Chapter - 14

Secure Briefing Room. Starfleet HQ

"The Romulans?"

She kept her voice even; aiming for a thoughtful, but business like expression, in sharp contrast to the incredulity written on the faces of everyone else sat around the oval briefing table. Eyebrows were not so subtly raised, besides herself and Admiral Paris they were a small, select group and she had strong suspicions that he was assembling a team. It was surely no coincidence that alongside Captain Patrick Callaghan sat Tom, Lieutenant Caplain whose background she now knew was Operations and Communications, a serious looking Bajoran security officer and Ensign Trafford, his eager face and boyish smile reminding her of Harry on his first day aboard Voyager.

Almost a decade ago now she thought ruefully, that certainly didn't make her feel any younger; as Admiral Paris nodded in reply, she turned her thoughts back to the matter under discussion.

"The intelligence is solid. I won't elaborate on how we know, that's for another time; we're here to talk about what we currently know and where we go from this point. As you are all aware, just under twenty-eight hours ago the Convention Centre adjacent to Starfleet HQ was the subject of an attack."

Tapping deftly into a PADD, he brought up a schematic of the building. "A large explosive charge was planted in the roof and it appears that the individual components were transported and then assembled by person or persons unknown. The device was remotely detonated resulting in the loss of eight lives and one hundred and twenty-seven injuries."

He paused. "The majority of that information is already in the public domain, but what I'm about to tell you now is classified and cannot leave this room. At the precise moment that the device was detonated, the force of the blast interrupted the power supply to the shielding around HQ and in the time it took the emergency force field to come online, the Romulans managed to evade our security measures and access our secure systems."

Captain Callaghan quickly asked the question that most of those around the table were thinking. "How were they able to breach the new, advanced security grid?"

Admiral Paris shook his head, a grim expression settling on his features. "That we haven't established as yet, believe me everyone in the Security and Technology departments are working around the clock and will be until we have an answer. What concerns us is one of the items they took and how to get it back."

An almost palpable air of expectancy filled the room. Paris Senior walked around the table and brought up another schematic that Kathryn immediately recognised, he gestured towards her.

"Admiral Janeway, care to take it from here?"

"A Quantum Slipstream Drive?"

She heard her own voice cut through the brittle silence just before she heard Tom's sharp intake of breath.

"For those of you who aren't familiar with the technology, I'll allow the Admiral to summarise."

She slid from her chair and stood, absorbing this strange turn of events. Slowly, she walked around the table to the schematic, gathering her thoughts and smoothing the still unfamiliar new style tunic before she spoke.

"Quantum Slipstream is an advanced form of propulsion technology first encountered by Voyager in the Delta Quadrant. It has the capability of exceeding a starship's maximum warp factor by an unprecedented degree. In that respect, it is similar to the Transwarp technology used by the Borg."

She paused glancing around the table to make sure she still had everyone. A few heads nodded; Tom's brow was furrowed and she could almost hear him thinking.

"Simply put, a Quantum Slipstream drive operates by routing energy through the main deflector, which then focuses a quantum field, allowing the vessel to penetrate the quantum barrier. In order to maintain the slipstream, the phase variance of the quantum field has to be constantly adjusted, or the slipstream collapses, throwing the ship back into normal space. Voyager had some limited success integrating the technology, but our diagnostics revealed that we couldn't maintain the stability of the drive without risking catastrophic damage to the ship."

She looked over at Admiral Paris. "Something I assumed Starfleet's brightest minds were working to overcome?"

He nodded before Tom asked the obvious. "Just how did the Romulans know about Quantum Slipstream technology?"

Admiral Paris sighed. "So far, there are a lot of unanswered questions, we're not discounting the possibility of a leak within Starfleet intelligence or some kind of advanced espionage. What does seem clear is that the Convention Centre was not the target, the explosion was used as a distraction. The Romulans knew that the blast would disrupt HQ's security systems long enough for them to transport the technology. They had done their homework, so to speak; the time window was incredibly short."

There was a stunned silence, while they all digested this. Captain Callaghan spoke first, his face grim. "You said they transported the technology Sir? They had a ship undetected in low orbit?"

Admiral Paris rubbed his forehead, a look of weariness crossing his face . "According to the data we have retrieved so far, it appears the Drive was beamed aboard a routine transport shuttle bound for Mars. With all the attention on the civilian emergency, it slipped out of orbit unobserved before the planet-wide travel ban was initiated."

"A daring raid."

The merest hint of admiration in Tom's quiet voice drew a slight glare in his direction from his father.

"Suggestions are always welcome Lieutenant."

Kathryn watched Tom lean back in his chair, hands laced behind his head, a familiar, almost teenage posture he adopted when he was going to suggest something that she knew wasn't going to be exactly by the book. He looked across at her, possibly for permission and there was a familiar twinkle in his eye.

She slid her hand onto her hip. "Alright Lieutenant, let's hear it."

She kept her expression slightly stern when really she wanted to grin at him just a little. There was something about his honesty, which occasionally bordered on insolence, but also on brilliance. It was a fine line to walk however, and crossing it had got him into trouble as often as it had earned him her admiration. Over the time they had served together, he had learnt from his mistakes and knew where they stood. Professionally, he was always respectful, and off the clock, well he was Tom.

"Well... since the explosion, there has been a strictly enforced travel ban and if there is no evidence to the contary, we can assume that the drive is still on Mars."

She nodded.

