Years earlier
"Cadet Portland, there's something we need to discuss"
"Yes Admiral?"
"I know we haven't discussed exactly what you're wanting to do in the future and as such we've been giving you all sorts of jobs and training but what do you say about command track training?. Not only for you but should you ever make contact with your people again and other Jedi join Starfleet what do you say they also have command track training even if that's not going to be their primary field just in case?. Though the command track training for you won't be activated until you reveal yourself"
"That's actually sounding like a good idea Admiral, because with the Force on our side we might be able to detect trouble that regular Captain's might not be able to detect, and if we encounter something from the Republic yet are in the Federation it would be better for us to take the lead because we would understand the situation better anyways"
"All right then, that's what we'll do, and if you find that you truly enjoy the command track then who knows maybe one day you'll Captain a ship and have the primary mission being a way to find your way home, but we'll discuss that option more when and if you become a Captain before you find home again"
So Ashland goes into command track training and finds that it's something she wanted to do in the future but decided to continue training in other aspects as well...just in case she was needed on the ship in another capacity
Present
"Say Portland I was wondering something"
"What is it Ensign Alister?"
"Why did you have extra summer training then the rest of your cadets, you spent an extra half year at the Academy as a teachers assistant after what was called the only extra summer training"
"There's actually various reasons behind that, but I will tell you one thing even though I was seen as a teachers assistant in reality I was getting some extra specialized training that extra semester at the Academy, mostly in diplomacy but also a few other things that the Admiralty wanted me to know specifically that I couldn't have been taught at the Academy by regular teachers"
"Oh, um Portland, are you still wondering about the file being hacked into?"
"Yes, and I'm also still very worried about what could happen, after the lock was broken I informed both the Council and Senate of what had happened but have received no replies, granted the Senate is in recess and the Council is busy but still...I'm worried about the fact that none of our messages have received answers yet, even a simple acknowledgment answer would be a good thing right now"
Just then Portland was called to the bridge to confirm they were at the right location. Once on the bridge that's exactly what she does
"Okay we're where we need to be I need to beam down and get the crystals, beam me down at the coordinates I specify but lock onto my communicator just in case"
"Understood"
Ashland is soon down on the planet and is in the caves listening to the Force to find the crystals she needed in order to make her lightsaber. As she finds the crystals she's tested in various ways including visions of things from both the Republic and the Federation, one of them a mission that had happened during her extra summer training. The reason why was because of the fact that the situation she was in to get the crystal was very similar to that summer training mission
Years earlier
"Captain, I think we should be extremely careful, especially if we go outside"
"What harm could they do cadet?"
"Sir, I really need you to trust me on this and make sure the rest of the away team is ready for possible trouble at a moments notice"
The Captain doesn't listen unfortunately and Ashland is only just close enough to force the Captain to the ground before an explosion without having to use the Force
"Maybe next time you'll listen to me instead of telling me and I quote 'I don't need to listen to a cadet who's not out of the Academy and is clearly still in their early training' even after I told you that I had a bad feeling about this and that what you were doing was really not a good idea"
Ashland moves to stand up and it's instantly obvious that she's hurt but she continues the fighting obeying orders to a certain extent when finally she'd had enough of the Captain's idiocy
"Okay that's it, Cadet Portland to Admiral Yano need immediate evac from Raxtan V so if you could please stop playing lowly Ensign and younger age I would really appreciate it right now...oh and tell sickbay to expect injured once we're back on board and...can I please stun the Captain unconscious?"
"No knocking the Captain unconscious cadet but I'm already working on the rest of your request but it's a little hard to get a fix on your signal right now due to heavy phaser fire, is there anything you can do to help with that?"
"Yes sir but it involves...classified things because I'm guessing that you're on the bridge and this is open communication now"
"You're right this is open communication and Portland depending on what you do I'm fine with you doing something classified because I have a feeling I know what you're talking about and what you're going to do"
The Admiral would be right in the fact that Ashland used the Force to boost the away teams life-signs strong enough for an immediate teleport. Once back on the ship she reported straight to sickbay explaining that she needed to talk to the Admiral ASAP. Once the Admiral was in sickbay she gave him a basic report knowing she would have to give a more detailed report later which she did and that's also when she discovered the Captain had been reprimanded and placed in the brig until further notice due to charges pending
Present
After that flashback Ashland received the last of the crystals because the test was if she trusted her instincts enough to go against anything she was currently hearing or seeing. Once she was out of the cave system and actually back out in the cold she called her ship for a beam up
"So what's next?"
"Next I need to go to my quarters, don't worry I have everything I need to make new lightsabers in there, oh and Soketh, once we get back to Coruscant you're going to have to choose exactly where you want your spare lightsaber to be in the Senate building"
"Don't worry I have a feeling I already know where I'm supposed to put it, think of it as a Force vision of a possible future that is really handy at the moment"
"Understood"
Ashland then goes to her quarters and makes sure she wouldn't be disturbed except for an emergency, something the Captain made sure to be reinforced because he'd been told that Jedi needed concentration in order to properly make their lightsabers
"Soketh, just in case I want you to remain at tactical that ways I can know for sure what truly counts as trouble or not"
"Understood Captain...Captain what happens if there's a true emergency and we need Sentinel Portland's expertise?"
