“Pick the folks best at insurgency ops, the ones that’ll blow shit up and won’t balk at collateral damage,” Fleet Admiral Reyes said as she thought back to Captain Kioshi’s warning. Ten for one, he’d said. That’s how many they promised to kill for each of their own. There’d be losses, even if they blitzed the place, and if they got bogged down, it would devolve quickly. “You guys will be going ahead and embedding on the station to prepare for our arrival.”

“And as you roll in, we spring the trap and neutralize the station so it cannot be turned on the squadron,” Lieutenant Commander Keaton Ryder nodded, following along. It sounded simple enough, except of course that the enemy was dug in, and there would be civilians everywhere. That, he understood, was why she’d emphasized the point about collateral damage. No matter what they did, this wasn’t going to be bloodless, and that gave him ideas as to who he would bring from his security department aboard the Polaris.

“That’s the gist, yes,” nodded Fleet Admiral Reyes. “Plus, if we want to keep the casualties down, you’ll need to keep the Vaadwaur busy enough hunting you that they don’t have time to start offing civvies.”

“Kick the hornet’s nest and taunt them into giving chase?” Lieutenant Commander Kehlani Koh mused. “Be loud enough that we’re too good a target to pass up.” She and her team from the Diligent weren’t known for being quiet. They were known for getting the job done. And they’d do that here too.

“That’s the idea,” Fleet Admiral Reyes smiled. They understood. “Just try not to get stung.”

“I prefer to do the stinging,” Lieutenant Commander Ryder replied confidently. They’d make the Vaadwaur bleed and hopefully all come home. “Kehlani, should we get together after this to go over names?”

“Yep, already got a few top of mind,” Lieutenant Commander Koh nodded. She also had a few she wouldn’t pick, good officers but the sort that might squirm were the Vaadwaur to use the residents as leverage to try and slow them down. “Ma’am, the one thing I’m not getting, though, is how we’re infiltrating the station ahead of time.”

“You will rendezvous with Captain Kurayami Kioshi, Archanis‘ intelligence chief, on Kyban,” Fleet Admiral Reyes replied. “He’s got a way to beam straight to Archanis from Banksy City.”

“That’s a fourteen light year journey across a Blackout boundary,” Lieutenant Commander Ryder pointed out skeptically. It wasn’t that he doubted Fleet Admiral Reyes or Captain Kioshi, but there were basic laws of physics, both of distance, and of the interference being put off by the Blackout boundary. “You can’t just beam across that.”

“You can when you have something that leverages a totally different modality,” Fleet Admiral Reyes grinned. “Kioshi’s been keeping a spatial trajector in the basement.”

The pair glanced at each other, surprise evident on their faces. It almost sounded like a joke. They both knew what a spatial trajector was, but only because, as security chiefs for frontline cruisers, they’d both been briefed on directives regarding the containment of these devices should they be discovered. And all known ones should’ve been locked down.

Suddenly, there was a chime at the door.

“Enter,” Fleet Admiral Reyes said as she looked over. 

Chief Petty Officer Ayala Shafir stepped through. 

“Ah, Ayala, good,” Fleet Admiral Reyes greeted. “Is everything confirmed?”

“Yes, I just spoke with Lisa,” Chief Shafir nodded. “The Lucre will meet us in the asteroid field two light years rimward of Kyban in four days’ time.”

“Excellent,” smiled Fleet Admiral Reyes. “We’ll have Captain Knight run you guys out that way.” The Juno was the fastest among them. She could close that distance in an astonishing three days and sixteen hours. Meanwhile, the Polaris and the rest of the squadron would stand by, awaiting the signal to move against the Underspace outpost, assuming the folks down in the Advanced Science, Technology and Research Activity could determine its position. “Makes this all a lot easier.”

“Sorry, the Lucre?” Lieutenant Commander Ryder asked. He wasn’t following the reference. Up to this point, he’d been assuming they’d have to run a shuttle dark, using celestial bodies to occlude themselves from the Vaadwaur’s scans as they approached Kyban.

“The Lucre is a civilian freighter registered to a commercial company, Sebold Logistics,” Fleet Admiral Reyes explained. “The Vaadwaur are still taking deliveries, and waltzing through the front door seems less risky than trying to sneak in the back.” Without a full sitrep on Vaadwaur emplacements over Kyban, any slip up might be detected, whereas the Vaadwaur were, by Captain Kioshi’s intelligence, very likely to just allow the Lucre to pass right on by since they still needed the raw materials to fuel their war machine.

“Will we have to babysit the civvies?” Lieutenant Commander Koh inquired warily. In their line of work, she’d had to work with civilians many times before, but even civilian law enforcement had disappointed her more times than she could count, the folks on Duraxis being just one of the most recent examples. Civilians just never did quite behave the way you expected.

“No, these civvies can more than take care of themselves,” Chief Shafir interjected deviously. “In fact, y’all might even learn a thing or two from them.” She certainly had during her times rolling with Grok, T’Aer and the others. It was too bad Captain Lewis wasn’t here anymore. He would have loved a mission like this for old time’s sake. Same with Ryssehl Th’zathol. But the galaxy had claimed both their lives, Ryssehl on Nasera last spring, and Lewis just weeks ago. She was still struggling to come to terms with the fact they were gone.

