Commission: "The Stonewall Resistance"

Author’s Note: During the recent auction that was part of Stonewall’s Pride fesitivities, Mandy (T’Rehes) won a commissioned story from me. The following is that story, which is a fictionalization of events. What events? Well, you'll just have to read to find out. :D

I should note that this should not be taken as canon with regard to any characters or events described here. There are a number of characters in this story that are not of my own creation, but instead are only my interpretation of them. Simply this consider a fun story and, as such, I hope you enjoy reading it. Thank you.

Stardate 86006.44, Earth Stardock

“... and so, for exceptional valor in service to Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets, it is with great pleasure that I award you, Nicholas John Ford, the rank of Rear Admiral, with all privileges and responsibilities pertaining. Congratulations, Rear Admiral Ford.”

The Stateroom of Earth Stardock broke out into applause as Admiral Quinn placed a new set of pips on Nicholas’ uniform collar. Nicholas, or Nick as he was known to his friends, grinned and shook Quinn’s hand, then looked out over the assembled officers. In the front rows of the hall were a number of high-ranking officials in Starfleet and the Federation, along with the senior staff of his ship. He gave them a quick nod and was about to step down when the ceremony’s officiant, Commander Hilo, suddenly spoke up from his podium to the side.

“Rear Admiral, is there anything you would like to say?”

Nick paused. He glanced at Admiral Quinn, then out at the audience. His first inclination was to say nothing more than the simple pleasantries, but he realized that he wouldn’t get another opportunity like this. He looked back at Commander Hilo and nodded, then looked out at the hall. As he opened his mouth, he felt the skin on the right side of his head touch the cool metal of Borg technology, still attached there after so many years.

“First, let me thank Starfleet for giving me the opportunity to serve and protect the Federation. It has been nothing short of an honor and a privilege to help further our ideals of exploration, peace, and diversity.”

Nick then paused, took a small breath, and continued.

“Unfortunately, those ideals now find themselves under attack in the galaxy’s current climate. Some of those threats we see... and some of them, we don’t. One, in particular, we have turned a blind eye to.”

By this point, more than a few people had started murmuring and whispering to each other. He caught at least one official glaring at him. They knew full well what he was talking about, and it was a sentiment that was not popular with those in the highest ranks of either Starfleet or the Federation.

“Twenty-four years ago, Starfleet dismissed the Borg Collective as no longer posing a threat when it disbanded a special task force led by Annika Hansen. However, this was done with relatively little evidence during the effort to reorganize Starfleet’s resources following the costly Dominion War. I believe this was a grave error that will cost the Federation dearly if it is not remedied soon. Therefore, I will make it one of my top priorities to push Starfleet to reevaluate the Borg threat and take all appropriate action.”

Nick looked at the higher-ranking officials, who were all staring at him in either disbelief or incredulity. It was an expression he had seen many times before. Nick returned his gaze to the audience at large and thanked them for their attention. A stunned silence with only a few ill-timed claps was returned. Commander Hilo, obviously surprised by the speech, stuttered out another congratulations and quickly brought the ceremony to a close.

A short time later, Nick was surrounded by friends and colleagues in the reception held at a nearby lounge area of the stardock. Officers he had served with, members of his current crew, and others exchanged quick congratulations and pleasantries. However, it wasn’t long until a Tellarite Starfleet admiral approached the group speaking with Nick and cleared her throat. The group turned and looked down at the woman, whom Nick immediately recognized.

“Admiral Terev, a pleasure as always,” Nick managed to get out before Terev began speaking.

“That speech was full of grandiose, preposterous nonsense, Rear Admiral Ford.”

Nick blinked, taken aback by the Tellarite’s trademark bluntness. “Excuse me, Vice Admiral?” Nick managed to get out, resorting to the specific rank designation that Terev had opened with.

“We’ve all heard your fantastical ideas of the return of the Borg, despite all evidence to the contrary. I knew promoting you was a bad idea, but I was unfortunately overruled. No doubt some of my peers are questioning their decision after that stunt,” she continued with a stubborn grin.

Nick gripped his glass a little tighter as he kept his voice under control. “Rear Admiral, I am merely suggesting that a more through review take place so that we are adequately prepared.”

“Against a threat that will never come!? Meanwhile, we have a number of real threats to deal with. You would be wise to worry about the here and now Ford... and not the past,” she finished, pointedly looking at the Borg implants on the side of his head. Before Nick had a chance to respond, the Tellarite left the room in a huff, confident she had won the argument.

An uncomfortable silence settled over the room for a moment before Nick’s first officer managed to salvage the situation by bringing up a story that had happened on their ship recently. The event continued for the better part of an hour before people began to disperse. Once the crowd had thinned out some, Nick was readying to leave himself when he was suddenly approached by Admiral Quinn.

“Admiral Ford, I was hoping that we could speak in my office before you return to your ship. I believe it is in your... best interests.”

Despite the fact that he was now Quinn’s peer and not his subordinate, Nick was amazed at the Trill’s ability to make one think twice before denying a request. Nick quickly acquiesced, and the two stepped out of the lounge and headed for Quinn’s office.

“Please, have a seat,” Quinn said as he walked over to his own chair and sat down. Nick nodded and took one of the seats on the opposite side of the admiral’s desk. Quinn looked the newly-minted admiral over and shook his head.

“I’m not going to give you a lecture, Mr. Ford, so you can stop looking like an errant school boy.”

Nick grimaced and relaxed. It was a little strange to think of Admiral Quinn as his equal after regarding him as his superior for so long.

“However, I am going to give you some advice,” Quinn continued in a sterner voice. “You’re an admiral now, Mr. Ford, which means that, when you speak, far more people are going to be paying attention than the crew of a single starship. At this stage of the game, there is a tremendous amount of politics in play. What you said today made a number of very powerful people very unhappy with you. I believe Admiral Terev already made that abundantly clear.”

“Yes, Admir--, er, Mr. Quinn. Trust me, I know my views on the Borg are something that Starfleet and the Federation don’t want to hear.”

“No, they don’t. You’re suggesting yet another challenge in what may be the most complicated and dangerous climate the Alpha Quadrant has known since before the founding of the Federation. Our citizens are frightened and worried about the future and our leadership is frustrated that they have been unable to improve the situation despite all their efforts. It doesn’t help matters when a new admiral begins suggesting that still more trouble is on the horizon and that even more resources need to be diverted.”

Nick nodded, but he felt his frustration rising again. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand the situation. He did, and all too well. It was an argument that had been raised with him time and time again. Keep your voice down, wait for the climate to settle, and then Starfleet Command would be willing to listen. For most of his career he’d followed that advice, speaking only in private with his superiors about his concerns. He’d suppressed the worry that flared within him whenever he felt the cool touch of Borg metal on his face or looked in a mirror and saw the implant in the reflection. Even now though, when he was finally in a position to do something, he was still being told to keep quiet.

No, not any more...

“But just because the Borg have remained out of sight doesn’t mean we can keep them out of mind,” Nick retorted, his voice taking on a stern tone. “The Federation has barely survived the encounters that we were prepared for when we weren’t fighting on multiple fronts. The excuses that are given for putting off worrying about a Borg attack are the very reasons we need to prepare. Right now, we stand little chance of fending off a full-fledged Borg assault. And hell, even if we did make it through, there is every indication that each of other adversaries would take full advantage. Everything that Starfleet fights to protect is at risk!”

Quinn looked at Nick in silence and then, much to Nick’s surprise, nodded with a rare, wry grin.

“Believe me, Mr. Ford, you are... preaching to the choir, I believe is the human expression.”

“What? I thought...”

Quinn shook his head again. “As I mentioned before, Mr. Ford, an admiral must consider the political ramifications of his actions. I’ll be the first to admit that I have a great deal of power in my current post, but I must exercise it with caution. While I completely agree with your assessment, and have always looked upon Starfleet’s current attitude toward the Borg with dismay, that doesn’t mean I can simply throw caution to the wind. The kind of shift in policy you are suggesting requires support of other admirals and captains. Given my supervisory role of many of our ships, there is an inherent conflict of interest if I were to try and garner that support. You... on the other hand...”

“Excuse me?”

Quinn’s grin returned. “You are a new admiral, Mr. Ford. You have not yet established yourself, and you have a freedom to operate without the numerous responsibilities that older admirals have. This frees you to carve your own path... to collect those around you who share your views. Coincidentally, you can use a rather recent change in Starfleet Command’s organizational structure to your advantage.”

Without waiting for a response, Quinn handed a padd to Nick. Nick quickly skimmed the top, which identified the document as a Starfleet general order. It concerned several changes to the way Starfleet’s chain of command operated.

“That is a recent brainchild of mine that just passed Command. Given how strained our resources are, Starfleet has decided to shift more responsibility to the lower strata of the command structure to provide greater flexibility in the field. We now have greater leniency in granting command of a ship to officers who are below Captain rank, starship captains are encouraged to lead away teams, and... secondary fleets may be formed at the discretion of starship captains.”

Nick raised an incredulous eyebrow. “Secondary fleets?”

Quinn noddeed. “It’s a provision I and others in command have deliberately played down. Essentially, captains may form associates among themselves in order to more effectively organize in the field. These fleets are subsidiary to any organizational decision made by Starfleet Command, of course, and still have to be authorized by an admiral outside the fleet... such as myself.”

Nick’s face practically lit up like a warp nacelle when he realized what Quinn was getting at. Before he had a chance to speak, Quinn continued. “Gather your support, Mr. Ford, and I will authorize this fleet for your cause. I think you may be surprised to find that your sentiments are not nearly as unpopular as Command would like to believe. They simply lack someone to rally around. And... if I may make a suggestion, I would start with this young woman. She has been pushing in much the same manner as you.”

Quinn handed Nick a second padd. This one contained the dossier of another rear admiral. Nick quickly skimmed it, then nodded in understanding. He looked back at Quinn with a grateful smile.

“Thank you. I’ll contact Rear Admiral T’Rehes immediately.”

Quinn nodded, gave Nick a few more suggestions, then showed him out of his office. After Nick had left, Quinn looked back at the large window and its impressive view of the Sol system. He let out a heavy sigh, as for the thousandth time that day he worried what the future would hold for the Federation.

Two days later, Nick found himself walking through the city of Washington, DC on Earth. The city was by and large a tourist destination, catering to history buffs from across the Alpha Quadrant who were interested in Human contributions to the ideas of representative government that Earth and the Federation currently enjoyed. It also served as one of the largest repositories of Human history and culture, between the Library of Congress, which still endeavored to store a copy of every Human written work, and the massive Smithsonian Museum. It was one of the later’s many buildings, specifically the Earth History Museum, that Nick had proposed he and T’Rehes meet.

Nick found T’Rehes in the section of the museum dealing with Earth’s 20th century. Despite the fact she was not in uniform, the plain off-duty clothing of a Vulcan ironically stood out among the more colorful choices of the other visitors. She was standing very still looking at a number of small displays on the wall that showcased common 20th century technology. As Nick approached, he noted one display under an archaic device that resembled an old flip-top communicator that read ‘cellular phone’. Next to it was a very bulky looking padd with the name ‘tablet computer’. Much to Nick’s surprise, T’Rehes spoke to him, without turning away from the display, before he had a chance to get her attention.

“Human technological advances are a fascinating contradiction. The speed at which you develop new technologies is remarkably fast, perhaps irresponsibly so, despite the fact that you remain anchored in design choices of the past that offer little functional value.”

Nick blinked in surprise, but recovered quickly.

“Our past holds a great deal of value to us. Additionally, I imagine many of us are more likely to adopt something new if it at least looks familiar to us.”

