Disclaimer: Paramount Studios and the estate of Gene Roddenberry own copyright of all things Star Trek. The original plot is my own as are any characters created specifically for this story.

Picard rubbed his hands up the sides of his nose and over his eyes. Lack of sleep was starting to catch up with him, again. His head jerked up at a bleep behind him.. A hair ahead of the announcement from Worf.

'Sir.. Incoming transmission from DS9. It is Colonel Kira…. She is asking to speak with you in private'.

Picard raised an eyebrow at that. Not good. 'In my Ready Room Mr Worf. Wil, you have the Bridge'. He left a very curious Riker behind as he strode into the Captain's Ready Room to his left. Slipping behind the desk he quickly entered his access code and barked;

'Yes Colonel?'

The visage that greeted him was not a happy one. Kira got right to the point; 'It would appear we have a problem. The Merrimac doesn't have enough power to sustain its' allotted section of the grid. So we have two choices. Either we strengthen that area or we allow the Cardassians through. Chief O'Brien with all due respect to you, does not concur with your assessment of the Cardassian's reaction to seeing the gap. You no doubt recall he was Tac…'

'Tactical Chief of the Rutledge at Setlik III during the Border Wars…. Yes, I am well aware of Mr. O'Brien's pedigree. What is his opinion?' A mark of the man, that he did not even query the disagreement of a junior officer with his assessment. Kira gave him the Chief's bleak diagnosis of the sickness about to plague the area, noting her agreement. Picard scowled.

'So. Either we strengthen the defences across the whole grid or leave the gap, wait until they show their hand, and then retaliate. The latter meaning we will probably suffer casualties in the process…. Unless… What if we allow them to open fire briefly… and then scatter. With luck in the euphoria they will attempt to charge through. Where the Klingons will be waiting for them..' He held up his hand to forestall the complaint, 'yes I know Colonel. That's what we did last time. However, consider this. How many times have either of us been known to repeat ourselves? Hmmm?'

Kira grinned. Both were renowned for their innovations. 'It just might work'. Picard looked back at her. 'It has to Nerys… We have nothing else.'

He shut off the PADD and left the Ready Room to resume his seat in the centre command chair of the Bridge. His sigh and outlet of breath caused Riker to glance across at him with some concern; 'Something wrong sir?' Picard returned the look, 'In a moment Wil. Mr Worf, open a channel to the Hegh'ta please.'

Kurn sat in the command chair of the Vor'cha attack cruiser. Brooding. Drumming his fingers on the arm. A Klingon warrior does not class patience as a virtue, and Kurn was a warrior of the highest order. He was glad of the reprieve;

'Captain! We are being hailed. It is the Enterprise'.

He stirred, 'Onscreen!' Smiling wolfishly at the anticipation of news. Picard's face faded into view. He did not look pleased. The Klingon's elation faded into suspicion as he regarded his old friend, and his brother's Captain, warily an eyebrow raised. 'Captain Picard, how may I be of service?'

Picard smiled, recognising the forced diplomacy for what it was. The strained effort of a frustrated Klingon warrior. One who has recently witnessed the destruction of his brother warriors and whose blood is baying for vengeance. He phrased his next sentence very carefully.

'Captain Kurn. There is news, both good and bad. The bad news is that we lack sufficient power in our ships for the proposed plan to generate the tachyon grid required. The good news is that this will leave a gap in the field.'

Kurn's eyebrow climbed a little higher as he regarded Picard. Questioning. 'This is the good news. Forgive me Captain, but how can two pieces of bad news make one good one?'

Picard's smile broadened, knowing Kurn would appreciate the irony. 'The revised plan', he began, ' involves the weakened area of the grid being positioned at a slight angle to the direction from which we expect the Cardassians to approach. We anticipate that they will stand off to study us and look for weaknesses. Macet is suspicious and will not take the bait. Evek however is brute force and will advocate attack. In the end he will win because by then they will be nearing their goal, short of fuel and supplies. We anticipate they will attack, drive a wedge through the grid and pour on the power. At which point we scatter in panic.' He paused.

'And then?' Eagerness.

Picard's smile by now threatened to split his face in two. 'And then your squadron will decloak around the threat and close the trap. You see they will see the tachyon grid. The trap. However, the grid is the bait. Your squadron is the trap. I would not be too concerned for them though, as I doubt they will go quietly. You may have a bit of a battle on your hands.'

Kurn, for the first time since being reunited with his brother, smiled broadly. 'Captain! It is a plan of cunning and guile. Worthy of a Klingon!'

