Star Trek: The Ranger Part 1

Chapter 4

IV

Five Days Later

The meeting that Admiral Necheyav had chaired not long ago had taken on new significance, with the latest report from the Ferengi Alliance. There was no doubt that Seven of Nine was out to free XB's, and seek vengeance not only for Icheb, but for the plight of all former drones.

Necheyav had Sloan come to her office mid-day to discuss the situation with him.

Sloan was the true kingmaker, not Necheyav. Normally, he would have been very angry being called as if he were the servant, but in this case, he had actually expected the summons form the Star Fleet Admiral.

Necheyav was looking out of her large window, with a picturesque view of San Francisco Bay, something she never appreciated. As the door closed, she didn't turn around, but spoke in a grating voice.

"That fucking drone is going to kill half the Quadrant if we don't find her, Sloan."

Only then did she turn around, the man seated on the other side of her desk, a benign smirk on his face.

"And a pleasant morning to you, Alynna", he said with a sarcastic bite.

For once, Alynna was not having any of his phony pleasantries. "Stick it up your ass, Sloan", she said with the same anger.

"Ah, ah, ah", he tisked at her, but still in a light tone. "Remember who is running this entire operation, Admiral. It isn't you. It's me. I do share your...sentiments, but let's not go overboard and say something you might regret?"

Necheyav had no love for this son-of-a-bitch. But without him, she couldn't mold Starfleet into what she wanted: a feared, deadly instrument to be used at will against all enemies, real or perceived.

"Be that as it may", Necheyav said flippantly, ignoring the baiting the man was working on, "I think we need to move up the timeline on our mission."

Sloan shook his head. "No, I think we're fine. Admiral Shelby will have her fleet ready in two months. We have those nine brand-new, mothballed Intrepid Class ships being readied as we speak, with the updated warp drives. Better not to be slip-shod in our workmanship. Let them do their jobs."

"And meanwhile, Seven of Nine goes on her merry way, killing more people." She turned to Sloan. "What if she turns her wrath on us."

"If", Sloan countered with no little amount of amazement. "She will turn on us. We have our own facilities. Carefully hidden, yes, and completely off the grid, but we're talking about an extraordinary person here. I don't think the Cardassian prison was known to anyone, but she found it. No, if she's allowed the time, she will find us."

"The best reason for Shelby's fleet to be double-timed into readiness." She looked at Sloan, daring him to challenge him on that point. The mysterious man began to speak, but demurred, nodding his head.

Within a few hours, Necheyav had ordered the workers at Utopia Planetia to hurry things along. She wanted that fleet sailing in under a month.

The News of Seven's attack on the Ferengi outpost reached Janeway and her small crew of the Phantom four days after the fact. Kathryn, B'Elanna, the Doctor and Tom all agreed that their friend would be nowhere near Ferengi space by now.

"She has to know she's being hunted", B'Elanna suggested. "She's certainly not gonna backtrack this way, and I doubt she'll make a nice clean circle around the Quadrant."