"Damn him!" Hoshi thought as she looked down on the PADD in her hand "he's supposed to be Acting First Officer! Why do I get stuck with all the paperwork while he gets to play on warships like a schoolboy? Hell! He's probably enjoying himself too, damn him!"
She resolved then and there that the next chance she got, she'd repay Malcolm Reed for sticking her with the paperwork on this mission. Then she realized they'd both probably enjoy how she planned to "punish" him, and it made her crook a sideways smile on her face.
Then she looked at all the paperwork still to be done on her PADD and frowned as she let it drop lazily from her hand to the table.
She released a long and frustrating sigh as she rubbed at her temples.
Truth be told, she was more disappointed that Malcolm would be going back to Enterprise without her, and that her last night in the sumptuous Palace she'd be sleeping alone.
She then felt a little selfish. She was spending her time on Bolarus in their grandest Palace, while the rest of the crew was spending eight-hour clips exploring one city or place before going back to Enterprise to work, or heading to one of the arriving cargo ships, to work.
"And here I am moaning over some paperwork."
Now she felt silly as well as selfish.
She looked up at the holographic ceiling. It was back on the Japan images now. She had tried several more visages and they were all lovely, but this one especially made her feel like she was home, and it was even more realistic now that the cherry blossoms smelled nearly correct.
Vicki and Travis had gone back to the ship at mid-morning; and on her instructions, Vicki retrieved the cherry blossoms from Hoshi's quarters in time for Travis to bring them back down on the next shuttle run.
It had only been an hour since she gave them to the acolyte, whom she now knew was named Tre'Lan.
"One of Phlox's girls," Hoshi thought with a smirk.
Less than ten minutes later Tre'Lan had returned to reset the holographic projector. Then everything went from being great to being perfect.
"The Devil's in the details" crossed her mind.
When she looked back down at the PADD, all she saw were a lot of tedious "detail devil's" that needed sorting.
When Tre'Lan returned to reset her holoprojector she also brought some type of native hot spiced juice with her. It was good stuff, Hoshi planned to ask if they had it in a form she could take back to Enterprise with her. Perhaps the ambassadorial staff would also have some as part of their supplies. She even thought Malcolm might like it if she could convince him to try it.
She looked off at the distant holographic waves as they gently crashed against the land outcropping with the tori gate on it. The image reminded her that she wanted to convince Malcolm to try one other thing as well. They had only been, well, sleeping together was what they had been doing so far, for the last week.
She had had feelings for Malcolm for the better part of two years now. Exactly what feelings Malcolm had for her, other than lust, and how long he's had them were still a mystery she didn't want to explore till they were something more official than "bed buddies".
The trip back to Earth would take at least two and a half months at warp four point five, and that's if Enterprise didn't get sidetracked along the way. Once home, Enterprise would go in for her five-year overhaul; and if the current rumors were true, she'd get a brand new warp six engine as well. Depending on how fast Starfleet wanted Enterprise back in service, the crew was looking at a few months or even half a year of semi-furlough.
The crew, of course, would have some official duties to perform during that time. She herself was supposed to take several additional courses in ship's operations and maybe even an advanced survival course or two. She also was supposed to lecture four times at Starfleet Officer Candidate School on Exo-linguistics and interstellar communications systems. She knew everyone else had their assigned planet-side duties as well, but most of their time would belong to themselves.
You're always on the job on a starship. Having a "nine-to-five" schedule was now her definition of vacation.
She was determined to ask Malcolm to spend some time with her in Japan.
He'd never been to her native country before, and she wanted to spend time together where he wouldn't be worried about them being placed on report for fraternization.
"And if two months on the way home isn't enough time to figure out if he's really interested in more than sex, well I may have to reevaluate his long term potential."
Still, that she was ready to introduce him to her family, an obvious part of a trip back home, was even surprising to her.
"When did I become THAT enamored of 'Mister' Reed?"
She just couldn't put her finger on that specific moment or event. It had just…..happened.
She knew he wasn't as close to his own family though, so she had no expectation of a reciprocal trip to Thailand or Oxford to officially meet his parents or sister.
"He might not even let them know he was home."
She shook her head in disbelief at how detached Malcolm was from his own family, and decided it would only make her sad for him to continue on that particular train of thought.
With a heavy sigh, she reluctantly picked up the PADD again and shuffled through the orders one more time to make sure no one would angrily call her on the communicator to tell her how insane the orders she had just transmitted were.
With a level of confidence, that was only marginally more than she had a few minutes before, she crossed her fingers and transmitted the latest bundle of orders to the duty officers and their superiors they were assigned too.
Then she started looking at the next set of just slightly lower priority orders that she had to proofread and verify before sending them on to their designated recipients.
Then her communicator, which was sitting off to the side on the table, chirped at her.
"Damn," she thought frustratingly "that didn't take long."
She let it chirp at her three more times before she reluctantly flipped it open with a sneer on her face.
"Sato here."
["Damn it Hoshi, does the Captain realize half my people are on these damn cargo ships doing repairs while the other half is down on the planet goofing off?"]
The lovely voice of the slightly irate Lieutenant Anna Hess was unmistakable.
["Now he wants me to send MORE of my people to help the Bolians upgrade their warships' weapons and defense systems too? Does he think I can shit new engineers out my ass after every meal?"]
Hoshi couldn't help but admire the Assistant Chief Engineer's…..unique mastery of the English language. She forcefully suppressed the urge to burst out in laughter.
