Nathan had been hard at work since he had gotten back on Katana. But everything was set now. He made his way to Jhu's room. They had not moved in to the larger quarters yet. He had with him a bouquet of the special Vulcan Orchids that he knew were on of the few flowers that didn't cause her to start sneezing. He entered her room. "Jhu?"

In the midst of gathering all of her belongings into a single pile on the bed, Jhu hadn't heard the door open and was a little surprised to hear Nathan's voice. Before she answered him, Lydek jumped from the bed and ran through the open door to greet him. "In here!" she called toward the door.

Nathan scooped up Lydek with his free hand and nuzzled the cat. "Hey buddy!" He said as he made his way into the bed room. "I have a surprise for you." He said to Jhu as he entered the room.

I hate surprises, Jhu groused to herself, forcing herself to smile anyway as she moved the pile of clothing to give them a space to sit down. "A surprise, huh? What sort of surprise?"

"Well for starters..." Nathan set Lydek on the bed and gave him a long full body stroke. "Well turn around!" He said with a chuckle.

Wondering what exactly Nathan was up to, Jhu scratched Lydek's ears then turned around to see what this surprise was. Her eyes went a bit wide with awe when she spotted the bouquet. Gingerly taking it, she inhaled their sweet scent and grinned broadly. "Vulcan orchids. How'd you figure out I wasn't allergic to these?"

"You know who I'm friends with on this ship. Do you really think I cant find something as simple as what flowers don't make you sneeze for an hour?" Nathan said with a grin. Then he reached out and plucked the com badge off her chest. He dropped it quickly to the floor and crushed it under his heel.

"I can't think of who I might have told. Except Shira, maybe. Or Maica." His next move startled her, and she took a half-step back, colliding with the bed. "Nathan, what are you doing?"

He scooped up what was left of her badge and set it in the replicator. Then he pulled his off and set it on top of the pieces and hit the recycle button. "For the next twenty four hours you are mine, and only mine. I have holodeck two reserved for us and I had the Captain place a level five block on the coms to that room. The only one who can bother us is the Captain." Nathan said with a smug smile.

"Sneaky bastard. Are you sure you were never in intelligence?" Relieved, Jhu couldn't help laughing. "Okay. Let me get a vase for these and get Lydek on his leash. He'll tear the place up if I leave him alone overnight." Lydek pricked his ears up and trotted out of the room, returning with the leash and attached harness in his mouth and trailing behind him.

Nathan chuckled at the cat. "Well I'm sure he will enjoy running free in the program I have set up."

"Really? Is it outdoors?" Not sure if she owned a vase already, Jhu replicated one with her free hand and carefully set it on the dresser before gingerly unwrapping the bouquet and placing the flowers inside the glass container. She filled it carefully with water then turned her attention to Lydek, who was eagerly pawing at her leg. "Come here, you little brat." She scooped him up and set him on the bed, taking the harness from his mouth and arranging its straps around him while the cat wiggled happily.

"Parts are." Nathan said with a grin, waiting for her to be ready.

"Should I bring anything?" Fastening Lydek's harness, Jhu gathered the long leash in her hands, letting Lydek leap from the bed.

"No. I have everything set up." Nathan said as he bent down and gave Lydek some love. "You ready, my love?"

"I am, e'lev. Let's go."

Nathan lead her through the ship and to the holodeck. "I know how much you love the cold so I set up the holodeck so we could spend a cozy day in a ice cave!" He said to her and waited for her reaction.

Jhu gave him a look that was equal parts deadly and bemused. "If I walk in there and there's ice anywhere besides in my drink, I will have to seriously consider killing you."

Nathan laughed at her. Probably the first time that anyone has ever honestly laughed at her when she was giving that look and threatening death. "I love you..." he said as his laughter calmed. He opened the door and stood aside for her. It was a beach resort. Nathan had cranked up the heat for her and the blast of hot air that rolled out of the holodeck instantly made them both start to sweat. As if that was not enough, Nathan had removed every person from the program so it was very quiet save the sound of the rolling waves and gulls off in the distance. Nathan waited for her reaction again.

The simulated heat rolled over them, and Jhu's death glare melted into a happy grin. "This is perfect!" She cheerfully pulled him in for a kiss, ignoring Lydek's mews as the cat wound between their legs trying to get to the source of that heat.

Nathan led her into the room after enjoying a moment of the kiss and then door shut behind them. "Computer, activate level five security lock on holodeck two. Tonkin Phi Theta two." The computer chirped that is acknowledged his command and that was it. They were locked in the holodeck with no way to be contacted unless the captain himself needed one of them.

"I have it set up that if you want a massage or a waiter to bring you something we can activate that character for as long as we want. I know you're not a fan of crowds it it will be just you and I for as long as that how we want it." He explained. "But I didn't think to turn off the wildlife so I'm sure Lydek will have a ball. I have the safeties on so nothing will hurt him."

"He can pretend he's a fierce leopard in the jungle." Jhu couldn't help giggling a bit at the perfection of it all as she unhooked the long leash from Lydek's harness and set him free. The cat hesitated for a moment, then he ran off across the sand to chase a bird. Jhu watched him for a moment before turning her attention back to Nathan. "You couldn't have created a better vacation if you read my mind. Thank you." Immensely grateful, she pulled him into an embrace, kissing his neck.

Nathan willingly went to her with a smile. "Now... what do you want to do first?" Nathan had made sure to set up all kinds of activities for them, from a night club to parasailing. But he had figured that the one thing she might enjoy the best was just relaxing on the beach and playing in the water. There were already several chairs and umbrellas set up along the beach near the surf.

"Lame as it might sound, I really want to just lay on the beach and enjoy the sun for a while."

Nathan smiled smugly. "Not only does that not sound lame, I expected it...Waiter!" Nathan called out and a man shimmered to life next to them. Nathan was already pulling his shirt off. "Bring me a Mango daiquiri and use the real rum. What do you want, Angel?"

"Midori sour," Jhu answered without much thought, already following Nathan's example and discarding her clothing on the hot sand. It wasn't a drink she ordered often, but its light flavors were perfect for the beach.

Nathan striped down naked with out a care. He gave his clothes and Jhu's to the waiter and the man set off across the sand to store there clothing and fetch the two drinks.

Nathan led Jhu over to a large beach umbrella where a soft and large blanket had be laid out. Nathan took a seat on the blanket in the shade. It was in no way cooler in the shade but Nathan was okay with that.

As first, Jhu was hesitant to go into the shade, but she quickly found that the heat was too strong for a simple umbrella to dampen it. That was just fine; she could get the warmth of the sun without having the bright light in her face. She sprawled happily across the soft blanket, finding it already warm from the sand.

Nathan rolled onto his side and looked down at her with a smile. "The water is even one hundred degrees. There is nothing about this program that us cold other then the drink."

"Fantastic. Even the ship seems too cold after the snowball planet..."

"This is going to be our best date ever I think." Nathan said with a proud smile. He had worked very hard on this surprise for her and he was so happy she liked it.

"I think I'm going to have to agree." Jhu spied the waiter returning with their drinks, and she sat up halfway as he approached.

Despite her fur coat, K'larri shivered as she huddled in a corner of an unused room. She'd escaped the Ferengi ship and ended up on some ice cube of a world. No one had seen her yet, which was just as well considering her fur was soaked in Ferengi blood. The little troll had taken what clothing she'd been wearing, save for the collar she wore to protect her throat. Something about a collar being 'kinky' and 'sexy' but 'FEE-males' shouldn't wear clothes. While she hadn't really been wearing much, any bit of extra warmth would be welcome in this planet-sized deep freezer!

Thin from lack of nourishment, she had little besides her fur to warm her, and hiding in this cold room was quickly becoming an unfavorable option. Nudity didn't bother her, not after living the way she had for so long. But the humans and other species that resided here might be uncomfortable with it. That and the blood. She'd need a sonic shower to get all of it out, and some of it had started to dry, making her fur stick out in odd, misshapen spikes. Then there was the gash through her left ear.

She pawed at it, mewing softly like a scared kitten. There had been an earring in it, but the Ferengi had ripped it free during the fight. Now there was just torn flesh, and she couldn't hear very well on that side. She hoped it was temporary, that the injury could be fixed, but K'larri knew that finding someone to fix it also meant explaining her current appearance. She didn't want to do that.

Still, she couldn't hide in this room forever. Someone would come in eventually, and then she'd have to start explaining anyway. Maybe there was somewhere she could go... some ship she could hide on that would take her away from this place...

Maica had just finished escorting Andy back to sickbay after the ball and though she was a lot more active than Andy had been, she was tired and flopped into her desk chair. Overall, things were looking good. Andy seemed her old self a fair bit though the strain of the event was obvious. At least she could get around and with another treatment or two, she'd be in a good position. Slipping her glasses back on her face, she clicked them and her desk computer back on and started back into her work.

Mizuki had had a very fun and eventful evening, and had been about ready to go to her quarters, when she got a communication from Maica, wanting to see her. The android had in fact looked very stunning at the ball...but such were the responsibilities of being her assistant. Deciding to go in her ball attire, she reports to Maica's location soon enough, and opens the door, letting herself in.

"Hey Mizu-pon. Did you ever finish looking over the Valdimaar reports? I know there were a lot of them." Maica looked up from her work and smiled as Mizuki entered, stress showing in her eyes.

She managed to stay looking regal enough for the walk over to the chair across from Maica, before plopping down in the chair. "Most of them. I probably missed a few." she admitted, sighing a bit as she relaxed in the chair.

"All good. I want you to compile a summary report on their current status." Maica said, pulling her glasses off and setting them on her desk. "What did you think of the Ball? I assume you heard us playing."

"I shall." Mizuki gave, before looking to the android. "The ball was amazing. What an event to throw for us! I was so nervous and felt like a lot of pressure was on me...but I had fun in the end. And I enjoyed your music very much."

"That's good. I think before tonight I was the only one aboard that had heard her play. I'm just glad she's doing well enough and that I got her new violin finished in time." Maica rubbed at her temple for a moment. "Thirsty? Do you want anything to drink?"

"Sure. You can pick." She took a deep breath, and looked at her. "How did I do out there?" she asked, a rare moment of vulnerability presenting itself.

"I was rather preoccupied but I'm pretty sure you did very well." Maica pulled 2 glasses and a rather large bottle off of a shelf behind her, pouring the thick purple fluid into both glasses. "This may come as a surprise, but this doesn't have alcohol in it. It's grape juice made from hand picked Devidian grapes."

"Arigato" She murmured, accepting it, and then tasting it soon after. "Uwah...That's really good, Mai-chan.." She smiled. "Thanks for sharing. And both you and Andy looked radiant."

"Thank you." Maica sipped at her own glass, savoring the flavor. "Apparently the dress I picked out for her was from a cartoon or something. I thought it was ancient Earth holo-technology - 3 dimensional pictures on a flat surface with the aid of sunglasses and all that."

She stifled a giggle at Maica's words. "Well, I was a little pre-occupied, so I didn't study the details of her dress...but I think that's rather cute. Even if it was a cartoon." Taking another sip, she rolls her shoulders lightly, her eyes not leaving the android's.

"Yeah, she was beautiful, wasn't she?" Maica smiled happily at the memory, looking into her glass and not noticing Mizuki's eyes on her own. "She'd blush hard and get flustered if I told her that though."

Mizuki smiled a bit. "I'm kind of envious. But I'm also happy to see you like this." she gave with a small chuckle of laughter.

"Hmm?" Maica looked up quizzically, that lovestruck smile still on her lips. "Oh. You'll find someone I'm sure. It just takes time."

"Indeed." Mizuki smiled a bit and relaxed. "I feel like..such a princess right now. Pretty, but tired. Oh, speaking of our daring comic book heroine, I spoke to her in sickbay before the ball."

"Oh? What did you talk about?" Maica said a little absent mindedly.

"Oh...not a lot. You, really. Some life lessons...the fact that I want to build something for my extra credit engineering course. A small land vehicle. Then she puked on my shoes by accident. Called my reaction ... too cheerful. That's just like her though. To be cold on the outside but warm on the inside. There's a word for it in my old tongue that describes her perfectly." Mizuki replied.

Maica had to giggle a bit about the shoes. "Yeah she's a bit like a dark chocolate covered cherry cordial. Bitter and hard on the outside but gooey and sweet on the inside."

"I should like to try one. Though I don't think a dark chocolate covered cherry cordial is a tsundere." She placed her hand over her mouth to stifle a yawn. "I count her among my friends."

"That's good. She needs more friends, I think. What did you think of our music at the ball?" Maica got up and headed to the replicator, punching up a tray of assorted chocolate covered berries. As soon as the tray materialized she set them on the desk between them and sat back down. "Try the darkest one there. It has a liquor and blueberry center."

"I felt like I could dance to it. It was great, the two of you and your music." Mizuki smiled, reaching over elegantly to take the darkest one. She tried to chew it, but it seemed too hard. So she closed her lips while rolling it around in her mouth, making varied degrees of wincing with her face.

"Pretty hard and bitter, isn't it? Just wait until it explodes in your mouth." Maica reached over and took one of the lighter milk chocolate ones, popping it into her mouth and chewing.

She nodded, enduring through the bitter before her eyes widened and she was speechless, still enjoying the fruits of her survival. A thumbs up was given to show her approval.

"And that's Andy." Maica said simply. "Though being an android, for me it was a lot easier to get to her sweet fruity middle."

Mizuki blushed at that particular indication. "I suppose it was? Not having the whole human thing to get in the way. Sometimes our emotions can be very...fickle."

"On the contrary," Maica started as she popped another cordial in her mouth and chewed. "back then my emotions had free reign over all my systems. I mean that she's a bit of a technophile. It was all I could do to keep her from tearing me apart and rebuilding me that first night."

"Sou ka..." She trailed off, laughing a bit. "I guess this homework has my mind in the gutter just a little bit. At least that was good, breaking down the barriers early, and getting to know each other better."

"And then we had the most passionate, ship shattering sex I'd had up to that point. Yes even as a prior sex slave." Maica said with a wicked grin.

"Thanks for pushing me into the gutter again, jerk!" Mizuki was only playing with that perceived insult, instead laughing a bit, not completely unnerved by it. "I suppose love does bring something extra to sex."

"Yes it does," Maica said with a chuckle, sipping from her glass. "It's a bit like a still photograph compared to being in a warp core breach, I think."

"Haven't experienced either, but.." She smiled a bit. "I'll know when I do. Thanks for the analogy."

"Any time," Maica said. "So how has your homework been going, anyway? Any progress?"

"Um! Well." She chuckled softly. "Lately I've been very busy. And after doing all that work, I come back to my quarters and pretty much just fall asleep wherever I end up. Gomene, sensei." she gave, with her most charming smile.

Maica smiled back warmly. "You are a busy woman, after all. Just try to keep at it."

"Mmmn. I will. Also, you made me feel more confident...with the whole laying on me thing. Not sure how you did it, but you did."

"Ah... You looked comfortable and I was tired as hell. That's all it was. But I can see it helping. Getting used to sleep sleeping with someone, that is." Maica said, finishing her glass of juice and pouring a bit more.

"Yeah." she yawned again. "Uh..Mai-chan. Is Andy coming back here tonight?"

"No, I'm pretty sure they're going to give her the hopefully last treatment tonight and she'll be back in the morning." Maica said.

"May I stay over then? I could use help getting out of the ensemble I've cocooned myself in..and someone comfortable to sleep alongside." Mizuki asked.

"Sure, I guess so." Maica nodded, thinking about it. "We can call it a diplomatic meeting sleepover. Totally work related."

"That sounds great." She smiled a bit. "I don't want to be a bother or inconvenience you, though."

"Not at all. Just let me know when you're ready." Maica said.

"Then, would you help me out of this and into something more comfortable? Then I'll be your willing assistant, as long as I can fall asleep on you.' Mizuki nodded softly.

Maica stood and moved to help Mizuki out of her dress, unzipping it in the back and helping her almost peel out of it like a second skin. "Do you prefer pajamas or something else to sleep in?"

"Thus far I've gone with pajamas. But I'm convinced that there are more options than just those so..are there any you can introduce me to?" Mizuki asked.

Grinning mischievously, Maica headed to the replicator and punched up a cute teddy in an Asian sakura pattern. "This should look good on you," she said as she handed Mizuki the nightie.

"M-maica.." She blushed, staring at it.. "That's...so cute.." Taking a deep breath, she elegantly slipped into it, and once it was on, she posed for Maica. "W-what do you think?"

Looking Mizuki over appreciatively, Maica smiled and nodded. "A perfect choice. You'd win any bedroom contest, I think."

"Ah, you're going to make me blush again." She nodded. "Thanks, Maica. Let's take our padds over to the bed, then? and bring any snacks or drinks we need? Cause the bed's more comfortable than these chairs.."

"Grab a snack mix 14 from the replicator and a couple apple ciders then. I'll get the PaDDs." Scooping up her antique looking glasses and a few PaDDs, Maica headed into the bedroom and started changing into one of her bright red see through nighties.

"Understood." She nodded and went to get them, before coming into the bedroom. She felt a bit more confident in the gift that was given to her, and approached the bed after Maica was done. "Oh, there's something I haven't mentioned yet.." Mizuki gave, looking at her.

Looking up at Mizuki, Maica was curious. "What's that, Mizu-pon?"

"You look beautiful in megane" she gave, indicating the glasses with a point of the finger.

Slipping the glasses on, Maica blushed a tiny bit. "Thank you. I wanted them for increased productivity, but they are quite elegant, aren't they?" Patting the bed, Maica sat down and arrayed the PaDDs before her. "Shall we then?"

Mizuki clambered onto the bed cutely and nodded. "Of course." she smiled and began to work, pleased by the informality. That actually helped her productivity to an extent.

Liam lay in the bed he now shared on a daily basis with the ships CO, he'd officially moved in and although it had been a while since he'd lived with someone the extra space that came with the Captain's Quarters made it nice. He could hear Kris in the attached bathroom still milling about, the ball had ended a few hours ago and despite having a suite at the outpost the pair had decided to come home. "Come to bed already." Liam called out, he was laying in the centre of the large leaning back against the head board.

Kris was in the bathroom freshening up before he retired to his bed for the evening. However, he knew better than to think that he would be getting any sleep anytime soon. He was rinsing his mouth, swooshing it around with the minty fresh wash. Though part of him was thinking Oh hell why bother, just going to do this again before we sleep. However, it was a good idea to try and give his breath a good minty freshness considering some of the foods that Kris had eaten while at the ball. "For a physician, you are quite anxious" commented Kris after spitting the rinse out.

"Well I kind of have a hot boyfriend who needs to be naked in bed with me." He replied, he rose to his feet and crossed to the bathroom scooping the Captain off his feet and carrying him back to the bed. He dropped the Captain playfully on the bed and climbed on top of him kissing him. Sliding his hand over the Captain chest. "Besides we're still on leave, and you don't even need to get out of bed for a day or two."

The Captain looked up at the man, still quite taken aback by the Doctor's actions. He had not anticipated being scooped up and carried away from the bathroom and tossed onto the bed like some sort of Orion slave. Though it took Kris by surprise, he still quite enjoyed it. Liam was always full of surprises. This unpredictability was a trait that Kris had come to love and admire. As he lay there with Liam looming over him, Kris remembered back to a handful of months ago when Liam was more or less just Kris' Chief Medical Officer. It was an unconventional away mission, a snatch and grab from the cargo hold of a Ferengi vessel. Liam and Lieutenant Weaver had gone in and completed the mission as if it were nothing, no questions asked.

Kris smiled up at Liam. "I don't need to, but it would probably be a good idea to get up and move about. Though for the time being, I am quit content with this view" replied the Captain as he tried to refrain from laughing as his chest was played with by the hands on approach of Doctor Liam Cohen.

Liam kissed Kris, his lips, his jaw, his neck, slowly moving down towards his shoulder. "Well I said we'll be in bed there will be plenty of moving about involved.

=/\= "Sickbay to Doctor Cohen, we have a medical emergency." =/\=

=/\= "What is it?" =/\= Cohen replied collapsing onto the bed next to the Captain.

=/\= "There was a training accident for security, there crewman coming in with moderate to sever injuries." =/\=

=/\= "Doctor Rose is on duty, he and his team are more than capable of handling this. If he needs assistance he can page me." =/\=

=/\= "Uhm, Copy that Sir." =/\=

"What, I have a patient that needs very intensive personal care." Liam said, kissing Kris again, as his hand slide down Kris' body.

Kris snorted and shook his head. "I thought that I was supposed to be the bad example aboard this starship, Doctor" replied Kris with a warm and inviting smile sweep his face. "Your patient is in need of some affection."

Liam leaned in and kissed Kris again, before flipping him on top of his body. "Yes Sir."

The Captain smiled warmly and kissed Liam affectionately. "Severe injuries during security training sounds pretty bad. I wonder what the hell Tonkin was having them do" commented Kris with a gentle sigh and he played with Liam's hair.

"Well unless you're inviting him to join us in bed I rather not talk about him right now." Liam said, kissing down Kris' stomach and hip.

Shaking his head, Kris added "Uh no thank you. I am in a much more stable place in my life now, and I would prefer if I share my bed with you and just you." Kris bean to kiss Liam's neck, a gently bit down every so often. "I believe that you are more than enough for me to handle."

"Good, now I've a surprise for you." Liam said before reaching under the bed to grab something.

An unconventional arrangement from the start, Aila's suggestion to Kerouac had been approved and then arranged by Colletare. There was a small part of her that felt guilty over having made a suggestion that would certainly inconvenience several of the crew affected by the decision to swap the location of arranged quarters. One of those crewmen was Mizuki Masterson. As was the case for Aila a short while ago, Masterson had been the only cadet assigned to the Katana and, as such, she'd been provided private quarters. However, the options Colletare had produced would have paired Aila with a more seasoned non-commissioned crewman, any of which were more than likely not to have been particularly keen on sharing their living space with an officer-in-training. It made the most sense to pair the two cadets. As such, Colletare had notified all parties involved that Masterson and Aila would be moving into the recently vacated quarters of a non-commissioned officer who was, undoubtedly, celebrating their new-found independence in Masterson's prior living accommodations.

Aila passed numerous totes, wardrobe containers, and other items that were obviously the personal effects of Masterson. The doors to their quarters were open and she could hear movement inside. Aila hoped that Masterson wasn't too upset about their new living arrangements. Taking a deep breath, Aila's knuckles rapped against the matte-finish of the doors metal frame as she passed through its threshold. "Cadet Masterson?" She politely asked a woman of slight build and petite height.

Mizuki was dressed extremely casual for this occasion, in a simple black sleeveless t-shirt and short brown shorts, with cute work boots on. The combadge rested on her right breast, and was light weight enough to not embarrass her. She looks up from her move with a small grimace on her face. "Oh! Hello. You must be my...new roommate.." she trailed off slightly, looking at her before averting her eyes a bit. "The new cadet, right? It's nice to meet you." She turns back with a smile.

"Yes!" Aila replied, the single word reply inflected with a tone of relief, "I am. And you must be Mizuki?" She wasn't completely certain to have pronounced the woman's name correctly, yet was hopeful. "I, well, I wanted to start by apologizing for my selfishness." Aila approached the senior cadet, who had turned away to continue rummaging through the tote she'd been unpacking just a few moments prior. It was important to Aila that Masterson understand there was a reason and purpose behind this sudden change of venue, and it wasn't for malicious intent, but more so for selfish reasons. If they were to live with one another, Aila wanted to ensure she was honest and upfront from the very beginning.

She had turned away, secretly pleased that her name had been pronounced right. Selfishness? What was this kouhai doing. Or thinking for that matter? "That's me." she remarked in reply to the first question. "You sound relieved, for one reason or another. And, your selfishness? I'm not sure that I follow. Explain please?" She turned her body to one side, looking back over her shoulder with an inquisitive look written across princess-like features.

Masterson was direct, a quality that Aila respected. "To be honest, I am relieved." She sighed, clearing a space on the couch before dropping onto its ample cushion. "Colletare, the quartermaster..." Aila wasn't sure why it was necessary to state the obvious, Masterson was certain to have known who Colletare was and what role he played on board the Katana. But she did, and that didn't seem to bother her in the slightest. "...was trying to help me find quarters. Well, the options weren't particularly enticing, if I can be so bold." She ventured, pausing for the briefest of moments to glance at the shoes Masterson adorned, "Those are cute." She interjected nonchalantly, the compliment rather matter-of-fact. "Anyway, most of the options involved older, more seasoned non-commissioned officers that perhaps weren't going to be terribly eager on having me as their roommate. So, for the sake of the sanity for all those involved, I asked the Captain and Colletare to play musical quarters so that you and I could room together." She finished, "See. Selfish."

She stood like that during the explanation, and then turned to face the cadet when it was finished, right leg slightly in front of the left, hand resting on her left hip, right hand hanging at her side. It was an instinctive model's pose, without even trying. "Mmm. Selfish? I don't think so. The choice was there. Risk rooming with more seasoned people that probably wouldn't like you, or risk rooming with me and have me dislike you. Risk is a part of the game we're learning." She pauses for a moment, remembering a thing that was mentioned. "Ah, I'm glad you like them. Your uniform...really suits you." Yeah, that was one of the lamer compliments that she had given, but after that initial look at Alia, her heart had quietly gone doki doki. But she was distracted by the move and didn't realize it had.

"Anyway, It was kind of lonely in my old quarters. Nice, but lonely. So, just to ensure you know, I'm not angry about your arrangements. Surprised? yes. Angry? No. I don't mind doing the work to move in." It was clear that she wanted to believe the best of Alia.

