Star Trek: Sentinel

[La Forge]

U.S.S. Sentinel, Briefing Room

Valentina remained silent throughout the meeting, sitting, motionlessly, in her seat on the far end of the table. Her sharp green eyes looked ahead, blankly, examining the rest of the senior staff, taking a mental note of their appearances and behavior. Her stern-looking face was expressionless, her arms tightly folded across her chest, her long legs crossed over one another under the table.

All the while, she listened closely to Captain McGowan's debriefing on the Sentinel's mission to investigate the missing Nebula-class starship, the Scientia, and the silent listening post. While Valentina was already privy to the details of their mission, as she was the first officer after all, she still paid close attention to the older man's words, as a sign of respect. McGowan was her commanding officer and it was only common sense to pay attention to anything that came out of the mouth of your commanding officer, no matter what it may be.

In any case, the meeting soon came to a close when the voice of the Sentinel's Chief of Operations, Cadet Brooks, could be heard coming through Captain McGowan's combadge. Apparently, the Steamrunner-class vessel had finally arrived to the Federation-Talarian border where, as the young cadet had pointed out, a Talarian 'greeting party' awaited them.

After receiving the news, McGowan had ended the meeting and exitted the briefing room to return to the bridge. Valentina arose and did the same. As first officer, she should be on the bridge, as well, during such an important event as this. While she had faith in her captain, she had read that McGowan had a tendency to have problems in diplomatic situations. While Valentina did not consider herself a diplomat, far from it in fact, she was a calm-headed woman with a good deal of common sense and could step in for the captain, if the need happens to arise. After all, she would do anything in her power to avoid the Galen border wars, part two.

U.S.S. Sentinel, Turbolift

Valentina passed by Captain McGowan, who was currently speaking with the Sentinel's second officer and intelligence officer, Lieutenant Commander Elora Rayne, and made her way towards the turbolift. Upon stepping into the turbolift, the middle-aged Russian woman took her place on the far wall, standing as she normally did, her back to the wall with her arms folded across her chest, waiting for the turbolift to take her to the bridge.

[Lord Borg]

-U.S.S. Sentinel, Corridor/Turbolift-

Elora glanced to Valentina and then looked back to Andrew

"Sir" she said, "The Talarians are exnophobic, we should be on alert at all times. Not many know this...but they attacked several medical friehgters during the Dominion war and stole entire ships, crews..."

Elora trailed off, she was sure the point was now sinking in.

"They've lied before..."

[Spellbinder Marik]

-U.s.s. Sentinel, Briefing Room-

Haley had thought about trying to say something to the Captain but decided against it. She sensed something about him. Something that sat him apart from the other people that were in the room. Haley shrugged it off. She was still technically off duty. Maybe she could get some sleep now.

-U.s.s. Sentinel, Haley�s Quarters-

Haley knew now that she shouldn�t have had the coffee. She�d never sleep now. Her computer terminal had been damaged before she came onboard and she�d yet to repair it. She�d been angry about something and knocked it off the desk. She didn�t remember what now. She pulled it out of her travel bag and sat it on the desk. She also grabbed an engineering kit.
It was hard to work in the dark.

�Computer, raise lights by 12%.� The lighting raised slightly.
�Better�� She muttered.

[Founder]

-USS Sentinel, Turbolift-

Andrew felt a slight flare of anger when she had suggested he be alert. He had a feeling that Starfleet Intelligence's dog would be keeping tabs on him. No doubt several in Starfleet thought he was incompotent and sent these officers to ensure he wouldn't screw this mission up. Either that or he was simply overreacting. He read up on the Talarians though, a way to show himself he was going to take this mission seriously.

"Bridge." He ordered.

