As he stared at the view screen watching the departing ships, Picard couldn't help but to feel a growing sense of loss. The Titan was banking to the port and taking its place among the ships that were heading into Klingon space. Light flashed from the ships' warp nacelles, and one by one they streaked into the darkness. And just like that a portion of his family was gone.

"God speed, Captain," Jean-Luc whispered.

"Did you say something, Sir?" Data asked from his new position in the first officer's station.

Giving a small sigh, Picard hesitated for a moment. "No, Commander. Helmsmen, move us into position."

As the Enterprise began to move, the field of view on the screen began to change. Voyager came into view first, its hull almost seeming to glow against the blackness of space. Next was the U.S.S. Falcon Island a Saber class light cruiser and the U.S.S. Red Cloud an Akira class heavy cruiser. And finally there was the U.S.S. Hydra, which according to Captain Lawson was a Galaxy class in name only as it featured several modifications that set it apart from the "herd" as she put it.

"Captain, Voyager is signaling thirty seconds to departure," said the young lieutenant who now occupied the operations station.

"Very well. Set course for Gorn and standby for warp eight," Picard said to no one in particular.

He waited in silence until finally the ship's warp engines engaged. First the stars vanished into a vortex that swirled faster and faster until finally seemingly exploding in a flash and giving way to the rainbow streaks of light that he loved so much.

Staring at the spectacle for a few moments, Picard pushed himself out of the captain's chair. "Commander, you have the bridge. I'll be in my ready room."

Three weeks had passed since the Enterprise had departed K-7. In that time nothing had happened, beyond the icy reception that they had received from the Gorn who had insisted that if Federation ships were to be patrolling their territory then a representative of their government had to join them. And while Picard would never admit to it, he was glad that he wasn't the ranking member of the taskforce. That honor fell to Admiral Janeway and as such Voyager played host to the Gorn delegate, who was as far as he had heard was anything but pleasant.

Over the course of the last twenty-four days, Picard had talked several times to Commander... Captain Riker. His former first officer didn't have much in the way of new information regarding the mystery ships. Only a few long range sensor pings and highly unusual subspace distortion readings. He was also having trouble convincing his first officer to remain his first officer. Evidently, Commander Christine Vale seemed to think that Will's wife serving as a member of his senior staff could cloud his judgement.

Also during that time the other captains in the taskforce had become fast friends and had begun taking turns hosting the others for dinner. Tonight they were gathered on the Hydra in Captain Lawson's cabin. Dinner itself had been finished for several hours, which was evident by the large pile of forgotten plates. Now the four captains and Colonel Shepard sat in a loose circle of chairs and couches, each holding a glass of wine.

Picard reclined comfortably on an overstuffed couch with a glass that he was sure had a leak he couldn't see held casually in his right hand. His left rested just as casually on the thigh of Cassandra's leg as she curled her arms around his. Despite his best efforts, he found himself enjoying her company more and more.

"Your turn Mr. Shepard," Lawson called. Tonight after dinner they had started taking turns telling stories from their time spent in the academy. It had come as no surprise that Shepard had been in Starfleet, attaining the rank of commander before volunteering to revitalize MACO.

Jean-Luc turned his gaze to Daniel, who was frowning as he slowly drank from his glass. "Okay. Now let me start by saying that alcohol may have been a factor here. Anyway, we were going through weapons' training when my buddy and I started wondering just how it really felt like to be shot by a phaser."

"Please tell me you didn't," chuckled Natia Nguyen who was captain of the Red Cloud. She was a dark skinned woman who had black hair that seemed impossibly straight and eyes as dark as coal. Her voice was a tad deep for a woman, but her laughter was infectious.

"Oh we did," Shepard replied gravelly.

"And the instructors didn't say anything?" Lawson asked as though she didn't believe it.

Daniel gave his head a shake before taking another sip of wine. "With all the phaser rifles discharging I don't think anyone noticed one extra pistol." After a quick moment, he added, "Although I'm not sure how they didn't notice some poor bastard rolling around on the ground holding his stomach." Laughter erupted from everyone, even Shepard chuckled at his own misfortune as he swirled the wine in his glass.

