Deep Space Guardian: Season III-Episode 42

[Founder]

-Alien Vessel, Meditative Chambers-

1, 000 years before Humans walked upright, a massive alien vessel sat in orbit of a familiar world in the Elerran System. The vessel looked organic in design and was massive, simply and utterly massive. It was slightly larger in size to one of Sit Fito's grand monstrosities that he called a "flagship". It's canons were exposed and it looked like it could devastate entire worlds if they had opened fire. However, at this point, the vessel would do no such thing. The floating gem called Elerra Prime by the adoptive species was far too precious to destroy. It's past, present, and even it's future would change the course of the galaxy forever. A figure, undiscernable because it was sitting the shadows, stared at a holographic representation of the planet. It slowly spun around as if it had an orbit within this room. The alien leaned back in a hovering chair, made of advanced, organic technology. It tightly enclosed the figure so that he or she was safe and sealed. The back of the chair had a head rest made solely of jewels and solid gold. The chair itself was a Ferengi Grand Nagus' dream, not that any Ferengi would get a hold of it. The figure watched as each continent began to glow red, as something happened to each of them. He or she looked up when a beeping sound came from the door. The brown skinned alien waved his hand and another beep occured from the sealed doors. The doors to the massive meditative champers slid apart, pouring artificial light into the dark room. Two large, reptillian soldiers, dragged an alien woman into the dark room. They threw her onto the floor roughly, right at the edge of the white light. She looked up to see the figure, his body seen only from the light the hologram was giving off, staring down at her from his hovering and lavish throne. A dissapointed look could barely be made from the light. She hissed at him like an animal does to another. The two reptillian guards stepped forward and slammed their metal staffs against her back. She screamed in pain and slumped to the cold floor. The figure waved his hands, not saying a single world, and the two reptillian guards, clad in futuristic armor, stepped away.

"My child," The figure said in a voice that reverberated, prompting him to sound almost...etherial, "How you dissapoint me and those that shared on our spiritual journey."

He spoke in an alien tongue, untranslatable by even the most sophisticated of universal translator. His language was an old dialect spoken long before the Borg knew what a nanoprobe was. Fortunately for the alien woman, a hovering droid spun around the enigmatic and powerful figure. It translated his words into her own language, allowing her to understand what it was he said. She looked up in disgust, but her bravado did not fool the figure.

"You'll forgive me of my sins, Holy One" She replied in turn, "But I do not care that you are dissapointed. Elerrans will be free from your beliefs. We've been a slave to them for far too long."

The woman, revealed to be an Elerran, looked up defiantly, ignoring the throbbing pain in her back brought on by the metallic staffs. She simply gritted her teeth and fought back the pain. The figure made a strange sound in return, possibly laughter.



"You have no weapons to use against the Holy Eye," He retorted, "Your primitive gods do not stand with you against my rightous One. Your unholy beast has been sealed away for all eternity by our mighty forces. You have nothing."

The Elerran looked at the ground, bitter and defeated. Her fear had begun to sink in when she realized the monstrosity the Elerrans unleashed into space was subdued and captured, locked away to never see the light of day again. Her eyes made sure to not look upon the dark figure, known only as the Holy One. For she would surely break if she had to continuously look at his judgemental eyes. She made no response, prompting the Holy One to continue.

"Foolish to the end," He judged, and was translated by the droid, "Like only an infidel would be. You leave me no choice but to forcibly save your filthy soul, whether you like it or not!"

The figure waved his hand once more, prompting the guards to step forward and grab the Elerran female roughly. The Elerran knew exactly what that meant. She shoved a guard to the side, but the other was much faster. He pointed the end of the staff at her and a beam of electricity, pure white in color, lanced out and struck her. She shook violently, blood spurting from her nose. After a while, the electricity stopped and she fell to the floor...dead. The Holy One, uncaring at the sight, waved his hand for the final time, prompting the guards to take her body away.

"Her faith faltered." A voice said.

As the soldiers left, once more making the room dark, save for the glowing hologram, another figure spoke from the corner of the room. He was of a different species then the Holy One. The figure was familiar though as one of his species, perhaps even him, would one day attempt to kill the chosen vessel on Risa.

"Indeed," The Holy One responded, his voice amplified by the translator, "However, that is no longer a problem. Every Elerran involved in their little...genetic operation has been executed in accordince to our holy documents. What matters now is that the Elerrans no longer be allowed to carry out further...rebellions against us."

The alien figure approached the hologram and pointed to the continents that continued to change to the color red.

"Yes," The alien said watching the colors change, "What of the creature? Shall we kill it?"

The Holy One shook his head, "No. It may be of use to us in the future. For now, we focus on putting down the Elerrans."

"This will help," The alien explained to the Holy One, "We've placed beacons, untraceable, that will prevent any form of sensors to work, except for this one continent in the west."

He pointed to a familiar continent which would later go on to be known as Mythani.

"As ordered by our Holy Lord," He said, bowing to the figure, "We've segregated them to this continent alone. They'll never explore the planet without their precious technology guiding them, no one ever will. The Elerrans, the ones that are left, are now being watched closely..."

