The station was a hub of excitement as aliens from all walks of life pushed their way through the heaving mass of pedestrians as they moved from shop to shop and to the airlock or residential sections of the station. It was chaos but ordered chaos like a beehive. Lady Audren Swiftblade was one of those beings heaving along the promenade. Despite her imposing 1.9 meter stature and long silvery hair; she oddly enough didn’t stick out like she did when she was on a Starfleet ship.  Here she was just another alien being moving about in the crowd.

Audren was a Hylon, a smaller subspecies to the Narlins.  Her home planet was tucked away in uncharted space near the Cardassian Empire.  Well, uncharted to the Federation.  It was after all her home and well known to her people. She reached into her silken robes and felt the comforting bump of a Narlin disruptor pistol on her hip.  She did not know if this station was a dangerous place, but there were a lot of cultures coming together here and sometimes the smallest spark could set off a deadly chain of events.

“Who are we meeting again?” Audren asked her companion.

Jolie stood next to Audren as they stood just outside of the airlock. She looked up at Audren when she heard the Hylon speak to her, “A Lieutenant Junior Grade Stephens, Adam Stephens,” she stated as she turned her wrist over and looked at the man’s profile on the data-sleeve that she was wearing on her right wrist.

“So what kind of wayward misfit did the Commander choose this time?” She asked half-joking, but it was true, most of the crew on the Pike had washed out or walked away from normal life in the fleet. She herself found that she didn’t really fit in in the Federation, and home was little too… Who am I kidding? She admitted to herself, Home is a miserable hellscape.  This is paradise, praise Narla. Being a “spook”, as Ethan called it, wasn’t as “glamourous as the James Bond films made it out to be”. Whoever or whatever James Bond is, she thought inwardly. With that said she was pretty sure Ethan Talon loved this work despite what he said.

Looking down at the sleeve she read the information that she had on the Lieutenant, “From his personnel profile, it seems that Commander Ethan has chosen an officer that could be best described as a model officer,” she stated as she continued to his history. “Hell I don’t even know why someone of his caliber would even want to join a bunch of “ghosts” like us.” she finished as she looked up spotting the man that they were after.

Adam had made it to StarBase Bravo 2 weeks ago. He had just finished a tour of duty on the USS Baton Rouge and had been reassigned to Task Force 93 of the Bravo Fleet. He is waiting on a position assignment here and is currently enjoying a meal in a bar on the promenade.

The odd duo finally spotted Adam sitting alone eating a meal.  Audren nodded to Jolie and they approached him.  The elven-like alien towered over Adam in his seated position in her formal robes.  “Junior Lieutenant Adam Stephens? May we join you?”

“Yes of course” Adam replies, motioning for them to take a seat. “You must be Audren and Jolie,” he says.

Audren gave Jolie a raised eyebrow and sat. “We are,” she replied cautiously.  “Though if we were on my planet the proper address would be Lady Audren or Countess Verona.” She shrugged,  “but here… Audren will do.”

Jolie took the conveniently empty seat on the other side of him. As she took the seat she flourished the tail of the duster that she wore and a pair of slightly modified phasers were seen resting on her lower back as well as one on her thigh. On her lower back also say several small pouches, one of which she reached into and retrieved a device that connected to the data sleeve, which she used to continue looking over the Lieutenant’s personnel profile.

“Tell me, Mister Stephens, why would a top-notch officer such as yourself be looking to,” she paused as she took a look around the room, discreetly, to make sure that no federation officers were close enough to hear her, “end your career in any official capacity?” she asked as she kept her eyes down.

A Klingon bartender came over and set a wine glass down. She thanked him in a Klingon fashion and the bartender grinned and departed. Taking up the glass she took a sip as she waited for the Lieutenant to answer her.

“Because I am honestly tired of the model officer thing. My brothers are model officers, my parents are model officers. Their parents were model officers and so were their parents. Honestly, I think it’s time for a Stephens to do something different.”

“Fair enough for me,” Audren said with a smirk.

Keeping her voice low, Jolie continued, “Do you think you can do things that would otherwise be considered unbecoming of an officer if that opportunity presented itself?” she asked him. “As well as not being recognized for deeds that we have done to better the Federation, and in doing so know that someone else would get the credit for it? After all, once you accept this task you will basically cease to exist in any official capacity. Outside of anything within the confines of the law, so to speak. And the only person that you would need to answer to is our Commander.”

“Been a soldier most of my life.  This team is different,  but you make it what you want to make it.  I’ve known the Commander a long time and his step-mom even longer.  He’s a good man.  He expects a high level from you, but won’t hold mistakes against you.”

“I can follow orders, but also know when to question them. I firmly believe that the Federation can’t always handle things in the way that they need to be handled.  Some one needs to handle it. If we can be the ones to do what needs to be done then I am more than willing to do it.”

“Welcome to the team, Audren said with a grin.  “Get your gear and meet us in shuttle bay five.”  Audren stood with Jolie.  She nodded to the team XO and then to Stephens, and they were gone.