“Another interesting contradiction for a race that holds interstellar exploration as one of its top priorities,” T’Rehes said as she turned to face Nick in a very quick, deliberate movement.

While Nick had seen T’Rehes’ face in her dossier, he was still struck by her appearance. In addition to a Borg occular implant that covered her left eye and a web of metal connected to it, T’Rehes was completely bald and her skin and veins had the sickly grey tinge that was the hallmark of prior assimilation into the Borg Collective. It was striking to see in person and Nick cynically wondered if that was why most of the museum’s patrons were keeping their distance from them.

“Ah, Rear Admiral Ford. I did not notice you there at first.”

Nick was once again surprised. If she hadn’t noticed him, then why had she spoken to him?

Was she just commenting on Human history to anyone who walked by?

“Um, the pleasure is all mine. And please, call me Nick,” he said as he extended his hand. T’Rehes looked down at it and there was an awkward moment of inaction before she grasped the hand and gave it a quick, firm shake. She looked back at Nick and gave a quick nod that was more like a twitch than anything else.

“You mentioned in your communique that you had a proposition for me. Please elaborate.”

She gets right to the chase...

“Of course,” Nick continued with some unease. He hadn’t meant for them to actually discuss it here. While there was nothing wrong with what he was proposing, especially under Admiral Quinn’s new general order, he didn’t want the opposition within Starfleet to get word of it before he was ready. T’Rehes, whose eyes flicked around at passersby in successive quick studies, waited in silence for Nick as he thought of somewhere more out of the way. Finally, a grin crossed his face as just such a location came to mind.

“Come with me, I’ll tell you more there,” he said simply. T’Rehes raised an eyebrow at the cryptic response but followed him.

Some distance away in the interior of the museum was a section dedicated to topics relevant to Human social history. The Enlightenment, abolitionism, universal suffrage, the sexual revolution, the Bell Riots, and the global egalitarian movement following First Contact were all featured topics. The area wasn’t very well-traveled compared to other areas, and those that were here were mostly off-worlders. Nick had a few suspicions as to why that was the case, but they were for another time. For now, Nick simply lead T’Rehes to the middle of a large holographic mural that chronicled, via old images and video, the progression of Humanity’s social conscience. He stopped in front of an area that showed a black-and-white image of surprised young men being shoved by law enforcement officers into a tight group.

“Have you ever heard of the Stonewall Riots, T’Rehes?”

T’Rehes, much to Nick’s surprise, nodded. “A serious of spontaneous and violent demonstrations that took place in New York City in the mid-20th century. They are largely credited with starting a social movement which, for the next century, significantly altered Human thought on gender and sexuality from attempting to idealize one specific combination to accepting and conceptualizing multiple combinations and situations.”

She looked at Nick and sharply raised an eyebrow at his surprised expression. “Your ship is the USS Stonewall, Nicholas. It would be foolish of me to agree to meet with you without querying your file. The name was unfamiliar to me, so I queried it as well.”

T’Rehes looked back at the mural and made another passing comment without looking at Nick. “Additionally, the social history of Humanity is an interesting case study in the principles of Kol-Ut-Shan, or IDIC in your tongue.. The standard Vulcan education curriculum incorporates it, along with our own social history and that of other species.”

Something about the comment made Nick grin a little. He looked back at the image and nodded. “IDIC; Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. I’ve always liked that philosophy. It, along with Humanity’s ideals of diversity, stand in such contrast to the monolithic spectre of the Borg.”

At the mention of the Borg, Nick thought he saw a very fast, almost ephemeral, twitch on T’Rehes’ face. Some moments of silence passed before T’Rehes spoke.

“I was told of your promotion speech, Nicholas. You have no evidence to suggest that the Borg currently pose a threat to the Federation, and yet you claimed it to be so at the expense of Starfleet’s credibility. Many would say that your logic is unsound, if present at all. They would say that your past experience with the Borg has corrupted your judgement and made you a slave to your fears and emotions.”

Nick studied T’Rehes closely. The Vulcan was looking at him in turn, but revealing nothing. It certainly wasn’t the response Nick had expected from what Admiral Quinn had said of her, but there was something in her voice that betrayed the true meaning of her words. It sounded more like T’Rehes was speaking from personal experience than her own thoughts on the subject.

“And what do you think, T’Rehes? Do you honestly believe that the Federation is safe from them?”

“I know that logic requires all necessary evidence to make a correct conclusion,” she said simply, looking Nick right in the eye. “And... I know that many do not have the evidence that I... we... do.”

Nick’s curious expression caused her to elaborate. “Perhaps you are not as sensitive to it as I am, given the differences in Human and Vulcan neurophysiology. When you are asleep, or when you are alone in your thoughts, you feel you are not completely alone. They are there as well, their voices faint and beyond intelligible, but they are there.”

To anyone else, T’Rehes would have sounded like someone with a severe mental disorder. Her sharp, twitchy mannerisms didn’t help. However, Nick knew exactly what she was talking about. He didn’t hear voices, but it was a distinct feeling. It had always been there; the feeling of never being alone even if he was the only person in a room. He had sometimes woken up and remembered feeling like he was being called out to.

“... and it’s been getting worse,” Nick said gravely.

T’Rehes nodded. “They are disposed to, perhaps even justified in, ignoring what we hear. However, that ignorance will come at a price that may destroy us all. That said, what do you propose, Nicholas, if Starfleet will not listen to us?”

Nick nodded, and explained his idea to form the secondary fleet that Admiral Quinn had proposed. As he spoke, he realized just how nebulous the concept still seemed to him. T’Rehes seemed to have realized this as well.

“Your suggestion regarding what this fleet will actually do seems vague at best. However, I agree that to do anything, we must find others that share our view.”

Nick smiled. “I’m glad you feel that way, T’Rehes. Our little fleet is already growing!” he added with a smirk. The humor seemed lost on her though.

“We will need more. When is the Stonewall scheduled to leave Earth?”

“Tomorrow, actually,” Nick said, his grin deflating. “We are headed for the Klingon Front.”

“I recommend you visit Vulcan on your way. Captain T’Laris is currently there representing Starfleet at a conference being held by the Vulcan Science Academy. She is one of few that I can say with confidence will lend an ear to our concerns.”

The grin on Nick’s face returned. “Really? I will send her a message as soon as I return to my ship.”

T’Rehes nodded. “Unfortunately, I must remain on Earth for another week as my ship was severely damaged in an engagement with the True Way. While I am here, I will attempt to identify others that will would join us.”

“Thank you, T’Rehes.” Nick felt emboldened by T’Rehes’ agreement and support. Half-jokingly, he mentioned that they were going to need a name for the fleet soon. T’Rehes, who once again took the comment seriously, looked back at the black-and-white image on the holographic mural.

“Given your sentiments, Nicholas, I would guess that you already have a name in mind.”

The bridge of the USS Stonewall was a buzz of activity as the crew was finishing the final preparations for departure. Nick’s first officer was in the middle of running through a summary of various departments’ statuses when his helm officer’s voice rang through the bridge.

“Captain, Stardock Traffic Control has given us clearance to depart.”

“Excellent.” Nick turned back to his first officer. “Any problems from the other departments?”

“No, sir, we are ready to go.”

Nick nodded and looked back at the helm officer. “Helm, take us out on thrusters. Once we’re clear, one-quarter impulse.”

The USS Stonewall slowly moved out from its position within Earth Stardock and through the interior. The large Soveriegn-class vessel sailed out of one of the Stardock’s arms and into the heavily-trafficked space around Earth. The blue planet glittered under the light of Sol as the Stonewall accelerated and moved out farther into the system.

“Captain, we are cleared for warp,” the Helm officer announced.

“Set a course for Vulcan, warp 5.”

Nick’s first officer reached with surprise and leaned over toward him. “Sir, I thought our orders were to proceed to the Klingon Front?”

“They are, and we will be. However, we’ll be briefly stopping at Vulcan in order to speak with a Vulcan captain currently stationed there for a conference. I’ve already cleared this small detour with Admiral Quinn.”

The first officer simply nodded and went back to reviewing the inital status reports coming in from across the ship. Nick sat back in his chair as the Stonewall went to warp and watched the stars stretch then shoot by.

Meanwhile, Admiral Terev was watching the traffic around Stardock from one of the bases’ huge windows. Her gaze shifted toward Earth, which hung above her like a glistening emerald-decked sapphire. Next to her was a tall Human woman in Starfleet command red. Terev spoke to her without looking at her.

“And you’re sure that is his destination?”

“Yes, Admiral. He filed the flight path this morning and it was approved by Admiral Quinn. In light of the fact he was reported to be speaking wiht T’Rehes yesterday, it’s likely he is going there to speak with one of T’Rehes’ few allies.”

“T’Laris,” Terev said with an indignified grunt.

“Admiral, why is he going to Vulcan to speak with her? Wouldn’t subspace communication be more discrete.”

“Yes, Commander Gallagher, it is. However, he knows that I have the authority to access any recorded communication he makes. If he speaks to her in person, I don’t have that luxury.”

Terev shook her head and continued. “Thank you, Commander. Keep an eye on him, T’Rehes, and anyone else those two come into contact with. I can already tell they are going to be nothing but trouble and I want to fix this problem before it gets worse.”

Gallagher raised an eyebrow. “Fix?”

“Yes, fix. By any means necessary.”

“Understood, Admiral.” Gallagher nodded and left for another area of the Stardock, leaving Terev to continue watching the Earth above her.

Some distance away, a brown-haired man was leaning on a balcony reading a padd, overlooking the busy promenade of the Stardock below. His eyes momentarily flashed toward Terev, then back to the padd. After a few moments, Terev left her position at the window and walked away. The man stole a quick glance in her direction again, waited a minute or so, then began walking in the other direction toward an empty turbolift.

“Deck 52,” he said in a authoritative voice. Once the turbolift began moving, he issued a second request. “Computer, please locate Admiral T’Rehes.”

“Admiral T’Rehes is currently located in the lounge area of Deck 16.”

“Take me to Deck 16, then.”

The turbolift came to a stop and reversed direction. The doors opened to reveal a very expansive and busy lounge area. The man grinned at the bustle. While he walked nonchalantly through the crowd, his eyes moved about quickly. Once they locked onto a very conspicuous Vulcan sitting at a table with a mug of tea in front of her, the man immediately turned toward the bar. Standing in the line, he quickly cleared the data on the padd and entered some new information. After ordering a drink, the man moved back through the busy dining area. He passed by the admiral’s table, set the padd on the table in one soft fluid motion without ceasing his gait, and moved back into the crowd.

T’Rehes raised an eyebrow at the padd then snapped her head up to see who had dropped it. She saw the back of him just before he disappeared into the crowd moving around at the edge of the dining area. T’Rehes watched the area for a moment, then looked back down at the padd in front of her. It displayed a very short message which read:

Your plans may be over before they begin. If you want my help, meet me at these coordinates.

T’Rehes’ eyebrow raised further as she looked at the coordinates and noticed they were approximately 300 kilometers due west of the city of San Francisco. She picked up the padd, her mug, and moved out of the lounge toward the transporter room. This bore further consideration in the privacy of her ship’s quarters.

Captain’s Log, Stardate 86020.13. The USS Stonewall has just moved into orbit around Vulcan. Prior to our arrival, I contacted Captain T’Laris, who suggested we meet at a Vulcan temple. It hasn’t escaped my notice that the coordinates she sent me were removed not just from the site of her conference, but from most of the more populous areas of the planet.

