As everyone began filtering out of the room Karax walked over to Jadzia to talk.
“I must say, it is rare that one so young as you is so well versed in astrophysics.” Karax said, his eyes practically sparkling.
“I’ll take the flattery, but I'll let you know that I’m over 300 years old.” Jadzia said, a hand on her hip.
“Oh, my apologies, I did not realize Terrans were capable of living so long.”
“Oh, I’m not Terran either, I’m a Trill.” She said as she turned to the side to show her neck. “See the spots?” Karax looked at her confused for a moment before understanding.
“Many apologies, I did not mean to offend you. I have never met a species that so closely resembles the Terrans and yet are not one of them.” Jadzia takes it in stride and just laughs.
“It's no problem, I’ve never met one of your kind before either, so we can call it even.” Dax said her hand outstretched for a handshake
“It will be a pleasure working with you Dax.” Karax said, shaking her hand vigorously.
“Jadzia is fine, and it will be fun working with you too.”
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“If I may be so forward to say I’m very interested in your body.” Bashir said to Kerrigan as she strided off from the boardroom. Kerrigan turned around and shot him a death glare and Stukov, who was only a few feet away burst out into laughter.
“If you wish to keep your tongue you will never utter those words to me again.” Kerrigan said before turning back around and continuing walking. Bashir, intimidated, but not daunted, ran back after her and continued.
“I apologize that that came out wrong. Allow me to try again.” He said as he ran in front of Kerrigan. “I have a suspicion that your body would prove to be a fascinating medical topic. If you would allow me to study you…” He said before Kerrigan walked right up to him and stared right into his soul with her glowing eyes.
“Consider it an act of respect for your captain that I do not kill you where you stand Doctor.” Kerrigan held her position for a moment longer before she walked past the doctor back down the hall to the overlord that brought her here.
“If you want my medical opinion, she could use a bit more contact with others but eh, what do I know?” Stukov said to Bashir as he followed after her, still laughing to himself.
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“Captain, let me present to you Vedek Javian. Vedek Javian, Captain Sisko.” Odo said, doing a quick introduction of the two in the hopes the captain will take the Vedek out of his office now that his objective was met. He had just spent the last hour listening to the Vedek going on and on about the prophets and the warning he was trying to give the captain, all the while all he wanted to do was the read the criminal reports in peace, but it seemed like peace was not the word of the day, especially with all these newcomers on the station.
Sisko looked at the Vedek for a moment as he entered, he looked to him to be a normal Vedek, wearing the same priestly robes all Vedeks do. The only thing he noticed about him was that his head was completely shaven clean and that his earring was an impressive shade of golden-silver.
“Emissary.” Javian said as he ran over to the captain and bowed. “It is an honor to meet the one who has been blessed by the prophets.” Sisko had, to a certain extent, gotten used to this sort of reverence from Bajorans, but they, in turn, had learned to be more subtle about it. However, the Vedek’s directness was refreshingly annoying. In a day full of crazy moments one after the other, something like reverence he did not wish for was almost comforting.
Sisko held his hand up motioning to the Vedek that his bow was unneeded and unwanted.
“I was told you had something important to tell me?” Sisko said, trying to skip to the end to avoid all the unnecessary pagh checking that often accompanied these visits.
“Ah yes.” Javian said as he ran back over to the desk of Odo to grab the box containing the Orb.
“I was sent a vision by the prophets to bring you a message.” He said as he handed the box over to Sisko. “The prophets told me that a great calamity was on the horizon and that you needed to consult with the orb of change.” He said, gesturing to the box. Somehow, Sisko had thought that the orb in question was one from Bajor, or better yet, an orb returned from Cardassia, though he had always doubted the latter. But the orb in his hands was just the one from the station’s shrine. It seems to him like the wormhole aliens would have had an easier time just bringing him to the orb rather than the other way around.
However, as much as Benjamin did not believe in the “prophets” like the Bajorans did, he did have a level of respect for their warnings that went beyond what Starfleet would be comfortable with. These were, after all, powerful aliens capable of seeing through time, so any warning they may give he felt is at least worth giving consideration to. Either way this was not going to get resolved until he touched the orb. So after a moment’s hesitation he opened the box and peered into the orb.
Sisko immediately feels an out of body experience, but not like the ones he has when he actually talks to the wormhole aliens, but something else.
