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Civil Unrest by Travis Anderson

Chapter One

"I can't believe Starfleet ever agreed to these uniforms," Captain Thomas Riker said as he straightened his golden tunic with black accents. With it came black pants and boots. Golden pants were optional as well. Captains had a blue with gold accents variant tunic as well. His wife, the Joined Trill named Lisea Danan, wore a blue counterpart to his own denoting her primary position as station Science Officer rather than wear the gold entitled to her by her position as Executive Officer. Operations and Security personnel wore red tunics.

"Starfleet felt it was time Special Investigations Division personnel match Starfleet uniform code, even if it's modeled after pre-2270's uniforms," Danan reminded him.

"I feel like an Operations officer again," Riker complained.

"You didn't mind the United Earth Starfleet era jumpsuits the rest of the corporation still employs. And Kathy Tyrol made the decision to copy them exactly with divisional colors matching ours rather than try to create a new scheme. There's too much history behind these surplus uniform designs," Danan lectured him.

"I'm feeling rhe weight of that history, Lees. The whole point of Outbound Ventures being a private security contractor servicing Starfleet's SID was supposed to free us from these kind of constraints," Riker motioned her into the turbolift, whose door he held open for her. Serenity Station had been christened by Riker when he assumed command and the Cardassian Nor-class station was newly built. But rather than being the backbone of ore processing centers, those areas were filled with industrial replicators.

"Tom, no one else is complaining. The only crews that hadn't adopted the uniform scheme were here on Serenity and aboard the Obsidian," Danan reminded him. The Obsidian was the Nova-class surveyor hat served as transportation for the premier SID team led by Commander Brin Macen and his wife, Detective Celeste Rockford.

"And you'll note the Obsidian crew and SID team aren't wearing it," Riker sagely pointed out.

"Because they frequently go undercover. Uniforms get in the way of that," Danan reminded him, "Back when we were Maquis, you were the only one to remain in Starfleet uniform for a mission. Even it was your brother Will's."

"And I cut a splendid figure in it," he grinned.

The lift arrived at station Ops and they dismounted the it. Everyone in Ops wore a gold, red, or a rare blue uniform. The Strategic Operations Officer, Sveta Korepanova, wore gold while the other officer on duty, Kristiana Liu, wore a gold tunic as befitted her status as Logistics Officer. Together, Korepanova and Liu moved Outbound Ventures starships around three quadrants.

Since Outbound Ventures was a private corporation, Macen had reassembled many Maquis survivors to work for him and forcibly gotten them vetted onto SID eligibility status. Which meant they could take on Starfleet contracts. Many had been wanderers or loners upon Federation worlds after Starfleet forcibly relocated the surviving Maquis colonists from the former Demilitarized Zone that the Federation Council wholly ceded over to the Cardassian Union as a Reconstruction period offering while Cardassia Prime was in ruins with millions dead at the hands of the Dominion.

Other former Maquis colonists lighted out to the Deeper Beta Quadrant beyond the Klingon Empire. Their influence had helped shaped the secessionist movement from the Federation that founded the Confederacy of Worlds. The Confederacy made up of colonies Ardra sold during her stint as a Federation President. The colonists sold to slavers who had every intention of reselling the colonists to the Romulan Star Empire as menials. Ardra's schemes had been found out and she fled the Federation but not before making billions of bars of gold pressed latinum and draining the Federation's hard currency reserves. Those reserves were already dangerously depleted by the reparations the Federation was paying the Bajoran Republic and Cardassian Union for the unjust wars the Federation had launched against them.

The other buyers, notably the Thallonian Empire, the Iotian Federation, and the Talarian Republic, weren't interested in excuses just their territorial gains they'd paid for in good faith. Former Protectorate worlds, abandoned by Starfleet's patrol withdrawals after the Mars Massacre, found themselves in new borders beholden to a new central government. The Federation was undergoing a reputational crisis following heir decision to abandon treaty obligations in favor of defending Federation member worlds against a foe that never materialized despite the Starfleet Commander's dire warnings. Fleet Admiral Kirsten Clancy had been demoted on a score of ethics and regulations violations but she remained a member of the Admiralty and would eventually reclaim her position as Fleet Commander once she was properly exonerated by her record following demotion and championed by her allies. Chief of whom was Commodore Oh, the Director of Starfleet Security.

Oh, ostensibly a Vulcan, was a Romulan Tal Shiar plant who'd carefully threaded her way into leading Starfleet Security and creating an overwhelming cult of personality wiuthin and without Starfleet Security. Oh funneled Tal Shiar agents into Starfleet Security through disguising them as various races within the Federation's umbrella and advancing their careers in Starfleet Security after they navigated Starfleet Academy. These young cohorts were then carefully placed and promoted throughout Starfleet Command.

Some were even human descendants of Starfleet crews taken captive by tbe Romulans during the Earth-Romulan War and indoctrinated as Tal Shiar agents. The first such to be revealed to Starfleet aboard the NCC-1701 USS Enterprise under Captain James T. Kirk's command. That agent had been his yeoman for two years before rejoining the Romulans in spectacular fashion. Starfleet had done away with the yeoman corps rather than risk another plant gaining access to a captain's classified files and records. An overreaction that burdened many subsequent starship commanders with bureaucratic minutia.

"Status report," Riker requested of Korepanova.

"All ships are on assignment or traveling to an assignment. Starfleet contracts dominate the board. We're spread across the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Quadrants. Admiral Forger's office is speculating a contract increase into the Delta Quadrant as Starfleet's probes and surveys into the region expand," Korepanova explained.

"Kris?" Riker turned to Liu at her station.

"Resupply convoys are en route to those longstanding patrols. Caity Floss reports an increase in potential SID starship commanders asking to join Outbound Ventures. She's screening them for starship orders we've placed with the Iotian Starfleet. Felicity Jonas is reporting that public perception amongst our current clients and potential clients is at an all time approval rating," Liu told him, "As long as Starfleet approves our crew candidates for SID status as fast as the Iotians can supply starships and resupply, we should be able to meet Forger's revised mission goals."

"That's a lot of cogs to go missing in our balancing act," Danan noted.

"We've always had more demand that supply of available starships and crews. The non-SID applicable fleet is handling the mundane contracts but Forger's offices are increasing their requests as Starfleet resumes its traditional patrols and exploratory missions," Liu pointed out, "They find new warp capable civilizations under threat every day without the fleets assets to protect them."

"Which is where we fill in the gaps. Only Macen and Rockford's team get the exotic missions," Korepanova reminded Danan.

"Something we're too aware of," Riker did his own reminding that both he and Danan had served with Macen's crew before Macen stood down as the Obsidian's commander, making way for Rear Admiral Amanda Forger's younger sister, Shannon, to emerge from both Macen and Riker's shadows to become the Obsidian's Commanding Officer. Still, Macen was the Mission Commander. So he directed the Obsidian's destinations and left the team's mission support and well being to and from assignments up to Forger and her crew.

The ship's Senior Staff and Senior Chiefs were cleared for SID mission briefs but they were left out of the actual missions other than how it affected starship safety. Forger had inherited Macen's staff and bridge officers but the Chiefs were all of her choosing. Inluding the ship's XO and 2nd Officer. Those position had been left vacant by Forger's promotion. The crew had never had a 2nd Officer before so that was Forger's decision entirely.

Commodore Forger had been promoted to Rear Admiral to assume command of the Special Investigations Division. The division was intended as an accountable replacement for the dismantled Section 31 and its insurgent offspring, Cell 51. It was a joint effort pooled from resources within Starfleet Security, Starfleet Intelligence, the Judge Advocate General's office, Internal Affairs, and Starfleet Operations. It had been presented to he Federation Council as the brainchild of Admiral, now demoted to Vice Admiral, Alynna Nechayev, Forger, and Rear Admiral Robert Tavar Johnson. Johnson being Starfleet primary Diplomatic Specialist, heartily recommended the creation of the SID to respond when diplomacy failed.

The Federation Council voted in favor of the creation of the SID overruling Fleet Admiral Clancy's objections. Clancy's objections were based entirely on her bias against the SID hiring security contractors in addition to being supplied traditional assets. Her primary objection revolved around the principle retainer and contracts going to Outbound Ventures over her insistence to reward Solarian Security Solutions with them. Clancy being found out with having a clandestine affair wih Solarian's founder and CEO since before his wedding day to a fellow Starfleet officer who'd risen to flag rank alongside Clancy. They had been, in fact, best friends. The affair and Clancy's obvious conflict of interest had ended up in an armed conflict between Solarian and its allies and Outbound Ventures and its subsidiary, the Rockford Detective Agencies.

But Clancy's decision to unilaterally demote Nechayev without a Board of Inquiry being convened to recommend or dismiss charges stood. The precedent invoked had dated back to the First Klingon War when the Fleet Commander was given extraordinary unilateral authority to dismiss command officers from their posts. Nechayev retained her position as Director of Starfleet Intelligence so the JAG herself, Admiral T'Lara, found it a logical answer to Nechayev's presumed insubordination despite Clancy bringing the demotion to bear for Nechayev's refusing to order Forger to dismiss the potential charges that Commander Michelle Prentiss of Internal Affairs, Lt. Commander Senecka of JAG, and Commander Robin Lefler, in between assignments after leaving he crew of the USS Excalibur, were investigating under the SID authoritative banner.

Prentiss and Senecka were reassigned to new duties after Clancy's demotion. Lefler was assigned to assume command of Deep Space Eight. The newly promoted Fleet Admiral, the Cappellan named Leonard James Akaar, warned Clancy from pursuing vindictive actions against any of the officers involved after dealing with Nechayev. Clancy's own damning testimony during her Board of Inquiry convened by T'Lara consisted of, "I don't really get mad, I get even."

Admiral Akaar and Vice Admiral Edward Jellico, the Beta and Alpha Quadrant Theater Commanders, sat beside T'Lara as Senecka presented her case along the lines of inquiry that T'Lara hadn't dismissed "for the good of the service". Clancy and Oh's secret negotiations with the Cardassian to hold Federation citizens without due process or trial and then using those same prisoners as a pretext for war was a forbidden topic after pre-trial motions concluded since they involved testimony directly from the Castellan of the Cardassian Union itself. Rekena Garan had traded holding prisoners for Starfleet Special Operations Command officers leading the suppression of insurgencies on Cardassian Subject Worlds.

T'Lara deemed the investigation and filing of formal charges to undermine the public trust in Starfleet, so she blocked all further investigative work into the line of questioning. So the ethics charges and conflict of interest between official role and private role were found to be meritorious. And the Board removed Clancy from her position and took her fifth rank pip from her and beyond, thereby demoting her two ranks to Vice Admiral. Clancy was reassigned to supervising Sarfleet Communications. The spread and maintenance of Starfleet's communication networks would be her private responsibility. Clancy would only be able to seek revenge through proxies, of whom many now shunned her.

Commodore Oh stood by Clancy and urged her on in fulfilling her ambitions. Especially becoming Fleet Admiral again and being a voice on Starfleet Command to exert influence over the disposition of key commanders and critical command posts. Akaar had set watchers over Clancy so she couldn't monitor personal or official communications without JAG's legal authority. Clancy lost her key ally in her proxy war against the SID's ongoing existence when Jellico began valuing the division's operations and input as the Alpha Quadrant Theater Commander. Akaar was replaced as Beta Quadrant Theater Commander. New appointees became the nascent Gamma and Delta Qudrant Theater Supervisors as Commodore Saavik's push from the Gamma Quadrant Wormhole terminus moved towards the Alpha Quadrant and away from Dominion territory. Meanwhile Captain Chakotay commanded the prototype USS Protostar deeper into the Delta Quadrant while a Nexus Ribbon delivered alternate Captain James T. Kirk commanded a similar, if slower, progression into the Delta Quadrant commanding the USS Voyager-A.

The looming question in the Gamma Quadrant was whether or not the Dominion would abide by treaty terms and stay within their own borders. The Borg were the natural question shadowing exploration of the Delta Quadrant. So far, traces of assimilated solar systems had been discovered without any active Borg presence. Rumors filtered in of rival Borg factions engages in a takeover attempt within the Collective itself. But the Jurati Borg Queen's message of cooperation rather than assimilation wouldn't be known to Starfleet until the dawn of the 25th Century. Leaving the original Borg Queen with a single cube to command and subsist off of her drones while plotting with the Dominion to take over the minds of Starfleet's youthful officers.

That was the plan two Founders had infiltrated Cell 51 as Jack Fowler and John Browder to orchestrate. Although they didn't quite know it yet. Browder was in search of the Changling victims of Project: Proteus while "Fowler" was in Starfleet custody awaiting trial and deportation. The pair had brought cloning cylinders as well a cohort of Jem'Hadar and two Vorta to command them. Eris and Kilana each had their own issues with the Federation and were assisting Browder's quest with Cell 51 resources under Director Dylan Sorbo's watchful eye. The Vorta made prickly allies at best since their first allegiance was to the Founders. Sorbo had arranged for Fowler's capture so the Vorta served beside Sorbo without being aware that their god was imprisoned because of him.

But it was a time of uncertainty and change within the Federation. President Kilbrek was at the end of his term limited stint as President of the United Federation of Planets. Several candidates had committed themselves to election campaigns for the post. Most prominent of all was the sitting Federation Councilor from Alpha Centauri. Auri had garnered a great deal of attention as the Councilor taken hostage by the Orion Syndicate's Blood Queen before her death. Auri had taken negotiated a settlement with representatives of the Romulan Star Empire over the disposition of prisoners taken by a unified effort led by the Bajoran Militia's Colonial Defense Forces.

The Orion Syndicate had managed to secure the Bajoran K-class Deep Space station within the Gamma Quadrant supporting Bajor's colonies there. Representatives from Bajor and Cardassia had also been held by Starfleet zealots who believed they were operating with special sanction by the Federation Council's Select Committee on Starfleet Affairs. Waypoint Station became the centerpiece for a Bajoran-led rescue attempt that included elements from the Cardassian Guard, the Ascendancy's War Vedeks, the SID, and Starfleet starships being held by brethren starships from the fleet. Romulan privateers engaged on the side of the Orions.

The SID had Macen and Rockford's assets aboard the station and they led a counter.

strike. In the end not one member of the hostage taking force, which indiscriminately slaughtered the Bajoran Militia crewman and command staff assigned to the station, stood trial. The Orions rescued the Blood Queen and her surviving associates from the custody of the Interstellar Criminal Court. Starfleet investigated those captains and crewmen that engaged in hostilities against the Bajorans and found they truly did believe they were acting on orders from outside Starfleet issued by the civilian government. Clancy reassigned most of them to deeps space patrols. It was her last official act as Starfleet Commander. Captain Ben Poole and his starship along with the SOC commandos it serviced were returned ot active duty with Special Operations Command.

The Federation's election cycle lasted only a few weeks. Voters from across the Federation voted their preference. The results were tallied by planet. The candidate with the most votes won the planet's vote by Federation Councilor proxy. In the end, the Federation Council elected the next President based on those results. Recent history of the process hadn't been kind. Ardra won the most Council votes but conceded to Chavy Sok, the runner up. Ardra was commissioned Speaker for the Council. The special election called by Kilbrek's impeachment for protesting Bajor's ejection from the Council and the Federation. Three Presidents later in as many months, the High Court would overturn Kilbrek's impeachment and he was allowed to sit out his current term.

But now the regular election cycle had arrived.

Auri had a public relations coup in that Federation News Service pundit, Fiona Shaw, had decided to endorse Auri. Of course, this was prearranged by Cell 51's Political Action Arm that Auri and Shaw were members of. The Ministry of Information, formed under President Sok as the Ministry of Propaganda, also highlighted Auri's legislative record to the exclusion of all other candidates. FNS and its competitors still reported on competing candidates but the media war had been won by securing the approval of FNS' top pundit and the allegiance of the Ministry of Information, which despite its supposedly apolitical nature, fervently endorsed Auri as the leading candidate.

"You have a new Sciences specialist to greet today, don't you?" Riker smiled at Danan. Danan's Sciences Division was the smallest in Outbound Ventures. Yet they conducted the forensics and biogenic research that could make or break cases the firm was involved with.

"That's right. I reached out to Dr. Alice Marcus and recruited her," Danan smiled back triumphantly.

"Any relation to Dr. Carol Marcus?" Riker wondered.

"Distantly. She's the great-great-granddaughter of Fleet Admiral Alexander Marcus," Danan explained, "Alice herself had no interest in joining Starfleet but I was able to secure funding for her research so she's signed up as our newest Sciences Specialist aboard Serenity. She'll be my Number Two."

Admiral Marcus had led Starfleet during the First Klingon War and into Christopher Pike's tenure as the CO of the USS Relentless. It had been Marcus' decision to exclude Pike and the advanced Constitution-class starships from the war. A decision that hadn't settled well with those starship commanders. Yet three of them made the rank of Commodore during their commands of their starships. Pike's name synonymous with the highest Medal of Valor that Starfleet could award a serving officer. Section 31's records also indicated that Fleet Admiral Marcus poured resources into the covert division above and beyond any other Starfleet Commander. A decision that created the monstrosity AI known as CONTROL. Provoking the official disbandment of Section 31 and driving it underground but still officially sponsored.

Cell 51 grew out of Jack Fowler's disagreement with S31 Director James Fowler's direction for the agency. Jack Fowler, with his brain entirely replaced by positronic implants, chose to dominate the Federation and recreate it in a model based on the Terran Empire from an alternate universe Section 31 was well aware of. Emperor Philippa Georgiou had come from that reality before becoming S31's top operative.

Cell 51 was willing to sacrifice individual liberties and guaranteed freedoms in order to secure the Federation from inner and outer threats to said government. Councilor Auri was a prominent member of Cell 51's Political Action Arm overseen by the Cell 51 agent known only as the Presider and based out of New Berlin on Luna. Auri was being personally coached by the failed Cell 51 politicians Chavy Sok, Nhlakamipho Cindi, and Juliete Perez. Two Federation presidents and a vice-president handed over to the Cardassians by Ardra during her time as UFP President and liberated by a covert Cell 51 mission.

Sok, Cindi, and Perez were there as warnings of how not to pursue the autocratic regime change too swiftly. Instead of utilizing fear of an existential threat in the form of a foreign government, fear mongering demanding the desired changes would now come from the border crisis along the former Romulan Neutral Zone. The Border Zone, as the Neutral Zone had been reclassified, was filled with Romulan refugees saved from the colonies destroyed by the Hobus supernova shock wave that first destroyed Romulus and Remus. The Star Empire remained intact under Praetor Tal'Aura and Proconsul Donatra with the new Senate situated on the military world of Caligula. Tal Shiar Director Sela helped agitate and push refugees across the border through warlord territory to overwhelm the Federation's amnesty program. Romulans were flooding into the Federation on temporary work visas while their amnesty cases were reviewed. But the system was so overwhelmed that cases could take years to verify and process. Meanwhile, the refugees simply vanished throughout the Federation's borders.

This situation alarmed Federation member worlds and colonies throughout the Beta and Alpha Quadrants. Both government officials and citizens alike felt taxed by the flood of peoples suddenly making encampments on their worlds and refusing to leave. Internal structures built to maintain humane conditions for all settlers and citizens were strained to the breaking point. Yet the Federation Council remained deadlocked in how to avert such a continuing crisis and lacked the political will to change the system no matter how broken it was.

Auri made Romulan migration a central pillar of her campaign. In the lack of reform from the Federation Council, Auri would issue Executive Orders closing the border and detaining those refugees that had poured in throughout the Federation. Despite the questionable legaliy of these promises, Auri was dead set on pursuing the policy shifts and scoring points with planetary voters. The Federation Councilors hat objected to Auri's proposals and knew that legislation fixes addressing the issue legally stemmed from the legislative body would legally be compelled to vote Auri in if she secured the majority of the vote on their member worlds. Which seemed increasingly likely as pundits like Fiona Shaw and the Ministry of Information stoked fears of "replacement theory" conspiracies promising that the influx of displaced Romulans would replace ordinary Federation citizens at their places of employment and even their own homes.

These fears were especially running rampant in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors. Dilithium and latinum mining operations were receiving a glut of applicants for work. Initially this swelling of employable ranks was appreciated since they were unpopular and dangerous jobs. But now they were hiring security officers to maintain order at the application centers. Other Romulan refugees had begun mass protests regarding their situations over the lack of basic healthcare and even provisioning of such necessities as clothing and food as replicator access was closed down. The central power grids were being overtaxed by replicator use above and beyond the power grid's capacity to safely supply demand.

Auri spoke of herself as being the only solution to the legislative and bureaucratic gridlock. She proposed displacing government workers and Federation Councilors and replacing them with such persons that qualified for the positions after passing an ideological litmus test to be appointed as replacements for the fired workers and impeached legislators. Shaw made this a selling point in her nightly broadcasts on her highly rated news commentary show. It received the highest ratings and viewership of any FNS broadcast. The transcripts were the most widely read publication the news agency produced. Veteran reporters such as Clarice Starr and Anna Shaw who fact checked Shaw's claims were now openly attacked by Shaw as members of the affected "Deep State" that perpetuated the border crisis. Anna Shaw and Starr's reports placing the lack of inertia in solving the problems at the Federation Council's feet and questioning the constitutionality of Auri's proposals to be labeled an "enemies of the future state". Assumptions already being made regarding Auri's presumed victory. However, all of these "advantages" that Auri enjoyed from known and suspected Cell 51 collaborators had them targeted by Commander Ro Laren, the Starfleet Intelligence counter-terrorism expert tasked with locating and neutralizing Cell 51 and its adherents.

Auri was a member of the Select Federation Council Committee on Starfleet Affairs. So she received classified reports regarding Starfleet Intelligence's activities and operations. Ro, given autonomy by Vice Admiral Alynna Nechayev, transferred her operations to the SID where Rear Admiral Forger assigned Macen and Rockford's team to further investigating Councilor Auri's suspected ties to the Political Action Arm. This placed them in Paris on Earth observing Auri's stump speeches carried live by FNS and later commented on by Shaw. Their role was to observe her contacts with suspected Cell 51 political operatives without alerting Federation Security or the Federation Bureau of Investigation. Federation Security managing the security detail surrounding Auri and the FBI the civilian agency tasked with counter-terrorism.

As independent operatives, the Outbound Ventures investigative SID team had greater leeway to operate within and without the legal confines Ro was threading through. Auri's meetings while serving Council interests were public information so those contacts could be traced and run down. Contacts made in association of the presidential campaign were deemed private but the investigative mandate from Starfleet Intelligence and the SID liberated Macen and Rockford's team to do a "deep dive" into the Councilor's campaign activities and meetings with supporters. The campaign itself was also public knowledge since it utilized government resources as all the candidates did. What had become obvious to Ro, Macen, and Rockford was that Cell 51wasn't floating three separate candidates for office this time. Everything was invested in Auri. Now they just had to catch her meeting with confirmed Cell 51 agents.

Thanks to Neela, a Bajoran citizen with a reserve Militia commission of Colonel, they had a description of the Presider. What else was known of the Political Action Arm was that is was composed of chiefs of staff for select Councilors to sway their votes and shape policy. Auri was a rare Councilor knowingly conspiring with Cell 51. That made her both more vulnerable and yet harder to gather concrete evidence on at the same time. Cell 51 had pulled out every asset they had in Federation Security to create a nearly airtight bubble around Auri's activities.

This where Alice Marcus' research came into play. Dr. Marcus had been developing a tracking nanite based on Borg technology derived from the Artifact cube in Romulan space. Unlike drone conversion nanites, the trackers barely replicated and were therefore designed to be immune to standard detection protocols. Injecting them was also simple utilizing a small handheld device adhered to the palm to inject the nanotech during a standard handshake or other physical contact. Dr. Marcus had supplied Danan with versions of the injectors and the nanites tracking frequencies upon hiring. Macen and Rockford's team were adequately supplied with trackers and used them at campaign rallies to inject trackers into suspects during the usual "meet and greet" portions when politicians filtered through the crowds.

Campaign boosters, such as Baroness Estella Grimes of Grimes Armaments and the newly appointed Chairperson of the Board of Solarian Security Services, had also been tagged. The prevalence of an arms dealer and a disgraced security contracting company's newly installed head were matters Ro was exploring. Auri set up meetings with political figures from refugee laden planets as well as Grimes and Derek Powers, the Solarian chief, during campaign stops and in private at her people's embassy on Earth.

Grimes had been involved in suspected collaborations with the Dominion during the war. Powers had inherited a nearly bankrupt corporation with depleted personnel and starship assets after the skirmishes with Outbound Ventures. Powers had restructured the company into a primarily mercenary outfit working for anyone that could meet their price. That had included the Orion Syndicate and Romulan Star Empire's interests in the recent past. Clancy had shielded Solarian from censure and license revocation within the Federation. The Federation Council shelved Federation Security's investigation into Solarian's activities since the criminal investigation revolved around matters taken place outside of Federation borders. This further antagonized the Bajoran Republic and Confederacy of Worlds. Two entities Solarian had conduced operations against.

The Bajorans had been offered the chance to prosecute Solarian operatives after the attacks were conducted against colonial settlers on Dreon VII. But the reality was that the Federation demanded the extradition of prisoners for trial in the Federation itself. At that point, the captains and crews were exonerated and their impounded starships returned to them. Another fracture in the tenuous ongoing alliance between Bajor and the Federation. Elias Vaughn finally accepting promotion to Captain and assuming administrative control and defense of Deep Space Nine helped patch matters up between Starfleet and the Bajoran Militia But even Vaughn could only mitigate so many of the official policies stemming from the Federation Council slighting the Bajoran Republic and its assertion of primary control and staffing of DS9.

Captain Vaughn had been DS9's XO through three commanders. General Kira Nerys of the Militia had been its longest serving CO. The then-Colonel Kira had been promoted General and made Chairperson of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the Militia. That transferred her back to Bajor. Though she did inspect the joint-command on Deep Space Nine on occasion. Colonel Cenn Deska was the Militia Liaison Officer in command of the bulk of DS9's crew. Since Starfleet's requested draw down of forces aboard the station, the Senior Staff and crew of the USS Defiant were basically the only Starfleet personnel left. The station's position as a Federation starbase was a courtesy granted by the Bajorans and Starfleet felt the ramifications of it.

Now that the Militia had Iotian built warp capable starships in its defense fleets, it no longer relied upon Starfleet for its defense. The Militia had proven itself through fire repelling four Starfleet attempts to take the station and occupy Bajor itself. That movement had begun with the machinations of DS9's previous CO, Commander Sam Lavelle. Lavelle had provided Chavy Sok and Fleet Admiral Clancy the supposed justification to launch wars against the Cardassian Union and Bajoran Republic.

But there were those starship captains and crews that remembered Bajor's faithfulness as an ally and either joined in its defense or found other ways to defy orders to attack and instead secured the Bajor Sector from Breen and Tzenkethi adventurism. Outbound Ventures sent most of its non-SID assets to the Bajor's defense as well as selected SID volunteers willing to defy orders to remain neutral in the conflicts. Several admirals set up a Starfleet Command-in-exile aboard Serenity to coordinate the resistance movement within the fleet. These flag officers included Akaar, Jellico, Nechayev, and Forger..

Macen and Rockford were tasked with discovering who was really behind Sok and later Perez. Thus the ongoing existence of Cell 51 and the revelation of Captain Dylan Sorbo as its Acting Director. Sorbo had since taken the title of Director after the deaths of Jack Fowler, John Browder, and L'Haan had been confirmed.

Aboard Serenity, Riker was currently considering how best to support Macen and Rockford's mission. Although he refused promotion beyond "Captain", in honor of his twin Captain Will Riker transferring to the active reserves and surrendering the center seat of the USS Titan, to raise his daughter on a planet after the loss of Will and Deanna Troi's son, Thad. Tom Riker refused tot outrank Will Riker in a Starfleet affiliated organization. But Riker still held the power of station commander and fleet commander for Outbound Ventures.

That arrangement stood even as Fleet Captains were appointed and two retired Starfleet captains were recruited to command SID vessels and hold the rank of Commodore within the SID affiliated fleet. Commodore Idaho Smith's recruitment was a personal coup for Macen. Dr. Smith was a career Anthropology and Archaeology Officer until late in life when he transferred to Starfleet Intelligence. There he commanded an intelligence gathering starship as well as presented deep dive analyses of newly discovered races and planetary coalitions. Ignatius Freeman had commanded Starbase 375 for twenty years hosting various flag officers who controlled Sector Defenses and fleets from that starbase. Vice Admiral Bill Ross being the latest. Smith and Freeman were both 80 years old and still vibrant officers. As Vaughn's own 111 years proved out.

Both were given command of Phase II Constitution-class starships, the Neverwhere for Smith and the Overland for Freeman. Both were studious but Freeman was the more diplomatic of the two. Smith's researches bordered on obsessive and he would even resort to force to complete an assignment where Freeman was more circumspect in his approach. Yet both had led distinguished careers in Starfleet. They retired when the Starfleet Bureau of Personnel ran out of assignment options for them. Despite Nechayev arguing on behalf of Smith and Ross desiring to keep Freeman on at his current post, BuPers offered two choices: advance to flag rank or retire. Since Starfleet Command had no need of two new flag officers, Smith and Freeman took enforced retirement packages.

Macen had followed Smith's career with interest since inititally serving under him as an A&A Officer straight out of Starfleet Academy's Advanced Officer Training program. Also known as the "Ninety Day Wonder" program. Macen's centuries of being an El-Aurian Scouts' A&A Officer more than qualified him for the position in Starfleet bur he needed officer candidate training. Macen served as a boot ensign under Smith before transferring to Starfleet Intelligence as it formed up the new Cardassian Desk after Smith and Macen were involved in First Contact with the aggressively expansionist Cardassian Union. Smith went on to other assignments while Macen became an expert on Cardassian affairs and military capabilities. Eventually being chosen by Captain Alynna Nechayev and Lt. Commander Vaughn to undergo SOC training to equip Macen has an experimental analyst-field agent to scout the Cardassian border during the twenty year Border Wars.

Macen migrated from that duty to patrolling the newly established Demilitarized Zone and making contact with the Maquis. After serving behind the lines with Ro Laren and a team of Angosian Augmented commandos for the duration of the Dominion War, Macen undertook a few paltry assignments before retiring as a Commander and using the capital he's earned under his cover of being a freelance information broker to found Outbound Ventures. Macen and the Obsidian crew were later killed by the Iridians during a border skirmish.

The Prophets residing and maintaining the stable Wormhole from the Alpha to the Gamma Quadrant used their translineaer powers focused through eh Nexus Ribbon to gather and replace key personnel in this Prime Universe from alternate universes doomed to destruction from an outside source. These replacements, knowing the value of the SID in their home universes, established it in this Prime Universe. But they were now tied to the Bajoran Prophets and integral to Bajor's defense. So far, they'd been able to fool most of Starfleet and the Federation's rivals. But Sorbo had deduced the truth about their origins. But until that truth gave him a strategic edge over them, he remained silent on the issue.

So all of that was mixed together as Auri made another speech reviewing her proposed platform, "We need to stop this flood of illegal immigration. For centuries the Federation has accepted small amounts of refugees in the hundreds not the million plus that have flooded our border worlds and colonies. Their resources are strained beyond their capacity to provide shelter, food, medicine, and the basic necessities of life. In attempting to do so they've neglected the native Federation population and deprived them of the same to right to live to a people group that were once considered our enemies. Figures like Admiral Jean-Luc Picard would elicit your sympathy and empathy for those refugees. But who are they really? Ordinary citizens? Fugitives from Romulan justice? Intelligence agents being planted among our midst? The problem is we don't know."

Auri was in full swing now, "We need to close the borders and properly investigate asylum claims. We need to shelter these claimants separated from Federation populations. We need to keep our exploration programs running and our cultural exchange programs alive and well while strengthening our alliances and providing for our Protectorate worlds and cultures. We need to protect and and provide provisional aid to our own colonies. We need to strengthen the Federation and bolster Starfleet at a time when we've questioned their obeying legal orders from the Executive Branch in wars that the Federation Council declared. We shouldn't demonize Starfleet for its recent endeavors at our behest as concerned citizens misled by public officials."

Now Auri applied pressure, "We need to root out corruption and traitors in our own government, agencies, and bureaucracy. I promise you if elected I will do these things. Civil servants and law enforcement officials will have to pass a loyalty screening to keep their jobs or assume a role in our vast governmental body. This goes down from the peaks of the Federation Council itself to the lowliest civil servant. The Ministry of Information will keep the citizens apprised of the results of our purging these entities and agencies as well as the ongoing recruitment of able replacement to be appointed in the villains' place."

"We've established detente with our greatest rivals and don't need to acquire any more. We need to root the seeds of a complacent Federation and put all citizens to work reporting the disaffection of their neighbors and their local officials and agency employees. I will establish call centers to take reports of disloyalty to the Federation. Let those that truly believe in the Federation as a body and an ideal remain while those who question our system of government and its rules be expunged from our ranks. Let's create a united Federation by the people and for the people who truly believe in making the Federation great again," Auri concluded to thunderous applause.

Inside the amphitheater, Macen whispered to Rockford, "And that's how democracy dies. To resounding applause."

"Makes me glad we live outside the Federation," Rockford confessed though the bulk of her detective agencies were within the Federation's borders.

"She has two new figures standing behind her," Macen pointed out the obvious to Rockford.

"Two more to mark?" Rockford asked.

"They're not campaign managers or volunteers. My guess is they're messengers," Macen assessed.