Aila smiled, enjoying how Masterson seemed completely oblivious to the Couture-esque pose she'd just snapped. It was all the more interesting that, had it been anyone else, such a gesture would have looked awkward and out-of-place. Yet, for Masterson, it heightened her natural beauty and appeared completely natural. "Thanks, but I've been in it all day and I really need a shower after spending so much time cooped up in that runabout." Aila picked at a stray piece of lint from her paint leg. "Most of my stuff should have been transported over shortly after I arrived?" It was more a question than an actual statement. While Aila had been visiting with Colletare and Kerouac, the runabout pilot should have ensured that her personal items had been transported along, yet all Aila could see at the moment was that of Masterson's personal belongings.

"Apparently it wasn't." Mizuki sighed. "Excuse me for a moment." She stepped away and opened a com channel to the runabout pilot. After a short exchange, in which she donned her powerful command tone and used a little manipulative leverage, the hum of the transporter beam was heard as Aila's items materialized at her location. "Thank you very much. Katana out." The cadet had cut off the pilot from saying anything snarky, before looking back to Aila who was just staring at her. "What? Go take your shower, I'll continue setting up the room."

She watched as the impish Masterson quibbled with the runabout pilot; the young woman's skillful mastery of manipulation was beguiling and worrisome. At first, Aila believed the senior cadets' attempt was a waste. Yet, when the whir of the transporter preceded the materialization of her personal belongings, Aila couldn't help but wonder how Masterson had become so adept in the art of exploitation. She was impressed, albeit cautious should the woman ever choose to utilize such a trade to the detriment of Aila's own well-being.

"That was..." Aila could think of no other word to use that most accurately summarized what she'd just witnessed, "...inspiring." And she left it at that.

Rising from the couch, Aila approached one of the three crates recently added to the cramped confines of the room. Releasing the latch, she removed the lid and placed it aside. Rummaging through its contents simply to confirm they were what she was looking for, Aila gripped either side of the smaller container and lifted it. "Most of this belongs in the bathroom." She remarked happily. "Give me twenty and I'll lend you a hand." The Irish-sprite disappeared into the en-suite bathroom only to reappear seconds later. She came upon Masterson quickly, with no bearing of hesitation. Wrapping arms around the woman's slight build, Aila hugged Masterson for the briefest of moments. The gesture was warm and friendly, conveying her appreciation perfectly. Had it been anyone besides Masterson, Aila believed there'd be a complete lack of graciousness and empathy, devoid of such attributes merely for the sake of being unkind. For Aila to believe contrary of this on behalf of Masterson was paramount, instilling a sliver of trust that had been all but stamped out on the Adelaide. "Thanks..." Was all that was said before Aila disappeared once more into the adjoining room.

Mizuki raised an eyebrow at the inspiring comment...though it made her smile She'd gone back to working, nodding to the other regarding the bathroom, when she felt arms around her, and swiveled her body to look into her eyes, being held there..and it all happened so fast. "Y-yeah!" she called after the junior cadet once she went back into the bathroom. "Any time." the girl added, simply standing there, replaying the hug in her mind. It had felt good, and more importantly, had instilled a sense of trust, with a little something more. Aila's personal file would be something that she would do research on. A spark of interest having been lit in her heart, she wanted to know more.

But that would wait..as she quickly turned away from staring at the bathroom entrance, hiding the light pink on her cheeks as she went back to unpacking her stuff, and making progress as she did so.

Aila appeared twenty minutes later. Freshly showered, she smelled sweetly of pomegranate and jasmine. She adorned a pair of black leggings with a black pair of lace-up boots, and a long-sleeved cashmere sweater, accessorized with a plumb-colored scarf. Her hair was down, a curtain of thick ribbons of curled locks whose length was well past either shoulder, their color a vibrant contrast to the cream-colored top. "That felt divine." She remarked happily, yet somewhat stunned by how much had been accomplished in such a short period of time. "Masterson, you're-you're amazing." She glanced around the room, nearly everything unpacked and staged. There was still much to do, but for the most part, their cabin was already taking on a very inviting and comfortable vibe.

Mizuki stood up fully, running one arm over her forehead, wiping off the sweat that had formed. She nearly did a double-take at how well the color scheme fit together on Aila's current arrangement...clearly she was in for a number of surprises to come, with the new roommate. "It wasn't really anything.." she gave modestly. "Learning to play housekeeper with extended family came in handy." Her hair was a bit messy too. "Say, since you're out of the shower, I'll take one too if that's okay?"

"Mmmkay." Was all Aila said after a soft nod of the head. She dug into the nearest open container to extract a set of neatly folded bed linen. While Masterson was cleaning-up, she'd do her part as well. Working to unpack unveiled a tremendous amount about Masterson, her personality, and family. It intrigued Aila that one could learn so much about a single person simply by handling sentimental materialistic items. It was true that the senior cadet was shy and reserved, yet Aila wouldn't go so far as to think of her as conservative. Most of what Masterson owned was fun, yet sophisticated, betraying hints of different interests and hobbies, while honoring the woman's heritage and culture. There were many photographs of Masterson with an older man, whom Aila assumed to be her father. They appeared to have an exceptionally close, albeit respectful, relationship. Other photographs were with people she assumed were friends and other members of the extended family. They portrayed a happily introverted, yet personable woman; someone Aila was very much looking forward to getting to know.

Aila had become so immersed in learning more about the other woman, that she'd completely lost track of the time. "Damn..." She scoffed after glancing at the chronometer. If she didn't hurry, she'd be late for her welcome orientation with Lieutenant Nathan Tonkin, the Katana's chief security and tactical officer. He'd already been kind enough to set aside a bit of time from shore leave to welcome Aila on board and help her to acclimate to the security department. She didn't want to disrespect or monopolize his time by being late. Writing out a quick note to Masterson, Aila grabbed a data PADD full of academic and administrative text and quickly departed their quarters, leaving the note affixed to the full length mirror just outside the bathroom door.

Miz-I hope you're okay with me calling you that-had to run to meet Lieutenant Tomkin. Let's meet for dinner in the messhall. ~A~ P.S. I really love that photograph of you and your dad at the zoo with the panda bear... it's cute. Okay, bye!

Mizuki sighed as the water flowed over her, and took her time. Though the desire to know more about Aila wouldn't go away. After she got out, the cadet donned her uniform again, complete with the cute short boots and skirted variant from before, showing off silky smooth looking legs. Only after that did she see the note, and it made her smile. It stood to reason that the other had gone through her stuff while helping unpack, and the picture mentioned brought back fond memories. It reminded her that her father was leaving her a present before shore leave was over. She was still happy to see him.

She picked up her PaDD and headed over to the bed, sitting down long enough to pull up Aila's file...which she got immersed in researching. Following all of the little rabbit holes like an enchanted Alice in Wonderland.

It hadn't been hard to figure out which ships were leaving soon and where they were going. Of the ships present, the Katana was going the farthest away, all the way to the Delta Quadrant. K'larri wasn't sure where she'd heard it, but it had been more than once so she took a chance. Finding the next shipment of supplies destined for the Katana, she'd found a container that was only mostly closed and squirreled herself away inside it. When they'd beamed it up, they'd beamed her up with it. How they hadn't spotted her signature in there was beyond her, and she was amazed that it had actually worked.

The ship was warmer than the planet, but still not warm enough. She discovered that with some dismay as she crawled back out of the container and closed it again. Huddling behind it, she shivered slightly as she considered her options. How long she could remain aboard was a mystery; she really didn't want to be found and sent back down to the ice planet. Before she'd even started to form a plan, she heard the doors open, and she froze in place, barely breathing.

Stepping into the cargo bay to do her checks on the beamed aboard crates, Vara paused and looked up from her PaDD. The lights were off and she knew no one was supposed to be in here but she was picking up lifesigns on her radar. "Computer, seal the doors. Authorization Cho'ren Orion three." Hearing the doors seal behind her, she left the lights off and started slowly walking towards the bio sign. "I recommend showing yourself."

K'larri growled deep in her throat, slinking further back. She didn't know who this person was or how they found her so easily, but she didn't like how they were approaching. It was too much like how the Ferengi had tried to force himself on her.

Growling? Crap... They beamed aboard a wild animal... Vara sighed and leaned against one of the crates, no longer moving towards the biosign. "Computer, lights." As the lights snapped on, Vara pulled out her phaser, setting it to a mild stun. "Now what kind of wildlife are you?"

"Wildlife?" K'larri growled, no longer trying to keep hidden. This woman thought she was a wild animal? How rude! The lights coming on so suddenly was momentarily blinding, but she could still hear. And that woman was way too close.

Still leaning against that crate, Vara finally saw who or what it was. "A Caitian? I doubt you were native to that block of ice. What are you doing here?"

"Why do you care?" K'larri drew back a little bit, essentially curling into a ball.

"So I can fill out my security reports. Would you rather do this in the brig?" Vara asked, her phaser still in her hand, though not at the ready.

"Gonna end up there anyway," K'larri muttered. These people were likely to put her in the brig just based on the fact she was covered in blood that wasn't her own. "There is a Ferengi ship in orbit. I came from there."

"Ferengi ship huh?" Putting up her phaser, Vara tapped her comm badge. "Cho'ren to the bridge. We have an escapee from a Ferengi ship in orbit. I'm taking her to the brig to get cleaned up and question her." Receiving a confirmation from the bridge, she waited for the Caitian to come the rest of the way out of hiding. "So what's your name?"

Unsure if this was a trap or not, K'larri slowly stood up and inched forward to where Vara was waiting. In the full light, it was easily apparent that aside from the collar around her neck she was quite naked. Blood was matted in various areas of her fur, most of it clearly Ferengi. Only the blood matted in her mane around her left ear was hers. "K'larri. What's yours?"

Vara looked her over, making note of all the Ferengi blood. "I'm Vara. Welcome to the ship of outcasts." Slowly heading to a replicator set into the wall, Vara replicated a light blanket and offered it to the bloody woman to wrap up in.

"Thank you." Though she wasn't really shy, K'larri accepted the blanket and wrapped it snugly around herself. It was lightweight, but just heavy enough that she already felt considerably warmer. Plus it hid most of the blood. People would be less likely to stare.

"Computer, unseal doors. Cho'ren Orion three." Hearing the doors unseal and open, Vara motioned towards the door. "Shall we?"

K'larri nodded slightly. She didn't really look forward to being questioned, but it was inevitable. At least Vara hadn't shot her.

Soon they were in the brig and Vara relieved the on duty watch officer as she pointed out the clothing replicator and the showers. Leaving K'larri to it, she sat at the desk and started filling out a report on the incident and waited for the Caitian to finish, secretly watching her on the monitors.

Not a fan of water, K'larri opted for a sonic shower, folding the blanket and recycling it in the replicator before climbing into one of the sonic shower stalls. It's quiet hum quickly vibrated the blood free of her fur, but she clenched her teeth as the vibrations ran through her injured ear. She thought it would start bleeding again for sure, but the wound remained scabbed over by some miracle. She lingered long enough to be sure her fur was clean then turned it off and clambered out, using the replicator to produce a lightweight robe-like garment. She'd rarely worn anything like it but it was warm and hid how thin she was. Not sure where she was supposed to go next, she wandered back toward where they had come in.

Smiling stiffly at K'larri as she returned from the showers, Vara motioned to a chair on the other side of the desk, indicating she should sit down. "Feeling better I hope. Do you want anything to eat or drink before we get started?"

Food? Vara was willing to feed her? K'larri's ears pricked forward, and her demeanor brightened a bit. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had a decent meal! "Yes. Absolutely."

Punching up some Caitian raw fish dish she figured was varied enough to do for K'larri, Vara punched up a mug of spiced ginger tea for herself and slid the tray out of the desk replicator over to the Caitian woman. Sipping at her own tea, Vara hoped that would be edible enough for her. "Sorry if that's not to your liking. I'm not too good with replicator food. If you want something else just let me know."

"Oh my." K'larri couldn't help licking her lips as she sat down in the indicated chair. It might be replicated, but it was better than the tube grubs the Ferengi had been trying to make her eat. "This is... this is fantastic. Thank you." Initially a bit hesitant, soon she was eating quite happily, tasting each of the fishes on the plate. Even being replicated, it was better than much of the food she'd been eating for most of her life.

Trying not to pay much attention to the woman's eating, Vara picked up a PaDD and clicked it on. "Being my normally blunt and insensitive self, what were you doing on a Ferengi ship?"

K'larri paused in her eating, slowly lowering a piece of fish back to the plate. "I was running. They found me and the Daimon claimed me as a slave. Is this really necessary?"

"Unfortunately. I just need a basic background story to determine whether you'll be sleeping in a brig cell or in guest quarters." Vara said honestly.

K'larri sighed, pushing the half-finished plate of fish away. "Fine." Not at all eager to tell anyone where she'd come from, she had a feeling it was going to be the brig. She wasn't just hiding for no reason. "I was running from a Caitian street gang that sold my body on street corners. The Ferengi ship was convenient... I was just going to get off at the next stop. Then the little bastard got his grubby hands on me. Took everything except my collar, used the collar to chain me down..." She stopped, hoping that was enough. She didn't want to explain the rest.

"Sounds like you and Commander Maica might get along pretty well. She escaped from a similar life from what I've heard." Vara clicked a few buttons on her PaDD, leaning back in her chair.

That's nice, K'larri thought a bit sourly. "I see. I didn't think anyone here would understand it."

"We rescued Shira from a Ferengi slaver as well." Vara had almost forgotten about the fairy girl. "And we have a couple other Caitians on board. If you were to be let go, what would you do?"

"I don't know. I'm not much use to a Starfleet crew... never went to school." Plus K'larri still hadn't told Vara how she'd gotten off the Ferengi ship. She might not be educated, but she knew murder was a crime. A serious one.

"Starfleet isn't for everyone. Do you have anywhere you could go?" Vara asked curiously.

K'larri shook her head. "I don't have any family, and I can't go back to Cait."

"Fair enough. Not my department anyway." Setting the PaDD down, Vara leaned in and looked K'larri directly in the eyes. "Can you think of any reason I should put you in the brig rather than under guard in guest quarters?"

There it was. The question that would have her thrown in the brig. If K'larri lied and Vara found out, she'd be in the brig. If she told told truth... well. She'd probably be in the brig. Coming to this ship was a mistake. She hesitated, her ears twitching several times before she laid them back and looked away from Vara. She didn't know what to say! "Maybe." She shrank a little in the chair, her ears almost disappearing into her mane.

"Other than possibly killing a Ferengi, that is." Vara said, her gaze just as intense.

"Oh. Well... no. I mean..." K'larri sighed again. "I've stolen things, mostly food or things I could sell to get food. But that was on Cait. A long time ago."

"Is there anything you want from this ship and crew while you're here?" Vara asked.

K'larri shook her head. "I just thought it would be safe."

"Fair enough." Leaning back in her chair, Vara sipped at her tea. "When you're done eating I'll escort you to guest quarters. The door will be locked and you'll have limited computer access but you'll have a decent little room you can turn around in. I'll let someone with a higher rank than me decide what to eventually do with you but I wouldn't worry."

A little surprised, K'larri stared at her blankly for a moment. She hadn't been expecting that, not after sneaking aboard. "I can live with a locked door, as long as it's a warm place to sleep. I appreciate your kindness."

"You'll be able to adjust the thermostat if you need to. As for kindness, innocent until proven guilty and all that." Vara said rather bluntly. "Besides, I've killed lots of people with my bare hands. Who am I to judge you?"

"Uh... I suppose you might have a point." K'larri had good reason for doing what she did. Surely that had to count for something.

Vara then turned to a lighter topic. "So what do Caitians eat normally, anyway?"

"Meat, mostly. Can't digest most plants... nepata's about the only plant we enjoy actually. Some fruit, but not much of it. Dairy's usually a bad idea... I guess you could think our diet like how wild cats on Earth eat?" She might not have had any schooling, but she knew a bit about Earth. It always seemed like such a nice place. "Some Caitians cook their meat. Some of us prefer it raw."

"That makes sense I suppose." Vara said. "Do you want any more of that fish?"

Before K'larri answered, her stomach rumbled, prompting a small, embarrassed chuckle. "Uh... yeah." She pulled the plate back over, resuming her meal. "Fish was harder to get than other meats. No access to a replicator... and it's expensive on Cait. Food for the rich or something like that, I don't really know."

Vara smiled politely, sipping her tea some more. "You might enjoy sushi then. Without the rice, that is."

"Sushi?" K'larri was unfamiliar with the word, but she resolved to find out what it was. "I will try it sometime. This will do for now." With most of the fish eaten, she gingerly set the plate to the side.

"Ready to go see your quarters then?" Vara asked, setting her empty mug aside as well.

"Yes, please. I think I'd like to sleep for a while." K'larri was used to feeling tired from lack of sleep, but the fatigue combined with a full stomach was quickly wearing her down.

Standing up, Vara let K'larri out the door. "Do you need anything else? Do you want to see the doctor about your ear maybe? I could request one of the medics come to your room."

Her ear. She'd almost forgotten. K'larri touched it gingerly, finding the tear in it to be much larger than she'd previously thought. "Please do that. I would like to pierce it again, but I can't unless it heals properly."

"I'll see if Lt Nolira can visit you. She's good at medical stuff." Vara said as they entered a turbolift. "Deck 9."

"Whoever you think is good, that's fine." K'larri didn't know anyone else yet, so she'd have to trust Vara's judgement. So far Vara had been a good person, so K'larri wasn't worried that she would give bad advice.

"I don't know our new XO so I'll request the Captain come see you to figure out anything further." Vara said as the turbolift stopped.

"That's... fine." K'larri's ears and tail twitched, a sure sign that she was uncomfortable with the idea. What would she do if the captain wasn't as sympathetic? There was nowhere she could go.

Vara noticed the nervousness as they left the turbolift and she decided to try to comfort K'larri. "He's a good person. I wouldn't worry too much. He let a fairy girl roam the ship so how bad can he be?"

"Your fairy girl likely didn't murder someone and arrive on the ship covered in that person's blood," K'larri countered, though her ears did slowly stop twitching.

"He also lets me walk around free." Vara paused in fromt of a door and stared at K'larri seriously before opening the quarters. "Most Federation citizens consider Lagashi like me evil megalomaniac psychopaths because of our genetic augments and implants."

K'larri shrugged. "You seem nice enough to me, but I've never met a Lagashi before."

"There are few people on this ship I wouldn't die for but I'd just as soon rip their arm off and beat them to death with it." Vara said with her usual bluntness. She felt like she was more talkative than normal today thanks to this newcomer and it kind of bothered her.

"Point made. I think I'll just go inside now." K'larri retreated a few steps away from Vara.

Watching K'larri enter her quarters, Vara smiled politely. "If you need anything, let me know. I'll be here until someone else gets here to sit here the rest of the time."

"Okay. I'll... do that." K'larri let the door close between them, watching Vara until she could no longer see the Lagashi woman.

Arthur was sitting at his desk in his office, an incident report on his computer screen. Nathan's injury had slowed down paperwork quite a bit, and added even more work to the already heavy load. For the last two days he had spent his working shifts filling out forms an submitting reports. He sighed, hoping to find an excuse to take a break, soon.

Will was walking down the corridor after finishing his maintenance check on the secondary powerflow regulators and realised he would need to pick up a replacement projector core for one of the Mess Hall replicators, giving him a chance to have a break. Walking up to the Security Office, he saw it was occupied and pressed the chime.

Arthur looked over at the door, wondering who it was. He guessed it was probably Nathan, and hollered "Come in!" Before looking back to his computer.

Will didn't recognise the voice but accepted the invite and stepped into the office, seeing another crew member at the desk. Will chided himself gor not knowing everyone yet but he did pick up on the fact this gentleman was an NCO. Will stopped just before the desk.

"Ah, my apologies. I thought Nathan...er... Lt. Tonkin was here. Are you one of his security team? I'm new on board," he explained.

Arthur looked up from the screen, and saw someone he didn't recognize. He wasn't Nathan, that was for sure. "I'm Nathan's Assistant, Chief Warrant Officer Arthur Waterson. And you would be..."

"Lieutenant Will Morgan, Assistant Chief Operations Officer to Chief Carter," Will answered proudly. He'd gotten used to his extended title on board starships over the years and it almost seemed to roll off the tongue. "I was wondering if he was around for a break in the mess hall," Will enquired. Then he had a thought. "Unless you would like to join me?" he offered.

Arthur nodded, and smiled. "Sure, I'm down with some lunch."

Will smiled to his approval of lunch and was happy to have some company during his break. Eating alone was never much fun for him. "By the way, I didnt catch your name?" He asked as they left.

Arthur stood up, and said "I'm Arthur," before walking out the door with Will. As they headed down the hallway towards the mess hall, he asked "You're Will, correct?"

"Thats right, a pleasure to meet you Arthur," Will answered as they walked. Will was looking forward to some company and this guy seemed ok. "So whats your role on Nathan's team, Arthur and how long have you been on board?" Will asked as they entered the mess hall. Will located a table for the two of them and indicated to it, taking a seat as they approached the table.

A waiter approached the table, asking them what they would like to eat and drink.

"I'll have beef ravioli with red sauce, please."

"I'll have a Beef Lasagne with a pint of Ginger Beer, please."

The waiter nodded, and moved towards the replicator.

Meanwhile, Arthur cleared his throat. "I'm Nathan's right hand man, here to back him up, and take some of the work off his back. As far as service is concerned, I've served on this ship for two months, though I've served in Starfleet for almost 30 years."

Will nodded as he realised that Arthur was a true veteran in every sense of the word and an experienced NCO at that. "Wow! 30 years? I cant match that sort of experience. I graduated from the Academy 18 years ago. I lost my parents at Wolf 359 whilst I was at the Academy and I served with Chief Carter during the Dominion War on the Lexington," he explained to Arthur.

Arthur nodded, understanding that while Will wasn't as experienced as himself, he definitely wasn't 'wet behind the ears' as some put it. "Well, I'm sorry about your parents. I don't even know how my parents are, haven't spoken to them in years. Could be dead for all I know, but that doesn't matter." Arthur adjusted his shirt slightly. "Starfleet comes first for me, my career is all I have."

Will understood where Arthur came from. He coud tell his career, his life in Starfleet was important to him, hell it was a way of life for him and that was admirable. "Well, at least you have a simple priroty in life, thats good," Will noted. "So, why enlist? How come you never went down the officer route?"Will asked. He was curious about this, having worked with Andy being a Chief Petty Officer and seeing her attention to detail and high service to the job.

Arthur thought about his answer for a moment before responding. "My two best friends, me, and four of my other friends all wanted to join Starfleet. In this group, I was the only really responsible one, the rest were reckless, and more than a tad bit immature. If I applied to the Academy, my friends would have out in danger for four years before I graduated. To keep an eye on them, I enlisted." His face darkened a little bit after that sentence. "Unfortunately, it didn't work out very well."

Will noticed the turn in Arthur's tone of voice as he explained his decision for enlisting and not taking the Academy route and he sensed a tough reasoning behind it. "I see. What happened?" he asked him, treading as carefully as he could in asking.

"Well, seven of us enlisted, and two of us are currently alive. we all enlisted during the Cardassian War, and were pushed to the front almost immediately. We all served aboard the same ship, and worked together. Three of my friends were engineers, one was in medical, and two worked in flight conn. We were attacked about a year in, there was a big explosion in engineering. And there went the lives of three good friends. Over the years, two of my other friends died, while serving in Starfleet. The only guy left than me is Davey, who's a Master Chief Petty Officer, and the shuttlebay manager on some battleship over in the Delra Quadrant. And you, Will? You lose any friends?"

Will's head bowed as he thought of Alyssa straight away. "Yes, Yes I did. I was on the Valkyrie, returning home from an exploratory mission when the ship was attacked by a Borg Cube. Whilst the ship put up a good fight, most of the crew were captured and assimilated," he explained, "I was close to the ship's Counselor... We were in a relationship together and she was one of the crew members captured and assimilated."

Will looked up at Arthur, realising that they had both seen their fair share of action and pain of losing close friends. As the waiter brought their drinks order over, he raised his glass. "A Toast... To standing brave in the memory of those we have lost," Will suggested.

"To all we have lost, indeed." Arthur brought his glass up to Will's and they knocked together with a resounding clink. Putting his glass back down, Arthur asked "So, what made you choose Ops, mate? I'm sure you could have done science or engineering, what made Operations appeal to you?"

Will smiled at the question. "Well that stems from my childhood. Whilst my parents were serving on starships in the fleet, I stayed at my Uncles shipyard where I studied and worked on various ships," he explained. "I have a background in engineering anyway but I preferred the freedom Ops offers which allows you to work in various areas anyway. I've worked in Engineering, I'm a pretty good pilot plus I'm not a bad shot with a phaser so it makes me a bit of an all rounder," Will finished, explaining the areas he had experience in, although he still wished he could make department chief or senior officer one day.

"Good with a phaser, huh? Maybe we could go down to the firing range and have a little competition some time."

Will nodded with a smile at Arthur's suggestion. "Now theres an idea, I need to get some practice in," he admitted. "Its been a little while since practising on my last assignment and that was back on Earth at Starfleet Operations." Will reminded himself to set some time up with Arthur. He was enjoying this meeting with him and glad to be getting to know another member of the crew.

"So did you have anything interesting planned for the rest of your shift? I hate to think that I was interrupting you," Will asked, knowing that Lunch was fun but work was needed to be done.

