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Hi everyone. This is my second fanfic and the sequel to my first one. I'm also in the process of rewriting the first one. You can read the as yet uncompleted revised version at http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic.php?t=77461 or http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2353766/1/ . You can read the unrevised version at http://www.daltonator.net/fanfics/stori ... erging.txt . I'll replace that version once I've finished the revisions.
If you don't want to go to any of those links, but would just like a summery of Episode I, look below.

















Summery for Star Trek and Star Wars: Episode I: The Merging

This story starts with the Defiant rushing to DS9 (this is during the 6th season episode where they retake it). They don't get back in time and the mines preventing additional Dominion forces from coming through the wormhole are destroyed. Sisko takes the Defiant into the wormhole and is then abducted by the Profits. They realize he means to throw away his life and decide to start the Merging.

Sisko is returned to the Defiant, and the ship is thrown out of the wormhole. The Dominion fleet is thrown out on their side. This is a relatively small event though compared to what is going on throughout the galaxy. The Milky Way and the Star Wars galaxy have merged into one new galaxy. For Star Wars, this occurs in Episode II, just after Anakin and Padme are captured.

There is pandemonium across the new galaxy as both sides try to figure out what is going on. Sisko informs Starfleet of what has happened and they inform the Republic after making contact. The Defiant is brought to Coruscant. Sisko meets Palpatine and the Jedi Council.

The Borg attack Geonosis in full force (it is now within their borders), and the Separatists decide to retreat. They leave Anakin, Padme, and Obi-Wan to their fates. The three do manage to escape the planet though.

Palpatine sends Dooku to investigate the Profits. This turns out badly though as Dooku realizes with the power of the Pah-wraiths he won't need Palpatine. Sisko realizes he needs to get back to Bajor and ends up getting Anakin to take him (the Defiant still has no hyperdrive).

The Enterprise arrives at Coruscant, and Picard quickly realizes he is sensing the Borg approaching. After a lot of wasted time, he gets to talk to Palpatine (who had secretly actually sent out a signal inviting the Borg). Picard tells him and the generals in charge all he knows about the Borg and shortly afterward they arrive.

The battle in managed badly by the Republic commander, but they still win. The Borg do manage to beam onboard a few ships though and eventually end up on the planet. One group beams into the offices of the Galactic Senate. The Jedi are sent to deal with the problem.

Anakin arrives at Bajor and lets Sisko off. He then realizes there is trouble at Coruscant and sees an awful fate awaiting his wife. He heads back home and gets the help of Q to get there. He rushes into the Galactic Senate and arrives in just enough time to save Padme. He didn't prevent her from being assimilated though. She is unassimilated later on the Enterprise.

Two weeks later, Palpatine calls for a Grand Coalition to be formed to fight the Borg and asks Captain Picard to lead it. Picard, although reluctant, accepts the offer.

Sisko makes his way through the Fire Caves and has the fight he should of had with Dukat with Dooku. He then calls upon Anakin and tells him that it is his job to train him. It is his job to prepare Anakin to bring balance to the Force.

This is the 2nd part of a Star Trek, Star Wars crossover series called “The Merging”. Star Trek is a registered trademark of Paramount. Star Wars is a registered trademark of Lucasfilm. No copyright infringement is intended and no money is being made.

Eric Upp



In a galaxy that is not fully ours, in a time that is both the future and the past.

Star Trek and Star Wars

Episode II
Necessary Wars
It’s been a time of great change for both halves of the new galaxy. A month has passed since the Battle of Coruscant. Working together, Picard and Palpatine have managed to convince thousands of governments, including several great powers to join the new Grand Coalition. Preliminary plans on how to defeat the Borg are now underway.

While most of the Republic’s new clone fleet is still bottled up at Coruscant, the Borg have been attacking Republic worlds in their space and through out the Delta Quadrant with little resistance. Without help from their government, citizens are fleeing Republic territories in and around Borg space at an unparallel rate.

The Separatist Union is in disarray after the loss of Geonosis and the disappearance of their leader. They have lost several worlds, which decided to reenter the Republic, and are getting few new candidates. They are trying to regroup and find the best way to take advantage of this situation.






Chapter 1: Diplomacy and War

“Chancellor Palpatine, why aren’t we engaging the Borg? Planets both inside and outside of so-called Borg space are falling without a fight. Any advantage or any assistance we gain by waiting is minimal compared to the cost. I implore you, you must return command of our fleet to a Republic commander and immediately move to protect our planets!”

In his place in the middle of the Galactic Senate of the Republic, Chancellor Palpatine responded, “Senator, while I understand your anxiousness, it does none of us any good. Until recently, our forces were not organized well enough to risk engagements. We are now defending worlds outside former Borg space, but are not going to be prepared to attack the Borg directly for a while yet. This would be true even if we were planning on conducting this war completely by ourselves. Our government has not had a large-scale war since the formation of the Republic and despite the clones is completely unprepared. We have construction facilities working at their maximum, but this problem is still going to take months to solve at the very least. As for Admiral Picard, he was selected for this position because he is the person most likely to bring us victory. He knows the Borg. His diplomatic skills have also been essential. We have very large commitments from many Milky Way governments that we would have been unlikely to receive without him.”




Padme Amidala Skywalker walked back in her room. She had just gotten back after a doctor’s visit. The trip hadn’t been one she had wanted to make, but too many around her had been too concerned. Hopefully now they could accept that she had completely recovered from her Borg ordeal.

The past month and a half hadn’t been fun. Well, she had gotten married; she shouldn’t forget that. But still, the enactment of the Military Creation Act, her assimilation, the loss of hundreds of Republic worlds, and the prospect of a full-scale war still to come, had lowered her spirits a little.

She wondered how long until the war actually began. A month felt like a long time, but considering the fact that they were literally negotiating with more than a hundred thousand governments and trying to create a fleet for their new clone armies to man, probably meant there was at least another month to go. Republic forces were in the Delta Quadrant protecting key systems outside Borg space, but the ones inside it were just being allowed to fall. Under Palpatine’s orders issued about a week after the Battle of Coruscant, no system in Borg space or outside Borg space, being attacked by more than 10 cubes, was to be defended by Republic ships. This order had been issued to stop all the devastating defeats they were suffering and save their forces for the invasion that was to come. This had generated a lot of resentment within Delta Quadrant worlds (it still felt weird to think of the galaxy in those terms, but they were becoming very useful) though. Some of the planets that had been assimilated could have been saved. Fortunately, the order had been rescinded once Palpatine gave semi-official (power ultimately still rested with him) command of most Republic forces to Picard about a week ago. The new orders were only to defend a planet if superior forces could be raised.

Padme got the sudden sensation that she wasn’t alone and looked by the window. There was someone standing there she hadn’t expected, but was still glad to see “Anakin.” She went up and hugged him. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, we are married,” he said with a grin. “Shouldn’t you be in the Senate right now?”

“I doubt even a tenth of the Senate showed up tonight. There nothing major scheduled and everyone is reviewing Palpatine’s new proposed budget. The only ones who are probably there are a few Delta Quadrant senators who are trying to convince Palpatine to send everything to aid them now. I can’t say I blame…” Anakin stopped her words with a kiss. It was wonderful to be together again. After a minute they stopped. “Really, what are you doing here? We talked about this. This isn’t safe, someone is going to find out.”

He wanted to just say let them find out, but held his tongue. “The counsel is sending out several Jedi to scout out some of the deeper sections of Borg space. I’m leaving in the morning.”

Padme looked concerned. “Isn’t that dangerous. You’ll be alone around thousands of their ships.”

“That’s why they’re sending Jedi. It really isn’t that big of problem though. All we do is hyperspace in some place, do a quick scan and leave again. It will be nothing compared to escaping Geonosis.”

Padme thought about it and guessed Geonosis was probably the reason they had decided to send him in the first place. He had already proven he could run past Borg ships. “If that’s all it is, why don’t they just send probe droids?”

“Probes can’t use the Force and can’t maneuver too well. We can avoid the Borg far easier than they can, and might be able to sense something important they can’t.”

Padme did know that made sense, but also knew the chances of him finding anything of value were remote. This made her a little angry, but she kept it in. Anakin stayed for a while longer and then left.




A long way from Coruscant, a room was full of a body debating its future. This group was much smaller, than the grand Senate of the Republic, but its power was still very substantial. The heads of the major commerce guilds and planets that made up the Separatists Union were here to work out their future in this very much-changed environment. This wasn’t the first meeting since there evacuation of Geonosis, not by a long shot, they had had almost constant ones in fact, but until now there hadn’t been much of a plan. This meeting had been very productive though since they had finally come to some sort of consensus about what to do.

After the Borg attack, the leaders had been divided on their next step. Most agreed that now was no longer an ideal time to attempt to break away from the Republic. It would look like they were helping the Borg, and that would lead to major consequences. Directly joining a war that the Republic would claim credit for was also not an option though.

A strong first opinion was to just wait and stay hidden until the future looked clearer. If victory seemed out of hand for the Republic, they could always come in and try to save the day. That could potentially gain them a lot of support from the rest of the galaxy for being the decisive factor. The outcome they considered more likely was a Borg defeat though. This also had several advantages too. The Republic would have had plenty of time to build up a larger military, but would also be more reluctant to start another long war.

The Viceroy of the Trade Federation led the opposition to this tactic. The Republic’s support would be at all time highs after a victory against the Borg, he argued. Not only would this be a problem since worlds who had considered independence would now be fighting with the Republic, but also since there were now a number of strong empires who were aligning with them. If the Separatists tried to take advantage of a tired Republic, then many would come to its aid. The Separatists would more than likely gain a few allies themselves, but most would side with the Republic, who had just sacrificed so much for the destruction of the Borg. This plan may have worked in the old galaxy, but it wouldn’t in the new one.

Over time more and more members had agreed waiting was too dangerous. They would take a different approach. The Viceroy of the Trade Federation read the most recent summarized plan. “Over the next week, we will enter a few battles with the Borg within their borders. We will announce that we have come to the conclusion that we are unable to protect our worlds within Borg space, and regret this with all our heart. We will also announce that we will attempt to evacuate everyone who wants to leave anyone of our member worlds. We will state that we want to do our part in this war against the Borg and will guarantee protection to any world more than 500 light years from Borg space. These worlds will be protected by all necessary means, no exceptions. We will make it clear that while we have differences with the Republic, we are on the same side of this war. Any questions or comments?”

The Banking Clan representative spoke up, “Are we certain that we will be able to uphold this guarantee? If we fail even once, our support will drop.”

“Hopefully, this will be relatively easy since the Borg seem far more interested in worlds within their space than outside it. They have only attacked a handful of planets outside their space so far, and they have used fewer ships for those missions. It seems the further from their borders a planet is, the less resources get used on it. Assimilating all the planets within their space is still going to take months, at least. By then, the Republic’s invasion should have started and the Borg will have to handle them.”

“What results do we expect from this policy?”

“We hope and expect that this plan will have large political rewards. The Republic is already defending most worlds outside Borg space on its own, but its earlier policy of not defending worlds to save forces for its invasion has not been forgotten so easily. They have guaranteed no one protection and this is making several planets, especially larger ones, very nervous. If the Republic responds by issuing a similar offer, it won’t look as genuine.”




Picard sat in his ready room thinking over his situation. How had he got himself into this situation? He was actually supposed to find a way to defeat the Borg once and for all! He was in command of more ships and responsible for more lives than he could have ever possibly imagined. He also had a diplomatic nightmare. That was actually all he had really had the chance to deal with over the past month.

After he had accepted Palpatine’s request to lead the Grand Coalition, Starfleet Command and the Federation Council had been outraged. Some accused him of committing the Federation to what might be the bloodiest war in history. Picard noted that the only person he had volunteered had been himself, and this calmed most of them down. They agreed with the war entirely, were just angry he had overstepped his bounds and actually done their job. Not wanting a mere captain to be in charge of this, they had promoted him to admiral. The Enterprise would be his flagship and stay at Coruscant. Riker was then promoted to Captain and Data became first officer.

Since that point, he had long since lost track of how many negotiations he had entered. Several races wanted technological, economic, and material concessions to join the war. The only ones he had been able to give though were hyperspace, transporter technology, and some promises of upgrades to ships committed. Hyperspace and transporters had little value to most the races since the technology was becoming extremely easy to get (indeed, that was the only reason he could make these concessions to begin with). The upgrades would be primarily shielding, but also some weapons enhancements, and the Republic would provide them.

The technology, economic, and material demands were the easy ones to deal with though. Several races wanted guarantees there ships wouldn’t be put in the front lines. Several others were only willing to join if competing neighbors also did. A lot of Delta Quadrant races were willing to join, but didn’t want to move their ships much beyond their own homes. Many governments (especially the larger ones) wanted to have input in the overall tactical strategies. Almost all governments insisted on keeping total or near total control over all their ships and reserved the right to deny them for any mission that was deemed too dangerous or gave them an unnecessarily high burden compared to others.

Picard had an army of Federation and Republic ambassadors helping him, but that didn’t change the fact that a lot of the major powers had wanted or needed to talk to him. He decided that he was going to wind down his participation in the negotiations over the next two weeks though and start focusing exclusively on the military side of things. He wouldn’t be able to completely do this, but would do so as much as possible.

Picard wished there was some easy way to win this war, some crucial spot he could hit that would just wipe them out, but didn’t think such a spot existed. The Borg seemed downright stupid at times, but the system keeping them connected was flawless. He doubted anything destructive ever could make it through much of the fleet before being stopped. That meant he was going to have to literally take down every last ship and drone out there. To do this, he had almost 3000 Federation ships committed. He also had about 2500 Klingon, 400 Romulan, and believe it or not, almost 20,000 Dominion ships, about 1000 of which were Cardasasian (the Dominion’s commitment, had actually led to the current Federation and Klingon totals, which were originally much smaller). There were similar large numbers from a few other space ferrying races and a hundred thousand more from other smaller powers so far (although most of these were smaller ships that would add little). Of all these ships, only a handful were actually anywhere near Coruscant at this time and some he suspected would never actually enter battle.

