Things had been busy since the problem with the transwarp device. Nathan had hardly had time to see Jhu let alone any of his friends.

But today he had carved out sometime to spend with Vara. There had always been a special place in his heart for his little shadow, Nathan was working on being a mentor and friend to her. She was an exemplary officer and had put her life 9n the line several time for Katana and her crew. She had been the pivotal force that got the entire rescue party out when they had braved Section 31 to save Nathan.

"Computer..." Nathan said as he stood from his chair at his desk in his office. "Locate Ensign Vara."

The computer replied back emotionlessly with "Ensign Cho'ren is in holodeck 1." Vara was sitting in the middle of a reproduction of her home sans people.

Nathan made his way down to the holodecks and used the holodeck controls to contact her. This way it would be routed through the holomatrix and the summons would come through the holodeck program in some way as to not disrupt the program. He was not sure what she was doing but he wanted permission to come in before just barging in, he had learned his lesson on that.

The arch chirped s few times, distracting Vara from her reverie. Was it someone wanting to come in? Whatever. It didn't matter anymore. "Computer, open the door."

As soon as the door opened Nathan stepped inside and looked around for Vara. She wasn't hard to find though. In the middle of what should have been a busy and heavily populated market, she was the only soul, sitting at an outdoor cafe table.

Nathan walked up to the table. "May I sit?" He asked. "Or am I interrupting?"

Vara motioned to the empty seat next to hers. "Help yourself."

Nathan sat and looked across the table at his friend. "How are you?"

Pointing off in the distance, Vara started talking softly. "I grew up in an apartment building 3 blocks that way. I'd walk through here at least once a day. My brother and my sisters and I did most of our shopping here. Daily buying fish and rice and veggies..."

Nathan leaned back in his chair and simply listened to her. He knew that she had been separated from her family and this could not be easy on her.

"My ancestors... records are vague... but during the Eugenics Wars... my people... they never left Earth." Vara barely got the words out, tears now streaming down her somehow still stoic expression.

"I'm sorry Vara." Nathan said. He didn't have anything better for her. He too had lost home, but his people were still around. He could not begin to comprehend Vara lose.

"I don't know what to do." Vara said weakly. "Everything I knew. Family. Friends. Even my home world... simply never existed."

"There is nothing to do Vara, except find a way home. I don't know about you but that kind of stuff is better left to the scientists." Nathan said. "Eve if this is forever you should continue to honor your ancestors. You and I both know they exist somewhere out there."

Nodding silently, Vara looked down at her hands. “Yeah but now I guess I’m just a sort of relic of Khan. If anything happens to me I’ll have noone to turn to for repairs or medical treatment off of this ship.”

"Oh so you're saying that you're stuck here with me? Darn...what ever will I do." Nathan said with a teasing tone. "Now I know my shadow will never stray far."

Vara looked up and nodded to Nathan. She was smiling painfully as she cried, a mix of emotions on her face.

Nathan reached across the table for her hands. "I know how badly you missed your family before, and now you are even farther disconnect from them. But your family here on Katana is still here for you. You are a highly respected member of this crew and a great friend. Anything you need we are here to help."

Vara took his hands and squeezed a little tighter than she wanted, but not enough to hurt him. “Thank you,” she whispered, nodding slightly.

The tightness registered, but she would have to squeeze a lot harder to hurt Nathans prosthetic arm. "Of course Vara. I know you well enough to know you will never take me up on this, but any time off you need just let me know and I'll rework the schedule."

“I might take you up on that later. Thank you.” Vara got out with a weak smile. She wouldn’t, but the thought was deeply appreciated. She hated taking off time for work, even to the point where even on medical orders not to leave her quarters, she kept up her training and still went to the meetings and on ‘walks’ through the ship.

"I have not even started looking into me..." Nathan said weakly.

Trying to compose herself, Vara nodded softly. “I’m sure your self here in this timeline is an XO or something by now. Probably married to Jhu as well.”

Nathan chuckled. "To be honest...I'm I'm a little afraid to find out."

“I shouldn’t have…” Vara muttered, looking out across the empty market. “It might be best not to know. I heard Maica was dead in this timeline so I guess curiosity got the better of me.”

"I have not heard of a happy story yet. I'm not going to hold my breath for one for me..." Nathan said with a grim tone.

“I don’t blame you.” Vara was somber now, looking drained though definitely more composed. “The only real legacy of my people is the 5 holodeck programs I had with me coming here, and my memories of them. If you ever want to use any of them, please feel free.”

This brought a grin to Nathans face. "I use the springs often, and will continue to. Maybe someday you can give me a tour of this please."