Arthur gave a bemused chuckle. "There's always work to do to some degree, but today has been easier than most days. Several of my lackies have filed reports on some incident reports some people filed earlier. I have to write reports on these reports." Arthur flashed Will a wry grin. "I'm just hoping that Nathan doesn't have to file a report on my report on the report about the incident report. There's so much beauracracy around here, you know?"

Will chuckled at Arthurs comment. It was good to know such a seasoned serving NCO still had a good sense of humour to him. "With all those reports, you should hope Nathan doesnt throw you in the brig for creating work or that Doc Cohen doesnt confine you to your quarters for overwork," Will grinned as he took another sip. "Thats one thing I cant change though, I've always been driven to do the best job I can... Although being overworked can be part of the job," Will explained.

Arthur nodded. "Fair enough, fair enough. I think the hardest thing about serving so long in Starfleet is trying to keep up with all the tech upgrades. I mean, harmonic shield intervals, new phaser designs, new tactical console interfaces, it's a lot of work adjusting to all of that."

Will smiled in agreement with Arthur's thought. Starfleet had moved on in rapid spurts and jumps over the decades and centuries with new advancements in technology and Will acknowledged this. "Thats true, but look at the reasons why. Originally it was to push forward through Science and Technology, but later on, advancement was made due to defense and combat against enemies like the Borg and the Dominion," he explained. "Either way I agree, its difficult keeping up with it all but change is life."

"Aye, Will, change is inevitable. But even then, it doesn't always keep up with the tech of our enemies. For example, I take it your aware of the recent security breaches we've had?"

Will nodded to his question,"Indeed, we were breached by Section 31 as I understand it, with your boss getting tortured and my boss rescuing him," Will recounted. He was aware of the rescue mission and the injuries Nathan suffered. "I hope he's ok. I also found various sabotage devices attached to secondary systems designed to shut us down if we were engaged in battle... Section 31 are a slippery bunch of bastards," he explained, knowing the Katana had been through a lot recently."

"He's recovered perfectly, Will. He took it like a champ. His arm, I think he needed a prosthetic. Did you have a hand in making that?"

Will shook his head. "No, thats one area of engineering thats not within my expertise, although I'm glad he's now recovered," Will explained, "That must've been a terrible experience to go through...and thank god he's got such a good team to back him up," he added taking a sip of his drink.

"Indeed." Suddenly, the commbadge on Arthur's chest chirped, signaling the end of his break. "Excuse me, but I have to get back to work."

Will stood up as Arthur got up to leave. "Of course, well thank you for joining me, I should get back myself," Will explained, getting up and leaving as well. As Will made his way back to the Bridge, he was happy that he had made a friend today.

The Quartermaster's office was more cluttered with usual, with most of the space in the already crowded enough room taken by small crates and PADDs. During the stop at Ophinias colony, supply orders started piling up. And now, Ethan was wallowing in requisition forms. So there he was, sitting with his feet on the desk, reading a spanner request, not expecting any visitors.

"Oh goodness." Aila sidled past several containers stacked high. "Oops, maybe if I just..." The young cadet's ample posterior bumped an adjacent container filled with hypospray ampules, the resulting jingle of glass betraying her presence. "Or not." Brow furrowed, she navigated through the maze of crates and containers, canvases and totes. "This is... quite the col-" She swung around a teetering stack of containers that stored tricorder power cells, steadying them with either hand until the stopped swaying so precariously, "-lection." She managed to finish, stepping out from the mass of supply orders that had accumulated in the Quartermaster's office. "You're not busy at all, are you." She joked, offering a sympathetic smile. "Ensign Colletare?" She asked, approaching the counter of which the man sat behind, "Ensign Callaghan recommended I come to visit with you, but I can see you've, well, got your hands full. Should I come back later?" She gestured with a thumb over a shoulder, back toward the entrance. In truth, Aila really didn't want to leave. She feared there was a good chance that her departure would result in a catastrophic loss of those hypospray ampules. And besides, she was here now, so better to arrange living accommodations sooner rather than later.

Looking up from his PADD, Ethan noted the ginger cadet standing in front of him. A year ago, I would've worn a uniform just like that one, he mused. Nodding at the cadet's words, he smirked. "Yeah, I'm Ensign Colletare. So you've come to see me, ay?" Ethan's smirk quickly turned into a frown. This meant she was here for a quarters assignment, and that wasn't good. With the new Marine detachment being deployed onboard, Ethan was scrambling to make space for a barracks, and that meant forcing people who used to have their own quarters to share. He had gotten quite a few complaints over the last few days from several senior NCOs and warrant officers who now had to split a room with another crew member. "No, you don't need to leave. I'm just under a bit of pressure right now. Anywho, I'm going to need your name, rank, and position, before I can help you with anything."

Aila leaned against the counter, "Cadet Sophomore Grade Aila Gilmore, security officer trainee." She rattled off with articulate precision while setting down the large, heavy canvas duffle that had been slung over one shoulder. "When I learned of my reassignment to the Katana, I heard that there was another cadet on board. Is this true?"

"Err..." Ethan pulled up the manifest, and typed 'cadet' into a search bar at the top. "Uh, yeah. Her name's Masterson. Mizuki Masterson. She's a yeoman." Ethan scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Why, you want her quarters, or something?"

"Well, not so much her quarters as perhaps she and I might room together." Aila ventured nonchalantly. "With you already having to make accommodations for the new Marine Detachment, it would make a bit more sense for she and I to room with one another while offering her quarters to a more seasoned crewman." She suggested, glancing at the Ensign's computer terminal. "It would undoubtedly relieve a bit of tension that may arise by pairing me with a non-com who would be less than pleased to be rooming with an officer-in-training, wouldn't you agree?"

"Eh... That involves a lot of shuffling. I mean, I'm not authorized to do all of that. You'll have to talk to the cadet, and the captain, and find an NCOS who's willing to go through with it.' He shrugged. "If you want to go through with it, good luck."

[ON]

Mizuki was still a little sore about having told the captain, and him basically dropping the hammer on her as a result. She didn't need the counseling trip. But, it had been an order. So she goes in search of the counselor, and after not finding her, leaves a message on her PaDD, requesting an appointment as soon as possible.

Lia arrived back at her office the moment she saw Mizuki standing in front of her office door. "Hello, I hope you weren't waiting long."

Mizuki bowed her head and then gave it a small shake. "I wasn't." she smiled. "I've been...ordered to come to you. So, if we could arrange an appointment ma'am, I would be appreciative."

"Now." she replied with a smile as she tapped on her office door, unlocking it. "Please have a seat."

She walks in quietly after her and takes a seat formally, her hands resting in her skirted lap, posture straight, eyes forward. "So where do we start?" Mizuki asked neutrally.

"Where ever you want." Lia asked as she took the chair opposite of Mizuki.

Mizuki sighed and brought up her PaDD, showing a reluctance to even be here at all. She opened a window and dragged several files onto the virtual representation of Lia's PaDD. "I have been ordered to see you regarding recent developments. During the recent incident with the hostile operatives, I was held hostage in Transporter Room One, with a phaser pointed to my head." Thus came the statement file, (found in A Beaming Truth). "Before this happened however, an event that occurred in my past has surfaced again. However unlikely it might sound, I have an artifact that allows me to become an armored figure. I utilized this mystical relic to aid in freeing myself from my captor, and opening up an opportunity for Lieutenant Tonkin to shoot him before he could shoot CPO Carter. I am certain you have many questions about this, and while I don't particularly want to be subjected to such things, there's no defying an order from the Captain. So I will comply with any questions you have about the relic, my mental state, or anything else."

Lia leaned back in the chair eye her. "If it weren't for the Captain's orders; would you even be here?"

That made her stop and think, before she sighed a bit. "I would have come at a later time. Since...this is our first time meeting, and for an officer in the making, I need to meet everyone and do things that I may not exactly want to do. I'm sorry if I came off as hostile."

Lia shook her head, "That is not why I asked you the question." she began, "having a phaser pointed to your head is a traumatic experience, however if you do not wish to talk about it, or wish to seek counseling on your own, these sessions will be pointless. You'll have to want the help in order for it to work."

She sighed a bit, sizing up the question. "It was surprising, definitely. I can feel the point of it pressed against the side of my head. To be overtaken by someone I didn't know in such a short time, well yeah. It was traumatic and rather scary, but somewhere along the way I realized that I couldn't freeze up or be overtaken by it, ya know?"

Lia nodded, "And how do you feel now about the incident? Are you still bothered by it, affected? Or are other people noticing a problem where there is none?"

She shook her head. "I feel fine." The younger gave with truth. "Ever since it was resolved so quickly, I haven't really thought about it, or dreamed about it. No lingering trauma, as far as I know. Just a renewed resolve to keep going, and to help and protect my friends while furthering my studies. That's what's been on my mind." She opted not to speak of more personal things, though.

Lia watched her and titled her head, "Are you sure that is all?"

"Some personal things. Mainly problems of youth." She smiled a bit. "Like love...but I think that's a different topic than I was sent here for."

Lia smirked, "I'm the Counselor, the only topic is your mental health. That includes relationship issues, and other topics. You'll also be surprised how interwoven feelings can be."

"Well, I guess they can be more connected than one might think." Mizuki quipped, "But, I'm feeling fine, really. Nothing out of the ordinary, no angst.." The younger was a little lost, since she really did feel fine, even after the hostage incident.

"Well then, I see no reason to continue our session." Lia smiled, "However, if you are ever bothered, my door is open."

Mizuki stood, and bowed her head in respect. "Thank you, I will remember that. It was nice meeting you, Commander."

[OFF]

"What the fuck is this thing doing here?" Andy said in a venomous tone as she stared at the device sitting in Main Engineering where she and Ari had been called to by the new Executive Officer. As soon as she saw the transwarp drive, the ex-Borg woman stopped cold in her tracks. She had hoped to never see another one of these things ever again!

"I'm not sure, Senior Chief," Arivek replied, his hands on his hips. We walked around the side of the large device, "I'm also not comfortable with how close it's sitting to the warp core."

Suddenly and almost as if out of nowhere, a giant cat with a mere one eye appeared between the two officers. Commander M'rayr Eisovo glanced at the transwarp device with mental uncertainty; he still didn't agree with using Borg technology in order to expedite the Katana's transition from the Gamma quadrant to the Delta quadrant. But Starfleet's orders were clear, and the matter with the Vaudwaar was enough reason to move with haste. "Our orders are to integrate this device into the Katana's systems, and use it to reach the Delta Quadrant." The Caitian told them with a brusque tone. "Starfleet has instructed us to make the Katana ready for transwarp jump no later than stardate 65971.09 -- you have one week to configure it to work with our systems."

"Sir, I'd seriously advise against this," Andy said cautiously, staring the device down angrily. The memories this device evoked within her were not pleasant. "It looks very old, it may not be stable for use, and integrating Borg technology with Starfleet systems can be unpredictable at best, even on a good day."

"I have to agree with the Senior Chief, sir," Arivek stated, walking back around the front of the device. He looked at the man who turned out to be the ship's XO. Ari hadn't yet had the opportunity to meet the man. "I don't think this is a good idea."

M'rayr heaved a low growl that loosely resembled a human sigh, intending for it to come off as a warning to both that the matter was not up for debate. Nevertheless, he also managed to cast a suspicious gaze towards the object. Despite his opinion, getting the device to work with the Katana was now his duty. And to show discomfort or reservation, even to two members of the senior staff, would sew doubt into what Kerouac was planning to do. "Both of your objections will be noted in my log. But unless either of you intend on resigning," he glanced briefly towards Carter -- this was the second time in just as many days that he'd brought up the topic with her -- before continuing. "You will do whatever is necessary to ensure the success of this plan. If there are problems with the device, I expect the two of you to correct for them." M'ryar waved a paw towards the device. "Options."

Andy heaved a heavy sigh as she considered the object before them. She really didn't want to work with this damned thing, but orders were orders. "Well, aside from the issue of it being Borg tech, to which you have already noted my objections, this device is very old." Andy walked around the transwarp drive, scanning it with every method available to her. She even opted to use tricorder to do more intensive diagnosis. "It's been exposed to the elements, too... I don't know if we can get it operational. But I guess our first option would be to give it power and see if its command pathways are still functional. I would recommend a power supply separate from main power, like mobile power pack, to avoid any feedback on the EPS grid. Once we assess if it's functional and won't cause disruptions to our computer and power, then we can hook it up and do more."

Arivek smiled at the woman, even though her attention was drawn elsewhere. Even though they barely knew each other, they both seemed to be on the same wavelength. At least in this scenario. Perhaps they would prove to work well together in the future. "I agree. We can use the ship's backup generators. It won't take me but a few moments to disconnect them from the ship systems," he said, moving to the nearest console and began to input commands.

"Very good. Do it." M'rayr watched as the Operations Chief and Chief Engineer worked on. Quietly, he moved over to a console and entered new commands. It was entirely possible that the transwarp device posed no threat to the ship and crew, but it was Borg, and he was unwilling to take any chances. Programming a transport lock into his console, a small light began to blink ready. Once finished, the Caitian looked up to the Chief Engineer. "Status."

"Backup generators have been disconnected," Arivek stated, leaning over the console was at. Another command into the LCARS system and he turned back to the transwarp drive. "If we can move it a few meters away from the Warp Core, I would feel much more comfortable," he said, waving over a few Ensigns to get that taken care of. "And then we'll connect it to the generators."

"On it," Andy said as she approached the transwarp drive and the pedestal it was on, hesitating a moment before grasping it and moving it away from the Warp Core. It made her skin crawl just touching it, but she schooled her features to hide her revulsion. "You know, we should call Will Morgan in on this," Andy commented as she found the cables to hook the device up to the generators. "He's got experience with Borg tech too. When I was first recovered after my assimilation, he was the only one I trusted to help me maintain my alcove." In fact, Will had been a mentor on the Lexington and had taught her just about everything about Operations that made her such an efficient officer.

"Who is Will Morgan?" Arivek asked, feeling a bit offended that the Senior Chief wanted to bring someone else into the project. She clearly hadn't read his service record to notice that he was an expert in nano-technology. "I'm sure that we can take care of this project on our own."

M'rayr considered Carter's suggestion. If Will Morgan was as familiar with Borg technology as she was suggesting he was, he'd likely be a resourceful tool. Then again, the Caitian had some concerns over having too many 'fingers in the pot', so to speak -- too many people, each with different ideas, turning an already complex project into an unmanageable mess. "I am confident in your abilities, Senior Chief." The Caitian decided. "We may reevaluate should a significant problem arise."

"I doubt we'll have any issues that we can't handle," Arivek stated, pointedly. He walked around the side of the device and began to input commands into the Borg console. "I'm ready to begin the power-up process."

Andy hesitated before she initiated the power flow. With Arivek's commands, the transwarp drive lit up, not quite ready to be used, but at least it seemed functional so far. "I hope you two can appreciate how much I hate the sight of this thing," Andy said as she watched Ari working.

Arivek looked at the woman and instantly became sad. Being so enthralled in nano-technology and the Borg, he became callous to the reality of the Collective and their destructive ways. Andy was proof of just how terrible the Borg was, and suddenly Ari's love for his research diminished slightly. Taking the two steps over to the woman, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you," he said, quietly, not even sure if she would appreciate the sympathy. The truth was, Arivek had no clue what it was like to be assimilated, but he did know what it was like to have his body mutilated and changed against your will. Perhaps that would be enough.

Andy had trouble telling the difference between pity and sympathy, and she hated pity, so she didn't know what to make of Ari's gesture. "Power flow is... steady," she said uneasily as she continued to monitor the performance of the device. "I uh... do you know Borg coding and algorithms, or do I need to run the diagnostics on the command pathways?"

"I'm actually quite fluent in the language," Ari replied as he turned around to the console and began to set the Computer on the task. "Shouldn't take more than a few moments." He turned back to the device and put his hands on his hips. Andy was right, this device was old. He wasn't sure if it would even work on a vessel as advanced as the Katana. "Commander, where did this piece of technology come from?"

Andy cast Ari a grateful glance that he was willing to do that, although she watched over his shoulder to double check his work to make sure all the results were within acceptable margins. "I'll have to make some modifications to the main deflector to make sure the ship don't shake apart once we're running this thing, but it won't take too long to get that done."

"Very well," M'rayr answered.

Arivek sighed in frustration as his question went unanswered, but decided that it wasn't worth repeating. "I was thinking we could shunt the drive directly into the secondary deflector. So far it's not showing any sighs of foul play, and the secondary deflector is a system that's more expendable than the main. What do you think?" He asked Andy. "Oh! And what if we set the Main Deflector to admit a constant anti-nadion pulse that would work as an almost pre-warning system that can map the transwarp corridor?" He thought about what he had just suggested for a moment. "I would have a few calculations but I think I can do it. But we'll also need to reinforce the hull, as a safety measure. Shut down non-essential systems and reroute that power to structural integrity at least temporarily. With a journey this long, we can't do without them forever, but at least for the first few hours until the ship is stabilized."

Ari turned around to face the Commander and Senior Chief, just now realizing the long winded rant he had went on. No doubt they'd want to make suggestions as well. He cleared his throat and walked back over to them. He must have been pacing while talking. "Thoughts?"

Andy closed her eyes as she worked through what information she had on transwarp travel. She had only been part of the collective for a short time, so what she knew from them was limited, but since she had helped in the installation of a transwarp device on the Lexington she knew more than enough. She opened her mismatched eyes to gaze upon the vile device that was forcing her to go back to such haunted memories. "Your idea for using the drive through the secondary deflector is a good theory on paper, but it doesn't have the necessary output capacity to generate a stable transwarp conduit. We could still use the secondary deflector for your anti-nadion pulse and to help reinforce the structural integrity field, but we'll get much better results from the device if it's hooked up to the main deflector."

Andy paced around the transwarp drive. She didn't want to have anything to do with this damned thing, but orders were orders and she was doing her best to remain calm around this thing. "We probably won't need the hull reinforcements but I'll get my people started on it anyway; when messing with transwarp conduits, it'd be better to play it safe than sorry.

"A reasonable idea, Chief." M'rayr said in agreement. There was no telling what sort of effect the Borg transwarp device would have on the Katana, even if it worked perfectly. Borg vessels were highly redundant and symmetrical in design; the Katana wasn't. Running his fingers over the console, he watched as the screen projected several scenarios between using the main and secondary deflector dish. As Andy had suggested, the secondary deflector would burn out long before a stable singularity could be created. At the same time, however, the main deflector showed signs of severe stress when tested through it. He stepped away from his console. "How long will the two of you require to implement and test this plan?"

"Mmm, not long, a few hours maybe?" Andy said with a shrug. She would have made an effort to be more specific, but her focus on the device had her distracted and disturbed. "Can I get started?" she asked, eager to get as far away from Main Engineering as possible.

Arivek nodded to the woman, "You can go Chief," he stated absentmindedly, staring at the console he was working on. He had run a few quick simulations and the woman was right, his idea wouldn't be possible.

Andy finished taking a few scans then closed her tricorder. She cast a cautious glance between M'rayr and Ari. "I know you're both aware of the dangers of working with Borg technology, just please be careful," Andy said in a strained tone. As eager as she was to put some distance between herself and the device, she didn't want to do so without expressing her concern over this. "I don't want anyone getting hurt by this thing."

"Thanks, Andy," Arivek said with a smile, looking up at the woman as he walked back to the device. He picked up an odd looking instrument and held it to the transwarp device.

Andy nodded uneasily and exited Main Engineering and heading for the deflector control room, glad to get away from the transwarp device. When this was all over, she was going to have a nice long talk to Kris about this sort of thing. Working with Borg technology was a like a drug, an addiction for Andy. As much as she loathed the technology, it called to her and she wanted to become one with it again. It was a dangerous game Kris was playing keeping this shit on his ship, let alone using it, and she intended on giving him an earful over it later...

[ON]

The sounds coming from R'tame's mouth likely wouldn't be described as an actual language by common ears. The Caitian language was made up of largely silky vowel sounds, pronounced with a resonance of the tongue that closely mimicked purring. And yet as he sat crossed legged in front of a small and simple golden goblet with a hearty fire burning inside it, resting on a pillow, he knew exactly what he was saying... or singing, rather. His arms were extended outward, palms up, fingers drawn in against the palms, in prayer.

"Mraownr, I commence this meal into the sacred fire as a gift to you. In the name and glory of your kindred spirit, and of all your sacred text." He tossed a piece of replicated meat into the goblet, causing the fire to glow vibrantly as it consumed the meat. "Mraownr, you are great and good to the Caitian people. I thank you tonight for this food. It is by your hands alone that I am fed and nourished." He tossed another piece into the fire. It burned, releasing a sweetened aroma into the air. "Bless this food for our use, and commit me to thy service. Fill my heart with peace. In your name, I speak to you. Ahrai."

With his prayers completed, R'tame took one of the slivers of raw meat, or rather an imitation of raw meat produced by the ship's replicator, in his hands, and consumed it. He then reached for a clay goblet filled with red wine and drank of it. R'tame was reaching for a second piece when there was a electronic chime at his door.

Paige waited for R'tame to answer before she entered his quarters. She had known him long enough now to know he was probably finishing his meal time prayers; something he didn't like to do with any kind of an audience. After hearing his "come in", she walked into his quarters and found him sitting at the table. "Hey, Rev," she said as she walked over to give him a hug.

R'tame, or 'Rev' as Paige had come accustomed to calling him, couldn't avoid a low purr. He gestured towards the empty mat opposite of him, inviting her to join him. "Hello, Paige." As hard as he might have tried, he somehow managed not to develop a reciprocating nickname for the human whom, over the course of the last four years, had become his best friend. For them to serve together was a blessing. "Was your day well?" He asked.

Paige grinned. "We talked about you being so formal, Rev," she teased as she sat down across from him. "My day was fine," she continued. "I'm still learning my way around and trying to meet new people," she shrugged, looking at the floor with a despondent look on her face. She brightened up as she looked back at R'tame though. "How have you been? Do you like what you're doing in engineering?" she asked.

The Caitian shrugged as another segment of his fur fell onto the floor; he was still shedding, but with Valerie Circe's recommendation of a change of uniform, the itching was far less incessant. "We are working to defeat two enemies," he held up a finger. "The Undine, and..." another finger rose. "Section 31. Lieutenant Commander Tegan has placed high expectations upon Lieutenant Rayze, and seems very determined to stop them from harming the Katana. I am doing my best to assist in that endeavor."

"Ok," said Paige as she rolled her eyes. "But do you like it?"

R'tame thought on the question, and nodded softly. "I do." After that, he stood up and straightened his uniform. Paige and him had dinner arrangements and, while he could entertain her in his quarters, the only reason he'd eaten at all was to satisfy his need to give offerings to the Caitian goddess, Mraownr. Their actual plans resided in the mess hall where a much more open menu awaited them. Something told him she wouldn't like raw meat. "Shall we leave? I am sure you are hungry."

"Yep," Paige said as she stood up to join R'tame. "What are your plans for dinner? I'm craving a cheeseburger," she said as she practically bounced out of the cabin.

R'tame shrugged as they stepped into the corridor, walking side by side towards the nearest turbolift. He made a face, looking at her as his tail waggled hazily from one side to another. "I still think it is strange that you choose to cook your meat before eating it," he mused. "Although I am feeling particularly to a salad tonight." Or at least a close human approximation given that Caitian salads consisted of various leaves and grains. They entered the turbolift, and R'tame gave the order to take them to the mess hall. "So your work has gone well?" He asked.

"I still don't see how you can eat it raw," Paige shuddered. "It has," Paige trailed off. "I will say I am glad you are on the same ship as I am," she continued as they entered the mess hall. They walked over to the replicators, Paige ordered her cheeseburger with fries, and R'tame ordered his salad. Paige chuckled as they made their way to an empty table. "You know, on earth, people always say it is the girls who order salads, not the guys. People wouldn't know what to make of us."

"As am I. Having the opportunity to spend time with you after shift has made this transition much easier" R'tame chuckled. He sat down and picked up a pair of utensils from the tray. He would have elaborated in detailing what he meant by transition by pulling on some of his fur. It was much more stubborn than it used to be. But R'tame doubted that doing so here would be considered sanitary. The aroma of her cheeseburger made its way up his nostrils, eliciting a reaction akin to a jolt. It was potent and very alien to him; unlike the scent-neutral salad he was eating.

Paige grinned knowingly at R'tame. "How is your shedding?" she asked innocently. "Is it any better?"

R'tame tugged at the back of his uniform. It wasn't itching anymore, which was usually a good sign. "Much," he said with a hint of obvious relief. He stretched his face into what loosely approximated for a smile in human standards. "I should be back to normal within a week or two."

Valerie walked into the mess hall, and made her way the replicator. She ordered herself a cup a coffee before taking it over towards an empty table adjacent to R'tame and Paige.

R'tame glanced up to Paige and stretched his face into a smile. "Do you plan to attend the Captain's ball?"

"Only if you go with me," she said. "I don't want to go by myself." She smiled mischievously. Besides, you could keep me warm."

Valerie glanced over to the couple next to her, as Paige's thoughts became a bit of a distraction for her. "Aren't the two of you already a couple?" Val asked them.

As far as R'tame had been concerned less than a few seconds ago, Paige had been making one of her puns over the fact that his fur kept him well insulated against the cold. It wouldn't have been the first time that she'd 'snuggled' with him during a cold night back on earth, but the act had been purely platonic. Or at least he thought it had. When the purple-eyed woman sitting at the table next to them asked her question, it caught the Caitian off guard. He looked over to Paige wordlessly, even though he himself was a little embarrassed at the insinuation. Them? A couple? A Caitian and a human? If anything, he could only imagine what she'd have to say on it. She'd find it as preposterous as he had.