Picard laughed. 'Praise indeed! I am pleased you approve Captain Kurn. Preparations begin at once. Picard out.' He flipped the PADD control to close the channel and stretched in his chair. Blinking the hours of inaction from his eyes he stood and strode to the door of his Ready Room.

The warp core. Heart of the Enterprise, heart of all Federation starships. The blue column of light stretching the full thirty-two decks of the Enterprise, its' colour the result of the transformation of the antimatter into a sustainable energy source by the dilithium articulation chamber. A very precise and complex piece of equipment. Yet none of this was on Geordi's mind as he stood, both hands on the support rail watching it. His artificial eyes focussing individual photons of light into an intricate and supremely beautiful pattern before him. A small cough behind him interrupted his reverie. He barely had time to note it sounded somehow… artificial… before turning to see Data stood expectantly behind him.

'Yes Data. What's up?' The android briefly toyed with the idea of listing all things above them, or in a position higher than their resting state, indeed perhaps he should have, however he suspected Geordi might interpret this as a misuse of the Humour routine he was working on. Geordi regarded him suspiciously suspecting, and noted slowly, 'No. I'll rephrase. What's our status?'

'Captain Picard has spoken to Captain Kurn and agreed the suggested plan to make use of our weakness rather than attempt a redeployment at this late stage.' He paused. 'It is a pity, is it not that the Treaty of Algeron prohibits the Federation from using cloaking technology? If that were the case…'

Geordi interrupted him speaking quickly; 'Data do you remember the Pegasus? Commander Riker's first ship. Phasing cloak installed on it. Completely blown out of the water by the courts martial that occurred straight after we discovered her intact inside that asteroid?'

'Geordi… I….'

'LaForge to Captain Picard.' The reply crisp. 'Picard here. What can I do for you Mr LaForge?'

'Captain I need to speak with you. May we use your Ready Room?'

The reply not so crisp, a note of curiosity. 'Of course. I'll meet you there. Picard out.'

Having attracted several curious glances from the bridge crew, who were quite naturally surprised to see Geordi away from his babies, he paused and tapped the door enunciator for the Captain's Ready Room.

'Enter'. He did so. Picard swivelled in his chair and eyed him curiously. 'Now then Mr LaForge what can I do for you?' A broad smile.

'Sir do you remember NCC- 53847, the Pegasus, Comman…' The smile vanished as Picard tapped the desk intercom. 'Wil would you mind stepping in here a minute please?' A pause and then the doors slid open behind them as the large frame of Commander William Riker filled the doorway. He entered and took a seat, reversed, facing both Geordi and Picard. Picard fixed Geordi with a steely glint in his eye.

'I'm starting not to like this idea Mr LaForge, and you haven't even finished the first sentence! Perhaps you would be good enough to explain why you chose to invoke the name of that sorry vessel?'

Geordi swallowed; if possible his artificial eyes took on a nervous look. He coughed.

'Well, sir. As you know the Pegasus'; Will flinched; 'was fitted with a revolutionary design in cloaking technology. Now obviously as we all know, its' use would be expressly forbidden by the Treaty of Algeron, as Data was good enough to point out to me again just now.' He paused. 'There is however a precedent set now. The Defiant as we all know was designed to be one of a fleet of purebred warships, the first of their type in Federation history. The intent being to provide a form of real defence to the Borg threat. Granted all Federation line vessels have the ability to defend themselves, however the Defiant's purpose is to go out looking for trouble and neutralise the threat. It also, courtesy of the alliance with the Romulans, has been fitted with a cloaking device. This would give us one cloaked vessel the Cardassians know nothing about, an ace in the hole.'

Riker spoke up. 'You think the Defiant would stand a chance against a Galaxy class crewed by battle hardened veterans of the Border Wars? Not to mention the Bajoran insurrection as they fought their guerrilla war against the occupying forces.'

Geordi looked over at him. 'Frankly Commander, no. Not in a straight fight. So, to my mind two alternatives present themselves. Transplant the cloak into the Enterprise. This would give us the tactical equal of the ship the Cardassians have. However, the Cardassians are likely to notice the Enterprise' absence and start looking for a trap. So rather than that, we leave the Defiant as she is intact';

'Which will no doubt please Mr O'Brien' Picard noted dryly. Geordi permitted himself a small smile and continued; 'Or, and this is why I wanted to speak to you sir.