He had no idea the bastards had attacked weaker Federation vessels during the war. Andrew had no idea what was done to those captured officers, but he definitly felt for them. If Starfleet knew of this, he wondered why they didn't do something about the Talarian aggression? Then again, if this did happen during the Dominion War as Elora claimed, they were pretty busy. The Talarians were militiristic race, but much more small time in comparison to the Federation. They probably stole the supplies for themselves. He hoped that the Federation retaliate against them for their actions. If they didn't, he sure as hell would. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself and realized that if he spoke to the Talarians he might explode in anger. Andrew decided he would let Valentina deal with them.

"I'm well aware of the situation," He said to Elora, "I'll be careful."

The doors swished open and he stepped out onto the bridge where several of the officers were waiting. The commander's turbolift opened and she arrived to the bridge.

"Commander," He snapped in an angry tone, "You deal with the bastards."

With that, he turned away and folded his arms, waiting for her to open a channel.

[La Forge]

U.S.S. Sentinel, Bridge

The second she had stepped out of the turbolift and over the threshold onto the bridge, Valentina heard her name, or rather, rank spoken. She looked up to see the captain had spoken to her, ordering her to deal with the 'bastards'. By 'bastards', Valentina could only assume that he meant the Talarians. She had no idea what had gotten the captain so fired up, and, in all honesty, she didn't care about what had angered him, so long as he didn't end up doing anything that Valentina and the rest of the crew would be regret. Luckily, the captain had enough common sense to pass the reigns over to his first officer, to give him a chance to calm down. A good sign on McGowan's part.

The Russian woman grunted in affirmation to the captain's orders, turning to face Cadet Brooks, the Sentinel's Chief of Operations, opening her mouth to speak.

"Cadet, open a channel with the Talarian vessel." Valentina ordered the teenaged cadet. The young man nodded and, within seconds, a communcations link had been established between the two starships.

"Channel open." Brooks stated, pointing out the obvious, as an image of the Talarian captain filled the holographic viewscreen.

"Thank you, cadet." Valentina 'thanked' Brooks, her voice as hollow as ever. She then looked to the viewscreen, looking to the image of the burly Talarian captain. "This is the U.S.S. Sentinel, Starfleet." she began, jumping right into the conversation. "We were told that you had some information regarding a missing starship of ours, one certain U.S.S. Scientia." she continued, speaking in a straightforward, matter-of-fact kind of way. That was the way Valentina was. Straight to the point, always. The Russian woman paused for a moment, awaiting for the Talarian captain's response. She hoped the man had the information that he claimed to have, earlier. If not, everything up to this point would have been an utter and complete waste of time. And, from the look on Captain McGowan's face, Valentina didn't know if she would be able to ensure the safety of the Talarian captain and his crew if they had lied about that information...

[Founder]

-USS Sentinel, Bridge-

McGowan moved away from the captain's seat and allowed Valentina an air of superiority on the bridge. He wante the Talarians to get the vibe that she was in charge so that he wouldn't have to deal with the ridge-head bastards. The Talarians were not only xenophobic, but also discriminatory towards women. Having a woman in command address them gave McGowan sick pleasure. The viewscreen, which was holographic rather then an actual screen, shimmered and the visage of a Talarian appeared.



"Ah," He said in a proud tone, "You all took your time. We've attack vessels for less then that. Howver, we're all here under the spirit of cooperation. Now, I believe you all are looking for information on that poor, missing vessel, the Scientia?

A frown appeared when he saw Valentina, the source of the voice. It seemed that he had to deal with her for the information.

He leaned forward, "I would be honored to give you that information, but I want something in exchange. Something that I know you all can attain..."

McGowan tilted his head in surprise. There was no mention of an "exchange", but he had a feeling they would attempt something like this. He was still fuming and decided to let Valentina speak.

[La Forge]

U.S.S. Sentinel, Bridge

As the Talarian captain spoke to her, in a derogatory way, Valentina groaned, mentally, out of annoyance. The Talarians were a misogynistic culture, thinking men superior to women. For this particular Talarian man, seeing a woman in a position of power was no doubt...peculiar. Valentina could see the look of smug superiority on the man's face, as if he were speaking to a child. The man was ignorant, plain and simple. One would expect an 'advanced' alien race to be beyond such idiocy, but, as they say, that 'just ain't the case'.