Trip had always said Anna had a mouth on her that could make a longshoreman blush, a uniquely American idiom. Once Hoshi learned what that unique North American idiom meant, she soon discovered it was a truthful evaluation of the Lieutenant's vitriolic verbal skills. Trip would often say that if he really wanted to get the engineering staff in gear, he'd have Anna give them the order instead of himself. She could see why that was an effective motivating strategy now.
"I'm sorry Lieutenant" Hoshi replied, "there's a lot to do and a short time to do it in. The Captain is trying to…."
["He's trying to see if he can get me to airlock myself, is what he's trying to do!"] Anna interrupted. ["I'm elbows deep in some coolant leak here on the California Republic! Rostov's got a blown plasma relay to replace on one of the Tellarite ships! God only knows what the Hell we're going to do about that Coridani freighter with the intermittent warp core containment field fluctuations, and now the Captain wants me to send crews I don't have down to the planet to do systems upgrades on tech we've never even laid eyes on before? Oh, did I mention the Chief Engineer is still…..uh, hum…'sick'? The Captain better hope the damn Romulans don't show up now because I have two crewmen from the Science Department in Main Engineering making sure the engine doesn't unbolt itself from its mounting. Fat lot of good they'd do if the damn Rommies actually showed up."]
The Captain had mentioned earlier that day that he thought Engineering would be spread a little thin. Anna clearly thought so too, and with good reason. Hoshi had seen the communications between Enterprise and the arriving cargo ships. It seemed that each one needed help of some kind to get ready for the convoy departure. It also seemed that a few hours after a repair crew left a vessel, that ship would call them back to fix another problem that had suddenly developed out of seemingly nowhere. All the while, more ships were entering the system and asking for more help to get repaired and ready. Hoshi knew the Bolians also had repair crews moving through the ships, but that didn't mean Enterprise's relatively small crew of engineers weren't being stretched to their limits.
["Damn it Hoshi, what does he expect me to do? We have to get this convoy ready to move in a little more than twenty-four hours, a new ship seems to arrive every half hour, and they each have worse problems than the ones before them; and now somehow I'm supposed to analyze and upgrade the Bolian's defense ships, all ten of them? There's nothing I can do to those ships that would do anything but let their crews live five seconds longer if they were stupid enough to actually fight the Rommies. It's a waste of time and resources, and it will only get the Rommies pissed at the Bolian civilians."]
Hoshi knew that the Bolian defense ships would be accompanying the convoy, but that info was something the Captain and the Sooba'Dar didn't want everyone to know till it was time to leave.
She realized knowing that info might mollify the angry Lieutenant somewhat but it wouldn't help her work go any faster or smoother.
"Anna, I only have three people in my department other than me, but you can have Reyes and Walters right now. Whoever is manning the Bridge Science station can monitor the Comms till I get back."
Anna laughed at the suggestion ["who do you think I have in Engineering Hoshi? They're routing the Comms through one of the secondary engineering monitoring stations."]
The very idea of Julia Reyes and Kat Walters being in Main Engineering seemed strange indeed. She wasn't sure of either having ever set foot on the Engineering deck before, probably not.
"Okay, any 'blue shoulders' sitting around or coming back from leave, take them immediately; they're all yours. I'll have the Captain sign off on it."
Hess replied ["Lunasha might not like that; but Hell, she'll live. That isn't nearly enough to cover my needs though Hoshi. Weapons and defense systems are Malcolm's territory. It should be his people down on the planet doing most of the work with those Bolian ships."]
Hoshi knew she wasn't wrong on that count. They'd probably need a few of Trip's systems people to make sure everything matched up with those ships' power systems properly, but it was Malcolm's people that were the weapons experts.
Malcolm had insisted, because of the Romulan threat, that only three security personnel at a time be allowed to come planet-side on leave. The result was that most of the security personnel hadn't made it down for leave yet.
"Oh well," she thought to herself "at least most of them will get to come down to the planet now, and if they finish up early they'll have a few minutes to enjoy the fresh air."
"I'll get the Captain to authorize the workload redistribution," she told Anna "but I'd recommend you go ahead and start issuing the orders. This stuff is time critical."
["Alright Hoshi, but if someone gets pissed cause I'm pulling their people I can send them right to you, right?"] She added an almost sinister laugh at the end.
After a sigh, Hoshi replied, "…..guess I'll take the heat till….."
Anna suddenly screamed ["AHHHHH! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED? SHIT!, DIDN'T YOU SAY YOU JUST…."]
The line went dead after the clicking sound of Anna flicking her communicator closed. Hoshi was never gladder than at that moment that she had zero interest in Engineering Sciences, too messy."
She quickly wrote up new orders to redistribute more of Enterprise's personnel to the immediate control of the Acting Chief Engineer. Then she flicked her communicator open again.
"Ensign Sato to Captain Archer."
A few seconds later the familiar deep voice replied ["Archer here, what's up Hoshi?"]
"Do you have your PADD handy sir?" she asked.
["Got it."]
"I'm sending you new orders I recommend you sign off on, Sir." She had already hit the transmit button. The Captain liked to make slight murmurs as he read things, after five years Hoshi was used to it.
He then asked ["You think this is necessary?"]
She replied "Lieutenant Hess does, Sir. She doesn't think that with the current personnel available to her she'll be able to fix the cargo vessels and upgrade the Bolian weapons systems in time."
She heard the Captain sigh, then he replied ["Alright, Archer out"] and the comm line went dead with the familiar clicking sound.
A moment later, the Captain's signed orders were back on her PADD, which she immediately transmitted to the officer-on-duty back on the Bridge, and to all of Enterprise's department heads.
She then smirked a bit at the naughty thought that crossed her mind.
"Malcolm is going to be….'bloody'…pissed."
Malcolm was bloody pissed!
