The Orb

by BioDread

Deep Space Nine

I bit my lower lip to keep from moaning as the young Dabo girl sucked hard upon my erect cock, her small head bobbing between my legs. I sat at a small, darkened table on the second level of Quark's bar, my pelvis quaking as the Bajoran girl ran her tongue from the base of my prick to the tip. She glanced briefly into my eyes and smiled before sucking my cock back into her small mouth and descending to my throbbing balls.

"Catch you at a bad time, Captain?" said another Bajoran woman as she approached my table, her expression reflecting distaste when she looked down at the scantily-clad Dabo girl devouring my swollen member.

"I'm..just..about..done," I grimaced, my pelvis thrusting up sharply while I ejaculated inside the pretty Dabo girl's mouth. The brown-haired Bajoran swallowed my semen, then rose to her feet, licking white droplets from her full, violet lips. I dropped three slips of latinum into the Dabo girl's open palm, then gave her tiny, latex-wrapped ass a playful slap as she swayed away to her next customer.

The Bajoran woman standing by my table watched the Dabo girl leave with an impatient frown on her lovely face. The woman had shoulder length auburn hair twisted into a tight braid that she wore over her left shoulder. She was dressed in a tight fitting, dull brown jumpsuit with the front unzipped just enough to tease observers with a view of her tanned cleavage. The ever-present Bajoran earring hung from her left earlobe, it gleamed from the soft glow of wall lamps spaced around the balcony. A slender leather belt hung around the Bajoran woman's shapely hips, a few pouches attached to the belt rested against her thighs.

The Bajoran shifted her attention from the Dabo girl to me. She smiled warmly, a smile that did not reach her dark, brown eyes. She straddled my lap, her inner thighs squeezing my legs as she found a comfortable position atop my crotch.

"You'll have to give me a minute," I remarked wryly, "I'm not as young as I used to be."

"I'm sure you could keep going all night with the proper..stimulation," purred the Bajoran woman, rubbing my limp cock, and slipping it back into my trousers.

"What can I do for you, Miss...?"

"You can call me Gellana," she murmured, leaning close to me and running her unpainted nails down my wrinkled shirt.

"What do you need, Gellana?"

"I need a ride." "Really?" I smirked, bobbing Gellana gently on my lap.

"I need a ride on a starship, I hear you have one," whispered Gellana close to my face, her breath warming my mouth.

"I'm not a taxi service."

"People we both know say you can get into hard to reach places," added Gellana, her soft lips brushing my right cheek.

I placed my lips close to Gellana's right ear. "Are you working for a security bureau? Bajoran? Federation?"

"No," smiled Gellana reassuringly, her fingers stroking my dark hair.

"Where do you need to go?"

"I don't want to say out here, but it's close."

I stared deep into Gellana's brown eyes.

"Twenty bars of gold-pressed latinum, plus anti-matter refueling costs for the entire trip."

"Done," agreed Gellana without hesitation.

I picked up Gellana and set her onto her booted feet. "Let's go, then."

***

The Vixen

My ship was docked to one of the upper pylons. Gellana stopped long enough to pick up a satchel from her rented quarters, then she followed me to the Vixen. Gellana wisely didn't remark about the cramped conditions within the Vixen when she followed me inside. I showed her one of the tiny cabins where she could stow her gear, then I let her join me in the cockpit. I wriggled into the pilot's seat first. Gellana slipped through the narrow gap separating the pilot and co-pilot stations, her taut ass almost brushing my face as I watched her settle into the worn, leather-covered seat. Gellana watched carefully while I went through pre-flight, engaging all of the Vixen's systems before requesting release from the docking pylon. DS9 control freed the Vixen from the station's umbilicals, and I eased the Vixen away from the station, easily avoiding the two freighters maneuvering into docking position.

"Now that we're underway, where are we heading?" I asked, turning to watch Gellana.

"Cardassia Prime," replied Gellana without batting an eye.

I just stared in dull shock for a moment. "You're kidding, right?"

"No, I'm not, Joran."

"If we're flying to Cardassia Prime, I need to know the reason," I frowned.

"Have you heard of the Bajoran Orbs?"

"Sure, they were gifts sent by the Prophets to your people. They're supposed to possess supernatural powers."

"When the Cardassian Occupation ended, the Cardassians took several of the Orbs. They've returned a few over the years, but they still possess one. The Council of Ministers hired me to get back the last Orb," explained Gellana. She leaned back into her chair and stared out through the viewport.