Paige turned bright red. "Uh, no, no we aren't," she stuttered. Paige fidgeted with her hair. Something she always did when she was uncomfortable. "What makes you say that?" she asked Val.

Val looked between the two of them, "You two appear to be quite comfortable with one another, but I do sense there is an attraction between the two of you, so I just assumed. I apologize."

If possible, Paige turned even redder and tried to play off her embarrassment. "Rev, is there something you need to tell me?" she asked with raised eyebrows.

R'tame pointed to Val stubbornly. "I- I have no idea what she is talking about," he said sheepishly, although his ear twitched in a brief shudder as he did. It wasn't possible for him, as a Caitian, to blush. It also wasn't possible for him, as R'tame, to see past his own embarrassment to realize that Paige was acting rather oddly herself. Suddenly, the idea of eating in had seemed more appealing -- raw meat and all.

Paige noticed R'tame's ear twitch and froze for a moment. "Your ear twitched," she exclaimed. "You're lying!"

Val sighed and decided to be blunt, "You both have the attraction for one another. The both of you should accept it, and move forward."

"But," R'tame added haphazardly. He jabbed a finger across the table. "You don't even have a tail," he said stubbornly. But even as he made this rather obvious observation, he knew that his eyes had already begun to betray him. For years... YEARS... he'd known Paige as a friend... a close one at that. They'd graduated from the academy together, watched over each other, and yet somehow it had never occurred to them -- or at least him -- that they could be something more than colleagues. He looked to Paige uncertainty. Friendly features, a smile that, even as a Caitian, he could appreciate. "Not that that matters..." he admitted extremely sheepishly. His mind seemed to circle around a black hole; the destination seemed obvious and yet elusive.

Paige blushed even more furiously. And fidgeted with her hair a little more. "Really?" she asked.

I hate that woman R'tame thought as he shot Valerie a sideways glance. Her announcement felt like stepping on a landmine; then again, he'd been away from home for so long, and hadn't seen even a single Caitian in all that time. Caitians found beauty in all things, so why should R'tame feel strange, twisted even, for finding beauty in a human woman he knew. But he couldn't even focus on what he wanted to say long enough to even consider how she was responding. R'tame jolted for a moment, seeming to leave. But at the last possible second he held himself in place and then returned to his seat. "Are you angry with me?" He asked. His fur was itching incessantly, but he somehow resisted the urge to scratch.

Valerie glared at R'tame hearing his thoughts but restrained from saying anything.

Paige looked askance at R'Tame. "Why on earth would I be angry with you?" she asked.

R'tame shrugged, but couldn't look Paige in the eyes. He started to realize the other part of what Valerie had said. You both have an attraction for one another, and the Caitian finally looked up, his eyes a strange appearance of confusion and curiosity. Then he considered the source, and turned to Valerie. "How do you know we're attracted to each other?" He asked.

Val looked at the both of them, "I'm telepathic and empathic. I sensed strong emotions between the two of you, even during our shuttle ride here together. It was why for most of the trip I kept my distance. You both have attractions for one another. You," she faced Paige, "are afraid he doesn't share your feelings, and you" she then turned to R'tame, "are afraid of optics of a Caitian and a Human, which is surprising considering there were a few Caitian:Non-Caitian couples at the academy."

I come from a unique tribe, R'tame almost said aloud, but managed to keep the thought to himself. There were aspects of his past that he wasn't eager to divulge, even though it was entirely possible that Valerie was already reading it from his mind. He turned back to Paige, heaving an audible sigh. This whole thing was a lot to taken in. But hopefully, thinking about it wouldn't leave such an open door in his mind for Valerie to explore. Telepaths... he muttered mentally. Paige, surprisingly, became more beautiful than when he last looked at her. Maybe Valerie was right, and that he shouldn't be so afraid of the perception of a human and a Caitian being together. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it. The proverbial cat had caught his tongue.

Paige shrugged when R'tame turned back toward her. She was a little grateful that Val had happened to sit down by them; she never would have had the courage to say anything without it being forced on her and R'tame, well, he was obviously completely oblivious. "I guess this means that we have a date for the Captain's Ball," Paige said.

"I- I guess so," R'tame admitted, still a bit uncertain.

Valerie smiled at the two of them and then leaned close to the Caitian, "If you are still having a shedding problem, stop by the med-lab and I'll prescribe you a follicle creme to ease it."

In the short time that she'd been on board the Katana, Aila had accomplished a great deal. She'd had the opportunity to meet Kerouac, a man who seemed open minded to the unconventional. Then there was Colletare, the ensign only a few years her senior, who'd been kind in welcoming her on board, as well as exceptionally accommodating when it came to finalizing her living arrangements and providing a few tips that would undoubtedly help her to better acclimate to new surroundings. And finally there was her new roommate, Masterson. Aila wasn't quite certain what to make of the petite Yeoman, whose shyness didn't appear to hinder the budding of a friendship. It looked as if a Nausicaan mine had been set off in their shared quarters, something that Aila was attending to, yet had to abandon in lieu of meeting her new supervisor, Lieutenant Nathan Tonkin. The man adorned many hats; department head, member of the senior staff, chief of security and starship tactical operations. Add onto this his new-found role as the mentor of one greenhorn cadet and it made anyone wonder if the man actually slept. Aila wasn't completely certain how Tonkin would interpret his assuming of this responsibility, yet she hoped it'd be somewhat of a different relationship than the one she'd had with Glyndar.

The security office of the Katana mirrored that of the Adelaide's. Aside from a slight variation in furniture placement and decor, the interior was nearly identical which, oddly enough, had Aila feeling all the more at ease. Seated on the couch staged nearest the window, Aila continued to read through the first chapter of her criminology data PADD while awaiting the arrival of Tonkin.

Nathan came into main Security typing on a PaDD. He was not in uniform, instead wearing a pair of old fashioned light blue jeans and a white t-shirt. He looked up at the woman in the main area. "Another red head..." he said and he thumbed the PaDD off. "I think star fleet is trying to fill this boat with crazy red heads. Please tell me you are one of the more calm ones, cadet."

Aila glanced up from the data PADD, an amused expression accentuating her delicately feminine features. "Oh come now, you know what they say about the lot of us red heads; 'You'd find it easier to be bad than good if you had red hair'." A chortle quickly followed before Aila added, "And they're willing to let me use a phaser." She joked, rising from the couch and approaching the man. "I've not done a lot of research on the senior staff, but you I know." Aila extended a hand, "Lieutenant Nathan Tonkin, if I'm not mistaken?"

"Indeed." Nathan said taking her hand. "And you would be my new cadet Aila Glimore?"

She nodded, the knot of thick, vibrant red hair bouncing in tandem with the gesture. "Aye, sir, I am." Aila appeared rather petite, a stark contrast to Tonkin's tall and sturdy stature. "I only learned that the crew was on shore leave shortly after coming aboard, so I apologize if I'm taking from something that's a wee-bit more entertaining than lil-ol-me." It was evident from Tonkin's attire, that he may have stolen away from his downtime, if only to allow for Aila to check-in. She wouldn't keep him, understanding even in the early stages of her education at the academy, how important it was to appreciate whatever time there was to rest and relax.

"No problem, I was just working on a holodeck program for my girlfriend and I. Nothing I can't put on hold to welcome you. Is there anything you? Are you settling in alright?" Nathan asked with genuine interest.

"Oh!" Aila squealed excitedly. Her parent's raised their children in a household not structured nor governed by technologies; her childhood home was the antithesis of modern day convenience, employing those from a bygone era. It wasn't that they went without, it was merely that her parents had desired a more time-honored setting in which to raise their children. The cottage farm offered a rather modest lifestyle, while still allowing for the integration of contemporary features and amenities if needed or desired. Aila was enchanted by holo-technology. One of her favorite teenage past-times, was an escape from home to spend the day at the holo-theaters, sharing this time with friends while gossiping about this or that and perhaps even catching the eye of a boy she thought was cute. In retrospect, growing up without regular access to this technology humbled Aila, helping her to value it with greater effect. "What kind of holo-program? Is it adventurous and exciting? Oh! Or maybe a bit dark and mysterious?" She paused to consider the near limitless possibilities, chewing at her bottom lip while in thought. "Oh, I know! It must be something exotic and romantic." Her face brightened with anticipation, hoping that this last guess was the most likely.

Nathan grinned and looked down at the PaDD. "It's a empty beach resort." He said looking back up. "You would have to know Jhu to understand how romantic it is." Nathan leaned back on the receiving desk. "So, why security?" He asked with a questioning look.

The softest hum of satisfaction vibrated past her lips, which curled upward in a suggestive manner, "Romantic". The mischievous expression was all but erased when Tonkin asked his next question. Immediately replaced with one of panic, she replied apprehensively, "Um, well, I-I...". Her recruiter nor her admissions coordinator had asked this question. And, honestly, she'd never really pinned down a concrete reason. That seemed utterly foolish now that she was being asked. On the spot, she searched for an answer, one that wouldn't sound juvenile or ridiculous. "I-I assume most would reply with something relate-able to 'I want to serve and protect'." Aila ventured, albeit cautiously so as not to offend, "I mean, I appreciate this as being a noble endeavor and all, but that's merely a means to an end, right? A purpose and outcome of our training and expertise." She went on to explain, "I'm unashamed to admit that I'm here for the physicality of the profession, to learn about and train in the craft of hand-to-hand combat; I want a hostile target to immediately dismiss me as a viable threat due to my diminutive size and gender, only to learn that I'm a biological weapon intent on neutralizing them by any means necessary." She stated decisively before continuing, "I want to be proficient and a skilled operator in a multitude of different weaponry... not just in their usage, but also in mechanization, too. I want to dabble in the art of interrogation, to explore and appreciate the psychological process of applied behavioral analysis. I want to anticipate and understand why a target does what they do, to exploit and use this knowledge in such a way so that I prevail and, in doing so, ensure the safety of those I'm charged with protecting." Aila finished in a matter-of-fact, albeit passionate, tone. "Does that have me sounding completely unstable?" She wondered curiously, confident tone dissolving into one of uncertainty.

"That does not make you sound completely unstable." Nathan said with a smile. "That fact that you got assigned to Katana tells me you are completely unstable."

Nathan pushed himself from the desk. "Ok a few rules here. First and foremost, do not fuck with Andrea Carter. Because your one of my people you get a certain level of 'not fucking with', do not be the one to mess that up for the rest of us. She asks you do something you hop to it like it was me. Got it?"

"Oh, well, fair enough." She replied to the unstable comment. Perhaps that was the secular issue during her time on board the Adelaide, she was too much crazy for them to handle. Aila shrugged at the thought, she could live with that. "So, um, is this Andrea Carter your assistant or something?" She wondered coolly, now curious about who this woman might be and why knowing her would require a bit of hopping. She had no problem doing as told, regardless of who was doing the telling; but it sounded as if this Carter woman carried a bit of weight with Tonkin, a relationship deserving of a bit closer attention than perhaps paid to others. Aila certainly didn't want to ruffle any feathers, doing so prior to now hadn't really worked out well for her. She was hoping to remain in the good graces of all those on board, lest she be reassigned again, giving that runabout pilot all the more to tease her about. If that meant being at the beckon call of this Carter person, Aila would be happy to oblige.

"Chief Carter is chief of the boat and is like a sister to me." Nathan offered as explanation. "No caring weapons around this ship unless on duty. We are not a dry ship. Last thing we need it a drunken brawl to end with phaser fire."

Aila nodded, "Very good way to avoid injury, sir." She was taking mental note of the Lieutenant's rules: first, do whatever Chief Carter says... always and without question; next, only carry a phaser while on duty; third, Katana does not equal a dry ship, which means alcohol and perhaps ample quantities of it... keep the peace and avoid phaser burns. So far, the rules made sense, except not at all. What kind of ship was this?! Unless it was Carter behind the need for all of these rules, in which case Aila decided at that precise moment she'd like to meet this woman, if only to get a sense of who she was. Although, there was a small part of Aila that had already surmised Carter to be, well, rough around the edges, to the say the least.

"The last one is easy. We are a family on this boat, and family comes first." Nathan said to Aila. "If you can handle thoughts three rules then you should get along just fine."

"To be honest, sir, I like the last rule best." Aila confessed, finding this final edict most sensible. "In truth, I wasn't welcomed with open arms on board the Adelaide. I'd never speak ill of another ship or crew, but I don't believe I was on board long enough or provided the opportunity to have been of any value." Absentmindedly, Aila smoothed away a wrinkle, her eyes averting Tonkins'. "This is quite a different welcome, one that has placed me a bit more at ease. I think the Katana will be home and its crew my family..." She offered an endearing smile, her grey-colored eyes finally meeting the Lieutenant's, "If you'll have me, that is."

"I guess we can fit another crazy red head into our family." Nathan said with a grin. "Welcome to Katana, if you need anything let me know. I do not like tardiness so show up on time. Otherwise, this ship is a blast. I'm sure you will have a good time while here."

Arivek banged his head on a bulkhead as his foot slipped from the ladder rung. With a soft "ow", he regained his footing and kept descending the jeffries tube he was crawling through. Damn tactile subroutines, he thought to himself as he continued the trek to the secondary warp power relays.

With the integration of the transwarp device into the ship systems, Arivek couldn't help but want a second opinion. And Andy had mentioned that her Assistant was quite well versed in Borg technology, at least enough that he was able to assist in her physical repairs. As it turns out, the man was also head of Research and Development aboard this ship, a field that Arivek knew better than Engineering itself. Perhaps, against his earlier rejections, Will would turn out to be an asset on this project.

"Lieutenant Morgan," Arivek called out as he finally neared where the man was working. "You're not an easy man to track down."

Will looked up from his work as he heard a voice and noticed the ship's new Chief Engineer waiting for him. Will smiled at his comment. "Ah, theres always something that needs to be done on this ship, even the smallest job can be crucial...especially when somebody decides to install Borg tech on board," Will said, letting a small hint of disdain fall through in his comment. He crawled out of his workspace and stood before Arivek.

"So, what can I do for you, Lieutenant Zhuri?" Will asked curiously.

"Actually that Borg tech is what I wanted to talk about." Arivek handed the man the large PADD that he was holding. "Andy mentioned that you know a little about Borg technology? I wanted your opinion." Looking the man over, Arivek was not surprised at how handsome he was. So far, everyone on the ship seemed to be very attractive, save for the Captain, who just wasn't Ari's type at all.

Will smirked as he took the PADD from Arivek, the fact that Andy had recommended Will to him said a lot and Will accepted the praise. "So Andy sent you my way then? I taught that woman everything she knows...and saved her arse a few times as well," Will explained as he accessed the PADD. The fact that he saw Borg Technology involved made him physically shiver for a moment as he read on.

"Wow, So Starfleet decided to strap an age old Borg Transwarp device to the ship and slam a deadline down to see how soon they can get it to work... Brilliant...absolutely brilliant idea," Will said as he looked through the specs.

Ari nodded, "I don't know what they were thinking," he stated. "We have it connected and everything seems to be working alright. Andy just seemed a bit hesitant to review the algorithms, and against my nature, I wanted a second opinion."

Will looked at Arivek and understood why Andy would hesitate in this matter. "Its no problem, I'll happily look them over," he said, running through the different algorithms before him. "The trick to learn with Borg Technology is that regardless how its wired up, something unexpected can happen to catch you out," Will explained to him.

"I'm aware," Arivek stated. While he did want the man's opinion, he certainly didn't want to give the impression he wasn't familiar with Borg technology. His entire research was centered around it and other forms of nano-technology. "This isn't my first time using Borg equipment."

"Lieutenant, it doesn't matter how many times you work with Borg Tech... The only experts on the Borg are the Borg," Will explained to him before taking a breath and pausing. "I'm not doubting you or your abilities with Borg Technology... Its just anything can go wrong and I know this from personal experience," Will finished as he continued reading through the information. There was a lot there to read but it still needed looking into.

Will looked up at Avirek for a moment, feeling an explanation was owed. "My apologies. This whole subject hits a bit close to home for me. I'm considered an expert on the Borg because of the various encounters I've had with them," Will explained to him.

"I see," Arivek stated, becoming slightly annoyed. He usually didn't go around spouting off his accomplishments, but apparently this situation called for it. "Lieutenant, let me be frank with you. I am also considered an expert in the Borg. I was an R&D Engineer for years and I have been studying them since high school. The Borg are the reason I went into this field. My most acclaimed project would have changed the game on Starship design, based on my use of nanotechnology in the configuarion. Had it not been for a mishap like you're describing, I would probably be well renown by now. I came down to ask your opinion, not because I needed it, but because if anything went wrong, I didn't want it to be on my head alone. A smart Engineer knows when to shut his mouth and have his work double checked. Even the most gifted make mistakes. So please, do me a favor and stop telling me how amazing you are and just tell me if there are any mistakes in these algorithms. Please."

Will got the message from Arivek and continued reading the PADD. Once he was happy with what was there, he handed it back to him. "It all looks in good working order to me, however once this is put into operation, you'll find me at the Auxiliary Operations console on the Bridge, monitoring the whole process," Will explained in level terms to him. "Congratulations by the way, your an expert on Nanotechnology and the Borg... Next time you want a second opinion, go check it with Carter or even better... A drone."

Will picked up his toolkit and headed back into the work area, resuming his duties and feeling somewhat redundant after Avrivek's declaration of his qualifications.

"Don't worry, Lieutenant, I definitely won't make this mistake again." Arivek began to climb back up the Jeffries Tube but stopped, "Also, don't worry about monitoring the process. I'm sure the Chief and I can take care of it just fine. You can keep to repairing power relays..."

Shira woke to a strange sound she was not familiar with. It was a slow, steady beeping from Verak's desk. Shira slowly sat up and stretched, taking in the familiar setting of Verak's quarters. It wasn't the first time she had stayed the night at Verak's quarters, but it was the first time she had stayed with him since he took her into the forest. She smiled at the memory. It had been more than a little awkward, neither one of them really knew what they were doing, but the night had been wonderfully memorable, and they were getting better!

Shira yawned and gently nudged Verak awake. "Verak, wake up," she said softly. "Your desk is making a strange sound."

Verak stirred at Shira's nudging of him. He opened his eyes, still groggy as he turned over to look at her. "What?" he asked, not quite awake enough to understand. However when the personal computer on his desk continued to make the sound, Verak sat up and wrapped a sheet around himself. "It's not my desk, Shira. It is the computer on my desk. Someone has sent a subspace transmission" explained Verak as he looked at the Arboreal.

"Ah," she said, nodding in understanding. "The means someone wishes to communicate with you?" she asked to confirm. Then she stretched again, making no attempts to cover herself as she did so, her wings humming slightly just before she relaxed.

The half-Vulcan got out of bed and put himself together with his pants and uniform. "Yes, someone is trying to communicate" said the lieutenant. He looked at Shira and smiled. "You may want to...well, you may want to make yourself presentable. I think it may be my parents. They had informed me a week ago that they were going to be contacting me."

"Oh, okay," Shira replied softly then began looking around for her dress and slipping into it. "Have you told your parents about us?" she asked as she pulled the dress into place.

"I have not" he replied flatly. I probably should have he thought, hoping that his neglect in doing so would not bother Shira. "I do not have an overt fondness of sharing my personal life with my family, especially not my parents" added Verak as he grew wary of how they would take Shira and what questions his mother would ask that would be most embarrassing.

Shira nodded. She didn't necessarily look down at the lack of communication between Verak and his parents, it was such a foreign concept to her, but she did understand that things worked differently here than on her world. But she would always be driven to try to encourage more communication with his family, it was just part of who she was. "Perhaps you should answer the communication before they abandon their attempts to speak with you," she said as she fluttered closer.

Verak looked at Shira. "I know that I should, but I do not like talking to them. They are irritating and embarrassing. I will speak with them...perhaps you should answer it with me?"

Somehow, Shira got the impression that this might actually not be a good thing, but she fluttered over to the desk anyway, touching the screen as she sat down. It took her a moment to remember which buttons to press to open the connection, but soon she was seeing an unfamiliar face on the screen...

"Hello?" Shira greeted, uncertain if she was doing this right.

"OOo heello dere" replied Nancy as she squinted and moved her face up towards the screen. Why she insisted on her archaic ways, was beyond Verak and the rest of his family. Mother was always a handful, and set on her peculiar and illogical ways. "Who this?" she added, pushing up her awkwardly fitting glasses up her nose as they slid down.

Verak could hear her annoying voice and took a deep breath before he approached and stood next to Shira. "Hello, mother, dear" said the half-Vulcan shaking his head at her ridiculous appearance. "This is Shira" added Verak with a small smile. Verak wanted to wait a while before coming out and just saying that he was involved with her. "Why are you calling so early, mother? It isn't even 0600 yet."

Nancy shook her head at her son. "Join that Sterfleet and get lazy. I just got in from milkin' the cows, Verak" she explained to her son, but her eyes were examining the Arboreal. "What was your name again, hun? Sheeprah?"

"Shira. My name is Shira," the little Arboreal said as she studied the face of the elder woman on the screen. "And the people here are not lazy, ma'am, nor is Verak."

Verak could not help but turn a little red, blushing at Shira coming to his defense and the defense of others. He was about to respond, but his mother as usual beat him to it.

"Oh of course not dear" replied Nancy. "He used to be up early to milk the cows. Now what does he do? Sleeps in and sits in a chair pushing buttons."

"If that is what you think he does, then you are sorely mistaken," Shira scolded firmly, irritated that this woman thought Verak was being lazy. "While it is true he does sit in a chair and press buttons as a pilot, it is still a very demanding job. He must always be vigilant to keep the ship on course, the settings must be precise! And if the ship gets into a confrontation, his reactions must be swift. And he helps maintain the shuttles so they are always ready to be deployed. And now he is helping teach me Astrophysics. Verak is anything but lazy!"

Uh oh thought Verak as he gently worked his way around Shira, and muted his mother as she opened her mouth to respond. "Perhaps, it is best that we do not talk to her yet, Shira. My mother can be...difficult" said Verak trying to word his response carefully. "We probably should discuss my parents and how to deal with them before we spring our news on them."

Shira's eyes grew wide. He was going to hide her away and not tell his parents about their relationship? Had she said the wrong thing? Was he ashamed of her now? "B-but... But you..." There was a slight hint of distress in her voice, like she might cry. "You took me into the forest. My parents approved of you."

"Yes. Yes, your parents did approve of me, Shira. However, my parents are different. It may take some time for them to approve of you, and I do not think that we are off to a good start yet. I think that it would be best if you and I talked more about who my parents are before we tell them" said Verak gently.

"Oh..." Shira looked positively deflated. "Okay," she said with a disappointed nod. "Your mother looks very red and angry, by the way..."

"Nah, she just looks that way regardless" said Verak with a chuckle. "Come here" he said reaching out and taking her hand, seeing that she may have been slightly hurt. Taking her hand in his, he turned around and took his mother off of mute.

He saw the look of curiosity in his mothers eyes. "Mother, Shira is alien to our customs and language. She is very intellectual and has learned to speak our language, but much remains difficult for her. She is my mate, and I am hers" announced Verak.

Shira smiled warmly at Verak. She was so happy that Verak had told his mother. With a big smile, she fluttered up and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Oh..what? You and this one?" replied his mother, Nancy. Her brown eyes beaming with delight. "When do you come home? You must come as soon as you two can. We will have a big feast! Sheer-ah, what do you eat, dear?"

"I like to eat a great many things, and I am trying new things all the time," Shira said to Nancy, not bothering to correct the mispronunciation. "And I look forward to meeting you and Verak's father in person."

Nancy nodded. "Good good. I am sure that S'Pul will be delighted to meet you dear. We will have a lovely feast, and you can meet us and the whole family" added Nancy rather delightfully.

Shira smiled brightly. "I would like that very much!" She couldn't understand what Verak was so upset about, she seemed to be getting along with his mother just fine! "Verak met my parents... umm, a month ago?" Shira looked to Verak to confirm she was using the correct word. "A month, right? That is the right word? Yes, and my parents liked you very much..."

Verak nodded. "Yes, it was a month ago" added the half-Vulcan. He then looked at his mother. "They were nice and polite. Where is father?"

Nancy sighed "Oh still out with the cows with your brothers. He's planning a trip to Vulcan with them."

"Verak, isn't the ship going to a different area of space? Maybe if that area is close to the homeworld of your father, we can visit?" Shira suggested. Thus far in her stellar studies, Shira had been studying her home system, parts of the Gamma quadrant, and the system of the Ophinias colony because that's where they currently were located, she had no idea how far away the Delta quadrant was or how out of the way Vulcan was on that course.

Lieutenant Verak was quick to jump in. "We're going to the Delta quadrant, Shira" said Verak to the Arboreal, and then looked at his mother. "Sorry, mom. It may be a while before I am able to come back home" Verak said, and he looked back at Shira. "It is far away" he explained simply.

"Oh, right..." Shira replied. She would have to look at a stellar map to see where exactly it was they were going. "I hope we can visit soon," she said to Nancy. "But it was still pleasant to meet you."

"You too dear. I hope that you all have a wonderful time out in the Delta quadrant" said Nancy with a small smile. "You do try to write us, Verak. Your father and I...well, I worry about you. Be careful too. The Delta quadrant isn't the safest place you know, Verak. The USS Pathfinder and the USS Voyager..." began Nancy.

Verak shook his head and ended the transmission, cutting the woman off. The screen returning to the blackness that it had been before she called. "We'll talk to her again at some point, Shira."

"That was rather rude, she was just showing concern for you," Shira said softly. "And I found her to be quite nice, I do not understand why you thought this would be unpleasant."

