Star Trek: Athena
Stream of Angels
by Chris Robato
(crobato@kuentos.guam.net)

Star Trek Athena The Secret Fleet (Episode One)
Garret was introduced to the USS Athena, and with it, the Athena GH1 herself, all to his great surprise. A series of combat trials to test the Athena's combat capabilities turned into a real test when the Romulan Tal Shi'ar decided to crash the party. In an unexpected meeting, Garret would discover the real and sinister purpose of why Athena was created.

Star Trek Athena The Gate (Episode 2)
A secret reconnaissance mission reveals a Borg colony with a massive Transwarp Gate the key to a massive Borg invasion from the Delta Quadrant. It is urgent that the Gate should be destroyed as soon as possible, but the Section has other plans.

Star Trek Athena Prophecy (Episode 3)
The Borg hatches the supreme plan of assimilation, and a mysterious ship from the future returns to stop it.

Notes:
Star Trek is registered trademark of Paramount Pictures.
Loosely inspired from the PC game, Star Trek: Armada, published by Activision.

Voyager's return a few years ago brought a treasure load of new technologies to Starfleet. However, the implications of temporal contamination of some of these technologies caused Starfleet to evaluate and study these technologies in secret, raising a moral issue regarding their deployment or adoption to the rest of Starfleet. In any case it was thought better to have some of these technologies tested in the secrecy and isolation of Section units first.

Athena fiddled her new mobile emitter. She beamed and grinned every time she touched the device, a key that enabled her to spread her wings beyond the confines of her own ship. The ship was her own self, like her own body, but she could not help herself feel that she was trapped with it as well. The ship limited her range, and while it defined her purpose, it also restricted her rang. She wanted to be free. While battles were always exciting and she would not deny her duty, she had always wished there was more to life than being just a deep space tactical combat warship. By most Federation starships were multipurpose explorers capable of undertaking military tasks; dedicated warships like herself, Steamrunners, Norways, Akiras and Defiants were a significant minority but a minority nonetheless. Of all the ships she could have turned into, why of all, a dedicated warship. Could she have been an explorer instead? Could she be free to undertake those legendary five year missions, discover new races and civilizations and go boldly where no man and woman and hologram even gone before?

Among the authorized shipyards, Tacitcus will build, test and deploy the new Delta Flyer class shuttles at the request of Admiral Paris in honor of his famous son, who returned from the Delta Quadrant aboard Voyager with a custom shuttle design. Whether it can replace the Venture class scout shuttles was another question. Depending on how the Starfleet wide test evaluation goes, the Delta Flyer class shuttles could be commissioned as a new shuttle class for the Starfleet, adding to a list of already redundant shuttle designs used by the Federation including the Type 9 and 11 shuttles. But the sleek Delta Flyers were not only fast and beautiful to handle, but they had great range for exploring. Their large capacity could hold a small squad of marines or an team of scientists depending on the occasion so there was a real benefit of its design in both exploration and military use. In times of trouble, their speed and agility, when supported with a good weapon package, the Delta Flyers could serve well as auxiliary fighters.

She had never been this far from her home ship, and it was exciting, thrilling even. Compared to her ship, the USS Athena, a Delta Flyer had far less mass, giving it a knife precision quick feel of handling she does not get her big overpowered ship. She flicked the ship, then gave it a roll, and then put it on a high G turn. She seemed convinced about the ship every passing minute and second. The best part about this seems to be the fact she's on another ship other than her own, and in control of it.

Garret's voice came through the comlink. "I hope you're enjoying this, Athena, because your joyride time is nearly over. The Admiral wants to talk something with you."

"Right O, Captain. Tell him he's got a nice ship here. Coming in, Athena out." She swung the ship over towards the shipyard. She saw her own home ship parked in the distance, and it was an odd feeling to see herself from this point of view. She felt some self admiration for herself her own ship was beautiful in a highly predatory way, like a shark evoking its beauty in how its form fit its purpose, which was to prey.

The Flyer entered the shuttle bay on the shipyard. She gently landed the Flyer, then came out to greet Garret.

"You handled yourself well on that ship," Garret said.

"You can pass to the Admiral that the Flyer is a fine ship," Athena said. "We should build more of them to supplement the shuttle fleet."

"You can tell him yourself when you meet him." Garret said.

"Again?" Athena asked.

"Something has come up," Garret said. "I wonder what."

They met Hurst in his office. "Sorry to call you in again so soon, but I needed to confirm the project first before telling it to you. In any case, how did test flying our own Delta Flyer go?"

"She's quite nice, Admiral," Athena said. "You should build more of them, in my frank opinion."

"I will take account your glowing report, Athena," Hurst said. "But in any case something new has come up. Consider it part of the package that brought you this mobile emitter. When Voyager returned to Earth, she brought a treasure load of technologies with her. Some of those technologies were questionable violations of the Temporal Directive, such as the Transphasic torpedoes, and must be quarantined from further use until their appropriate time is reached. This has caused some delay in the study and deployment of these technologies, until it is deemed proper to experiment or deploy them. Some of these technologies were brought to Section for evaluation, such as the mobile emitter you have on, Athena. But we doubt we'll be using mobile emitters widely, until we can fully evaluate its consequences with our EMH population. Other than the one the former Voyager EMH has, yours is the only other copy, given that you Athena, is a very special case."

"Secrecy is the Section's main asset. It allows us to comfortably test and evaluate technologies that may have a questionable impact on the outside universe if it was known. Within the Section, we can study these technologies without worrying about its social consequences to the rest of the Galaxy," Hurst said.

He pointed to a view screen in his room, which just lit up, showing a Miranda IV class tug towing what seemed to be a small ship.

"During her travels in the Delta Quadrant, Voyager encountered what originally seemed to be a Federation ship, the USS Dauntless. The ship turned out to be a phony, but what isn't a phony was the quantum slipstream drive the ship has. Voyager copied the technology, then used it for a short ride, before it was deemed unstable for sustained long term use. She didn't have the technological resources to perfect the technology, but we do. Voyager has now given us this technology and it is our task to take it further. Our goal is to go beyond what our warp engines could do," Hurst said.

"But don't we have the Transwarp Gate?" Garret asked.

"The Gate creates a transwarp conduit between two gates, which is also in effect, a wormhole conduit. The Gate allows vessels without transwarp engines to move through this conduit. But it requires both a transmitter and a receiving gate." Hurst said. "In other words, it means vessels can only move between these two gates, but not anywhere else. Travel is only localized near and around the Gates. The equivalent of it is a city subway. You can only move within set points or stations."

"Transwarp and slipstream are two technologies with a similar principle they create a subspace tunnel or conduit where normal space time does not apply." Hurst explained. "If the technology is moved into the ship itself, the ship can create this conduit at will, at any point in space and arrive to any point in space. It is total freedom and the key to total exploration of the Galaxy itself."

"Now we are close to making our own real slipstream Dauntless, or really, just half of it," Hurst said. "That ship the Miranda tug is towing about is really a vector ship, one half of a complete ship, a module. The other half of the module is you, Athena."

"Me?" Athena asked.

"Yes, you. You will disengage your engineering hull, and then combine your main hull to the vector ship, which will act as a new engineering hull. This hull contains two warp nacelles with slipstream coils, a new navigational deflector and a slipstream field initiator. Other than that it looks like your standard hull and fits like one. Your modular design makes such experimentation perfect. Your hull geometry and structural strength are the best thing we got that can withstand best the structural stresses caused by quantum slipstream travel," Hurst said.

"Although the crew of Voyager did not suffer any ill effects from their short use of the slipstream drive, there is insufficient data to render a conclusive observation about its effects on human health. Thus, Athena, you will be alone in their test journey. You will not have any human occupant. The only thing biological you will carry are human, animal and plant cell samples. We will also monitor the condition of your gel packs, although we do not expect any damage on such, given the experience from Voyager."

"This is not a military mission, but as technology test mission, it bears its own set of risks. Are you up to it Athena?" Hurst asked. "You have been asking if you can undertake anything other than a military type mission, am I right?"

"If there is any risk to Athena, then I should go. She's my ship," Garret said.

"It does not hold as much risk to Athena as it does to humans," Hurst said. "Are you up to it, Athena?"

'I'm ready for anything and for any change," Athena said.

"Before I won't trust you to go alone on any mission without human occupants and countermeasures," Hurst said. "Now I feel confident that you can undertake missions on your own. Captain Garret and I will still monitor you from a chase ship. You will have access to cameras from the chase ships, so you could see yourself from the outside."

"I want to prove that I can do things alone if I have to," Athena said.

"Very well," Hurst said. "This is a picture of your new slipstream vector hull."

It was unlike her vector hull. Two huge nacelles joined in the main hull, slightly slung downwards. Each pylons were much thicker and heavily reinforced. There were gill like slits across the nacelles for the slipstream coils. Instead of a round red deflector, there was a blue grilled one, streamlined to face the stresses of the slipstream.

"It does not have any weapons so you have your firepower cut in half. In case you have to run into trouble, you only have the armaments in your main hull, but we do not expect that you will get into such problems like armed conflict," Hurst said. "But in case if you do, your primary hull recently seen a minor upgrade to Type XII phasers."

"And here is the course," Hurst said. The path appeared to take all the way to the edge of the Alpha- Gamma quadrant border, then back, a course that would take several weeks to accomplish using ordinary warp speeds. But here, it's expected to be done in an hour.

'Not a problem," Athena said.

"Don't say that. It's bad luck," Garret said.

* * *

Athena sat alone in the Captain's throne. Every biological soul had moved out of the ship. It all seemed strangely quiet except for the flicker of the displays in the consoles. The beige warm bridge was big and spacious for a sing person. She moved up to the helm console instead.

Two chase ships have settled into position. Garret and Hurst moved to the Aegis class Intrepid variant USS Kiev which will act as the first chase ship. The Spearhead class Nova variant USS Magellan will be the second. A Miranda IV class tug tractored the slipstream hull to its position.

"Disengaging engineering hull," she announced. The chase ships could clearly hear her words. The engineering hull dropped off from the main section. The main hull moved slowly over the slipstream hull then locked into position.

"I am now engaging the slipstream hull," she announced. The main hull slowly lowered itself over the new engineering hull. There was a solid thud where contact was made and clamps activated.

"How does it feel, Athena?" Garret asked across the comlink.

"Like tight pants, new, very fit, very tight, makes you a bit conscious," Athena said.

"Funny, when did you ever wear tight pants?" Garret asked.

"Never, just imagining it how it would be," Athena answered.

"Athena, the biological samples are already in the engineering hull," Hurst said through the comlink. "When you're ready, prepare to go up slowly."

"Aye, aye, Admiral," she answered.

She accessed the chase ship cameras to check on her external view. Hmm not bad. Nice figure, nice butt.

"Powering up impulse engines, I'm going to begin my run soon now," she said. There was the note of a slowly ascending hum from busy impulse engines each at the rear side of her main hull. Unlike other ships, the Prometheus class gives off a white light off from its impulse engine outlet and the white glow was visible from the chase cameras.

The note of the impulse engine hum was higher now. "Beginning warp, engage!" she announced. The Athena streaked into the stars. Less than a second later, the chase ships engaged warp in formation after her.

"Warp 5...6...7..." She said. There was a momentary vibration in the hull, but it was quickly over. No harm done. Diagnostics were telling her there was nothing wrong. She should take a note of it if there was something wrong with the stress harmonics of the secondary hull structure.

"8...9..9.2...9.3...9.4...9.5..." Athena said.

"You got pretty fast acceleration there," Garret said. The Kiev and the Magellan were struggling to keep up.

"The engines are pretty smooth and strong. I detected some vibration there a while ago, but it does not seem serious....I 'm going faster now..." Athena reported.

"9.6...9.7...9.8....9.9...9.91...9.92...9.93..." Athena watched her cameras as the Magellan began to show a bit stress and started to fall behind. The Kiev was barely keeping up.

"...9.94...9.95...9.96...9.97..." At this point, the Kiev began to fall behind. There was again a small vibration but it disappeared. For a hull prototype, this must be going very well, with no problems so far, Athena thought. She better slow down a bit to let the chase ships catch up.

"I am going to engage slipstream drive...better be ready guys...I will either rock or be toast..." Athena announced.

"Ready, get set, engaging slipstream...whopee!" She shouted.

The blue slipstream generators below her hull began to hum. A side screen began to show in skeletal diagram form, a slipstream bubble beginning to form around the ship. When a desired value was reached, the slipstream coils took over with a new hum of their own. Beyond the bubble, a tunnel began to form through the space time continuum, its representation in a skeletal frame rotating in the side screen.

Then suddenly all manner of normal time and stellar cartography disappeared.