Valentina listened to the Talarian captain, trying to block out the tone in which he spoke to her in, until, finally, the man got to the point of the conversation, information regarding the missing Nebula-class starship, the U.S.S. Scientia. But, when the Russian woman heard the Talarian man speak of some sort of exchange, she could only raise her eyebrow, in a very Vulcan-like manner, out of suprise. The Talarians had said nothing about an exchange when they had come to Starfleet, saying that they had important infromation about the Scientia. What kind of game were the Talarians playing at?

"Excuse me? You didn't say anything about this earlier." Valentina spoke out, at length, her voice a mixture of confusion and a hint of annoyance. Whatever the Talarians were up to, she certainly wasn't seeing it. What could the Talarians want? Information? Unlikely. It had to be something, though... "What exactly is it that you want?" the Russian woman asked, calmly, able to keep her calm under the unusual circumstances. But, if the Talarians were going to continue making demands and talking down to her, as if she were a child...

[Lord Borg]

-U.S.S. Sentinel, Bridge-

Elora thought over the last few minutes, she had wondered if she had upset her new Captain, while she didn't really care per se, she didn't want her first impressions to be one that said 'I don't think you can do the job'. Elora sighed mentally and watched the exchange between Valentina, and smirked slightly. She knew the Talarian captain would be rather...upset at dealing with a woman.

Rayne moved over to stand next to Valentina with a respectible distance, her being in charge effectivly made Elora the first officer. Rayne slowly took her place and had her hands behind her back, she stood rigid and proud, and studied the screen for the Talarian Captain's response.

[Founder]

-USS Sentinel, Bridge-

The Talarian was smirking the entire time the conversation was going on. Whatever it was he wanted, it seemed like he had been waiting for this moment and was excited it had arrived finally. A dismissive sigh escaped his lips, as if he was tired of dealing with utter stupidity of a woman. He laced his fingers together and rested his hands on his fat gut which could be seen pushing the uniform outward.

"I want a cloaking device." He said simply.

McGowan's jaw dropped, "A what?"

The Talarian, who had not introduced himself, looked at the captain for a moment and then explained.

"In fact," He said, "I want several. At least over a hundred. Non-negotiable."

The captain couldn't take anymore of this. He was furious and hated the fact the Talarian, a member of a species that attacked ships of the Federation, was acting as if the Federation owed him a favor.

"Do we look like pointy-eared Romulans to you? Where the hell are we supposed to get cloaking devices?" McGowan shouted.

"Watch your tone," The Talarian threatened, "I would hope that you wouldn't be so prideful as to reject my request. After all, the Scientia is in danger. Word is you're now very close to the Klingon Empire after the Dominion War. Surely they could offer you some?"

McGowan stepped forward, denoting that he was in charge now and not Valentina.

"I'm not giving you a Goddamned thing," He shot back, "The Klingons wouldn't give us cloaking devices for this, especially a hundred! We want that information and we want it now. You'll give it to us, even if we have to rip it out of your databanks!"

The Talarian captain clutched the armrests of his chair and it was obvious he was growing furious.

"You're making a big mistake," He threatened, "Your vessel is in our space now. I'm going to give you one last opportunity. Don't throw this away. I have the information on the Scientia right here. Are you really going to let them die over silly technology?"

"Mute!" He ordered.

The viewscreen muted and neither side could hear each other. McGowan spun around and looked at the others, in case the Talarian could read lips.

"I need suggestions," He said to the crew, "I'm not giving them cloaking devices, as if I had any, but I'm not giving up on that information. We can't fail right here in the beginning!"

"Captain?" Tarvos shouted, "They've cut the visual connection."

McGowan spun around to see the image of three Talarian warships approaching the ship. They weren't attacking, but it was an obvious threat by the Talarian captain.



