“You certainly know how to welcome a guy.”  Captain Peter Crawford raised his cup of black tea in salute to the Mackenzie’s captain, Wren Walton.  They were sitting in her ready room while her XO, Commander Park Seoyeon, looked on from the couch.  She busied herself with a PADD with mission reports and department updates.

Wren sipped her hot tea with a sly smile, “It’s been a few days, Pete.  Discussing the situation in person seemed like the better choice.”

Crawford scoffed, “Calling this ‘a situation’ is being too kind.  This is bad.”  He set his cup aside and scrolled through his PADD, “Starfleet hasn’t had reliable communication from the Alahans for a while – our tactical and security teams seem to think they played the long game here – started small, ingratiating themselves with the locals and taking control slowly but surely…until they had a heavy cruiser in place to lock it all up for themselves.”  He amended, “Now with two heavy cruisers in place.”

Walton sighed a long sigh, her annoyance with the situation growing.  “Park had an idea…but it’s shakey now with two heavy cruisers in play.” She explained the XO’s plan of acquiring several small Syndicate-like ships, dressing the part, and heading down to the planet for sabotage and reconnaissance.  She finished with, “It’s hazardous – the moment they detect the Mack or even the Oly, the gig is up.  Mix in the chances of the team getting made in the middle of their mission – it’s a lot of risk.”

Park spoke from the couch, “I ran a few scenarios with security just before this meeting…not many favorable outcomes in the simulations.  Chief Pearce is usually the first to fly a shuttle into a Black Hole.  She was uncharacteristically resistant to the suggestion.”  The commander shrugged, “The worst part is…I don’t disagree with her.  Scans of the colony and the surrounding area are mostly rough terrain with many high rock structures.  It’s a mess.”

Wren looked to both of them, “Then what the hell do we do?  Our chances against one heavy cruiser are pretty good…but two will push us around a little.  They won’t negotiate, and we have nothing they want.” Crawford didn’t have an answer and was about to say just that when the confused voice of Oscar Reede interrupted their thoughts.

“Bridge to Captain Walton…the USS K’Ehleyr just dropped out of warp and hailed us.”

Walton’s eyes widened, “That’s our task force flagship…which can only mean a few things.”

Crawford chuckled, “I think Fontana took my report more seriously than I expected him to.”

Wren stood and replied to Reede, “We’re on our way, Mr. Reede.”  She walked through the door and onto the bridge, “Put them onscreen.”  The viewscreen changed to the view of the K’Ehleyr’s bridge.  Captain Geronimo Fontana stood in front of the center chair, and Captain Karrik stood to his right, hands gently clasped behind his back.

Fontana gave a slight nod, “Captains.  I thought it might be helpful to lend some weight and gravitas to the situation.  We’ve been tracking The Syndicate’s incursions into Deneb.”

Walton wasn’t sure what to say, but she knew as Squadron Commander, replying to her Task Force Commander was solely on her shoulders.  “Welcome to the Deneb system, Captain Fontana.  Captain Karrik…it is agreeable to see you again.”  The middle-aged Vulcan indicated a nod to her.  She continued, “We were speculating on a plan to sneak into the colony disguised as Syndicate operatives…but with two heavy cruisers…we weren’t sure the risk was worth it.”

Geronimo agreed, “We would agree.”  He turned to Karrik.

The Vulcan captain continued, “We’ve been discussing an idea.  It would still allow for your plan to take place, but it would allow for us to be in place to oversee your situation.”  He tapped at a PADD, “I’m sharing the details with you now.  The idea is that you would supply yourself with ships disguised as Syndicate operatives.  You would land and begin to infiltrate.  Within an hour of your landing, the K’Ehleyr would arrive under the auspices of a negotiation for turning the colony over to the Syndicate through a documented treaty.  Having the Task Force Commanding Officer on the flagship would lend…Captain Fontana used the word ‘gravitas,’ I believe.”

Walton read through the plan as Karrik spoke.  She was impressed.  The Mack and Oly would leave the sector and hang back beyond the detection range of the colony.  They would also use deception in assisting a nearby colony as if their Task Force CO had ordered them away.  Wren suggested, “We could reach out to our Harris Transport contacts – they’ve got ships operating in and around Deneb that they’d be willing to donate to the cause.”

Karrik mentioned, “We need to modify them heavily to reflect a Syndicate origin.  My engineering team stands ready.”

Wren smiled, “I think my chief would be thrilled to the moons and back to be asked to work with your teams, Captain Karrik.”

Fontana looked to Karrik and those on the viewscreen, “Make your call, Captain Walton.  Put a team together that has Mackenzie and the Olympic crew…but I will hold you to no captains or commanders.  They know enough about our upper command as it is.  Subtly is the name of the game.  K’Ehleyr out.”  The screen returned to the view of the stars.  The crew broke up and began the work to get ready for the mission.

 The race to save the Alahans Colony was on.