Over the following half hour, Reyes, Shafir, Ryder and Koh fleshed out the remaining details. They went over timelines, rules of engagement, priority targets aboard Archanis, and a lot more, developing as good of a plan as one could devise with what limited information they had. But eventually, there wasn’t anything else they could do from here. The rest, they’d just have to figure it out when they got to doing it.

“A plan’s only good until we put it to practice,” Fleet Admiral Reyes concluded as she brought the session to a close. “You’re going to get over there, and it’s all going to go to shit. But stay flexible, and do what needs to be done. I will not Monday morning quarterback your choices.” She knew it was important to say. She trusted them, and she knew they’d have to improvise. They needed to be aware she’d stand by their choices afterwards so they wouldn’t be straddled by doubt in the moment.

“We’ll get it done, ma’am,” Lieutenant Commander Ryder offered dutifully on behalf of all three of them. They all understood what she was saying.

“I have no doubt you will,” Admiral Reyes smiled. “Now go draw up your rosters, get over to the Juno, and we’ll see you on the other side. Godspeed.”

They made for the door, and as it hissed shut behind them, the Fleet Admiral Reyes was left to the silence of her own thoughts. She walked over to the couch and plopped herself down, the exhaustion finally hitting. It wasn’t from physical exertion as things had been relatively sedate since the battle five days prior. Instead, if she was honest with herself, it was borne entirely of stress, emotion, and the burden she carried on her shoulders.

War was hard. In the last week alone, they’d lost hundreds. The Serenity had gone down with all hands, and the Polaris, the Diligent, the Kennedy, and the Juno had sustained losses too as polaron bursts and torpedo blasts impacted their hulls. Archanis Station had taken it on the chin too, and if the latest updates from Fourth Fleet Command were accurate, the story wasn’t much better elsewhere.

Going into this, she’d told herself the losses were coming, that this was war, and this was how it went. But now, sitting there in silence, it hurt. It all hurt. And a couple of the losses this time were also particularly painful.

There was Fleet Captain Elsie Drake, a bright star and a kind soul, someone who, when Reyes had looked at her, she saw a reflection of her younger self. Elsie had appeared to have quite a bright future ahead of her, but not anymore. That future had been erased with a polaron blast to the head. How would she break it to Elsie’s father? She hadn’t told him yet, but Michael was going to be broken by the news.

As hard as that one was, the loss of Captain Jake Lewis was even harder to process. He was the one she’d turned to when she needed the impossible made possible, and he’d survived improbable odds more times than she could count. At some point, she just got used to the fact he’d always make it home. But this time, he hadn’t.

A chime at her door pulled her from her thoughts.

She wanted to tell them to go away, that she just wanted a bit of time to herself. But she couldn’t. Not in her role. She needed to project strength for the others, and so, she stood back up and straightened her uniform. “Come.”

In walked a Klingon, the lone survivor from the IKS Qul’Val, the scientist from Mempa V who’d been working with the Advanced Science, Technology and Research Team when his ship and all his colleagues met their end against the enemy.

“What can I do for you, Voragh?” Fleet Admiral Reyes asked kindly.

“We finished mapping subspace curvature around the trailward and coreward boundary,” Voragh reported on behalf of the team. “And we have identified the target.”

That target, she knew, was the Underspace outpost responsible for the creating the Blackout boundary that lay between them and Archanis Station. “I appreciate that, my friend, but you know you could have just called up if that was all?” She sensed it wasn’t though. There was something else on the man’s mind.

“Yes, but that’s not all I wanted to discuss,” Voragh acknowledged. “General Golroth, was a man of a different era. He supported the important work we did. But General Kloss and those who dominate the High Council these days, they see no honor in my trade.”

“I am sorry for your loss,” Fleet Admiral Reyes offered. “I truly am.” 

“Don’t be sorry, admiral,” Voragh replied. “Through science, I pursue honor beyond combat, but I am still a Klingon. The general died in a most honorable way, and for that, I salute him.” But then his face fell. “The problem is that he is in Sto’Vo’Kor now, while I find myself in an empire with no place for me.”

She felt for him. She really did. “The galaxy does not always offer us a place,” she counseled. She knew how he felt. She’d been there in the nineties when Starfleet had turned inward. “Sometimes, we must make that place for ourselves.” She had set out on the Khonsu for parts unknown, to continue Starfleet’s mission when Command had forgotten it, and maybe that was what Voragh needed now.

“I concur, and that is why I am here,” Voragh revealed. “I formally ask to join your crew, Fleet Admiral Reyes. Your Federation has demonstrated itself an ally of my people, even if Toral and his ilk cannot see it, and I sense that I may be able to do more good for my people working among yours than I will do at home among mine.”

For a moment, Fleet Admiral Reyes stood there considering the offer. She had not expected it. “You know we are preparing to return to Federation space, right? And that General Kloss is preparing a campaign to free worlds of your empire that have fallen beneath the yoke of the Vaadwaur?”

“I do,” Voragh acknowledged. “But this isn’t a short term commitment I am making, admiral. It isn’t about what we do next week, or next month, or next year. It isn’t about the Vaadwaur at all. It is an ask in recognition that the prosperity of your people is in the best interest of mine.”

“You’re certain about this?” Fleet Admiral Reyes asked.

“I am,” Voragh nodded.

Fleet Admiral Reyes extended her hand. “Then welcome to the team.”