Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek or its related properties. These belong to CBS/Paramount. I do own all original characters and the plot of the story.
Celeste Rockford's runabout landed atop Serenity Station's Landing Pad-A. After the pad had been brought into the station and the area sealed, the airlock coupled with the runabout and allowed its passengers to enter the station itself. Those same passengers were surprised by the greeting they received.
Rockford had expected her husband, Brin Macen, to be there. After all, he'd sent her to find her passenger. But Tracy Ebert was slightly overwhelmed by all of the attention.
Ebert had served as Macen's CONN officer aboard the Blackbird-class scoutship SS Odyssey. Of course, the ship had begun its service life as the Starfleet starship USS Tiberius. Ebert had served alongside Macen throughout his tenure with the Maquis up until the Jem'Hadar had hunted down the majority of the Maquis and butchered them. She hadn't heard from him since then.
When Macen had last seen Ebert she'd still been a teenager but now she was a woman in her prime. She surprised Macen by giving a fierce hug upon reaching him. He gladly reciprocated.
"What about me?" Lisea Danan said from behind Macen. Macen had been Macen's XO in those bygone days. Now she was Serenity Station's Executive Officer.
"Lees!" Ebert yelped with delight and nearly hugged the Trill to death.
"It's good to see you too, Tracy;" Danan laughed.
"It's good to see you again," Tom Riker said from beside Danan.
"Lieutenant," Ebert smiled, "I'm glad you got away from the Cardassians"
"Well, I had help;" Riker admitted, "And like before, I'm not with Starfleet anymore. I'm rated as a Captain with Outbound Ventures. I'm currently the Commanding Officer of this station."
"I was told the Captain owns the company," Ebert shared, "And he commands his own ship."
It was plain to see there was only one "Captain" for Ebert. Danan took Ebert by the arm, "Let me show you to your quarters. When you're not aboard the Obsidian this station will be your home."
"Tracy, there will be a briefing aboard the Obsidian in one hour," Macen informed her, "Lees will give you directions on how to get to Upper Pylon 1. You can meet everyone else then."
"Of course," Ebert nodded, "I'm looking forward to it."
"We're in for a treat today," Macen told her, "Ro will be in attendance."
"Really?" Ebert was surprised. She'd heard Ro Laren had successfully gone from being the Maquis cell leader on Ronara Prine to become a Bajoran Militia Special Forces officer and then went on to be a Starfleet officer once again. Ro had begun her tenure on Deep Space Nine as the Chief of Security before segueing to being XO and finally CO, "It'll be good to see her again."
"She feels the same way," Macen assured her.
Riker escorted Danan and Ebert on his way back to Ops. Danan could be heard explaining that she and Riker had married. Ebert was effusive in her congratulations.
Macen watched then go and Rockford watched Macen, "Sorry it took so long to find her. Like you'd told me she was a smuggler operating out of the Kalandra Sector. She also had no base of operations or a ship to track down. She was just a freelance pilot for hire and lived like one."
"That's the life I recruited her out of after the Cardassians gutted her family's freighter," Macen told Rockford, "So it's natural that she fell back on what she knew."
"Well, she wasn't going to give me the time of day until I mentioned your name," Rockford said, "Then she fawned all over me. To say she has a case of hero worship would be to seriously understate matters."
"The Odyssey crew was a family," Macen stated, "In some ways a tighter family than our SID Team."
"Yet you rarely mention them," Rockford observed.
"I went back to Starfleet after the Maquis were destroyed. I'd negotiated amnesties for the crew but I was still cut off from them for two years. After the war ended, I got swept up into the creation of the SID and time just seemed to go by," Macen explained, "But I kept discreet tabs on them all."
"But you didn't face them and your own survivor's guilt," Rockford opined, "And don't argue with me. I know the signs all too well. Lisea and Ro are exceptions because of how extraordinarily close you are to them. But the rest of your crew was disposable."
Macen winced and Rockford softened the blow, "Not in a permanent basis but you know how it goes. You El-Aurians tend to be a little cavalier about relationships with shorter lived species. It takes a lot for you to forge deep and lasting bonds. That's why you've always pursued romantic relationships with longer lived races. First was Arinae, a fellow El-Aurian. Next came Lisea, a Joined Trill. Need I mention that T'Kir was Vulcan? And now there's me. If I didn't have a Vulcanoid type life span I seriously doubt we would have ever married."
