Danny Amor's Online Library/Danny Amor's Online Library - Volume 1.iso/html/startrek/old-incomplete/gracie.stories

Text File | 1995-08-20 | 194KB | 3,510 lines

Path: tivoli.tivoli.com!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!msunews!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!nntp.brisnet.org.au!softtech!au!org!brisnet!closer!william.gracie
~From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
~Date: 09 Jan 95 15:28:24
~Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
~Subject: DS9-altered shadow arc: bashir-(1)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
~Lines: 125
~Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:4322

                 THE TWIN DILEMMA
                 ****************
                        BY
                 Raymond N. Cooper



   Quark's.  The place where people of all different races meet.  The place on
the edge of the wormhole in Bajoran space.  The place where you can buy
anything, or anyone.  The place where a girl in Starfleet uniform sat staring
at Quark.
   The intenseness of the girl's gaze upset Quark.  He was used to being
harrassed by males, and usually strong ones at that.  Females were another
thing altogether.
   Actually, Quark hadn't quite gotten over the sight of dressed females. In
Ferengi culture, a female wasn't allowed to hold any important position,nor
leave the house, nor wear clothes.  If one was leaving the Homeworld for the
first time, it was very possible that you could pass out with the audacity of
other culture's females having the presumption to wear clothes.
   Quark found it quaint.  A female in clothing actually gave him a feeling he
hadn't felt in years.  He would rub his ears while imagining some exotic female
stripping off for him...
   A slight moan escaping his lips brought him back to awareness: he WAS
rubbing his ear.  And the sensations produced...!
   The girl still stared at him.  She seemed to be seeing a ghost somewhere in
Quark's general direction.  He looked behind him, to see if she was looking at
anyone else.  She wasn't.
   The Ferengi Barkeep sauntered up to the girl, and leaned on the table. "So,
are you ready to order?" he asked.
   The girl jumped, realising he was speaking to her.  "Um, no.  I've got some
advice, though, if you want to stay in business for a long time."
   Oh, that would be right, Quark thought to himself.  Some brat who thinks she
knows better about how to do business than Quark, a master businessman.
   "Oh?  Do tell," he smirked, sitting down.  This was going to be fun.
   "Go for a holiday in seven years time," was all she said before she got up
and left.
   Quark sat staring at the table for a full minute, realised that thinking
about the girl's statement meant he was losing profits, and shuffled back to
the bar.
   But the advice came back to him over the next several days.
                         ******
   Doctor Julian Bashir, Chief Medical Officer of DS9, the ninth in the Deep
Space Station series, sat in on the daily meeting in the commander's office.
Major Kira Nerys, a rather good-looking Bajoran woman, had just returned from
two weeks on Bajor, searching for clues.
   "You say the... entity, for want of a better word, has visited these five
Vedeks in different guises?  Every time?" the commander, Benjamin Sisko
said,disbelieving his second-in-command.
   "I didn't say that," the Major retorted hotly.  "I just said that several
had seen different ones.  I think they may have been capitalizing on the
subject of 'communing' with the prophets.  Vedek's Bareil and Visa have
reported seeing the same entity, warning them of danger to come from above.
Bareil said it was ambiguous to whatever the warning was about, just that it
had emphasized the 'above' bit."
   "And its description?" asked Jadzia Dax, the science officer.
   Kira breathed in deeply.  "The clothing was different, but the entity was
the same as the one I met in... where ever.  I think she may still be in this
sector.  At least, she's still got to be in Bajoran space.  Visa contacted me
about an hour ago, saying she had seen the Prophets again."
   "Did Visa mention if the entity had said anything else?"
   "Yes, commander, she did.  The... girl had talked about needing help.  I
think that was supposed to get to us.  Whatever is out there, it wants to do
things to us.  Why, I can't imagine.  I got the idea, though, when she was with
me, That she couldn't..., um, interfere is the best word I can find to describe
it.  She didn't want to do much, but she gave big hints.  She told Bashir that
my other self was still alive.  She stayed back at Quarks.  She told me that
going after the Borg was suicidal, and that I was supposed to help the doctor
get myself to the Infirmary.  She loves to help out."
   Dax spoke up.  "Benjamin, I believe that the energy has increased again. It
did this just before Kira was abducted.  I... think it could happen again."
   Sisko looked around at his senior staff.  "I want to know the moment that
anything strange happens on this station.  We'll take in no new ships that want
to dock.  We're going to prepare for a war.  Chief, I want you to ready the
Defiant, in case it is needed.  I also recommend you all get as much rest as
you possibly can in the next few days.  There may be a time when I cannot
afford to let you rest."  He looked around them all.  "Dismissed."  He swung
his chair around to stare out at the stars.
   After the others had left the room, Dax stayed back, and gazed silently at
her old friend's back.
   "Benjamin," she started, "if this ends up at Starfleet - the decisions, I
mean - I'll back you one hundred percent."
   "Thanks, old man," the dark skinned man replied.  "I don't think it'll go
that far, though."
   Dax sensed something was up.  She moved to his back, and watched a tear
rolled down his cheek.  He sniffed.  Dax began massaging his tensed neck and
shoulder muscles, relaxing them.  "What's on your mind, Benjamin?" she said
softly.
   Sisko sniffed again.  "I've been thinking.  These... things caused Kira to
see a part of her life that hurt, a time that hasn't happened yet.  What does
that mean for the rest of us?"
   "How do you mean?"
   "I mean - well, what's the most painful memory you have?"
   Dax thought back through over three hundred years of memories.  "It would
have to be with Curzon, thinking I may not survive to my next host.  I... had
gotten sick recently, and... there wasn't a very good chance that I would have
made it to Jadzia.  But our combined immune system helped me.  That... hurt.  I
could have killed this host.  Then I'd have never seen you again."
   "I never knew you were sick old man."
   Dax smiled.  "Not here," and she touched her body, "but here," and she
pointed at her head.  "I thought I was going to die, I was getting old.  I've
heard since that this affects few trill symbionts, but it does happen to
others.  We think we're too old to go on, and our bodies begin to break down.
Jadzia's body helped me, because it was young, and healthy.  I...got better.
All I needed to do was to change host."
   Sisko was puzzled.  "That doesn't sound so painful."
   "It's not the fact that I got sick at all, just that I... think I may have
killed Curzon.  My illness began to affect him to the point where he aged quite
dramatically."  Jadzia lowered her head.  "I always tell myself that I had
nothing to do with Curzon's death, but it doesn't work."
   The commander smiled.  "It almost sounded like you were talking about a
different person then, old man."



Please note that, while some of the characters in this story are copyrighted
(c) to Paramount Pictures, the rest (i.e. Sasha Wren, the shadows, and several
others) are my own, as is the storyline, and several of the locations.  They
are copyrighted (c) to Raymond N. Cooper.  This story may be sent to the Gamma
Quadrant for all I care, just leave the copyright stuff, my name as author's,
and my address (Down below) attached to it.

Raymond N. Cooper
17 Belton crt
BEERWAH QLD 4519
Australia

Path: tivoli.tivoli.com!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!msunews!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!nntp.brisnet.org.au!softtech!au!org!brisnet!closer!william.gracie
~From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
~Date: 09 Jan 95 15:29:14
~Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
~Subject: DS9-altered shadow arc:bashir-(2)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
~Lines: 123
~Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:4323

   The Twin Dilemma (pt2)
   by Raymond Cooper


   Jadzia frowned slightly, and placed her hand on her abdomen.  "What's your
most painful memory then, Benjamin?"
   Sisko lowered his head.  "The Battle of Wolf 359.  Where I lost Jen.  We...
were thinking of having another child.  Then the Saratoga was ordered to Wolf
359, and she died, and all our plans were lost..."  Another tear etched a trail
along his face.  Dax's arm curled around his shoulder.
   "That must be painful for you, knowing you too will die at the hands of the
Borg.  I mean, Kira's story..."
   "Not will die, MAY die.  Kira said that was only a possible
future,remember."
   Dax knew that Kira had only said may because she saw so many of the crew
dead.  People she knew,  And now she had to forget.  Or else she would go
insane.
   "It's been six years now, and I still can't forget her, or deal with her
death.  Jake has nearly forgotten her.  I can't.  I still see her lying on the
floor, pinned under that pylon.  I saw the tricorder.  He was wrong.  There
were life signs.  He lied."
   "The lieutenant?" Dax queried quietly.
   "Yes.  There was a flicker on the alpha and beta wavelengths.  She wasn't
long clinically dead, she could have been revived."
   "Why are you telling me all this, Benjamin?"
   "It's my most painful memory.  Knowing she still lived, and I had to leave
her there.  Knowing if I had had another ten seconds, I could have saved her."
   Jadzia looked at him sternly.  "You have to deal with it Benjamin.  If you
need help with that, I'll do anything I can to oblige, you know that."
   Sisko looked up into his old mentor-turned-friend Dax's face.  Underneath
his natural dark skin colouring, his face had gone white.  "I've seen her!" he
whispered fiercely.  "On the Promenade, in my quarters, in here, in Ops! She's
getting closer.  She's more tangible every time I see her.  She's in the corner
of my eye at the moment -"
   Dax whirled around, and caught a glimpse of something... faded, like a
shadow from someone's memory...
                           ******

   Kira sat on her bed, staring into a picture of Bashir.  His face was creased
in a large smile.  In the future, it had seemed like there was something going
on between them.  If there was, when would she set future history on its track,
and make the first move?  Or would it be Bashir?  That girl would know.  Kira
had seen her future.  She had tasted the thrill of the combat to come, albeit
too briefly.  Kira needed to know desperately.
   The computer pinged softly.  "Incoming message from Bajor."
   "On screen," Kira muttered, straightening her hair.  If it was Bareil -
   "Greetings, Kira Nerys," the face of Kai Winn said to her.
   "Kai Winn, how lovely to see you again.  And so soon after my last visit."
   Winn looked uncomfortable.  She had given Kira enough reason to hate her,she
expected that.  But for some reason, Vedek Bareil and Kira had been doing their
utmost to help her.  With Bareil, the assistance was whole-heartedly. With
Kira, it was less, but still, it was assistance.
   "I have something to tell you," Winn said slowly, not sure of how to pass on
the message given to her.  Kira waited, her hands tapping out some rythym.
"I... met one of the Prophets, a girl, dressed in flowing white robes.  She had
brown hair, shoulder length.  She said to tell you her description, that it was
important to you."
   Kira held her breath; that was the girl she had met in the future.
   "What did she say?" the Major demanded.
   "She said... she would be back."
   "When?"
   The Kai fidgited.  "She didn't say."
   "What for?"
   "She didn't say."
   "Why did she talk to you, and not to me?"
   "She didn't say!  She just told me to tell you she would be back.  I got the
impression of sooner rather than later."  Winn closed the link.
   Kira lay back on her bed before tapping her comm badge.
   "Kira to Sisko."
   There was a pause.  "Sisko here.  What is it Major?"
   "I've just had a message..."
                              ******
   Bashir entered Quark's, and looked around.  No Cardassian.  Damn.  He found
a table where no one was sitting, and ordered a drink.  He looked up into the
most beautiful eyes he had ever seen.
   "Um...Dax!  What a lovely surprise!  Would you like a drink?"
   The lieutenant shook her head.  "I have a favour to ask you, Julian."
   Julian nodded.  His drink arrived, and he took a sip.
   "I think that entity might be going after the commander next.  He said that
his wife had appeared to him several times lately.  I even saw her, or what
seems to be her.  I would just like you to keep an eye on him.  He's going
fishing in holosuite one."
   As Dax spoke, the commander appeared, walked to the bar stiffly, then
climbed the stairs to holosuite three.
   "I must have made a mistake.  It appears he is going to holosuite three. I'm
going up there to talk to him.  I'd like you to keep an eye on both of us.
Just in case, you understand."
   "I... understand."  In fact, the doctor had been lost at the mention of
Sisko's wife.  He knew about her, sure, everyone did.  But what did she have to
do with the strange energy that had been detected around the station recently,
and the appearance of a mysterious girl, and Kira's experience? Sure, the
energy had been detected at Wolf 359 during the battle, just before the
Saratoga was put out of the battle, but what could that have to do with Sisko's
wife?
   Reluctantly, he climbed the stairs.  Dax walked in front of him, swaying her
hips virtually in his face.  Bashir admitted he rather enjoyed it, but for the
sake of remaining respectable, he waited until Jadzia had climbed to the top
before he continued.  Dax stood at the top, waiting for him to get to her.
When he arrived, she tapped in a simulation code, the door opened, and Dax
entered; Bashir followed.  Inside was a large green paddock, trees rising up
from the ground, flowers in full blossom, birds twittering somewhere nearby.
Bashir glanced around, looking for the commander, but he was no where to be
seen.  Kira, on the other hand, was.  She was stretched out on the grass,
wearing a one piece pair of swim wear.
   Something was wrong here.  Bashir turned back to Dax, and saw her unzipping
her uniform, revealing a rather stunning green bikini.
   "What do you think, Julian?" she asked, a coy smile on her lips.
   "Uh... um... green is certainly your colour," he admitted.
   Kira patted the grass next to her, and Dax pulled the doctor over to the
Major.  "Welcome to program 67 BBA-1, doctor," Kira murmured sexily, at
least,as sexily as her voice could manage.  "I hope you enjoy it," she added.

Please note that, while some of the characters in this story are copyrighted
(c) to Paramount Pictures, the rest (i.e. Sasha Wren, the shadows, and several
others) are my own, as is the storyline, and several of the locations.  They
are copyrighted (c) to Raymond N. Cooper.  This story may be sent to the Gamma
Quadrant for all I care, just leave the copyright stuff, my name as author's,
and my address (Down below) attached to it.

Raymond N. Cooper
17 Belton crt
BEERWAH QLD 4519
Australia

Path: tivoli.tivoli.com!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!news.sprintlink.net!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!uwm.edu!msunews!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!nntp.brisnet.org.au!softtech!au!org!brisnet!closer!william.gracie
~From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
~Date: 09 Jan 95 15:29:48
~Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
~Subject: DS9-altered shadow arc:bashir-(3)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
~Lines: 119
~Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:4324

   The Twin Dilemma (pt3)
   by Raymond Cooper

   "Ah, yes, Major.  I do.  I think."  Bashir grew tongue tied.
   "And it's not Major here, Julian, it's just Nerys."
   "And Jadzia," Dax added.
   Okay, thought Bashir.  I'll wake up now.
   And he did.
   Thank the Prophets! he thought, grinning at the use of the Bajoran Gods. A
soft moan from next to him startled him greatly.  He always slept alone. Well,
not always, but a lot more often than he let people know.  He hadn't gone to
bed with anyone.  Who could it be?
   "Computer, lights."  A burble from the computer, and the lights flickered
on, revealing two naked bodies next to Julian's own.  The one on his left was
Kira, on his right lay Dax.  Oh boy, was he in trouble.
   Having a three way?  Bashir knew he would never agree to that.  He must've
been forced.  Dax stirred.  "Was it as good for you as it was for me?" she
asked, sleepily.
   "Um, no," Bashir groaned, realising he couldn't get out of this one easily.
"To tell the truth, I can't even remember it."
   "Kira, wake up, he can't remember."
   The Bajoran woman woke instantly.  "That true?" she asked Bashir.
   "I'm afraid so," he admitted.
   "Then we'll just have to refresh your memory..." Dax leapt on him.
   "Computer, end program. Install program DD-9X," Kira growled.  "We'll teach
you not to forget sex with us.  We'll teach you a lot of not nice things about
females, won't we, Jadzia?"
   "Oh, yes," Dax moaned in Bashir's ear.  "Yes!"
   "Cut that out!" Kira yelled, clipping Dax around an ear.  She climbed off
Bashir.  Both crouched down.  Both stared at him.  Kira's eyes shone yellow.
   "You'll never get out of here alive, unless you truly remember what
happened," Dax murmured.  Her skin began to turn a shade of grey.
   Kira raised a hand, nails flashing, nails sharpening, nails turning into
claws, fur sprouting from her hands, fur growing from ger arms, from her face.
A muzzle pushed out from her nose and mouth, teeth lengthened.
   Dax's skin continued its grey shading, then she began to melt into a puddle.
Basic appendages, such as eyes and a mouth, appeared on the blob.  Bashir
realised he was looking at a werewolf and a giant Trill symbiont.
   Kira jumped at the doctor, who dodged, and ran for his life.  The symbiont
gurgled, then gathered itself, and jumped.  It missed the human by a length of
less than a metre.  Bashir ran.
   "Computer, end program!" he yelled.
   "Holosuite protocols overridden.  Program termination impossible from the
inside."
   "Damn you, computer!  I'll get O'Brien to rip out your ODN's!"
   "Language such as that does not become a man such as yourself," a girl said.
   Bashir hardly noticed.  He was trapped in a holosuite program with some kind
of deadly canine and a blob.  Great.  Just why I use these things, he thought
as Kira pounced on him.
   "STOP!"
   The werewolf halted as it heard the voice.  It turned to face the girl.
Bashir glanced up, noticed what she looked like, and grinned.  She had a
Starfleet uniform on, a red one.  She had shoulder length brown hair.  She
looked like a goddess at this point in time.  It was the girl the Major had
described.
   "I can not allow you to harm anyone else," she said evenly.
   The werewolf changed shape, as did the symbiont.  They became grey shadows,
like something not quite there, like something from a dream.
   <<We know you believe in non-interference.  You will do nothing>>
   "You're wrong!  My RACE believes in non-interference, as do many other
non-corporeals, but I DON'T!!!!!!"  The girl raised her arms, and loosed a
lightning bolt at the two shadows.  One of the shadows, the one that had been
Kira, raised an arm, and the bolt deflected.
   <<You think you can harm us?>>
   [Amusing]
   "I don't think so," the girl muttered.  "You felt that.  Try anything else
against him, and I'll fry you."
   The Dax shadow reached down, and picked Bashir up.  [Save him]
   The girl closed her eyes.  There was a flash of light, and Bashir stood next
to her.
   "Thank you," he mumbled, fumbling for his clothes, and the tricorder he had
taken to carrying around with him.  The girl snapped her fingers, and Bashir
was dressed, his tricorder open and sucking in information.
   <<You allow him to examine you?>> the Kira shadow muttered.
   [Disrespectful.  Teach him a lesson]
   "But that's where we're different.  You think you can only ascend using
other people, but we didn't!"
   The Dax shadow interupted.  [Your people were Gods to us]
   <<We know how you ascended>>
   "Then why didn't you copy it?"
   [Failure]
   "Then you can't be ready for asccention, then."  The girl folded her arms
with a smug smile.
   [Are.  Have already achieved stage two ascendancy.  Stage three to follow]
   Bashir's tricorder was going off the scale.  The girl's energy waves were
those that the commander had found at Wolf 359!  The others were the energy
patterns that had recently been detected around the station.  Perhaps they were
caught in a war?
   "Sssh, they can hear you think.  Just.  To me, it's like you're shouting."
The girl gave him a quick grip on his arm, and said, "Do you think you can last
long enough for me to get some help for you?"
   "I don't know," Bashir glanced at the shadows.  They were conversing.
   "You'll be alright," the girl said, then she was gone.
   Bashir raised his tricorder...
                            ******

   Sasha hurried through the station, hoping to find Kira.  She was being
purposely cloaked.  She knew that the commander would be next, in fact, he
should all ready have been attacked, but Sasha had him cloaked.  The Jennifer
Shadow was following Sasha, knowing that if Kira was cloaked, and couldn't be
contacted, then Sisko would be next.  She couldn't ask Sisko yet, however.
Sasha had one more trick up her sleave.  Time travel.
   Four hours ago, Kai Winn received a strange message, and passed it on to
Major Kira Nerys, as ordered.  Sometimes, Sasha reflected, religion could have
its good points.  Non corporeals hardly ever used it, though, fearing the
retaliation of a higher non corporeal.  This time, though, was justified.


Please note that, while some of the characters in this story are copyrighted
(c) to Paramount Pictures, the rest (i.e. Sasha Wren, the shadows, and several
others) are my own, as is the storyline, and several of the locations.  They
are copyrighted (c) to Raymond N. Cooper.  This story may be sent to the Gamma
Quadrant for all I care, just leave the copyright stuff, my name as author's,
and my address (Down below) attached to it.

