Re: The Merging (Star Trek, Star Wars crossover) last chapte
Posted: 2012-02-04 10:39am
This story was my first fanfiction and I’m happy it’s finally complete. I got the idea for this story when I saw Star Wars Episode I and started writing it back in high school. I found an uncompleted version awhile back that shows how far my writing has come. Below is the version that was my original complete version that I submitted for the old achieve which contained a lot of Star Trek/Star Wars stories (and is actually a lot better than my uncompleted version from a few years earlier). I’m certainly not a great writer now, but looking back it’s at least nice to know I can see progress.
I don’t know if he is reading any of these anymore, but if he is, I’d really like to thank X-Over. He read this story like this and liked it enough to write me and encourage me to keep going and then Beta read for me in episode II and my first attempt at a rewrite of this story. X-Over sorry I haven’t made it further.
----
It is said that there are an infinite number of universes. That for every choice that is made a unique new universe emerges.
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away and in our own galaxy in the 24th century
Star Trek and Star Wars
Episode I
The Merging
It’s a dark time for the Republic. Led by Count Dooku, the Separatists are gaining ground, as thousands of worlds start to consider and make preparations to leave the millennias old institution. Two assignation attempts against the former queen of Naboo, Senator Amidala, have already taken place. To make matters worse, the Jedi Counsel’s ability to use the Force has been limited by the Dark Side. Obi-Wan Kenobi, in pursuit of a bounty hunter named Jango Fett, has been captured by a droid army. Anakin Skywalker and Senator Amidala, in an attempt to rescue their friend, followed him to Geonosis, only to be captured as well. On Coruscant, the Jedi are preparing to leave and rescue their companions.
The United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire have been fighting the Dominion for months now, and failure is the most likely outcome. The only thing preventing more Dominion reinforcements from coming through the Bajoran Wormhole and making defeat inevitable is a large number of cloaked self-replicating mines. In hope of changing the odds, the Federation makes plans to recapture their former wormhole base of Deep Space 9. Intelligence suggesting the Dominion found a way to deactivate the mines has forced the Federation to attack early, despite being outnumbered 2 to 1. Klingon reinforcements change the odds, and the U.S.S. Defiant slips through the Dominion lines and heads for DS9. The battle starts to lean towards the Federation and Klingons, but the Dominion is almost ready to destroy the mines.
The Defiant rushed towards DS9 at its best speed. Dax looked at the time. “Ben, if I were you I would start coming up with a Plan B.” Sisko looked at the view screen as space returned to normal, they were out of warp. There was a huge explosion already in process. The sight was a nightmare. The mines were gone. They were too late. They had failed. Dax was the first to ask, “What do we do now captain?”
What was there to do? They had made it all the way back here, but now it was too late. He wasn’t going to go back. “Take us into the wormhole.”
O’Brien shocked said, “What the hell, were just going to meet a couple thousand Dominion ships.”
Dax wasn’t too impressed either, “One ship vs. a whole fleet that’s one hell a Plan B.”
“Chief how does that poem end?” it was Garak.
“You don’t want to know.”
The Defiant went through the wormhole. This was a fitting place for it to end. The crew had discovered the wormhole. The bright blue they had seen so many times seemed as beautiful as ever. “Full stop. Chief, divert all power to forward shields and weapons.”
Dax: Captain, I’m reading multiple warp signatures ahead.
Sisko: On screen, Maximum magnification.
Thousands of Dominion ships filled the screen. Sisko knew what he was looking at and by the looks of his crew he could tell they did too. This fleet was almost three times the size of the one they just narrowly beat (which certainly didn’t mean it was completely destroyed). There would be even more too. Well, if the Dominion saw any need to send more there would be. He wasn’t really looking at the fleet though. He was looking at the end of the Federation. With this they could go straight to Earth. Defeat had always been the most likely outcome, but it had never been inevitable. But now defeat was very close indeed. It might be as little as two weeks away. The entire Federation, what it had stood for, there would soon be nothing left. “Lock phasers. Prepare to launch quantum torpedoes.”
And then his life was lifted from that plain of existence. The Profits. Perhaps he should have felt grateful for this temporary salvation, but he didn’t; he felt annoyed and extremely angry. “Why have you brought me here.” “Show yourselves. What do you want?”
A figure that looked like Odo appeared. “The Sisko has returned to us.” As usual, others started appearing and again disappearing. His surroundings looked like DS9, but that of coarse was an illusion too.
Jake: He has arrived with questions.
Kira: There are always questions.
“I didn’t ask to come here.” He really hadn’t and they didn’t have the right to just take him.
Dukat: You desire to end the game.
“What game? I don’t understand.”
Weyoun: You wish to end your corporal existence.
Damar: That cannot be allowed.
Odo: The game must not end.
“The game. You mean my life. Is that what this is about. You don’t want me to die.”
Dukat: The game must continue.
Weyoun: You are the Sisko.
“Believe me. I don’t want to die, but I have to do everything I can to prevent the Dominion from conquering the Alpha Quadrant. If that means sacrificing my life and the life of my crew so be it.”
Jake: We do not agree.
Kira: We find your reasoning flawed.
Odo: Insufficient.
“I’m flattered you feel that way but it doesn’t change anything. Now send me back to my ship.” The scene did change. He was on the Defiant, only still not the real one. “This isn’t what I meant. I want to return to my reality.”
Damar: You are the Sisko.
“I am also a Starfleet captain. I have a job to do and I intend to do it.”
Weyoun: The Sisko is belligerent.
Dukat: Aggressive
Damar: Adversarial
“You’re dam right I’m adversarial. You have no right to interfere in my life.”
Kira: We have every right.
“Fine, you want to interfere, then interfere. Do something about those Dominion reinforcements.
Odo: That is a caporal matter.
Dukat: Corporeal matters do not concern us.
“The hell they don’t. What about Bajor? You can’t tell me Bajor doesn’t concern you. You sent the Bajorans orbs and emissaries. You even encouraged them to create an entire religion around you. You even told me once, you were of Bajor. So don’t you tell me your not concerned with corporeal matters.”
“I don’t want to see Bajor destroyed, neither do you, but we know that is exactly what is going to happen if the Dominion takes over the Alpha Quadrant.”
Odo: He will not listen.
Damar: We must proceed ahead.
Weyoun: We have no choice.
Odo: The corporal time is incorrect.
Dukat: It is close enough.
Weyoun: It must start early
“What, what must come early?”
Kira: The merging.
Sisko looked around again. He was back on the Defiant. It was the real one this time. He looked up at the view screen to see the Dominion fleet. Before he could even realize what he was looking at, he was forced to the floor as the ship was thrown from the wormhole. “Report.”
Dax looked at the panel in front of her. “We have been thrown just outside the Bajoran system captain. I’m not sure, but I think the Dominion fleet was thrown to their side.” She trailed off at the end as she tried to figure out what she was reading. “Captain, I’m reading several new stars in the area. It looks like the star count around here has skyrocketed.” What had the profits done? Then Dax noticed one other thing on her sensors. This one brought a smile to her mouth. “Captain, Deep Space 9’s weapons are off-line.”
“Good job, Major,” Sisko said to himself. “Take us back and prepare to attack the station.”
On Coruscant, the order was just about to be given to lift off. Yoda had already left to retrieve the clone army, but the rest of the Jedi that they could get where on board a couple of starships. Before they lifted off though, they all felt a massive disturbance in the force. The Jedi tried to concentrate on it for a moment and then started talking about it. One asked Mace Windu what he felt. The Jedi remained silent for a minute longer and then answered, “I’m not sure, but whatever just happened may have been the largest disturbance in the force in millions or even billions of years.”
The pilot, who was about ready to hit the button to launch got an order and turned around. “Master Windu, I had permission to lift off, but have since been ordered to remain here. I’m not sure why?”
Still in total awe, Windu said, “It appears that Obi-Wan is going to have to wait.”
In the Gamma Quadrant, close to the center of Dominion space, and also close to a cloning planet, Dominion ships detected a large ship just appear on their sensors. They did not ask questions. Immediately, a dozen small Jem’Hadar warships and one larger one set a coarse for it. Thirty seconds later, they were within weapons range. All 13 ships fired immediately. It’s shields held for a moment, until a smaller Jem’Hadar vessel did a suicide run against its shield generator. After that, Jem’Hadar beamed over and took control of the ruined vessel.
In the Delta Quadrant, a Kazon ship detected a smaller ship in what the sect considered their territory. They powered their weapons and approached it. Unfortunately for the Kazon, size doesn’t always determine power and the ship they were confident they could beat had raised its shields and quickly returned fire. The Kazon were little match for the turbolasers and iron canons coming at them.
In the very heart of the Republic, just outside of Coruscant, Republic sensors picked up a ship, coming in at high velocity in normal space. Fortunately, it stopped just outside the system, but when a young Republic captain requested to board the ship and search because of its proximity to Coruscant, fighting almost broke out. Cooler heads did prevail though, and the Republic could consider the Corta Alliance as the first contact with a new galaxy.
All over the galaxy space ferrying races were trying to figure out what was going on. Almost any government with more than a world found that it had other new systems inside its space. Each species reacted differently. Most just waited and tried to make sense of everything. Not all acted like that though. Some species, assuming they were under attack, stared attacking every unknown ship they came across. After less than an hour, The Dominion ordered almost all their ships back to the center of their space fearing something might happen to the Founders.
There was one species though that seemed to be affected little by the sudden changing of the galaxy. For the Borg, why this happened was unfathomable, but it didn’t change anything for them. It only meant, they would have to adapt. They would find out eventually what had happened. After all, someone they assimilated would eventually have to know.
