Chapter Eighteen

USS Triumph

0530 hours

Amanda Harrison woke up to the dull chime of the alarm she set to get her up and got out of bed reluctantly. Ten minutes later, she was ready for duty in her grey and black Starfleet uniform with a green marine tunic. She affixed her Captain's bars on her collar and headed out the door towards the mess to get breakfast and yawned.

"My, don't you seem tired?" a familiar voice said, which oddly startled her.

"'Eh? Oh, yeah, couldn't sleep very well last night, I was thinking about something." She said. She had just spent about half the night pondering what the James Soul from the future told her that night. The disturbing knowledge of knowing when one was going to die had robbed her of a good nights sleep this last week. James' eyebrows raised in an honest questioning expression.

"Really? About what?" he asked.

"Nothing important, you know how I get worked up over little things."

"Like how I forgot your birthday last year?" James responded teasingly, poking her in the shoulder. He had forgotten her birthday last year. Because of the war, they had spent that day in a ground battle taking a Dominion outpost. Two days later they had succeeded in taking the outpost and had driven the enemy out of the system, Amanda had chewed James out for a good week.

"Well you did!" Amanda shot back at him.

"You didn't have to chew into me back then, you know. It wasn't my fault that we spent it in a fox hole." He said jokingly.

"Humph." Amanda said, too frustrated to say anything, wishing that her friend didn't know how to push her buttons. Maybe that's why I fell in love with you. She thought to her self, letting a smile cross her face.

"What are you smiling at?" James asked with that cocky smile of his.

Again with the teasing! She thought, and then lightly decked him up side the head. "Come on, let's get something to eat." Amanda finally said, trying not to laugh, but failed miserably.

"You know, I could have you brought up on charges for assaulting a superior officer." James said with a mischievous grin, but the frustrated angry glare he got from Amanda let him know that her sense of humour would only go so far.

Half way through their meal, Amanda noticed that the Triumph had dropped out of warp and off in the distance, she could see Star base 93, and no sooner did this happen, the ship wide intercom made an announcement.

"Major Soul, Captain Harrison, report to the bridge." It announced. A few of the patrons in the mess hall looked in their direction as both of them cleared their table and headed out the door. A few minutes later and they were on the bridge and were greeted by the Triumph's Captain, Aaron Roy.

"Welcome to the bridge." He said with a thick French Canadian accent, and just then, an alarm went off at the operations station. "Report." The captain ordered.

"A civilian transport freighter just dropped out of warp a bit too close to us, it set off the proximity alarm. It has already changed course to compensate." The officer said. The captain had a scowl on his face now.

"Hail that ship, I want to talk to her captain." He ordered. The ops officer entered in a few commands into his console and the face of 'Tate Mackenzie' appeared on the screen.

"Mind telling me why you almost rammed into my ship?"

"I apologise captain, I just had the sensors on my ship upgraded when I was last in port, haven't had the time to iron out the bugs in the new system. I didn't detect you until I dropped out of warp." 'Tate' said calmly. Then his eyes started looking at everyone on the bridge, and he recognized three of the people, his younger self and Amanda who where standing at the turbo lift doors, and General Lance, seated left of the captains chair. General Lance just stared at the screen with his arms crossed over his chest with an amused half smile on his face.

"State your identification and business at Star base 93." Aaron ordered politely, but there was an annoyed undercurrent to his voice.

"I'm Tate Mackenzie, my ships name is The Rebellious Daisy. I'm delivering food stuffs to a restaurant on the star base. Check with the dock master, they'll confirm everything." 'Tate' said. Aaron looked to his operations officer who nodded in confirmation.

"Very well, carry on." Aaron said turning around to sit in his chair, just about to order the comm. channel closed, he paused. "Captain, you might want to get the base's engineers to look at your sensor system."

"That's ok, Captain, my engineer is ex 'fleet, he says he'll have it fixed before we leave port."

"Good. Make sure that happens. Triumph out." Aaron said as he made a motion to the ops officer to cut the comm. link.

