Maica had just gotten home and entering her quarters, she dropped her bag on the couch and flopped next to it, kicking her feet up on the coffee table and closing her eyes.

It was some time later than Andy came through the door. She looked a bit hurried, but as soon as she saw Maica, she made a dive for the couch. “You’re home!” Andy said excitedly, cuddling right up to Maica playfully.

Maica opened her eyes just in time to see Andy diving for her. Snuggling happily, she giggled. “I am. I missed you. Did you miss me?”

“You and the twins,” Andy said, burying her face in Maica’s chest, giving one breast a bite.

“Eep!” Maica giggled happily at the playfulness, wrapping her arms around Andy and pulling her deeper into her cavernous cleavage. “Yes, they’re back too. I couldn’t leave them there, could I?”

“That would be awesome,” came Andy’s muffled reply.

Maica just giggled a bit more. “So are you up for some dinner or should we skip right to desert?”

“I can go either way,” Andy said honestly, looking up at Maica. “Or I can just reacquaint myself with your… assets, while you tell me all about your trip.”

Maica looked away sharply, feigning seriousness. “Nope, top secret. Can’t tell you anything. It’s a surprise.”

“C’mon, tell me…” Andy said as she worked a hand up Maica’s shirt to tease her. “Tell me or I won’t tell you about the thing I got you.”

Yeah, that felt good. Maica still couldn’t tell her what she was up to though. “Nope, not until it’s done. And don’t go peeking in my storage bins in cargo bay 3, either. You’ll ruin the surprise.”

“Cargo Bay is my territory, you can’t tell me what to do,” Andy challenged with a grin that spoke volumes of the trouble she planned on getting into.

“Then I’ll have to move everything elsewhere while I finish.” Maica said with a sigh.

“Tell me,” Andy said as she nipped at Maica’s neck.

Moaning a bit, Maica still refused to talk, her own hands roaming over Andy’s body under her uniform. “Nooo… I can’t yet… I need a few days at least...”

“Well, I guess that means you don’t want the Tribble I got for you,” Andy said with a sigh as she pulled herself from Maica. “Cute little bugger, a lilac grey… Got it neutered too. I wonder if I can find a new home for it…”

“Wut?” Maica was all ears now, her eyes widening in surprise. “Tribble? Where? How?”

“No, I don’t think I should give it to you,” Andy said, faking a pout. “You’re keeping secrets from me. I don’t know if I can trust you.” Her tone was exaggerated, she was clearly messing with Maica at this point.

Maica was torn between keeping her violin project a secret and just telling Andy everything. She’d have to try to settle. “Ok, I’ll tell you this much… My main reason for going to Arborea wasn’t diplomatic. It was to get supplies for something I’m making for you. Is that enough?”

“Mmmm, I suppose…” Andy grinned and went to the bedroom to get the tribble in it’s little cage. She hid the mass of fur behind her back as she returned to the living room. “So, did you behave while you were gone? Did you eat well?”

Maica giggled at the question. “Shira stuffed us silly the whole time. Real food she grew herself, too.”

“Good,” Andy said with a smile, placing the Tribble in Maica’s hands. It was small, still a baby, but it was so soft and the perfect shade of grey to look like a dusty lilac. “Nothing but the best for my Maica…”

Maica squee’d hard, rubbing her cheek against the tiny cooing ball of fluff. “He’s perfect! Thank you so much!”

“Welcome,” Andy said, giving Maica a loving kiss.

Kissing back, Maica slipped the cute little tribble into her cleavage and giggled.

“Ah! No, my hiding spot!” Andy said dramatically when she saw where Maica had stuffed the Tribble.

“Don’t worry, there’s still plenty of room for you too,” Maica said playfully.

“Why am I getting jealous over a tribble?” Andy said. That was her favorite spot! “Your days are numbered, you little thief.”

“You can share for a little while, can’t you? Besides, it’s not like he’s going to live there.” Giggling, Maica plucked him back out anyway.

“He better not be taking up residence there or we will be having some problems,” Andy teased. “I’m glad you like him.”

“He’s almost as perfect as you are,” Maica said, pulling Andy in for another passionate kiss.

Andy chuckled into the kiss. She loved seeing Maica so excited and happy. “So, other than that thing that’s so top secret, how was the trip?” Andy asked once their lips had parted.

“It went very well. The Elder has a portable comm unit now and we had a lot of fun.” Maica leaned back on the couch, obviously tired from the trip, letting her little tribble crawl up the front of her uniform. “I have a confession to make though. I didn’t sleep. There was too much I wanted to get done.”

“Well, you can catch up on your sleep tonight,” Andy said. “I can get you something to eat then we can just chill out and unwind for a bit.”

“That sounds wonderful. I think I had zabu stew on my list to try next, but maybe sandwiches are more in order. Easier to eat.” Maica shrugged. “I’ll leave it up to you, my love.”

“We’ll share,” Andy said, hopping up to get a bowl of zabu stew and a plate of sandwiches from the replicator. She brought them back to the couch and handed the bowl to Maica.

Maica sniffed the bowl before taking a bite. Shaking her head no, she set the bowl on the table. “No, that’s not something I would call edible…”

Andy chuckled and traded the bowl for the sandwiches. “It’s alright, zabu isn’t for everyone.”

Maica munched on one of the sandwiches thankfully. “It seems Cardassian food in general doesn’t agree with my pallette.”

“Not surprising. Their cuisine is quite… distinct.” Although Andy seemed to have no problem eating the stew.

“All yours then. I’ll stick with Talaxian and Human foods for a while.” Maica spoke, shaking her head.

“Fair enough,” Andy said around a mouthful of stew. She looked thoughtful for a moment before going back to the replicator and getting another bowl. “Here, try this,” she said, handing it to Maica. “I don’t know what it is exactly. It ain’t human fare, but it reminds me of like a pot roast stew kind of thing.” It had some sort of tubers and roots in it along with bits of shredded meat and it had a hearty aroma.

Maica looked the bowl over. It smelled good at least. Taking a bite, she nodded. “Needs more spice, but yeah this is pretty good. What’s it called?”

“Don’t know. Over the years, it’s just become a pattern number, but it’s in the history as ‘My Stew’,” Andy said as she sat down to continue eating the zabu stew. “And if you like that, the pattern I loaded for a barley soup is good too.”

“Barley soup in general is good, I think. I’ve noticed a growing predilection towards spicy foods though.” Maica downed a few more bites of the stew.

“Spicy is good too,” Andy said, nodding. “I’m glad you’re finally eating and liking stuff. I was worried I might have to remove those systems if you didn’t use them.”

“I just had to adapt. It was a lot of change all at once, but I think I’m starting to get used to being more… Human?” Maica winked at Andy, shoveling a big chunk of tuber into her mouth.

“I know the transition was rough for you. But it wasn’t all bad, was it?” Andy asked, tracing her fingers along Maica’s jaw.

“Not at all,” Maica purred. “I just wish I had had more time to work through the transition is all.”

“Yeah, me too. I didn’t like putting you through all that,” Andy said, a hint of sorrow in her tone. “I’m just glad you’re settling in well.”

Maica shrugged a bit as she ate. “What’s done is done. It’s said that people are like film - we use the negatives to develop. I think that has something to do with ancient Earth filmography…”

“Yeah, I’ll show you some film stuff sometime,” Andy said with a smile. She liked how Maica thought. It was always so ‘out of the box’ and Andy loved anything nonconventional.

“Sounds like a good next date.” Maica smiled as she finished off her stew. “By the way, what color would you stain this? Or would you leave it pure?” Pulling a small chunk of pure white wood from her pocket, she set it in Andy’s lap.

“Stain?” Andy picked up the piece of wood and looked it over. “Dunno, I guess it depends on what it was being made into,” she said as she turned the wood over in her hands. “”I think it would accept a dark stain really well. My preference would be for something rich with maybe some redwood tones, but really it’s all in what its being made into that’s the biggest factor.”

Maica grinned at Andy. "That tells me what I need to know. Thanks."

Andy shrugged. She knew Maica was up to something, but if the Tribble couldn’t get the truth out of her then nothing would, so she chose not to question her further on the matter. “Alright,” she said and handed the chip of wood back to Maica.

Tucking the wood back away, Maica grinned some more. "So what else has been going on while I was away?"

“Oh, not much. Nathan was replace by a Section 31 spy. I shot him in the holodeck then we mounted a heroic rescue for Nathan, who came home with only one arm,” Andy said nonchalantly.

"I saw him in sickbay after I checked in. Had to give a sample of the woods to sickbay. On the way back, I logged into my desk to look over and send a few reports." Maica replied nonchalantly.

“Bet he was happy to see a friendly face,” Andy said. “Them Section 31 assholes really did a number on him…”

"That they did..." Maica reached up and rubbed the place her own arm had been ripped off.

“He’s asked me to help make a biosynthetic prosthetic,” Andy said, setting her now empty bowl on the table. “I said I’d help, but I’m not sure I’m alright with it.”

"Curious... why not a normal prosthetic?" Maica asked. "I mean, they're good, right? He could use one?"

“Oh, the biosynthetics have come a long way since I got mine,” Andy said, running a hand over her hair. “They’re really good, they don’t need any improvement, but he said he wanted something more. He said he wanted to be like me and Vara. And I’m not sure how I feel about that.”

Maica hmmm'd over that for a moment. "Just be sure you don't break any laws. Cybernetics like that for the sake of cybernetics is highly regulated."

“I won’t,” Andy promised. “I’m just not sure if I can do it at all… I don’t wanna look at him and feel like I’ve, I dunno, assimilated him somehow…” She wasn’t sure she could put it in better terms than that. She knew Nathan meant well with the request, but it was still hitting close to home on a really sensitive subject.

"I can see that, but didn't you use some of that tech to build my new body? Organelles, right?" Maica asked.

“I did, but it ain’t the same. Well, I guess at face value it is the same, but I wasn’t augmenting you, I was building you from scratch.” Somehow, Andy felt that explanation wasn’t satisfactory, but it was all she could offer.

“You made me more organic. He wants to be a bit more cybernetic. does the direction of travel along that scale bother you?” Maica asked, now curious.

Andy stood and paced a little as she tried to find the right way to say what she felt. “Yes. Yes it does,” she finally said. “I know it’s going to sound like a double standard, but I don’t care. Yes, it bothers me. What the Borg do, fuck, even what the Lagashi do… It takes something away from who and what we are. And it’s fucking addictive, Maica. that’s why there’s so many laws regulating the use of cybernetics. It starts with one augment, but then it’s one more, then another, then before you know it you’ve lost something that you can’t get back. And I don’t wanna do that to him!”

Maica could understand that. “The Borg lost individuality and uniqueness and creativity. The Lagashi lost men in their society and imagination. Both prime examples of what Earth tried to avoid during the eugenics wars. Well, that and superhuman augments trying to rule the world… It’s not all bad though, is it? Many people have UT implants. Healing abilities are augmented during medical procedures. I hate playing devil’s advocate, but he’s going to need a new arm either way. Will you leave that up to someone else or will you give him the best arm you can make. Not best as in strongest and fastest, but best in that it’s identical to his old one and matches him perfectly. He’s lost a lot, after all.”

“But that’s the thing, he doesn’t want a perfect match to his original arm, he wants something stronger. If he wanted a perfect match, I’d do it in a heartbeat, but he saw he wanted to be like me and Vara, he wants to be stronger. I guess I can’t blame him, after what he went through I’d want to be stronger too. I’m just not sure I can bring myself to do it!” it was really bothering Andy and she couldn’t find a solution that would give her peace.

“Ah… Well that’s a little different then…” That was a conundrum Maica couldn’t solve. “What if you gave him a normal prosthetic that you tweaked a bit?”

“That’s kinda what I was thinking too,” Andy said as she let herself flop back onto the couch. “I was thinking of using the ligature system I used in your limbs to enhance the prosthetic. It would be a subtle improvement, but hopefully that will be enough to satisfy him.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” Maica nodded, snuggling back up to Andy. “He’ll be a bit more like me, I guess.”

“No one is like you, and that’s just how I like it,” Andy said, placing a kiss on Maica’s forehead.

“Not even my holodeck clones are like me,” Maica said, giggling a bit. “I made sure of that. Speaking of which, how’s your composing coming?”

“Disturbing,” Andy said with a sigh. “I’ve been having weird dreams… It’s like the nightmares, memories, but they’re wrong, but I can’t for the life of me figure out what’s wrong with them, they’re just off. And I keep hearing this clicking sound when I go to sleep and wake up. and when I can’t sleep anymore, I try to write and it’s just sounds so sick.”

“Clicking noises?” That had Maica really worried as she sat up straight. “Have you been to sickbay about it? Has this ever happened before? do you think it’s from that alcove stuff?”

“I’ve never heard it before and the sense of wrongness in the memories and dreams is something new too. I checked and double checked the alcove, it’s fine, and I ran several diagnostics on myself and all the junk was cleared out. I haven’t been to Sickbay yet, but I will if it doesn’t stop soon.”

“Have you checked your memories for signs of being tampered with? Your organic memories should be fine, but if you want, I can look over your cranial node memories. I have a fair bit of practice looking mine over so I might be able to spot something.” Maica was even more worried now. “And I definitely want you in sickbay to get checked over as soon as possible. The longer things like this go on, the worse it could get.”

“I’ll go, woman, jeez!” Maica knew Andy hated Sickbay and it was a big concession on Andy’s part that she even admitted that she was willing to go. “I don’t wanna do any of it tonight, though. You just came home and I wanna spend some time with you without worrying over a fuck-ton of memory engrams, is that alright?”

“I’m sorry, I’m just really worried and a bit scared is all.” Maica said as she settled back in against Andy. “I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”

“I’m worried too, Maica. And I didn’t mean to snap at you. Just stressed is all… There’s so much shit going on around this ship, I’m kinda waiting for the other shoe to drop,” Andy said.

“It’s ok. I understand.” Maica just wanted to snuggle with her lover right now anyway. Sickbay could wait until the morning.

Andy put her arm around Maica and pulled her close. Yeah, all that stuff could wait until morning...

Will was finding himself spare whilst on some downtime in his quarters and was hating every minute of it. Val was working her shift and he didn't feel ready to interrupt her yet. Kyle seemed busy with work of late and Andy had a list of jobs to do a mile long...something that Will wanted to avoid until his next shift if he could.

He recalled his time with Kyle and Nathan Tonkin, ending up stuck in the Holodeck because Kyle had...under compensated on the settings and decided to visit Nathan, realising he might want company or a friendly face to speak to. Word on the ship was he had been through a rough ordeal.

Will made his way out of his quarters and headed to the Security Office.

Nathan was in his office. He had been working long hours trying to catch up on the work his double had slacked off on. He sat at his desk with a PaDD in his left hand. His right hand moved non stop. His thumb touched each finger tip then he would curl his arm at the elbow then repeat. He didn't even look up from the PaDD when the door chimed. "Come in." He said.

Will entered the office after the doors opened and could see straight away that Nathan was working as well as doing some hand exercises. He stopped as he noticed he was working. "Hi Nathan... Oh, are you working? I can come back when your not busy," he offered, feeling like he was interuptting him.

Nathan looked up and smiled to Will. "My door is always open, come on in. If you wait till I'm not busy you might never get to talk to me." He set the PaDD to the side and stopped the exercise. "Have a seat." Nathan indicated the chair in front of his desk.

Will felt relieved as he was invited in and he took the seat indicated to him. "Thank you. I wanted to take the time to pop by and get to know you better. We only met briefly during the holodeck incident before that went south thanks to Kyle, so I thought I'd try and make a proper attempt at getting to know you, seeing as I'm new on board and you being a senior officer as well," he explained.

"Don't be too hard on Kyle. He's beating himself up enough for the both of us." Nathan said leaning back in his chair. "Andy speaks very highly of you. Any friend of hers is a friend of mine." Nathan said with a nod.

"Thank you, I appreciate that," Will said, relaxing a bit in his chair. "It seems ages since we served together on the Lexington during the war, but its good to see a friendly, familiar face again. Andy's a good friend and I'm happy to have made another," Will explained. He was beginning to feel more comfortable now. "So, what or who keeps you occupied when your not on duty being Security Chief?" Will asked, looking to learn a bit more about Nathan.

A smile spread across his face. "Commander t'Dharvanek takes up most of my free time. Otherwise I have made many really close friend on this ship. It's not a joke when you hear the crew say that we are more like a family on this ship. Andy, Maica, Mizuki, Vara and Kyle. Sometimes the way we romp through this ship it reminds me of being an Ensign again."

Will chuckled at his comment. "Well its good that you've managed to find someone to...occupy your free time together. I seem to be getting close to a Nurse myself," he explained. "I'm glad though theres such a family atmosphere on board, thats been a big help in getting me settled so soon and from the sounds of things you guys seem to be the brat pack of the crew," he said taking on board what Nathan said.

"But it good to be accepted so soon by so many. As far as I'm concerened I consider you a friend too and if theres anything I can do or help out with, be it on duty, off duty or for any reason, count me in or just ask," he said.

"Great!" Nathan said. "Ops and security tend to work hand in hand offten. Maybe we try another holodeck program sometime?"

Will chuckled at the idea as he nodded his head. "Not a problem, just promise me you won't ask Kyle to adjust the safety settings next time!" He laughed, "Seriously though, I'd like that, it sounds like fun and as for Ops and Security working together so much, its no often you guys are so close." Will smiled as he realised he had a new friend on the crew. "The holodeck sounds like a plan, maybe you could bring Commander t'Dharvanek along too?" he offered.

"Sure," Nathan said. "The Commander loves a good holoprogram." It felt weird calling Jhu the Commander.

Will smiled at that and realised his mistake. "I'm sorry, I dont know her first name, I havent had a chance or good reason as yet to speak to her," he explained, feeling embarrased. His few days on board had kept him so busy so far and meeting others was taking place when he worked with anyone on shift.

"That's ok, it's Jhu but I think you're on the right track with Commander unless she tells you otherwise." Nathan smiled. "Pissing her off first thing is not recommended." Nathan had the privilege of knowing both of Jhu's sides.

Will respected that. "Duly noted, so how about we arrange something for a couple of days time maybe or when your both free together? I dont want to rush either of you into anything,"

"I will talk with Jhu and let you know. Free time is not something we get a lot of." Nathan said. He was excited at the prospect of getting to know Will better." You should bring your nurse friend also." Nathan suggested.

That was an idea that Will hadn't thought of and one he liked the idea of straight away. Especially with the thought of Val joining him and Nathan as well as getting a chance to meet Jhu at the same time. "Deal, we'll make it a double date then. I'll ask Val..er... Ensign Circe to join us. You'll have to let me know when your both free for the holodeck time and I'll make sure Val is free too," he said, getting up from his seat. Will walked over to Nathan's desk and extended his hand.

"You've gained a friend today Nathan and I have too, something I am very grateful for," Will said.

Nathan stood and shook Will's hand. "Good, out here in the Gamma Quadrant I could use all the friends I can get. I'll talk with Jhu and let you know."

Will smiled as he left Nathan's office and headed off back to his quarters, wondering if Val was around...

Vara was even more bored than usual. Her mother’s book was as dry as Vulcan and even less imaginative. After reading a few old Earth books, she couldn’t bring herself to finish most of the books she had been sent from Lagash, but this… it was little more than an algorithmic meandering of nonsensical stages. In other words, she felt a Bolian dictionary was better reading. This is why she was back in her sling and headed to Nathan’s office. Ok, it was in her work area… but she didn’t see Nolira anywhere and this was a social visit. Pressing the chime, she nodded to a few of her coworkers and waited. Yep, there was that crewman that looked at her funny...

Nathan was hard at work on reports as always. He worked his right arm while he read. "Come in!" He called out when his door chime went off.

Vara looked away from the open work area and headed into the office. “Sir, do you have some time to talk?” Not waiting for confirmation, she plopped her butt into the chair across from him, sighing in relief at the aches still in her augmented muscles.

Nathan didn't even look up from the PaDD he was reading. "I always have time for my little shadow." He said making his spot and dropping the PaDD on his desk. He looked at Vara with a smile. "What can I do for you?"

“Have you ever read something so dry and algorithmic that it feels like rubbing your eyes with sandpaper to read it?” Vara said with a hint of a blush at her nickname. “I’m incredibly bored and wanted to see if you wanted some company. I also don’t want to read the rest of that book my mom wrote.”

Nathan held out his had the the pike of PaDDs on his desk. "Ever read one of Verak's reports?"

“Officially no,” Vara said, grabbing one of the offered PaDDs and reading it over in mere seconds. “They’re full of emotion and life as well as a good storyline though.”

"That must have been before he was getting in touch with his Vulcan side..." he said with a smile.

“It was his report on when he blew up a console in the Commander’s face.” Tapping a few keys on the PaDD, Vara set it down in the finished pile before grabbing another. “That was a report on an ‘animal attack’ involving an owl on deck 13. A humorous read, to be sure.”

"Who's damn owl is that anyways? Didn't it attack you once also?" Nathan needed to have a long talk with who ever bought that damn thing on board.

“One of the younger crewmen. The owl is just an escape artist, is all.” Vara said remembering the day she came into this office with her uniform shredded.

"I don't care, it needs to stay in that crewman’s room." Nathan said. "I'm all for pets, I love Jhu's cat. But they need to stay in quarters.

“Or at least trim the talons once in a while…” Vara said as she set that second PaDD aside. “That was a report on a suspected security breach in a replicator menu… Speaking of which, if you get reports of replicators giving out the wrong order or giving out the right order made of jello, the normal culprit is my Lagashi wireless cloud implants. I keep them off most of the time since they mess with replicators like that. On a totally unrelated note, I also stood outside the Commander’s quarters for a few minutes on the way here.” Vara had a completely innocent look on her face as she picked up another PaDD.

Nathan cocked his head to the side and looked at her for a long moment.

Vara glanced up at Nathan. “What? She drugged me… I woke up on the bridge wearing a whipped cream bikini…”

Nathan burst out laughing at that. "I'll have to dig up the security footage of that. Why did she do that?"

“To apparently go on a date with a holographic friend of Maica’s. The night after that, she went on a date with you.” Vara picked up 2 more PaDDS, looking them over too.

"Oh yes, I know about that." Nathan said unfazed. "Why drug you though?"

“Because I wouldn’t even let her pee without checking the toilets. She wanted privacy.” Vara shrugged.

Nathan was still laughing. "That's awesome!"

Vara just sat there with a slight grin as she read over a PaDD. It was nice someone felt she was family enough to do something like that, but it wasn’t a good time to do it with all that was going on...

Nathan calmed his laughter. "So you're going to cause her replicator to mess up as revenge?" He said wiping a tear from his eye.

“It might be on the fritz most of the night with all the signals I sent it.” Vara giggled a bit. “Please don’t tell her right away though.”

"Good to know. I'll eat before I head there tonight. I'll keep it a secret until she asked me directly." Nathan promised.

“Thanks.” Setting aside that last PaDD, Vara started in on another stack.

"Anything important yet?" He asked picking up a PaDD.

“Do you consider another group of tribbles found and moved to be important?” Vara asked as she quickly went through another PaDD.

"Nope...routine around here." Nathan said tossing his PaDD aside.

Over the next few minutes Vara worked through all of Nathan’s incoming PaDDs, having only handed him 2 that seemed important enough for him to handle personally. “Why do the other department heads insist on sending you their work schedules?”

"I don't know...so we can schedule meetings I guess." Nathan shrugged. "I never send them mine. It's not hard to ask the computer where someone is."

“Exactly. Besides, if we need to track where someone was during a certain time, the internal sensor logs are more reliable.” Vara just shook her head. “Oh well. Any plans for tonight? I’m not exactly shadowing anyone right now so I have no idea what anyone is up to.”

"Nope. Jhu works late. I normally go hang out with Lydek until she's off. My room is depressing right now." Nathan said. "Oh I located where the Tribbles came from. They escaped from the science lab."

“That’s good at least. I guess that means their homeworld is in the alpha quadrant though.” Vara didn’t know if they could find a suitable world for them here or not, but she hoped they did soon.

"That is going to be tasked to Science, I'm happy to help clean up the mess but the ones who caused it will help." Nathan said. "I'm just glad the one thing my double did do was clean up the Tribbles."

“Same here. I’m just glad they didn’t get into my stash of real tea leaves. It’s hard enough getting them out here.” Vara said as she looked over the now clear desk. “Maybe I should start visiting other department heads and going through their paperwork too…”

"Sorry, I don't like the idea of sharing. Maybe I'll lend you to Jhu for a few hours." Nathan said with a smile. "You think my desk is bad you should see hers!"

“I have. Extensively.” Vara smiled at the memory. “One would think she was trying to hide behind the stacks.”

"I think she does!" Nathan laughed.

Improving the efficiency of the warp core. Might as well tell her to stand on her hands and juggle. Sabrina sat crossed legged at the base of the large warp core. She'd waited until late into Beta Shift so she wouldn't be in anybody's way. Now she had a large PaDD beside her and the base access panel opened as she ran through some testing algorithms.

