We'll always have Paris

Captain's log

Stardate: 88691.9

This is my final entry as captain of the USS Horizon. Once the transfer of command will been completed, I will once again be Kheren of Andoria; a world that rejected me just as I now reject the path Starfleet and seemingly the entire United Federation of Planets are taking. I sure hope I am wrong about this. But I fear that I am not.

My departure will cause a lot of logistics problems in the short term for this gallant vessel, flagship of the most honorable fleet in  the galaxy. To my stalwarth First Officer, Commander Neil S. Redding, her destiny I now leave in his most capable hands. I deplore that things will turn out this sour and hope the inconvenience will be resolved soon.

Or maybe not.

He brushed away the stray tought again popping into his head. He stood before the man with the red collar at attention before him. He himself still wore his uniform, but with neither pips nor combadge. His deep voice boomed despite himself in the utterly silent bridge.

''Computer; transfer all command codes to Acting Captain Neil. S. Redding, authorization Kheren 580529 Alpha Ohm.''

The disenbodied voice of the ship's computer answered promptly.

''Voice identification confirmed. Biometric identification confirmed. Authorization code confirmed. Acting Captain Neil Stanley Redding now in command of the USS Horizon.''

Kheren and his first officer had already exchanged privately everything both of them needed to say; on and off the record. Only protocol remained between them outwardly; inwardly, much more would always be there. And some felt it through their final exchange.

'' I releive you... Sir.''

''I stand... releived.''

After a last human handshake and an Andorian chinraise of respect, Kheren rejoined with his two wives and exited the bridge, Redding escorting him. The towering giantess Tyvya walked on his left behind the pale, frail-looking Lyrya. Both had already ditched their uniforms to wear long form-fitting Andorian gowns that nevertheless hampered in no way their movements.They rode the lift in silence. When the turbolift doors wooshed open, all but Redding froze in surprise.

''Attention on deck!''

Along the corridor, on the whole deck, the crew of the Horizon stood crammed shoulder to shoulder at attention. They silently raised their chin as they passed between them, Redding guiding them around the entire immensity of the huge saucer section of the Lotus class starship, so that each and everyone could meet the moist gaze of the pupiless silvery eyes. When they completed the circuit and stopped in front of the entrance of Transporter Room 1, he turned to face his former XO.

''Thank you Neil... all of you. And I'm sorry my friend.''

The man had his trademark crooked grin at the corner of his mouth.

'' You should be. Whatever is making you do this, something tells me I won't like it anymore than you do when I get briefed on it... if ever.''

''May the winds be at your back, Captain.''

''And you... Sir.''

The Andorian's antennae curved inward to express the smile his face could not make.

''It's just plain Kheren now.''

''Never was and never will be, Sir.''

Kheren accepted the words with a nod and met his wives on the transporter pad. Redding himself assumed the controls of the console.

''What are you going to do next?''

The antennae curved again.

''You don't want to know.'' the tone was serious.

This was so out of character for the Andorian that Redding gave him a curious look, as if he wanted to ask what he meant.. but thought better of it.

"Good luck sir." and worked the controls.

And with this, the three Andorians were beamed onto Starbase Lotus, leaving behind the starship they had called home. But when the rematerialized, they found another row of people waiting for them. They were all in civilian attire; Aguk Snow the helmsman, Cheonghi the Edoan ops officer, the Baoule twins, Valencia Irksos of science... and what looked like all the Andorian crew complement of the Horizon; and many others he guessed were, had been, working on the starbase or the other Lotus Fleet ships. He even saw his old friend, the Deltan Doctor Elliago Nasaro-Myth and all the other Deltans of the Phoenix and even Doctor Darum Bains of the McKenzie among them, him clothed in distinctively human fashion.

''What's the meaning of this?''

It was Bains who came to answer him.

''Exactly my question when I heard you had resigned. Then they said the one word never to say to me when I ask a question; ''classified.'' So I let them classify my record into the ''has been'' file. We all did.''

Kheren was quite visibly dismayed hearing this. But before he could protest, Nasaro-Myth came to flash his disarming smile at him, a twinkle in his striking purple eyes.

'' We all know you, and respect you and your judgment. Whatever it is that you will not do, neither will we. if it is this serious for you that you would throw away a lifetime of exemplary service, none of us will ignore it... or have anything to do with it... whatever this is.''

''I... I can not condone this. All your lives, your careers...''

''You do not control our fates, my friend. Neither should they.''

Tyvya came to him and lowered her lips to his scarred brow.

''I think you need a good walk away from it all.''

''I do... alone.''

They nodded to him, all of them, as he plowed through their ranks until he could get to an isolated section of the promenade. Here, none but a few maintenance noncom technicians could see him looking outside the station, his eyes lost in the stars.

