reich's Glory was barely any larger than the one Lamper had enjoyed as a Frigattenkapitän commanding the light cruiser Essen. Indeed, he knew it was barely smaller than the stateroom to be found on anything short of a dreadnought, and for good reason; every cubic meter devoted to personnel living quarters was a cubic meter not devoted to shield generators, armor support, weaponry, combat electronics… the things that made Reich warships so feared. This is why ships usually disgorged their crews into better living quarters on space stations or planetside bases when they were due in port for prolonged periods.

    But Lamper had nixed that. This was wartime, after all, and he needed every hand on board and ready should an action be required. Including himself.

    It was getting late in the local day when the call came, as he was finalizing commendation reports and new personnel reviews. He tapped a key on his personal computer and the screen flashed to show a cozy urban home. His family's home, back in Bremen on Earth.

    The family home. How long had it been since he had actually been there...?

    The woman on the screen was his age, with her brown hair pulled back into a ponytail on her head. "Guten Tag, brother," Gerda Lamper said.

    "Guten Tag, sister," he answered. "How is everyone?"

    "Little Joachim is doing well in school. Siegfried has just been promoted to officer of his troop in the Hitlerjugend."

    "And Maria?"

    That brought his sister a soft smile. "She had met a young man at the University, he has swept her right off of her feet."

    After hearing about how his niece and nephews were doing, Lamper moved on. "Is little Hilda still trouble?"

    Gerda sighed. "Our little sister may as well ask the Gestapo to pick her up. She has sent another series of letters. She is adamant that she should be permitted to serve."

    "The auxiliaries are always looking for new recruits."

    "But as you well know, Joachim, Hilda doesn't want to be an auxiliary, she wants to be an officer." Gerda shook her head. "And she refuses to take no for an answer. 'The enemy lets their women serve'."

    Gerda's switch to a higher pitch voice to mock their baby sister caused Lamper to chuckle. "My poor, sad sister," he said. Even as he did, he thought back to the meeting with the Aurora. Commander Andreys, the Lieutenants Delgado, and Commander Meridina… they all served, and all served well.

    But they are not us. Their service is not as brutal and strict as the Raumkriegsmarine. This work is not for women.

    Another member of the family popped into his mind. It was an inquiry that he had to make and dreaded. "How is Mama?"

    Gerda took in a breath. She looked distressed, confirming Lamper's worst fears. "There are still good days," she said, her voice full of false hope. "The doctors think that some time on the Riviera may do some good. Or perhaps America, if they clear the transporter use."

    He nodded. "I can send more pay to cover for it."

    "It may be our only hope left for Mama," Gerda said. "The way she is going, any day I expect to hear from the hospital that she had been listed for release."

    The thought was like a dagger in Lamper's heart. His dear mother wasting away like she was, that was pain enough. But to have her listed? To lose her while he was out here during this war? He wondered if he could get the Admiral to pull strings back in Germany to arrange that she stay off the list. She was the mother of a war veteran, after all. That always conferred special rewards and benefits.

    But what also hurt was the thought that it was probably for the best. His mother had lived a full and happy life. Instead of continuing to waste away, the State could show mercy by listing her. Ending her suffering before it grew. Before she could not even recognize her own grandchildren. Wasn't that how it had been done for Aunt Louisa?

    Lamper forced the tears back before they could start. "Whatever happens, Gerda, I support your decision. You will do what is best for Mama."

    "Thank you, Joachim."

    He checked the time. "I must go now. I have run out of my time. I'll send you more news with my weekly packet."

    "Of course. Auf Wiedersehen."

    "Auf Wiedersehen."


    D -1 Day


    Angel's hands flew furiously over her tactical console, finalizing targeting solutions and triggering the Aurora's weapons in rapid sequence. On her own displays she saw the indicators flash to indicate the damage she was inflicting on the Nazi battlecruiser. The Lutzow-class warship went red on the indicators under the barrage of the bow cannons.

    Further markers showed the approaching Z-2500 type destroyers. Angel kept up targeting solutions on them, rapidly firing off the phaser strips along the bow and port side They fired torpedoes and the Aurora evaded, forcing Angel to shift her targeting on the fly. Her pace quickened; her head ached a little as she thought through her firing plan, shifting capacitor draws and changing the rate of fire. The phasers intercepted a couple of enemy torpedoes that would have hit. She triggered the phaser cannons next; bursts of amber fury that would rip the Reich destroyers to pieces.

    Which they promptly did.

    Her entire board soon went clear. All enemy contacts were gone.

    And the female voice of the ship computer spoke. "Simulation complete. Resetting."

    The bridge's running lights shifted to standby alert, the default beginning. All of the others moved slightly to what they had been at the start of the battle.

    All save one.

    "Your accuracy has improved by six percent," Worf rumbled, looking over a digital reader. "And this time, no torpedo strikes were landed. Your performance has improved satisfactorily."

    "Well, so long as it's satisfactory, I guess that's good enough," Angel replied, grinning at her counterpart from the Enterprise crew. She stood up from her simulated tactical station.

    "I do question one thing," Worf continued. "You intentionally lowered the power output of your lateral phaser arrays. By doing so, you reduced the likelihood of shield penetrations. Please explain."

    "The Nazis use their Z-2500s like disposable cannon fodder in battles," Angel answered. "They race in to fire torpedoes and then race out, hoping that they don't get killed from the lack of strong shields or hull armor. I've found that their captains tend to be pretty aware of how easy it is for their ships to get killed. Throw enough fire at them and they'll focus more on evasive maneuvering than on targeting, and are more likely to fire their torpedoes early instead of getting in closer. So the important thing isn't power per shot but rate of fire."

    Worf nodded with approval. "A fine tactical assessment. It is in line with my own."

    Angel kept her grin up. "So, I guess this is it, then? We'll find out how well this training has done us tomorrow."

    "Indeed." The Klingon nodded. A distant look came over his eyes. "It will be a glorious battle."

    Angel's grin turned into a bit of a smirk. "It'll be a damn big one, at least."




    Commander Kane had a routine he liked to keep. Regardless of the scheduled inspections, he paid a visit to the armory whenever the ship he was assigned to was preparing for a combat operation. It did good to jostle up the routine of the armorers in his unit and make sure they were on the ball.

    The armory was on Deck 20, where the drive hull and primary hull sections of the ship met, in the interior sections behind reinforced bulkheads. Two decks high in height, it contained enough firearms to outfit the entire crew of the Aurora and several industrial replicators and fine machine tools used to maintain the weapons, fabricate more, and to create ammunition or charge clips.

    He showed up at 1900 on the dot and was greeted at the door by Corporal Lanyin. The Gersallian woman ran the armory. She stood at attention. "Commander Kane. Sir."

    "Corporal, at ease." He nodded. "Give me the tour."

    Lanyin knew what he meant. She led him through the rows, all the racks of pulse rifles, and the containers for the heavy weapons. The rows of combat armor were checked next. Internal life support tanks were all topped off, systems readied, combat loads properly stored, everything was in order. The same was true for the heavy power armor.

    They were finishing their inspection in the machine tools area when Kane noticed a newcomer seated on one of the stools. Commander Shepard was going over one rack set to the side. Unlike the others, this was loaded with firearms from her native galaxy. The curved body of an Avenger assault rifle was in her hands, the top removed and laid on the nearby table beside some of the internals of the weapon. "Commander." Kane looked over the guts of the rifle.

    "Commander." Shepard didn't look up. She was working with something on the inside. A solid metal block was laid on her hip.

    "Corporal Lanyin's work doesn't meet your approval?"

    Shepard shook her head. She fit something into place and looked up. "Corporal Lanyin does fine work. It's just a habit of mine to go over my kit before an op."

    "Unless things go sour, we won't be doing much at New Austria," Kane pointed out.

    "Which is why you're here giving everything a check as well, huh?"

    At that, Kane chuckled. He went over to the rack set aside for Shepard's kit. The mass effect weaponry had its own distinct aesthetic. He picked up one pistol with curved grips. "Have you tried out our weapons?"

    "It's good stuff. But not mine."

    Kane replaced the pistol and moved to a different weapon. Its gray exterior was marked with a white "N7" and a bar of red beside the 7. "Shotgun?"

    "It's a new model they're testing out called the Crusader. It's a solid slug-firing shotgun." Shepard looked up and smirked. "It should put a hole through most armored targets when fired at short range. Even those Panzergrenadiers."

    "Sounds like our S-14." Kane put it down. He looked at her dark gray combat hardsuit next. "So, you do the gear check. I'm guessing some crusty old sergeant pounded that kind of thing into you during an early assignment."

    "My field deployment with the 2-1 before I went to officer school." Shepard took the metal block from her hip and pushed it into place. "Sergeant O'Brady."

    Kane chuckled. "Sergeant McBride. My rifle stopped working during a fire exercise. He called me every horrible name in the book and made me field-strip the entire thing right there. While shooting above my head every ten seconds. Gunny Roland thought it was funny as hell."

    Shepard reached for another piece to fit back into place. "It always helps to have a hardass sergeant kick your ass a little."

    "You should see Sergeant Thanh sometimes. She switches between English and Vietnamese at will and I'm damn sure every word is so filthy that ten bars of soap couldn't wash it out."

    At that Shepard laughed. "We'll have to get a drink some time. As Marines."

    "A toast to hardass Irish sergeants? Count me in."


    D -6 Hours


    The nightmare came again. Robert watched the Facility fall to the Reich. The Aurora was battered and crippled in a battle.

    He watched Julia get sucked out into space again.

    Upon waking up, he was relieved to see that the chronometer was flashing 0550. He'd actually managed to sleep properly.

    He slipped out of bed without waking Angel. She had rolled toward the other side, taking the sheets with her, and remained sound asleep. Good. She needs her sleep.

    His mind went to things he had to do. But he realized he'd done it all already. The pre-action reports were filed and logged. The ship was ready for action. He'd done everything short of delivering a speech. And that he wasn't sure of; the crew knew the stakes, they knew the mission. He didn't want to dilute that with a bad speech.

    Robert put on some morning clothes and sat at his desk. The letter he had sent to Beth was still visible, marking itself as sent already. He knew it would still hurt. She was worried about him. And for good reason.

    Almost without orders, Robert's eye settled on the plastic case beside his computer. He opened it and reached inside.

    The Consort Sha'ira had given the strange object to him. A gold frame enclosed an orange disc of some sort. Robert had thought it might be some form of data disc, but Caterina had scanned it thoroughly. The make was exotic and singular, but there wasn't a single bit of data.

    As he laid his hand over it, a buzz came to his fingertips. There was something about this object. Something important, terribly important. He needed to find out.

    First things first. I need to get ready for the day. We launch in six hours.




    The morning was busy for Julia. She made a round of the ship to make sure everything was ready, meeting with department heads like Scotty and Meridina and Laurent. Once that was done it was off to the bridge for the watch and to be ready for their launch time.

    It helped to give her something to do. It was like every part of her body buzzed with anticipation, a tension that she just wanted released by this point. This would be it. They were going off to a major battle, and it would only be part one of a larger operation to secure the Darglan Facility. The weight of the occasion was almost suffocating; this could literally decide the outcome of the war, their fates, the fate of the Alliance they'd helped to build…

    They were still waiting for Robert when the turbolift opened. Worf and Data stepped out on the bridge. "Commander, we are reporting for duty."

    Julia nodded and allowed herself a small smile despite the tension. "We're honored and pleased to have you both. Commander Worf, Secondary Tactical could use an experienced hand, it'll let Lieutenant Delgado focus on primary targets. Commander Data, if you can take Communications, we could use your quick thinking to direct our fighter wing and escorting ships. And you can use the backup features to access navigation control if we have to perform the discussed maneuvers."

    "Agreed," Worf rumbled. He nodded to Angel as he went to Secondary Tactical, getting a nod in reply. Data took up the seat beside him.

    "We don't have a bridge station for Shepard," Locarno said quietly. "Or did she even train for one?"

    "Commander Shepard is with Kane's Marines to prepare for any boarding actions," Julia answered. "Everyone is in their proper place now."

    And so they were. Leo was in the medbay preparing for casualties. Jarod, Locarno, Cat and Angel, they were all at their stations. Lucy was at the Engineering station beside Cat. Scotty would be in Main Engineering and Meridina and Commander Kane were getting their security personnel and Marines, respectively, geared up and split into reaction squads.

    That left just one person.

    Julia glanced at the time. They were just a few minutes from launch. Any time…

    The lift doors opened again. Robert stepped out. She could tell he was just as tense as her, if not more so. He looked over everything and nodded. "No speeches," he said. "We know what's at stake. Let's get this done."

    Julia nodded. She moved over to her first officer chair and brought up the status displays she might have to use.

    Robert settled into the center chair. "What about our escorts? Who did Maran send?"

    "We've got a group of Klingon Birds-of-Prey," Julia answered. "Two more Trigger-class ships like the Sladen."

    "Oh, which ones?"

    "Wahoo and Troughton."

    Robert nodded at that. "Good. We can use them. Isn't Wahoo the ship they assigned that redhead from…"

    "Commander Jerricks, yes," Julia finished for him.

    "Anything else?"

    "Two of the new Predator-class destroyers are in formation with a division of Sol Republic destroyers. The Gersallian attack carrier Mentam and two light Dorei starbirds, Kamara-class. And finally, two Systems Alliance frigates refitted with warp drive, the Bastogne and the Agincourt."

    Robert cracked a grin at that. "That works for me. Not much, but enough that we should get the opening we need. Is Commander King ready for her part in the plan?"

    Julia nodded in response to that. "We'll combat launch the Sladen once we jump. They signal they're ready."

    "Alright." Robert drew in a breath. We can't put this off any longer. Time to go. "Signal to all ships, we're ready to jump. Wahoo and Troughton and the Systems Alliance frigates will form up on us and use our point. All other ships will jump in their own combat groups. If we can form back up on the other side before we arrive, that's fine. If not… we'll see everyone at New Austria."

    "Orders sent," Data stated. "Orders are confirmed."

    "Jarod?"

    "Setting jump to S4W8. No anchoring points." Jarod held his hand over the console. "Ready."

    And that was it. There was nothing left to it. Robert tried to force his nervousness down.

    And he gave the order.

    "Jump."

    Jarod's hand went back to his console.

    Space ahead of them split open with a swirling vortex of green energy. Locarno fired the impulse drives; beside them, the two Trigger-class ships and the dart-like Systems Alliance frigates powered their own sublight drives to full acceleration.

    Around them, more jump points opened. Their attack force began to move.

    On the viewscreen the vortex grew larger until the moment they passed through. As always the screen went blank for a moment, the moment they were between universes, and came back to show open space.

    "We're clear of the jump point," Jarod reported. "Opening dock door."

    "The Sladen is detaching from the airlock." Julia looked at her own screens. "Launch in five, four, three…"

    Right on Julia's count, the Sladen slipped out of the dock set into the back of the Aurora's primary drive. King's vessel shimmered out of view seconds later.

    "We're roughly three light years off our mark," Locarno informed everyone. "Setting course for New Austria system."

    "Maximum warp for our escorts," Robert said. He looked to Data while Locarno put in the speed and activated the warp drive. "Commander Data, do we have anything from the others?"

    "The Klingons have jumped to a point nearly two light years away. They are moving toward New Austria under cloak. Alliance destroyer group jumped into positions near the enemy system. Mentam and her escorts are approximately six light years off-target."

    "They'll be coming in late," Robert observed. "Damn. I was hoping to have that carrier with us."

    "We'll just have to make do," Julia said. "Lieutenant, ETA?"

    "We'll be inside the New Austria system in thirty minutes at present speed."

    "Code Red. All hands to battlestations."

    Thirty minutes, Robert thought as the klaxons went off around them. Let's see what they're going to do.




    Lamper stepped onto his bridge and bellowed, "Report, Frigattenkapitän!"

    Falk looked away from where he was standing over Leutnant Rabe's sensors station. He started to lift his arm in salute. "Sieg…"

    Lamper scowled and broke off the traditional greeting by barking, "I said report!"

    "Long range sensors have detected multiple gravitational anomalies, Herr Kapitän," Falk replied immediately. "They match the profiles of the enemy's interuniversal jump point systems."

    "An enemy force has jumped into nearby space?" Lamper took to his chair and checked his harness.

    "Ja," Rabe replied. "I have multiple warp signatures. Klingon, Alliance…" Rabe blinked in surprise. "Herr Kapitän, one of the warp signatures, I recognize this one. It is the Aurora."

    Lamper nodded. He had yet to fulfill his prediction to Captain Dale in their last meeting. The damage his vessel had taken at Krellan Nebula had kept him out of the further early battles where Aurora had shown up, and by the time they returned to the front the Aurora had stopped appearing. If they are back on the front, it is clear that the enemy is launching a major operation. And to jump here means they will be coming to New Austria.

    A part of him pondered the timing. Just as the SS is preparing some "war-winning" operation, the Alliance launches a bold attack on New Austria? With the Aurora returning to the front?

    That was no coincidence.

    He thought of the young Alliance captain. He was a good man, with an intelligent and innovative crew that he cared for as much as Lamper cared for his own. And so, at last, we meet on the field of battle, Captain Dale.

    And just as he had told Captain Dale before, the thought gave him no pleasure.

    "Action Stations!", Lamper bellowed. "All hands to Action Stations!"
     
    • 1-17-4
    • "We're almost to the heliopause of the New Austria system," Locarno reported.

    It hadn't been necessary. Robert and Julia were intent upon the holographic starmap hovering over the station beside Julia.

    "Klingon Birds-of-Prey are now in formation," Data reported.

    "Distance for the Mentam?"

    "They're still about an hour behind us," Caterina answered.

    "We've got weapons fire ahead of us," Angel added. "It looks like those forward destroyers are engaged. I've got several Z-2500s on tactical sensors now."

    "On screen,"

    The screen flashed to show the battle. One of the dagger-like Z-2500s was pouring disruptor bursts into a Sol Republic destroyer, recognizable from its own large torpedo launcher emplacements built along the centerline of the ship and the warp systems integral to the ship's rear section. Blue particle fire retorted from the small emplacements on the destroyer, scoring several hits. The Sol ship deftly evaded the torpedo fired at it by a second Z-2500. Several bursts of disruptor fire hit their shields and started to send flames gouting from the hull.

    A rapid series of amber beams intercepted the second Z-2500. Robert watched one of the new Predator-class ships move into range. Much like Aurora her drive and primary hulls had no neck between them. However, unlike his ship, their ventral decks were nearly the same, with only an additional deck coming out below the drive hull. The navigational deflector of the Predator was built into the front of the primary hull like on a Federation Akira or Norway. Her warp nacelles were arrayed at the upper corners of the drive hull, nearly built directly into the drive hull in fact.

    Powered and equipped by Darglan tech gleaned from the Facility, the Predator-class ships were more resilient than the Sol ships. The enemy's shots that were damaging them were failing to penetrate the two Predator-class ships' shields. The nimble destroyers with their rapid fire phaser cannon turrets and strips poured amber fury into the dagger-shapes milling about them, fighting hard to protect their less-advanced comrades.

    "They're going to be in trouble soon," Angel noted. "I'm picking up two Reich cruisers approaching them. Looks like Nazi light cruisers, Dresden-class."

    "They'll make short work of our destroyers," Julia said. "Can we get there in time?"

    "Only if we accelerate."

    "That means leaving the other ships behind. Damn." Julia looked over at Robert. "Rob… if we…"

    "I know," he answered. If they raced ahead, they would be exposing themselves further for several seconds.

    The Alliance destroyers knew it too. They continued evasive maneuvers as the cruisers came in, disruptors blazing. Blast after emerald blast missed the twisting, turning destroyers.

    And then one of the enemy cruisers managed a direct hit. One of the Sol Republic ships was blown in half.

    Robert swallowed. Did I do the right thing?, he thought. He feared he hadn't. But they had to maintain their current formation for the plan to work and to prevent…

    "Subspace ripples!", Cat shouted. "We've got stealth ships coming up!"

    "Relaying data. Our escorts are engaging," Data added.

    Julia gave Robert a meaningful look as the System Alliance frigates flanking them shifted away. Solar torpedoes erupted from the two frigates, bright bursts of blue-white light that flew ahead at high warp velocity. One kept going until it went out.

    The other disappeared in a large explosion. A Reich attack ship rippled into view. The Bastogne had crippled her. Phaser fire erupted from the two strips on the frigate's starboard, raking the crippled vessel until it exploded in a white fireball.

    A heavy shield-busting torpedo erupted out of nowhere, bound for Aurora. The other attack ship had survived. But it had not fired at optimum range. A phaser beam lashed out and destroyed the torpedo while Aurora's own solar torpedoes were firing. Another Reich attack ship was blown to pieces.

    "Enemy torpedo destroyed," Worf reported.

    "Enemy ship destroyed too," Angel added.

    Julia grinned slightly and nodded at him. Robert sighed. If he had ordered acceleration, their escorts would have fallen behind them, and those enemy attack ships would have had open shots on his sides. "Data, relay my gratitude to the captains of those frigates, please."

    "Doing so, Captain."

    "We're entering range of the fight in three… two… one…"

    Locarno brought the Aurora out of warp almost on top of the continuing fight. A crippled Sol Republic destroyer immediately sought cover behind Aurora. The two Predator-class ships were showing signs of damage, no surprise given the enemy Dresden-class cruisers were raking them with disruptor fire. The Nazi light cruisers were slant-hulled like their bigger counterparts, providing more surface area for the disruptor emplacements that made them murder to light warships.

    Of course, Robert and the others knew - from experience - that the enemy light cruisers lacked the heavy weapons to be a threat to the Aurora. The same could not be said of the threat the Aurora posed to them.

    Angel fired the bow cannons. Bursts of sapphire energy crashed into one of the enemy cruisers. Its shields resisted initially, but the enemy ship was not supposed to fight a vessel of Aurora's power. The barrage inevitably broke through the shields and sent debris and flame spewing from the deep wounds the pulse particle cannons caused in the cruiser. Disruptor fire stabbed at Aurora. "Shields holding at ninety-eight percent," Jarod reported.

    Angel was already moving onto the other target, leaving the first for Worf to finish off with the lighter phaser emplacements along the port side. Multiple streams of pulse fire joined the beams from the Aurora's phaser banks and strips. The damaged Reich ship was trying to maneuver away. A futile gesture under Worf's aim; multiple shots continued to strike the enemy ship until it was left dead in space.