There was, of course the Republic forces too. They would only make up a small percent of the fleet, but would make up a very high relative percent of the firepower.

There was only one group that Picard had been unable to bring in that he would really have liked to. Species 8472 had apparently only recently been at war with Borg and winning. Voyager had intervened on the Borg’s side though and forced them back to fluidic space. Picard had heard Janeway and understood her reasons, but given everything he knew, knew that she had made the wrong choice. Her decision might cost billions of lives now, and a part of him really hoped she would be court marshaled for it.

About a week ago, a ship had been prepared by Seven of Nine, an ex-drone who instated on keeping her Borg identification, and sent to fluidic space. There had been Jedi onboard (Janeway had wanted to go herself, but Picard had flat out said no) and they tried to make contact with this civilization. When hails didn’t work, they tried using their mental abilities, but only received the message, “The weak shall perish.” The Jedi left fluidic space and they all had quietly agreed that attempting further contact would probably be more of a risk than it was worth.




The Borg were increasing their size at an unparallel rate. It wasn’t because of any new protocols though. Expansion at this rate was indeed something they tried to avoid. They would generally assimilate a planet’s population, then after learning everything about their technology (which only rarely required any examination, since the populations usually already understood it), convert it to standard Borg materials. They would then abstract any resources they felt would be useful, and finally either leave the planet or construct facilities on it. They now had thousands of unassimilated worlds and millions of ships within the heart of their space though. This made adequate protection of nearly all facilities require more resources than existed. This meant they would have to deal with the problem as quickly as possible. They would continue assimilating worlds within the heart of their space, until there were no more.

The Borg also concluded that hyperspace was now increasing the risk to their planets, and making successful assimilation more difficult. Their individual cubes that they had sent out to various parts of the galaxy no longer could successfully complete missions. They would have to attempt to adapt to this new reality as well.





“…We will do our part to stop this terrorizing of the Borg.”

The hologram displaying the new head of the Separatist movement disappeared. Palpatine looked up at Picard and then said, “This shows the ruthlessness of the current Separatists movement. If they were concerned about the Borg, they would enter the Grand Coalition. It appears that Count Dooku has fallen and been replaced by a more extreme leader.”

“What are you going to do?” Picard asked.

“I am not going to allow this Republic, which has stood for a thousand generations be split in two.” Picard looked concerned. “Don’t worry, our first priority is still the Borg. If we were to attack the Separatists now, we would lose too much support. We will be very discrete with them for the time being. A large number of Jedi are being dispatched to try and hold the Republic together until we can properly deal with the Separatists. How has this message affected the other members of the coalition?”

“Minimally, a few civilizations have withdrawn support, and are sending aid to the Separatists instead. Most are sticking with us though. How has this affected Republic worlds?”

“We’re already lost a few more worlds and expect the number to continue rising until and possibly even after a military campaign is started. Even worlds within Borg space that were offered no protection are copulating joining the Separatists. They hope they’ll change their policy, and feel like the Separatists are doing more than we are.” Picard could feel Palpatine’s guilt for having started a policy that the Separatists were now so successfully exploiting. “How long until we’re ready for an campaign?” He hid it well, but Picard thought he heard a little bit of eagerness in Palpatine’s voice.

Picard wasn’t sure how to answer this. “There is a disagreement on exactly when to start engaging the Borg. Some generals and admirals want to go ahead and start some campaigns on the outskirts of Borg space immediately. Others want to wait until we have more committed ships and more have arrived. They figure we’re less likely to get additional commitments once the battles start and the cost becomes clear, so they want to get as many as possible first.”

“What is your opinion?”

Picard turned away from Palpatine. He walked over to the window and looked down on the bustling city below. He wanted badly to say that they would leave tomorrow and start relieving the Republic worlds that were falling to the Borg left and right. He wanted to say that they were going to make a stand now. He had come close to actually making that decision. He felt like he was just letting those worlds fall. His duty was not to protect those worlds though, and it was essential that he remember that, even if the very core of being said it was. His duty was to end the threat of the Borg permanently.

“Chancellor, I’m sorry but I don’t think we’re ready yet. We would have some initial success if we engage now, but I think that it would come at a terrible cost in the long run.” Picard signed, “My galaxy’s, my old galaxy’s fleets are only just beginning to arrive. Most of the actual pledges have only come in the last two weeks, and no one’s anxious to send ships right away, especially those who have few ships or committed a lot. The Federation hasn’t even sent all that much yet. We have increased pressure and this is having some impact. Several major governments have stated that their forces will be heading to one of our bases by the end of the week. We think we can have 50% of what has been pledged either here or at one of the other outpost within three weeks. We are already working out fleet arrangements, and trying to set up some sort of command structure, but this is proving difficult since we don’t know exactly what we have and have to be sensitive to all the governments’ desires not to take too high a burden of the fighting. Once the ships arrive we will also have to explain all of this to them, address all of their concerns, and upgrade all the ships we have promised to. The problem is that if we rush this, we are going to have to rely almost entirely on Republic ships, and if we have setbacks, we’ll never see a lot the ships that have been promised.”

Picard paused and then continued, “As for your forces, they aren’t completely ready yet either. Integrating all of those clones is taking time and construction facilities only are just beginning to turn out new ships. They, well I suppose I don’t need to tell you the shape of your own fleet.”

“No, but keep me informed of your assessments. How do you think the Borg will respond when we start the campaign?”

“That’s the other reason that I’m reluctant to begin. I’m concerned that once they consider us a threat to the collective’s survival they will more than likely attempt to adapt new protocols. I have no idea what type of action that will entail, but want them as badly crippled as possible before that happens. Chancellor, I want you to consider again the fact that I am an explorer and a scientist. If you wish someone else to lead this, I will completely understand.” He paused for a moment, “It will even be a relief.”

“Jean-Luc, you are the perfect man for this mission. You understand the Borg better than anyone and also understand this truly complex diplomacy. Well, it may be impossible to completely understand, but you understand better than anyone else I could consider for this mission, including any Jedi.” To this, Picard could say nothing.




Anakin dropped out of hyperspace again. He was near a particularly dense nebula. It was essentially a smaller version of the Badlands, although he had never heard of them. His mission was almost done. He hadn’t found anything, but really hadn’t expected to. He did a quick scan. Before looking at the results, he felt something through the Force though. He sent his ship in that direction of the nebula. What did he feel? Something seemed to be calling to him.

Anakin navigated through this dense part of space barely thinking about it. Something was calling him here. His destiny. He kept going for about twenty minutes. He saw a large asteroid. It could have been called a planet if it had been orbiting a star. There was something there. There was something just above it too. He started to fly toward it and then got a major warning from the Force. Two Borg spheres, they were almost on top of him. He really must have been distracted.

A signal was being transmitted from them, but he ignored it. He wasn’t going to be able to engage his hyperdrive until he got out of here. He set his engines to maximum and left as quickly as possible. He went right past the asteroid he had been looking at. He spared it one last look, even though that was dangerous. He would be back. He could feel it. Anakin felt one of the ships disappear. He didn’t know if it had been damaged or what, but didn’t worry too much about it. The other broke off pursuit a moment later. Almost too easy Anakin thought as he exited the nebula. He would come here again when he got the chance.




The Borg had learned of the Jedi through assimilation. They had then encountered them on Coruscant and learned through the assimilation of Padme Amidala that Anakin had been the one to fly through their forces at Geonosis. The Borg had been unable to verify the existence of this Force that the Jedi claimed to strong in, but their skill and special abilities could not be denied. Assimilation of a Jedi was now a minor priority of the collective.

The Borg learned that several Jedi had entered their space through the assimilation of a ship that had run into one of the Jedi. When they detected Anakin’s ship going into the nebula, they concluded that the probability of successfully catching a Jedi had risen to the point that resources could be used in attempt to catch him. They failed, but discovered something else very interesting instead. It was in a nebula they had scanned entirety centuries ago, but apparently something was in there that their sensors couldn’t detect.




The Republic captain lifted off the planet. He didn’t understand what he had just done, but the orders had come from Palpatine himself, so they must have been important. He had just left a Dominion world. He had placed an item in a deserted place and put a little blood around it. He didn’t like this mission at all, but he had absolute trust in Palpatine, so he would follow his orders and never mention this to anyone. He went into hyperspace and about a half hour later died when his ship exploded.

I hope everyone (or at least someone) enjoys the next chapter. Chapter 3 will be short, but will probably be posted soon.

Chapter 2: The Calm Before the Storm

Jengo Fett stood up and glanced at his handiwork. Bobba Fett looked up at his dad in admiration. “Is it finished?”

Jango looked back at the newly installed cloaking device and then back at his son, “Yea it’s finished. We can begin our new job now.”

Boba was extremely excited. This was the first real job he was allowed to come on. Jango had been reluctant at first to allow this, but had eventually decided that the danger was small enough to let him come along. Besides, this looked like this might be a long mission, and Boba couldn’t very well go back to Kamino now. Jango did have a few places he could send Boba, but this would serve as a good learning mission for his young son.

“I’ve read all about this Federation. It’s hard to believe they could have a secret organization like the one described now, but several of their members had bloody pasts, it’s possible it formed in a different time.”

Jango was proud of his son. He had learned so much. He had analyzed their target, and tried to understand the thinking that had allowed it to be created. “What if they formed, because they thought their government was becoming too soft? What if they thought the society would collapse following its current ways?”

Jango thought about this new angle for a moment. “I think they are older than that. He told you they had locations all over the quadrant. I think building up so much in secrecy so quickly would be hard for an inexperienced group.”

Jango didn’t smile visually, but he did in head.




On the home world of the Dominion, a conclusion was made. The great link could no longer deny that they had a problem. Their race had become sick, perhaps deadly ill. The Founders informed the Vorta, ordered a cure to researched, and a full investigation of how this could have happened to take place.




On Earth, Seven of Nine heard the door chime. “Come.”

Janeway walked into the room. “Hello Seven.”

“Captain.”

“How are you doing?”

“I am finding adjusting to life on Earth difficult.” Janeway frowned, but Seven changed the subject, “What did Starfleet say?”

“It took a very long discussion, but they are going to let us keep our crew intact. There is a lot of sympathy for the Maqui now, and they demonstrated their loyalty. Convincing them to let you, Mr. Paris, and the doctor were a little more difficult.”

“What about Nelix?”

“He can stay aboard as a civilian cook.”

“How much of the crew are actually staying?”

“About half. Most of the Maqui are returning home. Some of the rest of the crew are transferring.”

“What about Voyager itself?”

“We aren’t a priority for Starfleet right now. They are busy trying to upgrade our fleet with as much of this new technology as possible. They are preparing for the invasion of Borg space. Voyager will get a few of its most needed repairs, a few new shuttles and then be given some routine duty to do within our borders. They won’t trust us to do anymore than that until the ship has spent months in a shipyard.” Janeway smiled, “It’s ironic isn’t it, Voyager will be stuck in the Alpha Quadrant, while a good portion of Starfleet is fighting in the Delta Quadrant.”

Seven didn’t smile. “Yes.”

“Seven, Starfleet is offering you a research position. They are looking into ways to hurt the Borg. I know you would be great at this.”

Seven had only been severed from the collective a few months ago. She had spent most of her life living as a Borg. She no longer wished to rejoin it, but wasn’t sure she was willing to help destroy the collective either. “No thank you, captain. If you did get it approved, I would rather return to Voyager.”

“I understand Seven.”




Anakin felt the world around him disappear. Sisko had taken him again. This was the fourth time. He was starting to get more than a little annoyed by these abductions. They were in a forest on some kind. “Hello Ben. Where are we now?”

“The forests of the planet Koalete, at least according to the Langians. This is a pre-industrial society in another galaxy, and this is about 50,000 years before you were born. Two different intelligent races live here, the Langians and the Realos. For millennia the two lived separately from each other. Eventually a war started between a group of Langians and Realos. The Realos won and enslaved the Langian tribe. This later led to further wars, and eventually both started to regard the other as inferior races. Have you had lessons about similar events as a Jedi?”

Anakin had heard stories like this more times than he would like. The Jedi tried to emphasize these points so hard and Sisko knew it. “Yes. They started to fear each other, they lost their family in wars, which caused anger and eventually hate. The hate caused more wars, suffering, and death.”

Sisko smiled, “Yes, the path you learned as leading to the Dark Side. After a few centuries, the Langians, who managed to coordinate better, won a total victory. Every time they conquered a Realos tribe, they forced the leaders to sign a treaty making its members virtual slaves. In this time, there are few free Realos left. See that family over there?”

Anakin could see them; they were a blue species with only one very strong arm. He could tell they were slaves. He knew the look, and knew the feeling. Like you were nothing. They were also happy though. They had each other and that was all that counted. This brought up memories of his mother. “I see them, what about them?”

“They have what is considered to be a good master. She takes good care of them, doesn’t beat them, and does care for them tremendously.”

“They are still slaves.”

“Yes they are.” A cart full of Langians, big bluish-green creatures with two smaller arms and three legs, was coming up. One of them shot out some kind of weapon. It looked like a spere; it hit one of the Realos children. The cart then drove off.

Anakin watched as the parents and siblings rushed to the child. A minute later their Langian master came out. She looked very concerned. The small child was bleeding badly, and Anakin didn’t think she would live. Sisko took away all questions about her fate. He solemnly stated, “That child will die.” He paused and the two watched for another moment. “Her father is going to become terrified for his other children and for some time, not even allow them out of the house, except for chores. After that he won’t allow them in the front yard again. This fear, and the pain of his lose will lead to anger and then hate. What do you think the outcome of this will be?”

“I’m sure it will be one that teaches whatever lesson you want taught. The father will probably kill a few Langians and then get killed himself.”