"Then we'll have to interrupt her lightsaber making"
"She's not going to be too happy about it"
Fortunately they didn't need her while she was making her lightsabers. Soon after she checked to see if she had any messages and she finally got some acknowledgment messages she had been waiting for and then she proceeded to chew both the Council and the Senate for not sending at least those messages and even chewing out the Senate for not having at least one person still at the building to acknowledge her message about her being home. When asked about why they were being assigned to the Republic until further notice she simply explained that they were orders and would be expanded on should it become necessary, though the Senate wasn't pleased to hear this the Council didn't push her, knowing exactly what was going on and that there would be times when she couldn't explain her Starfleet orders to her Jedi superiors and vice versa, something agreed upon ages ago
"For now though I was wondering if you and your crew could help"
"How so Master?"
"The Senate has been trying to help the planet Tanixi with a plague but unfortunately people are still dying and food can't be grown. No one has been able to figure out what's killing the crop and alsovvb killing the people at the same time, we recently tried to send a team in to help keep calm and help distribute the supplies but we've lost contact and we don't know why"
"If you assign me the mission I'll do it but I can't say the same about my Captain, you know the agreement we have between the Republic and Federation"
"I know, just ask your Captain if he's willing to help and then tell him that we're ordering you to go there to try and figure the problem out"
"Will do, just one question have the Jedi in question tried mental contact?"
"Yes, but that was three days ago, they could be dead or too sick to try anymore"
"Understood, I'll be underway within the hour with or without my ship and crew behind me"
Ashland starts to head to the bridge to talk to the Captain when she suddenly stopped because of a powerful feeling in the Force that she had to get a handle on. When she did five minutes later she realized that not only did she have to convince her Captain to come with her but to also do exactly what she said at any given moment because she would need to pull rank on this mission if they were going to succeed. Due to the fact that she was the highest ranking Starfleet officer whenever in the Republic and the highest ranking Jedi in the Federation she had certain leeway in regards to what she could and couldn't order either Starfleet officers or Jedi and this situation was one of them that she could give orders, though she didn't abuse the power and actually didn't want this kind of power but it was a necessary evil and definitely needed at the moment. Once on the bridge the Captain could tell she needed to talk to him
"Commander we'll be in my ready room"
The two walked in and then the Captain waited for Ashland to speak
"Captain, the New Hope is taking a trip to Tanixi to supply aid due to famine and something else that's killing people, apparently there's a blight killing the crops but as for what's killing the people I have no clue. I need all Force sensitive officers and any officer that has telepathic or empathic abilities except me to stay on board, I also need the Force inhibitor cell to be on standby just in case of trouble, I will do my best to let you know if it will be needed by the way. There's also the fact that sickbay needs to be on standby and as much food rations as can be replicated need to be available by the time we reach Tanixi in three days. A security detail of no more than seven will go down with me when I go alone and more will be available at need when it comes time to distribute the supplies. The Republic will do their best to send an aid ship ASAP but don't expect it to come soon, something's going on that I don't know about and neither does the Council so don't think about contacting them either"
"And just what authority do you have to tell me what to do?"
"The fact that since I'm the highest ranking Starfleet officer in certain situations I have some leeway in giving orders like this?"
"Okay you win, but we can't leave yet for at least fifteen minutes, something's up with the warp core again, something about it getting overheated"
(Sighs) "I knew I forgot something when fixing what happened a little over two weeks ago, sorry it will be an easy fix but yeah fifteen minutes sounds about right"
"I know, they told me they already know the solution it will just take a while to implement it"
"Okay, anything else you want to know or questions you want to ask before I leave?"
"Yes, why can't any Jedi, telepathic or empathic officers except you go down there?"
"Easy, because even touch telepaths will be sensitive on the planet if they touch a Tranaxa, and don't ask me why the species is called that, the only reason why I will be going down there is because they won't recognize Starfleet officers that easily and I've been to the planet before so they know me and there's less danger of them attacking me as long as they're in their right minds. The reason why those specific officers will be sensitive is because of a...mineral I guess you could call it that enhances mental abilities in the Tranaxa in the water they drink. Only certain types of Jedi are allowed to go in the first place and even then it assaults your senses in regards to the Force...in fact Tanixi is where things changed for me and where I was discovered to be a Force Trouble indicator because while I had always been strong in the Force we didn't have any ideas as to why until I sensed a major issue would happen on Tanixi three weeks before anything actually happened, and because it was my first mission as a Padawan that made it remarkable"
"So basically you have to go down there because they'll recognize you from that mission"
"Exactly, they do recognize the Starfleet uniform for both regular officers and Sentinel's but they won't really recognize them as a Starfleet officer because of the fact that uniforms can be copied or stolen, but with me down there and them recognizing my mental pattern they'll know the officers are the real deal"
"Makes sense then, now then if there's anything else you can think of before we get there let me know but for now I have to concentrate on a potential away team"
Three hours later the Captain called Ashland back to confirm that the away team was a good one