Tarin opened the door and found Ben sitting at the workstation in his living room, dividing his attention between a padd and the large wall-mounted LCARS display over his desk. "How are you?"
"Better." He put the padd down and looked up as Tarin sat down in the chair by his side. "I busied myself with checking all the repairs the Malinche's teams have done and that took my mind off what has happened."
"How much do you remember?"
Ben sighed. "More than enough for my taste, but at least there are a few good memories in the mix. The details are getting fuzzy, like a dream you can't clearly recall after waking up." He gave her a small smile. "I need a little more time, maybe a day or two, but then we can talk about it, okay?"
Tarin returned his smile and nodded. "Of course, but if you don't want to talk about it at all, that's fine by me."
"No, I want to talk about it, especially with you. I need to know how much of what happened in that dream was based on reality and what wasn't; I just have to sort it out first." The smile vanished from his face and he frowned. "As foggy as the memories are becoming, it's still an awful lot. In that dream I lived through several weeks and before I talk about it I have to make up my mind what of it is important to me now and what isn't."
"Take all the time you need."
"Thanks." Ben briefly touched her hand before he continued. "And how are you feeling?"
Tarin studied his face for a moment and laughed softly. "Don't look at me like that Ben."
"Like what?"
"As if you expect me to glow in the dark or start shooting lightning bolts from my fingertips any second now."
The start of a grin played around Ben's lips. "You are not? Now that's a relief."
Tarin stood and lead him to the sofa while she replied. "No, apart from my ribs, which are almost completely healed, Doctor Jascar couldn't find anything and believe me, he looked very thoroughly." They settled on the sofa and Tarin pulled her legs up under her. "I spent hours in sickbay until the Doctor was fully satisfied he hadn't overlooked anything, but he still wants me to visit him for follow-up scans once every week for the next month or so."
Ben reached out to her and started to caress Tarin's hair. "So it looks like whatever Rishana has done had no effect at all." He sounded thoughtful and a bit surprised. After all that had happened the last few days Ben found it hard to believe that Rishana's 'gift' had apparently done nothing to Tarin.
"Yes and no." Tarin pulled his hand to her lips and kissed each of his fingers on by one, before she continued. "Doctor Jascar couldn't find anything, but I still feel that something has changed." Noticing Ben's concerned expression she quickly added: "Don't be alarmed, it's just that I feel more… vital than before."
"More vital? In which way?"
Tarin concentrated for a moment, looking inward, before she carefully replied. "It's difficult to describe, but I feel… I don't know... more energetic, as if my metabolism was operating at peak capacity. Stamina, reflexes, strength, it all seems a little bit enhanced, as if I am more… alive."
"I have no idea if this is temporary or permanent, and it could be just my imagination, but by tomorrow my ribs should have fully healed and Doctor Jascar wants to run me trough a series of tests to compare with my previous physicals. And I want to run a few tests of my own, too."
He cocked his head at the playful tone he noticed on Tarin’s last sentence. Ben recognized the glint in her eyes and knew she wanted him to ask. He was fairly certain where she was headed. For a moment he was undecided if he was ready for it or not, but whatever he recalled of his time on the Eclipse, he new it wasn’t real. Reality was right in front of his eyes and he wanted to embrace it. as strongly as he could. "What do you have in mind?"
"Oh I don't know, just a bit more martial arts training, a few physical exercises, stuff like that." She snuggled up to him and lowered her voice to a seductive whisper. "But if you feel ready for it and promise to be careful about my injured ribs I might be persuaded to start a little test of my stamina right now."
"One day you will be the death of me." He managed a grave voice that was belied by his grin, as he picked Tarin up and carried her to the bedroom.
*
* * * *
"Hey, how are you?" Moira pulled a visitor chair closer to the bed and sat down by Rishana's side.
"Exhausted." Rishana pushed herself into a sitting position and leaned against the headboard. "Despite having slept for several days in a row I am pretty tired."
"I am sure you will get better soon, but that's not what I really meant."
"I am not certain." Rishana looked away from her friend and sighed. "I am still having the visions, but they aren't half as strong or clear as they were… then. It's just fleeting images that vanish as quickly as they appear, but they are no longer limited to my dreams. Now it happens when I am wide awake and pretty much at random intervals too."
Moira thought seriously about it for a moment. She had been doing that a lot the last few days, since Rishana had told her about the visions. Of course that had been before Rishana and Tarin had decided it would be best to keep knowledge of it as close a secret as possible. Moira wasn’t certain why that decision had been made, but she was willing to trust her friends in this regard. "Well, I guess that's not so bad."
Rishana turned her head towards Moira again, surprise, curiosity and weariness mixing in her expression. "Why do you say that?"