“Good try, but wrong.” The scene changed. It appeared to be years later. A man whom Anakin thought was the dead girl’s father stood at in front of a large crowd. “He does develop a certain amount of hate for the Langians, but most of it is directed at the system of the world. His mistress’s family will become powerful in the near future, and in many years, she will give him the chance to speak before powerful Langians. She warns him that he could get killed for this, and he responds that there is no could about it. He is now telling his story, and making his stand. This will create sympathy and some thought from some of the Langians. Less than a week from now though, he will pay for questioning the order of things with his life.”

Anakin considered these words. “What’s this supposed to mean?”

“For this man, fear lead to anger, anger led to hate, and hate led to the courage to speak up against a system he knew was wrong, even though he knew this would result in his death.”

Anakin didn’t think he liked the point Sisko was going for here. “What’s this supposed to prove? The Dark Side isn’t evil?”

“No, not at all. The Dark Side is nothing but evil, but the emotions it uses aren’t. They are part of being an individual; they are as essential as hope, joy, and love.”

Anakin was no longer in the forest; he could still here Sisko’s voice though. “Remember this Anakin. It is essential.” Anakin wished again that Ben could be a little bit clearer about what he wanted him to do. He had been told for ten years that he would bring balance to the Force, and he still had no clue if that even meant anything.

Chapter 3: Shock and Awe

Picard stood on the bridge of the Enterprise. It had been two and a half months since Palpatine had asked him to lead this mission. During this time, they had negotiated the entrance of tens of thousands of civilizations into the Grand Alliance, installed or explained how to install hyperdrives to almost all of these civilizations, conducted countless other upgrades, started construction on thousands of new Republic warships, and worked out a general war plan. There had been some defense of worlds, but so far no offense. That was about to change.

Picard stood on the bridge of the Enterprise. He started his speech soft. “Greetings to all. As most of you already know, I’m Admiral Picard of the United Federation of Planets, and I have been asked to lead this mission.” Picard changed to a more firm voice. “For millennia, the Borg have been destroying worlds, civilizations, and lives in their pursuit for perfection. We now have an opportunity to stop this for good. In less than an hour, the first waves of our forces will be leaving their bases to attack Borg space directly. This Great War, as it has become know, will truly begin.” Picard waited a moment and then continued, “This will be a costly war. I won’t make light of that fact, but the sacrifices we make will be remembered for generations. We must remember that we fight this war to preserve who we are. Nothing is more important than that. We must make sure that when this war is over, people will look back and remember that individuals weren’t irrelevant and that resistance was not futile. Good luck to all.”




The Borg had had very few credible invasions of their space. The only recent one had been of Species 8472. That war had been damaging, but far from lethal in the end.



A fleet of 3400 ships, led by a Republic commander, dropped out of hyperspace just outside a Borg transwarp hub. They immediately engaged. Dozens of cubes came at them. Three hundred Republic ships, countless fighters and bombers, and another 500 ships concentrated on the fleet of cubes, while everyone else focused on the hub itself.


A Vorta led the assault on one Borg world. His armada of 2500 ships attacked half a dozen cubes before bombarding the planet that had fallen to Borg almost 300 years ago.



Anakin had just finished going over the final attack plans again. He was in charge of the fighter/bomber component of the largest fleet attacking during this first day of battle. “Alright, we drop out of hyperspace in a few minutes, everyone get to your ships.”

Anakin walked back to his personal ship, but was stopped along the way by one of the clone troopers. “Jedi Skywalker.”

A little annoyed, Anakin said, “Yes.” He had noticed this particular clone glance in his direction a few times.

“I just wanted to tell you, it is an honor serving under you.”

Anakin was in a hurry, but was also a bit intrigued. This was highly unusual behavior for the clones. “Thank you. Are clones supposed to care whom they serve?”

Anakin could feel a little, embarrassment, yes that was it, from the trooper. “I’m sorry Master Jedi. I learned about the Jedi at the beginning of my training and always wanted to meet one. I knew of your escape from Geonosis, and when I saw you, acted badly. Do you wish to punish me?”

“No.” Anakin had never thought much about how the clones thought, but this was very thought provoking. “Do most of the clones have similar feelings towards the Jedi?”

Again, Anakin felt the embarrassment from the trooper. It seemed a little deeper this time. “No. My levels of such emotions rank higher than the proficient level.” He quickly added, “They weren’t deemed high enough to stop my training though.”

“Where is your position in the fleet?”

“I am one of your guard ship ships, sir.”

That made sense considering the docked position of his ship. Anakin hadn’t wanted any guard ships. He considered them more cumbersome than helpful, but hadn’t had much choice in that matter. “Don’t worry about me. Just make sure you make it back here.”

Anakin walked away before the trooper could respond. About 10 minutes later, the fleet dropped out of hyperspace. They had 45,000 ships, more than a third of which were Republic. Their target was one of the Borg’s central unimatrixes.

As soon they exited hyperspace, all the fighters and bombers that Anakin was to lead left their ships. As Anakin came out he could feel the presence of the Borg. He could sense millions of them. Besides the main base, they had hundreds, maybe thousands of ships out here. He could also feel the presence of the men and women under his command. “This is command red fighter 1, all ships proceed to target. Ignore the other Borg ships. Our job is to take out the unimatrix and get out of here.”

The fighters and bombers went with thousands of smaller ships straight threw the Borg lines, while the rest of the fleet engaged the ships. Anakin saw a tactical cube concentrating on two Republic dreadnaughts while simultaneously as it picked off several fighters. He saw a sphere explode. He saw all of this and more, but also saw none of it. He was concentrating on getting his ship, and as much of the fleet of fighters and bombers he was responsible for past this armada. He could sense that if this weren’t quick, none of them would be coming back.

Anakin could feel something just ahead. “Divert to course B.” This was a slightly longer route, but it doubtlessly saved thousands as the primarily Republic ships avoided a fleet of Borg who seemed to be appearing out of nowhere. The ships were pouring in from some transwarp hub. Had he had time, Anakin would have wondered if the Borg were giving up on some other battle so that they could come here.

Every time they went past another cube, both the number of fighters and bombers dwindled. Anakin realized the Borg were focusing on them. They recognized that the bombers were the threat, the immediate threat anyway, against their base. Anakin could feel the presence of his new clone acquaintance as he briefly flew in front of him. Just a little further.

Everywhere Anakin looked or sensed he saw more fighters exploding, more of the people he was responsible for dying. The Borg would pay for all this death they were responsible. For the death, and for what they did when they didn’t kill people. He could still see Padme in her assimilated form. They would regret ever doing that. He would make sure of that.

Anakin moved his ship to avoid a Borg phaser and passed the ship. They were within range. “We’re just about there, be prepared. Get close enough to score a direct hit, but don’t wait any longer than you need to.”

Anakin fired all his weapons. He wasn’t in a bomber, but every little bit helped. Thousands of others did the same. Hundreds of the smaller Milky Way ships that hadn’t had second thoughts about going into the Borg armada and had come out fired everything they had too. Anakin wondered for a moment if it would be enough.

The first bombs hit. There appeared to be massive damage, but it wasn’t enough. Another wave came in and so did tens of thousands of torpedoes. They hit and the constant bombardment was simply more than the unimatrix could stand. They lost shields and about two seconds later, a large enough chain reaction started to bring the whole thing up.

There wasn’t time to celebrate. “Full retreat. Get back to the main fleet.”

The trip back was only slightly better than trip to the base. The Borg ships had stopped being overly concerned about them, but there were now also fewer ships remaining and the Borg had sent ships in from a few other transwarp hubs. The main fleet was now also being hit pretty hard. They hadn’t planned on dealing with anywhere near this many ships.

Anakin avoided another phaser blast. He concentrated on the next cube. He felt them tracking his comrades, the main fleet, him. They took aim at one of the ships beside him and fired. They destroyed the ship. They concentrated on another around him. Time seemed to be getting progressively slower for Anakin, and he knew this shot was aimed at the clone he had met just before taking off. Without even really thinking about it, Anakin pushed his little fighter out of the way. Anakin felt the rage boil up inside him. These were true monsters. The Separatists had been bad, but at least they weren’t pure evil.

Anakin saw and felt one of the cubes phaser arrays explode. It hadn’t been caused by any shot. Anakin shocked, forced his emotions back in control. A voice inside of him said that it could be so easy though. He could destroy this whole fleet by himself, and then no one would have to die, no one except the Borg anyway.

Anakin kept fighting this emotion. How could anything that would save this many lives be wrong? What made the easy path so wrong if it could accomplish so much? Fortunately, he didn’t have much time to think such thoughts. Avoiding the Borg took up his full concentration and he was very quickly back with the main fleet. He flew his ship back into the Republic flagship, after he saw that most of the remaining fighters and bombers had landed back on their ships. They had come back with just under 10% of the ships they had left with. The fleet retreated to hyperspace less than a minute later. They had lost almost 20% of what they came with.

Chapter 4: Behind the Scenes

Darth Sidious closed the connection with General Grievous. All was going as expected with the Separatists. He had something else he had to decide on though. Should he still plan on making Anakin his new apprentice? He could foresee the future and thought Anakin would turn, but there was one problem. Sidious didn’t know Sisko’s intentions. Sisko’s primary goal was not to stop the formation of the empire Sidious planned, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t anyway. The fact that Sisko could so easily destroy him was not something Sidious liked having to accept.

“Anakin will make his own choice.”

Sidious turned, showing no surprise. “Emissary, what brings you here?”

Sisko spoke firmly, “I am going to continue meeting with Anakin. It will be his choice to turn or not though. I will not directly try to influence his decision.”

A very important revelation occurred to Sidious. “You want him to turn.”

Ben looked at the Sith with disgust. “If you are the genius you think you are, you’ll probably succeed. I think there is a very good chance you will, but remember this, Anakin does have a choice. Whether he helps create your empire, or tries to destroy it before it even begins is his decision. Personally, I hope he destroys you.”

Sidious knew Sisko was avoiding his question. What was Sisko after? It was essential that he determine that. “You need him to turn though.”

Sisko was gone.




The room was full. The highest-ranking members of Section 31 were all here. They had a lot to discuss. The last of the members sat down, and the man at the end of the table started the meeting.

“As you all know, the events of the past few months have presented the Federation with new opportunities and new risks. As such, our job of protecting the Federation has just become far more difficult. Last meeting we discussed the new order of the galaxy and what our long-term objectives should be. We agreed that we can no longer afford to look at matters on a regional scale. We must view events primarily for their galactic significance. We agreed that in the long run the Federation must become a galactic power, but we have to acknowledge that short term that’s not a possibility. The Federation must continue to expand. It must be seen as a strong, prosperous, and peaceful society, one that appears to be superior to the Republic, even if smaller. While we must ensure that the Federation contrasts with the Republic, we must also be careful. Good relations with the Republic are essential to ensure economic and military benefits. So long as we maintain the status quo, neither the Dominion nor the Borg pose a substantial long term risk. Before we begin today’s discussion, are there any new developments we should all be aware of?”

Commander Frist stood up. “Yes, we have completed our first analysis of the mediclorines.”

“What are your findings?”

“They reside heavily in these Jedi, but they also exist in every cell for every living thing in their galaxy. What is exceptionally odd is that no record of them has ever been found among our galaxy’s life. When we crossbred some primitive life from the two galaxies, the offspring always had these mediclorines. We haven’t determined why yet?”

A Vulcan across the room asked, “Have you determined if they are responsible for the Jedi’s ‘Force’ abilities?”

“We don’t think they are. We injected one man with a very high dosage of these and he didn’t appear to change in anyway, better or worse. It could be that these large numbers of mediclorines are just symptoms of Force use, and a not causes of it.”

The man at the head of the table spoke once again. “Thank you Commander Frist. Continue your investigation and keep an eye out for other anomalies like this. Let’s now open the floor for discussion on a general plan for our future.”

Captain Sarah Thompson spoke up. Her ideas where often controversial, even among Section 31 members, but they were also usually very effective. When Sloan had decided to push his plan to infect the Founders, he had talked to her first. She had supported him, and the measure had been approved (although they still were unsure of if it had been a success). “I have been working with my committee on a new general strategy, and I believe that we have come up with something.”

The chairman acknowledged her, “Let’s hear it.”

“The Republic right now is too big and too powerful. If the war with the Borg is successfully ended, they will receive most of the credit, and more than one major power that can counter them will have been destroyed.” Thompson was getting several glares from members not liking the way her train of thought was going. “I am not suggesting that we immediately end the war against the Borg, but do think that it would be wise to consider the successful outcome of this war right now. If the Grand Coalition is successful, and nothing has been done to damage the Republic’s image, then the Separatist movement will be crushed. That will leave the Dominion as the only other power that can realistically be called even a semi-galactic power. Under a scenario like this, with a strong and united Republic, one with a very good image, our job becomes more complicated. The Republic will be able to dominate the galaxy economically. We will have to play by their rules if we want to compete, and there will be little incentive for them to pay attention to us. We will be completely overshadowed by the Republic in almost everyway.” Thompson stopped for a moment to let this sink in and then continued. “Imagine if they offer economic benefits to members that others are excluded from. Do any of you think that there is anyway the Federation could match an offer like that?”

A trill spoke up, “What are you suggesting we do?”

“It is in the Federation’s interest to maintain close ties with Republic. It is also in its interest that the Separatists succeed in leaving the Republic though. If the major commerce guilds set up their own government or governments, there will be realistic alternatives to dealing with the Republic. Under these circumstances, we can play both sides against each other for our benefit.”

“Another thing to remember is that there will almost definitely be a war if the Separatist do try to leave, and the Federation won’t get involved because of the Prime Directive. This will put it an ideal position. Smaller civilizations, just learning their place in the new order, will be considering joining larger groups. They won’t be anguish to join a republic at war though. If we and the Federation Council play our cards right, we may be able to double the size of the Federation in a short period of time.”

