based upon “Star Trek®” created by

Gene Roddenberry

“The Star Eagle Adventures” written and created by

C.J. Dahl

DISCLAIMER

These stories are a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental

These stories have been written with no commercial intentions.

“Star Trek®“and all related names are the sole property of CBS Studios Inc.

“Star Trek®“is a Registered Trademark of CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The contents of this file may not be altered in any way, be distributed for monetary gain, or be published without the author's expressed permission.

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StarEagleAdventures.com

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2nd Revised Edition – 2013

First published on the TrekBBS, April 2010

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

With special thanks to and featuring characters by (in alphabetical order): Brother Benny, DarKush, DavidFalkayn, Dnoth, Galen4, Michael Garcia, Sam Redfeather and TheLoneRedshirt. With additional mentions of characters by Dulak and Hyperion.

Thank you for all your help and assistance in making sure your characters feel and sound like they are supposed to.

Table of Content

Preface

Michael Owens – Three’s A Crowd

Ashley Wenera – The Confession

Lif Culsten – Command Performance

Tazla Star – One Toke Over The Line

So’Dan Leva – The Enemy of My Enemy (is My Lover)

DeMara Deen – What Happens on Risa

Nora Laas – Without A Cause

Xylion – Logic/Heart

Louise Hopkins – From Lexington With Love

Amaya Donners – And a Star to Steer Her By

Other Titles

Preface

The Star Trek universe is very much a place without limits. As vast as the galaxy itself, it can literally produce an endless amount of stories and characters. About 3 years ago a group of Star Trek fan fiction writers came together at the TrekBBS to create a single, shared universe inhabited by the characters of their individual series and in which events from one story could potentially have direct consequences for a story by a different author.

United Trek has steadily grown since its early days and as of this writing is made up of 11 writers, 14 series and various offshoot and spin-off stories. Since its inception its writers have created dozens of stories many of which oftentimes interlink with characters of other series. Generally one can find at least two or three United Trek stories in progress at the TrekBBS at any given time.

Crossing Over was conceived to make full advantage of this rich universe and its plentitude of fascinating characters. The second Eagle Vignette Series, like the first, is a collection of short stories focusing on one of the main characters of The Star Eagle Adventures but instead of looking inward, EVS-II looks outward and explores crucial moments in these character’s lives as their paths cross with individuals from other United Trek series.

The result, hopefully, is a compilation of ten interesting and entertaining stories about people learning about themselves but also making valuable discoveries about others.

This series of course would not have been possible without the help from the United Trek authors whose characters are featured here. Their assistance is greatly appreciated.

To learn more about United Trek and its many great stories and characters, visit the United Trek story archive at www.unitedtrek.org or the United Trek Forum at http://forums.unitedtrek.org.

The Author

April 17, 2010

Three’s A Crowd

Featuring Elizabeth Shelby from DavidFalkayn’s Star Trek Sutherland.

February 2376

The following story takes place a week after the events of the short story The Times They Are-A Changin’.

“Taking into account the acts of bravery and extraordinary courage displayed during the Dominion conflict which have been corroborated by numerous witness statements throughout these proceedings, it is the finding of this inquiry that Acting Lieutenant Erika Benteen’s sentence of conspiracy and conduct unbecoming is to be mitigated and is now considered time served.

Acting Lieutenant Erika Benteen is to be reinstated to the permanent rank of lieutenant commander with all its privileges and responsibilities as of this date. Her temporary assignment at Starbase 375 as tactical advisor is hereby terminated.

Lieutenant Commander Benteen is to report to Deep Space Nine by stardate 53154.5 to await her new assignment.

This inquiry is now concluded.”

Newly instated Lieutenant Commander Erika Benteen had stood straight as a beam for the entire ten minutes it had taken Admiral William Ross to read his final verdict.

She remained at attention even after the panel including Ross and two other flag officers had vacated their seats behind the bench and left the crowded courtroom, almost as if any movement at all might cause them to change their mind.

Erika didn’t even notice the encouraging clasp on her back by her counsel or the slowly growing hustle and bustle of the crowd behind her as they shuffled to leave their seats, eager to discuss the results of what had been a highly anticipated inquiry.

“It’s over.”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Erika?”

When her eyes opened again she turned to see Michael Owens standing by her side. She gave him a small, grateful yet clearly somewhat forced smile.

Owens was her first cousin on her mother’s side and had always been a close friend ever since they had been kids. He had been a fierce supporter of hers throughout this ordeal and even though there had been plenty of evidence to the contrary, he had vouched for the decency of her character on more than one occasion. He had been one of the first persons to forgive her for the mistakes she had made which had nearly led to a Starfleet coup d'état and had stood by her ever since.

She was sure that one of the reasons the final verdict had gone her way was thanks to Owens’ own witness statements.

She nodded slowly. “Yes, it’s over.”

“Than why do you look like you’ve just been given your death sentence?” he said, seeing through the masquerade with ease.

She looked him straight in the eye. “Because I didn’t deserve to get off this easy, Michael. Three years at a minimum-security facility, being reinstated due to personnel shortages during the war and now off scot-free. I was Leyton’s principle ally and I followed him without question. My actions or inactions, however you want to put it, led to thousands of innocent people losing their lives.”

“You almost single handedly saved this starbase during the war and possibly prevented the Dominion from taking the entire sector. Your heroic actions probably saved hundreds of thousands of lives. Yes, you made mistakes but you’ve redeemed yourself.”

She shook her head slightly. “There was nothing heroic about it. I did my duty as any Starfleet officer would have. I was simply in the right place at the right time, that’s all there’s to it.”

Michael Owens sighed. “Listen, Erika, you will have to spend the rest of your life with what you’ve done on your conscience, but as far as Starfleet is concerned, you have been rehabilitated. So you will have to decide if you want to continue looking backwards, feeling sorry for yourself or if you are ready to take this chance to start over and make something of yourself again. You want to resign? Go right ahead, I’m sure nobody will stop you. But do you really want to throw away your one shot at making a difference?”

The frown on Erika’s face slowly turned into a smile. “Nice speech.”

Michael shrugged. “I’ve had plenty of practice.”

She chuckled and relaxed her shoulders for the first time in what seemed like an eternity. Then she gave him a reaffirming nod. “Very well, sir. I suppose there are plenty of opportunities out there for a disgraced Starfleet officer to try and make her mark on the universe.”

“More than you know,” he said, slightly absentmindedly.

“And thank you, Mike. I mean it. Not just for the motivational speech but also for standing by me through all of this and believing in me. I promise I won’t let you down.”

“I know you won’t.”

“I suppose I better find myself a ride to Deep Space Nine to see what they’ve got in store for me.”

He smiled. “Way ahead of you,” he said. “I’ve managed to secure a runabout for the trip already. Looks like the starbase is all out of pilots at the moment so I’ll be filling in as your driver today.”

“You don’t have to do that. Aren’t you waiting for your ship to pick you up?”

He shook his head. “Eagle has been delayed, dealing with a mining accident on Kalandra III. I’ve already left word for them to meet up with me at DS9 instead.”

“Road trip?”

“Road trip,” he said with a smile, referring to the time when they had been little more than teenagers and zoomed through the American Midwest in a vintage muscle car Owens had ‘borrowed’ from his father.

But Benteen froze as she and Owens turned towards the exit and after scanning the quickly thinning crowd.

“What’s wrong?” he said, noticing her hesitation.

She had only been able to spot the back of the blonde woman while she was beating a quick retreat and yet she had known immediately who she had been.

Benteen shook it off. “Nothing. Let’s get going.”

Owens nodded. “Good. There is a matter I wanted to discuss with you and I suppose now we’ll have plenty of time for that.”

But she was only listening with one ear as she followed Owens out of the room. Instead her mind was occupied with another question entirely. How long exactly had her former lover, and later enemy, Elizabeth Shelby, been here?

“You know, I’m perfectly capable to pilot a runabout.”

“Oh, I see,” said Owens who had taken the seat behind the helm controls, studying the instruments. “You believe because I’m a starship captain I have forgotten the fundamentals of shuttle piloting. You couldn’t be more mistaken,” he added and then stretched his fingers like a piano player getting ready to dive into his symphony. “In fact it hasn’t been that long that I’ve sat in a very similar chair and –“

“Warning, antimatter containment field below recommended intensity. Containment failure imminent.”

Benteen jumped to action upon hearing the computer’s announcement, rushing towards the nearest console to try and avoid a disaster. But just as she was going to try and find the right panels to return the containment field to full strength, all the previously flashing panels turned back to a soothing green.

She whipped around to find Michael’s grinning visage.

“You did that on purpose.”

“Just sit back, stop complaining and enjoy the ride. It’s not very often you get a captain to chauffeur you around the galaxy.”

“If you’re going to pilot this thing the way you abused that GTO there won’t be any enjoying this ride,” she said and let herself plop down into the chair next to him.

“Great, we haven’t even left the starbase yet and I’ve already got myself a backseat driver,” he said with mock annoyance as he went through the pre-launch procedures.

But Benteen had found something else that had captured her attention. “Hey, wait a minute, we’ve got somebody in the airlock.”

Not a few seconds later they heard the doors behind them open and they turned around to see Captain Elizabeth Shelby of the starship Sutherland standing before them.

Benteen immediately jumped to her feet. “Liz.”

Shelby looked genuinely surprised to see the both of them in the runabout and it took her a moment to find the right words. “Erika.” And then after an awkward pause, “Captain.”

Michael Owens gave her an acknowledging nod but didn’t speak. Instead he looked as surprised as Liz did. It had only been a week since they had worked together during an operation in nearby occupied Cardassian space and he had seen glimpses of her during the proceedings on the starbase, usually standing hidden in the back. He hadn’t appreciated her being there for numerous reasons but he had given it very little thought.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t aware this runabout was already in use. I was told the Zambezi would be available,” she said and looked around. “This is the Zambezi, or did I get the wrong ship?”

Benteen nodded quickly. “It’s the right ship,” she said. “Where are you going?”

“Suthy is undergoing repairs at Deep Space Nine,” she said and shot the briefest glance towards Michael.

There was clear accusation in the look and Owens thought he knew why. He had been the one who had led the combined task force against Cardassian insurgents which had also included the starships Agamemnon, Independence and Aegis. Sutherland had been one of the vessels which had taken damage from an unintentional skirmish with the Ulirians.

But last time Owens had checked it hadn’t been significant, surely not enough to warrant the surprisingly dark look she was giving him now. Not that Michael particularly cared about the way Shelby was looking at him. In fact he cared very little about his fellow captain at all.

“The quartermaster must have made a mistake,” said Liz Shelby and began to turn. “I’ll go and find another ship. Sorry for the interruption.”

“Liz, wait,” Erika said before she had reached the exit.

Shelby turned to face her.

“I don’t think this was a mistake. We’re all going to the same place and I doubt Starfleet has a lot of ships to spare at the moment. We didn’t even get a pilot,” she said with a smirk. “The captain here volunteered for the job.”

But her attempt at humor found no takers, both Michael and Liz remained stone faced.

The Sutherland captain shook her head. “I think it’d be better if I wait for another ship. I don’t want to intrude.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Erika quickly replied. “You’re not intruding on anything and it makes no sense to make you wait if you’re going to DS9 as well.” It was only then that she spotted the less than cordial looks being exchanged between her two betters. She glanced at her cousin. “You don’t mind having another passenger, do you?”

Michael minded. In fact Michael minded a great deal. “Of course not,” he said and turned back to his console. “If you want to take your seats, we’re about to launch,” he added. “This is going to be a fun ride after all,” he said quietly under his breath but without the slightest bit of delight in his voice.

The Danube-class Federation runabout was a starship just large enough to comfortably hold up to fifteen crewmembers but after just one hour into their trip to Deep Space Nine it had become far too small for its current three-man crew.

Even if those three officers had hardly spoken a single word to each other since their departure.

Michael had decided that he was going to stay at the controls throughout the journey and had hoped that perhaps Liz Shelby would eventually take the hint and retire to the more spacious back compartments of the ship to leave him alone with Erika.

But Shelby had not complied with his unspoken wishes and instead had remained stubbornly in her seat behind Erika.

It had become something of an endurance test in which the first person to move or speak would have shown a sign of weakness and therefore immediately be declared the loser. It was a test neither Michael nor Liz were determined to fail.

Erika however couldn’t take it anymore. She turned to look at Michael sitting next to her who appeared to be so focused on his instruments one might have thought he was trying to fly them passed a black hole instead of cruising through open space at a leisurely warp four.

“So, Mike, you wanted to discuss something with me?”

Her voice penetrating the silence was so sudden that even Liz looked up for the first time.

Michael glanced at Erika for a moment, surprised himself at hearing her speak.

“After the inquiry you mentioned you wanted to discuss something,” she said.

He nodded slowly but hesitated to speak up.

“And?” she prodded him, slightly annoyed by his hesitation.

Michael cleared his throat. “Your next assignment,” he said as if he had only just remembered. “I wanted to talk to you about what’s next for you.”

She shrugged her small shoulders. “That’s going to be up to Starfleet, I suppose. But it’s not like there is a shortage of open positions out there. I’m sure Starfleet will find use even for me. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they stick me on a far removed outpost in the hinterlands of the Beta Quadrant.”

“That would be a waste of your talents,” said Liz, the first words she had uttered since they had left Starbase 375.

Erika shot her a surprised look.

“You are a former starship captain. It would be a mistake to disregard that fact all together.”

“I was a starship captain for all but a few days and only because Leyton needed a loyal officer at his side. It had very little to do with my qualifications.”

Michael shook his head. “I refuse to believe that. You have proven your leadership abilities during the war and Starfleet would be smart to make use of them yet again. We are in dire need of qualified personnel.”

“I agree,” said Liz but without making eye contact with her fellow captain.

Erika blushed slightly. “Well, leadership potential or not, I doubt Starfleet will see it quite that way.”

“I’m not so sure,” said Michael. “We’ll talk to the right people, make certain suggestions, maybe a few concessions and perhaps we can put you somewhere you can make a real difference.”

She looked at him with apparent skepticism. “And I suppose you already have some thoughts of where that might be.”

“As a matter of fact, I do,” he said with a smirk. “How does executive officer on a starship sound?”

Her eyes opened wider. She had not expected to be able to get a starship assignment again and most certainly not one as an executive officer. But then she thought she saw through his offer. “Where? On a Border Service cutter doing patrols along some never before heard frontier?”

“Don’t knock the Border Service,” said Liz. “Those guys do some great work.”

“I’m not arguing that. But I don’t think it’s the right place for me. Being bottled up on one of those tiny cutters and chasing after Orions and smugglers, that’s just not me.”

“Good,” said Michael. “Because I wasn’t thinking of the Border Service.”

“Then where?”

“Eagle. My ship.”

“Now I know you’re having me on. You already have a first officer.”

He nodded. “True. But I didn’t say first officer. I said executive officer.”

Erika didn’t understand and apparently neither did Liz. “What are you playing at exactly?”

“I’ve been thinking about splitting the position. A first officer and an executive officer. You would take on some of the duties of the first officer and others. It might not be your traditional XO post but it would be an assignment of significant responsibility.”

Elizabeth Shelby laughed and ignored Michael’s resulting glare. “What he’s offering you, Erika, is to be his secretary. A purely administrative job. You’d be sorting the ship’s paperwork, dealing with personnel issues while you watch other people take charge. You might as well sign-up with the Border Service, at least that way you’d be breathing non recycled air from time to time.”

“You’d be third-in-command of a ship of the line,” Michael said sharply. “It’s a step to get yourself back to the top. And I’m sure you’ll get your chance to sit in the big chair from time to time.”

“Oh sure,” said Liz, “during the night shift.”

“I’m hearing a lot of criticism, Captain,” said Michael, focusing on Shelby. “But do you have any offers of your own or are you just trying to invalidate mine?”

“You want an offer?” she said and then looked at Erika. “I could use a new communications officer on the Suthy. You might not be third-in-command but at least you’re going to head a real department and you’ll get to do some real work.”

“Yes, you would,” said Michael. “If we were still in the last century, that is. Let’s face it, being a communications officer these days means sitting somewhere in the bowels of the ship and looking over thousands of subspace transmissions until your eyes fall out. You won’t even set foot on the bridge.”

“I’m the captain,” she said defensively. “I can make it a bridge position.”

“Oh, I see, now you’re going to play favorites. I’m sure that’s going to go over real well with the rest of your crew,” Michael shot back.

“And what exactly is it that you’re doing?” she said with a steely edge in her voice. “You’re going out of your way to make room for your own cousin on your senior staff. That reeks like nepotism to me.  But I suppose like father like son. Or is it just your mission in life to help out the formerly disgraced? Did I miss a memo? Is Eagle now the new refuge for those fallen out of graces?”

“Liz!”

“It’s alright, Erika,” said Owens quickly. “Let her speak her mind. God knows we’ve all been sitting here in silence long enough, keeping our thoughts to ourselves. Better to have it all in the open, don’t you agree, Captain? Isn’t that how you prefer it? Doing things in the open and for everybody to see. Because you just don’t care what people think of you, do you?”

“You’re damn right, I don’t,” she shot back. “Never have and never will. I especially don’t care about people who wish to judge me solely on what I do when I’m not wearing the uniform.”

“You think I care how easily you seem to be able to shed it?” Michael said. “You want to engage in lewd behavior behind closed doors, that’s entirely your business. I don’t think you’re a poor Starfleet officer because of your extracurricular activities, I think you’re a poor Starfleet officer because of the choices you have made in the past and you continue to make today.”

“Don’t you talk to me about making poor choices,” she said, now clearly fuming. “At least I’m willing to take calculated risks. You on the other hand are so afraid of your own shadow, you will follow the book and play it safe even when the occasion clearly requires you to do more.”

“Guys, please, this is getting out of–“

But Erika’s appeal was falling on deaf ears.

“Calculated risks, is that what you call it? Let me ask you something. How calculated of a risk was it to stab a friend of yours in the back so that you could further your own career? Did you actually ever stop and think how that would affect Erika before you executed your little scheme, how it would scar her for the rest of her own career and drive her to the choices she’s made?”

“Now wait a minute,” Erika said. “You can’t blame Liz for my decision to join Leyton’s–“

“Are you sure about that?” said Owens. “Because whenever I see one of Captain Shelby’s calculated risks, I see a whole string of consequences and none of which turn out to be good.”

“You mean like when you decide to play it safe during a joint operation because you don’t want to anger the great Picard?” Liz said.

Michael shot her another glare. “Yes, well, that didn’t work out the way I had hoped but I didn’t destroy anyone’s life making that decision.”

“Petty Officer First Class Marvin Sutton. You might want to remember that name when you talk to his wife and his family about not destroying people’s lives,” she said angrily.

Michael didn’t seem to understand and Liz was showing no intention whatsoever to clarify that point.

“You told me about that mission,” said Erika. “I thought you said you hadn’t taken any casualties.”

Owens nodded slowly.

“There was one,” said Liz without looking at neither one of them. “An EPS conduit ruptured while we were on our way to DS9 for repairs. A direct result of a battle that could have been avoided if a certain captain had shown more of a backbone and decided to take on the Cardassian insurgents head-on instead of playing an elaborate ruse doomed to failure from the get-go.”

“So that’s why you’ve been so angry,” said Erika who finally thought she understood. “It’s because you’ve lost a crewmember recently.”

Liz didn’t say anything to that.

“You know what Captain; you have quite the gall to blame me for a combat casualty. I don’t like losing a man under my command any more than you do but in our line of work it is unavoidable. At least I’m not the one who is willing to play judge, jury and executioner.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Don’t tell me you’re denying that you tried to have Gul Rejak terminated when you had him cornered a few years ago. You had no second thoughts to order your people to have him disappear, did you? Another calculated risk of yours?”

Liz’s usually attractive face was distorted by an angry scowl. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Of course you don’t. But I have it on good authority that you–“

An urgently beeping computer console interrupted him.

“We’re getting a distress signal here. Looks to be from a freighter under attack by an Orion raider,” she said and looked up. “Less than thirty minutes from our position.”

Shelby needed a second to collect herself after Owens’ accusation. But the distraction was not at all unwelcomed and she quickly focused on the new situation. “Those Orions have been getting bolder ever since the end of the war,” said Liz and turned to access her own station. “Our relief convoys to the Cardassians are making a mighty inviting target and we don’t have the ships to protect them all.”

“We can’t take on an Orion raider in this runabout,” said Owens. “There are multiple other vessels in the sector including Eagle, Sutherland and the Independence.”

But Erika shook her head. “But nobody is closer than we are. It would take them hours to reach the freighter. It won’t last that long.”

“There is nothing to think about here,” said Liz and looked up from her station. “We are the nearest ship so we will respond to the distress signal.” She looked straight at Michael as she spoke as if to dare him to disagree with her and to for once and for all support her case that he was a coward, unwilling or afraid to take any kind of risks.

Michael Owens hesitated for just a moment, apparently understanding perfectly what Liz Shelby was thinking.      “Changing course to intercept,” he said and entered the new commands into the helm station. “Stand by shields and weapons.”

“Von Stauffenberg, this is USS Zambezi. Please respond.”

Three sets of eyes watched the small freighter hanging limply in space as they drew nearer. She had clearly taken damage, evident by a number of hull breaches which leaked cobalt-colored plasma into the void of space.

Erika Benteen tried again. “Von Stauffenberg, do you copy?”

But a reply was simply not forthcoming.

“She took a beating alright,” said Liz as she scanned over her sensor data. “And from the residual energy signatures I’m picking up here, I’d say it’s a safe bet that our bad guys were Orions.”

“Any life signs?” Erika said.

“I think so.”

Michael turned to look at the captain of the Sutherland. “You think so? Are there any life signs or not?”

She frowned, not used to be spoken to in this manner. It had been some time that she had to do this kind of stuff herself, analyzing sensor data and making reports. It did however all come back to her quite quickly. “I think they’ve taken some serious damage to their warp core. The entire engineering section appears to be radiated and it is interfering with sensors. There are life signs but I can’t tell how many and in what condition.”

It was then that the speakers crackled to life. “Zambezi, this … Von Stauffenberg. … have injured … warp core … critical. Assistance … “ the connection was so bad that it was difficult to make out more. It wasn’t much but it did appear to sum up their problems.

“Von Stauffenberg, your signal is breaking up, please say again,” Erika said. But the speakers remained silent. She looked at Michael. “Their comm system must have been damaged as well.”

He nodded and then focused on the freighter again. “I don’t like it.”

Liz was already on her feet and heading to an equipment locker to retrieve medical supplies and toolkits.

Michael noticed. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“What does it look like?” she said without gracing him with as much as a glance as she was collecting all the supplies she could find. “I’m getting ready to beam over there. Obviously they need our help.”

“That is not a good idea,” he said. “We don’t have the slightest idea what’s going on over there, how much of the ship has been irradiated or for that fact if the raider responsible for all this is still out there.”

Elizabeth Shelby stopped and turned around to face her colleague. “You’re right,” she said and carefully put all the supplies back down. “Let’s not take any unnecessary risks then. We’ll just sit here, with our shields up and wait until everybody over there is dead. That way we’ll know for sure that they’re no longer a threat. Does that sound like a good idea to you?”

“No. What does sound like a good idea to me is to try and get as much information as we possibly can before we beam over into a potentially hostile situation.”

“People over there are dying,” said Liz, pointing out of the viewport. “That warp core could go critical any minute while we sit here and analyze and re-analyze sensor data. I’m not willing to take that chance.” Liz apparently felt that the discussion was over and began to pick up the supplies again. “Erika, can you find me a relatively secure beam-in spot?”

Benteen looked at Michael who was making no effort to hide his displeasure. She swallowed and then attended her instruments. “There is a transporter room in the aft quarter of the ship I could beam you to.”

Liz nodded. She had stuffed all the supplies she could find into a backpack and stepped into the small transporter alcove. “Then that’s where I’m going. Energize.”

Michael stood. “Belay that.”

Liz glared while Erika hesitated.

“I might not like this plan of yours,” said Owens,” but I’m not going to let you go over there by yourself,” he added as he reached for the weapons locker to retrieve a phaser.

Sutherland’s captain smirked. “I see,” she said. “Don’t want me to take all the credit, do ya? I guess it wouldn’t reflect particularly well on you if I ended up saving the freighter single-handedly while you remained here fuming that you didn’t take a risk for once in your life.”

“You tell yourself whatever you have to,” he said as he placed himself next to her on the platform and then looked back at Erika by the controls. “Beam us over.”

But she didn’t budge.

“Come on, Erika, we don’t have time for this,” said Liz with obvious impatience in her voice. “Energize.”

But instead she stubbornly shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

The two captains could scarcely believe it. “Commander, you’ve been given a direct order,” Michael said, putting on his most authoritative sounding tone.

“Don’t you commander me. I’m not stupid, you know. And there is no way I’m going to allow the two of you to go over there at the same time. Not only because I think that together you would do more harm than good–“

“You are way out of line, Mister,” said Liz.

Erika continued as if she hadn’t even spoken. “It also goes against all the regs in the book to have two command level officers go on an away mission together without any security.”

“If you’re thinking that you are going over there by yourself–“

This time Erika interrupted Shelby. “Here’s a compromise. You obviously won’t let me go alone and it would make little tactical sense for all three of us to go. So I’ll accompany one of you while the other stays behind.”

“I can’t believe we are being dictated to by an officer who until a few hours ago was an acting lieutenant,” said Owens.

“Fine, whatever,” Liz said, becoming increasingly annoyed with the delays. “You and I go, Captain Owens stays behind.”

But Eagle’s captain didn’t appreciate that decision and made that quite clear with a less than pleased look.

Liz noticed. “Unless you know how to secure a warp core gone critical? I happen to have taken a lot of engineering extension courses back at the Academy, did you?”

Michael Owens had no way of knowing if that was really the case or not but in the end he did realize that they were already losing plenty of time thanks to Benteen’s mini-rebellion. And the truth of the matter was that he really did not want to beam over to the freighter with Liz Shelby at his side. Reluctantly he stepped off the platform to let Erika take his spot.

“Be careful,” he told her just before he operated the controls to drop the shields and beam the two officers onto the Von Stauffenberg.

After that things progressed at a painstakingly slow pace.

Shelby and Benteen reported in shortly after leaving the runabout but the comm lines were so badly laced with static and interference, it was difficult to make out much of anything.

Michael Owens was placed into the unenviable position of being left with nothing else to do but to wait for their next report.

It came almost ten minutes later at which point he had already decided that he would give them both an earful about disregarding standard away team procedures once they had returned.

“ … worse than we thought. We need an extra hand over here and some more tools to stabilize the core. Beam in coordinates provided. Benteen out.”

He found this to be very odd. She hadn’t even given him a chance to ask any questions. He was eager to find out more about the situation. How many wounded were there? What exactly was the status of the warp core and how long ago had the Orion attack transpired?

He wondered if Shelby was behind the vagueness of Erika’s report. Had she somehow managed to draw her onto her side of this battle of wills between the two Starfleet captains? Were they trying to annoy him on purpose with their short and imprecise reports?

He quickly disregarded the notion as misplaced paranoia.

But he didn’t like this situation one bit. Not any of it. But it appeared as if he had little choice but to beam over and take stock of the situation himself.

He left the controls of the runabout in the computer’s care and began to replicate whatever tools and supplies would be required for the task at hand.

Looking down the business end of an Orion phaser rifle, Erika Benteen mentally cursed herself for having been placed into this position on what had supposed to be the first day of her renewed, and this time mistake free, Starfleet career.

And what had she done with her second chance?

She had promptly walked into a trap.

Not a moment after she and Liz had materialized in the transporter room of the Von Stauffenberg, they had been surrounded by half a dozen, two meter tall Orion thugs who quickly relieved them of their weapons and supplies. There had been a few arguments with their leader, Graat, a short but heavyset, red-skinned Orion with an ugly and noticeable scar running all the way from his chin across his eye-patched covered left eye socket right to the top of his bald head.

Shelby had done all the talking at first and shown some impressive skills at frustrating Graat who demanded that she immediately contact whoever was left on the runabout and instruct them to beam over as well.

She had done no such thing. Instead she had Erika send over a short status update and nothing else. She had refused to comply even when threatened with physical harm which never came.

Graat had eventually changed tactics. Deciding that talking to the captain was too much effort, he had focused on Benteen who eventually gave in when Graat made it perfectly clear that he would execute Shelby on the spot unless she made the call.

Over Liz’ objection, Benteen contacted the Zambezi with the instructions she had been given but made an effort to sound uncharacteristically clipped and vague.

After that had been done, the two women were moved into a large and mostly empty cargo hold and Graat appeared satisfied. “That wasn’t so difficult now, was it?” he said with an ugly smile that made Benteen wanting to heave.

Shelby’s mind had been working overtime ever since she had realized that they had walked into a trap. She had spent a few short moments mentally cursing herself for having been so careless. And she couldn’t stand the idea that Owens would undoubtedly find a way to put on record that he had been against beaming over to the freighter in the first place, suddenly making his decision appear to have been the smarter option. Of course he would leave out the fact that he had eventually intended to join her and would have ended up in the exact same position.

But Liz Shelby wasn’t much for second-guessing and she had quickly left those thoughts behind and instead began to appraise her current situation. Her initial plan had been to remain completely defiant and not to give Graat and his thugs the satisfaction of a response to any of his questions.

But Erika hadn’t been as strong when he had put a gun to Shelby’s head.

Liz could see a total of six large Orions in the cargo hold, all of which heavily armed. The chances of overpowering them all, without weapons, were small to non-existent. But it hadn’t escaped her notice that a few of these men had glanced their way with more than the kind of look a captor would give his prisoners. And she couldn’t really blame them. She had always thought of herself as quite a catch.

“I want to know who’s left on your ship,” Graat barked. “What’s his name and his rank?”

“Go to hell you–“

“His name is Pava Lar’ragos,” said Liz Shelby, cutting off the surprised Benteen who immediately shot her a puzzled look. But Liz was giving the Orion commander a crooked, self-confident grin instead. “Ever heard of him? You might have. Starfleet Special Teams, the toughest of the tough. Four hundred plus years of experience in taking out the scum of the universe like you. He’s a killing machine. During the war he disposed of more Jem’Hadar soldiers than any other single person the Dominion has ever faced. He’ll have you and your ragtag band of wannabe gangsters for breakfast. I do feel a bit sorry for you.”

That hit a nerve somewhere because Graat didn’t find the words to respond right away. She noticed with satisfaction that at least a couple of his men looked slightly concerned. They probably had heard of the man.

Then the burly Orion leader began to laugh, either due to genuine pleasure or to mask his own anxiety. “Nice speech. You will fetch quite a decent price on the slave market. And not just for your oratory skills, I’m sure,” he said. “You both will. And as for your friend the war hero. I will make sure he’ll join you. As a corpse. I personally don’t care of his accomplishments and I’ve got a few surprises of my own.”

He swiftly turned around and headed for the exit, barking orders to his men. “If they try anything, anything at all. Shoot them both,” he told the two guards he was leaving behind by the doors. He did notice that one of them was paying the women a little bit too much attention. “Nelt!” he shouted and immediately got the young man’s full attention. “I don’t want them touched, you hear me? Two high-ranking female Starfleet officers are going to be priceless on the market. I want them in perfect condition. If you have to, stun them. But do not touch them,” he said and then added. “In any manner.”

Nelt nodded quickly and then watched as his boss departed.

“What the hell was that about?” Erika said in a hushed tone. “Why did you tell them that Lieutenant Lar’ragos is on the runabout?” Of course Benteen was quite familiar with the man’s reputation. But besides being a skilled warrior, the El-Aurian officer was also quite the detective, something she had learned the hard way when he had been part of the team which had uncovered the attempted Starfleet coup she had been part of. She couldn’t understand what they stood to gain from making them believe he was on the Zambezi.

Liz kept her eyes on Nelt who remained by the doors. He was slightly on the short side for an Orion slaver and his light green skin tone revealed his youth and potential inexperience. She had indentified the weakest link. “It’s called a bluff,” she said quietly, making sure the two guards wouldn’t overhear their conversation. “It’s going to make them nervous, we can use that.”

But Erika shook her head. “It’s also going to make them more careful and overcompensate. Michael is no Pava Lar’ragos, he won’t be able to help us if they expect some sort of super-soldier to come barging in here.”

“Exactly. Which means we have to take the initiative. Just follow my lead.”

“Follow your lead? What’s your—”

“Hey, guys, it’s awfully hot in here, any chance you could do something about that?” she said, taking a small step towards the doors.

The two phaser rifles came up in a flash. “Don’t move,” said the guard to her left.

“Oh, come on,” Shelby said but wisely stopped any attempt to get closer. “You caught us, fair enough. But we might as well be comfortable in here.”

“If you are hot,” Nelt, the guard to the right said. “Feel free to dress down.”

“I bet you would like that, you pig,” Benteen shot back angrily.

Nelt shrugged his shoulders. “You can undress voluntarily now or somebody will do it for you later. We prefer our slaves out of uniform,” he said, now quite obviously licking his lips and watching the two women very closely.

To Erika’s utter surprise Liz zipped open her gray and black jacket and dropped it to the floor.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Erika hissed urgently.

“Nelt over there is right,” she said and then began to unzip her red uniform shirt as well. Slowly. “We’ll have to take off our clothes eventually anyway,” she said and then looked directly at the young guard. “Is it true what they say about Orion men?” her voice had taken on a distinct purr now, one that would have put an Orion slave girl to shame.

“You’re going to find out soon enough,” Nelt said and took a step towards the Starfleet captain. His eyes were now fixated on her cleavage which poked out tantalizingly from her halfway undone shirt.

“Can we find out now?” she said, moving the zipper further down to reveal a white, lacy bra.

“How stupid do you think we are,” barked the other guard. “Nelt, mind your post, you dunderhead. Can’t you see she’s trying to play with you?”

The younger man seemed to be torn between his orders and Liz Shelby’s not so subtle advances. He took a deep breath and then straighten his shoulders in an effort to cement his resolve.

Liz sighed with disappointment. “We could’ve had a good time here,” she said and turned to look at Erika who had been watching the spectacle with disbelieving eyes. She was fully aware of her friend’s sexually outgoing manner, once upon a time she had in fact been a very big fan of such displays, and yet she couldn’t believe what was happening. She certainly couldn’t believe what was going to happen next.

“Looks like it’s the girls who are going to have all the fun then,” said Liz as she slowly walked back towards Erika, her hips making alluring propositions with every step.

Erika took a step away from the approaching captain when she began to fathom what she was thinking. She quickly shook her head. “Don’t,” she said almost pleadingly.

“Just play along, Erika,” Shelby whispered under her breath not a moment before she reached out for the other woman’s shoulders and holding on to her before she could try to slip away any further. She drew her closer even while Erika resisted. It wasn’t nearly enough resistance. Not after Liz touched her face and brushed through her hair. Not after her lips pressed themselves against hers. For Erika a whole wave of long forgotten memories came back to the surface within an instant, a familiar feel and smell transporting her back to a different time and place when Liz Shelby had meant so much more to her. She gave in fully, forgetting for a moment where she was and who was watching their passionate kiss, not caring that Liz’s hands were roaming over her body and that her jacket had already joined Shelby’s on the floor.

Nelt just couldn’t take it anymore.

“Mind your frekkin’ station!”

But the younger man was not paying his older comrade any attention as he quickly approached the two kissing women who now seemed so completely lost in each other. “Just … just keep a watch out,” he said, clearly more concerned of being caught by his boss than of his captives. “This … won’t take long.”

“You’re right about that,” Liz whispered just moments after her mouth had disengaged from Erika’s. A massive grin now plastered on her face.

Nelt had already lowered his rifle as he approached slowly, desperately trying to get into whatever kinky promises were being made by this sensual show.

Liz waited patiently, listening to his approaching footsteps and his increasingly excited breathing.

Then, when she thought that he was just inches away, she whipped around with such speed that it caught Nelt entirely off-guard. Her balled fist struck him viciously in the face and he was so unprepared for the attack that he stumbled backwards.

Liz’s other hand had already reached for his phaser rifle and in one quick motion she had ripped it out of his grasp.

The other guard didn’t have a shot, his own man was blocking the line of fire.

Shelby had the rifle up in an instant and helped Nelt along on his tumble to the ground by unloading onto him at point blank range.

She then took aim at the second guard and fired again.

He was just a second faster and managed to throw himself behind cover before the beam could cut him down.

Shelby jumped as well, trying to get a better angle but too late did she realize that the guards’ target was not her but Erika who had not adapted to the situation particularly well. In fact the earlier kiss had thrown her so much, she was hardly aware what was going on and now stood in the middle of the cargo bay, unarmed and an easy target.

“Erika, get down!”

It was too late, the Orion had already drawn a bead on her.

That was when the maintenance hatch in the bulkhead next to him exploded outwards and hit him square in the head. Surprised, more than anything else, the guard fell onto his backside.

Shelby finally had managed to get a clear shot and pulled the triggering stub on the rifle but not before a phaser beam shot out from within the now open maintenance crawlway.

The Orion guard was struck by the two phaser blasts simultaneously and immediately lost consciousness.

A moment later Michael Owens emerged out of the narrow conduit. He looked down at the fallen Orion to make sure he was out, picked up the weapon the man had dropped and then immediately headed towards Benteen. “Erika, are you alright?”

She looked at him for a moment as if she wasn’t quite sure it was really him. Then, remembering what had happened just moments before the firefight, she nodded but blushed intensely. “I’m fine,” she said. “Thanks.” She found her jacket on the floor and quickly slipped it on again. “How did you get here?”

“After I got your message I knew something was wrong. I decided to disregard your coordinates and find a more secluded place to beam over. Appears to have been a good call. I think they were waiting for me to show up in the transporter room.”

“Honestly, this is quite the surprise,” said Liz. “I didn’t expect you to show up at all.”

Michael turned to look at Shelby who unlike Erika hadn’t even bothered to zip up again. “And yet nothing about what I’ve seen you do has come as a surprise to me.”

“Wait,” Erika said. “How long have you been watching?”

“Just a couple of minutes,” he admitted. “I was waiting for the right opportunity. If I had busted in here too quickly, I wouldn’t have stood a chance. Of course I didn’t quite expect this kind of distraction,” he said and then shot Liz a revolted look. “Do you have no shame?”

“I gave you the distraction you needed,” she fired back angrily. “If it hadn’t been for what I did you’d probably remained on your backside until you’d be discovered or worse. And don’t tell me you couldn’t have made your move sooner. Instead you were perfectly happy to sit back there, watching us and wait as long as possible to do anything.”

“What are you implying?” Owens said, clearly fuming. “That I enjoyed this little show you put on here? Don’t flatter yourself.”

Erika jumped in before Liz could formulate a retort. “We’re still stuck on a ship full of Orions. Any chance we could reprioritize here?”

Michael and Liz left it at shooting each other toxic glares.

Then he focused on Erika.

For a moment she felt embarrassed again as she noticed his accusatory stare. She knew he had seen her making out with Shelby and she couldn’t deny that in the end she had completely gone along with it. And perhaps not just because it was all part of a distraction.

She swallowed. “We should try and get to the bridge,” she finally said. “From there we might be able to take back control of the freighter.”

Owens nodded. “I’ve only counted about a dozen Orions on the ship, most of which were guarding the crew in another cargo hold.”

“Let’s stop wasting time then and get going,” said Liz. She had since zipped up her crimson uniform shirt again but not bothered to retrieve her jacket.

Within moments they were on the move.

Using the maintenance crawlways they managed to reach the bridge quickly and without running into any additional opposition. They were however not prepared for what they found once they had reached the oval shaped command center of the Von Stauffenberg.

“There’s nobody here,” said Erika, after she realized that none of the many computer stations were manned and that there wasn’t a single sign of the Orions.

Liz shook her head. “Something isn’t right here.”

But Erika was already heading towards the center of the room where she found a table like instrument panel which controlled most essential ship functions. “If we move fast we might be able to activate force fields and flood the rest of the freighter with anesthizine to neutralize the Orions.”

She didn’t get far. Just before reaching the control station she stopped suddenly as if she had bumped into an invisible barrier.

The two Starfleet captains smelled a rat immediately and brought up their weapons.

But before they realized what had happened, Owens’ phaser and Shelby’s rifle were out of their hands as if somebody had magically pulled them away.

It quickly turned out that there had been nothing magical about it.

Erika was similarly disarmed and rough invisible hands took hold of her. Then the grinning face of Graat appeared out of thin air behind the Starfleet commander.

“I told you I had a few surprises of my own,” he said with a clearly bemused belly laugh just before he and his three men fully revealed themselves by deactivating their full body stealth suits.

The two Orions who had disarmed Michael and Liz now used their weapons to hold them at bay.

Graat for his part just couldn’t stop seeing the humor of the situation. “Beaten by your own technology,” he said in between laughs. “Don’t worry, the freighter crew didn’t see us coming either. You just gotta love these outfits,” he said. “We raided one of your hidden cultural observation posts a few months back and got our hands on some of these suits. Always thought they’d come in handy some day.”

Erika struggled in the large Orion’s grasp. “You won’t get away with this.”

That elicited another round of laughter from Graat. “What a clever line. And I suppose I’m expected to say something like: ‘Oh, but I will’,” he said and then looked over his other two captives. “I never thought we’d be able to nab Starfleet officers. And now I’ve got three, including two captains. That’s bragging rights for life.”

Liz wasn’t paying the overbearing Orion any attention. Instead she focused on the man at her side, shooting him another frown. “This is all your fault, if you had listened to me for once we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

Michael couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing. “Have you completely lost your mind? I was the one telling you not to beam over onto the freighter in the first place. Understand this. Everything that has happened today is because of your short-sightedness, your refusal to listen to a reasonable argument and because you’d rather take an unnecessary risk then–“

“You are such a sanctimonious bastard if I have ever–“

Erika tried to intervene. “Maybe this isn’t the best of times to–“

Michael was not going to be shut up. “You’re a complete and utter disgrace to the uniform. If we ever get out of this alive I will make sure that all of Starfleet Command knows it, too. You’ll never command as much as a garbage hauler ever again.”

Graat could barely stop laughing at the pathetically ridiculous display of two Starfleet officers fighting amongst each other.

“You son of a bitch,” Liz cried, ignored the phaser rifle pointed at her head and turned to attack Owens.

Eagle’s captain made a similar move.

They easily sidestepped each other and instead of going for the other captain’s throat, they both knocked out each other’s guard simultaneously.

It had all transpired so quickly, Graat didn’t immediately realize what had happened. He got a stark reminder however when Erika drove her elbow violently into his midsection. Even as he doubled over, she snatched back her phaser rifle and took out the fourth Orion who hadn’t known where to turn first. Then she swung around again and used the butt of the weapon like a bat to hit Graat over his large head, forcing him to drop to his knees.

Not wanting to make the same mistake twice, she quickly jumped to the controls and ran a scan to confirm the whereabouts of the remaining Orions. Once she was sure that none were left on the bridge, she secured the command center and activated force fields to restrain those in other parts of the ship.

She finally turned around with a large smile on her face to find Liz and Michael who had quickly and efficiently tied up the four Orions on the bridge. “The ship is secured. Now all we have to do is wait for reinforcements to arrive. I have to say, you guys really had me fooled there for a minute.”

Liz aimed her a dark look. “Who said I was playing?”

Erika’s facial expression turned into a grimace.

“You blame me for what has happened here?” Michael said with a steely edge in his voice. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I’m perfectly fine to take some of the responsibility for this mess. That doesn’t mean I don’t think that you’re an insufferable, self-righteous officer who would never have made captain in the first place if it hadn’t been for your connections,” she said after she was done securing the last Orion thug. “If I hadn’t done what I did, coming over here, trying to make a difference, these bastards would probably have gotten away with a ship load of cargo and potential slaves. Makes me kind of wonder how many people got hurt over the years because you just had to play it safe.”

“Liz, please.”

“Don’t mind her. She’s only going to dig her own grave here anyway,” he said and then focused on Shelby with a venomous look. “You somehow see yourself as a great Starfleet hero, don’t you? Another Archer or Jim Kirk. You think because your grandfather was Starfleet royalty that you’ll go down that route as well. But you don’t realize that those people were great because they didn’t betray their friends and colleagues. They had loyalty and above all else they possessed something you’ll never have. An incorruptible character.”

“I’d rather be a risk-taker than a coward–“

Erika took a step towards the two captains and for the first time since their strange trip had begun she looked genuinely angry herself. “I’ve really had it up to here with the both of you,” she said with such intensity that they had no choice but to stop focusing on each other and turned to look at her.

“I’m probably going to get into trouble for what I’m going to say next but to be honest I don’t even care anymore. The truth is, you’re both idiots.”

That stunned the two captains into speechlessness.

“You,” she continued and pointed at Michael Owens. “Yes, you’re right about what Liz did do me. She hurt me and it wasn’t right and it certainly wasn’t fair. She was thinking of her own career and decided that it was more important to her than I was. But that happened a long time ago and I have forgiven her since then. Why can’t you? She was young back then and so was I. And it certainly isn’t right for you to blame her for the decisions that I made afterwards. It isn’t her fault that I supported Leyton. That’s nobody’s fault but my own. In fact it is thanks to her that I got off easy. She came to me afterwards and she brokered a deal that allowed me to go to a minimum-security penal colony. If it hadn’t been for her I’d still be rotting in a supermax prison cell today.

And yeah, Liz likes to have fun, everybody knows that. But that doesn’t mean that she is a bad person or that she doesn’t have the right moral code to be a good starship captain and a decorated officer. She plays hard when she isn’t on duty but she works even harder and that’s all that should matter to anyone, including you.”

Shelby nodded with a smile. “Thanks, Erika.”

“Oh shut the hell up.”

Liz’s eyes grew open a few inches.

“You need to get over yourself, too. You lost a crewmember while Michael was in charge of your mission. That’s tragic but as a captain you know that we lose crewmembers all the time. As a captain you know that every decision you make is a gamble, sometimes it pays off and sometimes it all flies into your face. But you can’t hold him responsible for those times that it didn’t work out because guess what, you’ve made those calls before and you know the score. You know that sometimes, no matter how hard you work, you can’t avoid the sacrifices and the pain.

And stop with these silly accusations that Michael does everything by the book and doesn’t take any risks as a starship captain. If you believe that, than you don’t know him at all. This is the guy who went against all orders and sacrificed his ship to save a clearly hostile Tzenkethi colony world, the same man who blasted an asteroid out of the skies to avoid it destroying an entire world even though it was a clear violation of the Prime Directive.

So both of you, for the love of God, stop with this nonsense bickering. You’re Starfleet captains, why don’t you try to behave like one, for a change?”

And then there was silence on the bridge of the Von Stauffenberg.

Neither Elizabeth Shelby nor Michael Owens or Erika Benteen could think of a single thing to add. Even though from the slightly embarrassed expressions on the two captain’s faces, Benteen was getting the distinct feeling that she had managed to drive her point home. And the fact that she hadn’t been placed under arrest yet was a good sign that they would not push for a court martial for shouting at a superior officer either.

“I’d hate to interrupt this moment of peaceful reflection,” said Graat with an increasingly growing smirk on his face.

“What the hell do you want?” Erika said.

“Oh, I was really rooting for a happy ending here with everybody finally making up and being friends again but I doubt that will happen, seeing that you will still all lose,” he said and gestured towards the main screen, unable to use his hands which were tied behind his back.

The three Starfleet officers turned to look only to find an Orion raider on fast approach, bringing with it an entire contingent of additional thugs and pirates.

“You see, all I needed was a bit of time for my ship to get here. And you were all too accommodating. Love the irony,” he said and began to laugh again.

It soon after got stuck in his throat.

Benteen smirked when she looked down at the sensor readouts on the control console. “Sweet irony indeed.”

Michael and Liz didn’t quite understand until they noticed the two ships dropping out of warp just behind the Orion vessel. They were both much larger, faster and better armed than the raider. They were also, at first glance, identical to each other.

The two Nebula-class Starfleet cruisers instantly caught up with the Orion ship which had noticed them too late to beat an effective retreat. It opened fire in a desperate attempt to get away but all its hopes were dashed when both ships returned the favor simultaneously, disabling the raider in a matter of seconds.

“The USS Eagle and the USS Sutherland are hailing us,” said Erika with a smile plastered on her face. She turned to face the captains. “They are inquiring if we are in need of assistance.”

Only a few moments later, security teams of both ships materialized on the bridge of the Von Stauffenberg, both being led by female Bajoran lieutenants. The two security chiefs noticed the odd coincidence themselves and threw each other surprised looks before they quickly attended to their respective captains.

Liz and Michael gave them orders to take away the prisoners on the bridge and clear the rest of the ship and shortly thereafter the three officers were once again alone.

“I supposed I better be on my way now,” said Erika after an awkward silence had ensued between them. “I still need to report to DS9.”

“We can take you,” Michael quickly offered and Liz nodded in agreement.

“Thanks but I think I’d rather travel alone this time. No offense.”

“Are you sure?” Liz said. “What if we promise to get along?” she added and gave Michael a conciliatory look which was returned in kind.

“I would love for nothing more than to see you both get along, trust me. But to be honest, I think I need some time alone,” she said and looked straight into Liz’s eyes. She was saying more than she put into words and Liz understood immediately.

“Be careful,” said Owens. “And you will consider my offer?”

She nodded. “I have considered your offer. Both of your offers. But I think I might be put to better use somewhere else. Starfleet is going to need every able officer in the years to come. I’m certain I won’t be bored.”

