Protests and Overrules

It had taken just two minutes for Aki to reach the Battle Bridge and in all that time, all she could think about was Rashad in Sickbay. Something had happened down on the mining base, something that had now put the Leviathan's first officer in danger. Although the Captain was sure that the EMH could handle the situation short-term, she had realised that unless she could discover what happened to T'Kul, the Bajorian-Romulan would be leaving the ship very soon for the last time.

She entered the Bridge and nodded immediately at Lieutenant McQueen who acknowledged her arrival on the Bridge. The Captain continued to walk across the Bridge and headed straight into the small briefing room just off the Bridge.

Looking at the small room, which on the Main Bridge would have been her officer, she took a deep breath and after collecting a glass of chilled water from the replicator, sat down at the head of the table. Pressing a control on the surface of the desk, a console screen rose up and Aki established contact with Commodore West.

[Captain Taybar, your arrival could not have been more fortunate.] The Commodore stated calmly sounding somewhat pleased. [Our own transportation will not arrive for another six hours and we were worried that Omega might mount a counter-attack before it returned.]

"Commodore, our arrival here was not due to any orders or luck, it was due to the fact that a group of my finest officers, including most of the Intel staff ignored my command orders and decided to bring the Hellcat to this place." The Captain announced the sounds of anger emerging in her voice. "The crew of the Hellcat put the crew of the Leviathan and the vessels we were protecting in severe danger. Now I have my chief of Intelligence in Sickbay, suffering from an attack on her whilst she was on the base and my second Intelligence officer under house arrest for disobeying orders and possible mutiny. My third Intel officer is currently missing and I the majority of my crew and half my ship heading into enemy space. So you will bear with me when I say that being here is not by choice, not fate."

The Commodore looked shocked at the Captain's outburst.

[Captain, I was not aware of the fact that Lieutenant Moss and Commander Rashad had disobeyed orders and come to this base without orders.] He stated. [But placing them under house arrest is a little severe don't you think.]

"Under the circumstances Commodore no." Aki replied. "And with all due respect, I am aware of the fact that your Daughter was being held my Omega and that Lieutenant Moss is your son in law, I am sure that you would do the same thing if one of your senior officers did not follow orders."

The Commodore was very quiet, what the Captain had just said was true, he knew that. Having now heard the basic facts, he realised that both Stefen and T'Kul must have disobeyed orders.

[I have to admit that had I been put in your position, I would have done the same.] The Commodore admitted. [Captain, as I said our transport is not due back here for another six hours, I would like to request that you remain on guard until they arrive.]

"Agreed." Aki stated. "We will await the arrival of the transportation."

[In the meantime, I would like to come aboard so we can discuss certain things face to face. I'd also like to check on my Daughter.] The Commodore requested.

"I'll meet you in the transporter room whenever you are ready to beam up." Aki stated.

[I still have some things to clear up down here, shall we say two hours from now.] The Commodore said.

"I will see you in two hours." Aki confirmed.

The link closed and Aki tapped another button on the desk and the console screen retracted back into the desk.

Two hours later, Aki was stood in the transporter room awaiting the arrival of Commodore West. The transporter operator signalled that the Commodore was ready to come onboard an moments later, he emerged on the transporter pad, holding several data Padds in his right hand.

"Welcome aboard the USS Leviathan-B Commodore." Aki stated, saluting her superior officer.

"Can we go and check on Jessica before we begin." The Commodore asked.

"Of course." Aki replied. "The EMH says that she'll be fine, she's just a little beat up and tired."

"And the baby ?" The Commodore asked.

Aki looked at the Commodore for a moment before replying.

"The baby's fine too." Aki lied. "I guess you're about to become a grandfather."

The two Starfleet officers headed through the corridors of the Engineering section to the small Sickbay where the EMH was working on the sleeping body of Commander Rashad.

"How's she doing ?" Aki enquired of the EMH as they entered.

"I've just administered the first set of injections and the results so far appear positive. The Commander should be awake in a few hour."

"Will she be fit enough to return to due ?" Aki asked.

"We will have to wait and see, but I'd prefer to keep her in Sickbay." The EMH replied.

*T'Kul will be out of here first chance she gets.* Aki thought.

"How is Private West ?" Aki enquired.

The EMH moved away from Rashad and looked over at the Marine on the second bio-bed.

"She's recovering well." He stated. "She should be up and about ion a few hours."

"And the child ?" Commodore West asked.

Ah…" The EMH stated. "So you are aware that she is pregnant, about two months from the scans. The child appears to be undamaged and provided Private West remains fit and well, there shouldn't be any complications."

