I wasn't surprised to hear Commander William Riker refused another promotion to captain to stay as Picard's first officer. Why would the woman stick to Jeanne so much? Because she was defying her parents, like she had while growing up.

They had wanted a boy when she was born and named her so, only for her to fight against their wishes and forged her own path. She joined Starfleet in spite of them and they still wanted her to rise through the ranks. So, she did, only to intentionally stall herself at Commander when she was assigned to the Enterprise D.

Riker stayed at that post for years, despite her parents berating her for not accepting every rinky-dink ship command Starfleet tried to give her. She could have become a captain in her own right years ago, except she chose to give up her rising star status and stayed on the Enterprise as Picard's first officer.

Other members of the bridge crew took temporary assignments at other posts, just to stay busy, and would come back when the new ship was finished. Only a few people thought Picard and Riker were wasting their time by putting their careers on hold, except them. They both knew the wait would be worth it.

I logged off the captain's channel in my ready room and stood, smoothed my uniform, and walked out onto the bridge. “Ensign Kim? What's the state of the moorings?”

“Ready to disengage, captain.” Helen Kim said.

I tapped my comm badge. “Captain to Engineering.”

“Engineering here.” A woman answered.

“Chief Engineer Santos, what's the status of the engines and the warp core?” I asked.

“Warp core operating at 89% efficiency and the engines are on standby for Impulse power at your command.” Santos responded.

“Excellent, Roberta. Thank you.” I said, genuinely grateful. “I'll be relying on you and your department a lot during this deployment.”

“You won't be disappointed, captain.” Santos said and I could almost hear her blush. “Santos out.”

“Lieutenant Paris? Are the scientific teams tucked in all snug and cozy in their rooms?” I asked with a smile.

Tammy Paris barely held in her laugh at my words. “Aye, captain. Both teams are secured.”

I nodded and sat down in my chair. “Commander Cavit, take us out.”

The grey haired woman griefly smiled warmly at me, composed herself, and stood and took a single step forward. “OPS, contact the starbase and thank them for looking after us and send the signal to release us.”

“Aye, commander.” Helen Kim said and did so. Clamps all along the ship let go with soft clangs.

“Tactical, keep en eye out for any strays that might cross our path.” Cavid said.

“Aye, commander. Active scanning.” Tuvoc responded. “Nothing is a danger to us at the moment.”

Cavit nodded. “Helm, move us out from the dock at one quarter Impulse. Once we're clear of the station, increase to half Impulse and bring us about on a heading towards Grid 054 mark 093.”

“Aye, commander.” Lieutenant Stadi said and entered the commands.

“Execute.” Cavit ordered.

The starship USS Voyager crept out from the moorings and away from the space station. A few minutes later, they were clear and the ship increased in speed.

“Coming about to heading 210 mark 0, Grid coordinates 054-093. Deep Space Nine.” Lieutenant Stadi said.

After a few more minutes, Cavi nodded. “Increase to full Impulse and bring us out to the Lagrange Point. Once we're past that, engage the warp drive and bring us up to Warp 6.” She said and sat down. “We're not in a rush this time, so there's no need to tax the engineering department this soon.”

I gave her a smile and a nod, fully approving of her handling the departure procedure. Cavit nodded back, clearly pleased. We sat there until the ship reached the appropriate point and Lieutenant Stadi engaged the warp drive and the ship jumped to Warp 6.

“Good work, everyone.” I said and stood. “Cavit, you have the bridge. I'll be in my ready room.”

“Aye, captain.” Cavit said and changed seats to sit in the middle. Why? Because any officer with ambition wanted to sit in 'the big chair' in command of a starship.

I entered my ready room and went to my desk. I had more paperwork to get through and wouldn't need Cavit's help for a while, since it was captain eyes only and the briefings were about the situation in the Gamma Quadrant. Two of the smaller federation science ships assigned there had disappeared and Voyager was assigned a scientific mission to get them through the wormhole to quietly investigate.

I had already contacted Odo and learned everything she knew about the disappearances, which wasn't much. Just the ships, the crew compliments, and what they did on the station before heading into the wormhole to never return. The USS Voyager was a fairly small ship, so it might just trigger whatever happened to the other ships and reveal the truth. If not, then another way would have to be arranged.

It was difficult to refuse Odo's request to come aboard for the mission, mostly because she couldn't leave her baby behind and she would have to bring her pot along with her own. I did not want our child exposed to whatever was taking or destroying federation starships and I definitely didn't want to lose either of them.

