Valdago suddenly looked up from Maruu's dead body. "The machine! We can use it!"
Leinor nodded. "However, the choice belongs to the next in command. I believe that's Commander Lataro."
Lataro was overwhelmed by the decision. He had to choose one out of three dead people to live: Commander Surok, Lieutenant Tara, or Captain Maruu. His conscience was in conflict. "I choose Stephen. He was probably the most influential member of the crew and must live through this. Besides," he looked at Nori, "he's got family."
Nori wiped off her tears and kissed Lataro on the cheek. "Thank you." She smiled nervously.
Two Kirusans picked Maruu up and placed him in a large, blue, octagonal case. They closed it, and Leinor powered up the machine. "Let's hope it works."
The machine began to whir. Flashes of purple, red, yellow, and green appeared around the case as it was charged with electricity. Two huge tanks began to inject fluids into the case. Then, the sound became deafening. Everyone in the room covered their ears. After five minutes, the flashes stopped and the sound quieted down. The case opened up automatically.
The room grew silent. Everyone waited as if something was to happen. Then, Maruu's left leg flew out of the case. It frightened everyone. Then, Maruu himself walked out. He has his own leg back to boot.
Leinor was surprised. "Hmm. The machine is not supposed to create two legs! That is awkward."
Nori laughed euphorically. "His leg had been shot off six months ago. The leg he has now is his real leg." She ran and kissed her resurrected beau.
Maruu kissed her and looked at the rest of the group. "Who brought me back?"
Lataro walked forward. "You went and died on us, Captain. I'm afraid I couldn't let you do that."
Maruu slapped Lataro's arm. "It's an honor serving with you, Commander."
"The feeling is reciprocal."
Suddenly, the machine began to whir. Leinor yelled, "Take your dead and go! The machine is going to blow. Changelings, Kirusans, Jeorri, Humans, Bajorans, Klingon and Kelvan all helped out by taking the dead outside as the machine exploded. There were no casualties, but no dead were going to come back to life after that.
Maruu immediately looked at Ourha, Leinor, and Cleteri. "We must go. I saw something while I was dead that would undermine the efforts of today's battles if it is allowed to occur." He paused. "An even larger fleet of Dominion ships is going to come through that wormhole. We have to stop them."
Leinor became serious. "The Kirusans and the Jeorri will come together and defeat them!"
"No, they're too strong. And with your station gone and your ships scattered and in anarchy, you are more vulnerable than ever. We must stop them ourselves. Now."
Cleteri and Leinor extended their hands. "Good luck, Captain."
"And to you." They said their goodbyes. "Virgo, beam us up."
When the Virgo had dematerialized, Leinor and Cleteri shook hands. Leinor spoke to Cleteri. "To a long and fruitful alliance."
Cleteri smiled. "To a long and fruitful alliance."
Ourha put his hands over the Jeorri's and Kirusan's hands. "May we all live in peace and companionship for a long, long time."
From that moment on, the Taboo Sector and the Kirusan Breadth came together to form an entirely new government. One of peace and tolerance for all species.
The crew was back, with some deaths. Maruu took his command chair, and Lataro sat at his left. K'Lara took the helm, and Nori took care of medical systems. Valdago controlled Operations. Tactical was empty.
Maruu gave his command. "Loran, fire up the transwarp drive. Get us to the wormhole, maximum speed."
Loran hesitated. [We don't have enough tridanium to complete the drive!]
"Then, route power from shields. Enclose the drive in a force field. Do what you have to just get us to that wormhole."
[Aye, Sir.] Loran did as he was told.
Maruu then looked at K'Lara. "K'Lara, take us to the wormhole, warp 17."
"Aye, Sir." The ship began to zoom through space at incredible speeds.
"Time to contact?"
"One hour."
"All right. Looks like we wait."
In 45 minutes, the hull was in bad shape, it was coming loose in some areas.
"Loran, increase power to structural integrity!" yelled Maruu through the commotion caused by the bending of titanium.
[I don't have anymore power! The transwarp drive is going to fall apart!]
"Keep trying! Find something! Use power packs if you have to!"
Lataro saw a light flash. "Captain, we have a hull breach on Deck Three!"
"We don't have enough power for force fields! Evacuate the deck!"
Deck Three was depressurizing. Everything was being sucked out. Ensign Sandra Bingham was pushing people to get to the turbolifts and Jeoffries tubes as fast as they could. Suddenly, plasma began leaking. An subsequent explosion set of a chain reaction that blew her and two other ensigns into the void of space and took the deck with it.
Lataro was morbid. "We lost the deck. Three dead."
Maruu hit his console. "Damn!"
K'Lara then pointed at the wormhole. "There it is!"
"Full stop!" Maruu paused. "Enter the wormhole at one-fourth impulse."
They began to enter the wormhole. After being inside for about twelve seconds, they saw a massive armada of Dominion ships in the distance. They were barely entering the wormhole.
Maruu stood up. "John, arm two photon torpedoes."
Lataro stood up also. "Are you planning on attacking the entire armada?"
"No." He looked at Valdago again. "Aim the torpedoes at the sides of the wormhole. If we destroy its subspace matrix, we destroy the wormhole."
Lataro smiled. "No wormhole, no Dominion."
"Fire!"
The torpedoes exploded on the walls of blue light that was the slipstream of the wormhole. It began to collapse. Suddenly, the Virgo found themselves in an empty part of space. No wormholes. No Dominion.
"K'Lara, where are we?"
K'Lara smiled. "We are 8,000 light years from Kirusan space. There is no sign of any Dominion ships."
Maruu smiled as well. "Success. K'Lara, take us to a friendly M Class planet. Let's make repairs."
Ensign Andrew Wiggins walked into Ensign Alysa Anne Sinclair's quarters. "You did it."
"I did what?"
"The Klingon ship. The J'Rigagh. One year ago. You knew it would be there. You knew a Kirusan would be onboard. You knew we would capture it. You knew we would check it. You knew someone would touch its
cervical energy system. You knew that person would be assimilated. You knew Solacetta would be created!"
"Well, I kind of expected Dana to be my lab rat but an android was just as good."
"The Federation has met the Kirusans before haven't they?"
"Yes. They have. The USS Vixen was our first contact vessel. Unfortunately, we didn't expect such a powerful attack force."
"Solacetta has been destroyed. You know that right?"
"Yes. But I have my information. The Federation has been victorious."
"What information?"
"The information Klingon Intelligence tried to gather on the J'Rigagh. The information that was too damaged for anyone to figure out what it was. K'Lara took a look at it. Then, I got my hands on it and cracked the code."
"What did it contain?"
"Kirusan top secret technology. You see, they were experimenting on transconnecting alternate realities. Now, I have the technology. And you know too much." Sinclair pulled out a phaser. "Goodbye, my friend." She vaporized Ensign Wiggin with a phaser blast at its highest setting. Sinclair took a small PADD from her pocket. It contained a letter signed by Admiral Zultok. "My ticket to fame." It was a letter placing Sinclair in command of Starfleet Intelligence on the USS Virgo.