This is my first Fan Fiction. I'd really appreciate feedback Chapter 1 The USS Quantum NX 86100, the first ship of her namesake class waited patiently under radio silence at the designated coordinates. The lonely system supported no habitable planets and was long regarded as an insignificant sector of unimportant space by the major alpha quadrant powers. It was in essence the perfect place to begin phase 2 of the experiment. A secret experiment only a handfull of elite fleet operations officers were aware of. The experiment had to be a success. There was more at stake than rescuing a stranded crew. The experiment could revolutionise interstellar travel in a way beyond warp, transwarp or quantum slipstream drive. It had to work because so many resources had secretly and underhandedly gone into this project at a time when the Federation was losing a war against Cardassia and the Dominion. So the Quantum waited invisible in the empty system as a Danube class runabout approached at impulse. No message was sent between the 2 vessels. The runabout knew where the Quantum was and approached on autopilot. About 50 metres from the Quantum a section of the cloaked ship appeared. The runabout's passenger stared in awe at the shuttlebay doors opening. He was confused why the ship was cloaked. The Treaty of Algernon forbid the use of cloaking technology on Federation starships. Why would Starfleet have a cloaked vessel, especially in such an unimportant black spot of space? It was very disconcerting to see a small part of a ship fading into space as the landing deck grew closer, and he could make out the shape of a shuttle type he'd never seen before. He looked at the pilot's face for a reaction to the ship. The Vulcan didn't show any emotion as to whether she knew about the cloak or was just as stunned as he was.. The runabout landed smoothly . Lieutenant Lathu watched 2 humanoids approach in a uniform made of black leather. No rank insignia or communicator were worn. They did however carry phaser rifles which were starfleet issue. They came to a standstill whilst another humanoid followed their path. He was in a starfleet uniform adjusted to fit his unique frame. He was an odd sight. Four legged with an upright torso. He had 2 arms descending his shoulders. His head was unusual too for a humanoid. He had a hammer head shark type cranium with big blinking eyes on either side. He had purple and duck egg coloured skin and neon illuminated veins over his neck and what looked like hands. Lathu didn't notice a mouth. The odd creature tapped his communcator "Shofurle to Windemere. You may disembark and submit for blood screening." "Not again!" thought Lathu. He'd taken a test 3 days ago on Deep Space Nine before he left for the Lilan system on his deathly silent journey. The only thing his Vulcan colleague had spoken was of her wish not to communicate at all throughout their journey. Lathu had endured a dull and uneventful journey with one of the most robotic like persons he had ever known. Even for a vulcan. The door opened and the quadraped entered the runabout hatch. He smiled showing he did have a mouth with 4 rows of teeth top and bottom. "This won't hurt a bit" he said as he pressed the hypospray to Lathu's arm. The vial filled with orange/pink coloured blood. The medic shook the vial for an uneasy minute whilst the 2 rifle weilding shoulders aimed their weapons. "Congratulations Lieutenant. You are not a changeling. You never can be too careful with all these awful Dominion infiltrators everywhere. Welcome aboard the Quantum. I'm Doctor Shofurle, chief medical officer. Excuse me one moment. He tapped his communicator."Shofurle to Bridge. Lathu is the real thing, blood screen positive." "Acknoweledged. Have him report to the bridge." a voice replied. Lathu stepped out the runabout and saw the stars streak through the shuttlebay entrance as the ship went to warp even as the doors were still closing. "Must be in a rush." He thought to himself. "I hope to speak to you again Mr Lathu. I've never had a chance to meet one of your race before. I'm in sickbay if you need a friendly chat or anything else. Goodbye." Shorfel then left quickly on his 4 strong legs. The 2 black suited guards lowered their weapons and pointed Lathu to the turbolift. He entered it and smiled as he turned to face them. They did not return his smile. "Apes" he thought to himself and then requested the bridge. As soon as the turbolift doors closed he spoke again. "Computer what ship is this?" A sharp woman's voice replied "U.S.S. Quantum. Quantum class deep space exploration science vessel. " "Quantum class?" "Affirmative. The Quantum class is a multifunctional extended mission deep space vessel assigned to the Voyager project. " "The Voyager project? What is that?" "That information is classified level 12" The door hissed open onto a noisy room. Lathu stepped out onto a platform that overlooked the bridge. Steps either side provided access which he descended onto a perfect circle shaped room. The design was what he considered cosy. In the centre of the bridge was a hollow circle with a sunken mid deck helm "conn" station. A small catwalk ran to the centre of the circle where the captain's chair was positioned. Either side of the catwalk were 3 steps allowing the helmsman to get to the conn. On the deck level either side of the hollowed circle were the tactical and operations stations. Slightly past these station there was an alcove either side for science and deflector control stations. A large viewscreen dominated the front of the bridge. It was a very modern sleek bridge; similar to the specs Lathu had seen of the Prometheus's bridge only the wall panels had a more lilac/metallic grey tint. Between the panels were large supports made of a dark wood that broke up and added relief to the artificially made materials of the bridge. It was obvious that the room was spanking brand new. The smell of soldering and laser cutters and freshly sealed ODN relays filled the air. The room was very busy with 16 people performing tasks to attach wall panels and clean up tools. A jeffries tube hatch on the deck was being closed by a crewman from underneath. An admiral with grey hair whom Lathu was unfamilar turned round and smiled and extended his hand to shake. Lathu took it and shook firmly. "Admiral. Lieutenant Lathu reporting for duty." The Admiral laughed. "I see Solok didn't inform you of your new commission." Lathu had no idea what the Admiral was talking about. "I'm Admiral Dougherty. Welcome aboard the Quantum." He then cleared his throat and facing the crew loudly spoke "Everybody this is your new commanding officer. Captain Lathu. " Everybody stood to attention. Lathu suddenly felt the room get a lot smaller. What was happening? He felt his whole body turn cold. He had a really bad feeling in his stomachs. He hadn't felt this apprehensive since his court marshall 4 years ago. Unfamiliar faces looked at him curiously. There was a silence. The admiral broke it with a laugh. "The captain wasn't aware of his new position till just now. I know this is a shock for you. I'm sorry there is no time for formalities but we are racing against the clock. I will fill you in on our mission in a few minutes. " He then turned around to a bolian woman." Ensure engineering get the beta deflector reconfigurations completed. You have the bridge." The admiral walked to the turbolift platform motioning Lathu to follow. Inside the turbo lift the admiral smiled and commanded, "Engineering. Relax Captain. You look like you need a drink. After this mission I'll buy them all night. We'll have a lot to celebrate." Lathu blinked and his eyes turned round 360 degrees which unsettled Dougherty; not that he let on. "Admiral. I am stunned. 