He wanted to show what the Sentinel was up against. The Steamrunner-class starship was bigger then a warship, but not by much and while Federation technology was ahead of Talarian technology, three of them could do damage. It'd be a close fight, but the Federation had a slight edge. He looked back at the others quickly, needing a fast suggestion.

"Anybody!?" He asked.

[Valathous]

~ Bridge, USS Sentinel ~

After the short meeting of the senior staff was ended roughly five minutes after Vincent had entered the room due to a call from the bridge, Vincent appeared on the bridge along with the rest of the senior staff. Vincent assumed his position at the tactical control, relieving the ensign that was currently stationed there.

Vincent knew about the basics of the mission so there was nothing incredibly new revealed by the captain in the meeting other than the route they took. Either way he was glad he attended as it showed he was committed to the mission and respected his commanding officer. He felt he got off on the right foot with this man from the brief introduction they had with each other.

Commander Pominville pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind as the events unfolded on the bridge. He felt bad for the first officer. What was her name? A Russian name... Commander Valentina Zaitsev, he recalled from the initial reports he read on some of the crew earlier on. Being in charge of security he felt it was necessary to know the backgrounds of the crew. He felt bad for Zaitsev because of the way the alien was treating her and Vincent had half a mind to say something but realized it may not only jeopardize the mission by making the hostile, but it was undermine the authority of his first officer to the misogynistic race making sure they didn't take her seriously. And that was something Vincent wouldn't do. For the time being he simply kept alert while the ship stayed at yellow alert.

Suddenly the engagement became hostile as the Captain, now speaking, was yelling at the Talarian who was demanding 100 cloaking devices. How utterly stupid of them. Apparently they had not heard of the Federation's policy on sharing technology of the short, not to mention the fact that they could not obtain cloaking devices nor build them do to the treaty with the Romulans.

As more Talarian ships advanced on the Sentinel, Vincent prepared for the worst as he was ready to charge weapons on the Captain's orders. Shields were already up due to yellow alert.

"Captain, I'd first suggest opening a general frequency and informing the Talarians that any aggressive actions could lead to hostilities with the Federation, and despite our weakened state are still likely to overpower them due to our technology," Pominville blurted out, "It's clearly an idle threat but it may buy us enough time to come up with a more viable solution if they stand down and resume talking."

[Republican_Man]

--USS Sentinel, Turbolift--
Lieutenant Commander Mace Zjarot, ship�s counselor and chief diplomatic envoy for the Federation, stood in the confines of the turbolift speeding toward the bridge, to which he, like all the senior staff members, had been called. Unlike the other members of the senior staff, however, Mace merely had a field commission of Lieutenant Commander, a provisional rank granted to him by Starfleet to participate in the very mission on which the Sentinel was going.

Mace was part of a small sect of Betazoids known as the Kal Zjahn Brotherhood, an ancient order of Betazoid males which operated in a town independent of Greater Betazoid and was dedicated to meditative techniques, diplomatic development, and a humble life with relatively little use of technology, among other things. They believed in using the power of peaceful negotiation to achieve particular means and in honing the power of Nature to increase the mental capacity of telepathic beings through a process known as Zirchana, a meditative technique used to enhance their mental condition and psionic strength and therefore the capacity for psionic abilities of any participating Betazoid. Such a process was learned through several years of dedicated, intense psionic training. This intense training and Zirchana meditation combined allowed for a greater ability to sense thoughts and/or emotions, overproject thoughts and/or emotions to others, and to manipulate the minds of others, among a few other minor enhancements to normal Betazoid empathic and telepathic abilities.

Though the Kal Zjahn Brotherhood denied the significance of the now-destroyed Holy Rings of Betazed and Sacred Chalice of Rixx, the Betazed government, taken aback by the Dominion attack of the Battle of Betazed, saw fit to contact the Brotherhood during the Dominion occupation of the world to send an able-bodied negotiator to attempt to negotiate for the release of Betazed from Dominion hands. Lord Jortan, Chief Monk of the Brotherhood, dispatched Mace Zjarot to carry out this task. Though unsuccessful in his primary mission, that of winning the independence of his homeworld from the Dominion, Mace was successful in orchestrating the lifting a number of restrictions placed on the Betazoid people by the Dominion. As a result of this success Zjarot, an outsider and member of a society entirely segregated from the rest of the planet, was praised by the Betazoid government and given a temporary diplomatic commission by the government.

