State of Affairs

[Nick Ryder]

Leo's Blues & Rock Club --

In the six months since the memorial service, former President Nick Ryder had been busy rebuilding an intelligence network, creating new technology to aid the Alliance in tracking down travelers from other realities in the hopes of hunting Dominus down and eliminating this threat once and for all. Deep below the Club named after his late father, Alpha Section Intelligence was a near constant buzz of activity, borrowed agents from the New Federation, the Terran Imperium, Narlin Intelligence and of course Alliance SHIELD were working together. Upstairs, the Club was fast becoming a hot spot among both civilians and military alike. Good music, good food, lots of 'Calhoun Home Brew' and it gave ordinary folks the opportunity to support their own security and get to know some of the 'heroes of the Alliance'. Teenagers spent their after school time learning in one of the side rooms, Nick or Alice Ryder would spend some time available for whatever they wanted to learn, Alice had a small but loyal set of kids that were developing the next generation of 'smart clothing', another set of kids were learning how to re-purpose old technology into something useful. A few even were learning how to play old Earth music. Ever since the trip they took before they got married, they had long made sharing their knowledge and encouraging others to share theirs one of their missions.

While the Club was still being set up, they maintained dual residence between their loft and the Compound. Compound would always be home, but after Jon and Bella lost their home, and pretty much everything else Nick and Alice had pretty much given their residence to them, as well as most of their closets. Thankfully Jon had put on a few extra pounds of muscle thanks to the muscle stimulators the doctors had been giving him to rebuild his muscle tone after the assault, so most of Nick's old clothes had fit him pretty much like a glove. The past few months, he had been walking with a cane more than needing a chair. Although it was looking more and more likely that his limp would never truly heal, there was too much nerve damage. Nick took on Jon's rehab personally, he felt bad about being more Bella's friend than Jon's. And the past six months, the two couples had gotten closer to the point where Nick had been trusting Jon with some of his 'secrets' more than he had in the past.

Of course, Nick really started to enjoy live outside the Compound, Gale enjoyed going to the little park behind the Club that had an outlet for the river that flowed through Capitol City. There were a couple families of ducks and geese and even some frogs they had started to name that liked parking themselves near the Club, partially because patrons would always drop some food around the grounds. Being downtown, it also let Alice get to her shop with Angel a bit more regularly, as much as he didn't want to admit it, most of their household budget was paid for by her clothing and lingerie lines. Which left most of his AlphaTek and other patent funds to go toward their Intel tech and other pet projects. He suspected that Alice probably had a higher Net worth than he did, if he took away his Intel and other Naval projects. Which rather amused him, she still was the same Alice he fell in love with all those years ago on Starbase Byron, except now she had a much more expensive wardrobe and she could actually give money or resources or assistance to people that asked for it. There were quite a few science department experiments and projects on Byron she was personally funding. Yet her heart was just as large as it ever was. And more and people saw what he saw. Sure she was beautiful, but she had a brain and a heart that couldn't be matched. She was, for all intents and purposes, the Queen of Terra Alpha. While the longer he was out of office, the more he was regarded as like the 'cool uncle of Terra Alpha' which suited him just fine. He never intended to 'rule' the planet or the Alliance, but he would still defend it and protect it.

So why did he feel like everything they had been working on, would still not be enough? That all it would take is one landfall by Dominus' forces and everything he worked for, everything people laid down their lives for, would be gone? Munching on french fries and chicken strips, he kept staring into the old group photo behind the bar, of the original Council when they announced their secession from the Federation. Quite a few faces were no longer alive.

"You're brooding dad." Jack said as he walked over with Kinsey and a hover skiff full of Home Brew. "You didn't get into the Dantari Ale did you?"

"Funny." Nick chuckled and got up from his stool at the bar and wiped his mouth. "Wow, you two have been busy." he looked at the skiff. "I thought I only ordered twelve cases?"

"Four are for your 'private reserve'." Jack patted the top of the case. "Kinsey and I were perfecting our blend, water's filtered through Xenexian rock, gives it a bit of a different tonal flavor. Something we discovered when we went back to Pre-Brethren Xenex."

"Let's hope we don't become post-Brethren Terra Alpha." Nick said with a sigh. "Dominus destroyed another planet in the Beta Quadrant. He's flexing his muscles and swinging his dick far too much lately."

"Something you know quite well eh?" Kassie teased as she walked out from the kitchen. "Alice is a fucking genius." she was licking her fingers and shaking her head. "That new pastry she made, out of this world. Who knew science tasted that good?"

