Episode 1: Point of Divergence

Commander's log, 26.08.14 mRC

Following a successful shakedown cruise, the Averrek has docked at Federation Starbase 193. Per agreement between Republic Fleet Command and Starfleet Command, we are preparing to take on fifty Starfleet personnel and begin our assignment with the Joint Operations Task Force.

Commander Zhem Galan of the Republic warbird RRW Averrek strode into the officers' briefing room aft of the bridge. "Commander on deck!" his first officer, Subcommander Khoal Valdran, announced, and his senior officers snapped to attention.

"At ease," Zhem told them. "And good morning."

"Good morning to you too, Commander," his chief engineer said. Centurion Eviess Xereth was a petite and perpetually cheerful Reman, and one of the finest engineers in the Republic fleet. She'd been part of his crew since the fall of Romulus twenty-six years ago, and along with Khoal was one of Zhem's oldest friends. "And if you don't mind me asking," she continued, eyeing him suspiciously, "exactly what is that thing you're wearing?"

Zhem arched an eyebrow at her. "It's the new dress uniform. Didn't you get the memo?"

"Didn't read it," Eviess answered. "I'm an engineer, I don't do fancy dress."

"Some of us don't have that luxury," Khoal said with a sour expression on his face.

N'alae t'Khnialmnae, the Averrek's chief science officer, looked Zhem over curiously. Zhem's uniform was completely different from the much more utilitarian duty uniforms his officers were wearing. It was primarily gold in color with metallic green accents; the single-breasted jacket buttoned near one shoulder, and a purple sash hung from the other one. "It didn't look quite so bad in the pictures," she commented. "It looks more like a Starfleet uniform than a Romulan one."

"It's a hybrid," Khoal spat. "Half Federation, half Romulan, neither one nor the other."

Zhem sighed. "Be that as it may, somebody at Fleet Command thought this was a good idea, and we are bound to obey orders. I'm meeting with a Starfleet admiral later this morning, and as a representative of the Republic I must follow protocol." He gave Khoal a long stare and said, "Now, Subcommander, may we please get on with the briefing?"

"Yes, Commander," Khoal said anxiously. Zhem only addressed his first officer by his rank when he was displeased with him, and Khoal decided the best course was to get down to business. "Operations, report."

"We arrived at Starbase 193 two hours ago, and commenced docking procedures upon arrival," the Averrek's operations officer announced. Arex Terrh'vnau was a young, sandy-haired lieutenant, good-natured and efficient. He'd had the night watch, and had been on the bridge when the ship docked. "The station's docking bridge is secure and we have opened the outer hatch. Inner hatch is ready to open on your order, Commander."

"Very good, Arex," Zhem said. "Have you found quarters for all of the Starfleet personnel?"

"Yes, sir," the young man said. "Except..."

Zhem raised an eyebrow. "Go on."

"Commander, I know you said that I should have the Starfleet junior officers share quarters with our own," he said. "But I assigned the Klingon and the Ferengi to a cabin together."

"At my suggestion," Khoal added. "I figured it would cause less... friction."

Zhem frowned. "How so, Subcommander?"

Khoal hesitated, so Zhem continued, "Tell me what's on your mind, Khoal."

"Commander, a sixth of our crew is going to be Starfleet. Not Romulan or Reman. It would have been one thing if they had assigned us all Vulcans, but what Starfleet is sending us -" He sighed. "Humans and Andorians and Tellarites I expected. But Klingons? Ferengi? Is that what we agreed to?"

"We agreed to take on Starfleet officers, Subcommander," Zhem said, allowing a note of warning to creep into his voice. "And that's what we are getting. Do I make myself clear?"

Khoal's face hardened. "Clear, Commander."

"Good," Zhem said. "Arex, leave the cabin assignments as you have them for now. If anyone complains about their new bunkmates, you know what to do."

Arex gave Zhem a wry smile. "Understood, Commander."

