Episode 45: Prometheus Quest Part One

(Stardate 50203.3)

By

Jay P. Hailey

Dennnis Washburn

and

The Star Trek Players

The Calamain system was essentially boring. It was a red dwarf star with some rock ball planets a wan little gas giant and some other trash in orbit. It was composed of generic stuff and almost completely mundane in nature. The only thing to recommend it was that it was near the center of the Great Spiral and that there were no inhabited planets in the system.

That made Calamain the perfect place to locate the main naval base of the Great Spiral Confederacy's Space Navy and shipyards.

Two hundred years after the base was established and one hundred years after the Great Spiral made the decision to become a part of the United Federation of Planets the base in the Calamain system was still going strong.

The old space station had long since been retired and replaced with one of the huge Space Dock edifices. It was over 150 decks tall and upper dome could hold a dozen starships and support major engineering work on all of them.

A short distance away there orbited a large fleet of reserve ships. Old destroyers and cruisers of the Confederate Space Navy had been refit with the latest in Federation technology. For two sectors in every direction ships and crews from the Great Spiral patrolled and enforced Federation law and order.

Now known as Starbase 94, the huge base was home to hundreds of starships including, technically, the USS Endeavor.

The USS Endeavor was making one of her rare stops at Starbase 94 for refueling, minor repairs and upgrades.

As the large cruiser slid through the Great Spiral she was hailed from time to time by a passing squadron of destroyers on patrol. Miriah Katasai, the half Orion, half Klingon commander of the USS Endeavor returned subspace hails and greeted the patrol ship captains cordially. The Patrol ship crews and officers were largely reservists from the worlds of the Great Spiral. They flew slower ships and could only rarely expect to be drawn off their assigned patrol routes. However, Miriah had a special warm spot in her heart for them. When called to reinforce the Endeavor in the war against the Phoenix Domain the weekend spacemen in their ancient ships had replied without a moments hesitation. The Endeavor was credited with winning that conflict but Miriah knew that it was because of the efforts of the reservists in their destroyers that the Endeavor was able to fly to her full capacity.

The Endeavor approached Starbase 94 efficiently and without fuss. Despite the fact that she was running on the last dregs of her fuel supply the Federation ship moved seemingly without concern to the station. Guided by the traffic control computer, the Endeavor slid through the large doors and into her berth. An articulated spine reached out and connected with the ship. New supplies of energy, air, raw material and information began to flow into the ship.

Logs, raw data and analysis began to flow out into the station. Commander William Stroud read the report on terminal that the Endeavor was firmly connected to the station.

"Hard dock established, Captain."

"Very good." Miriah replied. "Stand down from cruise mode. Assign crews to begin maintenance and repair cycles. Everyone else is released for leaves as posted."

"Permission to shut down internal power systems, Captain?" Genevieve Quest asked.

"Permission granted. Shut down according to the book and begin your maintenance cycles, Genevieve." Miriah said. It was the ritual of taking the Endeavor off duty until restocked and refueled for her next mission.

Patton said. "Admiral Bach sends his compliments and asks if the Captain is free for a meeting at 1400."

Miriah looked at the bridge clock. 1343. "Send my compliments to the Admiral and tell him I am on my way."

"Aye, Sir."

Miriah looked at Stroud. He shrugged. They had no idea why the Admiral would send for them so quickly.

"Di," Miriah spoke to Her Bajoran Chief of Operations "You have the watch. Continue the maintenance and repair cycles until we get back."

"Aye, Sir." Brekka Di said. She kept a straight face despite a sour attitude. She was hoping to beat feet off the ship and find a wild party before being tapped to supervise something.

-*-

Starbase 94 was filled mainly with reservists. The main way to tell was the uniform. Miriah and Stroud's uniforms were mostly black with gray shoulders and red shirts. The engineering and security crews wore gold shirts while the sciences and medical people wore blue shirts.

The reservist uniforms were the same except that their uniforms were gray all over.

Another way to tell easily the difference was that the majority of the Starbase crew had Bajoran like ridges on their noses. Most of the residents of the Great Spiral did. They seemed to be descendants of a Bajoran offshoot race.

The rulebooks earnestly said that reserve officers were to be accorded full respect and authority by active duty Starfleet Officers. The Great Spiral was one of the few places where that was done automatically. Ninety percent of the Starfleet officers and crewmen working in the Great Spiral were technically reservists.

Miriah and Stroud announced themselves to the lieutenant who acted as Admiral Bach's yeoman.

"Yes, Sir. Please go right in. Admiral Bach is waiting for you." He said.

They walked into the large executive style office to find the grizzled commander of Starbase 94 having a discussion on his large viewscreen.

"If you have a problem with the assignment..." Admiral Picard temporized.

"Not at all, Jean Luc. All I'm saying is that you're sending me your best talent out here. I sort of have an obligation to warn you when you're about to crack your head open. You want to send the ShiKahr to me then I'm okay with that. It's your funeral." Bach noticed the two officers and waved them to chairs.

"I just wanted to be sure you understood the conditions under which Captain Li'ira finds herself transferred to your command." Picard explained.

"I read her report, I read the Captain of the Stargazer's report and I read Captain Collin's report. In my opinion Governor Chilton didn't get half the kicking around he deserved. Frankly, I don't see the problem." Bach said.

"Good. You can use her there then?" Picard asked.

"You just keep sending me every Ship of the Line with a non-human Captain, Jean Luc. I'll take all of 'em that you can send my way." Bah spread his hands to accept the bounty.

"Vontoer, we're trying not to run this long racial lines..." Picard seemed uncomfortable.

"Hey, I'm no racist. Send me every Ship of the Line you want. I don't care what race the Captain is. You keep sending all the ones with guts and personality out to me to keep them from making waves at Earth! Your loss is my gain. Look, I accept the USS ShiKahr under my command as of right now. Is that official enough for you? Captain Katasai and Commander Stroud are here. I've got to brief them on this Prometheus thing."

"Ah. Well then I've logged the ShiKahr as being your responsibility. Please give Captain Katasai and Commander Stroud my best when you see them." Picard said "Starfleet Command out." The view screen winked off.

Bach whirled and said "Welcome back, Captain. Greetings Commander Stroud."

Miriah and Stroud returned the Admiral's greeting.

"Computer show file Prometheus one." Bach called to the big screen "Watch this." He said to Miriah and Stroud.

The screen cleared to show a Miranda class starship with the name USS Prometheus. After showing a good view of the fairly ordinary looking ship the scene changed to a crew picture. They were all posed for a still image in the ship's lounge. They were wearing an old style of Starfleet uniform. A maroon jacket and black pants with flared cuffs.

"Stardate 20223.1. The Federation starship Prometheus began a mission to test an experimental transwarp drive." The computer informed them.

The scene showed the Prometheus activating her warp drives. Right at the last moment something awful happened. Both Miriah and Stroud could easily see the wormhole that formed around the hapless ship.

"May-" A voice yelled over the comm channel. The Prometheus receded to a distant point of light and disappeared.

A text notice to report any information about the USS Prometheus to Starfleet Command immediately appeared along with the notice that the Prometheus was considered to be "missing in action"

The screen cleared.

"Any questions so far?" Admiral Bach asked.

"There was painfully little detail in that." Stroud said. "A transwarp experiment? I thought that the transwarp project was abandoned."

"I edited a lot of the technical detail out of that tape. All of that will be available to you in the informational downloads. Suffice it to say that particular variation on the transwarp theme was also considered a failure." Bach said.

"That was thirty years ago." Miriah said. "Has the Prometheus been found?"

Bach nodded. "Exactly. Computer, play file Prometheus 2."

