Things Left Undone

The year is 2382. The Federation, still picking up the pieces after the devastating invasion by the Borg a year ago, is now facing a new threat calling themselves the Typhon Pact. Despite this, President Bacco continues to make good on her promise that Starfleet's original mandate of exploration will continue. The USS Endalla, Captained by Jonathan Reynolds, will set out into the unexplored regions of the Gamma Quadrant. Her crew, many of whom still dealing with the loss of loved ones and places they called home, steel themselves as they are asked to leave a Federation facing uncertainty, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.

Prologue

Somewhere in the Gamma Quadrant…

The rain poured all around her as she ran across the open field before her. The man she was chasing was, for the moment, keeping out of her reach, which was just serving to infuriate her even more.

Amanda Harrison had been hunting him for the last five years, tasked by Starfleet Intelligence to bring him to justice for the high crime of treason after he provided the Dominion with vital information that lead to the deaths of ten thousand, one hundred and forty-three marines and Starfleet personnel.

The surprise attack on Orias III was supposed to go off without a hitch and speed up the eventual assault on Cardassia Prime. Starfleet's Eighth and Ninth fleets were to secure the system, while the 112th and 83rd Starfleet Marine Corps divisions secured the surface and its valuable duranium mines.

Initial defenses were light, and the system was secured with in the first few hours. Half way through the landing operations, that was when things went to hell.

A Dominion fleet was using the corona of the systems O-type star to conceal their presence and ambushed the fleet in orbit.

Amanda watched in horror as flashes appeared in the sky above her as she listened to the frantic communications. The blood drained from her face when the call came out from the fleet commander to retreat, leaving the eleven thousand marines without support, and no hope of retrieval.

But that wasn't the end of their troubles. The Dominion had used the planets kelbonite deposits to hide the presence of a Breeding facility, and the forty-five thousand Jem'Hadar that were now making their presence known.

It took three months for Starfleet to rescue them. Three months of brutal combat. Three months of cold, bitter winter. Three months of waking up to find the person next to you had frozen to death in their sleep. Three months of starvation as supplies dwindled. If there was a hell, Amanda remembered thinking at the time, it had frozen over and its name was Orias III.

When the war ended in 2375, dominion intelligence records from the war began to surface. The Orias III disaster was the result of the battle plans being leaked days before the invasion by a Marine 1st Lieutenant named Richard Baker.

Amanda didn't know what to think when she heard the news. What hurt was that had been betrayed. Betrayed by a Marine that she served with throughout the war. Baker was her unit's intelligence officer. In the captured intelligence record, it revealed that the Dominion using its Orion Syndicate connections had captured Baker's sister and used her as leverage to obtain any intelligence they could. It was just the universes sadistic sense of timing that they were about to mount an invasion when the dominion started pressing him for information.

To Amanda's knowledge at the time, Baker was listed MIA after the battle. She remembered waking up one morning and he was nowhere to be found. At the time, she thought he had just wandered off and committed suicide, as some marines had done as the bleak situation continued on. But the report said something different. Baker was extracted from Orias and transported to an Orion colony where they were holding her sister.

In 2377, Starfleet Intelligence, acting on information that Baker had been spotted on Vega IX, asked her to track him down. Amanda followed him across the breadth of the Federation, and eventually into the Gamma Quadrent, where his luck had run out. After a brief dogfight in orbit of a Class-M moon orbiting a gas giant, she had forced him to crash land.

"I've had enough of this!" Amanda yelled as she stopped and aimed her rifle, shooting Baker in the knee, causing him to crumple to the ground.

"What are you going to do now? Kill me?!" Baker yelled over the droning roar of the rain.

"No. A death like that is too good for you, traitor. You're going to pay for your crimes!" Amanda said as she wiped the water from her face, secretly glad that the rain was covering up the tears brought about by her adrenaline fueled rage and the voice in the back of her head screaming for her to pull the trigger.

In the distance, a bright light flashed. At first, she thought it was lightning, but the thunder never came. Then she found herself surrounded by a dozen armed aliens.

"Drop your weapon!" one of them called out. Amanda lowered her rifle and slung it across her shoulder by the strap.

"I'm Captain Amanda Harrison of the Starfleet Marine Corps representing the United Federation of Planets. I'm apprehending this criminal to face justice." Amanda started to explain.

"Really now?" the one who ordered her to drop her weapon said in response.

"If there's an issue with how he will be treated, I assure you that he will not be harmed, and that the federation has no capital punishment." Amanda continued, eliciting a laugh from the alien. The hair on the back of Amanda's neck started to tingle, just like it had done countless times before right before things were about to hit the fan.

"That would be just fine if I was a representative of my government. Sadly I'm not, and I really don't care." The alien said apathetically, raising his hand to point at her. Instantly two of his men raised their rifles and opened fire before Amanda could do the same. Two bolts of crimson energy struck her chest and she crumpled to the ground.

Barely conscious, the last thing she saw was the butt of a rifle slamming down on her face.