"The road to hell is paved with good intentions." - Jewish Proverb


"A month?"

Dr. Crusher stared back at him, eyebrows raised halfway up her forehead. "Are you serious?"

"Yes. Doctor", Picard ensured her rather hastily, very much contrasting his custom of staying calm during such conversations. "I can understand if you are shocked, it's truly devastating news, but please lower your voice a bit. You have strict orders not to reveal any of this information or the results of your upcoming research to anybody but me, not even Medical Staff."

"Then how am I supposed to work?", she asked with a from, eying him sceptically. "I am not an expert an Xenoimmunology."

"Starfleet thinks otherwise", Picard answered almost in a whisper, "I suppose they based their decision on your research and the throughout report you dedicated to Dr Quace."

She mumbled something about that happening long ago and folded her arms across her chest. For awhile she did not look at Picard, but preferred staring at him and her the surface of her desk in turns, gnawing her lip. He had learned to decipher that as a gesture of fast, critical thinking and that it could result in a fury outburst of her legendary temper if he interrupted her. Instead he, too, enjoyed the silence, for her office was one of the few rooms aboard where the ship's engines could not be heard, not even distinctly. He almost felt as if something was missing without it.

"So if I am officially bound not to reveal the nature of my research, therefore going to work alone"; she shot a fiercely questioning look at him, which was bordering on the threat of disobedience, "I would welcome a little head-start of information related to our mission before we arrive."

He suppressed a sigh. He did it without any difficulty, for such matters of self-control were indispensable to him as a diplomat. "I am sorry, doctor, I can't grant you access to any data before our arrival."

"And why would that be?", she asked, unfolding her arms, leaning toward him.

"Several reasons, actually", he answered. "First, you will receive special security clearance for the duration of our mission."

"At which level? As far as I know, as full Commander next step of clearance would mean heaving me upon the rank of a Captain. Only concerning access to data stored in Starfleet database", she delineated, the corner of her mouth rising noticeably, "But that's still an awful lot of new material to feed my never-ending curiosity, isn't it?"

Deciding it would serve him better not to comment on that last statement, he quickly answered, "Yes and no, Beverly."

Truly puzzled for the first time, she waited for him to explain his statement.

"Starfleet has introduced a new category of security clearance recently. One in-between those for rank of Commander and Captain", he explained. "You will shortly be assigned special security codes. That will grant you access to the files containing data about this mission. Hypothetically all other data available which, too, has been classified on that level."

"And 'hypothetically' means...?"

"First, those codes loose their validation as soon as we have completed our mission", he delineated, then hesitated for a moment.

Orders from Starfleet Command had also included the wording "or aborted" following this statement. He had not noticed that at first sight, not given it special consideration. He made a mental note to check upon any further hints toward Starfleet's estimates of their success as soon as possible.

"Second, this category has just been introduced, which means one the one hand, only a fistful of people have so far been informed about the change and fewer been assigned their new additional codes, on the other hand, however", he cleared his throat, fully conscious she would instantly grasp the meaning of the information he was about to reveal, "However, this is the first mission of which all related data has been labelled classified that strictly."

She leaned back in her chair. Silence hung between them like a destabilized warp core reaching critical status.

"You see, Doctor, as soon as you have been assigned additional security clearance soon after our arrival", he finally spoke up again, "You may gather all data you need from the Deep Space Station's computer."

"Does that mean it's not even laid down in standard Federation database?"

"No, Doctor, I am afraid not."

The core seemed to prevail just before breaching point now.

"Do you have any idea why this is necessary, Jean-Luc?", deliberately using his first name.

He allowed himself a deep breath, taken visibly. His grey eyes found hers, while a vague understanding began to take shape behind them.

"Not yet, Beverly", he replied slowly.

"Captain's Log, Stardate 45677.4

The Enterprise has arrived in the Algeron System and is currently docking to Starbase Deep Space Three, before we will leave shortly for the orbit of Algeron IV. I am looking forward to my meeting with Captain Utoba who is Commander in chief and acts as Starfleet special operative during this entire mission. I hope he will enlighten me a great deal of the nature and reason for the veil of darkness in which Starfleet Command kept us so far."

The Captain hesitated, wondering whether to add a comment about how this amount of secrecy rose a deep-routed sense of alarm in him. Despite the fact that he could not rightfully call this sensation 'well-reasoned', he wondered whether this description would become accurate all too soon after his meeting with Utoba.

Picard knew almost nothing about him. True, he had been the first Bajoran to rise to the rank of a Captain – the highest position a member of his race had accomplished in Starfleet up until now. Fellow captains whose personal opinion held in rather high regards had described him as a very ambitious, down-to-earth commander, but first aspect one was forced to conclude in light of his achievements and second seemed an almost indigenous character trait for Bajorans. Still, there must have been something special about him, otherwise he could not have risen to the position he nowadays occupied. Only the most naïve and innocent Starfleet officers believed in mere scientific accomplishments to suffice as their key character trait for a successful career in Starfleet. Or, that was to be honest with himself, Picard thought, a career in Starfleet at all.


Chapter hosts the initial prologue now, sorry for the inconvenience. /serenidad