The two captains nodded, once again, understandingly.

“Thanks for everything you’ve done for me. I mean it. And I’m sure I’ll see you guys around,” she said and then tapped her combadge. “Benteen to Zambezi. One person to beam over. Energize.”

And then there were two.

“I suppose she made the right decision,” said Michael Owens after she had watched her disappear. “Perhaps it’ll be better for her to try and make it on her own after what she’s been through. It’ll build up confidence.”

Liz nodded in agreement. “Yeah.”

They looked at each other.

“We will have to write a report about what happened here,” Owens said eventually.

“If you leave out that I called you a sanctimonious bastard I’ll skip the part where you said that I was a disgrace to the uniform.”

Michael didn’t need to think about that twice. “You have yourself a deal, Captain.”

The Confession

Featuring T’Ser from TheLoneRedshirt’s Tales of the USS Bluefin

January 2375

Despite or perhaps because of its frontier location, Star Station Echo had always been a busy hub for traders, merchants, travelers, Border Service personnel and various other individuals with both legitimate and less reputable ambitions.

Since the war had broken out the place had become even more crowded and Lieutenant T’Ser from the border cutter Bluefin felt like a fish trying to swim against a relentless current as she tried to make her way across the main concourse.

She didn’t understand why the station had attracted so much more business lately. The predominant perception appeared to be that the Star Station was the safest place to be in case the Dominion decided to invade the sector.

T’Ser knew that to be an illusion. Echo’s defenses had never been designed to hold of an attacking fleet, not to mention a Dominion incursion. All the people who sought refugee here would have been much safer if they returned to their sparsely populated frontier worlds which surely made much less of an inviting target than a packed space station.

In a particularly frustrating moment—she had just almost stumbled over a careless group of Packleds—she felt like shouting from the top of her lungs for everybody to get the hell off the station or at the very least, out of her way.

She took a deep breath and remembered the calming meditation techniques she had learned only recently. The anger and frustration melted away and she continued to squeeze through the crowd.

She reached her destination a few minutes later. Thankfully the place T’Ser had chosen was in one of the less frequented parts of the station and she had little trouble to see that the person she was meeting was already waiting for her.

“Jane, it’s so good to see you again.”

The raven-locked woman smiled as she spotted the Vulcan. “It’s good to see you, too,” she said and the two women hugged briefly.

Too briefly, thought T’Ser.

A few months earlier Doctor Ashley Jane Wenera from the starship Eagle and herself had been kidnapped by a group of rebels on a planet near the Cardassian border. They had spent time together in captivity and as far as she was concerned, the horrible experience had led to a bond between them. They had spoken a few times since then over sub-space, due to the war not nearly as much as she had liked and now, the first time they’d had a chance to meet in person, Wenera appeared guarded.

T’Ser decided not to be pushy and pointed at the restaurant in front of which they had met. “Shall we go grab a bite? This place is one of the best kept secrets in the sector and I promise you, you won’t find better king crab legs anywhere outside of Alaska.”

Wenera nodded. “You should know, that’s your neck of the woods, isn’t it?”

“Born and raised in Seattle,” she said as they walked into the Starside Restaurant. “Don’t let those ears fool you,” she added with a smile.

The maître d’ seemed to know T’Ser well and they were swiftly led to an empty table for two right by a large panorama window which allowed for an impressive view of the surrounding space.

“You look well,” said the Vulcan who hadn’t missed that she looked fuller in the face than the last time she had seen her. She took that as a good sign. Wenera had been a very slender person and while T’Ser wasn’t a psychologist she knew that traumatic experiences tended to lead to restlessness and a loss of appetite.

The doctor didn’t seem like she wanted to purse the topic however. “How’s Commander McBride?” she said as she took her seat.

“Dale? He’s fine.”

“Things working out with him?”

T’Ser’s face turned a slight shade of green. “How do you mean?”

Ashley shot her that look that made it immediately clear that she knew what kind of game the other woman was trying to play. And that it wasn’t working.

They gave their orders to the waiter and once he had left again, T’Ser glanced at the doctor. “Was it really that obvious?”

“Plain as day.”

T’Ser nodded. “You know, the funny thing is that before … you know, all the things that happened, before all that, I wasn’t even sure if Dale and I were going anywhere. It seemed more like an innocent fling. But that all changed afterwards. If anything good came out of that episode it’s that our relationship really took off. It’s been … fun.”

“I’m glad for you,” said Ashley. “It’s good you have somebody to talk to.”

Their wine arrived shortly thereafter and T’Ser immediately took a sip as if to give herself some courage for where she was thinking to take this conversation next. “To tell you the truth,” she said. “ We don’t talk much about what happened on Tiaita. And it’s not his fault. God knows, he has tried to bring it up but it’s been really hard for me to talk to him about it. I’m glad Eagle happened to be in the sector.”

Wenera simply stared at her own wine glass.

“How about you?” said T’Ser. “You have the luxury of having access to some seriously gifted counselors on Eagle, don’t you?”

She looked up slowly. “I had a couple of mandated session after coming back but with the war going on counselors are in heavy demand.”

T’Ser nodded. “Listen, if you don’t want to talk about this, that’s fine. I’m sure I can think of much more pleasant conversational topics,” she said.

But Wenera quickly shook her head. “No, it’s fine. And I’m sorry if I’m coming across tight-lipped today. I’ve been wanting to see you and talk to you about what happened for a while now, it’s just much more difficult than I thought.”

T’Ser could certainly understand that. She had been viciously tortured by a sadistic woman during her captivity. It had been the first time in her life she had been exposed to that kind of pain. She had been brave and endured it, trying to tell herself that as a Vulcan her pain threshold would allow her to deal with the situation much easier than an average human would. But in reality the experience had nearly destroyed her and the anguish still lingered in the back of her mind.

But the worst of it came well after the torture sessions when she came to face her tormentor on a more even playing field. She had come apart then, fully intending to repay her everything she had dished out and then some. She had nearly killed the woman and if Dale hadn’t stopped her, she hated to think what she may have done.

“Try the wine,” she said after taking another swallow. “It’s the real thing, not replicated. It helps.”

But the doctor made no move for the beverage. Instead she locked eyes with the Vulcan. “I keep thinking of what I could have done differently back there. I don’t think I can ever forgive myself for what happened. While I was out treating those rebels, that sick woman–“

“Don’t do that,” T’Ser said. “I told you before that you have nothing to feel ashamed about. You couldn’t have known what was happening and I was the one telling you to go in the first place. And I’m glad I did. Things could have turned out much worse if you had stayed behind.”

“I can’t really see how.”

“Listen,” said T’Ser, and reached across the table to take her hand. “The last thing I want is for you to keep blaming yourself for what happened. There is nothing you should be sorry for. None of what happened was your fault.”

Ashley blanched slightly causing T’Ser to suppress a sigh. It had been apparent from the moment they had returned from the surface of Tiaita that she was suffering from a serious guilt complex and she hadn’t figured out yet how to help her overcome it.

Their food arrived and they began to eat.

Or at least T’Ser did.

Ashley had a few bites of her vegetables but mostly ignored the crab legs. She kept staring at her food as if she was trying to find a deeper meaning hidden within it. She hadn’t touched her wine.

T’Ser put her own crab legs down and wiped her hands on a napkin. “Let’s talk then.”

Ashley looked up with an asking expression on her face.

“Well, you’re clearly not interested in eating and you said you’ve wanted to talk to me in person, so talk to me.”

She nodded slowly. “I have been wanting to,” she admitted.  “But I’m just not sure how to say what I think I need to say.”

“You could try with the beginning and work yourself towards the end,” she said with a small laugh.

It didn’t help matters.

“I’m sorry,” T’Ser quickly said. “I know this isn’t a laughing matter but you’re not exactly making it easy for me here.”

“I know. And it isn’t easy for me either. I value our friendship and I would hate for it to come into jeopardy.”

“Jeopardy?” she said surprised. “Why would it be in jeopardy?”

Ashley took a deep breath and glanced out of the viewport they were sitting by, catching a glimpse of Eagle hovering over the comparably tiny Bluefin in its shadow.

“Do you remember Balik?”

T’Ser nodded. It was difficult to forget the imposing man. He had been the leader of the rebel group which had captured them but unlike his sadistic partner, he had been opposed to their abduction from the start which had eventually led to a fall out between them and had indirectly led to their rescue. Balik had been the polar opposite to the woman who had tortured her. Charismatic and somewhat idealistic, he had intervened and disrupted her torture, possibly even saving her life in the process.

“After we were separated I got to know him better. He is an interesting man and I believe the best chance Tiaita has for a future without war.”

“I can believe that.”

“We spend a lot of time together while we were hiding from government troops and trying to figure out a way to get you back.”

T’Ser nodded. “I’ve read the reports. You helped raid a government depot to get your hands on a communications device to try and find me. That was very brave and couldn’t have been easy for you.”

“It wasn’t. And I could have easily sat the whole thing out. There was no real reason for me to take part in the actual raid but I felt as if I had to. After leaving you behind I knew I owed you that much.”

The Vulcan frowned. “I wish you hadn’t done that.”

“It doesn’t matter now. And that raid is not why I feel as awful as I do.”

T’Ser looked at her expectantly.

“There are things I’ve done I didn’t put in my report.”

She was actually surprised to hear that because she had read the report quite thoroughly and it had not been a pleasant task. Besides the raid in which she had been forced to watch Balik execute a soldier in cold blood, she had also included an episode in which she had killed a man with her bare hands. It had been in self-defense but the way it had happened, so close and personal, she knew it must have been a terrible experience for somebody who valued life and whose job it was to preserve it at any cost.

“I said before that I got to know Balik better. Well, that’s not the whole truth.”

T’Ser was starting to suspect where this was going. She reached for the wine glass almost subconsciously.

“We were intimate,” she finally said after a long pause and was unable to look T’Ser in the eye while she spoke. “And I think I may have initiated it.”

Neither one of them spoke right away.

T’Ser finally put her glass down again. “I’ve heard about this. It’s a psychological condition called Stockholm syndrome in which hostages develop positive feelings towards their captors. From what I’ve read it’s not unusual for–“

“It wasn’t just positive feelings, T’Ser, I’ve slept with him,” she said so loudly that a few heads at neighboring tables turned her way.

“While you were being tortured by a mad woman I let myself be seduced by a person who was at least partially responsible for what happened to us. For what happened to you,” she continued in a softer but still forceful tone. “Instead of trying to move heaven and earth to try and find and rescue you I behaved like a salacious teenage girl. There is no excuse for it,” she said and once again avoided eye contact.

T’Ser tried hard to think of her next words. She couldn’t quite deny a certain amount of shock over this revelation. She had to fight the rising anger that was building up within her. She didn’t want to be mad but she wasn’t exactly excited to learn that while her face was being used as a punching bag and she had feared for her life, Wenera had been enjoying hers. And then some.

“Do you care for that man?” she finally said.

Ashley looked up with an expression on her face as if T’Ser had just lost her mind. “What does that matter?”

“I’d say it matters a great deal. You’re right, this is not something that I liked to hear but if you tell me that you have genuine feelings for him it makes it easier than if it was nothing more than a spur of the moment kind of thing.”

“To be honest, I’m not sure. Mostly I feel guilty. But I know that I wouldn’t have done what I did if I didn’t feel very strongly about him. I’m not that kind of a girl.”

That made T’Ser laugh out loud despite of what she had learned. Maybe it was the wine, she thought and promptly took another sip. She needed it.

“This is not funny.”

“You won’t let me laugh about the absurdity of this situation? Either I’ll laugh about it or I’ll cry. What would you prefer?”

“You’re upset.”

T’Ser thought about that statement for a moment. “If you had told me all this back then maybe I would have been mad. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still not crazy about the idea but I think I understand. Maybe it’s because of what I have with Dale or maybe because of the things I learned about myself while meditating with Commander Xylion but I think I can live with knowing what you did. And you will have to as well.”

But Wenera didn’t look relieved in the slightest. In fact, if at all possible, now she looked even more concerned.

“Oh please, you’ve cleared out your closet, I haven’t leaped over the table to strangle you, we may as well lighten up and have a drink,” she said and reached for her nearly empty glass again. “I mean what else could you possibly tell me? It’s not like your pregnant.”

Ashley’s eyes shot up to stare right into T’Ser’s.

The Vulcan noticed the pain there. She also noticed that Ashley’s wine glass had still not been touched.

“No,” she said slowly.

Wenera said nothing.

“Are you sure?”

She nodded gingerly.

“I don’t believe it,” she said and studied her closely. “Does he know?”

She shook her head. “Nobody knows.”

It took her a moment to get over the shock of the revelation which just seemed to keep coming. Pregnancies were of course not uncommon within Starfleet even if probably more so in the Border Service. Keeping it a secret however was dangerous when serving on a starship. She couldn’t claim any experience in the matter but she understood how disruptive having a child could be. Even more so during a war and with the father being a man who had kidnapped her.

“Quite frankly I’m not sure what to say,” T’Ser said accurately.

“I found out after I returned from the surface. I was mad as hell and then I spent about an hour crying. I was all but ready to terminate the pregnancy straight away, in fact I had the entire procedure set up that same night inside an empty lab. I was holding the instruments in my hands but in the end I just couldn’t go through with it.”

T’Ser nodded.

“The truth is I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

“You have to tell the father. He deserves to know,” she said.

“And how do you suppose I do that? After that whole mess it’s not as if Starfleet maintains any communication links with Tiaita. The planet is in a remote part of space and even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t get permission to leave the ship while there is a war going on.”

“Then you have to come clean,” suggested the Vulcan. “Tell your captain what happened, I’m sure he’ll understand and will find a way for you to deal with this.”

But Ashley looked unconvinced. “I don’t know if I can do that. It was hard enough to open up to you. Besides what do you think he will do? ‘No problem, Doctor, don’t worry about the fact that we’re fighting a losing war, here, take a shuttle and take care of your family problems first’.”

“I suppose not.”

“I should have just ended it and be done with everything,” she said and looked out of the viewport again.

“You had that option but the fact that you couldn’t go through with it then tells me that it isn’t something you could ever do. But keeping it a secret won’t work either and you will still need to have a plan of what to do once your child is born.”

She had a pained expression on her face when she looked back at the Vulcan. “That’s just it, I have no plan. It’s all so confusing.”

“Let me talk to Baxter,” said T’Ser, referring to Bluefin’s current CMO and retired chief of Starfleet’s medical branch. “He still has a lot of pull with Starfleet Medical. Perhaps we can arrange some sort of emergency leave. That way you can have some time to think about this and decide what you want to do. Perhaps you could even try and see the child’s father.”

Ashley quickly shook her head. “I don’t think I want to tell anyone.”

“Don’t be silly. Besides there is no risk talking to Baxter about this, he’s bound by doctor-patient confidentiality and he is not the kind of man to take that lightly. If you do nothing and just keep ignoring this, your crew will eventually find out and you will have to figure out how to deal with this on the fly.”

Wenera sighed heavily. “I wouldn’t mind going home for a while to clear my head but how can I justify doing this while the Federation is fighting for its existence?”

“It may not be the most appropriate thought but I doubt our fate will rest in the hands of one pregnant Starfleet physician. If, God forbid, we lose the war than this is all a moot point anyway and your situation won’t really matter. But if we get through this, you’ll have to start thinking about that little person inside of you.”

T’Ser saw Ashley smile for perhaps the first time they had sat down together. It was actually a relief. “That little person inside of me,” she repeated. “You know I’ve never really thought about it that way until now. All I could think of was that horrible mistake that I’ve made and all the consequences and complications it has caused for me. I suppose I’ve been rather selfish about the whole thing.”

“Nothing like a Vulcan to put things into perspective for you, eh?”

Wenera laughed.

“Don’t worry, Jane, you are going to get through this and I will try and help you the best that I can, alright?”

“Thank you, T’Ser. For everything, I mean it. You had every reason to hate me for what I’ve done but instead you’ve only shown me kindness and support. I couldn’t ask for a better friend.”

“Don’t mention it,” she said and flagged down the waiter. “Can we have this warmed up a bit?” she told him, pointing at both their plates. “And get the good doctor some ginger ale.”

The waiter nodded and took away the half finished food.

“I couldn’t live with myself if I brought you here without you ever tasting these fantastic crab legs. I think you owe me that much,” she said to Wenera.

Ashley smiled. “To tell you the truth, I’m starved. Feels like I could eat for two.”

Command Performance

Featuring Terrence Glover from Darkush’s Dark Territory

September 2365

“Ok folks, it’s game time. Visual flight rules and thrusters only from here on in. Stay within the target area and keep your eyes open. Remember, this is a live fire exercise and you only have minimum shields inside the cloud. Keep an eye on your peripherals, there’s bound to be plenty of loose scrap swirling around. Stick to your rules of engagement and follow your flight leader. Silver, take over. Good hunting.”

Terrence Glover reduced the thrust of his one-man, Sopwith-class interceptor craft to allow the six identical vessels which had followed him to shoot past him and into the gray blue cloud ahead.

“Silver to Hotshot, copy. Nova Squad, go to tight echelon formation and follow my lead.”

“Banshee; Silver, copy.”

“Tight echelon, Goose copies.”

“Boomerang; going to echelon.”

“Paladin; solid copy on all.”

That was all but one.

Silver aka Lif Culsten turned his helmeted head to his left to find the last remaining member of his flight group through the transparent canopy of his cockpit.

“Ace is on the ball. Let’s do this thing already.”

Lif sighed. Ace would be trouble, he just knew it. But that was hardly surprising considering his name was Nick Locarno.

The six Nova squadron interceptors moved in on each other in preparation to enter the cloud while their academy advisor would watch the exercise from afar.

“Ace; Hotshot, you sure you wanna sit this out? You gonna miss all the fun.”

“Fun?” Terrence said. “Kid, I’ve done this run about a gazillion times in my day. I’d be having as much fun doing this as you would brushing your teeth.”

“Yeah, right. That’s why you’re the only prof who still suits up to every other exercise. Any excuse to get back into the cockpit, right? Or maybe you’re just worried that we’re about to shatter all your records.”

“Get off his back, Ace. Hotshot just likes to spend time with his kids. Makes him feel young again,” said the female voice of Banshee, her smirk obvious even over the audio channel.

“Hotshot; Nova Actual, reign in your people here will you, before I start handing out failing grades for pissing off the teacher.”

“Ouch,” said Banshee.

“Silver; Nova Squad, you heard the man. Let’s cut the chatter and focus on the job. Go weapons hot and follow me in.”

“Job? More like milk run,” mumbled Ace.

The six interceptors shot into the Oort Cloud at zero point six c’s with their phasers hot and ready to go. The point of this exercise was to put into practice months of training in piloting and close quarter dog fighting. For Terrence Glover this may all have been child’s play but for most of this young Nova Squadron group it most likely wasn’t. The autonomous drones hidden within the cloud wouldn’t show up on sensors and even though they were only equipped with lasers, they could still become dangerous for the lightly armored and shielded interceptors. Adding loose debris and small asteroid fragments to the mix meant these cadets would require all their focus.

“Silver; Nova Squad, start the fireworks but watch your crossfire.”

As if they had all been waiting for it, every single interceptor unleashed its class-seven, short burst phasers at once, unloading on debris, drones and what they thought may have been either at once.

Sitting in his craft outside the cloud, Terrence shook his head.

Lif quickly realized as well that all they were doing was wasting energy and blowing up a whole lot of dust, making their murky surroundings an even harder terrain to navigate.

“Okay, okay, Nova Squad, hold you fire. Only shoot once you have a confirmed target. Repeat, fire at confirmed targets only.”

The fire ceased quickly. Except from Nova Two. Ace.

“Silver; Ace, cease fire.”

“We’ll turn the debris into dust, it’ll make it much easier to find the drones,” he responded.

“Negative. The dust is just worsening our visibility. Cease fire, Ace.”

His canons continued to sputter for a while until they finally stopped shooting all together. “You’re the boss.”

Lif didn’t miss the sarcasm in his voice.

“We’ve got drones, two o’clock high,” said Banshee.

“I see them,” Lif said. “Engage at will. Let’s take them all out.”

“Now we’re talking,” Ace said and increased thrust to his engines to shoot in front of the pack. His phasers blasting away almost instantly.

The rest of Nova Squadron followed closely.

The battle was quickly turning into a free for all, as most of the fighters broke formation in order to try and kill as many drones as possible for later bragging rights. Most of the devices didn’t stand a chance against the speed and power of the interceptors.

Lif made his twelfth kill with a large smirk on his face. At this pace he was going to outscore them all, even Ace who often liked to think of himself as God’s gift to Nova Squad. But as the newly minted flight leader, Silver understood that he had to put him into his place quickly.

“Watch your peripheral space, knucklehead,” Banshee screamed over the comm channel.

“That’s really no way for a freshman to talk,” Ace shot back.

The fiery exchanged distracted Lif enough to break off his pursuit of a fleeing drone and locate the two interceptors instead. He soon realized what was happening. Nick was bringing his craft too close to Banshee’s and the younger cadet didn’t seem to appreciate the maneuver. In order to compensate, Banshee tried to pull away, steering her interceptor right towards a large comet fragment.

“Silver; Banshee, watch your terrain.”

But it was too late and the rock slammed hard into the side of the small craft. Banshee screamed as her vessel began to tumble out of control. It held together but its thrusters and impulse engines went dark, as did the cockpit.

“Banshee,” Lif cried.

There was a minute of agonizing silence.

“Silver; Banshee do you read me?”

The young cadet coughed. “I read you, Silver. I’m just a bit shaken up. I think I lost engines. Shields are down too.”

“Incoming drone, nine o’clock high,” Goose reported.

Lif saw it too. It was coming in hot, with lasers blasting away and it was heading straight for Banshee. Normally a couple of laser hits wouldn’t have been a big deal to one of their interceptors but her craft was seriously weakened and unable to bring up its shields. In that state, even the normally harmless lasers could become extremely dangerous.

“Banshee, get out of there, now,” Lif screamed.

“I can’t,” her strained voice replied. “The damn bucket won’t move.”

“Nova, take out that drone. Whatever it takes,” Lif said once he realized that she wasn’t going to be able to help herself. He quickly followed his own advice, pushing his thrusters to maximum to try and intercept that drone before it could take down one of his own.

“I’ve got this,” said Ace and quickly unleashed his own phasers. None of the bursts however were able to connect with the tiny drone which continued on its course undeterred. Frustrated, Ace pushed harder. He was so focused on taking down the small device he didn’t notice the comet fragments in his path. They were too small to cause serious damage to his craft but they were enough to throw him off course.

Lif didn’t make the same mistake and rolled his interceptor to avoid the debris. Unfortunately that cost him a couple of precious seconds. By the time he had reestablished himself and had both the drone and Banshee in sight again he painfully realized that he wasn’t going to reach them in time. And nobody else in his squad was closer.

Lif broke out in a cold sweat as he watched the drone close in on its target, unable to do a single thing to stop it.

That’s when a phaser burst out of seemingly nowhere cut the offending drone apart.

Lif turned his head to find the source. He wasn’t able to spot it immediately, the sun was shining right into his visor. That was until an interceptor emerged, blotting out the bright star in the distance and throwing long shadows his way.

“Hotshot; Nova Squadron, you are done here. Form up on me, we’re going home.”

Terrence moved his craft passed Banshee’s and took her into a tractor beam before shooting out of the Oort Cloud at full thrusters. The remaining interceptors quickly got into formation behind him. This time without hesitation and without a single comment.

After landing their crafts in their designated hangar bay on Starbase One, Banshee was the first one to pull up her canopy and jump out of her interceptor. Her feet hit the deck before the hangar crew could even bring up the steps.

She pulled off her helmet and dropped it unceremoniously onto the floor to reveal an attractive face and long brunette hair which quickly fell down her shoulders. She had already zeroed in on Ace’s interceptor which’s canopy was only now beginning to lift.

“You dumbass, egomaniacal, self-centered son of a bitch,” she shouted. “Your asinine and reckless maneuvering almost got me kill out there!”

Nick Locarno took his time to step out of his cockpit. “Maybe if you were able to hold your course instead of flinching like a little calf every time you see a shadow you’d be able to come home under your own power, rookie,” he said as he pulled off his own helmet.

“At least I can follow orders, knucklehead. Our rules of engagements were clear, stay in formation. Where the hell where you going?”

“Cool your jets, Jean,” he said. “Why don’t you try and earn your wings first before you go off ranting and screaming at your betters.”

“My betters?” she fumed. “I’m going to knock you on your ass and then we see how much better than me you really are.”

Silver, Boomerang, Goose and Paladin quickly converged on the two pilots but not quickly enough to prevent Jean Hagar to make good on her threat and spraying out Locarno onto the deck after dishing out a mean and spot-on right hook.

He glared at her, holding his bruised cheek. “You bitch.”

“You deserved that and more,” she shot back but was quickly apprehended by Boomerang and Paladin.

Locarno picked himself off the floor. “Why don’t you try that again?” he said and quickly pulled off his gloves and moved closer.

Lif Culsten stepped into his way. “Stop this, now.”

“You saw that, right?” he said and looked at the other pilots. “You all saw this. I’ve got witnesses and I demand that she’s kicked off the squad,” Locarno said, even while he tried to push himself past Culsten. “In fact I want to see her brought up on charges. Hitting a senior cadet is a serious offense.”

“You goddamn crybaby,” Jean Hajar fumed. “You’ll live, that’s more than I could have said for myself if the commander hadn’t shown up when he did,” she added, still struggling against her fellow pilots holding on to her arms. “I want him brought up for reckless endangerment.”

Culsten looked back and forth between the two young pilots trying to get at each other’s throats. Not for the first time he asked himself what he had ever done to deserve this. Yes, he had wanted to lead Nova Squadron from the first day he had set foot onto Academy grounds and Ryan Ridegeway, his predecessor, had made it look so easy, too. But Ryan never had to break up fights between his pilots. He had known how to keep them in line and focused but whatever his secret had been, it completely eluded Lif Culsten.

He stole a glance at Terrence Glover who had disembarked from his own craft in an almost leisurely fashion. Now he appeared to be chatting with a female deck officer and the smiles on their faces seemed to indicate that this entire situation was a source of great amusement to them both.

He quickly understood that their academic advisor was not going to be any help in this matter. “Everyone hit the showers,” he finally said. “Clear your heads, we’ve got more exercises to go through tomorrow.”

“What?” Hajar said in disbelief as she finally managed to wrestle back her arms from her comrades. “Is that all you’re going to do about a guy who nearly killed one of your pilots?”

“Oh, shut up,” said Locarno, and then focused on Culsten. “I expect you to have charges ready by the morning. I refuse to fly with a pilot who fails to show any kind of respect to rank,” he said and headed out.

After a few seconds so did Hajar but not before shooting a withering glare at Culsten.

He also noticed the disapproving looks from the other pilots, most notably the short, blonde-haired Bajoran. Jaxa shook her head and followed the rest of her team.

Lif Culsten looked deflated, his hand rubbing his forehead as if that might somehow allow a great thought to spring forth which would bring everybody back into line.

“They appeared rather unhappy.”

He looked up to see that Glover had now finally come over. Lif thought that he had lousy timing. He could have used his input five minutes earlier.

“I just don’t understand. Things always seemed to work so smoothly under Ryan and now that he’s moved on, everything’s just falling apart. What am I doing wrong, sir?”

The broad-shouldered, dark-skinned lieutenant commander focused on the cadet. “Maybe the question you need to ask yourself is what are you not doing?” said Terrence. “I’ve watched you out there. You were just like the others. You were more concerned about driving up your own score than lead your team. Your Nova Actual now, it’s time you took charge.”

“It’s difficult to take charge if nobody seems to want to listen.”

“Lif, this is Starfleet. We might be a bunch of explorers, scientists and peacekeepers but we’re also officers. Well, in your case aspiring officers. And officers take orders and are expected to follow them. And guess what, there’s no choice in the matter. If they don’t want to listen you make them listen. And if that doesn’t work either, quite frankly, they have no business of being here.”

He nodded slowly, thinking he understood. “Maybe you could give me some more pointers.”

Terrence looked at him and then back at the female officer he had been talking to earlier. She was still watching him. “Tell you the truth, I’ve made other plans,” he said and sounded almost apologetic.

Silver did a poor job at trying to hide his disappointment.

“Listen, kid, I like you,” he said, now once again squarely focused on the cadet. “And I know Ridgeway left some mighty big shoes to fill but I’m going to tell you the same thing I’ve told him once. You gotta learn to take care of your people yourself. Trust me, it’s one of the most important lessons you can get. Once you go out into deep space and you’ve been put in command of a ship or a base, hell even if it’s just a shuttle, people will be looking to you to make the decisions and there’ll be nobody else you can go to and ask for help. So you better learn it here. And I hate to break it to you, but if you can’t learn it now, maybe your just not cut out for this,” he said and then gave Culsten an encouraging clasp on the back before he quickly returned to the attractive lieutenant who was patiently waiting on him.

He had thought long and hard about what Glover had been trying to tell him and he had ultimately concluded that as Nova Squad’s academic advisor, Terrence Glover owed him more than the lecture he had been given.

He was sure he had been right about the part that on a real mission, a commanding officer needed to make his own decisions but the truth of the matter was that he was not yet a real commanding officer. He was at the Academy, training to become one. And he needed a sense of how a real commanding officer would deal with a situation he was facing.

“Jenkins, where the hell is my report!”

He could hear Terrence Glover’s booming voice as soon as he had stepped out of the turbolift, even though his office was at least thirty yards down the hall.

Lif froze for a moment to reconsider. Perhaps seeking him out had not been a good idea.

It turned out he was about the only one who did stop. The many administrators, teachers and cadets who frequented these parts of the building barely even took notice of the man’s outburst, carrying on with business as usual.

The newly minted Nova Squad leader took a deep breath and headed down the corridor to find Glover’s office.

“I don’t understand this,” a much younger voice stammered. “I filed it away yesterday exactly where you told me to, right after I finished up compiling the bibliography.”

“Do you have any idea how much time, sweat and effort has gone into this?” Glover rumbled, still undeniably upset over this issue. “Of course you don’t. Somebody remind me why I took on an assistant unable to tell the difference between a Klingon and a Nausicaan?”

When Culsten stepped into the anteroom of Glover’s office he noticed the pretty brunette receptionist with the large smile on her face. She seemed entirely unimpressed by the conversation taking place in one of the offices behind her. “Good morning, how can I help you?”

“I’m here to see Commander Glover.”

She nodded and pointed at one of the open doors. “Follow the reaming.”

“I suppose it’s possible that it went to the central file server instead and–“

“You suppose?” Glover said with obvious disbelieve. “My God, man, how did you ever manage to graduate from this place, anyway?”

When Lif entered the office, cautiously, he found a wiry ensign hunched over a computer console while Glover was sitting behind his desk shuffling through staples of padds but seemingly unable to find what he was looking for.

“Commander?”

Terrence looked up to see Lif standing in the doorway. If there had been any doubt about his current mood, and there really shouldn’t have been, then it became unquestionably apparent by the deep frown on his face that Terrence Glover was mad as hell.

Lif quickly understood that it had been a mistake to show up unannounced. “Is this … is this a bad time?”

Glover just glared. But his ire was quickly refocused on the slim ensign who had apparently finished searching the file system on the computer.

“I better go and talk to tech admin, perhaps they can locate the file,” he said and carefully began to head for the door, trying to slip out before he could be subjected to any more abuse.

“You do that,” Terrence said but as soon as his assistant had managed his retreat, he decided that he had not yet made his point sufficiently clear. He jumped out of his seat and rushed to the door and past Lif. “Jenkins,” he called after the fleeing assistant. “Don’t even bother showing up here again without that report. In fact, I don’t want to see your face around here ever again.”

But Ensign Jenkins had long since disappeared out of sight, perhaps even out of earshot, even though that seemed almost impossible, and Glover’s renewed outburst was mostly witnessed by the secretary, a few bystanders and Lif Culsten.

After a moment of trying to compose himself again Terrence focused on the cadet still standing by his door. He shot him a quizzical and clearly impatient look.

“Bad time?” he said again.

“Bad time?” repeated Terrence. “I don’t know, Lif, what do you think?”

“I’ll come back then.”

He took a deep breath. “No, that’s alright. I do tend to tell you guys that my door is always open and I stand by my word. But you gotta take a seat. I have to make an important call first.”

Lif nodded and did as had been suggested. In fact the idea of doing anything but following Glover’s instructions to the letter not even crossing his mind at this point.

“Marcy, patch me through to Captain Ortega’s office please,” he said to the still smiling receptionist outside and then headed back into the office to sit behind his desk.

The face of a middle aged Starfleet officer with prominently gray hair and four pips on his collar appeared on the screen of his computer just a few moments later. From the expression on his face it seemed clear that this man didn’t much care for Terrence. “Glover, what do you want?”

“I need you to look at my application again.”

The captain almost smiled at that. But it wasn’t the pleasant kind. Quite on the contrary actually. “I’m afraid it looks as if you’ve missed the deadline for your report, Commander. As you know each applicant was required to provide a detailed analysis on Klingon culture and history by 1200 hours today. It’s 1212 and I haven’t received yours. I will have to disregard your application.”

“I’ve done your stupid little assignment, it’s just that my dimwit assistant appears to have misplaced it somehow.”

Ortega’s smile grew slightly. “What a shame. Well, there is always next year, I suppose.”

“Alright, let’s cut the crap, Ortega. I know that you don’t like me and to be honest, I’m not your biggest fan either. You carry yourself like a man of great importance because you’ve been put in charge of this project when we all know that the most significant thing you’ve ever commanded is your own desk. And now you’re letting your personal feelings dictate your assessment of my application and I won’t stand for that.”

The captain’s smile dropped from his lips to be replaced by a stern, accusatory glare. “Commander, I will not let you–“

“Oh, I’m sorry, did I step on your toes, Captain? I don’t care. You need to pick the right candidate for this position and no matter how you twist or turn it, that’s me. And you damn well know that. You haven’t made anyone else jump through these ridiculous hoops and I’m done playing games. Give me this assignment and let’s move on already.”

The glare had since turned into fuming anger. “You are way out of line, Commander, and I’m this far away from having you written up for conduct unbecoming,” he said, putting his thumb and index finger an inch apart. He couldn’t quite stop his left eye from twitching. “A Starfleet officer does not speak to a superior officer in this manner.”

Now Terrence smiled. “You are absolutely correct, Captain. A Starfleet officer wouldn’t. A Klingon would.”

That seemed to leave Ortega speechless.

“I’ll report for my assignment as planned next month,” said Terrence, perfectly satisfied with himself.

“Goddamnit, Glover,” said the captain.

“It was nice talking to you too, Glover out.”

And with that Ortega’s face vanished from the screen.

“Alright then, Lif, how can I ...”

But Cadet Culsten was nowhere in sight. Instead Jenkins had reappeared by the door.

“Uh, he left and he asked me to tell you that he got everything he needed,” said the ensign and then raised his hand to show him a data padd. “I managed to find your report. It’s all here, including the bibliography.”

Terrence clapped his hands together and laughed. “Well done, Jenkins. And you’d be delighted to hear that you won’t have to put up with me much longer. In six weeks time I’ll be eating gagh, drinking blood wine and sharing the kind of gruesome pleasantries which will make our daily conversations look like afternoon tea at the country estate in comparison. You’re looking at the newest member of the Starfleet and Klingon Defense Force officer exchange program.”

“I can’t shake those drones, somebody give me a hand over here.”

Their second attempt at the Oort Cloud exercise had started out well enough but it had quickly taken a turn for the worse when it had become apparently clear that Jean Hajar and Nick Locarno had no intentions of playing by the same rules.

This in turn had made it difficult for Lif to keep the squad in formation.

The basic AI of the drones they were facing had quickly identified that to be their opponent's weakest link and they had begun to isolate the interceptors and focusing their fire.

Their first target had been Ace’s craft.

“Come on, guys, I’m taking damage here,” Locarno said with increasing frustration.

“I’ve got this.”

To Lif’s surprise it was Jean who was moving her interceptor in position to take out the drones trailing Nick’s vessel.

She unleashed her phasers a little bit too indiscriminately.

Nick noticed when his small ship began to rattle from the much more powerful phaser blasts which were now being slung his way. “Damn it, Banshee, ease up on your fire.”

But she didn’t. Instead she just moved in closer, with her fingers apparently glued to the trigger of her phaser canons.

Lif noticed all this too late. “Banshee, disengage, disengage.”

By now the phaser blasts had shredded the last drone chasing Locarno’s interceptor. They had also, however, landed a few direct hits on his impulse drive. Already weakened from the drone’s laser fire and with minimal shields available within the Oort Cloud, the interceptor’s fusion reactor became unstable within moments.

“She’s gonna blow,” Locarno screamed.

Silver pushed his own engines way beyond maximum safety limits but he already knew he was going to be too late.

A bright flash in the engine compartment of Nick’s craft spelled its doom.

Lif had to bring up a hand to shield his eyes.

Before the explosion had even begun, it disappeared. And with it the damaged Sopwith, the Oort Cloud and space itself.

Instead Lif found himself hovering in a sitting position a few inches above ground in a large, yellow-gridded chamber. His four squad members where in a similar position all across the room.

“Catastrophic failure to Interceptor Two detected,” the computer voice said in a calm, mechanical voice. “Simulation terminated.”

And with that all five cadets were gently placed onto their feet again by the invisible force fields which had previously held them in place.

“You crazy bitch, you did that on purpose,” Locarno shouted as he ripped off his helmet.

But Banshee merely shrugged. “Maybe if you didn’t flinch every time you saw your own shadow, you’d be able to–“

Nick Locarno was not going to have any of that. “I’m going to have your head for this.”

“You want to get your ass kicked again?” she said after she had removed her own helmet and taken on a fighting stance. “I’d be more than happy to oblige and this time you’ll have no wimpy excuse for getting knocked onto your butt by a girl.”

Nick appeared more than ready to take her up on her offer as he slowly approached her.

“Both of you, cut the crap, now!”

They froze and turned to look at the person whose voice had boomed across the holodeck. They were surprised to find that it belonged to Lif Culsten.

“I’ve had it with the both of you. If you two dimwits cannot pull yourself together and follow simple instructions than you have no place being in my squadron. Whatever your personal feelings are, they cannot dictate the way you perform inside that cockpit. I will not stand for that.”

Nick and Jean stared at him agape. It weren’t just his words that had left them both speechless, it was the fact they were coming from him. The usually mild-mannered cadet was the last person anyone would have expected such a forceful outburst from.

Even Sito Jaxa and Joshua Albert couldn’t quite believe this astonishing transformation.

The shock didn’t last long and the two quarreling cadets quickly started up again, talking over each other and making various accusations.

“Oh, I’m sorry, did I step on your toes a little? I don’t care,” he fumed. “Get out!”

That shut them up again. They didn’t move but they looked at Culsten as if they weren’t quite sure what he had just said.

“I said get the hell out. I have no use for either one of you. You’re both off the squad!”

“You can’t do that,” said Locarno. “I’m the best pilot you have.”

Hajar snorted at that. “Best pilot my ass,” she said and then looked back at the flight leader. “Lif, you can’t be serious.”

“I’m damn serious. Now get out of my sight and don’t bother showing your faces around here again.”

The two stunned pilots were at a loss for words. They waited a couple of seconds for any sign that Culsten may have been kidding, even though the tone of his voice and body language seemed to leave no room for interpretation. They exchanged a few glances with the other two pilots but eventually decided that there was no point. They turned and left the holodeck.

An awkward silence ensued between the three remaining cadets.

Lif could tell by the disapproving frown on both their faces that they didn’t agree at all with his actions. Before he could think of anything else to say, Sito and Albert followed the other two cadets, leaving Culsten alone in the empty holodeck.

Lif Culsten wasn’t surprised to find that neither Locarno nor Hajar were in attendance for their briefing session the day after the holodeck incident.

What he hadn’t expected however was that nobody had come. Not Sito nor Albert nor any of the other twelve cadets which comprised Nova Squadron.

They had sent him a clear message.

He sat down in the first row of the otherwise empty lecture hall and waited, hoping that all they had decided to do was to come in late and not blow off the session all together or worse, boycott a squadron with Culsten as it’s leader.

It gave him some time for reflection.

The truth was that he had no idea what had come over him after the holodeck exercise and it all felt oddly out of place now, as if those had been somebody else’s words being channeled through his mouth.

When he looked up at the chronometer again he realized that twenty minutes had passed. He also realized something much more significant. He had failed as Nova Squadron’s new flight leader. After years of yearning for the position, he had managed to lose it all after just a week of being in charge. And he knew perfectly well what this would mean to his future career.

Without leadership experience at the Academy he didn’t stand much of a chance to ever hold a position of great responsibility after graduating. Without being able to lead a small group of cadets, nobody would ever have the confidence to put him in charge of a group of officers, not to mention a starship.

His dreams would end right here.

“Penny for your thoughts.”

Lif jumped onto his feet. But his shoulders slumped visibly when he realized that the voice belonged to Terrence Glover and not, as he had hoped, to one of his squad members who had finally decided to join him after all.

“Sir?”

“It’s an old human adage,” he said as he stepped up to the front of the lecture hall and then leaned against the podium to face Lif. “I’ll give you a penny and you tell me what’s troubling you.”

“What’s a penny?”

Glover sighed. “Forget it. Tell me what’s on your mind.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” he said and made a sweeping gesture towards the empty room. “I messed up big time.”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

The silver-haired cadet gave him a quizzical look.

“From what Jaxa told me you did a terrific Terrence Glover. If this whole Starfleet thing doesn’t pan out for you, I suppose you may always make it as an impressionist.”

But that was clearly not what he had hoped to hear and he appeared to deflate even further.

“But I have to say that I’m quite hurt to find out that you think that all I do is yell at people,” he said absentmindedly. “I mean there is more to me than that. Sure, maybe I get a bit heated sometimes but that is hardly my best quality.”

“I didn’t mean to impersonate you,” Culsten said. “I was just trying to … take charge.”

Glover nodded and walked over to him to sit in a chair next to the cadet. “I know what you were trying to do and maybe this is partly my fault. The day you came to see me in my office you were looking for some help to be a good leader and I didn’t pay much attention to the signals I was sending you. To be fair, you really did catch me at a bad time. I was angry and frustrated about this program I’ve been trying to get in and all the tedious bureaucrats trying to put obstacles in my way.”

“I’m frustrated, too.”

“I know you are,” said Terrence. “And nobody ever said that being a leader was easy. It wasn’t for Ryan when he first started out and it sure as hell wasn’t for me back in my Academy days either. But I do remember my own academic advisor who actually gave me some brilliant advice which seems perfectly appropriate here. But of course what else would you expect from a Sulu,” he said and then stood. “Don’t try to be somebody you are not. Everybody has their own command style, make sure you find yours and everything else will fall into place.”

Culsten nodded.

“Wise words from a wise woman,” said Terrence and walked towards the exit.

The cadet stood. “But, sir.”

Glover stopped and turned to look at him.

“Isn’t it a bit late for that? I’ve lost my team.”

He smiled. “There’s something you get at the Academy that no other place will ever give you. Second chances. Make the best out of yours, Lif,” he said and then walked out.

He didn’t understand what he had meant by that right away. That was until every single member of Nova Squadron walked into the lecture hall and quickly took their seats. He didn’t miss the fact that many didn’t make eye contact with him and decided to sit in the back rows. Among those were Jean and Nick.

Sito sat in the front however and gave him an encouraging smile.

Culsten took a deep breath and then addressed his squadron. “Thanks for coming everyone.”

There were some murmurs in the back rows.

He looked over the mostly reluctant crowd, realizing that he had to find a way to win them back. To make them believe in him as a leader. And with Terrence Glover’s words still on the forefront of his mind, he knew the only way he could achieve this, was to try and be himself.

“First of all let me start out with an apology. Especially to the pilots who were part of the holodeck exercise yesterday. I was out of line and I sincerely hope you can forgive me for my outburst. All I can say is that I have been … frustrated lately. Ridgeway was a great leader and taking over for him hasn’t been as easy as I imagined. But I think I now understand what I’ve done wrong. I’m not Ryan and I’m certainly not Terrence Glover but I am Nova Actual and as such I’m going to be your leader for the next semester. Some of you might not like this but sooner or later, you’ll have to get used to the idea and more importantly, you will have to get used to taking my orders and following them. If you can’t do that, I won’t yell at you, I may not even throw you off the squad,” he said and made eye contact with Jean and Nick who seemed relieved to hear this. “But I will make damn sure that your records will reflect your lack of discipline and you’ll be lucky to ever set foot into a real cockpit again. Not to mention graduate from the Academy.

I’ve recently become a firm believer in second chances so I’m willing to start over. But at the same time I cannot overlook what has happened between a couple of pilots over the last few days. Nick, you needlessly endangered another cadet during an exercise. Jean, you were within your right to be upset and angry for what has happened but you were out of line and should have found other ways to deal with your grievances.

I’ve learned that your Sopwith took some serious damage after the incident in the Oort Cloud. I’ve decided that you’re both grounded from all exercises until any damage has been repaired. By the two of you.”

The two cadets were speechless yet again.

“You will have to work together to get her space worthy again and you will have no help from the ground crew either. So the better you work together the quicker you get back into the cockpit. And if it turns out you can’t work together than you probably don’t belong there in the first place.”

Hajar and Locarno looked at each other but offered no protests.

Just beyond the glass doors to the lecture hall, Terrence Glover nodded with apparent satisfaction. Lif Culsten and his Nova Squadron were finally on the right track and with a team of such skilled pilots and dedicated leadership, maybe they’d even manage to challenge the records which once upon a time he himself had placed into the history books.

As he walked away to leave Culsten and the other cadets to their own devices, he knew without a shadow of a doubt that many of them would make great officers someday. For now, his work at the Academy was done, and he couldn’t wait to start facing his own challenges which life still held in store for him.

One Toke Over The Line

Featuring Pava Lar’ragos from Sam Redfeather’s Star Trek: Gibraltar

October 2367

Now

It was just after midnight when the bats first appeared.

Pyrithian bats, she thought. Of course she didn’t really know bats from Adam so there was no way for her to be sure what kind they were exactly.

What she knew was that they were huge and that their high-pitched screeching along with the sounds of their flapping wings was mind-numbing. The entire room was filled with them now, a tornado of a black swirling mass with her stuck squarely in the middle.

She felt too weak–or perhaps it was indifference–to fight them off. She sure as hell wasn’t going to move for the goddamned creatures. This was her room after all. It may have been a shabby dump but she had paid good credits for it.

She didn’t know how long the world had been upside down and she cared little. She faintly remembered arriving here a few days ago–or had it been weeks? The details of why she had come and what she had sought to achieve were a fading memory now.

She had long since stopped caring at the oddity of staring down at the ceiling and looking up at the floor. The laws of gravity had become the last of her concerns.

The colors, however, she liked. Yes, they were pleasantly soothing. Never mind the mass of black bats as beyond it shimmered a soothing field of cadmium orange mixed in with an electric purple. A streak of bright heliotrope with a hint of lavender rose. A bright tangerine orange and pulsating periwinkle and a stroke of burnt sienna.

Sienna was her favorite. It reminded her of the sunsets on Trill.

The dark, ugly creatures, of course, were ruining the effect.

She had tried to close her eyes earlier, tried to think of places she’d much rather be than this dingy little room gone insane. Walking bare footed in the soft sands of a Risan beach, taking in the stunning view from the top of the Tenarian Ice Cliffs, hells, even smelling the recycled air on a starship had to be better than this.

The incessant roaring above her–or was it below her?–wouldn’t let her mind wander.

The three salt statutes, one massive and two of seemingly medium size, were watching her from afar, entirely unimpressed with the madness all around them. Their stares were uncompromising and accusatory. Their soundless judgments perhaps even worse than all the insanity surrounding her.

“Leave me the hells alone,” she heard herself cry. But she couldn’t be sure if she had spoken those words or merely thought them.

If only those bats would let her think.

One Day Ago

“Not many people fully appreciate the fact that Tongo and business share a number of very important similarities. Amateurs and those who know little about the intricacies of the nature of commerce, often mistake those similarities as the pursuit of profit. But this is not so. Profit is only one of the many aspects of the game. The true purpose of Tongo as well as of running an efficient organization is control. Control and loyalty.”

Denka Decqour was very much in his element. The fair-skinned, long-haired man with the sharp white business suit very much enjoyed the game of Tongo but even more so he enjoyed being the center of attention. He enjoyed sitting at the head of the Tongo table with the eyes of all others transfixed on him. He enjoyed hearing the sound of his own voice.

They had come here in hopes to either work for him or to do business but very few would ever prove to be worthy enough to do either.

Another reason why he loved this game. It would allow him to distinguish those he would allow into his inner circle and those whose fate would be far worse. There was no better way to judge a person’s character than a game of Tongo.

He gave the wheel another spin, not happy for it to come to a stop just yet, while he placed his other hand on the thigh of the stunningly attractive woman sitting to his right. The human wore her blonde hair openly over her shoulders and a dress that revealed enough of all her best assets and making overt promises to all those who were looking for a good time.

And she didn’t seem to mind his intrusive hand. On the contrary she shot him a wicked smile in response.

“It is a lesson I believe you have already learned, my lovely,” said Denka as his eyes met those of the enticing young siren at his side. “You have begun to understand the principles behind a successful business partnership,” he said all the while his hand moved further up her thigh with little resistance. He tore himself away from her beautiful face to look down the table. “The question that remains is, have the rest of you?”

