Captain Logs:

Red Squadron Command Log:

Due to the latest threats being issued from some within the Klingon Empire we are reviewing our strategic options. If Starfleet advises we are prepared to return to the Beta Quadrant and prepare to meet the Klingon's before they cross into Federation Space. I have asked Operations to project the strength of any Klingon Strike Force. It is my belief, based on the latest intelligence reports, that the Klingon's are in no way prepared for open hostilities, stealthy raids.....perhaps.

We have also begun planning for a preemptive strike should we detect a Klingon invasion force assembling. Mission, Codename: Jabberwocky, will destroy Klingon Communication relays and supply depots isolating their forward units from reinforcement while we encircle and destroy.

Red Squadron Command Log:

Regroup at DS9

prepare to deal with Klingon threat.


ALL UNITS REPORT

Red Squadron Command Log:


All units stand by for deployment orders by 0900.

Meanwhile we wait.

Let them come, it saddens me that it has come to this, but let them come.


"...there is no more imperative and no simpler law for Strategy than to keep your forces concentrated."

-CVC

ALERT

Admiral I have been at DS9 ever since I herd about the Ion Storm as per your orders I will set a course for New Bajor and await the Fleet meanwhile I will bee scaning the immidate area of New Bajor and I will let you know of any abnormalities "boys lets got Sattle up set course for New Bajor max Warp open exiting Warp I want short and long range scanners running around the clock until the Fleet arrives report any abnormalities to me and I will address them to my superiours" with that said the Breakaway folds her Necells and takes off
(end Transmission)

Red Squadron Command Log:



Calling All Ships:

Make ready for a defense of the Bajor Sector.

I am reviewing options but I believe that there may be no placating the Klingon’s this time.

If Starfleet has any diplomats up there sleeve now would be the time…….

...If we can determine a likely vector for a Klingon attack I propose we move to intercept in deep space and make sure no civilians get hurt.

Quin Draco
Admiral

Admiral this is Captian Xeon of the USS Breakaway the Shelids are you Phasers charged and Torpedos in the tubes were ready for combat just say the word and I will pull the trigger

Calling All Starfleet Vessels




This is the USS Olympias, requesting assistance at the Badlands frontier.
While on patrol with the Iron Maiden we were ambushed by two K’Vort Class Cruisers.

I believe Admiral Draco was expecting an attack but they attacked the Olympias first, the first one knocked down our shields while the second took out our impulse engines, leaving us dead in space.

The Iron Maiden attempted to lure them into the Badlands but the Klingons have managed to cripple the Iron Maiden….

she is venting drive plasma and has stopped firing her weapons………oh no! they’ve locked on tractor beams……

We are unable to hail the Maiden and it looks like there is a boarding action underway…….oh! ……there were just two explosions inside the Klingon Cruisers……

Lt. your with me…..Ensign prep two shuttle-craft and Con keeping sending that distress call……

Red Squadron Command Log:


The Iron Maiden and the Olympias were ambushed by two K'vort class Birds of Prey
The Olympiasa sustained heavy damage in the initial exchange so I attempted to lure the Klingon Vessels away. Despite these being older ships they were able to quickly force things into close qaurters combat.

They were able to penatrate our shields and get a strike team of 6 Klingon Warriors and 2 Gorn Warriors onto our vessel. As we were prepared for this we managed to use the opportunity to beam two dilithium charges back along the beams and knock out their main transporters.

This still did little to prepare us for the fury with which the Klingon Strike team made its way onto the bridge of my ship.

My own strike teams are only at half strength leaving me with only a 10 marines to guard this vessel. At this time I feared that they had already perished. I was pinned down with my tactical officer in my ready room and was preparing to make a final charge in an attempt to clear the room when my security team accompanied by Captain Natreni from the Olympias came up behind the Klingons and Gorns.

I decided this was the perfect moment to charge and managed to take down one of the Klingons with a phaser burst, but it was nearly my final shot as a Bat’leth came down upon my head. Fortunetly it was only a glancing blow as my new Jem’Hedar Crewman body blocked the Klingon at the last second sending him over the Operations stations and saving my skull from a terminal fracture.

It turns out that Hktor had been left for dead in the corridor where three of his crewmates had fallen. He dragged a fourth comrade to sickbay before teaming up with Captain Natreni and my First Officer to retake the Bridge. I am happy to say they were successful.

