“Five minutes from arrival, captain.”  Castillo kept her eyes on the console as she announced their updated timeline.  The last few days in transit had been spent working with her department on training and scenarios with the added holodeck training for shuttle pilots to round it all out.  Their new captain had been direct in her demands – they were headed into the unknown.  Every department head had been challenged to put their crews to the test in anticipation of whatever awaited them.

Wren remained in her chair.  A small Cardassian fleet was supposed to be awaiting them, but that brought its own host of problems.  The planet and its people had a dim view of them, given their previous experience at the hands of the Cardassians.  The Mack’s job was to stand in the breach in an attempt to entertain an uneasy alliance.  She had nearly laughed out loud when she first read the briefing in her ready room.  The words were both true to reality and understated in many ways.  “XO, what do we see?”

Park tapped at the console, her brows drawing closer together.  “I’m not detecting much of a Cardassian presence.  She reran the scans, flummoxed.  “Briefing said we could expect twelve or so ships…I’m detecting six.”

Walton gently gripped the arms of the command chair.  She hadn’t expected things to go as planned.  It was telling that half of the ships they’d expected had likely met an end in fire, debris, and death. She asked, “Mr. Kondo?”

De La Fontaine had made the unusual decision to remain aboard the Mack and had spent the last few days wondering if he’d made the wrong choice.  He had imagined it would be a good and refreshing change to throw himself into getting to know new members of the senior staff and the new captain.  What he had imagined had been very different – they had immediately been pressed into service, leaving little time to engage in small talk.  He took over the scan of the sector ahead and sent it through the tactical system.  He reported, “The ships on-site look like they’ve been through something.  Long-distance sensors confirm that six Galor class ships are in the system, some distance from the planet.  With relations as low as they’ve been in the past, they might be waiting for us to get there and…well, smooth things over.”

Wren chuckled, “Smooth is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence, Mr. Kondo.  You call it smoothing over; I call it trying to hold things together.  Tactical evaluation of the sector?”

Kondo answered, “We’re showing no hostile activity nearby…but there are corners I can’t see yet.  Olympic and her sensors may be helpful in that regard.”

The CO leaned forward in her chair, “Pass on the message and have them go to yellow alert along with us.  I’m not a fan of surprises.  Mr. Kondo – be ready if things have deteriorated between the planet and our friendly neighborhood Cardassian fleet.”

Park spoke up from science, “Should we have Gul Hasara on the bridge?”

Walton thought momentarily, “He is a Cardassian and assigned as a liaison.  Have him on standby in the bridge lounge.  When we talk to the colony, I’d hate for him to offend them.”  Her XO nodded and made the call.  The countdown clock to arrival continued to tick.

“They took a helluva beating.”  Park was scrolling through the damage reports from the Cardassian fleet. It was ugly from her background as a science officer turned XO.  “There’s a lot of data to sort through…they’re lucky they made it here.”

Wren stood behind her, scanning the reports, “Lucky and alive…which is more than we can say for the rest of their group.”  They had attempted to hail the other ships but had been unsuccessful.  The communications team had recently undergone a change, with Chief Atega and much of her crew transferring to the Olympic.  In her place, Starfleet had assigned a cadet crew led by Cadet Senior Grade Oscar Reede. The team was working to trace any residual signals or even communications buoys that would reveal some clue as to the fate of the outstanding members of the Cardassian fleet. The Olympic had been diverted to the damaged ships to triage the crews and better understand the situation.  “Ms. Castillo, standard orbit, please.”  She turned to her new communications chief, “See if anyone’s home, Mr. Reede.”  

Oscar Reede had accepted the assignment and believed that having a group of senior communications cadets he had gone through the academy with since the start was the only way he’d have accepted the assignment.  He nervously went to work on the console and managed to open a channel, to his relief.

A moment later, the screen filled with an annoyed Governor Gideon Rosser scowling at the bridge crew.  Only now did Wren stand and step forward, “I’m Captain Wren Walton of the Federation Starship Mackenzie.  We’ve been assigned to assist in liaising with the…,”

Rosser exploded, “The Cardassians!  You must no doubt be aware of our history with their people.  This is downright unacceptable, Captain.  We will not accept their help or allow them near our planet.  We remember the last time the Cardassians were here.”  He spat at the ground and contemptuously closed the channel in a huff.

Park turned in her chair, “That…was….”

Walton finished it, “Unhelpful at best and insane at worst.  He didn’t mention the Dominion threat.  The briefing suggested their defenses were not up to the task alone.  Mr. Kondo?”

The tactical chief had reached the same conclusion with the tactical reports he was perusing on his console, “It’s an older system – no planetary shield with an array of surface-to-air torpedo launchers and some large but older phaser banks.  I estimate they’re probably the original systems from before the Dominion War…who knows how much work they’ve done on them since.”  He shook his head, “We’d have a lot of work ahead of us to bring these systems up to a standard capable of running an actual defense, captain.  And we’d need the help from the Cardassians.  It’s a big planet and multiple colonies.”

