A council of war

The entire bridge shook under the impact of fiery flashes that filled the main viewer, the ominious dark shape of an immense bat-winged starship filling the entire frame with greenish weapon ports flaring in rapid succession.

Then, came over the din of shouts and chirping systems a distinctive whistleing sound.

Hey it works! said the Andorian gripping the center seat as the chief medical officer's voice came overhead.

"Bridge to Captain Kheren."

"Computer, freeze program."

All sounds and vibrations instantly stopped around him and everything and everyone just froze in an eerily way as he then said again outloud:

"Go ahead, Doc."

"Sensors are showing the approach of the Alsea at high warp from astern. Distance three hundred billion kilometers and closing. ETA fifteen minutes at present relative speed and heading."

"Thank you, Doc, I'll be there shortly... Signal the Alsea but stay at warp. Oh, and congratulations. You sound like a veteran bridge officer already."

"Heh, I'm just reading outloud the nav monitor, Captain Sir."

Kheren stood up from the simulated command chair and strode off the fake bridge through the turbolift door that, instead of a lift cabin showed one of the ship's curving corridors.

"Computer, end program."

As he exited the room, everything disappeared to leave a small empty cubicle behind him. With swift strides, he reached an actual turbolift door as he activated the communicator on his chest.

"Mister Syntron, Chief Tyvya, please meet me on the bridge now."

A moment later, he stepped in the command center of the starship Artemis and stood before his wide command chair, waiting for the incoming warship to answer their hail.

“Acknowledged Captain” Syntron responded a few seconds after the commanding officer's arrival on the bridge as he closed a file on his PADD and headed out of the science chief's office on deck 14.

On his way out of the science department he noted to Lieutenant T’Val working in the Astrometrics Lab that he was heading up to the bridge.

He arrived on the bridge and as he exited the turbolift he headed straight for the science station before he realized that his post on the bridge now was in the executive’s chair on the right side of the Captain.

Old habits are sometimes hard to break; even for a Vulcan.

He turned to Doctor Nasaro-Myth who was now manning the science station's sensor monitors along with navigation and communications on the multitask station and inquired:

“What is our current status, Doctor?"

"On course towards the estimated trajectory of the Romulan intruder at warp 9.6. All systems on green status. Crew currently in final preparation training mode as ordered before rest period... except for us of course."

As he spoke, he tilted his head towards the turbolift doors which parted to let in the towering frame of acting chief of security Tyvya, her antennae wobbling in expectation. She went straight to her tactical console forward and to the right of where Captain Kheren was still standing. Looking at her tactical sensors readout, she reported:

"No sign of the intruder on long range scans. No signal yet from the space sonar either. Estimated time of contact, eleven hours, thirty-nine minutes. The Alsea is closing in astern and will parallel our course in less than twelve minutes."

All four of them looked at the main viewer where Elliago shifted the viewing angle to aft and magnified the image to show the pointed prow of the Prometheus class warship overtaking them with ease.

Aboard the streaking Alsea Jureth sat quietly in the command chair. He had not seen nor heard from Captain Rivers since the ship launched from spacedock, and knowing the strong emotional involvement the striking redhead had in this mission Jureth didn't disturb her until Cat Steele addressed him from tactical.

"Contact, bearing dead ahead. It's the Artemis Sir."

"Thank you Cat," Jureth replied "Mister Hunter, time to intercept?"

"Twelve minutes Sir," Hunter replied "Should I match velocity as we approach?"

"Affirmative Lieutenant. As we draw up behind her match course and speed."

"Aye Sir."

Jureth tapped his combadge

"Bridge to Captain Rivers."

"Go ahead Lieutenant."

"We are approaching our rondezvous with the Artemis Sir."

"Very good, I'm on my way, Rivers out."

Rachele Rivers closed the comm channel with her XO and opened one of her own.

"Rivers to Lire, Commander please join us on the bridge if you aren't already on your way."

"Already here. These seats are comfortable Captain." Niomo responded.

With that order issued Rachele left the solitude of the Alsea's ready room and strode onto the bridge of Lotus Fleet's most powerful warship. Even as she did so her mind drifted somewhat thinking of him...thinking of Sisko, but she mentally shook the thoughts away. She had her own mission to complete.

"Status report."

"We are coming up on the Artemis now Captain," Jureth replied "I've ordered Mister Hunter to match her course and speed."

"On screen."