"No, it's not a stupid idea, you are just a pretentious little program who needs to get their isolinear chip out of their ass." Sabrina grumbled to the computer. There was nobody around to hear her be mean to a computer. "Run the simulation." She ordered it, with no room for argument.

Lieutenant Rayze rode the lift down from the second level where he'd been running a diagnostic on the antimatter constrictor and checking over the storage units for the last couple of hours. The constrictors were a simple piece of machinery, but for all of that they were absolutely essential for modern day warp mechanics. One at the top of the core compressed the antimatter stream, while one at the bottom did the same for the matter stream, the two meeting in the core and annihilating each other to create the purest form of energy the Federation knew how to harness. It was simple in the way that the intermix ratio was always the same, 1:1 as more of either matter or antimatter would be a waste and risk causing random fission and fusion events in the core, and that would be a Very Bad Thing. When Rayze was in an engine room, these simple pieces of machinery were the ones he kept the closest eye on.

Seeing Sabrina seated at the base of the core, Rayze's face lit up with a grin and he strode over to her, "How's it going, Sabby?" He'd obviously picked up right away on the nickname she'd mentioned, and the Risian squatted on his heels nearby to take a peek at what she was up to. Keep an eye on her, the Captain had told him, and he certainly intended to make sure he followed that order and gave the young non-comm every chance to stretch herself and learn. Hence the assignment that was likely a little out of her comfort zone.

Sabrina held in a sigh. She didn't want to have to tell the Chief that she was getting nowhere...so far. "Well the first four ideas I had, the systems already do automatically. Then I got to thinking about water filters, so I looked into manually cleaning the magnetic filters on the antimatter containment. The computer is running that simulation now." She paused her explanation for a quick "Sir."

He nodded at her explanation, but waved off the title, "Don't worry so much about saying 'sir' all the time. I'm not going to get offended if you call me by my name. I'd just be careful with other officers; some of them seem to put a lot of meaning behind ranks and stuff."

Sabrina smiled. "Thank you Rayze." She tried it out, his name. It was odd, but not uncomfortable. Rayze had an easy going air about him that put Sabrina at ease.

Rayze thought about the simulation she was running and was intrigued. Minor variations of the filters were monitored to maintain that 1:1 ratio of antimatter to matter, but if they could reduce those variations in the first place they could get a more stable flow. Even on such a minute level, when dealing with these reactions it could mean more power. "I think you're on to something there. What made you think about water filters?"

Sabrina blushed. "I uhhh, missed my aquarium and wondered if my parents were keeping the fish alive. I figured anything would help you know, a new filter cartridge always perked the tank right up."

The Chief reached over to giver Sabrina a friendly and encouraging pat on the shoulder, "Good thinking! I look forward to seeing what you come up with, Sabby." He stood then and stretched, arms over his head for a moment, "Ah. Since your diagnostic seems to be still running, maybe you'd like to tell me a little about yourself? Why did you want to become a starship engineer?"

Sabrina thought about making up a good story, but she was never that good at thinking on her feet, at least not where talking was concerned. She tended to ramble and lose her train of thought. "That's what the aptitude test said, repair specialist. A starship was the furthest from Earth I could get." She told him honestly. "I really like it. I never even considered engineering before that test. I was sure it was going to come back Marine Biologist."

Curious about her reasons for wanting to get away from Earth as he was, Rayze wasn't going to pressure her about it. He was friendly, yes, and exuberant in expressing it to be sure, but he wasn't a nuisance. Some things might be better left to later times, when friendships and trust had been established. "Well, I'm glad the test came back the way it did," he replied. "I've heard that you have a knack for engineering. Marine Biology's loss I'm sure." Rayze laughed briefly then ventured a guess, "I take it you weren't able to bring any of your fish with you?"

Sabrina blushed ever so slightly at the compliment. She was feeling a bit more confident in her abilities, especially after Andy's little test, but it still made her self conscious to have it brought up. Sabrina frowned at his question. "No, I wasn't allowed any pets during enlisted training, and then it wasn't like I could truck 40 gallons of water around with me" Before she could explain further, the computer beeped at her. The simulation was done. She looked at it. ".001 percent more efficiency." Actually she was impressed, it wasn't much that was to be sure, but she'd managed to increase it with her little idea, at least from a simulation stand point.

"Maybe we can see about setting up a tank somewhere on board," he began, but then trailed off as the computer announced the end of it's test. He peered curiously at the data as it came in. "Not bad! That'll get us a terracochrane or ten. I wonder if we could get some more out of your idea if we got down to the molecular level when scrubbing the filter..."

Sabrina was too interested in the data to give the fish comment any thought, at least for the moment. The two went all engineering techno babble, sitting there at the base of the warp core. She finally let out an impressive yawn, the long hours catching up with her.

Rayze yawned in response, then flashed his grin, "We've been at this for a while now. Why don't you take the rest of the shift off and go relax? There's not much left of it anyways. We'll see about putting your scrubbed filters into effect next time we get to shut down the warp core and do some maintenance. Good job today, Sabby, I'm really impressed!" He wasn't patronizing with the compliment, just handing out honest praise for something he hadn't thought of and that could actually make a measurable difference on a piece of technology that had been gone over by hundreds if not thousands of minds before her.

Sabrina blushed, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. "Thank you." She began packing up her stuff. "I'll put together a report on all this by end of shift tomorrow."

"I'll look forward to it," Rayze replied, and patted the main systems control panel in front of the core affectionately. Anything that made the beautiful engine even better he was a fan of. "I got to get down to Deflector Control myself, but if we catch each other sometime in the mess hall please feel free to pull up chair. As you can probably tell, I like to talk!"

She smiled. "That's ok, I like to talk too, though it comes out as a babble more often than not." She yawned again. She finished packing her bag and waved to the Chief. "Night."


PO3 Sabrina Corbin
Repair Specialist

&

Lieutenant Rayze
Chief Engineer

[ON]

Ensign R'tame Eevoss knelt over an exposed panel leading to a replicator unit, brushing at his chin while he studied it. This of course caused more hair follicles to flake away and fall to the ground -- he could only hope that his shedding period would end sooner rather than later. He'd already gotten a few complaints over the 'mess' it made, both in main engineering and wherever else he was working... so much to the point that he started bringing a portable vacuum cleaner wherever he went. At least the new uniform that Doctor Valerie Circe had suggested helped to alleviate some of his physical discomfort.

"Ah," The Caitian muttered softly once he realized where the problem with Lieutenant Commander Jhu t'Dharvanek's replicator was. The primary energy matrix converter looked slightly distorted -- probably from a surge in the EPS feed. He pried the unit loose and studied it more closely. There was a noticeable odor emanating from it, and he could see where the heat from the overload had warped the metal. "These components are always so frail,” R’tame pointed out to nobody in particular.

It was why standard replicators weren’t used to fabricate weapons like photon or quantum torpedoes, phaser rifles or the sort; no matter how many times you recalibrated the pattern buffer on a standard replicator, there were invariably... consistency issues. A loose atom here, a stray molecule there, and a sophisticated and dangerous device that should work… didn’t. More complex models of replicators were used to manufacture such items. But no such device would ever fit aboard an Intrepid-class starship.

“I will need to…” R’tame was stopped before he could finish his monolog, as an audible hiss from the door behind him revealed to him that someone was entering the room. He turned his head without moving the rest of his body, although his tail lapped lazily in an unconscious movement of excitement.

The first thing Jhu noticed was a low growl from Lydek, a noise usually reserved for other cats. Puzzled, she stopped just inside the doorway, spotting the Caitian officer near the replicator. Well that explains it. "Lydek! Be nice!" As the cat retreated to the far corner of the room, she joined R'tame near the replicator, giving the melted component a critical look. "I take it that's not supposed to happen."

R'tame chuckled inwardly. He took the converter in his large paw and held it up. "Not if you desire a working replicator. Fortunately, it is simple to replace. I will require the use of another replicator to do so, however." R'tame answered with his deep, almost regal voice. He looked behind him and saw the cat. He could see some commonality in the creature with his own species, but no more so than humans did so with monkeys. "So Lydek is its name? I apologize if my presence has caused it to become territorial."

R'tame stood up to his full height and turned to face Jhu. He extended his paw outward in a gesture that Lydek would probably like even less -- the Caitian was getting friendly with Lydek's owner. "Apologies. I do not believe we have met. My name is R'tame Eevoss."

Jhu grinned a little. "I know who you are. There's only one Caitian on this boat, so you're kind of hard to miss. Jhu t'Dharvanek." Jhu accepted his paw for a handshake, prompting an annoyed hiss from the cat on the floor. "And that's Lydek, who has no manners today. Hang on." She went over to Lydek and scooped him up off the floor, bringing him over to R'tame. Secure in her arms, Lydek purred instead of growling. "He's never met a Caitian. And if you need to replicate a part... hmm. This isn't a standard senior officer cabin... I've only got the one. But there's a communal food replicator down the hall in this deck's recreation room. You should be able to load the industrial modification on it to make the part." Jhu didn't really know what that meant; she just knew that she'd heard Andy say that the standard replicators needed that program in order to make anything complex, like starship parts.

R'tame looked at the cat and stretched a paw out to it, intending on scratching it on the head. Lydek recoiled, clearly not pleased to have another feline in the room. This caused R'tame to snigger. He looked at Jhu and stretched his face into a loose approximation of a smile. "I will replicate a unit from main engineering. The pattern buffer variance is much smaller. It should allow prevent any further failures in this particular unit for some time." Stretching to his full height, the Caitian let his ears raise. "I shall return shortly, Lieutenant Commander."

"Okay, that's fine. I'll put my silly snarly cat in the bedroom before you come back. He's being such a brat today." Jhu patted Lydek's head, ignoring his dismayed sounds at R'tame's nearly touching him.

Will had made his mind up after having his shower and putting on a fresh uniform. Although he had been hard at work, all he could think about was Val the whole time. In fact he'd nearly wrecked half of the backup sensor flow capacitors by re-routing them incorrectly until Ensign Walker snapped him out of it and corrected the situation.

On the way back to his quarters, he considered going to see Lia, to ask her if this was a normal reaction. He then thought of speaking to Andy and realised that she was probably busy with the whole Tonkin affair. So he decided to do something he'd done only once before since arriving on board the Katana...

He went with his gut.

So here he stood now, outside Val's Quarters, with his PADD containing the Deathstalker Saga in one hand and his courage pounding through him as he reached to press the door chime...thinking "Please be in, please be in..."

Valerie stepped out of the turbolift, glad to be finally off duty, as she turned the corner of the corridor she saw a figure standing in front of quarters pressing the door chime. Please be in, please be in.. she heard his thoughts in her mind. A smile appeared on her lips as she approached him, "Will, hope you weren't waiting too long."

Hearing her voice, Will spun round to see Val walking up the corridor and felt an instant embarrasment. She was just finishing her shift! "Oh, Val! Wow... I'm sorry, I didn't know you were working still...or just finishing...oh dear," he stammered. "Listen if you need a chance to get changed or something I can go and come back later," he offered, turning to leave.

Val reached out and grabbed his arm, keeping him from leaving. "You're not going anywhere, Will." She said with a giggle as her other hand pressed on the door panel, the door slid open. "Come on in, I enjoy your company."

Will looked a little surprised as she grabbed him by the arm and then he felt a little easier as she explained about enjoying his company and guided him into her quarters. Will stood by the doorway and took a careful look around as he took in the view and also decided to politely wait for Val to do what she needed to. He hadn't forgotten that she'd just gotten home and like him she may have had a ritual. "Dammit man, are you so stuck in your ways? Has it been that long you enjoyed company?" He thought to himself... And then chuckled to himself as he remembered Val could read minds.

He looked for a nearby seat and sat himself down trying to relax.

Val held down a laugh as she heard his thought. "You need to stop being so hard on yourself." she commented as she unzipped her uniform jacket, and tossing it on her bed. She walked back towards him, "Would you like anything to eat or drink?" She asked.

Will looked sheepish for a moment as he realised his thinking gave him away again. "Raktajino please," he answered as she offered him a drink. He looked over at Val as he unzipped his own jacket slightly. "I guess I'm hard on myself as I'm trying to build up confidence in myself. The Katana is my first assignment after spending time on Earth recovering..." Will explained as his mind drifted off to the Valkyrie and the events that followed whilst he was explaining himself as well as admiring Val whilst she ordered the drinks.

"Its taken me a while to get past it all, even talking to Lia before reporting for duty," he said.

Valerie nodded, "Well, I'm glad you're regaining your confidence." She smiled and then tapped the replicator controls, "Two Raktajino's; one regular; the other alter the parameters with the beans aged about week, dark roasted. Add about 2 grams of sugar from an Angosian sugar cane, and splash of amaretto creme that was whipped lightly." As the replicator begins to hum she looked over at Will. "One of the benefits of being a telepath was that you can learn some trade secrets. For example, due to various species being allergic to simple ingredients like sugar and salt; replicators default is set to omit them. You need to be very specific with your order or else the flavor is bland." She explained as she took the mugs and brought them to him.

Will took the mug from Val after listening to her explanation and wondered about trying one of her own recipes for a Raktajino next time. "I never knew that before. Maybe next time I'll have to try one of your own home brew versions, it sounds quite interesting...just like you are," he sneaked in before taking a small sip from his drink. He was enjoying her company more and more. "So what other hidden mysteries does the lovely Val hide..." He asked playfully.

Valerie sat down next to Will, taking a sip of her coffee. "Well, I have a rule. Since I'm not discrete with my abilities to read minds...people are free to ask me any question they'd want, whether personal or not. So...what mystery do you want me to reveal." she smiled, feeling relaxed.

Will grinned and sat forward, knowing he could ask her any question he wanted and suddenly realised although he thought he had hundreds of them as he wanted to get to know Val better, he couldn't think of any. So he decided on a different tact. "Ok. So, imagine for a moment that I am in a position to grant you a wish. Something you either wanted from day one, or something you suddenly desire. What would it be?" Will asked her, "What can I do for you?"

Valerie was surprised he decided to ask that kind of question, "Well, I don't want to give off the impression I'm selfish, I'd wish for galactic peace." She joked, knowing that wouldn't count as an answer for him. She thought for a moment "This may sound odd, but I have made this same wish before in my life... I wish I could get drunk. My metabolic rate is so high, that alcohol has no effect on me."

Will gasped in genuine shock at her answer, he hadn't expected that one! "Wow, you can never get drunk? Well on the one hand your lucky you cant because it spares you the banging headache and hangover the following day...or days depending on how well you do it. On the other hand, your missing a trick as it can give you a chance to relax and be silly whilst having fun," Will explained to her and he felt instantly sorry that he couldn't make that happen.

Will looked across at Val and smiled. "Ok, your turn. Ask me anything," he said.

Val smiled, "How about the same question you asked me? If I could grant you one wish, what would it be?"

Will popped a false smile up as she asked that question. He knew straight away what the answer was and he hesitated for a moment before admitting what the answer was. "Time Travel. I wish I could travel back in time and change history so that I wouldn't end up serving on the Valkyrie...," he began before a tear started to run down his cheek. "So that I wouldn't end up serving her...and erase all the memories," he choked, as a second tear followed. His defence that seemed so strong had broken after the one question that was posed he knew an answer for.

Will put down his drink and went to leave. "I'm sorry, Val," he said, heading to the door.

Strong feelings of guilt, sadness, tragedy was pouring out from him. "Will..." Val called out, following him. She reached out and grabbed his shoulder, rubbing his arm. She focused her empathy and sent waves of contentment and joy to him. "It's ok..." she whispers.

Will stopped as she grabbed his shoulder and rubbed his arm and as he turned to look at Val, he started to calm down and relax again. He began to feel comforted with her touch. "I'm sorry, I guess that one touched a nerve. Its stupid I guess I should've said something else, like spending more time getting to know you and maybe ending up being closer with you" he explained, placing his hand on hers as he answered.

He felt more relaxed as the woe seemed to melt away with her touch. He looked Val in the eyes and felt better about himself. "How are you doing this? It usually takes me days to get over my memories," he whispered, asking her gently.

"I have strong empathy skills, I can project emotions onto others." Val smiled as she looked into his eyes. "You feeling better?"

Will met her gaze as he looked back into her eyes and he moved in a little closer to Val. "Yes...yes I am feeling better...I'm with you, Thank you," he said quietly. Will started to feel a bliss almost and completely comfortable within Val's company. "You are amazing."

Then, Will realised what he said and went to take a step back, wondering if he'd gotten too close suddenly or rushed into something that wasnt there, possibly overstepping an invisible boundary as a small cast of doubt and worry entered his mind. "I hope I'm not being too forward?" he asked.

Valerie smiled and took a step forward. "If I had any objections, I would said so. I'm a bit opinionated."

Will took Val's step forward as a positive move and he moved closer to meet her, taking note that she hadn't objected to anything he had said so far and seemed to be positively reacting to him when they spent time together so he made a decision.

He leaned into her and gently placed a kiss on her lips and then followed that up with a thought he wanted her to receive consisting of "So whats your...opinion on this?"

Val closed her eyes as he leaned in and felt his lips on hers. A shiver of excitement ran up her spine and when he pulled back she let out a breath she wasn't aware she was holding..."Well...I have no complaints." she smiled.

Will stood millimetres away from her face, taking the sharp intake of breath from her as a good thing and as soon as she made it clear she had no complaints, he hesitated no more. He gently gripped her arms and pulled her to him, leaning in to kiss her gently once more, but this time allowing the kiss to linger a bit longer. His mind raced as emotion took over him for a moment, feeling close and safe with Val.

He pulled apart from her again, opening his eyes. "Thats good, because the complaints department is closed," he whispered.

As he kissed her again, Val's hands gripped his arms, keeping him from pulling back too soon. She looked into his warm eyes and smiled after the kiss. "Are you sure it's safe to be kissing me?" she asked.

A moment of fear ran through Will for a second after she'd asked him the question, but it soon went as he went with his gut as before. Without letting go of her, he took in Val's smile, her lips and the sparkle in her eyes and he knew what he wanted. "Yes... Yes its completely safe to be kissing you. Right now, here with you, locked together, I couldn't be happier and I'm not sure I wanna let go either," he said honestly and openly to her.

Val liked his answer; her hands slid up his arms as she leaned up to give him another kiss. The kiss was quick and Valerie was smiling afterwards, "While we are gonna have to let go eventually, that doesn't mean we have to part so soon...you want to stay for dinner?"

Will smiled as she pulled away from the short kiss and let happiness fill his mind. He nodded his approval afterwards and he slowly pulled back to her. "Dinner would be lovely. I had no other plans tonight apart from coming to meet you and then heading back to my quarters for a good nights sleep after a good read of my book. So yes, dinner will be fantastic"

He let his hands fall down to hold Vals hands and he squeezed them gently. "So what are we having?" He asked.

Squeezing his hands back, she gestured her head to the replicator. "Whatever you want, unless you want to head out to the mess hall and see what the chief had whipped up. But for some reason I think you'd rather stay in tonight."

Will couldn't hold back his building grin anymore. He has happy, happier than he had felt in a long time and he was confident in himself...all because of the attraction of this fantastic and amazing woman before him. It didnt bother him either that she could his mind and pick up in his thoughts as it was a help and guide in so many ways. Being here tonight with Val was all he wanted, but he didnt want to push things either.

"Your right, I want to have dinner here with you tonight, but I want to stress I'm happy with just dinner and more talking...I'm not expecting to stay the night," he said, holding her hands tightly. "I'm happy to take things slowly, hell this is the second time we've met," he chuckled.

Now it was Val's turn to laugh, "Hehe, well, giving into one's desire is healthy." She teased, "But Will, I agree, I want to get to know you more. So on that note...what do you want to eat?" She asked as she released on of his hands and walked him closer to the replicator.

Will took a moment to decide what he fancied for dinner as she walked him over. With the word desire mentioned, for a moment he considered what Val would look like dressed up in black leather and then began to focus back on the subject of food, thinking of his favourite meal: A nice piping hot Lasagne with a side order of salad with a nice cold ginger beer. He closed his eyes thinking of the meal and turned to tell Val. "How about Lasagne? Always loved it with salad...if thats ok with you baby?" he asked.

Val glanced at him picking up on the black leather thought but didn't say anything, merely smirked, and then he called her baby. "That's no problem, honey." She tapped the replicators control panel. "What kind of lasagna? Meat, vegetable?"

Will decided to go with Vegetable and explained to Val how he liked it, realising and recalling her attention to detail earlier with the Raktajino. "So, seeing as we're on the subject of food, whats your favourite meal? Do you have any specific dietary requirements? I ask only because of the way you ordered the drinks earlier...and I may need to know if you want to have dinner at my place sometime?" He asked.

"I don't really have a favorite food. My food choice is usually dependent on my mood, or my company." She smiled at him, "Computer, two plates of Vegetable lasagne. For the roasted vegetables; portabella mushrooms, quartered, red onion, sliced orange, red and yellow bell peppers, broccoli florets. 6 cloves of garlic, and sliced zucchini all roasted within extra virgin olive oil and sea salt, cracked pepper, dried basil and oregano added for seasoning. For the ricotta mixture, add grated mozzarella and parmesan cheese, minced garlic, same seasoning as the vegetables but with a dash of nutmeg. And for the tomato sauce, use Valerie sauce selection one." The computer took a second to process the order before the replicator began humming. "The secret is knowing how to cook and knowing recipes by heart." The order finished materializing and she picked up both plates, and headed for the table. "Why don't you order your salad and drinks. I'll have whatever you'll have." she grinned.

"All right then..." Will answered as he stepped up to the replicator. "Computer, two plates of side salad. Salad to consist of small crisp green lettuce leaves, small crisp red lettuce leaves, six beef tomato slices, 1millimetre in thickness each, 8 Cucumber slices, also 1 millimetre in thickness each. Small diced cubes of croutons, 18 on each plate, half a millimeter each in thickness," Will ordered before looking over at Val with a cheeky grin. "Two Ginger Beers, in pint glasses, variety Earth Jamaican," he said finishing off the order. Once the replicator had produced both of the salads and the drinks, he took them over to the table where he joined Val.

Will took his duty jacket off and placed ot on the back of his chair, before sitting opposite her at the table. "Bon Apetite!" He said looking over the meal before picking up his glass. "A toast," he began looking into Val's eyes. "To a new beginning...together," he said, chinking his glass gently against hers before taking a sip of his drink.

"New beginnings." Val grinned at him taking a sip of beer. She picked up her fork but paused looking at him, "I'm sure you've had replicated lasagna before; try it and lets see if it tastes the same."

Will nodded and took a small fork amount of food to his mouth and started eating, taking in all the tastes and smells and gound it to be absolutely delicious. He looked up at Val, his joy overflowing from him. "Wow, you are one seriously good cook! Thats amazing," he said, taking another mouthful as he enjoyed the food further.

"Glad you're liking it." She grinned as she began eating herself. She was enjoying Will's company greatly.

Will was happy that his spur of the moment choice to bring his PADD with him to see if Val was free was working out quite well. This was something he hadnt planned for but as Lia had told him, live in the moment, learn to be spontanious again and make judgements and decisions on the hop. Thats often how you get somewhere in life and find out about who you are and where you want to go in life.

With Val, Will was feeling like he had a chance of getting past the Valkyrie and his concerns, to actually have a chance at being himself again and being in a relationship, but he felt he needed to be more open and honest with her and to know more.

"Your abilities, would you tell me more about them? I'm fascinated to want to know more," he asked.

Valerie lightly laughed as she finished swallowing the piece of lasagna she had eaten, "Well... there is not much more to tell. I'm telepathic and empathic; nothing really new there, considering I'm half Halanan and a fourth Betazoid. Both species are highly telepathic. I'm also a fourth Angosian... that's why my ears are more vulanoid than Halanan. There are times they can be a blessing, other times it's a curse. In your case, they're a blessing." She winked.

Will perked up at her blessing comment and grinned. "Why thank you ma'am. Those ears are quite the sight," he said confirming the compliment. He took another quick glimpse at those ears just to make Val certain. "So, are there any family, friends, murderous ex-boyfriends that I should be aware of?" Will asked, as he wondered if he'd moved in on anyone's territory and recalled for a second his moment with Kyle.

Val's smile faded a bit as she shook her head, "Nope. No family. A no murderous ex-boyfriends so you're safe." She looked at him, "what about you? Anyone I should keep a look out for?"

Will hesitated for a second as he explained his situation to Val. "Well as far as family is concerned, it just my Uncle Hank back on Earth. He brought me up after my parents were lost at the Battle of Wolf 359 on the Alabama. I served with Andy Carter on the Lexington during the Dominion War so I classify my boss as my best friend so far. Thats the family and friends part covered," he explained before taking another moment.

"I'm bisexual. I have been since my time at the academy and I have had male and female partners. Not at the same time though...although..." Will said as his mind wandered for a moment. "My last serious relationship was with Alyssa on the Valkyrie before she...anyway, before I came on board, I had a one night stand with Kyle Weaver. We both needed an outlet after realising we both had emotional baggage and we needed to have a release..." He explained further, hoping Val would understand.