    The surviving enemy destroyers might have posed an irritation. But between Wahoo and Troughton, they were quickly dealt with. This left the last surviving cruiser and its desperate attempts to get away from Aurora's guns. Its desperate maneuvering made Angel's job hard. Her hits were all glancing blows, degrading shield efficiency and hull armor, but she had yet to land a direct hit.

    That was when Agincourt and Bastogne swept in. The two System Alliance frigates were blazing away with their mass effect cannons initially, causing some slight shield strain on the enemy cruiser, but it was their disruptor torpedoes that were the threat. The bursts of white energy that marked the mass effect fields supporting the torpedoes appeared as the frigates went into the final kilometers of their attack run. The weapons struck the cruiser's shields directly. "The disruptor torpedoes are destabilizing the enemy shields," Caterina said.

    "Good for us," Angel said, continuing her own fire. As the Aurora overtook them, she and Worf combined their skills to devastate the enemy cruiser. It erupted into a ball of white fire when one of the capital pulse phaser cannon turrets found the anti-matter storage bunker.

    "All enemy forces accounted for," Jarod said.

    "Status on our side?", Robert asked.

    "The Sol Republic destroyer Hosch has been destroyed. The destroyer Nguyen is operating on emergency power and cannot continue combat." Data looked over from the console he'd taken. "All other vessels report readiness to continue."

    Robert nodded and looked to the tactical display Julia had brought up beside her chair. "Let's move further in system and start dropping anchor probes."




    Lamper was waiting nervously for the order to move into combat. His crew were alert and at their combat stations, every man ready for this unexpected fight without a hint of fear over it. Just as it should be.

    The picket forces for the system were gone; the Aurora and her ships had destroyed them. "Two of their destroyers are out of action. Probably destroyed." Rabe's voice was even. "They are moving in-system now. They will be in combat range shortly."

    "What is he up to…", Lamper wondered aloud. Seeing Falk's expression, he clarified, "For the enemy to have sent Aurora, Frigattenkapitän, it means there is more to this attack than a simple raid. The enemy has launched a major operation. But what could…" Lamper's mind went back to their meeting. To everything Dale and his crew had done.

    "The Alliance ships are slowing, sir." Rabe looked up. "And I'm having some issues with long-range sensors. Some sort of jamming."

    Jamming? What could…

    And then Lamper thought to the fight in the nebula. The Aurora's attached vessel, Koenig had literally jumped right on top of them. From inside a nebula. Could they have the ability to bring ships to their location through their interuniversal drives?

    The more Lamper thought about it, the more he was certain this was true. "Signal to Admiral von der Goltz, now! The enemy may be bringing a fleet in!"




    Robert looked at the relative distance to the enemy base and their fleet. "Several enemy ships are coming our way now," Caterina said. "I'm picking up several cruisers and a couple of battlecruisers, plus at least a dozen Z-2500s. And a whole bunch of fighters."

    "Laurent's people can deal with them." Robert noticed the odds. They couldn't beat that force. But they could delay them. "What about our jamming probes?"

    "They've finished deploying," Jarod confirmed. "Ready for the anchor probes on your signal."

    "Begin launching the anchor probes."

    From the rear of the Aurora, the probe dispenser went into operation. It was effectively a smaller, less protected torpedo launcher, and it was now firing like a rapid fire weapon. The probes they fired were joining the prior probes sent out, providing them a blanket of electronic jamming to protect them.

    "Uh." Cat's voice betrayed some nervousness. "Remember how I said several before? Try 'several dozen' now. I've got at least eighty enemy ships now moving toward us, fast." She swallowed. "Including an entire division of dreadnoughts."

    "Do you think they realize what we're up to?", Julia asked, rhetorically at least.

    "Have they seen us do any combat jumps bef…" Robert cut himself off. "Dammit. Krellan Nebula. Our first meeting, we had Zack jump in." He looked to Jarod. "Jarod, are those anchor probes ready?"

    "They are." Jarod looked back at him. "But we can't bring any fleets in like this. They won't have time to get into formation before those ships are in firing range. We should have Commander King start…"

    "Not while there are still so many enemy ships by the base," Robert said, interrupting. He swallowed. "Send the signal. Call in the fleet. And Nick… I'm sorry." He nodded his head. "But for this, I need you to relay navigation control to Data."

    Locarno nodded. He didn't like it. But he could understand that, with everything at stake, having Data do the delicate piloting to come was necessary. He released helm control for Data to relay to his station at Communications.

    "Standing by, Captain," Data reported.

    "Jump points forming!", Jarod declared.

    Around and behind the Aurora, interuniversal jump points began to form in space. The vortexes numbered in the dozens.

    No. Hundreds.

    From each ships emerged. Sometimes just one. Sometimes more, especially with smaller ships. Robert recognized designs from across the Alliance emerging from the points.

    Including, much to his surprise and delight, the Kentan.

    "Admiral Maran is hailing," Data said.

    "Data, full impulse, bring us toward the approaching Reich fleet," Robert ordered. "Put him on."

    "Captain." Maran's voice betrayed a hint of bewilderment. "You've called us in awfully close to the enemy fleet. I don't know if the fleet can move into battle position in time."

    "Don't worry, Admiral. I'm about to buy you a few extra minutes." Robert keyed the intercom. "Scotty, are you ready?"

    "We are, Cap'n. I just hope th' lass can take th' strain of this plan of yer's."

    "She can. After all, you helped build her."

    "That I did, sir. That I did. Standing by."

    "God I hope this works," Julia said to him.

    "We'll find out really quickly if it doesn't," he answered. I was hoping we wouldn't have to do this, that we'd have time to deploy the probes after we drew some of their fleet out. Was this a mistake?

    If it was, it was too damn late to change anything.

    "Enemy ships are starting to lock on," Jarod warned them. "They'll start firing any moment."

    "Standby, everyone. Standby…" He eyed the Aurora on the tactical display, moving ever closer to the spheres representing the enemy's likely engagement range. "As soon as they fire…"

    The Aurora continued onward, in seeming suicidal defiance of the odds arrayed against her.




    On the bridge of the Reich's Glory, Lamper wondered just what Dale was doing. He seemed suicidally mad… but that couldn't be the end of it. No.

    What are you doing, Herr Captain?

    He got his answer a moment later.




    Jarod called out that the enemy was firing.

    Data was already acting.

    Power surged into the warp drive of the Aurora. With a flash of light from her powerful warp engines, she jumped forward… and stopped.

    Right in the middle of the enemy formation.

    Enemy sensors were already registering this fact. But for just that moment, their human operators, unable to think at the same speeds, had not realized their quarry had moved so suddenly and so far, making their first shots futile.

    "Fire!", Robert shouted.

    Angel and Worf responded immediately. The space around Aurora lit up with sapphire and amber fury as every joule of power that could be coaxed from the ship's power systems was expelled through the ship's weapon batteries. Several Z-2500s died in formation, unable to even evade in time. The Aurora's main battery in the bow savaged an enemy Sedan-class cruiser with a full barrage. Torpedoes erupted from every launcher and found targets. The cruisers adjacent to them took their share of the barrage, if doing so more capably than their comrade trapped in Angel's bow gunsights.

    After a couple of seconds, the enemy responded. They opened fire, in such volume that the Aurora's shields would be overwhelmed shortly.

    But as fast as the Reich gunnery officers were… Data was faster.

    Again the engines of the Aurora pulsed with light. Again she was no longer where she had been when the enemy had opened fire.

    Instead, the emerald beams and the missiles and the torpedoes kept going. In many cases, they kept going into each other.

    Two cruisers, another Sedan and a Dresden, exploded in white fireballs from overpowering hits to their anti-matter fuel bunkers. The warp nacelle of one of the enemy battlecruisers exploded from an errant torpedo.

    The second jump brought the Aurora clear of the enemy formation, but still within weapons range. Data fired the impulsors and the Aurora began to turn. The Reich ships were in sudden disarray. Rapid warp maneuvers like that were impossible, after all; anyone desperate enough to try would plow into another ship or burn out their warp systems from the repeated jumps.

    "Systems are showing strain on the upper starboard and lower port warp nacelle plasma feeds," Lucy warned. "Damage control teams are standing by."

    "Some of their ships are breaking away from formation to pursue us."

    "I see, that, Cat." Robert looked to Data. "Data…"

    "Preparing to recommence Picard Maneuver," Data replied.

    Just as the pursuing enemies opened fire, Data triggered the warp drive again. Space warped slightly and Aurora was suddenly in the middle of the enemy fleet again. Again Angel and Worf opened fire with everything they could. Four more destroyers disappeared. The enemy return fire commenced. The ship shuddered for a moment before the screen flashed with a warp effect yet again. Once more they were clear.

    And there were further explosions from within the Nazi formation. Once more, the enemy did themselves more damage than Aurora had.

    "Shields holding at eighty-four percent," Jarod reported.

    "All warp nacelle plasma feeds are giving strain warnings." Lucy looked back. "We can't keep this up."

    "We just need another couple of jumps…" The ship shook once more. They were in enemy firing range. "Two more, Data. Make the second one long enough to clear us from the enemy fleet."

    "Acknowledged." Data entered the necessary commands.

    "Shields down to seventy-eight percent."

    Jarod's warning coincided with Angel and Worf returning fire with the ship's weapons. The enemy cruisers moving up to engage them took repeated hits from the larger phaser weapons while Worf's aim filled the approach vectors of enemy destroyers with amber energy. A Reich destroyer exploded from a direct hit to its drive assembly. The others fired their torpedoes at Aurora; one of these ships died a moment later from a direct hit from one of the larger phaser strips on Aurora's port side.

    The torpedoes came in. And they found nothing. The Aurora had warped back into the enemy formation.

    "Plasma feed emergency shutdown in upper starboard nacelle!", Lucy cried. "Nacelle is offline!"

    By the time she was finishing the second sentence, enemy fire was already incoming. But this time, it wasn't coming from all angles. The Reich tactical officers were adjusting. They had realized that they couldn't get reliable targeting until it was clear Aurora couldn't warp jump again. And given the state of the drive, that was a dicey proposition for them. A short stab of self-doubt went through Robert's heart. Had he gone one jump too far? Had he overtaxed the Aurora's warp drive? Sometimes it was easy to forget just how complicated a system it was, how easily it could be overwhelmed if used improperly.

    The ship shook hard beneath them. "One of the battlecruisers is firing on us," Jarod said.

    "Lucky damned guess," Robert mumbled as the ship rocked hard from missile impacts.

    "Shields down to sixty-nine percent!"

    He hadn't planned to take so long for this warp jump. But undoubtedly Data had to adjust for the loss of a warp nacelle. The other Nazi ships would open fire any moment, convinced their warp drive had finally gone down…

    Just as several more ships opened up with their disruptors, there was another burst of warp speed. Data brought them clear.

    As soon as it was done, Lucy was quick to give them the news. "Plasma rupture in lower starboard nacelle! Our warp drive is offline!"

    "That was cutting it close," Julia said, sighing and, despite everything, grinning. Data's last warp jump had carried them free of the enemy's accurate firing range. Some shots would still come their way, but at this range they could easily evade at sublight.

    "They're really unhappy with us," Cat said. "Several more ships are breaking from their formation to pursue us."

    "They don't know if we can do this again, but they're not taking chances." Julia swallowed. "Rob, they're sending a dreadnought after us. And two battlecruisers. And a number of cruisers… we can't fight this. We have to break off."

    "We can't fight this, no," Robert agreed. "Data, get us clear, full impulse, and then please return helm control to Nick."

    His orders were implemented with no difficulty. The Nazis now had other problems, as it proved.

    The Alliance fleet entered optimum firing range.




    Lamper had to admit he was impressed. Tactical warp jumps. Madness. Could his savant officer, that man Jarod, have managed such precision? As far as Lamper was concerned, no human could. And using computers would be unreliable… Not to mention that warp drives would fail with such rapid use.

    But Aurora had done it regardless.

    "It is a wonder they did not cripple themselves," Falk observed. "Their drive must be very robust."

    "Indeed." Lamper looked to communications. Leutnant Jensen was seated there. "Do we have engagement orders?"

    "Nein."

    That made Lamper frown. The SS squadron that he had been assigned to… why was it not being sent into the battle? What is Eicke up to?

    Even as he pondered this, he watched as Admiral von der Goltz reacted to what was happening.

    The rest of the Reich war fleet at New Austria began to move.




    With Locarno back at the helm, the Aurora was maneuvering clear of the enemy for the moment. The ship shook lightly as enemy fire struck their shields. "Shields still holding at about seventy percent."

    "At my mark, bring us around." Robert checked the display. Most of the enemy pursuit had turned back once their comrades were engaged. Maran's ships had used their chance to get organized and were exploiting the disorder of the enemy's forward units for everything it was worth. Markers representing enemy ships were disappearing rapidly.

    Now the rest of the enemy fleet was moving up to engage Maran. The odds were close. An entire enemy fleet unit was present. A thought crossed Robert's mind. "Cat, Jarod, would any of these ships happen to be from the attack at Krellan Nebula?"

    Cat was the one who checked. "Going by the survivors' sensor records… yeah. A lot."

    "Uh huh." Robert felt a grin tug at his mouth. It made what was about to happen even more fitting.

    Maran had arranged the Alliance fleet and its disparate members by their strengths. The ships from C5O2 and D3R1 were arrayed in a "battle wall" formation: ranks of dreadnought starships and accompanying cruisers ready to turn and present broadside firepower against the foe. Their light escorts were in a looser formation to assist in screening away enemy light ships or conducting their own dashes at the enemy capital warships to engage weakened enemy shields with heavy torpedoes.

    These walls, busy plowing through the forward enemy force, were joined by the other fleets operating by their own tactical paradigms, working hand-in-hand under Maran's direction. Dorei starbirds and Gersallian cruisers and frigates flew in with weapons blazing, clearing the way for hundreds of starfighters from the Gersallian and Dorei carriers to engage with their torpedoes. The Kentan remained in the center of their heavy formations, directing firepower toward the enemy. Their firepower combined with an Earth Confederacy dreadnought - the Cicero - to utterly wreck one of the enemy Aryans.

    The heavy warships from the Federated Stars and the Sirian League of L2M1 made their own swift attacks, flanked by cruisers, gravitic drives burning bright blue as they poured phaser and particle fire into the Reich. A wing of Alakin heavy warbirds and Dorei starbirds came burning in after them, pouring plasma and particle fire into the outnumbered ships.

    One engagement near the end of the enemy's forward units was particularly poignant; a Colonial Confederation cruiser came to the aid of Sol Republic destroyers under attack from a Sedan. The two erstwhile rivals cooperated with precision against their common enemy. The reward was the flowering explosions from the Reich cruiser. A nacelle blew up from a torpedo hit by one of the Sol destroyers as its companions helped a stricken comrade fly free of the fight.

    Seeing this brief part of the battle unfold gave Robert a warm feeling. This was everything the Alliance was meant to be; disparate peoples from all nations and species working together for a common goal, in this case that goal being the defeat of a terrible enemy that had murdered thousands of helpless beings.

    Another jolt brought Robert out of his reverie. "Shields now at sixty-six percent."

    He nodded to acknowledge Jarod's report. "Locarno… now!"

    The Aurora swung around and met her pursuer directly. A Sedan class ship; an appreciable foe, but lacking the raw power to overcome the Aurora alone. Which explained the division of Z-2500s following.

    Angel opened fire the moment she had target lock. Thick sapphire pulses lashed out and slammed into the enemy ship, accompanied by two spreads of solar torpedoes. The blue-white sparks of light flowered into brilliant explosions when they slammed into the enemy's shields, accompanied by another barrage of the forward pulse plasma cannons. The enemy cruiser began to maneuver to present strong side shields instead of the weakened bow shields. Angel redoubled her fire on the enemy ship in response to this maneuver. Green, blue, and amber fire filled the space between Aurora and her foes. Worf's expert aim finished off two of the enemy destroyers. His shooting was brilliant and the only reason they hadn't taken a full torpedo barrage from said enemy ships yet.

    The barrage on the enemy's shields continued. Angel was targeting every point she could that was supposed to be vulnerable. Their ship shook repeatedly as the cruiser's missiles, taking attrition from the point-defense weapons, crashed into Aurora's bow shields.

    "Forward shield generators are taking a lot of strain," Lucy warned.

    Jarod was quick to react. "Re-distributing shields to compensate."

    "I'm picking up fluctuations in their power systems, I think we're overloading them."

    Cat's finding spurred her sister on. Locarno maneuvered the ship to prevent the enemy from escaping Aurora's bow cannons. Angel made full use of his work to continue battering the enemy cruiser. Torpedoes followed the plasma and phaser fire to give the enemy cruiser a battering.

    Finally an amber beam from one of the bow-directed phaser strips played across hull. This was followed by a burst from a pulse phaser cannon, then another. Flame and debris erupted from the new wounds in the enemy ship.

    And like a shark smelling blood, Angel went for the kill. The next barrage savaged the Nazi cruiser's drive hull. A torpedo blew the blood-red port nacelle to pieces. The lights on the enemy ship's hull began to die out.

    "They've lost main power!", was Cat's enthusiastic report.

    The last enemy shots before their weapons lost potency finished playing over their shields. "Shields holding at sixty percent." Jarod drew in a breath. "Primary Shield Generator 1 is showing increased strain, we may have to take it offline."

    "We'll let Scotty's people deal with it first. But shut it down if you feel the need." Robert looked back to the battle.

    Maran's forces had overrun the initial eighty-something enemy warships and left behind a thin cloud of burning hulks and debris fields. Now they were approaching the main enemy fleet. The odds were fairly equal.

    It was time to tip them toward their side.

    "Is the Sladen in position?", Robert asked.

    "They are," was the reply.

    "Then prepare to send the second all-clear signal on my mark. Tell King to begin."




    On the bridge of the Sladen Commander King and her crew had been watching with a mix of admiration and disbelief. At the helm, the ship's XO Lieutenant Caldwell had given voice to their surprise. "Six rapid warp jumps? Dale must be mad, he's lucky he didn't blow out his entire warp system."

    King nodded slowly. Borderline reckless indeed…! But tactically necessary at that point in time. Aurora had few other options once the anchor probes were being deployed. I would have deployed them further out. It would have cost more casualties, undoubtedly, without the enemy fleet intentionally weakening themselves with that first wave. But to take such a risk…

    Skarsgard was ready when a tone came from her board. The Norwegian officer turned and faced King. "Commander, we're receiving the signal from the Aurora."

    "Confirm that. And start launching the probes," King ordered.

    Sladen wavered into view.

    Behind the enemy.

    They were roughly sixty degrees "above" the enemy as well as being to their rear, a necessary position for what came next. Lieutenant Trymi began firing the torpedo launchers. But there were no torpedoes loaded; rather, combinations of the jamming probes and anchor probes.

    "Field is twenty percent complete," the Dorei man reported.

    "Enemy vessels on combat approach," Skarsgard added.

    King looked at the approaching foes. Similar dagger-shapes to the Z-2500s, but bigger. Reich gunships, A-1700-class, loaded with large disruptor armaments for their size. The vessels sacrificed range to maximize combat power for their size and such were not unlike the Sladen herself. As such they were something of a threat, especially with Sladen having to focus on deploying its probes.

    "Limited evasive maneuvers, Lieutenant. We cannot jeopardize the deployment of the probes."

    "Yes sir."

    Caldwell was doing what he could. But his range of maneuver was limited. The ship shook as several disruptor shots struck their shields.

    "Shields down to ninety percent."

    King nodded. "Maintain current bearing. Continue the deployment."

    No one questioned her openly. They kept doing their jobs, just as she expected, even as another hit came down on them. King eyed the range on her own display. Any moment. Any moment…

    There was a ripple in space. Several more ships appeared above Sladen.

    Klingon Birds-of-Prey.

    The Reich warships started to break off as the Klingons soared in for the attack. The lead gunship took the brunt of the Klingon ambush. Multiple green bolts slammed into its shields followed by a swarm of photon torpedoes. The last two went through the gunship's armor and caused it to burst in a white fireball.

    "The Pagh and her squadron are engaging."

    "Inform Captain Klag of my thanks," was King's laconic response to that. "Status of probe deployment?"

    "Firing final probes… now. All anchor probes deployed, Commander!"

    "Send the go signal, Ensign Skarsgard. Lieutenant Caldwell, bring us into formation with the Klingons. We have targets to neutralize."

    "Sending go signal, sir!"

    "Taking up formation!"

    Sladen slipped into place with the Klingon Birds-of-Prey. Her bow phasers opened up, battering an enemy gunship. The Reich vessel turned toward them and opened up with its own disruptor cannons. King's ship shuddered beneath her; she ignored that and kept her eye on the tactical situation. Trymi's gunnery skills were letting him batter the enemy ship and, as things went, won its attention to the extent that it didn't notice the Klingon ship coming up on its stern until it was too late. Disruptor and phaser bolts struck the vessel on both ends and overloaded its shields. Torpedoes turned the ship into a burning wreck.

    Their ship shook again. "Enemy vessel to aft. Wait… the Klingons are engaging them."

    "Then let us return the favor," King declared. "Focus your targeting on any enemy ship flanking one of the Klingons."

    And as she said that, the first jump points opened.




    Robert felt like cheering as, for the second time today, space lit up with the opening of a mass of interuniversal jump points.

    This time the vessels exiting were primarily not Alliance. The sleek shapes of Turian warships and the blockier Systems Alliance ships emerged from many of the jump points. Smaller, more stealthy ships came out with them - Salarians, presumably. And a smattering of Asari ships rounded out the Citadel contribution.

    Other jump points disgorged many dozens of Klingon ships. Birds-of-Prey, cruisers, attack cruisers, and among them all, one big warship - the Negh'Var.

    Toward the center of the fleet a large number of smaller ships came racing out of the jump points, accompanied by even smaller blue shapes - space fighters. The White Stars were here in force. More than Robert had expected from what Delenn had said before. And central among them were several of the tall, finned Minbari Warcruisers.

    And that wasn't all. Several Slavian dreadnoughts and accompanying warships came from one point; Gl'mulli orb ships emerged from another. A number of Alliance ships joined them. Robert recognized the Discovery among them. We need ships enough that even the Discovery and her sisters have been called in. He recognized the Gagarin and the Atlantis, but not the Challenger. Presumably Madeleine was still in charge of the excavation of the Darglan Homeworld.

