A matter of perspective... (Equinox)

"That it?" Dana asked, looking down at the data pad in his hand. Lieutenant Brookwell, his personal aide, marched along next to him. They were winding down to the end of the day's agenda.

"Actually, sir, there is one more item." Lieutenant Brookwell said.

"Which is?" Dana asked, not looking up from the pad.

"We're taking a civilian adviser aboard from the Liberty." Brookwell said. "EDFHQ says she'll be important for our next mission."

"Not that I don't have a great deal of faith in the breadth of human expertise, but I can't imagine the situation in which a civilian would be 'important' for any mission out here." Dana said. "What's their name?"

"Someone named... Rose Marsh." Brookwell said slowly, checking his notes. Dana stopped dead.

"Rosella Marsh?" he said.

"Yes, sir." Brookwell nodded. "I thought command was talking about some sort of bog discovered by one of the exploration branches at first, but--"

"Did they say why she was going to be important?" Dana asked slowly.

"Just that they wanted us to have a photon energy expert aboard for this one." Brookwell shook his head. "I have to say, I've never met anyone with credentials like that who wasn't a Ph.D."

"When are we expecting the Liberty?"

"Oh eight fifty." Brookwell said.

"Right. So eleven thirty, then." Dana sighed.

Brookwell chuckled.

The CIC was abuzz several hours later as the rendezvous with Liberty drew close. It wasn't that often that they saw another EDF ship what with their long range assignments. Dana stood there with Commander Jung, watching out the forward viewport as officer walked around them back and forth, preparing everything from the docking procedures that would be involved in the transfer. It was more work than it sounded like.

"Jack thought the name of this adviser we're taking on struck a chord with you, sir." Jim said, his arms folded as he stood next to Dana.

"You know, as my personal aide, I would have imagined he'd keep my business off the intercom." Dana muttered shaking his head.

"He is like a fish that way, sir."

"What?" Dana blinked. "He's slippery?"

"He has a big mouth." Jim corrected him. "But that too, sir. I told you you should have gone with Avery."

"Thanks, but I think I'll skip on having a militant woman arranging my most personal information." Dana said flatly. "I'm sure she's a fine officer, though."

"Yes, sir." Jim nodded. "Now back to the adviser issue."

"Oh, god!" Dana groaned. "Can no distraction make you drop something?!"

"An order can, sir." Jim said. "But orders go on record and I have the sneaking suspicion that you want this quiet."

"That's... why I keep you around, I guess." Dana said slowly, sitting down in the captain's chair. "She's an old friend. I can't tell you anything more."

"I understand, sir." Jim nodded. At that moment, a streak of light stretched across the void and deposited the Liberty directly in front of the Endeavor. Orders to effect the docking began flying immediately. The subject was dropped.

Dana stood with Jim and several other senior officers in front of the airlock door. The huge square door had a band of red flashing around it as the seal in the bridge between the two ships was finalized. The technician worked away at the control console. Dana felt oddly self-conscious in his uniform. It had been a little over a year since he'd seen Rose. Endeavor hadn't returned home for awhile now and his duties as a Green Lantern had pretty well coincided with his duties as captain so far. In the end, going home was as much an inconvenience as it was a desire. The whole crew missed Earth. They also understood why they couldn't just return whenever they felt like it.

"Hard seal!" the technician declared finally as the red strip turned green and then deactivated. The doors split open, revealing the several hundred yard long bridge between the two ships which was big enough to drive a tank through. The group from the Liberty took only a few minutes to cross it. Dana felt his chest swell with excitement as they came into view...

Walking down the steps of the public library door into the humming streets, Rose muttered away into her cell phone which was pressed to her ear. "Look, I...No! Anna, you are going to have to handle it yourself, how else are you going to learn huh? And you can't keep calling me when your parents say no! They say it for a reason, I have to go now, be good. Bye." Rose hung up and sighed.

She shoved her phone in her handbag, turning the corner onto the sidewalk before stopping abruptly. A woman out of nowhere was standing before her. "Miss Marsh, I am here with a proposition for you." The woman said, her voice sounding like a recorded message.

Rose raised her eyebrow at the woman, crossing her arms. Her hair was pulled back neatly, and she had impeccable posture.

Great, a military wart. Rose thought to herself.

“I’m sorry, I’m in a hurry I have to---”

“Meet Bart in central park at 2?” The woman finished for her.

"How did you know that?" Rose asked automatically, even though she already knew the answer.

"We know all about you Miss Marsh, we also know alot about Equinox."

Rose’s blood began to boil. She knew the government spied on her, a teen titan never truly retires. Uncle Sam was always watching from a distance, if the world needs her and her abilities. But was it too much to ask to leave her be for at least a year?

“Look, whoever you are with, I am not interested in becoming someone’s human nuc.” She said bluntly, about to push passed the woman.

been there, done that, not going back.

“Miss Marsh, we will not be needing your unique abilities in this case, only your knowledge.” She said with a smile.