Raymond N. Cooper
17 Belton crt
BEERWAH QLD 4519
Australia

Path: tivoli.tivoli.com!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!news.sprintlink.net!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!uwm.edu!msunews!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!nntp.brisnet.org.au!softtech!au!org!brisnet!closer!william.gracie
~From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
~Date: 09 Jan 95 15:30:26
~Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
~Subject: DS9-ALTERED SHADOW ARC: BASHIR-(4)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
~Lines: 63
~Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:4325

   The Twin Dilemma (pt4)
   by Raymond Cooper

   Kira stalked into Quark's just after Sasha left the holosuite.  She needed
to talk to Bashir.  He may be an eager little Hrelkk, but that didn't mean he
was good to talk to.  Quark told her Bashir was in Holosuite Three, with Dax
and the commander.
   The major climbed the stairs, paused outside the door, then opened it.
   The scene inside nearly gave Kira nightmares.  Two shadows were talking,
possibly arguing, and Bashir was standing next to them with a tricorder.  He
looked up with an ecstatic look on his face.
   "You wouldn't believe the data I'm getting!" Then he remembered, and
said,"Turn the program off!  Don't let the doors close!  End it!"
   Kira slapped the reset switch.  The green paddocks disappeared, and Bashir
stood alone in the centre of the room.  When Kira finally convinced Bashir to
come out of the holosuite, he waved the tricorder around as if it was a million
bars of gold-pressed latinum.  With a great whoosh, he kissed Kira square on
the lips, then he ran off to find Dax before Kira could say a thing.
   She had to admit, she quite enjoyed it.  But not yet, she still had a
certain Vedek waiting for her on Bajor...
                           ******

   The Siskos' door chimes rang.
   "Come!"
   The door opened to reveal Dax.  She was wearing a dress, something she would
rather not do.  A Trill preferred unobtrusive clothing, something that fitted
in.  Well, Trills except Curzon.  The part of Dax that would always be Curzon
rather liked the idea of dressing up for a change.
   "Yes, Benjamin?  You said you needed to see me?"
   Sisko nodded.  Dax hadn't seen him this happy since he married Jennifer. He
hurried her inside, bringing her to the table.  He told her to sit.
   "Stay," he added.  "No peeping, now.  Jake's off at some friend's.  We'll be
alone."
   He brought out some candles, and a hot dinner: albergine stew.  Dax began to
feel uncomfortable, Jadzia even more so.  He disappeared once more.
   "This is the surprise I've been waiting to show you..." he said, holding out
a wedding ring.  But the ring was attached to a hand.  The hand was attached to
Jennifer Sisko.
   But she was dead...
   Wasn't she?

                              To Be Continued
                                    in
                            Repeat Performances




   This is the second story in this cycle.  Next is Sisko's story. Background
information on these stories may be posted sometime soon.  I'm also starting on
Sasha's world story.  Should be good.  See you soon!

Please note that, while some of the characters in this story are copyrighted
(c) to Paramount Pictures, the rest (i.e. Sasha Wren, the shadows, and several
others) are my own, as is the storyline, and several of the locations.  They
are copyrighted (c) to Raymond N. Cooper.  This story may be sent to the Gamma
Quadrant for all I care, just leave the copyright stuff, my name as author's,
and my address (Down below) attached to it.

Raymond N. Cooper
17 Belton crt
BEERWAH QLD 4519
Australia

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~From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
~Date: 09 Jan 95 15:33:14
~Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
~Subject: DS9-ALTERED SHADOW ARC: DAX-(1)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
~Lines: 118
~Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:4329

                      OF TWO MINDS... (pt1)
                      ***************

                      Yet again by
                      Raymond N. Cooper



   "For the last time, no!  I am not leaving here!  Not at all!  I haven't been
consulted on this, this isn't a decision we can make lightly!  We've been here
for so long now, and known Benjamin," here the voice softened slightly, "again
for so long now.  You knew that he would act like this when we saw that- that
thing in his office!  You knew that Benjamin would be hurt,yet you never said
anything to him, and you didn't let me say anything!  Then I thought is was for
the better, thought it would help him to face his fears,teach him to let
Jennifer go.  And I think you wanted me not to tell him quite simply because
you wanted to do this all along!" The voice rose to a screech.
   "Quieten your voice, Jadzia.  I have done nothing wrong." The voice
continued, sounding somewhat different now.  "A Trill is a combined entity,at
least, that is what we're supposed to be.  If one makes a decision, then the
other goes along with it, like it or not.  Because our consciousnesses are
working together.  We go."
   "We stay," the other voice retorted.  "This is a theoretical absurdity, and
you know it.  I shouldn't be talking to you like this, and you shouldn't be
talking to me also."
   "My point, Jadzia.  Our link is breaking down."
   Jadzia's voice became urgent.  "Dax, we can't go.  Benjamin needs us now
more than ever.  I want to stay here.  I need to stay here.  For my own well
being, if not yours and Benjamin's.  Whatever happened to your friendship?  I
thought you cared for him?"
   "Like you do, Jadzia?  We made a conscious decision never to become involved
with him when we found out about this assignment.  That was the only reason I
agreed to this posting, because Benjamin's had enough troubles in his life.
First Jennifer died, and I didn't want to replace her!  I still don't. When we
accepted his invitation to dinner the other night, I didn't want to go, but as
I had been making several important decisions lately, I thought it best that
you make at least one.  I let you do this out of your misguided feelings for
Benjamin Sisko, and looked what happened!  We nearly got killed! You nearly got
us killed!"
   Jadzia's answer was hot on the heels of Dax's argument.  "We nearly got
killed, yes.  But when has that differed from the times you nearly got me
killed?  Remember that Klaestron thing?  My extradition and execution, all out
of your love for some person's wife you couldn't leave alone?  Or how about the
times you've wanted to save Benjamin?  You have a selective memory.  And when
we were joined, you nearly killed me!  That was without even trying.  So now,
you're asking me to just walk away from something we've invested a lot of time
and energy in?  That doesn't sound like the self-centred Trill symbiont I
know."
   Dax's voice came back, rapid and cutting.  "And you think I don't know about
your feelings for Benjamin?  About how you think you could replace Jennifer?
Settle down with a ready-made family?  It doesn't work that way,girl.  It
doesn't work that way at all."
   "What's wrong with harmless fantasizing?  I have feelings for Benjamin, yes,
I won't deny that, but they are kept up here, in my mind.  They don't go
anywhere, and if they did, you'd be the first to know about it.  You feel for
Benjamin just as much as I, but in a different way.  You don't want to leave
because I like him - in my own dreams - but you want to leave because of
something else, don't you?"
   Dax laughed sourly.  "Very perceptive tonight, aren't you?  Yes, I
agree,it's not because of your feelings for him, its because of the way he
treated us that night.  I think he would do that again if the same thing
happened."
   "How do you know it will?" Jadzia asked.
   "How do you know it won't?" Dax snarled in reply.
   "Computer, lights!" Dax continued.  She dressed Jadzia's body, taking over
motor control, visuals, aurals, and olfactory.  To all intents and purposes,Dax
had hijacked Jadzia's body.  Jadzia fumed, thinking to herself that Dax did
this all the time...
                                ******

   The door into Sisko's office in Ops pinged.
   "Come in," Sisko greeted Dax warmly.  He waved at a chair, motioning for Dax
to sit down.  Dax continued to stand, but Sisko didn't notice.  He had buried
himself in work since the problem with the Jennifer shadow.  He had stopped by
occasionally to make sure Dax was comfortable, to make sure there was nothing
she wanted him to do.  Dax had remained pretty cold, and Sisko now hoped that
they could continue their friendship now.
   He had to admit to himself, he was damn embarrassed about the Jennifer
affair, but... he had lost his wife, knew she was still alive when he left,and
had not the chance to bury her, put her body to rest.  Instead, she had been
cremated when the warp core of the USS Saratoga had breached, about the same
time the Borg fired on it for the second time.
   Without burying her, Sisko hadn't been able to admit that she was dead.
Seeing Dax here, on this station, had helped him considerably, but he still
missed her.  Every time he closed his eyes, she was there.  Everytime he
travelled to Bajor, or through the wormhole, he thought he might find her. If
he did, would she remember him?  Would she still... love him?
   Sisko shook these thoughts out of his head.  Jennifer, his wife, and the
mother of his son, Jake, was dead.  The Borg had killed her, and nothing could
change that.  If he saw her, it was a lie, she was dead, a lie...
   He glanced up at Dax.  "Aren't you going to sit down, old man?" he asked
with a smile.
   Dax stared straight through him.  "I have something to say, Commander
Sisko."
   Sisko leaned back in his chair.  "Then say it, Lieutenant."
   Dax took a deep breath.  "I respectfully request a transfer to another
posting.  I wish to leave this station."
   The words hit Sisko like a punch in the stomach, and he'd plenty of them in
recent days.  "Do you know what you're saying, Dax?  You're turning away from
the greatest collection of scientific research in th known galaxy!  The
wormhole is every scientist's dream.  Thousands, possibly millions, want to
work here.  And you're giving it up?"
   Dax merely nodded her head.  "In case you haven't noticed, Commander, the
fact that the Dominion hold the other side of the wormhole doesn't inspire a
lot of confidence in most scientists."
   "Still -"
   "Still nothing.  I request a transfer.  If I have to go over your head, so
be it.  It'll be on your record that a transfer was refused, not mine."



   Please note that, while some of these characters are copyrighted (c) to
Paramount Pictures, the storyline, Sasha Wren, events, the Shadows, the
Defiant's condition, et cetera, et cetera, is copyrighted (c)  to Raymond N.
Cooper.  This story can be red shifted towards the Gamma Quadrant as long as my
name (as author, and down here), address, and these copyright details remain
here on this story...


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~From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
~Date: 09 Jan 95 15:33:50
~Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
~Subject: DS9-ALTERED SHADOW ARC: DAX-(2)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
~Lines: 113
~Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:4330

                      OF TWO MINDS... (pt2)
                      ***************

                      Yet again by
                      Raymond N. Cooper

   Sisko stood, and moved over to a window; in the distance, stars twinkled
their soft patterns of nuclear life, and Bajor twinkled with them.  From this
distance, it seemed to be a big star in the blackness of space.  He could see
Dax's reflection in patterns on the window.
   "It was... Jennifer, wasn't it?" he breathed quietly.
   "Not... exactly, Commander.  More to do with the fact that I have no
confidence in you anymore."
   "Due to Jennifer."
   "Not -"
   "Damn it, Dax!  Do you think I'm stupid?" Sisko shouted.  Even through the
soundproofed walls, the shout was clearly audible in Ops.  Dax's silence
confirmed Sisko's query.
   "All right then," he muttered.  "You'll get your transfer.  I have no idea
to where I'm going to send you, though..."
   "You could send me to..." Dax trailed off, knowing this would endanger her
chances of getting a position she wanted.  Sisko glared at her.  Jadzia broke
through for a moment.
   "Benjamin, I'm sorry about all this, I never wanted to do it, I -" Dax cut
her off.
   "Dismissed, Lieutenant."
   Dax turned on her heel, and strode away, leaving Sisko to stare out the
window...
                                ******

   "Well, now, Kai, I'll just give you something to sleep, then I'll be off."
Julian Bashir was in a cheerful mood.  Dax hadn't snapped at him, Kira was
avoiding him (although those two things he missed - at least then they were
talking to him), and the Commander hadn't wanted any miracle cures.  He could
get down to some serious research.
   Vedek Bareil had brought the Kai to DS9 a day ago, claiming she had been
attacked.  The Kai was almost hysterical with fright, moaning "They're coming!
The Prophets are coming!  And them we must fight!"  Julian had sedated her
almost immediately.
   Kira hadn't been too impressed with the fact that the Kai was on the
station, but it appeared that havng the Kai here had other priviledges - namely
a certain Vedek.
   The Kai seemed to be stable now, the cuts were healing nicely, what with
that new platelet inducer from Bajor.
   Come to think of it, the Bajorans were making a lot of new, useful things by
themselves these days.  They were recovering some of their old civilisation, at
least.  On the drawing boards was a DNA/RNA recorder/ reconstructor (at least,
that was the working title, Julian reminded himself). He bustled off into
another room.
   The Kai's eyes were open, but sagging.  She slowly succumbed to the effects
of the sedative.  As she went out, she saw greyness at the edge of her vision.
   "Prophets!" she whispered,  "Protect me!"
   <<Oh the Prophets are long gone.  We are here now>>
   [Enjoyment]
                                ******

   Kira and Bareil sat in Kira's quarters.  They had been talking for a while
now, and were getting..., well, rather anxious.  Finally, Kira couldn't contain
herself any longer, and she fell upon Bareil, who responed to her affections.
   Then Kira's comm badge beeped.
   "Sisko to senior staff, please assemble in Ops."
   Kira touched her badge.  "Kira to Sisko," she said breathlessly, "I'm rather
tied up at the moment with..., um, important matters that require urgent work.
I'll need maybe half an hour -"
   "Major!  Get to Ops - now!  Or else you can spend all the time you want with
your boyfriend - on Bajor without a job!"
   "I can wait, Nerys," Bareil assured Kira.
   "I can't," the Major grumbled - someone was going to pay!
                                ******

   In Ops, Sasha Wren sat watching the senior staff talk around the main
console.  No one had noticed her as yet.
   From the turbolift, Odo joined the group.
   "Since we're all here, I would just like to take this time to announce the
departure of one of our staff."
   Kira held her breath.  Had she arrived too late?  She knew she shouldn't
have sneaked that last kiss before leaving.
   "Dax will be leaving us - just as soon as the present crisis has passed."
   Kira let her breath out quickly, turning it into a sigh to hide her
thankfulness.
   "Now, I'd like to tell you all something.  A Romulan Warbird has been seen
heading in this general direction.  I don't think we have anything to worry
about, but if it is coming here, then, at its present speed, it will be here in
about five days time.  I want us all to be ready for any contingencies.
   "Mr. O'Brien, how stands the Defiant?"
   O'Brien looked away.  "Um, Commander, I don't think it'll be flyin' anytime
soon.  The port warp nacelle needs a complete overhaul, the shields are
down,the phasers don't work, and neither do the photon torpedoes.  It's just a
hunk of metal at the moment..."
   Sisko sighed.  "Dismissed."
   Everyone hurried away to their stations except Kira.  "Where are you
going,Major?" the Commander asked.
   Kira looked nervous.  "To... fix that thing I was telling you
about,Commander..."  She made it out of Ops in record time.
                                ******

   "This is the life, Bareil," Kira sighed.  "I could do this all day..."


                               Not the end - yet!
                               Continued in
                               Shadow Defense...




   Please note that, while some of these characters are copyrighted (c) to
Paramount Pictures, the storyline, Sasha Wren, events, the Shadows, the
Defiant's condition, et cetera, et cetera, is copyrighted (c)  to Raymond N.
Cooper.  This story can be red shifted towards the Gamma Quadrant as long as my
name (as author, and down here), address, and these copyright details remain
here on this story...


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~From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
~Date: 10 Jan 95 09:46:00
~Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
~Subject: DS9-altered shadow arc: obrien1
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
~Lines: 124
~Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:4367

                      Dark Side Of The Force (pt1)
                      **********************
                                by
                         Raymond N. Cooper



   "Bloody Starfleet engineers..."
   The mutter came from within a service hatch inside the starship USS
Defiant's port warp nacelle.  A spanner and a section of a shut-down warp coil
followed it quickly.  Chief Miles O'Brien stood up from the hatch, cursing
loudly.
   "They could've done a better job of it."  His Irish accent accompanied a lot
more cursing, complimenting it in ways O'Brien could not understand.  The
Defiant was a heap of scrap, everyone but the Commander knew it.  And it was
left up to O'Brien to fix it everytime the Commander wanted to play starship
captain against some alien species.  Usually the Dominion.
   Now it was being readied for a possible conflict between Deep Space Nine and
either a Romulan warbird, or a planetful of non-corporeal beings.  If they were
anything like Q, who used to pop in and out of the Enterprise, O'Brien's last
assignment, they would be like the Devil himself to beat.
   And it seemed like they may be.  First, they had taken Kira to the
future,then they attacked Bashir, brought Commander Sisko's wife back from the
dead,did something to Lieutenant Dax to make her request a transfer, and the
latest...!  They had an innocent Bajoran executed just to make the Security
Chief, Odo, feel bad!  Worse yet, the shadow that had been behind that had
posed as a Starfleet officer, unknown to both Major Kira and Odo at the time.
   If that wasn't enough, one of them, or one like them, to be more precise,was
trying to help the DS9 crew to stop these shadows.  She appeared and
disappeared all the time, knowing what was going on, but not doing much about
whatever was going on.
   Now, a meeting with the senior crew was being held in the ward room.  The
senior crew - without O'Brien.  He had been told to work on the Defiant, no
matter what.  And, as a matter of fact, the announcment of the meeting told him
that he was excepted from the meeting.  Great.
   He noticed a flash of red in the Jefferie's tube.  It dogded in and out of
clear sight for a moment, getting closer, closer, closer...
   The red streak resolved into the girl in red Starfleet uniform everyone had
been seeing lately.  Brown, shoulder length hair, brown eyes, incredibly good
looking... this was the girl everyone had been seeing, all right.
   O'Brien decided to ignore her, and ducked back down into the hatch.
   "Nice weather we're having, isn't it?" she asked.
   No reply.  She leaned down into the hatch.
   "I said `hi'."  Still no reply.  Sighing, she snapped her fingers,  and
O'Brien found himself outside the Defiant, out in space, with the girl with
him.
   "Don't panic," she said cheerfully.  "You're being held in an oxygen bubble.
 Breathe deeply, don't hold your breath.  Do you think I've helped everyone
else, just to kill you?"
   "I've met a Q," O'Brien muttered, risking breathing.  "I know what
non-corporeals are capable of.  I don't trust them."
   "Good, neither do I."  The girl settled down into a comfortable sitting
position.  "I think we can get on a first name basis, what do you think?"
   O'Brien nodded mutely.
   "Right, I'm Sasha.  You're Miles.  I'm cute.  You're not.  Glad we got that
settled?"
   O'Brien stared at her, wishing this girl would get on with whatever she was
doing.  He had to get back to the Defiant, after all.  One miracle was enough
for O'Brien to work on without being interupted by an N-C.
   "I won't keep you long.  I just have to tell you a couple of things.  And
the effect of appearing to Bajoran Vedek's becomes boring after a while.  My
descendants are readying an assault on you.  They want to use mental energies
to raise themselves into ascendancy into... N-C's, as you put it.
   "Do not let them provoke you.  I need time to get help for you all, I know
you'll need it.  Your Defiant won't be ready in time for transport, but I have
some... family - distant cousins, really - on the other side of the wormhole.
I'm trying to get them to come here, but its going to be a long argument. I
would like you to stay on your Defiant, and keep working on that - no matter
what.
   "The other thing is, tell your Commander that I'll be away for a short time,
perhaps a day or two.  Oh, and tell him that that Warbird will be here in one
day, not four and a half, as he seems to think."
   Sasha disappeared in a flash of light, and when O'Brien could finally see
again, he found himself in the Defiant, working on the warp coils in the port
warp nacelle...
                                ******

   "Well, people, we have three problems, as I see it."
   Commander Benjamin Sisko sat at his seat, and glanced at each of his
officers in return.  His gaze lingered on Dax for a moment, which she
caught,and returned with an icy glare.  Sisko shuddered slightly.  He didn't
know Dax could do that to anyone - before now.  Now he had proof.  She was
still holding the affair with 'Jennifer' lately.  He would have to tip-toe
around the subject then.
   "Number one," he continued.  "We have a Romulan warbird in the area.  I
don't know whether we should panic about this: there have been no other
detections of any subspace - or other - distortions, namely graviton
distortions, which led to the Warbird's discovery in the first place.  I have
O'Brien looking into how much maintainance the Defiant will need before it can
be classed battle ready.  He thinks it's hopeless.  I think he can pull off a
miracle.
   "Number two, we have our old problem with the shadows.  We don't know where
they'll strike at next, nor who at.  Constable?"
   Odo cleared what passed for a throat.  "I don't know, Commander.  All I know
is that 'Tuvok' claimed that O'Brien and... Quark," he forced the word out with
some difficulty, "were left to be... used.  Take your pick,Commander."
   Sisko hmmed.  "Number three, the Cardassians have informed us, as good
neighbours, of course, that a shuttle carrying Cardassian diplomats has been
forced off course by an unknown entity.  They have been deflected towards us,so
I suppose we can prepare for the worst.  I have no reason - as yet - to believe
that all three events may be connected."  Sisko leaned back in his chair,
waiting for comments.
   Dax answered first.  "These events may have more in common than you realise,
Commander.  I believe that the entity that has pushed that shuttle towards us
may be the very entities whose moves we are trying to guess now."
   "In that case, then, Dax," the Commander interupted, "the Warbird may have
been directed at us."
   "That would be a logical conclusion, Commander."


