An Easy Ride

The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 1
Although she was a qualified pilot, nurse Nadine had not sit at the helm during the trip to Deep Space 2. The major and ensign Louis were at the helm most of the time. One more day and then long range sensors would pick up the deep space station. It was one of those space stations which was not in orbit of a planet or a moon. "No where to run." were the words of the major, the only marine in the crew. Always ready to make a tactical analasys. No phasers, no torpedo launchers on DS2... the major knew it all.
Now Nadine was sitting next to ensign Louis, chief engineer on DS2. "The best there is." the commander had told the major. Nurse Nadine had overheard their conversation. At Starbase 118 she had already heard rumours that the new commander of DS2 and his XO were old marine buddies.
When the Runabout with the new DS2 crew had left Starbase 118, Nadine finally had a feeling of success. She had been selected. It was obvious that the DS2 crew was a gathering of specialists. Not always high in rank, but just specialists needed to do the job. As DS2 had been deserted by Starfleet two months ago, someone suddenly felt that there was need to get the hole station on line again...

"ETA, Louis ?"

The commander had entered the "bridge" of the runabout without Nadine noticing it. As commanding officer of DS2 commander Arthur had made it a habbit to call everyone by the first name. A habbit that was soon taken over by the junior officers, who called eachother by the first name too. Calling a senior officer by the first name was of course out of the question.

"Two hours, sixteen minutes, sir."

"Call me when the long range sensors pick up our new home."

"Aye, sir."

The commander turned around and a second later the door closed behind him. Nadine looked at the sensor display at her right hand. The station should be in sensor range in half an hour. Not a great resolution yet, but at least there should be something of a power signature. Although the major had explained this morning that the station could have no power at all if the last few people of Starfleet maintenance had shut down all power of Deep Space 2. Chief engineer Louis would have a huge job getting all systems on line again. The only help Louis could count on was the young designer engineer, ensign Jan Roel, who also was responsable for designing the new equipment that the new crew had loaded in the small cargo area of the runabout. That was eight days ago. There surely was a shortage of engineers, but Ensign Marianne, who was actually a scientist, had already volonteered to help.

It was Nadine who first saw a change in sensors status.

"I think I got something here, Louis."

"Yeah, I see it too."

As a habbit, Louis tabbed his combadge. In short he reported to the commander that the first signs of deep Space two were picked up.

"Acknowledged. Major Jan will releave you at the helm Louis. All crew report to the living section for a general instruction. Now."

Commander Arthur nodded to Jan. Jan would releave Louis at the helm and then came the most difficult part. The commander had to tell the new crew of Deep Space 2 what the real reason was why they were posted at the old abandonned station. As the crew was getting a seat and Louis as the last one came in. The commander positioned himself next to a computer display. A picture of Deep Space 2 appeared on the screen. The picture was a bit vague, but clear enough to see what it represented.


... Deep Space 2 ...


"We are not going to DS2 without a reason. We are going to this abandonned, old and remote station for a very good reason. On stardate 49990.7 communications with Deep Space 2 were lost. There was no personnel on the station at the time to repair or renew the communication systems. May I remind you all that DS2 was totally abandonned a long time ago. Our objectives are clear. We will get all systems on line. We should be able to do that in a few days, a week max. Then the station will be used as a remote center of study for the Academy cadets. The two first cadets we will have aboard are Caroline and Thomas."

At this point the commander nodded at the two cadets who respectfully were sitting at the back. He continued with his breefing and explained that the station had an excellent position to study a few new formed solar systems. The beginning of their stay could be a bit rough, but after a few weeks, everything on DS2 should be running smoothly. The commander ordered everyone to get packed and just before he could continue, major Jan at the helm contacted him.

"Commander, as planned I have increased speed. We will arive at DS2 in ten minutes." 


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 2

"What is the status of the station, Jan ?"

As commander Arthur looked at the first sensor results, he hoped that his first officer had more information. The only thing major Jan could come up with was a broad grin on his face. Refering to DS2 as a haunted city, the grin only seemed to grow.
The commander new that grin al to well. Jan and Arthur were the best of friends and together with nurse Nadine they served in the same platoon in the war against Cardassia. After the war they split and only a few months ago when commander Arthur got this assignment he didn't hesitate to get his old friends to assist him. Almost forgotten memories about a most disturbing era. Arthur shook his head. Jan new the gesture. Memories ... the grin was gone.

"Nothing much to tell. Almost no power, only a few backup systems, forcefield of the shuttlebay is active. Life support is OK, no shields, no targetting scanners locking on us, absolutely no lifesigns. Just an old deserted space station."

"All right Jan, dock in the shuttlebay. I'll override the command codes of the station from here, so the forcefield will be down. I have difficulty to activate the station's tractor beam so you have to take us in."

"Commander, I could beam in first to have a look and activate the tractor beam from inside. But I guess after a voyage with almost ten people in a small runabout, nobody wants to wait any longer then necessary."

The XO was right. To get on the station as fast as possible, was the best idea. It could be a rough entry though. Three minutes. At the time of the final approach, chief engineer Louis came into the runabout's control room. He sat down at a science station and began scanning the complete station. Two minutes. The runabout with it's twenty three meters long looked like a fly on a house when it came closer to the station. At least there would be a lot of space for the new crew. One Minute. Chief engineer Louis reported that there was nothing out of the ordinary. Fourty-five seconds. Switching helm to manual. XO Jan was one of the best pilots in the fleet. Concentration. Thirty seconds. Commander Arthur punched in the command codes of the old station and linked his virtual way in the DS2 main computer to the command functions. File accessing. Fifteen seconds. Release shuttlebay force field, forcefield down. Five seconds. The runabout disapeared into the shuttlebay, nice touch down. Zero seconds.

"OK everybody. This is the commander. We will gather first in operations."

No turbolifts were working. Stairs were in perfect order, but the major kept his tricorder in his left hand, when he took the lead all the way up to operations. Finally a hatch opened and the dark in operations was driven away by the lightbeam of Jan's lamp. One by one the crew came out of the hatch and by the time engineer Jan Roel entered operations all the lights were on. The commander and chief engineer were already looking at the layout of the station to set the priorities. First the main power reactor, then communications.
Chief engineer Louis knew what to do. Together with engineer Jan Roel, ensign Marianne and the two cadets, Louis made his way to main engineering almost fourty decks below. It took the group almost half an hour.

Commander Arthur decided to make an inspection of the "commander's office". It was still dark in the office. Power should be on line soon, but chief engineer Louis hadn't a full staff yet. There was still a lot of work to be done. When Starfleet took over this old station, it should be a challenge to build it up again. Some of the officers would have to work around the clock. The lights went on.

"Louis to CO. We got power on all decks. Life support, communications and even two of the four shield generators are on line. Maximum shields is at 57 percent."

"Well done ensign ! Well done indeed. Arthur out."

Being operational seemed to be a miracle. But then again, chief engineer Louis was already a legend. Maybe Louis was under the influence of another legend: Montgomery Scott.

XO Jan entered the commander's office with a grin on his face. Jan was always the one who took things serious. This time there was some unexpected news.

"Sir, did you know we had a complete and operational phaser bank ?"

"You must be joking !"

The commander jumped to his feet. The two officers walked to the only working display in the office. Jan pushed a few buttons and an entire layout of the station appeared.

"Computer, magnify grid 231-54."

There was nothing there. Just an empty cargo bay. Jan waved his CO to follow him. After taking a wild ride on the stairway to the cargo bay just above the shuttle bay, both officers were let in by Ensign Nadine.

"Most doors are not working yet, sir."

"That's alright ensign."

Nadine showed the Type-X phaser bank. It was placed in the middle of the cargo bay in a way that the phaser could fire in almost all directions. Even the cooling system was in great condition.

"Someone must have placed it here and didn't report about it."

The commander was shaking his head. They had to report this. Better soon. All terminals in the cargo bay were working. It seemed that the ODN conduits were as good as new and the entire system even had a seperate computer subprocessor and seperate auxilliary power.

"Are we going to report this, sir ?"

"Are you kidding me ensign ?"

Commander Arthur walked up to one of the terminals. When he checked all communication activity he noticed there was a message waiting. It was a message from:

VADM John Winchester, Commanding Officer, Command College

"All documentation is on it's way. You should receive it shortly."

That was all. The commander of Deep Space 2 knew what it meant and sent a message:

"Thanks you very much, sir. Many Greetings."

"Commander, this is Louis. You better come down here sir. We found something even more interesting then a phaser array."

"On my way."


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 3

As the DS2 senior staff entered cargobay 6, the commander was the first on to speak. It sounded like a Vulcan logical conclusion, but it was surely not.

"For this very short period we are on this station, we have discovered four shield generators, a complete type X phaser array and now this. A cargobay with about one thousand quantum and photon torpedos, and six turnable torpedo launchers which can fire in all directions. Now it seems to me that nobody knew about this. Starfleet itself to say the least. I have the impression that this is not the science station, which is the nearest Starfleet outpost to the Delta Quadrant. This is a battle station !"

XO Jan was already studying the inventory of the cargobay on one of the terminals. He could only add that there were 350 quantum torpedos and 650 photon torpedos. He asked himself why Starfleet had no knowledge about all of this, but he was also relieved to find some means of defense on this station. Full automated weapon systems were in the list of his favorites. These systems could easily be a match for six Galaxy Class vessels. The four huge shield generators were like nothing he had seen before. What would the next discovery be ?

"Commander Sir", Jan said in his typical marine way, "I advice to get the internal sensor arrays on line, so we can see what this station is hiding."

"Agreed. Louis I want all sensors and related systems on line as soon as possible."

"Sir, we could link the runabout's sensors into the DS2 main computer, but that would probably take more time. The sensors of the runabout only detected some auxilliary power when we were approaching DS2. This could mean that these weapon systems are somehow shielded agains sensors. I just wanted to point that out, sir."

"That is why we need internal sensors ensign Louis."

Louis ran out of the door, followed by Jan Roel and Marianne. They knew what to do. Jan and Arthur looked at each other. They didn't need any words. Highly sophisticated technology, even for Starfleet, installed on this very old station, didn't make any sense. Even more strange was the fact that Starfleet had not informed the DS2 commander nor his XO about these upgrades. Maybe it was because the station was so close to the delta quadrant."

"The BORG !"

The CO and XO's voices sounded as one. What was going on here. Somebody was responsable for installing these upgrades. Nadine was a bit shaken up. Her father was stationed on the USS Melbourne when this ship, and many other vessels were destroyed by the Borg at Wolf 359. The DS2 nurse didn't speak. As in a sudden moment the three of them made it to the nearest turbolift. This one was working. Louis had already informed them that getting systems on line on this station was a piece of cake. It was as if DS2 was just waiting to get activated. Very strange indeed. And Starfleet didn't know ? Even more strange.
Nadine was the first to get out on their way. She wanted to inspect sickbay first. When the two DS2 senior officers entered operations, only the two cadets were present, studying the LCARS.

"Jan, Open a channel to Starfleet HQ."

"Channel open."

A young face of a young lieutenant appeared on the main viewscreen. It seemes that this young officer wasn't really interested in messages from a very remote station. She explained that Captain Simak probably could help out. A moment later the face of a Vulcan Starfleet captain appeared.

"You are the new commander of the old DS2. Very interesting that you contact me. I presume that you have arived on the station without any difficulties ?"

"That is correct sir, but I also want to report that we found some weapon systems and defense systems on the station which we didn't really expect. It seems to me that these systems were not..."

"Commander, may I inform you that if you are not pleased, like you humans say, with your assignment you need not come to me. You have to take the station as it is."

"But Sir, I just ..."

"Commander. I have learned that humans are sometimes premature with expressing their emotions, to find out later it was not worth any frustration. Are you not pleased with the station ?"

"Yes sir, but ..."

"Then I do not see the logic in your complaint, commander. If you will excuse me now, I have a very important meeting in three minutes. Live long and Prosper."

"Err ... The same to you sir."

The image of captain Simak was replaced with the image of the "outside". Space. Now even the two cadets looked up a bit confused. Commander Arthur pulled up his shoulders.

"Well major, you heard the man. We have to take this station as it is."

"Yes sir ! Commander sir !"

The grin on Jan's face explained it all. The two long time friends could only burst into laughter. The cadets didn't really understand and continued their study. Ensign Marianne, who acted as their mentor had given them a strickt time scedule. Just when the two senior officers of DS2 had ended their outburst, it was nurse Nadine who had the next surprise.

"Nadine to ops."

"Go ahead, Nadine."

"Sir I am in sickbay. There is someone here you have to meet."

"Did you use the word: someone ?"

"Affermative sir."

"We are on our way. Arthur out. Cadet Caroline you have ops."

Both cadets turned around fully surprised, just to see the door of turbolift two closing. 


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 4

"Please state the nature of the medical emergency."

Nadine Jumped back three meters. In a fraction of a second her type one phaser was pointed on the head of the new appeared person. As she suddenly realised this almost totally bald person in blue Starfleet uniform was just a holographic image of the Emergency Medical Holographic Program. The Holodoc looked at her in fascination. Nadine put away her weapon. Then she tapped her comebadge.

"Nadine to ops."

"Go ahead, Nadine."

"Sir I am in sickbay. There is someone here you have to meet."

"Did you use the word: someone ?"

"Affermative sir."

"We are on our way. Arthur out."

The Holodoc tried to intervene ...

"Look ensign, could you tell me what your injuries are, because after a quick scan I cannot find anything wrong with you. I suggest you report for duty imediately."

The same moment the Commander followed by Jan entered sickbay. Both of them smiled, but the smile quickly dissappeared. This Holodoc could have an idea what had been going on on the station. When he was asked the status of the station the Holodoc explained some of the mystery of DS2.
Just before the last crew had left the station they did a complete shut down of all systems except for life support and holographic programs. There seemed to be a malfunction in holodeck 2. Power could not be shut down, but the crew did not have time to make the necessary repairs and had to leave. A few days after they had left a huge starship of unknown design approached the station and an entire team of engineers were beamed aboard DS2.

"OK, Doc, how many engineers are we talking about ?"

"Commander ... I am a doctor not a calculator."

About three hundred engineers in unknown but still recognisable Starfleet uniforms came aboard DS2 and worked for almost two months around the clock to make modifications. The holodoc was neglected. With the door of sickbay open the he had been able to watch the engineers and had noticed that altough the equipment they used looked a lot like federation tools, they were a little bit different. The Holodoc could follow the progress by accessing the tactical database. An entire new structure was build in the "skin" of the old station. Heavy armoured walls and bulkheads replaced the old ones. A large arsenal of weaponary was installed. Cargobays four, five, six and seven were loaded with torpedos. In total there were eight thousand six hundred and seventien of those deadly projectiles.

"Engineering, this is the commander. Check on all cargobays for weaponary visually."

"Aye Sir. I will send Jan Roel to check all ten of them. Louis out."

As the Doc continued with his report it was more and more obvious that Starfleet must have send a special group to accomplish this transformation. It still was not clear why this special group did not shutdown the Emergency Medical Holographic Program. They must have deleted files from the main computer memory, but there still was to much present to conceal the operation. Maybe some things were deliberately left to find.
When the works were finnished the engineers were beamed aboard their ship. The name of the ship was unknown and without registration. Jan checked the database for the last ship which visited DS2, on the Doc's terminal. When Arthur looked at him, the XO could only shake his head.

"The last ship which visited DS2 was the Ambassador Class USS Hornblower, NCC-26412. She picked up the last crew."

"We seem to get a little more wiser here. Thanks for the help Doc."

"Jan Roel to Commander Arthur. I have checked all ten cargobays. Cargobays four, five, six and seven are filled with weapons. I don't know how many exactly."

"Thanks Jan Roel, go back to engineering. We need those internal sensors on line."

"Acknowledged."

"Commander this is Louis. We still have some difficulties with the internal sensors. But we have discovered that there is a program still running in holodeck 2."

"Thanks, Louis, we are already on our way."

Jan was the first out of sickbay. The commander himself didn't like sickbay very much either. The door zapped behind them and altough the door was already closed, the Doc had the last word. Maybe just talking to himself...

"Please don't forget to report here again. Every new crewmember on the station must have a physical examination first..."


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 5

As the two DS2 senior officers approached the entrance of holodeck 2, chief engineer Louis contacted them to tell that he could not shutdown the program, but he also reported that the holodeck program was not running but halted. The internal scanners were not yet on line but long range sensors and short range sensors were now operational. There was nothing to report further. As the commander tried to study the holodeck program by checking the outside control panel, the only conclusion was that Jan and he had to enter the holodeck itself to find out what the program was about. They stood firm when the door opened.
After a moment of hesitation the first steps were excecuted. Behind the two friends the door closed and vanished. The program did indeed seem to be halted. This was the bridge of a starship. No personnel was present. As the two DS2 officers start walking around to investigate they checked the control panels and displays. Soon they found out that this ship was on a scientific mission in the Delta Quadrant.

"The Delta Quadrant ? We don't have ships in the Delta Quadrant. It will take us almost 40 years to get there. DS2 is the clostest Starfleet outpost to the Delta Quadrant. I don't understand this."

"Major, this is only a holodeck program."

Commander Arthur sat down on the center seat. Jan smiled. Just were he expected the commander to be. Sitting down on the center seat triggered the program. It continued running. The main view screen showed moving stars at warp speed. The two decided to have a ride with this ship to see were it was heading. Of course there was no way of telling of what they saw was really the Delta Quadrant. Commander Arthur had a good idea of who could answer his questions.

"Computer, what program is currently running in Holodeck 2 ?"

"There is currently no program running in Holodeck 2."

"Computer, who am I and where am I now ?"

"You are identified as vice-admiral Arthur. You are on the bridge of the USS Ajax."

"Vice-Admiral Arthur ?"

"Identification has been completed and confirmed."

"What is the class, registration and mission of the USS Ajax ?"

"Registration is NCC-98546-C, primary mission is charting Sectors four and five of the Delta Quadrant. The Ajax is a Class Two Warship. The mission started on stardate 65861.4. The sardate now is 66003.2"

It was obvious that this information could not be correct. Someone had played a trick on them. When Jan asked for his identification, he was confirmed to be lieutenant-general Jan, chief of the marine division aboard the USS Ajax. That was it. The commander tapped his combadge.

"Arthur to engineering."

"Ensign Louis here sir."

"Have you any idea who installed this holodeck program ?"

"Are you still in Holodeck 2 sir ? You better get out now sir !"

"Computer, end program ! Computer exit ! Louis the holodeck does not react on voice commands. We are on the bridge of a ship and when I call the computer it seems that the computer of this ship answers my call. What is the problem ?"

"Sir, the program is out of our control. We are working on it. But you have to know that all safety protocols have been disabled. By the way. We haven't got internal sensors working yet either."

"Get on it then."

"Aye aye sir ! Louis out."

As the commander stood up and walked to the door of a turbolift the door did not open. Jan tried another door without success. The computer only gave vague answers and didn't help at all. The only thing to do now was enjoy the ride. Major Jan, as usual took the helm, Arthur sat down at the operations station. The ops console was also configured for tactical actions. As the commander checked the displays again he noticed a sensor echo. Sensors had picked up another ship. He tapped Jan on his shoulder and pointed at the main screen. There was no mistake. That was a Borg cube. No ... There were three Borg cubes ! 


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 6

"Time to contact with the Borg is twenty two minutes. I'll check tactical status. Wow, I can scan the Borg cubes completely inside and outside. It seems they are no match for this ship. Come on Jan let's have some shooting practice. Wait a minute. These Borg cubes are fleeing from another ship. Scanning of that ship is inconclusive. It seems that we have to help the Borg this time. Are you ready to have a little fight Jan ?"

"Sir may I remind you that Louis said the safety protocols of the holodeck were off line. I don't really looking forward to fight my last battle on a holodeck, if you know what I mean."

"Well then. We have to change course and let things happen to the Borg."

"Sir, I am afraid the helm is not responding. Not on manual either."

Configuring another station to helm functions was no use. Fifteen minutes. Pannels were opened, circuits checked and altered. Both officers couldn't come up with an answer. Contacting ensign Louis didn't help either. Everything was working except for the helm control. Shields were at maximum, just as a precaution. This program was certainly a setup. A trap was a more appropriate word for it. But why and by who was this program installed ?

"Your question is irrelevant."

