Suzanna looked at Hawke, and tapped her comm badge again. "Transporter room 1, report! Did you get anyone?"

"Sir, we have a representative of the Romulan Star Empire... And she's none to pleased about it."

Hawke smiled grimly, "very good chief, have security show her the proper accommodations for one of her high stature."

"Aye Captain," the Transporter Chief replied. "XO, take Mr. Lim and begin debriefing our guest on the Federation's Laws of War."

"Aye sir," replied Blokpoel as she rubbed her arm and winced slightly.

Hawke looked at her as she started to move with Lim to the turbolift, "Ah, and stop by sickbay on your way."

She looked back and nodded before continuing on to the TL.

"Sickbay", Suzanna said as the doors of the turbolift closed. She closed her eyes a moment and rubbed her arm again while she tried to suppress the pain from her arm. She turned to Vincent, "Sickbay shouldn't take too long, I hope." They stepped out of the turbolift and headed for sickbay. "From the information I know, I expect that our 'guest' will be less than talkative. But I believe you've come face to face with the Romulans before. In your opinion, what can we expect?"

Vincent turned and faced Suzanna, "In my opinion, we're going to face one of the most stubborn and devious life forms ever to evolve in the galaxy. But then again, we could be wrong. I have seen Romulans that are..... unique"

They walked into sickbay. The EMH, activated by Dr Bussard before he had gone to tend to some of the wounded on deck 4, checked out her arm with a medical tricorder.

"A cracked humerus, Lieutenant. Let me guess, a not so soft landing."
Suzanna nodded at the EMH as she listened to Vincent talking about the Romulans.

"Honestly, I think we'll just be wasting our time talking to our guest. But, if there's a possibility we might be able to extract tactical information, we must give it our best shot."

Suzanna nodded at Vincent, "We will found soon enough, lieutenant."

The EMH finished treating her arm. "That should do it, take it easy with that arm for a few days."

"Thank you doctor." Suzanna got up from the biobed. She turned to Vincent, "Time to greet our 'guest'." Vincent nodded and they headed for the brig.

"Suzanna, do you know how to mind melt?" Vincent asked.

Suzanna looked at Vincent for a moment and raised an eyebrow. She could guess at the reason for his question, and did not like where it might lead. "Yes, besides having general empathic abilities I am also a touch telepath."

"Good," Vincent acknowledged. "It should prove very useful, if the need arises. I personally feel that this war has been prolonged way too long. Somebody should end it and we'll have to make sure that that somebody is on our side of the fence."

"There is no logic in war, so any war no matter how long it lasts is too long." Suzanna glanced at Vincent. "But Starfleet in my dimension does not abuse its prisoners of war."

They stepped back into the turbolift. "Brig." Suzanna looked at Vincent, "Your training as tactical officer included debriefing prisoners, did it not lieutenant?" Suzanna asked.

"Every officer that underwent the Advance Tactical training will have the skills and know the procedures to do so. It's been a while since I debriefed prisoners." Just then, the turbo lift doors opened and the two officers walked out. "After you," gestured the Red collared officer.

"Our first objective is to find out who she is and what her duties on the scout ship were. Then we can have a better idea of the sort of information she is likely to have been privy to." Suzanna said.

=/\= brig =/\=

Suzanna nodded to Ensign Kahless, "How is our 'guest', Mr Kahless?"
"She is uninjured and secured in detention cell 1, sir." Kahless replied.
"Very well, Mr Kahless." Suzanna nodded. "Please note that our guest should be on suicide watch at all times. The few Romulan prisoners that have been captured alive all managed to kill themselves, we do not want her to follow in that tradition."
"Aye sir, we'll keep a close eye on her at all times." Kahless replied.

Vincent turned to Kahless, "Make sure you have sedatives handy, you never know when you might need them."

"Aye sir," replied the Chief SEC.

Suzanna turned to Vincent, "let's meet our 'guest', Mr Lim."

They walked over to the cell and Suzanna turned to face their prisoner. She looked like a typical Romulan, short black hair in a sharp, almost angular, cut, slightly pointed ears. She was wearing the uniform of a Romulan officer, with the rank insignia equivalent of that of a Captain. "Jolan'tru Captain. Welcome aboard the USS Valiant."

