Let Them Come

[Rebecca Talon]

"You have me as well," she said placing a hand on his. "You have always had my back, all the way back to the first time we met at the Academy; a gangly teenager, being bullied, for her red hair, and youth. As such I will always have your back."

[Nick Ryder]

"You weren't THAT gangly..." Nick said with a smile. "But you did remind me of my sister and you know... I don't think I would have made it through sophomore year without you pushing me. Reminding me 'this will pass and we'll be officers and the petty bullshit... is only just beginning, but at least we'll be 'sir' not 'Cadet'." That and you helped me lose weight and get down to a point where I could pass the physicals, not that I was an over eater, I just never ate so it never came off. I practically lived behind my desk. To this day, my secretaries will come in, make me do something utterly unnecessary to get me to get up off my ass and walk somewhere. 'Oh sir, you need to sign this document, they're in meeting room 3... on the second floor. Oh and the lifts are out."

[Rebecca Talon]

"I suspect you have Angel and myself to thank for that. I noticed a pooch, way back when and we conspired to get you to slim down." She shrugged, "And, you got me through my Junior year after... after Michael. When I was ready to quit. Not just the Academy, but life in general."

Rebecca sighed, "I always told myself that it was best for Aimee that I gave her up for Adoption. I was too much of a trainwreck, as my straight D grades that year showed. But, Becky's Aimee turned out great. Did you know she's in the Academy Pre-Med Program? Though, my Aimee did turn out well in the end. Even if she did join the Imperium at first."

[Nick Ryder]

"I'm intensely proud of them both. Always have been." Nick said with a smile. "Olivia needed a friend like her after she lost Kirby. And Becky and Aimee, save for the Borg stuff... they're what I hoped would have happened if you actually listened to me, but you know... we all made our own choices. Ever since the rifts, I've been fascinated by this alternate reality stuff, one small change and everything is different. I guess that's why i'm so driven with this... I don't want a reality to form where I sat on my ass. Still..." he looked at his wedding band. "Nothing wrong with being a homebody at times." he kept checking his console. "This won't be easy, but I have this feeling... that we're going to come out of this ahead. I AM more than a little shocked that the declaration of war happened so quickly. Porter must have really whipped everyone into voting."

[Rebecca Talon]

"Yeah, well," she shrugged. "I know now, but because only I could see what would have happened if I had kept Aimee. You know what I found was interesting. You spoke of changing one little thing. I was at Wolf 359, but because Becky had Aimee she was took the position on the Exeter that I passed on. She was never at Wolf 359, and Sisko was the XO on the George Washington, not me." This is why I hate time travel. It's just one big headache... Just like politics. Speaking of which, I don't trust Porter. She's up to something."

[Nick Ryder]

"Well, she always seemed to have some scheme under that short blonde mop." Nick said with a shake of his head. "Usually it lined up with my plans. But I agree, she's... she's a hard read. And I am pretty sure she's fucking Mrs. Underwood. I can tell when someone's 'more than friends'... Liv and Kirby when Marcus was being a hard headed little snot. She was going to be a Ryder either by Liv or Marcus. Even after he got her pregnant. Why do you think I kept those two together, besides the fact that they were my best operatives and I didn't want her mother using her for FSS. I may be a typical dad, but I know when someone answers a comm after they've just had sex and I know damn well they didn't break cover. Speaking of breaking cover..." his lips curled into a smile. "We've got an opening." he tapped his comm. "General quarters! All hands to your stations. Marines, prepare to launch on my order."

[Rebecca Talon]

Rebecca stood, "What will you have me do Nicholas? You want me to beam over to the station and see if I can locate Jack?"

[Nick Ryder]

"Let's send Ja'Larin in first, she's better at the sneaky game... " Nick suggested. 'See what he has planned... given that he's pretty good at making the most of imprisonment he may have something in the works that's dependent on us being here."

[Rebecca Talon]

Rebecca nodded, "XO it is. Almost like the good old times. Especially with uniform you're wearing."

[Nick Ryder]

"Yeah, Angel and I came up with this, was a birthday present." Nick said with a smile. "You know... we did write into the Alliance charter that qualified military personnel, retired or resigned in good standing can form a special operations team with the permission of the President. Next Op you can take center seat, I'll XO."