Mission Day 105
0830 HR
Ready Room

The problem, Tikva was finding, with having a girlfriend who also happened to be your Chief of Security, was the early morning starts. Yes, she kept her fitness up, but she wasn’t the diehard fanatic like some she knew, but Adelinde was edging on that territory. So that meant by the time she’d come on duty in the morning, finished her morning one on one with Lieutenant T’Val and sent her on her way, she’d already been up for four hours.

A run, then a bit of sparing which to be honest she didn’t mind for various reasons, cool down stretches, some breakfast, a morning walk of the ship to pop in on various departments briefly before the bridge at 0800 hours. It was just enough, as she glared at the door to the bridge, roughly in the direction of tactical, to annoy her, being up this long already.

But Adelinde had far too many redeeming qualities to remain even more then annoyed at her for long.

Uh, yah!

Yah, sorry Boss, we all agree with Primitive Tikva on this one.

I think Boss was agreeing with us anyway?

Wait, we all agree?

Tikva shook her head, a smile forming on her lips as she thought about that last kiss in the turbolift before they had stepped out onto the bridge, ever the professional couple. Maybe, just maybe she could make this particular relationship work? It certainly helped that Adelinde seemed highly interested in making it work.

Before she could contemplate the issue much further her computer terminal beeped at her politely, to inform her of an overnight message of importance, but which no one had warned her about. A quick check and she noticed the Starfleet Command prompt on it, Captain’s Eyes Only as well and then stopped.

“Computer, why wasn’t I notified of the Eyes-Only message in my inbox?”

The dutiful minion at the heart of her starship chirped in acknowledgement, then spoke. “Captain, there is a priority one message from Starfleet Command for you.”

“Yes, I see that, but why wasn’t I notified when it first came in…six hours ago?”

More beeping. “Unknown routing error. Captain, there is a priority one message from Starfleet Command for you.”

“Yes yes, I see that. Run a level three diagnostic on the comms system and send the report to Ops when done,” Tikva ordered as she tapped the message, expecting to see a video for her, but instead was greeted with a small amount of text. It would have been quicker and easier after all for hyper-subspace and the windows large enough for face-to-face conversations where rarer, but windows for a small set of written orders were likely much easier to time.

From : Fourth Fleet Command HQ
To : Captain (Provisional) Tikva Theodoras, Commander, USS Atlantis
Subject : Tkon site of interest – immediate investigation required

Captain,

Recent events in the Federation have highlighted a lack of understanding of an ancient power, the Tkon Empire. Fourth Fleet is prioritising exploration and recovery of Tkon artifacts and data in order to better understand recent events within the Federation and abroad.

Starcharts recovered from a private collector hint at a possible Tkon outpost in the Delta Quadrant near your current position. You are hereby ordered to divert course to the provided coordinates and undertake recovery operations of any pertinent artifacts and databases.

If required Captain, you are hereby authorised to proceed under the Omega Directive.

Fourth Fleet Command

“What sort of mealy-mouthed intel dweeb wrote this damn thing?” she asked of no one in particular after reading the orders which danced around the point and only hinted what it was all about in the last line. It was all a follow up in regards to the Omega situation. Just great.

Attached were a set of coordinates, not more then ten light years, again another few days at high warp. But with no impetus of sub-space destruction, unless of course that all changed, Tikva couldn’t and more importantly wouldn’t run the ship’s engines that hard again. They hadn’t even had a full week to let the engineers look over everything.

Depressing a call button, Tikva spoke. “Theodoras to Velan. Chief, if I wanted warp power right now, what can I ask of you that’s going to keep me in your good books?”

“I can give you warp seven right now, but no more than seven five since I know you’ll want more. And that’s my final offer right now Captain,” came the Chief Engineer’s voice over the comm.

“Seven five it is than Chief. Theodoras out.” Her finger came off the call button and she stood, finished the last sip of her second, no third, cup of coffee and stepped out on the bridge. “Ensign, set course two seven six mark eight seven and engage at warp seven point five immediately,” she ordered of the young flight officer at the helm, then around the bridge to Tactical where she stepped up beside Adelinde. “Any signs of Borg?”

“Still nothing,” the reply came, Adelinde not even looking up from her screens, but brining up long range scans on one for Tikva to look over. “Not even a hint of transwarp signatures on long range scans.”

“Let’s keep it that way. You have the conn, I’m going down to see the archaeologist we have on board. Command wants us to go digging in the dirt, best let our experts know what to expect and give them some time to do some prep work.”

Tikva could feel the curiosity from Adelinde at that and she smiled in response. “I’ll tell everyone everything at a briefing. We’ve got a few days yet and it’s just a follow up to something someone found back home,” she said, telling the truth, save for a small omission that didn’t impact the veracity of everything else said.

Fuck, did we just lie to Adelinde?

No, we omitted something.

Still feels like lying.

Yah…

“Well, makes for slightly different orders then last time,” the taller woman said, giving Tikva a hint of a smile. “I have the conn, enjoy talking with Simmons and W’a’le’ki.”

Science Lab 2
0845 HR

Lieutenants Simmons and W’a’le’ki were, as Tikva discovered, some rather unique individuals. She couldn’t quiet place W’a’le’ki’s species straight away, but Simmons was clearly from the British Isles by accent alone.

“Lieutenants, have an assignment for you two,” she said coming through the door and getting their attention, clearly interrupting a discussion where both sides were using reference material with padds and screens open around them on either side of the large table they’d set themselves up on.

W’a’le’ki, her dark blue-green skin tone and vibrant ruby red eyes, turned with a smile towards Tikva and smiled with a mouth full of teeth just a little too sharp for comfort. Each one was pristine and white, but each was also sharp, clearly ready to rend flesh from bone. “Captain, a pleasssure,” the s stretched out as she spoke. “What can we help you with?”

Dragging a spare chair over, Tikva sat herself down at the large table and smiled. “We’re diverting course to investigate a possible Tkon outpost nearby. Apparently, some recent discovery back home has highlighted it and someone was smart enough to do put two and two together and assign us the work.”

“Tkon? Out here?” Simmons asked, his tone incredulous. “I find that difficult to believe ma’am.”

“Honestly so do I,” she responded. “But orders are orders. I want you two as principles on this. We’ll get to the coordinates Command has given us in a few days. From there we’ll investigate the veracity of the claims and hey, maybe make an interesting discovery or two?”

“Well, proving or disssproving anything as Tkon will be interesssting,” W’a’le’ki said, those eyes of her’s twinkling in the light, her smile hinting at mirth which Tikva could just make out from her. Something about the woman was just different enough that Tikva wasn’t sure what emotions she was getting from the woman.

A puzzle for another day.