Standing out of the way Captain Gould watched as the display camaraderie unveiled before him. He as just an observer here never really being one of these 'people' but he wanted to see for himself that it was true.

Captain Kheren had LEFT Star Fleet, the idea of that was.. unlikely..

That war was coming was common, if unofficial, knowledge.That It somehow involved the Omega protocol was easy enough to deduce given the 'captains only' meeting that included these particular Captains.

He frowned at the thought that they didn't include him in that, surely he was one of the best suited officers for... but stopped himself and got back to the matter at hand.

Neither war nor Omega would have dissuaded the Andorian, he was sure of that but he was an over-principled man, and that left the only real possibility... he resigned to evade following an order.

As he watched another man as walking absently this way and he smiled to himself.

"Most interesting"

It had been a long time since Jureth had been dressed down by a senior officer the way that Fleet Captain Samji had just laid into him. To some extent it had made him feel like a first year cadet all over again, but it also wasn't something that he had time to dwell on. Needing some time to calm himself down Jureth found himself taking the long way back to his quarters and walking through the back passages of the starbase with PADD in hand. 

On the PADD were the specifications for the modification of the Alsea's engines to accommodate the transwarp drive. Now, the Bajoran was certainly no engineer but the he understood the gist of the diagrams and he realized that they were going to have to make some very severe modifications to the ship in a very short period of time. So deep was Jureth engrossed in the information that he took no notice of the very large Andorian in front of him, until he ran directly into him that is. The impact barely moved Kheren, but Jureth stumbled backward before steadying himself and looking to see exactly what it was that had gotten in his way.

"Oh..Cap..err..Kheren. I apologize, I didn't see you." 

The Andorian had not heard him coming, his head turned so that his antennae could not catch his footsteps. Thus being completeley deaf from straight behind, he barely noticed the impact but it startled him out of his reverie. Hands already up to a fighting position, he almost struck Jureth before he realized who it was. His antennae flattened as he quickly lowered his hands behind his back at attention out of habit.

''It is I who apologize, Captain Jureth. I didn't hear you coming. And you, you don't need to; it is not you who is truly blind.''

Kheren was no telepath or empath; in fact, his was probably the lowest psi score in all of Starfleet's history, being even below mere statistical chance. But it didn't take extrasensory perception to see the Bajoran was mightlily preoccuped, upset even, by something much more important than a mere accidental run-in or even the technical padd he was holding. Kheren certainly could guess what it was about; but he was no captain anymore, not even a mere Starfleet officer. And so he didn't pry. He tried instead to soften his initial reaction... even if he did feel he needed to punch something.

''Word is you are to lead the task force, Captain. May the stars stir you in the right direction.''

Jureth looked at the man in front of him before he responded, and what he saw was odd indeed. To the Bajoran the whole scene was....wrong. The Andorian was one of the most decorated officers in Starfleet and to see him here, in civillian clothes, was simply out of place; at least in Jureth's mind. 

"I am," he replied with a nod before lowering his voice slightly knowing that Kheren would be able to hear him anyway "I don't know what I"m leading them to, but maybe, just maybe it will be to something other than war." He paused for a moment before continuing "I don't blame you though, or Syntron, not one bit."

Kheren leaned closer so that the Bajoran's ears would pick his lowered tone. But he didn't look at him. He knew that, unlike Andorians, Bajorans like Humans were able to hear all around them so this way it would not seem like he was talking to him as he turned his back to the promenade and seemingly looked at the stars mumbling to himself.

''Thank you... and neither do I you; nor would Syntron, Vulcan logic forbiding anything else. You are Bajoran; conflict may be par of your humanoid nature as much as mine, but it is mild compared to us Andorians. When I heard what we heard, my blood boiled. For an Andorian, that is a pretty bad feeling.''

He paused before resuming in a slower pattern, as if searching for his words.

''You just put your finger on the problem; no one knows where this is going; but they have decided it would be violence and death, simply out of raw fear. This is not the Starfleet I signed up for. This is not the Federation I swore to serve and protect.''

He took a deep breath to calm himself and keep his voice down, looking at the Bajoran through their reflection in the star-filled transparency.

''But I still want to serve and protect at least what it stands for... or what it stood for, if that be where we are. I did not feel I could do it as a Starfleet officer anymore. But I do not exactly know how... not yet.''

He turned to face Jureth, one antenna slightly curving inward; the Andorian way of smirking.

''Maybe you know or understand something that I don't.''

Jureth thought for a moment but shook his head in resignation "You heard the majority of what I did."

