It had taken the ISS Leviathan nearly three weeks to reach their destination, several more days than they had originally estimated. The extra delay had been caused by the warp nacelles becoming damaged during an ion storm and because on two occasions they'd had to make a detour away from Federation vessels.

Had Captain Devore still been in charge, he would have no doubt wanted to test his ship against these Federation vessels. But Devore was long dead and now Oakenshield was in charge, allied with the Leviathan's first officer Lieutenant Commander Barker. She knew better than to fight others whilst the vessel was in such a fragile state. What was needed at the moment was somewhere where they could repair the Leviathan without being detected or disturbed.

They had limited supplies and although they had taken damage, they had secured most of the materials they required to make the repairs from the Romulans.

But there was one element that more than anything Julia wanted to acquire. The one thing she wanted more than anything was to find the rare crystal that would enable them to repair the quantum reality deflector. Once that was repaired, then the Leviathan could return to their own universe, where she could amass a fleet of vessels and return to this universe, destroying the inferior Federation, Romulans and Klingons.

But so far the materials had proved elusive, the mineral they required seemed to be as rare in this universe as it was in their own. Once the Leviathan was under repair, she had arranged for the majority of the crew to be turned into search parties, some of whom would search for further supplies whilst others would try and interact with the 'seedier' races in this universe.

The cargo holds were mostly empty, the Leviathan's last mission had been to transport supplies to the Delta quadrant, including weapons, shuttles and men. But the one thing that the Leviathan had an abundance of was a high-grade dilithium that the ISS Voyager had discovered during their time in the Delta quadrant. The Empire's allies in the Delta quadrant the Kazon had been given the task of mining this mineral in return for the supplies. The Kazon lacked the technological expertise to refine the crystals, but the Empire did.

This material was proving to be most valuable to the Terran Empire's fight against the Romulans. It was allowing for an increase in power level of upto twenty percent from vessels equipped with the crystals.
Three of the five remaining long-range shuttles would be searching the local area, whilst the remaining two would attempt to contact the Ferengi and Orion pirates of this universe. Commander Oakenshield and ASHER would take one shuttle, whilst Commander Barker and the Marine Phanan would take the other.

"We're approaching Sigma Twelve Captain." ASHER announced.

"Good." Julia replied. "Scan the area, I don't want any surprises."

"The area shows no activity, I am detecting no discernible power sources." ASHER continued. "I have a space-dock in orbit around the third planet and some kind of structure on the planet surface. No signs of activity from either structure."

"Helm, take us toward the third planet." Oakenshield ordered.

"Understood Captain." Ensign McCaffee replied.

Within an hour, the ISS Leviathan was approaching the third planet of the Sigma Twelve system.

"Take us within transporter range of the dry-dock." Commander Oakenshield ordered. "Commander Barker, Lieutenant ASHER, go to transporter room one and check out the dry-dock."

"Yes Captain." The two officers replied, leaving their stations and heading for the turbolift.

Once in the transporter room, they accessed the equipment locker, Barker removing a respirator mask and tri-corder, whilst ASHER accessed the weapons locker and pulled out two phasers, handing one the Barker.

"Scanners show that the temperature is cold, but liveable." The transporter officer, a young Ensign announced.

"The control centre is situated on the far side of the station." ASHER remarked. "Try and get us as close as you can."

"It's going to be hard." The Ensign replied. "It looks like several of the access corridors contain a vacuum. The station's taken several small hits for meteorites over the years. And I can't beam you straight into the control centre because its too heavily shielded."

"Just put us as close as you can Ensign." Commander Barker ordered.

"Yes Commander, the safest place is close to one of the docking arms." The Ensign replied. "It's going to be a climb, but you should be able to access the control deck through the main turbolift shaft."

"OK." ASHER replied. "Let's go."