"I get the same vibe. Their presence is to make certain Auri follows the script," Rockford noted, "Whatever message they're bearing my guess is they haven't delivered it yet. They're trying to blend in with her boosters and hanger ons but they have a definite sense of purpose about them. Something separate from the rally."

"Let's move into the amphitheater's warren of corridors. The press will cling to Auri until she retreats back to her convoy. Federation Security will keep her distant from the pressing crowd but her two guests might not be so lucky," Macen remarked.

"We've got our press credentials on and her recorders. Let's go interviewing," Rockford suggested.

In the press of hungry reporters all hoping for an exclusive scoop or insight into Auri's proposed politics, Federation Security did indeed keep her from physical contact with the reporters. Her two trailing guests weren't so lucky. The jostling press corps took little notice of them but Macen and Rockford succeeded in touching hem with their nanite projectors in hand. The two strangers mounted up in a convoy vehicle looking more like Federation Security than the uniformed officers themselves.

"That wasn't fun," Rockford was replaying the holo imagery she captured of the two targets.

"Let's upload the images to Laren and get a situation report from Bailey and Angelique," Macen recommended.

"Think she can identify them?" Rockford wondered.

"They'll have an established legend but nothing offensive. They'll be bland as warm milk," Macen predicted.

"Which they were anything but," Rockford recalled.

They took a public transporter to London. There they went to the Starfleet Data Archive that had once housed Section 31 and whose upper levels now hosted the SID. The subterranean levels hid away the 0 Sections of Starfleet even the Federation President didn't know they had. M, the director of the 0 Sections only answered to the Director of Starfleet Intelligence and the Secretary for Starfleet, a Cabinet post within the Executive Branch. Nechayev was the first while Akifa Chol was the second. Chol had been appointed Secretary by Perez when Chol provided incriminating evidence against both Sok and Cindi, removing them both from office and placing Juliete Perez as UFP President. Having vacated her position as Secretary for Starfleet, she appointed Chol to the position. Chol had survived in it through Perez's brief tenure, Ardra's wreck of a term, and Kilbrek's return to office. Chol was a committed member of Cell 51's Political Action Arm. So she'd informed the leaders of Cell 51 of the existence of the long rumored 0 Sections of Starfleet.

The 0 Sections handled matters that weren't entrusted to Section 31's extremist policies. They were the scalpel while S31 was the bayonet. There were 250 Single 0 agents and 100 Double 0s. The men earning the coveted 0086 position becoming legendary within the ranks. Few survived to retire. Though Captain Mitchel Sheridan had stepped down as 0086 to become M's Chief of Staff. The cover identity of James Smart, Agent 0086, went back to the United Earth Starfleet. The 0 Sections dated back to British Intelligence in the Earth year 1947. Starfleet had simply absorbed the secret agency just as it had also birthed Section 31. Two agencies with different protocols.

Commander Ro had been given offices and analysts by Admiral Forger. They were currently assessing every contact Auri made and tracking every individual that had been tagged with Borg nanotech. Ro had the analysts tracking targets bring up the latest tagged individuals. Each target had an identifying marker exclusive to them so assigning them names or designated tracking numbers to the unidentified was simplicity itself. Ro had agents following every target. Macen and Rockford's team was tasked with getting live intelligence feeds from Auri's encounters with the targets.

"Your latest pair seem to be holding a private meeting with the Councilor in her office at Federal Plaza," Ro stated, "Is your team in place?"

"My squad infiltrated Federal Plaza as clerical and janitorial staff," Rockford explained. She'd heard no end of grumbling from Shade and Lee Kang over Adrianna Forte getting the clerical job while they scrubbed public and private latrines. But their access had enabled them to plant JAG approved listening devices in the Councilor's office. Typically she held her meetings in her suite at the Alpha Centauri embassy but she had legislation to review for a vote being called the next day. Personally, Auri was relieved the campaign season only lasted four weeks. Delivering campaign speeches atop her already filled legislative schedule was exhausting.

"We're getting sound and video," The chief tracking analyst reported.

"The Presider is unhappy with your latest polling results. Dozens of worlds have you within six margin points of your closest planetary rival," one of the stern looking men told her.

"The Federation is composed of over one hundred and fifty worlds. I can stand to lose a dozen," Auri boasted, "My message is resounding throughout the public. After the Federation's first and only losses in the wars against Cardassia and Bajor, two supposedly 'soft targets' the public needs a patriotic injection. Sok's internment camps filled with innocent Bajorans only broadened public support for ending the wars. And the revelation that we, breaking two hundred years of tradition, opened fire without provocation sapped the public's support for the wars. The forced conscriptions were also a mistake not even employed during the life and death struggle against the Dominion. All in all, your policies were a failure. Mine secure votes and blind loyalty."

"You're to be our arm of retribution. You're supposed to install our brand of government in the Federation. A new Federation that will be secure once and for all," the other stern man replied.

"I can only implement policy so fast. The suspension of the popular vote will have to take place after I invoke the Insurrection Act my first day in office and place Starfleet assets on the ground in every city and along every transporter station," Auri reminded them, "I can pursue your revenge lost while I'm changing the fabric of society. Charging half the Federation Council with treason and sweeping ideological opponents out of the bureaucracy will leave us shorthanded and ill equipped to handle the very immigration crisis I'm campaigning against," Auri reminded today's appointed handlers, "Leonard James Akaar isn't a Kirsten Clancy. I can only push Starfleet so far before the new Fleet Commander will push back. Commodore Oh will gladly supply the Security assets but I need to distract Akaar with the humanitarian crisis within the Beta Quadrant and spreading into the Alpha Quadrant. He'll support bolstering planetary and colonial resources but I'll need a rebuilt Federation Security to build the detention centers we'll use for processing deportations of the Romulans and our own disloyal citizenry."

"Where will you push them?" one handler asked.

"I don't rightly care. As long as they're out of the Federation," Auri snapped at him, "What happens afterwards isn't my problem."

"Too bad we can't leak this to FNS," Ro sighed.

"If they'd even air it. They're marching to Fiona Shaw's rabid support of Auri," Macen said grimly, "Reporters like Anna Shaw and Clarice Starr are being pushed out to the fringes and labeled as traitors by Shaw."

"Branding that will serious consequences if Auri gets her way," Ro lamented.

"JAG's gag order means these recordings can only be used by prosecutors in a sealed jury trial," Rockford complained.

"Which no prosecutor will attempt to take Auri before a jury if she gets elected because the prosecution will be exiled and replaced. The reshaped Justice Department will drop all the charges and seek out the investigators to prosecute instead," Macen warned Ro.

"Suspension of the vote will mean Auri will appoint new Federation Councilors ot replace those that she detained," Rockford felt a cold chill up her spine, "The Federation Council will adhere to and legalize Auri's agenda."

"Legislation to solve the border problem is pending a vote in the Federation Council but is being held up in committee until Auri agrees to its passage. Then the politicians already loyal to her will vote the laws and regulations into existence," Ro grimaced, "Meanwhile the deadlock is worsening the very migration crisis Auri is campaigning on. Which is legal but is a blatant political move by her to get elected."

"But the public is unaware of that," Macen knew where Ro was going with this, "But it's within the public review of the Council's deliberations. So if that leaked and these conversations stay sealed for a special prosecutor, then her fellow candidates would have a real argument to use against Auri. JAG's gag order doesn't include public information open to review."

"I'll contact Anna Shaw and Starr in a minute. The meeting broke up and the handlers are exiting the Federal Plaza. I want to see where they go next," Ro interrupted Macen's train of reasoning.

The handlers took a public transporter to an orbital office complex. From there they took a commercial shuttle to Luna and disembarked in New Berlin while the ferry shuttle went on to other lunar cities. They eventually arrived at a location and entered a residential building. They settled briefly in a flat within the complex and then departed for separate domiciles in New Berlin.

"Mark all of those locations," Ro instructed, "Find out who leases the apartment they reported in at and then research who leases the flats our handler team split off into."

"All of the flats are leased by a political action committee," an analyst reported, "The same funding payments to the Orion Syndicate prior to the Waypoint incursion."

"I want eyes and ears on those locations," Ro instructed, "I'm betting we just found the home address of the mysterious Presider."

"And two of her henchmen," Rockford reminded Ro.

"I'm going to have to draw the FBI into the surveillance," Ro was reviewing notes on a padd, "The SID and Starfleet Intelligence don't have enough agents in the solar system to track everyone you've tagged and run down IDs on everyone they come in contact with."

"I thought the Federation Bureau of Investigation was purpose built for this," Rockford frowned.

"They are but they're still a small agency. They'll have to redeploy agents on other assignments to gather them here in Sector 001," Ro explained.

"This investigation is proving more useful than all your others combined," Macen reminded the Bajoran officer.

"True, but I hate leaving loose ends," Ro complained, "And some those inquiries were beginning to lead somewhere."

"So keep an agent or two on each one and redistribute the rest," Rockford suggested.

"I'll discuss it the agency director," Ro excused herself to her loaned office.

"Well, we've served our purpose," Rockford said cheekily.

"You know how brusque Laren can be when she's focused on a task," Macen gently reminded her.

"Or when she's just socializing," Rockford grinned, "But it's okay. She's one of your closest friends and I've accepted her as one of mine as well despite her rudeness and ability to be an incredible pain in the ass."

Several analysts tried to contain their mirth. They were largely unsuccessful until Ro called out from her office, "I heard that."

"You were meant to," Rockford called back to her.

"Go check on your cohorts and see what they've uncovered," Ro stood in her doorway.

"We'll use the building's transporter room to do so," Macen told her.

"Whatever. Just get gone," Ro ordered.

"You do realize I retired at your present rank. And now I'm a civilian, so technically you can't order me about," Macen snarked.

"Please, just go before you infect my analyst team with your brand of insubordination," Ro requested.

"Too late for that, Commander Ro," Rockford said sickly sweetly.

"I was wrong. I miss T'Kir. At least she was obviously crazy and no one followed her example," Ro groused.

"We love you too," Macen ushered Rockford from the work space.

Once in the corridor, Rockford snickered, "Well, that was fun."

"No one has ever provoked Laren enough for her to state she misses T'Kir," Macen said with mixed emotions.

Rockford was Macen's third wife. The first, Arinea, had been a fellow El-Aurian. One that Macen killed in order to save the team. T'Kir had been a highly emotional Vulcan from a DMZ colony populated by Romulan defectors and Vulcans who followed Sybok's teachings. The Cardassians had slaughtered the colonists and Bertram Sindis, the Iridian crime lord, had personally killed T'Kir. Rockford and Macen married after over a year had passed after T'Kir's death. A Rather whirlwind romance by Macen's standards.

When he'd come to the Alpha Quadrant in 2293, he'd believed Arinea was dead. He didn't get involved with anyone until he met Lisea Danan in 2366. They broke up over T'Kir in 2371. Macen had recruited T'Kir to the Odyssey crew. The decommissioned Starfleet Blackbird-class scout serving as Macen's intelligence gathering platform while in the Maquis. Macen had fallen in love with T'Kir despite his best efforts and her mental illness.

The Odyssey crew was more a family than a crew and they were disbanded by Starfleet after serving in the war effort in 2375. All of them eventually began working for Outbound Ventures. The Odyssey herself was destroyed by Andergani pirates. Macen replaced her with two separate vessels. One was Ju'day-class Maquis raider dubbed the Eclipse. The second was another Blackbird-class scoutship christened the Solstice. Both were still in Outbound Ventures service.

But Macen acquired the Nova-class Obsidian and Starfleet upgraded her from the civilian model to a working Starfleet vessel. Macen had requested and received an upgraded defense package with auxiliary shield emitters, an enhanced warp core, and augmented sensor pallets. The warp drive was left stock with its Warp 8 limitation. The phaser strips and torpedo launchers were also left at Type X and standard photon torpedoes rather than upgraded to quantum torpedoes. The newer weapons packages were still illegal for civilian contractors to own or employ. Even security contractors working for Starfleet were exempted from the latest weapons.

Which served Macen well enough during Clancy's hostile tenure as Fleet Admiral. Denied resources and ships, he'd turned to the Iotian Starfleet shipyards and munitions plants to provide his needs. The Bajoran Militia had done the same. So it came to be that both the Militia and Outbound Ventures were able to repel Starfleet's invasion attempts to enter the Bajor system. Starfleet breached the Bajor Sector boundaries four times and four times they were expelled back to the Karamma Sector and Starbase 375. That Sector being the doorway to the Bajor Sector from the Federation, routed by the Bajoran Valo colonies.

The political dictates of an easy victory belied the military reality. President Sok and Fleet Admiral Clancy simply couldn't imagine a universe where the Bajoran Militia could resist the light forces being hurled against it. By the time Clancy amassed a proper fleet, Starfleet elements had joined the Militia and Outbound Ventures in Bajor's defense. This pitted Starfleet's most legendary captains and crews against a multitude of captains who rose quickly through the ranks thanks to losses endured during the Dominion War. They were young, eager to please Starfleet Command, and willing to take any action that would please Sok. No mater how unlawful they were eventually determined to be.

But the Judge Advocate General, Admiral T'Lara, was persuaded by Clancy with the argument that people needed to trust in Starfleet now, more than ever, declined to have the JAG Corps prosecute or even reprimand those officers. T'Lara arranged the exchange whereby Clancy would be convicted of ethics and conflict of interest charges and be reduced in rank. All others, including the culpable Commodore Oh, were excused their misdeeds and misconduct under the uniform code of justice.

Still, one matter was left unanswered and being investigated by Internal Affairs' Commander Prentiss. That matter revolved around the unlawful detention of Federation citizens by Starfleet. Clancy and Oh arranged for them to be held by the Cardassians for a time but after their "liberation" by Commander Sam Lavelle, then the CO of DS9, they were spirited away in Java-class transports with accommodation pods instead of cargo units. Those individuals were delivered to Turkanis in the Iotian Federation. There they absorbed into the surviving population derived from the failed colony on Turkana IV.

The colony's leader, Ishara Yar, refused to disclose or comment on the disposition of the new settlers or the manner of their arrival and the history that led them to Turkanis. Diplomatic pressures were being brought to bear on the Iotian Federation but to no avail as of yet. Short of declaring he Iotian Federation a rogue state, the United Federation of Planets had no legal recourse to isolate and contain Iotian Starfleet activities and weapons sales across three quadrants.

The fact that the Prime Directive of the Iotian Starfleet was to expand the Iotian Federation's membership and clientele base made it so they sold warp capable vessels to pre-warp societies as well as marginally warp capable ones. They even had marketing strategies to exploit pre-industrial cultures such as Beta III, after the restoration of Landru reduced the native population back to an agrarian based monolithic culture.

The United Earth Starfleet had contaminated the culture of Sigma Iotia II and created a mafia-based society modeled after Chicago of the 1920-30s. One hundred years later, Captain James T. Kirk altered the society's evolution again by introducing them to Starfleet and leaving a communicator behind. Reverse engineering the technology, the Iotians built their first subspace transceiver. Tapping into he Federation Public Database, they mastered warp technology in a record pace copying public schematics of outdated starships. When the Federation learned of what was happening, they blocked the signals.

So the Iotians simply traveled beyond their own borders to access the Database. This included Starfleet's restricted files and blueprints for outdated starships. The Iotians quickly began building older starships in bulk and sold the oldest models to susceptible buyers. Thanks to an infusion of mid-24th Century starship designs, the Iotians were selling starships built by Earth and the Federation between 2150-2393. The Bajoran Militia and Outbound Ventures being the most reputable of clients that had made mass investments in hardware, ordnance, and maintenance packages. The Iotian Starfleet never sold their most advanced models. Those they kept to themselves for strategic reasons.

Outbound Ventures had purchased over one hundred starships and replenishment packages from the Iotian Starfleet. Nearly forty of those were manned by SID eligible crews. The SID eligibility list had reached forty-five ships and crews. The Bajoran Militia had half that number with fifty ships but they'd also contracted the Iotians to build them three starbases and three shipyards. But the Bajorans now had a dozen colonies in the Gamma Quadrant as well as the nine colonies in the Alpha Quadrant. The Colonial Defense Forces under Colonel Anara held the bulk of the fleet. The System Defense Force was comprised of a handful of warp capable, modernized starships and impulse-only assault ships and interceptors.

The Iotians had developed two domestically produced variants of the refit Constitution-class. A circa-2293 version called the Interceptor-class and an early 24th Century type model simply called the Relentless-class. Both were available for purchase by select clientele. The Militia and Outbound Ventures being the first of these. General Kira's Shield of the Prophets flagship was an Interceptor-class starship while Colonel Anara's Fist of the Prophets was an Enterprise-class starship. Outbound Ventures had purchased a dozen of each.

Tom Riker had received a prototype Charleston-class starship from the Advanced Starship Design Bureau. It was one they hadn't perfected yet. With Akaar becoming Fleet Admiral and lifting the ban on selling decommissioned Starfleet vessels to Outbound Ventures, Riker returned the Charleston-class to the ASDB for further testing and experimental developments while he received an Ambassador-class flagship from Starfleet. This ship was designated the Indomitable-C to separate it from its Ju'day-, Emden-, and Charleston-class predecessors. The original Maquis Raider named Indomitable being Ro Laren's cell flagship. The lift of the ban opening up transfers of early and mid-24th Century design starships to Outbound Ventures, thereby threatening the Iotians' lock on the market. The Iotian Starfleet was in deep negotiations with Corporate CEO, Kathy Tyrol, over future procurement of more advanced starship lines comparable with those withheld for the Iotian Starfleet itself.

While Tyrol dealt directly with the hereditary Kracko, leader of the Iotian Starfleet, the hereditary Oxmyx, the Iotian Federation's leader and chief don of the Five Familias, negotiated with Macen regarding the revelation of who traded the lives of the former Starfleet prisoners and arranged for their transport to Turkanis. The two young women had proven reliable enough allies with a price tag. Oxmyx wanted the Iotian Starfleet to have access to Federation colonies as well as the independent Protectorate worlds. Thus enabling the colonies a choice between spotty Starfleet patrols or the transactional protection scheme offered by the Iotians.

It was a ploy currently blocked by the Federation Council but favored by the Federation Diplomatic Corps. The diplomats simply felt that the inherent "superiority" of the original Federation would win over the colonists' loyalty and mature them into future member worlds. The politicians were wisely skeptical.

The outer colonies, like the protectorates, had been abandoned by Starfleet under the Federation Council's Clancy-inspired Starfleet contraction to protect the member worlds only. The SID, using its black budget, hired Outbound Ventures SID and non-SID approved crews to patrol those spaces. Many of those planetary governments now preferred either security contractors or the Iotian Federation to handle their interstellar security. It was a harsh blow to the Federation's credibility and entirely self-made in the paranoia that followed the Mars Massacre when internal enemies were seen everywhere.

The Synthetics Ban alleviated the fears regarding the mechanism of uprisings but didn't find the root cause of the programmed "malfunctions" that annihilated the Martian colony and destroyed he Utopia Planitia Shipyards and every vessel under construction or repair there. Including the intended arks to relocate the Romulan colonists affected by the Hobus shock wave. Instead Starfleet abandoned the project in favor of internal security. A decision that provoked Admiral Jean-Luc Picard's resignation from Starfleet. Billions of Romulans now mistrusted the Federation more than ever. The shining light for them was Ambassador Spock's attempts with Red Matter that alleviated the blast's intensity allowing millions of colonists to survive rather than be obliterated by the shock wave that devastated their colony worlds. So the far reaching dialogue between Vulcan and the Star Empire was opened.

 

Chapter Two

The Obsidian was parked in Earth orbit at a starship and bulk freighter orbital dock. Macen and Rockford was greeted by the always atypically jovial Tellarite transporter chief, Telrik. Telrik literally lived in the transporter room. He'd hung a hammock, stored changes of clothes, and his padds and holo projectors for his romance periodical and movie subscriptions. He bathed in a public restroom down the corridor from the transporter room. Telrik felt he was on-call 27/9 as determined by a Barrinoran day/week. Since Serenity was based out of the Brsknir system were the leading former Earth colony was the Class-M world Barrinor and the station orbited its colony, the Class-P glaciated world of Odin. Barrinor was dominated by its interstellar banking cartels and was a neutral world whose security was guaranteed not only by Outbound Ventures but by interstellar treaties from all the major and minor stellar nations that did investing with Barrinor. The banking cartels respected investors and depositors' privacy except in egregious violations of its space. Which had occurred twice in its history. Once by Solarian Security Services along with DeVos Security Contractors and then again by he Orion Syndicate. Every guilty party had their assets seized by Barrinor's cartels.

For Solarian and DeVos, the seizures were financially catastrophic. For the Syndicate, it was a nuisance since they'd slowly transferred the bulk of their deposits off of Barrinor in preparation for the attack and its consequences. Treaty terms made each entity a pariah amongst stellar nations. Yet each had escaped that fate in real terms. For the first time since the colony's founding in 2189, it felt uneasy about its own security. Barrinor itself was a fortress world. But even planetary defenses as entrenched as Barrinor's could be defeated by an orbital bombardment of photon torpedoes. Quantum torpedoes could crack the planet into pieces. No bunker was deep enough to survive the onslaught a single starship could bring a single planet.

Serenity and its outriggers were the solar system's only permanent defense. The station itself was a stock Nor-class Cardassian space station with all the strengths and weaknesses that implied. Nearby, the orbital drydock was in higher orbit around Odin meant for ship repairs and docking space for starships between assignments while their crews enjoyed a liberty. The the Indomitable-c was joined by the Solstice, the Eclipse, and the replacement Emden-class Braveheart as the system's usual defenders. But only the Indie and the Braveheart were permanently assigned to the station. The Solstice and Eclipse could be deployed on covert missions requiring stealth rather than force. Additionally, Nick Locarno commanded a small cadre of six Danube-class runabouts and two Mosquito-class heavy transport runabouts.

Locarno's wife, the Bajoran ex-Starfleet officer named Sito Jaxa, served as the Gamma Watch Deputy Chief of Security for Serenity as well as the CONN Officer aboard the Solstice. Before that, after her liberation from the Cardassian prison on Kodosh II, she'd been Riker's First Officer aboard the Bonaventure-class SS Iron Boots. The Bonaventure-class being the step between the NX-class refits that began being produced towards the end of the Earth-Romulan War and the Asia-class light cruiser and the Mercury-class frigate. The Iotians had began sales of the NX-refit as the top tier model of the Econo-Line of sales. They sold Mercury- and Asia-class ships skipping he Bonaventure-class entirely as part of their standard sales line. They offered Asia-class refit models as part of their premier sales line which covered the departure from duotronically based starships to isolinear driven ships. The Econo-Line of NV-, NX-, and NX-refit ships weren't even duotronically driven. Still, the best seller was the classic Constitution-class heavy cruiser. It seemed every pretentious minor power had one or two to throw around nowadays.

Every potential client planet was approached with the offer of subscribing to the Iotian Federation's protection plan whereby the natives could purchase starships and ground defenses and be trained in the use with optional maintenance packages or membership in the Iotian Federation itself where protection was provided at the cost of a percentage of natural resources and a conscription term service for every citizen below a certain age. Membership also included entrance into the trade network developed within the Iotian Federation where technologies and materials were exchanged with a small federal sales tax applied.

The conscripts returned after a seven-year term service trained in the use of more advanced technology of the type the planet was trading for. For the least advanced cultures, membership was desirable. For warp capable cultures with private ambitions, the direct sales route was preferable. A non-aggression treaty with the Iotian Federation was part of the deals to be struck.

Macen and Rockford made their way to Deck 3 where they parted ways to check on their individual teams. For Rockford it was enduring the litany of complaints from Lee and Shade over janitorial duties and hearing Forte's latest discovery in the Federation Council's mundane clerical filings. For Macen, it was checking in with Angelique Kerber and Bailey Smith in their Data Womb. Both names were aliases used by the Ardanans to flee death sentences on Ardana IV. Smith was Maarta, the heir apparent of the First Citizen's role after the murder of her father by her uncle but blamed on Troglyte freedom fighters. Kerber was Anara, a Troglye brought to Stratos as a child to be a companion for Maarta. However, no one expected that Anara would open Maarta's eyes to the realities of the apartheid state the Stratosians had imposed on the Troglyte clans.

Maarta left Stratos as a young woman accompanied by Anara and joined the freedom fighters' cause. So she was easy to blame for her uncle's crime. The pair made it it off of Ardana IV while being tried and condemned in absentia. Macen found them in hiding in the neutral Kalendra Sector and offered them new lives with a purpose once again. Becoming "humans" they blended in throughout Federation and border societies. Non-Federation cultures commonly mistook Ardanans for humans anyways. Only Kerber's elaborate tattoo gave away her Troglyte clan origins. Yet she defied anyone to try and remove it. It had been recently revealed that Kerber's tattoo was actually an intertwining of two separate traditional clan markings. Indicating her marriage to a member of a separate clan other than own. Kerber refused to comment.

Kerber, a genius hacker, and Smith, a genius linguist, when put together made the best cyber hacking team in the known galaxy. T'Kir had been the best soloist but this team easily matched her vaunted skills.

Parva, the Orion engineer, carried the dual role of being the Obsidian's Chief Engineer and the SID team's Engineering Specialist. Her husband, the Angosian Augmented soldier had participated in a brief Starfleet career during and for a short term after the Dominion War. Tony Burrows was former Starfleet SOC but dismissed because of a biosynthetic knee replacement. Captain Elias Vaughn, the man that trained Macen, suggested him to Outbound Ventures and Macen himself. Macen and Vaughn had been friends for decades so he knew not to dismiss Vaughn's recommendation. Tessa, the ship's sentient EMH, was also the team's Medical Specialist. Her ongoing existence defied the Synthetics Ban. Tracy Ebert had been Macen's helm officer aboard the Odyssey and was now the Flight Operations Officer for the team. Generally flying the Danube-class runabout dubbed the Corsair that was the surveyor's lone auxiliary craft. Finally, there was Harriet Fedora Mudd.

Harri Mudd was the great-granddaughter of Harcourt Fenton Mudd. As an offspring of Harry Mudd III, she'd been raised to become a criminal elite. Indeed, Mudd was vastly skilled compared to her sibling, Harry Mudd IV, who was an inept wastrel. But she was vastly more accomplished than even her famed father. Her only rival in the family was her half-Bajoran sister, Mudd Kenra. But Mudd had seen a great deal of suffering in the galaxy. Something that bonded her with the Angosian Rockford and Ebert. It was beginning to bond her with Smith and Kerber. Mudd III had been afflicted with a conscience but one he generally managed to suppress. Mudd found she couldn't. Macen and Rockford's team made a difference for the common folk of the galaxy so Mudd hired on as one of Rockford's people though she generally worked more closely with Macen's team.

The ship's captain, Shannon Forger, drew up a skeleton crew watch rotation and she and the XO, Joelle Jones, along with the 2nd Officer, Aeryn Black, took three day rotations manning the ship's bare bones complement that also rotated in and out on three day watches. Only Telrik was content to stay at his post. Tessa had no choice since her operational status in the Federation broke the ban. Her organic boyfriend from Eminiar VII, Galen 3, stayd aboard with her. Galen 3 was the ship's Sciences Specialist and ran a small three person department in support of Macen and Rockford SID activities. Tessa and her medical staff worked closely with Galen 3's team.

For Forger, it meant spending time with her family. Her older sister took time to visit her and their father, Nigel Forger, as he visited Earth from Izar. An ex-Starfleet engineer, Nigel Forger couldn't be prouder of his two daughters. Amanda was a Rear Admiral and in command of an important Starfleet division. Shannon had completed her gender transition and recovered from the scandal of rejecting a commanding officer's advances in Starfleet to rise to become captain of a starship in service to her sister's division. Nigel understood neither sister could discuss work matters. They lived in a clandestine world. Amanda had risen through Starfleet's ranks in Internal Affairs until she was hand selected by Nechayev and groomed for the role the Vice Admiral had envisioned she now had.

Still, it was good to see them both happy and healthy in their roles. Shannon hadn't been romantically involved for some time but Amanda was keenly interested in cultivating a romance with a fellow admiral, Robert Tavar Johnson. Forger's role kept her in London most of the time and nearly all her time was spent on Earth in some official capacity or another. Johnson travelled to diplomatic hot spots aboard the USS Intrepid intervening as Starfleet's top diplomatic troubleshooter. Captain James McKinley and the bulk of the senior staff had served under then-Captain Johnson of the Galaxy-class Intrepid until the ship's destruction resulted in promotions for everyone. McKinley managed to keep his core officers together under his new command and Johnson chose the Akira-class Intrepid to be his support mechanism for when diplomacy failed.

The crew of the Intrepid had close ties with Macen and Rockford's SID team and the Obsidian's officer corps. Just as Johnson had close ties with Forger, Macen, and Rockford. The only Starfleet officers that could claim tighter bonds were Commander Ro and Captain Vaughn. The civilian outlier of the group was Neela. A Bajoran engineer in the Resistance, Neela went on to become Chief Miles O'Brien's deputy during peace time aboard DS9. But murder and attempted murder sent her to prison. The Bajoran death sentence commuted at the Federation's behalf and request. In prison, armed with the prophetic scrolls in the extensive prison library, Neela truly found her Prophets. They visited her and chose her as their Hand in Bajoran interstellar security affairs. Neela had faith but couldn't understand how she could affect matters from within prison.

First Minister Shakaar paroled Neela in exchange for undertaking a mission to deal with the Cardassian True Way alongside her lifelong friend, Major Anara of Militia Special Forces. Afterwards, Neela was pardoned and set free. Kai Winn Adami, Neela's manipulator when she'd been an ambitious vedek, appointed Neela as her personal agent. Neela frequently undertook off-world missions alongside Anara in the name of Bajoran security. The Prophets showed her many things during and between missions. Including Winn's false faith and vindictiveness. So Neela worked to subvert Winn's plans for revenge upon her perceived enemies. When Winn learned of this, she had a faithful member of the Special Forces sabotage the Ark of the Prophets, the Karemma license built troop transport Neela and Anara utilized as transportation and it failed in battle. Neela was "killed" in the vacuum of space.

The reality was the Prophets gathered Neela up from multiple similar fates across the multiverse and chose one to send back into the Prime Universe. Only ten years later and unaged by the passage of time outside the Celestial Temple.

Neela was the guide for those lives the Prophets had selected to replace in the Prime Universe. She herself didn't understand her role in this reality but she had faith. When the Prophets spoke, she made certain the networks of agents her gods had chosen knew it. Rockford was skeptical regarding the Prophets' intentions and the fates of some of those that died before being replaced. Macen had encountered the Prophets before they gathered their agents and was willing to give them credit for preserving Bajor, sometimes against their own expressed desires. But they'd learned that the Prophets watched over every Bajor. Some required greater attention that others and some had to be abandoned to their fate, such as in the Terran Universe.

But the Prophets had deemed it fit to intervene in a spectacular way in this universe. It had seemed Bajor was to remain outside of the Federation while the Dominion was a threat. Now that that threat had passed and the Federation itself had posed a threat. Outbound Ventures had assisted Bajor in its defense. The first of many allies that arrived. Even the Iotians, though remiss from the actual fighting, sent three ordnance resupply convoys through neutral space to reach Bajor to keep the Republic's stockpiles of phaser emitters and photon torpedoes replenished. The Iotians claimed neutrality but had clearly chosen a side.

Something that became even more evident when the Iotian Starfleet sold starships to the Confederacy of Worlds before the Federation recognized it as such. These starships were purchased on an installment-lease plan. The first of its kind. The Federation, seeing the Confederates fight those that Ardra had "sold" them to, and prepared to battle the Federation for independence, recognized the colonies as a separate political entity and severed formal ties with them. Opening the door for the Iotians to step in and offer favorable terms for a long term contracted alliance. The brewing rivalry between the two Federations had included a Klingon-Cardassian Alliance plot from the Terran Universe to discredit the Federation, the Klingons and the Cardassians in the eyes of their rivals. The Alliance splintered and its soldiers returned home to fight the civil wat the re-emerged Terran Empire was exploiting.

The Iotians gained access to mid-24th Century and earlier starship designs and quickly built a fleet out of them, selling off their intended pre-2293 technology fleet they'd constructed. Macen bought that fleet wholesale, thus beginning the professional relationship between Outbound Ventures and the Iotian Starfleet. The personal relationships with Oxmyx and Kracko would swiftly follow. The Iotian Federation's decision to add the Benjamin Franklin-, Bolivar-, and Sparta-classes to their premier line of sales products and the pre-refit Miranda-class into their standard line also heightened tensions with Starfleet and between Starfleet and Outbound Ventures purchasing said starships from the Iotians. Akaar was more understanding than Clancy but still, he preferred his contractors on retainer to receive starships from Starfleet rather than a political rival.

A brewing rivalry with an irresponsible party in the Federation's eyes. The Iotians gross negligence in interfering with the natural cultural evolution of entire worlds made them as culpable as the Cardassians, Romulans, Breen, or Tzenkethi in the Federation Council's eyes. Councilor/Candidate Auri played up these brewing tensions as another migrant problem as refugees arrived from worlds recently absorbed by the Iotian Federation. The Iotians were also depicted as gangsters with near parity to Federation technology. Technology they'd stolen from Starfleet. Which was the truth when it came down to it.