“What do you know of the Tkon ma’am?” Simmons asked.

“Just what I’ve learned watching some documentaries and a museum display at the Smithsonian once. Ancient extinct power, died off when humanity was descending from the trees or thereabouts. Could lump them in the same category as the Iconians or the Preservers for ancient powers that mysterious disappeared.”

“Clossse enough,” W’a’le’ki said while shrugging her shoulders. “They disssapeared it isss sssussspected after their home ssstar went sssupernova. It isss alssso sssussspected they had advanccced transssporter technology. But there isss much in the way of literature for us to read before we arrive, yes Sssimmonsss?”

“True. We’ll also need to coordinate with Lieutenant Camargo and put together dig teams and run over basic protocols. Get equipment out of storage or replicate it as well so it’s ready when we get there,” Simmons answered. “We’re going to have a busy few days Captain.”

“Oh, no doubt Lieutenant. Right, I’ll talk with Camargo and let her know you’re the principles on this investigation when we get there. I’ll also have you in a briefing this afternoon just so I can give you the full information Command has sent along. Won’t be a long meeting but I’d appreciate both of you being there.”

“Aye ma’am.”

Conference Room
1600 HR

“Thanks all for coming,” Tikva announced as she walked into the conference room, the computer having advised that everyone was present. Taking her seat, she leaned forward, elbows on the table. “We’ve got an interesting set of orders that some of you know are already aware of, but I did keep the entirety to myself until now.”

A tap on a set of controls and a holographic display of the Milky Way galaxy appeared on the table, with large green swathe over a portion most would likely identify as the Alpha and Beta quadrants, but with small dots of the same green spread across the galactic plane. “Command has asked us, with a bit of a priority actually, to go look into a suspected Tkon outpost this far from home.”

The map zoomed in on the more local galactic region, with a sickly green pallor cast over a large area, the colour most would identify with the Borg, another bright and vibrant green around a single star system. A bright yellow line cut across the map, diverting here and there, to represent the path of the USS Voyager decades ago through this region, to which Atlantis was well and truly off the beaten path.

“There a reason for this Captain?” Mac asked, still looking like a man trying to wake up, which he truthfully was.

“A couple. Some situation back home, declined to say of course, but which more Tkon information would be useful. We’re to conduct a preliminary investigation, see if we can identify anything of grave import and then send it forward. But at the same time, I figure we could drop off a couple of shuttles, some prefabs and a full team for a proper dig on site, yes?”

“Kinda wish we knew why Command wants this information so desperately,” he continued.

“I’ll ask,” she offered. “Lieutenants Simmons and W’a’le’ki will be in charge of planet side operations. They’ve already given me a list of personnel they want for a proper dig; we’ll go over it tomorrow Mac. Anything else Lieutenants?”

“Jussst equipment lissstsss we are working on Captain,” W’a’le’ki answered. “If we are to be camping on sssite for a while, cccertain needsss will naturally have to exxxpand.”

Tikva wasn’t sure what she meant, but Mac’s nodding in acceptance told her all she needed to know. Her XO would be all over it. “Excellent. Well, Lieutenant, could you give the senior staff a quirk reminder of the Tkon and then cover the high level of what you’ll be doing? I want everyone to support this operation.”

Mission Day 109
Main Bridge
1335 HR

“Warp drive shut down in five seconds,” T’Val announced from the helm.

Nodding to herself, Tikva tucked the padd in hand between the chair arm and her leg as she looked up just in time to see the streaks of stars stop, giving way to a single brighter point against a backdrop of stars. “Report.”

“GIV main class star, twelve worlds, two L-class, though one much nicer then the other,” Camargo answered. “Probes away to scout the outer gas giants. Oh…I’m detecting a starship in orbit of the fourth world, the nicer of the two L-class. I’ve got two shuttles as well.”

“Well,” Mac said as he stood up to go and look over Camargo’s shoulder briefly. “Looks like we’re not the only ones looking into this place.”

“Perhaps, but remember, Command wants information. Lives are on the line.”

She had lied, again, to her crew about why this was so important. She promised to ask, then waited before informing them yesterday that it was all in response to some medical emergency. A dig site, ancient warnings, then sickness. Command was desperate to save some lives so follow up on the newest pieces of information, their assigned coordinates. She didn’t need to tell them it was related to Omega, that would just drive more curiosity about that particular can of worms.

Another lie, another day.

Pretty sure it’s another day, another lie.

Is it though?

“Well, we’re here to save lives, no reason we can’t be here to make friends. T’Val, take us in, full impulse. Rrr, make sure we’re ready to deploy when we get to orbit. Mac, shuttles ready?” She paused long enough for his nod in the affirmative. “Right then, Rrr, be so kind as to hail these fine folks, will you? Let’s say hello.”

The bridge that came to life on the Atlantis’ own viewscreen was not too dissimilar in general purposes, or even colour tones really. Control stations spread around a bridge, a command chair in the middle, one looked like a unitary station in front, likely helm. The dark beige colours, warm neutral tones and occasional industrial metallic highlights seems like someone had attended the same interior design courses as whoever selected colours for Atlantis.

“I’m Captain Tikva Theodoras of the Federation Starship Atlantis, hope you don’t mind, but we’re here on a bit of a scientific mission and hoping perhaps the planet is big enough for the two of us?” Tikva asked, having gotten to her feet as soon as the viewscreen snapped to. A smile on her face, she let it grow, after all, first impressions and all.

“Captain Torqqi Korlin of the People’s cruiser Va’th, a pleasure to meet you Captain. This isn’t our system to impose our will upon and we have no scientific interest in this system at this time, though the People did have a starship in this system that did. You haven’t seen any starships like ours recently, have you?” the man asked, having gotten to his feet as well. His skin was a very faint purple tinge, with black hair and deep-set golden eyes that betrayed the concern he must have been feeling.

“No, I can’t say we have.” A quick glance to Adelinde at Tactical was rewarded with a negative head shake and walking up beside Rrr another. “Perhaps Captain we could lend assistance in finding your other ship while my scientists undertake their research work?”

“I’m not going to say no to any assistance scouring the system for signs of our research vessel. Perhaps Captain we can discuss matters when your ship reaches orbit?”

Less then an hour later and Atlantis was settling into orbit two hundred kilometers from the Va’th, and fifteen minutes after that Captain Torqqi Korlin was being shown through to Tikva’s ready room by Mac, who had greeted the man and one of his officers in the shuttle bay, having insisted they’d make their own way over.

“Captain and I believe Lieutenant Torwel yes?” Tikva questioned as she offered a hand and directed her visitors to the more informal space in her ready room, looking forward across the ship’s hull. “Sorry I didn’t meet you myself, but our science teams were very keen to get going as well as some of my shuttle pilots to assist in your search.”

