The Sequel to "Yesterday's Terrors"
Chapter 2The Briefing
Kathryn Janeway had climbed up the stairs to the seventh floor of Starfleet Headquarters rather that taking the elevator. She knew she was stalling for time. When she reached the top of the final step she caught sight of the open door to Nechayev's office at the end of the corridor. The smell of coffee penetrated her nostrils and she smiled. She and Nechayev shared the same fondness for the aromatic beverage. Unfortunately that was where the comparison ended.
As she approached the doorway she heard muffled voices. She soon identified the male one as Tuvok. The female one was Nechayev. She could not hear Chakotay, so he probably had not arrived yet. Kathryn took a deep breath and entered the room.
"Captain Kathryn Janeway reporting for duty, Sir."
"Good Morning, Kathryn. You are almost as early as your Vulcan Security Officer. The meeting is not scheduled to start for another ten minutes. Take a seat."
Nechayev pointed to the row of four chairs in front of her desk. Kathryn chose to sit next to Tuvok.
Next Nechayev handed her a cup of coffee. The Admiral enquired,
"How have you been, Kathryn? Did you enjoy your vacation in Ireland?"
"It was wonderful. Thank you. I feel very much refreshed and eager to get offworld."
Smalltalk... No point in telling Nechayev about the constant nightmares that continued to plague her, and she was not about to let the Admiral know that she was still far from over Chakotay...
Kathryn went on to talk about the beauty of the Emerald Isle, its wild and undisturbed nature, the remoteness of her cottage in the Wicklow Mountains just south of Dublin, and the way those peaceful surroundings had soothed her mind.
She was just taking another sip from her cup when she heard his footsteps approach the Briefing Room. She knew who it was. She would have recognized that walk anywhere. Kathryn concentrated on the cup she held in her hand, trying to suppress the shaking of her hands. She focused on the aroma of the hot beverage, inhaled the rising steam deeply...It always had a calming effect on her.
When he entered the room his gaze locked with hers straight away, as if they were drawn to each other like differently poled magnets. But as quickly as their eyes had met he looked away. It was as if she were hot air to him. His face was a mask of stone. Kathryn felt as if a huge weight had just settled on her chest. It was painful to breathe and her throat began to constrict.
'Pull yourself together,' she thought. 'This is what you wanted, after all.'
Nechayev welcomed Chakotay to the meeting and, much to everyone's surprise, explained that one person was still missing. Apparently everyone had expected the group to be complete.
The final member of their party promptly arrived. Nechayev introduced the tall, dark and handsome man as Ross Marlow. He was as a sociologist from Virginia, specializing in Cardassian culture. This description turned out to be a very vague and understated assessment of his expertise. In fact Marlow knew everyone who was anyone in the Cardassian Empire. He had detailed knowledge of classified information that only the most high-ranking officers in the Cardassian Central Command and the Obsidian Order were supposed to know about.
Having spent the past four years as an undercover agent for the Federation on Cardassia Prime, as well as on several Cardassian colonies, he admitted to still having a little trouble reconciling himself with his image in the mirror. Four years ago, when he first joined Starfleet Intelligence he had been genetically altered to appear Cardassian. Experts in Starfleet Medical had changed him back to his former self no more than two days ago.
"It just takes a little time to get used to being me again..." he quipped.
He instantly made her skin crawl. Kathryn Janeway was used to relying on her gut feelings, and right now it told her that there was far more to this man than he or Nechayev were telling. Of course she understood the necessity for undercover agents, but how anyone could live among the Cardassians for such a long time was beyond her. It would take a very special kind of person to live amongst them whilst they brutally enslaved the people of other worlds, put the old and frail -- even children -- into forced labor camps, and cruelly raped helpless women. It made her wonder how well he had played the role of a Cardassian... How far exactly had he gone?
Nechayev officially opened the briefing. Everyone had taken a seat in one of the chairs facing the Admiral's desk in a semi circle. Nechayev folded her hands. She had turned all professional, no more small talk, no more smiles, just plain old frosty Fleet Admiral Alynna Nechayev, the woman almost everyone in Starfleet loved to hate. Kathryn knew for a fact that Jean-Luc Picard and Admiral Paris, only to mention a couple, despised the woman for she was ruthless and unsympathetic, and as lethal as a Cardassian disruptor if she did not like the look of you. By the way, there were not many people she did like, although she seemed to be rather friendly with Ross Marlow, which did not exactly speak in his favor. Nechayev began,
"I'm sure you all have a fairly good idea for why Starfleet Command has summoned you here today. Let me fill in the details. Five days ago we received an encrypted transmission on a frequency usually only used by our agents. It was an appeal from a man called Dunar, one of the most prominent leaders of the Cardassian underground movement that strives for an end of the military dictatorship. He asked Starfleet to help him. As some of you may recall, in return for services rendered we recently gave our word to assist him, should his life be in jeopardy. He seems to think that the moment has arrived.
