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Episode Synopsis
While most of Earth's population battle for survival in the sphere, the fleet team up with some old friends and enemies.

Written
Between 15th May and 10th December 2004

Edited
Between 1st & 18th January 2005

Episode Based In
June 2380

A familiar but battered spaceship dropped out of warp, it joined a few others nearby a nebula.

On its bridge, everyone was in disarray.

The captain steadied herself using the banister as she climbed to her feet. "Status?"

"Well everything's fine, except that we nearly got killed, the ship's a wreck and billions of people were just blown up," the opps girl grumbled.

"No need to take it out on me," the captain said.

The first officer pulled himself onto his chair while the captain stood nearby, brushing dust off her uniform. The first officer screamed bloody murder, "aaaah, look at this!"

Everyone panicked and rushed over. "What, what is it?" the helm guy stuttered.

"I'll tell you," the first officer said, looking pale and shaking. "Look at my hair, it took me ages to get it like this!" He threw a mirror onto the floor while everyone stared at him with murderous looks on their faces. "What?"

The captain slapped him across the head, "imbecile."

"I doubt he's the only one," the tactical girl commented.

A girl stormed onto the bridge with her hair in all over the place. "Ok would somebody mind telling me what's going on? One second I'm slapping that annoying guy who thinks it's funny to take out gel packs, the next I'm lying on my head, crushed in between the warp core and a fat guy. I mean my hair can only take so much."

"See," the tactical girl said with a shrug.

The helm guy smiled cheekily at the girl who came in, "you look just as fine as ever."

She stared at him disgust, "oh please, in your dreams."

The captain looked really miffed, "would you people get your act together. Earth is gone and you're all hitting on people and wondering if your hair's ok."

"What, Earth's gone?" the girl who came in stuttered.

"Yes, does anybody check their computers every morning?" the captain grumbled.

"Don't yell at us, there's nothing we could have done about it," the opps girl said with a pout.

A guy walked out of the turbolift, he stood beside the other person who came in. "I've done it." Everyone stared blankly.

"Done what?" the first officer asked.

"What I've been working on for the last few months," the guy muttered in response.

The captain rolled her eyes, "seriously guys, just a little peep at your computers in a morning. It's a good read with a coffee."

"Who cares about that right now? We haven't had a game in ages," the tactical girl said.

"She has a point," the first officer said. "But I don't know what you did though."

"Do you ever know what's going on, Will?" the captain muttered. "I wish you had come up with something that would have stopped this from happening."

The new guy sighed, "it's not my area of expertise."

"Hello, we can go back in time. That's what we do," the first officer, Will said.

"And do what?" the captain asked with a raised eyebrow. "Face it, we couldn't stop it from spreading, it was inevitable."

"No wait, when did it start spreading?" the opps officer asked.

The captain shrugged, "I don't know, anybody?"

The helm guy's eyes lit up, "oh oh, I know."

"Anyone else?" the captain muttered.

"No I do know it," the helm guy said. "If you don't believe me, you could always back me up with the history records."

"Fine, when?" the captain sighed.

"Sometime in the twenty fourth century," the helm guy said. He pulled a face, "don't know exact date but it was around the time of that Games Sphere on Earth."

The tactical officer's eyes lit up, "oh I know this, oh can we go Jacqueline, please please."

The captain frowned, "I dunno now, what's there that's making her so excited?"

"No reason, I'm just excited about saving the world as all," the tactical girl said innocently. "It's 2380."

The captain, Jacqueline stared at her, "oh my god Vicky."

"What?" the tactical girl said.

"Correct me if I'm wrong but in 2380 the second Chosen Slayer of that generation was born," Jacqueline said.

"Yes, so?" Vicky said.

"Yeah, so what?" Will said. "She's long dead and buried."

The girl standing near the turbolift shuddered, "eew, must you say stuff like that."

"Do you know who her parents were?" Jacqueline asked.

"No, why would I?" Vicky muttered.

"One of them's that guy you're so obsessed with so you've got no chance," Jacqueline said.

Vicky looked shocked, "oh, why didn't anybody tell me that before!?"

"Well numerous reasons. One, we didn't want you blurting anything out to him. Two, you'd try to stop it from happening and corrupt the timeline," Jacqueline replied. She turned to the helm guy. "Tony, set a course for 2380, destination, um the USS Voyager. First double check the exact date we'd need."

Will glanced between them, looking confused. "Wait I'm confused, why are we going again?" Everyone groaned.

Earth:
Several people were scattered around a large dark forest, sitting in the middle of it was a river. The group split up, two of them headed walked alongside the river.

"Maybe we should walk in a place that doesn't stand out," Phoebe muttered.

Yasmin turned to her, "no way, we're supposed to kill and we're going to kill."

"How are we going to do that with no weapons? We're in a forest, there's nothing to kill them with," Phoebe said.

Yasmin shrugged, "I dunno, push them in the river?"

"All of them?" Phoebe muttered.

"There was only a few of them," Yasmin pouted.

"I doubt they'd only put about eight Softmicron against most of Earth's population," Phoebe muttered.

"Then what are we going to do instead? Hit them with branches?" Yasmin said.

Meanwhile:
Craig looked around a large tree, he stepped out and started walking casually through some bushes. The wind swept through the trees. He ignored movement and rustling nearby.

Something leapt out of the bushes, at the same time Craig threw himself to the ground out of the way. Daniel jumped out from behind the same tree, holding a large tree branch. He swung it at the guy who jumped out. Craig got up, looked around for something.

"Here," Daniel groaned. He threw the branch towards him, he caught it. He attacked the guy with it, while Daniel just used his fists. The guy eventually fell to the ground. "Hit him in the head."

Craig pulled a face as he knelt down, he smacked the guy lots of times. "Gee, I sure hope this is a Softmicron." He stood back up.

Daniel tilted his head to the side as he watched the guy. "Hang on." The guy turned into the default Softmicron form. "Yeah it was."

Craig raised an eyebrow, "next time you're the bait."

