Part 27.
Private Chambers - The Endless Endeavour.
It was going to take days for my ship to slowly make its way through the vastness of space to the space station known as Deep Space Nine, and while the Starfleet types still onboard were no doubt eager to return to their own kind, they were going to have to wait a while longer before they could disembark.
I felt sure that the USS Defiant could cram quite a few people onboard if it wanted to, despite its small size, and I knew it could reach Deep Space Nine in a fraction of the time it would take my lumbering behemoth of a vessel to arrive, but Sisko had only invited Janeway and Ransom over to his ship.
I was certain this had not simply been to show them his pride and joy as the USS Defiant was his creation, if I recall correctly. No, Sisko wanted to debrief them so he could learn as much about my ship and its crew as possible before we arrived at his space station.
His caution was to be expected and commended. Even at the best of times—and this wasn't the best of times around here—having a flying fortress entering your system was something to worry about, and Sisko was no doubt aware of how our presence here could affect an already delicate political situation.
I smiled when I imagined how people at Starfleet Headquarters must be freaking out about the massive unknown starship making its way to one of their most remote outposts. If not for the recent actions of the Romulans and the Cardassians, I was sure that we would already be getting more attention from the locals.
Right now, things were a complete mess in this part of the galaxy. Both the Romulans and Cardassians had just lost a lot of ships and people, weakening both races, and destroying the entrance to the wormhole is going to have some political backlash. If nothing else, the Bajorans are going to loathe the Cardassians even more than before.
This might be good for me and my Maquis allies, as with the Cardassin Union becoming unstable, it was due for a change of leadership around this time if I recall correctly, the Maquis would be working towards setting up their own nation and I imagined the Bajorans would be eager to support anyone willing to hurt the Cardassins.
If Cardassians were able to join the Dominion in this timeline, then setting up a new nation would have been a doomed undertaking, but things were different now. The Maquis might succeed in turning the DMZ into a new faction. If so, then aiding them could pay off in the long run, as I could become an important part of that nation.
Of concern were the Klingons, sure the Founders' plan of starting a war between the Klingon Empire and the Cardassian Union, and then later the Federation would no longer be part of their schemes to take control of the Alpha Quadrant. However, I suspected that the Founders would engineer the war to get revenge on the Cardassians.
I got the feeling I'd be drawn into that conflict, and since it would be very foolish of me to antogise the Klingon Empire and I already had contacts among the Maquis, I suspected that I'd be helping to destroy some Cardassians before too long.
While I was eager to see Deep Space Nine, I wasn't in any rush, as I needed to compile the information I had gathered in the Delta Quadrant into something useful for barter. The Federation loved its scientific research and would pay well for knowledge of such faraway places.
That, along with the promised reward for returning all those Starfleet officers to the Federation, should give me enough money to pay for proper repairs and a resupply. I would need both before turning my attention elsewhere.
Then I would have to find new ways of making money, but I wasn't too worried about that—I was sure there were plenty of opportunities to make some cash here in the Alpha Quadrant. After all, wormhole or not, Bajor was the frontier, and that meant untapped resources and new lands to conquer.
As I sat on my large and very comfortable bed, my data-slate beeped to get my attention. I wondered what treasure it would offer up this time, a new weapon? more psyker powers, or a powerful perk? I badly wanted to find out.
600 CP
+100 CP
= 700 CP
Bank or Roll?
I selected the option for a roll.
What's Done in the Dark
400 CP
Imperium of Man
You will undoubtedly make quite a lot of enemies during your career, so why take the chance of them learning of your goals? You are almost supernatural in your ability to keep your enemies in the dark, ensuring they hardly hear a word of your actions. This also extends to knowledge in general, so that your secrets will remain secret.
Accept/Deny?
Expensive, sure, but also highly useful now that I was operating in a more civilized part of the galaxy, so I was more than willing to pay the price in CP. I could always save my points again until my balance was back up to 600 CP, so I pressed the accept option.
700 CP
-400 CP
= 300 CP
Now I could imagine the briefings going quite differently, as the two Starfleet captains would be hard pressed to give any sort of information to their peers or superiors that I didn't want them to have. Secrets are very common things on Rogue Trader vessels, and I'd kept the Starfleet officers isolated from the rest of the ship when possible.
This new perk was a subtle advantage, but one that could be invaluable, given all the intelligence agencies that were no doubt already in the process of trying to learn more about me and my ship. Such as Section 31, Starfleet Intelligence and others I didn't even know about.
The Obsidian Order and the Tal Shiar had been greatly weakened, but those organisations still existed and could be a pain in my backside if I wasn't careful.