The Alsea's viewer shifted and the image of the refitted Ambassador Class starship filled the screen. There was a time when some would have questioned the addition of such an old vessel to Lotus Fleet, but no one did so anymore for the Artemis had more than lived up to the expectations placed on her.

"Hail the Artemis." Rivers ordered

"Channel open," Ensign Wynn replied from operations

"USS Artemis, this is Captain Rivers aboard the Alsea. Sorry we're late."

Kheren looked at the enlarged image of the fiery-haired woman with the raised chin that for his people expressed respect.

"Fashionably late I think you Humans calls it... Welcome to the hunt, Alsea. Captain Rivers, I suggest we keep our present course and speed while we confer about our coming meet and greet with the Romulans. The farther from Starbase 10 we will intercept them, the safer it will be... and the sooner we do, the less chances they will have time to attempt their alleged mad scheme against the anomaly. The Artemis cannot wisthand any greater speed our overpowered engine core could normally deliver, but on the other hand, we can maintain warp 9.6 indefinitely; and it is certainly no great strain on your own engines."

Without much of a pause, the captain of the Artemis indicated the two officers besides him.

"Let me introduce to you my chief medical officer and , for the moment, relief navigator, Doctor Elliago Nasaro-Myth, My tactical chief, Lieutenant Tyvya you already met. This is Lieutenant Commander Syntron, my new executive officer. If you woudl give us a moment, we three will settle in my ready room to discuss with you on this secured channel you provided us."

Turning to the giantess and to the Vulcan both on his right, the Andorian then said:

"Please come with me. Doc, you have the conn."

"Oh, joy." grinned the Deltan as the trio went to the door at the left and disappeared.

A moment later, Syntron, Tyvya and Kheren sat around the captain's desk, looking at the wall monitor retransmitting the image from the Alsea.

On the Alsea, Niomo turned in his chair towards the captain. "Ma'm, I suggest that we move our location to your ready room as well. This is a higly sensative mission, and all." He stood and waited for the captain to think about his suggestion.

"Agreed Mister Lire," Rivers replied as she glanced around the bridge attempting to figure out who the remaining ranking officer would be. She finally settled her eyes on the Alsea's Chief Helmsman.

"Mister Hunter the bridge is yours."

With that order Rivers turned and moved toward the ready room with Oseno close behind her. As Jureth followed what was now his third captain in just a month's time he was becoming increasingly more concerned about his current role on the ship. He had tried to stay as current as possible with what was happening in tactical and security but he was also having to review and approve requests from science, enginnering, and operations that an XO would normally have to approve. It also bothered him that he would likely not be at tactical if the Romulans decided to slug it out with the two Starfleet vessels. He brushed those thoughts away for the moment as he took one of the three chairs in the ready room with Captain Rivers taking the one behind the desk and the Alsea's Chief Engineer taking the other.

Once they were all facing one another accross their respective monitors, Captain Kheren took the lead of the meeting. Although basic regulation stipulated that command fell to the ship with the greatest tactical advantgae, here the Alsea, he was however the highest ranking officer present, both by seniority and actual rank. basic chain of command thus reverted authority to him. Nevertheless, he understood the reasoning behind the tactical regulation and thought best to make the best of both it and the obvious chain of command necessity.

"Captain Rivers," he began with typical no-pleasantries-and-to-the-point Andorian pragmatism, "we both know what we are up against and that tactical advantage lies with your ship, despite the designated status of mine and the experience of my crew. Therefore, although I will lead this joint action, yours and your officers' input will be most important here."

The Andorian then went into details.

"We can be reasonably confident that the new scanner developped by Mister Syntron here, coupled with the sensor-reflex nav system your own chief of science came up with, will allow us to flush out the Shavok. My intention is to first try to speak and reason with them. As I said, your own input in this diplomatic attempt will be most welcomed. I suggest that you join me openly during those talks. Besides your needed help, I am taking into account the fact that Romulans lead by pair, as evidenced by their typical bridge configuration; here we know Admiral Tomalak is supervizing the actual ship commander, Kraetaek. I hope that adopting this same dual leadership will either please them into a false sense of familiarity or destabilize them, or both."

Rivers nodded "I have no problem with you taking the lead here Captain. My diplomatic experience is not anywhere near as polished as yours. I certainly would prefer to talk rather than fight that behemoth and Tomalok has proven in the past to at be somewhat reasonable though his frame of mind since the destruction of Romulus is rather unknown. While I don't understand the particulars of Lieutenant Pel's system I do know that it is programmed into the computer and operating at this time. If they lock onto us we should know it. My tactical chief and acting XO has already put the crew at their MVAM stations so we can separate faster as well."