Macen knew better than to even protest. As usual, his wife's insights were dead on, "So why do I think you have an opinion regarding Tracy's smuggling activities?"
"I think it was more than familiarity that motivated her. If that were the case, the life of a simple freighter pilot would have sufficed," Rockford elaborated, "I think she still wanted to 'stick' it to the Federation by flouting their laws. When I gave her your sales pitch, the idea of joining a cause, even one preserving the Federation, appealed to her."
"Not only to preserve but also to improve the Federation," Macen brought up.
"You would go there," Rockford said sourly, "The only reason we've been asked to spy on President Bacco is because Admiral Jellico knows it's as illegal as hell. Starfleet answers to her so they can't get away with it but we just might. And if we're caught, then we become sacrificial lambs."
"So you don't want to do it?" Macen was slightly surprised she hadn't said so before.
"I didn't say that," Rockford corrected him; "If our suspicions regarding Bacco are correct then she needs to go down for her crimes. I just wanted to be certain you knew what the stakes were."
"They're the usual ones," Macen replied.
"That's my point," Rockford ruefully commented.
Macen let that go, "Tracy seemed slightly startled by me."
"It's your appearance," Rockford explained, "You've changed over the last decade or so. When I first met you you had a goatee and reddish-blonde hair. Then it turned auburn. And now it's as dark as my own and you've grown a full beard again."
Macen noted Rockford's own raven black hair, "Well, it's a family trait. First our fair hair darkens and then it goes snowy white."
"White is good," Rockford said.
"I still won't become Elias," Macen snarkily remarked.
"I don't want you to become Elias Vaughn," Rockford spoke about one of Macen's oldest and closest friends as she shoved him into a bulkhead. He was also one of Rockford's former lovers, "I just think that look would eventually suit you. And if I'd wanted to pursue something permanent with Elias I would have already."
"A fact I'm eternally grateful for," Macen assured her before wryly adding, "Except for when you bounce me off bulkheads."
"Don't talk trash and it won't happen," Rockford advised him, "And just for the record I think Elias is better off with Alyssa anyway."
Macen had to admit that Alyssa Munroe was the best thing that had happened in Vaughn's life in some time. He hadn't been that happy since meeting his long assimilated wife. Presumably she had joined the Caelier Gestalt with the rest of the liberated Borg drones. The only known example of a drone rejecting the offer was Seven of Nine. And now she was back aboard the USS Voyager as it led the Delta Fleet into the Delta Quadrant to seek out the Caelier and answer the mystery of what had happened to them and their newly integrated Borg Collective.
As Seven had amply demonstrated, her Borg implants had been replaced by Caelier catons. Catons were energy-matter constructs. The Caelier themselves were composed of them. But they powered them with external sources. Seven's were replenished by her own biological processes.
Seven's catons did little more than maintain her biological functions and integrity. Or so it seemed. That was one of the great mysteries that Starfleet sought to explain with the Delta Fleet probe.
Macen had found it curious no El-Aurians had volunteered to play native guide to the expedition. But then again, neither had he. He supposed the thought of meeting relatives long lost to the Borg and now enchanted with the Caelier would be unsettling enough to dissuade any potential volunteers.
"Hey!" Rockford snapped her fingers in front of Macen's face, "Are you still with me?"
"Sorry, I was thinking about the Delta Fleet," Macen admitted.
"Are you sorry you didn't go with them?" Rockford wondered.
"No," Macen emphatically stressed, "Not at all."
"I'm glad," Rockford admitted, "Anyway, I was complimenting you on your beard. What made you grow it out?"
"When I first came to the Alpha Quadrant I wore a full beard. It wasn't until I reported to Starfleet Academy that I trimmed it down. I thought about growing it out when Tom wore a goatee but then he grew his beard out. Now that he's clean shaven again I felt free to grow mine again."
Rockford gave him a droll look, "That has to be the stupidest thing you've ever said. Who cares what Tom Riker does? If you want to wear a beard, wear a frinxing beard."
"Yes, dear;" Macen quipped.
"I ought to hit you for that," Rockford stewed.
"And spoil our reunion?" Macen asked with mock seriousness, "Heavens forefend!"
Rockford sighed, "Why don't you buy me coffee and we can forget this idiocy. I may even forgive you if Roberta is manning the kiosk."
"Here's hoping," Macen grinned.
Macen met Ebert at the airlock where the Obsidian was docked. He took Ebert on a tour of the Nova-class science vessel while Rockford proceeded to the meeting place and downloaded data to padds for everyone to peruse during the mission brief. The first stop on Ebert's tour was her quarters.