The Romulan officer just shrugged and remained seated. She had no intention at all of revealing any information. She was prepared to die for her Empire. Vincent however maintained a cool expression, discreetly observing the resentful Romulan.

After a brief moment of silence, Vincent decided to break the 'ice'. "Greetings, I am Lieutenant Junior Grade Vincent Lim and this is," pointing to Suzanna, "Lieutenant Suzanna Blokpoel."

The Romulan took turns to glare at Vincent and Suzanna. Finally, she broke her silence. "I am Captain Rhiana and that is the only thing you are going to find out!"

Vincent whispered to Suzanna, "This is going to be a long day", then turning back to Rhiana. "We hope you are comfortable with Federation hospitality, as you know.... We are not brutal and merciless", said Vincent. Although it was meant for sarcasm, Vincent made no change in his tone.
After spending roughly 2 hours with the prisoner of war, everything came back to square one - Nothing.

All that her empathic abilities had been able to pick up from the Romulan was resentment and resolve and at times hate. Their questions had at best been answered with a cold glare. But most of the time the Romulan Captain had just stared at the wall. Suzanna nodded to Vincent and they walked out of hearing distance of the detention cell. "From what I can sense from her, she has no intention at all of talking to us, which is no surprise."
Vincent nodded, "Yes, the Romulans are stubborn people..."
Just then Hawke walked in, his expression was grim. "What have we found out about our 'guest', Mr Blokpoel."

Suzanna nodded to Hawke, "Not a lot Commander. She has been unwilling to talk to us so far and has only revealed that her name is Captain Rhiana. We will run it through all Starfleet databases, but how much additional information that will give us is questionable. All that I have been able to sense from her is resentment and resolve."

It was late in the evening when Suzanna finished her meditation exercise and got up from the floor. She picked up the candle and put it on the table. Her thoughts wondered to their mission. She walked to the replicator and got herself a mug of tea before sitting down at the table. The room was dark except for the light of the candle.

The Valiant would be joining up with the 6th fleet very soon, she thought, to liberate Vulcan. The last time she had been home was nearly two years ago. Just after she had graduated from the academy. And since their arrival in this dimension she had not had the chance to visit the planet either. She had done research into her 'new' home planet after their arrival here and found they had developed almost identical. The main difference was the identities of the people, everything else seemed the same.

And now this T'Khasi was occupied by the Romulan, by those who left the planet so long ago. From what she had learned the Romulan in this dimension were no different from those she knew. And it was obvious that the Romulan would not leave without a fight. But this time, things *were* different. *This* was T'Khasi, Vulcan, her home planet. This could have happened in her own dimension. If it had, it would have been her family trapped on the planet, their freedom taken and their lives threatened.

Suzanna could feel the anger rise with in her. The invasion of T'Khasi was totally unacceptable. Her Vulcan half kept a tight control on the human anger she felt. There was no logic in war, in the end everyone would lose. The price was always high, no matter what the outcome. She did not believe in the use of violence, except as a last resort. However, she knew that if sufficiently provoked, her human half could, and would, break through the control. Freedom was worth the price they would have to pay, and the odds were not looking good for the 6th Fleet. Yet she *knew* they had to try, no matter what the cost.

Suzanna shook her head a moment. It would be so strange going back to T'Khasi. Her home planet, that wasn't really her home without her family and friends. Even more so under these circumstances. She could only hope that these events had not happened in her own dimension and that her own family was safe and free.

She took a sip her tea and stared at the candle. Her mind wondered to Jon. It had been difficult taking her leave when she had left on the original mission with the Valiant. But now with the invasion of Vulcan and the change to her own mission, things were even more complicated. The odds for either mission were not good. She closed her eyes and allowed a smile to break through her control while she thought about the time they'd spent together.
Would she ever see him again? They had both lost enough family and friends to last a lifetime. She did not want to lose another one, especially not Jon.

The war continued, Starfleet had sent in a team undercover to Vulcan, the 6th Fleet was on its way to liberate the planet from the Romulans. The Valiant had been the ship that had delivered the insurgency team to the planet in the Eridani 40 system.