Another human, Captain Scott, who was actually on the Federation Council, asked the question, “All of this assumes a victory against the Borg. Our current estimate of total Borg defeat within the next two years is only 70%. If the Republic were to drop any of its forces from the campaign, and devote them elsewhere, the Grand Coalition would likely crumble, and I doubt there would be a 10% chance of victory. What if we hurt the Republic, or even cause civil war to start and the war with the Borg ends in defeat?”

“Once again, I am not advocating we push for war now, only that we try to gain sympathy for the Separatists. I suggest a few bombings that will appear to have been orchestrated by the Republic. We must make compromise impossible between the two. If war does occur because our actions though, an end to Great War isn’t a big deal. The Borg are no longer the threat they once were. By the time any Republic Civil War will be ready to break out, the Borg will have been pushed to the point that they will need decades, maybe centuries, to recover from their loses. Also, don’t forget, they are clear across the galaxy from us. They now have thousands of worlds within their own space to deal with. They have plenty of new highly populated Republic worlds, which are better targets than us, and far closer to their space. Even if they do survive, they won’t be thinking about us quite some time. We might even be able to use them for our purposes.”




Seven walked into the cargo bay. She had been busy trying to help with some of the maintenance of Voyager. Starfleet had finally decided to give it its much-needed repairs. Actually, all they were really doing was patching up. They would focus on it again in a few months theoretically and at that time, really finish the job and install some of the incredible upgrades that were becoming available because of all the new technology being developed.

As Seven prepared to go into regeneration, the doors to the bay opened once again and a man walked in and came up to her.

“Hello Anika.”

“I prefer to be called Seven of Nine. Who are you?”

“Alright, Seven of Nine. I’m Captain Siddle, the incoming head of the Columbus Research Center. I was told you that were offered a position at our facility, but turned it down.”

“That is correct. Why are you here?”

“I have a few days before I begin and was just wondering why.”

“You could have used subspace.”

“I thought I should do this personally. Besides, stopping here was hardly out of the way for me. So, why did you turn us down?”

“I prefer to remain on Voyager.”

“You know, we are the premiere facility for Borg research. Getting invited to join is a real accomplishment. Is the extremely routine work Voyager is going to be doing really more appealing than the ground breaking research we are involved in? Does it challenge you enough?”

Seven only hesitated a moment. “I have spent most my time since leaving the collective with the crew of Voyager. I prefer to remain with them for the time being.”

“Alright, I understand that. I’m also guessing the bigger reason you aren’t willing to join us is that you aren’t sure you want the Borg to fall though.”

“I do not wish to rejoin the collective.”

“No, but you still spent most of your life as a Borg. You still regenerate and you still keep the name, or at least part of the name they gave you. Wishing for the destruction of anything that defines that much of anyone’s life would be difficult.” Seven started to reply, but Siddle held his hand up. “It’s ok I’m not questioning your loyalty. You obviously are on our side or you would either have gotten yourself reassimilated by now, or would have joined us just to give that information to the Borg. Frankly, if you would have joined the crew, I would have ordered you watched like a hawk as soon as I got there.”

Seven wasn’t sure what to say. Siddle continued, “Is there any chance you will change your mind?”

There was no hesitation, “No.”

“In that case, I just want to say, if, as you rediscover your humanity, you decide that you want to help us, just contact me. Or, if you ever come up with any ideas you think could be in the least bit helpful, don’t hesitate to contact me personally.”




Gul Dukat sat in his cell. Something was wrong. Something had been stolen from him. What was it? He didn’t know, but the feeling was just getting stronger.

Very interesting. It's going to take a hell of a lot of effort to sort things out in this new merged galaxy.

Very interesting. It's going to take a hell of a lot of effort to sort things out in this new merged galaxy.

That it is, and things will shortly get even more messed up.

I dont know how many people are reading this, but sorry for the delay. I can say the next three chapters are well on their way too though.

Note: Parts of this next chapter are written as they would be from a history textbook. I loved this style in the Herman Wouk’s Winds of War and War and Remembrance and also in Kaiser Wilhelm’s Decades of Darkness (http://decadesofdarkness.alternatehistory.com) and decided to try it out. I won’t use it too often, but may occasionally go back to it.

Chapter 5: New Realities

From The Emergence of a New Galaxy: A Brief history of the Milky Bi-Galaxy Following the Merging
By John Charles
Copyright: Columbus, Ohio, Earth, Union of Intelligent Life Forms. 21,328 AD 18,954 AM [After Merging]

Chapter 8: Early Mistakes by the Galactic Republic
After the Merging, most, but not all, of the old military and political realities of both galaxies changed dramatically. It took time for leaders of both galaxies to adjust to this new situation. In many cases, leaders overestimated just how much had changed. In even more cases though, leaders failed to take into consideration how either new technology (especially hyperdrive) or the new political and military forces at work changed the balance of power.

Nowhere was this more evident than in the Galactic Republic. Prior to the Merging, they had been the accepted voice of the galaxy, even by most nonmembers, and hadn’t had to deal with a major (or even too many minor) external issues in millennia. Outsiders worked with members to promote their interests, but it was accepted by almost all, that if a planet wished to do business with the vast Republic markets, they had play by its rules. In this way, the Republic had been able to dominate the galaxy. All of this changed with the Merging.

Most Milky Way civilizations were not used to having one force so prominent (exceptions could be made in the Gamma Quadrant and on some other smaller scales). They (especially the great powers) were very concerned about the Republic’s size.

The Republic did do some things to alleviate this fear. The war with the Borg was initially seen by most as a great act. Many civilizations, including most of the great powers, sent at least token forces. It seemed, for a time, as though the galaxy might just be able to accept the Republic’s position as the dominant galactic power.

Even while the war with the Borg was being fought the most efficiently though, signs that a larger war would erupt were evident. The Republic had been too quick to sign too many treaties. They generally avoided outright alliances, and wisely avoided most that appeared to be of no gain for them, but a few disastrous ones still emerged. At the Galactic Summit, the Republic had signed a formal alliance with the Corta Alliance and the Quartz Confederacy. Both were core empires in decline. The Republic had been quick to sign the treaties though, to make sure there wasn’t fighting around Coruscant. This upset the larger Green and Colian Empires. They had secretly divided up the two empires and planned an invasion by the end of the year. After the war with the Borg broke out, the Republic made another mistake and signed treaties with two moderate sized neighbors to the Dominion.

Perhaps, what was more disastrous than these alliances against the great powers though were its dealings with the smaller ones. Following the Merging, there were two groups that asked to join the Republic in large numbers. The first group was made up of those who were threatened by a superior force, but were unable to get an alliance or some sort of protection offer from the Republic. The others were smaller powers (generally single planet civilizations), which feared for their safety in the now much bigger and closer galaxy.

The Senate admitted most of these worlds, almost without a thought. They were used to being the only voice that mattered. Unfortunately, most of those who entered at this time brought more problems than solutions to the Republic. Their larger neighbors looked with alarm as they saw their weaker siblings suddenly have the voice and army of the Republic standing beside them.

None of this would have mattered much had the Republic itself been united, but unfortunately, a powerful separatist force had already been created prior to the Merging (an often debated history question of the past was how would things have played out if the Merging had not occurred). With concern over the Republic’s new situation and the Borg threat, citizens had united behind the institution, and it appeared the separatist movement might die out. Unfortunately, a series of unfortunate events would make sure there could be no reconciliation between the two groups.




The planet of Aurendi was in an interesting position. They were an ex-Milky Way world in the Delta Quadrant. When the CIS had promised to protect planets outside of Borg space, the Aurendians had agreed to allow them to use their system as a base. When the Grand Coalition had begun its invasion, the Aurenidans offered to allow them to use their system too.

The result of those offers led to both Separatists and Republic ships being in the system now. On a shuttle heading to the Republic capital ship was Jedi Master Art Scalela. The master had come in with his group for a few brief repairs and had decided this would be an excellent chance to talk with leaders of the Separatists. He hoped this war with the Borg would help bring the two sides back together, and war between them could be avoided. He had pretty good talks with two of the captains (the other two had refused to meet him), and he was starting to get the impression that the CIS was having a hard time holding on to its members. Almost no one was prepared to leave the organization now, but the Republic’s handling of the Borg situation was shirring up a lot of confidence. That would probably make calls for a peaceful reunification afterward stronger. Art suspected that most worlds could probably be brought back into the Republic with some promised reforms. The commerce guilds would be more difficult, but they wouldn’t try to fight a war if they knew they would lose it.

The Jedi master quickly looked at his sensors after he felt a disturbance in the Force. One of the Separatist ships had just exploded. A second later, the one he had just left also exploded. Shots went past him and towards one of the Republic ships. Fortunately, or so Art thought, the ship got its shields up in time. It and the other Republic ships started returning fire on the last two CIS ships. “No!” Master Art shouted to himself. He needed to stop this. Before he got a hold of anyone though, the battle was over. One of the remaining Separatists ships had been destroyed and the other had escaped to hyperdrive, badly damaged. This was not good.

I'm guessing section 31 was behind that little fireworks display.

Spice Runner wrote:I'm guessing section 31 was behind that little fireworks display.

Yeah, I probably should have arranged that sequence a little different.

Chapter 6: Unexpected Offers

Obi-Wan and Anakin were on what had been a medium sized Republic world within Borg space. It had been attacked a week ago and the Coalition had come in and destroyed the attacking Borg ships. They didn’t come in time to save most the major cities though. They had been cut out and taken off by the Borg before Grand Coalition ships had arrived. Unfortunately, the planet’s problems hadn’t ended there. The Coalition ships didn’t stay long enough and some Borg had beamed to the planet unnoticed at the end of the battle. Coalition ships, in a hurry to get to their next target, had left without making sure everything had been secure. That had been a full week ago, and now that small Borg force had risen considerably. Dozens of the remaining cities had been completely assimilated.

The new Coalition fleet responsible for securing the planet was simply beaming survivors out of most assimilated cities and then destroying them. There was one city that wasn’t an option with though. The almost polar city in the northern hemisphere was in an area of the planet that was almost always subjected to heavy ionic storms, and transporters simply couldn’t get through.

Anakin stood next to Obi-Wan and Clone Trooper Conner. Conner was the same clone, whom Anakin had become acquainted during the first battle of the campaign. “Are you ready, Conner?” He almost had to yell to be heard over the storm.

“Yes sir.” Anakin could still feel the differences in this clone as clear as day. He doubted the Kaminoans ever realized just how much he differed from the rest of their army. He just seemed to be more there than the others.

Anakin heard his communicator go off. “Anakin here.”

“This is Lt. Commander Worf. The rest of the coalition forces are ready when the Republic’s are.”

Obi-Wan heard the message. He nodded to Anakin. Anxious, Anakin replied, “Alright, let’s get going.”

“Kapla.”

Obi-Wan turned away from the city, and toward the clone leader next to him. “Alright, let’s move out.”

“Yes sir.” The clones, the Jedi, and the other coalition ground forces covered the final distance to the city. They were going to have to do this building by building. All of the forces here were equipped with specially made physical guns. The energy weapons had proven just too inefficient.

The army slowly made its way into the center of the city, where the Borg forces were the densest. Anakin made his way in one direction, and Obi-Wan felt a trapped group nearby and looked up. Inside the skyscraper he realized. He used the Force and jumped up the floors. He landed a few times along the edge.

Obi-Wan burst through a window and was greeted by blaster fire from some of the shocked civilians. He easily blocked them with his lightsaber, and they bounced harmlessly away.

Shock and horror turned to relief as the group realized what they were looking at. “You’re a Jedi.”

Obi-Wan ignored the cries of relief and rushed toward the door. This was a large conference room, and it was filled to the brink with hundreds of citizens who had fled from the lower floors. Obi-Wan felt how close the Borg were. “Everyone stay down!”

Obi-Wan pushed his way to the main door, which was barricaded, and as quickly and gently as possible started removing it, but didn’t have to do much as the Borg fired at it from the other side. Obi-Wan saw the drones and immediately pushed a few back with the Force, before cutting three to pieces. Two tried to put assimilation tubes into him, only to lose their arms. Another three went down. Then things got more difficult.

Deciding he was too great a risk, the remaining Borg started firing their weapons at Obi-Wan. He deflected four back at the drones, but their personal shields simply reabsorbed the fire. Obi-Wan avoided another three shots and jumped past the drones, so that they were now only on one of his sides. He began going through them again, and didn’t stop until the last one was finished. The crowd behind him cheered. “Stay in there and re-barricade the door.” Obi-Wan went on trying to save as many as he could before the Borg got to them.


Picard walked into his ready room and sat at his desk. There were datapads all over. It shouldn’t technically be his ready room anymore. Riker was now captain of the Enterprise. However, the Enterprise was still his flagship.

The war was going well. On paper, the Borg fleet was still lightly superior to the Grand Coalition, but the Borg were losing most engagements, and the Republic was producing ships faster than they were. The Borg had been just too used to doing things a certain way. They had been steadily expanding for at least a millennium. They made sure they always attacked their enemy with overwhelming force. This war was very different for them though. None of their space was secure. They were almost always the ones being attacked. Unfortunately, they were showing some signs that they just might be able to adapt to this style of war. The Borg had seemed almost incapable of strategic withdraws for most of this war. They were now commencing them regularly.

All the same, for the first time in months, Picard was deeply troubled by something other than the Borg. “Admiral’s log, supplemental. The incident in the Aurendi system two days ago has left many members of the coalition,” he paused to think of the word and then continued, “confused. Most aren’t convinced that the Republic would revert to these types of attacks, but the facts do seem to point to that being the case. The bombs have just been tracked back to a loyal Republic planet, and a Jedi visited both ships just before they exploded. Most governments still understand that an attack like this is not in the Republic’s interest. All it does is make a peaceful solution with the Separatists forces more unlikely, and turns people against them. All the same, this has raised questions about the institution at a critical time.”

Picard paused and sighed, “It also forces me to take another look at our allies. With the prospect of defeating the Borg, I allowed myself to too quickly jump over my own objections to several Republic policies, particularly, there use of this clone army.” Picard stood up and looked out his window at the stars and the fleet around him. “Am I really any better than the Borg are? The Republic has created its own disposable army. It has created people who are thought of as less then people. What kind of person am I for accepting this?”