"But Sir, pulling all my people from the ship has left Enterprise virtually defenseless."
They both were walking at a brisk pace behind a uniformed escort. Bolian Defense Command was surprisingly small, which seemed to reflect the relative size of the forces that were commanded from the compound of buildings. It seemed quite an old set of buildings but they were not neglected by any means, and Jon suspected that there was more to this place under the surface of the ground.
They were being led by a young Bolian officer to their meeting with the commanders of the Bolian Defense vessels, and the Defense Minister.
"You know as well as I do that your people are the best qualified to do the weapons upgrades to their vessels, Malcolm."
Malcolm replied "Of course Sir, but there are only three qualified security officers left on the ship. If we were to come under attack now or boarded even, three people would not be enough to defend Enterprise."
"Do you think the only people qualified to defend Enterprise are the ones with red across their shoulders, Lieutenant?"
Jon knew it was a baiting question to ask his fastidious security chief. He knew very well Malcolm Reed DID think the only people who could properly defend the ship were people he had trained and who reported to him directly. Jon also knew that for Malcolm to say so to his Captain would be both improper and likely earn him a great deal of disdain from the rest of the crew, whom Malcolm had also insisted be trained by him in security measures.
To his credit, the irritated Lieutenant did not take the bait. Instead, he deflected it.
"Sir, the other departments have been equally gutted by Lieutenant Hess. She has slightly over half the crew spread out across the cargo ships in orbit. Of the remaining half, most of the security crew are working on the Bolian vessels, and the other half are on…..'leave'."
The way the Lieutenant said the word "leave" he could have been referring to the Orion Syndicate's well-known and greatly detested slave trade operations instead.
Jon couldn't help but smirk at his security chief's angst, he tried to turn his head slightly so Reed wouldn't see his amused expression. Apparently, the Lieutenant knew his commanding officer too well. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Malcolm's face twist up in frustration at his Captain thinking any part of this conversation was enjoyable.
"Look Lieutenant" Jon stated, "you know why we have to get these ship, all of them, in top shape and ready to go. As soon as we're done here you can go back to supervise the upgrades you recommended. That way your people are done as quickly as possible. Then you can take them back to Enterprise and make sure we're ready for anything. Time is of the essence, a little time now to get everyone and everything on the same page, and we'll be ready to get the hell out of this sector, safely and securely."
He hoped Malcolm could tell by now when he was using his "I'm done arguing" tone of voice. Trip Tucker had known him for nearly a decade longer than Malcolm, and if Trip felt he was right he would have kept right on till Jon had to raise his voice at him. T'pol, if she felt her position on a topic was the only correct one, would have also continued to argue; but in a much more effective way than Trip, right to the point where he also either had to raise his voice at her or more than likely, she convinced him of her correctness.
But Malcolm Reed was all officer and Enterprise's top advocate for the chain of command to boot. When the Captain ended a debate, Malcolm stopped debating.
He replied, "Understood, Sir."
Jon clapped him on the shoulder then and continued.
"I know Enterprise is vulnerable right at the moment, but we've got to get these other ships in order. Our mission is to get them out of the Bolian Sector as safe and as fast as possible. If we have to leave any of them here for mechanical issues, we've failed at our mission."
Malcolm gave a brief nod and replied "I understand Sir, mission first. You can rely on my people to have the Bolian vessels as ready as possible."
He clapped the Lieutenant on the shoulder again "I know that already Malcolm."
They had apparently arrived at their destination. The Bolian officer who was leading them opened the door after performing a hand scan on the sensor pad beside the entrance. They entered the lobby area of the building and saw four people waiting for them.
The Bolian Defense Minister, General Kray'Dom Drunon, was hard to miss. Despite some obvious age on him, he was an impressive figure. Close to two meters tall, and nearly twice Jon's own weight in muscle, Jon had not been surprised to discover one of the General's previous jobs in the Defense Force when he was younger had been as one of the Sooba'Darian Guards. He was clearly cut from the same cloth as the imposing scimitar wielding guardians.
Mott Tor'Kon was an unexpected guest to today's events. The surprisingly taciturn Chancellor of the Bedchamber, which was an office that apparently was as close as the Sooba'Dar came to having an actual Prime Minister, was talking to someone without blue skin.
As his eyes adjusted to the change in lighting the Captain recognized freshly minted Earth Ambassador McCants, yet another unexpected guest.
Jon had become used to Malcolm's unspoken body language over the years. He could feel his security chief tense at the site of the Ambassador and the Chancellor talking. Jon glanced to the Lieutenant, who was beside him to his left. Normally when Malcolm Reed tensed like that, Jon expected to need a phase pistol within moments.
In a low voice, he asked, "What is it?"
Malcolm instantly snapped out of his "defensive stance". "Sorry Sir, I was taken off guard by so many being here. My mistake."
Malcolm didn't make those kinds of mistakes, but if he said things were okay, Jon knew they were. He made a mental note to ask the Lieutenant later what had really set him off.
As they approached the group, the third surprise guest called out to them.
"Captain! Lieutenant! Welcome! Welcome!"
Kad'mahar Genlo had the type of voice and personality that screamed: "look at me".
"Mister Kad'mahar" the Captain began. Then he saw the boisterous, chubby Bolian shake his head disappointingly at him and he quickly corrected himself "…..Genlo."
"Much better!" the Bolian intoned, then he reached out with both hands to grab the Captain's own offered hand and shake it vigorously before doing the same to Malcolm.
"I'm supposed to spend two and a half months with this guy on Enterprise?" Jon asked himself despairingly. "Perhaps Phlox can find a reason to put him on a sedative?"