Now the computer of this holoship sounded like the Borg as well. But maybe that was it. Maybe they should contact the Borg ? The computer opened a channel on subspace frequencies. First there was no answer, but after a few attempts a piece of a Borg cube appeared on the view screen.Ten minutes.

"We are Borg."

"Well let's get into the game.", whispered the commander, "We are human. It seems that you are going to be destroyed in a few minutes. Can we assist you in any way ?"

The contact had been cut off. The ship in pursuit of the Borg was registered in the database as Giloppen destroyer. Someone had produced this holodeck program, so it was no surprise that there was an entry like this. The destroyer fired somekind of energy pulse which destroyed the cube now right in front of it. The two other cubes split and while one was getting away the other was eliminated in a huge explosion. The Federation starship Ajax, increased speed. It could be in weapons range of the Giloppen destroyer before it reached the Borg cube. Jan and Arthur didn't have to look at each other. They new what to do. The computer activated red alert. Weapons were ready. One minute and closing fast. Why didn't the Borg fire any weapons ?
The destroyer was gaining on the Borg rapidly. But not before...

"We are firing !"

Sixty Ajax torpedos searched for their target. The choice was made. This Federation vessel was helping their worst enemy: the Borg. The torpedos detonated and caused minor damage to the destroyer's shields. It was enough for the destroyer to alter course towards the Ajax.

"Sir, I would like to suggest to run instead of fighting this out with an unknown enemy."

"You have a point there. Without helm control that could be difficult. As today is Stardate 50122.3 and this ship is apparently more then a few years into the future, I can only suggest that everything in the future is set on automatic."

"Commander ... I am not sure that I am following your reasoning."

"My guess is that we are in a recording ... of the future."

"Yeah, like all those new incredible weapon systems aboard DS2. Are you also thinking these new systems were placed by ... someone from the future ?"

"I am an admiral on this Ajax, this cannot be a simple coincidence. We need more clues."

"I agree completely ..."

Before the major could finnish his sentence, the computer fired again. The Ajax did not alter course nor speed. Although the distance between the destroyer and the Ajax was critical to use torpedos, sixty torpedos were launched and hit the destroyer with moderate shield damage as result. Scanning inside the approaching vessel was now possible. It didn't give any clue.

"Jan, this ship needs more firepower."

"We need some extra firepower from DS2."

"Maybe that's another clue."

"We are hit ! Shields down to thirteen percent. We cannot take any more !"

Both officers were thrown onto the floor. The Ajax was shaking and trembling. A few consoles at the back exploded. The center seat flew across the bridge against the starboard wall. The holodeck safety protocols were of line. The Ajax took a turn and fired all weapons, disabeling the destroyer. The unknown ship did not return fire. It looked like a sitting duck.

"Well Jan, it seems that we have won."

But the marine major was not convinced yet. His instinct were right, like always. In a flash the Giloppen destroyer had powered up weapons. Just before the Ajax fired phasers to destroy the enemy ship, a projectile was launched and searching for the target. The Ajax tumbled around. The two DS2 officers were thrown around. Conduits behind the science and engineering stations exploded. Light flashes were everywhere. Jan fast on his feet again checked the satus of the ship.

"The warp core is overloading !"

"I see it major ! Core has been ejected !"

The Ajax was still trembling. The remaining Borg cube speeded up away from the Ajax. Both officers stared at the main screen. It went black. Almost at the same time the bridge of the Ajax was replaced with the black and yellow grid.

"Louis to commander Arthur. You can now leave holodeck 2. The program seemed to have stopped just by itself."

As the XO and CO of DS2 looked at each other they both could only shake their heads. Was this nonsens or something else... On command the exit became visual. A moment later Jan and his commander examined the control panel outside the holodeck to find out who had installed this program. There was no answer. The program seemed to have never exsisted.

"Commander Arthur, this is cadet Caroline. Long Range sensors have picked up a ship. Could you or anyone else come to ops sir ? We do not exactly know what to do." 


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 7

Stardate 50162.3: Commander Arthur Personal log
Getting Deep Space 2 running seems to be to easy. Besides very advanced weapon and defense systems, sensor range is much higher and has much better resolution. Sensors picked up a starship two full days before it can detect us. It is really amazing. The EMH, who we all are already calling Doc, reported that this station has been turned inside out by people in strange Starfleet uniforms, and the fact that there were no records of the works on the station was somewhat a mistery to us. XO Jan and I were trapped in one of the holodecks in a program which seemed to be a recording from the future. That gave us the impression that this station has also been build by future Starfleet. We don't even dare to speculate. Our chief engineer had to study all new systems. None of the newly installed systems are familiar to him and nobody else for that matter. Most of the equipment and even the main computer are much more sophisticated then we are used to. Even I don't want to guess why or by whom this station was altered. Starfleet Head Quarters is not helping and I have given up to ask any more questions. So we are stuck with a futuristic station. Good enough.
The main question of all of this: WHY
End Log
DS2 Ops looked like it had always looked like that. Louis and Jan Roel studying the inner circuits of one of the science stations, another occupied by Scientist Marianne, who was teaching the two cadets. Today the entire academy package had arived from VADM John Winchester, Commanding Officer, Command College.
It was indeed a great moment for students. This could be a stage onto the next. An important "transition". The commander himself had sent a thanking message to the vice admiral. Although the communications systems were more advanced than any other commander Arthur noticed that an entire build-in relay station was integrated on DS2. At least the new chief of communications, ensign Luke, would arive soon. The new systems would be a study and a lot of work for him too. To all.
The commander had given the crew one hour break. It was needed. Some free time. Arthur thought about going to visit Holodeck 2 again. But when he arrived at the entrance, he hesitated. This was just silly.
"I tought I might find you here."

It was the major. He had that grin again. His short black hair didn't hide anything of his face. An honest face.

"Are you as intreged as I am ?"

"I am more the practical type, as you already know."

The commander decided not to enter. During this break he finally had some time to unpack his belongings in his quarters. The entire crew had not have a minute for themselves since they had arived. The quarters were really comfortable and all alike. No privileges for higher ranks. Just the way the commander liked it. HIs two favorite books were put on a little shelf above the bed. His uniforms in the closet and the only real valuable item, his little twenty second century clock found it's place on the heavy black desk. The clock still worked. Time was fragile...It was of another voice said that. Arthur was very sure he hadn't said something. It sounded so real. Instinctively he grabbed his type one phaser. There was no sound, no footstep, no breathing. Something he always had told to his new recruits, when he was a marine captain, popped up in his mind. You can have more fear when you don't know what is happening than when you know exactly what is going to happen. That was a long time ago. As he looked back at the clock he didnt here the simulated tik-tak. The clock had stopped.
Lights went out. The steady zooming of the power core had stopped. The commander tabbed his combadge. Nothing happened. The computer didn't react on voice command nor manual input. The door just didn't open. Then without any warning the lights were back on. The terminal on the desk was activated. The door was open.

"Commander, this is Jan. I am in the shuttlebay. You better see this for yourself, sir." 


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 8

At the moment commander Arthur arived in the shuttlebay, Jan was talking to ensign Louis, who was pointing at some data on the display behind the shuttlebay operating console. Both did not really understand what had happened. When the commander joined them he only got himself more questions. Main question at the moment was how this had happened. After what seemed to be a power surge, there were suddenly four runabouts in the shuttlebay. Runabouts of unknown configuration. The torpedo launchers had to make room for an extremely sophisticated shield generator. According chief engineer Louis the new compact warp engine of these runabouts made it possible to travel with the speed of warp 9.975 for more than twelve days. As the torpedo launchers were replaced, the only weapon aboard was a type four phaser, apparently only for emergencies.

"Commander, I have no idea of how these runabouts came aboard our station, but I recognise some systems of these crafts, which are only meant for reconnaissance missions. The sensor systems are very advanced."

"Major, are you still convinced this is a coincidence ?"

Arthur hit a sensitive spot of his XO. There was only one answer. This could not be a coincidence. But the answers how and why were not answered yet. The DS2 advanced sensors had not detected a thing out of the ordinary. Only the interuption of the power. Jan looked at the display again. Suddenly, a little bit confused, he turned around.

"Sir, I have checked with realais station 481 to give us the exact time, so that we could determine how long the power was gone on DS2. I thought it was for only a few moments, but my assumption was not correct. We were out for almost four and a half hour."

"How can that be ? Louis, any answers ?"

"I am as puzzled as you are sir. Maybe we should ask the Doc."

That was it. All three of them ran to the turbolift and only a moment later they pushed themselves into sickbay.

"Please state the nature ... Oh it's you again. If you can run like that you are in perfect health. You do not have to come here."

"Doc, we need something ... well actually there is something wrong with me. I have suffered from a memory loss for more than four hours."

As the EMH scanned the commanders head with the medical tricorder, he found out that his patient had told the truth. The doc couldn't give a reason for the memory loss, but he had a solution: synaptic induction. But the commander really didn't want any neurotherapy.

"Doc, I have to run this station. I have no time for this treatment, but you can tell me what has happened in these four hours and I will be more than satisfied. Maybe you can start at the point when the power on the station failed."

"Very well. When the power went back on, I was automaticly activated. As I heard a lot of strange noises, I opened the sickbay door. You know that I cannot leave sickbay. I saw the same kind of personnel running through the coridor. When I tried to stop these new crewmembers for a physical examination, they just laughed at me. I have never been more insulted than ..."

"Yes yes yes Doc. Do you know what these people were doing here ?"

"I have scanned a few of them and they were clearly humans. I do not know what they were doing. I was also locked out of the other systems of the station. And while you are here, I must say you are the last once for the physical examination. I will take some blood from you now. There is no reason to be alarmed. It won't hurt."

Before they new it, the senior staff of DS2 had supplied the doctor with their blood. They still had the same problem. Someone had entered DS2 unseen and made modifications. In this case the modifications didn't look bad, but it could have been the way around.

Red Alert ! Red Alert !
"Commander Arthur to ops. What is going on ?"

"Commander, nurse Nadine here. The station's computer has initiated red alert sir. I cannot see the reason. At least there seems to be no threat from outside the station."

Jan's eyes were wide open. He was in charge of security as well. Ensign Louis didn't think it could be a technical malfunction, but the doctor was the most surprised.

"A nurse in ops ? She has to come here and help me analyse the DNA samples of the crew. Hey ! Where are you all going ?"

Sickbay door closed and they were gone. 


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 9

Everyone except for the two engineers were at ops now. Marianne and the two cadets at one science station examining the internal sensor logs, Nadine watching the results of the latest sensor sweep, Jan at tactical and Arthur at a terminal of the main computer. The lights were out, except for the red lights. There was a lot of talking, but when the major reported that the phaser bank was fully charged and the torpedo bays were loaded, it became very quite. Nobody had given an order to activate the weapon systems. Chief engineer Louis had no explanation. There was nothing he could do. But all officers kept their minds to the job, especially the commander.

"Computer, why is red alert initiated ?"

"This is a proximity red alert. A ship has entered the proximity zone and is on a course to this station."

"That is no reason to initiate red alert, cancel it."

"This is a proximity red alert. A ship has entered the proximity zone and is on a course to this station."

"Yes you have already told me that. I am the commander of this station. Computer cancel red alert."

"Unable to comply. This is a proximity red ..."

"Yes yes yes I have heard you before. What kind of ship is it anyway. Is it cloaked ?"

"It is a Federation starship."

The surprise was station wide. What the hell was going on. Are we going to fire on our own Federation fellow officers. Ensign Louis had to move fast. The ship would be in firing range in eight hours. Louis had to shut down all weapon systems by that time. The approaching ship would not stand a chance against the DS2 armory. And there was one more thing. Ensign Luke, the new DS2 chief of communications, was aboard that ship. He was really needed. Somehow the main computer had blocked all communications from the station.

"Commander, whatever I try here won't be accepted. It is as if the main computer is running the show. We better find a way to warn our friends out there to stay away for a while."

"I know major, and better fast. Computer what is the stardate ?"

"It is now stardate 50191.4."

"At least that is still correct..."

There was no progress in engineering. One thing they could try was to rebuild the entire conduit system. That could take two years. Another thing was to cut a way to a ODN conduit, plug a terminal into the system and take over the main computer with the terminal. Ensign Louis was not sure that when all systems were shut down, life support would still be on line. Probably not. One of the last options was to destroy the main computer itself, but there was no conclusion of the consequences.

"Major, how is your flying ability at the moment ?"

"Commander sir, may I remind you that we cannot launch a runabout because the shields are at full strength and we cannot lower them."

"That is most correct, major. So we first have to lower the shields."

But Major Jan had an other idea. As these runabouts had totally new shield generators, it might be possible to just launch with the shields of the station at full strength.
Only a moment later, major Jan sat at the helm of a runabout. At the moment the small vessel came of the ground he raised the shields and without any resistance the runabout was launched. 


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 10

Stardate 50198.1: Major Jan Personal log
I have adjusted the shields of runabout DS2-Alpha to the exct frequency of the DS2 shields. This was very easy and gave me the opportunity to launch the Alpha. All communications with the Station and the runabout are lost. I have no contact, but I am sure the commander does anything he can to get control over the station again. After launch I have tried to hail the starship which is approaching, but apparently DS2 blocks my communications. I have ordered the runabout's computer to compute the time I need to get out of the communications blockout. I have exactly six minutes when I am in clear communication range of the starship. I don't know the name of the ship, nor the captain. The only thing I know is that maybe, just maybe ensign Luke, our new chief of communications is aboard that vessel. That should be reason enough to get to it. Speed is no warp 9.9. At this point I consider this an emergency and the warp 5 limit is certainly out of the question now. All systems seem to be functioning like they should. It is a bit strange, sitting here and watch the displays of strange configured stations. In a few minutes I will reach the communication range of the starship. Then I will finally know what ship it is against which the DS2 computer wants to launch an attack. Altough I am a marine, fighting is the last resort. One more minute now.

End log
Ensign Luke was getting up, still a bit sleepy. Almost two weeks now that he was a guest on the Intrepid Class USS Pennsylvania. DS2 was waiting for his arrival, but although he was very sure that the Pennsylvania was already in communication range, he had not been called yet. Maybe the communication systems of DS2 weren't operational yet. That was probably the reason the station needed him. Why had he made this choice of assignment ? It was simple really. Deep Space 2 needed not only a paint job but a energetic crew to rebuild the old station from scratch. There was a rumour in the fleet that this station was the last Starfleet facility before entering the Delta Quadrant. That was of course exagerated. The Delta Quadrant was still fourty years away from Deep Space 2. It was the imagination of the junior officers which had resulted in this rumour mill. Exploring the Delta Quadrant was not planned for another two decades. But civilians had to be put at ease. Someone told somebody else about Borg and although the Borg were beaten several times and even time travel did not help them in assimilating the human race, the word Borg still had a frightning sound. There were three officers at Luke's door.

"Enter."

Three officers jumped ensign Luke. As he resisted one of the officers landed on the floor. The other two hesitated just long enough for Luke to get out of his quarters into the corridor. Before the brave ensign could shout, he felt pain. His back was burning. He realised he was stunned by a phasershot. The moment he woke up, he was lying on the floor in the brig. He had no clue what this was about. When he asked to see the captain the guards at the other side of the forcefield only laughed.

On DS2 Commander Arthur could only tripple his effort to gain control of the station again. There had been no contact with runabout Alpha since she was launched. The DS2 XO was the best pilot in the corps. Now the next problem was to get communications bacjk on line. Louis and Jan Roel were working on a portable self supporting subspace transceiver. It was not sure it was going to work, but at the moment it was the best they could do. The computer refused to get the weapons off line. As the runabout could be followed on screen the sensors also showed the USS Pennsylvania.

"Computer, did the Pennsylvania tried to contact us ?"

"Negative."

There was another puzzle. The Starfleet vessel should at least try to contact the station. It was in communication range. When the commander had tried to establish contact with the starship, communication systems were off line according the computer. That could be the reason why they hadn't heard from the approaching ship.

Major Jan tired to contact the Pennsylvania for the third time without success. He took a last turn towards the starship heading for the shuttlebay. Suddenly the runabout trembled. The major took a quick look at the displays. He could not determine where the shocks came from.

"Computer ! Report ! What happened !"

"Runabout Alpha has been hit three times by phaser fire. Shields are holding but down to eighty percent." 


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 11

"What do you mean ensign Marianne ? Is the Pensylvania firing on our runabout ?"

"That is correct sir. Shields of the Alpha are down now to seventy percent."

Scientist Marianne looked at the sensor results again. Nadine had taken over tactical. She could only confirm what Marianne had just reported. The DS2 computer had no new data. Commander Arthur had a difficult task as it was, but this was not his idea of a change. There had to be an answer. Although Arthur didn't worry about his first officer yet, he had to admit to himself that things were getting out of hand. The type four phaser installed in the runabout was no match for the intrepid class shields. The only way to dissable the Pensylvania, or to get it to flee, was to lure the ship into firing range of Deep Space 2. But then again, the starship would be destroyed with everybody on it.

Major Jan tried to hail the Pensylvania for the last time. Shields were down to sixty percent and the starship was still firing. His evasive actions didn't help much and he knew that returning fire with the type four phaser wouldn't help much. His technical knowledge of the Intrepid Class vessel was not sufficiant to discover a weak spot. The runabout trembled again. He could outrun the Pensylvania any moment, but he would like to wait untill the last moment. He had to know what was going on.

It was also the last time ensign Luke had set foot on the USS Pensylvania. That was something he was very sure of. The two guards stood there, calm, more a bit bored. These were no Starfleet officers. It didn't feel right. The way they stood there. They looked more like ... whatever ... but not Starfleet. Because it was very quiet Luke could here the ship's phasers firing. The guards did not react. What were they firing on ? Why was he in the brig ? Then suddenly he realised that this had to be a rescue mission. To rescue him. He had to signal the rescue party. He just had to.
As the guards were not looking in his direction, Luke opened his comebadge. He couldn't do a lot, but at the academy he had tricked fellow cadets whith his comebadge before. He just had to alter the transceiving frequency so his transmitting would not be intercepted right away. As soon as he was ready, he started whispering.

"This is ensign Luke to whoever is out there. I have been imprissoned on the USS Pensylvania without reason. I suspect the ship has been taken over by ..."

Major Jan had received the message. Ensign Luke, DS2 new chief of communications. And he seemed to be in trouble. If the type four phaser could not hurt, maybe with some precision shots he could make a little hole in the shields. The runabout targetting scanners locked on to were the message was sent from and fired a concentrated burst. The Pensylvania's shields weakened at the exact spot, where the major wanted it. A few more shots would do it. He had to be carefull though. The runabout's shields were also weakening.

The USS Pensylvania shaked. At the moment the two guards jumped ensign Luke, the three of them in the holding cell were thrown on the floor. Luke was the first one to get on his feet and before they knew it the two guards were locked up in the cell behind the forcefield.

"Commander ! The major is returning fire !"

"He must know that his phaser is not going to have a lot of effect."

"He must be up to something."

"I agree Nadine. We better prepare. All hands Battlestations !"

Although Major Jan had a lock on ensign Luke he couldn't initiate transport. Both ships had their shields on. He followed Luke's vital signs. He had discovered a patern in the attack plan of the Pensylvania. It was not a Starfleet patern, but Maquis. What the hell were the Maquis doing here at the other side of the quadrant ? And how did they get hold of a starship ? Apparently the operations manager of the captured starship was not doing a good job. Instead of rerouting power to the shields to protect the little hole, he didn't. The major fired two times. the hole was there. As fast as possible he beamed up the new DS2 communications chief. To DS2, warp 9.9 engage !


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 12

Stardate 50201.6: Ensign Louis Personal log
The major was out to get some info on the approaching starship, but also to warn the vessel that DS2 was having some trouble with some systems. I asked Jan Roel to help me with the shutting down of all the systems that were installed by ... I don't know who ... I really hadn't time to think about it. Commander Arthur had already informed me before we got on this station that the first weeks, I would have nothing else to do than repairing an upgrading the systems. Now that we are here, I haven't tried anything else but shutting down all of these cursed systems, not necessary for our survival. Damn it. A moment ago I had to emergency transport ensign Jan Roel to sickbay where the EMH had to take care of him. Jan Roel was working on one of the ODN conduits, but when he tried to open the conduit behind the core status display he got an energy shock. We were lucky to be so close to him, so I could pull him away. Now only his hands were heavily burned. He could have lost both his arms. I am convinced that the EMH can fix him up in no time. Actually I need Jan Roel desperately to help me here. I may be the chief engineer of this station, but I am not a miracle man. These systems are far beyond my knowledge. We have to be very carefull not to get hurt again.
End log
As Jan Roel entered the engine room again, there was no trace of his injury at all. This Doc could do real miracles. Louis smiled. He certainly was glad that Jan Roel was OK again. But Jan roel didn't really look happy.