All the presidential candidates except for a libertarian fringe candidate saw the Iotian Federation the same way. So a consensus between candidates was largely made. All vowed to take executive action to restrain the Iotians while the Federation Council was urged to tighten official policies regarding them. Kirk's arranged taking a cut of Gross Planetary Product and reinvesting it into Sigma Iotia II was still on the books despite three decades of neglecting to enforce the policy. In the meantime, with legislative gridlock maintained over policy matters regarding the Iotian Federation, Kilbrek's "live and let live" executive mandate seemed a poor response to a direct competitor that claimed to have derived its system of governance from Earth and the Federation.

Kilbrek felt the competition would bring out the best in the UFP once again. Auri and her competitors felt differently. Only the outlier agreed with Kilbrek's philosophy. Mav'Rik, a Rigellian candidate seemed poised to take second in the vote tally and the Vice President's office. Torik, the Vulcan libertarian, seemed destined for humiliation. Which he would absorb stoically as befit a Vulcan. Yet a strong undercurrent of voters kept Torik alive at the polls. Neither Mav'Rik nor Torik were members of the Political Action Arm. Though Mav'Rik seemed far more inclined to listen to its policy positions.

Still, Torik had assembled a transition team despite predictions of his electoral doom. But that energized his supporters who rallied a door to door "get out the vote" campaign to remind citizens of the recent abuses of powers yielded by strongly authoritarian presidents or those populists, like both Auri and Mav'Rik, who turned out to be career criminals. Because of Ardra, Federation Security and the newly established FBI both did background and credential checks on all the candidates. Auri's strong support for both the Sok and Perez administrations came to light. Mav'Rik downplayed that revelation stating "we'd all been fooled". But Torik made a sticking contrast issue out of it.

But at this point, days away from planetary elections to determine Council votes, over fifty percent of registered voters supported Auri's positions and declared their intention to vote for her. Unless Ro could complete a "Hail Mary" pass and obtain a chargeable arrest warrant, Auri seemed destined to win with Mav'Rik her presumptive Vice President. Torik, who had held Vulcan Council posts, had never even been elected to the Federation Council. The only candidate not to have done so. Shaw and mainstream FNS and competing news outlet reporters dismissed Torik's chances. But Anna Shaw and Starr chronicled his supporter's drive efforts and increasing rallies and stump speeches from the almost emotive Vulcan.

For an Orthodox Vulcan, Torik did seem passionate about his causes. His message of being the outsider candidate resonated with voters. His direct contrast with the more mainstream Auri and Mav'Rik portrayed him as a check and balance in a system that had been bent before and could be bent again. Torik had no personal stake in the power of the position. He would be a caretaker of administrative and executive power, enforcing those laws as passed by the Federation Council and interpreted by the supreme High Court with no personal axes to grind and flagrant use of executive orders to bypass the legislative process.

Torik was the candidate to reveal to the public the two tier nature of the Federation Council. An Inner and Outer Council. The Inner, and senior, Council could override the Speaker of the Council's ability to call forth or deny a vote on proposed legislation. The Federation Council's Committees always had one Inner Council member presiding over them, directing the nature of flow of the legislative process. Outer, and therefore junior, members of the Federation Council accepted this reality as tradition and vied for the limited seats within the Inner Council as voted on by the Inner Council itself. It was a politically incestuous lot, accepting new members when vacancies arose with members that agreed with the majority's political stances.

Torik's researches were rewarded with confirmation from elder statesmen who verified the inner workings of the Federation Council and showing how Earth, Andoria, Vulcan, Tellar, and Rigel held permanent vetoes and seats on the Inner Council while the remaining seats rotated throughout planetary representatives. But these Councilors always held outsized power compared to their "equal" legislative partners in the Federation Council as a whole. A spurious uproar rippled throughout the electorate and kept Torik's chances at a long shot victory alive.

The next day would be the final day of active campaigning by every candidate but their supporters and advertisements could continue up until election day, which was three days away. On the fourth day the Federation Councilors would vote. Auri and Mav'Rik's planetary vote delivered by their junior members' proxy votes on their behalf. That way he candidates couldn't defy the planetary electorate's wishes and vote for themselves instead. But they could still vote as private citizens in the electoral contest. That was why campaigns suspended in order to give the candidates the opportunity to cast absentee or live ballots on or for their world of origin. Naturalized citizens also voted the same way on or for the planets they'd been made citizens of. In rare cases, Federation citizenship was granted without tying the immigrant to a specific planet. Noted examples of such procedures were Guinan, Brin Macen, the other El-Aurian refugees, as well Ro Laren when she graduated Starfleet Academy. Macen still held dual citizenship and could cast a vote directly for one candidate or the other. As was the case in every emigre without a specific planet to vote from.

The Obsidian crew, with exceptions of Tessa and Galen 3, were voting on election day. Even Mudd hadn't been convicted of a felony so she retained the franchise. The crew, unaware of the SID team's activities, seemed to favor Auri as heir candidate of choice as well. Macen and Rockford made it policy to allow public facts to shape the politics and voting habits of the crew. Kerber and Smith, under their aliases, possessed voting rights but they found democracy to be a messy business and maintained a disdainful air towards it.

Macen checked in with them, "Can we confirm Auri's handlers met with the Presider today?"

"No," Kerber said flatly, "The domicile is leased to a Super Political Action Committee. The same one that routed monies to the Orion Syndicate prior to the Waypoint takeover. However, there are no internal video feeds inside the entire building. External feeds are often down. We can't match anyone to Neela's description of the Presider."

"She's deactivating the external feeds before she exits the building. Federation Security and the local constabulary are aware of the ongoing sensor outages but the neighborhood is quiet and no crimes are reported during the failures. So it's become a routine maintenance issue with law enforcement dismissing any dangers from someone obviously tampering with public security sensors," Smith explained the situation.

"What about the rest of New Berlin?" Macen asked, "Neela described very ornate facial markings dominating the Presider's features. Other feeds have to have picked her up traveling about the city."

"Not if she obscures her face," Kerber pouted, "Hoods and cowls are very popular in New Berlin because of the glare from the local star."

"She blends in rather than stands out. You could send investigators to try and pinpoint her movements but the Federation is a pluralistic society. Once she becomes part of the daily routine, she becomes background noise," Smith warned, "No one notices her any more if they ever did."

"We've been monitoring Auri's conversations with her political handlers like you requested. So far she hasn't tipped Commander Ro off to who her fellow Cell 51 Action Committee members are. A lot of chiefs of staff meeting her and her chief of staff have made incriminating remarks but Auri has been well schooled in letting her staffers speak for her," Kerber related what Ro had already complained about on numerous occasions. The various chiefs of staff had been tagged through discreet means and their contact list seemed to comprise one another. JAG hadn't received High Court permission to monitor communications so it was obvious to the observers that they receiving instructions remotely.

"The communications network within the target domicile we're presuming houses the Presider has an insane amount of cyber security. We haven't found a way into it yet without triggering an alarm or leaving a footprint," Kerber went on to explain.

"But there's also a tremendous amount of in-system traffic to Earth and relayed out of the system. We haven't been able ot trace either destination points because of the security measures," Smith went on to further describe the situation, "We may need to hard wire into the comm array in order to wiggle past the fire walls."

"Walls, as in plural," Kerber added.

"Do it. Where are Tracy and Harri?" Macen asked.

"They're both aboard," Smith told him, "They both have outstanding legal issues on Earth. They felt it was better to avoid the planet during an intensive security season."

"Tracy's warrants have all expired. Harri...we couldn't get Starfleet to expunge her record. So her staying away from security agents is a good thing. Get prepped to go into the building as maintenance personnel. You said the external sensor gets attention all the time. The residents should hardly notice a repair crew running routine maintenance on their comms transceiver," Macen instructed, "I'll get Tracy and Harri to run you to Luna in the Corsair."

"Won't the dockyard administrators note the departure of our runabout?" Kerber asked.

"They were informed ahead of our assignment to an outer docking port that we would likely be deploying auxiliary craft," Macen told them, "The trickier part is that the admin staff can track your flight to New Berlin. If they're in Cell 51's pocket, which is likely, they'll inform their handlers that we sent agents to Luna."

"Angelique and I are experts at blending in anywhere," Smith reminded him, "Tracy can as well. Harri draws attention."

"Which is he point of sending Harri. With all eyes on her you should go unnoticed. Tracy can get Harri out whatever trouble she starts."

"You hope," Kerber snorted.

"It's my fervent wish," Macen conceded, "Gather whatever materials you need and replicate appropriate official garments and IDs. I'll let Ro know you're going so Starfleet Intelligence will keep eye out for you and warn you of impending trouble. Officialdom should get you out of any scrapes you get into in the course of your investigation. Starfleet Security will be tasked with running interference between Harri and the constabulary."

"And Federation Security?" Kerber wondered.

"We'll let the FBI claim jurisdiction and fight it out with Federation Security. Meanwhile you'll all be free to return to the Corsair and depart New Berlin before anyone is the wiser," Macen assured them.

"We'll take our usual precautions with us just to be certain," Smith advised him. For her that meant a bandoleer of throwing knives beneath her official coveralls. For Kerber it meant a traditional Troglyte pick/knife she could hide within the garment's pockets. They were silent weapons that wouldn't trigger energy discharge detectors.

"How do you propose to discreetly arm our pilots?" Smith asked.

"There won't be any discretion at all," Macen grinned, "We want them noticed."

"This will not end well," Kerber predicted.

"Ro can override any legal trouble they get into. They may get banned from New Berlin or even the entirety of Luna, but they'll walk free," Macen promised.

Giving us the opportunity and time to slip away, interface with the comm array, slip back to the ship undetected and wait for Harri and Tracy to be escorted back to he landing site," Smith laid out Macen''s bare bones plan.

"Simplicity works best," Macen grinned again.

"We'll be in the shuttlebay in twenty minutes. Will they be ready?" Kerber inquired.

"They'll be running their pre-flight checklist," Macen promised.

"Finally! We're getting off this ship!" Mudd was antsy at the OPS station next to Ebert's CONN controls. Smith and Kerber toted their portable computer gear aboard and strapped in at the two auxiliary stations typically assigned as Tactical and Sciences.

"This will only take a minute," Ebert promised the centerpieces of the plan.

"We're aware," Kerber said drolly.

The launch occurred three minutes later at full impulse. Ebert applied thrusters and reset their direction towards Luna. She was already in communication with Earth/Luna Flight Operations getting landing permission at New Berlin. There was some initial resistance to the request but the flight controller had no grounds to withhold landing rights. So the flight went on unimpeded. Customs officials met Ebert and Mudd as they disembarked. With nothing to declare but the clothes on their back, They cleared Customs without incident.

Smith and Kerber quietly exited the runabout after the docking bay was sealed. Kerber expertly bypassed the controls that would log an exit or entrance into the bay. Then they went on on foot to find the neighborhood hey were going to burgle. That required the use of a public transporter station since the flat was on the opposite side of the city. As predicted, the tenets were so accustomed to maintenance crews in the their vicinity they took no notice of Kerber and Smith reaching the basement and beginning their computer tap.

"What to do, what to do?" Mudd was thrilled beyond measure to have some personal freedom. Macen's instructions to Mudd consisted of, "Have a good time."

Ebert was in the know. So she stuck wih Mudd as the criminal artist began plotting her excursion activities, "Have you ever been to New Berlin?"

"No," Ebert confessed, "Until I signed up with Captain Macen again, I'd never been to Earth."

"You do realize you're the only one that calls him 'Captain', right?" Mudd asked as she searched a public directory.

"He was my captain longer than he was my mission commander," Ebert replied, "He'll always be my captain to me."

"Don't tell Forger," Mudd snickered.

"I'm not part of her crew," Ebert rationalized, "I don't answer to her or her chain of command. I'll fly the Obsidian if asked to but that's an 'on loan' situation. Shannon is great but she isn't my captain."

"Aglaia would have be dead before she let you fly the ship," Mudd laughed.

"We have other ships," Ebert reminded Mudd.

"No one wants to fly that rust bucket Eclipse, so you're safe there. But Noble is awfully possessive of the Solstice these days," Mudd reminded her friend.

"Sito is a great pilot but her primary duty is to the station. Even if Chris were to stay in command of the Solstice when we were aboard, I'd still fly her," Ebert vowed.

"One big Maquis reunion," Mudd sighed.

"I miss Eckles, Darcy, and Lacey. They're family. Now we're aboard separate ships," Ebert lamented.

"Parva doesn't want or need the help and Miller wouldn't let Christine Lacey anywhere near the Obsidian's Tactical system without six months of boot camp," Mudd predicted.

"I don't see why we don't just fly the Solstice. She's just as capable and twice as stealthy," Ebert was indignant.

"Forger, Jones, and Miller know how to fight. Your crew sat out most of he fighting with the Maquis to gather intelligence. Macen has stood down as a starship commander so the glory days are just that. The past you fondly remember but the current reality is we ride someone else's boat," Mudd replied, "Don't you think I wouldn't rather troll around in the Freehold than ride in that surveyor?"

Ebert tended to forget Mudd sidelined as captain of her own vessel. Mudd never spoke about what she got up to when she was alone aboard her own ship. But Macen and Rockford were always briefed after she returned. Not even Burrows, Mudd's current beau, was allowed to come along on the excursions. The only other member of the extended team that went solo as much or more was Neela. Neela had the Ark of the Prophets returned ot its original state as a freighter and used that cover to travel across the quadrants on mysterious missions that she undertook by herself. But again, Macen and Rockford were kept apprised.

Not even Riker was kept up to date on their movements throughout the galaxy. Macen and Ro had kept secrets from the Maquis cell on Ronara Prime and from the Odyssey crew. But generally they paid off handsomely. It was obvious Rockford disliked Neela's lone adventures and tolerated Mudd's for the data she collected. Both could travel where an Outbound Ventures ship would stand out and draw unwanted attention. Attention that would block them from accomplishing their mission. So Neela and Mudd were sent out alone, in the dark, with no support or backup. But they always came back with information that Macen and Rockford didn't share with anyone it seemed.

Riker and Danan got snippets, Ebert knew. Some of the intelligence brought in affected Outbound Ventures as a whole. Where it could affect business, Kathy Tyrol was warned. Other information shares regarded ongoing Outbound Ventures assignments or SID activity. They'd share those portions but something larger was afoot and Ebert could sense the change in the Federation. They all could. Starfleet was capable of defending the Federation from external threats. Akaar had seen to that through replacing command officers and redeploying starships to critical defensive posts. The exploration efforts had been resumed with specialized starships equipped as explorers rather than heavy and light cruisers, frigates, or destroyers.

Starfleet was regaining its honor after the blight of the Bajoran and Cardassian invasions. But the Federation no longer seemed to burn as brightly as a free society. Now elements and political parties actively tried ot suppress individual liberties in the name of collective security. Auri and Mav'Rik didn't specifically mention policies designed to do so but Auri's consolidation of all Federation agencies, including those under the control of the Federation Council under the executive's administration defied the separation of powers built into the UFP Charter. Auri had already promised defiance in the face of the Council and High Court in her proposed closing of the border and mass deportations if they objected.

Legal scholars predicted no fewer than fifteen constitutional crises if Auri was elected. If she were elected by a margin of over fifty percent she could claim a mandate from the people as her justification to ignore Federation Council policies and High Court rulings. Mav'Rik was a hard-liner on migration but otherwise a moderate in governmental affairs. That was his strength and weakness. But the electorate, when polled, had a mass consensus that recent events had proven the old system of doing things was broken. Insiders like Mav'Rik were seen in a negative light. Whereas chaotic figures like Auri and revolutionaries like Torik were gaining in popularity in the final days of the campaigning. Still, margins of error notwithstanding, Mav'Rik had a polled lead on Torik but over a thirty point loss margin to Auri.

Kerber and Smith toiled to patch in their computers into the transceiver hardware without tripping the security software that had been added by parties unknown. Even the transceiver tech was beyond civilian standards. Fortunately, when the installers did their work, they left space in the cabinets to slide the two expendable portable computers into them, discreetly wired into the unit, bypassing its secure server's outer locks and hopefully giving Kerber and Smith access to the transceiver's encrypted filing system. From that point it was merely a matter of discerning the cipher key before tripping the security protocols.

No one noticed the maintenance techs left without the cases they'd brought with them. Back at the shuttle port, Kerber learned the Corsair's landing pad had been accessed by Federation Security when she jimmied the lockouts again. But the Corsair's security system showed no entry. The duo were proud of their work securing the runabout from unauthorized access. The troubling aspect was that Federation Security had no plausible reason to be accessing the hangar. They had no probable cause beyond the fact that it was an Outbound Ventures support craft. Which was no crime but did indicate agents were on the ground. But whether they were SID agents or merely private security couldn't be determined without probing the ship's computer core memory and database.

Both of which were untouched according to Kerber and Smith's findings and forensic scans. Smith discreetly signaled Ebert that they'd finished their work and were awaiting extraction. Ebert sounded harried. Apparently Mudd was having a very good time.

The bar fight began, as so many do, over spurned advances. In this case, an off duty Federation Security officer offered to buy Mudd a drink. Mudd's comeback was, "No thanks. You can't afford me."

"I didn't mean to imply you were a prostitute," the man said.

"I'm not. But someone looking to hire a prostitute at a dive bar like this would get the joke," Mudd laconically jested.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"You already know or did your plainclothes Federation Security buddies forget to tell you?" Mudd inquired.

"How did you know we're Federation Security?" the off duty agent wondered.

"Puh-leeze! You all have the same barber and tailor," Mudd snorted, "Plus that phaser you have shoulder holstered leaves a distinct bulge, Mr. Federation Security Man."

"I think I need to see some ID," he countered.

"Nope. You're off duty whereas the goon squad isn't. You have no probable cause to request my ID other than I rejected your offer to buy me a drink and identified you as a Federation Security agent," Mudd countered, "None of which is suspicious or a chargeable offense."

"You seem well versed in the criminal code," the agent retorted.

"I'm a law student," Mudd replied.

"Dressed like that?" the agent scoffed.

"Are you profiling me, Mr. Agent?" Mudd inquired sharply.

Ebert arrived, "What seems to be the problem, Officer?"

"Your friend has a mouth," the agent complained.

"Most humanoids do," Mudd snorted, "That's part of the mutual attraction."

"See my point?" the agent huffed.

"Is there a problem here?" the four plainclothes officers stepped in.

"Not until now," Mudd snarked, "Like I told your off duty buddy, you have no probable cause to ask to see my ID or charge me with an offense. All I did was turn down his offer to buy me a drink with a friendly joke."

"The service doesn't take kindly to making jokes out of one of our own," the lead agent said grimly.

"He wasn't the joke but he didn't get it anyway and got huffy," Mudd explained.

"Well, we're all off duty now. So why don't you tell us this joke," the leader of the pack requested.

So Mudd did. The leader merely grunted, "Prostitution is illegal in this city."

"The point is I'm not a prostitute and therefore he can't afford me," Mudd got huffy as well.

"You need to be taught some respect for Federation Security," the leader decided.

"Really? It's five on one," Mudd balked.

"Five on two. Your friend's guilty by association," the leader warned.

"All she'll do is hold my coat. I don't want the leather getting scuffed," Mudd advised him.

"Your funeral. Let's take it outside," the leader grinned.

Once outside a crowd waiting to enter the bar formed a spectators circle seeing what was about to happen, Mudd made one last observation, "I lied earlier. It's really one on three. I take out the leader, you, and one or two enthusiastic wingmen and the others will cry and call for backup."

"Get ready for an epic beating," the leader warned her.

"Okay, let's do this," Mudd conceded.

The leader made to throw a punch as he advanced. Mudd ducked under it and threw her elbow back as she spun underneath his greater reach, breaking his nose. Then she elbowed his solar plexus, kicked his kneecap loose, and elbowed his nose again. The leader was groveling on his hands and knees.

"It's okay. You're gonna be okay. Later," Mudd hammered a field goal kick into his testicles, causing the leader to go down and puke on himself.

One agent came at Mudd and threw a kick which she caught his left leg. She elbowed his knee causing him to cry out in pain then she kneed his groin and dropped him. The third agent tried to power through a roundhouse punch but Mudd caught the arm and twisted it as she arced it towards the ground. Applying a wrist lock, she broke his wrist but kept her grip on it it as she overextended his elbow and then kneed that, breaking it.

The last two agents lined up and Midd blew platinum white blonde hair out of her face, "Really?"

The first threw a jab while the second got behind Mudd to grab hold of her and hold her in position. She ducked and slid sideways so the jab connected with her rearward attacker. She stomped into the punch thrower's knee and snapped it and he went down clutching his leg, which was now at an unnatural angle. The last agent fled.

The constabulary arrived in force and arrested Mudd and Ebert. Mudd had a lone comment as they applied the binders, "Pretty impressive response time, Boys."

While they lined everybody to establish their IDs, Mudd leaned towards the beaten and humiliated lead agent, "Who hired you?"

 

Chapter Three

Instead of contacting legal counsel, Ebert contacted Ro. Who put the wheels of their release in motion. Witnesses at the bar described the five agents harassing Mudd and later Ebert simply for showing up. Witnesses on the street vouched for Mudd's report that the lead agent threatened her and no arrest was attempted. The five agents were confirmed to have signaled they were going off duty before the fight began. They had the right as private citizens to press charges. But their superiors advised them to drop the matter seeing as how one woman had beaten four agents senseless. Only modern medical science would allow two of them to ever walk normally again.

So Mudd and Ebert were released without charges being pressed. The Chief Constable advised them to leave New Berlin, Starfleet Intelligence's vouching for them notwithstanding. Officers escorted the pair to their assigned hangar after verifying no one other than Federation Security had entered the docking space. Mudd balked at that and the Constabulary ran an inquiry into the nature and cause of Federation Security's inquiry. They were told to bury it.

The Corsair set course back to Earth and its home inside the Obsidian. Once back aboard the surveyor, Kerber and Smith changed back into their normal attire before returning to the Data Womb. Here, they began probing the enigmatic cipher. Smith, on a hunch, reviewed Section 31's files on encryptions used in the Terran Universe by both the Terran Resistance and the remnant Terran Empire. She discovered the encryption coding in these files as well as the cipher. Kerber applied the key and the Presider's current communique with Federation Security's Special Agent-in-Charge of Luna was voicing his discontent on the outcome of the fight between Mudd and his agents.

"Agent Felder, I warned you that SID agents were formidable. Just be glad your five agents only faced Mudd. Otherwise your fifth agent wouldn't have escaped unscathed," he Presider, whose racial origin was unknown to either Ardanan, chided him. But this was the first official sighting of her by Starfleet Intelligence or one of its arms.

"We contacted the constabulary to report a fight before it began and still the constables barely arrived in time to prevent crippling blows to my agents. Agents that were poorly warned of the threat they faced," Felder ignored the Presider's chastisement.

"Agent Felder, they were warned that they faced Harriet Fedora Mudd and Tracy Ebert. Their lack of due diligence to look up those persons' files isn't cause for me to be remorseful but it is cause for me to be alarmed. Your agency's Director promised full cooperation in this matter and you badly blundered your way into botching the setup to incarcerate the pair. Eyewitness testimony placed your agents as the belligerents in the matter at every step. So forgive me if I could care less what happened to incompetents," teh Presider sneered.

"Those incompetents will be spending the night in medical facilities thanks to your lack of intelligence. You want cooperation then trust us with details," Felder argued.

"If I shared our files on Mudd and Ebert than it would become obvious where we obtained them. That comprises your ability to deny complicity with us," the Presider advised him

"Full transparency or Federation Security will not support your objectives," Felder warned the Presider.

"You've spoken with the Director?" the Presider paused.

"That warning came from him personally. If you expect Federation Security to continue looking the other way and doing the occasional errand for Cell 51 then you'd best share everything we need ot know when we need ot know it," Felder put it flatly.

"This will compromise you in the eyes fo the Federation Council and the High Court if word leaks out. Are you certain regarding your agents' loyalties?" the Presider asked.

"We've compartmentalized our involvement with your cause. Agents sworn to live or die for it have full disclosure. Everyone else is left out of the loop," Felder explained.

"Very well. The next incident will be one where your agents are fully briefed. Be certain they can handle the truth about where the data comes from," the Presider issued a final warning before cutting the transmission.

"I'm forwarding copies to Macen, Rockford, and Commander Ro," Kerber decided.

"Keep the recorders on standby. Her next transmission will be with Sorbo," Smith predicted. She was proven right just minutes later.

Sorbo's image was grave as the Presider reported Federation Security's ultimatum. Sorbo broke his silence when she completed it, "Unfortunately we need Federation Security's complicity. We lost too many field agents in Starfleet's purge of its ranks. Federation Security fills those gaps because of Starfleet's compliance with the code s requiring them to consult with Federation Security regarding internal Federation investigations."

"The creation and staffing of the Federation Bureau of Investigation absorbed Federation Security's counter terrorism units. We're blind in those areas except for what we get from within Starfleet Security," the Presider reminded him, "Commodore Oh didn't purge her entire rank and file and we still have agents in play within Starfleet Command. However, we have been blinded regarding Commander Ro Laren's investigation into us. We don't know what she knows or how she's learned it."

"Macen didn't send two agents to Luna just to pick a bar fight. They were the distraction. We need to learn who and what the other agents are and what they did while in New Berlin," Sorbo remarked.

"If other agents came with Ebert and Mudd, they were invisible to Federation Security's monitoring system," the Presider warned him.

"Which of Macen's agents have that capability?" Sorbo sought to refresh his memory.

"None listed," the Presider said angrily, "We're dealing with an unknown element. We need to press our contacts within Starfleet Command and Starfleet Security for more in-depth files. We also need to cultivate agents within Outbound Ventures."

"Macen and Rockford have developed a cult of personality to rival that of Oh herself. Our overtures to the starship captains and crews as well as Rockford's detectives have fallen flat," Sorbo did recall, "Perhaps we're looking at this the wrong way."

"How so?" the Presider wondered.

"The corporate ladder has to have employees disgruntled with the bosses. Someone overlooked for promotion or other grievances. I'll send out recruiters to try and develop moles within the corporation itself," Sorbo decided.

"Make certain their credentials are impeccable," the Presider advised him, "The company is relentless in vetting potential clients or recruits."

"They'll never know their true loyalties," Sorbo promised and signed off.

"I'll send this off to Serenity flagged to Tyrol, Riker, and Gerrit," Kerber decided. Gerrit Gren was Serenity's Bajoran Chief of Security. His two Chief deputies were also Bajoran. Radil Jenrya was a former member of Macen's personal team and Sito Jaxa was ex-Starfleet and Riker's XO aboard the SS Iron Boots and the Eclipse. She'd been piloting the Ju'day-class raider when they rescued Nick Locarno from the Genesis Device detonation hat created the planet Locarno. It reunited the former Nova Squad members and sparked a romance between the two that ended in marriage.

Locarno had drifted after his expulsion from Starfleet Academy to Ro's Maquis cell. Arrested by Starfleet, he served time on a penal colony where he dreamed up his Nova Fleet adventure. He funded the experiment by freelance smuggling. Fortunately for Locarno his misadventure and manner fo recruiting starships to Nova Fleet had garnered the attention of Outbound Ventures. Riker led the investigation and monitored Beckett Mariner's escape and Locarno's pursuit of her. With only seconds to transport Locarno and engage the warp drive, the Eclipse crew managed to successfully recruit Locarno.

Riker had been one of Locarno's intended recruits and was surprised when instead Riker pitched joining Outbound Ventures instead. Serenity's Flight Operations Division needed a commander and Locarno had been deemed perfect for the role. A personal entreaty from Ro helped sell he proposal. That, and being reunited with Sito. Being aboard Serenity would allow him time to get reacquainted with her when she explained her dual role with the corporation. The final selling point was learning Macen had founded the company. That implied a level of freedom from bureaucracy.

Outbound Ventures' corporate side was a bureaucracy but Riker and his Strategic Team worked with their Starfleet liaison officer, Lieutenant Christine Pike, to ensure that the Operations end of the company remained free of bureaucratic snares and red tape. Locarno's Flight Operations team provided the system's only access way to Barrinor and Odin. Locarno himself flew the VIP missions. The runabouts doubled as station security when threats emerged against Serenity.

Pike was the great-great-grandniece of Commodore Christopher Pike. The Pikes had intermarried with a Chinese clan decades ago so Lieutenant Pike was Asian despite her English name. Still, she was honored to be named after Chris Pike and went by the abbreviated name herself. Just as she was honored to be pulled from Starfleet Operations to present and coordinate SID mission opportunities with Outbound Ventures. Pike handled both the business end with Tyrol and her managers and the Operations requirements with Riker and his team. The latter being where the mission was planned and executed.

But Pike had fostered a good working relationship with both spectrums of Outbound Ventures. She preferred the Operations team just because they operated closer to Starfleet norms. They had recognized chain of command and systemized way of selecting starship crews and assigning them tasks. In exchange, Pike expedited vetting of selected captains and command staff personnel for SID mission eligibility. Since most of the selected personnel were former Starfleet officers, Starfleet Command and Starfleet Security rarely denied the candidate their privileged status.

Then there were crews like the Waylaid staffers where Tyrol recruited the women aboard the original Asia-class refit starship and enlisted them in Outbound Ventures' roster of crews. It was Macen, after several successful outings, that recommended the Waylaid officers for SID status. But gaining it changed the nature of the crew. Men were now part of the crew as several of the original crewwomen cashed out to operate their own freighter security escort service. They neither wanted nor appreciated the dangers associated with SID missions. Tyrol bought the Waylaid and paid out the outgoing crew from the sum. But the senior officers remained and they adapted to a mixed gender crew.

The experiment that began with third and fourth daughters from a colony of ancient Asian familial clans transformed into a premier SID crew. They'd bought the registration rights from Joelle Jones when her crew retired and she sold off the United Earth NV-class starship they'd operated since the latter days of the Maquis. Jones was proud of Captain Wei Ziya and her officers for adapting so well to the changes the SID eligibility brought them. They honored Jones' Waylaid crews' memories.

"We have a direct connection established from the Presider to Sorbo and from the Presider to the handlers she assigned to Auri. Yet there's no direct connection between Cell 51 and Auri despite all that," Ro complained in a split group briefing of elements involved with the investigation, "The active campaign season has ended and only her followers and staffers can continue the 'get out the vote' drive over the next two days."

"The handlers aren't a direct enough connection?" Riker wondered.

"Not in the eyes of the High Court, where this investigation would eventually get appealed to," Admiral Forger answered from her own office.

"Presuming the polls are right, investigating the UFP President for a connection with terrorists will be a politically suicidal move," Rockford stated from Ro's office.

"I'm willing to take the risk," Ro replied.

"But is Starfleet?" Macen had to ask from beside Rockford.

"She has Alynna and I's support. Bob Johnson is willing to argue the pretext before Akaar and reaffirm T'Lara's commitment to the truth no matter how unpleasant it could be," Forger told them.

"Unless it threatens Starfleet's public image," Riker said snidely.

"The only way this investigation could tarnish Starfleet is how long it took us to uncover Auri's allegiance," Ro rebutted Riker's sneer, "Until Waypoint happened we had no reason to watch Councilor Auri. But what we did for her own safety turned into an investigation into her ultimate allegiances."

"Her talking points where shaped by her connection to suspected Political Action Arm chiefs of staffers and placed Auri in the heart of Sok's political sway with a tinge of Cindi and Perez. Starfleet Intelligence received covert word from the Cardassian Information Bureau that Cell 51 liberated the former politicians from the labor camps deep within Cardassian Union territory where the three were being held alive to further negotiations towards a prisoner exchange with the Federation," Forger revealed, "Comments by the staffers in Auri's presence indicate Sok, Cindi, and Perez have been grooming her for this election now that Kilbrek's terms are up."

"Romulan migrants being the new existential threat only Auri could save us from," Macen appreciated the sleight of hand for its deviousness, "The same rally call with a new target. A non-military target that can't fight back."

"Not now that Tal'Aura and the Star Empire washed their hands of the refugees," Ro complained, "Auri wants to push them back to Romulan space. The Romulans don't want them. The Border Zone warlords can't afford to take them in. So where do they go?"

"Auri will have negotiated a magical plan to cure everything by the time she's sworn in," Macen predicted, "And the Romulan migrants will resist, calling upon Starfleet to relocate them by force of arms. Embittering millions of Romulans and creating new enemies housed by a rival power."

"Any bets on who'd that be?" Ro snarked.

"The Iotians make perfect sense. They'd want the Romulans technical know how to further their development of domestically produced starships and weapons to surpass that of their Enterprise- and Interceptor-classes," Macen further predicted, "And this would cool mounting tensions between the Federations."

"I hate it when you talk sense," Rockford grumbled

"It would explain why Oxmyx and Kracko are meeting Outbound Ventures and Bajoran demands for product without increased diplomatic overtures in recent weeks," Macen revealed.

"This would also make them less reliant on Starfleet designs," Forger tested the theory in her own mind, "I'll pass this off to Bob and he can quietly ask Oxmyx and Kracko what their latest intentions towards Federation border policies are."

"Remember, the Iotians are prone to mimicry but those two original starship designs prove they can learn to be original given enough time," Macen counseled her.

"But their capacity for mimicry made them leap from an industrial culture to a mid-24th Century tech base in just over one hundred years. That's dangerous by any standard," Forger replied, "It's too bad their society didn't learn from the Federation cultural observers the true nature of our system as swiftly."

"Maybe they did and we're just learning it," Ro countered, "Otherwise we wouldn't have elected a Sok, tolerated a Perez and an Ardra for as long as we did and now stand poised to elect an Auri."

"The Federation's citizens look back at he Bajoran internments with shame yet did little to stem the flow of Bajoran resettlement out of the Federation that followed," Macen remarked, "Instead, Bajor and her colonies accepted the disenfranchised Federation citizens and gave them a new home. A home that embraced them for being who they are."

