Captain's Log, Stardate 51383.35.
The Enterprise has arrived safely at Starbase 7. We have put in for repairs following our encounter with the Dominion in the Briar Patch. Although I had hoped to make the most of this time to regroup and spend some time with my senior staff, I have been informed that Admiral Paris is on station waiting to speak with me. I find myself more worried than I should be as to why exactly he wishes to see me.
With a familiar hum and sparkle of light, the transporter deposited Admiral Paris on the pad. Captain Jean-Luc Picard hesitated a moment before he stepped forward, hand extended, to welcome the Admiral on board. He covered the awkward moment with a grim smile.
"Admiral."
"Jean-Luc. I would say it is good to see you, but I doubt you would believe me."
Picard held his smile, unwilling to reply either way to the man's opening gambit. Paris sighed.
"I'm sure I will receive your report in due time, but I would like you to tell me yourself what happened out there."
"Of course, Admiral. Shall we go to my ready room?"
"After you."
Nodding to the young crewman behind the transporter controls, Picard led Paris out into the corridors. They passed a number of crew members, every single one of them sporting a phaser on their belt. When exactly did we go from being explorers to a military vessel? Picard wondered. Sometime around the time Minos Korva fell, I suppose.
"How much do you know about our mission to the Patch?"
"Just what was in the standard briefing."
Picard nodded. "Admiral Nechayev asked us to attempt to retake the planet Baku along with a Son'a battle group who had escaped the occupation of their homeworld. It was supposed to be a first step in gaining a foothold back in that sector and a way of halting the Dominion advance. Perhaps even of reconnecting the two halves of the Federation."
They reached the turbolift and stepped on. Alone, without the eyes of his crew on him, Picard allowed his shoulders to slump a little.
"Unfortunately, we found ourselves in the middle of an internecine battle. The Son'a fooled us, failing to reveal that they were actually members of the Baku race, exiled long ago. They used us to get access to the Patch and then they turned on us." Picard swallowed, memories of screaming children and burning houses flickering through his mind's eye. "When we tried to stop them, they betrayed us to the Dominion forces."
Paris stood silent, apparently unable to think of anything to add to Picard's tale. When he finally spoke, his voice shook. "How did you get away?"
"My first officer. He found a way of using the strange particles within the Briar Patch, venting the gases and igniting them. He destroyed three Son'a ships and a Dominion battlecruiser. In the confusion, we were able to get away." Abandoning the Baku to their fate. Picard refused to share that last thought with the Admiral.
The turbolift slowed, the doors opening as they reached the bridge. A Trill security officer barked "Captain on the bridge," then glanced past him at Paris and added, "Admiral on the bridge."
Backs straightened and Picard saw his new flight controller, Lieutenant Kell Perim, glance surreptitiously behind her at the turbolift. When she saw him looking, she quickly looked back at her display, though while they were at station keeping with Starbase 7 there was little for her to do.
"At ease," Admiral Paris said, smiling genially at the various officers.
Will Riker, Picard's first officer, stood from his place in the captain's chair and walked up onto the top part of the bridge to greet the Admiral.
"Will, good to see you."
"And you Admiral."
"I hear we have you to thank for Enterprise's escape from the Briar Patch."
"Just following in Captain Picard's footsteps, sir."
"Well, you did good. I'm sure your father is proud of you."
Picard saw Riker's face fall slightly and sensed a tension in Paris, as well. He knew that the Admiral's own son had been a bit of a misfit in Starfleet, ending up in a penal colony back on Earth for engaging with the Maquis. He also knew that that same son was now missing in action aboard the USS Voyager and that Paris had not heard from him in 3 years.
"I'm sure he is," Riker said stiffly. "If you would excuse me..."
"Yes, of course," Picard replied, leading the admiral down to the main section of the bridge and across to his ready room. The two men slipped inside and Picard waited for Admiral Paris to sit on the more comfortable sofa in the corner of the room before sitting himself.
"I'm sure you're wondering why I'm really here," Paris asked after Picard had settled.
"The thought had crossed my mind."
"To be honest, Jean-Luc, the last thing I want to do at the moment is go gallivanting across the galaxy. The Dominion are pushing us, hard. That information they got from Deep Space 9 has thrown our projections back by years. We have no idea how long it might take us to stop the Dominion and what kind of losses we can expect to suffer in the meantime."
Picard noted that Paris had not mentioned the possibility that they would not stop the Dominion. Though usually a positive man, even he had to admit, if only to himself, that the possibility seemed more and more worth mentioning.
