No more to chiefs and ladies bright,
The harp of Tara swells;
The chord alone, that breaks at nightt,
Its tale of ruin tells.
Thus Freedom now so seldom wakes,
The only throb she gives,
Is when some heart indignant breaks,
To show that she still lives
The harp that once through Tara's halls, by Thomas Moore
----------------------------------
Chapter 3 – Deliberate Action
StarBase 89
Jean-Luc Picard arrived first in the conference room of StarBase 89. The emergency meeting that had been announced an hour ago worried him; though he certainly wasn't a bad diplomat, and could stand his ground in meetings as this, he could not fathom the reason he had been called here. The confidential message from Admiral Haze had reached him in the middle of the investigation he had been charged to conduct, about the shuttle explosion that had killed a young StarFleet security officer on his way to Earth. What was his name again, Malenkov something? So far, forensic analysis of the wreckage had yielded no clear results. The only discovery they had made so far, was a mysterious message, transmitted to the shuttle minutes before its destruction. LaForge originally thought that this message somehow triggered this explosion, but since he could not uncover any more evidence supporting this, he eventually discarded that idea. The possibility of it being nothing more than an unfortunate accident was similarily discarded, after Picard learned that Malenkov had apparently been on a secret assignment of the utmost importance. He was eager to get back on Enterprise, and check in on LaForge and Data's progress in the matter.
Standing idly in front of one of the large panorama windows, he turned around as he heard the doors open. An unlikely group of people entered the room: the seemingly inevitable Captain Ryan, chatting to a Romulan officer Picard had not yet met, and behind them came a towering Klingon in StarFleet uniform. Picard smiled, recognizing him.
"Mr Worf," he said, extending his hand. "I had no idea you were going to attend this meeting!"
Worf shook his hand. "Originally I wasn't, sir. Admiral Haze's message was meant for General Martok. Unfortunately he is still on Qu'onos. I am here in his stead."
The Klingon's deep, booming voice reminded him of the seven years he had served with him on the Enterprise D.
"It's good to see you, Worf, whatever the reasons. We haven't heard from you, ever since that business with the Ba'Ku. A lot has happened since then."
"Indeed," Worf said, casting a sidelong glance at the Romulan officer. "Much has happened."
"Who would have thought? Personally, I've always thought that an alliance with the Romulan Empire could be a valuable asset to the Federation."
"I have my doubts about that, sir," Worf muttered through his teeth.
Picard studied him. "I know you are familiar with Klingon history, Worf; decades ago a Klingon General had similar feelings about Klingons and Humans." He looked at the Romulan and Ryan, still talking. "'No peace in our time', Worf." The Klingon's head came up. "His words."
Just then, Colonel Sela entered the room, in a rush. She looked around her, and strode over to the Romulan office, who stood to greet her, and bowed slightly. The bow didn't show much respect; it was more an exaggerated nod than a formal greeting.
Sela eyed him suspiciously. "Where is Janika?"
"Colonel Janika has been recalled to Romulus. My name is Jera, her XO. I am acting as her replacement until she can rejoin us here." He handed her an isolinear chip. "These are my formal orders and a written confirmation from the Colonel."
Sela shot him a glance as she took the chip. "Very well, Major. Report to my quarters onboard the Salatrel after this meeting."
"Sir."
As Sela sat down in her chair, she caught Picard's look, and nodded her head at him.
Picard was about to go over to the Colenel, when the doors opened once again.
Admiral Haze and his adjutant, Captain Benjamin Sisko entered the room.
The Admiral crossed the distance to the conference table in three large strides, motioning everyone present to sit.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," he said, leaning on the table with his knuckles. "I'll break this information down succinctly. Last night, I received a message from Captain Kathryn Janeway onboard Voyager; they have been separated from the Battle Group tasked with attacking the Dominion outpost on Indra Iri IV. An attack by Jem H'Adar forces severely damaged their warp core, and they had to eject it."
A murmur of unrest rose from the StarFleet members around the table. Sela looked bored.
"Captain Janeway informs me that they have decided to abandon ship, rigg it for self-destruct, and try and reach Federation space in shuttles and life-pods. By now, I imagine, Voyager has already been destroyed and the crew are on their way. The only problem is that we now have dozens of life-pods with no warp-capability, plus 2 shuttles, foundered in Dominion space. Any questions so far?"
Picard stirred in his chair, and folded his hands on the table in front of him. He was about to speak when Ryan beat him to it.
"What of the mission, sir?"