Valerie tilted her head and studied him, and then smiled, "Nothing wrong with releasing tension. And full disclosure, I'm bisexual too." she winked, catching onto his thought. "I'm sorry to hear about your parents and you were lucky to have your Uncle. I never met my parents. I was left at a hospital on Angosia and then transferred to a Vulcan Laboratory for genome research. If I hadn't awoken I probably would still be there."

Will raised an eyebrow as Val admitted to being bisexual and caught her wink as well and communicated his agreement and approval of it mentally to her. However when she explained her part, he reached across and took her hand in his and held it gently. "I'm glad you awoke and the fact that we are here together, throughout what we have both loved and lost means that we are two strong people," he said, making sure he was coming across serious to her. He was glad he'd met Val and felt that despite the adversity they had faced, there was a bright future together.

She squeezed his hand, and smiled at him as she stared into his blue eyes. "I don't know about you, but it feels like you and I have had more than just two dates." she chuckled.

Will chuckled with her and agreed. "You know, it does," he said, "Of course, if I'm getting too much for you just say, I could always go back to my quarters, its not far...I dont want to keep you occupied if your busy or stopping you from doing anything important" he said, smiling and enjoying the moment as he decided to tease for a moment

Valerie chuckled shaking her head, "Just eat your meal." she grinned and as she was about to put another piece of lasagna in her mouth she asked, "speaking of visits, why were you waiting outside my door?"

Will finished his mouthful and went to pickup the PADD he had brought with him. "Oddly enough, after our chat in the mess hall, I thought I would bring you some light reading regarding the holonovel. The PADD contains all nine novels and it has a few pieces that give an overview of the story and some pointers," he explained to her, "consider it some homework to look through at your leisure."

Val finished eating before reaching out to take the PADD. "Thank you, I'll look through it and begin my assignment soon." She smiled at him. "I hope I won't come to regret being apart of this holonovel."

Will shook his head as she took the PADD. "No way, you'll do fine. There's plenty to read so you'll get the idea of the character and the story but I'll be there to help guide you along...but take your time reading it, I'm not going to rush you," he assured her knowing this will be fun.

Val smiled, "Well the idea still sounds like fun, and if it makes you happy, that's an added bonus. I like seeing you smile."

Will smiled more at Val. "Just being here with you makes me smile. I'm enjoying the company and besides, I cant wait to see how you look dressed as Hazel," he said to her.

Val smiled for a moment and then tilted her head, "Why? What's the outfit she normally wears?"

Will knew the answer to that one straight away with all the research he'd done on the saga and the many times he'd read the books and used the holonovel. "Oh thats easy. She wears a brown leather jacket, brown pants, a white blouse or undershirt with a sword hilted on one hip and a laser pistol holstered on the other hip with a knife hidden in one of her knee high leather boots. At times she wears a long tan coloured leather coat when they go in worlds that are cold or have a difficult weather system. A proper smuggler to boot," Will explained, blurting out the details of how she looked whilst he pictured her image in his mind.

Valerie was able to see his mental image and nodded, "Alright, I feel more confident now." She grinned as she stood up and placed her empty plate on the replicator.

Will nodded as he watched her walk over to the replicator with her plate. "Good, thats better now. You'll be fine," he agreed. He picked up his finished plate and cutlery and walked over to the replicator joining Val. "Thank you for dinner, that was absolutely wonderful, much better that what I was planning to have," he said, putting his things back into the replicator after her.

Will walked back over to the table and took a sip from his drink. "So...I suppose I should let you get some rest and relax. I have taken up so much of your time this evening," he said.

"You say that as if it was a bad thing." Val mused as she watched him walk back to the table. "I confess, a part of me doesn't want this evening to end." she admitted to him.

"Not at all, its not a bad thing...however I sense a but coming," Will admitted to her.

She shook her head, "No but's." she took a step closer to him, and smile was on her lips. "I'm just debating in my head whether to ask you to stay over tonight, or save that question for another day."

Will hadn't thought of the idea of staying and felt a jump of wanton in him at the mention of it...but his sensible head kicked in. "I see what your saying. Seeing as this is our second meeting, lets not spoil things...how about we let the anticipation build and see what happens in...date three?" He offered, walking over to her and taking Val's hands into his as he explained himself. "However, if later on you do feel lonely...I'm only a com call away," Will added, with a teasing smile.

Val squeezed his hand and smiled back at him, "The same goes for me as well." she replied leaning forward to kiss his lips. Will leaned in and let his lips meet Val's as they engaged in a deep kiss. Will didn't want to let go. The evening had been wonderful and much more than he had hoped for. He gently pulled away from the kiss and opened his eyes. "Okay... So I'll catch you soon then?" He asked.

Letting out a soft giggle, Valerie nodded, "Yes, you will." She couldn't help the almost giddy feeling she was experiencing within her. She walked him closer to the door, almost regretting it as the doors slid apart. "Good night, Will."

Will smiled to her as the doors swished open. He wanted to stay, but he also knew things could only get better together for them. "Good night, Val," he said as he walked out of her quarters and slowly down the corridor back to his own quarters.

Jhu's headache still hadn't gone away, but they had work to do so she'd dug out her emergency stash of hydrocordrizine and hidden the hypo in her pocket before heading to the torpedo bay to meet Nathan and Andy. She'd beaten them both there and loaded the schematics for the nanite torpedoes onto a PADD, sitting on the deck to study the process.

Andy wasn't far behind. She strode in with a mug of coffee in hand, looking around for either Nathan or Jhu. "Hey," she said when she spotted Jhu. "Nathan said you'd need my help today?" she asked, coming closer.

"Uh... yeah. I'm a lousy engineer, and I barely understand this stuff." Still seated on the deck, Jhu barely glanced up, knowing Andy by her voice. "It may as well be written in Caitian.."

Nathan came strolling in with a smile on his face and a cup of coffee in hand. "Good morning ladies!" He said brightly.

"I haven't had enough coffee for that," Jhu replied flatly. "Tone it down before I stuff you in a torpedo case."

"Whoa, bad day?" Andy asked. She knew how to prioritize, coffee before complex torpedo procedures. She went to the replicator and got Jhu a cup of coffee. "Let me see the schematics for the modifications, I should be able to understand it."

Nathan walked over and kissed Jhu on the top of her head with a chuckle. "I love you too." Then he turned to Andy. "Just how she is in the mornings. She will be fine in about 20 minutes or so."

Jhu traded the PADD for the cup of coffee, taking a moment to inhale its aroma before taking a few sips. "Maybe longer. Woke up at 0300 to 'the weak shall perish' and there aren't enough drugs on this ship to knock me out after that."

"That sounds like a barrel of laughs," Andy said as she looked over the schematics, sipping her own coffee as she read. "I've had a few nights like that myself, so you have my sympathies."

"It works better if you just don't sleep, but don't tell Lia I said that." Nathan said peering over Andy's shoulder at the schematics.

"That only works for so long," Andy pointed out. "And this don't look like it'll be too complicated. I'll need to get some equipment from one of the science labs to reprogram the nanoprobes, then I can show you two how to modify the warheads to distribute them."

"Not sleeping is not working." The coffee wasn't doing much to wake Jhu up or improve her mood, but it was warm. At least she had that. "Try not to raise any suspicion. We'll wait for you here."

Nathan held his hand out for the PaDD before Andy left so he could keep studying it.

Andy gave him the PaDD. "Don't worry, I won't raise suspicions," she assured Jhu. "I'll be back in a bit," she added, then headed out.

Nathan took the PaDD and sat next to Jhu. "I'm sorry you didn't sleep well."

"It sucks, but I'll live. Maybe. If my head doesn't explode." Jhu set her coffee down on the deck between them. "That's not helping."

That was not normal. He looked up from the PaDD and at Jhu. "Are you okay?" Nathan asked clearly worried.

"Headache won't go away. And in case you're thinking I've been replaced, you adore fuzzy animals and you don't like chocolate. But you'll eat it if I offer it to you because it's rude to refuse." Jhu smiled a little.

Nathan smiled at her. "Ok, but this headache. Medicine is not working so maybe we should seek a different approach? "

"I'm open to suggestions." Jhu paused, looking over at him. "You weren't in the room when I took the hydrocordrizine. How'd you know?"

"I didn't know. You told me in your office last night the drugs were not helping." Nathan said still looking concerned. "Maybe some meditation will help clear your mind and help you relax."

"Right... meditating. Great idea except... I can't. At least, not the sit still and be quiet type." Jhu shook her head slightly. "Vara's teaching me Lagashi tai chi, but I'm not very good at it."

"Why can't you?" He asked with curiosity.

"I just... can't." Jhu paused, thinking of how her mother described it. "My Element is Air... Fire and a little Water too, but no Earth. I'm not sure how much sense that makes to you."

The door to the torpedo bay opened and Andy came back in with some equipment that she began setting up on a nearby console without acknowledging Nathan or Jhu.

"It might surprise you how much sense that makes. Maybe you should try and get in touch with the earth." Nathan said watching Andy.

"Your Element picks you or I would." Jhu looked up at what Andy was doing.

Andy looked up from the equipment over to Jhu and Nathan. "You still got my nanoprobes?" she asked.

"Yeah. Here." Scrambling up from the deck, Jhu retrieved the vial from her jacket pocket and held it out for Andy to take.

Andy took the vial. "I'll get this going, you two start opening the torpedo casings," she said.

Nathan got up and went over to a torpedo. He started removing the housing clasps.

"Alright, this is going to take several hours to reprogram them all, but we can use that time refitting the warheads," Andy said, programming in the details from the PaDD into the equipment and then inserting the vial of nanoprobes.

Jhu joined Nathan at working on opening the casings, watching him undo the clasps on one before trying it herself.

Andy did some calculations as she fine tuned the parameters for the nanoprobes. "How many modified torpedoes do you think we'll need?" she asked. "According to the info on this PaDD, it takes 10 million nanoprobes to arm one war head. This one vial has just a little over 10 million." One vial, one warhead. She was going to have to extract more or find a way to replicate them.

"Honestly? I don't know," Jhu admitted, prying a casing free from a torpedo. "All I've gotten is that they plan to kill us. Not how many ships are coming."

"Can you use a replicator to make more?" Nathan asked. "I would like about 20 just in case."

"Back in the day it wasn't possible, but improvements have been made in the replicator system. I can try," Andy said. "I can safely extract another vial, but I won't be able to do it again for another day or two. We need to make sure we know how many torpedoes we need, I don't want to extract or replicate more than we really need. Ain't good to just leave nanoprobes sitting around." She finished the calibrations then left the equipment to do its work.

"Using a replicator is too big a risk. They keep records of what's been replicated... these torpedoes are illegal. We'd be drawing too much attention to this litgle project." Jhu might not care about the legality of what they were doing, but she wasn't about to have them being caught. "Clearing the record won't help... that looks just as suspicious and someone could still find it if they poked deep enough. We're taking enough of a chance doing this with that Ferengi bitch poking her nose into everything."

"I can take one of the industrial replicators offline for maintenance and make sure it won't make any logs so there's nothing to delete," Andy said.

"If you're willing to take the risk..." They needed the nanoprobes, so Jhu sighed and relented. "Do it."

"No. I'm not a big fan of them sitting around inside you!" Nathan said looking up at Andy. "But I understand we can't do anything about that."

"You got a problem with my nanoprobes?" Andy asked, casting Nathan a dubious glance.

Nathan smiled at Andy. "As a mater of fact I do." He said and laughed.

"Oh yeah?" Andy said. He was smiling, so she didn't know what to make of this. Most people who had a problem with her or her modifications usually weren't smiling. "Then please, tell me all about it."

Nathan could almost feel the confusion flowing off Andy and he could tell she was a little on guard about the topic. "I'm messing with you Andy..." he said while pulling another caseing free. "The only problem I have with your nanoprobes is how dangerous they are." He looked over at her. "You know I love the hell out of you."

"They ain't inherently dangerous," Andy said defensively. "It's what people do with them that makes them so dangerous. Like weaponizing them for use in torpedo warheads..."

"Argue later, please." Jhu gave them both a 'play nice' look.

"I ain't arguing, he's the one that says I'm dangerous!" Andy said as she looked over the warhead in one of the torpedoes. "Where's that damned PaDD."

"You are dangerous, but that has nothing to do with your nanoprobes" Nathan continued to rib Andy.

"Alright Nate, bend over!" Andy said. "My foot and your ass are about to have a rather painful meeting."

"I'll kick both your asses if your voices get any louder." Jhu rolled her eyes at them.

"Threaten me with a good time..." Nathan mumbled to himself as he worked.

Andy looked over the PaDD with the instructions on how to modify the warheads, all the while murmuring something under her breath about Nathan. "Alright, listen up, because I'd rather not have to explain this more than once..." She found the command controls for the torpedo and showed them how to reprogram the delivery system of the warheads. "We shouldn't have to change the yield once they're reprogrammed and it'll disperse the nanoprobes rather than causing explosive damage. From there, we just need to inject the nanoprobes into the warheads and Bob's your uncle."

Nathan nodded his head. "Sounds easy enough."

"Yeah, that seems straight forward." Jhu retraced Andy's steps a few times before trying it herself. "Simple enough."

Andy watched Jhu as she tried to reprogram the delivery system. "Looks like you got it," she said with an approving nod. "Now we just need to find a way to identify these specific torpedoes so we can load them if we come in contact with 8472. I assume that would be your area of expertise?" she said, looking to Nathan. She didn't know how the system differentiated the different torpedoes, but as Chief of Security she assumed he knew.

"The deflector control storage room is a secure storage space. From there we can still load them into the launch tubes with a secure command code from the tactical station. There is enough space in there to hold a double probe rack so we can easily hold 16 for the forwards launchers. The rear launcher has a secure storage room right next to it so we can hold any left over in there." Nathan started marking the torpedoes they were going to modify.

"Good. Now I know I told Jhu, but I'm gonna tell you too," Andy said to Nathan as she went to the replicator to get a hypospray, "when we're done with this encounter, make sure the nanoprobes are destroyed. I don't wanna take the chance they fall into the wrong hands." And then she began to extract another vial of nanoprobes.

"That goes without saying..." Nathan said marking the last torpedo.

Andy finished extracting the nanoprobes, then rubbed her arm where she'd held the hypospray. "Once these buggers are done reprogramming, I'll try to get them replicated. If we gotta fight these guys, we're gonna need more than just the 2 torpedoes." She put the vial into the equipment she brought down from the science labs to rewrite the nanoprobe's programming along with the first vial.

"Don't replicate any more than we need for the torpedoes. I don't want stray nanoprobes getting dropped somewhere on the ship... who knows what IA will conjure up to explain that." Jhu still didn't like the idea of even using the replicator, but they didn't have another way to get the necessary nanoprobes.

"Don't worry, I won't go overboard," Andy said. "Now lets get these torpedoes reprogrammed so they're ready to accept the nanoprobes."

With IA aboard and Species 8472 continuing to plague her, Jhu had been feeling more strain than usual, so she'd arranged to meet Vara for a guided meditation session in hopes that it would ease the tension and help her sleep. She'd headed down to holodeck four a bit early, taking the time to set the program up and get it ready.

Vara wasn't far behind, intending to do the same but instead finding Jhu had already set everything up. Slipping out of her sling and jacket, she headed over to Jhu with an unusual device. "Hello Commander. You're a bit early. Are you ready?"

"I'm... tense. And hoping this helps." Jhu gave the device a curious look. "First... we're off duty, you can call me Jhu. Second... what's that?"

Vara did something few had heard before. She giggled. Holding up the device, she even smiled. "This is an older piece of Lagashi tech that children use when they're getting used to the cloud data implants. It's a sort of brain wave tweaker that helps with the mental state needed to read all that floating data. Anyway, I thought it might help you out." Sitting on the floor and setting the device between them, she motioned for Jhu to sit across from her. "It might feel a bit strange at first."

Hearing Vara giggling was strange, but Jhu grinned a little as she sat down on the floor across from her. "Well. I don't have a computer in my head, but I'm processing a lot of data with those fluidic monsters crawling around in my head. So I'll try it... I don't mind feeling a bit strange if it helps."

"Excellent!" Flipping the device on, it glowed a soft green and Vara almost seemed to melt as the feeling filled her. "You'll likely feel like you're in 2 places at once, aware of everything and a bit floaty. Watching yourself and everything around you."

"Floaty?" Before there was any further explanation, Jhu felt the energy from the device and did, in fact, start to feel a bit 'floaty', but the weirdest part was the dissociation. She was sitting on the floor... but she was also watching from a higher vantage point. And she didn't quite know which was real and which was just a strange quirk of the device's power. "Okay. This is weird, Vara."

"If you can see yourself from above, close your physical eyes and look around from there. Look at the energy flowing around you and describe it." Vara suspected that it would look like air currents or water for Jhu, but she wanted to make sure. She herself saw streams of fire and ice emanating from everything while doing this.

"Uh... okay." Jhu thought about it for moment and closed her eyes, slightly startled to find that the vision from above suddenly sharpened and came into finer focus, revealing swirling patterns and streams in the air around them. "It's like... a breeze moving around the room. In every direction at once... swirling around, kind of twisting."

Vara smiled warmly. "The next part may be a bit tricky. With your awareness as it is, move your body. Stand up and let those air currents guide your movement. Don't think about it, just feel it."

"...you want me to move without actually being able to see or knowing where I'm going?" It almost sounded like a joke, but Jhu got up anyway, feeling a bit silly as she tried to follow Vara's instructions, only to promptly trip over something - perhaps her own feet - and fall flat on the deck.

Vara didn't laugh - she just smiled knowingly as she sat there. "A good first try. When you fell, did you feel the air currents moving around you? Let them lift you. Feel them flowing around you and through you. They're a part of you. Listen to them and let them move you."

"Actually... yeah. I did. Right before the floor." The fall had been jarring, but Jhu wasn't hurt. It just took her a moment for her to get focused again, and almost without realizing it, she was on her feet again, gingerly seeking a current to follow.

Vara didn't say anything, she just watched carefully as Jhu found a current and almost expertly started performing a few basic tai chi moves. This was a critical point and Vara didn't want to interrupt her but she could feel the energies around her calling to her as well, wanting her to dance with them.

Half-expecting to fall again, Jhu was hesitant to explore, but as the movements became more natural she steadily grew more certain. Not wanting to get too confident she stopped and opened one eye to look at Vara. "I didn't know I could do that."

Vara giggled again, standing as well. "This feeling is basically what a deeply meditative martial arts master feels. It's what I'm teaching you to do, as well." Moving into her own tai chi moves, Vara danced with the energies, a blissful look on her face as she moved with the flows of fire and ice in spinning movements. "This is the form of meditation meant for you."

Jhu looked around at the energy currents and suddenly it made sense. "Because I'm Air. Air has to move!" She giggled at the connection, realizing now why other forms of meditation never worked for her. Feeling a bit giddy now instead of tense, she easily followed the current she was standing in.

Commander Kerouac was careful to monitor Shira's schedule. He wanted to see Petty Officer Sabrina Corbin, the woman he had come to know as Sabby at a time when Shira was not around. They had shared quarters, and though what he wanted to discuss was in fact about Shira, Kris did not want her to be a part of the conversation. He needed to catch up with Corbin anyways. The two had not really spoken since Sabby's latest promotion.

Kris had granted Lieutenant Verak time off, implying to Verak that the half-Vulcan should spend time with the Arboreal woman. It gave Kris time to comes to Shira and Corbin's quarters and ring the chime.

Sabby was actually set to relax early for once. She'd already changed into her flannel pajamas and put on bunny slippers (just for fun). When the chime rang, she looked down at herself, then sighed. She couldn't exactly ignore it, and it's not like she was under dressed by any means. "Come in." She called out.

With approval, Kris proceeded forward, the doors parting ways and he found himself taking in the sight of the flannel pajamas and bunny slippers. "Darn, thought I was the only one with cute bunny slippers" said Kris jokingly. Though the slippers did look quite nice. "I wish that I could say that I stopped by just to say hello, Sabby. However, that isn't quite the case. I need to talk to you about Shira" explained Kris gently.

"Oh, ok." Sabrina headed to the couch, and motioned for Kris to have a seat. "She's in the arboretum right now." Sabrina explained. "What's wrong?" She asked concerned for her friend and roommate.

"I'm worried about her" said Kris without holding back. "Lieutenant Commander t'Dharvanek has been hearing things... Well, honestly, it seems as though Species 8472 have been communicating with her. I was recently informed that Shira has been having nightmares... she is hearing them too. I need you to watch over Shira."

Sabrina nodded solemnly, suddenly feeling very guilty that she was unaware of this. She'd been a lousy room mate, and a lousy friend, so caught up in her work and studies, that she really hadn't paid a lot of attention to Shira. Oh they had short talks here and there, but it wasn't enough. She resolved to do better. "I will. I'm sorry. I should have known this."

"No, Sabby" said Kris approaching her and comforting her with a small hug. He embraced her snugly in the hug, and released her a moment later. "You couldn't have known any more than I have. Shira is still very foreign to all of us and what she experienced from what I've gathered has scared her. She did not want to wake you at night" explained Kris. "I just wanted you to know. She probably could really use a friend right now, someone to talk to, and I think it would be best if she had someone like you rather than a actual counselor at this point."

Sabrina nodded. Would a counselor even help? I mean nobody knew how Shira really thought, how she emotionally processed anything. "I can do that." She smiled, assuring Kris.

"Thank you, Sabby" Kris replied softly. "How are things with you? Are you finding the new rank to be interesting? It was hard for me to see Lieutenant Matthews transfer out of here... is Engineering adjusting well to the new Chief Engineer?" asked Kris as he attempted to lighten the mood.

"Interesting?" She asked. "More like a lot more work, but I like it. I miss Lieutenant Matthews too, she was very good, and kind. Lieutenant Rayze is good too though, and very nice. He's not bad to look at either." Sabrina smiled.

Kristopher blushed and looked as Sabrina in a way that said 'don't say anything to anyone' with a small chuckle. "I really do like Liam, but I cannot go down to Engineering. Sabby, that man... mmmmmm that's a fine looking Risian. He's so damn hot" said Kris gossiping.

Sabby started giggling. "He'd probably do you too. Hell, he'd probably do us both together. They're very open on Risa." Sabrina teased.

"Oh that they are" said Kris with a smirk. "Well, I have to head off, but let's have lunch soon or something. I am going to need to get my mind off things. I have an appointment with an Internal Affairs investigator soon. Wish me luck."

"Ewwww." Sabby crinkled her nose. "You don't need luck, you need a cyanide capsule, but good luck anyway." She got up to walk him to the door, awkwardly giving him a hug before he left.

Commander Kristopher Kerouac had retired to his quarters for the evening, knowing all too well that he would soon be visited by an Internal Affairs Investigator who would be interrogating him halfway up a wall. Kris could not blame the woman. She did not know him, did not know the crew or what they had truly been though. All she was given was an objective: interrogate and investigate the problems of the USS Katana, and Kris openly accepted that he was a problem. He was walking down the corridor to his quarters as he thought about what he would say to the woman. How he would answer her questions, and he had hoped to God that she was not early. The last thing he wanted was for her to see him with five o'clock shadow, his hair a mess, and his uniform stinking.

He approached his quarters and flashed a smile at two passing crewmen. He didn't know their names, but the two men obviously were aware that Kris was the Commanding Officer. “Evening, Captain” said one while the other simply nodded as they passed by. Kris returned his attention and focus on remembering his access codes to unlock his quarters. Fortunately, he was much more clear thinking these days since cutting back, and finally cutting out his alcohol intake. The doors parted ways and his quarters were as he had left them hours ago. He walked in a caught a whiff of cologne, a bit of a spice to it, and it was not one that he would wear. “Liam?” Kris called out as he looked around and headed towards the bedroom of the dark quarters.

It did not seem like something Liam would wear either, but Liam was always one to try new things...Plasma Leek Soup thought Kris as he reflected back on that whole incident in the Mess Hall. He felt himself get queasy just thinking about it. He checked the bedroom half expecting the Chief Medical Officer to be lying in bed as a nice surprise. However, no such treat tonight. Who else knows my code to get in here, or who could have gotten in? pondered Kris. “Nathan?” muttered Kris slightly aloud, but there was no response. “Jhu, Kyle, anyone?” called out Kris as he weighed his options as being Security of Intelligence personnel.

Weird thought Kris as he took off the grey uniform jacket and stood in his bedroom area of his quarters in his black uniform pants and crimson colored Command Department long sleeve tunic. He took off that and then the light grey undershirt tank top. So many damn layers to these uniforms the Commanding Officer thought as he walked out into the living area of his quarters, shirtless. He had taken his communicator off his uniform jacket, and tossed the device onto the night stand by the bed. “Computer, time?” asked Kris.

“The time is 1955 hours” replied the computer.