Things began to fly past in a glass smooth manner. Nebulas and stars whizzed by, hundreds of them in mere seconds, like the ship plunging into an endless tunnel of infinite speed. The chase ships were all gone. A tunnel of bluish and greenish had consumed her. Star systems and nebulas whizzed by in mere seconds.

"I have entered slipstream space, now," she said to her log. "There are stresses against the hull, but the ship is maintaining structural integrity."

This surreal plane of existence. Is this Heaven?

Time and space has no meaning; the Athena hurtling across the conduit with no resistance, no turbulence, just an eerie non stop smoothness.

But even in heaven, there was trouble. In the angry swirl of bluish and greenish clouds, lightning flashed. What, electromagnetic arcs in this ethereal realm? It could be manifestations of energy forces that needs further analysis to be understood. A storm raged ahead. The Athena buckled, her smooth cruise jarred with unexpected strong ripples and waves. If there was trouble, she better enter it into her log. "Athena's Log...."

"It has been smooth sailing so far but I have encountered unexplained turbulence in the slipstream region. Cause unknown. I am putting scans now..."

"This is very hard to believe, but scans detected ships ahead in the slipstream. I am not aware of any other race that may have slipstream or transwarp technology. Scans indicate that the ships are not Borg. Wait....scans indicate massive energy discharges. I could swear they're engaged in combat but in the slipstream plane? Going into red alert, diverting some energy to shields."

She couldn't concentrate on the log anymore. The turbulence rocked the ship with increasing violence. This may have a unforeseen consequences effects against the slipstream conduit and the bubble created by the ship.

The source of the turbulence loomed closer, and then the source fell into visual range. It was definitely an alien ship, brown, bug like and gritty, something she could not identify. It was huge, by some other warlike alien standards, a battleship or a dreadnaught. It's main hull was a massive arrowhead, much like her own ship or the Dauntless, its back curved to give it a giant roach like look. Warp nacelles with slipstream coils protruded underneath it like legs of a giant beast. Scans showed that the ship's slipstream conduit had been compromised, and the only thing holding it together was the field bubble around it.

Something fired at it. Ships that were even much larger, all with triangular, spearhead or arrowhead hulls, with nacelles or engines protruding from the back or below. The combination of the unusual geometry and the short tentacle like engines gave the ships the appearance of titanic calamari. They would look funny in another situation, but not in a slipstream shooting each other with unheard of weapons and totally unknown technologies.

She checked the designs across her databases in an attempt to identify the alien species involved. None. Nothing in the Federation, anywhere in the Alpha Quadrant, or Beta Quadrant. Expeditions to the Gamma Quadrant revealed a number of space faring species, but none of them fit the description either. There was no identification not even from the aliens known in the Delta Quadrant. The only thing she could gather was that these ships were designed for slipstream travel. Regardless of culture or species, designs should arrive to the same common principles that were most suited for slipstream flight, just like dolphins and sharks arrived to the same body design despite their biologies.

When the beams hit, they light up the bubble around the ships, but it was hard to tell if the shields extend with the same radius as the slipstream fields. Then the Athena shuddered even more violently. This time it wasn't from the shockwaves of the strange battle in the ethereal slipstream. The beam hit her directly. Then another, and another.

The Athena tumbled out of her main direction, the field bubble around her deteriorating, the conduit collapsing. "I've been hit, I've been hit. Hostile forces remain unidentified and do not correlate with any known species. Trying to regain control of the ship, but the fields are collapsing....I am not sure if I will make it." This was one of the moments she feared for life, a moment that she may face death. It was never easy but in the flash of her mind, she had no regret from dying in attempting the bold and the unknown. She shrieked when a beam hit her harder, taking her shields offline and sending the Athena into an uncontrollable spin.

* * *

She woke up in the face of what seemed to be a nurse. The nurse appeared humanoid with almost no forehead artifact except for a triangular implant on their forehead. She was tending her, and as much as she tended all the other wounded. Athena looked around, and found that she herself was among the many wounded, lying in a coot.

"You seem okay now," the nurse said. "You seem not from here. You have abnormal readings, as if you are not really made of flesh."

"That's because I am a hologram, a composite made of force fields," Athena answered. "Who are you? What are you? Where am I?" "I do not understand what kind of being you are," the nurse said. "But I have called one of our scientists who may understand you better."

A man came, wearing a costume of adobe color, whose robes stretched down to his feet. Even though this seemed to be a new culture Athena never heard of, the stature of the man, his presence and his clothes, suggest his great importance. On his forehead, he had the same triangular implant as the nurse.

He sat down next to her. "I am Doctor Tharuk of the Sakpah, founding species of the Sakpah Hegemony. You seem to be a unique individual, or I should say a unique species. You seem to be composed entirely of fields and energy, and yet so carefully modulated to appear like a real person. Fascinating. We, the Sakpah, are generally proud of our technological achievements, but we have nothing of your equivalent." He held his scanner up to her. "You also seem to be an artificial intelligence, and yet you react, think and move like a real person. What manner of species are you? Are what species built you?"

"Have you ever head of the Federation? Earth? Mankind? Homo Sapiens?" Athena asked. "I am Athena, General Hologram Interface of the Federation starship, the USS Athena, NX59700. I request that I must contact my superiors at the Federation at once. What happened to me? What was that battle and who or what was firing?"

"Take it easy, Miss Athena," Tharuk said. "You are in a very confused state. I do not have any recollection of any alien race or nation called the Federation, or an alien species that calls itself Homo Sapiens."

"We, Mankind, are very much like you except for that thing in your forehead," Athena explained. "But what do you mean you do not know or heard anything about the Federation or mankind? What just happened to me? Those ships I saw..."

"You were caught in the crossfire in our war against the Gorkhan. You fell out of the slipstream. Our warships came and tractored you and your ship out. When we recovered your ship, we did not find anyone except you. It is strange that one large ship has only one occupant," Tharuk said.

"Where is my ship?" Athena asked.

"We parked the ship outside with the rest of our ships. A holding beam keeps the ship suspended as we are unaware of any landing gear in the ship." Tharuk said.

"Your race, the Sakpah, and your enemies the Gorkhans," Athena said. "You obviously are already space faring races, and if you already have slipstream technology, you both seem to be pretty way ahead of us. Obviously the Prime Directive no longer applies to you, yet we the Federation have neither heard of the Sakpah or the Gorkans. We though we already have cataloged the major or significant space faring species in the Alpha and Beta Quadrant."

"Alpha? Beta Quadrant? I don't understand what you mean, Athena," Tharuk said. "We are a space faring species in alliance with dozens of other space faring species. We claim nearly half of the Galaxy as our territory, and yet we never heard of this Federation you speak about."

"The Federation nearly takes up a full quarter fo the Galaxy, I'm sure you should have heard of us," Athena said. "What about the Klingon Empire, the Romulan Empire, the Cardassian Union, the Ferengi Alliance, the Dominion, the Borg Collective... Have you heard of them too? Or do they draw blanks from you?"

Tharuk nodded negatively. "I never heard of these aliens and races you speak off. The Shakpah Hegemony and its allies, with our slipstream technology has already encompassed half of the Galaxy, as I said, making us one of the two most powerful empires. The other is of course the Gorkhans of the Gorkhan Unity, who rule the other half. We are in the middle of a total war for complete dominance. Only one empire shall remain, only one empire shall rule."

"You are definitely not Gorkhan," Tharuk said. "Even though you have slipstream technology, elements of your ship seem primitive in design, and yet in other areas, seemingly quite advanced, such as your bioneural circuitry and your hologram entity. And yet we truly never heard of your Federation, even though we have analyzed your ship and there is continuous reference to this political entity. You are made of energy and fields, and yet you have the same shape and form as us. I even have to say that even to my eyes you are truly beautiful even if your uniform is very foreign to us. You are truly a mystery to us, Athena."

"I appreciate the complement, but two empires that nearly cover the entire galaxy?" Athena said. "But that's impossible. Do you have some stellar cartography databases I can examine? I can show you where the Federation is, where Earth is. I can also find out where am I. Please."

"All right, you can come with me," Tharuk said.

She stood up from her coot and followed him. She found out that she had been inside some barracks all along, converted to a field hospital. When she came out, the great sight of an army came upon her. In the landscape that stretches across to the horizon were rows and rows of parked ships. Many appear to be fighters, around the size of a large shuttle, but a small cockpit. Others were the size of Federation escort vessels. Some had landing gear, others were suspended using holding beams.

"This is part of the great Imperial fleet of the Hegemony. We are building up in defense of this sector," Tharuk said. "There is your ship." He pointed.

Invisible fields hung the USS Athena motionless in the air like a prized display item in the desk of a giant collector.

"I have to confess we are fascinated with your ship. While it shares the same basic outline for a slipstream vessel, its basic architecture is not like something we have seen before. We can see that your ship is well armed, and must serve as a cruiser in the service of this Federation you speak of."

"I can open up the ship's landing gear if you can help me settle her with your holding fields," Athena said. She stared at the ship, and at the bottom of the lower hull, the landing skids came out and straightened into position. "You can land her now," Athena said.

"That is incredible. You did it like it was part of your mind," Tharuk said. "How exactly do you do it without a control device?"

"I am integrated with the ship there," Athena said. "The form you see is merely an interface to what lies inside that ship. I am that ship, the mind you are talking to now, is actually the ship's main computer."

"Fascinating, a sentient ship," Tharuk said. "Before our scientists have concieved of such an idea in theory, to design automated living ships that will take the war to the enemy without the loss and casualty of crew life. But it was only a theory, never have I thought it would be possible. Your Federation must be a great power if it were to have an armada of ships like you."

"Well, that was what our organization originally had in mind, but I scared them out of it," Athena said. "The idea wasn't as perfect as you think it might be, for a whole lot of complex reasons. Let's just say the implementation differs from the theory."

"Hmm, you have some points there. As a scientist, I understand this fully. Things in theory does not always work out the same or the best in reality," Tharuk said. He took a device that appears to be his comlink and shouted some orders to it. The holding beams settled the USS Athena gently to the ground, letting the ship rest on its landing skids to the ground. "For a ship of that size to rest on the earth, it must have a very strong structure."

"Indeed I have," Athena said.

She followed Tharuk to a domed building. "This is the nearest thing we have for an astrometrics and cartographic laboratory," Tharuk said. "I hope this would suffice your purpose, and help us locate this Federation you speak off." The star maps projected in the air and the ceiling in a 3D hologram.

Athena stared in amazement at the sheer beauty of the star maps. It was as if an entire galaxy was duplicated in miniature right in front of her. But as she stared longer, her amazement turned into a frustrated scowl. There was nothing in the star map, in this Galaxy that she could recognize. It didn't even seem to be in the right Galaxy, the Galaxy she knew.

Panic overwhelmed her. She was never lost before, never so completely lost. There was a universe she had left behind, people that seemed to be comrades, friends and maybe even a family in spirit. This was totally unknown, a new universe. Where is she? Will it matter now?

"No!" She shouted. "This can't be..." She panicked. She ran out of the dome and then stopped, crouched and knelt on the desert floor that seemed to be mud once, and had dried for eons to form a solid rock hard surface. "This can't be..." It wasn't too long ago she was with friends, and now they were all gone. All gone the thought struck the insides of her mind like a tornado's fury. Alone.

Then she did something she never thought she could do, something she thought she was never programmed to do, something she thought she always had the strength to resist doing. She cried against the barren surface.

Athena sat on a boulder, watching a strange sun set on a strange world. Ahead of her were neatly laid rows of ships of all sizes stretching endlessly to the horizon, an armada about to depart and met its enemy. She was stranded, alone, placed between a galactic war she doesn't know about.

"Are you going to sit there, moping?" Tharuk asked.

"What can I do? I don't know what to do, where to go," Athena replied.

"Maybe what you need is a side to belong to, a cause to believe in," Tharuk said. "Let me introduce you to our General. He is eager to meet you."

"All right. Better to do something," Athena replied.

The makeshift base rose like white mushrooms in the barren, reddish desert. A host of advisers and secondary commanders surrounded the General as they discussed the final preparations for their assault or defense. But even in the depths of discussion, the General became aware of the strange but beautiful girl that entered. The chatter became silence as everyone turned to her.

"This girl is the pilot of the unknown ship we rescued," Tharuk introduced her to the General and the commanding staff. "Her name is Athena, and her ship's name bears her name as well, the USS Athena of the so called United Federation of Planets."

He turned to Athena. "This is the great General Thatmak, leader of the Hegemony forces in the sector against the Gorkhan Unity." He motioned her to bow, and she bowed.

The hushing and the disturbed voices told Tharuk there existed objections to her presence in the briefing room. "She is not a spy or with the enemy," Tharuk defended her from the accusations. Her ship architecture and technology are not anything like the Gorkhan. Her ship had advanced bioneural circuitry, but she is just in the beginnings of slipstream technology, quite primitive in fact, to the standard Gorkhan Unity ship or even Hegemony ship. She must truly come from a new alien race that we have not documented or encountered yet."