Nick materialized on the surface of Vulcan in a shimmer of blue transporter light. He had come alone, which thankfully hadn’t raised too many eyebrows. It was Vulcan after all. Nick looked around and saw that he was standing at the foot of a very large staircase that scaled the side of a large rocky hill and led up to a temple. To his other side was wide but rather simple fountain. There were very few people around and the only Vulcan wearing a Starfleet uniform was sitting on fountain’s edge. She stood as Nick approached, and he immediately recognized her from her dossier.

“Captain T’Laris. A pleasure,” he said, raising his hand in the standard Vulcan greeting by parting his fingers into two pairs. T’Laris returned the gesture with a stoic expression.

“I have been expecting you, Rear Admiral Ford. I received a message from our mutual colleague, Rear Admiral T’Rehes. I request that you follow me.”

Nick nodded, but was surprised when T’Laris began leading him away from the temple toward a rocky area in the distance. She didn’t say a word to him for a good fifteen minutes. Nick was about to ask where they were going when she finally resumed talking.

“T’Rehes was brief in her message, Rear Admiral, which I have deduced to mean that you wish to speak with me about the Borg. Is this correct?”

Nick looked at T’Laris in surprise, then nodded. “Yes, it is. Are you familiar with a recent General Order that allows the formation of secondary fleets?”

T’Laris looked over her shoulder at Nick for a moment, then turned her attention back to the hill they were climbing. They reached the top just as T’Laris responded.

“Yes, Rear Admiral, I am.” She turned back to Nick, not continuing her response.

“I intend to form such a fleet, with the express purpose of determining what threat the Borg still pose to the Federation. At the moment, it would be mostly concerned with fact-finding in light of Starfleet’s refusal to restart a Borg Task Force, but that might change depending on the facts we find.”

T’Laris nodded again, studying him. He noticed that she seem particularly focused on his Borg implant. She then cast her gaze back toward the temple and continued.

“Rear Admiral, did you know that Vulcan officially protested the disbanding of the original Starfleet task force that had been assigned to evaluate the Borg?”

Nick shook his head, somewhat surprised by the revelation. “No, I didn’t.”

“Vulcan’s own intelligence service, as well as that of a number of member worlds, disagreed with Starfleet’s assessment of the situation. They felt that Starfleet lacked sufficient evidence and that their logic was... flawed. However, like so many other aspects of galactic politics, that all changed two years later when the Hobus star went nova.”

“Why did that affect Vulcan’s assessment?”

“It was not their assessment that it affected so much as it was their desire to have it heard. The Hobus nova resulted in the destabilization of the entire Alpha and Beta quadrants. The Vulcan High Council became very concerned about the increasingly violent and unstable nature of the Romulan Star Empire in particular. While Vulcan still does not claim the Borg are not a threat the way the Federation does, it does claim that there are much more immediate and lethal threats to deal with.”

Nick looked at T’Laris, trying to piece out where she was going with this. Was this her opinion as well? If that was the case though, why had T’Rehes sent him to her?

“Is that what you believe, Captain?”

“Belief is an inappropriate word, Rear Admiral. However, I do understand your meaning. I disagree with Starfleet’s decision. However, that is not my main concern. I have actually already spent some time investigating the Borg and something... troubling... has caught might attention.”

“What do you mean?” Nick asked, his voice filling with concern. “Have you found something that indicates they’re coming?”

T’Laris shook her head. “No. It is not what I was able to find that troubled me. It was what I was not able to find.”

When Nick’s face took on a perplexed look, T’Laris continued. “A number of key reports that were authored by the original Borg task force have vanished, Rear Admiral. They have simply ceased to exist within any computer system that I have access to, including those on Vulcan, Earth, and Memory Alpha. It is... perplexing. While I have a number of theories, I have no evidence for any of them.”

At that moment, T’Laris’ communicator beeped. A voice came through reminding her that she was due back at the conference in five minutes. She turned back to Nick.

“I apologize, but I must return. Please, Rear Admiral, keep me informed. I am interested in this fleet of yours.”

Nick was dumbfounded by T’Laris’ sudden revelation and departure. “Wait, Captain, is that all the information you have?”

“Unfortunately. I currently lack any access to the more confidential of Starfleet’s records, so I cannot confirm if the records are missing or have simply been moved to more secure location within the system.” She suddenly stopped for a moment, then looked back at Nick with a raised eyebrow.

“Rear Admiral, you mentioned in your initial transmission that you were headed for the Klingon Front. I imagine Starfleet keeps a number of intelligence officers stationed there. Perhaps the one stationed on K-7 could provide you with sufficient access.”

“K-7? Who is on K-7?”

T’Laris raised an eyebrow. “Need I remind the Rear Admiral of the consequence of exposing the identity of a non-public Starfleet Intelligence officer?”

Nick nodded in understanding. “No Captain, you do not. Thank you for the help.”

T’Laris nodded and raised her hand in the Vulcan gesture. “Live long and prosper, Rear Admiral Ford.”

Nick returned the gesture, and the two soon went their respective ways in shimmers of transporter light.

The redwoods of Yosemite towered over T’Rehes as she walked through the forest. Dried leaves and twigs crunched softly beneath her deliberate footsteps as her eyes scanned her surroundings. She was dressed in her Starfleet uniform, as it allowed her greater mobility than her Vulcan civilian attire. Despite the supportive nature of the message she had received on the padd that had been dropped at her table, she did not want to take any chances. Unfortunately, she had not been able to bring a phaser as she did not wish to violate Earth’s weapons laws. Therefore, it was only logical to have her senior staff monitoring her vitals and position from the Pendragon.

T’Rehes came to a stop and tapped her combadge.

“T’Rehes to Pendragon. I am in position.”

“Acknowledged,” came the voice of her first officer. “We’ll be standing by.”

“Excellent. I will keep you updated. T’Rehes out.”

T’Rehes was not entirely sure what to expect. The message had given no time or date, so she could only guess this position was somehow being monitored and that her mysterious contact was only now being alerted to her arrival. That, of course, assumed she hadn’t been followed here. A good ten minutes passed before she heard the crunch of footsteps on foliage to her left. She turned her head and saw an olive-skinned brown-haired man approaching in a Starfleet uniform that was almost entirely black, save for dark blue trim around the neck, hand cuffs, and sleeve cuts. T’Rehes said nothing as he approached and instead took the opportunity to closely study every detail.

“Admiral T’Rehes, I presume,” he said as he approached, a rather cocky grin appearing on his face as he did so. T’Rehes raised an eyebrow at his manner then nodded.

“Yes. Who are you?”

“You mean other than your mysterious benefactor?” he asked, crossing his arms as he came to a stop in front of her. “Sorry about that, by the way, but I didn’t know who could be watching or listening. I figured in a place like this we would have a bit more control over that.”

T’Rehes said nothing as she awaited the man to identify himself. Instead, she continued to study his face closely. The stare apparently unnerved the man, whose cocky grin evaporated somewhat.

“Captain Zepari, ma’am,” he said, finally answering her question.

“And your current assignment?” she immediately asked.

“The Aurora, a Sol-class vessel. Would you care for its registry number?”

“No, that will suffice,” she said. “Are you with Starfleet Intelligence?”

At this point, Zepari’s cockiness seemed to have been completely converted into confusion. He was caught off-guard by T’Rehes’ question.

“What? N-no. I’m not with Starfleet Intelligence. Why would you...”

T’Rehes raised an eyebrow at his incredulity, which caused Zepari to reconsider how this all looked.

“Ah... you mean the whole drop-a-padd-with-the-mysterious-message thing. No, I’m afraid that was just because I didn’t want anyone listening to us or knowing that you were speaking with me. After all, if there’s one thing an El-Aurian knows about, it’s listening.”

This earned a sudden slight tilt of the head from T’Rehes. “You are El-Aurian? Interesting. I have never met an El-Aurian before.”

Zepari shrugged. “You and the rest of the galaxy. I can’t complain though. It’s convenient that most people mistake me for Human. It makes eavesdropping much easier.”

“Eavesdropping?”

“Uh... not on you, Admiral. However, you and Admiral Ford were constantly on Admiral Terev’s tongue when she was speaking with another Starfleet commander the other day. She is not happy with either of you.”

“No, she is not, and she never has been. My position and actions regarding the Borg have not put me on good terms with her. Captain Zepari, if this is what you brought me out here to tell me, you are wasting my time as well as your own.”

Zepari started to look flustered. T’Rehes was not acting nearly the way he had expected and it was starting to irritate him.

“That’s not all, obviously! Look, Terev ordered that commander of hers to “fix you by any means necessary”, and I didn’t need to be a xenolinguist to gather her meaning. It had a rather... lethal... tone to it.”

This warranted another eyebrow twitch from T’Rehes, but her look remained skeptical. “Captain, it is my understanding that this expression can take on a number of meanings, especially within the Human cultures it was derived from. It is entirely possible, and much more likely, that Admiral Terev was referring to political pressures, which I am already expecting from her.”

“What part of the whole ‘race of listeners’ thing are you not getting? I know what she meant Admiral, and I’m sure it involved phasers and other not-so-nice instrum--”

At that moment, Zepari was cut off by a voice coming from T’Rehes’ combadge.

“Admiral T’Rehes! The Pendragon just recorded several beam-ins near your location. We are trying to pinpoint their origin, but the signals were relayed through a number of encrypted transit nodes. It may take some time.”

Zepari looked at T’Rehes with an “I-told-you-so” look. T’Rehes only looked interested in the nature of the development and not who was right or wrong.

“Acknolwedged, Commander. Lock onto my signal as well as that of the man standing next to me.”

“... Admiral? Given the nature of the situation, I would advise you beam up now.”

“Your advice is noted, Commander. T’Rehes out.”

Zepari looked inquisitively at T’Rehes. “Why didn’t you beam us out?”

“Because I desire evidence, Captain Zepari, not hearsay and speculation. While I would advise you to be on your guard until we know more, please act natural. Assuming this is an ambush, I would rather our assailants not know that we know of their arrival.”

“Right...” answered Zepari, who was now looking at her as if she were insane.

Seconds ticked by. The two attempted to see past the other for any sign. Suddenly, T’Rehes’ face jerked so that it was looking just past Zepari’s right shoulder. He almost followed her gaze, but remembered her order and remained with his back to whatever she was looking at.

“See anything?”

“Yes. Four of them, however I can only see one face clearly. I can confirm though that they are carrying weapons and at least one is pointed at us.”

“Is that enough evidence for you?”

“It will suffice pending my access to the Pendragon’s computer. T’Rehes to Pendragon[/],” she continued as she tapped her combadge. “Two to beam up immediately.”

“Acknowledged!”

T’Rehes and Zepari disappeared just before several orange beams of phaser energy lanced through the space they had just been occupying. The pair reappeared on one of the Pendragon’s transporter pads. T’Rehes’ first officer was looking at her with alarm.

“Captain, we detected phaser fire right when we beamed you out!”

T’Rehes nodded. “Thank you for your concern, but I am fine. What is the current status of the Pendragon?”

The first officer was surprised by the sudden change of topic, but stammered out an answer. “Wha-- Uh, I mean, repairs were completed while you were down on the surface. We can leave on your command, however I still have not received any communication from Admiral Quinn for you.”

“Then I shall send one to him. Captain Zepari, what are your current standing orders?”

Zepari looked at her quizzically. “We’re due to patrol a number of star systems in the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Orionis sectors. There have been a number of anomalies that have been disrupting subspace which Starfleet wants us to investigate.”

T’Rehes considered that for a moment. “You mentioned that your ship is a Sol-class vessel. It would be dangerous for your ship to head that close to Klingon space without an escort. I will suggest that the Pendragon serve as such.”