"Interesting choice of words." General Lance said, looking in James' direction. He nodded in agreement; Amanda just looked puzzled, thinking about something else. The captain was left looking at all of them, confused.

"'Fleet' is what marines call Starfleet officers. Very rarely does it get used by someone who isn't in the Corps." Jerry explained. "Mr. Gilmore, hook up with Starfleet central records and request a background check on Mr. Mackenzie, once you have any information, send it to my quarters." The General requested.

"Something on your mind, General?" Aaron asked.

"No, its nothing, just curious." He responded. "Mind if I use your ready room, Captain?" Jerry requested. The captain just nodded and motioned to the room to the left of the view screen, and the General invited the two marine officers into the captain's office to discuss the upcoming mission.

Star Base 93 – Cargo bay 12

0735 hours

James wasn't surprised that he'd see the Triumph here at the star base, but he chastised him self for allowing himself to slip out the marine slang that he used earlier, and knowing General Lance as he did, he'd be checking up on 'Tate' with Starfleet records. But it didn't matter now, what's done is done. What he needed to do now is figure out a way to prevent the legion from carrying out their plan. He knew that they didn't succeed, because there were no problems and the mission went on as planned.

"Yo, Tate, give me a hand with this crate." One of the crew that Mike Powel sent with him to help out and to make sure everything went as planned said. James got the sense that even during the planning session he had before James left that he still didn't trust him entirely. James walked up and helped the man with the crate. It was a lot heavier then the others, which actually contained food for the "Keystone Café" here on the star base. James was about to say something but the grim stare from the man on the other side of the crate stopped him, then that stare looked over to the other side of the cargo bay, where a large amount of cargo with the Starfleet Marine Corps insignia painted on them, most likely the weapons and ordinance needed for the mission, and four armed marine guards. Then the evil grin that crossed the face of the man with him sent a chill down James' spine. This crate didn't have food in it. Inside was a tri-cobalt torpedo warhead, and at 1730 hours this evening, when the Marine cargo is being loaded off the star base, it'll go off, killing thousands.

USS Triumph – General Lance's Quarters

0812 hours

Jerry Lance walked into his quarters and over to his desk to read the information that he had requested. As he went over it, he found nothing unusual, other then the fact that the man known as Tate Mackenzie was a former Starfleet Marine, but he graduated the year before Jerry had started teaching at the academy, so he had never met the man. Then the screen went black and was replaced with the insignia of Starfleet Intelligence, and underneath it were the words "Incoming Message, Priority Black". Oh shit. Jerry thought. The insignia was then replaced by the face of Brenna Covington, the director of special operations and deep cover assignments with Starfleet Intelligence. Priority Black messages were transmissions that were encrypted with the best encryption algorithms that Starfleet had, and only used by Starfleet spooks, which meant he had just stumbled onto a covert operation that had a high degree of importance.

"What can I do for you, Director?" Jerry said, calmly.

"You can explain to me why you are looking into Former Marine Lieutenant Tate Mackenzie."

"Captain Aaron Roy just spoke with him two hours ago, a sensor miscalculation almost made him drop out of warp and smash into the Triumph. The words he used made me curious." Jerry explained to the woman on the screen. "Guess I stepped on a few toes, huh?"

"You could say that General. You're under orders to leave this alone. Take no action that would be considered out of the ordinary." Brenna said.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Jerry asked honestly. The woman just glared at him.

"Not unless you don't like those stars on your collar. The Marine corps could always use another 2nd Lieutenant." Brenna threatened. Jerry knew that she could make that threat a reality.

"Yes ma'am." Jerry said reluctantly, and the screen went dark. He then tried to access the information that he was reading, but as he guessed, the records were gone, no trace that they had ever been on the ships computer. Intelligence did their jobs very well.

"Well, Tate, who ever you are, good luck." Jerry said to the empty room.

Star Base 93 – Promenade

0924 hours

"You know, I don't feel exactly right doing this to Tate." Tina said, resting her head on Mike's shoulder as they walked down the main concourse of the promenade.

"Second thoughts?" he asked

"No, but it still doesn't feel right, we could really use him, he's a really skilful person."