    And there were other ships. Itagaki Union, Archenar Federation, Gy'toran star-sailers and Kerbal spacecraft carriers. Every nation and species that the Aurora had visited in the past few months was represented in the arriving fleet.

    And they had all come to end the threat of the Nazi Reich.

    "Admiral Hackett to all ships. Move forward and engage."

    At that command, the allied forces formed up. Some took longer than others; it was, not surprisingly, the Rangers who were ready for action first. They were used to launching fleet actions coming through jump points and had come through in combat formation already. Emerald beams came from the massive Warcruisers and the smaller, nimble White Stars. The Minbari weapons cut away at the shields of the nearest Reich warships. A couple of direct hits on the smaller cruisers led to localized shield failures and, after that, the powerful beams from the Minbari cruisers started to carve them into pieces.

    Now the rest of the ships were swooping in. The Citadel Council-aligned forces engaged with their hypervelocity mass driver cannons, battering away at the Reich warfleet. Robert was amazed at, and admittedly enjoyed, the sight of a Turian dreadnought and the SSV Kilimanjaro unleashing withering firepower upon a Reich dreadnought. The colossal ship was turning about to engage while its shields flickered and faltered under withering firepower. A squadron of F-61 Trident fighters from the SSV Hawking raced in under the cover of their fire on an attack run. The lighter disruptors on the Aryan-class dreadnought opened up on them. One fighter took a glancing hit and spun off, damaged. Another two took direct hits and disappeared in plumes of flame.

    The other fighters made it to optimum range and fired their disruptor torpedoes. One after another the torpedoes lit up and flew forward. Again the enemy light disruptors engaged, and a number of the torpedoes were shot down. The rest slammed into the faltering local shields of the Reich dreadnought. The handful that managed to get through said shields hit armored hull, where intense and unstable mass-effect fields from their warheads began tearing the hull apart.

    The dreadnought's starboard super-disruptors were lashing out in reply. Green beams stabbed repeatedly at the two attacking dreadnoughts. Kinetic barriers would not have done much to withstand disruptors, but now both ships were employing UAS shield technology and their shields held against the onslaught.

    And this was not the only battle going on. The Gl'mulli orb ships zipped around the battlefield, lashing out with the plasma beam cannons affixed to multiple points of their sphere-shaped hulls. As they tore their way through a Nazi cruiser squadron, attack bombers from the Kerbal fleet raced in at breakneck accelerations. Showing an almost suicidal disdain for enemy counter-fire, the Kerbals deployed their gravitic bombs against the cruisers. With the Gl'mulli orbs having drained away their shields, their armored hulls were left to endure the powerful Kerbal weapons and their hull-shattering gravitic warheads.

    Enemy Z-2500s raced in to engage the allied carriers. Kerbal and Systems Alliance fighters moved to engage, and they were not alone. The Starship Atlantis moved into position and engaged with her own light batteries. While the Atlantis covered the carriers, the Discovery and the Gagarin joined the sleek FedStar cruisers in battering a burning Lutzow-class ship into ruin.

    On the bridge of the Aurora, Robert noted the distances. "Status on that generator?", he asked.

    Jarod checked his board. "It looks like the damage control teams finished their work. The generator's ready to resume its share of our shield coverage."

    "Great news. Bring us about, Nick," Robert said. His heart was pounding with excitement. "Bring us in toward the allied fleet and the Sladen."

    "Aye sir!", Locarno agreed.

    The Aurora turned in space. The bow raised to face the allied forces. Her engines fired to full and she flew toward her allies.

    They'd accomplished their mission. Now it was time to use that to win the battle.
     
    • 1-17-5
    • Explosions continued to flower in the distance while Patrice Laurent maneuvered his Mongoose starfighter behind the Nazi fighters launched by the base. The craft were wider than his Mongoose, with tapering ends that made them look like arrowheads with engines on the back.

    The Reich fighters were currently pursuing the Kerbal bombers that were reducing one of the dreadnought divisions for the benefit of Allied dreadnoughts and couldn't break off safely. Laurent shifted his fighter left and right and then corkscrewed it to avoid incoming fire. He waited the key second before his targeting system flashed a lock and fired. Thick pulses of amber energy lashed out from the Mongoose's chin and the base of the small payload and engine wings. The first shots were still slightly off. Laurent carefully maneuvered his fighter until the stream of pulses started tearing into the rear of the Nazi fighter. The enemy fighter's shields held for the first half second. The pilot was already maneuvering to get out of Laurent's firing line.

    But he couldn't. Just as he nearly cleared the stream of bolts, they ripped into his engine assembly. The Reich warship exploded into a few hundred pieces.

    A warning tone forced Laurent to maneuver hard to his right and "upward". This let him evade, barely, the stream of emerald disruptor bolts coming from the Nazi fighter moving to engage him. Soon the enemy was on his back and staying on. "Bogey on my six low," Laurent stated.

    "I'm on it!" The voice had enough of a strange pitch to it to confirm the speaker was not human or full-sized humanoid. Another Mongoose twisted around Laurent at an acceleration that did more to say it was his wingman than the voice itself.

    Lt. Jebediah Kerman's Mongoose slipped by Laurent's own and went directly at the Nazi fighter attacking him. Phasers blazed and the enemy pilot broke off, but not before taking damage.

    "Able 2, thank you for that."

    "You're welcome, Able Leader!" And with that the Kerbal pilot's Mongoose twisted back into the same angle of attack and roared into position. Ahead of them some of the heavier Reich fighters were starting to fire on the Kerbal bombers approaching the dreadnoughts. Kerman opened fire at the same time Laurent and others did. Missiles streaked through space and hit the enemy fighters before they could evade. Several exploded entirely. Some only took damage and continued their attacks on the Kerbal bombers. A couple of the Kerbal craft exploded from the fire coming in behind them. But instead of breaking off or ruining their attack runs with evasion, the Kerbals seemed to be more interested in accelerating even more, pushing their overpowered spacecraft to and seemingly beyond their limits to ensure their attack run succeeded.

    Laurent spit his crosshairs on another Nazi fighter and let loose with his phasers. The enemy fighter, damaged from a missile impact, disintegrated under the attack. "We've got to cover those bombers!" Seeing he didn't have the numbers to keep the enemy fighters from successfully savaging the Kerbal bomber run, Laurent started giving his orders. "Bravo, Charlie, form up on Able! Delta Squadron…"

    "Sir!" Ensign Xui, his sensor operator, called out. "More friendly contacts!"

    "Above" Laurent, more fighters raced in on mass effect drives pushing to maximum acceleration. The curved, sharp frame looked almost like a fang with wings; Turian fighters. "This is Dedalic Wing to Alliance fighters. Joining your attack vector."

    Another Human voice heralded the arrival of F-61s. "Hammer Squadron here, we're on course!" Laurent thought he recognized the voice, a pilot from the Hawking. Lieutenant… Cortez, yes.

    With the Turian and Systems Alliance fighters backing his squadron from the Aurora, the Nazi fighters ahead of them began exploding with greater frequency. The explosions from the Kerbal bombers going down ceased.

    The lead dreadnought's super-disruptors fired again and there was an explosion at the periphery of Laurent's vision. But he could do nothing about that; he was focused on finishing off the enemy fighters ahead of them.




    The Turian dreadnought took three super-disruptor beams into its now-unshielded prow and exploded violently. Behind it a second dreadnought and an adjacent Asari cruiser were pelted by debris.

    The Aurora moved up and intercepted another super-disruptor blast on its fresh shield face, saving the Asari ship at the cost of a major shield blow. As the bridge stopped rocking Robert called out, "Damage report!"

    "Shields down to forty-six percent," Jarod answered.

    "We've got a primary shield generator failing, switching back to secondaries!"

    Robert breathed harshly. He was tired of getting smacked around by enemy dreadnoughts. And there were four Nazi dreadnoughts bearing down on him and the Citadel dreadnoughts.

    But a moment later, those enemy ships had other problems. Their shields were also starting to go down from sheer attrition. Now there were Kerbal bombers racing across the hull, deploying their gravitic bombs at trajectories the Reich dreadnoughts couldn't hope to intercept at. So close that the pilots were lucky to escape themselves.

    Suddenly the lead dreadnought, killer of that Turian ship, suffered several massive detonations across its dorsal hull and bow. The super-disruptor assembly exploded and spewed debris and atmosphere across the bow of the enemy Aryan-class ship.

    Angel didn't have to be told. Aurora's bow weapons opened up and vented their fury on the enemy ship. Mass driver slugs accelerated to cee-fractional velocities joined them; the fire from the other Turian dreadnought and the Kilimanjaro. Hit after hit ripped away hull armor from the enemy dreadnought until its entire front third was ablaze, spreading a cloud of lost atmospheric gas and debris as it passed. Solar torpedoes from the Aurora went deep into the opened bow of the ship.

    One found the ship's missile magazine. Exposed, now, by the prior damage.

    There was a great white flash that their viewscreen barely adjusted in time to keep from blinding them. When it was over, the enemy dreadnought was gone.

    The ones behind it were still fighting. Another wing of Kerbal bombers had already severely damaged the third in line. Now it had a new problem as the great, blocky shape of one of the Slavic Union dreadnoughts moved across its bow. The ship - giving off the ID of being the Stanislav Bush - opened up with a barrage of ruby energy. Heavy x-ray laser assembles ripped into the Aryan-class dreadnoughts to either side, causing their shields to flare bright red. The one to its starboard, damaged by the Kerbals, couldn't resist the firepower of a dreadnought on its bow. Said bow disappeared in a series of explosions.

    The last dreadnought in the force faced the approach of Gy'toran star-sailers. The sleek and elegant shapes of the ships, propelled by a complicated sublight drive assembly that included both solar sails and subspace carrier-wave sails that gave them a look of being an old sailing ship with sails both above and below, turned and directed orange bursts of energy fire into the dreadnought. It retorted with disruptor fire. The Gy'torans were not getting the better of the exchange - Robert was sad to see one of the elegant ships blasted apart by a super-disruptor hit - but it gave an opening for the White Stars of Delenn's Rangers to get in and start hammering the Reich dreadnought. Both groups of ships pulled away as a wing of heavy Klingon Birds-of-Prey, K'Vort-class, moved in with disruptors blazing. Three attack cruisers of the newer Vor'cha-class came in behind them and let loose a series of disruptor barrages backed by photon torpedoes.

    The Aryan-class ship simply couldn't endure the punishment. Its shields failed and stayed down. Its hull took repeated hits. And soon it was a lifeless husk of a ship, all lights extinguished, drifting helplessly in the vacuum of space.

    Four enemy dreadnoughts, dead. Robert had never imagined to see such a sight.

    And still the battle raged on.




    Lamper was clenching his fists in frustration. The fleet was caught between two fires. The Alliance and the allies it had gained had used their drive technology to devastating effect. Before, the Reich had numerical parity. Indeed, if you counted the SS squadron Lamper was now attached to and the damaged ships and close patrols guarding the Base, they had superior numbers to the initial Alliance fleet even after the annihilation of the fleet vanguard. But with this new alien reinforcement, they were now outnumbered and in a tactically inferior position.

    Indeed, the sight of so many different ship types filled Lamper with deep foreboding. This is what we face. Not one foe, but many. How can the Reich survive against such force?

    "Admiral von der Goltz is ordering all ships to try and break out of the enemy trap," Leutnant Jensen said. "And he is ordering Oberführer Eicke to commit us to the engagement. All ships will be employed to attempt a breakout."

    "Get me targeting solutions, then."

    "Jawohl, Herr Kapitän."

    "Herr Kapitän, we are receiving orders from Eichmann." Jensen's voice seemed to falter. "Oberführer Eicke is ordering us to prepare to withdraw from the system."

    Lamper exploded with an angry "Was?!" After a moment to regain his cool, he barked, "I want to speak to Eicke, now."

    A moment later the bridge of the SS dreadnought appeared on the screen. Oberführer Eicke was in his command chair. Fassbinder was standing nearby. "You heard my orders, Kapitän Lamper. We are withdrawing."

    "You are fleeing?" Lamper looked at him and called upon every iota of control he could. Decades of experience with discipline came to bear in keeping his anger in check. "The enemy has the fleet hard-pressed! If we lose both the base and the fleet, our victories will have been for nothing. We will lose this entire ubersektor, Oberführer. God help us, it could cost us the war!"

    "This battle is lost, and we have more important duties, Lamper, than saving a handful of ships. Not with the prize that is within our grasp."

    Lamper felt his hairs stand up on his neck. "What prize could be worth the worst defeat the Reich has ever endured?"

    "A man of your purported intelligence should know. Now, I expect you to warp out with the rest of us. Any further refusal or argument on your part and I will personally see to it that you are denounced as a traitor to our Fatherland."

    "What about our orders to engage?"

    Eicke smirked. "Admiral von der Goltz is simply a man. I obey the dictates of the Führer himself. Now, we must withdraw, while the enemy is occupied."

    Lamper couldn't get the scowl off of his face. His brave comrades, so many thousands of his peers in the officer corps, of brave German crews, were fighting and dying for their Fatherland… and he was being ordered to leave them behind. With not even a shot fired for the sake of honor.

    But he knew full well that Eicke would follow through on that threat. He would be disgraced and executed. His sisters, his nephews and niece, his mother… all would suffer for that.

    Everything about it filled Lamper with disgust. But he knew the costs of defiance. And they were too high.

    So he choked out a, "Jawohl, Herr Oberführer. For the Führer. For the Reich."

    "Heil Sauckel." Eicke saluted and the line cut.

    Lamper settled back into his chair. He could see the dissatisfaction on the faces of his subordinates. But they knew full well that there was no choice here. "Warp drive standing by, Herr Kapitän," his helmsman said.

    "Follow the course laid out by the Eichmann," he answered, dejected. "Match their warp speed."

    The Reich's Glory turned away from the raging battle along with the dark-hulled SS ships. Lamper watched the battle continue up until the shudder of the warp drive initiating came up through the decks.

    Damn the SS.




    The allied forces were arranged to be behind and "above" the enemy, creating a crossfire where the risk of friendly fire was minimized and, more importantly, the enemy could not easily break away from the battle by going above or below either fleet.

    It was a beautiful, deadly sight. The two fleets had the enemy trapped, and the Nazi forces were starting to disintegrate. They were still dangerous, as the burning hulks of friendly ships could attest to, but the battle was against them. Outnumbered, caught between two fires…

    Robert thought on it. This was essentially what the Nazis had done to Lithgon at the Krellan Nebula, wasn't it? Now the Alliance and its allies were returning the favor, with interest.

    Aurora shook underneath him. A burning Nazi battlecruiser was firing its last defiant shots as Angel finished gutting it with the bow cannons. Several Reich gunships and destroyers moving up on their flank were facing fire not just from Aurora's smaller batteries, aimed brilliantly by Worf, but from their accompanying ships. The Wahoo and Troughton had linked up with them again, as had the Agincourt and Bastogne from the Systems Alliance fleet, and those four ships were battering down the enemy gunships approaching their flank. The Sladen and her Klingon escorts were moving their way as well.

    "We've got several more ships coming in," Cat warned. "It looks like they're launching everything they have left from the base… wait, that's odd."

    "What?", Julia asked. "What's odd?"

    "Several enemy ships just jumped to warp. They're leaving the system." Cat blinked. "If I'm reading… one of those ships was the Eichmann. And the Reich's Glory too."

    Robert and Julia exchanged looks. What could they be up to?

    It didn't matter for the moment. They had a battle to finish.

    "The enemy reinforcements are going after the Negh'Var. The Klingons are already fighting off a battlecruiser."

    "Does Gowron have any escorting support?"

    Jarod shook his head. "Not anymore."

    "Then let's get over there. It won't look good if we let an allied head-of-state get killed, will it?"

    Aurora moved away from her current position. At full impulse she rushed across the allied fleet. Robert felt immense satisfaction at the sight of one of the feared Aryan-class dreadnoughts reduced to a burning wreck. Another such dreadnought was trailing debris and atmosphere from colossal wounds in her hull, courtesy of the SSV Kilimanjaro. Angel gave the dying Aryan-class ship a few shots en passant.

    A check on the rest of the battle gave Robert a satisfying and reassuring sight. The Kentan was beside the expanding debris cloud of what had to have been an Aryan-class dreadnought… while a second Nazi dreadnought was on her other side, clearly getting the worst of Kentan's particle cannon broadsides. Admiral Maran's flagship was also facing a Lutzow-class battlecruiser on their bow. But that vessel died a moment later, under fire from two accompanying dreadnoughts from the Earth Confederacy, the Cicero and the Epaminondas.

    Another hit struck the Aurora. "Shields still at fifty-four percent," Jarod reported. "Just stray enemy fire. Some of the enemy ships are just shooting everything that's not Nazi."

    "It looks like they've lost all cohesion," Julia observed. "We're really doing it. We're winning."

    "Coming up on the Negh'Var."

    At Locarno's remark Robert and the others directed their attention back to the battle. The Klingon flagship was under fire from several enemy cruisers, including another of the Lutzow-class battlecruisers. Their disruptor bolts were starting to strike the Klingon ship's bare hull. "Take out that battlecruiser," Robert ordered. It posed the most thread to the damaged Klingon ship, while the one beside it was still engaging what was left of a Klingon attack cruiser.

    Under Angel's direction the bow cannons blazed yet again. Torpedoes raced forward from their launchers and followed the sapphire and amber fire of the Aurora's bow weapons into the decaying shields of the lead Nazi battlecruiser. Their escorting ships raced forward to engage the lighter enemy ships bedeviling Chancellor Gowron's big, ponderous flagship

    The enemy ship seemed to notice them finally. Super-disruptors lashed out at them. "Bow shields are taking a beating," Jarod warned. "Overall shield coherency down to thirty-seven percent." Another hit struck them. "Make that thirty-three."

    "Take whatever evasive action you can, Nick, but make sure Angel has clear shots."

    "I'll do what I can," Locarno said, his voice thick with bemusement at the contradictory order. Nevertheless, Robert and Julia knew that Locarno was more than up to the task. Under his control Aurora corkscrewed relative to the enemy battlecruiser while Angel continued to punish the ship. More disruptor shots came their way.

    Of course, the Nazis weren't the only ones with disruptors. The Negh'Var completed a turn and the big Klingon ship fired with her own disruptor cannons. Thick bolts of green energy slammed repeatedly into the failing shields of the Nazi battlecruiser. Photon torpedoes, red sparks against the black of space, came in next. One got through the shields and impacted on one of the enemy cruiser's super-disruptors, turning it into blazing wreckage.

    The Sladen and Wahoo raced in next. The two ships jinked and spun in space to avoid incoming fire with the kind of skill Zack would nod in appreciation at. Their powerful pulse phaser cannons erupted in amber fury and drew yet more power from the failing enemy shields. Solar torpedoes slammed into the enemy's dorsal hull. Another super-disruptor exploded, as did a missile launcher.

    The remaining weapons now fully focused on Aurora. The ship rocked violently as another super-disruptor barrage hit their shields. "The forward shield generators are going offline again, swapping to secondaries!", Lucy shouted.

    "We've got bleedthrough damage to all forward sections, Decks 6 through 14," Jarod added.

    "They're targeting us again!", Cat shouted. "The second ship is locking on!"

    Angel was pouring fire into the enemy battlecruisers as they poured fire into Aurora. Against one Lutzow-class ship, they had the technology to fight on almost even terms; facing the firepower from two, even if one had lost weapons, was not going to go well for them. Not with the shields already reduced from the earlier fighting.

    "I've got more ships coming out of warp," Caterina said as the ship shook again. "It's the Mentam and her escorts!"

    The Gersallian attack carrier appeared within firing range of the far battlecruiser. It began to launch fighters while the two light Dorei starbirds flanking it accelerated to begin their strafing runs. Powerful particle cannons built into the carrier's bow lashed out. The Gersallians had made the Mentam and ships like her to fight directly as well as bring fighters into combat, even if they could only do the former at reduced capability for their size.

    But that didn't mean their weapons wouldn't hurt.

    The new arrivals exploited the damaged battle cruiser's shifting of shields toward Aurora and Negh'Var to pour fire into her rear. Her starboard warp nacelle exploded from a direct hit. The ship began to turn, to cycle shields, but that left them vulnerable to fire from the Aurora.

    "Finish them!", Julia urged Angel.

    She didn't need to ask twice. Angel let loose with the pulse plasma cannons, making the fire as powerful and as rapid as she dared. Repeated bursts of sapphire energy struck the battlecruiser's failing shields. They utterly collapsed. Flame and debris and atmosphere trailed from the side of the enemy ship as the Aurora's bow weapons carved their way through the thinner hull armor of the battlecruiser. Solar torpedoes with nothing to stop them went right through the resulting breach of the enemy hull. They detonated within the ship.

    Suddenly the entire enemy ship disappeared in a white fireball.

    "I got their magazine!", Angel crowed.

    Robert nodded. For a moment, just a moment, he thought of that. One shot, and thousands dead. It was a reminder that for all the cost and time and effort it took to construct these massive starships, just one (un)lucky shot could wipe all of that away in a second.

    Including them.

    The remaining battlecruiser was already turning away. They were seeking to disengage, as were their surviving escort. One Z-2500, flames streaking from its hull, nevertheless successfully jumped to warp. A burning Dresden-class cruiser attempted the same but succumbed to the disruptors of an arriving heavy Bird-of-Prey.

    The Negh'Var was not about to let its quarry escape. The Klingon flagship fired all of its bow weapons in conjunction with another barrage of the Aurora's forward battery.

    After a series of explosions, what was left of the Nazi ship was dead in space.

    Data looked over at Robert. "Captain, Chancellor Gowron is hailing. Audio only."

    "Put him on," Robert said.

    The Klingon leader's voice crackled over the speaker. "I thank you for coming to my aid, Captain. Come, let us rejoin the battle! Qapla'!"

    "That will be an interesting marker to call in one day," Jarod mused. "Saving the Chancellor of the Klingon High Council."

    "Do not expect Gowron's gratitude to be as forthcoming as you might expect," Worf rumbled. "I speak from experience."

    "That's for later," Robert said. "Let's get back into the fight."

    And as it turned out, there wasn't much of a fight left.




    The battle was over.

    It had, arguably, not been in doubt after the allied forces had made the second jump on a second attack vector. But that made little difference to the beings who had still died winning it.