"No, you are bait material; scawny, helpless," Daniel muttered as he walked away. Craig stared after him, he followed muttering something nasty under his breath.

Meanwhile again:
Jessie and Duncan were surrounded by a group of five. "Ok, when I tell you to, run and hide," she whispered.

"But mum, can you take five of them?" he said.

"Not a problem. They're in human form," Jessie said nervously.

A scream in the distance startled everyone. It got closer and closer until it sounded like it was only two metres away, then it stopped. One shook it off and charged forward. A figure leapt through the bushes and knocked him to the ground. Everyone turned to see what happened.

Jessie's eyes widened in shock, "Yasmin?"

Yasmin jumped to her feet while the guy she knocked over looked rather dazed. "You're welcome," she said with a grin. She raised a large tree branch, "these are much better than I thought."

Phoebe slowly walked out of the bushes, "god Yasmin, next time you warn me before you decide to run off." She then noticed the group of four. "And get us into bigger trouble than before."

"You didn't have to follow," Yasmin said.

"Ok, let's end this fast," a Softmicron snarled.

Jessie moved slowly to stand directly in front of Duncan, "now."

"But," he muttered.

"Duncan, do as your told for once," Jessie muttered.

Duncan backed off, "ok." He turned and ran into the bushes.

The Softmicron group then decided to attack.

First Officers Log, Supplemental: We have rendezvous with the Leda and Enterprise and are in the process of receiving the Slayers who will be going in the Game Sphere. The Leda and the Enterprise will go back to some of the Game Cube sites to help out while we go to Earth.

The Transporter Room:
James and Emma were standing around nearby the pad.

"Sooo," Emma said, trying to look innocent.

"Yes, you can replicate a chain-saw if you want," James groaned.

Emma grinned and clapped her hands, "oh goodie." She headed for the door.

"Just remember, some games don't let you take weapons in. Actually most don't so prepare to be disappointed," James said, stopping her dead in her tracks.

"Aaaw man, I hope it's one of those where you can choose your weapon," Emma moaned. She walked out.

James turned to the Transporter Chief, "which transporter room's getting the Enterprise's?"

"This one," the chief replied.

"We are in a hurry you know, right?" James said.

"I know, transporting now," the chief replied nervously.

Zare and Ylara rematerialised on the pad. Zare stepped down while Ylara stayed put, looking uneasy. "I'm never going to get used to that."

"You're going to have to, they are safer than shuttles," James said. "Come on, we'd better get stocked up before going." He walked out.

Zare followed him looking confused, Ylara sighed before doing the same. "Shouldn't we wait around. It won't take long for us to reach Earth."

"Stock up with what exactly?" Ylara asked.

"Yeah, with what?" Zare muttered.

"Weapons, just in case," James replied.

"I've never played in a sphere game that's allowed me to bring my own weapons," Zare said.

"I said just in case, we've got time," James said.

"Right whatever, I'd better do some replicating," Zare muttered, she walked down a different corridor.

Ylara picked up speed to walk alongside James. "Replicating?"

"I haven't got the time or expertise to explain it," James muttered.

"You don't know either," Ylara said.

"No I do, replicators make things appear out of nowhere. That's the basics," James said.

Ylara smiled, "huh, that I have to try out sometime."

They both walked into the weapons storage place. James started glancing around the room, "I left some spares around here, just in case."

Ylara picked up one of the rifles, "um hello, right in front of you."

"No, they're not mine," James said. "I hid mine somewhere so no dimwit would pick them up." He eventually glanced at one of few containers, "that's probably it."

"Very good hiding place," Ylara commented, frowning at the rifle. "What does this do anyway?"

James ignored her as he took the lid off the container, which had the writing on the side of it. He pulled a few weapons like knives out of it, smiling smugly. "Good old Voyager, stupid tricks fool stupid people."

Ylara glanced over, "what, did you curse it or something?" One of her fingers accidentally slipped on one of the buttons on the rifle, leaving a blazing hole in the ceiling. She stared at the rifle with wide eyes, "woah!"

James headed over to her, "why don't I take that?" She handed it over.

"Ok, you future people have some dumb weapons," Ylara grumbled. "What ever happened to knives and swords, they're real weapons."

"Nothing, humans now prefer the 'safe' weapons," James said as he put the rifle down next to him. He picked up one of the knives and the only sword there. He handed them to her, "I assume that you know how to use them."

Ylara's eyes lit up as she took a hold of the sword, "oh yeah, I thought I'd never see one of these again." Gently she put the knife away, and started swaying the sword back and forth.

"Ok I'll take the rifle," James muttered as he picked the rifle back up. He picked up one of the knives, then put it away. Finally he picked up the axe. "And these. Can you close the container for me?"

Ylara shrugged, "whatever." She put the lid back onto the container, she eyed the writing on it. "Steal sunken, um something at, help me out."

"It says 'Neelix's drunken moments on video'. It's something to scare everyone who sees it, so they won't open it," James said, he headed back out of the room. "I take it somebody didn't finish teaching you how to read."

"Well I did kill my watcher before my lessons ended," Ylara muttered as she followed him. "Oh, who's Neelix, and video?"

"Neelix, a really ugly guy who goes naked when drunk. Video is a moving picture, basically," James replied.

Ylara stopped in her tracks with her eyes wide, "and your weapons were all still there? God that guy must be ugly." She rushed after him.

The Bridge:
Andrea paced back and forth, "how long until we reach Earth?"

"Ten minutes," Kevin replied.

"Are you ready then?" Chakotay asked from his chair, not looking really interested.

"Ready? Let's just say they're going to regret taking my sister away," Kevin muttered.

Jodie smiled, "now that's more like it."

Kevin glanced back at her, "huh, what do you mean?"

"Nothing, it's just that's how a Chosen should talk and act. It's more, attractive," Jodie replied.

"Really?" Kevin said with his eyes lit up. "So how..."

"Don't ruin it," Jodie grumbled.

"Oh ok, I'll remember that," Kevin mumbled.