The screen cleared to show an odd scan of a starship. Miriah assumed that it was the Prometheus. It was Miranda class, mostly. It was also a wreck. Patches, grafted in equipment and unrepaired blast damage were all evident on the hull. There was an information box in the lower right hand corner of screen. It described the Prometheus' identification beacon. Miriah saw an old style beacon operating at extreme low power. It had a data channel encoded that read a very slow heart beat. On the order of one beat every ten minutes or so. The date stamp on the beacon placed it at one month ago.

The scan itself was fuzzy and indistinct.

"Where is she?" Miriah asked.

Admiral Bach smiled and called "Display linked map."

The big screen cleared to show an image of the area around Starbase 94. It zoomed way out and the shifted quite a distance and zoomed into another red dwarf star.

Stroud whistled "That's quite a long way out."

Bach nodded "Three hundred and fifty two light years."

Miriah was puzzled. "How did you know where to look?"

Bach smiled ruefully. "We didn't. The new Jackson subspace telescope came on line and was scanning that area to calibrate the sensors. Most of the scientists thought that they were picking up interference from a much closer ship. One young kid checked the range and realized that no ship should be out that far, so he took a serious scan and forwarded it to me."

"And our mission..." Miriah began.

Bach grinned. "You got it. Because of your experience in deep space exploration, we're asking you to take a run out there and pick the Prometheus up. Rescue the crew, recover the data, bring the ship itself home, in that order."

Stroud frowned. "At 352 light years that'll take us..."

"Just a touch under four Terran standard months, one way. If you take the mission we'd expect you to be gone for about a year." Bach said.

"Assuming we made it back. A four month trip across uncharted territory is not something to take lightly." Miriah said.

Bach leaned on the corner of his desk "That's why I am *asking* you and not ordering you, Captain. You have the best combination of experience and a ship suitable for the job available to me." Bach explained. "But this is to be a volunteer mission only. I want to offer you the chance to turn it down if you feel that it's too great a risk."

Miriah rolled her eyes. "As if we would. We already know that there's someone still alive out there. There's no question in my mind."

Stroud said "Me too. You have to try. The next time it might be you."

"Good." Bach leapt back to his feet. "We have the plans here for a minor refit and extra supplies to load the Endeavor with. We took these ideas from the logs of several ships that have been on long-term missions, either accidentally or on purpose. Study that. If you have any alterations to make then let me know."

"Yes, Sir." Miriah said, perusing the list.

"Captain, there's a couple of other issues that need to be addressed." Bach said.

Miriah looked up. "Sir?"

"You have a large number of Green Orions on your ship as dependants." Bach said.

"I'd hardly call fifteen people a large number, but they are there." Miriah said.

"You have just recently absorbed a number of Cidi natives as exchange officers." Bach continued.

"Yes, Sir. They are refitting a couple of surplus Federation ships for their own uses. Their Defense Minister asked me to take on exchange officers so that he could start developing a group of people with starship experience." Miriah said.

"I want to you to describe roughly what we're up to here. The experimental transwarp drive is classified. For civilian purposes the Prometheus was sucked down a wormhole while on a science mission. Otherwise play it straight with them and offer them a chance to stay here or on a nearby world until your return. It's a volunteer mission for them also." Bach said.

Miriah frowned. "If it's a volunteer mission for the civilians and myself then shouldn't my crew get to decide if they want to take this risk, too?"

"Yes, Captain. That's true. I wanted to emphasize that the civvies had the choice. You've got your own little community springing up inside your ship and I wouldn't want your people to feel that they weren't welcome in other places within this great Federation of ours." Bach paced and talked with his hands. He was very energetic.

"I understand, Sir." Miriah said.

"I'm already arranging replacement crew for people who transfer or decide not to accompany you. Captain, what's your opinion of Commander Stroud's performance so far?" Bach asked.

"Commander Stroud's performance has been exemplary." Miriah said "He's a credit to the Endeavor and to Starfleet."

"Seriously?" Bach seemed a little surprised. "I'm told there's some tension between you two."

Miriah turned to look at Stroud. He was staring grimly at Admiral Bach.

"We don't always see eye to eye, but I value that about him." Miriah said. "I don't have a problem with the Commander overall."

Bach leaned back against the desk and said. "Hmph. Well, Commander I'm afraid that I have to turn down your request for a transfer."

Miriah was shocked. "What!?"

"The Commander has requested a transfer. I'm sorry, Stroud, but I couldn't find another officer as well qualified. You're stuck with it until you get back." Bach said.

"Yes, Sir." Stroud said. His face was flushed pink.

"One more thing, Captain." Bach said.

Miriah wrenched her attention back to her commanding officer.

"I want you to consider replacing Warrior Patton as your Chief of Security."

"What? Why, Sir?" Miriah asked.

"Our reports say that he murdered one Klingon named Krankok on your number two holodeck." Bach said.

"That was a personal matter and it was handled according to Klingon culture and custom, Admiral." Miriah said.

"That's the majority opinion on your ship, although there is some dissent." Bach nodded at Stroud. "The Klingon consulate on Caractalla agrees. They have Krankok listed as dishonored and expelled from Klingon society. They refused to press charges. They did like the stunt where you killed the Klingon with the ship's main phaser banks, I must say. They said that in dying with such style, that particular Klingon has regained his honor."

"I thought they would feel that way." Miriah said quietly.

"I don't." Bach said. "I think it was little frightening myself. Moreover, the Justice Department wanted to press charges against both you and Patton. You handled yourself like a Klingon unit out on patrol rather than a United Federation of Planets Starship."

Miriah stared straight ahead.

"I managed to talk them out of it with the help of the Klingon consul. Consider that end of it. I want to remind you, Captain that you are a Starfleet officer in charge of a Starfleet ship of the UFP. We let you joyride in our starship, but we want you to behave a certain way in our name with it. Is that clear?"

Miriah managed to keep her face straight. "Yes, Sir."

"Now I have a number of excellent officers here, all well qualified to be your Chief of Security and Chief Tactical Officer. There are a good number who are qualified to do both. Your own Brekka Di could move up into the position easily." Bach waved a PADD with personnel dossiers displayed on it.

"No, Sir. I would prefer to keep Patton with me, serving at his present post." Miriah managed.

Bach shrugged. "All right. That's your call to make and I'll back you up on it. Please remember that although you two *are* Klingons that you have promised to behave in a manner that becomes a Starfleet Officer and up hold the laws and constitution of this Federation, if necessary, with your life."

Miriah nodded again. "Yes, Sir."

"Okay." Bach put down the PADD and looked Miriah directly in the eye. "I thought you did a good job on this Cidi thing. The Diplomats are grinning and buying each other drinks and it looks like soon we'll have some new Federation members. Everyone is pretty happy. The Cidi are *very* happy. I've received word that they've renamed their first colony world Katasai, in your honor."

Miriah was even more stunned. "What?" An entire planet named after her?

"Well, I don't think anyone really liked 'Colony Alpha' as a name and you came a long and became a Cidi war hero. It's more like they borrowed your name, but still. Isn't that a nice thought?" Bach said off handedly.

Miriah nodded weakly. "Yes, sir."

"Okay. As soon as you are dismissed tell my yeoman and your officer of the deck what's happening and we'll get that refit started right away." Bach said. He stood up straight. "Dismissed."

Miriah and Stroud both stood up, came to attention and then left the Admiral's office.

-*-

After making the appropriate administrative arrangements Miriah and Stroud began walking the halls of the Starbase back towards the Endeavor.

"I have to wonder how he got to be an Admiral with such an incredible lack of tact." Stroud said.

"Speaking of a lack of tact..." Miriah said harshly.

