"Okay, let's see if we can't capture the weapons cache"

"Let's do it guys"

The team's assignment was to capture and maintain a "weapons cache" for another team but they had to be silent about it or else they would all die. The team started out fine but some of the first year cadets started to get a bit careless and loud and it was getting more dangerous as they neared their objective so the designated team leader decided to take things into her own hands

"Be quiet"

"Why?"

"Just do it" (signs to others) *I need someone to keep an eye out for patrols because these guys will get us killed if we're not careful due to the fact that they're being too loud*

*I'll do it*

*Are you sure Portland?*

*Yeah, don't worry I'll be fine due to not having the bracelet on me this time, but that might not be the case next time but for now every advantage that we have we'll use*

*Okay, and you're right, we will have to get used to you not having the bracelet but this time it will work to our advantage...I hope*

The first year cadets didn't know the sign language that was being used all that well so they were confused but everyone else knew what was going on. This time everyone knew about Portland's abilities because of the fact that the Republic was the group that finally helped free the Federation and there were plenty of Jedi there as well so Ashland didn't need to keep her abilities a secret this time, however there were going to be times when the fact that she was a Jedi would not be in play because of the Force inhibitor bracelets that were still in use but the Academy decided that for this mock mission at least she could have use of the Force. What Ashland didn't know was that the Federation had developed a reverse drug to prevent Force users from detecting them whenever they had access to the Force, this drug was developed in case of Sith coming to the Federation after having almost been invaded five years before Ashland woke up, though they were Federation born Sith

"Well so far it seems that the coast is clear but I'll just sneak up ahead so that...oh brother"

The rest of the team soon found out why Ashland had said that because right over the hill was the "enemy" and they had the team in their sites and soon enough everyone was stunned which meant everyone was dead. Five minutes later they were awake to the see the team that had gotten them simply waiting for the group to wake up and one of the instructors then spoke up once he knew that everyone was awake and focused on him

"Everyone is now dead because of the fact that people couldn't keep silent"

One of the first year cadets decided to put his foot in his mouth just then by shifting blame

"It's not our fault! Lauren thought that Ashland could detect trouble for some reason and decided to send her on ahead it's Ashland's fault that she didn't detect the danger sooner"

"I didn't feel them coming so you're right it might be my fault, but you guys were too loud"

"No we weren't"

The instructor decides to speak up even though he knew Ashland wouldn't argue if at all possible

"That's enough cadet you first year cadets and you alone are to blame for getting your team killed. Ashland couldn't detect the enemy for a reason which we will only explain to her in private, if you had remained silent you would have heard the team coming instead because you were talking you didn't hear the subtle signs given to you that there was trouble"

"That's why you insisted on us being silent at one point Portland"

"Exactly Lauren that's exactly why I insisted on silence because I knew that if we were silent I might hear trouble before I sensed it"

"Yeah right you can't do anything without your so called special abilities"

Ashland simply grits her teeth knowing that she would show the cadet the truth at a later date and not really willing to show her physical scars that she had gotten over the years through being captive and learning certain lessons the hard way

"Carson I would suggest you lose that attitude before you get someone killed"

"You're just a fellow cadet like me what makes you think you can give me any orders"

Suddenly Ashland's comm went off and the fact that the person used her real rank was the first hint that something major was going on, actually it was the second hint because of the fact that she wasn't supposed to be called until after the mock missions were done because even though her group was killed there were still at least twenty-four hours before her team was done with multiple mock missions that emphasized silence rather than other methods

"First Junior Sentinel Ashland Portland return to base immediately"

"This is First Junior Sentinel Ashland Portland understood" (turns to the group) "sorry guys but duty calls I need to leave before this training session's over"

"Must be serious to call you in full"

"I know and that worries me...a lot actually, any special instructions from you before I leave?"

"Depending on the situation call back and we'll recall all the cadets to deal with the problem"

"Sorry but depending on the situation I will do that myself instructor I do have that authority as you well know"

"You're right you do, very well it's at your discretion then"

"Besides that anything else I should be alert for?"

"Actually yeah make sure that all the cadets are prepared for potential trouble before we get back to the Academy depending on what you find out because depending on what you find out we might have to..."

"I know rapid deployment, I understand, don't worry I'll alert all cadets on my why about the potential deployment issue"

"How will you address them though, as a fellow cadet or..."