“Bridge to Admiral Picard.”

“Picard here. What is it Will?”

“Sir, we’re received a message I think you should see.”

“Patch it through in here.”

“Yes sir.”

A moment later the last image Picard expected in the world appeared. “Greetings to the galaxy. I am the Borg Queen. A war was recently started against us. It is being conducted to stop our effort to add to our collective through assimilation.”

“We started assimilating beings millennia ago. We did this in the hope that bringing all people into a single collective would stop the continual bloodshed we saw around us. We also hoped that the many together would be superior to the few. We hoped, that together, we could actually reach perfection. This war has allowed us to see things from a different perspective. The fact that so many different races would unite against us has allowed us to see something we should have seen from the start. Our actions are causing more harm than good. For that reason, we have an announcement to make. We will agree to halt our use of assimilation. It will only be used as a weapon of war against those who threaten us. All who how declare their neutrality in this war will have nothing to fear from us again.”

Picard sat in stunned silence. He had a feeling the alliance he had worked so hard to set up was about to unravel.

Clone Commander Conner = Force Sensitive.

Chapter 7: Reassurance and Adaptation

Picard and Palpatine were two people whose lives had gotten a whole lot more complicated over the past couple of days. They were now both on the Enterprise together in the Conference Room. This was their first face-to-face meeting since the campaign began, although they had been in almost constant contact. “Chancellor how has the reaction within the Republic evolved over the Aurendi event?”

“It’s still mixed. A few people are blaming us in the government. Many believe that the Separatists staged the whole thing. There is also a considerable group out there that believes the Jedi ordered this.”

“Really?” Picard wasn’t too surprised by that, considering the circumstances. “What do you believe?”

“Probably the second option, but I wouldn’t dismiss the Jedi from this either though.”

While Picard hadn’t been surprised to hear that many were blaming the Jedi, he was a little shocked to discover that Palpatine himself considered it a possibility. “They are completely independent of the Republic’s government? They aren’t responsible to anyone?”

“No, and I’m afraid that tradition goes back too far for me to attempt to change.”

Picard cringed at the thought of having such a powerful group independent of any of the checks and balances of government. Although he had to admit, the chancellor’s solidification of his power was also disturbing. “We lost the Angorian Alliance today and suspect that we’ll probably lose the Dominion as well.”

“That will be a lose. We believe the Separatist will announce their neutrality too. Why do you think we’ll lose the Dominion?”

“I was surprised they got involved in the first place. I can only guess that they once had an attempted Borg invasion themselves. The Borg won’t keep the peace and the Founders know that. They also know that they won’t be threatened again for a long time though. Your alliances in the Gamma Quadrant also concern them greatly.”

“Do you have the forces to keep fighting?”

Picard nodded. “Assuming the Borg don’t have anymore tricks up their sleeves, yes. Unfortunately, I’m not convinced they don’t. They have begun to adapt to being on the losing end of a war. Let’s just hope we can cripple them before they get too far. Our biggest problem…”

Palpatine interrupted, “Besides the tens of thousands of Borg ships and planets left.”

Picard smiled. Yes, other than that. “Other than that, our biggest problem is that many members of the coalition see the goals of the war accomplished. They don’t realize the Borg will only follow their word so long as it suits their interests. They entered the war to make sure they would never be assimilated, and they think that goal has been met.”

“Our new forces should make up for most of those loses. Our production facilities are working at maximum as we speak. Keep the fight going Jean-Luc. We will prevail.”


“Chancellor, there is one other concern I wanted to talk with you about. It’s something I should have said a long time ago.”

“You don’t approve of our use of the clones, do you?”

Picard looked shocked. “No, but how…”

“I read your record before asking you to lead this mission. Based on it, I actually expected an earlier objection. Picard, I know you are uncomfortable with them. But, without them right now the Republic would have to end the war against the Borg. The Separatists would also surely take advantage of the situation, and probably succeed. What’s more, the clones want to do this. They don’t want freedom. Ask them yourself, if that will help relieve your conscious.”

“I know that Chancellor, but all the same, creating a people whose job it is to do society’s dirty work is entirely immoral.” Picard paused a minute then added, “It’s also probably dangerous. They could commit crimes for some general or future chancellor and are,” he said the next word with a little disgust, “designed, not to question orders for moral decency. If the situation were right, they might be used to threaten liberty and democracy instead of aide it.”

Palpatine was actually a little impressed. Few Jedi had even expressed concerns about this possibility yet. “Admiral, a Jedi named Sifo-Dyas authorized their creation without anyone in the senate’s knowledge. They’re here now and wish to fight. I know we have ordered the creation of more, and I believe your right, that was a mistake. Jean-Luc, I’ll make you a promise. Once this war is over, I’m going to ask the Senate to create legislation giving clones rights and prohibiting any future creation for specific purposes. Will that do?”

That was a far better answer than Picard had expected. He didn’t know what else to say. “Yes, Chancellor. Thank you.”




The Borg station exploded and cheers could be heard on board the Republic command ship Justice. Captain Lee let the cheers go on and then gave the order, “Alright everyone, let’s get a damage report and set a course for our next target. This time let’s not let the Borg escape so easily.”

Twenty minutes later Lee got the report that 5 minor power ships had been destroyed and their had been minor damage to one Republic ship. “All ships are ready to engage hyperdrive sir.”

“All right, make the jump.”

A few seconds passed and nothing happened. Lee wasn’t happy, “I said make the jump.”

At first, no one responded. Then, there was a furry of reports coming all at once.

“We can’t, something is interfering with the hyperdrive.”

“Most of the fleet is reporting they are unable to engage their hyperdrives. No ships have left yet.”

Lee ordered everyone to calm down and then asked, “Is something generating a gravity well?”

“No sir. I can’t explain it. Wait, I’m detecting some sort of background energy. It may be what’s interfering.”

“Sir, I’m detecting thirty-nine Borg ships approaching our position. Twenty-five of which are cubes. ETA 6 minutes.”

“We need to find a way out of here. Can we compensate for the interference?

“I’ll try.” The officer sounded extremely doubtful.

Trying to consider other options, Scott asked, “How far does the field extend?”

“I can’t detect an end to it. I can’t scan for it too far from our present location though either.” The scanning officer readjusted his equipment again, and then was silent for a moment. “I don’t how far this extends, but I’m detecting ships that should be in hyperspace just sitting in open space for light years. The field is at least 10 light years long. It may cover the all Borg space or even the galaxy for all I know now though.”

Captain Lee gave a loud sigh. What could he do? There was only one option he could think of. “How many ships have warp drive?”

“All of the Milky Way ships do.”

“Transport as many of our people there as possible. Then order them to try to get someplace safe.”

Chapter 8: The Changing Tide

“That just about finishes them master.”

Obi-Wan ran up to his padwan and Lt. Commanders Worf and Dax. “I know. Now all we’ve got to do is figure out a way out of the system. What have we discovered?”

Dax spoke, “A signal being sent out by every Borg ship and base is what is causing the interference. There are also thousands of signal enhancers throughout their space amplifying its strength. It stretches through most of Borg space, although most empty space between stars is still relatively safe to travel through if you’re careful to avoid the pockets were the signal is in effect.”

“I thought there were reports of it covering most empty space too?”

“The widest area of coverage so far has been in the center of their space, where they have enough large bases and signal enhancers to project the signal over a very wide area. There have been reports of it extending almost 10 light years with few gaps, in one sector. Most of the rest of their space is still safe to go through if you plan your course right ahead of time though. The Borg are working fast to close as much as that space as they can though.”

“How far does the signal effecting this planet go?“

“I believe that we can engage hyperdrive once we are .02 light years from here. The problem is that all Republic ships are confined to sub-light speeds.”

Anakin still couldn’t believe it. How could the Borg have made it impossible for them to go to hyperdrive? The Borg themselves were still traveling freely, taking out every coalition ship they came across. “The Borg can still engage their hyperdrives. There’s got to be away though the interference.”

Worf frowned, “Yes, but we haven’t found it yet. I’m sure Captai…Admiral Picard has got every man he can get working on the problem.” In his mind, Worf could see Geordie and Data working on the problem right now.

Anakin was about ready to reply, but Obi-Wan had made a decision and spoke first. “Anakin.”

“Yes, master.”

“I’m going to stay here. The Borg are bound to attack eventually and I want to get these people to safer places on the planet. I want you to take the warp cable ships out of Borg space. Have them tractor as many of our ships as possible and take as many men as they can.”

“That will leave you without much to defend here with.”

“The Borg will just send a bigger force if we have more here. Better to save as much of the fleet as we can.”

“I don’t like leaving you here master.”

“I know, but what’s important now, is getting all those ships to safety.” It took everything Anakin had not to protest this decision.




The CIS was in better shape than they dared dream just a few months ago. Even just a couple weeks ago hadn’t been much better. Then they had been attacked. While many races didn’t accept the fact that the Galactic Republic committed the crime, most were putting it under greater scrutiny. Then there had been the Borg offering to end assimilation. The Separatists loudly proclaimed the war had been a success. The threat they had gone to war over had been resolved. Of course, they would stay ready should the Borg ever resume their threatening activities, but they weren’t in this war to destroy a civilization after all.

Palpatine had sent a very different message. He had said that the Borg could not be trusted and assured the galaxy that they could and would destroy them with as little bloodshed as possible. At the time, more had agreed with the Republic than the Separatists, but only by a little, and only because the war going well. The last week of events had changed that perception a lot.

The Borg had found some way to interfere with hyperdrive. Tens of thousands of ships were currently stuck in Borg space, unable to escape. The Borg were now attacking each fleet in force at their leisure and the causalities were horrendous.

Some of the governments in the Grand Coalition thought this wasn’t predictable, but many didn’t. Many others didn’t care; they just weren’t willing to risk their ships anymore. Almost half of the governments had withdrawn, including most of the major contributors, and the CIS had predictions that suggested as many as 80% of the original members would withdraw. There was even talk in the United Federation of Planets to recall some of their ships. Only the Republic’s leadership seemed to be completely devoted to the war still, and many members, especially the Delta Quadrant worlds were screaming for it to end the war. They argued, they argued as much of the galaxy including the CIS was arguing, that if the Borg broke their word it wouldn’t be hard to just go back to war.

Earlier, before the invasion had begun, the Separatists had hoped to use this crisis in their favor, and until now, the reverse had been true. They had a little success before the invasion, but that almost completely faded afterward. Now though, the Republic wasn’t just preparing for the right moment, now they couldn’t or soon wouldn’t (at the rate the Borg were placing their signal enhancers) be able to protect many of their worlds, because they couldn’t even reach them. Republic worlds faced the prospect of staying with the Republic and taking their chances, hoping a countermeasure to the Borg anti-hyperdrive could be found soon, or declare their independence. With these prospects, even loyal Republic members were going to have to seriously consider independence if things didn’t change soon.

Viceroy Gunray spoke, “I have just spoken to General Grievous and he approves of the plan. Are we ready to begin filming.”

“We’re just about to start.”

A rather young, but strong looking woman sat behind a desk. She was the spokesperson for the CIS. Unlike Dooku, she didn’t have any real power in the movement, but the Commerce Guild leaders had decided that none of them would make great spokesmen. General Grievous was also out for obvious reasons. Rather than actually give someone extra power though, they had decided their voice would be entirely under their control, so Anna King, someone just promoted to captain had been chosen.

“Go on.”

“Greeting to all the galaxy. My name is Captain Anna King and I represent the Confederacy of Independent Systems. We are systems that have broken from the Republic, but which the Republic will not recognize as independent. While our members respect many of the Republic’s goals, we feel that it is no longer in the best interest of the galaxy for us to remain part of it. The Republic’s size means that bureaucratic procedures have to prevail over even the most basic common sense. Almost no one in the senate cares for the people’s interest. Corruption is rampant, and there doesn’t seem to be anything that can be done within the system to address these problems.”

“We also represent many worlds throughout the galaxy, but especially within the Delta Quadrant, who wish this war with the Borg to end. Why is the Republic trying to destroy every Borg? The collective has offered to end all assimilation. That was the reason for this war to begin with. The official objective of this war, repeatedly stated by the Republic, has been to save individuality, to ensure our way of life. Now, the Republic is just engaging in genocide. They make almost no attempts to save Borg. The only reason I can think of to continue the war is to enhance Republic power. No other reason makes sense. If the Borg ever break their word, the galaxy would again come to arms and defeat them.”

“We have always wished to negotiate a peace with the Republic. We still do, but because of the Republic’s actions, we must make one demand now. We demand that the Republic recognize our Delta Quadrant worlds and all worlds within one million light years of Borg space as independent immediately. If the Borg misread any one of our member planets for being Republic planets, they may decide to invade and that may leave the Republic and us at war. For that reason, we are now insisting that the Galactic Republic recognize the sovereignty of all these worlds within the next 48 hours.”




“Founder, our investigation has found something.”

“What is it?”

“We have found suspicious material on Rancor. They were found close to the location where a Founder had infiltrated the resistance there. The objects are suspicious though? We can’t determine their authenticity.”

“Can you determine where they originated?”

The Vorta smiled. “We have examined the whole area and also found some blood that stained a tree.”

“What species?”

Hi everyone. Sorry for the long delay. That probably is just going to get longer as school is getting closer to starting (but right now I love Ohio State for their late starts). Sorry I know I said I would go back through the earlier chapters and correct all mistakes. I started that, but decided I would do it for Episode I first. Rather than just correct errors, I’ve rewritten a lot of it though. I’m dividing it into chapters, and changing things a little (it will not be necessary to reread it though, although I will recommend reading chapter 1 when I post it). That was going quickly at first, but then slowed down tremendously. I’m not sure if I’m going to submit any of that the rewritten Episode I until I finish the whole thing. I’ll write here if I do though.

