Chapter 4

A few days later Jake Paris was wondering if he had ever seen so many different sensor analyses in his life. The ships that were crossing through the Neutral Zone to raid outposts along the Romulan border were not being picked up on the sensor net that extended along the Federation side of the zone. Factions inside the Romulan government were convinced that those runs were the work of Starfleet Operatives intent on stealing secrets and technology. The seeds of distrust were being sown ahead of the Diplomatic talks; discord was beginning to rise among those vying for control of the government. The power grab that Janeway, and others, had predicted weeks before was starting to intensify. Players on both sides of the equation were beginning to make their voices heard. There were a few that were in favor of Federation assistance and while they had the support of small pockets of the population, the loudest detractors were those with backing in the military, or those among the ranks of the wealthy; all with something to lose.

To combat the rising tensions and prevent the Diplomatic mission from failing before it had even truly begun, steps were being taken to locate and neutralize those that were promoting the growing unrest. Starfleet Intelligence had already moved to put a team on the ground inside Romulan space. It was believed that most of the dissonance was being spread by agents of the Tal Shiar. Early reports had already linked the Tal Shiar to Senator Tal'Aura, and a theory was being formed that the Senator had assisted in Shinzon's coup on the order of the Tal Shiar. With the Praetor and most of the Senate dead, the Tal Shiar would be able to move forward with planting their own people in a position of power. No longer would the organization be bound by the rule of law that had previously restrained it.

The plan was to locate each of the agents responsible and provide proof that they, along with the Senator, had started the destabilization in the region. If there was to be any true diplomacy in the area the Romulan people would have to be given a chance, and a true look at all of their options.

While the Intelligence operatives were gathering information and taking scans of the area, those getting ready to deploy to the Neutral Zone were pouring over the data to close the gaps in the sensor net and provide more security for the vulnerable outposts that had become prey to raids and attacks. That the raiders were using weapons with a Federation signature had not strengthened the mission's chances of success. Finding those responsible was the first order of business, figuring out where their weapons had come from would come next.

It all sounded simple when presented as a project brief, but the application was a little more involved. Jake leaned back from the grid he was studying and pressed his fingers to his eyes. Words and numbers were beginning to blend together on the screen in front of him until he couldn't separate them from the energy variance lines that he was analyzing. "How many grids is that now?"

"Four." On the opposite side of the table the Admiral abandoned the padd in her hand and slumped in her chair. She reached up and rubbed the ache that had settled into her shoulders and neck; a tired sigh passed her lips when she considered the late hour and how much data was left to review. "There are still six to look over before we move to the next section." Kathryn rolled her head from side to side before straightening in her seat again. She had initially waved off the Captain's offer to help with the analysis, but much of the data was from Starbase 234 and the algorithms inherent to those sensor arrays was assisting with discarding the irrelevant sensor noise, so she had relented to his more sensible argument, and was glad for that now. Had Paris only given her the data, she would probably still be working her way through the second grid.

"I don't think I studied this hard as a cadet." Jake stood up and felt his back and knees creak with disuse after a too many hours spent hunched in one position. He headed toward the replicator, thankful that they had decided to leave her office for the larger, better-stocked Officer's mess. They could get almost anything they wanted from her replicator, but she didn't have a galley. Jake keyed in the order for a fresh carafe of coffee, and while he waited for it to materialize he walked into the nearby galley to grab a small tray of fruit from the stasis container.

A small laugh and a tired smile greeted him when he reappeared from the galley. "I'm not even sure that I studied this hard as a cadet," Kathryn drawled. "Remind me again why I thought it would be a good idea to do this myself?"

"You're a glutton for punishment with a hedonistic need for absolute perfection, which I find incredibly odd considering how often you're rumored to have defeated the conquerors of all things perfect and ordered." Jake strolled back toward the table with his offerings. He set the tray and the coffee on the table and reclaimed his seat. "I mean, that's only one theory, and I'm still working on it."