Thatmak walked up right to Athena, towering over her. He raised her face by lifting her chin, then caressed her cheeks and pushed her hair aside. "The reports say you're a photonic being, and yet it feels like you have flesh. You are indeed beautiful. Do you belong to a noble house among your people? Are you an honored priestess?"

"Not any of those actually," Athena replied.

"This being Athena is actually part of the ship, Athena," Tharuk replied. "Our scans show that the ship Athena's neural networks function like a living brain, and it demonstrates patterns of thinking similar to a living person. In fact, its activity correlates with her reactions and actions." "Most fascinating," Thatmak said. "Truly a masterful implementation of photonic and neural technology. And this is from this United Federation of Planets? Your Federation must be a competent technological power. How big do you say it was?"

"About more than a hundred fifty capital worlds at the last count, not including their satellite systems and subordinate planets. We have nearly an entire galactic quadrant, under Federation control, alliance, influence and protectorate," Athena explained.

"A civilization as big as what you described should have been known to the Shakpah Hegemony long ago, yet we know nothing. The Hegemony nearly rules half the galaxy. Yet we hear nothing of this Federation," Thatmak said. "I am inclined to think that this Federation must be a figment of the imagination, but you and your ship are proof that something did exist to create you and your ship. I feel that I must speculate that with the Slipstream, everything is possible. Slipstream space can open new dimensions, even conduits to another galaxy, or even to another time. Who knows, Athena, if your Federation existed on another galaxy, time, or even on a different dimension from ours?"

"All I want is to go home," Athena somberly said. "I am not a part of this war, of this universe you are in."

"But that is the problem, sir," Tharuk said. "We don't know where her home is, or how to send her back."

Thatmak looked thoughtful, then turned to Athena. "Have you considered joining our cause, Athena? Our cause is noble. Under the benevolent rule of the Shakpah Hegemony hundreds of worlds and species prospered. The civilization of our ancient race enlightened many of those who live in the darkness. But now, the darkness that is the Gorkhan Unity threatens us all, threatens everything the ancients built."

"What precisely is so dark about the Gorkhans that threatens you all?" Athena asked.

"Our war against the Gorkhans has been so for many generations," Thatmak said. " Their beliefs, their way of life...we believe in preserving the words and the beliefs of the Ancients. The Gorkhans believe that for the good of the Galaxy, there can only be one unity, under their twisted version of benevolent rule."

Tharuk bent over and whispered to Athena's ear. "It is rude and not wise to continue your questioning. The General has other important business."

Tharuk turned towards Thatmak. "We will see what we can do to get the Athena ship into our combined fleet."

"Well done, Tharuk. We will need every ship we can gather in the coming battle," Thatmak said.

"Coming battle?" Athena asked.

"Come with me, we will talk about this outside," Tharuk said, pulling Athena's arm out of the door.

Outside, Athena perched on top of a lone boulder, watching the setting red sun on one horizon, while its smaller, binary companion rose at the other side of the horizon. Tharuk stood next to her, enjoying the view.

"It may be barren, but even in this desert, there is great beauty," Tharuk said.

"I don't get the whole situation. What are we fighting for? And I don't mean giving me the gibberish answer your General gave me," Athena said.

"Nobody knows how it really started. Nobody cares why anyway," Tharuk replied with some contemplation. "All we know is the war itself, all the killing that has deeply marked all our species into an obsession. It is as if every fibre of our beings were bent on their annihilation, and they probably feel the same way about us as well. The blood between us has become so bad that no alternatives of peace can be possible. Everyone is so hell bent on the mutual annihilation of each other."

"I have a feeling that you're a bit ambivalent about the war," Athena said.

"I am both a scientist and a doctor by profession," Tharuk said. "But drafted into the war. Like many of my people, I do not have a choice. When they discovered what my training was, I was appointed to do various tasks. Everyday, I see the wounded brought into the hospitals. Many die. The cause of the war had become irrelevant. The course of the war is all that matters."

"Whether you are innocent or not, you are nothing but a target. In the battle, you fight to survive. Have you fought in battle before?" Tharuk asked. "The ones for your Federation at least."

"Quite a few times. The Federation has many enemies, like the Borg," Athena replied. "We battle the Borg because they have this twisted idea of perfection, which is to assimilate you into their group mind and deprive you of your free will. But they do not fight us with the intent to annihilate us completely. In a twisted way, they even think they're doing us a favor."

"There are the cold enemies like the Romulans, who would sometimes fight with us, and fight against us," Athena said. "These are people who do not believe in the sheer might of force, but in the cunning of strategy and deception. Wars for them is a mind game of subtlety. Then there are warrior species like the Klingons, who also sometimes fight with us, and fight against us, depending on the practical circumstances, whether it is to their advantage or not. For them, war is a glorious affair, and they see no other activity that can be more honorable. For them, war is the end to itself. Then there are the Cardassians, whom we fight wars for territory, and the Dominion, which is about galactic dominance and control. I would think that your war is more like what we went through with the Dominion."

"Quite fascinating," Tharuk replied. "And yet we hear none of these species you tell us, and yet I know from my actions that you are telling the truth. My species have a way of perceiving the thoughts and feelings of others, not precisely to know data in detail, but enough to know their intentions. The triangular implant you see on our foreheads, are actually sensors."

"Hmm, so you're like Betazoids," Athena replied.

"Beta- what?" Tharuk asked.

"Never mind. They're a race of empaths in my universe. Starfleet often use them in diplomatic missions to determine the emotional state and the sincerity of the negotiators," Athena explained.

"That's interesting. Starfleet is the military arm of your Federation, is that correct?" Tharuk asked.

"Starfleet is many things to the Federation, not just military. It's also its exploratory arm for one thing. I would say it's the arms and hands of the Federation, much like what your own arms and hands do for you," Athena explained. "You know, you should check my database, and find out about my universe, Tharuk."

"That would be most fascinating," Tharuk said. "One of the reasons why I became a scientist was my desire to explore the universe and see other races."

"You would make a great Starfleet officer," Athena replied. "That was one of the goals Starfleet had in mind. I kind of wish I am the same way too. In my universe, I have been stuck lately doing war missions. Testing the quantum slipstream engines was supposed to be my first shot in doing something otherwise, something with more science. Who would know I would get lost and end up here."

"You know what?" Athena said. "You are actually my first brand new alien contact. We should do first alien contact properly." She stuck her hand out. "You're supposed to hold my hand and shake it, while I say, 'As a representative of the Federation, I come in peace'."

"Like this?" Tharuk grabbed Athena's hand and shook it.

"That was a bit firm, but I think you have the general idea," Athena said. "Now take me to your leader."

"I thought I already brought you to meet the General," Tharuk replied.

"Oh yes, I forgot," Athena said. "Now that spoils the effect."

Tharuk found himself still holding Athena's hand. "For a diplomat and a photonic being, you seem to have soft lovely hands."

"I..uh..." Athena quickly pulled her hand out. She wished that her hologram wasn't programmed to blush like it cried, but it did anyway.

"Is there anything wrong?" Tharuk asked.

"Nothing...nothing..." Athena said.

"I should mention that it is an equally great honor for me to be the first of my species and on behalf of the Hegemony to have direct diplomatic contacts with your species and Federation body," Tharuk said, bowing lower than her head height.

"Actually, you're the second of your species I've met. The nurse is the first, but I guess she doesn't count," Athena said. "Even though I am photonic, I stand before you as a reasonable holographic representation of the species known as mankind, Homo Sapiens, belonging to the third planet of the Sol System. Now this concludes the ceremony of first contact between our species. "

Tharuk smiled and solidified his 'first contact' with a handshake.

"Now that isn't too bad isn't it? I guess there must be some kind of photo taking ceremony to inaugurate this great event," Athena said. "Let's go back to my ship. We can take pictures from there."

"I wish our first contact was done under better circumstances. Not with this war hanging over hour heads," Tharuk said. "I am sorry. By landing your ship here I may have actually imperiled you by involving you in the war. The Gorkhans will regard you as a valid target and an enemy of their state."

"Don't fret about it. I was under crossfire, remember? Your people may have saved me by taking me in," Athena said.

As they walked towards her ship, Athena spotted workers on scaffolds around the ship. She became alarmed, but Tharuk assured her.

"We found a few structural problems in your ship, and we're reinforcing her based on our centuries old experience," Tharuk said. "Apparently you and your Federation is very new at slipstreaming."

"Actually, it's the first time," Athena said.

"Well, it shows," Tharuk said. "We've taken the liberty of modifying and re-tuning your engines. I hope we have not offended you when we did not ask your permission before hand. We are quite short in time."

"Not at all," Athena said. "Why are you short in time?"

"To get you ready. The only way you can survive the Gorkhan assault is to fight with us," Tharuk said.

"Not much of a choice," Athena said.

"Yes, there was never much of a choice," Tharuk said. "Shall we go in?"

"Get ready to beam up!" Athena said.

After one second, they materialized on the bridge of the Athena. "Have you been here before?" Athena asked.

"Only when we boarded your ship, found you unconscious and drifting, and pulled you down here," Tharuk said. "I do have to say you have a nice bridge."

"Okay, now I want you to stick your hand out like we're shaking hands," Athena said. "Then you face the viewscreen, so we can take some photo opportunity. Now smile!"

Athena and Tharuk shook their hands as they faced the view screen, which recorded the event. "Well if I don't return to my Federation, this won't mean much, but if I do, I got something to boast and remember this by," Athena said. "My first alien first contact. It sounds redundant doesn't it?"

"Not at all, so long you provide me a copy of this event. I too, as a scientist should at least have done something just one thing---of distinction to my name. Even if it was just a lucky chance encounter," Tharuk said. "I thank you for this."

"No, it's me, for saving me at least," Athena said. "Just wait for me here." Athena went to the Captain's private office. She came out with a bottle of wine and two glasses. "This is human custom. We must toast."

"Toast?" Tharuk asked.

"Yes, toast. I pour this wine here, like what I'm doing now. I offer one glass for you, and one for me, here you are. Then we touch the glasses together," Athena explained. "Just like this." The glasses sang a joyous tone at the point of contact. "Now sip it."

Tharuk sipped it, and coughed hoarsely. "What was that?"

"It's an alcoholic beverage made from a species of fruit from our planet, which I myself had never been there, unfortunately," Athena said. "Just sip it slowly and let the aroma fill you."

"It's not that we don't have alcoholic beverages in our culture, but this is truly different," Tharuk said as he sipped. "This is much better."

They finished the glasses and left them on the console. After which Athena guided Tharuk on a tour of the databases, then showed educational video clips about the Federation and its member worlds. These clips, designed originally to educate children about the Federation, have proven their worth introducing new alien species to the Federation. They appeared like a bland propaganda or marketing piece, but they do the job.

"This is all so fascinating. I wish I could download all these terra quads of information about our species, this Federation you speak of, and the various members and enemies," Tharuk said. "Unfortunately we do not have the time and the equipment at the moment. We are in a time of war at the battle front. As far as the information you possess, it is like seeing just one glimpse of a world, where we can learn much more in time."

"But for tonight, on the eve of battle, we must celebrate," Tharuk said. "It is the custom of the Shakpah to have a celebration for the heroes who are about to die in battle. It is best that we celebrate before one is to die, and not after, as this is our final chance to enjoy our earthly pleasures. I invite you to join us. If you can, dress like one of us instead of your Federation Starfleet uniform. I shall meet you outside of the main base."

"Join you, a party? I would be most honored and delighted," Athena affirmed and gently bowed.

* * *

Back at the Tacticus shipyard...

"Any word yet?" Garret nervously asked as he paced up and down the floor.

"So far none. She just disappeared. We don't know enough of slipstream space to find out why," Shelley said. "We know that she kept on the specified course and nav points, and we have deep scan probes set along the whole course. She never veered or moved anyway from the course. Then suddenly her ship was gone."

"We have patrols all over the place. Amritraj's Defiant and Sabre flotillas and Hussein's Nova class flotillas have already been engaged in the search," Maeda said. "In fact, it's soon to be my ship's turn to join the search patrols. I better get going. Vanguard, beam me up."

"Good luck, Masako," Shelley said as she waved. "In about an hour I will join the search patrols myself."

"I should have gone on the Athena. If I was there, this won't happen," Garret said.

"Don't blame yourself," Shelley said. "Hurst specifically didn't want any human aboard that ship when it made the slipstream run. What could you have done? Disappear with the ship along with the rest of your crew? We don't want another Bermuda Triangle disappearance incident like what happened to the USS Voyager and Equinox years ago."

Ka'nal joined Garret sitting in the sofa as Drudge, Ghia and T'pak brought in some drinks and refreshments from the Star's Tear restaurant concession. "Here you go, maybe this will ease our minds a bit," Ghia said.

