Wade had spent well over an hour with the star charts and had not found anything he liked. Every route he traced to Chaltok ended the same way, with a Starfleet crew on the wrong side of the line and no good story for why they were there. Around 1030 hours he made himself stop, before he talked himself into an answer.

He cleared the charts at ten minutes to eleven and copied the recording to a single isolinear chip, along with the attached file, still sealed. He had been the one to tell Oksana that nothing like this went onto a standard PADD outside her suite, so he carried the chip in hand. He had also agreed that communications like this went through Intelligence first, according to Blackwatch procedures as well.

A young Lieutenant Commander had the conn as he stepped out "I'll be on Deck 3 for a while. Call me if anything immediately comes up." He gave the man nothing more than that and stepped into the turbolift. The ride down was short, which left him just enough time to work the numbers again. Varek's fifty hours had started a little after nine that morning, so a little more than forty eight of them were left and he still had no idea whether the man would really be on that moon. Wade stopped outside the Intelligence Suite right at eleven, and pressed his hand to the sensor to verify himself, and then submit for a face scan. The doors opened a moment later allowing him into the man trap. Waiting, he was scanned once more before the doors in front of him opened, allowing access into the general area. He turned the chip over once in his fingers and pressed the chime to her office.

“Who?” Oksana asked the air, her attention completely consumed by the monitor in front of her but broken just enough to give the question.

“Commander Wade Samstone.” The computer replied in its evenly programmed voice.

Oksana blinked a few times, mostly to wet her eyes again, then cleared her screen before standing from her chair. With a simple press of a control in front of her, the door opened and she gave a warm smile.

“Commander, hello. Would you like something to drink?”

It was a response he hadn’t quite expected but appreciated. “I think we both will need something a little stronger for what I’ve brought, but coffee will do. I have something we need to go over, should we go into one of the suites?” He held up the chip which had been encrypted to his signature to show it to her. “I think we’ve got a live one here, right up your alley.”

“No need, really. This office is as secure as anything.” Her blue eyes danced to the chip curiously, though she turned and walked over to the replicator. “Have you settled on a preferred blend yet?”

He grinned at hearing her acknowledgement and the question. He appreciated the thought.

“Triple espresso, extra dark roast, something from the 2350’s for the flavor. Iced please.” He took a step inside to look for the slot to place the chip once her doors closed. “We’re on a bit of a time crunch unfortunately.” He certainly didn’t want to rush the woman, he was thankful for her approach to many things, but getting a team prepped would take a moment and what to brief whom on was also needing to be decided.

Oksana put the order in, deciding to get one of the same for herself, and was soon walking back toward the desk. She placed the glasses down, then reached out to pluck the chip from his hand. Instead of the console, she lowered it down to the desk where a small compartment opened and she inserted the chip. Taking a seat, she tapped a few commands, and sent the information up onto the larger screen on the opposite wall so they could both view it easily.

“When you’re ready.”

He pressed his thumbprint to a small grid on the table and watched as the encrypted characters shifted to become something readable. He couldn’t believe he was about to say what he was going to say, it seemed almost too good to be true. “A couple of hours ago I got a direct communique from a Romulan Commander named Varek Tr’Lareth. He is requesting asylum and extraction in exchange for intelligence on the complete order of battle for his area. He is the Senior Fleet Disposition officer for the Chaltok sector.” A moment later Wade queued the recording of it, playing both sides of their communication as a whole to give Oksana the chance to hear everything first hand. When it was completed, he continued a bit more “We have forty eight hours to go and get him, if we so choose.”

“I’m familiar with Tr’Lareth…” She spoke after a moment, her voice careful. “I met him in passing once years back before he was in his position now. He would have never struck me as a traitor to the Empire. I wonder what’s happened to shift him to this.”

She took a sip of her drink, staring at the man’s face on the screen. “That bit of intelligence would be rather foolish to pass up.”

“I agree” he replied. “I know there could be many reasons as to why, in particular as to why he might be choosing this, but I don’t think we have time to decide if it matters. The opportunity, even if it’s a completely false flag operation, is too good to pass up. I decided earlier we are going to send a team to go in and get him. Your team. But know that the priority is the intelligence that he has, not the actual man himself. While it is preferred he make it back alive, if it can’t be helped, then it is what it is.But only you and one other person will be aware of that fact. Intelligence data is the priority here.’ Wade picked up the coffee and took a sip, enjoying the strength and flavor of the chilled blend.