She reached for the coffee carafe and leveled him with a hard stare. "Maybe you should work a little harder on that." She found herself smiling, however, despite his impertinence. She filled her cup, and after taking a couple of grapes from the tray, Kathryn sat back and got a little more comfortable. She drew a leg up and hooked the heel of her boot against the edge of her chair. The new position took some of the stress off her spine. She draped her wrist across her knee and let her hand dangle loosely while she appraised him. "Has your regard for authority always bordered on insolence? Or is this something new that you're trying? When I reviewed your record I didn't find anything that would indicate you'd gone maverick."

Jake chuckled as he dropped a napkin in his lap and occupied himself with peeling a banana. When he had finished the task he broke it into smaller chunks before he reached for the carafe and filled his own cup. "Insolence? You've been spending too much time with Nechayev and her pal Jellico." He popped a chunk of banana into his mouth and chewed. When her nose wrinkled in distaste and her lips turned down, Jake snorted and almost choked. He swallowed quickly and reached for his coffee. She didn't seem to have a problem with the Fleet Admiral. The older woman had been mentioned a few times between them. No, Jake decided it must be the other one that she objected to. "Not a fan, I take it?"

Kathryn drew a breath. She suppressed the urge to grind her teeth together. Just the man's name set her on edge. "We'll just say the Admiral and I don't move in the same circles, and that it's something neither of us is in any hurry to remedy." Edward Jellico was a martinet in the truest sense of the word. His strict adherence to rules and regulations was as rigid as the perfectly pressed creases in his uniform. "I don't think the man has ever bent, skirted, or interpreted a single rule in his entire life. In his opinion they are as they appear and there is no room for disagreement."

"Don't hold back on my account, Admiral." Jake's head inclined while he considered her assessment. "I would say that about sums it up where Jellico is concerned. His approach to just about any situation is to get it done, but with as little deviation as possible. He's the guy that gives all the rest of you a bad name."

"All the rest of us?" Her brows lifted in response. "That's a little invidious don't you think?" She reached for her coffee, and cradling it in her hands, settled more comfortably. "Wearing the brass doesn't mean that all of us can be lumped into any one particular category. For example, I would never consider undermining the authority of one of my colleagues by changing the parameters of a mission without their input, thank you Admiral Hargrove. I would certainly not offer extra credit to cadets on the cusp of academic probation for the collation of reports and the performance of personal errands, Admiral Michaelson, and let us not forget the abject intolerance of Admiral T'Norak who insists that a starship Captain must be tethered to their bridge during any away mission and prohibited from the participation thereof. I would like to think that there are a few of us who have not been trapped behind a desk for the majority of our careers and still understand what it is that goes on out there beyond Sol system."

"Fair point," Jake nodded. "I think we could even agree that neither of us would ever expect to find any of the afore mentioned officers still at the office at half-past 2300 hundred hours with more work still ahead of them before the day could be considered over." His lips twisted thoughtfully. "You sound especially unconvinced of T'Norak's idea of how a Captain should behave. Does that mean you didn't like being told no every time you wanted to leave your bridge?"

"Of course." She laughed. Kathryn leaned forward and placed her cup on the table. She shifted her weight again and gripped the top of her knee as she leaned against her bent leg. "Who wants to be stranded on the ship when they could be traipsing around on an uninhabited planet in the Delta Quadrant. Besides, I never felt that I should ask any of my crew to take risks that I wasn't also willing to take. I can't imagine how long that trip home might have felt if I wasn't able to maneuver my way on to an away mission or two." She pointed a finger at him, "And no matter what you hear from one Thomas Eugene Paris they did not all end in disaster, and the ones that did were not my fault."

"Oh," Jake held up a hand, as though swearing an oath. "I believe you, Admiral. Although you have to admit," he smirked at her, "when you start hearing basically the same story from multiple sources there might just be some small kernel of truth to it."

"Hm. Well, as I understand it, your First Officer was an aid to Admiral T'Norak for a year following her graduation." She smiled triumphantly at him. "We should reconvene after you've served together for a few weeks and you can tell me if you still feel that way."