The others in the lobby exchanged briefer and less intense greetings with them before the Defense Minister led them into another room guarded by thick security doors and a hand scanner. Once inside it was obvious the room was for presentations. There was a tiered seating area against each wall. In the center of the room was an oval table with a rectangular clear center section. Jon theorized the rectangular area was a holographic three-dimensional projector.
Around the opposite side of the table, ten Bolian officers had been talking in low voices. There were three females and seven males. When they saw the Defense Mister enter the room they quickly fell into a perfect line of attention. Then each in unison brought their clenched right fist to the left side of their chest in salute. The Defense Minister returned the gesture once he had taken his place at the center of the near side of the table.
Jon was briefly taken off guard to see Genlo do the same salute. At first, he thought Genlo was simply being a buffoon, but the officers did not lower their fists till both General Kray'Dom and Genlo lowered their fists as well.
Malcolm leaned into his Captain's ear and whispered: "Genlo is more than he seems."
Jon slightly nodded in response. The word "interesting" crossed his mind.
The General began "The Captain, Lieutenant and my own presence here is self-explanatory, as is the ship commanders. The Chancellor is here to represent Her Excellency directly. Ambassador McCants is here to represent the interests of the Earth Commerce Authority ships in his dual capacity as regional Earth Commerce Authority Director; and by necessity, the other alien cargo ships as well. Finally, Kad'mahar Genlo is here to represent Ambassador Tallshe and our Earth Embassy staff. Are there any questions before we start the meeting?"
When no one responded, he continued by touching an embedded touch-screen on the table, which brought the three-dimensional projector to life. A projection of Bolarus appeared before them. Ten arrowhead shaped blue icons appeared to rest on the western side of Bolarus's southwestern continent. Jon knew these were the defense force ships, at their surface base. In orbit over the eastern half of the northern continent was a saucer-shaped image with two projections extending from the back of it. The recognizable and distinctive shape of his Enterprise was also in blue.
All around the holographic representation of Enterprise were orange colored cylinders. Some were clear, but most appeared as fully orange, he believed this represented the cargo ships' individual states of readiness. Jon counted nineteen orange cylinders in orbit. That corresponded to his last update on the number of ships that had arrived. That meant that thirteen other vessels had yet to enter orbit.
The General continued "this is the tactical representation of the current situation. Our defense ships are on the surface receiving updates from Enterprise's weapons experts."
All ten sets of eyes on the other side of the table briefly fell on Malcolm. Each nodded briefly to the Lieutenant before returning to the General's words. Malcolm had returned to the capital city with the ten-ship commanders after meeting them and their crews at the base to the south that morning. To Jon, it looked like there was a level of mutual respect already developing between them.
"Enterprise is currently our world's only defense" stated the General in a rather unhappy tone. "In orbit with Enterprise are nineteen cargo vessels of the convoy. Eight of these vessels have not yet been made ready for the voyage. Bolian and Human engineering teams continue to work on them. Thirteen other vessels are still on their way here to join the convoy. They are in various stages of repair. The convoy is scheduled to depart our system at midnight local time, tomorrow."
"Does this correspond to what we all know at this time?" he asked the table.
"Yes," proclamations and head nods answered in the affirmative.
With a movement of his hand, the General pulled the holographic image back to show the entire Bolian star system. Six more orange cylinders were shown with their slightly curving paths toward Bolarus IX marked out in orange dashed lines. Only two of the six vessels were near fully orange in color, indicating that the engineering teams had at least four more ship visits to look forward to in the immediate future.
The General continued "these six vessels are already in the system, and should all arrive in orbit within the next seven hours."
"General" the Captain broke in "the ships in the system appear to have dropped from warp speed before breaching your system's Oort Cloud barrier." Jon briefly hoped "Oort Cloud" was one of the words Hoshi had programmed his Universal Translator to correctly translate into its Bolian equivalent. When none of the Bolians acted as if the translation was odd, he continued. "I know you have some larger gas giants in your outer system as well. What is the minimum wrap threshold for your system? Can these cargo ships warp farther into the system before dropping to sublight propulsion?"
The General nodded his understanding and then indicated to one of the ship commanders on the opposite side of the table.
"This is Commander Kann'Law, the leader of our defense vessel squadron" the General then turned his attention to the commander.
"Captain Archer, Sir" the Commander began "based on the mass of the largest of the cargo vessels yet to enter our system, we feel confident that at warp one point five they can proceed into the system as far as the orbit of Kal'Caid." He then indicated with his finger a rock planet, presumably Bolarus XI, that was two positions farther out from the Bolian sun than Bolarus's own orbit.
"General," Jon said "based on this information I would recommend that all ships further out than that planet's orbit be allowed to reach that orbit at warp one point five. It will get them in orbit quicker and allow our engineering teams more time to fix their problems."
"Agreed, they will be informed," said the General, then he made a brief note on his data storage device.
When he had finished entering his data, he again touched the screen on the table, and the view spread out further to encompass most of the Bolian sector of space. It was hard to miss the blue and orange cloud off to the corner that was the Bassen Rift Nebula. The Bolian System was in the middle, indicated in blue, of course. Most of the other systems were in grey, Jon assumed that to indicate they were uninhabited, unimportant, or both. A few systems were in orange and had words in Bolian which Jon assumed to be the system names. These were, without doubt, the "local" inhabited worlds that did trading with Bolarus and the ECA.
Seven orange cylinders, moving along dashed orange lines from these planets toward Bolarus indicated the remaining cargo vessels. Those coming from the same worlds had smartly left together. Only three ships were traveling by themselves. One coming from the far side of the system would reach Bolarus in fourteen hours. The other two lone vessels were approaching from the opposite side of Bolarus from the assumed direction of Romulan territory. Both were still over thirty hours away, well past the planned convoy departure time.