"Louis, I was in ops just a moment ago to report to the commander that I was found fit for duty again. Good God ... That starship was firing on the major's runabout !"

"Are you sure ?" Asked Louis in amazement.

"I saw it with my own eyes. I am telling you, there is something wrong with that starship and I think our main computer knows what this is all about, more than we do."

"Don't you think you are overreacting just a little bit ? Whatever is going on out there, we have no knowledge because communications is not accessable. We have to shut down systems to get control over this station again. And when we have, at least we can decide what to do with that starship ourself and not our main computer. So let's get back to work."

Both engineers got their bodies back under the consoles again to sort out what it was that blocked their access. The moment one of them thought he had found something, the other pointed out that the result was just the oposit. Tools changed hands, new tools were replicated, but nothing seemed to be of any use. On the contrary, the job became more and more dangerous. Louis himself had to visit the Doc two times. First with a nasty cut in his right hand and the second time with a bump on his forehead. one of the panels above his head had just fallen down. Now it was time to report the bad news to the commander.

"Engineering to commander Arthur."

"Arthur here, make it fast Louis we are busy here."

"Sir we haven't found anything yet. We need more time sir."

"Louis we have a mistery ourselves here. Report if you have something new."

"Acknowledged commander."

In DS2 ops Nadine at tactical was surrounded by the rest of the crew. Even the two cadets made themselves as tall as possible to see the viewscreen and the tactical displays at the same time. The runabout had just transported someone aboard. Commander Arthur suspected it had to be the new DS2 chief of communications, ensign Luke. The commander had asked for a communications specialist, but he didn't know who the new crewmember would be. He didn't even know who had selected and appointed ensign Luke. Luke's file had not arrived yet, and that could take a few months. So when the XO would arrive with Luke the commander would know soon enough.

"Commander ! The shields of the major's runabout are weakening !" 

The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 13

Davis felt a slight tingling sensation, and found himself lying face-up on the transporterpad of what appeared to be a runabout. For some reason his head had suddenly begun hurting, and his eyes were having trouble locking on to anything for any length of time.
As he started to rise, the craft lurched to port, but he managed to keep his footing, and move to stand behind the pilot's chair.

"Hello: they call me Luke Davis, thanks for the rescue!", he said, as his eyes began seeing things in focus again . . .

"Well they call me Major Jan. Do you happen to know anything usefull about that ship out there ?--We don't have much in the way of fire power, and our shields are at 40%.", the individual at the main console responded.

The ship shook violantly, and he amended his statement: "Make that 32%."

"I know enough to put her out of action: got any torps ?"

"Nope: no launchers."

"Ah: quite unfortunate.", Davis responded, walking to a workstation and sitting down.
"There are things we can do with these phasers, but--".

Davis was cut off by a minor explosion, and the loss of gravity.

"There go the shields; I suggest we hall our sixes out of here, while the engines still work.", Major Jan said as he moved towards the rear of the craft, and a console that still worked.

"You may have a point there.", Luke said, picking him self off of the deck for the third time in one day.

As the phasers locked on for what would have been the final shot for the nearly helpless runabout, their target flashed to warp 8.5. Seconds later, the Pennsylvania accellerated to warp 9 to over take, but the runabout went to maximum speed, which was slightly too fast for the larger ship.

Commander Arthur had already seen his XO tactics before. The DS2 computer had identified the Starship as the USS Pennsylvania, Intrepid Class. Arthur didn't need any communication with the major to know what he was doing. To get that starship in firing range of DS2, in which case there would be a better position to talk about terms. The marine major was not the only one who had recognised the maneuvers of the Pennsylvania as Maquis maneuvers. His commanding officer wasn't exactly blind.

"Nadine, when is the Pennsylvania in firing range ?"

"Six minutes, fifteen seconds sir."

At that moment chief enginner Louis contacted ops to report that the transporters were on line again. He did not have any clue of how it had happened. Jan Roel and he were trying to get the phaser subprocessor off line. They were still working on it.

"Why are the transporters on line ?", whispered the commander only heard by himself. His thoughts continued the line. "Everything on this station seems to be fixed from the moment we have arrived here." What could we do with transporters ? Jan had a luxorious time to dock on the station before the Pennsylvania could get him."

"ETA runabout Alpha in four minutes, Pennsylvania in firing range in five minutes."

Nadines voice was the only sound in the silent operations center. That brought a few memories back. The commander of Deep Space 2 was once a marine captain who was the only one who could retaliate on the enemy. Jan was down, heavily hurt and Nadine taking care of him. The sand pit they were in didn't have a lot of cover ... the memory faded away.

"Alpha in docking position in one minute. Starship in firing range in two minutes and thirty seconds.", reported Nadine and she added: "Sir, I suggest that we take out the starship before it can shoot at us."

"Nadine", commander Arthur jumped forward, "when is that starship in transporter range ?"

"Sir ?" A moment of surprise. "About now sir..."


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 14

"Engineering. Is it possible to transport life forms of the Pennsylvania through their shields with these advanced transporters ?", the commander apparently had an idea.

"Ensign Louis here sir. We could use the transponder codes of the Pennsylvania to lower the starship's shields. We have the codes. We can use them any time."

As he nodded to Nadine at tactical commander Arthur gave permission to use the transponder codes. But when the codes were used, nothing happened. The Maquis probably had disconnected or changed the transponder system. At the same moment the major's runabout came to a full stop. The shields were to weak to force the Alpha into the shuttlebay through the station's shields.

"Sir, the Pennsylvania is now in torpedo firing range. Sir I said ..."

"I have heard you ensign ! We need a way first to get the people of that ship first. We don't know who they are exactly and what is going on. We need answers and they are the only ones who can give them to us. An Intrepid Class vessel is no match for this station. They cannot hurt us." As the commander tapped his combadge he continued to speek: "Louis how is the progress on the transporters ?"

"Sir our shields are down !", Nadine interupted.

"Sir, Louis here. Something very strange happened. The shields were down for only half a second. Runabout Alpha was pulled into the shuttlebay with a tractor beam. It happened awfully fast. Nothing like that, I have seen before."

Nadine confirmed that the shields were back up. The Pennsylvania was closing in. Within twenty seconds the starship would be in the range of the DS2 phaser. Nor Nadine at tactical, nor the two engineers could prevent that the phaserbank was getting fully charged. They had to do something now, if they wanted to save anybody on that ship. The time for the last suggestions had come. During this silence in ops, it was possible to hear everyones heart beat.

"Attention commander Arthur, this is the EMH in sickbay. I have just dismissed two of you officers, who had only minor injuries. I have the impression that there are crewmembers on this station who try anything to ..."

"We're kind of busy here Doc," the commander had not been disturbed, "please call me later on the subject."

Before the Doc could say "very well" the channel was closed. The USS Pennsylvania was now an easy target for the weapons of Deep Space 2. Although the targetting scanners were locked on the starship, no weapon fired. Then Deep Space 2 was in the firing range of the Pennsylvania. The Maquis seemed to hesitate.

"That's it ! Of Course !", shouted the major who was entering ops with a new officer.

Without turning around the commander agreed. The Maquis wanted to board the station and take it over. To transport to the station they had to lower their shields. At that moment the DS2 crew could take action ... at least if the DS2 computer would let them. But now there was a little problem. The shields of the station were up.

"Mister Davis, welcome aboard. We can do introductions later." and as the commander pointed to the communications station he added: "I have the impression that you don't have to be instructed about the situation. Nadine, you, Marianne and the cadets prepare cargo bay 1 for receiving our guests from the Pennsylvania. Install a containment field in which they can be transported. Neutralise all their weapons."

As the XO took over tactical, Luke installed himself at the station which would be his to control. Communications were of line.

"The Pennsylvania has come to a stop at exactly ten thousand kilometers from the station. Scanners indicate a large group is gathering in the transporter rooms." then the XO showed some confusion: "I have the impression sir, that they don't see that our shields are up."

"We cannot control our shields, Jan. But if they can't see them ... try to get a lock on as many as you can in case we can get them in the cargo bay. Ensign Luke, any progress ?"

"Sorry sir. Communications don't seem to be under our control. I'll try some tricks."

Ensign Luke just said that without any emotion. Or at least he didn't show it. The shields of the Pennsylvania were down. The shields of DS2 were down almost simultaneously. The DS2 CO looked at his first officer. The major wanted to push some buttons, but the crewmembers of the Pennsylvania were alredy beamed over in cargo bay 1.

"Everything on this station is fixed", wispered commander Arthur, "and we cannot change it." The transport was complete. Shields were back up. The Pennsylvania exploded in one huge ball of fire. Autodestruction ... 


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 15

There had been nothing they could have done. The Pennsylvania was gone. Sensor logs indicated that no one was aboard when the ship blew itself up. The logs also indicated that the autodestruct sequence was initiated by the former commanding officer of the ship, Starfleet captain Sjankovitch. The Maquis had installed a network of conduits to delay the autodestruct sequence. The hold up by the major and his runabout consumed to much time and the Maquis had to act quickly. Now they were gathered in cargo bay 1.

"Stand down red alert !"

Commander Arthur was already on his way out of ops, when he addressed ensign Luke to send a message to Starfleet to inform them of the current situation. Communications were still off line. The major followed his friend to cargo bay 1.
As the two officers entered the cargo bay they were very pleased with the prison in which the Maquis were held. A forcefield across the cargo bay prevented anyone to escape. A few portable food generators had been installed and blankets had been distributed. As ensign Nadine reported that the prisoners had been secured, the major signaled to his commanding officer that there were only men in this group. No women at all. Arthur decided to install guards and let the computer handle the security of the new installed prison. He really didn't have the manpower to assign a security detail on this group. As the commander approached the forcefield an elderly grey haired man stepped forward. He was Bajoran. The commander spoke first.

"That was a glorious defeat." he said, a bit mocking the other. "But you must know that you did not have a chance to begin with."

The Bajoran just stared him in the eyes.

"Are we going to stare at each other the rest of the day, or do you want to tell me something ?"

"I am not going to tell you anything.", the first words of the Bajoran who seemed to be the leader of this Maquis group. The others nodded their heads supporting that thought.

"Sorry to hear that. I wanted to ask you whether you wanted me to notify your family or anyone else to tell them that you are all right."

The Commander signaled that except for the XO Starfleet personnel, including cadets, had to leave the cargo bay and should carry on with their duties. Some Maquis started whispering among each other. The commander had touched a sensitive spot: family. The bajoran raised his hand and they were silent again.

"You are just trying to trick us," said the Bajoran in disbelieve.

"There is no need for us to trick you. I am afraid you have no secrets."

"Another trick !"

"Whatever you say mister Bajoran." and turning towards the major commander Arthur continued."XO I think it is time to expand our view. You are going on patrol, take someone with you. I want you launched in ten minutes. We have to have a look how close the Giloppen are. You know I don't like surprises."

Before the major could say "Yes sir, Commander sir", the Maquis whispering started again and this time the old Bajoran could not stop it. The word 'Giloppen' had certainly woke them up. One of them in the back even spoke aloud, but a hand on his mouth shut him up. Then it was silent again. Shaking his head, the commander turned around and followed his XO out of the cargo bay, only to have a quick look over his shoulder to say:"I'll be back."

The DS2 computer would monitor all movements and talks by the Maquis. And when they were ready to talk, they would let him know. With the Maquis not going anywhere, they would only talk among themselves when they were convinced that no Starfleet was around. Time would be the most important factor. At the end the Maquis would crack.
Major Jan didn't have much choice. Nadine was in sickbay, the enigeers in engineering, studing the new systems, Luke working on the communication systems and monitoring the Maquis. Ensign Marianne teaching the cadets ... The major had to go alone. Commander Arthur agreed. They could not afford to send personnel out.
First objective of the patrol was to follow the bounderies of the station's sensor range. With the new installed sensor array on the runabouts they could increase DS2 sensor range with one third. Ensign Jan Roel would take some time to repair the damaged Alpha, and the major already selected the Beta runabout for his mission.

"We don't know what to expect yet," the commander was taking no risks, "so you have to stay in DS2 sensor range. Don't be a hero."

"You don't have to tell me that."

"Remember we cannot communicate directly so you have to use the movement codes to tell us what you see."

In the early days of the Cardassian war the commander had develloped a movement system in case communications were out. It was a kind of movement in a certain patterns. Like the bees were using to pass on information. This system had saved many lives and so had proved to be very effective.
Two minutes later DS2 runabout Beta was spaceborn.


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 16

The major took the last turn, trusters switching to this new incredible warp propulsion. Warp 5 as the general orders allowed. There was no telling what to expect, but the major was alone. No communications with the station. Only he was able to tell the others of his findings. These sensors were great. Now up to the unknown. The edge of DS2 sensor range. Continue scanning for anything what could indicate a danger. That was the first priority. The rest could wait, unless something extraordinary came up. Automatics were installed and used.

"Computer, I need something to eat."

"Please specify request."

"Yeah, that was stupid of me, wasn't it. I would like a one person portion of pizza, with all necessary suplemental nutritions."

It tasted a lot better than those emergency rations, but it wasn't exactly a pizza either. Those damn replicators. Maybe it was indeed usefull to specify all ingredients. Still with his mouth full, major Jan, went to the living part of the runabout. It was not the usual comfortable runabout living section, but more a spartan room with a few chairs and a table. Two terminals logged in into the Beta's computer were visual from all sides in the room. Beta ... They should create some other names for the runabouts. Something like Explorer or Investigator. Jan had to talk about that with the commander when he got back. Now he allowed himself to rest for one hour. This mission would be a non-sleep mission for about two or three days. As usual the sphere of sensor range of DS2 had to be divided into parts. First part was mission one. There were six parts, six missions, of three or four days each. It was more of a charting or mapping mission. Have alook in the direction of the Delta Quadrant. See what's out there. Probably nothing yet. Not even a star system close enough to investigate.

"Scanning indicate a star system, bearing 240. A red dwarf system with six planets."

"Computer, is there any M-class planet in the system ?"

The major jumped on his feet and sat down at the helm in just a moment. As he looked at the displays the data came in. The second planet was an M-class planet indeed. But as the star system was out of the DS2 sensor range, the major had to take the Beta out of DS2 sensor range to have a look. He started the moving code pattern.

It was the commander himself who noticed the Beta's moving pattern. M-class - go. That was all. Repeated five times. A moment later the runabout was out of sensor range. That moment commander Arthur only could think that the major had to know what he was doing. He didn't entirely agree, but if Jan needed more information and he could only gather the data by getting closer, he couldn't really object. He couldn't object anyway. After a day's work, communications were still off line. Although there didn't seem to be something wrong with the system, as ensign Luke already had explained ten times. Everything should work.

Once out of DS2 sensor range, the runabout speeded strait on to the new uncharted system. As the major came closer it was obvious there was no life on the second planet. At least no advanced life forms. No satelites in orbit, no complicated infrastructure. Only some plant life widely spread out over the planet. Closer, more data, closer, more data. No change. No respons to hails. That was to be expected. Finally in orbit. Sub surface scans, one kilometer, two kilometers, ten kilometers below surface. No, this planet was dead. Maybe a wrong expression. This planet could be a nice place to spend easy and undisturbed vacations...
Waite a minute ! This planet had some strange craters. Not likely caused by meteors. Electrical storms were more likely. The major decieded to beam down the planet's surface. He had to see this with his own eyes. He already could imagine the commander's face when the runabout logs showed that he had visited this planet. He had seen that face before...
Now he was standing on the surface, one hundred meters away from one of the huge craters. The tricorder, linked to the runabout's computer, gathered the data as it should, but then without any warning ... magnetic resonance traces ... They were here ! He should have known. The place, the time, the pattern ... Not long ago ! They ... Holy ... The major had to get out of there ! The last thing he needed was a bunch of wild Borg on his neck.


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 17

"Come on Gerd, what's the point. They already know."

It was one of the younger Maquis who had spoken. But an elder man sitting next to him hit him in the face. It was silent again. The Maquis realised that at least one Starfleet officer was monitoring their conversations. They hadn't had a visitor or a guard in thirty hours. Some of the younger men in the group were now difficult to control. They had been under a great amount of stress lately. Speeding through space at high warp, trying to delay the autodestruct sequence. It had been rough. And then when they finally had arrived at the target, a small little tiny runabout just blocked their way. Some of the former Starfleet officers who joined the Maquis and this group, explained that they were lucky to be alive at all. That team on that runabout was trained in rescue missions. All of them agreed that that was what the runabout came for. As the Maquis had planned to present this ensign Luke as a hostage, he was the one who was rescued. A very nice job of speciallists. As these former Starfleet officers also explained that the XO of this station wore a Starfleet Marine uniform, things seemed to become more clear. This had been a trap. They had been betrayed. But how ?

"Maybe you are right," said the elder man who was called Gerd, "I am beginning to think we are betrayed."

It was the first time the word had been spoken out aloud. Many already were convinced that they were. If that runabout had fired torpedos on them, they would have been whiped out in a blink of an eye. Typical Starfleet. Don't shoot to kill. But the fact that they were here, now captured by Starfleet could only mean one thing. Although the DS2 Starfleet officers really hadn't a clue yet, what the Maquis were doing at this side of the quadrant, all of the Maquis were now convinced that they had been betrayed. They had chosen the wrong side in this "still to come" conflict. They had been used. They all spoke up now until Gerd raised his hand. A tall man close to Gerd, used to be a lieutenant in Starfleet. His name was Opal and he was just addressed with Al.

"What are we going to do now Gerd ? I sure want to kick those Giloppen's asses."

"Look Al, we are not really in a position to kick anyone. You have heard the commander of this station. It seems that they were expecting us and even more they are expecting the Giloppen. You have all seen what the Giloppen can do. We have seen their technology. These Starfleet officers are not even nervous talking about the Giloppen. We are. And we should be the Giloppen's friends."

"It seems that we are not any more", said a young man at the back.

"Look," Gerd continued, "there is no use in seeking revenge now. Starfleet will of course be notified of our actions and we will be picked up and brought to trial. I don't see much that we can do."

"Yeah and all of that because of those damned Giloppen. We should have never listened to them.", said the man at the back again.

"What do you think Al ? You were a tactical officer on a starship ?"

"Well, as I understand it, this commander sent only one runabout on patrol to have a look whether there are Giloppen in the neighbourhood. We had a lot of shots at one of those runabouts, and our phaser fire did not hurt it much. Either these Starfleet officers are of a kind we have never seen before, or they are completely nuts."


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 18

"Beta, one to beam up fast !"

Major Jan materialised on the runabout's transporter pad. He almost took a dive into the helm seat. The Beta's computer had nothing to report. Good heavens ... Jan felt his heart beat in his throat. He had not felt this way for a long time. Action. He started a sensor sweap of the entire star system. Four minutes to complete scan. In this case the runabout's speed could be a huge advantage. If there were Borg out there, he could at least take a run for it. If the Borg would hit him, he sure had not much of a chance. The Borg, so close to Federation space. Who would have thought about that. Two minutes to complete scan. there was nothing in sensor range, but the major's instincts told him he was not save yet. Was he sweating ? That had been ages ago. One minute to complete scan. When there is nothing there, I have nothing to report, were Jan's thoughts, except then of course the second planet in this system, which has ...

"Objects found in orbit of first planet."

"What kind of objects ?"

"Scanning indicates the objects are the remains of a ship."

"What kind of ship.", the major was getting very impatient, "computer, speculate if necessary."

"There is a ninety percent chance that the objects are the remains of a Borg cube formed ship. There are no life signs. The objects have now moved to the other side of the first planet."

"On Screen. So that's why I haven't noticed this before. The first planet has hidden this Borg ship wreckage."

