StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Note: This is a sequel to my revised edition of the Merging. It can be found here: http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=144629 or http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2353766/1/S ... he-Merging
Chapter 1: Diplomacy and War

Galatasis, Galactic Republic
Borg Occupied Space

“Captain Palisc you are free to make the next run. We expect you to be back within 10 hours.”

Palisc didn’t even comment on the unrealistic expectation. He activated the launch codes and lifted off from the transport site. This wasn’t his normal location for drop-offs, but with the food shortages
and the breakdown of law and order landing anywhere near a major population center would have only result in riots. In theory, the officials he had just given the food to should distribute it out now, but Palisc wondered how much would first be stored away by them for their own families, not that he could blame them.

Palisc turned to his two co-pilots who silently gestured that they were ready. Evacuations of planets in what was being called “Borg Occupied Space” had been going on since the Event, but of course full scale evacuation of thousands of worlds and trillions of people was never going to be possible. Since the planets couldn’t be evacuated, they needed to at least be kept running, and that meant that planets like Galatasis, which weren’t self-supporting, still needed to receive food shipments.

The Republic’s solution to this had been to order all merchants with contracts for essential transports to remain and continue their routes. They were all promised 10 times their normal fares when things were resolved, but of course that wouldn’t help anyone who was dead or assimilated and most had left a long time ago. To encourage those remaining to stay, pilots had been required to stay on their ships 24/7 and not allowed to see their families who had to remain on the planets. If not for this rule, Palisc would have been gone a long time ago. He had a way around the rule now though.

One of his co-pilots turned to him. “I’ve sent word we have to correct a hyperdrive imbalance before leaving. That should buy us enough time.”

Palisc nodded as he looked over the controls. “Let’s just hope this thing works. Be nice to know there is something good from the Milky Way for a change.”

Palisc activated the transporter nervous as could be, but sure enough his family slowly started to materialize onboard. Half an hour later he had them all up along with the families of his co-pilots.

Palisc’s 15 year old son watched his dad at the controls. “Did you hear about Menal?”

Menal was a larger planet about 10 light years away. They’d gone on vacation there whenever they could afford it. “I know. The Borg arrived there two days ago.”

“Do you think Leslie and Jack…”

“I’m sure they made it out.” Palisc started the engines and left behind his home world. He looked back briefly and wondered how long it would last.

As the ship passed out of the range of the planets gravity well, Palisc saw the two CIS vessels and dozens of fighters surrounding them. Galatasis was a proud member of the Republic and certainly wasn’t about to be leave it now when it was their only hope, but the Republic had withdrawn the navy. The Separatists had refused to join the Grand Coalition but called themselves an affiliate member and had offered to send ships to a number of worlds inside Borg Occupied Space. Galatasis certainly wasn’t going to turn down any help it could get so the small CIS fleet stayed in orbit. They’d do little good against a Borg fleet, but could at least provide a deterrent and did help on the planet when they could.

Palisc took the ship into hyperspace and the next several hours he was filled with fear that the Borg would stop his ship and assimilate them all. Of course no attack came. The Borg were concentrating on the planets now, not a bunch of small refuge ships.

Palisc’s wife took his hand and directed him to a monitor. Palpatine was on again. He was in front of the Senate.

Palpatine spoke as he usually spoke, calm and in control. "Senator, I understand your anxiousness. We all do. We already tried immediate responses though, and I know I have no need to remind this body that those were a disaster that almost led to the assimilation of Coruscant itself. Now, Supreme Commander Picard is securing more allies by the day. The new hyperspace routes into the core are being better monitored and guarded and dozens of fleets sit on the edge of Borg Occupied Space preventing any expansion of the region. We will get to more direct assaults as soon as possible, but a rushed effort will only lead to disaster.”

Palisc turned off the broadcast. He didn’t blame Palpatine for this, but he was tired of politicians’ empty talk and excuses.

One of his co-pilots turned to him. “We are out of Borg Occupied Space.”

Palisc gave a sigh of relief. They would live. How and even where was still a question, but they would live. He deactivated the hyperdrive. Worlds were filling up with refuges and Palisc figured they would be safer and be better able to find a new life further away. They’d find a nearby planet, and he’d start making contacts now that he wasn’t worried about sneaking around behind the Republic’s back.

Palisc looked at his sensors and was stunned for a second. He put the image on a screen for everyone to see.

Hundreds, maybe thousands of capital ships sat nearby in empty space. Palisc recognized most as Republic, but a lot he wasn't sure about as well. Surrounding the capital ships, were many smaller crafts. Unknown to him or his family, this was the 47th fleet.