'When we had the Pegasus incident'; 'I do wish he would stop using that word' muttered Riker under his breath, but not quite enough; 'When we met up with that unmentionable vessel'; Riker groaned 'Yeah alright Geordi, call it the Pegasus if you must', and sat back muttering under his breath. Picard, his amusement evident at his first officer's discomfort waved Geordi on to continue. 'Anyway sir, in order to jury rig that device into our systems I had to download the complete schematics to the Enterprise technical libraries.'

'Which of course were deleted upon the findings of the official enquiry into that whole sorry mess.' Picard again was adopting the dry tone that Geordi was beginning to harbour a mistrust of. He coughed. 'Yes, yes they were. Deleted from the central online memory storage of the Enterprise Technical Libraries.'

Picard had momentarily discovered an evil streak that allowed him to derive some amusement from the increasing discomfort of his Chief Engineer; who was rapidly adopting the demeanour of the small child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He raised an eyebrow and repeated the phrase, with emphasis; 'The central online memory storage.' He tilted his head back a little. 'If memory serves, there is a backup facility only to be utilised in catastrophic situations. This backup being essentially offline would not be privy to the normal data audits performed routinely following such a Directive?' He did not wait for the reply. 'It strikes me that such a location would make a perfect place to store data which might otherwise, were it to come under official scrutiny, to cause some disquiet among the investigative team. Is it not?'

Geordi coughed and considered his next sentence, which may be his last outside the Brig, very carefully before replying. 'The... ummm… actual wording of the ruling stated that all record of the data pertaining to the Pegasus' cloaking device must be removed immediately from the online data storage facilities of every Starfleet database. There was no mention of records not currently held online.'

Picard squared him with a hard look. 'So. In an unusually pedantic mood you chose to obey the ruling to the very letter, and not the spirit in which it was intended. I take it the requisite information can be recovered from the archival backup without delay?'

Geordi sighed. 'Yes sir. To both.'

Unable to contain himself any longer Picard cracked a wide grin and stood up, slapping his hand on the younger, extremely surprised, officer's shoulder. 'Excellent work Mr LaForge. Quite excellent. I shall of course have to advise the good Admiral of our change of plan, and hopefully without too much obfuscation, skirt the issue of how we come to be in this situation'. At the mention of Admiral Henry it was Geordi's turn to wince markedly.

'Alright you two. Go to it. Dismissed.'

'You what?' The Station Operations Chief wiggled his little finger in his ear and regarded the Enterprise' Chief Engineer balefully. 'You know Geordi, for a minute there I could have sworn you said... ' Geordi grimaced and interrupted his colleague. 'I did Miles... now the question is, can we do it, you and I, between us in the time allotted?' O'Brien ran his tongue around the outside of his teeth as if attempting to shift a food particle, in actual fact in deep thought. He pursed his lips and nodded. 'Yes, yes I think so. I'll need to bring over a couple of the lads with me, with a job this size I don't think even the full Enterprise Engineering team will be enough…' 'Besides which', broke in Geordi, 'they have other priorities right now, you know little things like a full Level 1 diagnostic on every single system the ship has. I'm not having anything fail when we go into battle!' He thought and amended, 'well nothing that hasn't been shot at first anyway!'

They left DS9's Ops Centre where they had been discussing the issue and headed for the main transporter room. On the way O'Brien tapped his communicator several times barking orders and requests as thoughts and requirements, both for personnel and materials occurred to him for the task. When they reached their destination Geordi was surprised, but pleased, to see half a dozen of DS9's most experienced engineering staff waiting for them, along with several canisters of equipment. He stepped up onto the pedestal awaiting him and turned to the control booth where the ensign glanced up at him expectantly.

'Energise!'

Picard looked up from his steepled fingers across at his far from happy First Officer. It was not hard to tell that William T Riker was not best pleased with this latest turn of events. He spoke quietly. 'Wil, if this is our best chance, and to me it seems our only real option much as I too dislike the idea, then we must take it.' Riker regarded him without word, answering the unspoken question between them by raising his hand horizontally and making a chopping motion an inch or so above his head. Picard smiled grimly, 'we've been in deeper spots before Wil, and as usual we'll just have to weather the storm and see what happens.' Riker sighed and nodded. 'Permission to return to the bridge sir? I daren't leave Deanna in charge too long, you know what happened last time!' Despite himself Picard chuckled 'yes I think you'd better Number One. To lose one starship in a career might be considered misfortune, two mere coincidence, but three? That begins to look like enemy action!' Riker laughed aloud and strode through the sliding doors behind him to regain command of the bridge.