3 days ago I was an engineer on DS9 and then next thing I'm being given orders to go with Commander Solok to an unkown destination for an undisclosed mission. I have no idea what is happening, or where I am. What I'm doing and why I have suddenly been promoted from Lieutenant to Captain and given a ship to command. Is this a joke?" The admiral still smiled but his voice was quite stern." Listen son. You are a fine officer with great people skills and you know about command. You was quite the model officer before the Ferresa 3 incident. It was very unfortunate for you to be in the right place at the wrong time. If I had been in charge of your tribunal the outcome would have been different. You would already be a captain." Lathu was both fascinated and impatiently curious. However he tried not to let it show. "Lathu, I need you. I need someone who will take charge of this crew. What I'm going to tell you is strictly off the record and not to be discussed with anyone off this ship. For several years Starfleet has been looking at research on creating artificial wormholes. 3 months ago they succeeded and successfully sent an unmanned craft twenty thousand light years in 30 seconds through a wormhole. It has us very excited. Imagine the potential this new way of travel has. We are on our way to begin a second test. This ship has been created with a unique twin navigational deflector array that can create and control a wormhole. We are going to open a wormhole to the delta quadrant and rescue the USS Voyager that's been missing for 4 years." Lathu was engrossed in this high tech mission and even felt excitement. Something he'd missed for a long time. "That sounds amazing if it is indeed possible. I would be honoured to be part of it but I don't understand why me. After my court marshall I was told I'd never be given a command position. And I was demoted from Commander. I thought the ruling would be final." The admiral pinched his chin and grimaced slightly and his shoulders sunk. His voice became strained as he searched for the words. "Captain, this is going to sound distasteful. There's no easy way to say it. The last Captain of this ship had some ethical observations that led to him resigning. You see, this mission is imperative. We have to develop this technology. We are facing war with the Dominion and the galaxy is getting smaller as new faster warp engines are built. We had to overlook some things that gave us a disadvantage against our enemies. Cloaking technology for one. It was essential to have this ship cloaked with all the sensitive equipment onboard. Captain Seaforth didn't agree. You will find a lot of the crew on this ship have colourful pasts and checkered careers. But before you judge any of them just look at yourself. Do you think Starfleet was fair in its treatment of you? I read your report and I think they were biased against you and your ancestory to be honest. Seaforth didn't agree with some of the crew choices I had made for him. He was also biased. I believe everyone should be a given one chance to redeem themselves. This is your chance for you to redeem yourself and to enjoy and shine in a career you was destined for. I don't expect you to make a decision right away. But I really hope you accept the captaincy. This crew needs a strong officer to take the reins and your work on the Repulse was exemplary." The door hissed open on the engineering deck. They both walked onto it. It was a huge space, bigger than most starships engine rooms he'd served on. It was quite different too. There was a antimatter reaction warpcore as standard for warp drive, but also another power chamber that was unfamiliar. It was a circular tube that ran along the edge of the room in a ring shape. It was supported by heavy stands 2 decks below. In the centre next to the warp core was a diamond shaped table. The table and the ring looked alien. Compared to Federations technology at least this was untidy and ugly. The neat panels and hatches that house Starfleet technology were not present. Parts of it looked organic, possibly plant life form. 2 Bynars approached the admiral and spoke in their dual monotone voices finishing each other's sentence. "Admiral the Quantum Matrix has been stabilised. The phase discriminator has been realigned and is working within 0.3 variation." Dougherty sighed in relief. "Thats good work. But I want that margin for error eliminated. There can be no variation." The Bynars looked at each and communicated in their unique computer code language bobbing their heads up and down before addressing Dougherty. "Admiral, that may not be possible. We did warn of this a year ago when we proposed the project. We can manually regulate the device though and keep it within safe parameters." Lathu interrupted," Can someone explain what this is please. I feel like a gooseberry." The Bynars did not get the analogy so dismissed it and explained, "The quantum matrix is an energy converter that extracts micro amounts of energy from multiple dimensions. It's more efficient than antimatter reactions but requires a lot of power to collect the energies. And once the reaction is complete the chamber has to be allowed to cool down for 12 hours. We use it to power the deflectors during singularity mode. Lathu was shocked. "I had no idea that was possible. How safe is it? " "The matrix has to be contained with powerful inverse forcefields and bombarded with tachyons. But the pattern of the matrix is random and if the tachyons are not placed correctly the energy can travel through the deflectors and cause massive fluctuations in the gravity well of the wormhole. We have studied it enough on a small scale and computer models to compensate at full power. There is still a slight margin for error but we are confident we can manually control it due to our unique physiology and brain power." "You are aware that the Bynar society are all connected to a central computer Captain?" Dougherty asked whilst studying Lathu's facial expressions. "No admiral" "The young have part of their brains removed and replaced with a computer. " "I see. I need to brush up on my species knowledge," replied Lathu who felt a bit foolish for not knowing this. The admiral put a hand on a shoulder of each Bynar and warmly commended them. "You are doing a great job. I'll let you get back to it. Less than a day till phase 2. Walk with me Captain," he ordered as he strode off quickly. "This