Jureth nodded in agreement with Rivers statement "If I may Captains, I have expressed my concern to Lt. Tyvya about the probability that the Shavok is housing a Thalaron weapon. If that is the case I believe it should be disable as quickly as possible if it comes to a fight."

The Andorian giantess turned her platinum-haired head to better talk to both crews.

"Fortunately, the thalaron emitter takes several minutes to deploy and activate, does so in a very conspicuous manner and its enormous energy requirements forces the ship to shut down engines, shields and weapons. Hardly practical in ship to ship combat unless the opponent is utterly motionless... like a starbase."

She made a pause before adding:

"Taking it out also seems only possible from the inside, if we rely on the only confrontation ever done with such a system."

Kheren nodded as he looked at the Alsea officers on the viewer.

"Taking it out is a necessity, in case they would manage to get past us and reach Starbase 10. Any suggestion as to how we could neutralize it?"

Niomo spoke up first. He wasn't a tactical officer, but the solution seemed obvious to him. "Sirs, from an engineering standpoint, the easiest way to neutralize it would be to cut its power. As miss Tyvya has stated, it takes a great deal of power. Our primary target should be their power transfer subsystems. Even if they do not use the weapon, that target assists us in stopping their weapons as well. Additionally, should we knock out their power, they might be more open to diplomacy, even if it had previously failed. A second option, although almost impossible to do, I think, is to make our people immune to the Thalaron weapon's radiation. Possibly as simple as a shield or deflector frequency change...it would be something I'd already have had to been working on though."

Kheren's antennae wobbled this way and that as he was obviously thinking hard. Finally he said:

"Mister Syntron here could go into more detail, but I do recall that thalaron radiation is electromagnetic in nature; the best shielding we have currently cannot stop one hundred percent of the electromagnetic spectrum... and only a minuscule amount is enough for its biogenic properties to eradicate us."

The Andorian however nodded to the Alsea's chief engineer as he added:

"However, your idea of disabling their power distribution system is interesting. Making it our primary target however is easier said than done. A Scimitar class dreadnought has primary and secondary shields... and like us, they can reroute power to subsystems. On a ship of that size, it could take quite some time before we knock it out effectively... unless any one of you has an idea how to solve that problem?"

"Transphasic torpedoes," Jureth said in response to Captain Kheren's question "The Alsea is carrying a dozen of them, and they could be loaded and fired at any time."

The Andorian captain nodded appreciatively.

"Congratulations on your foresight... and your resourcefulness in getting these, Mister Jureth. Both ships will have sensors linked and looking at the most vital locations of the power distribution system Mister Lire pointed out to us. A dozen is rather scarce... every shot will have to count. But if you aim right and at the right time, it just might do the trick."

"If we bait them and lure them to focus their attention on us, the Alsea should have clear shots, Sir," chimmed in Tyvya.

"Be the shield to the sword," sumrized Kheren, recalling their strategic position.

Then, his antennae perked up and even stretched forward, in this unique way of his. His silver eyes sparkled as he winked at Syntron and then looked at the Alsea's crew on the screen.

"Tell me... what do you know about Terran wild pigs?"

Niomo responded, "I hear they are a lot like Targs, but less aggressive. They also make good bacon and porkchops."

Jureth was perplexed by the Andorian captain's question even after Niomo responded readily, but then the Alsea's chief engineer was human. Oseno was certain the confusion was showing on his face even as he answered

"I was only on Earth during my time at the Academy Sir, I didn't see much of the planet's wildlife."

Rachele Rivers wasn't sure what the Artemis' captain was driving at either. Instead of answering his question she raised an eyebrow and waited to see where the Andorian was going with his statement.

"Each lifeform in this universe has something to give, be it from mere sustenance to new thoughts," said Kheren."Yes, Mister Niomo; similar but less aggressive... but they are also far more intelligent."

Quickly, he transfered a copy of the holographic record he had showed Syntron earlier in the lounge of the Artemis. The scene of two small but smart tandem-working pigs defeating a powerful, hungry lion was as funny as it was revealing.

"Be it this way or another, if the Romulans are not smart enough to turn back with words alone, we will have to be smart enough to... convince them otherwise. Once the Artemis exposes herself to the Shavok's attack and makes the Shavok expend and expose itself running in circles, the Alsea will have the opportunity to deliver telling blows... covered again by our harassing riposte once the Shavok decides to turn against you... and, with a lot of skill and a bit of luck, our big bad lion will be left with no options but pounce away... or bleed to death."