“Excuse me?”

“In fact, I would argue that it would be dangerous for either of our ships to be alone in deep space at this point. Do you not agree?”

Zepari nodded as he understood what she was actually saying. “Yes, I agree Admiral. I will await the result of your meeting with Admiral Quinn back on the Aurora.”

Zepari soon beamed back to his own ship and T’Rehes returned to her ready room. Before she was able to contact Admiral Quinn though, her first officer entered the room and looked deeply concerned.

“Captain, why aren’t we alerting Starfleet Security? You were just attacked on Earth of all places!”

“If we alert them, we will be held here at Earth Stardock indefinitely while an investigation proceeds. Additionally, given that we have some circumstantial evidence that another admiral may be involved, we cannot be sure if the parties involved in the investigation are not similarly corrupted.”

“Another admiral!?”

“Yes. Obviously, this does not leave this room, Commander.”

The first officer nodded hesitantly. “Understood.”

“Excellent. Please prepare the ship for departure while I contact Admiral Quinn.”

Within two hours, the Pendragon was departing Earth Stardock along with the Aurora. As the two ships sailed side-by-side away from station, Admiral Terev watched from the window of her office. The look of frustration on her face was quite palpable to Commander Gallagher, who made sure to keep some distance away from the admiral lest she inspire her anger further.

((Sorry it's been so long since the last update. Real life got in the way. Hopefully there won't be such a long break again.))

Captain’s Log, Stardate 86066.67. The Stonewall has been patrolling the border of Federation and Klingon space for several weeks and is currently docked at K-7. Thankfully, recent activity has been at a lull as the Klingon Empire seems to have entered a holding pattern, though it is likely only a prelude to new hostilities. I have taken this opportunity to use the contacts I have to find this intelligence officer that Captain T’Laris mentioned. Unfortunately, I have had little success.

With the Stonewall docked at Station K-7, Nick had taken the opportunity to get off his ship and finish some administrative work in a setting that wasn’t his ready room, his quarters, or the Stonewall’s crew lounge. Despite how much he thought of his ship as home, it was nice to be somewhere with faces he didn’t recognize. With K-7 serving as one of Starfleet’s main strategic locations in the new war with the Klingon Empire, the station was a flurry of activity. Club K-7, where Nick was currently seated at the bar looking over a padd, was no exception. Between the ambient noise and the information he was absorbed in, he didn’t notice the waitress approach.

“Can I get you another drink, Admiral?”

Nick looked up in surprise at the woman standing next to his table. He glanced at his glass, which was empty.

“Yes, please.”

The woman nodded and walked back to the bar. She returned later and set a fresh concoction down on the table before walking off to take care of the other patrons. Nick took a tip of the synthehol drink and went back to the padd in his hand. He only got through a few more lines before he heard a man’s voice speaking next to him.

“A fake Cardassian sunrise. A pretty standard pick, though I’ve found women are more prone to ordering it.”

Nick looked up at the voice’s source, making little effort to hide his annoyance. What he found was a tall tan-skinned Starfleet officer with shortly cropped brown hair. The man caught Nick’s look and backpedaled with a grin.

“It’s a great drink though, don’t get me wrong.”

Nick raised an eyebrow. “Can I help you,” he asked, glancing at the man’s pips as he did so. “... Captain?”

The man caught the rank pull and made a slight grimace. “Sorry, sir. I was just making conversation. Allow me to make it up to you.”

Nick watched as the man flagged down a waitress and asked for a number of items, including soda, Centaurian whiskey, flour, and a box of matches. The waitress gave him an odd look.

“What are matches?”

The man sighed as if pained by the woman’s ignorance. “Just ask the replicator for them.”

The waitress shrugged and walked off. After she had left, Nick looked back at the man.

“Flour and matches? What exactly are you making?”

The man grinned. “A drink. It’s one of my favorites. As much as I would like to claim credit for it, it actually came from a Dabo girl I struck up a friendship with while stationed near the Neutral Zone.”

Nick found himself grinning despite himself. The man’s demeanor was disarming and Nick realized he was enjoying the break from work.

“Please, have a seat, Captain...?”

“McCloy, sir. Captain Ethan McCloy,” he said as he took the seat across from Nick. Just as he did, the waitress came by with the items that Ethan had requested. She set each of them down and seemed to linger in curiosity before realizing she had other customers that required her attention. Ethan picked up the soda and poured it into the glass, followed by the Centuarian liquor, speaking to Nick as he did.

“Apparently, whiskey from Alpha Centuari goes through a minimal amount of purification before it’s shipped. One of the components left in is an enzyme used in the fermenting process. Now, while this is the synthehol version, the enzyme is still used because its byproducts contribute to the taste.”

Ethan mixed the drink and then picked up the cup of flour and began pouring some of it in. Nick raised an eyebrow, as the thought of flour in a mixed drink wasn’t very appetizing. Ethan continued unabated.

“The enzyme readily processes flour, of all things, into a polymer. Don’t worry, it’s edible.”

Nick watched as parts of the clear drink began to take on a slightly different appearance that seemed much more solid. Ethan pulled a match from the box, struck it across the side to light it, and touched the flaming tip to the surface of the drink. It caught immediately, causing the surface of the drink to burn.

“The enzyme is deactivated by heat. You need to act fast or your whole drink becomes gelatin. Additionally, this only works with synthehol, because normal alcohol doesn’t burn hot enough. Ah... there we go!”

Nick watched as the drink stopped solidifying. The solid chunks floated to the top and bobbed on the surface. Ethan moved the drink toward Nick.

“And that, Admiral, is how you make a Centaurian arctic flamer.”

Nick picked up the drink, sniffed it with some trepidation, then took a sip large enough to also take in one of the floating globs. The drink had a strong, fizzy taste and, when he bit down on one of the gelatinous pieces, it released a burst of the flavor into his mouth. Nick gave the glass an impressed look.

“Excellent drink, Captain McCloy. Thank you. It’s really amazing what one learns in a bar.”

Ethan nodded with a sly grin. “It really is. Sometimes you learn how to make an excellent drink...”

At this, Ethan leaned forward and lowered his voice. “... and sometimes you learn about missing Starfleet reports.”

Nick, who had been taking another sip, practically spit the contents back out. He forced himself to swallow before he spoke.

“Captain?”

“Admiral, may I suggest that we adjourn to a more... secure... location to continue this conversation?”

Nick nodded in agreement, and soon the two were walking away from Club K-7. They continued in silence, even in the ride up the turbolift, until they reached a rather unassuming set of doors. Nick glanced at the nameplate to the side which indicated that they, in fact, led to Ethan’s office. The two stepped inside and, once the doors shut, Ethan began speaking.

“I’m sorry for not being more direct Admiral, but trust me when I say that my way may have been much safer. I’ve been waiting for you to arrive on K-7 after I received a message from an associate on Vulcan who informed me that you spoke with Captain T’Laris.”

“I’m glad you did. You have no idea how hard it is to find a Starfleet Intelligence officer when you don’t know his name.”

Ethan shrugged and walked over to a monitor on the wall. “Well, after that speech of yours on Earth Stardock, I’ve been wanting to meet you. Admiral, permission to speak freely?”

“Granted.”

“Admiral Ford, I admire what you’re trying to do, but you may have just committed suicide.”

Nick looked at Ethan with incredulity. “Yes, I’m aware my position isn’t popular, but I hardly think it’s career suicide.”

“Not career suicide. I mean actual suicide. That has made you some potentially dangerous enemies, not the least of whom is Admiral Terev.”

“Excuse me? Remember, you are speaking about a Starfleet admiral. She and I may disagree, but I hardly think she’s going to kill me over this.”

“Even if she’s the one who is responsible for those reports going missing?”

Nick blinked in surprise. “What!?”

“It’s a rather long trail, but I can assure you that I can prove she’s responsible. She and that damn subordinate of hers, Commander Gallagher. I know you probably find that hard to believe, so I took the liberty of putting it all on this padd.”

Ethan plucked a padd from his desk and handed it to Nick, who beheld it in disbelief. He briefly made an attempt to look through it all, but realized it probably wasn’t going to do him much good when he had other questions. Nick looked back at Ethan with a very concerned look.

“Even if what you say is true, what are their motives? Why deliberately try to sabotage Starfleet and the Federation? It’s not like the Borg are capable of planting secret agents among us.”

“No, they aren’t. But the Undine, on the other hand, are quite capable of it.”

Nick’s jaw dropped. “The Undine!? What proof do you have that they’re Undine!?”

“Not a whole lot, admittedly. However, it’s the only possibility that really makes any sense. In the past, covert operatives in Starfleet could have come from the Tal Shiar, the Obsidian Order, and the Changelings from the Dominion. However, not only are none of those agencies truly equipped to pull off such an operation these days, but they don’t have the motive. All three at least partially depend on the Federation to keep the Borg off their respective doorsteps and Starfleet Intelligence estimates that the chances of them performing an operation like this are exceedingly low. The only group that possesses both the means and the motive are the Undine. If the Borg were to invade and catch the Federation off-guard, it would destabilize the entire quardrant and give them a significant advantage.”

Silence permeated the room as Nick took in what Ethan had told him. When he couldn’t come up with a response, he looked back down at the padd and skimmed through it. Ethan waited patiently while Nick looked for any sign that he could be wrong. When he was unable to find anything, Nick shook his head.

“This is insane.”

Ethan shrugged. “I admit that it doesn’t prove Terev and Gallagher are Undine, but that information does prove they are responsible for the removal of those key reports, as well as shutting down all attempts to restart the Borg Task Force over the years. In my opinion, we need to treat them as the worst-case scenario until we know more.”

Nick mulled that over in his head and was about to respond when his combadge went off. He gave it a tap, though he was annoyed at the interruption.

“Ford here.”

“Captain, we just received new orders from Starfleet Command. They’re not priority one, but they are labeled as urgent. Are you near a secure terminal?” asked the voice of his first officer.

Nick looked at Ethan, who nodded and pointed to the one on his desk. Nick moved over to the terminal, activated it, and set up a secure link to the Stonewall.

“I’ve established an encrypted link, Commander. You can transmit them now.”

“Acknowledged, sir.”

In seconds, the terminal displayed the new orders that had come in. As Nick read them over, his eyes widened. Ethan’s curiosity was piqued.

“What’s wrong?”

Nick looked at the orders in concern as he read them over a second time. “Starfleet Command is ordering both myself and Captain T’Laris to the last known coordinates of the Aurora and the Pendragon. Apparently they both ships were patrolling the Orionis sectors when all contact suddenly ceased after they had left Rigel in Beta Orionis.”

Ethan frowned. “You and T’Laris? That’s an odd coincidence. And isn’t the Pendragon commanded by Admiral T’Rehes?”

Nick nodded. “Correct. And if that seems like a coincidence, wait until you hear which admiral these orders are coming down from.”

Ethan’s eyes widened. “No...”

Nick nodded. “Admiral Terev.”

Captain’s Log, Stardate 86085.80. Earlier today, we arrived in the Beta Orionis sector and began our search for the Pendragon and Aurora. So far our endeavors have yielded very little other than two engine trails that suddenly end for no apparent reason. I remain hopeful we will find some clue as to the reason for this strange disappearance... and that we are not too late.

Nick finished recording the log entry in his ready room when the comm system went off.

“Bridge to Admiral Ford, we are being hailed by the Garrett on an encrypted channel.”

“Patch it through to my ready room, Commander.”

Shortly after his first officer’s acknowledgement, the terminal on Nick’s desk blinked to life to show Captain T’Laris in her own ready room. The Vulcan wore her usual stoic expression.

