"Okay we can stand down now"

She ends Yellow alert and then went to each deck that had vital areas and personally told all the Sentinel's that they could stand down now

"When will you tell Starfleet about the current situation?"

"Tomorrow, I didn't dare make contact sooner if it wasn't an emergency because I wasn't sure if we wouldn't be hacked into that close to Republic space, all the Sentinel's knew and understood that which is why we made sure no one could make contact with Command"

"I don't like that but I understand where you're coming from and you will not be reprimanded for your actions after all if they did hack into our means of communication the enemy would have been alerted and we might not have made it out alive"

"That's exactly why I gave the order I did Captain, however now that we have that settled my shift is over and quite frankly I've had enough stress to last me a few days so I request some time off"

"Granted you have three days off, the same amount of time you were on alert and don't try and tell me you guys weren't on alert even in your sleep"

All of the Sentinel's looked at each other with the busted look on their faces

"You bet you're busted I have been learning about Sentinel's and quite frankly that ability is annoying because you push yourselves too hard when in that mode"

"Same as you Captain?"

"Actually no because even though I am Force sensitive thanks to your training I can manage all but the most urgent messages and even then I am woken up anyways so I don't worry about those things because I know my crew will alert me to emergencies when they pop up"

"He wins, for now though I'll get off the bridge since I am now officially off duty"

"Get out of here and only respond if you hear a Red alert"

"Yes sir"

The next three days were peaceful and Ashland had indeed informed Starfleet Command of the situation that the Republic now found itself in

"Would any of them have managed to escape before things fell apart?"

"No as it is we think the Council barely had time to send out the auto alert to turn back to Federation space, the collapse simply happened too quickly so we think it's another Emperor Palpatine situation only on a larger scale within the Senate"

"And all of this from a message stating that Jedi had started to disappear and they needed your expertise to try and find them"

"Exactly sir" (sighs heavily) "I think it best that we Sentinel's either report to our designated vessels or are assigned to the Academy so that we can start teaching fourth year cadets some things that will be needed if we are to liberate the Republic and that means liberating Coruscant"

"Wait we've been teaching them history ever since you revealed yourself to Texas several years ago how is that not enough?"

"Because what we made sure you taught was the overall history of both the New Republic and the New Jedi Order, if they're going to fight on these planets they need to know more about the planets then the history that they've been receiving"

"Okay you have a point let me know when you're closer to Federation space and we'll have the orders ready to go"

"Yes sir"

"And don't worry we'll succor Republic Refugees like they succored our refugees"

"I know"

Two months later after Ashland got off shift she received a pleasant communication that had been recorded a few hours earlier while she was on shift. It turned out that a few people had managed to escape Republic space but their spacecraft didn't have any means of communicating with anyone from the Federation so they had no clue when they wound up in Federation space until they crash landed on Bajor and woke up in one of their hospitals after which they requested to speak with the highest ranking Starfleet officer in the system so that they could then contact Starfleet Command since they were claiming to be Senators and Jedi amongst a few civilians

"We've dispatched the USS SARATOGA to pick them up and do some tests both to prove they are Jedi and other tests to prove their identity, thank goodness the Republic foresaw this as a possibility when the alliance was made after you were reunited with them, we'll contact you again once we have proof of their identities Starfleet Command out"

Ashland quickly relayed the good news to the rest of the Sentinel's and went to sleep, the next day she reported to her station after sending a quick update to the Captain so that he wouldn't bee too surprised about any new orders he received once he was finally on shift, because a few days earlier in an unrelated incident the Captain had been ordered by Starfleet to go to Cardassia once they got closer so as to help them get ready for a possible invasion from the Republic and when asked about those orders Ashland reminded him about the fact that two months earlier she had sent out a message about the situation in the Republic

few days earlier

"They probably waited until now since we're still pretty far to be very effective"

"Good point"

"As it is I don't know how effective we'll be when it comes to helping Cardassia with the possible invasion"

"I do, they don't exactly have the same access to Federation archives like we do, they may be allies on occasion but they are still their own people, the Klingon home world will also have to be warned but since they are closer another ship will help prepare them, and of course for Bajor they have DS9"

"Then why not send someone from their to help teach them?"