Word of his accomplishments spread to the Federation, which was soon eager to use the highly-qualified Betazoid in a new set of trade negotiations with the Ferengi Alliance, negotiations of which the results were in the Federation�s favor. With the Federation knowing about the counselor-esque qualities of the Brotherhood, Mace was then offered a temorary field commission as a Lieutenant on the USS Valiant, which was in temporary need of a counselor. It was into the beginning of the second month that word spread about the disappearance of the USS Scientia and, in need of both a counselor and a diplomat for the mission of the USS Sentinel, Starfleet again tapped Zjarot, who agreed to transfer over to the vessel for an indefinite amount of time and received a field promotion to the provisional rank of Lieutenant Commander.

And here Mace now was, fourteen hours after leaving Deep Space Nine, standing in the turbolift, heading for the bridge for the first time after situating his room and spending two hours in deep meditation, honing his Betazoid abilities. Donned in his Kal Zjahn Brotherhood clothing - a tan undertunic and light brown tunic wrapped in a brown belt, yet void of the robe he used when in direct negotiations or high-level meetings with others or when on his homeworld which made the black man stand out when in the midst of a Starfleet crowd, or even in the halls � the Brother finally exited the turbolift as it stopped and the door opened.

It didn�t take long for him to notice what he had been sensing for the last several minutes: something was wrong.

Walking swiftly over to the Captain, he greeted, with a bow and without taking the time to introduce himself, �I apologize for my tardiness, Captain, but may I ask what�s going on and if there�s any way I can be of assistance?�

[Founder]

-USS Sentinel, Bridge-

McGowan turned to see a dark-skinned man dressed outside of a Starfleet uniform speak to him. He had a provisional rank pip on his neck and a combadge on his chest, denoting that he did have some type of tie to Starfleet. Once more, since he did not read the crew manifest, he was oblivious to who this man was. He also had no idea that this man, like his wife, was a Betazoid.

"Get off the bridge." He sneered.

If one thing could be said about McGowan, it was that he was flat out mean. He heard a good suggestion from his tactical officer. While it wasn't much of a solution, it served as a stall tactic. He would try it while the others attempted to figure out a solution.

"Ensign," McGowan said to the Andorian, "Open a channel."

The Andorian nodded, "Channel open."

"This is captain McGowan," He said loudly, "I don't think I have to remind you that you're risking war with the Federation over this. Things have changed since we've last fought. Ever heard of the Defiant-class?"

The voice of the Talarian captain could be heard, "Your threats mean nothing to us, captain."

McGowan stepped forward, "Damnit! We don't have cloaking devices! The Klingons and the Romulans do!"

"True," He replied, "But we don't have something they want. Only something YOU want. We're taking full opportunity of this situation. You can still get out of this alive, captain. I have the information in the computer right in front of me."

Andrew nodded to the Andorian to cut the channel. It didn't seem like threatning them with war scared them. They seemed really hell-bent on getting their hands on cloaking devicies. He doubed that they'd give up with talks of bravado.

[Spellbinder Marik]

-U.s.s. Sentinel, Haley�s Quarters-

After reconnecting the fiber optics and power supply her computer was restored to perfect working order. She activated it and went to strait into a personal log.

Haley Taydan Personal Log, Stardate 53202.18

I haven�t been a member of this crew for long and I�ve already made most of the staff that work under me question my fitness to serve as their Chief Engineer. I hear them talking sometimes. Part of me wants to challenge anyone who stands in my way. When I first came aboard I felt alien. I still do. I haven�t made any friends yet. It�s probably my fault for not trying harder. I attended a short briefing today. I didn�t participate but I saw someone who piqued my interest. Captain Andrew McGowan. The brief instant I saw him I knew I was looking at something familiar. Something that reminded me of myself. Of course I don�t feel it would be proper to ask the Captain about himself. I certainly wouldn�t want someone to just ask me about my life story. My life story� There�s a book with many broken pages. I haven�t had many friends and those I have had never lasted long. I usually do something to screw it up.