Haze sighed. "Well, that's about all the silver lining there is, in this particular cloud. According to Janeway, the mission was a success. The Jem H'Adar outpost has been destroyed and everything of value brought back on Voyager. I doubt that Janeway would leave it behind, now, after so much trouble."
Ryan leant back in his chair, apparently satisfied with this. Picard scrutinized the young man for several moments, then turnt his attention back to the Admiral. "If I may, sir," he said. "What about Captain Janeway and her crew?"
Haze looked back at Sisko, and nodded. Sisko moved around the table and activated a computer display on the far end of the room. A political map of the Alpha and Beta Quadrant came up; the Federation systems shimmered in a light blue, those under Dominion rule red. The Romulan and Klingon territories shone green and golden, respectively. A silver StarFleet delta marked Voyager's last known position.
"As you can see, gentlemen," Sisko's deep voice boomed across the room, "Voyager was far enough behind enemy lines, as to make any conventional attempt at rescuing their crew very dangerous. Now, StarFleet has come up with a plan," he said, wandering across the room, and coming to rest vis-à-vis of Colonel Sela's seat. "but it will require the assistance of the Romulan Star Empire."
Sela looked up at him. "It doesn't exactly take a genius to guess what your brilliant plan will entail," she muttered.
Sisko smiled, slightly. "No it won't. In essence, we need one of your Warbirds."
"Consider it done!" Sela exclaimed, clapping her hands. She rose of her chair and started to leave. "Now if there's nothing more, I have more important matters that need my attention. I shall notify you when the Warbird returns."
"Colonel Sela." Haze's voice made her stop just before she reached the door. Slowly, deliberately, she turned aroud.
"You do, of course, remember our agreement? Concerning the officer exchange program?"
Sela whinced and looked skywards. "Of course, Admiral. Have him report onboard the Salatrel by the end of the day. The ship leaves tomorrow. I expect that all relevant information for this mission be uploaded to our computer core. Gentlemen."
With that, she left the room.
Assuming that the briefing had ended, the remaining officers rose and started leaving the room, but were held back by Haze.
"Jean-Luc, Captain Ryan, if you would stay a little longer please…"
Ryan exchanged a few words in Romuland with Jera, and after everyone else had left stood next to Picard.
"Now," Haze finally said. "first off, Jean-Luc, I hereby appoint Will Riker to be transferred to the Salatrel, until further notice. Following our agreement with Sela, he will serve as first officer to the Warbird's Captain." Picard protested quickly, but was stopped when Haze held up his hand. "I know it'll be a blow to you Jean-Luc, but according to your own logs, Riker's the perfect man for this job. Besides, he was first officer on a Klingon ship a while back, was he not?"
Picard reluctantly confirmed this.
"So, I think he's the man best fitted to this task. The Romulan officer onboard Enterprise, Talina I think, will be acting as your XO, for the time being."
"Yes, sir." Haze eyed him critically.
"You're a good man, Jean-Luc, and a fine diplomat. I expect you to handle this skilfully. Now, on to another matter. The mission to Indra Iri IV was supremely important to us. The outpost was one of the pillars of their communication system, a relay station if you will. We suspect that the computer cores contain vital information about the Dominion war effort. According to Janeway, they retrieved one of the cores before it was fully destroyed. We should be able to salvage at least some useful information at least. This is, I hardly need say it, classified. You may brief Riker on this, but no one else. Also instruct him to use this knowledge, if anything should go awry during the mission. We must not fail!" Picard nodded. "Good then. Captain Ryan, Ariana Shelby has requested that you contact her A.S.A.P."
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Now, if for any reason you have to contact me, I will be on the way to Earth within the hour."
Picard raised his eyebrows in astonishment. "Sir?"
"The President scheduled a week-long conference of StarFleet Chief of Staffs. I meant to leave several days ago, but I've been delayed. He'll rip my head off if I don't show up there soon. I'll leave Captain Sisko here as my replacement. Any questions, ask him. Gentlemen." With that he left Picard and Ryan alone.
Ryan nodded at Picard and started for the door, but Picard held him back by the arm. "One moment please…Captain. You work for Ariana Shelby?"
"Yes, sir. Oh, that's right, she served time on the Enterprise, didn't she?"
Picard smiled at the memory. "Yes, she did. She was seconded to me, when she was head of the Borg research department. It was prophesied to me that she would go far, one day."
Ryan grinned. "That, she has. Captain."