"My god, don't remind me." His shoulders slumped a bit. "We've already had that discussion. I have a feeling I'm going to have a fight on my hands. I have absolutely no intention of sitting around and letting everyone else have all the fun. Somehow, I'm not sure that Commander Merin understands the meaning of the word." He had taken command of Aegeus a couple of days after his arrival and was already getting to know the ship and her crew. He was finding, too, that he had a few positions to fill. The Chief Tactical Officer had transferred as soon as Captain Ellis's reassignment to the Academy was announced. Paris was already considering possible replacements.

"Why is it," Kathryn asked, "that they think that fourth pip on our collars makes us suddenly incapable? Even the simplest away missions become a battle of wills. It's even worse when a third of your senior staff starts to gang up on you." She shook her head. "I finally decided late in the trip home that the only way I was going to be able to assert my authority to assign whomever I wanted to an away mission, including myself, was to leave both my first officer and his partner in annoyance, who just happened to be my Tactical Officer, on the ship until they both came to the conclusion that it was still my ship, and my crew, and my away mission." A bright, but somewhat nostalgic smile lit her face when he laughed. "I'm not kidding, I grounded both of them and took one of Commander Tuvok's senior security officers with me."

Jake leaned forward, both intrigued and amused at her tale. "What happened? I can't imagine either of them was pleased with that." Most of what he heard about Voyager's sojourn in the Delta Quadrant revolved around a few grand tales, those that Starfleet had allowed to be released as general knowledge. Tom had embellished on a lot of it, but there just hadn't been time for any further sharing. To be honest, their only real encounter since Voyager's return had been a dinner, a few nights before, that his aunt and uncle had hosted in their home to welcome him back to Earth.

"Well," seeing that she had a captive audience, and not wanting to return to the sensor analysis just yet, Kathryn launched into the story. "We had stopped to gather deuterium and a few other supplies; we were always needing something. The planet we found was in an uninhabited system, which was pretty rare for us. We usually had to trade for supplies or fight our way to them. Our scans had picked up a relatively pure source of fuel, and we were also finding that the vegetation would be compatible for humanoid consumption. During one of the early surveys one of the teams also found a series of crystallite formations in caves near the planet's equator that were putting off strong energy readings. It was playing havoc with our sensors and tricorder readings, but from what we could figure out, the crystals appeared to be a source of raw energy. The only problem was that they were located in an area that was going through a tumultuous weather season. It never stopped raining for more than an hour or two at a time. The topography of the region indicated that the area would be prone to flash flood, but we thought that if we could get a sample of it back to the ship we could use the more advanced sensors to determine if we could harness that energy. Naturally, with the way the formations were impacting our sensors we decided it wasn't safe to transport to the surface and the away team would need to take a shuttle. Just the thought of being able to function without rationing replicator use was worth taking the opportunity." She gestured as she spoke and reached for her coffee cup again. "Of course, being the scientist that I am, I wanted to get a closer look for myself. We had already come to the conclusion that we would be able to shuttle to the surface, extract the sample, and return before the next storm system unleashed its fury on the area."

"Of course." Jake waved a hand at her. "That all sounds reasonable to me; scientific discovery, advantages for the ship, and a safe course of action for achieving the objective. Let me guess," he sighed, empathetic to her plight, "they said no before you even had the words I'm going to the planet out of your mouth."

"Absolutely." Her chin lifted, and the look that crossed her face was both indignant and defiant. "There was no reason for either of them to object, except for the fact that by then it had become habit." She relented, a little sheepishly, "there might have also recently been the matter of my last away mission ending in Borg assimilation, but we hadn't seen a cube or scout ship in over two months, and the assimilation was part of the plan. They were overreacting."

This was not a story that he had heard. Jake arched a brow at her. He had a few more questions about that. He wasn't sure if he was shocked, intrigued, or disturbed by the idea. Make that many more questions, but for the sake of their current conversation, he just nodded. "Clearly."