“Report, Captain. Have your specialized sensor arrays picked up anything?”

The Vulcan nodded. “My Chief Engineer confirms that the the engine trails we encountered were indeed left by Sol- and Phoenix- class vessels, which match the respective classes of the Aurora and the Pendragon. I estimate that the chance these are the trails of two other ships is below 0.001%.”

Nick resisted the urge to chuckle at the gratuitous amount of information and nodded. “So at least we have somewhere to start. Anything else?”

“Just one, Admiral. At the area where the two engine trails vanish, our ship picked up the evidence of tachyon particles, though in very trace amounts. It is difficult to determine what could have spawned them, especially since there are a variety of these tachyon traces in other areas of this region of space.”

“Could you elaborate?” Nick asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Tachyon particles travel faster than light and, since we detect no actual particles in the system, they are not being produced here. Instead, we are detecting the effect of their radiation on other particles in the area. Additionally, we have detected two varieties of these remnant effects. At the moment, all we can deduce is that this may have something to do with the anomalies that the Pendragon and the Aurora were investigating.”

Nick frowned as he mulled that over in his head. “Tachyon particles are usually associated with some disturbance in the spacetime continuum. Could an opening to fluidic space have produced them?”

“It is possible, Admiral. That is one explanation out of many. We require more evidence before we can make any definitive conclusion, even with regard to its relationship to the disappearance of the two ships.”

At that moment, Nick heard T’Laris’ comm beep through the communication. Nick nodded, and T’Laris took the call.

“Yes, Commander?”

“Captain, we’re detecting a sudden instability in the fabric of space-time about 20 kilometers from our current position. We are also starting to detect tachyon particles.”

T’Laris raised an eyebrow then looked at Nick. Nick looked up expecting a call from his own bridge at any moment. “Captain, I’m going to return to my bridge. Investigate this new anomaly and we will do the same.”

T’Laris nodded and ended the communication. Nick stood and walked out of his ready room much to the surprise of his first officer.

“Captain, I was just about to call you on the comm. We’ve--”

“--picked up space-time anomalies and tachyon emissions. The Garret just did as well. Continue monitoring it and stay on the lookout for any others.”

“Yes, sir.”

Nick was about to take his seat on the bridge when his Chief Science Officer suddenly spoke up.

“Sir, I’m detecting chroniton particles 40 kilometers directly ahead!”

Nick looked back at the officer quizzically. “Chronitons? Is something decloaking?”

“No, sir. These are more like chronitons that emit from a quantum singularity, but there are no known... wait. Yes, there is an unstable quantum singularity forming at that location, sir! It’s becoming more pronounced. This isn’t unheard of, but rare. I believe it may be due to the instability of this region of the space-time continuum as well as the recent spike in tachyon particles. The interaction of all of these factors are allowing this singularity to form. It will probably dissipate shortly though.”

Something about this did not sit well with Nick. Quantum singularity... what could this have to do with...

Nick’s eyes widened as he remembered. Just as he was about to issue an order, the science officer shouted a report from the rear of the bridge.

“I’m detecting a rift opening in space-time!”

“Sir, the Garret is raising shields and powering weapons!”

T’Laris must have come to the same conclusion he had. “Do the same! We are at Red Alert. All hands, prepare for a confrontation with the Undine!”

His first officer looked at him in alarm. Just as Nick was about to explain, his tactical officer did it for him.

“I’m detecting Undine ships emerging from the rift. Sir... I’m counting three... and they’re Tethys Dreadnaughts.”

Nick felt a pit form in his stomach. The Stonewall and the Garrett were outgunned and outnumbered.

“Send a message to the Garret. Order them to leave the system at maximum warp. Helm, get us out of here!”

“Sir, I wouldn’t advise that,” came the voice of the bridge’s engineering officer. “Between the singularity and the tachyon particle bursts, we won’t be able to form a stable warp field. The best case is that our attempt at going to warp fails. The worst case is that the warp core experiences a positive feedback loop resulting in a cascade failure and breach.”

A silence fell across the bridge as the crew waited for Nick’s orders. Going to warp wouldn’t be possible for now, which meant fleeing wasn’t an option. There wasn’t any choice.

“Evasive manuevers. Execute attack pattern Omega-II once the first ship is clear of the rift. Keep their attention away from the Garret.”

Tactical and helm acknowledged the orders. The Stonewall moved into position as the first of the ships finished moving through the rift.

“Sir, communication incoming from the Garret.”

“Onscreen!”

The image of T’Laris and her bridge filled the viewscreen. “Admiral, my ship is detecting that the tachyon emissions are coming from a temporal rift in space-time, separate from that the Undine are using. The rift is too small at the moment, but a tachyon beam from our deflector array could open the rift further.”

Nick was surprised at what T’Laris was suggesting. It must have shown on his face, as T’Laris spoke further.

“Admiral, I put our chances at surviving this battle at less than 2%.”

Nick’s mind raced. Deliberately traveling through time without evidence that another party was altering the timeline was questionable according to the Temporal Prime Directive and probably a violation. At the same time though, was he willing to sacrifice his crew and that of the Garret? In a matter of seconds, but what seemed like minutes to him, Nick spoke.

“How long will the rift remain open?”

“Very briefly. It is highly unlikely the Dreadnaughts will be able to follow us.”

“Do it. You go first and we will follow.”

“Yes, Admiral. T’Laris out.”

The Garret flew toward the anomaly, positioning its side toward the first Dreadnaught. The Stonewall positioned itself off to the side, letting loose all of its phaser banks at the oncoming ship. The Dreadnaught responded in turn, hitting the Stonewall fore with a volley of its own.

“Forward shields down to 45%, Captain!”

“Reroute all reserve power to them and return fire!”

The two ships exchanged fire while a beam of blue light emitted from the Garret’s deflector array. Within seconds, a large rift began to form in front of the ship. Once it had reached the appropriate size, the ship flew toward the rift.

“Follow her in, now!” ordered Nick as his ship suddenly shook from a sustained hit. “Route shield power as needed!”

The Stonewall arced toward the rift, firing its rear weapons at the Dreadnaught. By now, all three ships began firing at the lone Federation vessel. The ship sustained the combined volley, its rear shields dropping just as it reached the rift. The Stonewall sailed through the rift just as the Dreadnaughts were powering up a second volley. The rift sealed shut a fraction of a second before the energy weapons lanced through the region of space it had once occupied.

“Captain, we are clearing the temporal rift. Interference is still too much for any accurate sensor readings. It will be about twenty more seconds until we can perform any scans.”

Admiral T’Rehes nodded from her seat in the captain’s chair. While the rest of the crew seemed incredibly anxious as the viewscreen began to shift from the swirling blues and greys of the rift to the black void of normal space, T’Rehes maintained her normal calm exterior. However, anyone paying close attention could see her eyes dart from one point on the viewscreen to the other as she looked for any sign of what her ship was about to encounter.

“Science, obtain the current stellar cartography to ascertain our spatial and temporal location. Tactical, once the interference has decreased, perform short- and long-range scans to determine the nature of any all ships in the vic--”

T’Rehes’ orders were interrupted as she suddenly gasped sharply. Her body jerked back into her seat, causing her first officer to react in alarm.

“Admiral!? Admiral! Bridge to Sickbay, we have a medical emergency! It’s the captain!”

T’Rehes suddenly jerked forward, as if pulling herself away from something. She began breathing heavily, her eyes wide and moving about in alarm. “... ed... lert...”

“Captain...?”

T’Rehes forced herself back up into a sitting position and looked at the viewscreen as it became clearer. “Red Alert! All hands prepare for engagement with the Borg!”

The entire bridge crew looked at T’Rehes in surprise and alarm. Her first officer gave her a perplexed expression while red klaxons began sounding. The operation officer had to raise his voice to be heard.

“We have cleared the temporal rift. Sensors are... detecting over twenty Borg vessels!?”

“Helm, plot the most direct course out of the area. Once the Aurora has emerged from the rift, send her the coordinates with orders to escape at maximum warp.”

By this point, the viewscreen had filled with the image of a number of Borg cubes and spheres. Eyes on the bridge moved from the screen to T’Rehes and back to the screen.

“Captain, I am detecting a number of other ships in the immediate area. They are exchanging fire with the Borg.”

“Federation?”

“No ma’am. They are... they’re Undine!”

“Onscreen!”

The image on the screen shifted to that of several Borg vessels engaging Undine ships. A number of ships on both sides looked to be taking heavy damage.

“We’ve emerged in the middle of a fight. Where are we, the Delta Quadrant!?” exclaimed T’Rehes’ first officer.

“I’m working on that ma’am! The interference from the temporal rift is still making it hard to get an accurate reading of current star positions.”

“Captain, the Aurora has emerged from the rift!”

“Transmit escape coordinates and order to proceed at maximum warp! The Borg have not yet noticed us, so escape is still an option!” ordered T’Rehes.

“Captain, I am reading two other vessels emerging! They’re... they’re Federation vessels!”

Everyone, including T’Rehes, snapped their heads to look at the officer at Tactical.

“Do you have identification?”

“There’s too much interference from the rift. I doubt we’d even be able to get a hail through.”

T’Rehes looked back at the viewscreen, which was still filled with a host of Borg and Undine ships. Her ship and the Aurora were in danger the longer they remained here. Additionally, there had been no Federation ships behind them when they had entered the rift.

“Orders, Captain?”

“Transmit orders to the Aurora to escape. We will hold position and wait for the other ships.”

A few seconds later, the Operations officer blinked in surprise. “Captain, the Aurora is respectfully disobeying. Also, Captain Zepari apparently thinks you need to ‘stop saying crazy things’.”

This got an eyebrow raise out of T’Rehes, but she said nothing. Seconds passed like hours as the two vessels waited for the mystery ships to emerge from the rift. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, T’Rehes’ tactical officer practically yelled his findings to the rest of the bridge.

“Captain, the two ships are the Garret... and the Stonewall!”

T’Rehes quickly nodded. “Transmit escape coordinates to them as well. Once they are clear of the rift, transmit my orders to escape at maximum warp on my mark.”

“Orders transmitted. Ships report they are standing by.”

“Engage.”

The four ships moved around the rift, which still remained open, and warped out of the system. After a few minutes, T’Rehes operations officer spoke up.

“Captain, the Aurora and Garret both report that neither the Borg nor the Undine are initiating pursuit. Admiral Ford of the Stonewall is also requesting a meeting of all commanding officers on his ship.”

T’Rehes nodded. “Acknowledged. Tell them that I will be joining them on the Stonewall. Alert them if there is any change, and continue ascertaining our location.”

A short time later, T’Rehes entered the senior staff conference room of the Stonewall. She noticed that Nick and T’Laris were standing at one of the table and conversing. Zepari had resigned himself to simply listening to their conversation, though his frown was telling enough of what he thought of the situation. The three looked up at T’Rehes and greeted her.

“We’re still waiting for some other officers, but we can begin now while they are finalizing their findings,” Nick said as he motioned for the three captains to sit.

T’Laris was the first to speak. “Astrometics on the Garret has determined our location. We have moved somewhat spatially. While we are still in the Beta Orionis sector, we emerged in deep space between the Pollux and Organia star systems. Additionally, star positions indicate that we have moved forward one year into the future.”

Nick shook his head. “I can’t believe it. The Borg already have so many ships here. I suspected they would come eventually but... so soon?”

“It gets worse,” Zepari said with a scowl. “Once the Garret ascertained we only moved a year into the future, I figured it would be alright to communicate with other Federation worlds. So far... none have answered our hails. Additionally, long-range sensors indicate that a number of inhabited worlds, such as Pollux IV, have... changed.”

