El Zorro snapped his whip and El Capitan dropped his gun. "Ha ha!" Zorro pulled out his sword and painted a "Z" with El Capitan's blood on his neck. "Now, you have something to remember me by." Zorro back flipped and landed on Tornado. He began to gallop, leaving El Capitan furious behind him.
As Zorro rode Tornado, a shadowy figure followed. It was gaining on Zorro. Finally, the figure blew into a blow gun and tranquilized Tornado. The horse fell, bringing Zorro down as well. "Good shot. All shots are good when you attack from behind." He rose and pulled out his sword. "Who are you?"
The masked woman appeared now as a female Zorro. "I am Zorro."
"A woman? A woman cannot be Zorro."
"We shall see." She attacked. The two Zorros fought gallantly.
The male Zorro applauded. "Very good. You have heart. Now, I will take it for my own."
They continued the fight. The swords clashed and the two came together. The female Zorro smiled. "It is already yours."
"That is well enough. But my heart has also been misplaced. It is in the arms of a woman."
The female Zorro slashed a "Z" across the male Zorro's chest. "I hardly thought for a moment that it could be in the arms of a man."
"Ah, touche." He moved forward and tripped her with his sword. Then, the male Zorro kneeled on top of the female Zorro and passionately kissed her on the lips. They continued the action for about two minutes before...
[Captain, you're needed on the bridge. You really should see this.]
The male Zorro got up and pulled off his mask. It was Captain Maruu.
The female Zorro stood up and pulled of her mask. It was Commander Nori. Nori smiled. "I love this simulation don't you?"
"Oh yeah." He kissed her. "Computer, end program." The holodeck grid appeared, and Maruu and Nori both walked out of the holodeck together.
"Red alert!" yelled Commander Lataro. The Virgo armed weapons and prepared for an imminent attack.
Suddenly, Maruu appeared on the bridge in his Starfleet uniform. "What's going on? And why are all the lights off?"
Lt. Tara looked at his panel and said, "The Dominion vessels are hailing us."
"Dominion?!" Maruu asked. "Well, I knew they'd show up soon or later. They did save our lives back in September of last year. Javier, open a channel."
[Hello, Captain,] greeted a Vorta. [You are a long way from home. It was only a matter of time before we suspected that we'd meet. After all, we were glad to help a Federation vessel with a common interest in seeing the demise of the Kirusan Breadth.]
"We seem to have a common interest, then. It appears such an alliance could be favorable to us both." Maruu faked a smile in the spirit of diplomacy.
[The Vorta High Command has pondered this fact and agreed on it. I came to escort you to our station in the deep reaches of the Gamma Quadrant.]
"Deep reaches? Dominion space is at least a 20-year travel from here. How do you propose we get there?"
[A wormhole we discovered hidden in the secret files of the late Founders. We used it to colonize this part of space when we realized it was already inhabited by the Kir'vusans.]
"The Kirusans?"
[Yes.]
"Well, Mr..."
[Leiyon.]
"Well, Mr. Leiyon, take us to your leader."
"I don't think it's a good idea, Stephen! I just don't!" protested Commander Lataro. "I mean, seven years ago we kicked their asses all the way back to the Gamma Quadrant and now we want to form an alliance with them?!"
Captain Maruu calmly sipped from his cup of coffee, a favored drink among Starfleet captains. "Voyager formed a similar alliance with the Borg. Besides, I won't leave us unprotected. We'll have a couple of failsafe procedures in case of betrayal. After the Kirusan Breadth falls, we cannot leave the Jeorri and Kirusan Resistance to die. They must survive. That is why I want the senior officers to meet in the conference room in one hour." He smiled. "Your my First. Make it happen."
Lataro smiled as well. "I'm curious to see what you have planned." He left the ready room.
"Alright, Garek, tell me about the tridanium. Is there enough to build a transwarp drive?" Maruu asked.
Loran said, "Well, not really, we need at least thirty more grams of the stuff. The Kirusan vessel uses the material for its graviton drive. The nuclear explosions required to propel their ships at faster than light travel are so powerful that tridanium must be used to keep the ship together. To make a transwarp drive powerful enough for a ship the size of the Virgo, we lack resources."
"That's okay. We just need to use it once and in an emergency. And we don't have the time to mine for tridanium so we have to use what we can. Use all the power you need to cover gaps with force fields. I'm sure that at warp 17, we won't need shields to protect ourselves from the Dominion or Kirusan battleships." He paused. "Benton and M'Terrn, how are those weapons coming?"
Benton smiled. "I've never seen weapons like these before but they seem extremely effective. We've been able to replicate enough for each crewmember to protect him or herself."
M'Terrn commented, "They sure do break through a Kirusan's protective epidermal layer."
"And they're kind of like guns that shoot small grenades," Lataro added.
Benton then said, "Which it why the captain had to have his leg removed, and why Lt. Roen's womb was destroyed."
The room suddenly stopped. Everyone became silent.
Captain Maruu sarcastically, yet sadly, said, "Yes...well...let's not hesitate to bring that up every couple of seconds."
Valdago said to Benton, "Don't worry, one day we'll look back at this dreadful moment, laugh nervously, and change the subject again."
Lataro gave a hard look at Valdago. "Which is probably what we should do now."
Benton apologized. "Sorry, Captain."
Maruu looked at him with a thoughtful look. "Don't worry about it. As Valdago suggested, let's change the subject. The transwarp technology cannot be known about by the Dominion. That is our failsafe. Garek, Benton, you have a drive to build. Dismissed."
The Virgo was being escorted by two Dominion fighters. They came up to an empty part of space and stopped.
"What are they doing?" demanded Tara.
The view screen showed the face of Leiyon. [Captain, we are about to enter the wormhole. Please follow us.]
As the two fighters approached the wormhole, it opened, showing the magnificent blue light.
Captain Maruu shrugged his shoulders. "K'Lara, take us in."
They entered the wormhole. It closed behind them.
When the Virgo and the two ships exited the wormhole on the other side, around 55,000 light years away, the first sight they viewed was a huge Dominion station.
Leiyon once again appeared on the view screen. [Welcome to Dominion territory. I look forward to meeting you in person.]
Suddenly, a tractor beam from the station locked onto the Virgo.
Maruu looked at Lataro. "Here goes nothing."
The ship was pulled in.