   Please note that, while some characters and settings are copyrighted
   to Paramount Pictures (Or whatever it is these days), the events in
   this story and some of the characters (Sasha Wren, N'Col, the N'tChells,
   the shadows, etc...) are copyrighted to me.  I don't care where this
   story gets to, just as long as I am credited as the author, this
   copyright blurb remains on here, and NO ONE FROM PARAMOUNT PINCHES MY
   STORIES!!!!!!

Raymond N. Cooper
17 Belton Crt
BEERWAH  QLD 4519
AUSTRALIA



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~From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
~Date: 10 Jan 95 09:46:46
~Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
~Subject: DS9-altered shadow arc:obrien2
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
~Lines: 124
~Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:4368

                      Dark Side Of The Force (pt2)
                      **********************
                                by
                         Raymond N. Cooper



   Sisko wished Dax would stop calling him Commander, and go back to Benjamin.
He was used to that, and used to calling Dax 'Old Man'.  He couldn't call her
that now.  Not if her transfer was something that he had in fact started.  He
needed her here, he realised.  The station wouldn't be the same without her.
Would he be able to get up every morning to face work without her?
   He thought not.
   Sisko was about to dismiss his senior staff, right up until the power in Ops
and the surrounding levels went out.  The station shook, barely effective
inertial dampers stopping the massive sideways push, making it instead a
sickening sideways shunt.  A support strut fell from the ceiling, capturing Dax
underneath it, trapping her body beneath several hundred kilograms of solid
metal.
   "Sisko to Ops!" the Commander called, tapping his comm badge.  No burble. No
sound from his comm badge at all.  The only light inside the room was star
light, from outside, and long ago.
                                ******

   The shuttlecraft moved to within four hundred metres of docking pylon four.
Jasad had no control over the small vessel now; he just hoped he wouldn't lose
his life.  He had been ordered not to go anywhere near Bajoran space, in case
the attack his Cardassian superiors were planning might fail because the
Bajoran Provisional Government had some warning.
   Again, he trien switching controls from automatic to manual.  It didn't
work.  He was really in the Gerekk this time.
   His passengers had become strangely silent, too.  That might bear
investigating - as soon as the shuttle stopped.  Just then, it did, rattling
Jasad's teeth in their sockets.  He heard - not really believing, but he heard
- the shuttle's transporter whining as it did when over loaded.  Its maximum
safe transport was nine Cardassians.  Ten was over loading the system,
straining it as it had done when the passengers were brought on board.
   He checked, and found his suspicions to be true: his passengers had beamed
somewhere.  The only place within transporter range was the old Cardassian
mining station, Terek Nor.
   Jasad corrected himself.  Deep Space Nine.
                                ******

   Jake Sisko walked around the Promenade of DS9, following an incredibly good
looking young woman.  She looked Bajoran in some lights, Vulcan in other,and
she even had the Trill spotting around her temples and neck!  A really mixed
breed, but it turned Jake on.
   She glanced back at him for about the twentieth time in a minute, making
sure he was still following her, then ducked into a turbolift, and held the
door.
   "Do you want a ride?" she called out to Jake.  He hurried into the
turbolift.  Before the door could shut, however, it was ripped out of its
sliders by a Cardassian, and an angry one at that.  The girl pulled Jake down
to the ground, dodging a fist by centimetres.  Both young people felt wind
whistle past their heads, and they felt through the floor rather than heard the
fist connect with the rear wall.  Jake grabbed the girl (whose skin felt rather
dry and crinkly, Jake noted), and pulled her out of the turbolift.
   Outside, three other Cardassians that Jake could see were ripping into the
Promenade.  Garak's shop's front  window was smashed, and the little tailor
beaten sensless when he tried to defend his wares.  Quark was on hand,
literally throwing latinum at mercenaries to fight to defend his bar. And no
security officers came to stop the rucus.
   That seemed, to Jake, the strangest thing of all.  At the very least, Odo
should be here, throwing Cardassians around.  Then his world turned upside down
as the girl took hold of him, saving him from being squashed by the turbolift
door.
   They ducked into a service tunnel, exposed in the battle.  They watched with
bated breath, to see who would win.  Neither wanted to leave.  Neither did.
   A Cardassian batted a pipe at an exterior porthole on the upper level
repeatedly.  The material shattered, drawing a hapless Bajoran shopkeeper out
into space as the air in the Promenade shot out through the hole.  Jake felt
himself drawn to the hole, until he felt the girl's fingers tighten around his
forearm.  Claws sprung out of her skin, which was splitting off,much like a
snake's when its skin is too small for it.  The girl seemed to be a
shapeshifter, but Jake didn't care.  By then, he had been hit on the head by a
piece of loose metal.  He wouldn't worry about anything for a little while.
   Emergency containment procedures sprang into place, sealing off the hole
with a forcefield.  Cardassian quick hard-drying foam covered the hole, filling
it in, while atmospheric generators churned new gases into the Promenade.
                                ******

   Miles O'Brien heard alarms go off on one of his devices.  He glanced out a
nearby porthole, and caught a glimpse of gases spurting out from the Promenade.
 Around the gas were several figures, all gesturing wildly.
   Racing to the Defiant's transporter room, O'Brien scanned for life forms.
There were several, but fading rapidly.  He programmed quick general
co-ordinates into the transporter, and wished for a miracle.  It came true.
Four life forms materialized on the pad, all lying on the floor.
   After a rush job of transporting them back to the Infirmary, O'Brien set the
co-ordinates for the school, quite close to the affected section of the
Promenade.  He leaped into the the transporter beam, not knowing what to
expect.  He knew very well that his wife, Keiko, and his daughter, Molly,would
most likely be safe from any depressurisation.  God knew the Cardassians
weren't very good with prisoners, nor had very good manners, and didn't have
the slightest notion of the words 'user-friendly', but when it came to
emergency procedures, the Cardassians were second to none.  A breach of the
atmospheric bubble, and forcefields sprung into life while foam filled the
breach.  It may have taken half a minute, and several lives may have been lost,
but the structure held.
   Most likely, his wife and daughter would be all right, and waiting for
him,or for anybody to come along, and tell them it was safe.
   Most likely.
   The transporter beam faded from around O'Brien, as he came to his senses in
the classroom his wife ran.  Yes, his wife and daughter were safe in here, he
knew he was right.  But Keiko was looking at him with horror.
   Not at him, but behind him... O'Brien realised, as the hundred-plus kilogram
weight of a Cardassian smashed him into a wall...
                                ******


   Please note that, while some characters and settings are copyrighted
   to Paramount Pictures (Or whatever it is these days), the events in
   this story and some of the characters (Sasha Wren, N'Col, the N'tChells,
   the shadows, etc...) are copyrighted to me.  I don't care where this
   story gets to, just as long as I am credited as the author, this
   copyright blurb remains on here, and NO ONE FROM PARAMOUNT PINCHES MY
   STORIES!!!!!!

Raymond N. Cooper
17 Belton Crt
BEERWAH  QLD 4519
AUSTRALIA



Path: tivoli.tivoli.com!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!uwm.edu!msunews!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!nntp.brisnet.org.au!softtech!au!org!brisnet!closer!william.gracie
~From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
~Date: 10 Jan 95 09:47:26
~Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
~Subject: DS9-altered shadow arc:obrien3
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
~Lines: 124
~Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:4369

                      Dark Side Of The Force (pt3)
                      **********************
                                by
                         Raymond N. Cooper


   Sisko determined that the beam pinning Dax down could be moved.  Not
entirely certain he could lift it, Sisko placed his hands under one end of the
metal strut, and smiled down at Dax.
   "Soon have you out," he grunted, heaving at the beam.  He glanced over at
Bashir and Odo.  "I'd appreciate a hand."
   Together, all three managed to lift the beam off Dax, and Major Kira helped
her out from under it.  Partial power came back on, just enough to charge the
communications net.
   The station-wide intercom came on, spluttering into life.
   "Fellow Bajorans, this is Kai Winn.  I thank you for your prompt sense of
justice with Jadda Mor; however, I asked you to bring him to me.  I give you
one last chance to redeem yourselves."
   "What's she up to?" Kira muttered.
   The Kai continued.  "Cardassians have invaded this station.  As forgiveness
for your earlier sins, I order you to lay down your weapons, and moved out of
their way.  You will only be harmed if you attempt to stop them from their
purpose."
   The intercom closed off.
   Sisko tapped his comm badge.  "Sisko to Ops!  What's happening?"
   A male voice came on the channel a moment later.  "Sorry, Commander, we seem
to have lost all power in this level, and the one under us.  There's no way in,
and no way out, unless a transporter from another ship can -"
   "Thank you, ensign.  What about the communicators?  Why are they working
now?"
   The ensign paused for a moment.  "We have no... idea, sir.  We didn't do
anything, except stumble around in the dark." He spoke to someone else, the
words breaking in softly into the comm channel.  "The Cardassians must have had
a secondary power supply somewhere, Jase.  Look over there."  He spoke to Sisko
again.  "Sorry sir, we're just trying to find a different power source."
   Several minutes went by, as the senior staff waited for a restoration of
power.  They needed medical equipment for Dax, and even though the station's
doctor, Julian Bashir, wqas in the room with them, he couldn't check the unique
join that Trill host and symbiont shared.  That could be irrepairably damaged
for all Bashir knew, and he wasn't going to risk a judgment on Dax that wasn't
fully backed up by a tricorder.  He cursed himself for leaving his in the
Infirmary.
   "Ensign Umhal to Commander Sisko," Sisko communicator badge pinged,startling
everyone.  "Sorry sir, we can't get the emergency power supply to work.  It's
as if someone or something was cutting the power off before it got to these
levels."
   "Okay, ensign.  We'll try to get out of here some other way.  Can you locate
security?"
   "That's the funny thing, Commander.  No security personal is answering our
calls.  Communicator breakdown?"
   Sisko pondered a moment.  "I have a way of verifying that, ensign.  I'll get
right back to you."  The channel closed, and Sisko tapped his comm badge once
more.  "Sisko to O'Brien..."
                                ******

   "Sisko to O'Brien."
   O'Brien woke to his comm badge buzzing in his ear.  He tapped it to shut it
down.  "O'Brien here."  His head felt like it was squeezed in between two
bulkhead doors, closing for decompression due to a hull breach.  He shook his
head, and immediately regretted it.  "What's up?"
   "We trapped in Ops, we have no power, and we can't locate any security
personal anywhere on the station.  Where are you?"
   O'Brien looked around, acutely aware of the pain thumping away in his head.
The classroom was still here, albeit wrecked.  He heard Keiko faintly, and
realised his hearing was fading in and out.  That Cardassian must have done
something to him, something serious.  "I'm in the school room, Commander. Do
you know there are Cardassians on the station?"
   "Yes, I'm aware of the situation, Chief.  However, we can't find any
security personel, nor can we get out of Ops.  Kai Winn has ordered all
Bajorans to lay down their weapons, and stop fighting."
   "Yeah, well, the Kai has a self-sealing stem bolt out of place, that's for
sure."  O'Brien tapped his badge, trying to remember that nice security
officer's name, the one with the cute...  "O'Brien to Manisha."
   Nothing.  He tried again.  "O'Brien to Lieutenant Manisha."  Nothing.  The
channel remained clear.  He went back to the Commander.  "I can't find any," he
groaned.  He staggered to his feet, and leaned on the nearest wall.  His
hearing buzzed back into operation, and he heard Keiko scream from around the
corner.  He peered around the corner, and saw the Cardassian that struck him
down threatening his wife and child.  His vision covered in red, and he saw no
more.  Later, he was to remember nothing, but when his vision cleared, Keiko
and Molly were hugging him, and the CArdassian lay in a puddle of blood on the
floor.  A large gash down the side of his torso dripped a reddish liquid,
staining the floor something serious.  Molly's eyes were wide open,gazing at
her father with surprise.  Keiko just hugged him.
   "How... how did that happen?" he wondered aloud.
   "You did it," Keiko whispered.  "You started... punching him and kicking
him, and you saved us.  He was going to kill us, he told us what he was going
to do, and you saved us.  He was just about to kill Molly, when you charged him
from behind, and knocked him off balance.  Then you smashed him in the jaw..."
O'Brien could feel his fists numbing, and he looked at them.  They were covered
in blood, the knuckles ripped open on Cardassian bone ridges. "...he punched
you back, but you dodged, and he went down under a flurry of punches and kicks
from you.  He didn't stand a chance."
   O'Brien began to feel pain again, his throbbing head, his numb fists.  He
felt sick to his stomach when he saw another Cardassian enter the classroom. He
was injured, bruised and bloody.
   "They did it for no reason," Garak muttered before passing out on the floor.
 O'Brien pulled him into a sitting position, and waited for medical staff to
arrive.
                                ******

   Jake Sisko sat up, and hit his head in the cramped space of a crawlway. The
girl sat next to him, tending to a large bruise he had on his head.  He noticed
blood on her clothes.
   "You're hurt," he whispered, not knowing where he was, nor caring.
   "It's not my blood, it's yours," she replied, matter-of-factly.  She wiped
his forehead with a damp cloth.  "I'll have to get you back to the Promenade
soon, or someone will begin to worry about you."


   Please note that, while some characters and settings are copyrighted
   to Paramount Pictures (Or whatever it is these days), the events in
   this story and some of the characters (Sasha Wren, N'Col, the N'tChells,
   the shadows, etc...) are copyrighted to me.  I don't care where this
   story gets to, just as long as I am credited as the author, this
   copyright blurb remains on here, and NO ONE FROM PARAMOUNT PINCHES MY
   STORIES!!!!!!

Raymond N. Cooper
17 Belton Crt
BEERWAH  QLD 4519
AUSTRALIA



Path: tivoli.tivoli.com!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!math.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!msunews!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!nntp.brisnet.org.au!softtech!au!org!brisnet!closer!william.gracie
~From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
~Date: 10 Jan 95 09:48:04
~Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
~Subject: DS9-altered shadow arc: obrien4
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
~Lines: 128
~Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:4370

                      Dark Side Of The Force (pt4)
                      **********************
                                by
                         Raymond N. Cooper



   Jake nodded, realised it hurt his head, and stopped.  "I don't even know
your name," he muttered lamely.
   "I... don't have a name as such.  You can call me N'Col.  I'm a N'tChell."
   "Nicole?"
   "Yes?"
   "What's a Nutshell?"
   Nicole grinned sadly.  "A species near extinction, due to the Dominion.
We're from the Gamma Quadrant, originally an early space power civilisation. We
were developing a Faster Than Light engine - a Hyperdirve - when the Dominion
attacked us.  We were... in deep trouble then.  Only a million of my race
managed to get off the planet, and escape into deep space.  I came here, in a
stolen Jem'Hadar shuttlecraft."
   Jake nodded again; the pain in his head was dissipating rapdily.
   "A race of shape-shifters?" he guessed, remembering the claw.
   Nicole nodded.  "Come.  I've got to take you back now." She held out a hand
to Jake, who took it hesitatingly, and she lead him out of the cramped tunnel.
                                ******

   The nine remaining Cardassian attackers suddenly dropped their assault on
DS9.  They stared around, gazing in shock at the damage they had caused,
secretly enjoying the pleasure of what they did.  Then the diplomats began to
wonder what the Union thought of this.  They didn't want an attack on Bajoran
space now - the scheduled attack may now fail!
   They were surprised when their world turned inside out, and found themselves
back on their shuttle.
   Jasad found that power and control had been restored to him, and, with
muttered apologies at the space station, he turned, and headed for Federation
space at top warp.  This wouldn't go down too well in the coming peace talks
between the Union and the Federation.  Could they claim it was the Cardassians'
version of the Marquis?
   Probably not.
                                ******

   Power was restored to Ops, givng Ensign Umhal a small scare.  He hadn't done
anything, and neither had the engineering staff on the level.  No one had been
able to determine the cause of the power failure, and everyone had been hoping
it would right itself.
   Apparently, it did.  Lights came on, the turbolift hummed into life, and
numerous consoles flickered, running through start-up routines.
   In the ward room, Sisko opened the door for Bashir.  For some reason,
although the locks had opened, the door hadn't moved.  The doctor staggered
under Dax's slight weight, and managed to bump her head on the door frame.
   "Here, let me do that for you," someone outside the door muttered.  Bashir
and Dax disappeared in a flash of light as Sasha stepped into the room.
   "Sorry I was so late in getting back here, but as O'Brien told you, I was
getting you help."  She noted the looks on everyone's faces, and groaned. "But
he didn't... did he?"
   Kira shook her head, and looked at Sisko.  "No, he didn't," he replied.
   "Did he stay on the Defiant?"
   Sisko shook his head.
   "Damn it, why do you Terrans never do what you're told?  I spend time
getting help for you all, but you can't even delay your enemies, like I told
him to!" Sasha slammed her fist into a wall, her hand passing through the solid
object.  She closed her eyes for a moment.  "Oh, sorry, I can see why he left
the Defiant.  No security?"
   Sisko nodded.  "We haven't been able to find them - any of them."
   "No wonder.  And at your level of technology, I think it's very unlikely
you'd ever find them."  Sasha waved a hand, and every security officer that had
disappeared reappeared in Ops.  "There, I've done that, now we just have to
wait a moment for our allies to get here.  I suggest we go to Ops."
                                ******

   On the shadows' home planet, far from Bajoran space, four watchers sat and
concentrated.  The effort of distance viewing was important, but taxing.  It
was easier to just travel there, but the viewing was an important teaching tool
for lower stage ascendants.  The shadows hummed a random tune, riding the
time/space continuum, seeing all there was to see on Deep Space Nine.
   A senior shadow drifted up to the group, and linked into the
mini-collective.  Images rushed through his mind, and he saw everything.  He
saw Bashir re-knitting broken bones; he saw O'Brien crying softly to himself in
guilt and shame over releasing his rage; he saw Kira in Ops, staring out a
porthole, thinking of her Bareil, waiting in her quarters for her; he saw Dax
struggling with herself, trying to find Jadzia's separate mind, the one that
had fought with her, not realising that was a shadow; he saw Odo cleaning up
the mess on the Promenade, keeping an eye on Quark while thinking about his
recent failure; he saw Sisko, biting his fist, waiting for something to
arrive...!
   What?  What was arriving?  His people had time-travelled to be here and now,
when there was enough mental energy to use for ascendancy, and they knew
everything that happened.  But this had never happened.  No help was supposed
to come to DS9, not now, not this close to full ascendancy!
   Disconnecting from the mini-collective, the senior shadow hurried
away,calling for a full meeting.  He waited until the senior shadows were
assembled, then he began to speak.
   :::We have a problem:::
   {{Speak}}
   :::The human's space station is gaining help - from outside our
perceptions:::
   <This cannot be allowed to continue.  We must attack now, in force>
   +|Negative.  We must wait and continue our ascendancy pattern.  It is much
too late for them to do anything now.  We have nothing to fear from true
corporeals|+
   The discussion continued for a minute before the original shadow halted the
conversation.  :::This is an unknown variable.  We will take steps, but we
shall also continue with planned ascension.  That takes precidence above all
else:::
                                ******

   Sasha smiled sweetly at Sisko.  He was much nicer here than in her own
world, where he had not only lost his wife to the Borg, but also his
Federation.  Nothing remained of the Federation, other than the name, and the
history books.  "They're almost here, Commander."
   She savoured his face and body, until she realised he had noticed her looks,
and was staring back at her.  She looked away, just in time to see a burst in
the tachyon and neutrino ranges.  The wormhole.


   Please note that, while some characters and settings are copyrighted
   to Paramount Pictures (Or whatever it is these days), the events in
   this story and some of the characters (Sasha Wren, N'Col, the N'tChells,
   the shadows, etc...) are copyrighted to me.  I don't care where this
   story gets to, just as long as I am credited as the author, this
   copyright blurb remains on here, and NO ONE FROM PARAMOUNT PINCHES MY
   STORIES!!!!!!