Jon pointed to those two ships, "they won't make it in time to join the convoy at our current departure time, plus we have no idea of their maintenance needs."
He thought briefly and then came to a decision. "We need to extend the departure time by twelve hours. It's the only way to get these ships here and with some maintenance time left over for them."
All fifteen of the other people in the room began to look to each other with concern. The idea of pushing back the departure time was apparently not going over well.
"Captain" Genlo began "as you can see from the map of our region of space, almost every cargo vessel in this region is either in the Bolian system already or coming here. Since the Romulans possess cloaking devices, their entire fleet could already be inside our own solar system right now and we wouldn't even know it. Your own investigation of the destruction of the ECS Hew Hope indicates that it was most likely destroyed by disruptor fire, a weapon known to be in use on Romulan ships."
He then indicated with his finger the general area on the holo-map that the ECS New Hope was found in before continuing.
"Correct me if I'm wrong but the New Hope was found around here?"
Jon nodded somberly.
Genlo went on "and our path out of the sector and back to Earth will most likely take us past this area where we know someone with disruptor armed vessels has already been actively operating?"
"Quite possibly," Jon said with a regretful tone.
Genlo cleared his throat before continuing in a regretful tone too, "then we can fairly assume that the Romulans are already tracking all of these vessels, and know that we are assembling them here."
It was a statement of assumption, but it was a fair assumption with a distressfully high probability of accuracy.
"Then Captain" Genlo continued "waiting twelve more hours for these ships can only give the Romulans another twelve hours to figure out how best to destroy them and the entire convoy."
The room went morbidly quiet once Genlo had finished, but all eyes had turned to Jon waiting for his reply.
"We can't just abandon these ships and their crews to the mercy of the Romulans." Jon knew when he said it that it was more a statement of principles than any reflection on the realities they faced.
After another long, quiet pause, it was Malcolm that broke the silence.
"Sir, these two vessels are, at this moment, closer to the general exit point to the sector than any other ships. If we order them to proceed at best possible speed toward Earth, they could be picked up by the convoy on the way out. Right now, by making them come here first, we're only increasing the amount of time they will face potential attack. Since the Romulans most likely already correctly assumed our plans, they probably are massing to follow the convoy proper. If two ships head out of the sector on their own then they may ignore them."
Jon responded tersely "or they may destroy them once they realize they won't be joining the convoy immediately."
Malcolm knew his Captain well enough to give him a minute before pressing his point again, the General, on the other hand, did not.
"These ships are too far away to make the deadline for the convoy and considering that the Romulans probably are already aware of the convoy then any delay can only serve to jeopardize the entire operation further. For the Bolian Government, the primary importance is the safety of the Ambassador and her staff."
Genlo, the Chancellor, and all ten of the Bolian ship commanders nodded in agreement.
"The life of the Ambassador is the primary concern for all Bolians" the Chancellor added gravely.
"And if she and her staff's safety were my only concern" the Captain replied, "we would have left yesterday, but I am responsible for the safety of all Coalition member species in this region. My Government has tasked me with getting the Ambassador, her staff, all the ships of the ECA, and all our allies' ships as well safely out of this region of space. Thus as I have been charged I am responsible for these two ships as well" he pointed to them with his finger "and I will wait for them."
The tension had been building in the room since Jon had suggested the option of delaying. Into the argument stepped the third Human in the room. As McCants was beginning to speak Jon felt Malcolm tense again, but it seemed more apprehension this time than the previous sense of alarm. Something strange was happening between the two men and Jon didn't like it.
"Captain" the Ambassador began "these ships are ECA, they have good captains and crews, and they know this region of space very well. They both also had overhauls within the year and at last report, both could sustain warp three point five and max out at warp four point two. If we tell them to turn around now, they'll be past the Bassen Rift in less than three days. Even if the convoy left now it would still be a day behind them in the same time period."
McCants looked briefly at the image floating between everyone as if trying to do the distance and speed calculations in his head. Then he returned his attention to the Captain before continuing.
"Captain, as Earth's Ambassador to Bolarus and as ECA Director for this region, I'm forced to agree with our Bolian hosts. These ships should be instructed to proceed home immediately. Everyone on every ECA ship knows the potential risks involved in space commerce. All the ships, including these two, stand a better chance if they head home now, and the convoy leaves on or even before the scheduled time."
The whole time McCants was speaking, Jon could see from the corner of his eye Malcolm working his jaw muscles under the skin of his cheek. Till now Jon hadn't had any reason to question McCant's sincerity, and he still didn't have a reason of his own, but having Malcolm clearly disturbed by the Ambassador was enough to make Jon weary too.
McCants, as Ambassador, was the Human civilian authority in the region. Exactly what authority an ambassador could wield over a military commander within his jurisdiction was and had been a grey area throughout Earth's history. Jon was a ship commander; and as such, if an ambassador asked him for help he was obligated to provide it. On the other hand, an ambassador could not give military commanders orders on how to conduct military operations, which is what escorting the convoy would be. These things were usually sorted out when they arose either by coming to terms with each other or by letting each sides' superiors work it out back home. Since there was no time to call home for instructions, Jon decided that he would have to yield or risk this entire meeting becoming an unproductive affair. There was simply no time to debate each decision.
"I don't agree with sending these ships out on their own, no matter if their crews know the risks or not, but I can see the tactical value of getting the convoy moving on time. I want it noted that I oppose separating these ships from convoy protection, but I will differ to Ambassador McCant's request to do so."