Andrea stared blankly at him then at Jodie. "Ok guys, can we carry on with the journey with a little less disturbing talk, hmm?"

"Yes please," Foster added on.

Jodie smiled innocently, "sorry."

Chakotay shook his head, "god what is it with the daughters in the Harris and Annet family? You may as well be called Jodie Chosen-Slayer-Groupie. I mean there's Jessie who married James, her twin who wanted to, and you."

"Hey, I liked the idea of a Chosen boyfriend before either of them, so there," Jodie muttered, pouting slightly.

"Hey, how come James got two?" Kevin asked, also pouting.

Jodie smirked, "actually he did have three remember. Why is because he's more gorgeous than you, can act like a Slayer and a normal person at the same time, doesn't hit on every girl he sees."

"Hmm, somewhere in Indiana, Janeway is spinning in her grave," Foster muttered quietly.

"Right, I'm the best looking out of all the male Slayers," Kevin said smugly.

"Now all the male Slayers but James are doing it," Foster muttered.

Chakotay glanced at him, "doing what?"

"Spinning in their graves. Wait, James won't be the only male Slayer that's still alive, apart from Kevin," Foster mumbled. Everyone ignored him.

"Don't be stupid, Slayers are more likely to be girls as they're better at fighting," Jodie said sweetly.

"Yeah actually that's probably true, Kevin's the evidence," Andrea said.

Kevin glanced back at her, "what was that?"

Meanwhile:
The Enterprise and the Leda dropped out of warp, and orbited a planet.

The Enterprise bridge:
Tom walked over to stand beside Triah, "hail them."

She nodded, "frequencies open."

Tom glanced back at Angela, "you're on."

She shook her head, "this is Captain Turnbull of the Enterprise. Can we be of assistance?"

In: "Thank you Enterprise, but we already have one starship in orbit transporting medical supplies."

"All right, that's weird," Angela said. "Well if you don't mind, we've got another planet to help out."

In: "Aknowledged. Renias out."

"I would have thought Starfleet would have told us there was a ship already here," Faye said.

Triah shrugged, "doesn't matter, it just saves us some time."

Bryan glanced back at the others briefly. "The ship is coming from the other side of the planet."

"Ok let them know we're leaving Triah, and Bryan set a course for the other game site," Tom ordered.

Bryan turned his chair around, "but they're not Starfleet dad."

Tom frowned, "what, who are they?"

"It's the Lillyia Z4," Bryan replied.

The Leda Bridge:
"It's the Lillyia," Noah replied. "Not sure which one."

Lilly's eyes lit up, "really, where have they been for so long?"

Harry shrugged, "you're their captain, you tell us."

"I would, but I was in a not listening mood when Scot told me," Lilly said.

"Hail them," Harry ordered, raising an eyebrow at Lilly.

"The Enterprise is doing it too, should I do the three way comm thing?" Noah asked.

"Yes please," Lilly replied.

The Lillyia Z4 Bridge:
"Wait, that thing always blinds me when you switch it on," Carly muttered, pushing her chair away. Scot watched her move it over to the Tactical station.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Yep," Carly replied.

"Put them on screen," Scot ordered.

"I don't see why you have to order me about, it should be the other way around," James 2 muttered.

"Please shut up about that, James the Eighth," Scot muttered, rolling his eyes.

"You promised you'd never, ever call me that!" James 2 snapped.

"Yeah sure," Scot said with a smirk.

The viewscreen activated, it split into two screens. The Enterprise bridge were on the left one, while the Leda was on the right one.

James 2 calmed down slightly, "hey sis, long time no see."

"Yeah James it has been a while," Lilly said. "Hey Carly." Carly giggled and waved. Lilly turned to Scot, "hi."

Scot sighed, "hey everyone. I wish we could have gotten back sooner."

"And I wish we'd of met back up at a better time," James 2 added on.

"The feeling's mutual," Tom said.

"What are you guys doing here in particular, anyway?" Harry asked.

"Well we got word on what was happening as we were re-entering Federation Space. Obviously the Softmicron are a little too pissed about what the Equinox did to their kids," Scot replied.

"There's obviously nothing we can do right about now, but we thought we should come and help the victims," James 2 said.

"We appreciate it really, but apart from giving out medical supplies there really isn't anything we can do," Harry muttered. "It's really frustrating. Once again the Slayers are doing their thing and here we are, doing nothing."

"Don't mind him," Lilly sighed. "It's been a crazy couple of months."

"Where we've just mainly sat around and done nothing while crap happens. I hate feeling this useless," Harry said.

"I hear you buddy, but we should be grateful that nothing more is going on," Tom said.

Meanwhile:
A portal opened nearby a star, a few dozen ships emerged from it. They all fired a beam at the star. It started to collapse slowly just as one last ship emerged. It fired a different weapon at it.

Earth:
James, Emma, Kevin, Zare and Ylara rematerialised in a quiet part of the game's waiting room. A shield went around them as the group of Softmicron's made their way over.

"What the, what is this?" Ylara asked as she put her hand out towards the shield.

"I wouldn't do that," James muttered.

She touched the shield, a little shock made her back off, "what the?"

"He did warn you," Zare said.

Emma didn't look too happy, "where's my chain-saw gone!?"

"Once again, how many people have I warned?" James commented.

The Softmicron finally got to them. "It's about time. Welcome," the leader said.

"Ok, since when do sphere's use the waiting rooms?" Zare asked.

"It's something new we're trying," Softmicron 2 replied.

Emma looked around, "then there must be a place to choose my weapon then." Her face dropped, "unless the new part is that the game is something dull."

The leader laughed. "Oh there are no weapons, and it's far from dull."

Softmicron 2 smiled slyly, "as we speak members of your race, more or less, are being slaughtered in a death match."

"What? You've put everyone on Earth in a death match?" Kevin questioned. "None of the people on Earth even saw your kids get killed, let alone did anything."

"Quiet freak!" Softmicron 3 snapped. The leader pushed him gently behind him.

"You'll have to excuse him, members of your race did kill his child," he said.