----

In his quarters on the Everlasting Glory, the flagship of the entire Grand Coalition, Obi-Wan sat talking to a hologram. Obi-Wan said, “I know just the Jedi for the job.”

Master Windu replied without even hearing the name. “I agree. Inform Skywalker to make the preparations.” The hologram disappeared.

Obi-Wan thought of his Padawan. That’s still technically what Anakin was, but with the war and shortage of Jedi, the older more capable Padawans were being sent out on their own.

To say Obi-Wan had been worried for Anakin would have been a gross understatement. He had seen his pupil very nearly give in to the dark side in the Senate. He needed to be there for Anakin now more than ever, but the war prevented that. He could go to the Council, should go to them actually, but something had held him back. A feeling told Obi-Wan that would be the worst possible thing that he could do.

He dismissed Anakin from his thoughts for a minute and left his quarters, walking down the hall for the elevator to go to the bridge.

The Everlasting Glory was one the larger ships in the Republic fleet, more than a mile and half long and equipped for extended missions. It was an older ship, a one of a kind from the Corellian military fleet and still manned mostly with Corellians. Its dimensions, easy conversation of space, and strong shields had made it an ideal flagship and the Obi-Wan had suggested it to Picard as soon Palpatine had nationalized most of the planetary fleets.

The elevator opened and Obi-Wan walked onto the bridge. Admiral Picard was talking to a recent general who had just arrived from the Alpha Quadrant.

Picard saw the Jedi and gestured for him to join them. “General Kenobi, I would like to introduce you to General Martok. He will be will be the lead commander for the 33rd fleet.”

Martok shook Obi-Wan’s hand, but his attention was still clearly on Picard. Martok said, “I’ll make part of the Klingon fleet to the front line immediately. The other 4 pieces I’ll leave with you. I don’t like splitting it up though.”

Picard nodded, “I understand General, but better to split apart the fleets so each cube is going to have as many thing to adapt to as possible.”

“I don’t disagree. I just don’t like it, but that doesn’t matter. “

Martok turned to leave and then turned back. “I’ll share some bloodwine with you when the war is over.”

Picard smiled. “General, you can be sure that I’ll hold you to that.”

Obi-Wan watched the Klingon disappear. It would definitely be a different kind of man leading the 33rd fleet than most the fleets which were commanded by Jedi. He turned to Picard. “Supreme Commander, the 24th fleet has been unable to get probes deep enough into Borg space to get any decent scans. I wanted to let you know we’ll be sending a Jedi in.”

Picard nodded. “It certainly is convenient having an army of Jedi so close.”

Obi Wan walked along the bridge with Picard. “We aren’t an army Commander.”

Picard gave a weary smile. “I suppose I would have objected to that classification too. None the less, I am grateful for the Jedi help. Anything else?”

Obi-Wan paused for a second. He had been assigned to help Picard with a number of activities, most of which were still diplomatic. “Any word on the Dominion? Getting them on board seems to be the key to getting half the rest of the Gamma Quadrant to even consider joining.”

Picard shook his head. “I'll talk with a representative later today myself.”

---
Senator Mina Bonteri looked around a little nervously. This should be Count Dooku here and she was a sad replacement. She took a breath and let it go though; this was her job and it was vital that she accomplished it. Bonteri was the voice of the Separatist Parliament in this group of 3 from the Confederacy of Independent States. Viceroy Gunray and the Po Nudo, the heads of the Trade Federation and the Hyper-Communication Cartel, were both here representing the more powerful Separatist Council. The other two looked a little nervous themselves as they left their droid bodyguards behind and followed the Jem'Hadar down the hallway.

The three Separatists walked deep within a structure before they entered a small room and the Jem'Hadar guards stood to the side, allowing the CIS members to approach a single changeling sitting at a table.

Bonteri let the commerce guild leaders make the introductions and start. In the Republic, being a Senator would have meant more than being a business leader, but in the CIS the Parliament was a body with little real power as most of the systems didn't intend on being part of a large centralized government after things settled down. The only place everyone had been forced to give up power (a condition of joining the Confederacy) was to the military run Separatist Council which would manage the finance and running of the military should it prove necessary.

The Council leaders took turns talking about the merits of the Confederacy and the horrors of the Republic. Bonteri had been in politics a long time though and knew the approach was wrong. The first rule in politics was to understand who you were talking to. The Founders weren't ruthless businessmen looking to bring themselves fortunes, weren't idealists, and weren't going to be brought on board by any short term gains. What the Founders needed to know was that the Confederacy was likely to survive and unlikely to break a pack. Anything more than that was pointless as the Founders simply wouldn't care.