"Shit," I sighed, scratching the top of my head and sitting back in my chair.

"Cardassia's still in shambles after the Dominion withdrawal. Security is almost non- existent," said Gellana glibly.

"Almost," I reminded the woman emphatically.

"You want to back out?" prodded Gellana, looking at me through the corner of her left eye.

"Fuck it, I need the money," I shrugged. I started inputting commands into my control board, setting course for Cardassian territory.

***

The Cardassian Border

"Why did you leave warp?" yawned Gellana, stretching out her arms over her head, emerging from her nap.

"I don't want to blunder into any border patrols," I replied while I intently ran a series of short-range scans.

"I told you that the Cardies don't patrol this sector of space," frowned Gellana indignantly.

"I just like to be careful," I retorted, my eyes never leaving the scan displays.

"I'm switching to long-range, passive. Watch the short-range sensors for me," I instructed while I manipulated controls.

Gellana sighed loudly, but turned to watch the sensor screens to her right, idly adjusting parameters.

I didn't see any warp distortions or sub-space comm traffic over the long-range scanners, so I shut them down and prepared to accelerate back to warp speed.

"Joran! Cardassian Infiltrator headed our way at full impulse!" shouted Gellana.

"Jam its comm signal!" I snapped, making a sharp starboard turn with the Vixen and speeding up to full impulse as well.

"Got it! What are you doing?"

"I have to take it out before it warps out of here!" I snarled, raising the Vixen's forward shields and charging her phaser banks.

"Can your ship take on a Cardassian military vessel?"

"We're about to find out," I replied, locking the Vixen's weapons on the diving Infiltrator and letting loose.

The small, lithe Cardassian ship veered to starboard, the twin ruby beams of the Vixen's phaser banks slashing across the evading ship's crackling shields. A dull orange ball appeared aft of the Infiltrator and hurled towards us, disappearing beneath the cockpit's viewport.

The photon torpedo shook the entire length of the Vixen. The cockpit lights flickered while Gellana did a quick diagnostic.

"It punched right through the ventral shields, main power's down thirty percent."

"Forward shields are fading," I added tersely, swinging around behind the Infiltrator and above.

"You're right in the middle of his torpedo arc! He'll finish us with another one after he reloads!" warned Gellana.

"Not if I get him first!" I snapped, punching in commands.

"You're dropping our forward shields!" exclaimed Gellana incredulously.

"Have to if I want to do this!" I said before firing the phaser banks at the Infiltrator's aft shields.

Augmented by the power transferred from the Vixen's shields, the phasers ripped through the Cardassian vessel's shields and ravaged its aft hull. There was a brief, white flash when the Infiltrator's engines exploded, nothing but bits of debris remained when the light faded away.

"How are the engines now?" I asked.

Gellana studied her displays. "Containment's holding. We won't be able to fly as fast as before, though."

"As long as we get there before the anti-matter gets used up," I sighed, switching back to our Cardassia Prime heading and gently easing the Vixen back into warp.

***

Cardassia Prime

I had made a few runs to Cardassia Prime before the Dominion War broke out. Cardassia had been an intimidating world, surrounded by layers of defense drones and orbital defense platforms. Now Cardassia was blanketed in a veil of garbage, the melted remains of a once mighty orbital fortification. A few Cardassian Galor-class cruisers sailed around the dull-brown world, they were scarred and blackened by combat, as decrepit and broken as the world they were tasked to protect. A Galaxy-class Federation starship hung in geo-synchronous orbit above Cardassia Prime's north pole, overseeing the few independent freighters entering and leaving Cardassian orbit.

"So now what?" I asked, leaning back in my chair and facing Gellana.

Gellana had changed from her tight jumpsuit to a drab tan blouse and fishnet vest, her long legs encased in matching tan trousers tucked into scuffed brown boots. She wore a Bajoran phaser pistol opening on her left hip, I raised an eyebrow when I saw it.

"It's rough down there," shrugged Gellana.

"You've been there since the withdrawal?"

"I've read things."

"You didn't answer my first question," I prompted.

"We'll transport down to the surface and check out the security on the Orb. I'll come up with a plan to get it, then we burn thruster out of here and head home."

"Brilliant," I smirked.

"Thanks," grinned Gellana, rising from her chair and squeezing past me with a deliberate rub of a lush buttock against my face.