"The Mars Massacre introduced a height of paranoia surpassing anything seen even in the face of the Dominion. It was an attack from within and no one was ever held to blame," Forger reminded everyone involved, "Sok took advantage of those fears just as Auri found a misdirect to refocus that fear on a new target. That's a collective failure of Starfleet and the SID. We are all just as much to blame as the unbridled fear of the citizenry itself."

"Kudos for the Bajorans that stuck it out in the Federation and in Starfleet," Ro commented, "Captain Cera Neva is an example of a Starfleet officer trying to shift the suspicions regarding Bajoran officers into a positive."

"I thought you didn't like Cera," Rockford was surprised.

"I don't like her as a person but I admire her tenacity. Bajorans will rejoin Starfleet but the flood of officers and enlisted who resigned and enlisted with the Bajoran Militia is a familiar story," Ro confessed. She herself held a reserve commission of Colonel in the Militia and had led the Colonial Defense Forces in their victories over Starfleet.

General Kira also held a reserve Starfleet commission of Captain, having been promoted from Commander following her elevation to General and Chairperson of the Militia Joint Chiefs of Staff. It was pittance but gave Kira a voice within Starfleet that extended beyond her Militia importance. It also came too late after Commander Sam Lavelle had taunted Kira with her Starfleet rank of Commander for months during his duration as CO of DS9. His casual dismissal of the Militia only exasperating tensions brewing between the Bajoran Republic and the Federation.

Cell 51 disposed of Lavelle when he became a liability. A move which deprived Oh of a favorite pawn. Starfleet Security was now fully committed to rooting out and destroying Cell 51. Unfortunately for Starfleet, Oh was so confident in her cult of personality within Starfleet Security she didn't begin her investigations into her own division.

JAG had laid down explicit orders forbidding Oh from using her control of Internal Affairs to persecute her investigators. Just as Clancy was forbidden from using her influence from impeding the careers of her investigators who jointly investigated her and Oh. Any Internal Affairs or Security Special Branch investigations into the SID personnel, Vice Admiral Nechayev, Rear Admiral Forger, Commander Prentiss, Lt. Commander Senecka, and Commander Lefler had to be approved by Admiral T'Lara herself. Oh chafed under these restrictions. It wasn't the Romulan way to simply let one's enemies go without retribution. But she'd played the Vulcan career officer long enough to know when to let matters die down before eventually striking back.

The SID's contracting civilian investigators could be used to build a case against them. Unfortunately, the primary contractor was Outbound Ventures. Outbound Ventures never broke the law. They bent it beyond recognition but the letter fo the law was never broken by their operatives. It was that compliance that drove the desperate Solarian, and DeVos forces to attack first rather than continue wait for weeks more trying to provoke a "fired upon" resolution from Outbound Ventures. Once committed to an assault, the private security contractors lashed out at every aspect of the business, SID contractors as well as non-eligible contractors and Rockford's individual detectives. The tactical and strategic response from Outbound Ventures coupled with Barrinor's seizing of their deposits crippled the other contractors.

Those personnel captured in the events were handed off to Starfleet's custody. Oh rerouted them to black site prisons that didn't officially exist. But SID inquiries into the whereabouts of the prisoners forced Clancy and Oh to negotiate with Cardassians for their continued internment. Lavelle's being manipulated to liberating those same prisoners provided Sok with her pretext for a war. The Iotians played along and simply ferried off the prisoners before Starfleet could debrief them. Lavelle had followed his orders from the Fleet Admiral to do so. Now Lavelle was dead and couldn't be forced ot testify to that fact.

The Federation Council Sub-Committee for Starfleet Affairs was implicated in Starfleet officers running a rogue operation with the Orion Syndicate to seize Waypoint Station and take hostages of the Bajoran and Cardassian leaders. Those Councilors were being investigated by the FBI and Starfleet Intelligence. Auri alone of the committee members, by benefit of being a hostage herself, had escaped scrutiny until the campaign season began. The other Councilors had been exonerated. But their chiefs of staff were already listed as probable Political Action Committee members as was the Secretary for Starfleet Kilbrek inherited from Cindi's staff and was appointed by Perez.

Secretary Chol had access to Starfleet secrets even the President was denied knowledge of, such as the 0 Sections existence. Ro had persuaded he FBI to monitor Chol's contacts to see if they led back to Cell 51. Unfortunately, the FBI couldn't obtain a court order to monitor her transmissions so she could easily report to Cell 51's command hierarchy and never be discovered. But the nascent counter terrorism agency did receive a list of Chol's transmission contacts and many were directed through the Federation Subspace Relay Net to locations outside the Federation, including into the Taurus Reach.

The fact that there were scant Federation colonies existing within the Reach made her frequent transmissions to that area suspect. But the Taurus Reach was increasingly volatile as the Klingons and Tholians each began campaigns of conquest to expand their frontiers. The Klingons vowed to protect the Federation settlers already there and allow Starfleet and its contractors the ability to provide personal protection to threatened colonies just as long as they didn't object to Klingon claims over the territory itself. The Tholians offered no such protections and instead fought a xenocidal war to annihilate all outsiders.

Yet this wasn't a campaign issue. The ceding of the Taurus Reach to the Klingon Empire's claims over it had been negotiated between Kilbrek, the Federation Council, Chancellor Martok, and the Klingon High Council. It was a done deal by diplomatic overtures. Auri and Mav'Rik simply ignored the issue and Tovik was ignored by the general public regarding it. Yet his campaign had made awareness of the brewing conflict and the loss of Federation colonies a platform issue that was beginning to catch hold in voters' minds.

"We have to wait out the results of the election," Forger counseled everyone, "Cell 51 has done all they overtly can to sway the election. What follows the electoral process is where the real investigation begins,"

"I hate to agree but she's right at this point," Ro conceded.

"The likeliest outcome spells trouble for the Romulans that came here looking for new lives outside the Star Empire. The Federation's entire reputation as a safe haven for the oppressed is about to be destroyed," Riker lamented.

"And Starfleet will be forced to be complicit in carrying out the mass deportations," Macen was the grim bearer of predicting the outcome.

The popular vote came and went and the next day the Federation Council cast its votes overseen by he High Court. The election was certified by the court as legal and legitimate. Auri was elevated to the Presidency while Tovik's surprise second place showing made him the Vice President. Mav'Rik had no recourse but to demand a recount or accept his loss and resume his Federation Councilor's duties. He chose acceptance rather than prolong the inevitable and throw the Federation into doubt regarding the democratic process.

Now Auri's transition team began working with Kilbrek's outgoing administration and receiving daily briefings on governmental affairs. Auri would be sworn in in six weeks' time. Anticipating the deportation process coming at the Romulans, legal firms filed motions and sued the Federation on human rights appeals to the Interstellar Criminal Court. The ICC rulings were held binding by previous Federation administrations. The goal of the legal experts was to expedite the case and argue it before the ICC's human rights division before Auri took office so that Kilbrek would uphold the ruling. Unfortunately for them, the ICC did issue a stay of action during its deliberations but the fast tracked trial rendered a ruling upholding national sovereignty and allowing the Federation to deal with its interior borders and population as it deemed fit.

The Presider remained silent throughout the six week transition period. Even the political handlers that had met with both the Presider and Auri maintained their distance. Then came the day of the inauguration and comm channels lit up as the Presider contacted Sorbo only to be received by a woman the Presider identified as Sorbo's deputy director. Over the course of the conversation, Kerber was able to identify the new official as Lauren Ryder, another Starfleet captain on "detached duty" with Starfleet Security.

"Tovik's surprise victory could prove problematic if Auri should lose her office," the Presider predicted.

"That's why you're there. To insure she doesn't," Ryder replied confidently.

"I'm still uncomfortable with Macen deploying assets to Luna and specifically New Berlin. It may signal that Commander Ro's investigation has closed in on my position," the Presider remarked.

"Yet you're certain that your flat wasn't broken into?" Ryder questioned the Presider's earlier assertions.

"The security measures were all in place and unbreached. Despite the stealth of whatever assets were deployed to operate while Ebert and Mudd drew official attention, the sanctity of my domicile was left untouched. My assets here in New Berlin reported the same," the Presider explained.

"Then they failed at whatever task they were set upon," Ryder was confident again.

"I wouldn't be so certain," the Presider warned, "Clearly Federation Security failed to detect the agents. We have no reason to assume we know they failed because we cannot know their intended task."

"Yet Starfleet Intelligence and the FBI haven't opened an inquiry into you or your agents," Ryder rebutted the Presider's caution, "We won an election. Be happy and celebrate the win."

"You know my work has only just began. The new President's acceptance speech begins my full and total assignment," the Presider reminded her, "So, I have many agents to deploy and a government to subvert."

"Carry on then," Ryder signed off.

Kerber and Smith had live streamed the conversation as they recorded it. They'd transmitted it to SID headquarters in London where Ro's analysis team watched it unfold before returning their attention to the swearing in ceremony. They were at a state of heightened awareness forewarned that Auri was about to make a sweeping policy statement in her speech. One that could threaten the Federation democratic norms.

Auri was sworn in by the Chief Justice of the tribunal High Court. She thanked citizen Kilbrek for his services as the UFP's leader despite the hardships he'd endured during his tenure as the Chief Executive Officer of the Federation. Starfleet had gotten out of the habit of referring to the Fleet Admiral as Commander-in-Chief preferring Starfleet Commander to allow for the dual role the civilian government played with Starfleet. Ultimately Starfleet answered the the Executive Branch and the Legislative Federation Council. The High Court dictated the legality of Starfleet's actions when it made unilateral decisions without input from the government. The President was now referred to as the C-in-C over the Fleet Admiral.

Auri began her speech, "Citizens of the Federation, I thank you for electing me to my post. I can only promise you I will perform my duties to their utmost capacity. In accordance to that creed I now invoke the Insurrection Act crafted by the Federation Council during the First Klingon War to keep Starfleet commanders in line with Starfleet's admiralty and the President's office and the Federation Council's wishes. My first order of business is now closing our wide borders from entrance by unauthorized citizens of another rival power or unallied interstellar nations. Starfleet is hereby ordered to stop all traffic into Federation space and check the documentation of all crew and passengers of vessels entering our borders and insuring through Federation Security Customs Division that everyone aboard is cleared to enter the Federation. Undocumented migrants or those not previously approved will be removed from those vessels and taken to a neutral world where they begin the application process to legally enter our territory."

"She isn't wasting time," Ro muttered watching the screens.

President Auri continued, "I am also hereby ordering all member worlds and colonies overrun by Romulan migrants to detain them until such time as Starfleet vessels arrive to deport them. Since we are a humane society, I have negotiated a settlement whereby the Iotian Federation will take in and absorb these millions of refugees. The Iotian Federation looks forward to assimilating the refugees and putting them to work for the common goals of their civilization."

"You called it," Ro told the screen with Macen's features on it.

"I wish I would've been wrong," he admitted.

"This why I live outside the Federation," Riker commented from his screen.

"Or why I never became a citizen," Rockford's screen remarked.

"It isn't that bad yet," Forger said from her office dozens of floors above Ro's Analysis Center.

"It's still one hell of a first announcement," Nechayev's image broke her stern silence.

"One she promised she'd make," Johnson commed in from his offices aboard the deployed USS Intrepid.

"And invoking the Insurrection Act as her first policy decision insures her Starfleet's complicity in her deportation plans," Captain Elias Vaughn spoke from his office aboard Deep Space Nine.

"Not if the orders are illegal. Unfortunately the gamble on the Romulans' behalf in the ICC failed. The court has favored national sovereignty over the codified basic civil rights the court is empowered to enforce," Johnson spoke again, "They made Auri's policy legal. If inhumane."

"I don't believe anyone is assuming the Romulan refugees have any rights whatsoever," Forger complained.

"As a former refugee I can speak from prior experience the Federation used to make those adrift and without a home welcome in the society as a whole. Individual member worlds could restrict access to the worlds until we gained citizenship but that was the extent of the restrictions. Never before has an entire people group been targeted for expulsion by the Federation's government," Macen said, "A people group Admiral Picard committed Starfleet into helping wih Starfleet Command's assent and the blessing of the Federation Council."

"I can say the same. When I arrived in the Federation from Angosia I was welcomed and given opportunity to create my first detective agency. Later as I expanded the franchise across different worlds and sectors, the Federation welcomed my services as did local law enforcement," Rockford added to the conversation.

"She's gearing up for more policy announcements," Ro warned everyone.

"Other points of contention include this so-called Confederacy of Worlds. Which are simply disaffected Federation colonies and colonists. This administration does not recognize President Ardra's ability to sell these colonies and colonists and furthermore we do not recognize the independent sovereignty of these colonies. These colonies are Federation wolrds and they will be recognized as such even by the colonists themselves. We will employ any and all measures to insure compliance with this policy shift and we will not shrink from our responsibilities towards other colonies considering declaring independence. The Federation invested great deals of resources, infrastructure, and colonists themselves to these worlds and we will not surrender them even to the colonists themselves," Auri announced, "Together, as a whole, we will make the Federation great again."

The round of applause following Auri's closing remarks came from bo invited guests and spectators who'd waited for hours to fill the grounds.

"So much for freedom of choice," Ro sneered.

"She bears watching, that's for certain," Nechayev allowed.

"Kilbrek invoked the Insurrection Act to allow Clancy permission to deploy Starfleet Security officers on the streets of every major city on every Federation member world after the Mars attack," Johnson reminded them, "He called off Starfleet's maximized presence within a few weeks after all the synthetics were deactivated and the ban was enacted."

"That was a restrained response from a political moderate," Macen argued, "Auri is hardly either restrained or a moderate. The other political benefit of the Insurrection Act is that it suspends normal electoral processes to keep the sitting president in power during the time of crisis. If Auri can justify keeping the act in place, she can remain president indefinitely."

"It also theoretically ends all criminal investigations into the sitting president," Forger pointed out.

"That's a Charter issue for the High Court to rule on," Nechayev balked.

"My objective is to track down and destroy Cell 51. Cell 51 led me to President Auri. Therefore I'm continuing my investigation...including into her affairs," Ro stated resolutely.

"I'll support that," Forger pledged.

"So will I. After all, I assigned you the mandate," Nechayev agreed.

"You have an ally in me," Johnson also pledged.

"I believe I speak for us all in saying we all support your investigation and stance towards it," Vaughn spoke on everyone else's behalf.

"Thank you," Ro was grateful to have earned such die hard support.

"What will be interesting is to see what executive orders Auri settles on issuing first," Johnson reminded them all that Auri had campaigned on promises of sweeping executive orders and clearing out the civil servants to make room for political appointees vetted by her offices for their loyalty to her administration.

"The press is following her into the Presidential Office," Rockford alerted them, "She has a stack of padds awaiting her thumbprint authorization. Seems her transition team was veeery busy."

Auri's Press Secretary, assigned from the Ministry of Information, explained the nature of every executive order being authorized. Auri imprinted more orders on her first day in office than any sitting president on Federation history. In them were the important pieces that stripped civil servants of their tenure and seniority in office and another dismissed tens of thousands of civil servants of their jobs with a thumbprint. Essential personnel were kept until new appointees could take their place.

The Department of Personnel and Management already had ideologically desired appointees that were put into office through another executive order. Applications which had sat idle prior to the election now flooded the computers of the agency and the business of rebuilding a government began.

Next, the judicial branch of the Federation had vacancies opening up due to retirement or advancements authorized by Kilbrek. Auri froze the advancements and instead retired the judges. She announced a candidates list of judicial appointees to be reviewed and confirmed by the Federation Council. Two seats on the High Court were also opening up due to term limits and Auri submitted names to fill the void in the tribunal High Court. These judges also had to be confirmed by the Federation Council.

The stacking of judges was a priority for Cell 51's Political Action Arm. Sok and Perez had been unable to move on it due to term limits mot being met and retirements not being announced during their terms. Ardra ignored the openings. Kilbrek couldn't get anyone through a gridlocked Federation Council. But now Auri's political allies on the Council outnumbered the opposition. Those Councilors selected on election day would serve their six-year terms while awaiting to expand their numbers in the mid-term elections between the six-year presidential election cycle.

Most of Auri's executive orders had long been expected owing to her campaign promises. The surprise move was the federalizing of the Federation News Service and placing it under the Ministry of Information's purview. Other major news outlets were also federalized. It seemed the days of the free press were ending in the Federation. Pundits like Fiona Shaw were quickly hired on in the days that followed while independently minded responsible reporters like Anna Shaw and Clarice Starr found themselves dismissed from FNS but held to their contracts so that they couldn't transfer to one of the still independent but smaller news outlets.

Jake Sisko, a freelance stringer for FNS, protested the network's decision to shut down the news division and go entirely with the pundits. The talking heads echoing whatever the Ministry of Information's latest propaganda was issued forth. Anna Shaw and Starr led a reporters' campaign to reopen the newsrooms of the affected outlets. They also went to court to be released from their outstanding contracts since they weren't receiving compensation but forbidden to work. Auri hadn't been able to stack the court's yet so the reporters' union won their case despite the networks appealing. The appellate court upheld the ruling. So in a matter of weeks, the news culture shifted dramatically so that public broadcasting services, not reliant upon federal funding but rather than of private donations and corporate endowments, went back on the air with newly hired staff in an effort to stem the flow of outright lies with the truth of developing situations.

 

Chapter Four

During these weeks, Starfleet ramped up in its assigned role to relocate millions of Romulan migrants. Akaar was personally opposed to the plans but Starfleet Command had been given directives from both the President and the Secretary for Starfleet, the post still held by Akifa Chol, that redesignated the Romulan refugees as a "clear and present danger" to Federation security and that of the affected member worlds and colonies whose infrastructure and service systems were overtaxed. Under this classification, Starfleet was authorized to use force in order to motivate the Romulans to relocate.

The Iotian Starfleet was providing Java-class transports with cargo containers converted to personnel carriers. These in turn were being escorted by the newest elements of the Iotian Starfleet. The Federation Starfleet would insure that the Romulans boarded the compartments, that they were loaded onto the sprawling, modular Java-class transports and then escort the Iotians to their border. The only question remaining was would the Romulan refugees resist?

Akaar assigned Captain Morgan Bateson and the crew of the USS Honshu as the senior officer and starship in the effort. Bateson's years as a starship driver in both the 23rd and 24th Centuries giving him a practical knowledge and edge fo experience in dealing with crises that most command officers post-Dominion War lacked. Plus the Akira-class starship was more advanced than anything the Iotians were fielding in case of hostilities over the Romulan "evacuation".

Captain Mirita of the ISS Kelly was Bateson's opposite number on the Iotian side. Her Splendor-class destroyer was one of the most advanced starships in the Iotian fleet, which tended to be based more on the early-24th Century designs such as the Ambassador-, Renaissance-, and Apollo-classes of starships. But the Iotians surprised Starfleet by fielding two Eagle-class starships which included one carrier variant. This revealed that the Iotians had copied the decades' old Peregrine-class fighter as well.

The Romulans were angry and resentful that the UFP had promised safe haven and was now exiling them to a foreign government. They accepted the Iotian Federation's offer of safe haven and the chance to build new lives on Iotian Federation worlds and even offered the chance to colonize an unpopulated M-class world that the Iotians had purchased from Ardra during her presidency. This world gave the Iotian Federation land rights into a UFP sector. The Romulans seemed eager to share their advanced technological knowledge with the Iotians.

Akaar knew as well as the rest of Starfleet Command that relocating the Romulans into the Iotian Federation fulfilled a campaign promise Auri had made but would provoke a long-term strategic crisis as the Iotians moved away from merely copying outdated Federation Starfleet starships and began designing and building advanced ships of their own. Including potential access to cloaking technology. Moving two million people taxed the Iotians' capacity to transit that many passengers so the process took several weeks.

In the meantime, President Auri began laying the groundwork for a bulwark of starbases in the Deeper Beta Quadrant to block continued Romulan expansion into the quadrant. She also ordered Starfleet Operation to draw up plans to enforce her policy decree and executive orders forcing the Confederacy of Worlds back into the Federation proper. This set up a web of potential military engagements. The Romulans had claimed one colony as their own. The Confederacy had starships of their own. And the Iotian Federation had been hired to assist in the protection of Confederate colonies.

The Ministry of Information and the now-misnamed Federation News Service spewed forth patriotic themed calls for immediate action on the Confederate matter. The public was whipped up into a frenzy regarding the sanctity of the Federation as a whole and the belief that only the Federation Council could expel a member world, such as Bajor, but colonies and member worlds could no longer declare independence from the Federation itself. They would have to petition the Federation Council for the right of independence. The Confederate worlds sent a delegation to argue their case before the Federation Council but Auri's Cell 51 influenced allies won the day and the petition was rejected. Instead of liberation, the Confederate colonies were given a ninety day notice to surrender to federal authority or the Starfleet would move in to enforce it.

Akaar learned this matter was why Auri had invoked the Insurrection Act and kept it legally binding even after the undocumented Romulans had been deported. The President and Federation Council wanted Starfleet to deal with "rebellious colonies and "occupied territories". The latter referring to the colony that accepted Romulan Star Empire control of itself. The colonists now rejected their earlier decision and pleaded with the Federation to rejoin the federal body. The Romulans, having entrenched themselves on the colony and using it as a vassal state, weren't inclined to surrender it.

The Diplomatic Corps was working every angle to pressure the Romulans into leaving but Tal'Aura was set on keeping the planet. Even the Proconsul, Donatra, supported the Praetor in this decision. Director Sela of the Tal Shiar pressed her agents to learn of Starfleet's ultimate plans regarding the Star Empire's possession of the Federation's former colony. Would Akaar lead Starfleet into a war against the Star Empire or would he pressure the President and the Federation Council into accepting the Romulan presence within the Confederate worlds should the Federation pursue pacifying and occupying those colonies.

The Federation Council believed it had learned a valuable lesson from the former Demilitarized Zone with the Cardassians. It had allowed settlers to remain behind on colonies now under Cardassian administrations. This led to the formation of the Maquis. Auri and her allies in the Federaion Council now believed the colonists should have been forcibly removed rather than allow them to stay behind to form a terrorist faction. This "lesson" guided them in their approach to he Confederacy of Worlds. They simply saw rogue colonists in need of reminders on who really ran their colonies.

Strategically, the Confederacy neighbored the Star Empire now that it had absorbed the neighboring sector. Auri's Interstellar Security Advisor as well as the Secretary for Starfleet and the Secretary of Defense all stressed the need to contain the Romulans and not allow them a further foothold into territory that had been Federation space until Ardra sold the colonies to a consortium of slavers that had buyers for Federation citizens lined up within the Star Empire's elite. President Auri had vowed to reclaim all the territories Ardra had sold. But she also placed agreements with the Talarian Republic, Thallonian Empire, and Iotian Federation ceding all interests in the territories and colonies they'd bought from the Federation in exchange for six-year peace accords.

That left the Confederacy of Planets as the sole remaining piece of Ardra's scheme. The colonists, purchasing Iotian built starships, had beaten back the slavers and the Orion Syndicate that bought the contract from the original slavers. As the Confederates resisted longer the more stridently Auri beat the war drums. But other comments Auri made during her campaign could now be acted upon. This included withdrawing from the Khitomer Accords and all alliances with planets outside the Federation. That would include Bajor.

Auri was walking a fine line of managing increased exploration efforts and a growing isolationist motive. Expansion in the Deeper Beta Quadrant was to enlist worlds into the Federation and/or establish colonies in the territory for which to plant the flag to contain Romulan expansion efforts. This directive also applied in the Gamma Quadrant to slow Bajoran expansion and colonization efforts there. Equally applicable was the directive of the burgeoning exploration of the Delta Quadrant to contain Romulan ventures into the quadrant.

But when it came to Tholian expansion into the Taurus Reach in direct conflict with Klingon ambitions there, Auri publicly declared that the Tholians could do "whatever the hell they want." Predictably, this attitude troubled Chancellor Martok and the Klingon High Council. Other Federation allies were shocked and worried that they too were among the "abandoned" list of Federation alliances. The complicity of the Federation Council only seemed to embolden President Auri daily, chaotic announcements and statements.

The Bajorans, still closely tied to the Federation had made military alliances with the Cardassians so they had one less foe to worry about. But the Breen and Tzenkethi still bordered their sector. Bajor had invested in updating and upgrading its fleet but the Breen and Tzenkethi still fielded more technologically advanced starships. But retainers paid to both Outbound Ventures and the Iotian Federation guaranteed them assistance should the Federation fail to respond to an invasion into Bajoran space.

Commodore Saavik, leading the Gamma Quadrant explorations from the Vesta-class USS Endeavor-A, did her best to downplay he signals coming from the President's office regarding actively interfering in Bajoran exploration efforts and colonization efforts. Bajor and her colonies had received a huge influx of population after the Bajoran internments ended. But elements of Saavik's command had sided with the rogue Starfleet officers that captured Waypoint and worked alongside the Blood Queen's Orion Syndicate. These officers and crews were more than likely to interpret the interference implied in their orders in the strictest possible terms. Saavik had strenuously requested that those two starships and their commanders be redeployed elsewhere but Starfleet Command exonerated them as being tricked by the Federation Council's Select Sub-Committee for Starfleet Affairs or a proxy acting in their name.

The Bajoran Scouts employed aged Archer- and Kremlin-class starships as their vessels of choice. The Iotians catalog didn't include many exploratory type vessels other than forcing the Colonial Defense Forces and System Defense Force to redeploy cruisers and frigates to the missions. Since the newer and more capable vessels were needed for the ongoing defensive posture, the Scouts, the smallest division in the Militia overall were relegated to pre-refit Starfleet analogues. As such they had little capability to thwart Starfleet's newly developed belligerence in the Gamma Quadrant.

But the Bajorans had found natural local allies in the Prophets' other chosen race, the Ascendant of Sinherra. Bajoran heretics had conquered Sinherra centuries ago and their beliefs and DNA had been assimilated by the local culture centuries ago when the exiles found themselves transported through the Wormhole into the Gamma Quadrant. Recently, the Prophets had sent their Emissary, the Cardassian agent named Iliana Ghemor, from a parallel universe to guide the Ascendancy to joining with Bajor in a new era of common purpose and belief. Ghemor had to personally encounter the Prophets before she stopped spewing lies and hatred concerning the Bajoran people.

Now the Emissaries, Ben Sisko for Bajor and Ghemor for Sinherra, worked together for the common good of both peoples. Added to this mix was the chosen Hand of the Prophets who worked on diverting interstellar threats away from Bajor. Neela had resisted the title given her by both Vedek Assemblies but grudgingly used it to her advantage when the need called for it.

After emerging from the Celestial Temple, Sisko had a message of the Bajorans setting aside all animosities regarding the Cardassians and truly uniting with them on security and cultural issues. This became a reality when Bajor became the funnel point for the Federation assistance in Cardassian Reconstruction. Afterwards, the Federation's betrayal of both governments and people drove them closer than ever. To the point they had a mutual security alliance and exchange officers serving alongside each others' militaries. The newly re-emerged Sisko retiring from Starfleet to embrace his role as Emissary. Something that both amused and worried on occasion, Sisko's wife and mother of his second child, Kassidy Yates.

But President Auri, no longer under direct surveillance, continued to worry the saner heads at Starfleet Command. Those officers rapidly promoted by losses in the Dominion War followed Auri's leadership without questioning its legal, moral, and ethical implications. Auri had promised to fundamentally change the Federation and she was going about her business of destroying its institutions and rebuilding them in her image. Actual qualifications to assume a role in the bureaucracy seemed to be less desired than ideological loyalty. As such, the newly appointed apparatchiks bungled the functioning of a government that provided the basic needs of every citizen. Repairs to vital infrastructure became delayed and postponed as "qualified" workers couldn't be found to make repairs. Government contracts with service providers deemed too liberal in their politics were canceled.

Auri subverted executive privilege in assuming control of agencies and foundations previously overseen by elements of the Federation Council. The Council itself blithely increased Executive power and ceded legislative control over to the President and her Cabinet's offices. Entire agencies were dismantled and defunded. Millions of workers found themselves unemployed with their basic provisioning threatened by the government's inability to provide food, water, and clothing to people. Even the transporter networks were going down. So even private Relentless felt a manpower shortage.

Even within the short span of months Auri had been President, the citizens began to feel threatened by the very "deep state" they'd voted to destroy and instead had elected officials that would create one. A state that no longer saw their needs as their primary responsibility. Instead, vanity projects like securing the Confederacy of Worlds obsessed the political bodies. Federation Security now also answered to the Ministry of Information and chased down and shut down the remaining free press outlets. Dedicated press agents went underground to report the true facts of the building shortages and neglect the Federation government was showing towards its citizens and most especially, its colonists. Colonial development projjects had become the most mismanaged of all.

Colonists expecting industrial replicators, seed stock, and basic survival tools and products found themselves suddenly at back order waiting lists while the untrained managers rerouted those parts and materials to member worlds suffering shortages. Protectorate worlds suddenly found themselves being billed for Starfleet services protecting their worlds. Those that couldn't meet the Federation's fee schedule were disowned once again. The Federation Diplomatic Corps, with its leading officials forcibly retired for personal political differences with the administration, found its newly promoted but loyalist faction, junior ambassadors delivering communiques to rival and hostile powers that the Federation was no longer protecting less advanced worlds because they couldn't meet the budgetary constraints the Federation was demanding of them.

The Iotians and private security contractors used these decisions to maximum advantage. Even Outbound Ventures offered defensive patrols and services to cut off planetary governments and societies for a fee. The tailored fee structures of these more mercenary establishments and governments began to seem reasonable in the wake of the Federation's continued changes of longstanding policies. Those Protectorate worlds that had rejoined the Federation's alliance structure with empathy towards the earlier decisions to restrict protective measures in the wake of the Mars Massacre simply found Auri's government's demands too costly and erratic to tolerate any further.

The SID's black budget for contracting and hiring private security providers was now opened up for debate within the Federation Council. As such, the funding was frozen until such time as the Federation Council reviewed expenditures and structured debits as it deemed necessary. This affected all contractors, including Outbound Ventures. Whereas previously Forger had subsidized SID eligible starships for patrolling former protectorate systems, she found herself at a budgetary impasse with the Federation Council who deemed those systems unfit for assistance without a considerable influx towards a defensive budget to be paid in gold pressed latinum to replenish the hard currency reserves the Federation had depleted in war derived reparations.

The Federation was facing budgetary deficits for the first time in its history following the settlements ending the wars with Bajor and Cardassia. They'd issued bonds to raise revenue but now had to pay interest on those bonds and provide latinum when the bonds reached maturity and were cashed out. The loss of mineral rights in the latinum laden Ekos and Zeon star system to the Iotians was a severe blow in the Federation's expected replenishment of its reserves. Starfleet had protected the destroyed star system's territory from speculators for nearly a century, holding the system in trust for the refugees that had survived with Captain John Harriman's efforts to evacuate the system when the Romulans field tested a faulty trilithium device in the system's star. The resultant shock wave had been delayed by weeks as the star slowly collapsed enabling the USS Enterprise-B to lead a convoy of cruise liners to evacuate a portion of the combined society to safety before the final collapse of the star and the resultant shock wave destroyed the planets within the solar system...taking the lives of those left behind.

The resultant discovery of rich latinum deposits in the debris field that had once been a solar system had been held in trust by the Federation for the survivors of the disaster. Federation officials assumed that the Ekosian and Zeon descendants would repay the Federation's "generosity" by assigning them the mineral extraction rights. No one forecasted those rights being sold to the Iotians. Auri's government quietly deported the surviving Ekosian and Zeon descendants for their betrayal. Several independent news outlets were shut down for reporting that piece of news. Considered citizens attempting to learn what was happening in the Federation beyond the official claims of the Ministry of Information and FNS trolled the Federation Data Net for surviving and guerrilla news outlets that sprang up to offer as much content as they could before being censored.

Those outlets were broadcast from private homes. Citizens doing so were subject to arrest and imprisonment on a penal colony. With the stacking of the judicial system with politically allied judges, the penal colonies were filling up. Two of the most wanted by the Ministry of Information were Anna Shaw and Starr. They still used their contacts with planetary officials to report on the havoc being wreaked by the Federation government. The never stayed on the same planets and they never stayed for long, traveling under false identities and documents.

In response, the Federation was cracking down on the free and liberated transportation between member worlds and colonies. Customs officials received daily updates on who was considered an enemy of the state that morning. Anna Shaw and Starr as well other like-minded journalists were being smuggled from world to world by sympathetic freighter captains. Captains like Kassidy Yates offered free and undocumented passage for reporters passing from word to world spreading the truth as best they could.

Ro's investigation was at a seeming standstill while the Presider, being watched by Starfleet Intelligence agents, met with messengers and handlers but infrequently briefed Sorbo on her operations. Most of the time she spoke with Ryder or the revealed Chief of Operations, Robert Roy. Roy doubled as captain of the rogue starship USS Dibron, a Soyuz-class wih a working transphasic cloaking device. With Outbound Ventures restricted from SID contracts by the Federation Council's special investigation into the agency's expenditures, Ro was even more reliant on the taps Smith and Kerber had placed on the Presider's comm system.

Her analysts had to filter through the comm traffic because everyone in the building was tapped. Legally, Ro's team could only listen in on the Presider's communications but the average citizen as represented by the tenets sharing the building with the Presider was angry over the chaos daily services now represented. Field technicians had lost their jobs over ideological lines as well as public service workers. So their shortages of able technicians to make average repairs. New Berlin, like many cities across the Federation tried rehiring the dismissed technicians but the Federation bureaucracies clamped down and penalized such efforts.

