1. The Departure

**Chapter 1: "The Departure"**

His eyes were fixed upon the hull of the ship before him as the shuttle craft moved closer. He scanned over it, thinking that at any moment he could wake up from his dream. The four warp nacelles glinted under the lights of the dock the ship was held in and he could hardly believe that all those years of work had finally paid off. His achievement was floating in space before him and he couldn't help but smile as he saw the classification on front of the ship: USS Omega, TX-01. His smile was not unnoticed by the woman sat next to him, she smiled back at her nephew, brushing some of her hair behind her ear, "It paid off." The words were enough for him to know that she was proud of him, not that she didn't tell him often but at this moment in time things were professional, she was an Admiral, one of the most decorated in Star Fleet's history, she had managed to overcome incredible odds and bring back Voyager from the Delta Quadrant, she was Admiral Kathryn Janeway.

The truth was he was more proud of his aunt than she could ever be of him. What had he done but create technology based upon specifications she gave him? She had saved the lives of her entire crew, she had reduced the Borg to nothing more than a passing nuisance and she had given Star Fleet technology that advanced them well beyond their rivals and it meant everything to him that she was handing over the ship to him.

"We are cleared to dock Admiral." Dawson turned to face his Aunt as he smiled.

She nodded, "Thank you Captain, now take us in nice and steady, I wouldn't want to see you put a dent in your new ship." Kathryn laughed. She looked at her nephew as he scratched his head of blonde hair, slowly guiding the shuttle craft into the shuttle bay and bringing the ship to a safe halt on the shuttle bay floor. Though she'd never find the confidence to tell him he was the son she'd never had and being able to marvel at his achievements meant everything to her. The two disembarked the shuttle and headed towards the doors, as they closed behind them Dawson scanned the hallway in awe. Officers hurried past him in their new uniforms, a change from Star Fleet's former style that he was still sporting he noted. The grey of the uniforms had been done away with for a full black top, minus two stripes up the left hand side of the uniform, displaying the colour of the officer's expertise. One of these stripes disguised the zip of the jacket and both held the new comm. badges securely in place. He of course recognised the comm. badge as the one his Aunt had said her future self had been wearing when she came back to save Voyager and it gave him some comfort that even though he was going to be apart from his Aunt something she had done would be on his chest where ever he went.

As they walked down the corridor's the smell of fresh paint hit him, the entire ship was new and was a break from the more traditional Star Fleet designs. The wall panels were white, and as the warning lights were tested Dawson noticed that these too were a new colour, blue. He thought of the idea of calling for a red alert and having blue lights flashing but shook his head and continued on walking, he wasn't so much interested in the corridors, it was the command centre that interested him. They entered the turbo lift at the end of the corridor and when the command was given white lights flashed up the walls marking the lifts passage through the ship. No sooner had they entered than the doors opened and Dawson took his first steps on the bridge.

Two stations stood at the front of the ship, helm and operations whilst behind the three chairs which took pride of place in the centre of the bridge were a further two 

stations, tactical and temporal, surrounded by a wall of consoles containing various science and engineering stations. He ran a hand over the temporal station, it was hard to believe all his hard work had come down to this console.

"Congratulations Captain, this is a wonderful ship, and it wouldn't be here without your hard work." Admiral Janeway hugged him and nodded towards the door on the left of the bridge, "Your office Captain." She held her hand out, leading the way for him. Dawson looked around the room in awe, his desk was in front of him, to his right were windows looking out onto the space dock and down to earth, there were sofas in front of the windows, pointing towards a console on the wall, currently displaying the star fleet insignia. Behind the desk were shelves, all bare. There was a lone console on the desk. At the other end of the office were another two doors and a replicator.

"Now I'm sure you'll agree Captain this is an interesting feature." Kathryn walked over to one of the doors and pressed a button next to it, "Your own private turbo lift. It will take you to engineering, temporal control and even your quarters, what more could you ask for?"

"The bar?" Dawson laughed, "Thank you Aunt Kathy, it's more than I could have asked for, I just wish the cost of it wasn't so high."

Kathryn bowed her head, "I know it wasn't easy Dawson but maybe that's what gave you the drive and determination to perfect the temporal core, maybe if it hadn't happened we wouldn't be standing here today."

Dawson nodded, "I just wish she could be here to see this."

Kathryn hugged her nephew, she knew how painful it was for him to think about what had happened and she wished there was something she could say to make everything ok, she was unaware that the hug was enough.

The door chimed disturbing the two. Dawson turned to face it, "Come in."

A woman stepped inside, she had long blonde hair held behind her head, her black uniform was spotless, the two red stripes down the upper half led the way down to the baggier trousers, which still managed to show off her flawless figure. The star fleet issue belt held up the trousers of her uniform, with a red background to the star fleet insignia on the clasp. On the right hand side of her uniform three silver pips marked her rank, "Commander Annika Hansen reporting for duty." The woman stood at attention, arms behind her back, staring at the wall in front of her.

Dawson smiled, "At ease Commander."

Kathryn nodded at her old friend, "Seven," she stepped forward and hugged her. It was more of a maternal hug than the two women would admit even after all these years, but being motherly was something Kathryn wouldn't admit to her own nephew, she certainly couldn't to Seven.

Seven nodded at Dawson, "It's good to see you again Captain, it's been too long."

"It has Seven, at least we can fix that now." He smiled at her, a smile filled with hope, hope for the future, not that he realised it yet."

Kathryn looked at the two of them stood before her, they were both like children to her and she was so happy she could send them on this adventure together. "I better be leaving you both, I'm sure you have plenty of preparations before you depart." She hugged them both once more and headed for the turbo lift at the side of the office. She smiled as the doors closed behind her, a smile full of pride and both Dawson and Seven were aware of it.

"I never got a chance to thank you," Seven began, "For choosing me for this assignment."

He smiled at her, "How could I not? I doubt Aunt Kathy would have let me have anyone else for my First Officer."

Seven nodded, "But surely Lieutenant Murphy would have made a better choice?"

He tried not to laugh, "I don't think I could have worked with him as my first officer Seven, we would have butted heads at every turn, it makes much more sense for him to be on board as the temporal officer."

"I'm not quite sure how that one is going to work out myself though."

"Neither am I." Dawson replied shaking his head, "Although Star Fleet aren't ready to have the temporal technology under the control of any of the other officers just yet, you've seen all the security procedures in place around them?"

Seven nodded, "A wise precaution considering what has happened bef..." Seven cut herself off before she could finish her sentence, she looked towards Dawson as he turned away to look out of the window, "I'm sorry I shouldn't have said anything."

He shook his head, "Not at all Commander, what's happened has happened. If there weren't accidents now and then we'd never progress."

"Did anything ever come of the search?" She asked, already knowing the answer but feeling obliged to engage in the idle questioning around the subject.

"Nothing, no ships, no warp trails. If it was the Borg then they just disappeared and took my wife along with them."

Seven bowed her head as she thought of her past as a Borg, she'd almost feel shame that they'd done this to her friend if she hadn't come a long way since she saw herself as Seven of Nine Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero One. She still had the nightmares, which was understandable, but she was Annika Hansen now. All that remained of her past was her nickname, and that didn't bother her so much. It was just when the reminders were straight in front of her face like now that it became a little hard to remember.

"It's best we don't dwell though Commander, it's best we look forward, and this anomaly will be a good outing for us on our first mission." Dawson smiled at Seven, tears were in his eyes and the smile, she recognised, was for nothing more than show, but she accepted it, along with the change of subject.

"I read the briefing but as much as the readings appear to be similar I find it hard to believe that an accident whilst testing the first temporal core could create an anomaly similar to this one which is in an entirely different sector of space to where you were testing the core before."

"Ah yes, but that is why we are investigating it Commander. You're lucky to be on a ship with three people who were there when the accident occurred, believe me we'll be able to tell you if it's the same anomaly."

Seven laughed, "And what if it is?"

Dawson shrugged, "I think we deal with that one when we come to it, I don't think Star Fleet had even considered the possibility but Admiral Janeway was adamant that there were too many similarities so she naturally insisted on sending her nephew on his first mission as a Captain to investigate."