I knew she was leading me, but I had to admit she had a very hot ass.

***

Outskirts of Cardassia City

Even in the middle of the night, Cardassia was hot. The heat radiated from the ground in shimmering waves, every breath was a struggle as I followed Gellana down a narrow, twisting street between hastily constructed dwellings.

"Do you know where the Orb is being kept?" I whispered when we made way for a small group of Cardassians dressed in shabby, cowled robes.

"A military compound not far from here," answered Gellana, quickly resuming her urgent pace past the departing Cardassians.

I took one last look behind us to make sure the Cardies were really leaving, then patted my jacket where I had slipped a small hand phaser before leaving the Vixen. I quickened my pace to catch up with Gellana, who had gotten ahead of me while I watched our rear. Gellana shot me a swift glance when I rejoined her, then returned her concentration to the bending road ahead. All of the dwellings were dark, the sky was filled with boiling, red clouds, they looked like they were on fire, vestiges of the hellish rain that had descended on Cardassia when the Dominion had laid waste to the planet.

Eventually Gellana and I found the compound where the Orb was supposed to be kept. The duracrete building was a mound of debris, the metal fence warding the grounds was torn and melted to slag.

"At least we don't have to worry about security," sighed Gellana with hands on curvaceous hips.

"True, but how are we going to dig through all that?" I countered.

Gellana drew her phaser pistol and smiled at me. "Where there's a will..."

***

I watched the grounds while Gellana crouched and burned a path through the destroyed compound.

"How much longer?"

"Hard to say, maybe an hour. There's a lot of duracrete to burn through," said Gellana, her face illuminated by the ruby glow of her phaser.

"I'm going to check the perimeter," I announced. I tried to hide how pensive I was.

"Don't wander far," admonished Gellana.

I left the Bajoran woman with her work and strolled along the ruined fence. When I had left line-of-sight with Gellana, I heard faint, discordant music. I left the compound grounds and followed the music, my right hand disappearing inside my jacket for easy reach to my phaser. The music became louder, I identified its source as a two-story building with sagging walls and boarded up windows. I found a Cardassian passed out next to the front door. I tried the door and discovered it was unlocked, I opened it and went inside.

The building was a bar, filled wall to wall with shouting, jostling Cardassians and a sprinkling of other aliens. Three large, round, wooden tables were impromptu stages where naked females gyrated and swayed for the pleasure of the audience. One female was Cardassian, with silky, black hair that fell to her waist, the second was an Orion slave girl with gleaming, jade skin and sultry, dark eyes, the third was human, a mere girl about eighteen or nineteen years old, with disheveled, blonde hair and lightly browned skin.

"Buy drink!" snarled a large Cardassian who appeared to be tending the bar. I gave him a slip of latinum for a mug of foul-smelling ale, then shoved my way through the crowd to the dancing human girl.

The young woman was terrified. She danced woodenly, refusing to look at the leering Cardassians who cheered and shouted at her. Now that I could see her better, I noticed the scars over her back and thighs, there were fresh bruises on her face and between her thin legs. The girl looked up and noticed me for the first time. The girl's eyes grew wide, she started to speak, but stopped when a Cardassian lunged up and slapped her hard on the ass. Pulling away her gaze reluctantly, the girl concentrated on moving her slender hips and running her hands over her small, welt-marred breasts.

I walked away from the girl's table and exited the bar. I waited in the shadowy cover of an alleyway, until the patrons of the bar staggered out into the sweltering night. I straightened when I saw the human girl leave the bar in the company of a tall Cardassian dressed in a dust-covered military uniform. I backpedaled deeper into the alley when the girl and her keeper started walking in my direction. I hid behind a pile of garbage, my hand clutching my phaser as the towering Cardassian goaded the girl into the mouth of the alley.

"Please..not here," whispered the girl, trapped between the alley wall and the looming Cardassian soldier.

"Shut up," growled the Cardie, kneeling before the girl and lifting up the hem of her stained smock.

The girl stifled a sob as the soldier nuzzled between her closed legs, sucking on her shivering sex. The Cardassian reached underneath the thin smock, squeezing the girl's tits while he licked her cunt, her juices gleaming on the top of his gray tongue.

The girl swung her head towards me when I leapt up from my hiding place. I leveled my phaser and shot the Cardassian, hitting him just below his right armpit. The Cardie fell heavily onto his left side, the right side of his body smoking from the killing shot.