Vessel design unknown, species unknown, weapons analyzed, weapons inefficient to penetrate cube defenses. Cube 13569 assimilate. “We are the Borg, lower your shields and surrender your vessel. Your cultural and biological distinctiveness will be added to our own. Resistance is Futile.” Vessel attempting to escape. Firing weapons. Shield down. Lock tractor beam. Assimilate vessel. Add technological and biological distinctiveness to our own.
On Coruscant things were a mess. It had only been half an hour since the event, and they were receiving millions of distress and emergency calls. It had never anticipated anything of this magnitude occurring. The Senate, which had been in session, had been evacuated in case this was some form of attack. The individual members were now in what were considered safe areas and trying to figure out what was going on. So far all anyone knew was that another galaxy had just popped right on top of them.
A great number of rumors had started though. One was that giants planet sized ships were currently destroying whole systems. Another more humorous one was that Republic scientist had been working on a new hyperdrive and had somehow transported the whole galaxy to this new place.
Word was also now being sent to higher officials, that new races around Coruscant were primitive and as confused as they were. In truth, no one really knew if they were more primitive. They had seemed that way from scans and initial contacts, but no one really knew. All the same, anything that would quiet the nerves of their own leaders was being used now. Palpatine sat in his chair in his office about to make a speech. He was told he was on and he started.
“Greeting all people of the Republic and all else who receive this transmission. As almost everyone is already aware, a major event has occurred. We here on Coruscant are doing our best to find out what has happened. It seems that our galaxy and that of another have some how merged. I must assure everyone this does not appear to be an attack. The center of both our galaxies seem to be at about the same location. From there, with what little information we have so far, it appears our galaxy expands slightly past the edge of theirs. This merging threw many, if not all our ships, out of hyperspace. This was fortunate, because without every additional star, planet, moon, and other astronomical phenomenon in the computers every jump would be the equivalent of a blind jump. There could have been millions of deaths. For the time being all ships in the Republic are ordered not to engage their hyperdrives again. We will update our computers with every new item as soon as possible, but for the time being, I must insist this rule be obeyed. If you find yourself under attack use it carefully. If there is an emergency that requires going across galaxy and cannot wait please slowly go above or below the galactic plane, stopping after shorts jumps until you are there. After that, proceed to the point directly above or below your location and follow a similar procedure coming in.”
“Coruscant is capable of going through the numerous signals we are now getting. However, the sheer number of signals is slowing down response time to the true emergencies. For this reason we request anything sent to the government on Coruscant have a priority code attached. The code is as follows. Level 1 is planetary assault or other actions of that equivalent. Level 2 is for attacks on ships or life threatening damage to a ship. Level 3 will be used if you have a high representative from the new galaxy. Please do not contact us just because you have encountered a new civilization. Thousands others probably have as well. Level 4 is non-life threatening damage to a ship. Also, if you are just contacting us because there are a lot more stars, please stop, we already know. If you believe you know what caused this, please respond with a level 4 priority. If you are absolutely sure you know what caused this please respond using a level 2 priority. If you are a non-Republic ship ask any Republic ship if you need help contacting us. For every one receiving this not from my galaxy, I am Chancellor Palpatine representing the Galactic Republic which is made up of most my galaxy. I will send out another communication later when we find out more about what’s going on. Thank you everyone. This message will continually run until we update it.”
On Geonosis, Anakin and Padme kissed as they were being led out on chariot, to what should be their deaths. After their lips part they realize something interesting. They aren’t heading the direction they should be. Instead they are heading back the direction they came. “Where are we going?” Padme asks.
“I don’t know. I get the feeling that we’ve been at least temporarily spared though.” Anakin had of coarse felt the earlier disturbance in the Force, but despite its enormity, he had quickly stopped focusing on it. It had seemed gigantic, but unable to help him, and unimportant compared to spending these moments with Padme.
Over the first day, a lot happened all over the galaxy. On Coruscant, Republic leaders finally started to accept that this was not an attack. Palpatine had stated that almost immediately, but no one had seemed to be very convinced. The Senate had reconvened and was trying to work through the chaos and find out something to do.
In the Alpha Quadrant, the Federation and the Klingons had signed a temporary cease-fire with the Dominion. There wouldn’t be much fighting right now anyway, both sides were still healing from their wounds of the previous day, but both sides still preferred to have something official. All the major powers and most the minor ones had tried to contact Coruscant. Slowly they all were getting a chance to talk to someone. Of coarse, none of this Quadrant’s civilizations had the ability to communicate that far, so they had to contact one of the Republic ships or planets and ask to use their equipment. This was very embarrassing for a few of the civilizations, which thought of themselves as very advanced.
The Ferengi had been in talks with large numbers of planets and ships and seemed to be working to acquire all this new technology first. Barely an hour after the unification had occurred, ships were receiving orders to negotiate for whatever new technology they could get. Many had started before those orders, and the Ferengi were shocked to discover that this Republic wasn’t more advanced in all areas. That made trading easier. It especially made it easier when the Ferengi started coordinating. They would give one Republic ship transporter technology for hyperdrive. The next Ferengi ship would trade its transporter technology for Republic energy cores technology. Since the Ferengi were in an alliance and still able to communicate easily enough with each other and move around, and the fact that they were generally dealing with individual merchants or cut off members of larger groups who had to stay in one location made this easy. Very few were actually willing to trade anything yet, but even having just a few was giving the Ferengi a lot of business. By the end of the day, the Ferengi had almost all common Republic technology and some not so common technology and hadn’t had to deal with a single official Republic negotiator.
A lot can change in a day Sisko thought. He was now in his office, back on Deep Space 9; two Starfleet admirals had just left about an hour ago, they had just received the same report he already had given once over subspace. Sisko figured they would probably be back in a few hours to hear it again. Yesterday, the Federation was as close to destruction as it ever had come, and now there was a cease-fire. Of coarse things were far from perfect. The Dominion could start up again at anytime. He didn’t know what would happen if they tried to use the wormhole again, but he was far from confidant the Profits would stop them again. In addition to that, he had two ships of this new galaxy docked at the station. One was pretty small. It was a little outside of the Bajoran system and a galaxy class ship had tractored them here. The other had been farther away and had detected the station after it had stopped. Not wanting to be in the middle of nowhere, it had engaged its engine again and came here. That was just before the Chancellor of the Republic had sent out that communication.
From what Sisko had found out about their drives, they were fast. They were a lot faster than warp. This new group sending communications all over the galaxy probably would have other advanced systems as well. Sisko wondered about what would happen if the Dominion acquired this technology. No, there was no ifs, they would have it and probably sooner rather than later. They won’t even have to use the wormhole, he thought. He just hoped that they would be so concerned about the Gamma Quadrant, with their space now full of new planets and ships, that they wouldn’t put the resources back into the Alpha Quadrant. He didn’t have a clue what the Federation would do if this new race was hostile. Spread across a whole galaxy almost definitely put them in the most powerful position. Admiral Ross walked in and interrupted his thoughts. “Admiral back so soon.”
“Starfleet has just completed first contacted with the Republic.”
“That was fast. Did they tell them my story?”
“Yes they did. They are a little skeptical.” That was a shock; virtually everyone he had told in Starfleet was more than a little skeptical, and they at least had read previous reports on the wormhole aliens. “But they want you to go their capital anyway.”
“How do I get there?”
“Actually we made them a deal. We gave them our star charts and they gave us this engine design of theirs. It’s quite impressive. Ordinarily, we wouldn’t have done something like that right through subspace, or whatever it is they use, but we are worried the Dominion might get it first. You won’t be going by hyperspace on one of our ships though. It will take too long to install the engine. The bigger alien ship said they could carry the Defiant if they have to. I think the captain is just happy for an excuse to leave. Anyway we are downloading our star charts to him now and they should be ready shortly. A team full of ambassadors will follow soon on the Enterprise. It’s near the Neutral Zone right now and has already been ordered back to install the hyperdrive. You’ll get there first though. I can’t tell you enough, how important it is that we have a good start with these people.”
“I understand.”
Back on Coruscant things weren’t settling down. Thanks to brief negotiations with the Federation and a few other races they had encountered, they had managed to update the star charts almost completely, but sending that out to millions of ships was taking longer than just sending one speech. The Federation wasn’t the first civilization they got charts from. They had actually already got quite a few, but the Federation’s been far and away the best so far. Many in the government had not been happy about Palpatine “just giving” hyperspace technology away. The Republic could of coarse find all the information it wanted by itself. That would have taken time though, and these races would have acquired the technology on their own as well. The Republic simply couldn’t control all trade. After all, all it took were a few merchants to spread the technology. Besides others argued, why keep potential friends from getting the technology, while others were attacking and getting it for free.
The Senate had come up with an idea to have a galactic summit and try and establish relations with all these peoples. The sheer number of governments and species was making this difficult. It had been a long time since the Republic had worried about first contacts. In the confusion, they had almost completely forgotten about the separatist forces. They had bigger problems for the time being. Several worlds, most of them in what the Federation called the Delta Quadrant had reported being under attack. None of the ones in the Delta Quadrant could be reached any more. All of the planets were under a small region of space and were probably being attacked by the same species. A small fleet was being prepared in the area to take out whatever hostile force existed. A few of the planets had said the species identified itself as the Borg.
Palpatine sat at his desk again. He was ready to make a speech again. It would be his second in a day.
“Greetings once again to all of the Republic as well as everyone else receiving this transmission. I am Chancellor Palpatine of the Galactic Republic. I am the leader of a republic that spans most of my galaxy. We would like to thank everyone for their patience in this difficult time. As I said earlier, it appears that two galaxies have somehow combined into one. One galaxy was ours, that of the Galactic Republic, and the other is one full of many small, but great civilizations. As of right now, we do not know what has caused this. We will continue to investigate though.”