"Naturally." Seven laughed again, "It's fitting that we're investigating it in this ship however, a mark of your achievements since then."

"You flatter me Seven, they weren't just my achievements, a lot of people adapted the scans Voyager took of the Krenim ships they encountered into a functioning temporal core, not just me."

She nodded, "But no-one else lost so much."

Silence filled the room for a moment, but silence on a star ship is a luxury as Dawson would come to discover. "Bridge to Captain Xavier, all crew members are 

on board and accounted for. We have received our clearance to depart upon your order."

Dawson smiled at Seven and the two headed towards the bridge. As the doors opened officers rose from their stations, two of the faces on the bridge Dawson recognised, his old friend Mark Murphy, the first temporal officer in Star Fleet was stood behind the temporal station, and his other close friend Ensign Diane Goodram was stood in front of the left hand chair. The other faces in the bridge were new to him, but all as he had been informed were highly capable officers. As he took his seat in the centre of the bridge the other officers followed suit. He turned to smile at Seven and then turned to smile at Diane.

"Lieutenant Murphy bring the temporal core online, helm set a course for the temporal anomaly, temporal warp 7." He paused for a moment and looked at the view screen, Omega made its final movements away from the dock and into open space. He smiled to himself, "Engage!"


	2. A Briefing Encounter

**Chapter 2: "Briefing"**

"Ladies and gentlemen may I present to you temporal anomaly 017," Dawson, now dressed in his new uniform, pushed a button on the table in front of him, a holographic image of the temporal anomaly appeared in the middle of the officers that had gathered at the table. In front of each of them, a detailed schematic appeared on a small screen embedded in the table, "Our first mission is to investigate the anomaly."

Seven looked around the table, "The anomaly is similar to one created during the testing of the first temporal core, naturally this has perked up Star Fleet's curiosity."

Dawson nodded at the dark haired man sat at the side of him, "Lieutenant Murphy if you wouldn't mind?"

Lieutenant Murphy stood up, the green zip down his uniform slightly undone showing the grey vest underneath. He pushed a few buttons on the console in front of him, which caused the holographic projection to focus in on a section of the anomaly, "The centre of the anomaly is giving out massive temporal displacement waves, the entire anomaly appears to be in a state of temporal flux. If control of this anomaly fell into the wrong hands it could spell disaster for our history or our future."

"But surely we're the only ones that would know about it, aren't we?" Lieutenant Gren brushed her brown hair back from her face as she looked around the table, "I mean its deep in the heart of Federation Space."

Seven nodded, "That is true Lieutenant but Star Fleet still feels we should exercise caution, if any passing traffic through the region should pick up a scan of the anomaly then it may fall out of our control."

"We're not just en-route to keep control of the anomaly either, we're going to investigate just how this can be so similar to one created in an accident three years ago, after that our orders are to find a safe way to collapse it," Dawson turned to a woman sat next to Lieutenant Murphy, she re-adjusted her blonde hair as she did so, hiding her prominent Vulcan ears.

"The phasers on this vessel are tied in through the temporal core," she pushed a button on the console in front of her and the holographic projection changed to an image of Omega, closing in on its phaser banks, "They are constantly in temporal flux, meaning they can cut through just about anything. A short burst from these around the sides of the anomaly should be enough to collapse it safely."

"I'm interested to know what sort of risk this poses to the crew, are there any emissions being given off that I should be aware of?"

Seven smiled as her old friend spoke up, "Our scans have not shown up anything that could pose a risk to the crew Doctor, the temporal interference being given out by the anomaly is safely blocked out by our shields.

The Doctor nodded at his friend, "As long as half of you don't start phasing out of our time frame and I don't have to develop an ingenious way to keep you all in sync with this time that's fine."

Dawson laughed as he pushed a button ending the holographic projection, "We will arrive at the anomaly within the hour, dismissed." He nodded at the officers as they stood up and exited the room, all apart from Lieutenant Murphy and T'Vel.

"Do you really think it could be the same anomaly Dawson?" Lieutenant Murphy asked, already knowing the answer he would receive.

Dawson shrugged, "When the accident occurred it sent out massive ruptures through space and time, this anomaly is identical to the one that we caused, all apart from the graviton emissions, that's where I want you to be focussing Mark, if this is giving 

out the same readings as the accident with the probe then we have big problems."

"What do you mean?" T'Vel asked, an air of intrigue surrounding her voice.

"If this anomaly has appeared here now there's no telling how many other anomalies have appeared throughout space and time and if we think that control of this might fall into the wrong hands, what happens when one of these opens outside of Federation space?"

T'Vel gulped, "I hadn't thought about that."

Mark nodded, "I see what you mean."

"We can't tell the rest of the crew about this, Admiral Janeway's orders were very clear on that, but if that anomaly is one we created we have to find a way to collapse any future anomaly that may be created by collapsing that one, I don't think some temporal phasers are going to cut it T'Vel." Dawson looked his friend straight in the eyes, "Our history and our future may depend on this, if we find out that it is the same anomaly then we need to find a way to send a feedback loop through it, strong enough to collapse any other anomaly linked to it, understood?"

T'Vel and Mark nodded, "Yes sir."

Dawson watched the view screen as the anomaly grew bigger, "All stop, hold position here."

"Lieutenant Murphy what do the temporal sensors make of it?" Seven turned from her seat towards the temporal station on the bridge.

"It's hard to explain what the sensors are making of it Commander, there's too much information. I could show you?" Mark rose from his station for it to be quickly filled by another junior officer dressed with two green stripes on their uniform, "Captain, Commander if you wouldn't mind accompanying me to temporal astromestrics?"

Dawson, Seven and Mark exited the bridge in the turbo lift at the back of the command center, "Deck Seven." The computer beeped to acknowledge the command. White lights flashed up on the side of the turbo lift to mark the passage of the lift between decks. The doors opened and the three crew members stepped out onto the deck of the ship. Crew members stepped aside to allow the Captain passage through the corridors; they nodded as a sign of acknowledgement. Mark walked towards a door ahead of the three crew men and stepped through it. This are of the ship was different to the rest, the corridors were narrower and the doors were made of frosted glass displaying the star fleet insignia. Mark stopped outside a door displaying the words "O7T – Temporal Astromestrics." He stepped aside and allowed the Captain to enter first, "After you Captain."

Dawson stepped through the doors and stopped in front of the large view screen, Seven stood next to him and scanned the room with her eyes. She couldn't help but smile. The room reminded her so much of the astromestrics lab where she spent so much time on Voyager, it was a comfort to be in a room similar to that again.

Mark stepped towards the large console in front of the view screen in the room, "Computer, display latest temporal scans of the anomaly." A large image appeared the screen and spread out taking the place of the walls in the room. Seven marvelled at the image, it was almost as if she was stood in space on a small platform, as the image covered the last part of the room she had to quickly look back down to check she was still safely aboard Omega.

"As we predicted Captain, this anomaly is identical to the one created in the probe accident three years ago." Mark pushed a button and an image of an explosion filled the room, as it ended an anomaly identical to the one that had previously been displayed filled the room. He pushed another button and the image of the anomaly 

Omega was holding position near was superimposed over the probe accident anomaly.

Seven looked at both Dawson and Mark, both appeared to be lost in thought and she noticed the worried expression on Dawson's face, "So what do we do now?"

Mark pushed another button on the console returning the image to the anomaly they were currently located near, "We need to establish just what is on the other side of that anomaly, but our sensors have been unable to penetrate it."

Dawson turned to look at Mark,"What if we sent a short burst from the phasers through the anomaly, would that be able to create an opening big enough to get scans through?"

"I don't see why not Captain, the phasers would have be set on a rotating modulation to cut through the interference coming from the anomaly, but theoretically if we opened a hole in it we would be able to see what is on the other side."

Dawson nodded at Mark, "Proceed then Lieutenant Murphy."

Mark tapped on the console in front of him, the image filling the room returned to the confines of the view screen and a green burst sped towards it, "Phaser burst initiated."

The three officers watched as the anomaly rippled where the phaser burst had been fired, a faint image of space on the other side appeared in the opening that had been created.

"Temporal scans are through Captain." Mark paused in disbelief as he looked at the scans from the anomaly.