I get the feeling no one approaches me because I have a bad attitude. If was willing I could probably see a counselor for it but I�m not. I had to see several of them before they�d let me graduate from the Academy. Another thing my father always said was: �If you want something done right you have to do it yourself.� Thanks a lot dad. Hmm. Maybe If I�d had a better childhood� Or maybe if I�d been willing to accept more help� I guess I�m a little scared to let people in. End Log

Haley had written 6 times as many personal logs as she had service logs in her career. People would judge if you told them personal things. Logs would not.

[Lord Borg]

-U.S.S. Sentinel, Bridge-

Elora's mind raced with possible ideas, she began rejecting them as fast as she had thought them up, when she had suddenly thought of one that she knew would have to work. Elora rushed over to Andrew, and spoke up.

"Captain, I've got an idea. Sir, if we can somehow distract them, keep them from seeing our true intentions, perhaps a data linkup somehow? Perhaps we can tell them it has something to do with the cloaks they want, I don't know, anyways it can give me a chance to...well, get into their computer systems, and take what we need. Hopefully sir, this can avoid a firefight."

[Republican_Man]

--USS Sentinel, Bridge--
Mace Zjarot was taken aback by the abject rudeness with which the Captain addressed him upon entry, sensing his strong temper and anger management issues right off the bat. Did he not know who he was and that he could help in a tense diplomatic situation like this?

Intentionally disobeying the Captain's orders, yet sliding away from the scene and toward the turbolift slightly, Mace listened in as a Talarian captain addressed the Captain with forceful rhetoric, pushing forth something of a demand for a cloaking device, no doubt for information on the Scientia.

"[W]e don't have something they want. Only something YOU want," the alien pressed. "We're taking full opportunity of this situation. You can still get out of this alive, captain. I have the information in the computer right in front of me."

Zjarot reached out and did his best to sense the emotions and thoughts of the man before the transmission ended, convincing himself that there was yet another way to deal with this situation. There was something there that they could exploit for their benefit, but he wasn't quite sure what it was.

Taking a risk, recognizing, through both the captain's words and his own senses, the high temper which McGowan possesed, he said, quickly, "I know you ordered me off the bridge, Captain, but I'm Mace Zjarot, ship's counselor and diplomat assigned to this vessel. I'm a Betazoid, sir, and I sense that there's something there that we can exploit diplomatically. I don't know what it is, but I insist that you give diplomacy another chance."

[Ziona]

USS Sentinel, Bridge

Kiyra turned and glanced over at the newcomer as he said he was Betazoid. Being part Betazoid, Kiyra was only an empathic but she was interested in observing a full Betazoid at work. She crossed her arms across her chest and watched the man from her post near the edge of the bridge.

She silently observed both the man and her father, waiting for a reaction from him...

[Founder]

-USS Sentinel, Bridge-

McGowan heard the second officer make a suggestion to set up some idea she had. A data tranfer that could potentially allow her to steal the information on the Scientia, whatever it may be. He was surprised she could do that, but remembered that she was Intelligence. They were Starfleet officers that belongs in the Romulan Tal Shiar. They no doubt had tactics of the mind, rather then of one that required a photon torpedo. He gave her the benefit of the doubt, realizing the Talarians were quick to anger and he had to get this done with soon. Before he could respond, the ship's counslor had urged the captain to attempt a diplomatic situation out of this. He was surprised to hear the man was a Betazoid and didn't really question his abilities. However, the Talarians didn't strike him as diplomatic, despite what the older man claimed.