I slowly approached the shivering girl. She stared at me, lowering her smock, smoothing it down with trembling fingers.

"You don't look like you belong here. I can get you off-planet if you want," I offered, replacing my phaser inside my leather jacket.

"What's it going to cost me?" murmured the girl, glancing significantly at the dead Cardassian at her feet.

"Do you have any family?"

"Yes, and I belong to Starfleet," said the girl softly, raising her eyes to mine.

"Starfleet's got deep pockets, we can haggle about how much you're worth later."

I stretched out my right hand, the girl looked at it suspiciously.

"My name's Joran, Captain of the free trader Vixen."

"Karen Ferris, former first officer of the starship Valiant," replied the girl, tentatively taking my offered hand.

***

By the time Karen and I walked back to the compound, Gellana was just re-emerging from the bowels of the ruin, clutching a scorched metal container.

"I found it, Joran!" smiled Gellana triumphantly, until she noticed Karen to my left.

"Who's this?"

"Karen Ferris, she served on a Federation starship until it was destroyed by a Jem-Hadar battleship," I replied.

"They brought you back to Cardassia Prime?" asked Gellana with a sympathetic gaze.

"Yes. They..tortured me, then kept me in confinement until the Dominion razed the surface. My guard took me with him, and made me..a whore," swallowed Karen, her eyes downcast.

"I'm bringing her with us."

"Of course," nodded Gellana. "We better get back to the Vixen before.."

Phaser fire interrupted Gellana. A scarlet beam burned deep into Gellana's left thigh, she crumpled to the ground with a cry, dropping the container that held the Orb.

"Get behind cover!" I shouted, drawing my phaser and letting loose a series of short blasts.

A squad of Cardassian soldiers in dirty uniforms spread out and dropped to the ground, firing wildly at the three of us. Gellana grabbed the fallen Orb container and hugged it to her body while I wrapped my left arm around her waist and dragged her towards a pile of rubble. Karen snatched Gellana's phaser pistol and screamed, laying down a wide field of fire that caught two Cardassians with terminal results. Karen spun and ran after us, jumping over our protective barrier as half a dozen phaser beams tried to stab the lithe girl.

"Grab on!" I snapped, flipping open my comm unit and punching in the signal code that would activate the Vixen's transporter. As six phasers set on maximum power disintegrated our wall of rubble, the three of us were reduced to billions of particles of coherent energy and transmitted up through Cardassia Prime's atmosphere to the orbiting haven of my starship.

***

Cardassian Space

The escape from the Cardassian system was anti-climatic after our close encounter with the Cardassian military on-planet. The Vixen easily outpaced the ill-maintained Galor cruisers until I was ready to go to warp. We hurled free of the Cardassian home system and began the journey back to Bajor.

Karen seemed in better spirits after a sonic shower, a change into a clean jumpsuit, and a hot meal from my small replicator. I showed her around the Vixen and let her sit in the cockpit for awhile, but I could see the fatigue dragging at her, so I showed her to a cabin and wished her good-night.

"Thank you for rescuing me," smiled Karen from the doorway of her cabin as I prepared to head back to the cockpit.

"You're welcome, Miss Ferris," I replied with a nod.

I took a short watch in the cockpit, checked the sensors for Cardassian activity, then let the computer take over while I headed for my beckoning cabin. I left the lights off as I climbed out of my clothes, ran some cool water over my face, and collapsed atop my unmade bunk.

I was nodding off when the door to my cabin hissed open. Gellana stepped in and let the door close behind her.

"Secure the Orb?"

"Yes, it's in the cargo bay."

"What's up?"

Gellana didn't speak, and after a few moments I started getting a little nervous. Gellana seemed to know her way around weapons and med-kits, she had healed her shot leg like a trained doctor. She had also known quite a bit about the current defensive capability of Cardassia, where the weak points were, and how well guarded the planet had been. It was difficult to believe that a simple mercenary had been hired by the Bajoran government to steal back the Orb, yet she had said that she wasn't working for Bajoran security. I pondered why she would want a shady free trader like me hauling her through Cardassian space when she could have had a Bajoran vessel or even a Federation starship transport her to Prime.

My musings ended when Gellana climbed onto my bunk with me. I realized with surprising detachment that she had taken off her clothes during the long silence and unbound her lush, auburn hair.