The Holy One nodded, pleased with the events. Many Elerrans had to be killed for creating the beast that nearly devored the Holy Ones, but that allowed for a severe change in Elerra Prime. One that would remain for centuries to come. Everything worked out in the end...

"We must speak of the demon vessel which will give birth to an abomination." The Holy One said.

The alien nodded and walked alongside the hovering chair, listening as the Holy One spoke of the future...

-DSG, Captain's Office-

Captain's Log
Stardate 59261.52

It's been a month since the terrible conflict at Earth. The conflict that lost the Nautolians their war and their precious Imperator. While no proof of Fito's body have been found, I'm confident enough to say that he died in the explosion of his flagship. That's enough for me. Captain T'Sa's new vessel, the Amragosa, beamed my entire crew, what was left of it, onto the ship and escorted us home. I have to say, T'Sa has an impressive ship and she is really lucky. I didn't really have a chance to meet her crew as I locked myself in my guest quarters. It was a long trip to say the least, but I don't think I've ever been as happy to see DSG as I had been at that moment. There was a somber silence amongst the survivors of the Battle of Earth. I don't know what happened, but it seems almost all of them went through bad things back at Earth. I'm...saddened by this, but I have a feeling that this will be a new beginning. I set foot on DSG for the first time without a war going on in the backround. Finally, I can return to my original duties and new ones as well. It seems DSG has changed to be a lot busier. Diplomats, constructors, explorers and more are now frequenting our halls. It's nice to see DSG so absolutely busy again...

End log.

Ian was sitting behind his obsidian stone desk, staring at his computer. The screen was divided to reveal six different individuals. From the left to the right was a Tellarite, Andorian, Grazerite, Novan, Deltan, and Catian. All of them were important delegates and representatives to their worlds in the Federation Council Chambers. Sadly, out of all the people Ian called, these were the only ones that replied. Ian had attempted to form a committee that would look into the growing corruption in Starfleet, but it didn't seem to be going well. Either there were a lot of corrupt officials or many didn't care/believe him. He sighed and leaned back in his seat, feeling exasperated talking with politicians.

"Listen," Ian pleaded, "I'm trying to tell you that it's getting worse. We can't wait..."

All of them exploded in arguments, their yelling overlapping the other. Ian couldn't even understand any of them and was sick of them already, having only spoken with them for an hour.

"Are you all not listening to me!?" Ian shouted over them.

The Tellarite squinted his eyes at Ian in disgust.

"I should lead this committee," He said, "This is not a place for a Starfleet officer."

"I don't care who leads it," Ian replied, "But I want to help. I've had a lot of experiance with this."

The Deltan replied, "Do you have any real proof of this...corruption?"

Ian grabbed several PADDs from his desk and held them up.

"I told you already about captain Grant, the mock trials, the internment camp," Ian said, "There is much more to this. You all have no idea how deep this goes."

The Grazerite looked nervous and quickly shook his head.

"I can't commit to this," He quickly said, "I'm sorry."

Ian held his hands up to stop him, but it was too late. The Grazerite cut the connection and left the screen. The Caitian did the same, followed by the Novan. Both with their sincerest apologies, but no real reason. The Tellarite, the Deltan, and the Andorian still seemed interested, but not dedicated. The Tellarite and Andorian kept arguing about who would truly lead these investigations and the Deltan was filled doubt. After another ten minutes of arguring and questioning, Ian bid them farewell, promising to contact them at a later time. He deactivated the computer and sighed in sadness. There were still diplomats he could contact aboard the station. A Federation ambassador, a Bajoran ambassador, a Klingon ambassador, and a Cardassian ambassador had been sent to DSG. He could appeal to them for assistance in rallying others. Ian sat up from his seat and moved towards the door with renewed hope. He had left Ziona in charge of Ops and would check on how his first officer was doing...

-DSG, Promenade-

Governor Al-Firdos and Sophia and Demetrius Xavier were standing in front of a closed down restaurant on the promenade. Both of them, now fully caught up on the past events they both went through recently, looked at PADD. After a long dinner, where Al-Firdos revealed his mental rape at the hands of the Nautolians and Sophia in turn revealed the events with S:I and agent Monroe, both were finally together. Al-Firdos was furious with what had happened to Sofie and her son. He filed a complaint with Starfleet Command, but has yet to hear a response. Both had gone through their own disasters and like family, found solace in each other.

"Don't you think this is a nice spot for your idea, my young Sophia?" Al-Firdos asked, pointing to the abandoned spot.

[ILoveHarry]

-DSG, Promenade-

"I think it's more than nice," Sophie responded to her dear friend and confidant. "It's perfect." She admired the building with a smile. "I couldn't have hoped for a better location, and I'm sure that without your influence this spot would not have been available to me."

Sofie had not so much as mentioned to the Governor her desire to open a coffee shop on DSG, when he was already putting in calls to make it happen. She had worried that Al-Firdos had been doing too much for she and her son, but he was quick to dissmiss her concerns, insisting it was his pleasure.

"Just perfect," Sophie repeated after revewing the Padd in the Governor's hands.