The man turned his eyes to Lawson, and said, "Your turn, Captain."

Cassandra looked down for a moment before clearing her throat and shrugging her slender shoulders. "I accidently transported a swimming instructor from the Academy to Angel Island in San Francisco Bay naked."

Picard felt his eyes growing wider as he looked over and he heard one of the others struggling to not spit out their wine as they tried not to laugh. "Why would you do that?" he asked bewildered.

"It wasn't supposed to be her," she replied defensively. "And she wasn't really naked. She did have a towel. I was trying for one of the girls in my class. A mean, spiteful, little witch named… I can't even remember her name. But anyway, I liberated a bag from her room that I always saw her carrying and left it in the showers hoping she would think she left it there." She paused as she drained the last of her wine. "I placed a transponder in the bag to tell me when someone picked it up. I saw a woman enter the gym that from a distance looked like the little witch-girl, and when I got a signal that the bag was moving…" Lawson did a fluttering motion with her hand. "Off to Angel Island she went and I used the transporter to remove all clothing."

There was moment of stunned silence before everyone roared with laughter.

An eternity seemed to pass before Jean-Luc was able to catch his breath. "Did anyone ever know it was you?" he asked.

Cassandra pursed her full lips as she shook her head. "No. I remotely accessed a pad in Palo Alto and then wiped its logs."

"How did she get off the Island?" asked Thomas Stan, captain of Falcon Island. He was a short, stocky man with unfortunately big ears and a hooked nose.

"I left everything that someone would need to build a communicator in the bag. It only took her two hours I think."

From her chair to Lawson's left, Nguyen was shaking her head in disbelief. "Why would you even think of doing something like that?"

Cassandra stared down at her glass and slowly rubbed a delicate finger along its rim. Her brows drew together ever so slightly while her lips pressed together. After a few awkward moments, she replied, "It was a prank taken to far."

Natia regarded the other woman for second then threw up a hand and said, "Fine. Spoil the fun and don't tell."

"Perhaps we should say bonne soirée," Jean-Luc said in a soothing tone.

Standing abruptly, Shepard stretched his arms and back in an exaggerated manner. "Sounds good to me. I got people to yell at in a few hours anyway."

Picard was just starting to lean forward to place his glass (which to his surprise was empty again) on the coffee table when the ship's intercom chimed, causing him to freeze in place.

"Pardon me for interrupting, Captain Lawson. But Admiral Janeway is requesting an immediate conference." The voice that came from the intercom was female and had a more distinct accent than Lawson.

"Thank you, Ena," Cassandra replied. "Patch it through down here please."

"Aye, Captain, patching it through now." A large screen at the far end of the room blinked to life before Ena even finished speaking.

Janeway's visage appeared in the screen and Picard noticed two things immediately. First was the admiral's disheveled hair making him wonder if she had been sleeping just prior to calling. Second was the brief pained expression in her eyes as she scanned the faces staring back at her. He almost felt guilty for someone not having invited her, but what did she expect? She was an admiral and not one of them anymore.

"Captains," she finally said slowly.

"What can we do for you, Admiral?" Lawson asked as she stepped to the forefront.

Picard could almost see Janeway casting aside the vulnerable feelings of someone left out of the group and donned the mantel of Admiral Janeway. "Our Gorn representative has just informed me that one of their starbases has just gone silent and that a battlegroup is heading there now."

"How far are we from the starbase?" Stan asked.

"A little over four light years away," Janeway replied.

"Roughly eight hours away at warp nine point eight." Lawson said immediately and when she noticed Picard turning to look at her she added, "I like math." The way she lowered her eyes made him think she was embarrassed by something.

"This may be our mystery ships people. We'll get underway in five minutes. Janeway out." It looked like she pressed the button on her screen a little more forcefully than was needed.

"That's a wrap people. Time to work for a living." Shepard clapped his hands together as he started towards the door. "Captains," he said in farewell though Jean-Luc got the impression that he said it as an afterthought only.

"Ena?" Cassandra called.

"Yes, Captain?" the response was instant.

"Standby for site-to-site transports as soon as the captains are ready."

"Yes, Captain."