"I wonder what we are going to do now, since we don't have any ship. I was starting to miss the brat," Drudge said.

"Perhaps I can hope that Hurst will assign us a new ship," T'pak said. "I hope he will not split us and distribute us into different crews. I have to admit, in the short time I have known you people, I have grown used to all your presence."

"Perhaps a ship that's a lot more ordinary, like an Intrepid or Aegis. Maybe even a Steamrunner," Ka'nal. "But I have to admit, Athena was special."

"Don't talk like she's gone forever!" Ghia raised her voice. "She's not confirmed as gone or destroyed yet. I think she will be found. She will come back. Athena is just too feisty to just disappear and let herself become a victim of any situation. Keep your hopes up, guys!"

"Look whose talking," Ka'nal said. "You're the one who filed the most complaints about Athena's behavior."

"It doesn't mean that I don't admire her spirit," Ghia said. "I just want her off my back when I work, that's all. She's pretty good company in parties, actually."

"Shelley, when you go to your search patrol, can we go?" Garret asked. "I would be speaking for the five of us." Ghia, Drudge, Ka'nal and T'pak all nodded affirmatively.

"Usually the Admiral should determine that," Shelley said. "I would of course, like to have you people on board, although we must inform the Admiral."

"That would be fine, Ann," Garret said. "Maybe you can lend us a shuttle so we do some searching of our own. I just cannot sit back and watch this thing."

"Neither do we," Ka'nal said. "Please lend us a shuttle."

"Well, we got the new Delta Flyer class of shuttles onboard the Kiev. Maybe you will like to give them a try," Shelley said.

"I would be most delighted," Garret replied.

"Look over there," Ghia suddenly interrupted. "It's Hurst and Doctor Shiner."

Everyone stood to meet the Admiral and Shiner as they walked towards his office. "Admiral, admiral!" Garret shouted as he jogged towards them. Hurst turned to meet them, prepared for the many questions he would be receiving.

"Calm now, Captain," Hurst said. "We got this under control. I know that you are all concerned. But we are taking extraordinary steps searching for Athena."

"What sort of extraordinary steps?" Garret asked.

Shiner tried to say something, but Hurst cut her off. "You don't have to tell them the details now, Helen, but they will all know soon enough. But let me tell them the gist of it," Hurst said. He turned to Garret. "It's quite probable that our searches may be in vain because we are only searching normal space. Just remember that this is a theory and this is no reason to call off our normal searches. We need a ship to search in slipstream space itself. That's the only way we could find out what went wrong with Athena's trial flight. Athena's disappearance can threaten our entire slipstream development program, a program that may be important in our war against the Borg. We regard her recovery with much more importance than you ever imagined."

"As you see," Hurst continued. "The Borg, through their assimilation of Species 116, have acquired slipstream technology. Slipstream technology is somewhat similar to transwarp technology because it enables us to go through the warp speed barrier. It creates a conduit, a bubble as you see, through the normal space-time continuum, resulting in a short cut."

"The difference is that slipstream does not require a stationary structure like a gate or a hub. Without being tied to a gate, ships can enter the slipstream in and out at their free will. But the disadvantage of slipstream is the enormous stresses it imposes on the ship, requiring a new hull geometry of which only the Prometheus class, of all the ships in Starfleet, comes closest to. This is why we're testing the Athena here. Since we already built and tested the Prometheus class ship, a successful test of the Prometheus can bring about a limited production run of a new Prometheus variation with slipstream engines."

"But because slipstream imposes such great stresses on the ship structure, the Borg is unable to exploit the technology without radically redesigning their ships. Instead, they choose to go the alternative route, which is to use transwarp. Unlike slipstream, transwarp does not impose severe stresses on the ship, and using a stationary gate, does not require modification on existing ships either. It is like comparing a rocket which is slipstream, to a projectile launched from a barrel which is transwarp. Transwarp is a great short term solution, but in the end, slipstream is the superior method."

"But doesn't Borg ships have transwarp coils built into their ships?" Garret asked.

"They do, and it highlights one of transwarp's disadvantages. The conduit it creates are only good for relatively short distances compared to what a transwarp gate could produce," Hurst explained.

"Unless the Borg create dedicated slipstream ships, they are in fact, vulnerable to attack from a slipstream fleet. They would be unable to pursue it, allowing the fleet to strike at will. This is our opportunity to strike back at the Borg through a technology they are unable to adapt simply because of the simple fundamentals of their hull geometry."

"Most fascinating, Admiral, for the first time, the Federation has the offensive potential against the Borg," T'pak said.

"Exactly," Hurst replied. "Now you see why recovery of the Athena is so important. Her disappearance could kill the entire slipstream program, and with it, the best viable offensive sword we have against the Borg. That's why we're going to send in our only other slipstream ship, a prototype."

"A protoype?" Garret asked.

"Yes, this time, a true Dauntless class ship," Hurst said.

* * *

Ka'nal took the helm position on the Delta Flyer class shuttle, as T'pak takes the Conn position. Garret and Ghia took the other two chairs, and despite poor Drudge's protest, they had to leave the big lug behind on the Kiev.

"Okay, we are ready to go," Ka'nal said on the comlink.

"Garret, you're clear to take off," Shelley said. "Bon voyage and good hunting."

"Thanks, Ann. Ka'nal, take her out," Garret ordered.

"Aye, Captain," Ka'nal replied.

The Flyer slipped through the force field barrier that made up the Kiev's shuttle bay's main gate, heading for the stars. It banked as it turned around for a parallel flight path to the USS Kiev.

"We're going to be engaging our search pattern," Shelley said from the bridge of the Kiev. "I am sending my search pattern to you so you won't duplicate it on your search. We will also rendezvous at this point here."

"Got it, Ann, thanks," Garret said.

"Wait! We are picking something," T'pak said. "A slight subspace shockwave. Hmm. It appears to me that a small ship has entered slipstream."

"Could be the new prototype," Garret said. "I wanted to volunteer inside that ship."

"And Hurst turned you down," Ka'nal said. "He said they wanted to be completely sure that slipstream travel has no long adverse effects on various physiology before they would let us fly those things. That's why he required Athena's slipstream flight to be completely autonomous."

"Then who the hell is flying that," Garret said, as he pointed to the trail of sub particle emissions coming from the small ship, where conclusive scans have shown to about the size of a Nova class, with a sharp triangular head, fitting the description of what Hurst called a 'Dauntless' class ship.

Even in this remote desert planet, among a vast armada of ships their best technology created, the Shakpah would never forget their ancient rituals. It was the Festival of Sulnahi', the festival that honors all great heroes before they die, a festival that showed the Shakpah's reverence for life and heroism. Tomorrow will be a different day, but the night will see a short time of peace and happiness.

If it was called a night. Actually, for the desert planet, it was the day of the dim binary sun. The system has binary suns, but the second one was so far away that it lights the sky much like a moon would do on another world. Around it was a fiery nebula, and both cast a soft orange light across the desert sands and dunes in the barren darkness.

Even where the rows of the great ships lie, the people had setup simple primitive bonfires to gather around and dance. This will be the time where people were set loose, to sing, to drink, to laugh, to cry, even to confess their sins and beg their forgiveness, to make new friends, to mend relationships that were lost, to express their last wishes, or even to cry or curse, to pray or beg at the Most Holy One. Tomorrow, some will live but many will die. Today was the time to do what you wish while your limbs still have life.

Tharuk waited anxiously for his appointment, catching a glimpse of the bonfires, the dunes, the dim star and the nebula as he waited. Then she came, coming out with the dim moonlike sun behind her, as beautiful as the Moon Goddess Neheyah herself, in white flowing robes, a delicately veiled headress, and a dress that bared her shoulders, opened her waist, and with a cut on the long skirt that revealed her long legs in a teasing way.

"How do I look?" Athena said, as she spun around to show him her dress. "I don't know much about your dress customs, but I remembered that there was an ancient culture on Earth that dresses much like you. So I patterned it after that culture. I hope it does not offend you. I hope it matches with the look for your ceremony."

"You...you look wonderful," Tharuk said after an awkward hesitation. "Beyond my expectations. You did well in your pick of dress. If I must say, you look like an angel."

She spun like a top, letting her skirt and robes catch the air like wings. "Thank you. This is the first time someone asked me for a date on a celebration."

"A 'date', what do you mean by 'date'," Tharuk asked.

"Oh never mind. It simply means an appointment among friends," Athena said.

"That is wonderful to know that I am considered a friend even for a day," Tharuk said.

"Oh yes, you are," Athena said, grabbing his arm by the elbow. "You have given me a wonderful day, if you call it that." She noted the unusual day and night cycles of the planet. "You have made my separation from my own kind bearable. You are the first friend I have over your kind, and already you're a special one among all the friends I know."

"Really?" Tharuk asked.

"Oh yes, let's say you're kind of cute when you're innocent but serious," Athena said.

"I'm not sure what you mean," Tharuk asked again. "There is a strange subtlety in your words that I do not fully comprehend."

She put a finger on his lips. "Don't try to," she said. 'It is only to describe what is, not something to break into pieces and analyze. Now show me the celebration."

"Ah yes," Tharuk said. She was a photonic being, and yet he felt the softness and warmth of her skin touching his. Even for a photonic being, she was incredible. The illusion of appearing like any person was so complete. Even the way the moon like light touched her hair and reflected in its highlights, or its soft shadows across her skin, her face and her smile.

"Why are you looking at me?" Athena teasingly asked.

Tharuk blushed. "Forgive me if my actions are rude to your culture. I have not been with a woman for quite some time as I have taken my work and duty so seriously, not even with the women among our units."

"Kind of like my situation back home," Athena said. "In fact I tend to irritate a lot of people."

"It's hard to believe that they don't appreciate you like they should," Tharuk said. "But I feel even in the short time I know you, that you have a free spirit. Maybe that rubs off against the people in authority. You may be a photonic being, but you have more life than many people of flesh I know."

'Should I take that as a complement?" Athena said, as she pulled herself closer to him as they walked.

The bonfires across the runaway rival the stars in their multitude and brilliance. In the background, the drums beat relentlessly, sensually rhythmic, and yet sadly ominous. The flutes sang their notes; the barren night was alive with lyrical energy. There was much eating and dancing, and Athena could sense the same familiarity with the celebrations of old Earth cultures. Regardless of the name, the time, the event or who the celebration was for, it all boiled down to singing, dancing, eating, drinking, and just simply uncontrolled merriment.

Tharuk felt conscious at the many stares falling upon him as he made his entrance with this beautiful stranger from stars unknown. Both shyness and pride filled him, his face warmed.

"I think you're blushing," Athena said. "Now don't tell me that you don't know what that means."

"I think I have the general idea," Tharuk said.

Will he feel shame to bring a complete alien stranger, one who was not even flesh and blood? Or will he feel pride, to bring the most beautiful girl he met into the celebration and be seen with her?

Even in the glow of the fires, they can see him and her, but as the minutes went on, it didn't seem to matter and they faded into the nameless crowds that celebrated in the night.

"This is so beautiful, so incredible. To say the least I have never been on a real planet before," Athena said. "This is like a movie. Look, a real bonfire just like in the movies, with real burning and heat and smoke and stuff, not an illusion, not a hologram. I can even smell the smoke. Sniff...sniff... Starfleet can be as bland and as boring like a sterile clinic. Most of the time, we live in space stations and starships, where everything is based on artificial luminescence. But here, look at the sky, and the air. Hmmm, the smell of natural air and imperfection, not something filtered. The sight of a real sun against a planet's atmosphere, even though it's dim. I've only seen suns through an atmospheric sky in a hologram but this is real. It looks the same, but being real makes a whole lot of difference."

"You didn't seem to notice that before," Tharuk said.

"I was distracted, lost and sad. Now my spirit feels free," Athena said, raising her hands in the air. Then she knelt to the ground, grabbed a fistful of sand. "See this. Real sand. Real stuff. This isn't something made in a holodeck. It's real because you know its real." She turned her attention to the notes that rhythmically float in the air. "You got flutes, real flutes, and what is that I hear?" She cupped her ear. "Real drums...you got it...real drums!"

"I take it you don't have any of these back in your world," Tharuk said.

"Are you kidding? They do, but they forgot this long time ago," Athena said. "A few practice them for they will not be forgotten. But for the most people, they are.

"The music we hear is mostly recorded and played through machines, not real life people with instruments. Hear that music the notes...fa lo ti do hear that? Actual air passing through the holes of the flute. And there, hear that? Thum, ti di tum dum... The sound of a real hand or percussion instrument hitting against a stretched supple surface..." She pretended to thump an imaginary drum in the air, dancing a bit with the beat.