Denka studied the other players carefully. There were a number of them; Humans, Ferengi, Romulans, Farians and others. But he had already spotted the most promising ones out of the bunch. The brutish Nausicaan would come in handy just for pure muscle value. Then there was the beautiful woman with the plunging neckline and the barely noticeable but undeniably playful smile on her lips, asserting that this Vulcan was treading the line between cold logic and hot passion. But by far the most interesting player at the table was a man who at first glance appeared rather unassuming and entirely unimpressive.

He wasn’t as tall or as muscular as the Nausicaan and he certainly didn’t have the looks of the Vulcan. He appeared human but after a couple of hours at the Tongo table Denka was certain that he wasn’t. In fact he was convinced that there was much more to the man than a first impression could ever reveal. Those deep brown eyes simply didn’t belong to a man who seemed to be thirty-something. No, those eyes belonged to somebody who had seen and done much more than three decades would have allowed for.

Denka focuses on the man just as the Tongo wheel finally came to a stop. “Your turn.”

The man held his host’s stare with blatant confidence, never even once looking at the outcome of the spin. “Confront.”

Three Days Ago

The eastern continent of Farius Prime was miserable this time of the year. It was raining almost constantly, so much in fact, one might have mistaken it for Ferenginar in the summer. It was the cold that bothered Tazla Star the most.

She looked herself over in a mirror and hardly recognized herself. Her Trill spots were gone and her fire-red hair had been dyed so effectively, she looked like a natural blonde. Next she checked her weapons. Once she was happy that they were all working perfectly, disruptor, hidden phaser, and sharpened dagger she stepped out onto the warehouse floor.

Her assignment for the day had been an easy one. She had been tipped off that a rival organization would be making a move against the shipment tonight. It would prove to be a terrific opportunity for her overall agenda.

“This place is freezing,” one of the thugs protecting the shipment was moaning loudly. “If I stay here a moment longer I swear I’ll turn into a Breen.”

“There is a tavern down the street,” another one said. “It’s warm and it has plenty of Saurian Brandy.”

“Finally a good idea.”

The four thugs were in agreement and already on the way out of the door.

“Where the hells do you think you’re going?” Star said. “You’ve been ordered to stay here and protect the shipment.”

“Listen, girly, just because you are Denka’s newest pet doesn’t mean you are the boss of us. You better learn your place or I’d be more than happy to show it to you,” said the main thug with a lecherous grin on his lips.

“I want to see you try.”

The group of henchmen erupted with laughter but the lure of burning ale had them drifting towards the exit. “Maybe when I come back we can play,” he said, laughing heartedly and following his comrades out of the warehouse.

“Terrific,” said Star to herself as she watched them go. She hadn’t shared her knowledge of the impending attack with the others or anybody else for that matter. It had been difficult enough to convince Denka to give her a few of his thugs for the evening. The plan of course being that she alone would have been credited for the foresight to protect one of his more valuable shipments and thereby improving her standing in the organization significantly.

The idea had not been for her to fight off the attackers by herself.

She found a phaser rifle and checked its settings. If she had to do this by herself, so be it. In the end it would only make her look better. Defending his shipment single-handedly was sure to catapult her into Denka’s inner circle and possibly even make him trust her enough to introduce her to the upper echelons of the organization. And that was exactly why she was here.

The next couple of hours were quiet except for the streaming rain outside, never endingly pelting the thin roof of the warehouse.

Star had found an elevated spot in the shadows which allowed her to observe the entire floor without being seen. The attackers, she knew, were not expecting the shipment to be guarded tonight.

She allowed her mind to wander as she awaited the raid. Not for the first time she realized that she had come a long way from being that bright-eyed Starfleet cadet with nothing else on her mind but to become a Starfleet captain one day, just like her childhood heroes.

After her joining with the Star symbiont, her drive and ambition had become even more focused and she had impressed a great many superiors with her strength, intelligence and determination. And even though she had been moving through the ranks at a good pace, it hadn’t been fast enough for Tazla Star.

That was when Altee had approached her with an offer she simply couldn’t refuse. Using her talents in the intelligence field and becoming his apprentice, he had promised her a command of her own within a few years. All she had to do was to volunteer for the most dangerous and challenging missions one could think of, including infiltrating the notorious Orion Syndicate.

It was a dirty and corrupt job but it was one that needed to be done, she had convinced herself. And the cause was just and the reward well worth the dangers.

It was a Nausicaan who cut short her reminiscing and forced her to focus back on her current objective.

He was surprisingly stealthy and had it not been for the large shadow his massive frame cast, she probably would not even have noticed that he had entered the warehouse at all.

With little hesitation, she lined up her shot until he was square within her crosshairs. She didn’t think twice before pulling the trigger.

She knew immediately that it was a hit but she didn’t wait to make sure. Instead she swung her rifle over her shoulder and slid down a nearby ladder to get back down onto the warehouse floor.

She reached the large Nausicaan just as he was coming around again. She had expected this, the stun setting didn’t work particularly well on his kind.

Star quickly reached for her rifle again and grabbed it by the barrel, not unlike a bat. “Nap time, big boy,” she said and then hit him squarely across the head with the butt of the weapon.

Nausicaan’s possessed famously thick skulls but they were no match for duranium polymer and the massive alien flopped down onto the floor again and this time would not awaken again for quite some time.

“You shouldn’t have done that.”

Star whipped around, not quite able to believe that she had allowed somebody to sneak up on her.

And then she froze. She was looking at a Nausicaan. That alone of course would not have been surprising. Except for the fact that the second one looked identical to the first in every way. Not just his arguably hideous face with its razor sharp teeth and protruding fangs, but even in height, mass and clothing, this Nausciaan was the spitting image of the first one.

Star knew enough about their race to know that this was rather unlikely and she couldn’t help herself but look back down at the first man she had disposed of, if only to make sure that her mind was not playing tricks on her.

It wasn’t.

And the momentary distraction was all this double required.

He reached out for her phaser rifle and then shoved her so hard, she went flying backwards only to impact harshly against one of the large cargo containers. The impact forced all the air out of her lungs and she sagged to the floor.

But Star forced herself to remain conscious and through half open eyes she watched the Nausicaan checking on his partner. Once he was sure he was merely stunned, he raised the phaser rifle and approached the seemingly incapacitated blonde-haired woman.

“What the hells … are you?” she asked as the Nausicaan stepped closer. “A twin? Clone?”

He smiled. Or at least Star thought that he did, in truth it was difficult to tell with Nausicaans.

“Your mission ends here, Tazla Star.”

That gave her pause. She had been discovered, her cover was blown. And by a Nausicaan of all people. Not that it mattered a great deal but it did sting her pride. After all these people were not exactly known for their sharp intellect.

But she had one last ace up her sleeve. Literally. She raised her arms meekly in what looked like a gesture of surrender, causing another grin-like facial expression from her opponent. “I have to say I’m a bit disappointed you’re giving up this easily,” he growled.

“Don’t be,” she said and a tiny device shot out from hidden underneath her right wrist and landed in her waiting hand. It was a small phaser.

The Nausicaan’s eyes opened wide but he was too slow to evade the incoming blast which caught him right across the chest and send him flying onto his back.

Star jumped onto her feet, now that she’d had time for her strength to return and quickly kicked away the phaser rifle the Nausicaan had dropped. Surprisingly she found that he was out cold already even though her phaser had only been powerful enough for a single stun blast, usually not enough to knock out a creature of his size.

She reached into her boot and withdrew a dagger. She had not intended on killing these intruders but that was before she knew that they had exposed her. The only problem: She had never killed anyone in cold blood before. Not like this.

She put her knife against the Nausicaan’s throat. A simple slash with the sharp blade would probably do it. It was going to be an easy kill.

“Are you sure you want to do that?”

She looked up and immediately cursed herself that she had not made sure that there weren’t any more intruders. A mistake which could easily have just costs her her life.

The thin man with bushy black eyebrows stepped out of the shadows. He appeared to be unarmed but if Star had thought about making a move against him, she quickly changed her mind when he walk right up to the phaser rifle she had so thoughtlessly discarded a moment earlier. He didn’t pick it up off the floor however. Instead he simply put his foot on it.

“I don’t think you’re a killer.”

“You don’t know the first think about me, mister,” she said and left the Nausicaan to get back onto her feet in order to be on equal footing with her newest opponent. But there was something about this man that greatly disturbed her. She couldn’t tell if it were those eyes which appraised her quietly or his body language which was impossibly too relaxed considering the circumstances.

“I know that your name is Tazla Star. I know that you work for Starfleet. I know that you are a Trill even though they’ve done a fine job to hide those marvelous spots of yours. I know that you look a lot better with red hair. Forgive my bluntness, but I think the blonde just makes you look like a common street whore,” he smirked when she gritted her teeth and took a confrontational step towards him. “How is that for starters?”

She was mad. Mad as hell in fact but she kept her piece, fully realizing that while he was standing above that rifle, she was at a clear disadvantage. There was no way she could get to him before he could pick it up from the floor.

“I also know that there is still some fight left in you. I think you want to get to my throat quite badly. How about it? You think you can take me?”

“In a fair fight you wouldn’t stand a chance,” she said. “Too bad that you’re too much of a coward to ever allow for one.”

Star was going for the oldest play in the book. She held out little hope for success. But to her utter surprise, the man kicked the rifle away and out of both their reaches.

“Your move,” he said and glanced at the knife she still held in her hand.

For just a moment she thought about keeping it but it didn’t seem right. Besides she was quite confident that she’d be able to easily defeat this rather unassuming opponent. She threw the knife away and approached. “I’ll give you credit for your guts,” she said. “But if you really knew me as well as you say you do, you wouldn’t have been so stupid.”

She attacked first, trying to dispose of him quickly by aiming for his head and solar plexus with lightning fast moves. He blocked her but the forcefulness of her attacks forced him to stumble backwards.

Star smirked. He had been entirely overconfident and now he would pay the price.

She was certain of her victory. That was until she caught a glance of his face. He didn’t show the slightest sign of effort, not a pearl of sweat even while she was giving it her all. This man simply continued to block every attack she could think of.

And then came the counter-attack and Star quickly came to realize that she had been entirely ill-prepared for it.

He went for her throat first and the blow was so intense, she found herself unable to breathe. He didn’t stop there. Before she even knew what had happened, he had gone for her eyes, blinding her and then immediately for her kneecaps, forcing her to drop to the floor.

It took a minute or so for her vision to return and the pain to become bearable. She immediately understood that he could have caused a lot more damage if he had wanted to. She also understood something else as she looked up at him, towering above her. “You … you don’t fight fair.”

He grinned at that. “A long time ago, somebody told me that the only unfair fight is the one you lose.”

“Who are you?”

Surprisingly he held out his hand to her and after some hesitation she took it to allow him to pull her back onto her feet.

“His name is Lar’ragos.”

Star turned around to see that the second Nausicaan had come back around and was picking himself off the ground. But what happened next was much more interesting. In front of her eyes, the Nausicaan transformed into the form of a shapely Vulcan woman.

“Shape-shifter? That would have been my next guess,” said Star.

“Name is Galven. Starfleet Intelligence.”

The disguised Trill looked at Lar’ragos. “You are SI?”

He merely shrugged.

Star looked confused which quickly turned into anger when she realized that she had been fighting fellow Starfleet officers and nearly killed one. “What is the meaning of this? This is a deep-cover mission and your blatant interference is risking to destroy months of hard work.”

Galven checked on the Nausicaan. “Maybe if you had given us a chance to talk instead of jumping us like a rabid bitch we would have been able to explain.”

“What did you just call me?”

The woman didn’t pay her any attention.

“Listen, Galven, or whatever the hell your name is, I was setting up a trap for a rival organization. I had it on good authority that they would try to make a move on this shipment.”

“Yeah, I’m afraid we spread that rumor,” Lar’ragos said.

She shot him an angry glare. “Why?”

“Professional courtesy,” said Galven who had managed to wake the Nausicaan. He was clearly in a bad mood and upon seeing Star he growled angrily. Galven kept him in check before he could show his displeasure more physically.

“I don’t understand.”

“We’re taking down Denka,” said Pava Lar’ragos. “We thought it be a good idea to warn you so that you can stay clear for next few days.”

Star shook her head. “You can’t do that. I’ve been working for months to get close to Denka and he has only now begun to trust me. A little more time and I’ll be able to meet those above him in the organization and eventually take down the entire thing from the inside.”

“You really think Denka will be stupid enough to introduce a nobody he’s picked up off the streets to the most powerful crime boss in the sector after just a few months?” Galven said. “Much better agents than you have tried. It’s not going to happen.”

Tazla Star smirked. “You mean you have failed.”

Galven stepped closer to the other woman. “I’ve heard about you and your mentor. You guys don’t like to play by the rules, do you? You see yourself as some sort of fix-it-all intelligence outfit somehow superior to the rest of us. Let me tell you something, the only thing different between me and you is that I still have a conscience.”

“In case you hadn’t noticed,” Star shot back, “we’re a long way from the core worlds. You have a conscience? Well, congratulations. But in this place that’s a liability because guess what? Our enemies don’t have one. So if you can’t stomach the job maybe you should start making retirement arrangements and leave the ugly work to somebody who is willing to get their hands dirty.”

Galven glanced at Lar’ragos and then back at Star. “You know what, you’re right. Go ahead and be Denka’s little plaything. Because that’s what it’s going to take. You’d be nothing more than his servant, an object for him to call on whenever he feels like it,” she said and carefully looked Star over. “In fact, I think you would make a great sex toy.”

Star quickly realized that she couldn’t stand this self-important wannabe intelligence operative masquerading herself as a Vulcan. She would have liked nothing better than to show her exactly what she thought of her but the burly Nausicaan had now stepped up next to the shape-shifter, quietly inviting her to make a move she was sure to regret.

“It won’t end there.”

Star needed a moment to compose herself before she turned to glance at Lar’ragos.

“Even if you do go ahead with this and decide to sell out your body and soul, it won’t end there. If you really want to earn the trust of the syndicate bosses you will have to get the Mark. And that will stay with you for the rest of your life.”

The Trill intelligence agent walked over to one of the cargo containers and opened the large doors, ignoring the foul smell that greeted her instantly. Then she turned to look at the others. “There are twenty-seven girls crammed in here. And about twelve more containers just like that. Every day Denka and his organization move dozens of these to buyers all over the sector and beyond. The lucky ones become slaves. The rest are harvested for their organs which are used as delicacies and aphrodisiacs. Most of these girls aren’t even women yet.”

Galven stepped forward. “That’s why we’re here. That’s way we’re shutting Denka down.”

But Star shook her head. “If we keep going after the lieutenants we’ll never really shut this down. These people are replaceable as easily as spare parts. But you get to the man at the very top and we get a real good chance of ending this once and for all and saving thousands of lives.”

“There is no stopping this, Tazla,” Pava said. “This is a never-ending cycle and the best we can do is continue to go after them and making their lives and their work as difficult as possible. You can’t bring them down yourself. And even if you do, you simply open up room for the next opportunist scumbag to take over the reins.

You have to pick the battles you can win. This is not one of them. I can tell you have great potential. Join us and I promise together we can make a real difference for these people. Trust me, if you go at this alone you’ll end up in a very dark and lonely place from which you won’t be able to return.”

Something in his tone made her shiver. She knew without a shadow of a doubt that this man had seen and done things she couldn’t even begin to fathom. Maybe he had even been down this path before. He wasn’t like Galven. When he spoke he did so with such sincerity it simply couldn’t be ignored. He knew exactly what he was talking about and he genuinely didn’t wish for her to perhaps make the kind of mistake that he had once made.

In the end all that didn’t matter to her. She was committed and had to try to do this her way. For loyalty to her mentor, for her career and because as far as she was concerned, it was the right thing to do.

She turned her back to Lar’ragos and walked towards the exit. “Just stay out of my way.”

One Day Ago

“Some would call me a monster,” Denka told the Tongo players whose ranks had thinned out significantly since the game had begun. “But don’t let the self-righteous and ignorant masses fool you. We are simply providing a much needed service, filling a required demand. A demand that has always existed and always will. It is the nature of business, the galaxy even, to fill demand. And if we didn’t, you know what we would have?”

“Chaos,” said the blonde and alluring Tazla Star sitting next to Denka.

He looked at her, surprised at first but his facial expression quickly turned into a smile. “That is exactly right. Chaos,” he said and looked at the others. “Without us, without the middle man who stands between the supply and the demand the galaxy would be thrown into chaos.”

“And how do you figure that?” said Pava Lar’ragos absentmindedly as he was looking over his cards.

“Well, isn’t it obvious?” said Star. “We bring a semblance of structure and order to what would otherwise be a messy and dirty affair. Imagine entire squadrons of hunting parties roaming the galaxy in search for slaves or even their next dinner. Imagine the bloodshed if those we provide with easy shipments were unable to attain them any longer and were forced to take more aggressive actions. Indeed, imagine the Tholians, many of which consider human organs to be a luxurious philter, declaring full out war in order to plunder and conquest. Thanks to us they don’t have to. You could say, we ensure peace in the galaxy maybe even more so than Starfleet ever could.”

Denka’s smile grew even larger. “I couldn’t have put it better myself, my dear” he said. “Come over here.”

Star obliged without hesitation and leaned in closer to Denka. He reached around her neck and pulled her even closer still in order to give her a long, passionate kiss in front of the few remaining players. “You are as smart as you are beautiful, my dear. One day you just may be able to make something out of yourself.”

“I am merely here to please you,” she purred.

Denka nodded. “Pleasing me will get you far in this organization, I’ll see to that,” he said and looked at the others. He quickly focused in on the other siren sitting at the table. The Vulcan woman was watching them carefully but hadn’t said more than a few words. “And there is always room for more.”

The Vulcan looked at her cards and then back at Denka. “Evade.”

Two Days Ago

Denka rolled off the blonde woman, his body covered in sweat. He was exhausted. “You are quite something, aren’t you?”

“You are pleased, then?” she said.

“Pleased?” he said as if he had not heard her correctly. He was lying on his back now, still breathing hard. “My dear, I can safely say that no woman I’ve ever met has taken my breath away as much as you have. And I’m not too modest to say that I’ve met many, many women before you. I’ve been with wildest Orions and the most sensual Deltans and yet you can be confident in the fact that they have nothing on you. You might be a young thing but trust me, under the sheets one might think you’ve been doing this for thousands of years.”

Tazla Star smirked at the comment. It wasn’t quite right but close enough.

She felt a painful sting in her stomach and she had to struggle to ignore it and not to let the physical discomfort show on her face. She knew exactly what it was. Her previous hosts were offended, perhaps even disgusted that she had drawn on their extensive experiences for such a lewd and objectionable task.

She told herself, and she hoped the symbiont would understand, that she was doing all this for the right reasons. She was taking no pleasure from this, she found Denka Decqour with his long slick hair and his vile breath repulsive. But more than that, she thought he was a cruel, heartless monster who would have been able to justify killing his own mother if he had to.

But she had to pretend otherwise. And she had to do it with all her being, unless her true thoughts be discovered by him or the many telepaths he employed for exactly this reason.

And so she ignored the symbiont’s objections, her own consciousness, her own shame and all those other feelings which were standing in her way of doing her job.

She put on her sweetest smile and snuggled up against him. “Shall we go again?”

Denka looked at the woman at his side as if she had lost her mind. However her innocent features quickly allowed him to relax again. “You’ve got to give me some time here.”

She bit her lip but also nodded obediently even while her hand reached out for his broad chest, roaming over his naked body as if she couldn’t wait to continue what they had started.

Denka didn’t protest.

She ultimately found the octagon shaped mark on his upper torso just a few inches above his heart. Her fingers traced the symbol etched into his skin.

When she looked up at him she found that his eyes were already watching her.

“You want to get the Mark, don’t you?”

She nodded.

“I don’t know,” he said. “People much more important than me would have to approve. Besides, this isn’t just another tattoo,” he said and carefully touched the symbol, no bigger than the size of a coin. “Once you are marked you become a member of the Syndicate. And that, my dear, will be a lifetime commitment, the drug will see to that.”

“I’m no stranger to drugs.”

Denka sat up. “Y isn’t just any drug. Once you get your first injection it will take hold of you for the rests of your life. There are no antidotes, there is no rehabilitation program you can take to free yourself again. Once it’s in your system it will stay there forever. And your body will crave it. You will not be able to sleep without it, you will not be able to function unless you take regular injections. And the Syndicate will be your only supplier.”

Star had heard about this of course. Y or yridium tricantizine was not widely known as a drug outside Syndicate circles but she had learned that every high-level operative was marked and therefore owned by that compound. Unless you could show that you had the unique octagon mark left behind by the Y injectors you weren’t really part of the family.

“If you think I’m ready than I’m willing to give my life over to the Syndicate,” she said. “I could serve as your right-hand and protect you from enemies both outside and inside. I’d be at your beck and call night and day.”

At that Denka smirked. “Now that sounds like a fantastic idea,” he said as he reached out for her body once more.

One Day Ago

After a marathon gaming session of Tongo only four players remained. Denka, Star, Pava and Galven. All others had been eliminated.

“It is a shame that you haven’t shown a greater interest in the business opportunities I can offer,” Denka said. “Your sharp intellect could be put to great use, not to mention your other assets,” he added as he shot the Vulcan woman a not-so-subtle look.

“I am interested in business opportunities,” she said and then looked straight at the woman sitting next to Denka. “However I have no desire to become a drugged up, sexual plaything.”

Tazla Star simply smiled at the Vulcan. “It is sad that as logical as you may be, you do not appear to understand the need for sacrifice. For the game, for business, for love, for achieving greatness. Without sacrifice, by playing it safe all your life, you will never accomplish anything. Differently to you, I’m in this to win.”

Denka leaned slightly into her. “What are you willing to sacrifice for me?”

“For you, my love,” she said and gently brushed his cheek. “Everything.”

He smiled and looked over the other players to make sure that they had taken notice. “Now that is loyalty. You cannot put too high a price on that.”

But Pava shook his head. “Some prices are not worth paying,” he said and folded his cards on the table shortly after Galven had, ending both their involvement in the Tongo game.

“Looks like it’s just me and you left, my dear. What’s your next move?”

Tazla Star hesitated for just a moment. She looked at the Vulcan she knew as the shape-shifting Galven and then at Pava. Their true thoughts were hidden underneath perfectly maintained masks. And yet she knew exactly what they were.

And she knew exactly what she needed to do.

“Acquire.”

Now

She was lying on her back with her head hanging upside down over the edge. Her eyes were glazed over and she wasn’t moving. Hadn’t it been for the steady rise and fall of her chest one could have easily assumed that she was dead.

That was the state Pava Lar’ragos, Galven and her Nausicaan partner, Kren, had found her in.

Galven, now in the form of a human woman, pulled out a small tricorder and scanned Star’s motionless form. “She is alive. But barely. I cannot tell the cause for her current state.”

Pava stepped up to the bed and pulled her loose shirt open slightly, just enough to reveal an octagon shaped mark above her left breast. Then he spotted the injector lying next to her and picked it up. It was depleted.

“It’s the Y. It quite purposefully won’t show up on standard scans. But she’s pumped full of the stuff. Considering that this is her first shot, she’s probably going through hell right now,” he said and threw her a pitiful look. “I don’t think she’s going to wake from this for hours and once she does, she’ll probably wish she hadn’t.”

“Stupid, stubborn, little girl,” said Galven and then turned to her partner. “Kren, help me out, we’ll carry her back to the ship. If we stay to the back alleys we should be able to get there undetected.”

But Pava shook his head. “No.”

“You don’t suggest we just leave her like this?”

He stood up and faced the shape-shifting intelligence operative. “That is exactly what I suggest. We won’t be able to help her anyway. There is no known cure for yridium tricantizine poisoning, especially not considering the dosage she’s taken. She’s made her choice. Now she’ll have to live with it.”

The Nausicaan had moved to one of the grimy windows. “Whatever we do, we better do it quick. There are half a dozen Syndicate goons coming up the street.”

“No doubt coming to check in on their newest recruit,” said Pava.

“What do we do now?” asked Galven.

“We continue as planned. We take down Denka and shut down his slaving operation in this sector.”

“So she went through all of this for nothing?” said the woman without a hint of sympathy in her tone.

“We may have helped her along unwittingly.”

Galven glanced at Pava. “How so?”

“Once Danka is gone, somebody will have to fill his shoes,” he said with a shrug. “Now that she has the Mark, she is trusted within the Syndicate, so it may as well be her.”

“You think she really has a shot at taking them all down?”

Pava had already moved towards the door, fully cognizant that they couldn’t afford to be around when those Syndicate members turned up. “Take down the entire organization?” he said and shook his head. “No. But she may just do some serious damage. Who knows, she may save a lot more lives before all this is over. Too bad that in the process she has destroyed hers.”

The Enemy of My Enemy (is My Lover)

Featuring characters from Darkush’s Dark Territory, Brother Benny’s Star Trek: Pytheas and TheLoneRedshirt’s Tales of the Border Service

September 2374

So’dan Leva couldn’t help but feel that this had all been one big mistake.

“This is one big mistake,” Xeris said as if he could read the half-Romulan’s mind exactly. “This trip will accomplish nothing except hand the empire three political prisoners and a Starfleet vessel as a trophy. Not that this bucket is worth putting on display anywhere. What is thing, anyway? An Oberth-class?”

Ousanas Dar had only just entered the small cabin all three men shared for their four-day journey. The vessel had not been designed to carry much of a crew, not to mention passengers and they had to make due with what was available. The crew had gone out of their way to prepare the largest cabin on the ship for their guests. It would have been decent accommodation for one passenger. It was impossibly too small to accommodate three.

The stately Romulan carried his age well. Few who had only a passing familiarity with him would have guessed that he was pushing 100. It wasn’t just his Romulan physiology, the former Romulan military man and defector believed in keeping both his mind and body in peak condition.

“Not quite,” he said and held on to an inconveniently placed support strut in the middle of the cabin. “But she was an Oberth once. Back in my heyday they were one of the most reliable ships in Starfleet. Very difficult to track, too.”

Xeris rolled his eyes. “Are you going to tell us war stories next?”

“No,” said Dar sharply. “But I suggest you don’t let Captain Nor Huren hear about your estimation of her ship. I’m sure she’d let you know in no uncertain terms what exactly she thinks of you.”

The Romulan engineer was sitting on top of his bunk right next to the forward facing window, staring into space with a palpable sense of dread. “She most likely would,” he said and turned to look at his kinsman. “I meant no offense. I’m certain that the captain and her crew perform more than adequately in their duties. But ferrying passengers to Romulus doesn’t exactly fall into that category now, does it?”

“That’s exactly why this vessel was chosen. One of the conditions for allowing this meeting was that we travel to Romulus in an unarmed vessel,” Dar said.

“That’s very convenient. Let’s face it, we might as well wear shackles already because we’re practically begging them to throw us into a cell the moment we arrive.”

“I have full confidence in my contact on Romulus. They are genuine about holding talks to form an alliance against the Dominion. Besides if they wanted to take us prisoner it would hardly matter which kind of ship we traveled on. It still be us against the entire Romulan Navy.”

So’Dan Leva who sat by the small table at the center of cabin didn’t look particularly convinced either. Like Xeris he wore a Starfleet uniform with a golden undershirt. But unlike his colleague he was a tactical officer. And unlike both Xeris and Dar he was a half-Romulan, his father had been a human, giving him much less pronounced forehead ridges. “Then perhaps we should have agreed to a neutral location. It is a tactical mistake to allow for this meeting to take place on their terms on Romulus.”

Dar shot Leva an impatient look. “That was another condition, you know that. Besides you have both volunteered for this mission, nobody forced you to go.”

Xeris stood from his cot. “I’m a Starfleet officer,” the engineer said in an almost accusatory tone. “I will go wherever I’m sent but I don’t have to like it,” he added, walked past Dar and left the cabin.

The older Romulan looked after him for a moment. “I suppose I didn’t expect euphoria over this trip but the chance that we could sway the senate to join the war effort are worth the risks we’re taking.”

“They’ll have us tried as traitors,” Leva said, avoiding any kind of eye contact with the older man.

“My contact has guaranteed our safety.”

“You keep saying that but didn’t it ever occur to you that maybe your contacts have betrayed you?” he said, stood and turned towards the window to keep his back towards Dar. “And even if they are trustworthy, that doesn’t mean that the Tal Shiar is not making plans to dispose of us the moment we set foot on Romulus. In case you have forgotten, that’s what our people do best,” he said and then turned to face him. “Damn it, Ousanas, they asked to meet with the only two Romulans serving in Starfleet, one of which is a half-breed, an abomination in their eyes and then you. A known defector and traitor in their eyes. Their intentions couldn’t have been more obvious.”

“They didn’t ask for anything.”

“What do you mean?”

“I suggested this. I knew that they had declined meeting with any Federation diplomats. I’ve lobbied for weeks and ultimately they accepted my compromise to meet with the only Romulans serving the Federation.”

The tactical officer considered that for a moment but then shook his head. “It doesn’t change anything. They saw a chance to get us easily and they took it. We are presenting ourselves like a gift on a silver platter, already wrapped up like a present in this toothless starship.”

“You volunteered for– “

Leva cut him off with a sarcastic laugh. “When the president of the United Federation of Planets asks you personally to got to Romulus and beg the empire to join the fight against the Dominion there is very little volunteering going on,” he said and studied the look on Dar’s face very closely as he spoke. “You knew that we would never go along with this, didn’t you? It’s obvious that Commander Xeris isn’t too thrilled about this assignment but you would have known that I would never sign up to go to Romulus voluntarily. I don’t know how but you managed to convince the president to make those personal appeals, knowing full well that we could never turn him down.”

“Yes,” Dar said. “You are right. I knew you wouldn’t go. I knew that you’re so scared of facing your own people that you would have found a way to get yourself out of this. But I know the truth. I know that there is a part of you deep down and hidden away that wants to be with your people again. It’s that little voice in the back of your head, that passion that breaks the surface every now and then even while you try to keep it down. You have to accept that no matter what you tell yourself, no matter how hard you try to deny it, you are Romulan.”

“So you’re doing this for me, is that it? All this to put me in touch with my lost roots?”

Dar shook his head. “I’m doing this because without the Romulans, the Federation, the entire Alpha Quadrant will fall.”

“Let’s be honest here, you’re doing this because after decades of turning your back on your own people you finally have a chance to go back and be accepted for what you truly are. Let’s not forget, between the two of us, you are the true Romulan. You are the outcast and now they offer you this chance to be invited back and you’re too blinded by your long suppressed desires to see that you’re selling us out to the enemy.”

“Or maybe you are the blinded one,” Dar shot back. “You have become so comfortable with the anger and hate you have wrapped yourself in that you are unwilling to look past your personal demons to take a chance to save the Federation. Perhaps you’re right, maybe this is all an elaborate scheme by the Tal Shiar to get their hands on three wanted political enemies but ask yourself one question: What if they are genuine? Can we really afford to ignore this chance? Aren’t the lives of two Starfleet officers and one old Romulan long passed his usefulness worth the price for an opportunity to end a war which has claimed thousands and will undoubtedly claim thousands more?”

The two men, the mentor and the often-reluctant student glared at each other as they had done countless times before. The truth was their relationship had always come down to these moments. It had always been one full of tensions and disagreements and yet, against the odds, it had always endured.

“Nor Huren to Dar, we’re entering the Romulus star system. I think you might want to come to the bridge.”

Dar hesitated only shortly before he tapped the Border Service combadge he had clipped to his civilian outfit. “I’m on my way,” he said without ever taking his eyes off Leva.

“If you do not wish to join us and stay on the ship instead of–“

“Don’t play coy, it doesn’t become you,” Leva said as he headed for the doors. “We both know that I don’t have a choice in the matter.”

All eyes on the small bridge of the Pamlico were focused on the main view screen which now prominently displayed an emerald-shaded planet.

“We’re now approaching Romulus,” the young petty officer at the helm announced. He turned to look at the woman sitting in her chair behind him. “There’s something I didn’t think I’d ever say.”

Despite her rank pips, identifying her as a lieutenant commander, the bronze skinned Rigellian in the center seat was the unquestioned master and commander of her vessel. She frowned at the helmsman. “Eyes front and center, Andy. I need you to be one-hundred-fifty percent alert for this one.”

“You got it, Skipper,” he said and turned back to his console.

Captain Kalendi Nor Huren noticed Leva’s skeptical look. “Don’t worry, he’s really good at this.”

“It doesn’t really matter how good or how alert we are,” said Xeris who sat at the engineering station on the bridge. “If they don’t want us to get out of here alive, we won’t.”

“The good news is, it’s really quiet out there. Besides a number of bases I’m not picking up any major military activity.”

“That’s because they’re all cloaked,” said Dar, keeping his eyes fixed on the planet on the view screen. “My guess is there are about twenty warbirds surrounding us as we speak. All watching our every move.”

Andrew Pelham swallowed and tried hard not to think of the warships lying in wait. He hoped they were not in his flight path as he steered the Pamlico closer to the Romulan home world.

“Hell of a first assignment,” Nor Huren said as the planet grew steadily larger.

Xeris and Leva exchanged surprised looks. First assignment? the engineer mouthed wordlessly.

“Entering standard orbit,” the helmsman said. “We’re receiving a message from the surface. Beam down coordinates. Also, instructions to hold position until we receive departure clearance.”

The tall Rigellian captain stood form her chair. “Well done, Andy,” she said and then looked at her three Romulan guests. “I got you here in one piece. I suppose making sure we get out of here again will be up to you, gentlemen.”

Dar nodded. “Your assistance has been greatly appreciated, Captain. Our talks with the Romulan delegation are expected to commence immediately. With any luck we should wrap things up within a few days.”

“We’ll wait for as long as it takes,” she said. “Just don’t ask me to join the party because I don’t think I packed my dress whites,” she added, shooting a quick glance at the shiny white uniforms Leva and Xeris were wearing.”

Dar gave her a little smile. “I don’t think that will be necessary,” he said and then turned to the two Starfleet officers. “We shouldn’t keep our hosts waiting.”

Xeris stood. “Let’s get this over with then.”

They materialized on an open terrace in a building near the very center of the capital city and the very first sight that greeted them was the magnificent skyline of the heart of the Romulan Empire in all its glory, basking in the purple light of a stunning sunset playing out over the distant horizon and a shimmering sea.

It was not what Ousanas Dar had expected to see. At least not straight away.

It was a sight which immediately pulled at his heartstrings, bringing back memories of a life and a home he had long since abandoned.

“A beautiful evening, is it not?”

“Magnificent,” Dar said without even aware of who had asked the question, too preoccupied to soak up as much of the vista as possible not sure if he would ever get a second chance.

When he finally turned away, and with some difficulty, he realized that he had been the last to face their host.

“Welcome to Romulus, gentlemen,” the woman said. She was of middle age and very graceful, wearing a plain, civilian robe. She offered a small, reserved smile.

Next to her stood a younger woman. Slender, athletic, undeniably attractive even with her exact, regulation Romulan military haircut and broad-shouldered uniform. She looked officious, her features neutral and her hands clasped behind her back.

Surprisingly there was nobody else on the terrace besides them. No armed welcoming guard

“Senator Cretak,” said Dar. “I am delighted to finally meet you in person. This is Lieutenant Commander Xeris and Lieutenant Commander So’Dan Leva.”

“It is a pleasure meeting you all,” she said. “Let me introduce my associate, Subcommander Donatra. It is mostly thanks to her lobbying that we were able to convince the Romulan Guard to allow this meeting.”

Dar glanced at the young woman and gave her a courteous nod. “Than we all owe you a debt of gratitude, Commander.”

She acknowledged the gesture but didn’t speak.

Xeris kept his eyes on his surroundings, checking and double-checking every corner and shadow. This did not go unnoticed by the senator. “Is there something the matter, Mister Xeris?”

“Just keeping my eyes open. I’m sure you can appreciate that I don’t fully trust this situation,” he said, ignoring the chastising glance he received from Dar.

“I can assure you that the Romulan Guard will guarantee your safety on Romulus for the duration of you stay,” Donatra said.

“I that so?” said Xeris who hardly masked the fact that the military officer’s reassurance didn’t hold much weight with him.

“You are right to be suspicious, of course,” the senator added. “And to be blunt, I’m sure the Tal Shiar will monitor us very closely especially considering your unique histories with the Empire but I’m certain they will not want to make a move against any of us in these precarious times. The entire Empire is acutely aware of the tenuous political situation in the Alpha Quadrant and nobody wishes to aggravate the situation needlessly one way or the other.”

“Does this mean the praetor is still disinclined to an alliance?” Dar said.

“I’m afraid nothing has changed,” said Cretak and led the way, allowing Dar to walk beside her while the others followed. “But there are many in the senate as well as in the military who feel that we need to seriously consider our choice of allies. That is why I have suggested this meeting here on Romulus. Hopefully you can succeed where both Romulan and Federation delegates have failed and convince the Continuing Committee to change direction.”

“We will do everything in our power to try and achieve that, Senator.”

For Leva their arrival on Romulus had not sparked the same nostalgia that had gripped Dar. Like Xeris he had been concerned but he also understood that they were, for all intents and purposes, in enemy territory now. Constantly looking over his shoulder seemed pointless and so instead he tried to get a better impression of their hosts, most specifically the young military woman.

And he had been impressed by what he had seen so far.

They stepped into the high-rise building and took a turbolift to reach the rooms they had been assigned, each with a similarly striking view of the city.

“You will have unrestricted clearance to move within this building which features work stations, libraries, exercise facilities and other amenities you may use at your leisure. While you cannot leave the building unaccompanied, we have arranged a tour of the city tomorrow morning,” Cretak said after they had been shown their individual rooms. “We are scheduled to hold our first presentation in the afternoon.”

Dar nodded. “We’ll be looking forward to it.”

The two women made eye contact with each man before they excused themselves for the evening.

Leva couldn’t be sure but he thought he could see a faint smile on Donatra’s crimson lips when their eyes met. She had turned away quickly however and soon after they were both gone.

Dar stepped back towards the windows of their spacious lobby. “I think that went well,” he said even as he studied the city in the evening light.

Xeris shook his head. “I remain skeptical of their true intentions,” he said and then looked at Leva. “And Commander, in case you have forgotten, we are here on official Federation business, this is not a vacation.”

The half-Romulan shot the man a glare. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t you think I noticed the way you’ve looked at the subcommander? It would be more prudent to keep your focus on the mission and possible dangers instead of the local women.”

Dar laughed and gave Leva a good natured clap on his back. “Leave him be. Besides she is fairly easy on the eyes, wouldn’t you agree, old friend?”

Leva just shook his head. “You’re both insane. The last thing I’d ever do is to get involved with a Romulan woman. Have a good night,” he said and turned towards his room to retire for the evening.

Leva was woken the following morning by the first rays of sunlight shining into his room. He had slept surprisingly well in what he kept telling himself was an alien city.

In truth it wasn’t all so foreign to him.

He had travelled to Ki Baratan, the Romulan capital city a number times when he had been a child. His mother had been an important dignitary but because of his human father their true relationship had been kept a secret.

Instead, So’Dan had been raised by his mother’s sister on a colony world near the Romulan and Klingon border and he had only ever met his mother in great secrecy. Usually this meant that he had been sent off to Romulus where he would spend a few hours at a time with his mother while staying at a relative’s house.

After his home planet had been attacked by Klingons and most of the adult population had been killed, including his aunt, he had been sent to live on Earth with is father where it had been deemed much safer to raise a child of mixed heritage.

He remembered visiting the capital as a child, mostly because seeing his mother had usually been the highlight of his year and a chance to escape the bullying and harassment he received by his peers on the colony world he’d called home.

When the door enunciator signaled a visitor, he quickly pulled on his uniform pants, shirt and boots and stepped out into the lobby where he found Subcommander Donatra waiting for him.

“I hope you rested well,” she said.

“Well enough.”

She gave him a curt nod. “Would you like to commence the tour of the city now?”

He had forgotten that it had been part of the agenda for the day. “Don’t you think that would be a waste of our time? We didn’t come all the way here for the sights.”

If Donatra was irritated by his gruff demeanor, she did a splendid job to hide it. “The meeting with the government and military representatives is not due until the late afternoon and the senator thought that you’d might welcome the opportunity to see the city.”

“Perhaps you should try your luck with Dar instead.”

She nodded. “Senator Cretak and Mister Dar have already commenced the tour. We could join them or you may stay here if you prefer. I understand Commander Xeris has also refused to leave the building and has decided to spend the morning in the library instead.”

Leva considered his options. He had to admit that he wasn’t entirely disinclined to the idea of getting another look at the impressive capital city. And it certainly wouldn’t have hurt from an intelligence standpoint to know more about a potential enemy.

“Ki Baratan has been my home for many years, you couldn’t ask for a better guide,” she said with just the barest hint of a smile. Leva found it surprisingly enticing as if she was giving him just a small taste of her charm, inviting him to find out just how far her hospitality went.

He wasn’t sure if he was reading those signals correctly but he decided that there was no harm in trying to find out.

“Lead the way, Commander.”

Cretak had been true to her word and Xeris had little trouble moving about freely within the high-rise building. He did however not miss the inconspicuously placed guards every so often and nearby most exits. They weren’t uniformed and at first glance didn’t appear to be armed but he was absolutely certain that they carried concealed weapons which they could produce at a moment’s notice if he ever made the ill-advised decision to challenge any one of them.

He also knew without a shadow of a doubt that an entire array of internal sensors was following him no matter where he went.

It wouldn’t have been the Romulus he knew had it been any other way.

It made little sense to test the limits of their trust and even less to make them suspicious or believe that he was an enemy spy. So instead of trying to gather intel or find weaknesses in their security he headed straight to the library.

He found an out of the way workstation which allowed him at least the pretense of privacy with no guards looking over his shoulder and quickly proceeded to bring up unclassified technical specs which one would expect to draw the curiosity of an engineer.

Xeris had absolutely no interest in those specs.

He quickly managed to circumvent the expected monitoring subroutines in the workstation and the restrictions limiting his access parameters. Within a few minutes he had established a secure comlink.

The silver haired Romulan who appeared on the screen looked much more his true age than Xeris. His skin had started to wrinkle around his eyes and he wore what appeared to be a permanent frown chiseled into his face. He seemed irritated by this unannounced call.

“Who is this?” he said sharply. “How did you get access to this line?”

“Don’t you recognize an old friend?”

It took him a few seconds but when he finally did, he couldn’t hide his surprise. “I didn’t expect to hear from you,” he said and then noticed something that visibly shook him. “Your signal? It’s local,” he said, shaking his head. “You’re on Romulus. That’s impossible.”

“Calm down, I’m here on legitimate Federation business. In fact I have to say I’m a bit disappointed that you weren’t aware. I know the Guard has been trying to keep our visit here a secret but I’m sure the Tal Shiar knows all about it. And if they know, so should you. You’re slipping, old friend.”

The man calmed noticeably but his frown remained. “We have bigger concerns these days then keeping taps on you.”

“So I imagine.”

“What do you want? Why are you here?”

Xeris shot the other man a stern look, making it perfectly clear that he didn’t appreciate the tone of his voice. The man actually relented and his facial expressions softened slightly as if only now remembering who he was speaking to.

Xeris wasn’t going to make an issue of it. “The Federation is desperate to get the Empire into the war against the Dominion. I’m here to convince the Romulan leadership that it would be in their best interest to do so.”

“Sounds like life in the Federation has diluted you after all.”

“Make no mistake, I care for the Empire,” Xeris stated firmly. “And I agree that by staying out of the war it will be weakened in the long run.”

“I’m afraid to say that you are in the minority with that opinion.”

Xeris inched closer to the screen. “Tell me, what would it take for the Praetor to change his mind?”

The gray haired Romulan seemed to consider this for a moment. “Short of an unprovoked Dominion attack on our territory?”

“Yes.”

“A new Praetor.”

Xeris smirked. “That my friend is a treasonous thought.”

He shrugged. “Perhaps. But this conversation of ours never happened. Don’t contact me again during your visit here, it’s too risky,” he said and stabbed a control panel near the screen, causing his image to cut out.

Xeris quickly purged the memory buffers to erase any trace of the transmission from the computer banks and to make sure that the conversation had indeed not happened.

Then he sighed and leaned back in his chair. Their mission to Romulus was going to be a great deal more difficult than he had imagined.

Leva scratched his neck where the alien material rubbed against his skin and causing it to itch for what seemed like the umpteenth time.

“I’m sure you will get used to it.”

Leva shot the Romulan officer a disbelieving look. “I doubt it. Is this really necessary? I was perfectly comfortable in my uniform.”

“I’m sure you were,” she said. “But I’m afraid we had to insist that you do not wear it outside the building. Your visit hasn’t been exactly publicized and my superiors were quite adamant that the public is not made aware of the presence of Federation officers on Romulan soil. Besides, I think the tunic fits you well. You make a dashing Romulan.”

He had been too preoccupied from keeping the heavy tunic he now wore from riding up his neck every time he took a step to notice the compliment.

And then something else captured his attention. Donatra had guided him to what she had called the Artist’s Quarter, the home of not just artisans but also philosophers, freethinkers and liberals. Of course in the strictly controlled and monitored society of Romulus a freethinker usually was a person who showed a tendency to disagree with accepted opinions but never outright reject them.

Nevertheless it was a vital community which had been left mostly untouched by government interference and Donatra claimed its lush parks and lakes were amongst her favorites in the city. And apparently you couldn’t get a better osol twist anywhere else in the empire.

Leva had shown to be rather disinterested with most of the tour but now he had stopped for the first time as he was watching a group of citizens who seemed to be discussing latest events. He was drawn to their children who were playing by a nearby fountain to keep cool on this hot summer morning.

“Feeling nostalgic?”

Leva quickly shook his head and moved on as if embarrassed to have been found out.

She quickly caught up with him. “They remind you of yourself, don’t they? You must have been about the same age when you came to visit the capital as a child.”

“You seem well informed.”

Donatra cracked a small smile. “What do the humans like to say? I’ve done my homework,” she said and then continued in a more sober tone. “I know that you used to come here to visit your mother at least once a year. And I think part of you misses living as a Romulan.”

That caused him to stop and he turned to face her. “Miss it? Which part? Being endlessly bullied and teased because I didn’t look like a true Romulan? Or do you mean being able to see my mother only once a year and only under a great deal of secrecy to ensure nobody of power and influence would ever learn of my existence and my mother’s transgression with an alien? I don’t miss any part of living in a totalitarian society with zero tolerance for anybody who doesn’t think or act like the majority.”

To her credit, Donatra held her ground, never flinched, didn’t even show the slightest bit of discomfort in the face of Leva’s rant. Never mind her soft and beautiful features, she was a warrior. Secretly Leva admired that.

“I will make no excuses for our people,” she said. “And I admit that we are not always the most open-minded society but we have come far over the last decades. Yes, we tend to believe that we are the most superior race in the galaxy and once you study our culture and history in more detail maybe you would understand why. Look around you, So’Dan,” she said, shifting to his given name without effort or concern. “Look at the faces of those children. There is good reason why they look so familiar.”

At first he didn’t want to indulge her but then he gave in and did as she had suggested. And he was stunned at what he saw, couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed it before.

Some of the children hardly had any signs of forehead protrusions which were so typical for Romulans. And it wasn’t just the children. Now that he was looking for it he could see underdeveloped forehead ridged everywhere. A baker selling fresh osol twists, a woman showing off her latest paintings, a peace officer who was patrolling the streets with his partner, even a young woman who was clearly engaged in a public display of affection with another woman with fully developed ridges.

“I don’t understand,” he said.

“As I said, we’ve made a lot of progress over the decades,” she said. “We’ve come to value all Romulan blood no matter if it is mixed with that of a different race or if it has produced some genetic abnormalities. Granted, you won’t see as many non-pure Romulans in the halls of the Senate or amongst the Guard but that too is changing. Under the law, a Romulan is a Romulan, no matter his heritage.” She stepped closer to him and put a hand on his shoulder. “No matter what you think or what you’ve been told in the past, you are a true Romulan, So’Dan.”

“There is a growing minority within the Senate, including the Vice-proconsul, which supports an alliance with the Federation and the Klingons and turning against the Dominion. But even if we get a majority, the decision will ultimately lie with Praetor Neral and the Continuing Committee and they have not shown any indication that they look favorably at such an alliance.

Our biggest obstacle is Senator Vreenak, the chief architect of our current non-aggression pact with the Dominion. He’s the secretary of the War Plans Council and co-chairman of the Tal Shiar. He also has Neral’s ear. If we can convince him, we’ll get the Continuing Committee on our side.”

The walk to the senate chamber was a long one mostly thanks to the many security checkpoints they needed to clear. But it gave Senator Cretak plenty of time to outline once more what Dar, Leva and Xeris would have to expect once they arrived.

Leva didn’t miss the chemistry between Dar and the senator. They had known each other for months as they had communicated over subspace and Dar had not been shy to point out on numerous occasions how much he thought of her. As far as he knew, their relationship was purely professional but he couldn’t help wonder what exactly his private tour with the senator had entailed.

He was in no position to judge. After all he couldn’t help himself but steal brief glances towards Donatra whenever he thought nobody else was looking.

The attraction had been purely physical after he had first met the striking women but after their own tour, she had given him surprisingly much to think about.

“Vreenak is not our only problem,” said Donatra. “Koval is also a firm opponent of any kind of Federation-Romulan alliance.”

“Chairman Koval.” Xeris said. “The unquestioned leader of the Tal Shiar.”