Gives me a few minutes to get this place cleaned up before I get torn apart by Internal Affairs thought Kris as he started to bend and pick up a pillow and a throw. He then heard a noise and shot straight up. “Who's there, identify yourselves” he said firmly. He quickly turned as he heard someone approaching from behnd. Be was in the process of turning to defend himself when the attacker came from the shadows and then Kris felt it, a hot and sharp pain. “Ah!” he shouted as the blade sliced his side. Kris quickly grabbed his side, a dagger like weapon protruding from his body. “I've been stabbed” muttered Kris as he collapsed. There was something more than just being stabbed, Kris could feel it working internally. The blade had been laced with a sort of poison. Fuck thought the Commanding Officer as his sight began to grow dim.

His communicator was too far away. Kris used the computer to call for help. “Kerouac to Tonkin, my quarters, now” he said gasping for breath. The wound and the poison went to work quickly and the pain was unbearable. Commander Kristopher Kerouac blacked out.

Nathan was in Jhus quarters at the time. He had been waiting for her to get off work as normal. He sat on the couch scratching Lydek behinds the ears while Lydek did what he did best, got white hair all over Nathans uniform. Lucky for Lydec the real Natahn didnt mind. Then the call came through. Something in the Captains voice...he set Lydek aside and grobed his duty jacket along with the phaser he always kept on him. Nathan was running.

Lieutenant Noxa had arrived at Commander Kerouac's quarters as scheduled for her appointment. She was a minute or two early, but all the better the catch the Commanding Officer off guard. What she would catch, however, would be herself in the middle of a horrible incident that would lead her into the heart of an investigation to which she was likely to be a prime suspect of.

"Commander Kerouac, this is Lieutenant Noxa" she said announcing herself. However as she approached the entrance to the man's quarters, her Ferengi ears heard something. A whirling of some sort. She couldn't be certain but she suspected something. Her security background allowed her to easily check to see if the quarters were locked. Strangely, they were not, but then again, he was expecting her. "Commander, open these doors..." she said but there was no response. Something did not feel right and she was pissed. She had come aboard and her weapon was secured in the weapons locker upon the instance of ship's security. Screw it she said as she opened the door herself and entered.

What she found was blood and the body of Command Kerouac, barely alive but not alert. She was about to call for help when security arrived.

Nathan came running around the corner to the Captains room. His eyes looked from Kris to Noxa then back to Kris. He pointed his phaser at Noxa. "Do not move." Then he slapped his com badge.

=/\= "Tonkin to medical, medical emergency. Beam Captain Kerouac directly to sick bay. All security personnel report to the Captains quarters double time and put me through to Commander t'Dharvanek." =/\=

=/\= "On our way," =/\= came medical's response, the sharp voice of Doctor Trayr immediately obvious. As the channel closed, Nathan could hear the sounds of a trauma team being rapidly assembled and deployed.

Jhu had just left her office to head home when Nathan's call was patched through with a priority code attached. =/\= "t'Dharvanek here. What's with the priority signal?"=/\=

=/\= Commander, I need you to report to the Captains quarters immediately." =/\= Nathan said. He hoped his formality would stress the importance of her quickness.

Oh, hell. Hearing Nathan address her by rank and not by name, Jhu knew immediately that something was up. =/\= "I'll be there in two minutes." =/\= Not waiting for an answer, she closed the channel and headed for the closest turbolift at a pace somewhere between a run and a sprint.

Medical was quick to arrive, a small team armed with an emergency trauma kit. Nolira wasted no time in getting started, already examining the wound before she spoke to Nathan. "What happened here?"

"He got stabbed." Was all Nathan offered. He didn't know yet. "Why didn't you beam him to sickbay like I requested?"

"Medical transport has to be initiated by the chief medical officer, and no one could find him. Rose could do it, but he's off ship and no one thought to update my codes. Maybe you can get your girlfriend to do that." Nolira traded her tricorder for a dermal regenerator, setting it to seal the wound quickly with no regard to making it 'pretty'. She could fix it later. "Believe me, he's still going to sickbay, even if you have to get t'Dharvanek to do it. There's something else going on here... his vitals are way more wonky than they should be."

The man was half-asleep from boredom, but the alert and communication snapped him out of it. "Well then. Seems as if we have a situation." He muttered aloud, taking his feet from their position up on the table, and quietly strapping on both of his disruptors in their holsters, in addition to his type two duty phaser. Then he runs to the turbolift, and then walks the rest of the way once out of it. "Reporting as ordered, sirs." He stated in a quiet, soft-spoken manner, but loud enough to get their attention as he steps to one side of the room, surveying the area with his eyes, and taking it in..

Jhu arrived immediately behind Kadan, and before she could ask what was going on, her eyes fell on Kerouac's still, bloody form lying on the deck while the Bajoran doctor sealed the wound on his side. As she watched Nolira work for a few moments, some of the color drained from her face as the reality of their new situation started to sink in. An immeasurable amount of tension crept into her shoulders. "First things first. Will he make it?"

"He should," Nolira replied, carefully double-checking the wound before putting her dermal regenerator away. "But he'll be in sickbay for a while. You'll get a report once we're sure what's causing some of these symptoms. For now, do us a favor and have a transporter tech transport us to sickbay."

Jhu nodded slightly, tapping her comm badge. =/\= "t'Dharvanek to transporter room. Lock on to the medical team and Commander Kerouac then transport them to sickbay."

From transporter room one, the Chief Transporter Operator, Warrant Officer Tucker "Puck" Mallory sprung into action. He readied the transporters as that was his specialty and his duty. "Ma'am?" he replied after she gave the order. He shook the thought aside. "Locked on, Commander. Activating an emergency site to site transport now.... transport reads complete, no issues or problems, Commander" reported Puck.

A moment passed and the familiar whine and sparkle of the transporter had filled the room, whisking them away and leaving Jhu alone with Nathan, Noxa, and the security team.

The Chief Transporter Operator remained on the channel for a moment longer. "Commander, what happened? I'm showing multiple personnel in the Captain's quarters and an elevated security alert status" said the half Kitarian warrant officer.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out." Jhu looked at Noxa, waiting for an explanation for her presence there.

Lieutenant Noxa stood there, not moving. She knew this did not look good for her. "I had a scheduled appointment with the Captain," she said quickly.

"I'm sure you did." Jhu gave her a critical look, not sure whether or not to take Noxa at her word. "You'll need to tell Lieutenant Tonkin and myself exactly what you saw. Every detail."

"You were in security Lieutenant, you know first on the scene is the first suspect. If you did not do it it will be a quick process to prove that. Until then I'm going to have to ask you to turn over you badge and join my staff in the brig." Nathan said. "The Commander and I will be down to speak with you once we finish things up here."

Noxa grunted and snarled at the security officer. "I know security protocol, Lieutenant. I do not need to be reminded how things work" she said in a shrilling voice. "I can find my way there, myself" she said with a glare at everyone security around her. "I did not see anything" she said quickly looking at Jhu. "I arrived here for my appointment and I called for Commander Kerouac. He did not reply. I entered when I saw it was unlocked. However, we can go over this in the Brig."

"On the contrary, dear Noxa." The accented man spoke after she finished, stepping forward. "I will be accompanying you there. Now...turn over your badge, and any hidden weapons or items, ma'am..if I must ask a second time it will not be as courteous."

On the contrary my Ferengi ass, thought Noxa. She took her badge and credentials and threw them at Jhu's feet. "Enjoy the pleasure of stripping me of what matters most to me, my dignity and self respect for my duty as an officer in Starfleet" said Noxa with a squeak. She then turned quickly and looked at the Klingon. He wasn't a full Klingon and for a moment Noxa thought about taking her fist and giving him and uppercut and kicking him in his big Klingon balls. "I never knew a courteous Klingon" she said, showing her sharp yellowed teeth. "Don't touch me or I'll smooth the ridges on your forehead some more you half breed petaQ!"

"Lieutenant! No one is stripping you of anything. This is all standard security procedure, and I will not have you insulting my officers in that manner!" Jhu hadn't been in command for five minutes yet, and she already had a crew crisis on top of an attempted murder that needed solving. "Ensign Storm, please escort Lieutenant Noxa to the brig gently. Lieutenant, please... just go with him. Once you're cleared, you'll get these back." Picking up Noxa's discarded badge and other items, Jhu tucked them in her jacket pocket so they wouldn't be lost.

Noxa nodded albeit with reluctance. "I'll go" she said, however, she was not pleased. "I did not do this Commander. I know that the Lieutenant Commander Tegan is not aboard presently, this leaves you in command. I wish you luck in your investigation" said Noxa.

The look in his eyes was a bemused one. "I suppose this means we can't be friends, then." He mused, inclining his head to the Romulan. He knew of her Trill heritage, but, knew one side of her lineage best. Taking his hand off of his phaser, he lets those hands hang at his side. "There. now we can be friends. Since as I recall...friends don't escort each other at gunpoint. Let us proceed."

Noxa continued forward. She would comply in this manner. "I have few friends. However, this makes it less likely that I will have your ass stripped of rank and assigned security on a remote five man outpost" said Noxa with a bitterness. "Thank you" she added.

He follows behind quietly down the corridor. Once they're out of sound range of the others, he muses softly in a gentler tone. "Perhaps you're just misunderstood. Viewed one way when you're actually another." His boots clack down the corridor as they approach the turbolift. "Ladies first." he intoned, once present at the door.

"Perhaps I am, but perhaps you should be more concerned with how I did not do this and I arrived on scene... I never saw anyone leave the room" said Noxa. "You were infiltrated by Shapeshifter once before, perhaps you had better give those quarters a good sweep" she added, offering her advice as a former Security Chief.

"Don't worry. I come through when it counts." Kadan mused, chuckling softly at her suggestions as he spoke. "Brig level." The turbolift beeped and took them down. He took out his padd and sent a message to Nathan's padd, advising him to do a phaser wide-beam sweep of the entire room. It may have been the prime suspect's suggestion, but one couldn't be too careful with shapeshifters

Jhu watched as Kadan escorted Noxa out then looked at Nathan again. "Whoever did this is still on board. We need to find them... quickly. Noxa's a bitch, but I don't think she's lying." With the others gone, she sat down on the edge of a chair that had escaped the carnage, sighing as she put her head in her hands.

Nathan holstered his phaser and moved over to Jhu. He reached down and started rubbing her neck. "We will find them..." While her rubbed her neck, Nathan glanced around the room.

"I know. Just trying to process all this. I mean, we all hate Kris sometimes, but trying to kill him? Doesn't make sense." Jhu paused, trying to think of someone - anyone - who would actually want to hurt Kerouac. No one came to mind. "I don't know if I can handle this."

"I know you can handle this." Nathan leaned down. "Focus on one task at a time, cause in the now I could use your help. Don't be CO right now, be Chief of Intel and help be look around the room for who did this to our Captain ok? If its Section 31 I'm going to have Andy take this ship apart bolt by bolt to find how they are getting on this ship."

"If it was Section 31, I'm giving up and activating the self destruct," Jhu retorted, her tone brightening slightly at the thought. "All right, let's look around. No one's perfect... there has to be a clue somewhere."

Though he was not one of the first of the personnel to arrive on the scene, it did not take very long for the talking, the location, and the blood to draw up the picture of the event. Commander Kerouac had been stabbed, and was in Sickbay now. Security personnel were going to be ripping the quarters apart for any evidence that they could find, and Lieutenant Commander t'Dharvanek was now in command of the starship. Ry'lan knew she was correct, nobody was perfect. She wasn't perfect, Commander Kerouac wasn't, and nor was he or anyone else aboard. He would find her something to go on. It was his duty to.

Ry'lan's own investigation was not being done from inside the quarters where most everyone else was busy scouring the Captain's quarters. He was focused on the area outside the Captain's quarters, more specifically, the locking mechanism for the doors and the control panel where access codes went into to unlock and open the entranceway. Ry'an was scanning the device to no avail. There were of course finger prints on the damn thing. However, it made sense that there would be and more than Commander Kerouac's. Not going to helpful in the case thought Ry'lan as he closed the tricorder and tucked it away.

He then went about putting his cybersecurity background into good use as he hooked up a portable computer into the panel. "I'm checking to see if there was any tampering with this" he said aloud. Of course there isn't he thought to himself. However, he could at least confirm that much, and soon he could confirm something else. "Commander t'Dharvanek" Ry'lan called out as he waited for the woman to respond or come his way.

"One second," Jhu called back, her eyes still scanning the cabin for some sort of clue. There wasn't much to see, but a small jar caught her eye so she scooped it up before stepping outside to see what Ry'lan had found.

Ry'lan looked up at the woman. "Ma'am, I cannot find any indication of tampering of any sort. If someone got in here, they were using the Captain's personal codes to get in. However, I've just gone through the access logs from the panel's memory... these quarters were indeed locked when Commander Kerouac arrived. He unlocked his quarters and entered the room. The proximity sensors confirm that after Kerouac left earlier today, nobody entered these quarters since until Kerouac did this evening, and of course off of us, and shortly before Lieutenant Tonkin... that Ferengi woman from IA" said the Cybersecurity specialist. However, he felt as though he was just rambling nonsense to the woman. He took a breath and shook his head before finishing "In short, Commander, whoever was in here did not get in through the 'front door' so to speak, and they sure the heck didn't leave through here" finished Ry'lan.


Jhu frowned, not liking the sound of that. If no one entered and no one left... either Noxa was right about a Changeling or they had more interloper issues. "Keep looking, Ry'lan. We'll find something eventually. Nathan." Jhu looked back into the cabin for him. "Put the ship on security lockdown then meet me in the brig. If this is an IA plot, we're putting an end to it. Now."

"Commander." Nathan said before she left. "My tricorder is picking up two distinctly different colognes. I cross check the Captains bathroom and one is not his, and according to my reading who ever was wearing it was in the room with the Captain." Nathan walked over to a control panel and typed on it. "Computer, intruder alert." He made sure that the ship was on yellow alert. "I'll swing by main security and sweep the room with the phaser scanner also."

Jhu nodded slightly. "Good. Meet me when you're done." Determined to solve their murder mystery, she headed down the corridor toward the turbolift. She was going to get a head start on questioning Noxa.

Sabrina looked at herself in the mirror. She looked ridiculous. She had put on a pair of black tights, and then a ski bib. On top she'd dawned a thermal underwear top, a long sleeve pink tshirt, and had a hug puffy white jacket. On her feet were pink snow boots, and on her head a pink knit thermal hat.
"I look like a cupcake!" She giggled. Grabbing white gloves she headed to the holodeck, hoping nobody would see her and wonder what the hell she was doing.

Inside Holodeck 2, Ethan was waiting, sitting on the step of his house. The holodeck had copied his quiet, suburban, Providence community to the letter, bringing Ethan to reminisce over events long past, snowball fights from 8 years, and sledding race from his elementary school years. He was dressed in all black, a long sleeved tshirt, a heavy fleece coat, black snow pants, a beanie, snow boots, and a scarf. He waited patiently for Sabrina to arrive, reliving the memories of a somewhat distant past.

Sabrina stepped into a Rockwell painting. Or at least what felt like a Rockwell painting. "Wow. This is beautiful!" She slowly walked over to Ethan, taking in the landscape.

Ethan waved as she walked over. "Computer, start snowing!" he shouted. Suddenly, tiny white particles started falling from the sky, lightly covering the tops of their jackets. He motioned for her to join him at the top of the steps. "I want to show you something!"

Sabrina was distracted by the suddenly falling snow. Like an eight year old, she had to stick her tongue out and feel the flakes land. She giggled, then finally headed up the steps. "What do you want to show me?"

Ethan rubbed his hands together excitedly. "Computer, simulate two feet of snow fall!" As he ordered, a whirlwind of white mist swirled around the street before condensing into a thick layer of snow covering the street. Then, the light snow continued as usual. "Look at this!" he hollered. "I haven't seen snow in five years, I almost forgot how beautiful it was!" He laughed and leaped off the step and into the snow, sending up a small cloud of snow as his boots pushed their way through the layers of snow.

Sabrina went after him, but had never been in snow, as soon as she stepped, it was up to her knee and she fell forward, getting a face full of the soft powder. She managed to roll over, laughing at herself.

Chuckling, Ethan grabbed a handful of snow off the ground. Smiling mischievously, he put his hands behind his back and waited for her to get up.

Sabrina sat up, then rather ungracefully got to her feet. "How do you move in this stuff?" She was smiling though.

"It's something you'll have to find out for yourself. But first..." Ethan brought his hands out from behind his back, displaying the spherical lump of snow in his hands. "Snowball fight!" he yelled as he hurled the ball at Sabrina.

She squealed (yes like a girl) then picked up a handful of snow and made a ball out of it. "Oh it's on!!!" She threw the snow ball at him with a surprisingly good aim and strong arm, and bent down for more ammunition. She wasn't going down without a fight!

"Oof!" The snowball hit Ethan right in the face, and he brought his hand to his nose. What had he often himself into? Ethan picked up another piece of snow and threw it at Sabrina, before running in the opposite direction.

Sabrina chased after him. "Get back here you coward! Take it like a man!" She giggled, then threw a snowball at his back.

Ethan winced as the snowball hit his back. He dolphin dived into the snow, and turned around onto his back. Waving his arms back and forth, he asked "You wouldn't attack an innocent snow angel, would you?"

Sabrina smiled sweetly. "Awww of course not." She then moved like she was going to lay down and make snow angels with him, but then pelted him twice more, right in the chest.

Ethan grunted in discomfort as the snowballs hit him straight in the chest. "You liar, you!" He smiled playfully as he grabbed a small piece of snow from the ground and halfheartedly tossed it at her.

Sabrina chuckled, and flopped to the snow. "Ok, I see why you like snow." She started making a snow angel of her own.

Ethan nodded, and have her a sort of nostalgic smile. "One of the things we forget about we're in space is the seasons, and all the fun they bring. Winter is probably the thing I most miss about Earth. Aside from my family, of course!"

"Oh well, it was always 74 degrees where I grew up, all year long. But I know what you mean. You miss real air, and maybe a breeze, or like this; being really cold. "I feel bad now, I haven't really thought about my folks since I left. I'm sure they're fine. Once I hit my teenage years we just were never very close. Is that bad?" Sabrina blushed, realizing she was not only blabbing, but over sharing to boot.

Ethan smiled thoughtfully. "It happens very often, I understand where you're coming from. I'm an only child, my parents wanted me to 'settle down' and continue my family lineage. Of course, that hasn't happened, yet. Your parents would be proud, you're one of the youngest petty officers ever."

"I'm an only child too." Sabrina smiled. "Of course they don't want me to settle down yet." Then she looked at him playfully. "And how do you know how old I am, I could be 30 and just look really good for my age." She teased. Then she turned serious. "I'm not even sure how the Petty Officer thing happened so fast. I was certain I was going to be a crewman forever after that Away Mission where we rescued Shira."

"Crewman forever? That's not so bad. I'll probably end up as an Ensign forever, the way things are going."

"Crewman forever is bad, Ensign forever is not. At least you are an officer." Now that they were no longer exercising, Sabrina began to really feel the cold.
She wrapped her arms around herself, but as bundled as she was, it didn't actually help. "Why do you think you'll stay an Ensign?" She asked.

"I got bad grades, I'm not very good at anything except paperwork, I'll most likely be transferred to a planet-side administrative job after this job. Even if I get promoted, filling out forms for the rest of my career is not an enticing prospect."

"Oh." It was the only response Sabrina had at the tip of her tongue. "Couldn't you find something else to do in Starfleet?" She asked,

"Unlikely. I'll most likely serve out my four years of service, and head out to work in the private sector."

Sabrina couldn't imagine just finishing up her required time and leaving. She'd never really thought about it, but supposed it must happen a lot. I mean Starfleet wasn't for everybody. "Oh ok. I guess it does pay better." She grinned, and shivered a little. "Ok, it's freezing!"

Smiling back, Ethan slowly got up from the ground. He was used to cold weather, but few peoples' bodies were attuned to the cold as he was. "Computer, give us some cocoa." Two mugs of steaming hot chocolate appeared in his hands. Reaching his left arm down to Sabrina, he asked "Would you like some?"

"Thank you." Sabrina reached for the hot chocolate. "This has been fun, thank you for showing me snow."

"It's no problem, Sabrina. I love snow, it was nice to share it with you. I guess you'll be going, then?"

"Oh." Sabrina hadn't planned on going so soon, but she didn't want to overstay her welcome. Ethan didn't seem eager for her to leave though. "Actually I was just hoping to get out of the cold." She grinned. "It's been fun, but I think I've had enough of being cold for one day."

"All right, I know where we can go. Computer, switch to simulation two!" The two suddenly appeared in a small, cabin living room. Two cozy armchairs sat in front of a crackling fire. "Have a seat, I insist."

Sabrina slipped off her puffy coat and took the offered seat. "Is this the Cabin I saw when I first got here?" She asked, as she pulled off her hat and gloves as well.

Ethan nodded solemnly. "Yep. This was my house, but I haven't seen it in five years. Really takes me back, you know?"

"You haven't been home in five years?" Sabrina asked, surprised. When she'd joined Starfleet she'd expected to be away from home, but five years....wow.

Ethan looked around the room, enveloped in a painful, homesick nostalgia. It had been so long... His parents had never contacted him, nor any other member of his family. He missed them so much, but they were so far away. As he sat down, a tear pooled in his left eye. "It's been a while, for sure. Let me tell you, 'shore leave' doesn't always mean you can go home. It means that they drop you off on the nearest planet or station."

Sabrina noticed his emotion, but didn't want to embarrass him. So instead of saying anything about it, she just took his cocoa and went to refill it. She returned and offered it to him. "I haven't even had that yet. When is your service time up?" She asked.

Regaining his composure, Ethan wiped his eyes on his sleeve. "Three and a half years, my service is up. By that time, who knows where I'll be?"

"Who knows." Sabrina smiled. "I hope I'm right here. I really like the Katana."

"I agree with you, I like the Katana. But fate doesn't always work that way."

Sabrina gave a little nod to Ethan. She supposed that was true, but she preferred to look on the bright side. She moved closer to the fire and sipped her hot chocolate, slowing warming up.

Ethan sank a bit deeper into his chair. "So, how'd you come to join Starfleet? You seem smart enough to get into college, work in the private sector."

Sabrina smiled. That was nice of him to say. She looked at him. "You want the story I told my parents? Or the real story?" She asked, semi playfully. She was prepared to tell him the real story regardless.

Ethan chuckled. He'd spun quite a few yarns to his parents the last few years, he knew how it felt. "Both, of course!"

Sabrina chuckled along with him for a moment. "I told them I had wanderlust and was too eager to sit through four years. Which was partly true. The real reason though. Brad." She said the name like it was a curse word. "My boyfriend senior year. He thought it was his god given right to get laid at prom. I broke his nose when he didn't take no for an answer. Then he told everybody I was lousy in the sack. Nobody cared that nothing had happened. He was the paressi square's jock. I thought I was so lucky when he first asked me out." Sabrina sighed. "I was SUCH an idiot. Anyway, it made the last couple of months of high school horrendous. I lost a lot of friends, got teased, etcetera etcetera. So I went to the recruitment office and took the aptitude test and it said repair specialist so I said what the heck, and signed up." Sabrina looked to Ethan, wondering how he'd take her rambling story.

Ethan listened to Sabrina through her story, and looked concernd at her when she was finished. "I'm sorry, that really is terrible. Brad seems like a horrible person." Mustering his resolve, he cleared his throat and looked Sabrina straight in the eye. Ethan knew he might regret his decision later, but he felt that he had to ask. "I know that your experience with boyfriends has been less than stellar, but would you ever want to give it another shot?" Ethan grinned sheepishly.

Sabrina snorted, not very lady like. She blushed slightly. "Sorry. I tried to date here, well just once. He seemed more interested in getting under my shirt than anything else, but at least he took no for an answer and never called again." She sighed. "I think I'm doomed, or cursed, or something. I mean I can't help it that I'm hopeless with make up and I'd rather run around bare foot than in 4 inch heels. I guess I'm a tomboy, but I'm still a girl. I mean aren't there suppose to be flowers and moonlit walks and cuddling under the stars." Sabrina stopped, realizing she was babbling...again. "What was your question?" She looked at him apologetically.

"Uh..." Ethan sat there with a stupid look on his face for about three seconds, before snapping out of it. "To get to the point, would you like to go out on a date sometime?" Ethan winced, expecting a less than positive response.

"Oh." Sabrina smiled. "You still want to go on a date after my rambling?"

Sighing in relief, Ethan nodded. "It wasn't a ramble, more like a story!"

She smiled back. "Ummm sure." She replied a bit nervously. She told herself to stop being silly. She'd spent a good hunk of time with Ethan already, and they had been having fun. There was no reason a date would be different. "I'd like that."

"Great!" Ethan noticed she seemed a tad bit uncomfortable. "Hey, you know any couples that might want to make this a double date, perchance?"

Sabrina smiled. She thought she knew what he was trying to do. She wasn't sure, but it was sweet. "Not really. I mean I only know Shira and a couple of other engineers. I don't think any of them are dating." Sabrina realized she really needed to make some friends if she didn't want to be thought of as anti-social. "It's ok though. I mean I'd rather get to know you than have to try and make conversation with 3 other people, ya know?"

"Perfectly understandable! Is tomorrow at 7 okay with you? And also, do you want to eat in the standard mess hall, or would you like me to take you to the officer's mess?"

