Feeling very unsure of herself, Kehlan had hesitated before accepting his offer of dinner, but had eventually allowed herself to be persuaded. Once again he had cooked for her, this time preparing a traditional meal from his own homeland – a hearty steak and ale pie, accompanied by a bottle of Chateau Picard 2339, a rare vintage that he had won from the Enterprise's captain in a card game the last time they had met.
The ingredients for the pie were mostly replicated and the food was well cooked (by Klingon standards, overcooked) but in the time she had been onboard Endeavour, she had not objected to Terran food and he could only hope that the meaty dish he had chosen would prove satisfactory.
Kehlan frowned in concentration as she tasted the pie and he too frowned as he waited for her verdict. "Is that Warnog I can taste?"
He nodded, "Yes. The recipe calls for Guinness but since I didn't have any, I decided to experiment a bit rather than replicate it. Krang was kind enough to send me a couple of bottles when I asked him."
Kehlan did not bother asking what Guinness was, correctly assuming from the context it was some form of Terran alcoholic beverage. "It works," she decided, taking another bite.
Mackenzie had followed up with an apple and cinnamon crumble with vanilla ice-cream and pulling out all the stops, he'd opened a bottle of genuine Tokaji Aszu, a super-sweet desert-wine that he told her was from a region of Earth called Hungary. He'd forgotten that Kehlan was primarily a botanist and his plans for the evening had almost been derailed when, asking about its extreme sweetness, she'd learned that the grapes were deliberately allowed to rot. Her eyes had lit up with interest and she'd immediately gone to his computer console to look for more information.
An hour later they were in Venice, or at least a reasonable facsimile of that city. It might not be the real thing and a native of that city might not approve but as far as Mackenzie could see, the holo-program writers had done a good job. He should have set the scene with an Italian meal, he realised, as the two walked hand in hand past a cluster of lively cafes and turned to cross a simulation of the rialto bridge, stopping in the middle to look down into the tranquil waters. It would have been very easy to cook pasta, maybe a traditional bolognaise and arrange for the food to be served on the terrace of one of the traditional restaurants that this area was famous for. It didn't matter, he decided, but resolved to be a little more imaginative next time… if she agreed to do this again and there was a next time.
She leaned out over the water, surveying her surroundings and then turned her head to look at him, a happy smile on her face. "I heard about Venice when I was on Earth," she told him, "They said it was the most romantic place on the planet. I never managed to get to see it though."
"I'll take you to see the real thing, one day," he promised recklessly. Stepping back, he held out a hand to her in invitation. "Come this way."
Intrigued, Kehlan placed her hand in his and allowed him to lead her across the bridge. There was nothing Klingon about any of this, nothing at all that was familiar to her – this quiet walk in a beautiful location had nothing in common with the combative mating rituals that were traditional to her own people… and she was okay with that.
Exiting the bridge, Mackenzie turned right and led her down to the water's edge. A gondola waited there, a Terran male dressed in a striped teeshirt and wide-brimmed, ribboned hat standing on one end of the boat, a long pole in his hand.
With a nod of greeting to the gondolier and a few words of Italian, Mackenzie released her hand for a moment, he stepped into it, keeping his balance easily as it wobbled under his weight. He turned to her again, gesturing for her to join him. "Coming?"
Kehlan stared at the long, narrow boat, precariously upright on the wide, deep waters of the canal. "You must be joking!"
Mackenzie offered her a challenging grin. "Scared?"
It was a holodeck, she reminded herself, the water wasn't even real and there was no possibility of drowning or harming anything more than her dignity. What was the worst that could happen? Baring her teeth in response, she ignored the proffered hand and stepped into the boat. The deck tilted under her feet and she pitched forward, straight into Mackenzie's arms. Laughing, he helped her to a seat and settled himself next to her, never releasing his grip on her as the gondolier pushed the boat out into the waters of the Grand Central Canal.
The next few days were almost idyllic for captain and first officer as they enjoyed their illicit romance, quietly facilitated by Major Speares, that most unlikely of matchmakers, who kept the crew off their backs and made sure their off-duty time together was undisturbed.
Ship's day was spent on the bridge, preparing for the mission to come and there was lots to be done. Their evenings consisted of a meal together, a holodeck trip to somewhere romantic… and after their trip to Venice, they visited the beaches of Risa, the Romulan fire-falls and even watched the twin suns go down on a little known world with the unromantic designation of AR-562 Alpha. And afterwards… afterwards was spent in bed together (or on the bed, on the floor, on the sofa, in the shower, propped up against the bulkhead and nearly on Mackenzie's antique desk had it not given a loud creak that warned them that the attempt just might end in disaster) … long, pleasurable nights of lovemaking that brought them closer together, body and soul.
Inevitably, the time came when Endeavour's long-range sensors began to pick up signs of Jem'Hadar activity and after a quick consultation with his fellow captain, Mackenzie gave the order to begin the cloaking manoeuvre.
Temporarily relinquishing his role as first officer, Kargan took his place at Hegh'Ta's helm, beginning the procedure that would link the two ships.
As Endeavour came to a full stop, Hegh'Ta gently slid into position just a few metres above the nebula class starship. This was the most dangerous part of the procedure, was in fact, as had been pointed out more than once when the idea had first been suggested, little more than suicidal.