The Klingons lost four of their warriors and one Gorn during this senseless attack. As reinforcements drew close the rest of their boarding party beamed off the Maiden and the two Birds of Prey jumped to warp. They had taken some pretty heavy damage getting that close to us but it was thanks to all the Starfleet ships nearby that finally made them realize that they could not take our ship.

I am reccomending commendations for my First Officer, Commander S’tuyk as well as for Captian Natreni who showed special initiative in her first battle, I see her promising to be a fine officer.

As for Hktor, I am requesting that he be allowed to complete his Starfleet Crewman Training aboard the Iron Maiden and that his provisional rank be made official as soon as he passes his exam. If not for his efforts today the Maiden would need a new Captain.

We are returning to DS9 for repairs.

All units resume standard patrols. I don’t believe we have seen the last of this latest rashness from the Klingon’s.

The Dr. says I should be clear to leave sickbay in a day or two. I promised to visit him often as I left.

Admiral Quin this is Xeon of the USS Breakaway we are maintaing our patrol of DS9's primitter while you effect repairs if there is anything you need anything at all Sir let me know (end Transmission) all decks this is your Captian go to Yellow Alert and keep the Short and Long Range Scans running I will attempt to Hack the Klingon Database to see if I can find any Subspace Transmission among the Klingons in Federation Space

Red Squadron Command Log:

It looks like Starfleet has finally managed to get a lead on our latest problem. Even now the USS Sirus is tracking an ion trail from a ship that attacked a Federation Colony. If we can get some coordinates we can be prepared to go with Operation Jabberwocky within 24 hours. This will be a mission to destroy the Base of Operations of the Renegade Klingon Households and their mercenary fleet. These renegades have used bio-weapons so Starfleet will have no choice but to send us.

If Starfleet cannot give use an objective I will petition that we reactivate Mission Sanguine Shield and regain our Gamma Quadrant foothold. I believe if we can not secure Camp 371 before total war with the Klingons than those reaches of the Gamma Quadrant will remain forever closed to us.

Quin Draco
Admiral

Captains Log:


New orders received. Will proceed to the perimeter as ordered.

Quin_Draco wrote:Red Squadron Mission Briefing:


Operation Jabberwocky is now commencing.

Jabberwocky has a four-fold strategic agenda.

First Section: under the Command of Captain Raymond Anders, Red-Alpha Squad will resume the objectives of Sanguine Shield and precede to secure Internment Camp 371 with all due speed. Recent developments have made our securing this base in the Gamma Quadrant all the more urgent.

Attached to Red-Alpha for this mission;

Captain Xeon - Head of Engineering
Captain Achilles Moore - Tactical
Captain Py’yr Kial - Operations


It is recommended that communications be established with the residents of New
Bajor as a means of gathering intel.

Second Section: Units from Red-HQ Squad will maintain a patrol perimeter along the Cardassian Neutral Zone in support of DS9 as well as lend support to victims of further assaults.

Assigned to this objective;

Captain Richard Youngman – Head Medical Officer
Captain Sharel Natreni – Strategic Liaison Officer



Third Section: Captain Hect Lee, Head of Fleet Security will head our patrols in HQ sector. The Balance of Red-HQ Squad under the Command of Admiral Zakk will continue repairs on Starbase Crimson. Captain Alvar Komodo, Head of HQ-Squad Engineering is authorized to take this opportunity to apply the defensive modifications that he has suggested.

Fourth Section: I will be taking the Iron Maiden on a “House-call” and will be operating under a communication blackout for the next 48 hours.


Fortune Favors Bold

I imagine this means we shall here nothing from the Admiral until tomorrow so I just wanted to re-post this here in case anyone was wondering what was up. I personally get confused with all these threads so please excuse my attempts at consolidation.
-Sharel

That was my understanding as well:)

Originally Posted by Paulo999 view post
U.S.S Sutherland Reporting in, My ships on its way to the klingon colony world known as Amar to begin the extermination procedure, The Federation can sit back and pretend it never happend but i plan on showing the klingons who the masters of the Alpha Quadrant truely are!

First planetary bombardment Will begin at 21:00 Primary Targets the Northern habitat
*****************

Breaking Communications Blackout

Hailing the USS Sutherland:

Southerland this is the Iron Maiden do you read..........For god's sake Paul are you there......look we are all angry, really old fashioned ****ed but don't do this man....Come in Southerland............Paul please respond this is Quin... please don't do it....we're not Klingon's....er um....at least your not I mean....look Paul think about it........