Edit: I'd like to thank X-Over from fanfiction.net for editing this for me.

Chapter 9: Wars and Rumors of Wars

“Report!” Worf screamed as they desperately tried to get away from the Borg.

‘Never trust as easy escape route,’ Dax thought. A nebula had been interfering with the Borg hyperspace interference, and if the fleet went to the center of it, there was a hole where they could enter hyperspace. They would go above the galactic plane and then proceed to safety. The only problem was that until they got to the center, they would have to go at sublight speeds, because the nebula was too dangerous for warp. Still, they would only have to be in the nebula for half an hour and then in hyperspace for less than an hour to get to safety. The plan had sounded good, right up until the Borg arrived about 20 minutes into the trip. “We’re approaching the gap in the nebula, and should be able to engage hyperspace in 30 seconds. We’ve lost 53 ships and several others aren’t going to be able to make the jump. Blazing Glory has suffered severe damage, and I don’t think is going to make it.” Blazing Glory was the new flagship for the fleet (the original flagship had been too big for any of the warp cable ships to carry with their tractor beams), and was the ship that Padawan Anakin Skywalker was on. The Borg had thrown a lot at it, and it was amazing that it wasn’t damaged any worse than it was.

“Make sure we’re ready to enter hyperspace the moment we are clear.”

Better than 100 Borg ships that were in pursuit of the Grand Coalition fleet. The Borg kept firing, and one by one, Coalition ships were being crippled. Both fleets saw the bright yellow of the nebula disappear as they came to the unusual gap in the center. Hundreds of vessels then engaged their hyperdrives. The Borg issued a few last shots at the fleeing vessels. The Blazing Glory barely missed one before escaping to hyperspace itself. The Borg wouldn’t worry about them though. There were plenty of ships in their space that were trapped, just waiting for assimilation.




On Coruscant, Mace Windu and Yoda were speaking with Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. The Jedi wanted to discuss the Republic’s reaction to the latest Separatist speech. They wanted Palpatine to use some caution, and not risk a military response at this time. “Divided the Separatists still are. Without Dooku, impossible holding on to planets will be. Only war with Borg, gains them support.”

Mace Windu spoke next, “They have the support of several major Milky Way governments. If we aren’t careful, a major galactic war will start. It may be even bigger than our current one against the Borg.”

Palpatine said, “I understand your concerns and will avoid fighting with the so-called Confederacy of Independent Systems for as long as possible, but we must be realistic. The CIS wants to fight, and we must worry about how our actions toward the Separatists are viewed by most of the galaxy. If we treat them as a legitimate entity, more Milky Way worlds will rally to their banner. If we simply treat them as terrorists, governments will be more reluctant to join them.”

“Recognize the Delta Quadrant worlds as independent, we should not, but fighting also must we avoid. Delay is what is needed. Provoke the CIS, we must not. Follow all other requests we should: avoid their systems, ignore their ships. If given time, fall apart they will. Ensure their collapse, victory against Borg will do, if no war already exists.”

“Master Yoda, I’m afraid that for all intents and purposes we are already at war. We can not avoid our own systems after this threat or much of the Milky Way will start making similar threats, and we are not in a position to handle that.”




On board the Blazing Glory, Anakin was trying to help all those who had gotten injured. The number seemed staggering. Sickbay had been largely destroyed by several shots in the aft during the battle, and there were far more wounded than doctors. A makeshift hospital had been set up in one of the larger cargo areas. Anakin felt one person he knew.
He looked around and saw Conner. He was extremely bloody and barely conscious. “Conner, can you hear me?”

Conner looked at Anakin. He tried to stand up, but standing wasn’t possible for Conner right now. One of his legs was looked real bad. “Don’t try to move.” Anakin tried to use the Force to heal him, but ultimately, Conner was going to need a real hospital.

Since this is the first time I've submitted two chapter at the same time, I just thought I should let everyone know. Make sure you read chapter 9 first.

Edit: I'd like to thank X-Over from fanfiction.net for editing this chapter.

Chapter 10: The Hidden Truth

A female Founder appeared on viewscreens all over the galaxy. “Last week, Jem’Hadar on our planet of Rancor found evidence that agents of the Romulan Star Empire have attempted to attack the Dominion. They did not do so by conventional means, but attempted to introduce a disease into the entire Founder population.” The Founders decided to leave out the fact that they had been successful. That would be a weakness best preserved for now.

Truthfully, the Founders weren’t entirely convinced the Romulans were behind this. The evidence was sketchy, and could have been planted. It made too much sense though, and the Romulans had been their primary suspect all along. The Founders still didn’t know when the disease had been introduced (it was designed not to show up for quite some time), but it had been well before the Merging. Rancor was too far into their space for a non-cloaked vessel to make it to, and had been quarantined due to stiff resistance until about a year ago. None of their Gamma Quadrant rivals or upset planets could have pulled this off. The Klingons would have considered something like this too dishonorable. It would have gone too much against Federation ethics for a plan like this to be approved. If the Cardassians had been responsible, then it would have been found out about when they joined. That only left the Romulans.

“Due to these unprecedented actions, we have no choice, but to defend ourselves and dissolve the Romulan Star Empire. The Star Empire has three choices. It may surrender within one week and give us all information about this disease and all other actions they have taken against the Dominion. If it makes this wise choice, then it will be welcomed into the Dominion with the same rights as all other members. If Romulan leadership chooses to surrender, but covers up its actions against the Dominion, then we make no promises on Romulan rights, since no consideration will have been made for the rights of others within the Dominion. If the government of Romulus refuses to surrender, then Romulus itself will be destroyed.”




Commander Data walked into Engineering in his red command shirt. It seemed weird for Geordi to see him in that uniform. Picard’s promotion to admiral sure had shuffled up the command positions. Riker was captain, and Data was first officer. A former engineer of his was now chief of operations. “Hi Data.”

“Hello Geordi.”

“Any news on the war?”

“Several more fleets have managed to escape Borg space. There are millions injured. We are preparing cargo bay 3 and shuttle bays 2 and 3 as emergency treatment centers for the next fleet that will be arriving. It is the Defiant’s fleet.”

“I hope Worf’s OK. Any news on the Defiant?”

“Yes, it was the ship that contacted us. Worf is alright.”

Geordi gave a sigh of relief, “Good.”

Data went back to the war news, “We’ve lost the support of another 347 governments today including the Romulans. It is estimated that…” Geordie held up his hand. He didn’t want any more news on the war that couldn’t possibly do him any good. Data got the picture and asked, “Have you made any progress in your work?”

“A little. If no one else comes up with one, I think we’ll have at least a rough counter to this anti-hyperspace technology within the next couple of days. I’m worried about how much power it’s taking though. I’m not sure we can scale this down enough to allow all ships to use it.”

“Even a device which would just allow Republic ships to enter hyperspace would solve most of our immediate concerns.”

With a sign Geordi said, “I know.”

“I have other news I believe you will wish to hear.”

Anything not having to do with war sounded good to Geordi. “What is it?”

“A Federation research team has suggested that the effect of the recent event which brought our two galaxies together may be more extensive than earlier believed.”

“What do you mean?”

“They believe that what occurred was far more than two galaxies somehow uniting. They believe that two different universes did in fact combine. Our two galaxies being combined was simply part of the greater merging.”

Geordi folded his arms, obviously interested. “How did they come by this? They haven’t been able to study anything outside our own galaxy.”

“There is no clear edge to the extent of the Merging. Theoretically, it is far easier to create scenarios where entire universes merge than simply large chunks of them.” Geordi realized this was true. What Data said next was even more amazing. “Apparently, our universes may in fact be somewhat similar. Using the most advanced technology available, scientists in the Republic have found some duplicate galactic super clusters. They are at the extreme edge of what is possible to view from our location. The research team believes that for each set, one is from our universe, and the other that of the Republic.”

The possibilities. “If our universes are similar enough to share galactic super clusters, then for all we know, there could be another Milky Way out there.”

“Yes, although it would be unlikely that they too would have merged with another galaxy. It is also conceivable that they are at a different time period than us, or have developed differently for various reasons.”

wtf...heh are you about to throw another scifi universe into the mix? Nonetheless I like where the story is heading. Can't wait for more.

Don't worry. I've got enough to deal with now with two universes. Another Milky Way might (depending on how long this story goes) come into play, but not as another Sci-Fi Universe.

I’d like to thank X-over once again for proofreading this chapter.

Chapter 11: Decisions

“Praetor, what is the Senate’s decision?”

The praetor looked like the most depressed person in the galaxy as he came out of the Senate. That look changed to fury when he saw the agent of the Tal Shiar, standing near him. Commander Sela decided she’d better be careful. He obviously believed the Dominion lie, and thought the Tal Shiar had committed the act behind the back of the government. As the praetor spoke, every word seemed to be an accusation. “We will use the next week to try to convince as many governments as possible that we had nothing to do with these actions against the Dominion. In the likely event that we don’t gather enough support, we have no choice. The Dominion outguns us better than 30 to 1. We will have surrender.”

Keeping her cool, Sela replied, “I understand.”

“The Tal Shiar is to delete no records. If we surrender, it is to surrender everything as well. If it is responsible for these actions, I want whoever approved it brought to me personally. Is all that perfectly understood?”

“Yes, praetor.”





Picard walked through the rows of injured in Cargo Bay 2. How could he have let this happen? Deep down, he knew that no one could have prepared for the twists of this war, but that didn’t help much. It was his job to prepare for all those twists. He hadn’t, and now the death toll was catastrophic.

Could this war even be won anymore? Picard wasn’t sure the answer was yes. The Grand Coalition was falling apart. Palpatine wouldn’t be able to keep the Republic in for too much longer. There was just too much pressure to accept the Borg’s offer, and too many other problems for the Republic.

How long would the Borg keep their word? Picard wasn’t sure. They could survive very well without assimilating, but Picard was sure that the Queen would only honor the pledge as long as she had to. Once the galaxy was no longer able to stand up to them, any promises made would be forgotten.

Picard saw a Jedi. He’d seen him before. He was the same one whom had been on the Enterprise after the Battle of Coruscant. He was just leaving a clone trooper. Absent-mindedly, Picard walked up to the clone.

Conner didn’t see Picard until he was almost on top of him. Shocked, he said, “Admiral Picard…Is there anything I can do for you?”

“That’s a question I should be asking you. How is your leg?”

The clone looked depressed. “They don’t think it will ever heal entirely. Ana… Padawan Learner Skywalker has arranged to have me transferred to Coruscant. I’ll recover there, and then be assigned a new duty on the planet.”

“I’m sorry.”

Conner didn’t know what to say. “Sir, I’m just doing my job. I knew the risks.”

More to himself than Conner, Picard replied, “All the same, I should have prepared for this.”

Conner knew he shouldn’t say anything. He shouldn’t contradict a superior officer. “Sir, I don’t think you could have prepared for this. You managed the war better than I thought anyone but a Jedi could. You should be proud.”

Picard didn’t smile. He still felt too responsible. It was good to hear the words though. He allowed a silence for a few moments and then said, “What’s your name?”

“Conner, sir.”

Picard nodded. He was going to ask the same question that he had asked to several clone troopers so far. All the others had responded in the same way, and Picard was sure this one would to, but something seemed different about him. “Conner, I know no one has ever asked you if you want to fight in this war. No one has ever asked you if you are willing to risk your life to defeat the Borg. If you weren’t compelled to join the military, would you be fighting?”

“Sir, I do what I’m ordered to do. That is my role in life. I do not have a choice. I wish only to follow the orders I’m given.”

That was the same kind of response he had gotten from all the others. “Conner, there is always a choice.”

Picard stood up. He had a lot of work to do. He started to walk away, but turned as Conner said something. Wonder seemed to be in the clone’s voice as he considered something he never had before. “Sir, this war is to stop a truly evil enemy. If I had the choice to fight or not, I would volunteer.”

Picard just stared at Conner for a long moment. So, the clones really were still individuals. He had known that, but knowing wasn’t the same as seeing it. Palpatine had just called for the creation of even more clones, and Picard felt that maybe the Supreme Chancellor had been lying to him before. Picard wasn’t sure, but he was sure that this man lying injured before him didn’t deserve to be treated like a slave. Yet that’s what he was, wasn’t it? He would not and could not receive the same rights as others within the Republic. He was created specifically to fight, and would be allowed to do no more than the Republic wanted him to do. What was he going to do? For now, Picard wasn’t sure there was a lot he could do. That was just one more problem he faced. Despite that though, Conner’s response had somehow reassured Picard. It was nice to know that there were still those who thought the war had to be fought.

I plan on putting chapter one of a revised version of Episode I up soon. It will not be necessary to read, but I would advice reading the first part of chapter 1.

I’d like to thank X-over once again for proofreading this chapter.

Chapter 12: War

The leader of the Romulan Star Empire sat next to a desk. He hadn’t slept in a week. He had done everything he could to defend his home. It hadn’t been enough though. There had been plenty who sympathized with him, but not nearly enough willing to act. Chancellor Palpatine had been his last hope and that hope had been destroyed earlier today. The Republic would offer assistance, but would not get directly involved. It had too many concerns of its own and didn’t have the resources left to fight the Dominion.

His failure meant that now there was only one thing left to do. “Greetings to all citizens of the Romulan Star Empire. A week ago we were accused of actions against the Dominion. We are innocent of the crimes they charge us with.”

The praetor stopped, he was holding back a tear. “But, we still have no choice. We cannot defend ourselves from the full brunt of a Dominion attack. Even now, tens of thousands of ships are waiting in Cardassian space to attack us. For that reason, I must ask that all members of the Star Empire obey my last orders. Surrender to the Dominion. Our empire cannot survive, but our people can. We will make ourselves known throughout the galaxy, by the actions of our greatest citizens, even if our Warbirds will disappear. I am sending out orders now for the fleet to stand down and prepare for new orders from the Dominion. I ask the Dominion to keep its word, and allow our citizens to enjoy the same rights they did under the Star Empire. The Star Empire will be missed by all its citizens. I ask that all remember it with the fondest of memories.”