“I’d love to. It might help…” Vara stood up slowly. “Computer, switch to program Vara 427.” Shimmering, the holodeck switched to a desert cliff overlooking a valley of massive plinth like buildings. Pointing to one of the closer ones, Vara spoke softly again. “That’s the arcology i grew up in right there. 780 stories tall. not including maintenance levels.”

"Wow!" Nathan said looking out over the view
"Thats quite the sight."

“Isn’t it?” Vara said as she watched the slowly setting sun. “Each one was an entire self contained city. No cars or trains really. Just strings of mass lifts to move people and machines and stuff. Until the advent of the teleporters, that is. Once we had the bulk transport systems installed, the tubes were converted to other uses. Food production mostly.” Vara was rambling at this point, going on and on about her people’s arcologies. Eventually she fell silent, the sun having set some time ago.

Nathan listened intently to her, as he watched the sun set. He didn't interrupt her at all and didn't seem bored by her rambling. Once she fell silent Nathan said, "it's amazing the technology your people created."

“All born of necessity of survival. We discovered warp drive some time after Earth simply because it wasn’t needed for our survival at the time.” Vara smiled softly back at Nathan. A kind and warm smile she rarely showed anyone.

Nathan returned the smile. "So what's it look like inside?" He asked with genuine interest.

“You just saw it. That open air market was on floor 433.” Vara said, grinning wider. Her people’s ability to create self contained worlds was something she had always been proud of.

Nathan was in awe now. "What about the bath house?" He asked, ripping his eyes away from the view and looking over at Vara.

“Floor 700 even. It looked like it was outside, didn’t it?” Vara was grinning even brighter now. “I know a bit about how it was made so realistically. Maybe I can become an architect someday.” Looking back at the group of Arcologies, Vara sighed heavily at the memories.

Nathan was glad to see Vara doing a bit better. "Maybe...you may have some knowledge that has never been thought of in this time."

“Probably. More than just holographics too.” Vara looked back at the view, sighing softly. “I’ll need someone to help fill the holes I suppose. Do you think Maica and Andy would be open to a 3 way relationship? Or someone else that might be single and interested in a heavily augmented super-human cyborg?”

"Oh wow...um I don't know. I try to focus on my relationship and not meddle in others...though being friends with Andy and Maica it's almost impossible not to get tied up in there's in one way or another." Nathan shook his head and chuckled.

"You never know though, I know you loved your other family but I also knew how unhappy you were." He continued, "I would never tell you not to mourn or miss them, but maybe this is a fresh start for you. Hey, maybe your true love is over here waiting for you!"

“Maybe.” Vara seemed thoughtful for a moment before turning back to Nathan. “For now I guess I’ll build a small shrine to them. All of them. Is there anything I can do to help you? Anything at all.”

"Naw, just keep helping out while on duty. Sooner Katana is fully repaired the sooner life can go back to normal..." Nathan said gazing out at the view of the massive habits, "what ever the hell that is."

Vara stared at Nathan for a moment before bursting out in laughter. “Normal! Ha! Whatever this is, it’s become normal. When have we ever just been able to just do our basic duties.”

Nathan had seen the rare moments when Vara expressed that she was happy, and even seen her smile when she was not exactly happy like just a moment now. But hear her out right laugh shocked Nathan and caused him to jump a little. But even then he grinned at her. "We are in security Vara, we are the guys that rush headlong into strange and weird situations. To be honest I'd say we are handling are duties pretty well."

“In that case, let’s cry havoc and let loose the cats of war. Like a tiger we’ll rush in and tear every one of our enemies to shreds.” Vara grinned honestly, that wolf in her eyes once again.

"Ah, there's my little shadow! Glad to have you back!" Nathan said with an equally excited tone.

Patting Nathan on the back, Vara nodded. “Now let’s see who or what needs to be punched into submission.”

[ON]

Commander M'rayr Eisovo had arrived at Ophinius less than twelve hours ago. It would be at least another thirty-six hours before the USS Katana was expected to arrive in-system. He’d spent much of his time going over service jackets from most of the senior staff, recent mission reports, and Captain Kerouac’s evaluation, as completed by Starfleet Internal Affairs, seemed to straddle a fine line between wanting to accuse him of dereliction of duty and commending him for his swift response to a major crisis aboard ship. Reading the odd mixture of criticism and praise left M’rayr wondering if whoever wrote it was merely seeking to confuse the reader.