"Moving on," Zhem said, "Doctor, is sickbay prepared for this?"

"As much as we can be," answered Ejiul Dar, the chief medical officer. He was a large, dark-haired man a few years older than Zhem. "I have requested appropriate supplies from Starfleet, for the medical needs of our new crewmates and they are being loaded aboard. I have reviewed the medical records that Starfleet provided, but it's a lot to digest - so many different physiologies and biochemistries. Fortunately Starfleet is providing me with a surgeon and three nurses, so they'll be able to get my staff up to speed once they report for duty."

"Very good," Zhem said. "Now, I'm due in Admiral Terval's office in a few minutes, so I'll need to cut short any further discussion. Arek, you'll be responsible for embarking the new personnel and supplies. I'll address them in the shuttle bay after my meeting concludes. Khoal, schedule a series of training exercises for each shift - I'll review the duty roster this afternoon. Eviess, keep the singularity core online; I expect we'll be warping out later today. N'alae, you have the bridge. Oh, and all senior officers will dine with me in the forward mess this evening - including our Starfleet liason officer, so make sure she gets the word. Any questions?"

"Do I have to wear one of those horrible uniforms?" Eviess asked.

Zhem smiled. "No, your regular duty uniform will do. Believe me, I'm not wearing this thing a moment longer than I have to. Dismissed."

Federation starbases were always brightly lit, but a bit on the cool side, at least to Romulan preferences. But Starbase 139 was a frontier outpost, though, and lacked what Zhem considered to be the excessive opulence of some other Starfleet stations he'd visited, such as Earth Spacedock. He exited the docking bridge into what looked more like a cargo bay than a reception area, and which did in fact have several pallets of supplies ready to load aboard his ship.

One wall of the docking bay was a huge window, and Zhem took the rare opportunity to get a good look at the Averrek from the outside. His ship was the latest iteration of the Mogai class, which was itself an upgraded version of the Valdore-class warbirds from the old empire. The ship had a long, slender central section with broad wings sweeping out to either side, the hull painted a pale green with darker panels suggesting the feathers of an enormous raptor. It was by far the largest ship Zhem had commanded, and it was the first time he'd gotten one fresh out of the shipyard. He'd come a long way from the old Mhorazh.

"Beautiful ship," a voice said from beside him. Zhem turned, and noticed a petite, gray-haired woman in a Starfleet admiral's uniform standing next to him.

"Thank you, Admiral," he said, inclining his head respectfully. "I don't believe we've met - Commander Zhem Galan, of the Romulan Republic Warbird Averrek."

The old woman smiled warmly. "I know who you are, Commander. Fleet Admiral Katherine Janeway, Starfleet, retired. Well, semi-retired, at least."

"Admiral..." Zhem snapped to attention and banged his fist to his chest in a Romulan-style salute. "It's an honor to meet you, Admiral Janeway."

"As you were, Commander," Janeway said with a wry grin. "The honor is mine. I've heard all about how you rescued two hundred people from old Romulus in a derelict warbird when you were a raw cadet. It's part of why I requested you for the Joint Operations Task Force, though I'm pretty sure your Praetor intended to assign you to it anyway."

"Thank you, Admiral," Zhem said. Janeway had been one of the driving forces behind the idea of a jointly-crewed ship, at least on the Federation side. Her status as one of the most famous admirals in Starfleet had helped get the project approved.

"I couldn't resist putting the uniform back on one more time to come see you off," Janeway continued. "I truly believe this is going to be important in bringing the Federation and the Republic closer together. Besides, I wanted to see your ship."

"I can arrange a tour, after I meet with Admiral Terval," Zhem offered.

Janeway shook her head. "I know you're scheduled to get under way later today, Commander, and I don't want to throw a spanner into your preparations. But thank you for the offer. Another time, perhaps. And we really should be heading to Terval's office - you know how Vulcans are about punctuality."