Ylara glanced back and forth, "these guys look human, what are..."

Zare groaned, "James, didn't you tell her anything!?"

"They're shapeshifters Ylara, I mentioned that," James replied, shaking his head.

"See, typical humans, they don't even care," Softmicron 3 grumbled.

Zare cleared her throat, "actually I'm not human."

"And we do get it all right," James said. "You're pissed, I would be too but..."

"Can I kill them now?" Softmicron 3 asked.

"You think you can reason your way out of this?" the leader muttered.

"No but you're not giving me a choice here," James replied as he touched the shield. "Are we not allowed in?"

"Of course," the leader said.

"What? We should kill them here and now," Softmicron 3 said.

"They will surely die in the match," Softmicron 2 said.

"Well if we're allowed in, can we stop wasting time?" Zare asked. "I think you've wasted enough of our time."

"Zare, I think that's what they want remember. They wanted us away from the sphere, so they must be scared that we'll win it," Kevin whispered to her.

The leader smiled, "I highly doubt that. We'll go through the rules and then you can join your race." He glanced back at the female Softmicron.

"As you know, no weapons are allowed, and that includes us. Two, we will stay in human form throughout the whole thing. Three, no infants or old people. As you know a Death Match only ends when one side is completely eliminated," she said.

"How on earth are normal humans suppose to kill without weapons, without getting killed first?" Kevin whispered to the others.

"Depends where the death match is I guess, there will be something," Zare replied.

James glanced around the waiting room, "so only adults are in this death match?"

"Yes, old people and children would be too weak and helpless. It wouldn't be worth it," Softmicron 4 replied.

Softmicron 2 smiled smugly, "but you did forget the last rule. All Slayers must take part."

"Well of course we're going to take part, yeesh," Emma commented.

James was getting paler by the second, "why did you say that?"

"Oh no reason, let's just say it's poetic justice, hmm?" Softmicron 2 said.

Softmicron 3 smiled, "oh so we are killing some kids today, excellent. That'll teach them." He walked around the leader so he could get closer to the shield. "Now you'll understand what it's like."

"Ok, if one of your guys in there even lays a finger on them," James muttered.

"Him, not them. I let the newborn off," Softmicron 2 said. "I'm not completely heartless."

The leader turned to him, "you didn't let the other potential in?"

"No, I figured she'd be young enough to work for us," Softmicron 2 stuttered.

"Very well," the leader sighed. "Kill him." Some of the others grabbed Softmicron 2, and dragged him away.

"Ok, are we finished here or what?" James asked.

Emma rubbed her hands, "oh boy I hope so."

"Very well. Inject them," the leader ordered.

Voyager, the bridge:
"They've all been beamed inside sir, it's no problem," Andrea said.

Chakotay stepped out of the turbolift, he took one look at Paris on the viewscreen and snorted in disgust. "Oh he wasn't on Earth when the sphere came, that's a shame."

"Commander, I'm going to ignore that just this once," Paris snarled.

Andrea looked uncomfortable, "um Chakotay, why must you snap at everyone?"

"That wasn't snapping, that was me being disappointed," Chakotay muttered. "Getting trapped and killed in a game would be poetic justice."

Andrea stared at him, "what is your problem?" She turned back to the viewscreen. "You did contact us to do more than check up on the Slayers right?"

"I did. Now that they've gone into the game, we want Voyager to go to Deep Space Nine," Paris said.

"No, not again. I won't go back to that hell hole!" Foster screamed and ran into the turbolift.

Everyone managed to ignore him. "Um, now isn't the time for general missions," Jodie said.

"The Enterprise, Leda and the Lillyia are dealing with the games sites. Other ships are on other assignments. We need someone to pick up ambassador," Paris said.

"Hang on," Chakotay butted in. "First you ignore a warning about a game cube destroying a city, which did happen. Now when there's an obvious attack on humans and the Federation start up, you want us to pick up some ambassador? Shouldn't you learn to fly if you have a job like that?"

"Commander, you're out of line. Voyager is not seventy thousand lightyears away anymore, you take orders from us," Paris snapped.

"To hell we do. We're going to do something to help, not go to the middle of nowhere while this is going on," Chakotay said.

"You don't have a choice," Andrea muttered.

"Jodie, do you want to go to DS9?" Chakotay asked as he turned to Jodie.

"Hell no," Jodie replied.

"Ok then, get him off the screen," Chakotay said.

"Aye sir," Jodie said.

"Anyone else who'd like to be Starfleet's lapdog like the old Enterprise used to be, speak now. You may as well go join Paris," Chakotay said, glancing around the room.

Andrea did the same, "I don't believe this, there's nothing we can do right now. Three ships are enough."

"Yes but something else is going to happen, I can feel it. It's better to be around than, not," Chakotay said.

"You can't disobey our orders, remember I'm in charge of Voyager and I say we go to DS9," Andrea said. Everyone just stared at her looking uneasy.

"I think it would be a good idea to leave, don't you think?" Chakotay said smugly.

Andrea stared coldly at him, "you won't get away with this."

Chakotay rolled his eyes, "what are they going to do? Hang me, or cut off my head? I wouldn't really be bothered if they did."

Andrea shook her head as she stormed off towards the turbolift.

"Let's go before Paris does nothing to us," Chakotay said as he replaced the helm guy.

Later:
Voyager dropped out of warp, and entered orbit with the rest of the fleet.

The Enterprise, Conference Room:
The main cast, plus Angela, Tani, Lee, Scot and James 2 had gathered around the table.

"So the Softmicron really have it in for us," Tom sighed. "Just because some morons decided to kill some of their kids."

"Can you blame them? Wouldn't we do the same in their position?" Chakotay said. Everyone turned to him looking pale. "What?"

"Well I know I wouldn't wipe out their homeworld to get revenge," Tom muttered.

Harry shrugged, "I can name a few parents who would go that far if they could."

"Not me, I'm not a killer," Triah said, cradling Scott in her arms. "But I would beat up anyone who'd touch you, yes I would," she cooed as she tickled his face.