That little fact had temporarily eluded her. He was an officer. She didn't think they were even allowed to date. She looked at him with apprehension. "Wouldn't you get in trouble? I mean.." She let it trail off.

Ethan gave her a mischievous smile. "It's not a date, it's work. Since we're in coordinating departments, it's vital to get to know each other better to foster cooperation between ops and engineering. Also, we need to combine our skills to solve supply manifest glitch A204. Or at least, that's what we'll tell anyone who asks."

Sabrina chuckled. Oh, it wouldn't fool anybody, but it was a good one. "Alright, well we better get working on that manifest glitch at 7pm tomorrow."

"All right, indeed!" Ethan got out of his chair, and turned to the door. "See you later, alligator!"

Sabrina chuckled, heading out behind him.


Petty Officer 3rd Class Sabrina Corbin
Repair Specialist

Ensign Ethan Colletare
Quartermaster

It didn't take long for Jhu to reach the brig where Noxa was waiting, but she took her time putting their findings so far on a PADD before calling for Noxa to be escorted to the interrogation room. While Noxa's presence near the cabin when Kris was attacked was compelling, so far the evidence matched Noxa's insistence that she was innocent, and Jhu was reluctantly inclined to believe her. As much as she despised the Internal Affairs department and as angry as she was at Noxa for 'investigating' the crew, she couldn't argue with facts. And the facts plainly stated that the only Ferengi lifesign on the ship was outside Kris's cabin when he was attacked.

Which left them in a difficult position, given how little they'd found of the assailant. Somehow the perpetrator had all but disappeared and was obviously still lurking on the ship somewhere... but where? Maybe Noxa was telling the truth about not seeing anything, but Jhu suspected that she'd heard something with those big ears of hers.

Lieutenant Noxa sat in her cell waiting. I hate waiting. I feel useless in here she thought as she looked around her cell. She knew that she could try to escape if she really wanted to. Granted she may have risked frying her little Ferengi heart while trying to do so. However, she opted to simply wait. The first several minutes, she had paced back and forth in the small cell. Now, she was sitting on the bench waiting for someone to realize how stupid and pointless it was to leave her in the cell.

Noxa heard the entrance to the Brig open. She got up from her bench and approached the force field, staring at her approaching company. "Am I free yet or are you going to sell me as a sex slave?" she asked with full sarcasm.

"While the irony of that would be beyond hilarious, I would remind you dear friend that Starfleet doesn't condone that kind of thing at all. You had best save your breath for the interrogation room, however." Kadan opened the cell and quietly watched her walk out. "This way." he warned, indicating the way to the interrogation room, and he follows after.

Noxa glared at Kadan. "Starfleet may not condone anything like that. However, on this starship, I'd question what is and is not allowed" she said sharply as she followed the man. She shook her head "I wouldn't be the first Ferengi prisoner who disappeared from this ship. I believe a Daimon Marg was once held here. Your Commander Kerouac's report was that he let Marg go on a shuttle. The First Officer's report at the time declined to comment on the matter."

"Sounds like you'd better get all of the facts on that before you go making assumptions." He mused simply. "Let's focus on what's before us, rather on things we can do little about." They approach the door as he says it, and he opened it for Noxa.

Noxa walked into the room and looked at Jhu. "Fancy meeting your ass here," said Noxa as she took a seat at the table. "How much gold pressed latinum is my bail set for?"

"Stow the attitude, Lieutenant." Jhu set the PaDD she was holding down on the table before looking over at Kadan. "Thank you, Ensign. Please wait outside and let Lieutenant Tonkin in when he arrives."

"Attitude?" said Noxa with a flash of her teeth. "I have no idea what attitude you are referring to. I am simply asking how much my bail will be so that I may barter to you like a Ferengi" replied Noxa. "I take that you have not caught anyone involved?"

"Understood, Commander. Our Ferengi friend here is just a little high strung. Try not to break her completely." He inclined his head and strode out of the room, standing guard as he awaits the arrival of his superior.

Noxa snarled and nearly hissed at the half Klingon. She looked at Jhu "I'll wear his Klingon balls as a necklace" she said with a shrill voice.

"Oh, stop it. You're half his size, Noxa." Jhu resisted the impulse to laugh at the thought of a Ferengi ripping a Klingon's testicles off, but the mental image it conjured was pretty funny. "And no, we haven't caught anyone. More questions than answers... and no, I don't think you did it. I thought they were going to have you wait in here, not in a cell."

Noxa smirked "You should know better than to underestimate a woman in Security, Commander. The two Nausicaans that I dealt with on Nevina V when I was an ensign under estimated me because of my size two. It was most unfortunate for them" said Noxa with a cackle. "Oh good help is hard to find these days. This is to be expected when they let Klingons work security."

"Well. You do have sharp teeth." Jhu smirked a little. "Believe me, I know how treacherous Ferengi can be. Small. Agile. Rather ferocious when necessary. But you have no reason to hurt Commander Kerouac and sensor logs place you outside at the time of the attack. You already said you didn't see anything... but what about your ears?" Jhu sat down across from Noxa, giving her a serious - but not accusing - look. "Did you hear anything? No detail is too small right now, so anything that comes to mind would be helpful."

Nathan walked down to Kadan and regarded the door behind him. "They in there?"

Noxa held up her hand for a moment to excuse herself. "Yes, we are are in here. Come in and join us. I don't bite... much" said Noxa having heard Nathan outside the room. She looked back at Jhu. "Ah yes, my ears. I assume nobody broke into the quarters and that door sensor logs show no unauthorized or peculiar exits from the quarters" asked Noxa.

"No signs of forced entry, no sensor records of anyone other than Kerouac entering or leaving during that time frame. No one saw anything, and if you didn't hear anything either..." Jhu did not sigh like she might if they were outside the interrogation environment. "I want to find who did this, obviously. Before they hurt anyone else... or kill someone, Elements forbid."

"Oh these ears heard something" said Noxa as she leaned over the table. "I heard a sound, a whirling or humming. I thought that it might have been a disruptor weapon of some sort. However, I looked Commander Kerouac over. He had no plasma burns, nothing to indicate he was shot by a crude weapon. They wouldn't have stabbed him just to stun him... so I thought about what that noise was. Sitting in my cell, I figured it out and I know why you couldn't find any forced entry or exit for that matter" said Noxa.

The Ferengi looked at Jhu "Whoever did this used transporters to leave those quarters before I arrived. Sounds like they used them to get in as well."

"God damn it." Nathan said as he entered and heard what Noxa said. He reached over the table and set Noxa's things that were taken from her in front of her. "I thought we found all the transporter devices." He took a seat next to Jhu.

Jhu swallowed as most of the color drained out of her face. "I thought so too. Sweep the ship again, starting with Kerouac's cabin, the ready room, and the briefing rooms. No one else is to enter those areas until we're certain there's no new device there. And get Cohen and Maica under guard. Noxa, I'm sorry I ever suspected it might be you."

Noxa shook her head and brought her palm to her face. She took a deep breath Simple two lobed brained life forms she thought for a moment. She then looked up at Jhu. "Before you go rushing off like a boy scout looking for mobile or personal transportation devices or signatures, let the girl with the golden ears teach you a thing or two. Personal transportation devices and all transporter technology has a different frequency. This wasn't your typical Jimmy and Johnny constructed personal transporter device. It was Federation made" said Noxa.

She then was quick to add "Each starship class Federation or other wise have different sounding transporters. To human ears, or pointed Romulan ears... they may not detect any difference. However, I can assure you that my ears are golden. Whoever was in those quarters did not use a personal transporter. They use starship transporter technology... Intrepid-class."

"...Intrepid?" That was worse, and Jhu was pretty sure her heart was going to beat its way right out of her chest. The Katana was probably the only Intrepid class vessel in the whole quadrant. Pushing Noxa's belongings closer to her, Jhu pushed her chair back and got up. "You're free to go. Lieutenant Tonkin, I want the transporters disabled until we figure out how this happened. And I want to talk to Mallory."

Noxa smiled at Jhu. "I want a phaser... now, make that a phaser riffle" said Noxa. She looked at Nathan "I can get it myself."

Kadan's hearing wasn't that bad either, and he took in what went on. Pfft..Ferengi p'taQ. And she wanted a weapon? Something in his instinct said to be wary of Noxa, even if the others were not. But he would do nothing to obstruct her leaving.

Nathan looked at Noxa for a moment, then to Jhu. "You are her department head, going to sign off on a rifle for her?"

"She's Chief Intelligence Officer on this starship, Lieutenant. She's not my superior. I am not assigned to the Katana in any way shaped or form. I am assigned to the Gamma Quadrant, I answer directly to Internal Affairs office in Starfleet Intelligence" said Noxa. She did, however, realize how much of a bitch that made her sound like. She then looked at Jhu "However, this is your starship and you are acting Captain. May I please have a weapon?"

"Give the woman what she asked for. She can help. Hell, she can shoot the bastard if she catches him. On stun, Noxa." Jhu smiled a bit tightly. "We have a wouldzbe murderer to catch. Let's hop to it."

Lieutenant Noxa shot to her feet and took her badge. "Let's go shoot some scumbags."

Nathan stood. Mabye shooting something would dislodge the stick up Noxa's ass.

Jhu wasn't fond of Verak, but Kris had a point. Not only were they "family", if anyone else was hearing the message it would be Verak. Luckily, he wasn't hard to gind these days. The boy followed Shira like a lost puppy, so Jhu started in hydroponics. "Verak? I need to talk to you." She paused, hoping his response wasn't to run or start a fight. "You're not in trouble."

Verak shot a look of lack of interest and concern in her direction. "I should hope not" replied Lieutenant Verak flatly. He studied the Chief Intelligence Officer for a moment, arching his brow slightly in a mild elevation, with crisp curvature. "Logically, I have done nothing wrong. Therefore, you are either here to ask me about something, gather my opinions on a matter, or are here to admire my boyish figure" he said cocking his head a bit. "I am thinking that it is not the latter."

"The first one, sort of. And I don't need to admire your figure... I have Nathan for that. Besides, Shira might kill me." Jhu smirked a little. "It might sound weird at first. Just hear me out, okay?"

"Lieutenant Tonkin does seem to have an aesthetically pleasing body" said Verak rather nonchalantly. "Not that I have much interest in studying his anatomy further. It is not in my area of interests" explained Verak. If only thought Verak in regards to Shira killing this woman. "Weird is simply something that we do not understand. Once we understand whatever is weird, it will no longer be weird. My mind is sophisticatedly evolved with Vulcan logic and human emotion. I believe that I have the capability to hear you out."

"Okay." Jhu took a deep breath, hoping it didn't sound as crazy this time. "A few nights ago, I had a very strange dream. I told Andy about it, and she said it was Species 8472... talking to me." She paused, watching Verak for a reaction.

"Fascinating" replied Verak. He was interested in what she had to say. "I have had a rather uneasy feeling since we've started trying to observe these Gekli. I have not experienced any strange dreams per say. However, I usually have dreams, and I haven't been. If anything, I have had the inability to recall my dreams and I wake up irritable. What have they been telling you?"

"That they're coming and the weak shall perish. In other words, they intend to kill us and everyone else in this quadrant. And these people haven't dealt with 8472. They're not ready."

"Are we?" countered Lieutenant Verak. "Can we even be ready for them? What has Commander Kerouac had to say about this?"

"We aren't either, but there's a plan in place. And Kerouac..." Jhu sighed, rolling her eyes. "He said I should talk to you. See if you could hear them too."

"I'm afraid that I do not" replied Verak. "It very well may be that my mind is too human. I have spent most of my life, not embracing my Vulcan heritage. I am only now starting to discipline myself" he explained. Perhaps, Shira does? thought Verak as he turned to go find her. However, she had made her presence known.

"I do," Shira said timidly, poking her head out from where she had been hiding. Not that she had really been hiding, but she had just been busy trying to fix all the damage the Tribbles had done to her gardens. "I'm afraid to sleep. I do not wish to wake Sabby at night, so I come here. I feel safer here... But I hear those words, 'The weak shall perish,' and it makes me so afraid."

"You did not find it wise to inform me of this?" asked Verak, slightly hurt that this was not something that Shira had shared with him. "You needn't be afraid, Shira. You are safe here and we all will protect you and the rest of the crew" he added, coming to her side to comfort her. He looked at Jhu "What sort of plan?" he asked.

"I thought it was just a scary dream," Shira said softly. "Marg scares me in my dreams too," she confessed. It wasn't like she was trying to keep things from Verak, but she wasn't used to feeling so afraid and vulnerable, she didn't know what to do or how to react. And more importantly, she didn't want to bother anyone with something thought had been just a dream.

"A plan to kill them before they kill us, but that's all I can say." Jhu gave Shira a sympathetic look. "I thought it was just a dream too until Andy said it wasn't. She's heard those words before."

"They sound so angry..." Shira's wings vibrated in her agitation and even her hair looked a bit wilted.

"They are angry," Jhu said softly. "They don't understand us... why we're here. To them we're like germs, so we make them angry by just being here."

Verak sighed "It isn't like we are invading their space. They are native to fluidic space. Why can't they just leave us alone?"

"Because people 'out there' don't tend to stay out there," Shira said sadly. Her own world had been invaded by outsiders who didn't care that her people just wanted to be left alone.

The half-Vulcan grunted slightly. He went to the nearest computer panel on the wall and pulled up a display of Species 8472, the Undine, and some of their ships. "Shira, have you ever seen this species? Were they ever on your planet?" asked Verak curiously. It was unlikely but not impossible.

"No, just in the dream," Shira confirmed.

"They think they own 'empty space' too. Not content with what they have, so they want our property too. Same thing is written all over the history of most planets." Jhu wasn't much of a scholar, but she was familiar with the concept of war over property.

That made no sense to Shira. "I do not understand," Shira said softly. "What is property, and how do they own... what is 'empty space'?"

"Property is... things you own. Things that belong to you," Jhu explained, trying to make the concept simple without making Shira feel dumb. "Most people aren't like yours... we don't share things. And 'empty space'... that's what the three-legged people call the normal space Katana flies through."

"But you can't own space," Shira said, the concept completely foreign to her. "It isn't property. Or planets or stars... We belong to these things, they do not belong to us."

Jhu smiled a little. "You're very wise, Shira. But most people don't think that way. And Species 8472 thinks they own everything. That's why we have to stop them. They'll kill everyone."

"That is not nice," Shira replied, afraid that these things she heard in her dreams really would come to hurt them.

Verak raised a brow "Nice" repeated the half-Vulcan. "Is a matter of opinion. We only have our views and perceptions. Hopefully, we will not find ourselves in a war with the Undine."

"I'm inclined to agree with her. They aren't nice. Which means we might gave to destroy them to prevent that war." Jhu sighed, not thrilled with the idea of fighting the Undine.

"But that's not nice either," Shira said to Jhu.

"I know it's not nice, but we might not have a choice." Jhu hated having to explain this to Shira. She felt like she was destroying Shira's innocence. "Sometimes we have to hurt people because they'll hurt us if we don't. I don't like it either."

Verak did not like that. "Let's hope for the best and prepare for the worst" added the helmsmen.

"Can we not talk to them?" Shira asked. "They speak to us. Maybe if we tell them we do not wish to fight, they will leave us alone?" Shira said hopefully.

"It's been tried so many times." Jhu sighed heavily.

"We can't really tell them that anyways" said Verak as he briefly put him stint in security to use. "It is tactically a bad idea. If we let them know that we do not want to fight, they may get a sense that we are not capable of fighting them should they attack, it opens us up and makes us vulnerable."

Shira didn't understand the concept of what he was trying to explain. To her, such violence and aggression was senseless and foreign. She may never truly come to understand it, but she would do as they said and not try to communicate with the creatures speaking with her in her dreams.

"Shira, I know you don't like it. But these... beings. They can control you if you talk back to them. They make you hurt people, and I don't want you to feel that guilt, okay?" Jhu smiled a little.

Shira's eyes widened at Jhu's words. "They can do that?" she asked in a small voice. Her head lowered, then she nodded. "I will not try to talk to them," she promised softly.

Jhu nodded grimly. "They can do that. They've done it to Vulcans, people like Verak. They're... really not nice."

Shira hung her head. "I'm sorry. I will not talk to them."

"Oh, Shira. Don't ever apologize for your wisdom." Jhu gently placed her hand on Shira's shoulder. "If we shared their level of development, talking would work. I'd even encourage it."

While Nathan checked the transporter rooms and looked for Mallory, Jhu consulted the computer to look at the logs remotely. Something didn't feel right about this whole thing, but she wasn't sure what it was. No sensor log data for the attack, no signs of forced entry, the assailant using Katana's own transporter. It was downright strange. Who would even do that? It didn't make any sense...

Jhu was about two seconds from losing her temper when an alert popped up on the panel, unauthorized systems access. Frowning, she opened it, her eyes widening at what she read. Mallory! That sonofabitch! Nathan was already in route to the main transporter room. He could handle Mallory. Jhu was more interested in those codes. There was one person on the ship who had the skills to hack his way in and grant someone access they shouldn't have.

And he'd been working right under her nose. "DeLancer, you asshole," she growled aloud. "Computer, locate Warrant Officer Ry'lan DeLancer!"

"Warrant Officer DeLancer is entering Shuttle Bay 1" replied the computer flatly.

The doors to Shuttle Bay 1 had opened easily. Good. I'll let Puck take the fall for this. I have my own ass to save thought the Cybersecurity specalist. Dumb bitch never saw it coming thought DeLancer as her entered Shuttle Bay 1. He was armed with a simple phaser that he had taken from the Intelligence office that was now holstered to his waist. However, he also had a knife similar to the one used on Kerouac.

Lieutenant Verak had been in Shuttle Bay 1 when the security alert was activated. He had been checking over the shuttlecraft, making some inspections when DeLancer came in. Verak did not find it odd that a Intelligence officer was carrying a weapon during a security alert considering some security personnel were off the ship at the time.

"Is everything alright, Mr. DeLancer?" asked the half-Vulcan as he approached DeLancer. "There hasn't been anyone in here..." began Verak when the attack began. Unarmed and unaware of the danger that was coming, Verak was defenseless as DeLancer plunged the poison tipped Mawassi knife into Verak's abdominal region. The green blood soaked through Verak's uniform as the half-Vulcan fell to the Shuttle Bay floor and proceeded to the nearest console to try and break the security lock and open the doors to the Shuttle Bay.

"Fvadt..." Jhu didn't know if she could get there before DeLancer hacked the system and escaped, especially with the transporters locked down. If she unlocked them, Mallory would be able to beam DeLancer to safety, so she had little choice other than to go by foot. Four decks and half the length of the ship. Grabbing an extra phaser, she ran to the closest turbolift, using her command code to summon the car faster. "Shuttlebay one! Top speed, no stops, authorization t'Dharvanek alpha three." The car moved fast, quickly dumping her at the closest lift access to the shuttlebay. Not sure what she'd find, she slowed to a jog as she approached, a phaser in her hand as she slipped into the bay.

From the Bridge of the USS Katana, Lieutenant Noxa opted to provide technical support rather than physical support. Jhu had been correct. She was but a simply small Ferengi, but one who could win fights by cheating like the Ferengi she was. She had plopped her ass at Andy's Operations console and went to work. She had taken a Comm badge while she was at it. =/\= "Sabertooth to Lady Leopard, come in Lady Leopard" said Noxa, holding back a good chuckle given the inappropriate circumstances. "I'm monitoring the situation from up here. The man you are after just stabbed a Vulcan with big ears... I think he's a helmsmen. It looks like the suspect is armed with a phaser and is trying to hack open the Shuttle Bay doors. I'm going to do my best to block him out from up here on the Bridge. Don't you worry about that phaser, Ol' Noxa's going to take care of that."

The little Ferengi went to work and thought the Katana's transporters were secure and taken offline with a security lock, the emergency transporters aboard the shuttles in the Shuttle Bay were operational. It was just a matter of remotely tapping into one which she did. She locked onto the man's phaser and transported it inside one of the shuttles. "He's unarmed, Commander" she added.

DeLancer had sat his phaser up on the console when the shimmering effect of the transporter took the weapon away, startling him slightly. "What?!" he shouted. He then continued to get the Shuttle Bay doors open, buying Jhu time to arrive.

"I'm starting to like you, Noxa." As Jhu crept closer to DeLancer, she spotted Verak lying on the deck. Bleeding and unconscious. "Try to get Verak out of here. I'm going after DeLancer."

"I'm starting to not hate you as much, Jhu" replied Noxa. "I'm sorry Commander. I used my one chance with the shuttle transporters to disarm DeLancer. You're your friends only hope at this point. But I will inform Sickbay to be ready" added Noxa.

Ry'lan knew his time was running out and that the shuttles were not an option now. It was time to finish what he had started "Computer, activate the Emergency Medical Hologram with subroutine DeLancer's Goodnight Kiss" commanded DeLancer.

NOTE: John will be handling that problem

DeLancer walked over to the bleeding half-Vulcan expecting the man to be dead by now. However, the helmsmen was clinging onto life. DeLancer pulled he knife from Verak's body. "You'll die slowly then" he said with a glare at Verak. Ry'lan knew someone would be coming for him. If his knife be his only weapon, then so be it. He'll go out fighting like a Mawassi soldier.

"Damn it. He's got the knife again." Not eager to be stabbed, Jhu melted into the shadow of a shuttle, nearly disappearing into it as she racked her brain to come up with a plan. Finally she decided to just confront him and pray she could subdue him fast enough to save Verak. "It's over, DeLancer!"

"You won't take me alive, Jhu. You can't save Verak... he's going to die. As we speak, your Captain will be taking his last few breaths. This all is your fault, Jhu. Your friends are going to die because of you, just because you decided to turn your back on Section 31" said Ry'lan DeLancer as he prepared to finish it all.

"Section 31 turned its back on me," Jhu snarled, coming around the shuttle into the light. "Even if they both die, you lose. It ends here, DeLancer. Put the knife down."

"NNNNOOOOOOOOOO!" he roared like an ancient spartan and charged at Jhu with his knife. He was leaving her no choice.

Reflex took over, and Jhu dove out of the way, rolling to a crouching position and resetting her phaser from stun to kill. Leveling it at him, she fired... and missed. Fuck!

By the glory of the Gods thought Ry'lan DeLancer as he turned and readied himself, charging at her, spearing/goring the Chief Intelligence Officer in the ribs, sending the phaser flying to somewhere in the large Shuttle Bay. The two hit the floor hard, but Ry'lan was quick to roll off of Jhu and get back up to his feet, his knife in hand.

The double impact knocked all the air from her lungs, and her head bouncing off the deck sent her vision blurry, but she was up and after him before he got too far. Tackling him from behind, she grabbed him in a headlock, cutting off his air supply.

Ry'lan was trying to gasp for breath. His knife had been knocked from his hand but it was still there before him. He fought to get to it. I'll stab her he thought. He tried so hard, his fingers touched the knife but it was just not close enough. He was losing his strength and losing this fight. The woman's Romulan strength was superior to his and he soon went quite limp.

As Ry'lan went limp, Jhu gave one violent twist, putting him down for good. She let him sprawl across the deck as she wobbled back to her feet, struggling for air. Verak. Hoping Verak was still alive, she staggered over to him and dropped to her knees at his side, looking for any sign of life as she pulled her jacket off to use it as a makeshift bandage.

Verak was coughing up green blood and was losing a lot of it from his wound. However, he was fighting back the pain and staying with it. He was fighting for Shira, but he did not know if he was strong enough. He was in a haze but saw Jhu was hovering over him, checking on him. "Shira" said Verak faintly. He pulled himself up by grabbing onto Jhu's shoulder "Tell her... Shira, I love her" he said gasping for breath, trying not to choke on his own blood.

"Tell her yourself," Jhu said firmly despite her own relative inability to breathe. "You're going to make it, Verak." Verak was slim enough to wrap the sleeves of her jacket around his torso, turning the garment into a pressure dressing that would help control the blood loss. "Noxa! Noxa, I need emergency transport!" The effort to raise her voice that much brought a grimace to her face, but she held steady pressure on Verak's wound.

"Security restrictions on transporters has been lifted, Commander. Lieutenant Tonkin has apprehended his suspect. Main Sickbay has been evacuated...secondary location is being used. I'll transport you there" said Noxa as she went to work operating the transporters from the Bridge.

A pair of tall individuals with ridged foreheads and impressive attire walk through the doors to sickbay. They had heard the man had returned, and wanted to give their regards. The female wore her uniform jacket around her waist, decked out in uniform pants and a muscle tank-top with the starfleet logo on the front and the combadge on it. The male wore his usual long-coat design, sporting a pair of phasers on his waist. Since he wasn't allowed to carry his disruptors unless it was on duty, this was a compromise of sorts.

Nathan could not help but notice the two as they came in. He recognized one of them right away. Kaden was his new Ensign. The other was clearly his sister. The Storm siblings.

They approach his bed side, and look him over appraisingly. "Welcome back sah. It pleases me to hear of your mostly safe return. Not going to be on medical leave for too long, I hope?" Kadan gave in his soft-spoken accent, truly a rarity.

