Star Trek Online: Her Finest Hour

by the Starfleet Kid

Admiral Twaiheak Sh'abbas has given all she has to Starfleet - thirty years of defending the Federation & its allies through the Iconian War. Settling into well-earned retirement on Andoria, her homeworld is unexpectedly attacked by a rogue Klingon force. As old allegiances start to unravel all around her, Tw'eak calls on old friends, and returns to service... for Her Finest Hour.

21. Chapter 21

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div dir="ltr"Two cups of katheka later, Tw'eak had rehashed the situation with Sassil. "I haven't gone this long without sleep since my Academy days."/div
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div dir="ltr""Really," Sassil replied, surprised. "Even during the high crisis days of the Iconian War."/div
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div dir="ltr""No, not even then. I was always a light sleeper, but on a schedule I can usually get enough rest to hold together." She held up her cup of katheka. "Though this stuff definitely helps."/div
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div dir="ltr""I have often wondered how raktajino gained a following among humans, yet katheka never did."/div
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div dir="ltr""Oh, not for lack of trying. It's just a little bit, shall we say, toxic for them."/div
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div dir="ltr""So is bloodwine," Sassil retorted./div
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div dir="ltr""Fair point," Tw'eak confessed, though she knew that katheka tended to come back up after being consumed by most sentient species - a lot more quickly than alcoholic beverages./div
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div dir="ltr""Bridge to Sh'abbas." The voice of Ensign Robins broke into the moment./div
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div dir="ltr"Tw'eak turned her head to the ceiling. "Sh'abbas here."/div
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div dir="ltr""Approaching the Boreth system, Admiral," Robins advised. div dir="auto" /div
div dir="auto"Tw'eak looked up from where she was standing. "We're cloaked?" /div
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div dir="auto""Yes, ma'am," Cordero confirmed. /div
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div dir="auto""Good. Be right there." She turned back towards her sister and the two of them stood up from the conference room table ."So now I'm not sure what to do - and knowing I'm deciding while lacking sleep doesn't help my confidence any. Do I go along with the Borg assimilating the ship, or activate the self-destruct and do what he wants?" /div
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div dir="auto""There are always more than merely the obvious options," Sassil retorted. "Especially when dealing with embaktag/em from Section 31."/div
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div dir="auto""If you've got an idea, I'm open to anything at this point." /div
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div dir="auto"Sassil inclined her head, then frowned. "Give me time. I will find it." /div
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div dir="auto"Tw'eak gave Sassil a nod, then stepped onto the bridge. A flash from the forward viewscreen indicated emWarspite/em had dropped to sublight speed. "Admiral on the bridge," Robins noted./div
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div dir="auto"Tw'eak and Sassil crossed together to the tactical station. Tw'eak began a passive sensor scan. "No sign of - wait. There." /div
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div dir="auto"Sassil nodded. "A debris field. No lifesigns..." She looked up. "No sign of lifepods, either." /div
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div dir="auto"From the science station, Bianca turned to face the Sh'abbas sisters. "Very minor organic remnants of any kind. It's doubtful that they were all killed at their posts." /div
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div dir="auto""But it's just like Corbin said. emLukara /emhas been destroyed." Tw'eak took a closer scan. "If that wasn't a sheer coincidence."/div
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div dir="auto""I doubt it," Bianca said with a shake of the head. "Not like him to tell the truth." /div
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div dir="auto""On the contrary," Sassil replied, "to tell such a thing and have it proven true would be a way of building trust... between honourable warriors, at least." /div
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div dir="auto""And that's never been his style either," Bianca quipped. /div
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div dir="auto""Admiral?" Cordero called out, slightly surprised. "There's... another ship coming in." /div
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div dir="auto""What do you make of her, Lieutenant?" /div
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div dir="auto""It's one of ours, ma'am. emOdyssey/em-class." Cordero looked up. "The starship emAustralia/em?"/div
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div dir="auto""Emlyn Downey's ship," Tw'eak observed. "Hail them." /div
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div dir="auto""I tried. They're on another hailing frequency." /div
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div dir="auto"Tw'eak looked up at Bianca, who shrugged. "I'll see what I can do," came the reply from the science console./div
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div dir="auto"Tw'eak looked at the viewer, her curiosity matched only by her frustration. What now? she wondered./div
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div dir="auto""The comm channel carries Republic encryption," Bianca said after a moment. "And it's not subspace - local channel."/div
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div dir="auto""A Republic warbird, here?" Sassil scoffed./div
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div dir="auto""If they sent a distress call - a standard distress signal, nothing Borg about it - maybe." Tw'eak stepped down to stand beside Cordero. "Let them know we're here." /div
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div dir="auto"Cordero looked confused. "De-cloak?" /div
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div dir="auto"Tw'eak nodded. "I know it's a risk but they're taking the same one just being here."/div