"I wasn't talking about you anyway," Harry said with a smirk.

"Am I missing something here?" Scot questioned, glancing at Chakotay.

Lilly leaned over to whisper near his ear, "Lena died recently. Also um, Harry was probably talking about James or Jessie."

"Holy crap," Scot muttered.

"So what can we do? We've got the Slayers in the sphere, it's too late to help the other sites," B'Elanna questioned.

"Wesley mentioned something about the end of something, he seemed pretty wigged about this whole thing. Do you think he knows something else?" Faye asked.

"Who knows," Chakotay groaned. "Tom, Harry, you should ask him."

"Yes sir," Tom said as he climbed to his feet. He headed out, Harry followed him not looking too sure.

"I guess all we can do is get back to Earth," Bryan said. "Something may happen there and we'll be around to stop it and or help."

"Unless Wesley has anything useful to tell us we'll be flying blind," Angela said.

In: "Bridge to Turnbull."

Angela tapped her commbadge, "yes?"

In: "We're detecting a temporal anomaly off the port bow."

"Great," Angela groaned.

The Bridge:
Everyone managed to find a spot to stand or sit.

"On screen," Angela ordered.

The viewscreen changed to show a colourful anomaly, a ship came out of it.

"Here it is, we're going to die," Bryan stuttered.

"That's optimistic of you," Faye commented.

A few people calmed down. Chakotay sighed, "hail them."

Angela glanced back at him, "hang on, we don't know who they are and it was a temporal anomaly."

"Actually we do know them," Chakotay said.

Triah nodded, with her spare hand she keyed in the appropriate commands. The crew from the beginning of the episode appeared on the viewscreen.

"Long time no see Commander," Jacqueline said.

"Yes indeed. It's been nearly four years," Chakotay said. "What about you?"

"Well about two for us," Jacqueline replied.

"Ok for those people who are me, who are these people?" Angela asked.

"Oh sorry, my bad," Jacqueline said. "I'm Captain Jacqueline Levinson of the timeship Erona."

"Levinson? I thought it was She..." Triah said.

"Shush," Jacqueline whispered. "I changed it ok, my old one was lame."

"Yes, it was so dated, you know like 1997 dated, right?" Chakotay commented. Nobody answered him. "Well it was around the same time that Lilly's surname was Liger, so I don't blame you."

"Don't talk like you're in a show, Chakotay, or we'll have to go back a few minutes before and stop you," Will said.

Jacqueline glanced back at him, "why would we do that?"

Will pouted, "to stop people who have never read any Kidz Trek or know anything about it for that matter, from being confused. It would have been a worthy cause."

"Riight," Angela said, turning her back to the viewscreen.

"Soo, what did Chakotay, or rather what is he going to do this time?" B'Elanna asked.

"Hey," Chakotay snapped.

"Oh who are you kidding angst boy," B'Elanna grumbled.

"But it was an alien conspiracy the last time, remember," Chakotay said.

"Whatever," B'Elanna groaned.

"No no, he hasn't done anything," Jacqueline said. She narrowed her eyes at him, "yet. We're here for a bigger reason. When I say bigger I mean end of the human race bigger."

"Then why are you here? You guys not human?" Faye questioned.

"Ok it hasn't fully happened yet, but it probably will," Jacqueline said.

"What time are you from exactly?" Jodie asked.

"Wait, what did you mean by yet?" B'Elanna asked.

"Firstly, 2780. Secondly, can't say cos it'll change the timeline in a way we don't want to," Jacqueline replied.

"But you've just come back to save the human race, surely stopping Chakotay from doing more angst is minor in comparison," Faye said.

B'Elanna looked like she was in deep thought. "That's near the end of this millennium. When will this 'end of human race' event happen?"

"Well it'll probably take another hundred years or so," the opps girl said.

"To do what?" Will asked. Everyone on their bridge groaned. Jacqueline turned around to smack him.

B'Elanna nodded her head, "hmph, Wesley wasn't kidding. He did say something about it being the last millennium."

"Ookay I'm confused," Naomi muttered.

"It's really very simple," Will said. "We're here to stop the chain of events that lead to the destruction of Earth in our time." He glanced at a surprised Jacqueline. "Did I get that right?"

She groaned, "more or less."

"Wesley said it's starting now, I take it he was right," Chakotay said.

Jacqueline sighed, "if we've got the time right, it's probably starting in an hour. A Game Sphere will probably hit Earth soon so..."

"Uh, that's already happened. It's been that way for an hour," Angela stuttered as she turned around.

Jacqueline stared blankly, she smacked Tony across the head. "I said go back to the time so we can stop it, man you are stupid!"

"What's the problem?" Tony muttered with a pout. "We can just go back further."

"No we can't, we'll have two versions of the Erona then," Jacqueline said.

"We still have a shot though. If we get rid of them, the process won't be 'completed' as such and it should collapse on its own," Vicky said. Jacqueline stared at her. "What I do know some stuff."

"You know all this means absolute bull s*** to us," Chakotay said, folding his arms.

Jacqueline sighed, "do we have time?"

"We've got time yeah, I'd say the full process will be completed in two days," Vicky replied.

Jacqueline turned back to the Enterprise bridge. "Ok Chakotay, your place or mine?"

Voyager, Astrometrics:
John was in the middle of explaining something while the remaining senior staff, Lillyia and Erona crew were gathered around.

"We don't know when it happened but according to our history, Voyager and the Enterprise encountered this new alliance in the Delta Quadrant," John said. He turned around to work on the station behind him. The big screen changed to show a big picture of Earth, the Games Sphere appeared around it. "You know the bit in between obviously. The Softmicron saw Humans as primitive mammals like many other races until the USS Equinox started capturing their young."

"We figured that part out already," B'Elanna said.

"We did? I thought the Softmicron just attacked cos we had this generations and next of the Chosens, or whatever," Nikki said.

Chakotay shook his head, "what does the Softmicron do now that causes the destruction of Earth four hundred years later?"