I had a feeling that Starfleet Command and others were already drafting plans on how to deal with me, and I did not doubt that some of them involved potential force or acts of sabotage. This made me glad my ship was so secure.
Still, I wasn't looking for a fight. If I played this smart, I could end up as a very rich man, with many allies, resources and a proper Rogue Trader dynasty, but I would need to be very careful not to anger the wrong people.
Once we arrived at Deep Space Nine, I'd have to deal with a new set of challenges. No just those involving force or spies, there were would be plenty who would try to take advantage of my people and I in an attempt to acquire our technology or our services.
I put down the pad and began to relax as Annika Hansen, who like all my concubines tended to wear very little, or in this case nothing at all, decided that she wanted my attention.
Without saying a single word, she crawled onto the bed, took my dick out of my underwear, I also wasn't wearing much, and she put it all into her mouth with eagerness.
Now my cock was practically being devoured by a horny Annika Hansen as she gave me a long and slow blowjob. The fully naked, and ridiculously sexy woman who in another life would have been Seven of Nine had gotten over her shyness around me and become eager to earn her place at my side.
Perhaps she was worried that now we were in the Alpha Quadrant, I'd set her loose among the humans of this galaxy, and this wouldn't be a good thing for her since she had no allies, no resources and little information about this part of the galaxy.
Not that I cared much about such things at this time, as she was very good with her mouth and I had no intention of giving up one of my concubines.
"Fuck, Annika" I muttered.
Reaching down, I threaded the fingers of my right hand through her soft brown hair. Mirror Universe Annika wasn't blonde for some reason, and I petted her. I often did this to Kes, who always seemed grateful for the attention. But Kes was more like a cute pet were as Annika was acting as an eager slut.
Her moans and the way her fingers moved even faster between her legs were a testament to just how much she had started to enjoy doing this sort of thing with me. Perhaps she was just attracted to powerful men or simply enjoyed her new lifestyle.
"Master, I want you to fuck me" she begged.
While Kes would have been cuter about making that request, and T'Pol could be even more straightforward, Annika was different, she was making an effort to seem like a sex slave rather then a cherished concubine or consort.
I didn't value her only because of her curvy body, even if that wouldn't be apparent right now, as my three concubines were intelligent women who helped me plan and gather information; for now, my attention was on her sexy body.
An idea came to mind, and I made Annika get out of bed, go over to the wall, bend deep at the waist, while keeping her hands pressed flat against the wall in front of her. Figuring out what I wanted quickly, she made sure to stick her butt out far as she offered her holes for my use.
I pushed her legs further apart to gain better access to her dripping-wet cunt. My cock, still slick with her spit, easily slipped inside her, once we got the angle right, and Annika moaned in pleasure as I slapped her ass a few times before I started to fuck her for my pleasure.
Grabbing her roughly by the hips, I thrust into her in a rather haphazard and uncaring way, unconcerned about her pleasure. Lucky for her, she liked it rough, and she had become eager to please recently, and happier to be with me.
Her mouth let out some very interesting little noises that might have been cries of pain or joy, or both, it was hard to tell given that my focus was on fucking her. I tried not to simply use her, but her cunt felt so good.
Pumping into her at a quick pace, my hands roamed all over her sexy body as if acting on their own. They were frequently spanking her ass or reaching up to squeeze her large, perky tits. I twisted her nipples just enough to make her cry out in pain in a way that I couldn't have mistaken it, yet she did not attempt to stop me even verbally.
Once I got control over my hands I ended up gripping her hips tight, I fucked her hard, each thrust driving her forward, her massive tits bouncing with every motion. Annika's moans had become words that I doubted she even realized she was saying.
"Yes, sir! Fuck me! Use me! Please!" she begged, "Master!".
I loved the feeling of her pussy clamping down around me, her inner walls spasming in response to my relentless pace as I let loose my baby batter inside her. She screamed when I did this and moved her hips as if she was trying to milk every last drop of cum out of me.
Once I was done making my deposit, I went and sat down on the bed as Annika stumbled out of the room. I suspected she was going to soak in the bath that was part of my private chambers. That she was able to walk that far impressed me given the pounding I'd given her pussy.
I decided to lie down and take a nap before going back to planning about how to best profit from this area of space.
Part 28.
Sisko's Office - Deep Space Nine
For Captain Benjamin Sisko, recent events had been more stressful than ever before—and this posting had never been an easy one. From the start, he had been placed in the difficult position of overseeing Bajor's restoration, with the ultimate goal of bringing the world into the Federation when it was ready.
In some ways, the discovery of the wormhole had made that job easier, but in others, it had made it much harder, as suddenly this remote little outpost that he had been brought in to manage for Starfleet had a lot of eyes on it.
