“There’s supposed to be a meeting on an old station a few days from here.”  Captain Helena Dread sat on one end of the couch in her ready room, PADD in one hand.  In the other, a chilled cider.  “They want us to see if we can take a look and a listen.”

Her XO, Commander Milton Ford, was bemused.  “I think I’m the one they’re looking to use as the resident expert on this operation.”  He sat on the other end of the couch, a steaming mug of black tea in his hands.

Helena scoffed, “Plenty in your dossier was on the books, Milt.  There’s also plenty missing.”  Ford had played in the security and tactical end of the pool during and after The Dominion War.  His title may have been a counselor before he was thrown into the role of XO, but the man had a rougher and tougher history.

He sipped his drink, muttering, “I don’t know how I feel about getting back into this, Helena.”  Rolling his eyes at her stare, Milton explained, “There were any number of things that were done to keep us from the brink of losing the war.”

She asked, “Do you regret any of it?”  She felt the heavy silence fall between them, watching him swirl the dregs of his tea.

Milton answered her, “We studied the war heroes and villains of the past as a part of our security training. The question was always, ‘What are you willing to do in the face of overwhelming odds?’…” He faded off, turning his eyes to the stars that blinked just outside the window, “We never quite landed on an answer in the academy or on the field.”

Dread leaned forward, her eyes searching his as he glanced up, a tired look crossing his face, “I’m not asking you to cross lines again, Milton.  I’m asking you to let me know if it comes to that on this mission.”

Ford mused, “I hope it doesn’t, Helena.”  He swirled his cup again and then tossed it back, swallowing the bitter remains of the brew, “As much as I can walk the walk and talk the talk – sometimes I feel like I’m getting tired of it.”  He stood, “I’ll get to work on briefing the senior staff.”

She watched him leave and settled back on the couch.  Whatever lay ahead, each of them would need to face it.