“Changed?” T’Rehes asked as her head snapped to to Zepari.

“Yes. Pollux IV, Organia, and the Federation colony on Vega have all experienced increased levels of methane, carbon monoxide, and fluorine.”

Nick closed his eyes with a heavy sigh. “Similar to what the Enterprise-E recorded on Earth when the Borg traveled back in time to assimilate it?”

Zepari nodded. “Not nearly as drastic of a change, but... yes.” The El-Aurian’s voice then softened. “Admiral, you should know that so far we have been unable to communicate with any major Starfleet installation... including Headquarters on Earth.”

Nick’s eyes turned to the large windows of the conference room. Space suddenly seemed like a much more dangerous and lonely place.

“One year. One blasted year!” he yelled, slamming his fist on the table in frustration. The other captains remained silent as Nick fumed. “That’s all they needed to just... take everything. Every world, every culture... gone.”

“Admiral, it is entirely possible that, while the Borg have made advances, it is not all ‘gone’. Additionally, we have no idea how much our absence and the Borg’s presence have altered the timeline,” suggested T’Laris.

Nick looked at T’Laris in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“The rift we traveled through, while unstable in our original time, is completely stable in this time. While we were escaping, my ship scanned the area around the rift and found a number of Borg devices around the perimeter that seemed to be keeping it open. Given the Borg’s previous attempts to use time travel as a weapon, it seems highly likely that Borg are using it as a way to launch a surprise attack on the Federation. Additionally, since we traveled into the future, we were not there to continue to push the Federation to prepare for such an attack.”

Zepari gave T’Laris a questioning look. “But if that’s true, wouldn’t there needed to have been Borg present in this time and location to launch the attack from the original timeline to create the rift in the first place?”

“Precisely, Captain. The very fact that the Borg attempted this to begin with, in the original timeline that we had not left, indicates that while the Borg have returned, their attempts to assimilate the Federation were so unsuccessful that they decided to resort to time travel. Such a strategy is inherently unpredictable, making it a method that would not be preferred by a species like the Borg. However, once we entered the rift, our absence may have changed events and resulted in this future.”

T’Rehes looked at T’Laris with only a raised eyebrow. “That is merely speculation, T’Laris. There are a number of paradoxes in your suggestion.”

T’Laris nodded. “Yes, that is true. However, given that paradoxes themselves are pure speculation as well, I found it logical to not speak of them and instead present the most optimistic scenario.” T’Laris glanced over at Nick. “The improved performance of Humans when presented with a ‘hopeful’ scenario seemed a desirable goal.”

Nick blinked at T’Laris then started to chuckle. “Point taken, T’Laris. Thank you.”

T’Laris merely nodded, just as the door to the conference room slid open to allow two officers into the room. One had bleached blond hair and was dressed in command red while the other was shaved bald and wore engineering yellow. Nick nodded to the two as they entered and gestured to the man in red.

“I’d like to introduce my officer at Tactical, Lieutenant Commander Aaron Svenson, though on this ship he has the rather unique nickname of ‘Starseed’.”

Aaron managed a small grin, wondering why that had to be included. He glanced over at the bald man on his right, who was looking over at Zepari expectantly. Nick caught the glance and looked at Zepari as well.

“I apologize Admiral, but I took the liberty of inviting my Chief Engineer, Commander Ooom, over to share some findings with us. He’s been going over the data that Captain T’Laris’ ship acquired on the Borg devices keeping that temporal rift open.”

Nick nodded. “Excellent. Commander, I trust you have good news for us.”

“I believe so, sir.” nodded Ooom as he proceeded over to a screen on the wall and tapped a few buttons on his padd. The screen came up with an image of what appeared to be a bulky, metal frame in a roughly square shape. It was undeniably Borg in appearance.

“Using the data supplied by the Garret, we’ve determined that this device is maintaining the temporal rift. Without it, the rift would become incredibly unstable and would likely seal shut within seconds. After studying it, it doesn’t appear as if the device is shielded or well-armored. Whatever the Borg’s true purpose in building it, I don’t think they were expecting the Undine to show up.”

Nick raised an optimistic eyebrow. “So it could be easily destroyed?”

Ooom nodded. “A volley of torpedoes at several key areas would most likely do the trick. However, following the frame’s destruction, it is likely that the rift would not remain open long enough for all four of our ships to pass through before it permanently shuts.”

“Mines?”

At this point, Aaron spoke up. “Possible, but we wouldn’t be sure that they did the job. If some were accidentally sucked into the rift, the frame would survive and Borg ships could follow us through. As it is, long-range sensors have detected that at least ten Borg ships have entered the rift. We need to make sure that none are able to follow us and attack us while we are in the rift, as we will be extremely vulnerable. During the last trip through, shields and weapons were experiencing intermittent failure.”

“In that case,” said T’Rehes matter-of-factly, “the Pendragon will be the ship to remain behind and destory the frame.”

Nick looked at T’Rehes in surprise. “You realize that you’re suggesting suicide.”

“On the contrary Nick, I am suggesting a strategy that will result in the highest likelihood of all ships surviving. Not only does the Pendragon have more torpedo capability than the other three ships, but she is also the fastest. This strategy posits the highest chance of success.”

Nick and Zepari frowned. They didn’t want to admit it, but T’Rehes was right. A Phoenix-class ship was one of the fastest starships Starfleet had at its disposal, second only to the Defiant series.

“Assuming we go with that strategy... Mr. Starseed, I will need be putting you on point to coordinate tactical manuevers with the other ships. While the Borg ignored us during our escape, they will likely regard us as a threat as we approach the rift again. Any suggestions?”

Aaron nodded and tapped a button next to the monitor, causing the image to change to a tactical readout of space. It filled with a number of green and brown points, as well as a large square near the bottom.

“This is the current positioning data that the Stonewall is recording of the area near the rift. As you can see, there are a number of Borg and Undine ships. The Borg are currently positioned to keep the Undine away from the rift, whom have been unable to flank the target. This means that approaching from the opposite trajectory would be the best. There are less Borg ships between us and the rift and the Undine are on the far side of the biggest group.”

Nick nodded. “Excellent work, Mr. Starseed. Unless their are any objections from the other captains, I’d like to implement this strategy.”

The other captains said nothing. Nick took a breath and nodded. “Then let’s begin. Once your ships are ready, send an alert. I want to get out of this godforsaken time and back to our present as soon as possible.”

((My apologies for the long hiatus on this story. Life got in the way, but today I got some time to write finally!))

Some time later on the Stonewall, two officers were walking toward the turbolift on the way to the bridge. The two human males, one a cleanshaven brown-haired man dressed in blue and the other a skinhead with a goatee dressed in yellow, walked in thoughtful silence. As they neared the lift, the yellow-clad engineer suddenly spoke up.

“Hold on, something has been bugging me about all this.”

The science officer stopped and cocked an eyebrow. “About what? The captain’s strategy?”

“No,” said the engineer with a shake of his head. “Not that. I’m just confused as to how this whole time-traveling thing has worked out.”

“How so?”

“Well, we were sent to locate the Aurora and the Pendragon, which disappeared at least a good five days before we arrived at their last known coordinates. However, after we escaped from the Undine through that rift, we came out right behind them.”

The science officer nodded. “Yeah, that’s because of a corollary of the Conservation of Temporal Flux theorem. Essentially, without any sort of temporal propulsion system, movement through a temporal system will always land you in the space-time coordinates of least resistance. While our four ships left from two different space-time coordinates, we ended up at the same one because of the Gate that the Borg constructed on this end, which effectively stabilized this area of the continuum.”

After some thought, the engineer nodded. “So... it’s like two streams of water running down a hill and joining into a bigger stream. We left from two different points, but the natural path led us to the same end point.”

“Yeah, that’s a good way to think about it.”

“So... then what will ensure that we exit at the same spot together... with the Borg we’re trying to stop?”

“It’s the same thing, really. Presumably, in order to launch the kind of attack that the Borg seem to be executing on our time from this future, they need to make sure all their ships arrive at the same time-space coordinate. They’ve likely sent a ship ahead to erect another Gate at the desired coordinate, which will stabilize that point of the continuum as well. This will ensure that a larger group of ships all arrive at the same time and place.”

“Makes sense, I guess. Of course, we’re going to need to survive getting to the Gate for it to even matter.” At this point, the engineer noticed that the science officer, while making his explanation, had been fidgeting with something on his index finger. It was a silver ring with a green amberstone set into it.

“Where did you get the ring?”

The science officer looked down at it. “Oh... uh, just picked it up when we were on Earth. It looks nice, but... I dunno. I don’t know if it’s really my thing.”

“It’s not,” the engineer said bluntly.

“Yeah... plus just having a ring on has been kind of distract--”

The science officer was cut off by a voice from the comm system. “Officers Hall and Hufford, please report to your posts on the Bridge.”

The two winced, realizing that the conversation had made them late, and bolted for the turbolift. A minute later, the two had entered the bridge with haste and taken their positions at Science and Engineering stations.

“Get lost on your way to the turbolift?” asked Nick’s first officer.

“No, ma’am. Just going over some last-minute details,” said Hall sheepishly.

Nick nodded from his seat in the captain’s chair and looked over at his Ops officer. “Status of the other ships?”

“They have reported they are ready to begin and are awaiting your command, sir.”

“Excellent. Helm, ETA?”

“We are ten minutes out, Captain.”

“Send an order to the ships to synchronize on a ten-minute countdown to drop out of warp. Following that, we proceed toward the Gate at full impulse in cover formation around the Pendragon. She’s going to be the last one out, so the less damage she takes en route, the better.”

“Yes, sir!” came the response from a number of bridge personnel as they went about preparing their assigned roles.

The minutes passed like years as the quartet of ships closed back in on the Borg-Undine skirmish. As the small group of ships drew closer to their destination, the Helm officer’s voice began counting down. First the minutes, then the seconds.

“Dropping out of warp in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...”

The stars that had been zooming by on the viewscreen suddenly stopped in their tracks. In the dead center was a number of Borg and Undine ships, with the Gate just barely visible.

“Ford to fleet, full impulse toward the Borg Gate. Cover the Pendragon and prepare for engagement with the Borg and Undine!”

The four ships sped toward the Gate with the Pendragon taking the interior rear position behind the other three ships’ triangle formation. Now that they were heading for the Gate as opposed to away from it, the Borg ships took notice. A number of spheres and cubes began altering their course to intercept. Of course, the Undine took advantage and pursued them.

“We have Borg and Undine ships en route, but so far the Undine appear to be focusing on the Borg,” reported Starseed.

“Let’s hope it stays that way. Continue course and fire only on the Borg. Do not fire on the Undine unless they fire first.”

“Borg ships firing!”

The ships flew straight through the Borg’s line of fire and traded fire. As they flew by, the Borg cubes emitted the glowing green light of a tractor beam, but the quick action of the ships’ engineers managed to repel them.

“Hull polarization modulation sequence initiated,” announced Hufford. “This should keep their tractor beams off of us for a least a minute or so. Should be enough to get us to the Gate.”

“Excellent. Helm, ETA. Ops, status of the other ships.”

“45 seconds, sir!”

“Shields holding at around 70% on our three point ships. Shields holding at 95% on the Pendragon. So far no ship appears to have suffered significant system or structural damage.”

“So far so good,” muttered Nick’s first officer. Nick nodded in agreement. The stratagem was working at least to the point that hope no longer seemed foolish.

“More Borg ships changing course toward us. The Undine are continuing their fire on the Borg.”