“To all those out there, who are not of my galaxy, I would like to extend an invitation. Two weeks from today, here on Coruscant, we will be starting a Galactic summit. We will make contact with all civilizations that attend and attempt to make at least temporary treaties with everyone. I understand that most of the civilizations of this galaxy will be unable to make it here on their own propulsion systems. If you contact us, we will arrange something. We look forward to meeting everyone”
“To all Republic ships, we are now sending out updated star charts. Please be patient. After you receive the new star charts please travel carefully. We have worked diligently with governments from around the galaxy to get these, but I suspect there are still small details left out. Merchant ships, I must also ask for your help. As I said earlier, we are preparing for a galactic summit. In order to get everyone here we need help. I ask that if requested to bring a representative ship to Coruscant that you respond. If possible, we may try to compensate you later. Thank you everyone for your patience. If we continue to work together everything should work out fine.”
On Geonosis, Obi-Wan started to hear a lot of commotion. It wasn’t the first time in the last day that he had heard a lot, but this time it seemed to involve more panic. After 5 minutes he was being led in chains to a ship. He then saw something he shouldn’t have. Anakin should not be here. He was supposed to be protecting Padme, but it appeared she was here too. He was pushed over with them. “What are you doing here? You were supposed to forward my message to Coruscant.”
“I did, and then we decided to try and rescue you.”
They were being pushed on to a ship. It looked like they were the last ones getting on. “Some rescue. I suppose we’ll talk about it later, do you know where we going?”
Before Anakin could answer someone else did. “You’re not going anywhere. Leave them here.” It was Count Dooku.
“What if they escape?” The Viceroy of the Trade Federation said a little nervously.
“There is no where for them to escape to.” The three got pushed out and the ship started to take off. “Obi-Wan, you’ll be needing this. I’d give Anakin his back, but it was destroyed.” He threw the lightsaber to the ground.
“What is he giving this to us for?” Anakin said, as Obi-Wan destroyed his own chains. He then destroyed Anakin’s and finally Padme’s.
“It can’t be a Republic attack.” Padme said.
“No, it can’t be. I don’t know, but we need to get to the ship you came in.”
Unknown to the trio, on the planet, 114 cubes had approached what the Borg considered a new planet. An assimilated transport had revealed this was a huge military base. Had it been a little further away from their space it would have been completely ignored. Unfortunately, for the Separatist and now for Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Padme this planet was now in the heart of Borg territory. They rarely sent many ships much beyond their space, but they would always strike nearby planets in full force.
The Separatist had realized they probably weren’t a match for a fleet that size. If they were, they would have to use everything against it and they couldn’t afford that. The Borg ships had dropped out of warp just outside the system. The Separatists barely made it out before the cubes arrived at the planet. They had left behind, a lot of supplies, but they survived and their movement would as well.
Back on the ship that Anakin and Padme had come on, 2 droids sat. The little one was trying desperately to repair a small, but important console. R2-D2 and C-3P0 had returned just after someone (probably on Dooku’s orders) had come and shot the navigational controls. The repair was a small one, but not one that could be waited on when the others arrived.
After arriving on the planet, C-3PO had been decapitated. His head had been put on a Trade Federation droid body and vice versa. After a few hours both of the Trade Federation droids pieces had malfunctioned. R2 put him back together and they had gone looking for Anakin and Padme (actually R2 looked and C-3PO followed). After attaching himself to a computer, R2 found out that they were already on their way back. R2 and C-3PO returned to the ship and ended up beating the others by about four minutes. C-3PO looked back outside just in time to see two Jedi and a senator returning to the ship. “Master, you’ve returned.”
“Sorry no time to chat.” Anakin and Obi-Wan rushed past C-3PO and up to R2-D2.
“Master, I’m afraid that R2 is still fixing the controls.” As if waiting to contradict him, R2 got out of the way and beeped. “R2 says that he has just completed the repairs.”
“Good timing. I think we’ve been here long enough.” Padme turned to the two Jedi. “Can you find out why everyone is fleeing?” That certainly was the truth. On the way over they had seen what looked like a total evacuation. A lot of droids were being left behind, not to mention the factories and a lot of materials, but all the ships seemed to be leaving, and no one seemed to be staying behind.
“I’m detecting over a hundred ships. Each one of them is a cube, about 3 kilometers long. I don’t see how we are going to get around all of these.” At that moment the Borg started slicing though the planet, assuming its resources.
“Well we’ve got to go somewhere.” Anakin took the controls. He plotted a coarse with the least amount of resistance. He could feel them with the Force. His skills as a Jedi were inferior to very few. When they reached the upper atmosphere the Borg tried to lock on to them for the first time. Anakin felt this and had to turn the ship into a tight turn to avoid it. This was difficult, the Borg could compensate almost immediately. That meant it had taken more than a small change in direction to avoid them. A few seconds later another cube tried the same thing. A little more out of the atmosphere made dodging a little easier this time. Anakin could sense what was doing this. In a way it was one entity, but in a more realistic way it was many. Something was taking away their free will though. The thought made Anakin sick, it also made him angry. He had to try very hard to keep that anger in check. That made the next dodge a lot more difficult. He still avoided it, but barely.
“Anakin you must keep your feelings in check.”
Easier said then done, he thought, but still managed to do it. Two cubes simultaneously tried to grab them next. The area Anakin could maneuver to and avoid both tractor beams was very small. Everyone was knocked to the floor as he did move there. Anakin quickly got up. He had made it past the last of the ships, but surprisingly none were following. “I guess they finally decided they’d never get us.”
“More likely they don’t consider us a great enough prize to be worth anymore trouble,” Obi-Wan contradicted. “Get us out of here.”
Sisko stared at the view screen. The ship carrying them, the Quick, was about to stop. The distance they had traveled in such a short time still amazed him. He saw the white lines stop and a picture of Coruscant appear. The planet was nothing like anything he had ever seen. In addition to that thousands of ships were surrounding it and sensors detected hundreds more coming in at warp from all sides. As they got closer Sisko could see the ships in more detail. Some seemed almost monstrous. There were several designs that were over a kilometer long. The Quick let go of the Defiant and she moved in on her own power. Dax turned toward Sisko and said, “Captain, we are receiving a hail from the planet.”
“On screen.”
“Welcome to Coruscant. Please take a shuttle to the coordinates we are transmitting now. Send no more than 4 people. Your ship must remain at least two million kilometers from the planet at all times. Is this understood?”
“Yes. We’ll be right down. Defiant out.” “Chief, how many ships are there out there?”
“There is about 3000, not including the fighters or shuttles out there. About three quarters of the ships are Republic. Most of them are merchant. There appear to be 400 Republic warships and a lot of little fighter supports close to the planet.”
Sisko, Dax, O’Brien, and Bashir were on the Federation shuttle about to land. Sisko was completely amazed. He had been expecting a highly populated planet, but this was far above his wildest expectations. The Federation still had a capital with oceans and forests and deserts. This planet, not only didn’t have them, it had run out of ground millennia ago and had just kept buildings higher. The population of this planet probably rivaled the population of the entire Federation.
When they landed, several guards were waiting for them. One of them spoke, “Welcome to Coruscant. Captain Sisko if you’ll follow me I’ll lead you to the chancellor. The rest of you can follow Jason.” He pointed to another guard. “He will take you to meet with a lot of the others we have encountered.” Sisko, in all honesty, had expected to be brushed off. He had almost hoped for it. He would prefer the Dominion never hear about how this happened. That would be more likely if fewer people knew what had happened. Why didn’t he want the Dominion knowing? If they knew this happened because they were going to attack, then wouldn’t that mean they would be less likely to attack again. He supposed he really didn’t want anyone to know. He didn’t know what other species reaction to the wormhole would be. It was too late to hide it now though. His guards led him to a room on top of one of the highest buildings. The guard led him in and then left. There was a man in a chair there. The man walked up, and put his hand out. “Welcome to Coruscant, Captain Sisko.”
As Sisko shook his hand, he all of a sudden felt cold. “A pleasure to meet you, chancellor. I have to tell you, I never expected to come straight here.” There was something very wrong with this man. He didn’t know what, but there was definitely something wrong. A word flashed into his mind, “counterpart”. He didn’t know what to make of it and quickly dismissed it.
“The Jedi felt your story was credible. They were reviewing all explanations for this event; we’ve had quite a few. They will talk to you about it in a little bit. They wanted to see you as soon as you arrived, but I decided we had better get in a little talk in first.”
“Thank you, who are these Jedi?”
“That’s a difficult question to answer. Have you ever heard of the Force?”
“No, can’t say that I have.”
“The Force surrounds all living things. Some people have the ability to use the Force, to do what might otherwise appear to be almost magical.”
Palpatine could tell Sisko was unimpressed. Sisko tried to explain it a little. “They have strong mental powers. They can control things with their minds. We have come across species like that before.”
He had no idea of he power he was talking about. “That really isn’t that good a comparison.” Sisko could almost feel a little rage, despite no change in voice. “You should meet them, perhaps then you will understand.”
“I would like that.”
“I glad you would. I believe you will be impressed. The enemy fleet that was coming through the wormhole, have they tried to reenter it?”
“Fortunately not. They didn’t like what happened last time and I don’t think they’re willing to take another chance at it right now. Plus I’d guess they are more concerned about protecting the Gamma Quadrant right now.”
“Are you convinced that they know the wormhole was the cause? From their perspective, could it have been just a symptom of what was happening to the rest of the galaxy?”
“No, you maybe right. They might have thought it was just bad timing going into the wormhole. Or at least, now they might.” This could be a very big problem, if the Dominion only thought they were thrown out, because of the effects of the merging and the merging wasn’t because they were there. Still, Sisko thought they would be more worried about other issues for a while and would ignore the Federation’s part of space. He still didn’t want them to know.
