Hunt of the Hawk

The large command center was lighted with green-hued colors but no battle alert klaxon blared at the sharply pointed ears of the crew, hunched over glowing stations. Such emission could have been picked up by enemy sensors and betray their exact position.

They were not ready for that; not yet.

The round door slid sideways to let the tall, old officer walk onto the bridge. Like one, all the officers in the command center of the ship turned toward him and brought their closed right fist to their heart and bowed, before returning to their duties. Looking them all over with his beady dark eyes and a small smirk on his thick lips that made his gaunt, angular features look even more threatening, the white-haired newcomer, wearing the uniform of an Admiral of the Imperial Navy and the badge of Empress Sela herself, stepped up to the raised dais where two seats ovrlooked the entire bridge.

He took the starboard-sided one as the other was already occupied by a taller, more muscular and younger officer with the same green-tinted skin, thick V-shaped brow and pointed ears but with hair as black as the night and eyes as grey as cold steel. His uniform as much as where he sat proclaimed him as the ship's commanding officer.

His voice also held that commanding, arrogant tone typical of those who were born out of nobility, raised through military discipline and self-forged through force of limbs and will in difficult times. His words were short and to the point as dagger strikes:

"They are coming, Admiral."

The Admiral sighed and crossed his hands in his lap as if some weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

"Identification, Commander Kraetaek?"

"Two starships; USS Alsea, Prometheus class, under the command of newly promoted Captain Kalten Siduri, a Human."

"Ah yes, Prometheus class... We know all about that one now, don't we? And we did expect them to send their most powerful warship if they became aware of us. Obviously they did became aware of us at some point, no?"

Around them, bridge officers cringed at the implied reprimand. Their vessel had the very best cloaking device ever developped... and yet, they had been spotted and now on the intercept course of enemy ships. But Commander Kraetaek. curiously, did not cringe at all; in fact, he smirked back at his superior and his voice sounded fully confident, almost to the point of arrogance.

"Judging by their current speed and distance and calculating from their best response time to it, they must have spotted us when we crossed the edge of the Paulson nebula and recorded the disturbance our passage did to the stellar dust most dense there. These Federations are incorrigible stargazers after all..."

The Admiral just nodded and kept his eyes on the small, oddly-shaped viewing screen before them.

"A pity they send this prize to us with but a novice in command; this will be too easy and might end too soon for our needs. What about the other ship?"

"Identified as USS Artemis... Ambassador class."

Kraetaek spoke almost as if he restrained a laugh. But he quickly sobered up as he saw that the Admiral was not smiling at all.

"Ambassador class... now that is interesting..."

"Admiral Tomalak; It's an old, obsolete and short-lived design of Federation capital ships, no longer in service except for this obvious antique," said the ship commander with a raised eyebrow at the Admiral's curious frown. "It's no match for us..."

"Commander Kraetaek..." interrupted the senior officer, this "antique" is pacing a Prometheus class warship. It has been obviously upgraded... and remember that one such vessel in the past had alone thwarted our war of conquest of the Klingon Empire just as it began."

Kraetaek again sobered up. Like all Romulan officers, he knew well the historical disastrous campaign of Narenda III... and the one ship that had sacrificed itself to gain the trust and respect of the whole Klingon Empire: the USS Enterprise... Ambassador class. At the time, such vessel had proven a match alone to several of the best Romulan warbirds of the time.

And as if he had read his mind, Tomalak completed his thought outloud:

"If they upgraded such a ship, it means that it will certainly have some surprises in store for us... And I don't like surprises, Commander. Moreover, I just finished reading the Tal Shiar investigation report about the failure of Operation Victory; there was a faint warp trail leading to the location of our hidden temporal station made before it exploded. The signature was close to that of a Sovereign class Federation warp core... but not quite. Now, if they wanted to upgrade and refit an Ambassador class with a new warp core..."

Kraetaek understood. He knew enough of Starfleet technology to figure that this would indeed explain how such an old design could now be coming at them at warp 9.6.

"Who's in command of this ship?" suddenly asked Tomalak.

"According to Intelligence, one veteran captain Kheren... an Andorian."

The admiral lifted and eyebrow in perfect imitation of Vulcan amazement.

"Andorian? Andorians... the warriors of the Federation... Now this is all getting more and more... interesting..."