“Auxiliary power to shields and engines!”

While it seemed like an eternity, the ships quickly cleared the distane that separated them from the Gate. As they neared it, T’Rehes’ voice came over the Stonewall’s bridge comm.

“We are initiating fire on the Gate. We anticipate the Gate will sustain several shots before the distortion begins to destabilize.”

“Acknowledged!”

A massive volley of torpedoes shot out from the Pendragon’s fore torpedo launchers, speeding past the other three ships and impacting the Gate’s structure. Explosions bloomed around it’s hull like flowers. As the three fore ships began to enter the distortion, the Pendragon fired another volley.

“We are entering the temporal distortion,” reported Hall. “Interference from the field will prevent us from monitoring the Pendragon...”

Nick picked up on the officer’s tone and nodded. “Ford to Pendragon. Good luck... and see you on the other side.”

“... Thank you, Ford. We look forward to join-- yo-- her-- de---”

Hall shook his head. “The interference is too much. Looks like we’re on comm silence, sir. However, I can confirm that the Garret and the Aurora succeeded in following us into the time stream.”

Nick nodded and the bridge fell into a tense silence. The viewscreen was filled the blues and whites of the temporal distortion. Eventually, Hall spoke up. “Sir, interference from the distortion is clearing up. We will be clearing it in 5 seconds.”

“Once we’re clear, I want to know where and when we are, and how many Borg made it through that damn Gate. Ops, relay an order to the Garret and the Pendragon to wait 20 seconds and then fire on the Gate.”

“Sir!?” exclaimed the Ops officer and Starseed in simultaneous surprise.

“... you have your orders. We have to prevent any further Borg vessels from entering this time. Besides, if the Pendragon survived, it will emerge shortly after us.”

“... yes, sir,” acknowledged the officers.

The ships flew out of the Gate and came to a stop a short distance in front of it.

“Aft torpedoes ready and targeting the Gate. With all three ships firing, one volley will be sufficient to destroy it,” announced Starseed.

“Sir, I’ve completed an astrometic analysis of our surroundings. We are currently outside of the Vega system. It is now Stardate 86088.35; 25 hours after we left this time. Additionally, engine signatures indicate that all Borg ships that emerged from this Gate are heading toward Vega Colony. There are none in our immediate area.”

Hufford looked up from his console. “That suggests that the Borg somehow managed to get the two Gates in some sort of chronosynchronous operation. Ships that entered the Gate earlier on the other side of the rift have exited it earlier as well.”

Nick nodded and looked at Starseed. The Tactical officer let out a small sigh. “Sir, no reading of the Pendragon yet. Torpedoes are locked and loaded.”

Silence filled the bridge again. Nick took a breath and closed his eyes. “Fi--”

“Sir!” exclaimed Hall. “I recommend against destroying the Gate. Doing so would have... consequences.”

Nick looked at his Science officer in confusion. “What do you mean?”

Hall faltered and seemed flustered as he looked at his console. “Sir, I’m sorry but... you should look at this. Personally.”

The bridge officers looked at each other in confusion. Hall grew red in the face as everyone looked at him. Nick stood up from his seat and quickly walked to the science station. Hall pointed to a reading on the screen. Whatever the console was showing caused Nick to react with surprise, then a slow nod.

“Acknowledged. Starseed, refrain from the destroying the Gate. However, we will hold position here. If you’re right, Hufford, and the Gates are in sync, another minute should ensure that no other ships made it through after the Pendragon destroyed the Gate.”

The Ops officer took this moment to speak up. “Sir, Captain Zepari wants to know if you’ve ‘made up your mind’ yet about destroying ‘this bloody Borg hulk’.”

Nick smirked and was about to respond when Starseed made an announcement.

“Sir! It’s the Pendragon! She’s emerging from the Gate!”

Sure enough, the viewscreen showed the Pendragon flying out of the distortion.”

“Ford to Pendragon! How you doing over there!?”

“-- e -- one piece, as you humans say,” came T’Rehes’ voice. “Shields are low, but we have sustained little damage to our ship systems.”

“We’ve detected Borg heading for Vega. Can you join us?”

“Yes, however our battle capacity will be decreased. I recommend sending a Priority One message to all ships in the area. It is unlikely we will be able to eliminate a Borg invasion force by ourselves.”

“Will do. Ford to all ships, set a course for Vega, maximum warp. Ops, send a Priority One message to all Starfleet ships alerting them to the situation. Additionally, send a message to Vega that we are on the way.”

“Yes, sir!”

With that, the ships warped away from the Gate and toward the Vega system a short distance away.

On the surface of the Vega Colony, Commander Kelly was barking out orders to the security staff around him. Most were civilian-level, which was unfortunate because they were much less capable of keeping their cool than the few Starfleet officers he had at his disposal. Just after he finished snapping one shell-shocked man out of his stupor and sent him running to rejoin his squad, a much more level-headed ensign approached him.

“Commander! I’ve just received word from Security that the Borg ships have destroyed the planet’s orbital defenses! They’ve also confirmed Borg transporter signals, though at the moment they are confined to the forest about 5 kilometers to the west.”

Kelly quickly nodded and pointed to a large pile of crates near him.

“Thank you, Ensign Byarnez. They’ll likely beam here to assimilate the civilians we haven’t evacuated yet, so start distributing these weapons to anyone who can fire a phaser rifle.”

Byarnez looked at Kelly quizzically before she looked over at the stack he was pointing to. Her brow and forehead bone structure raised in surprise.

“Sir... where did those come from? I only just relayed the order for the small cache of weapons we have to be transferred from storage less than a minute ago...”

Kelly gave the ensign a look but didn’t answer. Byarnez studied him for a moment, then simply nodded and headed to the weapons supply. She got the feeling this had something to do with the fact that Kelly had begun ordering an evacuation of the colony five minutes before the Borg had ever shown up on sensors. She had her suspicions, but focused on the task at hand. No sooner than she had started distributing weapons to the able-bodied than a new set of alarm klaxons began going off. She looked up and saw a number of green columns of light popping up between the nearby buildings.

“Commander! We have Borg!” she shouted as she continued to distribute weapons.

“I see that, Ensign!” he replied as he tapped his comm badge. “Security, have any ships responded to our distress signal!?”

“Yes, sir. Four ships have warped in and are currently engaging the Borg.”

“Four!? That’s it?”

“So far, sir,” responded the voice with a hint of hope.

Kelly shook his head as he picked up a phaser rifle and fired it at encroaching Borg. Even with the warning he had received, it would be a miracle if the Borg were stopped.

Meanwhile, on the bridge of the Pendragon, T’Rehes was looking at the bridge’s main viewscreen, which showed a view of Borg ships as the ship sailed past one sphere, phasers blazing. Between the Pendragon and the planet were a staggering number of Borg vessels, ranging from the smaller probes and spheres to the more massive cubes.

T’Rehes’ tactical officer was reporting on the situation to the rest of the Bridge. “Shields are holding. So far, the Borg are doing little to retaliate. Additionally, the Borg vessels have destroyed the planet’s defensive systems and are beaming drones onto its surface.”

“Ma’am, I’m getting some... odd... readings from the Borg vessels,” interjected her Science officer from the rear of the bridge. T’Rehes’ head snapped toward her.

“Odd? Explain.”

“Well, first there’s the fact that nearly all of the Borg ships have suffered significant damage. So far I have yet to find a Borg ship that isn’t leaking massive amounts of plasma.”

The Tactical officer looked up from his console. “They did all come from a skirmish with the Undine. Wouldn’t that explain it?”

“No, that only explains some of the damage. Sensors are picking up signs of damage caused by phasers, which Undine ships aren’t equipped with. On top of that... these Borg ships are behaving oddly. Not only are they largely not retaliating against us, but the energy output form their ships is, on average, half of what was recorded during previous engagements.”

T’Rehes remained silent as she mulled these new pieces of data over in her mind. After a moment, she shook her head.

“Our objective remains the same. Continue firing on Borg ships. Ops, do you have an ETA of any ships that have responded to Admiral Ford’s request for assistance?”

The officer shook his head and responded in a frustrated tone. “Unfortunately, one of the Borg’s first actions seemed to have been to destroy the planet’s communications array, which functioned as one of the key relay stations in this sector. It’s making it difficult to pick up any answer from Starfleet Command, assuming they even heard it in the first place. However, I can say that I’m reading a small number of ships on long-range sensors that are en route from patrolling the area and should be here over the next twenty minutes, including theBohr, Khitomer and Oakland.”

“Update them on the current situation as they arr--”

The ship suddenly rocked violently, interrupting T’Rehes and throwing a number of crew members about.

“Report!”

“The Borg ships have noticed us, ma’am! We have sustained weapons fire from several spheres.”

“Execute evasive maneuvers followed by attack pattern Beta-II!”

The Pendragon pulled a hard turn to starboard and dropped a number of mines between it and the Borg spheres. One sphere in particular took the brunt of the ensuing explosive impacts and was soon blowing itself apart. The ease at which the sphere was destroyed was not lost on the bridge crew of the Aurora, which was busy running interference on the Borg ships that had finally decided to fire back.

“Tachyon beam effective, Captain Zepari. The Borg sphere’s shields are down.”

“Fire all torpedoes!”

Zepari’s own tactical officer reacted with surprise when the sphere went down with little difficulty.

“Sir, I seem to remember the Borg being much harder to kill from the lectures at the Academy.”

“They are supposed to be harder. There’s something off about them. However, it makes ‘em easier to take down, I’m all for it. Continue monitoring the status of the other Starfleet ships and helping them where we can!”

As the Battle for Vega Colony began, the four ships took full advantage of the Borg’s surprisingly disorganized and damaged state. At the beginning, they made encouraging progress against them and slowly moved through the Borg fleet toward the colony. However, as they began to make themselves more of a threat, the Borg took more notice and directed more of their fire toward them. While it was still in a disorganized fashion, to the point where some weapons fire was missing the Starfleet ships by a shocking wide margin, the numbers were against them. The Borg, unlike in times past when they had invaded the Federation, had sheer numbers on their side. Even as other Starfleet ships began to trickle in from neighboring systems, the battle was taking its toll on them all.

On the bridge of the Stonewall, Nick was almost thrown out of his seat when a Borg ship fired on a weak section of his ship’s shields.

“Damage report!”

“Casualities reported on Decks 22 trough 25! We’re also suffering intermittent power failures to critical systems on those decks. I’m rerouting power to compensate!” shouted back his Ops officer.

“Sir, weapons power is down to 60%!” shouted Starseed over the voices of other officers. “We’ve taken serious damage to the weapons relay systems that we can’t fix while engaged in a fight!”

“Admiral, the Garret reports Borg have begun boarding their vessel!”

Nick’s mind raced to deal with the fires that were sprouting up all around him. His gut began sinking as he realized which direction the tide had turned, but he knew it would do no good to give into it.

“Engineering, see what you can do about that busted weapons relay! I don’t care if you need to hold it together with hydrospanners that have been melted together, we need them. All hands, prepare for possible Borg boarding parties!”

In response, each of the bridge officers reached under their seats to grab phasers that were stored there as an anti-boarding measure. An eerie silence permeated the bridge as the officers went about keeping the ship fighting while waiting for the dreaded appearance of Borg drones. When one voice did ring out, it caused half the officers to jump in their seats.

“Admiral! Long-range sensors have detected... twenty ships incoming at maximum warp!” shouted Hall from his post at Science.

The mood on the Stonewall’s bridge responded immediately. Nick looked over at him. “In one group!? Who is in command?”