is an impressive ship from what I've seen. I'd love to see the schematics." "Of course once I show you the rest of the ship." "Admiral I have to ask... does the Federation Council know that this ship exists? I ask because if I was a council member and I learned of this technology and of illegal cloaking devices I would be scared of the repercussions to the Federation if it were ever brought to the attention of our enemies? Certainly the Romulans wouldn't stand for it. The Admiral smiled and it extended deep within. He forked his hands over his mouth and gave the illusion of being deep in thought, whilst he secretly laughed at the forthrightness of his new protoge. "Lathu, I bet nothing gets past you. I am working under orders from Starfleet to do all I can to protect the citizens of the Federation. And sometimes that means protecting themselves from the truth. A truth that places them in danger if they are aware of it." Starfleet has authorized this project or else we wouldn't be on a Starfleet ship would we?" Lathu wasn't surprised by the respone. He was actually pleased with it. There was something about the secrecy of this whole mission that was exciting him. He'd been on DS9 during Klingon and Dominion attacks and never felt this level of excitement or lapisoph-the Suliban equivalent of adrenaline through his body. "That hasn't answered my question. " Dougherty smiled again. "No.The council doesn't know of this. Is that going to be a problem? I'd rather know now." "I think it might Admiral. The Federation is built on principles and Starfleet was chartered to uphold them. My ancesteros were responsible for trying to stop the Federation forming. I feel a great dishonour for that and swore an oath to protect the Federation." "But you can. By helping us. Not everything is so black and white when dealing with such matters as security of the Federation. There are organisations within Starfleet that are there to oversee the grey areas. You won't have heard of them, but they exist." "Section31?" blurted out Lathu before he had time to think what he said. He could have kicked himself for saying it now. "What's that?" asked Dougherty wearing his best poker face. "Something I overheard someone talking about once. Starfleet's branch of the Tal Shiar. Only no ones heard of it." "Ahh. That's just a story to frighten cadets." "Thats funny. I never heard it at the academy" "Well you mustn't have mixed in the right circles. I tell you what. We can discuss your ethics over dinner. But first I need you as a captain right now. No matter what your principles are, this crew needs a leader. How about you study the ship specs first and then I'll arrange a formal introduction to the crew?" So many things were going through his head that it was hard to form the word yes, but he reluctantly managed it. 5 hours later the Quantum dropped out of warp. She approached a nebula with a huge red star nearby. On the bridge everything had been sealed down and bolted. Dougherty looked over the last checklist and confirmed the go with a hand on print on his Yoeman's Padd. He tapped his communicator badge. "Dougherty to Lathu report to the bridge." 2 minutes later Lathu entered. He was still feeling very uneasy about what he had learned from the Admiral. But he was also incredibly excited about the ship since he had continued his tour and studied the schematics. He did get a slight feeling of pride in having achieved his goal to make Captain and have his own ship. Something he'd given up on after his court marshal. He nodded to the Admiral and took his seat for the first time. "Feels good doesn't it Captain," asked Dougherty, already knowing the answer. "It certainly does, and it's comfy too!" Dougherty laughed at that comment. "To bring you up to speed, the crew know their jobs. The science part is something even I can't figure out so I just let the these kids get on with it. We are going to open a wormhole right now. You just need to sit back and enjoy the ride." A vibrating hum became audible and increased in volume as the energy from the quantum Matrix device was being converted through the deflector dishes. 2 bright beams flew out towards the sun. A reaction was instant. A brilliant array of colours and light leaped from the subspace fissure. A whirlpool of energy and matter formed ahead. The deflector technician confirmed the wormhole was stable. Dougherty smiled at Lathu and nodded. "Ensign Frayda, take us in,"ordered Lathu. The young Benzite helm officer complied with an efficient handling of the Conn. "Shall I drop cloak sir?" she asked. It hadn't even occured to Lathu. He had never had to order a cloak to be dropped before. He tried not to let on that he overlooked this and confirmed her request. The screen lit up with an eery white fissure appearing and then the ship shook slightly as they entered the kaleidosopic tunnel. They were only in it for a few seconds before they exited in a new part of space.
"Coming to a full stop. Sensors scanning area for constellations. We are sixty eight thousand light years from our last position. Gamma quadrant sector 227," the Benzite reported "Excellent work everyone." Lathu was puzzled. "Admiral whats excellent about that? We are in Dominion space. I thought we trying to reach the Delta Quadrant!" "Captain, I'm sorry. I had to tell you a little white lie. Or else I'd have never got you to come. I'm afraid the mission is isn't quite what I told you." Lathu and Frayda both stared at Dougherty with both annoyance and curiosity showing on their faces. "What are you talking about Admiral? I demand to know exactly what our mission is!" "Calm down and I'll tell you," interjected Dougherty, but he was cut off by Lathu "Is the whole crew in on this?" "Captain, be quiet and I'll explain" Frayda stood up and spoke firmly,"Captain I wasn't aware that this was our mission. The data on the helm suggested we were travelling to the Delta quadrant." "There are a few people onboard who were not made aware of the real mission until now. I am sorry for that. It was necessary. We can't just create a wormhole to any point in space. We have to select 2 specific points of space that are similar to each and manipulate the assets in those systems. In this case red dwarf stars. We can create a hyper subspace funnel via the 2 stars. There's a star in this sector of the Gamma quadrant that is almost atomically identical to one in the Delta quadrant. We need to create a new wormhole to the Delta quadrant from here. It isn't easy, unlike the one we just travelled through. This wormhole was already created and only needed to be reopened." "Well why didn't you just tell us that?" asked Frayda furiously. Dougherty disliked the manner this ensign addressed him. “Crew man, remember your station when addressing a senior officer.” He faced Lathu. “Captain I am sorry I witheld this information. I had to be sure you would remain onboard with us. This mission is high risk given our current location. I could not reveal the data for security reasons . Only deflector control knew of the real coordiantes of the wormhole. It’s