Despite his long career in the Imperial Navy, Tomalak had never met an Andorian, especially not one in command of an opposing vessel. But he knew about them; deadpan, almost as emotionless as Vulcans... until they became violent. And they were highly passionate, even physiologically geared towards violence. No wonder so very few of them ever rose to command in this weak, peacemongering Starfleet of theirs.

"Admiral, they are on an intercept course. Do we alter our own to elude them?" asked Commander Kraetaek.

"No, Commander; they are playing right into our hands. Let them beleive in their own perceived cleverness and flush us out as they expect. And then, we will have them exactly where we want them to be."

After completing several hours of diplomatic simulations with Captain Kheren and after which enduring a relentless barrage of pestering from the CMO to rest, Syntron eventually retired to his quarters.

But he felt no need to rest; in fact his mind was too actively contemplating the multitude of possible scenarios that awaited them on their intercept course with the Romulan intruders.

Diplomacy was their main prerogative, but he knew that these distant relatives of the Vulcans were often not keen on resolving their issues through diplomacy. In fact, once their mind was made up, they were downright overzealous in their implementation of their goal; even at the cost of their own lives let alone the lives of others.

At this point, everything seemed too predetermined and linear. There had to be more to what they were intending and implementing then how things seemed.

Syntron reached over and activated his communication terminal.

“Syntron to Lieutenant Irksos”

The assistant science chief immediately responded.

“Irksos here Lieutenant Commander… what can I do for you?”

Speaking now as the science chief as much as the first officer he responded:

“Have the first round custom class-V medium-range reconnaissance probes loaded and ready for launch. I want to send them out in 1.45 hours to scout and scan the areas we are approaching long before we arrive there. Initiate dispersal pattern Alpha One-A.”

“Acknowledged Sir. Is there anything else?” the assistant science chief inquired.

“Keep monitoring all sensor scans and notify me immediately me of any unusual readings, no matter how insignificant they may seem at the time.”

“Yes Sir. Irksos out.”

As the communication ended with Irksos manning the science station, Syntron walked over to his Terran violin case sitting on the top of a shelf and carefully removed the old instrument from it.

He had not attended to this instrument or his Vulcan Lyre since their last mission. He began plucking the strings and turning the tuning pegs until each string matched the correct frequency. Then after rosining the bow, he pull the hairs of the bow across the strings, bringing to life the tones and resonance of the instrument.

Even though he had only been playing this violin since his days at Starfleet Academy, he found this instrument peculiarly intriguing. There was an almost logical aspect to its symmetrical design and tonal qualities, yet it was also almost uncharacteristically pivotal at times in aiding and focusing his thinking processes.

As he began to run through a series of musical exercises on the instrument, it was as if he was simultaneously preparing and organizing his mind with all of the thoughts lurking about in different parts of his brain. He was striving to use the instrument as a means to sort through these ideas and begin to compose them into pragmatic and coherent strategies. He was also trying to place himself into the perspective of his adversaries and see the situation from their eyes.

What are they truly preparing for out there? He pondered as he began unconsciously playing an ancient violin concerto.

The same question had the captain of the Artemis toss this way an that on his couch. He would not require any sleep before at least well over a day from now, and only three to four hours at most; with all the things going on in his mind, he barely closed his eyes for an hour before waking up again, fully alert, even frantic.

He went to his desk and activated his computer terminal. He keyed in a tactical map of the sector and marked on it the estimated position of their incoming opponents and themselves, the postulated trajectory of the intruder from its detected presence in the Paulson nebula and before that by the starbase 23 probe, its unexpected point of entry through the edge of Klingon territory after destroying the Klingon outpost a week ago and finally the location of the Azimuth Horizon anomaly, their expected target their whole travel had avoided completely.

Why?

Destroying Starbase 10, as they seemed intent upon, would not stop Starfleet from its own goal, which was not destroying the anomaly as the Romulans wanted; chances were that they would in fact not only fail in seeing their goal achieved, but loose the engagement sooner or later as Starfleet forces would rush to stop them; and they surely knew that. They also knew for certain that such an attack was as much a declaration of war as crossing the Neutral Zone... which they carefully avoided to do. And yet, they were coming...

Why?

Decoy... That was quite consistent with Romulan thinking. They all had agreed on that. Sending their most powerful vessel to threaten them would undoubtebly draw attention to it; thus helping in hiding their true goal.

Their true goal...

Then it hit him like a fist.

His callused hands almost crushed his combadge accross his muscular chest.

