Note: In chapter 1, I replaced Sal Liloy (an original character I created) with Senator Mina Bonteri and rearranged the scene between the Separatist and Dominion to reflect that. I don't know a lot of Star Wars EU, but she doesn't seem to have been in that much of it, so I think I can get a decent grasp on her character.

Chapter 2: The Long Wait

The holographic Jedi said, "I need info on the Breen. Communication with them has apparently been difficult and we need to clear things up quickly. We don't have much left around here to defend with if things escalate anymore."

Olee Starstone had been thrown into arguably the toughest position of any Jedi in the entire order. Master Nu had been in charge of the achieves for decades and right when her expertise would be needed more than ever, she had been killed on Bajor. Starstone, while still a technical Padawan had been judged the most fit to succeed Nu and put in charge of the library on at least a temporary basis.

Starstone thought for a second. Breen were Alpha Quadrant. The Federation's info was probably best on them and the records on most the species in the area had just been updated. "I'm sending you the updated info." She thought for a second. She remembered going briefly through the species. "Don't be too light in the negotiations. The Breen respect power. Make sure they realize that our weakness in the area is temporary."

The hologram disappeared and Starstone decided to start the updates in the Beta Quadrant next.

"You are doing pretty good with all of this."

Starstone turned around quickly, her hand moving to the lightsaber on her belt. There was a man standing there she didn't immediately recognize. Her mind raced though and then she remembered his face from the records on Nu's trip to Bajor.

"Captain Benjamin Sisko?"

Sisko smiled and held out his hand. "Yes. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Starstone kept her hand close to her lightsaber. "How did you get in here?"

Sisko looked around. "I'm not here for trouble. I learned a great deal about the Force from the Prophets before their connection to our universe was lost. I am here now mostly to express my sympathies and thanks for the sacrifices of Masters Nu and Halcyon. If they had not fought Dooku, it's quite likely the Paw-wraiths would have caused a lot more damage."

Starstone sighed. She tried to have no attachments, but it was good to hear that Nu's death hadn't been in vain. "I will inform the Council. They will likely wish to speak with you."

Sisko looked around the library before shaking his head. "I think it's better that our paths remain separate for the time being."

Starstone was confused. "Why?"

"The Jedi focus will be on the war and the threats to the Republic. I have to be more concerned with other matters. I may come calling the Council eventually, for now it wouldn't accomplish much. I may poke around the library from time to time though. "

Starstone started, "I don't think..."

Sisko disappeared.

Starstone let hand leave her lightsaber. "Well that will be something else to research."

"What have the Alpha Quadrant investigations revealed?"

The Founders were on opposite sides of the galaxy, but thanks to improved communications were talking even without the wormhole. One Founder, a male, spoke in the Gamma Quadrant, while a female changing spoke from her ship near Cardassia Prime. "We have completed our analysis of the Obsidian Order prior to the Cardassian decision to join the Dominion and have found no evidence of an attempt to place a disease into our population. Our investigations into the other main powers are on going, but we previously penetrated deep enough into the Klingon Empire to almost completely exclude them."

The male Founder nodded. "Continue your work on the others, especially the Federation and Romulans."

The female said, "What of possible Gamma Quadrant threats?"

The male Founder said, "There are three possible governments and a handful of rogue groups and individuals we are studying. The most equipped to come up with a disease this successful though are the Alpha Quadrant species."

The female said, "Then we must be prepared to act."

The male nodded, "The Great Link agrees."

The trip to the Delta Quadrant took longer than a trip of that distance used to take. The old paths were effected differently by gravity now thanks to double the amount of matter and new ideal paths were still being developed. Anakin didn't really mind this though. It was a chance to stop and think.

He'd made his life a lot more complicated by proposing to Padme. He was going to have to avoid letting any other Jedi, including Obi-Wan know. Padme would have to do the same and it wouldn't make for the easiest of marriages. And then there was Sisko...

Anakin all of a sudden wasn't in his ship anymore. He was now sitting on a rock in a lightly wooded forest. He jumped up and activated his lightsaber.

Sisko said, "That's not necessary."

Anakin spun around and looked at the old captain. Annoyed he said, "There are other ways of getting my attention."

Sisko ignored the comment. "I'm sorry to take you out. I think though that here is a good place to show you how exactly the universe has been changed."

Anakin looked around the world. He sensed the Force around, but...

Sisko had stopped looking at Anakin and was looking forward. "It feels different doesn't it?"

Anakin tried to get a full presence for the things around him, but try as he might, he couldn't get a full grasp.

Sisko walked to the side as Anakin continued to focus on the Force around him. Anakin could sense it, but it was like everything was blurry.