imperative we begin at once creating the second wormhole to the delta quadrant.” Lathu slumped into his chair in disbelief whilst grabbing the arms to confirm that this was real and not a nightmare. The Admiral gave the captain a few moments to think and walked over to the deflector station to look at data. Frayda was still facing Lathu with a concerned look oh her face. She wanted to speak was afraid of the Admiral. Lathu came to his senses and signalled for her turn round and face the conn. He had enough of his own questions. He didn’t need hers too. He walked toward the Admiral and was ready to have a stern word when the internal security alert alarm sounded. Lathu and Dougherty turned to the tactical station. The Miradorn officer was moving his hands over the control as he reported. “Admiral theres a security breach in the shuttlebay. The runabout from DS9 had someone else onboard. They have excaped onto deck 10. Security officers on their way.” “Life signs?” enquired Dougherty. “Ferengi, Admiral.” “What the..” Dougherty became speechless. Of all the people he expected to be named as an intruder- a Ferengi was the last one. He had even hoped maybe it was a Changeling. It would make more sense for one of them to get past his security screens than a bumbling Ferengi. Lathu was shocked as well. He had dealings with the Ferengi a few times. He had worked with one called Rom on the station. He was a nice guy all round considering his brother was a weasel of a man. He regarded the Ferengi and understated and misunderstood. He wasn’t as surprised that a Ferengi could have stowed away onboard the ship. He was curious though, and for a moment his anger at the Admiral’s lies left his thoughts. “Admiral I’ll go check out our “guest.” And he entered the turbolift fast. Security officers were holding the Ferengi in a forcefield in the corridoor. Lathu approached with his phaser drawn and set to stun. He made out the feminine features of a female. Now he was surprised. He had seldom met a female Ferengi. Certainly not one unchaperoned and clothed. “Hello, I’m Lietun- I mean I’m Captain Lathu. Who are you?? “Where’s Gaila? I want to speak to Gaila at once?” Lathu had no idea who Gaila was. “Is he a crew member?” The ferengi rolled her eyes. “No you idiot. He’s my colleague. Get Dougherty. He’ll know where he is.” “Ma’am you’re in no position to issue demands. Please tell me who you are and then we can-” Before Lathu could finish his sentence the Ferengi had ran through a forcefield. “After her!” he shouted and followed her steps. He tapped his comm badge. “Lathu to bridge. The prisoner has escaped and managed to run through a forcefield unharmed. Erect forcefields in section 3 full power.” He over took the human officers and caught up to the Fenengi as a new forcefield came on in front of her. This time she bounced off the field with a scream and hit the deck. Lathu came to a stop above her, his phaser glowing. “Ok, you had your fun. Now it’s time we had a little chat.” “I’ll chat to Dougherty,” she hissed. “You’ll chat to me or sit in a cold dark brig until we get to back the Alpha quadrant.” Her eyes lit up. “ We are not in the alpha quadrant? It worked then? The weapon was a success?” This question filled Lathu with a strong emotion of dread and cold chills. “Weapon? What weapon?” Still on her back she laughed “Ask your Admiral hew-mon” “Gaila was paid through Quark. I had no contact with Gaila,” stated Dougherty. The Ferengi was furious and was being restrained by 2 guards. She was strong and gave them a good fight. “Dougherty you lie. Gaila said he would collect the payment personally from you.” Dougherty smiled. “And I told you P’rin that I don’t make deals with arms dealers. My transaction with Quark was for a mining survey. I didn’t deal it with myself. You can understand a man of my position would not actually get down to the nitty gritty. I can assure you Quark was paid the full amount as per Gaila’s instructions.” P’rin scowled and barred her ugly crooked teeth. “How convenient that you can’t coo-berate this. I am no man’s fool. These lobes maybe smaller but they hear everything! I know Gaila met you. Quark wouldn’t hand his cousin money after everything Gaila has done to him.” Dougherty was growing tired. He needed to be on the bridge. He wanted to supervise his new captain and monitor the status of the deflectors. “P’rin until we get back to the alpha quadrant then yes, I can’t confirm this. But you have no choice. Now if you calm down and say no more of this until we get home I’ll release you and even let you help with the Quantum Matrix device.” He notice her ears twitch at this. She relaxed and her voice became calmer. “That is acceptable for now. But when we get home I want to be paid my share in person for all this trouble. You do not appreciate the risks I took to bring you the technology. I am forbidden to make a profit on my homeworld. I would be imprisoned if I was caught. So I expect my rewards to be where I ask without delay.” Dougherty flashed his teeth in a genuine smile, “My sweet P’rin. When we make this technology public you will be able to buy Ferenginar twice over. And then you can strip all your male peers down and force them to work for nothing.” “Ha. I like the image of that. This technology will make me very rich. Show me to your engine room then. Let me see what a mess you made of my work.” Dougherty deactivated the brig forcefield and motioned for the guards to escort her. Once she left Dougherty took a moment to take a deep sigh. This was not good. Gaila was meant to get rid of P’rin. If she had been asking questions at Quark’s this could open up more questions. Damn it! Why did he get involved with these ugly big eared idiots? Oh yes, They had something he was prepared to get at all costs. A weapon of massive power. Now he had to put off Lathu until they had activated it. To be continued....
Interesting start so far. Loved the shark like doctor. So is this set during the Dominion War I take it? I do love how you have a mix of regular Starfleet officers and Section 31 operates.
Thanks. I should have made it clear this is a spin off series. It's going to have different format to TNG/VOY/DS9 Yes its set just after Sacrifice of Angles when the wormhole is closed and after Hunters when Voyager makes contact with Starfleet. I don't want to sound conceited but there were lots of things Voyager got really wrong. Most prominently the Maquis/Starfleet relationship. They all got on like a house on fire too quickly, especially after all the Maquis stories in TNG and DS9 to lead up to Voyager. And then no pay off! Meh. So I decided to have a mixture of crews who do NOT get along. And explore that theme properly. This is how Imagine the Doctor to look And this is the bridge I'm going to introduce some more characters that will make it an eclectic bunch of aliens and character clashes.
Awesome. The Doctor looks kind of funny but yet who knows what a fish looking alien might look like. Love the bridge as well.