"Kheren to bridge!"

"Baoule here, Sir."

At this moment in time, the entire non-Andorian and non-Vulcan crew was up and at their post while the others took a few hours of rest to be as alert and ready as they were when the time came. It seemed now that that time had to come sooner than anticipated.

"What is our current status?"

"Maintaining interception course at warp 9.6 parallel to the Alsea. Crew at full readiness. ETA estimated in about four hours. Mister Syntron wanted to send scouting probes ahead but, since probes would be unable to exceed warp 9 anyway, they would arrive behind us and serve no purpose so we are keeping them in reserve..."

"Send them out immediately, bearing... 115 mark 92."

"Sir, Lieutenant Irksos here. This would send the probes towards..."

"I know where they will be going, Lieutenant. Launch them, now. Wake up Mister Syntron, if he ever went to sleep in the first place, and patch him to my quarters. And get me the Alsea, Mister Baoule."

As the Vulcan was lost in thought performing, he was abruptly snapped out of it by a call from the bridge.

He reached over and engaged the signal.

“Syntron here.” The first officer responded.

“Sir, Lieutenant Irksos here. Captain Kheren just hailed me and wants you immediately patched into his quarters. Standby… I’m patching you through now.”

As he walked over and placed the violin and bow back into the instrument’s case, he heard the sound of patch engaged.

Walking back toward his terminal he stated simply “Syntron here Captain, you hailed?”

"Number One, I think I figured out what the Romulans are up to... but I need your opinion to make it more than just a hunch. I also want the Alsea's senior officers to chime in on this; because, if they too agree that I may be right, it will be up to them to make sure they fail... before it is too late for us, amd the rest of the universe."

“Acknowledged Captain. I will meet you in the Ready Room in 2.3 minutes.” The Vulcan first officer replied as he took a moment to prepare to leave his quarters.

Afterward, he began his ascension one deck above to the bridge of the Artemis.

On the Alsea, the communication ended and the officers started to leave. Niomo called after Lieutenant Jureth. "Lieutenant! I'd like to have a few words with you. I feel like we got off to the wrong foot at the briefing. I'm Niomo Lire from Italy, Earth." He stuck out his hand.

Oseno was just onto the bridge when the Alsea's chief engineer called after him. He stopped and turned to face the human and accepted the handshake.

"A pleasure to formally meet you Commander." Jureth said "Lieutenant Oseno Jureth, and it was nothing personal, simply a disagreement. It happens and if the warp cores hold up under your modifications you'll have proved me wrong. Personally, I hope I am, because I don't want to consider the alternative."

Niomo smiled "Don't worry. I personally guarantee the work that's been done. I used to be known as the 'Best' Starfleet had to offer, and even on my....time off, I was still reading up on the latest public records on ship schematics. Besides, now that the Romulans are acting like Klingons and have shown their hand this early, I doubt we'll even need to fly seperated at high warp. Unfortunate. But I suppose this is for the best. Wouldn't you say?"

"With the Romulans you can never tell," Jureth responded and as an afterthought added "I had guards posted in your space for awhile, I hope my people aren't in your way down there."

Rachele Rivers listened to the discussion between her acting XO and her chief engineer. She considered Niomo Lire for a moment and almost wondered why he would prefer to remain in engineering and then stopped herself. It was the same reason she would have preferred to remain a security chief, and she respected that type of dedication in an officer. She also suspected that her XO would prefer to be at the tactical console instead of the first officer's chair. Rivers could read the slight stress on his face, but she didn't feel it was more than Oseno could handle otherwise she would have had him removed.

Niomo caught Rivers looking at the two men and after his conversation was over, he went to the Captain. Saulting, he began in as offical as a tone as he could muster. "Ma'm, I'd like to appologize for my comments earlier at the briefing. I meant no offense to the importanace of this Sisko man to you."

Rivers fixed her eyes on the engineer and was silent for a long moment before replying. "No offense taken Commander, it is a...difficult subject to deal with."
Before she could consider Joseph Sisko any further Ensign Wynn from operations interrupted.

"Captain, the Artemis is hailing Ma'am."

"On Screen," Rivers said without hesitation.

The dark blue face with the silvery eyes and the weirdly-moving antennae on the thick snowy mane that filled the large viewer was starkly etched with worry despite the lack of facial muscles. And it was even more plainly evident in the harsh tone of his voice as he swept aside any social pleasantry with his very first words.