“Yes, I counted no less then six shuttles launched while we made our way over and noticed you had four even larger shuttles and two smaller ones in your bay still undergoing preparations for launch,” Korlin said, looking awed actually as he sat down opposite Tikva. He sighed at his off-sider and waved the man down into a seat as well, at which Mac followed suit.

“Yes, our runabouts and very small fighter compliment are not usually kept in a ready launch state, but we should have them out the doors before much longer to assist. Your Commander Teq’ru has assigned us targets within the system to conduct searches, which he says should help cut your search time down from weeks to a matter of days perhaps. Is there anything you can tell me about your missing ship’s mission? Might help us with tracking it down perhaps.”

Torwel, a man whose skin tone was easily more then a few shades darker then Korlin’s agitated at that prospect, but the man was settled by his superior. “The Hu’th was sent to conduct a dig at coincidentally the site your people have headed for planetside.” He raised a hand to quell any comment or protest. “We have no suspicions of your people Captain. We’ve been here for five days and have already checked the site multiple times. There’s no sign the Hu’th ever even made planetfall to conduct their work.”

“But you have some good evidence they made it to this system?” Mac asked.

“Oh yes, Captain Krell and I are good friends. He messaged me just after they arrived in system. Said they had detected some unusual energy signatures in system but were excited to get to the dig and start work. They were following clues from another dig site on one of the People’s largest colonies.”

That got Mac and Tikva’s attention as they both looked to each other and then to Korlin and Torwel. “When did your people discover this dig site?” Mac asked for the two of them.

“Oh, about ten years ago. The People’s University of Trent found it, or more precisely a first-year geography student found it. About two months ago this system was identified as one mentioned in records we’ve recovered. An expedition was dispatched almost immediately, but when the failed to report in, the Va’th was sent to investigate.”

Tikva nodded as Korlin spoke, hearing the concern in his voice for his missing colleagues. “Rest assured Captain, the Atlantis and her people will lend a hand as much as we can to assist. We do have some pressing concerns of our own that might require us to depart in a hurry, but I’m more then happy to leave a couple of our shuttles in such a situation behind to keep helping. In the meantime, could I interest you in a tour?”

Korlin’s grin practically took over his face and threatened to annex is permanently it looked like. “Only if you agree to a tour of the Va’th! He’s not the most modern of ships in the People’s Navy, but I’m very proud of him. And I have to ask, your Commander MacIntyre here made mention of something called a transporter. I just have to see it in operation.”

“I’m sure Captain that arrangements can be made.”

Technically the world had a survey number somewhere and likely the People had a name for it as well, but Lieutenant W’a’le’ki had been the senior officer in the first lot to beam down and at the prompting of an Ensign in her group, she’d christened the world W’a’le’krell’ti. Translated into Federation Standard it would come out as The Walker|Pathway of Forgotten Dreams. It had seemed fitting for an outpost of an ancient empire that had just up and disappeared seemingly overnight, on a galactic history scale that is.

Of course, when Simmons had come down an hour later, he objected, wanting to name it something bland and boring, like New Orkey. The place is cold and damp, but strangely beautiful, he had said. She just didn’t see it that way and it turns out that when he tried to insist on grounds of seniority, a quiet little rebellion had taken place, with everyone sticking with her name. Sometimes poetry wins out over easy names.

That and the claim that her name for this world was simply ‘fun’ to say, but humans and some of the other Federation races did find amusement in the weirdest of things sometimes. After all, humans named their homeworld after dirt. Or dirt after their world? She’d have to look into the etymology later.

Everyone was wearing jackets, a few had opted to even don sturdier pants and boots to fight the cold, much like W’a’le’ki herself had, though her gear was actually powered to provide her the heat her biology so desperately sought out. She’d have happily let Simmons run ground operations if not for the chance to be the first to get at the Tkon ruins and dig up whatever secrets they could.

“We’ll have a sonic perimeter installed and operational within the hour,” Ensign Bellows, one of the Engineers assigned to the dig said as she walked with her towards the recently completed prefab that would serve as the site office. “We’ve not detected any large fauna so far, but it should keep out smaller creatures and let us work marginally undisturbed.”

“Excccelent Ensssign,” she hissed with a smile, restrained of course since Counsellor Hu had pointed out that most mammalian species found rows of pointed teeth to be disturbing. “I trussst accommodationsss are on track asss well?”

“Josh and Sami are finishing final assembly and air tightness checks now, then T’run will set up all the power and get the heaters running. We’ll be good to camp here for six weeks before local noon.”

“Good, good. I’ll let Sssimmonsss know. Thank you.” And with that Bellows gave her a nod and departed just before she reached the door to the office building and let herself in to find Simmons looking over a hollow projection of what they had discovered so far.

More sophisticated scanners had been brought down and set up, penetrating into the dirt and rock, mapping out what they could in a level of detail that starship sensors, while powerful, just couldn’t deliver. Tunnels and spaces had been revealed and the maze below their feet reminded W’a’le’ki of any number of underground facilities and bases she’d seen elsewhere. But on top, just a few meters before their feet looked like foundations and ruins clearly of a settlement reclaimed by nature.

“We’ll be just about done with initial mapping by mid afternoon I think, then we can start thinking about where we want to start digging to get into this facility,” Simmons said after having looked up to confirm who his visitor was. “But there looks to be signs someone beat us here, though not recently.”

He pointed at a couple of anomalies the sensors had picked up, namely what looked like two bodies, but buried under some rubble that from how it was interfering with sensors must have contained elements of magnetite. “They’re buried at the same depth as the top layer of ruins, so I’m guessing someone else did a dig here before.”

“We ssshould ssstart then with those bodiesss. Work out who wasss here before usss.”

“My thoughts as well. We’ll spend the afternoon and evening getting everything ready and planning with the three dig teams to make sure everyone knows what they’re doing, then we’ll get started first light tomorrow.”

“Well then, where ssshould we ssstart? I wasss thinking here,” she said, spinning the hologram around to point out a spot she had noticed earlier, rapidly getting into planning a dig now that her and Simmons knew just how extensive the sight really was.

Ship time and dig site time weren’t synced up by any stretch of the imagination and it was mid afternoon when Tikva stepped out of her ready room onto the bridge with a smile on her face. “Right Mac, ship is yours, I’m going down to the dig. Want to be there when they break ground.” She saw him about to start his protest, then waved him along. “Fine fine, come along. Ch’tkk’va, ship is yours. No blowing anything up.”

With that said, Captain and XO both piled into a turbolift and an order for transporter room two was given. She wasn’t sure why number 2 had become the default, but it was when she took command and so it had remained.

“Regulations really state one of us should stay aboard ship.”