"Endeavour, we are ready to take helm control," Kargan reported.
"Understood, Hegh'Ta." Mackenzie's voice was tense as he gave up control of his ship to the Klingon pilot. "Helm is yours."
"Accepted." Fingers dancing across the controls, Kargan prepared to set the two ships in motion. "I have control. Course laid in and ready to engage."
Mackenzie took a deep breath. "Make it so."
From this point on, the comm channel between the two ships, that had remained open to facilitate their discussions, would remain closed and radio silence would be maintained as far as possible. Both captains and crews knew what had to be done and they would only reopen the channel – and then on a very tight, heavily encrypted beam - for very brief periods to confirm last minute adjustments to their arrangements or in case of emergency.
With Kargan at the joined helm, the two ships began their final approach to the planet that was their target. As they had anticipated it was heavily guarded with a fleet of twelve Jem'Hadar cruisers in orbit. They were significantly outnumbered and outgunned. Stealth and caution were of the utmost importance now – just one mistake would see them discovered and blown out of the sky.
This was futile, Mackenzie thought, indulging in a rare moment of pessimism as he studied the view on the main screen. They couldn't possibly hope to succeed against such an overwhelming force. He gave himself a mental shake. Stick to the plan, he told himself. Their strategy was sound and this far into Dominion space, the enemy would not be expecting an attack. They could do this.
Slowing to one quarter impulse, Hegh'Ta and Endeavour quietly approached the enemy fleet, slowing further as they slipped past, being careful not to leave the slightest disturbance or indication of their presence.
Now began the riskiest part – finding their target without their scans being detected. They could not afford to trigger an alarm at this early stage of the mission. In the end, the weapons production facility proved relatively easy to find – the largest Jem'Hadar ship was in geosynchronous orbit, directly above it.
Mackenzie was about to briefly open the channel to give the final order, when Ibn Ahmed spoke up from his position at the tactical console. "Captain, we are detecting large quantities of ketracel white."
Instantly Kehlan was out of her chair and at the tactical officer's side, looking over his shoulder and the Arab moved over slightly to give her a better view of the information on the console. "Qu'vatlh!" She swore under her breath. The quantities were huge and it wasn't just ketracel white, but the ingredients to make it. "They aren't just making weapons here, Captain. I think we've found one of their drugs factories."
Mackenzie's expression darkened. No wonder there was such a large fleet in orbit. This had to be one of the major supply and distribution centres for the Dominion war effort. All their carefully laid plans were about to change and cursing, he opened the emergency channel to the Hegh'Ta, quickly bringing its captain and crew up to date with the unwelcome development.
Over the comm from the other ship, a muttered imprecation was heard from Krang as he listened. "There was nothing about that in the intelligence we recovered," the Klingon said grimly. "We now have two targets to destroy."
"Make that three… no.. four targets," Kehlan told them, swiftly double checking the data as she spoke to ensure there were no more. "There are three (that I can find) deposits of ketracel white. There could be others we aren't yet aware of. Plus the weapons factory."
"Four?" Mackenzie was dismayed by that. They only had two ships and suddenly they had four targets to destroy while evading a large enemy fleet. He sighed, "Understood. Speares, we are going to need…"
"You'll need the marines, sir." Speaking at the same time as his captain, Speares was already on his feet and heading for the turbo-lift doors. Not waiting for his permission, he hit his combadge, snapping out the orders that would scramble his team.
On Hegh'Ta's bridge, speaking rapidly in clipped battle language, Krang was giving very similar orders to his own officers. "Kargan, I'll want you to stay on helm. Vareq, you're the best gunner we have, I need you on weapons… and you, Koreq, will take charge of the troops. Take as many squads as you need and prepare to beam down. Kerrik, they'll need a combat engineer, go with the marines."
All four officers acknowledged their orders and got to work, the security chief leaving the bridge at something approaching a run, the engineer only a moment behind him.
Much like his Federation counterpart, Koreq opened a com channel to his subordinates, shouting orders as he went. With battle looming, the soldiers were already armed and prepared for whatever orders they might be given. Within minutes, he was able to com the bridge to say that they were ready and waiting in the transporter room for the command that would send them into combat.
"Endeavour, I suggest that to start with, we go ahead as originally planned," Krang said, satisfied that everything was as ready as it could be. "We attack the weapons facility from orbit and make them think its our main target, then send in the ground troops to the ketracel facilities."
"That works for me," Mackenzie responded tersely. "We'll have to drop our shields to beam the troops down. Can you cover us and then we'll swap over and do the same for you?"
"Consider it done," Krang said at once. "Very well, we are ready when you are. Awaiting your confirmation, Endeavour."
"Ready and waiting, Hegh'Ta." As the Federation pilot acknowledged, Krang gave the order to decloak and return helm control to the Endeavour. The moment the cloak dropped, Kargan took the Bird-of-Prey swooping gracefully away from the Federation starship and into a strafing run over the enemy base.
Author's note: Well what can I say except sorry, It's been a long time since I posted to this story. Real life got in the way. This story will never be abandoned, it's just that it's very old and the second half of it needs serious rework to make it readable. Luckily with lockdown I appear to have plenty of time for writing. Stay safe everyone.