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div dir="auto""You mean the Romulans," Bianca quipped, "or the emAustralia/em?"/div
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div dir="auto"Tw'eak pursed her lips, offering no reply./div
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div dir="auto"Cordero's console lit up. "Second incoming warp signature! emJupiter/em-class carrier!"/div
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div dir="auto""emMinerva/em," Tw'eak intoned./div
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div dir="auto""Yeah," Cordero confirmed. "How'd you know?"/div
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div dir="auto"Tw'eak arched an eyebrow and smiled. "Admiral's prerogative." She gestured at the viewscreen. "Hail someone for me, would you? Anyone?" /div
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div dir="auto""Starfleet carrier is launching shuttles," Sassil advised./div
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div dir="auto""Drop cloak. Let's say hello."/div
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div dir="auto"With three Federation starships now visible in-system, a fourth vessel materialized: a emKhitomer/em-class battlecruiser, its broad white wings glinting in the starlight. /div
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div dir="auto"The channel opened up three ways: in the center sat Vice Admiral Emlyn Downey, and to Tw'eak's right, Captain Aurora duBois. The third figure was a bald Romulan, featureless except for an antler-like tattoo sequence across his forehead and a pair of thick black eyebrows. It was a face Tw'eak recognized as Republic Admiral Aetius Konsab, commander of the Alliance Joint Liberation Squadron. /div
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div dir="auto""Admiral Sh'abbas!" Downey began. "What an unexpected pleasure."/div
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div dir="auto""Hello, all. Admiral Konsab - The only one I'm surprised to see here. How've you been?" Tw'eak asked the Romulan./div
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div dir="auto""Busy, Admiral. More than I'd hope to be. But you... retired, I thought." /div
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div dir="auto""Yeah, that's what I keep telling them," Tw'eak joked. "But what brings you out this way?"/div
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div dir="auto""Allow me to provide the answer," came a familiar growl of a voice. Onto the screen stepped a legend./div
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div dir="auto""General Martok!" Aurora gasped. /div
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div dir="auto"Tw'eak and Sassil both placed a fist across their chests in a gesture of respect. "It's an honour, General. I am quite pleased to see you alive and well."/div
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div dir="auto""Still, somehow, despite the best efforts of Aakar and his miserable pack of emkoruts/em. And no small thanks to our friend from Starfleet." Martok gestured aside to a space on the Alliance ship's bridge, where Octavia stood next to J'Ula, matriarch of House Mo'Kai. /div
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div dir="auto""She's alive," Tw'eak heard Bianca say. /div
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div dir="auto""Indeed. The courage that the Borg could not wrest from her was what saved us all upon this day." Martok gestured for Octavia to approach, which she did with some seeming reluctance. "Her deeds will be honoured with blood wine and song, if I have anything to say about it. emQapla/em'!"/div
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div dir="auto"Octavia stood with her hands clasped behind her back. "Thank you, General. I was merely a small part of the effort." /div
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div dir="auto""Modest, as well as brave! Such a warrior, this one! But so too is one who is known to answer the call to battle with blue blood in her veins! And by Kahless, that there should be two such warriors from one great house! General! Admiral! Glory to both of you, from the frozen moon of Andor!"/div
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div dir="auto"Tw'eak and Sassil caught sight of each other, and even Sassil's hardest posturing betrayed her glowing satisfaction at being so highly spoken of by such a great warrior. "You honour us both, General."/div
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div dir="auto""But come - let us convene together and speak of what remains to be done! For we have a war to win, a tyrant to topple, and an Empire to save!"/div
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div dir="auto""Allow me to offer our shipboard conference room as the venue," Downey suggested. /div
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div dir="auto""Very well! I look forward to meeting you all shortly."/div
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div dir="auto""General," Tw'eak interrupted. "Are we safe to remain here? The forces that destroyed the emLukara /emcould return."/div
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div dir="auto""Let me assure you, I have taken the mettle of that pathetic emtoBa/em, and he will cause us no further trouble on this day. We have much to discuss, and soon. emQapla/em!"/div
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div dir="auto"The call ended, and Tw'eak looked to Bianca. "I'll want you along for this," she affirmed. "In your Intel capacity."/div
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div dir="auto"Bianca nodded. "I'll see what I can find through my usual channels before we go."/div
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div dir="auto"Tw'eak then turned to her sister. "And I guess you can come."/div
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div dir="auto"Sassil narrowed her eyes. "I do not require your permission to decide."/div
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div dir="auto"Tw'eak patted Cordero on the shoulder. "Keep her in one piece until we get back?"/div
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div dir="auto""I'll do what I can," Cordero replied./div
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div dir="auto"Tw'eak, Bianca and Sassil stepped into the turbolift. "Transporter room," she said. /div
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