“Unknown sir, but the lead ship is... the Radiance, sir. Current commanding officer is Captain McCloy, sir.”

If Nick’s jaw could drop any lower, it would have crashed into the floor of the bridge. He looked over at his Ops officer. “Hail the Radiance and put it on the viewscreen!”

In seconds, Captain Ethan McCloy’s face was on the viewscreen giving Nick a grin.

“Greetings, Admiral! I’m glad we could finally make it to the party. If you don’t mind me asking sir, where have you been? We’ve been looking for you since you vanished!”

“We?” asked Nick with some surprise.

“I can’t say too much over this channel, Admiral, but it turns out that your concerns regarding the Borg took on new immediacy when the Stonewall and the Garret vanished in pursuit of the other two ships. With the help of a certain admiral back at Earth, I managed to organize a sizeable number of ships to come looking for you. Luckily, that put all of us at your last known location when we received the call from the colony. I’d like to know how we missed your reappearance!”

“There will be time for that later, Captain McCloy. For now, we need all the help that we can get defending Vega from the Borg.”

Ethan nodded, his grin vanishing into a more serious expression. “And you have it, Admiral Ford. Courtesy of Admiral Quinn’s official order, the newly commissioned Stonewall Fleet is under your command.”

Nick looked at Ethan with stunned amazement, then gave him a quick nod as he forced himself back to the reality that faced them. “Acknowledged, Captain, and thank you. Ford out.”

Once Ethan’s face had disappeared from the viewscreen, Nick let out a breath as he figured out his next move. The factors of this battle were about to change drastically and hopefully it would be enough that they’d all get out of this alive.

“Ops, open a channel to the fleet.”

“Yes, sir. Hailing frequencies open.”

“Starfleet ships, this is Rear Admiral Nicholas Ford. Per Admiral Quinn’s orders, I am now taking command of this fleet. I wish it was under better circumstances. However, a Borg invasion was the first impetus behind the formation of this flight. Today, we will demonstrate, as we have time and again, that resistance is not futile and that their Collective is not superior to our Federation. Against their homogenous, tyrannical hive mind, we will show them that strength from our diversity.”

Nick looked over at his Tactical and Science officers as he continued. “We will be sending our current tactical and science data regarding this Borg fleet. You will find they are behaving in an anomalous manner that has been impairing their ability to attack us. With your help, I believe we can win this battle. Ford out.”

The officers nodded and began transmitting their data to the other ships in the fleet. Over the next few minutes, the Starfleet ships that composed the newly-formed Stonewall Fleet warped into area around Vega Colony and began engaging the Borg. With some of the pressure taken off of them, the Stonewall and the other ships that initiated the defense of the colony were able to fall back and regroup. However, as soon as their stopgap repairs were completed, even these battle-worn ships re-entered the fray to defend Vega and the Federation.

It was a long, grueling fight that eventually encompassed the entire Vega system as the Borg vessels became even more disorganized and began to scatter. As time passed, the tide continued to turn as even more Starfleet and Federation ships entered the system to defend against the Borg incursion. Every ship fought valiantly and none retreated. From the Stonewall and Pendragon respectively, Nick coordinated the space defense while he gave command of the ground away teams to T’Rehes.

“Sir, over 75% of the Borg fleet has been destroyed!”

“Ma’am, our away teams have found the structures the Borg have been fabricating on the surface. They are engaging now.”

“Sir, the Khitomer and Pandora both report that their senior staff have been killed by Borg boarding parties. They are informing us that lower-level officers have taken command.”

“Ma’am, the away teams are reporting that the Borg are attempting to abduct colonists near evacuation points. They are requesting back-up from any ships that can spare personnel.”

By the end of the Battle for Vega Colony, the system was littered with the wreckage of Borg and Federation ships alike. However, when all was said and done, Vega Colony was still a Federation world and the Borg fleet had been destroyed.

((Epilogue to follow...))

Fleet Admiral’s Log, Stardate 86107.6. It has been a week since the battle with the Borg fleet. Since then, most of our ships have returned to Earth Stardock to undergo repairs, though a few have remained to assist with helping Vega Colony recover and analyze the wreckage of the Borg vessels. I would have rather that this new fleet be born without such bloodshed and loss, but at least it was successful in defending the Federation from what could have been a devastating attack. Now the only question is what our next move shall be.

Nick looked out one of the large observation windows the reception lounge and let out a small sigh. Over a month ago, he had been standing in this very same room after being promoted to the rank of rear admiral. His idea to restart the Borg Task Force had been met with skepticism by his peers. Though he took little joy in being proven right on this matter, he was at least glad that his efforts since his fateful discussion with Quinn had not been futile. He looked over his shoulder at the room, which was now full of captains and senior officers from the ships that made up the week-old Stonewall Fleet, and grinned. There was a lot of work to do, but at least this time he would have a lot of help.

“I am surprised, Nicholas. I have always observed you to be much more social than this.”

Nick looked to his side and saw T’Rehes and T’Laris standing there, both in typical Vulcan stoic fashion. When Nick didn’t immediately answer, T’Rehes tilted her head in her usual sudden, staccato manner.

“Is something wrong?”

Nick shook his head. “No, I’m just tired. Since we returned to Earth, I don’t think I’ve had more than ten minutes to myself.”

T’Laris raised an eyebrow. “Is that unexpected? You and Admiral T’Rehes took command of a battle that was not only a success, but perhaps vital to the survival of the Federation. From what I have observed of most cultures within the Federation, including your own, this normally entails a great deal of attention.”

Nick only chuckled at the Vulcan’s analysis. “Not unexpected, just... overwhelming. Especially when there’s also the matter of organizing the new fleet.”

“Regarding that topic,” interjected T’Rehes’, “I have a number of reports and requests you should read that have come in from our member crews. A statistically high number of ships lost their commanding officers in the battle, and there is a particularly interesting report from one such ship, the Pandora, regarding the behavior of the Borg boarding par--”

“Is this really the time for this? Let him enjoy this bit of celebration!”

The three looked over at Zepari, who had interrupted T’Rehes and thrust a drink into Nick’s face. Nick eyed the glass suspiciously, but Zepari shook his head.

“Don’t worry, it’s a standard synthehol drink.”

Nick could have sworn he then heard Zepari mutter something about the ‘good stuff’ being kept somewhere. He looked past Zepari and noticed, in the rear corner of the room, Quinn and Ethan speaking. He made a mental note to ask them about it later, as he had a feeling it had to do with a some more... unspoken... matters. Zepari followed his glance and frowned.

“I wonder what that's all about," muttered Zepari.

Nick had a feeling it might be about what he had discovered with regard to Terev and Gallagher, but he said nothing. It wasn't for public discussion, even with the other captains.

T’Laris took the ensuing silence as an opportunity to ask a question that had been on her mind.

“Admiral, I have been meaning to ask you. After our ships returned to this time through the temporal distortion, why did you order us not to destroy the gate, even after the Pendragon succeeded in coming through?”

Nick took a rather prolonged sip from his drink. The only two people he had explained this action to were T’Rehes and Quinn. He noticed T’Rehes studying him as he tried to come up with an answer that wouldn’t violate the Temporal Prime Directive. Finally, he looked at T’Laris and grinned.

“Let’s just say that one day you’ll thank me for my restraint.”

The cyptic answer prompted an eyebrow raise from T’Laris, but she took didn’t inquire further. Zepari, on the other hand, rolled his eyes Nick just shook his head with a grin in response and looked back out the window at the blue planet below.

“It will be nice to have a day of shore leave. I’m thinking a day at the beach. If I don’t get some natural light soon, I might have to start taking vitamin D supplements.”

T’Rehes tilted her head slightly. “Actually, Admiral, the lighting on all Starfleet starships is designed to provide the wavelengths necessary for the human body to produce that vitamin.”

Nick was about to tell T’Rehes it was a bad joke when a chime sounded throughout the lounge, which drew everyone’s attention to a podium at the front, behind which Admiral Quinn was standing. He cleared his throat and spoke.

“As you all know, we are there today to commission the new Stonewall Fleet. It has already enjoyed an important success in the defense of the Federation and, indeed, all sentient life in the Alpha Quadrant. However, instead of listening to me speak, I think it would be best if we heard from the Fleet Admiral himself. Admiral Ford, would you care to say a few words?”

Everyone in the room looked back at Nick. He looked over at T’Rehes, who immediately caught what he was thinking and gave a quick, terse shake of her head.

“I appreciate the offer, Nicholas, but I believe it would be best if you were the sole speaker.”

Nick looked at her for a moment, then nodded and walked to the podium at the center of the room. He looked out at the faces of captains and officers looking back at him. Save for a few admirals, most were members of the new fleet. They were now, to some degree at least, under his command. He realized that in the same way he through of his ship as home and his crew as his family, he would likely come to think of the fleet the same way. The thought brought a soft smile to his face as he spoke.

“I wish there wasn’t a need for this fleet. I wish that we didn’t need a special force to fight the forces that work against the Federation and its ideals of equality, mutual cooperation, and independence. Unfortunately, that is not the galaxy we find ourselves in. There is a need for this fleet, possibly more so than ever in the Federation’s history as we find ourselves facing threats from all sides. All that said, I am proud to find myself in this endeavor with all of you, who have already demonstrated your exceptional ability and dedication. All of us represent so many different species, worlds, and cultures... and I believe that, in the months to come, we will be able to face any challenge with the strength that comes from that diversity. Thank you.”

The assembled captains and officers broke out into applause as Nick finished his short speech. He looked at the gathered fleet members, then to T’Laris, Zepari, and T’Rehes, then finally out at the stars that shone behind them all. He found himself smiling again and realized that the future of the galaxy looked just a little bit brighter.

Space. The final frontier.

These are the voyages of the Stonewall Fleet.

It’s continuing mission, to draw strength from diversity

To defend the ideals and peoples of the Federation

And to boldly go where no one has gone before!


((That's a wrap for "The Stonewall Resistance"! I'd like to thank Mandy for commissioning me to write this story back in June. Holy crap, it's been five months. Sorry this took so long, Mandy! I'd also like to thank Mandy, Nick, Zep, Bradley, and Brandon for sitting down me with for interviews about their characters so I didn't go off half-cocked. Finally, I'd like to thank you for reading this story. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.))

((BRAVO!!! This has been the best Trek lit I have ever read. 100% honest. Amazing job, Eric! What a fantastic adventure :)))

((Oh wow, thank you! That's an amazing compliment to receive, especially since one of your characters was among those I had to portray. I'm very glad that you liked the story!))

I loved it too! I want to see it published so everyone can see. Thanks Eric!

Thanks Eric!! The story was amazing and I've loved every minute of it!

I got to recruit zep! *snicker*

I loved every word of it, well worth...umm...well, what ever it was that I spent on it. 3 zillion tribbles I think...

@Zep & Nick: Yay! I'm really glad you guys liked this. Nick, I was thinking about your suggestions earlier regarding the Foundry, and I have some ideas. I'll get back to you later.

@Mandy: Since you paid for this, your approval is the best of all. I'm really happy you enjoyed it. By the way, right now this exists as a Google Doc that probably needs a little more spelling/grammar check. I plan to go through it, clean it up a little, and get it to you as Word file so that you'll always have it. I'll also be sending you a PM imminently asking your permission for something.

Oh, and I need to say, this was a lot of fun to write and I actually learned some things while doing it. So while Mandy paid for this, I feel like I got the lion's share out of it. Thank you for the challenge, because I think this really helped me grow a bit as a writer. Additionally, I can't wait to get to work on Foundry content and new Pandora stories!

it was a great read mate loved it :D