[Founder]

-DSG, Promenade-

Al-Firdos smiled, pleased that Sophia was open to the idea of taking up this spot. It used to be a Vulcan restaurant called "The Logical Restuarant". Not a very clever or elaborate name, but the Vulcans were never one for elaborate it seemed. They had left when the war heated up and their spot had been up for grabs. A Ferengi wanted to turn it into a casino and a Bolian wanted to use it small "book" store. Al-Firdos pulled in some favors, mainly with Xavier, and gotten the spot for Sophia. It was a good location, directly across from some of the busiest areas of the Promenade. Many would definitly take notice of it.

"Well let's take a look inside." Al-Firdos said with a smile.

He walked into the vacant room and motioned for his closest friend, though he's not known her that long, to follow him. The tables and chair were covered and everything looked...bland, but Sofie could change all of that. Everything was taken care of and she was now the owner...

-DSG, Ops-

Ian stepped out into Ops, which was busy as usual. Officers rushed back and forth, running to accomplish their duties. Jones, ever predictable, was sitting at the main console and speaking into a screen. Ian spotted Ziona, dressed in a red command uniform, and smiled. He wasn't fully aware of what happened between her and her father, but she didn't seem too happy when they all left the planet. Ian didn't approach her, instead opting to watching her from across Ops to see how she was fitting into the role of first officer.

[Lord Borg]

-Space, Elerran System, Unknown Nebula-

The green nebula, recently that clung in space like a cloud of vapor sparkled from the surrounding starlight. The bright green seemed to keep itself bright, the energy within had sustained the 'light' that with combined with the surrounding starlight made a beautiful combination. The whips of vapor that made the nebular seemed to move around, almost orbiting a particular spot, the various ends, shapes and potrudes of the nebular moving about.

Suddenly, a section of the nebula swirled around at rapid speed, almost as if it was scrambling to get away from some sort of harm. The 'nose' of a saucer section poked though, followed by the rest of the ship being exposed to space as it moved though. The nebula vapors clung to the hull, whisping away as it moved further and further away from the nebula itself. The gasses slowly moved over the secondary deflector, and danced away from the large black letters naming the ship.

U.S.S. Amargosa NCC-78652

The new Nova-class vessel, assigned to the Elerran System under command of Captain T'Sa, who's commission had finally been reactivated offically, moved away from the nebula. It had been running various scans and exploring the nebula in depth, as it had for the last several hours. While the nebula had been 'seen' before, enough was known about it that it was...here. Thus, it had not really been discovered, or explored. This made the crew of the small science vessel the first to actually, truly see the beautiful nebula, and explore it in depth.

The whisp of vapor danced around as the force of the engines pushed it away, and the vapors moved away from the hull compleatly as the Amargosa exited the green discovery. The ship angled slightly, with the top leaning to the right as the ship began to make a turn for an unknown destination.

-U.S.S. Amargosa NCC-78652, Bridge-

The bridge, was filled with various officers doing several differnt things, such as running scans, or maintaining starship opperations. The bridge, arge for a vessel this size, and defintly rather open, due to most of the stations not being free standng, but rather built into the walls surrounding the bridge to give more room to move about the bridge. The only areas that were not in such a manner were the sunken area for the Captain and First Officers chairs, and the combined helm/ops station. Like any other Starfleet bridge, the front of the room was dominated by a large viewscreen, which currently displayed the forward view of the ship, as it moved away from the Nebula.

"Status" a feminine voice ordered, the voice was almost monotonic, compleatly devoid of emotion, it was a farmilar voice.

"We have cleared the nebula, Captain" a voice responded.

Captain T'Sa looked down to her chief helm/ops officer, Lieutenant, Junior Grade Colin Tucker had turned back to face his Captain of a month so far, give or take a few hours to give his report. She had firstly noticed how his head was devoid of hair, a personal choice on his part it seemed.

"Very well, Lieutenant, continue on course."

Tucker nodded and turned back to his station and entered a few commands. The engines of the vessel hummed as they set to work, to propel the ship forward in the directtion T'Sa had previously ordered.

"What are the recent scan results" she queried.

T'Sa heard a noise behind her as someone checked the sensor scan results.

"It is confirmed, Captain" someone said, "There are traces of deuterium."

T'Sa nodded simply, and realized that after several hours, and with the discovery, it was time to contact the station, and make an update.

"Hail the station" she ordered.

T'Sa heard another noice behind her as someone moved to follow her orders.

[Founder]

-DSG, Ops-

Jones, who was managing the air traffic surrounding the station, was sitting at the center console in Ops. With the war over, civilians were no longer afraid to come to DSG, once a hot spot of war activity. Vessels encircled the station, waiting for a turn to dock or simply orbited and beamed aboard to enjoy the many civilian activities. The cyborg couldn't remember the last time when things had been like this. While the officers on duty were no doubt stressed out, Jones was ecstatic to see the flurry of activity. He was speaking to a freighter captain who was eager to board and enjoy one of the hot spots on the promenade. Of course, he also wanted a huge overhaul on his warpcore.

"I told you," Jones said, "We're unable to service your vessel. Our engineers are filled up to their necks in ships right now. If you'll wait for one Elerran hour, then you'll be good to go. Thank you."