Major Jan plotted a course to move the Beta in transporter range. But there was not much to transport too. Through the little windows he could see the parts of what once was a Borg cube. Moving closer and flying between the pieces, he saw that there was nothing he could do here. The largest piece was about two meters long. If this was the work of those Giloppen, the borg had found a new powerfull enemy. Just for a moment, Jan thought about the holodeck program in which the commander and he had been trapped, not so long ago. He had seen the Giloppen just playing with the Borg. Even if that was a recording of the future, these Giloppen could be already very powerful now. This had to be reported. But then the computer identified some wreckage pieces as Giloppen. So this computer already knew about the Giloppen too. Apperantly the Borg defended themselves well. Maybe there were more Giloppen. Maybe three or four. Maybe a huge swarm of Giloppen. Good heavens ... Always presume the worst ... Let's get back now !
As the DS2 XO plotted a course back to the station, he was not really happy of what he had found. The Borg had destroyed an entire civilisation and then had a beating themselves. All of this was to close to home...

"Three Giloppen scout ships approaching, bearing 231 mark 5, heading 210 mark 2."

"Directly to DS2 ... Shields up ! Maximum warp !" 


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 19

"And I don't want anyone get hurt this time Louis, understood ?"

"Aye commander. But I can't make any promisses."

This was maybe the tenth time the two DS2 engineers ended up in sickbay. And then the commander hadn't counted all those times nurse Nadine helped one or even both of them to heal some minor injuries. But there was some progress. Louis and Jan Roel had been able to get control over the shields and weapon systems. Although it was not really clear whether the DS2 main computer released control to the engineers or the engineers got control themselves. While ensign Luke was still working to get the communications on line, he also had been monitoring the Maquis prisoners. These Maquis were convinced that the DS2 crew new all about the Giloppen and their plans. By talking about it they revealed a lot more than they realised. So the Giloppen were comming.
Chief engineer Louis already had made a portable holoprojector for the Doc. It seemed necessary at this time. The Doc spend more time in engineering then in sickbay. The Doc being portable had another advantage. When the station would be visited again by those who now were called the Ajax crew, the Doc could sneak around and spy.

"Commander this is Louis we have found something very strange here. Maybe you should come down here and have a look yourself sir."

As Arthur ran again to the nearest turbolift for the seventh time that day, he was considdering to rebuild this station. From every system to every bulkhead. When Louis called him like that, he usually found a strange complex junction in some conduit, of which he could not explain what it was for. This time it was different. This time the technology used in the conduit was recognisable. It was Klingon. What the hell was klingon technology doing on this station ? And what was this box for ? Louis thought he new the answer.

"Sir, this is Klingon stuff, but I could only recognise it by a few of it's components. Do you see this subprocessor. It has a small display."

"Come to the point Louis," Arthur interupted, "I can recognise the Klingon signs on the display. Do you have any clue what it is for yet ?"

"We think that it is a cloaking device of some sort."

Commander Arthur, well aware of the Treaty of Algeron, wanted to remove the device, but was stopped by Louis. The chief engineer did care about the treaty too, but removing the device could be dangerous. Touching the device could result in electrical bursts on the hands or tools, which would have the same result: burns. There was nothing they could do. It was getting very frustrated. You can look but not touch or talk about it to Starfleet. That was it. Someone else had the reign in his hands.
When Arthur was on his way back to ops, it happened again. Lights went out. But this time there was something different. The commander heard music. An old song he knew all to well ...

When they all are gone
And only few are left
There is nothing left to fight for
But the battle will be won

Lights were back on, power was up and the first systems had been checked. The Doc could only confirm that there were again visitors on the station. They worked in egineering and left after two hours and fifteen minutes. That was it. At the time the Doc had finished his report, it was chief engineer Louis again who called the commander in sickbay.

"Commander, I am really sorry, but could you please come to engineering. The Klingon cloacking device we had just found ... it has been replaced." 


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 20

"Computer, did the Giloppen change course to intercept the Beta ?"

The answer was no. The three Giloppen scout ships just stayed on course to the station. At warp three they would arive at DS2 in two days. So if the major could get home before that, the crew could get ready. Altough the Giloppen sensors must have detected the runabout, they did not make any attempt to go in pursuit. Further more they seem not to have noticed that they had been scanned. As runabout Beta was speeding to DS2 with warp 9.75, the major started to study the sensor logs. There had to be more information about those scout ships in the logs. Interesting design, some kind of plasma weapon, nice shields too. But this would take a few weeks for our engineers to figure out.

"Red Alert !"

"Computer, how can we have a red alert on a runabout with only one person aboard. This is not a starship.", the major was really getting anoyed with computers taking over all of the systems.

"The Giloppen have changed course and are now in pursuit. All three scout ships have increased their speed to overtake the Beta in on hour, sixteen minutes."

Good heavens ! Major Jan increased to maximum warp: 9.85. It was no use. The Giloppen increased speed even more and were now at his tail to catch up with him in fifty two minutes. That was not enough time to get the runabout to DS2, but it was time enough to get himself into DS2 sensor range. If he could send a move code message, at least the station would be warned and the commander could get ready to beat the ...

"Warning structural integrity will be failing in one hour and thirty minutes."

Well ... That would not exactly matter. This runabout was not going to live that long anyway. At least when those Giloppen had their way. But what was their way ? Maybe he should talk to them. Couldn't hurt. If they had something like cutting him to bits in mind, it wouldn't matter. As Jan opened a channel to hail the Giloppen, there was no answer. Nobody home, right. All Jan could say was that he tried. As he rerouted all power to propulsion, standard procedure. Warp 9.89. That was all.

"Warning structural integrity will be failing in one hour and fifteen minutes."

"Computer cancel all warnings about structural integrity until further notice."

As the major programmed the maneuvers, which would make it clear that the enemy was close by, he also looked at the sensor logs again. Maybe he could add a code about the weapons of the scout ships. Apperantly these ships had only one plasma emitter, which could fire only ones in twelve seconds. As he computed his shield capacity to compaire with these weapons, there was only one shot needed to blow his runabout to eternity. Not really a nice prospect. Only a miracle would do the trick. Ten minutes to the DS2 sensor range. Thirty five minutes before the Giloppen would catch up with him. The Major had decided that as soon as he had finished the code moves, he would wait for the Giloppen to hold them up a bit. If he would go down, it would be with style. Memories popped up.

When they all are gone
And only few are left
There is nothing left to fight for
But the battle will be won

Hey ! He knew that song. That was commander Arthur's favorite song. But how...

"Computer, Mark."

"Maneuvers initiated."

That was it. The movements of the runabout followed a certain pattern, which actually formed a message. There was nothing more he could do. Up to DS2. Getting as close as possible. The major had about twenty five minutes. The station would be in the runabout's sensor range by that time. Just enough to have a last look at DS2... 


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 21

There was no change in the situation. The major had thought about logging in a last personal log, but didn't. It sounded so final. There had to be a way to get out of this. But what ? Within a few minutes the DS2 Beta runabout sensors would pick up the station. Although there was no way to get to the station before the Giloppen caught up with him, the major looked forward of seeing the station. A few days alone in this little vessel, had made him see that there was more than friendship between a crew on board a Starfleet facility far away from head quarters. If he could reroute all power to the shields before he got hit, it was possible to save some energy. All power included life support. So to overcome that problem, the major already had one of the emergency life support suits close by. If it really was the only way, he would transport himself in space as far away as possible.

"Deep Space 2 has not been detected. Please verify coordinates."

The major looked at the sensor output display. No station ! It was gone ! He checked the coordinates. They were correct. Then it was to late. What in the name of ... Maybe the sensors had a malfunction. While running a diagnostic, the DS2 XO noticed that the Giloppen were dangerously close now. Three enemy scout ships didn't really sound very fair. Everything was ready to receive the new guests. Evasive maneuvers had been programmed, with one push on a button he could switch all power from propulsion to the shields. He would give those scouts a run for their money.

"No malfunction detected in the sensor array."

"Thank you, but I already presumed they were OK."

Wait a minute ... What was that ? It looked like a torpedo. The major checked again. There was a torpedo comming in. Good heavens. Where did it come from ? The quantum torpedo crossed the course of the runabout and speeded up directly at the three scout ships. There was another torpedo and another one...

"Torpedos away.", said Nadine, almost shouting.

"Commander, this is Louis. The trusters are at maximum. This is all I can give you."

"Good enough Louis. We have them now. Luke try to get the Beta on any channel."

"Sir, there seems to be an energy field around the station which blocks communications. There is nothing wrong with the system itself. I can't shut down the field."

"Commander this is Louis again. The cloaking device is functioning. I have no idea though how long or what and why."

"No problem, Louis. As long as it works."

"Sir," reported Nadine at tactical, "torpedo launchers one and two are firing torpedos continuesly. It is totally out of my control. There is nothing I can do."

The commander was standing right behind her. Ensign Marianne looked over her shoulder to the two cadets, who were standing close to the turbolift, a little pale. Marianne tried to ease her pupils by allowing herself a little smile. Then she concentratred on the runabout again. As soon as the Beta was in transporter range she would try to beam the major out.

"Contact !"

The first torpedos hit their targets. Minor shield damage, moderate shield damage, target one destroyed, weapons array disabled, moderate dorsal shield damage, target two destroyed, shields failing, target three destroyed. The firing had stopped. Tactical analysis.

"We needed twelve quantum torpedos for target one, eleven for target two and eleven for target three. Commander may I remind you that these ships were identified as only scout ships."

"Yes Ensign Nadine, we all know what scout ships are for. Cancel red alert."

"Commander," Luke almost shouted overjoyed, "communications are on line and working perfectly."


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 22

As Deep Space 2 was decloaking, the major didn't believe his eyes. He looked at the sensor readings again and had to confirm, what his sensor displays showed. The station not only had decloaked, but had also moved. Moved a large distance.

"Runabout Beta, this is DS2, do you read ?"

"DS2 ! Great to hear from you, mister Luke."

DS2 had moved with eight trusters of an unknown design, which produced almost full impuls power. At the same time the tractor beam pulled the major's runabout in, engineers Louis and Jan Roel had already discovered that the station's trusters could develop such a speed, without compromising the hull, because of a force field around the station. There was no conclusion for the problem of getting control of the systems. At this moment the DS2 main computer seemed to run the station. The why-question was still unsolved.
Commander Arthur was looking at the messages which had come in but could not be read yet. One of the last messages was from VADM John Winchester about promotions of officers on Deep Space 2. So Arthur made a promotion list of the DS2 officers. He had to admit that they all deserved it.

Arthur, Captain
Jan, Lieutenant-Colonel
Luke, Commander
Louis, Lieutenant Junior Grade
Marianne, Lieutenant Junior Grade
Nadine, Lieutenant Junior Grade
Jan Roel, Lieutenant Junior Grade

There were some other messages about Starfleet and the Dominion, bad messages, but there was nothing they could do here, at the other side of the quadrant. But it could mean that the next visitors could be expected much later than originally planned.
At the senior staff meeting, now captain Arthur explained that the sophisticated changes of the station were most likely accomplished by someone of the future. He couldn't really explain, but it seemed logical enough to everybody. Even Marianne had to admit that at this moment, she had no other scientific explanation. Although the changes to the station were futuristic, they would change the time continuum, so every change would change the ones who made the changes. So because of the continuation of changes, this could only mean that there was no change in the time continuum. Assuming all of this was correct, there would be more Giloppen to come. And the next time they would not come with a few scout ships.
Later when the captain had asked commander Luke into his office, there were some things to clear up. The captain had not received a record of commander Luke.

"I have no idea, captain," Luke replied, "none whatsoever. I got my assignment from an admiral in Starfleet head quarters, with a special note that my assignment came from above. That is also probably why I made commander so fast. That is all I can tell you. I thought you might have talked to some friends at Starfleet head quarters to get me on DS2."

"No, I didn't," and the captain continued, "The only record I got from Starfleet, was your name and the special note that if I didn't accept you, it would be considered very foolish. And that is exactly the only thing I had. I have no record or anything else."

"So you don't know who send me here either ?" Luke was not really reacting emotionally. Rather cool, almost Vulcan.

"Well, it doesn't really matter. You are here now, and we need you. So get to work."

The DS2 chief of communications, nodded and without looking back he left the office. Arthur had to think about this another time. The Starfleet Dominion confrontation wasn't exactly what he would call a very happy meeting. But at the moment there was nothing he could do. It all seemed so far away.

"Sir this is junior lieutenant Louis," Louis used his new rank for the first time, "we have calculated our new position. We have traveled 16 milion kilometers in 66 hours. It's incredible captain. That equals the distance we would travel at full impulse."

If they hadn't, they never could have saved the major ... lieutenant-colonel ... 


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 23

Stardate 50211.4: Captain Arthur Personal log
A cloaking device, moving the station with trusters which have impulse power and all of that beyond our control. Although we now have control of most systems, including communications, the main computer still controls our offensive and defensive systems. The station at it's new position is now a little bit closer to the Delta Quadrant. Some of the latest Starfleet messages are comming in. Most of the messages are more than two weeks old and have no meaning at all. Commander Luke is doing a great job. He was also able to find files in the DS2 computer memory which were downloaded from the USS Pennsylvania. The commander is still investigating these files. Luke is still a puzzle. The Doc has just contacted me to tell me that our new chief of communications is not entirely human.
End Log
"Come in."

"I thought you were going to have a night's sleep, captain", said Jan when he entered the captain's office.

The lieutenant-colonel handed over a padd on which the captain could read the new patrol roster. At this moment runabout Delta was getting back and would be replaced by the Alpha which was repaired and one hundred percent ready to go. Next four day patrol would be under command of junior lieutenant Marianne. She would take the two cadets with her so they would have some real time experience. They could also study some phenomena, if they would be encountered. If there was any possability to intercept or detect the Giloppen before they would enter the station's sensor range, it should be taken. If there were more crewmembers on DS2, captain Arthur would order two patrols at the same time on oposite sides of the sensor sphere. The captain offered his first officer a seat.

"It could be long before the Giloppen come again. The scout ships have probably informed their fleet that we are here. They will most likely come, and in large numbers. Starfleet has enough problems with the Dominion to assist us in this matter. My guess is that we are on our own."

"So our Starfleet friends are going to miss all the fun.", there was that grin again on Jan's face, which told more than his words.

"I am afraid that Starfleet has it's own fun at the other side of the quadrant."

The Deep Space 2 XO had already read the last reports. There was nothing they could do here. At first the engineers wanted to install a torpedo launcher on the runabouts, but it would take to much time. It was no use. During studying the highly advanced systems on the station, both engineers made only minimal progress. Even the captain himself was amazed of what this station could do. Reading all kinds of files from the computer library didn't make anyone wiser. Most of the files were not accessable and protected with security lock outs.

"Commander Luke to captain Arthur."

"Go ahead."

"As you know, this station is also functioning as a communications relays station. Aparently we are relaying received messages."

"I know that commander."

"Yes sir, but we are relaying those messages towards the Delta Quadrant. Communication logs confirm that these messages have been received by some Federation facility outside our sensor range in the direction of the Delta Quadrant. There should not be such a facility. DS2 is the last Federation station on the way to the Delta Quadrant." 


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 24

"Marianne, you are scheduled next to go on patrol. Cadets Caroline and Thomas will be assigned to this patrol too. That you already knew. But as commander Luke discovered something that could be a Federation facility, you should concentrate your investigation towards that direction. Locate the destination of the relayed messages. The commmander will instruct you further. Now the last thing, and I don't have to tell you this, it could be a ghost or even a trap. So be carefull. At the first sign of trouble get out of there. Dismissed."

As the Alpha was space born, captain Arthur visited Jan and the engineers in engineering. Although most secrets of the new systems were still unsolved, a little progress had been made. As the captain entered engineering, he took his XO to the coridor.

"I have heard the song.", the captain said and Jan didn't need more explanation.

"I was thinking about it on my way here."

"This can't be a coincidence that I heard the song just at the moment all systems failed again and we had visitors again. Someone send me a message."

"There are not many who remember ...", said Jan.

"They say a handfull still survived.", completed Arthur.

To both it was clear that this incident also had to do with the holodeck program in which both of them had been trapped, when they just arived on the station. Now there were more and more clues. If the message came indeed from the future, it could only mean that this ship, the Ajax, was one of the last Federation ships. That would mean that these Giloppen probably would take advantage of the fact that the Federation fleet was getting weak in the confrontation with the Dominion. The Giloppen would have a free go at this side of the quadrant. Jan and Arthur realised that there was much more to getting new weapon systems, extra shielding and and a cloaking device. This station could fire while it was cloaked and shields were up. The two senior officers of Deep Space 2 agreed that all of this was against more than one treaty, but there was not much of a choice. The question of informing the DS2 crew, was put aside. There was nothing conclusive. Evermore it was only speculation at this time. There still was the paradox of changing history. DS2 had destroyed the Giloppen scout ships. That would probably not have happened in the other time line. So this ship, the Ajax, could well be somewhere else or in a different situation. Maybe the Giloppen would not come now and stay away.
A visit to the captured Maquis didn't really clear up things. The captain had already ordered commander Luke to inform Starfleet to come and get those Maquis. The USS Malden was the closest ship and would arrive in about three days.

"Commander Luke to captain Arthur. You wanted to be informed about the Alpha's reports. The Alpha has just reported all is proceding normally.", Sometimes Luke sounded like a machine. But he was certainly not.

"Acknowledged commander, thank you."

And then the lights went out ... again.


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 25

"Lieutenant, it is time to contact the station. Can I do it ?", always ambitious Caroline had taken the opertunity on the Alpha to prove that she was more than a Starfleet cadet.

Marianne nodded and imediately recognised herself in Caroline. She had that same drive and wouldn't stop before she got what she wanted. Her promotion to junior lieutenant was very welcome indeed and it made her very proud. As she concentrated on the course the Alpha was following, Caroline reported that she had to try three times before she got junior lieutenant Nadine at the station. Nadine had reported that ten minutes ago all systems of the station had failed again and that the senior staff was investigating an object at starboard side. Nadine was not allowed to talk about the object. The patrol however had to continue as planned.

Soon the Alpha would be out of sensor range and the only way of contact would be subspace channels. At least communications of the station was working now. There was no way of telling what the Alpha would discover. Time was an important factor. There was a lot to do and to see. The cadets had to study warp technology and this was a perfect time to do some experiments with the new propulsion systems. As for Marianne this was more a trip to relax, but the two cadets had to work hard. Sometimes, during their break, Marianne told stories of the time she was at the academy. The stupid practical jokes of the boys, all the writing and reporting, but also the flying. Marianne was the first cadet of her year who could do the Immelmann turn perfectly. The academy flight range was the most exciting place to be at the academy.

"Good heavens. What is that !", said lieutenant-colonel Jan.

"It is only a projection, Jan", an as always scientific explanation by commander Luke.

"But where is the projection come from ?"

"I cannot locate the source, Jan. There is to much interference."

"Can't you make a guess ?", asked the DS2 first officer.

"Of course I could speculate, but gambling would probably not lead to a correct conclusion.", and Luke continued, "Sensors can produce an image of what is inside."

"Computer locate captain Arthur."

"Captain Arthur is in his quarters."

Jan and Luke looked at each other. Who was going to wake up the captain ? This was to important. Jan decided to call captain Arthur himself. Although this was the first period of decent sleep for the captain, but he was in ops in no time. He had been already wakened by the EMH, who reported that the station had visitors again. When he returned to his quarters he first checked on things to verify what the Doc had told him. It was wise to tell only the captain and not the rest of the crew. As the Doc had run around the station with his portable holoprojector to see as much of the strange visitors as he could, he noticed just before the enrgy cell was empty, a man who looked a lot like captain Arthur, only a lot of years older. Even the Doc could not reject the resemblance. Just before the energy cell failed, that man turned towards the Doc and smiled. He saluted with his hand against his head, like in the twenty first century. Then the Doc was back in sickbay. As he described the uniforms to Arthur, they looked like starfleet uniforms, but the Doc had noticed some changes. The rank pips were now below the left side of the collar. The older man seemed to be a vice admiral.

"So, what is the reason for waking me up. I was a sleep at last.", said the captain when he entered ops through the turbolift doors. He didn't say anything about the Doc. Maybe later.

Commander Luke and XO Jan pointed at the main screen, both at the same time. 


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 26

The two DS2 cadets were asleep in their quarters. Time for Marianne to have some time for herself. With Tchaikovski's First Piano Concerto filling the control room of runabout Alpha she sipped her hot milk. Flight controls were on automatic, still on a course following the directions calculated by commander Luke. Luke seemed a bit strange, without emotions, but Marianne had already seen him smile and even laugh, so the commander probably wasn't that strange after all. It was already getting late. The last review of the cadet's lessons for tomorrow seemed hours ago. Soon the Alpha would leave DS2 sensor range and the DS2 scientist had to report in. Then the patrol would at least be two days out of DS2 sensor range.