Stroud looked at her measuringly. "Captain, you know that I have some problems with the way you choose to run your ship."

"Bad enough that you want to leave?" Miriah asked.

"Frankly, I thought that the Endeavor would be better served by having a first officer who was more in line with your way of thinking." Stroud said. "I'm just not... comfortable... with the way you do some things."

"Well, William, you know that I'm not all that comfortable with you, some times. But I think that's what makes us work well as a team." Miriah pointed out. "I didn't think that it was actively unpleasant for you."

"Well, you've got your opinions, Captain. That's just the way it is." Stroud said. "I'm not too unhappy that he couldn't find a replacement for me. You're going to need some one who's broken in to help you lug the Endeavor out there and back."

Miriah's face grew hard. "Don't think of yourself as the indispensable man, William. If you can't handle the way I do things then we'll find someone else." She turned and began to walk away from Stroud back to the Endeavor.

"Captain." Stroud called. "Miriah."

She turned.

"I'm in. Period." Stroud said.

"We'll see." The Starship Captain said.

-*-

The refit of the Endeavor was to add extra tankage for fuel and consumables. Any extra space was jammed with spare parts and raw materials for repairs. Miriah read the log excerpts and engineering reports from other ships that had been lost in deep space for an extended period. Miriah was surprised to find excerpts from her own logs which referred to her refit of a decrepit Klingon battle cruiser from the Endeavor's supply of spare parts. Not all of her previous wish list was filled but enough was to make her smile.

It was nice to see that her logs were read and thoughtfully considered somewhere in Starfleet Command. Most people didn't receive such direct feedback about their logs unless there was an inquiry or court martial.

A number of other small changes were made in the Endeavor. The ship's main arboretum was increased to just over twice its previous size. Miriah had requested that herself and worked with Genevieve Quest, her Chief Engineer to design it. With the new Cidi crewmen, The ship's cats could no longer wander the public areas of the ship at will. Miriah wanted to give the ship's cats a more benign environment to be quarantined in. Another normal sized arboretum was fitted in the ship's quarters ring. This was carefully arranged to provide a large communal quarters for the Cidi in the crew. The improvised cat-walks for the Cidi were redesigned to avoid interference with other ship's equipment and then professionally fabricated and installed. Many other Cidi friendly features were installed. Colored lanes on the carpets were set aside for the Cidi. Bigger people could walk on these, but the different color was used as mnemonic device to remind them to look out at floor level.

Extra labs were fitted it to allow the Endeavor to conduct very precise surveys and observations of the new areas as they went. Since the Endeavor was crossing unknown space her records would be the basis for future expansion into the area.

Unsurprisingly the vast majority of the Endeavor's crew elected to stay with the ship during the deep space push. Only a few Starfleet crew people and Cidi decided not to go citing family obligations. Miriah authorized transfer for all of them with cheerful recommendations. Ironically, the people who decided not to go seemed bothered the worst about it. Starfleet personnel from Starbase 94 easily replaced them. The list of volunteers was large enough to re-crew the Endeavor all over again.

When the big refit was done, Miriah, Genevieve, Stroud and the majority of the refit crew took shore leave at Caractalla, the civilian capitol of the Great Spiral sector, only a few days cruise away by transport ship. They returned to the Endeavor rested and happy from their leave.

Last minute emergencies and oversights made the final couple of days a large push, but right on schedule, the Endeavor powered up, shook free of the Starbase 94 umbilical and slid out of her safe home and back into the stars where she belonged.

-*-

It was the first time Ms. Alpha had ever been to the bridge of the Endeavor.

"What did you say they called it?" She asked.

"The name appears to be Dinvora, although I may be mangling the pronunciation." Stroud said.

Ms Alpha shook her head. "The Orions here in your areas of space have an odd accent to begin with. It doesn't sound exactly like anything I recognize."

Miriah nodded gravely. "Thank you. We appreciate your efforts."

Alpha grinned. "Oh no, thank you! It's the first time I've ever been consulted on a scientific investigation. I have a few questions, if I may."

Stroud forced a grin. "Anything we can help with."

"What sort of music are they listening to?"

Miriah grinned. "Uh huh. I might have guessed."

Joe-The-Scan quirked an eyebrow at the Green Orion Woman. "Music, Ms. Alpha?"

"It's as big a part of my culture as the language. We could tell a lot about these people depending on what sort of music they have." Alpha explained.

"Well, we are recording samples offa their radio broadcasts. How about I widen the scan winda's and pull down some complete tracks for ya?" Joe said.

Ms. Alpha dimpled happily. "That would be lovely. Thank you Joe."

Joe noted Stroud's expression. "Errr. With the Commander's permission, of course."

"Oh no, go ahead. She's our technical expert here." Stroud said.

Miriah leaned back in her seat and stared thoughtfully at the planet rolling by below. The Planet Dinvora was a happy, technological, communication age Orion Planet. The people were a mix of Green and Golden Orions with little or no discernable racial bias between them. The language gave every hint of being an offshoot Orion dialect. In the largest city on the planet the middle was a large well tended park. In the center of the park the duranium hull of an Orion transport weathered very, very slowly in the sun.

Sensors said that the abandoned hull was something like five thousand years old. Miriah expected that it was the victim of a time warp. It was otherwise almost perfectly consistent with modern Orion hulls.

-*-

Over the next week the Endeavor hung in orbit and investigated the planet Dinvora. The language turned out to be an offshoot with Orion Standard as its root language. There was no discernable prejudice between the Green and Golden Orions.

The name of the planet translated roughly seemed to be "We made it!" or "We escaped!" or "We're safe!".

-*-

Alpha found Miriah in her ready room. It was a much different sort of place from her own quarters and working spaces. To Alpha it resonated with the efficiency, order and professionalism that Starfleet was so smug about. It also seemed a little repressed to her, but she didn't say anything. If Miriah was comfortable running her ship that way, then Alpha supported her all the way.

"Captain?" Alpha said.

"Hello." Miriah grinned. 'C'mon in."

"I have a plan." Alpha said.

"What's that?" Miriah asked.

"I have spoken with a few of my people. We've practiced the language of the Dinvorans, and we'd like to go down and explore that planet a little bit in person." Alpha said.

Miriah's lips quirked. "That's very... scientific of you."

"Miriah, look at it from our point of view. That planet below us represents a sort of heaven. A representation of a dream we've all had at one time or another. Green and Golden Orions living together without slavery or hatred between them. Despite what we've found in the Federation there's always the awareness in the back of our minds that our own people would despise us and try to kill us for being escaped slaves. On this planet we have a chance to look a Golden Orion in the eye and have him consider us ordinary people. Possibly even friends." Alpha explained.

Miriah nodded. "I understand. There times when I feel the same way about the Orion Colonies and the Klingon Empire. However *we* are your people now. We made that decision when we offered to bring you back to the Federation. You made that decision when you decided to come with us. You are of Orion origin, but you're Federation people now."

Alpha nodded "Thank you."

Miriah shook it off. "That's to our benefit. Secondly, look at the people of Dinvora. Our best guess puts them on that planet for just a touch less than five thousand years. They've gone from refugees to struggling primitives to residents of a proud civilization. Now they've finished getting their planet together and they're starting to reach out to space and the stars. That's a long climb. We can't tell how much blood, sweat and tears they've spent to get where they are today. But they're almost there, now. They're almost to the point where we can welcome them as equals in the Galaxy. And they've earned that."

Miriah continued "This is a classic case for our Prime Directive. If we reveal ourselves and go stomping around there then we risk hurting them. We risk making them feel as if their history and their struggle is irrelevant. We can't do that to them."

Alpha nodded. "I understand."