"These are so much bigger than the Odyssey's," she observed.
"And these are small compared to the typical officers quarters on most starships these days," Macen let her know, "The Defiant-class' barracks style bunks are a rare example of the exception to that general rule. But our ship is bigger than Starfleet's mainline escort so we get better accommodations. But the ship is still only designed for short term missions."
"How large is the crew?" Ebert wondered.
"We have eighty crewmen aboard," Macen shared, "Which is the optimum number of crew according to the design philosophy. In comparison the Odyssey was built with a crew of twenty-two members in mind."
Ebert was surprised, "That's a lot of people."
"You'll mainly be dealing with my team of specialists, the bridge crew, and the shuttle bay crew," Macen soothed her nerves a bit.
"I suppose I'm the new kid on the block," Ebert ruefully remarked.
"Not quite," Macen informed her, "Celeste just brought three of her own people into the fold and I recently recruited three more specialists on top of that."
Ebert pondered that before speaking again, "Whatever happened to the Odyssey? And where is T'Kir?"
"The Odyssey became my first command after the Dominion War. The ship was destroyed in the line of duty," Macen told her.
"And T'Kir was killed in the line of duty?" Ebert asked, "I tried to get the news out of your wife but she wouldn't talk about it. She just said I needed to talk to you."
Macen wore a wry expression as he began to speak, "After the war, I recruited T'Kir to join my first team. Six years later we were married. A few years later she died in the line of duty. However, our ship's EMH decided to clone T'Kir and her katra was transferred from my mind back to her body. Which sounds well and good but the experience left her a different person. Eventually she came back to try to kill me and Celeste killed her to prevent that."
"So that's why Detective Rockford refused to tell me," Ebert realized, "She must have thought I'd take the news personally."
"Probably," Macen allowed, "But sometimes Celeste moves in mysterious ways. She may have just though it would sound better coming from me."
Ebert shrugged, "Could be."
"C'mon, let me show you the bridge;" Macen suggested.
Macen showed Ebert around the various stations on the bridge but the Flight Control Station exclusively held her attention. Ebert studied the board's layout. She smiled brightly as she met Macen's gaze.
"I've been rated for LCARS interfaces so I'm golden here," she proclaimed.
"I'd still like you to confer with the Gamma Watch pilot," Macen advised, "Aglaia can clue you into the ship's various idiosyncrasies and response lags."
Ebert smirked, "Every ship has them. But some captains don't seem to realize that."
"I try to listen to my CONN officers," Macen told her, "My Chief CONN Officer since the Dominion War was also T'Kir's best friend."
"So what happened to him or her?" Ebert asked.
"I killed her just about six weeks ago," Macen said flatly.
"Can I ask why?" Ebert was a little surprised.
"She infiltrated my team for a rogue agency," Macen divulged, "She was trying to kill the rest of us. And it wasn't the first time. So I finally put an end to the threat."
"Hard to argue with death," Ebert accepted what he had presented to her.
"It can be done," Macen said enigmatically, "Come on, let's visit the Corsair."
"Not many get access to a Danube-class runabout," Ebert said with a hint of awe in her voice.
"It helps to be a contractor working for Starfleet," Macen said nonchalantly, "It also helps that I have a Starfleet security clearance higher than some admirals'."
Ebert looked at Macen with fresh eyes, "So you weren't just some little cog in Starfleet's gears."
"My work with the Maquis was very important to certain powers-that-be," Macen revealed, "A lot of plans had been built around Ro. But Eddington's true affiliation came as a surprise to those same people and threw all of those plans awry. And there was an added risk that Eddington would expose me."
"So why didn't Starfleet pull you out then?" Ebert was very intent when she asked the question.
"They tried," Macen confessed, "I just refused to leave. Fortunately, the admiral in charge of my mission was a personal friend so she covered for me as best she could."
Ebert beamed again, "I knew you were really one of us, Captain."
"I still am," Macen assured her.
Ebert gazed back at the Corsair, "Can we go aboard?"
"You're now her chief pilot so I'd have to say it's up to you," Macen smirked.
Ebert boarded the ship and sat down behind the controls and Macen sat beside her at the OPS station. She had a wistful smile on her face, "I spent a lot of time behind the controls of a Mosquito-class runabout over the last ten years. I carried all sorts of cargo. Some sentient, some not so much. I carried legitimate cargo and contraband. Whatever the job was I took it just so I could keep flying."