There was a feeling of frustration and warmth from Odo, because I was being overprotective and had a good reason for it. Spock added a feeling of acceptance and calm that made me feel better about it, and I added the thought I could bring either of them to me if they were needed, and that reassured the both of them that I was only concerned with their safety and wasn't coddling them.

I let their presences fade into the back of my mind as I went back to work reading the various reports and speculations on what happened. I just hoped I could give some closure to the families of the people that were taken or lost from those ships, whil at the same time I hoped it wasn't the Jem'Hadar, the military arm of the Dominion. That would make things more complicated than they already were.

*

After a brief stop at the station for the science teams to talk to the locals for more background, I handed command of the ship to Commander Cavit and went to my ready room. Why did I do that? Because I was expecting a certain event to happen and needed to be alone and without distractions.

My Danger Sense went off as we crossed the threshold of the stable wormhole and just after the wormhole's entrance closed behind the ship, there was a whoosh sound and the ship disappeared from around me as I found myself pulled into a white space with a soft fog around me.

“You are not the Sisco.” Helen Kim said as she appeared near my left side.

“No, she's back on the station and I made sure to stay as far away from her as possible.” I said.

“Why?” Tammy Paris asked as she appeared near my right side.

“Because I'm not stupid enough to interfere with whatever plans you have for her and the Bajorans.” I answered and my Danger Sense faded to only a tickle.

“You are not really who you are.” Guinan said from behind me.

“You are more than you appear to be.” Jeanne Picard said when she appeared in front of me.

They didn't ask me anything, so I didn't answer and stayed quiet. When dealing with all powerful beings like these, it was best to never offer information they could use against you.

“Why are you here?” Lieutenant Stadi asked as he appeared between Jeanne and Helen.

“Because I expected to be here when I passed into the wormhole.” I admitted and they exchanged looks.

“How did you know of us?” Commander Cavit asked when she appeared between Jeanne and Tammy. “The Sisko has not told of her excursions.”

“I'd like to lie and say from learning about the Bajoran's religion, or from Odo with our mind meld.” I told them and they all exchanged looks again. “However, it's because I know of a version of you from another reality.”

I felt ten somethings immediately hit my mind and bounce off. They felt like deep telepathic probes, so I knew they wanted to rip into my mind to find out what else I knew about.

“That was not nice.” I said and opened my telepathic ability to it's fullest, for the first time ever, and sent ten legitimacy probes at the ten sources that had hit me. To my utter surprise, none of them could resist it, probably because it was so unexpected.

A popup told me it would cost a hundred thousand Karma Points to learn their knowledge, without having it affect my being, and I accepted. The white space turned to grey and my mind filled up with the past, the present, and the future. Well, of this timeline. At first. Then a divergent one appeared and I had the past, present, and future of that one fill my mind, then another appeared.

I was occupied for an eternity or two as I experienced all the different permutations of the Star Trek universe, which also included the one I knew about. It was odd seeing it from the inside, which gave me quite the insight into the lives of the normal people when you didn't focus upon the larger than life members that the shows and movies focused on.

“Okay, I can see why you ignore almost everything for the highlights.” I said when my journey finally ended an instant later. “Sisco really is a nexus for you to focus on.”

“They are the Sisco.” All ten beings said as one.

“I'm really glad I avoided her and didn't influence her thinking in any way.” I told them and looked around at the greyness. “Oh, sorry about that. It's a side effect and should wear off when I leave.”

“We know.” They said. “It's dulled down to make things easier for you.”

“As if accepting the state of your non-linear existence was easy.” I chuckled. “If I didn't have Spock and Odo balancing me, I would have lost myself in everything.”

The ten beings nodded. “It's why we made this place for us to exist.”

“It maintains and separates us.” Jeanne Picard said and stepped close. “Why didn't you bring this likeness into yourself?”

“She wasn't ready and might never be.” I said and decided to share the experience with her. I spent the 500 Karma Points for a one-way connection and sent her everything Jeanne Picard had experienced.

The likeness in front of me shivered and then the other nine presences also shivered. “We understand.”

“She is like the Sisko. A nexus for the events around her.” Chief Engineer Santos said.

“Yes, she is.” I said and pulled my telepathy back under the restraints I kept it under.

“You must promise to not use your new knowledge to alter the course of future history.” Commander Cavit said.

“I'm already doing that.” I said.