Chapter 2 Odo stared at Quark, observing his every move. Quark tidied up the smashed up bar, acting as if he was doing his everyday business, but secretly hiding his panic. “Quark just tell me the truth. I’m going to find out soon enough and you’ll be in a lot more trouble.” Quark slammed a glass down. “This is harassment! I’m going to make a formal complaint! You can’t prove anything and yet you come in here and say these hurtful things in front of my customers. You’re security let a lunatic smash up my place and lose my profits. You’re trying to ruin me!” “Hmmmph. You can’t weasel your way out this one Quark,” Odo folded his arms as his shoulders raised up a little in his ‘we both know your lying pose’ that he regularly formed when interrogating the Ferengi rapscallion. “You gave money to Gaila for illegal weapons. He was seen in here 2 days ago. Then this morning he made a large purchase of Elrizian mining drones.” “ A mining operation is not selling weapons last time I checked Odo.” “No, but Gaila was broke. Then you give him a substantial payment. Where did you get the money? I think you was holding it for him. But where did it come from?” “I suggest you ask your Starfleet friends before accusing me. I might have given Gaila some money. But it was for a mining survey. And look at what he bought with the money. Mining equipment!” “Quark when have you ever dealt in anything above board? There’s always a black market deal under your belt.” “Well if that’s the case you had better prove it or quit pokin’ your nose in my business” “Hmmmph! I will prove it. I’m going to enjoy seeing you rot in a cell.” Odo walked out the bar even more determined than before that Quark was guilty. Lathu was sat in his ready room. After reading through most of his senior officers personnel files he had begun reading several reports from Captain Kathryn Janeway. Her recent discovery of the Hirogen communications array had allowed her to send limited data streams of her journey through the delta quadrant. As fascinated as Lathu was his mind was still on the Ferengi prisoner in the brig. She knew the Admiral’s name. He had something to do with P’rin’s coming aboard. Something about the Admiral was not right. He had withheld imperative information regarding the mission. This is not how Starfleet conducts it’s operations. Even if Dougherty had told him the details of the mission was on a need to know basis it would have felt better than finding out in front of the crew he had been lied to. He still had no idea what was happening; ending up in the gamma quadrant in contradiction to the Admiral’s alleged coordinates. Thoughts of Section31 filled his mind. His lover had told him of the secret organisation. An incident 4 months before his court marshal when she been approached by Internal Affairs officers. She had been questioned for several days whilst Lathu temporarily took command of the Calypso. When she returned from the questioning she had changed. She was not her pleasant self. When Internal Affairs had left, she asked him into her ready room. She ordered a large glass of synthehol for both of them and asked him to sit. She was guarding her thoughts carefully so he couldn’t read her. She saw him study her face with concern. He was so handsome she thought. Anyone who didn’t know Lathu would think he was human. A square jawed diamond shaped face with soft fresh skin. Haunting yet kind dark brown eyes inset deep. A strong but equally delicate nose and pouting lips that always smiled. And a gorgeous mop of blonde hair that was just a little too long for regulations. However she loved to run her fingers through it. It was his best feature she thought. Well the best that was visible outside the uniform she laughed to herself. It made it all the harder to tell him what she had to now, gazing at his pretty face. The face she secretly kissed every night and kicked out of bed every morning an hour before he should get up for duty. The face she had confided in for 5 years and shared secrets a captain shouldn’t. The face who made her feel complete whenever he gave her the secret smile on the bridge that only she understood. “Felix,” she softly spoke as she leaned forward and held his hand, “I just spent the most horrific time of my life with Internal Affairs. They tore my command career apart. And picked at me to almost breaking point. If I couldn’t read their minds then I don’t think I’d have come out of it sane.” A tear dropped from her ebony eyes. Lathu stroked her face and wiped her tear. “I have learned something truly awful about the Federation. There was a woman called Caprice who told me that she was a member of a secret branch of Starfleet that works outside the normal channels. They wanted me to join them after putting me through some pretty stressful tests. They accused me of all sorts of things like espionage for the Maquis. They even had a Vulcan try and meld with me. But I resisted.” At this point tears rolled down without resistance. “I had to hide our relationship from them. I was so afraid they’d find out. She knew I was hiding something. She wouldn’t let up.” Lathu stood up and went to hug her but she grabbed his hand in a way that kept him apart from her. “Please don’t hold me. I need you too. But I can’t do this anymore. I cannot live a lie in fear of being caught.” Lathu felt an old argument coming up again. One he was tired of. “Not this again. Our relationship is not breaking any regulations. It’s your professionalism that’s the obstacle. I’m your first officer. What’s so wrong in us being in command and lovers? It doesn’t interfere with our operations. Quite the opposite.” She snapped, also tired of this argument and that he could never see it from her point of view. “It’s inappropriate and frowned upon by Starfleet Command to date a subordinate. They would most likely split us up. We make a great team and I will not jeopardise it. I love you dearly, but you have known that our relationship must always remain a secret. Today it was nearly discovered!” “I understand that you’re upset after what has happened,”he pushed her arm down and put his other hand on her shoulder. “I love you too and I won’t let some pen pushing admiral in a cushy office dictate how I live my personal life.” She looked at him and screamed. The wail was deafening, but only in her mind. Lathu could hear her thoughts perfectly. “You have no idea what I just went through. I am scared! I have been subjected to brutal psychological torture. Section31 was this close. I cannot go through that again.” “Section31?” Asked Lathu. The intercom startled Lathu and he broke away from the memory. “Dougherty to Lathu please join me in the rec room.” Lathu acknowledged and put the Voyager reports in a limbo file for later inspection. He took the turbolift to deck 8. On the way he tried to gather this thoughts about what he was going to say and ask the Admiral. He remembered Dougherty appreciated his forthright bluntness. He intended to impress him further. He arrived at the recreation room. It was a large room with over many tables, a bar and a staging area for off duty performances. Dougherty was sat at the bar with a small drink