    Robert had felt post-battle exhaustion before. From when it was all over and you could relax, just to find your body had been running off of the adrenaline and had nothing like that now. He urgently wanted a bowl of sausage stew from Hargert, maybe a chocolate bar, and then to go to bed.

    But there was more work. Always more work. Every department had to report battle casualties, damage, specifics on what had happened. Those reports had to be read and signed off on. Orders made for repairs and the like.

    And, in this case, admirals to answer to.

    Robert had beamed over to the Kentan for the post-battle meeting. It was surprising to see that while the ship had come out of the battle intact, it hadn't avoided major damage to some systems. Nazi super-disruptors had taken out half of the ship's retrofitted phaser arrays and nearly a quarter of the particle cannons. The ship's primary shield generators were out of action. And there were still dozens, hundreds, of combat casualties. Injuries as minor as contusions from falling over while moving in the battle to near-fatal injuries from torpedo or weapon impacts on nearby hull. Robert passed a damage control party, wearing Gersallian blue work suits, on his way to the Fleet Command Chamber.

    Admiral Maran was at the central table. Admiral Hackett, General Victus, and a Klingon commander - a General Martok, Robert recalled - were present as well, as were the commanders of the allied contingents sent into the battle.

    But they weren't alone. On the viewscreen was a middle-aged man in a dark suit with a thin goatee and beard. "On behalf of the citizens of New Austria, I, Planetary Gauleiter Hans Lippold, wish to declare that our planet has been declared open by Admiral von der Goltz. The people of New Austria will offer no resistance to your forces."

    "I am pleased to hear that," Maran said. "Occupation troops are being prepared as we speak. We will signal you with the identity of the occupation authority shortly. Until then, we require that your planetary militia forces and other units on your planet disarm themselves."

    "We understand, Admiral Maran. I await further instructions."

    Once the man disappeared Robert stepped up to the table. He stood at attention until Maran nodded. "Captain." He put his hands on the table. "That was quite the scare you gave us."

    "I know, sir." Robert nodded. "I thought it best to deploy the fleet closer. Had I set up outside the system we might not have gotten the same tactical opportunity."

    "Captain Dale's plan was bold and innovative. And it gave us the edge we needed to win." Victus nodded to Robert. "Well done."

    "Thank you, General." Robert looked to Maran. "Admiral, my engineering crews are finishing repairs to our warp drive as we speak. We should be ready to depart within three hours for the Facility location. Can you give me an idea of how many allied ships can join me?"

    Maran gave Robert an intent look. He didn't like that. After looking over a list Maran shook his head. "None, Captain."

    Robert blinked. "Sir?"

    "We will deploy forces to engage their patrols in the area. That should give you a clear shot. But aside from the Sladen I cannot deploy any ships to join you on this mission."

    "Were our losses that bad?"

    "They were heavier than I would have preferred given our tactical position," Maran admitted. "The Reich fleet fought with the courage of the desperate, and they inflicted losses on us. We'll need everything we can spare just to tie up the enemy patrols near the Facility and to hold on to New Austria. We might have managed something for you, if not for…" Maran looked to Hackett.

    "The Citadel has informed the Systems Alliance that one of their Spectre agents has detected a buildup in Batarian forces near the Traverse," Hackett explained. "Considering the losses the Fifth Fleet took, I can't keep us here. I'll leave some cruisers and frigates to support base defense, but most of our fleet will be jumping back home for repairs and re-deployment to face the Batarians."

    "And with our M4P2 colonies endangered, the Allied Systems need the Systems Alliance and the Turians to ensure the Batarians don't raid our worlds again."

    With that explanation Robert could only nod. "I understand. Then we'll do it alone. Hopefully we won't need any backup."

    "You're dismissed, Captain. Good luck."

    "Thank you, sir." Robert nodded. He turned and began to walk away. As he took the first step down he looked back. "Sir, have we learned anything about those SS ships that fled instead of joining the fight?"

    "They were on a course toward the Reich's interior space," Maran replied. "Beyond that, we have no indication of what they were doing. Admiral von der Goltz wiped his computers before he surrendered."

    "Right." Robert felt uncomfortable about that. "Thank you, sir."

    He departed.




    Julia and Angel had opted for a post-battle dinner. Hargert had worked overtime to prepare a heartening meal for everyone, warm vegetable soup and beef cuts and potatoes. Now they sat at the window table and ate in exhausted silence. Occasionally they glimpsed out the window.

    The Nazi base over New Austria was mostly intact. The Turians, Klingons, and Alliance Marines - both Alliances - had each boarded at specific points and taken over after a couple of hours of resistance. The resistance had given the enemy sufficient time to wreck most of the space docks, to destroy their supply stores, and wipe their computers. The station was intact as a habitat, but as a fleet base it would have limited use until it was sufficiently repaired.

    This was the better view, at least. Further away was the graveyard of the Reich fleet. Allied ships that had been crippled and destroyed had been cleared first, towed out of the way and either finished off or jumped back to the repair yards. A reinforcement fleet from the Colonial Confederation and the Alakin had arrived to bolster the defending fleet.

    "I wonder how this will change the war," Angel finally said. She finished slurping at a spoonful of soup. "I mean, this was about twice as worse as Krellan Nebula was for us, right? There must have been five hundred Nazi warships here."

    "Supposedly five hundred and six," Julia replied. "We know at least twenty managed to break away. It might have been more, but not much more."

    "That's… damn." She smirked. "We paid those bastards back for the Nebula, didn't we?"

    "That we did." Julia took another bite. After she was done she took a moment before talking. "I never thought we'd see anything like that. Back when we started out."

    "It was insane. Ships everywhere. More targets than I knew what to do with." There was a flicker of enjoyment in Angel's eyes. "That was a big damned rush."

    "Yeah…" Julia put her spoon down. "Of course, that's just the first part."

    "Next stop, the Facility."

    At that, Julia nodded. "We have to succeed there. Otherwise…" She looked back out the window. "...all of this may have been for nothing."




    Everyone was exhausted and ready for an off-shift, but they nevertheless returned to the bridge when Robert called. He informed them candidly of what Maran had said. "We're in this alone" is how he summed it up.

    "Damn," Julia muttered. "We could have used some extra help."

    "I know. But there's nothing I could do."

    Everyone took the time to digest that. It was Jarod who clapped a hand on his console. "Well, it's just us then. Whatever happens, we'll deal with it, right?"

    "Right," Locarno agreed.

    "Right!", Cat shouted.

    Angel nodded from the tactical station. "For the Light, we will prevail," Meridina remarked from beside her. That got a nod of support from Lucy.

    "My Marines are ready for whatever the Nazis throw at us," Kane promised from where he and Shepard were observing from the port side of the bridge.

    "We have won a glorious battle." Worf grinned. "Another awaits."

    "Time may be of the essence," Data reminded them. "I would recommend we do not delay."

    "I'm with Data. It's time to go," Julia said.

    Robert keyed the intercom. "Bridge to Engineering. Scotty, how are the drives? Are your repairs complete?"

    "My bairns are ready an' waitin' for yer command, Cap'n. Ye'll have full warp power."

    "You heard the man." Robert grinned at Locarno. "Set a course for Gamma Piratus, best speed."

    "Aye, Captain," Locarno cheerfully answered. His hands moved over his board. "Breaking from orbit."

    The Aurora moved away from the planet and the fleet over it. It took a couple of minutes for the ship to start to clear the area and be ready for warp.

    "We are receiving several signals from the allied fleet," Data informed them. "While all have their own wording, I believe I can sum up their meanings as 'good luck'."

    "Signal our thanks for their well-wishes, Data," Robert replied. "Nick, are we ready?"

    "We're clear. Warp power at your command."

    Robert swallowed and nodded. "Engage."

    There was a flash of light from the Aurora's warp nacelles. A moment later they were gone, leaving behind their greatest battle yet for the even more important battle to come.
     
    • 1-17 Ending
    • Tag


    That night, Robert had the nightmare again.

    He could see in the Facility. Shepard unconscious. Data laid out with smoke rising from his damaged torso. Worf and Kane shot dead, Meridina sprawled out with the back of her head missing. Cat in one corner, weeping in terror as a shadowy figure lifted a gun to her head.

    "No!", Robert cried out.

    It did nothing. There was a gunshot. Cat fell over with a hole in her forehead.

    And suddenly he was back on the Aurora bridge. Smoke filled the air. The ship was rocking violently below him. And then there was an explosion, the roof was gone…

    ...and he tried, and failed, to save Julia, who screamed his name as she was sucked out into space.

    And through it all, he could hear their voices. Worf's deep timbre, Meridina's almost melodic, soothing voice, Cat's high shriek of terror…

    And he just about made it out, too.

    We needed you! You weren't there and we needed you!

    For a brief moment, an object appeared in his mind. Just the object, like a picture being shown to him...

    He was jolted awake a moment later. He sat up and looked around. Angel was laid beside him, tired enough that he hadn't woken her up. He swallowed and looked to a chronometer. 0200.

    Just a little over a day. We're arriving at 0900 tomorrow. I've got until then to figure this out.

    He got out of his bed and went to his desk. For a moment he just spent time signing the final after-action reports from the departments. Then he checked the update on enemy ship positions. Multiple ships were already heading out to engage the enemy ships in the region. They would have their opening.

    As he thought on the dream, his eyes fell again on the orange disk in the gold frame. He reached over toward it. His fingers trembled; it was like he could feel energy within it.

    It had been in his dream. Why? What was this mysterious object, this thing that the Consort thought he should have? She said it would provide him help in the near and far futures. How?

    He went to grasp it.

    But the ship's intercom interrupted him. "Lucero to Dale."

    For a moment he didn't react. It was only when Lucy's voice came over again - "Lucero to Dale, please respond. This is important." - that he reacted. "Dale here," he said after pressing a receive key on his desk.

    "Commander Data and I need to see you and the Command Staff. Now."

    "In the middle of the… alright. Okay. Call everyone, we'll meet in the Main Conference Room."




    There were many displeased looks in the Conference Room. The Aurora and Sladen command crews were present, taking up every chair. "Commander, Lieutenant," Robert said to them. "You may begin."

    Lucy looked to Data. "You should start, sir."

    Data gave a slight nod in reply. "Some time ago, I discovered that there was a discrepancy in the logged communications activities through the ship's interuniversal communications system. The bandwidth through the system was being used in ways not being logged in the computers."

    "Someone's spying on us, then?", Leo asked.

    "Just what we need," Angel moaned. "Another Changeling problem."

    "It does not appear to be a Founder," Data remarked. "Lieutenant?"

    Lucy noticed her cue and spoke up. "I looked over the data with Commander Meridina's blessing. It took a few days of checking our active communications and attempting data recovery on the systems. I was able to find traces of the unauthorized communications in the system. Whoever was sending them was bypassing our command protocols. I couldn't figure out how they could do so without setting off any alarms in the system. The only way I could determine was that they could turn them off and keep it from getting logged."

    "Woh." Cat blinked. "But… that would mean…"

    "According to the security regulations in use by the Alliance, this authority is limited solely to command officers," Data explained. "Or officers one post removed from command authority."

    "Which basically means everyone in this room."

    "So… one of us is the spy?", Angel asked. She was clearly incredulous.

    Lucy nodded. "I couldn't believe it. I triple-checked everything. But… it was the only explanation. So I did some checking into the access times, to see if I could find a clue."

    "And did you?", King asked.

    "Yes, Commander." Lucy nodded at her. She reached over and hit a key. An empty log appeared. "I tried to see if I could match command authority uses to the proper times. But I was coming up with nothing. And then I remembered that I had another ship to look over. I finished that this evening while I was winding down from the battle."

    The realization dawned on everyone over the next few seconds. Uncomfortable glances started to move toward King and her officers.

    "I found indications of a command override code being used on…"

    "Enough of this." King stood. "Lieutenant, you needn't go on."

    Lucy looked at her with arms crossed. "I don't?"

    "No. There's no point in letting you draw this out." King put her hands on the table. "The transmissions were sent by me."

    Even her own officers glanced at her. "Commander/", Caldwell asked. "What do you mean?"

    "I have been working for a superior officer," King stated. "A covert evaluation of your behavior and activities."

    Robert frowned. So did Julia, and she was the one who immediately seized upon that. "You mean Davies," Julia said, her tone harsh. "You've been spying on us for Admiral Davies."

    King nodded. "That is correct."

    There was stunned silence in the room. It lasted several seconds. It only ended when Robert managed to force the question out. "Why? Why are you spying on us?"

    "It is necessary for the safety and security of the Alliance." King eyed Meridina intently. "There are forces at work that would undermine our new Alliance and subjugate us. Admiral Davies is trying to root them out."

    "You refer to my people, do you not?", Meridina asked.

    "That's bullcrap," Leo declared. "This is just another damned witch hunt!"

    "No, Doctor Gillam, it is not," King declared. "It is an attempt to protect the minds and wills of our people." She looked over them. "You… have no idea of what has been going on, have you?"

    "Not of whatever it is you're alluding to, no," Robert growled.

    "I see." King nodded. "Then, before you judge me further, perhaps I should tell you. And let you judge for yourselves."

    The Aurora officers looked at each other again. It was clear Angel had no interest in what King had to say. Leo didn't look entirely caring either. But Cat's curiosity had clearly taken hold of her, and there was an intent look on Scotty's face.

    "Well, this is going to be interesting," Jarod sighed.

    After making sure everyone had a chance to respond, Robert exchanged a final curious look with Julia before returning his eyes to his perfidious escort commander. "Alright, Commander King. You have our attention." He leaned forward. "Tell us what's going on."
     
    • 1-18 Opening
    • Teaser


    There was silence in the Conference Room beside the Aurora bridge. Outside the window the streaks of warped space continued to stream by. All eyes were on Commander Elizabeth King, the commander of the Sladen. Even her own officers were stunned by her admission: she was spying on the Aurora crew on behalf of Admiral Davies, the Vice Chief of Naval Operations. The same man who had tried to take the Aurora away from them.

    "The Admiral will be incensed with me for explaining this," she began. Her English accent was polished and refined. "But you deserve to know."

    "This reason that justifies spying on my crew?", Robert asked pointedly.

    "Yes." King put her hands behind her back. "Tell me, Captain. Have you ever thought about the inquiry after what happened at 33LA?"

    "Thought about what in particular? The way your patron tried to railroad us and went digging into our past to attack us with it?" Robert leaned forward in his chair. "Or how he tried to turn my best friend against us?"

    "Admiral Davies believes Commander Carrey to have great potential. He didn't want Carrey disgraced with the rest of you. But that is not relevant to the issue at hand." King had returned to her seat. Now she tapped her hand to the table. "Despite everything, you were let off with a reprimand. No matter how many policies you had violated, you were let off lightly. Haven't you ever wondered why?"

    In truth, Robert had. He had decided it represented the President's influence, that Morgan had made backroom deals and arrangements to stop Hawthorne. "I imagined it was politics. That our supporters outmaneuvered the others."

    King shook her head. "I saw Davies' records of the first votes. The initial vote was not in favor of your censure, Captain. It was in favor of your removal and court-martial. Further court-martial proceedings were to be voted on for your fellow officers."

    "Obviously that didn't happen," Julia said., "So if you're telling the truth, the Committee changed its mind before it called us in."

    "It did not," King answered. "It was compelled to change its vote."

    "Compelled by the President?"

    King shook her head. "No. If you want to know whom…" King's head turned. "...why don't you ask this mind-reader?"

    Meridina met King's eyes with some confusion. "Commander?"

    "I know full well you can read minds, 'Commander'," King stated harshly. "And are you going to play innocent and insist you did not know what happened?"

    "I have no idea what you are talking about," Meridina insisted.

    "Hrm." King looked to the others. "The reason you are still aboard this vessel is because, after the initial vote, the Gersallian Interdependency informed the Committee and the President that it would withdraw from the Alliance if you were removed from your ship."

    "…What?" Robert was incredulous.

    "Indeed. They threatened to withdraw from the Alliance. The Dorei joined them. And then the Sirians, and the Colonial Confederation…" King's gaze was hard. "The Gersallians would have ripped the Alliance apart. They would have walked out with over a third of the Alliance. And we believe they would have made an attempt to seize the Aurora from spacedock."

    Everyone stared at King in bewilderment. "You can't be serious," Leo said.

    "I am," King answered. "I have the minutes." She hit several keys on her multidevice and began displaying them on the holo-projector for everyone to read. The undoubtedly fierce arguments had been reduced to written, official form. Councilman Pensley's harsh invective seemed to leak bile from the projection in his demands for the Committee to stand fast and throw Robert and the others into the stockade. Almost equally harsh was Councilman Zoral's demands for Pensley's censure and declaration that he would try to get Hawthorne ejected from the Defense Ministry by a Council vote. Senator Sriroj and Councilman Palas, a Gersallian, had exchanged harsh words as well after Palas had informed the Committee of his government's overnight instructions. Word started coming in of all the governments backing the Gersallian demarche, including Zoral's.

    "And I thought they were harsh on us," Angel muttered, reading the rancor that had erupted within the Committee.

    In the end, President Morgan himself had called in to confirm to the Committee of what was going on. Robert's admiration for the man could only increase at his response to the crisis. He could have reminded everyone of the Nazis and used that as a scare tactic, but instead he had emphasized the need for compromise to save the Alliance. In the end, Robert's censure had been agreed upon, and a couple of votes had shifted to against the removal and court-martial.

    "So the Gersallians led the people backing us," Angel said. "So what? Isn't this politics?"

    "No, Lieutenant, it is not," King declared coldly. "It was nothing less than an ultimatum. The Defense Committee was compelled by threats to reverse its vote."

    Suddenly Davies' sullen words after that hearing had made sense. Undoubtedly the same rancor seen here had come up after the war started. All of those nations that had threatened to leave if pressed for more ships and troops… had they been the other nations that hadn't sided with the Gersallians? It would make Davies' charge that their victory in the Committee had come at "a cost" all the more true.

    King, meanwhile, continued on. "Afterward, Admiral Davies initiated an investigation into the Gersallian actions with Naval Intelligence."

    "Davies is using the military to spy on an Alliance member?!", Julia asked with an outraged tone. "That's…"

    "...necessary, Commander," King insisted. "Made necessary because of her kind." Again King was glaring at Meridina.

    "Commander, I do not know why you evince such hostility toward me. If it is fear of my power, I would never use it against others. Taking the mind of another is an act of terrible darkness."

    "Then do you deny that your Order is responsible for the Gersallian government nearly tearing the Alliance apart? Because that is exactly what was done. The Council of your organization directly advised the Gersallian government to threaten withdrawal. I have seen the evidence, Commander." King looked to the others. "It was what the Admiral used to convince me of the scope of the threat."

    Meridina remained in stunned silence.

    "I can go on. I will." She looked again to Meridina. "Your people, your 'knights' or whatever you call yourselves, you never join militaries. You work with them, yes. But none have fully joined a service before. Accepted a military rank. Not until you. And you are immediately assigned by another Gersallian to the most advanced ship in the Alliance, with a young and inexperienced crew. You, a telepath with those 'life force' powers that enhance your powers."

    Julia realized where this is going. "You think Meridina's been invading our minds. Mind-controlling us."

    "To take control of the Aurora, yes," King charged. "The Gersallian government seems enthralled to the Order, after all. Now they undoubtedly look to expand their power."

    "Commander." Meridina shook her head. "If this is what you and Admiral Davies believe, it shows only your ignorance of my people. Our culture, our beliefs, you understand nothing of us."

    At that, King nodded. "You're right. I don't. And Admiral Davies has only begun to understand. So, understand what it looks like to us. You break your Order's precedent on serving in military organizations. You accept a rank. You request assignment to the Aurora, not for a temporary mission but permanent assignment. It is suspicious behavior, Commander."

    "It's paranoid bullcrap," Lucy retorted. "It's xenophobia."

    "It's reasonable precautions, Lieutenant," King countered. She sighed. "The damnedest thing is, I do actually believe you are telling the truth. Admiral Davies won't be happy with me for that. The Admiral is convinced that the Gersallian Order of Swenya is trying to subvert the Alliance government. And he has Hawthorne convinced of the same."

    "Which explains the questions they gave me in the committee," Meridina stated quietly. Her expression betrayed intense sadness.

    Robert let out a sigh. Having it all explained didn't make it feel any better in the end. And the revelation of how fragile the Alliance still was had not been pleasant.

    That wasn't the only thing. There were more questions. Not just contemplating how many supporters for their removal were still out there, but wondering why the Gersallians had considered them worth ripping the Alliance apart. What is going on?

    And now we need to figure out what to do with King.

    King appraised them for another moment before speaking again. "I understand if you no longer wish to work with me. But I do not believe you are in any situation to do otherwise. I give my word that I will cease my activities for the duration of this operation."

    "I think you'll understand if we don't take your word on that," Angel grumbled.

    "You do not have much choice, Lieutenant."

    "No. We don't," Julia said.

    "Her mind is quite disciplined and resistant to my power," Meridina stated. "But I sense no falsehood from her emotionally. I believe the Commander is honest when she says she will suspend her spying."

    "I'd rather throw her in the brig and then march her back to Davies in cuffs," Angel growled.

    "I suspect, Lieutenant, that I will not come to great inconvenience for this," King stated matter-of-factly. "The Admiral may not be pleased with my discovery, nor that I have not given him the concrete evidence he wished to show the Committee, but he will not allow me to be punished for acting on his own authority. Otherwise that authority would be undermined."

    "The President might remove him for this," Julia pointed out.

    At that, King smiled thinly. "Come, Commander. You know as well as I that Davies has his own allies in the Council. And Defense Minister Hawthorne, of course. President Morgan's administration cannot survive a major scandal, especially if Hawthorne and Davies are accusing the Gersallians of mentally influencing him and others. So long as the war proceeds satisfactorily, I'm afraid Davies' position is quite secure."

    Jarod sighed and nodded. "That's probably right. The last thing anyone needs is political upheaval in Portland. We're still at war."

    It was Julia who now stood up and addressed them. "Well, we've gotten this all out now," she said. "The issue with the communications has been decided and we can be sure it wasn't another Changeling. Now that we've got that, we need to focus on the task at hand. We're about twenty-four hours out from Gamma Piratus. So let's get ready for it."

    There was genuine appreciation in King's countenance. "Agreed, Commander. Captain…?"