Miriah added. "I know. And I know that part of the reason why you wanted to do this was because you stand a reasonable of getting away with it without giving up our existence. I respect that. However, infiltrating a primitive culture is a delicate and tricky task. Scientists spend years training to be assigned to jobs like this. Now I have every confidence in your native abilities, but there could be a thousand tiny things to trip you up. It's a risk and we can't justify risking a whole world that way."

Alpha went over to the window and stared out that the planet below. "I'm sorry I will have to miss seeing Dinvora. It seems like a once in a life time thing."

Miriah joined here in staring at the planet below. "If we're careful they may join the Federation someday. Maybe you and I don't get to walk around down there, but our grandchildren might."

Alpha smiled faintly. "Well thank you for listening to me. I won't waste any more of your time."

"You never waste any of my time." Miriah said.

-*-

The Romulan ship tumbled slowly on the screen. Miriah stared at it as though if she glared at it hard enough it would reveal its secrets. What was it doing in unexplored space? Why was it adrift? What happened to disable it?

"Power readings?" Miriah asked for the third time.

"Minimal. Emergency batteries only." Brekka Di replied smoothly. She had answered the same question twice previously, but would keep answering cheerfully as many times as the Captain asked. Better the Romulans should be the focus of Miriah's irritation than her.

"Still drifting?" Miriah asked.

"Yes, Captain." Patton said. "No active control. No shields. No weapons active."

Miriah growled softly herself. She expected a trap and the fact that she hadn't seen it by now meant that it was very well hidden.

"What are conditions inside that ship?" Miriah asked.

"Livable, barely." Joe-the-Scan answered. "Temperature is slightly warm, atmosphere thin and not a great amount of oxygen present. One or two artificial gravity generators operating at reduced power. We could live inside there, but it wouldn't terribly comfortable."

"Life forms?" Miriah asked one more time.

Brekka Di answered that one again. "Unknown. We can read what we assume are Romulans in hibernation, but we can't determine how many or what condition they are in."

"Stroud, what have you learned?" Miriah asked.

Commander Stroud looked up from the science console where he was reading official records.

"It's a type Alpha Warbird. First encountered along the Romulan Neutral Zone in 2266. That one seemed to be the test article for the first Romulan cloaking device. They were also armed with powerful plasma torpedoes. They were said to have had no warp drives but that was inaccurate. They had no anti-matter or comparable power system. They used fusion reactors for power and were consistently underpowered compared to their Klingon and Federation competitors. They were quickly sent to rear echelon duty when the Romulans acquired Klingon ships. They were not seen past 2299."

Stroud continued. "Starfleet never captured one intact. Several were stripped and sold to third parties. Starfleet captured and investigated two or three of these hulls, but they had been refit with a variety of other technology, including Klingon and Orion devices."

"So this might not even be a Romulan ship?" Miriah asked.

"No, Captain. It might easily belong to one of those third parties." Stroud said.

"It definitely seems to be distressed." Miriah mused. The Warbird on the screen rotated to show the gaping hole in its belly.

"It's not broadcasting a distress beacon. It's not even broadcasting an identity beacon. It's almost like they didn't *want* to be found." Brekka Di said.

"I've made my decision. Commander Stroud, get your team together and beam over there. Take all due precautions. I want to know who's ship that is and if they are in distress." Miriah said.

Stroud nodded. "Patton, Genevieve, Dr. Matae, Joe, we'll meet in transporter room two."

"Di, I want a transporter lock kept on them at all times." Miriah said.

"Aye, Captain."

-*-

The air in the old Warbird was thin and smelled of decay. Feeling a little bouncy in the light gravity the Starfleet crew didn't have far to look before they found the crew of the Warbird.

Large tubes were laid out in whatever compartment was handy. They were improvised cold sleep tubes. The smell became obvious too. Many of the improvise tubes had malfunctioned. The people inside were decomposing corpses.

All of the people were Romulans and the writing all over the ship was definitely Romulan.

Matae was taking reading with her tricorder. "Commander Stroud. These improvised hibernation devices are malfunctioning. I must return these people to the Endeavor if I am to save them."

Genevieve bent down and made her own examination of the tubes. "She's right. These things are losing energy and life support. They're breaking down."

"Can you stabilize them?" Stroud asked.

"Uh... For a while, maybe." Genevieve said.

"Commander, in my medical opinion these tubes are injuring the occupants. It would be against my oath as a healer to leave them in there." Matae said.

Stroud nodded. "Granted. I don't want to leave them in these things any longer than necessary but I also want to make sure we know what we're dealing with here. Do what you can to stabilize them for now. Once we have a better grip on the situation, we'll begin to thaw them out."

Just then Matae's tricorder started beeping irritably. The lights on a nearby tube all turned red.

"Let me guess." Stroud said.

"No need." Matae said shortly. "That tube has completely failed. The occupant is dying."

Tapping his comm-badge Stroud said "Stroud to Endeavor."

"Endeavor here," Miriah answered.

"We have a medical emergency here. The crew of the Warbird seems to be Romulan. One of their cold- sleep tubes has failed. Request permission to beam Doctor Matae and a cold sleep tube back to Sick Bay." Stroud reported.

Miriah thought it over carefully. "Permission granted. Have Dr. Matae coordinate with the transporter and sickbay crews to complete the transfer."

"Aye, Sir. Stroud out." The Commander turned to the Vulcan healer. "You're good to go, Doctor."

"Acknowledged." Matae was already establishing a link from her tricorder back to the Endeavor.

Stroud beckoned to Genevieve. "Can you stabilize the rest of these tubes?"

Genevieve spoke thoughtfully. "It would be easier if I could move them back to the Endeavor, Sir. There we'll have the energy, life support and parts we need to really shape these things up."

Stroud rolled his eyes and made the call.

-*-

Suvmar opened his eyes. Things were blurry and he felt horrible. He was thirsty and felt like he was on the verge of dying.

"Can you hear me?" A voice said from somewhere afar away. The accent was very strange.

"Aaagghh." Suvmar managed. His throat was so dry that he was unable to speak.

"I hear you. Excellent. Here. Sip this gently."

Something wedged it's way into Suvmar's mouth. Fluid filled his mouth. For a few brief seconds he was afraid and then the fluid hit the back of his throat and went down. It was water. Suddenly the Romulan wanted water more than he had ever wanted anything in his life. He sucked greedily at the tube but far too soon it was taken away.

He gasped. "Wha- Where am I?"

"You are on... a different starship. We have rescued you. You were in cryogenic hibernation for too long. You are ill now, but you will recover." The voice explained.

The Romulan Officer thought about this. "Thank you very much. We weren't certain that you'd be able to read our distress call. We didn't have any choice."

"Do not worry yourself about that which can not be helped." The voice said. "Drink some more water."

Suvmar felt the tube in his mouth again. Again he sucked down the water greedily. It tasted so good! When the tube was taken away he blinked his eyes rapidly. His vision improved but not much. "What's wrong with my eyes? I can't see."

"Your eyes are also dehydrated and suffering from the long time you spent in hibernation." The voice said. "Here." A damp cloth swiped very gently at Suvmar's eyes. He blinked the water out and was pleased to see his vision return much improved. He could now see the owner of the voice. A pretty woman, very self possessed and controlled. She was wearing black except for the shoulders which were gray and a shirt under her jumpsuit which was blue.

"Thank you." Suvmar said.

"You are welcome." The woman said.

"What ship is this?" Suvmar asked. It looked a lot more modern than the Warbird he had been traveling in. He hoped that it was a newly built Romulan ship. That would be nice. All the ships in the Romulan star fleet were either outdated old relics or Klingon built. It was something of an affront to his Romulan pride. Suvmar knew he'd been in cold sleep for a long time. He hoped he had lived long enough to see the Romulans as a space going power again.