Suzanna tapped a sequence on her science console, and ran a last diagnostic on the sensors. The tension on the bridge had reduced considerably after they had made it safely out of the Vulcan system. They hadn't made it quite back to the 6ht fleet though when new orders had come in. Romulan troop transports had been spotted en route to Vulcan and the Valiant was to lead a group of Starfleet ship that would stop them reaching their destination. Captain Hawke had ordered battle drills and full system diagnostics during the time they had been en route.

[diagnostic complete. All sensors are working at maximum efficiency]. The computer chirped.
The Valiant was nearing its destination and the tension on the bridge was about to rise again. Suzanna tapped on her console and collected the other departmental reports. She turned round, "Sir, all departments are at battle stations and report ready"

Hawke nodded. "Very good."

"Sir," Lim called out moments later, "The Tachyon sweep has picked up Romulan ships on the long range sensors!"

"Helm, bring us to maximum speed." Hawke ordered, he turned to tactical. "Prepare to drop cloak and arm weapons. Send the coordinates to the other ships."

"Aye sir, came the joint reply.

"We will be within firing range in 2 minutes at full warp." Ninjor reported
"We are at full warp sir." Dominko responded.
"The fleet reports ready, sir" Lim added.
"Drop the cloak and reduce to impulse on my mark," Hawke said.

The minutes ticked by and Suzanna could sense the tension on the bridge rising with every passing second.

"Now!!" Hawke shouted as they reached their targets.

The battle had begun.

Hawke looked at the monitor as the Valiant came out of warp right in the middle of the convoy of ships. "Mr. Dominko! Attack pattern, Omega-Red- 7-Zulu!" yelled Hawke. "Ninjor, fire at will!"

Hawke swivelled the command chair. "Mr. Lim, I want a full sensor sweep! I need to know what we are up against! Once you have it forward it to the Fleet with our present location and tell them we have engaged the Romulan convoy and are awaiting reinforcements!"

Lim nodded as the Valiant began her tactical manoeuvres, she dipped in and out of the convoy firing at will. The Romulans were surprised by her sudden appearance but now that the realization of what was going on they began to disperse and return fire. Four scout ships changed course and were in pursuit of the Valiant...

"Sir, 4 scouts have turned on us and are following us." Lim reported.
"Dominko, evasive manoeuvres at will!" Hawke shouted. "Target those scout ships Mr Ninjor"

"Aye sir! Hang on people." Dominko replied.

The Valiant was firing at the pursuing scout ships and being fired up on. The Valiant shook as the shields absorbed the energy.

"Shields holding, sir" Lim reported. "Commander! we have a total of 30 transport ships, 10 D'deridex Warbirds and 10 Scout Ships! They are on an intercept course with the Fleet, transmitting data to the Fleet now!

Dominko checks the Romulan scouts' positions, and brings the ship through a full 180 degrees turn and faced the 2 scouts that had been right behind them.

Ninjor launched a spread of Quantum torpedoes and continued to fire phasers at the two scouts that had been chasing the Valiant. The first scout's shields collapsed under the barrage and the ship exploded in a bright blast. The second scout barely managed to avoid colliding with the first scout but its proximity to the explosion took its toll on their shields.

The Valiant rocked from the explosion of the scout ship and came under fire from the other two.
"Shields down to 78%" Lim called out.

"Bridge to Engineering, we need more power to the shields" Suzanna ordered.
"Aye sir," Lucutis responded.

But still, two were coming in, one from the right and one from down under. Dominko chose the path directly in between them, causing them to stop firing because of the possibility of hitting one another. "That was close" he thought

Ninjor launched a spread of Quantums on the 3rd scout ship. Suzanna could feel the Valiant shudder as they left the ship. The first three torpedoes drained the shields and the fourth went through.

"Report" Hawke called out.
"The shields are collapsing and weapons systems disabled, sir." Lim reported.

Suddenly the Valiant rocked violently as she's hit by the concentrated firepower of the remaining scout ships. Everyone standing is thrown flying. Suzanna barely managed to hold on to her station. A console exploded in a flood of sparks.