But according to the messaging coming from the Ministry of Information and its media puppets, life had never been better than under President Auri. Vice President Tovik had been derailed from making press conferences and public statements to the contrary. Tovik's personal Federation Security guards were under strict orders to keep the Veep isolated and alone in his offices and his home. But Tovik regularly sidestepped the communications blackouts he was under to get the truth of what was occurring within the administration out to the discerning public. Finally, Auri detained Tovik.

But Ro's team hit pay dirt six months into the new administration's tenure when the Presider broke her own isolation and directly contacted the President on what she thought was a secure channel.

"You moved too swiftly," the Presider chastened the President, "The plan was for you to slowly phase in replacing bureaucratic and essential services personnel as qualified help applied for the opening positions. You've made a mockery of your own government."

"I did exactly what I promised the voters and I did on my promised timetable. There are a few disaffected voters but that won't matter come election time when I suspend the electoral process," Auri promised, "The public will be trained by then to accept whatever conditions my administration sets for them."

"The plan was to take the entire six years of your term to bring about change. Not ramrod legislation through the puppets in the Federation Council and employ a Charter crisis amount of executive orders to alter the fabric of Federation society. You won the election by a far smaller margin of victory than predicted thanks to Tovik's political messaging finding an audience. If there had only been two candidates rather than three there's no predicting the potential outcome. Thanks to our manipulations we control the Presidency, the Federation Council, the bureaucracy, and the Judiciary but member worlds are still independent. You were to coax them into electing sympathetic leaders or appointing them in situations like the Andorian Empire. But instead you've alienated them. How do you think rogue journalists like Anna Shaw and Clarice Starr acquire their information?" the Presider demanded to know, "I'm sending you Sok, Perez, and Cindi to advise you on your next decisions and political maneuvering."

"I don't need their counsel," Auri was angrily petulant.

"I believe you do and Director Sorbo agrees with me. Try and recall your oath to Cell 51 when you take your next steps and remember that now that you've stacked the government with like-minded individuals, you can be replaced after Tovik 'disappears' for good. Claim it's for health reasons that he's out of the public eye and office." the Presider instructed.

"Very well, the press release will come out tomorrow. We'll claim it's a mental health issue which we'll use to explain his contrarian postinsg about the effectiveness of my government," Auri conceded.

"It isn't your government, Madame President. It belongs to Cell 51," The Presider terminated the connection.

"Hot damn!" Ro cheered, "That's as good as a confession."

"But who do we present it to?" Lt. Commander Aubrey Jones, Ro's chief analyst asked, "JAG will accept it but the civilian courts are all appointees made by President Auri. The Federation Council is stacked so an impeachment is nearly impossible to achieve. In short, we have a criminal president that's unlikely to lose her office or face criminal charges on terrorism."

"I can only move this up the chain," Ro answered her, "But JAG and Starfleet Command along with what's left of the FBI are tasked with counter terrorism. Cell 51 has been branded a terrorist organization by the Federation Council. That's never been revoked. If we charge Auri with being a member fo Cell 51 and she or the Federation Council move to re-designate Cell 51 as a non-terrorist entity it will seem self-serving. And I know just who to contact to get the word out what the government has done if they play that card."

"We still wouldn't have the legal means to prosecute," Jones argued.

"Let the people decide that," Ro smirked.

The SID eligible crews at Outbound Ventures had all completed their last Starfleet assignments and been reassigned new tasks relating to Auri's provocative moves regarding protectorates and border safety. Some abandoned protectorate worlds merely needed anti-piracy patrols or threat negation from local hostile powers that were more advanced than the former protectorates themselves but not as advanced as mid-23rd Century standards. These assignments were handled by pre-refit Constitution- and Asia-class starship crews working in teams. Phase II Constitution-class vessel commanders were assigned protective details over scientific outposts and research sites.

For Commodore Idaho Smith this meant a chance to fall back on his Starfleet career as an A&A Officer and assist the anthropologists and archaeologists on the planet his starship was defending. Dressed in working attire, he wore his customary Outback fedora, leather jacket, white shirt, and khaki pants while assisting surveys.

Commodore Ignatius Freeman protected Regula One from a resurgence of Cell 51 control over the station and the research post within the Genesis cave within the Class-D planetoid of Regula itself. Other Phase II crews found themselves with similar assignments.

Captain Vaughn warned Riker of the Federation Diplomatic Corps' saber rattling concerning Deep Space Nine and the Wormhole. Vaughn's orders contradicted the treaty terms Perez had signed with Bajor reestablishing military and trade ties with the Federation. Vice Admiral Bill Ross had been ordered to supply DS9 with elements of the 7th Fleet to blockade Bajoran access to the Wormhole, effectively cutting off their forces in the Gamma Quadrant. Ross had reluctantly supplied the necessary starships to Vaughn's control but the legendary Starfleet officer was hindering efforts to implement their orders.

Riker dispatched senior Outbound Ventures SID captains to the sector. Other experienced former Starfleet officers patrolled contested areas surrounding less advanced races and technologically superior and aggressive stellar nations Some were assigned to protect colonies within the Taurus Reach since the Klingon diplomats had warned the Federation that if Auri pulled out of the Khitomer Accords, the Klingon Empire couldn't be held responsible for the safety of Federation colonies in the Reach. Topping this development was Auri's express orders to Akaar to withdraw Starfleet vessels and personnel out of the Taurus Reach. Dr. Idaho Smith was one of the commanders assigned to research parties within the Taurus Reach.

Non-SID Outbound Ventures commanders and crews continued escort services for freight convoys or simple system patrols in relatively secure areas. These commanders were grateful for the mundane natures of their assignments. Some of the convoys were late but vital supply runs to Federation colonies that Starfleet didn't have the manpower with the heightened tensions across every border and Auri's buildup of forces near the Confederacy of Worlds.

Akaar grated his teeth when the Federation Council announced an extension to the invocation of the Insurrection Act and applying it to the situation surrounding the Confederacy. Akaar saw a budding tragedy in the making whereby Starfleet would have to militarily occupy these colonies and face a domestic insurgency. Which the Federation already faced in the form of Cell 51. Unlike Cell 51, whose objectives seemed political and practically achieved, the insurgency on the Confederate colonies would be settlers on familiar territory versus invading outside occupation forces.

It was new historical and ideological ground for the Federation. Since the Charter fo the Federation had been signed by the member worlds of the Coalition of Planets, the Federation had never forced a planet's membership. Inclusion was earned not demanded. Many worlds applied and were rejected or postponed until such time as they met the Charter's guiding principles. The Federation embraced Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations within cultural ranks but member worlds still had to comply with set principles towards civil rights and liberties. But were member worlds still under codified compliance when the federal government was breaking the Charter's provisions? That was the constitutional crisis building within the Federation itself.

Andoria and Bajor had been mocked and chided for maintaining private sector defense forces when Starfleet existed to defend the Federation member worlds from threats. Yet the Militia shown to the Federation worlds the wisdom in keeping the Militia as a viable force and expanding it through the decade following the Dominion War. The Andorian Guard had escalated its size and defensive posture even before Auri became president. Under the provisional standing of the Insurrection Act, no member world could leave the Federation and no colony could announce its independence from the Federation while the Act was in force. Auri's contention was that no member or colony could ever choose to leave the Federation.

The only buffer between civil war and compliance now was the fact that only the Andorians had a native defense force. President Auri controlled Starfleet and Starfleet was the amalgamated defense force for the rest of the Federation member worlds and colonies. A defense force that could employed to force their compliance in staying within the fracturing government. Every planet watched the developments occurring in the Confederacy of Worlds through guerrilla journalism because they might be the next target.

Jake Sisko reported from Bajor the newest developments as Starfleet built up its presence on and around Deep Space Nine. The reports coming from the Republican Ministry were disturbing regarding the Federation's demands to undo everything Perez had salvaged. The Federation once again threatening to withdraw from joint Starfleet-Militia operations and claim Deep Space Nine as Federation territory despite it being sovereign Bajoran property and a Militia outpost. Even with the influx of starships, the Militia Systems Defense Force aboard and around the solar system outnumbered Starfleet forces. Added to that were Colonel Anara's Colonial Defense Forces on standby to assist the System Defense Force and not only were the Federation demands ludicrous but they were also untenable.

Adding to the Militia's forces were Outbound Ventures starships arriving as a task force and task forces dispatched by Bajor's military allies in the Cardassian Union and Iotian Federation. Auri's agenda was a dead-end before it began. Vaughn was caught in an impossible position as station CO and Starfleet Sector Commander. Now he understood how Sam Lavelle could suffer a nervous breakdown with the conflicting orders streaming forth from Starfleet Command. Admiral Edward Jellico, the Alpha Quadrant Theater Commander was ordering Vaughn to stand down and wait for the diplomats to finish their discourses. Vice Admiral Ross was forced into pushing for a hostile takeover of the station and ejecting all Militia personnel, which would include the Cardassian Guard exchange officer, Dalin Zivan Slaine.

Akifa Chol, the Secretary for Starfleet, echoed and likely prompted these demands. She in turn was merely relaying what was coming from Auri's administration's ever changing policy decisions. Vaughn wasn't being asked to prosecute a war or begin one. But he was being ordered to invade sovereign Bajoran territory and claim it as a Starfleet frontier outpost. Which it had served as for nearly twenty years before Bajor was ejected from the Federation and in return ordered Starfleet personnel off of the station. The Militia allowed Vaughn to remain as the station's chief administrator with a Starfleet Senior Staff in coordination with the Bajoran Liaison Offer, Colonel Cenn Deska, who commanded five-sixth of the station's personnel.

Even Lt. Commander Jefferson Blackmer's Starfleet Security force was vastly outnumbered by the Constabulary's deputies. So far, Starfleet hadn't assembled sufficient Security forces to enforce the President's will. But Vaughn knew more starships were coming as the 7th Fleet moved into the sector. Which would only further heighten tensions between the "allied" forces. Starfleet was treaty bound to treat the station as a free port of call. The Militia respected that. But Starfleet's hammer approach to acquiring the station was obvious to all The Federation diplomats kept pushing and refusing to actually negotiate and First Minister Astris Beru kept resisting their demands with General Kira at her side. Meanwhile the Bajor system filled up with conflicting forces.

Since Admiral Forger was attending and testifying at daily sessions of the Special Inquiry into the SID's budget, she'd lost track of Macen and Rockford. The pair were the last Outbound Ventures SID team still working for Starfleet. Nechayev, not under scrutiny, had taken over the contract Macen and Rockford's team had with Ro. Each time the Presider contacted Cell 51's administrators, she did so at an unknown cost. Kerber and Smith were using the Federation's own subspace relay system to narrow down the location of Cell 51's masters. The final destination point was within communications distance of a subspace relay placed to maintain communications with the last colony the Federation had planted in the Taurus Reach. The relay was also in transmission range of the planet being surveyed under Commodore Smith's watch.

That narrowed it down to three sectors that weren't fully charted. Section 31 could have easily built fortifications in the Taurus Reach that Cell 51 inherited when its parent agency was dismantled and after James Fowler gushed about S31's secrets before committing suicide. Amid Fowler's broken ravings had been a single reference to a Section 31 base known as Redoubt Station. Kerber and Smith believed these uncharted sectors contained the location of Redoubt. That meant they also included the location of Cell 51's superior technology and firepower starships.

Ro had the crew fishing for the location of the station and starships so she could report it to Nechayev who would then present to Akaar and a Starfleet fleet could be assembled and deployed to apprehend Cell 51's operative and dismantle their operations in the Federation once and for all. Nechayev had shown Akaar Auri's direct discussion with the Presider and the Presider's role in the Political Action Arm. That was verified by her discussions with Ryder and Sorbo himself. Akaar knew he was about to place Auri in a political storm.

She'd ridden Federation security demands to her being elected to her office. Cell 51 was still classified as a grave threat to the Federation itself. Just as much as charging Auri with supporting and being a terrorist, asking her permission to dispatch the 3rd Fleet to deal with Cell 51's command and control would force her hand to either confirm her allegiance to Cell 51 or allow the strike and find her communications to New Berlin and even Redoubt Station blocked for security reasons. Commodore Oh had already been briefed and was ready to intercept the President's signals.

Predictably, the President would try and contact one of both parties and warn Sorbo of the impending attack. Equally predictably, she would balk at having her personal and official communication lines jammed. At which point, Admiral T'Lara, the sitting Judge Advocate General would show Auri the intercepts between her and the Presider in their entirety showing once and for all that Auri had sworn allegiance to Cell 51. Which then forced Auri to recommend to the Federation Council to downgrade Cell 51's threat status and risk Starfleet showing the Federation the contents of the intercept.

Auri would see the existence of the evidence as an attempt at blackmail. Yet Akaar and T'Lara would simply hold the evidence in storage to be brought out again when Auri left office since saner heads in the Federation Council wouldn't prevail to remove her from office in the near term. But Auri's stated threat of suspending teh electoral process to extend her term was also in the evidence as was Auri's harboring three fugitives from Cardassian justice. An offense that might cause the Cardassians to break with the detente established the border regions. Castellan Garan had shown remarkable restraint in denying her legates in the Cardassian Guard their wish to expand Union territory as Starfleet withdrew to safe distance to attempt to gather forces to break the Cardassian lines yet again.

Garan's relatively soft approach to the reparations negotiations had been due to Ardra handing over Sok, Cindi, and Perez to Cardassian forces so they could stand war crimes trials. Garan's demands to maintain the peace wouldn't be softened if Auri refused to hand over her political mentors. Seven months in office and the Federation as a whole was in greater distress than during the opening months of the Dominion War when it seemed the Dominion was unstoppable and Starfleet was handed heavy losses on a daily basis and losing territory at an ever increasing pace.

Akaar had led Starfleet on a neutral course until now. The President needed to know her crimes were known. Eventually she'd see justice served for them. The internal threat posed by Auri was masterminded by the even greater threat of Cell 51. So Akaar quietly made preparations to respond when the Obsidian located Redoubt Station.

"Four solar systems down with fifty-eight more to go," Joelle Jones complained, "And that's just in this sector."

"At least it's been narrowed to three sectors," Forger tried ot stay optimistic but she was also bored out of her mind. A career Tactical Officer in Starfleet, commanding a surveyor wouldn't have been her first choice of starships. Yet the Obsidian had been through some harrowing encounters where she was completely over matched and yet won the day thanks to the crew's ingenuity.

Jones had been a freighter captain before joining the Maquis. She'd traded her armed merchant ship for an NV-class United Earth Starfleet starship. The class had immediately proceeded the NX-class and was limited to Warp 4. Yet that was a fair cruising speed for a freighter. So Jones and her crew quickly adapted. They'd stolen the ship from the Terra Nova Starfleet Starship Depot along with a few other early to mid-23rd Century starships. At first Michael Eddington's plan to hit entrenched Cardassian targets had worked from the sheer surprise the Cardassians felt at being attacked by classic Starfleet vessels. That surprise quickly dissipated and a military response was forthcoming.

Jones' Waylaid was the only ship to survive that final engagement and only because the Cardassian in command of the Galor-class cruiser she'd faced felt contempt for the worthless foe because destroying it was as accomplished as swatting a flea. There simply wasn't any reward from it. Not even the satisfaction of killing Maquis. It was better to let the Maquis crew live with the shame of knowing they weren't worth killing. And it was a slap in Jones' face.

Fortunately for the Waylaid and her crew, they'd been deep in the Alpha Quadrant when the Jem'Hadar attacked the DMZ. They survived when so many of their comrades did not. Jones approached the Iotians for ongoing rearmament and became a security contractor afterwards. An unlicensed security contractor that protected illegal freight deliveries and convoys filled with illicit merchandise. But Jones did register the stolen vessel in the Federation licensing department system.

She sold the registration and the ship to separate interested parties. Her crew had retired into civilian lives after partnering off with different men and women. Some of her all-female crew had even partnered with each other. Jones was the holdout, still single and now the XO of the Obsidian despite being offered two different commands of her own.

But neither command would've been within the SID program of contractors. Jones had been accepted into the Obsidian's family of senior officers and chiefs and they were usually engaged in some of kind trouble. Both of which appealed ot her. So she continued to decline personal commands.

Galen 3 was running the surveys from the Science station on the bridge. The director of the minuscule Sciences Department rarely had enough of a role to require him to be on the bridge. Usually he and his team were restricted to forensics duties for the current investigations. The rare opportunity to survey uncharted sectors for the Federation Planetary Database was a rare treat for him. With nothing to occupy her in Sickbay, Tessa manned an auxiliary station and helped catalog what the Obsidian's sensors had been designed to do.

When the Newton-class failed to replace the venerable Oberth-class science vessel, it wasn't until the Nova-class was purposefully designed to do so that the Oberth-class was finally retired when there were enough Nova-class hulls and crews to man them. Evidence of how durable the design was becoming evident from testimony regarding the Equinox and the Obsidian, the Nova X-class tactical response vessel was adapted from the original design as was the four-nacelled Pathfinder-class courier ship.

Normally, the Obsidian's enhanced sensor array was used for espionage. Today the vessel was fulfilling its designers' intent. Galen 3 unhappily made cursory notes on the systems they were exploring, notes to be used by eventual scouting and exploration of these star systems. At this rate that likely meant Klingon warships. The bridge crew sluggishly followed his directions for moving through each solar system, impatiently waiting for Galen 3 to either spot the Cell 51 installation or declare it clear of the terror group's presence.

It wasn't until they reached the fifth system that Galen 3 abruptly called for a full stop. Forger was the first to complain, "What the hell?"

"We've tripped a passive array sensor grid," Galen 3 explained, "We have a limited amount of time to defuse its warning system before it actively scans us and sends a report to its creator. I can only guess this is a Cell 51 early warning system."

"We're on it," Kerber announced over the comms.

"Do they ever not monitor everything on the ship and beyond?" Jones lamented.

"Macen asked them to monitor the surveys for an eventuality like this one," Forger explained, "The faster they can respond the less likely we are to trip a warning system."

"How long do we have?" Jones fretted.

"Fifteen seconds a best," Galen 3 estimated.

"It's disarmed," Kerber sounded relieved, "It did send a preliminary signal off to the system citing an anomaly. We traced that signal to a neighboring star system. It's our belief we should go there next."

"Galen 3?" Forger asked her on bridge expert.

"It's reasonable and will speed things up," he sounded disappointed.

"How much danger are we in of setting off the alarm network?" Jones asked Kerber.

"For now the system recognizes us as a ship belonging to its creator. Whether or not that's Cell 51 or an Orion Syndicate outpost remains to be seen," Smith explained.

"The degree of sophistication to the alarms themselves will be increasing. I recommend we rely on passive sensors only from this point on," Kerber made her advisement.

"Galen 3?" Forger asked.

"That will slow us down again but it's manageable," he conceded, "It will also require a fair degree of coordination between the Science stations and Tactical, OPS, and the CONN stations."

"Thank the gods," Aglaia sighed from the helm.

"I think you just made everyone's day," Forger smirked, "You can put the command staff to work as well."

"Finally," Jones agreed.

The surveyor, with all hands aboard now peripherally involved in the search, came upon an escalatingly complex form of early detection systems. Forte's skill as a puzzle solver augmented Smith and Kerber's skill set. Even Mudd's familiarity with obscure games of chance contributed. Finally, they came upon a starship on patrol.

"Did they detect us?" Forger asked as the ship went to Red Alert status.

"They haven't raised shields or armed weapons which would show even on our passive scanners," Miller reported, "But keeping a planet between us couldn't hurt our chances."

"Do it," Forger instructed Aglaia.

"What do you make of her?" Jones asked Miller.

"Constellation-class. ID transponder marks her as the USS Breakaway. Starfleet database shows that ship was put on reserve commission a decade ago during the Dominion War," Miller reported, "She wasn't heavily damaged in the fighting but was repaired and sent to a reserve fleet being assembled in Sector 001 after the Breen attack. She just...vanished from Starfleet registries after the war concluded. She wasn't decommissioned. She was just misplaced."

"Section 31 absorbed her the way they did the Dibron," Jones ventured.

"You say that with added hostility. We all have personal reasons to despise S31. What's your deal?" Zimbalist asked.

"Section 31 took an outside interest in the Maquis. That interest cost Elijah Waters his life. The Maquis lost a good friend that day and earned us a mortal enemy in John Browder," Jones explained.

"Commander Macen has mentioned Elijah Waters favorably in the past. I believe they were friends," Galen 3 observed.

"Rear Admiral Elijah Waters was the Deputy Director for Operations for Starfleet Intelligence before he retired. Nechayev convinced him to come out of retirement and run a freight and courier commissioning service from the Kalandra Sector for the Maquis and other ships entering the DMZ, "Jones explained, "He got the Maquis paying work and close to intended targets. Liu worked for him prior to the war. Waters and Liu honestly believed in our cause. His death crippled the agency and it shut down months later. Browder was the senior S31 agent that ordered Waters' killing."

"Which explains the bad blood between the real Browder and Macen," Forger finally understood.

"Learning Browder was really dead didn't cause Macen to lose any sleep," Jones chuckled mirthlessly.

"I'm detecting active sensor sweeps of the area," Galen 3 warned, "We may have to enter the atmosphere of this gas giant."

"Aglaia?" Forger inquired.

"She'll handle the entry as long as I don't take her in too deeply," Aglaia replied.

"Take us in," Forger ordered.

"Visual won't function and our tactical display will be splotchy at best as it guesses at what's going on outside the atmosphere on passives alone," Miller warned, "Also, our defensive systems will be inoperable."

The ship bucked and rocked as it hit thermals and high velocity winds. But as a surveyor, the Nova-class starship was designed for atmospheric entries and planetary landings. She could even do aquatic surveys. But a Class-J gas giant could crush the hull if hey delved too deeply into its atmosphere.

The ship settled down after Aglaia lowered her through the thermal layer that was causing so much turbulence, "This should do nicely."

"I believe I've detected a second starship joining the Breakaway on patrol," Galen 3 warned.

"Whatever it is, it's banging away with active sensors and giving us a good plot location on its position relative to our own," Miller reported, "I can't classify the vessel type by its sensors alone though."

"The sensor pallet profile should give us a rough estimate," Galen 3 offered.

"Attempting reconstruction of the hull type based on sensor outputs," Miller offered. A rough sketch appeared on the main viewer."

"Is that a Galaxy-class?" Jones wondered.

"No, it's like an oversized Constitution-class," Zimbalist spoke up.

"It's both," Aglaia ventured.

"It's one of the original design starships that Sorbo met with us from," Miller finished the reconstruction based on sensor logs, "The closest analogue to a known vessel design is the Iotians' Interceptor-class. Except these are more advanced with current Federation technologies."

''I wonder why the nacelles are so large?" Aglaia mentioned aloud.

"I wonder why the secondary hull is so small and the deflector array so large and external," Miller voiced

"The oversized primary hull is definitely influenced by the Ambassador- and Galaxy-classes," Zimbalist decided.

"I wonder how much deuterium those Bussard collectors can scoop up and process," Jones admitted.

"What I remember is that one of these things severely outgunned us and they had a dozen of them," Forger sobered everyone's speculations.

"If we could follow them, they may lead us to their base of operations," Galen 3 suggested.

"They won't fall for the old sensor echo ploy. There's two of them," Jones griped.

"No, but we can discreetly follow their warp trails," Zimbalist realized.

"Precisely," Galen 3 was happy he didn't have to explain it.

"They're gone!" Tessa blurted.

"She's right. They exited the system," Galen 3 said proudly, "Our stalking horse maneuver can now begin."

"What's a horse?" Jones asked. Her colony hadn't supported equines.

"I've heard of them but never seen one," the Platonian Aglaia admitted, "They feature in many tales of when my people visited Earth and temporarily settled on the territory you call 'Greece'."

"We'll arrange for riding lessons later. Right now, follow those starships," Forger ordered.

The pursuit led ot a solar system laced with sensor platforms and supported active patrols of Excelsior- and Ambassador-class starships as well as the new vessel type Cell 51 had completed from Section 31 designs.

"ID transponder mark the Excelsior-class as the USS Waveform and the Ambassador-class as the USS Breakwater. Both listed among that reserve fleet the Breakaway was consigned ot and similarly vanished," Miller reported, "There's no way we're entering that system undetected."

"So we monitor it and send off our report to Ro that we found Cell 51's apparent base of operations," Jones offered.

"I agree. Edwin, send the report. Aglaia, back us off away from the system's edge and hide us in the Oort Cloud. Signal Parva to shut down all non-essential power systems but be ready to pull them back up if we're detected," Forger concluded her instructions.

"Gamma Watch is standing by. We worked through Beta Watch," Jones alerted Forger.

"Tell Aeryn she has the boat. We'll brief her and the bridge crew when they relieve Alpha Watch. Black and her crew immediately arrived and were briefed on staying absolutely silent while Starfleet mobilized the 3rd Fleet to deal with Cell 51. Their monitoring mission could last the better part of a week. So everyone aboard had ot be patient. Forger made an all crews' call to that effect before retiring.

Macen and Rockford's team were finally busier. Inside the Situation Center and the Data Womb, they monitored comm traffic coming in and out of the system. Smith and Kerber had cracked the common cipher employed by the Cell 51 hierarchy when they began tapping into the Presider's comms. Cell 51 had buried the Terran Imperial origins of their ciphers and encryptions but Kerber and Smith had dug it up from the captured data archives in the Starfleet Data Archive in London that had served as a secret Section 31 base for centuries and now hosted the Starfleet Special Investigations Division. Even in the midst of James Fowler's ravings he'd never revealed the existence of the codes.

Though his brain had been replaced by positronics, Jack Fowler could almost be accused of hubris knowing his father hadn't revealed the codes, still thought their secret was safe indefinitely. But then again, the 0 Sections of Starfleet Intelligence inhabited levels of the Data Archive the SID hadn't known existed. Nechayev had finally revealed that secret to Admiral Forger in recent months before Auri even ran for president. It was prefacing the Waypoint debacle that cost the Bajoran Militia so many lives at the hands of Starfleet Special Operations Command and the Orion Syndicate.

JAG had exonerated Captains Ben Poole and Mandy Morris as the Starfleet ringleaders of the operation and Commander Stan Guthrie of SOC for the murders of the Militia defenders. All of them had answered truthfully that they understood their operational orders as coming directly from the Federation Council Sub-Committee for Starfleet Affairs. Never once did they question the fact the Committee had no place in the chain of command and couldn't issue directives. Particularly directives causing them to betray an ally. One Starfleet was still to normalize relations with following the abortive war that the Federation admitted fault in.

Captain Morris had been the officer to break 200 years of tradition and fire first on the Bajoran System Defense Forces. Those same forces attempting to de-esculate the mounting tensions of the Federation declaring war on what had been a member world until days prior. Morris received a black mark in her record for that incident that started the shooting war with the Bajoran Republic. Only Fleet Admiral Clancy's intervention after the war saved Captain Morris from being demoted and being removed from a command position.

Poole and Morris were among those officers now in command positions that had been radicalized by the Dominion War. It seemed many of the younger command officers and a smattering of veterans shared this trait. It was officers like these that Auri pressured Starfleet Command to promote into command positions or elevate them to flag rank and retire sitting Starfleet Command admirals.

Ro quickly sent the coordinates and evidence as presented by the Obsidian up the chain. Within two hours of Ro receiving it, Nechayev and Akaar were presenting the facts to Auri and Chol. Both politicians urged restraint and the necessity of gathering intelligence from inside the system itself. Akaar bluntly told them the 3rd Fleet had already been deployed with the Klingon High Command alerted to an impending Starfleet operation within the Taurus Reach.

Auri ordered Akaar to call off the strike. So Nechayev replayed the comm logs of her call with the Presider in its entirety wherein the Presider reminded the President of the oaths she had taken to Cell 51. This burned any chance of furthering data collection from the Presider but an arrest warrant had been issued by JAG so Starfleet Security was apprehending the Presider and her known associates. This included the Federation Councilors' chiefs of staff that she'd been personally directing. The Councilors themselves never implicated as being willfully complicit with Cell 51 in the communiques.

"Secretary Chol, would you like to see the comm logs between yourself and the woman called the Presider?" Nechayev was like a cat mercilessly giving a mouse the illusion of a chance of escape.

"Let's see what you have," Chol scoffed.

Unlike with the President's sole, but damning, communication with the Presider, they had hours of directive flowing from the Presider to Chol. Each one explicitly from Cell 51's command chain and Chol admitting her allegiance to said commanders.

"Turn it off," Chol said in horror.

"This is blackmail, correct?" the President asked.

"No, this is telling you Starfleet Security is waiting outside," Akaar had made his decision days ago. Auri and Chol would be detained and tried. Legal scholars had been contacted and interviewed regarding the possibility. They all admitted hat the limited immunity Presidents and their Cabinet members enjoyed pertained only to those actions they took in their role in administrating official legislative law and policy as passed by the Federation Council. Impeachment proceedings didn't have to proceed first in a case involving high crimes like treason and terrorism. The difficulty lay in the inability of anyone to locate Vice President Tovik. No one with a shred of independent thought left to them believed the cover story of Tovik having a mental breakdown and being relocated to the Andes Psychiatric Prison Facility.

Starfleet Medical had checked on the grounds of seeking to provide a second opinion and been told by the facility's administration that the Vice President had never been admitted there. Tovik's assigned Federation Security protection detail had smuggled him out of his official residence on Earth and taken him to parts unknown. Those agents then resigned and left Earth and the Federation Security Director was refusing to talk without a direct order to do so coming from President Auri.

With both the President and Secretary for Starfleet coming under arrest and Vice President incommunicado, That left the presidency open to the Speaker for the Federation Council. A delegate who would try, and fail, to pardon both Auri and Chol, and return them to office. The law, as rewritten during the Maquis Rebellion days, reclassified terrorism and treason and unpardonable offenses. Plea bargains could be arranged if Starfleet approved of them alongside Federation Security. That was how Ro's sentence was commuted. By rejoining Starfleet, and undergoing intensive rehabilitation, she was fit to wear the uniform again with her time considered served through her years of projected service in Starfleet. If she resigned again from Starfleet, she'd be returned to finish her sentence at the stockade on Jaros II.

Akaar and Nechayev had worked closely with T'Lara to seek legal independent legal counsel so as to not alert Auri and Chol before Oh could impose the comms blackout cutting them off from Cell 51. The vacuum left by the Vice President's disappearance opened the appearance of the arrests to being portrayed by Auri's loyalist media empire as a coup attempt. Legal theory went that the charges couldn't be dismissed nor could they be ruled upon by a judge without a jury trial of ordinary citizens deciding everyone affected's guilt or innocence.

Auri's Ministry of Justice couldn't prosecute due to a conflict of interest since she'd weaponized the department to prosecute her perceived enemies on trumped up charges so special counsels would have to be selected, chosen for their impartiality until they reviewed the official evidence against the accused. Then the proposed counsel could either accept prosecuting the case or recuse themselves. As per Starfleet's legal inquiries, there were literally tens of millions of lawyers who would be jockeying to become a special counselor.

"What the hell just happened?" Forger demanded to know over the sound of alarms blaring across the bridge.

"I set the alarms to go off if a sufficient number of warp trails exited the system simultaneously," Galen 3 had silenced the alarms.

"How many ships are we talking?" Jones asked massaging her temples.

"I'd say three dozen and something massive far exceeding any known starship in size. That includes Dominion Battle ships or Borg Tactical Cubes," Galen 3 advised the officers in command.

"Get Macen and Rockford up here on the double and give them your findings directly," Forger instructed. Zimbalist issued the summons. Macen and Rockford were on the bridge from their offices within two minutes time.

"So you're saying something bigger than a Borg Cube just shot into subspace and went out of the system at a speed exceeding Warp 9?" Macen wanted to make certain he'd heard it right.

"With several smaller craft traveling at reduced rates appropriate to the Miranda-base, Excelsior-base, and Constellation-class starships we'd identified as missing from Starfleet's decommissioning process," Galen 3 had Tessa there for support.

"A least those that passed by close enough for us to receive their ID transponders," Tessa added helpfully.

"So they basically jumped a space station out of the syetm?" Rockford asked.

"Theoretically possible," Galen 3 stated.

"Shannon, loght up the system with our active sensors," Macen instructed.

"They'll detect us," she warneed.

"I don't think there's anyone left to worry about. We'll trip their detection grid but they're already gone," Macen replied.

"We'll help scan," Tessa volunteered. She'd been enjoying her time on the bridge.

Within minutes it became obvious Cell 51 had abandoned the system. Macen was unhappy, "The 3rd Fleet will arrive in a few more days to find an empty hole in space."

"They certainly didn't detect us," Galen 3 informed him, "We were never actively scanned and we relied solely on passive sensors.

"Inform Ro and find out what spooked Cell 51," Macen requested.

"I think I know," Zimbalist relayed one of thej primary subspace feeds to the main viewer. It was Fiona Shaw reporting through the Federation News Service for the Ministry of Information, "I repeat, in shocking developments Starfleet Security moved to arrest he President and Secretary for Starfleet as well as dozens of chiefs of staff for your elected Federation Councilors, as well as over a dozen private citizens on Luna in the city of New Berlin."

"They thought of everything but the so-called 'free' press," Macen groaned, "Turn it off. She'll just drone on trying to exonerate Auri and Chol."

"Sorbo knew his position would be compromised," Rockford shared with the group.