"Mr Murphy what is it?" Dawson looked towards the young Lieutenant.

"I think you'd better see for yourself Captain," Mark pushed a button on the console and a fuzzy image of a large metal cube appeared on the screen.

Seven gasped, "Where is that image coming from!?"

Mark shook his head, "I had no way of knowing Commander, whilst we may have been able to get an image of what's on the other side of the anomaly our sensors still can't penetrate it, I couldn't tell you whether that image is from the past or the future."

"Then let's assume it's the past, if there's a Borg cube on the other side of that anomaly then more could be on the way and if they can find a way to get through, well I don't even want to think about it!" Dawson turned and headed towards the door out of the room, tapping his comm. badge as he did so, "Red alert, all senior officers report to the bridge!" The lights dimmed in the room as the three exited it, the corridors were filled with flashing blue lights, officers rushed around them, no longer worried about acknowledging the presence of the Captain.

Dawson looked at Mark as the two paced towards the turbo lift, "I hope you found a way to seal that anomaly Lieutenant, I really do."

"The phasers should still be enough to collapse it Captain." Mark paused as they entered the turbo lift and Dawson commanded it to the bridge.

Dawson shook his head, "I asked you and T'Vel to find a way Lieutenant, I hope whatever you came up with works."

Mark nodded, acknowledging the point Dawson was making. Aside from the graviton emissions this was the same anomaly that had occurred three years ago. He hadn't wanted to believe it but when the scans were there before him he had to accept it, the accident had caused massive ruptures through space and time, their experiments could spell disaster for the galaxy. The doors of the turbo lift opened and the three officers stepped out onto the Bridge. Dawson headed straight for the Captain's chair, "Lieutenant Gren hail Star Fleet Command, tell them to have as many ships as they can rendezvous with us."

The young Bajoran nodded, and sent the communication.

Mark looked at the console in front of him, disbelief overwhelmed him, "Captain I don't know how but that phaser burst must have attracted the attention of that cube, three others have joined it."

"All hands to battle stations!" A console materialised beside Dawson giving him full control of all ships systems, "Miss Gren how many ships are en-route to our location?"

"Star Fleet Command has ordered seven vessels to converge on our position, The Imperial and the Endeavour are nearest to us, they estimate five minutes till arrival."

"Then let's hope that these Borg are from our time frame," Dawson gulped as fear and dread filled his body.

Lieutenant Gren checked and double checked her station, shaking her head before she spoke up, "We are being hailed Captain."

Dawson stood up and turned to look at Lieutenant Gren, "By Star Fleet?"

She shook her head slowly, "By the cube."

"What!?" Dawson ran around to her station, "Mark how is this possible, I thought we couldn't get any scans through that thing, how are the Borg getting a comm. signal through?"

Mark shook his head, "I wish I could tell you Captain."

Dawson closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "On screen."

An image of the insides of the Borg cube appeared on the view screen. Dawson turned to look at Seven, she was frozen in fear staring at the image. A familiar voice sounded over the comm. "We are the Borg, you will be assimilated, resistance is futile." Dawson kept his gaze fixed upon Seven, she stood up from her seat and headed towards the view screen, her walk was calm, too calm. As the voice over the comm. still sounded, Seven joined in with the words.

"Your culture will adapt to service us." Seven advanced towards the Captain, borg implants grew from her skin, nanoprobes pulsed through her bloodstream.

"Commander?" Dawson jumped up from his chair and grabbed a phaser, he fired a shot towards Seven knocking her down on the floor, "Bridge to Sickbay, medical emergency."


	3. Omega Cubed

**Chapter 3: "Omega****³"**

Dawson gripped tightly to Seven's hand as The Doctor performed scans of her, shaking his head as he did so. Nurse O'Hara walked slowly towards them both, "Lieutenant Murphy reports that the Imperial and the Endeavour have arrived Captain, there are also another three vessels less than an hour away, the Borg have another four vessels on the other side of the anomaly but they appear to be holding position."

Dawson nodded, "Thank you Nurse." She smiled at him as she walked away.

Counselor Goodram looked at the Captain and then back down at Seven, "I can sense your worry Captain, but she will be ok, she's strong."

He looked at her, the woman who had been his rock for three years, and smiled, "If anyone else was telling me that Diane I would be doubting them, but you're always right. Are you getting anything from her?"

She shook her head, "Ever since she pulled that little Borg stunt on the bridge I've been unable to get any readings from her."

The Doctor joined Dawson and Diane at Seven's side, hypospray in hand, "I'm ready to revive her now Captain."

Dawson let go of Seven's hand and stepped aside, "Do you know what caused this?"

"I'm hoping she can tell me that." The Doctor leant over and injected Seven with the hypospray. Her eyes opened slowly, "It's ok, you're in sickbay. Can you tell us what happened?"

Seven looked at the three faces that were staring at her, "The Borg, they contacted me through my neural transceiver, I could hear the collective."

"That's impossible, I removed that implant 3 years ago, there's barely enough Borg machinery inside of you to create a can opener!" The Doctor spoke in a worried tone, shaking his head. "What did they say Commander?"

Seven looked straight at Dawson, fear in her eyes, "They're coming back Captain," she sat up and looked forward, "And they have an armada."

Dawson gulped, "An armada?" He paced around slightly before hitting his comm. badge, "Xavier to bridge, inform Star Fleet that that Borg threat is a little worse than we thought, there's an armada about to come through that anomaly, I want every ship within range to converge on our position now!" Dawson paced back over to the surgical bay, still in disbelief, "Is she fit to return to duty Doctor?"

The Doctor shook his head, "Not in the slightest Captain, 40 of the Borg implants I removed from her body eight years ago have reformed, the dormant nanoprobes in her blood stream have reinitiated themselves and I have no explanation as to why!"

"Doctor, I have an armada of Borg on the other side of a temporal anomaly claiming they're coming back to our space and if you remember what a powerful threat they were before you should be worried because there's no telling what time frame these Borg are from, they could have encountered species and technology beyond our comprehension, and you tell me I can't have my first officer, who spent most of her life with the Borg, on the Bridge?" Dawson stared The Doctor blankly in the face.

"Well, when you put it like that." The Doctor stepped away and over to Seven, he placed a small cortical monitor on the side of her neck, "Keep this on at all times, it has an emergency transporter fitted inside, if at any time your Borg physiology decides to regenerate it will transport you back here."

"Thank you Doctor." Seven jumped up off the surgical bed and onto her feet, following Dawson and Diane to the door. The three exited the sick bay and made a left towards the nearest turbo lift. Seven broke the silence, "I hope I didn't scare you 

too much."

"To be honest, it all happened so quickly… I... we just wanted to make sure you were alright." Dawson smiled at Seven.

"I've been better, I won't lie, it just feels like I'm turning back into a drone with all these nanoprobes whirling round inside of me." Seven shuddered.

"That is understandable Annika, ever since The Doctor removed the final implants in your body you've been human and made fantastic leaps forward in that area, this is bound to be a setback." Diane placed her arm around Seven, "But I'm sure I can sort it out for you." She smiled but was interrupted before she could continue her reassurances.

"Bridge to Captain Xavier, the Borg are emerging from the anomaly."

Dawson looked at Diane and Seven and tapped his comm. badge, "We're on our way!"

"Report!" Dawson ran onto the bridge, heading towards his seat. Blue lights flashed as he did so, Mark stood up and turned around.

"Seven Federation vessels have arrived, two more are on their way. Three Klingon ships are also converging on our position and should be here in approximately ten minutes. As for the Borg two vessels have advanced towards the opening created by our phaser blast, it appears they are emerging."

Mark sat back down at his station, "Captain we are being hailed by the Enterprise."

Dawson nodded, "On screen Mr. Murphy."

Admiral Janeway's face filled the screen, "Captain you are in charge until the Enterprise arrives, I want every ship in the fleet to fire weapons on any Borg cube that so much pokes a corner out of that anomaly."

"Understood Admiral, Omega out."

The screen went blank as Dawson took his seat, he placed a hand on the console at his side and pulled it forward in front of him, "Computer initiate separation sequence."