"Because...she's mother" said Verak with a sigh. "She is nosy, annoying, and goes on and on and on. She can also be over protective, and she does not appreciate what I've done and do aboard Katana. She just wants me to return home to milk cows and make maple syrup" added Verak, crossing his arms.

"What are cows?" Shira asked innocently. They had mentioned cows before, but she didn't want to look like an idiot asking what a cow was while his mother was still on the screen. "I do not understand this relationship you have with your mother, it confuses me greatly, but I accept that there are likely a great many things I will not understand and that's okay. Anyway, it's not my place to tell you how to maintain your relationship with your mother, so I won't, it just doesn't make any sense to me."

Verak shook his head and tried to think about how he was going to explain all of that. He decided that it would be smart to start with the easiest of these questions. "A Cow goes Mooo" said Verak, feeling like he was teaching a small child, but Shira was not a child and he would not treat her as such. "It is a domesticated animal that has four legs. Some humans enjoy drinking the milk of this animal. Their milk is also used to make various foods" explained Verak. "My parents and I are just very different. They do not believe in living in modern times, and their farm is everything to them."

It took Shira a moment to process his words. "So... That must mean you must not think highly of my people because we chose to live a simple lifestyle?"

He shook his head and held her hand. "No, Shira, that's not what I meant. I think quite highly of you and your species. It is just not something that I would do. I like to explore the stars, I like space and meeting new worlds and civilizations. Back home, there was not much to explore."

"But is that any reason to dislike your parents?" Shira countered. "There were expectations for me on my world too, you know." She knew Verak didn't mean any harm by his words, but it was really confusing when their situations didn't seem so different now that he had explained things to her. "As much as I'm sure your parents would have liked you to stay with them and milk cows, I'm certain they value your happiness more."

"I do not dislike them, Shira" said Verak shaking his head. "I just prefer my freedom, to be away from them for a while, away from the cows and maple syrup" he added with a small smile that beamed at Shira.

Shira sighed. She didn't understand, and maybe she never would; growing up in such a tight-knit community, maybe she wasn't meant to, but it really bothered her that he didn't have a good relationship with his family. "You know, I do not get along with the one who took my mother into the forest for her Gathering. But even though we do not get along, I have always shown him respect. And my parents, as much as they wished for me to stay and fulfill my obligations on our world, I know they would rather say goodbye and know that I am happy than to force me to live a life I did not want. Isn't it possible that your parents feel the same way? You have your freedom, why must you regard your parents with such a disrespectful attitude, as if they intend to drag you back to the farm against your will?" This topic was clearly distressing her. She fluttered around the desk to move away from him.

"Because, Shira, if they had the ability and power to come here and drag me back to the farm, they would" replied Verak. "What I want has never really mattered. Up until my going to Starfleet Academy, they made all my choices for me. My father had even arranged someone for me to go into the forest with. In fact, they only let me go peacefully to Starfleet Academy because, I had allowed them to believe that I would study agriculture and botany."

Shira frowned. These people sounded unpleasant, but she wanted to believe the best in others. "Maybe they will be pleased that I know those things."

Verak nodded. "Perhaps, Shira. For the time being, I just want to focus on us and on helping the crew get ready for our trip to the Delta quadrant."

Shira sighed again, then nodded. He was right, they had better things to talk about than his parents. Anyway, this topic was upsetting her too much. Just the idea that a family wasn't getting along was such a deeply disturbing concept for her. Not to mention, she didn't like being at odd with Verak over this.

Not that he was empathic or anything, but Verak was at least rather observant. His observance had allowed him to narrow in and pick up on the not so subtle mood change in Shira. He did not like seeing he upset, and he could tell that if she was not upset, that she was certainly not pleased. Label it whatever, Shira was not herself. "How are you going to feel, Shira? This trip to the Delta Quadrant may mean not getting to see your family for a while. At least a few months at the least" said Verak.

Shira's wings hummed in agitation at this new topic. She had been avoiding thinking about that and she really didn't want to think about it now that Verak had gotten her a little upset. "I understand, but I will be able to contact them now that they have some communication equipment, so I will be alright," Shira said somewhat sadly. "But I am upset about your family... I did not want to believe that they were so careless about your feelings, but the more you spoke of them it seemed true and...I do not like believing that anyone could be so hurtful."

"They really are not hurtful, nor do they mean to be" said Verak, placing a hand on Shira's shoulder. "I was just really good at what I did back home around the farm. I was very good with the animals that we had, especially the cows. I was good with the planting and the harvesting of crops. It is a rare talent to have these days where I am from. So, my mother was very pleased with me. She thought that I would stay and help take care of it all. So, when I told her that I was going to leave and attend Starfleet, she was not happy" explained Verak.

"You shouldn't have to make excuses for her," Shira replied, looking at him. "I do not understand this relationship you seem to have with your family. One minute to can't stand them, and the next you're trying to justify their actions. I cannot understand why you do this, it is so confusing."

Verak smiled at Shira. "It's a human thing" replied Verak with a little chuckle. "A Vulcan would find it illogical, but it is perfectly normal for most human families. In fact, ask around if you are curious. I think that would be an interesting study for you, to see the diversity in familial relations among the crew."

"The idea of family is so very important to my people. To see discord between you and your family is quite distressing for me," Shira admitted. "I don't know if I want to learn more about other families if they are like this."

"That is your choice to make, Shira" said Verak. He let out a small sigh. "I do not mean to put you in any distress. Perhaps, things are just very different on your home world because of how you live, the lack of privacy and the living so close together?"

Shira nodded. "It is very different. Learning to live like the people on the ship is very challenging."

"I am sorry that you are having such a difficult time, Shira" added Verak. "I hope that you do not think any less of me because of the complex family dynamics."

"It is not that I think less of you, but it is rather disheartening... And it makes me wonder what else I've got wrong about how things are done here," Shira said.

"It is a learning process, Shira. There are things about other cultures that I and most humans would not agree with such as the Klingons who will celebrate an honorable killing by drinking the blood of those they killed. They are a very fierce species who pride themselves in their sense of honor and they have a passion for war and violence" said Verak.

"I am not certain I was ready to hear that..." Shira said with a sigh. She reached out to take Verak's hand. "It feels like just when I think I am finally understanding how things are done around here, I learn something new that gets me confused all over again..." She puled Verak's arm around her, then nuzzled against his chest.

Verak held her close to him and felt her warmth. "Welcome to life outside of Arboria, Shira. Things are never like they are back home. All of us have learned that and we will continue to meet new species and civilizations, learning things about them that may seem so strange to us."

"I know," Shira replied quietly, "it's just jarring when I see how different things are..." She was trying not to let this discourage her; she certainly didn't regret her choice of leaving her world, but it was still a shock to the system that made her question the wisdom of that choice and it would take time to adapt. She had come a long way in the short time she had been with the crew, she couldn't expect herself to understand and accept everything new she learned right away. "I do hope you will be more open and understanding with our children than your parents are with you."

Kids? I can't say that I've invested much thought at this point thought Verak, but he did not want to discuss the matter, not here and not now. There would be a time for such discussion, and Verak felt that it would be down the road. "If I were to have children, Shira, I would certainly not raise them in the same manner as my parents raised me" commented Verak.

Shira was confused by his wording. Well, not so much his words, but the tone as well, as if he wasn't even certain he wanted children. Still, she was relieved that he intended to do better than his parents. "That is good," Shira said, relaxing slightly. "Though I would worry more about 'when' than 'if'. After all, you did take me into the forest."

"Yes, and we have not been in a relationship for very long, Shira. I still have a life expectancy of at least a hundred or more years" replied Verak. "How long do Arboreals live...using Earth time?" asked Verak. He had never really asked her this before nor did he inquire about it from Doctor Cohen.

"I fail to see how age is relevant. I was old enough to attend the Gathering, a fertility rite, and you took me into the forest. If all you wanted was sex, you should have said so!" Shira reiterated, feeling a bit hurt over the direction this conversation was going in, though she did think on her age. She had thus far made no attempts to translate the time cycles of her world into time the crew could understand. "It might take me a while to figure out how old I am in Earth time."

Verak shook his head. I cannot take much more of this. Not now, not today thought the half-Vulcan. "You should know me better than that. It was YOU who was wanting to go into the forest so badly, Shira. Not me. Now, I have to question if you really wanted to go into the forest with me or were just looking to go in the forest just to go there...just so that you could have sex" replied Verak. It may have been harsh but he was becoming frustrated with the Arboreal.

He got himself together, dressed to work and go on duty. Though he was not due for a bit. "I am going to work. I have important matters to attend to."

"I was upset I was missing out on something that is important to my people and it was my parents who asked if you wished to participate, I never wanted you to do anything you didn't want to do and I told you in the holodeck that you didn't have to take me into the forest," Shira insisted urgently, needing to defend herself from his accusations. "I want to be with you, Verak. What you're accusing me of doing simply isn't true! I want to spend the rest of my days with you. If all I wanted was sex, I could have stayed on my world for that!" Not only was she feeling incredibly hurt, but she was angry and she didn't know what to do with that anger.

"How do you think I feel Shira? You basically were accusing me of the same thing. I wanted to be with you and I still want to be with you. If I just wanted sex, I would of had it a long time ago" said Verak firmly. "I do not want to fight about this. Not now. We both have things to do for this ship and the crew. So, we can talk later."

"I do not know what I have accused you of! I simply said you took me in the forest when you could have just taken me back to your quarters! Going into the forest isn't about just having sex, Verak, it's more than that and I though you understood that!" Stars above, the more they fought the more it became clear to her that he didn't understand the difference and now she was terrified that not only did he not want her but that he didn't want children with her, and if that was the case then she may have a very big problem on her hands. "Please tell me you understand what I am saying."

"I understand now, Shira. I, however, must admit that I was not aware of the full extent of your people's customs, specifically this 'going into the forest'" said Verak. "I am sorry, Shira. I really am sorry that I did not understand that."

"I tried to tell you we didn't have to stay in the forest," Shira said. She looked like she was near to tears. Verak's outburst had scared her deeply and she didn't know what what to do or say. "But... If you are displeased with me for this misunderstanding, I will leave now." She felt utterly humiliated and even a little used. She had told him what the Gathering was, she thought he understood! Her wings hummed as they carried her to the door.

Verak walked up towards Shira, took her hand and gently pulled her back away from the door. "No" he said firmly and he shook his head as well. "No, Shira, I do not want you to leave. I want you to stay and I want to discuss everything with you, but it is going to have to wait until later."

Shira nodded, but she still looked rather deflated. "I understand," she said softly. "I will go to the hydroponics bay and wait until your duty shift is over. We can talk more then."

Verak nodded, but before leaving, he walked towards Shira and kissed her. "We'll figure this out" he said to her softly.

Commodore Krull Larkon walked down the corridors of Ophinias, engaging the USS Katana's Commanding Officer in some banter and general conversation as they headed to one of the cafes on the colony's Starfleet base. "It is nice to see you have made it back in one piece, Captain. It is not everyday that a Commanding Officer actually leads an away mission" commented the Cardassian.

Kris let out a small chuckle and proceeded to walk alongside the man. "I simply flew the away team there. I sat in the shuttle the entire time. Well, I did stretch my legs once or twice, but for the most part, I was in the shuttle while Lieutenant O'Connor and her team met with Dr. Milo" replied Kris. "You mentioned we were meeting someone?" asked the Captain politely.

Krull smiled at the mention of Landon's name. "Landon Milo? How is the little runt?" asked Krull, almost beaming with life. Though he tried to keep himself rather contained. "And yes. We are meeting your Yeoman and her father. He's a Admiral in Starfleet, provided me a nice escort on the way here. If his daughter is anything like him...then, she's probably rather interesting" added Krull.

"Landon? Oh, you two are acquaintances?" replied Kris. Small world thought the Captain as he absorbed the information. "Mizzy is quite interesting. She's a fine cadet and an excellent Yeoman. Though I don't know how long I can keep her caged in an office pushing PaDDs. She has been showing a knack for various things like flight control. She may be a shoe in for the helmsmen seat at some point" said Kris.

The Commodore nodded. "Yes, we know each other and served together" replied Krull with a smirk. We shared some rather interesting moments thought Krull. "She sounds like an officer in the making. I'll have to keep my eye on her. Starbase 900 will need some good pilots."

Captain Kerouac shook his head and held up a hand in protest. "Hell no. You can get your own. She's not even finished with the Academy yet and her field training aboard the Katana is expiring soon. She's due to report back to Earth or one of the other campuses. I would rather she remained aboard Katana."

Krull let out a small chuckle. "Oh of course. We always want to keep our prodigies" said the Cardassian, his thoughts on Jhu.

As they continued on their way, almost reaching the cafe, Kris sighed and nodded. Losing Mizzy was not something that he would be found of, but her Senior year would be starting in a few months and it would be incredibly difficult for Kris to keep her aboard the Katana. The two men approached the cafe and Kris could see his Yeoman sitting at a table, and elderly man sitting across from her.

The elderly man checked his disguise in his head. Actually, he wasn't as old as he was made out to be, but, assuming appearances was fine. And his daughter was in on it. She knew that he looked differently, and that he did classified work for the Federation. But she'd never asked, and he'd never told her. It was the right thing to do. Even if she was captured to get to him, they wouldn't get anything out of her.

But Mizuki wasn't thinking about that at all. She was simply happy to see her father. and he had been happy to see her photo from before the ball. That'd be one of those things that families save for a long time. At any rate, they were discussing her upcoming plans. The field training would expire soon, and she'd have to report back. She expressed her preference to remain. After some back and forth, he agreed to do what he could for her.

And then his head perked up, hearing footsteps several seconds in advance before actually seeing the individuals. The Earth dog that sat next to the princess perked his ears up and barked. "Good boy, Riley." Scott Masterson spoke in a flawless older accent, before turning his attention to both individuals. Left man, Cardassian, rank: Commodore. His charge for this mission. Right man, Human, rank: Captain - CO, USS Katana. So this was the man that his daughter was working for. Rank or not, he better not have done anything improper...

"Good morning, Admiral" said Krull taking a seat at the table and motioned for a Bolian waiter to come over. "Jestral tea, hot" said Krull to the young Bolian man. He then looked at Kris who was still standing. "Admiral Masterson, Captain Kristopher Kerouac" he said introducing the two.

"Admiral" said Kris with a respectful bow of his head as he took a seat at the table. He looked over and up at the Bolian. "Deka tea, hot please" said Kris placing his order with a small smile at the Bolian man who seemed to be admiring him. Kris was nervous for a second that the Bolian had been someone from his past. One of those nameless dozens, but he looked too young for Kris to have been involved with him in the past.

Returning his attention back to Mizzy and her father, Kris smiled at her. "Good morning, Mizzy" he said affectionately.

"Commodore, Captain." He gave a nod of his head to both men. "It's good to see you both." Though a stare at Kris was warranted after hearing his words.

"Good morning, sirs." She replied politely, bowing her head and taking a sip of her tea.

"There's one more introduction, by the way. My command pet, who has always brought me good luck, Riley." he indicates the futuristic German shepherd breed, who's sitting alertly with a uniform dog vest on. If his mouth opened, one could briefly see the lighting reveal sharp, metallic tipped teeth. Worked in in such a way where the dog could eat normally, but his bite would be way worse than his bark.

Looks more like a Sharky or Jaws rather than a Riley thought Kris as he looked at the dog, having no interest in petting it as he did not want his hand to be anywhere near the creature's mouth. "Nice canine" replied Kris with a smile at Mizzy. "Have you had him long?" asked Captain Kerouac.

She got up and walked over to Kris' side. "Riley, here boy." the canine looked at her, and then at the Admiral. Who gave a subtle nod as Riley obeyed her command, coming over to sit next to her and Kris. "Good dog." she petted his head. "See, he's calm, relaxed..." Riley would sniff Kris' hand and then draw his head back without biting or showing teeth.

"I understand that my daughter has done you a great service, Captain. You've put some excellent marks on her record. Feel like telling me about it?" her father asked.

Kris nodded politely. "I haven't put anything in there that she did not earn, Sir" he replied, looking at Mizzy and smiling. "The truth is, Admiral. that your daughter has been doing an outstanding job aboard the Katana. Her organizational skills have saved me countless times, and I also can see that she's going to make a damn good helmsmen if she is properly trained."

"I can see her being a helmsman, but! I also agree with her choice in major. She wants to be you one day, Captain. Four pips, a ship of her own, a crew to lead. It's not easy, But that's precisely why she wants it." The admiral replied.

"But if I have to be flight control, then I will be." Mizuki gave with a nod.

"Ah, following in the old man's footsteps in that as well?"

"Of course, papa." she replied.

"Ensure she's taken care of, Captain. I made a gamble leaving her with you, because I believed she'd be safe while still learning information that can't be taught in classrooms. Don't let me down." He added.

"She's in good hands, Sir. I can promise you that" replied Kris. Really? Did I just say that I was good for her, that I could take care of her and protect her? thought Kris nervously. He looked at the elder man and nodded. "Some starship Captains sat in the helmsmen seat at some point. Captain Hikaru Sulu of course is one fine example" added Kris. "I can teach your daughter a lot. I was a helmsmen my entire career before I moved onto a First Officer position. I'm trained so pilot nearly any craft, fighters included."

The man nodded, already having a good line of questioning. "That is true, and you have my gratitude. I heard some things regarding incidents that may have happened aboard your ship. What can you tell me about them? The fact that you're sitting here right now means that they were resolved fairly well, but I'm interested to know more. And if they had any effect on my daughter. Do I need to leave him with her?" he points to Riley to emphasize his point.

Kris looked at the Admiral for a moment, kept his lips shut and took a deep breath. "Sir, a majority of those events occurred while I was lying in Sickbay with huge gash on my abdominal region. I damn well nearly died from it, and I frankly do not care to discuss it nor can I really inform you on much as I was not alert or aware. Reports from the officer in command at the time have been gathered and will likely be released to the public soon enough, and as an Admiral, I am sure that you can obtain this information if you so wish" said Kris firmly. He then looked at Krull who was somewhat glaring at Kris.

Captain Kerouac looked back at the elder man. "With all due respect, Admiral...it is a touchy matter."

Masterson could have taken the outburst as a slight against him, but he didn't. "If the reports are gathered then give your Yeoman access rights to them. Then I can read it without stirring up the hornet's nest." The admiral replied, amiably, though showing a knowledge of technology that was perhaps surprising. "It is not my intention to be rude. It is my intention however to be a good father. I'm all she has, since her mother passed away."

"I didn't have parents" replied Kris honestly. "So, I apologize if I've offended you. I am not used to dealing with parents, and I have never really had anyone to be protective of my well being or interests" added the Captain. Uri was protective. Liam is kind of protective and caring. Though, I am not inclined to call Liam daddy. At least not on duty.

"You rendered no offense. Mine are deceased as well, sadly." He replied. "I just need that access. Because if I deem it necessary, you will be getting another crew member."

Mizuki sidled over to Krull and knelt down to speak lowly, "What do you think of all this?" she asked him.

The Cardassian looked at the young woman. She was a cadet, and Krull was well aware of that fact. His gaze was piercing and his tone was deep, stern, and a bit raspy as he cleared his throat in preparation to responding to her. "All matters have been looked into, Cadet. Command will take whatever actions it deems necessary" replied Krull. He then looked over at Kris, "I will be accompanying the USS Katana."

"Right.." She trailed off, keeping her mouth shut, while the other man read through his padd. "I know enough about it to be informed, but I didn't check out every little detail. To get the last bit of business done before we continue with the meal, I'll be taking my leave of you once shore leave is concluded, but my dog will be staying with my daughter. In the meantime, I'll have a look around the colony, and the Katana. An informal inspection. If there are objections, I'll hear them for the record."

Kris could understand the man's protectiveness, but as the starship's Commanding Officer, it did slightly offend him. It probably showed with his initial facial expression, but no doubt was confirmed in what he said next. "Why?" said Kris as he looked at the dog. "Sir, I am not against having the dog aboard my starship. However, I do not like that you want it there to protect your daughter. Forgive me for my tone, but it seems as though you are questioning my security personnel and that doesn't sit well with me...it indirectly questions my ability to command" said Kris.

Commodore Larkon broke in, placing a hand on Kris' shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze. It was a squeeze to silently say 'shut up' and the glare that Krull shot Kris was certainly readable as such. "Nobody is questioning your ability to command nor your security personnel. The Admiral is concerned about his daughter, and given recent events, I do not believe either one of us could really blame the man for wanting to add someone or something he personally knows as additional protection for his daughter" explained Krull.

The Cardassian looked at the older looking man. "The dog will be welcomed aboard the USS Katana, Admiral. In fact, the ensure the safety of the crew, I have personally recommended that a small amount of Starfleet Marines be added to the crew compliment" the Cardassian added.

"Thank you, Commodore." The man gave, looking to Kris. "I don't need to question your ability to command when there are certain other people who've made it their agenda to. It would be unnecessary, and I quite frankly don't see why they're doing it. For what its worth from me, you're fine. And I am certain your security measures are in order and your people good for the job."

At this point, Riley the dog growls at a bit at Kris' sentiments, and Mizuki puts her hand on his back, overtop of the combat vest. "Easy Riley. He's a good guy once you've worked with him. Sit." The dog barked once before sitting down. "Good boy." Then she tears off a little bit of meat from what she'd been eating, and feeds it to him.

Kris looked at Mizuki and nodded. "The dog is welcome to come aboard. Please see to it that the dog and all other belonging are aboard before we depart. If you do not mind, Admiral, I have to see to some matters with my starship. So, I hope you'll excuse my departure" said Kris standing up from the table and extended his hand across it.

"You bloody piece of shit!!" Sabrina ranted. She was alone, and frustrated, so nobody could hear her curse. This latest class was going to be the end of her. There hadn't been a repair yet she couldn't complete with enough study and practice, but manually regulating EPS flow to the phaser banks... She'd blown up the ship twice, and lost the port nacelle three times. Hardly progress.

She kicked the console, then let out a yelp of pain. She hated to admit it, but she needed help. "Computer, can you get an instructor, or something, to assist me?" She asked with resignation.

Moments later, Arivek Zhuri materialized in front of the woman. "How the hell did I get here?" he asked, looking around in confusion.

Sabrina looked to see that the computer had done a little more than she asked. "I'm so sorry sir! I asked the computer for help, I didn't expect it to summon you sir."

Ari looked around, "Where exactly am I?" he asked, suddenly realizing the tools that were in his hands moments before were now gone.

"Holodeck two sir, Intrepid Class training program." Sabrina explained what she had been trying to do. "I'm so sorry the computer activated you sir, I only asked for help, not the CEO. I'll figure it out."

"I wasn't activated, but seem to have been transferred from the real Main Engineering to this one." Arivek walked up to the console the woman was working at, "No matter, I'll get that fixed later. For now, is there something I can help you with?"

"Well, would you mind looking at my results? I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong." She admitted with embarrassment.

"What are you trying to do?" he asked, looking over her work.

Sabrina explained it to him again. "I am trying to manually regulate the eps flow to the phaser banks."

Ari took a few moments to read over the latest results of her simulations. "For the sake of the Katana, I'm glad to see you working in a holodeck," he said in jest, hoping she wouldn't get upset at his comment. "May I ask why you're trying to simulate this?" he asked, still looking over the results.

Sabrina blushed. "EPS 101." One day, she was going to be an officer. If she didn't fail this class that was.

"Ah, the Academy." Arivek nodded, pulling up a status report on the EPS relay grid of the holodeck Katana. "I understand your frustration now. The phaser banks are a very sensitive system and can be hard to master right away."

Sabrina relaxed a bit, glad that the CEO didn't seem upset at her. "Yes sir. Repairing them, now that's not so bad, but managing their flow I can't seem to get the hang of."

"Managing flow is a very delicate process. The problem that you may be running into is that for most systems, there is a wide margin of error allowed. But for the weapons systems, there isn't. So you're used to working with that margin, and now that habit is working against you."

Arivek shook his head and sighed, "That's something I've always had problems with. This class teaches you to align systems in the wrong order. If you learn to do weapons systems first, you'll be used to the perfection required, and this will translate into your other work. Try recalibrating your thermal modulator to a .01 phase variance."

"I took this one first because I heard it was the hardest. I figured I'd get it over with." She picked up her thermal modulator and changed the variance.

"Right, but through the EPS course, they teach you different systems. I wish they would teach the systems in a different order." Arivek backed away for the young woman to try it again.

"What would you recommend?" She asked, now intrigued. Since she was doing this outside the structure of the actual academy, she had some options.

"I recommend you try again. Let me watch and see what you're doing. Perhaps I can observe something." Arivek really didn't have time to do this, but for some reason, he enjoyed helping this petty officer. Anyone who wanted to better themselves should get every opportunity of assistance they could.

She had meant what would he recommend in terms of what order to take the classes, but he'd reminded her that she was here to complete this task, and she was taking up his time when he had obviously been busy. With the phase variance set so tight she had to micro manage the flow, but at least it wasn't sending too much and blowing things up. Now she wasn't getting it there fast enough and in the right order for the phasers, but it was closer.

Arivek stood off to the side and watched the woman's motions as she tried again. A spark jumped between the relay and her instrument and suddenly an alarm klaxon began to blare. "Slower," he said with caution as she kept going. A clicking could be heard on the other side of Engineering and the Warp Core's intermix chamber was heating up rapidly. Three bulkheads blew apart as hot steam poured into the room.

"Computer, pause simulation," Arivek commanded, and suddenly everything became still as his command was carried out. "You destroyed the ship again. Let's start over." He walked over to the woman and took her hand gently, "Try coming from this direction here," he said, moving her hand to a less awkward angle. "Computer reset simulation."