"The Vice President is missing," Zimbalist was still monitoring the feed, "The Speaker for the Council has stepped up as President until the Vice President is found."

"Set course for Sector 001," Macen instructed, "I think we'll lend a hand in finding the Vice President."

"It'll take us a week to get there at maximum warp," Forger advised him.

"Warn Parva and Gilan they'll be facing a challenge but we need to find the Veep before Cell 51 can prop up a ringer to take the Speaker's place," Macen warned her, "Route us Ro and Admiral Forger to our offices. We need to speak with Starfleet on this."

 

Chapter Five

"We've mobilized everyone we can afford to finding Vice President Tovik. The Speaker promises they'll stand down if Tovik is found and certified as mentally competent to assume the role of president," Forger told them.

"What's this 'competent' shuk?" Rockford asked.

"Before we detained everyone, Auri brilliantly disappeared Tovik and claimed he was mentally and emotionally unfit for office," Ro answered.

"Federation Security hid Tovik away and all the agents involved resigned and disappeared across the Federation and the Director will only discuss the matter if he's given an order to by the 'legitimate' president, by which he means Auri," Forger further explained the dilemma.

"So the Speaker is Acting President and how is the Federation Council reacting?" Macen asked.

"Half want to impeach Auri and Chol. The other half want to amend the law so that the Acting President can pardon Auri and Chol and reinstate them," Forger explained.

"I thought the majority were with Auri's positions," Rockford mentioned.

"That was until Starfleet Security swept through the chiefs of staff and arrested those with known ties to the Presider. That convinced half of the affected Councilors that the threat is very real," Ro told her.

"Somehow the Presider herself slipped Oh's leash," Forger complained, "If we could have flipped her then we could have cracked Cell 51's administration level wide open."

"Wasn't going to happen," Macen said flatly, "She'd never turn on Sorbo and the others. The politics of Cell 51 are like a religion to zealots. They'd rather be martyred for the cause than recant their position."

"Any idea of where Sorbo and the others went?" Ro asked.

"They entered Federation space and were aimed at the heart of the Alpha Quadrant," Macen explained, "They could be going anywhere. We're not even fast enough to catch their slowest assets."

"Akaar recalled the 3rd Fleet but they were halfway to your position by then," Forger mused, "Other than the ships in Spacedock, Earth is undefended at the moment."

"Then that's where Sorbo is headed," Macen realized, "It makes perfect sense. The Speaker will step down to a 'legitimate' replacement. Sorbo and Cell 51 can stage a coup and be recognized as that legitimate figure."

"If Cell 51 is headed to Sector 001, then they've got a substantial lead on the 3rd Fleet and most of Starfleet is deploying to Bajor and surrounding the Confederacy of Worlds. The 3rd was the core defense against any interior aggression," Ro explained the deployments.

"Why would they have a lead?" Rockford asked, "Cell 51 is covering twice the distance.."

"Because the 3rd Fleey is largely composed of reserve vessels that were scheduled for decommissioning. Akaar wasn't expecting Cell 51 to have substantial assets," Forger explained the rationale.

"Most of Cell 51's fleet is composed of starships hat were scheduled to be decommissioned after the Dominion War concluded. Yet somehow they simply vanished from Starfleet registries and were never taken off active duty status. They've been crewed by Cell 51 loyalists this entire time. The real danger is the new hulls hey constructed. Those could easily take on a Galaxy- or Sovereign-class starship," Macen warned them, "If the 3rd Fleet is composed of older vessels, they'll be a match for the bulk of Cell 51's assets. But the twelve new design ships Cell 51 built from Section 31 schematics are the real danger."

"Hold on, I need to answer this," Forger's image was replaced by teh Federation logo with the words "Please stand by." Moments later she reappeared, "The 3rd Fleet has been engaged by those older model starships you've been trailing."

"Already?" Rockford was amazed.

"Akaar deployed the 3rd a week ago. They were poised to make a quick strike into your star system. It seems Cell 51 anticipated their movements," Forger expanded on the message she'd just received.

"Most of the vessels in Spacedock are there for repairs. They can't be deployed," Ro reminded Forger.

"Akaar is briefing Commodore Oh as we speak. Starfleet Security and SOC will be strategically deployed to resist a coup. But even then, we only have so many Security officers available on Earth with the bulk of them being ferried to the Confederacy to take on the Patriot forces if the colonies continued to resist," Forger was exasperated, "President Auri was incompetent about being subtle enough to pass her agenda without anyone being inconvenienced enough to adapt to the changes but she had expert guidance on where to plant Starfleet to get the fleets out of the way."

"She had Sok, Cindi, and especially Perez guiding her these last two weeks," Ro reminded the admiral.

"Cell 51 would be wisest to reinstate Juliete Perez as President. She knows how to accomplish their agenda without riling the citizenry. She'll even reassure our allies that Auri's isolationist agenda won't come to pass," Forger stated.

"We'll have o divert our assets looking for Tovik to defensive postures. You'll have to find him," Ro told them, "He's not on Earth and Federation Security didn't log a departure out of the solar system. So Tovik is somewhere in the Sol system. The lunar cities were searched and the search was going to expand to Io and Pluto but we didn't have time. You can make the searches on your way into the system."

"We won't be able to sneak the Obsidian into the system. But Shannon can boldly enter and distract Sorbo and his forces while we make a run into the star system in the Corsair," Macen offered.

"If anyone can annoy Sorbo long enough for you to conduct your search, it's my sister," Forger reluctantly agreed.

"Then we have a plan," Rockford smirked.

"How will you get Tovik to Earth with Cell 51 blockading the solar system?" Forger asked.

"Maquis sryle," Macen grinned.

Inside Starfleet Operations, Admiral Duncan McNeil watched the tactical plot of the solar system as Cell 51's dozen new starships appeared in the outer system along with what could only be a space station, "Go to planetary red alert and get Fleet Admiral Akaar on the floor."

Aboard Spacedock, Command Master Chief Hal Dracas grimaced as the station went to red alert, "That can't be good."

The Advanced Starship Design Bureau had no projects in the barn in the Sol system and none of their projects were spaceworthy at the moment. The Special Projects Yards hidden behind Jupiter in a synchronous orbit to keep it unseen by Jupiter Station also had starships stripped to the barest components as the SPYards reconstructed them with heavy modifications meant to be deployed by Starfleet Intelligence. Both space stations went to alert status as Redoubt Station and its escorts passed through the outer solar system on approach to Earth.

"We're being hailed," a senior comm tech alerted Admirals McNeil and Akaar. Jellico was present as well.

"On screen," Akaar told the tech.

The master viewer filled with the image of a well pleased Dylan Sorbo, "Congratulations on the promotion, Leonard."

"It's Admiral Akaar, Captain Sorbo. Or have you been a renegade for so long you've forgotten protocol?" Akaar asked him.

"Then it's Director Sorbo back at you. I have you outnumbered and outgunned. I'll be accepting your surrender at any time now," Sorbo gloated.

"Then you've noted Spacedock is on defensive and tthe planetary shields are up. It will take even your firepower some time to break them both," Akaar advised Sorbo, "We can't reach you but we can delay you while fleet assets are redeployed and recalled to Earth."

"But I'm here at the invitation of the President to stabilize the government in this time of crisis," Sorbo stated, "You can confer with the Commander-in-Chief's offices at any time to confirm this."

"I'm afraid Speaker Hawren has been arrested for conspiring with a terrorist organization. In other words, they can't confirm inviting you to stage a coup," Akaar told Sorbo.

"Then who is President now?" Sorbo asked, "Because a member of the President's Cabinet should be assuming the role according to the Federation Charter. Or have you abandoned it and staged a coup before I could?"

"The Federation Council is currently voting in a new Speaker to appoint a President. According to the Charter," Akaar replied.

"Then you won't mind if we wait here for the results?" Sorbo was too confident for Akaar's tastes. It was true the last election cycle has brought in a wave of Auri's political allies. But her alliance with the Federation Councilors had been shaken by the mass arrests of their chiefs of staff. Surely they weren't about to openly cooperate with Sorbo?

"You do realize that the Federation Council can name anyone inside or outside the Council Speaker and that Speaker can justly appoint anyone in or out of the Council President?" Sorbo reminded Akaar of the letter of the law as written. It was contingency never intended to be used. Society and administrations weren't supposed to break down to this level.

"What have you done?" Akaar went cold inside.

"I simply made a few political suggestions of who should be voted in and then confirmed," Sorbo smiled broadly, "As a concerned citizen, naturally."

Oh had blocked comms to the Ministry of Information. They couldn't receive signals from beyond Earth. The Ministry made a federal case of it on FNS and other news outlets under their control. So they couldn't have relayed any messages to any political figures. But they weren't monitoring and blocking out private citizens yet. Things hadn't devolved that far. And then Akaar realized who Sorbo had been talking to.

"Fiona Shaw," Akaar said the name allowed.

"You can arrest her for talking to me but I think billions of devoted viewers would recoil at the suppression of the free press by Starfleet," Sorbo's grin was insufferable to Akaar now.

"What have you set in motion?" Akaar asked with horror in his voice.

"A resetting to a time when things went right," Sorbo told him.

Chavy Sok was elected Speaker of the Council by one vote in her column. The Council was that evenly divided. Even warnings that her presence on the Council could incite the Cardassians to war didn't dismiss her election. Despite the provision made in the Charter that the Council elect whomever they chose as Speaker, no non-Councilor had ever been chosen and actually carried the vote before. Fiona Shaw had done her campaigning well. Every Councilor hung on Sok's words as she proceeded, after a short victory speech, to invoke the article allowing her to appoint a new President in the face of the Cabinet members being disqualified. After she named that name, the Council would vote to confirm the new President in office or deny the candidate and the process would begin again.

Julieta Perez was confirmed President of the United Federation of Planets for a second time by the same single vote that won Sok her appointment. She was sworn in by the Chief Justice of the High Court minutes after her confirmation. Perez made short order of ordering Starfleet to stand down in response to the arrival of Redoubt Station and its escorts.

Forger watched the proceedings in FNS in horror as her prediction actually came true. Sok then began an open deliberation to reclassify Cell 51 as a security agency for Federation stability. The same one vote majority confirmed the change of designater that revoked Cell 51's status as a terrorist organization and then again to institute it as the replacement for the now defunct Federation Bureau of Investigation.

Perez had stayed in the Council chambers to thumbprint the new accords into law without hesitation or review. Akaar and Starfleet Command had to view Cell 51 as equals now. It was done legally and without anyone openly conspiring with Cell 51 while they'd been a rogue entity. While Auri had been impeached, Chol had not. But Auri was able to reclaim her Federation Councilors seat when the recently elected delegate resigned and the planetary governor appointed Auri to fill the seat for the rest of the six-year term to face re-election afterwards. While Auri had proven a volatile and impatient president leading to her unpopularity, she was respected figure on her home world.

Perez began by rescinding some of Auri's executive actions. But she maintained diplomatic and military pressures on the Confederacy of Worlds and the Bajoran Republic. The Federation Council wisely rescinded the Insurrection Act but this allowed Cell 51 to establish a presence on Earth's soil since Starfleet Security was withdrawn from pivotal sites on Earth and their security given to Cell 51. Federation Security embraced Cell 51's arrival while Starfleet gave them due accord as provisioned under the law.

Ro's investigation was officially terminated while Nechayev quietly kept Ro at it to prove Cell 51 was still involved in illegal activities. The various chiefs of staff were returned to their Federation Councilors. The Presider set up in another lunar city, once again her location unknown to Starfleet. Redoubt Station was parked at the Lagrange point between Earth and Luna. It couldn't directly threaten Earth but its escorting starships were tasked with "securing Sector 001's defense" until Starfleet forces were rerouted.

The conflict between the 3rd Fleet and Cell 51's older resources ended with a cease fire whereby both sides warily watched one another as tenders came to assist with repairs. Akaar was given a direct Presidential order to assist Cell 51's ships in their repairs. The Starfleet Corps of Engineers deployed in strength. Akaar was further aggravated as Perez hastened the decommissioning of the 3rd Fleet's starships and ordered them assigned to Cell 51. The "active" duty starships Cell 51 had deployed against the 3rd were finally officially decommissioned and officially handed over to Cell 51.

Starfleet Command reassessed its threat response measures should Cell 51 prove hostile again. Unbeknownst to them that Cell 51's operating strategy thus far had been developed by a fifteen-year old human girl. Ana Johanssen, code-named the Gray Cardinal, had played her game of 4D chess against Starfleet and won. But Starfleet wasn't done yet.

Admiral Johnson and Captain McKinley had led the USS Intrepid crew in defeating Cell 51's overtures in their alternate universe with Vaughn, Macen and T'Kir's assistance. T'Kir was no longer alive in either that alternate or this prime universe. But Vaughn was distracted by Auri's, and now Perez's, official threatening posture towards Bajor and the escalating crisis there just as Johnson and McKinley were trying to defuse the hostile posture surrounding the Confederacy. The only legal recourse left was to find Tovik, certify him as capable of assuming the Presidency and forcing Perez, who wasn't the elected official, to stand aside. Under the Federation Charter, Perez would have no choice but to do so. But under Cell 51's protective umbrella, she could force a constitutional crisis that the High Court would have to settle based upon the Charter's provisions. Auri had appointed two of three members of the tribunal. So legal scholars wondered if he High Court would abandon constitutional literalism for unprecedented rulings for an unprecedented situation.

"Corsair is away," Zimbalist reported to Forger.

"Take us into the solar system nice and slow," Forger instructed Aglaia, "We want them to see us coming and we want them to get antsy about it as we leisurely poke along."

"I can do that," Aglaia said with malevolent purpose.

The runabout had dislodged a cometary body from its loose orbit around Sol from the Oort Cloud. Its carefully plotted course would thread it through the solar system to end up in the primary star itself. The trick had been getting the comet to travel near Io without crashing into Saturn. Pluto was thoroughly scanned for Vulcan life signs before dislodging the icy fragment and hurling it towards the Sun.

The Corsair hung near the comet as it traveled through the solar system at a slow pace matched by the Obsidian's slow advance. As expected, the Obsidian was intercepted by one of Earth's newest "defenders", the NY-02 Vanguard. It seemed Cell 51 ship's were getting their registration numbers as an extension fo old United Earth Starfleet registrations that ended with the NX refit-class and immediately proceeded the Federation Daedulus- and Bonaventure-classes. The Vanguard and her sisters ignored the cometary fragment shielding the runabout from detection.

Kerber and Smith had supplied portable computers to tie into the Corsair's sensors and se them up in the aft cabin. From there the Detective Squad ran the sensors sweeps looking for Tovik's position. Rockford coordinated the effort while Ebert flew the runabout and Mudd ran the OPS station. Included with the team were Daggit and Burrows for when they found Tovik and if he should still be guarded by Federation Security agents working for Cell 51. Parva came with them in case they should require her expertise in getting into whatever prison they'd locked Tovik away in.

Macen, Kerber, Smith, and Tessa represented the team members still aboard the Obsidian. Forger was gleefully accepting communications from the Vanguard while putting Sorbo off at Redoubt Station. She even ignored calls received from the Office of the President. All she would relay to the Vanguard was that Commander Macen was otherwise preoccupied at the moment. She did so in a sugary-sweet syrupy tone that defied challenges to the contrary.

Once they neared Io, the Corsair could emerge from hiding and join the countless in-system transports flitting about the Sol system. Traffic would become dense enough for a single runabout to escape notice. From Io, they could make a run at Luna. Macen received a coded message from Johnson. The admiral was assembling a who's who list of starships and captains to rendezvous at Sector 001 to challenge Cell 51's absolute hold in the system. Macen's role was to distract Sorbo and Cell 51 long enough for Starfleet to challenge Cell 51's grip on Earth. This also bought Rockford time to locate Tovik and return him to Paris to replace Perez as President.

The Federation Council's having impeached Auri made Tovik the legal President. No one expected a clean transfer of power back to the rightful authority elected by the citizenry when he was liberated. The ideal situation was to capture living agents that were holding him and compelling them to testify it was on Cell 51's orders. That would establish Cell 51 as an entity of plotting high treason and forcing a Federation Council vote reinstating them back as a terrorist organization. Whereby all the recent arrests would stand and everyone involved would have the opportunity to plead their cases before a jury of their peers.

It was Johnson that sent a coded message to the Rockford aboard the Corsair informing her of a lunar detention facility that was a Cell 51 black site. If universes held true enough, Tovik could be there and even the Federation Security Director wouldn't know it. When Johnson and the Intrepid crew saved their Federation from Cell 51, it had been a raid by Vaughn, Macen, and T'Kir that liberated the valuable prisoners the Cell 51 sympathetic President had asked the agency to detain. Now Johnson was being called upon again to liberate Sector 001 from Cell 51. Only this time he had high profile friends to call his own.

"You're a hard man to reach, Commander Macen," Sorbo grated as Macen finally accepted the comm signal.

"And what makes you think you can monopolize my time?" Macen asked.

"Surely you don't hold out hope to reverse certain decisions that the Federation Council made?" Sorbo asked.

"I was in the Maquis. I believe in hoping for the impossible," Macen shrugged, "Nice of you to gather all your forces in two conveniently locatable positions."

"I've been exonerated. Soon policies will change and you'll no longer be able to operate within the Federation," Sorbo gloated.

"No trumped up charges? I'm disappointed. I thought I'd rate a treason indictment. Or do you lack sufficient evidence to sway a grand jury?" Macen goaded Sorbo further.

"I'm certain our pawns in the media can poison enough minds against to to get you charged with high crimes and misdemeanors," Sorbo promised.

"That sounds like it will take time. Especially since we've been watching FNS and Fiona Shaw for months and she's never mentioned us once. Even when we foiled what she supported. It was like she was told that even negative attention was attention that would elicit sympathy and increase Outbound Ventures business opportunities," Macen said reasonably.

"An oversight," Sorbo grated.

"A miscalculation. Now you have to spend months vilifying my company in the minds of the citizenry and a good number of them will wonder why we warrant the attention. They'll wonder it so strongly they'll look us up and make inquiries," Macen predicted.

"Just admit you lost," Sorbo suddenly demanded, "James Fowler was outmaneuvered but we survived and we've accomplished our mission."

"To make enemies of the universe?" Macen chuckled, "You certainly have succeeded."

"How can you possibly resist me in that tin cup of a starship?" Sorbo wanted to know.

"Because killing me won't satisfy your demand that I be crucified. You want to be the hero of this story and you've lost that with the common voter. So embrace your newfound legitimacy. Wait until the mass protests start up against your puppet regime. Because freethinking citizens are going to rally and demand that their basic rights be restored to them. Once they secure those again, they'll press even further to have their civil liberties restored. Now, absolute security cannot tolerate a liberal society. There's too many internal variables to control. And the wolves outside the borders will begin probing your strength and resolve while you face a multi-front war and an internal insurgency. Your victory may doom the Federation," Macen concluded his lecture.

"Damn you for forcing me into this," Sorbo terminated his connection.

"Commander? We've been ordered to increase speed and report to what they call Redoubt Station," Forger sounded worried.

"Be certain to comply with their every request," Macen instructed before contacting Kerber and Smith, "Do you have them?"

"We're in and seeding their entire networks with control overrides," Kerber gloated, "We piggybacked Sorbo's signal and now we own them."

"Excellent news. I'll have Tessa prepped and ready for her part while they take me prisoner," Macen celebrated.

"We'll be able to monitor and use their internal security measures against them but you'll still be vulnerable to physical harm," Smith warned him

"That's why Tessa will pay them a house call. I may need a doctor on my side," Macen snickered.

The Obsidian accelerated to match speed with the Vanguard. Simultaneously, the Corsair moved out from behind the comet they'd launched at the sun and joined inner system traffic after a cursory probe of the Io colony. There were no Vulcan life signs to be found. Passing Jupiter Station they set course for Luna. Ebert was already informing Traffic Control she intended to set down at New Berlin.

Even from a distance, the fires on Mars could still be seen. Rockford appeared in the cockpit, "I need you to overfly these coordinates on your approach."

"It'll be a little scenic but I can persuade Traffic Control that I have tourists aboard that want to see the oldest abandoned settlements," Ebert told her.

"Won't Federation Security be surprised to see us again?" Mudd chuckled evilly.

"They'll probably hold you at Customs until we return and need your skills to fly us off of Luna," Rockford prediced.

"If Federation Security had its way, they'd lock us up and throw away the key code," Mudd continued to wear an evil smile, "We made quite the impression last time out."

"They can't arrest you just for landing yet. But they can deny you access to the city," Rockford had checked local ordnances.

"They just better avoid the rough stuff," Mudd declared.

"I thought you liked it rough," Burrows retorted.

"Biiig difference between a consensual spanking and a beat down," Mudd replied with an eye roll.

"Maybe it would be better for everyone involved if you stayed aboard," Rockford suggested.

"Fine with me," Ebert quickly agreed.

"You're no fun," Mudd complained.

"Being detained in a blank room by Customs is no fun," Ebert replied.

"This from personal experience?" Mudd asked.

"All too often," Ebert admitted.

"That's 'cause you're too uptight to offer the agent in charge the best fifteen minutes of his or her life," Mudd cajoled Ebert.

"You listening to this?" Daggit asked Burrows.

"She's told me stories," Burrows grinned.

"He hasn't turned into an old married prude," Parva chucked Daggit's shoulder.

"You didn't think I was last night when you got of duty," Daggit smirked.

"I'd been holding our warp drive together with my bare hands for almost a week. I wasn't in my right mind," Parva playfully retorted, "You can prove yourself to me when we finish this mission."

"Challenge accepted," Daggit grinned.

"And you just got what you were after," Parva realized.

"No backing out now," Daggit grinned.

"Rockford, you'd best report to the aft cabin," her comm badge informed her.

"Lee has his underwear in a knot for some reason," Rockford sighed.

"We just passed over your coordinates. Maybe they found something," Ebert told her.

"Delay our landing for as long as possible," Rockford told the pilot.

"And when it becomes impossible?" Ebert wondered.

"We don't land until I say when and where," Rockford informed her before retreating to the aft cabin.

"I wonder what she's looking for in settlements that were abandoned in the late 21st Century?" Burrows asked.

"Johnson gave her a tip on a Cell 51 lunar black site prison they raided before we were all ingloriously transported to the here and now," Parva told him, "They'll probably need me so I'm off as well."

"Has my interest," Daggit followed her out.

"You two have fun by yourselves," Burrows tagged along.

"We have," Mudd called back at him.

Ebert glared at her and Mudd got defensive, "We did."

"Once," Ebert said stiffly, "Never again."

"Yeah, but that once made me orgasm five times. That's a personal record," Mudd said dreamily.

"I thought you'd let that go," Ebert sighed.

"I have my memories, fond but bleary eyed since we were falling down drunk," Mudd recalled.

"Never again. Besides, I thought you and Tony were a thing," Ebert told her.

"We're an open thing. I can have you on the side or anyone else for that matter. I just prefer you," Mudd confessed.

"I don't do 'on the side'," Ebert grew stiffer, "And I don't think Tony would for long either."

"But then I'd just have you," Mudd cheerfully predicted.

"Until the next 'on the side' came along. I've been down this traffic lane too many times. I'm not doing I again," Ebert stated flatly.

"You never talk abou your exes," Mudd replied.

"They were all like you and I nursed broken hearts more times than I can count. I'm off that ride," Ebert told her, "When I get involved again, it'l be with someone that respects me enough to commit to me without reservation or pining away for another 'on the side'. I finally have enough self-respect to demand that of someone."

"You've got me there," Mudd grumbled.

"Which is why I'll never date you, have another fling with you, or even consider the possibility. You're too careless with people's emotions. I love you as a friend, Harri. But I'll never take you as a lover," Ebert laid down her terms, "Not even if you profess a change of heart. Because I've been down hat lane too any times as well. People don't change."

"I've changed or I wouldn't be here," Mudd said defiantly.

"You just finally accepted you really were all long. Big difference," Ebert told her, "Now, I've been ignoring Traffic Control long enough that now they'll want to scream at me. So shelve this and never bring it ip again. Like we agreed."

Mudd conceded and listened in while Traffic Control did indeed lose patience with the errant runabout and began demanding an immediate touchdown at New Berlin. Ebert ran through her list of excuses and switched off the comm array, "That'll buy us time until they whistle up Starfleet interceptors."

"They won't fire on us," Mudd jovially predicted.

"If Traffic Control gives the word, they'll disable us and tractor us to New Berlin where we will al face detainment and questioning by both Starfleet and Federation Security," Ebert told her, "I've been here before as well."

"Yean, but we just tell Starfleet we're looking Tovik," Mudd thought it was that simple.

"Harri, Cell 51 is legit now. Starfleet has to accept that. So if we tell them we're looking into a secret Cell 51 base it won't matter if Tovik is there or not. Cell 51 will be within their rights to have Starfleet drag us to the nearest port and lock us up," Ebert explained the change, "Our mission isn't on any official books. Starfleet Intelligence will be forced to deny complicity in our actions. We get caught by Cell 51 or Federation Security nd we're looking at prosecutable offenses."

"Sucks to be us," Mudd griped.

"It's harder for the Captain. Sorbo will take him prisoner and he only has Bailey, Angelique, and Tessa to get him off of Cell 51's space station as well liberate the Obsidian which will be occupied by a security force," Ebert shared.

"When did that become the plan?" Mudd asked.

"It's always been the plan," Ebert told her, "It's the only way to distract Cell 51 from what we're doing on Luna. But even while Cell 51is distracted there's still Federation Security to deal with."

"This is Macen's big plan?" Mudd yelped.

"It's his and Celeste's. So she knows what's at stake more than the rest of us. We have to find Tovik and this is the last place anyone would look. So we're looking and we have to find him or we have all hell to pay if we fail," Ebert informed her, "This is also why you weren't briefed on all the particulars. You have a tendency to balk at high risk plans."

"That's 'cause I'm not the hero type," Mudd complained, "You guys just drag me along and I have to put up with this shuk."

"Yet you risked everything to rescue Celeste from terrorists when you could have, and by your credo, should have walked away," Ebert reminded her.

"Worst mistake of my life," Mudd grumbled.

"No, it's when you chose to be your authentic self," Ebert corrected her.

"I hate you," Mudd groaned.

"But you still want to frinx me," Ebert sighed.

Yup," Mudd confirmed it, "Sucks don't it?"

"You have no idea," Ebert decided she'd rather argue with Traffic Control.

"There's an intact structure at the coordinates supplied by Admiral Johnson," Lee explained to Rockford, pulling the imagery and sensor data up on the aft cabin's main viewer from his seated position with a portable computer, "Arianna spotted it."

"They have a damping field masking their power signature but they still have windows wih lighting coming through them," Forte explained, "It's a cylindrical dome with no visible defenses. The entire idea is that it's supposed to blend in with the antiquated junk left behind when the colony was abandoned for a newer tech one that eventually became New Berlin."

"Do they have shields or transport inhibitors?" Daggit asked.

"They have an active transporter pad but everything else is blacked out by the damping field," Lee told him, "If it weren't for us knowing where to look, we'd never have identified the transporter interface."

"I could use their transporter to beam us directly into their base en masse rather than send people over in duos," Parva was scrolling through the data from another computer Shade had surrendered to her.

"Gear up," Rockford told them, "We're going in. Arianna, you'll stay behind to operate the transporter interface. We'll need to be leaving in a hurry."

"We'd best prep for heavy resistance. This is a high value prisoner and we have no idea the numbers we'll be facing," Daggit suggested.

"Parva, once we're in, can you manually override their internal defenses?" Rockford asked.

"Given enough time," Parva promised, "But it'll take longer if I'm dodging particle beams in the process."

"Disable their artificial gravity first. That should disorient them enough to give us an edge. We'll break out the magnetic boots before we beam down," Rockford told her, "Tracy will land outside the dome while we're transporting down. That should distract the majority of the guards into thinking we'll employ EVA suits to reach the front door."

"I like it," Burrows agreed with the plan.

"Remember, we want prisoners who can testify if pressured hard and long enough," Rockford reminded Burrows and Daggit, "None of your usual racking up the body counts."

"I'm still taking my grenade launcher," Daggit said grimly.

"And I'm bringing my sword," Burrows rarely went into action without his favorite melee weapon, a Japanese katana handed down through his family for generations as a gift from one of Japan's last legendary sword smiths. Burrows had become a competitive kendo master before joining Starfleet.

Parva accessed the transporter through Kerber and Smith's comm cipher back door and triggered their transporter to move the insertion team inside the black site. Meanwhile, Ebert boldly landed the Corsair in front of the "ruin". Then she just waited. Inside the prison, Cell 51 agents scrambled to don EVA suits to board the runabout and take the crew hostage. When the agents emerged, Ebert lifted off out their weapons range but stayed within transporter range. Mudd signaled Rockford to let her know what had happened. Traffic Control signaled for the runabout to hold position until Starfleet fighter craft could intercept them and escort them to New Berlin. So the insertion team was on an even shorter deadline than previously imagined.

Inside the facility, Parva disengaged artificial gravity. Then the team swept forward with Daggit in the lead with Burrows at his shoulder. Rockford followed with a tricorder and her rifle poised. She called out directions as they navigated the facility and stunned hapless personnel floating around. Mudd's messages came through during this process.

"Rab, several Cell 51 agents are wearing EVA suits. They're re-entering the building. We should expect them shortly. But I have a lock on two Vulcan life signs. Both are at the center of the building.," Rockford told her fewloow Angosian Augment.

"Point the way," he simply said. His behavioral conditioning was in full effect now. Rockford was glad that as a united psyche, she no longer followed Augment Infiltrator psychological prompts and conditioning. She was free to make her own type of decisions. Daggit, even as a simple Augment, wasn't so lucky.

Parva committed various acts of sabotage as they maneuvered through the prison site. She deactivated the damping field so Forte could see within the base with the runabout's sensors. Lee and Shade did their best to keep up and spot trouble coming from the rear.

They stunned half a dozen guards to find two Vulcan prisoners. Tovik and his Chief of Staff, Merik. Rockford freed them, "Rockford to Corsair, lock on to all life signs at our position and engage transporter!"

They were whisked away before the EVA team made it to their position. Ebert raised the shields so the Cell 51 jailers couldn't transport Tovik and Merik back out of the runabout. Or anyone else for that matter. Two Peregrine-class fighter craft reached their position at that time.

"Mr. Vice President, I believe you should address these fine pilots' concerns," Rockford led him to the aft cabin and a portable computer were Ebert relayed the signal.

The Vanguard escorted the Obsidian to Redoubt Station's main hanger door where the station assumed control of the helm and brought them inside to a docking gantry. Forger was decidedly unhappy as the station's personnel summoned her and Jones to the main docking airlock, "Let's get this over with."

A Cell 51 Senior Agent addressed as Agent Whynot led the boarding party. Her deputy, Agent Now, led Agents January through June to Engineering to secure it. Agents July through December dealt with Ship's Security. Several of the agents had boarded the Obsidian in a hostile action before. They remembered their defeat all too well. Four of those agents led Jones back to the bridge to secure all stations. Whynot directed Forger and the rest of the former boarding party to Deck 3. There they proceeded to the spaces allocated to the SID.

"Open these offices," Whynot ordered.

"I can't," Forger shrugged, "They're independent of command protocol. They can only be opened by SID agents."

"Whom I want to have surrender," Whynot was losing patience.

"You could ask nicely," Forger suggested, "Maybe they'll come out then."

"I will not deactivate the warp core," Gilan informed an equally irritated Agent Now.

"You're on station power. It won't disrupt any systems or activate auxiliary power," Agent Now argued.

"Except that we never opened our ports to accept the station's power feeds so we're still on internal power," Gilan argued back.

"Where do you think you can go?" Agent Now scoffed.

"Out of here. That's for certain," Gilan told her.

"Not happening," Agent Now promised.

"Deputy Chief Jones, explain it to her," Gilan asked Engineering's third-in-command, Celine Jones.

"Where's there's a will, there's a way," Jones said crisply.

"There you have it," Gilan said triumphantly.

"How did you morons happen to outwit Cell 51 agents before?" Agent Now asked.

"Assumptions kill. So we don't make any," Jones answered.

Agent December was watching as Jelena Kovic supervised the lock up of the ship's armory stores, "That's everything."

"You're certain?" Agent August inquired sharply.

"If she said it's so then it's so," Abby Collins came in defense of the Security Chief.

"The only other personnel that go armed are the SID agents aboard," Kovic told Agent December, ignoring the brusque Agent August.

"Not for much longer," Agent July predicted.

"You people need real names," Collins rolled her eyes.

 

Chapter Six

Senior Agent Wes Petrie arrived with Agents Sunday through Saturday, "Have they surrendered yet?"

"No," Agent Whynot grated, "And the Captain of the ship doesn't have override clearance."

"It's all true," an amused Forger admitted.

"Recommendations?" Petrie asked.

"I told her to ask nicely," Forger shrugged.

"Where would Macen be?" Petrie asked politely.

"This is his office," Forger indicated the proper door.

"Commander Macen, will you please step outside? Director Sorbo would like to have a word with you in person," Petrie toggled the entrance buzzer.

The door slid open and Macen stood there without his holster/itility belt on, "Am I to be dragged away in chains?"

"We have enough agents to cover you," Petrie smirked, "If you'll follow me?"

Macen fell into step. Four agents boxed him in while three followed. Everyone of them alert to the possibility of an escape attempt.

"We'll override these other doors and drag the cowards out," Agent Whynot predicted.

