Without Them

[Cmdr Ba'alyo 0]

Commander Ba'alyo paced the aft bridge, wary of the upcoming dinner that was scheduled aboard the Constitution-refit Georgetown. Although Lessard had passed on communications that the rebel faction was collapsing, Zen remained concerned about letting down their guard in what remained a potential war zone.

 

As yet, Captain Seiben had not detailed the make-up of the dinner party. It was possible it would be limited to command officers, in which case he and Lieutenant Commander Cyiy would accompany the captain . On the other hand, the gathering might be for the entire senior staff. If so, Zen hoped he and the junior officers would be allowed to remain aboard Challenger as a contingency.

 

By all reports, the ground battles had stalled, but the rebels still held control of the Great Hall. In orbit, it seemed the rebel ships had withdrawn under cloak. Corroborating subspace messages from Rok'Tun and Captain Saylek indicated the stolen freighters and at least one warship were falling back toward the Maranga system. Columbia was on its way there, alone. An estimated transit of 48 hours.

 

Zen was concerned about the liklihood that Columbia, if not heading into an outright trap, would arrive there to find itself hopelessly outnumbered.

 

The commander circled around toward the front of the bridge, approaching Lieutenant (j.g.) Savros at the secondary science console. "Can you pull up charts on the Maranga system?" he quietly asked the Vulcan. Astronavigation had been his career path, but Zen didn't know every system in the quadrant by memory.

 

Savros nodded and complied, accessing the stellar cartography database. In a few moments, the system was displayed on the upper bank.

 

Maranga was a loose collection of planetoids, asteroids, and rubble – a hornet's nest of debris locked in orbit around a weak brown dwarf. It was embedded in the Vodrey cloud, a diffuse extension of the larger Azure Nebula. What he did know from memory was that this nebula was a favorite staging area for Klingon raids into Federation space over the last thirty years – and a useful screen for Starfleet insertions, as well.

 

Just last year, he had been aboard the Excelsior when Captain Hikaru Sulu had attempted to sneak into Klingon territory, an incident that had not made the official logs. Inside the nebula, they had been discovered by a D9 K'tinga-class warship commanded by Kang, the same formidable Klingon who now seemed in command of the loyalist forces above Qo'noS. He wondered if that meant other ships routinely patrolled the area.

 

He knew Challenger needed to stay and protect the ships of the convoy and be ready to extract Ambassador Dax. It was probably also important to show Federation support and witness the conclusion of the coup. But it felt like they were sending someone else to conclude their mission while they sat at leisure.

 

Up to this point, they'd been restricted from interfering in what was clearly an internal political matter of the Klingon Empire. But it seemed like the one part that did concern Starfleet, the recovery of their stolen freighters and crews, was about to happen elsewhere – without them. Zen allowed a low growl of unease, then folded his arms and looked off at the viewer.