Sisko immediately finds himself on board the deck of a ship. The deck resembled a much more militarized version of the ships he was used to but simultaneously looked to be similar to a deck of a battleship from the bygone eras of sea warfare. Besides the usual control monitors and bridge deck layouts, he also noticed Raynor sitting in the chair in the center or the room looking through a static-ridden large monitor.
“Horner I want Vikings and Wraiths in the air pronto.” Raynor said to a frantic looking Horner. He turned around to his weapons controller. “Charge all laser batteries and ready the Yamato Cannon again, we are gonna give these bastards a taste of our-” However before Raynor could finish his sentence an explosion destroys the bridge and Sisko was sent over to the Spear of Adun where Artanis was giving a speech to several Templar, Protoss warriors wearing similar but less elaborate clothing to Artanis.
The Spear of Adun itself was massive, the ceiling was high and the paths in all directions seemed to go as far as he could see, the same golden metal that surrounded the ship also made up the interior. Not only that but several seemingly floating platforms littered the decks in all directions. Sisko would be much more enamored by the ship’s design if not for the situation he was in.
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“If this is where we shall fall then we shall die as warriors! Templar ignite your blades!” The cheers were enormous as Artanis jumped over the crowd and charged headfirst into a distant enemy. His perspective then shifted to somewhere else on the Spear of Adun where the sounds of battle could be heard nearby. For some reason Worf seemed to be standing next to a handful of Templar and Talandar who Sisko did not recognize. Talandar looked to Sisko to be a white colored giant multi-armed quadruped robot that looked more suited to heavy industrial labor rather than combat at his first glance. However he could tell very quickly that this robot was powerful enough to make even the most skilled StarFleet Officers think twice.
“I will join you in your battle, for I too am a warrior and refuse to die with my eyes closed.” Worf said to Talandar.
“I am honored to fight by your side Worf, son of Mogh. Pick up a blade and join my brothers, for this may be the last stand of the Protoss.” Talandar said right before he dashed forward into a still unknown enemy with a seismic smash. Worf slowly picked up a fallen Templar’s energy axe off the ground and wielded it for a moment getting a feel for its weight. Once he finished he looked ahead to the battle.
“Today is a good day to die.” Worf said before storming ahead into the fray.
The perspective shifted once more to around the space station. Weird larvae bat looking creatures with the same fleshy exterior as the Leviathan were swarming around the station and attacking an all too familiar vessel.
“The Borg.” Sisko said, eyes wide open as he watched the carnage before him. In front of his eyes, Kerrigan dashed past him, flying in the vacuum of space as if she were ice skating.
“Send the Mutalisks to attack a single vessel, if they are too strong to split our forces we shall bring them down one at a time.” Kerrigan said. It was clearly not spoken, and instead some sort of Telepathy but Sisko could somehow still hear it.
“My Queen, more than half of our airborne forces have already been taken out.” Zegarra said, another voice and person Sisko did not recognize despite the distinct reverb and anxiety it gave off. However, even though this “Zagara” was not in his sight he could still “see” her aboard the vessel. She was a large brown and purple Hexapodal creature with the upper body resembling a human to an extent with short arms for her front hands. Her back was also huge to compensate for the many legs and the whole of her looked more like an Arachne from mythology than any other lifeform he had seen before.
“Then I want you to reorganize our fleet, I shall personally take the fight to them.” Kerrigan said, as she rushed towards the Borg cube. She let out a primal roar and a shockwave of purple energy blasts out from her. The blast is powerful enough to not only knock the Borg cube back but the side that was facing her he saw massive explosions on all decks. However it seemed to matter little as nary a moment later a phaser shot fired from the cube hitting Kerrigan straight on. She flew backwards hitting Deep Space Nine’s shields so hard he actually saw the shields falter for a moment. However Kerrigan did not move again even after the shields stabilized.
Again the scene shifted to another protoss Sisko did not recognize. He was a Protoss around the same size as Artanis but cloaked in deep black armor from head to toe, only open at his face, deep in the middle of the Borg army.
“Empower me minions!” Alarak yelled as a massive red-black wave crashed through several Borg drones. He floated in the air for a moment letting out the same colored lighting in all directions felling even more, however behind him the Protoss at his back were killed by the Borg and he was caught off guard when a drone grabbed his arm and pulled him down. Alarak managed to get the drone off of himself but from there he was simply mobbed by more and more drones until Alarak was no longer visible.