....Helm lay in a course to intercept the Southerland, maximum warp, we must beat the Southerland to Amar.

The only other option is to alert the Klingon's but that's ships Captain was once my friend and I am not prepared to sentence him to death.

***********

Hailing the USS Sutherland:

This is the Iron Maiden….please respond Sutherland……by now you know we have no hope of intercepting you. We will arrive in system 10 minutes to late to stop you from doing what you are threatening. It is up to you now to make the right decision and turn back……….Paul…..I do not want to have to notify the Klingon Defense Forces……don’t make me do this………Sutherland please respond…….

Red Squadron Command Log.

Due to the latest security concerns all Command officers will be undergoing a verbal evaluation to make certain that our officers are who we think they are.

Admiral Zakk reports that Starbase Crimson is back to full operational capacity.

All units are to continue with Operation Jabberwocky as ordered.

The Iron Maiden will be returning to DS9 where will again establish our drag net and attempt to find out where these hostiles are based.

Search for Odo
Red Squadron Command Log.

We have established a sensor perimeter in the Bajor Sector to detect any efforts by the alternate universe hostiles to take us unawares.

In the Gamma Quadrant Red Squadron has taken control of Internment Camp 371. Red-Alpha Squad is currently bringing the abandoned base up to Starfleet Standards and it may take some time.

We are now preparing to attempt to contact Odo, we believe he is still alive but he maybe in hiding.
I will be leading this mission personally as soon we receive the latest telemetry from Alpha-Squad.

Meanwhile Starfleet has dispatched the USS Enterprise under Captain Crusher to reinforce our position at DS9. Logic dictates that our new enemies know of our attempts to secure a presence in the Gamma Quadrant and will likely move against our weak link, the wormhole.

Admiral Zakk has been asked to send all available units from Starbase Crimson to DS9 but it could take several days before any more help arrives.

My crew, as well as the crew of the Olympias, are badly depleted after our last round of engagements. However I see no sign of relief, in fact I believe that this current state of crisis may only be a sign of things to come.
__________________

Red Squadron Command Log.

With Starfleet going on the offensive Camp 371, now codenamed Valgrind Station has become the next concentration point of our strategies.
I have ordered all Red Squadron Command functions to now be forwarded to this position. Starbase Crimson will be left with a skeleton crew for the time being.

Red-Alpha has secured a tactical perimeter and Engineering crews have gotten main power online.
We have no sign of the Dominion or any forces other than the ever present Ferengi commerce.

All forces know stationed at DS9 are currently preparing to disembark, our guests have clearance to begin transit with our remaining units providing escort. We can only hope that the Wormhole remains secure in the Alpha Quadrant or Valgrind Station may become a trap which we have painstakingly created for ourselves.

****From the Gamma Quadrant*****

Red Squadron Command Log.

All units are scheduled to arrive at the rendezvous point by 0100 hours.

Forward positions have reported no response from hails sent to Dominion Listening Posts.

Intercepted transmissions from Ferengi Commerce indicate that the Vorta Homeworld, Kurill Prime, is under a quarantine and is closed to all commerce and communication. It is unclear who is enforcing this blockade.

All command officers are standing by to move on Operation Loengrin. We are all anxious to rescue any of our Starfleet Comrades who may still be held captive by the alternate universe hostiles.

However, I am sending word to Admiral Farrior about the our serious depletion in manpower. Red Squadron is down to less than half of our operational strength in strike teams. I recommend we allow more of Crewmen H'ktor's Jem-Heder brethren to join our ranks....before it is too late for reinforcements to help.

I am also asking Starfleet to investigate the loss of telemetry from our sensor relay. For unknown reasons we can no longer monitor Wormhole traffic. Either another Ion storm has moved into the region or the enemy may be outflanking us even as we move into position. We can only hope our subspace communications remain intact.
__________________

[QUOTE=Re4.link_wesker;362305]Zell Karath's ships managed to limp away to a small nebula in dominion space. with the dominion at its limit combatting borg vessels this was the perfect place to hide.

Zell Karath: how are repairs going?

officer: most systems are back online but i suggest we get to a terran shipyard for repairs.