"Think about it. Before this whole mess the visions came in your dreams and that, I guess, made them hard to control, but now that it happens when you are awake you should have a chance to exercise some more control over it."
Rishana carefully considered the thought, then nodded her head very slowly. "Yes… yes, I guess you have a point there."
Moira grinned. "I knew you would say that." Their eyes met and both women laughed out loud.
"Thanks, I really needed a good laugh." Rishana's voice turned more serious again and her smile vanished as fast as it had started. "There is something I need to know."
"Shoot."
"How
is the rest of the crew? Doctor Jascar told me he was fine, but he didn't want
to comment on the others and I am not sure he told me the truth about himself."
Moira leaned forward and propped her elbows on her knees. "Hard to say, but I have spoken with Kevas and a few others and they seem to recall very little of what happened to them. I don't know about their physical condition, but if there were any major problems we would be heading for the next starbase or medical ship by now, instead of patrolling the Argolis perimeter."
Slowly Rishana's smile returned. "Looks like another good point."
"Yeah," Moira replied with a wink, "I am pretty smart today."
Again the two laughed, before they began to discuss less serious topics than the Valkyrie's latest crisis.
*
* * * *
Tarin stretched hugely and purred as Ben ran his fingertips up her outstretched arm, across her shoulder and around her breasts.
"How are your ribs?" he softly asked.
She quivered under his touch and gave a long sensual sigh before she answered. "I don't care if they are broken again or not." She reached up to him and pulled his face down to her for a long passionate kiss. When they finally stopped for breath Tarin added: "I don't know about you, but for me this was one of the best times we ever had."
Ben ran his fingers up to her face and around her lips, withdrawing them each time Tarin playfully bit at them. "Yes, it sure was something special." His soft laughter shone in his eyes as he went on. "Whatever happened to you, you described it well when you said you were more alive than ever."
Before she had a chance to answer him the com-system came to life.
"Bridge to Captain Veal."
They both groaned before Ben rolled away from her. Being in love with a starship captain certainly had it's drawbacks, but he had known that from the start.
"Veal here, go ahead."
"Ma'am, we have an incoming transmission for you from Starfleet Headquarters. It's Admiral Avanessian."
Tarin leaned over to Ben and gave him a quick kiss before she answered the faceless voice. "Route the call to my quarters and tell the Admiral I will be with him momentarily. Veal out."
"Duty calls."
Ben grinned. "So I noticed. On the other hand, it's about time we took a dinner break. I am starving."
Tarin rose and walked over to the door, stark-naked as she was. "I guess you are right. Why don't you get something ready for us while I deal with the Admiral. I promise I'll keep it as short as I can."
Ben ran his eyes up and down her body and his face twisted into a roguish grin. "I guess keeping it short will be difficult for me."
Tarin tried hard to give him a disapproving look, but once the door had closed behind her she laughed out so loud she was sure the whole ship could hear her.
*
* * * *
Tarin slipped into a kimono and adjusted the camera pick-up to keep a tight focus on her face before she accepted the incoming call.
She tried hard to hide her surprise as not one, but two admirals showed up on the screen. "Admiral Fairchild, Admiral Avanessian," she nodded at the C-n-C and the Chief of Fleet Operations.
"I am sorry, Captain Veal," Avanessian replied with a wry smile. "It seems I am developing a bad habit of calling you during your off-duty hours."
Tarin returned his smile. "And it seems I am developing a habit of taking your calls with my hair being a complete mess, so why don't we call it even."
"Deal." He chuckled before he turned more serious again. "I have just received your preliminary report on the Argolis affair and you have managed to seriously impress me once again, but," he stopped her reply with a raised hand, "I have received Captain Sanders' report at the same time and he mentioned something about a medical problem on your ship. So far I have not received a report from you on that."
Tarin leaned back into her chair and exhaled slowly. "No Sir, you haven't. Some of the details are hard to put into words and I would like to wait for a full report from my medical staff before submitting any official statement." As Admiral Avanessian nodded slightly she added: "That aside, whatever I put in that report may affect the career of one of my officers, even if the situation was completely out of her hands, Sir."
"I see." The Admiral nodded more vigorously. "I am prepared to wait as long as it takes you to finish that report. Just make sure I don't have to wait any longer than necessary."
"Yes Sir." So far Admiral Fairchild had kept silent and Tarin took a quick look at her face. A faint trace of a smile played around the gray-haired woman's lips, but it vanished as Admiral Avanessian went on.
"Now, Captain Veal, there are a few official and some unofficial things we have to discuss."