-
When he left the room, Ryan found Jera waiting for him, leaning against a bulkhead. When he saw the sulking expression on the Romulan's face, he had to smile.
"Problems, tovaresh?"
"Well, actually," Jera said, drawing the word out, "our dear Colonel Sela has ordered me to take charge of that rescue mission of yours."
"Well perhaps she's realized that you are a man on infinite worth, after all."
Jera laughed. "Hardly. Her exact words, I think, were 'and if you want to do me a favour, stay there'".
Now it was Ryans turn to laugh. "One could almost think she doesn't like you, friend."
"Possibly."
-
Sandhurst
Earth
Ariana Shelby swept trough the ante-room to her office, hardly listening to her aide.
"He's in there waiting for you now, sir," the young woman said. "Oh, and Captain Ryan is holding."
"Thank you, Janet. I'll take the call in there," Shelby said, nodding at her office.
The door admitted her into her den, as she called it, and closed behind her.
"I'd appreciate it if you could get up," she said to the man sitting in her chair. When he had moved off, she activated a scrambling device on her desk, and accepted the call. Ryan's face appeared on a man-high monitor on the left side of the room.
Ryan looked up from whatever he had been studying.
"Christopher."
"Morning, Captain Shelby. What's he doing there?"
"And good morning to you, Captain Ryan," Murdock said. "We're together on this, remember?"
"So you keep saying."
"Allright, enough. Ryan, Murdock, pull yourselves together."
Ryan straightened. "Sir. So, what's up?"
Shelby crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Everything's going to plan, so far. Our man is in position, waiting. He's been told to stay put, and in any case he doesn't know the target yet. The only thing we need now, is evidence. Murdock?"
"We're working on it. Our suspect, however, is very careful about what's he doing. We're picking up transmissions regularly, but we haven't been able to pinpoint their targets so far. We'll have to wait for a mistake on his part."
"I think I might have something better than that," Ryan said. "But I have to check it our first. I'll report back in an hour."
-
U.S.S. Chickenhawk
Ryan's quarters
"So?" Ryan asked. "Can it be done?"
Jera took a deep breath. "No. What you ask is impossible. The Salatrel is Sela's ship. The crew is fiercely loyal to her. It can't be done."
Ryan threw his Padd down in disgust. "Damn!"
"But there might be another way…" Jera said. "How fast can you get your Foxes here?"
"What? All of them?"
"Yes. Quietly though. No one is to know."
"Well, it depends."
"On what?"
"On your plan, if you're ever going to tell me."
As he was told the plan, Ryan grew ever more optimistic. This might just work, he thought.
-
After the transmission had ended, Shelby sat down in her chair, and looked over the desk at Murdock. "If his plan works, we'll have him sooner than we think."
"If his plan works."
"You don't seem to have much confidence in that."
"I am merely being cautious."
"You saw the material he sent us. We have confirmation that our subject is the traitor at least."
"Yes, but we don't have any proof, unless we can decrypt the message Ryan's ship has picked up."
"I shouldn't worry about that too much. I'll have the best analysts I can find working on it by the end of the day. It's no longer in our hands, Murdock. If they can't break the code, we'll never get a chance to do what must be done."
"Well…let's hope Ryan's trust in his…friends isn't misplaced."
"I doubt it. You gave me the reports on Romulus. Your man there compiled it himself, and if what he says is true, we'll have all the help we need."
She looked out the window, at the old forest that separated CnC from the barracks of 14 Int. Reaching a decision, she pushed the button that would summon Janet from the ante-room.
"I'll have a pack of orders for all Fox squadrons ready by the end of the hour. They're to depart immediately."
"Yes, sir."
-
Romulan Warbird Salatrel
Holding Position at StarBase 89
The form of Will Riker materialised by and by, in a shimmering blue storm, on the transporter platform. When he had shaken of the dizziness, Riker stepped down from the platform and approached the Romulan officer waiting for him.
"I assume you're the captain? I'm Commander Will Riker. I'll be your first officer for the while being."
"My name is Jera," the captain smiled, taking Riker by the shoulder. "Welcome aboard."
-
U.S.S. Enterprise
Captain's Ready Room
The doorbell chimed, and Jean-Luc Picard looked up from the performance report he'd been studying. "Come in," he said, and watched the Romulan woman enter.
"Captain Picard. I understand I am to be your first officer, according to our exchange programme. I hereby report to duty."
"Welcome to StarFleet, Talina. I hold here your first act of command," Picard said, waving the Padd in his hand. "Ensign Brown needs promoting, I think."