"Damage report." Hawke yelled " Helm, evasive pattern Delta-7. NOW!!"
"Shields are down to 50%." Lim reported.
"EM discharge in the sensor array, short range sensors are off-line." Ops called out.
"Damage to deck 3. Repair crews are despatched. Casualty reports are coming in from all decks, sir." Suzanna reported. She shook her head as her fingers were flying over the console and wondered how long it would take for the reinforcements to arrive. They wouldn't be able to keep this up for much longer.

The Valiant rocked violently as she sustained another hit from the Scout ships. Shields were now at 45%. Vincent stumbled over to the auxiliary system consoles and brought the backup sensors online.

Suzanna looked up from her console and noticed the injured Ninjor on the deck, "Ensign O'Brient, what is his condition?"
"Mr Lim take control of the weapons systems and continue firing" Hawke ordered.
"Aye sir," Lim replied.
"Tactical map on screen Mr Lim," Hawke ordered.
"Aye sir, tactical on screen now". Lim responded.

Hawke studied the tactical map. During the battle with the scout ships the Valiant had strayed away from the convoy. The situation did not look good unless the reinforcements arrived soon.

The Valiant continued firing on the scout ships. Disabling another one, leaving only one, which was still attacking the Valiant.

"Sir, two D'deridex class warbirds have left the convoy and are on an intercept course. They will be in firing range in 2 minutes." Lim called out. "Shields are at 40%. I recommend that we execute a few more passes and get the hell out of here before our shields fail..... with the estimated amount of damage we're
sustaining, even the backup sensors would be non-functioning soon"

Hawke swivelled round to face the tactical station. "Noted Mr Lim, but we are the only thing that stands between these transports and the Fleet at Charis. We will stay as long as we have to." Hawke turned to face viewscreen again. "Helm, get us back to the convoy and initiate attack pattern, Gamma-3-Echo!! Fire at will at the transport ships in the convoy!!." Hawke ordered. "Let's take as many down as we can."

"Oh boy", Suzanna sighed softly, when she heard this. She glanced briefly at the tactical map on the view screen and shook her head. Unless a miracle happened in the next few minutes, they would go down. She took some comfort from the fact that at least they wouldn't go down without a fight. She continued to work on her console, rerouting the sensor, directing information to Engineering and the repair teams.

The Valiant moved back to the convoy with the two warbirds in hot pursuit.
Ninjor was back on his feet and at station, firing all weapons on any ship within firing range.

Dominko's fingers were flying over the console as he tried to keep the Valiant moved in and out of the convoy still pursued by the warbirds. The ship shook as the shields were being drained even further.

"Sir, shields are down to 30%." Lim shouted. "We won't be able to take much more of this."
Suzanna looked at the displays on her console and turned round towards Hawke, "More damage to deck 3 and now deck 4 as well. EM discharge in the EPS system. Long range sensors are off line."

Hawke nodded. Suzanna just shook her head, what else could be said. It was only a question of time and very little time at that. The Valiant was no match against a single warbird with full shields, let alone two in the condition they were in. Not to even think about the rest of this convoy. She glanced at the viewscreen as she turned back to her station. She could see that the warbirds were in firing range ..

At that moment, a fleet of eleven starships exited warp and entered the battle zone. Suzanna recognised the lead ship immediately, how could she not. It was the Cortez, their own ship. She closed her eyes for a brief moment and smiled as a sense of relieve washed over her, there was still hope. "Great timing Robin!"

Many days later....On board the Valiant...

"By the power vested in me from the United Federation of Planets, I hereby turn duty and command of the United Starship Valiant NCC-91223 to Commander Sito Adrienne Droxi. May god have mercy on your crew."
"Dismissed!" Sito Barked.

Hawke turned and left up the docking area with Suzanna. His eyes betraying that he was deep in thought, much as she had been.

"Well sir, what do we do next.?" Suzanna asked. Her last days on the Valiant had been quite, relatively speaking that is. Then again, any thing is quite compared to the heat of a battle, especially their last one. They had carried out damage repairs en route to the starbase.

Hawke kept walking without even looking over at her. "We go get our people off Omninus, what else?"

Suzanna nodded, what could she say, the crew of the Cortez was still incomplete and would be so until they got their team back.

Hawke tapped his comm-badge, "Hawke to Sutherland.."