"Qa'pla, Lieutenant. Revenge against those who perpetrated such a thing upon you will be sweet indeed." Konora added in a hearty, but soft-spoken voice of her own.

Nathan smiled to the two. "Well hello there. I have not had the pleasure yet. I am Nathan. I'm aware," he said to Kadan. "that you met my double. I apologies if he gave you any trouble." Nathan then looked down at his lack of a right arm and then back to Konora. He grinned know how much she was going to love what he was about to say. "I killed them all...with my teeth."

Konora grinned a bit . "Sounds like a story that songs would be sung of!" she laughed. "Right, brother?"

"Of course. Though I do hope your teeth survived the encounter intact." Kadan replied. "If you need anything, do let us know."

Nathan grinned big for them. "All still there, only missing an arm. Nothing major." Nathan was in a very good mood for a man who walked through hell and lived to tell about it. "I will, thank you both for checking in on me."

"Of course." Kadan gave, before giving a nod of his head and turning to leave. He wasn't all sentimental, but...Nathan was counted among his friends now.

Konora remained, and smiled a bit. "Rumors spread quickly through the ship...I suppose congratulations are in order for you on your safe return, and your relationship."

Nathan nodded. "A boat this small, its almost impossible to keep personal things quiet. Not that I was trying mind you. Thank you on both accounts. I am very happy with the outcome on both fronts."

Konora smiled a bit and squeezed his hand assuringly. "You'll recover well, and continue honorably. The fact that you returned as you are from a predicament like that only impresses me more. Though you weren't as good as a Klingon, you came close." And that was a high compliment.

"If you knew the half you might be more impressed." Nathan said giving her hand a squeek back. "I just want to get back to work."

Konora chuckled. "Don't we all, huh? But do not forget about the rest of yourself. All work and no play does not a warrior make."

"Work hard, play hard I always say." Nathan said. "Why do you think I'm dating a Romulan/Trill?" He chuckled.

She nodded. "I have read what I could of that woman's file..and while I have seen nothing bad, I will offer one comment that will probably not be said again." Konora chuckled. "Until given reason to believe different, she is the only Romulan I have ever heard about who is honorable. You're in good hands." The magnitude of the comment shouldn't be lost on Nathan.

"I recognize the respect that statement has." Nathan started. "But she is more the half her blood. She's also Trill, but more importantly she's a Starfleet officer. I agree with you, I'm in very good hands. She came and rescued me after all."

"Forgive me. I have identified with my Klingon half, so it is easy to focus in on one half of someone's lineage. You are correct, and I am certain she will do great things." Konora gave, bowing her head slightly.

Nathan waved his had dismissively "Forgiven, it happens. Racism is something I am personally offended by so forgive me if I snapped at you." Nathan offered back.

She chuckled. "It takes more than a little snapping to rile me. Having thick skin can be a great asset."

"Good to know." Nathan said.

Konora stands, and grins a bit. "I have a gym set up in the holodeck sometime. Maybe we can be workout buddies...once you get to feeling better."

"That would be great. I have been looking for someone who can keep up with me." Nathan said with a smile.

"I will look forward to that. See you later, Lieutenant." she smiled and waved, heading for the door.

"Have a great day!" Nathan responded.

"You as well!" She called heartily, chuckling to herself as she walked out. It was good to be a Klingon, even a half-one. But even a Klingon needs their friends.

Lt. j.g. Konora Storm, daughter of K'Tar
Assistant Chief Engineer
USS Katana

Ensign Kadan Storm, son of K'Tar
Security Officer
USS Katana

Lieutenant Nathan Tonkin
Security Chief
USS Katana

Nathan had not seen Maica since she visited him in sickbay, and had not spoken to her since the Polywater incident. He was actually a little nervous about confronting Maica about this. She was by far one of Nathan's best friends and he would never want to hurt her. Andy had told him she was fine, but felt a personal apology was in order. He pressed the call button on her door.

Maica was at her desk, typing furiously as usual, also wearing a rather archaic pair of glasses. “Come in,” she called, not looking up from her work just yet.

Nathan entered and went right to where he knew Maica would be. He took a seat and waited. He was comfortable enough with her to sit in quiet with her. He knew she would get to him when she could.

Maica barely glanced up as she kept typing. “Hey Nathan. Sorry, I need to get this document translated and summarized. It’ll only take a few more minutes. Admiral Hackett is in the middle of a meeting and needed it done ASAP. Guess who volunteered.”

Nathan waved his hand dismissively at her. "Do what you need to do. Want me to pour you a drink?"

“I could use some juice. Replicated is fine. Help yourself to anything open though.” Maica said, still rather distracted, pausing only long enough to push the glasses further up her nose.

Nathan stood and went to the replicator. He didn't know what kind of juice Maica would want or had already tried so he just ordered what he would like. "Guava nectar, cold. Coffee, hot and black." Once the order appeared he took the glasses back to her desk. He set hers close to her and then took his seat again, sipping from the steaming cup.

“Thanks,” Maica said, barely taking note of the drink. “Canalization… Even they wouldn’t know what they were talking about…” Shaking her head, she typed a bit more, switching to her comm panel and sending out her revision, barely even saving it to her own storage.

Nathan didn't really know what she was talking about, but he did not want to disturb her by asking for an explanation. Besides he had his own agenda here today. Nathan was an extremely patient man, so he sat there with a smile on his face and waited for her in comfortable silence.

Taking her glasses off and leaning back in her chair with her eyes closed, she rubbed at the bridge of her nose. “Do you know anything about evolutionary capacitance and genetic assimilation?”

"No..." Nathan said. He was not sure at all what she was talking about now.

“I didn’t either an hour ago.” Opening her eyes and focussing on her juice, Maica took it and sipped at it. “So what brings you here today?”

"Other than just wanting to say hi, I need to tell you I'm sorry." Nathan said, setting his cup on her desk.

“Sorry for what?” Maica asked innocently.

"For sleeping with Andy." Nathan said bluntly. "Regardless of the situation, I would never willingly disrespect you like that."

Maica had to grin at that. “From what I heard there was no sleeping involved. Just some polywater induced fucking. Don’t worry about it. None of you were in your right mind. Otherwise I’d be upset no one called me.”

Nathan chuckled. He was not quite sure how to take that last line, even though he knew it was coming. "Thank you. Your friendship means a lot to me and I would hate for that to upset the friendship." He said genuinely to her.

“Keep in mind I’m also a registered sex therapist. Sex, while being a major part of the worst years of my life, is also a very pleasurable thing that, when used properly, can show great love and affection through worship of your partner’s body. Andy also explained the whole polywater thing to me. I could go on, but in the end, this really doesn’t affect any friendships as far as I’m concerned.” Maica said, setting the archaic glasses back on her face. “By the way, do these look good on me?”

Nathan looked relieved. "She also explained the whole thing to me, though it was very quick. The point is, I'm not upset that it was Andy. To be honest if it had to be anyone other than Jhu her or you are at the top of the list. You two don't let things like this get overly complicated. And Thank god Jhu was there...I would hate to have to explain that. My point was I didn't want you feeling disrespected." Nathan looked at her as she asked about the glasses. "They have a very odd attractiveness to them. Why do you have them?"

“I needed an extra pair of screens so I replicated them. I can stream documents directly to them like a PaDD so I can read more at once,” Maica said as she sipped at her juice, her face unusually serious and calm. “How is Jhu taking all this? When I got her drunk she didn’t lower her inhibitions anywhere near as much. I can only imagine what the security footage that I snagged before it was deleted looks like…”

Nathan had been sure he got to that before anyone could see it. "Umm well...she's taking it extremely well actually. Since we were together it's a lot less of an issue then if one of us had not been there. You should delete that footage."

“Don’t worry, the only copy is up here now.” Maica said as she tapped her temple. “If everyone’s ok with it, all is good, right? We just have to track down the path of the infection. When I reported it back to the Diplomacy Corps, they forwarded me 3 reports of it on the starbase we left as well as a partial investigation tracking it back to the alpha quadrant. It’s almost like it’s been dormant in someone for months, spreading to others.”

"Or stored in the science lab..." Nathan said. He had already tracked it down. "Same with the tribbles. Clearly someone is being careless in there. I'm going to be talking to O'Connor later."

“That makes sense. It still seems to be a wider range problem, but I’m glad the local source has been tracked down. Mind forwarding me your reports on that when you’re done so I can forward them up?” Maica asked before finishing her juice.

"I always send you my reports unless ordered not to...but them I'm normally ordered to not make a report." Nathan smiled, "Yes, I'll send you the final report when it's completed."

“That’s true.” Maica nodded and set her glass back on her desk. “So what else is new? How’s your new arm doing?”

"My new arm is doing well. I'm told I am making exceptional progress, and Andy has been a huge help. I find rubbing Jhu's back helps. It forces me to use both hands at the same time. At first the arm felt sluggish but it's coming along." He said to Maica.

“That’s good,” Maica said with a warm smile. “I suppose you can’t just write a new bit of software and load it into your brain, can you? It takes time to retrain your brain.”

Nathan nodded. "Yeah... it's ok, I will overcome this. As for what else is new..." Nathan got this goofy grin on his face. "Jhu told me she loved me." Nathan was not one to kiss and tell, but Maica had been an important part of their relationship before there had even been a relationship. Maica was the one person he shared everything with.

“Excellent! When’s the wedding?” Maica asked excitedly. She was happy for both of them and really loved how well they got along together. She saw a chemistry between them that just made her neural net tingle with anticipation.

Nathan laughed. "Rushing things a bit?" He picked up his cup and took another sip. "I think right now we are happy where we are."

Maica giggled at his reply. “I guess I might be. Though I could ask if you two have discussed kids. That would be rushing things a bit more, I think.”

Nathan rolled his eyes. "I love Jhu, but could you imagine her pregnant?" He chuckled a bit.

Maica nodded somberly. “I can. but can you imagine her pregnant… and in command of her own ship?”

Nathan shook his head. "Maybe Romulan calm down a bit when they get pregnant?" Nathan said hopefully. "Why are we even talking about this!"

“You’ve seen her Trill side… I don’t think the Romulan instinct to ‘nest’ will stop that.” Maica just shook her head. “Because it’s a fascinating scenario. Besides, you’re a long term relationship kind of person, aren’t you? It’s best to fantasize about these things early.”

Oh boy, Maica was getting all relationship therapist on him. But she was very insightful. Might be a good idea to ride this wave and see where it goes. "What do you mean?" He asked her in regards to the first part of her statement.

“Hmm? Mean? Trill get all freaky and emotional and want to fuck everything and eat everything else. Romulans tend to nest. Keep things in close, not go out, and generally take a defensive yet submissive stance. I’m just really curious which instinct will be stronger in her is all.” Maica explained as bluntly as she could.

"Well I’m not that curious..."Nathan said.

“Something to think about,” Maica said, looking over the top of her glasses and grinning. “The need to procreate is a pretty big instinct in most races.”

Nathan smiled, he knew Maica would get a kick out of his next comment. "I'm happy just practicing for right now. They say practice makes perfect and I intend to have perfect children."

“Then may I recommend reading through the Orion Zero-G Kama Sutra Guide?” Maica asked in perfect seriousness.

"Zero-G?" Nathan asked. "Got a copy handy?"

Typing on her desk for a few seconds, Maica looked back up. “I sent it to your office desk. Want me to send it to Jhu’s as well?”

"Let's not shock her like that." Nathan suggested. "How's your tribble?" He asked.

Looking down the front of her shirt, Maica grinned. “Happy as can be.”

Nathan laughed. "That where you keep it? I gave one to Jhu. Who fixed yours?"

“I didn’t ask Andy. I figure neutered is neutered, whomever does it.” Maica said. “How does Jhu like hers?”

"Good but we need to find someone to fix it and you said it was protected so I didn't think a starfleet doc would do it." Nathan explained.

“Protected and regulated and trade restricted yes. Endangered, no. We have enough on this ship to repopulate a small moon.” Maica said, shaking her head. “Ask Andy who did it. Odds are, it was Nolira - I smelled her on mine.”

Nathan nodded. "Ok I will. Jhu loves hers. I have never seen her act so girly. She literally squealed in delight when I gave it to her." Nathan said with a grin.

Maica had to giggle. “I wish I could have seen that.”

"I'm sure, but it was a nice private moment for us. I love getting to see a side of Jhu that no one else sees. It makes me feel special, she makes me feel special." He said with a warm smile.

“And that’s worth all the stars in the sky,” Maica said, waxing philosophical for a moment. “On another subject, what do you think of that Ferengi woman, Noxa?”

Nathan sighed. "I think she's the only Ferengi on this ship, she's tiny and has a hell of a job to do. I think she's over compensating for all of the above and is coming off as a bitch. I feel for her and hope she calms down so we can get to know the real her."

“She came to see me.” Maica said. “I talked with her with my isolation field on just in case.”

"What do you think of her?" Nathan asked.

“She’s not driven by profit.” Maica said simply. “Figure out what drives her and appeal to that side of her. Also, I don’t think she works for anyone but Starfleet. The fact that she wears clothes and doesn’t have jewelry draped all over her… I also didn’t detect any signs that she was lying in any way. I probably won’t kill her.”

"That's probably a good idea, I don't want to see you in my brig ever again." Nathan said. He was kidding with her, but at the same time he wasn't.

“It would be completely in self defense. And I’d try to stun her first. I can make a wide range of sounds that she would find extremely debilitating. Did you know I can reproduce the sound of a human dog whistle? Want to hear it?” Maica was back to her normal happy go lucky self now.

"Humans can't hear it Maica." Nathan laughed.

“Oh yeah.” Maica laughed with Nathan. “But she could, wherever she was on the ship.”

Nathan just laughed at that for a long time.

While working in his office, Arthur received news that Nathan was in medbay. He also was made aware that a doppelgänger had replaced Nathan for the last several days. Hurrying down to medbay, he walked in, and looked around to see if he could find the Lieutenant.

Nathan was not hard to find he sat on his bio bed looking at a PaDD. Right away it was clear that what ever had happened to Nathan had been serious. His right arm was completely missing from below the shoulder.

Arthur was momentarily speechless as he saw Nathan on the bio bed. He had only one arm! While it could be replaced with a prosthetic, it wouldn't be the same. Walking over to Nathan, he asked "Are you all right, sir?"

Nathan looked up and smiled. "Arthur! I'm much better now, thank you. None of this sir stuff." Nathan waved his left hand dismissively. "I'm not on duty, it's Nathan. How are you? How did your away mission go?" Nathan asked with curiosity. He was looking for a chat, not a report. "Pull up a chair if you want."

Grabbing a chair, Arthur sat down next to Nathan. Internally, he was relieved that Nathan was okay, at least to some extent. "It went just fine, Nathan. The natives were quite nice, and we got along well. And you? How'd you, ah, end up with all of your wounds?"

"The guys who kidnapped me didn't like me escaping." Nathan said with a shrug. "Just glad to be home! Glad to hear your mission was successful and uneventful." He grinned at Arthur. "Next time I'm going and you can stay here."

Arthur chuckled. "I'd be more than happy to let you go. I highly doubt that the next away mission will be as safe and quiet as this one!"

Nathan sighed dramatically. "I think getting messed up on duty is in my blood." He looked at Arthur with a small smile. "That's how much mom and dad met. He was chief of security and she was a nurse. They fell in love over hyposprays."

Nodding in understanding, Arthur shifted in his chair. "Well, I have an equal penchant for not getting hurt. I've been in security 28 years or so, and I've never gotten more than a few second degree burns and some minor head trauma." He smiled bemusedly. "Either I'm not working hard enough, or I'm a very lucky man!"

"You had better knock on wood! You just tempted fate! Next plasma conduit that blows has your name on it!" Nathan joked with a chuckle.

Arthur smirked. "All right then, Mr. Oracle. I'll take heed, but maybe to should keep yourself from getting injured before trying to predict when others do!"

Nathan laughed. "As soon as I figure out how to do that I'll write a book. I'll make a fortune!"

"Write a book? Heh, I hope you're left-handed, then, or writing may be a bit of a challenge!"

Nathan chuckled a bit. "Lucky for me I get fitted for my prosthetic in a couple days. Then no one will ever know."

"Couple days, huh? Want me to run the department until you get a new arm?"

"Only if the Captain put me on leave. I have been looking over the work load and the other me didn't do shit while I was gone." Nathan said, showing Arthur his hidden PaDD. "Just run the day to day stuff. I'll deal with the back log. Even when I get out of here we will need to play catch up for a bit."

"Aw, this is not going to be fun. We'll be up to our necks in paperwork for the next week!"

"Exactly...and we are infested with Tribbles." Nathan broke the news to him.

Arthur scoffed. "Oh, dear. Well, do we know who brought them aboard?"

"Not yet, but Im planing on finding out!" Nathan said. " If anyone reports in with Tribble sightings we have access to transport room 4 and Chief Carter gave us cargobay 3. Just beam the Tribbles in there. I'm working out something to do with them." Nathan said, then quickly added, "Whit out killing them."

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Without killing them? They're pests, Nathan. They could potentially endanger all of our lives!"

"We caused this issue, we can solve it with out mass murder. This is not open for discussion, and I'm taking personal responsibility to solve the problem. Just help me round them up and Ill figure out that to do with them." Nathan said with a tone a finality.

Mass murder? It seemed his boss was taking this matter quite seriously. Not wanting to argue with his direct superior, Arthur nodded. "All right, Nathan. Whatever you say. Anything else you need done?"

Nathan could see Arthur did not exactly agree with this call, and he felt the man deserved more of an explanation. "There are sever races out there the feels the same way about humans as you feel about tribbles. You and I don't deserve to die just because we are an annoyance, neither do the tribbles. They are not a direct threat and if we can find a way to get them off the ship and preserve life at the same time I feel we have a responsibility to explore the option first." Nathan hoped this would help his second understand his point of view better. "As far as anything else goes, no. I don't think anything else has been going on."

Arthur nodded his head in understanding. Though he didn't agree with everything Nathan said, he understood where he was coming from. "Your heart's in the right place, Nathan, and I can respect that. If that's your reasoning, I'll accept it. I guess I should get back to work."

"Arthur," Nathan said. "Thanks for visiting me."

"Aye, I'll see you around!" Arthur turned and headed to the door, returning to work.

Transporter Chief Tucker “Puck” Mallory was in Transporter Room 1 behind his station as the investigation for Commander Kerouac's would be assassin was underway. He was working frantically at his station, looking through the transporter logs and any bit of data he could He had a lot abnormal of access to ship's systems now thanks to some assistance.

“Alright, I'm in” said Puck over the scrambled comm channel, though he was nervous as hell. He was working as fast as he could, but he knew that the clock was running short. He only had a short lead over that bitch Lieutenant Commander t'Dharvanek and her boyfriend, the Chief of Security.

The voice of the comm channel was not pleased. “Puck, move your ass!” shouted the voice. “It took me long enough to bypass security systems. I've held off the alarms as long as I can. You do not have much longer until the computer systems lock you out and alert Security and Intelligence that you've been using access codes higher than your clearance level.”

Puck rolled his eyes. “Shut the fuck up and let me work. If it wasn't for me, you would not have gotten into Kerouac's quarters to begin with” said puck irritated by the other voice.

“Fuck” came the other voice sharply.

Puck looked worried and glanced down at the phaser beside him. “What is it? Are they sending security to my location?”

“No... but they have Lieutenant Noxa in the interrogation room” replied the second person.

Tucker Mallory kicked his console. “Son of a bitch. That Ferengi is going to ruin our plans. We need to get out here and fast” added Mallory.

“One moment... I'm... Damn, they are...” began the second.

However, Puck was quick to see what was going on. “They've locked transporters! Can you override?”

“I'm trying!” said the second as he frantically tried to do everything his training had taught him. “Puck, I can't. They have it locked up tighter than a virgin. Can you do anything down there?”

Puck shook his head, though nobody could see him. “No, I cannot. We'll need to take a shuttle and hope for the best. I was able to erase your signature from the transporter logs and the pattern buffer. Puck out” said the Chief Transporter Operator as he ended the communication channel.

The man was about to leave his station when the doors opened. He was about to reach for the phaser, nervously expecting ship's security. There was no mistake in his intent. He would kill for his freedom. The phaser was set to kill. However, he saw the young Cadet enter and he saw no reason to arouse suspicion nor kill her. She was carrying a PADD. No doubt just something for him to look at later or sign off on. He left his phaser where it was, but tucked it under his station before she could see.

"May I help you, Yeoman?" he said, addressing the woman by her position on the ship as Kerouac's Yeoman.


Her danger sense was telling her something was wrong. But..without knowing more about what it might be, she couldn't really act at all. Instead, she handed him a padd with a routine non-sensitive thing for the transporter operator to sign off on...

Always with this signing off on crap thought Puck and he looked over the PADD.

The ship was on alert, it was locked down and the transporters where locked out. Ultimately Nathan had complete control of the ship right now, and Katana was not going anywhere and no ones was getting on or off this ship. He was making sweeps of the transporter rooms and had asked Andy to join him because he didn't really know much about transporters. Someone on this ship had beamed into the Captains room and stabbed him with a poison tipped knife. He intended on finding that person.

"Next is Transporter room one." He said, mentally checking off the rooms they had already searched through. "Who would be dumb enough to use the main transporter room." He joked to Andy.

"Why not use one of the main transporters?" Andy asked as they walked. "What's it, game theory? Multi-step thinking or some such? Using the main transporter sounds like a dumb idea, so our assumption is to focus on secondary, medical, or cargo transporters, thereby leaving the main transporters vulnerable. Not to mention, there's no real reason to suspect tampering with any one transporter over another; whoever does the tampering would use what they normally use, to change patterns would arouse suspicions."

"Maybe, but its harder to cover your tacks this way." Nathan walked to the outside of the transporter room. He pulled out his phaser and walked into the room. First person he saw was Mizuki. "Hi Mizuki!"

Andy pulled her phaser as well. She hated phasers, but protocol... "Oi, hey kiddo," Andy said when she saw Mizuki, then put the phaser away. "Get into any trouble today?" she asked with a smirk and good natured tone.

"Hi, I was just bringing by a padd for the transporter operator to sign off on. Routine paperwork that I've been asked to do. What's going on?" Mizuki asked them, her back to the other.

The arrival of the Chief of Security and the Chief of Operations was enough to push Puck's nerves to their short circuiting point. He quickly snatched the phaser in one hand, reached out and dragged the young cadet close to his body, using her as a human shield. He powered the phaser up...it was set to kill. He put it against her skull and looked at the two officers.

"Back away, Lieutenant" he said at the Chief of Security. He looked at Andy "Don't get any ideas, Drone girl or I'll blow her head open" he said trembling with nervousness. His fingers itching and one move to spook him and he would very well fire the phaser at the Cadet's head.

Nathan put his hands up right away and pointed his phaser at the ceiling. He turned his head to Andy but never took his eyes off...who was this guy? "Andy, do exactly what I say, and right now I need you to listen to..." He waited for the man to introduce himself.

"Tucker Mallory," Andy introduced for him. As a Warrant Officer, he was one of her people. "We ain't doing nothing, you're running this show," she said to Tucker, raising her hands to show that she wasn't holding her weapon.

"Yeah... yeah, I am. I'm running this show!" he shouted with a smirk. "I say what happens here and... and nobody has to die, but I'll do it. Don't come near me because I will... I'll shoot her."

It had been sudden...but her danger sense was affirmed to be correct. The PaDD clattered to the floor, and she gasped as she felt the point of the phaser against her skull. A pulse of fear shot through her, along with the senses heightened by the adrenaline rushing through her body.

"Hey man, we are over here. Everything is fine. Why don't you let her go, and you can point the phaser at my head instead?" Nathan offered to Mallory.

Puck looked at the man. "I don't do guys!" shouted Puck as he pressed the phaser harder against the Cadet's head. Well, except Ry'lan but that doesn't count.

"Alright, then why not try giving us some demands," Andy said. This wasn't really her territory, but it couldn't hurt to know what the guy wanted.

The phaser pressed harder against her head, and that only accelerated the adrenaline. The rush of fear, the man's sense of smell...he didn't smell that great, he wasn't even attractive at all! It was a life or death situation, after all. And she still had her life ahead of her. Her friends, that she made here. Someone that she needed to be bold with. And some lousy turncoat wasn't going to stop that. Andy was attempting negotiations...but that switch had already been flipped on.

I'm not going to die she thought calmly...coldly, as she made eye contact with Nathan. It was momentary. But if he was being perceptive, he could probably see what was coming. Digging down deep, she closes her eyes, dragging her left arm down.

The artifact appeared on her waist as the phaser was discharged. She leaned her head back and to one side against his shoulder, closed her eyes in time to avoid being blinded, and crossed her hands in front of her before clapping her sides, orienting her body to the left and elbowing him in the collarbone.

The electric gold center glowed briefly as the cadet swiveled to roundhouse kick Puck in the chest...with her boot, not the armored boot. The transformation completes, but Puck has the advantage...