in his hand. “Drinking on duty?” Lathu enquired, half in mock shock and half in concern for protocol. “I’ve been on duty for 3 days without sleep. I think I’ve earned a break Captain.” He swigged the yellow fluid back and gasped. “Would you like one?” Lathu would normally never accept an alcoholic beverage whilst on duty. Especially now he was a captain. However normal was not a word in vocabulary since coming aboard this ship. “I’ll have a Cardassian Sunrise. With a hint of mint.” The bar tender turned round to get the ingredients. He-It, moved in a mechanical manner. In fact it sounded mechanical. Servos and levers moved noisily. “Is that an artificial lifeform?” “Yes it’s an auton. With the secrecy of this mission we can’t have civilian bar tenders serving onboard. And I don’t believe anyone in a Starfleet uniform should be mopping up spills. We did test a holographic bar tender based on the EMH program. But it made the Mark 1 EMH seem like Mary Poppins in comparison.” “Mary who?” Lathu’s shook his head and quickly added, “never mind. Admiral I need to ask you some questions. I have deep concerns about the running of this ship and it’s mission. For a start I don’t know what the mission is. You told me it was to bring Voyager back. Then we have a Ferengi stowaway who knows your name and suggested there is a weapon onboard that she has some involvement with. You sprung this promotion on me out of the blue, and give me a charge of a vessel I am unfamiliar with. If you’ll excuse my bluntness, please don’t bullshit me sir. Tell me what is going- so I can have a chance to do my job.” Dougherty clicked at the auton who understood to bring him another Riasan martini. He took the drink and swilled it round the glass before downing the lot. “Felix- do you mind if I call you that?” He looked at the Captain and smiled. The drink was helping to relax him and he hoped his state of mind would soften the hard look in Lathu’s eyes. He knew it was going to be tough to deal with Lathu once he got wind of what was going on. “Admiral you can call me Ensign Corbomite if you like. Just tell me please, now, what is going on?” A laugh escaped the older man’s lips. “You really don’t mince words. That’s going to be a virtue on this ship,” he paused as he saw a look of intensity in Lathu’s eyes. “OK. The truth. P’rin was one of the designers of a new phaser cannon that was meant to be fitted to this ship. But she was rushed into service before that was possible. Now she is looking to be paid because her colleague ran off with her cut.” Lathu didn’t believe him. His face shifted slightly from a human face to his original bumpy, scaly Suliban skin. Dougherty could tell his new protegee wasn’t fooled. “We anticipated running into trouble in the gamma quadrant which is why we needed the new phasers. They aren’t exactly legal. A conponent of the emitters is Tholian triolic crystals.” Lathu bolted up in shock knokcing his stool over. “What? You are joking? They produce triolic waves when phased energy is focused through them. They destroy organic matter. The phasers wouldn't dent the hull of a ship but they’d radiate the crew leaving them to die slowly and painfully. Not only that but the waves can be tuned to target a specfic species. In essence a biogenic weapon. You cannot be serious that Starfleet has issued these.” “No not Starfleet. But one of the organisations that you have never heard of that protects the Federation from dirtying it’s hands. They issued them. Thank god we never installed them. I agree with you that we should not be using them.” Lathu wasn’t convinced that the Admiral was sincere. He was contemplating his next question when the intercom beeped. “Bridge to Admiral Dougherty. We have detected a fleet of Dominion ships approaching at high warp.” He looked at Lathu who quickly put his drink down and stood up. He tapped his comm badge. “This is the Captain. Red Alert. Me and the Admiral are coming to the bridge. How long until weapons range?” “One hour fifty minutes sir,” Ensign Frayda replied. “How long until we can open the wormhole?” “ 2 hours 10 minutes.” Dougherty changed from the pseudo friendly man into a cold efficient officer instantly. “Not good enough. We need to open it sooner.” Valenna, the vulcan deflector specialist overheard the conversation and interrupted, “Admiral we cannot make the laws of physics work any faster. We are prepping the space time continuum for the deflectors. Any deviation from the protocols will result in an unstable wormhole.” “I know, I know,” he shouted, regretting the display of frenzy. “Just see if there’s anything we can do to speed it up. I will not accept failure of this mission. Dougherty out.” The two men left the rec room quickly.
On the bridge Lathu read the sensor readings. 200 Jem’Hadar ships were on an assault vector and 3500 more ships were 2 hours behind them. He was a little scared. Captain’s don’t scare, he thought to himself. Non the less the fact he was soon to be outnumbered in Dominion space frightened him. Not because he would most certainly be killed or taken prisoner. His crew would suffer the same fate and the technology on board would fall into enemy hands. He studied the Admiral from the other side of the bridge. He didn’t look half as worried as he should do. In fact he was smiling at something Valenna had just said. Lathu walked over to them “Good news?” he asked. “Yes Captain,” Valenna responded in her charming ice cold monotone. Lathu waited but never got a continuation of her news. “Well please enlighten me commander.” “I doubt it is something you will understand. In layman’s terms I have been able to alter the subspace tensor fields to intensify the prep area for when we activate the deflectors. It will reduce the time until we engage the deflectors by 12 minutes” “We’ll be able to open the wormhole before the Dominion arrive Captain,” Dougherty said enthusiastically. Rubbing his hands together. Lathu was shaken by Dougherty’s apparent lack of concern at the Dominion threat. Ensign Frayda spun her chair round. “Captain we have less than 2 minutes from opening the wormhole until the Jem’Hadar enter weapons range. I’m pretty certain that the wormhole event horizon won’t have been stabilised in that time. We should leave before it’s too late.” Dougherty looked at the flight controller with an anger. “Ensign, concern yourself with flying this ship. Unless of course you suddenly qualified in subspace mechanics.” Frayda nearly retorted-actually sir I did at the academy 3 years ago. If you bothered to read my personnel file you would know that already. But after her last dressing down by the admiral she thought best not to. “Sorry Admiral. I was just pointing out that we might want to consider an escape route back along the wormhole we came through.” Dougherty raised his voice slightly. “Until this new wormhole is created and we bring back Voyager we are not leaving this area. I want that to be crystal clear to everyone on this ship.” He looked across the room sternly at everyone and ended up focused on Lathu. Keeping eye contact he reiterated, “everyone!” Lathu