Nicole looked at Lindsay as the shuttle docked, "Do I look ready for this?"
"Nicole, I always thought you were ready for anything.", Lindsay smiled at the former two time governor of the Phoenix Colony.
Nicole got off the shuttle and walked out to be greeted by Admiral Dominic Montgomery, "Welcome, Chancellor. My staff has prepared quarters and I have received your briefing request. Lieutenant Coren will brief you on the Federation Intelligence understanding of the attacks at H'Atoria and Nequencia."
Nicole could not believe how professional Dominic was acting. He has a history on being hell bent on destroying the Phoenix Federation and in particular, the colony. Nicole looked at Elizabeth and Eugenio walked by. Eugenio nodded but Elizabeth made no motion at all towards her former daughter in law.
Nicole went up to her quarters. She was startled when Shayna arrived. Shayna looked at Nicole, "Vincent thought that you should not be alone here."
"Thank you, Commander.", Nicole looked at Shayna. She had not seen her since she left for the Primatos Reservation.
"Poros is a wonderful creature.", Shayna finally broke the tension. Nicole was very happy that it was finally out there. The pair enjoyed a nice supper and then Nicole went down to Station Ops.
Lavender looked at Nicole and nodded. Nicole stood on the non-operational deck for a few minutes before Lavender came down. Lavender pointed to a briefing room.
Lavender looked at Nicole, "Star Fleet Intelligence has confirmed that the attack was conducted by the Cetuin."
"What the hell is a Cetuin?", Nicole asked.
The Cetuin
The woman on this picture is a Cetuin, one of the Retarnees subject species. As you can see from her flight suit, she is a fighter pilot, which means she is trusted and, for a Cetuin, privileged. While she might never become more than a squardron leader, she has access
to better healthcare and education, than the ordinary Cetuin.
The Cetuin was the species the Retarnees first conquered. The Cetuin actually invented the warp drive system the Retarnees use, but their military prowess was far less than the Retarnees.
Lavender handed Nicole a PADD, "We believe the Cetuin are part of an ongoing plan to increase hostilities in the region to make it unstable. The Retarnee would then swoop in and take large quantities of territory. Caitlin Wu provided a detailed map of the post Retarnee invasion. The bulk of the bottom of the Romulan Empire and Mark 45 Portion of the Klingon Empires would fall into Retarnee hands."
"Caitlin provided this.", Nicole looked at PADD, "Bitch!"
"Please Nicole. Everyone knows she is working for both sides. It is how she has kept alive for so long.", Lavender scolded and then started to laugh. It was the first time the pair had shared a laugh in a long time.
"The problem, Chancellor is that the Klingons are blaming the Phoenix Federation and will accept no other explanation, blaming either shock troops from New Terra or the Phoenix Defence League from the colony. They believe this is retaliation for recent attacks and the Predators Hunt.", Lavender explained.
"Worse yet, the Romulans and Praetor T'Ros are blaming the Nequencia attack on internal strife and have increased military presence including martial law. They are both badly wrong. Star Fleet Intelligence has tried to convince them otherwise but they do not trust our information and are not preparing for the Retarnee or any future Cetuin attacks. I was literally begging T'Ros on the phone.", Lavender continued.
Lavender handed Nicole a bunch of other PADDs with information on the Retarnee, the Cetuin and the attacks. Nicole looked at Lavender, "Thank you, Lieutenant."
Lavender nodded. Nicole went back to her quarters. She began to transfer the information to the Governor's Office and to Commodore Tan. She was not thinking about Lavender. She was hard at work.
Lavender went up to the observation deck. She was happy the deck was empty. She thought of nothing but Nicole. She started crying. She wanted to tell Nicole that she was blinded by the ressurrection of Magenta and not to what could have been; what should have been between the pair. She wanted to tell Nicole that she was sorry for the murder attempt hidden in the guise of the host body. No words would ever be able to apologize for that.
Elizabeth was looking for Lavender. She came up into the Observation Lounge. She saw Lassie sitting there sobbing. She knew what she was thinking about. She knew that she was thinking about Nicole. Elizabeth had seen a lot of pain in her life. The Coren family had lost so much to the Phoenix Federation.
Dr. Trista Coren was killed by the Borg in 2388 aboard the USS Princess Diana. The daughter of Illyan Coren and niece of Elizabeth and Eugenio. Worse yet, Elizabeth and Eugenio had lost two daughters - Orchid was killed by Addison Laree in Omega Prime and Magenta was killed by the Klingons in Kalama. Elizabeth did not want to; could not bare to lose another daughter but she also could not bare to see the intense pain in the eyes of Lavender.
Elizabeth went to see Nicole. Nicole had to know what hurts the most.
Nicole looked at Elizabeth, "I just don't know. She tried to kill me."
Elizabeth looked at Nicole, "She is up in the observation lounge crying... alone."
Posted by:
Chancellor Nicole Branson
Omega Academy
Phoenix Colony
Phoenix Federation