He abruptly cut off the channel, exasperated with all the annoyed captains demanding that things be done faster. An officer on duty at the communications console detected the incoming hail from the Amragosa. She spun around in her seat and motioned towards Jones to get his attention.

"Lieutenant," She said, "The Amargosa is hailing the station."

"T'Sa's ship?" Ian asked.

Jones looked up in surprise to see Ian standing at the higher level of Ops. The man had been silent, staring at Ziona and watching her work. The communications nodded her head, confirming it was T'Sa's ship.

"Put her on the main viewer." Ian ordered.

The officer nodded and Ian looked up at the large viewscreen and waited...

[Lord Borg]

-USS Amargosa, Bridge-

T'Sa saw Ops of DSG come on screen, which included her 'student', for lack of a better term one could suppose, Ian. Had she been feeling, or expressing her emtotions, she would have smiled for her firend.

"Commander Xavier" she said simply, "I have something that may be of interest to you."

T'Sa turned to face an officer that Ian wouldn't have seen who it was, as the person was off screen. She gave the unknown officer a curt nod, who pressed a button, and suddenly, Ian's screen was split in to, half with T'Sa's image, the other half with the 'new' nebula.

"We have discovered that it contains trace ammounts of Deuterium, not signifficant qualities similar to a J-Class nebula, but enough to mine, if it is done so conservitly."

[Spellbinder Marik]

-Elerra Prime, 1 Month Ago-

N�Tran stood on the beach with his hands covering Laura�s eyes. They�d transported down this way.
�How much longer?� N�Tran smiled. He sensed something had changed in Laura recently but didn�t pressure her to talk about it.
�Alright, now.� N�Tran pulled his hands away restoring her sight. Laura opened her eyes and was amazed. N�Tran had built a beautiful home for her
�It�s beautiful.�

N�Tran let go a deep breath he�d been holding. For a time he thought she might not like it. He was relieved that she did.
�I�m glad you like it. I spared no expense. It has everything you�ll ever need.� Laura turned around with a little more serious look on her face.
�How did you pay for it?� N�Tran did have a small fortune that very few knew about. Something he�d acquired in his younger years.
�I had some latinum put away for a special occasion. I like to think it was well spent.� Laura took his hand.
�I want to see it. Let�s go inside.� N�Tran followed her inside.

N�Tran handed her a PADD.
�That has the complete technical specifications.� Laura took it and sat it on a nearby table.
�Looking at a list takes the fun out of exploring. Where�s your explorer spirit?� N�Tran thought about it and finally answered.
�I don�t think I have one.� He answered truthfully. She shook her head and headed into the kitchen. N�Tran trailed behind.

�Chateau Coeur.� N�Tran heard as he entered. He heard the distinctive sound of a replicator. Laura handed him a champagne goblet.
�To our new home.� N�Tran clinked his glass with hers.
�To our new home.�

-Elerra Prime, Present-

N�Tran entered his new home again. He knew it would be a long time before he got used to seeing it as that. Home. Laura had brought her belongings down from the Salara�s cargo bay and began setting things up. Come to think of it, he hadn�t seen much of her in the last month. It was almost as though she was avoiding him. He�d read that human women were occasionally moody and resolved his wonder to that.

He saw her trying to hang a picture over the fireplace. He smiled slightly. She wasn�t tall enough. He walked over and took the picture easily hanging it where she wanted.
�Aren�t you going to bring some stuff down?� N�Tran shook his head.
�I don�t have anything. I lived on my ship and there isn�t a lot of extra room for non-necessities.� Laura having served on stations and planets most of her career had gotten used to big quarters. She�d served on a ship but never took anything her.
�Well, we have a home now. So when you do we�ll have a place to put it.� N�Tran nodded. He to had a few things in his quarters on the Salara but he kept them their as a reminder of where he was from. If he brought them here he will have completely forsaken the world of his origin.

�I�ve been meaning to ask you.� Laura started speaking again.
�I went to the G�Tarkin yesterday to talk to Kiris and your officers wouldn�t let me in. What�s going on in there?� N�Tran froze. He�d figured that having the ship parked right outside might cause problems.
�They have orders to not allow anyone on board that I haven�t authorized. I�ll speak with them about it.� N�Tran was loosing more of himself every day. He was finding it more and more difficult to lie and lying was something Romulans were supposed to be good at.

-G�Tarkin, 2 Weeks Ago-

Kiris had been managing his time efficiently. When he was on duty he worked for Starfleet doing his job. When he was off duty he helped his father�s crew refitting the old Klingon Bird of Prey. He didn�t know why his father was fixing up the old ship but didn�t see any harm in it so he didn�t ask. Kiris walked into the central bay. He�d just come from Engineering. The chief engineer of this ship, a Lt. Chilnak, had taken a break. When he entered he saw several officers playing some kind of card game.

Kiris passed by them and stopped at the replicator. After ordering cold water he watched them play. Kiris watched as Lt. Chilnak threw down a suit of cards.
�Full colors!� Another officer, Sub-Commander Satil, the G�Tarkin tactical officer stared for a moment. He suddenly knocked all the cards off the table and stormed out of the room. The other men at the table got up to leave too. Kiris heard someone speak as they left the room.
��cheater�� Chilnak sat alone at the table. Kiris approached him.

