Solaris leaned back, pinching the bridge of her nose. She had already been sifting through all the information that Starfleet Intelligence had sent her. To their credit, they had plenty of detailed information. Unfortunately that was where the credit ended, almost none of it was organized, and some just wasn’t relevant. It was like they hadn’t actually handed it to a data analyst before deciding to pull the Yamato into it. Thankfully she had spent much time doing exactly what they should have done before she ever saw the information. There were several PADDs strewn around her desk, her terminal screen scrolling a series of sensor scans for the moment. She rest her head back staring at the ceiling. There had been a time, when she had been a child, where she had been obsessed with spies. Nose buried in ancient books or consuming old visual media about them. Even when she had joined the academy she had had visions of working undercover. Reality had soon disabused her of that notion. She found that much of her job consisted of mountains of PADDs and the gigaquads of gathered data contained within them. That wasn’t to say there hadn’t been times where she had needed to go undercover, but by and large the work was not as glamorous or as fun as her mind had believed it would be. Yet she still loved it, enough that she had been Director of Intelligence on Starbase 234 for four years before moving into the command track. Then she had decided she needed to stop playing it safe and move into bigger and better things. So she had sought the center chair. Yet here she was doing pretty much exactly what she had done in her old job.

The terminal beeped at her, an alarm signifying that the briefing she had ordered was due to begin in fifteen minutes. She had only managed to sift through about three-quarters of the information, but that would have to be enough. She gathered the PADDs and stacked them neatly, each containing a collated report for her officers to review then grabbed for the cup of tea on her desk that had long since grown cold. She brought it to her lips and took a sip, blanching at the temperature for a moment before downing the rest of it. Cold or not she wasn’t about to waste it. She scooped up the PADDs and stood. She had  to actually go prepare the briefing room.

When her senior staff assembled in the briefing room fifteen minutes later, they were greeted by an assortment of pastries and refreshments set out on the table, something her previous CO had done on 234. Her and her officers hadn’t yet had a proper briefing together, and she found that a bit of food and drink made everything much smoother.

Sol was already seated at the head of the conference table, reading through her own PADD, a fresh cup of tea steaming away on the table. Similar PADDs were already set out at each chair. One by one her officers filtered in just before the briefing was due to begin, each wearing a slightly confused look at the spread of food and drink. She simply gestured to each in turn, a silent suggestion to help themselves. Once everyone had gotten themselves situated, she began.

“Thank you all for coming.” she started. “As those of you on the bridge heard, we’ve been given our first assignment. I know its not what you may have expected, it certainly wasn’t what I expected.” she added, tapping a control on the table. A holopad lit up in the center of the table, displaying a large bulky rifle with an attached canister of some kind.

“This is a Starfleet prototype anti-matter disruptor.” she indicated.

“An anti-matter disruptor? Why would Starfleet develop something like that?” Ensign Soren asked.

“The project was started during the Dominion War. I can only assume that things were not going very well at the time it was conceived. Thankfully by the time it was completed the war had ended… so they stashed it away.” Solaris explained.

“Captain, such a weapon has the potential to be able to defeat nearly any form of shielding and disintegrate most unshielded objects in a matter of moments.” T’liss said, speaking up from her position half way down the table. “If this technology were able to be scaled up and placed on a starship… it could be devastating. Nothing would be safe.” she added. Solaris nodded.

“That is indeed part of the issue…” she stated.

“And the other part?” Amaya asked. Sol looked to her XO.

“The prototype was stolen from Daystrom Station a few months ago, just before Frontier Day and has turned up in the hands of the Orions. Not being ones to sit on their hands, they’re offering it up for auction to the highest bidder.”

“Oh…” Amaya muttered, tapping through the PADD that had been set out for her. Solaris chuckled, nodding.

“Starfleet has asked the Yamato to retrieve it before any of our enemies are able to buy it.” she continued, tapping the controls on the table again. The hologram shifted to a model of a space station.

“This is The Jade Exchange, a Syndicate space station in the Badlands and where Intelligence believes the auction is taking place.” she explained.

“Thats a pretty far trip for us… surely there were other ships closer?” Amaya said. Solaris shrugged.

“I don’t know, and I didn’t ask. I’m assuming there were not… for whatever reason.” she answered. Amaya nodded, seeming mollified by that answer for the moment.

“Captain, are we taking them by force?” her tactical officer asked. Sol shook her head.

