Viridian Expanse – Docked at Rator III Cargo Transfer station 

Keren was going through his traditional early evening routine, hastily eating with one hand while organizing a manifest in the other hand. In his line of work, it was difficult to take time for a leisurely meal. So many schedules to keep, deals to negotiate, crew squabbles to mediate, and all the other stuff an independent trader had to deal with. Well, the crew squabbles were rarer these days at least now that he’d hired on two hulking Gorn siblings as mechanics.  Throk and Grokka might not be the most charismatic or outwardly bright, but they new how to keep a ship running and keep order on the lower decks. Still, Keren had too much to do to take time out to eat properly.  Any interruption would be unwelcomed at this point. 

Just his luck he heard the door chime at exactly that moment. 

“Oy, boss. You have a visitor from the station.” The voice of his Reman first mate, Timek, came through the speaker. 

“I really don’t have time to deal with whatever lackey the station master sent over this time. You handle it.” Keren replied after a sigh. 

“I’m pretty sure the station master won’t hassle you if you let me in.” The voice responding wasn’t Timek’s but a rather familiar one. It took a moment to place it but then Keren shot out of his chair and brushed himself off and went to the door. 

Standing next to the slender form of Timek was a well-dressed female Romulan with a slight grin on his face. It was Senator Durana, an old friend of Keren’s family. Keren did his best tor return a smile, though his frantic evening and lack of preparation returned only a slight smirk. 

“Senator, what a pleasure to see you again.” Keren stammered out. “Apologies for the appearance of the ship and my quarters. I had no idea I’d be having guests.” 

The senator stepped into Keren’s room and looked around for a moment. “My office is worse sometimes. And I just happened to be on the station for an inspection behalf of the Trade Committee. When I heard you were docked here I just had to come for a visit. You are a hard person to get a hold of at times.”

Keren nodded and gestured to the one other uncluttered chair in his small cabin. “I do get around. Just got in from Bolarus with a load of textiles and other assorted goods.” 

“Let me guess, Bolian whiskey for Senator Korat.” Durana jovially interjected. 

Keren chuckled slightly before responding. “I won’t confirm nor deny any special requests I may or may not have fulfilled without proper law enforcement documentation. Besides, Admiral Terak is also a connoisseur of Bolian spirits.” 

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Durana sat down as Keren returned to his desk. “Where are you off to next?”

“Quick jump to Psi Valorum with some industrial replicators and spare parts then…” 

“Wait, industrial replicators?” Durana interrupted Keren’s reply. “I wasn’t aware of any shipping authorizations of additional industrial replicators to Psi Valorum. Normally that sort of thing would have to be cleared by my committee ” 

Keren arched an eyebrow and reached for the PADD he’d been reading. “I just got the manifest a few hours ago. Looking at this,” he scrolled through the pad for a moment, “this is a military authorization.” 

Durana shot up and reached for the PADD which Keren reluctantly handed over. After looking at the PADD for a moment, the Senator looked back to Keren. “When are you supposed to depart?” 

“Two or three hours, as soon as they’re done loading, why?” The hybrid captain responded.

“You mind developing some mechanical trouble? Slow things down a bit?” Durana inquired. 

Keren thought for a moment and then reached for his comm panel. “Throk, Grokka you down there?” 

First the sound of rumbling and banging came from the comm link to engineering and then a moment later a grunt and the raspy voice of the female reptilian mechanic Grokka came over the comm. “Yea boss, what’s up.” 

“Didn’t you say something about the port side plasma conduit needing some maintenance yesterday?” Keren asked. 

Grokka hesitated before replying. “Yes, but you told me to wait until after our next run.”   

“Changed my mind,” Keren responded.  “Do the repairs now. You said what, about eight hours?” 

“Yea boss,” replied the Gorn. 

“Good, get to work.” Keren ordered. The Gorn grunted in approval and Keren closed the comm. 

“Thank you, Keren.” Durana nodded with relief. “I’ll make sure you’re not penalized for any delays. Something about this makes me want to investigate further. I’ve been getting an odd feeling that something might be going on between the Senate and the military. It might be nothing, bureaucratic mistakes or something like that, but I’d rather be sure.“ 

“I can always appreciate a fair bit of caution,” Keren replied. “Things have been dicey all over the place since the homeworld fell. Here, the Federation, the Klingons, everywhere. In my line of work I hear many things and most of what I hear I don’t like.” 

“You’ll keep me informed if you hear anything I wouldn’t like I trust.” Durana asked. “I’m told you’ve built up quite the network. Well, you and your aunt.” 

Keren shot the senator a displeased look. “Jurel isn’t responsible for everything I know and hear. I’ve developed a fair number of my own connections. As for your request, I should trust you know I don’t work for free, even for the Senate. That said, if I come across information you’d be interested in, I’ll make sure you hear from me first. Probably throw in a discount.”

Durana scowled a bit. “Last time we met you were more interested in your pride and standing than compensation.” 