The Founder said, “You have told me why you oppose the Republic. Right now though they are leading a fight which will set to destroy a force which threatens the entire galaxy. Why should we help you oppose them?”

Bonteri spoke for the first time since she had been introduced. She spoke calmly and confidently, but unlike the commerce guild leaders, she didn't sound like a salesman. “Founder, to put it simply the Republic is a force which will dominate the galaxy. They already dominated ours almost completely. In theory, many planets in our galaxy were independent of it, but practically speaking they were almost as effected by the corruption on Coruscant as anyone else. Unless you wanted to completely isolate your world, you had to interact with the Republic and that always meant playing by their rules. I would stunned if anything has changed in that regard, at least over the long run.”

The Founder said, “But for now, they are fighting the Borg, a species which threatens all life in this galaxy.”

Bonteri nodded. “Of course. The Borg are a threat that must be dealt with. We are not ignoring them in the Confederacy and we do not expect the Dominion to publicly back us now as that would unfairly be seen as a stab in the back to what is right now a force for good. We must be prepared for after this war though. Chancellor Palpatine has nationalized planetary defense forces throughout the galaxy and is building more at an unparallelled rate. If he is successful in destroying the Borg, then it is quite likely he will next move to destroy the CIS. After that, it very doubtful that the Republic will accept Dominion domination of half this quadrant over the long term. That is why it is vital that the CIS and Dominion form ties now.”

Bonteri took a breath. “I could go, but I know there's no need. The Founders know that the Republic is a long term threat to the Dominion. Maybe not now, maybe not in 10 years, but eventually, it will be the source of all important rules in the galaxy, including the Gamma Quadrant if its power isn't checked. The only question here today are what are the terms of eventual Dominion support of the Confederacy?”

Gunroy spoke again next, “If it will help, we will show the Founders some of our manufacturing facilities and ship production. Even with the clones, I think our forces...”

The Founder interrupted him. “Enough. The Senator has said enough. We will join the Grand Coalition for now and contribute token forces, but we wish for continuous communication between ourselves and the Separatist Council.” The Founder pulled out a pad. “Here are our conditions. Point 3 is non-negotiable and we will answer no questions on it.”

Bonteri started scanning through the articles. There was some thing that would be difficult here such as Dominion rights within most the Gamma Quadrant, but if they could alter a few things, this looked like this might work. “We'll review the terms and talk with you again soon.”

The Founder gave one final piece of advice, apparently the Founders weren't bad with politics either. “Make sure the galaxy knows you are fighting the Borg too.”

---

Anakin rushed forward. His target ran the other way, but he was faster.

He caught Padme and started tickling. She screamed quietly and hit him. He stopped tickling and started kissing.

It lasted several minutes and then she pulled away. She stood up and took a few steps back. She was grinning but said, “We aren't married yet.”

Anakin knew that fact too well. “When then? We can find someone here.”

Padme shook her head. “I want it to be at home. At least I want my family to be there.”

Anankin nodded. He couldn't wait himself, but he would for her. “I just hope we can both find some excuse to get there some point soon.”

Padme came back up to him and kissed him one more time. “We will soon enough and it's worth waiting for. You leave tomorrow?”

Anakin nodded. “First thing in the morning.”

The two embraced and walked onto the balcony.

Someone else was standing out there. “Hello Anakin.”

Anakin went for his lightsaber before realizing it was Sisko. Padme jumped.

Sisko was in his Starfleet uniform. His voice contained a little guilt. “I'm sorry to interrupt like this and will only be a minute, but I wanted to introduce myself to your fiance.“

Padme figured thing out, took a step forward, and held out her hand. “You're Ben Sisko.”

He smiled and shook her hand. “I am and I thought it best that I introduce myself so you'd have more than crazy stories from Anakin to judge me on.”

Padme looked at the man. Not at all like she pictured. Outside of his sudden appearance nothing seemed to really stand out about him. He didn't feel like a Jedi, still more like the officer she imagined he'd been before this role. “What exactly is it you plan on teaching him? Neither one of us is quite sure on that?”

Sisko walked back inside. The couple followed. Sisko said, “To be honest, I'm still trying to figure that out myself.”

Sisko paused for a minute then said, “The Force is not something any us, myself very much included, fully understand. What I do know is that there are different ways to interact with it. Between universes and even within universes there are different ways to interact with it. In your universe, the Jedi developed one method, the Sith another.”

