Chapter 4: Strange Bedfellows
Conference Room, Starbase Veloris
The first thing that she noticed
when t’Ehrowhin walked into the conference room was
how the Romulan and Starfleet officers had segregated
themselves on either side of the table.
Captain Jerran seemed to be the only one
trying to socialize with the group on the opposite side of the table, and he
politely ended the conversation when the Commander-General walked in, taking
his seat next to hers near the head of the table. Conspicuously, Major t’Khellian
had claimed the seat directly across from the half Vulcan, half Bajoran Federation Captain, and seemed to watch him out of
the corner of her eye.
“I hope everyone is getting
settled in on the station,” t’Ehrowhin said as she
took her seat. “My
compliments to your engineer, Captain Jerran. With his help, all of the docking ports were
adapted to fit your ships as of late yesterday evening.”
“For LT Parker’s report, Khre’Riov, he was happy to help. He’s eager to learn more about your engineering
technology,” Jerran said, giving a slight grin to
Major t’Khellian, whom he
knew would be storing that comment away for later research.
t'Ehrowhin stifled a
chuckle as she watched the subtle exchange, glad to see that Jerran was able to hold his own with the Tal Shiar operative. “I have decided that the best way to start
off our new alliance is to run some simple patrols, partnering Starfleet with Romulan ships.” She
looked down at the table to Commander Stark and said, “Commander, the Belerophon will
be partnered with the Tocrah,
commanded by Sub-Commander tr’Loren. You will be assigned to patrolling the sector
around the Cheron system. Ever since the Reman
uprising, we’ve been having problems with pirates in this sector.” She looked first at Sub-Commander tr’Loren and then to Commander Stark and said, “Considering
our two governments have different ways of dealing with pirates, I will leave
it up to the two of you to come up with a mutual solution to the problem that
will satisfy both of our governments.”
Stark and tr’Loren
exchanged a nod from across the table as the t’Ehrowhin
continued. “Commander Cirol, the Ptolemy
will be paired with the V’ral,
commanded by Sub-Commander Seltak. As the Ptolemy
has far better planetary sensors than any other ships in the sector, you will
be exploring some of the gas giants in the Neutral Zone. Until our momentous alliance was formed here,
neither of our governments has been able to thoroughly explore these
systems.” The Bolian
starship commander nodded to her counterpart across the table, the Romulan commander of one of the two frigates who’d escorted
the trio of Starfleet ships to the station.
“And, Captain Jerran,
the Oberon will work with the tr’Morias, under
Commander N’Val.
Your job will be to meet up with a convoy carrying supplies in from
“Now, should you need any
supplies, our Quartermaster is here to serve you. Good luck and Mnhei’Sahe.”
The group got up and slowly filed
out of the room, with Captain Jerran staying behind
at t’Ehrowhin’s beckoning. When everyone had left except for the two of
them and Major t’Khellian, t’Ehrowhin
handed Jerran a PADD and said, “I hope that Commander
t’Jon will be able to
command the Oberon for the rather
mundane mission I have assigned her, as I have a special assignment for you,
Captain.”
Jerran briefly glanced at the PADD that had a biographical
profile on it, luckily translated to Vulcan as a courtesy to him.
“Considering that you are new to
this area,” Major t’Khellian began, “You can travel
through the sector without gathering much attention. And, considering our Vulcan Heritage, you can
at least somewhat blend in.”
Before Jerran
could question the Major’s comments, Khre’Riov t’Ehrowhin continued the briefing. “As you can read in greater detail on that
PADD, about a hundred years ago, there was a Romulan
named Stefanh tr’Khnialmnae. He was a very high ranking official in our
merchant marine division, and a very popular member of the civilian
government. He was even a Sub-Commander
within the military reserves, and very popular within the fleet.”
“Eventually, however,” t’Khellian continued, remembering t’Ehrowhin’s
penchant for hero worship, especially where the late 23rd century
was involved, “tr’Khnialmnae was implicated in a
conspiracy to assassinate the Praetor.
Before he could be taken into custody by Fleet Security, he was spirited
away by the crew of his ship, the Ja’telaih. Because of
his considerable influence within the Empire, his ship was quite well
outfitted. The stock Vas Ocalam
class transport is similar in disposition as the Federation’s
“And,” t’Ehrowhin
said, “Captain tr’Khnialmnae
was a brilliant tactician. He was able
to elude the Romulan Navy for quite sometime.”
t’Khellian continued,
looking slightly annoyed but unphased. “Until he was caught up in
the battle of Narendra III. I trust you are familiar with it.”
Jerran nodded and said, “Of course. The Klingon colony
was attacked by a squadron of Romulan ships. The Enterprise-C
was nearby and responded to the colony’s distress signal, and was subsequently
destroyed in the battle. However, that
act of sacrifice allowed for a deeper alliance between the Federation and Klingon Empire.”
t’Khellian seemed annoyed
at that last bit of information, but continued.