"Well don't get too attached. Ships don't seem to last very long around here," Macen warned her.
"What do you mean?" Ebert was puzzled by that remark.
"After the Odyssey was destroyed we went through the Eclipse, the first and second Solstice, the first Obsidian, and the first Corsair;" Macen listed his legacy of destroyed ships.
"Have you ever commanded a ship you haven't killed?" Ebert was aghast.
"Well, both this Obsidian and this Corsair are still going strong," Macen said lightly.
"What kind of work do you do that gets every ship you're in destroyed?" Ebert was a little dubious now.
"I'm licensed security agent bearing a Letter of Marque making me a privateer under the Federation's flag," Macen explained, "Celeste is a licensed private investigator and so is her staff. Together we typically work for Starfleet accepting assignments deemed too sensitive or dangerous for Starfleet personnel."
"Too dangerous for Starfleet?" Ebert nearly yelped.
"Think of it like still being in the Maquis," Macen grinned before his comm badge chirped. He tapped it, "Macen here."
It was Rockford, "Everyone's assembled in Cargo Bay Two like you requested. In fact, only you and Ebert are late."
"We're on our way," Macen promised as the connection closed, "At least I think we both are."
"I'm with you," Ebert said with some determination, "I didn't come this far just to run away now."
"Glad to hear it," Macen said with a great deal of relief.
The gathering in included personnel from the Obsidian, Serenity Station, and the Outbound Ventures starship Fury. Macen was the overreaching Mission Commander of this proposed venture, heading up both Riker and Ro. Macen was also acting as Commanding Officer of the Obsidian, the Mission Commander of its SID team, and the owner of the Outbound Ventures Corporation.
Under Macen, the chain of command split. For the SID Rockford fell under him as Lead Investigator. As he'd told Ebert, she'd brought three of her detectives into the fold. They were Arianna Forte, Shade, and Lee Kang.
Rab Daggit was the Special Operations Specialist and his wife, Parva, was both the Engineering Specialist and the ship's Chief Engineer. New to the ranks was one Anthony "Tony" Burrows. Also added to the team were two women from Ardana. One was a Troglyte named Anara and the other was a Stratosian named Maarta.
But no one knew Anara and Maarta's true identities or place of origin. They were wanted on their home world for acts of terrorism. They had fled Ardana and came across Sveta Korepanova who thought of Macen when she met the pair. Connecting them, Anara and Maarta forged new identities naming them as colonists from Vega Colony.
Anara had become Angelique Kerber and Maarta was now Bailey Smith. Kerber had one distinguishing mark that could threaten her cover. She had a tattoo that wrapped around her shoulder. It was off a blossoming bush whose branches reached out from the base of her neck and stretched down to her arm.
Smith was less flamboyant but she was just as notable. Smith had become engrossed by ancient human films of the "noir" genre. So she dressed in period piece clothing which gave her a distinctive fashion sense.
On the side of the ship's crew, Shannon Forger was present as ship's XO. Jaycee Miller was also present as Chief Tactical/Security Officer and her deputy, Jelena Kovic had been asked to attend as well. Edward Zimbalist represented the OPS staff, and the Eminarean Galen 3 headed up the Science department.
Tessa represented the medical staff. As the ship's Emergency Medical Hologram, Tessa had free rein of the entire ship, or at least where holographic projectors had been installed. Which covered just about everywhere but the Jeffries tubes.
Riker and Danan represented Serenity Station. Ro, having been forced to resign from Starfleet, currently commanded the Blackbird-class Fury. Under her were several ship's officers.
Scott Wolfe serves as both XO and Tactical Officer. Larissa Guderin was Second Officer and the Communications guru. Arven Bliss was the OPS Officer. Maxwell Stone was the CONN Officer. The Orion woman named Alana was the Science Officer and a Tellarite named Terk was the Chief Engineer. Besides them the Fury boasted thirteen crewmen.
Macen knew some of his recruiting had been due to losses in the team's ranks. Wyn Mesa had enlisted in Starfleet and Ziva Delain had been appointed Special Investigator for the Cardassian Legislative Assembly. Her time was now spent tracking down hidden collaborators who'd enable Maret's near takeover and had stayed in power to further their own agendas.
Macen got straight to the point, "You've all been assembled here because Outbound Ventures in general, and you in particular, are going to be investigating the recent activities of President Bacco. If the evidences points to malfeasance, then we'll be handing over the evidence to the Federation's Attorney General to do what she sees fit."