The doctor looked at him piercingly for a moment and then answered. "This is the starship Endeavor."

"That's a funny name for a ship..." Suvmar said. Then he noticed something odd. The Doctor had actually spoken different words, but her voice was repeating things in his ear. A chill crawled very firmly up and down the Romulan's spine. "Sorry, say that again?"

"This is the Starship Endeavor." The woman said. However, her lips were not synched with the words. Watching her carefully, The Romulan heard the worlds in a different language.

"And whose ship is that?" Suvmar asked. He didn't really want to know.

"We are a ship of the United Federation of Planets." The woman said.

Suvmar's face contorted. He struggled to sit up, but was far too weak. He could feel his face contort. He was captured by the enemy and was too helpless to fight or even take his own life honorably. Worse he could feel his emotions over whelming him. However bad it was to be a captured helpless Romulan, Suvmar felt worse about it because he was crying, too.

"Please listen carefully." The woman said to him.

Suvmar slumped. Here it came. She would promise to guard him and keep him safe if only he told her whatever he could about Romulan defense secrets.

"Your emotional state may have great impact on your health and subsequent recovery. You must guard carefully against excess emotion, especially negative emotions such as fear or anger if you are to recover adequately from your ordeal." The woman said.

"I'll tell you nothing!" The Romulan hissed.

"That is your prerogative. However it will be more difficult to treat you without your help." The woman said.

"I don't care if I die! I won't betray my people!" Suvmar rasped.

"I am not here to interrogate you. My task is to help you heal to the best of my ability. In my opinion, if you let yourself suffer negative health effects or even die then you are betraying the Romulan people at a very basic level."

"Lies! No true Romulan will willingly help you!" Suvmar said.

"Then do not 'help' us, as suits you. That is irrelevant. I am not interested in retrieving data from you. If you allow yourself to suffer or die then you will be depriving the Romulan Empire of yourself, your experience, and your efforts on their behalf and any possible future accomplishments you might make. In the most basic terms if allow yourself to die then there will be one less Romulan in the universe, surely a small but definite defeat for the Romulan Star Empire."

"You seek to trick me with your... lies..." Suvmar felt himself grow distant.

"Illogical. How can I prove to you that I have no interest in torturing you except by failing to torture you over a long period of time?" Matae asked.

Suvmar nodded dumbly and then said "...Water..."

Matae looked at him carefully. "You will aspirate. I will supply the fluids and nutrition your body needs by intravenous means until you recover more."

Suvmar was beyond hearing at that point.

-*-

"Matae, please update us about your patient." Miriah asked.

"The patient is recovering from hibernation shock well. His dehydration and dietary deficiencies have been treated in the short term. He is awake and lucid. He is uncooperative and seems bent on not aiding us in any way." Matae said. "I predict a full physical recovery. I can not speculate at this time on his mental state."

Thank you, Healer." Miriah said. "Genevieve, tell me about the Warbird."

"It's a lovely little piece of work if you take into account the limitations they were working with at the time." Genevieve reported. A graphic of the Warbird appeared on her screen and she pointed it out to the other officers in the briefing room.

"Explain?" Miriah prompted.

"An Engineer can see and appreciate good work when she sees it. The Warbird is elegantly and coherently designed. Okay, so they didn't know all of the tricks and techniques I do. With what they had they were good. There is no anti-matter reactor of any kind on that ship, and yet it can still exceed light speed. It probably could never do more than warp 4 on our scale, but it used a lot less power to go warp 4 than any comparable ship we have today."

"What are the Warbird's armaments?" Patton asked.

"Again it's the same story. Elegantly designed and executed, but primitive and weak compared to our systems. Now that I have scans of the Warbird, her weapons are even less useful against us. A few weak phasers and a slow, dumb plasma torpedo. She doesn't have much to work with."

"Is there a cloaking device?" Patton asked.

Genevieve nodded happily. "Yep. The same model as the one at MIT. The Warbird could cloak herself at sublight speeds and remain essentially invisible to anything of her day. Of course, it'd be completely useless against us..."

"How about the ship's logs and records?" Stroud asked. "Do we know what they we doing out here yet?"

"Decoding that is going to take some work. The Warbird's main computer was small, primitive and slow compared to ours, but the security was triple redundant and triple paranoid. We have already lost all command logs and navigational data. Before then I was simply cutting out memory chips to be reconstructed and decoded later. I believe we have a good amount of their science data and personal logs but now I have to convince the chips to let go of them." Genevieve explained.

"You wiped out their main computer? How are we going to get their Warbird back up and running?" Brekka Di asked.

Genevieve shook her head. "That Warbird is a write off. She hit something at a pretty good clip. Not only was engineering badly compromised and a lot of life support lost, but the ship's frame was damaged. You could never make it right again. I could patch the hull and use a good deal of our spare parts stock to get the Warbird running again but it simply would not be trustworthy. It could fall apart under stress at any time. I don't see the Warbird as an option."

"That sort of forces us to take them with us doesn't it?" Miriah said.

"That was sort of forced upon us when we pulled along side and started beaming people out, wasn't it? I figured it was a good case of distressed traveler." Genevieve said.

"Wasn't it sort of rude to start tearing apart someone else's ship without asking permission?" Di asked.

"I was basically conducting a salvage operation, Di." Genevieve explained. "Common space usage allows a rescuing ship to strip a distressed ship in order to effect rescue of distressed travelers. It dates back to the time when fuel and life support were very limited. A ship that rescued another crew might use up its supply of food, water and air before reaching its destination. Rather than force ships to abandon people in trouble Earth adopted the custom that it was acceptable to loot a distressed ship for food, water, air, fuel and supplies in order to support the distressed crew in addition to it's own."

"That's an esoteric point. We have plenty of life support and fuel to support these people." Brekka Di said. "And trust me. Their rations are better off going right into the replication system. It's a kindness."

"Perhaps." Miriah said, "But we might require information. And that the Warbird has lots of it."

"Okay..." Brekka Di shrugged.

"Doctor what's your report?" Miriah asked.

"The cryogenic hibernation equipment being used by the Romulans is not safe." Matae reported. "I recommend a complete rebuilding of their systems as well as treatment of the people inside."

"And what does treatment entail?" Miriah asked.

"I will awaken them, and then treat symptoms of hibernation shock as well as physiological difficulties such as dehydration and exposure that resulted from the urgent nature of the original emergency."

"Do you have to do them all at once or can you wait and take them one at a time?" Stroud asked.

"That depends on what Genevieve has to report about the condition of the original equipment." Matae said.

Genevieve shook her head. "I can't offer you any guarantees. We have them stabilized in Holodeck 2 right now, But that's tricky. One tube failed during the transport, but my team was able to restart it before it became dangerous. They are doing what replacements and repairs they can while the tubes are in operation but it would be really nice to rebuild them from the deck up. I think I can offer a reasonable certainty that all the Romulans will survive if we pull them out, get them healthy and stick them into re-built tubes."

"A reasonable certainty? Please remember that we are speaking of sentient lives." Matae pointed out.

"I wanted to be precise with my language Healer." Genevieve said. "I am confident enough in our native technology that I would jump into one of our tubes for the rest of the voyage. Nevertheless, I can't offer any guarantees. There is a chance however small that something will go wrong. There always is."

"If you're confident enough to subject yourself to the technology, then that's good enough for me." Miriah said.

Matae nodded. "Logical."

"May I ask, Captain what you intend to do with the Romulans?" Stroud asked.

Miriah looked thoughtful. "I haven't made up my mind yet."

Stroud nodded. "I'd like to recommend that we keep them in cold sleep until we return to Starbase 94."

