Captain's log, stardate 51408.6. We have picked up Admiral Alynna Nechayev on Starbase 32. She will brief Commander William Riker and me on a mission of high urgency, which has caused the Enterprise's most recent course diversion.

Sitting next to his second-in-command in the briefing room, the captain of the Federation's current flagship, the Enterprise NCC-1701-E, reminded himself that there were worse things than a meeting with Admiral Nechayev: a confrontation with the Borg, the onslaught of mixed news from the ongoing Dominion War, Captain Picard's Day every year. Still those thoughts were a poor consolation, as his superior officer moved her cold gaze from him to Commander Riker. The silence between them was deafening.

"Captain Picard, you are ordered to take the Enterprise to the Ceti Alpha system." Picard's mouth fell open and he was about to speak, but the admiral ignored him. "We have been in contact with the Augment government in an attempt to open negotiations for a future alliance against the Dominion."

"By the Augment government, you mean Sarina Singh?" Riker interrupted.

Nechayev shot him a dirty look. "And their General Gathering. I assume you don't know much about the Augments."

"I was under the impression that nobody in the Federation did, Admiral," Picard said. "After all, we have been co-existing in total isolation from each for over a century."

"Yes, and in that century, they tamed a barely M-class planet, transformed the Ceti Alpha system into a fortress, built one of the best-armed fleets in two quadrants and fended an attack from the Tholian Assembly, which they later occupied. They are currently extending towards El-Adrel and the Pleadies Cluster in addition to being a foremost source of tritatium and kemocite and the second most popular contraband drink in Starfleet besides Romulan ale," she finished with a lopsided smile.

Picard kept his poker face intact. The exquisite Menkarian water and even Menkarian wine were rather popular amid the crew of the Enterprise as well. Since formally the Federation had no relations with the Augment state, they were both illegal.

"Neutrality has served them well so far. Why would they enter the Dominion War now?" Riker wanted to know.

It was a valid question, an opinion Nechayev seemed to share that opinion, as a rare look of satisfaction crossed her face. "The fact that the Federation is shunning them has made other states wary of dealing with them. They want a seat at the table of interstellar affairs and frankly, we need their ships and as unsettling as I'm sure we all find the notion, we could use the expertise of someone whose rise to power resembles that of the Changelings who founded the Dominion... even if that someone is Khan Noonien Singh."

Picard shifted uneasily in his seat. "Rumor had it he had withdrawn from public life completely."

The admiral nodded and pressed a key on the portable hologenerator on the table. The holoimagine of a blond young woman dressed in a 23rd century Starfleet formal uniform with lieutenant insignia sprang between them. "He gradually transferred all his formal duties to his daughter, when his wife, Carol Marcus, the only child of disgraced Admiral Marcus, died in 2332 and fully retired a decade later, having lived in complete isolation ever since." She fiddled with the device once more and the imagine changed to that of a striking women appearing to be in her mid-fifties with alabaster skin, delicately-drawn features with prominent cheekbones, long, flaxen and silver hair and kaleidoscopic eyes. "This is Sarina Singh, Khan and Carol Marcus' first born child and High Princess of the Augment Hegemony."

"She looks very young for someone born in the 23rd century," Riker remarked.

Nechayev smiled fractionally. "She was allegedly born in 2263 so she's a 111 years old, but the Augments age more slowly than we do and live twice as long. You will be negotiating directly with her and a representative of the Gathering. We have very little information on her. She isn't married, which is rare among her kind, and is completely dedicated to her political career. We know even less about Khan's other two children, who were born after Carol Marcus' Caitian doctor devised a way around the genetic incompatibilities preventing hybridization between humans and Augments, but they occupy no official position within the state or have any political function."

"Do we know how extensive Sarina Singh's powers are?" Picard asked next.

The admiral's expression grew severe. "Very. While the Gathering is the legislative forum, she has veto power over each new law, controls all executive functions and foreign policy and is supreme military commander. She appoints ten percent of the members of the Gathering herself, but the remaining majority is elected through universal vote. Also she personally oversees the national genetic engineering program."

"I suppose it's not surprising that DNA-resequencing is legal there," Riker interjected.

"Citizens are publicly encouraged in that direction, but the procedure is ultimately a personal decision. I am as wary as you are, gentlemen, to speak on behalf of an autocracy, but the Princess is not all-powerful. In fact, she is subjected to a complicated system of accountability so I cannot stress enough the importance of being willing to compromise in order to have a treaty that the Gathering will not reject."

Riker frowned and leaned forward. "Are we expecting any unreasonable demands?"

The admiral's eyebrows went up. "I doubt it. They want a way out of isolation and we're willing to provide it, however you have an extended mandate to negotiate on behalf of the Federation short of cessation of territory. I trust I don't have to tell you how dire the situation on the front is and how badly we need new allies."

Picard grew uncomfortable again. "I assume they know that as well."

For the first time since the start of the meeting, Nechayev appeared to be less than poised and confident. "Political isolation does not extend to espionage and the Augment Hegemony is rumored to have cultivated one of the efficient network of spies in the explored space. They are also in the habit of conducting raids against the Orion Syndicate and other privateers, none of which are famous for the ability to keep their secrets under pressure. Assume they know everything, but tell them nothing, nevertheless."

"Understood," Picard confirmed.

"One more thing," she said quickly, nearly speaking over him. "Do try to complete this mission without anyone from the crew marrying one of the locals," she added emphatically and looking straight at Riker.

They knew what she meant: Carol Marcus had not been the only one to spend her life with an Augment. Admiral Christopher Pike, a most respected 23rd century officer, who had a medal named in his honor, had retired to Menkar, the capital planet of the then emerging Augment Hegemony and married a member of Khan's entourage. It was a confusing note in the biography of the mentor of the legendary James T. Kirk, but not more so than the complicated tangling with the Augments of Carol Marcus, whose short-lived Starfleet career had faded into obscurity compared to the scandals both her father's illegal activities and her own unclear role in the construction of the Hegemony had elicited.

# # #

Though the flagship had a regular captain, it maintained an office by the bridge for the supreme commander. Sarina sat behind her desk, surrounded by images of her parents and of the extended families of her two younger brothers, and combed through the most recent reports on the Federation and Starfleet. The door chimed.

"Open," she commanded and the door parted to allow in Christopher, the only son of the woman Sarina had called her entire childhood "auntie Kati". Christopher was now a member of the Gathering and her assistant at the negotiations with the captain of the Enterprise.

"The Enterprise has just entered the Mutara Nebula," he told her. "You'd think the Federation would be more creative in naming its flagship."

She smiled, speaking as she stood and picked up her white Tholian silk shawl to drape it around her shoulders. "I'd comment, but I really have no room to, since my father named our own flagship after a whaleship from a 19th century classic American novel, a ship which ended up destroyed by the very whale it chased."

He chuckled. "Well, at least, it should make for a good conversation starter with Captain Picard."

From the doorway, she encompassed the imagines on her desk in one last look, her gaze lingering on one of their parents taken while her mother had still been pregnant with her. Sarina had visited her father before leaving Menkar, as they both estimated that the Federation would like to pick his brain about tactics for the war they were currently embroiled in, and they had both agreed that she would concede, as long as it got them what they wanted. One thing was certain: they could not allow the Dominion to triumph in the battle it currently waged against the Alpha and Beta quadrants. One empire of inestimable military power put them at risk. However, joining the conflict so late in the game offered them the ideal edge to topple the awkward triumvirate of the Federation, the Klingon and Romulan Empire and skew the local balance of power in their favor.

Sarina smiled. Rome was not built in a day and time was always on a Augment's side.

~ the end ~