“Perhaps, it would be better to keep this quiet for the time being.”
“Yes, I agree.”
“Good, the Republic would like to make a few requests.”
Sisko hadn’t really expected this, but we was prepared. “Such as?”
“Thanks in large part to your Federation, we have accurate star maps. Your scientists seemed to put the most detail into their charts, which is essential for hyperspace.”
“The Federation has always considered exploration one of its largest goals. We try hard in making sure we do it right, I’m happy they were so useful for you.”
“Yes, I’m wondering if the Federation is equally careful in records relating to the different civilizations it has encountered.“
“Yes, as explorers that is just as important as the information on stars and planets.”
“Good, if possible, we would like the information you have on the different cultures you have come across. We are communicating now with hundreds of different worlds, and we would like to have some idea who we’re dealing with. We’ve already been attacked in some areas.”
“I hope the attacks haven’t been too severe.”
“Some have, I’m afraid. In what you call the Delta Quadrant we have had numerous attacks in a portion of our space.” Sisko hadn’t even thought about that yet, he had been so focused on the Dominion, but being across the whole galaxy, put Republic systems in Borg space.
“That would probably be the Borg. We should get you all the information we have on them immediately. I suggest you evacuate anyone in that area for at least the time being.”
“I’m not sure that’s possible, but we’ll take that under advisement. What about information on the rest of the civilizations you’ve encountered.”
“I talked to Starfleet Command before we left about that. They are willing to let me give you information on the planets and cultures of our galaxy, if you give us the same information from your galaxy.”
“That should be acceptable.”
“I believe we should give you all the information we can now on the Borg though, the problem is only going to get far worse.”
“After you see the Jedi and we transmit our information to each other, I’ll set up a meeting for you with our military leaders. Thank you for your help. If you have any requests during your stay, don’t hesitate to ask.”
“I won’t. Again, thank you for seeing me.”
“Thank you captain. The guard who led you in should lead you to the Jedi when you go out.” Sisko left.
As Sisko went out the door Count Dooku reemerged as a hologram. “What are we going to do with the main base gone?”
“It doesn’t matter. This new circumstance requires a new approach. We might be able to use the Borg to our advantage. This Federation though, they are the key.”
“Did Sisko know what caused this?”
“Yes. I have a mission for you. Go to the planet identified as Bajor and find out all you can on these profits of his.”
The next room Sisko walked into was circular and again on top of one of the higher buildings. He wasn’t sure what to make of it. There was a circle of people, about half looked like humans. A black man spoke first. “Welcome Captain, I am Mace Windu and this is the Jedi Council.”
“On behalf of the Federation, thank you for seeing me.” He didn’t know what else to say. This planet, its culture, still had him in awe.
The little green alien spoke next. “Powerful beings help influence the Force around you. Prophets you call them.”
“The Bajorans do. I suppose I do too.”
“Much planned for you, they do. Emissary you are.”
“Yes, how do you know that?”
“Force reveals much, even when clouded by dark side.”
“I still don’t understand this force, what is it? And what is this Dark Side?”
“Soon will you understand. Now, what did these Profits say? Hum?”
“They said, they said it was too early, but they had to start the merging. I guess they meant of our galaxies.”
“Perhaps, but much more could that still mean.”
Sisko answered questions and received answers for almost another hour and then left. After he left the council continued. They had much to discuss.
Streams of ships had been entering Coruscant for hours. The last one to arrive, one that had managed to snag a ride onboard a ship heading here hadn’t really wanted to stop. It would of preferred to keep going right back to Earth. It didn’t have that option right now though so almost half way back home was pretty good. Like the Defiant’s crew they were awe struck by the planet and the number of ships around it. It had been better than ten hours since the Defiant had made it here and the ship count had almost doubled. Merchant ships of all types were doing business with their counterparts. Fifteen Ferengi ships had just appeared out of hyperspace. No surprise they got that technology almost immediately.
Tuvok was the only one not smiling, “Captain, I am detecting one other Federation ship. It appears to be the USS Defiant.”
“Open a channel.”
“Channel Open.”
A moment later a Klingon popped onto the screen. “I am Commander Worf of the Federation starship Defiant.
“I’m Captain Janeway of Voyager. I see Starfleet hasn’t wasted any time getting a ship here. I must admit I thought we’d be the first. We were a little closer than any other Federation ship.”
“I think I remember hearing about your ship. How did you get here?”
“We’ve been trapped in the Delta Quadrant the past four years. When this happened we tagged on to a ship heading here.”
“It is an honor to meet you. It must have been difficult to survive so long, without any type of help. It takes true warriors to survive by themselves.”
“Thank you commander. As hectic as things are around here, to us it just seems like more of the same. This event has really helped us out though. I wasn’t expecting to see another Federation ship in the near future. Has Starfleet sent a team of ambassadors down there already?”
“No, the Enterprise will be here in a little less than two days with that. We’re here because Captain Sisko may know something about what caused this.”
“Really? Could you tell us.”
“I don’t think the captain wants us telling anybody right now, my apologies.”
“That’s alright. There are a lot of ships out there, Mr. Worf.”
“Yes. A lot more are arriving all the time. It’s mainly merchants. They come and see everything new arriving. They trade technology and supplies. There probably will be a lot more ships soon. Their government ordered all ships back another ten million kilometers from the planet just before you got here.”
“So this is a big commotion, even to the ones who built that world.”
“They’re got over 900 large military vessels closer to the planet. Plus they have a few thousand small fighters there. That’s more than double what it was when we arrived. I don’t think they know what to expect. It is better to be prepared.”
“I suppose it is. Do you know how many governments have representatives here now?”
“We’re not sure. There are at least 900. More are arriving every minute. Right now, most come out of warp from nearby areas. We are in the center of the galaxy and stars are more numerous, there are a lot of different civilizations nearby in what was our galaxy. We are currently detecting hundreds coming in at warp and ships come out of hyperspace just as often.”
Nine-hundred. Could they really be that insignificant? This was only a fraction of galaxy represented, at that. Even with the Federation’s size they would only represent a small fraction of people here. Of coarse, the last few years away from home had taught her that the Federation really wasn’t that big, but this just furthered that realization. “So what’s been going on at home since we left?”
At this, Worf paused. “A lot.”
Janeway had gone to meet Worf after their first conversation. She briefly saw Captain Sisko, but he looked exhausted from his day on the planet. She was now back on Voyager and had some news she’d rather not to deliver. She invited Chakotay to her ready room to tell first.
“You wanted to see me, captain?”
“Yes, I need to tell you about what’s been going on back home since we left.”
“I take it, the news isn’t good.”
“Not particularly, no. The events leading up to this are complicated, but the bottom line is the Federation and the Klingons have been fighting the Dominion for a few months now. The war has gone badly.”
“How badly?”
“Pretty badly, but things have been getting better lately. There’s more though. The Cardassians are members of the Dominion. They joined a few months before the war began.”
This took a minute for Chakotay to take in. Then it hit him. “The Maqui, what’s happened to them?”
Janeway gave a sympathetic look and continued, “After large amounts of Dominion forces were in the Alpha Quadrant, they did a huge three day offensive. The Maqui were almost completely knocked out. I’m sorry commander.”
“Thank you. I think we should gather the former Maqui first before we tell the rest the crew.”
Darth Sidious stood next the holonet, his hood on. He had been meditating in the little time he had free. He now realized sending Dooku had been a mistake. “What have you found on Bajor?”
“Their entire religion and much of their society is based on these Profits. What the Federation calls the wormhole is their home. The Bajorans term, the Celestial Temple, is more accurate. They may prove to be a very big threat if they get involved like they did by merging our galaxies in the first place.”
“They won’t get directly involved again. I have decided that you should return.”
“But I can destroy them. These Profits have many enemies of their own. With a little time this can be accomplished.”
“No. Return to Coruscant.”
Dooku responded, “Very well,” but both knew that he had no intention on returning. Dooku had found something that he thought he could challenge even Palpatine with.
Sisko could tell something wasn’t right. He had to get back to Bajor and had to get there soon. He thought about asking Palpatine for a ship, but just as he knew he needed to get to Bajor, he knew he could not let Palpatine know. He guessed that the Prophets were letting him know these things. Still, what was he going to do. His ship couldn’t go to hyperspace, and the Enterprise wouldn’t be here for almost a day still. Then he thought of the Jedi. Palpatine would know if he went to them, but at least he wouldn’t right away. Sisko beamed just outside the building with the Jedi Council, but before he went in, he saw two people walk out. One of them was probably close to 30, but the other couldn’t be much older than 20, if that. Sisko felt drawn to that one. He saw the older one start to walk in one direction. The other started to walk in the other and then turned around. “Any reason your watching me?”
“I’m sorry. You don’t, by chance, have a ship that could fly half way across the galaxy and a pilot for it, do you?”
“It’s not a good idea to approach a Jedi when you don’t really need one and they’re busy. Who are you?” Anakin didn’t show any sign of sensing anything, but he could. There was something important about this man and he really did need a ride.
“My name is Benjamin Sisko. I am a captain in the United Federation of Planets. I know how I sound, but I really need to get somewhere.”
He really did, and this was important. Anakin could sense that. “All right. I’ll have a ship ready in half an hour where do you need to go?”
“Back to Bajor.”
Half an hour later they left. They left 23 hours before the Enterprise arrived.
Palpatine knew that Sisko was leaving. He even knew Anakin would take him. The easiest way to stop this would be to stop Anakin, but he didn’t want to go there just yet. He could ask Anakin to go on an important mission, but he wasn’t sure he would go. Anakin trusted him and everything would probably still work out, but if he interfered in Sisko returning, the Profits might interfere more to get him back. He doubted it, but he couldn’t see for sure. Still, he couldn’t risk loosing Anakin. The trip itself wasn’t going to be a problem; he knew that, but once they got there he was almost blind. He couldn’t see what would happen. He would have to make something happen to force Anakin to come back. Then he saw the path. Yes, it would start everything. He left his office. He needed to send out a signal to the Delta Quadrant.