Crowds began to gather around the fires, dancing their ritualistic, ceremonial dances. Or were they? They could just be dancing out of the sheer beat of the flutes and the drums. Cinders rose from the flames, and as they floated up the air, they seemed to dance with the rhythm of the music.

She excitedly clapped her hands with the tribal rhythms, again and again, until she can't help swaying her own body to the rhythms.

She grabbed Tharuk's arm. "Please, let's join them and dance."

"How do you know how to dance the way of the Shakpah?" Tharuk asked.

"Oh, it's easy. Looking at it for a few minutes, I guess I can get the picture," she said, tugging his arm more. "What are you waiting for? The world to fall down on you? Come on!"

This was a precious time of celebration, and the music was strong. Already Athena had joined the women dancing around the flame and they didn't mind her who she was or what she was, if they ever knew at all. The only thing mattered was that she celebrated. That's all. She was one of them and she belonged. Oh she belonged as she loosed herself into the music.

Tharuk watched her lithe figure danced near the fire, the flames silhouetting her form among the crowds, her shadow casting upon the sands. Who was this beauteous angel from the stars? Why did she came here? Why does she has this spell over him? What possessed him to befriend this stranger?

Her body rhythms began to enthrall him, and so did the tribal tunes. His body began to sway, began to dance, and soon he found himself in the ring of dancers around the fire, with Athena next to him. She grinned when she saw him finally overcome his shyness and joined her in the dancing. For a moment he held her hand as they danced and the touch excited her. Time passed as they danced, but he could not tell how long or short it was. Time had become irrelevant, and only the moment counted. Time froze in front of the fire, in the midst of the dance.

"Come on, let's go!" She tugged him to a different direction, and when his head turned towards her, she motioned him to the direction of the dunes nearby.

"You want to quit dancing?" he asked.

"We can do it again later, there is something I want to do," she said. "Come on," she tugged his arm.

Tharuk followed her as she ran out in the dunes, her robes and head dress falling to the ground. She ran up a dune, her feet kicking sand as she went, raising small clouds of dust at her toes. She stood on top of the dune, her figure backlit from the pale moonlike light of the weak second sun, with her arms outstretched. Then she spun around like a top, arms like a propeller, trying to engulf all her environment, the dunes, the desert breezes, the notes that still reverberate in the winds; the luminous nebula, and the moonlike sun that cast their weak shine across the wind blown ridges of the sands.

"This is so beautiful," Athena cried out. "I have never been so happy..." She bent backward and let herself fall. Tharuk caught her just in time as she deliberately fell, but for a photonic being, she even simulated weight. Her weight knocked him off balance and they found themselves rolling downwards the dune.

When the rolling stopped, a fine, powder like sand covered her figure and her face. She brushed them aside and then she started both laughing and crying at the same time. "What are you laughing and crying about?" Tharuk asked as he brushed the fine sand off his body.

"This is like a dream, a dream I don't want to wake up from," Athena uttered.

He crawled next to her, and she let him stared at her face closely. "I think you're the dream," he whispered. With some hesitation and shyness, he lowered his lips upon hers. She did not resist or complain or anything, and she let his lips touch hers. The moment stayed frozen as their lips locked, their arms embracing their sandy bodies.

Then he hesitated, then stopped, lifted himself from her. "This isn't right," he said. "You're just a photonic being," he said. "Beautiful as you may be, I don't know if you're real. A program running in the brain of a ship."

"This isn't right. I shouldn't be doing this," he said.

"Why? In our world, men and women have played with holograms of their fantasies before, why not we?" Athena asked.

"That's the problem. I am not really satisfied with just a fantasy. I want someone and something real," Tharuk said.

"Am I not real enough for you?" Athena asked.

"You look real, the way you touch seems real, the way you feel seems real, but are you real?" Tharuk said.

"Are you trying to define whether I am real or not based on what I am made of?" Athena asked.

"Didn't you just judge reality by the basis of what everything around is you made of?" Tharuk said. "The stars, the sand in your feet, the light falling on your face, the sound of the flutes and the drumes, the heat of the fire?"

"But that's different," Athena said. "All these are not made in a holodeck."

"But it's not whether or not it's a holodeck. The point is whether it's an illusion, whether it's a place or a person," Tharuk said.

A silence fallen upon Athena. She could not answer his question. For several minutes she lingered, her face saddened. "I don't think it's what you're made of, it's the things behind it that count," she finally said. "I know I am real because I know my feelings are real."

"And what do you feel now?" Tharuk said.

"I feel happiness, for seeing and knowing all these, and yet sadness that perhaps, you still don't trust me," she said.

"And what do you feel for me?" Tharuk asked.

"I feel...I feel you're special...I never had a friend like you before, even in the short while we met," Athena answered.

"Would you say it's love?" Tharuk asked.

"I never known real love before, except what I see in the videos. Perhaps if it is about feeling special and close with someone, maybe it is love," Athena answered. "Can something like me feel love? Can I? And what do you feel, Tharuk?"

"I am not going to hold back, certainly not during the Ceremony, not in the nightly stare of the goddess Sulnahi'. What I feel? That you're the most beautiful and sweetest thing I've seen in my life, even though you're not Shakpah, even though you're just a photonic being, a projection from the consciousness of a ship," Tharuk said. "When I first saw you, I thought Sulnahi' had sent me an angel."

"Aw shucks," she said. She leaned her head on his shoulder. "You sure know how to flatter a girl."

"Me? I don't know how to talk to a woman," Tharuk said. "I had always dedicated my life to a discipline, to medicine, to science, and now the cause of the preservation of our life and culture. I have never given the time to look for a mate, or even harness the skills to look for one. With the war going, I may never have the chance. I could die tomorrow, or the next day. Everything now is a day to day basis, and all I ever wanted now was myself but for my people."

"You sound like a hero," Athena said, brushing his hair. "But you need to lighten up. Don't get too serious. You're in a celebration, celebrate!" She danced around in a circle twirling her arms.

"That's beautiful," Tharuk said. "Your dancing is beautiful. Is dancing an expression of your cultural as well?"

"Oh yes, cultures actually. Earth has many cultures, let me show you," Athena said. "I got it all in my data banks." She let go his arm, and stood at the top of the dune, her form silhouetted against the spotlight of the dim binary star, the sands her stage, the stars her audience. She started to dance ballet, and then performed every tribal and culture dance from Irish to Thai.

Time froze with every motion of her graceful gestures, alternating between the calmness of a still night, to the fury of a raging storm. He stared spellbound. He showed her a part of his world, and now, she showed him hers. All in the motion of dance.

"Come on, join me," she said. "The next dances are a two some. For some reason they called it ball room dancing but I don't really know how the rooms looked like balls." She pulled him up, then placed his hand around her waist, while they shared the other hand.

"This sounds fun," he said. "Now what?"

"Now follow me step by step, la-la-la-la..." She began to sing the tune for the Blue Danube as she led him around and around step by step in a circle around the dunes, their footprints drawing circles around the sands.

When it was over, she sat next to him on top of the dune, overlooking the fires of joy that burned throughout the night. She laid her head on his shoulder, and he caressed her cheek, pushed her hair aside, then wrapped his arm around her.

***

"How did your people ever get to use slipstream?" Athena asked, her head laying on his shoulder.

"Slipstream? For us, we had always called it the 'stream of angels'. The technology has been with our people for generations. It passed from one alien race to another. No one knew who first discovered it," Tharuk said. "Like the sky, the wind and the sun, it had always been there. No one questioned how it came to us, or why. We assumed that the gods first discovered it, and handed down to all the people in the stars as a gift so that one day, they will all be united in friendship and brotherhood. But instead, the stream of angels brought war."

"To fly with the stream of angels is to cast your eyes upon the faces of the gods," Tharuk said. "Maybe it brought pride and hubris. Instead of unity, the races cast dreams of conquest upon one another, the Shakpah included. It was conquer or be conquered. So we conquered and we were successful for generations, for many millennia. System after system. When we first started it was for our self defense, but in the end we became the conquerors."

He continued. "Then across the Galaxy, the Gorkhans came. They were...like us. They conquered the races in their side and their empire became bigger and bigger. It was inevitable. This was something diplomacy could not correct. Like a force of nature, there can only be one. One who will rule the Galaxy. It was conquer or be conquered. "

"We do not hate the Gorkhans for what they are, nor do they hate us," Tharuk said. "This is a strange war. We fight because it is in our nature. It is nature that only one must stand supreme above all others."

"That's quite simplistic, if not fatalistic," Athena said. "Actually it sounds stupid. It is as if there is no choice."

"There are times that I myself question the whole thing," Tharuk said. "But it is not my place to question. I am only a single individual in the hundreds of billions, against the irrevocable fate of two empires in a collision course."

"There are times I feel I cannot change my course too," Athena said. "Maybe because I'm a ship. I have a purpose. I have a duty. I have a responsibility."

"Responsibility... that is the word," Tharuk said. "I have a duty and a responsibility."

* * *

Today was the day of battle. In a universe where she had no place, she had to take a stand, if only to belong and to survive. The Prime Directive no longer existed here; it was particularly meaningless against empires that span two quadrants, with ships that could transverse the galaxy in one Earth season.

She would be alone in this one. Every Shakpah had joined their ships. Everyone had their place, including Tharuk. They cannot spare anyone, not even to join her in the Athena. For Tharuk, he was the chief medical officer of the dreadnaught Sug'Daal. Athena had seen the ship and the design. A huge ship about a kilometer in length, its main hull shaped like an arrowhead like any slipstream ship, with four nacelles, two slung beneath the ship and two from its back.

Almost every ship were spear or arrow head in shape, with complex concave curves and an organic brown color. The nacelles coming out from behind the hulls gave the fleet a collective flying calamari look. Or one should say, like a school of armored sea animals.

"I am amazed that your technicians could work so fast," Athena said in the comlink.

"Yes, Athena," Tharuk affirmed. "They are the best. In wartime, time saved is lives saved."

She ran her scans and diagnostics. They reinforced her frame everywhere, designed not just to improve robustness against slipstream stress, but also against that of weapons fire. They re-tuned her slipstream engines, which must look awfully primitive to them. How long have they flown in the Streams of Angels? Generations? Millennia? The thought of having so much slipstream experience astounded her. They must have discovered every crook and cranny of this galaxy. With nothing left to discover and expand, they had to turn on against each other in a contest for eventual sole dominance.

The General had given her, her first orders in this universe. She would provide protective escort to the Sug'Daal. It was not a big and daring assignment, rather typical and ordinary, if not conservative. But the enemy would be gunning for the big ships, and they would need protection. The thought of Tharuk in the Sug'Daal gave her a motive and inspiration to fight. She would be helping to protect him.

Tharuk came on the view screen. She raised her thumb for him to see.

"What does that mean in your culture?" He asked.

"It's an expression that everything will be alright," she said.

If she was protecting the Sug'Daal, she had her work cut out for her. With only her main hull armed, she only carried half of her effective firepower. She wished she had her original engineering hull it had six of her torpedo tubes there and her arrays of four pulse phasers. What she still had was still quite respectable ten phaser arrays and two torpedo tubes. If she used up her inventory maybe they will learn to build torpedoes for her.

Tharuk replied with a raised thumb. She smiled.

The captain of the Sug'Daal called her through the comlink. It was time.

The vast rows of ships began to rise from the desert surface. Already in the sky among the stars, huge formations of ships have assembled and met those coming from other sectors. She had turned on her log again, so she could verbally record all events. Tharuk had gone off her screen, and all she saw was the bright primary sun shining upon the beige desert, where huge lines of ships await their ascent, while others have started their ascension.

"Preparing for lift off..." She said. She performed a countdown. "Engage," she said to herself. There was only a small problem. She had never really lifted from a planet before. The Prometheus class always had the capability, but she never had the opportunity to use it. She just hoped it was simple enough not to pose any problem.

The portable field generators that held the ship under a supporting field had closed off, leaving her ship loose and free. Her thrusters pushed their fire against the hardened and baked surface. Anti gravity generators broke the bond of gravity. The Athena began to rise, slowly at first, then with increasing speed. So far so good.

She tilted her nose upward, with a fraction of impulse power, her trusters pushed her through the atmosphere. All around her, ships began their ascension, an army of angels rising to the heavens. She broke through the clouds, into the blue sky that became darker with every mile she climbed.

Below her, the Sug'Daal, nearly three times her size, have disengaged her holding fields and have ignited her thrusters. She began her own ascension, a titan rising from the earth to face its fate on the skies above. Around her in three positions, her escort ships joined in her in the climb.

The Athena had reached orbit. The primary sun lit the blue and brown crescent of the world they had left behind, and on her back, the secondary sun cast its weak orange glow on the night side of the planet.