�Is it true?� Chilank nodded.
�Yeah, it�s true.� Kiris sat across from him.
�You know a man�s trust is a valuable thing. There�s no sense losing it over a hand full of cards.� Chilnak nodded.
�It might be too late now.� Kiris shook his head.
�It�s never too late to earn someone�s trust. It�s just going to be more difficult for you now.� Kiris could see the young officer regretted what he did.
�Teach me the card game and I�ll see if I can convince them of a rematch. I do pull a little authority around here.�

The only reason the officers here respected him or at least appeared to was because he was their commander�s son.

-DSG, Chief Engineer�s Office, Present-

Kiris was looking over some reports. They�d begun to pile up. An engineer entered.
�I have an update.� Kiris looked up.
�Go ahead.� The officer checked his PADD.
�The Legacy, Memphis and Silent Winter will be released from spacedock during the next duty shift. We just released two so we can take in a few more now.� Kiris dismissed the officer and tapped his combadge.
�Ditex to Ops. We can take in a few more ships now.�

-DSG, Sickbay-

Tessa had come to sickbay with Cory for her monthly checkup. After another month she and Cory would be parents. She�d refused to be examined by the real doctor and opted for the EMH instead. Cory stood nearby as the hologram scanned her.
�Any pain at all?� Tessa nodded.
�My back aches but I have a muscle relaxant I take for it.� The EMH closed the tricorder.
�You and your baby are quite healthy.� Tessa slid off the table and moved toward the door.

The EMH stopped Cory for a moment.
�Mr. Taylor, you might consider having your wife be examined by the biological doctor next time. There�s nothing wrong with her but human doctors sometimes have an intuition that holograms lack.� Tessa wasn�t his wife yet but he had to get used to hearing it.
�I will speak to her about it. Thank you. Computer, deactivate EMH.� The hologram disappeared. Cory left sickbay with Tessa.

[ILoveHarry]

-DSG, Promenade-

Sofie followed her unlikely fidus Achates into the vacant shop. It appeared abandoned, dusty, and lifeless. However, that is not what Sofie saw. In her mind's eye the space was alive with color, and activity. A large smile surfaced on her face. "Beautiful," she commented with whispered awe.

She walked toward the far corner that was still within view of the existing counter. "We'll put the children's area here." She had always known she wanted to be able to have her son at work with her. Having a built in day care would enable her to spend her down time bonding with him, as well as enable her patrons to bring their own children to the shop with the knowledge that they'd be well taken care of while they enjoyed their time there. She lifted her hand toward the wall. "Perhaps a window here so that I can keep an eye on Rusty while I'm in my back office." She turns and looks toward the open space. "And there's more than enough room for one of those clear sound-proof walls so that the noise from the play room won't interfere with the adults conversing,meeting, relaxing..."

She crossed back to the counter and ran her hand along it. "This can be transformed into a display counter to showcase the deserts..." She walks behind the counter. "The various coffee machines will go here. That way everyone can see that it's brewed the old-fashioned way and not replicated."

She walks to the covered tables and chairs. "Plenty of room... I can't get over how much room there is inside this place. I can definitely expand if and when the time comes."

[Founder]

-DSG, Ops-

Ian listened as T'Sa explained that the nebula she discovered had a power source, albeit a little, that could be used for the Federation.

"That's excellant," Ian said, "We'll send vessels over there when we get a chance. Thanks for the update."

Meanwhile, Jones recieved the message from Kiris and promptly responded.

"Acknowledged," Jones said, "I'll relay the message. Ops out."

-DSG, Promenade-

Al-Firdos listened as Sophia reimagined the room with such vivid detail.

"You were made for this," Al-Firdos said, "Tell me...did you own a bussiness where you came from?"

He wasn't sure if Sofie liked talking about the mirror universe, but if there was anyone she would, it would probably be him...

[Lord Borg]

-U.S.S. Amargosa, Bridge-

T'Sa nodded at Ian, she was suddenly handed a PADD by someone, she looked over and saw her new First Officer, Commander Everett Loomis holding out the PADD towards her. She gave him a curt nod and took the PADD and looked it over.

"Commander" she said, adressng Ian, "We've also discovered some sort of radiation within the nebula, nothing harmful, and it seems to have no effect on ship systems, however we are going to deploy several probes in the area to study the nebula in further detail, as we continue to measure it's properties."

[ILoveHarry]

-DSG, Promenade-

"No," Sofie replies with a bit of a chuckle. "Certainly not. I barely had to lift a finger. I was a spoiled, pampered, trophey wife...but at a high cost."

[Founder]

-DSG, Ops-

Ian nodded, "Good idea and precaution."

He found that T'Sa had not lost her instinct to lead a vessel.

-DSG, Promenade-

Al-Firdos nodded, listening as Sofie revealed a snippit of her past. He didn't like the idea that someone as nice and innocent as her was treated in such a horrible way. A part of him wondered what he was like in her universe, but he hesitated to ask, fearful of the answer.