She remained in the center of the bridge, “They didn’t tell us to go play in space traffic, so that’s a positive. The Federation wasn’t built in a day, anyway.  Let’s try this again with a different approach.  Mr. Reede, if you please.”

Reede felt a small smile tug at his lips.  For a first assignment, this was turning out to be an exciting first few minutes of actual duty. His hands found the command, and he did as ordered. The screen flickered again, and Rosser growled, “What?”

Wren regarded him with a stoic stare, “Governer Rosser, let’s leave talk of the Cardassians to a later time.  Let’s talk about you.”  She raised her eyebrows, waiting for his response.

“What about me?”  He was cautious and curious about this new line of conversation.

“We’ve taken a gander at your defenses.  They’re shit.”  She watched his face grow red and resisted the urge to smile with serene satisfaction at pissing him off.  “You’re operating on old systems from twenty-five years ago, and my tactical chief isn’t sure if they’ll short out first or simply crash when you try and start them up.”

He sputtered, “How dare you call our defenses…”

She jumped in, “Shit?  Because they are Governor.  Your people endured plenty 25 years ago – reading the reports only tells so much of the story.  I can’t begin to imagine what the reality was for you all.  We want to prevent that from happening again.”  Wren waited for a beat and then asked nonchalantly, “One more question…you haven’t mentioned the renewed Dominion threat once.”

Rosser pursed his lips and relented after several uncomfortable seconds of silence, “The Task Group 514 doesn’t put much stock in the rumors, captain. We haven’t seen or heard of the Dominion in 25 years…and the task group has been very helpful over those years.  We trust their word over…some ship with the Fourth Fleet who is carrying the dilithium for the Cardassians.”

Wren rolled her eyes at his mixed metaphor, “A tad dramatic, don’t you think, governor?” His shrug was her answer.  She tried again, “Look, they wouldn’t send an Excelsior II class with an Olympic class out here for the hell of it.  Real threat or not, your defenses need checking and some serious work to get it up to any kind of ready positioning.”

He muted the channel and was speaking with several others out of sight of the camera.  Wren nodded to Reede to do the same and turned away from the screen, “I need answers on what the hell 514 is up to and why they’re bound and determined to make this seem like it’s not happening.  The daily ops and intelligence reports from Fourth Fleet aren’t pulling any punches.”  

“I’ll see what I can find, captain.” Park stood from her station and shifted over to sit beside Atega.

The CO returned her attention to the rest of the crew, “I think they’ll let us down there to do the work needed….but we’ve got a bigger problem.”

Kondo spoke up, “The Cardassians.  Those ten ships can still pack a punch. When the Dominion rolls towards us, we’re going to need their support to keep this place from having a repeat.”  He mused and glanced towards Gul Hasara, sitting off to the side, just out of view of the viewscreen camera, “Gul?”

He inclined his head in thought, “I’ve been looking at the lists of the captains of each ship…most of them are newer to the position.  Not many of the surviving ships have crews that served in the war…whatever chances we had at a strong crew were lost in the ships that went missing.”  He tapped at his device, “I can try and work with them…but as you know, my connection to the Union is tenuous at best and suspect at worst.”

Kondo replied with a quiet grin, “It’s still a connection.”  He had come to respect the Gul and maybe even like the cantankerous Cardassian.  He was older, wiser, and less given to settling his disagreements with violence.  He’d also taken some time in Kondo’s gym on the recreation deck.

Wren gave the Cardassian a pointed look.  She had inherited him from Captain Harris and found him needlessly annoying but helpful in the most curious ways.  “Gul, work with ops to establish contact and open the lines of communication.”  He gave a slow nod, still annoyed.

The governor’s voice returned as he unmuted the channel, “We agree to have a strictly Starfleet crew be escorted to the various sites for inspection and possible upgrade work.  Our leadership team will need to evaluate each recommendation.”

Walton held back a grimace.  While something she had long practiced in her previous position, she did not enjoy exhibiting diplomacy in situations where the threat was as immediate as the next orbit around the sun. Long-winded conversations and bureaucracy slowed work down.  In the face of an impending Dominion attack, she was anxious to do as much as they could to get the planet ready for an attack.  “I’ll get a team together.  My XO will take the lead with you on the planet.  Looking forward to working with….”  A huff from the governor, and the channel slammed shut before she was finished speaking.  “At least he’s consistently abrupt.  Park, assemble the team with Chief Okada’s help.  Take our diplomatic affairs officer with you – we’ll need a softer touch in the mix.”

Her XO stood, “You don’t think I can do soft touch?”  She smiled in response to the glare from her captain, “In all fairness, I’m learning.”

Wren waved her to the turbolift, “We’ve both got some work to do with our hands – we need these people open to us…and eventually the Cardassians.”  The door closed on a half-hearted thumbs up from Park.