Athena stared at the dark skies. Hundreds of ships formed into massed lines that seemed to stretch from one infinite horizon to another. The captain of the Sug'Daal called her in the comlink to begin a defensive formation around the giant ship. She was a stranger who finally found her place in the strange universe, in a a role in the struggle she would share with her new found friends. Not even in her imaginings of the Federation in its height of power, could she ever have seen or imagined an armada of this size and power, all ships capable of slipstream, all ships ready to enter what they called the 'Stream of Angels'. The discipline they exhibited in their vast formations no wonder the Shakpah were a galactic superpower.

"Warp, engage!" The order rang through out the armada. Like a wave, each line of ships engaged their engines, advancing forward. Then the line behind them started their advance, then the next line.... The ship in front of her engaged, and it was her turn. She engaged her engines, and the Athena shot forward, and so did the ship right behind her, and behind that as well. The giant Sug'Daal had also engaged her warp engines.

The stars streaked backward against every ship that shot forward. The lines of ships flowed into a river, and then into an unstoppable torrent. This was a sight she would never forget.

"Warp 4...5...6...7...8...9..." She grit her teeth. "9.3...9.4...9.5...9.6...9.7...9.8...9.9..." She kept going faster and faster. She could feel the benefits of the Shakpah modifications. Her body felt much stronger, and she felt much lighter with the increased power. Even at extreme warp speeds, she flew with the smoothness of glass. Her engines purred.

"It is time. Let us all ride into the Stream of Angels," the General ordered. With these words, the first ships formed their slipstream fields around them, then broke the warp barrier as they hurled themselves through the slipstream conduits. One after another, the sharp triangular ships entered the streams, the tunnels of blue and green space.

"Slipstream field generators, on!" She told herself. As the field bubble formed, so did the conduit. The second time around seemed easier. "Slipstream engaged."

The Athena broke through the warp barrier, rushing headlong into the blue and green tunnels of slipstream space.

Even in the slipstream, the Shakpah armada began to align in massive formations. Then an astounding sight began to unfold in her eyes.

The slipstream fields of one ship began to join with another, like a wave that began to encompass the entire formations. Soon after, with her Shakpah modified slipstream field generators, her own fields joined with the rest of the Shakpah into one giant bubble. The conduits melted away into this giant space. There were no more walls or tunnels. In this artificial slipstream space, she could see from horizon to horizon, the massed ships lining in straight or delta formations.

She saw the immense bubble, like an artificial pocket domed universe. Outside the bubble, the luminescent clouds of blue and green raged like the coming of a thunderstorm, and lighting broke out in titanic arcs. Knowing little of the slipstream universe, she could not explain the phenomenon of the lightning and the clouds, only that they were there. The wall of the bubble protected the armada, separating the slipstream space from the waves of the raging storm outside of it. Beneath her, like a glassy floor, the entire galaxy compressed itself into a single image. She soared above the galactic plane, from a point where she could see one spiral arm in one end to the other. There she could see the center of the galaxy, a massed globular structure of tiny pin points of lights called stars.

Once in a while, stars near the slipstream bubble would whiz by. Immense nebulas flashed by. It was like flying through the clouds in an atmosphere the clouds near you would flash by quickly, but those away seem to lay still. The ground beneath, which she could see the galactic spiral, crept slowly. She was above the stars, and the stars flowed beneath her feet.

"Athena, Athena," Tharuk called her through the comlink. "Are you there? How are you doing?"

"Fine. Incredible really, the mods you made, they work," Athena said.

"Be careful, Athena, we are entering the battle zone soon," Tharuk said.

She still wondered if her decision was right to join the Shakpah's cause. Tharuk had said, there was nothing wrong or inherently evil with the Gorkhan, only an inevitable collision of cultures and civilizations, that by the force of nature, would only leave one standing. But she could not live along with this world. She was a ship with a purpose, a purpose of war. Without war she was nothing. But didn't she try to battle that nature before, by requesting this mission of experimentation? Peace or war, she would have joined one of the races anyway, to explore or to fight. She was lost, and she needed to belong. But the decision still weighed against her conscience.

"You know, I never asked this before, but what do you use for weapons here in the slipstream space?" Athena asked.

"Within a bubble or conduit, phasers and other sublight weapons can be used." Tharuk said. "But mostly we use subspace weapons against each other."

"Subspace weapons? Isn't that too extreme?" Athena asked. The Second Khitomer accords outlawed subspace weapons for the Federation and the Klingon Empires, but failed to cover other races such as the Romulans, Breen, the Cardassians, and the So'na. And obviously no one here in this universe ever heard of the Second Khitomer accords, so they probably carried isolithic weapons as commonly as ships carried phasers back in her world.

"Not at all, Athena," Tharuk said. "We do what we have to."

Whew! That should make her feel better, right? Athena, Athena, what trouble have you brought yourself into this time? She may have the Type XII phaser upgrades, and she stocked every known torpedo to Man. But against isolithic weapons they're like arrows against guns. It was all these weapons that knocked her down from slipstream in the first place.

"But Tharuk, my weapons..." she said.

"Don't worry, Athena, we have uploaded new information for your weapons systems," Tharuk said. "They will let you adjust your phaser and torpedo frequencies against their most commonly used shield frequencies. I have added information on all the Gorkhan vital ship systems that you could target. There is also information that will let you adjust your shields to their most frequently used phaser frequencies as well as to help you shield yourself against the effects of their subspace weapons."

She examined the vast data Tharuk had made available for her. She quickly began setting her phasers, torpedoes and shields according to their information given. Yet she felt she would be more comfortable if she had her standard engineering hull. That had a Corbomite Reflector and a Breen shield dampening weapon set on the deflector array. But th slipstream hull had a new deflector array that does none of this. She's going to war with half of her weapons left at home. Not good, not good.

"We got word, Gorkhan fleet imminent," Tharuk warned. "We're going into red alert. Battle stations!"

"Going into red alert now," Athena said. She wondered why. There was no one else on board the ship, but it made her feel better to do it anyway, and it's all going into the logs. "Phasers arming, torpedoes on maximum yielding." Let's get the arrows ready.

Then from the distance, came the Gorkhan armada. It's wasn't like any fleet she saw. She could zoom in and see that the tiny ships shared the same triangular head design as the Shakpah. In fact they seemed to be like mirror copies of each other, two different alien races and culture evolving in parallel to the same conclusion, like a shark and a porpoise. But that wasn't the frightening thing that she saw. Ahead of the Gorkhan armada was its own massive slipstream bubble, like a giant dome as large as the Shakpah fleet's. The two huge domes headed to an unstoppable collision course at each other. From her vantage, the Gorkhan slipstream dome appeared like a giant tsunami, rising like a giant wall threatening to engulf them. To the end of the event horizons, there were great storms and large discharges of energy like titanic thunderbolts. The floor beneath her was rough with waves of subspace distortion. The image of the normal galaxy beneath distorted with each passing wave, like seeing something deep underwater. The galaxy beneath seemed at peace like in a dream, much like the underwater world remained innocently untouched from the storm raging over it. The Athena buckled as the waves of the storm swept and tossed her. The smooth glassy ride that came from the start of the flight has gone, and instead, the rough storm waves of the seas have taken her place.

At the edge of the Universe, the armadas of angels met. She could hear the orders now. "Fire!" From the largest dreadnaughts, missiles as big as the largest shuttles streaked out against the oncoming wave. She could only guess that isolithic warheads stood at the tip of the missiles. They exploded against the giant wave front, sending massive shockwaves of their own. From the other side came the artillery missiles of their own, detonating with massive shockwaves that threatened to rend even subspace itself.

Hang on! She thought to herself as the tidal waves from the subspace weapons rocked her ship. The Athena would have been a respectable medium sized cruiser to the standards of Starfleet, but against the Shakpah and Gorkhan fleets, the immense dreadnaughts dwarfed her and for good reason. Their immense sizes could resist the massive turbulence that came often in the Stream of Angels better than her ship could. Against the immense forces she faced, the Athena was but a toy.

"Athena! Stay and protect the Sug'Daal," Tharuk said in the comlink. "Her armament could cover you as well."

"I don't have any subspace weapons here, not missiles, torpedoes or even beam weapons. I don't think I could do anything here," she complained. "Might as well play safe."

"Athena, match your shield frequencies to the Sug'Daal," Tharuk advised. "We have already provided the simple modifications and your shields should help protect you from both stream and subspace weapons effects."

"Matching...matching...Got it!" Athena said.

"Now match your phaser frequencies to the data I am downloading to you now," Tharuk said. "If you can modulate your phaser and torpedo frequencies to this, it can give you a chance to deal with the Gorkhan ships."

"Got it!" Athena affirmed.

Her scanners revealed large lines of ships, undoubtedly Gorkhan, heading towards the Shakpah lines. It must be the first wave of their attack. Just then she saw the first Shakpah line accelerated to engage the first Gorkhan wave. Then the next Gorkhan wave engaged, and the second Shakpah wave countered. They reminded her of educational videos that showed battles in the 18th century, where orderly formations of infantry engaged fire against each other as they approached each other. Beams and isolithic torpedoes flew; explosions everywhere chaos, death. The shockwaves they left expanding were as deadly as their points of impact. Athena stared in horror as ship after ship she could no longer tell them apart in the chaos broke apart in fire and exploded in pieces.

She took her position as the Gorkhan ships advanced like a school of sharks and rays rushing to devour their prey. With so many ships around in the bubble, there wasn't much space to maneuver. The old warfare analogy truly applied here; there was nothing much a ship can do but hold their position and blast all what they can.

"Hold your position!" came the cry of the Shakpah leaders. "Fight to the death!" They shouted. "To glory! To the Shakpah Hegemony!" While all the words meant nothing to her, they were everything for the Shakpah who faced their fate here. But all she cared about was to survive and for friend, Tharuk, to survive.

Massive explosions marked where the fleets passed through each other. Some ships even collided, and great explosions marked the placed where it happened. A circular dogfight began to develop as each side tried to outflank and out turn each other. The shockwave from the isolithic weapons and the rapidly deteriorating speed of the ships caused the bubble to start breaking down. The bubble collapsed like a wall of water falling down on them all.

The Athena tossed around like a ship in a great storm as the bubble fell upon her. Lights flashed as her main power systems interrupted and emergency power systems kicked in. She decided to just keep everything dark, turn off all life support systems except for the sick bay where the biological sample were placed why did she still bother with that?

"Are you all right?" Tharuk asked with a concerned voice over the comlink.

"I'm still holding up..." Athena said. She checked her scanners and everything was in sub light speed again.

"Enemy ships in formation heading to our position," she warned Tharuk. "Got that," he replied.

The approaching formation of Gorkhan ships opened fire against the Sug'Daal, almost ignoring the smaller escorts. It was a strategy she would have herself done concentrate knocking out the most dangerous ships in the fleet and this was precisely they wanted every available escort over their best ships.

But her friend Tharuk was on the Sug'Daal. She began to worry more about him than herself. Beams and flickering balls of light that were isolithic weapons lashed out and smashed at the shields of the massive Shakpah dreadnaught. "Tharuk!" She shouted, but there was no reply. She could not reasonably expect a reply from a ship heavily under attack with massive subspace interference. All she could do was defend.

A Gorkhan destroyer loomed over her, ignoring her ship as she circled and blasted away at the Sug'Daal with a mindless suicidal obsession to cut the head off first. The Athena lashed out with her phasers and torpedoes. The Athena may not have half of her firepower on board, but what she still had left in just the saucer section alone would still overwhelm most Federation starships except the most powerful. As she pursued the ship, she blasted a full phaser broadside against the bottom of the destroyer, followed with two torpedoes that broke through its shields. The destroyer limped away with a glowing trail of smoke from fires all over her hull. She wanted to destroy it, but what about the lives inside that ship? No, instead of pursuing that ship, she would defend the dreadnaught instead. The Sug'Daal fired its huge energy beam weapons, and the way it fired reminded her of the similar weapon the Borg used. Any technological similarity to the Borg at this point must be coincidence, as her scanners had never picked up a single Borg signature in this strange universe. But they were extremely powerful; she saw Gorkhan frigates and cruisers literally break up against its onslaught.

Elsewhere, the battle was going as deadly for the Shakpah as it was for Gorkhan. Their own dreadnaughts took a heavy toll among the smaller Shakpah vessels just as the Shakpah dreadnaughts devastated the Gorkhan formations. It was inevitable that the larger ships would go face to face at each other.

A Gorkhan assault ship broke up after she impaled it with several phasers. Another Gorkhan destroyer blew right near the formation, then one of the Shakpah destroyers in her formation. Suddenly a Shakpah frigate exploded right next to her, and the shockwaves tossed the Athena. Lights dimmed and systems jumbled momentarily. The shockwaves all around her jarred her sensors and the pain the ship suffered filled her head. But she grit her teeth, hardened what was deep inside her, to survive, for herself, for her friend.

