The Bajoran Incident: Civil War III Chapter Seventeen

It had been six hours since Janeway, Chakotay, and Sisko had returned to their ships. Shortly after they had returned, they had been contacted by Hudson, who told them to expect the Maquis fleet within the next few hours. The phrase meant that they had no idea how long they would have to wait for the fleet.

Janeway paced up and down the bridge as Chakotay looked on.

"How long can it take them?" she asked.

"The Maquis is made up of many cells," Chakotay said. "It may take time to contact all of the commanders. To get the ships..."

"Captain!" said Kim. "Sensors are picking up thirty small ships heading towards us."

Janeway quickly turned so she faced Kim's Ops station.

"The Maquis?"

"The ships match the last known Maquis design."

"On screen."

On the screen, they saw several ships emerging from one of the minor plasma storms. Quickly and quietly, Janeway counted the ships on the screen before her. Thirty Maquis fighters, primed and ready for action.

"Captain. We're being hailed," said Kim. "It's Commander Hudson."

"On screen."

Moments later, Calvin Hudson was looking down on them.

"These are all the ships we can spare, Captain," he said. "You never know when the Cardassians might come calling."

"It's more than we expected, Commander," said Janeway. "You know the plan and the terms of our participation, Captain."

"Very well. Mister Kim, signal the Defiant, telling them we are ready to assume formation. B'Elanna, energize the cloaking field."

Soon, the Defiant and Voyager assumed a tight formation along with the Maquis fighters. Seconds later, both starships energized their cloaking fields, extending them around the Maquis ships. Moments later, they vanished, invisible to the naked eye. They then began their journey.

 

Borath came storming into Ops with his two Jem'Hadar bodyguards. The Dominion ambassador walked around as if he owned the station. In effect, he did, but it still annoyed Travis.

"Commander, I want the station put on full alert."

"Why?" asked Travis.

"Turn to the screen, and look!"

Travis did as he was told and looked at the screen. For the first time since its reconstruction, the wormhole opened. Travis looked on in awe as what seemed to be half the Dominion fleet came through from the Gamma Quadrant. There seemed to be hundreds of Jem'Hadar warships and fighters.

"This is a great day for the Galactic Empire," said Borath. "With the wormhole now open, we can bring more forces through and tighten our grip on this quadrant."

Watt suddenly leapt to his feet as the wormhole opened. Then, literally hundreds of ships started to come through.

"How many ships are there?" he said. "How many?"

"I'm counting at least a hundred," said Ro. "And then some."

Ro's attention was then diverted.

"Captain! Someone's sending a signal from this ship, in the direction of the Dominion fleet."

"Who?"

"I can't get a location! Whoever's doing it is cloaking their signal and their location, bouncing it around several systems."

"Are you telling me that someone is trying to contact the Dominion?"

"As far as I know!"

"Find out who it is! If we have a collaborator on this ship, I want to know who it is!"

 

Alone, Voyager and the Defiant, still cloaked, took up an orbit around Bajor. In the observation lounge of Voyager, Janeway and Sisko began to brief their team. Each member of the small team was chosen for a purpose.

Chakotay was chosen as joint commander of the team because of his expertise in such exercises with the Maquis. His joint commander, Kira, was an obvious choice because of her knowledge of the terrain and of her friendship with Shakaar. B'Elanna was chosen for her Maquis experience. Odo and Eddington were chosen for their security expertise, while Blake was chosen for his weapons knowledge. These, along with several others, made up the team.

After the briefing finished, it wasn't long before they beamed down to the surface. They arrived not far away from the camp that Shakaar's group had used during the Cardassian occupation. Seeing this again brought memories flooding back for Kira. She had enjoyed many good times here with her friends but had also suffered many horrors.

As Kira looked around, Chakotay ordered the others to begin their scouting missions in an attempt to look for some kind of life. Then, Chakotay saw Kira enter a nearby cave. Kira didn't go in very far. She stopped only a few meters inside. Upon entering, Chakotay could tell something was wrong.

"What's up?" he asked. "Have you found something?"

"No. It's just that... my father died in this cave while I was away on a mission for the resistance."

Chakotay placed his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry."

"No. It's okay. I just never thought I'd feel this way, coming back here."

Turning, Kira looked out towards the entrance.

"You may as well forget scanning this area, Commander," she said. "If Shakaar's group were here, they're long gone. If I were Travis, or anyone else in the Dominion, this would be the first place I would look!"

Then, B'Elanna came into the entrance.

"There's no one here," she said. "There's evidence that someone was here recently, but they're long gone."

"What did I tell you?" said Kira.

"Then we'll move to the next point," said Chakotay. "Round everyone up, B'Elanna."

 

His ship docked in the Valkyrie's shuttle bay, Hudson found himself being escorted to Watt's Ready Room. Upon entering, he found Watt drinking a cup of black coffee. It had been a long while since he had rested, and he needed everything the coffee could give him. Watt nodded, shaking Hudson's hand.

"Commander Hudson. Would you like a drink?"

"Nothing for me, thanks!" Hudson replied, taking the seat opposite Watt. "I'd like to talk to you about something quite urgent."

"Is it about the mission? Our agreement?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes. You see, Captain, if the Maquis are to join the Free Federation, then we're going to need access to the Istarian technology you now have in your ships. Your drive systems, your cloaking devices. We need to install them in all of our ships."

"As you know, Commander, all the planets in the Free Federation recently signed the declaration my grandfather made, showing their allegiance to the Free Federation. And even though I have... ahem... connections, I cannot guarantee you anything until you sign the declaration."

Watt could tell from the expression on Hudson's face that he was not happy. As Hudson continued to speak, Watt's instincts told him that something was wrong with Hudson's words. He sensed some sort of duplicity in the way he spoke. As soon as he could see that he wasn't getting anywhere, Hudson left Watt alone, leaving Watt thinking that Hudson was in this mission for one thing: to get the Maquis something they did not have, namely, the Istarian technology.