“Yup,” she replied.

“And we should really take a security detail, especially you.”

“Way ahead of you Mac.”

The timing couldn’t have been more perfect as the turbolift came to a stop and two security officers met them, carrying a jacket for each of them, themselves ready to go. She smiled like a kid with candy while slipping on the jacket as they finished walking to the transporter room. “Not a scientist myself, but I just love poking my nose around some ruins. Hopefully we’ll find something Command can work with to help with this mystery illness back home.”

“Yah, hopefully. Though, could we be at risk here?”

“As long as we don’t open any containers in a lab full of people without precautions, unlike some others, should be fine,” the answered stepping onto the transporter padd. A few moments later saw the team in the middle of a busy camp site, though camping was a generous use of that word. This was more like a small township now thanks to prefabs and her own orders to make this semi-long term so Atlantis could do anything else that needed doing. “Captain Korlin should be around here somewhere,” she said, popping up on tiptoes to look around, the two security officers joining in, but stopping when Mac pointed out the purple skinned man.

“Gantzmann’s already found him,” he said, then started in that direction, picking a pace so as not to outpace his captain.

Quick introductions, asking how the search for Korlin’s missing ship was going, some more about anticipation for the start of this dig and soon enough the group found themselves attending a quick speech by Lieutenants Simmons and W’a’le’ki and then the start of actually operations.

All in all, things went well for the next hour, with a tour of the camp alongside Korlin, who was an endless font of questions, be it about processes, techniques, tools and technology. His people lacked transporters and replicators, but they had a wealth of survey scanners that perhaps a little technology trading couldn’t go amiss. Or if not trading, then perhaps sharing technical papers to help each other along new paths of discovery.

It was as they were getting back to the first dig trench that things started to go a little sideways. She’d been briefed about the two bodies and the intent to dig them up first just to see if Tkon remains might be present, though exceedingly unlikely, or who might have been here first. She hadn’t expected a call to be made that pulled Adelinde away first, but coming up behind all those around the pit, Tikva merely coughed and people parted ways for her.

There, buried under some rubble was a body, poorly preserved, by whose clothing had survived in decent condition, no doubt thanks to synthetic fibres meant to last. The uniform she recognised from her briefing packets and readings about the Delta Quadrant – Vaadwuur.

Joy oh joy! Space fascists! Just what we need!

Uh, what’s that next to him under the rubble?

She stepped forward just in time for the rubble to be removed and a collective gasp to go out amongst those present at what they saw there, buried under the magnetite and hidden for centuries until they had come along.

A Borg drone, its head caved in, it’s torso crushed, it’s dying action having been to try and assimilate the Vaadwuur who had decided to bury both of them under a collapsed wall.

Well shit.

Tikva was still staring at the drone when Adelinde grabbed her by the arm and gently, though forcefully, walked her back from the pit, giving her a look of ‘Don’t fight me on this’ as she did. Mac didn’t need to be manhandled, following in their wake as they went. “Captain,” Adelinde finally said after ten meters and letting Tikva go to gently rub feeling back into arm, “I’m going to have to ask you to return to the ship until I can guarantee the sight is safe.”

Nodding, Tikva didn’t plan to protest. It was the right call after all. A glance to Mac and the man got the message, giving her a moment of privacy with Adelinde. “Take care sweet and keep them all safe too.”

“It’s what I’m here to do.”

A quick glance to ensure people’s attention was elsewhere, Tikva gave Adelinde a quick peck on the cheek before settling back on her heels. “Keep me up to date, I’ll get Ch’tkk’va to scan for Borg signs as well when we get back up there.” And with that she stepped away to collect her first officer and return to the Atlantis.

Stepping into the Ready Room, Adelinde took notice that both Captains had ditched cold weather gear, opting to drape coats over the back of chairs and were quiet happily lounging on the couches, drinking something that smelt like coffee and seemingly in an animated conversation. Catching the slight pause when Tikva took notice of her stepping in, the subtle pull of her lips as her natural smile accentuated, she offered a slight smirk in response before deadpanning her expression for Captain Korlin when he turned to face her as well.

“Ma’am, Sir,” she said. “No further sign of Borg on the planet so far. The drone is centuries dead and completely inert. Commanders Velan and Terax have both assessed it for possible threats and deemed it safe for now. Aside from that, there doesn’t seem to be any further threat currently at the dig site.”

“Oh, now that’s a relief Lieutenant,” Korlin said, his smile seemingly as natural as Tikva’s, perhaps why they seemed so relaxed in each other’s company. “Your Captain explained the Borg to me. Thankfully the People have never run into such…monsters, but I understand they’re right on our door step apparently. I guess I’ll need to properly convey your Federation’s fears and concerns to High Command.”

“Oh, we can help with that Captain,” Tikva spoke up. “We’ve far more than enough information on the Borg we can share with you to take home. We could even go along with you if you want after our work here is done.”

“Ma’am,” she spoke up, drawing attention back to herself. “Permission to resume my duties?”

“Oh, sorry, yes. Can you also arrange to have some more Security personnel sent to the dig, just to provide any assistance should say any more Borg get found?” The way Tikva’s head was turned allowed her to offer a wink without Korlin seeing it. “I don’t want to take any chances we don’t have to.”

“Certainly Captain,” she replied and waiting for a dismissal, was soon enough back on the bridge and facing the XO. More precisely he was sitting in the captain’s chair and looking straight at her, then inclined his head to indicate she should take a seat beside him momentarily.

“Ditch the jacket Gantzmann, before you overheat.”

“Thank you, Sir.” And she did as he suggested, shucking the jacket off and laying it across her lap when she did sit down.

“Mysterious Tkon ruins needing immediate investigation. Strike you as a bit odd Lieutenant?” he asked, turning the chair just enough to make himself more comfortable for this conversation. She had to admit he was a good-looking man, a bit rugged perhaps, with a carefully cultivated amount of stubble that wasn’t to her liking. And his tone of voice, having worked with him for years, had changed in the last few months. No longer exasperated at a stalled career but seemingly reinvigorated.

The benefit of a young, fresh Captain brining in a new dynamic it would seem.

“I do find it odd Sir, but Command does work in mysterious ways, or so Captain Orwell would say before his retirement.” She hadn’t known the Captain long, but knew MacIntryre had served under him for a few years. Coveted his command chair even.

“Yah…that they do. First this Omega business, now this. And documents coming in from Commodore Bennett confirming the Captain is acting under proper orders. It’s just damn peculiar,” he stroked his chin in though, stopping after a few moments, finger pointed straight upwards. “If you hear anything, anything at all from the Captain that could hint at a threat to the ship or crew, you let me know, alright?”