"Is this a good idea after being shot?" I smiled, brushing strands of hair away from Gellana's forehead.

"I'm all healed now, want me to prove it?" grinned Gellana, reaching between my legs and caressing my crotch.

"Why the sudden affection?" I sighed sharply, my prick stiffening underneath Gellana's fondling touch.

"It was a nice thing to save that girl," murmured Gellana, her soft lips kissing my neck, then my stubble-covered cheek.

"She's Starfleet, I'll get enough from them to tide me over for months," I replied, covering Gellana's stroking hand with one of mine, guiding her fingers over my engorging member.

"It was still risky," pointed out Gellana, ending all conversation for a moment with a long, hungry kiss on my mouth.

"So is Karen the only reason for this visit? You're not getting out of your twenty bars, you know."

"I know," giggled Gellana, grabbing my right wrist and setting my palm over her warm left breast. "Maybe it's just the adrenalin rush after a hot exit, doesn't it make you horny too?"

"It's making me horny right now," I growled, tugging on Gellana's breast while I kissed her throat, then the creamy place just above both of her dangling tits.

Gellana rolled on top of me and straddled my crotch, guiding my erect cock to the lips of her furry cunt. She stared down at me and bit her lower lip while she inserted my shaft into her pussy, moaning softly when it slid up into her vagina. I groaned as Gellana's snatch tightened around my meat. I placed my hands on the beautiful, Bajoran woman's hips and started pumping between her thighs, moving slowly, savoring the sensation of her cunt squeezing my prick. Gellana rested her palms on my hairy chest, her nails gently digging into my skin as she rolled her hips, driving my cock deeper into her belly.

I moved my hands to Gellana's buttocks, I clutched them while I pumped into her, the bunk groaning beneath me. Gellana stretched out on top of me, she laid her left breast on my lips and I began sucking on her nipple. She moaned in my ear, hugging my neck, her crotch crashing down onto mine, her pussy sucking in my shaft to the hilt. We grunted and humped each other until I climaxed inside her, my pelvis quaking as I gushed my seed into the sheath of her vagina.

I combed Gellana's damp hair away from her left ear. The Bajoran woman's earring chimed softly as we kissed earnestly, my hands caressing her slick buttocks while she buried her hands in my thick, wet hair.

***

The Cardassians attacked when we reached the border. This time three Galor-class cruisers advanced on the Vixen, and even though they were worn and battle-scarred, their weapons still packed a punch.

I did my best to keep the Vixen's shields up while evading the bright shafts of light that would cut my ship to ribbons if I allowed two or more of them to catch me. Gellana manned the second seat, playing a juggling game of shifting power from shields to engines. The Vixen quaked when a phaser blast hit the port side, I grimaced when I heard the sound to ripping metal transmitted through the deck.

"We lost some stabilizers, main power's fluctuating," reported Gellana, her fingers flying over her controls.

Karen clutched the cockpit doorway and peered inside.

"What's our position?" exclaimed the girl as another direct hit screamed behind her.

"Main power's down fifty-percent, we're losing plasma," snapped out Gellana.

I rattled off our coordinates, struggling to keep distance between the slowing Vixen and the closing Cardassians.

"Make a new heading and start transmitting a distress signal using this signal modulation," said Karen, squeezing between me and Gellana to type in coordinates and a sub-space transmission frequency.

"Send out the signal," I ordered, accepting Karen's coordinates and pouring what power remained into the failing engines.

The Vixen gained a little space from the pursuing cruisers, until one ship fired a photon torpedo. The missile shattered the aft shields and slammed into the hull, the Vixen spun out of control, fires blossoming through all the cargo and supply decks.

"Fire suppression systems engaged!" shouted Gellana, nervous sweat covering her face.

"Engines?"

"Main power's off-line, auxiliary power isn't kicking in."

"I'll go check it out!" volunteered Karen.

"Stay here! I'll go back!" I said, releasing my chair restraints and climbing out of my chair.

"Joran!" exclaimed Gellana.

I looked over my shoulder and just stared while three ships appeared out of warp and opened fire on the Cardassian warships. I dropped back into my chair and looked at my short-range scanner displays, six more ships had appeared to attack the Cardassian squadron's flanks. The Cardassians tried to swat the smaller, more agile starships, but only managed to destroy two before one of the cruisers fell out of formation and blew apart in a bright cloud of raging anti-matter and plasma. Venting plasma and air, the surviving warships turned away and fled into warp.