"I wasn't in the mood to indulge them, and it was really time that things got back to some version of normal, so I decided to leave them both on the ship and I took Lieutenant Ayala with me. Mike was one of the former Maquis crew who was assigned to security, and in adding him to the away team I was, technically, still following regulations. Seven believed that she could more ably extract the sample we needed, and at the very least an up close analysis would give her a better idea of how we might counteract the sensor interference, so she joined us as well. Everything was going fine until we actually got to the planet and the energy output from the crystal formations began to overload our extraction equipment. We burned out two laser cutters in the first fifteen minutes and decided it would be more prudent to extract what we needed the old fashioned way. With hammer and chisel, of a sort. That meant that the we would be on the planet for longer than we planned, but Seven and I both thought we would be able to get out before the next storm. We almost made it, too." She rolled her eyes. "The storm began building as we were packing up to leave. The atmospheric disturbance was much stronger than we anticipated, and with the region's sensor interference, we knew that flying out would be a little more difficult than flying in had been. We decided we would stick to the lower atmosphere until we cleared the storm. That was all well and good until a lightening strike took out one of the engines and we had to make an… unscheduled detour."

"You crashed." It was all he could do not to smirk at her, or laugh outright. When she rolled her eyes again and her mouth quirked up in a small, rueful grin, Jake couldn't stop the rolling rumble of laughter that escaped him. "So in your effort to prove that you could leave the ship without encountering a disaster you actually ended up encountering a disaster."

"More or less." She sighed. "No one was seriously injured. The Lieutenant had a mild concussion, but Seven was undamaged, and to be honest a broken wrist was the least of my worries. The two of them, Chakotay and Tuvok, never let me forget it. Lieutenant Ayala, though, took the blame every time it was mentioned, not that anyone ever believed him. Whether or not he ever forgave me is another matter."

"The most pressing question that comes to mind," his voice shook with barely contained laughter, "is how many away missions did they let you go on after that?" If it had been him, he might have locked her in her ready room every time they approached a planetary system.

"Not many," she admitted, "but the law of averages was on their side. The sample data was too low. Obviously if the number of examples was limited the negative result was bound to be elevated. What were they going to do, keep me confined to the ship for the next fifty years?"

Jake rubbed a hand across his mouth. He inclined his head and pretended to give it some real consideration. "That… may not have been a bad idea from the two examples I just heard." He waved a hand at the two computer terminals and the array of data padds spread out on the table between them, "I'm starting to feel a lot more nervous about all this. It seemed pretty straightforward in the beginning, but I'm a little less certain now."

It only took a moment upon meeting his gaze to see that his merriment far outweighed his concern, if he actually felt any. "Remind me to add teasing a superior officer to your list of insolent crimes," she decided, a smile playing at her own lips.

"There's that word again." Jake heaved a sigh. "I like to think of it as confident."

"I think the word you may actually be looking for is brazen," she shot back.

"Somehow I get the feeling that you would know better than I would," he remarked.

They stared at one another, and for the space of a few beats, a battle of wills was waged. When neither of them wavered, Kathryn leaned forward and picked up the data padd she had been studying earlier. "What I would suggest," she decided, "is that we get back to this if we want to have any hope of finishing tonight."

"Whatever you say, Admiral." He turned his computer terminal back toward him and keyed up the display again.

"Kathryn," she said. "If you're going to stay up this late helping with sensor analysis, you can call me Kathryn."

His brows lifted in mild surprise. Jake studied her for a moment, but her attention was already on the report in her hand. "I'll keep that in mind." His gaze lingered for only another second before he returned his attention back to the work that was spread out before them.

They worked into the early hours of the morning before the inability to focus on the data in front of them prevented any further progress. The decision was made to reconvene the following afternoon, and after another two hours, they had finally found what they were looking for. It was at that point that Kathryn called a briefing with the other leaders of their taskforce.

Of the eight starships that formed their Diplomatic fleet, only six were available. The Jamestown and Gryphon had been sent ahead to pick up the Diplomatic representatives that would be joining them from their current posts, and would rejoin the fleet at Starbase 84. The plan was for the fleet to make the several-day journey to the Neutral Zone at cruising speed for their individual vessels, and then meet at the Starbase for one final mission briefing before moving into position for their specific tasks. It was thought, with their detours, that the other two ships would beat the rest of the fleet by a day, perhaps two, but no more.