Macet prowled the ship like a hungry lion. The Cardassian Gul was not a man known for his patience, which was rapidly thinning. He had taken to picking up on the smallest faults, resulting in more than half the ship's crew being on report for everything from a misfiled report to a tarnished rank insignia. Meanwhile his counterpart Evek was doing what he could to maintain morale. In effect both counteracting each other's actions. Back on the bridge the mood was sombre, a state of affairs Terek was not used to. He gave a low whistle. Seetel glanced across from where she was sitting working on an inventory of their weapons load. He grinned. She shook her head and returned to her work, but could not prevent a small smile creasing her lips as she worked. Stopping she returned his gaze and smiled back. Both relaxed, content now in knowing that however this turned out there would be a life afterwards.

As they sat back in their seats Evek returned to take bridge control from Sub-Commander Tokach who returned to his place at the Security station behind. He nodded swiftly to Seetel. 'Report!' Seetel gave him her full inventory of their weapons at which Evek grunted in satisfaction. He next nodded to Terek who similarly gave course, position and fuel statistics to the Gul. The latter he was not best pleased with. 'Dammit!' He pounded the arm of the command chair with a closed fist. Terek blanched. 'Why so little fuel?' Terek thought swiftly, and once again decided honesty was the best policy. 'Sir it was not envisaged that there would be as much combat during this mission as has occurred. The extended periods at Impulse while we repair battle damage and assess the situation have led to heavier than anticipated drain on the dilithium and deuterium. The Central Command assumed we would be on a straight run back to Cardassia Prime. If we had not entered into battle…' Evek glanced at him. 'Have a care Centurion. That plan was of Gul Macet's devising. You would do well not to speak so in front of him', here he paused 'however I will not report your comment on this occasion.' Terek sank visibly in his seat, relief all over his face. 'Sir!' He nodded and turned back to his station.

Evek sat regarding the back of his head for a little while deep in thought. 'Careless? Probably? Accurate? Absolutely? Useful? Time would tell!' He grinned wolfishly considering the next move. 'Centurion! What speed can we make with available fuel on a direct course to Cardassia Prime?' Terek tapped his console and looked up. 'Warp 7.9 Sir!' 'Any margin for error in that?' Terek swallowed. 'Barely Sir. That is our absolute maximum.' Evek narrowed his eyes, angry at the compromising position his counterpart, ever the war hawk, had placed them all in. 'Evek to Macet. Meet me in the Captain's Ready Room. Immediately!' There sounded an angry noise halfway between a curse and a snarl and the other end of the communication was severed.

Presently the origin of the noise marched onto the bridge and without a sideways glance at the other crew barged into the Ready Room. He stopped short when he saw Evek sat in the Captain's chair before him, reading a PADD. Never a patient man he snarled 'Well? You saw fit to pull me away from my review of the ship's status! What for?' Evek turned his face up toward him with an upturned eyebrow. 'Oh? Reviewing the ship's status? And what exactly have you discovered?' The sarcasm dripping from every syllable went unnoticed, certainly not acknowledged. Macet grunted. 'We are ready to take on anyone. Our repairs are fully complete, engineering is fully up and running, weapons systems are at peak efficiency and we have enough armament to last us easily!'

Evek observed quietly, dangerously so, 'if we can actually move to meet the target that is!' 'What are you talking about?' Evek literally threw the PADD at Macet. 'See! See for yourself what your foolish warmongering has done to us! We have barely enough fuel to make Cardassia Prime! If the Federation manage to slow us down any further we may not even make the border!' This last he almost screamed in his fury. Gul Macet glanced at the figures on the PADD and grunted. 'So? We make a straight run for the border and get over before the Federation even know we are there! Stop being such an old woman Evek!' Evek glared back at him smarting at the insult. 'And you think the border will not be guarded? That they will let us through happily and wave us on our way? For all we know half the fleet could be awaiting us when we get there!' Here he paused in his tirade. 'Regrettably it would seem that your suggestion now is the only course open to us. I have ordered a straight run for the border, Warp 7.6!' Macet grinned but was stifled by the glare of Evek. 'Do not celebrate yet Macet! The only available course takes us within 500,000 kilometres of Deep Space Nine, and the last I heard the Enterprise was headed that way!' Macet shrugged in diffidence to the information. 'We beat the Hood we can beat Enterprise!' Evek just shook his head and picked up the PADD to resume his reading. Not bothering to mention that the Hood as an Excelsior class was below the Galaxy class they had acquired, but that the Enterprise-E was Sovereign class and much heavier armed and defended than their own current vessel. He grunted. At Warp 8 they were a little over eight and a half hours from the border. At Warp 7.6 probably 9 hours.