"One. We have managed to find a Tultrak-class ship for you a little sooner than we expected, as the Andorian Ambassador to the Federation was kind enough to lend us the USS Hawk for an unspecified period of time. She is already on her way and should rendezvous with you in about two days." Tarin pursed her lips in a silent whistle. The USS Hawk had been assigned to the Andorian Ambassador from the day of her commissioning and she briefly wondered if the Ambassador had just felt generous or if there had been a price-tag attached to his goodwill.
"Second," Avanessian continued, "the pilot of the Hawk will be permanently assigned to your command and while Lieutenant Foster may be a little too brash for his own good, you will find him an excellent pilot. His personal file is attached to this transmission." Tarin checked the computer and routed the file to the Valkyrie's database and her own database. "File received, Admiral."
Avanessian nodded by the fraction of an inch and went on. "Third, you will get another crewmember together with the Hawk. While I don't suppose you will like this very much, we are assigning one of our most talented cadets to the Valkyrie for field training."
This time Tarin's whistle wasn't so silent. Admiral Avanessian was certainly right – she didn't like the idea very much - but as much as she wanted to protest, she knew very well that that would be no use and that there must have been some reason behind the decision he had not yet revealed to her, so she just frowned slightly. "Understood, Sir. More or less that is."
The smile he flashed her held little amusement. "Your science department is still under-staffed, even for the mission we have currently assigned you and I have been assured Cadet Xedon is the most talented prospective science officer the Academy has to offer. I am certain you will be able to put her to good use and further her education at the same time."
"Xedon..." Tarin slowly turned the name around in her head and tried to remember what bell it rang. Suddenly it dawned on her. "That's a Komari name, isn't it?"
"Yes, but she also happens to be the daughter of the Komari congress chairman and once she expressed her interest in this posting her father put a lot of weight behind her request for transfer." Admiral Avanessian sighed and slightly shrugged his shoulders.
"I see," Tarin replied with a frown. "Politics."
"Yes, Captain," Admiral Fairchild suddenly added to the conversation, "politics. Which brings us to the fourth item on our agenda, but I will only discuss this with you once you understand that from here on everything is strictly unofficial and completely off the record."
As much as she tried Tarin was unable to read the Commander-in-Chief's expression, so she just leaned a little closer to the monitor.
She had a sinking feeling the news wouldn't be good, but she tried her utmost to appear calm and composed. "Certainly Ma'am. As far as I am concerned I have never spoken with you about whatever you are not going to say from here on."
*
* * * *
"I am not so sure it was a good idea to tell her all that," Admiral Avanessian remarked after he had cut the com-line. "If anything, we are making her job harder by pointing out the public and political ramifications of her actions."
Admiral Fairchild leaned forward, kneading her temples with both hands. "I am aware of that Arkady, and the last thing I want is Veal starting to make decisions for political reasons, but that is precisely why we had to fill her in on our thoughts. She knew from the start that we intended to turn the Valkyrie – and her crew – into an icon, but we never expected things to move this fast. Better to give her some advance warning now than to leave her completely in the dark until everything hits the fan and blows up in her face. While it wouldn't do any good to worry her with what may or may not happen, she should at least be aware of the current situation and the immediate consequences. "
Arkady Avanessian frowned. "How certain are you that – in the long run - things will get ugly? While everything is moving faster than we hoped, it's all moving in the right direction."
Starfleet's Commander-in-Chief rose and walked to the window. Leaning on the sill she starred out the window at the darkening autumn sky over the gardens surrounding Starfleet Headquarters. "You are right. The way Captain Veal's popularity is rising is just what we hoped for, but as much as we trusted her ability to deliver those results, we never anticipated that it would happen so soon." She turned to her colleague again. "Her actions during the Battle of Vulcan have gained her a lot of respect and once knowledge about the Argolis spreads I bet she will gain a lot more admirers, however lucky she may have been to pull that off."
Avanessian rose and walked to the mahogany sideboard. As he filled a glass with whiskey he replied: "Yes, stopping a whole battle-wing with just one other officer and a shuttle will be the talk all around Starfleet for weeks."
"Precisely." Elinor Fairchild gestured for him to pour her a drink and continued. "And while we haven't released any details about the Valkyrie's role in the Akadon negotiations there are a lot of rumors flying around that will only get more outrageous as her reputation grows." She took the glass Avanessian handed her and took a long swig. "While nothing of that is inherently bad, it's happening too fast and too soon. If she can't keep up her rate of success, Veal's reputation will vanish just as fast as she gains it. The other problem is the presidential election."
Noticing Avanessian's enquiring expression she sat behind her desk again and motioned for him to be seated, too. "I wish I could let my own disdain for politics blind me as much as you can afford, old friend."