I don’t know if he is reading any of these anymore, but if he is, I’d really like to thank X-Over. He read this story like this and liked it enough to write me and encourage me to keep going and then Beta read for me in episode II and my first attempt at a rewrite of this story. X-Over sorry I haven’t made it further.
----
It is said that there are an infinite number of universes. That for every choice that is made a unique new universe emerges.
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away and in our own galaxy in the 24th century
Star Trek and Star Wars
Episode I
The Merging
It’s a dark time for the Republic. Led by Count Dooku, the Separatists are gaining ground, as thousands of worlds start to consider and make preparations to leave the millennias old institution. Two assignation attempts against the former queen of Naboo, Senator Amidala, have already taken place. To make matters worse, the Jedi Counsel’s ability to use the Force has been limited by the Dark Side. Obi-Wan Kenobi, in pursuit of a bounty hunter named Jango Fett, has been captured by a droid army. Anakin Skywalker and Senator Amidala, in an attempt to rescue their friend, followed him to Geonosis, only to be captured as well. On Coruscant, the Jedi are preparing to leave and rescue their companions.
The United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire have been fighting the Dominion for months now, and failure is the most likely outcome. The only thing preventing more Dominion reinforcements from coming through the Bajoran Wormhole and making defeat inevitable is a large number of cloaked self-replicating mines. In hope of changing the odds, the Federation makes plans to recapture their former wormhole base of Deep Space 9. Intelligence suggesting the Dominion found a way to deactivate the mines has forced the Federation to attack early, despite being outnumbered 2 to 1. Klingon reinforcements change the odds, and the U.S.S. Defiant slips through the Dominion lines and heads for DS9. The battle starts to lean towards the Federation and Klingons, but the Dominion is almost ready to destroy the mines.
The Defiant rushed towards DS9 at its best speed. Dax looked at the time. “Ben, if I were you I would start coming up with a Plan B.” Sisko looked at the view screen as space returned to normal, they were out of warp. There was a huge explosion already in process. The sight was a nightmare. The mines were gone. They were too late. They had failed. Dax was the first to ask, “What do we do now captain?”
What was there to do? They had made it all the way back here, but now it was too late. He wasn’t going to go back. “Take us into the wormhole.”
O’Brien shocked said, “What the hell, were just going to meet a couple thousand Dominion ships.”
Dax wasn’t too impressed either, “One ship vs. a whole fleet that’s one hell a Plan B.”
“Chief how does that poem end?” it was Garak.
“You don’t want to know.”
The Defiant went through the wormhole. This was a fitting place for it to end. The crew had discovered the wormhole. The bright blue they had seen so many times seemed as beautiful as ever. “Full stop. Chief, divert all power to forward shields and weapons.”
Dax: Captain, I’m reading multiple warp signatures ahead.
Sisko: On screen, Maximum magnification.
Thousands of Dominion ships filled the screen. Sisko knew what he was looking at and by the looks of his crew he could tell they did too. This fleet was almost three times the size of the one they just narrowly beat (which certainly didn’t mean it was completely destroyed). There would be even more too. Well, if the Dominion saw any need to send more there would be. He wasn’t really looking at the fleet though. He was looking at the end of the Federation. With this they could go straight to Earth. Defeat had always been the most likely outcome, but it had never been inevitable. But now defeat was very close indeed. It might be as little as two weeks away. The entire Federation, what it had stood for, there would soon be nothing left. “Lock phasers. Prepare to launch quantum torpedoes.”
And then his life was lifted from that plain of existence. The Profits. Perhaps he should have felt grateful for this temporary salvation, but he didn’t; he felt annoyed and extremely angry. “Why have you brought me here.” “Show yourselves. What do you want?”
A figure that looked like Odo appeared. “The Sisko has returned to us.” As usual, others started appearing and again disappearing. His surroundings looked like DS9, but that of coarse was an illusion too.
Jake: He has arrived with questions.
Kira: There are always questions.
“I didn’t ask to come here.” He really hadn’t and they didn’t have the right to just take him.
Dukat: You desire to end the game.
“What game? I don’t understand.”
Weyoun: You wish to end your corporal existence.
Damar: That cannot be allowed.
Odo: The game must not end.
“The game. You mean my life. Is that what this is about. You don’t want me to die.”
Dukat: The game must continue.
Weyoun: You are the Sisko.
“Believe me. I don’t want to die, but I have to do everything I can to prevent the Dominion from conquering the Alpha Quadrant. If that means sacrificing my life and the life of my crew so be it.”
Jake: We do not agree.
Kira: We find your reasoning flawed.
Odo: Insufficient.
“I’m flattered you feel that way but it doesn’t change anything. Now send me back to my ship.” The scene did change. He was on the Defiant, only still not the real one. “This isn’t what I meant. I want to return to my reality.”
Damar: You are the Sisko.
“I am also a Starfleet captain. I have a job to do and I intend to do it.”
Weyoun: The Sisko is belligerent.
Dukat: Aggressive
Damar: Adversarial
“You’re dam right I’m adversarial. You have no right to interfere in my life.”
Kira: We have every right.
“Fine, you want to interfere, then interfere. Do something about those Dominion reinforcements.
Odo: That is a caporal matter.
Dukat: Corporeal matters do not concern us.
“The hell they don’t. What about Bajor? You can’t tell me Bajor doesn’t concern you. You sent the Bajorans orbs and emissaries. You even encouraged them to create an entire religion around you. You even told me once, you were of Bajor. So don’t you tell me your not concerned with corporeal matters.”
“I don’t want to see Bajor destroyed, neither do you, but we know that is exactly what is going to happen if the Dominion takes over the Alpha Quadrant.”
Odo: He will not listen.
Damar: We must proceed ahead.
Weyoun: We have no choice.
Odo: The corporal time is incorrect.
Dukat: It is close enough.
Weyoun: It must start early
“What, what must come early?”
Kira: The merging.
Sisko looked around again. He was back on the Defiant. It was the real one this time. He looked up at the view screen to see the Dominion fleet. Before he could even realize what he was looking at, he was forced to the floor as the ship was thrown from the wormhole. “Report.”
Dax looked at the panel in front of her. “We have been thrown just outside the Bajoran system captain. I’m not sure, but I think the Dominion fleet was thrown to their side.” She trailed off at the end as she tried to figure out what she was reading. “Captain, I’m reading several new stars in the area. It looks like the star count around here has skyrocketed.” What had the profits done? Then Dax noticed one other thing on her sensors. This one brought a smile to her mouth. “Captain, Deep Space 9’s weapons are off-line.”
“Good job, Major,” Sisko said to himself. “Take us back and prepare to attack the station.”
On Coruscant, the order was just about to be given to lift off. Yoda had already left to retrieve the clone army, but the rest of the Jedi that they could get where on board a couple of starships. Before they lifted off though, they all felt a massive disturbance in the force. The Jedi tried to concentrate on it for a moment and then started talking about it. One asked Mace Windu what he felt. The Jedi remained silent for a minute longer and then answered, “I’m not sure, but whatever just happened may have been the largest disturbance in the force in millions or even billions of years.”
The pilot, who was about ready to hit the button to launch got an order and turned around. “Master Windu, I had permission to lift off, but have since been ordered to remain here. I’m not sure why?”
Still in total awe, Windu said, “It appears that Obi-Wan is going to have to wait.”
In the Gamma Quadrant, close to the center of Dominion space, and also close to a cloning planet, Dominion ships detected a large ship just appear on their sensors. They did not ask questions. Immediately, a dozen small Jem’Hadar warships and one larger one set a coarse for it. Thirty seconds later, they were within weapons range. All 13 ships fired immediately. It’s shields held for a moment, until a smaller Jem’Hadar vessel did a suicide run against its shield generator. After that, Jem’Hadar beamed over and took control of the ruined vessel.
In the Delta Quadrant, a Kazon ship detected a smaller ship in what the sect considered their territory. They powered their weapons and approached it. Unfortunately for the Kazon, size doesn’t always determine power and the ship they were confident they could beat had raised its shields and quickly returned fire. The Kazon were little match for the turbolasers and iron canons coming at them.
In the very heart of the Republic, just outside of Coruscant, Republic sensors picked up a ship, coming in at high velocity in normal space. Fortunately, it stopped just outside the system, but when a young Republic captain requested to board the ship and search because of its proximity to Coruscant, fighting almost broke out. Cooler heads did prevail though, and the Republic could consider the Corta Alliance as the first contact with a new galaxy.
All over the galaxy space ferrying races were trying to figure out what was going on. Almost any government with more than a world found that it had other new systems inside its space. Each species reacted differently. Most just waited and tried to make sense of everything. Not all acted like that though. Some species, assuming they were under attack, stared attacking every unknown ship they came across. After less than an hour, The Dominion ordered almost all their ships back to the center of their space fearing something might happen to the Founders.
There was one species though that seemed to be affected little by the sudden changing of the galaxy. For the Borg, why this happened was unfathomable, but it didn’t change anything for them. It only meant, they would have to adapt. They would find out eventually what had happened. After all, someone they assimilated would eventually have to know.
Vessel design unknown, species unknown, weapons analyzed, weapons inefficient to penetrate cube defenses. Cube 13569 assimilate. “We are the Borg, lower your shields and surrender your vessel. Your cultural and biological distinctiveness will be added to our own. Resistance is Futile.” Vessel attempting to escape. Firing weapons. Shield down. Lock tractor beam. Assimilate vessel. Add technological and biological distinctiveness to our own.