The tone of voice of the Andorian took a deeper, darker tone as he finished:

"One thing is certain: they are Romulans; if things come to worse, they will give no quarter... and they will never surrender."

Niomo watched as the images of animals fighting off other stronger animals starting to display on the wall monitor. He had to supress a laugh as he could only assume that this was the Andorian's way of saying that they could defeat the Romulans. Niomo wasn't concerned, however. There was a reason the Romulans tried to steal the Alsea's prototype back in the day. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully and realized something.

"Captain, In these images, we see animals fighting other animals. However, this is not fully the situation in our case. Yes, basically, we have the same problem. Two 'weaker' entities must fight off a stronger enemy. However, we are not two pigs or two dolphins. We are not equally matched in strength. No offense intended Captain Kheren, but you are more akin to a turtle to our pig. A shield to our delicious sword. Might I suggest, at Lieutenant's premission, to share our quantity of transphasic torpedoes? If I know our ship's weapon ports, we would only be able to spare two or three...but it might help draw them off us while we reposition for our next attack run."

"Every strategy and tactic ever conceived, even by your revered Sun Tzu and Alexander or Napoleon, already existed in nature... but most never notice them, let alone learn from them. And you forget, Mister Lire, that this battle, if battle there is, will be fought at impulse speeds; it may be slower at warp, but this Ambassador class can easily outrun and outmatch the Scimitar class warbird at those lower speeds. And that is in standard conditions. It is no frivolous whim of mine that I demanded that most of my crew disembark. With our PIDs and more power to inertial dampers drawn from a dozen decks' life support and power systems added to our excess warp power, this ship now can outmaneuver even yours; it will be able to move in ways that, beleive me Mister Lire, will throw your shoes off... "

"Knock your socks off, Sir," quietly corrected Tyvya.

"Right, Lieutenant... In short, gentlebeings, when I was ordered to have my ship shield yours, I willingly accepted the order. But if the Artemis will play bait and target, it will be a damn hard one to catch, count on that."

The Andorian captain paused before adding.

"As for transphasic torpedoes, a couple of them will not make much difference for us. Better you keep them for the telling blow when our friend out there will be too occupied trying to get his hands on this swift, nimble old girl."

Niomo grinned as the Andorian explained their situation again. He could only smile and nod. "Old girl indeed. If you require any assistance from myself or any additional engineers, please feel free to ask. But I have to say, Captain. Whomever though of conserving power by shutting down entire decks is a genius. A bit harder to do for us, since we need to be able to give a skeleton crew to three sections but it's something I'll look into. Any extra power would do wonders for our speed and firepower."

"Well, not everyone would agree," retorted Kheren, remembering his former first officer storming out of the Artemis because he thought in fact the very same idea utterly foolish; "but necessity is the mother of invention. Its only the sheer size of this ship coupled with the efficiency and simplicity of its handling, especially thanks to our multitask console, that makes it possible... and hopefully successful."

Nodding to the Alsea 's chief engineer, he added:

"We do have many hours before contact; feel free to visit, Mister Lire. I am sure your engineering mind will find the blend of early twenty-fourth century and state of the art twenty-fifth century technology on board rather... fascinating."

The captain of the Artemis then took a breath before saying:

"Now that we all seem to agree on how to face the adversity ahead, I still have one question to submit to you all..."

The four oculars of the Andorian went to each one of them as he asked:

"Why are they doing this?"

Syntron looked around the room attentively to see if there was a response to the Captain’s fundamental question. The Vulcan had already proposed one possible rationale for the Romulans daunting course of actions during the bridge officer’s meeting on the Artemis a while ago. He was certain that the Captain was checking now to see what the others sitting in the conference room were thinking; therefore the first officer of the Artemis sat there silently and awaited their response as well.

Niomo shook his head and shrugged, "Doing what? Isn't this part of Operation Horizon? The Romulans just want to destroy the Anomaly so it can't destroy them. I appologize if I've missed some details, engineers rarely get all the details beyond 'Make shields work good.' We figured that the Scimitar would come, and so it has. We just need to stop it....Right?"

He looked around the two room for a face that agreed with him, but instead he saw looks as if he had grown an extra head.