Keren smirked. “Last time we met I was just starting out. I’m still grateful for the consideration you gave me at the time. That contract was very useful in getting me noticed by the right people. When the time comes, I’ll give you the same consideration.” 

Durana nodded, apparently satisfied, and stood up to leave. “I have little doubt you will.” 

Viridian Expanse, Bridge

For the past few hours, Keren had been watching and reading reports about the chaos on Rator and the reaction of the Remans on Psi Velorum. To say he was growing concerned would be an understatement.  He always knew instability like this was a possibility and, in a sense almost inevitable. With three successor states vying for the legacy of Romulus, none having any greater amount of legitimacy than the other, something like this was bound to happen. There was one problem with unrest like this, no matter how inevitable it might be. 

The timing can still suck. 

In fact, the timing couldn’t be worse for Keren and the crew of the Viridian Expanse. Not long ago they had left a planet that had just undergone a military coup loaded with a valuable cargo being shipped to a planet that had just declared independence in response to said coup.  Oh, and to make things even more complicated, just before leaving Rator he’d been speaking with a senator who was concerned about the military taking highly unusual actions with regards to his cargo. It really couldn’t get much worse. For the meantime the Expanse was sitting just outside the Velorum sector, under cloak, while Keren could figure out what to do next. 

Sitting at his command station, the Romulan hybrid was silently staring at another report that was discussing which Senators had managed to survive the coup and what they were doing, when Timek rested a hand on his shoulder. 

“Figure out a plan yet?” The Reman first mate knew the answer was almost certainly no, but he asked anyway to get Keren to talk. 

“I’m still looking for Durana’s name.” Keren answered. It might not have been the question Timek was verbalizing, but it was one he was going to ask. “If my talking to her got her killed, if she asked one too many questions because of what I told her…” 

“You’re not at fault.” Timek interrupted before the captain could finish. “What people do with the information you provide is not your problem. Durana was clearly suspicious of the military before she came to you. Whatever happened was going to happen no matter what.” 

Keren nodded. “You’re right of course. But it would help to know where she was, it might help to make sense of what to do next.” The captain paused a moment and then continued on a different topic. “Have we heard from Psi Velorum yet? Even with our delay leaving Rator they should be expecting us by now.”

“An inquiry was sent, yes.” The Reman answered. “However, I feigned comm interference and said I would get back to them shortly, just as you directed.” 

“That will buy us some time at least. And it tells us that someone there is still expecting us. Who that is, that’s a different question entirely.” Keren seemed slightly relieved, but his face still showed the signs of immense stress. He had a moment to take a breath before the voice of his pilot, Shiren, got his attention.

“Oy, boss, I have a transmission coming in. Military frequencies, high priority.” The young Romulan’s voice was at first curious, but it shifted to mildly terrified when he continued. “It’s Admiral Terak boss.” 

Timek and Keren each shot each other the same look and seemingly were about to say the same thing. The Reman spoke first. “What does that prick want?” 

Keren shook his head. “I have a pretty good guess, as I’m sure you do as well. I just hope I’m wrong. Shiren, my station please.”

Shiren nodded nervously and a moment later the stoic face of Admiral Terak appeared on Keren’s monitor. He’d only met the Admiral a few times, but all of them were uncomfortable enough that Keren remembered them vividly. 

“Admiral, to what do I owe the honor of this communication? I’d expect you to be quite busy. Was my Bolian supplier not to your satisfaction?” 

“Your delivery was satisfactory,” the Admiral replied gruffly. “It’s your next one I’m more interested in.” 

“Two cases next time then?” Keren knew the Admiral wasn’t calling about the Bolian Whiskey, but he wasn’t quite ready for the real issue. “I don’t think I’m going back to Bolarus for another few months, but I’ll be sure to get you something when I do.” 

The Admiral ignored the diversion and got straight to the matter at hand. “I’ve become aware that you were commissioned to deliver a number of industrial replicators to Psi Velorum. As you are probably aware there has been a complication in the security situation on the planet and the facility you were scheduled to deliver them to is now in the hands of a criminal element.” 

Keren feigned surprise when responding. “I hadn’t heard that, quite concerning. I hope everything is okay down there.” 

The Admiral simply glared. “I don’t know what you’re playing at here Keren, but stop, now. My sources have told me all about your meeting with Senator Durana and your delay leaving the Rator cargo transfer station. I don’t know what you two are up to, but I don’t have time for it. It is requested that you head to the following coordinates to rendezvous with the warbird Kherzan in four hours. The Kherzan will take custody of your cargo and you can then go about your business.” 

This was exactly what Keren was expecting. Several military facilities in the Velorum sector had already gone dark. Since it appeared the military had made the initial consignment, it wasn’t surprising in the slightest they’d want the replicators back. They especially wouldn’t want them in the hands of the Velorum rebels. It all made sense. 

That didn’t mean he had to like it. 