The ship jerked as the order was given, locks released and the ship split into three separate sections each displaying flashing coloured lights on its hull. The computer voice sounded, "Omega separation sequence engaged, blue, white and red sections battle ready." As the computer's voice ended the blue lights of the bridge changed to flash red.

"Engage ablative armour, bring all weapons online and inform the rest of the ships to do the same." Dawson brought up the scans of the anomaly on his console, checking for any Borg cubes coming towards the opening, "Lieutenant Jenara lock all weapons upon the nearest cube, send a warning shot from the phasers."

"Phasers ready."

"Fire."

The phasers fired at the anomaly through the opening and impacted the cube on the other side.

"No effect sir." Lieutenant Jenara watched the view screen as the Borg cube came out of the anomaly, "Sir, they're coming through!"

Fear and dread filled Seven's body, "Commander Hansen to all vessels, lock all weapons on that cube and fire at will."

Dawson tapped a few buttons on his console, trying to assess the situation, "Helm move us into attack pattern delta, Lieutenant Jenara have blue section fire quantum torpedoes and red and white sections fire phasers."

"Ready sir."

"Mark." As Dawson gave the command the fully emerged borg cube had phasers and torpedoes fired upon it, phaser beams emerged from every direction but still the cube emerged further out of the anomaly.

"Captain, the weapons are having no effect on the cube, I think its time we brought the temporal battle sequence online." Mark looked towards the Captain.

"Very well Mr. Murphy. Computer activate temporal battle sequence, authorisation Xavier 2278"

"Computer confirm temporal battle sequence, authorisation Hansen 9419."

"Computer final confirmation, engage temporal battle sequence, authorisation Murphy 7372."

"Temporal battle sequence engaged." Omega moved back into formation as one ship, the red lights on the bridge changed into a green colour. Read outs appeared on the view screen ahead of the bridge officers, Dawson's console disappeared and a new compact keypad appeared in its place. "Temporal battle sequence complete."

Dawson smiled as the sequence completed, a smile of pride, but he was quickly pulled back to reality as the Borg fired upon Omega. "Let's show the Borg what Star Fleet has been up to in the past few years, lock on to the following co-ordinates and fire temporal phasers."

"Phasers locked on, firing." Mark looked up from his station at the view screen, green energy beams flew towards the cube and it instantly exploded, "Yes!"

"Well done Mr. Murphy." Dawson said smiling.

Lieutenant Jenara gulped as she looked at her readouts, "Sir, I don't think it's a time for congratulations."

"What do you mean Miss Jenara?" Dawson asking turning to look at her.

"That explosion, it's expanded the opening in the anomaly, 8 Borg cubes are emerging and firing weapons directly at us!"

"Ebasive manoeuvres!" Dawson shouted as the ship was impacted by a torpedo, sparks flew from the bulkhead behind his head. Seven more torpedoes hit the hull and Dawson, Seven and Diane were thrown from their chairs.

"Damage report!" Dawson pulled himself back up to his seat and pushed buttons on his console.

"Decks 10 and 11 sections 57 through 68 have been blown away. Warp nacelles 1 and 2 have taken heavy damage, we're leaking plasma!"

Dawson grimaced as he felt his side where he had taken the impact, "Fire all weapons at will."

The entire fleet of ships converged upon the 8 cubes and fired all the weapons they possessed, none had an effect. The only ship capable of even damaging the cubes proved to be Omega with its advanced temporal weaponry.

"Sir we've lost three ships, the Klingons are in retreat." Lieutenant Jenara realised how hopeless the situation was, Omega was going to be destroyed as well, she knew it.

Dawson shook his head in despair, "It's not like the Klingons to run away, helm take us between the cubes and the anomaly, Lieutenant Jenara, Mr Murphy as soon as we are in position fire all temporal and photon torpedoes at the closest cube." The ship jerked as Dawson spoke, he was flung from his seat and across the bridge.

Mark shouted over the background noise of explosions and voices of worried officers, "We've lost warp nacelle 2, the temporal core is going to blow."

Seven rushed to help Dawson up and back to his seat, he tapped his comm. badge as he staggered back, "Bridge to Engineering, secure the core, see what you can do to stop it from blowing up."

"Understood Captain."

The helm officer turned to look at Dawson, "We're in position sir,"

"Very good Miss Jenara, Mr Murphy fire weapons at the anomaly with any luck we can seal it before any more Borg can come through.

They both nodded, "Firing now sir." The entire bridge became silent, bar a few sparks flying from ruptured bulkheads, the phasers fired upon the anomaly with no effect.

"Damn!" Dawson hit his console as he saw the negative effect of the phaser burst.

"The Enterprise is hailing us Captain, putting it on screen now."

"Captain Xavier I've ordered a full retreat of all vessels, we can't afford to lose any more vessels if the Borg are about to come through that anomaly! We're making a final stand at the co-ordinates I'm sending you now, Janeway out."

Dawson's face sunk as his Aunt's image left the screen, things had to be bad for her to be ordering a retreat, "You heard her Ensign!, set a course for those co-ordinates, maximum warp."

Lieutenant Murphy interrupted the orders, "We're being hailed again sir, by the borg, audio only."

"We are the Borg, you will be assimilated, resistance is futile."

Omega jerked as the audio stopped.

"We've been locked on by a tractor beam, we're being dragged into the anomaly!" Seven looked at Dawson, panic stricken.

Dawson looked around the bridge, frantically trying to think of a way out of the situation, "Helm fire all thrusters get us out of here now!"

"It's no good we're being dragged in!"

Janeway shook her head in disbelief as she saw Omega hurtle towards the anomaly, "Whats happening to Omega?"

"They're being dragged into the anomaly Admiral," The Enterprise bridge stood silent as they watched Omega spin into the anomaly, "They've gone Admiral, the anomaly is closing behind them."

Janeway ran to the tactical station at the back of the Bridge, "Janeway to all ships emit a pulse to the following specifications at that anomaly from your deflectors, we've got a ship in there!"

"All ships are firing sir." Twelve bright blue pulses shot towards the anomaly with no effect, "Ma'am the deflector pulses are acting like magnets, we're being pulled into the anomaly as well!"

"Disengage the pulse!" Janeway stood holding back tears as the anomaly closed, two ships being dragged in along with it, "Inform Star Fleet of the situation, tell them we've lost three of the ships, she sunk back into the Captain's chair, "Set a course for the nearest Star Base, engage."


	4. Repairs and Despair

**Chapter 4: "Repairs and Despair"**Dawson slowly opened his eyes, he could see fires blazing in front of him, bodies laying still whilst others rushed towards them. He placed his hand on the back of his head, grimacing as he did so. He brought his hand back round so he could look at it, it was covered in blood. He slowly pulled himself up, every part of his body ached. Half the view screen had disappeared, emergency force fields appeared to be holding. He dragged himself towards his chair, avoiding the debris and fallen bulkheads. He looked around the bridge, Seven was crouched down beside the young helm officer who lay still on the floor, Diane was battling with one of the raging fires whilst Lieutenant Jenara stood trapped on the other side of it, he turned around to see Mark still sat at his station, battered and bruised, "Report!"

Mark nodded, "We've been dragged through the anomaly, long range sensors are down, life support has failed on decks 27 through 30. The Doctor reports 34 injuries, 12 of which are critical, 87 crewmen and 26 civilians are dead. The temporal core is non-operational."

Dawson froze still for a moment, he turned to look at Seven who was standing up from the helm officer, "Commander?" Seven bowed her head, "Make that 88 crewmen dead Lieutenant Murphy. The Borg?"

"They have released their tractor beam and seem to be focusing their attacks upon the two other vessels pulled through the anomaly with us, they're taking a beating from the ships Sir." Mark's face sunk as he saw the attack through the hole in the view screen.

Dawson nodded as Counsellor Goodram took her seat next to him, "Lieutenant Jenara man your station, Lieutenant Murphy are conventional weapons still in operation?"

Mark nodded, "I believe so sir."

"Commander Hansen, take the helm and move us towards those cubes."

Counsellor Goodram turned to the Captain, shock filling her expression, "Are you crazy? This ship is in no state to go up against those cubes, we should be thankful they are leaving us alone!"