"Captain Rivers; my exec is also on the comm on this so that him and you with your senior staff may confirm my suspicions. I am still deeply worried and puzzled by this incoming attack. Now, do we all agree that Romulans definitely favor guile over brute force?"

"Indeed Captain, the Romulans are much more likely to try to outwit us than they are to attack us directly."

The Alsea's captain wondered what Kheren could be driving at and at almost the same time she noted that her XO had returned to her side and appeared to be contemplating the question as well.

There was method to Kheren's questioning. He wanted to see if, with the same thoughts that those he had, they would come to the same conclusion as he had. He never trusted his instincts as Humans were fond of suggesting; in fact, it had taken him years of harsh study under a Vulcan master to bury his instincts deep within himself. He did not just mistrust his instincts; he feared them.

But then, left only with his rational judgment, with no "gut feeling" to warn him or help him challenge his thoughts, he needed the thoughts and feelings of others like Rivers, Jureth and Niomo, even Syntron. He could be mistaken.

He just hoped that, for once, he was.

Nodding, the Andorian pressed on:

"Do we also all agree that, however different they have become from their Vulcan ancestors, they are still just as highly focused in whatever they define as their goal?"

Rachele Rivers was well aware of Vulcan focus and knew as Kheren suggested that the Romulans were just as single minded when they wanted something. Next to Rivers, Jureth was contemplating the direction of the conversation as well and he believed he understood when the Andorian was going with his line of questioning. Before Rivers could respond to Captain Kheren her XO jumped in.

"Sir, do you suspect our being out here chasing this monstrosity of a starship isn't a coincidence?"

"We already know it is not," reminded them the captain of the Artemis. "We knew this ship was coming. Now, it is bound on an attack vector towards Starbase 10... but, what is the real reason they come into Federation space... what is their real goal?"

Listening to the officers of the Alsea attempting to unravel the mystery of Kheren’s questioning, the Vulcan first officer turned to his commanding officer and stated:

“Perhaps Captain, with all due respect, you could… how do the Terrans put it… ‘lay your cards on the table’… which if I understand the expression correctly, translates to just convey your thoughts on what you believe the Romulans may actually be implementing in regards to their genuine strategy.”

"If I wanted to give you your opinion, I would not be asking for it now, would I?" retorted the Andorian with some impatience. Then more calmly he explained further: I have no fact to support my thoughts... yet. And I could be dead wrong... literally. So, before I commit us to this plan I have in mind, we need to call forth the very strength of the United Federation of Planets. If A Vulcan, two Humans and a Bajoran get to the same conclusion as an Andorian, then we just might yet guess the right peril we face... and have a chance to stop their real plan."

Looking at them all on his splitscreen display, he asked again:

"Which is?"

Niomo swivelled in his chair to look at the conversation occuring behind him. "Call me a targ, but you might be over thinking things, Captain. From what we saw in the report, we only caught the Scimitar by chance. If those science vessels were not in the area, we'd have no idea that she was gunning straight for Starbase 10. From a logical standpoint, their actions fit the bill. Cutting off the head of Starbase 10 from the rest of the Operation is, what I believe, paramount. Assuming that they have at least one agent on the entire starbase, it would be easy for them to know our plans involving the shuttles. If it was me, I'd go for Starbase 10 as well. There is really no rush to get to the Azimuth Horizon once our forces are scattered to the winds."

Kheren said nothing. He wanted to hear what the others would say about all this first.

Syntron was somewhat perplexed by the Captain’s reaction to his statement.

As the silence continued on and yet no one said another word, he then strived to clarify his point again.

“I do not believe I was implying the implementation of any plan Sir; especially one that has not even been presented. You initiated this meeting Captain and stated that you had an idea of what the Romulans may be planning. I am also cognizant that you are awaiting input from each officer. However, the odds seem improbable that we will all reach a similar conclusion at this moment and then will have ample opportunity to enact a potential strategy within this limited amount of time we have available before we even reach the point of interception. I was merely recommending that we could accomplish this intention by directly discussing the probability and practicality of your epiphany, rather than waiting for others to arrive to a similar conclusion. It would also seem unlikely that any action would be taken unless agreed on by these very officers present.”

He then stated stoically “As your executive officer, it is my duty to present you with alternatives I see available, Sir… just as it is your prerogative to disregard them.”