Sabrina tried his suggestion, and was doing fine until the third phaser bank. It overloaded and took out a nice chunk of deck 18. But at least she hadn't killed off an entire nacelle of blown up the ship. "Progress." She chuckled. "I just need practice now." She felt confident that was all it was. "Thank you for your help."

"Anytime, Petty Officer. Just keep at it, I'm sure you'll master it in no time." Arivek smiled as he stood back up. "If you need anymore help, let me know. The Academy isn't easy, but it's crucial to actually learn the material."

Sabrina nodded, her attention quickly going back to the task at hand.

PO3 Sabrina Corbin
Repair Specialist

Liam sat behind his desk reviewing the updated paper work, there were still about three dozen crewman who were missing their latest medical. Shore leave tended to be a good time to track them down as the threat to rescind their shore leave privileges tended to make them show up. His eyes rose when the doors opened, the burly figure of their new XO entered and Liam noticed a few of his medical staff shy away from the new arrival.

"Commander Eisovo." Liam said approaching the man, "Doctor Liam Cohen, Chief Medical Officer, what can I do for you today sir?"

M'rayr stopped into the office and gave his new surroundings a quick overview before turning to the doctor. He tilted his head sideways as his ears extended in curious expression. Reaching into his pocket, he withdrew a small data rod. "Good afternoon, doctor Cohen. I am here to provide you my medical records, transferred from the San Jacinto, and to submit for a physical, in accordance with protocol." M'rayr's words were neither impatient nor pleasant -- they just were.

"A Command officer that doesn't scurry away from sickbay, this is new. Take a seat Commander." He said gesturing to an empty bio bed. He skimmed the abstract of the record. "How'd you get that gash?"

M'rayr briefly touched the patch of fur that once served as his his eye. "Through battle, doctor." He answered rather stoically. "I have no desire to receive a synthetic or cloned prosthetic at this time," he finished, anticipating Cohen's suggestion. Most doctors he knew or had met went into long spiels over how the benefits of modern cloning easily outpaced any potential consequence; simply put, M'rayr lost something and wasn't interested in regaining a man-made version of it.

"Very well. Anything else I should be aware of?" He asked consulting the readings scrolling across the screen.

"Nothing that I can think of," M'rayr added.

"Very good," Liam said, "Well everything looks pretty normal, you're clear for duty." He added entering a few more commands. "If you change your mind about a replacement eye." He trailed off.

The Caitian let out a soft grunt of non-compliance.

"Very well, you're free to go, hopefully you don't need to visit here very often." Liam added clapping a hand on the XOs shoulder and giving him a grin.

M'rayr stood, almost surprised that the evaluation had progressed so swiftly. Then again, it wasn't for the Caitian to complain, either. He looked down to the medical officer and nodded curtly. M'rayr knew, or at least was aware of the fact that Liam Cohen had become a romantic interest for Captain Kristopher Kerouac. Starfleet regulation didn't prohibit a relationship between a commanding officer and his -- (or her) -- crew, but it wasn't entirely encouraged either. Worse comes to worse, we can always transfer Cohen... the Caitian thought. "How is the Captain?" He asked abruptly.

"Medically, he's fine." Liam remarked, there was a certain amount of grey area involved in doctor patient confidentiality in Starfleet. "But I assume you're interested in more than his physical health."

It was obvious that Liam had been expecting some sort of response, but the Caitian simply looked at him silently. If there was a telltale acknowledgement, it wasn't obvious or easily apparent.

Liam watched the XO for a moment. "Very well, if there's nothing else you're free to go Sir." He said and watched the feline officer leave.

[ON]

Ensign R'tame Evoss found himself walking into the mess hall shortly after the end of his duty shift. In the last several hours, he'd been overly distracted; someone he considered his best friend since their time together at the Academy, and on to their service aboard the Katana, Paige Bennett, had somehow become something... else. It started in this mess hall when the two had dinner, and extended through the ball. Despite the fact that Paige wasn't Caitian -- she didn't have fur, claws, or even a tail! -- he found her desirable.

R'tame ordered a synthohale from replicator and took a slow sip from it. It was hardly the sort of Caitian bourbon he liked -- the taste was as bland as the effect. Paige and he didn't have plans tonight, which was good because he needed to think about what they might become. It wasn't like he was against the idea of them being together. But dating a non-Caitian broke so many cultural norms he didn't even know where to begin.

Hunting down a Caitian, Maica was carrying a small jar with some herbs of some sort in it as she headed towards the mess hall. Spying R'tame, she headed over to his table and motioned to one of the open chairs. "Mind if I join you?"

R'tame glanced up and saw the green-skinned Orion first, then the jar in her hand, and finally the rank on her collar. His eyes went wide and he stood abruptly. His right ear twitched incessantly. "Of course, C-Commander," he replied, putting as much formality into his voice as he swiped a paw at his ear, hoping to stop it from twitching any more.

"Stand down, R'tame, I'm a diplomat, not your boss." Slipping into a chair across from him, Maica slid the jar of high quality nepata tea leaves his way. "I'm hoping to get to know you better as well as our new XO, if you're up to it. Besides, you look like you have something troubling you and I might be able to help."

R'tame did as he was told, and picked up the jar to study it. "Nepata leaves," the Caitian said in a pleasantly surprised way. He looked back to Maica. "With all due respect, ma'am, I hope you're not under the impression that getting to know me better will help you in understanding Mr. Eisovo. We come from..." R'tame's brow furrowed. "...very different backgrounds."

"And my diplomatic contacts are from a third very different background. They're tight lipped about him and I'm starting to suspect whybut I'd like your input if possible." Maica said, smiling her warmest smile.

"I think you misunderstand me," said R'tame, looking rather sheepish -- (if a Caitian could look sheepish). He was about to confess something to the Lieutenant Commander he'd guarded closely. Not even Paige knew about this. "When I say we have different backgrounds, I don't mean him. Well... I'm sure his background is rather complicated, as well. I know that he lives in exile from his tribe. But... you see, Commander. My tribe followed a path that the Klingons would call lutlh Ha' woDlu'chugh, or the Vulcans call P'rmitīva, the Orions, Mitivne." The Caitian turned his head to the side, seeming a little ashamed of what he told her. "On my world, I am called an O'dpad'nik -- a prim, a primitive. We're not like other Caitians"

"R'tame, I was a sex slave for the first 3 years of my life but I'm a Starfleet Officer now. You are as well. As is M'rayr. Do you know what that means to me? We're all here for a reason despite of or because of our backgrounds. That's something that can tie us all together and open paths of discussion. Your tribe may be primitive by some standards, but you're here as an engineer. I'm here trying to help people talk things through as a diplomat. M'rayr was an engineer and is now an XO. Heck, Polachi Ambassador S'treth is a Caitian from a colony world and a Starfleet officer. None of us are alike and yet I'd like to think we can understand each other. I'm just going to need your take on M'rayr's background as you know it to help me understand him so I can help him settle into this crew, this family." Leaning back in her chair, Maica thought for a moment. "The humans would call your tribe Amish, I think."

R'tame nodded. What Maica said had very nearly caused him to smile, perhaps even feel better about his origins or how they played out in his Starfleet career. He felt a little more relaxed with the Orion-bot. "Thanks, Commander," he said. When he moved onto her desire to know more about what he thought about Eevoss, he shrugged uncertainly. "I can tell you what I know about him, ma'am. His tribe is... well, it's almost as complicated as my own, only for different reasons. What do you know about the Eevoss Tribe, back on Cait?"

"Other than that some beautiful handcrafts come from them and that they follow old ways, not much." Maica admitted, waiting for R'tame to continue.

R'tame nodded. This was going to be difficult and even a little awkward to explain. Even he didn't know the full story, but he'd try. Taking a sip from his mug, the Caitian's brows furrowed as he thought of where to begin. "They are separatists, essentially. The Evoss tribe have long been detractors of the Caitian Republic's... affiliation with the Federation, and have been trying to sway the rest of the council towards their beliefs for many centuries. Until the Dominion War, however, their words were not taken seriously."

"I suppose knowledge of Section 31 and that it was a part of Starfleet from the very beginning doesn't help much either. As a diplomat I can't condone Cait leaving the Federation, but if it comes to that, we'd have to cross that as it comes." Maica was candid about that at least. "Please, go on."

"Fortunately," R'tame continued, nodding. "Their momentum faded almost as soon as it began. Fear is a powerful thing, Commander. But the Caitian Republic has been staunch allies of the Federation for many generations. You would no longer see Cait leave the Federation than you would Vulcan, or Andoria. But the Evoss lost most of their military-age males during the siege of Betazed, and with that, most of their future power. Rumors were told that those who survived were..." R'tame looked away, briefly. "Encouraged to return from the front... In that way, the tribe was no better than the house of Duras on the Klingon homeworld -- they regarded their own interests as more important than those of the Caitian people. The act was very public, and very embarrassing for the Evoss. The only male who refused that order was the First Officer."

"I had heard about that. It was before I was made so the whole war... I honestly can't imagine what it was like. I can understand their reasoning though. And I think I'm starting to see why Commander Eisovo is having a hard time fitting in. Thank you." Maica said, going over everything she knew about the new Caitian XO.

"Of course, Commander." R'tame said, glad that he could offer at least some help. A moment of silence stretched between them, and, it occurred to him that she might be just the person he needed to talk to on another topic. "Now... maybe you could help me, if you have the time." He asked uncertainly. Asking a senior officer, even if she was just a diplomat, felt wrong in a small way. He pushed past the discomfort in his belly.

Maica smiled her warmest smile, motioning for him to continue. "Please, anything."

R'tame felt a tinge of embarrassment rise. Such topics as the one he was about to have with Maica were generally discouraged under Caitian norms. Then again, R'tame had no idea how to handle a non-Caitian like Paige. "This feels like an awkward transition, but do you know of Ensign Bennett?"

Maica had run across the name before, though she had not met the woman. "I know of her, yeah. She's one of the counselors, right?"

R'tame nodded. "We attended the academy together, and were lucky to be assigned to the Katana. I consider her a dear friend."

Maica suspected something more, otherwise why would he bring it up? "Go on. What's the problem?"

If it were possible for R'tame to turn any shade of red, he would have. Fortunately, his think mane of fur adequately concealed the flush of his skin. He forced himself to think of this as a professional problem -- like anything he'd run into in main engineering. "According to Valerie Circe, a medical officer who also happens to be a telepath, our relationship isn't... purely platonic."

Grinning slightly from the visible increase in skin temperature from the almost hidden blush, Maica had an idea what the issue R'tame was having trouble with was now. "You have feelings for her and since she's not Caitian you don't feel comfortable about it. Is that it?"

"Something like that," R'tame admitted reluctantly. "I've always had a hard time reading her since she doesn't have a tail or ears," his own ear flicked unconsciously as to emphasize the point. "She doesn't have a coat; she's so... alien. But when I look at her, I see something beautiful standing in front of me. But she's not like a Caitian woman, and I'm..." he paused in search of the right word to describe what he was trying to say. "... worried that our cultural and social norms will be too different. Plus, what if we try to be more than friends and it doesn't work out?"

This was something Maica could understand. She didn't know what race Valerie was but she knew Caitians well enough. "First off, she'll have different signals. Over time you'll catch on to them, but mainly focus on her mouth, eyes, and arms. Those are normally the easiest to read. As for social norms, there's only one way to find out. You might find there's more in common between Caitians and most other humanoids than you think. Besides, I think it's better to share love just once in your life than to not. Have you discussed any of this with her?"

"I have been in love before," R'tame said in an effort to not appear so naïve on the topic. But he was obviously sitting on a line between being mortified and confidence. "We've discussed some things. I don't think either of us know exactly what to do now that we've decided to try being a couple. She knows I can be rather... absent... to what she and others might consider obvious."

"Well, not everyone can be an android that catalogs and analyzes everything they sense. You'll have to learn those signs and try to stay aware." Maica shrugged, about to say something she didn't much like. "Or you could do like most guys and just do your best to pretend to notice things."

The Caitian chuckled, and his body language even seemed to relax. "At least there is one galactic consistency we can all accept." He agreed, even though he intended his comment as more as a joke than anything else. Maica had, at the very least, given him some things to think about. And possibly, he felt less intimidated by the idea of dating Paige. Maybe it won't be as bad as I feared, R'tame thought. Reaching for his cup, he downed the last of its contents and set it back onto the table. "I appreciate your... counsel, in this matter, Commander." He said.

Smiling warmly, Maica nodded at the thanks. "It's always a pleasure. Is there anything else I can help with?"

"No ma'am," R'tame answered. Right now, he couldn't even pretend to think about anything else that might be on his mind. "I do hope that I have been some assistance to you, as well." He added at the last minute, almost as if the fact that she came to him to discuss something first. "Although I would prefer it if you didn't divulge to the Commander my participation in understanding him better," he said, seeming a little nervous, even though he concealed it well. "Caitians are relatively closed when it comes to personal information. I doubt the Commander would appreciate my aid as much as you do."

Raising her hands defensively for a moment, Maica had to giggle. "Don't worry. Some of my best friends are Caitian diplomats. Everything said here is between you and me and the computer waiting for orders."

R'tame nodded. "Thank you, ma'am." He let a silence fill, and then awkwardly added as she was about to stand up to leave, "and have a good day."

"You too." Standing herself, Maica headed towards the replicator to get something to poke into her organelle belly.

Major Owen Russell had never liked beaming from place to place. Having your entire body taken apart and put back together again was never a fun prospect for anyone, but Owen disliked it especially. So he was more than eager to step off the transporter as he materialized in the Katana's transporter room. His wrinkled, green uniform and escort of two marine corporals drew a raised eyebrow from the transporter operator, but Owen pretended not to notice. Together, the three marines made their way to the turbolift, before the marine Owen's left pressed the '1' button, and the lift sped upwards. Owen and his guards got out and walked over to the captain's ready room. Owen glanced over at his escorts. "Corporals, you're gonna have to wait outside. That okay with you?" The two marines nodded in sync, yelling "Sir, yes sir!" For Christ's sake, how'd I get put with infantry? Ringing the door chime, Owen waited for an answer.

At his desk, Kris was not anticipating anyone to come see him, but his policy had always been open door. Be they his Senior Staff, a crewmen, or even a civilian aboard the starship. Captain Kerouac did not turn away anyone and was open to listening to the needs of his crew and the passengers aboard. Though, he mostly preferred his First Officer to handle matters and forward any complaints to him. Regardless of who had been on the other side of the doors, Kris reached over the a control panel and opened his Ready Room door. "Come in" he said to the man standing there.

Stepping inside, Owen straightened his uniform as he walked over to the captain. While Owen wasn't a big fan of formality, you could never be too proper when first greeting your commanding officer. Saluting, he stated "Major Owen Russell, reporting for duty, sir. I'm commanding the Marine detachment onboard."

Kris looked up at the man and studied him. Marines...not my favorite people to work with thought the Captain as he stood up from behind his desk. "Major" said Kris with a polite nod, reaching across his desk to shake the man's hand. "I'll admit first hand that I am not really an admirer of Starfleet Marines. You rough necks are excellent to have for ground missions and for war time, but to have you aboard my starship...I'm hesitant" said Captain Kerouac.

"However, given recent events, your presence may be necessary" added Kris slightly reluctantly. "I suggest that you and your marines get settled in. See the Security Chief and Chief Intelligence Officer to be brought up to speed on recent problems that we've endured."

As Major Russell shook the offered hand, he nodded sympathetically. "I understand where you're coming from, Captain. Many Starfleet officers see us as a burden, with the finesse and precision of a butcher's cleaver. I can personally assure you, however, that the Marine Corps will be a useful asset, and I hope to change your stance on us." Owen wasn't surprised with the Captain's reaction. Many Fleeters did not get along exactly with their Marine counterparts, and it actually seemed Kerouac was relatively opened minded, if a bit hesitant.

Standing back, Owen asked "How many Marines are going to be onboard, Captain? With this ship size, it seemed a little odd for me to be assigned here, being a Major and all."

"I am not certain, Major" said Kris simply with a small shrug. "This was out of my hands and beyond my control. Starfleet Command and Commodore Larkon were responsible for the assignment of marines aboard. However, I would not anticipate more than a handful of marines."

Owen nodded. "Well, thank you for your time, sir. I'll be seeing you on the bridge." Turning on his heels, Owen made his way towards the door.

It didn't work thought Lieutenant Verak immediately from Astrometrics when the starship violently began to shake. It reminded him like a volcanic erruption or an earthquake. He tried to keep his calm and continue working, but as the starship continued to shake, the violent nature of the shakes increased. “This is some turbulence” commented Verak as he reached out and grabbed onto his work station.

Unknown to Verak at that time, Captain Kerouac had given the order to pull out from the transwarp tunnel, decrease speed in an attempt to abort the test run to the Delta Quadrant from the Gamma Quadrant. The starship lurched as it slowed and shook, sending Verak somersaulting over his station. Loose equipment went flying everywhere, falling all over the place and Verak looked up to see two computer consoles exploded.

Verak had not been working alone in the Astrometrics lab. He had been working alongside Shira, the small fluttering Arboreal. Though the lab was in bad shape, as Verak cleared his head and pulled himself up, his concerns were not on the technology. Shira! he mentally shouted as he looked around the room on the edge of panicking. He spotted the Arboreal and saw that a piece of equipment was heading for her. He did not really thing about how easily she probably could have dodged it with her wings, agility, and speed. He charged forward and moved her out of the equipments path, tripping and landing on top of her.

Taking a deep breath, and looking into her eyes, a smile began to form on his face. Verak felt drawn to to her, drawn to kiss her. He did so gently and remained on top of her, but not pressing down on her. “I love you” he said to her tenderly.

Shira looked up at him, breathless and surprised, but elated none the less. "I love you too," the little Arboreal said softly, holding tightly to her lover. "Verak, what is happening?"

"I do not know for sure, Shira" said Verak as he looked around at the Astrometrics Lab. The shaking had finally stopped and the lab was in chaos, but it could have been much worse. Things were still operational by the looks of it. Verak removed himself from Shira, and helped her up. "The technology that everyone had been working on. I don't think that it worked" explained Verak simply.

He headed over towards and operational astrometrics station. "Shira, I'm going to need your help. We need to determine the starship's location" said Verak shaking his head as he moved some debris from the path to the station. Verak began to work at the station. "Something isn't right...I can't get a sense of direction" added Verak who looked over his shoulder at Shira. "Jhu taught you some Federation worlds. Taught you to pull up star charts. We need to find something identifiable. I'm not seeing Ophinias."

"This is not the same space," Shira confirmed as she fluttered closer and accessed the console. "I do not see any stellar configurations that I can recognize, but I only know the stars of my quadrant." But that didn't stop her from finding a point of reference within the star charts on the computer. It wasn't an exact match, but it was a start.

Further analysis by Verak would confirm Shira's statement. This was not the Gamma Quadrant, and it was not Delta Quadrant space explored by the Federation. However, Shira had been able to pull up a starting point. It was a star system. Verak shook his head as he examined the system. "That's...that's just no, it cannot be right" commented Verak.

He looked at Shira. "I know that system, Shira. If this data is accurate...the Katana is...here?" said Verak indicating as he pulled up a 3D map and narrowed in on the USS Katana's location. "We're in the Alpha Quadrant" added Verak.

"I cannot be certain of the accuracy, I am still learning" Shira said as she looked over the 3D map. She pointed to the star in the nearby system. "Spectral analysis of that star is consistent with what is in the ship's records. If that system is in the Alpha Quadrant, then that is where we are."

Verak nodded. "I agree. It appears that we are in the Alpha Quadrant. However, that adds more questions to an answer" said the former helmsmen.

"Indeed. Were we not bound for the Delta Quadrant?" Shira asked. "From what I see here, we are terribly off course."

"Terribly" confirmed Verak looking at Shira. "This needs to be brought to the Captain and First Officer's attention. However, we cannot say anything to the rest of the crew yet" said Verak. "I have found something else that is...strange."

"What is it?" Shira asked as she looked at Verak. Whatever he found was troubling him deeply and she could already tell she would not like what he had to say.

He looked at Shira and took a deep breath. Focusing at his station, he put in a few commands and the 3D map before them changed. Two planets replaced the stellar map. "Those two planets. Romulus and Remus" said Verak. "They no longer exist...at least they shouldn't exist" added the half-Vulcan.

"What do you mean they do not exist?" Shira asked. "They are right there, so clearly they must exist."

"No" said Verak sharply. "They existed...a few years ago. Shira, these planets were destroyed a couple of years ago. So many lives taken, two worlds destroyed and a strong Empire brought down and weakened." Verak took a look at the planets and at his station again. "Indeed, they are there. However, they shouldn't be. Which means we did more than just traveled through space, Shira. We may have traveled back in time" he said, not quite hitting the mark.

"Travel... through time?" Shira may not have been the most learned creature on the ship, but even she understood the implications of that. "You must go tell the Captain!"

"No, Shira" said Verak shaking his head. He would have smiled at Shira if these had been better times. However, he did hold out his hand to take hers. "We must tell him, and we will do it together. You were helpful and I would not have been able to make this discovery without you."

Shira nodded silently, grabbing a PaDD and loading it with the data they had collected. She gave Verak a meek smile as she squeezed his hand to let him know that she was ready to go speak to the Captain.

In his few days of deployment on the Katana, Owen had become truly lost. Borg tech, alarms, something about time travel, it was all very confusing to the Major, who was caught completely unprepared by all of the confusion. During his meeting with the Captain, Kerouac had suggested that Owen meet with the Chief Intelligence Officer, and as time went on, that sounded like an increasingly better and better idea. And so, Owen found himself standing outside the CIO's office, brushing his uniform off with his hands. Though Owen didn't put much stock in first impressions, it didn't hurt to look presentable. Straightening his uniform with one hand, Owen used the other to ring the door chime.

At the sound of the door chime, Jhu reflexively powered down all of her screens and flipped her PaDDs over on her desk so that nothing classified could be seen on them. Then she checked the feed from the small camera she had positioned above her office door. Green. Jarhead. Great. She sighed, shaking her head slightly. What need the Katana had for Marines was well beyond her. "Come in!"

Stepping into the office, Owen walked over to Jhu's desk. So this was the ship's CIO. "Excuse me..." For a second he glanced at Jhu's pips. "...Commander. The captain recommended that I see the Chief Intelligence Officer for a briefing of sorts."

"Considering that you've just gotten here and therefore I don't have access to any information pertaining to your security clearance, there is very little I can tell you, Major." A quick glance at her computer showed Jhu that any clearance he might have hadn't been loaded yet, which meant she was probably going to have to do it herself. And she didn't have the paperwork yet, which meant Kris still had it. She sent Kris a quick message to forward that document when he was finished with it, then she sighed lightly. Literally everything she could tell the major could be found via the computer. Naturally, Kris would send Owen to her office rather than tell him to just read the reports there. "So you will have to be specific in what it is you want to know, and I will have to make sure what I give you doesn't have any classified intel in it."

Owen scowled at that. "I am a Major in the Starfleet Marine Corp! What in God's name happened to this ship that would need to be hidden from me?" he blustered.

Midway through pulling up her files on the events the Katana had taken part in, Jhu paused and looked up at Owen with a stern but otherwise unreadable expression. "First of all, as a commander in Starfleet, I outrank you. I could just as easily kick your blustery ass out of my office and tell you to look it up yourself in the computer. Second, as the Chief Intelligence Officer I have access to a hell of a lot more information than you do, most of which you will never see. I suggest you get used to the idea quickly, otherwise this will not be a comfortable assignment for you. And third... I don't care if you're a Marine, regular 'fleet, or a civilian. You do not take that tone in my office, with the second officer of this starship. Is that clear, Major?"

Owen was taken aback by her retort. "Now I... I'll have you know... You'd better..." The last one trailed off, as Owen began to rethink his strategy with this woman. He had mistaken her to be more passive than she actually was, and had thought that Jhu would bend to his will. Evidently that was a mistake, and he wouldn't make it again. Not only that, but Jhu already had the higher ground in the situation, as he needed information from her. It might have been more prudent to took a more cautious approach in speaking with her, a tactic he decided to try out. Speaking slowly, he said "Now, Commander. I didn't mean to... eh... agitate you, but I was just hoping to get as much information as I possibly could out of this, classified or otherwise. I would really... appreciate it if you could give me as much detail as possible on these events, so I can do my job better."

"That's better, thank you." Jhu didn't quite smile, but her expression softened from the stern glare to something slightly more friendly. "I will give you what I can, but until Captain Keruoac forwards your clearance information to me I cannot ascertain which classified data you'll be able to see. Have a seat." She pointed at a chair across from the desk as she pulled her notes from each event together into one tidy document on a PaDD, carefully including only the unclassified data for now. "I hope he was more specific than 'get a briefing' because frankly there's a lot here that isn't really relevant to any sort of combat or defense issue."

Owen breathed a small sigh of relief. The situation had been diffused, and now it was time to get the matter at hand. "Well, Captain Kerouac wasn't very specific, but all I really need to know about is any recent or upcoming security issues facing the ship. And possibly a list of any crew members who've been in the brig."