Rose turned around, curious now. “No unique abilities required?” She asked slowly. The woman nodded her head. “I’m with the Liberty, we need what you know of proton energy for our next mission."

Rose didn't like this. There were plenty of people all over the world the knew more about proton engery then she did, they probably had ph.D's. Hell, Rose havn't even gone to university. It was highly unlikely they just wanted Rose, not Equinox.

"The government has selected you out of many eligable candidates to go abourd the Endeavor. This isn't a everyday opperutnity, even for you Miss Marsh." She said, her lips curling into a smile.

Rose's eyes flashed. The Endeavor...that...that was...

That was Dana's vessel.

Rose studied the woman, by the smug look on her face the miltary hag knew Rose couldn't turn it down now. Rose stood there for a few seconds, mowing it over in her head. She looked up and nodded reluctantly.

"Alright, I accept." She said slowly, extremely unsure of herself.

The woman nodded "Good, we will pick you up for a briefing tomorrow at 0700 hours." She said, turning on her heal. Rose sighed, about to turn away when she heard the woman's monotone voice again.

"And don't worry about packing, we have that sorted."


Rose stood on the platform seperating the two massive ships. As Rose walked with the other officers, she felt extremely out of place. She didn't have any miltary expericance at all, and had never travelled through space as just Rose. Rose felt it stomach flip as she made out a few figures in the distance.

Once they reached the end of the bridge, the officers exchanged a few saluts, making Rose feel even more out of sorts.

But she couldn't surpress a grin when she saw her old friend Dana.

Captian of the vessel, he wore the typical uniform for the fleet, but Rose was not getting used to him in it. It was hard to imagine him wearing something over then normal clothes or his lantarn suit.

She smiled politely at him, not sure what to say. It had been over a year and she was still unsure how the formalities on these ships worked. Agent Georgia Oxford, the woman who spoke to her at the library cleared her throat.

"Miss Marsh, These are the commanding officers of the Endeavor, and their Captain, Dana Richter." She said.

"Permission to come aboard, sir?" said a sharply dressed Major, stepping out in front of the delegation from Liberty as a woman with a military cut spoke to Rose.

"Permission granted." Dana said, stepping forward. Jim followed him as he headed out to meet the group. "Welcome aboard the Endeavor, Ms. Marsh." he extended his hand for her to shake.

His ring was clearly visible there. He'd given up all semblance of a secret identity with this gig, though he was told that it was being kept in the EDF family and people back on Earth weren't so aware. Still, he wasn't terribly concerned about it. His mother was a supreme court justice, his brother was subject to her security, his father was in jail, and his sister was the President of the United States of America. If someone wanted to get at any of them, they'd have to be a hell of a lot more powerful than anyone in the super-villain community actually was.

As the pair of them finished shaking hands, Dana leaned in.

"We'll blow past the formality in a bit, Rose." he whispered to her. "These military types. They do love their procedures."

Straightening up again, he turned to the major.

"Endeavor assumes responsibility for this VIP, Major. Inform Captain Monnley that the exchange was completed at..." he checked his watch. "Oh-eleven-twenty-seven hours."

"Aye, sir." the Major nodded curtly. The company from Liberty turned and the major led the way back across. The only person who didn't move was the woman who had spoken to Rose earlier.

"Did you need something--" he looked her up and down. He'd gotten pretty good at guessing someone's rank when they had no visible marking to indicate it. "Lieutenant?"

"Lieutenant Commander, sir. And no. I'm here as Ms. Marsh's military attache." the commander said.

"Military attache?" Dana said. "Why would an adviser need a military attache?"

"As you're well aware, sir, the procedures and daily pace of a starship can be extremely complex. I'm here to make sure Ms. Marsh understands the way things are done."

"I see. And you figure that fifteen-thousand men and women of the world's collective armed forces are incapable of serving that purpose?"

"I simply meant, sir--"

"I know what you meant, Commander." Dana said. "Name?"

"Maria Loomis, sir." she said curtly.

"Commander Jung. Show Commander Loomis her quarters. Make sure they're within a... reasonable distance of Ms. Marsh's." Dana said.

"Aye, Captain." Jim nodded. He stepped forward and gestured for Commander Loomis to follow. She hesitated to follow. Dana had to give her the 'I can make that an order' stare before she'd go. He could already tell she hated him. He'd met people before who didn't like that he was in command having no prior military service. Of course, those same people hated officers promoted from enlisted ranks for not being graduates of West Point or whatever other military academy they should have gone to jump straight to the officer ranks. There was a vice versa brand of that as well. His being basically a civilian, albeit a hero, dressed like a captain just meant that his not-so-fan base was a bit broader. He turned his attention to Rose, gesturing over his shoulder for the other officers to leave them as the massive doors sealed. Liberty was preparing to depart.

"Charming woman." he said with a straight face. I wonder if she's capable of bending her neck."

His face split into a grin.

After the expected hand shaking and polite greetings, the two were alone. Rose had remained quiet through most of the formalities, even when Maria was escorted away. Rose had alot of questions, alot concerning why they needed her on this ship. Personally she thought that if they only wanted what she knew about Proton energy....that was just to good to be true.

