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     Cdr. Velorna Tal |
"No, goddammit! I will not see anyone, not even her! not right now. Not after those idiots -" Rear Admiral Dev Wallace's voice trailed off. His face was red from all the yelling he had been doing over the past two hours. He sighed and looked up at his sister. "Dev, she's pretty insistent. Why haven't you told her what's going on yet?" "Because, Beth, I don't want her getting mixed up in this. She's young. She's still got a chance for a long life if something goes wrong here and I -" The admiral blinked. "If something goes wrong here, I want her to be taken care of by people who will do that. She has a home on Coronado. Tebrun will make sure of that." He growled. "Assuming we can track him down." === "Hurry up, Tal, I can feel them getting closer." "Thank you, Commander. I am well aware of the Marines' proximity. I might not be as sensitive to lifeforms as you are, but my hearing is second to none, especially in this near soundless environment." "Can't we go yet? We might be able to hide or break into the third chamber or SOMETHING!" "Calm yourself, Commander. We are breaking into nothing just yet." Commander Velorna Tal pulled her tricorder out of the terminal slot into which she had placed it. The Romulan checked several settings and then moved to the transmitter equipment she had set up. "Coronado should have received all data we collected here. However," Tal handed the tricorder to her companion, "I want you, Commander Oswald, to make certain this copy gets there." Tal's long, strong fingers disassembled the components quickly. "This transmitter was linked to Coro's main data transfer line. The information should be in the memory buffers. Access Name: Jennifer Wildman. Password: Mouse." "Mouse?" "A woman my father loved a long time ago. He would never suspect me of setting up an account in her name. You must hurry and relay this all to Captain Daren. Between ourselves and the other teams I believe have been here, there will be plenty of usable data. "Avoid capture if you can. But I must take the shuttle to the Great Library. I believe that is where the Admiral has set up." Oswald made a disgusted face. "You get to have all the fun." "Commander - Zunite - I need this from you. Captain Daren and Admiral Lora Kor will need this information. I'm going to try to talk some sense into that half-crazed lunatic sitting in his office up there in the ivory tower." Oswald's features softened. "Oh, all right. Good luck, Commander Tal, and may the Force be with you. You're going to need it." Tal smirked. "Perhaps." === "My girl, what are you doing to me?" Dev Wallace frowned. "You were supposed to be keeping Coronado in line." "I was doing my job, Admiral. I am trained as an intelligence gatherer and analyst. I am also assigned as YOUR chief fleet intelligence officer. I cannot do that job if you withhold information from me, sir." Wallace's frown deepend. "This is about him, isn't it, Vel?" "Sir, any personal feelings I may or may not have for another officer in Starfleet are entirely my own business." "Vel, I'm asking as a father. Is this some sort of misguided loyalty to him? Are you placing your personal feelings before your orders and your loyalty to me, the man who saved your life and raised you as his own offspring?" "Admiral, for you to attempt to bring our personal relationship into this is quite unprofessional." Tal stopped and spun on her heel so that she could face her father. With a look of seething hatred, she stared down into his eyes. "And if you make this personal, SIR, I don't think that you will have a daughter or an intelligence officer on your hands for much longer." "I see. Very well, Commander. I cannot divulge the information concerning any chambers beyond this one. All information that is classified in the Alexandria Great Library Computer is off limits. Any attempts to hack the computer or to manipulate Alicia in any manner will be met with severe punishment." Wallace shook his head. "I'm also ordering you to return to Coronado with a message. Coronado has six hours remaining to recall all personnel and evacuate Xanadu. I'm not completely heartless, though. Those screwups can take Onyx with them to finish repairs. Then, I want you out of the system." Tal's jaw hardened further. "And my particular orders, sir." The admiral's lined face softened. "I love you, kid. But we don't seem to be working well together. I'll put in a rec for whatever position you want. You want to command Coronado? I'm sure after this fiasco, Daren is gone. You want to serve with Brian or Todd? It's yours. But I can't have you - or anyone else - snooping around." "But why, sir? This place is the greatest archeological find of all time. It can provide answers of where our civilization is going and where it has come from. It could even provide a way home. Don't you want that, Admiral? Dad?" Wallace swallowed hard and blinked several times. "I want to see Earth again more than anything else, darlin'. But there are dangerous elements at work here. You have to believe me that I would not have pulled the research teams and investigators if I did not think there was a good reason for it." He smiled and laid his hands on her shoulders. "Daren and his crew have screwed up. They're threatening our very existance by fooling with powers that no one here truly understands. I've got my own teams looking into certain things, and I'll let the archeologists back in when the times are right. But they were getting too close to things that they have no business knowing right now." "Then it would be futile to ask about those things myself." "Indeed. Fight your battles, my dear. But pick which ones are worth fighting. Fight this one, and it can only end badly. You're already walking the razor's edge with that stunt in the Cathedral. Whatever it is you think you know, you're wrong." Father and daughter stared at each other for a long moment in silence. The younger finally spoke "This isn't over." "I never expected for one moment that it was. Dismissed." ====== Christian D. Clem '01, aka "Aggie" Cdr. Velorna Tal, Fleet Intelligence Officer Defenders Taskforce 85.2 "Defiant" R.Adm. J.D. "Dev" Wallace, Commanding Officer Defenders Taskforce 85.2 "Defiant" Commanding Officer, Xanadu |