Raymond N. Cooper
17 Belton Crt
BEERWAH  QLD 4519
AUSTRALIA



Path: tivoli.tivoli.com!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!news.moneng.mei.com!uwm.edu!msunews!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!nntp.brisnet.org.au!softtech!au!org!brisnet!closer!william.gracie
~From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
~Date: 10 Jan 95 09:48:44
~Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
~Subject: DS9-altered shadow arc: obrien5
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
~Lines: 48
~Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:4371

                      Dark Side Of The Force (pt5)
                      **********************
                                by
                         Raymond N. Cooper



   "Neutrino burst, Commander - something's coming through the wormhole!"
   "Thank you, Ensign."
   The wormhole flowered into life, blues of every imaginable hue exploding
from a central point of white.  The doorway to the Gamma Quadrant was opened.
Inside, a ship took form, re-entering normal space.  It gained solidity, took
shape, mass, size.  Then it was out, and the intergalactic flower snapped shut.
   "Identify that ship, Ensign," Sisko ordered.
   The computer spat results out at Umhal.  "Mass - approximately one hundred
million metric tonnes, length - 2.451 kilometres.  Shape - cube..."
   "A Borg ship, Ensign?"
   "Aye, sir.  That's a Borg battlecube."
   Sisko turned back to look out at the cube, entering a docking orbit.
   "Raise shields!  Sound red alert, and inform Starfleet.  I want them to know
what's happening out here!  Also, inform Bajor.  They may like to know thay
have several thousand or more deadly killers on their doorstep."
   "Aye, sir.  Shields up and holding."
   Sisko turned around to Sasha, who had a wicked grin on her face.
   Her words before the explosion were: "Let's get dangerous!"


                         Is it the end for our valiant heroes?
                         Could be...
                         Check out
                          `In the Hands of the Profits' for the
                          answers!


   Please note that, while some characters and settings are copyrighted
   to Paramount Pictures (Or whatever it is these days), the events in
   this story and some of the characters (Sasha Wren, N'Col, the N'tChells,
   the shadows, etc...) are copyrighted to me.  I don't care where this
   story gets to, just as long as I am credited as the author, this
   copyright blurb remains on here, and NO ONE FROM PARAMOUNT PINCHES MY
   STORIES!!!!!!

Raymond N. Cooper
17 Belton Crt
BEERWAH  QLD 4519
AUSTRALIA



Path: tivoli.tivoli.com!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!math.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!msunews!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!nntp.brisnet.org.au!softtech!au!org!brisnet!closer!william.gracie
~From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
~Date: 10 Jan 95 09:43:14
~Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
~Subject: DS9-altered shadow arc: odo1
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
~Lines: 119
~Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:4363

                      SHADOW DEFENSE! (pt1)
                      ***************
                            BY
                     Raymond N. Cooper

   Constable Odo rested in his bucket, gently bubbling away to himself.  When
he reached the end of his rest period, out of his bucket he flowed, changing
into an upright shape.  Two legs formed, followed by arms splitting off from
the main mass, a head plopped up onto his shoulders, fingers grew out of his
hands.  Finally, his uniform filled out on his eighty-odd kilogram body.
   Sighing (a trait he picked up from solids), he reviewed his padd for
anything he should know about.  It had only been about eight hours since Sisko
had told the senior staff that a Romulan Warbird had been seen coming this way,
and, even though Sisko had said that it was several days away,things like this
had a way of preceding inside time limits.  If Romulans were coming here, they
would have agents in place, searching for things to do, to prepare for the
coming of the Warbird...
   A note of interest: the Kai claimed she had been assaulted again.  This
time, in the Infirmary, not anywhere else.  Strange, thought the
shapeshifter,The Infirmary was guarded.  Odo had seen to it himself.  Starfleet
security guards, it would have been.  They always seemed to muck things up.
With all their rules and regulations getting in the way of justice, Odo spent
more than half his time awake fixing up their mistakes.  Still, it was a
challenge.
   And Odo liked a good challenge.  He just wished that Starfleet would find
new ways to do it.
   Apparently, the Kai said it was the same person who assaulted her here as on
Bajor.  Odo didn't know what to believe by now.  Winn had originally claimed
she was attacked by grey things, the Prophets; at least, she did - when she
started making sense on DS9.  These 'grey things' were the reason Odo had
guards posted around the Infirmary.  Now, though, the Kai said she had been
attacked by a farmer from Bajor, on DS9 for a well-deserved holiday.  He had
come up on the same shuttle as the Kai.  He had enough reason to hate her: she
had stripped some on his land off of him several years ago, before the
Federation came to Bajor.  So, now two things weren't in his favour:
timing,and motive.  All circumstantial at the moment, of course - but for a
shapeshifter, a confession shouldn't be too hard.  If the man was
innocent,well, Odo would know soon enough.
   Flicking through his padd for the farmer's name, he asked the computer:
"Computer, locate Jadda Mor."
   "Identify species and occupation for gene scanning..."
   "Species: Bajoran.  Occupation: Farmer."
   "Identify occupational area..."
   Odo consulted the padd again.
   "The Teneerf area, sandstone soil composition."
   The computer burbled in reply, and sifted through massive quantities of
data.  Odo liked this new Bajoran invention.  It could track anyone on the
station - even if they didn't have a comm badge, or even if they walked around
naked!  The computer looked for use of money belonging to the person, things
like mud on their shoes, that kind of thing.  It narrowed down the band by
finding all of that species, then ran a gene test to find out if the suspect
was who had been identified.  The gene sample had been taken at the airlock,so
everyone had to give a sample.
   The system was an experiment, and only being tested on DS9.  So far, it had
worked wonders.  With it, Odo had tracked and stopped several smuggling
operations of Quarks, and two assassination attempts on senior staff.  So
far,it hadn't detected one shadow, even with all of Doctor Bashir's tricorder
readings.  He had gained quite a few, and the manufacturers on Bajor said they
could adapt the system in about three weeks (terrorist attack permitting), but
three weeks would be too long.
   The station's intercom crackled into life.
   "This is Kai Winn.  This message is to all Bajorans.  I need your help."
   There was a dramatic pause, in which Odo wondered what help a Kai could
possibly want, except a good kick in the -
   "As you know, I have been brought here to the Federation space station, Deep
Space Nine.  I was brought here to be hidden from my attacker, the one who made
an attempt on my life on Bajor.  He is here now, here among you.  His name I
shall reveal to you momentarily.  But first, I need you to bring him to me, so
he can die like the traitor to Bajor he is!  He will die, either here, in the
Infirmary, where I am, or where ever you find him, depending on whether he puts
up a fight or not.  Let no one stand in your way!  Are you with me?"  The
resounding cheer outside Odo's office, in the Promenade, was all the answer Odo
needed.  He knew what Winn was doing.  The humans called it a lynch mob.  Jadda
Mor would never get his trial, never get his chance at justice.  Jadda Mor
would very soon be dead, unless Odo did something very quickly.
   "His name, fellow Bajorans, is Jadda Mor, a farmer from Teneerf.  Find
him,bring him to me!"  The intercom shut off.
   "Jadda Mor is located in the habitat ring, section thirteen."
   Odo had never believed in human superstition, in which thirteen is regarded
as unlucky.  'Luck' was a concept Odo didn't subscribe to; matters relied more
on skill and ingenuity, both of which Odo had plenty.  In this case, he was
going to make an exception:  thirteen would be an unlucky number to Mor.
                                ******

   The pinging of her comm badge woke Kira from a deep sleep.  She regarded
Bareil, her boyfriend, with a curious gaze: he was smiling strangly at her.
   "You snore," he grinned.
   "Odo to Kira," Odo voice came from the badge.
   Kira shushed him, and touched her badge.
   "Kira here," she muttered sleepily.  "Whazzup, Odo?"
   "We're needed.  The Kai as ordered a virtual lynch mob to form, and try to
kill a possible innocent Bajoran farmer."
   Kira yawned.  "Fine.  Where'll I meet you?"
   Pause.  "Section thirteen, habitat ring.  Odo out."
   Bareil stretched, and threw Kira her uniform.
   "It's creased!  I'll have to get a new one...  where'd I put that card
thingee..."
   Kira dived under her bed.  Bareil muttered, "I don't think you have time for
this, Nerys."
   "Probably not.  But I'd hate to turn up on duty in a creased uniform.  Spoil
the image..."
   Bareil yawned.  "You mean, they might take you seriously?"
   Kira threw a pillow at him, and pulled on her creased uniform.  "Wait'll I
get back, I'll show you who you should take seriously!"
   The door opened, and the Bajoran Major was gone.
                                ******


Please note that, while some characters are copyrighted to Paramount
Pictues,the events, some of the characters and settings, and the hints are all
copyrighted (c) to Raymond N. Cooper.  This can be distributed anywhere,so long
as my name remains as author, and this copyright and address section remains
attached to it.
   Raymond Cooper
   17 Belton Crt
   BEERWAH QLD 4519
   AUSTRALIA



Path: tivoli.tivoli.com!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!msunews!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!nntp.brisnet.org.au!softtech!au!org!brisnet!closer!william.gracie
~From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
~Date: 10 Jan 95 09:44:04
~Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
~Subject: DS9-altered shadow arc: odo2
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
~Lines: 123
~Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:4364

                      SHADOW DEFENSE! (pt2)
                      ***************
                            by
                     Raymond N. Cooper


   "Good evening, Major," Odo greeted her when she arrived at section thirteen.
 "I've found our quarry, he's just around the corner, hiding.  Or so he
thinks."
   "No one can hide from you, Constable.  You're just going to have to live
with that!"
   Odo looked sternly at her, wondering whether the Major was maing a 'joke'.
If she was, Odo knew what she had just been doing.  Speaking for himself,Odo
had never really gone for the opposite gender, nor the gender he modelled
himself on.  Odo never really cared about anything except trust, and justice.
Trust he could do without, he'd done it before, but to live without justice...!
 Odo shuddered to think what the likes of Quark would get up to without the
Constable shapechanging over his shoulder...
   They turned the corner, Kira drawing a phaser.
   "I don't think you'll need that," Odo muttered in Kira's direction.  "He's
scared.  Really scared."
   "You think he heard the announcement, then?" Kira asked softly.
   "Didn't you?"
   "I was asleep.  Sound asleep," she added after a moment, a dreamy expression
crossing her face for a moment.  Then she snapped back to reality. They had a
suspect to capture.  He was acting like a frightened animal. And Kira knew what
frightened animals did when cornered.  She kept her hold on her phaser.
                                ******

   Onboard the Romulan Warbird IRW Cissaruj, the bridge was shrouded in
shadows.  The Captain sat staring at a screen in front of her.  The rest of the
crew avoided her like she had some kind of disease.  Maybe, in a way, she did.
   Suddenly, she snapped her head up.  "ETA!"
   "Approximately four and a half Federation standard days, Captain." The poor
Helmsman who had to answer turned away from his Captain quickly.  He did not
want to see if he too would be killed.  The last Helmsman asked why they were
going to where they were going, and was summarily executed.  No one wanted a
repeat performance.
   In the darkness, the Captain muttered to herself.  "Hold on, mother.  I'm
coming..."
                                ******

   Odo stared down at Jadda Mor in something akin to pity.  He had already been
beaten up - right after the announcement, a single Bajoran found him, and
launched a cowardly attack on him.  Then, the Bajoran ran off to find friends.
He hadn't returned.  Yet.
   Kira reached down to feel for a pulse, Mor flinched away when light hit
Kira's nose ridges.
   Odo reflected that Mor was much like himself: an outcast.  There seemed to
be enough of them on this station.  Perhaps a - how did Quark put it? - 'fan
club'? should be started.
   Mor finally let Kira feel for his pulse.  His eyes watched Kira, all of her,
not just the phaser, but everything.  Odo recognised the fighting spirit of a
Bajoran ex-terrorist.  Odo didn't blame them, like his own species - except his
own species could have found a better way to get back at those who caused them
injustices in the first place.
   Mor was just being helped to his feet when the first sounds of the
approaching lynch mob came faintly to Kira's ears.
   "We've got to get him out of here," Kira muttered as she slung Mor up under
one arm.
   "I didn't do it, I didn't do it," Mor mumbled over and over, until Odo
asked, "Didn't do what?"
   "What they want me for.  I didn't do it.  There was a Vulcan I was talking
to, ask him, he'll tell you.  I didn't do it..." his voice trailed off as he
fought to control his own movements, instead of relying on Kira so much.
   "Did you get a name?" Odo pressed.
   "Yes, Tuvok.  Black Vulcan."
   "A dark skinned Vulcan?" Kira snorted in disbelief.  "Next you'll be telling
me there are Federation starships among the Dominion."
   Odo quieted the Major, and glanced out into an adjoining corridor. "All
clear," he announced.  "There are a lot of things you wouldn't understand,
Major.  There are dark skinned Vulcans, just as you get dark skinned humans.
Our Commander is prime example of that."
   "But, Odo, a dark Vulcan?  That's almost as bad as a Vulcan's name beginning
with 'k'"  Kira giggled.  She was still riding her emotional high from the
night before.  She really had to get Bareil here more often, that way she'd be
more resistant to it.  And, if that didn't work, at least she'd get a lot of
fun with him.  Kira decided to think about that a little more when she got back
to normal.
   They reached the Promenade without trouble, and left Mor in the brig, hoping
none of the Bajorans could get him out - or get something in...
                                ******

   On a Cardassian outpost, near the Cardassian/Bajoran border, ex-Gul Jasad
powered up his latest posting: a light shuttle craft.  His mission was to
transport some dignitaries to the Federation, so they could talk about peace
and all that while Cardassia tried to retake Bajor once more.  Jasad looked out
his cockpit window, staring at the rows of Galor-class Warships docked in
space.  Bajor wouldn't be ready.  It would take the Provisional Government of
Bajor several minutes to decide on a course of action.  Then,in return for
giving Bajor back to the Bajorans - again - the Cadassians would ask for the
wormhole.  No wormhole, no Bajor.
   Warp engines powered up the bussard scoops pulling in hydrogen atoms,
converting them to a useful form of energy, the ripped a hole in subspace,and
tore through hyper-dimensional space.
   Jasad checked his course: Melandra VI, the final outpost of the Cardassian
Union before the target region of Federation space.  ETA, twelve hours.
   How he ached to go to Bajor!  That was only a short three hour flight away.
But he had been warned: should he go to Bajor without just cause, off with the
head.
   He didn't notice the co-ordinates change slightly...
                                ******

   "There's our man, Odo," Kira whispered in the shapeshifter's ear.  "There's
our 'black Vulcan'."  She reached for her phaser.
   Odo's hand stopped her.  "I'll handle this, Major."
   He stepped out from hiding, and approached the Vulcan.  "Excuse me -
Tuvok,is it?"
   The Vulcan turned around.  "Yes.  May I assist you in anyway, Constable?"




Please note that, while some characters are copyrighted to Paramount
Pictues,the events, some of the characters and settings, and the hints are all
copyrighted (c) to Raymond N. Cooper.  This can be distributed anywhere,so long
as my name remains as author, and this copyright and address section remains
attached to it.
   Raymond Cooper
   17 Belton Crt
   BEERWAH QLD 4519
   AUSTRALIA


Path: tivoli.tivoli.com!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!math.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!msunews!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!nntp.brisnet.org.au!softtech!au!org!brisnet!closer!william.gracie
~From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
~Date: 10 Jan 95 09:44:48
~Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
~Subject: DS9-altered shadow arc: odo3
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
~Lines: 123
~Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:4365

                      SHADOW DEFENSE! (pt3)
                      ***************
                            by
                     Raymond N. Cooper

   Odo didn't like the casual usage of his nickname.  "Yes.  You see, I'm
involved in an assassination attempt case at the moment.  I have a suspect who
says you were there when the crime supposedly took place.  With him, that is."
   "I see." The Vulcan steepled his fingers.  "So, this person.  Would his name
be Jadda Mor?"
   "His name would.  Would you be so kind as to accompany me to the brig, where
we can hace a better talk?"
   "Certainly."  Tuvok smiled.
   Odo held out his arm, gesturing in the direction of the brig.  Tuvok began
walking as Kira stepped up to Odo.  "Do you think Mor's telling the truth about
all this?"
   "Certainly,"replied Odo, giving the Major a smile.  "After you, Major."
   Kira gave Odo a sarcastic smile.  This was more like it.
                                ******

   The Promenade was nearly empty.  Even Quark's was dry of customers.  The
Ferengi barkeep leaned up against the outside of his bar, wiping a glass out.
   "That Kai has a lot to answer for..." he muttered, half to himself, as Odo
passed by.  He gave Tuvok an odd look.  Tuvok raised an eyebrow in return.
   In the brig, Tuvok sat in the chair offered him.  He looked at Odo, while
the Constable retreived Mor from his cell.  He placed Mor in a chair, offered
one to Kira, who declined, electing to stand.  Finally, Odo sat.
   "First of all, I'd like Jadda Mor to tell us what he thinks happened."
   Jadda was quiet for a moment, then launched into his story.
   "It all started about two years ago, about a year after the Cardassians
pulled out of Bajor, you see.  I'd been a resistance fighter in the occupation,
I even met Kira, many years ago, in the assault on Goochtar III Correctional
Centre.  But after the occupation, I became a farmer, reclaiming some of the
stripped land.  I had it going good, too, real good, when Winn came along.  She
was still a Vedek, and not exactly a nice one.  She took my land from my by
force, using her supporters to overpower me.  I was left with enough to feed
me, and my family, but not enough to make a living.
   "Recently, the Provisional Government saw the plight my family and I were
in, and gave us some money to buy back some of our land.  Now we can make money
- not much, but some - and there was some left over, so I was given this
holiday in compensation for the injustice done to me years ago by Winn.
   "I came up here, to relax, which I was doing successfully, when I met Tuvok
here.  We began to talk about certain things -"
   "What things?" Odo asked quickly, leaning over the table.
   "Um,... life, philosophical things - again, life, physics, that sort of
thing.  Then, the announcement came across the intercom, and that was
it,everyone started acting crazy towards me!"
   Mor stopped talking.  Odo waited a few moments more, then asked, "Is that
all?"  Mor nodded.
   Odo turned to Tuvok.  "I've got several questions to ask you, now, Vulcan.
Is everything he said about talking to you correct?"
   "Yes," Tuvok replied.  "He lied about nothing, he left nothing out.  We
talked about life, about physics, about the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor..."
   "Did you talk about the Kai at all?"
   "No, the Kai Winn never came up in our conversation."
   "And my last question: what species are you?"
   "Vulcan.  Can I be any other?" Tuvok raised an eyebrow again.
   "Vulcans don't smile, in my knowledge.  I repeat, what species are you?"
   Tuvok sat still, silent.
   "Very well, you've had your warning.  Kira, shoot him. Level sixteen on your
phaser should do nicely."  Kira raised her weapon, changed the setting,and
peered down the barrel at Tuvok, who laughed.
   "You realise, that would not do anything to me?"
   Kira steadied herself.  "At this range, I can't miss.  This setting will
take out you, and perhaps the wall, too.We'll find out if you're resistant to
phasers in a moment..."
   #Perhaps if I show myself truly?# asked the Vulcan, losing all physical
structure, face and colour running away into shadows.  A hard face gazed at
Kira.
   "You're a - shadow?" Kira was getting confused.  Okay, Odo claiming a Vulcan
isn't a Vulcan, that she could deal with.  But the Vulcan turns out to be a
shadow?  What was happening on this station?
                                ******

   Lieutenant Jadzia Dax looked around her quarters.  Nearly everything was
packed.  Another week, and she'd be off to her new posting on the USS
Armstrong.  She had had her request go through - at least, it should have. She
knew Benjamin was waiting as long as he could, hoping Dax would change her
minds.  But Dax didn't want to.  She/he/it had been hurt, and not just
physically.  She thought that there would have been some way that Benjamin
could have found out Jennifer wasn't his wife, thus preventing all this...
   But to find out if there was such a way, Dax would need a starship, a large
star, and a personal interphasic cloaking device.  Using time travel was the
only way Dax could see the past.
   Benjamin wanted a talk with her, to try and get her to change her minds.
Maybe he would get her to stay.  After all, could Dax blame a human for being
human?
                                ******

   Jasad noticed the heading of the shuttle.  Bajor?  But he'd set it for -
   A picture flashed through the Cardassian's mind, a picture of himself being
decapitated.  He called Melandra III, informing them that something had gone
wrong with the shuttle craft.  It had locked onto Bajor, and wouldn't turn. If
they would like confirmation, he could always bring his passengers up front to
have a go at piloting a shuttle that had a mind of its own.
   In the rear compartment, a shadow sat among the dignitaries...
                                ******

   #Yes, a shadow, as you call us#
   "I thought as much," Odo muttered.  "It was about my turn.  To my count,
you've got Dax and O'Brien left to use.  At least, I think you're using us..."
   The shadow nodded its 'head'.  #Perceptive.  Dax has been used.  We
instigated an argument with herself.  It provided us with plenty of mental
energy for our ascendancy.  And you left out one: Quark#
   "Yes, I suppose he is as much of a crew member as I am..." Odo's voice
trailed off, the thought of Quark in Starfleet or Bajoran uniform too much for
him.  Outside the brig, no one noticed the build up of Bajorans.
   "I take it you're not here to help us then?" Kira asked, moving away from
the door.  "I mean, if its Odo's turn, then you're here... to make his life a
misery, get him to doubt himself or something close to him..."