"Sutherland here sir." Robin replied.

"Robin, inform the Senior Staff that we will have a brief in the Conference room at 1300 hours to discuss final details of our mission to Omninus."

"Aye sir."

"Hawke out," he said as he turned to face Blokpoel. "I have a meeting with Admiral Kane and the ship CO's now Suzanna, I'll see you back on the ship in two hours."

Suzanna nodded as she watched Hawke stride off.... Her thoughts were on Jon and the rest of the team.... But mainly Jon. She started walking to the airlock connecting the starbase to the Cortez. The odds for both their missions had not been good, and the team on the Valiant had somehow managed to beat those odds. She could only hope that Jon would be able to do the same. He was still alive, she knew that, but in what state…. Hopefully he, and the rest of his team, would be able to hang in there long enough for the Cortez to come and help them beat the odds.

Back on the Cortez, Suzanna walked down the familiar corridor towards the science lab. She had just dropped a bag with the few things that she had taken with her on the Valiant in her quarters. It had not been much, the Valiant as Defiant class had been a small ship with little space. She was glad to be back. Very glad even. The Cortez had become her home since their arrival in this dimension. The Valiant had been sturdy little ship but it wasn’t the same as this Sovereign Class ship. She had missed the Cortez more than she had anticipated, it was good to be back. She turned the corner and walked into the lab. She stopped and looked around for a moment, it didn’t look much different from when she had last seen it.

Several days later, Suzanna attended the senior officer meeting in the observation lounge.

"Very well, said Hawke, "Here is the mission outline:
Recon team Thunder Blue has departed the Star Base for Omninus to gather information on the disposition of remaining Romulan Forces on Omninus. Once we have received that information, The 3rd Fleet will depart within one hour of confirmation lead by the Cortez will sweep through the sector and push all remaining Romulan Forces out...All the way back to the Neutral Zone. There is a chance that a cease-fire will be implemented prior to this operation. However, it is my intent to show our presence to insure that the Romulans understand that we mean business. I want all departments to go to OPCON 1 and have their ready reports to my XO within the hour.... What are your questions?"

Suzanna raised her hand. Hawke nodded to her, and she continued. "You mentioned a chance of a cease-fire, which would suggest a possible peace agreement. What are the odds of that being implemented before we get there? Is there a way that we could contribute to the success of that, other than by another battle?"

"Also sir, has there been any word from Team 1 at all?" Suzanna asked, she paused a moment, "their intel could provide us with important information."

Hawke leaned back in his chair and eyed his former executive officer of the Valiant before attempting to answer, "The chances of cease-fire looked good Mr. Blokpoel and as far as assisting the peace process, our rules of engagement have reverted back to the original state of never fire first and then only in defence of United Federation of Planets citizens and Starfleet personnel and ships. We will not go in with guns blazing but we will provide a show of force."

Suzanna nodded, the expression on her face neutral and calm. That was logical, and good news, so many lives had already been lost in this war.

As for the question of contact..." Hawke paused, "There has been contact and the situation of the Team and its efforts with the resistance has been good. They were able to provide us with some good intel. The team itself has suffered the loss of its leader LtCmdr Neillya. He is currently believed to be held as a prisoner of war by the Romulan forces, we will get him back along with the others."

'OH SH*T!!!', the human half's silent reaction as usual first, before the Vulcan half could step in and reinforce her mental shielding and control. The neutral expression on her face had frozen in place and she briefly closed her eyes while taking in Hawke's words. All she could hope that no one had noticed her, even though she was sure that Hawke had seen it. And the stare of the counsellor indicated that she had noticed something.

Hawke looked around the room once more, "Very well, dismissed..."

Suzanna nodded at Hawke and left the conference room with the others. Her Vulcan half was continuously reinforcing her mental shielding and control. The neutral expression was still frozen on her face as she headed for the main science lab. She was conscious of the fact that there were quite a few other telepaths on board, but more importantly, she had a job to do, she needed it for that. Besides, it would not be logical to worry about something she had no control over, the Vulcan half argued.

Suzanna walked in to the main science lab and looked around, "Ensign Gina," she called out, "there will be a briefing here for the science department in 5 minutes, please ensure that all department heads and senior assistants will be present."

