Chapter Title: Comari

Chapter Synapses: The flagship of the Andorian Imperial Guard, the Comari, comes to Hyperion's rescue. Comari's commander makes Talara an offer.

Written by: Seraph Koji

Previously…

"Vice Admiral Shran." Talara looked rather disappointed.

"Friend of yours, Blue?" VonBach asked, rather insincerely.

Talara shot him a cold glare, "Actually, pinkskin, he was."

"Hail Delphinous!" Starwind screamed, "Shran,. There's too many. Do not engage. Fall back to the Federation fleet."

"No response."

"Suit yourself." Starwind hissed.

"The old chestnut; boy meets girl, boy and girl get engaged, boy and girl kill one another with yushan tors in a ceremonial fight to the death." Talara smiled, lying in the Andorian infirmary.

Starwind reprimanded Talara in his ready room, "The Federation plans to uphold your exile from Andoria. In addition, your holodeck privileges will be revoked until further notice. Also, for actions unbecoming of a Starfleet officer, you will be hereby demoted to the rank of Lieutenant."

And now, the continuation…

The bridge rocked, "Damn!" Ivano screamed.

"Structural integrity at 75 percent." Winters called.

"Reverse thrust." Collins ordered, "Bring us out of the anomaly."

Starwind stumbled from the turbolift, "What the hell are you doing to my ship?"

"Hull breach on deck four. Emergency force fields are in place." Talara reported.

"The anomaly just appeared off out bow, sir. It pulled us in!" Ivano called as a console across the bridge exploded.

Talara stood back as her console exploded, "Main power is off-line!"

"That includes propulsion." Ivano pounded his console.

"Structural integrity at 25 percent." Winters called.

"Prepare to abandon ship." Starwind sat in the central chair.

VonBach looked up, "We're in a tractor beam. It's pulling us out of the rift."

"We're clearing the rift threshold." Ivano said, relieved.

"Who do we thank?" Starwind asked.

The image of an Andorian vessel appeared on the screen, "The Comari, flagship of the Andorian Imperial Guard." Talara stared at the viewscreen.

"Comari is hailing." Collins glanced at Starwind.

He nodded, "Put it through."

An Andorian woman appeared on the screen, "I am Commander Tallis of the Andorian Imperial Guardship Comari. Pleased to assist you."

"Thank you, Commander." Starwind replied with genuine thanks, "I am Captain Victor Starwind…"

"…of the Federation starship Hyperion. I know." Tallis cut off the Captain.

"Morning, ladies and gents." Starwind walked in to the conference room an hour or so later, "Report?"

"Commander Tallis wishes to meet with you before we depart." Collins informed.

Talara sat uncomfortably, "I've already deployed warning beacons at the threshold of the anomaly."

"Something wrong, Lieutenant?" West asked, as any Counselor would.

"Tallis is the commander of the flagship of the Imperial Guard." Talara replied, "The first Guardsman I've met since my exile."

"Winters and I were thinking of a new weapon idea-" VonBach began.

"Joseph, this isn't the time." Collins snapped.

VonBach, not one to be shut up, snapped back, bolting to his feet, "Dorian, the Borg are back and the Krenim are coming. Now is the only time we've got!"

Collins rose to her feet as well, "Such an insensitive-!"

"Sit down." Starwind calmly ordered, "You are senior officers, you are both ranked Commander. One would think you'd behave a little more mature than a first-year cadet."

With the look of whipped dogs, Collins and VonBach sat.

"Mister VonBach, bring it up at tomorrow's daily briefing." Starwind said, as calmly as before, "Let Commander Tallis know her and her crew are welcome aboard Hyperion until repairs are complete. And on that subject, how are the repairs going, Chief?"

The Denobulian promptly responded, "We are working on repairing damage to the outer hull. The shield generators are back on-line. Weapons and propulsion will take some time, though."

Talara sat in the loungem spiing a drink. She felt… uncomfortable.

"Well, well…" Tallis walked up behind her, "I suppose you wouldn't be up for a real Yushan."

"Commander Tallis, isn't it some unspeakable disgrace to be exiled? And the Commander of the Comari is talking to me?" Talara didn't even look at her.

Tallis sat across from Talara, "You were following custom. That uniform was in the way." Tallis said, warmly, "Do you want to go home, Talara?"

Talara looked up, "What?"

"Your sentence could be annulled." Tallis offered, "You could join the Imperial Guard, serve as my helm officer."