"Alright, commander," He said to Mace, "Let's try this idea. I'd rather not sit around and talk. The Scientia is in danger. If it doesn't work, I'll beam you to their ship myself for diplomacy."

He stepped away from Mace and nodded to Elora.

"Ok, commander." He said to Elora.

He turned towards the viewscreen and once more, nodded his head towards the Andorian.

"This is McGowan," He said, "We don't have a cloak aboard this ship, but we have information on how to build one..."

Of course, he was lying, but he could hopefully buy Elora some time on the matter.

"We're sending you the information now." He said.

Cadet Brooks worked to establish a link between the two vessels. The young officer sent information on the Romulan cloak, but there was nothing on how to build one. Hopefully, they wouldn't immediately scrutinize the information and allow Elora to do what she needed to do. He looked towards the second officer and nodded.

"Link established." He told her.

[Lord Borg]

-USS Sentinel, Bridge-

Elora nodded quickly and rushed over to a computer terminal that was out of view of the viewscreen, to allow her to work out of the eye of the Talarians. She knew time was of the essence, and set to work, her fingers racing over the controls as she began working her way into the datasteam, thankfully the other officers had known to slow the data transfer down to allow her time to work. This, combined to the massive ammounts of information gathered on cloaking technology should give her the time she needed, At the beep, Elora turned to signal to McGowan that she had made it in, she turned to the screen and began to look around the database of the Talarian ship looking over the information for what she was looking for.

Come out, come out where ever you are Elora said to herself, recalling an old ryme her mother once said to her during the 'hide and seek' games on the Tucker.

Elora gasped when her eyes caught something, she saw a mention of a scan of a listening post, with further investigation, she saw it was the one that disapeared. Elora began to dig in further for the information.

[Republican_Man]

--USS Sentinel, Bridge--
There was something about what Mace said that he could just sense brought upon a different tone and stream of thought in the captain. He wasn't sure what it was, but he could just feel it. Then McGowan finally spoke, confirming what he sensed in his calmer, somewhat conciliatory response.

"Alright, Commander," he said to the counselor. "Let's try this idea. I'd rather not sit around and talk. The Scientia is in danger. If it doesn't work, I'll beam you to their ship myself for diplomacy."

Zjarot nodded, accepting his response and hoping that it would work. If not, he was prepared to beam over to the opposing ship, albeit unable grab his robe from his quarters and don it as he usually did in such diplomatic instances. He then eyed the situation at hand closely and kept his senses sharp and alert for anything suspicious or noteworthy upon which to remark.

[Founder]

-USS Sentinel, Bridge-

McGowan cast an urgent look towards Elora, wondering when she would be done. Any minute now, the Talarians would see that the information sent to them is absolutely useless. He doubted that they would be cordial anymore and would flat out attack, ripping the information once they boarded the ship. His eyes darted towards Mace and then towards his daughter. While she was only a half-Human, half Betazoid, she retained many of their qualities. She was empathic and to a much lesser degree, a telepath. His wife, or Imazdi as they called each other, had telepathic abilities and taught their daughters how to utilize their limited mental abilities. To a lesser degree, McGowan could communicate with them telepathically, but only if they allowed it and helped him through it. However, he hasn't done that since his wife had died and didn't plan to. He was glad that Mace had been so agreeable and stepped aside. Now that he realized the man was a Betazoid, he'd treat him with much more respect and less contempt. McGowan always had a soft spot for Betazoids and for obvious reasons.

"Miss Rayne," the captain said, "Hurry!"

He looked back at the trio of warships and how they remained ready for a fight.