But eventually, the Caitian’s sense of diligence in preparing for his upcoming assignment was overtaken by restlessness. He’d been cooped up in a small apartment for long enough, and while he hardly considered himself to be a ‘social creature’, the need for an open environment was overwhelming. Caitians by default needed open space and plenty of it, which was at least partially why ships like their Atrox-class carriers were so large.

Dressed in civilian attire, M’rayr found a curious looking establishment called the Orion’s Kilt. It took little exploration to understand the name; the Orion’s Kilt was a tavern, pure and simple, with a long bar with servers providing drinks on one end, anti-gravity stages complete with poles to be utilized by scantily-clad dancers, and a quiet – (and darkened) – corner that M’rayr assumed was used for private dances.

For a moment, M’rayr almost considered leaving the Orion’s Kilt and moving onto a more respectable establishment. But his stomach was growling by now, and the aroma coming from the kitchen indicated that actual food was being cooked here. He stepped deeper inside, found a barstool near a corner where he assumed he wouldn’t be bothered, and claimed it as his own. A bartender, a vibrant looking Bolian whose attire left little to the imagination, approached him with a playful smile.

“Hey kitty, what can I do for you? Need some company?” She looked over to one of the available dancers. “Do you like Humans?”

M’rayr shook his head. “A menu will suffice, thank you.” He said in a dignified way that made it clear that he was not interested in exotic company. “And a glass of Caitian brew, if you have it available.”

“Honey, we have every drink you could imagine here. But the Caitian stuff is rare to come by in these parts. I’m sure the replicator has the synthetic stuff if you’re open to it, but synthohol doesn’t cure the senses as well as the real stuff. How about some Andorian brandy, instead?”

M’rayr waved his paw to the side. “Replicated will be satisfactory. And a menu.”

By now it had become apparent that the Caitian was not going to be the type of customer that she’d prefer. “Right,” she said sardonically, slapping a menu in front of him – all playfulness gone from her voice and to be replaced with a tone of annoyance. “Be right up.”

Leryssa sat at a table with her back facing the bar, She had nothing in front of her, Save for a plate which had a traditional Bajoran food called Hasperat. It typically looked like a normal burrito, but with a slightly different flavor and food fillings on the inside than the Human's average-made burrito; Plus the sauce it had been made with, was a little spicier than normal too. There were a few bites already taken from it, but Leryssa held a cup of Earl Grey tea in her hands, and was just about to take a sip of the tea from the cup.

However, A couple of drunken men walked up to her table, and one of them stumbled into the chair infront of her as he spoke, "Hey Sweetness, Wanna come to my quarters and have a little fun with me and my friends?"

The voice off to the side had caught M'rayr's attention. Out of the corner of his good eye, he peered over and saw a woman in clear Starfleet uniform sitting several chairs over. Two men were hassling her. Not my problem, he told himself.

Leryssa could smell the liquor on the drunken man's breath as he spoke, and she shook her head, "No thanks." She replied as she turned him down flat. But he didn't look like he was going to take her rejection for an answer. "C'mon Baby, A little fun isn't going to hurt... Us." He started to laugh, His friends joined in and laughed with him, Albeit, Louder than necessary.

"Leave me alone." Leryssa told the man forcefully as she could manage, but he didn't budge.

Instead, He pressed the issue further, "Why don't you come with us instead? It'd make us feel better if the four of us have a little fun." He said a little louder than before.

"Here you go, hun," the bartender said, passing M'rayr a glass of something amber. She peeked a look over to the woman and the men bothering her, and then glanced towards a large and stocky man that M'rayr presumed was a bouncer. The Bolian muttered something unintelligible beneath her breath, obviously irked at the fact that the bouncer wasn't paying attention to the developing situation. She looked to M'rayr. "You're Starfleet, aren't you?" She asked.

"What makes you say that?" M'rayr asked neutrally.

The Bolian stared him down. M'rayr gazed back with seeming disinterest. She pointed to his eye. "I've never seen an ore presser do that, for one. Plus you clearly seem to have a phase rifle stuck up your arse, which I presume you keep for personal protection since Caitians aren't permitted to use their claws in combat."

M'rayr took a small swig of the beverage, tasted it, and swallowed. "You seem to be well informed," he pointed out.

The Bolian stuck a finger at the men. "Then do your damn job before I have to pull my scatter-disrupter. I doubt your fleet would appreciate blood letting on their new outpost,"

"Look, I'm a Starfleet Officer. I have combat training." Leryssa warned them as she stood from where she'd once been sitting in her chair, "Now I've told you already, You better leave me alone right now, or you'll get a piece of something you'll really regret!"