"You just want the interesting stuff then. All right." Jhu purged her notes of anything not pertaining to security and barely refrained from flinching when she saw what the first item was. Of course. Can't leave them out. Still, she wasn't looking forward to telling someone she barely knew that she'd been with that agency in the recent past. "Well. The most obvious - and most recent - is the situation with the Pedians and the Undine... er, Species 8472. Big fire fight nearly erupted over who 'owned' a pod of Gekli in Pedian space. They're sentient so I sure as hell wasn't letting the Pedians kill them. Anyhow, that's mostly blown over... we're out of Pedian space and the Pedians we rescued have returned home. Since we're headed to the Delta Quadrant, that won't be an issue anymore. However, I don't have reports yet on Delta Quadrant activity, and seeing as we're not quite there yet... all I can say is expect Hirogen, Voth, and Undine aggression. Maybe Malon too... and possibly Borg. They've been known to pop back up after 'extinction level' events before... wouldn't surprise me if they did again." She flipped the PaDD face down on her desk, hesitating before continuing. "We've also had some trouble with Dominion forces, but that was a while back and we haven't seen them again. The biggest issue has been with a group of people who 'don't exist' but sure manage to make our lives hell."

Owen listened patiently throughout the briefing, raising his eyebrow at her last addition. "A group of people who don't exist? Ghosts, ninjas, invisible men? Who are they?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Forget I said anything about them." Not thrilled by Owen's immediate joking response, Jhu shook her head. People could be so dense.


"Gotcha." Owen chuckled. Ghosts. Oh, well. It seemed like Jhu was quite serious on that matter, so he'd have to keep an eye out in the future. "On this ship, are there any troublemakers? I don't screw around with those types of people, so I'd like to know about them beforehand."

"No one who makes trouble on purpose. Chief Carter can be stubborn and a bit crazy, but she has a heart of gold. Only other person who's served brig time is Lieutenant Dash, for abandoning his post and general disobedience but seeing as how he did it for his girlfriend I can't call him a 'troublemaker' either." Jhu shook her head slightly. "There is one person in particular who seems to be getting an awful lot of favorable treatment though, and I don't like it."

Owen arched his left eyebrow. "And who might that be?"

"Captain's yeoman." Jhu rolled her eyes. "She's a cadet... name's Masterson. Gets away with a lot of nonsense, if you ask me. And the latest thing... you won't believe it until you see the animal, but she's got this dog. German shepherd, military trained. With metal tips on its teeth."

Owen scoffed at this. "Why does she need a military dog? The ship's been give an outfit of marines! Who authorized this dog, anyways? Not the captain, I hope."

"She doesn't need it and didn't before you even arrived." There was that snobby Marine attitude again, and Jhu didn't like it. At all. "And of course the captain. How the hell else would she get it onto the ship?"

He shrugged. "I was giving him the benefit of the doubt, that she somehow coerced him, or something. Oh, well. The dog's not causing any problems is it?"

"It being here is a problem. She's not a dog handler... none of us are. It needs to go back to its handler, shouldn't have been allowed on board at all without its handler being present."

Owen nodded in understanding. "Yes, I agree. But how would we persuade the Captain to get rid of it? Have you tried talking to the Chief of Security?"

Jhu snorted at him. "I'm dating the chief of security. If I asked him to handle it, it would look like he did so in order to do me a favor. Not opening that can of worms, Major."

"Fair enough, Commander." Owen put his hand up to his chin. "The question is, though, what can I do about it? Since I'm new around here, my opinions will likely be taken with a grain of salt. What would you suggest?"

Jhu shrugged slightly. "If my objections went without being heeded, yours have little chance. I'm afraid I don't have a suggestion on that matter."

Owen scratched his chin thoughtfully. "I suppose you're right. Is there anything else I should know about?"

"Nothing I can think of. You'll probably want to meet with Lieutenant Tonkin though, if you expect to work with security on anything."

Owen smirked. "I'll probably have to work with Security on everything, actually. It might be best that I do so now, as a matter of fact." Nodding to Jhu, he said "Thank you for your help."

"You're welcome. Now out. I have work to finish." Jhu grinned a little. "Besides, I'm sure you have more interesting places to be."

Smiling, Owen headed towards the door. That meeting went better than expected, and had good results.

“Computer, end Captain's log” commanded Captain Kristerouac as he stood up from behind his Ready Room's desk, his desk. The desk that so many decisions had to be made from in private before asking for advice from his First Officer and his Senior Staff. However, this decision was not his to make. He was under orders from Starfleet Command and had informed his officers as needed, placing his new First Officer in charge of overseeing the preparations which were as completed as they could be given the limited time frame that Command had given. The engineers and operations personnel were not pleased, the First Officer had a look of concern the moment Kris gave the one week time table, and the astrophysicists and stellar cartographers had been filing reports of protest and concern throughout the week. A few personnel had downright resigned over the matter, but orders were orders and the majority of the crew put their personal concerns aside and carried out Command's orders to reverse engineer the Borg transwarp device.

Though he was not an engineer nor operations officer by any means, and damn well was no where near being a scientist, Kristopher Kerouac was an experienced enough pilot to know that experimental and prototype technology was always a crop shoot, a gamble that sometimes even resulted in great loss of life. There was a reason that zeppelins did not become a popular means of travel on Earth way back when. The Hindenburg incident was enough to all but scrap to research and end the project. Kerouac himself had been part of one of Starfleet's botched projects. It was project pterodactyl, a new fighter that had been designed leading up to the Dominion War, research and production of a few prototypes were rushed, and a hand selected group of some of Starfleets craziest flight control fools ended up consenting to be test pilots. They were to be sophisticated tactical fighters, the fastest Starfleet had built at the time and came equipped with sensor jamming capabilities, excellent sensors that were rumored to be so finely tuned with the ability to run a tachyon sweep so sensitive that it could pick up the smallest cloaked Romulan vessel. An additional asset had been that they were designed with the potential use of a cloaking device, should one ever be designed or permitted to be used on Federation vessels.

However, the project was a bust. The first test run came in 2375 shortly after the war, and Kris, an ensign at the time was the lowest ranking of the dozen of test pilots selected, the most senior being a full Commander, a human in his late 40s. The test was a simple fly through Federation space, near the outer most fringes of the Beta Quadrant. What had not been anticipated was the mass failure of all dozen of the pterodactyls, and one by one they were destroyed by unidentified enemy craft that seemingly came out of no where do to sensors failing. Only a four pilots survived, managing to enter the atmosphere of a near by planet and ejecting from the craft. Because of the classified nature of the aborted project, only Starfleet Command, the Corp of Engineers, Starfleet Intelligence and a few higher up Admirals were ever made aware of the project. The identity of the attacking vessels remained a mystery. However, Kris always suspected the Romulans.

Leaving his Ready Room, Kris felt a glimmer of the past as he looked at his reflection in the parting doors. Another experimental flight. This time it was a starship, technology that was primarily not Federation, and Kris was depending largely on a hologram and a ex-Borg whom was borderline insubordinate and potentially dangerous when pissed off. If this worked, it would be a huge step for the Federation in terms of the potential use of Borg transwarp. As he stepped onto the Bridge, he could see that his Senior Staff, the Department Heads, the best of the best aboard were all at their stations. The new First Officer surrendering the center seat to Kris. Some of the others had either opted to take a seat at an auxiliary station or were simply standing on the Bridge in observance of the event.

Captain Kerouac took the center seat and looked ahead at the back of the Chief Flight Controller's head. “Lieutenant Collins, lift us off from this platform and retract landing gear” instructed Kris, as he gave the initial order to leave Ophinias. “Break orbit when ready and proceed to designated coordinates at full impulse” added Kris.

"Aye, Captain," Hayley replied. Her fingers punched in several commands as she took control of the Katana. The inertial dampeners engaged automatically as the ship lifted off the platform. She then increased throttle while retracting its landing gears. She pulled the Katana into a steep climb as she continued to increase the throttle. On the viewscreen, the image of the foreign atmosphere faded into the darkness of space as the starfield became more and more visible by the second. She then input the designated coordinates.

Looking over his shoulder, Kris looked up towards the Operations station where the reddish-orange hair of the Chief of Operations reminded him of the flames of his crashed pterodactyl. “Chief Carter, please be kind and send Ophinias a general thank you for their kind hospitalities. Also, I have a container in Cargo Bay one designated to go to Ophinias. It is a container full of Risan sunblock, please make sure they get our gift” added Kris with a small chuckle.

"I can have the cargo crew moon the colony if you wanna make things interesting," Andy said in jest to help dispel her nervousness over the flight they were intending to make. It wasn't like this was the first time an Intrepid-class starship had ever used a Borg transwarp drive, Voyager had successfully used a transwarp device to cut years off their journey, but the drive Katana was intending on using was ancient. The upshot of this device? It was actually a good research opportunity. To see the difference in the devices used now and on Voyager as well as comparing the difference their effects would provide potential for the possibility of reverse engineering the technology. If they had a transwarp drive design that could be reliably reproduced to be put on other ships then Starfleet could more effectively allocated ships and resources! The advances they could make off this drive were astounding! If they could get it to work. Andy wasn't entirely certain it would work, even after all the modifications they made and tests they ran. But if it did... although Andy wouldn't be disappointed to see the device blow up either. It was a reminder of painful times for her and she would be glad when this was all over.

Kris then looked over to his side and gazed at his First Officer. “Remind me not to freeze my ass off on that planet again” commented the Captain. “All our modifications are ready? We're good to go, Commander?” asked Kristopher, knowing that if they had not been, the man would have already informed him.

Commander M'rayr Eisovo looked down to the small console that he and Kris typically shared. On it read the status of the Borg transwarp device, its measurements and rates of energy consumption, and most importantly... the condition of the tiny singularity-producing central core. A small light to the lower-right pointed to an immediate shutdown of the device, should M'rayr, Kerouac, or any other member of the senior staff feel an abort to be necessary. So far, everything was still lined in the green, however, which was fortunate. The Caitian looked back to Kerouac and nodded, seeming to completely ignore the mention of Ophinias's climate. "Modifications complete, Captain," M'rayr admitted. "The device also appears to be operating within established norms."

"I'm reading positive power flow to the transwarp device," Arivek stated from the side Engineering Station. Hologram or not, he could feel a pit in his stomach over what they were about to do. "Bringing the device online," he said as a follow-up, his hands shaking as he input the commands into the console.

Operating within established norms or not, Jhu didn't like it. She'd mostly kept her objections to herself, but neither Kris or M'rayr had been present the last time the Katana had used Borg data and she didn't think they quite knew what they were getting themselves into. If merely opening a portal into fluidic space could bring the wrath of the Undine, she didn't want to think about what they might do if they heard that the Katana was using a Borg transwarp drive to make this trip.

Once Andy was done transmitting the message to the colony and the orders to unload the cargo, she joined Ari at the Engineering station to monitor the power flow to the device as he brought it online. "Power levels are holding steady," Andy confirmed as she double checked all the modifications and configurations one last time. She cast Ari an understanding glance; she knew why his hands shook and she felt the same way. "Integrations with ship systems are stable and the deflector modifications are coming online now."

"Inertial dampeners are at full power and are being reinforced by the emergency power supplies." Arivek gave a weak smile to Andy before looking at the Captain. "We're as ready as we'll ever be, Captain."

"To boldly go..." Maica muttered to herself as she leaned on the handrail. This had even her on edge. Using Borg tech that had been sitting there for so long? Who knew what sort of state of disrepair it had been in. She trusted Andy though and if she said it would work, she'd trust her with her life again.

Will sat at the Auxiliary Ops Console down on Deck Two as he continued monitoring the powerflows taking place from the Borg Transwarp Device through to the integrated Starfleet systems on board. Although he knew Andy and Arivek were fully focused on the situation, as the whole crew were, he also knew it never hurt to have a backup in place as well. He had the internal sensors monitoring for the slightest fluctuations from any connected device. Will knew that if anything went wrong it would be critical or severely damage the ship. He'd also decided after his recent run in with the Chief Engineer to stay out of sight whilst he worked.

"Captain..." Nathan reported from the tactical station. "All departments have reported in as ready and waiting for your word sir."

M'rayr glanced back up from his console. "Confirmed, Captain." If he was worried, he certainly didn't sound like he was.

Reported in as ready and actually ready were two very different things, Jhu thought. Concerned about the possibility of failure, she tapped out a quick message and sent it to Nathan's console. Just in case we're about to die, I love you.

Nathan glaced up from his tactical station and Jhu across the bridge. He smiled to her for a moment before returning his attention back to his controls. He was ready to raise and monitor the shields 9 the Captain's orders.

Kris had stood up from his seat and was walking around the Bridge, observing his officers as they worked and checked in. Though his eyes caught the tactical/security officer's smile and walked over to the man. "I hope she's not being too playful" Kris whispered in Nathan's ear, walking away from the station with a small smile on his face.

Drawing attention to himself, Kris stood just behind the Flight Control Officer, facing the other's. "Today we make history one way or the other. I have been proud to serve as Captain of this starship. I know that you all are nervous and anxious about this little jump using Borg technology. So, let's get this show on the road" announced Captain Kerouac as he headed to hit seat, taking in and taking a deep breath.

Looking forward, his eyes were locked onto the back of Collins' head. "Helm, lay in the course" said Kerouac.

"Aye, Captain," Haley replied as she input the coordinates.

"Maica" Kris called out. "Would you like to do the honor?" asked Kris with a small smile on his face.

Was Kris asking her to make a speech? Or just to give the order to get underway? Straightening up a bit and thinking it over for a second or two, Maica opted to do a mix of the 2. “I think today is a good day to uphold our mission as explorers. To boldly go where no one has gone before and to seek out new discoveries, whatever they may be. Helm, let's embark on this new adventure and see where it takes us. Engage.”

"And the monkey pushes the button," Hayley joked as she engaged the transwarp drive. She had always compared piloting starships to early Earth space exploration flights of sending trained monkeys into space.

"Nice and smooth, Lieutenant" added Kris as he white knuckled in his command seat. He knew there were risks, that this technology could fail, and the dangers of Borg technology. However, what would soon happen had never entered his mind. The viewscreen was a sight...like a piece of art. Streaking lines of various shades of blues and grays. The sight was beautiful at first but became quite nauseating. Kris looked away, but nausea soon became so far down in his list of concerns.

The starship felt different. Kris had not really expected a smooth ride in transwarp, but the starship started to seem as through some giant beast had snatched it from space and was shaking it wildly. All sorts of alarms and klaxons were alerting the crew to various dangers, the stability of the starship was in jeopardy as was the transwarp 'tunnel' that they had been trying to travel through.

Capatain Kerouac, a career pilot and helmsmen knew the feel of things going wrong. He had a feel for starships, shuttles, and fighters. Something was wrong...seriously wrong. "Abort...ABORT" he shouted immediately rising from his seat. "Collins!" he shouted.

"I'm on it, captain!" Hayley worked her console as fast as she could as she pushed inertial dampeners to full power and quickly powered down the engines.

Going to a full stop from transwarp was impossible. It would have torn the starship apart and caused the crew aboard to practically splatter themselves against bulkheads and whatnot. The only option was to pull out of the transwarp tunnel, break free of it and reduce speed as safely as possible. Still, the jolt would cause personnel to fly all over the place. Kris found himself being sent forward, flying towards Collins, his back smashing into her console as the starship slowed and eventually stopped. Kris had the wind knocked out of him. Lying on the ground, unable to really get himself back up.

"All hands report!" he shouted. Kris was at the very least able to reach his comm badge and tapped it. "Bridge to Sickbay. We have injured up here"

Nathan found himself laying on the floor of his station. Thank god it was a enclosed station for the most part and had kept his from flying across the bridge. As he stood, something in his left knee popped and sent a flood of pain through his leg. He grunted in pain as he pulled himself to his station. "I'm getting reports in from every deck all over the ship of injured and two casualties sir. Medical is already responding. Other then that we are fucked sir. Shields are off line as well as the phasers. One of my torpedo tubes has been damaged also." He reported while carefully dodging a shower of sparks that was raining down just behind him.

Just then his control panel exploded as the EPS conduit overloaded. Nathan was able to throw himself to the floor just in time to avoid getting burned, but now his knee screamed in pain. He opted to just lay there.

Mizuki was in her office next door, having faith that it would work, since she could do nothing to affect it anyway. But when the ship started shaking, she held on to her chair before being thrown out of it and straight into the wall. In the 0.5 seconds before she passed out, she managed to hit the little panic button on her padd. That activated her sync program with Riley, who had been freed from where he was kept when the forcefield went down.

Her shoulder throbbing from slamming into the deck, Jhu winced as she crawled back into her chair. A smoking console greeted her, and she stared at it for a long moment. She didn't really have anything relevant to report, but it would be nice to at least be able to look around. Rubbing her shoulder, she slid over to an unoccupied station and attempted to log into it. It blinked stubbornly at her and she smacked it with her good hand. "Impact took out my access."

Maica clung to the bridge rail for dear life as the ship lurched. As soon as it stopped moving, she let go, dropping to the deck. Her vision was having trouble adjusting and all of her senses were giving strange feedback almost as if half her positronics had flipped polarity for no reason at all. Was it the world around her that was messed up or was she somehow injured in an unforeseen way during the trip? Turning her head towards what she was pretty sure was the viewscreen, she blinked several times in the hope things would clear up.

Hayley pushed herself up from against the Helm Console. The helm console of the Intrepid had been designed to protect the helm officer during rough flight so the officer could focus more on maintaing control after more than one helm officer ended up head first in a view screen on older model ships. She checked her instruments to confirm they were at a full stop. She noticed the captain on the deck next to her and moved fromher seat, taking a kneel next to him. "You alright, Captain?"

"A little shaken and stirred, Lieutenant" answered Kris. The Captain managed to reach up to the helm chair and console, using them to get himself back up to his feet. Though he was not moving fast nor would he be moving much at all. He had to use the back of the chair for support and patted the woman on her shoulder. It was not her fault that this happened, and she had done her job well. If she hadn't, there would have been a ship left.

Although he had monitored the energy flows and the transfer figures from the device to the ship, Will spotted the sudden fluctuation from the integrated systems. But as he went to call the bridge to warn them, the ride got bumpy and the deck suddenly became unstable. Will tried to steady himself against the console as he worked to reroute power to the inertial dampeners to try and smooth put the turbulence the ship was experiencing.

As the ship shook through the transwarp conduit, Andy lost her footing and stumbled against Ari, who at the moment had been solid enough to keep her from falling, but with the jolt of exiting the transwarp conduit so abruptly a surge went through the EPS grid and into the holo-emitters, causing Ari to flicker and Andy to fall right through him with a heavy thud. "Fuck!" Andy blurted out as she scrambled to the console to stabilize the emitters and halt the surge to the EPS grid. "Ari, you still with us?" she asked as she watched his form flicker. Shit, she hoped he didn't go out, they had one hell of a mess to deal with and she would need his help to figure out what went wrong.

His form flickered a few more times before he came back into focus. "I think I'm ok," he stated, standing up and holding out a hand to the woman. "Sorry I couldn't carry you when times got rough."

"S'alright," Andy said as she took his hand and rose to her feet. "Just glad I could keep you around a bit longer," she said, turning her attention to the Engineering controls. "What the hell went wrong? Everything was properly calibrated, we shouldn'tna had any problems."

"I'm not exactly sure," Arivek replied, his hands flying over the console as he stood next to Andy. "The algorithms ran in sequence, the transwarp device's power supply was constant, the transwarp bubble was stable." He stared at the screen, "I don't know what I did...I don't know where I went wrong..."

Kris looked in Arivek's direction. "Nothing. This was not your fault. It was not anyone's. We knew the risks of reverse engineering Borg technology. This was not modern Borg Tech. It was damn old. Let's not worry about that now...is everyone accounted for. I want casualty reports as soon as possible. I want a damage assessment of the starship as well" said the Captain, taking a commanding tone.

Arivek nodded, "Aye, sir," he said quietly. With a few commands of the console, his shimmered and disappeared.

With Ari returning to Main Engineering to get an assessment of the damage, Andy returned to her station to do the same. "We've got damage reports coming in all over the ship," Andy reported to Kris. "Mostly just blown EPS conduits from the power surge. Got a few other things, but nothing life threatening. Our biggest problem is the deflector relays. They shorted out, which saved the dish from any damage, but it's gonna take some time to replace those relays so we can use the deflector dish again."

Kris nodded. "Got it. Deflector dish...replace the relays. Add that to the list of shit needing fixing" said Kris shaking his head. "Tactical, report" commanded Kris.

Valerie Circe saw the chaos before her as she stepped onto the bridge from the turbolift. Her eyes quickly gazed around the bridge trying to determine which wounded to treat first when her head turned towards the tactical station. She saw Nathan on the ground, and moved towards him. Kneeling down, she pulled out her tricorder and begin scanning over his knee. "Is it just the knee?" she asked him while opening the medkit and pulling out a hypospray with her free hand.

Nathan pulled himself up on his right leg and to a Tactical panel that was kind of working. While he worked at getting a tactical report for the captain from the failing station he looked down at Valerie. "Yeah, just my left knee, I think its broken."

He continued to punch at the panel. " I'm detecting weapons fire sir...Captain I'm also picking up two ships. I cant tell exactly where they are or exactly whats going on out there but. Looks like there is an Intrepid class starship and a Breen warship. Cant anyone else confirm this?" Nathan called out to the few who were still on the bridge.

Val remained level with his injured knee when he pulled himself up. She pressed the hypospray to the back of his knee, "I'm numbing the pain receptors to your leg," she explained as she opened the medkit and pulled out a small device. "You have a Patellar dislocation." she pulled the device apart and placed the two pieces on both sides of his knee, once she activated a dark bandage materialized around his knee creating a brace. She closed her medkit and stood up. She padded his shoulder, a sign to say he'll be ok for now. She looked around for the next wounded.

"Breen?" Kris said shaking his head in disbelief. "Gamma Quadrant...Delta Quadrant. Eitherway, that makes no sense. Keep monitoring the situation the best you can. We're likely the closest starship to respond" added Kris. The Captain needed a few minutes to gather his thoughts.


=/\= Sickbay to Bridge. We've got incoming causalities reports, I've ordered triage centres to be set up in the messhall and cargo bay 1. =/\= Cohen reported. =/\= Is anyone up there hurt? =/\=

=/\= t'Dharvanek here. We have wounded, but Ensign Circe is already here doing triage. =/\= Jhu glanced over at Val and Nathan, wincing sympathetically when she realized he was still lying on the deck.

=/\= Copy that, I'll send someone up when I can, we've got reports of a major overload in EPS taps on deck 7. Sickbay out. =/\= Liam reported closing the channel.

"That's not the only place with EPS overloads," Jhu muttered under her breath after the channel closed, using her left hand to hold her right arm in place to keep from accidentally making the pain worse. A quick look around the bridge showed that most of its screens were shattered or showing random static instead of their normal images.

By this time Maica's positronic net was mostly recovered and she could make sense of her sensory inputs. Physically, she seemed to be ok for the most part so sitting up, she looked around the bridge to see if there was anything she could do at the moment. Seeing that Valerie was helping Nathan and Jhu was the only other one she could immediately spot in pain, she made her way to her feet and headed to the spotted woman's side to see if she could help her any, the dermal regenerator built into her palm at the ready. Muttering under her breath, she was glad she was at least functional, unlike most of the bridge. "My head feels like reality tore. Anyone catch the registry of that anomaly?" Blinking a few times, she did her best to scan Jhu's shoulder but other than it being inflamed she couldn't make much out yet. "Jhu, I don't know if this will help much but I'll do what I can," Maica said as she ever so tenderly started passing her healing hand over Jhu's inflamed shoulder.

Jhu flinched as Maica's hand came to rest on her shoulder, but after a few seconds the superficial pain began to fade and she relaxed. Slightly. "Believe me, I appreciate it. Thanks." While Maica did her best to do something with that shoulder, Jhu turned her attention to her new console again. If her own access wasn't going to be authorized, she had ways of making the computer cooperate, and she suspected no one cared about how illegal those ways might be.

A few moments passed when the comm system chirped. =/\=Zhuri to Kerouac. Captain, I really think you should get down here. You have -got- to see this...=/\=

Grunting, Kerouac responded. "Give me a few minutes, Lieutenant. Being human has it's downsides like injury" replied Kris. With his mind focused on the new information about a Breen warship and another Federation Intrepid-class starship nearby, Kris wanted to do something. "Lieutenant, are we safe to travel at low warp?" asked Kris.

=/\=No, sir,"=/\= came the response from the Chief Engineer before the comm link cut out.

Oh fantastic dead in the water thought Kris.

He then looked at his First Officer "You have the Bridge, Commander" added Captain Kristopher Kerouac as he limped towards the turbolift. "Carter, with me. I may need someone to translate tech babble to common tongue" commanded Kris. "Dumb it down as needed" he added.

M'rayr had picked himself off the ground several minutes ago and, much to his quiet, had been looking over the damage report assessment feeding in from the ship's computer. When he heard his name... or rather his rank... he looked up to Kerouac and nodded. "Aye, sir." The Caitian said, feeling as though his concerns as to using the Borg transwarp device had been justified. M'rayr could only hope that the cost wouldn't be too great.

"I'll be back" said Kris firmly. "I want weapons and shields ready by the time I get back."

"Aye, Captain." M'rayr repeated himself. He got up and moved over to Ops.

Andy said nothing, but rather helped her limping Captain to the lift. As the lift doors closed, she looked out onto the bridge, to Maica. She wanted to stay behind to check on the Orion Android, but right now she had to help Ari and Kris with this damned device.

A Jeffries tube on the Bridge deck opened, and Riley crawled out of it. With his vest on, the German Shepherd was rather imposing as he ran down the corridor, dodging things in his path, opening the bridge door and trotting across the lower end of the bridge, past the helm station and to the door of the briefing room. Looking back to the bridge, he began to whine and paw at the door, which had somehow been affected. There was someone in there...