"Alpha to Deep Space 2."

"Hello Marianne, this is Nadine. At the moment you are missing something here. But we will explain all about it when you return. Commander Luke, our XO and the captain are investigating the situation. I still cannot talk about it. But all is well."

"We are going out of DS2 sensor range now. Talk to you again soon.", said Marianne very friendly and just at the moment the Allegro Con Fuoco started, the runabout dissapeared out of sensor range.

Nadine made the communication report. It almost seemed routine. But there was still this strange incident to investigate. Captain Arthur, lieutenant-colonel Jan, commander Luke and now also chief engineer Louis were studying the sensor displays. The image on the main screen had not changed. The projection was not real, but very detailed.

"The projection represents a Federation relay station.", said Luke, but they all knew that already.

"It is heavily damaged.", thought Louis aloud, but they all could see that too.

"There doesn't seem to be a station with this registration in the Starfleet data bank. I don't want to gamble," said Luke looking at the lieutenant-colonel, "but this relay station hasn't been constructed by Starfleet or it was a secret engagement."

"I agree with Luke.", said Arthur holding up his hand to interupt his XO, "as pieces are falling into place, we could asume that this station is the same station to which the Starfleet messages are being relayed. I do not believe in coincidence. This is another clue."

"If we only could understand the reason of all of this."

Jan was right and now was the time for the captain to fill in his crew about what the Doc had reported to him earlier. The old man who looked like the captain was probably him, but from the future. It wasn't clear yet, but apparently Arthur himself was changing the current timeline. If this was true the reason was not really clear, but it had something to do with the Giloppen. They didn't have to count on Starfleet's help on this one. Starfleet head quarters would probably declare the DS2 crew crazy.
Luke didn't show his emotions, but Nadine didn't hide her unbelieve. Then lieutenant-colonel Jan told everybody something similar. Maybe he had been dreaming, but during the total system failure, he had heard voices. One of the voices was his own voice and he had no memory of ever been talking about things like that. The subject of the conversation was totally unknown to the DS2 first officer. Again it seemed that time had stood still for the DS2 crew. The visitors were on the station for almost three hours. To the DS2 crew it only seemed no more than a minute or two.
At the same moment the first hail came in from the USS Malden, the projection of the relay station vanished. Captain Arthur responded to the hail, but didn't say anything about the mysterious appearances. The Maquis prisoners were in good health and kept ready to transfer to the Miranda class Malden. By the time patrol commander junior lieutenant Marianne reported in, the Maquis had been picked up and transported to the nearest starbase on the course of the USS Malden.
There was not one officer on the remote station who wasn't glad the Maquis had been taken away. It was not that they were a problem, but the DS2 team was not really happy about having strangers aboard.
While most officers were in their quarters that evening, lieutenant-colonel Jan, first officer of Deep Space 2 initiated red alert.

"Captain, we are picking up high levels of neutron radiation, probably from a cloaked vessel. The main computer has raised shields and charged all weapon systems."


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 27

The sensors of runabout Alpha hadn't picked up anything special the last two hours. If this would continue like this, the patrol could take a much longer time then estimated. But the captain's orders were very specific: You only come back when you found out where the relayed messages are send to. Unless of course there was danger. Always have these Giloppen in mind. The last few days on the station looked like a preparation for the bigest war ever. Marianne hoped it wouldn't come to that, although the DS2 offensive systems were promissing. It had always been difficult for the DS2 science officer to expect something she couldn't define. When her scientific analystic methods were not enough anymore to produce a reasonable explanation of certain facts, she was in trouble. Just as cadets Caroline and Thomas releaved her from her duties, she had one last look at the sensor readings. Two minutes later she fell asleep in her quarters.

Except for chief engineer Louis, who was on duty in engineering, all senior officers were now in ops. There was not really a lot to report, but the possible detection of a cloaked ship was important enough. Now there was a moment of speculation and even the DS2 main computer had no answer.

"It could still be close by.", said Jan, always making tactical remarks to prevent surprises.

"It could also follow the track of the Alpha," added Luke, who didn't like surprises either and he sent a message to the patrol with the advice to be carefull.

"Computer," interupted the captain, "can you keep track of a cloaked ship in the neighbourhood of this station ?"

"Affirmative. A cloaked vessel has just past the station and has set a course to intercept runabout Alpha."

"How can our computer do that ? Starfleet has been working on detecting cloaked vessels for many years, and never had any positive result. Now suddenly our main computer can detect and track cloaked vessels," lieutenant-colonel Jan was more than just surprised.

"Computer where is the cloacked ship now and what kind of ship is it ?"

"Data is not available. The cloaked ship is out of DS2 sensor range."

"No ship can travel that fast," whispered the DS2 first officer.

Captain Arthur ordered his XO and nurse Nadine to take a runabout to get to the DS2 Alpha as fast as possible. Nadine could jump into the turbolift just before the doors closed behind the lieutenant-colonel. Only a moment later runabout Beta was on it's way.

"Luke, send a message to the Alpha and warn them they could have company very soon."

"I already have, captain."

"Excellent."

No warning ... All power off line ... only seconds ... power on line ... it all ended with the captain talking to the Doc in sickbay. The question whether he had seen anything was unnecessary. The only thing the Doc could verify, was the fact that the blackout was only about ten seconds and that something had been beamed aboard the station. Junior lieutenant Jan Roel who had been called for the search had discovered that all of the supply rooms were filled with emergency rations. The captain had an idea.

"This amount of rations is enough for us to last for decades. Maybe we better prepare for a long siege." 


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 28

"ETA to the Alpha ?"

"I don't want to dissapoint you, colonel, but at the current speed of warp 9.975, we need 26 hours to get out of DS2 sensor range. And then we need about 8 hours to get to the Alpha.", Nadine checked the navigational readouts and she said, "If that was a cloaked ship passing our station, I cannot understand, how it managed to maintain such a high speed. It was out of DS2 sensor range in a matter of minutes and we need more than a day, and we are already half way."

"I'd rather not think about it," Answered the lieutenant-colonel, "but you are right. If some one could develop a new propulsion system, which can produce that kind of power, I only hope that he is on our side. You get some sleep now lieutenant, I'll take first watch."

As usual, after all these years, Jan was still the same. He always had first watch. As he talked to lieutenant Marianne in the Alpha again, he couldn't detect a trace of fear or discomfort in her. Marianne was a scientist, not a Vulkan, but always looking for answers in a way Jan really couldn't understand. He was always nervous when he had no idea what was out there, maybe even waiting for him. A cloaked ship with a speed of ... good heavens. And the Beta would be to late when that ship would catch up with the Alpha. At least, that ship should already have catched up with the Alpha long ago. Nothing had happened yet. Marianne and Jan kept the channel open so they could immediately respond to anything that could happen, to either one of them. Maybe it wasn't a ship at all. Maybe it was some kind of entity passing their sector. When Jan contacted the station, there were no new data on the neutron radiation.

"Shields to maximum. Come on cadets ! Wake Up ! This is it !"

Cadet Caroline was a bit pale. She realised what could happen next. Thomas was more brave than Caroline, but now he didn't hide his fear. Slowly but concentrated they sat down at their assigned stations. They both saw the sensor readings. There was no need to compair them. When something is life threatening, all would feel the same.
Runabout Alpha had detected the neutron radiation. The fenomena was very close, probably at starboard. The radiation increased. Jan almost shouted to Marianne to start evasive maneuvers. But these maneuvers had no success. If neutron radiation came from a cloaked ship, this ship seemed to be attached to the runabout. Trying to communicate, didn't help. There was no answer. As Thomas and Caroline looked at each other, they finally were convinced that all Starfleet cadets were equal. There was absolutely no distinction.

"Alpha to DS2. I would like to fire a shot. Please advice."

"This is the captain, Marianne. I think you don't have to be afraid. If this is an enemy, it would have destroyed you already. Don't do anything. Firing can only be interpreted as a hostile act."

"Acknowledged."

"Marianne, this is commander Luke. According my calculations you should reach the receiver of the relayed messages on your present course and speed in aproximately 12 hours."

Lieutenant-colonel Jan had understood. The Beta would not be in time to rendez-vous with the Alpha before the Alpha had reached it's target. But those detected radiation still worried him. The worst part was that he couldn't do anything. All the shouting and activity had made nurse Nadine come back in the runabout's control room. The DS2 officers liked to call it the bridge, and in a way it was the bridge. She sat down to check the sensor readings. There was indeed no way they would be in time. But they couldn't give up. Than Marianne reported in again.

"Alpha to Beta and DS2, the neutron radiation has dissappeared. According the last sensor readings this ship, or whatever it is, left in the direction which we are following. If I wanted to speculate, I would say that whoever is receiving the relayed messages send by DS2 is going to have a visitor." 


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 29

Stardate 50216.6: Captain's log, supplemental
Although there seemed to be a cloaked ship very near to us and the runabout Alpha, it did not show any sign of hostility. The questions remain. There must be a receiver of the messages which are relayed by the DS2 communications program, probably a forgotten Federation station or ship. Maybe even an outpost on a planet.
End Log
"Found anything yet ?", asked Jan as he still looked at his readouts as well.

"Nothing sir. The Alpha is still on course, but there is no other ship around. In six hours we will leave DS2 sensor range. The Alpha should arrive at the receiver within the hour. I have already reported our condiditon to the station."

"I hope the Alpha finds something soon. I hate it when I have to turn back from a ghost hunt."

Nurse Nadine new exactly how the lieutenant-colonel felt. They had been in a similar situation many times before. In this case her only hope was that nobody would need her nursing skills.

"Sir, a message from DS2.", Nadine reported as if she was the communications officer on a Galaxy class vessel.

"Runabouts Alpha and Beta, we have some bad news. Commander Luke has recalculated the position of the receiver, and it is a little bit further then originally thought. We are talking about 4.7 lightyears. The Alpha should need at least 12 hours to get there. Lieutenant-colonel Jan, stay on course. DS2 out."

On runabout Alpha cadet Thomas was sending general hail messages on all frequencies, but without success. He kept on trying. Caroline was sitting at the helm. Now that the danger of a cloaked ship was gone, junior lieutenant Marianne was taking a nap in her quarters. The quarters of the new runabouts were small and a bit Spartan, but they had to do. As lieutenant-colonel Jan had alread made every attempt to figure out the runabout's propulsion system, there was no answer. Even the two DS2 engineers had no idea how this engine could develop such high speed. Caroline looked at the direction of their destination through the front window. Nothing but white stripes. She knew that that were stars and that the runabout's speed made them look like stripes. She had to study a lot more about warp technology. She stared through the window. What was out there ? Who was out there ?

On the Federation secret relay station 4465-A was a young man trying to get on his feet again. What the hell had happened. Now he managed to get on his knees. His head hurted as if it could explode any second. With on hand on a console he tried to get up and failed. Next to him was another man lieing on the floor. He was dead. His blue uniform was now red. The console apparently had blown up. Two meters away, there was a woman. She seemed to have strange pointed ears. Not like the man who was trying to get up. He didn't know who the others were. He didn't know where he was, or what he was supposed to do. The woman with the pointed ears didn't move. He coughed. There was a lot of smoke. Only half a meter away, there was a little fire. With all his strenght he took of his uniform vest and started hitting it on the fire until it was out. Then he noticed his right leg was broken. This was a room with all kinds of consoles. Some of them were heavily damaged. Who was he ? What was he doing here ?

"Help ! Is there anybody here ?!", he shouted. Actually he didn't really know whether he had really shouted, or whether he only thought he had.
What had happened ? He shook his head. That hurt. Who was he ? Then he fell on the floor. 


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 30

"Yes, Doc, how can I help you ?"

Captain Arthur felt a little bit disturbed by the doctor as he was trying to analyse the last sensor logs again about the cloaked ship that had past the station. Or was it not a cloaked ship and only some life form or something else ? According the computer and the sensor logs it was a ship of some kind. There were no new data comming from the two runabouts. At that moment there was not a lot of choice for the patrols. It was not yet clear how far the receiver of the relayed messages could be. Apparently it had been moving. Captain Arthur had decided that the Alpha should wait for the Beta. The only thing that worried him was that this operation was delayed with almost a complete day. But for security reasons, even Jan agreed with him. The facility, which was indisputable Federation. The only strange thing was that it seemed to have appeared from nowhere. The crew of DS2 already called it the receiver. Not a bad choice actually. There was no answer to the hails of the Alpha, so Marianne suspected that there was something wrong on the receiver. It did receive but did not answer. At the same moment, after investigation, it became clear that only certain messages, received by DS2 were relayed to the far away receiver. It was not clear yet why.

"Wel, you are the commander of this station and I thought you should know that a few members of your crew have different characteristics, wich you should know about.", the holodoc reported.

"Doc, does this have anything to do with the safety of the station ?"

"Actually not, but ..."

"Listen Doc, we are in a very delicate situation. Could you call me an other time ? Thank you.", Captain Arthur pushed the button on his terminal. The display was black.

"Captain, we have access to the main computer."

"Great ! I am on my way !"

As junior lieutenant Nadine woke up, the Alpha was only ten minutes away. She put on her uniform and joined the lieutenant-colonel on the runabout bridge. Jan looked a bit tired. He didn't have a lot of sleep lately and it was time the Beta joined with the Alpha to continue the search. Still concentrating on the course and sensor readings, the one DS2 runabout came aside the other. Greetings were unnecessary. Jan had talked to the two cadets for almost four hours. They talked about everything, but the academy. Marianne was really upset that the two students had only finnished their tasks by the time the two runabouts were together.
Jan reported to the station that all was well. Commander Luke already had an updated calculated position of the receiver. At maximum warp it would take nineteen hours to get there. While the DS2 first officer went to his quarters to get some sleep at last, Nadine took over the helm and set a course to follow the Alpha. The cadets were still trying to get an answer, but without success.

He didn't recognise this place at all. He didn't know what these readouts meant. What were all these lights and buttons ? No answer. Apparently the fires were out. What was his name ? He didn't know. His right legg hurt. That was one thing he remembered. He had broken his legg. With extremely willpower he managed to get on one foot. With both hands on the console he supported his body on his way to another one. Maybe this console would tell him something about what, where and who. Unlikely. He couldn't even read the symbols on the displays. It was as if his head was totally empty. Damn, he hit his broken legg against a box that was just standing there. The box was empty. A bit further there was another console. It took the young man almost twenty minutes to get there. He was getting weak. The readings on the displays were not helping. The readouts seemed to repeat themselves. He could not detect a pattern. Then he saw a large screen against a wall. On the screen was a projection of space. Blackness and some white dots. Space ... he knew what that was. and this was some kind of space station. And this station was damaged. He was in trouble...

"Cadets, you have to get some sleep now. It is at least twelve hours before we reach this receiver. I want you to be awake when we arrive. I wil stay in contact with the Beta."

Two runabouts were on their way, far away from their homes. Something was watching them, more than a bit curious, with more than just a bit attention...


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 31

With the Captain's permission, Luke had opened a one-way comm channel to Engineering, so he could hear the status of the main computer access attempts, while remaining in Operations . . . He waited until the conversation about the main computer seemed to be in full swing, then activated a recorder, and muted the channel.

"Computer, enstate Davis special communications configuration 42 delta."

"Working . . ." The computer entoned, and Luke watched the event timer on his display count down to zero, before the computer stated, "The requested operation has been completed; you may now activate secure communications link on channels 14 through 19."

"Select channel forteen," Luke ordered, then -- after the computer acknowledged the connection --, "Open a channel to communications relay 00b22 on Ultris I, full triplex linkup."

Thirty seconds later, the DS2 chief of communications, was sending a long string of instructions to a computer, many light years away. A few moments later -- after a brief comversation with someone on the other end -- he knew what he had wanted, and terminated the connection - eracing any evidance that it had ever existed.

"DS2 to runabouts Alpha and Beta: have you located the receiver, and if so: have you attempted to board it?", Commander Luke said into a newly opened comm link.

"This is Lieutenant Colonel Jan here: we were just about to contact you: we have located what appears to be a small space station of some kind. We are just entering transporter range now."

"Negative: do not attempt to board! Enter a orbit of the station at .5 AU, acknowledge."

".5 AU, understood: but why?"

"I can not explain at the moment; but I assure you it is necessary for your continued safety. DS2 out."

As the captain arrived in engineering, he complimented the engineers. "Great work gentlemen", the captain said holding up his thumb. "Can one of you engineers explain how you got in."

Engineering already looked like a construction yard. All kinds of tools lieing spread out over the floor, materials everywhere, and two engineers dirty as they hadden't changed their uniforms in a month. As the two engineers worked in two shifts for the last two days, they had made some real progress without hurting themselves. But the captain didn't have a lot of time. Commander Luke was the only officer in ops and he also could need some rest.

"First we tried touse a security bypass module.", said Louis, making it clear that this methode failed and he explained how they got access. "Remember the DS2 commanding officer who was last officially here ? That was lieutenant-commander Jola Kosovri. We found and tried her security access code and it still worked. Kosovri had security clearance 9, so we have the same clearance now."

"Which files can you access ?"

Chief engineer Louis nodded and Jan Roel showed the captain the first results on the only terminal with which the engineers had accessed the blocked DS2 main computer. There were directories and files, which seemed like station logs, crew's personal logs, but there were no records for the time between lieutenant-commander Kosovri and her crew and the time the new crew arrived on the station. No sensor logs and sadly enough no files refering to communications. The captain ordered the engineers to concentrate on lieutenant-comander Kosovri's personal logs. When the two runabouts would return there was more personnel to help figuring out these files.

"Commander Luke to captain Arthur. Please report to ops."

"Acknowledged."


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 32

Cadet Thomas finally at the helm, and he was so proud. He only had to stay on course in orbit, but that didn't really matter. He was there, no one else. Maybe it was the lack of experience that didn't made him realise that this could be a dangerous mission. They were here close to this station. Now Thomas was commanding this runabout. Both ladies were getting some sleep. There was little time to talk to the other runabout's crew. Thomas checked the sensor readings again. Nothing but this station and the runabouts. The DS2 first officer had regular contact with the station. Thomas was already thinking about the almost four day trip back to the station. It was strange though that the station's communication relay systems sent messages to this receiver which was probably an old one. Maybe they should leave a probe. The young cadet imediately called all classes of possible probes in his mind. Just being curious he asked the computer to list all Federation ships which had passed through this sector. Stations in the neighbourhood: No record. There was no Federation technology been further towards the Delta Quadrant than DS2 and the DS2 patrols. That reminded him again of the discovery of the lieutenant-colonel. The Borg. Thomas shivered. This little trip was probably not going to be a walk in the park after all.

The Captain had only been back at OPS for a few seconds, when Luke said, "Captain: it is necessary that I speak to you in private emediately."

When they entered Arthur's office, he waisted no time. "Our runabouts have arrived at the 'Receiver', and I have ordered them to take up a holding pattern."

"Well: they've gone this far, they should go on board if they can't talk to who ever's there, and see what can be seen.", Arthur said as he reached for the office communications pannel on his desk.

"Just a moment, captain: there are things you need to know.", Luke said.

Arthur did not like this. "What's that?"

"While you were in Engineering, I learned exactly what it was that was out there.", Luke said slowly.

Arthur moved to sit behind his desk, "I would be interested in knowing just how you managed to figure that out, considurring we spent more than two days trying to learn just that information."

"That is rather difficult to explain. I do ow you an explination, however, and you will get it, as soon as I tell you exactly what we are dealing with out there."

Captain Arthur very much wanted to know just what this was all about, but right now he had to admit that -- with 5 of his crew out there -- knowing about this receiver was probably more important.

"Very well: but I will expect a full explination, as soon as possible."

"Understood, Sir. The object out there is a highly secret Federation communications & research station, created 6 years ago by Starfleet Intelligence. It is known as 'Relay Station 4465-A', for security reasons. Twice it has served as a safe-house for former Federation Intelligence agents who work as employees of other governments. It is currently hosting a Romulan double agent, who was working as a mole for the Federation."

Arthur was staring at Luke as if he was insane. "Double agents? Moles? Secret interigation facilities? I knew things like that happened almost a century ago, but I thought most if not all of that had ended!"

Luke kept his face expressionless. He would eventually have to tell Arthur about some of his more recent past, but for now the crew was paramount.

