[4thdimension]

Captain Elizabeth Shelby sat before a console in her temporary quarters aboard the Prometheus, she pushed golden locks from her heated face and looked again into the dark eyes of Admiral William Ross; a look that would have beaten a weaker man into submission. Shelby was shocked by what the Admiral had been saying, and if she admitted it to herself, she was a bit hurt too.
"But Admiral, he's endangering our position here!" Shelby cried. Though she had asked for, and received the right to speak freely, she was nearing the end of Ross's patience, and she knew it. She looked away again, forcing herself to calm down, as Ross remianed silent on the other end, waiting for the more rational retort he wanted. "Sir, if the Hirogen take this as an act of war, what will we do?" Despite her best efforts her voice began to rise again. "The Borg are on our doorstep and your just sitting there while La Forge decides he wants to dance with the Hirogen?" The Admiral put up a hand, Shelby fell silent immediately. The two lock eyes and Shelby looks down, she'd crossed the line. The Admiral set back, locked his eyes on the young woman, wanting to ensure that he gets his point across.
"Shelby, have you stopped to think about just what you want your asking La Forge to do? Do you even realize who it is that's stranded down there?" Shelby opened her mouth but snapped it shut again as the Admiral gave her a warning glare. "I'm not talking about Picard Shelby, though that IS enough to warrant Captain La Forge's actions. I'm talking about Odo." Shelby looked down and away, as if she hadn't even considered the changeling. "Shelby, who do you think it is that keeps the Dominion at bay? Who do think has been influencing them since the moment the Female changeling singed the surrender papers? Or do you think their change of heart is just out of good will? Do you know what the Dominion will do if one of the their Founders dies while on a good will mission in our benefit? That will mean war Shelby." He looked off screen for several seconds before continuing, his voice soft and sincere. "There are things you don't know Captain, things you are better off not knowing. Right now I need you to complete your mission, and follow your orders. Continue analyzing the Borg Transwarp signatures and report any new information. As for Captain La Forge." He sighed and leaned forward, making a bridge with his interlaced fingers. "I know you are on the frontier out there Captain, and that means that you can't radio into command about every decision. Even those that may have wide spread affects on the Federation. La Forge served under one of the greatest frontier Captains in Star Fleet history." Ross looked down and away, as if committing himself to the spoken words for the first time. "I will personally take responsibility for Captain La Forges actions."
Shelby forced herself to breath deeply and slowly, nodding and biting back tears that came on suddenly and unexpectedly. Shelby had been a career Star Fleet officer all of her adult life, and she hadn't cried even in the thick of the War. She realized that the source of the threatening tears wasn't shame, it wasn't anger. It was the sudden lifting of gnawing fatigue. It was the lifting of the burden of responsibility. Though both Shelby and Laforge held the same rank, and though the Prometheus was La Forge's ship, Captain Shelby had seniority, and she had been dredged in the fear that she would be held responsible if something terrible happened there that day. She held the tears back, and smiled at the Admiral.
"Understood sir." She was waiting for the Admirals cue to terminate the link when she realized what he'd said. "Sir...is there anything you can tell me?" He leaned back again and smiled.
"Only that it does concern the Defiant, and her mission."
"You know where she is don't you?" She asked, her eyes narrowed, her voice soft.
The admiral waved his index finger back and forth a few times, in the human gesture that meant, 'I know, but you don't need to know.'
"When the time comes, I'll need you to be ready to do what needs to be done Captain. For now, get me the analysis of the Borg Transwarp signals. Ross out." A moment later and Captain Elizabeth Shelby was left staring at her own reflection in the dark screen.