For the first time in more than five years, Joshua Kirk stood before the Chief of starfleet Operations. Only it wasn't his aunt Jess Wu, it was Mandy Ross. He knew something was wrong. "Hello Mr Ambassador. It's good to see you again." "I'm still the Ambassador? I figured the President would have sent another by now." "She did. She sent the Talker." Joshua stared in disbelief at the woman. "She sent Maximillian Kennedy again? Has she completely lost her mind?" "You have no idea," Ross said, clearly uneasy. "The Federation government has been overthrown, Josh." "What?" Joshua Kirk jerked back in shock. "By who?" "The military. Two weeks ago, the leaders of the Federation Party declared that the Family presented a danger to the Federation, and ordered the round up of all it's members." "What kind of insanity is this?" he shouted. "We make up more than a sixteenth of the Federation's human population. Hell, we're more than half of the military and law enforcement. Did they really think they could carry it off?" "We have no idea why they did it. But they did. And now all members of the Federation Party have been arrested. We're running things until elections are held in four months." Mandy Ross gave Joshua an exasperated look. "These idiots almost got us into a war with the Klingons. First, they kidnapped you, then they sent that idiot Kennedy back to Qonos, and finally they try to take your people out. Chancellor Martok and the Emperor were deeply offended at the Federation's attempt to destroy the very people who'd protected it." The Admiral smiled briefly. "They sent Talker back, bound and gagged." Kirk Chuckled. "Leave it to the Klingons to know how to treat that fat bloated wind bag." "He's lucky to be alive! He actually called Emperor Kahless a barbarian king. The doctors are regrowing his teeth, and the Emperor now has a nice little necklace." "Good. Now where is my aunt Big Jess?" "Your aunt resigned when Excalibur went missing. The loss of you and Amy was too much to take after the deaths of five members of her family in the war." Ross smiled again. "She was so happy when she found out that Excalibur had not been destroyed. So was your family. Do you have any news of her? The Republic says the ship went missing." "She has. I think Mackie took the ship and parked it somewhere in interstellar space, to keep any more of her crew from leaving. The last I heard, she was down to a third of her original complement. The rest have found work, mostly with the government here, to help in the war. Almost all of the ships doctors are teaching the Republic our medical technology. It's about the only thing we have that they could find useful. And some have turned to crime." Joshua told her about Michaels and Miller. "Did you have to kill them?" "Yes. They were working for slavers. And they were after three girls that I care very much for. And thus, they were a threat. So I did what my training told me to do. I removed the threat." Just then, Peenk strolled in. "Admiral Ross, I would like you to meet my wife, Correll Peenk Montal." "I am?" Peenk asked smiling. "When did this happen?" "Maybe not right now, but you will be." Joshua turned back to Ross, but found that his sister Julia and brother-in-law Joe had joined her. "Well is she your wife or isn't she?" Julia said with a big smile. "Oh she will be! She just hasn't accepted her fate." Joshua looked at peenk and grinned. "Yet." "She will be." Magenta said as she walked in with Ano. She looked at the three on the screen and smiled. "All three of her brothers and her seventeen sisters have been told to convince her she should marry Joshua." Julia nodded approvingly at the size of Peenk's family. "We have a number to shoot for Joseph." She told her husband.