Zhem had paid visits to the offices of a number of Starfleet admirals in the years since the Republic had allied with the Federation. Compared to most, Vice Admiral Terval's office was comfortably warm and agreeably spartan in decor. He saluted the admiral as he entered, and the tall, middle-aged Vulcan gestured for him to take a seat. Janeway took another seat off to one side.

"Admiral, I am here to finalize the transfer of Starfleet personnel to my crew," Zhem said.

Terval handed him a datapad. "Here is the authorization. I trust they will serve you well."

"I have no doubt they will, Admiral," Zhem said, pressing his thumb to the pad to sign it and handing it back to the Vulcan.

"How is your crew handling the idea of having Starfleet personnel on board?" Janeway asked.

Zhem cleared his throat before replying. "Some of them are... dubious, Admiral. We're not used to as pluralistic a society as the Federation."

Terval arched an eyebrow. "Do you have any concerns about how they will integrate with your crew?"

"We've successfully integrated Remans into our crews already," Zhem said, "Although not without a degree of friction at first. In time, though, Romulans and Remans have learned to work together, despite our history. I trust it will be the same here."

"Mind if I offer a bit of advice, Commander?" Janeway asked. "When Voyager was in the Delta quadrant, I took a number of Maquis personnel into my crew. I was worried about the division between Starfleet and Maquis - what kind of effect would that have on morale and teamwork? So I emphasized that we didn't have two crews. Voyager had one crew - a Starfleet crew." She gave Zhem a smile. "And we made it back home, together. So my advice to you, Commander, is to make them all your crew."

"So long as it is understood that they remain Starfleet officers bound by Starfleet regulations, including the Prime Directive," Terval added.

"Understood, Admiral," Zhem said. "They have taken an oath, and I would never ask them to violate that."

"Excellent," the Vulcan said. "Now, I understand that the Averrek's first assignment will be to search for potentially habitable worlds in the Xarantine sector and adjoining regions?"

"Correct, Admiral."

"In that case, I have a - request for assistance."

Zhem raised an eyebrow, and the Vulcan admiral continued. "Three days ago, a Federation science vessel, the USS Nantucket, detected an anomalously high level of chronitron radiation in system L-52327, on the Klingon border in the Xarantine sector."

"L-52327?" Zhem said. "I don't believe I've heard of it."

"Unsurprising," Terval said, "as there is ordinarily nothing of note there. It is a red dwarf variable with no planets and no stations."

"But there was a surge of chronitron radiation?"

"And you know what that means," Janeway said. "Somebody is playing around with temporal mechanics. I've seen far too much stray chronitron radiation over the years, and it never ends well. In the best-case scenario you get visits from 29th-century time cops. Worst case - well, certain of those temporal agents have informed me that I experienced a few incidents that I no longer remember."

"So why is Starfleet asking for our assistance in this matter?" Zhem asked pointedly.

"Because, when the Nantucket attempted to investigate, a Faeht-class warbird decloaked and chased them from the system," Terval replied.

"I see," Zhem said. "And Faeht-class warbirds are most often operated by the Tal Shiar."

"And that is sensitive territory, being so close to Klingon space," Terval continued. "A conflict between Starfleet and the Tal Shiar would inevitably draw a Klingon response. On the other hand, if the Romulan Republic were to intervene, the Klingons would consider it an internal Romulan matter. There would be fewer potential diplomatic repercussions for all involved."

"So you want us to check it out."

"The Joint Task Force has formally requested aid from Praetor D'tan in this matter," Terval said. "I anticipate that you will be hearing from your superiors shortly."

"Understood, Admiral," Zhem said, rising to his feet. "I'll go check it out. And then pass on whatever I find to you." He turned to Janeway and said, "Thank you for the advice, Admiral."

"Any time, Commander," Janeway said. "Part of me wishes I was going out there with you. You're going to be out on the sharp end end of things, which is just the place where someone like you can do the most good. Good luck, Zhem."