Puck was caught off guard. It had happened so quick that he was still mentally catching up to it all. Had he shot? Had he killed anyone? No. But the cadet had gotten away from him and now he was vulnerable, exposed and he had little choice. He looked at the Cadet but she was now in some kind of armor of some sort. What kind of starship is this? he thought momentarily.

He stabled himself and took aim with the phaser set to kill, but he didn't aim for the cadet. He aimed for Chief Petty Officer Carter. "My demands are you go to hell" he said as he readied himself to fire.

Nathan was way faster then that. With a simple twitch of his wrist he pointed the phaser that he never set down and blasted Mallory in the chest with maximum stun, and he held the button down for a second longer then is recommended just for good measure. "You should not have pointed that phaser at my friends." Nathan said calmly, lowering his hands. "Are you ok Mizuki? Andy?"

"I'm alright," Andy said to Nathan, but she wasn't sure what to make of Mizuki. The readings coming off this girl and the armor... it was unlike anything she had ever seen and her brain just couldn't process all the information she was taking in. She had to shut off her ocular implant and eyepiece so the sensory information wouldn't overload her brain. "Hey kid, you alright?" she asked as she knelt beside the now armored Mizuki.

The figure knelt there for a moment, the white scarf hanging down from her neck. The red eyes of her helmet look into Andy's, and she nodded her head once. Standing to her feet stoically, she looks around the room, before looking at the one who had held her that way. Clenching a fist to express her disapproval, a golden light then emanated from her belt briefly, causing her to revert to human form. "I'm good. Thank you for asking."

Andy had seen some shit in her days, but she'd never seen anything quite like that before. Hoping that the readings wouldn't blind her again, she took the risk and turned her eye and eyepiece back on, blinking rapidly for a moment as information again filtered in, but this time it was just normal information. "Well, I think we know who did what where," she said, looking over to Tucker, then to Nathan.

Nathan walked over to the now conciseness Mallory and resisted the urge to kick him in the face. Instead, he picked up the mans phaser and slapped some cuffs on him. "I still need the evidence. If you would be so kind to work the magic that you do Andy."

"Can do!" Andy said and accessed the transporter terminal. "This shouldn't take too long. He was good, but sloppy, probably in a rush," she said as she browsed through the logs.

Nathan lifted the man over his shoulder. "Had he been good I doubt it would take you long. Mizuki...want to come with my to the brig? I need your statement."

"I will prepare it as we go, Nathan." She replied, picking up her PaDD off the floor and opening a new log file. "Lead on. And Andrea.." she trailed off, biting her lip at the use of the name. "If he had fired, I would have taken the shot in your place. Fortunately for us all, our security chief was quicker than him."

Nathan scoffed at that. "Like I would let either of you getc shot. The only person in this room authorized to be a human shield in me." Nathan said, jerk in his thumb to his chest. " Come on, let's go." Nathan said with a smile, even though his mind was one Jhu and how she was fairing.

"It's Andy," the ex-Borg woman corrected Mizuki, "and it ain't your job to be a meat shield, but I do appreciate the offer. Now run along and give your statement to Nathan. When you're done, take a couple of hours to unwind before getting back to duty. Having a phaser pointed at your head can't be good for work performance."

"Sure thing, Andy-san." She bowed her head and fell into step behind Nathan as she walked, turning the recorder of her PaDD to on as she walked. "This is Cadet Masterson, entering a statement for the record to a case file that Lieutenant Tonkin will create. I went into the main transporter room, with a routine order for the transporter chief to sign off on. Little did I know that he had a phaser set to kill, and he surprised me, holding me from behind and pointing it square at my head. Lieutenant Tonkin and Chief Petty Officer Carter came by at that point, and a hostage situation presented itself. As the two of them were attempting to negotiate, I saw an opportunity and took it, leaning to one side and back to avoid the phaser blast. I oriented my body to the left, elbowed him in the collarbone just below the throat, and kept my balance long enough to round-house kick him away from me. He then tried to shoot the CPO, but Lieutenant Tonkin shot first and stunned him. Neither myself nor the Chief Petty Officer were injured in the encounter. That is all."

Ending the recording as they enter the turbolift, she hands him her PaDD. "You can download that to yours once we get to your office."

It had been a long day, but a productive one. He waited for Jhu in her cabin. He was supervising the tribble and Lydek playing with each other while he waited for her.

Lydek darted toward the door a moment before it opened, greeting Jhu with happy mews as he stood on his hind legs and pawed at her leg. Smiling a little, Jhu petted him but didn't pick him up, instead heading for the couch and practically collapsing on it. "I don't know how Kris does this job."

Nathan sat right next to her and wrapped his arms around her. "Welcome home, Captain!" He said with a big smile.

Jhu winced and bit her lip. "Thanks, love, but... squeeze a little gentler? Please? DeLancer didn't go down easy."

Nathan pulled back from her. "What's wrong? Why didn't you get patched up?"

"My ribs are sore." That was an understatement, but all Jhu knew was that it hurt. "Medical was swamped and I had other things on my mind."

"Well you should go see the doctor now...cause I have never had sex with a CO before." Nathan grinned at her. "And I got some champagne to celebrate solving the case!"

"Hmm. Sex and booze... that might actually be worth dealing with the doctors." Jhu grinned a little, despite her initial dread and continuing dislike of being in command. "I'll go in a bit, I guess. Right now I want to relax a little. I feel like this day's taken five years off my life."

"Congratulations love." He said with a warm smile. "You did really good work today."

"Thanks... but killing DeLancer is going to bite me in the ass. I can feel it coming... the lectures about appropriate force... but I don't exactly regret it. He came at me with a knife."

"I reviewed the footage already. You did not use excessive force. I doubt that Captain will say any different. Besides, you had IA helping you! You are golden." Nathan countered.

Jhu snorted at him. "Not Kris I'm worried about. He'll throw me a party. I have other bosses, you know. And some of them don't like being reminded that an agency that 'doesn't exist' trained me to kill people."

"Well for right now, let be happy. Because from where I'm sitting, you have out done yourself today." Nathan beamed at her.

"Okay, I can't argue with that." Jhu shifted so that she leaned more or less comfortably against him, without putting pressure on any of her sore ribs.

He leaned against her gently, careful of her ribs. "So, anything else new today?" He chuckled a bit.

"I made Maica my XO. And started planning how to get the whales home..."

"Maica?" Nathan asked. "You had better take really good care of yourself. Could you imagine poor Maica if something happens to you?"

"Complete nuclear meltdown." Jhu laughed, trying to picture Maica taking the Gekli home. "I'll go to sickbay. I just don't feel like getting back up yet."

"Or it would be one huge orgy flying where ever someone points the boat." Nathan laughed.

"Or that." Jhu laughed harder, gasping for air. Oooh, that hurts. Ow. But it was funny, and she couldn't stop giggling, no matter how painful it got.

"Angel..." he said softly into her hair.

"I know... I know... I should see a doctor. Ow." When she paused to just breathe for a moment, the fact that he'd said it in English dawned on her. "How'd you figure that out? Running my name through the UT?"

"Basic Romulan back at the academy. I actually flunked out but I kind of remembered what it meant, then I just looked it up in a dictionary. " Nathan placed a kiss on top of her head.

"Forgot they offered that... I already spoke it so there wasn't any point in taking it..."

"Yeah...never thought I would need it." Nathan shrugged.

"And yet here you are." It hurt to twist sideways, but Jhu managed to turn just enough to kiss him.

Nathan twisted around her so she didn't have to and kissed back. "Yeah it might have come in handy. Luckily you speak English perfectly so it worked out."

"True... but it could still come in handy."

"Could have." He corrected her. "Unless you plan on tutoring me."

"I can, if you want." Jhu stretched lazily, careful not to overextend herself.

"It would be spending time with you so I'm willing to try it. Don't get too comfortable, you still need to go up to sickbay."

"Yeah, I know. I will." Jhu sat up so that she wasn't leaning on him anymore.

Nathan stood and walked overy to the table where he had a bucket of ice chilling the bottle. He pulled it from the slushy water. "Maica gave this to us, Rigelian Champagne."

"That sounds fantastic. Are you going to pour some or use it to bribe me into seeing a doctor?"

"You should not go to sickbay with alcohol on your breath...so bribe you because I'm antsy." Nathan said picking up two glasses.

"Damn. You fight dirty." Jhu chuckled weakly. "But... okay. I'll go now, and you'd better have that champagne ready when I get back."

Nathan headed back into the bedroom. "Oh it will be ready." He called to her from the back room.

Oooh, he was planning something all right. Grinning, Jhu scrambled off the couch. "I'll be back soon!"

Nathan had just finished the report on the incident with the attempt on the Captains life. He knew someone who would like to see it. He also had some news.

"Computer, locate Lieutenant Noxa please." Nathan said standing from his desk.

"Lieutenant Noxa is in the Mess Hall" replied the computer.

In the USS Katana's Mess Hall, Lieutenant Noxa sat alone in a corner table, observing the crew of Katana as they ate their meals. While she, herself sat there enjoying a mug of raktajino. She was quite pleased with the events of earlier. She had of course been tossed into a holding cell for a while, but she ultimately assisted in capturing a couple of bad eggs.

Nathan strolled in and walked right to Noxa's table. "May I sit Lieutenant? " He asked her with a smile.

Noxa looked up at the man and nodded. "Your ship" she said with a simple reply. However, she did ass a smile to it. "Have a seat. I'm just hU-Mon watching."

Nathan sat across from her and set 2 PaDD down in front of him. "Thank you for your help, I hope you can understand and forgive me for placing you in the brig." He started.

"You are forgiven" she replied with a small nod. "Your Commanding Officer had just been attacked, almost killed. I was there, first on scene. Who knew if I had done it or not? It was efficient security measure to put me in a holding cell."

"Thank you. I'm hoping this little team building incident can start to help us all work together a bit better. And in the spirit of working together..." Nathan took the first PaDVD and slid it over. "here is a copy of my.complete report on the incident. I have recommended you be recognized in some way for your outstanding team work and going above and beyond your assigned duties to assist the OC."

"I appreciate that, Lieutenant" she said with a snort. "It will help me in submitting my own report on the matter. I will be recommending that Lieutenant Commander t'Dharvanek be promoted. I will also be mentioning how well I was treated and how well Security performed in such a difficult time."

"Why thank you. I have one more thing..." Nathan slid the other PaDDay over to her. "A Mr. Dash is landing in the main shuttle bay and he specifically requested you welcome him on board. Expecting someone?"

Noxa's eyes, lit up at the mention of the man's name. She shot out of her chair, knocked over the Klingon coffee and didn't give a shit. "Ivan!" she shouted and fumbled as she made her way around the table. "I'll talk to you later, Lieutenant" she said as she proceeded to the exit.

~Cargo bay 1~

Ivan set the shuttle down perfectly. No matter what department he went went to, flying would always be his first love. He started the power down cycle, popped the hatch and grabbed his duffel bag.

Noxa was already scurrying across the flight deck of the Shuttle Bay like a vole. She ran up to the shuttle as Ivan appeared in the hatch area. "Ivan" she said, nearly out of breath as she sprang upon him like a saber tooth tiger pouncing upon it's pray, knocking him and herself down to the floor of the shuttle with her on top of him.

Ivan only had time to drop his bag befor the tiny won am hand him on the floor. "Well hey there! Miss me?"

She gazed into his eyes for a brief moment before going in and kissing his passionately on the lips.

Ivan returned her kiss just as passionately. His finger gently slid down her ears. One the kiss broke he grinned his lopsided grin at her andesk said, "I'll take that as a yes."

"Oh Ivan" she said softly. She then cackled a bit "You're rubbing my lobes" she said blushing and then snorted "That works on Ferengi males, sweetie. It doesn't really do much for fee-males... but you're doing it pretty well. Anything I should know about?" she added jokingly.

"Yeah, I missed you too! Get off me and help me find my quarters." Ivan stated bluntly.

She sighed "But I like being on top of you. You know me, I like my power and control" she added with a little wink. "We'll check with the quarter master or someone."

"You know what, that sounds like to much work. Where is your room?" Ivan said raising his brow.

Noxa snorted "They gave me really nice VIP guest quarters. I think they just were trying to kiss up to me with spacious quarters because I was Internal Affairs."

"Sounds nice...uh, show me?" Ivan said, his hands grabed Noxa's hips. "Or we could close up the shuttle? That could be fun."

Noxa shook her head "If we got caught in that shuttle... I won't even begin to explain what an Internal Affairs mess that would cause. I'll take you to my guest quarters, but you had better behave yourself on our way there or I'll will rearrange your face, and you know I'd do it."

"I know you can do it. I'm just not sure you will, could you really hit something so beautiful?" Ivan joked "I will behave myself...for the most part."

Noxa made a sharp turn and punched Ivan in the gut, firm and swift but not at full force. "Yes, apparently I can" she said with a chuckle. "Come on, let's get you into my quarters before you make me do worse."

Ensign Ethan Colletare strolled around the equipment room, doing inventory. PADD in hand, we was looking at a shelf full of spare parts. "Three phase discriminators, check." He said as he tapped the checkbox on his screen. Sighing, he moved onto the next shelf. The equipment was filled up with rows upon rows of shelves, each with their own specified item. With a snappish mood, he continued counting.

Commander Kristopher N. Kerouac had just been taking a relaxing stroll around his starship when he heard some clattering coming from the equipment room. Interesting thought Kris as it was not usual for anyone to be in the equipment room unless that needed something, like preparing for an away mission. However, Kris had neither seen notification of an away mission nor had he assigned one. There had been no security alerts issued and the starship's internal sensors had not detected an intruder.

Kris entered the room and listened. The man had been counting equipment. An inventory check? pondered Kris before clearing his throat. "Excuse me" said Kris calling attention to himself. "Who did you piss off to get inventory detail?" asked Commander Kerouac, unsure as to who the man was.

Hearing a voice behind him, Ethan turned around. Seeing that it was the captain, Ethan crisply saluted. "I pissed off Chief Carter, sir. I'm Ensign Colletare, the ship's quartermaster."

"Hah" replied Kris with a shaking of his head. "Andy is easy to piss off, Ensign. I would not take it personally. I am beginning to think that she has only a few moods and the dominate one his pissed" added Kris as he approached the man, arm extended and hand out to shake. "Commander Kerouac, Commanding Officer" said Kris in kind. He thought it pleasant to introduce himself even if he probably did not need the introduction.

Ethan reached his hand out and shook Kris's. "Nice to meet you, sir. And I'm not sure what to think about the Chief. She seems like a tough taskmaster, sir. This is my first assignment as an officer, I was hoping that I'd be cut a little slack." He gave Kris a rueful smile. "I was wrong in that regard, it seems."

"Don't stress too much over it, Ensign. Carter is quite the hard ass but she is like that way with everyone, even with me" admitted Kris.

"Ah, well. I'm sure I'll get used to her. Anyways, how has your day been? Better than mine so far, I hope."

Kris wanted to laugh. However, he placed some restraint on himself and simply shook his head. "No, Ensign. I am quite sure that my day has not been better than yours. I have a few potential dangers and threats to the crew and the ship that I must take care of. I have been looking through several stacks of PADDs, and had an Admiral from Starfleet Command suggest that I resign my command of the starship."

Ethan nodded in understanding. The job of Commanding Officer was very stressful, and Ethan knew that he himself couldn't deal with all that Kris had to do. He raised an eyebrow and chuckled good-naturedly. "Someone wants you to resign? You seem like a pretty nice guy, I can't imagine why someone would wish that upon you."

"It's a long story, Ensign. To sum things up, I was not the first choice for this Position. There have been deaths under my command of the starship" said Kris. "Things like that tend to cause Command to question if you are fit to be a Commanding Officer."

Ethan raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Really? People are going to end up dead in Starfleet, it's dangerous out in space."

Kris smiled a little. He then let out a small sigh. "People die in Starfleet all the time. It is unfortunate every damn time. However, Command always needs someone to blame for the deaths... it just happens that it is easy enough to point towards the Commanding Officer for failure to do something or nor doing something properly. I'll be blamed for waving off the recommendation to have marines assigned here, or for not adding more security personnel" explained Kris.

"A so you're the scapegoat for everything that goes wrong, ay? That doesn't sound very fair, but whatcha gonna do about it?"

"Take it like a man" replied Kris wincing. "Then explain to them that I understand what happened and how it looks bad on me. However, I have the utmost confidence in this crew and I know that if we hold strong together, we can get ourselves together." Kris shook his head "I'll let you get back to work ensign. I wouldn't want Chief Carter to come by and see you talking to me."

The Borg Drone held him fast and any attempt to struggle or get himself free was proving...futile, as the saying went. Will was frog marched by two more drones to an alcove and they secured him inside, using brute strength and restraining bars in the alcove. He was going nowhere. She walked towards him, smiling in that evil way, enjoying the look of fear on him. The Queen stood infront of his alcove as she spoke to him.

"Its time for my newest drone," she told him and waved forward another drone holding Val. Will screamed out loud as he struggled to break free, watching as the Drone injected Val before him and Will watched helpless as he saw her transform into a Drone. Then the Val Drone stepped forward before him and injected Will.

"VAL!!! NO!!!" He screamed out loud. Will woke up screaming her name out loud before he realised it was a nightmare. He was breathing heavy and fast and sweat was pouring from him as he put the light on. He looked around his quarters to make sure he was alone and that it was a dream. A very horrible nightmare that had gotten worse.

Will buried his face in his hands as his first thought was of Val and seeing her as a borg drone.

[Valerie's Quarters]

Val's eyes snapped open and she sat up in her bed, "Will." she breathlessly whispered. She felt him call for her in angst and deeply troubled. She brought her knees to her chest and rubbed her head. Was it just a dream? she thought to herself. She pushed back her sheets and climbed out of bed. She reached for her robe and slipped it on. "Computer lights." she commanded and her quarters illuminated.

She walked over to the replicator and order herself her usual cup of coffee. As she waited for it to appear her mind drifted back to Will.

[Will's Quarters]

Will was still sat up in his bed, trying to focus, but all he could do was find himself wondering why it had been Val he had seen assimilated in front of him instead of Alyssa. He knew it was Alyssa that had been the last of the crew from the USS Valkyrie to be assimilated by the borg. He looked across at a glass of water on his bedside table and picked it up, taking a deep slow drink of water.

He lay back down in his bed and turned the light off, laying in the dark as his mind wandered back to that time. He closed his eyes and could see it all again, vividly in his minds eye...

He was at the Operations Station on board the Valkyrie. Her mission was completed and the crew were on their way home to Earth for shore leave and re-assignment. He was happy. At that time he was in a relationship with the ships Counselor, Alyssa Chen. They had been together two years and were happy.

Then he saw it. The Bridge viewscreen showed a massive Borg Cube appear out of Warp and as Captain Ramirez called Red Alert, he heard the voice...those voices...a thousand voices that spoke as one in one chilling way that sent fear through him. He felt himself tremble as he recalled the voice...

"We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."

Will recalled the ship trying to defend itself, but within minutes the battle was over. He recalled seeing dead crew members scattered all over the bridge before thinking of Alyssa and the sprinting from the bridge and into the nearest turbolift. He rushed out onto the deck as soon as the doors opened, but seeing Borg Drones attacking crew members and taking then for assimilation panicked him. He looked as he ran down the corridor, calling her name and slid to a halt when he finally found her...in the grip of a Borg Drone who was yet to assimilate her...

[Valerie's Quarters]

Valerie finished taking a sip of her coffee, her mind still fixated on Will. She closed her eyes and focused her mind. Hundreds of thoughts, countless of emotions were a normal with a crew this size; and not as daunting as the Academy. She focused her mind, trying to find sense if Will was alright and that her earlier jolt was just her subconscious, but as her mind reached out for his she felt the waves of sadness, fear, guilt, and remorse... the emotions were so strong Val almost felt she was suffocating.

Her eyes snapped opened and she lowered her mug onto the table. She tightened the robe around her waist, "Computer, is Will Morgan in his quarters?" she asked.

The female monotone voice replied; "Affirmative." She didn't waste anymore time, Val left her quarters to find Will.

[Will's Quarters]

Will was stuck in his dream like state, nearly asleep but the trauma of his memories was flooding back to him. While he saw his nightmare unfold before him again, his body was shaking in the bed, trembling from the fear he was experiencing.

He saw himself grabbed by two drones and then in a green haze, which he guessed was a Borg Transporter Beam, he was suddenly on the Borg Cube that had attacked them earlier. As the two Drones walked him through the ship, he could see a long line made up of the Valkyrie Crew, some who had already begun to be assimilated with servo's, circuitry and cybernetic parts appearing through their skin and uniforms. They took him past an area where other members of the crew were being operated on, having limbs removed and replaced with cybernetic limbs as the process accelerated into making them full Borg Drones.

He looked and saw Captain Ramirez on an operating table and cried out his name, but there was no life in the man's eye, as he turned to look at Will, he realised the other eye had been replaced with an optical enhancement. That was the final straw that sent Will over the edge as he struggled helplessly against his guards.

"NO!! NO!! I DON'T WANT TO DIE, I DON'T WANT TO BE ASSIMILATED!!! I DON'T WANT TO BE BORG!!" Will cried out and he sat up sweating and sobbing heavily in his bed, reality bringing him out of his nightmare again.

When Valerie arrived at his door, she heard him screaming. "Will!" She shouted and used her medical access codes to unlock his door. She rushed inside, still hearing him crying out. She climbed onto the bed, wrapping her arms around him. "Sshhh.. Will it's alright..." She said into his ear as she rubbed his arms. "It's going to be ok, it was only a nightmare." she whispered into his ear.

Will sobbed as he felt arms wrap around him in the bed. All he could see now was his bedroom through tear streamed eyes but the images from his nightmare were there in the background. As he felt hands rub up and down his arms whilst he trembled, he heard a soothing voice whispering in his ear. But it wasn't the voice of the collective, it was a soothing female voice, a familiar one he began to recognize as his head cleared up a bit.

Val.

"Val...is that really you?" Will asked through trembling in a small quiet voice that reflected the pain and hurt in him from the nightmare. "I didn't call you did I? I was so scared Val... I saw them... I saw them assimilate Alyssa...but it was you... I saw you as a drone go to assimilate me... I watched as they turned the crew into drones..." he whispered to her, hoping it was Val and that this was not another dream.

Val pressed a kiss to the side of his head, holding him in her arms. "it's really me, honey. I'm here... and I'm ok..you're safe."

Will huddled closer into Val after she confirmed she was definitely real and that this was not another nightmare. He began to try and slow his breathing, slowly beginning to feel a measure of safety in her arms. "You came to see if I was ok?" he asked her in between slowing pants of breath. "Did I call you?"

She smiled sheepishly at him as she lifted her hand to caress his cheek. "In a matter of speaking...I sensed you calling out to me.. I was worried so I stopped by..."

Will tried to smile as she stroked his cheek whilst her warmth and calming prescence was helping him to start trying to calm down. He was just glad that he wasnt alone after such a bad episode. He'd spent months alone whilst trying to deal with this nightmare every night. He thought he'd gotten past it all, but clearly not for some reason. He placed a hand on Vals hand. "I dont know how you knew....but...thank you," he said quietly. "Thank you for coming to me."

"You're my guy..." She whispered, holding him close, "of course I'll be here for you." She kissed his forehead. "Everything will be ok, Will."

Will was beginning to feel more relaxed as Val held him close to her and it had helped with what she'd just said to him just now. "Are you sure you want to put up with someone who has recurring nightmares about the Borg? I'm not sure if you would ever get a decent nights sleep," he said to her, not wanting to put Val through his madness either.

As he held her close, he thought back to his nightmare, remembering how vivid it felt and how real it felt each time it happened. "Its strange, it feels so real each time it happens. It almost feels like theres something out there that wants me to relive this over and over again...besides the...memories I have myself," he admitted to her. Will turned to face Val and looked her in the eyes to make sure she knew he was serious. "I'm sorry I didn't feel ready to talk to you about this. I wanted to feel ready to tell you and here you are, rescuing me from my nightmares," he said to her.

"Will, you have nothing to apologize for." She whispers, brushing his hair. "I care about you deeply, Will, this is something we'll go through together..." She smiled down at him and wiped his tears away. "Sleepless nights and all."

Will enjoyed her brushing his hair and it helped sooth him a little more. He was beginning to realise that Val was serious about him and he was beginning to realise he was how lucky he was to have met her in the past few days. "Thank you, you dont realise how much that means to me...to have someone there with me. I felt so alone for so long back on Earth despite talking to all those Doctors and Counselors," he explained.

But Will also realised through all of this, he had disturbed Val's rest. "I'm sorry I woke you and disturbed you... You need your sleep just as much as anyone else...I'll be fine if you need to go," he said, trying to convince himself at the same time that he would be ok...but not convincingly enough. He was trying to protect Val again from his pain, although she had promised to be there with him.

"And abandon you? I don't think so." She kissed his head, before looking into his blue eyes. "I will stay with you tonight."

Will felt relieved immediately. Secretly he didn't want to be alone and he felt better that Val was with him tonight. He turned himself and gave her a small kiss on her cheek. "Thank you, that means a lot to me," he said before returning to cuddle into Val, feeling safe and secure, something he hadnt felt at night time for a very long time.