Dawson shook his head, "But how long until they turn their attention back to us? Those ships are not going to survive unless we help them."

"Who's going to help us?" Panic filled Diane's body, and it was not just her own, she was dealing with the worries of the entire bridge officers, all that were still alive that is.

Dawson stared through the opening in the view screen, ignoring Diane's statement, "Commander Hansen do it! Lieutenant Jenara fire all weapons on those cubes."

Lieutenant Jenara nodded.

"Captain life support has failed on board the Imperial, there are still crew members alive over there!"

Dawson nodded as Mark finished speaking, "Are the transporters still functional?"

"I believe so Captain but we cannot use them while the shields are up but if we were to drop them to beam aboard survivors the Borg would have no trouble in destroying us."

Dawson turned to face Mark, "Then let's hope they leave us alone, drop shields and have all the survivors beamed directly to sick bay."

Mark nodded, "Transporting now."

Seven turned away from the helm to look at Dawson, "The Endeavour Captain, their warp core has become unstable, it's about to blow!"

Dawson looked around the bridge, panicked. "Mr. Murphy transport anyone who's still alive on that ship over here at once, as soon as they're on board re-in force the aft shields. Commander Hansen bring us about and get us out of here as fast as we can!" He tapped his comm. badge, "Xavier to all hands brace for impact!" He gripped tightly onto the arm rests of his chair as the ship shuddered under the shockwave from the explosion. He let out a sigh of relief as he sank deeper into his chair, "Commander Hansen what is the status of the warp engines?"

Seven shrugged, "They appear to be operational Captain but I am having trouble creating a stable warp field, I can give you maximum impulse at best."

"That won't put much distance between us and those cubes," Dawson turned his head towards the temporal station, "Mark scan for anywhere we can hide and make repairs, planets, nebulas, anything!"

Mark nodded, "Short range scans have detected a nebula heading 089 mark 258, the Borg shouldn't be able to detect us inside."

"Very good, Commander Hansen adjust course!"

"Nurse O'Hara get me a cortical stimulator before we lose this patient!" The Doctor frantically darted around the sickbay, stepping over bodies and fallen bulkheads. Julie rushed over to the young Ensign The Doctor had just been tending to, "Done Doctor." The Doctor looked around the sickbay, pausing from his scans to look for any medical personnel, only himself and Nurse O'Hara were present, "Where are the rest of the medical staff Nurse?"

Julie shook her head, "Two of the doctors were down on deck 27 when life support failed, Nurse Cheng is dead and I can't get in contact with anyone else."

The Doctor looked at Nurse O'Hara, "Very well then Nurse we'll split the patients up between us, treat those who are in danger of dying first, leave anyone else for now!"

Julie nodded, "Understood Doctor."

The Doctor looked around the sickbay, more patients fell in through the door, he couldn't help remembering the time he was first activated on board Voyager, the sight was not dissimilar to this one, and then it occurred to him. "Computer activate the emergency medical holographic program."

Three holograms appeared in front of The Doctor each with a smile on their face, each of them were identical to each other but unfamiliar to The Doctor.

"My medical staff are dead, I require your assistance." The three holograms nodded as The Doctor finished speaking, they each picked up tricorders and began rushing around the Sick Bay.

Julie stood next to The Doctor as he watched the holograms, "When you suggested having three EMH's on board I thought you were crazy, looks like it was the best thing you could have done."

The Doctor nodded, "Yes but there's no time for that Nurse, we have patients to treat!"

"Status Commander?" Dawson asked as he looked around the massacred bridge.

"We are holding position inside the nebula, no signs of any Borg ships following us."

Dawson nodded, his eyes became focused upon the dead helm officer still lying at the side of Seven, "Have Commander Hart draw up a repair schedule, our first priority is the long range sensors I want to find out where the hell we are, Counsellor Goodram get down to sick bay and assist The Doctor, Lieutenant Murphy have the bridge cleaned up and take the Ensign to the morgue." Dawson stood up, grimacing 

in pain slightly, "I'll be in my ready room." He walked slowly towards his desk as the doors closed behind him, as he sat down in his seat he looked around at the state of his office, he'd barely had time to unpack and already the place was ruined. "Captain's log, supplemental. Omega has been pulled through the temporal anomaly we were sent to investigate, we have no way of knowing where we are or how we are going to get back, all we know is that this region of space and perhaps time is home to some very dangerous Borg. We have taken refuge in a nebula while we make repairs to the ship, but from the state of the Bridge I fear repairs may take a very long time. Two other vessels have been pulled through the anomaly with us, both were destroyed by the Borg however we managed to transport the survivors on board this vessel." He paused for a moment, thinking of all the casualties on board his own ship, "89 crew members are dead although I expect that number to rise, we have also suffered losses amongst the civilian population on board. I have no choice but to utilise the skills of the rescued crewmembers in order to have this ship functioning again. I cannot help feeling like I am in a worse situation than the one my aunt was faced with, at least she knew where she was, without long range sensors we are utterly lost and rather unfortunately, at the mercy of the Borg. I see the first priorities as getting sensors functioning and bringing the temporal core back online, then we can begin to look at what a state the rest of the vessel is in. End supplement."

"I know that this is not an easy situation that you have all been thrown into but the truth is this ship needs you." Dawson paused as he looked at the crew members gathered in the cargo bay in front of him, they didn't come close to replacing half of the crew members Omega had lost but with its current crew he knew they couldn't repair the ship, "None of us asked to be here but we are here and our top priority is finding a way home, we can only do that with your help. I know you've all lost friends, loved ones, but so have we. I could order each of you to serve on board this ship and I doubt if any of you would object but I'm not going to do that, I'm going to ask you to. For those of you that agree Commander Hansen will hand you your assignments on the way out of the door, those who don't Counselor Goodram is here to offer you support." He nodded as the bodies in front of him moved around the cargo bay, two crew members walked towards Diane whilst the rest moved to Seven. "Lieutenant Hill and Ensign Kilk, a moment please!"

A young bolian made her way through the crowd to the Captain, closely followed by a man who looked identical to Mark.

"I have assigned you both to the Bridge as senior officers." Dawson handed them both a pad each, "I expect you to operate on this ship to the best of your ability, I'm counting on you both."

Lieutenant Hill smiled as he looked at the padd, he paused for a moment thinking about his brother, "Sir, I think Lieutenant Murphy might have a problem with this, after all I'll be working closely with him as head of ops."

"Frankly Mr. Hill there is no place for problems on board this ship at the minute, whatever issues you and your brother have with each other you work out during your own time, when you are both on the bridge I expect you to act in a professional and civil manner, and I will be telling Mr. Murphy the exact same thing."

Matt nodded at his new Captain and exited the cargo bay with Kilk. Seven and Diane walked over to join Dawson.

"Two crewmembers have requested a temporary leave of absence whilst they deal with the loss of their families."

Dawson nodded at Diane, "That leaves 36 new crew men, have all heads of departments brief their new crew men on this ships specifications, I want everyone up to scratch on the systems so that they can be repaired."

Seven nodded as Dawson finished speaking, "Understood."

"I'm sure you have a lot of work to do Counsellor, you are dismissed." Dawson smiled as Diane left the cargo bay, "Commander if you wouldn't mind accompanying me to Engineering I think we need to have a look at how things are down there." Dawson began walking to the door of the cargo bay, followed by Seven. As the doors opened he began to see the devastated corridor. Wall panels had been blown away and at certain intervals it was possible to see the nebula outside. "Repairs are going much slower than I anticipated, I do not like the uncertainty of being stuck in this nebula whilst the Borg are probably scouring the space outside for us."

"They should move quicker now," Seven stepped over a fallen bulkhead as two crewmen tried to fix it back into place, "Life support has been restored to all key areas it is just the long range sensors and the temporal core that we need to worry about."

"And the warp core, I want to know why we couldn't create a stable warp field." Dawson stopped as he reached the door into Engineering, he stepped through to see a frenzy of crew men rushing around.