“No, we mean the timelines. Changing one changes them all.” Tammy Paris said. “We learned to not interfere a very long time ago for the linear species like you.”

“Which was only a moment ago for beings like you.” I said and they all nodded. “I promise to not let myself be ruled by what could be and will allow events to play out like they are.”

“Agreed.” They all said as one.

That was the moment I realized Janeway had done what I did in one of the timelines they saw, giving Caretaker technology to the Federation, so nothing I was doing was messing up anything. It was reassuring and disappointing, because it meant my actions were well within the realm of possibility and not massive changes like I thought they were.

“We won't meet again.” Helen Kim said to me.

“We won't?” I asked and then somehow knew I wasn't going to be passing through this particular wormhole ever again. I sighed and closed my eyes, because that meant one of two things. Either the ship was captured or it was lost during this mission. “Then I bid you all farewell.”

The grey space faded away and I woke up and was slumped over my desk. I sat up and looked around at my ready room. The colors were not as vibrant as before and I knew why. This was going to be the last time I was going to see the place in this form and I suspected I knew why. I stood up and left my ready room to find the bridge crew staring at the main viewscreen.

On it was a huge Dominion battleship that was surrounded by twenty smaller warships and all of them had their shields up and were charging weapons. A touch on Tuvoc's mind let me know they appeared out of nowhere just a second ago.

“Red Alert!” I ordered and everyone was knocked out of their stunned state. “Tactical, load up all the tricobalt devices we have.”

“Captain?” Cavit asked, nervously.

“We have no choice. Either we take that thing out and save everyone on DS9 and the ships moored there, or we die and so does everyone else.” I said and walked over to the center of the bridge. “Lieutenant Paris? Take the helm and get us as close to that monstrosity as you can.”

“Yes, sir!” Tammy gasped and rushed over to Lieutenant Stadi, whom moved out of the way and let her sit down.

“Captain, are you sure...” The Betazed man named Stadi asked.

“It's the only way.” I said as my mind gave off as much reassurance and confidence as it could.

Lieutenant Stadi nodded and moved off to another bridge console, his own thoughts that he didn't want to die.

“Don't worry, everyone.” I said as the smaller ships started firing at us with powerful phasers and missiles. “We'll get through this, just like we got through everything else.”

“Hold on!” Tammy Paris said and the ship whipped around like an ice skater on a fresh rink and avoided ten phaser blasts. We did a barrel roll next to avoid a spread of six missiles and Tuvoc used the aft phaser banks to destroy them as they passed us.

“Well done.” I said and sat down in my chair. “Bring us about to face the enemy.” I said and typed up a few commands and saw the state of the weapons. “Let's show these Dominion bastards what fighting a real starship is like.”

“Sir!” The bridge crew almost yelled.

“Tuvoc, unload everything we have on the smaller ships as we pass them. Keep them focused on us and on our tail.” I ordered and checked the tricobalt devices. We had four of them and I hoped they produced enough energy to do what I wanted.

“Aye, captain.” Tuvoc said with a rare smile. “Drawing them in.”

“Here we go!” Tammy shouted and swung the ship around again as Tuvoc fired photon torpedoes like giving out candy on Halloween.

The tactic worked to soften up the enemy shields and also drew them into chasing us back towards the large enemy ship.

“All right, people. This is it.” I said as we flew right toward the biggest ship. “Tuvoc, load up the tricobalt devices, maximum yield. I want the explosion to light up half the sector.”

“Ready, captain.” Tuvoc said. “On your command.”

“Tammy, do an assault run anytime you're ready.” I said. “Make us a hole to punch through.”

Tammy grinned at me and increased to full Impulse power. Tuvoc concentrated all of the phasers onto a single spot on the enemy ship's shields and they collapsed just as Voyager reached it.

“NOW!” I yelled and closed my eyes to concentrate. I hadn't teleported something this big before and needed a moment to cover the whole thing with my power and then paid ten thousand Karma Points for each and every crew member on the ship, all 150 of them, to allow them all to live.

*Thoom! Thoom! Thoom!*

Three pairs of tricobalt devices impacted the hull of the enemy ship and the main viewscreen shorted out as the explosion lit up space for several kilometres. Voyager shuddered as it was caught in the backlash, as were the ships following it, and then the large enemy ship exploded as well and I stepped Voyager away from there to the only place the timeline would allow it to go.

Back to the Delta Quadrant where it was supposed to be.