On Coruscant things were a mess. It had only been half an hour since the event, and they were receiving millions of distress and emergency calls. It had never anticipated anything of this magnitude occurring. The Senate, which had been in session, had been evacuated in case this was some form of attack. The individual members were now in what were considered safe areas and trying to figure out what was going on. So far all anyone knew was that another galaxy had just popped right on top of them.
A great number of rumors had started though. One was that giants planet sized ships were currently destroying whole systems. Another more humorous one was that Republic scientist had been working on a new hyperdrive and had somehow transported the whole galaxy to this new place.
Word was also now being sent to higher officials, that new races around Coruscant were primitive and as confused as they were. In truth, no one really knew if they were more primitive. They had seemed that way from scans and initial contacts, but no one really knew. All the same, anything that would quiet the nerves of their own leaders was being used now. Palpatine sat in his chair in his office about to make a speech. He was told he was on and he started.
“Greeting all people of the Republic and all else who receive this transmission. As almost everyone is already aware, a major event has occurred. We here on Coruscant are doing our best to find out what has happened. It seems that our galaxy and that of another have some how merged. I must assure everyone this does not appear to be an attack. The center of both our galaxies seem to be at about the same location. From there, with what little information we have so far, it appears our galaxy expands slightly past the edge of theirs. This merging threw many, if not all our ships, out of hyperspace. This was fortunate, because without every additional star, planet, moon, and other astronomical phenomenon in the computers every jump would be the equivalent of a blind jump. There could have been millions of deaths. For the time being all ships in the Republic are ordered not to engage their hyperdrives again. We will update our computers with every new item as soon as possible, but for the time being, I must insist this rule be obeyed. If you find yourself under attack use it carefully. If there is an emergency that requires going across galaxy and cannot wait please slowly go above or below the galactic plane, stopping after shorts jumps until you are there. After that, proceed to the point directly above or below your location and follow a similar procedure coming in.”
“Coruscant is capable of going through the numerous signals we are now getting. However, the sheer number of signals is slowing down response time to the true emergencies. For this reason we request anything sent to the government on Coruscant have a priority code attached. The code is as follows. Level 1 is planetary assault or other actions of that equivalent. Level 2 is for attacks on ships or life threatening damage to a ship. Level 3 will be used if you have a high representative from the new galaxy. Please do not contact us just because you have encountered a new civilization. Thousands others probably have as well. Level 4 is non-life threatening damage to a ship. Also, if you are just contacting us because there are a lot more stars, please stop, we already know. If you believe you know what caused this, please respond with a level 4 priority. If you are absolutely sure you know what caused this please respond using a level 2 priority. If you are a non-Republic ship ask any Republic ship if you need help contacting us. For every one receiving this not from my galaxy, I am Chancellor Palpatine representing the Galactic Republic which is made up of most my galaxy. I will send out another communication later when we find out more about what’s going on. Thank you everyone. This message will continually run until we update it.”
On Geonosis, Anakin and Padme kissed as they were being led out on chariot, to what should be their deaths. After their lips part they realize something interesting. They aren’t heading the direction they should be. Instead they are heading back the direction they came. “Where are we going?” Padme asks.
“I don’t know. I get the feeling that we’ve been at least temporarily spared though.” Anakin had of coarse felt the earlier disturbance in the Force, but despite its enormity, he had quickly stopped focusing on it. It had seemed gigantic, but unable to help him, and unimportant compared to spending these moments with Padme.
Over the first day, a lot happened all over the galaxy. On Coruscant, Republic leaders finally started to accept that this was not an attack. Palpatine had stated that almost immediately, but no one had seemed to be very convinced. The Senate had reconvened and was trying to work through the chaos and find out something to do.
In the Alpha Quadrant, the Federation and the Klingons had signed a temporary cease-fire with the Dominion. There wouldn’t be much fighting right now anyway, both sides were still healing from their wounds of the previous day, but both sides still preferred to have something official. All the major powers and most the minor ones had tried to contact Coruscant. Slowly they all were getting a chance to talk to someone. Of coarse, none of this Quadrant’s civilizations had the ability to communicate that far, so they had to contact one of the Republic ships or planets and ask to use their equipment. This was very embarrassing for a few of the civilizations, which thought of themselves as very advanced.
The Ferengi had been in talks with large numbers of planets and ships and seemed to be working to acquire all this new technology first. Barely an hour after the unification had occurred, ships were receiving orders to negotiate for whatever new technology they could get. Many had started before those orders, and the Ferengi were shocked to discover that this Republic wasn’t more advanced in all areas. That made trading easier. It especially made it easier when the Ferengi started coordinating. They would give one Republic ship transporter technology for hyperdrive. The next Ferengi ship would trade its transporter technology for Republic energy cores technology. Since the Ferengi were in an alliance and still able to communicate easily enough with each other and move around, and the fact that they were generally dealing with individual merchants or cut off members of larger groups who had to stay in one location made this easy. Very few were actually willing to trade anything yet, but even having just a few was giving the Ferengi a lot of business. By the end of the day, the Ferengi had almost all common Republic technology and some not so common technology and hadn’t had to deal with a single official Republic negotiator.
A lot can change in a day Sisko thought. He was now in his office, back on Deep Space 9; two Starfleet admirals had just left about an hour ago, they had just received the same report he already had given once over subspace. Sisko figured they would probably be back in a few hours to hear it again. Yesterday, the Federation was as close to destruction as it ever had come, and now there was a cease-fire. Of coarse things were far from perfect. The Dominion could start up again at anytime. He didn’t know what would happen if they tried to use the wormhole again, but he was far from confidant the Profits would stop them again. In addition to that, he had two ships of this new galaxy docked at the station. One was pretty small. It was a little outside of the Bajoran system and a galaxy class ship had tractored them here. The other had been farther away and had detected the station after it had stopped. Not wanting to be in the middle of nowhere, it had engaged its engine again and came here. That was just before the Chancellor of the Republic had sent out that communication.
From what Sisko had found out about their drives, they were fast. They were a lot faster than warp. This new group sending communications all over the galaxy probably would have other advanced systems as well. Sisko wondered about what would happen if the Dominion acquired this technology. No, there was no ifs, they would have it and probably sooner rather than later. They won’t even have to use the wormhole, he thought. He just hoped that they would be so concerned about the Gamma Quadrant, with their space now full of new planets and ships, that they wouldn’t put the resources back into the Alpha Quadrant. He didn’t have a clue what the Federation would do if this new race was hostile. Spread across a whole galaxy almost definitely put them in the most powerful position. Admiral Ross walked in and interrupted his thoughts. “Admiral back so soon.”
“Starfleet has just completed first contacted with the Republic.”
“That was fast. Did they tell them my story?”
“Yes they did. They are a little skeptical.” That was a shock; virtually everyone he had told in Starfleet was more than a little skeptical, and they at least had read previous reports on the wormhole aliens. “But they want you to go their capital anyway.”
“How do I get there?”
“Actually we made them a deal. We gave them our star charts and they gave us this engine design of theirs. It’s quite impressive. Ordinarily, we wouldn’t have done something like that right through subspace, or whatever it is they use, but we are worried the Dominion might get it first. You won’t be going by hyperspace on one of our ships though. It will take too long to install the engine. The bigger alien ship said they could carry the Defiant if they have to. I think the captain is just happy for an excuse to leave. Anyway we are downloading our star charts to him now and they should be ready shortly. A team full of ambassadors will follow soon on the Enterprise. It’s near the Neutral Zone right now and has already been ordered back to install the hyperdrive. You’ll get there first though. I can’t tell you enough, how important it is that we have a good start with these people.”
“I understand.”
Back on Coruscant things weren’t settling down. Thanks to brief negotiations with the Federation and a few other races they had encountered, they had managed to update the star charts almost completely, but sending that out to millions of ships was taking longer than just sending one speech. The Federation wasn’t the first civilization they got charts from. They had actually already got quite a few, but the Federation’s been far and away the best so far. Many in the government had not been happy about Palpatine “just giving” hyperspace technology away. The Republic could of coarse find all the information it wanted by itself. That would have taken time though, and these races would have acquired the technology on their own as well. The Republic simply couldn’t control all trade. After all, all it took were a few merchants to spread the technology. Besides others argued, why keep potential friends from getting the technology, while others were attacking and getting it for free.
The Senate had come up with an idea to have a galactic summit and try and establish relations with all these peoples. The sheer number of governments and species was making this difficult. It had been a long time since the Republic had worried about first contacts. In the confusion, they had almost completely forgotten about the separatist forces. They had bigger problems for the time being. Several worlds, most of them in what the Federation called the Delta Quadrant had reported being under attack. None of the ones in the Delta Quadrant could be reached any more. All of the planets were under a small region of space and were probably being attacked by the same species. A small fleet was being prepared in the area to take out whatever hostile force existed. A few of the planets had said the species identified itself as the Borg.
Palpatine sat at his desk again. He was ready to make a speech again. It would be his second in a day.
“Greetings once again to all of the Republic as well as everyone else receiving this transmission. I am Chancellor Palpatine of the Galactic Republic. I am the leader of a republic that spans most of my galaxy. We would like to thank everyone for their patience in this difficult time. As I said earlier, it appears that two galaxies have somehow combined into one. One galaxy was ours, that of the Galactic Republic, and the other is one full of many small, but great civilizations. As of right now, we do not know what has caused this. We will continue to investigate though.”