“Yes, and apparently, the Ja’telaih attempted to respond to the attack as well. She was believed to have been destroyed in a
massive explosion near the onset of the battle, but subsequent scans of the
subspace geometry in the area suggested that she may have actually survived.”
t'Ehrowhin leaned towards
Jerran, obviously fascinated with the story as she
said, “The scans suggested that the explosion may have created a massive
temporal rift, through which the Ja’telaih could have gone through.”
“She wasn’t the only ship to go
through,” t’Khellian said. “According to the prisoners taken from the Enterprise-C, she also passed through
the rift and ended up in the year 2366.
They were found by the Enterprise-D,
but things were very different. They
were apparently in an alternate universe where the Federation and Klingons were at war.
So, Captain Picard of the Enterprise-D sent the older ship back in time to continue the
battle at Narendra III, preventing the war from ever
happening.”
Jerran nodded and said, “My chief of security served on board the
Enterprise-D. She told me about how the ship eventually
encountered the half Romulan daughter of an Enterprise-D crewmember who had gone
back in time with the Enterprise-C.”
t’Khellian nodded, a hint
of annoyance flashing across her face as she said, “Yes, Commander Sela.”
t’Ehrowhin
continued. “Despite the changes back and
forth of the timeline by the
“So,” Jerran
said, looking at the two Romulans in turn, “where do
I come in?”
t’Khellian went over to
the wall viewer and activated a map of the area around the Cheron
system. She pointed to a system in the
neutral zone, about 5 light years from Cheron. “We have reason to believe that the Ja’telaih is currently
in the Iota Pavonis system. They’ve been asking around for a new pilot.”
Jerran raised an eyebrow as t’Ehrowhin
looked at him with a grin saying, “We think you’re the perfect fit for their
crew. You’re the best pilot in the
sector, if your reputation for being able to fly just about anything is true.”
“You mean that you want me to
infiltrate their crew.”
t’Ehrowhin nodded and
said, “We want you to gather information on their movements so that we may
eventually detain them.”
“You may be thinking that this is
an internal matter, Captain,” the Tal Shiar Major said as she turned off the wall screen. “But, this man is a political criminal who
has fostered civil unrest in the past.
If he does so again, this could damage our new… alliance.”
Jerran thought about the situation for a moment and said, “I’m
only going to gather information, right?
You’re not sending me in to sabotage or arrest this man.”
The commander-general nodded and
said, “Yes, Captain, that’s correct.”
“One of my operatives will
accompany you, of course,” Major t’Khellian said as
she pressed a button on the Commander-General’s desk. “If nothing but to foster cooperation, but
also to give you a source of information.”
Before Jerran
could protest a young Romulan officer came through
the door. He was dressed in a Tal Shiar uniform with
lieutenant’s rank on his collar. He was
about the same height as Jerran, with light brown
hair. What struck Jerran
the most, though, were his green eyes.
They almost reminded him of…
His thoughts were interrupted as Khre’Riov t’Ehrowhin said, “You
never mentioned anything about sending one of your operatives along.” Jerran turned to
her and could tell that she was sincerely taken aback.
“This is LT Devon tr’Kovan. I thought
he was the perfect choice to accompany Captain Jerran
because he’s made studying tr’Khnialmnae and his crew
somewhat of a hobby. He knows more about
this assignment than anyone on this crew, including you, Khre’Riov.”
t'Ehrowhin pursed her
lips slightly and then said, “Regardless, we are supposed to be cooperating
here, so I think we should ask Captain Jerran if he
even wants your spy to come along.”
Jerran was still watching LT tr’Kovan
and barely registered the mention of his name until t’Ehrowhin
said, “Captain?”
He turned towards her slowly and
said, “I have no problem, just as long as the Lieutenant understands the
mandate of our mission.”
For the first time, LT tr’Kovan spoke up, saying, “Of course I do, Captain. We are to gather information only. I may lack field experience, but I believe
that I am thoroughly trained for this particular mission.”
Jerran nodded, watching the Lieutenant as he said, “Then you’re
welcome along. I’d also like to bring my
chief helmsman, LT Cartwright.”
t’Ehrowhin nodded and
said, “Your prerogative, Captain. I do
suggest that you keep the group to just you three, however. Anymore and it will be difficult for you to
successfully infiltrate the Ja’telaih.”
”When do we leave?”
“The Ja’telaih will remain in the Iota
Pavonis system for the next 72 hours,” tr’Kovan said. “We
should probably leave by tomorrow afternoon.”
He handed Jerran a PADD and said, “I’ve
written up a review of the intelligence we’ve gathered about tr’Khnialmnae and the Ja’telaih. If you want, we can meet up tonight to go
over the information.”
Jerran took the PADD and said, “Come over to the Oberon at 2100, then.”
“We’ve got an old Kestrel class runabout that is being
prepped for you,” t’Ehrowhin said as she watched the
exchange between the Starfleet Captain and the young Tal
Shiar officer.
Jerran nodded and stood up, “If that’ll be all, then, I have to
get back to the Oberon to get
everything ready for my departure.”
“See you tonight, Captain,” tr’Kovan said, grinning slightly at Jerran.
Jerran nodded in return and left t’Ehrowhin’s
office.