was more disturbed than ever by this revelation; this suicide mission. He needed a couple of minutes peace to think to himself and walked to the ready room informing Ensign Frayda to join him. Dougherty assumed she was going to get a dressing down off the captain. Once inside and with the doors shut he offered her a seat. “I’m sorry Captain. If you’re going to tell me...” Lathu clapped his hands 3 times whilst falling into his seat. He sighed and closed his eyes. “Ensign, I am not bothered about what just happened. In fact I’m pleased you voiced your concerns. You seem to the only rational voice on this ship.” Frayda’s eyes widened as she listened intently. “I haven’t a clue what’s going on this ship. The Admiral and possibly other crew members are keeping important information on this mission from me. It is impossible to perform as a captain as we are at present. Because you was was unaware of our destination until we arrived in the gamma quadrant I think you are also in the same situation as myself. Therefore I want you to be my eyes and ears. If you learn of anything else out of the ordinary you are to come to me in private and report. Even if it’s something the Admiral orders. Understood.” “Absolutely,” she replied. She felt relieved that there was someone else who felt the same as herself. That they were both horrified by the disregard for Starfleet protocols and acquisition of cloaking technology. “Actually I do have something to report.” She stood up and went over to the large display on the wall. After entering a few commands a file opened. Lathu walked over to it and opened his mouth in shock. A message on a coded frequency disguised as a deflector resonance pulse was sent in the direction of the Dominion fleet. “You see it. Don’t you captain?” “Yes,”he sighed, “someone tipped off the Dominion we’re here. We have a Dominion spy on board.” Frayda looked puzzled. “But- everyone has taken a blood screening. There are no changelings on here.” “It’s not impossible that there is. I’m sure a changeling could find a way to get on board like our Ferengi guest. Ensign I want you to keep this to yourself for now. Don’t even concern the Admiral. But run a trace and see who and where the message was sent from. Only tell me face to face. We don’t know if the spy is monitoring the comms.” “Affirmative Captain. Please tell me you intend to take us back to the Alpha quadrant. We won’t last 2 minutes when the Jem’Hadar attack.” “At the moment I’m going to play along. I want to find out the bigger picture of what’s really going on. Did you notice that the Admiral wasn’t all that bothered about the Dominion fleet?” “I just assumed he was putting on a confident performance to reassure the crew.” She only half believed her answer, now taking in Lathu’s observation. “Well whatever the case is I will not let this ship be captured by the Jem’Hadar. I agreed to help bring Voyager home and that’s what I’m going to do. The Admiral will most likely be thinking I’m reprimanding you for your outburst on the bridge so play along.” “Yes sir. And thank you sir. I feel much better knowing that you are concerned with following Starfleet regulations. I was beginning to think I was in a dream the way the crew have been acting.” Lathu put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it firmly. “Thank you Ensign. But you may be right. Only we might actually be in a nightmare.” P’rin swayed her hips seductively as she walked around the engine room past the busy crew members. They only paid her a quick glance as she was followed by Lo-Ral, a Miradorn security officer. They were of course curious as to who she was. But they were working frantically to get the ship ready. P’rin noticed the lack of interest. She thought to herself that these Hew-mons and Vulcans and other assorted Federation life forms were not ready for such a sexually strong mate anyway. She then decided that this was not the place to get ahead by offering sexual favours. She would have to use her cunning to get the ship home to receive her profits. It was a shame, as she enjoyed the other method much more. She approached the two Bynar engineers. They were small even by Ferengi standards. Their starfleet uniforms made them look like children compared to the other humanoids on board. She found it difficult not to talk them like children. But then again, she seldom found it necessary to guard the way she spoke to people. She would say what she thought no matter the consequences normally. This time she made an effort. She extended her hand in friendship to the engineers. A stupid Hew-mon custom that repulsed her. Contact with skin and possible pathogen and protozoa made her ears twitch in distaste for the action. However necessity required it. “Hello. I’m P’rin. I helped to acquire parts of the Quantum Matrix Extrapolator. The Admiral has sent me to assist you.” The Bynars spoke in the secretive language for several seconds. They both then spoke in English completing each other’s sentences in an eery fashion. “There are many things we do not understand about the extrapolator. For a start the circuitry is made of an unkown element and unkown alien design. Do you know where it came from?” The security officer became bored at the talk of engineering and tuned out turning to watch the pretty colours in the wap core intermix chamber. P’rin observed this and used the opportunity. P’rin smiled and replied. “Yes indeed I do. However the information is classified. To keep the design secret only certain people have knowledge of certain parts of the mechanism. If I told you how the whole system works, well then you’d be off to the highest bidder with the plans wouldn’t you?” The Bynars looked at each other again with confusion. “We do not care for profit. We assist with this project because we wish to help the Federation defeat the Dominion. Without the Federation all of the Alpha Quadrant will become under Dominion rule. Providing us with the full details would help us greatly to increase efficiency of the Extrapolator.” P’rin laughed heartily. It was an odd noise. She sounded like a pig snorting. So several crew thought as they turned to look at her quickly. “I’m afraid the information will cost you. I already gave the Admiral what he paid for and no more. What do you have to trade?” The Bynars chatted to each other again and then one of them opened a tool box and removed something, whilst scanning the area for prying eyes. No one was watching. They put the object in P’rin’s hand. She looked down and her crooked pointed teeth showed as her lips curled in a smile. “Wherever did you get this? Never mind. It will do nicely.” She put the object in her pocket and said, “now , what was it you wanted it know?” The bridge shook as the the deflectors burst in a bright light and beams of energy shot out towards the nearby star. A loud hum was present. Unlike the first time they had travelled through the wormhole this seemed dangerous. The ship groaned as the structural integrity fields held the ship together as the massive amounts of energy tore through the ship. Valenna