The subcommander nodded, perhaps a bit surprised at the engineer’s knowledge of Romulan senior leadership.

“I’ve heard rumors about the man. Apparently there is talk that he may have been involved in the mysterious death of the deputy chief of Starfleet Intelligence,” said Xeris.

“I wouldn’t put it passed him,” said Cretak. “Koval is very dangerous but also incredibly difficult to read. We know he’s against an alliance but the man works in such mystifying ways, I wouldn’t be surprised if even the praetor himself isn’t aware of all his activities half the time. Fortunately for us the only thing both Koval and Vreenak hate more than an alliance with the Federation is each other. Something we may be able to exploit.”

Leva immediately understood that Senator Cretak had surely pulled a number of strings not only to get them to Romulus but also to allow them to address the aristocracy and the decision-makers directly from the sacred senate chambers.

He couldn’t help but get a chill when he stepped onto the expansive marble floors of the large, round room, dominated by a massive bird of prey chandelier suspended from the ceiling, as if the ancient and vengeful spirits of the empire themselves were keeping a close watch on anyone and anything that was discussed in this room.

The turnout was not particularly encouraging however.

Just a handful of senators and military officers were in attendance, hardly filling the available seats. Two men stood out from the small crowd. Leva immediately realized that one was Koval and the other Vreenak. And while they were both supposed to be working for the same agency, they sat about as far away from each other as the chamber would allow.

Cretak led her guests to the center of the chamber before she addressed the audience. “Thank you all for coming. As you are aware we have invited Mister Dar, special envoy from the United Federation of Planets and Commanders Leva and Xeris from Starfleet, to Romulus to make their case for a Federation-Romulan alliance against the Dominion. I’m convinced that after their presentation you will agree with them that such an alliance would be in the best interest of the Empire,” she said and then nodded at Dar before she took a seat in the front row herself.

Donatra set up a holographic projector behind the trio of Federation ambassadors before she joined the senator.

Leva felt uncomfortable almost immediately.

His mind had been too preoccupied with the many possible ways they were going to be betrayed by the Romulans the moment they’d sat one foot on their world that he hadn’t really considered that there was an actual chance that he would have to address the Romulan Senate.

Once he had realized that at the very least Cretak had been genuine about her intentions and they had not been arrested by Tal Shiar agents, he had become too distracted with Donatra and what she had revealed to him to prepare for this moment.

Leva was not a diplomat and not for the first time he felt incredibly out of place in the halls of power. Surprisingly the same could not be said about Xeris who radiated an amazing sense of calm for an engineer standing in front of high-level politicians.

This remained true for Dar as well. The two Starfleet officers gave him some room as he took a step forward. “First let me express our gratitude for allowing the three of us–estranged sons of Romulus–to come here and allow us to address you in this very hallowed place.”

Leva may not have been a politician but he recognized the hallmarks of pandering to your listeners. Dar did this well and some of the few senators actually appeared to appreciate this. The faces of both Koval and Vreenak however remained unmoved, like gargoyle’s stone faces.

“The Romulan Empire, at best, has ten years left to live.”

That was an attention grabber and even Leva had to do a double take on Dar.

A nervous murmur went through the crowd and Vreenak seemed to shift uncomfortably on his bench for a moment.

Xeris looked around to see if the ever-present security forces were going to make a move on them, throwing them into a deep dungeon for threatening the state in such a blatant and disrespectful manner.

Now that he had their full attention, Dar quickly continued. “The fall of the empire will not come from any internal conflicts. It will most certainly not come because of Federation interference or because of Klingon invasion attempts. Instead, within six years, Romulus will find itself alone and isolated against an Alpha Quadrant dominated by the Dominion and its grand plan to spread its influence over the entire Milky Way. Make no mistake, the Federation and the Klingon Empire will fall to the Dominion and once they do, every other space faring civilization will have to bow down to Dominion superiority. The Romulan Empire will be the last piece of the puzzle.”

He let those words sink in for a moment. A small number of faces seemed to silently agree with him. Most notably of course Cretak and Donatra but there were other military officers who had come to the very same conclusion.

“Those estimates of yours are worthless,” Vreenak said bluntly. “They are as believable as three Romulan traitors returning to the home world.”

Leva and Xeris both tensed up.

“You are trying to manipulate us to take part in a war that has nothing to do with the Empire. But I agree with at least one of your observations. Your alliance will crumble. The Empire, however, will prevail.”

Dar slowly shook his head. “I cannot agree. Even if you think that you may be able to ally yourself with the Dominion like the Cardassians have, all you’d be doing is giving up your own sovereignty. Our intelligence sources tell us, and I’m sure your own Tal Shiar can confirm this, that the Cardassian leadership has become nothing more than a puppet regime, entirely controlled by the Founders. The Dominion is not interested in alliances or sharing power. Their one and only aim is total control.”

Vreenak was entirely unconvinced. However Koval seemed to show some interest now. Leva couldn’t be certain if that was because he naturally wanted to take an opposite view to Vreenak or that because as the chairman of the Tal Shiar he knew exactly what Dar was talking about.

“I would like to hear a more detailed analysis of your estimations,” Koval said.

Senator Vreenak seemed displeased by that statement even if he tried hard to hide it.

Dar nodded. “I thought you would. Allow me to hand this over to our tactical expert, Lieutenant Commander So’Dan Leva,” he said and gestured towards the half-Romulan Starfleet officer.

Leva stepped into the center of the room. The holographic screen behind him changed to show a current territorial display of Federation, Klingon as well as Romulan and Cardassian space. It was quite obvious from the display that the Dominion controlled Cardassian space had made significant inroads into both Federation and Klingon territory since the war had begun.

“This is what the Alpha and Beta Quadrant look like today,” he said. “Dominion forces have been making steady advances into allied-controlled space and also towards Romulus. Considering the pace of troop build ups on both sides, we estimate that Earth and Qo’noS will be under Dominion siege within twelve to fourteen months.”

As he spoke, the display changed to represent Dominion progress towards those two worlds.

Vreenak stood. “Your estimates are only relevant if you are able to show us your fleet positions and movements.”

Leva looked at the senator for a moment, astonished by the audacity of that statement. There simply was no way he would give up that kind of information to a potentially hostile power. Not even under torture.

Xeris showed his displeasure more vocally. “You can’t be seriously expecting us to tell you about our fleet movements. That is crossing the line.”

Donatra also stood, apparently feeling compelled to weigh in. “Senator, I must agree with our guests. Revealing sensitive military information of this nature would not be beneficial to either party at this juncture.”

But Vreenak held his ground. “We have shown this so-called delegation an extraordinary amount of trust by allowing them to come here. I am asking that you reciprocate our faith in you by sharing with us military intelligence.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Leva said flatly, paying little attention to the curious looks his tone invited from the audience.

“You want to know Federation fleet movements?” said Dar as he stepped back into the center. He typed something into a padd he was carrying and the holo-display was quickly populated by clusters of Starfleet vessels, most of which positioned near the battle lines.

“Dar!” Leva said sharply, unable to believe what he had done.

“We have not yet reached the level of trust you have inferred, Senator,” Dar said but kept the display with fleet positions up for everyone to see. “But we are convinced that our projections are accurate. The Federation-Klingon alliance will be defeated and Romulus will be next unless you will join the war effort.”

For a moment nobody spoke.

Then Vreenak turned and left the room and soon after some of the other audience members began to follow suit until only the Federation delegates and their two Romulan hosts remained.

As soon as the room cleared Leva and Xeris immediately turned on Dar but not before making sure the holo-display had been deactivated.

“What the hell were you thinking?” Leva said. “What you have just done, that’s treason. You have given the Romulan military, the Tal Shiar, the entire empire, our complete war strategy.”

Xeris was equally fuming. “Do you realize that under the non-aggression pact the empire has with the Dominion they’d be more than able to share this information with the Founders. If they do that, you may just have doomed millions of Federation lives.”

Dar calmly turned towards the two officers. “Gentlemen, what you don’t seem to understand or perhaps have not yet accepted, is the simple fact that if we are unsuccessful, it will be billions of lives that will be lost.”

Leva had returned to his room shortly after the presentation had concluded. He was angry enough that he felt that for his safety and those of others it was best if he remained alone for the rest of the evening.

No matter how Dar had justified his actions, as far as he was concerned he had betrayed the Federation by sharing sensitive military information with the Romulans. He had long since suspected that Dar was letting his nostalgic feelings cloud his own judgment but he had never thought he would go to such lengths to prove it.

He was angry with the Romulans as well. Yes, they had been nothing but gracious hosts since they had arrived but now he was beginning to sense something more treacherous at work here. Of course Vreenak’s insistence that they share fleet positions had hardly come as a surprise but now he couldn’t help but wonder if it hadn’t all been a set up from the very beginning. Perhaps they had lulled them into a false sense of trust and comfort in order to have them easily surrender classified information.

He sat on top of his bed, overlooking the capital city when the door chime to his room rang out. He suspected it to be Dar, perhaps coming to apologize for what he had done. Knowing the man, it was more likely that he had come to justify himself.

He had no desire to speak to him.

The chime, however, rang again.

Perhaps it was Xeris, wishing to discuss their next step. Maybe suggesting charging Dar with treason as soon as they returned to the Pamlico.

With both their testimonies there was more than enough evidence for a Federation court to convict him. Treason was among the most serious offenses within the Federation and even their infamously lenient legal system would see to it that he would be dealt a harsh punishment, most likely a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

It was not the kind of fate he wished upon his long time mentor.

He soon realized that ignoring the visitor wasn’t working and when the chime sounded a third time, Leva angrily jumped to his feet and walked to the door to open it.

“I thought it would have been clear that I’d like to be left alone,” he said as the door began to open.

“I apologize, Commander but I felt it was necessary that I spoke to you,” said Subcommander Donatra.

He hadn’t expected her. He nodded slowly and stepped aside to allow her into his room.

She walked inside. “I can understand your anger, Commander,” she said. “I would probably be equally upset if the situation were reversed.”

Leva walked away from the doors, allowing them to close behind him. He noticed that she was carrying a data padd.

“I have brought you something that may be of use to you,” she said and raised the device.

“Unless those are your own fleet positions I’m probably not interested.”

She looked downright uncomfortable. “Surely you understand that I wouldn’t be able to provide you with that kind of information.”

Leva stepped closer. “Why not? You are an officer in the Romulan Guard, are you not? I’m sure it be easy for you to get access to that kind of data.”

“I’m not a traitor, Commander.”

He nodded slowly. “I wish I could say the same for Mister Dar.”

“Even if you had that information, it would be of no use to you in order to achieve our aim of a Romulan-Federation alliance. In fact it would accomplish the opposite. I cannot undo what has been done put perhaps we can find other ways to convince the Continuing Committee.”

Leva couldn’t deny that his curiosity was piqued. “How?”

Donatra sat down at a computer console and activated an uplink to her padd. “I’ve done some research over the last few weeks and I think some of it could be used to corroborate your own projections.”

Leva took a seat next to her. He looked over the screen. The information displayed there was in Romulan script but thanks to his childhood education it didn’t take him long to make sense of it. “I don’t understand,” he said. “This is all Romulan material. How is sharing this with us not considered treason?”

She smirked at him. “None of this is classified information. It is part of the public domain that can be freely accessed by anyone. They are mostly independently produced reports and analyses from individuals and think tanks in the Empire not directly connected to the government or the military. A lot of it is useless junk by writers who’ve kept their identity hidden but some of it has been prepared by respectable members of society.”

Leva scrolled through the information. She was right. And he was surprised how open many of those articles were about their disagreements with the senate to back the Dominion. Of course anything critical of the government was by anonymous sources but there were plenty of reports which backed everything Federation estimates were pointing to: the eventual defeat of Romulus by the Dominion.

“This is good,” he said. “If we could extract the most relevant information out of this and present it alongside our own findings we may be able to convince people like Vreenak that our estimates are not purely self-serving.”

She looked at him. “You would make a decent Romulan Officer. Those were my thoughts exactly.”

He couldn’t help himself but return her infectious smile.

For the next few hours and well into the evening they worked closely together to fashion a detailed report which managed to not just show a Federation perspective on the Dominion’s ultimate goals but a Romulan one as well. And the longer they worked the more obvious it became that those two were not so different from each other at all.

Leva was surprised how well they worked together, almost as if they had done so for years and not just hours. Donatra tended to think exactly the way he did and when he was stuck on something, she easily completed the thought and vice versa.

In fact they worked so well together, they barely noticed the passage of time, not until Donatra yawned and stretched out her arms behind her head.

The Romulan woman had long since removed her bulky uniform jacket in order to be more comfortable and only now did Leva notice that she wore a highly flattering, from-fitting green shirt underneath which accentuated her every curve as well as her athletic abdomen.

He also noticed that darkness had fallen over the city outside. “It’s late,” he said. “Perhaps we should take a break.”

She looked at him and nodded. “Good idea,” she said and got up. She walked over to the food replicator and entered a few commands. Within moments two glassed filled with an azure-colored liquid appeared in the alcove. “I think we deserve this,” she said and placed one of the glasses on the desk in front of Leva. Then she took a breath of her own beverage, clearly enjoying the aroma. “Trust me when I say, you can’t get much closer to genuine kali-fal than this.”

Leva looked at the glass. “Romulan Ale?” he said. “To tell you the truth I’m not a big fan.”

“Ah, that’s because you’ve tasted the cheap imitations. The real ingredients to proper kali-fal are a closely held state secret. Go ahead, give it a try.”

Leva picked up the glass but even before he could take a sip, he inadvertently inhaled the strong, aromatic scent of the beverage. It was unlike anything he had had ever experienced. The odor seemed subtle enough but that was before his sinuses opened up to allow him to take in scents he had never even been aware of before.

Donatra couldn’t suppress a chuckle. “I never tire of seeing the face of a person trying it for the first time.”

“That’s quite something,” he said after he had recovered from the effects of the aroma.

“And you haven’t even tried it yet.”

“Honestly, I’m almost afraid to now.”

She laughed again. “And here I thought Starfleet officers were fearless explorers. Where no man has gone before? I suppose that’s all just talk then.”

Obviously he couldn’t let that one slide. “For Starfleet,” he said and brought the glass to his lips for his first sip.

Donatra watched him carefully.

She remained right. It was nothing compared to the Romulan Ale he had tried before. Even though the beverage was merely replicated, it packed all the punch of the real thing. And the taste left him momentarily speechless.

“And?” she said curiously.

Leva looked at the drink, then back at her and finally at the replicator. “We should get a bottle of this.”

It wasn’t until the middle of the night that Leva rose from his slumber.

He immediately noticed the empty bottles on the table and the discarded clothes on the floor and fairly quickly the memories of what exactly had happened a few hours earlier returned.

He turned upon hearing shuffling noises from the other side of the room and he found Donatra pulling on her uniform as quietly as possible. He smirked for a moment, appreciating the sight of the nimble, half-naked women shimming into her pants.

“Is there somewhere you have to be?”

She whipped around and Leva could see her face turning a noticeable shade of green. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“I can tell.”

She seemed lost for words for a moment. “I … should go.”

So’Dan got out of bed. “Listen, I know that we’ve had a bit more to drink than we probably should have,” he said as he approached her carefully. “But I don’t feel as if it clouded my judgment. On the contrary, I remember absolutely everything and I don’t regret anything. Maybe the ale lowered our inhibitions but I can’t say I’m regretting any of it.” He stepped up to her to reach out for her shoulders and draw her closer.

But the Romulan woman pulled away, shaking her head. “We shouldn’t have done this,” she said and was unable to hold his gaze. She turned away to find her shirt.

“Why not? I’ll be honest, I’ve liked you the moment I’ve laid eyes upon you. And you can’t deny that you felt something as well. Is it because I’m a Starfleet officer? Because you’ve been trying to remind me at every opportunity that I’m as Romulan as you are.”

She squirmed noticeably.

So’Dan was not discouraged and followed her across the room. She wouldn’t turn to face him so he embraced her from behind, his arms wrapping themselves around her half-naked body. He kissed her neck and then whispered into her ear. “Tell me you don’t feel the same way about me.”

She turned around slightly. “I don’t think I feel the same way about you,” she said hesitantly.

But her lips were already drawing closer to his and she relaxed in his arms as they exchanged a passionate kiss.

Leva smiled when they came up for air again. “Forgive me if your words don’t seem to ring true to me.”

“If I told you that I liked you,” she said. “I mean, really liked you, what would that accomplish? You still would have to return to Starfleet and I would have to stay here. What kind of relationship would that be? We would never be able to see each other again.”

“I have a bit of experience in secret relationships with loved ones.”

She shook her head and pushed him away slightly. “I couldn’t do that.”

But he didn’t allow her to slip away. “Than maybe I should stay. You did say I’d make a great Romulan officer.”

“Don’t joke about this,” she said angrily.

“I’m not,” he said and dragged her closer again to kiss her once more. They both drifted back towards the bed.

“You would consider leaving the Federation and returning home?”

He carefully laid her onto the bed and placed himself next to her while he brushed through her short black hair which had long since lost its perfect military shape. “Home,” he repeated absentmindedly and then looked out of the windows to glance at the glimmering lights of the night skyline. “It could be my home again,” he said and then moved closer to Donatra, allowing for their bodies to entangle each other.

It wasn’t until the late morning that Leva finally got dressed again.

Donatra had left an hour earlier but this time without trying to sneak out of the room without him noticing. She had to report back to her command post and she was adamant that they didn’t leave together.

He understood her discretion. She seemed excited about the prospect of him staying on Romulus but at the same time he knew she couldn’t risk exposing their relationship too earlier. The notoriously suspicious Romulan establishment would see such an act as a possible security breach and take swift action against them both.

So’Dan felt better than he had in a long time. His feelings for Donatra were undeniable and even though he had come to Romulus with great hesitation and expecting the worst, he had in fact found something he had never thought possible.

And now he was seriously considering leaving Starfleet and the Federation behind. It wasn’t a betrayal, he told himself. After all he had no intention of giving up state secrets like Dar had done and he would continue to champion an alliance. It wasn’t betrayal or defection. It was a homecoming.

When he left his quarters he found an anxious Xeris in the lobby.

“Commander, we need to talk,” he said as soon as he spotted Leva.

“Sure, what’s on your mind?”

The engineer was visibly irritated by his colleague’s surprisingly cheery disposition. It was a long way from the manner in which he had presented himself over the last few days. He pressed on regardless. “It’s about Dar. He has overstepped his bounds with his presentation yesterday. And he’s been spending more and more time with Senator Cretak. I don’t like it. It’s as if they’re manipulating him somehow and playing to his sense of nostalgia in order to make him reveal Federation military plans and more.”

Leva walked passed Xeris to head to the replicator and ordered a couple of osol twists for breakfast. “I wouldn’t be too concerned,” he said. “You have to keep in mind that it’s different for Dar than it is for us. This used to be his home for a long time before he was forced to flee. And the empire has changed since then. It’s not what it used to be.”

“That’s what they’d like you to think,” said Xeris. “I know Romulans, I am one.  I know how duplicitous and deceitful they can be. Can’t you see this is all part of some kind of scheme to get to us?”

But Leva cheerily bit into his pastry. “You are too paranoid for your own good.”

“What’s happened to you?”

He took a sip of his mollusk juice. “What do you mean?”

“I mean your entire attitude about being here. You were the strongest opponent to this mission in the first place. You were the one who expected us to get arrested on sight and now you don’t seem to have a care in the world anymore. And you’ve been spending a lot of time with Subcommander Donatra.”

“What are you implying?” he said, putting his food aside.

“What happened? Did she seduce you with an offer to let you return to Romulus with all past transgression forgiven and forgotten?”

“You are out of line,” he said angrily.

“I think it is you who is out of line, Commander. And your reaction has told me everything I needed to know. We came here to give the Federation a fighting chance against the Dominion. Know this: You and Dar are selling us out instead,” he said and briskly left the room.

The forum was supposed to last an entire week but after only three days all signs seemed to point to one inevitable conclusion. This mission was going to end in spectacular failure.

As far as their Romulan audience was concerned, it had slimed significantly, possibly due to pressures exerted by the pro-Dominion faction within the senate which had probably convinced many of the attendees to stay away.

Vreenak hadn’t even bothered to show up on the second day and on the third; Chairman Koval was absent as well.

The delegation itself was in disarray. Leva was still not pleased with Dar’s decision to reveal military information and Xeris had begun to consider them both traitors. It hadn’t stopped them from giving their presentations but the lack of unity had begun to hurt their overall objective.

Leva’s speech on which he had worked on with Donatra and which quoted multiple Romulan sources supporting the Federation’s bleak estimations of the future of the Alpha and Beta Quadrant was one of the few highlights of the conference but even Leva realized that at this point he was preaching to the choir. There was no sign of the opposition anywhere in the audience anymore.

And then there was the fact that he had not seen Donatra since the night they had shared together. She had disappeared and every attempt to contact her had failed. He was naturally concerned for her wellbeing, afraid that perhaps somebody had found out about their affair and taken harsh actions.

It wasn’t entirely implausible. If Xeris had suspected things, it wasn’t difficult to imagine that Romulan intelligence had also caught on by now.

Senator Cretak had claimed that the subcommander had been recalled to military high command but had been unable or unwilling to produce any other information beyond that.

With all this on his mind, Leva still tried his best to keep his focus solely on the speech he had prepared for the day. “The projections of retired Admiral Charvanek are of course taking into consideration major shifts in the empire’s social-economical landscape, including a highly controversial push for greater rights for the Reman workforce.”

Xeris shot the tactical officer a sharp glare, making him know in no uncertain terms that bringing up the so-called Reman Problem was not in their best interest considering what they were trying to accomplish.

In fact Leva could see some of the remaining senators stir uncomfortably. He detested the way the Romulans treated their in-system neighbors no better than slaves. But he got the message. Shut up about the Remans unless you want to lit a centuries old powder keg which could tear the fragile status quo of the empire apart and in doing so give up on any chance of a Romulan-Federation alliance against the Dominion.

He didn’t like it but when it came right down to it, it was the survival of the Federation against the suffering of the Remans. The choice, naturally, was obvious.

“Of course Charvanek’s military analysis does not stand alone. Multiple scholars from the Imperial Academy including acclaimed researcher Noval agree with Charvanek that the empire will face severe shortages in energy production, foodstuff and resources by 2377 due to diminished trade with the empire’s immediate neighbors which are all projected to be under Dominion control. This analysis is partially based on a 2372 open source Tal Shiar intelligence report of Dominion … “

Leva stopped himself in mid-sentence when he noticed that Donatra had stepped into the open archway leading into the chamber. She just stood there, looking at him with what he thought to be a remorseful expression on her face. Or perhaps it was sadness.

It had been the first time he had seen her since the night they had shared. The night he had decided that perhaps returning to Romulus was not as impossible as he had once thought. Especially not if a woman like Donatra would have him.

Xeris stepped up to his colleague and nudged him gently. “Commander.”

The half-Romulan looked back toward his audience which seemed naturally irritated by this sudden interruption.

“As I was saying, Noval’s estimates are based on an intelligence report from 71 … 72. The report is from 2372,” Donatra’s appearance had thrown him off kilter and he couldn’t exactly remember what he was going to say. He looked at his padd. “The Tal Shiar report about Dominion behaviorism in the Gamma Quadrant shows a clearly demonstrated inclination of … of aggressively …” he couldn’t stop himself from looking up again. Donatra was still standing there, but now looking even more concerned.

Before Leva could even think of picking up his thread again he was stopped short by the sounds of quickly approaching boots.

Xeris immediately tensed as if he was bracing himself for a situation he had expected ever since he had set foot on Romulus. “Here it comes,” he whispered to the others.

The audience members curiously looked towards the entrance as the footfalls grew louder.

Leva could see that Donatra was surprised herself. Especially when she was grabbed by rough hands of Romulan soldiers and dragged into the chamber. Leva instinctively wanted to leap to her side and help her but he was held back by Xeris who simply shook his head.

The detail of eight uniformed soldiers was led by an officer of middle age and thinning hair who carried himself with undeniable arrogance and self-importance. He barely acknowledged the high-ranking officials in the chamber with a rushed: “Apologies for the interruption,” before he faced the Starfleet officers, his men quickly surrounding them, two of which taking hold of So’Dan Leva who tried to struggle at first but then realized the futility.

Ousanas Dar was looking for Cretak but was unable to find her in the audience before he faced the officer in charge. “What is the meaning of this?”

The officer shot the older Romulan a quick look, more than adequately communicating his disgust of the other man before he decided that he was not worth his time and focused on Leva instead. “Lieutenant Commander So’Dan Leva of the United Federation of Planets?”

“Yes,” Leva said and tried once again to free himself from the tight grasp of the soldiers who had taken hold of his arms. It wasn’t a serious effort but enough to show his displeasure. “I’m Commander Leva. Who the hell are you and what is this about?”

The man seemed to consider for a second if he felt it even necessary to answer the questions. “Centurion Botas, Imperial Security. You and Subcommander Donatra have been charged with high treason against the Romulan Empire. You are to be arrested immediately, tried and executed for your crimes.”

This caused and immediate reaction from the still assembled audience, most of whom were on their feet by now. The murmurs had become much more pronounced and outrage began to spread amongst them.

Leva noticed that some were already beating a hasty departure not wishing to be in any way associated with alleged traitors which for most of them would spell political suicide. Leva also understood that the mere allegation had destroyed any inroads he and the delegation may have made in their mission to convince Romulan leadership to consider an alliance.

“Centurion, I’m sure there has to be some sort of misunderstanding here,” Dar said, ignoring the fact that Botas appeared to have a perhaps understandingly low opinion of a man who had defected to the Federation.

“There is no misunderstanding. We have conclusive evidence that Commander Leva and Subcommander Donatra have been engaged in a conspiracy against the Empire,” he said and held up his padd. This statement was enough to convince the remaining officials to immediately leave the chamber and cut any links to the Starfleet delegation.

Leva glanced at Donatra who didn’t struggle or protest in the slightest.

“This is outrageous,” said Dar and looked at Leva. “Commander, would you please care to clear up this confusion?”

But Leva already understood what game was being played here and he now couldn’t stop to berate himself for having been so stupid. “Did she make a confession, is that it?” he said and stared daggers at Donatra. “Did she tell you that we spent the night together and shared state secrets? That was your mission all along, wasn’t it? To get close to me and have me implicated as a traitor in order to destroy any prospects of an alliance. And it must have been so easy for you. The fool I was to believe anything you’ve ever told me. It was all part of your plan all along. Tell me, who do you work for? Is it Imperial Security? Or do you take your orders directly from Vreenak and the Tal Shiar?”

Donatra looked up at him with a pained expression on her face.

“Good,” said Botas. “You do not deny your involvement with the subcommander. That should make for a speedy trial.”

“Well played,” said Leva and looked first at Botas and then back at Donatra who now tried to avoid his glance. “The both of you. Like true Romulans through and through. I suppose I’m just a half-breed. Maybe if I had pure blood flowing in my veins I would have been able to senses the deceptive games you were playing from the very start.”

But Botas seemed mostly disgusted with Leva. “I’ve heard enough. Take them both away,” he said and then looked at Dar. “You and Commander Xeris are expected to leave Romulus within the hour. Any delay and you will be considered coconspirators and tried accordingly.”

“I will not abandon, Mister Leva,” said Dar firmly.

“That is your choice,” said the centurion. “But you will only make matters worse for yourself and the Federation. Your starship in orbit will be seized and its crew will join the rest of you in awaiting trial for–“

“That is enough. Release these people at once.”

All heads turned to look towards the entrance where Senator Cretak had appeared along with Chairman Koval. The senator headed towards them with determined steps while Koval followed behind her.

Botas shook his head. “Forgive me, Senator, but that will not be possible. The evidence is clear and I have to follow my duty.”

“Centurion,” Koval said in a lofty tone of voice which rivaled his own. “These men have been requested to appear in front of the Continuing Committee.”

That left the man momentarily speechless. “I don’t understand. The praetor wishes to deal with the traitors personally?”

“They are not traitors,” Cretak shot back.

“I have evidence–“

“Centurion, you will release these men at once,” Koval interrupted, his normally even voice barely betraying his rising impatience.

“On whose authority? My orders come directly from the office of Senator Vreenak.”

“On the authority of the Romulan Continuing Committee. On the authority of the praetor,” Koval said. “Take your pick.”

Botas was once again at a loss for words. It wasn’t a particular healthy choice to ignore an order from the chairman of the Tal Shiar. It was nothing less than suicide to dismiss the praetor. He quickly gestured to his men to release both the Starfleet officer and Donatra and then shot Leva one last, disdainful look. “This isn’t over.”

But as he turned towards the exit, Koval did address the centurion one more time. “You are mistaken. It is.”

Botas left with nothing else to say and quickly led his soldiers out of the room.

“Mister Dar, I expect you and your delegation to be ready to address the Continuing Committee within the hour,” he said simply and then without further explanation turned and left himself.

Leva noticed the briefest of glances being exchanged between the chairman and Donatra just before his departure. He knew exactly what it meant. As much as it pained him and as much as their fortunes may have been changed at the last minute, something very important to him had not.

Dar was the first to ask the most obvious question. He turned towards Cretak. “What’s going on?”

She afforded him a smile before she began to speak. “Vreenak has been assassinated. The details are still coming in but word is that the Dominion is responsible.”

“What?” said Xeris. “Vreenak was the chief proponent of the Romulan-Dominion non-aggression pact. This makes no sense.”

“Commander, right now I suggest we don’t question our good fortunes too much,” she said before addressing the entire delegation again. “What is important is that Praetor Neral wishes to accelerate discussions of a possible alliance with the Federation against the Dominion and has asked to see you straight away. Gentlemen, this is the break we have been waiting for. All other considerations are simply no longer a priority.”

The mission had been a complete success.

Leva and the others had given the praetor and the rest of the Continuing Committee a shortened, ad-hoc version of their earlier presentation and within two hours Neral had pledged an unconditional entry into the war, joining the Federation and the Klingons in an alliance against the Dominion.

The Federation president had even left word, personally thanking the delegation for their hard work to make this treaty possible even if there was general consensus amongst them that it hadn’t really been their efforts which had led the Romulans into the war.

That fact hadn’t stopped the Romulans to quickly organize festivities with the delegation as honored guests.

They had all been brought into a lavishly decorated ballroom filled with senators and military and government representatives to listen to Neral’s speech who promised a quick end of Dominion tyranny now that the Romulan Empire had entered the war.

After the conclusion of the speech the attendees mingled and sipped on the worst champagne imitation Leva had ever tasted. It made him yearn for the Romulan Ale he had developed a taste for but the people who had arranged the event had apparently felt that an Earth-inspired beverage was the way to honor the occasion, no matter that not a single human was in attendance or the fact that they clearly hadn’t the slightest idea of how to properly replicate it.

“Mister Dar, a moment of your time.”

Xeris was approaching Dar but instead of holding a champagne flute, the engineer was carrying a padd. Dar nodded and the two men stepped into a quiet corner of the room for some privacy. Leva, concerned that Xeris had picked this moment to formally charge Dar with treason, joined them.

“What is this about, Commander?” Dar asked.

“I’ve had a chance to look over the fleet information you provided the Romulans the other day.”

Leva took a step closer. “This is hardly the time or the place to–“

But Dar interrupted him. “Let’s have it, Commander.”

“Among the vessels you have listed as responsible for patrolling the Neutral Zone are the Horatio, the Ahwahnee and the Voyager.”

“Wait a minute,” said Leva. “I thought Voyager was considered lost with all hands.”

Xeris nodded. “She is. And both the Horatio and the Ahwahnee were destroyed,” he said and glanced over the padd. “The same goes for most if not all the vessels provided in your presentation. The Arcos, the Melbourne, the Odyssey, the Enterprise-C which by the way was destroyed by Romulans—“

Dar smirked. “I thought that was a nice touch. A twist of irony if you will.”

“You do realize of course that if the praetor learns of this deception it could seriously endanger our new alliance,” Xeris said in a surprisingly harsh tone which left little doubt to his feelings on this matter.

“I don’t think it will. If anything it will strengthen it.”

“How do you figure that?” said Leva.

“Isn’t it obvious?” said Dar. “There is nothing Romulans appreciate more than cunningness. I made a calculated decision. I was not going to reveal actual, classified information which could harm our war effort. But if my display of trust would have swayed them to join us, they eventually would have had access to our intelligence anyway. If we had been unsuccessful, the consequences of my deception would have mattered little.”

“But why the charade?” Leva said, clearly stung by the fact that his old mentor had led him to believe that he had committed treason. “Why not tell us what you were up to?”

“There is still a lot you have to learn about diplomacy,” he told the younger Romulan. “A bluff only works if everybody believes that you aren’t bluffing. I’m sorry to have kept you in the dark but for it to work it was necessary.”

Xeris was not convinced. “That was a gratuitously risky gamble on your part and I cannot condone it,” he said sternly. “You flat out lied to the Romulans. If there are any repercussions arising from your deception, the responsibility will be yours alone,” he said and then walked away.

It left Dar to look after the other Romulan with some irritation. After a moment he turned to look at Leva who differently to Xeris looked at least a little relieved that he would not have to charge his friend with treason. “Let me ask you something, So’. How well do you know Commander Xeris?”

The question caught him by surprise. “Not particularly well. He tends to keep to himself. Why do you ask?”

“I don’t know,” he said and tried to locate the engineer again but found that he had lost him in the crowd. “One might get the impression that he was personally offended that I dared to lie to the Romulan delegation. I can’t quite place it but something seems off with him. Has been ever since we got here.”

Leva frowned. “You know what? I’ve had it with this place.”

Dar shot him a quizzical look.

“Does every single Romulan have to be somebody other than they pretend? Is this world just filled with lies and deception? To tell you the truth there are days when I curse any part of me that is Romulan. And I can’t wait to put as much distance as I can to this damned place,” he said and turned on his heels to leave Dar by himself.

The older man tried to reach out for him, to find something he could say which could alleviate the sense of betrayal Leva was clearly feeling. The notion that Dar didn’t entirely trust Xeris had clearly lit the fuse on the ever-increasing sense of dread Leva had been experiencing.

Dar understood Leva perhaps better than the half-Romulan understood himself. He knew he was hurt. It had begun when he had drafted him to his mission to Romulus, a place he had never thought he would willingly set foot on. Dar’s perceived betrayal of course hadn’t helped and neither had the admission that it had all been a carefully planned deception to which he had been kept entirely ignorant. And then there was something else, something immensely personal which had broken his heart.

Dar had seen it first-hand in his eyes a few hours earlier when he and Donatra had been accused of treason against the empire.

Leva wasn’t a frail man, never had been, but the events of the last few days were beginning to exert an emotional toll on the half-Romulan. And there was nothing Dar could do to help his student and friend.

He was in the middle of packing together his few belongings when the door chime announced a visitor.

After Leva ignored the first couple of rings he heard the doors behind him opening anyway. “The fact that I didn’t ask you to come in should have been a hint,” he said with his back turned to the doors.

The person took one step into the room and Leva immediately knew who it was before even catching one glimpse. He stood up straight. “You have a lot of nerve showing up here again,” he said and then turned to face Donatra.

“I was looking for you at the festivities but you had already left when I arrived.”

“I guess I’m not in a festive mood.”

She didn’t say anything for a moment

“I know it won’t mean much to you now but you have to believe me when I say that I’m sorry for what happened.”

“Yes, I’m certain you are. After all you didn’t get what you were after, did you? The treaty is done. The Federation and the empire are allies. Whatever plans you and your buddies in the Tal Shiar hatched didn’t pan out. I supposed you can be comforted by the thought that it wasn’t due to a lack of trying on your part.”

She took another step. “You are right to be angry with me,” she said. “But at least be angry for the right reasons.”

He ignored her and reached for a bottle of Romulan Ale to stuff into his carryall. Normally the export of the beverage was strictly regulated but Cretak had gifted a bottle to each member of the delegation and even though the powerful liquor would forever remind him of painful memories, he hadn’t been able to refuse it.

“You are right,” she continued when Leva kept his back towards her. “I did lie to you but not because I was trying to undermine your efforts here. Whatever you think of me, you have to believe that I was never an opponent of this alliance.”

“It’s a bit pathetic for you to keep up the charade after the gig is up, don’t you think? And I’m sick of the lies. All of them. I’m sick of you and I’m sick of Romulus. I think you should leave,” he said without affording her another glance.

“You want the truth, then?” she said, her voice taking on a steely edge now.

Leva stopped what he was doing and then very slowly turned to face her. “I didn’t know you were capable of telling the truth,” he said and exchanged an icy look with the woman he thought he had fallen in love with. He broke eye contact again shortly thereafter. “I don’t see how it matters now, anyway,” he added and turned back to his bag.

She closed on him quickly and took hold of his arm, forcing him to keep facing her. “It matters,” she said.

For a short moment he felt those feeling he had developed return to the surface, triggered by the familiarity of her touch and scent. He quickly suppressed them, focusing on the betrayal instead. He tried to free himself but she was surprisingly strong.

“Yes, you are right,” she said. “I wasn’t entirely honest with you. At least not at first. But I’m not Tal Shiar and I’m not your enemy.”

“I saw the look you exchanged with Koval.”

“That’s because he recruited me for a mission. A mission I didn’t want to be any part of,” she said, a guilty look crossing her features. “But Chairman Koval is not a man you can just say no to without consequences.”

Leva finally wrestled his arm back and put some distance between them. “So you do admit that you were working for him to sabotage the talks.”

“No,” she said vehemently. “But I was told to get close to you. Koval knew that the chances for an alliance were miniscule at the time. But he saw you as a potential asset to the Empire. My mission, So’Dan, was to try and get you to defect.”

Leva shot her a skeptical look.

“I’m a military officer. Whatever else you may think about Romulans, we’re not all natural liars and spies. I’ve never been trained for this kind of assignment and I never wanted to. I tried to explain this to Koval in the beginning but he was insistent that based on his intelligence profile for you, I was the perfect match. But I got sloppy and Vreenak found out about our … indiscretions,” she said and took a step towards him. “I got sloppy because I realized that I couldn’t go through with it. I … I genuinely started to care for you and I couldn’t bare the fact that you had decided to stay because of me. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the idea. No, the truth is, I loved the idea but I knew it was for all the wrong reasons.”

For a long while neither one of them spoke. She kept her eyes on him, her face mirroring genuine pain and regret but Leva simply refused to look at her.

After what seemed like an eternity, Donatra spoke again. “For what it’s worth, I really think that if the circumstances had been different, we could have gone a long way together. I understand that you’ll probably hate me for the rest of your life but I want you to know that I never faked my feelings for you”, she said, waited for him to respond but when she realized that he had no intentions to she turned and headed for the doors again.

“Donatra,” he said just before she reached them.

When she looked back she saw him holding the bottle of ale with two glasses in the other hand.

“For old time’s sake?”

What Happens on Risa

Featuring Anara Rysyl from DavidFalkayn’s Star Trek: Perseus

March 2376

She hadn’t been looking for company. Certainly not male company.

The youthful and beautiful Deltan didn’t look it, but Anara Rysyl was the first officer of the newly commissioned USS Perseus. Considering the fact that she was on a civilian shuttle and out of uniform it was hardly surprising that nobody mistook her as a Starfleet commander.

But the reason she was not looking for company had little to do with her rank or position and everything with the fact that she had only recently ended her relationship with the man she was in love with.

It hadn’t been an easy decision to make. On the contrary, it was probably fair to say that it had been one of the most difficult ones she’d ever had to ponder. And it all seemed so unfair. After all, things had finally started to look up for her, both personally as well as for the universe in general.

After two years of brutal warfare with the Dominion in which she had witnessed horrors, no matter how hard she’d try, she would never be able to forget, the Federation and its allies had emerged victorious. And not only that, she and the man she had loved had survived, promising them both a chance at a happy future together.

And the good news had only kept coming.

Christopher Hobson, the Iceman, as his former crew on the Sutherland had liked to call him, had promptly been offered his own command and much to her delight, his first order of business had been to ask her to join him as his new executive officer.

At the time it had been like a dream come true. Of course it hadn’t been easy to say goodbye to Captain Shelby and her friends on the ‘Suthy’ but her new position was a leap forward for her career and her personal life as well. Or so it had seemed at the time.

On their very first mission she had learned the hard way that love and duty didn’t mix well and after the mission had come dangerously close to ending in failure because of her relationship with the captain, she had made the difficult decision.

Chris hadn’t understood. Not straight away. But ultimately it was clear that the wellbeing of his crew and the safety of his ship had to take precedent to their feelings.

“Forgive me for being so blunt but being a Federation administrator on Risa doesn’t sound like a particularly challenging occupation,” she said to the man who was now sitting next to her on the shuttle.

No, she hadn’t been looking for company but the trip had been long and Jacques Aubert surprisingly charming with his boyish good looks and sharp wit. They had started to talk which quickly enough had turned into a stimulating conversation.

“Clearly you never had to mediate a dispute between a group of drunken Nausicaans and equally drunk Klingons both out looking for jamaharon in the same establishment.”

The mental image caused Anara to chuckle. “No, you’re right. That is not a challenge I have had to face.”

“Thankfully violent disputes are not the norm on Risa and crime has almost disappeared over the last century. We had an incident a few years ago when a group of misguided paramilitary types tried to gain control of the planet. But besides that, it’s the perfect vacation spot.”

“Hey, you don’t have to sell me,” she said. “I’m already on my way.”

“But it wasn’t really you’re first choice now, was it?”

The Deltan shot the man beside her a suspicious glance. Was he a telepath? He was absolutely correct. Risa hadn’t been her idea at all. In fact she had wanted to go somewhere else entirely.

Aubert sighed. “To tell you the truth, it’s not what it used to be. It’s become rather commercialized with one vacation resort next to the other. And since the end of the war the place has become positively crowded,” he said. “Not that I do not appreciate you brining your business to us,” he added quickly.

“There have to be places that are more interesting than your run-of-the-mill resort. Any well hidden secrets you could recommend?”

At that he smiled. “Of course. If you like the sea, you have to visit Suraya Bay. It’s not too busy and you won’t find a more pleasant beach in the sector. But if you’re the adventurous type, and something tells me that you are, you owe it to yourself to visit the Subterranean Gardens. Some even claim that the deeper caverns contain ancient treasures of Risa’s previous civilizations. I promise it’s an experience you won’t soon forget.”

“Treasure hunting?” she said. “Now that sounds like fun. And I’m sure my friend is going to love the idea. I’ll introduce you when we arrive,” she said and smirked as she imagined his reaction to meeting her. As a Deltan, Anara was quite used to turning heads but her friend was something else entirely. “You’ll like her. She too is somebody you won’t soon forget.”

“I don’t recognize her species. Is she Selevian?” whispered Aubert as he and Anara crossed the lobby. DeMara Deen was heading towards them and even while she was still a distance away, Aubert had had no trouble spotting her at all. At first glance she had looked human enough but it was obvious that she wasn’t and not just because of her lush golden hair or her sparkling purple eyes.

“Close but not quite,” said Anara who once upon a time had been less than pleased by her Academy friend stealing away everyone’s attention. After all, as a Deltan, she was supposed to be the one brightening up a room whenever she entered. Ultimately she had decided that she didn’t mind not being the center of all the attention for a while.

“Dee,” she said joyfully and quickly moved to embrace the younger woman.

“Anara, how have you been?”

They untangled. “Fine,” she said, even if that wasn’t the entire story. “You look great.”

Deen was wearing a loose fitting dress which still managed to show off her spectacular feminine form without revealing too much. Anara was well aware that some had likened the Tenarian to a sexpot or a modern day siren and perhaps not for entirely far-fetched reasons.

DeMara Deen had an undeniable effect on people thanks to that inexplicable aura that seemed to surround her wherever she went. The Tenarian Glow as some people liked to refer to it was apparently a unique characteristic of her people.

But Anara knew that Deen was not a sexual creature such as Deltans were and in fact was normally quite reserved when it came to matters of the flesh, perhaps because she was concerned about her influence on others or maybe because she tended to pick her lovers very carefully.

Dee shook her head at the compliment. “I don’t. War doesn’t become me,” she said, modestly as ever. “You on the other hand look like you’ve been spending your days at a spa.”

Anara laughed. “If only,” she said and then pointed at her companion. “I want you to meet Jacques. We sat next to each other on the shuttle and spent most of our time talking. And he knows Risa inside out. He’d be the perfect guide.”

“It is a great pleasure meeting you,” Jacques said. “I’ve heard much about you and yet Anara didn’t quite do you justice.”

Deen took his hand and shook it lamely then she looked at her friend. “A word?”

Anara frowned at her uncharacteristic rudeness in front of Jacques who had clearly not expected such a cold shoulder from such an intriguing woman.

“Excuse us a moment,” she told him before they stepped away and out of his earshot. “What was that about?” she said immediately.

But Deen ignored the question entirely. “I thought we had agreed that it would be just the two of us? Allowing us to catch up and spend some time together. You know, just the girls.”

“I don’t see the problem here. We can still catch up and we can spend time with Jacques. He is very charming and he has some great ideas of places to visit which don’t exactly burst with tourists,” she said and glanced across the lobby, which as expected was packed with recent arrivals.

“If you didn’t want to come here, why didn’t you tell me?”

Anara shot her an odd look. “I remember telling you that Risa was not my favorite destination, at least not now while the entire galaxy is looking to come here for a distraction and a chance to forget the war. I wanted us to go to Tenaria, remember? I’ve always wanted to see your home.”

“And be cooped up in a little shuttle for a couple of months?” she said and shook her head. “It’s just too far away. It made much more sense to come here. Nothing wrong with a distraction.”

“Listen, I don’t mind being here, I just don’t understand why we can’t travel around a bit while we are here and take in the scenery. You’re a scientist and an explorer, trust me, staying at the resort for a week will bore you out of your mind.”

If Anara didn’t know any better, she could have sworn that DeMara Deen was pouting.

“Come on, let’s have dinner tonight, the three of us, and if you still don’t think that we should spend time with Jacques we’ll do whatever you want, alright?”

She nodded slowly.

Before they turned back towards Aubert who had been patiently waiting for them, Anara gently took hold of her arm. “I never thought I’d say this to you but try to be nice.”

The Tenarian shot her look she couldn’t quite decipher and then a smile appeared on her lips out of nowhere. Anara immediately understood that something was very wrong. That smile never reached her eyes and was blatantly dishonest. This was not like the DeMara Deen she knew at all.

The restaurant Jacques had chosen that night couldn’t have been more perfect as far as Anara was concerned. Their table had been on an open terrace built directly into the rock face of a massive cliff, overlooking the pristine beaches of Suraya Bay. She had watched the unique Risan sunset with rapt fascination, paying witness to an eternal race between twin suns and the horizon the finish line.

The fresh seafood had been an equally pleasant surprise and Anara once again found that Jacques was a talented conversationalist, a source of endless fascinating stories about Risa but never obnoxious or determined to dominate the conversation. In fact, he was as good a storyteller as he was a listener.

The evening would have been perfect, allowing Anara to really relax for the first time since the end of the war and putting away her personal troubles at home for the moment while enjoying a splendid view, terrific weather, delicious food and pleasant company.

Would have been.

Had it not been for DeMara Deen.

She wasn’t entirely sure if she had meant to ruin the occasion or if she genuinely wasn’t aware of her attitude and behavior. It was difficult to imagine the usually kind and graceful young woman doing anything spiteful on purpose.

And yet from the moment she had stridden into the place, Anara had barely recognized her Academy friend.

Firstly, she had arrived a good half hour late, forcing her and Jacques to wait on her before giving their orders to the waiter and leaving them to hungrily snack on the bread instead.

Anara remembered stories that DeMara Deen had told, making it seem that she had been treated not unlike royalty on her home world. As the daughter of the planetary ruler she had been in the constant spotlight. Anara and some of her friends had lovingly teased her by calling her princess, a term she clearly wasn’t particularly fond of.

But now it seemed DeMara had left any such reservations behind her. She wore a stunning dress which seemed more at home at a royal reception than at a casual dinner engagement. It treaded a very fine line between being graceful and brazen. It was cut out low both in the back and the front, revealing a good amount of flawless bronze skin and the emerald silky material was nearly perfectly sheer in certain places. The entire outfit shimmered under the light, practically calling out and demanding attention.

And she got it in spades.

There wasn’t a head left unturned as she walked slowly towards their table as if this was a fashion show and she was the star model.

Jacques had nearly dropped the bread stick he had been nibbling on before he caught himself and quickly left his chair to welcome her.

The evening may not have been beyond saving if her royalty-inspired entrance had been the worst part.

She barely acknowledged Jacques, not when she arrived and hardly at all during the course of their meal. Instead she seemed much more interested in their young Trill waiter and Anara was certain that she was flirting with the man, finding excuses to ask him over and shifting slightly in her chair to ensure he’d have a great view on her cleavage which was simply impossible for him to avoid.

She also practically refused to make any kind of conversation. Now this struck as Anara as especially odd as she fondly remembered the vivid discussions they had enjoyed during their Academy years which had ranged from the biodiversity of the local flora and fauna to the precarious social and political upheavals which had befallen the Klingon Empire in the last decade.

Worse even, whenever the Deltan tried to strike up any sort of interesting discussion with Jacques, Dee would suddenly find an entirely trivial observation she felt needed to be shared with her, effectively killing off any attempt by Anara to involve Jacques in a dialogue lasting more than thirty seconds.