"Thank you Doctor." The Commodore stated. "Captain, I think we should leave the Doctor to his work, there is much we need to discuss."

The two officers left Sickbay and headed for the briefing room. When they arrived on the Bridge, Lieutenant McQueen rose from the Command chair and followed the Commodore and Captain Taybar into the briefing room.

"Commodore West, this is Lieutenant Logan McQueen, my Chief of Security and at the moment my acting Intelligence officer. With Rashad in Sickbay, Moss in his quarters under house arrest and Lieutenant Wright missing, he's the closest thing I've got." Aki stated as they all sat down.

Logan knew of the Commodore, having worked for Starfleet Intelligence prior to moving into Security. He'd never met the man himself, and the Commodore was not on the Command staff at SI HQ during Logan's time there. Whether the Commodore was aware of Logan's previous involvement with SI was unknown.

"Captain, I have orders from Admiral Devore that state that you are to release Lieutenant Moss immediately." The Commodore stated. "They state that he received orders just before the Hellcat left which gave him a direct order to come to this base. Those orders superseded yours, which means his actions were not an act of disobedience or mutiny. The orders also state that no action will be taken against any member of the crew of the Hellcat during that time."

"I would like to see those orders for myself." Aki said.

The Commodore passed one of the Padds over to Aki who examined them very closely. She noticed that the orders from Admiral Devore had arrived via sub-space only moments before the Commodore had come onboard. The Commodore had obviously been busy in the two hours between their last conversation and now. She also noticed that both Commander Rashad and Lieutenant Moss were mentioned specifically in the orders, whilst the rest of the crew were only mentioned as a group. The last thing she noticed was the fact that the orders had not only been signed by Admiral Devore, but also by Admiral McCaffee.

"These all seem in order." Aki stated, passing them across to Logan. "I'll arrange for Lieutenant Moss to be released as soon as we are finished here."

"Excellent." The Commodore said. "Stefen and Commander Rashad both played a major role in is defeat of Omega."

"Commodore, just how many Omega agents have you been able to capture on the base ?" Logan asked.

"We've got over seventy prisoners, mostly Omega agents." The Commodore replied. "We've also uncovered a vast amount of information, mainly due to Commander Rashad, which will be invaluable to Starfleet Intelligence and our continued fight with Omega."

"Continued fight ?" Aki stated.

"Unfortunately, their leader K'lang managed to evade us." The Commodore admitted. "It would appear the he managed to escape in a shuttle craft."

"Commodore there's something I'd like you to see." Aki said. "When we got the Hellcat back, we checked over the sensor logs and discovered something. It maybe of help to finding this K'Lang."

Aki pressed a button to the desk and the main viewscreen came to life. Moments later, the image of a shuttle appeared on the screen, rising up from the surface of the base. Moments later, a vessel shimmed out of nowhere and after collecting the shuttle, disappeared once more.

"Fascinating." The Commodore stated.

"Do you know anything about the vessel we've just see ?" Aki asked.

"No." Came the reply.

"The sensor logs show that the vessel is most definitely a Federation vessel, but there are no markings on the hull and the vessel does not conform to any know design. The cloaking signature is also Federation, and is very similar to the device installed on the Hellcat." Aki stated. "I've seen many designs in my time, both Federation and Alien and you know what this reminds me of ?"

"No Captain." The Commodore replied.

"A "Bird of Prey" The Captain replied. "From the brief scans the Hellcat was able to take, we saw a heavily armed and shielded vessel. Whatever it was, it was designed for war not exploration."

"Your point being ?" The Commodore asked.

"No point." Aki stated. "Just an observation. But isn't it ironic that here we are seeing a vessel very much like another vessel which has been recently discovered."

"Another vessel !." The Commodore exclaimed.

The viewscreen changed to show the image of another vessel.

"This Commodore is the rogue vessel we have been tracking for months." Aki explained. "It was built during the Dominion war as a prototype attack vessel."

"I don't see any connection with this other vessel." The Commodore stated.

"Neither did we at first." Logan added. "But here we have two vessel, both heavily armed and shielded, both with advanced cloaking devices and both running rogue. One was built by the Dominion, the other using Federation technology. These two vessel would appear to have been designed to counter-act one other, the only question is which came first."

"I will need all the data you have on the vessel that escaped with K'Lang ready before I leave." The Commodore insisted.

"Already done." Logan replied, handing the Commodore a data Padd.

"Then I believe our work is done here." The Commodore said. "Our transportation will be arriving in about three hours, after that you will be free to leave."

The Commodore rose from his seat and left the room. Logan followed to arrange for Lieutenant Moss to be released, leaving Aki along in the briefing room.