Please note that, while some characters are copyrighted to Paramount
Pictues,the events, some of the characters and settings, and the hints are all
copyrighted (c) to Raymond N. Cooper.  This can be distributed anywhere,so long
as my name remains as author, and this copyright and address section remains
attached to it.
   Raymond Cooper
   17 Belton Crt
   BEERWAH QLD 4519
   AUSTRALIA


Path: tivoli.tivoli.com!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!news.moneng.mei.com!uwm.edu!msunews!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!nntp.brisnet.org.au!softtech!au!org!brisnet!closer!william.gracie
~From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
~Date: 10 Jan 95 09:45:28
~Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
~Subject: DS9-altered shadow arc: odo4
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
~Lines: 61
~Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:4366

                      SHADOW DEFENSE! (pt4)
                      ***************
                            by
                     Raymond N. Cooper


   #Correct.  I'm here not to give evidence, but to disappear with it...#
   The shadow disappeared.  Odo looked up, and noticed the crowd outside.  One
Bajoran got the door part-way open, and threw a makeshift bomb inside the room.
 Odo slapped his comm badge.
   "Odo to Ops, three for transport immediately!"
   The orange transporter patterns of a Cardassian designed matter stream
enclosed Kira, Mor, and Odo.  When it faded, all were on the Ops transporter
pad.  Odo stepped off it, and caught a glimpse of Sasha Wren.  She shouted,"No!
 Get back!" just as a female Bajoran technician raised a phaser, and fired it
at Mor.  His body disintergrated totally.  Odo stared at the transporter
platform, not believing his eyes, then up at the woman, who had been taken into
custody.  She would be tried for murder, and if Odo had anything to do with it,
she would either be dead, or put away for a very very long time.  He noticed
that O'Brien wasn't at his consoles buried up to his waist in wires - as usual.
   "Where's O'Brien?" he asked Sisko when then Commander entered Ops.
   "Working on the Defiant, Constable."  He looked around at the transporter
pad, and saw the remains of phaser disintergration.  "Looks like I missed
something exciting," he commented.  Odo made to say something, but Sisko raised
his hand.  "Tell me later, Odo."
   Sisko tapped his comm badge.  "Sisko to senior staff, excepting O'Brien. I
need to see all of you as soon as possible in Ops.  There's something about a
Cardassian shuttle I have to tell you about..."


                           DUMM DA DA DUMM DUMMMMM...
                  To be continued in the next semi-exciting
                       episode,
                           DARK SIDE OF THE FORCE!

Please note that, while some characters are copyrighted to Paramount
Pictues,the events, some of the characters and settings, and the hints are all
copyrighted (c) to Raymond N. Cooper.  This can be distributed anywhere,so long
as my name remains as author, and this copyright and address section remains
attached to it.
   Raymond Cooper
   17 Belton Crt
   BEERWAH QLD 4519
   AUSTRALIA




There are quotes down here!


"A circle has no end." The Foundation series...
"Thou canst not stir a flower without troubling a star" Shakespeare... "What
does God need with a starship?" Star Trek V...
"  'Hard to port... Hard to starboard... Hard to port...'
   'Frankly Captain, I'm exhausted'" Star Trek spoof...






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~From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
~Date: 09 Jan 95 15:31:12
~Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
~Subject: DS9-ALTERED SHADOW ARC: SISKO-(1)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
~Lines: 159
~Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:4326

                         REPEAT PERFORMANCES (pt1)
                         *******************
                         By Raymond N. Cooper


   Sisko held a wedding ring.  The ring was attached to a hand.  The hand was
attached to Jennifer.
   Dax, with a grunt, passed out in her plate of aubergine stew.  Things like
this were just not supposed to happen.  Jennifer was dead, Dax had seen the
body.  She had died at Wolf 359, where Starfleet made its unready stand against
the Borg.  Starfleet lost thirty nine of its starships in five minutes of
combat.  The USS Enterprise was nearly lost several times in the course of
those short, few days.  Dax herself had been on Earth at the time, working at
Starfleet Academy as Curzon Dax.
   Jennifer smiled, and said, "Looks like your old friend has some problems
with me being around..."
   Sisko grinned in reply.  "I had told her that I had been seeing you around
the place for days."
   "So, you still think I'm dead?" she asked softly.
   Sisko shook his head.  "Of course not.  I can touch you, and you don't fade
away.  I don't see you on the Saratoga every time I shut my eyes for a moment.
I can smell you, see you, hear you.  And so can Dax."  He paused for a moment.
"But... how?  How did you come back?"
   "Tell me what you think," the dark woman whsipered.  She moved towards
Dax,sat, and lifted the Trill's head into her head, cleaning off the stew.
"Aubergine stew," she muttered, "My favourite!"
   Benjamin Sisko sat opposite his wife, placed his head in his arms, and began
his story.
   "It began six years ago.  The battle of Wolf 359.  The Saratoga was hit,I
tried to get you out, I knew you were still alive.  The Lieutenant that was
with me, he told me you were dead.  But you weren't.  I saw the tricorder he
scanned you with.  You still had brain activity.  You were just clinically
dead.  He dragged my from you.
   "For three years, Jake and I lived on Mars, working at Utopia Planitia,the
shipyards.  I got transferred to here, Deep Space Nine, just before the Bajoran
Wormhole was found."
   "You met the entities in there the , I take it?" Jennifer interjected.
   Sisko frowned, straining his memory for something.  "Yes, it was.  After
that, Bajoran space became a heavy traffic zone, and I had my hands full with
crisis after crisis, even Bajoran religious problems.  We had the Circle
plotting things better left unmentioned, assassination attempts on
Vedeks,kidnappings, trials, and Cardassians.  This place has been a madhouse
more times than I care to remember..."
   Jennifer idly played with a knife on the table.  "I... haven't seen you or
Jake in six years, Ben.  What's happened to our little boy that I should know
about?"
   Sisko took a chair himself, and leaned back.  "Jake's discovered girls."
   Jennifer stifled a laugh.
   "And not just human girls, but Bajoran and Cardassian.  The Prophets know
how, as he says these days.  He's at a Ferengi's home at the moment.  I think
he got a big shock when I told him he could spend some time with Nog.
Although, if I know those two, they'll be playing in the lower decks..."
   "Playing in the lower decks?" Jennifer queried.
   "Mmmm.  They play starships, that sort of thing.  I did the same when I was
a child.  Except we had better starships."
   Jennifer stroked Dax's head.  The Trill stirred.
   Deep within the Trill's symbiont componant, Dax knew something was wrong.
Benjamin had confided in her, knew Jennifer was a fake, a fraud, a... a shadow!
 And yet, he was still believing in this thing.  Jadzia could understand why,
but then, Jadzia could understand just about everything about Dax's old
student.  In fact, of late, Jadzia had taken more than just a healthy interest
in the human.  Only to be expected, of course.  Curzon had been the same way.
But after several of Curzon's affairs, Dax had had enough,and put 'her' foot
down.  No host of 'hers' was going to act in such a way,unless both halves
agreed that the experience could be... beneficial to both parties.
   And an affair with Benjamin would not.
   Jennifer stroked Dax's head again.  "You're close.  There was brain
activity, yes.  It was detected, yes.  Your Lieutenant lied to you, yes.  But
I'm here.  Don't ask me how, I didn't escape the Saratoga -  at least, I don't
remember escaping it.  There was a Warp Core breach, I know that, the computer
kept on and on about it.  I... it was just like going to sleep, and waking
up... here.  Don't ask me about it, I don't know anything else about it..."
   Benjamin was silent as he contemplated his stew.  Jennifer's hands carressed
the cutlery.  Sisko forced himself to look up into his wife's eyes. "This is
going to hurt me more than it hurts you..." he whispered, "But I know you're
not real.  Jennifer didn't die immediately at Wolf 359, and maybe she did get
out somehow, I don't know, maybe a Q picked her up, or something, but even if
one did, you're not her."
   "Ben!  I'm hurt to hear you say such a thing!  Can you prove it?"
Jennifer's face twisted in sorrow.
   "Yes.  My talk with the wormhole entities - that's been kept secret, except
at the top of Starfleet, and in my senior staff, who know not to talk about it
to people without security clearance.  So, just how did you manage to find out
about it?"  Sisko stood up, and began to walk around the table.
   Jennifer picked up a knife.  "You think I would leave myself undefended? You
humans truely are the basest of lifeforms!  You think you can harm a ghost?
More importantly, a memory?"
   Sisko paused.  In that moment, he saw Dax's eyes flicker, and he thought he
might garner some help from his old friend - if only he could stall the
ghost...
   "Think not of stalling, human.  Your demise will occur - whether you are
willing or not.  I will make sure of that!"  With that, Jennifer sliced open
Dax's dress, and cut Jadzia's body around the abdomen.  Through all the
blood,Sisko could see the symbiont squirming.  The main nerve juncture between
host and symbiont had nearly been cut through.  Jadzia startled into
wakefulness at the feeling, and screamed.
   Trills have a natural higher pitched voice than humans, even though they
keep it low around other species, but when unleashed, their screams can be very
effective.  Sisko dropped to the ground, his hands over his ears, trying
desperately to keep the sound out.  It sliced into his brain like a hot knife
does butter, and through this haze of pain, Sisko realised Jennifer was still
standing.
   She threw Dax to the ground, and advanced on Sisko.  Thankfully, Jadzia's
screaming had lessened in pitch, and Sisko was able to stand against his wife.
She feinted a swing, waited until Sisko dodged, then rammed the knife into his
left arm.  Pain shot through nerves like molten metal had been poured onto his
arm, but Sisko had already braved the fires of another pain.
   He was facing it now.


Please note that, while some of the characters and settings for this story
are copyrighted to Paramount Pictures, everything else, including this
storyline and all likenesses, Sasha Wren, the Armstrong and its crew, are all
copyrighted (c) to Raymond N. Cooper.  I don't care where this story gets to
(The Gamme Quadrant, anyone?) as long as this section and my name and address
(as author and this bottom bit) are attached to it.


   Raymond Cooper
   17 Belton Crt
   BEERWAH   QLD 4519
   AUSTRALIA
   Southern Hemisphere
   Earth
   Solar System
   Sagitarius Arm
   Alpha Quadrant
   The Milky Way Galaxy
   Local Galactic Group
   This Universe


more down below\    /  Spoilers ahoy!
                 \/



















And if anyone is interested, I am starting on the Beyond Wolf 359 story. You
get to see Sasha Wren with all her powers, and the Borg in this story. Hints of
stories to come:
   Of Two Minds:  Dax had a decision to make, and Jadzia isn't making it any
easier...
   Shadow Defense:  Kai Winn orders an innocent's execution -

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~From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
~Date: 09 Jan 95 15:32:02
~Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
~Subject: DS9-ALTERED SHADOW ARC: SISKO-(2)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
~Lines: 160
~Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:4327

                         REPEAT PERFORMANCES (pt2)
                         *******************
                         By Raymond N. Cooper

   He staggered back, waiting, letting Jennifer come to him.  He tried to
remember what Curzon Dax had taught him, oh so many years ago, in case he had
ever gotten into trouble like this.
   Jadzia gasped weakly on the floor.  "Use all available resources,
Benjamin..." she muttered, trying to see what was happening.  The Trill's nerve
junction was parting with every movement, Dax and Jadzia's life began to drain
away.  Dax fought for control of Jadzia, gained it, then curled up in a ball,
forcing Jadzia's hands to hold the cord together.  Jadzia blacked out, leaving
Dax to do all the hard work.
   Jennifer launched herself at Sisko, literally flying across the room at him.
 Sisko ducked, and brought up a fist into her midsection.
   "I'm sorry, Jen, but if this is the way you want it...!"
   He landed another thud in her body.  She got up, and turned to him.  Sisko
dove for his comm badge, touched it, and yelled, "Sisko to Ops!  I need a
security detachment in my quarters right away!"
   Jennifer kicked the badge out of his hands, and looked down at him, a wicked
smile on her face.  "Come on, Benjamin, this is our fight, not theirs. Let's do
this by ourselves for old times' sake, hmmm?"
   She kicked him again.
   Sisko got to his feet, waited a full five seconds before jumping at his
'wife' again.  She punched him, but he was ready this time, and rolled with the
punch, delivering one of his own at the same time.
   "You can't kill me," Jennifer said simply.
   "You won't kill me," Sisko growled in in reply.
   "That almost sounds like a domestic enquiry," Jennifer grinned smugly.
   The door opened, and Major Kira burst in, phaser at the ready, with a squad
of security personel at her back.  "You wanted us, commander?"
   "Yes, Major.  I want this... thing taken into custody."
   Kira gestured with her phaser.  "Come on."
   Jennifer meekly dropped the knife, and walked to Kira, where she stopped,and
looked sadly back at Sisko.  "It would have been wonderful," she whispered.
   No warning came between that sentence and Jennifer's arm turning into a
scythe, and whipping down at the Major's head.  Kira automatically swung to one
side, then fired her phaser at Jennifer.
   The energy blast had no effect on her.  Jennifer looked at Kira as though
she was some kind of pond scum.
   ^You really think you can harm me with... that?^ the shadow asked, losing
Jennifer's form, and all substance.  ^I Know why [] sees you as amusing to him^
   Kira stared, mouth agape.  "I didn't think I'd see another one of these so
soon.." her voice trailed off.
   ^I have need for you, Major Kira Nerys^ the shadow smirked.  ^Come here^
Kira stayed where she was.  The shadow's voice became angry.  ^Someone has
shielded you, that entity is here!  Show yourself!^
   "I never could resist this sort of temptation," a voice from behind the
security squad laughed softly.  "I would have thought that you could've worked
out who was behind this easily.  It hurts not to be remembered..."
   ^You!^ the shadow screamed.  ^You are the one halting our ascention!  You
will now be removed^  The shadow raised its arms, and fired off a staggering
amount of energy.  Sasha shrugged it aside as if nothing more than a breeze.
   "Pu-leaze!  This is getting monotonous.  I've done that already."
   Sisko and Kira moved quietly to Dax's side, trying to protect her.  Dax
muttered, "Go and join your wife, Benjamin..."
   "She's delirious, Commander." Kira touched her comm badge.  "Kira to
O'Brien," she whispered, "Beam Dax straight to the Infirmary."
   "Aye, sir," came the answer.  Orange coloured lights surrounded Dax, the
Cardassian transporter functioning at an acceptable level - for a change.
Sisko couldn't help but notice the look in Dax's eyes as she faded away into
the matter stream.  'I wouldn't be injured if it wasn't for your wanting to
believe your wife was still alive,' they said to him.  Dax wouldn't forgive him
for this.  And yet - he did have an excuse.  If Dax had seen one of her past
hosts, who are supposed to die after the transition of the symbiont to a new
host, walking down a street somewhere, wouldn't Dax go and say hi?  Sisko had
wanted to believe that his wife had gotten off the Saratoga, but he knew in his
brain that she was dead.  It was his heart that believed her alive.
   Sasha glared at the shadow.  It screamed, and Sisko and Kira looked up to
see the shadow burning away to nothing.  Not even dust or subatomic particles
was left of it.  The girl turned away, and walked out into the corridor.
   "So, I've saved your lives - again."
   Sisko followed her out; she turned back to face him.  "There'll be more,you
know.  Look carefully for them.  They'll always be right under your nose."
   "But why are you helping us?" Sisko asked, holding his hands out to
her,wishing she would take them, prove that she had form, and was not just a
mass hallucination.
   She stepped back to the Commander, and took his hands in hers.  "I help you
because... I need help in return."
   Sisko was left holding nothing.  She had just vanished.
   He turned back to Kira.  "I'll see you in Ops, Major."
   Kira nodded, and supervised the clean-up of the Non-corporeals' battle.
                                 ******

   The Federation startship USS Armstrong moved out of warp speed after finding
a strange sensor reading.  The bridge crew didn't know what to make of it, and
began following the anomaly when they realised it was moving.
   Lieutenant Commander Yavin Telrad, a Romulan defector, looked up from the
science station he was presently occupying.
   "I think its a cloaked vessel, Captain.  I'm just waiting on the results of
the local graviton displacement sweep we initiated."
   Captain Nicole Anko stood from her chair.  "Romulan?" she queried, worried.
   A beep came from the science computer.
   "Computer recognises the cloak signature of that of a D'deridex - class
Warbird.  Shields, Captain?" Telrad moved to Tactical.
   "No, I... don't think so.  Send out a message to those in its path."
   "Range, Captain?"
   Anko stared at the main screen, where Warbird schematics were overlaid on
the starfield.  "What's its speed?"
   Telrad checked an instrument.  "Warp six, Captain."
   "Give the message a range of seventy light years.  Tell them they have a
Romulan Warbird approaching..."
   "Aye sir."
   The Armstrong turned, and moved away at warp seven on its original course.
                                 ******
Please note that, while some of the characters and settings for this story
are copyrighted to Paramount Pictures, everything else, including this
storyline and all likenesses, Sasha Wren, the Armstrong and its crew, are all
copyrighted (c) to Raymond N. Cooper.  I don't care where this story gets to
(The Gamme Quadrant, anyone?) as long as this section and my name and address
(as author and this bottom bit) are attached to it.


   Raymond Cooper
   17 Belton Crt
   BEERWAH   QLD 4519
   AUSTRALIA
   Southern Hemisphere
   Earth
   Solar System
   Sagitarius Arm
   Alpha Quadrant
   The Milky Way Galaxy
   Local Galactic Group
   This Universe


more down below\    /  Spoilers ahoy!
                 \/



















And if anyone is interested, I am starting on the Beyond Wolf 359 story. You
get to see Sasha Wren with all her powers, and the Borg in this story. Hints of
stories to come:
   Of Two Minds:  Dax had a decision to make, and Jadzia isn't making it any
easier...
   Shadow Defense:  Kai Winn orders an innocent's execution -and only Odo
stands in her way!
   Dark Side Of The Force:  Cardassians invade DS9, and the Borg come through
the wormhole!
   In The Hands Of The Profits:  Sela turns up!  Quarks nearly dies when a Borg
attempts to assimilate him!  Great Borg material!  The Borg invite the


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~From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
~Date: 09 Jan 95 15:32:38
~Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
~Subject: DS9-ALTERED SHADOW ARC: SISKO-(3)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
~Lines: 121
~Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:4328

                         REPEAT PERFORMANCES (pt3)
                         *******************
                         by Raymond N. Cooper


   Kai Winn sat in her chambers, flicking through the various day to day duties
a Kai has to go through.  She reached the twentieth page when something didn't
feel right.  Winn looked up, expecting to see a Vedek,possibly Bareil, since he
had been hanging around like a bad smell since he was beaten in the running for
Kai.
   Instead, she saw three shadows advancing on her.  They had no features, no
clothing, no... audience granted with her, that was for sure.
   Outside her chambers, Bareil heard Winn scream, then go silent.  He called
for security, then ran for the doors.  Inside, Kai Winn was breathing,but only
just.  Her robes were ripped, and her arms, legs and face were cut. Not
severely, mind you, noted Bareil, but just enough to make a big show of the
blood.  A blood covered knife lay nearby.
   Bareil would have to protect the Kai now.  But where could he send her where
she would be safe?
                                 ******

   In the Infirmary, Julian Bashir moved away from Dax.  She lay on a
bed,covered in a blanket, trying not to think what Julian may or may not have
done while she was under the anaesthetic for her operation.  The shared nerve
junction was repaired, and both symbiont and host felt fine.  They would be up
in about two days, Julian had told them before leaving.
   But a new problem had emerged: Dax had made her mind up, he/she/it was
getting a transfer.  But the Jadzia componant was going to stay, no matter
what.
   So much for a joined species.
   In the shadows of the Infirmary, it was just possible to make out a faint
chuckle...



                        TO BE CONTIUED IN
                           Of Two Minds...


Please note that, while some of the characters and settings for this story
are copyrighted to Paramount Pictures, everything else, including this
storyline and all likenesses, Sasha Wren, the Armstrong and its crew, are all
copyrighted (c) to Raymond N. Cooper.  I don't care where this story gets to
(The Gamme Quadrant, anyone?) as long as this section and my name and address
(as author and this bottom bit) are attached to it.