T'Vel smiled as Dawson entered, "Captain, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

Dawson walked over towards the warp core in the centre of the room, he stepped around it to another core, similar in size to the warp core. As he got closer to it he ran a hand across it, "What is the status of the temporal core?" T'Vel shrugged, "I wish I could tell you Captain, that last attack by the Borg blew out the diagnostic console and damaged all the temporal relays, I don't think we have enough spares to make the repairs necessary."

"So it's useless?" Seven asked.

"I wouldn't say useless, I can try and get it back online but it's going to take a long time, I would rather be focusing my efforts on the defence systems and seeing what's up with the warp core." T'Vel moved towards a warp assembly diagnostic station in front of the warp core, "Although at the minute everything looks fine I'd say it's more about where ever the hell we are that's stopping us from using the warp core."

Dawson looked up at the core and then back towards the temporal core, "Could the interface between the two cores be enough to stop us using the warp drive?"

T'Vel shook her head, "The temporal core is offline, no power is getting to it at all so it couldn't be stopping the warp core from functioning. I'll know more when we have sensors back online and can get an accurate read out of where we are."

Dawson nodded, "Make that your top priority then Commander."

She nodded, trying not to point out that it already was her top priority, "What about life support Captain?"

Dawson looked at Seven, "Commander how many decks have we got left?"

Seven tapped a few buttons on the padd in her hand and then looked back at Dawson, "Decks 1 through 13 still have life support, as well as decks 17 through 19, the rest of the ship is uninhabitable."

"That at least leaves us access to most of the key systems, I'm not going to tell you to leave the life support systems because if you can get them online I'm sure we could all do with a little bit more space, but until the sensors are functioning I want everything else left." Dawson nodded at T'Vel, their customary way of saying goodbye, and headed towards the turbolift in the corner of the room, as Seven joined 

him inside he spoke, "Bridge." He turned to face Seven, "Have all the senior staff gathered for a meeting at 0800 tomorrow, hopefully by then the repairs may have progressed slightly."

Seven nodded in agreement, "Yes Captain."

"Oh and one more thing Commander, dinner 1900 hours my quarters, I trust you can make it?" He focussed his gaze on the doors ahead of him, not wanting to look at the reaction on Seven's face. She held back her smile in case he was watching her.

"Yes sir."


	5. The Lost and the Helpless

**Chapter 5: "The Lost And The Helpless"** Lights flickered around Dawson's quarters as he lay the two plates on the table in front of him, "Sorry about the look of it Seven, I think there's something wrong with the replicators."

"Either that or you've inherited your Aunt's cooking skills." Seven laughed as she picked at the burned meal in front of her.

Dawson joined in with the laughter, "No I think I've inherited her knack for losing a new vessel in an unknown area of space."

"Apart from Voyager was lost in our galaxy, and knew that at some point they'd be getting home, we do not." She said cynically.

Dawson took a sip of his wine, "That's not the attitude to have Seven, as soon as repairs are complete I'm sure we'll be able to find a way out of here." He began to pick at the food in front of him, before he looked back up at Seven, focussing on the new Borg implants that had sprouted from under her skin, "Has The Doctor said anything about when he can remove the implants?"

Seven shook her head, "He said it shouldn't be a long procedure as the implants are relatively new but he has too much to do in sick bay at the minute, I told him I was not a priority."

"Never the less Seven I'm sure it can't be nice wandering around feeling like a drone again, we have two new doctors in sick bay, as well as the emergency holograms I'm sure The Doctor will be able to fit you in."

Seven nodded, "It's just finding the time, I've been so focused upon making repairs I'd almost forgotten what had happened."

"I was meaning to say, sorry for shooting at you, I just didn't know what else to do."

"It's ok Captain, under the circumstances I would have done the same. The Borg had taken control of me again I would have no doubt tried to assimilate you or the crew if you hadn't stopped me, I am grateful you did." She looked down at her hand, the exo-skeleton The Doctor had removed had grown back over her fingers, it was almost as if she was looking down at the past, her past which was proving inescapable. He watched her for a few moments as she sat in silence, pondering what could have happened, what was happening to her now. He'd been there for her when she'd had the last of her implants removed but ever since then they'd lost touch but they had so much in common. Both had lost someone close to them. He placed his hand on top of Seven's, covering the Borg implants. Her gaze moved up his arm to his smiling face, his stare seemed to say that he didn't care about the Borg implants, he never had before. Time seemed to slip away from both of them as they stared into each other's eyes, re-affirming what the other was thinking. They leaned over the table towards one another, moving closer, their lips touched for a moment before they stopped, but she knew this is what she wanted, she moved in closer again and didn't move back this time. For a moment everything around them disappeared, it didn't matter where they were, or if they would ever get their ship home, because they had each other there.

Mark brushed off the sofa in his quarters as he picked up a few broken objects from the floor. He sighed as he saw the state his quarters had ended up in, nothing like the state of the rest of the ship but the tiniest bit of mess to Mark was a state which made this his worst nightmare. Four days he'd been in these quarters and he couldn't settle, maybe it was the ship, that would certainly stand to reason as his unsettled feelings had grown as soon as his brother had been beamed aboard, and 

now he was the head of operations, how could Dawson do this to him? He slammed a broken photo frame down on the floor. A side of the photo inside had been turned over, he picked it up keeping the side turned behind the rest, he smiled as he saw himself stood with his parents, and then it dawned on him. He may never get to see his mother again, even if Omega found out where it was they had no certainty they'd get home and if the Borg found them again they'd had it. Trying not to contemplate his future as a drone he sat down on the sofa and unfolded the photo. It revealed a man identical to himself stood next to him, his brother. He scrunched the image up and flung it on the floor, the last thing he needed was to think about him. The door chimed and he hoped this would prove a distraction.

"Come in." As the doors parted he saw the man he'd least wanted to see stood there, Matt. "What the hell are you doing here? I told you three years ago I wanted nothing to do with you."

Matt stepped inside the room, allowing the doors to close behind him. Aside from a scar above his left eye and the yellow stripes down his uniform he was identical to Mark in every way, something which Mark despised.

"That was a long time ago, a lots changed."

Mark laughed, "Nothing's changed, you're still with him aren't you?"

Matt looked down at the floor shaking his head, "Is that still what you're angry about? It's the 24th century Mark, who cares who I'm with? Man, woman or any other species."

"Dad would have cared!"

"Dad was living in the past, he couldn't accept anything other than humans being with humans and only the opposite sex as well, don't you see how that's wrong? There's a whole galaxy out there filled with different races and he was so blinded by ignorance that he wanted Earth to close itself off from the rest of the galaxy so that everyone could stay pure." He paused, trying not to let the anger build any more inside of him, "You know how much I loved Dad but his ideas were not ones that I supported and they shouldn't be ones that you support either, times have changed Mark and ideas like his should have died long ago, not live on through you."

Mark shook his head, "His ideas don't live on through me, but the thought of you with him goes against everything Dad thought was right, how could you do that?" He looked his brother right in the eyes, already knowing what the answer would be but feeling he should ask the question anyway.

"Because I love him Mark, and even if he wasn't a trill I'd still love him. If our mother can be happy for me and accept him as part of the family then why can't you?"

Mark remained silent, he'd only ever fallen out with his brother because his father had taken everything out on him, he was never the favourite one until Matt ran off to live on Trill with his husband and then everything that was expected of Matt was expected of him and then he had to do better than that as well. He hated his brother for what he had done but thinking about never getting home none of that seemed to matter. He didn't share his father's views on inter-species relations and he didn't even share his views on homosexuality he just hated his brother because of the pressure he had been put under when his brother ran away but that pressure had gone now, all that mattered was that he had some sort of family with him now, wherever the hell he was.

"I can accept him Matt," He paused and looked back up at his brother, "I just couldn't accept that the brother I'd admired and wanted to be had gone away and left me, left me to be the person I'd wanted to be, the person he was."

Matt moved over to the sofa and sat down next to his brother, "I couldn't have stayed 

Mark, he'd never have allowed it."

Mark nodded, "I know and I'm sorry I became like him." He hugged his brother, for the first time in four years and suddenly his worries about seeing his family again faded away, he had a family here.

"Commander Hart to Lieutenant Murphy."

The two brothers jumped as the comm. interrupted them.

Mark tapped his comm. badge, "Go ahead T'Vel."

