But talk wasn't something that was meant to be because when they reached the conference room, they were promptly escorted to the brig, where the others were already being held.

Tom looked around the cramped brig cell then folded his arms over his chest. "This is cozy." He stated dryly. "I can't leave you alone for a minute, can I?" He asked his wife, fondly.

Rekelen rolled her eyes. "I can assure you that this was not my fault, this time anyways. As soon and you and the good Captain left for sickbay, we were beamed here. We went to warp a minute later." She leaned back against the wall behind the bench she was sitting on.

Captain Caspian frowned and moved towards the force field. "Lieutenant Briggs, what is the meaning of this?" She asked the tall, thin, black man sitting behind the monitor in the center of the room.

"Admiral Paris ordered it, ma'am. He said that you had been compromised." Lieutenant Tyrone Briggs explained. "I truly am sorry, ma'am. But I'm not suppose to be talking to you." He then turned his attention back to the monitor.

"Surprise. Surprise." Tom mumbled as he joined his wife on the bench. "What now?"

"War, I would imagine." Rekelen turned cool grey eyes, the blue had faded, on the Captain. "Your fleet will be destroyed before it reaches Cardassia. Scout ships were deployed as soon as we got the intel. Troop ships soon after that. They will engage your fleet then head for Earth. We do not take kindly to threats, Captain."

"Can it be stopped?" Captain Caspian asked, heart racing. When she got out of here she was going to personally kick Admiral Paris out the nearest airlock.

Rekelen mulled the question over. "Perhaps but I can not do anything locked in here." She frowned and stood then moved around the cell looking for a way out. Once she completed two complete circles she motioned to her security detail to take up positions on either side of the force field then another nod told them to get ready. "I will apologize in advance for this, Captain." She whispered then grabbed Captain Caspian and slammed her into the wall, taking out her build up frustration on the other woman. When she thought she had done a thorough job of bloodying her up, she turned towards the stunned security guard standing just outside the force field. "I will kill her, tunka."

Lieutenant Briggs didn't hesitate another moment to lower the force field and rush to his Captain's aid but in his haste he had forgotten about the two Cardassian guards and was unconscious before he even hit the floor.

"Can she walk?" Rekelen asked Tom, who was kneeling beside the bloody Captain.

Tom nodded and helped Captain Caspian to her feet. "There's more blood than real damage." He informed Rekelen as he help the Captain leave the brig.

Captain Caspian, once she got over the shock, was livid to say the least. "What the hell was that?" She demanded to know as she touched her already swallowing face.

Rekelen blinked. "That was me taking advantage of a weakness all humans have, especially human males." She sighed at the blank look she was receiving. "Human males always think that they must rush to the aid of females. Even through I'm reasonably certain that you could have held your own against me if I had not taken you by surprise." She took the unconscious Lieutenant's phaser and comm badge then motioned for him to be placed inside the brig where she then turned on the force field, just in case he woke up and felt the need to play hero again. "Shall we take your ship back and stop your people from being wiped from existence?" She handed the Captain the phaser then lead the small party out of the brig and out into the corridor. "I imagine Owen has been planning his revenge for awhile now. It would take time to lobby this much support for a unjustifiable attack that would surely kill more woman and children than soldiers."

"Why's that? Why more woman and children than soldiers?" Captain Caspian lead them through the corridors and towards the bridge.

It wasn't Rekelen that answered the question but rather Tom. "Because once you reach nineteen you enter into military service. You're either assigned to a ship or one of our colonies for further training. Those left on the planet are either waiting to be deployed or have finished their service and have entered into other fields. And right now since our fleet is on alert...not many active soldiers are left on the ground." He explained, grimly.

Captain Caspian paused and turned to look at Tom. "He's planning on committing genocide." She whispered in horror.

Tom nodded. "Apparently in his mind, killing as many of my people as possible will solve all his problems. He's crazy." He paused a moment as entered the Jeffries tubes. "You told me all the official stuff regarding him. I remember the Starfleet grapevine, even as a child I heard things at school, so what happened to him unofficially when he got back to Earth?"

"His wife blamed him for Tom...your...death. I think it was the promotion that finally pushed her over the edge. Two days after he became Admiral she filed for divorce and moved out. I don't think he's seen his daughters since then either. A man with nothing to lose is a dangerous man indeed." Captain Caspian mumbled as she continued to climb through the tubes heading for the bridge. "You know his story so what's yours? Why did you decide to stay?"

"I was ten when he dragged me along. I had just been kicked out of Academy Prep and I think he was too ashamed to leave me on Earth. So he decided that my punishment was to be exiled away from everything I knew. I think he was trying to break me but...things didn't turn out like he planned." Tom grunted as he pulled himself out of one tube and into another. "Rekelen was sixteen at the time and the Gul that my father was meeting with was her father so it was her duty to entertain me. I don't think I saw my father for the first six months and I don't think he really remembered I was there. After that he hired a Starfleet tutor for me to keep up with my studies but Rekelen had already taken care of my lessons; I was three months into my studies with a Cardassian instructor so I fired the tutor my father got me and went on about my life. He made frequent trips back to Earth to report on how the talks were progressing and he never asked me to go along and I never wanted to. The more I learned about the Cardassian people the more they intrigued me. So as I drifted away from my father I was embraced by Gul Dal, Rekelen's father, who had time for me, regardless of his very busy schedule. I saw my father a handful of times as months turned into years. I embraced the Cardassian culture and for my twelfth birthday Gul Dal offered me citizenship, which I took, and a place at Ba'Digza when I turned thirteen, which I also took. When I started attending a school for what I loved...I wasn't going to give it up. So when my father tried to force me to return when I was sixteen, old enough for Starfleet Academy you see, I refused. He wasn't too happy with me, especially when he found out that I was legally a Cardassian citizen attending a Cardassian military school for pilots, and promised to the Gul's daughter, and in his anger left lose what he really thought about the Cardassian people. Gul Dal happened to hear him and asked him to leave but he couldn't take me without starting a war. You know more about what happened after that than I do. Let's just say that my life on Cardassia was ten times better than my life back on Earth."

Captain Caspian blinked and shook her head. "Sounds like you found your place in the world. My father wasn't around much either and my mother left shortly after my baby brother, Fedor, was born. "I guess that's the life of a Starfleet brat, aye?" She stopped and entered a code in the panel in front of her then growled when it didn't work. "This leads to the bridge but he has it sealed."

"Let me try." Rekelen, who had been mostly quiet during their crawl, moved passed her husband and came to a stop beside the Captain. She typed in an override code and smirked when it opened partway. "You just have to know how to bribe them." She took hold of one side and pulled it open. She stuck her head and looked around. The bridge was empty so that meant that Admiral Paris was either in the Ready Room or had discovered their escape and was looking for them. He must have also relieved the bridge crew of their posts, arrogent enough to think he could run a starship all by himself.

"You know a lot about Starfleet technology, Gul, why is that?" Captain Caspian wanted to know.

Rekelen blinked and crawled out, stretching. "It's in my blood." Was her cryptic answer. "Tom, see if you can get this bucket of bolts turned around or at least get me a channel open to the rest of the fleet. I don't know about you but this is not a good day to die."