Patton spoke up. "I agree."

Miriah looked at them. "Interesting. Why?"

Stroud spoke thoughtfully. "The Romulans have a very strict code of honor. I don't know if they'll behave as guests of a rescue vehicle or if they'll consider us deadly enemies to be destroyed by whatever means necessary. I want to respect their culture, but not at the cost of my own life, or the ship."

Patton shook his head. "I don't know about Romulan Honor. I know that I am curious to see if I could defeat a Romulan in combat. Moreover, I am pretty certain that you can not trust them. And if they are, forgive me Healer, as intelligent as their Vulcan cousins, that makes them dangerous."

Matae parsed out the sentence. "Thank you."

Patton smiled faintly. "One does not thank logic. It is not logical to give one's enemies openings or advantages to attack with."

"That assumes that the Romulans will perceive us as enemies. That presumes we must view them as enemies. That is not logical." Matae pointed out. "The Romulans are not necessarily our enemies."

"That's a lovely sentiment, but we have to consider both sides of the issue." Stroud said.

"What, don't the Romulans want to get home too?" Brekka Di asked.

"There is a question in my mind as to whether the Romulans would place returning home ahead of the destruction of a Federation starship in their priorities." Patton said.

"There's a great deal we don't know about the Romulans. These people could represent the beginning of a bridge. They might be willing to tell us more about what it means to be a Romulan." Miriah said.

"Or they could sabotage the ship and blow us up." Stroud pointed out.

"Maybe. But I'm sure we could take precautions." Miriah said.

"The simplest and best precaution would be to leave them in hibernation. A Starbase is better equipped to deal with Romulan shipwreck survivors anyway." Stroud said.

"People, what are we doing out here?" Miriah asked. "I thought we were out here to explore space and meet new life forms. This is a chance to perhaps make a dent in the hardest case in the entire quadrant. If we can make contact and open a good relationship with these Romulans then I think we'll be displaying to both the Federation and the Romulan High Command that there is hope for peace between us."

"That sounds like you're asking a lot from eighteen Romulans who've been shipwrecked for however long." Genevieve pointed out.

Miriah nodded. "Granted, that's the absolute best case scenario. But if we can make just one Romulan friend then we're better off than we were three days ago."

Stroud spoke up. "Captain, I hate to sound negative but I have to point out here that you have a disturbing habit of flying around the galaxy picking up lost strays. Ms. Alpha and Patton here are a good example. The Cidi we have aboard are, too. I am asking you to remember that this is Federation Starship. Moreover that it's a Starfleet ship of the line. We're an important unit for the defense of the Federation. If the Romulans get good data about us or even worse manage to steal some of our technology to take home then we've done a disservice to the Federation. If somehow they wind up with the Endeavor, well then that's a disaster. Please think this through carefully."

"I understand your point, William, honestly I do. And I would never do anything to jeopardize the Federation. If Admiral Bach didn't trust me he'd have taken me off the Endeavor and sent her out after with you in the center seat. However, he does trust me. He left me in command. Starfleet Command trusts me. They let me have the ship to begin with. Now I'm going to ask you to trust me. The Federation is not about borders and enemies and paranoia. The Federation at its basic level is a statement that it's possible for people in the galaxy to get along. And that's the principle that I want this ship to act out."

Stroud sighed and leaned back into his chair. He was losing the argument and knew it. Furthermore he didn't like the idea.

Brekka Di spoke up. "Why don't we ask the Romulans themselves what they'd like to do?"

Miriah, Stroud, Patton and Matae looked at her.

Genevieve fought down a snicker.

"You might just have a point...." Miriah allowed. Then she graciously ignored the thumbs up Genevieve showed to Di.

"You'll see to the security arrangements, Patton?" Miriah asked.

Patton was completely straight faced. "As always, My Lady." He said with a bow.

-*-

Suvmar was deep in thought. Starfleet Security stood in the sickbay watching disinterestedly. Suvmar was idly curious about the new people. The majority of the people in Sickbay looked almost Romulan, except for their oddly curved eyebrows and rounded off ears. It was exotic in a strange sort of way. Suvmar guessed that they might be "Humans" but did not raise his voice to ask. Suvmar had been taught that a true Romulan would die before being captured. He had tried for his suicide capsule but found it had been removed from his mouth.

The security people would presumably prevent him from committing a more open suicide. Worse Suvmar greeted the idea of death with sadness and remorse. Unkind fate had placed him in a no win situation before he had finished with his life and Suvmar was having trouble accepting the fact that his life was over.

Honor demanded that Suvmar commit suicide rather than be captured or allow an enemy to benefit by his presence. Suvmar consider rising and attacking the security guards. It might earn him a quick death. He might actually take a Federation security officer with him as he died. Honor would be well satisfied then.

Suvmar considered playing along with the Federation people in the hope of finding a weakness that he could exploit. If he could die destroying a whole Federation starship then that would be much more honorable than a mere security officer.

Suvmar had almost decided to play along with the Federation people in the hope of finding an opportunity to strike a more damaging blow against his enemies. Suvmar's brain was calling him a coward. Suvmar knew that if he could not face death at the hand of a single security officer then almost certainly he could not face it against the whole ship. Suvmar's brain pointed that he was reluctant to die and that he would simply have to get used to the fact. Nevertheless, surviving to be captured, to become a prisoner was dishonorable and Suvmar felt like a coward and a traitor for not being willing to die.

"Excuse me." The voice spoke in his ear again. Now that Suvmar had learned to listen around the translator he could hear the voice speaking the odd Federation language near by. It was the attractive healer.

"Are you a Vulcan?" He asked impulsively.

She quirked her eyebrow at him. "Yes, I am. I am Matae of Vulcan. May I ask your name?"

Suvmar had always considered the stories of Vulcan and the origin of the Romulans a myth. A fable told to children. "I am Suvmar." he said quietly. Were they trying to brain wash him with an ancient fairy tale?

"What is your condition, Suvmar?" Matae asked.

Suvmar eyed the "Vulcan" before him. "That is an interesting question. Why do you ask?"

"I need to know your condition to adequately treat you. Also the Captain wishes to speak with you if you feel you're able." Matae explained.

Suvmar smiled bitterly "I will be questioned. You will keep me alive for as long as possible so that I can be tortured longer."

Matae again quirked her eyebrow. "Inaccurate. Until your behavior determines otherwise, you are considered a guest here."

"I am your enemy." Suvmar pointed out. "I am Romulan. To treat me as a guest is irrational."

"Do you desire to be considered a prisoner?" Matae asked. "Our Security Chief would welcome the excuse to restrain you and return you to hibernation for the rest of our mission."

"At least he makes sense." Suvmar said.

"You are being illogical, Suvmar." Matae pointed out. "You view the universe with hostility and therefore expect hostility in return. However, we are not obligated to proceed from the same premise as you. We are not obligated to view the universe from your Romulan perspective."

"You are free to view the universe as you wish, and proceed from whichever premise pleases you. In the end your own delusions will defeat you." Suvmar said.

Matae looked at him for a moment. Suvmar could see her eyes flashing a little bit. It was attractive in a frightening, alien sort of way. Suvmar realized that she was reigning in irritation. "I thought you Vulcans cast out your passions on the sands. I thought you lived by a strict code of logic."

"Not strictly accurate." Matae said. "We have emotions. We do not let them rule us. We Vulcans strive to be rational in all things. A few take the Kohlinahr discipline and cast out all emotion, but they are a minority. Instead of arguing the premise that the Romulan Empire will conquer, perhaps we can reach a temporary understanding by assuming that this event lies in our future."

Suvmar restrained a laugh. "You are very reasonable."