Jack, Nick and Kinsey all raised their hands.

"Okay okay... well, they're still really good. I shouldn't eat too many of them... that false pregnancy test... Jason won't keep his hands off me, he's determined to make it stick this time." Kassie blushed and looked at Kinsey. "You two look a lot more relaxed, all things considered of course. By the way... Kinsey, the President wants to meet with you about something. I think it's the Andorians, they're not abiding by the terms of the Alliance's rules on Intel sharing, they got something and they aren't being entirely forthcoming. I think he wants you to talk to them, scare the crap out of them."

"If there's one thing our Kinsey can do, is scare the crap out of leadership." Nick teased.

[Kinsey Calhoun]

“Yes I seem to be good at it.” Kinsey said as she opened a bottle of brew and filled glasses. “Oh you ordered 12 more cases by the way. Trust me after you try this you’ll thank me.”

About an hour later Kinsey walked through the compound on the way to the President’s office. It seemed like forever since she had last been there. Consumed with finding Jack and then setting up the new brewing operation on Xenex she’d kept away. A part of her always knew it was just a matter of time before she’d get dragged into something again.

“Calhoun for the President.” Kinsey told the young receptionist manning Kassie’s desk.

[Jonathan Price]

Jon opened the door. "Kinsey, as I live and breathe, you're still alive." he chuckled. "I'll see her now Stacy, hold my calls." Jon said with a wink. "Unless it's Mrs. Price then by all means." he gestured for Kinsey to follow him into his office. "So how is the 'Brew Mistress' doing today? I must say, the new stuff is quite good, knocks me out faster than a sleeping pill. So, I take it Kassandra has filled you in? Andorians have found something but they're not sharing what it is, they think we shouldn't know. We should, so... I want you to talk to them They aren't Alliance members as of yet but they're still allies, so I can't simply force them to give up their Intel, but the terms of our treaties do state that if they have something that could help us, they should share. Just as we share." he sighed and rolled his eyes. "We think they may have a bead on how Dominus is bringing in alternates."

[Kinsey Calhoun]

Kinsey raised an eyebrow, “do you want me to ask nicely?”

[Jonathan Price]

"Nicely at first but then... well... use your reputation." Jon said with a grin. "Velvet glove then the iron hand. Noella's still recovering but she's got no patience for their antics and she's still not up to a face to face in her chair." he looked Kinsey in the eyes. "If they know how Dominus is moving people in and out, they may know how to navigate the rifts and the other realities, that could be a game changer. You and Jack are some of the only people to have that kind of temporal knowledge. If they do have something, we'll need to find out if it's legit. If it's something we can monitor and manipulate on our end too, last thing we need are more Bartyns."

[Kinsey Calhoun]

“Honestly if they hate Dominus enough I’d take them.” Kinsey said sitting down in the chair facing Jon’s desk. Kinsey through her leg over the arm rest and settled in. “I know my desire to keep Bartyn wasn’t popular but we do have similar goals. It was just a matter of finding them. Solara tried but she was an unknown factor that peeked his interest. I, however, am not. If there is an army of Bartyn’s out there with the desire to stop Dominus I’d take them over a handful of stuffy ass Andorians any day.”

[Golondra Windrunner]

Golondra entered looking around. The fomer aide to Empress Kahlina, now political exile had carved out a position on Terra Alpha as the liaison between Narlin Intelligence and the president.

Golondra closed the gap between her and Jon. She bowed her head politely to those present. "Mr. President. Lady Calhoun. A pleasure to finally make your acquaintance."

[Jonathan Price]

"It seems my predecessor's new Alpha Section is doing what he set out to do, unite the various agencies... anything new to report Lady Windrunner?" Jon inquired. "I was just asking Captain Calhoun to help with our stuffy ass Andorian problem as she so succinctly put it." he glanced at his padd. "Like we've all said Dominus is our priority, we need to end his threat, as much as I wanted Bartyn dead, mercy does have it's benefits, but I do trust that your husband has this place properly monitored. We don't need any more embarrassments.":

[Kinsey Calhoun]

“When have I ever embarrassed you?” Kinsey inquired bouncing her foot slightly. “If Bartyn becomes an issue he’ll become a ball. He knows that and he knows I’ll follow through.”

[Golondra Windrunner]

"On the Intelligence front there is very little to report. We had a brief contact with the Vindicator, but it escaped before we could tag and track it. There is something else. The Emperor is planning a visit to Terra Alpha."