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File #1

"Alex, you've really annoyed them this time..."

Captain Alexander Greyfell stared into the ominous black liquid of his coffee cup, not wanting to look up at his First Officer, across the ready room table.

A Worker Bee flew past the window as he shot a rather contorted frown at his First Officer, his long, equine features, becoming even more narrow as he was unsure how to react at first. For a Veridian, raised on Earth after the destruction of his home colony by the Fen Domar, he had grown accustomed to the human tradition of "soft-pedaling" the truth

Clearly his First Officer had never heard of this human parlance.

"Well..." he said, his tone flat, offsetting the rather natural higher and softer pitch of his voice. "Please... feel free to speak freely" he chortled sarcastically as he took a long sip of the calming black Earth beverage that he did so enjoy.

His First Officer though, Commander Shon Tempest prefered a much more formal arrangement, even in the presence of his long term friend and commanding officer. He believed more in the strict discipline of Starfleet ideals. His very contrast with Captain Greyfell had made them a very reliable team for many years.

He had a knack for cutting to the truth which Greyfell had always admired.

Commander Tempest himself, was a blue lycanthrope with glowing green eyes. His race had always been a mystery to the Federation but it had been suggested that they were capable of some kind of reincarnation into different forms after death, taking on many different personalities and personas.

Captain Greyfell had always secretly wrestled with this concept of Tempest's expanded life cycle. It could be impossible to understand and it was unknown how many lives Tempest had experienced. Unlike his Trill Chief Medical Officer, Doctor Kylan Tao, Commander Tempest could be changed into a completely different person, not a combination of different personalities.

A person could go mad justs thinking about it.

"I did what I thought was correct at the time Shon." replied Captain Greyfell, shooting his gaze at the rather sloppy piloting of the small yellow Worker Bee outside the window, one of the many that was currently working on the repairs that the Warrior had sustained during a confrontation with the Romulan Star Empire.

The U.S.S. Warrior, a Sovereign Class advanced cruiser had only been assigned to the Triangle Sector, a region of space that intersected the major powers of the United Federation of Planets, Klingon Empire and Romulan Star Empire, for a just a few months and had already made a sizable impact.

Just a week before, there had been an explosion at the main base of the 12th Expeditionary Fleet, which had been caused by the Romulan Star Empire as a way to lure the Warrior into the Romulan Neutral Zone and capture the vessel.

The Romulans had been interested in a new version of the "Unity Class" sensor array, a smaller, shipboard version of the original technology that had been created in the 2380's. The sensor array had the capability to detect all ships, even cloaked vessels in a large radius around the vessel deploying it.

This had undoubtedly worried the Romulan Star Empire, who had slowly been in decline since the destruction of their homeword, Romulus in 2387. The Romulans had feared that Starfleet would begin to equip all their vessels with this technology and had hatched an elaborate scheme to bring the Warrior into Romulan space so they could capture it and devise a countermeasure for it.

This plan had only failed when the disabled Warrior had been rescued by a large Federation fleet deployed from Starbase 248.

However Captain Alexander Greyfell had ignored his original orders when the explosion occurred to chase down the Romulan vessel responsible for the explosion that had claimed the lives of many cadets at the Academy annex on the surface of the colony.

Now he was going to pay the price for that mistake...

"I doubt that Command is going to see it that way" replied Tempest, his bright green eyes focusing intently on Captain Greyfell, making him feel like he was already in front of a board of inquiry.

Captain Greyfell, leaned back in his chair, taking a moment to look at his pictures of the ancient Earth sailing vessels that had also beared the name, Warrior. He had seen the original H.M.S. Warrior in Portsmouth Habour, England, when he had been a boy and it had captured his imagination. Humanity was not his culture but he had been raised on Earth, with Human values and he had integrated them so deeply into his personality that he considered himself Human, despite some major biological differences.

"Oh I see..." replied Greyfell, giving a frown to his First Officer. "I didn't know you'd been promoted to Admiral in my absence?"

Tempest pressed his paw-like hand to his forehead. His commanding officer rarely took himself seriously. He understood the magnitude and he failed to see how any of this was remotely funny at all.