"I assure you, captain, it all still exists. It is just covered up much better than it used to. I can explain more about that later. Right now, however, it is necessary to deal with that station out there. In the data I received, I was informed that the station had a highly advanced self-defense systems, that was on automatic control. Once detected by station sensors: any ships in the area must remain with in .5 AU to avoid instant destruction. I have put in a request for the station's override codes, and I believe they will be here in about 20 minutes, but until they arrive our people must remain in that pattern, or risk being eliminated."

This was incredible. For the moment, commander Luke had some credit. Captain Arthur would never forgive himself if something happened to those runabouts and especially his friends out there. This damn computer buisiness. Does this "thing" determine our entire history ? Captain Arthur needed some sleep, no, a lot of sleep. Just as the engineers. Speaking of witch...


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 33

"Captain this is Louis. We have accessed some files. We have found a very interesting one and I am patching it to you right now."

"Great Louis ! I have to do some things first. Arthur out." and as he turned to commander Luke again he was ready to ask his chief of communications more information. That man was still holding something back.

"Computer to Commander Davis: priority communication for you received.", issued from Luke's Communicator.

"Rout it to this terminal", Luke said, tapping the terminal infront of him.

At the computer's prompting: Luke gave his authorization, at which point 5 lines of data appeared on the screen: the first one stating who the message was sent to; and the last four giving the access codes, in an encrypted form, which Luke spent a few minutes unencoding. There was no apparent sender of the message.

"Here are the access codes for the station. I took the liberty of placing a special decryption program in all of the runabout's computers -- for just such an occasion as this -- it will know how to read this data, and display it to Lieutenant Colonel Jan, when it receives his personal authorization.", Luke said, preparing to send the data to the Beta on Arthur's command.

The captain nodded. Make it so. He knew already what Jan would say ... Good heavens.

Stardate 49989.6: Lieutenant-Commander Jola Kosovri Personal log
It is allways sad to say good-bye. Two years ago we had almost eight hundred people aboard Deep Space 2, but at these last hours there are only twelve of us left. Operations chief Franco Guidomas has just shut down the main reactor. The systems are now only operational on auxilliary power. Only a few systems are working now. The USS Hornblower is already in a position to take us aboard, but the engineers are making the last level one diagnostic and we have to wait for the final result. I believe that all the scientists have had the opertunity to gather all their data. It has been very busy. But the last two weeks, when there were only few of us left, this station seemed a bit spooky. Last night during our last dinner on Deep Space 2, suddenly all power went off line. The lights were out. And a few seconds later, without any alert nor warning all systems were on line again and working as nothing had happened. The funny thing was that as this all seemed to be happening in about five seconds, the real time the systems were off, was almost four hours. We hadn't got the time to investigate the incident further, but I have put a remark about it in the station's log. When we had confirmation of the time, by relay station 67, we were more at ease. Still I was a bit worried about the future of this station. It was very un Starfleet like, to leave all this hardware drifting in space like this without a crew. When I contacted Starfleet about what the future of Deep Space 2 would be, a certain Vulcan rear admiral Povek explained that the new crew had been assembled and that in about two months they would arrive. I still think this is strange. If anyone else just dropped in, they could steal or damage the station. But what can I say ? I am only a modest little lady officer. Actually this little lady officer is going to be the first officer of the ambassador class USS Hornblower, to serve under the famous captain Tony "Jumper" Wickers. I am so excited that I have already fogotten this assignment. No ... I will never forget this assignment. Oh, I have got to go. Franco has just called. There is no time to shutdown the holographic programs. We are history, and may the next team have a successfull assignment too. Kosovri out.
End Log
Captain Arthur was alone in ops. He was still worried about the secret station. As Luke got back to ops, Louis had sent this part of the accessed computer files. Running a space station with a few officers was not something to brag about. It could be dangerous. Certainly now. Arthur was still looking at Jola Kosovri's picture. She didn't look familiar. Kosovri's personal log was something nobody should ever read as these kind of logs could be very private. The captain had to read them. There could be a clue to the DS2 mystery. Maybe he had better started at the end. That was the most interesting part. Power failure, lights out, time jump, no explanation. So all of this had already started before the previous DS2 crew had left the station.
As Arthur crosschecked the other officer's personal logs, they all mentioned the incident, but a few in a different way. The logs were genuine, no doubt about it. Pitty they didn't contain more information.

"Runabout Beta to DS2. We believe our sensors are picking up weak human life signs. I suggest we go in."


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 34

Commander Luke had transfered the codes necessary to beam on station 4465-A safely. Although Nadine protested with the argument she was the only medical crewmember qualified to handle a wounded victim, the lieutenant-colonel was standing firm to get onto the mystrious station. A light tickeling went through his body. It reminded him sometimes of a sonic shower. And during transport he realised that he hadn't had a bath for many days. The light blue light was slowly dissapearing and the DS2 first officer materialised on 4465-A. There was a smell of burned materials. There was a lot of smoke. Jan coughed. It was difficult to see anything.

"Jan to Beta. Down save. Call you back"

He looked around again. The tricorder, which was linked to the runabout's computer pointed him to all kinds of complicated systems. Some of those systems were totaly unknown. Strange actually as the runabout computers did seem to recognise the Giloppen. So Jan had to presume that this station had nothing to do with the Giloppen. It seemed to be Federation indeed. He looked at the readouts again. Nothing familiar. Good heavens ! The life form, possably human. He ran, through the small coridor, no turbolift, up the ladder in the Jefferies tube, smoke, more smoke, out of the tube, the control center ... Bodies ...

"Beta, this is Jan, I am in the control center. There are some casualties here. They did not survive. Whatever happened here, we missed it."

"Captain", it was commander Luke who called the captain in ops, "I have to get on station 4465-A. As soon as possible ... sir."

"Lieutenant-colonel Jan is already on the station. You have communication contact with him. I don't really see any use in your request."

"But sir, I have to get there fast. There are some sensitive systems on that station which should not be played with." Luke said this without much emotion.

"Our XO is on the station, there is a possible survivor, he has to be saved as fast as possible. You can only get there in four or five days. By that time our patrols are back here. So commander, unless you have a way to get you there faster, your request is denied."

Commander Luke could only nod. He turned around and took his station to monitor the communications between the runabouts and Jan on 4465-A. The only thing he could do now is give the lieutenant-colonel some hints, but although both officers were equal in rank, Jan had the last word.

Jan listened to Luke during his search for the human survivor. What was the commander talking about ? Upgraded systems, secret and hidden technology. First priority was the survivor. There was only one and he was moving. While Jan coughed again, he activated the intercom. He made a general call for anyone on 4465-A to hold his position so he could help. He didn't see a thing because of the smoke. The tricorder showed that the human had hold his position. As fast as he could he jumped forward, up the little stairs, through the open door, over the broken bulkhead, passed the still burning console ... there he was, still on his feet. On gold pip and one black one.

"Lieutenant ! I am lieutenant-colonel Jan Theys, DS2 first officer. I am here to get you out. What is your name ? Good heavens your leg looks bad. We have to get you out of here. What is your name lieutenant ?"

"I don't know ... I really don't know..." 

The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 35

With the away team now safely on the relay station, and the Alpha relaying all communicator messages to the station: Arthur ordered Luke to take a 1 hour break, sighting that Luke had been working straight for the last 28 hours. Luke considered pointing out that Arthur had been doing much the same thing, but decided to put it off, knowing that the Captain would refuse to leave ops at a time like this, something Luke was also reluctant to do. They both knew it was not enough time to get any real sleeping done, but Luke obtained something effective from the Doctor, and did manage a few moments of unconciousness.
When Luke returned to ops, and releaved the computer from communications duty, he found Starfleet Intelligence had sent him another data package. There was also a sealed order from Admiral Korrelayme himself.
Arthur was talking to Jan on remote comm about something which Luke could review later, so he erected a privacy field around his station, and examined the Adm's message ...
The message was an order to report to the Admiral -- who would have an aid standing by at all times for this reason -- on the exact status of the relay station, and how exactly DS2 managed to find it, considering that it was supposed to be cloaked. A quick examination of the other files sent, revealed that they were mostly technical data on the station, and a list of personnel. These he put aside for later reading, and next read Jan's first report on the relay station. It did not look good.

When the lieutenant was beamed aboard runabout Beta, nurse Nadine got mad because he wouldn't stay still while she was giving him first aid. Lieutenant-colonel Jan stayed on the relay station as long as possible.
The young lieutenant was so frustrated and confused because he couldn't remember anything except last week. Nurse Nadine said that they had a treatment on DS2 to stimulate his brain and hopefully it would all come back to him. Although those promissing words, he didn't know if he could take this much longer. He had to know who he was and what he was doing on that station.

Several areas of the medium-sized station were open to space, much of the computer had been damaged, and bodies were everyware. The only survivor seemed to be a human, who had lost all of his memories during whatever had happened to the station. After watching the report, Luke wrote a short summary covering the main points, and sent it on high-speed encrypted subspace link directly to the Admiral. He then began reviewing the other files he had been sent on the station, while awaiting a responce from the Admiral.
Ten minutes after he made his report, Luke received a text-only, encoded message from the Admiral. It was only a few lines, and simply said:

"You are ordered to perform the following operations, via what ever means are necessary and available to you, and report upon completion. From the enclosed information: perform a ID code 22 on operative 16-25r. Perform a directive seven twelve on relay station 4465-A. Ensure continued silents by any and all persons with any knowledge of same."

Luke pondered the message for a moment, then read it a second time, and deleted it. The first 2 directives from the Admiral were doable, assuming he could find a reason, and a way, to go out to the station, but the third order was a bit different. Luke knew the Admiral, and it was unlike him to deliver orders of this nature in text messages. Luke doubted the Admiral much liked giving that last order -- hense his use of text-only. Luke did not like the order much him self, and had no intention of carrying it out to the fullest extent.

Commander Luke had spent nearly 30 minutes reviewing the 4465-A's specialized technical systems, and he had locked on to one of particular interest.

"Davis to away team. I have found something about that station, in which I believe you will be most interested, assuming it still works.", he said into the comm system, making sure the Captain could hear.

"We're Listening", came Jan's voice over the comm unit.

"On level 2, in equipmentbay four, I believe you will find a subspace transporter, with enough range to reach DS2.", was Luke's response.


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 36

Lieutenant-colonel Jan was crawling under a bulkhead towards what once was a control panel. That was the wrong one. At the oposite side of the equipementbay there was a strang looking platform. At first it seemed a standard transporter pad, but when Jan had a closer look at the controls, he knew that he had found what Luke had send him for.

"Jan to Luke. I have found the subspace transporter. It seems to be intact and functioning. I suggest we do some tests first."

Luke pulled one of the emergency rations out of the cabinet under his station and put it on the floor one meter in front of him. He explained to Jan how to use the targetting scanners of the subspace transporter and a moment later Jan had locked on to the ration, which dematerialised.

"The ration has arived," reported Jan after twenty two seconds."I will check it's status now.", and after a moment the DS2 XO said with his mouth still full of food, "It doesn't taste bad at all."

"Than something must be very wrong," the captain intervened.

"Sir," said Luke, "I am ready to go."

"Commander, don't you think you are jumping to conclusions ?"

It had been clear that commander Luke wanted to get on 4465-A very badly. Whatever Luke's reasons could be, captain Arthur made it clear that one test was certainly not enough to convince him to jeopardize a crewmember's life. There could not be something more important than that. After consulting with the chief engineer, who was called to ops, and some more tests, it looked like the subspace transporter really worked. Through Jan's linked tricorder, the design and specifications of the system were downloaded into the DS2 main computer memory. Now they were ready to transport commander Luke. The communications chief was convinced nothing could go wrong. Jan activated the targetting scanners and a few seconds later Louis and Arthur were alone in DS2 ops.

... 5 ... 10 ... 15 ... 20 ...

"He made it ! Good Heavens ! Twenty two seconds exact." Jan seemed to be very excited., "Welcome aboard relay station 4465-A commander."

"Thank you, colonel," Luke said as if it was just daily routine. "We have several hull breaches here. I suggest to get what we can and leave. Maybe we should split up. I will download the computer files, I know where the main access terminal is. If you don't object of course."

"No problem. I will try to get some more power back on line. Maybe we can save something more than just a few files."

Both officers crawled under the bulkhead and through the open door. In the corridor they went to oposite sides.

Chief engineer Louis was shaking his head. He really tried to figure out why Starfleet had not informed all engineers of the use of subspace transporters. Last thing he had heard was that they were unreliable and even dangerous for the molecule structure of the object which was transported. Now they had found one that worked. After he arrived in engineering, first thing he did was go over the specs of the 4465-A transporter files. It was amazing how simple this thing worked. And more important were the advantages of the use of this system. They could go practicly anywhere in a very short time. The fourty thousand kilometers where out of the game.

"Captain, this is Louis, I think I can integrated the subspace transporter systems into our own transporter systems."

"I see," replied Arthur, "You may do it, but only with the transporters in the cargo bays. Not the main transporters."

"Aye sir. Only the cargo bays. Understood."

Louis tapped his combadge again.

"Jan Roel ! Wake up ! Work work work."


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 37

These were exciting times. Those were the words of lieutenant-commander Fresta Liuni. Arthur did remember her well. She was his teacher in computer sciences at the academy. Now Arthur could only add that these were even more exciting times, but also very disturbing. Some of the messages received from Starfleet were very clear indeed. The Dominion were not one of those threats anymore. This was...

"Captain," the Doc's face appeared on the main viewer. "I have to speak with you now."

"Nice going Doc. Your face on the main viewer draws a lot of attention, even mine. But if you want to speak with me, you should use your portable holoprojector and come to ops. I am alone here and therefore in no position to come to you."

Only a moment later the Doc had transfered himself.

"Captain, I really must tell you about some of the odd things I have found."

"Okay Doc, tell me, but please make it quick.", Arthur said with a sigh.

The hologram did not minse words, or atleast he didn't think so. "As you know: some of the equipment here is not standard Starfleet issue. In fact: some of the equipment here does not even appear in the design stage technical guides published by Starfleet medical."

"Yes Yes Doctor, I know all of this: get to the point!", Arthur impatiently ordered.

"Oh.. Yes well: I mensioned that because I don't think I could have found what I did with standard Federation equipment", The Doctor said, leading Arthur to a display unit. "Commander Davis'es DNA does not quite fit the standard model", he said, displaying what he called 'the standard model', next to what he had found in his examination. "As you can see: there appear to be alterations, starting here, and proceeding --".

"Yes Doctor: I can see it, but what does it mean ?"

"Uh, Captain, I'm not quite sure what they mean yet, but it is illegal for any Starfleet officer to have genetic alterations of even this calaber."

Arthur pondered this for a moment, giving the Doctor an opertunity to say more. "There is something else I found very strange. All of the Commander's medical scans from Starfleet I asked for, were quite unremarkable, but they only go back for the last 5 years, there is no record of his birth, and when I asked for more information, I was given an 'attempt to access classified and restricted material, denied' warning, and I could not get any more information on the subject from anyone I asked."

Arthur found what the doctor told him interesting, but he realized that he was only slightly surprised by it. "Is there anything else ?"

"Only this: When he was in for his physical: I asked him to perform the standard muscle flex test. When he moved his right hand in the prescribed fassion, my tricorder detected a very minute electronic signature. It only existed for a twentieth of a second, and again I don't think I would have noticed it at all, if it weren't for this equipment.", the holodoc concluded.

"Could it have been interference from something else, or equipment error ?", Arthur asked, already expecting the answer.

"I ran full diagnostics on all of the equipment, and checked the sensor logs, but I could find nothing."

After a brief silence, Arthur queried, "Did you ask Luke about any of this ?"

"Captain, with all that has been going on lately, I thought maybe I should come to you first."


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 38

"DS2, this is Beta. Now that we can use the subspace transporter, is it possible to send over the Doc here ? I can do no more for our new guest."

The captain agreed. Before the Doc transported to the Beta, he checked the Starfleet database for more data on the person on the runabout. He compared DNA fragments and brain patterns, which were send by Nadine. Now he knew more about junior lieutenant Chris Esquibel than the lieutenant himself. After he reported his conclusions to captain Arthur, it was time to let the Doc perform some kind of treatment to restore Chris' memory. It had to be horrible not knowing who you were and where you were from.

It was the first digital transfer the EMH ever had, but he experienced every moment of it. Chief engineer Louis would later use the information about the subspace transport of the Doc to achieve a more accurate trasporter system. Although it seems like days for the Doc, less than thirty seconds later he arrived on the Beta.

"Nurse, I have to inform you that my portable projector will only be activated for four hours. But don't worry, it is certainly enough."

Nurse Nadine had explained to junior lieutenant Chris what his name was, but it had no meaning to the young officer. He felt more than a bit helpless. He had no idea who he was, where and who the people were who apparently were helping him. Now this doctor appeared. As he understood it, this Doc was nothing else then a holo projection. It didn't make him feel any better. Especially when the Doc talked about an operation. The Doc had to transport back with his patient to DS2 to trie a synaptic induction to repair Chris' memory pathways. The transport itself seem to scare Chris a little but the technical explanations of the doctor were frightening. There was no choice.

As Marianne stayed on the Alpha to take it home, the two cadets transported back to the station. For them it was a great experience. On arrival, they were put in charge of security. It was now knwon who the officer was, but a lot of data in the Starfleet database was restricted and not accessable. Not even for the captain. Marianne would return in five days. A long time to miss a crewmember, especially when there were not a lot around.

"Thomas to captain Arthur. Were are ready sir."

For the cadets another day of growing up faster. A few more days and they would be back to the regular study. As soon as he could, the captain would regroup the crew. But in the mean time the patrols would be a priority. The study of the files from 4465-A should be interested too.

"Thomas to captain Arthur. The Doc and junior lieutenant Chris have arrived sir. The Doc will start the operations imediately."

"Acknowledged. Keep me posted. Arthur out."

Junior lieutenant Chris was on his back on the biobed. The clamshell closed. The Doc put some kind of medical instrument on his head. He smiled to ease the young officer's mind. Then everything was black. 


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 39

"Engineering to captain Arthur."

"Arthur here. Go ahead Louis."

"We have accessed some more files in the DS2 main computer. There is also a holodeck program called 'Invitation Alpha One' on the list. I thought you might be interested."

As the captain couldn't leave ops, he had no choice but sending cadet Thomas to holodeck one to find out what this program was all about. Thomas, who wasn't really born to stand guard at the sickbay entrance the entire day, was happy to take the opportunity to be part of the investigation of the two engineers. Only thirty seconds later, he entered the holodeck. There was no program running so he called the arch to input some instructions. As the arch appeared, Thomas punched in his personal access code and waited.

"Cadet Thomas to engineering. There seems to be a problem to start the holodeck program 'Invitation Alpha One', sir."

"According our readings here the program is running. Maybe it is something very small. A small object or something like that. You can move around a little and see if there is something on the floor or against the wall."

"Acknowledged, sir. I will report if I find anything."

Thomas started to walk, but the black and yellow grid didn't have any secrets. As the young cadet took his tricorder to examine the holodeck even better, he didn't get any readings. Just as he would contact chief engineer Louis again, part of the grid started to change. First it was the ceiling, which was replaced by, what seemed to be a blue sky. Then came the smell of flowers. The ground under his feet was getting soft and the grass appeared. Of course Thomas knew earth as he was an academy student in San Francisco, but this fresh air made him a little dizzy and he almost fell in the grass.
Now there was nothing left of the black and yellow grid. Nature in all her beauty spread herself out before him. No words. The tricorder made a warning sound. As Thomas looked at the little display, he noticed that the oxygen level was 23 percent, a small amount above normal.

"Computer," ordered the cadet, "adjust the oxygen level in holodeck one."

There was no answer. When Thomas tried again, there was no answer. Engineering didn't respond either. His tricorder seemed to register wat he saw. Flowers, grass, soil ... human life ! Was he really on a planet now. No, he had to keep his head cool. This was DS2 holodeck one, period. Some technical malfunction caused all of this. He heard singing, singing of children. The singing came closer. Thomas started walking towards the singing. Maybe an answer could be found there. Only a minute later the academy student was surrounded by at least twenty children about eight or nine years old.

"Who are you, sir ?" one of them asked.

"I am Thomas. I come from a distant place. Where am I ?"