Talara was a bit confused, "I'm a Starfleet officer."

Tallis shook her head, "It's either you resign your comission, or you and I have a Yushan."

"Why?"

"Admiral Shran. Your report said he was missing. And that the Borg were there." Tallis replied coldly, "Resign your commission, Lieutenant, or die."

Options?" Starwind asked Talara, after she reported the event.

She shrugged, "I have to resign." Talara replied.

"Talara, we've been through a lot together…" Starwind replied supportively, "We've made it through worse. In the war."

"No retired Captains to shelter us this time, sir." Talara looked out the ready room window, "I just want to say… Stardate 57071.9… the incident at Andoria…" She paused, "I'm sorry I let you down, Captain."

Starwind sighed, "I won't take your resignation, Lieutenant."

"I can't risk another incident."

He pondered another moment still, "What if we found evidence Shran was still alive?"

Talara was a bit surprised by this thought, but she quickly had an answer, "Tallis would have no grounds for the challenge."

"You'd still be in exile." Starwind shrugged, "But you stay a Starfleet officer."

Talara shook her head, "How will we prove it to Tallis?"

"You're dismissed, Talara." Starwind thought of methods as she exited. He tapped his badge, "Starwind to Phral, how long before we can get underway?"

"Probably no more than an hour or two, sir. Thanks to the Andorians." The chief engineer responded.

"That won't do." Starwind replied, matter-of-factly, "I need at least another two hours here. And don't let the Andoians notice we're slowing the repairs down. Can you do it, Chief?"

"I can, Captain, but why?"

"No questions, Chief. Starwind out." He started sifting through data.

Collins sat in her quarters, a blank canvas before her. She stared at it. What to paint? She set her palete down and looked around. Pictures of planets, a lunar landscape, the Valiant… She was caught by the lunar landscape. Her home. But Talara could never return home. Collins walked to a computer terminal, "Computer, access image database. Provide images of Andoria."

Starwind scanned mission report after mission report from the any mission since the Borg encounter. Finally, he downloaded one to a data pad. He walked onto the bridge and handed the pad to Watson, who nodded and left for the Astrometrics lab.

"Captain!" VonBach called, "About my idea?"

"Yes, mister VonBach?"

"I was thinking, what if we used a sort of rapid-fire phase compression weapon?" VonBach asked, "Fire hundreds of short phase pulses instead of a constant stream."

Starwind shook his head, "How would you make the array ready to discharge 'rapid-fire' style? You'd fry the array."

"You know me better than that, sir." VonBach replied plainly, "Instead of the standard power cells powering a modified array, the cells I've designed for the new weapon discharge in a fashion that is more controlled, thanks to some electromagnetic safeguards." He paused, "I was a bit inspired by the Terran rail gun. I think it's fitting that these new arrays be called by that name."

"You're totally insane." Starwind smiled, "Do it. Just try not to destroy Holodeck Two again."

"Comari is hailing." An operations officer reported.

Starwind sighed. Time was up. "On screen."

"Captain, are you spaceworthy?" Tallis asked.

He sat in his chair, "Not yet, Commander. Are we troubling you?"

"I'm afraid you are. The Imperial Guard expects its flagship to carry its delegation to Earth." Tallis replied with feigned sympathy.

Starwind was out of moves, "I'll send your crew back."

"And Lieutenant Talara?" Tallis asked.

"No."

"Captain!" Tallis objected.

Starwind rose to his feet again, "Commander, you challenged Talara to a Yuishon on the grounds that Admiral Shran was lost to the Borg. However, my science officer is in our Astrometrics lab proving his continued existence." He smiled, "Your Yushon is void."

"I don't believe you." Tallis replied.

"Watson to Bridge, sending a data burst to the Comari." Watson's voice called.

"Good work, Quinn." Starwind turned his back to the viewscreen, "Hyperion out."

"Propulsion systems are on-line." Ivano looked over his shoulder at Starwind.

Starwind shrugged, "Connivance?"

"Thank you, Captain." Talara said at a social gathering of senior officers, "For protecting me."

"You said yourself that we didn't have a retired Captain to provide shelter. So I elected to get an active captain to shelter you." Starwind referred to himself.

"Talara." Collins handed Talara a small canvas with an icescape on it, "Your own piece of home."

"Thank you, Commander." Talara gratefully took the painting, "Where to now, Captain?"

"Altair IV." Starwind responded, taking a drink from the civilian steward, "Escort mission."

"Fun." Sen yawned.