The Bajoran paused, and ever the security officer, glanced around for overly curious eyes or ears that might be be too interested in their conversation. When he found none he continued

"They have given me 24 days to prep. 24 days to retrofit our ships for transwarp flight. This isn't what I swore to either...search and destroy...engage in war without so much as a how do you do. I swore to protect the Federation against all enemies...foreign and domestic. My people have been conquered, hunted for sport, and worked to death at the hands of another...that is what war does and it is being brought far too easily by the Council."

Jureth sighed heavily.

"I don't have many answers yet, but I think you and I...we have the same goal."

Kheren nodded.

''I think Starfleet itself is actually trapped between duty and conscience, just like you. but Starfleet cannot as a whole do what I and Syntron did; look what is happening here right now. With much of my crew resigning as we speak, the Horizon is effectively crippled; it will take weeks at least to make her operational again, and with a much less experienced crew. Imagine this at the scale of Starfleet. Worse than this... total war they are planning, that would leave the Federation open to...'' 

He glanced at Jureth with antennae suddenly perking up.

''Maybe this is the actual intent.''

Oseno's eyes went wide at the insinuation that Kheren was making. Was it possible? Could an inside enemy be attempting to draw the Federation into a devastating conflict of both morality and arms? Jureth hadn't even considered such a thing, he assumed that somewhere along the data path there had to have been a mistake made, but the idea that it was intentional...

"It fits...too well," he admitted to the Andorian "cause moral conflict within Starfleet...officers resign leaving the fleet unable to respond to a possibly existential threat and whomever the unseen force is can manipulate the Federation's downfall. The Kelvans, the planet killers, the molecule...it does all seem quite convenient all of a sudden."

Kheren nodded again. He looked for a moment as if he was about to say something. But he didn't say anything, just looked at the stars. Strangely enough, it was in the direction of the alleged intruder's location at the edge of the galaxy. His frozen features betrayed nothing. But his antennae were flattened forward.

As if he was about to fight.

Jureth followed the Andorian's gaze though the Bajoran was unfamiliar with Andorian expression he did pick up on a resolve that seemed in the air between the two beings. A resolve to not allow the current status quo to stand. As a security patrol entered the passage they were standing in Jureth realized their very unauthorized conversation would have to end here. 

"I need to be heading for the Alsea," Jureth said after a moment "Walk with the Prophets Kheren...I'm sure our paths will cross again, I'd bet my ship on it." 

Without waiting for a reply Jureth tucked the PADD on his belt and adopted a brisk pace as he headed for the turbolift that would carry him to the docking area.

Kheren nodded to him with respect. But the Bajoran was too far away already to hear him mumble.

''You might...''

Sorripto stood off in the distance. He knew Kheren from his interactions during his time in Lotus Fleet and more directly during his trial. Sorripto respected the Andorian even though he was unsure if any of that was mutual. Kheren may not show it, but he needed help whether he realized it or not. Sorripto stood in the background holding a PADD which contained the secrets he had dug up. When he and Kheren made eye contact Sorripto nodded, smiled slightly, and walked off. The nod was simple and sent the message that Sorripto knew what was going on. More importantly it sent a simple message.

"If you are going to do something about this, I am with you"

Hopefully Kheren spoke subterfuge as well as his Cardassian ally.

As a master duelllist of Andoria, Kheren was exceptionally well-versed in body language; as a simple matter of survival, both in society and in the ushaan-tor circle. His mastery was so well honed, it bordered on the telepathic; so much Starfleet's psi test evaluators were dumbfounded at his abysmal psi rating. Kheren knrew how to read people;  and he knew Cardassians to be more adept at hiding their thoughts from their body and movements than almost all other humanoids beside possibly Vulcanoids anf Ghelnoids.

Not this time. So obviously, it was deliberate from Sorripto's part.

And so, the Andorian's pupiless eyes and attitude answered him as discreetly as silently.

''Thank you.. and stand by.''

The body langage between Andorian and Cardassian could not have been clearer to Vir'ell and Sorripto was no surprise, such things like rebellion where well documented for Cardassians.
But the lack of hesitation in Kheren was very telling. He was already planning... something... but what? And more importantly, should he involve himself directly?

Kheren became aware of being watched yet chose not to signal it. The last thing he wanted was to involve anyone else in what he had decided to do; especially not a friend... or worse anyone who could manage to find some way to dissuade him from the course he was setting. Like Captain Vir'ell Gould over there; one of the few in current service of Lotus Fleet with more experience, more education, more wit and more focus than even himself.

Deliberately, he returned his four oculars towards the cosmic vista outside, effectively deafening himself from any sound coming from behind because or the rigidity of his antennae where his earing was.

Plausible deniability, he almost said to himself.