Admiral Janeway considered that, and the new information that she and Captain Paris had uncovered, but did not foresee any need to adjust that part of their plan. As she strode into the briefing room, Jake in step beside her, she wondered if the Federation Council had delayed the start of their mission too long. She couldn't argue that it required careful planning, recent discoveries bore that out, but they could have been underway weeks ago if the Council had not initially delayed the approval process. Politics, she decided, did not move at an efficient pace.

"Good afternoon, Captains, Commander Troi, thank you for joining us on short notice. Please," she said when they began to rise from their seats, and waved a hand stop them, "don't stand up. I know we've kept you waiting." She and Jake moved to the end of the table, where she usually preferred to sit, and stood there to survey the rest of the table. "As you all know, Captain Paris has taken command of Aegeus, but he has been unable to join us before now." She gestured to the tall, broad shouldered man near her seat on the right, and the petite woman beside him. "Captain Riker and Commander Troi of Titan," she introduced. She waited for their nods before she went quickly around the table. "Captain Grant, of Hamilton, who will be leading our patrol fleet. Captain Udora of the Odyssey, and on the other side of the table we have Captain Caldwell of the Cerberus, and Captain Chakotay." Her eyes fell on the last officer and she inclined her head. "I understand Voyager got back yesterday afternoon after an unscheduled side trip. How is the ship, Captain?"

He ducked his head, even as a dimpled grin appeared. They had been sent to provide aid at a small mining colony near Vulcan when the colony had experienced a mudslide during the planet's rainy season. She might have refrained from actually saying the words, but her tone and the wry quirk of her lips implied that she was asking for an update about her ship. "The engines are back to peak efficiency, and the navigation system is responding the way it was meant to. It handles like Commander Paris is at the helm, so I think she's finally getting used to the idea that someone else is going to be flying her from now on. His ego may take a little longer to get over it, but I'm confident he'll make a full recovery."

"Is it true," Eva Caldwell asked, "that you've gone through three helm officers in the last few months?" She inclined her head at him. Her dark eyes sparkled teasingly, and when he tugged at his ear – something she was beginning to realize he did as a sort of nervous gesture, or even a delaying tactic, she smirked. "That's a pretty high turnover."

"I am aware." Chakotay nodded in agreement with the woman seated beside him. "It's a conversation my XO and I have had more than once. He's agreed to go a little easier on this one." He met her gaze and shrugged. "He has very high standards, and while I understand them, it's something we're working on." He held up his hands, as though in defense of himself, "In all fairness, I have to admit the Commander learned by example, it's hard to hold his demanding command style against him when I know exactly where he learned it."

While all eyes in the room had turned toward her, Kathryn had leaned close to Jake. "Demanding, exacting," she ticked off in a low voice, "impatient and unyielding with the skills of others, that does sound incredibly familiar."

Jake had his hands clasped behind his back. "My uncle will be overjoyed," he replied, his tone rumbling quietly. His eyes glinted in the overhead lights, and then narrowed in jest. "He obviously taught you well."

She placed a hand against his shoulder as she chuckled. "That's a fair point, and one I will agree with, but what was I supposed to do? I couldn't allow the inmates to take over the asylum, they already weren't letting me have any fun."

"With good reason from what you've told me." Jake grinned crookedly at her, and when she held out a hand, he passed over the data padd they'd brought with them.

"Everyone is a critic." She leaned against the high backed chair beside her and waved a hand toward the view screen on the wall. "Captain, if you would."

"Certainly." He walked over and took up position near the display.

Beside him Riker felt his wife shift. He glanced toward her and noted a pensive look drawing her brows together. When she sensed his attention on her, and their eyes met, she shook her head at him. Whatever she had sensed he would have to wait before she would share her insight. Riker let his gaze quickly sweep the room.