"I see," Al-Firdos smiled, "Well, I'm sorry to hear that, my young child. I only wish things had been different for you and your son."

[ILoveHarry]

-DSG, Promenade-

Sofie shook her head with a dissmisive shrug. "It's differant now and that's what really matters. Rusty has lived most of his life here and with any luck we'll never see anyone from that world again." Since coming to DSG, Sofie had tried not to think about her life in the Mirror Universe, yet found it easy to speak of with her new fatherly friend.

[Lord Borg]

-U.S.S. Amargosa, Deck One, Bridge-

T'Sa nodded and then glanced down at the PADD again, she continued to speak, multitasking over several differnt things at once, she could recall when certain someones would ask how she was able to do it so often.

"We will be sending an update of the telemetry data, for study, if you wish."

[Founder]

-DSG, Promenade-

Al-Firdos smiled, pleased that Sophia had such a positive outlook on life after her experiances with the MU versions of Ian Xavier and Jonathan Archer. Both were tyrants from what he heard on the station. However, all was never what it appeared to be.

"Well," He said, changing the subject, "Now that you've chosen the place, let us go, my dear. I am to meet commander Xavier on some matter that he did not go into full detail with me. Would you accompany me?"

He held an arm out to her.

-DSG, Ops-

"Send it to astrometrics," Ian ordered, "The officer on duty will take a look at it."

He suddenly realized he was almost late in meeting some officials about the committee.

"I'm sorry to cut this conversation short, but I have duties to attend to, as I'm sure you do," Ian said, "I'll speak with you in a couple of days when you're done with your mission. By then, captain Archer should be back from his relief mission at Akiama and then maybe we can all grab a bite to eat."

[Ziona]

DSG, OPS

Ziona had been left in charge of Ops while Ian handled a few things regarding the war and other decisions that soon needed to be made. When the call from T'Sa's vessel came through, Ziona calmly stepped back, allowing Ian to deal with the situation at hand. She didn't feel it was her place to take care of it and, at that moment, she had things on her mind.

Taking a few steps back, Ziona disappeared into the background of Ops, remaining quiet and introverted as she half-listened to the conversations going on about her. The war, it seemed, was removed from the station for a time but Ziona wasn't sure how long that would last. She was afraid it would flare up at any moment again, taking away the half-peace that had fallen over DSG.

Ian excused himself because of a meeting. Ziona turned her eyes to the ground and stood, near the turbolift, her hands clasped behind her back. She raised her head , knowing that Ian would have to pass her to get to his meeting. She could at least meet him with a smile and try to appear happy enough in regards to the seeming lull in wartime activities. But she already knew her smile would be faint...

[La Forge]

Deep Space Guardian, Lab

A rose, alien in nature, with a golden stem, similarly-colored leaves branching off of it, lay on the surface of a shiny metallic examination table in the center of a spacious science laboratory aboard the Federation space station, Deep Space Guardian. A woman of about twenty-five or so, Lieutenant Juliana Roberts and Chief Science Officer of the station, was hunched over the exotic-looking plant, looking it over from the piston to the stem. The plant was known as a Chameleon Rose. This rose had one special and quite unique property about it, uncommon to other plants of its nature. The flower changed the color of its petals to reflect the mood of whoever currently held the flower in their hands, hence the name, the Chameleon Rose. The Frenchwoman gently picked up the rose and brought it to her nostrils, taking in a sniff of the flower's smell. It smelled like a mixture of honey and something else that was sweet. An enchanting and elegant aroma, indeed. A moment or two later, she managed to tear her nose away from the flower, the lovely smell still lingering in the air around her. She held the rose out with her hand, in order to get the whole picture. As she held it at arm's length, the stem tightly gripped in her pale hands, the flower's petals changed color from white to blue to yellow and then back to blue before finally settling on a greenish color, a mix of the blue and yellow. Apparently, it seemed that her emotions were quite a jumble.

It was true, however. On one side, she was sad and depressed, the blue. Why? Simple. She still hadn't gotten over the loss of her father during the Battle of Earth, only a month or so ago. While she never would truly get over her father's death, she had hoped that, someday, she would be able to find some peace with the whole matter. Sadly, that day had not come. It had taken her days to manage to work up the courage to tell her own sister, little Juliet, about their father's death. How cowardly is that? And, as sisters are alike in both body and mind, Juliet had reacted to the news in a way quite similar to the way that Juliana, herself, had reacted, locking herself away for several hours and crying. Even after Juliet had finally found the courage to venture back out into the 'real world', Juliana could tell that she still wasn't alright. Then, again, after losing your beloved father, how could you be 'alright'? You can never truly be 'alright'. In any case, the other emotion she was feeling was the exact opposite of sadness, that emotion being joy and excitement with a hint of nervousness and anxiety. Over what? Her upcoming expedition to Elerra Prime, which will be the most extensive scientific study on the planet to date. Her team would be arriving shortly, if they hadn't arrived already. Soon, her mission would truly begin. She couldn't wait to get back to Elerra Prime. It was a home away from home...away from home. Still, as always, she had some reservations about the whole thing, however, she had pushed most of those to the back of her mind, for the time being. She could worry about those things later. No need for her to get all worked up about nothing before the mission actually began.