"One thing is certain - we can't go on like this anymore. Something has to give and Starfleet believes that they may have found the thing."
"Two days ago, we received a coded transmission. It had been sent along an outdated frequency that only a few old hands in Command even know about. One of our buoys along the Romulan Neutral Zone picked it up."
"The Romulans?"
The Star Empire had signed a non-agression pact with the Dominion soon after war broke out and had severed most all communications with the Federation. Picard wondered what could have caused them to break that silence.
"Not the Romulans, per se," Paris admitted. "The communique seems to have originated with Ambassador Spock."
Spock. The name sent echoes racing through Picard's mind, shards of memory he had once shared with another man. Sarek's feelings for his son ran deep and Picard could not suppress a small sigh.
"The transmission was brief but to the point. The Romulans want to talk. Ambassador Spock believes they are sincere. He has asked that a Starfleet representative be sent to Romulus to discuss a possible entry of the Romulans into the war. On our side."
The thought warmed Picard somewhat. With the Star Empire on the Federation's side, they might actually have a chance. The Dominion would be forced to open up a new front, taking some of the pressure off the Federation and the Klingons. They might even be able to organise a concerted push back against the Jem'hadar for the first time since the beginning of the year. Still...
"I do not see how Starfleet hopes the Enterprise can make its way through enemy territory to-"
Paris shook his head. "Not the Enterprise, Jean-Luc. Just you and one of your crew, along with two hand-picked volunteers who will be responsible for getting you in and out of Romulan space. A covert mission to meet with the Romulans, find out how serious they are and if necessary negotiate on the Federation's behalf."
"That's a lot of pressure to put on one small team, Admiral."
"I know, Captain. Trust me, I do. But Starfleet Command feel - as do I - that if there is one man in Starfleet who can carry it out, it is you. Not only for your considerable skills as a diplomat, either. You know the Romulans, you have worked with and against them in countless situations. And you know Spock. You have infiltrated the Imperial homeworld before. You are the perfect man for the job."
"Starfleet needs you, Jean-Luc. Hell, the Federation needs you. This mission may be the most important one you ever carry out."
As he walked into the main briefing room, Commander William Riker thought back over all of the times he had stepped into this room or its equivalent aboard the previous iteration of the Enterprise. How many foes had these people he was with faced across this table? How many plans had they developed, missions had they thrashed out? The Klingons, the Romulans, the Borg... It had seemed at times as though as long as that team stuck together, nothing was impossible.
I guess the Dominion proved us wrong.
Still, Will couldn't help but feel a surge of pride and hope as he looked at the crew members gathered around the table. Captain Picard stood talking with Deanna Troi, showing her something on the padd. Deanna glanced up at Will and the two shared a knowing look before her eyes fell again. Will felt a thrill run down his spine at the sight of his Imzadi - although it had been many years since they had been a couple, recently he had begun to wish for a return to the way things used to be.
Turning his attention away, Will nodded to Beverly Crusher, the ship's CMO, just sitting down on the far side of the table next to the ship's Chief Engineer, Geordi La Forge. Geordi's blue eyes seemed to shine in the dim room, a constant reminder that the more things stayed the same, the more they changed.
A fact confirmed by the other people gathered there. Although Data held his usual position next to the Captain, the two other members of the senior staff were relatively new. Lieutenant Kell Perim had joined the crew of the Enterprise mere months before as an Ensign, one of a handful of new officers hoping to replace Sean Hawk after his death during their fight against the Borg above pre-First Contact Earth. The young Trill had proven herself in the early battles of the War and had quickly established herself as Captain Picard's favored replacement.
Another new addition to the crew sat where Worf would usually have sat. Will had to admit that Rhea McAdams did not immediately inspire the same confidence as the burly Klingon had - still the lithe young woman had proved to be quite a sparring partner the few times Will had come up against her in the gym. And her instincts in battle had proven vital in their face-off against the Son'a.
All in all, a good crew. One that Will was proud to call his own. He could not imagine a better ship to be serving on.
Sliding in to his place next to the Captain, he nodded to Deanna who sat down next to him. He could feel her tension through the empathic link they shared, but he could not discern exactly what had caused it. Raising an eyebrow, he received a single shake of her head in response. What was going on?
"Thank you all for giving up your time aboard the station to be here," Captain Picard said, starting the meeting. "I know that we were all hoping for a few days to recover before being sent back out, but unfortunately Starfleet Command has other ideas." He smiled, a wan expression that Will hated to see. We're all of us tired, but him more than any of us.