   Raymond Cooper
   17 Belton Crt
   BEERWAH   QLD 4519
   AUSTRALIA
   Southern Hemisphere
   Earth
   Solar System
   Sagitarius Arm
   Alpha Quadrant
   The Milky Way Galaxy
   Local Galactic Group
   This Universe


more down below\    /  Spoilers ahoy!
                 \/



















And if anyone is interested, I am starting on the Beyond Wolf 359 story. You
get to see Sasha Wren with all her powers, and the Borg in this story. Hints of
stories to come:
   Of Two Minds:  Dax had a decision to make, and Jadzia isn't making it any
easier...
   Shadow Defense:  Kai Winn orders an innocent's execution -and only Odo
stands in her way!
   Dark Side Of The Force:  Cardassians invade DS9, and the Borg come through
the wormhole!
   In The Hands Of The Profits:  Sela turns up!  Quarks nearly dies when a Borg
attempts to assimilate him!  Great Borg material!  The Borg invite the DS9 crew
to hunt out the Shadows from their closets!
   The Large One:  Once More Unto The Breach:  The DS9 crew and two Sasha's
take the battle to the shadow's home planet.  If you loved 'I, Borg' (and
listening to friends of mine, I can't see why - I liked it!), you'll love this
story!

   Then I'll get around to doing the story continuing on with the N'tChells,
   and N'Col and Jake...
   Maybe I should work on Beyond Wolf 359?  What does you guys think?




















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~From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
~Date: 09 Jan 95 10:23:40
~Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
~Subject: DS9 story (Shadow arc-(5)): Shadow defense (Ithink; Odo)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
~Lines: 132
~Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:4312

                      SHADOW DEFENSE!
                      ***************


   Constable Odo rested in his bucket, gently bubbling away to himself.  When
he reached the end of his rest period, out of his bucket he flowed, changing
into an upright shape.  Two legs formed, followed by arms splitting off from
the main mass, a head plopped up onto his shoulders, fingers grew out of his
hands.  Finally, his uniform filled out on his eighty-odd kilogram body.
   Sighing (a trait he picked up from solids), he reviewed his padd for
anything he should know about.  It had only been about eight hours since Sisko
had told the senior staff that a Romulan Warbird had been seen coming this way,
and, even though Sisko had said that it was several days away,things like this
had a way of preceding inside time limits.  If Romulans were coming here, they
would have agents in place, searching for things to do, to prepare for the
coming of the Warbird...
   A note of interest: the Kai claimed she had been assaulted again.  This
time, in the Infirmary, not anywhere else.  Strange, thought the
shapeshifter,The Infirmary was guarded.  Odo had seen to it himself.  Starfleet
security guards, it would have been.  They always seemed to muck things up.
With all their rules and regulations getting in the way of justice, Odo spent
more than half his time awake fixing up their mistakes.  Still, it was a
challenge.
   And Odo liked a good challenge.  He just wished that Starfleet would find
new ways to do it.
   Apparently, the Kai said it was the same person who assaulted her here as on
Bajor.  Odo didn't know what to believe by now.  Winn had originally claimed
she was attacked by grey things, the Prophets; at least, she did - when she
started making sense on DS9.  These 'grey things' were the reason Odo had
guards posted around the Infirmary.  Now, though, the Kai said she had been
attacked by a farmer from Bajor, on DS9 for a well-deserved holiday.  He had
come up on the same shuttle as the Kai.  He had enough reason to hate her: she
had stripped some on his land off of him several years ago, before the
Federation came to Bajor.  So, now two things weren't in his favour:
timing,and motive.  All circumstantial at the moment, of course - but for a
shapeshifter, a confession shouldn't be too hard.  If the man was
innocent,well, Odo would know soon enough.
   Flicking through his padd for the farmer's name, he asked the computer:
"Computer, locate Jadda Mor."
   "Identify species and occupation for gene scanning..."
   "Species: Bajoran.  Occupation: Farmer."
   "Identify occupational area..."
   Odo consulted the padd again.
   "The Teneerf area, sandstone soil composition."
   The computer burbled in reply, and sifted through massive quantities of
data.  Odo liked this new Bajoran invention.  It could track anyone on the
station - even if they didn't have a comm badge, or even if they walked around
naked!  The computer looked for use of money belonging to the person, things
like mud on their shoes, that kind of thing.  It narrowed down the band by
finding all of that species, then ran a gene test to find out if the suspect
was who had been identified.  The gene sample had been taken at the airlock,so
everyone had to give a sample.
   The system was an experiment, and only being tested on DS9.  So far, it had
worked wonders.  With it, Odo had tracked and stopped several smuggling
operations of Quarks, and two assassination attempts on senior staff.  So
far,it hadn't detected one shadow, even with all of Doctor Bashir's tricorder
readings.  He had gained quite a few, and the manufacturers on Bajor said they
could adapt the system in about three weeks (terrorist attack permitting), but
three weeks would be too long.
   The station's intercom crackled into life.
   "This is Kai Winn.  This message is to all Bajorans.  I need your help."
   There was a dramatic pause, in which Odo wondered what help a Kai could
possibly want, except a good kick in the -
   "As you know, I have been brought here to the Federation space station, Deep
Space Nine.  I was brought here to be hidden from my attacker, the one who made
an attempt on my life on Bajor.  He is here now, here among you.  His name I
shall reveal to you momentarily.  But first, I need you to bring him to me, so
he can die like the traitor to Bajor he is!  He will die, either here, in the
Infirmary, where I am, or where ever you find him, depending on whether he puts
up a fight or not.  Let no one stand in your way!  Are you with me?"  The
resounding cheer outside Odo's office, in the Promenade, was all the answer Odo
needed.  He knew what Winn was doing.  The humans called it a lynch mob.  Jadda
Mor would never get his trial, never get his chance at justice.  Jadda Mor
would very soon be dead, unless Odo did something very quickly.
   "His name, fellow Bajorans, is Jadda Mor, a farmer from Teneerf.  Find
him,bring him to me!"  The intercom shut off.
   "Jadda Mor is located in the habitat ring, section thirteen."
   Odo had never believed in human superstition, in which thirteen is regarded
as unlucky.  'Luck' was a concept Odo didn't subscribe to; matters relied more
on skill and ingenuity, both of which Odo had plenty.  In this case, he was
going to make an exception:  thirteen would be an unlucky number to Mor.
                                ******

   The pinging of her comm badge woke Kira from a deep sleep.  She regarded
Bareil, her boyfriend, with a curious gaze: he was smiling strangly at her.
   "You snore," he grinned.
   "Odo to Kira," Odo voice came from the badge.
   Kira shushed him, and touched her badge.
   "Kira here," she muttered sleepily.  "Whazzup, Odo?"
   "We're needed.  The Kai as ordered a virtual lynch mob to form, and try to
kill a possible innocent Bajoran farmer."
   Kira yawned.  "Fine.  Where'll I meet you?"
   Pause.  "Section thirteen, habitat ring.  Odo out."
   Bareil stretched, and threw Kira her uniform.
   "It's creased!  I'll have to get a new one...  where'd I put that card
thingee..."
   Kira dived under her bed.  Bareil muttered, "I don't think you have time for
this, Nerys."
   "Probably not.  But I'd hate to turn up on duty in a creased uniform.  Spoil
the image..."
   Bareil yawned.  "You mean, they might take you seriously?"
   Kira threw a pillow at him, and pulled on her creased uniform.  "Wait'll I
get back, I'll show you who you should take seriously!"
   The door opened, and the Bajoran Major was gone.
                                ******

   "Good evening, Major," Odo greeted her when she arrived at section thirteen.
 "I've found our quarry, he's just around the corner, hiding.  Or so he
thinks."
   "No one can hide from you, Constable.  You're just going to have to live
with that!"
   Odo looked sternly at her, wondering whether the Major was maing a 'joke'.
If she was, Odo knew what she had just been doing.  Speaking for himself,Odo
had never really gone for the opposite gender, nor the gender he modelled
himself on.  Odo never really cared about anything except trust, and justice.
Trust he could do without, he'd done it before, but to live without justice...!
 Odo shuddered to think what the likes of Quark would get up to without the
Constable shapechanging over his shoulder...
   They turned the corner, Kira drawing a phaser.
   "I don't think you'll need that," Odo muttered in Kira's direction.  "He's
scared.  Really scared."
   "You think he heard the announcement, then?" Kira asked softly.
   "Didn't you?"
   "I was asleep.  Sound asleep," she added after a moment, a dreamy expression
crossing her face for a moment.  Then she snapped back to reality. They had a
suspect to capture.  He was acting like a frightened animal. And Kira knew what
frightened animals did when cornered.  She kept her hold on her phaser.
                                ******

   Onboard the Romulan Warbird IRW Cissaruj, the bridge was shrouded in
shadows.  The Captain sat staring at a screen in front of her.  The rest of


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~From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
~Date: 09 Jan 95 10:24:56
~Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
~Subject: DS9 story (Shadow arc-(6)): Dark Side of the Force (O'Brien)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
~Lines: 129
~Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:4313

                      Dark Side Of The Force
                      **********************
                                by
                         Raymond N. Cooper



   "Bloody Starfleet engineers..."
   The mutter came from within a service hatch inside the starship USS
Defiant's port warp nacelle.  A spanner and a section of a shut-down warp coil
followed it quickly.  Chief Miles O'Brien stood up from the hatch, cursing
loudly.
   "They could've done a better job of it."  His Irish accent accompanied a lot
more cursing, complimenting it in ways O'Brien could not understand.  The
Defiant was a heap of scrap, everyone but the Commander knew it.  And it was
left up to O'Brien to fix it everytime the Commander wanted to play starship
captain against some alien species.  Usually the Dominion.
   Now it was being readied for a possible conflict between Deep Space Nine and
either a Romulan warbird, or a planetful of non-corporeal beings.  If they were
anything like Q, who used to pop in and out of the Enterprise, O'Brien's last
assignment, they would be like the Devil himself to beat.
   And it seemed like they may be.  First, they had taken Kira to the
future,then they attacked Bashir, brought Commander Sisko's wife back from the
dead,did something to Lieutenant Dax to make her request a transfer, and the
latest...!  They had an innocent Bajoran executed just to make the Security
Chief, Odo, feel bad!  Worse yet, the shadow that had been behind that had
posed as a Starfleet officer, unknown to both Major Kira and Odo at the time.
   If that wasn't enough, one of them, or one like them, to be more precise,was
trying to help the DS9 crew to stop these shadows.  She appeared and
disappeared all the time, knowing what was going on, but not doing much about
whatever was going on.
   Now, a meeting with the senior crew was being held in the ward room.  The
senior crew - without O'Brien.  He had been told to work on the Defiant, no
matter what.  And, as a matter of fact, the announcment of the meeting told him
that he was excepted from the meeting.  Great.
   He noticed a flash of red in the Jefferie's tube.  It dogded in and out of
clear sight for a moment, getting closer, closer, closer...
   The red streak resolved into the girl in red Starfleet uniform everyone had
been seeing lately.  Brown, shoulder length hair, brown eyes, incredibly good
looking... this was the girl everyone had been seeing, all right.
   O'Brien decided to ignore her, and ducked back down into the hatch.
   "Nice weather we're having, isn't it?" she asked.
   No reply.  She leaned down into the hatch.
   "I said `hi'."  Still no reply.  Sighing, she snapped her fingers,  and
O'Brien found himself outside the Defiant, out in space, with the girl with
him.
   "Don't panic," she said cheerfully.  "You're being held in an oxygen bubble.
 Breathe deeply, don't hold your breath.  Do you think I've helped everyone
else, just to kill you?"
   "I've met a Q," O'Brien muttered, risking breathing.  "I know what
non-corporeals are capable of.  I don't trust them."
   "Good, neither do I."  The girl settled down into a comfortable sitting
position.  "I think we can get on a first name basis, what do you think?"
   O'Brien nodded mutely.
   "Right, I'm Sasha.  You're Miles.  I'm cute.  You're not.  Glad we got that
settled?"
   O'Brien stared at her, wishing this girl would get on with whatever she was
doing.  He had to get back to the Defiant, after all.  One miracle was enough
for O'Brien to work on without being interupted by an N-C.
   "I won't keep you long.  I just have to tell you a couple of things.  And
the effect of appearing to Bajoran Vedek's becomes boring after a while.  My
descendants are readying an assault on you.  They want to use mental energies
to raise themselves into ascendancy into... N-C's, as you put it.
   "Do not let them provoke you.  I need time to get help for you all, I know
you'll need it.  Your Defiant won't be ready in time for transport, but I have
some... family - distant cousins, really - on the other side of the wormhole.
I'm trying to get them to come here, but its going to be a long argument. I
would like you to stay on your Defiant, and keep working on that - no matter
what.
   "The other thing is, tell your Commander that I'll be away for a short time,
perhaps a day or two.  Oh, and tell him that that Warbird will be here in one
day, not four and a half, as he seems to think."
   Sasha disappeared in a flash of light, and when O'Brien could finally see
again, he found himself in the Defiant, working on the warp coils in the port
warp nacelle...
                                ******

   "Well, people, we have three problems, as I see it."
   Commander Benjamin Sisko sat at his seat, and glanced at each of his
officers in return.  His gaze lingered on Dax for a moment, which she
caught,and returned with an icy glare.  Sisko shuddered slightly.  He didn't
know Dax could do that to anyone - before now.  Now he had proof.  She was
still holding the affair with 'Jennifer' lately.  He would have to tip-toe
around the subject then.
   "Number one," he continued.  "We have a Romulan warbird in the area.  I
don't know whether we should panic about this: there have been no other
detections of any subspace - or other - distortions, namely graviton
distortions, which led to the Warbird's discovery in the first place.  I have
O'Brien looking into how much maintainance the Defiant will need before it can
be classed battle ready.  He thinks it's hopeless.  I think he can pull off a
miracle.
   "Number two, we have our old problem with the shadows.  We don't know where
they'll strike at next, nor who at.  Constable?"
   Odo cleared what passed for a throat.  "I don't know, Commander.  All I know
is that 'Tuvok' claimed that O'Brien and... Quark," he forced the word out with
some difficulty, "were left to be... used.  Take your pick,Commander."
   Sisko hmmed.  "Number three, the Cardassians have informed us, as good
neighbours, of course, that a shuttle carrying Cardassian diplomats has been
forced off course by an unknown entity.  They have been deflected towards us,so
I suppose we can prepare for the worst.  I have no reason - as yet - to believe
that all three events may be connected."  Sisko leaned back in his chair,
waiting for comments.
   Dax answered first.  "These events may have more in common than you realise,
Commander.  I believe that the entity that has pushed that shuttle towards us
may be the very entities whose moves we are trying to guess now."
   "In that case, then, Dax," the Commander interupted, "the Warbird may have
been directed at us."
   "That would be a logical conclusion, Commander."
   Sisko wished Dax would stop calling him Commander, and go back to Benjamin.
He was used to that, and used to calling Dax 'Old Man'.  He couldn't call her
that now.  Not if her transfer was something that he had in fact started.  He
needed her here, he realised.  The station wouldn't be the same without her.
Would he be able to get up every morning to face work without her?
   He thought not.
   Sisko was about to dismiss his senior staff, right up until the power in Ops
and the surrounding levels went out.  The station shook, barely effective
inertial dampers stopping the massive sideways push, making it instead a
sickening sideways shunt.  A support strut fell from the ceiling, capturing Dax
underneath it, trapping her body beneath several hundred kilograms of solid
metal.
   "Sisko to Ops!" the Commander called, tapping his comm badge.  No burble. No
sound from his comm badge at all.  The only light inside the room was star
light, from outside, and long ago.
                                ******

   The shuttlecraft moved to within four hundred metres of docking pylon four.
Jasad had no control over the small vessel now; he just hoped he wouldn't lose
his life.  He had been ordered not to go anywhere near Bajoran space, in case


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~From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
~Date: 09 Jan 95 10:26:02
~Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
~Subject: DS9 story (Shadow arc-(7)): In The Hands of the Profits (Quark)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
~Lines: 120
~Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:4314

                       In The Hands Of The Profits
                       ***************************
                                  by
                          Raymond N. Cooper


   "Status report, Ensign Umhal!"
   "We've sustained no damage, Commander, that shot wasn't aimed at us."
   "Benjamin..."
   The Commander whirled around at Dax's use of his name.  Outside, near the
Borg battlecube, a Romulan Warbird was decloaking.  Disruptor beam after beam
erupted from the warbird, blowing holes in the battlecube, at least, until the
Borg adapted.  A tractor beam shot out from the cube, locking on to the
warbird, draining the vehicle's shields.
   "Hail the warbird, Ensign."
   "Aye, sir."
   The main viewer buzzed into life.  "I am Commander Benjamin Sisko, of the
United Federation of Planets.  Do you require assistance, Romulan Warbird?"
   Static was replaced by the sight of a blond female Romulan, with sharp blue
eyes.  "I am Sela, of the Romulan Star Empire.  I have business here.  It is
none of yours.  I have no need of assistance, human."
   The line closed off.
   "I tried," was all Sisko could say as he turned back to watch the cube.
   "I've never been this close to one..." Dax murmured softly.
   Sasha moved up to her.  "You should see inside one, Lieutenant.  They're
even more impressive inside.  I could arrange a guided tour, if you'd like?"
   Dax glanced sideways at the girl.  It was impossible to tell if she was
joking or not..., unless this was the help she had been getting...
   "No, don't do any more... close down..." Sasha muttered to herself.
   The Borg cube stopped attacking the warbird.  Dax looked out at the suddenly
motionless scene outside, then back at Sasha.  "How did you do that?" she asked
quietly.
   "I'll tell you later..." Sasha looked remarkably uncomfortable.  "Ben, if I
could see you and your senior staff in your office...?"
   Sisko nodded, clenching and unclenching his fists, staring out at the Borg.
He was surprised to suddenly find himself in his office, seated behind his
desk, with his senior crew looking equally surprised, gazing around in wonder.
Sasha waved a hand, and seats appeared.  She motioned everyone to sit
down;everyone did.  The girl wandered around the office, looking out at the
stars,staring out towards the cube.
   "I think it's about time you knew what's been going on here over the last
few weeks."
   "About time," Odo muttered in agreement.
   "You see," Sasha continued, "my race of non-corporeals ascended several
thousand years in your future.  We did it through hard work, individuality,and
a common purpose.  Basically, we were ready for it.  You see, through
Federation - Starfleet, more specifically - intervention in our species'
development around this time, we began to think things differently.  We began
to perceive the worlds around us as not just resources, but as homes, as
beauty.  We saw flowers no longer as carbon materials of no use, but as a
calming object, as life.  We saw life - sentient life - differently.  We became
aware of little things, of how one event could shape events not yet to come for
perhaps thousands or even millions of years.  For us previously, we had nothing
but the mind.
   "You see, we were Borg.  The beginning of a new race, the Individuals.  It
was due to the interception of Hugh by the Enterprise that began our long
journey to self-awareness.  Oh, yes, we could have been classed as sentient
before, but after hugh, well, we knew exactly what we were, how we came to
be,we had a sense of self.  We... became aware, that's the only words I can
find to describe it.
   "It was a wonderful feeling.  For so long, the Collective had stagnated,
stayed our evolutionary development so we could bring Borg 'culture' to the
rest of the universe.  And I do mean universe.  We were not happy with just
this galaxy.  The Colletive had already dispatched a scout cube to the
Magellanic Clouds, but transmissions on the subspace bands ceased three years
after leaving the main Collective.  We were to kill other species, not save any
part of their cultures, just assimilate everything.
   "Eventually, though, there was a civil war between the Borg.  The Collective
decided they were losing too many assimilants to the Individuals, and came
after us.  We fought long and hard, and struck the Collective hard. We were on
the brink of extinction when a second intervention from Starfleet saved us: we
were joined by mankind, the Cardassians, the Romulans, Bajorans,even the
Dominion in our fight against the Borg Collective.  We triumphed. Just.  The
Collective disappeared.  However, our numbers were depleted severely, the
Individuals all but gone.  The Federation, realising what reasonable Borg could
mean for it, and the other cultures around it, sent us assimilants to build our
numbers back up.  We spent a thousand years looking for enlightenment, and we
found it.  We were granted ascendancy.
   "I began looking through time lines, the alternate ones, that is.  And I
found one where the Collective had beaten the Federation, and was moving on to
other surrounding cultures.  I asked permission from the Seniors if I could
travel to this time line, and do for it what I could.  They agreed, on the
condition I didn't use my powers openly.  I was at Wolf 359, Ben.
   "I knew you would pick me up.  The alternate time line I exist in most of
the time now split off from there.  I saved the Hathaway, and picked up the
survivors from the Melbourne, the Saratoge, the Gage, and various other
starships.
   "But that doesn't explain why I'm here now, does it?  I came here
now,because I finally found out where the Collective went to hide from us.
Here. Now.  They're these... shadows you keep finding.  They've come back here
to work on their ascendancy in peace here, until they've finished, then come
back to our time, and wipe us Individuals out.  They've split up into what seem
to be mini-Collectives here, each dedicated to one bit of work.  That's why I
brought these Borg along.  In the future, not too long from here, we found a
battlecube that had been `Individualized' in a battle with non-corporeals.  We
never knew it was us.  It must have been interfacing with the mini-Collectives
of the shadows that did it.  They are close enough to true individuality now,
but retain the final portion of their Collective.  As soon as ascendancy
occurs, they're going to link up again.  And they'll be unbeatable this time -
unless the Q's pull their fingers out."
   Sisko stared at the girl.  She had been staring out at the battlecube for a
while, and now she hung her head.  "I really thought we'd seen the last of the
Collective here.  I really thought we had.  And now they're back, they're using
your mental energy to boost themselves into ascendancy.  They've been getting
you to jump through hoops.  Kira, you saw the future.  They've been living off
your horror.  You're lucky Bareil came up.  Julian, you had your wildest dream
backfire on you.  Dax and Kira trying to get into your uniform. Then they tried
to kill you.  I gave you some valuable information from that encounter.  I hope
you can find something in it to defeat the shadows.Ben, they brought your wife
back to you, and made her try to kill you.  They had a feast with those
emotions.  I was there when Jennifer died.  She didn't know what happened.  She
wasn't aware of anything when the ship exploded.  I made sure of that for you.
Dax, they made you hear Jadzia.  They separated your minds, made you fight,
made you want to leave to silence the voice.  I've stopped the voice for you.
Odo, I know how hard it's been for you recently,after Jadda was killed.  But
you have to understand - there was nothing you could have done about it.  If
the Kai hadn't ordered the mob, the shadows would have killed him in his cell,
and you would have been replaced as chief of security.  O'Brien, you should
have stayed where I told you to.  If