-
The harp of Tara swells;
The chord alone, that breaks at nightt,
Its tale of ruin tells.
Thus Freedom now so seldom wakes,
The only throb she gives,
Is when some heart indignant breaks,
To show that she still lives
The harp that once through Tara's halls, by Thomas Moore
----------------------------------
Chapter 3 – Deliberate Action
StarBase 89
Jean-Luc Picard arrived first in the conference room of StarBase 89. The emergency meeting that had been announced an hour ago worried him; though he certainly wasn't a bad diplomat, and could stand his ground in meetings as this, he could not fathom the reason he had been called here. The confidential message from Admiral Haze had reached him in the middle of the investigation he had been charged to conduct, about the shuttle explosion that had killed a young StarFleet security officer on his way to Earth. What was his name again, Malenkov something? So far, forensic analysis of the wreckage had yielded no clear results. The only discovery they had made so far, was a mysterious message, transmitted to the shuttle minutes before its destruction. LaForge originally thought that this message somehow triggered this explosion, but since he could not uncover any more evidence supporting this, he eventually discarded that idea. The possibility of it being nothing more than an unfortunate accident was similarily discarded, after Picard learned that Malenkov had apparently been on a secret assignment of the utmost importance. He was eager to get back on Enterprise, and check in on LaForge and Data's progress in the matter.
Standing idly in front of one of the large panorama windows, he turned around as he heard the doors open. An unlikely group of people entered the room: the seemingly inevitable Captain Ryan, chatting to a Romulan officer Picard had not yet met, and behind them came a towering Klingon in StarFleet uniform. Picard smiled, recognizing him.
"Mr Worf," he said, extending his hand. "I had no idea you were going to attend this meeting!"
Worf shook his hand. "Originally I wasn't, sir. Admiral Haze's message was meant for General Martok. Unfortunately he is still on Qu'onos. I am here in his stead."
The Klingon's deep, booming voice reminded him of the seven years he had served with him on the Enterprise D.
"It's good to see you, Worf, whatever the reasons. We haven't heard from you, ever since that business with the Ba'Ku. A lot has happened since then."
"Indeed," Worf said, casting a sidelong glance at the Romulan officer. "Much has happened."
"Who would have thought? Personally, I've always thought that an alliance with the Romulan Empire could be a valuable asset to the Federation."
"I have my doubts about that, sir," Worf muttered through his teeth.
Picard studied him. "I know you are familiar with Klingon history, Worf; decades ago a Klingon General had similar feelings about Klingons and Humans." He looked at the Romulan and Ryan, still talking. "'No peace in our time', Worf." The Klingon's head came up. "His words."
Just then, Colonel Sela entered the room, in a rush. She looked around her, and strode over to the Romulan office, who stood to greet her, and bowed slightly. The bow didn't show much respect; it was more an exaggerated nod than a formal greeting.
Sela eyed him suspiciously. "Where is Janika?"
"Colonel Janika has been recalled to Romulus. My name is Jera, her XO. I am acting as her replacement until she can rejoin us here." He handed her an isolinear chip. "These are my formal orders and a written confirmation from the Colonel."
Sela shot him a glance as she took the chip. "Very well, Major. Report to my quarters onboard the Salatrel after this meeting."
"Sir."
As Sela sat down in her chair, she caught Picard's look, and nodded her head at him.
Picard was about to go over to the Colenel, when the doors opened once again.
Admiral Haze and his adjutant, Captain Benjamin Sisko entered the room.
The Admiral crossed the distance to the conference table in three large strides, motioning everyone present to sit.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," he said, leaning on the table with his knuckles. "I'll break this information down succinctly. Last night, I received a message from Captain Kathryn Janeway onboard Voyager; they have been separated from the Battle Group tasked with attacking the Dominion outpost on Indra Iri IV. An attack by Jem H'Adar forces severely damaged their warp core, and they had to eject it."
A murmur of unrest rose from the StarFleet members around the table. Sela looked bored.
"Captain Janeway informs me that they have decided to abandon ship, rigg it for self-destruct, and try and reach Federation space in shuttles and life-pods. By now, I imagine, Voyager has already been destroyed and the crew are on their way. The only problem is that we now have dozens of life-pods with no warp-capability, plus 2 shuttles, foundered in Dominion space. Any questions so far?"
Picard stirred in his chair, and folded his hands on the table in front of him. He was about to speak when Ryan beat him to it.
"What of the mission, sir?"