"Aye sir," She replied.

Suzanna nodded and walked into her office. The door closed behind her and she sat down behind her desk. She needed a few moments alone to gather her thoughts and actually process Hawke's words. She had known this could happen and had dreaded the possibility. She closed her eyes and searched through her mind. She had no recollection of feeling the trace of Jon's mind, left by their brief mind meld, disappear. It was still there. This in itself was good news, it meant he was still alive. At the same time it concerned her greatly. Romulans do not treat their prisoners well, and even worse if they wanted information out of them. Time was of the essence, the sooner they would be at Omninus, the more chances he had of coming through this alive. She was relieved that she had her Vulcan half to fall back on in a crisis. She checked her shielding and control, when she was sure they were firmly in place she headed back out to the science lab, there was work to do.

Suzanna sat on the floor in her quarters, staring at her meditation candle and sighed. She had not been able to find her calm and quiet centre, again. The place, where as a child, she had been taught to retreat to in times of trouble.
She had tried to meditate, she *needed* to meditate to maintain her mental shielding and control, which had been working overtime ever since the briefing, when Hawke had confirmed some of her worst fears. The possibility that she had hoped, not to have to deal with. Her human half clung almost desperately to the fact that she knew he was still alive and at the same time was angry and worried. The Romulans in both dimensions were equally ruthless in dealing with prisoners of war. Her Vulcan half had a hard time keeping order and control in her mind, especially with her inability to meditate at the moment. It was not logical to engage in idle speculation on a subject that was beyond her control, her Vulcan half kept on insisting. Last night she had tried to give him a sense of her presence through the trace of his mind, left by their brief mind meld. But despite her best effort she didn’t believe that she had succeeded. Their mind meld had been too shallow for that, she reasoned logically. Considering that he was Betazoid and a strong telepath it was possible he might have sensed her presence though, even if she hadn’t been able to sense his. She shook her head at that thought, it was her human half talking, its reasoning was not logical. She shuddered at the thought that it would be far more logical to assume that even if she had managed to get through, he might have been in too bad a state to even have picked up on her presence. But if anything, the effort had given her human half a desperately need sense having been able to do something useful and hopefully helpful. Suzanna’s mind wandered to the unexpected visit she had had from counsellor Porinia the day before. It had been her lack of mental discipline that had prompted the visit the Vulcan half reminded her again. And although it had been an informative talk, she now at least had some idea of what she could expect, it hadn’t really reassured her. If anything, it had fuelled the anger felt by her human half. Suzanna looked at her chrono and blew out the candle. She closed her eyes and concentrated on her mental shielding and control.

When she was sure they were in place again she got up, walked to the replicator and ordered her usual breakfast. With some effort she focussed back on the day ahead, they would be arriving at Omninus later today. Cmdr Hawke had informed her that the cease-fire was now in place and that the Romulan forces were retreating to the neutral zone. That was the first bit of good news she had had since the briefing.

Hawke stood from the command chair and looked toward the Engineering station. "Mr. Sutherland, I want you to prepare a number of away teams to do damage assessment and provide any medical and engineering help needed. As soon as we get word from the Omninan leadership you will personally be in charge of the relief operations. Mr. Blokpoel, I want you to scan for Neillya and the others. If you are able to locate them, have the transporter room beam them all directly. If you are unable to locate them, Robin your first task on Omninus will be to locate our people."

Robin nods, "Aye sir, you cae count on it that we will find them."

Hawke smiles, "Of that, I have no doubt Mr. Sutherland."

Suzanna nodded, "Aye sir” and went to work. She was glad to finally be able to *do* something. Her patience in waiting had been tested to its limits and beyond. She tapped on the console and started scanning the surface. She raised an eyebrow at the readings, there had been a scattering field in operation until recently and although it was no longer in operation, it was still causing interference. She continued tapping on the console and started running the sensor readings through a series of filtering algorithms.

It was a few hours later when Ninjor spoke up. "Sir, incoming hail from Omninus, it is from someone named Dax...Ninjor pauses, and a Starfleet officer... Lieutenant Junior Grade Hughes?" Ninjor looks up at his CO for guidance.