“I won’t betray the Captain’s trust,” she responded, but raised a hand as he started to voice a protest, “but I won’t endanger the ship either with an omission Commander.”

“Well, I guess I can work with that then. Alright, as you were Lieutenant.”

“You know Terax,” Ra-tesh’mi Velan said looking up from the corpse, or what was left of the corpse at anyway, “I think we might be looking at a very, very early generation of Borg drone here.”

“Of course we are, it’s nearly a thousand years old. Come, look at this.” The taller Edosian stepped away from his microscope to let Velan look down the viewers and waited for the Engineers approval, which he voiced in an annoyingly human fashion by whistling.

“These nanoprobes are massive. Likely incredibly primitive in function as well. They don’t even resemble the currently generation of nanoprobes.”

“Likely different origination species,” he pointed out to the engineer, bringing up his scan with the latest nanoprobe design on record side by side as a comparison, where the different design aesthetic could be seen. More detailed scans were finally coming in from the scanner and technical details started to be shown, showing the radical capability differences as well.

“I’d love to know who designed what the Borg are working with now. I want to know why they made such a pernicious little bastard.”

“Pure speculation but I would wager likely in response to these,” he pointed to the probes recovered only an hour ago. “But we’ll never know unless we ask the Collective. Perhaps you could ask the Captain if that could be arranged?” he asked dryly.

“Oh, I think I can wait to get assimilated thank you. Still, this chap is a bit of an engineering marvel. Gives us a decent enough comparison to early designs compared to what the Ent D ran into, then Voyager. Folks back home will likely want to look him over too.”

“Which is why I need your assistance. I’d like you personally to check the morgue drawers, ensure the stasis generators are ready and the security seals. When I put this away, I don’t want it accidentally powering up some unknown subsystem or some fool taking a look either.” Terax pointed at the drone on the bio bed. “That is still a biological hazard until I’m happy it’s truly dead and that doesn’t happen until you let me beam it straight into the heart of the warp core for tidy anti-matter annihilation.”

Velan laughed at that, the absurdity of using the warp core for garbage disposal, then stroked at his beard, giving it a moment’s thought before shaking it away, “Alright, alright. One Chief Engineer examination coming up, then we get Si here into a drawer.”

“Si?” Terax asked.

“Si, as in Simon, but also Si as in cyborg. Say it out loud in Federation standard.”

And so Terax did before groaning at the bad pun and banishing the troublesome engineer from his fiefdom.

“I’ve got to say Lieutenant Simmons, your people have some magnificent tools for this sort of work,” the short, squat woman, Lieutenant Garoom of the People said as she examined some of the tools and equipment that had been set up in the tunnel complex beneath the ruins.

He’d ordered the some of the gear brought down to allow for work to be done on site versus dragged all the way to the surface first. Auto-cleansers for, holo-scanners for catalogue work, detailed molecular scanners that would scan artifacts one layer at a time. These could all be set up in corridors and allowed to just process artifacts before being packed away and then taken topside.

“But,” she continued before he could respond, “your ground penetrating scanners aren’t as good as ours.”

“No, I will concede that,” he replied, looking away from his display with a forced smile, “but they are significantly more compact than what the People have.”

“Oh yes! Much more compact! A single person can carry a decent sized scanner. Ours, well, it’s a good thing we’ve built the counter-gravs directly into them,” she said, looking over at the large device that was sitting with all other equipment but whose design aesthetic clearly indicated it’s alternative lineage. “Still, I think we’re going to have a decent synergy when the rest of my team come planet side. Let everyone else look for the Hu’th, we’ve got a tomb to explore!”

As it turned out, the Va’th had a considerable number of people it could lend to assist in the Atlantis’ expedition, just as Atlantis had lent staff and equipment to assist in Va’th’s mission, which is how Lieutenants Talook and Jilth found themselves pared with the Federation Ensign McGregor.

“The Federation seem so…diverse,” Talook said quietly to her friend, as they both walked behind McGregor, all of them equipped with lights in the dark corridor.

“I noticed too. Some have blue skin like the People, but then some green skin, some with antennae on their heads. Others with pointed ears. Very interesting. Their native biome must be very intriguing.”

“You know,” McGregor said from in front of them, but not looking in their direction, “I can hear you.”

“Oh! And excellent hearing too!” Talook closed the distance to walk beside the Federation and examined her. The red hair, the spots on her face, the pale skintone, compared to some of the other pinkish Federation she’d seen before they came down into these tunnels. “Your people are incredible. Such bio-diversity as to boggle the mind.”

“Well, we’re not all the same species. I’m a human, but it sounds like you’ve met a bolian, orion, andorian and a vulcan, though I think we’ve got a few other species aboard ship with pointed ears,” McGregor said as she stopped, looked at the scanning device in her hand, then proceeded forward again.

“So, the Federation is a multi-species union?” Jilth asked, staying behind her friend and the now classified human, using her own scanner to get a bio-read of this specimen. “That would explain the bio-diversity question.”

“Technically we’re a federal republic, but yes, composed of over a hundred fifty species, though I think it’s closer to two hundred personally. Huh, either of you getting a weird reading about twenty meters that way?” McGregor asked, pointing a hand straight at a wall.

“Not on my scanner,” Jilth replied, stepping up to the wall and running their scanner in the indicated direction. “Though this piece of wall isn’t solid. There is a separation here. In fact…” She stopped, examined her scanner, rescanned a piece of wall and then reached out rap her knuckles across a piece of wall with enough force to actually hurt.

But such effort was rewarded with segment of the wall receding inwards, no bigger than her open palm. Then a solid ‘clunk’ could be heard and a segment of wall the size of the doorways seen so far receded inwards a few centimeters and stopped.

Looking to the other two, she saw Talook and McGregor both had grins on their faces at the unexpected find. “Now this is why I joined Starfleet,” McGregor said, pulling out the fluorescent marker she’d been using to date and drew a series of arrows around the panel switch, another few to indicate the doorway and wrote a note on the wall. The ink, designed to fluoresce bring pink in the presence of their lamps, made the hallway look more and more like her younger sister’s room thought Jilth, but it served its purpose rather well to help them find it again in the future, or for anyone to find them should things lock up behind them.

“Shall we?” McGregor asked and the response was Talook and the human putting their shoulders into moving the door back, with some effort it seemed, to open up the hidden passageway.

Only a few moments later they found themselves in a small room, this one not as dark and devoid of anything as those throughout the complex. Two dead Vaadwuur lay slumped against walls face each other, their skeletons kept mostly in place by their uniforms, their arms draped in such that dying with weapons in hand was most likely what happened to these two individuals.