In any case, the time to explore her emotions had passed, as Juliana had resumed her studies of the Chameleon Rose. She had idly been doing some things, here and there, as she counted away the seconds until the team would be disembarking DSG for Elerra Prime...

Deep Space Guardian, OPS

Some time later, after finishing up with her little diversion with the flower back in the lab, Juliana arrived in the Operations Center for duty. While she had the expedition to Elerra Prime coming up, she still had to fulfill her standard duties as a Starfleet officer. While that meant a load of extra work, she didn't mind it. Juliana was a workaholic. Not so much as her friend, Jones, however, she enjoyed her work, for the most part. It helped keep her mind fresh, active, and ready. Constantly learning, she was. And, lately, through working she had been able to forget her troubles, particularly her troubles regarding her father, if only for a time. Work allowed her to escape from her everday life, which had been quite hectic as of late, into a different world, a world of numbers, symbols, and equations...her world.

The Frenchwoman made her way to the science station, her station, traversing across the unusually busy Operations Center, her feet nearly gliding across the floor all the while. She plopped down into the seat at her station, sinking down into the chair as she sat. After taking a brief moment to relax into the seat, she snapped to attention and pulled herself up towards her computer console, getting to work almost immediately. Scans needed to be taken and results needed to be analyzed. The work of a scientist is never done.

After working for a solid ten minutes, Juliana looked up, to let out a sigh, when she noticed Lieutenant Malcolm Jones, a cyborg and a friend of hers, sitting across from her in his usual position. He looked quite busy, though, talking to various people and whatnot. Everyone seemed to be busy, lately, with all of the incoming traffic DSG was receiving. It wasn't a bad thing, though. It was a sign that things were changing, changing back to the way things were supposed to be. With the war over and all, things could finally begin to return to normal on the completely abnormal station of Deep Space Guardian. Juliana eyed Jones for a moment or two, a warm smile on her thin lips, an unusual sight for the Frenchwoman, before she returned to her work on a some random scan. She had decided not to talk to the man. After all, he did seem quite busy and she knew that Jones didn't like to be interrupted during his work. In any case, she simply resumed scanning duty, her being on DSG and her thoughts back down on Elerra Prime...

Deep Space Guardian, Meeting Room

A Bajoran woman dressed in a tight grey military uniform and a Klingon man dressed in the typical garb of a Klingon warrior were seated across from each other at a long table in a brightly lit room somewhere on the massive Federation space station of Deep Space Guardian.A large window lined the far wall of the room, revealing the vast blackness of space, along with the glittering white stars that accompanied it. One could also see the massive M-class planet of Elerra Prime down below, the planet that DSG, the very station that the two were on, endlessly orbited around. The sight through the window was quite breath-taking, however, neither the Klingon man or the Bajoran woman cared anything for the view. The two had serious matters to discuss.

One one side of the long table sat the newly-promoted General Ryder Melina of the Bajoran Militia. She had been assigned, or rather re-assigned, to Deep Space Guardian to serve as a liason to the Bajoran people. She had been under orders from General Jakra Broyam, an old war buddy and the current head of the Bajoran Militia. The order had been passed down to her by another close friend, Colonel Kira Nerys, the commander of the famed space station Deep Space Nine. Melina had left almost immediately, but, not before receiving her promotion for her deeds during the Second Occupation of Bajor. After departing from Bajor, it took her days and days and days to finally reach her destination of Deep Space Guardian, which was halfway across the Alpha Quadrant, on the border between Federation and Romulan space. When she finally arrived on DSG, only a few mere days ago, she finally heard the news. Back on Bajor, a new Kai had been chosen and a new First Minister elected. Vedek Karak Luna, the young Vedek with outlandish ideas, had been named the Kai of the Bajoran faith and Reja Joram, famed politician who had supported Karak as Kai, had become First Minister. Bajor was in unknown waters now and, honestly, Melina had no idea where those waters were going to take them with the news of these radical changes in the Bajoran government. She could only hope that these waters wouldn't send them cascading over a waterfall with no chance of return.

On the other side sat General K'Vagh, of the Klingon Defense Force. The aging Klingon general had recently been named as the new Klingon ambassador to the Federation by order of Chancellor Martok, replacing Worf, and had been assigned to this very station of Deep Space Guardian. While he wasn't too happy about serving diplomat with the Federation, K'Vagh understood why he had been chosen and why it was necessary to have the Federation's backing with the war going on and everything. Not to mention the order had been given by Chancellor Martok, himself, the very leader of the Klingon people and leader of K'Vagh's house. There was no way he could refuse the order, though, that didn't mean he had to like it. It had taken him several weeks to arrive to the station, as he, aboard his new vessel, the I.K.S. Fek'lhr, a Negh'Var-class cruiser, was forced to travel through heavily disputed Klingon space, which had been quite the hassle, delaying the Fek'lhr considerably. The Fek'lhr had only arrived a few days ago,days behind schedule, dropping off K'Vagh and his assistant Kopok who was currently seated beside him in the meeting room, and was currently orbiting DSG as there was little room for a vessel the size of a Negh'Var cruiser to dock.. The Klingon Civil War seemed to be worse than K'Vagh had previously thought. It wasn't even possible to traverse ordinary Klingon space without troubles nowadays. Times had certainly changed since his day.