Padme nodded. “Alright, but what does this have to do with Anakin?”

Sisko sighed. “The Prophets existed in a different type of reality entirely. They understood and interacted with the Force in completely different ways than we can here. They taught me what they knew and that gives me a different type of understanding of the Force than any Jedi. It is my responsibility to use what I learned to help the merging of our two universes.”

Sisko sat down on the couch and Padme sat beside him. Anakin was standing a bit further back. Padme said, “That still doesn't explain what you want with Anakin.”

Sisko laughed. “I guess not.” Sisko collected his thoughts and said, “One thing I learned from the Prophets was the ability to look for key individuals. As far as my mission goes, I know Anakin is one of them. The Force is out of balance and he is one who is going to be key to bringing it back. While I have suspicions, I can't say for sure his role. He's not ready now and probably won't be soon, but I need to try to get him there and to do that, I'll teach him everything I've learned and maybe learn a few things myself. ”

Padme only nodded. “Well thank you Mr. Sisko, Captain, but please promise you are going to be careful with him.”

Sisko smiled. “Call me Ben and I'll promise to be as gentle as possible. For now I don't want to totally take over his life and will leave you two be for your night.” Sisko turned to the Jedi. “I might borrow you for a bit on your way to your destination though Anakin.”

Anakin started to question this, but Sisko disappeared.
---

Picard yawned and walked to the console. Sleep was something he rarely got with this job. The diplomatic, economic, and military components of it simply were overloading him even with a huge staff of mostly Republic and Federation support. He activated the message and saw Captain Shelby, the person he had put in charge of coordinating the research into Borg technology. Picard said, “Hello captain. Anything I can help you with?”

As always, Shelby was quick and to the point. “Admiral, I would like you to order Seven of Nine to join us at the main research center.”

“Has she not been helping from Voyager?”

Shelby answered with some frustration. “She answers any question we ask, but she is making her duties on Voyager her focus which is a complete waste. She was a drone with an important mission from the queen herself which meant large amount of information were stored within in her for quick access. There is no one else in the galaxy that we have with that type of experience and she is focusing on running the science department on an intrepid class ship.”

Picard sighed and rubbed his head. “I understand Captain, but Seven of Nine just left the collective months ago after spending most of her life as a drone. Her loyalties are conflicted, and I don’t want to force her into an extremely difficult position.”

Shelby was mostly respectful, but still right to her point. “So you’ll let an officer who could save billions stay where she feels comfortable rather than helping?”

Picard shook his head. He hated it, but he couldn't argue the point. They needed every advantage they could against the Borg. “All right. I will make the order. Go easy on her though. Her life has been altered a lot in the last few months.”

“Thank you admiral.”

“Anything else?”

“I know you already said it would be unlikely, but we wouldn’t be doing our job if we didn’t look into it some. We agree with your analysis on it being impossible to seriously disrupt the Borg connection to each other. Seven of Nine stated it would require the destruction of at least 93 facilities, almost at the same time which is obviously beyond practical.”

Picard nodded. “Thank you for checking anyway. We’d all have liked a method of victory better than having to destroy every single Borg planet, ship, and drone.”

Note: Sal Liloy is my own creation. I have very little knowledge of most the Star Wars expanded universe and I wanted a Separatist character outside of the commerce guilds. Since I imagine there were a lot of legitimate complaints against the Republic, I wanted a character in there for more than financial reasons. I'll probably stick with her, but if anyone has an in-universe character who could serve the same purpose I might switch them in for her. Suggestions?

For Separatist politicians who have a cause, I'd look to Mina Bonteri and her son, Lux Bonteri. Both of them are honorable people who are just on the wrong side of the war, diplomatically.

I figured I should keep cannon characters when possible and decided to use Mina Bonteri. Thanks FaxModern1. The only thing I could find her in directly was "Hero's On Both Sides." (one story in the Clone Wars cartoon series). I altered the scene a little to better fit where I think I could take her character. Hopefully this works.

Edit: Chapter 2 is finished and will be up soon (want to do one more read through after I let it sit a day or so though).

Updated part from Chapter 1:

Senator Mina Bonteri looked around a little nervously. This should be Count Dooku here and she was a sad replacement. She took a breath and let it go though; this was her job and it was vital that she accomplished it. Bonteri was the voice of the Separatist Parliament in this group of 3 from the Confederacy of Independent States. Viceroy Gunray and the Po Nudo, the heads of the Trade Federation and the Hyper-Communication Cartel, were both here representing the more powerful Separatist Council. The other two looked a little nervous themselves as they left their droid bodyguards behind and followed the Jem'Hadar down the hallway.