“To all those out there, who are not of my galaxy, I would like to extend an invitation. Two weeks from today, here on Coruscant, we will be starting a Galactic summit. We will make contact with all civilizations that attend and attempt to make at least temporary treaties with everyone. I understand that most of the civilizations of this galaxy will be unable to make it here on their own propulsion systems. If you contact us, we will arrange something. We look forward to meeting everyone”
“To all Republic ships, we are now sending out updated star charts. Please be patient. After you receive the new star charts please travel carefully. We have worked diligently with governments from around the galaxy to get these, but I suspect there are still small details left out. Merchant ships, I must also ask for your help. As I said earlier, we are preparing for a galactic summit. In order to get everyone here we need help. I ask that if requested to bring a representative ship to Coruscant that you respond. If possible, we may try to compensate you later. Thank you everyone for your patience. If we continue to work together everything should work out fine.”
On Geonosis, Obi-Wan started to hear a lot of commotion. It wasn’t the first time in the last day that he had heard a lot, but this time it seemed to involve more panic. After 5 minutes he was being led in chains to a ship. He then saw something he shouldn’t have. Anakin should not be here. He was supposed to be protecting Padme, but it appeared she was here too. He was pushed over with them. “What are you doing here? You were supposed to forward my message to Coruscant.”
“I did, and then we decided to try and rescue you.”
They were being pushed on to a ship. It looked like they were the last ones getting on. “Some rescue. I suppose we’ll talk about it later, do you know where we going?”
Before Anakin could answer someone else did. “You’re not going anywhere. Leave them here.” It was Count Dooku.
“What if they escape?” The Viceroy of the Trade Federation said a little nervously.
“There is no where for them to escape to.” The three got pushed out and the ship started to take off. “Obi-Wan, you’ll be needing this. I’d give Anakin his back, but it was destroyed.” He threw the lightsaber to the ground.
“What is he giving this to us for?” Anakin said, as Obi-Wan destroyed his own chains. He then destroyed Anakin’s and finally Padme’s.
“It can’t be a Republic attack.” Padme said.
“No, it can’t be. I don’t know, but we need to get to the ship you came in.”
Unknown to the trio, on the planet, 114 cubes had approached what the Borg considered a new planet. An assimilated transport had revealed this was a huge military base. Had it been a little further away from their space it would have been completely ignored. Unfortunately, for the Separatist and now for Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Padme this planet was now in the heart of Borg territory. They rarely sent many ships much beyond their space, but they would always strike nearby planets in full force.
The Separatist had realized they probably weren’t a match for a fleet that size. If they were, they would have to use everything against it and they couldn’t afford that. The Borg ships had dropped out of warp just outside the system. The Separatists barely made it out before the cubes arrived at the planet. They had left behind, a lot of supplies, but they survived and their movement would as well.
Back on the ship that Anakin and Padme had come on, 2 droids sat. The little one was trying desperately to repair a small, but important console. R2-D2 and C-3P0 had returned just after someone (probably on Dooku’s orders) had come and shot the navigational controls. The repair was a small one, but not one that could be waited on when the others arrived.
After arriving on the planet, C-3PO had been decapitated. His head had been put on a Trade Federation droid body and vice versa. After a few hours both of the Trade Federation droids pieces had malfunctioned. R2 put him back together and they had gone looking for Anakin and Padme (actually R2 looked and C-3PO followed). After attaching himself to a computer, R2 found out that they were already on their way back. R2 and C-3PO returned to the ship and ended up beating the others by about four minutes. C-3PO looked back outside just in time to see two Jedi and a senator returning to the ship. “Master, you’ve returned.”
“Sorry no time to chat.” Anakin and Obi-Wan rushed past C-3PO and up to R2-D2.
“Master, I’m afraid that R2 is still fixing the controls.” As if waiting to contradict him, R2 got out of the way and beeped. “R2 says that he has just completed the repairs.”
“Good timing. I think we’ve been here long enough.” Padme turned to the two Jedi. “Can you find out why everyone is fleeing?” That certainly was the truth. On the way over they had seen what looked like a total evacuation. A lot of droids were being left behind, not to mention the factories and a lot of materials, but all the ships seemed to be leaving, and no one seemed to be staying behind.
“I’m detecting over a hundred ships. Each one of them is a cube, about 3 kilometers long. I don’t see how we are going to get around all of these.” At that moment the Borg started slicing though the planet, assuming its resources.
“Well we’ve got to go somewhere.” Anakin took the controls. He plotted a coarse with the least amount of resistance. He could feel them with the Force. His skills as a Jedi were inferior to very few. When they reached the upper atmosphere the Borg tried to lock on to them for the first time. Anakin felt this and had to turn the ship into a tight turn to avoid it. This was difficult, the Borg could compensate almost immediately. That meant it had taken more than a small change in direction to avoid them. A few seconds later another cube tried the same thing. A little more out of the atmosphere made dodging a little easier this time. Anakin could sense what was doing this. In a way it was one entity, but in a more realistic way it was many. Something was taking away their free will though. The thought made Anakin sick, it also made him angry. He had to try very hard to keep that anger in check. That made the next dodge a lot more difficult. He still avoided it, but barely.
“Anakin you must keep your feelings in check.”
Easier said then done, he thought, but still managed to do it. Two cubes simultaneously tried to grab them next. The area Anakin could maneuver to and avoid both tractor beams was very small. Everyone was knocked to the floor as he did move there. Anakin quickly got up. He had made it past the last of the ships, but surprisingly none were following. “I guess they finally decided they’d never get us.”
“More likely they don’t consider us a great enough prize to be worth anymore trouble,” Obi-Wan contradicted. “Get us out of here.”
Sisko stared at the view screen. The ship carrying them, the Quick, was about to stop. The distance they had traveled in such a short time still amazed him. He saw the white lines stop and a picture of Coruscant appear. The planet was nothing like anything he had ever seen. In addition to that thousands of ships were surrounding it and sensors detected hundreds more coming in at warp from all sides. As they got closer Sisko could see the ships in more detail. Some seemed almost monstrous. There were several designs that were over a kilometer long. The Quick let go of the Defiant and she moved in on her own power. Dax turned toward Sisko and said, “Captain, we are receiving a hail from the planet.”
“On screen.”
“Welcome to Coruscant. Please take a shuttle to the coordinates we are transmitting now. Send no more than 4 people. Your ship must remain at least two million kilometers from the planet at all times. Is this understood?”
“Yes. We’ll be right down. Defiant out.” “Chief, how many ships are there out there?”
“There is about 3000, not including the fighters or shuttles out there. About three quarters of the ships are Republic. Most of them are merchant. There appear to be 400 Republic warships and a lot of little fighter supports close to the planet.”
Sisko, Dax, O’Brien, and Bashir were on the Federation shuttle about to land. Sisko was completely amazed. He had been expecting a highly populated planet, but this was far above his wildest expectations. The Federation still had a capital with oceans and forests and deserts. This planet, not only didn’t have them, it had run out of ground millennia ago and had just kept buildings higher. The population of this planet probably rivaled the population of the entire Federation.
When they landed, several guards were waiting for them. One of them spoke, “Welcome to Coruscant. Captain Sisko if you’ll follow me I’ll lead you to the chancellor. The rest of you can follow Jason.” He pointed to another guard. “He will take you to meet with a lot of the others we have encountered.” Sisko, in all honesty, had expected to be brushed off. He had almost hoped for it. He would prefer the Dominion never hear about how this happened. That would be more likely if fewer people knew what had happened. Why didn’t he want the Dominion knowing? If they knew this happened because they were going to attack, then wouldn’t that mean they would be less likely to attack again. He supposed he really didn’t want anyone to know. He didn’t know what other species reaction to the wormhole would be. It was too late to hide it now though. His guards led him to a room on top of one of the highest buildings. The guard led him in and then left. There was a man in a chair there. The man walked up, and put his hand out. “Welcome to Coruscant, Captain Sisko.”
As Sisko shook his hand, he all of a sudden felt cold. “A pleasure to meet you, chancellor. I have to tell you, I never expected to come straight here.” There was something very wrong with this man. He didn’t know what, but there was definitely something wrong. A word flashed into his mind, “counterpart”. He didn’t know what to make of it and quickly dismissed it.
“The Jedi felt your story was credible. They were reviewing all explanations for this event; we’ve had quite a few. They will talk to you about it in a little bit. They wanted to see you as soon as you arrived, but I decided we had better get in a little talk in first.”
“Thank you, who are these Jedi?”
“That’s a difficult question to answer. Have you ever heard of the Force?”
“No, can’t say that I have.”
“The Force surrounds all living things. Some people have the ability to use the Force, to do what might otherwise appear to be almost magical.”
Palpatine could tell Sisko was unimpressed. Sisko tried to explain it a little. “They have strong mental powers. They can control things with their minds. We have come across species like that before.”
He had no idea of he power he was talking about. “That really isn’t that good a comparison.” Sisko could almost feel a little rage, despite no change in voice. “You should meet them, perhaps then you will understand.”
“I would like that.”
“I glad you would. I believe you will be impressed. The enemy fleet that was coming through the wormhole, have they tried to reenter it?”
“Fortunately not. They didn’t like what happened last time and I don’t think they’re willing to take another chance at it right now. Plus I’d guess they are more concerned about protecting the Gamma Quadrant right now.”
“Are you convinced that they know the wormhole was the cause? From their perspective, could it have been just a symptom of what was happening to the rest of the galaxy?”
“No, you maybe right. They might have thought it was just bad timing going into the wormhole. Or at least, now they might.” This could be a very big problem, if the Dominion only thought they were thrown out, because of the effects of the merging and the merging wasn’t because they were there. Still, Sisko thought they would be more worried about other issues for a while and would ignore the Federation’s part of space. He still didn’t want them to know.
“Perhaps, it would be better to keep this quiet for the time being.”
“Yes, I agree.”
“Good, the Republic would like to make a few requests.”
Sisko hadn’t really expected this, but we was prepared. “Such as?”
“Thanks in large part to your Federation, we have accurate star maps. Your scientists seemed to put the most detail into their charts, which is essential for hyperspace.”
