Defeat from Victory

It had been two days since the Leviathan and the free Jem'Hadar had finally managed to defeat the rogue Dominion vessel, but at what price. Several of the free Jem'Hadar had died in the fight, including their leader Goran'Agar. One of the Leviathan's own pilots had been also been killed and as the Bridge crew returned from the funeral, everyone was feeling down.

But the threat the rogue Dominion force had posed not only to the Federation, but also to the Dominion and the other races from both the Alpha and Gamma quadrants was gone.

Only Lieutenant Commander J'Ross had not been at the service, she was still on the alien planet linked to Bopak III by the gateway built deep underground. As she had promised, Captain Taybar had allowed all the free Jem'Hadar, now led by Goran'Agar's second Tevia'Sung to transfer and settle on the alien planet and J'Ross was ensuring that everything went smoothly. Most of the supplies and equipment the Jem'Hadar had requested had been sent across.

The research teams studying the device were starting to get an inkling into how the device operated and in a few more days they had reported that they may have the key as to how to operate the device. However, they didn't have a few more days, Starfleet had ordered the Leviathan back to Earth for repairs. Repairs to the Leviathan were well underway and in six hours the crew were scheduled to leave orbit and return home. They had one last stage of the mission to complete.

"Status report." Aki requested as she entered the Bridge.

"The Dominion cruiser has just dropped out of warp and is heading towards our position." Lieutenant Luwall reported as she rose from the command chair. Rachel had been overseeing the repairs from the Bridge and had offered to 'hold the fort' during the memorial service.

"Good." Aki replied, taking her seat. "Open a channel."

"Channel open." Marco Borealiou announced from the ops station.

"This is the Federation vessel USS Leviathan-B to approaching Dominion vessel." Aki stated.

[Leviathan-B, this is the Dominion cruiser Texan'Var.] The Vorta announced as he appeared on the viewscreen. [I am Vorta Gant Six. Where is the rogue vessel ?]

"The rogue vessel was destroyed two days ago." Aki explained. "We are transmitting our sensor data and visual records now."

Aki turned to Marco and nodded. Marco ran his hands over the controls. On the viewscreen, the Vorta turned to look at one of the Jem'Hadar.

[We have your data, but we will need time to ensure that what we see is genuine.] Gant Six announced.

"We do have around a hundred Jem'Hadar prisoners, which were captured on the surface." Aki stated. "We'd like to transfer them into your custody, which is why we contacted Dominion High Command."

[We will transfer the prisoners when we reach orbit.] Gant Six replied, a note of disappointment in his voice. [It is a pity that you were unable to recover the vessel intact.]

"As you will see from the records we have transmitted, there was no other choice." Aki announced. "We did however salvage some of the major component, including the vessels secondary computer core. We will transfer the core along with the prisoners. So long as you do not violate Federation space, we have no problem with you sorting out your rogue problem."

[You have examined the core ?] Gant asked.

"No." Aki replied firmly. "The core is heavily encoded and we do not have the facilities onboard to perform such a complex task."

[We will be at your position in fifteen minutes.] Gant stated. [Texan'Var out.]

The viewscreen changed back to the view of Bopak III and Aki let out a sigh. She hoped that the Dominion would accept the 'altered' data they had been sent. The Captain had got Rashad and Moss to alter the sensor logs a little, removing all the data about the Jem'Hadar still on the planet, the tachyon readings coming from the planet and the fact that the free Jem'Hadar had helped defeat their former masters.

The visual record had also been altered to match the sensor logs. Aki had also lied about the components that had salvaged from the wreckage. They had recovered the secondary computer core, which as she had stated was heavily encrypted, but they had also recovered the primary core, which they had already started to examine. Handing the Dominion the secondary core was not a big problem.

An hour later, the Jem'Hadar prisoners and the computer core were transferred to the Dominion vessel. The research crews had been transferred back onto the Leviathan and as far as the Dominion could tell, there was little to say that deep underground there was a link to another world.

On the viewscreen, the Vorta Gant Six was talking to the Captain.

[So Captain Taybar, we are ready to leave. The Dominion is in your debt for recovering the computer core and capturing the rogue Jem'Hadar.] Gant said.

"It has shown that our two forces can work together and I hope that the Dominion will honour the agreement to pass on any intelligence on any remaining rogue Jem'Hadar within Federation space." Aki replied.

[How long until you leave ?] Gant enquired.

"Our repairs are almost complete." Aki replied. "We should be ready to leave the system and head back to the Alpha quadrant in a couple of hours."

