I find myself on the edge of Cardassian space, in a Federation Shuttle Craft, with nothing on the scanners; wondering why! Should I wake Ambassador Ke'reth or leave him, as I'm ten minutes early. I decide to leave him.

It started with a late night call. Could I meet him outside Commodore Anarita Jat's office, now!

Just as I arrive, Ke'reth is coming out of the office door, smiling. "Well, that was easier than I thought it would be." He threw me an authorisation slip for a shuttle. I looked at him, puzzled. "Tell you later, meet me in the shuttle bay, I'll be about five minutes." With a nod, I head for the shuttle bay to get the shuttle ready for flight.

When the old wolf arrives, he gives me a piece of paper, winks and without saying anything, goes to the sleeping area. On Klingon intelligence paper is a short message giving co-ordinates and an arrival time. At the bottom, in Ke'reth's hasty hand, is a note saying 'see you in the morning!'

As we arrive at the co-ordinates, I notice that we are early. If we are meeting someone, they haven't arrived yet, even if they are cloaked. This shuttle has at least got that much technology. As I was speculating on what might be out there, Ke'reth woke up and moved to the co-pilots seat.

He looked at the shuttle console and with a wide grin on his face, re-ran all the checks I had just finished. Just as I reach the point of total impatience and consider strangling him. He looks at me and quietly remarks "I think you are a little early b'Sel, the order said 0500." I shrugged and replied "only a little, what's going on?" He just smiles and leans back in his seat. Knowing I am not going to get an answer, I also settle down to wait, while keeping an eye on the console.

At 0500 a ship shows up on the long-range sensor. As a merchant class vessel approaches from Cardassian space, it hails us. I look at ke'reth and he tells me to use my whole name. I open the hailing channel and a pretty Terran female is on the screen. Ke'reth, I notice, is out of sight. "I am b'Sel Sutai Makura of the ……. " The channel is abruptly cut. I notice that Ke'reth is trying to suppress a laugh so much, that he is shaking.

When the channel re-opened, the woman apologised to me for her behaviour. She explained, that when she received orders to meet Makura, she had hoped that it would be Ke'reth. She had forgotten that it was a clan name, having only previously met Ke'reth. She then excused herself again and the screen went blank once more.

I glanced at Ke'reth, who was looking a funny colour. By this time, I am so mad at him that I start to wonder if accepting his offer of work, two weeks ago, was a good idea. He noticed me looking at him and mumbled an apology but no enlightenment.

The trader hailed again. I opened the channel and this time she introduced herself as Suzanna Lynnton but gave no ship I.D. "Do you know a member of your clan, Ke'reth?" I replied that I did know him. She nodded. "Will you pass on a message disc to him?" I caught Ke'reth's signal, without Suzanna seeing, and asked "would you like to pass it on in person?"

Ke'reth moved into view. She smiled sweetly, which for some reason made me feel uneasy. I checked to make sure our shields were up and that her weapons were still off-line; they were!

"You double dealing cheat, I'm amazed you had the nerve to set up this meeting. I must need my head examined, getting mixed up with you again!"

Ke'reth smiled back and replied in almost a whisper, "I can recommend a good Doctor back on Earth. I believe he even does house calls." When she had run out of things to call him in six languages, that I recognised and two that I didn't, he invited her over, which, having vented her fury, she calmly accepted. Once she had materialised, she rushed over and gave Ke'reth a big hug. She pulled away and gave me a tentative smile. I smiled back.

Ke'reth straightened up and with a mock bow towards the Merchant Captain, he introduced us. "This, as you know, is b'Sel Sutai Makura. b'Sel, meet my old friend Suzanna Lynnton. b'Sel is my Chief of Staff at the Embassy."

"So, that rumour is true!" mused Suzanna. "I was not sure when I first heard it, whether to believe it or not. After all, most of the rumours that go around about you, are not true."

After catching up on the last five years, they realise that I am still there. In a shuttle this size, there are not many places you can go. So I just kept quiet. They both look at me and apologise for the exclusion. At long last it looked like I was about to find out why we were here. As it was obvious that there was more to it than a re-union.

Before I could say anything, Suzanna apologised for cutting the first transmission. She had been ready to verbally kill Ke'reth, so when someone else answered the hail, she had been completely thrown off guard. It had not occurred to her that Ke'reth would bring anyone else with him, as he usually worked alone. She also explained that the reason for the delay in re-opening the communication channel was because she was trying to think of an alternative to call Ke'reth. She decided to go ahead anyway, as she thought that if I knew Ke'reth well, I would probably agree with her. If I didn't know him well, it would be an education about my companions past behaviour.

Suzanna, then directed her attention to us both. She asked Ke'reth if he still wanted the cargo. He replied "Yes, have you been offered a higher bid?" Looking a little puzzled, she replied "No, but I'm sure I can find one!" As the silence between them grew, I wondered what the cargo was. Watching Ke'reth's face, it obvious he was weighing something up. He then broke the silence. "It will make us even, if it helps." Suzanna just nodded.

"We have been hanging around the border long enough! Suz, take this. I trust you to beam the cargo over to our hold as soon as you get back on board your ship. Try not to leave it so long before our next meeting. And if you should get a cargo for Starbase 410, you will be welcome at the Embassy. Good luck!"

Again she just nodded. She gave Ke'reth a brief hug and departed. A few moments later a piece of equipment was beamed over, and all became clear.

We sat in silence for a while, watching the merchant ship until she went out of range. I then looked at Ke'reth who looked deep in thought. "So, why didn't you tell me that we were retrieving the Monitoring Satellite. I've been trying to work out how to retrieve it for three weeks!" Ke'reth looked at me, startled, "Yes" he said, "most of us have. Suzanna was a wonderful stroke of luck that was kept under wraps, in case it went wrong. You were needed in case it did and so that someone else knew where it might be." I just nodded, beginning to understand Suzanna a little.

We moved slowly back into Federation space and headed home to Starbase 410.