    Robert drew in a breath. "Right. You're right, Commander," he said to Julia. "We've come this far. We need to be ready for what comes next so we can finish this. You're all dismissed."




    Undiscovered Frontier
    "Guarding the Future"    ​



    Ship's Log: ASV Aurora; 15 October 2641. Captain Robert Dale recording. We're less than a day out from Gamma Piratus now. Currently we are moving at maximum warp to arrive at the planet where the Darglan left their Facility in S4W8. Alliance and Klingon vessels are already reporting engagements with enemy ships in the area, giving us a solid opening to either take the Facility or, if we need to, destroy it.

    For the moment there is no sign of pursuit from Reich ships. Our greatest issue seems to be internal with this revelation about Commander King working for Admiral Davies to spy on us. Our relationship with the Commander had always been proper and professional. Now the distrust is such that I'm worried we won't work well when the shooting starts.

    My nightmares of late are also concerning me. These are clearly more potential futures my… 'gift'... enables me to see. I have a decision coming, and the choice I make may spell the difference between victory or defeat for us.

    No, not just for us. For the Alliance. For everyone. A Third Reich with Darglan technology and interuniversal drive would be a nightmare. We have to stop them.


    A cooling lunch was on the table in front of Robert. It was only partially eaten, however. He was simply too absorbed in his thoughts.

    "Are you alright?"

    He looked up and over to Julia, who slid into the chair opposite him with her own lunch. Since Hargert had no support staff with him, simply the crew assigned to the galley, there were no waiters or such available. Instead Hargert and the galley cooks were keeping a buffet bar open, refilling it with comfort foods for the crew to eat as they came through.

    "Thinking," he admitted. "Is everything still going smoothly?"

    "Scotty says the drives are holding together. We may need a week or two in spacedock after this is all over, though. The constant warp jumps and moving along at high warp have left several components showing warning indicators. Scotty's talking about doing a complete drive overhaul."

    "It would give everyone a break," Robert pointed out. "So it might be for the best."

    Julia nodded before continuing. "As for the Nazi ships in the area, Cat's been watching them on long-range sensors. They've dropped their search routes and formed up near their frontier to face the force Maran sent after them. Councillor Kurn should be attacking them by the end of the day. No matter what happens there… those ships won't be coming after us in time to stop us."

    "Any sign of the Eichmann and Reich's Glory?"

    Julia frowned and shook her head. "No. Given how long of a head start they had, they could have covered a lot of ground before we left New Austria. I've got Cat scanning on long range for them, but there's no sign of them yet."

    "What about the long-range probes? Aren't they still out here?"

    "Command shifted them out of the area to assist in the planning of the New Austria attack."

    "So we're going in blind." Robert sighed. "Damn."

    "You think the Eichmann will come after us at Gamma Piratus, don't you?"

    Robert nodded. "I've… well… half the ship probably knows by now about what I've got. What I've… developed."

    "You mean how you have the same powers Meridina is teaching Lucy in using?", Julia asked. Her tone was a careful one.

    "Yeah." Robert picked at the potatoes on his plate. "Meridina says my nightmares come from this thing. This gift. I'm seeing glimpses of a possible future. Just as I did before 33LA."

    "Which is why you did what you did then." Julia leaned forward in her seat. "You're having these dreams now? About this mission?"

    He nodded. "Yes. And they're not pretty. I feel like there's a decision I'm going to make that will literally be the difference between us succeeding or getting killed."

    "I see. I suppose that makes sense." Seeing that Robert was still struggling with his thoughts, Julia reached her right hand over the table and set it on his. "Robert. I trust you. We all do. That's the reason we agreed that you would take charge on this. When the time comes and you have to make a decision, we'll support it. You'll feel better if you trust your decisions as much as we do."

    "It's hard given the stakes. And the nightmares. God, 33LA is still on my mind, even after everything that's been said about it." He swallowed. "I feel like… I'm being tested by the most horrible teacher ever. I'm being shown results without being told how they came about."

    "Trust your instincts, Robert. That's all you can do. Please."

    There was something in Julia's voice. Her confidence in him, born of a lifetime spent in each other's company, was not something Robert could just ignore. After several moments he breathed in and nodded. "Right. Right." He decided to take a bite of his food. It was cold, distorting the taste it should have had. His cheeks curled as he made a face showing the displeasure his tongue was reporting. "Dammit. Excuse me." He stood up with his plate to go and get fresh, warm food.

    Julia couldn't help herself at that point. She started to giggle. An amused smile crossed her face as she dug her spoon into her own lunch plate to resume eating.




    There was a crash of wood against wood in the holodeck. The chamber had been changed to reflect an open courtyard under a blue sky. Lucy recognized the infrastructure as that of the Gersalllian Order of Swenya's Temple near the Gersallian capital on their homeworld, evidently the kind of place where such training duels might be waged.

    For the moment she was more wrapped up in dealing with Meridina's powerful attacks. It took Lucy everything she had to avoid blows, to re-direct the energy Meridina would throw at her, and in short to do what she could to avoid being defeated. Her own gift gave her insight into how Meridina would react to any situation, much as Meridina's gift did toward her, and the result was a combat where each partner could generally see the other fighter's move as or before they were doing it.

    These fights nevertheless usually went the same way; Lucy would inevitably think intently on a planned attack and Meridina would parry it with enough force or technique to disarm Lucy. And she would lose. If she wanted to win, she needed to do something else. To fight without thinking, not in a mindless berserker kind of way but by calling on her life force, on her connection to the wider universe, and letting it guide her as it guided Meridina.

    It needn't be said that this was much easier a thing to say than to actually do.

    Meridina wasn't holding back at this point. Strike after strike came Lucy's way. She seemed to spend more time evading and parrying than fighting. All the while she tried to attain that feeling, that state where she was truly accessing her power in everything.

    And then she sensed it. A strike, coming it at an angle. She never had the chance to really think about it though. Her arms moved almost of their own accord to parry the blow.

    For that split second, Lucy would have an advantage in footing. She let the instincts inside of her, inside of her very life force, take control of her legs and knees. She bent her legs and lowered her center of gravity. Her left leg slid out from under her and hooked around Meridina's ankles. The Gersallian woman yelped in involuntary surprise as her legs were pulled out from under her. Lucy quickly pinned Meridina's sword arm with her foot and brought the tip of her blade to her throat. "Do you yield?"

    The surprise on Meridina's face gave way to satisfaction and pride. "Yes," she said. "I yield."

    Lucy was beaming with satisfaction when she pulled her blade back. "About time. I was beginning to think I'd never win."

    "And yet you continued to try. Such are the wages of perseverance." Meridina accepted Lucy's hand in getting off the floor.

    "Well, yeah. I've got to learn how to stay strong and controlled and all that, right? Especially if we get into a fight." Lucy set the training sword aside and picked up a towel to run over her sweat-covered skin.

    She was untying the belt around her training robe to get at the skin underneath when Meridina stepped up beside her. "There is some extra training I wish to undergo today with you, student."

    "Oh?" Lucy re-tied the robe and turned to face her instructor. "What is…?"

    She stopped speaking at the sight of the finely-carved wooden box in Meridina's hands. Lucy hadn't noticed it in the room, but Meridina had gotten here before her and had left it to the side, perhaps even hidden by the holoprojectors initially. She took a moment to admire the craftsmanship. The wood was fine and smooth to the touch. The false sunlight off the holodeck shined brilliantly from the surface. Brass plates on the cover of the box were engraved with the fine curved symbols of Gersallian, flowing into each other not unlike how Latin alphabet letters might be written finely.

    While Meridina held the box toward her, Lucy opened it. Within the box, in a velvet cushion area cut away specifically for something of that size, was a single metal object. Lucy's eyes widened at recognizing it. Her mouth went dry as she gently used her fingers to pull it free of its place. She wrapped her fingers, her entire right hand, around the object upon pulling it free. She examined it closely for a moment. Could it be…?

    Her thumb found the switch upon it, embedded in the hilt just below the guard. She held it away as she triggered it.

    A sharp sound filled the air. Gray fluid erupted from the hilt within an electromagnetic field. It assumed the shape of a blade before the memory metal, following its programming, hardened and became solid.

    A lakesh.

    She held the weapon in her hand for a moment. It was rather light. Almost impossibly so. But she knew from experience that it could cut, and cut well. She held it up and gave Meridina a disbelieving look. "Is this…"

    "It is yours, Lucy Lucero," Meridina said.

    Lucy looked back to the weapon. She gave it a few practice swings to test it. Very light indeed. Easy to control. A faint blue over it showed the presence of the latent EM field that could deflect energy weapons, maybe even bullets, if used defensively. "But…" Lucy shook her head. "I haven't joined your Order. I said no. You're not supposed to…"

    "...our rules are quite clear," Meridina stated. "We must not show those outside the Order the secret of how we craft these blades. I have done no such thing. I simply gave one to you. A student in the Order would craft their own upon their admission into the swevyra'se."

    "But… that's semantics, isn't it?", Lucy pointed out.

    "Perhaps. But it is the right thing. You will have need of this for what is to come." Meridina gestured toward the fighting circle they had trained in. "Computer, please access dueling partner Meridina-1, difficulty 1."

    The computer generated a single figure, a light-skinned Gersallian with cyan-shaded training robes on. The figure raised a lakesh.

    "So I'm sparring against the computer?", Lucy asked while approaching the figure. She brought her her lakesh and held it with both hands.

    "Yes. To get used to your new weapon. Later I will bring up the training simulation for deflecting enemy fire."

    "Oh, that will be fun…", Lucy murmured. Once she was in position and had her weapon in ready stance the program activated. The holographic duelist moved forward and made several basic attacks. Lucy met them, parrying and deflecting while looking for the openings to make her own. The lakesh was even lighter than their wooden practice swords. She had to be more careful with it.

    Meridina sat and observed. Or rather, she started to, but she ended up looking over the box. Old memories kindled within her of when she had been given the box, a holding box for a lakesh.

    Her fingers traced the engraved inscription. She felt an old ache in her heart ,as she read it.

    To my child, both of the Order and of my blood.

    I am proud of you, daughter.

    Go and stay true to your heart, knowing that your father loves you always.

    Karesl

    Meridina considered the inscription and felt it all the more bittersweet when she thought about the state of her relations with her father now. An avowed enemy to her mentor, Mastrash Ledosh, Karesl was part of the group in the Order arguing against support of the Alliance and everything else she believed in.

    And yet… she could only hope that the inscription had stayed true. And that despite everything, her father still loved her.




    The last pre-op meeting between Kane, Shepard, and Worf had ended. The Marine commander was off to finish his day, in preparation for what was to come tomorrow. That left Shepard and Worf in the room. Shepard looked over to the alien, who in his own way looked more Human than every alien species back in her home galaxy, and nodded. "So. Tomorrow."

    "Yes."

    "We see if all the training we put these people through worked or not." Shepard crossed her arms and leaned against the nearby wall. "And if not, we probably get killed."

    "Most likely," Worf answered, in his own laconic way. "But a Klingon does not fear a death in battle."

    "Oh?"

    "To die a warrior's death," Worf explained, "is to join Kahless and our ancestors in Sto'Vo'Kor."

    "Ah." Shepard nodded. "How very Viking of you."

    Worf let out a low, rumbling chuckle. "I have always felt that the ancient Norse were Humans who would understand Klingons best."

    "I don't know. They were more the raiding and piracy types. So, this Kahless, he's what… a god of war, or more of a Christ figure?"

    "He is neither. He is the greatest warrior of our history. The leader who overthrew the dishonorable reign of Molor the Tyrant." Worf smirked. "We Klingons do not have gods. An ancient warrior slew them long ago. They were far more trouble than they were worth."

    Shepard had only one reaction to that. Worf was quite surprised to see it was to start laughing. Hard. It took her several moments to recover enough to stop. "Wow. That is some interesting theology you people have." She ceased leaning against the wall. "See you tomorrow?"

    Worf answered with a nod. "Yes."

    "And when it comes to death in battle…" Shepard turned away and started walking to the doorway out. "...I prefer to let the other guys do the dying. It's easier to win that way."

    It was Worf's turn to laugh hard.




    It was getting late. Caterina knew she needed to be getting to bed soon given the day she had ahead of her.

    First, though, she wanted to check on things, so she was ending her day in Science Lab 1. As she had expected, Data was present, working his own console. "Is it ready?", she asked.

    "I have configured the ship's systems to interface the Aurora's tertiary auxiliary computer core directly with the Facility once we have established a communication line. This should allow us to access critical data immediately and keep backups should the Facility require destruction."

    "Good idea." Cat took a seat and checked some displays. "And the remaining tertiary computer cores can provide us a lot of space for that data." Something on the screen prompted Cat's expression to shift to confusion. "Say, have you see this? Who's running this high level diagnostic?"

    "Lieutenant Lucero. She believes there may be an unknown issue with the computer core."

    "Huh. I hope not." Cat went over the results so far. "I mean, it's been behaving well. It's worked like a charm before. I'm not seeing anything different on the results. Maybe that Cylon virus caused a few bugs while it was being deleted. It might explain the weirdness."

    "Perhaps. I will continue monitoring before we depart in the morning."

    "Are you sure you don't want some sleep? Or rest or something like that?"

    "In ordinary circumstances I would spend my off-shift hours fulfilling hobbies and practicing sleep in order to dream."

    "You can dream?" Cat looked at Data with surprise.

    "Yes. My creator, Dr. Noonian Soong, gave me the capacity to begin dreaming when I put myself into a sleep mode."

    "That's… really cool." Caterina was smiling when she turned back to inspecting the display in front of her. The smile faded as she fought back a yawn. "I think I need to get some sleep myself. We're going to have a big day tomorrow."

    "Indeed. I shall see you in the morning." Data turned back to his work as Cat departed the room.




    That night, the dream returned to Robert. With even greater ferocity. More images of the others going down, a desperate fight with Reich forces that resulted in defeat. Cat's execution at their hands. The Aurora bridge in ruins, a gap opening to space, Julia screaming his name as she was sucked out into space.

    He cried out to her… and then he was in space beside her. Agony and horror were frozen to her features. Her body did not move.

    Below them, he watched the shapes of black-hulled Reich warships pouring fire into the broken, battered remnants of his ship… until it exploded.

    And then… New Liberty in flames. Portland in L2M1, the Alliance capital, being bombarded into ruins from orbit. Swarms of Reich warships blasting Babylon-5 to pieces, the emerald of their disruptors replaced with the sapphire color of Darglan weapons technology.

    Whole planets burned.

    This was a possible future. A future where they failed tomorrow. Where the Reich got their hands on the Facility and all of the technology found within.

    As the planets burned, he felt like he was zooming out, flying away from the systems, from the galaxy, until the Milky Way was below him.

    The stars started to go out. One after another. A wave of pure darkness spreading out until it had engulfed the galaxy.

    And then it reached beyond the galaxy. Every galaxy in his vision, every one a Milky Way, suffered the same fate, the same wave of darkness flowing over them. Until nothing was left.

    Nothing but darkness. Pure, unbroken, absolute darkness.

    And then it appeared in his vision. The orange disc in the gold frame. The item handed to him by the Consort Sha'ira during his visit to the Citadel, which she insisted he would need in the near future and the far. The object neither of them knew the origin of.

    When the image ended Robert found himself in his bed. There was warmth pressed against him. Angel's breath brushed against his neck, her head resting on his left shoulder. The warmth of her skin against his own reminded him of the pleasure it had brought, the intimacy they shared, and how much it made this work bearable.

    He shifted out from under her and got out of the bed. Warp space was still visible outside of the window. That was a comfort in a small way. Nobody would be looking in the window and noticing that he wasn't wearing anything, even in the dim light.

    Ordinarily he might have picked up shorts or a bathrobe to put on, for modesty's sake, but Robert's mind was still dwelling on the images. The deaths the dreams had shown him, the loss of everything he loved. More than ever he felt like he was at a decision point that would determine how the future would go.

    His eyes fell on the orange disc from the dream. He reached his hand for it and felt the gentle buzz from it. Like an electric wire with a current running through it. It seemed preposterous as Cat had confirmed that it had no technology in it. It should not be feeling like this.

    He set a hand on it. Just for a few moments. He couldn't make out the images he sensed in his head. He could feel what they meant though. A feeling he had.

    And that was when he made his decision about the next day.

    Two arms wrapped around his chest. They were strong, muscled. He felt Angel behind him. "Another dream?"

    "Yeah.," he said. "Bad one."

    "Dammit." Angel kissed him on the back of the head. "There's got to be a way to stop this stuff. The crazy life force stuff Meridina went on about, I mean."

    "I don't think there is," Robert noted quietly. He picked up the orange disc and held it in his hand. He wasn't getting the same sense of visions from it anymore. But he still had the feeling, raw and internal, that his thoughts were right. That he had to do this.

    "Angel…?"

    "Yes?", she asked.

    Robert turned and faced her. They pulled closer together. "I've made up my mind," he said. "I'm going down there, tomorrow."

    Angel drew in a breath. "What? Why? You can't…"

    "I have to. I… I think I'm seeing the future if I don't. A future where Cat and the others die because I'm not down there. The Nazis take the Facility. The Aurora gets destroyed."

    "It's just a dream, Rob," Angel insisted. "That's all it is. You don't have to…

    "I do," he insisted. "And I will. For you, for Cat, for everyone. I can't let those dreams come true."

    "Don't be a hero," she insisted. "Please."

    "It's not about that. Don't worry, I'm not looking to die." He looked down at her. Like him, she hadn't bothered to pull a robe on. It would be pretty embarrassing if someone walked into his quarters at that moment. But it did give him a look at her, a familiar one of course. Her body, while not rippling with muscle like a bodybuilder, had the strong muscle tone that mirrored her physical attitude. It fit the image of what Angel was in his head; strong, powerful, a fighter. And he knew from experience she would fight for everything she loved.

    Ever since they had gotten back together, for what seemed like the tenth time (it was actually less than that, admittedly, but it always felt like they'd broken up more often than they had), he had wondered if it would hold. When it would end. What would come between them and push them apart again.

    But right here, right now, that didn't matter.

    "I love you, Angela," he confessed. "Please, understand that I need to go down there. To guard what we have together and could have together."

    Her hazel eyes burned with frustration. "If you think you need to…"

    "I know I need to. For all of us."

    "...fine." She nodded.

    There were no more words to say. He pulled her close and locked his lips to her lips. They shared a deep kiss.

    It was Angel who would pull them back into bed. They needed to sleep, after all.

    Not that they went straight to sleep.
     
    • 1-18-2
    • Robert was not the only one dreaming that evening.

    Obersturmbannführer Erik Fassbinder looked up at the ceiling of his spartan quarters on the Eichmann, the modified Aryan-class dreadnought under total Schutzstaffel control. The dreams felt so real. The Reich in victory. Fassbinder standing over the broken forms of the Aurora's crew, over others, a Multiverse awaiting their conquest.

    Fassbinder was interrupted by a knock on his door. He called out for whomever it was to enter. When he noticed Eicke coming in, clad in his uniform, he stood up and saluted, receiving the customary salute in reply. He was self-conscious of his own state of undress, sleeping shorts and a sleeveless shirt that did nothing to hide the rippling muscle of his perfect physique. "Herr Oberführer, my apologies for…"

    "Nein." Eicke waved him off. "I am unoffended. Have I interrupted your sleep?"

    "Nein."

    "Good. I thought you should know that we have the Aurora on long-range sensors."

    Fassbinder grinned. "Are there any vessels escorting them?"

    "None that we can read. We must assume they have docked their one gunboat escort, of course. But that they are alone is a great boon to our purpose."

    "Then we are in position? We are ready?"

    "We are. Once they show us how to access the mound's secrets, you and your team will go in." Eicke smiled viciously. "And I will take revenge for the Aurora helping those Juden escape their end."

    "Of course, Herr Oberführer."

    Fassbinder had a question on his mind. And his expression must have shown that, as Eicke stated, "What is on your mind, Obersturmbannführer?"

    "Questions, Herr Oberführer. About our foes."

    "Ah?"

    Fassbinder looked over to his desk. Reports were displayed digitally there. "Undoubtedly you have heard of the false Humans among them? These… 'Gersallians'?"

    "I have. They will face their fate in the ovens when the day comes."

    "Indeed. But there is something interesting about them. Them, and those elven species, the Dorei I believe they are." Fassbinder picked up one of the digital readers and handed it to Eicke. "Have you seen the reports about some of the battles with them?"

    "I have read of our victories," Eicke boasted. "I have not bothered with further analysis. Untermensch are untermensch, we will crush them all."

    Fassbinder knew he had to tread carefully at this point. "It is said some wield strange powers. To influence minds, to move with great speed, and to predict the near-future with sufficient accuracy to deflect weapons fire."

    Eickle laughed at that. "Superstition from conscripts in the Wehrmacht. Nothing more. If anything, it is undoubtedly technical trickery."

    "Our comrades in the Waffen SS have confirmed reports, though. On the world of Gamar, an entire platoon was held back by one of these beings." Fassbinder showed an image of a Gersallian in a blue robe over purple armor. A blade shining light blue was in his hands. "Their elimination of the alien populace on Gamar was prevented by his attacks. The reports are…"

    "...technical trickery," Eicke remarked dismissively. "Fassbinder, do not tell me you accept these tales. To think that untermensch" - even Fassbinder was stunned at how much venom and hate Eicke could manage to pack into the term, it was truly impressive even by SS standards - "could wield power not available to an Aryan? It is laughable."

    "But what if it is available to us?", Fassbinder asked. "What if we have never found it because we have never needed it. But they, weak as they are, did find it, and use it? Imagine how great it would make us if we discovered it as well? If even such aliens are made powerful by it, how powerful would we be? None could deny the supremacy of the Race. All of the dreams of the Founders for our Race could be fulfilled, sir…"

    Eicke answered with a "humph" sound. "I doubt it, Fassbinder. But there is reason in your words. It is something to… consider, at least. But focus on the task at hand first. Our victory will be won or lost with this battle, Captain."

    Fassbinder answered that with an enthusiastic salute and "Heil Sauckel!". He held his arm up longer and added, "I will depart for the surface immediately, Herr Oberführer."

    "Sieg Heil, Obersturmbannführer. The future of the Reich, of the entire Aryan Race, is in your hands. Do the Führer proud!"




    It was not often when Julia regretted saying something.

    Now she was.