That statement was not true, the repairs were already complete. All they were waiting for was the Dominion cruiser to leave orbit. Once they were out of sensor range, they could contact Lieutenant Commander J'Ross and transport her back onboard.

[We will be leaving in a few minutes.] Gant stated. [I hope that what has happened here will be a new beginning for our two governments. Texan'Var out.]

The viewscreen changed to the image of the Dominion cruiser and the Bridge crew watched as it started to break orbit and head away from the planet.

"They have jumped to warp." Marco announced from the ops station. "Wait, they've dropped out of warp."

"Where ?" Aki asked.

"They're just beyond our short range sensors, looks like they're intending to hide behind the outer gas giant. Damn, I've lost them."

"Keep an eye on them." Aki ordered. "If they're hiding from us, they can't see what were doing. Most likely they'll wait until we're gone and then return, so let's give them an opportunity to wait. Contact J'Ross."

"Channel open." Marco announced.

[J'Ross here Captain.] The voice of the Caitian announced.

"What's your status ?" Aki asked. "Are you ready to come back to the ship ?"

[I'll be finished in about five minutes, I should be with you in about ten to fifteen minutes.] M'eko replied.

"Understood. We will be waiting for your signal." Aki said. "Leviathan out."

"Captain, I'm picking up some strange energy readings." Marco suddenly announced.

"Can you identify them ?" Aki asked.

"No." Marco replied. "But they're coming from directly above the mountain range where the gateway is located."

"Put it on screen." Aki ordered.

The viewscreen image changed and the crew looked at the area of space above the planet. There was nothing out of the ordinary there, just the stars and the upper atmosphere of the planet. Then something started to appear.

"Captain, the readings are building." Marco announced. "We have a vessel in orbit."

"Analysis" Aki requested.

"Nothing Captain." Macro replied. "Our sensor scans aren't giving us any reading on the vessel."

The Bridge crew watched as the large vessel, far larger than they were started to appear from out of 'thin air'

"Red Alert, raise shields and prime all weapons." Aki ordered. "Contact J'Ross and tell her to get back here ASAP."

The vessel continued to appear on the viewscreen. They could now make out its shape, a large pyramid. From the viewscreen ratio, it was about five kilometres high and about the same square. Around the centre was a ring, connected to each face of the pyramid sides.

"I'm picking up a massive power build-up in the vessel." Lieutenant Loh announced from the Tactical station. "It looks like they're preparing to fire."

"Helm, take us into weapons range." Aki ordered. "Loh prepare to fire."

The Leviathan was suddenly hit by a powerful beam as the vessel fired at the surface of the planet. Seconds later, there was a second flash as the beam that had been fired hit the ground and rebounded.

"Helm, take us in." Aki ordered.

"All helm controls are off-line." Lieutenant Barker announced from the Helm.

"Weapons are off-line." Loh announced. "Shields are depleted, but still operations."

"Primary and secondary power are still online." Marco reported.

"What happened ?" Aki asked.

"The beam was a high energy anti-tachyon pulse." Marco stated. "It was targeted at the gateway. The feedback from the beam has scrambled all out primary and back-up control systems."

"Can we scan the planet ?" Aki asked.

"It will take a while for the beams energy to dissipate." Marco reported. "I'd say at least ten minutes."

"Captain, the vessel is disappearing again." Lieutenant Garrett announced.

The Bridge crew watched as the vessel disappeared into 'thin air' once more. Whoever they were and why they had fired on the planet's surface, the crew of the Leviathan would never know.

Captain's Ready Room

Fifteen minutes later, all the control systems were back online and the crew could finally scan the surface of the planet. It was no good news, from what they could make out, the whole cavern system had been vaporised by the beam, turning the rock into plasma, which had since cooled and reformed into solid. The cavern where the gateway had stood was now cut-off for ever.

During the attack, J'Ross had been able to contact the Leviathan, but she had not been able to get back to the gateway on the other side in time. She was now trapped on the alien planet, with the free Jem'Hadar.

But she would not be without help and there were more than enough supplies to keep her safe, warm and fed.

"I will get you back." Aki said to herself as she finished writing the report on the attack. Pressing a button on her desk, she contacted the Bridge.

[Captain.] The voice of Commander Rashad announced.

"T'Kul, break orbit and set a course for the Bajorian wormhole, maximum speed."

[Understood.] Rashad replied, puzzled by the Captain calling her by her forename. [Are you alright ?] She enquired.

"Just a little tired, I guess." Aki replied. "This has been a hard mission and we've lost so much. Only time will tell whether what we did here was the right thing."

[I understand.] Rashad confirmed. [Bridge out.]