“A good question, but no… I’d prefer to avoid it if at all possible.” she answered, tapping the controls again to shift the display. It changed to reflect the series of sensor scans she has been reviewing just before the briefing.

“As you can see, the station is functionally in open space…” Sol said.

“They’ll see us coming from kilometers away then.” Rukia pointed out. Sol shook her head pointing to a section of the scan.

“There’s a large group of debris within a charged particle field nearby the station. Scans of the area show that the debris contain large quantities of duranium and tritanium. Combined with the charged particle field, the Yamato should be able to remain undetected unless the Orions trip over us.” she said.

“Then how do we get aboard the station?” Doctor Tarrant asked, having been quiet until now.

“Myself, Commander T’liss and yourself will be taking a little trip…” Solaris said, looking to Amaya even before she had opened her mouth to speak. This didn’t deter her XO.

“Captain, I don’t need to remind you of regulations…” she said.

“No you do not… and your objection is noted, but I’ve been trained for this sort of mission… so its the best decision.” she said. Her XO simply nodded, satisfied that she had at least been heard. Sol returned her attention to the doctor, whom she had also expected an objection from. He simply nodded.

“No arguments from me. Having a doctor along is a smart choice.” he stated. Sol chuckled. T’liss simply nodded.

“We have a way of getting to the station?” the Vulcan asked.

“We will by the time we arrive back at DS17… I’ve… requested … that they find us an impounded vessel that we could use.” she said. Requested was doing a lot of lifting in that sentence, but it got her point across. “We’ll also have some other gear waiting for us… or we had better anyway.” she added, sighing.

“What are our orders while you and your team are aboard the station?” he XO asked.

“Stay undetected and monitor us.” Solaris said. “We aren’t there to engage in a battle… and that could be dangerous to the station team.” she added. She held up her hand. “However, if you are discovered, you can defend yourself, I’m not expecting you to just run.” she finished. Amaya nodded and her tactical officer also seemed happy with that.

“And… if we run into trouble… it’ll be up to you to come get us…” Solaris said, grinning. She really hoped nothing would go wrong, that was the last thing she wanted. She looked around the table.

“Any other questions?” she asked.

“”How will we actually be attending the auction? do not believe the Orion Syndicate will just let anyone attend.” T’liss asked.

“Good observation, and you’re correct… the event is invitation only… but in what appears to be a rare moment of forethought, Intelligence has managed to acquire an invitation for us.” she said. “So that shouldn’t be an issue…” she finished. T’liss nodded.

“Anyone else?” Solaris asked, looking at each officer. They were all quiet. Solaris nodded.

“We should be back at DS17 in a little over 18 hours. Amaya, Soren, when we arrive station operations should have the supplies I requested. Please ensure everything is accounted for. T’liss, I want you to look over whatever ship they have found for us, make sure it won’t strand us. Rukia, while we aren’t looking for a battle, ensure that the weapons and shields are ready just in case. Doctor, make sure you have whatever medical supplies we’ll need.” she ordered. Each officer nodded in turn. None offered up any more questions, and there would be plenty of time for them to work out the finer details once they were on their way to the badlands anyway.

“Dismissed.” she finished.  The rest of the officers pushed away from the table and stood, each breaking off into small groups to accomplish their tasks. T’liss approached, as the others left the room.

“I sense you are displeased with this, Solaris.” she stated. Sol looked up at her for a moment and then nodded.

“I am. Not only because I wasn’t expecting to be drawn back into this world so soon… but because they didn’t even have a plan when they contacted me…” she stated. “I don’t like starting on the back foot like this…” she continued, sighing.

“And yet we now have a very workable plan.” T’liss indicated. Sol noted she hadn’t used the word ‘good’ to describe the plan. Not that she disagreed.

“Only because I came up with it in the past three hours… and that wasn’t even enough time to look at all the information… I’m going to have to have a talk with Intelligence when we arrive on DS17…” she said. T’liss raised an eyebrow. Were she capable of it, she wouldn’t envy the officer that was going to end up the target of Solaris’ piercing red gaze. Solaris stood, heading for the door herself. T’liss followed.

“I’m certain you will make them understand their errors…” T’liss admitted. Sol laughed.

“You can bet on it…” she said. Sol nodded to T’liss, before splitting off. She wanted to finish reviewing the rest of the information before they arrived, and see if she needed to refine the plan.