They soon see Ashland switching from her cadet pip to her rank pip which meant that she was going to address everyone in her proper rank. The reason why was because of an incident during one of the times Ashland was dead before the whole war started and Ashland was asleep. A Sentinel was requested to come back to the Academy undercover to test a new class that the school was thinking of adding however during the class one day his crew had been attacked and he was needed back on his assigned ship so he was called to the office by his true rank revealing the truth to the cadets. After that day it was decided that whenever a Sentinel undercover was requested by their true rank they would put on the pip signifying their real rank so that they aren't inhibited by well meaning cadets who didn't know the story behind the undercover work or why a cadet was pretending to be a higher ranking officer when in fact they weren't

"Okay you're going to address them as your true rank, full explanation to first year cadets?"

"Go for it, depending on the situation all my discussions with the school might have been for nothing if we have to deploy, either that or if I have to deploy solo, but let's wait and find out first okay"

"Base to First Junior Sentinel Ashland Portland get here immediately"

"Understood sir, sorry had to discuss something with current instructors"

"Understood, forgot about that"

"No problem on my way"

Five minutes later Ashland was back at base and watching a video which explained why Ashland had been called in in the first place

"When was this taken?"

"About five hours ago, we only received this thirty minutes ago so there's a serious time delay however considering we're still in the rebuilding process it's not really surprising we've got a time delay still and even if we were completely rebuilt there would be areas of time delay in regards to video depending on the circumstances"

"Okay, let's not alarm the cadets at the moment if it can be avoided but they do need to be on standby if I fail in the mission so I'm going to contact the instructors I was with when I was called in and tell them to alert the cadets that they're on standby for potential trouble"

"That's actually what we were thinking as well but we wanted your advice first just in case you could tell something different from what we were with the video"

"No seems like regular trouble to me but since it might need my abilities in the Force as the only active duty Sentinel in the Federation at the moment I need to be there"

"Yeah that reminds me just why did all the Republic born Sentinel's return to the Republic when they knew that we could still use them?"

"Simple because all of us could tell in the Force that it wasn't yet time for there to be more than me, besides there are still a few issues in the Republic that need to be addressed and the Republic born Sentinel's will be needed to resolve those issues. We've agreed that after five months we can start filtering the Republic born Sentinel's into working in the Federation so that we maintain a presence in both galaxies because let's face it now that there's been a Starfleet Academy established in the Republic for so long we can't go back to the old ways before the blasted war"

"You're right and we should have thought of that ourselves, okay see you in two months if not sooner, if it takes longer you report in at least once a day more often if needed"

"Understood" (taps comm badge) "Sentinel Portland to instructor Anderson"

"This is Anderson go ahead Portland?"

"Tell the rest of the cadets that they're on standby for trouble but hopefully me and a select team should be able to handle the problem however if I fail the trouble could come to Earth thus the reason why you're on standby"

"Are the mock missions going to continue while you're on the mission?"

The head of the Academy speaks up then

"Yes they are, this will help should something actually happen"

"Understood"

"So who am I to be temporarily assigned with?"

"The USS NEXUS will take you to where you're supposed to go they already have the rest of the specialists we'll need to be able to complete this mission safely we hope"

"Okay"

Ashland suddenly blanked out for a minute and realized that she was about to be thought dead again, she also found that it would continue until she attained the rank of Commander though the Force didn't tell her why she had to be thought dead so often

"By the way until you see my body don't believe any reports of my death on this mission"

"Again?"

"Yes again I have no clue why but I will be thought dead several times before my promotion to Commander and this is going to be one of those times, however only the Admiralty is to know the truth about the fact that I'm alive"

"Can't we just promote you right out of the Academy?"

"Nope for some reason that the Force isn't being clear on I need to remain a First Junior for a bit of time before my promotion, don't worry you'll know when the right time to promote me will be because either I will request it telling you that the Force says it's time or you'll know in your hearts that it's time for me to move on and get closer to having my own command"

"Understood, we know better than to resist a Jedi following the will of the Force"

"History lessons tell you guys that?"

"That and a mission while we were still freeing the Federation that you weren't part of"

"Oh that mission, I received the report but I didn't realize you denied a Jedi the ability to follow the will of the Force which was very stupid of you by the way"

"We know we learned that lesson the hard way and we'll never do that again trust us"

"Good, now then for the most part Sentinel's will obey the Admiralty and the orders of Starfleet but there will be times when we have to obey the will of the Force but don't worry it won't happen often and most likely unless it's really important if we do follow the will of the Force it will be more in regards to protecting people all of a sudden or going one direction instead of another if we're told to stay together or split up on away missions"

"That's good to know for the future"

"There is unfortunately one exception to the rule and you're looking at her"

"Portland..."