    You promised to trust him. And to support his decisions. You even encouraged him to follow his instincts! Julia thought these things while Robert finished the morning paperwork while in his field action uniform. "So you're certain?", she asked.

    The look in his eyes was all the answer she needed. He added to it with a nod. "I am. As certain as I've been of anything."

    "You know how bad this is going to look," Julia pointed out. "You are the commanding officer of this ship. If a command officer is going in the field, it's supposed to be me. Remember how it nearly went when you went after Potano? And that wasn't even a guaranteed combat situation."

    "I know." He nodded. Robert hit a final key and stood up. He drew in a breath. "I wouldn't leave you in this position, Julia, if I wasn't absolutely certain of myself. But I am. Every fiber of my being, every part of my heart and soul, is saying that if I don't go down there today, we lose. We all die, the Nazis get the Facility, the Multiverse burns. We have to stop it."

    Julia sighed at that and leaned against his table. If her hair wasn't back in a ponytail it would have flowed over her shoulders. "You know King might be able to give this to Davies."

    "Yeah. Let her." Robert frowned. "God damn Davies. That's what it's been about, all of this time. He's paranoid about the Gersallians, about their Order of Swenya, and he's lashing out over it. But we can't help that. It won't matter if the Nazis get all of that Darglan technology." He rounded the desk and stood beside Julia, who straightened to her full height. At just over six feet she was arguably an inch or two taller than he was. Their eyes met. "Your place is up here, Julie," he said. His use of her childhood nickname made it clear that he was being very personal. "In that chair, keeping the ship safe, and winning against whatever they throw at us."

    She nodded. "Yeah. But…" She smiled thinly. "Robby, I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to be Captain. But I can't do it at your expense. And this… it almost feels like that. You're worried you'll make a bad call in that chair and that we'll die from it. So you're asking me to take over, even if it weakens your own position as Captain of this ship."

    That was a hard point to dispute. It would certainly look that way, after all. Robert shook his head, though, and said, "I'm not doing it for that. Not over 33LA and my call there or anything like that. I'm doing this because I know where I need to be today, and I know I can be there because you'll be up here."

    The only way Julia could reply was with a nod. "Alright," she finally said. "You'd better get going then."

    He nodded at that and walked out of the ready room. She followed. The bridge crew had taken their posts by this time, save Angel, with Ensign al-Rashad taking Science due to Caterina going down. Mataran, the Gersallian ensign, was at Engineering. But Nick Locarno and Jarod were in their proper places, and both looked intently at her as she nodded to Robert and took the command chair. He went on to the lift.

    "Captain Dale is going down to Gamma Piratus 3," she informed everyone. "I'll be in command for this operation."

    "Understood, Commander," Locarno said. He looked to Jarod, who smiled thinly and shook his head before turning his attention back to the Operations board.




    Angel kept pace beside Caterina. She felt intensely frustrated at it all. Robert was going down, Cat had to… and she would have to stay up here at Tactical. And every time she looked at Cat, wearing the field action uniform with pants instead of her preferred skirt, it just rubbed it in more. "I wish I was going down," she finally said.

    "Angel, we'll be fine," Cat insisted. "Meridina's going, Lucy's going, Kane and his Marines… and you know how strong Shepard and Worf are, and they'll be there too! Robert and I will be okay!"

    Angel shook her head. "I know. I know what you're saying. But…" She clenched her fists. "I know."

    They entered the Transporter Station, Number 1, and Robert and some of the others were waiting. Worf and Data were in Starfleet uniforms specially made to be like their own action uniforms, provided by the ship's armorer and the Starfleet uniform replicator pattern. Shepard was in her dark gray combat armor with the N7 mark prominent on the right side of the chest. Robert was in a field action uniform - the first time Angel had seen him in it - while Meridina was in her purple armor with blue robe.

    As was Lucy. Angel stared in surprise at that. Lucy was dressed up like Meridina.

    "We're ready," Robert said to Caterina. "Kane and his Marines are in the other Transporter Stations, ready to beam down when we do."

    Cat nodded. She turned and gave Angel a tight hug. "I love you, Angel. I'll be back, don't worry!"

    "I always worry about you. You're my crazy little sister after all." Angel gave her a kiss on the forehead, at Cat's hairline. "Be careful."

    "I will," she answered.

    Angel looked to Robert and walked up to him. He took her into his arms and they shared a brief kiss. "You too," she said.

    He nodded in reply.

    Everyone was taking up positions on the transporter. As they did so, Worf looked back to Angel. He nodded. "I will take care of them. On my honor."

    "Thank you, Commander Worf," Angel answered. She nodded to the petty officer manning the transporter.

    He pressed his controls. White light surged around them and whisked them away.

    Angel took in a breath to steady her emotions and left. It was time for her to report to the bridge.




    The air was cool where they beamed down. It reminded Robert of crisp fall days in harvest time, when you had to wear long-sleeved sweaters to keep the cold off while working the harvesters or organizing the bushels.

    Their environs consisted of blue-green grass and undergrowth in an open valley. Tall snow-topped peaks towered in all directions. Data had not been kidding about the location's fitness for anti-space defenses. He was at the front of the group with Worf, Caterina, and Shepard, holding out a Starfleet tricorder. Cat had her own scanner device, a detachable scanner from her personal multidevice, in her right hand. Worf was carrying a sleek-looking Federation phaser rifle and Shepard had an Avenger assault rifle in her hands.

    Kane and his people were also carrying their arms. Corporal Ijala had his sniper rifle slung on his back. Lucy and Meridina had no weapons held, content with the pulse pistols and weapon hilts on their belts. Pulse pistols were also in the hilts of the engineers toward the rear of their group, surrounded by more of Kane's Marines. A count told Robert they had at least fifty people present. And the Aurora would send down more if they sent the signal to do so.

    As they ascended the mound, Robert felt a sensation. An unease. What was it?

    "I am detecting some form of pressure plate sensor," Data noted as they reached the top of the mound. He knelt in the grass and brushed it around until a brown patch of material was showing. "I am not showing any indication of how to operate it."

    "Lucy and I have activated them before," Robert noted. He looked over to Meridina. "Meridina, why don't you try this time?"

    She nodded at him and stepped up beside Cat and Data. She knelt down and pressed a hand against the plate. After several moments she stood again. "Nothing is happening. Perhaps I need to put weight upon it?"

    "Hold that thought." He turned to Lucy. "Lucy, why don't you step down with the others? That way if it brings us along you can start relaying them in?"

    Lucy nodded at that. "I will." She moved away from the crown of the mound.

    Once she was clear, Meridina applied weight to her foot on the panel.

    For a few moments, Robert thought it might not be working. But there was a sudden surge of light from the crown of the mound that encircled them.

    The mound, the outside, it all disappeared. Dull light surrounded them. Robert could smell the stale air and dust of centuries. A distant thrum indicated that long-dormant life support systems were activating.

    "I will never get used to that," Caterina squeaked.

    Data held up his tricorder. "I am detecting a dimensional disturbance consistent with a dimensionally transcedental field."

    "Sounds about right," Robert murmured, stepping forward. A large door loomed ahead. A light erupted from the area above it and moved over him. After several seconds, the light flashed blue and the door slid open. "Here we go."

    Robert's heart was pounding with excitement. After all of this time, all of this searching… they were here. Another Facility. The legacy of the Darglan species was everywhere in these walls.

    Kane and Shepard stepped in first with weapons at standby positions. Data and Worf followed up and Caterina and Meridina behind them. Robert tapped the commkey on his device. "Dale to Lucero."

    "Lucero here."

    "It's open. Start sending people down."

    "Okay."

    Robert turned to the side of the door. Beyond them the walls wwere sheened with azure color and dim lights. The entire Facility was remaining in low power mode. The Control AI wasn't even responding yet. He looked to the side of the door and saw there was a control. "Huh." He put a hand on it and a holo-display appeared. After several moments the alien figures it was displayed transformed into Latin characters. English language controls appeared. He hit one to hold the door open. "Commander Kane, keep two of your people here. Their job is to hold the door open until we're all inside. Or Nazis beam in. Then they need to close it right up."

    Kane nodded. Behind him, the transporters lit up. Lucy appeared with several Marines and engineers behind her. He started barking orders.

    "This place is a little spooky, isn't it?", Cat murmured. "I mean, it's dark and not as nice-looking."

    "Maybe it's the way they left it when they deactivated it," Robert pondered aloud. He motioned onward. "Come on. Let's go check the central control area."

    They advanced onward. Cat and Data kept scanning. Worf and Shepard looked around at the silent halls with weapons at the ready. Behind them Meridina was looking around. "This place…" She shook her head. "It is not like your Facility was."

    "Oh?"

    "No. There is a sense of… terror here. An old feeling of loss and worry."

    "Maybe this was one of the last Facilities the Darglan left? We heard from their recording that they were forced to give up interuniversal travel by other races. Probably the First Ones of their home universe given what we found on their homeworld." Cat looked back briefly. "I mean, that would make anyone feel lost and worried."

    "I suppose," Meridina stated. But Robert could tell her heart wasn't in the reply. She thought this was something more.

    And he had to admit… so did he.

    They found the control chamber where they had expected it. The lights were still low, as if the Facility was not bothering to recognize their presence. It gave the entire chamber a foreboding look. The windows that would have shown the internal dock were covered by blast doors. Cat moved over to one of the panels like the one she'd often used back in the day and ran a hand over it. Nothing happened. "One of you needs to activate it," she said to Robert and Meridina.

    Robert stepped up to the central control. He put a hand on it.

    Nothing happened.

    "It is possible the Darglan altered their access protocols compared to the Facility you once inhabited," Data pointed out.

    Robert shook his head. "Then why did it let us in? Why would the system recognize us enough to let us in but not to activate for us?"

    "Maybe it's some sort of extra security?", Cat suggested.




    Over Gamma Piratus, the Starship Aurora continued her quiet orbit. The smaller Sladen was nearby, cloaked, ready to protect the larger ship if it came to it.

    There were bursts of light and energy from along the ship's drive hull, along its highest decks. A flight of Mongoose starfighters erupted from the Aurora launch tubes. In the lead fighter, Lieutenant Commander Patrice Laurent, the Aurora's CAG, looked back at his compatriots. One of his alien pilots, the Kerbal Lieutenant Jebediah Kerman, was on his right wing, ready to execute whatever insane maneuver that could cross the little green alien's mind in a fire fight. To his left wing were two more Mongoose fighters under the control of Lieutenant Gwen Skydancer - a brilliant young woman from the Sirian League who stood out among Laurent's pilots from her richly-colored purple hair and striking green eyes - and her Gersallian wingman Ensign Lerisl. "Beginning system patrol, Aurora," Laurent stated.

    "Confirmed," was the quick reply from Jarod.

    "Eyes front, everyone," Laurent ordered. He considered his course toward the first of the inner planets. The patrol wouldn't take long at all.

    "I read you, sir," was Skydancer's answer.




    The final group was gathering on the mound around Lucy. She looked down at the pressure plate they'd found. It was well-hidden, certainly, and if they hadn't been looking for it they might never have found it.

    Lucy took in a breath. She was distracting herself with that thought. The truth was, she was concerned. There was something wrong. She looked around the clearing the mound was in and to the wood lines beyond, wood lines going up into the mountains that surrounded the valley.

    Is there something out there?, she thought. Instinctively her hand settled onto her new lakesh. But she didn't pull it out.

    "Sir?"

    The young engineer, a male Dorei of blue coloring and teal spotting, was giving Lucy an uncertain look. She nodded at him and put a foot on the pressure plate. The transporter built into the mound whisked them away.

    On the other end the door was being held open. The engineers and security people in the group followed her inside, where the Marines dutifully closed the door upon their entry. "There should be a common room nearby," she noted. "We'll set up the transport enhancers there."

    While she was speaking, Lucy felt a cold chill go through her. There was something about this place. Something… wrong.




    Cat and Data were hard at work on the control panels. Robert looked away from them and to the holo-screen displaying Julia's face up on the Aurora. "We're still not sure why the computer systems aren't coming on." he looked about. "This place isn't like our old one. It feels dark and unpleasant."

    "We're ready to start beaming down more personnel to help examine everything," Julia said.

    "Just another security and engineering team. We already have plenty of people down here as it is. There's no point in giving us more."

    "Agreed." Julia looked offscreen for a moment. Jarod was apparently speaking to her. "Jarod says we can try a remote connection to the Facility. Maybe there's a way to activate its systems if we use the Aurora computer."

    "Cat and Data should have the hook-up to our tertiary cores done soon. You'll find out quickly if it works." Robert looked to the others. Meridina had a pensive look to her. Shepard had her assault rifle still at hand, like at any moment violence would erupt. "Keep in touch if anything changes. Dale out." He ended the call.

    The door opened and Lucy entered. Like Robert and Meridina, she was particularly jumpy. "So, am I the only one getting the creeps from this place?', she asked.

    "You are not," Meridina said.

    "It's hard to believe the Darglan changed this much between Facilities."

    "Any sign of their scout ships? Or another Emergency Ship?"

    "We won't know until Cat and Data can access the computers." Robert gestured to the blast shields that had been lowered over the viewing ports that would have shown the internal docks. "The lifts are locked down."

    "There are still the tubes, though, right? Maybe I should go set the scuttling charges just in case?"

    Robert thought on that. He was still hoping that they could secure the Facility and keep it. But it was best not to assume anything. He nodded to Lucy and looked to Kane. "Commander Kane, Commander Worf, please take a team and join Lieutenant Lucero on planting the naqia charges on the DT field machinery."

    "Yes sir." Kane nodded to Lucy and followed her out. He started barking orders to the Marines outside.

    With Kane and Worf gone, Shepard and Meridina remained as commanders of their bodyguard contingent. The former seemed less plussed than the latter. Her assault rifle remained at ease in her arms. "So you're saying this place isn't as welcoming as it should be?", she asked.

    "Exactly," Robert answered. Why, though? Why does this place fill me with dread? What happened here?




    Julia waited patiently for further updates in the Aurora command chair. Everyone was busy at their stations. Locarno kept the ship in stable orbit, Jarod was busy working the computers… everything was it should be.

    This part of the job was not the easy part. Friends were off in an unknown situation and all she could do was sit, watch, and wait. She could tell Robert felt uncertain and worried whenever he spoke. What was wrong down there?

    "Laurent to Aurora. Sweep of second planet finished. We are heading to the first planet."

    "We read you, Able Leader," she answered.

    Jarod looked back at her. "I think I'm in."

    Julia sat up straight. "You can access the Darglan computer core in the new Facility?"

    "I think so. You'll know in a minute if I can't." Jarod went to work. "Activating the data relay and tying it into the tertiary computer core."

    Several seconds passed with nothing happening.

    Naturally, it was only when Julia began to relax that everything went crazy.




    The lights on the control surfaces activated. "The relay is functioning," Data stated. "The computers are coming online."

    After several moments a holographic figure popped into existence above the central station. It had the orange coloring and tall skull of a Darglan. It spoke in an alien language, and those words were auto-translated. "Unauthorized access detected. Damage to computer systems not repaired, cannot implement proper Control procedures. Reverting to prior commands. Re-initializing quarantine procedures."

    The screens locked down and showed a simple countdown. Caterina swallowed. "That's not good," she said.

    "What?"

    "The system's triggering something through the Facility power systems."

    "It would appear to be a powerful burst, although I cannot determine what energy would be found within." Data looked up from his tricorder. "But at the projected levels, it will cause fatal cellular damage to everyone in the Facility."

    "Then stop it," Robert insisted. "Try to wake up the AI, let us know we're friendly…"

    "Aurora to Dale. Whatever you're doing down there, you need to stop!"

    Robert quickly answered Julia with a "What? What's wrong?"

    "Something's getting into the computer systems. It's trying to trigger our self-destruct!"
     
    • 1-18-3
    • On the bridge of the Aurora, the lights were flickering in and out. Jarod was at work on his station. "Whatever this is, it's smashing through the computer security we set up like it's nothing. Like it knows every possible defense in our systems and is defeating it!"

    Alert klaxons were still going off. "Then cut the connection," Julia ordered.

    Jarod worked quickly. His only result was a harsh beep from the console. "We're being locked out. I can't stop it! I…"

    There was a sudden change in the displays. Everything seemed to stabilize. "Jarod?"

    Before Julia could suggest it was his doing, Jarod quickly said, "That wasn't me. I'm picking up increased activity in the tertiary auxiliary core. A program is running using the core. It's uploading into the Facility systems."




    Everyone watched as the hologram flickered and shifted. "Warning, warning, intrusion into systems. Data control being overridden…" The hologram flashed out briefly. When it came back, it seemed more sedate. "Off-site computer processing restoring program to normal function. Off-site Control software initializing."

    The lights in the Facility came online. The hologram remained as it was for several moments before it shifted into another form. One that was evidently Human.

    And familiar too.

    Caterina's jaw dropped open. She stared in disbelief. Robert watched tears form in her eyes.

    "Control," she squeaked.

    The flickering hologram turned to face her. "I… remember you. Caterina Delgado," it said.

    "You're alive."

    Robert swallowed. Control, the operating AI of the Darglan Facility below his family farm, had been lost with the Facility. Control was the reason he and Julia had survived the destruction of the Facility by holding the Daleks back and getting them out of the main door.

    "You uploaded yourself into the Aurora," Cat said. Her voice was becoming choked with emotion. "Didn't you?"

    "My memory is incomplete. I do not recall everything that occurred."

    "You're the one who gutted that Cylon virus after Jarod trapped it in the core," she continued. "And you helped us decipher the Darglan databanks we recovered."

    "Yes." He nodded. "I remembered you enough to know you needed my assistance, Caterina Delgado."

    "How much do you remember, Control?", Robert asked. "About us?"

    Control looked at him. "You are… accessing… accessing… Captain Robert Dale, Starship Aurora. According to files you were of the Facility as well. I have no direct memory of this. My apologies."

    "We'll get your memories back," Cat insisted. "We'll make you like you were before!"

    "I am afraid that is not possible. Not on your ship. The Aurora lacks the computer processing to properly contain my program and memory," Control explained. "I have restored what memory I was able to retain by merging my program with the Control program of this Facility."

    "Fascinating," Data remarked.

    "This place tried to kill us," Shepard said. "Can you tell us why?"

    For a moment Control did not act. "It would appear that there is damage to the computer cores of this Facility," he finally stated. "The Control program for this Facility was degraded by the loss of both vital code and processing power. It reverted to basic functionality and presumed everyone who remained to be non-Darglan. Security measures logged as the last to be enacted resumed operation. I am… pleased you were not harmed."

    "Thanks." Robert looked over one of the control stations. He found the control and opened the blast shields to the main docks.

    Everyone stared in bewilderment at what was on the other side. The docks were choked with debris. The remnant hulls of several patrol ships like the Kelley and her sisters were strewn everywhere, as were other pieces of raw debris blackened by energy fire.

    "What happened here?", Robert asked.

    "The data files are incomplete," Control explained. "Much damage was done to the computer cores of the Facility. Records show that an arton cascade was employed after the base self-immolation procedures were compromised by damage. An attacking force was neutralized, as were the remaining Darglan crew. Disintegration was immediate."

    "Who was attacking them?", Cat asked. "The Shadows?"

    "That data is not available."

    "You said remaining crew," Shepard said. "What happened to the rest?"

    "They escaped with the Emergency Combat Ship."

    "Where?", Robert asked.

    "That information is unavailable."

    Robert sighed briefly. So much for that hope. Plus an Emergency Ship might have indicated a dock they could bring ships into. With that thought he asked, "What are the states of the jumpgates? Can we bring ships into the facility?"

    "All gates were destroyed to prevent use by the Enemy," Control informed them succinctly.

    "So we can't bring ships in until we manage repairs." The more he thought about it, the more Robert believed this was going to culminate in blowing the place up. As much as he'd rather not.

    He looked to Meridina. "Have the security and engineering teams directed to the storage rooms and workshops. If they find anything worth salvaging, I want it beamed up."

    Meridina nodded and left to direct those efforts.

    Robert keyed the multidevice on his left forearn. "Dale to Lucero."

    "Lucero here."

    "What is your progress on those charges?"

    "We're coming up on the field generation chamber now."

    "Keep me informed. Dale out." He looked around. Whatever he thought, he couldn't keep the apprehension out of his mind. Tension filled him.

    "Rob, what's wrong?", Caterina asked.

    "I'm not sure," he admitted. "What's your progress on uploading the data to the Aurora?"

    "We're still at just two percent," she revealed. "I might have to store some of the data in here on the backups I brought along. We only have so much computer space on the Aurora, you know."

    "Right. Well, no matter what, keep that coming." He looked away from her and toward the door.

    Despite everything remaining quiet, he fought down the urge to reach for his pulse pistol. Maybe it was the feeling he had in the air, maybe the deaths that had happened so many thousands of years ago… but this place made him feel tense, frightened, in a way he had never known before.

    "You look tense, Captain." Shepard's voice cut through those feelings. He turned his head and faced the elite soldier, still cradling her assault rifle in her arms. "Is something wrong?" There was something in her tone that made it clear that there had better be something wrong for him to be acting like he was.

    "I just have a bad feeling," Robert admitted. "Like something's about to happen."

    That got him a nod in reply.




    The activity level on the Aurora bridge hadn't changed since things had returned to normal. Julia remained in the command chair to watch the planet spin quietly below them. Her thoughts were on what the others had said in their last update. Control… alive all this time, trapped in their computers, just a shell of his old self. An unknown enemy that the Darglan had killed themselves to eject from the Facility.

    There was a tone from Jarod's board. "We're getting a hail. It's from Admiral Maran."

    "Put him on."

    The screen showed the Gersallian admiral. As he appeared on the screen there was a burst off static. "Aurora, do you read?"

    "We do, Admiral," Julia stated. She was already standing up.

    "Where is Captain… never mind." Maran shook his head. "That's not important. An enemy fleet is counter-attacking us at New Austria. We have the upper hand here. But we detected several enemy squadrons bypass our battle and warp on toward your position. Councillor Kurn's squadron is in no shape to intercept them and my ships are too busy holding this system. We expect you have twelve hours before their lead elements arrive at Gamma Piratus."

    Julia sighed. "Damn."

    "Consider your orders confirmed on the matter of that Facility, Commander. We need for it to be destroyed."

    "Understood, Admiral. Aurora out."