The others, while amused, were now turning their attention to the reason for the meeting. His survey of the room paused briefly when it reached Captain Chakotay. The other man looked suitably curious, but there was a line drawing his brows together now, and his gaze seemed to move between the Admiral and the newest member of their group, as though he seemed to be trying to reach a conclusion of some kind. Will glanced at Deanna again and gave an almost imperceptible tilt of his head. Her lips pressed together and her chin dropped fractionally. That was all the affirmation he needed that he had rooted out the source, but discussion would have to wait.

Kathryn keyed on the display from the padd in her hand and watched as the schematic that she and Jake had spent the afternoon putting together filled the screen. "As recent reports of an increased number of attacks and raids in the area along the Neutral Zone have reached us, those same reports are reaching Romulus. Tensions in the area are on the rise and further study has pointed to a Federation signature on the weapons that have been used at each outpost. Grid data from the region has been compiled, and with Captain Paris's help, the sensor logs from Starbase 234 have been reviewed and we believe we've located where ships are crossing our sensor net."

"Here," Paris pointed at the screen, and the area was enlarged to reveal a section of neutral zone near several outposts. "What we believed was noise in this grid near Starbase 39-Sierra now appears to have a specific pattern to it. Each fluctuation in the readings, which would look inconspicuous at first glance, has corresponded to an interval of thirty-six minutes prior to each of the reported attacks. All of the ship movements in this sector appear on a flight plan filed at the starbase, or at Starbase 10, which is only twenty-two light years away. The ships that fly routinely between these outposts," his finger trailed the line stretching from Starbase 10, past 39-Sierra, until the grouping of outposts began to thin near Starbase 23, "are not required to file a regular flight plan beyond the transport control at each individual location. Sensors track their movements, and deviations are logged, but they aren't investigated unless it appears that the border of the Neutral Zone has been illegally breeched."

"What we believe is happening," Kathryn continued, "is that one of the transport ships is carrying a shuttle, and at the moment the sensor fluctuation occurs, that shuttle is crossing the border into Romulan space. A shuttle, small enough to be masked by sensor interference, could easily make the trip across the Neutral Zone, carry out a specific objective, and return to be picked up when the ship passed again several hours later." She keyed another command into the data padd and the grid changed. The image zoomed out and markers were added to represent each of the ships in their mission fleet. "This is the planned patrol route that Captain Grant has disseminated to each of you. Captain Paris and I are proposing a few minor changes." She placed the padd on the table and walked over. As she gestured to the display, the ships moved, indicating their new patrol route. "Voyager, Hamilton, and Aegeus have the most advanced Astrometrics labs available to our mission. Those sensors can be reconfigured to monitor this section of the Neutral Zone. Their cartographic purpose can be tuned to cut through the noise and trace the source."

"Once our presence in the area is known," Jake explained, "it's probable that the raids will either stop, which is not disparate to our purpose in the region, or the crossing location will move."

Grant leaned forward in his seat. His eyes narrowed as he studied the new information and the proposed changes. "We can keep Odyssey in place, near the Klingon border, but yes, I see what you mean." They had moved Voyager more central to the line that indicated the Romulan and Federation border. Cerberus would provide support to the slightly smaller ship while the two larger vessels, Aegeus and Hamilton, would move farther away. "It will look like we've spread our forces too thin, and unless our raiders have done specific research of Voyager, they won't expect an Intrepid-class ship to have the sensors to pick up their movements."

"Exactly," Paris nodded. "It will look like a power move, a show. The Enterprise was damaged dealing with the Shinzon threat, but name a better-known ship in recent Starfleet history. It will appear as if we are using Voyager's presence as the detractor, not that we have any specific indication of where the crossings are happening."

"Starfleet Intelligence already has operatives in the area, they are going to know that you are coming. We," she looked at Captain Riker, "will continue on as originally planned."

Riker nodded. "Isn't it a little unexpected that they're choosing to cross so close to the Starbase? If they aren't detracted by that, do you think Voyager's presence will minimize their activities?"