Zell Karath: very well. Also what does our intelligence say about latest borg attacking the dominion?

officer: from what we've collected the borg are slowly making their way further into dominion space. the dominion however seem to be a formidable foe. they arent making it easy for the borg.

Zell Karath: so why is this area of space void of dominion then?

officer: it appears they are reassigning forces to the areas most important to the dominion. this area only has a small patrol thats sent out every few days.

officer2: sir we got more information on the borg we detected.

Zell Karath: and?

officer2: They appeared to be a small scout force. They were looking for new targets to assimilate.

Zell Karath: *eyes widen* dont tell me. they detected the fissure?

officer2: it appears so

Zell Karath: *swears* this is not good. has the Terran Empire even encountered the borg before?

officer2: they havent sir.

Zell Karath: Well the borg have some new targets to assimilate... great. contact Kira. Tell her it would be a good idea to increase production on the "Pride of the Empire". At this point that may be all that could counter a borg fleet. Also tell her also to try to close the fissures they're opening.[/QUOTE]

Red Squadron Command Log.

All units in the Gamma Quadrant have now arrived at Valgrind Station.

Our long range sensors have now found he Dominion fleet drawn up along a vast perimeter surrounding the Founder Homeworld. It would appear that the Borg have taken over half of the Gamma Quadrant already. They may be to blame as well for a series of critical mutations that have occurred among the Dominions genetically altered populations. The Vorta Homeworld has apparently degenerated into anarchy and is now surrounded by an automated defense grid. The only good news is that the Ferengi may be able to help us contact Odo. They are the only ships moving around behind the front lines now. It seems the Dominion is on its last leg.

We have also confirmed signs of potential rifts being opened near Borg Space. Red-Alpha will now be going to confirm our reading. All of our Wormhole sensor are still offline and sabotage appears to be the only explanation.

I have now received reports from Listening Post Crimson-Two that elements of the Terran Empire have now set up a base in the Lyria System and have attacked Starbase 32. If these reports are true then it seems we face a war on possibly infinite fronts. I have sent a subspace message to Admiral Zakk asking him to lend support to Crimson-Two in case their position is threatened.link

[QUOTE=Captain_Farrior;362896][color:ef22="RoyalBlue"]Admiral's Log, Stardate: 87080.9

The mission was a success. With the help of Miles O'Brien, the fizzure was successfully closed and we're back into our own universe. However Captain Quatok stayed behind to ensure our escape and sacrificed himself and his crew and that we are thankful for. Whether they survived the battle is obviously unknown.

but as a cnsulation prize, we managed to bring back "mirror universe" Kira Nerys, who has often caused toomuch trouble for too long and is being detained by Security Chief Ro Laren on DS9. Its good to know that Admirall Harry Kim is no worse for wear with his experience. However, we still have one more alternate we must find within the ranks of Starfleet. Who is the third mystery traitor? Meanwhile the Excelsior will remain docked at DS9 for the next 30 hours.

Walking on the Prominade, Farrior gets a call from Ro Laren.....

Cmdr. Ro: "Admiral Farrior emergency in the captain's Ready Room."

Farrior makes a mad dash to the turbolift and arrives on the stations' bridge and is comes into the Redy Room. The doors open, with Ro standing inside along with Dr. Berrazza standing over a body.

Berrazza: "I think we found our man, admiral. I already did a scan, death was slow poison."

Farrior walks over to the body on the floor cloaked in darkness and turns it over to his surprise.....Farrior closes his eyes and shakes his head. The dead body is revealed to be Captain Nog.

Cmdr. Ro: "Since this was an alternate Nog, that means........"

Farrior: "Our Nog maybe dead or alive.....in their universe."

TO BE CONTINUED [/QUOTE]

Red Squadron Mission Briefing:

Attention All units:


With Starfleets success in closing the rift to the alternate universe we have a few precious moments to regroup. This current threat may be abated but I look forward to an attempt to rescue Captain Nog. He is a good officer and a friend. I don’t feel right with him unaccounted for.

That being said, Red-Alpha Squad will resume its defensive posture at Valgrind Station while Engineering crews continue to bring all the stations systems up to full capacity.

Red-Alpha HQ Squad will continue to advance our supply efforts in the Gamma Quadrant and establish another sensor relay system to cover the Wormhole. As our last grid is now useless this effort will take some time.

Medical units are being made available to assist the Vorta in stabilizing their chaotic mutations but first the automated defense net surrounding Kurill Prime must be dealt with.