There had to be more, shouldn't there?

Rose looked over at 'captain' Richters and couldn't resist a smile at the sight of his signature goofy grin. It was hard to believe that it had been over a year since she had last seen him. The pair had been two of the first few members of teen titans south, they had put a countless amount of dangerous people behind bars including the monster they had known as Hood.

It was hard to believe that it had been nearly ten years since the two first met in New York.

"Would I be rude if I pionted out that grin doesn't match the uniform?" She said, laughing, before bringing him into a warm hug. Considering she was quite a bit shorter then him, she had managed to wrap her arms around his neck. Her fingers traced a bit of his hair, and she resisted the urge to ruffle it, for old times sake.

"And you can't tell me off for giving you a hug Captain, It's been ages, I have an excuse. then you can lecture me about how I should go about greeting officers." She said with a smirk.

"I got alot of questions for you Mister."

"That's Captain Mister to you, Miss Marsh!" Dana said as they broke away from each other. "Come on." he jerked his head in the direction of the corridor. "Let's go get you situated."

"Frankly, I don't even know what they want." Dana was saying, sitting in one of the chairs in the 'living room' of her quarters. These VIP suites were basically apartments. "Fleet HQ got a little more secretive after the Anthrican incident a few months ago. Nowadays, they don't let us know many details of missions until crunch time. It's made my job a little... difficult."

Almost seven months ago, the Constitution had gotten into a rough spot with an alien race calling itself the Anthrican Alliance. They were volatile sorts who didn't like anyone in their space for any reason, even a ship seeking trade relations. They were easily the most xenophobic species the EDF had yet encountered. They sent out kill ships to take out the entire EDF fleet using captured transmissions to determine ship coordinates. They failed. Their ships were faster than EDF starships, but far less powerful. Since then, headquarters had been reluctant to send mission details far enough in advance that they might be countered by celestial wire-tappers...

"It'll be a few days before we get the mission information from HQ. So just settle in. I'll show you around the ship later. There are some things you might find interesting." Dana said. "She's really quite a technological marvel, this ship."

Rose stood in the center of the large, modern living room, looking down at Dana, who was sitting on one of the armchairs. Her 'quarters' were huge, and far more stylish then her apartment back home. As much as she wanted to admire her new living arrangments, the question of the mission was still a mystery for her.

To be honest, she was surprized they guys on top didn't even let the captain of the vessel know what he actually going to be handling. It seemed a bit to extreme through her eyes. Wouldn't it be safer if the commander of the ship knew what they were up against?

"I don't like all this Dana, I have this feeling I am not here for the reason they told me I was here for. I will not be someone's secret weapon." She said bluntly, crossing her arms and turning away slightly. She smiled a little at he commented on the ship, rolling her eyes.

"A Marvel huh? Boys and there toys." She said jokingly, unfolding her arms and looking around. "This room is amazing though, are your quarters like this?" She asked, walking over to what she presumed was the bedroom, eyes widening as she peaked inside.

"God, the bedroom is MASSIVE, it is bigger then the one I had at the tower..." She grinned, eyes lingering on the dressing table and huge king sized bed.

"Weird, I just realised....this is the first time I have been in space as just Rosella Marsh."

"My quarters aren't quite this lavish." Dana admitted. "Although, they do come complete with an office. These don't. VIP quarters are generally intended for Admirals. They like travelling in the lap, if you know what I mean."

A tone heralded a ship-wide announcement. Dana recognized Jim's voice over the comm.

"All hands! All hands! Brace for hyperspace jump."

Dana looked around at Rose.

"You might wanna sit down." he said. "This gets a little bumpy."

The deck began to shudder as the hyperlight engine coils charged at the rear of the ship. The energy build up was audible. The acceleration could be felt as the ship pushed past its normal sublight running speeds. Outside the viewport, the stars seemed to become brighter and stretch in odd ways. Then, with a jolt, the ship jumped past the speed of light, accelerating through factors of c at an incredible rate. Soon all the shaking ended and they were cruising smoothly, stars streaking past the windows.

"Just in case you're interested, we're at cruising hyperlight speed." he said. "Something like (3 x 10⁸) x 75². Or seventy-five hundred times the speed of light. It takes light from the sun five hours, thirty-three minutes to reach Pluto at the nearest point of its orbit. This ship could make that trip in two point six, six seconds at this speed. And she's capable of going even faster. If we really gunned the engines, we could pull it off in half that time.

"I never did explain why I took this assignment." he said finally, looking back around at her. He'd been staring out the window from his seat. "I imagine my joining up with a military force threw a couple of people for a loop back home. This is why." he pointed out the window. "It's a new era for mankind, Rose. We're no longer stuck in one tiny corner of the galaxy. We can go far beyond. And I wanted to make sure we did it right. I wanted us to be explorers and not conquerors. This was the only way to do it.

"So, you see, if you're worried that they're going to abuse your abilities for whatever they have planned, you can think again. I won't allow it."