The existence of a stable wormhole leading into the Gamma Quadrant had put Bajor on the map, and if its discovery had come just weeks earlier, it would have been a total disaster for Bajor. The Cardassians would never have withdrawn if they knew about the Wormhole.
Instead of a temporary posting at the edge of Federation space, the then-Commander Sisko had found himself in charge of a new frontier and a vibrant trading post. The Bajor system had become a hub of commerce, benefiting greatly from the discovery of the Wormhole, even if many Bajorans didn't always see it that way.
Despite the challenges of being the Emissary to the Prophets—a role he had never been comfortable with, as it cast him as a spiritual leader a role he was not prepared for—things had been relatively stable for a time since the Bajoran group known as The Circle had been exposed as working with the Cardassains and Starfleet had been officially welcome back to Deep Space Nine.
Even with the ongoing tensions with the Cardassians and the destabilization of the DMZ, Sisko found some stability here on the space station. It became a home not just for him but for his son and many other people. Perhaps he could have built a peaceful life for himself here if things had worked out differently.
Then he had learned about the Dominion. The realization that this rumoured distant superpower, which was capable of using the wormhole just as easily as anyone else, was not so distant after all—and did not appear to be friendly—had changed everything.
Not that this seemed to be an immediate problem, considering that the Cardassians and Romulans might have just saved the Alpha Quadrant in a twisted sort of way by destabilising the entrance to the Wormhole here in the Alpha Quadrant.
But what of the Bajorans? Who could blame them for their outrage? Their sacred gateway to the Prophets had been destroyed, and no one could say what that meant for their gods. Could the Prophets be harmed by attacking their home?
Would the Wormhole aliens, as some called them, be able to repair the wormhole, after all they had created it? Or would they cut off contact with what they saw as aggressive beings? That had been a concern when he had first made contact with them.
If the Bajorans had the means, they might have declared a jihad on the Cardassian Union already. As if the Occupation hadn't been bad enough, the Cardassians had now used a weapon of mass destruction against the Bajoran deities.
There wasn't much Sisko could do about the wormhole or to calm the Bajorans. Nor did he know how to handle the lack of attention that the collapse of the wormhole would inevitably draw as interest in this part of space began to lessen. A development that was sure to bring more problems to the already troubled world.
Sisko exhaled heavily and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temples. The weight of command was never easy, but now it had gotten even worse, and he'd barely given any thought to the massive starship that had more than twenty thousand people on board, that was currently docked with the station.
It came to something when having a huge warship in the system was so far down on your list of problems that you didn't give it much thought.
A chime got his attention. Someone was at the door and they wanted to speak with him. Maybe it was even worse news or something that would at least distract him from his troubles for a short time.
"Come in," Sisko said, straightening in his chair.
The door slid open to reveal Major Kira. Her expression was grim, but that wasn't unusual these days or at all for her. The Bajorans as a species hadn't much to smile about for more than half a century.
She stepped inside, hands clasped behind her back, as she didn't trust her hands to remain still. Knowing Kira as he it wasn't hard to imagine she was resisting the urge to punch someone.
"Sir, we've just received a report from Bajor. There have been... protests at the Vedek Assembly," she said, her voice tight. "Some of the more radical factions are calling for direct action against the Cardassians. They see this as an act of war, and they're not interested in diplomacy. If we had a real fleet, I think my people with have filled with every warrior we could find and gone on a holy crusade".
Sisko sighed. He had expected this. The Bajorans had every reason to be furious, and no amount of speeches about patience and caution would change that. Although he should try to calm things down.
Worse than that, the Federation and Starfleet had sworn that this system was under their protection. Now the Cardassians had attacked the Bajorans in a way that had hurt them nearly as much as the Occupation must have.
"What about the provisional government?" he asked.
Hopefully they had cooler heads. Although Sisko didn't hold out much hope of that, given their track record.
"They're trying to keep things under control, but there's only so much they can do. The Vedeks are divided, and so is the civilian government," she shared "Some believe the Prophets allowed this to happen for a reason. Others…"
Kira hesitated for a moment before carrying on.
"Others think we failed them and we will be punished, or this is our punishment. A few people I've spoken to want to know why the Emissary let this happen," she then said.
That last part hit harder than it should have. Sisko wasn't Bajoran, wasn't raised in their faith, yet the role of Emissary had become part of his identity. He had never asked for it. He sure as hell had never wanted it. But now, with the wormhole gone, he felt an unsettling emptiness, as if a part of himself had been severed along with it.
And Emissary or not, the protection of this system was his responsibility. No one in Starfleet was blaming him, and no one on the station did either, but the Bajorans wanted someone to blame, and so Sisko would get his share of it.