Once more his perspective switched to a different place on board the Spear of Adun where he watched Talandar spin his robotic body around and annihilate a number of Borg drones around him. However as he dashed forward into more, a crystal like shield appeared over their body and seemed to dissipate the Kinetic energy. The Borg then began dismantling his robot body piece by piece using their robotic attachments, even while Talandar continued to struggle.
As the scene shifted once more to Artanis surrounded by the Borg with only a handful of templar at his side as well as Vorazun and a few dark templars, who wore clothing similar to Vorazun and that were invisible to the naked eye. Yet, Sisko was able to somehow peer through their camouflage.
“The battle goes not well for us, Artanis.” Vorazun said as she managed to kill one more drone. “It seems that no matter how many we fell, their numbers are endless. Not only that but many of our weapons are by now useless.” She said stabbing at another Borg only to have her blade deactivate upon touching the drone’s body. She jumps back looking at her now inactive blade.
“Soon we shall be left with nothing but our psionic abilities to aid us.” She said, more distraught now than she was a moment ago.
“If not for this affliction we would have stood a better chance against this foe. I have hardly fought and already I am beginning to feel weak.” Artanis said back, letting himself rest for a moment. However the moment does not last long as the drones continue to swarm them and after another minute of desperate fighting they disappear from his view.
He even notices in the far distance a monolithic tower walking on quadrupedal thin legs getting toppled by the combined force of several drones. He was then shifted back outside and saw the full picture. It was not one or two Borg cubes like he had originally believed it was hundreds.
Hundreds of Borg cubes swarmed the Spear of Adun while several were handling the creatures from the Leviathan and DS9. A barrage of phaser fire from several Borg cubes wears the leviathan out as it explodes into a gory mess. Sisko then has enough time to turn around and see a Borg cube shoot a phaser right through the shields of the station, hit the main reactor, and in seconds the entire station erupts in a fireball that he was sure could be seen from Bajor.
“No…” All Sisko can say as he saw all the death and destruction around him. “This can't… why are…” He was starting to lose himself as he imagined all the death that this battle brought. No, worse, he was beginning to imagine the fall of the entire alpha quadrant itself with these numbers. It was too much.
However before he can say any more he is brought back to that sunny day at the park where he first told Jennifer he wanted a child.
“The Sisko has a task laid out for him.” Jennifer said to him almost monotone.
“That’s the Borg out there, we can’t stop that number of cubes even if the entire alpha quadrant were to unite.” Sisko said getting more heated, remembering vividly how he lost Jennifer to the Borg. “Isn’t there something you can do to help us prevent this?” He pleads to the wormhole alien, who still looked like his late wife.
“We can not interfere with the path the Sisko must walk.” Kai Opaka said to him as he sat on the bench where he first met her.
“The Pah-Wraiths have tried to alter your path by creating a diversion.” Lucucius of Borg said through the monitor. “You must overcome this challenge.”
“But how am I supposed to stop this from occurring?” Sisko said, still nearly pleading.
“The Sisko can prevent the calamity because the Sisko must.” Jennifer said to him again, this time from her dead body buried under rubble. “If the Sisko fails, Bajor will fall. The Sisko must not fail.” Jennifer said before she began to fade away alongside everything else in the vision.
“No wait!! I have more questions!” Sisko cries out as he is taken out of the communion.
“No!” Sisko yells again, now back in Odo’s office. Odo raises a quizzical eyebrow.
“I take it the news was not good then?” Odo said almost sarcastically.
“No, it was not.” Sisko said, tapping his comm badge. “I want all senior offices to report to Ops in 20 minutes, we may have a problem.”
Elsewhere on the station, both Kerrigan, as well as a handful of the protoss felt a powerful wave of psionic energy hit them. It was non violent but somehow it reminded them of the ancient Xel’Naga artifacts found quite some time ago. However it was Kerrigan who noticed the similarity the most. However the thing that was most peculiar is that the wave, once again, was not true psionics, just something similar. In fact it was very similar to the psionic wave that brought them here in the first place. However just as quick as it had come, it disappeared completely as if it were sealed in a vault specifically capable of suppressing psionics. She considered for a moment going to investigate but decided against it, realizing that she needed to dedicate some time to gather her energy as she was still feeling slightly weakened and in order to track the wave she would need more power.