Forger asked an obvious question, "So we're enabling a coup right after reversing one?"
"This won't be a coup," Macen assured everyone, "This will be due process as proscribed by the Articles of the Federation. We will not take any direct action against President Bacco or her administration."
"So why us?" Zimbalist wanted to know, "Why isn't Starfleet launching their own probe? Or the Federation Bureau of Investigation or the Interstellar Security Agency? Why us?"
"Because all of those agencies report to Bacco and her Cabinet," Macen explained, "Whereas, we no longer report to anyone."
"Yeah," Miller snorted, "Starfleet cut us off."
"That was a ruse to satisfy Bacco's desire for revenge and to enable us to conduct an independent investigation," Macen stated, "No one will see us coming."
"But we will have a credibility issue," Lee pointed out.
Macen respected Lee's opinion. He'd once been a Chief Inspector in Chung Kua's Constabulary. He knew the fragility surrounding politically charged cases.
"If we provide incriminating evidence, Fleet Admiral Jellico will back us up against any unwarranted criticism and vouch for our results," Macen promised.
Ro joined Macen, "This is going to be dangerous. Before you merely faced Section 31 but this time you're risking being pursued by every law enforcement agency in the Federation. And if we're right, there could be foreign agencies involved as well."
"Which is why Captain Riker and Commander Danan are present," Macen shared, "Once our investigations begin, they will become targets as well."
"We can take care of ourselves," Riker assured Macen, "All of our weapons upgrades are completed to Chief O'Brien and Lt. Commander Nog's specifications. Now we just need a big, fat happy target to test them on."
"It may happen," Macen advised him.
"So we're going to spy on Bacco?" Smith asked.
"No," Macen succinctly answered.
"But why not?" Smith wanted to know.
"It's virtually impossible," Burrows opined, "Not even Starfleet could penetrate all the layers of security Bacco is wrapped up in."
For a former Starfleet Special Operations Command agent to say that was something. Kerber came to Smith's defense, "I'd still like to try."
"We don't need to do so ourselves," Macen interjected, "Because someone else already is."
"The ISA's protective detail has the entire Palais de Concorde wired pretty tight," Burrows said.
"I was thinking of someone else," Macen remarked.
Rockford watched with amusement as various people guessed away. Even her three associates tried to hazard a few guesses. Finally Ro held up a hand to quiet everyone down.
"It's simple," she asserted, "We'll be going after Section 31."
"Who?" Shade asked.
Ro gave a rundown on Section 31 and their origins and later history. Their place in the Andorian succession and the recent coup that unseated Bacco were particularly noted. Daggit spoke after she finished.
"Call me stupid but won't Section 31 have it in for us even more than usual?" he asked, "There's always been bad blood between the SID and Section 31 and we seem to be at the tip of it."
"You're forgetting that will people in the Federation derailed the coup more people in this cargo bay thwarted a coup on Cardassia Prime as well," Ro reminded him, "Which is precisely why Section 31 will cooperate with our investigation."
"That's frinxing stupid," Parva declared.
Macen addressed the Orion woman's comment, "Section 31 wants Bacco out of office. Presumably that hasn't changed. We can make that happen for them."
"But how do we find them?" Forte wondered, "If they're a clandestine agency they're very good at hiding."
Ro was impressed by the teenager. The girl had left the planet Miri to expand her horizons and it had quickly been determined that the girl was a prodigy. She chose her vocation because of her fascination with puzzles.
"I have a list of suspected Section 31 agents," Macen divulged, "The plan is to approach them and bring them back to Serenity for questioning. At that point we'll offer to remove Bacco from office through legal channels."
"That could work," Forte supposed.
"Then again it may not," Shade said sourly, "What then?"
Macen knew Shade's cultural bias was at play here. As a Fabrini, her ancestors had ridden the world ship Yonada while being told by its computerized overlord that it was the planet of their birth. Starfleet's intervention prevented Yonada's collision with a populated world and opened up the greater Federation to the Fabrini. Given that past Shade abhorred deception and Section 31 was nothing if not deceptive.
"Like it or not folks, this is the plan;" Ro insisted, "So get used to it."
"So where do we start?" Ebert spoke up.
"We have the names of three suspects," Macen clarified, "We'll be dividing into three units and bringing them back here. It's that simple."
"Do you have any particular means of persuasion in mind?" Shade wondered.
"Use your imagination," Macen counseled.