"From what we can tell, the Vedaks were debating whether to formally condemn the Federation for failing to protect the Wormhole," reported Kira, "But the protests meant it never went anywhere, and would it matter even if they did? It would be a meaningless gesture".
Sisko exhaled sharply. He felt like he'd just dodged a phaser blast; the last thing he needed was to lose the support of the Bajoran priesthood.
"That's not unexpected," he remarked.
If anything, things could be going even worse. At least the station was secure and Bajor had not been harmed.
"There's talk of Bajor closing its borders to Federation personnel—maybe even expelling Starfleet from Deep Space Nine", said Kira "But I doubt it will go anywhere. I've spoken out against it due to the renewed Cardassian interest in this system and the Romulan involvement. Starfleet is by far the better option if the alternative is the Star Empire or the Union having a presence here".
Even the Bajoran leaders who didn't trust the Federation knew that there were worse alternatives. Organisations that would take control of Deep Space Nine incase the Wormhole ever reopened, and at best they would ignore Bajor, at worst they might try to conquer the planet even if that hadn't worked out well for the Cardassians.
"The Federation Council won't want Bajor to escalate things," Sisko mused. "And Starfleet will try to keep this from becoming a larger conflict. But if Bajor decides to act independently…"
Kira understood without the captain needing to say more.
"Then Starfleet won't stop them either," she reasoned. "Not that we have the means, but I suspect the Maquis will be getting a lot more support from Bajor—maybe even openly, despite what the Federation Council might have to say".
As a Starfleet officer, his duty was to avoid war whenever possible. But how could he tell the Bajorans to sit quietly and accept this? How could he tell people who had suffered under Cardassian rule that they should turn the other cheek?
"Major," he said finally, "I think a speech asking for calm from the Emissary might cool things down a little. I won't ask anyone to forgive or forget—just not to act rashly".
Kira simply nodded in agreement. It wasn't as if the Bajorans could do much more than riot and threaten to withdraw into themselves. In reality, they had to remain a protectorate of the Federation because anything else would be worse.
Even with the Wormhole gone, they would be vulnerable—easy prey for aggressive species. This was not a stable part of the galaxy. The Cardassian Union was still close by and might want to secure the Wormhole in case it ever did reopen.
"We do have some issues closer to home, Captain," Kira informed him. "Starfleet is sending a ship to pick up the officers brought back by the Imperials and what they salvaged from ships before leaving the Delta Quadrant. Until then, they've been given quarters on the station".
At least that was being taken care of. Starfleet was eager to debrief the officers in person, not just because of what they had seen while in the Delta Quadrant, but because they had spent quite some time with the Imperials, who must be another headache for the admirals at Starfleet Command.
That ship, currently docked with the station, was worrying, to say the least. It held more than twenty thousand people. DS9 could handle up to seven thousand people crammed inside before the life support systems and infrastructure would be overwhelmed.
So that warship out there—the one they claimed was a frigate, a mere frigate, held more people than a starbase. What kind of industrial capacity did these Imperials have? And what kind of enemies did they need to fight to justify having such massive and powerful vessels?
"The Imperials have agreed to limit the number of their people taking shore leave on the station," Kira mentioned. "I spoke with Captain Thrax's Seneschal, who seems to handle logistical matters. There was some concern about them carrying weapons. Odo doesn't like it, but the Imperials did agree to only carry melee weapons while on the station".
That was a similar arrangement to what they had with the Klingons, who were allowed to visit the station.
The Imperials had been cooperative—so far. Their decision to limit shore leave and restrict themselves to melee weapons showed a certain willingness to follow station protocols, but it also spoke volumes about their culture. These were warriors, accustomed to carrying weapons at all times. He would keep that in mind.
"Did Odo voice any other concerns?" Sisko asked.
Kira exhaled, folding her arms.
"Besides the fact that he doesn't trust them? He doesn't like how disciplined they are. He says it's not the usual military discipline he sees from Starfleet or even the Cardassians. He calls it… fanatical," informed Kira.
Sisko didn't respond immediately. That kind of unwavering discipline could make them an ally formidable—or a potential enemy terrifying. The Klingons could be fanatical, as well as they were also good allies to have at least most of the time.
"Let's tighten security and maybe see about hiring a few more deputies", decided Sisko.
Hopefully, the Imperials would move on before too long, but since they weren't causing trouble and they weren't expecting many more ships to dock at the station for a while, there was no sense turning the Imperials away, and there were plenty of other matters that were more important, at least in this star system.
Most likely, a proper first contact team would be sent to meet with the Imperials, and Sisko would handle that matter when they arrived. Until then, he had a speech to write and Bajoran leaders who were going to need some soothing, so he might as well get to work.