All children started singing again, but although they sang words that Thomas could understand, the song itself didn't have any meaning. Some children started pushing him in one direction. He had to go along with them or they would overrun him. After a few kilometers walk, the group arrived at a little town. The houses were made simple and with what seemed to be Federation materials. There were two main streets, crossing each other in the middle of town. The group of children pushed Thomas to one of the buildings which was bigger than the others. This was the school and there was the teacher standing in the open door. She was beautiful ...


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 40

The teacher's smile was like a magic magnet. Thomas felt his heart bouncing in every single cell. He just kept staring at her. He didn't even heard the children sing anymore. As the teacher sent the children back into the classroom, she approached Thomas very slowly.

"Who are you sir ?", she asked with a tempting voice.

Thomas didn't know what to say. More people came into the street to see who the stranger could be. A few minutes later the cadet was in the middle of a parade to the major's home. When the party arrived an elderly man invited Thomas inside. He had to tell everything. Where, what, who and everything else. But Thomas was still in the spell of those beautiful eyes of the teacher who's name was Viola. The major told about his town, it's complete history and much much more. He also told about his daughter Viola who was the teacher in the town. Omeloni, he said the word again, Omeloni. That was a beautiful name for a beautiful town, wasn't it. The only beautiful subject,according Thomas, was Viola.

An hour later Viola arrived home and invited Thomas to share the meal. The young man could only nod. He had to be dreaming. The big wooden table was setup for a simple meal. It was very tastefull, but Thomas couldn't remember any of the names of the dishes. He was preoccupied, listening to only Viola. Viola was talking and talking. The meal lasted for ever. But then it was time to go to sleep. It was a pleasure for Thomas to be invited to spend the night. Tomorrow he could tell about himself. Now it was time to rest.
The room was very cosy and the bed was warm. It didn't last long before the cadet was asleep. But a moving body which was laying herself beside him woke him up. It was Viola getting herself very very close to him.

"You are a soldier aren't you ? I just love soldiers. You must tell me about your battles, your base, the other soldiers, your friends..."

"We got him sir ! He is right here !"

"Get him out of there ! Now !"

"We are trying sir ! Yes ! We got him !"

"I will be there imediately !"

Two hands on his shoulders were shaking Thomas awake. It was captain Arthur. No. He looked a lot like the captain, but much older. Maybe this man was his father. That was a strange Starfleet uniform. What was happening ?

"Wake up Tho ... Cadet."

"Admiral, we have to get him back now ! Sir !"

"I heard you Jan ! Stop shouting ! Cadet ! You have to remember what I say now. The Giloppen have the ability to execute time scans. It is not like the advanced systems we use, but their system works. We will loose control in about ten years from now. You have to tell m ... captain Arthur. The Giloppen cannot travel in time yet, but as you can see, they were able to get you in our time. We have eliminated that possibility for now, but we cannot prevent that the Giloppen keep scanning time. They will be able to anticipate and to addapt."

"Sir !"

"Remember Cadet."

Stardate 75948.2: Captain Thomas Personal log
After a patrol of two weeks we have finally docked on the USS Ajax again. We did better than last patrol. Only moderate damage to our patrol ship and we destroyed sixteen Giloppen battleships and two destroyers. As soon as I got on board I heard the rumours that the Giloppen can scan time. This is a very bad thing for us. They can now scan the future and learn their own technological features and then integrate them into their own systems. We seem to be in a endless paradox, which can only be called a major nightmare. Until now the Time Control Division has everything under control. But what has to be done now is going to the past again and prepare ourselves for this. We have to close this open ring.
End Log


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 41

It took Luke almost twenty minutes to make it to the station's computer core, and -- by the time he arrived there -- the powercell of his phaser was down to fifteen percent of full storage, due to all the energy expended on cutting through fallen debris & powerless emergency bulkheads. It took another 5 minutes to get the core's emergency backup power system online. When that was done, he interfaced an external module he had pervaid from a storage room on DS2, and began attempting to access the encrypted data. This proved to be easier than he expected. He had only gotten a few of the security codes from the data packet sent by the Admiral, but the system cracking/slicing software he had available made short work of the encryption, once he had given it some of the Starfleet encryption bases he had on file.

"Davis to DS2 computer: run data relay-transit program, Davis gamma.", he ordered through his commpin.

"Working ... Link established, awaiting transfer.", the computer responded a moment later.

He next entered a command that caused the computer module to begin the data transfer from the 4465-A's computer to the DS2 computer, confirmed that the files were being transfered with out problems, and then locked the transceiver, preventing anyone from tampering with the flow of data. This part of his mission being complete, he started picking his way out of the area, travercing the Jefferies Tubes, on rout to Ops, where Jan had reported seeing the body of a Romulan, which was phase two of Luke's mission.

"Ah, there you are. I am afraid everyone is dead here.", Jan said shrugging his shoulders. He looked at Luke and saw him looking at the Romulan.
"Luke, that Romulan is not going to tell us anything any more. I suppose we will never know what a Romulan was doing on a Starfleet station. I am going to the Engineering section. My readings indicate that the core is not stable, to say the least."

"I will have a further look here.", said Luke turning to one of the consoles.

Jan crawled over a pile of debris towards one of the tubes that would lead him to engineering, without so much as a single look back. With a look of grim determination, Luke pulled a medical scanner, and returned to the corpse of the female Romulan intelligence officer ...
In engineering Jan had located the problem almost imediately. After contacting Nadine in the Beta, he started to work on a new core configuration. He surely could use Marianne down here, but the Alpha was already on it's way to DS2, and this was not exactly a warp core. The damage was rather large. Some of the additional backup power answered to Jan's input. Four of five consoles were to heavily burned to be of any use. The only one available sometimes gave up. Jan managed to get the voice interface on line.

"Computer ..."

The 4465-A computer interupted with the only thing that really worked perfectly:

"Warning ! Core overload in four minutes !" 


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 42

"Captain this is Louis. Internal sensors have picked up a temporal anomaly in holodeck one. It was just for a brief moment. Now it's gone."

"Doctor to Ops, I am registring an emergency in holodeck one. I have sent cadet Caroline with an emergency medical kit over there. I cannot leave as my patient, junior lieutenant Chris is not yet fit enough."

"Acknowledged Doc. Cadet Caroline, cadet Thomas is in holodeck one so keep us posted."

"Aye captain"

As the door opened cadet Caroline just saw a dissapearing shadow of what seemed to be a person. The shadow was gone. Thomas was on his back, on the floor. His eyes were closed, but he was breathing easy. A first inspection of his body didn't reveal any injuries. As Caroline took her medical tricorder to examine Thomas more thorough, she discovered that Thomas was not hurt, but unconscious. She took a deep breath. As if she was a trained and fully equiped doctor, she took the hyperspray and injected Thomas with a substance which cadets usually called 'wake-up-call'. This was the substance some cadets used to keep awake during the periods of exams. She never used it herself, but she knew it was very effective. It certainly couldn't hurt. Comming back in the real world, Thomas started to move and only a moment later he was sitting strait up.

"Caroline ... I have to get to the captain. Something has happened."

Caroline tapped her commbadge and reported to the captain that Thomas seemed to be all right. Although the captain wanted Thomas in sickbay for an examination, Thomas told Caroline he had to talk to captain Arthur first.

"Thomas, are you sure ?", asked Caroline in surprise. She had seen that there was a problem with the holodeck, but wasn't that something for the engineers ? She had always thought captains or any other high ranking officer shouldn't be disturbed by a cadet with a futulity. She lived by that rule. But Thomas had become more than a fellow cadet, maybe even her friend.

"Now.", whispered Thomas as he tried to get up. Still a bit dizzy, he managed, with some help of Caroline to get to the neerest turbolift. A few seconds later the lift door opened and both cadets were in Ops. Captain Arthur was sitting at the science station. He was the only officer in Ops.

"Captain, could I please have a word, sir."

Thomas sounded a bit drunk. Arthur turned around, his eyes already a bit swelling of fatigue. It was time that the officers were back on the station to releave him. As he looked at Thomas, he seemed to be worried and imediately he wanted a complete report of what had happened in holodeck one. After the report he send both cadets to sickbay.

"Ops to engineering."

"Louis here captain."

"I have a good idea why we had a temporal anomaly in holodeck one. I'll explain later."

"Acknowledged. Louis out."

Arthur stepped forward to the communications station and opened a channel to runabout Alpha.

"Alpha here, go ahead DS2.", Marianne had just slept for four hours, running the runabout with automated systems.

"Marianne, you are four days from the station. You have exactly that time to come up with a device to scan time or predict temporal anomalies, or something like that.", the captain was not joking and he explained ...


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 43

"Commander Luke ! I have stabalized the core. There is nothing more I can do now.", the lieutenant colonel was shouting into his combadge. He looked at the displays again. Some radiation leeks in some conduits just on the inside of the hull were not promissing, but after rerouting power from some unnecessary backup systems the damaged conduits were out of the circulation. Jan took the same way back to ops, over the bulkheads, through the tubes, up, left, up again. The smell, the bodies ... Commander Luke was just standing there in the operations center, noncialontly scribbling on a data pad, as if he was waiting for the next ship to Risa.

"Here you are. What are you still doing here commander ?", asked the lieutenant colonel surprised, not having a clue what commander Luke could have done so long. Jan tapped his commbadge.

"Nadine ! Everything is safe here except for some lower decks."

As captain Arthur was looking at the long range sensor read outs for yet another time, he realised that he had trouble finding answers to his questions. Maybe the junior lieutenant could clear some of those things up. The captain had taken some time to read the young officer's Starfleet file. There was not much in it what couldn't be expected. The Doc already had cleared Chris out of sickbay. It was not determined yet how much he would remember, but the first results were promissing. Chris could remember who he was and what Starfleet was. Maybe the first thing was more valuable to Chris than the second, but that was on a personal level. When he entered DS2 ops he noticed that the captain was alone. It did look a bit strange to him, but he didn't ask any questions. On the contrary, it was the captain who asked the questions. Without turning around ...

"So lieutenant, tell me what you were doing on a, let's say, secret station in the middle of nowhere.", and captain Arthur turned to face Chris, probably more to observe his reaction than to expect an answer.

"I am sorry sir. I can't remember that part. It's no fun not knowing what, who and where. I am afraid I can't help you, and even worse, myself at the moment." and as he spoke, Chris walked up to the tactical station.

"I know this", Chris said, apparently glad that he at least recognized something.

"Were there any weapons on station 4465-A ?", was the next direct question of the captain. He could only get information from this officer investigating what he knew, not what he could not know.

"This is a tactical station. Much more advanced than I am used to. This station has more firepower than anything in the fleet. I know because I have been around." In this Chris seemed very sure of himself.

"Where ?", another direct question.

"I don't know. Captain, sir. I am sure it will come back to me. I will report anything which ..."

"Beta to DS2, everything is under control on 4465-A."

The captain answered the call.

"Beta, this is the captain. We need the lieutenant colonel and the commander on the station now. Louis is going to transport both of them directly to ops with the subspace transporters. Gentlemen, maybe you shouldn't move for a second."

With these last words the captain expressed his concern over this subspace transporter system and he was clearly not thinking the same about it as commander Luke.Chris only murmured something to himself.

"Subspace transporter ? I didn't know Starfleet had such a thing."

"Captain ! This is Louis ! Something is blocking our transporter's targetting scanners."

"What the ???!"

"Sir, incomming vessels, from ... everywhere.", reported Chris. There was no time for more questions. Junior lieutenant Chris was at tactical, the captain initiated red alert and called the two cadets to ops. Jan Roel joined Louis in engineering just in time to pick Louis from the floor. The station was shaking. 


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 44

"What's going on Commander ?", the DS2 first officer wasn't on his first mission.

"We lost communications with DS2. I am trying to reestablish, but the problem appears to be at the source. There is nothing I can do.", he turned around and continued, "We can't seem to contact the Alpha either."

Jan ordered Nadine to try to hail DS2 or the Alpha, she reported that there was no success. As she kept trying, nothing happened. It was obvious that DS2 was in trouble and there was nothing the lieutenant colonel could do about it. If DS2 was under attack the enemy could be here in a short time. They needed some weapons, but there was nothing on this relay station that was worth something, atleast nothing he and the Commander had noticed. The place was in pretty bad shape ... Getting the shields on line was risky. There was nothing they could do from here. The Beta was on standby in case they had to run.

"Fire Mister Chris ! Fire at will !", captain Arthur ran over to the science station. While the first torpedos hit some of the Giloppen vessels, the captain made a count. 284 Giloppen vessels. The DS2 main computer had not reacted. Someone had forgotten to program this situation into the computer. It was as if he accused himself. Shields were down to 92 percent. Not bad, but not good enough. The old marine in Arthur took over. He made the battle calculations. At this rate shields would be down in just over twenty two minutes. At this firing rate DS2 could destroy 157 Giloppen vessels in twenty two minutes. Not enough. They needed some more options or this was lost. Communications were blocked completely. DS2 needed a miracle.

"Keep firing lieutenant ! You have twenty minutes to come up with a plan before something really bad happens. Engineering ! You have twenty minutes to come up with a miracle to save this station !"

At that moment the two cadets entered ops. The captain just waved with his arm. Thomas took damage control and Caroline took communications. As the captain ordered her to find a way to penetrate this communication blockade. She started sending messages on all kinds of frequencies. 4465-A didn't answer and even runabout Alpha which was closer did not receive any of the hails. Caroline would never know whether her emergency message would have been received by Starfleet ...
In desperation, she accessed commander Luke's file directory, and began to scrole through the list. After several seconds of searching, she found four varients on what appeared to be the same program, just with parameters & minor technical differences. She could not tell for sure what all they were supposed to do, but their names seemed to suggest that they were designed to punch through, or compensate for, jamming & interferince, and she desided there was nothing to lose by trying to see if they worked. She crossed her fingers, and ran her hailing sequence through the first program.

"You must have done this before, lieutenant.", said the captain, when he looked at the shooting skills of the junior lieutenant who came on DS2 by accident. The station shook again. Shields were down to 71 percent. There was not much time left. Sixty torpedos fired through the tubes simultaneously. Space was filled with explosions. Chris was concentrating. No computer. Manual firing. It looked like a target practice, but it was certainly not. This was not the best time to have come as a guest on this station, but now there was not even time left to discuss that. Sixteen minutes remaining.

"Ops this is Jan Roel. Our chief has been hurt. The doc is here now and Louis should be back on his feet any second. We have shut down all power to non essential decks. It doesn't give a lot, but we have won a few minutes."

"Acknowledged. Keep working on it. Arthur out."

Jan Roel looked at the doc and at Louis on the floor. He rerouted some power from the life support of the closed decks to the shields. It would take a miracle to survive, but he was determined to do as much damage to these Giloppen as he could. In this case, the longer DS2 could stand the attack, the more enemies were destroyed. As Louis got on his feet again, the station seemed to be jumping up and down. It almost caused Louis to fall again. The image of the doc faded for a moment. Then he was back. If there was anybody in the future helping them, now would be a good time to appear and cleen space from Giloppen.

"Captain, damage report sir", said Thomas. "Only insignificant damage to some of the habitat decks. Shields are holding."

The captain nodded. He realised they had to find something executable and realistic. If they couldn't beat these Giloppen, they should have a way to escape. The station shook again. Shields were down to 44 percent. 10 minutes.

"Captain", it was Caroline, " We have contact with 4465-A."


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 45

Junior lieutenant Marianne was ready for the first test. She had modified the warp nacells to create another type of field. Before she could test her new time scanning device, which she silently called the Marianne device, she had to create a time space distortion. If she had to wait here until something happened by accident she would probably be here until she was old and grey, and then something still might not happen. She made the last check. She noticed she wasn't nervous at all. Now. Nothing seemed to happen at first. Then, there it was. A little bright light had appeared dead ahead. Sensors collected data. Marianne had created a temporal anomaly, very small, but visible. The time scanning device read something, but it was not clear to Marianne what it was that she was reading. She started to compare results with the sensors of the runabout, but that didn't help much. Boosting power could be dangerous to the hull integrety of the runabout. The little ship was not exactly made for this kind of research. But she didn't want to give up so soon. She increased power by thirty percent. The small light was growing. It now read fifteen meters in diameter. The center was black. Marianne concentrated on the black center and compared the results of the two completely different scanning devices. Even the runabout's sensors gave a detailled image of the anomaly. Now Marianne was getting nervous. She breathed deeply. More power. The anomaly grew. More power. Now the black center was about fifteen meters wide.

"Danger ! Hull integrety at eighty percent.", the runabout's computer did it's job.

"What did you expect.", Marianne answered, shaking her head. When she was back on DS2, she could have more equipment to do more research. It was working.

"Warning ! Giloppen battle cruisers approaching bearing 213 mark 4."

"Computer shields up ! Arm the phaser bank !", Marianne wouldn't give up easily.

"Shields failed. Warp field is unstable. Danger ! Hull integrety at sixty percent."

Before Marianne realised that she had to shut down her experiment, the first Giloppen ship fired. The projectiles bounced of on the new warp field, but the shock drove the runabout forward. A second wave of a Giloppen attack had the same result. In her surprise of not getting hurt, Marianne hadn't noticed the runabout was drifting into the anomaly. A moment later the runabout was gone. The anomaly dissapeared.

The communication with 4465-A was restored. In a brief moment Caroline explained what was happening on DS2. Lieutenant colonel Jan understood. The communication had ended. It was better not to let the Giloppen know about the fellow officers on 4465-A. They could be in great danger too if the Giloppen found out that there were more of them.

"Shields down to 18 percent.", reported Chris at tactical, imediately followed by Thomas, who reported a hull breach on decks four, five and six.

Chief engineer Louis called ops. He had a way to get out safely. The targetting scanners of the subspace transporters were fully operational again. Apparently Chris shooting had been very effective. The more Giloppen ships he destroyed, the more systems came on line again. Communications, transporters. Louis had locked on to the subspace transporters on 4465-A. They now just had to beam over. The captain sent the two cadets below to get them in safety first. As he took over damage control himself, he realised how bad the situation was. Chris was not planning on leaving until the last moment, even if the captain ordered him to go. Chris looked at the turbolift. The station was continually moving like an old wooden sailing ship on sea during a heavy storm.

"Captain, this is Louis. Both of you are the only ones left. It's time to go!"

"You go Louis, I will do as much damage as I can."

"Captain, someone has to operate the subspace transporter. I got it on line and working, but it can't work on it's own.", Louis sounded a bit sad.

"Alright then. I'll be there in a minute. Mean while, if you think there will be enough power available, beam over some of those ration packs, and supplies. Who knows what we might need over there."

"Acknowledged; I'll also send over the Doctor's portable emitor."

Captain Arthur programmed a tactical subroutine. The weapons were still firing when Chris and Arthur left DS2 ops. Down in the turbolift, out and entering engineering. There was chief engineer Louis, checking the transporter displays. He had constructed a two man transporter pad close to the entrance of the engineering section as soon as he had converted the transporters to subspace transporters. It seemed that the computer wanted to have the last word.

"Warning ! Shields have failed. Station is boarded."

"Get on it.", ordered captain Arthur, while he took his type two phaser. "You too mister Chris."

"But sir, you can't get off the station ...", protested Louis.

"Are you questioning my orders Louis ?", asked the captain as he walked up to the subspace transporter console.

Louis could only be silent and stepp up on the transporter pad. If he ever would be in command, he hoped he would never have to do this. Tears starting in his eyes, he watched the captain push the buttons. The dim blue light ... and everything was black.
The captain turned around, ready to receive the boarding parties. Then he noticed junior lieutenant Chris at his side.

"I thought I gave you an order lieutenant."

"I won't leave without you, sir.", said the Starfleet seal. "Sir, I don't know anything about this system. I will hold the enemy off, until you have reporgrammed it."


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 46

Runabout Alpha was spinning like a tredmill. Marianne didn't know anymore which side was wich. There were no readouts. Most of the systems were gone. Only some of the backup systems had successfully taken over. Shields were down; and there was no warp power. Space. Stars. No way of telling where she was. The runabout's computer was off line. No sensor readings. Instinctively Marianne looked out of the front window. Nothing she could recognize. The Science lieutenant started to rerout power from the few backup systems to the sensor arrays. There were no read out. Some more power to ...

"Danger ! Hull integrety at thirty percent.", the runabout's computer was back on line, but Marianne had hoped it's first announcement would be something to cheer her up.

Sensor readings did not help her much. The only thing she could be positive about, was that the Giloppen were gone. The anomaly she had created was gone as well. The runabout would not last long. It seemed that she would be stuck here.