The Iron Maiden will be conducting a long term diplomatic venture in an attempt to secure communications with Odo. I will be observing a communications blackout for at least 48 hours while I move towards the Founder Homeworld. If the Borg find out that Starfleet may be moving into a position to help the Dominion then they may launch an assault in an effort to stop us. That is something we are not prepared to deal with.

Red Squadron Command Log:


Red Squadron has been able to establish contact with the Dominion Forces and they have requested assistance from us in fighting the Borg. The Founder Odo has sent word of his his good wishes to the Federation but he is currently supervising what I shall term a “strategic readjustment of the front-line.” Should the Federation be able to offer the Dominion assistance he would be willing to meet with our representatives. I have sent him my regrets that at this time I do not have the forces to commit to his aid. I have however freed all engineering and medical units to offer any assistance to Dominion civilians. Kurill Prime remains quarantined and seemingly beyond prospect of reprieve.

We are able to report that the former Camp 371 now renamed Valgrind Station is fully operational. Red-Alpha has established a standard security perimeter and we are are ready to begin to utilize the facility for training new special op’s candidates.

I am requesting Starfleet allow us to bring more of the Jem’Hedar recruits here for training. Crewman H’ktor, Starfleet’s first Jem’Hedar recruit has proven himself as worthy of the uniform as any Academy graduate I have known. I can only hope that some of his brethren may one day be allowed to actually attend the Academy.

First Officer of the Iron Maiden, Commander S’tuyk walked onto the bridge of the Uss Olympus, accepting the con from Lt. Hotchkin and noticed that third shift had completed the construction of the sensor array which should allow Red Squadron to monitor all traffic and communications within 1,000 light years of Valgrind Station.

S’tuyk was a Vulcan of the old tradition and he knew that Admiral Draco had asked him aboard as a moderating force. The Admiral, ½ Vulcan, but with a tragic mix of Human and Klingon heritage rounding out his genomes, wished to balance his own uneasy passions with the presence of an older, pure blooded Vulcan. Or so S’tuyk liked to think. Perhaps he had erred he wondered to himself as he looked around the small, yet very efficient bridge of the Valiant Class vessel. Maybe he had been brought here to be driven mad by the lack of logic he was forced to endure everyday as he read his mission briefing updates.

S’tuyk breathed deep and reflected on the chaos. Why would Starfleet risk its premier special operations unit being cut off out here guarding a hunk of rock with a view of nothing but the Dominion on its last leg? From the sound of things Starfleet could get reports on Borg incursions without leaving the Alpha Quadrant. And worse from the sound of Red Squadron’s own reports the Dominion was barely able to open lines of communication let alone mount a significant defense. The only logical reason for Starfleet to have sent them here would be to assist the Dominion but Red Squadron has only seven ships in the sector and reinforcements are over 4,000 light years away.

That would be enough to rattle any stalwart logician but the Admiral seemed obsessed with trying to arrange a meeting with the Founders. He has also become convinced that more Jem’Hedar recruits are the answer to Starfleet's manpower shortage and he actually believes we can trust them. All this with the Klingons breathing fire over one Jem’Hedar Crewmen.

As a mercifully break to his mental discourse, telemetry rolled across the screen in a series of graphs and numeric calculations but to S’tuyk's trained eye it was a small fleet of ships that he saw on the screen encased in the arm of the Captains Chair. Interesting, he arched an eyebrow in his most expressive gesture and leaned forward ever so slightly in anticipation. A few seconds transpired and the ships were identified as yet another Ferengi convoy, albeit a large one. Perhaps even the Ferengi were now being forced to take precautions. It would be a few minutes before they passed into hailing range, he would contact them and ask for any information they might have from other parts of Dominion Space. It was procedure, given their current surveillance posture, and it was a good way to wake up the crew.