The three Separatists walked deep within a structure before they entered a small room and the Jem'Hadar guards stood to the side, allowing the CIS members to approach a single changeling sitting at a table.

Bonteri let the commerce guild leaders make the introductions and start. In the Republic, being a Senator would have meant more than being a business leader, but in the CIS the Parliament was a body with little real power as most of the systems didn't intend on being part of a large centralized government after things settled down. The only place everyone had been forced to give up power (a condition of joining the Confederacy) was to the military run Separatist Council which would manage the finance and running of the military should it prove necessary.

The Council leaders took turns talking about the merits of the Confederacy and the horrors of the Republic. Bonteri had been in politics a long time though and knew the approach was wrong. The first rule in politics was to understand who you were talking to. The Founders weren't ruthless businessmen looking to bring themselves fortunes, weren't idealists, and weren't going to be brought on board by any short term gains. What the Founders needed to know was that the Confederacy was likely to survive and unlikely to break a pack. Anything more than that was pointless as the Founders simply wouldn't care.

The Founder said, “You have told me why you oppose the Republic. Right now though they are leading a fight which will set to destroy a force which threatens the entire galaxy. Why should we help you oppose them?”

Bonteri spoke for the first time since she had been introduced. She spoke calmly and confidently, but unlike the commerce guild leaders, she didn't sound like a salesman. “Founder, to put it simply the Republic is a force which will dominate the galaxy. They already dominated ours almost completely. In theory, many planets in our galaxy were independent of it, but practically speaking they were almost as effected by the corruption on Coruscant as anyone else. Unless you wanted to completely isolate your world, you had to interact with the Republic and that always meant playing by their rules. I would stunned if anything has changed in that regard, at least over the long run.”

The Founder said, “But for now, they are fighting the Borg, a species which threatens all life in this galaxy.”

Bonteri nodded. “Of course. The Borg are a threat that must be dealt with. We are not ignoring them in the Confederacy and we do not expect the Dominion to publicly back us now as that would unfairly be seen as a stab in the back to what is right now a force for good. We must be prepared for after this war though. Chancellor Palpatine has nationalized planetary defense forces throughout the galaxy and is building more at an unparallelled rate. If he is successful in destroying the Borg, then it is quite likely he will next move to destroy the CIS. After that, it very doubtful that the Republic will accept Dominion domination of half this quadrant over the long term. That is why it is vital that the CIS and Dominion form ties now.”

Bonteri took a breath. “I could go, but I know there's no need. The Founders know that the Republic is a long term threat to the Dominion. Maybe not now, maybe not in 10 years, but eventually, it will be the source of all important rules in the galaxy, including the Gamma Quadrant if its power isn't checked. The only question here today are what are the terms of eventual Dominion support of the Confederacy?”

Gunroy spoke again next, “If it will help, we will show the Founders some of our manufacturing facilities and ship production. Even with the clones, I think our forces...”

The Founder interrupted him. “Enough. The Senator has said enough. We will join the Grand Coalition for now and contribute token forces, but we wish for continuous communication between ourselves and the Separatist Council.” The Founder pulled out a pad. “Here are our conditions. Point 3 is non-negotiable and we will answer no questions on it.”

Bonteri started scanning through the articles. There was some thing that would be difficult here such as Dominion rights within most the Gamma Quadrant, but if they could alter a few things, this looked like this might work. “We'll review the terms and talk with you again soon.”

The Founder gave one final piece of advice, apparently the Founders weren't bad with politics either. “Make sure the galaxy knows you are fighting the Borg too.”

Note: In chapter 1, I replaced Sal Liloy (an original character I created) with Senator Mina Bonteri and rearranged the scene between the Separatist and Dominion to reflect that. I don't know a lot of Star Wars EU, but she doesn't seem to have been in that much of it, so I think I can get a decent grasp on her character.

Chapter 2: The Long Wait

The holographic Jedi said, “I need info on the Breen. Communication with them has apparently been difficult and we need to clear things up quickly. We don't have much left around here to defend with if things escalate anymore.”

Olee Starstone had been thrown into arguably the toughest position of any Jedi in the entire order. Master Nu had been in charge of the achieves for decades and right when her expertise would be needed more than ever, she had been killed on Bajor. Starstone, while still a technical Padawan had been judged the most fit to succeed Nu and put in charge of the library on at least a temporary basis.