John pouted as he glanced back, "I'm getting to that." He turned back to the station. "They started to attack Earth with more Game Cubes than usual, hoping to kill off the amount of children they had lost, no doubt. Then of course they finally lead the Slayers off to doomed Game Cubes and place a deadly new kind of Games Sphere around Earth. It wasn't enough so why not call on their old allies. Jacqueline over to you."

Jacqueline sighed as she leaned on the station, with her arms folded. "The Game Cubes weren't just trying to lure the Slayers away from the sphere, they wanted to lure as many Starfleet ships away from what their allies 8472 are up to. This is what leads to the destruction of Earth."

"So do they win the sphere?" Faye asked.

"Barely. We lost about a quarter of the population," John replied.

"That's why the Softmicron have 8472 working on something else," Jacqueline said. "Vicky, show them."

"Aye aye," Vicky sighed as she joined John. The picture of Earth disappeared and was replaced by a small system, the screen zoomed in nearby the star. They could now see the many alien ships hovering nearby, and one of them firing a beam.

"What are they doing?" Tom asked.

"That's what destroys Earth in four hundred years, and the rest of the solar system," Jacqueline said. "They are changing our space into their own."

"But that's impossible, right?" Harry muttered.

"By the eve of the twenty fifth century over two hundred square kilometres of Federation space was fluidic," Jacqueline said. "It's not much I know, but what they're creating now is probably the size of a peanut. It expands every now and then, so by our time, it had changed the solar system."

"We can still stop them, you said that," Tom said.

"Yes but the thing they're doing now will only take a few days. It can't expand on its own yet, but after a few days it will," Vicky said.

"There are a few dozen ships there. In order to stop that many ships it would take quite a while to just get Voyager stocked up with the bio weapons. Voyager would be a sitting duck during an attack as it would take a while to destroy them all, one by one," Tani said.

"What about the one that affected an entire swarm of them?" Tom asked.

"That would take days to make, we don't have time," B'Elanna replied.

"Ok B'Elanna, Tani, you guys should team up and get started on the normal torpedos. Get Doctor Jones to help you," Chakotay ordered.

"Yes sir," B'Elanna sighed. She and Tani headed out of the room. Chakotay followed them out.

"How long until the sphere ends?" Lilly asked.

"Not for another few hours," Tony replied.

Tom frowned, "hang on. If you won that game, how come it killed a quarter of the population?"

Tony looked uncomfortable, "I was hoping you wouldn't ask that."

The Ready Room:
Chakotay walked into the room, headed straight for the desk. He turned the computer on the desk around, he pressed a few buttons on it. "Computer, encrypted transmission."

"Channel open," the computer responded.

In: "Tell me you're ready now."

"Something has come up, it'll have to wait," Chakotay said.

In: "Look I don't have the time to wait around for you. I'll do it myself."

"You need me, you do nothing but mess up after all. If you want to do this so badly then come and help us, we could do with an extra hand," Chakotay said.

In: "Me, help you?"

"It wouldn't be the first time," Chakotay muttered.

In: "What on earth is going on that is more important than our mission?"

"It's not more important, it's just unavoidable," Chakotay replied. "Just remember, keep your mouth shut if you decide to turn up. Chakotay out." He pressed a button on the computer with a sigh.

Later:
Jodie, Foster, Danny and Ian were the only people on Voyager's bridge. A few unknowns stepped out of the turbolift looking like they were wearing protective gear.

"Are you sure? Its been a while," Danny was saying.

Ian sat down at the helm, "it hasn't been that long, I do remember how to fly."

Jodie frowned at her station as it beeped madly at her. "Um, we've got more visitors and I doubt they're here to give us a hand."

"Oh god, have Species 8472 noticed us? Or is it Softmicron?" Foster panicked.

"No it's not that bad," Jodie muttered.

The Enterprise Bridge:
"Commander, a ship has just uncloaked nearby," Triah said, glancing back.

Angela and Tom glanced at one another. "Cloaked, who would that be?" Angela questioned.

"Could be Klingon, Romulan or..." Tom replied. He turned pale, "ohno, please no."

"Yeah I second that, Romulans really ruined the Next Generation," Bryan said.

"And the Klingons didn't?" Faye muttered.

"Hey," Bryan grumbled.

"So who is it?" Angela asked.

Triah smiled nervously, "uh, it's the Pegasus."

Tom groaned, "damn it."

"This is all we need. Open a channel, we may as well tell them to get lost politely as they haven't opened fire," Angela ordered.

Triah turned back, "actually they're hailing us."

"Let's get them first, I have a good way of telling them," Angela said.

Triah smiled, "I got them, on screen."

"No need to be smug, Jodie and Noah are newer to opps, the Erona crew aren't up to much and I don't think anyone we know does the Lillyia's," Tom said with a smirk.

Damien and his annoying celeb crew appeared on the viewscreen. He squinted his eyes, "which ship's this?"

"Leda sir," Myleene said.

"Actually it's the Enterprise," Tom muttered.

Damien groaned, "trust her to guess wrong. You people really should cut down on the ships, it looks like you have your own fleet here."

"They're allies, so don't start anything," Tom said.

Angela cleared her throat, "wasn't I going to talk to them."

Tom held up his hands into the air, "sorry, go ahead."

"Jeez how rude, we're only here to help with your little problem. Whatever it is," Damien said.

"Um what? How do you know we have a problem?" Angela asked.

"Well um, there's one ship I don't recognise around, and the Lillyia and god knows they're only around if something's going on," Damien replied. "Only an idiot would think it's nothing."

"But wasn't it because..." Justin started to say. Johnny Junior smacked him.

"We were told to keep quiet," he grumbled. He looked at his hand, "eew, what do you put in your hair?"

"Well um, thanks for the offer but I think we'll be ok," Angela said with a raised eyebrow.

Tom looked suspicious, "you're obviously not telling us everything. What's going on?"

"Do you want our help or not? I know I have got an idiot crew, but this is a good ship," Damien grumbled.