“The Federation has always considered exploration one of its largest goals. We try hard in making sure we do it right, I’m happy they were so useful for you.”
“Yes, I’m wondering if the Federation is equally careful in records relating to the different civilizations it has encountered.“
“Yes, as explorers that is just as important as the information on stars and planets.”
“Good, if possible, we would like the information you have on the different cultures you have come across. We are communicating now with hundreds of different worlds, and we would like to have some idea who we’re dealing with. We’ve already been attacked in some areas.”
“I hope the attacks haven’t been too severe.”
“Some have, I’m afraid. In what you call the Delta Quadrant we have had numerous attacks in a portion of our space.” Sisko hadn’t even thought about that yet, he had been so focused on the Dominion, but being across the whole galaxy, put Republic systems in Borg space.
“That would probably be the Borg. We should get you all the information we have on them immediately. I suggest you evacuate anyone in that area for at least the time being.”
“I’m not sure that’s possible, but we’ll take that under advisement. What about information on the rest of the civilizations you’ve encountered.”
“I talked to Starfleet Command before we left about that. They are willing to let me give you information on the planets and cultures of our galaxy, if you give us the same information from your galaxy.”
“That should be acceptable.”
“I believe we should give you all the information we can now on the Borg though, the problem is only going to get far worse.”
“After you see the Jedi and we transmit our information to each other, I’ll set up a meeting for you with our military leaders. Thank you for your help. If you have any requests during your stay, don’t hesitate to ask.”
“I won’t. Again, thank you for seeing me.”
“Thank you captain. The guard who led you in should lead you to the Jedi when you go out.” Sisko left.
As Sisko went out the door Count Dooku reemerged as a hologram. “What are we going to do with the main base gone?”
“It doesn’t matter. This new circumstance requires a new approach. We might be able to use the Borg to our advantage. This Federation though, they are the key.”
“Did Sisko know what caused this?”
“Yes. I have a mission for you. Go to the planet identified as Bajor and find out all you can on these profits of his.”
The next room Sisko walked into was circular and again on top of one of the higher buildings. He wasn’t sure what to make of it. There was a circle of people, about half looked like humans. A black man spoke first. “Welcome Captain, I am Mace Windu and this is the Jedi Council.”
“On behalf of the Federation, thank you for seeing me.” He didn’t know what else to say. This planet, its culture, still had him in awe.
The little green alien spoke next. “Powerful beings help influence the Force around you. Prophets you call them.”
“The Bajorans do. I suppose I do too.”
“Much planned for you, they do. Emissary you are.”
“Yes, how do you know that?”
“Force reveals much, even when clouded by dark side.”
“I still don’t understand this force, what is it? And what is this Dark Side?”
“Soon will you understand. Now, what did these Profits say? Hum?”
“They said, they said it was too early, but they had to start the merging. I guess they meant of our galaxies.”
“Perhaps, but much more could that still mean.”
Sisko answered questions and received answers for almost another hour and then left. After he left the council continued. They had much to discuss.
Streams of ships had been entering Coruscant for hours. The last one to arrive, one that had managed to snag a ride onboard a ship heading here hadn’t really wanted to stop. It would of preferred to keep going right back to Earth. It didn’t have that option right now though so almost half way back home was pretty good. Like the Defiant’s crew they were awe struck by the planet and the number of ships around it. It had been better than ten hours since the Defiant had made it here and the ship count had almost doubled. Merchant ships of all types were doing business with their counterparts. Fifteen Ferengi ships had just appeared out of hyperspace. No surprise they got that technology almost immediately.
Tuvok was the only one not smiling, “Captain, I am detecting one other Federation ship. It appears to be the USS Defiant.”
“Open a channel.”
“Channel Open.”
A moment later a Klingon popped onto the screen. “I am Commander Worf of the Federation starship Defiant.
“I’m Captain Janeway of Voyager. I see Starfleet hasn’t wasted any time getting a ship here. I must admit I thought we’d be the first. We were a little closer than any other Federation ship.”
“I think I remember hearing about your ship. How did you get here?”
“We’ve been trapped in the Delta Quadrant the past four years. When this happened we tagged on to a ship heading here.”
“It is an honor to meet you. It must have been difficult to survive so long, without any type of help. It takes true warriors to survive by themselves.”
“Thank you commander. As hectic as things are around here, to us it just seems like more of the same. This event has really helped us out though. I wasn’t expecting to see another Federation ship in the near future. Has Starfleet sent a team of ambassadors down there already?”
“No, the Enterprise will be here in a little less than two days with that. We’re here because Captain Sisko may know something about what caused this.”
“Really? Could you tell us.”
“I don’t think the captain wants us telling anybody right now, my apologies.”
“That’s alright. There are a lot of ships out there, Mr. Worf.”
“Yes. A lot more are arriving all the time. It’s mainly merchants. They come and see everything new arriving. They trade technology and supplies. There probably will be a lot more ships soon. Their government ordered all ships back another ten million kilometers from the planet just before you got here.”
“So this is a big commotion, even to the ones who built that world.”
“They’re got over 900 large military vessels closer to the planet. Plus they have a few thousand small fighters there. That’s more than double what it was when we arrived. I don’t think they know what to expect. It is better to be prepared.”
“I suppose it is. Do you know how many governments have representatives here now?”
“We’re not sure. There are at least 900. More are arriving every minute. Right now, most come out of warp from nearby areas. We are in the center of the galaxy and stars are more numerous, there are a lot of different civilizations nearby in what was our galaxy. We are currently detecting hundreds coming in at warp and ships come out of hyperspace just as often.”
Nine-hundred. Could they really be that insignificant? This was only a fraction of galaxy represented, at that. Even with the Federation’s size they would only represent a small fraction of people here. Of coarse, the last few years away from home had taught her that the Federation really wasn’t that big, but this just furthered that realization. “So what’s been going on at home since we left?”
At this, Worf paused. “A lot.”
Janeway had gone to meet Worf after their first conversation. She briefly saw Captain Sisko, but he looked exhausted from his day on the planet. She was now back on Voyager and had some news she’d rather not to deliver. She invited Chakotay to her ready room to tell first.
“You wanted to see me, captain?”
“Yes, I need to tell you about what’s been going on back home since we left.”
“I take it, the news isn’t good.”
“Not particularly, no. The events leading up to this are complicated, but the bottom line is the Federation and the Klingons have been fighting the Dominion for a few months now. The war has gone badly.”
“How badly?”
“Pretty badly, but things have been getting better lately. There’s more though. The Cardassians are members of the Dominion. They joined a few months before the war began.”
This took a minute for Chakotay to take in. Then it hit him. “The Maqui, what’s happened to them?”
Janeway gave a sympathetic look and continued, “After large amounts of Dominion forces were in the Alpha Quadrant, they did a huge three day offensive. The Maqui were almost completely knocked out. I’m sorry commander.”
“Thank you. I think we should gather the former Maqui first before we tell the rest the crew.”
Darth Sidious stood next the holonet, his hood on. He had been meditating in the little time he had free. He now realized sending Dooku had been a mistake. “What have you found on Bajor?”
“Their entire religion and much of their society is based on these Profits. What the Federation calls the wormhole is their home. The Bajorans term, the Celestial Temple, is more accurate. They may prove to be a very big threat if they get involved like they did by merging our galaxies in the first place.”
“They won’t get directly involved again. I have decided that you should return.”
“But I can destroy them. These Profits have many enemies of their own. With a little time this can be accomplished.”
“No. Return to Coruscant.”
Dooku responded, “Very well,” but both knew that he had no intention on returning. Dooku had found something that he thought he could challenge even Palpatine with.
Sisko could tell something wasn’t right. He had to get back to Bajor and had to get there soon. He thought about asking Palpatine for a ship, but just as he knew he needed to get to Bajor, he knew he could not let Palpatine know. He guessed that the Prophets were letting him know these things. Still, what was he going to do. His ship couldn’t go to hyperspace, and the Enterprise wouldn’t be here for almost a day still. Then he thought of the Jedi. Palpatine would know if he went to them, but at least he wouldn’t right away. Sisko beamed just outside the building with the Jedi Council, but before he went in, he saw two people walk out. One of them was probably close to 30, but the other couldn’t be much older than 20, if that. Sisko felt drawn to that one. He saw the older one start to walk in one direction. The other started to walk in the other and then turned around. “Any reason your watching me?”
“I’m sorry. You don’t, by chance, have a ship that could fly half way across the galaxy and a pilot for it, do you?”
“It’s not a good idea to approach a Jedi when you don’t really need one and they’re busy. Who are you?” Anakin didn’t show any sign of sensing anything, but he could. There was something important about this man and he really did need a ride.
“My name is Benjamin Sisko. I am a captain in the United Federation of Planets. I know how I sound, but I really need to get somewhere.”
He really did, and this was important. Anakin could sense that. “All right. I’ll have a ship ready in half an hour where do you need to go?”
“Back to Bajor.”
Half an hour later they left. They left 23 hours before the Enterprise arrived.
Palpatine knew that Sisko was leaving. He even knew Anakin would take him. The easiest way to stop this would be to stop Anakin, but he didn’t want to go there just yet. He could ask Anakin to go on an important mission, but he wasn’t sure he would go. Anakin trusted him and everything would probably still work out, but if he interfered in Sisko returning, the Profits might interfere more to get him back. He doubted it, but he couldn’t see for sure. Still, he couldn’t risk loosing Anakin. The trip itself wasn’t going to be a problem; he knew that, but once they got there he was almost blind. He couldn’t see what would happen. He would have to make something happen to force Anakin to come back. Then he saw the path. Yes, it would start everything. He left his office. He needed to send out a signal to the Delta Quadrant.