"The long range sensors are online, I thought I should call you before I called Lieutenant Hill so you could get down to temporal astromestrics and conduct your scans."

Mark smiled at his brother, "It's ok T'Vel, we'll both meet you there, Murphy out."

The ready room was in a state similar to the rest of the ship, with a few fallen bulkheads and debris scattered across the floor. Diane had frantically cleaned the table and the chairs before anyone had arrived, making sure the briefing would be in comfortable surroundings, no-one noticed of course, they were all too busy looking at what needed repairing in the room and adding it to their long list. The senior officers were engaged in conversation amongst themselves, as she looked around she sensed so many different emotions, fear, regret, and most of all hope. Hope was definitely coming from someone in the room she just couldn't find out who. She jumped as the doors opened and Captain Xavier entered the room. He looked around at the table and then took his seat.

"Status?" He looked straight at T'Vel hoping the answer would be that they knew exactly where they were and knew a way to get back but knowing this wouldn't be the case.

"I'm pleased to report long range sensors are back online and functioning at 78 efficiency, Mr. Murphy..."

Mark stood up and walked over to the wall mounted console, "The temporal void Captain." An image of a large sphere appeared on the screen, "The entire region appears to be about the size of the alpha quadrant, we have not been able to scan beyond the edges of the sphere, although my guess is travelling towards one side will bring us straight back out the other side." "No thoughts as of yet on how to get us out of here?" Counselor Goodram looked towards Mark. Mark shook his head, "The only way I can see about getting away is the same way the Borg brought us here, through the anomaly."

"But that anomaly closed behind us, didn't it?" The Doctor looked around the table for an answer, everyone's silence was enough to tell him that it had.

"What is the status of the other repairs Commander?" Dawson asked, changing the subject from the hopeless situation they were in.

T'Vel pushed a button on her console and a holographic image of Omega appeared in the middle of the table, "Life support has been restored to all decks and all major systems other than the temporal ones are back online, all that's left to do is patch up the hull breaches and tidy the ship up." She pushed another button and the image focused in upon the various hull breaches.

Dawson nodded, "Very good Commander, I want those hull breaches sealed up by the end of tomorrow. We've spent too long in this anomaly it's time we got out of here and explored this void."

"Explored it? Isn't that a little dangerous with the Borg out there!" Kilk spoke with fear in her voice as she contemplated spending the rest of her life as a drone.

Seven shot an angry glare at Kilk, "Ensign it is not your place to object to the Captain's orders, you are a new crewman on board this vessel!"

Dawson shook his head, "Let her have her say Commander, everyone is entitled to it." He looked at Kilk, "What would you have us do Ensign? Sit in this nebula and live out the rest of our lives waiting for the Borg to find us?" Kilk looked down at the table, her cheeks glowing a darker shade of blue. "Have you been able to find any planets, any ships out there Mark?"

Mark nodded and pushed a button on his console, "There is a planet two lightyears away with ships coming and going from it. I've detected no Borg activity near it."

Dawson smiled, "Then let's hope they have some answers and a way to get out of here, Ensign Kilk I trust you won't mind setting a course when repairs are complete?" She shook her head. "T'Vel have you managed to find out what's wrong with the warp core?"

She nodded, "There's something about this region of space that makes it impossible to travel at sublight speeds, or rather seemingly impossible. I believe that if we send out a deflector pulse ahead of the ship, similar to the one we use to travel at temporal warp, we should be able to travel at warp speed, but it will be warp 4 at best."

"That's better than nothing, see if you can't bring it up a bit though?" T'Vel nodded at Dawson as he looked around the table at his officers, "I want everyone here to get this ship cleaned up and patched up. I want all the defence systems operating at peak efficiency, if we encounter the Borg again I want to be ready, dismissed!" The officers stood up from their seats and exited the room, all apart from Seven.

"Do you really think the people on that planet will know a way to get out of here?" Seven asked hoping for some reassurance.

Dawson shrugged, "I have no idea Commander, but right now, they're our only hope."


	6. Place the Blame

**Chapter 6: "Place The Blame"**

"Phasers full spread, fire!" Dawson steadied himself in his seat as more torpedoes were fired at Omega fortunately the shields were still holding out, "Hail them again." "No response again Captain," Matt ducked as sparks erupted from above him. "Then open a channel, all sub-space fields." "Open." "This is Captain Dawson Xavier of the Federation vessel Omega, we mean you no harm we are simply trying to find a way back to our galaxy, please call off your attacks." An image appeared on the screen as Dawson finished his sentence, "You brought the Borg here, you are responsible for the death of our species, now you will perish." The image disappeared and Omega was fired on again. "What!?" Dawson looked at Seven as the image disappeared, "I'm damned if I'm going to sit here and be fired upon for something we didn't do, Miss Jenara, fire quantum torpedoes on the lead vessel, let's see if that makes them call of their attacks."

Jainus nodded and watched the repaired view screen as the torpedoes crippled the ship, "We are being hailed Captain."

"I thought they would be more talkative this time, on screen." "Haven't you taken enough from us? You've brought us here and made us fight the Borg and now you make us fight you!." Dawson looked at the image on the screen, it was of a green skinned man, he had a large ridge from his nose over his head, "We mean you no harm, we simply wish to find out what you mean by us bringing the Borg here."

"Seven generations ago our entire solar system was pulled into this region of space, we just vanished from where we were and reappeared here. For a while this was a peaceful region with many other species having the same story to tell as us, but then they came. Five generations ago we detected was one of your star ships towing a Borg cube here! We've been attacked by the Borg ever since, these few ships are all that remains of the once proud Kraxan empire."

"There seems to be a misunderstanding here, our presence here is accidental and it certainly must have been five generations ago." Dawson paused, remembering the probe accident and then remembering the accident that cost him his wife, "Commander Hansen have our guests transported over, assist them in repairs, give them medical supplies, everything they require, I have something to take care of." He stood up and headed for the turbo lift at the back of the bridge, as the doors closed behind him he sighed, thinking it over in his head, it couldn't be, could it? "Temporal department." The white lights flashing up the walls of the lift calmed Dawson for a moment, until he let his thoughts wander more, he could be responsible for this void that the ship was trapped in and if he was responsible for that then surely he was responsible for everything that's happened inside of it, including the deaths of the crew. The image of the dead helm officer flashed in his head once more, he blocked it out as the doors opened and headed for a door at the end of the corridor, Mark's office. He considered waiting for a response from him on whether or not it was ok to enter, but this was his ship. He walked through the door, shocked to see T'Vel sitting on Mark's desk whilst Mark paced the floor.

"I take it you're here for the same reason I am?" Dawson asked, looking at T'Vel.

She shrugged, "If you think that us three are the cause of this void then I guess I 

am."Mark shook his head, "It's impossible, I'm telling you it's impossible!"

"That probe tore an opening in space and time Mark, remember? If we hadn't fired torpedoes at the rift it created the star base would have been pulled inside, that planet we travelled towards, their star system was pulled inside this void." Dawson sat down in one of the chairs around the desk and looked at T'Vel and Mark.

"How could the probe have created this void though? It couldn't, fair enough the probe may have caused the rifts that brought things here but it can't have created the void." Mark looked at T'Vel, "Can it?"

"When we sent out the probe none of the safety features or limitations upon the warp drive were in place, you know what the temporal core is capable of, with a few modifications it could be a," she paused thinking of how best to phrase her next sentence, "I hasten to use the word time machine but it could be one. The temporal stream we project into space ahead of the ship before we engage the warp drive, or rather an unsecured stream could be enough to cause a rupture in space, with enough time that rupture could grow into this void, and let's face it time was not a problem."

Dawson nodded, "Exactly what I was thinking T'Vel, but there's something else."

"What now? Our probe caused the creation of the galaxy?" Mark rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair, "Or are we going to cause the end of it?"

"Shut up Mark!" Dawson snapped at him, "Just remember on this ship I'm your Captain first and foremost and your friend second, you will treat me with respect."

Mark nodded, "Yes sir."

"Better," Dawson looked down at the floor, trying to work it out in his head, "The ship that fired upon it, its captain said that one of our vessels towed a Borg cube here two generations ago, they didn't state how long a generation was but I don't suppose that matters, the point is one of our ships came here with a Borg cube, if we can get their sensor results we might be able to find her!"