Haze sighed. "Well, that's about all the silver lining there is, in this particular cloud. According to Janeway, the mission was a success. The Jem H'Adar outpost has been destroyed and everything of value brought back on Voyager. I doubt that Janeway would leave it behind, now, after so much trouble."
Ryan leant back in his chair, apparently satisfied with this. Picard scrutinized the young man for several moments, then turnt his attention back to the Admiral. "If I may, sir," he said. "What about Captain Janeway and her crew?"
Haze looked back at Sisko, and nodded. Sisko moved around the table and activated a computer display on the far end of the room. A political map of the Alpha and Beta Quadrant came up; the Federation systems shimmered in a light blue, those under Dominion rule red. The Romulan and Klingon territories shone green and golden, respectively. A silver StarFleet delta marked Voyager's last known position.
"As you can see, gentlemen," Sisko's deep voice boomed across the room, "Voyager was far enough behind enemy lines, as to make any conventional attempt at rescuing their crew very dangerous. Now, StarFleet has come up with a plan," he said, wandering across the room, and coming to rest vis-à-vis of Colonel Sela's seat. "but it will require the assistance of the Romulan Star Empire."
Sela looked up at him. "It doesn't exactly take a genius to guess what your brilliant plan will entail," she muttered.
Sisko smiled, slightly. "No it won't. In essence, we need one of your Warbirds."
"Consider it done!" Sela exclaimed, clapping her hands. She rose of her chair and started to leave. "Now if there's nothing more, I have more important matters that need my attention. I shall notify you when the Warbird returns."
"Colonel Sela." Haze's voice made her stop just before she reached the door. Slowly, deliberately, she turned aroud.
"You do, of course, remember our agreement? Concerning the officer exchange program?"
Sela whinced and looked skywards. "Of course, Admiral. Have him report onboard the Salatrel by the end of the day. The ship leaves tomorrow. I expect that all relevant information for this mission be uploaded to our computer core. Gentlemen."
With that, she left the room.
Assuming that the briefing had ended, the remaining officers rose and started leaving the room, but were held back by Haze.
"Jean-Luc, Captain Ryan, if you would stay a little longer please…"
Ryan exchanged a few words in Romuland with Jera, and after everyone else had left stood next to Picard.
"Now," Haze finally said. "first off, Jean-Luc, I hereby appoint Will Riker to be transferred to the Salatrel, until further notice. Following our agreement with Sela, he will serve as first officer to the Warbird's Captain." Picard protested quickly, but was stopped when Haze held up his hand. "I know it'll be a blow to you Jean-Luc, but according to your own logs, Riker's the perfect man for this job. Besides, he was first officer on a Klingon ship a while back, was he not?"
Picard reluctantly confirmed this.
"So, I think he's the man best fitted to this task. The Romulan officer onboard Enterprise, Talina I think, will be acting as your XO, for the time being."
"Yes, sir." Haze eyed him critically.
"You're a good man, Jean-Luc, and a fine diplomat. I expect you to handle this skilfully. Now, on to another matter. The mission to Indra Iri IV was supremely important to us. The outpost was one of the pillars of their communication system, a relay station if you will. We suspect that the computer cores contain vital information about the Dominion war effort. According to Janeway, they retrieved one of the cores before it was fully destroyed. We should be able to salvage at least some useful information at least. This is, I hardly need say it, classified. You may brief Riker on this, but no one else. Also instruct him to use this knowledge, if anything should go awry during the mission. We must not fail!" Picard nodded. "Good then. Captain Ryan, Ariana Shelby has requested that you contact her A.S.A.P."
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Now, if for any reason you have to contact me, I will be on the way to Earth within the hour."
Picard raised his eyebrows in astonishment. "Sir?"
"The President scheduled a week-long conference of StarFleet Chief of Staffs. I meant to leave several days ago, but I've been delayed. He'll rip my head off if I don't show up there soon. I'll leave Captain Sisko here as my replacement. Any questions, ask him. Gentlemen." With that he left Picard and Ryan alone.
Ryan nodded at Picard and started for the door, but Picard held him back by the arm. "One moment please…Captain. You work for Ariana Shelby?"
"Yes, sir. Oh, that's right, she served time on the Enterprise, didn't she?"
Picard smiled at the memory. "Yes, she did. She was seconded to me, when she was head of the Borg research department. It was prophesied to me that she would go far, one day."
Ryan grinned. "That, she has. Captain."
-
When he left the room, Ryan found Jera waiting for him, leaning against a bulkhead. When he saw the sulking expression on the Romulan's face, he had to smile.