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~From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
~Date: 09 Jan 95 10:27:02
~Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
~Subject: DS9 story (Shadow arc-(8)): Once More Unto The Breach (Everyone)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
~Lines: 121
~Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:4315

                     Once More Unto The Breach...
                     ****************************
                                by
                         Raymond N. Cooper


   "How hard is it to sustain a Collective?"
   Benjamin Sisko sat next to the holding pen Sasha Borg currently occupied.
She looked quite beautiful under all her symbiotic technology, Sisko realised.
If it hadn't been for the Borg...
   ...But she was assimilated three centuries ago.  There was no hope for them.
 She was Borg.  And, listening to her other self, the more evolved self from
the future, she would be like this for at least another thousand or two years.
As she herself said, assimilation was absolute.
   "The Collective is not hard to carry.  It is... a merging of minds.  I have
never been this close to it, nor influenced it as much, previous to this point
in time.  I hope to exist like this for some time.  It is analogous to the
human condition of pleasure."
   "Have you ever experienced pleasure as a Borg?"
   "Pleasure is irrelevant.  The Borg is all."
   "But have you ever experienced it?"  It was not the first time Sasha Borg
had dodged a question in this way.  Of course, to a Borg, it was irrelevant,but
they may have experienced it.
   "The Borg do not experience emotions.  We do not simulate them.  They are
irrelevant."
   Which was the Borg way of saying `I have absolutely no idea...'
   After a day in transit, Sisko had become an expert in Borg communication.
The creatures whom he had once hated for killing his wife, and destroying his
life, he now understood.  He knew the drives that the Borg had.  The Collective
seemed to experience fear.  Fear that it would cease to exist if,even for a
moment, they stopped assimilating.  Sasha Borg had explained that,even to the
point where a human could understand it.  A Borg that didn't assimilate wasn't
a Borg.  Therefore, the Borg ceased to exist.  And as the Borg lived in a
Collective mind, where every thought was made by the whole,any single Borg
resisting carrying out assimilation on any culture caused the species to cease
to exist.  Sisko thought it was a strange way to operate,but then, so many
things the Borg did were strange.
   According to what he had heard (Reading between the lines, in the most
part), the Borg had begun as a race travelling space, bringing the best of
their culture to other worlds.  When they found worlds less advanced
technologically than themselves, they began the process of transplanting their
civilisation to these planets.  Over the centuries, the directive changed to
the point where it was every planet that was assimilated.  And not just through
cultural and technological standards.  Every race encountered was found to be
of use to the Collective.  Humanoid races were altered.  Technology was
assimilated.  Cultural values were irrelevant, and, therefore,obsolete.  Every
thing was to be Borg.  A civilisation like no other grew. And would continue to
grow, changing, adapting.
   But somewhere along the way, the directive changed again.  No longer
changing, no longer evolving, the Borg conquest slowed.  Something happened.
Perhaps they realised they had stopped doing what they originally set out to
do, maybe something totally different.  But it was deemed irrelevant.  The Borg
Collective began a period of consolidation, making sure everything had been
assimilated.  But the Collective knew something had been lost.  Perhaps their
humanity?  They were no longer keeping other cultures intact, as they had meant
to do.  They were changing other cultures to fit Borg culture. They were
destroying the very thing that had brought them to the stars in the first
place.
   It was then that it was decided that everything bar assimilation and the
Borg directives were irrelevant.  And the Main Directive was assimilation.
   Sisko knew the trap.  As a member of Starfleet, he had seen the process
happen on many planets.  You couldn't blame the people it happened to, they
generally had no idea what had happened to them.  By the time they noticed, it
was too late.  And on every planet where Sisko had seen this condition, the
most common 'irrelevant' concepts were self and humanity.  This Borg seemed to
be gaining those qualities back.
   "We have arrived."  Sasha Borg's voice broke in on Sisko's train of thought.
 He looked up to a nearby viewer, and saw a planet.  Nothing unusual,mind you,
just an average M-Class planet.
   "Life?" he asked.
   "Negative.  Sensors indicate sterilization of the atmosphere and surface.
Long range sensors detect no underground life.  Signs of underground life are
therefore inconclusive."  She blinked.  "Borg are awakening."
   All around him, Borg stirred.  It was like being in the lion's den, Sisko
thought.  He would hate for a Borg to go rogue right about now.
   "Borg don't go rogue," a voice said in his ear.  "Borg go Individual."
   Sisko recognised the voice, but he swung around to look at Sasha Borg's
future counterpart.  "We've been having some very interesting
conversations,your past self and I."
   "I know.  I can remember them," Sasha smiled.  "Listen, you'd better see to
your crew.  They're getting, well, jumpy."
   "I suppose they're not used to being around forty-seven thousand Borg."
   Sasha Borg interupted.  "We suppose not.  Familiarity, however, -"
   "Is irrelevant, I know, I know."  Sisko couldn't help liking the young Borg.
 Even though she wasn't Individual, she had a charming quality about her.
   He wandered off to find his crew.
   Jadzia Dax lay covered in a blanket.  For some reason, she was cold.  Doctor
Bashir had told her it was shock.  After all, being around ten Borg was bad
enough, but thousands...?  Her problem was, she was a scientist, she wasn't
supposed to fold up like this.  And her Symbiont, the Dax componant, shouldn't
have frozen up.  Being a joint species sometimes had its disadvantages.
   Julian Bashir sat next to Jadzia, sharing body heat with her.  Ay
least,that's what he told himself.  He could have asked someone else to go it,
but he had a thing for Jadzia.  She was... attractive.  And being a member of a
joint species..., well, that really interested him.  He glanced over at the
Major.
   Major Kira Nerys was leaned up against a bulkhead.  Around her, Borg shifted
ceaselessly.  She would go crazy if this kept up.  The Commander was getting
all friendly with an adolescent Borg, too, something she thought was
impossible.  However, Sasha Borg seemed to be different from the others.  She
seemed almost human.  Why couldn't she have seemed Bajoran?
   Miles O'Brien wondered why he was on this battlecube.  He should have been
trying to get Deep Space Nine back on line.  Instead, in a fit of madness, he
agreed to let the Borg transport some of their technology onto the station.
Like all true Borg equipment, it adapted itself right into the systems.  Power
was up, but only enough for replicators, lighting, gravity, and turbolifts and
doors.  He wasn't needed here.  The Borg were infinitely adaptable.  He was,how
did they put it, irrelevant.  Not necessary.  HIs place was on DS9, or the USS
Defiant.
   Odo bubbled in his bucket in a nearby pen.  How he hated to have to rest in
front of everyone here.  It was so degrading...!  He especially wanted to keep
what passed for eyes on a certain member of the 'crew'.
   Quark sat in between O'Brien and Kira, wondering why he had been drafted for
this mission.  He didn't have anything to do with Starfleet, nor the Romulan
Star Empire (except for a few shadey deals), nor the Borg, although he had
tried to.  Maybe that was it.  He had nearly been killed by one of these
'shadows' everyone was talking about.  The people they were going to fight.  If
that was the case, revenge, then Quark would have some.  His skull still
throbbed from the hole it had had in it.  The medical staff had managed to fix
it up before the power went out.
   He was the first to notice Commander Sisko approach.

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~From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
~Date: 09 Jan 95 11:44:44
~Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
~Subject: DS9 story (shadow arc) Doorway (pt 2)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
X-FTN-To: All
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
~Lines: 137
~Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:4317

                             DOORWAY (part II)


                       by Raymond N. Cooper



      "The Borg have attacked DS9.  This is a part of your future.  You're
   seeing parts of your life that haven't even happened yet.  This is an
   alternate world.  This one is your future.  You're being here will alter
   the rest of your future - in this world - in some way."
      "I don't believe this... I must have been drugged and dragged into one
   of Quark's holosuites.  Either that, or this is some play acting."  Kira
   stomped off to Quark's.
      The little Ferengi was hunched over even more than usual.  Looking
   closer, Kira could see that was because his lower left arm had been
   reduced to a bloody stump.
      "Profits," he was muttering, "I thought there might actually be
   something to this station, even before the wormhole opened.  Even the
   Grand Nagus told me there was.  But he's dead now.  Every one on Fereng
   is.  No one's alive, everyone's dead."  He looked up at Kira, and jumped
   backwards.  "But you're dead, too!  You saved my life.  You're dead!  I
   saw!  And Nog and Rom, there's no hope for them.  But you saved them.
      "YOU'RE DEAD!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.
      Kira said, "What do you mean, I'm dead?"
      Bashir entered behind her, bringing in the last of the wounded.  He
   placed the person down - Morn, Kira noted - then pulled a phaser out on
   her.
      "I'm sorry about this, who ever you are, but you're under arrest.
   Impersonating a senior officer is a Starfleet offense.  Odo, take her."
      A quivering orange blob on the floor bubbled almost menacingly.
      "This is Odo?  What happened?  Is he resting or something?"  Kira
   asked.
      "No, the Borg got him, did something to him.  And now he can't change.
   My God, I'm forgetting things, I can't do this, I never will be able to..."
   Bashir nearly burst into tears.  Kira had never seen him like this: he
   had blood running down his face and hands, some his, some not; his hair
   stood at right angles to the rest of his body;  his uniform, usually
   so immaculate, now hung ripped and dirty off his shoulders.  And his
   body...!
      His once strong, relatively well-toned and strong body was now wasted,
   gaunt, empty.  He hardly filled his uniform.  His hands were thin, his
   eyes pale, all the sparkle of life gone from them.  Even his caramel
   coloured skin had faded considerably.
      Kira took the phaser from the doctor's hands almost gently, then
   helped him into a chair.  Moving to grab herself a chair, she stole
   a glance at Quark, who had bustled off somewhere.  He was making up
   drinks.  Seeing her curious gaze, he said, "Customers'll be here
   soon.  Don't want to disappoint!"
      The Bajoran woman turned back to Bashir.  The girl materialized next
   to Kira.
      "What's going on?" the Major asked, confused and fustrated.
      The girl paused a while, then answered.
      "The Borg have invaded from the Gamma Quadrant.  What's happened to
   the Dominion is anyone's guess.  I know, but I'm not telling.  Virtually
   everyone who is able to is fighting the Borg.  They want assimilants, and
   they need them desperately.  They've dispatched a small scout cube to
   Bajor, and the Federation and the Cardassian Union have banded together
   to fight them.  The Borg don't want to destory this station, as it can
   be used as an advance base into the Alpha Quadrant, for when they're
   ready to invade here again.  You... that is, the Major Kira Nerys that
   resides here, was supposedly killed about an hour ago.  Your Bajoran
   body, however, is more resiliant than a humans, and your doctor thought
   that you had... passed on."
      Bashir's head flicked up.  "You mean she isn't dead?"
      "Not yet," the girl answered softly.  "You can still save her, and get
   her gratitude..."
      Bashir hurried off, new life in his body.  It seemed to Kira that it
   swelled with new purpose.  Perhaps it did.  Kira was seeing things
   differently.  "What's wrong with him?" she asked, turning back to the
   girl.
      "His mind is only just clinging to sanity.  He has had command thrown
   on him, the commander having had the nerve to die in the first volleys
   between the opposing forces.  Julian has been working non stop for three
   days, on and off in thirteen hour shifts, including doubles, for the last
   six."
      "He can't last much longer," Kira murmured.  "I'll help him.  I've got
   to do something.  I can't just sit here and wait for the Borg.  I should
   be out there, fighting, as he said earlier.  I should -"
      "Do that, and you'll die.  You can die here, just as easily as you
   could in your own reality.  Here, you saved the Ferengi.  Rom and Nog
   are running around avoiding the Borg, making their way to a ship.  They'll
   launch as soon as there is some kind of break in the fighting.  Your
   friend is going to try to save your life.  The least you can do is try to
   help him do it!"
      Kira got up from her chair, and moved over to Bashir.  He was busy
   opening 'Kira's' uniform, trying to hear if she had a heartbeat.  There
   was no pulse in her neck, nor her wrist.  This was a last resort.  He
   took a deep breath, and placed his ear on 'Kira's' left breast.
      "I hope you don't mind," he whispered, almost to himself.
      "I'm sure I don't," Kira muttered back at him.  Then she softened.
   "Can she be saved?"
      "I can't hear a heartbeat, nor find a pulse.  There's no pupil
   dillation, no observable respiration, even the tricorder can't find a
   thing.  There could be mental activity, but... with the Infirmary on the
   other side of the Borg lines, I can't tell."
      Kira pushed him gently away from her otherworld counterpart, and reached
   a hand around under the left arm.  She pushed in slightly, until she could
   feel the artery.  There was a soft pump, a long pause, then another.
      'Kira' was still alive;  at least, for the moment.
      She looked up at Julian.  "I think I can get you to the Infirmary.  Do
   you think you can carry... her?"
      The doctor nodded.
      "Good, I'll lead you.  We'll make it," she added, more for her own
   benefit than Bashir's.  Bashir bent, picked up 'Kira's' body, and followed
   Kira when she left the room.  Quark called out, "If you see my customers,
   tell them drinks are on the house!"
      It was a desperate move, Quark reflected.  They had probably found
   another bar.  He had to get them back.
      The girl in the Starfleet uniform turned.  She knew a Borg was getting
   closer.  She knew that Quark had only minutes to live.  She gave him one
   last wish: with a wave of her hand, the dead rose, temporarily restored
   to life.  Quark moved about them busily, handing out drinks, giving
   advice, and the customers were paying heaps for it.
      Quark had his customers, and he had his money.  He was happy.  He
   looked up at the girl.
      "Do you want a drink?" he asked.  The girl looked down at his arm.
   That was something she could do something about.  It became whole.
      "No, thank you Quark.  Be... happy.  Live long and prosper."
      She turned and ran, not wanting to see the cheerful Ferengi die.
      "I will!" Quark called after her.




      Please note that, while some of the characters may be copyrighted to
   Paramount, Sasha Wren and the events portrayed in this story are
   copyrighted (c) to Raymond N. Cooper.  This story may be sent around
   the world or even to the Gamma Quadrant for all I care, as long as it is
   not copied without my name, address, and copyright stuff.

      If you would like to write to me (and I can't see why),
      my address is:  R. N. Cooper
                      17 Belton Court
                      BEERWAH QLD 4519
                      Australia
               (You know, that country nearly the size of the USA?)

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~From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
~Date: 09 Jan 95 11:45:42
~Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
~Subject: DS9 story (shadow arc) Doorway (pt 3)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
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                             DOORWAY (part III)
                                    by
                             Raymond N. Cooper


      Meanwhile, Kira was leading Bashir through the littered sections of
   the Promenade.  Bashir was staring at Kira's back, and something clicked.
      "You look just like Kira... but I've got Kira on my shoulder," he
   said finally.
      "I'm... her twin sister," the Bajoran muttered back at him.
      "Oh."  That was one mystery solved.
      A Borg stepped out of a door.  "Halt," it said, raising some kind of
   gun arm.  Kira raised the phaser she'd taken off Bashir, and blasted it
   down.  She quickly changed the frequency to 556.9 megahertz.
      "That's been used already, they'll have adapted to it," Bashir said
   over her shoulder.  Kira changed the frequency, until Bashir was happy
   with it.
      They reached the Infirmary without further interuption.  Bashir dumped
   'Kira' down on a bed, while Kira waited just inside the door.  When she
   turned around, she saw the girl standing next to the bed.
      "They'll get out, the girl said quietly.  Your future has been
   assured, but the people who brought you here have what they were after.
   I think you'll go back now."
      "I don't want to go back yet!  I've been dragged here, forced to take
   part in events that haven't happened yet, and now I want to see how it all
   ends.
      "I'm staying."
      "You won't have a choice," the girl grumbled.
      Bashir hooked up some piece of medical apparatus that Kira had never
   seen before.  He attached electrodes to 'Kira's' head, then slid in a data
   disk.  The machine hummed while Bashir apologised.
      "I'm sorry, but your twin may die.  This machine had only just been
   developed when the Borg attacked.  It hadn't been tested in the field - in
   fact, it was brought up from Bajor the day before the Borg arrived for
   testing."
      "What does it do?" Kira asked, understanding correctly that the implied
   connection to Bajor was the fact that it had been designed there.
      "It rebuilds the body from DNA and RNA disks.  It virtually recreates
   a new body, and regenerates the mind.  Sort of like a computer undeleting
   files, that sort of thing.  The body could be compared to... a new version
   of software, or perhaps a new version of a weapon?"
      The machine stopped its work.  "She'll need time to recover, I'm
   afraid.  The device can't induce consciousness."  Bashir checked all the
   connections, busying himself in the machine, while Kira paced the room,
   knowing that at any moment - if the girl was right - she could disappear
   from this world.
      'Kira' moaned on the bed, and turned her head.
      "Consciousness is returning!  She's coming out of it!"
      "Does this mean she'll be alright?" Kira asked, mystified.
      Bashir nodded so hard, Kira thought his head might fall off if he wasn't
   careful.  "She'll recover bit by bit.  Then you'll be able to talk to her."
      Kira kissed Bashir, happy that this version of herself would live.
   Then she immediately regretted it.  "Don't worry, I'll have your sister up
   and about in no time," he mumbled, blushing.  He still had his innocence,
   Kira reflected, or what passed for it.
      Then, the world began to disappear.  Slowly at first, then with ever
   increasing speed, the world turned blue.  When the blue faded, Kira found
   herself in the Infirmary.  Bashir leant over her.  "Don't worry," he
   said softly, "You've only had a slight accident.  The turbolift
   disappeared.  When it turned up back here, you were unconscious."
      "The girl," Kira murmured softly, "what happened to the girl?"
      "There was no girl in the lift with you." A frown troubled the young
   doctor's face.  She had been muttering about a girl even while unconscious.
   She must have dreamed of something that made an impression on the Major.
      Sisko entered the room.  "I want you to tell me all about it," he
   said in a low voice.  He sat, listening, waiting for Kira to feel up to it
   enough to talk.
      "I think I communed with a Prophet..."
      Sisko's eyebrows shot up.
      "I got out of bed this morning, and..." Kira recounted the story.
   Sisko heard about the girl, about the Borg, about Bashir and 'Kira'.  He
   heard about Sisko's death, and about the Cardassian/Federation alliance.
   She told Sisko everything.  It was a kind of release.
                                ******
      On a planet far from Bajor, entities sat around a table.  They were
   almost transparent, wore long robes, and had hard faces.
      <<One is interfering>> one spoke.
      <It is of no consequence> another replied.  <She can not halt the
   ascention>
      -Can you be certain?-
      <Yes.  They hold to non-intervention>
      *We will not have trouble.  Begin with the next subject*
      Julian Bashir's face came up on a screen...
                                ******
      On the otherworld Deep Space Nine station, the Borg were being forced
   back.  But she didn't care.  For a non-corporeal being, seeing corporeal
   death was bad enough, but not being able to assist Quark to avoid his
   death... that hurt.  Bad.
      She sat on the bar, looking down on the dead.  Morn's sightless eyes
   stared up at her, accusing her of non-intervention.  A single tear rolled
   down her cheek.
      There was one corner she had to force herself to look in.  Quark lay
   there, a tray of smashed drinks near his outstretched arm, latinum pieces
   scattered around him.  He died with a smile on his face.  He died rich,
   all any Ferengi could hope for...
      Wiping her eyes, the girl got up.  Somewhere, in her world, the Borg
   were killing innocents.  She had to get back, but first...
      But first there were some descendants of hers that needed teaching a
   lesson.  "Sasha Wren," she muttered, "This time, you're going to do
   something.  No more friends of yours are going to die."
      With a flash of light, she disappeared.
      And the smile on Quark's face seemed all the more sinister.