Kheren listened and understood the core of what the Vulcan was saying; Syntron trusted his judgment... and he wisely reminded him that there was not much time left.

The Andorian just hoped that the others would also trust him as much as his new First Officer did.

"Alright then. We agree Romulans use guile, not force to achieve their goals and that they never loose sight of their goals. Here, we all know that their goal is the destruction of the anomaly."

Those were bare facts and so, he did not elaborate on them. He then gave them his entire understanding of the situation.

"Regarding their goal, destroying Starbase 10 would accomplish nothing; by the time they would arrive, our operation would be over... or the Klingons, as their Tal Shiar operatives surely informed them about, would have taken control of the anomaly, with their Empire as their first target. Moreover, if they managed to dispose of both the Artemis and the Alsea, certainly not without significant damage, they would still have to face at least two more starships and the full might of a starbase. And more to the point... why bother circumventing the Neutral Zone if not to avoid open war with the Federation... and then start one anyway with such a blatant attack?"

It had nagged at him since the moment he had been made aware of it; the perceived charge against Starbase 10 simply made no sense. Unless...

"Mister Lire, I do not beleive that we discovered their presence by chance; they did a week long travel accross the entire sector, passing by two starbases and a ring of outposts, revealed themselves by attacking a Klingon outpost they could have slipped by the same way, then by blasting the first probe that crossed their path, which had not even detected them yet... then left a clear trace of their passage in a nebula, a mistake only a novice Romulan commander would have made... a novice in command of Sela's flagship? No, Mister Lire... they wanted us to see they were going after Starbase 10... and to beleive we were oh so clever or lucky to see them coming. That is the first requirement of a good feint; the opponent must beleive it is the real blow coming. the more threatening the blow, the better."

He made a pause so that they could reflect a bit on the idea before finally saying:

"And while we are distracted, diverted and delayed to meet this obvious threat... one or more cloaked ships that entered our space in its wake can go undeterred straight for their real goal; the anomaly."

As the Andorian captain of the Artemis spoke a light went on in the Oseno's tactical mind. The Shavok was a distraction, the Romulans didn't want to destroy Starbase Ten, they wanted to destroy the anomaly. Fleet Captain Kotari had said as much during the briefing, and now the Romulans had succeeded in delaying Starbase Ten's planned operation to contain the anomaly by drawing the Artemis and the Alsea away.

"And we," Jureth said "have played right into their hands. They have succeeded in delaying our planned action against the anomaly and while we are chasing the Shavok, I would agree that as Captain Kheren stated there is another Romulan vessel, or fleet of vessels moving into position to accomplish Sela's goal of destroying the anomaly all together."

"We could not ignore the most massive warship in two quadrants moving on us with a thalaron cannon... and they knew it quite well," retorted the commanding officer of the Artemis. "No fault of us going out to challenge it; no choice in fact. if we had ignored them, they would just have changed course to rejoin with their real attack force and catch us in a pincer maneuver later. They still can... so, we can not ignore the Shavok, even guessing the whole true move now.."

Rachele listened to her XO and posed the obvious question: "If that is the case, then the question is what do we do about it?"

Niomo crossed his hands over his chest. That does make sense, he thought to himself. Gruffly, he responded, "What do we do Captain? We find them before they realize we did and blow them to Hell and go on with our Operation."

Kheren nodded.

"Fortunately, Mister Syntron here still doubles up as my chief of science. He had the foresight of preparing a squadron of warp-capable probes with his special sensor. I sent them out to flush out this possible second force between the anomaly and the border a while ago."

He activated his communicator on his chest.

"Lieutenant Irksos, report."

"Captain," answered the soft voice of the dark-skinned woman at the science station of the bridge; "I was just about to do so; long range sweep with the Syntron sensor on our probes have picked up four cloaked objects directly inbound for the anomaly. Mass, displacement and speed suggest at least two D'Deridex class warbirds and possibly two Valdore class war eagles."

Kheren looked at the others on his screen with a telling look.

Now, they knew.

"ETA with the anomaly"

"Tyvya here, Captain," chimed in the throaty voice of the Andorian giantess acting as tactical chief of the Artemis. "At the maximum Warbird speed of 9.2, they are three light years from target zone and will presently reach firing distance with the anomaly in sixteen hours. If they start now to burn out their engines to match the War Eagles and get there sooner, at warp 9.6, they will be there in twelve."

"How long before we intercept them?"