"Problems, tovaresh?"
"Well, actually," Jera said, drawing the word out, "our dear Colonel Sela has ordered me to take charge of that rescue mission of yours."
"Well perhaps she's realized that you are a man on infinite worth, after all."
Jera laughed. "Hardly. Her exact words, I think, were 'and if you want to do me a favour, stay there'".
Now it was Ryans turn to laugh. "One could almost think she doesn't like you, friend."
"Possibly."
-
Sandhurst
Earth
Ariana Shelby swept trough the ante-room to her office, hardly listening to her aide.
"He's in there waiting for you now, sir," the young woman said. "Oh, and Captain Ryan is holding."
"Thank you, Janet. I'll take the call in there," Shelby said, nodding at her office.
The door admitted her into her den, as she called it, and closed behind her.
"I'd appreciate it if you could get up," she said to the man sitting in her chair. When he had moved off, she activated a scrambling device on her desk, and accepted the call. Ryan's face appeared on a man-high monitor on the left side of the room.
Ryan looked up from whatever he had been studying.
"Christopher."
"Morning, Captain Shelby. What's he doing there?"
"And good morning to you, Captain Ryan," Murdock said. "We're together on this, remember?"
"So you keep saying."
"Allright, enough. Ryan, Murdock, pull yourselves together."
Ryan straightened. "Sir. So, what's up?"
Shelby crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Everything's going to plan, so far. Our man is in position, waiting. He's been told to stay put, and in any case he doesn't know the target yet. The only thing we need now, is evidence. Murdock?"
"We're working on it. Our suspect, however, is very careful about what's he doing. We're picking up transmissions regularly, but we haven't been able to pinpoint their targets so far. We'll have to wait for a mistake on his part."
"I think I might have something better than that," Ryan said. "But I have to check it our first. I'll report back in an hour."
-
U.S.S. Chickenhawk
Ryan's quarters
"So?" Ryan asked. "Can it be done?"
Jera took a deep breath. "No. What you ask is impossible. The Salatrel is Sela's ship. The crew is fiercely loyal to her. It can't be done."
Ryan threw his Padd down in disgust. "Damn!"
"But there might be another way…" Jera said. "How fast can you get your Foxes here?"
"What? All of them?"
"Yes. Quietly though. No one is to know."
"Well, it depends."
"On what?"
"On your plan, if you're ever going to tell me."
As he was told the plan, Ryan grew ever more optimistic. This might just work, he thought.
-
After the transmission had ended, Shelby sat down in her chair, and looked over the desk at Murdock. "If his plan works, we'll have him sooner than we think."
"If his plan works."
"You don't seem to have much confidence in that."
"I am merely being cautious."
"You saw the material he sent us. We have confirmation that our subject is the traitor at least."
"Yes, but we don't have any proof, unless we can decrypt the message Ryan's ship has picked up."
"I shouldn't worry about that too much. I'll have the best analysts I can find working on it by the end of the day. It's no longer in our hands, Murdock. If they can't break the code, we'll never get a chance to do what must be done."
"Well…let's hope Ryan's trust in his…friends isn't misplaced."
"I doubt it. You gave me the reports on Romulus. Your man there compiled it himself, and if what he says is true, we'll have all the help we need."
She looked out the window, at the old forest that separated CnC from the barracks of 14 Int. Reaching a decision, she pushed the button that would summon Janet from the ante-room.
"I'll have a pack of orders for all Fox squadrons ready by the end of the hour. They're to depart immediately."
"Yes, sir."
-
Romulan Warbird Salatrel
Holding Position at StarBase 89
The form of Will Riker materialised by and by, in a shimmering blue storm, on the transporter platform. When he had shaken of the dizziness, Riker stepped down from the platform and approached the Romulan officer waiting for him.
"I assume you're the captain? I'm Commander Will Riker. I'll be your first officer for the while being."
"My name is Jera," the captain smiled, taking Riker by the shoulder. "Welcome aboard."
-
U.S.S. Enterprise
Captain's Ready Room
The doorbell chimed, and Jean-Luc Picard looked up from the performance report he'd been studying. "Come in," he said, and watched the Romulan woman enter.
"Captain Picard. I understand I am to be your first officer, according to our exchange programme. I hereby report to duty."
"Welcome to StarFleet, Talina. I hold here your first act of command," Picard said, waving the Padd in his hand. "Ensign Brown needs promoting, I think."
-