"Speak for yourself," Johnny Junior grumbled.

"Oooh," Justin giggled.

Damien turned red, he muttered under his breath, "but I was hoping that they'd stupidly die or something."

"If you don't like them, why did you even clone them?" Tom asked.

"Because I was desperate for new, uh er um, I wanted to have an annoying crew again cos that 'annoy the enemy' strategy used to work," Damien replied nervously.

Faye tried to keep a straight face, "maybe we should let them help. Damien's helped a lot in the past."

"Yes but the last time he helped in a matter involving Softmicron, he tried to make them his army," Tom said.

Damien groaned, "oh please, what would I want with a group of little eggs that turn into big, scary and unbeatable. Hmm. No I er, I have better things to do."

Bryan turned around to whisper to his dad, "should I mention they can turn into more than that?" Tom shook his head.

"If you have better things to do, why would you want to help us?" Angela asked.

"Because um, I can't do it yet. Besides you losers would just crumble without help from me," Damien replied.

"And why's that?" Bryan asked.

Tom rolled his eyes, "all right fine, you can help. Right Angela? But we really should let the other ships know."

"Great, what do we have to do?" Damien asked.

"Oh keep dozens of Species 8472 distracted while Voyager and Erona kicks their ass," Tom replied. "You'll probably provide a very helpful distraction no doubt. Triah cut us off."

"Species 8472, that son of..." Damien grumbled, looking panicked. He was cut off as the viewscreen changed to show the rest of the fleet.

"Why does it have to be Voyager anyway?" Faye asked. "Can't the most powerful ship get the weapons?"

"We only have time to equip one ship with them, and Voyager is better at offense than defence. The Lillyia is more advanced so defence wise they'll be fine, Leda is the newest so its defence should be ok, Enterprise is always kick ass." Tom replied. He leaned his hand on the wall, "this beauty's hull is tough as anything, I tell you there's no point in it having shields and..." The wall broke away, making him fall over. Where the wall used to be there was a crewmember with a tool kit, having lunch.

"Tough huh, now I'm worried," Faye said.

Tom jumped back onto his feet, "crewman what are you doing?"

The crewmember looked nervous, "I was doing some structural reinforcement work, I did put up a 'dont lean on the wall' sign."

"Make sure you're finished before battle," Angela said with a smirk.

"There is no sign, I would have seen a sign!" Tom snapped, half way through he spotted the sign on the ground where the broken metal was. "Oh, that wasn't there before."

"I don't think Damien's the only one with a dumb crew, hmm?" Angela commented. Tom pulled a face at her.

"Yeah but at least we have something they don't," Faye said.

Bryan glanced back at her, "bearable looks?"

Triah sniggered, "more or less."

"No no, we have dumb good guy luck," Faye said.

"I think several people would agree in the last year or so, that recently that's not true," Tom grumbled as he sat down. "You know like all the people who've died."

Faye pouted, "it was a joke. Dumb crew, dumb luck. You didn't get it."

"We never get your so called jokes Faye," Tom said.

"Jeez, somebody's cranky now," Bryan giggled.

Angela shook her head, "how long until we're all ready?"

"Leda, Erona and Lillyia are ready, we've obviously got some structural work going on but that won't take long," Triah replied. She failed to hear the sound of celotape being pulled from its roll. "Voyager will be another hour or so with the Erona's help."

"Damn it," the crewman grumbled. Everyone but Triah glanced over at him, he had managed to get tangled celotape in his hair. "Ow, next time I use glue."

"Please tell me that's not for the hull," Angela muttered.

The crewmember pulled a face, "no way, this is just for my new sign." He placed a piece of paper to the wall that hadn't collapsed. Tom headed over and squinted at the sign.

"Don't lean on the wall jack ass," he said. "Hey!"

The crewmember shrugged, "well only an idiot would."

Earth:
Duncan pushed through a few bushes and emerged in the clearing on the edge of a steep hill. He looked around confused, "I didn't come this way."

Four menacing looking men joined him, they spread out to block any escape. "Well well, look at this."

"Yeah, I was just leaving," Duncan stuttered. He slowly walked a little to the side. Each one of them leapt forward, two of them grabbed him.

"Slowly or fast?" one asked.

"Neither thanks," Duncan replied, struggling.

"Slowly, drop him," the apparent leader said. The two pushed him to the ground.

"Ow," Duncan muttered. "You shouldn't have done that."

"Why's that?" the leader asked.

"My parents will be pissed," Duncan said as he tried to get up.

"Right, and they're going to know how?" one said.

"Ok then you mind if I say one thing," Duncan said. He took a deep breath before screaming, "mum!" Two of them grabbed him again.

Somebody tapped one of them on the shoulder, he glanced around only to get a hard punch in the face. He fell to the ground, the other one turned around too but he got an arm in his face instead. He fell too, and crashed landed onto his friend.

"Can't say he didn't warn you," James said. The other two Softmicron surrounded him while Duncan crawled into the bushes nearby. He turned around to watch.

The two remaining Softmicron lunged forward and grabbed a hold of James by the arms. The two knocked to the ground scrambled to their feet. One raised a heavy tree branch. James kicked the two of them away, and threw the other two over his shoulders.

One of the Softmicron jumped right back onto his feet, he lunged forward to punch him. He dodged a second hit by ducking, as he did that he picked up the discarded branch. He quickly pushed it into the Softmicron's forehead. Two of them got up, one of them suffered the same fate quite easily, the other one ducked to avoid it. He got pushed backwards, but lost his balance and fell down the hill.

The last remaining Softmicron took one glance at James, before running into the woods.

"Wow, they never run," he muttered. He turned around and headed over to Duncan.

"Woah, that was cool," Duncan said.

James held his hand out, "are you ok?"

Duncan climbed out and took a hold of it, "yeah. No, they pushed me hard. My arm hurts."

"Well, it sure hurt them more," James said, glancing back at the dead Softmicron. "Where's your mother?

"She uh, told me to run so I don't know," Duncan muttered in response.

