Star Trek: The voyages of the USS Apollo

Chapter Four: The Wormhole

Staring at the Bridge Crew of the U.S.S Apollo was Gul Madred, leader of the terrorist True Way. Following the horrifying loss of eight hundred million Cardassian lives at the end of the Dominion War in what the Cardassian people had for over thirty years referred to as "The Fire" the people of the Cardassian Union came to realise the errors of their ways and renounced their militarism and authoritarianism in favour of a democratic and civil society led by the Detapa Council. While this new way of peace had been welcomed by most Cardassians, some still clung to the old ways of imperialism and despotism. These dissidents, nostalgic of the old ways of the Cardassian Union, formed the True Way, a terrorist group obsessed with a return of the old ways of Cardassia Prime.

Angered at the actions of Gul Madred and the True Way, Ethan asked "What are you doing in the Badlands?" Gul Madred looked slightly annoyed as he said "What do you think I'm doing!? I am leading a return to the rule of the True leaders of the Cardassian people. A return of our True culture and of our True Way." Ethan then said to Gul Madred with a look of anger in his eyes "I don't know if you've forgotten, but the people of Cardassia have welcomed the rule of the Detapa Council and will be unlikely to welcome the rule of a petty terrorist." Gul Madred grunted and angrily said "How dare you! I am no terrorist! I am the True leader of Cardassia and our many colonies such as Soukara, Loval and Bajor!" Lieutenant Toral Laren could not contain her anger as she said "Bajor is a member of the United Federation of Planets and in case you've forgotten, we will never again be a slave to an imperialist power!" Gul Madred looked at Laren and said "You don't understand. We needed you resources, for the glory of Cardassia!" Voq angrily snarled and said from his station "You can say that at your war crimes tribunal you honourless criminal! And they will sentence you to a dishonourable death!"

Gul Madred almost screamed as he said "You expect me, the True leader of Cardassia, to be placed on trial by the illegitimate ruler known as Rugal Pa'Dar!?" Ethan calmly explained "Rugal Pa'Dar of the Equality Faction was elected to the position of Supreme Chancellor with sixty three percent of the vote. He is the legitimate ruler of the Cardassian Union and I am sure that he will be quite pleased when we hand you over to the Cardassian Ministry of Justice." Gul Madred laughed and asked "The Ministry of Justice? You mean those fools who uphold primitive laws that guarantee so called 'freedom' and 'equality'? You believe that everyone is equal, but the truth is they are not. There are those who rule and those who serve and the Cardassian people are the ones who rule!" Ethan looked over at T'Vrell and said "T'Vrell, send a message to Starfleet Command informing them that we have located the True Way here in the Badlands and request that the fleet at Bajor be deployed to capture them." As T'Vrell began assembling the message Gul Madred said "I believe you should rephrase your message Captain, we are not going to be in the Badlands for much longer. In fact, we're not going to be in the Alpha Quadrant for much longer!" Confused, Ethan asked "What the devil are you talking about?" Madred let out an evil laugh as he said "Where we are going there is enough weapons and technology to allow us to end the failed experiment that is the Detapa Council and resurrect the True Way of life for the Cardassian people." Gul Madred then looked at one of his Bridge officers and ordered "Prepare to fire at the sphere! We leave for the Gamma Quadrant immediately!"

When Ethan heard Gul Madred say that the True Way were headed for the Gamma Quadrant he almost gasped and said "The Gamma Quadrant? But that is tens of thousands of lightyears away! The journey to the border alone would take several decades unless you went through the Bajoran Wormhole! Of course it's not like there is any other way there..." In that moment, Ethan realised what Madred was talking about and said "Wait a minute. What does that sphere do?" Gul Madred smirked as he said "The Sphere was created by the Iconians centuries before they went extinct. They used it to create temporary wormholes to wherever they wanted in the galaxy and now we will use it to head to the Gamma Quadrant where there is all kinds of undiscovered weapons and technology that will allow us to defeat the Detapa Council and restore our True Way of life!" The entire Bridge Crew looked horrified and shocked beyond belief. Ensign Jackson especially as he asked "That wormhole will only be temporary so how do you expect to get back?" Gul Madred maniacally laughed as he said "You really think it will be me who returns with an armada of a thousand star ships that will revive the True Cardassian Way of life? No. It will be our children, our grandchildren and great grandchildren who revive the Cardassian Union under a more fitting title...the Cardassian Empire!"