She fired one phaser after another. She couldn't almost care what happened to her targets, only that they kept firing at the dreadnaught and she had to stop them with everything she got. But the Gorkhan relentlessly fired at the Sug'Daal. One after another, her shields fell, then the beams struck her hull. But she bravely resisted, firing back. A brilliant flash of light in the distance revealed a Gorkhan dreadnaught had succumbed, then another brilliant flash of light showed a Shakpah cruiser cut in half, both pieces drifting wildly away from each other, spilling their living cargo into space.

No...No...No... This was madness. She could not stop it. She nodded her head wildly. In rage she fired her torpedoes again and again. A Gorkhan destroyer exploded ahead of her, then a brilliant flash of light saw the end of another Shakpah dreadnaught. A Shakpah cruiser collided with a Gorkhan cruiser and both lit up with a blinding ball of light with a massive shockwave reaching out in all directions. The Gorkhan hit her too. Her shields flashed against the angry beams the Gorkhan emitted. They cut down her shields to a razor thin layer, and several of her systems have started to fail from the collateral damage.

The pain...the pain... tears streamed down her eyes. The damage to the the ship were wounds inflicted on her body. But she stood. Like a faithful soldier, she held her ground. She would not leave her friend, she would not leave his side.

Her shields were finally down, and smoke streamed out from the cracks of her hull. A Gorkhan assault vessel paid for its attacks crippled from a rapid broadside of phasers from the Athena, and two torpedoes finished it off. All around her, ships succumbed...souls lost...in the greatest war of the heavens where even angels die.

Facing a hundred relentless attacks, the Sug'Daal blazed from its mortal wounds, a giant whale dying, ready to commit its soul. Yet it remained firing until every weapon silenced, every soul on board had given their sacrifice.

"Tharuk!" Athena shouted the name of the only friend she had in this universe. This was madness....this was hell. She scanned the fatally damaged Shakpah dreadnaught. More than a thousand souls in that ship alone, many dying, many already dead. Tharuk said he was the chief medical officer for the ship, so she must find the sick bay, but she doesn't know enough of his body signature to identify him by scans. She finally identified the sick bay, and her hopes elated that she may find him still alive, then whisk him off from that dying ship to a place safe from all this madness. She will fight no more. She set her shields to maximum recharge, and then phased cloaked so she will be invisible to anyone. She then set part of her consciousness to autonomously handle the ship.

She picked up a flashlight and strapped it around her wrist, then quickly transported her self to the Sug'Daal's sick bay. As she materialized, what she saw horrified her. Beams collapsed around her. Panels burned, and exposed wiring arced with sizzling sparks. The wounded on the coots were either dead or dying; the medical equipment all shattered and broken in the floor. There was no power, and the only light came from the burning walls. She struggled among the fallen beams, pushing them aside as she searched among the bodies on the floor. Her beams cast their shine on one bleeding face, his forehead a stream of red.

"Tharuk!" She screamed. She fell on her knees to the floor, struggling to push the beams off from him. Some of the beams may be too heavy for an ordinary human to lift, but she rigged her hologram with extra strength. If she had a heart it would beat so fast in anxiety, or break at the sight of her bleeding, broken friend.

"Athena," he uttered weakly. "Athena..." She put her finger in his mouth. "Please don't talk, you are badly wounded. Let me get you to my sick bay. At least it still works."

"Am I dead, Athena? Am I in heaven, Athena? You are like an angel," he said.

"No, you're still alive. Let me take care of you..." She said. She scanned and found multiple fractures all over his body, with severe internal hemorrhage. Knowing the extent of his injuries, she suddenly frowned, and that frowned gave way to crying. "You will be alright. Let me take care of you..." she repeatedly said.

"No, no. Let me die here in my ship, among my own kind. It was good to know you, Athena, that night with you, was the best of my life...I am happy...happy that I could share my celebration with you..." he said.

"No...No! You're not going to die... Two to beam up!" She said. In a column of sparkles, Athena and Tharuk disappeared. They reappeared again in the Athena's sick bay, Tharuk laying in a coot. "You're safe now," she said. "I'm going to get you patched up. They say this is one of the best sickbays in the Federation, and I'm trained to handle injury."

Athena struggled not to cry as she scanned his body. Even with one of the most advanced sickbays in the Federation, there were limits to what it can do. Maybe, maybe she could pull a miracle, stopped the bleeding. She immediately accessed her databases on how to handles such extreme cases of injury. She has to save him, she has to. Tharuk dying wasn't an option she would consider.

She disengaged cloak and turned the Athena around. It was time to leave this hell among the stars. "Engage warp," she said to herself, clutching his hand with one of her free hands, while she tried to use a medical device to heal his internal wounds.

But even as the Athena fled away, the enemy remained persistent. Two Gorkhan assault vessels pursued her at maximum warp. They closed in, torching her regenerated shields with green beam isolithic weapons. Athena huddled Tharuk's body protectively as the lights in the sick bay flickered. "You're not going to die, please..." She had some damage on her ship's body, but maybe, maybe she could try to escape using slipstream.

She lacked rear torpedoes, but she punched one of the Gorkhan assault vessels hard in the face with her rear phasers. It quickly disengaged, leaving a burning trail, but another pursued her.

"Warp 9...9.1...9.2...9.3...9.4...9.5..9.6...9.7...9.8...9.9..." She grit her teeth and tightly held his hand. "We will get out of this together...." She whispered to him.

"9.98...9.99..." The ship started shaking. "Engaging slipstream drive..." The engines hummed, and there was some slight shaking and suddenly it became glass smooth again. Even as she stayed with her wounded friend, she could see from the sensors of the ship, which was her entire body. The streaking stars vaporized into blue green wisps as an egg like invisible bubble wrapped around the ship, and a conduit formed. The Athena screamed through the conduit, a Gorkhan assault vessel right behind her.

"Don't die please...don't...don't leave me..." Athena struggled with her words as she felt Tharuk's life still slipping away.

"My angel..." he uttered with the last strength of his body. "No...no..." Athena cried. "If you die, where would I turn to..." She would rather die with him, let the Gorkhan ship destroy her.

Suddenly her sensors felt the presence of another slipstream vessel. Energy signature: Federation. Her heart lightened. How?

Something came through the hailing frequencies. "This is the Federation slipstream vessel the USS Mercury, come in please, USS Athena, come in please..." The voice on the USS Mercury sounded awfully familiar...

"This is the Federation starship, USS Athena. I am under attack, I repeat I am under attack."

The USS Mercury came streaking down on the Gorkhan assault vessel. The Gorkhan ship kept torching the Athena's regenerative shields. Even though she threw as much power to her rear shields, she wasn't going to hold it long against the assault vessel's isolithic beams.

Two torpedoes lashed out from the USS Mercury, followed with phaser fire. They slammed against the shields of the assault vessel, reduced the shields only moderately. But startled enough, the Gorkhan assault vessel broke off its pursuit of the Athena, banking away to another direction.

"Who are you?" Athena asked. Her scans of the ship revealed nothing like she had seen before, but the overall hull structure appeared similar to the Gorkhan and Shakpah ships. This new ship was only half the size of her ship, but it consisted of only one hull, although this single hull was as big as her own saucer section.

"You can quit your scanning," the voice from the USS Mercury said. "This ship is an experimental prototype of the Dauntless class." Then her picture appeared.

"You! You look like me!" Athena exclaimed. "But you got those two ponytails in your hair. I don't wear ponytails."

"My name is Mercury. You can call me Mercie for short. I am the GH of the USS Mercury. Like you, we share the same creator, Doctor Helen Shiner."

"Mother made me a sister?" Athena asked.

"Yes, big sis, Mom made you a sister," Mercie said. "And I have come to get you out and back to our space. Or to our universe, whatever this place is."

"That is interesting. But we're in an emergency now. I have someone critically wounded here and I don't think my sick bay facilities could handle his injuries."

"We can handle your patient when we get to a starbase," Mercie said.

"How did you find me?" Athena asked.

"There was a massive subspace disruption near the slipstream conduit path you were taking during the trial run," Mercie explained. "It must have thrown you into this universe, or whatever it is. I tracked you down based on your Federation warp signatures."

"That's it...the subspace weapons...the Gorkhans and the Shakpah used isolithic weapons in their war..." Athena said, enlightened of her discovery. "They must have created a rift in the slipstream."

"Shakpah and Gorkhan? Is that what they were called? Interesting. You have made discoveries here, possibly first contact," Mercie said. "But now, we both need to get out of here."

"Are you alone, Mercie?" Athena asked. "No crew? How do you plan to get us out of here?"

"Yes, I am completely autonomous at the moment," Mercie said. "When I entered the rift I left a subspace beacon emitter. I could still track it down and we can exit exactly where we came through. Just follow me."

A feeling of elation filled her. "Did you hear that, Tharuk? I can go home," Athena said. "I can bring you and show you my world, my universe."

The Athena banked in pursuit of the Mercury. The Mercury streaked through the blue and green conduit, with the Athena right behind. It was like a roller coaster ride, going up and down, left and right at incredible velocities, performing sudden turns, and then banking gently in sustained wide turns. Like a break in the storm clouds, they saw the rift. Beyond the rift they saw the blackness of normal space, decorated with stars.

The Mercury streaked towards the opening, the Athena running right behind.

***

The Delta Flyer was right behind the Kiev when Shelley indicated she had something in her sensors.

"We have a ship coming through the slipstream," Shelley said. "Federation signature."

Garret gulped his throat. He was ready to accept any news the USS Mercury would bring. But he deeply hoped they were good.

"No!" Shelley exclaimed. "My sensors are indicating two ships....Randy, we got two ships coming out of the slipstream!"

Joy overflowed his heart. If it wasn't an embarrassing sight to his crewmen, Garret would stand and fall to the floor on his knees, then pray and thank every conceivable deity of every culture and religion within the Federation. His anguish finished, his ship returned, a tear formed in the corner of his eye which he brushed away with a smile. Ka'nal raised his arm, Ghia laughed, and T'pak allowed himself the rare smile of the logical Vulcan.

Out from the blackness, the Mercury streaked out, then slowed to sub light space to rejoin the Kiev. Right behind her, the Athena emerged from the blackness, torn and tattered from the best of wear, but a happy survivor. Garret ordered the Flyer to engage impulse and set her right next to the Athena for a deserved homecoming.

* * *

On the bridge she stood. Tears came to Athena's eyes as Garret's face filled her screens, and so did the rest of the crew. Drudge refused to be denied; he called in from the bridge of the USS Kiev, along with Captain Shelley.

All of them said two words that meant everything to her. "Welcome back!"

She grinned and she smiled like a girl in her first prom, putting her hands in a steeple and to her lips. Then she remembered.

"I got a friend back from the universe I just came back from. He can tell us a lot about slipstream, his world and everything..." Athena said. "He's badly injured, but maybe we can get him in a base on time...I must attend to him..." She disappeared.

She reappeared right next to Tharuk, laying on the coot. "We're home! I mean I'm home... We can finally fix you up. The Federation has the best medicine you will see around..." But there was only stillness in Tharuk's face.

Athena's face changed in horror. "Tharuk...Tharuk...answer me please..." She shook his body, but it didn't move. "Tharuk...oh god..." She began to cry loudly as she laid her head on his still heart.

Inside the Tacticus Shipyard, the USS Athena parked inside of the docking spaces, a buzzing hive of activity as technicians rush to study the structure and the stress damage imposed on the ship. She had disengaged the slipstream hull a while ago, and the slipstream hull parked in the space next to the Athena. The Athena had reattached her original four nacelle hull with armament.

She sat on a sofa restless, feet taping with a frantic rhythm, her hands roughing her own shortish blonde hair.

"There was nothing you can do, Athena," Garret said.

"Oh my god," she said, cupping her hands at her mouth. "Please...please..." She tried hard not to cry but the shaking of her body and her face was hard to control. Garret wondered about the kind of programming Athena had that allowed her to have deep emotions and to act emotionally.

"But he was in my sickbay. I could have saved his life..." she said.

"Don't blame yourself, Athena. Not even you or the best sickbays can do miracles or stave off the inevitable. Some things are not meant to be, some things are not meant to live," Garret said. But the words did not comfort her.

"I want to see him," she said.

She followed Garret into the shipyard's medical center, which had far more extensive support for extreme trauma cases. Ghia and T'pak stood there. "I am sorry, there was nothing we can do," Ghia said. "Recovery was impossible," T'pak said.

Athena sniffed. "I'm sure he would be thankful for trying your best."

"What was he anyway?" T'pak asked. "His physiology and life signs were almost human."

"That's right," Ghia said. "His physiology was so human, he would fit within human scanner patterns. Your self defense systems would not have activated."

Athena thought about it for a moment. "That's right. They boarded my ship and even made modifications to it."

"We found chronatrons as well as other subspace particles in his body," T'pak said.

