“Commander, the Voth have signaled they wish us to leave.”  Atega turned in her chair to face Okada.  They had all watched in awe and horror as the battle has begun.  The Hirogen had put up a fight and taken some Voth with them, but in the end, they had been beaten.  The wreckage of the destroyed ships littered the screen.  Two disabled Hirogen ships floated in the middle of it all as Voth ships slowly began to clear the field of battle.  Presley wondered what would happen to Cardamon now.  What would his life be like?

Okada grumbled, “Prentice, inform the folks we rescued off that transport. I need to see them in the cargo bays so we can sort out where we’re taking whatever we got…Tir, you should probably come with me.  Set us a course out of here and somewhere relatively safe.  Engage when ready.  Kondo, you have the CONN.”

“You doing OK, Chief?”  Calog glanced at the XO-turned CO as the turbolift flew through the insides of the Mackenzie.

“OK is a very subjective word, Calog.  I’m the commanding officer, and I don’t want to be a commanding officer.”  She turned to him, “I don’t want to do this for long.  I’d much rather be in my engine room.”

“Carda…”

She cut him off, “Too soon, Calog.  Too soon.”  The turbolift doors flew open, and she quickly exited, leaving her chief of operations flushed at his misstep.  Tir growled, ~You and your stupid mouth.  Getting us into all kinds of trouble.  Soft touch, you idiot.~  He put his feet in motion and followed her down the corridor and into one of the cargo bays, which was full of shielded boxes.  Calog felt a tremor run through his body as he walked to where Okada stood, speaking with the transport captain and crew.

“Captain…look, we took you on without asking what you had or who you were.  We’re asking for you to confirm your manifest, declare your goods, and let us know where we can take you.”

The ruddy-faced transport captain shook his head, “I don’t have to answer to you, Starfleet.  We will provide you with where we need to go, but that is it.  Do not even try and open the containers – they are secured to my biological reading.”  He crossed his arms and stuck out his chin at Okada.

Katsumi was done.  She glared at him and repeated her request, ending with, “I won’t ask again.”  

He scoffed and looked to his crew, who chuckled along with him. And then he smirked, “You don’t get to tell….”

She’d had enough. Okada grabbed his arm and pulled it up and over his head, eliciting a high-pitched scream from him and shouts from his crew, to which she shouted, “Security!” where a group of armed security officers filtered in through the doors, phasers out and pointed.  She pulled the man with his arm towards a container, “I asked nicely.  I asked twice.  I saved your goddamn life, put my ship and crew at risk for you, and you…smirk at me?”  She forcefully pushed him towards a container as he groaned and shouted out in pain, “That’s not how you do things when you step aboard a Starfleet vessel, Captain.  You thank your lucky stars that somebody thought you were worth saving and was willing to help you…with only a few harmless questions.”  She shoved him up against the container, moving his twisted arm closer to the bio reader.

“No. No…NOOO!”  He shouted and then, at last, screamed, “It’s Blood Dilithium.  It’s…Blood Dilithium.”

Okada dropped his arm in shock as he stumbled back into the arms of his fellow crew.  She looked at the shielded containers, “That’s what is in there?”  He nodded, rubbing his arm and shoulder, tears in his eyes.  “What did you think I was going to do with it?”

He whimpered, “Take it from us?  We’ve heard terrible stories about you Federation types.”

She groaned, “Well, unless it was us telling the stories, you can start doubting whoever was selling you that version.  I don’t care about taking any back with me…hell; I’d rather avoid the stuff.  We’ve been told to study it but not steal it from anybody.”  She tapped her badge, “Okada to Doc Reid – need you in sickbay for a quick patient check.”  She waved Calog over, “Find out where we’re taking them.  Secure each cargo bay with locks and twenty-four hours security guards.  We have telepaths and empaths on this ship – it gets loose, and we’re screwed.”  She turned to the transport captain, “I’m sorry you got hurt…if you had been honest with me and not treated me like some minor inconvenience…that wouldn’t have been necessary.  The Delta Quadrant only responds to one type of communication style, it seems.”

He blinked.  Twice.  The doctor entered and began to do her work while glaring at Okada.  The man grimaced as Reid evaluated him, “It is the way of this place, Commander.  You…spoke the language well.”

Okada chuckled dryly, “I’ll put that on my resume.  Give my operations chief the location.  We’ll get you on your way.  Doc – I’ll be on the bridge.”  Reid just rolled her eyes and continued her work.  Katsumi knew there was a conversation coming.

And she knew she wasn’t going to like it.