[snip]

Just then, Stella and Dariusz were interrupted by a message from Captain Glen. =/\= Lt. Gagnon. Please recall all remaining crew from DS K-5 back to the ship. Announce a meeting of senior staff in Conference Room-B in an hour at 1300 hours. Thank you. =/\=

=/\= And Stella, once you have done that, I have something that requires you to be a little more discrete. I need you to try to contact the wife of a diplomat from the Romulan Senate for me, if it is at all possible. She is a former Commander of a Bird of Prey, and goes by the name of Andone. She will be found in the Krocton Segment of the Capitol City, Ki Baratan, on the planet Romulus, Sector Z-6 of the Beta Quadrant. She has one female child under school age, called Drudoc, so she will likely be at home during the day. If and when you do locate her, she will need some proof of who I am, so you should mention “y’gora tree” to her. If she will talk, then I would be indebted to her if she could find out the reason why the Romulan colony on Ardan V was abandoned. Is that clear? =/\=

Some of the crew might remember that John had had a romantic relationship with Commander Andone long before she had married. He had also met her daughter, Drudoc when the USS Merrimack had once travelled into the future, and where Drudoc was a Starfleet officer. It might be difficult, if not impossible, to make contact with the Commander as Romulans had become more militaristic and secretive recently. However, what no one would know right now, was that in only a short few year’s time, any further communication at all would become impossible. A confrontation between the United Federation of Planets and the Romulan Star Empire would cost thousands of lives and lead to a new treaty, and the complete withdrawal of the Romulan government from interstellar affairs for more than fifty years. Glen would never see her again in this timeline.

After hearing the captains request, Stella’s brows knitted for a moment before she replied in her usual happy but businesslike manner. ” Aye sir I can get that done for you. I may need some time to accomplish it though. ”

As soon as she finished that sentence, she mumbled to herself, ” That man doesn’t want much from me, does he?” She then began to tap her fingernail against one of her teeth as she thought the situation through. There was the language thing for one thing. people just didn’t speak Romulan. No more than people on earth spoke English. Stella for instance had to guess sometimes at what the captain had to say!

Finally, though Stella figured out how she would transmit her messages. Her first and best bet would be to send her signal in the clear to a simple unmanned science station. There she could send out the signal to another similar station that the Romulan’s maintained in their own territory. From there her signal could get a boost from the transmitter there which sent signals to the Romulan capitol. The only difference being now though was the destination. It took her several tries to get the destination correct but she did, and the message was sent. Then of course she had to push the message through local addresses. After what seemed like an eternity the voice of a young Romulan female answered. Hru’hfe Andone?” Stella asked slowly in her best Romulan . It was as it turned out not as good as she thought as the young girl at the other end of the line began laughing.

” Feel safe. ” The girl replied. ” I dare say my Federation Standard is better than your Romulan.” Stella then heaved a sigh of relief after finding out that this was indeed Drudoc she gave her the captain’s message complete with his special proof that it was he who had sent the signal. ” Oh, and I am to tell you y’gora tree.” The girl agreed to pass the message to her mother and before Stella broke the connection she smiled and said, “jolan’tru. ” The girl replied saying , “Much better!”

Stella heaved a great sigh and then contacted the captain . =/\= ” Captain sir? Mission accomplished. =/\=

A message finally came through for the Captain’s eyes only. It followed the same circuitous route that Stella had used to get her comm call to Romulus.
The message was brief. ‘Jolan’tru Captain Glen. The information was spotty as to what had happened on Ardan V. We did ship out several shipments of priceless ore, a dilithium mix, from what I could gather. But then the mining colony had a string of severe accidents, the Colony Administrator was killed. From reading between the lines it was found ‘not profitable’ enough to continue. That is all I could find. Andone’

Captain Glen took and read the short message back. The message told him little but the ‘string of severe accidents’ was the important phrase. It didn’t say they were attacked. Calling them ‘accidents’ could mean that they were natural, like an earthquake, or that they were simply unexplained. Of course, they could be hiding the fact that they were attacks, but he had no reason not to trust Andone’s instincts. She was one of the cleverest and insightful women that he had ever known, and he wished they could have had more time together. He had only had the same kind feelings for Andone that he had for Andromeda du Astra, the mother of his son, Iain. For a moment, he was lost in his memories.

Glen quickly snapped out of it and wrote a quick reply: ‘Jolan’tru Commander Andone. Khnai’ra. Your help is appreciated. I wish that we could see each other again e’lev, although I am aware that is no longer possible. Y’hhau, Glen.’

He asked Stella to send it via the same circuitous route again. “Thank you, Stella!” The signing of the Treaty of Algeron meant that Glen would never ever see Andone again, but he knew that she would eventually meet him again one day in her future, and in his own recent past, and it was with great sadness that he reflected on what might have been possible, if not for what would become widely known as the Tomed Incident.

Glen quickly turned and left the Bridge, hiding tears in his eyes. He went immediately to his quarters.

• Glen, CO