Everyone in the room except Jon seemed relieved, even Malcolm.
"Very well" the General announced, "let's proceed to the next issue. I believe it's time for the convoy route to be discussed."
Jon looked over to Malcolm who already had his tricorder out. He had previously been given the holographic projector's specifications; and when he tapped a few commands in the tricorder, the holo-projector added a blue solid line path to the 3D sector map. It stretched from the Bolian System toward the left of the Bassen Rift Nebula; and on into infinity where it supposedly went onward to Earth. It wasn't exactly straight, Ensign Mayweather had mapped it out to avoid any potential physical and gravitational hazards. He also chose a path that was slightly different than the one Enterprise had taken to enter the sector.
"This is the second most direct path out of the sector" Malcolm began "the most direct path is also the most traveled, and thus most likely to be monitored. This path will only add eight point five hours to the overall travel time at the set convoy speed of warp three point five. The total travel time along this path, to fully clear the sector would be fifteen days, seven hours. However, this is not the route the convoy will be taking."
Everyone besides Jon and Malcolm exchanged curious looks over the last comments before Malcolm continued.
"On the assumption that the current territory of the Romulan Star Empire borders this sector on the galactic spinward side, we've calculated a path that will allow us the minimal exposure time in their assumed vicinity."
Malcolm tapped a few buttons on his tricorder and the blue path changed. Everyone in the room appeared to be surprised at the new path.
Malcolm continued despite the obvious anxiety the new path had caused his audience.
"Statistically, this is one of the least likely courses for the convoy to try to leave the sector by."
"You bet it is" Ambassador McCants added, "it's aiming the convoy directly across the path where the Romulans will most likely will enter the sector."
"Precisely" added Jon "it's the last thing they'll expect us to do."
"Indeed" intoned the so far generally quiet Chancellor "nothing surprises one so much as group suicide."
That only made Jon smirk with confidence "that's exactly what we're hoping the Romulans will think too."
Jon nodded at Malcolm to continue.
"The tactical assumption is that the Romulans are already in this sector now using their cloaking devices, thus they are already stationed along the traditional travel routes to monitor for the convoy, or the Romulans will enter the sector in force from the galactic spinward direction. Either way, this exit route will not be what they are expecting. If they offer any combative resistance along this path, it will not be from their own pre-made tactical plans. They will be forced to improvise and draw forces from previously planned assignments. We may also encounter these improvised forces in a piece-meal fashion. Our chances of surviving strafing attacks by two or three Birds-of-Prey at a time, instead of whole squadrons, greatly increase our chances of successfully exiting the region."
"Plus there's one more advantage to this path," Jon added.
The General nodded in understanding "the Nebula."
"Exactly General" Jon acknowledged "if we take the original path, we give the Romulans fifteen and a half days to attack us, maybe more depending on how far they're willing to chase us; with no cover, nowhere to run for protection but straight on. This new path gets us to the nebula in four days and six hours. Once we have the nebula on the convoy's left we will be able to use it as a place for hiding whenever the Romulans poke their heads out. Skirting along the edge of the nebula will add several days to our exit time, but we'll always be able to move into it immediately should the Romulans want to fight."
Commander Kann'Law spoke up then "Sir, the Bassen Rift Nebula is a new phenomenon to us and has not been well navigated or mapped since the fall of the Delphic Expanse's thermobaric barrier. What we do know about it is that it disrupts most forms of electromagnetic sensing and communicating. Once the convoy enters the Rift, they'll be no means of navigating or communicating between vessels. Do we have a plan to compensate for this problem?"
Again Jon nodded to Malcolm for the answer.
"Each ship in the convoy will be assigned a random alpha/numerical designation. For the duration of the egress from the sector, all ships will use directed pulse lasers to communicate with each other. The only way the Romulans could pick up this form of communication is to be directly between the transmitting ship and the receiving ship. This should effectively render the entire convoy transmission free, outside of false communications to confuse them with. Should the convoy be forced to enter the nebula, we believe that pulse laser transmissions will still be sensor readable within ten thousand meters. When a ship receives the laser message from another, all it should get is the ship's designation number with a letter at the end. The letter will correspond to a preset fifteen-degree direction along the cross-sectional plane perpendicular to the axis of the laser beam. The sending ship will have already begun moving to a point five thousand meters from its sending point, along that same fifteen-degree path. Any ship that receives the pulse laser message will also move along that same fifteen degree path to a five thousand meter point away from its receiving position, before transmitting its own pulse laser reply, which will include first the original transmitting ship's designation and movement letter, followed by its own designation and another fifteen degree movement indication letter."
Malcolm paused to make sure everyone understood the complicated sequence of events the ships would need to follow to communicate with each other inside the nebula. When no one seemed confused he continued.
"Once a ship finds another they will continue to move along the fifteen-degree perpendicular plane together, while hopefully adding more ships in as well. So long as they continue to move in a circular fashion around the fifteen-degree direction segments they should remain in relatively the same axis of rotation, and shouldn't stray too far from their original nebula entrance point."
Jon added "Should all forty-three…sorry, forty-one ships" he didn't want them to forget that they might have just doomed two cargo crews and their ships to oblivion "in the convoy be able to form up into one line, we'll use the pulse lasers to maintain the distance between us and to stay in line while we attempt to navigate in the nebula. We'll determine then if we're in good enough condition to attempt to move together inside of the nebula."
Several eyebrows were raised by that difficult prospect.
One of the female ship commanders asked a question then "how deep into the nebula should the ships go before stopping and reaching their waiting points?"