"Not likely," Forger made her own prediction.

"What's this final door lead to?" Agent Whynot inquired of the Data Womb access.

"Access way to the computer core," Forger admitted a half truth.

"Will get to that eventually," Agent Whynot tapped her comm badge and summoned a code breaking team to override the door lock outs.

"Good luck and don't say I haven't warned you," Forger grinned.

Nechayev personally beamed from Starfleet Intelligence's headquarters in Toronto to Starfleet Command in San Francisco to give Akaar the news, "Celeste Rockford has Vice President Tovik. He was being held in a lunar Cell 51 black site prison. Both he and his Chief of Staff have been recovered. A Starfleet fighter wing has been dispatched to quietly bring him here."

"What's he aboard?" Akaar wondered.

"An Outbound Ventures Danube-class runabout. One of their SID eligible teams affected the rescue," Nechayev explained.

"I thought the SID's budget was frozen by he Federation Council and all contractors' assignments suspended," Akaar was surprised.

"I took over this contract using Intelligence's black budget," Nechayev told him, "Though they volunteered to do it for free."

"No, it's better that they operated in an official capacity," Akaar realized, "Have them land here at Command and I'll have Admiral Pulaski personally oversee to Vice President Tovik's medical exam. Arrange for your best trauma counselor to run a psych eval just to cover our bases after the smear campaign the Ministry of Information and FNS has been running."

"How do you wan to play this out?" Nechayev asked.

"Commodore Oh will assign a SOC detail to Tovik's security. I'll contact Perez and alert her that I have an official Starfleet update to present to both her and the assembled Federation Council in nine hours' time. That will get the major political players all in the same room. Pulaski and your counselor will accompany Oh and myself to the Council chambers with Tovik to present him to the body politic ao he can testify to the circumstances of his abduction and imprisonment. We'll see then if Perez will step down and allow the elected President to assume office," Akaar told her.

"And if she doesn't?" Nechayev had tpo ask.

"Then we maintain Tovik's safety and take it before the High Court," Akaar said from deep within his massive Cappellan chest, "They all claim to be strict constructionalists regarding the Federation Charter. Let them prove it by upholding Federation law as written."

"There's more," Nechayev wore a wolfish grin, "The SID took six of Tovik's jailers and arrested them. So we have prisoners to interrogate and have plea bargains in exchange for official testimony against Cell 51."

Now Akaar finally smiled, "That is almost even better news."

Akaar's comm badge beeped, "Akaar here. This had better be important."

"This is McNeil at Operations. President Perez issued a direct order to Vice Admiral Ross at Starbase 375 ordering him to instruct Captain Vaughn to seize control of Deep Space Nine," came the reply.

"Vaughn's response so far?" Akaar asked.

"So far he's playing dumb. But Ross is compromised by Perez's direct authority. She'll force him to order the additional fleet assets in the Bajor system to begin transporting Security personnel aboard the station to take it from the Militia's superior forces," McNeil told him.

"Get me General Kira. I think she'll be interested in this news," Akaar insructed.

"Sir?" McNeil was stupefied.

"Vaughn is buying us time to get the Militia ready," Akaar explained, "I don't intend to waste it further."

"Aye, sir," McNeil handed off to Starfleet Communications that patched in to Akaar's desktop comp/comm.

Akaar gestured towards a nearby seat, "Would you like to sit in, Alynna?"

"I was hoping you'd ask," Nechayev admitted.

"We have two hours tops before Ross is forced to order Starfleet forces to secure Deep Space Nine," Vaughn warned his Senior Staff and Colonel Cenn.

"I can help slow Security down from an official perspective but I won't open fire on fellow officers," Blackmer advised Vaughn.

"That's all any of us can do," Vaughn told him, "I'm responsible for the Starfleet presence on the station and I'm the one willfully disobeying a direct order to secure it from Bajoran hands. I'll take full responsibility and face any insubordination charges alone. The rest of you just be uncooperative as possible within regs."

"Hasn't Earth learned anything about taking this station by force?" Doctor Julian Bashir had to wonder.

"Waypoint was just a warm up for this," Lt. Commander Sarina Douglas stated, "Hopefully they'll be ordered to set for stun this time."

"Dalin Slaine, please notify the Cardassian Guard ships in the vicinity of what's about to happen so they can coordinate with the Militia," Vaughn asked of the Cardassian exchange officer.

"The Militia is prepared for this. But it shakes the Federation and Starfleet's credibility to the breaking point," Cenn warned.

"Hopefully we can solve this problem before that breaking point is reached," Vaughn offered hopefully, "I have an interesting proposal for you and your forces, Colonel."

"I'm all ears, Captain," Cenn promised.

"Official word also went out to the Deeper Beta Quadrant. Starfleet forces are to invade the Confederacy of Worlds, disable the Patriots outdated fleet, and occupy the colonies," Douglas was still at her station checking official feeds in her capacity as Strategic Operations Officer.

"Bloody hell," Command Master Chief Miles O'Brien swore, "I thought Perez was better than this. She certainly ended the war with Bajor in a hurry last time she was President."

"Last time Cell 51 wasn't in Sector 001 making its presence felt in all things," Douglas reminded them all.

"Don't remind us," Bashir groaned.

"Captain, we have a secure channel being raised from Militia Headquarters addressed to you," Douglas noted.

"Put it on the main viewer. I think this will be news we all need to hear," Vaughn instructed.

"Damn them!" Johnson received Starfleet's orders. They came from the local sector commander rather than Starfleet Command and were counter signed by Perez herself. The appointed political puppet president had outmaneuvered Johnson's ongoing diplomatic efforts with the Patriots. The locals didn't stand a chance but they'd put up a good fight. The question everyone was asking but no one seemed to care what the answer was was whether or not the Iotian Starfleet would intervene. They'd pushed a lot of assets into nearby space even as Starfleet surrounded the Confederate Sector.

Johnson had already vacated the area aboard the Intrepid as it sped towards a fateful rendezvous in Sector 01. But he'd maintained subspace communications with both the Patriot Council and Starfleet. McKinley had slipped the Akira-class cruiser past Starfleet patrols so Command still believed they were in the Confederate Sector undertaking talks.

Cell 51 had a dozen of the NY-class starships in Sector 001 plus their space station. Word from Rear Admiral Forger wasn't good. Macen and the Obsidian crew had surrendered to Cell 51 and been taken prisoner inside their space station. Perez had ordered the hostile takeover of DS9 so Vaughn and the Defiant wouldn't be showing up. But they'd never planned on it anyway. Johnson realized Macen had a plan of escape but it had to be a desperate one to get out from the heart of the enemy.

The Intrepid crew had only shared their plans with the Starfleet captains that were heeding the assembly call and Admirals Nechayev and Forger. Even Akaar was unaware of Johnson's desperate bid to liberate Earth and its solar system.

According to Starfleet Operations, the 5th Fleet was still intertwined along the the Gorn Hegemony border. The 3rd Fleet was conducting repair operations and assisting Cell 51's aging fleet. The two sides having fought each other to a standstill and then been ordered to play nice. It hadn't been easy to coordinate the secret movements of the affected starships and crews. Starfleet Operations was still under the impression they were all still at their assigned missions and patrols. But they'd all put underway when Johnson beckoned when the Federation Council chose Sok as Speaker and Sok chose Perez as the President fo the Federation. Cindi was the delegated Vice President chosen by Perez.

The 7th Fleet was distracted at Bajor rather than patrolling the Cardassian border where Castellan Garan was undoubtedly preparing a response to Sok, Perez, and Cindi's appointments to high office in the Federation when they were supposed to be serving at Cardassian labor camps. It had been the only good thing to come out of Ardra's administration. The deal saved billions of bars of gold pressed latinum that the hard currency reserves couldn't afford to spend.

Bajor had spent their reparation payments on the Militia and starbase and dockyard facilities all built by the Iotians. The Republic's growing dependence on the Iotian Federation was another tension brewing between Bajor and the Federation as the Iotians presented themselves as a viable rival to the original Federation. Johnson cursed the Iotians' practice of arming barely warp capable cultures with more advanced starships and small arms and planetary defenses.

The Iotian Starfleet did draw a line with pre-industrial cultures but they did trade in black powder weaponry with them. Arming whichever side of a divided planet that met their terms first. Rumors floated about that the Iotians were even creating nuclear armed states on industrialized worlds. Starfleet sent in agents to confirm or deny these rumors and many mission reports were overdue as the agents weren't able to make contact at the pre-arranged times. Whether the Iotian Starfleet was complicit in these disappearances was a matter of conjecture since the Orion Syndicate quickly followed the Iotians to most of these planets.

Tensions were mounting between Gomer's reign over the Orion Syndicate and the hereditary Oxmyx and Kracko over the Iotian Federation and Starfleet. The power couple had detained Gomer until such time as the Orions were willing to forsake the Blood Queen and negotiate Gomer's return. But it had been a purely financial transaction. Increasingly, the Syndicate and the Iotians were at odds over the development of trade on non-aligned worlds. The Syndicate becoming the perfect foil for the Iotian Starfleet's protection plans. The only good thing from the escalating conflict was that the Star Empire had closed its borders to both sides. So that limited the directional vectors the two factions could approach one another from. But the Romulans enjoyed playing both sides off of each other to weaken them at a time when the Iotians were becoming thorns in the Star Empire's side by offering their protection schemes in the Deeper Beta Quadrant.

Johnson was all too aware of the sticky situations brewing across the Beta Quadrant between all of these factors. His purview from Starfleet was to maintain the peace. Yet none of these sides particularly wanted peace. War made for a profitable Relentless. For the Orions, it opened up gunrunning operations. For the Iotians, it offered them paying clients wanting protection from interstellar threats. For the Romulans, they acquired resources, vassal states, and slaves. Throw into the mix an isolationist yet covert interventionist operation like Cell 51 and its puppet government over the Federation and you had destabilizing factors growing at quantum rates. Johnson had rid his universe of Cell 51 once before. He was determined to do so again.

Macen was marched into Sorbo's private office. There Agents Sunday through Saturday were dismissed to join the efforts of breaking into the SID teams strongholds on the Obsidian. Sorbo dressed casually as always. His Starfleet uniform long abandoned. Petrie stayed with them. Apparently Sorbo felt some security precautions were warranted.

"Have a seat," Sorbo came around his desk, "Let me offer you a drink. I understand you prefer espresso drinks but not raktajino."

"Klingons have no business making coffee," Macen said bluntly.

"I agree," Sorbo ordered Macen's favorite drink from the replicator. Personally, he and Rockford preferred the Coffee Spot on Serenity. The baristas there, Roberta Roland and Nick Klaus, served up perfection with personal care and real coffee beans with multiple roast selections.

"You can take a seat," Sorbo approached with two mugs. He scowled and set hem down on his desk, "You idiot! This isn't Macen. It's a hologram!"

"What? How?" Petrie panicked.

"He's wearing one of Zimmerman's new mobile holo emitters that he reversed engineered from the Doctor's 29th Century model," Sorbo angrily explained the metal patch on Macen's arm, "These are controlled tech. I don't know how Macen managed to acquire one."

He plucked the emitter off of Macen's arm and hit the control interface. Tessa materialized in front of him, "Surprise!"

Both Sorbo and Petrie were overwhelmed by the suddeness and ferocity of the hand to hand attacks that came their way. Rockford had spent hours uploading various martial arts techniques from across the Federation and a few other rival powers. Sorbo was a proficient fighter but Tessa was master of 154 forms. He never stood a chance.

Petrie, on the other hand, swung at Macen. The El-Aurian ducked under the swing and delivered an elbow to the nose. Then he swung himself to face Petrie and delivered a second elbow to the face. Petrie's nose was crushed and a snap was heard as the cartilage in it broke. Macen then delivered a phoenix punch to Petrie's throat so he couldn't call for back up if he ever manged to tap his comm badge. The edemal swelling asphyxiated Petrie and he passed out from lack of oxygen.

"Check him out. I don't want to kill him," Macen instructed Tessa and they switched sparring partners. Macen had removed the binders from Petrie's belt as well as his Starfleet issue "cobra" phaser. Macen preferred Bajoran models but he could work with Starfleet's version. He bound Sorbo's hands behind him and removed his comm badge and phasered it, "Comm badge."

Tessa tossed it to him and he repeated the exercise. Tessa had slid a conveniently located straw from Sorbo's desk down Petrie's swelling throat to return his ability to breathe, "He'll live but he won't to."

Macen activated Sorbo's comp/comm and Kerber's face appeared, "Nicely done. We monitored everything."

"How is Cell 51 doing at breaching the Situation Center and Celeste's office?" Macen inquired.

"They're blundering about but they do have agents placed at strategic points across the ship. A senior agent and Gilan are at odds because he won't shut the warp core down and accept station power," Smith told him, "She's begun issuing threats to the engineering team in hopes of circumventing Gilan and Celine Jones' obstinacy."

"They're attempting a computer core data retrieval from Zimbalist's OPS station. So far Edwin's own countermeasures are holding them at bay but we've locked the core down," Kerber reported, "No one has access unless we allow it."

"Disengage the docking clamps and begin using thrusters to maneuver towards the main bay doors. Lock the doors in place and then shut down the station down to life support. But keep power running to the umbilical gantries leading to any starships found inside this docking bay," Macen instructed them, "I wan to be able to disengage any docking clamps mooring a ship inside the hangar."

"There's one other ship. A trophy prize for Sorbo. It's operable if you and Tessa work together," Kerber mentioned.

"Hold off on shutting down power until you transport Sorbo, Tessa, and I to that starship's bridge," Macen amended his earlier order.

"Standby for transport and get ready for a surprise," Smith chuckled.

"What the frinx?" Tessa blurted at seeing an orange turbolift access door emblazoned with the planet Earth with a dagger plunged through it bvertically.

"This is a Terran Empire ship," Macen realized, "Pre-Alliance. I'd say mid-23rd Century model. Looks like a Constitution-class bridge that they copied from the USS Defiant."

"The Defiant bridge isn't this big," Tessa argued.

"Not the modern version. The original USS Defiant went missing from a spatial anomaly in Tholian claimed territory. It was an interphasic rift in time and space that transported the USS Defiant back in time to the 22nd Century where the Terran Empire learned of its existence, stole it from the Tholians and spent a century reverse engineering and copying the Constitution-class starships and every other pre-refit model in the Defiant's memory banks for over a century."

"How do you know so much about it?" Tessa asked.

"Section 31 had an operative, a former ruler from the Terran Universe, that made a complete report. When the Terrans began crossing over into our universe at Deep Space Nine, Section 31 reverse engineered an abandoned transphasic transporter modifier and began monitoring he Alliance and the Terran Rebellion in relation to the surviving remnants of the Terran Empire," Macen told her, "After our crossover, I simply asked Admiral Forger for access to S31's compiled history of the Terran Universe. It's the information Nechayev used to swing a deal with the Intendant Kira and plot Intendant Ro's assassination."

"You disapprove," Tessa noted.

"That version of Kira can't be trusted with anything or for anything," Macen shrugged, "Let's get busy on these controls. I'll take Helm and you can have Weapons and Navigation."

"I'm releasing all moorings," Macen advised Tessa.

The station went dark on the viewscreen. Macen grinned, "Right on time. Now, if Angelique and Bailey can keep from crashing our usual starship into the station, our escape should be eventual."

"I looked up the registry on this ship. She's the ISS Relentless," Tessa noted.

"The flagship of the Terran Empire after the loss of the ISS Charon," Macen smirked, "No wonder Sorbo keeps it as a trophy. Philippa Georgiou must have found a way back and forth between universes before the Alliance came together."

"You're awfully informed," Sorbo spoke from the floor between the helm and navigation controls and the main viewer. He struggled to get to his knees and the stand without the use of his bound arms, "You know binding a person's hands behind their back is illegal."

"I'm not Starfleet. I just work for them," Macen replied blithely, "Now, I'm stealing this ship."

"You'll never leave this station," Sorbo gloated.

"Take a look at the viewer. Your station is locked down and deprived of power. It's warp cores and fusion generators have all been shut down. Even the battery backups have been turned off. I'd say your crew has five, maybe six, hours of breathable atmosphere left. If the cold doesn't get to them first," Macen explained, "An inviting target for Starfleet to compel them to surrender."

"We are the government," Sorbo scoffed, "Starfleet will be ordered ot stand down and let things happen as my NY-class starships destroy your precious Obsidian after retrieving my agents from it."

"We'll see how things turn out," Macen said without worry.

"What have you done?" Sorbo was uneasy with Macen's confidence.

"I'm testing the strength of your government," Macen told him, "We'll simply see how many allies in it remain loyal when put to a constitutional crisis and they either obey the letter of the law or go off the rails."

The Vanguard was on station near Redoubt when the station lost power. The outer parols were recalled and the NY-class ships were assembling as the Obsidian, under computer control, backed out of the station's hangar bay and turned itself around. They began hailing the errant starship but here was no reply from either the crew or the Cell 51 agents inside of it.

"Why are we moving?" Agent Whynot demanded from Forger.

"I don't know. I've been with you here on the bridge the whole time. As you can tell, all our stations are locked down and we're not sitting at them. Your agents are the ones trying to get the systems back up," Forger found it all very amusing.

Agent Whynot tapped her comm badge to no effect. Forger couldn't help but laugh, "It seems there's a comms breakdown as well."

"Watch them!" Agent Whynot left the command deck and headed for the turbolift access. Which refused to open, "What the hell is wrong with your ship?"

"You started poking around its innards. I don't think it likes you very much," Jones couldn't refrain.

The main viewer came to life and Forger snickered, "Look! Entertainment."

"The Vanguard has raised shields and locked weapons on us," Agent Monday said from Tactical.

"How can you tell?" Agent Whynot wanted to know.

"The computer lockout on the sensors disengaged," Agent Monday told her, "Someone is manipulating the central computer. But we've raised shields and phasers and photon torpedo guidance is locked on the Vanguard."

"Agent Whynot, sensors indicate the ISS Relentless exited the station hangar bay right after us," Agent Thursday stated from OPS.

"Who'd steal that relic?" Agent Whynot wondered aloud.

"They've also raised shields and their phaser locks and torpedo guidance systems are armed and taregting the Vanguard," Agent Monday reported in.

"Your NY-class isn't much bigger than a Constitution-class. How does its firepower rate?" Forger asked.

"It had Type XI phasers and quantum torpedoes. Its designed ot defeat a Galaxy- or Sovereign-class," Agent Whynot recalled her briefings on the ships' design, "Neither we or Macen aboard the Relentless stand a chance in hell."

"Agents, Redoubt lost all power. Even the battery systems appear to be down. They've lost everything, even artificial gravity and life support," Agent Thursday stated from OPS.

"Who the hell are you people?" Agent Whynot finally asked.

"We're the crew of the SS Obsidian. We don't look for fights. But the SID team makes damn certain we're in a position to finish them. I'm captain of this vessel and everything and everyone aboard her are my responsibility except for that team. That's Commander Macen's personal fiefdom. You took him off of this ship against his will. I'm simply saying, his team wants him back and no one aboard your station could hold him."

"Scan the Relentless for life signs of you can," Agent Whynot ordered.

"Sensors aren't responding to controls. They're simply displaying what someone else wants us to see," Agent Tuesday told her.

"The only reason we're in a standoff instead of a fight with your precious starship is because my crew is still alive and unharmed. But I warn you, the SID team's mission comes before our lives. So you start executing hostages and this ship will go into action against yours. And like you said, that's a fight we can't win," Forger explained to Whynot.

"Agents will cut through the doors if they have to," Agent Whynot said sternly.

"Then we might not survive this. You're one and only chance at living through this is to surrender to us. Then I can start talking that captain out there down," Forger offered.

"I have no way of standing my agents down," Agent Whynot reminded her.

"Agent Whynot, we're getting life sign readings from the ISS Relentless now," Agent Thursday informed her, "One El-Aurian and one human. The human bears Director Sorbo's transponder tag."

"You're damn Mission Commander has our Director!" Agent Whynot exclaimed.

"And your ship is threatening that ship as well," Jones reminded her.

"That ship is a relic. The Vanguard can easily disable her shields and transport Director Sorbo to safety," Agent Whynot's confidence rebounded.

"They'll beam a corpse over. I can promise you that. Macen keeps reminding us he's not Starfleet. None of us are Starfleet anymore. Our rules are a tad more...flexible," Forger explained.

"Hell, I was a Maquis commander in my previous life," Jones chortled.

"So was Macen. Your Director is in mortal peril and you can help this situation or make it worse," Forger offered Whynot her escape clause.

"The impulse engines are charging and the CONN has locked a collision course with the Vanguard," Agent Friday warned the Senior Agent.

"We'll stand down," Agent Whynot blurted in near panic. Her comm badge chirped.

"I'd say your comms are back on a temporary basis," Forger said evenly, "Be very careful about what you say next."

Agent Whynot tapped her comm badge, "All Cell 51 agents, this is Senior Agent Whynot. Due to circumstances involving the life of Director Sorbo, we are standing down and surrendering to the Obsidian crew. Please hand over any and all weapons and report to the Security Office for detention. This order is not negotiable."

Whynot turned to Forger, "Good enough?"

"It's a good starting point," Forger agreed, "Joelle and Jaycee, collect their weapons and then escort them to Jelena's office. I'm sure she and Abby will be happy to entertain them in the brig."

The turbolift door opened of its own accord. Agent Whynot turned to face Forger one last time, "We will find out whose responsible for all of this and eliminate them."

"I believe your last effort to do so ended in failure as well," Forger smiled.

"The helm is responding," Aglaia happily took her seat.

"Computer systems have been restored. All lockouts have been removed," Zimbalist told Forger.

"Impulse engines are sill standing by with our course still laid in," Aglaia warned Forger, "I have control but Kerber and Smith have us committed for now."

Minutes passed and Miller returned, "It's standing room only on our three brig cells bu Jelena has matters under control. Every Cell 51 agent si accounted for and locked away."

"Where's Joelle?" Forger asked.

"Checking in with Gilan and Celine in Engineering. The Cell 51 agents wee attempting to sabotage the warp core before we began exiting the station. We're on auxiliary power for now and she wants a repair estimate," Miller answered.

"I'd be curious myself," Forger admitted.

"Their cavalry just arrived," Zimbalist warned them as the viewer began display more NY-class starships joining the Vanguard, "How are we supposed to get out of this one?"

"We're not. We're the distraction for what's happening on Earth," Forger reminded him, "We wanted every Cell 51 eye on us and we've achieved that goal. Now we have to wait and hope the SID team aboard the Corsair was successful and we're about to have a change of government."

"I'd rather have Starfleet arrive in force," Miller admitted.

"Maybe they still will," Forger hoped beyond hope as well.

In Sector 002, a rendezvous long planned finally happened. Captain Morgan Bateson and the Akira-class USS Honshu were already awaiting the Intrepid's arrival. Captain Merry Limerick and the Galaxy-class carrier variant USS Hood had departed an assignment as well to arrive on Admiral Nechayev's orders. Joining him in that paradigm were Captain Hev Callas and the USS Monitor and Captain Alec Prine with the identical Defiant-class USS Merrimack. Employing quantum slipstream drives, Captain Ezri Dax and the Vesta-class USS Aventine showed up later along with fellow Delta Quadrant explorer, Captain James T. Kirk and the Intrepid-class USS Voyager-A. Dax had been defusing a situation near Kirk's position in the unexplored region of the Delta Quadrant. Captains Mackenzie Calhoun and Captain Katarina Mueller arrived in the Galaxy-class USS Excalibur-A and the USS Trident. Accompanying them from Thallonian space was Commodore Elizabeth Shelby in the Sovereign-class USS Regent. Finally, Captain Geordi LaForge and the Galaxy-class Starfleet Corps of Engineers test bed ship, the USS Challenger, arrived.

"Thank you all for dropping everything and deceiving Starfleet into thinking you were holding position at your given assignments," Johnson began his general hailing broadcast, "We've all seen FNS' grandiose footage of these new NY-class starships Cell 51 has been bragging up. Starfleet Intelligence has been quietly feeding us sensor data obtained from Peregrine-class fighter patrols operating within Sector 001. Like the Defiant-class, these are dedicated warships designed to knock out anything Starfleet or anyone else fields against them. What we have to our advantage is considerable experience and the element of surprise. Starfleet Operations doesn't know we're here and the Special Investigations Division has an operation underway to maximize the attention of the enemy vessels. So we'll have a clean run into the solar system and to Earth itself where I can only presume the system's fighter corps and Spacedock itself will support us."

"We've all faced greater odds individually," Kirk continued to rally the captains, "Together, this Cell 51 can't stop us."

"We've also have two separate but mounting crises on our borders. Starfleet has been ordered to focibly retake Deep Space Nine from Bajoran control and the fleet has been ordered to pacify the Confederacy of Worlds despite the looming threat of being embroiled with Iotian Federation and Romulan Star Empire interests and units," Johnson added, "We have to dismantle the Cell 51 threat in this sub-sector and restore sanity to our operational orders."

"It may be too late for that, Bob. But we can at least end Cell 51's holding the system hostage," Shelby replied.

"Time is against us," LaForge warned them, "The Starfleet Corps of Engineers has finished their last repairs of the Cell 51 fleet that engaged our 3rd Fleet. The 3rd is moving off for decommissioning at the Terra Nova Yards while Cell 51's vessels have set course for Sector 001. When they arrive, we'll be badly outnumbered."

"Like Kirk said, we've all faced worse odds," Calhoun rebutted him.

"But we can't afford a protracted fight with these starship classes and hope to have enough ordnance left to repel a Cell 51 invasion fleet," Bateson reminded him.

"So we fight smarter," Hev spoke up, "In the Bajoran Resistance we were always outmanned and outgunned but we fought smarter to maximize the damage we could inflict with our limited resources."

"What my compatriot is saying, we target exactly the systems we need to to spare our weapons yield and preserve our edge when those older starships begin to arrive in force," Prine added.

"Commodore Shelby, I want you to lead the tactical environment while I deal with the political arena that this fight is really being waged in," Johnson informed Shelby.

"I wondered why you insisted I be here," Shelby chuckled, "Kirk, as senior command officer, I want you to be my deputy."

"It'll be my pleasure," Kirk agreed.

"No cowboy moves by anyone. We work as a united force or we fail," Shelby directed everyone.

"Then we're going in at warp speed and not dropping from subspace until we reach Mars orbital track," Shelby decided, "Intrepid and Hood, you'll roll fighters as soon as we arrive. All of you form up in a squadron. The Monitor, Merrimack, and the fighters will be our escorts into combat. Give yourselves some space to maneuver but remember, this is a shock and awe operation. We come in weapons blazing and don't allow the enemy time to rally. Cripple their ships but take the crews alive. These are still fellow Federation citizens, even if they've forgotten what the Federation stands for. End of speech. We go to warp six in two minutes by my mark. Mark!"

"Admiral Akaar, so good of you and Commodore Oh to finally join us," Perez was testy at having to alter her schedule at the last minute. Akaar's insistence that Cindi be present as well had irritated her even more. As Speaker, Sok had gathered every Federation Councilor still on Earth, which made up a majority. Whatever resolution Akaar would be asking for they had a quorum of Councilors to vote on it.

"What report are you bringing us that couldn't wai until the normally scheduled Council meeting three days from now?" Perez demanded to immediately upon Akaar's arrival.

"First I'd like to bring in Admiral Pulaski and Counselor Rowan. Counselor Rowan is the Directior of Starfleet Medical's Counseling specialty as Dr. Kathryn Pulaski is the Director for Starfleet Medical," Akaar motioned for the Federation Security agent at the door to summon the medical staff.

"Why is this necessary?" Sok asked.

"Starfleet operatives recently liberated a prisoner and Dr. Pulaski and Counselor Rowan personally examined the patien to certify their physical and mental fitness after their ordeal," Akaar stated before the assembly, "I'd like to present that victim now."

"Let's get this parade over with," Perez was trying to rush things along. She'd received word Redoubt Station had gone offline and that Cell 51's patrol was gathered near Luna to deal with a singular crisis. A crisis that couldn't be made public.

"May I present Vice President Tovik to you," Oh said in somber tones. Starfleet SOC members escorted Tovik into the chamber to much furor.

"Order! We must have order!" Sok demanded over the outcry of voices.

Admiral T'Lara was by Tovik's side, "Madame President, lawfully your tenure as the Federation Council appointed holder of the office ends now that the elected Vice President is once again free to assume the office and medically certified as fit to do so."

The High Tribunal had also been summoned by T'Lara and now the Chief Justice knew why, "Madame President, under the law written into the Federation Charter, the Judge Advocate General of Starfleet is correct in her interpretation of the Charter's codes and procedures."

"This...this..." Perez stammered, "This cannot stand."

"Madame President, your appointment is finished," the Chief Justice insisted, "That will our ruling should you take this before the High Court."

"A unanimous ruling," another Justice warned her.

"This also ends Nhlakamipho Cindi's appointment as Vice President should Vice President Tovik choose to appoint a different candidate to be confirmed by the Federation Council," the Chief Justice continued.

"But I'm the President of the Federation," Perez protested.

"You are a fugitive from Cardassian justice," Oh warned her, "I have been in consultation with Castellan Rekena Garan and she has agreed not to embark on hostile actions against the Federation should we return you, Cindi, and Chavy Sok to their custody. This includes withdrawing their forces from the Bajor system."

"You can't do this. I order you to stand down," Perez was panicky.

"Juliete Perez, Nhlakamipho Cindi, and Chavy Sok, you are under arrest for conspiracy to commit high treason against the Federation," Oh informed them, "You will be extradited to Cardassian custody within the week."

Starfleet Security officers marched past the hapless Federation Security Sergeant at Arms to arrest the trio. Tovik motioned forward the Chief Justice, "Now that these particular finalities are done with, may I be sworn into office?"

The ceremony was brief and to the point. Tovik turned to Akaar, "As my first act as Commander-in-Chief, I order all Starfleet operations against the Bajoran Republic and the so-called Confederacy of Worlds cease and desist immediately."

"It'll be my pleasure to issue those particular orders, Mr. President," Akaar left the chambers to use one of the visitor's comm stations to contact Starfleet Operations and end the madness.

"Commodore Oh, I have task for you as well. I want you to arrest the Director of Federation Security for complicity in my abduction and detention," President Tovik stated. So Oh moved on but the SOC unit stayed in the chambers, assigned to Tovik until Oh said otherwise, they witnessed the Councilors discomfort as Tovik addressed them, "I will put forward my Chief of Staff, Merik, for the post of Vice President. You can deliberate on that confirmation at a later date. For now, I put forward the testimony that Federation Security, at the behest fo Cell 51, did willfully abduct me and detain me against my will so that Cell 51's political agenda and lackeys could be enacted and put in place. I move that Cell 51 be stripped of its legal protection and status and placed back on the list of terrorist organizations."

With no Speaker to call for deliberations, a simple vote was taken. With many of Cell 51's allies back on heir home planets celebrating their win, the vote carried and Cell 51 was again branded a terror organization. Tovik thanked the Councilors for their trust in his word, "And now I direct Starfleet to apprehend and detain every member of Cell 51 and their allies, no matter how high or low a position they may hold."

Starfleet Security teams, watching the feeds from outside the chambers, entered through every entrance and exit in the building and rearrested the chiefs of staff that had been released by Cell 51's official recognition. Councilor Auri and Akifa Chol numbered among those detained a second time and charged with aiding and abetting a terrorist group as well charges of sedition. Commander Ro enjoyed overseeing that particular operation before returning to London and her analysis group, which had never stopped working, to coordinate moving Starfleet assets to Redoubt Station to take those within it prisoner. But first they had to find a way around teh NY-class starships that were facing down the Obsidian and the ISS Relentless.

The Terran Relentless sparked an idea within Ro. She contacted Starfleet Academy and asked if Captain Montgomery Scott had already set out on his semester long raining voyage in the USS Enterprise-M or if the ship was still in Spacedock. Discovering Scotty had just assembled a crew of cadets taking his course on retrograde technology and societies that still used it, she contacted Scotty directly and asked if she could assemble a crew to take the Enterprise-M with a skeleton crew and a Security force to board Redoubt Station. He agreed if he could come along to maintain Engineering. Ro happily conceded. Then she contacted Oh to assemble the strike teams of both SOC and Security officers and cobbled together a team of unassigned officers familiar enough with the Enterprise-M's duotronic systems to fly her out of port and to the wolf's den.

"What are they waiting for?" Zimbalist nervously asked.

"Cat and mouse," Jones told the bridge crew, "They can easily disable our shields but they don't know where their agents are so they're holding back until hey sort out everyone's status."

"Agent Whynot's crew mentioned Sorbo has transponder implanted. That must only be for command hierarchy staff. Field agents can't afford indentifiable markers. So Joelle's right. They're waiting for someone to communicate with them to confirm or deny their agents are still in charge," Forger opined.

"Would their agents lock weapons on hem?" Miller punched a hole in the argument.

"It could be a developing power struggle where we regained control of key systems and the Cell 51 agents are attempting to retake the entire ship," Aglaia offered her opinion.

"I think you're right. But they won't wait forever," Forger realized, "And they can't get a clear shot at Macen and Tessa to recover Sorbo without going through us first."

"Lucky us," Zimbalist complained.

"Waitasec! My scope is filled with starships coming in at full impulse!" Miller shouted, "They're a who's who of friendlies!"

The Starfleet tasked force strafed the clustered NY-classes with phasers, photon and quantum torpedoes. Then they came about to do it again. The stricken Cell 51 starships began to break away from one another to get some maneuvering room but they were coming off of a standstill while Starfleet had the momentum and element of surprise, appearing from literally nowhere.