"Not entirely," Kathryn agreed. "Which I am hoping will make the perpetrators easier to catch. I am also considering that the location may be convenient. That sensor noise may be originating from the Starbase itself, and that is something that Captain Grant's teams will be charged with investigating." Her attention focused on the man seated on Commander Troi's other side. "An operative has either been placed on the Starbase or someone has managed to gain access to the sensor array. Either way, I'd like to know who and remove the threat."

"Admiral," he nodded. Grant sat back, his mind already tuned to the problem and how they might resolve it.

"It occurs to me," Kathryn turned her gaze on Chakotay, "that you might be able to curb some of your First Officer's more demanding nature if you were to give him something to concentrate on that spoke to his… unique skills." The corner of her mouth curved into a small, crooked smile. "He may not mind taking the Delta Flyer out for a spin, perhaps to scan for any unusual activity near those outposts that have already been targeted?"

"An interesting proposition," He nodded. "I'll take it under advisement." It was exactly the thing that Tom might enjoy, but he thought he might make a few of those trips himself.

"Don't worry," Caldwell quipped beside him, "while you're preening for the locals, the rest of us will be doing the real work. We'll keep an eye out for trouble," she teased.

Jake stepped up alongside the Admiral again and folded his arms across his chest. "I'll be sending the sensor report that we compiled to both of you," he addressed Grant and Riker, "it notes a few more areas along the border that we think could pose a problem along with what we know about current Romulan movements in the area. If the Tal Shiar is initiating these occurrences, as Intel believes they are, it might be necessary to rotate the patrol routes accordingly."

"All of this," Kathryn waved a hand at the screen behind them, "is entirely preliminary based on our research. I'd like you to review it, send back any suggestions or changes you think are prudent, and we'll finalize it before we leave."

Riker glanced at his wife beside him. "What do you think?" She had more experience with the Tal Shiar than he did.

"It's entirely probable that there is a Romulan operative at Starbase 39-Sierra. The influence of the Tal Shiar isn't contained within their own space." Her dark-eyed gaze moved from him to the officers standing near the end of the table, "there are any number of ways, fear perhaps, that they would have gained support within Federation Space and aboard one of our starbases. Motive will be hard to determine until the responsible party, or group, is located."

"Discovering motive will be a secondary objective," Janeway agreed. "We'd like to find them first and stop the threat. If we can trace them back to factions seeking control of the government, or even to Senator Tal'Aura, even better." She shifted position and moved to lean against her usual chair again. "We never said this endeavor would be easy."

"Leave it to you," Riker quipped, "to turn a simple desk job into a Diplomatic conundrum with so many layers that a Vulcan would have difficulty untangling all of the moving strategies."

"Yes, now aren't you glad I offered you the job?" She smirked at him.

"I'm beginning to feel maneuvered. This wasn't how you sold me on it." He looked at Deanna again. "Long range exploration, scientific discovery, the opportunity to get back to seeing what others had never seen before. I don't remember anything in the brochure about political intrigue, power struggles, and ferrying diplomats. Do you?"

"I didn't actually read the brochure," her dark eyes sparkled joyfully. "I thought it was inherent in my secondary title of Diplomatic Officer that we might find ourselves in this sort of situation occasionally. I was sold by the bigger office."

"How is it that you ended up with a bigger office than I did?" That was still a matter of some consternation for him. Not that he truly minded, because he didn't like being cooped up in an office at all, but it was a particular design quirk of their new ship that intrigued him.

"I am sure that is something you will uncover in time," she said knowingly. As she recalled, years before, he spent weeks investigating the Enterprise-D until he believed that he had learned every design quirk and the mystery or reason behind it. As time wore on, and there were occasions when he was presented with those he might have missed, she had always sensed that he was delighted. He had done the same thing when they were assigned aboard the Enterprise-E, although on that occasion he had taken his time. Deanna was certain there were still mysteries to uncover, but now Will had his own ship to get to know and she knew he was enjoying himself quite a lot.

"If there is nothing else," Kathryn said, her tone light as the tension in the room had been broken by the camaraderie that was beginning to mark their taskforce. "I know Captain Grant intended to meet with his group and their first officers today. I will allow you to adjourn to that."

