Star Trek: The Ranger Part 4: Unto The Breach

Chapter 8

VIII

If Admiral Necheyav had thought that the people of Fenris would demand that Seven of Nine be handed over to The Federation to avoid war, she was greatly mistaken.

The Prime Minister of Fenris, Cyan Sladek, had made a public broadcast to the citizens of that planet, detailing not only Seven of Nine's actions, but recounting her history aboard Voyager in the Delta Quadrant, and, in brutal detail, the story of the death of Icheb. It was a powerful story that resonated with the people of Fenris. The Rangers had been born on that planet, and the people of the planet took great pride in the work of the Fenris Rangers, namely to rescue and attempt to give XB's a chance at something approaching a normal life. Fenris was not the only haven for XB's in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, but it was maybe the most well-known.

The broadcast had been sent via subspace to whoever wanted to re-broadcast it. After some hemming and hawing, the Federation President, who was but a mere figurehead for Necheyav and Sloan, allowed the broadcast to be made available on Earth.

It received mixed reviews on Earth, and in some other Federation worlds. The memory of Wolf 359, and how perilously close Earth and the rest of the Quadrant had come to being over-run by The Borg would be a long time in fading. And on a pure propaganda level, it had always been good business to bash The Borg, including XB's, whenever possible.

Yet the broadcast made Necheyav and her allies somewhat uneasy. It didn't start a cry for Seven of Nine's head, as Necheyav had thought. If war came to Fenris, it might not turn out to be a "rally 'round the flag" moment as governments past had always tried to make a conflict.

Still Necheyav held firm. It would make her meeting this day with her Chief-of-Staff, Captain T'revva, Admiral Adams, and Sloan, even more important.

At 0900, she informed T'revva that the meeting was still going forward as scheduled, around Noon. Under the pretext of needing to run an errand before lunch, T'revva left Headquarters, and got word to Admiral Jellico.

Edward Jellico had always picked his operatives with great care. Most had been in his back pocket for a number of years, and he trusted them completely. Most Admiral at or near his level had such operatives of their own. It gave a higher up a wider field network of sources to garner information both within and outside of the government. It was a game as old as government itself.

He had been very judicious in selecting the three people who would would have the Lurian Flu introduced into their bodies. He had demanded the three that were chosen be younger, and in outstanding physical shape. It may be this flu wasn't lethal in all but a handful of cases, but he didn't want someone truly getting sick from this. That included Necheyav and Sloan, although the reasons why he didn't want them to get it weren't completely altruistic.

He had chosen three Humans, two male, and one male. The female was Lieutenant Pamela Wheeler, who was assigned to Starfleet headquarters and worked in Signal Intelligence. The second was Lieutenant Ilya Petrovich Tretiak. The Russian-born man was assigned to the Judge Advocate General section. His father had been an attorney, and a career in the JAG was suited for him. The last was Lieutenant Pierre Caldar, a native of Jamaica. He was the youngest of the three, at age twenty-six, and was in Tactical. His grandfather had served in Starfleet, and had perished at Wolf 359.

Neither of them knew each other, at least on any level that Jellico could detect. None of them were given the virus at the same time, or in the same location from The Doctor. All of them were in wonderful physical shape. All had volunteered once told of the mission.

As far as getting The Doctor into the office where his double was residing, Jellico had gone to his well of operatives once again, this one a physician based at Starfleet Medical. Captain Dr. Alyssa Ogawa, a protege of Beverly Crusher, like most of the crew from her days onboard the Enterprise-D, had no love for Alynna Necheyav. Jellico had almost forgotten about Alyssa, until Will Riker had mentioned her in passing a few days earlier on an unrelated matter. He had quickly contacted her, and she readily agreed.