Dim lighting lit the chamber, powered by some source somewhere and all three explorers were scanning the room with their equipment, getting whatever they could before focusing on the two prominent pieces present that would consume their attention. In the middle of the room upon a dais was a spherical crystal about the size of everyone skull, alive or dead. It was mostly clear but something about it was just off enough and Jilth noted the human’s immediate interest in it, her tricorder beeping insistently at her, requiring adjustment and manipulation of the device.

Talook on the other hand seemed more interested in the dead console on the back wall of the room, scanning it in detail. She shook her head at the engineer, whose attention of course had been stolen by a new technology, versus the clear artifact held in reverence, or study, in the middle of the room. “So Ensign, is this perhaps what your Federation are looking for?”

“I think so. I’m detecting etching throughout the crystal, like someone’s used it memory storage. Explains why it isn’t perfectly clear though. There’s definitely a pattern here, if only we had a Rosette Stone to decipher the atomic layering.”

“Rosette stone? Sorry, that didn’t translate very well,” Jilth asked, indicating her own translator.

“Oh, sorry, idiom from home. A translation guide. What does a particular arrangement of atoms in this structure mean so on and so forth. Then we’d have to translate the Tkon language as well, which I think we’ve got half a dozen suspected languages on record in the Federation.” McGregor never looked up, continuing to query her scanner. “Well, the crystal isn’t fixed here, so we could take it with us.”

“Huh,” was the only warning they got from Talook before she reached out to the supposedly dead console and tapped at it with a finger. A few flickers of light, the whine of electronics coming back to life and the panel sprang back into action. Then the other panels and the main screen flicked to life as well.

“Intruders detected!” a harsh masculine voice announced. “Intruders detected! Countermeasures offline. Alien vessels detected in orbit. Priority alert dispatched! All personnel to combat positions!”

The viewscreen snapped to a sensor screen where it clearly showed the Atlantis and Va’th sitting in orbit, the couple of shuttles returning to their respective motherships for new crews or assignments. It highlighted the destroyed surface emplacements across the planet as well.

“Elements Talook!” Jilth hissed at her friend. “What were we told before we came down here?”

“I forgot, okay?”

“Facility has been overrun! Self-destruct is offline! Priority alert dispatched!” the automated voice continued.

“Can you stop it?” asked McGregor as she stepped up beside Talook and started looking over the console, then her scanner to help her read the display’s writing.

“I think so…give me a moment.” The engineer studied her scanner a moment longer, then reached out and with a handful of commands the voice had stopped, but the console was still lit up. “I can’t turn it off, but I can mute it.”

“We should return to camp and report out findings,” Jilth stated. “And take that with us,” she indicated the crystal and to the human’s credit, didn’t need telling twice as she picked it up and all three of them made their way out of there at haste.

“What’s going on?” Tikva asked, shadowed by Captain Korlin as they came out onto the bridge from the conference room, followed by this XO and Mac, where they’d been discussing the search mission. Yellow alert however had a pretty good tendency of summon command officers to the bridge in a hurry, especially when just next door.

“Subspace communications from the planet ma’am,” Ch’tkk’va said as they stood directly in front of the command chair, not utilising it as per their tendency, then surrendering the spot as Tikva neared. “Not from our camp either.”

“Let’s hear it,” she ordered and the ops officer on duty brought up the audio in quick order.

“Research facility Four-six-seven is under attack by hostile forces. Two unknown vessels are in orbit and intruders are in the facility. Facility self-destruct is offline. Planetary defences are offline. No response to previous priority alert logged. Diversion of assault forces required immediately.” The automated voice was harsh, precise and certainly carried a militaristic air to them.

“Well,” Korlin spoke up, “I don’t think we need to be too worried do we? This place is a thousand years dead. The Vaadwurr can’t be around any longer to respond.”

“They aren’t as dead as you’d like to think Captain, nor as distant either. Mac,” she turned to her XO. “Recall all the shuttles, prep them all for ready launch when they return just in case. Ch’tkk’va, double the security presence at the dig site and take transport inhibitors with you, as well as sensor scramblers.” Both nodded in acceptance of their orders.

“Are these Vaadwuur truly that frightening Captain?” Korlin asked.

“Only if you aren’t prepared for them. And they certainly had issues with Starfleet last time. I suggest Captain you return to your ship and make preparations as well. Hopefully nothing comes of this, but best to be prepared.”

“Research facility Four-six-seven is under attack by hostile forces. Two unknown vessels are in orbit and intruders are in the facility. Facility self-destruct is offline. Planetary defences are offline. No response to previous priority alert logged. Diversion of assault forces required immediately.”

“Where is that?” asked the older Vaadwuur male as he turned to face the navigational officer.

“Tunnel eight-seven-nine exits in that star system. No survey attempts have been made however to date so tunnel integrity is unknown.”

“Foolish Turei have let to much go to waste. What was at the facility?” the commander demanded of another officer.

“The only records we have are artifacts of an unknown ancient power. The facility was attacked by the Borg months before the rebellion as well. No forces ever investigated.”

“And now someone is desecrating a Vaadwuur facility,” the older man said aloud, stroking his chin in thought. “Inform the rest of the attack wing, we’re going to investigate. Perhaps we might something worthwhile, or at least instil proper respect in grave robbers.”

“Shields down to eighty percent,” came Ch’tkk’va’s cool response to the latest hit from the Vaadwuur raiders, their principal target being Atlantis versus the less combat capable Va’th.

They had been jumped by the Vaadwuur pouring out of a previously unknown interface to the Underspace and only the good graces to have been at yellow alert had prevented serious damage in the surprise attack. But that still didn’t mean Atlantis was ready to respond straight away as status fatigue had been setting in. Or at least it had for some as Ch’tkk’va had already started proportional return fire.

“Damn!” Mac hissed through his teeth. “Michaels, get us away from the planet, full impulse. We need room to move. Ch’tkk’va, pick your targets as you can and fire.” He slammed his own finger down on the red alert command in the Captain’s chair arm and at that very moment throughout the ship the klaxons would have started, ramming home the point made with the first Vaadwuur barrage.

“Silvia, inform the shuttlebay, I want everything in the bays out right now!” he ordered the Gamma shift ops officer and received the perfunctory acknowledgement just as another disruptor blast rocked the ship.

As Atlantis broke away from the planet, Pathway of Forgotten Dreams, four of the six assault craft pursued the much larger craft, illuminating its shield bubble with weapons fire and in turn receiving the same punishment. One of the craft had the unfortunate timing to be in the right place for multiple port-side arrays to draw target on the ship at once and, one beam after another and another lashing themselves against its shields until they failed, the hull rapidly giving way under continued assault and the craft spinning out of formation, it’s engines rapidly failing it.

