Prowler

Captain Hunt was sat in the office adjacent to her quarters reading through the latest reports from Starfleet HQ. Some of what she was reading didn’t sit well with her inside; there had been too many reports of pirate attacks on Starfleet facilities. Either the pirates had increased vastly in numbers over the past three months, had become extremely well co-ordinated or something was very wrong.

Luckily the USS Prowler hadn’t seen any pirate activity, mainly because they had been on patrol along the Romulan-Federation border. Whilst most of their mission had been pretty routine, on the odd occasion they had been called upon to undertake some covert missions into Romulan space.

The door from the corridor opened and in walked her XO, Commander Sheppard.

“Don’t you ever knock ?” Alice asked.

“Only when it’s official….” Jack replied, smiling.

“And this isn’t official ?” Alice enquired.

“Not yet……” Jack answered. “…..plus this is MY office…..”

Jack continued deeper into the room, walking towards her and coming around the desk. He turned the Commander’s chair to face him, bending down towards her then planting a kiss on her lips.

“Now it’s official” Jack stated, having moved around the desk and taken the seat opposite.

The Captain and Commander had been married for nearly four years now and every time one of them was apart from the other for more than a day, they would seek each other out as early as possible, making their first action a kiss. It had caused some amusement to the Bridge crew at times, but now most knew the routine and just carried on as if nothing had happened.

Alice opened her eyes quickly, regaining her composure and looked at her husband and XO. She always hated the way Jack had so much emotional control over her, as soon as he’d kissed her; she’d instinctively closed her eyes to savour the moment.

“Anything to report ?” Alice now asked.

“Just a routine patrol.” Jack replied. “Anything back yet from Commander Adam Davenport ?”

“No.” Alice said, a note of worry in her voice. “They should have reported in two hours ago, but we’ve heard nothing. If they don’t return in the next couple of hours, then I’ll be sending you out after them.”

Commander Davenport had taken his wing of fighters into the Romulan neutral zone on a covert mission. Even though the Commander and his pilots had only been with the Prowler for their current tour, she still felt very responsible when they were late checking in.

Blue wing had been tasked with retrieving the Prowler’s Chief Intelligence officer, who had been working under deep cover in Romulan space since they had first arrived. What her mission orders were, only she and her superiors knew. When the Prowler had been ordered to bring her back, Commander Sheppard had wanted to head the mission into the neutral zone. However, the Captain had overruled him. Blue squad was equipped with Scorpion fighters, which were much more suited to enter a possible hostile zone than the Commander’s Valkyrie fighters.

“So what are you reading ?” Jack enquired.

“Mostly routine reports, but we do have some new orders.” Alice remarked. “We’re being re-assigned to the New Canada system.”

“Never heard of it.” Jack stated.

“It’s on the other side of the Briar patch, until a few years ago it was something of a backwater. There were several El Aurian colonies within the sector and two major powers, the Mullaruns and the G’Kar. About ten years ago, when these two races went to war, the El Aurians attempted to remain neutral, but eventually found themselves siding with the G’kar. Once the fighting was over, the El Aurians feared revenge attacks from the Mullurans and so to protect themselves, they requested aid from the Federation. A K-class supply base was established in the area, which was suppose to provide a stabilising influence in the area, but eventually the Mullaruns attacked the Federation and we basically kicked their butt.” Alice explained.

Jack let a small smile cross his face at the way his wife was speaking. “Kicking butt” was not a standard Federation term, but she came from a long line of Starfleet officers, many of whom had died defending the Federation from hostile races. She often claimed that she could trace her family’s involvement with Starfleet back to the very early days before the Federation was created.

“About two years ago, the Mullurans renewed their attacks, supported by unknown forces. This time the Mullurans were much better prepared and for a time it looked like they could win.” Alice continued. “Even the Ferengi were drawn into the fighting.”

“Things must have been interesting if the Ferengi got involved.” Jack remarked. “They will defend their business interests to the end, but they won’t fight against other races unless they can see a profit in it.”

“They had no real choice.” Alice continued. “The initial attacks were along the Ferengi borders. There was only one course of action the Negus could take, which was to mobilise the entire Ferengi defence fleet. The fighting ended when the Mulluran emperor apparently committed suicide. The support the Mulluran’s were getting from their allies disappeared overnight and with no emperor to lead them, all the fight went out of them.”

“So what happened to the Mullurans ?” Jack enquired.

“They surrendered to a joint Federation-Ferengi task force days and authority over their space was split between the Federation and the Ferengi.” Alice continued. “A new emperor was crowned, who immediately set up a new government and peace was restored. In the future who knows, maybe they’ll be accepted into the Federation.”

“So why are we going to this New Canada system ?” Jack enquired. “If everything is so quiet.”

“There have been sporadic reports of shipping being attacked in the area.” Alice answered. “Starfleet Intel believes that this could be the work of Mulluran rebels intent on continuing the war with the Federation. From the reports I’ve seen it could be true, but I don’t know.”

“What’s bothering you ?” Jack asked, sensing that there was something worrying his wife.

“It’s all these reports of attacks on shipping, there are just too many to all be explained away as pirate attacks or rebel terrorists. There’s got to be something else going on, but I don’t know what.” Alice remarked. “Maybe once we get out to the New Canada system, we’ll get to see what’s really happening.”

Just then the console on the desk beeped and instinctively she activated the screen.

<Captain, we’re receiving a message from Commander Davenport.> The senior Bridge officer explained. <Looks like they may have got themselves into a little bit of trouble with the Romulans on their mission.>

“We’ll be on the Bridge shortly, you can update us then.” Commander Hunt stated. “Hunt out.”

“Shame we don’t have time to sit and chat a while.” Jack remarked.

Alice rose from behind the desk and walked across the room to pick up her jacket. She knew exactly what Jack was really talking about and it didn’t involve chatting.

“Come on Romeo we’re needed on the Bridge.” She remarked. “We can “chat” later.”

Sheppard followed her out of the office and together they headed for the turbolift and the Bridge. Only the odd look was given to the couple walking down the corridor, hand in hand and entered the turbolift.

“Bridge” Jack announced, any other words muffled by the fact that the Captain was now kissing him. It was only for a few seconds until the cab stopped outside the Bridge and by the time the doors opened, there was no hint of what had just taken place.