                            Not the End...


   This story begins off a series of short stories that ends up in one.
   The stories include all the major characters on DS9, and is set somewhere
   around the begining of season three.  I haven't seen any yet, and I'm
   just going on what I can find on the Net, and what a friend tells me.
   The next story doesn't have a title as yet, but it's about Bashir.
     They are all listed here...
        (1) Doorway
        (2) The Twin Dilemma
        (3) Of Two Minds...
        (4) Repeat Performance
        (5) Shadow Defense
        (6) Dark Side Of The Force
        (7) In The Hands Of The Profits
     and the eighth story,
            Once More Unto The Breach.
   The characters are based loosely on their television counterparts, but
   Sasha Wren is from my own continuity, where the Federation lost the battle
   of Wolf 359, and I hope to post some of that story, too.


      Please note that, while some of the characters may be copyrighted to
   Paramount, Sasha Wren and the events portrayed in this story are
   copyrighted (c) to Raymond N. Cooper.  This story may be sent around
   the world or even to the Gamma Quadrant for all I care, as long as it is
   not copied without my name, address, and copyright stuff.

      If you would like to write to me (and I can't see why),
      my address is:  R. N. Cooper
                      17 Belton Court
                      BEERWAH QLD 4519
                      Australia
               (You know, that country nearly the size of the USA?)

   Bye for now!


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~From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
~Date: 09 Jan 95 11:43:42
~Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
~Subject: sorry about cut off stories (oops!)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
X-FTN-To: All
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
~Lines: 16
~Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:4316

Hi!

Raymond Cooper here.  Sorry if you can't read the end of my stories (I think
they have all been cut off, and I don't know how to fix that!),but I would like
to try and fix that if possible.  I am using Telix as my comms program, and the
local BBS to get this into the creative thingee, and I would like some help.  I
don't think my last help notice came up at all (I did Help Me! and Help Me Once
Again, if it came up),and I have only just found out that two thirds of my
stories have been cut off.  I'll try something else, but I won't know until
tomorrow if it works (10/1/95), so could someone tell me?  Could someone help?

Thanx in advance,

Raymond N. Cooper, genius extrordinaire...

Live long and let me prosper

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~From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
~Date: 09 Jan 95 13:57:54
~Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
~Subject: Star Trek/Star Wars-A New Enemy(1)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
X-FTN-To: All
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
~Lines: 113
~Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:4319

For so long, I have been reading adaptions of a Star Trek/Wars battle,
      so I decided to get in on the racket.  Over the next few days (or weeks)
I shall be posting this story.  Hope it satisfies.  And I have done some
research.  For the Star Destroyer's top speeds (close to, anyway), read Dark
Force Rising (Timothy Zahn).  The AT-ATs came from a quick read of the Imperial
Technical Manual, and the AT-PTs (All Terrain Personel Transports) come from
Dark Force Rising, also.  The Star Wars section takes place just before the
book, Courtship Of Princess Leia.  Somewhere. Sit back, and flame me later...
Also note that the copyright of the story and some of the characters (The ones
that haven't appeared in either Trek or Wars) and colonies remain mine (Raymond
Cooper).  This story can be sent anywhere, so long as I am credited as author,
and this tag remains here...


            A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

                        STAR WARS


                       CHAPTER VII
                          A NEW ENEMY...


               It is a time of great celebration for the
               old Rebel Alliance, as the leaders of the
               Rebellion form the core Senatorsof the
               fledgling New Republic...

               But the Empire is not defeated yet...
               In a star system far from the Republican
               seat of power, Coruscant, the Imperial
               forces are regrouping for a counter-
               attack.  Leading them is Admiral Jan
               Tyran, an almost legendary strategist.

               With Imperial Star Destroyers still moving
               out of hyperspace, Tyran hopes to mount his
               offensive within a matter of days...

               Information is still trickling in to the
               New Republic Intelligence Bureau about the
               proposed assault, but no hard news has been
               delivered yet.





   "Admiral on the bridge!" a stormtrooper called out suddenly.  Ensigns
scrambled to their stations, dropping impromptu card games, stashing secrets
away in their uniforms.  Admiral Tyran was well-known to be lax about such
things as discipline, but it wasn't the done thing to have an Imperial Admiral
walk in on you playing cards on duty.
   At the far end of the bridge, the entrance opened, admitting the Admiral.
Standing roughly one point eight metres in height, Admiral Tyran cut an
imposing figure.  His uniform was spotless, Imperial standard creases visible
in certain places.  Medals jangled from his chest, here an Imperial Cluster,
for the strike back at the Rebel scum after the Yavin-4 fiasco, there a
Madillin Star for bravery beyond the call of duty.  That one was for saving the
Emperor.  Hooded eyes swept the command pit, observing the remains of games all
around.  Tyran didn't mind the crew playing games, as long as efficiency
ratings didn't fall below the Imperial standard.
   He motioned to the Star Destroyer's Captain.
   "Larod, how long before the outermost parts of the attack fleet arrive?"
   Larod consulted a Lieutenant in the pit.  "Approximately thirty-one hours,
Admiral."  He went to say something more, then halted.
   "Status, Captain."
   Larod had been waiting for this.  "We have seventeen Star Destroyers here,
each carrying an assortment of two thousand TIE Fighters, TIE Bombers, TIE
Interceptors, Assault Gunboats, forty AT-ATs, twenty AT-STs, and fourteen
AT-PTs.  Engineering reports readiness in deflector shields, cloaking device,
tractors, hyperdrive, and turbolasers.  All Destroyers crewed with
approximately thirty-seven thousand crew."  He paused.  "And we have
Lambda-class assault shuttles on each vessel.  A total of eighty-five assault
shuttles.  Plus thirty-four gamma-class shuttles."
   Tyran nodded.  "Inform the other Destroyers here that we shall be leaving
now.  Coruscant hasn't yet had the chance to prepare itself for any kind of
assault, and seventeen Star Destroyers are more than a match for the three
capital ships the Rebels have in orbit."
   "Intelligence reports two more Mon Calamari cruisers will be in orbit of
Coruscant by fourteen hundred thirty tomorrow, along with a Dreadnought, and
four Corellian Corvettes.  And don't forget Coruscant's orbital defense
network.  The Coruscant ODN was designed to be impregnable.  And Intelligence
also reports that's operational."
   "You have been in contact with Imperial Intelligence?" Tyran asked quickly.
Lorad paled.  "Good, saves me a call.  Did they say whether the Rebels have
found out about this attack yet?"
   Lorad shook his head.  "No.  But they confirm Skywalker, Organa, and Solo
are away.  And they have heard rumours that the Rebels have captured Star
Destroyers under their control."
   "Still, we can have the others join us at the battle, hmm?"  Tyran waited
for Lorad's confirmation from Tactical.  "We will therefore take leave of this
place.  Inform the other Captains we will be leaving for Coruscant within an
hour.  I'll be in my quarters."
   With that, the Admiral turned on his heel, and left.
   Lorad moved to Communications.  "Get me the Doomsday..."
                       ******

   Seeing seventeen Star Destroyers move into hyperspace was not a sight to be
seen commonly, even when the Empire was at its greatest.  The Deathwing led,
with the Doomsday and Spearwatch flying flanking positions, the Runamuck,
Lodestone, Dark Knight and Dark Angel in a rearward position.  Behind them came
the main force: the Avenger, the Stormwatch, the Guardian, the Armadillo, the
Blasphemer, the Blindfold, the Cerberus, the Ominous, the Nightfall, and the
Hammerhead.  All moved through hyperspace at a Star Destroyer's top speed of
one hundred twenty-eight light years an hour.
   But in front of the convoy, something... happened.  Something began to warp
the fabric of space/time, ripping a hole between here and there, between now
and then.  Gravity, for some reason, concentrated itself in this area, ripping
space itself apart.  This anomaly is more commonly known as a wormhole.
   No one saw the seventeen Star Destroyers disappear into another galaxy.  No
one ever found out what happened to Admiral Tyran.  No one in this galaxy...


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~From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
~Date: 09 Jan 95 13:58:38
~Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
~Subject: Star Trek/Star Wars-A New Enemy(2)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
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~Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:4320

Please note that, once again, copyright of some characters, colonies, and
                         the story remains mine (Raymond N. Cooper's), 1995.
This story can be sent anywhere, so long as I am credited as author, and this
tag doesn't disappear!


                       CHAPTER ONE

   Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Federation starship USS Enterprise studied
the reports that had come in since his last shift.  Romulans moving up and down
the Neutral Zone, making attempts to get through the tachyon detection grid.  A
possible Borg sighting near Bajoran space, and a possible related incident of a
Cardassian fleet running from Bajoran space after a Borg battlecube turned up.
Picard tagged that for further reading.
   What else?  He scanned his padd, but nothing jumped out of the screen at
him.  Picard got out of his chair, and headed for the bridge.  The crew sat
calmly, collected, going about their jobs efficiently, as the Captain sat in
his chair.  He turned his gaze from the viewscreen to his First Officer.
"Nothing exciting?" He asked, a smile on his face.
   William T. Riker smiled in return, his child-like face wrinkling under his
beard.  "No, sir.  Nothing.  I would've thought Starfleet would have had us
doing something by now."
   "Mmm.  They usually do, Number One.  But not this time, it seems."  The
Captain stood.  "I think I'll... catch up on some reading."  He began to leave.
   "Incoming message from Starfleet, Captain."
   Picard sighed; it looked like Henry VIII would have to wait.  Again.  "On
screen, Mister Worf."
   The mainscreen's starfield was replaced by the picture of Admiral Karol, a
balding, over weight male human.  He peered out of the screen, as if
short-sighted.
   "Ah, Captain.  I hope you're not doing anything important...?"
   "No, sir, we're not," Picard answered, returning to his chair.
   "Well, then, we have a mission for you.  Have you ever heard of the T'Ruffen
colony, near Hydras-Beta?"
   "Yes," Picard nodded.  "The mining world?"
   "Correct.  We... seem to have lost contact with the colony there,
all-in-all, about three thousand people.  You're the closest ship in the area;
well, Starfleet ship, that is, and we'd like you to take a look for us."
   "Of course, Admiral.  Do you have any idea what we can expect?"
   The Admiral sighed.  "Unfortunately, we can't say.  It could be a faulty
transmitter, a broken power conduit, or it could be..."
   "Something more sinister?" Picard queried.
   "Exactly.  Not only are you the closest ship, but you're also the most
powerful starship within a four sector radius."  Karol glanced off screen, and
picked up a padd.  "If you need help, we can also send the... Faragut, the
Grissom, and the Copernicus.  If you require assistance.  Karol out."
   The picture faded, replaced in turn by the outside starfield.
   "Mister Data, set a course for the T'Ruffen colony.  Warp seven."  He turned
and left the bridge.  "Inform me when we arrive, Mister Data."
                       ******

   The T'Ruffen colony, on the fourth planet from Hydras-Beta, shuddered under
heavy attack.  Colonists ran to and fro, trying to hide from falling chunks of
plastic and metal, sizzling curcuits dropping out of the ceilings.
   Outside, phaser blast after phaser blast fired at the towering attackers.
But, relentlessly, the enemy came on.  Walkers, moving on four powerful legs,
fired laser blasts, one after another, from the head-mounted cannons.
   This was an Imperial All Terrain Armoured Transport, a heavy ground-assault
vehicle.  And it was doing its job just fine.
   "Commander Fawnj to Admiral Tyran.  We have neutralised all defenses.  You
can begin the troop landings."  The Commander stretched out an arm, and
activated the intercom to the rear of the AT-AT.  "Speeder bike group Alpha,
prepare for your attack run."
   "Copy," came the reply.  A door in the side of the AT-AT opened, and four
speeder bikes streaked out of the behemoth, heading for the ground.  Skimming
the surface, they rushed at the colony, firing into crowds, and rounding them
up.
   Five minutes later, two thousand five hundred people had been gathered.  The
rest were dead.  One of the colonists looked skywards, saw something flash, and
tapped the person next to him's shoulder.
   The sparkle resolved itself into a group of shuttles.  Slim wings pulled up
as the lead angular ship nuzzled in close to the ground.  Underneath the
cockpit, a hatch opened, dropping a ramp down to the ground.  Soldiers in white
bone-like armour ran down the ramp, dropping into defense positions until two
AT-ATs moved in covering positions.  A small two-legged walker, an AT-ST,
circled the crowd.
   Slowly, the other shuttles touched down, ramps opened, and stormtroopers
took up their assigned positions.  Guns pointed expertly into the crowd, each
trooper covering the maximum amount of people possible with the smallest firing
arc.
   From the lead shuttle, footsteps pounded down the ramp.  Feet came into
view, then a grey uniform, medals covering the chest.  Then a face, intensely
cunning, wise, and hard.
   "Good work, Major," he murmured to a nearby stormtrooper.  The trooper
nodded acknowledgement.
   "Peoples of this planet," Tyran said, raising his voice so the whole crowd
could hear him.  "You are now under Imperial control.  You no longer belong to
whatever kind of interstellar government you used to subscribe to.  You will
now follow Imperial commands.  Do as you are told, and no harm shall come to
you.  Do otherwise..." Tyran gazed callously around the crowd, staring
pointedly at dead bodies.  He didn't like the sight of human death any more
than the colonists did, but, for the sake of subjugating the colony,rebuilding
- as it were - Imperial territory, building a power base, he pretended to be
callous.  "I am taking my leave of this planet, but I shall leave behind a
Governor, and stormtroopers.  Any form of rebellion will be ruthlessly
exterminated.  Utterly."  He turned, and walked back up the shuttle's ramp.
   "To the Deathwing, sir?" the pilot asked Tyran, as he took the co-pilot's
seat.
   "Hmmm," Tyran agreed.  He stared down at the colonists.  The technology,he
hadn't seen before.  He'd though when they'd come out of hyperspace that they'd
been transported to the Outer Rim territories, but he hadn't heard anything
like this on the Rim.  Astrogation was mapping the stars now, trying to find
out where the fleet had turned up.
   Tyran glanced at his wrist chronometer.  By now, if everything had gone to
plan, the Rebels had been chased off Coruscant.  And why shouldn't it go to
plan?  There where some good tacticians in the ships that hadn't rendez-voused
with the main fleet.  But seven Star Destroyers against five Mon Calamari
cruisers... Coreelian Corvettes... the Coruscant ODN...
   That was something that seemed strange, though.  There was no deflector
shield surrounding the planet below.  No orbital defense stations.  No capital
ships in orbit to protect to mining colony.
   The only thing in orbit that could have been classed as defense was an old
ship, box-like, with large thrusters protruding from the rear.  It didn't have
any noticable weapons, at least, until it fired.  Then, power distribution
nodes, and phased relay systems had been located.  Minimal damage had been
taken on the shields, and impact damage had been taken, but the vessel had been
destroyed, a single turbolaser blast cutting through what passed for shields (a
pitiful attempt at matter/energy shielding), and destroyed an anti-matter
engine.  Or turbine.  Or something.  Anti-matter. An unstable form of matter,
well, not matter, but close enough... The Empire never used it, it was too
dangerous.
   The shuttle docked with the Star Destroyer Deathwing.  The sleek grace and
efficiency of Imperial technology never ceased to amaze Tyran, and now was no
different.  Repair crews swarmed over shuttles and equipment as the shuttle's


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~From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
~Date: 09 Jan 95 13:59:22
~Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
~Subject: Star Trek/Star Wars-A New Enemy(3)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
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~Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:4321

Please note that some of the characters, colonies, and the story is
                   copyright 1995 to Raymond N. Cooper.  This story can be sent
anywhere so long as I am credited as author, and this tag remains here.


                       CHAPTER 2

   "Aye, Captain, slowing to impulse."
   Captain Picard stared out at the approaching planet.  Something wasn't
right.  By now, they should have had even a radio message from the colony. But
nothing.  Silence...
   "Is there anything there?" he asked to no one in particular.
   Data studied his console.  "I can find no subspace signals coming from the
planet's surface, Captain.  There are also no subspace signals from any orbital
vessels."
   "There seems to be a disturbance on the planet's surface, Captain," Worf
growled.  "The colony has been damaged.  Energy weapons have been discharged
recently."
   "A revolution?" Picard wondered aloud.  He turned to Deanna Troi, the ship's
counsellor.  "Can you find anything, counsellor?"
   Troi's gaze became unfocussed.  "There is... something nearby.  I can not
tell what it is, it seems to be hidden... the planet... the colonists are
alive, but frightened."  She turned to the Captain.  "I shouldn't be able to
feel them from here, Captain.  Their emotions are strong.  Something has
happened."
   "I am picking up the remains of a vessel in a low orbit, Captain," Data
reported.  "I am running the debris through the computer... Captain," the
android turned to face Picard, "It is a Federation Antares-class freighter. It
has been fired upon."
   "Red alert, Number One."
   Riker ran through a checklist in his mind, mentally ticking off each part as
he called out orders.  He turned to Picard.  "It's all yours, Captain."
   "Mister Worf, inform the Grissom, the Copernicus, and the Farragut that we
may need assistance.  Ask them their ETAs from their current positions, also."
   Worf replied moments later.  "They stand ready to assist, Captain.  The
Farragut is three hours away, the Copernicus is twenty minutes, and the Grissom
is five hours away from us."
   "I am also detecting some kind of energy field, Captain."  Data tapped out a
sequence on his console.  "It seems to be in the form of three ships.
Correction: it is inside three ships.  The energy field, I theorize, is some
kind of primitive cloaking device."
   Three dots became visible on the main screen.  They grew larger as the
Enterprise moved towards them, as they moved towards the Federation ship. The
dots resolved into wedge-shaped craft of massive proportions.
   "Data, what can you tell us about these... vessels."
   Data glanced at his console displays.  "The upper superstructure seems to be
the bridge.  It has a hangar - possibly for shuttlecraft, or fighters -and runs
on a nuclear reactor of a scale that mankind has not seen before. It is using
some kind of shield technology, the like of which I have never seen before.
The ship matches no known description within Federaion or Starfleet files."  He
turned back to Picard.  "I suggest we try to find out more about this vessel.
The cloaking device is scrambling our sensor readings of the interior, so we
have no way of knowing if this is indeed what it appears to be: a vessel of
war."
   "Agreed, Mister Data.  Mister Worf, open a channel."  Picard stood,
straightening his uniform as he walked towards the main screen.  He stopped
just before the channel was opened from the other side.
   "I am Captain Jean-Luc Picard, of the Federation starship USS Enterprise. I
welcome you to Federation space.  Our intentions are non-hostile." He stopped
suddenly, in the middle of his prepared speech.
   The figure that had appeared on the screen was dressed in grey military
uniform.  Medals hung along his chest, giving the impression of a great many
victories.  But it wasn't the uniform that made Picard stop.
   The face was hard, seemingly carved from stone.  Piercing blue eyes searched
the screen, the gaze sweeping around the bridge.  Blond hair was pulled back
under the military-like cap, revealing even more of the sharp face.  This
wasn't what made Picard stop.  It was the look on the face.  The man was human,
at least that's what he appeared, and he looked around the bridge of the
Enterprise with undisguised wonder.  This was nothing new to Picard, but this
was not the expression one got from a human, most of whom had seen a Federation
starship.  This person, evidently, hadn't.
   "I am Admiral Jan Tyran, of the Empire.  I represent the Imperial Fleet in
your part of the galaxy.  You will surrender your vessel at once.
   "Or, quite simply, we shall blast you from space..."
   The screen closed down.
   "Shields up, Mister Worf," Riker called out.  Picard returned to his chair.
"You seem surprised, Captain."
   "I am, Number One.  But this isn't the time for it."
   The lead Star Destroyer pulled around in a tight curve, presenting its
starboard side.  The other two took up position just behind and under the
first.  Both turned to face away from one another, one preseting its
portside,the other, starboard.
   The lead Star Destroyer fired.
   The Enterprise rocked to one side.
   Picard's ears rang.  In the distance, he could hear Worf yelling that the
shot had cut right through the shields, and Data speaking calmly, informing
everyone that the enemy vessel's cloaks were down, and they were disgorging a
multitude of small attack fighters...