"Maquis One to Vixen, are you going to make it?" asked a female voice from the comm panel.

"We've got a lot of damage, but I don't think the core's going to explode yet," I replied. "Thank you for the rescue, I thought the Cardies had us for a minute."

"You're welcome, Vixen. The Cardies usually know better than to enter the Maquis Free State, I guess they wanted you pretty badly. Power down, I'll put a tractor beam on you and give you a ride to one of our free ports."

"I'm Captain Joran, free trader Vixen."

"Captain Ro Laren, Maquis Free Militia."

***

New Sahara

Maquis Free State

The planet appeared dry and barren, but the Maquis had established a decent orbital dock, the Vixen was soon safely ensconced with repairs underway.

I beamed down with Gellana and Karen. We materialized within an oasis, a village surrounded the glittering pool that supported a ring of green vegetation. Palm trees swayed in the hot desert air, I shielded my eyes with my left hand as a slim woman walked up to us.

"Glad you decided to beam down," smiled Captain Ro, offering a hand. I shook her hand firmly, taking in her tight, khaki vest and matching leggings tucked into high, sand-brown boots. Ro's black hair was cut short, she wore a simple Bajoran earring on her left lobe. Like Gellana, Ro wore a phaser on her hip. The Maquis captain shook Gellana's hand, then turned her attention to Karen.

"So you're the one who sent the distress signal. Not many non-Maquis know that particular frequency," observed Ro, her eyes intent upon Karen's face.

Karen met Ro's hard stare. "The Valiant met with a group of fleeing Maquis while we were in Dominion space during the war. We chased off a squad of Cardassian ships picking off the Maquis, we traded information and supplies before going our separate ways."

"I remember that cell. They made it to one of our bases and said a lost Federation starship had protected them from the Cardassians. Guess we're even now," grinned Ro.

"Yeah," smiled Karen.

"Well, would everyone like something to eat? The cooks here can make this delicious almond chicken that you just have to try."

"Sounds good to me," I said.

"Me too," added Gellana, wrapping her right hand around my left possessively.

Karen made the decision unanimous, and the four of us strolled to a restaurant to sample the local cuisine.

***

Epilogue

The remainder of the trip back to Bajor was easy sailing. Captain Ro escorted the Vixen through the Maquis Free State into Bajoran space. We said our good-byes and flew peacefully to Bajor, the repairs to the Vixen holding nicely. I doubt even a Federation engineering team could have done better. Karen volunteered to monitor engineering while Gellana and I watched the cockpit and slept together every chance we got. I liked Gellana a lot, she was passionate and sexy, I dreaded the parting I knew was coming.

I docked the Vixen at Deep Space Nine so Karen could report back to Starfleet. She looked like a completely different person when she put on that Starfleet uniform, a far cry from the abused, terrified girl I had found on Cardassia. We had a nice dinner at the Replimat and said our farewells. I promised that I would try to visit when I swung by Earth again.

After Karen left, Gellana and I rented a holo-suite and made love during a fire storm. The thunder and flame really excited Gellana, she must have orgasmed three times that hour. We rented a room for the night on-station, then returned to the Vixen after breakfast for the final leg of our journey.

I completed the orbital maneuver around Bajor, set the computer on stand-by, and left the cockpit to go get Gellana. I found her in the repaired cargo hold, staring at the blackened, warped container that held the Orb.

"We're in orbit, you can beam down whenever you want," I said.

"Okay," sighed Gellana, shouldering her satchel, then gently picking up the Orb's case.

I walked with Gellana to the transporter room. She climbed onto the pad as I set the coordinates for her arrival on-planet.

"You can come with me," suggested Gellana. "After I pay you we could go out, see the sights in the capital."

"It'll be better if I just beam the latinum up and go my way," I smiled wanly. "This is hard enough as it is."

"Alright," nodded Gellana.

"Take care, Gellana."

"May the Prophets protect you," wished Gellana with a smile.

I activated the transport sequence and watched Gellana fade away. Gellana put together my fee quickly, I beamed it up, secured it, and returned to the cockpit. Locking on my restraints, I watched Bajor revolve below the Vixen. It was a beautiful world, bright and full of promise.

I programmed a new course and left orbit. I looked down at a console screen and watched Bajor grow smaller and smaller. When the Vixen was free of Bajor's gravity well, I engaged the warp drive and disappeared into the void.

The End.