Star Trek: The Excelsior Adventures

Episode 4: Treking across the Gamma

The Excelsior had successfully entered the Gamma Quadrant and on the Bridge Demora joined Tadashi whom was seated in the command chair and sipping a cup of tea

"We have received Clearance to enter Dominion territory sir. A jem'hadar scout vessel will be escorting us to the Founders homeworld" Peterson reported

"Any word from the defiant did they ever find that warship?" Tadashi asked

"No sir. Defiant reports they lost the Warships trail its course heading last put it on an outlying sector of Dominion space but they aren't certain. They are scouting and are radio silent at the moment they're cloaked to avoid suspicion" Peterson answered.

"Hmmm. Hopefully Odo has more answers for us" Tadashi said

"That's our hope and why Commander Dax is with us." Demora said

"ETA to the founder's planet?" Tadashi asked

"4 days at our current speed" Vanessa replied "which is warp 8 by the way" she added

"I hope we can find Kira I hate to see what she's dealing with right now" Tadashi said

On a Dominion Warship traveling at warp. A door opened up to reveal two jem'hadar soldiers and a single Vorta entering a room.  A bloodied and bruised Colonel Kira was standing in a corner and a smirk formed on her lips

"This certainly takes me back. How long has it been since the War now?" She asked "here I was just now getting used to sitting behind a desk and playing catch with a baseball.. you realize I'm going to escape and that Defiant will find you so why?" She asked. "Why take me?"

The Vorta remained silent for a moment before speaking. "Apparently a Bajoran is needed and he wanted you.. specifically" the Vorta answered

"Who is he?" Kira asked

"All in good time Colonel no point in spoiling the surprise after all. You won't be going anywhere. If all goes well the Dominion will have it's revenge and our so called gods… will tremble" he said

"So you aren't acting on behalf of the founders?" She asked

"Mmm not entirely. Some support us but this war opened our eyes, Colonel. And that's the Founders despite their abilities… are not gods and never were. We were slaves, the Vorta and the Jem'hadar and nothing more and we are finally over it. But I see what you're doing. Trying to get me to talk… you'll see soon enough" The Vorta spoke

Back aboard Excelsior

Tadashi, Ezri, Demora, Thrall and the rest of the Senior staff sat in the senior officer mess

Tadashi had taken Daxs story of how Sisko used to cook for his staff and had a idea. Replicators we're definitely nice and Handy but Tadashi's family preferred home cooked meals and it was a tradition he was sad he never got around to continuing.  Dining out on space stations or just using a replicator seemed so much easier

But today? He put in some effort after scrambling for parts and replicating others he got to work. Sadly he had to replicate various ingredients which he felt defeated the purpose but In the end he was proudly setting down bowls of his own made from scratch Ito family recipe Japanese Ramen

Everyone glanced down at their bowls rather surprised. Raul leaning in to sniff it and Ezri poking at the Pork in the center

"This is … ramen?" Demora asked

"Yep made it all myself with some help from Thrall. Sadly it's not 100% fresh and real. The veggies are real cause we had some brought on by Ds9 but everything else was replicated but the raw ingredients I did the rest myself" Tadashi said taking a seat

"It honestly smells delicious" Dax commented

"Agreed" Peterson said "I love Japanese cuisine' he said taking the chopsticks and digging in slurping at the noodles. Everyone else soon did the same

"Mmm..this reminds me of the small cafe near home… ran by the same family for almost 9 generations. This is delicious!" Demora said

"The flavours are really bright. It's got a spice to it but it blends well with the broth" Dax commented.

"Heh Tadashi can be a good cook when he tries. He used to cook buthe got lazy and spoiled by technology' Thrall said

"It was hard cooking on a ship the size of a small apartment often filled with junk and barely enough space to live. As for the Hayashi II. Well I just never got back to it shush" Tadashi said

"So before Starfleet you were a salvage guy right? Bet that took you to all corners of the Federation" Raul said

"Not really my ship wasn't exactly state of the art and she sure as hell didn't like long trips. We mostly operated out in sectors close to I think it was Starbase 157. When we got the Miranda Class Hayashi II We moved to the Bajor sector and worked for the Bajorans as a cargo ship. So.. yeah actually we have been around a bit " Tadashi said

"That's alot of distance to cover, not many travel that far often" Demora commented while sipping at the broth.

The others quietly enjoyed their ramen while Tadashi focused out the window and the passing stars then looked over to everyone finishing off their meals  "so how ready are we for a fight?" Tadashi asked out of the blue resulting in almost everyone dropping their chopsticks

"You expect a confrontation?" Dax asked

"Well no but clearly we are dealing with a separate faction that has formed a deal or Alliance with the rogue Cardassian ships and the Maquis remnants. My question is how they got into the Beta Quadrant when the only way in and out of the Gamma Quadrant is the Wormhole and Deep space nine is constantly monitoring and documenting all travel." Tadashi said

"That… is true" Demora commented
"Jadzia.. My former host recalls a faint reading she had during an expedition into the Gamma Quadrant but she wasn't sure what it was and had passed it off as just an unknown reading. It wasn't big or looked dangerous enough to pick up. But it showed up briefly on defiants long range sensors coming from a sector at the edge of known Dominion territory" Dax said. "She had later researched it not long before her death… it matched Transwarp signatures "

"Borg?  Well we did find a Borg Sphere in the Gamma Quadrant" Tadashi said

"A Transwarp conduit? That explains Borg activity but it requires Borg technology to access. And from what I understand the Borgs Transwarp conduits are part of an artificial network connected to Hubs and what allows the Borg to traverse the large space they occupy and are scouting. It requires construction to establish exit apertures.. we have detected no such things in the beta Quadrant unless they placed it in a discreet area where sensors aren't always accurate." Demora spoke

"Dominion ships using Borg technology isn't a pleasant thought" Peterson commented.

"Something else is going on, it's gotta be something else they're using to traverse. It may have been a one way trip type deal as they escaped using the Bajoran Wormhole." Raul said "maybe they used Transwarp coils I understand while Transwarp conduits are primary use of long travel Borg vessels utilize Transwarp coils to create Transwarp conduits in a temporary sense allowing far travel. Voyager used some to travel several thousand Lightyears. Maybe the Dominion ship did something similar and once in the beta Quadrant they used the Bajoran Wormhole to return" He continued

"It's possible but we don't have enough information to be sure of anything not until Defiant finds them or Odo has more information" Demora said

"I guess we'll find out soon enough"