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."

"Really," Sassil replied, surprised. "Even during the high crisis days of the Iconian War."

"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."

"I have often wondered how raktajino gained a following among humans, yet katheka never did."

"Oh, not for lack of trying. It's just a little bit, shall we say, toxic for them."

"So is bloodwine," Sassil retorted.

"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.

"Bridge to Sh'abbas." The voice of Ensign Robins broke into the moment.

Tw'eak turned her head to the ceiling. "Sh'abbas here."

"Approaching the Boreth system, Admiral," Robins advised.

Tw'eak looked up from where she was standing. "We're cloaked?"

"Yes, ma'am," Cordero confirmed.

"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?"

"There are always more than merely the obvious options," Sassil retorted. "Especially when dealing with baktag from Section 31."

"If you've got an idea, I'm open to anything at this point."

Sassil inclined her head, then frowned. "Give me time. I will find it."

Tw'eak gave Sassil a nod, then stepped onto the bridge. A flash from the forward viewscreen indicated Warspite had dropped to sublight speed. "Admiral on the bridge," Robins noted.

Tw'eak and Sassil crossed together to the tactical station. Tw'eak began a passive sensor scan. "No sign of - wait. There."

Sassil nodded. "A debris field. No lifesigns..." She looked up. "No sign of lifepods, either."

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."

"But it's just like Corbin said. Lukara has been destroyed." Tw'eak took a closer scan. "If that wasn't a sheer coincidence."

"I doubt it," Bianca said with a shake of the head. "Not like him to tell the truth."

"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."

"And that's never been his style either," Bianca quipped.

"Admiral?" Cordero called out, slightly surprised. "There's... another ship coming in."

"What do you make of her, Lieutenant?"

"It's one of ours, ma'am. Odyssey-class." Cordero looked up. "The ...starship Australia."

"Emlyn Downey's ship," Tw'eak observed. "Hail them."

"I tried. They're on another hailing frequency."

Tw'eak looked up at Bianca, who shrugged. "I'll see what I can do," came the reply from the science console.

Tw'eak looked at the viewer, her curiosity matched only by her frustration. What now? she wondered.

"The comm channel carries Republic encryption," Bianca said after a moment. "And it's not subspace - local channel."

"A Republic warbird, here?" Sassil scoffed.

"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."

Cordero looked confused. "De-cloak?"

Tw'eak nodded. "I know it's a risk but they're taking the same one just being here."

"You mean the Romulans," Bianca quipped, "or the Australia?"

Tw'eak pursed her lips, offering no reply.

Cordero's console lit up. "Second incoming warp signature! Jupiter-class carrier!"

"Minerva," Tw'eak intoned.

"Yeah," Cordero confirmed. "How'd you know?"

Tw'eak arched an eyebrow and smiled. "Admiral's prerogative." She gestured at the viewscreen. "Hail someone for me, would you? Anyone?"

"Starfleet carrier is launching shuttles," Sassil advised.

"Drop cloak. Let's say hello."

With three Federation starships now visible in-system, a fourth vessel materialized: a Khitomer-class battlecruiser, its broad white wings glinting in the starlight.

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.

"Admiral Sh'abbas!" Downey began. "What an unexpected pleasure."

"Hello, all. Admiral Konsab - The only one I'm surprised to see here. How've you been?" Tw'eak asked the Romulan.

"Busy, Admiral. More than I'd hope to be. But you... retired, I thought."

"Yeah, that's what I keep telling them," Tw'eak joked. "But what brings you out this way?"

"Allow me to provide the answer," came a familiar growl of a voice. Onto the screen stepped a legend.

"General Martok!" Aurora gasped.

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."

"Still, somehow, despite the best efforts of Aakar and his miserable pack of koruts. 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.

"She's alive," Tw'eak heard Bianca say.

"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. Qapla'!"

Octavia stood with her hands clasped behind her back. "Thank you, General. I was merely a small part of the effort."

"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!"

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."

"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!"

"Allow me to offer our shipboard conference room as the venue," Downey suggested.

"Very well! I look forward to meeting you all shortly."

"General," Tw'eak interrupted. "Are we safe to remain here? The forces that destroyed Lukara could return."

"Let me assure you, I have taken the mettle of that pathetic toBa, and he will cause us no further trouble on this day. We have much to discuss, and soon. Qapla'!"

The call ended, and Tw'eak looked to Bianca. "I'll want you along for this," she affirmed. "In your Intel capacity."

Bianca nodded. "I'll see what I can find through my usual channels before we go."

Tw'eak then turned to her sister. "And I guess you can come."

Sassil narrowed her eyes. "I do not require your permission to decide."

Tw'eak patted Cordero on the shoulder. "Keep her in one piece until we get back?"

"I'll do what I can," Cordero replied.

Tw'eak, Bianca and Sassil stepped into the turbolift. "Transporter room," she said.