Kheren however had remained completely impassive, as if he expected the comment. And indeed, he explained further:

"Well that's just it, Mister Lire. If they are out there to destroy the anomaly even at the risk of a second war front, this time with us, why are they sending their most powerful warship under cloak towards Starbase 10? The time they took to carefully avoid crossing the Neutral Zone to come in position to do so, destroying the starbase would do exactly what their convoluted route wished to avoid in the first place: declare war on the Federation. And furthermore, as far as the Azimuth Horizon is concerned, it serves no purpose; even if they succeed in destroying the base, our operation will be over by the time they even get to the anomaly afterwards. Hence my question; why are they doing it?"

"They don't have two scimitars, do they? Even a mechanic like me can guess that there are probably two groups of Romulans on their way. From different directions so we can't stop both groups. Especially if one of those groups has been extreamely.....loud on their approach." Niomo responded. "Romulans do everything for a reason."

The Andorian's antennae perked up as he aknowledged the engineer's assessment.

"Our thought exactly, Lieutenant Commander. Mister Syntron has our science team already preparing a group of probes to serve as counter measures for any attempt to jam our communications and sensors. We will also modify their own navigational deflector as we did with our ships, so as for them to also use the Syntron space sonar and cover a larger area against any other cloaked presence."

He looked in turn at Lire, Jureth and Rivers as he then asked:

"Any further suggestion, Alsea?"

Niomo raised his hand slightly. "Captain Kheren, I noticed that none of your engineers were at the 'Rebirth' simulations. Did you upgrade your impulse engines to incorporate Commander Sangliar's 'Floodgate Drive'? I'd hate to have to tow your Old Girl out of the anomaly once she runs out of battery power."

"My former First officer, Commander Michael O'Conner, was there and left us his report before he went to become the chief engineer of the USS Spectre. Moreover, Chief Sangliar was himself our first chief engineer on the Artemis; when he sent his own report to all ships of the fleet, rest assured that we were the first to get it... so that he could rub my nose in my mistake of letting him go back then."

There was a definite feeling of bitter sweetness in the soft, deep voice of the Andorian. But then, he became all business again.

"Mister Baoule, my current chief engineer, is a starship power and propulsion specialist. He is currently finishing the recommended modifications. But have no fear, Mister Lire; the Artemis went through the anomaly thrice already, without the new improved drive; she may not run fast, but, even through a storm, she always manage to walk back home."

As no one seemed to be bringing any more comment or suggestion after a while, Kheren then said:

"We have almost half a standard day before contact. I suggest everyone take a full rest period and use the remaining time to get ready for the best... and the worst. The Romulans are obviously setting us for a trap, so, any insight or idea anyone might have on the trap until then will certainly prove crucial. There is an anomaly out there that is not waiting for us to settle our little misunderstandings with our neigbors to incinerate everyone and everything. let us expect the unexpected... and be ready."

"We will be with you all the way Captain" Rivers said "and together we will not fail. Alsea out."

Unless anyone added anything at that point, he was clear the time for talking was over... and the time for action was fast approaching.

Disregarding the need for rest at this time, Syntron turned toward the Andorian commander and inquired:

“Specific recommendations for additional preparations during this time Captain?”

"You tell me," half-joked Kheren.

With a subtly perplexed expression hinted across his face and a slightly elevated brow, Syntron gazed at the Andorian Captain and queried “Sir?”

Clueless Andorian trying Human humor on a Vulcan again... riiiiight... Kheren mocked himself inwardly.

"The entire crew is preparing for a combat situation; engineering and science are preparing for enemy sensor and communication interference; I am preparing for a diplomatic situation; the Alsea is preparing to face all situations with us. Do you see anything else?"

Syntron pondered for a moment before he responded.

“Since the science aspects of my duties at this time are secured and ongoing progress is currently being handled most diligently by Lieutenant Irksos and her team, perhaps I could assist you in some capacity in your diplomatic endeavors.”

He then added nonchalantly “You have appointed me as your executive officer, it would therefore seem logical that I would be involved in… at a minimum… selected aspects of this process."

The Andorian nodded.

"Come along then. let us put those few hours to good use. Lieutenant Tyvya, carry on with the combat exercises as scheduled and keep in touch with the Alsea's own preparations."

"Aye, Captain," aknowledged the giantess.

They all exited the captain's office, their minds already focused on what laid ahead. especially Kheren,s mind. That the Romulans were hiding something behind their bewildering attack vector was hiding something, that much was certain. The question was... what?

It kept nagging him at the back of his mind all the while Syntron and him went back to the holosuite and worked on possible peaceful approaches to the situation. They were hoping for the best... and preparing for the worst.

But again... what?