reported without looking up from her station, “Event horizon forming. Ready to engage secondary tensor field.” “Acknowledged,” replied Dougherty whilst staring at the main viewer. “Send message to the Swiftwind: Engage” “Aye sir,” reponsded Ko-Ral the tall Miradorn tactical officer. Lathu was sat in the command chair when Dougherty gave this order. Again he was perplexed and unsure what was happening. He looked at Dougherty who felt his gaze but ignored it, concentrating on the viewer. “Admiral what in the stars is the Swiftwin-” He stopped mid sentence as he followed Dougherty line of sight. A ship rippled faded in into view to the starboard. It was another Quantum class starship. It had barely dropped it’s cloak when it fired energy beams from it’s deflectors. Frayda turned to look at the captain in exasperation and confusion. “What the-?” uttered Lathu. Dougherty cut him off. “Captain. This is a need to know mission. Right now you need to know that a second sister ship is also required to create a new wormhole. I apologise for not informing you sooner but this is a level 12 security protocol. Only myself and 3 other crew members were aware of the Swiftwind.” Lathu heard the admiral’s words but they did nothing to ease his concerns and gut feeling of nausea. He was lost for words. It was bad enough that the U.S.S. Quantum had a cloak. However two Federation ships was appalling. This had gone far enough. “Admiral I must protest this mission. I have kept an open mind until now. However I cannot condone the use of these cloaking devices. They are illegal under interstellar law. I do not believe our mission is as laid out when I accepted this position. Hardly any of the crew seem to know what is going on. I have been deceived as have other crew members. This ship is in imminent jeopardy from Dominion forces and I still don’t know what is going on! I demand that you stop this mission and return to the alpha quadrant to face an enquiry. Nothing so far has felt to me like this is a Starfleet crew or mission.” “Captain, I thought you had got over your apprehension. This is not the time. If you want to stand down then that is fine. But wait until we are in the delta quadrant with Voyager,” snarled Dougherty. The operations station officer reported the Jem’Hadar would be in firing range in one minute. Lathu looked at the Miradorn tactical officer and ordered him to arrest the admiral. Then he turned to Frayda and told her disengage the deflector and take them to the alpha quadrant. She acknowledged his order. Lathu turned to the Admiral who was now wielding a phaser backed up by a security officer behind him. “Belay those orders. Stand by all decks: battle stations. Ko-Ral signal the rest of the fleet to engage.” Lathu watched the view screen as a rear view showed other ships decloaking. Too many for him to count. The closest ones appeared to also be quantum class. Lathu put his arms half in the air with his palms facing the admiral indicating he was not going to cause a problem for the time being. “Captain at ease. Resume your post. Ready weapons raise sheilds.” Ko-Ral reported the Jem’Hadar were firing. “First wave of the fleet is attacking. The U.S.S. Resistance has been disabled. The Reliant and Privilege are covering her flank. Second wave moving in.” “Valenna hows the wormhole?” “Almost forming. 25 seconds till-” “The first wave has been destroyed. Second wave taking heavy fire. The Dexterous and Aspiration are making a kamikazee run.” Lathu stood over Frayda’s station taking in the readings. “Forty ships including this one. This was no rescue mission Admiral. This was a trap set for the Dominion.” Dougherty stood up and was about to speak when the ship shook violently. Everyone standing was knocked from their feet. A workstation exploded with an angry spray of sparks. Its operator was flung to the floor in a lifeless heap. The crew got back to their stations. “Report,” shouted Dougherty. “Jem’Hadar have broken through-,” the ship shook again, “damage to shield grid. They penetrated our Shields.” “Adjust our frequency,” ordered Lathu. Dougherty was now next to him. “ I doubt that will have any effect, if they have developed a new weapon.” “Try it anyway,” Lathu shouted back as he got up and walked round to the tactical station. The ship rocked again and again. Dougherty ordered all weapons fire. Phasers and torpedoes left their respective weapons arrays ripping into the enemy ships. Lathu monitored the status of the Swiftwind which was still engaged in a deflector energy stream. “Admiral the Swiftwind is taking heavy damage.” The room spun as inertial dampeners tried to compensate for the sudden shift as the ship was spun round by enemy fire. Valenna almost squealed in delight if that were possible as she confirmed the wormhole was opened. Ko-Ral continued firing weapons. The weapons were having a detrimental effect on the Jem’Hadar ships. More so than with conventional Federation ships. “Captain, two Jem’Hadar ships destroyed, five more disabled. The rest of our fleet has moved in to block the other ships.” Dougherty replied before Lathu could respond. “Valenna how long till the wormhole is weaponised?” Lathu turned quickly to Valenna. Her fingers flew over the controls with amazing speed and grace. “I cannot be sure. Our shields have been weakened and I have had to compensate by reducing the tensor field.” Dougherty snarled, “Who gave you that order? Increase power to the tensor field.” Valenna looked shocked. As shocked as a frigid emotionless person could. “But the radiation around the deflector will pass through our shields and kill crew in those areas.” “I know how this ship works,”snapped the admiral. “Obey my commands” “Acknowledged Admiral. Tensor field at full strength. Wormhole will be weaponised in 8 minutes.” Frayda was crying, as she struggled to keep the Quantum in position. She made no noise but purple tears rolled down her multi-tonal Benzite skin. She banged her station in frustration. On the screen she saw two Jem’Hadar fighters explode as a quantum class ship destroyed them. Their phasers looked liked the super charged defiant class phasers as they left the emitter in short blasts. She noticed the Swiftwind’s shields drop and it began to stray from its position. It was running adrift. She informed Lathu. Ko-Ral hailed the Swiftwind but there was no reply. He scanned the bridge and found only one life sign feint. “Something must have happened to the bridge crew. Lathu beam over and take command.” Ordered Dougherty “Tell me what we are doing here first,”Lathu shouted grabbing Dougherty and shaking him. “There’s no time to explain. Ko-Ral lock onto Lathu and beam him to the Swiftwind. Drop shields. Take Frayda with you.” Before Lathu could protest he felt a transporter beam lock onto him and disassemble his molecules as the bridge faded away. As soon as the transporter beam activated the ship rocked as several more Jem’Hadar fighters took the opportunity. Their weapons destroyed many automated systems on the ship. Bridge consoles exploded and the ship was plunged into darkness.