    The channel cut. Julia immediately opened one to Robert. "Captain, I've got bad news. Admiral Maran says we've got a Reich force only half a day from arriving. We've been ordered to destroy the Facility."

    There was a sigh on the other end. "Understood."




    Kane's lead Marines were the first to step into the generator chamber. Lucy followed up behind them and looked around for the appropriate place for her charge. She was heading toward one promising spot when her multidevice activated. "Dale to Lucero."

    "Lucero here, Captain."

    "Our orders to destroy are confirmed. Set the charges."

    "Understood." Lucy let out a reluctant sigh and went to work.

    As she did, the hairs on her neck began to stand up. "Commander Kane, Commander Worf?", she said.

    "Yes, Lieutenant?", Worf answered.

    "You might want to take up defensive positions." Lucy activated the display to begin setting the naqia charge. "Because I think things are going to go pear-shaped really fast…"




    Laurent pulled his fighter into orbit over the hot first planet of the Gamma Piratus system, a "Demon"-type planet. At this range the system star dominated his view and would be shining directly on him if not for the fighters arriving in the shadow of the planet itself. His flight sensors were showing bursts of interference. Given the speeds a fighter could go at, this was bad news to say the least. "Xui, what can you do about this interference?"

    "The planet's mass is composed of several exotic elements, including trace elements of naqia and element zero," Xui replied. "The solar radiation may be interacting with these elements to create disruptions in our systems. There's nothing I can do."

    Laurent nodded. As they flew on, a thought occurred to him. "Ensign, this interference field. Could ships hide in it?"

    "Well, sir… maybe?," she answered. "Our proximity to the star might help hide them from subspace sensors and other long range sensors. Especially if they're inside the atmosphere."

    Laurent's fists tightened on his flight stick. "Able 3, this is Able Leader. Hang back."

    Skydancer's answer was immediate. "Yes sir. What's the problem?"

    "I have a suspicion. Keep your distance."

    Laurent fired his drives to full and started to round the planet toward the sunny side. Laurent lowered his orbit until he began to skirt the atmosphere of the planet. The fierce energy in that atmosphere, heated as it was by the system's sun, was putting increasing strain on his Mongoose despite its protective shielding. "See anything, Ensign?", Laurent asked.

    "Nothing sir." A few moments passed. "Still nothing. Sir, I… wait."

    "Ensign?"

    "There is some sort of power signature ahead. Wait… there's another… more..."

    Laurent began to alter his course in the atmosphere.

    It was what saved his life.

    A green energy beam sizzled through space beside him, hitting nothing. More beams came as he pulled the fighter up and away. "Able Leader to Able 3!"

    There was no immediate response. Laurent repeated himself. "Able Leader to Able 3! Do you copy?!"

    "Sir, with all of this interference and enemy jamming, I doubt they can hear us."

    Laurent gritted his teeth and twisted the Mongoose hard. It shuddered at a glancing hit from a disruptor blast. His right shield icon went red; even a glancing hit had nearly blown the shields out. "Abla 2, break off! We need to get out of here and warn the Aurora!"

    Both fighters continued to lift out of the atmosphere and pull away. More green shots came at them. Some smaller than the others. "Enemy fighters on our six!", Xui shouted.

    Laurent's free hand raced over his side control panel. The small naqia micro-reactors built into the fighter as backup power began shifting their output into the engines and shields. He continued to evade and twist as much as he could, avoiding several hits. But the enemy fighters were closing and closing fast. They had the same idea he did, but they could afford to devote even more to engines without his weapons being able to hit them.

    "Able 2 here!" The pitched voice of Lt. Kerman was accented, although not as severely as ordinary Kerbal attempts at speaking English. "Let me hold them off for you!"

    The thought had crossed Laurent's mind. The Kerbal pilot was a daredevil and could possibly buy him time to get out of atmosphere. But he still wouldn't last long. It might not buy him enough time. "Negative on that, Able 2." A thought crossed his mind. "Able 2, stand-by to execute about-face maneuver!"

    "Yes sir!"

    Laurent judged the distance to the enemy fighters. His instruments weren't reliably accurate in this situation and denied him the ability to be completely accurate.

    But for what he had in mind, that might not be necessary.

    Sweat was coating his brow by the time Laurent twisted his flight stick. His free hand was already working his power controls.

    The Mongoose turned nearly on a dime, displaying its extraordinary maneuverability. By the time the turn was executed, power was shunting from engines to weapons.

    Before the Nazi fighters could react, the two Mongoose fighters opened up on them with full barrages of their phaser banks and cannons. Streams and beams of amber light did little to add to the luminous atmosphere around them, almost fading in with the backgrounds. Explosions flowered ahead of them. With their shields turned down, the Nazi fighters couldn't withstand the fire they had thrown at them. Those that didn't get destroyed by the phaser fire or missiles broke away to evade.

    That gave Laurent the opening he needed. He began diverting power back to engines and twisted away again. As he did, another massive shape started rising from the clouds.

    Its hull was dark, virtually black. All save the Nazi swastika insignia emblazoned upon it.

    Laurent recognized the type immediately. "It's a dreadnought," he muttered. "God help us all." By this point his Mongoose was pointed away from the planet again and he hit full engines on it. More enemy fire started coming their way again, taxing their evasive abilities to their limits.

    The atmosphere seemed to fade away on all sides. As it did so, Laurent started shouting into his fighter's commlink. "Aurora, emergency! Enemy dreadnought is present, i repeat, enemy dreadnought!"

    There was nothing but a crackle of static from the other end. They still weren't close enough.

    "Enemy ships are coming out of the atmosphere!", Xui reported.

    Laurent was too busy evading another enemy fighter to respond. He twisted, he turned, he corkscrewed, he did anything he could to shake the enemy pilot. Warning indicators appeared as green energy streamed beside them. A loud tone told him that the engines had taken damage. The enemy fire was breaking through his shields.

    Amber light erupted ahead of him. "Able Leader, I've got your six!" Skydancer flew her Mongoose in around his and continued to fire. She gained a hardlock and missiles fired from her hardpoint wings. They crossed the distance on fiery white wakes and slammed into the fighters pursuing him.

    "Able 3, form up. We need to get to communication distance!" Laurent checked his engine status. He'd lost ten percent of his power. But the Mongoose had a lot of acceleration power in its impulsors, enough that the loss of even ten percent was not dooming him. He put acceleration to full and continued to rocket away from the enemy ships now coming out of the planetary atmosphere.

    And as he did, Laurent was still calling out into the radio, waiting for a confirmation beyond the static he was getting now.




    Käpitan-des-Raums Joachim Lamper observed the fleeing fighters from the bridge of his cruiser, the Sedan-class Reich's Glory. "How wide is our jamming field?", he asked Leutnant Jensen, his communications officer. "Are we still blocking them?"

    "Ja, Herr Käpitan," Jensen answered. "But they are nearing the edge of the field's effective range."

    "Then we are losing the element of surprise." Lamper considered his options. Which were more limited than he would prefer. He could not move independently here, not with Oberführer Eicke from the SS-staffed dreadnought Eichmann watching the entire squadron like a hawk. "Put Eichmann on."

    "Jawohl, sir."

    The bridge of the dreadnought appeared on his viewer. Lamper showed no intimidation at the collection of SS men, with their genetic engineering to become the "epitome" of the Aryan Race, who looked at him with their blue eyes. "Oberführer, I propose that we execute a warp jump to the space of the third world. Our presence will be made clear to them shortly."

    Eicke had made no pretense of how low he viewed Lamper. The feeling was understandably mutual; Lamper had his own long-standing grievances with the SS, the self-proclaimed guardians of the Party, and the schemes they performed to improve their own power.

    But whatever Eicke felt of Lamper, he clearly knew a good idea when he saw it. "I am in agreement, Käpitan. All ships prepare for war jump."

    Lamper nodded to his helmsman, who obeyed without a word. The time has finally come, he pondered. We first met as allies. Now, Captain Dale, we meet as enemies.




    It was several minutes after the last group left the mound that it was disturbed yet again. Now heavy metal boots crunched into its soil and crushed grass beneath them. Wearing his own light armor, Fassbinder looked over his men and then to the mound. Two of his men were still carrying the device Eicke had given him, a stealth field generator that had hidden them all from view and scanners as if they were on a Doenitz-class raider. Beside him, the nervous sensor officer from the Reich's Glory, Leutnant Rabe, was actively scanning the mound. They approached where the Aurora crew had activated a transporter of some form.

    "What can you find, Leutnant?"

    Rabe gave a wary look to Fassbinder, who didn't deign a return glance. The young officer felt put off, the only non-SS man present and with the features to prove that distinction. Obviously a man aware he was around the genetically superior. Fassbinder wondered if Rabe had non-Aryan blood in his family background. Given his clear affection for that little untermensch girl from the Aurora, it was something to check for later.

    Just before Fassbinder could bark at him for remaining quiet, Rabe spoke. "There is some sort of pressure plate here, Obersturmbannführer. This way." He led them over to a patch of ground and set his foot on it. Rabe clearly put his weight on it for several seconds. But nothing happened.

    Fassbinder gestured to one of the enlisted men under his command. The SS Scharführer, a Panzergrenadier wearing his heavy powered armor, stomped over and stood on the plate. After several moments Rabe looked at him and shook his head. "It does not work."

    "It worked for them," Fassbinder growled. He went up to it. "I refuse to believe it will not work for us. It cannot…"

    His feet were both on the spot and putting their full weight on it. There was a sudden surge of energy and light around them.

    The valley, the mound, it all disappeared. They were all crammed into one chamber now. Fassbinder looked to Rabe, who was looking over his scanner. "We are many kilometers underground," he confirmed. "I am detecting warping in the fabric of space-time coming from that door."

    "Well." Fassbinder smiled. His heart was swelling with a feeling of imminent triumph. More than that; for him to be the one that these machines recognized… that meant something. He didn't know what it meant yet, but he knew it was something glorious. Something that would raise him to new heights.

    With thoughts of victory and glory in his mind, Fassbinder stepped forward.




    Julia's first indication that something was wrong was when Laurent didn't give a check-in upon completing his orbit of the first planet. Now, minutes later, she was asking, "Still nothing?"

    "I don't even have his transponder," Jarod said. "There must be interference from…"

    Before Jarod could finish that sentence, a loud crackle came from the speakers. Laurent's voice began to form through the chaotic sounds coming in. "...immediately! I re-.... warships… out of first planet!" Laurent's voice began to grow stronger through the static. "The enemy fleet is…"

    That was all Julia needed to hear. "Code Red!", she bellowed. She reached over and secured her seat harness. "Prepare for…"

    "Subspace radiation spike!"

    Ensign al-Rashad had barely finished that second word when several ships appeared on the viewscreen, a fair distance away from them. Julia recognized the profiles of the three Dresden-class cruisers, a Sedan-class, some Z-2500s, and…

    "Enemy dreadnought on sensors," al-Rashad declared. "Engine signature matches the profile of the Eichmann."

    "Evasive maneuvers!", Julia shouted. "Fire at will!" She pressed the key to re-open her channel to the surface. "Attention ground team. We have an enemy squadron in orbit…"




    "...we have an enemy squadron in orbit…"

    Julia's words had just reached Robert's brain, with their full implications, when another voice came over the comm line. "They're here!," one voice screamed. "Enemy…" The report ended with an abrupt scream.

    "The main door has been opened by someone with a genetic profile marked as Aterran," Control stated.

    "Close it!", Robert shouted. "And beam them out of here!"

    "I have closed the door. But the damage to the systems of this place prevent me from exercising security controls or operating the transporter systems." Control paused a moment. "The enemy is advancing into the Facility."

    Meridina and Shepard went to the door. "We'll hold them off as long as we can," Shepard called back. "And maybe that will buy time for Lucero and her group to set off the bombs."

    Cat looked up from her seat. "I'll see if I can get a remote access to the transporter systems going. Data, can you help me with this?"

    "I will begin accessing the…"

    Robert allowed his people to get to work. He walked to the door to join Meridina and Shepard. Meridina looked at him. "You should remain here," she said. "With the others."

    "You'll need every gun you can spare," he answered.

    "And we'll need someone here in case the foe gets around us," she pointed out.

    Robert glowered at that. He hated to admit she had him there. "Alright," he said.

    And so he remained at the door while the others went off to join the battle.




    Fassbinder stepped over the dead body of one of the Alliance crew his men had just wiped out. He looked around in the chamber, the first large room his people had come to. The Alliance had set up transport enhancers of some sort. He looked to Rabe. Rabe shook his head. "Sorry, Herr Obersturmbannführer, but their transporters don't work the same way ours do."

    "It does not matter." He turned to his men and nodded. Four SS technicians, wearing light combat armor, moved in and knocked over the Alliance devices. They reached to their packs and, with proper Aryan efficiency, began to set up their own.

    A tone sounded. Fassbinder pressed the button on his wrist that activated his commlink. "We have engaged the Aurora," Eicke informed him. "What is your status?"

    "We have entered the alien base," Fassbinder replied. "It is quite remarkable. It is larger on the inside than on the outside."

    "Secure it from the Alliance at all costs. Do not let them destroy it."

    "Jawohl." Fassbinder cut the communication. "Scan for the Alliance's teams," he ordered Rabe. "They will undoubtedly seek to rob us of this prize."

    While Rabe did so, Fassbinder turned his attention to his technicians. The final transport enhancer was up. "The ground base confirms a transporter lock, sir," one of them said. "They are transporting now."

    Ripples of gray-toned energy formed into the figures of more of the SS troopers Fassbinder had brought to the planet and hidden. "Leutnant, do you have any indications of where the enemy is?"

    "Spread about the base, Herr Obersturmbannführer. The largest concentrations are on this floor and another three floors down."

    Fassbinder looked to Sturmbannführer Krager. "Send squads to track them down and kill them. Leave nothing to chance."

    "Jawohl."




    The Aurora continued to shake as enemy fire poured into their shields. "Shields down to sixty-four percent," Jarod warned Julia.

    Julia heard him. But she didn't speak in reply. She was too focused on the tactical situation and how bad it was. The fighters were matching the Nazi fighters at least, but the cruisers alone would give the Aurora a hard fight. That dreadnought made this impossible. "We have to back off," she said to Locarno. "Give us some space, Lieutenant."

    "Aye, Commander."

    Julia triggered the comm line to Robert. "They're too much. I have to pull the ship back or we'll lose the Aurora."

    "We've got problems of our own down here," Robert said. "They've gotten into the Facility. I'm not sure how yet."

    Julia knew what that meant. If they had transporter enhancers of their own, then backing off would give the enemy plenty of opportunity to send even more troops into the Facility. "Can you evacuate?", she asked. "Maybe we can just beam an armed torpedo down."

    "They've already overrun the areas near the entrance, including where the transport enhancers were located." Robert's voice betrayed his irritation. Julia figured he was angry with himself for not placing the enhancers elsewhere. "And the Facility transporters are out of action. Cat and Data are working on any way we can find to get them functional again."

    Julia swallowed. She looked back to Angel who was busy firing at their enemies. But she heard what was being said. She knew what it meant. Just as Julia knew how much it would hurt her to hear her next command.

    "I'll keep the ship clear," she said. "I won't be able to interfere with them sending reinforcements down, though."

    "Understood. Do what you need to."

    "Ju… Commander, you can't…"

    "I'm sorry," Julia said to Angel. "But we won't do them any good if we stay here and get blown to pieces."

    As if to punctuate her point, a super-disruptor blast from the Eichmann struck the ship. "Direct hit, shields down to forty-five percent," Jarod said. "I'm losing cohesion on the port shields."

    "Get us to the other side of the planet," Julia ordered. "Make them chase us."

    "Yes sir!" Locarno's hands moved swiftly over his controls. The Aurora's engines powered up and she raced toward the darkening horizon of Gamma Piratus 3.

    As they did so, the Nazi warships continued to close.




    Eicke watched the Aurora move into the shadow of the planet and snarled. "Herr Oberführer, the enemy ship is masking our weapons with the planet. We can no longer fire on them."

    At the report of his gunnery officer, another suggested, "Shall I detach the cruisers to pursue?"

    Eicke thought on that. But his cruisers alone may yet be unable to defeat the Aurora. And he was not in the mood to let them go. Not after dreaming of this encounter for months. They had humiliated him when they saved the last Jews from his reach. To let them go now was a betrayal, nothing more or less."

    "Pursue them," Eicke ordered. "All SS ships, pursue and destroy!"
     
    • 1-18-4
    • The forces under Fassbinder were coming down the main corridor that led to the central control room. And as this corridor crossed several others connecting to other parts of the Facility, it provided defenders several locations to take cover.

    A group of the Aurora security forces, with some of Kane's Marines, were holding one such intersection. Private Hakimzade looked around the corridor down to the next one. More of the Panzergrenadier armored troopers were stomping their way, moving over the bodies of their own and of a couple off the Alliance defenders. Hakimzade fired the missile launcher fitted to her combat suit's left arm. The missile slammed into one of the Panzergrenadiers and exploded,. The armor fell over.

    But there were more coming. Too many for Hakimzade and Private Markham, the other member of her fire team, to suppress them from their cover. "They keep coming…" Markham protested.

    From behind them there was a burst, accompanied by a crack of thunder. Shepard rocketed down the corridor, past their cover, and slammed into the leading enemy. The armored trooper stumbled backward from the impact of Shepard's charge and its biotic power. He started to bring a weapon over but could not do so in time. The gun in Shepard's hands went off with another crack of thunder. The Crusader shotgun in her hand did as advertised. With a sharp crack the solid slug it fired slammed into and then through the Nazi power armor and to the soldier inside. He let out a sickly sound and collapsed. Blood rushed from the break in the armor.

    The next foe lined up a shot on Shepard as she turned to fire. Before he could even imagine taking the shot invisible force slammed into him. Meridina moved ahead at a speed that no human could match. The blue sheen of her lakesh seemed to almost glow in the light as it came up. The blade clanged against the alloyed armor of the enemy suit and, with effort, Meridina pushed the gun arm out of Shepard's way completely. Shepard pivoted with her foot and fired the shotgun again. The shot blasted a hole into the enemy armor and into the enemy within. He gurgled out a curse before collapsing.

    "Behind me!", Meridina shouted. Shepard took a step back. Just in time, as more enemies were approaching them and firing. Meridina's lakesh moved like a blur of ghostly-blue light. The blade's protective EM field started deflecting disruptor blasts back toward the enemy. One of the light-armored SS troopers cried out as his own disruptor beam slammed into his chest and knocked him backward.

    The volume of fire was increasing. Shepard knew Meridina wouldn't be able to sustain her defensive maneuvers for long. She hooked her Crusader at the base of her back and pulled the Avenger over her right shoulder. It expanded from carrying mode to firing mode with the press of a button. Shepard took in a breath and turned to face the enemy. Her finger squeezed the trigger and the Avenger roared to life, sending its mass effect-accelerated rounds down-range into the enemy. The Panzergrenadier armor suits were only dinged by the assault rifle's fire. The light-armored foes, however, could only take so many hits. A couple went down from sustained barrages. After mentally counting down the seconds, Shepard moved back behind Meridina, who was enjoying the respite from the relaxed enemy fire. "How long until your weapon cools down?", she asked.

    "Several more seconds. But I've got other plans." Shepard curled her left hand into a fist and felt the dark matter surge into being around her, generated by the eezo in her body and channeled with the help of the implant in her brain. She threw the bolt of dark matter outward,. Bolt after bolt of dark matter thundered across the floor and slammed into one of the heavy armored SS troops. The armor kept the soldier inside from being harmed directly, but it couldn't stop the biotic energy from knocking the armor-wearer back and onto his back.

    Behind them Hakimzade and Markham were coming around the corners with their other Marines. The volume of fire behind Meridina increased. Her defensive needs eased with this reinforcement. Pulse fire and Shepard's assault rifle forced the enemy to take cover themselves. One enemy Panzergrenadier who failed to was hit by heavy fire from both Hakimzade and Markham, killing the SS trooper instantly.

    Meridina could feel the surge in her allies. Their morale was increasing, they believed they were winning. She restrained such impulses for the distraction they could become. She had to remain focused on what was to come, what might happen.

    While most of her focus was on deflecting enemy fire, she did what she could to sense the enemy's mind-state. What was he thinking? What would he do? Were they about to be overrun? Would…

    There were cries behind her. The squad in the rear were crying out for reinforcement.

    Shepard was the first to speak on what was happening. "Fall back!," she cried out. "They're flanking us!"

    Moments later there was an explosion. Two of the Marines and one of her security people went flying through the corridor behind them. Shepard and Meridina turned toward this new threat. Green and blue fire was filling that junction now, from the friendly forces on one side and the flanking enemy on the other.

    Blue energy surged around Shepard and, within a moment, she was rocketing forward again. A human projectile which crashed, with all of her biotic fury, into the enemy heavy armored trooper coming out of the side corridor behind them. She didn't have time to switch to her shotgun. Shepard brought the Avenger up and poured fire into the helmet of the enemy armored trooper. It might not penetrate, but it would buy her and Meridina necessary moments.

    Around them, the others joined their retreat. Green energy continued to blaze, now on two sides. One beam sizzled just past Meridina's head. A burst slammed into Shepard's side and caused blue energy to flare up around her. She growled in pain and dropped to a knee. Freed from the fire of Shepard's overheating Avenger, the Panzergrenadier brought its massive armored fist down to grab Shepard. She rolled away, ignoring the injury caused, and summoned more biotic power. It took much of what Shepard had at the moment to generate the warp field that gripped the heavy armored trooper. He thrashed for a moment from the sensation of the dark matter trying to tug his molecules apart.

    This bought Meridina the second needed to come in with her lakesh. She drove the blade with all of her will into a vulnerable point where the armor's torso plates interlocked. The soldier within screamed from having the blade pierce straight through into his ribs. Meridina pulled her bloody weapon out and called upon her power, using it to push her wounded foe into his own allies. Two of the light-armored troopers were bowled over. One was made easy pickings for Hakimzade's weapons.

    "Fall back to the next junction!", Shepard shouted. She grimaced as she stood. Seeing Meridina's concerned look, she waved it off. "My biotic field caught most of it. Just a little burn."

    "If you insist. The medics may still want to look at you."

    "They can after we surv… look out!"

