Chapter Fifteen

James sat down at a table in a café. He looked out the window at the green trees and the blue sky. He was on Earth now; he was living in a small community that Starfleet founded for 'Time Displaced' individuals for about a week now, located in western Canada. The debriefings that he had with Temporal Investigations were more like interrogations. They grilled him for two days straight, and got almost every bit of information that James was willing to tell them.

He had gotten to know a few of the people here, one person stood out from the rest, because he traveled forward in time almost three hundred years, and had been living here for almost fourteen years. He had told James that this community used to be a Canadian Military base called Shilo and how he used to eat at this very café back then.

James took a sip of the coffee he ordered and read today's copy of news report from the Federation News Service when a woman sat down at his table.

"You're James Soul, Commander James Soul?" she asked.

"Yes, who wants to know?" James said taking another sip of his coffee.

"I know what you're planning." The woman said bluntly.

"What?" James asked, wondering what this woman was going on about.

"You want to save that lovely Captain Harrison and your brother from dying. How very heroic of you." She said with a smirk on her face, pulling the padd from James' hand, glancing it over. "The news must be boring to read, considering you already know what's going to happen."

"Who are you?" James asked, now annoyed and starting to get angry. No one knew about what James and Amanda had talked about that night.

"I could be someone who could help you make it happen, or I could just be a person who you talked to on a sunny morning while you were having your coffee. Which one depends on you." She said leaning forward, putting her chin on her hand and scrolled the padd to the sports section.

"You haven't answered my question." James said, taking the padd back.

"All in good time, first you have to do something for us, no questions asked." She said coldly. James thought over his response very carefully. His time was running out, and he still hadn't thought of a plan, which was starting to nag at him.

"Al…" James began to say, but the woman cut her off with a raised hand and looked over her shoulder. Behind her were two Starfleet Security officers talking to the owner of the café.

"I think its best that we head someplace else." She said. "Follow me, and don't look at the officers."

James did as he was told and followed her as she walked away calmly. Judging by her behaviour, James guessed that she had had some training in espionage. Could be Starfleet Intel, but why would she run from Security. James thought to himself. The woman, still nameless, turned a corner, and just as James did the same, she was gone, and James was bathed with blue light of a transporter.

"Where am I?" James asked, still confused as to what just happened.

"You're on a cloaked ship in orbit. My name is Tina Robertson, I am with Starfleet Intelligence."

"What does Intel want with me?" James asked bluntly.

"We want you to do something for us, and we know that the only way that you would help us is if we help you." She explained. "As for us knowing about your conversation with your 'sweetheart' is simple. We had an agent on the Majestic, and he bugged the room."

"Well, you've got me, now what do you want me to do."

"A simple information gathering mission, that's all. Have you ever heard of a group calling them selves 'The Legion'?" she asked.

"Vaguely. I know that they are a terrorist group that openly opposed the war, and have since attacked several Starfleet outposts. That's about it."

"Well, they've been responsible for some Intelligence operations failing and the agents involved getting killed by the Dominion. We recently became aware that they are planning to stage an attack on a strategic Star base for an up coming offensive, and they have started recruiting mercenaries. We want you to join them and gather as much information about it as you can, and get out." She said, revealing the plan. "If you do this, Starfleet Intelligence will help you the best it can."

"But what makes you think that I can trust you? I mean, we just ran from Starfleet Security, how do I know you're even from Intel?" James demanded.

"The biggest threat to any Intelligence operative is a well meaning ally." She explained. "I've been in deep cover for the majority of the war, and some of the stuff I've done… were less then legal to say the least."

"So, what Star base are we talking about here?" James asked, somewhat satisfied with her explanation. He still didn't trust her as far as he could throw her, but at the moment, he didn't have much of a choice.

"Star base 93." She answered, and James' eye's opened wide then rubbed his shoulder where an old scar used to be. "What is it?" Tina asked.

"AR-834; the offensive is to re-take a large tritainium mine. It supplies the dominion with materials to build its fleets here in the Alpha Quadrant." James said cringing on the inside as the screams of the men and women he led into combat echoed in his mind. It was a bloody battle, but in the end, it helped lead to the Dominion withdrawal into Cardassian space, and eventually, to the end of the war.

"You already know what happens. Then you know how important this is." She said, crossing her arms and leaning up against a bulkhead. "We already have a cover story set up and all that's left is you getting to know it and a little cosmetic surgery."

James looked into the mirror at his face, and didn't even recognize the man staring back at him. His dirty blonde hair was now jet black, he had a goatee now, which surprisingly looked good, he thought to himself. There were wrinkles under his eyes and a large scar on his left cheek.

"A 'little' cosmetic surgery?" he asked rhetorically, Tina laughed.

"Ok, what's your name?" Tina quizzed.

"Tate Mackenzie. I'm a 'retired' Starfleet officer who now owns a small shipping company."

"Good, nice touch on the sarcasm, what are you going to say when they question you on that?"

"That they gave me the can." James said running a finger along the scar on his cheek with a half smile.

"Seriously now, Commander."

"You actually expect them to believe a pilot admitting pilot error? You people at Intel obviously don't know many pilots. You see, there is this little thing called pride. We have a lot of it. You can through in a little ego too."

"Oh, so now you think you're infallible. You can do no wrong."

"When a pilot makes a mistake, people die; Pure and simple."

"Its either you go with this plan, or we scrub the mission, a lot of Marines die, we turn you over to Temporal Investigations and you get to rot in a six by eight prison cell for conspiracy to change the time line." Tina said with an icy commanding tone, and then her expression became distant. "A very highly skilled operative is in their inner circle. He's already recommended you as a candidate." She said, twisting a ring on her left hand. "When this mission is over, he's to be pulled out. So as you can imagine, Commander, I too have a personal stake in the success of this mission." She said, taking a deep breath to regain her composure. "Now, do we go with this story, or do I drop you off at a prison colony?"

James just sat there, and Tina took his silence as a yes. "Alright, let's go over this again…"