Such is The Life Of a Spy

T'Kul transported to the co-ordinates sent to her and was met by Stefen and Commodore West. The latter was somewhat astonished when he saw Rashad taking some Section 31 issue equipment out of her black bag.

"Hmm, Commander, weren't you the First Officer of the Leviathan ? Yet now I see that you are a member of Section 31, just like my son-in-law here…"

The Romulan-Bajoran nodded in a polite Vulcanoid manner.

"We all serve the Federation anyway, Sir. I am glad to see that you are alright."

Out of the corner of her eye T'Kul saw Jessica and could not hold back a smile. She turned to Stefen.

"Congratulations on getting your wife back alive, Lieutenant !"

"There is still much that we have to do, Commander." Replied the exhausted but victorious half-Vulcan. "There are more Omega bases out there and we need to start searching out their locations."

"Yes.." Nodded Rashad with a slightly risen eyebrow. "….show me the way to the command centre, Lieutenant. I will be glad to do some hacking."

Stefen led her out into the corridor and soon they entered a larger room with a lot of highly advanced computer equipment.

"Well, here we are, Stefen. It will take me a few minutes to get set up. You are welcome to go and spend some time with your family. Come back here when you are ready."

"Thanks…" smiled the half-Romulan officer. "….I will be back shortly."

Rashad took out some of the hacking equipment she had brought with her and stepped up to the computer interface access panel. She was about to open it when suddenly someone's hand reached out from behind her back and grabbed her by the throat. She instinctively reached for the phaser and realised with a shock that it was not on her belt…

"There you are Officer 25007 ! I see you are meddling again ?" A tall Human male with striking green eyes forced T'Kul to turn around. His gaze was stone cold and for some reason it sent shivers down her spine.

"Who are you ? How do you know my designation ?" She recovered from the momentary shock and was staring straight back into the man's green eyes.

"Oh, that does not matter, Commander. What matters more is who sent me here. You and your puny Federation and Section 31 colleagues ! You think you are about to defeat the might of Omega ?" The man gave out a cold laugh. Rashad felt his fingers squeeze her throat tightly.

What she somehow did not feel was the genetic alteration agent entering her body from a mini hypospray the tall Human quickly held up to her right hip.

"Omega is nothing. Just small fry. You and your Federation will never be able to stop us. Oh, by the way…" The man's smile had grown even wider. "….Adam Drakara sends his regards. He knew you were after him so he asked me to give you this message: your Leviathan crew is not so hot as you imagine. He created your Doctor, Rahel Kahfre and your Lieutenant Dare, as well as many others in the Federation, out of a test laboratory. And, now you are also one of his test subjects…"

"Drakara ?" Rashad was too interested in the name of the enemy she was after to pay attention to the last part of the tall Human's statement. "He is behind Omega as well ? Why am I not surprised !"

She ignored the sudden strange pain and numbness she felt in her spine and kicked the man in the shins. For a moment it looked like he was going to drag her down to the floor, but then he moaned in pain and let go.

Quickly T'Kul made a move for her black equipment bag where she still had a lance, but just as she made it, the man's figure shimmered in a site-to-site transporter beam and disappeared.

The Romulan-Bajoran looked around. Apart from her phaser that seemed to have vanished, all of the equipment she had brought with her was still there. Then, just for a briefest moment, she felt some confusion, and when she came out of it she moved back to the Omega's computer interface access panel.

In just over a minute, she managed to connect all the relevant hacking and data storage devices to the computer and started breaking into the Omega's command database.

"I am back…" Said Stefen as the door swooshed open ten minutes later. "Anything interesting there, T'Kul ?"

"Yes… quite a bit actually." Replied Rashad, suddenly feeling a little weak and grabbing for one of the chairs.

"Are you alright Commander ?" Asked the Vulcan with concern.

"I am fine, Mister Moss." She smiled. "Just maybe a little tired or something. I have found more data here then I could have imagined there would be. It will take quite a bit of work to decrypt everything, but I am sure that with Section 31 equipment we will manage."

"Good. Let's get on it. Omega must be destroyed."

Just then Rashad saw "the look" in Stefen's eyes. A hardened, cold look typical of hard-core Section 31 (and Omega !) operatives.

"I agree with that, Stefen…" She said with a nod. She just wished she could also catch up with Drakara, but his operative had left no trace when he transported out of the Omega command centre.

In vain she tried running a trace on the site-to-site transport. The device the man used was in all evidence too advanced for those of the 24th century. That was frustrating, but despite her important hunt for the time-travelling scientist, Omega still had to be dealt with. It was a not small threat to the Federation.

"Here…" She gave Stefen one of her hacking PADDs full of the downloaded files. "You can start on this if you like."