And while they tried to enjoy their truly fabulous meal, the Tenarian seemed entirely disinterested with the exotic food being offered and found plenty of reasons to complain about its taste or general texture.

Anara hadn’t said much about the behavior and after they had been through with their main meal and Jacques had tried to lighten the surprisingly tense mood with a funny anecdote while they were waiting for desert, Deen actually yawned loudly. Anara had shot her an icy look and she had apologized meekly before announcing that she was now tired and then promptly leaving the table.

Jacques and Anara looked at each other but the Deltan couldn’t find any words to describe what they had witnessed from their departing dinner companion.

The following morning, Anara found a note on the table of the two-bedroom hotel suite she shared with the Tenarian.

Sorry for last night. Went down to the beach. Dee.

Rysyl hadn’t been so much upset about her odd behavior the previous day as much as she had been utterly surprised. The short apology didn’t really make up for the way she had behaved but in the end she decided to forgive and forget. After all everyone deserved to have an off day from time to time.

If anything the entire episode had given her a twisted sense of hope. Even DeMara Deen, usually the very poster child of perfection, had her flaws. It wasn’t the noblest thought to ever cross her mind but somehow it made her feel better about herself and she couldn’t help but smirk about the idea as she stepped onto the warm sand of the pristine Risian beach.

It wasn’t difficult to find her. Unsurprisingly she was once again at the center of all attention. At least six men stood surrounding her spot on the beach.

This was to be expected. DeMara had always drawn a crowd when she came somewhere new. It had been a real issue her first year at the Academy and Anara had found herself in plenty of situations in which she had to swoop in and ‘rescue’ her but over time she had acclimated to her new surroundings and her surroundings to her.

But this definitely felt like one of those times she needed help and as Anara drew closer she noticed that most of the men surrounding her were impressively well-toned Risans. This she found odd. Sure, the Risian people tended to have hedonistic tendencies but there were always surprisingly respectful about it, more interested in pleasing those who were actively looking for Risa’s famed jamaharon than aggressively chasing after possible sexual partners.

“Dee, you’re missing a terrific concert further down the beach. You just have to come see this,” she said as she stepped closer. It wasn’t a lie. She had indeed come across a group of musicians who had begun an impromptu performance right in the shallow parts of the beach, playing sophisticated instruments they had inspired a whole crowd of onlookers to start a spontaneous dance party.

But DeMara didn’t seem very interested in this. “Maybe later. Let me introduce you to my friends first.”

“Uhm, ok,” Anara didn’t miss the rather noticeable horga’hn statuettes which Deen must have brought to the beach with her. The symbol of Risan fertility usually indicated a person actively looking for jamaharon. “But that concert won’t last much longer.”

Instead of carrying out a rescue, she was grabbed by the Tenarian and dragged right into the middle of attention. Deen introduced her to the smiling Risians so quickly she barely remembered a single name.

The rushed introductions where followed by an awkward pause while the six men surrounding the two women seemed to look over the newcomer in great detail.

Too much detail, Anara thought as she suddenly felt herself being appraised by these towering men, all wearing skimpy bathing suits, as if she were a piece of meat being displayed to a hungry pack of wolves.

She glanced at Deen but she simply stared back at the men, giving them exactly the kind of looks they were getting in return.

Anara wasn’t a prude. Deltans didn’t even have a word for that in their language but she most definitely wasn’t out looking for jamaharon. She had not come to Risa for that. It wasn’t because she felt that her oath of celibacy extended to her shore leave but mostly because she still possessed strong feelings for her commanding officer, and until recently, her lover, Chris Hobson. Even if she had ended their relationship, she didn’t wish to endanger any possible future with him by giving in to passion now.

And besides, even Deltans had to be in the mood and this situation was definitely not doing it for her.

Finally Deen spoke. “Thoran was just telling me about the Risan Fertility Ceremony. There are some caves nearby which would be perfect for the occasion. Apparently they are filled with dozens of small hot springs, just the thing for a relaxing bath and large enough for all of us to fit in.”

The young man apparently named Thoran was nodding eagerly and so were his companions. “They’re just the right temperature and you won’t even need your bathing suits.”

“Yeah, that sounds like endless fun,” said Anara, then grabbed her friend by the arm. “Excuse us a second,” she said and dragged her away from the men who seemed quite disappointed by their sudden departure.

Deen was equally unhappy about being whisked away in this matter and eventually managed to free herself. “What are you doing?” she protested after she got her arm back.

“Funny, I was going to ask you the exact same question except I was going to use ‘hell’ as an added exclamation to better bring my point across.”

Deen defiantly crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I don’t know about you but I was trying to have some fun.”

“By engaging in an orgy with half a dozen strangers?”

“Why does it always have to be sexual with you Deltans?”

“Oh, I get it,” said Anara. “You’re just looking to make new friends. That’s why you’re wearing this flimsy outfit held together by invisible force fields. It would also explain those massive fertility statutes and the fact that these guys were not even subtle while undressing you with their eyes. Not that that would involve a great amount of imagination.”

Deen seemed speechless for a moment. “I would hardly call those massive,” she said looking at the two-foot tall horga’hn statues next to her towels on the sand. “You can buy ones twice the size in the gift–“

“Why didn’t you just tell me that this was the kind of adventure you were after? Why you wanted to come here. I’d be the last person to judge you for it, trust me. But I never realized you were interested in that kind of thing.”

Deen’s face turned into a frown. “Why not? I’m a woman, aren’t I? Quite attractive, I’ve been told. Why can’t I go and have some fun? Where does it say that a Tenarian is not allowed to enjoy herself? I’m sick of people telling me how pretty I am or how much they enjoy my company but always expect me to be what they consider to be the perfect woman.”

It was Anara’s turn to be speechless. She hadn’t expected this kind of outburst. Not from her. In fact she couldn’t remember her ever having had an outburst at all. She had always been–and she cringed at the thought now–the perfect woman.

“Listen, I’m not saying that you can’t enjoy yourself. I don’t think anybody is. I don’t care if you go ahead and sleep with every last man on Risa. All I’m asking is, don’t drag me into this quest of yours.”

“And here I thought you Deltans were all about sexual fulfillment.”

“You don’t want me to make assumptions about you and your people, I would ask you not to make assumptions about me and mine,” she said sternly.

The younger woman looked embarrassed. “I’m sorry. I … I didn’t mean to.”

“I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that we didn’t have a much more outgoing sexuality than most other races in the Federation but that doesn’t mean we jump at everything and everyone with a pulse. Besides sex has a different meaning to us and we usually only share that kind of bond with others of our species. Having said that, I’m perfectly content to limit myself to just one man.”

DeMara didn’t miss that her voice had taken on a much more melancholy tone towards the end and she had a good idea why that was.

“You know what, why don’t we go and have a look at that concert of yours?”

“Won’t your friends be disappointed?”

Deen flashed her a grin. “The day is still young.”

Things were starting to improve after the beach incident and even though Risa had not been Anara’s first choice for a shore leave destination, she was beginning to feel as if she was truly on vacation and had taken the first steps to put the last two years of unrelenting warfare behind her.

Deen hadn’t made things easy so far and she was still not her old self again. She seemed moodier than usual, but at least she hadn’t been as rude as she had been the night of their arrival and she didn’t appear to try and seduce any more locals.

She had also agreed to accompany Anara and Jacques on a hiking trip the following day to explore Suraya Bay’s lush surroundings. The Deltan was very much looking forward to venturing away from the usual tourist trappings and to do some good old fashioned exploring.

The two women had spent most of the remainder of the day swimming and sunbathing before retiring to their hotel room for the evening. Anara had made a quick stop at the lobby to send a ‘wish you were here’ message back to her friends on the Perseus and Sutherland. She made sure to keep the message for Chris in the same tone as all the others.

When she returned to the suite she could hear giggling coming from DeMara’s room. “Dee, what are you up to?” she said curiously as she approached the room.

The giggling stopped at once and DeMara came practically jumping out of her room and positioning herself into the doorframe, presumably to keep Anara out.

The Deltan tried to look past her but Deen mirrored her movements so efficiently that she wasn’t able to cast a clean glance past her. “What are you doing in there?”

“Nothing,” she said a little bit too quickly, eliciting a suspicious look from her friend.

“That didn’t sound like nothing to me.”

Deen shrugged. “You wouldn’t care for it.”

“How do you know?” she said, sounding a bit hurt for being left out of whatever fun was being had.

“Because, quite honestly, you’ve been acting rather boring ever since we’ve arrived here. We’ve been fighting a war for the last couple of years, practically had no downtime whatsoever and now here we are,” she said and made a grand encompassing gesture, “on the most spectacular pleasure world in the quadrant and I’m stuck here with the only Deltan who doesn’t know the meaning of the word fun.”

Anara mouthed opened but no words came out. She took a step backwards, no longer having to feign being offended. “Are you being serious?”

But the Tenarian made an effort to keep her purpled-hued eyes cast away.

Her silence on the matter seemed answer enough and Anara stepped away, her beautiful face twisting into an angry frown. “I came here with you because you wanted to. I came here to have a good time and relax and catch up. I though that’s what you wanted.”

“I did,” she said and stepped away from the door. “But clearly having a good time means something else in my language than in yours.”

Anara watched wide-eyed when two of the men Deen had been with at the beach earlier emerged from her bedroom. She figured that they had met her here after she had come back from the beach. And knowing how Risians worked, it was only because she had explicitly asked them to.

“Apparently so,” she said as she watched the two men.

“Well, don’t wait up for me,” she said. “Boys, I believe there is a fertility ceremony waiting for us,” she added and then headed for the doors with the two men in tow.

“What about the hiking trip tomorrow morning? I thought you wanted to go?”

Deen made a surprisingly impatient gesture as if her friend was trying to annoy her on purpose. “Wouldn’t wanna miss it for the world,” she said and was out of the door leaving Anara alone in the room, uttering yet another heavy sigh. Quite surprisingly, not the first one that had escaped her lips since arriving on Risa.

The idea had been to get started early in the morning and get out into the hills long before the hot afternoon suns were at their zenith.

Jacques had arrived only shortly after Anara had woken up and brought all the equipment three people would require for a daylong hike.

But by the time they had planned to set out it was still only the two of them with no sign of DeMara Deen. Her room was empty and her bed sheets untouched. She had clearly stayed out the entire night.

Anara and Jacques had sat down in the lounge and engaged in light conversation for a while. When the Deltan glanced towards the chronometer again, she noticed that two hours had passed since they had planned to head out.

It was then that she heard the door to the room opening and somebody walking in. Whoever it was–and she had a pretty good idea–was trying to make as little noise as possible.

Jacques and Anara turned their heads just in time to see DeMara sneaking around the corner and trying to tip toe into her room.

The Deltan cleared her throat and Deen froze with her back towards her. Then she slowly turned around.

For a moment nobody spoke. Deen simply stood there, rooted to the spot. She looked as if she’d had a wild night. Her golden locks were in disarray and her suggestive outfit appeared to have been pulled on in a hurry. While Anara shot her an undeniably accusatory glare, the Tenarian looked shamefaced. But it wasn’t so much the look of somebody who knew she had done wrong as it was one of someone who was sorry that she had been caught.

“You’re late,” Anara said.

Deen’s expression changed to a defiant frown. “So?”

Anara was momentarily taken aback by her blunt response. “So we’ve been waiting for you for two hours.”

She shrugged. “I lost track of time,” she said nonchalantly. “You could have just gone without me.”

“That wouldn’t have been very nice,” Jacques said.

DeMara shot the man an icy look. “I’m sure you would have been more than happy to leave me behind and just take Anara with you on your little ’hiking’ expedition,” she said, making actual air quotes with her fingers.

“I really don’t know what you are trying to imply,” he said.

“Oh, please,” she shot back. “How stupid do you think we are? It is obvious to everyone what you’re trying to do here. It’s about time you dropped the act, don’t you think?”

But before Jacques could respond, Anara jumped to her feet. “Dee!”

“What?” she responded with similar intensity.

Anara didn’t say anything for a moment. Instead she shot a cursory glance towards Jacques who seemed obviously embarrassed by this situation. Then she turned back to Deen. For the first time in a long while she realized how young she really was. Her youthful face of course should have served as a constant reminder that she wasn’t a day over twenty-six and even two grueling years of warfare didn’t seem to have been able to change this. But as a close friend, it had often been difficult to remember that this usually reasonable and surprisingly intelligent woman was in fact as young as she appeared.

“Excuse us a moment,” Anara said to Jacques. “I’ll be right back,” she added and then walked towards Deen. “Can I have a word with you in private please.”

But the young woman didn’t move from her spot. “I really don’t see–“

“Now, Lieutenant,” she said forcefully in the kind of tone she had perfected since becoming the first officer of the Perseus when it wasn’t enough to be the placid and friendly person she was naturally. She hadn’t quite expected that she would need to use her command voice while vacationing on Risa however.

Her vehemence did the trick and DeMara began to follow her but not without a pouty expression on her face.

They entered Anara’s bedroom and once she had made sure the doors were closed she turned on Deen. “What the hell has gotten into you, Dee?”

“I don’t understand how you can be so blind,” she said. “He’s been all over you ever since you got here.”

“Jacques has been nothing but a perfect gentleman. You on the other hand have been behaving like an obstreperous child. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re acting like rebelling teenager,” she said and realized that perhaps it wasn’t too much of a stretch after all. She didn’t know much about Tenarians, most of what she knew she had learned from Deen herself. For example she knew that, similar to Klingons, they matured faster, both mentally as well as physically. She had been just fourteen years old when she had come to Starfleet Academy but had already looked and behaved much more like an adult than like a child. Perhaps it was possible that Tenarians achieved this by postponing those tendencies so common among many other races during their adolescent years. So far there appeared to be plenty of evidence to support that theory.

Almost as if to give further credence to her deliberations, DeMara defiantly crossed her arms in front of her chest. “You’re not my mother,” she said. “And you certainly cannot order me around while we are on shore leave.”

A small sigh escaped Anara’s lips before she nodded softly to accede to her point. “You’re right. But I’m your friend and as such I’m concerned about you. We’ve come here to relax and catch up. And yet your behavior has been anything but accommodating. It’s definitely not been relaxing so far.”

Deen seemed to consider that for a moment before walking over to a large couch and letting herself fall into it. “It’s been difficult to catch up if you’re constantly with Jacques.”

“Is that what this is all about? You’re upset that Jacques is around?”

She didn’t make eye contact when she spoke. “It was supposed to be just the two of us.”

“So, let me get this straight. You’ve been acting like this all this time because you think there is something going on between me and Jacques?” she said and then looked straight into her purple eyes. “I don’t understand you, I thought you had feelings for somebody back on Eagle.”

“I don’t want to talk about that,” she said, keeping her gaze diverted.

But Anara was not to be put off and took a seat opposite her. “Oh no, given your recent behavior we have to talk about this,” she said, switching effortlessly from command presence to motherly concern. “You told me once that you thought you had feelings for Michael Owens. Your captain. If that is the case, why are you acting this way? Why are you so disrespectful to my feelings?”

That caught her attention and she tentatively made eye contact. “I don’t mean to be. And I don’t know about my feelings for Michael. He’s been my friend for so long, I still haven’t figured out what I feel for him or should be feeling for him. And then I see you. You were involved with your captain and that didn’t seem to work out, did it? And you’ve already moved on from that so effortlessly–“

“Dee, I haven’t moved on anywhere. And certainly not effortlessly. I still have feelings for Chris and the only reason I ended it was because I knew that our positions wouldn’t allow for a relationship. But I haven’t given up on him and no matter what you think, I’m not looking at Jacques for a rebound,” she said softly. “I know what it feels like to have feelings for somebody who may not be able or willing to reciprocate them and if I had known that it would make you feel like this I would never have asked Jacques to join us. In fact, if that’s what you want, I’ll tell him that we’ve made other plans for our stay here, ok?”

Dee shook her head. “No. That would be kind of rude.”

The Deltan couldn’t help herself but chuckle, garnering her an angry look. “Now you are considerate of other people’s feelings.”

“I’ve been kind of horrible, haven’t I?” she said in a very small sounding tone of voice.

“It’s been … different.”

“I’m sorry I just don’t know what’s wrong with me. I suppose my confusing feelings for Michael and seeing you with Jacques may have been what set me off but the truth is that I’ve been feeling lost for a while now. Like I don’t know who I’m supposed to be anymore.”

The Deltan walked over to the sofa and sat down next to her. “You are DeMara Deen. A Tenarian Starfleet officer. A kind and friendly and some would say halfway decent looking young woman,” she said with a smirk.

Dee shot her a sidelong look.

And then after a moment: “The thing is, I’m not sure about that anymore. I mean, yes, I know what I am. Or at least I know what I’m supposed to be. But Tenarians don’t go to war. They don’t kill people. They don’t do the things that I’ve done over the last two years. And they would definitely not go back afterwards like everything is all right and nothing out of the ordinary ever happened. I think I’ve lost something of what I am in that war. Something that defined me as a person and now that it’s gone, I can never get it back,” she said and then looked straight at Anara. “I know you wanted to visit Tenaria instead of coming to Risa but the truth is I don’t know if I can ever go back there. I don’t know if they would accept me after everything I’ve done.”

“You mean after helping to save the galaxy from Dominion rule? We’ve all done horrible things during the war, things we wish we didn’t have to do. But we weren’t left with a choice. Do you think I sleep easy? I have nightmares every night of people I know dying over and over again without me being able to do a single thing to help them. Life isn’t back to normal and it won’t be for a long time. And we’re not trying to pretend that it is. We’re trying to do the best we can to recover from what has been, for many of us, the worst experience of our lives.”

But Dee shook her head. “It’s different for me.”

“Why?” she said. “Because your people didn’t know war? I’ve never been to your home world and from what I’ve heard it sounds like a magnificent place. I envy your people for having been able to live such a peaceful existence but just because you haven’t had to go to war or use violence to solve a conflict doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t resort to it if you had no other choice. Paradise, after all, is worth fighting for.”

“What if they don’t understand?”

Anara wrapped an arm around Dee’s shoulder. “Trust me, they will. From what I’ve seen, they are an enlightened people.”

“You mean when they don’t run around behaving like silly teenagers and try to be part of a Risian fertility ceremony.”

Rysly laughed. “Yeah, except for that.”

“I didn’t really take part in one.”

She looked her up and down. “Could have fooled me.”

Dee looked positively embarrassed now.

“Listen, we still have plenty of time left on our shore leave. Let’s make the trip to Tenaria. I’m dying to see that place and together we’ll make sure that your people will understand exactly what we did over the last two years and why we did it. If they don’t want to understand, we will let them know that if it hadn’t been for our sacrifice they’d all be serving the Dominion now.”

“You would do that?”

“Sure.”

“Alright but when you meet my parents you have to promise me one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Not a word about what happened here.”

Anara shot her a beaming smile. “Dee, don’t you know? What happens on Risa stays on Risa.”

Without A Cause

Featuring characters from Michael Garcia’s Star Trek: Full Speed Ahead

August 2360

It was always the same and she was tired of it.

She was tired of running and she was tired of the people she had encountered ever since she had escaped her native Bajor.

She had seen the little settlements they had built for themselves a dozen times. They were always much more like refugee camps than permanent homes, hastily put together but always with the not so well-guarded longing of someday being able to return to the world they had abandoned.

Unlike herself, they were weak-minded and bodied souls who had been lucky enough to escape the occupation through various means but hardly ever by fighting their way out. And their fantasy of returning to a peaceful Bajor someday had precluded them from leaving this sector behind for good.

Which also meant that they remained within striking distance of the Cardassian military, which cared little for boundaries and saw all Bajorans, no matter where they lived, as their subjects. And they were not above paying the refugee camps unannounced visits from time to time to remind these settlers that they could leave behind Bajor but they couldn’t escape the mighty Cardassian Union.

And the settlers put up with it. Counting their blessings that they were not in forced labor camps or subject to constant Cardassian rule like their kinsmen back on the home world.

A few former resistance fighters had grouped together to oppose their Cardassian visitors whenever possible but it was a mostly unorganized movement which did not resemble in the slightest the resistance back on Bajor. The few who dared to stand against the Cardassians here were more interested in causing death and destruction and vengeance than bring about any real lasting change.

Nora Laas had long since lost hope for her people. And the undeniable truth was, she wanted to leave it all behind.

It was what Leena had wanted. Her older sister had often talked to her about leaving Bajor and making a new home for themselves somewhere far away from war and misery.

Many Bajoran resistance fighters considered those thoughts to be cowardly and downright treacherous. Even Laas had felt like that once. But all Leena had ever wanted was a better life for her little sister and so Laas had gone along with the plan to try and sneak onto a Dopterian transport one night to take them away from their seemingly doomed world.

It hadn’t all worked out the way Leena had planned. An unscheduled Cardassian inspection had led to a firefight. Trapped and seemingly surrounded, Leena had sacrificed herself for a chance to allow her little sister to escape.

Laas had put up a fight of her own, not willing to leave her sister behind but in the end she hadn’t been given a choice.

Leena had sacrificed everything so that Laas could live a better life and yet it was all the same again. And Laas couldn’t stand the idea that she had died for nothing.

It was just after dawn that the strangers came.

She watched them curiously from her hiding spot on one of the many flat rooftops of the settlement.

There were five of them, all wearing unfamiliar uniforms. Laas was naturally weary and distrustful of people wearing uniforms but their colorful attire was a far cry from the dark body armor the Cardassians were so fond of.  Most of them wore black and mustard colors but the woman who was clearly leading them wore maroon red.

They didn’t appear to have much tactical sense, she thought, making the officers stand out made them easy targets. They were all armed with what she suspected to be some sort of phasers.

They were predominantly human. Most Bajorans had heard of humans but not many could claim to have extensive knowledge of their race. Most were also aware that they belonged to the Federation, which according to rumors was one of the most powerful empires in the galaxy, possibly even more so than the Cardassians.

Bajorans generally didn’t much care for the Federation. They had heard stories of their worlds being like paradises and of their supposedly high moral standards, including their insistence to give the same rights and privileges to all races. But if they were so concerned about the rights of all people and if they were indeed as powerful as some claimed, why had they never raised a finger to help the Bajoran people, many had asked.

Laas had been lucky enough to meet a few Federation volunteers who had visited Bajor and to her they had made a mostly positive impression. They had provided her resistance fighters with the best medical care one could have asked for and they had done so without questions and without asking anything in return. In fact Laas was certain that her sister would have met an early death from a Cardassian phaser injury if it hadn’t been for a human doctor.

The Cardassians had eventually forced them to leave when Cardassian-Federation relations deteriorated but as far as Laas was concerned, every enemy of the Cardassians was a friend of hers.

And yet she couldn’t help but maintain an amount of healthy suspicion of these newcomers as they began to walk deeper into the settlement.

She soon found out that the other Bajoran’s suspicion was far greater.

The female human waved her right hand in a swift half-circle.  “Hello there."  She put her hand back down and introduced herself.  "My name is Commander Krystine Leone.  I'm from the Federation starship Potemkin."  She was obviously in charge by her tone and demeanor.  Her eyes scanned the Bajorans briefly before she continued. "We're looking for some Cardassians that might've been through here. You seen any?”

But most of them simply shook their heads and moved on, not in the least bit interested in what she had to say.

Leone frowned at the lack of response and tried again, this time speaking directly to those nearby.  Once more, she failed to catch their attention.  She folded her arms and began to rap her left fingers against the surface of her right upper arm, then turned to a male officer nearby. "Beam down enough supplies and food for everyone here.  Let's see if we can show that we're friends."

But even that promise didn’t help. The settlers and refugees simply scattered away quickly, doing their utmost to not be seen engaging with these officers.

It left Leone frustrated.

Laas knew exactly what was going on here.

They were looking for Glinn Rovat and his people who had indeed come to the settlement on the previous day. They had killed at least two settlers before making it painfully clear to everybody that anyone who would talk about their presence on this world would be met with an even worse fate.

Laas had immediately understood that Rovat had been afraid of something and now she knew what it was. Whatever he had done, these Federation people were serious about catching him.

The settlers of course, as weak and as easily intimidated as they were, didn’t want any part of it. Better to stay out of this business altogether instead of inviting the wrath of the Cardassians.

Laas watched the Starfleet entourage as they continued further down the dirt roads of the settlement, hoping to find somebody who would talk to them and lead them to the people they were looking for. Curious, she followed them but taking care at first to stay out of sight on the rooftops but when that was no longer practical, she climbed down and continued on the ground.

The Starfleet team was not making much progress even after their starship in orbit had delivered the requested goods and they were handing out basic foodstuffs and supplies to anyone who asked for them, hoping that it would allow them to gain their trust.

It was yet another bad tactical move, Laas knew. The settlers took whatever they could carry without providing the slightest bit of information in return.

Soon they had depleted all of the supplies and the newcomers found themselves empty-handed yet again.

Laas who had stayed mostly in the shadows while the greedy refugees had pushed and fought over any scrap they could get their hands on, stepped into the open for the first time to get a better look at these foreigners.

One of them, a well-built human with shaggy blonde hair spotted her almost immediately, his hands moving towards his phaser. He had good instincts, she thought, rightly realizing that differently to all the others, she was a threat to be reckoned with.

Laas moved more carefully, slowly circling the group.

“Commander,” the man said, indicating towards the teenage girl who had approached them.

Leone turned to see her.

The man pulled his phaser.

“If you are looking for more food, I’m afraid we’re all out,” said Leone.

“Something tells me she isn’t here for supplies,” said another woman who made an immediate impression on the young Bajoran even if she couldn’t quite explain why that was exactly. Differently to her colleagues, this one was wearing a short-sleeved mini-dress of sorts, showing off an impressive amount of well-toned and lightly tanned legs. The tight uniform did little to hide a well-endowed body and the mischievous smile on her lips gave proof that she enjoyed the attention she received.

Leone took a step towards Laas much to the frustration of the security officer and to the surprise of the young Bajoran who immediately took on a defensive posture.

“Commander, be careful,” said the blonde-haired security man.

“Stand down, Dawk, I’m sure she isn’t here to hurt us,” she said as she focused on Laas. “Isn’t that right?”

Laas produced a vicious looking blade, forcing Leone to stop short.

The other woman also took a step forward and freed her own weapon. “You quite sure about that, Krys?”

Dawkins brought up his phaser to take aim but his commanding officer raised an arm to let them both know to stay back.

Laas couldn’t help but be impressed by this woman’s courage. She was so close now that she could have easily slit her throat before any of her people could have made a move to take her down but Krystine Leone was not intimidated in the least, didn’t even reach for her own weapon still clipped to her waist.

“It be wise to heed your people’s warning,” Laas said, holding the blade perfectly steady. “I could easily kill you where you stand.”

Laas’ bold statement had the intended effect and made the Starfleeter’s noticeably nervous.

All but Leone. “I suppose so but what would that achieve?”

The question stumped Laas. She wasn’t used to be engaged in such a manner. Usually when she threatened somebody she expected a similarly violent response.

Leone smiled.

“Your tactics are pointless,” she said. “You shouldn’t have given anything away until you had the information you needed. You should have interrogated one of the settlers.”

“You may not have noticed yet,” said the other woman. “But we’re not Cardassians.”

Leone shot the other woman a quick glare to which she simply shrugged.

Laas decided that she didn’t like the other woman. There was something about her she couldn’t quite place but she reeked of femininity and it made her inexplicitly uncomfortable. “No. You most certainly are not,” she said under her breath and then focused on Leone again. “But this way you’re never going to find who you are looking for.”

“Do you know where Rovat is hiding?” asked the security man Leone had called Dawk.

“Why do you want to know?”

“We have orders to take them into custody. If you tell us where they are, we’ll take them away and they won’t be able to hurt anyone else, I promise,” said the Starfleet commander.

Laas laughed sarcastically. “I’m not afraid of the Cardassians. I haven’t been for a long time.”

She nodded again. “Of that I have no doubt.”

“Why are you looking for them? What have they done to you?”

Leone took a knee just a couple of meters away from the girl  “They’ve raided a Federation colony in a nearby system and killed a dozen of our settlers. They will need to answer for those crimes.”

“You will kill them?”

She frowned. “No. But the evidence against them is damning. They will most likely be sentenced to long prison terms.”

Laas tried to figure out if she had made a joke. But her facial expressions were dead serious. The woman named Krystine Leone believed in every word she spoke. The Bajoran put away her blade. “I cannot help you,” she said and turned her back to them.

“Why?” Leone asked after her. “Because you’d rather see them dead? Because you want them to pay with their lives for what they have done to your people? I understand that. And I know what suffering the Cardassians have brought on the Bajorans but killing them won’t change what they have done. And the satisfaction you’ll get won’t last. Revenge does not work.”

Laas faced her again. “I don’t care about revenge. Not anymore.”

“Then tell me what you care about.”

It was an odd question and one Nora Laas could not remember ever being asked before.

“I … I don’t know,” she said truthfully.

The human got back onto her feet. “When you figure it out,” she said. “Come find me.”

And then they all left, leaving Laas alone and not a little uncertain of herself.

Finding five Cardassians in a settlement of eight-thousand Bajorans hadn’t been a particularly difficult task and not just because the refugees were much more willing to speak to her than share any kind of information with the Starfleet outsiders.

Knowing where to find Cardassians, knowing about their exact whereabouts at any given time, was a skill that could decide over life and death for a Bajoran resistance fighter. Nora Laas had perfected this skill over the six years she had fought them.

It helped of course that Cardassians where nothing if not predictable. They loved military discipline, tradition and decorum and while this could be a great advantage on an open battlefield, it was also a major flaw when faced with guerilla warfare.

She tracked down Rovat and his four henchmen to one of the more sparsely populated parts of the settlement at the foot of one of the mountains, which surrounded the camp. She had used the cover of darkness to sneak into the building. It didn’t have a roof access but that didn’t stop her from making her entry from the top.

The teenage Bajoran easily and quietly removed a few loose planks of wood to give her an opening into the two-story shack.

A single, low-powered lamp was the only illumination inside the building. Just enough to make out the forms of all five Cardassians but too weak to make anyone outside suspect that they had taken refugee here.

Her light weight helped her to balance along a narrow beam which spanned across the single room some three meters above the floor.

She squatted down on the beam to study her targets.

Four of the Cardassians, including Rovat were sleeping on standard-issue military sleeping bags. The fifth was the lone guard. He wasn’t doing a particularly good job at keeping watch however.

He was sitting in a chair with his boots on top of a small table, facing the only door leading into the shack. His phaser sat on the table but his eyes were closed.

Laas made her move.

She let herself drop onto the floor, immediately going into a crouch, making almost no noise whatsoever.

The guard stirred slightly but his eyes never opened.

She found Rovat first. She had heard his name before coming to Valo. In the greater scheme of things he was an insignificant, low-level officer and as far as she remembered, his greatest claim to fame was the fact that he was a far removed cousin of Gul Dukat, the Cardassian Prefect of Bajor. It was probably the only reason Rovat was an officer to begin with.

Realizing that he would never be able to make a name for himself on the occupied Bajor or within the strictly regimented Cardassian Guard, the glinn had tried to make his fortune in what the Cardassians liked to call the Outlands, the space past Bajor and boarding the Federation where the greatest opportunities for a man like Rovat had been harassing Bajoran refugees or raiding rich Federation outposts.

The lifestyle had finally caught up with the man.

And while Laas brought her blade close to his throat, she realized how easily she could dispose of him and with his death make the lives of so many Bajorans so much less complicated.

Truth be told she had come here for exactly that reason.

And yet she hesitated.

She wasn’t quite sure why that was. Rovat was going to be merely one of many she had disposed of in a very similar manner. She had lost count of how many exactly.

On Bajor, as a resistance fighter, to hesitate to kill a Cardassian soldier usually meant a death sentence.

Laas realized too late that this could also be true about Valo II.

The panels she had removed in the roof of the building had created a noticeable draft, which was chilly enough to cause the cold-sensitive Cardassian guard to awake from his light slumber. He noticed the Bajoran girl hovering over the glinn at about the same time Laas noticed him.

To his credit, the soldier hesitated for only about a split-second after which he immediately went for his phaser pistol.

It was that split-second that saved Laas’ life.

She took the back of the handle of her knife between her thumb and her index finger and threw it as hard as she could.

The dull end of the knife hit the Cardassian right between the eyes just as he had drawn a bead on the Bajoran. It knocked him out cold and he fell backwards and right on top of the table, which was entirely too feeble to support his weight and collapsed around him.

The noise woke Rovat whose eyes sprang open only to come face to face with what was undoubtedly a Cardassian military man’s worst nightmare. The hate filled eyes of a Bajoran who was hovering over his defenseless body.

The fact that Laas was out of weapons wasn’t a problem. She raised her arm and then violently brought down her elbow onto Rovat’s exposed neck.

The problem was that the other Cardassians had also been roused by the commotion.

Laas rolled over the now unconscious body of the glinn to deliver a picture-perfect high kick, connecting with the nose of the soldier trying to get off his sleeping bag.

Her movements were fluid, never stopped, each one an extension of the one that had come before. With the grace of a ballet dancer, she picked up the phaser rifle the soldier had tried to retrieve and then swung it not unlike a baseball bat against the side of the head of a third man who was immediately incapacitated.

The last soldier presented the greatest challenge. Instead of rushing into close combat with the impressively athletic young girl, he had done the smart thing and quickly sought some distance in order to get a clear shot at the Bajoran.

And for just a moment it looked as if he had it.

That was when the door to the shack exploded inwards, distracting the soldier long enough for Laas to make her final move.

Ignoring he phaser rifle she had borrowed, she decided to charge the Cardassian instead. What Laas didn’t have in body weight, she more than made up in momentum. She lowered her shoulder and slammed into the unprepared man. The fact that he was not wearing his body armor made the impact even more effective as he was drilled into the wall.

Laas didn’t let up. She balled both her fists into one to deliver a powerful blow into his solar plexus, which caused him to double over instantly. She finished him off with one last hit behind his neck, flattening him to the ground.

“What an impressive display, little one.”

She recognized the voice immediately. The heavily synthesized modulation made that an easy task.

The man who had stepped into the now door-less frame was heavily scarred, the entire right side of his face was gravely disfigured and a voice synthesizer attached over his removed vocal cords was the only way he could speak at all, thanks to the brutal treatment he had received at the hands of the Cardassians.

“You should seriously reconsider my offer,” Orta said.

Laas looked up at the disfigured freedom fighter. “How did you find this place?”

He smiled. Or at least tried to come close. “It was easy, really. I knew that sooner or later you would come looking for them so all I had to do was watch you.”

“You followed me?”

“Not as easy as it sounds considering the way you leap across those rooftops. We would’ve come to your help much sooner if you didn’t move so damn fast.”

“I don’t need any help.”

Orta looked over the mostly motionless Cardassian bodies littering the floor. “I can see that,” he said and then indicated for his men to take the beaten soldiers. “And I have to say, I appreciate how you managed to keep them all alive for me.”

Laas watched quietly as the rebels roughly picked up the Cardassians to drag them out of the shack. “What do you plan to do with them?”

Orta was already on his way out but he stopped to look back at the young Bajoran. “I think a public execution is in order, wouldn’t you agree?” he said with that gruesome smirk again. “And don’t worry, little one. I’ll make sure to keep one of them alive enough for you. After all, you’ve earned that much.”

“I say we leave them to Bajoran justice,” said Lieutenant Ethan “Dawk” Dawkins to the rest of the senior officers assembled around the Potemkin’s stateroom’s octagonal table. “Taking them prisoner may be too good of a fate for them.”

“How can you say that?” Ariel protested and shot him a cold glare.

Dawkins faltered for a moment under the half-Orion’s sharp gaze probably because their relationship was not quite strictly professional. His hesitation, however, didn’t last long. “I’ve seen what the Cardassians are doing to the Bajorans. And considering that the Federation, in all its wisdom, has decided to leave the occupation of their home world well enough alone, I don’t think we should butt in here and take away their legitimate prisoners.”

“You do understand that they’ll most likely be executed,” she said.

Dawk merely shrugged to that.

Unhappy with his response, Ariel Elannis looked at the captain next. “I appreciate the crimes the Cardassians have committed but surely we can’t just sit back and watch this unfold right under our noses. Besides Rovat has to answer for what he’s done to Federation lives and property.”

Captain T'Cirya had been content with observing the conversation taking place between her officers, sitting in her usual chair with her back perfectly straight and her hands folded on top of the table. “While I do not condone the use of capital punishment, I must agree with Lieutenant Dawkins. For different reasons. Valo II is a Bajoran colony and the United Federation of Planets has no official diplomatic relations with the Bajorans,” she said in her typically calm Vulcan manner.

“That’s because they’re an occupied people,” Ariel protested.

T’Cirya merely nodded, not showing any signs of annoyance by the interruption. “Correct. It also means that we have no means of officially extracting Rovat and his associates from Valo II. Unless they are handed over voluntarily we cannot remove them by force.”

“Well, that’s not going to happen,” Ariel said and then glanced towards Krystine who sat next to the captain and had remained surprisingly quiet during the meeting.

“So now what?” she continued. “We’ll stay in orbit until they’ve been killed and mission accomplished?”

For a moment nobody spoke. While Ariel had pretty much summed up their situation, nobody felt entirely comfortable to consider it in such a cynical manner.

“Maybe not,” Leone finally said. “Maybe there is another way.”

The captain looked at her first officer. “Commander?”

“Maybe there is somebody down there than can be reasoned with. Somebody willing to help us obtain Rovat.”

Dawkins shook his head. “We’ve tried that, Commander. It didn’t work. All the good will in the galaxy is not going to make these people cooperate with us. ”

But Ariel leaned in closer, studying her friend closely. “I know that look,” she said. “You’ve got something up your sleeve, don’t you? What are you thinking?”

With all eyes focused on her, Krystine felt obligated to provide an answer. “That girl we’ve met. I don’t know why but I sensed something in her. Maybe she’d be willing to help us.”

The security chief looked skeptical. “All I sensed in her was a killer instinct. She’s as likely to try and help us as she is burying that dagger of hers into our backs.”

Leone smirked. “I take those odds.”

Ariel also shook her head. “I don’t know, I think I’m with Dawk on this one. I didn’t get a good vibe from her at all. She’s probably killed more people in her short life than everyone in this room combined.”

“Maybe,” said Leone. “But she’s really just a kid.”

The Orion seemed to know what Leone was thinking. “She isn’t Dominic, Krys.”

The pained expression in Krystine’s eyes confirmed Ariel’s suspicions immediately.  “I know that,” she said. “But I haven’t been able to stop thinking about what would happen if you took an innocent child, just like my Dominic, and put him into an environment of death and torture just like occupied Bajor. It pains me just to think of it, but in the end you will get somebody as twisted and perhaps confused as that girl we’ve met. And I think I saw something in her eyes. Something that I haven’t seen in any other Bajoran I’ve ever come across.”

“Yes, a killer instinct,” said Dawkins again.

But Krystine shook her head. “No, something else. Something that puts her apart from the others. And just maybe, whatever it is, I might be able to get through to that part of her. I don’t think I could look at my own kid again the same way if I didn’t at least try.”

“They have come to take away our homes, to enslave our people and mine our world bare. They have killed thousands of our own in their tireless effort to dominate us in every way. Robbing us of our home has not been enough for them. They seek us out wherever we may be, trying to spread their terror, violence and subjugation onto every Bajoran soul in the galaxy.”

Orta’s voice carried undeniable passion and flair, which even the artificial synthesizer wasn’t able to mask entirely.

But the crowd that had gathered around him and the five kneeling Cardassians looked on mostly with indifference. Only a few of the younger ones were roused by his rhetoric most others seemed more fearful of possible Cardassian retribution for what was about to happen here.

Orta paid no attention to their lack of enthusiasm and made up for it with his own. “But they will learn that we will not sit by quietly to watch the destruction of our race. They will learn that they will have to pay a bloody price for their arrogance, for we will kill as many of their people as they have taken from us. Mark my words, every single life will be repaid in full until the Cardassians return to their own worlds,” he said and leveled his phaser rifle at the first of the kneeling soldiers who, like the others, had his hands tied behind his back while his head hung low.

“And the repayment begins here,” he cried just before he pulled the trigger.

The man’s lifeless body sagged to the ground instantly.

Orta moved to his next prisoner who was met by the same exact fate.

The crowd hardly reacted to the executions. There were those who turned away and even a few who left the scene entirely, not wanting to be any part of this. There were also a small number of bystanders who appeared to enjoy the gruesome scene but for the most part the audience remained mum and unexcited.

“Glory to Cardassia!” the fourth solider was able to scream from the top of his lungs just before he was cut down like his compatriots before him.

That left only Rovat.

Orta took his time to look over his handiwork, four dead Cardassians, lying face down in the dirt, before he moved on to their leader.

Laas had been watching the entire spectacle from only a few short meters away, leaning casually against a prefab wall and keeping her hand close to her blade. She had looked on quietly while the rebel leader had executed his prisoners one by one even while the feeling in the pit of her stomach was threatening to make her sick.

It wasn’t an entirely new sensation for her. She wasn’t quite sure what it was, but the same feeling had plagued her for a long time now and most often when it came to killing Cardassians. She herself had hardly done any killings at all since she had left Bajor but that didn’t mean that she hadn’t been witness to a number of very similar public displays on half a dozen different worlds.

It was impossible to tell any of this by judging the unreadable facial expression she maintained throughout the spectacle.

Orta leveled his rifle so that the emitter cone pushed into the back of the Cardassian’s head. “How does it feel to be the one on your knees for once, Rovat? Don’t worry, that sense of shame and defeat won’t last much longer. I promise.”

The glinn appeared to try hard to remain stoic but he wasn’t completely successful and the telltale sounds of sobbing could be heard as he was nearing his own death.

Orta found this amusing. He turned to look at the young Bajoran woman to see if she was taking similar pleasure from this. He found her seemingly disengaged. “Laas, you are missing out on all the fun over there,” he said. “After all we have you to thank for these prisoners. Why don’t you take the honor of finishing off this bag of scum yourself? I’m sure you could think of plenty of entertaining methods to bring this show to an end. Use that handy knife of yours.”

Laas stared back at him but didn’t speak.

“How about it?”

With Orta distracted, Rovat saw his one and only chance to live.

He jumped onto he feet and immediately kicked backwards, hitting the rebel leader square in the right knee and causing him to stumble to the ground.

Rovat understood that he didn’t have time for a follow-up strike, not if he wanted any chance of getting out of this alive. So instead he made a run for it. Straight into the crowd.

Furious, Orta picked himself up to take aim at the Cardassian but before he could fire, Laas had stepped up next to him and pushed down his rifle.

“By the Prophets, what do you think you’re doing?” Orta screamed, his modulated voice heavily distorted, the synthesizer not being able to handle the volume. “He’s escaping.”

She gestured towards the fleeing glinn who was pushing himself through the crowd which did little to further help or hinder his escape. “And how many of your own people are you willing to kill to stop him?”

“I’m not going to let him get away.”

“He won’t,” she said and took off. But not after Rovat. Instead she was heading into a different direction and towards one of the lower shacks. She easily jumped onto a tall crate and from there leaped onto the roof of the building. She instantly changed direction, jumping from roof to roof like a wild animal getting itself into position to strike. Within moments she was on his tail.

It didn’t take a great amount of effort. Even after the Cardassian had cleared the crowd, he still stumbled more than he ran, his hands still bound behind his back never allowed him to properly set his balance. He was also not nearly as familiar with the many narrow alleyways of the settlement as she was.

Within just a few minutes of pursuit, she had him exactly where she wanted him.

She took a dive from the roof and landed directly on top of him, dragging them both to the ground. Rovat’s fall was multiple times less graceful than hers and she managed to pull herself up again easily, quickly drawing her blade and then putting all her weight on top of him to keep him pinned, her razor-sharp weapon mere inches from his throat.

When she heard the familiar sounds of transporter beams she immediately knew she was in trouble. But when she looked up she didn’t see the amber-colored Cardassian pillars of light she had expected. These ones were blue and they gave away to the coalescing forms of Starfleet officers.

The very same she had encountered the day before. And once again they were being led by Krystine Leone. Her security officers had their phasers out in an instant.

It wasn’t because of her, Laas quickly realized.

Orta and his men had caught up with her and were now approaching from the opposite direction and all of them were armed with phaser rifles, which they pointed squarely at the newcomers.

“Go home, you’re not wanted here, Starfleet,” Orta spat as he took a step closer.

“Not a problem,” said Leone with a little smirk. The woman was the only one in the team who didn’t hold a phaser rifle in her hand. Laas thought that to be either extremely foolish or extremely confident. “As soon as we have taken Glinn Rovat here into custody for the crimes he has committed we’ll be on our way.”

“You’re not taking anyone.”

“A Bajoran freedom fighter trying to protect a Cardassian solider?” said Lieutenant Elannis. “That doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense.”

“Trust me, protecting him is the last thing on my mind,” said Orta, eliciting chuckles from his men. “But I’m not letting you have him.”

“Haven’t you killed enough Cardassians for one day?” Leone said.

“No such thing.”

Krystine focused on the angered resistance fighter. “I may not agree with your blood lust but I understand it. But think about this. What will you achieve by killing Rovat? More Cardassians coming and looking for him? And once they realize what you’ve done, they’ll want revenge and if they can’t find you and your people do you really think they won’t hesitate to exact their vengeance on the settlers? Let us take him. That will send a clear message to the Cardassians that they will not be able to harass this sector without repercussions.”

Orta seemed to consider Leone’s words for a moment. “Nice speech, Starfleet. But that’s all it is. And that’s all you Federation people seem to be good at. Making pretty speeches. But a speech has never stopped anyone. And it won’t this time. We’re not afraid of the Cardassians. Let them come here and try and claim more victims. All they will find is blood. Theirs.”

“If you don’t care about your own fate at least think of that of your people,” Leone said.

“I am,” he said and then looked at Laas who was still positioned in-between the Starfleet away team and Orta’s men. Still with her dagger hovering over Rovat’s throat. “Laas, finish this. Kill him.”

She brought the blade closer until it began to draw blood.

Krystine Leone took a step towards the young Bajoran causing both her own people and Orta’s men to flinch nervously. “Laas? Are you sure you want to do that?”

The Bajoran looked up and into Leone’s sparkling eyes.

“Step away from her,” Orta said and pointed his rifle at the Starfleet commander, immediately aware that this caused every single weapon of the away team drawing a bead on him.

Krystine ignored the man. “I’m not going to pretend to know what you’ve been through but I can tell from looking at you that it wasn’t pretty. That you had to fight for your right to exist from a very early age. But you left that life behind, didn’t you? You wanted something better for yourself. Or maybe it wasn’t you. Maybe your parents were lucky enough to get you off Bajor so that you didn’t have to live that life anymore. They must have loved you very much in order to have the strength to see you go.”

Laas looked at her but had no words to offer.

“Don’t listen to her. Do what you do best. Kill him,” said Orta.

“You told me that you didn’t care about revenge anymore,” said Leone. “But that’s exactly what you’re doing by killing this man. And you’ll perpetuate a cycle which will lead only to more bloodshed and death.”

“What happens …” Nora Laas began but lost her voice for a moment. “What happens if I don’t kill him? What will you do with him?”

“He’ll stand trial in a Federation court for the crimes he has committed both to Federation citizens and property and also to the Bajorans living in this system.”

Orta spat. “A trial? What a joke. This man is guilty and he deserves to die. Right here, right now. You put him into one of your courts and they probably let him go on a technicality. Maybe he’ll spend a week in a low-security prison not worthy of the name.”

“There is solid evidence against Rovat,” said Dawkins. “He’s looking at a minimum sentence of thirty years.”

“I’d rather see him dead. Cut his throat, Laas. Do it already.”

“Sure,” said Elannis. “You’d be doing him a favor, sparing him the humiliation of being a prisoner to the Federation.”

The Bajoran teenager didn’t move either way.

Orta couldn’t believe it. “There is nothing to think about here, Laas. There is no choice to be had. Kill him or I’ll do it myself. But if you don’t, if you betray me, you’ll betray your entire people. Your life will be forfeit.”

“Nice friends, you’ve got here,” said Ariel, which garnered her a frosty glare from Orta. “Should I be scared? You think this is the first time I’ve gotten that kind of look, big boy?”

“You always have a choice, Laas. Always. I can tell you’ve been looking for a purpose. Let me help you find one.”

At that Orta uttered an ugly, distorted laugh. “And do what? Join your Starfleet? How about it, Laas? Feel like prancing around in those bright little outfits like those whores,” he said, staring right at the well-endowed half-Orion woman.

“You are criticizing what I’m wearing?” said Ariel with a bemused smile while taking in his wardrobe, which mostly consisted of layers of scrappy, mismatching fabrics. “Because I gotta tell you, if this were a competition–“

Elannis was cut off by a stern look from her CO. She shrugged in response and held on tighter to her phaser rifle still pointed at the Bajorans.

Leone focused in on Nora Laas again who had said very little since the Starfleet team had shown up. She had listened to all parties quietly and yet her focus on the Cardassian at the edge of her blade had never wavered.

Krystine took another tentative step towards her, ignoring the increasingly nervous Bajorans who continued to have their weapons trained on her. “Laas, look at me.”

And very slowly the young woman did, unable to miss the motherly warmth in her eyes.

“All I’m saying is that you do have a choice here. And I don’t think it’s about whether Rovat lives or dies. This is about who you are and what you can be. You can continue your life here amongst these people and take your cues from men like Orta who will spend the rest of their lives looking for vengeance. Or you can try to become more than that. Stand for something you can truly believe in.”

