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The fuel alarm continued to sound, and Kira couldn’t figure out how to turn it off. It also looked like she’d have only enough fuel for the final thruster kick that would send her toward the moon, then she’d have to shut down.

She wouldn’t have enough to make a landing once she arrived. Which meant she had to calculate the course perfectly so that the hauler would enter the moon’s orbit, and then she had to hope that the battery power was high enough for her to use the hauler’s computer to access the starhopper’s transporter.

Should’ve checked the fuel before stealing the ship, she thought, but dismissed it. She’d left a body behind, one that belonged to a Cardassian soldier who was supposed to check in regularly. There simply would not have been time to refuel even if the ramp hadn’t squeaked open.

Once she reached the window, Kira changed course for the fifth moon, left orbit, and sent the hauler hurtling as fast as it could before shutting down all engines.

Then she let out a long breath. It would be the better part of a day before she reached the moon. She just had to hope that the generic nature of the ore hauler-there were literally hundreds of ships just like it all over the Bajoran system, and they all had the same transponder code, as a cost-saving measure-would keep the patrols from finding her.

7

U.S.S. Enterprise-E In Orbit of Earth United Federation of Planets

Captain Jean-Luc Picard was extremely grateful to find himself back in the present day.

It had been a difficult road. The Borg-after devastating Admiral Leyton’s fleet-had sent a scout ship back in time, in an attempt to assimilate Earth before humans’ first contact with the Vulcans, contact that led, eventually, to the forming of the Federation.

But Picard had been able to stop them, at a huge cost. Many of his crew were killed, including conn officer Lieutenant Sean Hawk, deputy chief engineer Lieutenant Paul Porter, and so many others. His android second officer, Lieutenant Commander Data, had been very badly damaged.

Now, though, they were home.

From the ops console, Data-the internal machinery of his head partially exposed-said, “Sensors indicate that we have successfully reversed the Borg’s temporal distortion and returned to our own time.” He turned around to look at the command chair. “We have returned seven minutes, nineteen seconds after our departure.”

From the tactical console, Lieutenant Commander Worf, Picard’s security chief, said, “We are receiving multiple distress calls from the fleet, sir-and also a priority-one call from the Palais de la Concorde.”

Picard whirled around at Worf 's words, then looked at his first officer, Commander William Riker, sitting next to him. The latter said, “Why would the Palais be contacting us directly?”

“An excellent question, Number One.” Generally orders directly from the seat of government went to admirals, who passed them on to ship captains. Of course, with Leyton’s death, Picard was now in charge of what was left of the fleet, but it still felt as if several links in the chain of command were being bypassed. “On screen, Mister Worf.”

The face of President Jaresh-Inyo graced the viewscreen. “Captain Picard.”

“Mister President. To what do we owe this honor?”

“I wish it was to honor you that I was calling, Captain-although I do wish to commend you for your role in destroying the Borg cube. Admiral Leyton was wise to include you in the fleet-we might have suffered many more losses if you hadn’t been there.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Sadly, while I would prefer to allow you the chance to lick your wounds, I’m afraid that won’t be possible. Earlier today, a Klingon fleet led an attack on a Romulan outpost on the planet T’Vyss. Several thousand Romulans were killed. The Romulan Star Empire has declared war on the Klingon Empire, and the Klingons have requested that we come to their aid in this conflict.”

Picard blinked. “Surely a diplomatic solution-”

“Is being attempted, yes, but in the meantime, Chancellor Gowron has demanded that we send a fleet to supplement the Defense Force. In