Hayley was busy rerouting power to impulse engines when she caught the glimpse of a dog running across the bridge and towards the conference room. "Where the bloody hell did that dog come from?" she asked nobody in particular. She then remembered that was Cadet Masterson's
station. She walked over to the door, finding it was malfunctioning. She removed the access panel and grabbed the manual override handle, pulling it. with the locks broken, the door slid open.

Walking into Main Engineering albeit it was more like limping and even at best, with assistance of Carter, Kris sensed something was different. He usually kept himself away from Engineering as it was foreign territory to him. He understood only the bare minimum and basics of engineering. However, he knew what a warp core in good condition sounded like and looked like. He knew the humming, that distinct sound and the blue glow of the core.

However, this was not the case now. The core sounded peculiar and as Kris and Andy approached the warp core, the darned Engineering was not glowing blue as usual, but rather it was casting a deep purple glow in the room and on Kris and Andy's faces. The Captain looked at Andy and then at the core. It was indeed glowing a rich yet illuminating hue of purple with strains of green. "Curiouser and curiouser" commented Kris as he looked around the room.

"Arivek, what the hell happened to the warp core?" asked Kris, speaking rather loudly, not knowing where the Chief Engineer was going to pop out of or appear.

"That's a very good question, Captain," Arivek answer, walking up behind the two and past them. "And watch your step," he stated, throwing a hand towards the hole that pocketed the floor just in front of the warp core. Walking up to the massive cylinder, Arivek pulled out a tricorder and began to scan the device.

"It appears that as the ship was knocked out of the transwarp tunnel, a large flash occurred here in Main Engineering. At least according to those that were here. When the light dissipated the core looked exactly like it does now, and it looks like the transwarp device was ripped from where it was secured to the ground." Arivek turned back towards the two officers. "But it's no where to be found."

"Borg piece of shit" grumbled Kris shaking his head. He looked at Andy "Is that thing any threat to the ship? Can it assimilate the ship at all?" asked Kerouac, not pleased that it or pieces of it could be anywhere in Engineering.

"Fucking hell..." Andy muttered as she knelt beside the hole in the floor to examine what, if anything, was left. "Ain't nothin' to assimilate. It's gone," Andy said as she scan in detail the area where the transwarp drive should have been. Something was off about this hole...

Kris then returned his attention to his Chief Engineer. "I'm a Captain not an Engineer, and I sure the hell am not an interior designer, Arivek. What the hell is up with this re-decorating and color change? That's a warp core, not a damn chameleon!"

"Stop yelling at me!" Arivek shouted back in frustration. "Damn. You make it sound like I planned this." The hologram picked up a PADD and began to input information. "It looks like the core has been pumped full of chronitons, that's what's causing the purple. And there's quite a bit of tachyons in there as well, which would explain the green tint. We won't have use of the warp core until I can expel them from the intermix chamber."

Chronitons? Oh no... Andy scanned the hole once more, running her metal-tipped fingers along the edge. "We've got a much bigger problem than foreign particles in the intermix chamber," Andy said, rising to access a nearby console. She brought up stellar cartography and checked the stardate. "Captain, we're officially fucked."

Kris just held up a hand to stop Andy and Arivek. His head hurt before this whole ordeal, and he was pretty sure that he had a concussion from his impact against the flight control console. "I have to yell. It makes me feel like I have some control on this damn ship...I'm sorry, Arivek" said Kris quite sincerely.

He then looked at Andy. When Andy was bearing bad news, Kris knew it had to be really really bad. "We're always fucked. How bad is it?"

"Stellar cartography is dating the stars at somewhere in the neighborhood of 2392," Andy said with a grim expression. "The transwarp drive was supposed to project a chroniton field around the ship to protect us from temporal stress and keep us in sync with our time. It didn't, and that's why the warp core is flooded with chronitons. Also explains why the transwarp drive is now conspicuously missing. When we exited the transwarp conduit, it stayed in sync and exited in the right time, but we didn't."

"Happy new year" muttered Kris shaking his head. He trusted Andy, she knew her Borg technology as did Arivek. Kris looked at his Chief Engineer. "Arivek, is she right? We traveled forward in time?"

With a few more taps at his tricorder, then a few more at the PADD, Arivek gave a silent nod, not wanting to confirm what the woman was saying.

Kris did not like his Chief Engineer's new found silent response. The nod had said enough. It had said it all. "We traveled through time..." said the Captain, shaking his head vehemently. "No" said Kris firmly. "No, we couldn't have...how do we get back? Can we get back?"

"I don't know if you've noticed, but we're kinda missing the transwarp drive that got us here in the first place. We left it back in 2388," Andy said as she double checked the stardate. Yeah, they definitely weren't in 2388 anymore... "I wouldn't know where to start on getting us back to our own time. At least if we decide to stick around it's only a difference of 4 years."

"We don't belong here Andy" said Kris with a heavy sigh. "4 days, 4 months, 4 years...it doesn't matter. We are out of place here and it causes an abundance of problems. Temporal displacement policy and the temporal prime directive are at play here" added Kris sharply.

"You think I don't know that?" Andy shot back. "What I meant was it could be worse. We may be temporally displaced, but we coulda been shot back to the past or 400 years into the future where our knowledge and technology would seem infantile and outdated. At least with just 4 years we'd still be relevant to the times if we can't get back, and at least it ain't the past so we can't contaminate our own timestream."

Captain Kerouac shook his head. "I know, Andy. It could be worse, and maybe we cannot contaminate the the here and now, but if we do go back...if we learn anything here...That could lead us to contaminate our time. We can't worry about this now. I want the two of you to see what you can do down here. Call in anyone you need and make sure that we are in working condition."

"Aye, sir," came the quick and quiet response from Arivek as he turned back towards the Warp Core and began to tap at the control panel.

After several hours flushing chronitons and neutrinos from the warp core with Ari, Andy had to get away from Engineering for a while. She could not believe how much she had fucked up on this one. Opening a rift with the Pedians had been downright stupid, but sending the ship 4 years into the future?! Fuck, she had tried to dismiss it when she brought it up with the Captain, and really it could have been worse, but damn she had royally fucked things up this time...

Needing to clear her head for a while, Andy headed down to the holodeck and pulled up a program. She knew there were things she should be doing right now, but she just needed a moment, a brief reprieve to collect herself and refocus. As she entered the holodeck, her recording studio materialized around her. She brought herself over to the piano and sat on the bench. There was some sheet music strewn about with a piece she had been working on. She opened the piano as she looked over the notes scrawled out on the pages, picking up the pencil to fill in a few blanks she hadn't been able to write before, tapping on the keys as she worked through a few bars. Yeah, that sounded good...

The ex-Borg woman picked up her sheet music and moved over to where her violins were, setting the music on the stand. She picked up the replica of the violin Maica made her and looked over the notes one more time before setting the violin to her shoulder and started to play.

After a few bars of music, a slight hum interrupted the beautiful flow of music as Arivek's body shimmered into view. He looked around before realizing he had materialized in the middle of the piano. "Excuse me," he said, walking out from the middle of the furniture. "I didn't mean to interrupt."

"It's alright," Andy said, even though it really wasn't alright. "Sorry I ran out of Engineering like I did... I just... kinda needed a minute..." she added uneasily, awkwardly plucking at the strings of her violin to try to hide her tension.

Pressing his back against the wall, Arivek slid to the ground and drew his knees up against his chest. With a nod, he wrapped his arms around his legs. "I know what you mean," he said softly, his eyes drifting into the distance.

Andy set her violin aside and pulled up the chair she usually used to play her cello. She straddled the chair backwards and draped her arms over the back of the chair. "We screwed up," she said in a hushed but desperate tone. "Where did we get it wrong? What did we miss?"

"I honestly don't know," Arivek responded. In all reality, he really didn't know. They had gone through every check and balance they needed to to ensure a successful test run. This was an outcome that no one could have seen coming.

"And with the drive gone, we may never find out what went wrong..." Andy said, gazing off into nothingness for a long while. "This is all my fault... I know I said this was a bad idea, but I shoulda been more insistent. All that shit in my head shoulda been enough to make it work, but it wasn't enough and now we're all fucked," Andy muttered more to herself than to Ari, standing and toppling her chair over angrily. "Fucking Voyager got it to work with nothing but guess work, but it was all in my head, why couldn't I make it work?!"

Ari stood and walked over to the woman, grabbing her by the shoulders and holding her in place, "Calm down. We can figure this out. I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for what happened."

Andy flinched at the contact and for just a moment it almost looked like she was going to hit him, but she didn't. Instead, she nodded, and picked up the chair, then moved back over to her violin in the hopes that if she kept her hands occupied she wouldn't trash her studio. "I know, I know... it's just I got all this information in my head and it feels like I shoulda been able to use some of it to do something... But I don't know how to fix this..."

"I honestly don't think there is a way to fix it. There's still a lot of data to sift through, but if there's a way, we'll find it. I know we will." Even as he said it, he knew he didn't believe it himself. Something happened, and there was blame to place. Though, it most likely fell with him. He backed away from the woman and pressed his back against the wall once more. "Everything will be ok."

Andy didn't believe his words either, but she let Ari have that moment to pretend as she drew her bow across the strings of her violin, resuming the piece Ari had interrupted earlier. She would pause to occasionally make some notes on her sheet music, then continue on. "What do we do if we can't fix it?" she asked as she scribbled some notes on the pages. "What do we do if we can't go back to our time?"

"I don't know." It was the only response he could muster.

Andy again raised her bow to play, but then hesitated and looked back at Ari. "Hey, I never asked if you were okay after that power surge," she said quietly. "I know I got you working again, but I probably shoulda run a diagnostic."

Arivek sat down at the piano and plunked a single note, "Yea, my program has no issues," he stated, tapping a different key.

"Alright..." Andy watched him for a moment longer before sighing and resuming her composition, ignoring the notes he occasionally tapped out on the piano. Some days it felt like she was drowning, and playing and composing were the only things she could do to keep her head above water. That's how she felt now. She didn't care for what she had left behind, there wasn't much left for her in the past, but the rest of the crew had families and lives, and she had screwed all that up. Now, all the possibilities of 'should have done this' or 'what if that' were running through her head and the only thing keeping her brain from tearing itself apart from all the permutations was the violin in her hands and the notes spilling forth.

Placing his hands in his lap, Ari closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The music was soothing, even if his mind was racing a thousand miles a minute. Something happened, and as much as he was trying to convince everyone that it was a fluke, he knew deep down it wasn't. He couldn't help but feel responsible, as the device was his responsibility. He allowed it in his Engineering bay, and now there was a gaping hole instead.

He held up a hand, quieting the woman for a moment. He hated to interrupt such beautiful music, but his new form did give him an advantage that others didn't have. "I'm sorry, but I need to go. I'll talk to you later, Senior Chief."

"Ari, what do you know of temporal science?" the ex-Borg woman asked as she lowered her instrument. "I have fragments of information, incomplete knowledge from my time in the Collective and...If it's possible to create a vortex to get us home ain't no doubt the crew will wanna try, but what I know is so jumbled and I ain't sure if we can trust Borg tactics no more."

"I know some, but not much past what the Borg use on their ships," Arivek said as he stood. He informed the woman he was leaving as a courtesy to her, not in an attempt to kick-start the conversation again.

"I don't wanna do it," Andy said. "If Captain wants to try, I don't wanna do it. Too many ways it could go wrong and we're already in enough trouble." There was this almost vulnerable desperation in her eyes as she spoke; in some ways she thought she was above others because of the massive amount of information she had obtained through the Collective, but now that information had failed her and she didn't know if she could trust what she knew to get them home safely, and to say the least it was beyond humbling.

"Ok," was the simple reply. At this point, he honestly couldn't care what the woman was saying. She was upset and she wanted to talk. He was upset and all he wanted was to be alone. Last thing he wanted to do was coddle her. "I'm going to go. Have a good night, Andy. Computer, deactivate program." With a shimmer, the man's form faded away.

Andy nodded as he deactivated himself and watched him shimmer away. As soon as he was gone, she threw down her violin. The instrument made a terrible whine as broke, and she grabbed the nearby chair and she smashed it through the sound proof window that separated the sound room from the mixing room, all the recording equipment going off in a shower of sparks. It was a good thing this was all just a hologram program and could be reset, because nothing in the room survived Andy's rage. Even the massive piano found itself in pieces by the time she was done, slumping to her knees with a frustrated howl. She had made a lot of mistakes over the course of her life, but displacing a ship in time with no way to get them back had to take the cake...

Maica had been at it for hours. Trying to get in touch with her contacts, trying to log into the Diplomacy Corps systems, just trying to contact someone. None of her personal codes or time sensitive codes would work. The only ones that did were her generic codes and backdoor codes and those didn’t get her anywhere. She couldn’t confirm her personnel file with Starfleet or anything. It’s as if she didn’t even exist.

Leaning back in her chair, she stared at the last report she finally did bring up. It was relating to a cybernetic ‘lifeform’ sold to the Daystrom Institute by a Ferengi with a very familiar name. It was the same name of her creator. The sex android he had created melted down a couple years after activation in 2380. Though it was pretty damaged, the picture of it was clearly Maica’s face.

Andy wasn’t ready for any more surprises as she made her way back to her quarters. Already, she felt emotionally drained from her tantrum in the holodeck, she was ready to cuddle up to Maica and hope that everything turned out alright. But apparently, it was not meant to be, for as soon as she walked in the door all disheveled and moody, she could tell from the look on Maica’s face that she was about to be hit with another massive blow. And as if her ego hadn’t taken enough of a hit, somehow she knew that what Maica had to say to her would be devastating.

“What is it?” Andy asked Maica, her voice still raw and emotional from her outburst earlier.

Looking up at Andy, a tear slipped from one eye and she pointed to the screen. “I… I died just before I could escape from my creator. My reactor melted down. It’s part of the Daystrom Institute public records. What… Why… I don’t understand...”

“What?” Andy was at Maica’s side to see for herself the information that Maica had found. “This has to be a mistake…”

“It’s not. I’m not anywhere else that I can see. None of my access works. None of my old friends knew me.” Maica’s face was getting wet as she cried several more tears.

“No, this is wrong, I filed your new specs with Starfleet myself!” Andy insisted as she searched for that information, but like Maica, her codes were invalid. “The fuck?” she said as she tried to enter in her authorization for the records she file with headquarters. “My codes are being rejected…”

Taking over a moment, Maica punched in her backdoor codes, pulling up Andy’s semi-public records. “That might have something.”

Andy’s record seemed fine except that it was deactivated. “This ain’t right…” This was getting stranger and stranger by the minute! She looked through her file to try to discern why it might have been deactivated when something caught her attention. “Wait… this lists me as a Crewman… and the service history stops at the Lexington.” Then she found the reason why: MIA; Andy had never been recovered from her assimilation. “This is fucked up!”

“It is…” Maica couldn’t believe any of this even though it was right there in front of her. “I don’t think we just went forward in time. Our pasts have changed. We… We don’t exist in whatever timeline this is. We do exist, don’t we?”

“I… don’t know…” Andy slumped to her knees beside Maica, shocked and horrified. “Fuck, what have I done?!”

Maica pulled Andy into her lap as best she could. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know where we are. But I know I still exist and I still love you.” Tears were streaming down her face as she did her best to smile at Andy. It wasn’t every day she saw the obituaries of both herself and her fiance.

Andy wrapped her arms around Maica’s waist, burying her face in Maica’s voluptuous bosom. “I did this. I missed something important during the jump and I did this to us,” Andy murmured as she shook with a combination of anger, fear, and shame. What a fool she had been to think that damned transwarp drive. She hadn’t wanted to use it, she had been under orders to fix it up and make it work, but she could have refused! Who the hell was she kidding, she would have never let Ari work on that thing alone… “I did this and I don’t know how to fix it!”

“Then don’t.” Maica said bluntly, still crying. “If there’s no way to fix it, we’ll have to stay here. Somehow settle in. I’ll be rather useless as a diplomat with no contacts… Someone will have to try to explain it all to Starfleet… But I’m sure we’ll be ok.” Smiling as best she could, she huggled on Andy tightly. “Besides, look at the bright side. This isn’t the mirror universe. Starfleet exists, the Federation exists, and that means we’re in good enough shape here.”

“No, it’s not okay,” Andy insisted as she looked up at Maica. “I know I ain’t got much in the way of family, so it ain’t no big deal for me, but other people on this ship do. How the hell is that okay?”

“I don’t know.” Maica said, shaking her head. “I just don’t want to risk losing you. What if the return trip does something worse?”

“No! No, I already told Ari I wasn’t gonna do that,” Andy said, hugging Maica tighter. “This situation is already messed up enough, I won’t be responsible for making it worse.”

“Good,” Maica said, squeezing Andy tighter. “We’re both apparently dead so I’d rather prove we’re still alive. That’s the most sense I can see, anyway.”

“That made no sense whatsoever,” Andy replied with a sad chuckle. “We’ll be starting over, clean slate…”

“That can be a blessing or a curse, depending on how you look at it, but I’m going to try to stay positive. Try to.” Maica stood, pulling Andy to her feet and kissed her lover softly. “For now, since I have no job, what can I do to help you feel better?”

“I don’t know if there is a feel better option, not after a screw up like this,” Andy said. “This is all so wrong…”

“We could do something naughty.” Maica said with a grin, her crying slowing a bit. “I’m not sure how well it’ll work, but it has to be better than nothing, right?”

“No, not tonight…” Andy said, wiping away Maica’s tears. Now she felt an even bigger fool. Here she was feeling sorry for herself, so much so that her rather upset girlfriend felt the need to cheer her up. Andy didn’t know if it was even possible to be more of an ass right now. “Maybe later, but right now I just… I don’t know what I want, but I should probably ask how you’re doing. I wanted to check on you right after the failed flight, but I had to get down to Engineering. You didn’t get hurt, did you?”

“Yeah… I... “ Maica looked away nervously. “I just want to be useful, you know? And yeah, I think I might need some maintenance. Half of my brain felt like it had the polarity backwards and I’m still not all here. I can’t feel about a third of my body and my left eye isn’t working right.”

“Then let me take care of you,” Andy said, leading Maica to her favorite chair. “Get comfy while I get my stuff.”

Sitting down, Maica relaxed without protest. She still felt useless, but at least this way maybe Andy might feel a bit better. She enjoyed tinkering and fixing things and though Maica tried, she wasn’t very good at the technobabble sexy talk she knew Andy loved. Closing her eyes, she leaned back in the chair and waited.

Andy grabbed her tools and a strong cup of coffee, adding just a hint of booze, and pulled up a chair behind Maica and began to remove Maica’s hair and cranial places to expose her positronic brain. What may have seemed tedious to others was actually quite calming for Andy. As much as she loved a good romp with Maica, this was the best help to ease her frazzled nerves right now.

“Looks like the impact with the transwarp corridor knocked you all out of sync,” Andy commented idly. “But it’s nothing serious. I’ll have you fixed up in a jiffy.”

“That’s good.” Maica wasn’t sure what that exactly meant right now, but she knew Andy could fix it whatever it was. She trusted Andy with her life since the day she decided to tell her and Kris about her old expiration date. Flexing her left hand, she could almost feel her artificial nerve endings again as Andy worked. “Want me to run any diagnostics?”

“If it helps you pass the time,” Andy said as she worked. She was already running detailed scans, and some of the results she was receiving would go a long way in helping them figure out just what had gone wrong with the transwarp drive. “Just let me know when something gets better, or worse.”

“My left hand is waking back up and I can think a little clearer.” Opening her eyes, Maica tested her left eye but it still wasn’t doing what it was supposed to. “Find anything interesting so far?”

“Yeah. The depolarization spread through your system in a fairly distinct pattern. Along with the chroniton readings, this might actually help me figure out what went wrong with the flight,” Andy said. “Not like it’ll fix anything, but knowing the how and the why will make it easier to live with. Hopefully.”

Smiling, Maica couldn’t help but celebrate a little in her mind. “Yay! I’m usefu…” Suddenly, her power seemed to completely flip off for a moment, resetting her and what she was thinking. ‘Waking’ back up, she hummed a little. “Uhmm… What was that?”

“Sorry, my bad,” Andy said with a slight chuckle. “Just a little hiccup while I was repolarizing your core positronics. I’m almost done, though.”

“Ah ok,” Maica wasn’t sure what that exactly meant, but she could tell more was fixed. “My processes are up to about 98% of optimum efficiency and I’m getting responses from all of my skin. Left eye is still out though.”

“Good good,” Andy said with a nod. A few minutes later, she finished polarizing the last of the positronics and put the cranial plates and hair back in place. A check of Maica’s eye showed the connection to the socket had been jostled out of alignment, a quick fix. “There. All better?”

Blinking a few times, Maica nodded and smiled softly. “Much better. Thank you, my love.”

“Anytime,” Andy said with her trademark smirk, then she kissed Maica’s forehead. “There, now it’s all better.”

Standing, Maica pulled Andy into a tender embrace and kissed her on the lips. “Feel any better?”

“Yeah, lots,” Andy said, resting her forehead against Maica’s. “I’m a long ways off from being okay, but I am better.”

“That’s good.” Maica smiled warmly, happy she could at least be of some help. That helped her feel a lot better too.

“I don’t know how things are gonna end up now that we’re in a foreign time and space, but we’ll find a way to make this work,” Andy said, gently petting Maica’s hair.

Resting against Andy, Maica nodded softly. "We're alive and we have our free wills and where there's a will there's a way, right?"

"Yeah, something like that..." Andy kissed the top of Maica's head and breathed in the scent of her hair. "You should try to rest, even for just an hour or two. I know you don't fatigue like biologicals do, but dreaming helps your matrix sort out emotional stress, and today has been a long day..."

"This is true. Will you rest with me?" Maica said pleadingly, a hint of a pout on her face. "You could use some as well, you know."

"Of course," Andy said, unable to say no to that pout. Andy shed her duty jacket and boots on the way to the bed. With a heavy sigh, she let herself fall onto the bed, her flaming curls spilling across their pillows. She pulled Maica down with her, curling up around her lover like she was a security blanket. "I think I'm going to resign," Andy said after a while.

Snuggling happily with Andy, Maica wasn't sure how to take those words. "Resign? As in leave Starfleet? Why do you say that?"

"I just don't know if I can trust what I know anymore," Andy said quietly. "I should have been able to anticipate and prevent what happened..."

"How?" Maica asked curiously. "As far as I know reverse engineering anything that old is dangerous as is anything unknown and untested. A slight micro-vibration of fate or universe density or whatever can throw off the best of calculations and they can't be planned for or anticipated. Maybe there was some dark matter that got sucked into something that tweaked something blue and red and threw things off sending us through time, space, and whatever else we got tossed through. Did you plan for the dust in cargo bay 1? What if it was a stray tribble hair on a desk?" Snuggling tighter, Maica summarized her rambling. "What I'm trying to say is that even with infinite knowledge from wherever, you're still only mortal. You're not a Q. You can't snap your fingers and make everything planned for."

"I know, but I still should have done something... There's so much information in my head, a lot of it I can't even begin to understand, and I shouldn't be using it if I can't even understand it! I thought I knew what I was doing when I helped Ari hook that damned drive up, but we were both so wrong..."

"Under orders with a rather distressing deadline." Maica paused and kissed Andy softly. "Besides, you've done other impossible tasks. You taught me how to love, saved me, built a new body for me..."

"And look at how many times I've put the crew at risk..." Andy shook her head; nothing was decided, but she seemed rather intent that this was the right thing to do. "I shouldn't be in Starfleet. For every commendation I've got in my jacket, I've got at least 4 reprimands. And what's left for the person who irreparably knocks the ship into another reality?"

"I've got a few mistakes in my past too. I'm sure most of the crew does if not all of them." Maica decided to shift gears at that point. "What would you do? Let's say you resign. What will you do? Settle for being a housewife and maintaining my systems? You'd go crazy in a day. I suppose you could do theoretical work, but you'd need resources for that. And what about Operations? You may have some unorthodox methods, but I don't think the ship ran half as well before you took over. Besides, all the engineers on the ship didn't catch whatever happened until it was too late. Odds are good that if we had a hundred Borg engineers on board, we'd still be in the same place we are now."

"Maica, if we had a hundred Borg on this ship, we would have a much bigger problem than a faulty transwarp drive," Andy replied dryly. "And they woulda built a new one from scratch for the sake of efficiency. And if you're really concerned with ship Operations, don't. Will taught me all I know about Operations, he's be a damned good replacement. As for me getting bored... fuck, I don't know, but I know I've been far too reckless lately and I'll be lucky if I don't end up with a court marshall anyway."

Maica stared into Andy's eyes for a moment. "Court marshal from whom? According to the Federation we're both deceased. You can't court martial someone listed as deceased."

Andy gave a laugh, then a moment later another, then another until she was cackling almost uncontrollably. She kissed Maica's forehead as she calmed down. "Yeah, I'd imagine being dead is good for something," she finally said.

Maica couldn't help but giggle a bit maniacally with Andy. "Yeah, I suppose so." Sighing, she settled back into the snuggle somewhat sleepily. "Besides, I don't see you quitting anytime soon. You're not the type."

And she wasn't the type. As Andy watched Maica slowly drift off to sleep, her words rolled around Andy's head. She hadn't thought herself as quitting when she considered resigning, but rather simply doing what needed to be done. And now that Maica had said it, Andy could see how she was quitting. It would be so easy to turn her back on this crew and walk away, but they deserved better than that. Andy would never do something like that! So as she held tight to her lover and let herself drift off to sleep, she decided that maybe resigning wasn't the brightest thing to do...