"Enterprise has been given new orders," the captain went on, pressing a finger to the table in front of him and activating the holo projector hidden beneath the surface. Immediately, a large space array floated into being, spinning slowly. Made up of a series of hexagonal pods, the array seemed to glower in the dim lighting. It looked familiar, though Will could not quite remember why.
"This is the MIDAS Array. It was put into service two years ago as a replacement for the Argus Array."
Will remembered a mission to repair a damaged telescope a few years before, when most of the people in the room had been serving about the Enterprise-E's predecessor. A vague recollection of damage caused by a probe niggled at the back of his mind.
"Although the original array was a purely scientific endeavor, this new iteration is also a long-range communication's array. Since the Dominion push a month ago, it is also the only way that the two halves of the Federation have to communicate. Starfleet Intelligence has intercepted communications indicating that the Dominion has decided to target the Array so as to hamper Starfleet's ability to coordinate our attacks along the separation zone. They have thus decided to send a small task force to protect the array."
"How small?" Will asked.
"Small. Three ships, led by the Enterprise. The other two ships are the USS Excalibur and the USS Intrepid, both of which are en route to our location as we speak."
Two other ships? Will could hardly believe it. He knew the Excalibur, had served as her commander for a brief period, and had a little knowledge of her captain, Calhoun. He knew much more about Calhoun's first officer, Commander Shelby, and allowed himself a tight smile at the thought of seeing her again. The Intrepid, though, was a mystery to him beyond her existence as the prototype of the ship class that bore her name. Regardless, he did not see how even a fleet of Sovereign-class cruisers could hope to hold off a Dominion assault against a single space array.
"With all due respect, sir, what the hell is Starfleet thinking?" Rhea McAdams seemed as incredulous as Riker felt. "There's no way such a small force can hope to hold the Array for any period of time."
"Starfleet is thinking that our lines are stretched taught and that three ships is all they can spare," the captain replied, allowing a hint of censure to enter his voice. If she heard it, McAdams did not seem to be afraid of it.
"I understand that, sir, but it seems to me that they're asking the impossible."
"Impossible is part of the job description, Lieutenant," Will cut in, reminding the tactical officer of her place.
"Yes, sir."
"Starfleet does understand what they are asking of you, people. However, they feel sure that if any task force can manage this mission, it is one led by the Enterprise."
"And having Captain Jean-Luc Picard along won't hurt," Beverly Crusher added, smiling to take some of the sting out of her jibe. To Will's surprise, the captain did not return the smile.
"That is the other reason why I called this mission. Starfleet has temporarily reassigned me. I will not be leading the mission to the Array."
"What?" Will was not sure how many of the senior officers asked the question, but he knew for sure that he was one of them. "Why?"
"Starfleet needs me for a... sensitive diplomatic mission, one that is vital for the survival of the Federation. They need me to travel to Romulus to negotiate with the Empire."
"The Romulans? Captain, the chances of the Romulans joining the war effort at this point are..."
"Thank you, Mister Data, but I don't require the odds. We have received word through a... mutual friend, that the Romulans are willing to enter negotiations. Starfleet feels strongly that this could be exactly what we need to turn the tide."
"If we could get the Romulans onboard, it would be a coup, captain, but... Surely there is someone else they could send."
"I'm afraid not. My prior knowledge of Romulus, as well as of our mutual friend, mean that I am the best placed to take on this mission."
"Sir, request permission to accompany you."
Will glared at McAdams, partly because the young woman was going to have to learn when to speak up and when to keep quiet, but mainly because he had been about to make the same request. Picard smiled indulgently at the tactical officer and shook his head.
"Unfortunately, this has to be a small mission if it is to have any chance of succeeding. A four person mission, to be precise. Starfleet has sent two infiltration specialists to assist myself and..."
Picard trailed off and looked over towards Will. For a moment, he thought that meant that he had been selected to accompany the captain. Then he felt something familiar brush against his mind.
Imzadi.
Will turned to Deanna, mouth already open to protest. When he saw the look on her face, though, he stopped himself. He held her gaze for a moment and then turned back face Picard.
"Starfleet has agreed to the one condition I placed on the mission. That is that you take over command of the Enterprise, Number One. You will be receiving a communique from Command confirming the promotion."
Promotion? Command never organised a real promotion under these kinds of circumstances unless... Unless they doubted whether Picard and Deanna would be coming home. Again, Will opened his mouth to protest, and again he shut it. This was not the time or the place. For now, he would hold his peace.
But the moment the briefing was complete, both the captain and his Imzadi were going to get a piece of his mind.