"Let the honored few who came to Boreth's aid go now to every corner of the Empire. Tell everyone you meet what happened here today. Tell them that you were at Boreth when L'Rell returned. Tell them how we all fought and sent the Fek'lhri back to Gre'thor.

"There is much to be done. We have an Empire to restore, and a tyrant to depose. But now is not the time for such things. Now is the time to honor our great victories! Tonight, we celebrate - for tomorrow, we may die! Qapla'!"

The bridge of the Warspite was dead silent, the cold and bitter reality of their non-involvement in the final moments of the battle weighing on the minds of her bridge crew and their admiral. Tw'eak listened to J'Ula's words as they were broadcast, and fought to remain as professional as she could. Her conduct at this moment was being watched by impressionable officers, and while she wanted nothing more than to snark and to rant at the injustice of the timing of the withdrawal order, she had been given little choice but to comply.

"Set a course for Earth," Octavia instructed Ensign Robins at the helm.

"We are being hailed," Invicta interrupted. "By... we are receiving four hails. Five." She shook her head. "Seven."

"Prioritize as best you can."

"Very well. I have General Martok."

Octavia nodded, and the grinning face of the grizzled chancellor of the last days of the Dominion War appeared on-screen. "I bring greetings from our future chancellor, L'Rell." He gestured around him, a red-and-orange backdrop showing him to be on the bridge of the Klingon warship K'T'Inga, L'Rell's flagship. "I can hardly believe that I am here - like stepping into history and bringing triumph forth into our waiting hands."

"Congratulations on your victory, General. May it be-" Tw'eak stopped, uncertain of what to say. She paused for a moment and re-phrased her remark. "May your new ship serve your cause as capably as the Lukara before."

"The monks of Boreth had one last surprise up their robed sleeves... this ship is in pristine condition, and yet its weapons and other systems are fully upgraded and ready to strike. Which bodes well for us, for we intend to strike and strike again, at the very heart of the forces that our false Emperor calls to his side!"

"I wish you every success."

Martok seemed to search around. "Is the General Sh'abbas not among you? Was she injured in the fight?"

"She... stepped away from the bridge for just a moment."

"Commend me to her, if you will. Her blade was decisive in our glorious raid into Gre'thor itself. Once L'Rell stands restored to the High Council, I foresee much honour and glory for your sister in our renewed Empire."

"I will be certain to pass that along." Tw'eak gave a slight bow. "You honour her, and all of us of her house and homeworld, in saying so."

Martok nodded. "I will raise a glass of bloodwine in her honour! Soon we will begin our offensive and drive J'mpok from the throne he has forged for himself. Together we shall restore our shattered empire to glory! Qapla'!"

The communication ended. "I have Captain duBois from the Minerva," Invicta continued.

"On screen."

The worried face of Aurora duBois became visible on the screen. "Oh, good! You're all okay. Bianca, Octavia, Admiral. Everyone else, too, I hope."

"We have endured," Octavia replied. "How are things with you?"

"Oh, same. We took a few casualties - one of those frigates of theirs came barrelling in and crashed into us amidships. Nobody died, though, so that's a minor miracle in and of itself." Aurora's searching eyes suddenly opened wide. "Wait, where's your sister?"

"The General is... predisposed at the moment," Tw'eak offered diplomatically.

"Probably talking to Martok about how soon he can beam over some bloodwine, right?" Aurora's candid joke fell flat. "Right, nobody likes bloodwine. Me either."

"It's an acquired taste," Tw'eak quipped. "We've been ordered to return to Earth, right away."

"Now?"

"That's what I said," Bianca muttered.

"Orders are orders, Aurora."

"No, I know, it's just... do they know what we're doing here? Or what we were doing here, I should say? God, that's just like Command not to know what's going on and just issue their orders anyway."

"Thank you, Captain. Withdraw to Starbase K-7 as soon as you are able. Will there be anything further?"

"I mean, yeah. Don't even get me started."

Tw'eak cleared her throat. "Anything further, Captain."

"Oh." Aurora caught hold of herself. "Right. Just fell back into old habits there, didn't I."

"First time for everything, 'rora," Bianca joked.

"You, I'll talk to later." Aurora smiled broadly. "Okay, so I'll see you. Does Bianca want to transfer over here? We could use an asset like her onboard, especially if we're going with the Klingons."

"I should report back to Starfleet Intelligence," Bianca replied.

"And you won't be accompanying the Klingons, I don't believe," Tw'eak added. "Anything further will be at Admiral Downey's direction, on orders from Admiral Quinn. Minerva should report to her for further instructions."

"Then that's what we'll do." Aurora gave a curt nod. "Good luck on Earth, everyone! Minerva out."

"Transporter room to bridge," the overhead comms chimed in.

"Bridge, captain here," Octavia replied.

"Captain, I have General Sh'abbas standing by to transport to the Klingon flagship?"

Tw'eak smiled thinly at Octavia. She took a deep breath.

Octavia looked to Tw'eak. "Admiral?"

Her antennae leaning forwards, Tw'eak took a breath. "Permission granted. Tell her... to die well."

"I'll contact the Klingons and co-ordinate with them directly. Transporter room out."

From the science station, Bianca was incredulous. "I can't believe you'd just... let her go like that."

"Less dangerous than confining her to quarters," Tw'eak observed.

Commander Ultra came forwards, facing Octavia. Tw'eak gestured to the commander's usual seat, but Ultra declined. "No, thank you, Admiral. Captain, I have verified the subspace transmission as requested - both in terms of source telemetry and in coding. The message from Admiral Quinn was genuine."