"Bah! I am well aware of what goes on in current politics, but if you think you are so damn clever why don't you share your wisdom with me?"
Admiral Fairchild sighed. She knew that her colleague wasn't really angry with her, but what she had said was still true. While Avanessian's position on the Joint-Chiefs brought him necessarily in contact with various politicians, he could still ignore the finer points of Federation politics most of the time.
*
* * * *
"Ah, there you are," Ben greeted her as Tarin entered his living room. While he was intrigued by the way the black silk kimono clung to Tarin's body, his mind turned away from any amorous thoughts when he noticed her expression. "Bad news?"
"I am not sure." Tarin lowered herself into a chair at Ben's dining table and she was grateful he had put on trousers and a t-shirt. Twenty minutes ago she would have almost been disappointed by it, but now her mood had changed.
Tarin took the glass Ben handed her and smelled the rich aroma of a Vulcan wine. She took a sip and glanced at the dishes he had replicated. The mix of Vulcan and Centauran cuisine would have delighted her any other time, but now things were a little different.
"We talked about a few new personnel assignments and the Tultrak-class ship we are getting," she remarked. Tarin took another sip of wine and carefully put the glass down on the table. "You are aware that Starfleet Command intended the Valkyrie not to be just a front-line unit, but a political and public gesture as well?"
"Yes." Ben looked at her over the rim of his glass. "Most of us knew it from the start, but I take it that now the political agenda of our mission is catching up with us – or rather you."
"Well, as you are not specifically asking if that was part of my discussion with the admirals I won't have to tell you that that specific topic never came up." Tarin picked up a spoon and started on her plomeek soup.
"Admirals? I thought you received a call from Avanessian? Who else was it, or is that a secret too?"
"No," she shook her head, "it's no secret. It was Admiral Fairchild."
Ben inhaled sharply. "Now if the CinC gave you a call things must be either a lot better than I thought or a lot worse and from your expression I take it worse is the case."
Tarin lowered her spoon and met her fiancé's worried look. "No, it's not that bad... yet, and what we talked about is a worst-case scenario, but I have already said too much."
Ben's eyes narrowed as he studied her face. "I take it that's your last word on this matter." When she just nodded he started on his salad and added between two bites: "In that case let's just eat and try not to think about it, at least not tonight."
The trace of a smile crossed Tarin's face. "That's fine by me." Being the captain of a starship certainly had it's drawbacks, but as long as Ben continued to be as understanding as he was, she didn't mind.
* * * * *
"All right, let's get straight to the point. In a few months it's time to elect a new Federation president. Jaresh Inyo may be persuaded to run for another term, which would be my favorite scenario, but that aside we can be certain Montego will be one of the nominees."
Avanessian frowned. Paolo Montego, the Terran Ambassador to the Federation, was a strong and vocal advocate of the 'Core-Worlds First' policy, embodied on the Starfleet side by Walter Collmann and his friends. "Go on."
"Now with the current conflicts on both the Romulan and Cardassian border and the aftermath of the Chaos War, the future role of Starfleet is bound the be a major issue in anyone's election campaign. If Captain Veal can't keep up her current rate of success – or doesn't at least deliver another spectacular accomplishment shortly before the elections – it will be easy to downplay her current accomplishments as a stroke of luck and to argue that the whole Valkyrie concept wasn't sound."
"Which would give politicians like Montego more ammunition against the people we would like as president."
"Yes,” Fairchild sipped her whiskey and swiveled the chair around to look out the window again, “but compared to the size of all the problems we are facing it's not that important. No, what I fear even more is that Veal, by some stroke of fate or personal genius or whatever else, will continue her row of brilliant successes. In that case things could get really ugly, especially for her."
She glanced at Arkady Avanessian from the corner of her eye without turning away from the window. "The whole idea behind the Valkyrie mission was to find a way that would deliver the successes we need without resorting to the military buildup the hawks in the Council and Starfleet advocate and Jaresh Inyo endorsed it for the same reason. Now if the hawks can't invalidate the concept itself they might try to shoot down the woman we chose as the most visible part of the mission – Captain Veal."
Admiral Avanessian couldn't believe what she had just said. "You can't be serious, Nora. This is the 24th century in case you haven't noticed. I can't believe even Montego or Collmann would go so far as to start a smear campaign against on of our captains, especially one that delivers results they should be just as pleased with as we are."
Admiral Fairchild finished her drink and turned her chair back to her colleague. "Things are changing Arkady. However much I wish you were right, I have a feeling that, with the upcoming elections, we are nearing a crossroads that could shape the future of Starfleet for many years to come."
Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3