Malcolm answered her "Once Enterprise has determined it's in the convoy's best interest to enter the nebula, we'll transmit via pulse laser only, a set of commands to each ship with the direction to enter the nebula from, how deep to go into it, and how long to wait before emerging if they can't establish contact with other ships. After thirty minutes of entering the nebula, the ships can begin using their own pulse lasers to contact each other and form up. Assuming all ships are in communication before the designated time to leave the nebula, Enterprise will then issue orders for other convoy movement options."
Genlo cleared his throat before asking, "can ships move at warp within the nebula?"
Jon sighed with regret "no, they'll have to move in the nebula at sublight speeds."
"I see" Genlo continued, "so this trip could literally take years to complete, depending on how persistent the Romulans are?"
Jon let Malcolm answer "even if we are forced to stay inside the nebula for days, eventually we'll emerge and attempt to run at warp speeds. The tactical assumption is that the Romulans won't know where or when we'll emerge from the nebula, so we'll hopefully be able to take advantage of that to evade them for as long as possible once we've emerged."
"Ah, thank you Lieutenant" Genlo added.
"This will be a difficult task." Jon stated, "our chances for success are based on the discipline of the ships and their captains; a bit of surprise in our plans, and the hope that the Romulans will not be able to bring sufficient forces to bear against us at one time. The immediate destination for the convoy is the 70 Virginus System. It will take the convoy forty-six days at warp three point five to reach 70 Virginus, uninterrupted. A few days beforehand, several Starfleet vessels will reach that system, ready to provide support to the convoy if needed."
He paused to briefly collect his thoughts, then asked, "does anyone have any additional questions or concerns?"
"Sir" Commander Kann'Law said "we look forward to successfully defending this convoy, and our Ambassador, from the Romulan invaders; under your command. We stand ready to receive your orders."
At that moment all ten ship commanders again returned to perfect attention stance, right fists clenched and drawn in unison to their left breasts in salute. The General and Genlo did the same, but the ship commanders' eyes were on Jon. He clenched his right fist and placed it over his heart. They all lowered their fists in unison.
"Sir" Malcolm said to Jon "as per your previous instructions, I'll return with the ship commanders to the southern base. Assuming nothing went wrong while we were here, all ten Bolian ships should be ready this afternoon or this evening. I'll report to you directly at the Palace before returning to Enterprise this evening."
"Sounds good Malcolm, I'll see you then."
Lieutenant Reed then joined the ship Commander's as they left by the back way.
The Captain left with the other dignitaries. They said their goodbyes and moved off to do their preparation work wherever each needed to be. Jon moved to leave the compound and walk back to the awaiting ground car that would take him back to the Palace. He found Ambassador McCants had caught up with him.
"Captain" he began as they walked together "before I left to come to the meeting I received an encoded transmission from EarthGov. It's not much of a surprise, but they have ordered the complete evacuation of all Humans from the Bolian Sector, including me and my staff. Afraid my time as Ambassador in residence here on Bolarus was very short."
"We'll make room for you on Enterprise" Jon added "but it might be tight. We'll already have Ambassador Tallshe and her staff on board."
Jon had just before the meeting checked with Hoshi and Travis to make sure the final preparations for the Ambassador and her staff had been finished. Their supplies were already on board, and several of the crewmen had already been moved to temporary quarters in two converted cargo bays so that the Bolians could have their slightly more comfortable normal quarters. Since Trip and T'pol were still "sick" down on G Deck, the Ambassador would be put in T'pol's quarters. With Cadet Jenkins already in Trip's room, he planned to have T&T stay down on G Deck for the duration. Having to ask the Bolian Ambassador to Earth to move quarters in transit might raise more questions about his second and third officers and their mutual "illness" than it would be worth answering. He was sure Trip would just "hate" having all that alone space down there with his secret new wife.
"That won't be necessary Captain. The Human members of my staff number four, including me. Everyone else on staff are Bolians and plan to stay. I hadn't had the chance to turn our ECA office into a full-fledged embassy yet. We'll find room on some of the ECA ships, they're always looking for extra hands."
"If you're sure Ambassador…."
"I am" he replied, "we all came here off cargo ships ourselves, we'll feel right at home."
"Alright, if you insist" Jon finished, then he thought of one more thing.
"Mr. Ambassador, the two ships we're ordering to leave on their own. What ships are they?"
The Ambassador quirked up his lips into a concerned expression, then said "they are the ECS Cumberland and ECS Ventura Maru. They're both top of the line warp four cargo ships and they can sustain warp four point two for days on end if need be. They'll probably already be long gone by the time the convoy reaches 70 Virginus."
Jon briefly considered the Ambassador. Before Lieutenant Reed had acted "defensively" toward his presence at the meeting, Jon had mostly not given the man much consideration outside of his official position. Now he found himself questioning the man's motives and statements without even knowing why he should do such a thing. Jon had learned to trust his crew member's instincts, especially in areas that they were experts in. Malcolm was one of the best security and weapons experts in Starfleet. If something made him tense up, Jon sure as Hell knew it was in his best interest to pay attention. He again reminded himself to ask Malcolm what had set him off about the Ambassador.
"Let us hope so Mr. Ambassador" and with a curt nod, they departed company.
G Deck was the lowest point on Enterprise, and because of this the outer hull of the ship leaned at a very steep angle. There were round transparent aluminum portholes in the hull to look out of, but because of the extreme hull angle, you had to lean out onto the hull surface to look out of them, and you basically could only see straight down.
That was exactly what Trip was doing at that moment. Looking down at the blue on blue ball he knew was Bolarus. He vaguely wished he'd got to go down there himself but quickly dismissed the notion. He was doing exactly what he'd always wanted to do…with her, even if it was physically more taxing then he thought it would be.