“I understand Admiral and I’d be happy to accommodate your request. However,” Keren keyed in a command on his console, “according to Imperial Trade Regulations, I’m going to need a formal request for change in delivery instructions, appropriate guarantees of payment due to non-delivery at the request of the consignee. All this will need to be cleared directly by the Ministry of Trade and Industry via form…” 

“How dare you quote bureaucratic nonsense to me!” The Admiral shouted. “Do as you have been directed or…” 

“Or what?” Keren asked, clearly unafraid of the threat. “You know what will happen if I’m harmed. You might think you have power but your position isn’t nearly as stable as you think it is. You want me to play ball, you do it by the book or you’ll never see those replicators.” 

The Admiral made a threatening gesture, but Keren just stared him down. After a tense moment, Terak angrily shook his head. “Fine, we’ll do it your way. Hold position, the proper authorizations will be delivered shortly. Terak out.”

Once Terak’s face disappeared from the screen, Shiren turned to look back at his captain. “I’ve never seen Terak back down like that before. I’ve never known him to be scared of anyone, even the Praetor.” 

“Every man has his demon Shiren, even Terak.” Timek answered. “That’s all you want to know.” 

Keren just nodded and went back to thinking. Terak was going to press the issue, bureaucratic red tape be damned. How far he’d go was unclear, but that was a matter for another time. Keren knew how to not be found if it came to that. He could find a quiet moon, hunker down, have a pint of ale, and wait for this whole thing to blow over. That would be the easy thing to do, but would it be the right thing. Would it be the most profitable thing? Nothing was clear at this point and that was clearly starting to get to Keren. As he proceeded to stand up to walk towards his cabin for a quick rest, Timek stopped him. 

“We’re getting another transmission, this time text only. Claims to be from the provisional government on Psi Velorum. Comm troubles and all that nonsense.” 

Keren rolled his eyes. “Let me guess, they know all about the shipment and want us to deliver it as planned with all haste for the good of the people and all that jazz, right?” 

The Reman first mate nodded. “Sprinkle in a few boasts about being on the right side of history and praising you past good relations with the people of Psi Velorum, whatever that means.”

“I knew I should have charged that mining consortium full price, they wouldn’t call asking favors all the time then.” Keren seemed to be getting agitated. “They attached delivery instructions?” 

“Yes,” Timek replied. “I should also point out that they recently have called on the Federation for assistance. They said they’d arrange for an escort in order to ensure that the, and I quote, ‘tyrants won’t steal what is rightfully ours’. And before you ask, they have offered additional payment.” 

The idea that Starfleet would be getting involved in this sort of thing wasn’t unexpected. The Federation, it seemed, couldn’t seem to keep its nose out of Romulan affairs the last few decades. They were, however, acting unusually quickly. Usually, the Federation plodded along and took achingly long to do anything.  Adding them into the mix could mean any number of things, but big picture galactic politics wasn’t his problem. For now, he had to deal with what was in front of him, the big picture could come later. 

After a long pause to think, Keren finally responded. “Send the provisional government the same response I gave the Admiral. We’ll need an appropriate claim to the cargo and all that sort of thing, unless you have a better idea.” 

“I hear Bajor is nice this time of year and there’s always work there.” The Reman wasn’t the best at sarcasm, but he was getting better. 

The hybrid captain shook his head. “You know I can’t stand hasperat Timek, though they do make good wine.”  

“Stalling it is then.” Timek turned back to his station and allowed Keren to return to his cabin.

It was a short walk from the Expanse’s bridge to the captain’s quarters, but Keren didn’t go directly there. Instead, Keren walked full length of the main deck very slowly. Walking often centered his thoughts and, right now he had far too much to think about. This wouldn’t be the first time he had to deal with competing claims to his cargo. It happened all the time when you dealt with the grey market like he did. However, this was the first time he had to deal with a situation of these sort of stakes. He’d have to choose sides, and that was something he did his best to avoid. He’d always gone where the money was, not where the glory was. 

Big stakes were something he did his best to stay far away from. If he’d wanted that kind of life, it was available to him. His mother could have gotten him a commission in the Republic military. He might even have his own warbird by now. Aunt Jurel could have found a place for him in the Tal Shiar, but that life wouldn’t have been any better.  He’d been groomed for both and couldn’t stand either. He’d just be someone’s pawn, a piece in a larger game within an even bigger game. That was simply the way it worked in Romulan life. The players might wear different uniforms, the teams have different names, but the game was always there.  Keren, Timek, and even the young Shiren, despite coming from vastly different backgrounds, all were on the Expanse for one reason. 

None of them wanted to play. 

But here they were, thrust right into the middle of the game. If Keren was going to have to get involved in this situation, he had to make sure he played perfectly otherwise he’d get hurt and so would his crew. Getting through this situation alive was going to be one challenge. Getting through it with a future afterwards, that was the real trick. 

When Keren finally got back to his cabin, he entered and immediately collapsed onto the bed. Sleep wasn’t going to come, but as he closed his eyes, he finally got a moment of peace.

It wasn’t going to last.