𝐻𝑒 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑, 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑡 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑖𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑛, 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑀𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑙.

"Mestral, RUN!"

𝑉𝑛𝑒𝑥 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑖𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑎 𝑦𝑒𝑙𝑝, 𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝑘𝑛𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑡.

𝐻𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑤 𝑉𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑖𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑒.

𝐼𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑎 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑡, 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝑔𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑖𝑝, 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑔 𝑏𝑢𝑐𝑘𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏

𝐻𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑉𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑒 ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑠 ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑛 𝑡𝑜𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑢𝑙𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐻𝑖𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑛.

𝑉𝑛𝑒𝑥 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑛, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑟𝑢𝑝𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑏𝑜𝑙𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑛𝑜 𝑑𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑜𝑟. 𝐿𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑑, 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑎 𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑝𝑜𝑛.

-𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝐿𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑉𝑛𝑒𝑥 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑑.

𝐴𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑜𝑟, ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑀𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑖𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑖𝑚 𝑎 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑡 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚. 𝑉𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒.

𝐴𝑣'𝑖𝑥 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑑, 𝐿𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠

"Transport control, lock onto Khre'riov Letant and Arrain Vnex," ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑑, 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐿𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑏 𝑎 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑟𝑢𝑝𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠, "beam to these coordinants; now!".

𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 ℎ𝑢𝑚-

"I'm sure there are many of us you don't know about, we aren't exactly the most forthcoming on our activities." ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑢𝑐𝑘𝑙𝑒𝑑, 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑒𝑘 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑠 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑠

"Toreth got Rauk and Bochra out...they had the e'Chrk ambassador help them, she's as blood thirsty as any s'Hei ever thought of being. It wouldn't hurt to ask, at any rate, though that all happened on ch'Rihan not Rator III."

"Av'ix, get a lock on Mestral's signal!" ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑔𝑒, "Transport them aboard."

"There's interference near their location, rekkhai," ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑, 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑒, "there's a transporter jammer in close proximity to them!"

"Transport me as close as I can get, then!"

"That is a reasonable correction of your husband's faithlessness. Zorvaan was in no position to disagree, and I doubt he truly understood the full implications of marriage as Vorta do not have such things in their society. Maiek was a monster, yet most Tal'Shiar of such rank are."

-for his own purposes...there may have been love but Zorvaan was still little more than a slave of his House after Maiek died."

"Humans have an incredible ability to convince themselves of the most absurd ideas. Zorvaan isn't the only Vorta that was taken alive in combat, but he's the only one I know of that survived the war. Maiek kept him-

It was a risk, certainly

"Fvadt, do what you can to interfere, I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Beldas would kill him if he thought himself betrayed; he is one of the friendliest Romulans I have ever met but is as ruthless as the rest of us. I wouldn't have permitted their marriage if I didn't feel there was a benefit, Beldas came to me with his suit and I see more advantages than not."

"Avox sends fear through even the hardest of the Tal'Shiar, he is their tool but also their terror. That Zorvaan finds commonality with him is...unsettling. Beldas has excellent instincts, he wouldn't risk himself with a love match if he suspected grave danger..."

𝐼𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑚, ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑙𝑦. 𝐻𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑤 𝑀𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑙'𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑐 𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑡 𝑎 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑉𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛'𝑠 𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ

"Do you know where they are?!"

"Inform Taris if she insists on sending ships to 'manage the conflicted region' that we will destroy every one of them."

"If there is any difficulty I'm sure Beldas will want to go, he is incredibly skilled at seek and rescue work. I find it hard to believe Avox is capable of friendship at all."

Beldas tells me that Zorvaan must return to Rator III...he is concerned.

I know Avox is out here somewhere...I know Beldas fears that the colonel will intercept his deyyhan on his return trip.

ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑑 𝑀𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑟

I believe Rauk was taking him to Bajor for some recreation time. Knowing Rauk he is going to do survival exercises.

Soon we will depart from Bajoran space, there is little reason to stay after we have the settlers hashed out.

Will you accompany me? Or is the 𝘛𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘬𝘳𝘶𝘷𝘦𝘬 required here?

The air vents are secured as well, I had Subcommander Bochra test them all for access...interdeck accessways are restricted and secured.

This is my private domain, our personal quarters...I don't wish us to be disturbed by a veruul dropping out of the ceiling at 3 am

He asked for access to our quarters 'in case of emergency'

Veren isn't allowed on this deck at all

-𝑔𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑒. 𝑆𝑒𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑑 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑖𝑡.

"We have word that there were attacks against Federation and Klingon worlds, Earth and Qo'noS. The reports are sketchy right now, but I am waiting on more information."

"I hope D'Tan utilizes Zorvaan's abilities, he's as solid an officer as any we have. We have sent additional supplies to Mol'Rihan, the senate agreed to ship 500 tons of food and medical equipment, personnel as well."

𝐻𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 𝑀𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑙'𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑟, 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑙-

𝐻𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑔𝑛𝑒𝑖𝑠𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑟, 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑠𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑙𝑦.

"We've lost a few ships now...Taboor II was attacked but we held it. Sela has sent the Hirogen against our worlds as much as those of D'Tan's sympathizers...yet I find I worry for Beldas...I have lost one son already."

𝐻𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑑, 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑑

"I want someone with our interests there; Neetelk will go too, his ship has been repaired and will fly as Beldas's wing...I know they will do whatever they can, be as safe as possible..."

"Yes, I'm going to be sending at least ten...I am planning to send Beldas with them."

𝐻𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑘 ℎ𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑, 𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑎 𝑝𝑎𝑑𝑑

"No, not this time, though there is nothing here to rival your beauty in any case. I have word from D'Tan, asking for ships and crews to assist his flotilla."

𝐿𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑, ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚, 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑎 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑎𝑔𝑒

"Ah, there you are, e'lev." ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚, 𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒

𝐹𝑌 2410

𝑠'𝐴𝑎𝑛𝑘ℎ 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑, 𝑁'𝑉𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑙

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑛 𝑤𝑎𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑡 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑧𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝𝑒𝑑, 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑘ℎ𝑖𝑦'𝑎𝑢𝑚ℎ 𝑠𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑓 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑜𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑡.

𝐿𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑘𝑙𝑦, 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 @mestralade.bsky.social