"Captain!" he exclaimed, raising his voice to show his irritation with Greyfell's flippant attitude. "I just don't want to see you put your career at risk."

Captain Greyfell leaned back in his chair, raising a hand as if to swish away Tempest's nagging comments. He failed to see what good worrying about it would do now. What was done, was done. He understood that his actions may have called his command into question however, the Warrior had achieved many successful missions in the past and even the great commanding officers of Starfleet, Jean-Luc Picard and Benjamin Sisko had made significant mistakes during their careers.

Sometimes, a captain's instinct needed to supercede the orders of Starfleet, as the great Captain Jean-Luc Picard had said;

"Starfleet doesn't want officers that blindly follow orders..."

He had hoped that over the years together, he had instilled that message into his First Officer, but Tempest was just as bound to Starfleet principles now, as he had been almost ten years previous, serving under Captain Diamond Frostmane, the first Veridian captain in Starfleet.

"Shon..." replied Greyfell, in the same caring and calm tone that he always used to show that he understood his concerns. Sometimes, he knew Greyfell just a little too well. Greyfell was bold, brash and considered somewhat of a maverick by Starfleet standards but every now and again, he surprised Shon with his compassion, understanding and competence.

"I understand that you are concerned for my future" he said, his large green eyes giving way to a smile as he reached across and touched the paw of his friend. "But I have to face the consequences of my actions... worrying about them won't achieve anything but stress and..."

"Bridge to Captain Greyfell..."

Greyfell's attempts to explain to his friend were cut short by a voice coming over the communications system. He tapped his combadge on his breast and leaned back into the chair to respond.

"Greyfell here..."

"Captain... Starbase 248 want to use their own engineers to refit the Electro-Plasma conduits on Deck fourteen! My teams can..."

"Mr Muraco..." replied Captain Greyfell, giving a long, protracted sigh and taking another sip of his coffee. "I told you... we need to work with Southern Cross Engineers if we want to get to Warrior deployed within the week..."

"I know that Sir... But they are pulling out all the reconfigured ones to lay new transkinetic transducers... I only recalibrated them a month again and it took weeks to find the right frequency!"

"Muraco..." Greyfell, putting his face in his palms as he failed to understand why his Chief Engineer was so resistant to working with outside engineers. He always complained any time the Warrior needed minor repair work or non-essential refits.

Counselor Mewsin had always remarked that he probably felt like if he was not in complete control of the Engineering Systems of the Warrior, he would probably be replaced. Captain Greyfell found it almost amusing that such a large, hulking presence like Muraco could be so fundamentally insecure. He had offered Muraco counselling but the big purple creature had refused to even consider the idea.

"Muraco... have Mr Darkwood contact Starbase Command and inform them about your "modifications". Let's see if they can work around them first..."

"But Captain... I...."

"Greyfell out..." replied Alexander, tapping his combadge to cut communications with his Chief Engineer. The Warrior has suffered extensive damage from the Romulan Warbirds that had surrounded the ship and disabled her with easy. If it had not been for the swift arrival of the U.S.S. Agamemnon and her support fleet, the ship would have most likely have been on its way back to Romulus now.

The doorbell chimed, stopping both officers conversing the same way that the ill-timed comm single had.

"Come in..." replied Captain Greyfell, getting up to replenish his cup of coffee. Doctor Tao told him that he drunk too much of the stuff, an old Earth beverage he had grown to enjoy but he swore it was pretty much the only thing that made it through the day.

A purple feathered avian-like species walked into the room, encased in the familiar mustard yellow of Starfleet Operations and Starfleet Security.

"Captain, the Admiral's shuttle has landed in Shuttlebay One. Shall I escort him to the Conference Lounge?" reported a rather curt Avian who had been only just recently assigned to the Warrior as Chief of Security.

Commander Tempest shot Greyfell a look that was as sharp as a knife, and Greyfell felt every second of it. All eyes would be on him during this inquiry. However this was Captain Greyfell's territory and he was going to use every meter of his ship to his advantage... while he had her.

"Not yet..." smirked Greyfell, replicating himself another cup of coffee.