"The Office of the President is broadcasting on all frequencies," Zimbalist reported, "The Ministry of Information and FNS aren't broadcasting whatever announcement is coming."

"Put it on screen," Forger ordered.

The UFP symbol was emblazoned across their screen. The image shifted to show Tovik behind the President's desk in the familiar office, "To all Cell 51 elements and agents. This is President Tovik. I have legally assumed the office of the President of the Federation and am directing you to surrender. Be advised you have been stripped of your status as an arm of the Federation by the Federation Council. You are once again branded as terrorists and outlaws. If you willingly surrender, it will be noted at your trials and charges of resisting arrest will be dropped."

"Starfleet is engaging Cell 51 at close quarters," Miller reported, "No NY-class ships have surrendered. But they're ignoring us. What the hell?"

"What is it, Jaycee?" Forger was concerned.

"The Enterprise-M has launched from Spacedock and is hailing us," Zimbalist explained Miller's reaction, "They're broadcasting on a secure Militia channel."

"The Bajoran Militia?" Forger was startled.

"The very same," Zimbalist confirmed it, "And it's employing one of T'Kir's old encryptions."

Jones took a look at the electronic garble, "This is a Maquis code."

"All of T'Kir's ciphers are still stored in the computer," Forger wondered who the hell was commanding the Enterprise-M. Scotty certainly wouldn't know a Maquis code and use a Militia channel. Everything made sense once Ro's image formed on the screen.

"Commander Ro, this is...unexpected. Where's Scotty?" Forger asked.

"Minding the engine room at his own request," Ro told her, "I've got a ship full of SOC and Security officers looking to clear house on hat station. Is it really as dead as it looks?"

"Your sensors say the same as mine do. Poor bastards don't even have gravity, life support, or lights," Forger answered.

"This could be a lot easier than I expected," Ro wore an evil smile.

"You could start with the Relentless. Commander Macen and Tessa are aboard with Director Sorbo himself," Forger told her.

"First we have to navigate through the war zone. Idiots should have surrendered the moment Tovik offered terms," Ro scowled again.

"Commander Ro, Spacedock has launched fighters. They should be forming up on your position to punch a hole through the Cell 51 defensive cluster," Miller spoke up.

"I see them. We'll proceed now and I'll hail the Relentless," Ro found the symmetry oddly amusing.

"I think someone is directly hailing us on a Starfleet frequency," Tessa informed Macen, "At least that's what my board says. It's being sent by the Enterprise-M."

"What the hell is Scotty doing out here?" Macen wondered aloud.

"Why are we out here?" Tessa asked.

"To keep overzealous Cell 51 agents from attempting to rescue Sorbo," Macen explained the plan again even though Tessa had been fully briefed on it. Of course they'd expected to steal a modern craft.

"You need the rescuing. Not me," Sorbo still exuded confidence.

"Accept the hail," Macen instructed.

Ro's familiar image appeared on the main viewer, "Up to your neck in trouble, I see."

"Did Celeste pull it off?" Macen asked.

"Tovik is freed and in office as Federation President. Cell 51 was reclassified by the Federation Council. That's why I'm out here. To arrest everyone on that station," Ro told him.

"They'll fight to the bitter end," Sorbo boasted.

"We beamed a portable comm array aboard and they're begging to surrender," Ro informed him, "So no die hards there."

"You may have me but you don't have the heart of Cell 51," Sorbo boasted.

"Actually, once we arrested the Agent-in-Charge at the Federation Security office in New Berlin his subordinates got quite chatty. The Presider pulled her sensor blind trick too many times. We tracked her by those officers you sent to her by the sensor blackouts. We have Lauren Ryder and Ana Johanssen in custody along with the Presider," Ro explained to him, "Robert Roy and the USS Dibron were captured by the 3rd Fleet when they were turned around to intercept your starships heading to Earth to back your position here. It seems the problem with a transphasic cloak is that it shuts off life support while you're using it. They had to come up for air. Quite literally and Starfleet was there waiting for them. Your NY-class ships are impressive but they're facing the most experienced officers and crews in Starfleet. They won't last much longer. But you could end this with a word."

"What is Starfleet defending?" Sorbo grew enraged for the first time since his capture, "A insecure liberal quagmire? We offered you order and you spat on that."

"I should also inform you that Sok, Cindi, and Perez will be on their way back to Cardassian space to serve out their sentences at the Lazon II labor camp. We'll find the rest of your agents that aren't gathered here in Sector 001. Time is on our side," Ro told him, "And we're defending freedom of choice."

"Frinx you and your freedom. We offered you absolute security and safety," Sorbo lashed out.

"You should know everyone at the Ministry of Information has been arrested. Fiona Shaw has also been detained. FNS and its chief competitors has been privatized again by order of the Federation Council. The independent journalists that reported on the truth fo your regime have been hired back on mainstream news outlets. Freedom of the press has been secured and guaranteed once again. You're so used to hiding in shadows you never considered hat a little transparency would've gone a long way to securing the trust of the average citizen," Ro commented.

"Agents of chaos. That's all you and your free press are," Sorbo snarled.

"We're close enough to transport a SOC team and some Security officers to your ship. We can use to help to detain all the prisoners begging too be transported off of that Cell 51 monstrosity of a space station," Ro told Macen, "Just drop your shields and we'll do the rest."

"Lowering shields," Macen informed her.

"It seems we didn't need Director Sorbo to tell his people to be reasonable and surrender. They're all lowering shields and powering down their weapons," Ro smirked.

"You both think you've won. But you've already lost the next battle," Sorbo regained some of hsi composure.

"If you're referring to Elena Kita, we'll have her and her fellow scientists in custody as well. A well placed informant gave them up," Ro told him.

"The Changling Browder will be your end. I know what he came to the Alpha Quadrant for and it'll be your end. An end you earned today," Sorbo gloated.

The turbolift doors opened and a SOC lt. commander led a team to the bridge, "Shall we relieve you of the prisoner?"

"Be my guest," Macen said with relief.

"I'll put a prize crew aboard that ship. It could still have secrets from the Terran Universe we need to know," Ro offered.

"Any word from Celeste and the others?" Macen asked.

"They're standing by at Starfleet Command to depart aboard the Corsair and join you on the Obsidian," Ro told him to his great relief.

"Then it's time I hail Shannon Forger and have Telrik beam Tessa and I back aboard the Obsidian," Macen stated.

"I'll make certain Sorbo's testimony regarding her is stricken from the record. According to Starfleet, Tessa is just an average EMH. We won't disclose the fact she's sentient and has a mobile emitter. Those are still restricted technology," Ro promised.

"Mine came from Dr. Lewis Zimmerman himself," Tessa gushed.

"I'll leave that out of the reports as well," Ro grimaced.

"So what's the next mission?" Macen asked, "You've wrapped up Cell 51 with a lot of help."

"There are fringe groups popping up that still want to occupy Bajor and her colonies as well as force the Confederacy of Worlds to rejoin the Federation. Fiona Shaw's influence will be felt for generations," Ro said grimly, "They embraced Auri and Perez as Presidents. Cell 51's message of peace through force registered with them and they won't let that go."

"Any time you need the help, call," Macen offered.

"I know," Ro terminated the transmission to concentrate on transferring prisoners aboard the Enterprise-M six at a time. The limited transporter capabilities of the two ships worked to Starfleet's advantage,. It gave them limited numbers of arriving detainees and time to process the arrived prisoners.

Macen opened hailing frequencies with the Obsidian and Zimbalist transferred their coordinates to Telrik who beamed the pair over. Tessa scurried off to check on Galen 3. Macen first checked in with Kerber and Smith, "Great work you two. Cell 51 had no idea of what hit them. Sorbo is still trying to figure out who did it."

"Defending this ship took greater concentration than overriding Redoubt Station's computer networks," Smith said modestly.

Kerber decided to bask in the afterglow, "Either way, we did damn fine work."

"You've earned time off. Name anywhere you want to go and I'll make it happen," Macen told them, "I could even smuggle you back to Ardanan IV."

"I'm done with Ardana IV," Smith told him, "I'll choose a more hospitable environment."

"I stick with the Princess," Kerber grinned.

"I am not a princess nor will I ever be," Smith riled up at the old joke.

"Could've fooled me," Kerber poked the bear again.

Macen left them to bicker and headed to the bridge where Aeryn Black and the Gamma Watch crew were relieving the steadfast crewmen that had endured the Cell 51 invasion. Forger made her one and only report, "I have Jelena transferring all of our prisoners to Starfleet custody. Other than that, I'm sleeping for a month."

Jones hung back on the bridge to speak with Macen, "She did good. Cell 51 pressured her every which way but she held to the plan. They still think Rockford and the team were aboard the whole time just locked away where they couldn't get to them."

"Shannon has come a long way in a short time. So have you," Macen told her, "It's nice to finally be on the same side again."

"Yeah, Eddington's plans were bullshit. But they seemed like reasonable bullshit through the hate," Jones ruefully admitted.

"At least you let go of the hate," Macen observed.

"It took a long time with a lot of Zen but I made it through the other side. Just don't ask me to be best friends with Ziva Delain," Jones referred the resident CIB agent aboard Serenity.

"I won't," Macen promised, "Now, my wife should be returning with the rest of my team any minute now and I want to be there when they disembark."

"More power ot you," Jones went with him to the turbolift where they called for separate deck destinations. She hesitated while the lift doors closed before asking, "Why do you keep getting married? It's not like you and Lees ever thought about it."

"For my first wife it was a ceremonial exercise pledging ourselves to one another. It was all very El-Aurian tradition. For T'Kir, it was her way of finally having me to herself," Macen explained, "For Celeste it's meeting each other as equals legally and binding ourselves together as a whole. Literally for better or worse."

"You're so old fashioned," Jones's stop arrived, "But I hope you never change."

Macen got off on Deck 5 to transit the ship's corridors ot reach the Shuttlebay. There he waited with the Bay Chief while the Corsair signaled its impending arrival. After an about face, the tractor beam brought them in under computer control. The bay doors sealed and the room repressurized. Finally the bay was safe to enter so Macen did so even as the runabout's hatch opened.

Rockford was nearly the last to get off, "Am I fashionably late?"

"I've missed you," Macen confessed.

"Tell me more," Rockford laughed, "But before you do, was it terrible?"

"Sorbo wanted to gloat not torture me. Tessa came as a complete surprise to him so we were able to disable him and his bodyguard with relative ease. The Terran Relentless was a surprise though," Macen explained, "How and where did you find Tovik?"

"You tell me. Bob Johnson said you, Elias, and T'Kir freed prisoners from a Cell 51 lunar black site prison last time," Rockford told him.

"Because last time, Elias led the Intrepid's Security crew in liberating the site. Ian Delaney was his deputy on the mission. T'Kir and I were simply there to steal Cell 51's access codes before they could be deleted from the prison's computer core," Macen described what happened in their past, "Further evidence Bob and the others came from a different parallel reality."

"Who, what, and where?" Mudd asked as she and Ebert finished shutting the Corsair's systems down and exited the runabout.

"Never you mind," Rockford told her.

"Sure, sure. Keep your precious secrets," Mudd galavanted away.

"Harri was behind me so she probably missed the remark but I heard it," Ebert told them, "So it's official? The Intrepid crew is from a different universe than ours?"

"So are Vaughn, Ro, Nechayev, and Admiral Forger according to Shannon on the last," Macen informed her, "Neela is a wild card. Her past remains unaltered in this reality, ours, and whatever one she came from if she came from a different one. She might even be the original from this universe."

"My head hurts," Ebert complained.

"Wait until we discuss James T. Kirk. The Nexus really twisted that history up. The Prophets might not even have been involved in his return. All we know for certain is that in some parallel reality, Kirk entered the Nexus, exited it with Picard, and then survived only to mysteriously join us here," Macen described the indescribable.

"I'll be in the Galley having dinner and a bottle of synthale," Ebert exited as well.

"When's the last time you ate?" Rockford asked him.

"Our last meal together," Macen admitted.

"Same here. I'm starving. Let's join Tracy for dinner and trade stories," Rockford suggested.

"I'd better invite Angelique and Bailey. Angelique is dying to brag up how she and Bailey saved the day," Macen warned her.

"Did they?" Rockford wondered.

"Yup," Macen grinned.

"Then I won't interrupt her when she veers into utter bullshit land," Rockford laughed.

The Obsidian stayed at an orbital docking facility at Admiral Forger's behest. The Federation Sub-Committee for Starfleet Affairs quickly concluded their review of the SID's finances and expenditures with barely a word of protest. In fact, they recommended ot the main body that the budget be increased. But the reason for staying was that Rear Admiral Robert Tavar Johnson had a Board of Inquiry to attend regarding his covertly gathering Starfleet forces after diverting them from their individual missions and maintaining a ruse that they were still on station. That had all been Johnson's idea so the Admiral's actions had to be reviewed.

Fleet Admiral Akaar himself chaired the Board. Jellico and T'Lara were the other officers comprising the review board. Akaar held up a hand to quiet the murmured discussions from the gallery of witnesses and officers hat had been summoned as potential witnesses.

"Let it be on the record that this Board of Inquiry is now underway," Akaar announced, "Rear Admiral Johnson, you alone of all the officers you persuaded to join you in this covert mission and defying standing orders to do so are under inquiry. You're entitled to make an opening statement."

"I stand guilty of whatever charge the Board deems necessary to recommend," Johnson said boldly.

"Then I must inform that this Board has already discussed the particulars of your actions and have already made a determination regarding the matter. Do you stand ready to hear the verdict?" Akaar asked.

"I do," Johnson said simply.

"Rear Admiral Robert Tavar Johnson, you stand accused of gallantry in the face of opposition and bravery in the face of danger. Your actions helped bring an end to Cell 51's threat. It had has been determined that you shall receive the Christopher Pike Medal of Valor for these actions. Would you like to appeal our decision?" Akaar asked.

"Um...no?" Johnson was stunned.

"Then present yourself for the official awards ceremony," Akaar rounded the tribunal desk with a case containing the medal, "I believe this is the second time you've received this award."

"It is," Johnson had been awarded the same for his actions saving his crew of the ill-fated Galaxy-class USS Intrepid.

"I also believe you received a promotion to the rank of Commodore for those same actions," Akaar was handed another case by Jellico, "I hereby promote you to the rank of Vice Admiral. May God have mercy on your soul."

Akaar removed the two bracketed pips from Johnson's collars and replaced them with three bracketed pips, "I hereby present to all present, Vice Admiral Johnson."

A general cheer went up. Akaar spoke again, "A ceremonial celebration has been prepared at the Officer's Mess. You're all invited."

"Congratulations, Bob," Macen shook Johnson's free hand. The other held a glass of wine. The catered affair boasted a selection of Johnson's favorite pasta dishes that the newly promoted admiral was waiting to sample. The food was being served on waiting plates with names assigned to every seat.

"It certainly wasn't what I'd expected to happen," Johnson gave Macen a rueful smile, "After all, I was just recently promoted."

"But it's well deserved. You took action when no one else would," Amanda Forger told him in no uncertain terms. Johnson had been asked upon arrival who he wanted as his guest of honor and he'd selected Forger. Everyone else was seated with their senior officers from their individual commands. Fortunately for the planners, select crews had already deployed back to their assignments. The Aventine, Voyager, Excalibur, Trident, Regent, Hood, Merrimack, and the Monitor had all redeployed. Only Captain Bateson and the crew of the Honshu were between assignments.

Starfleet Intelligence was represented by Nechayev and Ro. Forger and Macen's team represented the SID. The Obsidian officers were invited as well since they'd partaken in the danger and distracted the Cell 51 commanders and crews until Johnson's task force could engage the enemy. Captain Forger and her officers uncustomarily wore their Outbound Ventures fleet uniforms in Command gold and Operations red. Galen 3 stuck out in Sciences blue. Macen's team dressed up for the occasion. Even Mudd. Of course, Mudd had expected to be called as a witness at a trial and wanted to better present Johnson's case. But a party was just what was called for.

Meanwhile, good news had filtered down over the last two days. Admiral Ross had dispersed the 7th Fleet from the Bajor Sector. Vaughn's plans at delaying Starfleet's actions had been rewarded when Akaar personally called the operation off with President Tovik's full authority. Starfleet had also been ordered to stand down in the Confederate Sector in time to avoid a shooting match with the Patriots and their Iotian Starfleet backers that warped into the sector as Starfleet also made their move. So now the politicians knew that the Iotian Starfleet would help defend the Patriots. No one wanted to start a war in the Beta Quadrant with the Iotians siting at the Federation's borders. The Romulans also reinforced their position in the sector.

Johnson was being sent back to the Confederate Sector with these new realities in mind. But he was being sent back with greater authority. Any settlements he made would be ratified or disavowed directly by the Federation Council at his current rank rather than going Starfleet Command to present the settlement to the Council. It was a heady new responsibility he now bore. He'd also put Commodore Shelby, Vice Admiral Nechayev, and Rear Admiral Forger in for commendations for their assistance in his efforts.

Shelby led the actual attack. Nechayev and Forger secretly supplied assets that not only fought but liberated President Tovik from Cell 51's incarceration of him. The spymasters had also provided the help that disabled Redoubt Station and delayed and distracted the NY-class commanders from detecting the Starfleet task force on approach. It would have been a bloodier affair had the SID not been involved. Commander Ro was commended for her investigation's handling of Cell 51 even when the Federation Council and Perez had exonerated the terrorist agency. Ro hadn't disbanded her investigative teams and kept the Presider under scrutiny.

Akaar quietly slipped in during the banquet and informed Forger, Nechayev and Ro of their commendations and his personal thanks. Then he took Macen and Rockford aside to make a different announcement, "Starfleet is freeing up decommissioned starships for acquisition by your company. President Tovik personally signed off on my reversal of Clancy's ban on your company that held back former Starfleet assets from you."

"Yay for us?" Rockford wondered.

"It's a good thing. We can acquire starship types that the Iotians won't sell us," Macen told her.

"A caveat. Starfleet Command would like to Outbound Ventures dealing less with the Iotian Starfleet. Clancy forced you to but I'm hoping we can supply a greater number of vessel needs then the Iotians from this point forward. But you are still an independent contractor and he Iotian Federation isn't classified as a threat to Federation Security. But that could change. It almost did two days ago. Your company has hard choices to make if and when the Iotians become classified as a threat to the Federation. There will be those that demand you cut ties with them in order ot maintain ties with us," Akaar gave his prepared speech, "But that's to keep in mind. I'll leave you to the party and clear your accessing the Terra Nova Starfleet Depot registry to begin transferring ownership as soon as you're ready."

"Thank you, Admiral. The Depot will be hearing from representatives of my company immediately," Macen told him, "But like you said, it's still a party."

Akaar moved on back to his office and other pressing matters. Rockford grinned at Macen, "Good news at last."

"Funny timing too. While we've been settled in here at Earth for the last two days I've been conferencing with Tom, Lees, Kathy Tyrol, and Caity Floss. Floss has a building SID candidate list to draw from. Several Command officers left Starfleet over modern policies or retired and are looking to fill center seats again. We also have potential recruits to draw from from the usual Starfleet enlisted being released from their seven year recruitment and looking for something in the private sector," Macen told her.

"I've been talking to Tyrol as well since she manages the operations budget for my agencies. Floss lined up a dozen private investigators wanting to sign on but I want to talk to them in person before I agree or send them packing," Rockford admitted.

"Then we vacation," Macen told her, "I'm giving the Obsidian crew and especially the team the month off."

"That's why Bailey and Angelique have been downloading travel brochures," Rockford grinned, "They asked me about several locations knowing I'd been to them."

"They're traveling on the corporate budget. I promised them they could could go anywhere and I'd pick up the tab for it," Macen explained.

"Dangerous words," Rockford grinned even more.

"They deserve it," Macen said heartily.

"And we deserve 'us' time. I'm thinking we just settle in in our house on Odin and forget the rest of the galaxy for a month," Rockford insisted.

"I like your plan already," Macen agreed before she could change her mind.

"Our food is probably cold by now," she complained.

"So we just ask for a fresh helping," Macen suggested, "The catering staff are doling out seconds to those interested."

"Then hurry up before the server leaves our table," Rockford grabbed his hand and dragged him to the table nearly at a run.

"I enjoyed being your 'plus one' today," Forger admitted to Johnson.

"We should explore that more often," Johnson softly suggested.

"I'm all in," Forger admitted.

"Unfortunately I have orders to depart ASAP," Johnson lamented.

"I'll be here in London. Look me up when you're in town," Forger kissed his cheek and left the Officer's Ward Room. But she left Johnson making plans for his return.

"General Kira, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Vaughn asked as Kira entered his office. Her former office after Sisko entered the Celestial Temple.

"We need to talk," Kira told him, "I don't trust Starfleet Command anymore even with Akaar in charge. But you delayed Starfleet's plans long enough for a regime change. That's two administrations legally voted into being that put Bajor's interests on the chopping block. I'm sick of it."

"I take you have the First Minister's ear on this," Vaughn ventured.

"Astris is revolted by Starfleet's ability to roll over and take whatever orders or issued ot them, legally or not. We've paid the price for a change in Starfleet Command. I'm allowing you to administer station operations and security because I trust you. You retire or otherwise leave this post and Deep Space Nine will become a Militia operation entirely."

"Thanks for the warning. I'll advise Akaar of the situation," Vaughn offered.

"You do that," Kira said firmly, "I don't want there to be any surprises or confusion when the time comes. I especially don't want there to be armed resistance."

"Duly noted," Vaughn said with a depressed air to him, "How did it come to this?"

"Through the democratic process. The Federation has made some poor choices recently and Starfleet enforced bad decisions. Bajoran lives were lost in the process. Bajoran lives in the Federation were destroyed. They've resettled within Bajor's sphere of influence but there is a lot of animosity floating around out there. The Militia rank and file is ready to kick Starfleet out of our sector altogether. I've managed to put together a slim majority in the Joint Chiefs that approve of letting Starfleet stay aboard the station. But even that concession is conditional," Kira told him, "If there's any more Federation meddling in Bajoran affairs, we will respond accordingly."

"Understood," Vaughn gravely nodded.

"Elias, I'm barely holding together a coalition of generals that want you to stay here. One more misstep and I won't have the influence to persuade them to allow Starfleet to continue to use Deep Space Nine as a Federation starbase," Kira gave him her final warning, "Make certain Akaar understands that clearly."

"Then stay here while I address him and make your position painfully clear if he doesn't understand it from me," Vaughn offered.

"Thank you," Kira sighed, "I sincerely wish it hadn't come to this point."

"Me too. I've dedicated my life to Starfleet and I've seen officers and crews resort to blatant measures in violation of regulations before. Yet since the corps of officers that arose in the Dominion took the center seats, the rules for Starfleet have changed. I don't know how much fight I have in me left," Vaughn said wearily, "But let's brief Akaar. I have unlimited access to his office. So we'll get right through."

"Thank you for everything done and are doing, Elias. I have those days too," Kira admitted, "Mostly since the Federation and Starfleet went insane aftter Mars."

"It just brought the ugly to the surface. But it traces back to the Dominion War. I have no idea if my Starfleet will survive this," Vaughn confessed, "Bu tAkaar will try and set things right."

"I hope he can. For all our sakes," Kira stated gravely.

"I forgot how good it can be to step away from the station," Riker admitted while he enjoyed Macen's coffee creation.

"We should od this more often," Danan agreed.

"We at least got to ditch our comm badges so no one can reach us unless we want to be reached," Rockford was ciurled up on the couch leaned into Macen.

"At least Cell 51 has been dealt with. Again," Riker made a toast.

Everyone concurred, but Macen looked troubled, "Laren said fringe groups were appearing all over the Federation ever since the Mars Massacre. I think those will be harder to root out than an organization as collected as Cell 51."

"No shop talk, please," Rockford groaned.

"No, I want to hear more. If we have groups as dedicated as the Maquis arising all across the Federation, our business is going to increase exponentially. I don't think some of our more traditionally Starfleet captains will be able to adequately respond," Danan spoke up.

"They'll have to," Macen stated, "Because Starfleet won't be able ot mount an adequate response themselves with the newer cast fo captains out there. They'll respond with extreme measures. I don't think the public will accommodate that. And more fringe groups will arise because of them."

"The problem is that Starfleet needs to return to being what it was," Rockford joined the conversation, "Hell, even I respected them. They certainly dealt with the leaders on Angosia."

"But how?" Riker wondered.

"Bajor is the key," Macen realized, "That's why the Prophets brought us here together."

"So once again, Bajor and the Wormhole are the most strategic places in the quadrants," Rockford groaned.

"Looks that way," Danan concurred.

"Anyone else wondering how Bailey and Angelique are doing on Risa?" Rockford suddenly changed the conversational topic.

"I have a few guesses," Riker grinned.

"My friend and I have seen you around the last week. We've struck up the nerve to ask a couple of questions if you don't mind," Arjim Bent, an Unjoined Trill, asked Kerber and Smith as they lounged on a beach.

"Depends on the questions," Kerber lowered her sunglasses to peer over the top of them.

"Are you a couple?" Regen Franz, Bent's partner-in-crime on this survey mission, asked.

"Nope," Kerber grinned.

"Okay. That's a relief," Franz happily stated.

"Where did you get that amazing body art?" Bent asked.

"It's a secret," Kerber replied.

"A woman of mystery," Franz replied, "I like it."

"And what about you?" Bent asked Smith, "You're awfully quiet."

"I'm a linguist. I enjoy hearing other people talk," Smith answered honestly.

"Then we should have an amazing conversation," Bent told her.

"And why is that?" Smith was amused.

"My friend and I work for the Federation Diplomatic Corps. I'm a translator. My friend is a comm tech," Bent told them.

"I dabble in comms," Kerber told Franz.

"What an amazing coincidence," Franz blurted, "Who do you work for?"

"Outbound Ventures," Kerber answered despite Smith's warning glance.

"The security contractors?" Bent askeed.

"The very same," Smith reluctantly confirmed it.

"Do you work with Starfleet?" Franz asked, "I heard that Outbound Ventures has a huge contract with them."

"They do and we don't," Kerber lied.

"Still, I understand that your firm hires on throughout the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. Must be challenging work for a linguist," Bent said, "There are so many races that still defy the universal translator."

"That's what makes it fun," Smith was warming up to Bent now.

"And everyone uses a different programming code," Kerber mentioned.

"Exactly! So tying in comms is tricky because first we have to make the transceiver languages compatible," Franz exuded.

"My friend and I were about to have lunch. Why don't you two join us?" Kerber offered.

"You're sure we won't be intruding?" Bent fretted.

"You won't be," Smith decided.

Franz and Bent only had two weeks on Risa but they made them memorable for Kerber and Smith during their month there. It also opened a doorway so that the Ardanans were more willing to entertain dalliances. When they returned to Serenity, their paradigms had shifted. Secrecy was safety but it was also lonely. So, they trusted the SID team with their literal lives. Why not trust them with their past lives as well. Ebert had been encouraging them to do so all along. They were finally ready to commit.

"You're quite proficient when it comes to espionage," James Smart, Agent 0086, remarked to Neela.

"I've had to be," Neela demurred. She'd been led by the Prophets to a gathering of the Cult of the Pah-wraiths in New Searrle, the capital of Izar. Smart had been sent by M and the 0 Sections to determine whether this new religious faction that was feared and reviled in Bajoran territory posed a threat to Federation security. The cult cell, like so many others, was searching for the Orb of the Kosst Amojan. And, like the modern Cult of the Pah-wraiths, included non-Bajoran adherents.

Neela had recognized Smart as an ally through visions he Prophets had given her. Smart recognized Neela through Starfleet Intelligence's file on her. So they began collaborating. They'd managed to infiltrate the Cult together but were found out by a Bajoran believer that recognized Neela as the Hand of the Prophets. One harrowing fight later, the cult members were either stunned or beaten senseless. And Smart, typically for him, found himself aroused by Neela.

"You can calm yourself, Agent Smart. I'm not going to bed you," Neela advised him.

"That's not a statement I regularly hear or readily accept," Smart replied cheekily.

"It'll have to do," Neela told him.

"Do you prefer Bajoran men?" Smart inquired.

"I prefer not being a simple sexual conquest," Neela told him.

"There's nothing simple about you, Neela," Smart acknowledged.

"I'm glad we can agree on something," Neela relaxed a little.

"Now, about this obelisk they were scanning, do you recognize its markings?" Smart asked her as he prepared ot summon Starfleet Security to collect the cultists.

"They're Bajoran. It's a marker with a set of coordinates. It's a pretty broad range. It was left by he Cult of the Pah-wraiths for future followers to chase down the lost Orb," Neela explained.

"Lost Orb?" Smart asked, confused by that reference.

So Neela explained the significance of the Orb. Smart grunted, "Starfleet is unsure how to accept the mysticism surrounding these Pah-wraiths but the aliens to seem malevolent. Captain Sisko's testimony regarding them made that clear. And no one wants to see Dukat reappear. I'm reporting the Cult as a threat to Federation security. Starfleet and Federation Security will be alerted to treat them as hostiles. You said this gave them coordinates?"

"They're broad. An entire sector's worth," Neela told him, "But they weren't simply scanning. They were transmitting as well. Now the Cult has a specific sector to search for the Orb."

"Can you identify the sector?" Smart grew anxious.

"The Dorvan Sector," Neela revealed.

"The bloody Cardassians have been sitting on his Orb. Do they know it?" Smart asked.

"I have no idea. But Castellan Garan isn't going to let a Starfleet team investigate inside Cardassian space. Not after the invasion," Neela told him, "But I think I know people the Cardassians will trust enough to let them in. They're a third party with ties to the Cardassian Information Bureau. I also know the exact CIB agent to approach to arrange a survey team's insertion into Cardassian space."

"Then let's talk to this agent!" Smart enthused.

"I have to return to Serenity Station to personally confer with her," Neela told him, "And I'm not certain she'll accept your going with us."

"It's my bloody investigation as well and I'm not about to abandon my mission just when it got interesting," Smart told her, "I'm going along."

Neela debated it then decided, "All right. You can assume the role of an assistant researcher. Commander Macen will need to assemble an A&A team. You can officially assist them. I won't mention to Agent Delain that you're a Starfleet operative."

"I'd rather prefer you didn't. Or tell anyone outside of Macen and Rockford," Smart insisted.

"Do you have transportation?" Neela asked.

"I came in on a commercial shuttle," Smart told her.

She sighed, "You can ride with me on the Ark of the Prophets then."

"I pack light," Smart grinned, "And this will give us a chance to really get to know one another."

"Fortunately the Brsknir system is close to Izar so you won't have time to fantasize about a pairing that isn't happening," Neela told him in no uncertain terms.

"Never say never again, I always say," Smart chuckled, "I'll signal you when I'm prepared to depart. It shouldn't take me but fifteen minutes to return to my hotel and pack."

"You do travel light," Neela was impressed.

"Years of experience," Smart summoned Starfleet, "I suggest we both vacate the premises if we want to avoid being questioned for hours on end."

Neela tapped the comm badge in her pocket, "Neela to Ark of the Prophets. Two to transport from these coordinates."

The computer locked on to Neela and Smith and brought them aboard, "Now I can send you to your hotel and standby to beam you back aboard."

"I love a woman with a plan," Smart gave her the hotel's coordinates that he'd memorized as soon as he'd checked in. Neela hated to admit it, but Smart's cheeky charm was having an effect. Still, the Prophets had shown her that the Double 0 agent would come on strong. She just had to be just strong right back. James Smart didn't sleep with every woman he paired up with. Agent 0212 proved that. Sarina Douglas had worked with him for over two weeks and never fell for his barrage of advances.

Of course, Douglas was paired off with Bashir. Neela didn't have anyone in her romantic life. But Smart was hardly her first choice. Still some casual fun might be worth having. She shook that thought off. Douglas had warned Neela about 0086's legendary "use them and ditch them" trail of sexual conquests after working with him. Smart had given Neela Douglas' name as a character witness. Douglas had certainly painted Smart as a character when Neela contacted her. But she'd also described how Smart sacrificed himself to capture so Douglas could escape Sigma Iotia II. So Smart was dutiful and honorable in certain areas.

Neela contacted Ziva Delain and explained ot the CIB agent that she was returning to Serenity where Delain was posted and that she needed a meet as soon as she arrived. Delain was always intrigued by Neela's adventures and was looking forward to hearing about whatever the Bajoran was involved with now. Especially when being told that her help in the matter was desperately needed. Delain was bored with her daily routine right now and looked forward to accompanying Neela on whatever quest she was on. Which the CIB would insist on later thereby forcing Neela and Macen to include her in the operation.

Neela knew that the Cult of the Pah-wraiths had Cardassian members following the footsteps of the Kosst Amojan's Emissary, Dukat. Neela had left the obelisk for Starfleet Security to take in as evidence. Macen could get his hands on the scans Security would make of it as they detained the cultists based upon Starfleet Intelligence's insistence after Smart made his full report. Nechayev wouldn't reveal the source of the report she'd receive from M but she would completely vouch for it for Oh so that the cultists could be remanded to Federation Security's custody for a civilian trial.

Neela was certain there other clues to the Orb's location besides the Bajoran language glyphs carved into it. Clues that could narrow the search further down within the Dorvan Sector. Clues that needed to be deciphered in order to beat the cultists to the Orb. Bajor's fate hung on it. As did the fate of the rest of the civilized galaxy.

 

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