"Sir... our own maximum speed is warp 9.6... and we're eight light years from the closest interception point... that's thirty-six hours away, Sir."

Rachele Rivers listened to the conversation between Kheren and his subordinates and she knew what needed to happen.

"Captain Kheren, the obvious choice here is that the Alsea should move immediately to intercept the Romulan convoy. At our maximum speed we can intercept them in time to engage and delay them if not stop them altogether. However that leaves the question of th Shavok."

"That leaves the question of the Shavok to us," agreed the Captain of the Artemis."Lieutenant Tyvya; ETA with the Romulan ship?"

"Two point six hours, present speed. We're barely over half a light year away now, Captain; they had us on their passive sensors for quite a while now."

"So... if we split up now, they will know it."

The Andorian mused for a short moment then looked at the image of the Vulcan on his monitor.

"Mister Syntron; am I right in assuming that a tachyon burst can blind passive sensors for at least a few seconds?"

Syntron reflected on the proposal for a moment before responding.

“I know that the firing of a minute tachyon burst at a shielded starship can disrupt the shields forcing a ship to remodulate its shields, and that minute bursts have been used to covertly transmit new data between vessels, but I am unfamiliar with this particular application.”

A moment later he added “However, theoretically speaking… it may be possible for us to configure a more significant spectrum tachyon burst to temporarily blind all passive sensors for at least 4.53 seconds… approximately that is.”

Niomo frowned as the two ships discussed splitting up. There must be some other way... the engineer thought. But nothing was coming to him. He initally thought about raising the idea of leaving the tertiary hull with the Artemis and letting the other two sections deal with the convoy. But that would slow down their arrival time. It would still leave us woefully underpowered here and there. There was nothing else that he could do, but sit and let the Captains decide what to do. But he knew, if diplomacy failed to stop the Shavok, it would be a miracle if the Artemis would return in one piece.

Syntron sat and reflected... subtly nodding an affirmation regarding the Captain’s hypothesis. Participating in an earlier meeting with the Captain, the First Officer had also suggested that the IRS Shavok was possibly being used as some form of decoy or distraction. He just was not assured what this diversion was masking.

The recent confirmation of the probes’ sensor discovery of the additional cloaked vessels rapidly approaching the anomaly helped to clarify their actual intention that the Captain proffered; which was even more lethal than a confrontation with a massive warship like the Scimitar.

What was equally disconcerting to the science chief was Syntron had a devised a potential method for disabling the anomaly that would not be as ruthlessly careless and prospectively volatile as the Romulans or Klingons may tempt… with probable catastrophic repercussions. Yet they were all still too far from these ships to intervene with the Romulans and their imprudent schemes.

Syntron turned to Captain Kheren and inquired “How prepared are these Romulan ships to endure the imminent subspace fractures and the accompanying tendrils of powerfully violent energy that will strike their ships when actually encounter them? We have carefully prepared a series of countermeasures over these past missions to address and compensate for all of these hazardous conditions… but having not experienced what we have faced encountering this anomaly repeatedly, these Romulans have not learned the lessons we have eruditely garnered.”

He looked intently at the Andorian Captain.

“They may not be as well-equipped and ready to face this anomaly as they may perceive.”

"I agree, Number One. Their very plan shows their lack of knowledge about the anomaly. But these are Romulans; they are creatures of duty. Sacrificing their lives for their Empire is so ingrained in them, they will not even blink once about it. And with four ships able to send salvos of plasma torpedoes five million kilometers away, one is bound to hit their target; and as your own research revealed, only one warhead could be enough to turn the anomaly into a metanova."

Looking then at the woman commanding the Alsea, the Andorian spoke with all the seriousness he could muster in his soft, deep voice.

"Captain Rivers; you will need all your firepower to intercept any projectile they launch as much as those ships themselves. But maybe, if you show them our data, especially the plasma-defusing solution of Mister Syntron, you might just peacefully end this and convince them to forfeit their ill-conceived attempt. I certainly will attempt it with the Shavok. Hopefully, one of them out there will listen."

Kheren turned again towards his First Officer.

"So, Number One... what about that tachyon blindness?"

“I can have the tachyon burst configuration I mentioned ready in about 9.37 minutes Captain.”

"I have something a little less conspicuous in mind... but I take that as a yes."

Kheren addressed once more the commanding officer of the Alsea.

"Captain, I have an idea..."