For just a moment the Starfleet commander a few feet in front of Laas vanished only to be replaced by a smiling Nora Leena and that smile was as gentle and loving as she remembered it. She didn’t speak but she didn’t have to. It was perfectly clear what she had wanted for her. What she had always wanted for her. What she had given her life to try and give to her.

“Slit his Prophet’s forsaken throat!” Orta roared, spittle flying, his voice barely recognizable.

And yet Laas didn’t hear him anymore. He had already become part of a life she knew she was leaving behind.

She threw the dagger away, the blade burying itself into the ground right in front of the resistance fighter’s feet.

Leone reached out a hand toward the young Bajoran and Laas took it to let the Starfleet officer help her back onto her feet.

The rest of the away team quickly surrounded the two women to secure the prisoner and shield them from the furious Bajorans.

“I’m going to snap your treacherous little neck,” Orta screamed but didn’t make a move, apparently not liking his chances while faced with the heavily armed Starfleet away team.

Krystine looked at Laas. “Ready to go?”

The Bajoran took in the settlement one last time. A crowd of Bajorans had gathered around them by now but they looked as defeated and passive as they always had. An entire people who had given up on the galaxy itself. She looked towards Orta’s hate filled eyes but found that she cared little for his anger. Then she finally looked back at Krystine and nodded.

The commander tapped her combadge. “Leone to Potemkin. Beam up away team and prisoner. Plus one.”

Logic/Heart

Featuring Sintina Aurelia from D’noth’s Star Trek: Independence

December 2366

“You look well.”

It had been a simple enough statement. It could have been construed as a compliment to flatter him in which case it was, of course, unnecessary. It could have been nothing more than an observation, a judgment of his current physical and emotional state based on his outward appearance. However, she was not a medical professional and lacked the ability to diagnose any condition simply by looking at his image. No matter the reason for the statement, it had been completely superfluous and entirely illogical.

Xylion had come to expect this kind of behavior from K’tera, the woman who had been chosen to become his wife. He had since learned to tolerate it.

“My condition is generally unchanged since the last time we have spoken,” he said.

Her lips moved ever so slightly, painting a very subtle smile onto her thin lips. “I am glad to hear that.”

A pause followed which could have been awkward had they been human. But then of course, if they had been human, this entire conversation would have been rather awkward.

“Would you not like to know how I’m doing?”

Xylion raised an eyebrow. “I would have assumed that if you were unwell you would have informed me of that fact.”

“You really shouldn’t assume things, Xylion. Not about me.”

He nodded curtly, finding himself in complete agreement with her now. “Are you feeling unwell?”

“That is an odd word to use for one of our kind, is it not?”

He didn’t show his irritation. The subspace communiqué and the small screen took little away from her splendor and graceful features but she remained atypical for a Vulcan woman and not just because of her choice of words. She thought differently, more like a human perhaps. It made conversation with her if not more difficult, definitely more complicated. Xylion was a man as patient as he was logical. It bothered him little.

“If you are trying to imply that our people do not have feelings, you are mistaken,” he said. “We feel like any other comparable species in the galaxy. We feel pain and discomfort just like a human or an Andorian would.”

“How about love?”

He raised that eyebrow again.

“I apologize,” she said quickly. “I do not mean to torture you with my odd thoughts. It just appears to me that we always try so hard to convince others that we do not feel anything that sometimes I believe it myself,” she said and then added almost as an after thought: “It seems so much easier for people like T’Ser.”

There was of course no need for the apology. Xylion did not consider himself being tortured. “I am unfamiliar with the person you are referring to.”

She nodded. “I have not told you but I made new friends on my last trip to Earth. T’Ser is a Vulcan who has turned away from Surak’s teachings of logic and now lives among humans as if she were one herself. She is a fascinating person.”

If Xylion had been prone to frowning he may have done so now. “I have a certain familiarity with the v’tosh katur and I do not approve of their philosophy. You should avoid exposure to people of their kind.”

K’tera on the other hand was no stranger to a furrowed brow and proved it yet again. “My dear Xylion, I am looking forward to the day we will be joined in marriage but I cannot accept you deciding who I may befriend.”

“It was a suggestion.”

“When will you visit?” she asked, moving on quickly. “It has been two years that we have seen each other face to face.”

“My work on Soval is not yet complete. There is much that still needs to be done in the nebula before we can return to Vulcan.”

“But you are not in the nebula now.”

“That is correct,” he said. “Soval is currently in orbit around Stellaris III to attempt to discover the source of unforeseen seismic activity which is endangering populated areas on the surface. Once we have been able to correct the problem we are expected to return to the Ratarra nebula to continue the survey.”

“I see. In that I case I do not wish to disturb you any longer. I will await your next call.”

Xylion nodded. “I will contact you as soon as it is convenient. Dif tor heh smusma, K’tera.”

“Peace and long life,” she replied to the traditional Vulcan farewell.

And then the screen turned blank.

“You need to stop being so stubborn if you don’t want to lose her.”

Xylion turned away from his desk to see the man who had made himself comfortable on a bench on the far end of his simple cabin. He was neither human nor Vulcan and many would have been hard-pressed to pinpoint his origins exactly.

His skin was dark, almost coal-colored and it stood in stark contrast to the white bony ridges, which were protruding along the length of his otherwise bald head. His facial features were vaguely similar to those humans who hailed form Southeast Asia.

He had put up his feet and was casually reading a data padd. “She is a great woman and sometimes I don’t think you appreciate her enough. And she won’t wait for you forever, you know.”

“We have been betrothed since childhood. Tradition demands that we are to be married. She is aware that my work here makes any bonding impractical at this time.”

Bensu looked up from the padd. “Yeah, in case you hadn’t noticed, she isn’t exactly the traditional kind. All I’m saying is if you really wish to be with her, you need to start considering making some changes. Adapting. You know, not be your stiff Vulcan-self all the time.”

He raised his eyebrow. “I am who I am.”

At that Bensu laughed. “That you sure are,” he said and then put down the padd. “But you are also a Starfleet officer, are you not? You joined against the wishes of your mother to see and learn more about the galaxy and the people who inhabit it. As such you are required to be tolerant of others who are different. And not just to get along with them but also to widen your own horizon. That, my friend, is the very nature of being in Starfleet.”

Bensu was well aware that Xylion had had a difficult time in Starfleet. After only a few years on a starship he had requested reassignment to Starfleet’s Vulcan headquarters and had since made a name for himself at the Vulcan Science Institute, the very same which was sponsoring his current expedition to the Retarra nebula. And he had been able to pursue his research ambitions without having to leave Starfleet behind completely.

Xylion stood. “I have no intention on changing my habits or my lifestyle to make others more comfortable. In fact I believe that my aims may no longer be compatible with Starfleet philosophy. Once the current survey ends I intend to resign my commission and join the Science Institute on a permanent basis.”

Bensu stood. “Leaving Starfleet all together? That seems like a drastic step.”

“I understood one of your concerns to be that I did not spend enough time with my betrothed. I would have thought you would encourage my decision.”

He gave the man a suspicious look and then shook his head slightly. “You’ve been based on Vulcan for nearly forty years now and in all that time you haven’t gotten around to marrying her. I find it hard to believe that your decision to leave Starfleet could be motivated by your future plans with K’tera.”

“It is not,” he said with typical Vulcan bluntness.

“So what is it then? Joining Starfleet was your childhood wish. You defied your own mother by attending the Academy. And now you want to give up on it because other people are too irritating to you?”

“We do not have the time to have this conversation. And I have made my decision. My presence is expected on Stellaris,” he said and headed for the doors.

“You always do that when you know you’re losing an argument,” Bensu huffed as the Vulcan left him and his quarters behind.

The ground under her feet trembled again for what must have been the one-millionth time since she had beamed down and for the one-millionth time Lieutenant Sintina Aurelia wondered what the hell she was doing in the dark, wet and stuffy cave, deep beneath the surface of Stellaris III.

The quake itself was nothing compared to ones this world had experienced before their arrival. Those had shaken the surface with such force; entire villages had been swallowed up, never to be seen again. And if such a quake hit again, she would stand little chance of survival in this cave system, which would surely collapse on top of her like a house of cards.

Strategically placed force fields were supposed to prevent that from happening but she couldn’t quite shake the feeling that she was stuck inside her own tomb. After all even the most powerful force fields in the galaxy were no match for the devastating forces of nature.

The force fields were merely a temporary measure while the science team of the Hood and the researches of the Vulcan science vessel Soval were trying to come up with a permanent solution to the seismic activity threatening this world.

The cavern was filled with scientific equipment and personnel, most of them Vulcans. Sintina appreciated Vulcans for their sharp intellect and problem-solving skills. They were however lousy at a Dungeons & Dragons game. No imagination.

Sintina was no scientist and the only reason she was here at all was because of Yokem-Alay and his group of so-called specialists.

Alay and his four colleagues were Stellarians or at least called themselves that. Few believed that his people were truly native to this world. But they had lived on this planet for at least five hundred years and at first glance were amicable enough. Except of course that the tall reptile-like Stellarians possessed an infamously bad temper.

Captain DeSoto had understood this. He had also realized that if they wanted to help them, they would need their advice. As a precautionary measure he had decided to assign Sintina and a couple of his crewmembers as liaison officers.

Sintina didn’t care for the term liaison officer. She was a security officer.

“We have to find a way to stop the ground from shaking,” the lead Stellarian shouted across the cave, his deep voice drowning out the noise of the quake itself and causing every single person to either flinch or look his way.

Aurelia sighed heavily and not for the first time. One of her duties over the last few days had been to try and keep him and his people calm and more importantly stop them from directly interfering with the science personnel working hard on a solution. The term babysitting had come to mind.

“Alay,” she said sharply, since having learned that Stellarians were generally addressed by their second name only. “Get back over there and shut the hell up. We’re not getting anywhere with your constant disruptions. We’ve been through this. If you don’t have anything useful to add just say nothing at all.”

Yokem-Alay who was at least two and a half heads taller than the Hood security officer looked down at her with what could have been a glare but was difficult to determine due to his inflexible reptilian facial features.

“It may mean little to you, little human, but the safety of my people is at stake here and I will not stand by quietly–“

“If you were able do anything about these quakes you would not have called for our help,” she said and stepped closer to the towering reptile-like-man, clearly not impressed in the least with his imposing stature. “You have no scientific background, do you?”

He didn’t respond right away.

And she didn’t give him time to think it over either. “So, let the professionals do their job. They’ll figure it out and if they can’t, I’m willing to bet neither can you.”

Alay hissed loudly, leading some of the others to believe that he was about to pull apart his huge jaw-like mouth, lined with razor sharp teeth and rip the young woman’s head off her shoulders.

Sintina’s two shipmates, Ensign Drelk and Crewman Revis stepped closer in response to his threatening body language, their hands itching towards their phasers. Aurelia waved them off quickly.

Alay looked around the cavern once more than back at the young lieutenant. “Do the job then,” he said and walked back over to the rest of his people.

“She’s a real diplomat, isn’t she?” said Revis to Drelk, keeping his voice down.

Drelk, a Bolian, snickered. “I hear through the grapevine she has her eyes on a captaincy.”

“Yeah, that’ll happen,” Revis said. “Right after they make me Klingon Emperor.”

The ensign couldn’t suppress a chuckle immediately inviting a stern look from Aurelia. She hadn’t been able to overhear her two subordinate’s conversation but was no stranger to people whispering behind her back. She had almost gotten used to it.

Soon after Lieutenant Commander Xylion from the Soval arrived to join the science team already assembled.

As the only Starfleet officer on the Vulcan vessel he had been the ideal choice to lead the joint investigation of Stellaris III’s tectonic problems. To Aurelia he was just another Vulcan and she had done her best to stay out of his way as best as she could for the last couple of days.

This was not always possible.

Yokem-Alay immediately spotted his arrival and quickly approached the Vulcan. The insisting clicking noise he was producing was an unmistakable sign of his agitation.

“Commander, your slow progress in solving our Earth-shaking problem is unacceptable,” he said even before he had reached the science officer. “Every day that passes, hundreds and hundreds of my people are in danger. You must produce results. Quickly!”

“I assure you that we are proceeding as swiftly as possible–“

“No, you do not,” the upset reptilian interrupted. “You keep looking over findings, you study pointless things and ask unimportant questions and then you study more but you change nothing. The ground continues to shake!”

Aurelia had quickly followed Yokem-Alay and not for the first time she wondered if her universal translator was malfunctioning. Or was this truly the best so-called specialist his people could produce?

“I have said to you and to others many times. Our stories tell us that the Forerunners also knew about the shaking. But they stopped the ground from moving. Why can’t you?”

Xylion referred to a padd as he responded. “We are fully cognizant of the ancient texts of your forbearers. Unfortunately your historical documents are vague and mostly impossible to corroborate–“

Alay struck out with one of his slender arms, smashing the padd right out of Xylion’s hands and onto the ground. “You mock the Forerunners,” he said in an angry, high-pitched voice.

“Alright, that’s enough,” Aurelia said sharply and pushed Yokem-Alay forcefully away from the Vulcan, having no trouble putting her hands on him and using some good old fashioned muscle. “You are overstepping your bounds by leaps, Mister.”

But Xylion didn’t seem intimidated and simply picked the padd off the ground. “We are taking every source into account, even your stories, however, they have not provided us with any usable, physical reference points.”

“You want to see the Forerunners? I take you to the Forerunners,” he said and then quickly headed off into one of the many intersecting tunnels, followed by his colleagues.

Aurelia shook her head in confusion. “What the hell is he talking about?” she said and then looked at the Vulcan. “How can he show us these Forerunners? Surely they have been dead for centuries.”

“Perhaps he is referring to a burial site or another location with a historical or spiritual meaning to his people. If that is indeed the case we may be able to learn more about the Forerunners’ experience with previous seismic activity on this planet from that location.”

Sintina just shrugged, Yokem-Alay was making little sense to her. She indicated for Revis and Drelk to follow her as she set out with Xylion and a few of the scientists to try and catch up with the Stellarians.

The reptilians were surprisingly fast however and they never quite managed to get them to slow down as they sprinted ahead with little regards to the team trying to follow them. Sintina didn’t like this one bit. They were rushing blindly into a dark and unknown tunnel system filled with countless possible hazards.

Xylion somehow managed to keep an eye on his tricorder even as they struggled to keep up. “The dense ore deposits in this region are rendering my scans inconclusive. I do register a faint energy signature which may hint towards the presence of artificial elements nearby.”

The Hispanic lieutenant wasn’t paying much attention to the Vulcan’s report, she was too busy trying to maintain visual contact with the Stellarians in the darkness surrounding them, her beacon only proving to be marginally helpful.

This continued for nearly an hour until Xylion and his team finally managed to catch up. Yokem-Alay and his compatriots were waiting for them in a large cavern, illuminated by countless bright candles, which had been inset into the rock walls.

It was also a dead end. A sharp precipice prevented any further travel deeper into the tunnel without some sturdy rock-climbing equipment.

“You are slow,” Alay said when the Federation team set food into the cavern.

“We need to set some ground rules,” said Aurelia, trying hard to pretend that this mad dash hadn’t left her breathless. “Next time, if you wish to show us something, don’t just run off, understood? And why the hell would you sprint through this place like a mad man, anyway?”

“We have no time,” he responded, matching her intensity. “You must stop the ground from moving, now.”

Aurelia exhaled deeply and then turned away from the Stellarian as if she had given up on any attempt to reason with the man. It would have been easier to have a conversation about warp field theory with a five year old, she decided.

Xylion in the meantime was studying the cavern. His tricorder was not registering anything beyond the basics. “Alay, what is the function of this chamber and how do you believe it is related to the seismic activity?” he said without looking at the reptilian.

“This is the Hall of the Forerunners. The Forerunners stopped the ground from shaking.”

Sintina rolled her eyes. “Of course, that explains everything then,” she said and turned towards Xylion. “Commander, I don’t want to tell you how to do your job but this is a waste of time. I suggest we return to the base camp and you try to pick up any valid scientific leads from there instead of listening to these jokers.”

“I wish to study this chamber first,” he said and indicated to the couple of Vulcans who had followed him to spread out. “We may be able to identify relevant historic markers which could assist us in determining the source of the seismic activity.”

“You’re the scientist, Commander,” said Aurelia. “But all I see are candles and rock.”

Alay was also not pleased and he made this obvious by producing a series of insistent clicking noises. “You talk but you do not do. This is the Hall of the Forerunners.”

“Yeah, we got that,” said an exasperated Aurelia without gracing Alay a second glance.

The Stellarian didn’t seem to appreciate her tone and dismissive behavior and jumped into action, rushing Xylion who was standing dangerously close to the cliff and trying to learn what lay below.

“Commander, watch out!”

The security officer reached Alay just before he could get to the Vulcan. She wasn’t tactful as she roughly pushed the reptilian aside and away from Xylion.

But Alay was not giving up and pushed back, causing her to stumble sideways and towards Xylion and the precipice.

The Vulcan who had realized the danger, steadied himself and caught the short woman by her shoulders as she stumbled towards him, the heels of his boots buried themselves into the sandy ground mere inches away from the sharp drop behind him.

Aurelia ventured a look over her shoulder and down the gaping darkness below. “That was close,” she said and then shot an icy glare at the Stellarian who was trying to pull himself off the ground after he had stumbled. “I’ve just about had enough of–“

That was when the quakes started up again.

Xylion immediately understood the potential for disaster and attempted to redistribute his weight forward and away from the cliff behind him but this proved difficult while still holding on to the security officer.

In the end it was a futile effort, the quakes were simply too powerful and too sudden for him to avoid being thrown off his feet and fall the wrong way.

Sintina felt weightless for just a moment before she too fell backwards and plunged into the void.

She was going to kill Alay, she thought just before everything went dark.

“This is some fascinating technology, no doubt about it. And there is no way the Stellarians placed it here. At least not the ones that live on this planet now. Perhaps these so-called Forerunners. They must have had impressive technological abilities, too bad we know so little about them. Makes you kinda wonder what went wrong in their gene pool, huh?”

Xylion felt sore all over but immediately ascertained that he had no broken bones and in all likelihood no internal injuries. He would not have admitted it openly but he felt burning pain emanating from his ribcage. At least two of his ribs had to be bruised or quite possibly even cracked.

He lay on something soft and whatever it was, it had saved his life.

It didn't take him long to recall his last memory. The Stellarians had brought them to what they had called the Hall of the Forerunners. Alay had become frustrated and aggressive and had charged him. Aurelia had intervened but a subsequent quake had pushed them over the edge of a cliff and down a deep precipice. He remembered the forces of gravity pulling his body downwards, he remembered darkness and painful impacts which must have slowed down his fall before he had landed were he was now.

Only after reliving all the events which had led to his current situation, did he open his eyes and checked himself over. His uniform was torn in a few places and his skin underneath scratched and smeared with green blood. But as he had already established, there were no sign of serious injuries. He was lying on a thick layer of soft, crimson-colored moss.

“You’re awake. About time.”

He turned to see Bensu standing a few feet away. The man didn't have a scratch on him and was wearing a playful grin on his lips. He indicated to the Vulcan’s right.

Xylion followed Bensu’s glance to see Lieutenant Aurelia lying face down in the moss.

“She may need some assistance,” he said.

Xylion slowly got onto his feet which wasn’t an easy task on the squishy ground and it took him a few second before he could fully trust them again. “You should have tended to her sooner,” he said as he carefully made his way over to her unmoving form.

“Xylion, my dear friend, you must have hit your head while tumbling down here.”

He ignored the gibe and cautiously turned the lieutenant over. She had similar scratches over her body but also no serious visible injuries.

Her eyes fluttered open. “Commander? What happened?” she said but had to stop herself to cough.

“We fell,” he said. “You should remain still.”

Aurelia’s memories were returning slowly. “Alay,” she nearly spat. “I’m going to kick my boot so far up his–“

“Lieutenant, you may be suffering from a concussion, I recommend that you do not exert yourself.”

But Sintina just shook her head and pushed herself into a sitting position.

“I don’t think there is anything wrong with her,” Bensu said. “That’s just how she is.”

“I’m fine,” said Aurelia. “Help me up.”

Against his better judgment Xylion pulled her to her feet.

Before even looking herself over, the first thing she did was check on her equipment. “Where’s my weapon?” she said.

Xylion found the phaser a few feet away as well as his tricorder. He handed her the phaser and then used the scanning instrument to confirm his theory that neither of them had been seriously injured. Once he was satisfied, he tucked the tricorder away.

“If you guys are alright maybe you should come and check out the machinery next door,” said Bensu and began to walk away. Xylion noticed that the cavern they had landed in was surprisingly well lit and the source appeared to be coming from a nearby tunnel. The very same Bensu was disappearing into.

“We should try and find a way to return to the rest of the team.”

Sintina hit her combadge but the aborted chirping sound it produced was a clear sign that it was unable to establish any kind of connection. She looked upwards to see nothing but a steep rock face. “I suppose taking the way we came is not an option.”

“There appears to be something else here,” said Xylion and headed for the tunnel Bensu had stepped into.

Sintina sighed and followed the Vulcan.

What they found left them both speechless.

The tunnel opened into another cavern which was easily thirty meters high and brightly lit by clearly artificial light strips inset in the ceiling above them.

But that was by far not their most impressive discovery. Most of the far wall seemed to consist out of a massive machine which appeared to be merged directly into the rock. The dull gray device nearly reached the ceiling and had numerous conduits and pipes leading directly into the ground and the rock all around it. Some of those conduits were made out of transparent material and a glowing, dark green liquid seemed to pass through them. Bright orange lights were flashing and flickering with no readily apparent pattern all over the machine.

At its center, just about two meters above the ground, a clear sphere, perhaps one meter in diameter, protruded out of the device.

Aurelia spoke first. “What the hell is that thing?”

“If I had to venture a guess I would say that the Stellarian Forerunners put this here. But the more important question, I think, is what does it do?” Bensu said.

Xylion stepped closer carefully. The machine seemed to sense his presence and the clear sphere activated, showing a holographic presentation of a reptilian-like face not unlike that of the Stellarians but not quite the same either. It was made up of green light.

“I know you want to say it, but I think I’m going to do it for you,” Bensu said. “Fascinating.”

Aurelia joined the Vulcan, studying the hologram. “A computer, perhaps?”

“That would be to be a logical assumption.”

“You have intruded,” the hologram said, his voice sounding distinctly curt and mechanical, its reptilian features distorted into something akin to a frown. “Your presence is not allowed.”

Another quake, this one stronger than the ones they had experienced before, nearly threw both Starfleet officers off their feet. The large room rumbled loudly as hydraulic pumps attached to the machine came to life.

For a moment it seemed as if the entire cavern would collapse but besides a shower of dust and small debris, the ceiling above held steady.

Aurelia looked around nervously.

“That was a bad one,” Bensu said.

The Vulcan referred to his tricroder. “The energy output of the seismic activity registers at 186.9 petajoules or approximately 7.1 on the Richter scale. “

“We must be close to the epicenter,” said Sintina.

The Vulcan nodded. “It is remarkable that this cavern and the device appear not to have taken any significant structural damage from the seismic events."

“Remarkable, sure,” said the lieutenant. “What’s more remarkable is that this machine looks to be linked directly to the quakes.”

A much weaker aftershock seemed to give further credence to her theory; the hydraulic system was pumping fluid into the rock wall with every tremor.

“Commander, I think we just found the source of these quakes,” she said and pulled her phaser.

“Intruders, you are a threat to this installation,” he holographic face nearly shouted. “Leave now or face severe actions.”

“Oh yeah,” said Sintina in a challenging tone. “And what exactly are you going to do?”

The hologram focused on the short woman. “Security personnel is being summoned and will remove you by force. You will be punished severely for your intrusion.”

Aurelia laughed and looked at a stone-faced Xylion. “You know what, I like this guy,” she said and then focused back on the hologram. “I hate to break it to you, but whoever put you here is long since gone. There are no security forces to summon.”

This seemed to confuse the hologram.

“Hey, I think I just managed to outsmart a computer,” she said. “First time for everything, I guess.”

“This is not an ordinary computer,” said Xylion.

That caused her to glare at him for spoiling her moment of triumph.

The Vulcan ignored her and approached the massive machine, looking for an access point to the internal machinery. “Its response routines and behavioral algorithms appear to be abnormal,” he said and referred to his tricorder again. “The machine itself is approximately three-thousand five hundred years old and may be experiencing a malfunction.”

Sintina sighed. “Just because you don’t understand it, doesn’t mean it’s broken.”

Bensu snickered.

“Intruders, I have considered what you have said,” the hologram finally said. “If security forces are no longer present, you must have disposed of them and are now in a position to threaten this installation. Instead of allowing you to interfere, I will destroy this installation, the resulting explosion will ensure your deaths.” The green-hued hologram turned into a shade of dark red.

Sintina raised her phaser. “Not if I kill you first.”

Xylion turned to the Aurelia. “Lieutenant, stand down.”

She didn’t. “You’ve heard him, Commander. It’s planning to blow us up. I might be able to disable it before it comes to that. Besides, this way we shut this thing down for good, solve this earthquake problem and we can leave the Stellarians to their own devices. It’s a win-win for everyone.”

“I am not convinced that this device is inducing seismicity,” he said even while another quake forced him to struggle to keep his balance.

Sintina pointed at the pumps and the venom green liquid that seemed to be injected into the surrounding rocks. “Look at this thing. It comes to life every time there is a quake. There is an obvious connection here.”

“Agreed,” said the Vulcan. “According to my scans the liquid is an unknown mixture of a silicon isotope compound and hydrogenated polyalphaolefins.”

“You have less than five minutes to live,” the hologram announced smugly.

Sintina glared at the hologram, never lowering her phaser, but then quickly focused on the Vulcan again. “What does that mean in plain English?”

“I believe the mixture may produce a highly effective lubricant which is pumped directly into the fault lines.”

“You’re saying this thing is oiling the tectonic plates? To prevent earthquakes?”

The Vulcan gave her curt nod. “Essentially, yes.”

Another tremble shook the ground, raining down more dust and debris.

“It’s not doing a great job, is it?”

“The device may be malfunctioning.”

Bensu agreed. “It has been in operation for hundreds of years.”

“So what do you suggest we do now, Commander. Time is not exactly on our side here,” she said, struggling to maintain her footing as the cave was gripped by more erratic seismic activity.

“We must find a way to repair the damage and allow the device to stabilize the tectonic plates,” the Vulcan said.

“Please tell me that's easier than it sounds?”

Xylion studied the massive device. Besides the red-hued hologram he could not find any other interface that would allow him to access the machine or the computer controlling it. “It would be logical to assume that this installation’s computer should be able to diagnose the damage and assist us in repairing it,” he said and then faced the hologram which had continued to regard the two strangers with scorn ever since they had arrived. “Computer, initiate a self-diagnostic of your sub-routines controlling the seismic stabilizers.”

The holographic head turned to focus solely on the Vulcan.  “I don’t think so, Pointy Ears.”

Bensu failed at suppressing another snicker. “I don’t think it likes you much, Old Boy.”

Xylion shot the man a look of irritation, clearly having been caught by surprise by the hologram’s unexpected response.

“Commander, are you alright?” Aurelia asked as she watched him turn away and look off into empty space.

“I’m sorry,” said Bensu and put a hand in front of his mouth. “That was just really funny.”

“I’m fine, Lieutenant,” he said as he turned back towards the hologram. “You are not responding logically to a stated request.”

“And you are about to die,” the hologram snapped back. “Either by being crushed like insects under falling rocks or, and I prefer this one, melted down to your bones by the fiery explosion of this machine.”

Xylion restrained himself to raising an eyebrow this time. “It appears to be of no use,” he said. “This interface is malfunctioning and is not responding to any requests.”

Another quake gripped the cavern but this time the device appeared to make little efforts to even try to counteract the effects, evident by the pumps hardly working at all.

The force of the quake threw both Xylion and Sintina onto the ground. High above them, on the ceiling, a large piece of rock came free and fell only to smash into the ground exactly were Bensu had been standing.

Xylion managed to get back onto his feet quickly and helped Aurelia off the ground as well before he watched Bensu reappearing a few feet from the massive rock.

“That could have given me a serious headache,” he said as he looked at the boulder. “I think we need to come up with something quickly,” he added and looked at the Vulcan.

The quakes never quite went away and the cavern now appeared to be in a state of constant movement, allowing ever-larger rock pieces to rain down from the ceiling in a steady hail of stone.

“We cannot proceed with the limited tools available to us. We must rejoin with my team and return with additional equipment,” he said, raising his voice to ensure he could be heard over the increasing rumble all around them.

The security lieutenant shook her head. “There is no time for that. Even if we find a way back, this whole cavern system will come down on top of us, burying all of us down here and laying waste to the surface.”

“We have to attempt it. There is no alternative,” he shouted as he began to head towards the only other exit leading out of the cavern.

Sintina began to follow but then stopped and turned around.

“Looks like your new friend is not coming,” said Bensu.

Xylion turned to see her staring at the massive machine. “Lieutenant!”

“We have to try and get this thing to repair itself.”

Xylion took a step towards her but then quickly jumped back when another rock twice the size of his head came crushing down, missing him by mere inches. “That would be a futile endeavor, Lieutenant. We must leave here now. The longer we delay the smaller our chances of success will become.”

But Aurelia didn’t move.

“Lieutenant, come with me. That’s an order.”

She looked torn for a moment as she looked back and forth between Xylion and the hologram.

“You can try and run but you will not escape,” the red-hued face proclaimed loudly.

Xylion stepped closer still, determined to knock her out with a neck pinch and carry her if necessary. “You are wasting your time. This interface will not response in any logical manner.”

At that Aurelia looked straight at the approaching Xylion. “You’re right, it won’t. But it’s behaving exactly the way it should. Think about it. This machine was most likely build by the Stellarians’ forbearers. If they were anything like the Stellarians of today, they would have been an emotional and irrational race.”

“She’s got a point there,” Bensu said.

But Xylion marginally shook his head to communicate his doubts. “That is highly unlikely. An irrational race would not have had the ability to construct such an advanced device. It is more probable that the interface is malfunctioning.”

“You now have two minutes left to live. I thought you should now.”

“Hey,” Bensu said. “That thing skipped at least one whole minute.”

“You’re giving us irrational races too little credit, Commander,” Aurelia said with a little smirk before she turned towards the hologram. “Tell me, you are designed to keep those earthquakes under control, right?”

“I do not have to answer to you. You will be dead in less than two minutes,” the hologram said stubbornly.

“Ok, but if that’s the case I’m not going to be a threat to you and you might as well indulge my dying request.”

The holographic face seemed to consider this for a moment.

“So?” she said impatiently. “Is it your purpose to keep the earthquakes in check, or not?”

The hologram stared daggers at the Starfleet officer. “Yes.”

“Lieutenant.”

“Hold on, Commander, I think we might be getting somewhere.”

But that had not been why Xylion had called ou. A massive boulder was coming down and right towards where Aurelia was standing. He reached her just in time and pushed her out of the way, throwing them both to the ground.

The rock landed with a mighty thud and blew up a thick plume of dust.

Sintina looked at the rock which had nearly crushed her with wide open eyes. “Thanks.”

The hologram actually laughed.

“We need to leave, now,” Xylion said firmly.

She picked herself up and dusted off her mustard-colored uniform. “One more minute.”

“One more minute and you’re dead.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. But now that we have established that your function is to keep the earthquakes in check, can you tell me if you are actually doing that successfully?”

“I’m not,” it responded straight away.

“A-ha.”

“Because I’m trying to kill you.”

“Touché,” said Bensu.

Aurelia was momentarily caught speechless.

“Lieutenant,” Xylion urged.

She raised a hand towards him and continued to face the hologram. “Okay, before you tried to kill us. Were you keeping those earthquakes in check the way you were supposed to?”

The hologram didn’t answer straight away.

“Where you?” she asked more forcefully. “Check your sub-routines and tell me.”

It shook its holographic head.

“And don’t you think that that might be the reason why we came down here? That because you were not doing your job anymore, we came to see what was wrong.”

It frowned. “It doesn’t matter, you are not the creators.”

“You are hundreds of years old,” she shot back. “Check your databanks to see how long you have been active. The ones who created you are long gone. But there are still people living on the surface who need you to work properly. People who are direct descendants of your creators.”

Another quake slung her and Xylion to the ground again. It bordered on a miracle that they were hit by nothing more than pebble sized rocks, painful and bruising but not life endangering. Yet. A larger rock came down near the only remaining entrance, blocking it off completely.

“There goes our way out,” Bensu said.

“Your time is up.”

Aurelia pushed herself onto her knees, trying to dispel a coughing fit caused by dust getting into her lungs. “Don’t you think your creators would have wanted you to keep their decedents as safe as you kept them! Do you think they wanted you to destroy them?”

“You are the enemy.”

“Are we?” she shouted back with the same intensity the hologram had shown. “Then why the hell do we just want you to work the way you are supposed to? Why haven’t I tried to blast you out of existence?”

Xylion could see the ceiling above them trembling and trying to shake loose it’s largest fragment yet, this one ensuring that they’d be killed instantly.

And then the cavern settled down until the quakes subsided completely.

The red-glowing hologram returned to its comparably soothing green light. “You might be right,” it said simply.

Aurelia let out a gasp of air and let herself fall onto her backside.

“Is it over?” Bensu asked. “Can I breathe again?”

Xylion stood. “Hologram, have you detected the malfunction.”

The green face considered the Vulcan coolly. “I don’t care for you, Pointy Ears.”

Now Aurelia giggled. “I’m pretty sure the feeling is mutual. Answer him anyway.”

The hologram looked back and forth between the two officers and then seemed to utter a sigh. “Yes, I have found the problem. My tertiary regulator was misaligned, causing an impure intermix formula. I have corrected the misalignment and future quakes will be suppressed. Happy?” he said, looking directly at Xylion.

The Vulcan raised an eyebrow. “Fascinating.”

Sintina stood also and drew her phaser to point it towards the bolder which was blocking their only exit. “Mission accomplished. Time to get the hell out of here.”

“Lieutenant, that would not be wise,” said Xylion. “The force of the phaser beam might destabilize the cavern.”

She looked at him. “So what do you suggest we do?”

He knelt down on the cavern floor. “We wait until a rescue team can reach us. We should have sufficient air and there is no longer any immediate risk of a cave in.”

Aurelia put away her phaser. “So we are just going to sit here and wait.”

“Correct.”

“And how are we going to pass the time?” she said with a widening grin. “I suppose we could always reflect on how my irrational approach saved the day.”

“Indeed,” the Vulcan said without looking at her. “Or we could meditate in silence.”

She rolled her eyes and sat down next to him.

Bensu looked at them both. “Sound like we're going to have endless amounts of fun.”

The two hours it took the rescue teams to finally reach them had easily been the longest two hours of Aurelia’s life. Xylion had remained true to his word and barely said a single word and the young lieutenant had found herself with little to do but anxiously stare at the rock wall.

Not half an hour after being rescued, still wearing their dirty and dusty uniforms, they both stood in Hood’s ready room in front of a sitting Captain DeSoto who was looking over a padd which contained a preliminary report of what had happened on the planet below.

Aurelia was anxious. Yes, she was pretty proud of having been able to talk down the hologram from killing them and possibly even safe an entire continent but she was also well aware that she had done so by disobeying a direct order from a superior officer. And Starfleet frowned on such behavior, especially from lowly officers with nothing more than one and a half pips on their collars.

Xylion, as a strict pragmatist, was going to make sure that his report would not leave out the fact that she had not obeyed his orders. Add to that that she was already on report on the Hood for having allowed her fiery temper to get the better of her, this apparent triumph could have easily turned into an impressive failure.

“Very interesting,” DeSoto said, as he finished reading the short report and then looked up. “So these Forerunners created this machine in order to control the seismically active tectonic plates?”

“That is the assumption we are currently operating under, sir. A Starfleet science team is likely to return here to study this machinery in more detail. It might help the Federation make significant inroads in the field of seismology.”

“Of that I have little doubt,” DeSoto said. “But right now I’m more interested to find out how you managed to repair the device.”

“It was not … a straightforward task,” the Vulcan said and shot a glance towards the young woman at his side. “The computer controlling the machine did not respond as would have been expected. Thankfully Lieutenant Aurelia recognized the computer’s modus operandi in time and was able to communicate with it appropriately.”

DeSoto leaned slightly forward. “You did?” he said with surprise etched on his face as he looked at her.

She shrugged her shoulders. “I suppose I did, sir.”

“Maybe there is something to the rumor mill after all and you truly are after your own captaincy. Should I start watching my chair, Lieutenant?”

Her cheeks flushed red just before a wide smile came over her lips. “I don’t think that’ll be necessary, sir. Yet.”

The captain leaned back again. “Well, in any case, well done. Both of you. The Stellarians are in your debt. Commander, I’m sure you are eager to return to your vessel. Lieutenant, I expect a full report from you … once you had a chance to freshen up. Dismissed.”

The two officers nodded curtly and then left the ready room.

Aurelia turned towards Xylion once they had stepped onto the bridge outside. “You didn’t mention that I disobeyed your order.”

“Considering the results I felt it was not necessary to point out your failure to adhere to protocol. However, if you are truly interested in pursing the command track, you might wish to re-familiarize yourself with Starfleet regulations.”

She smirked. “Thanks, Commander. But I’m not so sure about command. I mean, could you imagine me sitting in one of those?” she said and gestured towards the now empty captain’s chair at the middle of the bridge.

“It would not be the most illogical proposition I have had to contemplate today.”

Aurelia laughed. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Commander. I think we made a good team.”

The Vulcan raised his right hand in a traditional Vulcan salute. “Live long and prosper, Lieutenant Sintina Aurelia.”

She tried to emulate the gesture but her fingers didn’t quite bend the right way and she gave up. “You too, Commander.”

With that Xylion turned and stepped into the turbolift.

“Transporter room.”

The lift set in motion immediately.

“What a firebrand, don’t you agree?”

“She is quite an irrational young woman,” Xylion said.

“In other words,” Bensu said. “She’s got heart.”

For a moment neither one of them spoke as the turbolift continued on to its destination quietly.

“So, what’s next? Still contemplating resigning your commission?”

“That will not be necessary,” he said. “I have come to a decision concerning my future.”

“And?”

“I will remain in Starfleet and seek out another assignment on a starship in the near future.”

Bensu shot the man a surprised look. “Really? You do realize that that means that you will encounter a number of other people like her. You now, the irrational kind.”

“That is what I would have to expect. I have come to realize that not every situation can necessarily be solved purely with logic. It is an interesting concept which I shall study further.”

“For a Vulcan that sounds like the onset of rebellion.”

Moments later Xylion stepped up onto a transporter platform and then looked towards the ensign operating the console. “One person to beam onto the Soval.”

Bensu looked on peevishly. “You know, one of these days I would really like to be counted as a person as well.”

From Lexington With Love

Featuring characters from DavidFalkayn’s Star Trek: Lexington

Sometime in the 22nd Century

“Batteries one through four, fire at will. Stand by photon torpedoes. Aliz, hold your heading and on my mark bring us about hard.”

The gray-haired man in the mustard-colored uniform shirt gave his orders calmly, keeping his voice even while he spoke and putting on display the confidence of a man who had seen everything and done it all. In the infinity of space that was an unlikely proposition but as far as starship commanders were concerned, it could have been argued that this statement was truer for this specific officer than it was for anybody else currently sitting in the center chair of any other vessel.

The confidence the veteran exuded was in desperate demand for neither he nor the young crew surrounding him had ever faced an opponent quite like this before.

It was solely to his credit, his poise, his command presence and his firm leadership that their fears and anxieties in the face of this opposing enemy remained in check and allowed them to stay focused on the task that needed to be done.

“Phaser batteries firing,” Lieutenant Terrence Lawford replied in a crisp English accent once his fingers had found the bright red buttons on his panel, unleashing cobalt-colored lances of phased energy.

“Torpedo tubes one and two standing by,” the Russian first officer confirmed in his low rumbling voice which was so perfectly suited to his burly figure.

The man in the captain’s chair wasted no time. “Fire.”

The bridge crew watched as each of the torpedoes struck their target just seconds after the successful phaser hits.

No matter how massive and seemingly insurmountable their opponent appeared, there was a moment of unspoken excitement in the air after their proud ship, one of the finest in the fleet, had unleashed its powerful arsenal. Surely a statement had been made. You cannot come into our backyard and start attacking our planets without repercussions. And if you were foolish enough to try, the price you would pay was a high one indeed. Surely that message had now been clearly and unmistakably received.

Alas not.

“I can detect no damage on the other vessel,” the graceful, blue-skinned science officer reported after looking through her sensor hood. Her antennae peaking out from underneath her white hair were twirling in a sign of obvious concern. “No damage at all,” she repeated a bit unnecessarily and perhaps only because she couldn’t quite believe it herself.

Some of the officers uttered a gasp or shot her an astonished look. Not their captain however. He remained stone-faced with his eyes dead-locked on the massive device–they hadn’t been able to establish yet if it was in fact some sort of ship–which continued to bear down on them.

“Ms. Bathory, now. Bring us about. Full impulse,” he said with the same even voice as if he had never expected any other outcome.

The young woman at the helm was already prepared and quickly manipulated her controls to move the ship out of their opponent’s path. And yet it wasn’t quite quickly enough.

“It’s returning fire,” the Andorian cried out.

The captain stabbed a button on his armrest with one fluid motion. “All hands, brace for impact.”

On the screen the massive jaw of the conical shaped thing bearing down on the Starfleet vessel erupted in a blinding light and unleashed a torrent of angry pulsating energy which was catapulted towards the starship.

It was fortunate that the ship had already been coming about as it may not have weathered a direct frontal hit as well. That was not to say that the crew of the intrepid vessel didn’t feel the impact. Quite on the contrary.

Nobody on the bridge managed to stay in their chairs or on their feet as their ship nearly flipped over under the immense pressures of the impact.

Consoles, one by one, blew out in a chain reaction of fires and sparks.

The bridge was plunged into darkness for a couple of seconds during which nothing but the steadily flashing red alert klaxons illuminated the command center.

The lights returned and the view screen once again shone brightly to reveal the terrifying sight of their enemy who had refused to be intimidated and had dished out far worse than it had taken.

The man in command pulled himself onto his feet and then helped the petite young woman at the helm back into her chair. But not before the two of them allowed themselves just one second to exchange a surprisingly private look nobody else noticed.

“Status,” he said once he was settled in the command chair again.

The first officer responded promptly, the sturdy Russian requiring no time at all to steady himself again. “That hit nearly took out our shields. Right now they’re holding at fifty-six percent. I do not recommend we get punched like that again.”

“So noted,” the captain said. “Commander Zha’Thara, what is our friend doing?”

The Andorian was still picking herself off the floor and then quickly spied through the hood at her science station, which cast a dark blue shadow onto her similarly hued face. “It seems to have lost interest in us for now. It’s heading for the third planetoid in the system.”

“If it does to it what it did to the previous two it will be nothing but rubble once it is done with it,” said the Russian in a grim sounding voice which wasn’t really any different to his regular tone.

“Unlike the others this one does contains a civilization of sentient humanoid life,” the science officer said after studying her readouts.

The ship’s commander swiveled his chair towards the engineering station. “Lieutenant, I need to know what that thing is and more importantly how to stop it.”

The lieutenant turned away from her own station in order to look her commanding officer in the eye. “What we know for certain at this point,” said the woman with the sandy-blond, shoulder length hair, “is that it is definitely artificial but not a starship in the traditional sense. It does not appear to have a crew and is likely controlled either remotely or by a powerful AI. It is about 2,700 meters in length and over 500 meters wide. The outer hull consists out of solid neutronium through which we cannot scan and our weapons cannot penetrate. It emits an antiproton beam which can cut through a solid planetoid within hours and against which our shields cannot protect against for long.”

“Weaknesses?”

“Well,” she said. “It’s slow. So far we have not seen it move faster than half impulse. It also requires massive amounts of energy to use its antiproton beam after which it enters into what appears to be a cool-down period. It was unable to move for almost ten minutes immediately after it destroyed the first two planets.”

“Doesn’t help us much though. Nothing we throw at it had the slightest effect,” Lawford said from his station next to Bathory.

“Ty che, blyad! Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?”

Every single person turned to see what could have caused the first officer’s sudden and angry exclamation.

He was looking at a woman standing close to the turbolift on the upper deck of the bridge. The fact that nobody had noticed the doors opening however seemed to imply that she had not emerged from them. Differently to the ship's crew, she was clad in a black and gray uniform, wearing a golden undershirt and had a chevron-shaped medallion tucked to her chest. She had small ridges on the bridge of her nose and seemed to hail from a race unfamiliar by the surprised bridge officers.

Unfamiliar to everyone but one. The woman at the engineering station jumped to her feet. “Laas?”

The captain also left his chair. He looked the newcomer over and then turned towards the engineer. “Louise, you know this person?”

“Yes,” she said.

That caused the first officer to shoot her an impatient look even while he made sure to keep one eye trained on this unexpected visitor. “You better explain yourself, Lieutenant. And do it quickly.”

Louise Hopkins was at a momentary loss for words. “I’m not sure how.”

“Not good enough,” the Russian said and activated a comm panel. “Bridge to Security, Intruder–“

“Computer, pause program,” Hopkins said causing the first officer to stop in mid-sentence as he as well as every other photonic creation on the bridge instantly froze in place.

“No need for security,” the newcomer said with a smirk. “I’m already here.”

“Laas, what are you doing here?” Louise said as she took a couple of steps towards her Bajoran friend she had known since they had been roommates at the Academy.

“I could ask you the same thing.”

Louise frowned. “I’m not the one who barged into somebody’s holodeck program unannounced.”

But Nora Laas didn’t seem to pay her much attention as she began to walk around the bridge, looking over the ancient controls and into the faces of the inanimate people who populated them. “So this is where you’ve been spending all your time lately. This is pretty interesting. What is this supposed to be?”

The engineer relaxed slightly. “This is Lady Lex.”

Laas turned to give her a quizzical look. “Lady Who?”

“Lex,” she said and walked over to the golden-plated dedication plaque next to the turbolift doors. “USS Lexington.”

The Bajoran shook her head. “I’ve seen the Lexington and it didn’t look anything like this.”

The engineer shot her an incredulous look. “That’s because this is the original Lexington. 1709. Constitution-class.”

“Why are you wearing that?” she said as she stepped closer to study her friend’s low-cut, red mini-dress outfit complete with boots and dark stockings.

The engineer’s cheeks blushed slightly while her friend looked her over with a barely concealed smile of amusement on her lips. “This is the standard uniform of that era,” she said and pointed to other female officers on the bridge. “Everyone wore them.”

“That’s a uniform?”

Louise defiantly crossed her arms in front of her chest but before she could comment on the dress code of the previous century any further, her friend moved on towards the man standing next to the captain’s chair, still looking at the spot where she had appeared moments earlier. Differently to his first officer, the captain had not shown surprise or alarm even if it was obvious that every muscle in his body had tensed significantly.

“And this would be?”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“History isn't my strong suit.”

“You don’t say,” she said and stepped down into the command well with Nora and the frozen captain. “That’s none other than Commodore Robert Wesley. One of the greatest starship captains in Starfleet history.”

“Wesley,” Laas repeated and looked him over. “Not as good looking as Jim Kirk.”

Louise uttered a heavy and clearly annoyed sigh. She understood perfectly well that this was payback for the time when the situation had been reversed and she had intruded on Laas' holodeck exercise program a few months ago. In truth Nora probably didn't care much about Kirk or any of the great captains of yesteryear. Hopkins on the other hand had a real fascination for early Starfleet explorers and the rugged starship commands of the previous centuries. Archer, Wesley, Kirk and Kieran Forester were her heroes. The latter she had been lucky enough to meet in person once after he had been time displaced into the 24th century.

In any case, the Bajoran seemed to have a grand old time interrupting her spare time activity and poking fun at it.

“Laas, you haven’t answered my question yet. What are you doing here?”

She turned to face her. “Well, somebody forgot that we had dinner plans today. After realizing the futility of waiting, I decided to come and look for you instead.”

Louise blushed a little bit more. “Oh my gosh, what time is it?”

“Long past 1900 hours.”

“I’m so sorry, I guess I got a little bit carried away in here and totally forgot about dinner,” she said with genuine regret obvious in the tone of her voice.

“If this had been the first time you’d done this I wouldn’t have resorted to something as extreme as barging into your little holodeck fantasy but you’ve been blowing me off for over a month now.”

The young engineer shook her head. “That’s not true.”

“Really?” she said and crossed her own arms. “Last Tuesday. Remember that? You were half an hour late. And the day before we never even made lunch. First I thought it was me,” she looked around. “I’m relieved to see that it wasn’t. It’s just that you prefer playing around in here than spending time with your friend.”

“First of all,” she shot back, her embarrassment slowly turning into indignant anger, “I’m not playing around. Not really. This is more like a challenge not unlike those combat simulations you like to put yourself through.”

Nora didn’t seem convinced and Lou knew why. She loved her to bits but she also knew that she had never been one for fantasies. Perhaps it was her rough upbringing during which she had been too busy bashing in Cardassian skulls instead of playing with dolls or whatever else girls were supposed to do during their childhood years. Or maybe it was simply her no-nonsense nature which didn’t allow her to indulge in what she surely saw as silly fantasies. Sure, she’d visit the holodeck from time to time to hone in her fighting skills but those weren’t elaborate scenarios like the one Hopkins had created.