As those around the table began to move, Jake inclined his head at her. "You know, I realized earlier that you never told me how it turned out with those crystal formations. Was all the trouble worth it?"

She bowed her head and chuckled quietly. "Unfortunately once they were removed from the planet the energy signal degraded quickly. The specific composite of the caverns where we located them coupled with the atmospheric conditions gave them their unique energy output. We were never able to devise a way to prevent the degradation, or replicate the conditions in which we found them. It was a good opportunity, but one that didn't pan out."

"That's a pity. So that uninhibited use of the replicator that you were after had to wait?" He hitched his hip against the table and leaned against it, facing her.

"Until we got home, yes." Kathryn sighed. "It's something that I'll never take for granted again."

"Noted." Jake flashed a rueful grin at her. "I wouldn't worry, I've ordered my XO to stock Aegeus with several shipping containers of coffee beans. After hearing the lengths you're willing to go to for an unimpeded supply of coffee, I decided to be proactive." The corner of his left eye twitched in a quick wink as he turned away. "Good day, Admiral."

She watched him trail out of the room behind his counterparts and reached up to rub her brow. He was definitely impertinent, but she couldn't seem to not find that amusing as hell. There was something about his manner and the way he wasn't blinded by the rank bar on her collar that was a welcome diversion to the tedium of her everyday routine.

As they left the room ahead of the others Riker glanced at his wife again. "Trouble?" He asked it simply, knowing she would explain what she had sensed if it was pertinent to the mission.

"Not yet," she explained quietly, "at least I don't think so. A wrinkle, maybe." Deanna's head inclined while she fully considered it. She had detected confusion and a sense of displacement from Captain Chakotay that seemed to be directed at the easy working relationship that Captain Paris and Admiral Janeway had formed in a short period of time. She wondered, also, if he was noticing the curiosity and latent fascination that appeared to be developing between that pair. While the Admiral was still regarding her former first officer with the same friendly familiarity she had before, Deanna could not detect any resolution to the previous conflicted emotions she sensed from the two. She had felt, though, the first stirrings of what might be jealousy. The encounter was too brief to form a full hypothesis and she had shielded herself to it before she could glean more than was probably necessary to their current objective. "I don't think it will detract from the mission, but it might present a complication at some point." She touched his arm and smiled warmly. "I'll let you know if that changes but what I was sensing in the room was personal." She wouldn't break that confidence, although an unspoken one, unless it became necessary.

"Okay," he nodded. That was good enough for him. There was no one that he trusted more, in any situation, be it personal or professional. If Deanna felt their mission was in any way jeopardized, she would tell him immediately. Until then, he would turn his attention to other matters and leave those details in her very capable hands. "Dr. Ree is coming aboard today, isn't he?"

"Yes." Her lips quirked toward a smile; Deanna could tell that from his more generalized sense of curiosity that Will had not read the file on the Pahkwa-thanh, the very unique species to whom Dr. Ree belonged. "He should be joining us in another hour. We probably have time for lunch in the city if you'd like to make a detour."

He thought about that as they reached the lift. "Why don't we make it dinner instead and head back to the ship now." There was something in the amused glimmer in her eyes that he wasn't sure he was comfortable with. He almost felt like she was setting him up, and falling into her little trap would be no one's fault but his own.

"Dinner it is," she agreed. "I wanted to complete the manifest report now that the majority of the crew has reported aboard ship. Dr. Ree is the last, and I should have it on your desk tomorrow morning." Deanna flashed a small, teasing smile when she moved into the lift ahead of him. "So it looks like I'll be spending the afternoon in my office," her more spacious office, although the fact did not require a verbal reminder.

"If I didn't know any better I would think you had something to do with that," Will followed her into the lift. "Laugh it up, Deanna. There's no rule that says unequivocally that the Captain's Ready Room has to be on deck one. It's a tradition, that's all."

"We'll see." The doors of the lift closed on the sound of her tittering response.

-TBC-