The Great Unknown

Chapter 9

"Yes, yes I willl." I say. He gets up and puts the ring on my finger.
We spend the next couple days on Earth and then say goodbye to my dad. "Love you." I say giving him a big hug.
"Watch your back Doctor, she's a handful." The admiral says to Julian.
He laughs and says he will.
When we get back to the Enterprise, repairs are almost done. Ezri meets us along with Felicia and Porthos at the transporter. "Max!" Lis says hugging me. I hug her back and then look for Porthos. He is sitting, waiting for me to give the command to come say hello. "Come here boy!" I say. I pet him and he licks my face when I pick him up.
"Ooh! Let me see the ring!!" Ezri squeals when Julian walks out.
"Let me see it to!" Felicia says.
"You knew?" I asked.
"You honestly think that Julian could find out your ring size all by himself?" Ezri says.
"Eh." I say showing the ring.
They gawk at it for a good five minutes and then we all go to my quarters to unpack stuff.
"Captain, can you come to your ready room." Nog says.
"On my way." I say.
"Sorry girls, duty calls." I say walking out.
"Captain Stone." A Admiral says when I walk in.
"Admiral." I say. He says he is Admiral Daniels of mission affairs. What the heck could he want?
"What can I help you with Sir?" I ask as nicely as one can when a Admiral just randomly shows up on the eve of you departure and takes residence in your office.
"I need you to go on a top secret Star Fleet operation."
"Why?" I ask, even though I think I know.
"Your the most experienced officer in Star Fleet. I want you and Commander Harry to take a shuttle and go to the Badlands. We believe that there is a secret Maquis outpost there that are holding some of Cardassia's highest ranking security officers. Gul Dukat and Garak are among them.'
How did Garak end up in the Badlands in the first place I think to myself.
The Admiral continues 'I want you to survey and if possible retrieve the officers and destroy the base." He says.
"Is this a order sir?" I ask.
"Yes Captain Stone it is. There will be a new Captain to take your place while you are away. I want you to leave with Commander Harry tomorrow morning. I already spoke with him and briefed him on the mission." He says, then he says goodbye and leaves.
A hour or two later...
"He wants you to go on a mission with only Commander Harry, to the Badlands, where the Maquis are holding a bunch of Cardassians and you might get caught? Please tell me you said no." Julian says at lunch.
"It was an order." I say.
"So your going to follow that order blindly?!" He says.
"Julian, Garak is in that prison." I say finally letting it out.
"Garak?" He says.
"I didn't want to tell you, but yes. I know he's your friend and I'm going to do this so I can save him for you and get all the rest of the Cardassian prisoners out. If they catch me it's a risk I will have to take. I shouldn't have even told you about this mission, but that isn't possible." I say.
"Max, let me come with you. I don't care what that Admiral says." He says.
"I'm not going to let you go and get hurt!" I yell.
"Well I'm not going to let you go on this mission and die!" He yells back.
"I love you." I say stopping the yelling.
He kisses me and and says "I can't loose you, not again. Just be careful alright, if it's one thing that you remember out there, be careful."
"You can't loose me remember, I'll be with you forever, you're never going to get rid of me." I say as we start to walk out.
I pack that whole night, forget sleep, it just means nightmares for me. When I get to cargo bay 1, Commander Harry is not there. The new Captain is though. He came down to say good luck and so I can transfer my command codes. To be honest, the Captain who goes by Niketo Wallis, thinks he is a know it all, stuck up, no fun at all, genetically enhanced hating guy.
"Captain are you ready?" Commander Harry says putting his bag into the U.S.S Kongo.
"Yeah, give me a minute." I say. Come on Julian where are you?
I hear a bark and see Porthos running over to me to say goodbye. Julian is going to watch him for me while I'm gone. Captain Wallis looks down at Porthos who is trying to lick him. "You have a dog?" He asks.
"Yes." I say. "It's against Star Fleet regulation to have him on a starship like this." He says back.
"I'm well aware of Star Fleet regulation, I am aloud to have him for...personal reasons." I say. Best way to explain it. I could have said that Porthos is there to help me through my nightmares, I could have said anything that probably was better.
I walk away and go say goodbye to Julian.
"We're not going to say goodbye, because this isn't going to be goodbye. I'll be back. Stay safe, don't feed Porthos too much cheese and tell Felicia that she can not under any circumstances run away with the Doctor if he drops by to visit. Understand?" I say.
"Completely." He says trying not to frown. He looks like a sad puppy dog, he even and the eyes. He gives me a hug and a kiss and I'm off. "Come on Commander, destiny awaits." I say.