When they were both awake, she wanted "guv" and lots of "guv".
When they were asleep together they were either visiting past aspects of each other's lives or having telepathic "guv". Usually a little of both. Then they would wake and have some more real life "guv".
"She's just a 'guv' machine." Trip snickered as he thought of the old Earth song with a similar name.
He didn't get to sleep when she was awake, so the only time he got to himself was when she passed out from exhaustion, which surprisingly under the physical circumstances they were both in didn't happen a whole lot. She was a microbe and biologically fueled "guv" machine. The trick for him was to not be so tired when she passed out that he too passed out right away. That was much harder than one would have thought to do.
Right at that moment, she was very much asleep.
He could feel her mind searching for him, but she wasn't strong enough at that moment to force herself awake.
He needed a break, badly.
He shoved another sandwich in his mouth, he was so numb that his taste buds wouldn't allow him to know what kind of sandwich he was eating.
"Not that I care at this point what kind of sandwich it is."
He was able to stay awake this last time more so because he was starving than any conscious effort on his part to just be awake.
He hadn't been in his best physical condition before T'pol entered Pon Farr, but somehow he had at the very least kept up with her. Whether the Doc was right and her Pon Farr was rubbing off on him too, or he just really wanted to do this with her, he couldn't really say. Probably a little of both on that account too.
He looked into the corner of the kitchen area where the cart he smashed a few days before lay in a relatively neat pile now.
"Yeah, guess I had reserves of strength I didn't even realize."
Even he couldn't quite make himself believe that T'pol's Pon Farr and their marriage bond somehow multiplied his own physical strength to be able to destroy an Aluminum cart with a flick of his wrist. He told Doc he'd smashed it in a rage, but in reality, he only barely shoved his out of his way.
"Well, that's a mystery for another day."
He was lying down on a thick blanket laid out on the hull so he could look down through the porthole. The metal was very cold, even through the thick blanket. Since it was the only thing between him and the near absolute zero of space, except for several active and passive thermal layers of hull plating, it only made sense that it was cold. Too cold for him to lie directly on, but the rest of him was burning hot. He'd felt like he had a fever since the beginning of all this, and he was completely naked now in an attempt to stay cool. The kitchen area wasn't as warm as Guest Room B, where his T'hy'la was getting her beauty rest at the moment, but it was warm enough to not merit him dressing.
"Guest Room B, G Deck," he thought "don't think I'll ever think of it as anything other than 'The Guv Room' from now on."
That made him chuckle a bit.
Then he heard a faint feminine voice in his head say "guv, weht guv ashal, weht guv".
He tried to clear his mind of all thoughts of "guv", else risk waking her. They both needed a break desperately. He instinctively knew that the Pon Farr was not over, but he also realized a normal Pon Farr didn't last anywhere near this long. She couldn't pace them herself, so he'd have to do his best to regulate their activities himself.
He grabbed a protein shake beside him and refocused his attention back down through the porthole to the planet below. Since he hadn't seen Phlox for almost more than a day he figured the Doc was down on the planet. He hoped Phlox got back up here before the food ran low.
If Phlox was down there, you could bet the Captain was too, and probably Hoshi as well. Whether Malcolm was down there was a toss-up. He was right behind T'pol and Trip in Enterprise's chain of command, and since the Romulans were known to be in the neighborhood, more than likely Malcolm would be in charge up here. Yet there were potential reasons that the Chief of Security might need to accompany the Captain planet-side too.
"T'pol and I being laid up is probably getting lots of folks some 'Big Chair Time'."
At first, he felt bad, having put so many people out of their normal routines, but then he re-evaluated. A Starfleet officer wasn't supposed to be too comfortable doing just one thing. You were supposed to be an expert in your field, but ready to assume command or help in other departments as needed. If you stayed in your comfort zone you'd never learn if you could exceed your own expectations. It would also be difficult for Starfleet to identify whether you were worthy of promotion and career advancement if you never had the chance to exceed expectations.
He thought back to last year when he had to assume command of Enterprise when T'pol and Jon were lost in The Forge on Vulcan, and then V'Las chased them from orbit. Going to look for Shran nearly led to open war between Andoria and Vulcan.
"That would have been the end of my career had it gone south."
It had had every chance to go wrong too; but somehow, despite unintentionally inciting the Andorians to launch a preemptive strike against the Vulcans, and despite Shran kidnapping Ambassador Soval, and despite parking Enterprise between the two fleets and risking destruction and death for the entire crew, somehow Trip had held it together and convinced them not to kill each other.
"Shoot, the President herself sent me a commendation order, even Dad was impressed."
He thought back to when Enterprise was first getting ready to launch. The original plan had been for him to be Chief Engineer AND First Officer.
That made him chuckle again.
"Weren't we naive?" he thought "I wouldn't have lasted a month doing both jobs."
He also hadn't wanted that "Vulcan spy" on board, no matter how sexy she was. Thinking back on it now though, he was grateful for her. Not just because she was his wife now and the love of his life, but because her steady presence and sound decisions and advice had basically made Enterprise a success. He couldn't have done half her job. She truly was amazing.
He heard her mental voice in his head.
"My ashal is amazing too."
"I love you too baby" he sent back to her still sleeping mind.
"I'll need you soon," she told him "don't take too long to recuperate."
He looked back down at Bolarus again, all blue on blue, like its native inhabitants.
Truth be told, he had often in the last five years exceeded his own expectations; and the expectations those he worked with had had for him. He had a lot to personally be proud of.
"Who knows," he thought as he stared off into space, "perhaps I'll be a starship captain myself one of these days."