The praetor hit a few buttons and his image disappeared from all the screens it was on across the galaxy. An aide came rushing to him. “Praetor! Our orders to the fleet have been altered. They now read to follow all orders of the Tal Shiar and disregard the call for surrender. It says that statement was only made so the Dominion couldn’t say the empire hasn’t surrendered!”

“What!!! Those…” The praetor never finished his sentence. An explosion had just filled his office, killing him.




Commander Sela reported to her superior. “Sir, the mission was a success, and the fleet is being broken up and sent to safe locations.”

“Good.”

Sela looked very disturbed at what she had just reported. Her commander said to her, “Killing the praetor was an unfortunate necessity. Without the fleet, we would never be independent again.”

“I know sir, but he did lead the government we swore to protect.”

“It could not be saved. One way or the other it was doomed. We can recreate it now though. Had we not taken the initiative, the Star Empire would never have a chance to be reborn. Dominion ships are already entering our space. If we didn’t take charge, our Warbirds would soon be run by Jem’Hadar. Without us, there would be nothing to oppose them.”

“What if they destroy Romulus?

“The praetor surrendered. All the planets and star bases will also surrender. They will just consider us terrorists.”




The people of the planet of Naqu had been known for extreme paranoia by their neighbors for centuries. They were also known as extremely proud members of the Republic. For the people of this small outer Delta Quadrant world, a difficult choice had to be made. They could remain loyal to the Republic and risk a Borg attack. Or, they could declare their independence, announce their neutrality in the war, and not worry about an attack. Most still supported remaining in the Republic for now. They were fairly far from Borg space, and thought they owed the Republic that much at least, even if they did greatly fear for their survival.

A smaller group had disagreed though. When it had realized the government would not announce neutrality in the war against the Borg, they had revolted. In a daring move, they had attacked the capital building itself, and taken as many leaders as possible prisoner. They then announced their planet’s neutrality and independence and secretly asked for CIS support.

Four Republic dreadnoughts had been ordered to the system to resolve the crisis. Unfortunately, five CIS ships were already in the system. On board the lead Republic vessel, the commander heard his communications officer say, “Sir, we are being hailed by one of the CIS vessels.”

The captain nodded and then heard the voice of a very firm Separatist captain. “You are violating the space of an independent world. You are ordered to leave now.”

“This world is a member of the Republic. A group of terrorists have overthrown the legitimate government. We are here to restore it.”

“We recognize these ‘terrorists’ as the proper government of this planet.”

“We do not. We are here to restore the democratically elected government to power. You must leave.”

“We will not.”

“I suppose there’s not much more to say than. Close the channel.”

“Captain, what should we do?”

“The Separatists are cowards. Keep shields and weapons ready, and continue to approach the planet like they aren’t even there. They’ll leave, once they realize we mean business.”

“What if they don’t?”

“Then they’ll have to fire first. When they do, show no mercy.”

The Republic vessels continued to approach the CIS ships. As the vessels approached, the CIS commanders grew more worried. Finally, one decided to take action.

For the second time, Republic ships were fired on by members of the Confederacy for Independent Systems. This time they were not the victors.




Seven of Nine was looking over the reports of this new Borg superweapon. It was a real ingenious weapon. It was a signal being sent out across all Borg space, by almost every Borg installation, and magnified by what would probably eventually become millions of signal enhancers. It would allow Borg ships to go to hyperspace, but not their opposition.

It was almost time for her to go on duty, when a thought occurred to Seven. “They couldn’t have made a mistake like that.” It was a long shot. She would just forget it and go. As she got up though, she had to stop herself. What if they did make a mistake? Did she even want to find it? She wasn’t sure she did, but she called off duty for the first time ever.

Hi everyone. I've submitted a new chapter 1 for Episode I. I hope to rewrite the whole thing. You can read it at http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic.php?t=77461 or http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2353766/1/ if you want. I'd like to thank X-Over once again for proofreading this chapter.

Chapter 13: The Really Tough Choices

The Merging had been both a blessing and a curse to many businesses. To Quark it had been great. The war with the Dominion was at least temporarily off. There had never been an official peace treaty (one had been close to being signed until the Dominion had announced their intentsion to absorb the Romulan Star Empire), but at least there was an armistice. The wormhole had finally been completely reopened just two weeks ago. The Dominion had agreed to finally allow others to use it again in exchange for the Republic agreeing to some restrictions on ships going through its core world sectors.

There were also plenty of new business opportunities. Besides the wormhole’s economic value, it was also a spectacular site and was now relatively nearby to plenty of potential sightseers. Of course, what would be better to do while seeing it than visit Quark’s bar? There, tourists could try out a large array of drinks and luxuries from both galaxies.

One of the most popular things from this new galaxy, that was a hit among Milky Wayers, was its sports. That had given Quark a great idea. He was now installing monitors to show the various new sporting events. Of course, what would make a sporting event better than to bet on a winner? He hoped it would become a new steady source of income, although Kira and Odo might cause him trouble.

Quark turned and looked at the Dabo table. There was one man there with his son. He had won quite a bit. Rom came rushing toward him, “Brother, someone wants to talk to you.”

“Who is it?”

“They say they’re from Tatooine. It’s about televising the pod races.”

“Good.” Quark rushed up to his computer. “Jabba, it is great to see you. You’re looking especially well today.”

A protocol droid spoke for Jabba. “The great Jabba is willing to allow your establishment to air our famous pod races for 50% of the profits.”

“That is outrageous. We will be exposing thousands to your races. Most wouldn’t even have heard of your world otherwise. Some may even choose to visit it. The indirect rewards for you are immense. I’ll give him 10% of the profits.”

The protocol droid looked around very concerned and then said, “The great Jabba considers that an insult. He is willing to take 40% of the profits.” Quietly and very nervously, the droid whispered, “I suggest you take his officer.”

Quark considered it for moment. Jabba had gone down more than expected, but not quite as far Quark wished he’d gone. Still, he thought this might be the Hutt’s final offer. His instincts told him that if he pushed anymore (which he suspected the Hutt might want anyway), he would either lose the deal or have to take a smaller share of the profits. Of course, Rule of Acquisition #147 was, “Always trust your instincts, except while drunk.” “Alright.”

The relieved droid said, “Very good. The equipment should be set up in time for our next race.”

“Excellent. Quark out.” Quark turned around and saw the father and son had just won another game of Dabo. He was going to have to do something about them. They were winning too much. He could just say the kid couldn’t stay, but decided instead he would try to get them to spend their winnings. He thought about the kid’s age and then decided what to say. “Congratulations on all your success here. We love to see winners at Quark’s. May I interest you and your son in a visit in one our famous holosuites? I just got in a program the other day where you play heroes trying to stop a of couple evil bounty hunters. It’s very exciting.”

That obviously wasn’t quite the right thing to say because both of them got a threatening, although also amused look on their faces. The older one replied, “No thanks, just a drink please, Romulan Ale.” That much was good at least. The invasion of the Star Empire had given Quark an excuse to raise the price of Romulan Ale. The supply shouldn’t be cut off, but people worried that it would. Quark’s only concern was that the Bajorans might make it illegal to sell anything imported from the Dominion. Fortunately, their policies focused less on such stuff than the Federation’s.

Quark walked back to the bar and Jango looked at his son and laughed. “Want to stop a couple of bounty hunters, son?”

Sorry its been so long. I'm on break now and am going to try to finish writing this story and the rewrite to Episode I (which I'm now kind of regretting having started). I'm only going to post once a week though. Hopefully that way there is still a little bit to put out once school is back in.

Thank you X-Over for your Beta reading. It is wonderful.

Chapter 14: The Pit of Despair and a Ray of Hope

“I’m sorry, Jean-Luc. You have done a splendid job, but I’m afraid we can’t support this war anymore. It requires all of our resources and we simply can’t spare them anymore. General Grievous has already started assaults on our planets. Hundreds of Milky Way worlds are threatening war. Even without these immediate threats, we can’t protect countless of our Delta Quadrant worlds. We can’t even get to the ones that are in Borg space. We need peace with the Borg.”

Picard knew it was futile, but had to say something, “We have found a way to counter the anti-hyperdrive weapon of the Borg. We are sending the specifications out now. Ships should be on the move again within a few hours.”

“Another demonstration on why I choose you, Jean-Luc. All the same, that doesn’t change the reality of the situation we’re in. I’m sorry. I’m going to announce that The Great War is over tonight. We’ll accept the Borg peace offer and advise all others to do the same.”

Picard, exhausted, feeling useless and guilty nodded. “I understand, chancellor.”

The screen flicked off. Palpatine wondered what would happen now. The Galactic War had finally started and that was good. He had foreseen that there would be troubles fighting against the Borg and had used that to his advantage. He had been sure that Picard could defeat the Borg though. If something didn’t happen soon, his plan would need to be altered. He would need to meditate on it tonight.

Palpatine walked across the room and looked at the 3-dimensional galactic map that had just been installed on a table in office. It could zoom in on specific systems or show the entire galaxy at once. Right now it showed a rainbow of colors representing the various governments of the galaxy. The Federation occupied a small space of blue. The Klingons were a bright red. The Dominion occupied a large portion of the Gamma Quadrant, as well as Romulan and Cardassian spaces in purple. The Borg took up a lot of room in the Delta Quadrant in green. A faint red aura represented the Republic and spread across most of the galaxy, mingling with almost all the other colors. CIS yellow periodically showed in worlds that were once Republic.

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The negotiations hadn’t been easy. Gunray and the rest of the Separatist Council had expected them to be far simpler. It had all been worth it though. A female Founder spoke. “Then it is agreed to. The Galactic Alliance is now formed and the Dominion and the Confederacy of Independent Systems are now allies.”

Clapping could be heard all around. This was the formal agreement going on now. Most of the real negotiations had taken place with far fewer people. The Founders made sure they could easily deny they were even taking place until they had a deal that satisfied them. They got the Separatists to agree that all worlds within 1,000 light years of the Founders’ core worlds would be controlled by the Dominion. The only exceptions to that would be worlds that had joined the CIS. In those cases, the Dominion would still control most space surrounding them, and could even restrict the number of CIS vessels at many of their own worlds.

It had all been worth it though. The Dominion was the first domino. The CIS had been working hard at getting as many Milky Way allies as it could. The problem had been that, while many disliked the Republic, few were willing to oppose it. They feared doing so could bring about their own destruction.

With the Dominion now an ally though, things would change. Invited to this ceremony were leaders from several key worlds whom the Founders and Separatists considered possible candidates to enter their alliance. Two of them stood now. One of them held up a drink and said, “I would like to toast the formation of the Galactic Alliance.”

After everyone finished the other then said, “Prior to coming here, my government and that of the Green Empire,” he gestured to his companion, “ had agreed that if the Dominion joined the CIS in an alliance, so would we. So, on behalf of the Colian Empire, I would like to ask to join the Galactic Alliance.”

As applause started, the first quickly added, “And on behalf of the Green Empire, I would like to ask to join the Galactic Alliance.”

Plans swirled through the leaders present. Both of these empires were located in the central part of the galaxy. They could strike at the very heart of the Republic with ease.

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There wasn’t a word to describe how Picard felt. Depressed didn’t go nearly far enough. How many have died? What had been accomplished? He was so consumed by these thoughts and so overworked and overstressed, that he didn’t notice the bridge trying to contact him. After he heard Troi’s voice for the third time (starting to sound worried), he became aware enough to respond. “Picard here.”

“Admiral, are you alright?”

“Yes, fine, just distracted. Sorry.”

“We have a message coming from the starship Voyager. It was redirected through Starfleet Research.”

“Put it through in here.” Picard turned on his display and saw an ex-Borg. “This is Admiral Picard.”

The woman looked as distraught as him. She also looked resolved and spoke firmly. “Admiral, I wish to discuss with you, a plan to destroy the Borg.”

Once again, thank you X-Over for the wonderful beta reading.

Chapter 15: For the Future

When an infant is taken to be trained as a Jedi all ties with their family are supposed to be cut. There is one occasion when cutting all ties is impossible though. When more than one sibling is admitted to be trained then completely cutting off all contact is impossible.

Mark and Luke Moore were two twin boys living in the Jedi Temple. The Jedi kept them separated as infants and for a number of years afterward, but being the same age and learning the same skills, they had still seen each other and eventually became friends. The fact that they were related was obvious and wasn’t hidden once they met. Both had other friends they liked to spend time with, so their guardians didn’t worry too much, but the twins did grow closer than was customary of young Jedi in training.

At the age of 8, Luke got to thinking and asked if there was anyone else related to them in the Temple. He eventually (and reluctantly) got the answer yes. They also had a sister, named Katie, in the Temple who was 6. The twins were allowed to meet her and over the next couple of years did go and see her periodically.

Now, Mark and Luke are 12 and Katie is 10. They are all together, walking down a corridor. None of them actually have told anyone exactly what they were doing. They aren’t entirely sure they would have gotten permission if they had.

The three kids walk into the nursery that holds the youngest infants, and there see their youngest sibling, Sara Moore.

Even though they know they shouldn’t feel this way, right this second, they feel closer to each other than anyone else in the Temple. The four only get a few minutes to be together, but it is a few minutes the older three will never forget.

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“Chancellor, this is not an opportunity that is going to last forever. The Borg even now are building more processors. Seven estimates that they should be decentralized with another week, at the most. After that, this opportunity is gone.”

“Admiral, I understand your position, but we need every ship we’ve got to fight the Separatists. We’ve recently received unconfirmed reports that they have aligned themselves with the Dominion. We don’t have any resources to spare. We really don’t even have the amount we need against the Separatists. I’m sorry.”

It was so close, Picard could feel it, but how could he convince Palpatine. “Chancellor, you and I both know that as soon as it suits their interest, the Borg are going to break their agreement. That time will probably be when the Republic is at weakest.”