"Great," James sighed. He lead him back into the woods. "She should be ok. Was she with anyone?"

"Yeah, Yasmin and Phoebe," Duncan replied.

"Good," James said. He stopped to kneel down beside him, he put his other around around him. "Come on, I'll carry you, it'll be safer."

"But, Slayers need to fight games," Duncan said.

"You're not doing any of that yet, and I'll still have an arm to spare. Remember Manchester, you just do what you did then if we get in a fight," James said. He stood up after putting another arm around him. "Guiding you by the hand isn't safe, someone could take you away."

Meanwhile:
Daniel was busy having a fist fight with a Softmicron. Two others were leaning over Craig lying on the ground, both were pounding him with their fists. "Daniel, little help!"

Daniel was pushed into the nearby tree, the Softmicron pressed its arm into his neck.

Craig pushed one of his away but the other one just continued without it. The pushed away one was about to join the one with Daniel, when a dark figure leapt out of the bushes and pushed him to the ground.

Daniel kneed his guy, and punched him to the ground. He quickly stepped on his neck, "ok I'm coming." He turned to the direction Craig was in. The dark figure, which was Zare, walked away from a dead Softmicron.

"You ok?" she asked.

Daniel's eyes were wide, "no."

Craig had just gotten back to his feet, while the Softmicron who had been pummeling him was getting onto his feet. Craig ducked a punch, and managed to throw one himself. He quickly pushed the branch he had into it's chest. It turned to its default form. He glanced towards Daniel and Zare, who both looked shocked.

"What?" he muttered. "Wait Zare, where did you come from?"

"Uh, from over there," Zare replied, pointing.

"Since when are you able to kill something on your own?" Daniel asked.

"I had no choice did I?" Craig replied shrugging.

Daniel turned to Zare, "do you have any idea what the score is?"

Zare sighed as she made her way over to a large tree. "Usually these matches, the computer updates the score every kill but with so many it would be pretty annoying." She pulled a few thick branches off. "At least when they're in human form, they're easier to beat." She turned to the guys. "No offense intended."

"So I noticed," Craig said.

"And for now they're not breaking any rules. They must be pretty serious about this," Zare said.

"They cheat a lot?" Daniel questioned.

"Usually, if the game doesn't go their way," Zare replied.

"What can we expect?" Craig asked.

"Only minor breakage. It shouldn't be a problem," Zare replied. "Maybe we should stick together. We'll be able to kill them easy, and a Slayer and watcher they'd be able to sense, they'll rather take us out first if they do."

Craig smirked, "so Daniel, who's bait now?"

"Well that means you're just one hundred percent useless instead of about twenty," Daniel muttered rolling his eyes.

Zare groaned, "would you guys cut it out. We've got a game to win." She walked away.

Craig and Daniel glanced at each other one more time before following her.

Meanwhile again:
"I don't get this. One second we're in a weird room and next we're in a..." Ylara grumbled.

"Forest," Kevin replied. "You know it's kinda like a big oasis, except colder and messier."

Ylara groaned, "oh please, everyone knows that there are no such things as oasis'. They're always mirages."

Emma looked confused, "but I knew some people who went in one."

"Probably all seeing the same thing," Ylara muttered as she walked ahead of them. "That's all this is, a mirage," Kevin and Emma heard her say to herself.

"I don't see why we have to all stick together, while James and Zare go off on their own. Wouldn't it be better if we all split up?" Kevin said.

Emma shrugged, "maybe they thought we'd fight better as a group. Ylara's new to this, I don't have weapons and you're..." She glanced at him, "you're just a perv, they will look human so."

Kevin stopped, Emma continued on for a little bit before stopping too. She turned around, Ylara did too looking confused.

"Ok that's it," Kevin muttered.

"That's what?" Emma questioned.

"Look, does anyone here actually remember that I'm a Chosen?" Kevin asked.

Ylara rolled her eyes, "yes and I specifically remember saying that..."

"Yes I remember that, Emma?" Kevin grumbled.

"Well I wouldn't if nobody told me," Emma replied meekly.

Kevin sighed, "well that's just great. I should be off on my own, not stuck in a team."

"Charming," Emma muttered.

Ylara raced an eyebrow, "you know I'm a Chosen too, do you see me complaining?"

"No but this is your first game. I've been in loads," Kevin replied, shaking his head. "Zare went off on her own and she's just a Natural, no offense Emma. James is off too and let's face it, I was fighting long before either of them or you were born."

"Um, no you weren't," Ylara said.

Emma shook her head, "sorry, wrong again."

"Ok so this is ageism then," Ylara said. She frowned, "that's a word right?"

"No, but my point is still valid. The ones who went off are the youngest," Kevin said.

"Technically no they're not, they're the oldest," Emma pointed out. "Plus Zare is a good Natural, and I don't want to get started on James."

Kevin put one hand on his hip, "oh come on, I've got to be better than him."

Emma and Ylara glanced at each other briefly. Emma had a smirk on her face when they glanced back, "absolutely, let's go." She and Ylara walked off.

"Right ok, then starting now I'm going to kick ass. I'm going to show this generation how it's done, and um, older generations too," Kevin said. He started walking also, he went right passed the girls who had stopped.

"Just going to watch for five minutes?" Emma questioned.

"Why not," Ylara replied. She and Emma followed him not so fast.

Kevin stopped again, "ah ha!"

"Ah ha? What?" Emma muttered.

Kevin turned around. "I have a plan, I bet the current generation didn't think of one."

"Which one, the kids or the adults?" Ylara asked.

Kevin stared blankly at her, "what kind of question is that? You can tell you're from the times of no schools for girls."

Ylara narrowed her eyes, "do you remember what I did to you when you were possessed, and the guy in you pissed me off?"

"Well you hit me, another time you grabbed my, oh," Kevin replied turning pale. "Sorry. Ok my plan, it's brilliant and it'll make use of the whole 'Softmicron can sense Slayers' thing."

"What is it?" Emma asked impatiently.

****TO BE CONTINUED****

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