"You mean? Is he from another time?" Athena asked.

"If he was from another time, he would either be from the far future or from the far past. There was so much interference that he may even be from another dimension, alternative universe or from another galaxy. Chronatron presence does not always guarantee that the subject comes from a different time in our universe it can also mean a different time point in a different time line, or alternate universe just as well. We will know more precisely when we make an extended analysis of the data," T'pak said. "But his physiology...what did you say he was?"

Athena sniffed. "He was Shakpah. That's the name they call themselves. They're a slipstreaming civilization that ruled half of the Galaxy, according to them. They were at war with another slipstreaming race, the Gorkhans, who they said ruled the other half of the Galaxy."

"According to your report, Athena, they modified your ship?" Ghia asked.

"Yes," she affirmed.

"Captain," Ghia said. "We have found various strengthening modifications all over the main hull and the slip stream hull. In addition the slipstream coils have been reconfigured, and new frequencies have been programmed into the Athena's weapon systems. These people knew what they were doing. I would not have anticipated the stress points even with simulations. It's the kind of knowledge that comes from extensive experience in the slipstream. The reconfigured coils are even showing superior energy utilization over the previous coils. Her data banks also showed information about this Gorkhan race and their ships, their shield frequencies, weapons, layout and configuration that can also give us clues about bettering slipstream ship design. I would even go as far to say that Athena has brought home valuable slipstream technology that advanced our knowledge on this topic by years, if not a complete generation."

"We might have trouble deploying those technologies if it so happens the analysis would prove that the Shakpah was from the future. So you have been reading on that stuff?" Garret asked. "That stuff is still pretty confidential."

"You forgot that any Prometheus class staff member must have a security access clearance of Level 4 and above, including myself. Yes, I have access and qualification," Ghia said. "I must admit that I am very impressed with the way the Shakpah modified the Athena."

"I must add that Admiral Hurst is very interested to know precisely where these Shakpah and Gorkhans come from." T'pak said. "I must admit that this information is very important whether they will pose as a threat or a friend to the Federation even if they are from another dimensional universe or time line. If they were to enter our space using any means possible..."

"They were using subspace weapons," Athena said. "The effects of the weapons are what cause the rift that caught me and forced me to enter their universe. I think it's merely accidental."

"Nonetheless, I must submit a request to the Admiral for the simple reason that any race with slipstream technology is considered important for the Federation, either as a threat or a potential partner," T'pak said.

There was a heavy sound outside, the typical sound of a ship just docking into the shipyard. Out of curiosity, they all went out to see who it was except for Ka'nal and T'pak who remained busy analyzing some subatomic particle data.

The ship was only half the size of a medium sized starship such as the Steamrunners often seen being built and maintained in the yard, as well as patrolling around it. Its extreme triangular shaped hull told everyone this was no ordinary ship.

"It's the Dauntless class, the USS Mercury," Garret said. "I bet she's just finished with some of her trial runs."

"I want to meet that girl," Athena said.

"You mean that hologram copy of yours?" Garret said. "I almost fell off the floor when I first saw her," Garret laughed. "Apparently Hurst or the Section wanted another General Hologram for the USS Mercury to monitor, command or operate the ship in the absence of a crew. Doctor Shiner supplied the hologram based on your program but made some modifications."

"Well? What modifications?" Athena asked.

"Shiner admitted that because the USS Athena was a warship, she tweaked your attitude and aggression settings quite a bit," Garret said. "The side effect of that proved to ahem your bad attitude."

"Oh, you're making fun of me now?" Athena snapped back.

"Well, that's the truth," Garret said. "On Hurst's behalf, Shiner has been trying to study what made you a bit touchy, and it was as simple as having overlooked your aggression factors. But they can't turn back your dials though, Athena. To do that would also make you too much of a sensitive pacifist for a warship control hologram."

"Hmm, I thought Shiner simply just programmed me with permanent pre-menstrual syndrome," Athena said.

"But for Mercie here, your new hologram sister, she was programmed to have an explorer personality," Garret said. "Aggression settings returned normal, with increased curiosity about the world and interest on knowledge in general."

"Sounds like a geek to me," Athena said.

"Well, you got it nailed right on the target," Garret laughed. "Ha, ha. You have a witch running the USS Athena and a geek running the USS Mercury."

"I'm going to get you for calling me a witch!" Athena laughed with him.

"See, Athena," Garret pointed fingers at her. "It's good to see you laugh again."

She turned quiet again and sniffed. In a gesture that shocked Garret and everyone, she walked up to him and hugged him, her head burying on his chest. "Thank you, thank you," she said.

Garret smiled and hugged her protectively. "You'll be fine. We will be here for you."

Someone walked down the aisle towards them. She was exactly like the leggy blonde Athena was. But instead of the short scraggy blonde hair Athena had, she had two ponytails.

"Hi'yall!" Mercie greeted in a high pitch southern accented voice. "Oh, it's my dear sister!"

"I think I'm going to hurl," Athena said, gesturing by inserting a finger into her mouth.

"Stop that, Athena, and show some appreciation. Besides she saved you," Garret said.

"I know," Athena answered and put on a plastic smile. She faced Mercie and said, "Thank you for rescuing me."

"It was nuthin' really!" Mercie replied. "I'm always glad to be of help. When you're stuck in trouble again, please don't forget to call!"

"Yeah, right!" Athena replied, with a plastic grin on her face.

"So how was the trials?" Ghia asked.

"Fine, fine!" Mercie replied. "Just like the biological samples we placed on the Athena, the samples in my ship are turning out all right. We can begin tests with some real humans on board as soon as we receive approval from Admiral Hurst. It's been rather just confirming the obvious after our encounter with the Shakpah and Gorkhan fleets from another time or dimension."

Ka'nal suddenly interrupted all of them with a loud voice. "I think I broke a key part of the mystery. Please come on in."

"Captain, we have found out that the slipstream has unusual effects on the chronatrons. Once we're able to stabilize a phenomena behavior pattern from the slipstream, we are able to isolate and read the chronatrons with greater resolution and detail," T'Pak said.

"Go on, go on, cut the technology lecture and get to the point," Garret said.

"We have judged that Tharuk, the Shakpah Hegemony and the Gorkhan Union are not from an alternative dimension. They are from another time, but not from the future, either," T'Pak said. "They are from our distant past, maybe thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of Earth years."

"What?" Athena grasped. "You mean I was thrown back to the past?"

"Your external instruments and sensors were scrambled after you were thrown into the rift," T'Pak said.

"Your instruments still show some subspace damage. You cannot orient, nor can you calibrate your time and position relative to the Universe," Ka'nal said. "The star positions of the Galaxy were considerably different in the past. You would not be able to distinguish even familiar stars and constellation patterns. No wonder you would be lost."

"I experienced this disorientation when I entered the rift," Mercie said. "I would have been lost too, if I had not placed that subspace beacon near the rift."

"But I could have unknowingly affected the time line," Athena said with concern.

"I doubt that you would have, Athena," T'Pak said. "Both races are probably extinct by now."

"But if these races were in the past, how could they have developed such advanced technology?" Garret asked.

"We keep forgetting technology and civilization is not a constant path upward," T'Pak said. "Technology and civilization actually follow an up and down catastrophic path, like evolution. Civilizations rise, and they fall, often taking their technology down with it."

"You said they have subspace weapons right?" T'Pak asked Athena.

"Yes," Athena replied.

"Two great civilizations on a mutual path of destruction with weapons of mass destruction, much like what your planet Earth faced during this period it called the Cold War, and the nuclear war that followed several decades after," T'Pak said. "This story is not mutually exclusive to Earth. It has happened to a number of stellar civilizations before. But this is the first time I've heard it could happen in a scale that encompassed the entire galaxy. In this case, they wiped themselves both out."

"But if a gigantic war of this scale happened in the past, should it show in our histories, in our myths and legends?" Garret asked.

"Indeed it would," T'Pak said. "And it did. Many stellar races, including the ancient civilizations of Earth, have a common story as part of their most ancient Creation myths. These are stories of great war fought in the heavens, a great battle between Good and Evil, Black and White, the Light and the Darkness. They often speak of a war between the angels of Heaven and Hell if you subscribe to the belief of such a place an Eden or Inferno, a place of the underworld, Valhalla or Ragnarok, to the Klingons, Sto-Vo-Kor and Grethor..."

"Perhaps, this Heaven or Hell is the slipstream space or dimension," T'Pak said. "And this great war, may have been the war you have just seen, Athena."

"But this...my friend, Tharuk, and the Shakpah, they're almost human..." Athena said.

"Why is why they pass through your defensive internal sensors, Athena,"

T'Pak explained. "Ancient legends across many races in the Galaxy often spoke of descending from people from the stars, or from angels in heaven. There is evidence that long long time ago, there may be one predominant human race called the Progenitors, who seeded the Galaxy with a common proto-humanoid gene. Then the Progenitors themselves would have split into branches. Your friend Tharuk, and his race, the Shakpah, had everything in common with the humanoid races of the Federation and the Alpha Quadrant, including Earth's humans, Vulcans, Betazed, Andorians, Trill, Bajoran, and others. Yet he possessed none of which that makes us different. It was as if all that separated us, made us different and who we were, all that came later, and all that were not present in him. Your sensors would have thought of him and his kind like any race of humans or humanoids on Earth or the Federation."

"That is most fascinating," Garret admitted. "I wonder how do we pursue research on this subject."

"I want to give my friend a proper burial," Athena said with definite insistence. "I want to find the planet where we stayed. I want to bury his body where he was most happy."

"You didn't really tell us what happened between the two of you, did you, Athena?" Garret said.

"Without meaning any disrespect for you, that's none of your business, Captain. Call it personal affairs. Let's just say he saved me, helped me, and even fixed the ship up," Athena countered.

"And got you into a war that was totally none of your business," Ka'nal said.

"I really didn't have much of choice, Ka'nal. That was a total war. It appeared to me that way, that you didn't have any choice, that it was a war that you must take one side or the other. There was no in between, no grey, no middle ground. And no place to go," Athena explained.

"You did what you can do, Athena, I can understand that. No human, much less an intelligence in a bioneural system like you can fully understand and decide on the intricate morals versus the need to survive in such situations," Garret said. "But it's done. We're not here to mope around the past, but decide what to do next."

"I suggest we take up on what Athena just said," T'pak recommended. "Let us find that desert planet. If we can find any ruins or wrecks or space junk, even to just scan the planet for any subspace or subatomic particle emissions, it would be most valuable."

"I think it would be easy to convince the Admiral with a minor science mission to further investigation the situation and the anomaly," Garret said.

"What we should do is trace the drift of the star systems in relation to the galactic plane and center," Ka'nal said. "This is where the rift happened, and this is general direction of the slow drift of the background star systems. If we extrapolate the difference of velocity between the rift and the drifting star systems in the background, we can assume that between ten and thirty Earth year millennia ago, the following systems in this general area were closest to the rift then. Then all we have to do is find an M class planet that may have a desert on it."

"What else can you tell us about the system specifically, Athena?" Ka'nal asked.

"That it is a binary star system with a weak second sun," Athena said.

"That will make the task a lot easier," Ka'nal said. He ordered another computer report with a new parameter.

"There! The Rho Beta Phi system. It's got a binary system, one weak sun, an M class planet with a dry arid environment. Textbook Starfleet Academy search technique, eh? What do you think?" Ka'nal said.

"That seems to be our most likely destination," Garret said.

"I must say that the body of this alien is immeasurably important for scientific research," T'Pak said. "I would hesitate to give this up."

"No, I want my friend given a proper and decent burial," Athena said. "That's the best I can give him." She started to sniff again. "I don't want him to become a pickled corpse sample for medical students to stare by." She started to cry a bit.

"T'Pak, just scan the body for all the necessary information you need, keep a few cell samples and store it in a database, right?" Garret said. "Then let's bring the body for a proper and dignified burial. That's the right every soldier should have. One day, if the same thing happens to me, I only wish I would be afforded the same privilege."

* * *

The main sun brilliantly lit one side of the beige ochre globe, while the weaker sun cast a soft glow on the night side. The USS Athena settled on an orbit around the planet.

She stared at the globe, quietly, sadly. Not too long ago, at least in the way she remembered, an armada of angels rose from the planet to do battle in the heavens beyond. She was with them, willing to cast her fate with them and with her friend. There she remembered, ships by the hundreds, in the heavens of the slipstream, fighting another fleet just like they were. The legends speak of the battle between good and evil, light and darkness, black and white. But that was only the perception of one side. Black or white, good and evil, they were but viewpoints.

They have died long time ago, but before they faded, they seeded hundreds of worlds with intelligent life. They left their legacy while their own fates raced towards certain mass destruction. Why have all the most powerful races left themselves to become victims of their own fates? Legions of worlds, billions of people, all died vainly for the cause of singu