Picard continued, “Even if they don’t attack until after the war with the Separatists is over, I don’t think you can win. Our countermeasure to their anti-hyperdrive device is temporary. Give them enough time, they’ll overcome it. There is a lot else they will adapt to given a couple more years as well. Chancellor, if the Borg survive this war, they will kill or assimilate trillions more, I guarantee it. For the future, for future generations, I ask that you give us one opportunity to destroy the Borg forever.”

Palpatine was silent. “You will maintain control of a portion of the fleet for the next 24 hours. Good luck, Admiral.”

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Obi-Wan was in a cave deep within a mountain. It had been hoped, that by bringing people to places like this, they could be spared from the oncoming Borg assault. Obi-Wan wasn’t very convinced it would work, but it was better than nothing. He turned to the incoming clone trooper. “Sir, the transport inhibitors are in place.”

“Good, how much food do we have?”

“Only enough for two days, sir.”

“Unfortunately, that’s probably more than enough.”

“How long until the Borg get here, sir?”

“They’ve just entered the system.”

Merry Christmas to everyone and a Happy New Year
Thanks X-Over for the great Beta reading. Sorry everyone for any mistakes left. I changed more than unusual after he sent the corrections back and didn't follow as many of his suggestions as a I know I should have.

Chapter 16: Fighting for Peace

“Anakin you are being reassigned to Jedi Master Larce until Obi-Wan has returned. You are to go with him on the Enterprise.”

“Yes Master.”

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The Jateen Space Station had orbited its homeworld for hundreds of years. It had been a popular place for people to stop before coming to or leaving the harsh Republic planet below for a long time. Its administrator looked over the most recent report with disgust. “How many does that make?”

“Hundreds sir, all in the last hour. It’s like the entire Milky Way has decided to declare war on us at once. We’re going to have to start having some defense drills.”

“We’re going to need more than that. Any chance we can convince the military to send a few ships this way.”

“I wouldn’t count in it. I bet the Separatists are behind this.”

“Yeah those traitors. I’ve heard the Parcs are considering leaving them though.”

“I heard the same thing about the Quats. I think quite a few of the original members are getting nervous. If the Separatists ever destroy the Republic, or weaken it enough, the Milky Way worlds would become a lot more powerful.”

“And based on the Borg’s power even with the Republic, that’s a lot to worry about.”

“Yea. Besides, Dooku personally convinced half the worlds to leave and I haven’t heard anything about him in months.”

“I admit I did kind of admire that man. I mean leaving the Jedi and standing up to both them and the Senate; that took courage. You could tell he really cared about the people, not like those filthy commerce guilds which are just trying to make a credit.”

Sirens blared and both stood up. “What’s going on?”

Someone yelled, “A hundred Dominion ships have just entered the system.”

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Breen ships attack and destroy dozens of Republic instillations and begin invasions on several Republic-held of worlds.

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The Litations engage several Republic vessels.

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Miradorn ships start attacking the Republic.

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Colian, Green, and CIS forces begin an attack on the planet of Queston. While it is insignificant in most respects, the fact that it is less than 10 light years from Coruscant does not go unnoticed.

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Picard looked out over his fleet. It was so much smaller than it had been. He was worried he didn’t have the forces to successfully complete this mission, but he didn’t have a choice. He was out of time and this was all that he had. Palpatine had given him this last opportunity. He may not have spared him a lot of ships, but he had spared him some. Most the original members of the coalition may be gone, but they still had some committed forces. Ninety-eight percent of the ships he had started with may now be gone, but that was supposed to be enough for a war, this only needed to be enough for a battle. Those he had left certainly couldn’t be considered the most powerful in the original fleet, but so what? He had the opportunity of a lifetime. Picard just hoped that fortune would favor the bold, and that after this battle they would never have to worry about the Borg again.

The turbolift opened and two Jedi walked out (or rather one Jedi and one Padawan). “Admiral Picard, all Republic forces are ready.”

Picard looked to Data. “All other Coalition forces report ready sir.”

Picard sighed. He wished he could tell everyone in the fleet what they were about to try. Unfortunately, he couldn’t risk the Borg gaining that knowledge through assimilation. “Send a message out to all ships. Engage.”

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In the command post for the Republic holdouts, Obi-Wan and the lead clones were looking over their sensors. “It looks like they’re done with the cities. Now hopefully, they’ll just leave.”

“Do you think they will sir?”

Obi-Wan responded honestly, “I don’t know Cody.”

Everyone looked at the sensors, hoping against hope that the Borg would leave now that they had finished taking virtually everything the people of this world had ever had. It was in vain though.

“General Kenobi, we have detected thousands of Borg appear outside. They’re placing transporter signal enhancers and coming in.”

“Well then, let’s meet them shall we?”

Chapter 17: Count Your Blessings

The everyday things we have in our lives are the ones that are usually the hardest to appreciate. Since we have a hard time imagining life without them, it’s hard for us to put a true value on them. That is until we don’t have them anymore anyway. The thought of losing hyperspace for the Republic was so troubling, because they had always had it and didn’t think it could be taken away.

That is exactly what the Borg did though. In their part of the galaxy, they made hyperdrive temporarily impossible. While the consequences to the Grand Coalition had been disastrous, one shouldn’t confuse efficiency with the difficulty of the task. This hadn’t been some small feat for the Borg. There were so many different hyperdrive engines, so many continuously changing and unknown variables in space, and so many little details that constantly needed to be added in order to deny the Grand Coalition the use of hyperdrives.

When the Borg had finally found a method of limiting it, they encountered a serious problem. The signal they wanted to send out required a tremendously large structure to generate. Since only a handful of locations could be modified to generate it, their weapon would be rather limited.

After extensive review, the Borg found a way to get around this problem. A single large station that would create the signal was constructed. The rest of their ships and stations would be able to receive it, and redirect it as needed. Millions of signal enhancers would also be placed throughout the collective. It was determined that one central station would be vulnerable, but the Borg decided that they could only spare the resources to create one. Several other locations could be added once their immediate threats were dealt with. Those additional stations were now in the process of being constructed, but they weren’t finished yet.

Seven of Nine had discovered that it may be possible to change the signal interfering with hyperdrive in such a way that it would actually damage the Borg. That was the goal of the Grand Coalition in their final battle.

Data reported. “Admiral, it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain hyperdrive. I suspect the Borg are developing countermeasures to our modifications.”

That didn’t surprise Picard at all. “ETA?”

“Thirty seconds sir.”

“Understood. All hands, prepare for combat.” Picard was completely calm now. The battle was almost here, and there was no time for worrying. He had been worried earlier though. He feared what would happen if they failed. This was their one chance. If they lost, then this whole war would have been for naught. Billions would have died, and Picard wasn’t sure how he would be able to live with that. Of coarse, the odds of him losing, and coming out of this battle alive and unassimilated were virtually zero anyway. He didn’t like thinking about being reassimilated, but he was fairly certain, that one way or another, that was exactly what going to happen.

They dropped out of hyperspace and were greeted with a sight that froze their souls. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of cubes awaited them. Included in that number was the largest cube Picard had ever seen. Its sides had to be 12 kilometers across, at least. Picard spoke firmly. “At all costs, we get to that station.”

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“Sir, we can’t hold them off for more much longer. They just keep coming. We can’t even get close to them. They’re continuously setting up signal enhancers and transporting anyone who gets too close.”

The situation was grim indeed. “Move everyone to the center of the mountain. Close all entrances. Force cave-ins if you can. Move all remaining transport inhibitors to the main room. Between them and the entire mountain overhead, even the Borg transporter enhancers shouldn’t be able to create a clear enough signal to allow them to use their transporters.” Obi-Wan knew that this would trap everyone inside the mountain; there would be nowhere to escape to. There was nowhere to escape to now though, so Obi-Wan guessed it didn’t make too much difference.

“Yes sir.”

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“Order the fleet to follow plan zeta going through grid 2.”

The fleet of the Grand Coalition poured their firepower onto the first cubes they saw and sticking together started making a path through the cubes to their objective. The Enterprise was in the middle of the pack, protected from most Borg fire (although also unable to use its weapons too heavily).

The fleet fired at the cubes in front of them and ignored the others. They concentrated enough of their firepower to destroy a few cubes, but simply went past most of them. This had the advantage of getting them to their target a lot quicker. It had the extreme disadvantage of surrounding them on all sides with Borg ships though. Most would have considered the cost of this tactic greater than the reward, but nonetheless the fleet kept going, even as the number of Grand Coalition ships sank at a dangerously alarming rate.

After a few minutes, they were within transporter range of the battle station. The fleet stopped (still almost completely surrounded by cubes). “Concentrate enough fire to bring down its shields. The station is to be damaged as little as possible.”

A hundred ships redirected their fire away from the cubes, which surrounded them (and continued to fire on them), and towards the station. “Admiral, a hole is opening in their shield grid.”

“Understood. All teams are to be transported now.”

Picard saw the bridge disappear and saw the inside of a Borg structure appear. About a hundred people including 3 Jedi surrounded him. There was supposed to be more, but now was not the time to be thinking about that. He could see hundreds of Borg from here and dozens were now coming toward them. He also heard a voice.

It was only in his head, but it was real all the same. “Why have you come back to us Locutus? Are you really prepared to rejoin the Collective?”

“Data can you find the location?”

Data looked at his heavily modified tricorder. A minute passed and soldiers started shooting their projectile weapons at the Borg. Borg stunning weapons could be heard returning fire (they would want these intruders assimilated). “Data!”

“I believe a spot about half a kilometer from here will do.” He gestured in the direction.

“Let’s go then.”

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“Report.” Riker screamed.

“We’ve lost 40% of the fleet. The 12km long Borg ship is now within weapons range and firing at the Republic ships. We can’t last much longer sir. Half our personal defense ships have been destroyed. We are being hailed by the Republic flagship.”

“Continue firing and open a channel.”

An admiral of the Republic appeared on screen. “Admiral, we can’t continue this fight. We must retreat now.” The admiral paused for a only a second and said, “Where is Admiral Picard?”

“He is on the station, doing what he was sent here for.”

“Captain, I’m ordering my ships to leave.”

“You can’t do that.”

“We can’t win this battle!”

“Admiral, the point isn’t to defeat this army. We have to give Admiral Picard time.”

“What for?”

“I can’t say sir.”

The admiral appeared to be weighing several options. He looked at the Jedi next to him, and then gave an exasperated sigh. “Very well.”

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“As expected sir, the Borg are using extensive jamming to prevent us from beaming additional personnel aboard. It should interfere with their transporters as well though.”

“Let’s just hope we haven’t gotten them too worried yet.”

Picard saw ten soldiers go down at once. There had to be a hundred Borg directly in front of them. Picard looked backwards for a second and saw their numbers were dwindling in that direction as well. “How far Data?”

“Right there.” Data pointed to a Borg alcove not far in front of them. Unfortunately, it was surrounded by Borg. Picard started running toward it. “Stay back.” Anakin yelled at Picard. They couldn’t have him rushing to the front of the pack now.

They continued to move as a group, but the point in doing that quickly dismissed as they’re numbers sank to around 10. Anakin went in front and slashed through half a dozen Borg surrounding the alcove. Picard rushed toward it. The amount of fire the Borg were throwing their way seemed to be increasing. Then, the Jedi who was protecting Picard’s rear was hit and fell over. The next shot almost hit Picard, but Jedi Master Larce spun around managed to block it. Anakin went back in front of Picard.

Picard got to the alcove. “Data, are you sure this one will work?”

“It does appear to be one of those most directly responsible for monitoring the signal’s final adjustments.”

“Then it will have to do.”

The Borg hit three troops and then Larce was stunned as well. It was now just Anakin, Picard, and Data. Data attempted to grab Larce’s lightsaber, but was hit when he did. Now it was only Picard and Anakin.

Anakin felt the rage flow through him again. These creatures, they were an abomination to the Force. He knocked 10 down without even thinking about it. All he could think about was what they did to Padme. They had tried to take her away from him. He could still see her as a Borg; still sense her trying to assimilate him. They would pay for that. Anakin tried to control his emotions. He wasn’t successful, but he did his job nonetheless. He gave Picard the last few seconds he needed. If Data were still conscious, even he would have had to appreciate just how quickly the Jedi moved and was blocking all the blasts that were coming his and Picard’s way.

Picard’s head hit the back of the alcove and he jammed the hypospray directly onto his head. Hopefully, the nanoprobes that had been slightly modified would do their job. They were supposed to immediately give the order to alter the frequency of the anti-hyperspace signal.

He could hear their voices. One way or the other, it was about to be over.

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Obi-Wan was fighting in what had become the frontline (which was bad, considering it was a location fairly deep within the mountain); he did a summersault straight into a group of Borg. He used the Force and pushed away a couple of drones. He hit two with his lightsaber and then went down as one of the drones managed to hit him with her arm. He pushed his way back from them, but it was going to be futile. He couldn’t keep this up for much longer. Then, all of a sudden, the Borg stopped. Their circuits started to explode. Obi-Wan backed away, unsure of what was going.

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A 12 km long Borg ship loomed across the viewscreen. “Shields down to 2%. Only 8% of the fleet is left. The Republic command ship has been destroyed.”

The Borg stopped firing and across the colossal ship in front of them, explosions could be seen. “Sir, I detecting overloads onboard all Borg ships.”

“Lower shields and get the away team out of there now!”

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Picard woke up. He had the worst headache he’d ever had. Where was he? Sickbay. Then, it all came rushing back. He sat up. Riker and Beverley rushed toward him. “Jean-Luc, are you OK?”

“I’m fine. Did it work?”

Riker smiled. “Yes captain. Even the station you were on blew up. We barely got you out in time. You were lucky those Borg implants you injected yourself with didn’t have more time to grow. They almost killed you when they overloaded.”

Picard thought of the last couple of months. He thought of all the people who had sacrificed their lives. He thought everything the Borg had ever done. He smiled; it was his first genuine one in a long time. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to count my blessings.”