Anakin sensed it, but very late. He turned around quick, but was too late to avoid a small rock hitting him.

Sisko said, "I wasn't sure about that one. You didn't sense that in time, did you?"

Anakin shook his head alarmed. "What's wrong here?"

Sisko threw a round rock in the air and caught it like it was a baseball. "Nothing. The Merging hasn't come along very far here yet though. The Force on this planet still interacts much as it always has."

Anakin picked up a rock himself and threw it high and slightly behind him. He didn't look, but tried to keep sight of it with the Force. He reached his hand behind him his back and tried to grab it without looking, but just missed.

Sisko continued as Anakin tried again. "This is how the Force interacted with my universe before the Merging. It's harder to grasp and less clear in directions. The Prophets called it a chaotic interaction. I like to think of it only being involved in the big details. It's probably the only reason time paradoxes never destroyed us."

Anakin missed the rock again. He went to try again. He asked Sisko. "Why is it like this here? Is every Milky Way world like this?"

Sisko shook his head. "Most the Merging was fairly instantaneous. To an extent, both types of interactions with the Force exist in most the universe. The Prophets called the interaction with the Force in your universe a light-dark interaction. It's personal but divisive and impossible to get a full grasp on due to the inherent divisions."

Anakin narrowly caught the rock this time. Sisko complimented him. "Nice catch. I have no precognition abilities of my own."

Anakin looked at the Starfleet captain oddly. "You can travel between worlds like most of us walk into a room and you have no precognition?"

Sisko shook his head. "The Prophets existed outside of time. It was like I had an infinite amount of time to learn from them, but their knowledge is far from complete either. They don't understand time the way you and I do and thus something like precognition is something I could never learn from them."

Anakin nodded. He had a new teacher on the Force, but was beginning to see their might be learning going both directions. "What planet is this? Why is it like this?"

Sisko dug into the ground and pulled out a small piece of metal. He tossed it to Anakin. Anakin looked at it, but couldn't get much from it. "Man made?"

Sisko nodded. He paused, seemed to be sensing the Force himself. Finally he said, "We are half way across the universe. This planet was once the capital of a civilization that spanned almost a 1000 galaxies."

Sisko paused a second and Anakin was sure he was searching the Force somehow. Finally Sisko said, "It lasted for a long time, but it eventually decayed and died. The planet itself was lifeless for a long time, but order has slowly restored. It's been forgotten by even the people of this galaxy."

Sisko started walking forward and Anakin followed. They didn't go far, but stopped in a patch of trees. Sisko said, "This used to be the site of the capital building."

Anakin looked around and saw nothing to show there had ever even been people here. It must have died a long time ago. He tried to picture Coruscant someday looking like this and the thought was disturbing.

Sisko said, "So much life, being so central a location for so long made the Force very strong here and resistant to the Merging. In time, it won't feel that way though."

Anakin slowly nodded.

Sisko said, "I'm still trying to figure things out myself, but I'll be seeing you around."

Sisko disappeared and Anakin was back on his ship. He looked at his location. He was almost to Borg space.

Excerpt From Battles of The Great War

by Aerv Lhoell

Copyright: Lahol, Remus, Reman Star Alliance 2388

Computer translated into English in 2458 in accordance with the McCord Historical Treaties.

Chapter 4: The Long Wait and the Battle of Menzzla and Piscan

There were 2 months and 3 days between the Battle of Coruscant and the start of the Grand Coalition's massive drive against the Borg. That has been both portrayed as a feat of massive speed and a terrible failure to act. The truth is likely somewhere in the middle.

Following The Event, the Republic had attempted focusing heavily on the Delta Quadrant and met with limited success. As earlier chapters discussed, while they had been able to contain Borg expansion to a degree, the loses they were suffering were not sustainable and the attempted assimilation of Coruscant in front of the eyes of the entire galaxy led to a lot of fear in the Senate. The result was a temporary drawback until a better, fuller attack to could be arranged.

The set-up was difficult though. The clone armies were only now being first utilized and the logistical issues there were severe. Most importantly, many of the ships for the clones to man still didn't exist. To make up for the short fall and need for a mass fleet immediately two things were done. 1. The Grand Coalition was created and a non-Republic commander (Jean-Luc Picard of the Federation) was brought on to command and to negotiate the entrance of thousand of Milky Way governments. 2. The planetary fleets of virtually every Republic world were nationalized and put under direct military authority (something that would have been near impossible under almost any other circumstances and still resulted in protests as it was).