"Uh because as Sentinel's we are best suited to explain the potential enemy or enemies"

"You win"

present

"Portland do a systems check because it might just be me but I think we're slowing down a bit"

"Sorry Captain that's not your imagination, I did a systems check down in Engineering before I got some rest because I thought I felt a shift while going to my quarters and we are slowing down, the problem is it's happening so slowly I don't know the cause and it's barely perceptible but eventually we'll go to lower and lower warp speeds until we're at impulse and we'll slowly lose the impulse engines until we're at a dead stop basically drifting"

"Does the rest of Engineering know?"

"Oh yes I made sure of that they should be working on the problem now but even so it's going to take time to figure out a solution"

"Time we might not even have"

"I know but there's nothing more we can do, though I am doing minor compensations but eventually that won't work, do you wish for me to change to working in Engineering during my shift?"

"Yes, starting now actually I need everyone working around the clock to figure this problem out which means that even though I don't technically have the authority to order around the other Sentinel's I might send out a request"

"Actually they've been waiting on you to be able to do anything to help the rest of the crew since we had to do that quick retreat months ago and while not all of them are mechanically inclined they know how to follow directions and are quick learners"

"Then that's what we're going to do so that hopefully the rest of the Engineering crew won't burn themselves out trying to find the solution, now then get to your temporary post"

Ashland leaves the helm and goes down to Engineering and starts working on the troublesome problem. Over the next three days Sentinel's around the clock per their temporary orders helped to try and solve the problem with the engines and during Ashland's shift the solution was finally found, unfortunately it brought on another problem

"So who's going to tell the Captain?"

"As chief Engineer I will be the one to tell the Captain of the solution"

"Not without me Lt."

"Why should you be there?"

"Easy, because I am the only person to be able to offer a solution to the secondary problem created by the solution to fix the engines, though the solution to the secondary problem is a bit problematic itself due to the current shift schedule"

"Fine you win let's go"

They head to the observation lounge to discuss the problem with the engines

"So you think you have a solution"

"Yes Captain we do"

"What is it?"

"We do regular maintenance but unfortunately it turns out that the engines need at least thirty minutes of cool down time whenever we go to the Republic at the speeds we do to get there in six and a half months, it seems that in the planing of the new engines it was never taken into account that either side would be in trouble and the ship or ships would have to turn back so suddenly, the solution is to shut down the engine for those thirty minutes and then immediately return to warp, during those thirty minutes we'll start modifying the engines so that something like this will never happen again"

"Sir if we use this solution there's a different problem you need to think about and be aware of"

"Let me guess the fact that we are still possibly being followed by the enemy"

"Yes sir, that's exactly what I am talking about"

"What's the solution?"

"My people stay on high alert through a meditative state during those thirty minutes"

"Except we have a schedule problem don't we?, not to mention the schedules made for the rest of the Sentinel's is quite uneven due to the uneven numbers"

"Exactly sir, unfortunately we'll lose the engines if we keep going the way we are I can say that with certainty as Chief Engineer"

"I know Chief"

"Captain there's one more risk to the plan that I just realized"

"What is it Portland?"

"What we Sentinel's have to do is dangerous if you go with that plan, and it's not just because of the shift schedule, as you know I have a unique ability thanks to T'vran to connect with other Jedi in their minds without any sort of training bond what you don't know is that the type of meditation we will have to do to insure that everyone is safe will put an even greater strain on our body than that type of meditation because we will be connecting to people who aren't Force sensitive which means the connection will be much weaker, granted you have the ability to sense the Force but other people that we need to be connected with for this plan to work don't, to connect to non Force sensitives and be on the alert for potential enemies from great distances will strain us to our limits. You may have heard about how the Jedi sensed a disturbance on Naboo all the way on Coruscant shortly after the Texas arrived and that was because of the fact that what happened was huge, almost as huge as the destruction of Alderaan"

"You say that we'll only be out of warp for thirty minutes?"

"Yes sir"

(Sighs) "I have just one more question, have you thought of any other options other than the one you're presenting to me now?"

"Yes and all other options have failed"

"Then I guess we have no other choice, I will call all other Sentinel's to holodeck 2 so that they might be in a central location if there's any trouble during the half hour, I will let you guys know when we drop out of warp so that you don't start draining yourself before you should"

"Understood sir" (taps commbadge) "all Sentinel's report to holodeck 2 immediately"