    Shepard shoved Meridina out of the way just as a disruptor bolt would have slammed into her back. She lined up her assault rifle and riddled an SS trooper with rounds. Meridina recovered from the push and made it to her feet in one quick move. She reached out with her power and threw the pursuing enemy back. "Go!", she cried to the other remaining troops. "Retreat!"

    They did so, firing all of the way.




    Weapons fire was proving an undesired distraction for Lucy as she sought to arm the final naqia charge. She had to control the pounding in her heart at realizing what was likely to happen. With the enemy pinning them they would have to detonate the bombs here.

    After all of this, she was probably going to die.

    Kane seemed more interested in dealing with the attacking enemy than that. He had joined his squad and Commander Worf near the door. The Klingon leaned out the door enough to fire off several shots from his phaser rifle. A distant cry confirmed he'd gotten a solid hit. He barely evaded the return fire. "Lieutenant, how much longer?", Kane asked.

    Lucy ran her hand over the controls for the last charge. It operated under the same principle of what Cat had done to the Kelley in their original Facility; destabilize naqia and then cause it to detonate. "I've got the final destabilization setting calculating now," she said. "Give me another minute at least!"

    "Right. You heard her, Marines! Give her a minute!" Kane left cover long enough to fire an RPG from his underslung launcher on his rifle. There was a distant explosion. "Thanh, now!"

    The Vietnamese woman nodded and stomped into position with her heavy powered armor suit. Lucy wasn't watching as the muzzles on its arm-mounted guns opened up, pouring streams of sapphire pulses into the hallway leading into the generator room. She heard the sound of a missile firing and another explosion further away.

    A feeling filled her, a tingle that brought Lucy's attention to the door briefly. She reached out with her power… just in time to grab the enemy grenades sailing through the door. She tossed them back down the hall. There were more cries of surprise and a series of explosions.

    "Nice one, Lieutenant," Kane said, pouring more fire out of the door. He moved into cover before return fire could hit him.

    He was kind enough not to ask her for her progress. Lucy thanked him by going even faster.




    Fassbinder checked over the casualties on his advance forward, toward what he figured to be the major control area for this alien place. The Aurora crew were fighting with the courage of the desperate. And it would not mean a thing.

    He was far more perturbed with his own losses. The enemy's desperation was giving them some success in the fights. His men may need reinforcement to ensure a rapid fall of the base. He keyed his comm-line open. "Oberführer, I am in need of the backup company." When there was no immediate reply, he went to speak again.

    "We are out of position, Fassbinder," Eicke finally said. "You will have to make do with the remaining forces on the Reich's Glory for this operation."

    Fassbinder felt frustration at that. Eicke's desire to destroy the Aurora was interfering with the battle. But he knew better than to reply with anything but a hearty "Jawohl!" He pressed a different key on his wrist. "Fassbinder to Reich's Glory. Transport down your SS detachment, coordinates are being provided by enhancer."




    Lamper heard Fassbinder's order and frowned. He had remained in position while Eicke went off chasing the Aurora. But given that the enemy gunship had yet to make its appearance, dropping his shields to beam troops down was too much of a risk.

    But yet… he was under orders. He could not disobey.

    After a few moments Lamper realized what he wanted to do. "On my orders, lower shields for two seconds and raise them," he said. "Activate the transporters but do not send any of our people down yet."

    As always, his men did nothing to disagree. They trusted him on these matters, even if they didn't understand his orders.


    "The SS is ready to transport down, sir," Frigattenkapitän Falk informed him.

    Lamper nodded. "Well then…. Initiate my orders… now!"




    The Reich's Glory lowered its shields. Its transporter systems initialized.

    That was when the Sladen pounced.

    Commander King's ship decloaked and fired immediately. Phaser bursts from the forward cannons raced ahead of the blue-white solar torpedoes, all impacting on…

    …Reich's Glory's raised shields.

    "Clever bastard," King muttered to herself. Disruptor fire came in within moments, plentiful from the enemy heavy cruiser. [i}Sladen[/i] made several sharp maneuvers under Lieutenant Caldwell's expert piloting, evading the worst hits but still taking several.

    "Shields down to eighty-seven percent," Ensign Skarsgard warned from Ops.

    "So I see, Ensign. Maintain evasive maneuvers." Her jaw clenched. "As long as we keep fire on them, they can't risk sending reinforcements down."

    "Aye sir."



    Lamper frowned at the small gunboat ship. The vessel's crew was flying well and keeping his main disruptors from landing any hits. "Can we achieve any missile locks?", he asked.

    "Nein," answered Kapitänleutnant Peter Weigle, the blond Mars Colony recruit at Gunnery. "They are too fast, Herr Käpitan."

    "Then do what you can. Helm, orientate our ship to give us an opening on one shield quarter. We can lower our shields briefly for transports and raise them before this enemy ship gets into position."

    "Jawohl."




    King noticed the Reich's Glory shifting its position in orbit. Ah, that's what you're doing. "Get us on that far side, Lieutenant," King ordered. "They're trying to bring down the opposing shield face so they can begin beaming!"

    "Yes sir!"

    The Sladen twisted in space and shot forward, moving across the port dorsal side of the Nazi cruiser. King watched and waited until… "Lieutenant! Break port!"

    Caldwell shifted the Sladen to port, just in time to throw off the enemy aim and avoid taking several missile hits. The enemy missiles turned to re-acquire as enemy disruptor shots trailed up into their midst, destroyed three. The remaining missiles started racing toward the Sladen again. The dorsal phaser bank stabbed amber light at them and destroyed one, then another…

    The third slammed into their shields. The ship shook underneath them. "Shields down to sixty-three percent," Skarsgard said. "Shock damage to Deck 1 Section D."

    "Have damage teams make any necessary repairs," King replied.

    "Commander, I've already detected a transport," Skarsgard added. "Their shields are going back up."

    "Damn," was King's sole, somewhat irritated response. She hoped Commander Andreys was faring better.




    Sparks erupted from the MCD at the back of the Aurora bridge. "Shields down to forty percent!", Jarod shouted. "We're losing shield cohesion on the starboard side from those super-disruptor hits! Damage to several decks! We have casualties on Deck 10!"

    "Lieutenant, whatever evasive maneuvers you're pulling, it's not enough," Julia said to Locarno. "Divert extra power to the impulsors if you have to."

    "I'm giving the impulse drives everything I can," Locarno said. "I simply can't keep everything off of us."

    Julia recognized that already. The dreadnought was still trailing and the enemy cruisers were bracketing the Aurora on all sides. She needed to change this battle, and change it soon. She thought hard about their positioning. If she could get an opening for Angela to hammer them with the bow weapons without exposing their vulnerable side shields to that Nazi dreadnought…

    More fire rippled across the Aurora's shields. They flared blue and then amber as phaser beams and bolts lashed out at the ship's tormentors. One of the Nazi light cruisers took a full cannon barrage to its failing shields and started to shift away, trailing atmosphere and debris from the new wound in its port side.

    But it kept firing.




    In the medbay Leo was ready for the arrival of the casualties across the ship. Even as the vessel continued to shake under him, he directed the incoming patients to different beds. His subordinate physicians began sorting through the wounded, determining who was in need of the most immediate care, who could wait… and who was too far gone to treat.

    Leo's first patient was a young woman with slightly-tanned skin, a Mediterranean complexion. Shock damage to the internals of the ship had broken a support beam and sent shrapnel into her chest and torso. She moaned from the pain until Leo finished applying the sedative and anaesthetic. The young crewwoman settled into a gentle sleep. "Nasri, prep minor OR for this one, we need to get these things out of her… wait, no!" He barged over to where one of his newest doctors was preparing to treat a wounded Gersallian. "I know they look Human, but if you yank that out you'll open the Gersallian carotid artery!" He pushed the young man's hand away. "It's too close."

    "But the artery is…"

    "...not entirely there, no, but if you jostle that thing just a few millimeters off, you could cut the adjoining blood vessel and the carotid will start gushing right into it!" Leo examined the wound. "Tag him for a regenerative patch and send him to the waiting table. He'll live."

    "Doctor, I think I'm losing this one…!"

    Hearing that plea from one of his nurses, Leo ran over to the biobed in question. As he did so, the ship nearly came out from under his feet.




    The dreadnought's gunnery officer was good. Too good. For all of Locarno's quick flying he'd directed another near-perfect barrage into their shields, this time their rear shields.

    "Shields now at thirty-four percent," Jarod said. "Primary generator in the rear has gone offline. Secondaries are taking up the load for now."

    Julia decided enough was enough. She had to change the situation. "Mister Locarno, prepare to make a hard turn, ninety degrees starboard by thirty degrees dorsal."

    Locarno immediately saw what she was doing. "Aye, sir."

    Julia looked to the enemy contacts on her tactical viewer. The distance wasn't right yet.. Not right… not right yet, come on!

    The ship rocked again. Sparks flew from the auxiliary station in the back. "Shields now at thirty percent!", Jarod shouted. "Hull breach in Section H, Decks 30 through 32!" He looked back at her. "Commander, I see that light cruiser you're directing us toward. But if you adjust our course further to their bow, we'll be masked from that dreadnought."

    "Good thinking, Commander. Mister Locarno, adjust planned course, eighty-eight degrees starboard and twenty-eight degrees dorsal instead."

    "Adjustment planned…"

    "Now!"

    The Aurora turned in space and moved her bow upward. Her impulsors propelled her rapidly toward the enemy light cruiser. The Nazi ship poured disruptor beam after disruptor beam into her starboard shields. Blue light flickered around each shot. Missiles erupted from the enemy ship as they approached. Angel's light phasers intercepted some, but the rest got through.

    "Starboard shields are almost gone, we've got widespread armor and hull damage," Jarod warned.

    Even as he did, Angel cried out, "Firing!"

    Although her bow cannons weren't aligned for an accurate shot on the enemy cruiser, Angel had plenty of her best phaser arrays and pulse cannon turrets lined up with the enemy ship. The phasers pummelled the enemy ship repeatedly. Red light flickered briefly to meet the repeated barrage of amber energy.

    Then the Aurora passed in front of the enemy ship. Locarno straightened up enough that the aft cannons came into line with it. Angel fired a full barrage and added torpedoes to it. Although she half only a third of her usual bow firepower to aft Angel's fire still proved deadly accurate. The shields of the enemy cruiser nearly buckled under the barrage they faced. The torpedo spread finished the job. Angel's aft phasers began ripping into the enemy ship's bow. The torpedo launcher there went up in flames. A phaser beam speared and destroyed a disruptor bank.

    But the light cruiser remained and continued to fire on them with what they had left. And while the super-disruptor fire from the Eichmann halted for the moment, the fire from the other enemy cruisers didn't. They adjusted their courses to try and pin Aurora in again.

    Julia had bought herself some time. Time to think up new options. Because the way things were going…

    ....they couldn't win this battle.




    Robert could feel only frustration at what was unfolding around them. His comm unit filled with cries from the various squads and groups under fire. The Aurora was in danger above them, fighting off a force they couldn't hope to win.

    And now Meridina and Shepard were coming back into the Command Room. Shepard was leaning against Meridina with a severe disruptor wound on her thigh. "They've brought in reinforcements," Shepard said. "We can't hold them any more."

    "Most of our people are being cut off in the side corridors," Meridina added. "The enemy is ignoring them to focus on getting here.

    Robert nodded. He swallowed and took in a breath. "Then we don't have any choice." He walked up to the main doors and brought up the controls. Blast doors slammed into place. He keyed his multi-device comm line to Lucy. "Lucero, this is Dale. Are those charges ready?"

    "Yes sir," was Lucy's reply. He could hear tension in her voice. She knew what was about to happen.

    He looked over to Caterina. As he did, his eyes filled with tears. I'm sorry, Angel. Please forgive me. Please. "Sorry, Cat," he said aloud. "I'm so sorry for bringing you."

    Caterina's eyes had tears too. She looked up to Control and forced a smile. "It's… okay. It has to be done. I knew it might have to be done." She swallowed. Whatever fears of death she felt… she was keeping it to herself.

    Sorry, Jean-Luc. I couldn't bring back your people to you was the thought that went through Robert's head when he looked to Data. He didn't say anything on that, though. There was no time. Already the blast doors were starting to turn red. The enemy was burning through.

    Instead, he found his courage, tapped his multidevice to add Aurora to the call, and he gave the order.

    "Julie, get the ship out of here. Lucy, blow it all up."




    Julia heard that and felt her heart plunge into her stomach. No.

    Angel said nothing. Even as the tears formed in her eyes, all she could do to give vent to the feelings she now had inside was to push her weapons to their limit and kill as many of these bastards as she could.




    On the other end of that call, Lucy looked up to the others. One of Kane's Marines was lying on the floor. The Dorei woman looked at her with blue eyes full of pain and anguish. But there was a glint of determination in there.

    "I'm sorry, Commander Worf, Commander Kane," Lucy said. "This is it."

    Kane nodded. His expression was solemn. But not grim. "I'm ready to go, Lieutenant. Set them off."

    Worf nodded. He looked to Lucy and then to Kane with a small smile. When he spoke, his bass voice had lost none of its strength. "Today is a good day to die."

    "Oohrah, Commander Worf," was Kane's only reply.

    Lucy found herself whispering a prayer as she hit the final key. The bombs were now set to go off. "Five… four…" She listed the countdown as it went to zero.

    And then… nothing.

    No flash of light. No energy atomizing them right in their places. No destruction that collapsed the Facility in on itself.

    Absolutely nothing.

    After a few moments she heard Robert's voice over the line. "Lucy, blow it up! Now!"

    "I… it's not working." She was breathless as she checked over the charges. "No… no no no…"

    "Lucy! What's wrong?!"

    "The naqia… it didn't go off! The destabilization, it's… it's not enough! The naqia is still too stable…"

    "Grenade!"

    Lucy turned and reached out with her power instinctively.

    The grenade went off.




    Above them, in orbit, Julia noticed there was no explosion yet. "Jarod, are they still there?"

    "They still are." He swallowed. "The naqia charges… if they didn't destabilize enough…"

    But there was no time to think of that. Julia noticed the light cruiser to their aft moving. It had figured out they could keep it between them and the [i}Eichmann[/i] and the SS commander had taken a new, more fanatical course of action.

    He was moving in to ram the Aurora.

    Angel was throwing everything she had at the enemy cruiser with the aft weapons. More and more of its bow disappeared. Entire sections exploded as they were exposed to space. But the enemy vessel did not stop.

    Before it could hit, Locarno banked the Aurora to starboard. The enemy cruiser barely missed their port nacelles. Angel let loose with the port weapons. With the light cruiser's extensive damage, it had no hope of sustaining the fury of one of Aurora's broadside barrages. Its starboard nacelle exploded violently and it spun away, leaking profuse amounts of atmosphere through its many wounds. The lights on the ship began to flicker out as it lost main power.

    Of course, this meant they had lost their shield. Eichmann opened up on them yet again, joined by the other cruisers continuing to pelt at them with disruptors. The Aurora shook violently under them as another super-disruptor hit plowed into the aft section of the ship. One of the green beams went right through the weakened aft shields and stabbed into the flight deck. The flight crew there had no chance, no prayer. They were all atomized. The handful of munitions still on the flight deck were destroyed as well.

    If they had been anti-matter, the entire drive section might have taken severe, crippling internal damage despite the armored deck. But naqia didn't explode like anti-matter did, not unless destabilized and energized, so the destruction was limited to damage on the decks immediately below the flight deck. Flames and wreckage spewed from the flight deck entrance and the launch tubes.

    On the bridge the Aurora bridge were might have fallen from their chairs if not for their safety harnesses. Instead they were tossed about in them as the shock of the explosion rippled its way through the ship. "We just lost the flight deck, direct hit!", Jarod shouted. "Shock damage to multiple sections of Decks 22 through 24. Aft shields have lost cohesion, shield strength is down to twenty-one percent!"

    "Bring all shield generators on-line, divert all power available!"

    "We are trying, Commander," Ensign Mataran insisted from the Engineering Station.

    "Ah cannae give ye much more, Commander!," Scotty insisted, calling from Engineering. "Our entire shield system is startin' t' fail!"

    Julia might have swallowed to gulp down fear. She might have wanted to scream in frustration that their journeys were going to end here.

    But she couldn't. Not here, not like this. This was her ship, just as much as it was Robert's. She had named the Aurora. She had been the one to ensure Carlton Farmer and Scotty and the others had the resources to finish her.

    If it ends here, we're going down fighting, by God.

    "Target the nearest cruiser," she ordered Angel. "And give them everything we have."

    "Right," was Angel's response. It was more reserved, but Julia was certain she'd agree. If they were going to die Angel would want to die fighting.

    But she still couldn't give up. For all Julia had pride in her ship and belief in her abilities, she knew what she had to do. Their only hope to get out of this. "Jarod, get on the IU comm network."

    "We're on," he said after two button presses.

    "This is Commander Julia Andreys, commanding the Alliance Starship Aurora," she began. "We are under heavy attack and require immediate assistance. I repeat, this is a general distress call from the Aurora, mayday, mayday, we are in need of immediate assistance…"




    Robert pushed Cat down behind the central holotank when the blast doors fell open.

    Shepard opened fire with her Crusader shotgun at the first form to come through. The solid slug it fired was too far away to get the penetration it had managed in prior uses and didn't break through to the soldier underneath.

    Robert got up from where he'd knocked Cat over and fired with the pulse pistol he'd brought down. His shots staggered the heavy armor suit without damaging it enough to harm the pilot.

    There was a whine in the air. An amber beam struck the Panzergrenadier suit directly. An entire portion of the torso armor disappeared, revealing the uniformed man within. Robert fired again and the pulses killed him immediately.

    Data fired again immediately. His hand phaser was set to near maximum, the setting that could take down a house, and it vaporized the torso plate of the next heavy armor trooper moving in. Shepard's shotgun left a large, disgusting hole in the soldier's body when she fired it. "Wow," Shepard said from where she was in cover, at one of the stations. "And all from a handgun."

    Data said nothing. Robert knew, however, that this was only to buy time. He only had a few more shots at that power level before his phaser was out of energy.

    For a moment there was no further advance. What came through next wasn't a heavy armored trooper, though, but a pair of SS stormtroopers in light armor. Shepard's shotgun claimed another. Robert poured pulse fire into the second. The armor couldn't resist his shots, but it did prevent the occupant from dying right away.

    Long enough for the SS man to fire the massive weapon in his arms.

    A solid beam slammed into Data's torso. The impact sent him flying backward into the control consoles ringing the room. Electricity arced from him the wound and around Data's head.even before he made impact.

    And when it was over, there was a large, smoking, blackened mark on his torso.

    Just like in Robert's dream.

    Another pair of light-armored men came in. Shepard fired at one immediately and Robert the other. Robert's aim was thrown off by the moving trooper and he missed. And this time Shepard's aim, while still true, didn't hit anything critical. The trooper, wounded, fired at her as well. The disruptor beam slammed through her biotic field and into her shoulder, above her heart, and knocked her backward.

    Meridina moved forward to intercept both. Her lakesh caught one disruptor blast, sent it into the wounded trooper, and then her weapon cleaved through the remaining one from shoulder to hip. Both cried out - the one sliced open more - before they went down. Meridina turned and began deflecting shots from the doorway with her lakesh. Inside the doorway the enemy was lining up in firing formation. At least four SS troopers were pouring fire at Meridina.

    At this point, Robert didn't know what to do. What was left to do? The explosions hadn't worked. Data and Shepard were down, Cat was in no shape to fight, and Meridina couldn't fight forever. And he… this wasn't his strength. He couldn't do this.

    That thought prompted the obvious question, from within himself. Then why did you insist on coming down?

    Because… he knew he had to be here. There was something that would happen that he had to change.

    Meridina, meanwhile, was forced back into cover gradually. The volume of fire she was taking was immense. Robert tried to fire at her attackers and was driven back to cover by the attempt. He checked his pulse pistol's charge. He was almost out of shots. He needed to make them count. He lifted his pistol from cover and started spraying fire in the direction of the enemy. His reply was more suppression fire, giving Meridina an opening. She stood and held her arm out. A wave of power threw the enemy firing line back.

    A surge of hope filled Robert. Meridina was still here, with him, fighting. With her powers, maybe they could…

    And then Meridina cried out. His hope sank into his stomach, along with his heart, upon seeing her get back into cover with barely enough time to avoid more fire. Her hand was over a blackened section of her armor, near the belly. When she looked at him, he could see her eyes had gone dull with pain. It was clear she could do little more from the damage the disruptor had inflicted. The only reason she was still alive was because her armor had saved her life.

    Desperate, Robert peeked over the holotank enough to squeeze off his last shots before his pistol went empty. He needed to put another charge clip in.

    But he knew it would mean nothing. They were out of time.

    From outside of the room a voice called out. "Your resistance was impressive, given your genetic inferiority."

    Robert scowled. "Fassbinder," he growled.

    There was a sudden laugh. "Ah. Captain Dale? How surprising. You abandoned your post to come down here? Perhaps that is why your ship is trying in vain to flee? It lacks its proper captain."

    "Julia is all the captain my ship needs, it's why I left her in charge," Robert retorted.

    "Ah yes. Your Alliance and its bizarre affectations for letting women and untermenschen serve. But yet you cannot prevail on the battlefield without bringing in allies and employing trickery. In a direct battle with Aryans, this result is the same as always. Utter defeat."

    "You're one to talk," Robert guffawed. "Krellan Nebula was an ambush with overwhelming numbers, not a straight up fight. New Austria was more of a straight up fight. You know, the one you ran away from?"

    There was a harsh laugh. Robert started to peek over the holotank. Fassbinder was standing in the doorway. Robert recognized Lamper's sensors officer - he forgot his name - standing beside him.

    "Herr Obersturmbannführer, the field Scharführers are reporting in. All enemy forces are isolated. Resistance is continuing, but they expect victory shortly."

    "Do you hear that, Captain?", Fassbinder asked, turning toward him. "Your people are scattered and divided. Your ship burns in orbit. You have failed. The Reich has possession of this place and its wonders. Undoubtedly we will unlock the secrets of your drive soon enough. Our defeat at New Austria will be avenged in the broken shell of your capital world. Now… surrender to me, Captain, and I will authorize mercy to your surviving people."

    Robert laughed at that. "Mercy from the SS. I've seen what your 'mercy' looks like. No thanks."

    Fassbinder shrugged. "Very well."

    And he turned to his men.

    "Kill them."
     
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