Starstone thought for a second. Breen were Alpha Quadrant. The Federation's info was probably best on them and the records on most the species in the area had just been updated. “I'm sending you the updated info.” She thought for a second. She remembered going briefly through the species. “Don't be too light in the negotiations. The Breen respect power. Make sure they realize that our weakness in the area is temporary.”

The hologram disappeared and Starstone decided to start the updates in the Beta Quadrant next.

“You are doing pretty good with all of this.”

Starstone turned around quickly, her hand moving to the lightsaber on her belt. There was a man standing there she didn't immediately recognize. Her mind raced though and then she remembered his face from the records on Nu's trip to Bajor.

“Captain Benjamin Sisko?”

Sisko smiled and held out his hand. “Yes. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

Starstone kept her hand close to her lightsaber. “How did you get in here?”

Sisko looked around. “I'm not here for trouble. I learned a great deal about the Force from the Prophets before their connection to our universe was lost. I am here now mostly to express my sympathies and thanks for the sacrifices of Masters Nu and Halcyon. If they had not fought Dooku, it's quite likely the Paw-wraiths would have caused a lot more damage.”

Starstone sighed. She tried to have no attachments, but it was good to hear that Nu's death hadn't been in vain. “I will inform the Council. They will likely wish to speak with you.”

Sisko looked around the library before shaking his head. “I think it's better that our paths remain separate for the time being.”

Starstone was confused. “Why?”

“The Jedi focus will be on the war and the threats to the Republic. I have to be more concerned with other matters. I may come calling the Council eventually, for now it wouldn't accomplish much. I may poke around the library from time to time though. ”

Starstone started, “I don't think...”

Sisko disappeared.

Starstone let hand leave her lightsaber. “Well that will be something else to research.”

----

“What have the Alpha Quadrant investigations revealed?”

The Founders were on opposite sides of the galaxy, but thanks to improved communications were talking even without the wormhole. One Founder, a male, spoke in the Gamma Quadrant, while a female changing spoke from her ship near Cardassia Prime. “We have completed our analysis of the Obsidian Order prior to the Cardassian decision to join the Dominion and have found no evidence of an attempt to place a disease into our population. Our investigations into the other main powers are on going, but we previously penetrated deep enough into the Klingon Empire to almost completely exclude them.”

The male Founder nodded. “Continue your work on the others, especially the Federation and Romulans.”

The female said, “What of possible Gamma Quadrant threats?”

The male Founder said, “There are three possible governments and a handful of rogue groups and individuals we are studying. The most equipped to come up with a disease this successful though are the Alpha Quadrant species.”

The female said, “Then we must be prepared to act.”

The male nodded, “The Great Link agrees.”

-----

The trip to the Delta Quadrant took longer than a trip of that distance used to take. The old paths were effected differently by gravity now thanks to double the amount of matter and new ideal paths were still being developed. Anakin didn't really mind this though. It was a chance to stop and think.

He'd made his life a lot more complicated by proposing to Padme. He was going to have to avoid letting any other Jedi, including Obi-Wan know. Padme would have to do the same and it wouldn't make for the easiest of marriages. And then there was Sisko...

Anakin all of a sudden wasn't in his ship anymore. He was now sitting on a rock in a lightly wooded forest. He jumped up and activated his lightsaber.

Sisko said, “That's not necessary.”

Anakin spun around and looked at the old captain. Annoyed he said, “There are other ways of getting my attention.”

Sisko ignored the comment. “I'm sorry to take you out. I think though that here is a good place to show you how exactly the universe has been changed.”

Anakin looked around the world. He sensed the Force around, but....

Sisko had stopped looking at Anakin and was looking forward. “It feels different doesn't it?”

Anakin tried to get a full presence for the things around him, but try as he might, he couldn't get a full grasp.

Sisko walked to the side as Anakin continued to focus on the Force around him. Anakin could sense it, but it was like everything was blurry.

Anakin sensed it, but very late. He turned around quick, but was too late to avoid a small rock hitting him.

Sisko said, “I wasn't sure about that one. You didn't sense that in time, did you?”

Anakin shook his head alarmed. “What's wrong here?”

Sisko threw a round rock in the air and caught it like it was a baseball. “Nothing. The Merging hasn't come along very far here yet though. The Force on this planet still interacts much as it always has.”

Anakin picked up a rock himself and threw it high and slightly behind him. He didn't look, but tried to keep sight of it with the Force. He reached his hand behind him his back and tried to grab it without looking, but just missed.

Sisko continued as Anakin tried again. “This is how the Force interacted with my universe before the Merging. It's harder to grasp and less clear in directions. The Prophets called it a chaotic interaction. I like to think of it only being involved in the big details. It's probably the only reason time paradoxes never destroyed us.”