In any case, the two diplomats had come together in a meeting room set aside for diplomatic meetings on DSG, waiting to meet or in Melina's case, to 're-meet' as it were, the station's commander, Commander Ian Xavier, about some...committee or something. All of the station's various diplomats were slated to attend. So far, only Melina and K'Vagh had arrived. Not even the commander, himself, had arrived yet...

[ILoveHarry]

-DSG, Promenade-

"I'd be happy to walk with you my friend," Sofie replied. "However perhaps Rusty and I should wait in the park outside. Ian isn't exactly a fan of mine, and I doubt he would be pleased to see me."

Sofie had never intended to turn the RU counterpart of her husband against her. However, it seemed the two were destined to but heads. She would be eternaly grateful to the man for allowing her to find refuge on his station, but she doubted he would take on the fatherly role to her son she had once hoped for.

[Founder]

-DSG, Promenade-

Al-Firdos frowned, dissapointed that Ian and Sophia were not friends. He had found the commander to be a good man, save for the myriad of problems he tends to cause Starfleet. Of course, Al-Firdos thought Sophia was a great person as well. So the idea of the two of them...butting heads was saddening.

"Well," He said, "I do not wish to make things uncomfertable for you. If you wish, you can remain here."

He handed her the PADD that contained the information on the vacant spot on the promenade, including Xavier's thumb print which authorized Sofie taking the spot.

"Type what you wish to order for the restaurant and I'll have it for you faster then a vessel in transwarp." He said.

-DSG, Ops-

Ian gave a curt nod to the viewscreen and watched it go back to the image of Elerra Prime. He began to walk towards the turbolift, but stopped when he noticed his new first officer, Ziona, standing there. She gave a smile, one that he recognized all too well. It was the smile she used to show that she was biting the bullet. He wondered if it had to do with their wedding, which was in the works. There was a lot of debating on where it should be, who should come, the exact time, etc. They barely had time to work on it as their off hours usually resulted in them collapsing and falling asleep from exaustion. Times were much...busier, ironically with out the war.

"Hey," Ian said, "How's my first officer?"

[Ziona]

DSG, OPS

Ziona glanced at him and looked away, almost shyly, and pushed a piece of hair from her eyes before returning her eyes to his. The smile returned and faded away, leaving her smooth complexion and deep searching eyes.

"I'm here." She whispered in reply to his question. "I guess that's what counts."

She averted her eyes again, turning to look at a nearby officer who was working on something. She tried to bury her attention in the man's movements but it was futile effort and she returned her eyes to Ian's again.

"How are you today, sir?" She whispered, her voice a nearly inaudible whisper that brushed past her lips, seeking only Ian's ears and no one else's. Behind the simple question was much more meaning. Behind the simple question lay in wait the emotions of longing, weariness, happiness, fatigue, and hope. The smile flashed back onto Ziona's lips but this time it wasn't quite so tongue-and-cheek.

[Founder]

-DSG, Ops-

Ian gave that familiar smile of his to Ziona and responded quickly.

"Tired," He replied honestly, "I haven't been this busy in a long time."

He wasn't sure why Ziona seemed so...down. A part of him was worried that maybe the duties of being a first officer was getting to her. He realized that couldn't be it as she did have command experiance before and even commanded the destroyed Guardian a time or two.

"Maybe once we're off-duty," Ian told her, "We can go back to our plans?"

[Ziona]

DSG, OPS

Ziona nodded at this.

"I'd like that," she whispered, turning her eyes to the ground again before looking up at him. "If we ever get off duty. It seems the end of the war has thrown more at us than we expected."

She shifted her weight, unclasping her hands from behind her back. With a sigh, she relaxed a little and let her hands fall at her sides.

"But I think getting back to our plans would be a good idea," she took a step closer to him, so as to speak without being overheard. "I have to admit, I'm anxious about everything being planned."

[Founder]

-DSG, Ops-

Ian nodded in complete agreement with her statement, feeling exactly the way she was feeling.

"I have to admit," Ian said, "I feel the same way, but I'm also excited. My father used to say that each life was a book. A beginning, an end. Writing new chapters was always the best part. This is a chapter that I'm really looking forward to, Ziona."

[ILoveHarry]

-DSG, Promenade-

"You really should stop spoiling me so much," Sofie replied with a smile as she took the PADD. Have a good time at your meeting."

She looked down at her young son. "Say, 'bye,' to the Governor, Rusty."

The child flung her tiny arms around the man's legs. "Bye-bye, Poppy."

The word took Sofie by complete amused surprise. "Poppy...? I wonder where he got that name... that's what I called my grandfather."

[Ziona]

DSG, OPS

Ziona felt a heat rising to her cheeks as she blushed a rather embarassing rose. Her embarassment was only fueled as an officer glanced up to look at her. Ziona averted her eyes and laughed a light laugh to hide her discomfort.

"Yes, we're all books, Ian." She whispered to him, smiling up at him. "I only wish I could have met your father."