[ILoveHarry]

-USS Sentinel, Crew Quarters-

Ensign Kyleigh McGowen scanned her shoe box size quarters with a sigh. Not that she would dream of complaining. She was one of few, if not the only non-senior staff member to have private quarters. She wasn't sure as to what she owed the priviledge of not having a shared room, though she assumed it had something to do with having excepted the position less than 24 hours prior. Originally the position was to be held by someone who, at the last minute had to bow out of the mission. Though the notice was short to say the least, the opportunity to join a Starfeet crew as the Assistant to the Chief of Security mere days after her graduation from the Academy, was one she could not pass up. She accepted the posting without even asking about the crew, let alone the Captain. Little did she know, she would be in for a forced family reunion. The one officer she had heard about was also the reason she so eagerly accepted the mission. Vincent Pominville was to be her senior officer. She had often heard about the man during her studies at the Aacademy. Word had it, he was one of the best of the best. Kyleigh felt confident she would learn well under his supervision. She had felt inspired from the speach he made to she and the rest of the security team. She had hoped to introduce herself to him as his assistant after the talk, but he quickly excused himself from the brief meeting before she could reach him. With a final look at her quarters she turned on her heal and made her way to the Security office where she hoped she would finally meet the man she was dedicated to proudly serve under.

[Lord Borg]

-U.S.S. Sentinel, Bridge-

Elora's fingers continued to rush over the controls, the information was transfering at an incredible rate. She had even snuck in some tactical information on the warships for study later on, SI would no doubt find it useful. She looked back to McGowan when he screamed for her to hurry.

"Just a few more seconds" she pleaded.

Elora winced as she looked back and realized in the time she took to respond to him, the information he wanted had transfered. She cut the link and looked back.

"Get us out of here!"

[Founder]

-USS Sentinel, Bridge-

McGowan spun around towards the helm, not wasting a single moment after Elora said she what they needed. Of course, he wasn't sure what it was, but at least it was what they came for.

"Helm," He shouted, "Plot a course towards Cardassian space!"

They would have to go through Cardassian space to get to the unexplored area, otherwise they'd have to cross through Tzenkethi and Talarian space. Something that he did not want to have to do at all. With most of Cardassian space occupied by the "allies" of the Dominion war, it was much safer to go through their space.

"Engage." He ordered.

The ship veered away from the Talarian vessels and jumped to warp. McGowan sighed in relief and looked at Elora, impressed with her actions.

"You did good," He admitted, "Now, study the data and-"

He was about to continue when the vessel shook from some type of weapon's fire.

"What was that?" He asked, looking towards Vincent.

[Valathous]

~ Bridge, USS Sentinel ~

Vincent sighed in relief for a brief instant after the ship jumped to warp, away from the tense situation. A slight smirk crossed his thinly bearded face as he turned to look at the second officer, Elora Rayne, giving her a respectful nod for the task she completed. Unfortunately for them, the victory was short lived. The ship rocked soon after jumping to warp and the Captain immediately turned to Vincent asking what it was.

Vincent checked the sensors, "It's the Talarians. They're pursuing and have fired on us. Shields down to 89%. Going to red alert and charging phaser banks, sir," Commander Pominville reported as his fingers nimbly flew across the control panel as his focus shifted completely to the situation at hand with a straight face and focused glare. The bridge went darker and suddenly became illuminated by the red lights of the alert beacon and the bridge filled with the warning klaxon.

Luckily for them, the Talarians were a less technologically advanced species and they'd likely be able to fend them off. Although there were no guarantees in the universe as the unexpected should always be expected.

[Founder]

-USS Sentinel, Bridge-

"Damn them." McGowan muttered.

He was already angry as it was with having to meet with the Talarians and then there betrayel on giving the information was the final straw. Now they were attacking the ship? They were bold and ridiculously stupid to pursue them into Cardassian space. The allies, nor the Cardassians would allow the Talarians to do such a thing. However, unlucky for them, neither were around to take them off their tail. Now they'd get to see how good of a shooter Mr. Pominville really was. McGowan strided across the bridge and sat onto his chair.

"Deal with them, commander." He said to Vincent.

Federation weapons were more advanced then Talarians, so the fight was definitly in their favor. He didn't care if Vincent disabled or destroyed at them. At this point, he felt they deserved destruction. However, that was beside the point and killing Talarians was not really part of their mission. They shouldn't even have been fighting them.

"Increase speed, helm." He ordered.