Disclaimer: See chapter one. Still don't own these persons, just playing again!
Mandate Still Stands.
Robin stared at his Gaffer unable to believe what the man had just told him.
"Me! They want me?" still unable to believe it, his voice a little strained and shrill with his disbelief. He could hear the FNN's main reporter grinding his teeth in fury behind him, but the Gaffer ignored the man, he just looked confidentially at the young man in front of him.
"They asked specifically for you by name," he quietly affirmed.
"They can't be serious!" exclaimed their main reporter.
"Oh they're very serious. And so am I," he said pointedly. "You are ready," he added softly, that only Robin heard him. "Take Zach as cameraman. He will follow your lead."
"Thank you, Gaffer," feeling a bit more confident now. He turned and left the control room the complaining whining of their top reporter's voice following him out, and found Zach waiting for him. The cameraman was older than Hood and good at his job, but could be relied on for support and encouragement.
"You'll be just fine, lad," Zach assured the young reporter. "Let's show them how it's really done," grinning. Robin Hood smiled at the veteran newsman, thus they left the building together.
=/\=
Meanwhile at the café, the fourth Squaddie sat quietly in the shadowed corner near the bathroom where he'd gone not only to relieve himself but to contact his bosses at HQ. The communication had been abruptly cut off, but that last phrase was indelibly imprinted in his mind.
"Your mandate still stands …"
The black clad male just quietly closed his eyes, breathing deeply, wondering how anyone could be so single-minded in their agenda after being so thoroughly exposed to public gaze and censor, he wasn't sure. When he'd realised his fellow Squaddies had gone, he'd slipped into his current seat, to wait and carefully review what he'd been told in no uncertain terms.
'Seek, locate and destroy!'
He was abruptly jolted out of his thoughts by a familiar voice coming from the cafe's news feed screen.
"... Hood reporting with a special news update at the behest of the President of the United Federation of Planets inside the Black Rock Compound."
The view was of the main entrance to the secure area near the Pacific coastline, the white crested sea breakers in the background pounding the black rocks of the ragged shoreline that gave the compound its name. Although the young reporter wasn't visible on the screen, there was no mistaking his voice, a voice filled with innocent confidence.
"Was I ever that young?" the Squaddie asked himself, sadly.
"Once perhaps," responded the café proprietor softly close to his ear. "Coffee," he offered holding up a large mug of the dark brew, as a peace offering, having startled the black clad male. "We all make our own choices," he added, looking directly into his eyes.
"You've been there …." the Squaddie summarised. The other just smiled knowingly, and pressed the mug into the willing hand.
=/\=
Janeway accepted the mug Elliott pressed into her hand taking the seat he'd brought for her to rest in. The electronic clatter that crossed her boards startled them both.
"I thought the computer had closed all channels?" noted her aide puzzled.
"Computer confirm all channels are closed," she said as puzzled and concerned as her aide.
#Confirmed#
"Then what ..." looking up at the main view screen. There looking back at her, was her three interned former crew members, along with UFP's President and Admiral Necheyev, sitting at a table in front of the trio, plus the black clad Squaddies in the background.
"The last reported whereabouts of the UFP's President and Admiral Alynna Necheyev was at Starfleet HQ, as has been reported by FNN recently, following a Kamikaze attack by an unknown assailant. Therefore would you care to explain your current locale and good health, Mister President?" The voice of the young reporter asked of the alien male sitting at the table in front of the Voyager trio.
The Bolian male in question, appeared to gather himself as the camera focused on him, whilst the young man waited calmly for his response, which is more than the usual FNN reporter would have done, filling the pause with his incessant chatter. Zach squeezed Robin's shoulder, to halt him from pushing the male humanoid.
"Well, the Admiral and I have our heartfelt thanks and owe our rescue from certain death, to these person's from the Voyager crew," he began quietly, as if testing out his words and indicating the three standing behind him. Seven stood between her two male colleagues and within arm's reach of the pair seated before her.
"How was that possible?" Robin asked gently, perhaps understanding that more than a rescue happened here.
"We were transported here."
"The time I visited here it wasn't possible to use a transporter, to access this compound," noted Robin, his tone of voice reflecting his puzzlement.
"So we understand," noted Necheyev. From beside cameraman - Zach, Robin sent a silent questioning expression for an explanation at Seven.
"We used the sensors here to scan for the required parameters to retrieve the persons in question and temporarily held them in a transporter buffer, close to their former location, until the security screen became non-functional and then completed the transport."
"How did you know who to retrieve?" he asked, realising it was perhaps one question the recipients required an answer to.
"The parameters were sent via a message to me."
"I see," noting that Zach had trained his camera on the former Borg female. "And who sent you this message?"