"Outstanding! On screen."

Suzanna pasted a neutral expression on her face, to cover up the sense of relieve she felt. She turned round from her console where she was still working on the location of the team and looked at the viewscreen. She had to find him. They had to be on time. Failure was not an option.

Hughes smiled and then started to speak, "Sir, am I ever glad to see you and the Cortez."
"The feeling is mutual... By the way, you have been promoted to full Lt. Along with the other members of your mission team. Seemed like the right thing to do since I did send you on this mission." Hawke smiled but it quickly faded... "How is Neillya?"
Hughes frowned, "I guess as well as he could be under the circumstances sir, he got it bad from the Romulans."

Suzanna closed her eyes for a moment trying to reinforce her mental shielding and silently swore at the Romulans. How dare they do what they had done. Even more so to someone she cared so deeply about. Then she quickly turned round to her station again and localised her scan to the area surrounding the origin of the transmission, now she was making progress…

Hawke nodded in silence. Hughes looked over to Dax, "Sir, allow me to introduce you to Dax. She is the leader of the OLF."

Hawke looked at the woman on the viewscreen, "Greetings from the United Federation of Planets Dax, as I said we will provide you with any support we can. I have relief away teams standing by now and our sickbay can handle any of your severely wounded."
Dax nodded, "Any help you can give us would be appreciated Captain, my people have endured much during this war and we know we will need friends to help us rebuild. Even though our world is in shambles our governing body has drafted a resolution requesting membership to the Federation... We would appreciate you accepting it and forwarding our request to the proper place."

Hawke nodded, "It would be my honour to help your people. I will contact the United Federation of Planets Ambassador Corp and begin the process for your admittance."
"Thank you Captain Hawke."
Hawke smiled, "I would also like to invite you and any of your staff to join us on the Cortez to discuss the current tactical situation and cease-fire... Say in three hours?"
Dax nodded, "I will notify my staff."
"Very good," replied Hawke, "I'll make preparations to receive you and your people," he paused and looked back to Hughes, "Mr. Hughes, are you and the others ready to come home to the Cortez?"
"Aye, aye Captain." Hughe's voice clearly expressed the relief he felt at the Cortez being back for them.

'Finally', Suzanna sighed softly and turned round to look at the viewscreen again. Although the expression on her face had been neutral while she had been listening to the conversation, she was unable to keep her feelings from showing in her eyes.

"Very well, prepare yourselves. You will be beamed directly to sickbay in 15 minutes....Hawke out." Hawke quickly stood and looked over at her. He had seen her eyes and what they held. "Mr. Blokpoel, come with me to sickbay to meet our people, Mr. Lim inform the transporter room to beam the mission team to sickbay and inform Mr. Sutherland to begin relief operations."
Suzanna nodded more relieved that she was prepared to admit and patched the sensor data through to the OPS before joining Hawke in the turbolift.

Suzanna and Hawke walked into sickbay and Hawke went over to have a word with Doctor S’itari. She tried to keep out of the way as S’itari started to prepare sickbay for the incoming transport. So many thoughts were flying through her mind, her Vulcan half was struggling to stay on top of her mental control.

“Transporter room to Sickbay. Energizing now.”

“S’itari here, acknowledged.” The doctor stood ready with her medics.

Suzanna held her breath, she was expecting the worst as the four figures materialized. Three of them were standing, the fourth was lying on the floor. Suzanna nodded quickly at the three “Welcome back”, before her eyes locked onto Jon. It took all her control not to gasp out loud when she saw him. He looked thin, he had a baird, his clothes were torn and the remains of bruises were visible almost everywhere. S’itari and her medical staff quickly had him lifted onto the bio bed. Suzanna moved over closer to the biobed while trying to keep out of the way of the medics. Just looking at his face, his eyes were closed and he appeared to be unconscious. The face she had missed, now, more than ever before, she realised how much she had missed him. How he had suffered at the hands of the Romulans. It took an effort to keep her anger in check, but all she could do was stand there and look at him. He was back.
She heard Hawke talking to the Hughes, Nemesian and Moses, and S’itari to the other medics, but she wasn’t listening. She was just staring at Jon’s face as relieve washed over her, he’d made it back alive.