He considered alerting the Admiral but thought against it. There was no reason to suspect anything was amiss just because the Ferengi were doing a great business in spite of the war. Or was the war the cause of their success. Regardless the Admiral and Captain Sharel were no doubt preoccupied with their little mystery of the day. It seems that Engineering crews which had been putting in emergency plasma vents on the asteroid base had found remains of a structure that predates the Dominion. It would appear that someone other than the Dominion and Starfleet once took an interest in this chunk of debris as well. Whatever it was transpiring on the asteroid he was the only Command officer in orbit at the moment and the perimeter was his call. He would enjoy almost any diversion

….
_________

In the small turbolift car aboard the Iron maiden Admiral Quin Draco and Captain Sharel Natreni continued there discussion about the intriguing find located in the rock core of their asteroid base. When first discovered sensors had detected the pocket and it was believed that the readings indicated a natural geological formation that was a consequence of the rock once having cooled from a molten state. Once engineering crews had tunneled into the caves surrounding the anomalous chamber it became apparent that this was an artificial construct. A chamber was revealed that was encased in a self-illuminating crystalline structure. The chamber was dominated by three large (3m across) crystal plinths each surmounted with a radial array of what resembled archaically designed metallic vacuum diodes. Each plinth had a different number of diodes and each one had diodes of two sizes.

They had left Captian Komodo in what had quickly become dubbed the "Crystal Cave" to further ponder its mysteries but as of this point they had no notion of the caves purpose. Captian Komodo had seemed particularly pleased when he noticed that the diodes were arranged in a series of proportion based on size and location. As the Admiral had prepared to return to his vessel Captain Komodo had mentioned that all proportions measured so far equaled precisely a ratio 1.667.

The turbolift door opened onto the bridge. Lt. Alvarez, the ships tactical officer had the con and was monitoring a communications exchange between the Olympus, which was on perimeter patrol, and a passing Ferengi convoy. With the new sensor relays in place the communique came through as clear as if it were a direct link.

“Ferengi Vessel, This is the USS Olympus monitoring your position. Please respond”

“Yes Olympusss, we sssee you….thisss is Captian Tsarog of the Ferengi Commerce ship the Collateral….we will avoid your ssstation……fear not Federa…

“Captain Tsarog this is Commander S’tuyk we merely wish to ask if you have any information that may be useful to us. It is our task to monitor this sector and by treaty obligation you may call upon our assistance in an emergency.”

“Nothing is free Federation…..but I will tell you that your time here is limited…..you are far from your Starfleet friendsss…..”

“Thank You Captain. Perhaps you would pass on a message to the Dominion for us?….We had opened lines of communications to establish diplomatic channels. There has apparently been a problem with the Dominions subspace communications. We merely wish to know that it is still their intent to contact us. In exchange I would be willing to allow you to receive a feed from our sensor net which should extend your scanner range considerably in this sector.”

“Well…yessss, that would be …..acsseptable.


Breaking into the communication

“This is Admiral Quin Draco, I have been monitoring the communication Captain and would like to thank you on behalf of Starfleet. Perhaps one of the ships in your convoy would be willing to book passage for one of my officers….that way we could transmit our message personally and you could fore go any further inconvenience.”


“Yesss…perhaps an arrangement could be made…..”

In the small turbolift car aboard the Iron maiden Admiral Quin Draco and Captain Sharel Natreni continued there discussion about the intriguing find located in the rock core of their asteroid base. When first discovered sensors had detected the pocket and it was believed that the readings indicated a natural geological formation that was a consequence of the rock once having cooled from a molten state. Once engineering crews had tunneled into the caves surrounding the anomalous chamber it became apparent that this was an artificial construct. A chamber was revealed that was encased in a self-illuminating crystalline structure. The chamber was dominated by three large (3m across) crystal plinths each surmounted with a radial array of what resembled archaically designed metallic vacuum diodes. Each plinth had a different number of diodes and each one had diodes of two sizes.

They had left Captain Komodo in what had quickly become dubbed the "Crystal Cave" to further ponder its mysteries but as of this point they had no notion of the caves purpose. Captain Komodo had seemed particularly pleased when he noticed that the diodes were arranged in a series of proportion based on size and location. As the Admiral had prepared to return to his vessel Captain Komodo had mentioned that all proportions measured so far equaled precisely a ratio 1.667.

The turbolift door opened onto the bridge. Lt. Alvarez, the ships tactical officer had the con and was monitoring a communications exchange between the Olympus, which was on perimeter patrol, and a passing Ferengi convoy. With the new sensor relays in place the communique came through as clear as if it were a direct link.

“Ferengi Vessel, This is the USS Olympus monitoring your position. Please respond”

“Yes Olympusss, we sssee you….thisss is Captian Tsarog of the Ferengi Commerce ship the Collateral….we will avoid your ssstation……fear not Federa…

“Captain Tsarog this is Commander S’tuyk we merely wish to ask if you have any information that may be useful to us. It is our task to monitor this sector and by treaty obligation you may call upon our assistance in an emergency.”