"Admiral Janeway," she responded in a manner that said that was all needed to be said on the matter. Robin grinned at her tone, and touched Zach's arm in a gentle pulling manner, so that the male pulled the view to include the whole group again.
"Is there something, you'd like to add to this whole affair, Mister President?" he asked mildly, leaving the subject field wide open for the alien male. Admiral Necheyev smiled at the young reporter. She realised Seven had been right about this male, who was not only fair but he was not dictating in which direction this report was to go, he was leaving that to his interviewees to decide. It was a refreshing change from the usual clamour of reporter questions, that tried to get their 'victims' to say what the news media wanted them to say, rather than hear the truth.
"Let me see," the Bolian started to say, when he felt Alynna's hand on his arm. He looked askance at her, then nodded his assent to her silent question.
"That is a rather broad question, Robin Hood," she began quietly. "I can tell you this much. New revelations have been aired here, which Starfleet Admiralty were not aware of and for the time being will remain confidential, possibly until the conference with our allies and others," she said matter-of-factly. "Starfleet and the UFP council as a whole have a lot of data to digest, especially over the matter to do with USS Voyager's missing XO," she paused as if debating something internally, feeling the presence of the trio behind her. "For his continued safety it might be better if he remains missing," she finally added thoughtfully.
"Can you clarify that statement, Admiral?" Robin asked quietly, as if he understood her reasoning.
"At this moment in time; no I cannot," her tone leaving the young reporter in no doubt that she would not welcome any more questions on the matter.
"Fair enough, Admiral," he acknowledged, allowing her to breathe relieved. Robin along with Zach both knew how their main top reporter would have responded to that seeing it as a challenge to pry it out of the Starfleet woman. As she was known for not giving out information freely or willingly; both FNN-ers respected her and her position. "Mister President, do you have anything to add or …"
"I think all that needs to be said, has been for now. I will contact all our allies and members of UFP in due course," he acknowledged quietly. Robin nodded his head; he and Zach finished their report, by exiting the control centre and showing a view of the rocky shoreline once more; before signing off completely.
=/\=
At the Paris' home, the 'family' were puzzled as to why the Fleet Admiral had said, what she did about their missing friend. Tom turned to his father, once the FNN report had concluded a puzzled expression on his face.
"Dad?"
"I'm as much in the dark about this as you, son," he said, frowning just as perplexed.
"Do you think, Seven and the others will be released soon?" Ayala asked.
"I think a lot will depend on what that confidential information was about," he said, knowing Alynna as he did.
"Bother!" noted Dalby; voicing his former Chief's expression aptly; although he knew she would have used some more very choice Klingon words, thus he grinned at her. The female in question just glared at him, leaving her choice words unsaid.
"How much longer will this drag on?" asked Lyssa Campbell
"Makes you wish we were back in the Delta Quadrant again," noted Henley sourly.
"Yeah! At least we knew who our enemies were out there," said Gerron his young voice reflecting how everyone in the room felt about their return to the Alpha Quadrant.
"This isn't the 'home' the Captain aimed for!" Naomi said softly. No-one said anything more as they too realised that the Federation and Starfleet had changed beyond all recognition to what it had been when they'd forcibly left the area, seven years ago.
Admiral Paris watched the mood change among these people who were perhaps more of a family to each other than their own physical families would ever be. Forged together by experiences rather than by blood-ties and genetics. This was especially evident in how things were with the Wildman's; for although Ensign Wildman stood close to her Ktarian husband, he - like himself - was apart from the rest of the people in this large room. It pained him to see and acknowledge that these persons - the Voyager family - although part of the Federation by birth had been made different in another part of the Milky-way galaxy, just as those here in the heart of the Federation had been forged by war and adversity of a different kind, setting each group apart from each other.
"And yet are we so different?" he whispered softly, frowning. Tom looked askance at the man, having heard his words. "Just thinking aloud!" he smiled sadly at this young man his son, a husband and father in his own right, something he hadn't hoped to see, when he last had seen Tom Paris before he'd been sentenced to New Zealand.
"Care to share those thoughts, Admiral?" asked the Ktarian, his tone intimating that perhaps his thoughts had been on similar lines as Paris seniors own.
"Well, the people here are a family, forged together by experiences different from those of us who remained here in the Alpha Quadrant," he began tentatively.
"Different perhaps," Greskrendtregk said softly. "And yet not so different," smiling at his wife, who responded in kind, understanding flowing between them, despite the seven years they'd been apart.
"IDIC," commented Vorik.
"That is what Starfleet has forgotten," noted a new voice, stepping into the room.
"Janeway!" a smile in the word. Everyone started talking at once as they welcomed the female back into their midst, whilst discussing what had been revealed during her open communications link.
=/\=
NB: Another chapter done. When is Chakotay going to rejoin the family? Soon I hope!