"Thank you." Matae accepted the compliment. "Now, do you feel well enough to speak with the Captain as a guest of this ship, or do you wish to be thrown into the brig and questioned as a prisoner?"

"I don't understand why you'd treat me as a guest. I am a Romulan, sworn to your eventual destruction and conquest by my empire." Suvmar said. The thing Matae was asking him to accept was a premise that was directly antithetical to his culture.

"Consider it a matter of practicality. It would be easier and more beneficial for you to act as a guest and..." Matae improvised "Gain intelligence for the Romulan Empire. Or some such thing."

Suvmar opened his mouth to say something and stopped. He was just thinking about how to avoid committing honorable suicide and here was this Vulcan healer rationalizing a way out of it for him. Suvmar realized that he liked her thought process. The fact that she was very Romulan looking and pretty helped him accept things that, coming from a Klingon or a Gorn would be unacceptable.

"Are you saying that you'll let me look at your engines or weapons systems in exchange for me being friendly?" Suvmar asked.

"No." Matae said. "I had in mind what is called deep background intelligence. Look at how Federation culture works and how Federation people think. Report this back to the Empire."

"You want me to understand your culture well enough to be valuable to the Empire?" Suvmar could not believe it.

"We want the Empire to understand us. We want the Romulan empire to understand that hostility between our two cultures is not necessary or wanted from the Federation perspective." Matae said. "The Federation does not expand through conquest. We do not usually initiate the use of force. We wish to pose no threat to the Empire."

Suvmar shook head. It was like talking to children. "Do you think this is why we attack you? That we fear you and want to get you before you get us? This is not true. We attack you because you are *not* *Romulan*. No amount of diplomacy or understanding or friendly outreaching hands on your part will ever change that basic fact. You are not Romulans, therefore you are the enemy."

Matae nodded. "You see. I have already learned something new."

This time Suvmar did laugh. She was dogged in her innocence, anyway. "Is your captain as aggressively friendly as you are?"

"Yes." Matae said. "More so."

"But your Security Chief is not." Suvmar double-checked.

"Many crewmen will find it difficult to trust a Romulan." Matae said. "There has been much hostility."

"There will be more."

"Will you behave as a guest or will you seek to harm us?" Matae asked.

"I could lie to you and you'd have no way to check it until I did something." Suvmar pointed out.

"We could be preparing to torture you and you will have now way to check until we did so. However you have been forced into the position of trusting us not to. It seems equitable to me that we take a certain amount of risk on your part." Matae said.

Suvmar shook his head again. "I am not your friend. I am not your people. I am not bound by your naive rules. I am a Romulan." He knew that this was not true as he said it. If he was a Romulan what was he doing alive?

"You are one small being lost in a great deal of empty space. We are the ones offering you a ride home." Matae said bluntly.

Suvmar sat back and thought about it. He grinned ruefully. "True. I will speak to your Captain."

-*-

Suvmar met the Security chief first. He almost choked at the sight. Patton was a tall muscular, brown skinned human wearing the armor of a Klingon Warrior.

"Why do you wear Klingon armor, Human?" Suvmar asked.

"Because I am Klingon." Patton said simply. He pointed a tricorder at the Romulan and scanned for foreign objects. Anything except Romulan flesh and the material of a generic replicated coverall would sound an alarm. The tricorder beeped and whirred contentedly. There was nothing there.

"If I were you I'd take off that armor before a real Klingon saw you and you found out what trouble really was." Suvmar advised.

"I have heard that before, Romulan." Patton said simply. "Generally from people who were in their last five minutes of life."

Suvmar had to admit that he sounded like a Klingon, anyway.

"The Captain has expressed a desire to speak with you alone, Romulan." Patton said. "I must obey. But know this, if you harm her it will take you a week or more to die. It would not be a good idea to try in any case. She has defeated a Klingon Warlord in single combat."

"I am but a harmless waif cast adrift in the galaxy." Suvmar said, with an exaggerated innocent look.

Suvmar saw Patton's fist clench but stay still. Suvmar almost sneered. Patton was no Klingon. They were much easier and much more dangerous to goad.

"In there." Patton pointed through a door to an office. "She awaits you. And remember, I'll be watching."

Suvmar smiled faintly and entered the room. It was some sort of briefing room. There was a table with a number of chairs arranged around it. Windows looked out into space. On the walls to either side large display screens showed the alien insignia of the Federation.

The Captain was a female. Suvmar almost choked again when he saw her clearly. "You're Klingon!" He said.

"I am Captain Miriah Katasai of the planet Nissus. Actually I'm half Klingon." She replied.

Suvmar became aware of the fact that besides being Klingon (Or perhaps in spite of it)That Captain Katasai was actually quite attractive. "Since when are Klingons allowed to command Federation starships?" Suvmar asked.

"I am a Federation Citizen, Mr. Suvmar. I was born and raised in the Federation." Miriah pointed out.

Suvmar's brain whirled "I was told that the Federation was dominated by humans."

"This is not strictly accurate. The Federation is a multi-racial union. Shall we get down to business here?" Miriah said.

"What business do you have with me?" Suvmar asked.

"I want you to promise me that you'll be a polite guest as we continue our mission. I can guarantee that, barring an accident, you will be returned to Starbase 94 safely, and from there you'll be returned to the Romulan Empire unharmed. The question before us is if you'll ride as cargo in a cold sleep tube or if you'll be conscious and aware for the duration of the trip." Miriah explained.

Suvmar looked at her. "I could promise you anything. You don't know what I will do until I choose to do it."

Miriah nodded. "That is true. However, I am out here to meet new people. You're new to me. I'd like a chance to understand you and learn a little bit about what it's like to be a Romulan."

"As a Romulan Officer I am dedicated to the destruction and conquest of you and your Federation. That is a basic tenant of being a Romulan. Understand that. This idea you have of being able to know me or understand what it means to be Romulan is fundamentally flawed. You are not Romulan and never will be. You are an alien and inherently inferior to the Romulan race. Understand that and you understand all the rest." Suvmar said.

Miriah sighed. "Does that mean you won't give me your parole?"

"I can promise you the moons. It doesn't mean anything. You're an alien. Honor does not require me to keep a promise to you." Suvmar said.

"Your honor doesn't hang on what sort of person I am. Your honor hangs on what sort of person *you* are. Honor is about what you have in your heart. The outside is irrelevant to that." Miriah challenged.

Suvmar sat back, disturbed. The Klingon Federation Officer sounded just like his Grandfather. "Our two governments are at war. I have my duty."

"Is it your duty to be thoughtlessly violent or is it your duty to be of maximum value to your Empire?" Miriah asked.

Suvmar rolled his eyes. There was his Military instructor. "Why are you so concerned with my value to the Empire? If I am valuable to the Empire then it is in your interest to kill me. Why do you keep trying to recruit me for the Imperial Service?"

Miriah smiled. "That's just an excuse. We're doing our best to keep you around and at the same time establish that we don't have to be at each other's throats. We're trying to establish that it's possible for you to be on our ship, to ride with us and not be at war. Just for a little while."

'How long is a little while?" Suvmar asked.

"About 9 standard months now." Miriah said.

"And what is your mission?" Suvmar asked.

"We're on a deeps space rescue mission." Miriah said. "One of our science vessels fell through an unstable wormhole and wound up stranded far away. We're going to see if we can rescue the crew and any data that they may have acquired. And what was your mission?"

Suvmar looked stubborn "I shall not tell you."

Miriah looked at him. "Well then let me guess. You were out in unknown space in an outdated Warbird. The crew was small and there were a lot of consumables jammed into you ship. That suggests to me a scouting mission or a deep space mapping expedition."