Two fighters, the only fighters Atlantis carried, launched themselves at the enemy from the port shuttle bay, both lashing out with their limited firepower before interposing with the Vaadwuur forces. They weren’t meant to be decisive, they couldn’t really be with their weapons, but they could harrass and harrym draw attention and focus, giving the large ship a better chance and numerically superior force.

Elsewhere in the distance the Va’th lumbered along in his orbit, his own shuttles and two of Atlantis’ larger Type 11’s playing escort and dancing around with the assault ships, while he lashed out with his weapons, taking shots where he could. While nearly the same size as Atlantis the People’s ship wasn’t nearly as mobile or advanced, but with the right assistance was able to defend himself.

There were no jokes about making the earth move, or cries foul of a night ruined, just two figures moving in the reddened dark of the Captain’s quarters scrambling for clothing. Clothes snatched from where they had been discarded, sometimes successfully donned, others thrown at the other figure for them to put down and reattempt momentarily. A few hops as boots where donned, undershirts tucked into pants and both women were out the door as they tried slipping their uniform jackets on, only to stop, swap them as they slipped into the turbolift and try again with the order of “Bridge!” simultaneously.

“Shields at forty percent,” Ch’tkk’va announced, lights flickering on the bridge and sparks showering from an unoccupied console as a minor power surge blew the displays out.

“Torpedoes free!” came a shout from the turbolift as both Tikva and Adelinde both spilled out, the later heading straight to Tactical, not to relieve Ch’tkk’va but to assist. One more set of eyes couldn’t hurt along with some compound ones.

Halfway to his own feet, Mac settled back down as his Captain threw herself into his own seat just as the bridge rocked once more. “Any hails?”

“None,” he responded as the starscape through the main viewer slewed wildly as the Ensign at the helm threw them into another set of evasives. “I haven’t tried either, they started straight away.”

“Jerks.”

“Yah.”

The ship was again rocked, violently, throwing people from their seats or off their feet. He heard someone fall behind him, but it wouldn’t have been Ch’tkk’va since he knew nothing could throw the Xindi-Insectoid easily. Gathering his wits, he could see Tikva on the floor, as well as Ensign Michaels, who was moving very groggily. “Med team to the bridge,” he shouted after jabbing a quick comm key on the chair arm.

That was his first response, his next was to get to the helm himself but was beaten as he saw Tikva settling herself into the seat and with three keytaps reconfigured the console to her liking. He shook his head, settled back in the chair and let his training take charge.

He was in the command chair; therefore, he was in charge.

“Evasive pattern Baker Six. Tactical, pick a target and give them everything as we pass,” he ordered as the slight tug of acceleration hit as the ship wildly swung around in a manner he wasn’t expecting, bringing the bow to bear on the enemy ships in a large-scale game of chicken, the planet a distance object past the enemy fleet.

As Atlantis pushed back the assault ships split off, letting Atlantis through them with withering fire on both sides, another assault vessel peeling off with plasma and atmosphere exhaust trails where phaser fire had ripped the hull apart. Another took two torpedoes, but the shields held as they spun around to pursue, throwing fire at the fighters on their tails.

“Va’th is reporting shields about to fail,” came from Silvia at Ops.

“Full impulse to Va’th, quantum torpedo spread at the ready. I’m tired of this game,” he said, muttering the last bit to himself as the planet in the view screen started to get very large again.

A Vaadwuur assault ship found itself the center of attention, as Atlantis bore on it, phaser fire lashing at it, Va’th’s own weapons too, then the twump twump of two launchers firing and blue-white lights sprang forth from Atlantis. The first slammed into shields, the fury of annihilation wasted upon them but burning them away for the second torpedo which found its mark on the hull, those same energies wasted on shields now chewing through a hull, burning it away, then the interior and those held within. Very quick enough of the ship was ionised plasma that the precious antimatter kept aboard couldn’t be contained and the ship then exploded.

It’s dying breath however was a volley that blew apart one of Atlantis’ shuttles that had been pursuing its companion, exploiting a gap in that ship’s defences.

“Fuck,” Mac muttered as he watched the planet disappear out of the bottom of the viewscreen, Atlantis pitching up and away from the atmosphere.

Captain Korlin gripped the arms of his command chair as his crew fought the People’s ship Va’th for all of its glory, alongside the two shuttles that had been recalled and two of the larger shuttles that Atlantis had assigned as escorts.

Va’th wasn’t a combat vessel, he was an explorer, which did necessitate the occasional fight unfortunately, and in this situation, it was baring out as two assault ships had decided to target him. They’d taken their fair share, dished out some as well, but Va’th just couldn’t maneuver like these assault ships could, or Atlantis. These Federation folks truly knew how to build a starship, he’d grant them that.

“Shields down to fifteen percent,” came a report from the limited Tactical station and Korlin nodded. He was in the process of trying to figure out his next course of action when his viewscreen was taken up momentarily with the bulk of Atlantis flashing past him after two bright blue lights. Then a massive flash of light from below.

“Atlantis has destroyed one of our attackers. Only three ships left!”

“A chance then! Hil, message Atlantis, we can handle our last one,” he ordered, then turned to his XO. “Prep for after action recovery. If anyone’s alive in those wrecks, I want to know.”

“Va’th says they’ve got their last attacker,” Silvia responded from Ops.

Mac could make out the shape of Rrr in the wings, having taken another duty station and leaving his junior in her place for now, no doubt taking some pressure off of her, but ready to take over if need be. He tossed a glance to the sentient rock pile and nodded, acknowledging that he’s seen them before focusing on his job again.

“Right, bring us back around on our two, let’s lay back into them. Helm,” he felt weird saying that, knowing his Captain was sitting in that station, medics having just arrived and tending to Michaels, “I want to graze shields with one of these jerks. Silvia, prep the plasma exhausts on both nacelles. We’re going to dump plasma all over one of these jerks.”

An ‘aye’ came up from Ops and Mac caught the smirk on Tikva’s face as she entered in a series of commands and brought Atlantis in a wide loop of Va’th and back into another charge on their two raiders. Yes, he was ordering the dump of warp plasma, yes that would mean they couldn’t go to warp for a bit, but it was either these people or all of their people on the ground and he wasn’t going to let that happen.

Shots were traded across the empty void, Atlantis’ arrays affording it the ability to hit multiple targets, not for damage, but to keep them off guard. For true damage shots would need to be focused, power diverted to just a handful of arrays at a time. But the larger ship kept ringing away at the Vaadwuur shields, keeping them flaring for all to see.

Eventually however Atlantis swerved at the last moment, bringing the ship far too close to one of the others, the assault craft diving to avoid a collision and Atlantis seemingly allowing it, but a trail of bright green warp plasma, which had started moments before the dive, find its home, sticking to the ship’s shields, collapsing them and then settling on the hull, the vessel now wreathed in the sickly green gas burning at its hull, consuming sensor mountings and blinding the ship. It wasn’t out of the fight, but what couldn’t be seen couldn’t be hit.