Anakin missed the rock again. He went to try again. He asked Sisko. “Why is it like this here? Is every Milky Way world like this?”

Sisko shook his head. “Most the Merging was fairly instantaneous. To an extent, both types of interactions with the Force exist in most the universe. The Prophets called the interaction with the Force in your universe a light-dark interaction. It's personal but divisive and impossible to get a full grasp on due to the inherent divisions.”

Anakin narrowly caught the rock this time. Sisko complimented him. “Nice catch. I have no precognition abilities of my own.”

Anakin looked at the Starfleet captain oddly. “You can travel between worlds like most of us walk into a room and you have no precognition?”

Sisko shook his head. “The Prophets existed outside of time. It was like I had an infinite amount of time to learn from them, but their knowledge is far from complete either. They don't understand time the way you and I do and thus something like precognition is something I could never learn from them.”

Anakin nodded. He had a new teacher on the Force, but was beginning to see their might be learning going both directions. “What planet is this? Why is it like this?”

Sisko dug into the ground and pulled out a small piece of metal. He tossed it to Anakin. Anakin looked at it, but couldn't get much from it. “Man made?”

Sisko nodded. He paused, seemed to be sensing the Force himself. Finally he said, “We are half way across the universe. This planet was once the capital of a civilization that spanned almost a 1000 galaxies.”

Sisko paused a second and Anakin was sure he was searching the Force somehow. Finally Sisko said, “It lasted for a long time, but it eventually decayed and died. The planet itself was lifeless for a long time, but order has slowly restored. It's been forgotten by even the people of this galaxy.”

Sisko started walking forward and Anakin followed. They didn't go far, but stopped in a patch of trees. Sisko said, “This used to be the site of the capital building.”

Anakin looked around and saw nothing to show there had ever even been people here. It must have died a long time ago. He tried to picture Coruscant someday looking like this and the thought was disturbing.

Sisko said, “So much life, being so central a location for so long made the Force very strong here and resistant to the Merging. In time, it won't feel that way though.”

Anakin slowly nodded.

Sisko said, “I'm still trying to figure things out myself, but I'll be seeing you around.”

Sisko disappeared and Anakin was back on his ship. He looked at his location. He was almost to Borg space.

----

Excerpt From Battles of The Great War
by Aerv Lhoell
Copyright: Lahol, Remus, Reman Star Alliance 2388
Computer translated into English in 2458 in accordance with the McCord Historical Treaties.

Chapter 4: The Long Wait and the Battle of Menzzla and Piscan

There were 2 months and 3 days between the Battle of Coruscant and the start of the Grand Coalition's massive drive against the Borg. That has been both portrayed as a feat of massive speed and a terrible failure to act. The truth is likely somewhere in the middle.

Following The Event, the Republic had attempted focusing heavily on the Delta Quadrant and met with limited success. As earlier chapters discussed, while they had been able to contain Borg expansion to a degree, the loses they were suffering were not sustainable and the attempted assimilation of Coruscant in front of the eyes of the entire galaxy led to a lot of fear in the Senate. The result was a temporary drawback until a better, fuller attack to could be arranged.

The set-up was difficult though. The clone armies were only now being first utilized and the logistical issues there were severe. Most importantly, many of the ships for the clones to man still didn't exist. To make up for the short fall and need for a mass fleet immediately two things were done. 1. The Grand Coalition was created and a non-Republic commander (Jean-Luc Picard of the Federation) was brought on to command and to negotiate the entrance of thousand of Milky Way governments. 2. The planetary fleets of virtually every Republic world were nationalized and put under direct military authority (something that would have been near impossible under almost any other circumstances and still resulted in protests as it was).

Contrary to many accounts, most worlds in Borg Occupied Space were not assimilated in this time period. Assimilation of entire planets was not a quick process even with the Borg resources. Still a large number of recognizable big population planets were assimilated and the dangers even for this limited period were large enough that widespread fear was warranted. To the people in Borg Occupied Space, there seemed to be no end in sight as planet after planet fell, food and fuel shortages went critical, and no news of Coalition counter attacks surfaced.

It was in this context that the Battle of Menzzla and Piscan took place. While the battle was smaller than 13 of the other 14 battles this book focuses on, it is significant as it is the only major battle that did not result in a massive Borg victory in this time period and for it's political consequences.