"Find who?" T'Vel asked looking at Dawson, part of her already knew the answer because she hoped it as well, she always hoped it.

"T'Ral." One word was all he needed to say because to all three in that room that one word was on their mind every day, maybe not always at the front of their mind but it was there, hidden in the depths, all they could think about. T'Ral.

"T'Ral?" Mark shook his head, "She's dead Dawson how could she have brought the Borg here? The Carolina was destroyed."

T'Vel shook her head, "Was it? We never found any conclusive evidence to suggest that the Carolina was destroyed, we found hull fragments, hull fragments with Borg weapons signatures but we found no more debris from the ship, no Borg warp signatures in the area and no transwarp signatures, but we did find something else, a slight temporal disturbance in the area. When I found it I shrugged it off as the use of the temporal weaponry on the Carolina but the temporal core doesn't send off any temporal disruptions unless the warp drive is activated. But even that doesn't give off the type of disturbance there was in the area, it was something more, something comparable to the anomaly that brought us here."

Mark shook his head, "Let's say for one minute I believe you, why would the Carolina tractor a Borg cube here?"

Dawson shrugged, "I guess we have to find out." He jumped up out of his seat and turned towards the door, "We have guests on board who know the answers, and I intend to find them."

"You really think they'll still have sensor scans from two generations ago?" Mark asked sceptically.

"We have no idea of how long two generations ago was Mark, for all we know it could have been ten minutes." Dawson laughed as the doors closed behind him. Mark and T'Vel were left in silence to exchange awkward glances before they both followed Dawson.

Dawson smiled at Seven as he entered the briefing room, she gave him a look which seemed to say about time but also thank god you're here, "Captain Xavier meet Controller Juran of the Kraxan Empire."

"Controller," Dawson nodded and shook the man's hand in front of him, "I hope everything here is to your liking."

"Your people have been most kind Captain, my apologies for the attacks on your ship."

"On the contrary I understand entirely, we were an unidentified vessel one you believe brought the Borg here." Dawson signalled for the Controller to take a seat, "Please, sit down." He waited until the Controller was comfortable and Mark and T'Vel had taken their seats as well before he spoke, "But I am curious just how do you think we brought them here?"

"Two generations ago there was a massive rupture in our solar system, the rupture was comparable to the one legend says brought our people here, naturally we sent ships to investigate and they discovered one of your vessels towing a Borg cube through the rupture. Of course we didn't know what specifications the ships were until we had time to study our sensor information. For fifty rotations our people have been fending off attacks by the Borg and we have always felt you were to blame, but Commander Hansen has told me otherwise."

Seven nodded, "Controller Juran was able to share with us the scans of the vessel his people took before the Borg attacked them Captain, I think you'll want to see this," Seven pushed a button on the briefing table and an image of a ship Dawson, T'Vel and Mark never thought they would see again appeared. "It appears to be in the early stages of assimilation, the scans the Kraxan ships took of it have identified Borg life signs on board, I believe the Borg assimilated this vessel and then brought the other cube here. It appears to have taken heavy damage to its propulsion system."

"Then it was the Borg who came here," Controller Juran paused, "I apologise ever more Captain, our scans at the time were not as thorough it is only as our technology has progressed we have been able to reconstruct the sensor information, our attacks were entirely unprovoked." He bowed his head.

"Please do not apologise further Controller, you have already helped us more than you will know." Dawson stood up from his seat, "Commander Hansen if you wouldn't mind showing our guest around the ship?" He nodded at her as T'Vel and Mark followed him out of the briefing room. They stayed silent as they crossed the bridge into Dawson's ready room, once the doors had closed they could hardly contain their disbelief.

"It was the Carolina! She might still be alive!" T'Vel smiled, in another situation Mark might have contemplated how weird it was to see a Vulcan smile, but this wasn't an unusual occurrence for T'Vel, or T'Ral for that matter.

Mark shook his head, "T'Ral won't be alive, a drone will be and who knows where she is, our scans showed that the Borg control most of this void, they will have hundreds of millions of drones, and T'Ral if she is still alive will just be one of them."

Dawson nodded in agreement with Mark, "Never the less it's a start, and perhaps a way out of here."

"What do you mean?" Mark asked inquisitively.

"If the Borg brought the Carolina here then they must have known about the void, which means that they know a way to cross out of here into normal space." Dawson spoke with optimism in his tone, "They have to, don't they?"

T'Vel shrugged, "Logic would dictate that if they came here with the Carolina they must have known where here was, as we saw in those scans the Carolina was travelling through a rift, not being pulled through one, everything would seem to suggest that they know a way to pass between here and normal space."

Dawson smiled, it was a way home, a dangerous one but a way home none the less. They needed to steal knowledge from the Borg, he just didn't know how to tell the crew yet.

"And this is the warp core," Seven smiled as Controller Juran marvelled at his surroundings. She had to admit engineering was an impressive sight for anyone, even herself.

"A warp core? What is its function?"

Seven was a bit taken aback by the question, how could he not know what a warp core is? "It enables us to travel at faster than light speeds."

Juran's mouth almost fell open, "You can travel faster than the light? This ship truly is a ship of wonder!"

Seven smiled, "Surely you must have something similar?" Juran shook his head, "But then how is it that you are able to travel in this region of space?" Seven asked.

"Subspace drive Commander, we generate a pulse ahead of our ships that opens a tunnel in subspace, we then travel through these tunnels, this has proved to be one of our only defences against the Borg, as much as they try they are unable to recreate the technology or get the assimilated technology to work."

"An ingenious mode of travel, I am sure the Captain would be interested in the specifications of it, as long as we are stuck in this void we are unable to use our warp core, and travelling at impulse is not an option."

Juran laughed, "Newcomers, always so eager to escape, you will learn eventually that it is hopeless, so many come and try and fail."

Seven thought back to Voyager's time in the void, where they were constantly attacked by scavengers and she remembered how all the species in the void told them it was pointless but they succeeded in escaping and she knew Omega would too. "Then we will be the first to succeed."

He shook his head, "No Commander, you will fail as all others have failed. You will find that this place you call the void is a comfortable place to live once you find a way to defend against the Borg. When you have finally given up your escape plans you are welcome to come to Karax 3, we have large areas of land perfect for your people to survive."

"With all due respect Controller that will not be necessary, we will get out of here." Seven nodded as Dawson, Mark and T'Vel joined them both at the warp core, "Controller Juran was just extending a welcome for us to stay on Karax 3."

Dawson stared straight at Juran, "Thank you, but I'm afraid we won't be here long enough to take you up on your offer. I am sure you are eager to return to your ship, Lieutenant Murphy please escort our guest to the transporter room." He smiled at Juran, "Thank you again for your assistance Controller, you have given us a way out of here."

Juran nodded, "I don't believe that for a second Captain, but my best wishes to you, don't waste too much energy attempting to leave here."

Dawson kept a smile on his face until Juran had left engineering, as the doors close his smile sunk, he turned to Seven, "We think we have a way out of here!"

"Is that why you left me with him?" Seven asked, trying not sound too relieved that Controller Juran had gone. Dawson laughed. "So what is it?" She asked.

"The Borg." Dawson found it quite ironic that two words that had struck fear into countless species were now words of hope for Omega.

"The Borg? You think they're going to help us?" Seven asked, part of her not wanting to know the outcome.

"We have looked over the sensor information that the Kraxan's provided us with, we have reason to believe that the Borg know how to leave this region of space." T'Vel replied.

"And you just think the Borg are going to give us that information?" Seven shook her head, "They would destroy us before we even came close to reasoning with them!"

"We're not going to ask them Commander, we're going to steal it." A grin formed on Dawson's face as he finished speaking.

"Steal it? How?" Seven tried not to object to the preposterous idea.

T'Vel and Dawson looked at each other, "We were hoping you could tell us that."

Seven paced around slightly before looking at Dawson, "If you are serious about this then there is only one way to get information from the Borg, a data node."

Dawson smiled, "Then let's get this ship ready, it looks like we're about to steal a data node!"


End file.
