“Remember once we are down on the planet you are to adhere to your undercover identities.” Tilana began taking a gulp, she had mixed feelings about this operation. Though she knew what had to be done even if it were to play the part, she looked to both Ritru and Torath who nodded though she could see some uneasiness coming from them. “Has everyone studied and memorized who you are and your objectives?”

“Yes sir,” the collective replied in unison.

“The three of us will beam down first,” Tilana began. “The three of you will wait fifteen minutes before beaming down. In hopes of not drawing too much attention,” Tilana added before working her jaw for a moment. “Those that remain on the ship will assist us with anything we find while doing their investigation giving us any leads to follow up on.”

The others nodded in understanding as Tilana puffed out her cheeks before blowing out air. “We have three days before the auction is set to take place, so let’s not screw this up.”

“Aye sir,” came their reply.

“Well then let’s do this,” Tilana said. Everyone began to file out of the briefing room heading to where they needed to be. Tilana stood by the window looking at the planet below for a moment. Taking a deep breath before blowing loudly out of her mouth she turned around and smiled before the three of them headed for the exit.

“You alright?” Ritru asked.

Looking at Ritru and smiling nodding, “just wanted to get any last minute nerves out and start getting into ‘character’.” Tilana replied as she emphasized the last word in her sentence. Ritru nodded, Tilana could see that she didn’t believe her but she didn’t seem to push further.

They entered the transporter room, walked upon the padd, and nodded at the officer at the controls signifying they were ready to beam down. They began to disappear from the Aldore before reappearing on the streets of Stardust City. Instantly their demeanor changed to buyers of the Romulan Free State. The sights and sounds they were experiencing as they walked seemed overwhelming.

Stardust City nightlife was busy with people going up and down the walkway to wherever they were going. They continued to walk towards Starlight Bar while checking out different places to blend in. “Shouldn’t we get a hotel to stay in while we are here?” Ritru asked, looking at Tilana and Torath.

“That sounds like a good idea,” Tilana said as they walked until they found one not too far from Starlight Bar. They walked in and checked out a rather large room to stay in, getting their keys they went upstairs to check it out before they continued making their way to Starlight Bar.

Llaxia stood in the transporter room with the other two as they waited for the time to get down to zero so they could beam down. Silence filled the room as they stood there, thoughts running through her mind. “Do you think the Captain and the others will be able to pull this off?” Enja asked, breaking the silence.

Llaxia looked at the young Bajoran woman wondering where this was coming from. “We will put a stop to this,” Llaxia replied, motioning for everyone including the captain and the others already on Freecloud. “We are in this a team,” she added before realizing that the time had passed.

“Seems like a huge operation that seems like it will take more than just us,” Enja said.

“I am sure the Captain has a plan in place that we are not privy to,” Llaxia replied in a firm yet supportive way as she could tell after the events of Frontier Day anything dealing with the Borg had her on edge. “We just need to focus on what we need to accomplish,” she finished before nodding to the transporter chief signifying they were ready to beam down.

“Understood,” Enja replied right before they began to dematerialize from the transporter room of the Aldore.

A few moments later they rematerialized on the streets of Stardust City farther away from the first group that beamed in. Taking in the sights which were anything that they had seen before. After a few moments of just standing there looking around, they began to walk as people came and went to wherever they were going.

“We should find somewhere to stay,” Zhayva said as they would be there for a few days.

Llaxia nodded in agreement and kept walking and looking for a place where the closest hotel was. After a few moments of searching, they spotted a decent one they entered and walked up to the desk that was located near the front with a woman that appeared to be human sitting behind the desk. She seemed to not have noticed them enter as she was looking at her nails.

Llaxia cleared her throat a couple of times until she finally got the woman’s attention. “What do you want?” She asked as if she couldn’t be bothered.

“We need a room preferably with three rooms,” Llaxia said with a raised eyebrow. She wondered if the woman was tired of her job or if this was just her everyday attitude. She just ended up brushing it off as the woman just stared at them for a moment.

“Name?” The woman asked as she tapped a few buttons to bring up the remaining three-bedroom room they had available.

“My name is Aria, this is Zhasa and Sirwa Kago,” Llaxia replied as she watched the woman type the information into the system and hand them what seemed like a keycode to get into the room with a number on it.

“Here,” she said before she went back to what she was doing.

“Thank you,” Llaxia responded before turning to the others who just shrugged. They moved down the corridor towards where their room was located. Upon entering they began to look around to make sure things were secure. After they finished inspecting the room and finding nothing Llaxia looked at the others.

“That was an interesting interaction,” Enja said.

“Indeed,” Zhayva added.

“Does everyone understand our objectives?” Llaxia asked, “I was thinking we could split up to be able to cover more ground. Talking to more people than we would together,” Llaxia added as the others nodded in agreement.

“Could I make a suggestion?” Enja asked.

“Go for it,” Llaxia replied.

“What if our initial investigation is together,” she began. “I mean we can get a feel for the environment before splitting,” Enja said.

Llaxia sat on one of the chairs in the living area and thought for a moment. “That is a good idea,” Llaxia said. “We will set out in one hour just to give time to unwind before we start,” she added as they both nodded, got something from the replicator, and sat down where they began chatting amongst each other.