"But the ban will be lifted in twenty-four hours and then the Romulans could transport it anywhere, it's a highly classified technology so I'm guessing that we can't approach the Romulan Government or the Federation to ask for its return."

"You mean, we can't acknowledge that we ever had the Slipstream Drive or that it has been stolen?" Captain Callaghan interjected.

"Exactly. Diplomatic channels are a no go."

Impatient, she thought she'd bring him to the point. "So what's your plan Mr Paris?"

Tom hesitated, deliberately she thought to keep them all waiting. "Easy, we steal it back."

"And risk an all out confrontation with the Romulans?"

"Not exactly. If all the intelligence suggests that the Romulans haven't seen a Quantum Slipstream Drive close up before, we can switch it."

"With what?" Lieutenant Caplain spoke for the first time.

"With a device that looks identical. We performed a detailed analysis of the drive on Voyager so we have all the specifications of every complement in our database, we replicate a device similar enough to fool the Romulans and swap it for the real thing."

Tom looked around the table as the six of them considered his idea. Admiral Paris spoke first, "I've heard worse and we're not exactly flush with options. What's your opinion Admiral Janeway?"

Thinking fast, she tilted her head. "Once we've located the device, it would have to be an exceptional copy. The Romulans have had it long enough for us to assume they've run a thorough analysis on it."

Tom was prepared for her counter argument. "Yes, but they won't have been able to test it. They don't have the knowledge about the instability of the phase variance within the quantum field. We can replicate the components exactly and exponentially increase the instability to make it impossible to integrate with a propulsion system. In essence, we can render it totally useless."

There was a long pause while they all considered this statement. He pulled a face. "Is this making any sense to anyone else?"

She nodded. "What you're suggesting is possible, but there are a lot of blanks to fill in."

Paris raised his eyebrows a little and met her gaze, and for a second it was as if they were back on Voyager. "I never said it was a perfect plan Admiral."

Twisting her lips was unsuccessful and she had to turn and walk back towards her seat to hide her smile, but not before Tom saw the beginnings of it she suspected.

.

Three hours and five cups of coffee later, they had the basics of the Mission planned. She'd be running point from HQ, Captain Callaghan and Tom were the Alpha team in charge of making the switch with what had ended up being a highly sophisticated Holographic version of the Drive, while a back-up of Lieutenant Caplain and the two junior officers would be the Beta team standing by at a secure location. In order to optimise their chance of success, a scouting party had been covertly dispatched to Mars to locate and track the Drive and under her and Tom's watchful eyes a team of Starfleet specialist Holo-Engineers were using ground breaking technology to construct its replacement. As it was not estimated to be complete until the following afternoon, she suggested that those who could go home, get some rest and study the most recent data on Romulan tactics before re-convening the following dat. Tom caught up with her in the lobby as she stood and surveyed the ongoing repair work, his familiar relaxed stride giving him away. She didn't turn around, instead calling over her shoulder.

"Do you always manage to find me by chance Mr Paris, or did you implant some sort of tracking device while I slept?"

She heard him chuckle. "Pure good fortune Admiral, although the group of starstruck cadets I met in the corridor a moment ago did indicate the close proximity of greatness."

At that, she turned and shot him a look, lightly swatting him on the arm playfully. "I should have known. Perhaps it's time I wore a disguise, that or left via the back exit."

He grinned at her, matching their strides as they headed out. "In all honestly I was hoping to catch you before you left, I presumed you'd be heading to the hospital first thing, but I wanted to check that you didn't need a ride."

She frowned slightly, searching her mind for a reason she wouldn't go straight to HQ but coming up empty. "Either I'm still not up to speed or I'm in the dark about something, put me out of my misery Tom?"

He looked a little confused. "Dyami's discharge meeting, he didn't mention it?"

She exhaled slowly, slowing her steps. "No, he didn't."

"Ah, I'm sorry, I just thought that you'd want to be there, I presumed he was going to be staying with you."

That stopped her in her tracks. "That's a big assumption Tom."

Her tone had hardened a little and Tom knew that he was treading in dangerous ground. Still, that had never stopped him before and he continued with just a hint of caution. "He has no family here on Earth and the Doctors won't clear him for off-planet travel yet. I thought..."

She held up her hand formally, a gesture rarely directed at him these days, the warning tone reinforced by an unfamiliar slightly cool expression.

"What Dyami decides to do once he leaves the care of Starfleet Medical has nothing to do with me. The fact that he didn't contact me about the discharge meeting only serves as a reminder that he has other people he can, and has called on. That suits us both."

He felt his back straighten at the unfamiliar sting attached to her words. His armour dented, but not pierced he decided. "Yes Ma'..."

She cut in before he could finish, perhaps regretting the slightly harsh tone she had employed. Reaching over to squeeze his arm, she gave him a smile.

"Go home and get some rest Tom. Give my love to B'Elanna and the kids."

He nodded, a little mystified and watched her walk away, before heading home himself.

Grateful to be home and sinking into her sofa, with her favourite mug in hand, Kathryn swallowed a mouthful of the soup before picking up the PADD to check her messages one last time. Overlooked, in her personal inbox a single mail caught her eye and made her heart thump in her chest and her stomach pitch just a little. From Dyami, it was simply entitled - Will I see you tomorrow?

Damn and blast she thought, dropping the PADD onto the floor with a clatter and pinching the bridge of her nose in irritation. Damn and blast.