Now one on one the two separate fights didn’t last long. Atlantis dispatched her last target moments before Va’th sent his Vaadwuur ship spiraling into the atmosphere, tractor beams trying desperately to grab the ship and hold it in orbit but inertia and interference from battle damage had their way in the end.

Only the one ship survived and soon enough all of its weapons were systematically disabled by pinpoint fire from Atlantis, it’s engines too and then taken under tow.

“No bogies left, bogey three is disabled and undertow,” Ch’tkk’va announced calmly.

“Stand down red alert,” Mac ordered and immediately the lights changed, the yellow alert klaxon blaring briefly to signify the status change. And then was on his feet straight away, closing distance with the helm and Tikva as she got to her feet. “Ship is yours ma’am.”

“You did good Mac.” He could see she was slightly flushed, with a slight wild look in her eyes, that look of a pilot back in the seat after too long away. “Which shuttle did we lose?”

“Rangitata, Ensign Li and T’pau,” Rrr answered from his station, turning to face the bridge. “No survivors.”

Silence descended on the bridge and eyes turned to Mac and Tikva. Then he turned to his Captain as well. “I’ll handle it,” he said quietly.

She nodded to him, gave him a pat on the arm and a thankful look, then stepped past him to address the bridge in total. “I want all survivors on that ship in the brig and double the guard. Get all our shuttles as well, then I want them on CAP until I say so. Mac, I’ll get T’Val to handle it when she brings Grey in.”

“We lost two of our own because someone else couldn’t play nice, but that doesn’t mean we descend to their level,” she continued and turned to face him with a slight smile. “Mac, I’ve got the bridge for now, go sort out the details.”

“Aye ma’am,” he answered and started to head for the turbolift.

“Rrr, get me Camargo, I want to know how she’s gotten with that artifact. And then have a message ready for Starfleet. When we get our next burst, tell them we need a bigger hyper-subspace window, we’re going to send them everything we can from Camargo’s work, let them deal with it on their end.”

Mac stepped into the turbolift just as the bridge started to settle back into a hive of activity, the doors closing shut and leaving him with his solemn duty.

“Well, I mean, it’s certainly a find, and damned impressive too,” Camargo said as she looked at the recovered artifact with her Captain, “but the team can’t really make much more of it. It’s incredibly dense data too, but not as much as we could store in that same volume.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well Captain,” she said, looking to the shorter woman. “All of our long-term storage medium aboard ship are meant for a few hundred years at best really. Black boxes and the like, so someone can piece together what happened should something go wrong. Everything else has a failure rate, but it’s because it’s highly active read-write media. But this stuff,” she waved her hand at the crystal orb,” is more like the storage media on Memory Alpha. It’ll outlast the Federation.”

“Well, hopefully that’ll never happen. So it’s long term storage?”

“More like engraving data into stone tablets. You write to this stuff, you do processing elsewhere. This is a permanent archive. But because of that it’s not immensely data dense as it has to be clear enough to last eons despite radioactive decay, cosmic radiation…” she was going to continue but a smile and raised hand from her Captain stopped her.

“Okay, so we’ve got a Tkon encyclopedia set but we still can’t read it.”

“No ma’am. But the boys and girls here in geo-sciences have fully mapped the sphere. We’ve got a full model of it sitting in the main computer right now that we’re running simulations on.”

“Huh. Okay.” She watched as Tikva looked all around the lab, then back to her. “Keep working on it. We’re also going to need your team to take a break for about ten minutes soon so we can encrypt and compress a copy for sending back to the 4th Fleet Command in about five hours when they hail us via hyper-subspace. That be a problem?”

“Uh, no ma’am,” one of the scientists said as she stood, a few hours all doing the same. “Gives us a chance to go grab some food and stretch our legs.”

Camargo smiled as she watched her Captain smile at the comment and wave everyone out of the room, her and the Captain on their heels. “I’ll go give Rrr a hand with the compression, make sure that what Command gets is what we have. Then I’m going to go try a few new decoding ideas myself.”

“Sounds good Lieutenant, oh and Camargo, tell the team planetside they can stay for a bit longer. We’re not going anywhere just yet.”

The play was the thing and she had resolved herself to playing her role properly, to start with at least. The guest chairs had been removed, so there was only the option of standing before her desk. The desk itself cleared of all artifacts that this was a working office, even the computer terminal had found a new home on the display cabinet behind her. The only thing present was a single padd on her desk, two photos on it.

One of Vulcan stoicism, the other a bubbly fresh-faced human whose grin seemed permanently affixed. And both of them casualties because of her actions in staying when they could have left, but others for fighting when they could have talked.

She stared at them both for a while, not sure how long, before the door was opened and in stepped Mac, then a security officer, then a Vaadwuur man, his hands in cuffs, then two more security officers, then Adelinde.

Her rocks, both of them in this situation. One professional, the other personal and both oh so needed.

Never had someone die under our command before.

Not like we’ve seen it though. Remember Jutland.

Not fair. We lost a lot of good people.

But it’s different because we’re in charge now?

Yes. No.

Mac stepped around without a word and took up station behind her, his hands behind his back. The three security officers and Adelinde all formed a semi-circle, preventing this particular man from escaping, not that there was anywhere to go.

“Commander Pilt. Why did your people fire on my ship without warning?”

“You desecrate Vaadwuur holdings. You knew what you were doing when…”

Thankfully he stopped when she quietly raised a single hand. She held the silence for a moment, sensing the rage of this man. Then she lowered her hand, and spoke. “You never hailed, never spoke. You just attacked. Why?”

“Because you Federation types tried to get us all killed. You sold us out to the Turei and they harassed us for years. You’ll all pay for your actions. As you sold us out, we’ll destroy you all!”

She again raised her hand, waited another moment, then spun the padd on her desk around and pushed it so the Vaadwuur man could see the pictures on it. Of course he never even looked at it, just at her. “Your foolish arrogance, your refusal to so much as talk to me, cost the lives of two of my crew and many, many more of your own. Words could have saved lives.”

More anger, more rage, all impotent.

She shook her head and waved for the guards to take the man away and as soon as he was gone, she indicated for Mac to park himself on the edge of her desk. “We can’t keep them aboard ship forever.”

“Can’t space them either,” Mac replied.

“Sure as hell not letting them loose.”

Mac mulled for a moment, stood and went over to the replicator, returning a moment later with two cups of coffee. “Could ask the People.”

“Maybe,” she said wistfully as the cup was accepted, then held under her nose for a brief moment. “Maybe.”