"It's not my fault I'm a Force Trouble indicator and as such I'm more in tune with the Force and feel it's will a lot more often, but I can also discern if I truly have to follow those feelings or if I have time or can delegate to another person but there will still be times when I can't"

"Understood, well the Nexus will be here in about five minutes so you'd better get your spare lightsaber and be ready for teleportation"

"Agreed, still can't believe my other lightsabers were still in their hiding spots and only needed new power sources after all these years"

"It is what it is, part of that in regards to the New Hope might have been Soketh"

"You're probably right, well I'm off"

Ashland is soon on the Nexus and is fully debriefed once on the ship

"So basically this is a search and destroy mission that may or may not get us killed"

"Pretty much Lt. though I must say that the possibility is pretty high in getting killed from what I've seen on the video"

"Lt. Commander Portland what..."

"Okay first of all call me Sentinel Portland I thought you were fully briefed on that Commander second of all the Force is screaming at me that something is wrong but what exactly I can't tell you for whatever reason"

"Sorry Sentinel I was briefed but due to the fact that this is my first time working with Sentinel's and the Federation has been unable to truly have a Starfleet and thus have Jedi serving in Starfleet in seventy years you can't really blame me for being a bit forgetful"

"You're right, things haven't truly stabalized in the Federation yet so I don't blame you, just try to remember for next time but don't judge yourself too harshly at first for mistakes, it happened before after we were officially given the designation of Sentinel"

While they were talking they were also drinking tea and unfortunately they were drinking chamomile which Ashland soon realized after having finished the tea

"I'll be up in about twelve hours thanks to the chamomile good night"

Right after that Ashland simply went to sleep

"Wait why did she go to sleep all we had was tea"

"Chamomile tea, I forgot that in the files it states that chamomile puts her to sleep"

The next day they arrived at the planet and trouble arrived soon after in the form of an explosion that Ashland was caught in

"Portland! Johnson to Nexus five to beam up"

The remaining members of the away team were beamed up and the Captain was there having been alerted to the trouble immediately

"Where's Portland?"

"Dead, caught in an explosion that was waiting for us"

"Understood I'll inform the Admiralty as Portland called them"

The Captain calls the Admiralty and informed them of Portland's death

"Understood Captain"

Meanwhile Ashland had been captured and was currently not a happy camper and letting her captures know it...in Huttese

"If you're not going to speak in a language we can understand don't speak at all"

*As if you will never understand a word I say if I can help it *

Ashland knew that there was a Republic representative that spoke Huttese and as such if she was being recorded she could pass on a message without anyone even knowing it, she even thought about her torture being sent out on the air live. Three years later Ashland was saved and she was in rough shape and that's when she found out that her aging and healing had been cut in half

"Basically for every four years you age I age two and instead of healing ten times faster I only heal five times faster"

"Exactly"

"I understand"

Ashland would remain a First Junior Sentinel for ten more years and thought dead several more times more often then not unintentionally but once it was planned between her and the Captain because her life was in danger otherwise but finally she knew it was time for her to be promoted to Commander and she knew it

"So it's time isn't it?"

"Yes it is"

"Okay then let's do it"

Soon after Ashland was alerted to trouble in the Republic that she was needed for due to the fact that part of the trouble involved a joint mission for Republic based and Federation based Starfleet officers

"Okay then let's get to it"

So Ashland under the command of a new Captain heads to the Republic

Years later

"After she settled the situation in regards to the team up Sentinel Portland went on to continue splitting her time between the Republic and Federation, eventually becoming a Senior Sentinel. She was eventually killed on Coruscant during a celebration in honor of when the Republic and Federation were reunited after seventy years of separation"

"Admiral Data how did either side feel about how she split her time between the Republic and Federation?"

"They were fine with it because they understood that she had a duty to both galaxies"

Data had become an Admiral fifteen years after Ashland's death and rose through the ranks somewhat fast according to some people but they were forgetting that as an Android Data never aged so his rise through the ranks was actually relatively slow considering how long he had held a single rank in the Dominion during the seventy year separation, and the fact that Ashland survived to become 115 years old with her slow rate of aging, but she was still very active in Starfleet until her death. There had been periods where the two groups were not friends and as such there were no Sentinel's in either Starfleet but as soon as issues were resolved there were Sentinel's once more and Data even took a Sentinel as his aid whenever possible in honor of Ashland Portland the first ever Sentinel of Starfleet