"Computer is the hull integrety decreasing ?"

"Hull integrety is at thirty percent and holding."

That was a releave. Now what. Propulsion. There was some damage in the starboard nacelle. There was no way she could repair it. No shields, no weapons, which meant she couldn't take power from those systems to reroute it to propulsion. Impulse engine was off line. Thrusters, however, were operational. If she ever came into a planets gravity, the runabout was able to make a nearly safe, semi-powered crash landing. Sensors gave a position: about two days away from Deep Space 2. The station was not in sensor range and as long as communication was off line, she couldn't let the rest of the crew know where she was so they could come and pick her up. Maybe the Giloppen were attacking the station as well. Marianne sat down for a full minute. Then she stood up again. She walked to the helm station and tried to find the nearest star system. There it was ... Only two years away with thruster power. This situation was getting worse by the minute. No propulsion to speak of, no communications. Food. She was going to need food. As fast as she could she crossed the midsection and entered the aft section in front of the replicator. It still worked.

"Warning ! Jem'Hadar fighter craft decloaking on starboard bow."

Even faster then before Marianne was in the cockpit section of runabout Alpha. She could see the Jem'Hadar fighter through the front window as she turned the runabout. At least she had some hope of being rescued. The Jem'Hadar were very disciplined soldiers. They would kill her imediately or take her prisonner, depending on what their orders were. She looked at the sensor read outs. Power fluctuations inside the Jem'Hadar ship could only mean something like powering up weapons. Marianne knew that even if she had shields, it would not make much difference.

Directly behind her two bodies materialized.

Stardate 652.1: Lieutenant Wim Keuleers Personal log
Maybe a log is futile at this time, and although my last log was almost four weeks ago, on stardate 651.8, I find it necessary to report this. What ever happens, maybe someone, even someone in Starfleet, or what's left of it, can use it. Upon investigating a temporal anomaly, we found a ship of unknown design comming out of the anomaly. The ship was manned by one human, to our big surprise. As the Gandhi was cloaked we were not detected, but ensign Helena already pointed out that this new ship was severely damaged. After a complete scan, we discovered that this ship was a Danube design runabout. Downloading the computerfiles from this Danube ship we found out that it carried the name Alpha. No offensive nor defensive systems of this Danube Alpha were on line. With communications of the Danube Alpha out, we could only make contact by boarding the vessel. I decided to board the ship armed and ready for anything, leaving Ensign Helena in command of the Gandhi. Some of the cadets, who we were able to save during the Borg attack three weeks ago, were a bit scared. They'll probably be traumatized for a long time. We all know that there is no future in this quadrant with on one side the Dominion, whiping everything out, whoever they encounter, and on the other side the Borg, trying to get to the Dominion and destroying or assimilating all that comes in their way. There is no stopping either of them. When two months ago the Romulan Republican Council surrendered to the Dominion, we knew that only Klingon space would be save for a while. The Klingon Imperial Fleet was crushed by the Borg only one week later and leaving this galaxy seems to be the only way to escape from this horror. We were so lucky to find this Jem'Hadar fighter on 7824K where we did our geological survey. The Jem'Hadar who were the crew of this ship had killed themselves. In the ship we found the remains of a dominion Founder, which explained the dead Jem'Hadar soldiers outside. We painted USS Gandhi on the top and decided to leave 7824K, while we still had a chance. The USS Gandhi had helped us more than a few times to escape from the Jem'Hadar themselves and even once from the Borg. We haven't heard from anyone in Starfleet or the Federation in a long time ... nothing. So you can imagine our surprise when cadet Wouter and I materialized aboard the Danube Alpha where we found a human. Her uniform was not so different than ours and it was clearly Starfleet, but as this lieutenant Marianne Loogen started to tell her story, we could only conclude, she had come from another, maybe parallel, universe. There was no reason to believe she was not telling the truth. She told things we had never heard of, like a space station in this very area, and a war with a race called Giloppen. We could only hope to send her back where she came from but when we gave her Danube Alpha the power it needed to recreate the same temporal rift, some of our cadets were expressing their hope to enter the rift as well. We would end up in a war, but we would go in cloaked. There also seemed to be a time difference between the connection to the other universe. Our technology was far supperior to the Danube Alpha or any other ship lieutenant Marianne Loogen described. We would at least have a chance. The longer we waited the weaker the hull of the Danube became by the maintaining of the rift. We had to make a fast decision. I didn't want to make this choice alone, although I am the senior officer. So that was it. The hull of the Danube colapsed right after we transported lieutenant Marianne Loogen off of her emploding ship.

The time has come ...
After a hurried conference with all on board, the choice has been made ...

We are going in. Wish us luck . . .

End Log


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 47

Although the captain didn't like Chris staying on the station at all he started reprograming the subspace transporter systems linking them to the main computer. The first Giloppen entered engineering. Humanoids in space suits. Unrecognizable. Chris opened fire. Two down. It wouldn't take long before the rest of them would find them. Weapons firing. Chris returned fire. One down. The others took cover. During the fight, Arthur examined the transporter console. Subspace coordinates were constantly changing, and had to be reset for each new transport, but there was a predictable pattern to it. However, with the on-going attack, and with the computer being ocupied with other things, and only able to devote a small amount of processing power to the transporters: it was not easy for Arthur to calculate the correct subspace coordinants for 4465-A. After nearly a full minute, however, he thought he had found it. Just as he wanted to enter the correct subroutine, the Giloppen were attacking again. The seal fought like a seal, but had to retreat. Captain Arthur jumped forward with his type two in his right hand. If the two Starfleet officers had a possibility to leave this station, it was here and they couldn't afford that engineering would be taken by the enemy. Precision fire took some of the Giloppen down. The enemy were armed with some kind of stick, some kind of desruptor, the captain didn't know. Slowly Chris and Arthur had to retreat, but the captain didn't like that at all.

"Lieutenant, if we want to make it, we will have to drive them back." Now the captain took his type one phaser out of his boot and passed another one to Chris.

"Yihaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa !"

Shouting as hell both of them came out of their cover and started firing on anything that moved. It was not exactly clear whether the Giloppen retreated into the coridor. The shouting must have done the trick, and still shouting both officers maintained pursuit. Shooting, running, shouting through the corridors. Just as the captain wanted to stop and return to engineering, some of the Giloppen started to evacuate the station. More of them just stood up strait and were transported of the station. In surprise Arthur looked at Chris.

"We must have scared them tremendously.", the young lieutenant said, not really believing what he had just said.

"We've got to get to ops. Computer, what is the defense status of the station ?"

"Status of Deep Space 2 is nominal. Phaserbank is down to 31 %, torpedo launchers are out, shields have failed. There are two human crewmembers aboard. Life support is nominal and all other systems work within specified parameters."

While listening to the computer's report the captain and the lieutenant were enetering deserted ops. The computer explained that there were no boarding parties aboard. The main viewer was activated. A message was comming in. Lieutenant Marianne Loogen appeared.

"DS2, captain. It's a long story. I have returned from a parallel universe. I have taken some Starfleet officers into the anomaly to return with them in this Jem'Hadar Ship. We are engaging the Giloppen."

"Good work lieutenant. We have you on short range sensors. You couldn't have come at a better time."

"Keep firing ensign. We got to make an opening in their defenses." Lieutenant Wim Keuleers had more than casual battle experience.

"Every shot destroys on of them sir, but it seems there are to many of them."

While cloaking, decloaking and firing like in a shooting gallery, the USS Gandhi was also taken some hits. Things got even worse as the legion of Giloppen, who had planned to attack 4465-A changed course to Deep Space 2. These reinforcements would arrive at DS2 with incredible speed. Cadets Thomas and Caroline were monitoring the enemy movements and were relaying the enemy's position to DS2, where Jan Roel and Louis were already working on getting a torpedo launcher on line. Although all the efforts, it ... again ... seemed a hopeless situation. A swarm of hundreds of Giloppen ships were approaching fast and already out of 4465-A sensor range. It seemed that there was no use. Lieutenant colonel Jan was already sent back to 4465-A, to try to get the relay station equiped with somekind of defense systems. The USS Gandhi was not only taking hits, but the ship could not escape either. The surrounding net was closing in on the Jem'Hadar fighter. 


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 48

"Deep Space 2, this is the Starfleet vessel USS Ajax. I see that you have some trouble. Shall we give you a hand ? Stand by."

Without waiting for the answer, a ship of unknown design decloaked at DS2 starboard side. The Ajax tactical officer deployed nine battle drones in a standard screen formation. Deploying, tracking targets, targets destroyed, tracking new targets, targets destroyed. Lieutenant Wim's fighter was free to maneuver. The Jem'Hadar fighter joined the drones in their strike. Before the Giloppen reinforcements could regroup the Ajax had already put the drones in a new position. The Giloppen fired on the drones but without result. The Borg adaptation units wroked perfectly. No damage. Waypoint set, tracking targets, targets destroyed, drone Beta moderate damage by ramming Giloppen, Beta disengaging, targets destroyed.

"Lieutenant, the enemy is fleeing ... fast !" reported ensign Helena.

"I see it. I wonder ..."

Lieutenant Wim had no time to wonder. The Ajax had a group of work-drones deployed. The drones entered the DS2 shuttlebay to make some modifications in order to let the Ajax dock inside DS2. The insect like robots started the modifications almost imediately.

Stardate 50219.6: Captain Arthur van Rhee Personal log
Nothing seems to be as it appeares. Deep Space 2 is under major reconstruction. Automated insect like robots are working around the clock, to get us incredible technology which makes our engineers enjoy themselves without interuption. They call it entertainment. The USS Ajax is already docked in this new spacedock. Aboard was the Vorlon ambassador. I have never met a Vorlon before, and I have been told by Starfleet Command that there are not many of them left. Some smaller ships have been transfered from the Ajax in DS2 spacedock as well. I have noticed that commander Luke and lieutenant Chris seemed to know this Vorlon ambassador very well. Chris even received a small vessel full of Vorlon technology. I didn't ask any questions. I really don't want to start an interstellar or even intergalactic conflict over this matter. The Ajax did not have a large crew anyway. Only an Starfleet ensign at the helm to get the ship here. There is something strange about this ensign. The same feeling I have when I try to figger out what commander Luke and lieutenant Chris are doing here. Just what we needed ... Another spy.
And then there is the Starfleet officer's group of the alternate universe, under command of lieutenant Wim Keuleers. I have asked Jan to let them fit in. They are not going back anyway...
End Log
"Ensign Geert Van Nieuwenhove, isn't it ?", the captain asked retorically, while he offered Geert a chair at the other side of the desk.

"Yes captain, that's correct."

"I have studied your Starfleet records and I must say that some of the files are restricted, but as usual I pulled some strings and I have it here and now, and complete."

There was a very tiny little grin on Geert's face, which was unnoticed by the captain. Arthur declared that he would look into the files further and offered the ensign a position on DS2, as the new station could use all hands. Geert agreed, as if he had a choice, and joined the ops duty team to start his tour of the station. Just as he went out of the captain's office, XO Jan came in.

"Captain. This is really incredible. We need at least a few months to study all this new technology. Did you know that most part of that technology is Borg ?"

The captain knew already. He ordered the computer to display the Ajax schematics and pointed to some of the most interesting issues of the ship.

"I am going to have a talk with the Vorlon ambassador now.", said Arthur. "I am going to try to find out exactly why she has come here. I have been told she will not leave her environmental suit, but it would not be a problem to communicate. You have ops Jan."

"Yes sir."

Jan was very curious himself. A few hours earlier he had escorted the Vorlon ambassador to the lower decks of the station where the ambassador had picked out a stateroom. Not very luxurious, but the DS2 XO didn't want to make remarks about it. Vorlon standards could be so much different than Federation standards. On their way to the ambassador's quarters she had not said a word and Jan hadn't asked anything either, not even the ambassador's name. That would be impossible to pronounce anyway. All of this was very mysterious. This new ship, the smaller ships, new Runabouts. No explanations. Commander Luke and lieutenant Chris had left for 4465-A already in their personal crafts. Aparently the Borg were not the only ones who could create some kind of transwarp conduits. Vorlon technology was even more advanced. Jumpgates, they called it. Very strange was the fact that lieutenant Chris Esquibel seemed to be familiar with this kind of technology. Jan had not asked any questions. The captain knew what he was doing.
Captain Arthur arrived at the door of the Vorlon ambassador's quarters. Just as he wanted to push the door button to announce his presents, the lights in the corridor flickered and only a fraction of a second later the corridor was dark. The station shook violently, and again. Captain arthur tabbed his comm badge but that didn't work. All systems were aparently off line, including life support. It was geting cold very rapidly and only a few seconds later Arthur had to grasp for air. He had trouble keeping himself strait up. At the end of the corridor he saw shadows, moving. They looked like Giloppen. The captain realised that this time maybe the Giloppen had entered his timezone from the future. Then this could be the end. It was his last thought. Then he fell down. 


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 49

Arthur's head hurt. He tried to open his eyes, but couldn't see. Only for a moment. Then his vision came back. He was not on the station. He was somewhere else. In a desert. There was a lot of noise which he could not imediately identify. Wait a minute. That noise were weapons firing. Arthur noticed he was in somekind of trench. Next to him was a Starfleet marine looking over the edge, firing his phaser.

"Ha, did you see that !", shouted the marine. "Sometimes the Cardies are so stupid.", the marine looked down. "Major are you hurt ? Major !"

Arthur looked in the eyes of his best friend. Jan Theys a Starfleet marine captain. This wasn't happening. He looked at his own uniform. Starfleet marine major. What the hell had happened ? The Giloppen. They could have done something to the timeline where he was in and now he was in another timeline. Arthur remembered this planet. It was a year before the peace treaty beween Cardassians and the Federation. The fights were hard and everything which could win a battle was used in battle. Arthur remembered that his entire unit was killed except for Jan, himself and sergeant Crappy, who had been able to save himself because of his experience. He was very badly wounded though and Jan and Arthur were defending their position. The Cardassians had them surrounded and Arthur remembered that there had been no way out. Comforted of the idea that the mission had been a success and that they were only on their way to extract point alpha-2, the sergeant's face of pain brought both officers back to reality. Crappy needed medical attention and fast. Major Arthur remembered that Crappy had died during the Cardassian siege of the marine's position. Whatever the consequences, not this time.

"Captain Jan, you will hold the Cardassians off for at least one hour. You will do it alone, while I see to it that we get out of here."

"Sir ! Yes sir !"

Arthur knew that the Cardies would not attack until reinforcements had arrived. That would be in at least two hours. He used his knowledge of years of advancement to construct a explosive device with the equipment they still had. The explosion of the device would bring devestation among the Cardassians. At exactly that moment they had to run for it. Crappy couldn't walk so not run either. Jan fired his phaser.

"Don't take to long Arthur, They are closing."

"Five more minutes."

"I think we have two."

Jan fired again. Arthur seemed a bit surprised. This was not the way he remembered it. He remembered that the Cardassians didn't close in two hours after Crappy had died. Things got even worse when a Cardassian craft aproached through the air and stopped right above their position. This was totally wrong. Arthur didn't recall a Cardassian ship at all. According his memory there was a secret tunnel right behind them and a Cardassian Starfleet operative had helped them escape. The tunnel !
A moment later Jan and Arthur grabbed Crappy and dissapeared into the tunnel. They only were two hundred meters in the tunnel when the ship above their heads started firing. The Cardassian attack resulted in the colapsing of the tunnel. There was no way back. At the other end of the tunnel was a light. It was closing. Onward. That had to be the help the major had expected. Only a minute later the three Starfleet marines stopped and looked at the Cardassian female, who had been running towards them.

"Follow me."

"Wait a minute.", protested Jan. "Who are you ?"

Arthur's hand was on his friend's shoulder. He explained that it was all right. He asked the Cardassian woman for some medical supplies to treat Crappies injuries. Thirty minutes later the sergeant was doing much better. Although Jan objected, the Cardassian woman treated Crappies injuries very sufficient.

"She is a nurse,", Arthur explaned to Jan. "and her name is Nadine."

"She is Cardassian. The enemy. How do you know that ?"

"She is a Starfleet operative."

Arthur looked down on the sergeant who was treated by Nadine. Jan looked at Arthur. What was going on here ? Even Nadine looked up, with a strange look in her eyes, as if she wanted to ask how this Starfleet major knew all this. There was no time. The ground was shaking and some parts of the ceiling of the tunnel were comming down dangerously. The sensors of that Cardassian ship surely had detected them. Nadine urged the marines to follow her. Arthur remembered that there was a Starfleet shuttle type 6 at the end of this corridor. He helped Jan carry the sergeant. It wasn't much farther. The ground trembled. It seemed like a small earthquake. 


The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 50

Jan and Arthur managed to keep Crappy on his feet and follow the Starfleet Cardassian operative, who had confirmed that her name was Nadine. The tunnel stopped. It was a dead end. First Jan thought the tunnel had colapsed. There had not been any turns so they couldn't have taken the wrong one. Then he noticed that Nadine had freed a control panel. She pushed a few buttons and the wall of the tunnel slided open. The four refugies entered a cave. In the center of the cave there was a shuttle type 6, just as Arthur had remembered. There were no markings on the shuttle.

A few moments later the shuttle was airborn and on it's way to space. With Jan at the helm they would arrive in Federation space in twenty hours. This mission behind Cardassian lines had been accomplished. Arthur tried to keep in mind that there had been six Starfleet marines lost, but it was a miracle that they had come out of it alive, and this time with sergeant Crappy. Crappy was asleep, as Nadine had given him a few sedatives. She looked up from the improvised sickbed to the major, who was bending over Crappy.

"He is stable for now.", she explained.

"And we are not stable !" ,shouted Jan at the helm. "We have company !"

Arthur remembered this escape totally different. They shouldn't have any interference of the shuttle flight at all. The major remembered that they had been picked up by the USS Arrakis without any complications during their flight. Arthur sat next to Jan. Shields were up, but wouldn't help a lot against this Galor class warship which was in pursuit. Evasive maneuvers. No significant result. The Starfleet marines were out numbered and out gunned. The shuttle was hit. Two consoles at the back exploded and Nadine had a lot of trouble to put the fire out. The shuttle was hailed by the Cardassian ship.

"This is gul Dorek of the Cardassian warship Dentelon. You will lower your shields and transport aboard our vessel. Lower your shields and you will not be harmed. You will get a fair trial. Lower your shields ! Now !"

That was that. Arthur looked at Jan. He wanted to explain about DS2 and that this was not how it had happened. It was no use. Both officers nodded to each other. Jan kept the shields up and turned the shuttle about to engage the Cardassians. Gul Dorek was no fool. He had only been polite. He was not expecting these Starfleet officers to give up so easily. For dissabling this shuttle only, precission firing was needed. If the target and weapon's power were not exactle right, the shuttle would be destroyed. Now the shuttle was firing phasers at the warship. the blast took a few percentages of the Cardassian's shields capacity. Dorek still had some time to think. The Dentelon was hit again. No significant damage. What did those Starfleet cow-boys want to prove. This was ridiculous. Just as he was thinking of hailing the shuttle again a strange vessel decloaked at the Dentelon's port bow, following the Federation shuttle.

Arthur recognised the decloaking vessel imediately. That was impossible ! There shouldn't be any Jem'Hadar in the Alpha Quadrant at this time. It would take years to discover the Bajoran wormhole. How did it get here. Looking around in the shuttle he searched for answers. Sergeant Crappy was still on the bench with Nadine at his side. Crappy was starting to move. He became a brown liquid and changed into a humanoid shape. Nadine jumped away and before Arthur could fire on the changeling, the changeling was transported of the shuttle. Only a moment later the Jem'Hadar fighter dissapeared.

Gul Dorek did not know what he had seen, but he did not want to take any chances. He ordered to destroy the Federation shuttle. As the shuttle was hit, it was like it had turned into a baseball hit by a bat and on it's way for a homerun. Arthur was on the floor. There had to be a hull breach. He couldn't breath. His heart was pounding in his throat.

One moment to the next ... then the commanding officer of Deep Space 2 was on his feet.

Arthur looked straight in the ambassador's eyes, or at least he thought that those were the Vorlon eyes, and asked what had happened.

"There is much more to learn from your past than from your future." said the Vorlon ambassador. She turned around, closed the door of her stateroom and left captain Arthur in total confusion in the corridor.