Admiral Thrawn sat reclining in his chair, taking in his surroundings: his office, the office that came with being Commander-in-Chief of whatever was left of Starfleet. There were still some Federation starships loyal to the Federation, but many others had gone missing. Thrawn surmised that they had defected to the Free Federation.
Around him were mementos, not from the era of General Hague. Hague had only been in the job a short amount of time. These mementos came from Admiral Duncan MacCleod, the close friend of former Federation President James Watt the Elder. These things disgusted Thrawn. They showed everything that the United Federation of Planets had stood for. Now it stood for nothing, replaced by the far more powerful Galactic Federation.
Thrawn took his mind off his surroundings and put it back on his work. For the past day he had been going through the Starfleet mainframe computer net, trying to find something that would give the Imperials an edge, something that could crush the Free Federation before it had really got started. Ever since the destruction of the Bajoran wormhole by Benjamin Sisko, he had been looking for a way of improving their jump-point technology. This technology allowed the Imperial and Sontarran ships to travel from the Delta to the Alpha Quadrant in a matter of hours, but to Thrawn that wasn't good enough. It may have been good enough for the likes of Lord Darth Vader, Grand Moff Tarkin and Emperor Palpatine, but it wasn't good enough for Grand Admiral Thrawn.
His so-far fruitless search had taken him to the files concerning Anglo-Force, the 21st-century organization that Watt the Elder led. From the roster he had seen that many had joined their ranks over the years, including Duncan MacCleod. It was there their friendship was formed.
Next came the file concerning Anglo-Force's scientific advisor, Doctor Daniel Reid. Reid was considered a great scientist even by 24th-century standards. He was revered along with Newton, Einstein, Hawking, and Beckett. At some place in the galaxy his theories were still being put to the test.
One file about Reid's work gripped Thrawn. In the year 2000, Reid had found a way of transporting himself and several others to a parallel Earth, millions of light-years away. This technology was kept secret from the most powerful countries of the day. It told of how Anglo-Force had met two groups from two other worlds: one almost exactly like them, good, fighting for justice, and the other the complete opposite to them, evil, conquering all before them except Anglo-Force.
This device intrigued Thrawn. He began to wonder why no one in the Alpha Quadrant had tried to copy Reid's work, working from his plans. They could have chartered other distant quadrants, travelled further than the Gamma and Delta Quadrants. He began to search deeper into the files, looking for a plan, a schematic of the device Reid constructed. His search was fruitless. During the Artificial Intelligence, or Terminator Wars, of the mid-21st century, all records of his device had been destroyed. A pity. Such a device would have helped the Empire conquer those worlds who had not come into line since the Imperials' arrival.
But perhaps he knew of a way, a way to get this device, directly from the source, its inventor, Daniel Reid himself.
It wasn't long before Thrawn was packing a case and heading for a meeting with his superiors, determined to lay down his plan before them.
The Presidential Palace, Paris, 2372
Soon, Admiral Thrawn was seated around a table with two of the most powerful people in the galaxy. At the head of the long conference table sat Damian Darkmagus, the self-proclaimed President of the Galactic Federation. Every time Thrawn met with Darkmagus, he wondered if he out-ranked Palpatine or served Palpatine. For the moment, he thought it wise not to ask.
Directly in front of him sat Servalan, the woman who most say was the main cause for the fall of the Federation. Officially, Servalan served as Darkmagus' Vice-President. Again he was not sure where she stood in the great debate of things. Did she rank above Palpatine or below him?
Thrawn began to put forward his idea. "President Darkmagus, are you aware of the teleport device invented by Daniel Reid nearly four hundred years ago?"
"I am," Darkmagus replied. "But what does this have to do with anything?"
"As you know, with the destruction of the Bajoran wormhole, we have only one way of getting forces to and from the Gamma Quadrant. If we could get our hands on a Reid-like device, we could travel from Earth to the Gamma Quadrant in a manner of seconds!"
"But there are no plans of such a device left!" said Darkmagus. "The Terminators destroyed all of Anglo-Force's science files during the war, and the Judges made sure that no one found any trace of them. Even I don't know how to construct such a device!"
"There is one way," said Thrawn. "We could go back in time and get the plans from Reid himself!"
"How?" asked Servalan.
"Have you read the files concerning the Valkyrie's discovery of a temporal wormhole?"
"I have," said Darkmagus.
"I could lead a team back in time to the 21st century and get the plans from Reid. If we can't get the plans from him then, then we'll bring him back with us."
"We?" asked Darkmagus.
"I am willing to lead a Jem'Hadar team back in time. They are far more effective than the Imperial Stormtroopers. They should be able to locate Reid and his plans in no time at all, if you'll pardon the expression."
Darkmagus began to stroke his chin. "An interesting idea, Admiral. The only other possibility regarding our ships is to use a similar method my brother has employed, but he is the only one with access to a cavourite mine in the galaxy. With Reid's device replicated and installed in all our ships we would be unbeatable. Very well, Admiral. Prepare your plans and your team. You have my full backing for this mission. Good luck. You are dismissed."
As Thrawn left the room Servalan turned to Darkmagus. "There is one other possible way," said Servalan. "The E.L. program could be used here."
"No. I want Thames and Zoe to provide back-up on this one. We haven't got the time or resources to re-start the E.L. program."
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