Picking Up The Pieces

Previously…

Aki tapped her comm badge and called for Lieutenant McQueen.

"Lieutenant McQueen." The Captain said. "[We're approaching Tarn Vedra and we've got more than we bargained for."

[On my way Captain.] Logan replied.

Now.....

Lieutenant McQueen arrived on the Bridge five minutes later and immediately Captain Taybar headed for her ready room, along with the Lieutenant and Lieutenant Commander J'ross.

Taking their seats, the Captain was the first to speak.

"Lieutenant…" She started. "….the plan went well and all our crew and the Jem'Hadar are safe and well. They've also managed to secure the listening station and capture nine rogue Jem'Hadar."

"That's better than we excepted." Logan commented. "We were expecting some casualties."

"It looks like when we destroyed their main base, these Jem'Hadar were left to fend for themselves." J'ross added. "They were in bad shape and running out of White, not in any fit state to put up any real fight."

"When do they arrive ?" Logan asked.

"About an hour." Aki replied. "But we have another problem."

Logan was very quiet for a moment, wondering what could have gone wrong.

"Goran'Agar sent a message to his 'followers'." Aki continued. "We've got at least fifty Jem'Hadar in various vessel heading this way. There are at least two transports and over a dozen shuttles on the way."

"We're going to have to contain them somehow ?" Logan stated, thinking fast. "Cargo bay six might be the best option. It's in a remote and secure location, with only one corridor."

"Have Engineering give you a hand setting up all the arrangements." Aki ordered. "I'd like Doctor Kahfre to examine each and everyone of them just to make sure that they are all genuine."

"That shouldn't be a problem, we can transfer them in batches to the secondary brig." Logan suggested. "The Doctor can check them over there and then we can send them back to the cargo bay."

"We also need to secure the captured Jem'Hadar that the Devastator is bringing back." Aki stated.

"That shouldn't be a problem." Logan said. "They can go in the main brig. The one question is what do you intend to do with them."

"As soon as we have the problem of Goran'Agar solved, we'll pass them over to the Dominion." Aki stated.

"If that's all Captain, I'll get on with the preparations." Logan suggested.

"Dismissed." Aki said.

Logan rose from his seat and headed out of the door, closely followed by Lieutenant Commander J'ross. Only Captain Taybar remained in the room and she activated the console on her desk.

Bringing up all the data she had been given by Goran'Agar and the information that had been gained from the rogue database, she re-read the information that worried her. She rose from her seat, switching off the console and headed for the door.

Back on the Bridge things were hotting up. On the viewscreen several small vessels could be seen heading for the planet and the Leviathan.

"Captain, the Devastator has just launched from the surface and is headed back to the ship." Lieutenant Marco Borealiou announced. "ETA five minutes."

"What's the ETA on the Jem'Hadar vessels ?" Aki enquired as she took her seat.

"The first shuttles should be in orbit in about fifteen minutes, the transports are travelling at a slower rate and won't be in orbit for at least an hour."

"How are the preparations going to take onboard the shuttles ?" Aki asked.

"We're ready." Marco reported. "We can take ten shuttles if we cram them in, which will leave about another six."

"Hopefully they'll be enough room on the transports for those." Aki suggested. "Has Lieutenant McQueen reported back yet ?"

"Yes." Marco stated. "He says the cargo bay will be ready in ten minutes. The main Brig is ready to take the captured Jem'Hadar and transporter rooms three and five are on standby to move them as soon as the Devastator arrives."

The Captain tapped her comm badge and hailed Lieutenant Juran Heims.

"Bridge to Lieutenant Heims." She announced.

[Heims here Captain.] Came the reply for the Bajorian Slipstream Engineer. [What can I do for you ?]

"What's the status of our slipstream drive ?" Aki enquired.

[I have just been making the final adjustments to the drive itself and Lieutenant N'akae is finishing off the new programming algorithms he's been working on.] Heims reported. [We should be ready to run some tests in a couple of hours.]

"See if you can speed things up a little, we may need to get away from here in a rush."

[Captain….] Heims protested. […I wouldn't recommend pushing the drive too hard until we have fully tested all the new systems. I might be able to get you T-Warp 12 in about an hour, but my recommendation would be to not push it any harder for now.]

"Understood." Aki replied. "Bridge out."

"Captain." Lieutenant Borealiou announced. "The Devastator has just landed in the shuttlebay. We're transporting the prisoners to the Brig now."

"Good." Aki stated. "Keep me informed, I'll be in my ready room. Commander J'ross, you have the Bridge."

Aki rose from her seat and headed back to her office, worried about what the coming days would bring.

As she sat drinking a coffee from the replicator, she thought about all the elements that had fallen into place and those which were still to be resolved.

Goran'Agar had forced her hand in dealing with him and his small group of followers, but at the moment he was the least of her worries. The rogue Jem'Hadar and their current whereabouts had until yesterday been at the top of her list, but now there was Omega to deal with.

One thing that had come out of the attack of Lieutenant Moss was that so far there had been no further attempts on either him or his colleague Lieutenant Wright. The body in the morgue T'Val appeared to have been the threat to both of them. At least that's what Aki hoped, but she still had the nagging feeling that this particular threat wasn't over.

The one thing that she wanted to avoid was Lieutenant Moss going off on a suicide rescue mission. Marine Private Jessica Moss-West, Stefen's new wife had been taken by Omega, an apparent act of revenge against Moss, but in doing so they had made an enemy of the entire ship. Although she hadn't relayed it to Stefen yet, she was determined to get her back safely.

The Captain had already spoken to Lieutenant Colonel Phanan, the Commanding Marine onboard the Leviathan and therefore Jessica's superior about how best to mount a rescue mission. Although he'd not made any specific recommendations yet, he was drilling his Marines in several likely scenarios on the holodecks.

Everything however rested on finding the location of Omega's base in the Gamma quadrant, which meant relying of Commander Rashad and Lieutenant Moss to dig up some information. Aki just hoped that they were upto the task.

She looked at the chronometer on her desk and noticed the time. In a couple of hours, the meeting she'd scheduled would be starting and hopefully by then someone would have some good news.

She rose from her chair and placed the now drained mug on the replicator pad and pressed the recycle button. Heading back to her desk, she picked up the pile of Padds that had been sitting there and heading for the sofa area, sat down and activated the first one.