Valerie shifted on his bed to get comfortable and cuddled close to him. "I'm happy to do it, Will." She grinned, caressing him gently. Will relaxed as he cuddled into her and enjoyed ger caressing of him. Soon he was drifting off again, safe in the comfort of her caress and protection, safe in her embrace and company, allowing him to enter sleep. Soon though, once he fell asleep fully he saw himself back on the Cube, in his alcove with the Borg Queen turned away from him as she caressed the face of...Val.

Will began to struggle again in his alcove and as he begged, pleaded with the Queen not to assimilate her, the Queen turned to face him...revealing her face and features as Alyssa... "Watch as she becomes ny finest drone..." She said, injecting Val with her own nanites. "Val, baby, no...please not you," he murmured in his sleep.

Will shook in Val's embrace in the bed they shared as in his dream he watched Val become a full Borg Drone before his eyes. Val turned to face him as she stood next to the Queen, a full drone with one eye replaced by an optic cyberntic enhancement.

"He will make an excellent pet, my Queen," said the Val Drone. Will woke up with a start and turned straight away to look at Val, stroking her face to make sure she was ok...

Feeling his hand gently stroking her face her eyes drifted open and she smiled sadly at him. She knew he had another nightmare, she sensed his fear. "I'm ok." she whispered caressing his side as they faced each other. She scooted closer to him and pressed her forehead against his. "Your mind is mine. My mind is thine. Our minds are twined" she closes her eyes.

Will was relieved it was another moment and not the real thing and was happier when Val turned to face him. As soon as she touched his forehead with hers, he heard her voice but almost as in stereo and then she closed her eyes. "Val, whats happening?" He thought to her, unsure of what was going on. He moved closer to her and put his arm around her.

"Just relax and fall asleep, Will." She whispered not opening her eyes.

Will closed his eyes as instructed by Val and he soon found himself falling asleep again, drifting off into a deep slumber, possibly because of having her cuddled to him. He relaxed...and then the nightmare began again. Its surroundings were familiar as he found himself on the Borg Cube, but this time he wasn't in an alcove. This time he was in one of the Operation Labs, where crewmembers from the Valkyrie were being operated on with limbs and body parts being replaced by cybernetic limbs and enhancements that accelerated the assimilation process.

His two Drone Guards held him fast as he was taken to an operating table, where the Borg Queen stood before the patient about to be operated on. It was Alyssa. She was struggling to break free from the table as the Queen watched whilst a second operating table was brought in behind Will. He looked around and saw Val on the table and started panicking. "A simple choice, human. Choose which one will live and which one will join us," she said as she injected both Alyssa and Val. Will panicked and started sweating in fear as he looked back and forth between them, watching as the assimilation process began on both women. "All you have to do is choose and we will spare that one!" The Queen demanded.

Will could take no more and tried to free Val whilst Alyssa screamed out to him, "WILL! PLEASE!! DON'T LET ME BECOME A DRONE!!!" but Will carried on trying to free Val as the Queen watched on with interest..."VAL!!! NO!!! I WONT LOSE YOU!!!" He cried out whilst in the bed he began trembling again.

Val blinked and looked at Will, who was desperately trying to unfasten her restraint, and saw the fear in his eyes. She looked up into his wide blue eyes and smiled. She reached up and grabbed the back of his head, and pulled him down closer to her face, "Resistance is futile." she whispered and pulled him down kissing his lips passionately. Her restraints were no longer an issue and in a turn of events Will was now the one laying on the table with Val, straddling on top of him, still in a deep passionate kiss.

The Borg Queen blinked and watched. "Disengage immediately. The objective is fear." Alyssa was just laying on the other table wide-eyed and her mouth open in shock.

Val broke this kiss and lifted her head to look down at Will. The black veins receded as her skin color returned to normal. "Go ahead, Will." She smirked and then leaned back down to kiss up his neck, and then nibbled his earlobe. "Tell her you're scared." she whispered into his ear in a soft sultry voice as her body pressed against his.

Will suddenly found himself lying on the table passionately kissing Val and after she whispered in his ear, he couldn't help but feel aroused and safe in her embrace. He smiled back at her as he spoke, "I'm not scared...and We will definitely not disengage," he said defiantly as he pulled her face to his and happily engaged in another passionate kiss, enjoying the fact that Val had straddled him and was atop of him. Something he enjoyed a lot.

In the bed, Will embraced Val tightly whilst his eyes were closed, pulling his body close to hers and he let his lips close on hers in a deep passionate kiss, mirroring the one taking place in the dream, not wanting it to finish. He felt safe and he was relaxed in her arms and he was enjoying every moment of this.

Both in the dream and in the bed, Valerie moaned into the passionate kiss. "Mmm, lets ditch this cube, and go someplace private." Her dream self whispered against his lips. Will agreed mentally as she requested a change in location and he felt the Borg Cube disappear around them to leave them in his quarters, back in his bedroom whilst the two of them kissed passionately. His fear was now gone and all he could think of right now was enjoying this night with her in her embrace.

Will opened his eyes, no longer feeling sleepy for some strange reason "How far are we going to take this baby?" he whispered to her.

Val opened her eyes and smiled at Will as she looked into his eyes, "Follow your dreams..."

The Cadet had heard that Nathan was in sickbay, and while she hadn't been privy to all that went on, she was happy to hear that he was okay. For now, she took a deep breath, and walked into sickbay. Her eyes search around for Nathan, as she supports a personal study padd and a work padd on her arm, feeling a little chilly on her bare legs. She supposed that was a price to pay for wearing the skirted uniform, but she'd get used to it.

"Mizuki!" Nathan said excitedly as soon as he saw the cadet. "How have you been?" Nathan had been bored so a guest was just what he needed.

"Heyy.." She smiled and walked over kindly. "I've been okay! a lot on my mind, but none of its really important. What about you?"

Nathan looked down at his now missing right arm and back at Mizuki with a little smirk on his fave. "Seen better days, but I'm home now so things are looking up."

She stares at it for a moment and then nods. "Well, that's good! I won't ask what happened with it, but I will offer a listening ear if you need it, for what its worth." she smiled at him.

"Thank you Mizuki, but you don't want to hear that story. Some people are crule. Let leave it at that." Nathan said with a pained look on his face. She would someday have story's of her own. "Pull up a chair!"

Mizuki does so and sits down, nodding. "Yeah." she murmured softly. "I guess one day I will have stories to share. For now, I can say that I went through Vara's program."

"How did it go?" Nathan asked with an Impressed look on his face.

"I reached level 14. the level that Vara herself cannot clear yet. I wore myself out doing it, however..and I've found out that I can only summon it if I'm in great danger."

"Excellent progress! I'm very proud you. Have you thought any more about spending some time learning about security? " Nathan asked

"I don't think I'd be very useful in a fight. And I could probably be dominated in hand to hand normally. I'm not sure how useful I'd be in security, but I wouldn't mind learning about security and tactical. I've been considering where I should put my specialty on the ship...the headmaster of the Academy has allowed me leeway thus far with varied assignments so I could get more information before picking a specialty...but my assignment to the Katana comes with an ultimatum that I'd better pick an area to specialize in in addition to Command."

"Tactics are very important in command." Nathan stated. "I would be happy to show you sometime when we are on the bridge together."

"Thank you, I appreciate that very much, Nathan." She smiled. "So...if I haven't said this before, congratulations on you and Jhu. Though, you did make me nearly faint that one time.." she teased him by giving a very light tap to his good shoulder in lieu of a light punch.

That made Nathan laugh. "It's funny cause I was trying to embrace Jhu, not you!"

"Mou, I know. I'm going to ah..take steps to ensure that I don't react so embarrassingly next time." She nods with a smile.

Nathan looked slightly confused. "What kind of steps?"

Mizuki shrugged slightly. "The steps meant to get me used to such things. And I probably should stop there before red faces ensue.." she chuckled.

"You don't have to be embarrassed Mizuki, we are friends. If you want to talk to me about anything I am here for you." Nathan said to her with a warm smile. "At the same time, I don't want you to feel obligated to talk to me."

"I..don't mind talking to you. But this particular subject is awkward, and I don't want to cause any trouble." Mizuki nodded. "Thank you though. I really appreciate that." she smiled and took his remaining hand, giving it a squeeze.

Nathan squeezed her hand back. "As long as you know I'm here for you. Now, tell me about the Tribble attack."

"Uh..well." Mizuki mumbled. "I was walking around with you...or...your double, I guess. And I suspected something was off. But, let's just say that I opened the wrong door. And got dog-piled by tribbles. Buried under a layer of cute.." She blushed. "But, they were transported off me, so I guess I was lucky in that regard.

"Cute buried under cute." Nathan said with a grin. "Now that I'm sorry I missed."

"I'm sure you can find it in the security feeds somewhere." Mizuki blushed and looked down at her feet. "I didn't feel any hostile intent from them, so...don't ah..gas them. If there is a purple one in there that's fixed, I wouldn't mind having one."

Nathan shook his head sharply. "No. No killing. I'm not ok with harming innocent beings just because they are annoying. I will figure something out."

"That's good! that's good to know sir." She nodded quickly, letting out a deep breath. "Uh..I've had some time to think, and I er.." she leans in closer and whispers in Nathan's ear. "..think I have a crush on someone."

Nathan smiled warmly to her. "Do you think the feeling is reciprocated? " He avoided asking who. If she wanted him to know she would tell him.

"I don't know yet. It..felt nice, what I did feel. It's um.." She's shy, but trying to work through it. "Don't say anything, but it might be the Chief of Flight Control." she whispered the last in his ear.

"Hayley?" Nathan said quietly to her. "I thought she was into guys..." he shuge "Hey, congrats. She's very pretty. So what are you going to do next?"

Mizuki shrugged. "I dunno. Gonna try to think of something, though. and hope I'm not too shy."

"Would you like advice?" Nathan asked

"If you would be so kind.." Mizuki replied. "I am working from a position of inferiority, since I am new to pretty much all of this..in regards to interpersonal relationships." And there she was being uptight when she was nervous.

"I don't know Hayley very well, but she is very brash. If you wish to pursue her you will need to be brave. I have found stronger women do not like games. Be forward. It might be hard but ithe might be worth it. That's how I won over Jhu. I was up front from the get go. I don't play games or hold back how I'm feeling."

Nathan thought for a moment. "You should set up a nice dinner for the two of you. Maybe do an activity with her like bungee jumping; I know she likes extreme stuff like that, and then a sunset dinner on the beach. At dinner lay it out for her. Swallow your fears and just tell her." It was almost the same advice Maica had given him about Jhu.

"That's...so romantic." she muttered after a moment. "Nathan..I'll remember that. I guess the worst she can say is no. But I've felt something there between us ever since we met and hit the holodeck. I just don't know what it is exactly."

"Well, go find out." Nathan said. "You're right, worst thing that can happen is she does not return your affection. But its not like shes going to break your heart. You hardly know her."

"True.." She smiled a bit, and squeezed his hand. "Thanks for the pep talk, Nathan-nii." She whispered the last part, standing up from her seated position. "I will let you rest, before one of the nurses come to run me off."

"Thank you for visiting me Mizuki." Nathan said with a warm smile. "As soon as I have my new arm under control we will start our training up again. Give me a week or two imouto-chan."

He knew...he knew? She did a double take and...nodded, giving him a grin. "Un. I'll look forward to it." She bows her head in respect to him before turning to head for the doors.

Nathan smiled, he was very proud of the reaction he got from Mizuki. Man he was glad to be home!

[ON]

Cameron Tegan had been on board a Wave Rider class yacht only once in his entire career - and that was during a holodeck simulation. Admittedly, he'd been offered the choice of a Danube-class runabout, a Peregrine fighter, or even a Mark XI shuttlecraft as well. But something about flying the Wave Rider had appealed to him. Now he was glad he had. Heading into a pod of Space Whales -- Captain Kerouac's name for the species of Gekli operating in this region -- wasn't something he wanted to do with anything less than large, heavy, and something he was familiarized with. Past the airlock, he approached the cockpit and found Lieutenant Collins already occupying the pilot's station.

Ryan had grabbed a science kit as well as his own medical bag, since this was more a scientific than medical mission he thought he'd be polite and help Lieutenant Merin. Stepping onto the Wave Rider was a new experience. "Wow" He spoke out loud, but in a soft voice meant only for himself. "Hello Commander." Ryan nodded politely to Tegan once he had taken everything in.

Cameron nodded curtly to Rose. While the original mission plan hadn't called for the presence of a medical officer, Cameron was glad that Ryan Rose had volunteered for the assignment. "Good morning, doctor. Glad to see you with us," he then looked over to Collins. "We're almost overdue, Lieutenant. Where is Lieutenant Merin?" Cameron demanded to know.

"No idea, but if he's not here in 30 seconds, I'm leaving his bloody ass."

Cameron waggled a hand into the air. "Fair enough," he said. Having Lieutenant Merin on board for their excursion would help, particularly in regards to how a scientific survey of the Gekli is performed. Then again, there was nothing the science team would need that sensor records couldn't provide. His best alternate would have been the Arboreal woman -- Shira. But like Lieutenant O'Connor, she was heading off to visit the Arboreal planet. It was a mission he'd signed off on.

Thirty-seconds passed, and the Klingon/Trill grunted at the empty passageway. "Time's up," he said, turning back to Hayley at the helm. "Seal the bulkhead, and inform the bridge that we're rolling out one short. Ms. O'Connor will just have to make use of our sensor data," he added, then turning to Lieutenant Rose. "Unless you're up for taking the science station, doctor."

Ryan looked to Tegan. "I feel like a third year cadet again. If you don't mind a little rust, sure I can take the Science Station."

Cameron gestured to the console. "It's all yours, Lieutenant." He looked to Hayley. "Take us out."

"Aye, sir." Hayley tapped several commands into the helm controls. A moment later, the Wave Runner was heading away from the Katana at full impulse. "This should be interesting. Never seen these whales up close."

*** Two hours later ***

Cameron moved over to the secondary console and brought up the passive sensors. While active pings from the main sensor suite would provide them with a more detailed analysis of the Gekli, they also had the potential to startle the pod. Shadows appeared on the display, presenting what he assumed were no less than a dozen of these things wandering in open space as the Wave Rider closed towards the pod. On his display, he also watched out for signs of the artificial singularity that Kerouac had informed him of prior to their departure. As much as he wanted to let the away team know that they weren't just dealing with the Gekli, but also with the possibility of the Undine showing up, Starfleet's 'need to know' orders were firm. Cameron could have violated those orders much as Kerouac had by telling him, but he didn't see it as being necessary just yet.

"Close to within a hundred kilometers of the pod, Lieutenant," Cameron told Hayley. "And keep an out for anything out of the ordinary, doctor," Cameron said, speaking to Doctor Rose at the science console. "If these things fart subspace, I want to know about it. I also want to know if anything is going on beyond the formation of Gekli."

It certainly had been awhile since Ryan had manned a science console, but it was like riding a bike, for the most part. Once he got things displaying the way he liked, he was able to start the scans.

Hayley thought the order to watch out for anything abnormal was odd considering they were just chasing space whales. "Aye, sir," she replied simply.

Within seconds, Cameron didn't need to look at the console to see the pod; they were close enough to be seen visually. "As far as our presence is concerned, has there been any response from them so far, doctor?" He asked Lieutenant Rose.

Ryan looked over the readings. "No sir. I think we're ready to send the feeding buoy. They don't seem to be focusing on us."

Cameron watched the whales get closer. So far the mission was going according to plan, which set well with him. "Deploy the buoy and continue to monitor their response," he ordered.

Hayley maneuvered the Wave Rider closer to the whales. Her console beeped. "The whales have produced a type of dampening field." A whale off Port side imitated a sudden movement to try to ram the wave rider. "Hold on! Using thrusters," The wave rider climbed and rolled as the giant space whale glanced against the wave rider's shields, causing the alarms to go off. Hayley held onto her console tightly as sparks emitted from several consoles.

"Report?" Cameron asked, holding onto the console with both hands as up became down, left became right, and the Wave Rider danced through the volley of impacts. even as he said this, he looked at his board and saw that the Wave Rider had been caught in a dampening field generated by multiple Gekli simultaneously. It was severely limiting their ability to maneuver.

"Bloody space whales have emitted a dampening field! Impulse and warp engines are useless. I'm using thrusters!" The Wave Runner took another blow. "Crikey! We can't take many more hits like that!"

The shaking was no fun, but the buoy finally deployed, and with enough velocity to travel away from the wave rider. That should settle the natives thought Ryan.

The Wave Rider continued to take several direct hits from the angered Gekli, and Cameron watched as their shields and structural integrity began to drop steadily. It seemed that while a few Gekli had veered away to investigate the buoy, most of them had kept their attention on the Wave Rider. With another hit, a console behind Cameron overloaded. Thankfully, nobody had been sitting at that station. He checked his console. Communications were out, which meant asking the Katana for support wasn't an option. Kerouac might be aware of their situation, but without an active line of communication, there was no way to coordinate their efforts. "Suggestions, doctor?" Cameron asked tensely. If they couldn't find another way around this problem, he'd have to fire on the Gekli.

"Run." Was all Ryan had to suggest. He didn't want to harm these creatures, they were obviously sentient even if they had not been able to communicate with them yet. It seemed to him the most prudent course.

"No can do with that dampening field. We can only use thrusters. Sorry, doctor, but it's them or us," she said as she powered up the Wave Runner's phasers. "Permission to engage?" Hayley looked back at the commander.

Cameron looked out the main viewport just in time to see a Gekli slam into the shield, eliciting a globe of blue-white energy from the shields. Just behind it were two more getting ready to do the same. Whoever said these things were gentle giants were wrong, and Cameron very much wished they were aboard right now to realize it. But he didn't want to cause any injuries or casualties to the pod if it could be avoided. "Warning shots only. See if you can force the rest of the pod to break to starboard. Hopefully-" Slam "Hopefully the males or whatever the hell they are will decide there's too much distance between them and the rest and will return." Cameron looked back to Ryan. "Doctor, see if you can program the buoy to close with the main pod. That might cause the males to view it more of a threat than us."

Hayley nodded as she opened fire with the phasers. The beams missed by mere feet as the males again slammed against the Wave Runner. "Damn buggers," she cursed the Gekli.

Ryan quickly obeyed Cameron's order. He hoped it would work. He might not be capable of firing on them, but the rest of the members of the Away Team would no doubt defend themselves if they had to. He maneuvered the feeding buoy closer to the main 'pack' and even increased its output.

"Shields down to 28%. I'm detecting micro-fractures across the hull. Lieutenant, shift power to the inertial dampeners." Cameron shouted with that last hit. Just as it seemed that another was coming -- one that could very well cause the Wave Rider's shields to buckle and expose it to a hit across the hull -- the Gekli veered away to starboard. Not bothering to look at his console to confirm what he hoped was happening, he turned his head and peered directly out the port; the aggressive Gekli were indeed moving off to rejoin the rest of the pod that had grown too far for their comfort. A flicker of orange-red light and a sudden chirp from Ryan's console told the Klingon/Trill hybrid that the buoy had been located and smashed.

Putting a hand on Hayley's shoulder, Cameron grinned wearily. "Get us out of here, Lieutenant. I think science can wait for another day."

"Don't need to tell me twice," Hayley said as she noticed power level returning to the impulse engines. She initiated full impulse and set a course back to the Katana.

Aznihel had been shown how to get to the quartermaster's office by a friendly security crewman so she could get some temporary quarters during her stay aboard the Katana. She stepped into the office expecting anything. "Hello, are you the quartermaster?" she asked the first person she saw.

In his usual style, Ethan was reclining in his chair, feet up on his desk. He had finished most of his work for the day, and was planning on taking a nap. He closed his eyes and tried to think of nothing at all. But before he could fall asleep completely, he heard the doors hiss open, and faintly heard someone asking a question. He supposed the nap would have to wait, for now. Ethan sighed, and snarkily replied "Well, this is the quartermaster's office, and I'm the only one in here, so take a guess."

"Ah, excellent! I get to observe sour mammalian behavior too! I was so hoping not everyone was as bright and chipper as everyone else I've met so far." Aznihel was genuinely excited for this opportunity, strangely enough. "I'm here as a guest, you see, and I'd like a place to sleep during my stay. I suppose I could stay in my ship, but I feel I've spent enough time living in it lately. Anyway, I was told to see you so here I am."

Ethan picked his feet up of his desk, and sat up in his chair, a bewildered look on his face. His eyes now fully open, he saw that the person he was talking to was of an alien race he didn't recognize. Comprehending what she had said, his mouth turned down into a frown. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Tell me your name, so I can get this done as soon as possible."

"Aznihel," she said cheerfully. "Of the Devoran Science Council. Do you need me to spell it?"

Ethan typed her name into his computer. "No, I don't need you to spell it. And you're in VIP Quarters 4, on Deck 2."

"Excellent! Do I need a key or does your culture not use locking doors?" Aznihel asked with genuine curiosity

Ethan raised his eyebrows cynically. "You don't know how doors work?" Jeez, there was something definitely weird about this person.

"I know how doors work on my world. This is actually my first time meeting other races as most of the rest of my people prefer isolation," Aznihel explained. "Do you mind teaching me how your doors work?"

Rolling his eyes, Ethan explained how they work. "They're automatic, and are programmed to let in certain people and not others. Since you're authorized for VIP Quarters 4, it'll let you in when you arrive."

"Absolutely fascinating. Full automation then. Thank you very much." Aznihel was so full of cheer, she was starting to annoy herself. It was all to observe this man's behaviour though, so she could go to any length. "Is there an information terminal inside that I can access videos of the mating rituals of various mammalian races from your Federation?"

At that point, Ethan was just incredulous. Who did this women think she was? Was this some sort of cruel prank? Ethan abruptly stood up, hands clenched in anger, and gave Aznihel a cold stare. "The jig is up, wiseass! I don't have time to deal with your sick jokes!"

Aznihel looked at the man rather shocked. An explosive response to an honest inquiry. Unexpected yet fascinating. "I take it not all members of your crew are entirely patient or diplomatic... Is this characteristic of many of your federated races?"

Ethan just stood there, lost and confused. "What the hell are you talking about?!?"

"I'm talking about your behavior. It's rather strange to me." Aznihel spoke simply, a blank look on her face. "I have little experience with outside sentient races so if I've offended, I apologize."

Taken aback, he started piecing things together. "Are you like, a researcher or something?"

"Yes, I'm local to this region of space and I specialize in space-born fauna," Aznihel said simply, still staring blankly.

Things started to become clear to Ethan. "Ahm, all right. I think we got off on the wrong foot. I'm Ensign Ethan Colletare, Quartermaster on the USS Katana."

"Then it's a pleasure to meet you," Aznihel said cheerily as if nothing was wrong. "You seem to be quite a fascinating individual and not at all what I expected. I look forward to more interactions with you, if you're willing."

Now smiling, Ethan nodded. "Well, I am pretty fascinating person, I agree. Is there anything about human culture you'd like to know?"

"Everything starting with mating and courtship behaviors as well as reproduction please," Aznihel said cheerfully as if it was the most normal topic in the world.

Well, this certainly put him into a jam. "I have never actually participated in ah, 'reproductive behaviors', to be honest," he replied sheepishly. I've been on what we humans call a 'date', once or twice, but things haven't gotten serious."

"Then just tell me what you can. I love learning." Aznihel said with a smile.

"Well, when two humans mutually agree that they could be potential mates, they go have a meal and do something together. It's kind of like a trial to see if the two are right for each other. Both times I've dated, I was considered less than fit for a further relationship."

"So the females choose their mate..." Aznihel mused. "What criteria do they normally use for determining whether a mate is suitable?"

"Kindness, intellect, strength, patience, it depends on the person. There is no real 'right' answer, you may decide for yourself who you want to be with."

"Fascinating," Aznihel said, making mental notes. "What you describe seems to be a basis of selection that could wildly vary your species' evolutionary qualities over the ages."

"Correct. Human careers are often very specialized, and to take advantage of that, humans have a very diverse amount of traits in their children. This makes all of us more unique among other humans than say, Vulcans are among other Vulcans."

"Indeed. I might not have time to sleep for some time, studying your peoples. Thank you." Aznihel was beginning to understand the daunting task of learning about this federation of species. There was apparently way more than she had even dared dream of.

"It's no problem, anything else you'd like to know?"

"Everything," Aznihel said with a smile. "but I suppose that would take much too long to tell, would it?"

Ethan smiled back. "True, true. But if you could choose one or two things you're just dying to know more than anything else, now's the time. I can guarantee you I'm a bit different from most of the other ship staff, you'll get some unique answers!"

"How about we share a meal then? Once you're finished working, that is. I'll likely need some help with your computer systems as well." Aznihel said, her smile shifting to more of a grin.

"6:00, tonight, officer's mess. That okay with you?"

"It is. Thank you. I just hope I don't get lost again." Aznihel said.

"Perfectly fine, just ask the ship's computer. It will guide you to your destination."

"Will do. See you then." Aznihel said with a little wave as she left the office.