“A challenge?” she said, clearly intend on calling the bluff. “I’m always up for a challenge.”

Hopkins turned her back on her friend and stepped back onto the raised level. “I don’t know. This isn’t really up your ally.”

Laas followed her. “Why not? Because you think all I’m capable of is bashing heads together? Is that how you see me?”

“Of course not,” Louise said quickly and faced her again even though that had been exactly one of the thoughts going through her mind. But there was another very good reason why she didn’t want Laas to have any part of this and it had nothing to do with her.

“Then why can’t I play along?” she said and then immediately raised her hands in apology. “Sorry, I mean take part in the challenge,” she added with an amused gleam in her eye.

She frowned. “For one you don’t know anything about this time period.”

“What better way to learn about history?”

And then Hopkins smirked, knowing exactly how she could get that notion out of her friend’s head. “And you would have to wear one of these.”

Louise Hopkins sat impatiently in a chair of her holographic quarters in the equally holographic Lexington, waiting.

In the end she knew her friend had been right about her spending too much time in the holodeck lately. And the worst part of it was that she hadn’t even realized how it had affected her life outside those doors. It hadn’t interfered with her duties as chief engineer, that would have been entirely unacceptable, but the temptation of spending almost every minute of her free time as the imaginary chief engineer of the USS Lexington had obviously caused some problems in her social life.

And now she felt guilty about neglecting her friends, especially Nora Laas who as it turned out was not the kind of person who took well to being neglected. She had taken it so badly in fact that the one person who was least likely to ever take part in a holodeck adventure had practically demanded to be part of hers.

And Louise had felt too ashamed about her selfishness to say no.

“Come on, Laas. We’re going to be late.”

“I don’t know about this,” came the Bajoran’s voice from beyond the closed doors leading into the other room.

Hopkins’ lips curled upwards. “It’s not too late to change your mind, you know,” she said, secretly still hoping that she would.

But then those doors opened and Lieutenant Nora Laas, former Bajoran resistance fighter and Starfleet Marine and current chief of security of the USS Eagle, emerged wearing a little red mini-dress nearly identical to the one Hopkins was wearing.

She was trying to push the hemline of the dress down but of course the material would not budge any further than her upper thighs. “I swear to the Prophets, this thing is the most ridiculous excuse for a uniform I’ve ever seen.”

In fact the last time Laas had seen a uniform this silly had been the day she had decided to join Starfleet many years ago. Of course back then she had also made the mental vow that if she was ever required to wear anything like this, she’d jump onto the first ship heading back to Bajor, Cardassian occupiers notwithstanding.

Louise on the other hand had no idea why she was trying so desperately (and unsuccessfully) to cover up more of her nylon-clad legs. Nora Laas had the perfect body for the outfit and she felt a momentary pang of jealousy over her athletic figure and muscular legs. “I think you look good in it.”

She finally let go of her dress and looked up. “Not a word about this to anyone.”

“Here is a thought,” she said. “Nothing that happens here will leave the holodeck, deal?”

Nora nodded.

“And you are sure you still want to play?”

“Let’s do this.”

The two women stepped out of the cabin and into the corridor. It wasn’t difficult to notice that her friend felt a bit self-conscious about being seen wearing that uniform even if it was just by holographic characters. Once she realized that about a quarter of the crew wore the same kind of clothes and that nobody on the surprisingly busy corridors gave her a second look she began to be more comfortable even if she was clearly not quite her assured self again.

“So what are we doing?” she asked as she walked alongside Hopkins.

“First things first,” said the engineer. “While I waited for you to get ready I made the necessary changes to the program for you. You are now Lieutenant Nora, chief of security of the USS Lexington.”

The Bajoran nodded. “Not too much of a stretch. I think I can handle that.”

“Now the computer knows who you are and what you can do. It is designed to create challenges based on the profile of the participating players so be on your guard.”

“Expect the unexpected. Nothing new there either. What else?”

They stepped into a turbolift and Nora was momentarily startled that it only started moving after Hopkins had taken hold of a handle mounted on the wall.

Louise smirked. “Well, we are over one-hundred years in the past so a lot of things will be very different but I’m sure you’ll catch up. This entire program is based on the historic Lexington and her crew with some creative modifications.”

“What kind of modifications?”

Hopkins seemed a bit hesitant to answer that question straight away. “Well, for starters I’m the chief engineer and you’re the security officer. Also the program is designed to create random events and to keep things interesting they are only very loosely based on actual events. Right this moment Lexington is trying to stop a–as of yet–unidentified device which is threatening to devour an inhabited planet whole.”

“That sounds serious.”

She nodded. “We’re on our way to a senior officers briefing to figure out what our next step should be. I have a pretty good idea of what we need to do, so just follow my lead.”

“No problem.”

The lift stopped, the doors opened and Nora began to head for the exit.

“One more thing,” said Hopkins.

Laas turned to look at her.

“There are some other things you should probably know about this simulation so that they won’t come as a surprise to you.”

But the Bajoran held up her hand to stop her. “Don’t worry about it. Not knowing what’s going to happen is part of the excitement, isn’t it? Let’s just try and have fun,” she said and stepped out of the lift.

Hopkins couldn’t help but utter a heavy sigh.

Louise Hopkins was very much aware of her friend’s strengths and weaknesses. She was more than anything else a fighter. A warrior even. She was skilled like none other she knew in hand-to-hand combat as well as in using a mindboggling number of weapons, energy or bladed or blunted made little difference to her. She was also quite a decent leader. Not so much because of her charisma (which wasn’t particularly well developed, in her humble opinion) but because of her ability to inspire her people through her own bravery and confidence.

All that made her an ideal security officer.

Space combat on the other hand was not her strong suit. She had attended all the tactical classes that were required for a cadet wishing to join the security division while at the Academy but she had never excelled at those and nobody on Eagle would have ever suggested that she fill in as a tactical officer on the bridge.

As such the problem Lexington was currently facing, battling a massively powerful machine which if unchecked would continue on a path of unfathomable destruction and the deaths of billons of lives, was not one that suited her particular skill set.

Louise felt a little bit sorry for her after she herself had practically taken over the senior staff meeting, giving a detailed report about their enemy, its suspected offensive and defensive capabilities and her own theories on destroying it.

All the other officers in attendance, the commodore, first officer Kuznetsov, science chief Talana Zha'Thara and even CMO Vincent participated in the conversation dominated by Hopkins. Nora Laas however remained quietly in her seat, apparently pretending to study the content of one of those clunky padds while the others talked. Whenever Lou shot her a quick furtive glance she appeared to be otherwise engaged.

Hopkins didn’t let this stop her. After all this was her simulation and her time to shine. “Essential this ‘planet-killer’ is fairly similar to what the Enterprise discovered a few years ago. Scans confirm that it is composed of the same neutronium material that will make it impossible for us to damage it externally. From what I can tell, the only means to destroy this thing is from the inside. The Enterprise managed to do this by maneuvering a damaged starship inside and detonating its warp core remotely.”

“We don’t have another starship,” Kuznetsov said.

“What if we used a shuttle?” said the Andorian science officer.

Hopkins shook her head. “They tried that without success. A shuttle’s power plant would not be able to create the energy required.”

The Russian shook his head. “And we can’t wait for Starfleet to send another ship. By the time it gets here this system would be dust and billions of people dead,” he said and looked at Wesley.

The commodore nodded and made eye contact with the chief engineer who had remained on her feet. “Something tells me you have another idea, Louise.”

Hopkins couldn’t quite help for her lips to curl up into a small smile as she noticed Wesley’s eyes upon her. They were filled with brimming confidence like those of a man who knew that when things got tough and if nobody knew the answer, he could always count on her to come through. It wasn’t the kind of look she was accustomed to outside the holodeck. But she enjoyed it immensely.

She nodded with equal confidence and then depressed a few buttons on a computer console, switching on the three-way monitor at the center of the table.

It displayed the massive doomsday machine and then the comparably tiny Lexington approaching its huge opening, which burned in angry red and yellow colors.

“As we don’t have another warp core available we have no choice but to use our own. But in order to be successful we have to maneuver the ship at least fifty meters inside the device. We fit the core with timed detonators, eject it and then escape at full impulse,” she said as the senior staff watched the demonstration on the monitors with rapt attention. Even Nora had looked up from her padd to see this part.

The simulation ended with the planet-killer destroyed and Lexington watching from a safe distance.

When nobody spoke up, Hopkins once again took the initiative. “If my analysis is correct, and I’m sure Talana can confirm, the energy output of this device falls off drastically just after it has … consumed, I supposed is the right word, a planetoid. From what we’ve seen it requires about forty-five minutes to fully recharge and be able to either attack another planet or engage us with its antiproton beam,” she said and hit another button which caused a timer to appear on the screens. “That gives us a window of thirty-one minutes to carry out this plan. I estimate that we require about twenty-five minutes to pull this off which will give us a nice little safety cushion.” Hopkins simply had to stop at this point for no other reason than to catch her breath. She was not used to giving long speeches.

Considering the limited time-frame available it was perhaps a little bit discouraging to find that nobody in the room seemed to be in any kind of hurry, especially not Wesley who kept watching the simulation which continued to run in an infinite loop. His stone-faced façade slipped every time he saw his ship slip just inside the massive doomsday device.

Apparently Aliz Bathory, their young helmswoman, was experiencing a similar dilemma. “Couldn’t we just eject the core in this things flight path without actually having to enter it?”

Louise quickly shook her head. “I’ve thought of that, too. But our chances of success decrease by twenty percent for every one hundred meters. Unless we are practically sitting inside, I cannot guarantee that this will work. And we only have one shot at this.”

Time was ticking away when the commodore finally managed to tear himself away from the monitor and turned to the engineer again. “So you want me to put my ship into the middle of a machine that can slice apart a planet like a hot knife through butter?”

“Yes,” she said with the kind of blunt conviction she rarely felt in real life.

It seemed to work on Wesley who began to nod slowly.

“What if there was another way of stopping this device?”

All heads turned towards their new security chief who of course, as far as the holographic crew of the Lexington was concerned, was no stranger at all.

“There is no other way,” Hopkins said quickly, shooting a quick glance at the timer. Her comfortable cushion was slowly evaporating. Of course that would make things more interesting but also make failure more likely. She tried to hide her frustration at her friend’s interruption of her master plan.

“Maybe there is,” she said and then stood up and walked up next to the engineer to be able to manipulate the computer console.

Louise watched her with a frown she couldn’t quite keep off her face.

On the monitors the image zoomed in closer onto the planet-killer until it filled out the entire screen. “Take a look at this,” she said and gestured towards the monitors, which had now focused on a singular point on the massive hull of the device. There appeared to be a noticeable deviation on the outer hull’s surface and for a moment they looked like unevenly shaped, brightly lit panels of some kind.

“Are those … windows?” Bathory said.

Laas nodded. “I think there might be to some sort of command center. The hull is still too strong for our weapons to have much of an effect but I bet that we could beam through the weaker parts of the hull and possibly find a way to shut it down from the inside.”

Hopkins couldn’t take her eyes off the screen. There was no doubt that her friend was right. Those were clearly viewports and the scan results not only confirmed that a transporter beam could penetrate that part of the hull they also seemed to be certain that they would find a breathable atmosphere. And still she shook her head. “That’s impossible.”

But Wesley seemed to like the idea. “If it really is a command center than you should be able to find a way to shut this thing down from in there. Lieutenant?”

“That shouldn’t be there,” Hopkins mumbled to herself.

“Louise,” Wesley said, his voice never indicating any signs of impatience.

The engineer quickly faced him. “Sir?”

“I think I’d be much more comfortable with the idea of beaming over a team than risking the entire ship by putting it inside that thing.”

It was Nora who responded. “We’ll go over there and find a way to shut it down.”

Wesley nodded. “Good. Time is working against us. We have half an hour before this thing is ready to consume the next planet,” he said and stood. “Aliz, get us into transporter range. Commander, assemble a landing party. You have your orders people. Let’s make this work.”

With that the commodore and the rest of the senior officers quickly left the conference room leaving only Hopkins and Nora behind.

“I can see why you’re enjoying this,” said the Bajoran once they were alone. “It’s kind of stimulating, isn’t it?”

But Hopkins had sat down in the chair, for the first time since they had started this briefing, and was still looking over that monitor. “I don’t get it. A command center? That makes no sense. There shouldn’t be a command center on that thing.”

Nora put a hand on her shoulder. “You said it yourself, the simulation adjusts to its players. It probably figured out that I wouldn’t be much use in your solution and figured out something else. Pretty clever if you ask me.”

The engineer nodded slowly accepting the explanation in lieu of having a better one. But her disappointment was obvious. She had been so excited to having found a solution to this problem and so confident in the notion that Wesley and the crew would trust in her advice that it was deflating to have the one person who ordinarily had no interest in these kind of fantasies find a better one.

It wasn’t difficult to notice her mood change. “Don’t worry Lou, I’m sure there’ll still be plenty of challenges left once we get over there. But we shouldn’t linger too long. You heard the Commodore, we don’t have a lot of time,” she said with a clearly amused smile.

The fact that Nora was getting into this was not making Hopkins feel any better about her stealing away her moment of triumph. And yet she forced herself to forget and adapt. She stood from the chair, smoothed out her uniform and headed for the exit. “Let me show you to the transporter room.”

“The same genius who thought it be a good idea for women to wear a mini-dress must have been the guy who figured that bright red is the color security officers should be wearing. Why not just paint a bulls eye on my back?”

But Louise Hopkins was paying little attention to her friend’s complaints as they were walking towards the transporter room, still trying to figure out how to stop this planet-killer without, what she had thought to be, her ingenious plan of detonating the warp core inside of it.

Now that Wesley had gone with Nora’s suggestion there was not enough time left to try hers if they’d fail. Only now did she realize that she had been so preoccupied with planning her own triumph that she had never allowed for the possibility that somebody could have a better idea. And of course it wasn’t really a better idea. It was merely the computer having adapted to the new player and giving them an alternative means to overcome their opponent.

She was still so much in thought that she didn’t even notice the officers already waiting for them when they stepped into the transporter room.

“Quaint,” said Laas as she took in the old-fashioned platform and simple computer console.

Besides the transporter operator there were three other men who were apparently going to accompany them.

Commander Alexei Kuznetsov, the Russian first officer which she had since learned was nicknamed the Bear and for perfectly good reason. He reminded her of a number of Marines she had known in her time. Tough, to-the-point, and little to no sense of humor. She could appreciate a man like that.

The other man, who like herself wore red and which was contrasted quite beautifully with his coal-colored skin tone was of African descent. He could also have been mistaken for a Marine, thanks to his excellent, muscular physique.

Laas was just about to bemoan how few non-humans seemed to inhabit twenty-second century Starfleet vessels when she spotted the third man of the team. She knew this person quite well and was surprised of finding him here.

He was a tall Vulcan wearing a powder blue uniform shirt and an insignia which seemed to hint that he was a science officer.

She gave him a big smirk. “Commander, I didn’t think you’d be here as well. This doesn’t seem like your kind of thing.”

The Bear and the Zulu security officer looked at her with startled expressions but Xylion merely raised an eyebrow. “Considering the circumstances, it may be more appropriate if you were to refer to me as Lieutenant,” he said in his typical, calm Vulcan voice.

She nodded quickly. “Of course, Lieutenant,” she said and shot the other two men a quick glance. “My mistake,” she added but couldn’t quite suppress the silly smirk on her lips. It didn’t totally escape her that Xylion was a great deal better at play-acting than she was.

“Laas, can I have a quick word?” Hopkins said as she acknowledged the three men, giving the Vulcan a slightly longer look, before turning towards Nora.

But the Bear was not going to have it. “There is no time for chitchat,” he said in an impatient tone. “In case you forgot, the planet-killer will be in range of the next planet in less than thirty minutes. Take your positions.” The first officer’s tone left little room to argue. This was a man used to giving order and used to people following them without question.

A language Nora apparently understood quite well and she was the first one on the platform.

The others followed with Hopkins the last person to take her position.

“You better brace yourselves,” the transporter officer, a gruff Tellarite, said. “We can be certain if the transporter can even teleport through the hull of that Gods-forsaken monstrosity. In any case, better hold on to your butts, it’ll be a rough ride.”

“Understood,” said Kuznetsov. “Energize.”

Hopkins’ ensuing anxiety had little to do with the uncertainty of a successful beam-in.

The inside of the planet killer was very much like the outside. With an absence of straight lines and an abundance of odd angles, the place reminded Louise more of the interior of the House of Horrors at the Ottawa summer fair than the interior of an unstoppable device of mass destruction.

The walls and ceilings were mostly asymmetrical bluish surfaces shimmering like wet stone or polished marble. The floors, thankfully, were perfectly smooth and designed for regular humanoids who depended on even surfaces.

The chamber the away team had materialized in was a spacious room with a series of large window panes installed in the ceiling some ten meters above them through which they could spot the distinctive form of the Lexington.

There were computer panels installed in the room and thick awkward angled conduits which connected the workstations and then disappeared deeper into the device, a latticework of power lines and data tubes arranged in no quickly apparent order.

Numerous open corridors branched out form this place and presumably led deeper into the planet-killer.

Louise was fairly certain that all this was nothing more than a clever computer construct, something invented by the holodeck on the spot to make the program itself more challenging, and not based on the actual planet-killer the Enterprise and the ill-fated Constellation had come across. To make things more interesting and allow for surprises, she had purposefully asked for this program to play loose with actual historic facts and realities. She was beginning to regret this now.

“Well, this wasn’t too bad,” said Laas. “Hardly felt a thing.”

Xylion reached for his tricorder, which was strapped around his shoulders, opened the flap and began to scan his surroundings. “Fascinating,” he said as he studied his readouts. “I’m detecting a significant amount of energy consumption and computing power in this chamber. It would be logical to assume that this is indeed the central control room for this device and that therefore we may be able to affect its movements and functions from this location.”

“We’re in the right place,” said the Bear. “You could have just said that we’re in the right place.”

The Vulcan shot the first officer a glance, implying that that would have hardly been his style.

“Any life signs?” said Nora out of a force of habit. As a real-life security officer she had taken part in countless away mission and her foremost concern had always been to identify any threats. It seemed prudent to do the same thing here.

“I read no other bio-signs outside of those of the landing party.”

Hopkins put down a toolkit she had brought along and removed her own tricorder. “So I suppose we better get to work. We don’t have much–“

The sound of approaching footsteps cut her short. And from the quickly increasing noise it was fair to assume that whoever was approaching was bringing along company. A lot of company.

“I though you said there was nobody else here,” said the Bajoran who quickly had the old-fashioned phaser in hand. She may not have known much about this era but she knew weapons and didn’t need instructions on how to use the pistol shaped device.

Xylion glanced back down. “I can confirm no life sign readings. However, I do detect–“

“Robots!”

Kuznetsov was spot on. At least a dozen man-sized robotic machines walked into the room and then stopped just by the entrance they had used.

Their design was obviously based on bipedal humanoids, complete with feet, legs, torso, arms, hands and a conically-shaped head. They were painted in dull-gray colors and had no noticeable features except for a ring of blue light located roughly were a humanoid’s eyes would have been and spanning around the entirety of their heads.

One of the robots stood slightly ahead of all the others and it slowly raised its arm into the direction of the away team.

“You think it might want to shake hands?” Hopkins said.

The robot hand dropped down to reveal gleaming tubes attached to its upper wrist.

Laas shook her head. “I don’t think it’s trying to say hello,” she said. “Take cover!”

The away team scrambled to get behind the computer consoles just in time for those tubes to reveal themselves as disruptor-blasting gun ports.

“Would have been too easy,” mumbled Hopkins.

Nora, already returning fire, watched with satisfaction as her phaser beam was dead on target, blasting into the firing robot’s torso and unceremoniously dropping it to the ground like a marionette which strings had been suddenly cut.

The other security officer, Nealo Mtolo, and Kuznetsov quickly joined and in short order half of the drones were cut down.

It was only then that the remaining robots decided to return fire, now using both blaster equipped arms and slowly approached the away team while shooting. With their arms stretched out before them and hands dangling down, they looked not unlike a horde of undead zombies. Albeit robotic ones with deadly disruptor blasts coming out of their arms.

Thankfully they didn’t posses much in the means of shielding and were relatively easily disposed of. The threat would have been neutralized quite quickly if it hadn’t been for the fact that for every robot they managed to take down, two more seemed to appear from the hallway.

“We don’t have time for this,” Hopkins said. “We need to get this thing shut down and we can’t do that if we battle it out with these androids.”

Nora agreed. “What we need to do is draw them away so that you and Xylion can get to work,” she said and then looked towards the first officer. It felt odd to her to have to get approval from a hologram but he was supposed to be her superior officer and some habits were hard to break.

Kuznetsov quickly nodded. “Agreed. We'll split up and try to draw them away from this chamber. I'll go first while you provide cover fire. Ensign, you go next and Nora you try to get the rest of those blasted machines to follow you."

The plan was solid and worked pretty much as advertised. When Kuznetsov rushed into the hallway he took a whole bunch of robots with him and the same was true for Mtolo who headed into an opposite direction.

Laas moved closer to her friend before it was her turn. “This is kind of fun,” she said while continuing to return fire towards the now thinned out crowd of robots. “Are you going to be alright?”

She nodded. “I should be fine. With any luck most of the remaining androids will follow you.”

“Hold your fire when I go.”

Louise shot her a quizzical expression. “You’ll need cover fire.”

She shook her head. “I’m counting on those things being rather simple. If they don’t register anyone else firing at them, they might think nobody’s left and all follow me.”

“Safety protocols might be in place but I’m sure getting hit by one of those blasts is still going to be a world of pain.”

“Well, then I’ll have to make sure not to get shot, right?” she said with a clearly amused twinkle in her eyes. “You said it yourself, this is supposed to be a challenge.”

Hopkins really had nothing to say to that and then watched with bated breath as the Bajoran leaped from behind the console and towards one of the many hallways.

The robots took aim but Laas seemed to be too fast for them as she weaved back and forth and from one console to the next. As a final bit of athletic prowess she performed a couple of rolls on the floor to avoid the hailstorm of disruptor fire.

Hopkins had to smirk watching her. The mini-dress had clearly not been designed for those kind of moves.

But Laas managed to get where she needed to go without as much as a grazing shot. She opened fire again and Hopkins realized that she had been right. The remaining robots focused in on her and took off in pursuit as she rushed further down the dark corridor.

All but two androids.

Hopkins looked at Xylion and mouthed the words on three.

He nodded understandingly.

She counted down. Three, two, one.

They both stood from beneath their cover and fired.

The two androids went down instantly.

With a satisfied smirk Hopkins reattached the phaser to her belt and looked at the Vulcan. "Looks like it's just the two of us now."

Louise Hopkins had always admired Xylion. At first she had thought it was merely because as a Vulcan he had a natural tendency to understand the things that she was most fond of. Machines.

With the exception of Nora Laas with whom she had spent three years as a roommate at the Academy, Louise had always found it a challenge to get on with people and once upon a time it had nearly kept her from joining Starfleet at all and instead signed on to the Daystrom Institute.

There was something inherently complicated about people to her and very often they had the tendency to say one thing while thinking the exact opposite. Not that she was immune herself to such notions but it was especially frustrating when having to deal with others.

No such problems existed with computers, warp cores or EPS flow regulators. Or in fact with Xylion.

Vulcans were not machines however and over the years on Eagle she had come to appreciate the differences. She had also realized that her attraction to the tall science officer went far beyond his flawless logic.

Put simply, she enjoyed his company and from time to time she allowed herself to think that he enjoyed hers.

She as an engineer and he as a scientist had plenty of reasons to work together and when they did they usually produced excellent results. And even though they were now faced with an imaginary problem in an imaginary environment, they nevertheless proved once more how well they complemented each other.

“These are without doubt the main power relays feeding directly into the antiproton release valves but we won’t be able to just cut into them considering that any attempt would most likely release the built up energy and fry everything within a one thousand meter radius to a crisp,” she said after she had completed her initial investigation of the conduits she had been studying with Xylion’s help.

“It may be possible to reroute main energy instead of cutting it off entirely.”

Hopkins shot him a look as if he had just revealed the meaning of life to her. “Of course, redirect. But to where?”

The Vulcan glanced towards the large panels above them through which they could now see that the planet-killer was heading straight towards its next meal, a world populated with millions of inhabitants who had no clue that their very existence was being threatened by a massive doomsday machine. “If the energy is redirected towards the antiproton emitters that may cause an overload but also release enough power to still seriously damage the planet.”

Hopkins nodded along in agreement. “Which means we need to redirect the energy away from the emitters and directly into the hull.”

“A logical conclusion,” he said.

“But will it be able to sustain that amount of energy?”

“Unknown. Neutronium is an extremely dense state of matter. In theory it is indestructible. However, the energy output of this device is beyond our means to measure. At this point it is impossible to estimate the effect.”

“Unmovable object meeting irresistible force,” said Hopkins with a grin.

“In essence, yes.”

“And it’s probably safe to say that once we transfer a gazillion volts of current into the hull this will quickly become a very unpleasant place to be.”

“Unquestionably.”

A chirping sound interrupted their considerations. For a moment Louise wasn’t quite sure what it meant until Xylion glanced at the communicator attached to her belt.

She quickly retrieved the small, rectangular shaped device and flipped it open with a shake of her wrist. “This is Hopkins.”

“Wesley here. What’s your status, Lieutenant?”

“Sir, we have encountered some resistance but Kuznetsov and the others were able to distract them leaving Xylion and me to work on a solution to our problem.”

“Understood. I thought I let you know that time is running out. We anticipate the device being in firing range within twenty minutes, so whatever you have to do, do it quickly,” he said but sounded neither stressed nor impatient. “I know you thrive under pressure, Lou. Can’t ask for more pressure than this.”

This caused the engineer to smile. She wondered if Commodore Robert Wesley had really talked like that. If so, she would have enjoyed serving under him.  Something to be said for a captain who not only kept his cool in a tense situation but also managed to maintain a sense of humor. “We have a plan of action, sir, which we think may work. But we expect that we will require a quick getaway as soon as we are through here.”

“Very well. Get started and we’re brining the Lady back into transporter range. Good luck. Wesley Out.”

Xylion had already removed the access panels to get to the circuitry they would need to manipulate for the task at hand by the time Louise had closed the communicator and joined him.

Hopkins quickly found that most of the systems looked satisfyingly alien as was to be expected from a machine whose origins hadn’t even been established in her time. And yet the basics were not too different from the EPS power grids on a starship.

They didn’t have much time to affect the reallocation of the immense power plant that was running the device’s weaponry and they had to work carefully considering that they were playing with immeasurable energy levels.

But Wesley had been absolutely correct. Louise Hopkins, like many other Starfleet engineers before her, excelled at working under exactly these conditions. A fast approaching, non-negotiable deadline it turned out was just the motivation she needed.

The trick for her had always been not to think about anything other than the job at hand. Not to worry about the time restraints, not to contemplate that failure would mean the certain death of millions and especially not to pay any attention to your own feelings for the man you were working with.

Unfortunately the last point was surprisingly difficult. As expected, they worked well together. They both knew exactly what needed to be done and approached the task almost as one. Xylion would pass her the tool that she needed without her even having to point out which one was required and Louise would have the answers to the questions he hadn’t even asked yet.

But they also worked in a very tight space together and her undeniable physical attraction to the Vulcan kept her inching closer towards him instead of allowing him as much room as possible. It didn’t help that Xylion didn’t seem to mind their close proximity at all, encouraging her further.

At one point, tackling a task that required four hands, they brushed so close to each other that their faces were mere inches apart. Hopkins had looked straight into Xylion’s emerald colored eyes and allowed herself to wonder what it be like to kiss him right then and there.

The moment lasted all but a couple of seconds and yet it stayed with her as they continued.

Hopkins’ inappropriately distracting thoughts aside they managed to do as they had set out, putting in place a procedure which would redirect the destructive energy, designed to power the planet-devouring antiproton beam directly into the massive machine’s hull.

While the energy build-up was in progress–and Hopkins and Xylion could feel that it had already begun by the increasing vibrations all around them–Lou allowed herself a moment of rest and triumph, taking a seat on the cold floor and leaning against a computer console.

Xylion sat next to her.

“We did it,” she said, keeping her eyes at the latticework of circuitry, which they had manipulated for the last twenty minutes.

Xylion nodded. “The energy build up is under way and should lead to a catastrophic system malfunction within minutes. You have done an excellent job.”

She turned to look at him. “I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you.”

He looked back at her but said nothing.

Louise didn’t exactly know what made her do what she did next. Perhaps it was the fact that while she had been on the holodeck she had felt like a different person, like somebody with the self-confidence to do the things she would never have done in the real world. The truth was, it was something she’d always wanted to do and now it simply felt like the right time to finally do it, no matter that it so obviously wasn’t.

Xylion didn’t try to stop her when she leaned over and pressed her lips onto his. He didn’t even seem surprised. Instead he gave back as much as she was giving him and allowed her to put her hands around his neck and then brush through his hair, touch his ears and ultimately stroke his face while they exchanged an unexpectedly passionate kiss.

Louise heart was thumping in her chest with such force it rocked her world. She didn’t realize that it wasn’t her heart but instead unfathomable amounts of pure energy, which were causing the chamber to tremble.

Eventually she had to come up for air and when she did she saw Xylion’s face, flushed with a tint of green, betraying the pleasure he undoubtedly had felt from the kiss.

“Lieutenant.”

Hopkins turned her head to see Kuznetsov had stepped back into the control room along with Mtolo and Nora.

The Russian was wearing his semi-permanent frown which made it difficult to ascertain if he was more annoyed than usual to find his officers in the middle of a romantic episode at the most inopportune time.

The dark-skinned Mtolo on the other hand was revealing rows of pearly white teeth as he gave them a wide grin.

But Hopkins only jumped up and away from the Vulcan when she saw Nora Laas who wasn’t quite able to close her mouth. The Bajoran woman’s uniform and pantyhose were ripped in a few places, giving proof that her battle against the androids had been the most challenging one. And judging by the state of her dress she had eventually gone in close and personal with her opponents, something that had come hardly as a surprise to anyone. She had however not expected to see Eagle’s chief engineer eagerly making out with their Vulcan science officer.

“Laas, it’s not what you think,” she said quickly, her face turning a deep shade of red and her voice taking on a panicked edge. She was completely ignoring the other two officers as well as the increasingly precarious vibrations, which were forcing everyone present to struggle to maintain their balance.

The Bajoran raised her hands. “It’s alright, Lou. It’s just that … I had no idea you two … you know. I feel really silly now. I shouldn’t have imposed myself on your simulation–“

Louise quickly shook her head. “You didn’t. I mean it’s not like that. I can’t really–“

“We need to get out of here, now!” Kuznetsov interrupted sharply.

“Maybe I should just go,” said Nora.

This statement confused the first officer, which only added to his already significant annoyance. He reached for his communicator. “We’ll all go.”

That’s when the computer consoles all around them began to explode.

But Hopkins was still focusing on her friend. “Laas, you don’t have to go, really.”

“Watch out,” Mtolo warned and pushed the Bajoran aside when part of the ceiling began to collapse.

Nora landed on the ground and cursed herself for not paying attention to her surroundings anymore. Considering what she had walked into perhaps it was somewhat understandable. Hopkins had tried to warn her to expect the unexpected but nothing could have quite prepared her for this. “Computer, pause program.”

“No, don’t.”

Regrettably for Louise no, don’t was not a command the computer was programmed to recognize and so the entire simulation stopped abruptly with every fragment coming lose from the ceiling suddenly stopped in mid-air, every explosion and plume of smoke frozen in time and Kuznetsov and Mtolo standing as still as stone statues.

Nora picked herself up again. “Sorry Lou, I know this is cheating but you guys had me so distracted I nearly got knocked out,” she said with a little smile as she curiously looked at the razor-sharp shards of ceiling which were now suspended just above her head. “You know what? I’m just going to leave you two alone,” she said but when she looked back at her friend she found her staring down at the floor, refusing to make eye contact.

“I’m sorry, Commander,” she told Xylion who was standing a few meters behind the engineer. “I shouldn’t have interrupted in the first place,” she added, clearly feeling embarrassed herself by this situation.

Then she turned around. “Computer, exit.”

Immediately a large door appeared were moments ago there had been nothing but solid wall. She took two steps towards the exit and then stopped.

Something had been very out of place and she couldn’t quite put her finger on what it had been. Her instinct had been to make a quick getaway but now she felt the urge to find out what exactly had startled her.

She turned around again and spotted it instantly.

Xylion was not moving at all. Not even an iota.

“Louise?”

She looked up at her very slowly, her face bright red in shame.

Nora approached her. “He’s part of the simulation?”

She nodded.

“Oh, Lou.”

“I know it’s wrong. I really do. You have to believe me, it didn’t start out with him being any part of this. At first I wasn’t even the chief engineer, just another crewman on Commander G’arv’s staff. But after a while I kept changing things. I took his place and I made the crew respect me and look up to me and it all felt so good that I thought, why not add somebody else whose respect I wanted so desperately? I know I went too far,” she stammered.

“I don’t understand, it’s not as if you are not respected on Eagle.”

She shook her head. “But it’s different here. When I’m out there,” she said, pointing towards the doors, “I always feel this anxiety and that fear that people don’t really believe in me. Especially when I’m not in engineering. Maybe it’s nonsense, I don’t know but I just can’t get the confidence to say what I think. In here I don’t have that problem.”

“I think I understand. But putting Xylion into your fantasy? A real person you work with? There is something very wrong with that."

She didn’t say anything to that.

“You like him, don’t you?” she said.

Louise nodded.

Nora sighed. “Leave it to you to fall for the most unattainable person on this ship. Might as well have a crush on the captain while you’re at it.”

She shot her an icy look.

“Sorry,” she said quickly. “But, Lou, you can’t do this. It’s extremely disrespectful and probably in violation of half a dozen regulations, if not laws, to re-create a real, living person on the holodeck and do … you know, do what you did.”

“We’ve never done anything–”

Nora cut her off. “You’ve done more than you should have.”

“I know,” she said, her shoulders slumping visibly.

Nora hugged her friend and Hopkins didn’t resist, in fact she seemed to be grateful for the gesture of the stronger woman taking her into her arms. It was not something she was accustomed to from Nora Laas who possessed plenty of emotions but usually very few of the sympathetic or comforting kind.

“Listen, you don’t have to tell me how hard it is to have feelings for someone who you are not sure has the same feelings for you,” said the Bajoran after they had separated again. “But not too long ago our situations were reversed and you came after me while I was trying to hide away in a holodeck, afraid to show my feelings openly. You gave me some good advice back then and perhaps it is time to return the favor.”

Louise looked at her. “That was different. I wouldn’t even know where to start with my problems.”

“Start by not using all your time living in a fantasy world. Start by talking to somebody about your feelings. And I don’t mean just your feelings for Xylion. You also have to open up about your anxieties and confidence issues. You owe it to yourself and those who rely on you that you do whatever you can to have the confidence to do your job right.”

She nodded slowly. “Can I talk to you?”

Nora smiled. “Of course. But I gotta tell you, this stuff isn't exactly my field. Maybe you should also talk to a counselor. There is no shame in that and they are trained to deal with exactly this kind of thing.”

Louise looked around the holodeck and the frozen faces of the holographic people around her, including the one she had been kissing passionately just moments before, her mind completely and conveniently ignoring the fact that he hadn’t been real. She looked upwards towards the viewports to see the graceful lines of the Lexington on fast approach but now, like everything else around them, stopped dead in her tracks.

She sighed. “I supposed I should try it your way,” she finally said as she looked back at Laas.

“What about all this?”

“Computer,” said Hopkins and then waiting on the telltale trill, which would indicate that it was ready to receive instructions. “End program Hopkins-One and delete.”

The computer beeped in acknowledgement again and within seconds the artificial world around them had dissipated to be replaced by a black room entirely covered in a yellow grid pattern.

“I’m going to miss Wesley and Lady Lex but I think you're right. It’s time to leave the past where it belongs, abandon fantasy and face the real world. For better or worse."

Laas gave her a good-natured clasp on her back as they walked towards the exit together. “And look at the upside. We get to wear proper uniforms again.”

“I actually liked those. Maybe I could petition Starfleet to bring them back.”

Nora gave her the evil eye. “Don’t even think about it.”

And a Star to Steer Her By

Featuring characters from DarKush’s Dark Territory, Galen4’s Star Trek: Intrepid and TheLoneRedshirt’s Tales of the USS Bluefin

February 2372

There were a few constants in the universe that simply would never change. Matter and anti-matter would always explode when coming into contact with each other, a black hole would always swallow up all light surrounding it, Klingons and Romulans would never see eye to eye on anything and starship officers would always butt heads with starbase personnel.

And the worst kind of starship officers would always be captains. Always demanding, always imbued with that sense of self-importance and always with the unshakable belief that their mission, their ship and their crew was the one most significant in all the known galaxy.

Amaya Donners didn’t care for starship captains and yet she had made it four years as the executive officer of the space station Deep Space Five, having dealt with countless ship commanders, without ever letting them to believe that this energetic, efficient, comely woman harbored but the slightest resentment against them and their ilk.

After all she was quick to flash a pretty smile and ensure that the captains who came to her with their requests would get exactly what they asked for and sometimes even what they needed.

It was a terrifically well-maintained façade.

“Look, Commander, I appreciate that your people have a full slate, I really do. But I don’t have the time to sit here for three more days and wait for them to get around to the Guadalajara. If it was anything other than the warp coils I wouldn’t even waste your time but without the overhaul we won’t even make it half way to Starbase 12 where we are expected urgently.”

Amaya’s dark skin wasn’t prone to blushing and that certainly helped in this situation. She so wanted to tell him straight and without mincing words that there was simply no way that she could have her work crews skip a navigational deflector replacement on the Galaxy-class USS Venture so that they could tend to his little Oberth science vessel which inexplicably had gotten itself into one seriously bad fix and now had the scars to prove it.

Instead and as always she kept her cool. “I want to help, Commander. But it’s just not going to happen. I can promise you that your ship will be fully warp capable by the day after tomorrow and you’ll be able to get to wherever you need to go then.”

“I would prefer if you’d refer to me as captain.”

She caught herself glaring at him but replaced it with a more amicable facial expression so quickly that he probably never even noticed. “Of course, I apologize, Captain.” But it was getting to her that this man, younger than her, holding the same rank, needed to make a show of being referred to by his title. It was his right of course and she mentally berated herself for the slip-up.

He waved it off as if it wasn’t a big deal at all even though she could tell from the look in his eyes that to him it was. “I’m not trying to make your life difficult.”

But he was so clearly doing just that.

It was only then that she saw something else in his eyes. Captain Jason Aubrey may have been younger than she was but his tired eyes seemed to belong to man a great deal older. Whatever he and his little ship had gone through had clearly taxed him enormously. And then there was that impatience brewing under the surface which he was fighting to keep from showing perhaps as much as she was trying to deflect from her own true feelings.

“But being second in the queue is simply not going to be good enough. I need to be out of here by tomorrow and I’m afraid neither one of us has a choice in that matter.”

“I really don’t think–“

Aubrey placed a padd on her desk. “Orders from Starfleet Command.”

Checkmate.

She simply looked at the padd without bothering to reach for it, slowly realizing that he could have played that card at any point but had waited until now that he had found her unwilling to be convinced by his insistence alone.

She looked up and thought that she could see pity in his face now. He shrugged. “Sorry,” he offered meekly.

Amaya Donners had a poker face like the best of them and showed no outwards sign of this game-changing revelation. Instead she picked up the padd and quickly scanned it over. It didn’t reveal what Aubrey and Guadalajara had been up to but it made it quite clear that the top brass at Command wanted him back at Starbase 12 without delay.

She nodded. “Very well, Captain,” she said. “I’ll have her prioritized and shipshape by late tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Commander,” he said and then quite unnecessarily added, “I appreciate your help.”

She gave him a quick nod, which he returned in kind before turning on his heels and stepping out of her office.

As soon as he was gone she dropped the padd unceremoniously back onto the desk. “Why me?”

Commander Amaya Donners had not always felt that way about starship captains. In fact, back at the Academy she had desperately wanted to be one herself some day. Time had the tendency to change one's outlook on life.

She had graduated near the top of her class and received a coveted billet as the helmsman of a brand new starship. She quickly came to realize that she had a real knack for engines and eventually became the chief engineer of the venerable USS Columbia. After serving years on that ship, she had been in line to take over the vacant first officer spot until a good friend of hers had come in to scoop it away from her. She hadn’t held it against Michael Owens at the time and received her own XO billet shortly thereafter on the Bellerophon.

Her assignment on that ship had lasted for all but two months before she was recruited away by Admiral Samson Glover to become his adjutant. She had never regretted that decision even if she felt a profound sadness and not a little bit of survivor’s guilt when she thought of the fate that had befallen the ship and crew she had barely known at Wolf 359 just weeks after her transfer.

But Deep Space Five had been the perfect match for her. It wasn’t a starship of course but running the station and serving as the admiral’s right hand woman had kept her fairly busy and she had risen to the challenge with great enthusiasm. She had also grown fond of her crew and of Samson who over the years had treated her like the daughter he had never had.

If it hadn’t been for those pesky starship captains insisting on throwing wrenches into the well-oiled machinery she had turned DS5 into, the galaxy would have been a perfect place.

Amaya stepped onto the operations center of the station and took a seat at her usual workstation. DS5 was by no means the most modern facility within Starfleet. On the contrary, the Orbiter-class station was a relict of the previous century and had the cramped interiors to prove it. But it was her station and she didn’t want to exchange it for anything.

“How did the meeting with Aubrey go?” asked Lieutenant Jasmine Mendes, the station’s chief of operations, from her own workstation.

“Bump her to the top of the list,” she said without looking up from her station, putting the orders into writing even as she spoke. “Pull as many people as you have to from the Venture to get Guadalajara’s new warp coils installed by tomorrow.”

“That bad, huh?” said Jasmine.

Amaya just shook her head. “Don’t even get me started.”

“I know you don’t want to hear this but Captain Ebnal won’t be happy if he’ll have to wait for his new deflector,” said the engineer.

“Tell him, tough luck.”

Lieutenant Raeger, the blonde-haired communications officer smirked. “Can I use those exact words?”

“Yes,” said Donners and then looked up when she realized what she had said. “No,” she corrected herself quickly and uttered a sigh. “If he has any concerns ask him to contact me and I’ll be happy to discuss them with him.”

Raeger looked at Mendes, still smirking. “And so her mission to keep peace among the unruly crowd of starship commanders continues. Another battle waged but the outcome of the war still very much in doubt.”

Amaya glared at the communications officer who refused to wipe that silly grin off her face. “I swear to God, Christine, if you don’t shut up soon I’m going to have you shown out of the nearest airlock.”

Raeger pointed at her superior officer. “Now that’s exactly how you should talk to your friends on those starships,” she said and looked at Mendes for confirmation. “Right?”

Jasmine smiled but shook her head. “Fat chance. Maya's simply too nice to say something like that and mean it.”

Donners grumbled. “I must be, seeing that I’m willing to put up with the likes of you two on a regular basis.”

Any further conversation on the subject was put on hold by an insisting beeping from Raeger’s station. “We’re getting an incoming message from Starfleet Command.”

This was hardly unusual. Admiral Glover was important enough in the fleet hierarchy to be in frequent contact with the top brass back on Earth. Donners turned to look towards his office adjacent to the operations center but could tell that he had not arrived yet. “Put it through to my station,” she said. As Glover’s adjutant she was quite used to speaking to high-ranking officials and while other officers of her rank and position may have been hesitant to field a direct call from the Commander, Starfleet or the CINC, she had never had any qualms about it.

“Coming through now,” announced the communications officer.

Donners screen switched to show the official Federation emblem and then the face of a gray-haired Starfleet admiral sitting at his desk. From the vista of the window just behind him it was clear he was calling from San Francisco.

The familiar face put a smile onto her lips. “Admiral, it is good to see you again.”

He appeared similarly pleased. “And you, Maya. How have you been?”

Donners was not one to complain even if she had good reason to so her smile never wavered. “Very well, thank you, sir.”

Jonathan Owens looked skeptical for a moment. They knew each other mostly because of Amaya’s close friendship with his son, Michael Owens. They had attended the Academy together and remained close afterwards, even after he had stolen her first officer position on the Columbia. And while Michael and his father had some undeniable issues with each other, Amaya had always understood that it was wise to keep on good terms with powerful men. It hadn’t been difficult with Owens, Sr. She genuinely liked the mysterious Starfleet admiral even if it was nearly impossible to figure out what exactly his duties entailed. Officially he was the head of something named the Department of Special Affairs and Investigations but his section was true to its cryptic name and nobody she’d ever met had been able to tell her what it was they did.

“Why do I have a hard time believing that? You can flash that pretty smile of yours all you want but I can tell something’s bothering you.”

“It’s nothing, Admiral, really. Just one of those days,” she said and then tried to change the subject. “I’m afraid if you’re looking for Admiral Glover, he is not in his office yet.”

But Owens was not easily distracted. “I think it’s that horrible little station of yours. What you need is a change of scenery,” he said sternly.

This she found rather annoying even if it didn’t show on her face. There was nothing wrong with the station and she certainly didn’t feel like leaving it. “You’ll better not let Admiral Glover hear you talk about DS5 that way,” she said with a playful grin.

He waved her off dismissively. “If it been up to me we would have replaced her years ago. I suppose resources are scarce at the moment,” he said and then added, “And you need to start thinking about your future, young lady.”

She liked Owens well enough but she really didn’t care for where this conversation was going. Thankfully her boss had decided to pick that moment to emerge from the turbolift. “Ah, the admiral is now available for you, sir.”

This actually caused Jonathan Owens to laugh. “You were always a smart one, Maya, knowing exactly how to tell somebody to mind their own damn business without actually saying it.”

“I would never presume to tell you anything of the kind, sir,” she said good-naturedly.

“Of course not. And don’t think you'll be able to dismiss me so easily. I’ve made it my life’s work to get involved into other people’s business so expect to hear from me again soon. I think I’ll hold for the admiral now. Pleasure speaking with you.”

“It was all mine, Admiral,” she said and then placed the call on hold and looked up just in time to see Samson Glover crossing over towards his office. “Good morning, sir.”

The tall man of African-American descent nodded towards his first officer. “Morning, Maya.”

“I’ve got Admiral Owens on the line for you.”

“Very well, please pipe him through to my office.”

Moments later and after Samson Glover had taken his seat behind his desk, Jonathan Owens’ face appeared on his computer screen. This time the man didn’t waste time with idle chitchat. “Samson, I have a favor to ask of you.”

The frown on Glover’s face turned uglier the longer he listened to what the other admiral had to say.

One Week Later

“You are staring again.”

A startled Commander Donners turned her head to look up at Christine Raeger who had just whispered into her ear before placing the latest communications log onto her workstation for review.

Donners scowled at the younger woman. “I wasn’t staring, I was thinking,” she said in an equally quite tone to make sure the subject of their conversation, sitting at the other end of the operations center would not overhear them.

“My mistake,” she said, gave her a grin and returned to her duties.

Amaya was fully aware how her deep thoughts could have been mistaken as her staring at the white haired and bearded Efrosian officer across the room. It didn’t help that Raeger and the rest of her officers already suspected that she resented the recent arrival.

This of course was not the case. He had come onto the station only a few days earlier and she hadn’t even had the chance to get to know the man. But popular opinion had it that the sudden appearance of an officer of equal rank and judging by his advanced age, of greater experience, and a rather under-defined job role had to be vexing to her and perhaps even indicate a vote of no-confidence in her abilities to run the station.

But the truth was that all this had happened so quickly and unexpectedly that Amaya simply wasn’t sure how to feel about his presence yet. The official word from Admiral Glover had been that Commander Rahul was DS5’s temporary second officer and would answer directly to her.

Rahul himself was a quiet sort who didn’t talk much unless he was spoken to but when he spoke it was with the confidence of a man who knew exactly what he was doing. His service jacket had shown that he was well over one hundred years old and it made her slightly uncomfortable to have to issue orders to a man who was more than twice her age. If anything she guessed that she could learn a thing or two from him.

All that was plenty of reason for her to be in deep thoughts.

She didn’t get much of a chance however to consider this peculiar development any further when Jasmine Mendes emerged out of the turbolift in what seemed to be a clearly exasperated mood. She was slightly shaking her head as she stepped closer. “Commander.”

Donners didn’t miss the fact that Rahul looked up from his station even though Mendes had clearly meant to address her.

“You’re not going to believe this,” she said. “Captain Solok wants us to go over the repairs schedule of the T’Kumbra again and he demands to have a senior command officer present this time. What is it with Vulcans anyway? If they think they can do a better job at this why come here at all?”

“Solok is a perfectionist even among Vulcans,” said Donners, who’d had the misfortune of having to deal with the notoriously difficult captain on previous occasions. “He’ll spend five hours to discuss a job that will take two. He won’t be happy until every last detail has been seen to,” she added and stood, sighing inwardly at the prospect of spending the rest of the afternoon with the nitpicking captain.

“Perhaps I can assist,” Rahul offered as he came over from his station. “Solok and I have history and he may be more amenable when dealing with an officer he is more familiar with,” he said and looked at Mendes who shot him an empty expression before looking over at Donners.

“Unless you would prefer to handle this yourself, Commander,” said Rahul who noticed the two women exchanging looks.