Contrary to many accounts, most worlds in Borg Occupied Space were not assimilated in this time period. Assimilation of entire planets was not a quick process even with the Borg resources. Still a large number of recognizable big population planets were assimilated and the dangers even for this limited period were large enough that widespread fear was warranted. To the people in Borg Occupied Space, there seemed to be no end in sight as planet after planet fell, food and fuel shortages went critical, and no news of Coalition counter attacks surfaced.

It was in this context that the Battle of Menzzla and Piscan took place. While the battle was smaller than 13 of the other 14 battles this book focuses on, it is significant as it is the only major battle that did not result in a massive Borg victory in this time period and for it's political consequences.

General Overview: Nine Borg cubes entered the Menzzla system and approached Menzzla itself. Menzzla had left the Republic and joined the CIS barely a month before the Event. Planetary forces directly engaged the Borg first and were completely destroyed. Borg began assimilation, but before any large parts of the planet were damaged 153 Separatist capital ships arrived along with fighters. The results was a clear Confederacy victory. Four hours later, the same fleet would head to the planet Piscan and drive off another 8 cubes. Newly elected Parliamentary leader Mina Bonteri would give a congratulatory speech to their forces that night and the two victories were enough to prevent what seemed to be an inevitable CIS collapse.

Seven walked through the halls of Voyager like they were her home. She had only spent a few months away from the collective and Voyager was the only place that had learned to feel comfortable. The ship had been docked in Earth's Spacedock since it's return to the Alpha Quadrant, but Seven had only left the ship for a few meetings and casual events Janeway or others had prodded her into.

Seven entered the turbolift and considered the future. Voyager would be leaving soon, returning to the Delta Quadrant of all places to fight the Borg. She had very mixed feeling. For some time after being disconnected from the collective she had wanted nothing more than to return. That was over now, but that didn't mean facing the Borg didn't bring up a number of emotions. There was fear that she would be assimilated again, brought back to the collective just as she was rediscovering her individuality. There was also guilt. She had been one of those drones and she had respect for the collective even if she didn't want to be back in. To completely destroy it seemed very dark and far more than she wanted to really be involved with.

The turbolift opened and Seven walked through the bridge to the Ready Room. Janeway opened the door immediately. Without a hint of emotion, Seven said, "You wanted to see me captain."

Janeway nodded. It was clear she was unhappy with something. "Sit down Seven."

"I prefer to remain standing."

Janeway sighed. "Of course." Janeway stood herself. "Seven, I've just received orders that you are to report to the Joint Research Facility and are to be under the direct command of Captain Shelby."

Seven heart skipped a beat. She had considered the possibility, but Janeway had assured her it wouldn't happen. "Can you stop it?"

Janeway turned away and looked out the glass behind her at Earth. "No. I've tried, but they won't listen and they come all the way from Picard."

Seven knew what the meant. She was going to not only have to fight against the Borg, but if this war was successful, she would be one of ones who would be the most effective weapons. For all that she hated what they did to her, the thought of the collective voice ceasing brought no comfort at all. Hesitantly, and with uncharacteristic emotion, Seven said, "Then I guess I have no choice."

Janeway turned to the women she had helped escape the collective. She put both her hands on her desk and looked straight at Seven. "You do have a choice. Starfleet is violating its principles here in forcing you to fight something you still feel connected to."

"But you said the orders were made."

Janeway nodded and then smiled. "Yes, but I checked your file again just now."

Seven was confused. "What about it?"

Janeway pulled out a pad and handed it to Seven. "You are still an Acting Lieutenant. Your commission and formal acceptance into Starfleet still hasn't gone through. Practically, that changes nothing except one thing."

Seven picked up the pad and looked at the form on it and understood. "I can withdraw my request to join Starfleet."

Janeway nodded, but her smile was gone. "Yes. Legally you can withdraw your request at any time before it has been approved. If you sign this now and leave Federation space immediately, Starfleet isn't going to be able to do anything about it."

Seven was more than stunned that Janeway would suggest this. Janeway had encouraged Seven to help all along and this was a complete turn. "Where would I go?"

Janeway went around the desk and put her arm on Seven's shoulder. "I've talked to Chakotay. Many of the Maqui have started new lives on an uninhabited world a little beyond Federation space. Tom and B'elanna have talked about going there too. B'elanna is already working on a new pod for you to regenerate and Tom has a shuttle ready to take you there."

Seven slowly nodded. It seemed the decision was made. "Thank you captain."

admiraljoshhar: Thank you again for the review. They really are nice to read. So far most my dabbing into the EU has been when I know I need a Star Wars character, but can't think of a good one from the movies to use. I'll start posting those questions here (who would fit certain roles) when they arrive.