General Overview: Nine Borg cubes entered the Menzzla system and approached Menzzla itself. Menzzla had left the Republic and joined the CIS barely a month before the Event. Planetary forces directly engaged the Borg first and were completely destroyed. Borg began assimilation, but before any large parts of the planet were damaged 153 Separatist capital ships arrived along with fighters. The results was a clear Confederacy victory. Four hours later, the same fleet would head to the planet Piscan and drive off another 8 cubes. Newly elected Parliamentary leader Mina Bonteri would give a congratulatory speech to their forces that night and the two victories were enough to prevent what seemed to be an inevitable CIS collapse.

----

Seven walked through the halls of Voyager like they were her home. She had only spent a few months away from the collective and Voyager was the only place that had learned to feel comfortable. The ship had been docked in Earth's Spacedock since it's return to the Alpha Quadrant, but Seven had only left the ship for a few meetings and casual events Janeway or others had prodded her into.

Seven entered the turbolift and considered the future. Voyager would be leaving soon, returning to the Delta Quadrant of all places to fight the Borg. She had very mixed feeling. For some time after being disconnected from the collective she had wanted nothing more than to return. That was over now, but that didn't mean facing the Borg didn't bring up a number of emotions. There was fear that she would be assimilated again, brought back to the collective just as she was rediscovering her individuality. There was also guilt. She had been one of those drones and she had respect for the collective even if she didn't want to be back in. To completely destroy it seemed very dark and far more than she wanted to really be involved with.

The turbolift opened and Seven walked through the bridge to the Ready Room. Janeway opened the door immediately. Without a hint of emotion, Seven said, “You wanted to see me captain.”

Janeway nodded. It was clear she was unhappy with something. “Sit down Seven.”

“I prefer to remain standing.”

Janeway sighed. “Of course.” Janeway stood herself. “Seven, I've just received orders that you are to report to the Joint Research Facility and are to be under the direct command of Captain Shelby.”

Seven heart skipped a beat. She had considered the possibility, but Janeway had assured her it wouldn't happen. “Can you stop it?”

Janeway turned away and looked out the glass behind her at Earth. “No. I've tried, but they won't listen and they come all the way from Picard.”

Seven knew what the meant. She was going to not only have to fight against the Borg, but if this war was successful, she would be one of ones who would be the most effective weapons. For all that she hated what they did to her, the thought of the collective voice ceasing brought no comfort at all. Hesitantly, and with uncharacteristic emotion, Seven said, “Then I guess I have no choice.”

Janeway turned to the women she had helped escape the collective. She put both her hands on her desk and looked straight at Seven. “You do have a choice. Starfleet is violating its principles here in forcing you to fight something you still feel connected to.”

“But you said the orders were made.”

Janeway nodded and then smiled. “Yes, but I checked your file again just now.”

Seven was confused. “What about it?”

Janeway pulled out a pad and handed it to Seven. “You are still an Acting Lieutenant. Your commission and formal acceptance into Starfleet still hasn't gone through. Practically, that changes nothing except one thing.”

Seven picked up the pad and looked at the form on it and understood. “I can withdraw my request to join Starfleet.”

Janeway nodded, but her smile was gone. “Yes. Legally you can withdraw your request at any time before it has been approved. If you sign this now and leave Federation space immediately, Starfleet isn't going to be able to do anything about it.”

Seven was more than stunned that Janeway would suggest this. Janeway had encouraged Seven to help all along and this was a complete turn. “Where would I go?”

Janeway went around the desk and put her arm on Seven's shoulder. “I've talked to Chakotay. Many of the Maqui have started new lives on an uninhabited world a little beyond Federation space. Tom and B'elanna have talked about going there too. B'elanna is already working on a new pod for you to regenerate and Tom has a shuttle ready to take you there.”

Seven slowly nodded. It seemed the decision was made. “Thank you captain.”

Hmm, I wonder how much Seven living independently will harm the war effort.

It's a different approach than I took in the original version of this story, but when I looked through the timeline for last story (don't feel compelled to follow it, but all else being equal do) I realized Seven joining Voyager was just before Deep Space Nine was retaken (both early in the season that year) and figured she had enough appreciation for parts of the collective that destroying it would be difficult (and would also bring about a lot of fears). I could see Janeway getting high and mighty with Starfleet over it and Seven still insecure enough to go along. The Maqui officers/Paris leaving last story helped with that too even though wasn't planned out ahead of time.


It's definitely a big set back for research. I don't like to think of all ex-drones having knowledge like Seven had. It would seem just to give too much to possible enemies and Picard clearly didn't remember anything like that. If Seven isn't helping, there really is no replacement of anywhere near similar quality.