“Nothing is free Federation…..but I will tell you that your time here is limited…..you are far from your Starfleet friendsss…..”

“Thank You Captain. Perhaps you would pass on a message to the Dominion for us?….We had opened lines of communications to establish diplomatic channels. There has apparently been a problem with the Dominions subspace communications. We merely wish to know that it is still their intent to contact us. In exchange I would be willing to allow you to receive a feed from our sensor net which should extend your scanner range considerably in this sector.”

“Well…yessss, that would be …..acsseptable.


Breaking into the communication

“This is Admiral Quin Draco, I have been monitoring the communication Captain and would like to thank you on behalf of Starfleet. Perhaps one of the ships in your convoy would be willing to book passage for one of my officers….that way we could transmit our message personally and you could fore go any further inconvenience.”


“Yesss…perhaps an arrangement could be made…..”


***********************

On a dimly lit transporter pad aboard the sleek mercenary craft a tall figure wearing a black nondescript uniform with no insignia materialized. Admiral Quin Draco had left his uniform behind for this mission as he saw no need to make his presence any more disruptive than it needed to be. After all a Vulcan-Klingon-Human hybrid may blend in well enough on a Starfleet vessel but here he would likely be seen as a threat or potential asset and it was his intent to make the later impression.

A nervous crewman awaited working at the console, letting the bridge know their guest had arrived. “Um..er…um ….?”

“You can can me Quin.” The Admiral said with a fang exposing smile. He extended a calloused and scarred hand of a martial artist, a gesture of friendship the uneasy mercenary seized after only a second of hesitation.

“Now where did your Captain wonder off to?

**************************************


Meanwhile in the Crystal Cave deep below Valgrind Station Red Squadron Chief Engineer, Alvar Komodo, moved a diode……at first he could not hear it but the equipment registered a faint hum that became audible……He quickly replaced the diode and made a notation in his log.



****************************

Aboard the Lucifer Captain Karath had finally broken out his reserve bottle of Romulan Ale as he was happy to celebrate a healthy profit with his entertaining guest. Draco knew he could hold his liquor with the best of them and he was happy to let this rakish man pour-on now that the mission was done.

The Dominion forces had been falling back and the Ferengi had ended up being directed to a supply depot much closer to Valgrind Station than was first scheduled. After meeting with one of the Founders, albeit briefly, Draco felt reassured that the Dominion was indeed intact enough to warrant assistance and he was told that communications should not be a problem now that he had received instructions on how to access their secure subspace links, or as he thought, “now that I have been vetted.”

Captain Karath had been insistent on leaving right away. Although he did not want to ask Draco suspected that the mercenary captain had received the same news that he had heard himself. The duplicate of Kira Nerys was on the loose. Draco himself wanted to dismiss it as a rumor until he returned to Valgrind Station. For twelve hours he could be as close to off duty as he was likely to get for a very long time and drinking with some old-school mercs was just his speed.

-----Over the Intercom-----

“Sorry Captain I know you don’t like to be bothered at your cups but there is a message for your guest.”

“Well what are you waiting for patch it through.”

“Admiral…Admiral, I trust you are reading me sir, this is Captain Komodo. Are we secure sir I have something to report.”

Draco looked up and made eye contact with Karath, he knew he was as secure as he was likely going to be anywhere on this ship.

“Yes Captain, go ahead”

“Sir it seems that this Crystal Cave object is connected to the Iconians.”

Frowning and furrowing his brow.

“And what would make you say that Captain.”

“Well I was adjusting the diodes and observing a change in harmonic frequency which I was documenting in my log…”

“Yes Captain”

Well, Sir I thought about how nice it would be to have some shore leave…and uh… my mind wondered to this lady I had met at Quarks on DS9.”

“Yes”

“And a doorway to DS9’s promenade opened on wall two of the cave”

“A doorway?”

“Yes sir?”

“Wall two?”

“We numbered them sir.”

“Captain….”

“Yes Admiral”

“You have secured the gateway I presume?”

“Yes Admiral, on both sides”

Admiral Draco eyed the bottle of Romulan Ale for a long second, then looked at his new friend with a toothy grin,

“How fast did you say the Lucifer could go in a pinch Captain?”