Tw'eak looked at Octavia, startled. "You mean you second-guessed Starfleet Command?"

Octavia inclined her head gently in a nod. "A reasonable precaution, I believe."

"I don't disagree, but..." She glanced up at Invicta. "Who's next?"

"Admiral Konsab and Admiral Downey have disconnected. I believe they were seeking clarification which they have since received through other channels."

"You put my sister on before you put the admirals through?" Bianca inquired.

Invicta looked perturbed. "It may have seemed that way, but I was merely connecting on the basis of who was available. Both admirals were connected to other parties after General Martok ended his call."

"You don't have to justify it to us," Tw'eak interjected. "Just tell me who's next."

"Acting Captain Hamsa."

Tw'eak nodded, shifting her footing to face the viewscreen again. "Alright." The screen shifted to the bridge of the Trondheim, and her acting captain. "How may I help?"

"Warp drive is working again, but we need to return to spacedock for urgent repairs to other critical systems. Earth Spacedock, for example."

Tw'eak's eyebrows rose. "Word travels fast."

"These ships aren't the only thing that travels faster-than-light, Admiral." Hamsa chortled at her own joke.

Tw'eak tilted her head slightly in thought. "Alright. We'll be a task force of two, then. Commander duBois, from Starfleet Intelligence, and I will transport aboard. We're all heading the same direction anyway. I'd like to sort this out before we get back to Earth Spacedock."

Hamsa chortled again. "In that case we'll set course at sublight speeds."

Octavia arched an eyebrow. "Our cruising speed is typically warp eight. We should arrive at Earth Spacedock in eleven hours-"

Tw'eak dipped her shoulder towards Octavia. "She's joking."

Octavia did not take her eyes off the viewscreen."As senior captain present, I wanted to ensure there were no misunderstandings of intended course and speed."

Tw'eak caught sight of Bianca rolling her eyes and smiled. "I... see your point." She turned back to Hamsa. "Stand by to receive us. We'll just need a minute to collect our things, and we'll be on our way. Warspite out."

The communication switched off, the viewscreen once again showing the haze and debris of the battle in the Boreth system. "Admiral, a moment," Ultra requested.

"Please tell me you're not resigning your commission, too," Tw'eak joked, hinting at the situation aboard the Trondheim.

"Not at all," Ultra replied. "Rather, if you and the commander are to transfer your flag to the other ship, would it be possible for Warspite to accompany the Alliance vessels for the time being?"

Octavia beat Tw'eak to responding. "That would not be appropriate, Commander."

"Our battle damage is relatively limited. It would appear that the vinculum worked above expected levels at damage-mitigation and power-distribution tasks."

"My orders are for Warspite to return to Earth immediately."

"With me aboard?" Tw'eak asked.

"Let me clarify. My orders are to return Admiral Sh'abbas, and this vessel, to Earth Spacedock immediately."

"So it's both," Bianca deduced.

"Indeed, it is." There was a slight sense of exasperation in Octavia's voice. "My objections to both withdrawing during combat, and delivering the admiral instead of joining the task force, have been noted."

"It's not really 'instead of', if I object as well, is it?" Tw'eak asked.

Octavia closed her eye. "Let me clarify."

"No need. I'm just saying, I'm not really fond of going the other way when there's a job to do on Qo'noS, either." She looked around. "This ship was the strongest we had in that fight, and it's down to the good work you and your crew have done in using the vinculum to its full advantages."

This caught Octavia by surprise. "Thank you, Admiral."

"Well, I made enough noise about it earlier, that I should at least make a point of acknowledging when it works as intended. Or better than intended, as the commander noted. Seems a waste not to carry on as we started."

"It may be that Starfleet wishes to review our combat performance," Ultra observed. "After all, this was our first opportunity to engage an adversary with the vinculum installed."

Octavia continued on this point. "They may also be wary of the political involvement of a starship with such a vinculum. Should the Klingons discover the level of our integration of Borg technology, they may not appreciate that it was placed within range of its most sensitive scientific and military installations. The potential for them to see it as gathering intelligence on the Collective's behalf could be disastrous for the Alliance."

"They may just not want to give the Klingons ideas, either," Bianca noted. "After all, it worked. And the Klingons love it when weapons work as intended."

"The Empire has traditionally been reticent of fully integrating Borg technology, for fear of its learning too much about them. It seems more likely that..." Octavia looked up. "Admiral?"

Tw'eak was most of the way over to the turbolift. "We're not going to get back to Earth by debating how many Klingons can dance on the head of a vinculum," she quipped. "C'mon, Bianca." She gave a quick nod to Cordero and Robins at the conn, then looked to Invicta, before returning to Octavia. "I'm going to see you after. I want to know how you're doing."

"I am pleased to report that all matters are adequate in my personal and professional lives at present."

Bianca gave an irked expression to her former commander. "You know that's not what she meant. Right?"

Octavia gave a nod. "I would hope to apologize if any of my actions in the past few days may have jeopardized the regard in which I am held by either of you."

"Quite the opposite, Octavia." Tw'eak took a step back to put her arms around her friend. "You've been incredibly brave, maybe a little reckless. That's probably my influence, I admit."

"It is undoubtedly your influence," Octavia deadpanned.

"But I'm just glad you're back." She let Octavia go. "Take care of this ship. She's the finest in Starfleet." Tw'eak paused for a moment. "And so is her crew."

There were a few murmured thank-yous from the bridge crew as Tw'eak and Bianca stepped into the turbolift.

"Transporter room," Tw'eak requested, and the doors slid shut.