Amaya hadn’t even considered the possibility and her first instinct had been to dismiss this offer. If Solok wanted to speak to a senior command officer than that should have been her. But then of course this was not the kind of job she was looking forward to. She shook her head. “No objections, Commander,” she said. “If you want to take this one, be my guest.”

Rahul nodded and then turned to the operations chief. “I suggest we tend to Captain Solok immediately. The longer we keep him waiting the more difficult he becomes.”

“Sure,” Mendes said. She shot Donners another look, perhaps to see if she was truly alright with this and then led Rahul back to the turbolift.

“He’s real helpful, isn’t he?” said Reager once the two had left operations. She made a point to keep her eyes on her console however.

“Yes,” Donners said absentmindedly.

“You don’t think he might be up to something,” she said now looking up from her station.

“Like what?”

The communications officer shrugged her shoulders “I’m just saying, his sudden arrival on the station is rather suspicious, don’t you think? I’d watch my back if I were you.”

Amaya considered this for all but two seconds and then quickly shook her head. “I don’t have time to entertain your paranoid fantasies,” she said, picked up a padd and headed for Admiral Glover’s office.

He waved her in before she even had a chance to press the enunciator.

The admiral stood behind his desk as she strode in. Samson Glover was a man past his prime but not by very much. Still as tall and broad-shoulder as he must have been in his younger years, his hairline had noticeably receded and his close-cropped curls were more gray than black these days.

His broad smile which Amaya imagined had charmed countless women when he had been younger was much more fatherly now.

It had been his never say die personality and his magnetic charisma which had attracted her to work for him and even after four years, which had not always been easy, she simply could not imagine working for anyone else.

“Maya, how can I help you?”

Whatever she felt below the surface, she did a splendid job to keep those thoughts well hidden underneath a mask of stern professionalism. She held up the padd she had brought. “I have the weekly communication logs for your review.”

He frowned and she wasn’t exactly sure why until he located a padd of his own. He handed it to her and she looked it over to find that it contained exactly the same thing she had brought. She looked up at him. “I don’t understand.”

Glover seemed somewhat uncomfortable. “Commander Rahul provided the report earlier this morning.”

“I see,” she said, looking dumbfounded.

“I suppose we have to work on our lines of communication and responsibilities,” he said, clearly still not perfectly at ease on the subject. “Figure out exactly who does what around here.”

She nodded.

An awkward silence ensued.

“Anything else, Commander?”

She looked at the admiral as if she hadn’t realized that nobody had said anything for a while. “No, sir.”

“Very well.”

She gave him a quick nod and then turned to leave but she stopped before she reached the doors and turned around. “Admiral, may I ask you a question?”

“By all means.”

“Have you not been satisfied with my performance?”

Glover immediately shook his head. “No, not at all.”

“Sir?”

He grinned. “I mean, yes, I have been very satisfied with your performance,” he said and then held up a hand to stop her from responding. “And let me dispel any notion that Commander Rahul is here because I may not like what you’ve done here because that’s complete nonsense. Maya, you’re practically the lube that allows this station to run smoothly. Without you, well I don’t know what I would do.”

“I appreciate you saying that, sir, but if that is the case why bring in the commander?”

“Because you do much more than just run the station. You are also my main adjutant and I know that sometimes that can be a full-time job.”

“And you feel that I have not been able to handle the workload,” she said, nodding to herself to show her understanding.

He sighed. “No, I just think that it would help having another officer around with whom you can share the workload. Make things easier on you. Don’t see this as a reflection on your performance. Instead consider it a reward. It will allow you to slow down a bit,” he said but made a pointed effort not to glance directly at her while saying this.

Donners still managed a smile. “I will do that, thank you, sir,” she said and left the admiral’s office.

That smile was long gone by the time she returned to her quarters.

It had quickly become apparent that Rahul had already attended most of the duties she had planned to carry out that day and she suddenly found herself with little to nothing to do. Glover had told her to slow down and if that was what he wanted form her, than that was precisely what she was going to do. Unfortunately it was becoming more and more obvious that the quiet Efrosian was much too efficient to allow her to just slow down. At this pace she was going to find herself without anything to do at all.

Raeger’s warning echoed in her mind as she removed her uniform jacket and threw it carelessly on her bed not noticing that it began to stir slightly after it had landed on top of her bunched-up bed sheets.

Instead she headed for the washroom, deciding that a long relaxing bath was exactly the right thing to distract her from her growing thoughts of becoming redundant.

“You have an incoming message.”

Upon hearing the computer announcement she returned to her lounge and sat down in front of her desk, activating the computer screen.

She smiled upon seeing the familiar face. “Joe, what a surprise.”

“Hello there, kid,” said the white-haired, middle-aged man with a slight African accent. “How have you been?”

“Not too bad. How about yourself?”

Joseph Akinola nodded. “You know how it is. Still trying to keep the universe in order. Still chasing around Orion pirates or rescuing foolhardy freighter crews who think they can outrun ion storms.”

“Never be a shortage of those, I suppose.”

“You look good, Maya. It’s always difficult for me to believe that you are that same little thing that used to run around a border cutter like it was your personal playground.

She rolled her eyes in a dramatic fashion. “Just how I can’t believe how you manage to bring that up every time we see each other.”

“Which by the way is not nearly often enough.”

“No argument there,” she said. “What’s the occasions?”

“I don’t need an occasion to speak with my goddaughter, do I?”

She gave him a suspicious look.

“Bluefin just happened to be in the sector while we’re transporting a few prisoners to Starbase 74 and –“

“Joe,” she said, interrupting the skipper. “We both know that the fastest way from Star Station Echo to 74 is through the Mutara sector.”

Akinola shrugged. “What can I say, we’re taking the scenic route,” he said and then smirked when she noticed the unconvinced look on her face. “I’ve spoken to Cicero and Shelia last week.”

She nodded as if she had known all along. “And how are my folks these days? Enjoying their retirement, I take it.”

“Damn fools is what they are. Border Dogs have no business hanging up the uniform so early,” he said sternly but Amaya was well aware that he held no serious grudges against her parents who he considered to be amongst his closest friends even if they had decided to give up on the service and raise Amaya on Earth instead of schlepping her around the dangerous frontier from one assignment to the next. “But seeing that we’re out here and they’re back in their cozy Bayou home, they have asked me to check in on you.”

“I see,” she said.

“You don’t talk to them nearly as much as they would like.”

“I write to them every month,” she protested.

“But what’s the last time you’ve visited them?”

“I’m rather busy here,” she said, knowing full well that it was a flat out lie considering that the exact opposite was now the case. “I’m trying to run a space station and I’m the adjutant of the most senior officer in the sector.”

“You’re wasting your time.”

She looked at him big-eyed.

“Don’t give me that look,” he said, admonishingly. “We both know that you need to move on. And I keep telling you, there are plenty of opportunities right here in the Service. You could command your own cutter within months if you wanted to.”

“Here we go again.”

He continued as if she hadn’t even spoken. “Not to mention that it would mean the world to Sheila and Cicero if you were to follow in their footsteps. An officer of your caliber, with your legacy–“

The sounding chime to her quarters caused her to turn around. “Hold on a sec,” she said and went over to see who was there.

The doors slid open to reveal a slender, black-haired man with noticeable bulges at the side of his skull, hinting to his advanced telepathic skills. He had a concerned expression on his face, which made him look significantly older than his thirty-six years.

“Vej,” she said and then suddenly remembered. “We were due to meet today,” she said, pointing a finger at him

“Are you alright?” he said with genuine concern evident in his voice.

She frowned. “I wish people would stop asking me that.”

The counselor smirked. “It’s kind of my job to ask that.”

“Come in. Hope you don’t mind if we’re meeting at my place,” she said and stepped aside.

He stuck his head into her quarters, looking carefully left and right before setting foot into it.

She knew why and smiled. “Don’t worry, he’s sleeping.”

He nodded with fake bravado as if it wasn’t really a concern of his, causing her to suppress a chuckle, before he walked inside.

“Take a seat and I’ll be right with you,” she said, pointing to the sitting area, “I just have to finish up with a call.”

Seconds later she sat in front of her desk again. “Sorry, Joe, I forgot that I rearranged my weekly session with Vej to today. I promise I’ll contact you again before Bluefin leaves the sector.”

He slightly shook his head. “I never understood how anyone would want to have their heads examined by a shrink voluntarily.”

“Didn’t you know? We’re all softies over here in the Regular Fleet.”

“I believe that.”

“Listen, tell my folks not to worry and that I’m perfectly happy where I am.“

Akinola was about to protest but she cut him off.

“And I really can’t see myself in the Border Service. And definitely not commanding my own ship. Trust me I have to deal with those people everyday and they drive me nuts. No offense.”

“None taken.”

“I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Take care, Maya. Akinola out.”

And with that the image of the veteran skipper disappeared from the screen and Donners turned in her chair to face the station’s counselor who had made himself comfortable on a large sofa underneath a slanted window into space.

“Your friend doesn’t have the highest opinion of my profession, does he?” Vej asked after she had come off the comm. channel.

“Joe? He’s an old school Border Dog through and through. Worked himself up the ranks all the way from a lowly ranking. Last I heard he doesn’t even allow a replicator on his ship. Suppose the man doesn’t have much use for modern amenities.”

“Is that was I am? A modern amenity?”

Amaya left her desk and instead dropped herself onto one of the two comfortable chairs facing the couch and shrugged.

“You want to tell me what’s bothering you?” he said.

“Why would you think something is bothering me?” she said and then threw him a dark look. “Are you reading my thoughts?”

He looked positively hurt by that accusation. “You should know me better than that.”

“Sorry.”

“Here’s why I know you’re not fine. I’ve known you for four years during which we’ve had countless sessions which pretty much makes you one of my most regular patients and I like to think that after all that time I can tell when something is bothering you. And if I couldn’t, I think I’d be pretty lousy at my job.”

“Patient? I don’t think I like that word.”

He leaned slightly towards her. “How does friend sound?”

“Much better.”

“Then as a concerned friend: What’s wrong? Any chance this has anything to do with our newest second officer?”

She looked straight at him, which made it perfectly clear that that was in fact exactly what had been on her mind. She forced herself to relax in her chair when she realized that she had given herself away. “People seem to think that he’s after my job.”

“And what do you think?”

“I can’t imagine the Admiral wanting to get rid of me. He’s never once complained about my work and we’ve always gotten along very well. But I can tell that there is something he’s not telling me.”

“Do you ever think that maybe it’s time to move on to other, greater things?”

She leaned back in her chair with an annoyed grunt. “Don’t you start as well. I’m perfectly happy right here, why can’t people accept that?”

“Maybe it’s not about what you want but rather about what you need,” he said.

She sat up. “You’re saying I don’t know what’s best for me? I’m not a child. I’m perfectly capable to make my own decisions and figuring out what’s right for me and what’s not.”

“I think you’ve become to comfortable here. No matter what you tell yourself, I believe you’re not the kind of person who could ever be truly satisfied by being second-in-command.”

“Are you saying you know me better than I know myself?”

He smirked. “Yes.” And then with a more serious demeanor: “There are people who join Starfleet because they simply want to serve the Federation. There are some who join because they want to be part of something bigger than themselves and others who are looking to fulfill their desire to take on tough challenges. Many want to explore new worlds and meet new civilizations and some are out here just for the adventure. But just a few join to become masters of their own destiny. Not to become a follower and certainly not to get those admiral pips but to one day have a command of their own.”

“And you think I fit into that category?”

He nodded.

“Then you’re wrong,” she said flatly. “And clearly you don’t know me as well as you would like. I can’t stand starship captains so why in the world would I want to be one myself? They are arrogant, full of themselves and think the universe revolves around them. Take Michael Owens. A close friend of mine I’ve known since the Academy–“

“Just a friend?” he said with a knowing look.

“Yeah,” she said quickly even though perhaps that wasn’t entirely the truth. “Anyway, ever since he got his own command he’s become damn near insufferable to be around. He’s not saying it of course but you can tell he suddenly thinks he’s above us mere mortals.”

“I’ve never said you should be a starship captain,” said Vej. “All I said was that you need your own command. There is a galaxy of opportunities out there just waiting for you. But you have to go and make them your own.”

“Nicely put. What are you a poet now?”

He shrugged. “I moonlight a bit.”

“I don’t need a whole galaxy of opportunities and I certainly don’t need my own command. I’m practically running this station,” she said defensively.

“It’s not the same and you know it.”

That’s when Vej’s eyes grew wider, his skin paled and he became noticeably uncomfortable. His body tensed and he sat up straighter on the couch.

Amaya turned her head to see what had caused her friend’s sudden change.

Cosmo had awoken.

The four-legged green and yellow wildcat was perhaps the size of a young terran tiger and similarly built with four powerful legs and a long colorful tail. The creature was most noticeably Vulcan by its large upward pointing ears. Le-matya’s were generally vicious predators which preyed on animals and Vulcans alike but Cosmo was of the still imposing yet much less dangerous domesticated kind. His teeth were shorter and less sharp than those of the wild le-matya and his claws were retractable and not poisoned.

Amaya had had Cosmo since her father had found the cub on an Orion raider when she had been a child. Without any real friends, the creature had become her only constant companion. Much to the concern of her fellow colleagues.

Cosmo was leaving behind a trail of clothing and sheets as he emerged from her bedroom and strode towards Amaya, his yellow eyes looking over Vej as if to determine if he was friend of foe.

He ultimately hissed at the counselor before he placed his front paw onto Amaya’s lap. When he had been smaller he had simply jumped on her but since he now weighed more than she did, they had both learned that that was no longer practical.

“Don’t mind, Cosmo,” she said as she began to scratch him behind those long pointed ears, causing him to purr with pleasure. “He’s just grouchy because he hasn’t eaten yet.”

Cosmo pulled closer to her face and tried to lick it. Amaya managed to hold off his head before she could be subjected to a wet tongue bath.

“Alright,” she said. “Let’s get you your dinner.”

Cosmo immediately jumped back down and trotted to the replicator, looking eagerly at the device.

“It never fails to surprise me how a person as gentle as you could have ended up with such a ferocious beast as a pet,” said Vej while Donners replicated Cosmo’s food and placed it in front of him.

“He’s hardly a beast,” she said, stroking his head while he was busy devouring the replicated meal.

“Maybe not but he knows exactly what he needs and how to get it. And he knows how to tell you.”

She looked up. “Are you implying that Cosmo is smarter than me?”

He shook his head with a grin. “I’m saying that you should take a page from your pet. You need to take charge of your life. And I’m not just talking about getting your own command, which you insist is not something you want. You have a problem with Commander Rahul? Don’t keep it to yourself. Tell the admiral that it’s bothering you. I’m sure you have deserved that right. Starship captains getting to you? Put them in their place. You said it yourself. You are running this station.”

“You want me to be somebody I’m not,” she said as she walked back to her seat.

“No, I want you to be more than what you are. I’m convinced it would make you a more complete person. And just maybe it will make you see that you need … that you want more out of your life.”

“Raeger to Donners.”

Amaya tapped her combadge. “Donners here, go ahead, Christine.”

“You’re not going to like this but the Cuffe just signaled. They’ll be making an unscheduled stop at the station. She’ll arrive within the hour.”

“I hate when he does that,” Amaya mumbled. Yet another reasons she had a problem with starship captains was that they seemed to be of the opinion that they could come and go whenever they pleased, not realizing that it would cause major headaches for her and her crew when they decided to show up unannounced. And one particular captain had seemingly made it his mission in life to cause her headaches. “Prepare docking port five. I’ll meet Captain Glover there when he arrives.”

There was a momentary pause, which Amaya thought to be odd, after all her orders had been quite clear.

“Commander Rahul has already given the order to prepare docking port two and said he’ll be welcoming Glover onboard,” said Raeger in a regretful tone.

Amaya rolled her eyes. “Then why are you calling me?”

“I just thought you wanted to know.”

“Of course, sorry,” she said, suddenly feeling guilty for snapping at her like she had. “Thanks for letting me know. Donners Out.”

She could sense Vej’s eyes on her before even looking into his direction. “I was a bit rude there, wasn’t I?”

He merely shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. Somebody else may have been annoyed that Rahul has decided to meet Glover instead of deferring to you first.”

“It’s not a big deal. In fact, he’s doing me a favor.”

“Really?” he said and gave her that suspicious look again. “Forgive me if I’m wrong but haven’t you made it a point to meet every visiting starship captain when they come onboard?”

“Yes. But it’s hardly required protocol.”

“More like a tradition?”

She nodded.

“One that Commander Rahul will now carry out instead.”

She had no immediate response to that. Then she slapped her combadge. “Donners to Raeger.”

“Raeger here.”

“Lieutenant, tell Commander Rahul that I will be welcoming Captain Glover on board.”

She couldn’t see it but she could clearly imagine the large grin on the communications officer’s face when she spoke. “I will tell him.”

“Good. And one more thing.”

“Yes?”

“Have Cuffe assigned to docking port five.”

“Number five. You got it.”

“Donners out.”

She pointedly looked at Vej. “Is that enough taking charge for you?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “How do you feel about it?”

She gave that question a few seconds of thought and then a smile spread over her lips. “I kinda feel good about it.”

Some captains liked to walk onto the station through the docking port when their ship was docked to DS5 while others preferred to beam straight into one of the station’s transporter rooms. Terrence Glover belonged firmly into the second category and Amaya Donners had a good idea why. A beam-in was simply more dramatic and therefore much more his style.

She stood ramrod straight, with her hands clasped behind her back as she waited by the platform while Glover materialized.

It was unmistakable that the younger Glover was his father’s son. Blessed with the same large stature, broad chest and shoulders, good looks and the unwavering confidence not just of an unquestioned leader but also of a man who knew he would achieve exactly what he set out to do. Some would have called this arrogance. Terrence Glover probably didn’t.

“Permission to come aboard,” he said but had already jumped off the platform with a beaming grin on his face.

Protocol would have demanded that he’d wait until she would give him such permission before taking a single step. It was of course mostly a redundant practice of decorum but it annoyed Amaya that he didn’t even have the patience to wait the one-second the procedure required.

“Permission granted,” she said under her breath. “Welcome aboard, sir.”

He stepped right up to her and grabbed her by her shoulders. “Maya, anyone ever tell you that you look great?”

“You do. Every time you come by.”

“People need to tell you more often,” he said with that boyish grin.

“Whatever you say, sir,” she said and then pointed towards the doors. “Your father is expecting you in his quarters.”

He removed his hands but stayed in place. “Lead the way.”

She nodded and set out. She had secretly hoped that he would have simply found his way on his own, after all he was quite familiar with the layout of the station himself and would have been able to find the admiral’s quarters with ease. But again, that was not his way. And she was also fully aware that he liked to find excuses to talk to her.

“Honestly, I can’t believe you’re still on this bucket,” he said as he walked beside her down the corridor. “Your talents are being wasted here.”

She rolled her eyes. She didn’t need to hear this from him of all people. “I’m perfectly content with my duties here, Captain,” she said and began feeling like an automaton, repeating the same thing over and over again.

“Maya, we’ve known each other how long now? Four years? You should really start calling me Terrence. You're practically part of the family,” he said as he followed her into the turbolift.

“Level Three,” she said and the lift set in motion.

“And this whole cold shoulder routine is not working on me. I know you like me, why else would you come welcome me personally every time I come to visit?” he said. He was leaning casually against the wall, facing her even while she kept her shoulders straight and her eyes towards the doors.

“I do that for every visiting captain,” she said.

“Right.”

She turned to look at him. “No, really.”

He smirked at that, noticing that she was beginning to relax. Sooner or later women tended to do that in his presence. But in all the years he had tried, the pretty first officer of DS5 had never let herself succumb to his charms.

“You know, I’m free for dinner tonight. Want to join me?”

Terrence Glover was nothing if not direct. He didn’t believe in dancing around people and in part that was exactly why he tended to be as successful as he was, both as a starship captain as well as in other endeavors.

“1900?” she said.

This caught the starship captain by surprise and he stood away from the bulkhead.

A playful smile came over her lips at having been able to faze the un-fazable.

“Perfect,” he said. “The Hitching Post?” he added referring to the station’s most prominent establishment.

The lift doors opened and Amaya walked out. Within seconds he was back at her side.

“I was thinking about something a bit quieter,” she said. “How do my quarters sound?”

If Terrence was surprised yet again he didn’t let it show this time. Instead he followed her example and kept his eyes forward, speaking to her without affording one glance in her direction. “Sounds good. I’ll bring the wine.”

They reached the admiral’s quarters and as they came to a stop in front of the doors they once again turned to face each other. A concerned thought was clearly crossing Glover’s mind. “Wait, do you still have that beast staying with you?”

“Cosmo?” she said with a smile. “He’s harmless.”

He shook his head slightly “He’s got claws and I got a little bit too acquainted with them last time I came by.”

“Yeah well, he’s a bit protective. You know how men are. But I’m sure you’d be able to handle him.”

It was a clear challenge and if there was something Terrence Glover didn’t back away from it was a challenge. She could tell that his mind was churning, running the figures on the potential pros and cons of a visit to the beast's lair.

“I was thinking of inviting Lieutenant Mendes to join us,” she said, having been able to wipe that grin off her face and sounding perfectly serious. “You remember Jasmine?”

She knew she had him. She also knew that Terrence Glover remembered Jasmine Mendes extremely well. It wasn’t a particularly well kept secret that the two had been involved in an on again off again relationship for the last two years and no matter how rocky it got between them at times, the general consensus was that they’d end up with each other for good eventually. In no small part because it was rumored that the Admiral himself had been the matchmaker and seemed to have a vested interest in making it last.

“On second thought,” said Terrence. “I don’t think 1900 hours is going to work for me today.”

“Shame,” she replied straight-faced. “Some other time then?”

He nodded.

“Captain,” she said and walked away, leaving Terrence Glover to enter his father’s quarters while she couldn’t quite get that growing smile off her lips. One had to enjoy the little victories. They didn’t come around very often.

Amaya had to admit that Rahul was doing a pretty decent job.

By the time she had come on shift, he already had all necessary daily reports ready for her to review, the senior staff was already in the process on tackling their daily tasks and the entire operations center had a sense of focused efficiency, which she couldn’t remember ever having seen before.

It gave her time to look over the reports while sipping on her raktajino and sorting through the admiral’s correspondence as well as planning his upcoming activities.

For the first time she wondered if Glover hadn’t in fact been right about bringing the Efrosian on board after all. Initially of course she had seen this as a sign of lacking confidence in her abilities or perhaps even an attempt to push her out of her position entirely but now she was beginning to sense that Rahul’s presence was actually making things easier for her.

But was easier really what she was looking for? Ever since joining Starfleet Academy she had made it a habit to seek out challenges, to take on the tough jobs and make them her own. Could she be satisfied with merely pulling her slowly reducing weight? And if not, if it truly was her nature to take charge of her life, as Vej had put it, then how could she ever be happy here?

Her train of thought was interrupted by Christine Reager. “We’ve got an incoming Starfleet vessel which has just cleared the outer perimeter and is on approach, requesting docking clearance.”

Another unscheduled arrival. Amaya took a deep breath and got ready to stand but then saw Rahul already stepping up to the master control station to handle the situation. She decided to let him take the lead.

“USS Agamemnon,” he said after checking the computer console. “Not an expected arrival.”

“Welcome to my world,” Amaya said under her breath.

Rahul looked at her as if he hadn’t been able to make out what she had said.

She waved him off. “Never mind. Carry on, Commander.”

He nodded and went back to work. “She is too large for any of the currently available docking ports.”

Amaya looked at her own console. The incoming ship was a full-size cruiser and the aging space station could only accommodate a limited number of those at the same time. With the T’Kumbra and Cuffe already docked, accommodating the newcomer was going to be a tight fit. But it was doable. “Commander, tell the Ferengi marauder to scoot over and take berth nine, she’ll fit in there nicely. Then get the Boslic freighter to re-dock at port three. That should free up berth four with just enough room for the Agamemnon.”

It took Rahul a second to realize what she had come up with. The man was no doubt an experienced officer but the finer points of space station operations were still new to him. Donners had no doubt he would learn quickly.

The view screen in the meantime had shifted to show the approaching ship as it entered visual range and Amaya found herself admiring her sleek, graceful lines. The Akira-class was very much the pride of Starfleet’s next generation starship design even if the saucer section had obviously been inspired by the old NX-class, the forbearer of the modern starship. She was smaller than most other ships in her class. A departure from the massive capital-sized ships like the Galaxy-class, the Akira had been designed to be a faster, more maneuverable starship without making compromises in flexibility or durability.

The appreciation didn’t last long and certainly couldn’t overcome the annoyance she felt over the fact that whoever was in charge over there had not even felt it necessary to follow simple protocol and advise of the visit sooner. If they had, then they would not have had to move heavens and earth to accommodate her now.

Furthermore Amaya had never heard of this ship before, never mind it operating in her sector. And she prided herself in being completely up-to-date on fleet movements.

“Did you see that?” said Reager, studying her console. “She just missed the outer approach marker by sixty kilometers.”

Amaya had been too irritated to notice.

“She’s drifting pretty far into the departure lane,” the communications officer added.

To make matter worse, it was the very same lane allocated to a Lissepian cargo hauler on its way out of the system. The chance of the two ships colliding in outer space was highly unlikely of course but they would pass each other far closer than protocol asked for. It didn’t help that the Lissepians weren’t the most adept people in starship navigation.

“Tell that cargo ship to change their outgoing course to one-five-three mark six,” Donners said calmly even if she hated playing traffic controller.

“Perhaps I should have a word with Agamemnon’s commanding officer about proper starbase approach procedure. They’re coming in way too fast,” said Rahul as he monitored the flight plan.

He was right, Amaya noticed. The ship was still at full impulse even though it should have reduced to one-quarter by the time it reached the outer marker. That was the proverbial straw. She had been perfectly happy to let the Efrosian handle this one but with Vej’s words still fresh in the back of her mind, she was determined to let her take-charge attitude assert itself. She didn’t care who was in command on the Agamemnon but she was determined to have a spirited heart-to-heart with that individual and this time it was going to be No-More-Ms-Nice-Gal.

She stood. “Advise the commanding officer of that ship that I would like to have a word in the wardroom as soon as she has docked,” she said and headed straight for the turbolift.

She could have chosen her office but she had decided that she wanted more space to confront the Agamemnon’s captain than her cramped office would have been able to provide.

She had already decided to forgo her usual ritual of welcoming the captain on board personally. It would send a message, she hoped. In her mind she was going through everything she was going to say. She would remain civil of course but she would also make it unmistakably clear that she would not accept this kind of disregard for procedure as the Agamemnon had displayed today.

After all this was still her station and everybody who came here merely guests. And guests were expected to follow the house rules.

Her crew had often accused her of playing too nice with visiting captains. That she was too accommodating to their needs and often gave in to avoid a confrontation or simply to try and make everybody happy. But Vej was right, she had decided. She needed to take charge and make sure people knew it.

She reached the wardroom to find an ensign who advised her that the captain was inside and waiting. She dismissed him and then took a deep breath before stepping into the room.

“Commander Donners, I presume. A pleasure to make your acquaintance,” the youthful, blue-skinned Bolian had said before Amaya even had a chance to take full measure of the man. He had sat somewhat relaxed at the end of the conference table but upon seeing her enter he had quickly stood and approached her with an outstretched hand. “I’m Arden Texx.”

It totally threw her game plan and she found herself taking his hand, which he quickly proceeded to shake quite intensely. He had a wide grin on his face.

“My pleasure,” she said as she claimed her hand back and found herself mirroring his infectious smile despite herself.

“A great station you’ve got here. It’s an Orbiter, isn’t it?”

She nodded.

“Funny coincidence, my great-grandfather was part of the design team for the Orbiter project. Did you know that it was the first starbase class designed to operate entirely independently for its entire lifespan? In fact you could run this station for one hundred years without ever needing a single resupply run.”

Amaya looked at him blankly.

“I’m sorry, I’m a bit of a starbase enthusiast. I suppose it runs in the family. My father is an engineer at Utopia Planitia and my mother is an architect back on Bolias. Imagine the conversation when I told them that I, in fact, didn’t want a career in building things,” he said and chuckled.

Donners couldn’t help but smile. It had most likely been similar to the conversation she’d had with her folks when she had decided against joining the Border Service. Her amusement began to fade however when she remembered why she had asked Texx to meet her here.

And she couldn’t help noticing something else. Texx didn’t just appear youthful, he was. Certainly younger than she was and according to the rank insignia on his collar, he was a full pay grade below her.

“Are you in command of the Agamemnon?”

He smirked. “Shocking, isn’t it?”

It wasn’t entirely unheard of to have an officer of his rank in command of a starship but at this particular moment this fact only helped to irritate her further. Where they handing out starship captaincies to just about everyone these days, she wondered.

“I’d like to discuss a few things with you, Commander,” she said, now unwilling to be sidetracked any further.

“Sure thing.”

“First of all, while I appreciate your visit here, I have been wondering if you are at all aware of the required protocols for approaching a starbase? For once we have no records of your arrival intentions, not to mention a filed flight plan. Until today I didn’t even know you were in the sector.”

“An oversight, I apologize.”

He was amenable enough, not like your typical, boisterous, never-do-wrong, starship captain. But she was on a roll now and the fact that she technically outranked him only helped to spur her on. “If that’s all there was, Commander, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. It’s bad enough that we had to juggle around docked vessels just to make room for you, your approach to DS5 violated half a dozen protocols. And while you may think that those aren’t all that significant, I can assure that we follow them for good reason.  And as long as I’m responsible for the safety of your vessel as well as all other ships in our airspace, I will do whatever I must to enforce them. If just one ship decides to ignore protocols the way you have, the ripple effect could mean serious safety risks for all other ships in the vicinity including the base itself.”

She had to stop there to get some air. And she actually delighted in the fact that poor Texx looked appropriately chastised. But she wasn’t done.

“I don’t want to make things difficult for you,” she said, freely borrowing a phrase that starship captains liked to use on her. “But these are serious issues and I’m considering making a formal complaint to FleetOps. Not out of spite but because sometimes that’s the only way to ensure that these things don’t happen again.”

“I understand.”

“I’m not sure that you do, Commander. You seem to think that–“

The door to the wardroom opened, forcing Amaya to stop in midsentence and turn to see who had decided to interrupt her admonishing session.

It was Commander Rahul.

She didn’t appreciate the intrusion at all. “Commander, I have things well in hand here,” she told him sharply.

“I’m sure you do.”

That had not come from the Efrosian but the man who had followed him into the room. Admiral Glover.

“Sir?” she said and instinctively straightened her shoulders.

Then she realized that his son, Terrence, had also stepped inside and she suddenly felt extremely self-conscious of having such a large audience while she was laying into Texx. That had most definitely not been part of the plan.

“Commander Rahul has informed me that you are having an issue with the commanding officer of the Agamemnon,” said Samson Glover, the man’s face a mask of stern professionalism.

She shot the Efrosian a dark look, unable to believe that he had felt it necessary to inform the admiral of this situation. She quickly focused on Glover again. “I was just advising Commander Texx on proper starbase approach procedures.”

“Sounded to me like you were really letting the poor guy have it,” said Terrence Glover who made no effort to hide his amusement. “Remind me never to get on your bad side.”

Now she was beginning to feel embarrassed. It had never been her intention to make anything official, never mind her threats. And she certainly hadn’t meant to get the Admiral involved who generally left any such matters entirely in her hands. “It’s really not that big of a deal. I don’t see any need–“

“Commander,” Admiral Glover said firmly. “Terrence is right. It sounded like there was a serious issue here and if that is the case I want it to be dealt with appropriately. Do you think the CO of the Agamemnon needs to be officially reprimanded?”

She was momentarily stunned by Glover’s harsh tone and very much aware of all eyes in the room resting on her. She looked back at Texx who tried to do his best to avoid eye contact now.

“Well, Commander?” Samson said.

She realized that this was what she had wanted. To make those starship captains accountable and not let them get away with whatever they demanded. And yet she couldn’t quite bring herself to do it. “I don’t think that will be necessary, sir.”

“I disagree,” said Terrence.

“With all due respect, Captain,” she said, shooting the man a cold look, “that’s hardly your decision to make.”

“No, he’s right, Commander,” said Samson Glover, leaving Amaya stunned. “There will have to be consequences.”

The younger Glover suddenly snapped his fingers as if he had an ingenious idea. “What if we relieve Commander Texx of command?”

“Yes, I think that’s what we will have to do,” the admiral said.

“Wait a minute,” Donners said and took a step forward. “Surely that is a disproportional action considering the circumstances.”

“I don’t think it is,” the senior Glover said.

“I’m pretty certain you would have to run something like this by Command first,” said Donners, trying to find an excuse to stop this insanity in its tracks.

“I’m the highest ranking officer in this sector, Commander. I feel perfectly within my rights to do this,” he said and then looked straight at the Bolian. “Lieutenant Commander Texx, you are hereby ordered to stand down as commanding officer of the USS Agamemnon, effective immediately.”

He stood up straighter and nodded. “Understood, sir.”

Amaya couldn’t believe what was happening. And all this because of what she had started. “Sir, I’m sorry but I must protest–“

“Commander Donners, if you have any other issues with the Agamemnon I suggest you take them up with her new commanding officer immediately,” said Samson, cutting her off.

Her head was beginning to spin. “Her new commanding–“

The admiral stepped closer and looked straight into her eyes. “You.”

“Sir, … I don’t understand.”

A wide grin spread over his face, dispelling any notion that he had been as serious as he had let on. “By order of Starfleet Command, you are hereby requested and required to take command of USS Agamemnon as of this date,” he said and offered his hand. “Congratulations, Maya.”

She had no words. Her mind was still trying to process what had just happened and only very slowly did she realize the truth. They were all smiling now. The Glovers, Rahul even Texx. They had all been in on this from the start.

She shook his hand still trying to think of the appropriate words. “Thank you, sir,” she finally said unable to come up with anything else.

“I wish I would have thought of making a vid-log of this,” said Terrence with boyish amusement. “The look on your face was priceless.”

But Amaya was still too stunned to respond to that.

“Oh yes and one other thing,” said the admiral and gestured for Terrence who quickly stepped up next to him and presented a small black box. Samson Glover opened the lid, removed one golden rank pip and attached it to the collar of her uniform. “Captain Amaya Donners,” he said. “How does that sound?”

“I think it sounds pretty good,” said Terrence and shook her hand as well. “It’s going to be different around here without you welcoming me onboard every time I drop by.”

“I’m sure you’ll manage just fine, Captain,” she said with a smirk.

“I suppose I’ll have to, Captain.”

Shortly thereafter Terrence, Rahul and Texx left the room to give the admiral and the newly minted captain some time alone.

“I hope you are not terribly cross with me,” he said once the others had left. “This setup was mostly Terrence’s idea. The boy’s got an evil streak. God knows where he gets it from.”

She laughed. “It’s not what I expected.”

“It’s what you deserve. And I’ll be honest with you, it wasn’t easy for me to do this. Don’t get me wrong, I know it’s the right thing to do but losing you won’t be easy.”

“Sir, you know this wasn’t what I was after. I was happy with what I was doing,” she said.

He shook his head. “We both know that’s not true.”

“Maybe not entirely,” she said after a moment. Incredibly the idea of being in command of her own ship, now that it was a reality, was becoming more exhilarating by the moment. This, after all, had been why she had joined Starfleet. And no matter how much she had tried to pretend otherwise over the years, this had always been her dream.

“Trust me, Maya, this is exactly what you need. And I can tell you from experience that once you taste it, once you realize that she’s all yours, there is nothing in the universe you’d rather be doing than sitting in that chair. It’s a spark that I’ve leaned to recognize over the years. Terrence has it and so do you.”

She nodded slowly and then turned to approach one of the viewports, which allowed for a spectacular view of the docked Agamemnon.

“A beauty, isn’t she?” he said as he stepped behind Donners.

She couldn’t take her eyes off her. “Until just recently she was just another ship. Now she’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

When Maya finally managed to tear herself away, she turned to glance at the man who had made this possible. “Thank you, sir. I mean it.”

He nodded with that proud, fatherly smile of his.

“I was wondering if I could ask you for one other favor?”

Glover tried not to grimace. The last time he had agreed to a favor he had lost the best first officer and adjutant he’d ever had. “Whatever it is, I’m sure we can get it done.”

She nodded and couldn’t resist to turn to the viewport once more to admire what was now her ship. After a short while she began to frown.

Glover noticed. “What’s the matter?”

“I just realized that I will have to radically change my perception of starship captains.”

Samson guffawed.

It was amazing really.

She had stayed up all night to study everything she could about her new ship. Had familiarized herself with all the technical stats, all the design features and mission objectives. She had learned that Agamemnon was only a few months out of spacedock but already had a full crew complement on board. She wouldn’t get to choose her own officers but it didn’t bother her. She had also learned that her ship was one of the first ones to carry a detachment of Marines, something that had only been previously done during times of war or during dangerous missions. She had proceeded to read every single service file of the senior staff and quite a few others as well.

And yet after that marathon studying session she was still bright-eyed and wide-awake at oh-seven-thirty the following day as she stepped foot onto her new ship for the very first time.

She knew the moment she was aboard that it was her ship. It had nothing to do with her orders but was purely a gut feeling emanating from somewhere in the pit of her stomach. She belonged here and no matter how much she had tried to talk herself out of taking her own command over the years, she knew now without a shadow of a doubt that this was exactly what she was meant to be doing.

She had to focus to keep a silly smile off her face half an hour later when she stood next to Admiral Glover on Agamemnon’s huge shuttlebay with a great number of the crew–her crew, she reminded herself–assembled to witness the change of command ceremony.

Afterwards Samson Glover had shook her hand and come dangerously close to becoming sentimental as he wished her the best of luck. It was all she could do to keep from getting teary eyed herself.

Shortly thereafter she found herself in her ready room. As expected it was almost entirely undecorated, the walls mostly bare and the carpet still smelt as if it had been laid the day before. The room was more spacious, brighter and more welcoming than the office she had used on the starbase. It was a space befitting a captain.

In her mind she was already seeing part of her African ceremonial mask collection neatly lining the far wall. Maybe a model of the Columbia in the corner.

“I think we’ll be happy here,” she said to the green and yellow heap curled up under the window, his large head resting lazily on his impressive paws.

Cosmo it seemed had already found his favorite spot. He purred with agreement. Then he raised his head in startled alarm, his piercing yellow eyes focused on the doors so intently, one would have though the animal possessed x-ray vision.

The enunciator sounded an instant later.

Amaya chuckled. “Who needs a door chime if you have a le-matya?” she said. “Down boy.”

Cosmo obediently complied.

“Come in.”

The doors parted and she smiled when she saw a familiar face step inside.

“Congratulations, Captain,” said Vej as he walked into the office. “I can’t say that I’m surprised.”

She looked at him suspiciously. “Don’t tell me you knew about this as well?”

He quickly shook his head. “I had no idea this was in the works, if that’s what you mean. What I knew was that sooner or later something like this would have to happen.”

“That’s right,” she said, remembering their last session together and sat down behind her desk. “I keep forgetting that apparently you know me better than I know myself.”

He sat also. “Tell me I’m wrong. Go to the admiral and tell him he can give this fancy new ship to somebody else. Somebody who really wants it.”

She looked around the room for a moment and then right back at him. “Nah.”

He smirked.

“Fine, you were right, happy? You don’t have to be so smug about it.”

His boyish grin remained as he raised his hands. “I don’t get to be right very often. I have to cherish these moments.”

She rolled her eyes. “You don’t get to be right very often?” she said. “Remind me why you are my counselor?”

“Must be my magnetic personality. But you’d be surprised how often I just wing it,” he said with a laugh. Then he became more serious. “Sadly it would appear that you will have to find somebody else to open up to now that you’ve gotten yourself your own command.”

She leaned forward and onto her desk. “Not necessarily.”

“You expect to stop by DS5 once a week? That could be difficult.”

“Very.”

“Subspace sessions?” he said.

“Too impersonal.”

“I don’t understand. What do you have in mind?”

Her grin widened. “Well, Agamemnon needs a counselor. You are a counselor.”

At this his eyes opened wide. “You can’t be serious.”

“But I am.”

He shook his head slightly. “Maya, I can’t. I have patients on DS5 who need me.”

“You’d have patients right here. And I need you,” she said and picked up her padd even though she knew she didn’t have to. She had already committed its contents to memory. “I’ve got the greenest crew ever to serve on a starship. My chief engineer is a Xindi-Insectoid who is not used to working with humanoids. My chief medical officer is the first Selay to serve in Starfleet and honestly I’m not even sure yet if she understands that most of us are warm-blooded. My helmsman is a DeSoto who I suspect believes that he’s entitled to preferential treatment due to his heritage and don’t get me started on my science officer who is related to none other than Richard Daystrom himself but seems to want nothing to do with his own legacy.

This crew will need somebody like you. And don’t tell me that you are not intrigued at the idea of serving on a starship and going places nobody else has gone before. Getting a chance to meet and study races nobody in the Federation has ever even heard of before.”

“You do make a good sales pitch.”

She smiled sweetly. “That’s why they made me captain, I suppose.”

Cosmo had gotten up from his corner but Vej had been too preoccupied with his own thoughts to notice the domesticated wildcat sneaking up on him. He flinched noticeably when he finally saw him. He purred slightly and then pushed himself past his legs.

“See, even Cosmo wants you here.”

“No doubt so he has a spare food source should the replicators ever fail.”

Donners laughed.

“I admit you make it sound interesting but how do you think Starfleet would feel about having a civilian counselor serving on a starship? I’m sure they wouldn’t be happy.”

“They’re not happy that I keep Cosmo around, either. Besides I’ve already cleared it with Admiral Glover. He doesn’t want to see you go but he has approved my request. I think he believes he owes me for putting up this whole show of his. Of course the truth is I owe him.”

Cosmo’s head abruptly turned again towards the doors.

“Come in,” said Amaya.

The doors opened and a startled Commander Arden Texx stood in the doorway. “Sir? How did you know I was here? I was just about to press–”

“I have my ways,” she said with a smile. “Please come in, Commander. I’d like you to meet a friend of mine.”

The Bolian did.

Cosmo hissed at the new arrival and Texx froze for a moment.

“Don’t worry, Commander,” Donners began. “He’s really just–“

“You have a le-matya?” he said, interrupting her. Without a second thought he walked right up to the animal and squatted down in front of him. “And what a great specimen he is. Look at that colorful hide and those ears,” he said and began to pet his head with both hands. “What a big beautiful boy you are,” he said to Cosmo who seemed to enjoy the attention and purred pleasingly as he let the Bolian pet him.

Vej and Donners had stood and now gave each other surprised looks.

Texx seemed to notice. “I apologize. My brother used to have a le-matya. But his was quite a bit smaller than yours. Very impressive creatures,” he said and then managed to tear himself away.

“That’s quite alright,” said Donners. “Cosmo doesn’t make friends easily so I suppose I should be relieved. Commander, please meet Vej a friend of mine and hopefully–“

“Your new counselor,” said Vej and held out his hand.

Texx wiped his hand on the side of his trousers before shaking the counselor’s. “A pleasure meeting you and welcome aboard.”

“Gentlemen, I would appreciate if you would stop interrupting me all the time. I am your captain, you know.”

After they both looked sufficiently chastised she smiled again and looked at Vej. “You won’t regret your decision.”

“We’ll see. Cosmo may have made a new friend but I can’t help wonder how many crewmembers will need some serious therapy after meeting your pet.”

“Couldn’t think of a better person for the job,” she said.

He gave her an appreciative look. “If you’d excuse me now. I better get packing. Besides I will need to write letters to a number of undoubtedly very disappointed former patients of mine.”

“Of course,” said Amaya.

Vej and Texx exchanged courteous nods and then the counselor left.

“Commander,” she said, focusing on the Bolian now.

“I wanted to let you know that we are still scheduled for departure at 1800 hours unless you would prefer to delay our launch.”

She shook her head. “I wouldn’t dream of it. Besides we are due to get our first orders from Admiral Owens shortly. That won’t give us much time for a test drive.”

He nodded. “I meant to ask you about that. Admiral Owens is not our sector commander.”

She had wondered about this herself and in fact had already begun to form conspiracy theories in her head. Jonathan Owens generally had little to do with fleet operations as far as she knew. And yet her first order had been to report to him. It was not the way Starfleet generally did business. But her euphoria over her own command didn’t allow her to see anything sinister about this. She knew the admiral reasonably well thanks to her friendship to his son and she was sure that whatever he needed her for was perfectly legitimate.

“I wouldn’t be too concerned about it, Commander. I’m sure Starfleet has good reasons for what they’re doing.”

He nodded. “I’ll have the senior staff ready to meet with you within the hour. After that I thought I’d give you a thorough tour of the ship.”

“That sounds like an excellent idea.”

“Cap,” he said with a nod and then turned to head for the doors.

“Arden?”

He turned before reaching the exit.

She had been startled by the odd nickname he had used but now as the Bolian looked at her expectantly she suddenly found that she liked the sound of it. “Never mind, carry on.”

It was odd how quickly a person’s entire perspective could change. A mere twenty-four hours earlier Amaya Donners had been adamant that a starship command wasn’t really what she was after. She had been determined that she would not join the ranks of what she had perceived to be a group of self-important officers who arrogantly thought of themselves as the unquestioned rulers of their domain.

And yet as she stepped onto the bridge she could no longer deny the swelling pride she felt at being the master and commander of this ship and her crew. It didn’t even matter that most of her officers were green behind their ears, that they lacked experience. What mattered was that they were hers to command. That she would lead them and mold them into an efficiently working unit.

Was that a presumptuous thought?

Twenty-four hours earlier she would not have hesitated to say yes. Now things were suddenly very different.

Arden Texx stood from his chair as he saw her emerge from the turbolift. “All hands are standing by for departure, sir.”

She walked down to the center of the bridge between the captain’s chair and the main view screen and let her glance wander from one station to the other, from one crewmember to the next.

It was a diverse crew she had been given, maybe even more so than one would have come to expect from a Federation starship. “All stations, confirm readiness status,” she said.

Lieutenant Commander Chen stood by the engineering station. Chen of course was merely a nickname for a much longer and mostly unpronounceable name for most non Xindi. Maya hadn’t met many insectoids before and she already understood that it would take some getting used to working with what essentially looked like an oversized ant on a daily basis. But Chen was a fascinating creature and she was looking forward to learning more about him.

“Engineering, ready for departure. Impulse engines and warp drive standing by,” Chen said with a noticeable clicking in his voice.

At sciences she found Wayne Daystrom, a tall and broad-shouldered officer who had the built more befitting of a club bouncer than a scientist. There was an undeniable resemblance to the man who many thought of as one of the greatest scientists in Federation history. The young lieutenant on the other hand, still stood at the beginning of his own career.

“All sensors fully operational and ready for launch.”

Maybe one of the most physically impressive officers under her command was Lieutenant Lure Mer’iab, the ship’s tactical and security officer. The Aurelian was an avian and stood over two meters tall, had a body covered entirely with umber-colored fur-like plumage, with a large beak making up most of his face and most fascinating of all, two large wings jutting out from his back. She wasn’t sure if he could actually fly but she had already made a mental note to keep Cosmo away from the lieutenant.

“Tactical systems at full stand-by.”

At the front she found Tess Allenby at operations, a pretty but generally stern looking young woman who had career officer written all over her.

“All ship resources within standard parameters.”

Bobby DeSoto sat at the helm next to her and he probably couldn’t have been more of an opposite to Allenby in general demeanor and attitude.

“Helm ready to rock ’n roll,” said Ensign DeSoto with a smirk. It elicited a disapproving sidelong look from Allenby but Donners couldn’t help but smirk.

Vej sat in the chair to the left of the command seat and he seemed to have settled in well considering how much convincing it had taken to have him sign-on. He looked up at her expectantly, not doubt almost as excited to get under way as she was herself.

He gave her an affirming nod.

Maya suddenly understood that these people around her were going to become more than just colleagues. They were going to become her new family.

She sat down in her seat for the first time and immediately found it to be the most comfortable chair she had ever sat in.

Texx took the seat next to her and she leaned over to him. “Commander, I hope that the crew is familiar with the proper procedures to depart from a starbase. Your approach left quite a bit to be desired.”

The Bolian smiled. “I’m confident we can do a much better job.”

“Good, I would hate starting my new command handing out reprimands,” she said and turned forward again to face the view screen which was still showing Deep Space Five and her home for the last four years. She had always thought that it be difficult to leave it behind when the time came. She knew she would miss the friends she had made there but a new challenge was awaiting her now and truth be told, she couldn’t wait to get started.

“Are you ready?” asked Vej.

She looked at him for a moment, only slowly realizing how fitting that question truly was.

“Yes,” she said. “I’m ready.” And then focused on the young helmsman. “Mister DeSoto.”

He swiveled around in his chair. “Cap?”

She shot a quick look at her first officer who merely shrugged innocently. Apparently nicknames traveled fast on this ship.

Captain Amaya Donners focused forward again. In anticipation to their departure the screen had now shifted to show the star-filled space beyond DS5. “Not to long ago somebody told me that there is a whole galaxy out there filled with opportunities.

Let’s not keep it waiting any longer.”

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#2 – Eternal Flame

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#4 – All The Sinners, Saints

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#1 – The God Particle (coming soon)

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Preface

Three’s A Crowd

The Confession

Command Performance

One Toke Over The Line

The Enemy of My Enemy (is My Lover)

What Happens on Risa

Without A Cause

Logic/Heart

From Lexington With Love

And a Star to Steer Her By

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