Geordi grimaced reflexively as the door slid open behind him. The heavy confident step he knew to be that of Wil Riker. A man guaranteed to want words with him regarding the current situation. Steeling himself he stood straight and turned around.

'Commander.' Riker studies him silently for a few seconds. He crossed to the central workstation and placed one foot up on a low ledge leaning over it. One hand to his mouth he pursed his lips. Finally he spoke softly. 'You do realise Geordi, that when this comes out, Captain Picard may not be able to protect you from the board of inquiry.' Not a question, as Geordi realised, simply a statement of fact. He cleared his throat. 'Ah yeah. I do Commander.' He sighed heavily. 'Well I don't know. I just sorta figured we might need it someday, so I just…. Uh..' Wil grunted. 'Saved it offline, as the Captain said, obeying the letter of the ruling rather than the spirit.' Again not a question. 'Oh well, how's it going?' Geordi relaxed visibly, clearly Riker was not going to blow up. At least not yet.

Stepping over to the console across from Riker he punched in his access code and then a status request on the cloak. He grimaced. 'Not well is the answer. Back when the Pega.. I err… the previous ship… was using it the flow regulators were able to compensate. Damn but this thing drinks power! Anyway, with the Sovereign class the regulators have been redesigned for lower emissions, part of the law that was brought in a while back limiting non-essential Warp travel to Warp 7.' 'What's your point Geordi?' 'The point being that although the current regulators have enough to run the ship at full tilt with all systems maxed out, they don't have enough juice to run an extra piece of kit that draws as much as this thing does!' He scowled and ran a hand over his face, thinking furiously. Riker looked at him. 'Well? What's wrong with increasing the threshold of the current regulators up to the old limits? Surely the new ones will take the power?'

Geordi raised his eyebrow and looked at him. 'Break the new regul…' He stopped, realising what he was about to say. 'Oh well, seeing as we are on a roll anyway…. Computer. Increase the threshold of the anti-matter flow regulators by…. Fifteen percent.' 'Not recommended' came the instant reply. 'This procedure would breach…' 'Computer recognise Riker William T. Authorisation Kappa Four Six Eight Theta.' 'Recognising Riker, William T.' 'Execute all orders of the Enterprise Chief Engineer, Lieutenant Commander Geordi LaForge. On my authority.'

'Make that mine.'

Both officers spun around at the well-recognised and respected voice, speaking in a clear authoritative tone. 'Computer recognise Picard, Jean-Luc, Captain of the USS Enterprise, NCC 1701-E, and execute the Chief Engineer's instructions.' A short pause. 'Authority recognised. Anti-matter flow regulators now operating at peak output.' Picard regarded them. Now gentlemen, shall we see how that does?' Geordi tapped at his console, raised both eyebrows and looked up at them both. He licked his lips nervously. 'Well. It works. Barely. Although if somebody wants a glass of Regulan Ale at the wrong time we could be in serious trouble!'

Picard grunted. 'Well we're not going to have time to test it. That was the reason I came down personally. Some odd readings have been reported from sensor sweeps approximately one light year away. Indications are it could be our quarry, which at Warp 9 would put them 5 hours 46 minutes away.' Riker looked at Picard, who nodded. 'We're heading back to the bridge Mr LaForge. See what you can do in the time we have to establish how reliably the system is going to operate under load. By which I mean full shields and weapon arrays online. I have the feeling we are going to need them. Take every non-essential system offline as necessary' With that he turned and left with Riker in tow, leaving LaForge standing at the console breathing heavily.

Abruptly he straightened up. 'Alright listen up people! We have a probable hostile expected in less than six hours. Let's use that time to make sure that whatever happens the Enterprise has the power she needs where and when she needs it. Reg, I want you manning the monitoring station for the flow regulators. Sonya, you're with me on the cloak. The rest of you, you know what to do. Just keep the old girl running smoothly.' This last simple statement raising one or two eyebrows as each left to attend their own stations. All had been in battle on numerous occasions and were well aware how difficult 'just' keeping a ship running in combat was likely to be. The depth of understatement underlined by Sonya Gomez as she brushed past him. Looking up into his eyes she breathed softly. 'Yep. Ok. 'Keep the old girl running'.' Geordi sighed as he turned to follow her to the shield control console. 'How do I get myself into these things?' 'Practise!' The comment thrown over her shoulder brought a wry grin to his face. He followed on and murmured 'Yeah, sounds about right!'