Suvmar took a deep breath. "I... My honor tells me to say nothing to you."

"Even after I told you what we are up to?" Miriah shot back.

"That is between you and your honor." Suvmar said.

Miriah nodded. "I understand. I won't ask you any further." She switched tacks. "You know that the Federation freely shares charts and maps of space, as well as astronomical observations."

"Why?" Suvmar asked. In the Empire maps and charts were classified material.

"Because the free interchange of information is part of what the Federation is about. Free movement between member worlds of the Federation is a cornerstone of our Federation. Our charts do not contain classified military data, but everything of civilian use is freely distributed. I will be able to offer you copies of our charts and some scientific observations of this area in exchange for your cooperation." Miriah said.

"What do you mean by cooperation?" Suvmar asked. The next few sentences could sign his death warrant. If he wasn't already as good as dead.

"Nothing of a military nature. If a question would violate your honor to answer then simply say so. Just get to know us and let us know a little bit about you and your people." Miriah explained.

"Sitting here with you, speaking to you has already violated my honor." Suvmar said. "But I agree to your terms. I will agree to be a good little passenger in exchange for charts and astronomical observations of this area. I agree not to try to sabotage or destroy your ship in exchange for the safe passage of my crew back to Romulan space."

"Done." Miriah said. "Computer, log passenger..."

"Suvmar."

"Suvmar of Romulus. Civilian, access accordingly." Miriah said. "Computer, replicate a comm-badge for Suvmar."

The replicator whirred. Miriah walked over and grabbed the comm-badge holding it up to Suvmar. "This is a comm-badge. It is a communicator and an identification device. You aren't required to wear it, but it will simplify things while moving around the ship. It can be used to locate you and it can be turned on without a warning so be aware of it."

"You're informing me of a surveillance device and then asking me to wear it?" Suvmar asked.

"The whole ship is wired. The only privacy we have is the privacy that we grant ourselves. I don't want you to think we're trying to trap you." Miriah said.

"Can this device tell if I am wearing it or not?"

Miriah nodded.

"Hmmm." Suvmar looked thoughtful and stuffed the comm-badge into his pocket.

"Now let's discuss the rest of your crew." Miriah said.

-*-

"Only eighteen?" Suvmar couldn't believe the death toll. "There were 34 of us."

Matae looked controlled. The short, red headed Human female who was the Chief Engineer looked sad. "I'm sorry. Those tubes were tossed together awfully quickly, and then left alone for ninety-seven years. It's a wonder we found any of you left."

"I must awaken the survivors of your crew, treat them and then ask them if they wish to re-enter hibernation, or if they will agree to the same conditions you have." Matae said.

"Which is the highest ranking survivor?" Stroud asked.

"Including me?"

"Yes."

"Me. I hold the rank of sub-centurion. All the rest are of lower rank or civilian science experts." Suvmar said.

"Which one should we awaken first?" Stroud asked.

"None of them. Let them sleep until we return." Suvmar answered.

Genevieve shook her head. "They won't make it that way. We need to rebuild these tubes all the way if anyone is going to make back to the UFP intact."

Matae chimed in. "All of your comrades are suffering from dehydration, the effects of nearly a week without food and hibernation shock. I must treat them before they are injured further."

Suvmar sighed bitterly. "If they have any contact with you, they'll be questioned and suspicion will follow them all the rest of their days. The Empire would consider it preferable if they died rather than speaking to you and knowing what a human looks like. Their lives will never be the same after seeing you."

"Yep." Stroud drawled. "For one thing, they're going to be a lot longer."

"Maybe the Empire wants them to die before seeing us, but I hope they'll feel differently when we ask them." Genevieve said.

"I am beginning to understand why my government feels this way. You people are dangerous." Suvmar griped. He pointed at one of the tubes at random. "Her. Awaken her."

Matae nodded. And the medical team got busy.

-*-

"What would you like us to do with the remains of the Warbird?" Stroud asked.

"Are you finished searching it for every secret that you can find?" Suvmar asked.

"Yep.. It was an old ship when you left. These days I'm pretty sure your government would scrap it without a second thought. There was nothing new there." Stroud explained. "I was wondering what you wanted done with your deceased shipmates. What's the Romulan custom?"

"Destroy it. As thoroughly as possible. Leave no physical remains." Suvmar said.

"Is that the custom in your culture?" Stroud asked.

"It is what we should have done to begin with." Suvmar said

-*-

"Suvmar, you fool!" Silenni yelled. "The Tal Shiar will skin us all alive!"

"What in the name of the Galaxy would you have me do?" Suvmar said.

"Die! Die like a Romulan! Don't cower before these alien scum! Don't give in into them!" Silenni raged.

"Well if that's what your honor demands, then do it." Suvmar said.

Silenni stared at Suvmar.

"These humans, they won't *let* you die." Suvmar said "They have already removed your suicide device. Their healer with restore you to the peak of health."

"They are animals! They have no sense of honor!" Silenni yelled.

"The question is, do you want to be in a tube, helpless, unconscious and at their mercy , or would you like to be awake, conscious, and yet still helpless and at their mercy?" Suvmar pointed out.

"They will contaminate you. They will infect you with their alien ways. The Tal Shiar will turn your brain inside out, quietly execute you."

"Perhaps. However, what's done is done. Now decide what you want to do, Silenni." Suvmar said quietly.

"Put me back in the tube. Perhaps I can convince the Tal Shiar that I am still loyal. That is, if we don't wind up dissected of fed to monsters." Silenni griped.

"It will be done." Suvmar said.

-*-

Rael sighed grimly. "You know what the Tal Shiar is going to do to us when we get home."

Suvmar nodded.

Rael took a deep breath. "So my option is to go back into hibernation or to stay awake among the people of this ship."

"That is correct."

The Romulan woman thought carefully. "Either way I'll be in trouble with the Tal Shiar."

"There are degrees of trouble, Rael. Many of us felt that they can avoid much of the suspicion by returning to cold sleep." Suvmar pointed out.

She looked at him dubiously. "Do you believe this?"

Suvmar shrugged. "This is a bad situation. The best I can think of is to try and reduce some of the consequences that will befall us."

"Tell me about the people on this ship." Rael said.

Suvmar shook his head. "They are aliens. Their way of thought is alien to us. It is best that you learn nothing of them."

"Why have they let us live? Do you believe that they will leave us unmolested in our hibernation tubes?"

"I can't offer you any certainty. But it seems... possible." Suvmar said.

"I'd like to meet one of these Federation people." Rael said wistfully.

Suvmar grimaced. "Don't ever say that again. Ever. Just for saying so you might find yourself made to disappear."

"Aren't you curious, Suvmar? We've been at war with these people for an entire lifetime. Haven't you ever asked yourself what it's all about?" Rael asked.

Suvmar's mouth opened in a reflexive denial. Then he stopped himself. "Perhaps upon occasion. This sort of talk is dangerous. Rael is your curiosity worth your life?"

She smiled at him. "If it wasn't, what was I doing on the Gekko?"

Suvmar shook his head. "You're a dangerous woman Rael. Stay awake then. Meet these Federation people and be damned. Once you've made that decision there is no turning back."

Rael considered it for a moment. It was a great help to her that she had little family left back home probably none of Suvmar's figure for the time they spent in hibernation was true. Rael nodded. "I will. I'll stay awake and see what's out there."

Suvmar nodded. "Alright. We'll make the arrangements."

-*-

In the end three Romulans decided to stay awake and conscious on the Endeavor as she continued her mission. The rest stayed asleep and unconscious.

The Endeavor moved deeper into unknown space...

-End-

Disclaimer: Paramount owns all things Trek. I claim original characters and situations in this story for me.

Jay P. Hailey