“Crewman, thank you for coming.” Mac had risen from his seat when Revin had entered his ready room, shadowed by Sidda, whose scowl was still set to lethal levels. Lucky for him he had the armour of command and practise weathering such withering assaults over the many years of his career. “Please, have a seat.”

And while Revin did, Sidda didn’t. The Orion woman opted to stand just to the right of the door, arms crossed and tight across her chest. She was genuinely unhappy, he could tell, and he didn’t need to be a telepath for that. “I have a request to make of you. But I need you to understand that if you aren’t comfortable with it in any shape or form, I want you to say no and understand that I won’t hold it against you.”

The conditionals hit both women before him differently. Revin went from curious to confused, eyebrows scrunching slightly before she looked over his shoulder at Sidda for any hint she could gleam. Sidda for her part, eased up on the scowl, a slight smirk forming as she gave Mac a single nod. He’d earned a brownie point for that seemingly. Eventually, the young Romulan woman turned back, an eyebrow raised, curiosity in her eyes, and spoke.

“What is it you need, Captain?”

“In two hours from now, there will be four Breen warships arriving at our location. Republic and Sagan might be able to give a good showing for ourselves, but we’ve still got a barely mobile Cardassian transport ship and a Tzenkethi frigate that can’t move out there.”

Revin simply nodded, taking in the information like someone was giving her a drinks order in the Agora or Pnyx. “And Perseus just went through the portal as well, yes?” She waited for him to nod in answer. “So we need to stay here and defend it for their return?” Again she waited for his silent answer. “I don’t see how I can really help with this, Captain MacIntyre.”

“Of course not.” He smiled. She smiled. “Yet.”

“Yet,” Revin repeated. Then she turned to Sidda. “Is this one of your clever plans?”

Sidda pushed off from the wall, stepping up behind the seat Revin had sat in and placing her hands on the younger woman’s shoulders. “I only inspired this next bit,” she said, a near grumble. “And I don’t like it.”

“Now I have to hear more,” Revin said as she turned back to Mac. “Wait, why me?”

“Because you’re the only Romulan aboard Republic.” That once again brought confusion to Revin’s face. “We have some stealthy fighters aboard ship.”

“The Valkyries,” Revin interrupted. “Night Witches.”

“Yes. Some of them, however, are rather stealthy and could, if we play our cards correctly, possibly be mistaken as cloaked starships by the Breen when they arrive.” Mac waited, watching Revin as she put pieces together. Not nearly as fast as Sidda had, but then again, she wasn’t either trained to think that way, or spent years being a sneaky pirate and making a career out of bluffing people. “Possibly cloaked Romulan starships.”

That last tidbit did it, as Revin’s brain slotted all the pieces together. “The Breen aren’t likely to believe such a bluff for long unless they can talk to a Romulan officer. And they’d possibly detect a hologram. So you’d need a real Romulan.” Her spine straightened and smiled like a kid being asked to help plan some shenanigans. “You want me to pretend to be a Romulan officer?”

Sidda beat Mac to a response. “You don’t have to if – ”

Revin’s interruption was quick and confident, with no looking at Sidda before she spoke. “I’ll only pretend to be Romulan Republic. I’m far too young to have made Commander, but not outside the realm of possibility for Sub-Commander from a well-connected family.” She smiled, pulled to the right face in a devious smirk. “Lieutenant Jenu should be able to assist in replicating an appropriate uniform.”

“So, you’ll do it?” Mac asked, seeking an actual answer one way or the other, not conditionals.

“It’s just bluffing the Breen to buy time, yes?” When he nodded again, she nodded back. “Then yes.” Now she looked up, tilting her head to look at Sidda, who was looking down at her from behind, expressionless. “Though, Captain, could I perhaps borrow your ready room for a few minutes in private?”

After Mac had left, giving the two women the room for a few minutes, Revin turned to face Sidda, who was now perched on the back of the chair she’d so recently occupied, arms across again and looking lost. Like she’d expected one outcome and gotten another and it had totally thrown her.

“You expected me to say no.”

“We’ve had no end of trouble with the Republic before, and your father is the one to blame. I thought you might –” Sidda was silenced as Revin stepped forward and placed a finger to the taller woman’s lips.

“We aren’t dealing with the Republic here. We’re dealing with the Breen.”

“But I thought…”

“I might not want to associate with the Republic at all?” Sidda’s nod answered her question. “Love, I couldn’t care less. The Republic isn’t home to me. Hasn’t been for years now.” She stepped forward, invading Sidda’s personal space, not that either of them ever considered the other an invader. “I do care about keeping whatever ship I’m on safe though.”

Sidda went to speak, but Revin pressed firm with that one finger again. “It’s just pretend.”

“It’s not a game though,” Sidda finally said. “This is dangerous.”

“Would it be more or less dangerous if I didn’t do this?”

“More,” Sidda conceded after a moment’s thought.

“And if we were on the Rose, you’d have no qualms about asking R’tin or T’Ael to do this.” She waited for the sheepish nod. “So, what’s the problem here?”

“I didn’t want to cause you any distress.” Sidda’s admission was barely a whisper. “I didn’t want you to worry or fret about thinking about the Republic.”

“I love you,” Revin said as she wrapped her arms around Sidda and stepped right into the other woman. “But love, you need to stop being so protective.”’

“But -”

“But nothing.” She nuzzled Sidda’s neck. “I’m not the blind castaway you rescued any more.” Then she was up on her toes to whisper in Sidda’s ear. “After all, I bet your score on the shooting range this morning.”

When Sidda and Revin stepped out onto the bridge a few minutes later, the anger Sidda had been carrying had evaporated, replaced with a smirk as she was rubbing at one ear. Revin led the way though and proudly walked across the bridge to Mac.

“I’m good to get started on the plan, Captain.” The enthusiasm was what he expected from a freshly minted Ensign being given their first assignment. It was hard not to smile.

“Very good Sub-Commander th’Ven,” he answered, using the mock-rank with humour. “Lieutenant Jenu, could you please work with Crewman th’Ven here to sort out a Republic uniform?”

As Revin and Trid rapidly exited the bridge, Mac turned to Sidda as she sat herself down back in her chair. But before he could speak, she did.

“I owe you an apology,” she said.

“Me, or Revin?” he asked, the context obvious to him. She’d made an assumption, gotten angry over it, only for it to turn out not to be the case. But she’d directed the anger at him after all, because it had been his suggestion to bring Revin into the plan.

“You.” Again she rubbed at that ear and he thought he could make out marks on her skin. “I’ve already apologised to her and will be doing some more for a while yet I think.” She took in a deep breath, collecting herself. “I was out of line when you proposed we ask Revin to help with the plan. I could have handled that a lot better. But in the past I haven’t had someone to…report too.”

He nodded, thinking how best to respond. Then it hit him. “I want you to book a couple of sessions with one of the counsellors aboard. One for you, another as a couple’s session.”

“Uh, I’ve done my quarterly psyche review,” Sidda said. “Why?”

“You want to apologise, book those sessions. And once you’ve gone, I’ll consider it all water under the bridge.” When Sidda glared at him, he couldn’t help but smile, wink, then turn back to facing the viewscreen. “A good captain also looks out for the mental and emotional wellbeing of his crew, not just their physical health. And you, Commander, strike me as someone who could do with a few more ways to vent in their life.”

“I have a way to vent,” Sidda answered.

“Yeah, been meaning to tell you something. You can’t take that disruptor of yours to the range any more. You wrecked three of the holoprojectors last time.”

“Oh come on, it was one time…”