"Less than a week ago, the Cardassian underground movement had set into action a plan to destroy the central computer core at Central Command. One of their operatives, who we know to be Lemok Togal, son of the recently deceased Legate Togal, managed to get all the way into the control center before being discovered. The Obsidian Order subsequently executed him, his wife and his six-year-old daughter. We have reason to believe that there is an informant among the rebels, who works for the former head of the Obsidian Order. Enabran Tain, although officially retired from his duties, ordered the executions personally and was present when they were carried out, which by the way was no more than five minutes after Lemok was discovered in the Command Center.
It seems Tain has returned to his duties, although it's probably fair to say that he never really retired from the Order. Now Dunar fears for his safety as well as for that of his family and the rebel movement as a whole. He has requested asylum for the members of his cell and their families. In exchange he is willing to give us highly classified information on planned operations, both by the Cardassian Military and the Order -- information that not even Mr. Marlow managed to get access to in his four years of service on Cardassia Prime.
Nechayev paused, got off her chair and began to pace the room. 'Here it comes...' Janeway thought warily.
"Now I will inform you of certain matters that might shock you". The Fleet Admiral directed herself at Janeway, Chakotay and Tuvok.
"Since the incident in the Badlands three months ago, we have been expecting to send you into Cardassian space in order to help certain members of the underground movement. As you are no doubt aware, the Cardassian Central Command would perceive any interference in their political matters from our side to be a declaration of war. Therefore we had to keep a few things under cover. Starfleet has kept Voyager's return to Earth, after the sudden death of Gul Camet, secret. Official reports state that the Federation distances itself from Voyager's mission into the Badlands because her Captain and crew have sided with the Maquis. In a nutshell, there's a bounty on your heads and a reward for Voyager's recovery. Voyager was a prototype, and naturally all sides have a keen interest in gaining possession of the vessel. I'm sure the Romulans would love to get their hands on it. Be very aware of the danger you face in open space. The entire Galaxy is after you."
Nechayev paused once again, this time scrutinizing the faces of the Vulcan, the woman and the former renegade. What impression had her last words made on them? She could not tell. Their faces were seemingly cast in bronze. Not even their eyes revealed any emotions, a credit to their Starfleet training but not much use to her right now. She continued,
"We have fitted Voyager with an advanced communications scrambler that will enable you to contact us anywhere in Cardassian space without anyone being able to intercept your messages. Furthermore a revolutionary cloaking device has been installed into her systems, as well as into her shuttlecrafts. It will enable you to enter Cardassian space without being discovered. But of course, as with all known cloaking devices, you will not be able to engage in battle while the cloaking device is active.
"You will proceed to Cardassia Prime wearing civilian clothes, the kind the Maquis wear. I'll leave this part of the mission in your capable hands, Mr. Chakotay. In appearance Mr. Marlow will serve as your first officer, Kathryn, but he'll report straight to me, so that I'll at all times be informed of your actions. No offense, Captain, but recent events still categorize you as -- how shall I put it -- ...a liability."
'Ouch!' thought Chakotay, trying not to wince. If Nechayev were any less than a Starfleet Admiral Kathryn would scratch her eyes out for that. Facing Janeway, Nechayev continued,
"Starfleet Command is not willing to take any risks with this mission. They would not even have considered you for the captaincy in this case were it not for the fact that Voyager is now supposed to be a renegade ship, and you her captain."
Kathryn Janeway's face was unreadable except for the blazing fury that now burned in her eyes. To be insulted like this in front of her ex-lover, her tactical officer, and a complete stranger... It was insufferable. Somehow she managed to control her temper.
Nechayev now began to address the mission itself. They were to proceed to Cardassia Prime, take a cloaked shuttle into the capital and rendezvous with the rebels. Once they had located Dunar's cell, they were to begin transporting them and their families aboard the cloaked Voyager, using either cloaked shuttles or transporters, whatever was most appropriate at the time. Then they were to inform Starfleet Headquarters of the success of their mission. Starfleet would send them the coordinates of a secret location from which the Cardassian rebels were to be scattered all over Federation space. The mission was straight forward, although not easy. Its success relied to a very large extent on the new cloaking technology, which had not yet been field-tested. Kathryn didn't like the sound of it, nor did she like the fact that her entire crew was up for grabs for anyone who wanted to cash in on the bounty. It was beyond her comprehension how Starfleet could so scrupulously decide over the lives of people. They had not even asked...
As for Marlow, she liked him even less now than at the beginning of the meeting. The man was going to be chaperoning her throughout the duration of the mission. No one had ever called Kathryn Janeway a 'liability' before. She felt her face flush with heat just thinking about the insult.
Nechayev went into the tactical details of the new cloaking technology, explained the dangers that Voyager might come across in Cardassian space, from minefields and other booby traps to naturally occurring anomalies in the region they were going to. Then, ordering them to finish their final preparations, she let them go. They were to rendezvous in the main transporter room at Starfleet Headquarters at 20:00 hours. Messages had been sent to Voyager's Starfleet crew and the members of Chakotay's Maquis cell.
"Dismissed!" she barked at the end of her speech.
Without uttering another word everyone went their separate ways.