"That's true, but for this to succeed, it has to go as planed. If everything's going as scheduled, Tate is doing the paperwork with the café owner in his office, and the crew should be prepping the Rebellious Daisy for departure and be gone before he realizes it. Then we can take him out and pin the attack on him." Mike explained. Tina just stayed quiet for the rest of their walk, thinking of what's going to happen next.

Keystone Café

1007 hours

Amanda sat at the table waiting patiently, wondering why General Lance had asked her to meet him here, and in civilian clothing no less, but she was never one to question the General. She didn't have to wait long though, after a few minutes of her arrival; he arrived and sat down, putting a cup of coffee in front of her, and took a sip of his own.

"Captain, I need you to do something for me, this is unofficial." He said finally.

"What is it, sir?" she responded to her superior officer

"You know that freighter captain from this morning?" he asked, and she nodded. "Well, I did a background check on him, just out of curiosity, and I was contacted by the Director of Special Operations from Starfleet Intelligence asking why I was looking up information on him, and was ordered to stay out of it." He continued; Amanda just stayed quiet, giving him her undivided attention. "After checking his cargo manifest, he's delivering supplies to this café, but if Intel wants me to stay out of it, it has to be important, and might have something to do with the upcoming operation. I need you to follow him, see what's going on, but don't interfere; he's meeting with the café's owner right now."

"Sure thing, Jerry." Amanda said.

"Well, that takes care of the rest of the paperwork." David Cross, the café owner said. "It's been a pleasure doing business with you. You're much faster then my normal supplier." He commented

"Anytime Mr Cross. You have yourself a good day, sir." 'Tate' said, shaking the man's hand and exiting the office. James made his way through the maze of tables that made up the café, walking right past a middle aged man and a woman in her mid twenties. The woman waited for a short time and started following him.

James walked down the main concourse towards the turbo lift, which was just around the corner. Amanda slowed then cautiously rounded the corner, and was quickly grabbed and thrown into the turbo lift and then she was pinned up against the lift walls with something poking into her ribs. Amanda knew it was a small phaser, and then she felt the lift stop in the turbo lift shaft.

"Why are you following me?" 'Tate' asked.

"I know I've heard that voice somewhere before." Amanda said, but it was partially muffled by the lift wall, which she was pinned too.

"Answer the question!" he demanded.

"James!" Amanda said in startled tone. Then the phaser slowly came off her ribs, and she turned around, straightening her blouse and her tussled hair. "Nice to see you too." Amanda said, looking at the stunned look on his face. Then James' face got serious.

"Why are you following me?" he asked.

"General Lance asked me too. He told me that you were here with Starfleet Intel, and that it was important, he wanted to know what it was."

"I am here with Starfleet Intel, and it is important, and I need you to let me do my job and promise me that you won't interfere. I can't tell you anymore then that."

"Alright, I'll stay out of it." She said, and then paused and looked straight at me with her eyes full of worry. "James, have you thought of anything"

"That's why I'm doing this. Intel said they'd help." James said, putting his hands on her shoulders. "Don't worry. Even if they don't help, I'll think of something." He said, brushing a hand down her cheek and kissed her.

When their lips parted, Amanda let out an uncontrolled giggle. "Something funny?" he asked.

"I like you with a beard. It tickles." She responded with the smile of a school girl and her cheeks blushed crimson.

"Well, then, I guess I'll just have to get rid of it." James said with a sly smile on his face, obviously teasing her.

"What is with you and teasing me?" She asked, annoyed, her hands on her hips. James just kept on smiling and pressed the lift control to let Amanda off on the next deck, when the door opened, he lightly pushed her out. Just as the doors were closing, he gave his answer.

"You're cute when you're annoyed." He said. Amanda just stood there, her face red with both anger and embarrassment over the revelation she just received about her dearest friend. Then James' eyes widened with shock. Just over Amanda's shoulder down the corridor was Tina Robertson and Mike Powel walking down into an adjoining corridor, and the doors shut without James knowing if they had seen him or not.

"Cargo bay 12." James ordered the computer, having made up his mind on what he was going to do next.