M'rayr heaved an inaudible sigh. The Bolian woman was right, at least in one regard. Starfleet wouldn't like it if things got violent. And as it happened, she was probably assuming - correctly, of course - that a six foot five Caitian possessed just enough clout to dissuade the drunks from trying anything further with the woman. "I'll have a bowl of your Breen yeddish,"

The Bolian nodded and left for the kitchen. In the meantime, M'rayr came up behind the woman who, by this point, was still yelling threats at the men. They didn't seem intimidated... at least not at first. But when their eyes came up several inches and saw the one-eyed cat bearing down on them with crossed arms, claws extended -- (they didn't know he couldn't use his claws) -- they reconsidered. A jerk of M'rayr's head toward the nearest exit told them where they should be headed.

"Fine, we're... we're leaving." One drunk said, pulling another compatriot away. "Just don't hurt us."

Leryssa nodded at them with a smirk-like smile on her face as the drunks started leaving, That's what I thought. She thought to herself. Deciding she wasn't really very hungry, Leryssa started to turn and head towards the bar when she bumped into the person behind her, "Hey Watch it, Will ya?!" She said angrily and looked up at the person she had bumped into, Only it wasn't a person per se. She let out a surprised gasp when she noted that the person she'd bumped into, Was actually a Caitian. And a tall one at that. "By the prophets! I'm sorry." Leryssa apologized quickly.

It then dawned on her that maybe she wasn't the one who drove off the drunks after all, "Hey, Wait a second! Let me guess." Leryssa replied matter-of-factly, "You're the reason those drunks had a sudden change of heart, Right?"

The Caitian stood there and looked at Leryssa for several long seconds. Eventually, he shrugged while his head tilted to one side. Any other day of the week and he'd be chiding her for showing up to a bar in uniform, but this day of all days, he opted to neglect that transgression. He looked off to make sure that the drunks were indeed gone, looked back to the woman, and with a dispassionate voice, asked: "You will not be the source of any more attention tonight, will you?"

"I shouldn't seem to think so." Leryssa commented rather thoughtfully, "Besides, I don't think those drunks will be bothering me again."

"It is unlikely," M'rayr added as the bartender emerged from behind the kitchen area with a hot plate of what he assumed was yeddish. How the Breen ate it was something he didn't know, nor did he care much on finding out. What was important was the fact that he liked it as much as they seemed to. "In that case, I will leave you to your own devices..." the Caitian looked to her collar. "Ensign."

"You can call me Leryssa, If you want." She commented to the Caitian as he started to turn towards the bar, "Though, I suppose I'd have to guess your name?" She asked him inquisitively.

The fact of the matter was that M'rayr had intended on returning to his dish in order to eat undisturbed. But the Bajoran seemed very willing... eager even... to talk. Somehow, she struck him as the type who wouldn't give up on talking to a complete stranger as long as she had the opportunity. "M'rayr." He answered evenly.

That's an interesting name. Thought Leryssa silently to herself, Then again, She never actually met a Caitian before. "Well, Thanks again for scaring off those drunken idiots." Leryssa commented, She started to turn around to grab the remaining Hasperat on her plate, But instead, She gave the Caitian an inquisitive look as she reached for her cup of tea and picked it up from the table near her plate, "So, Which ship are you assigned to, If I may ask?" She asked rather casually.

M'rayr rose a brow. "What gives you the impression I serve on a starship?" He asked. He wasn't in Starfleet uniform, and with the exception of the scar in place of what was an eye -- (although the bartender had been kind enough to notice that and his posture as indicators of Federation service) -- didn't imagine there was much to be noticed.

"Well, You can't blame a girl for being curious, Especially a Bajoran one." Leryssa commented before taking a sip of her tea and swallowing it before continuing, "Besides, I was just wondering where to send my ’thank you' note; Should we part ways from here and don't end up seeing eachother again in the present, or the future." She managed to add after a moment's silence.

The Caitian shrugged. "No gratitude is necessary," he pointed out in starting. But it seemed obvious that she wasn't taking that as an end to the conversation. Sighing internally, M'rayr continued. "I serve aboard the USS Katana. It is a Federation starship which will arrive in another day or so."

You've got to be joking! Leryssa thought silently to herself as her eyes widened in surprise. "The USS Katana?!" She whistled, "What a coincidence." Leryssa commented after a minute or two of regaining her composure, "That's where I'm assigned too."

If M'rayr had any sort of feeling to this, he didn't indicate it. He nodded curtly, taking a drink. Something told him that she was going to be a high maintenance junior officer that he'd need to look after. "What is your position?" He asked neutrally.

"I'm in Security." Leryssa answered before taking another sip of her tea. "What's yours?" She asked after setting her cup of tea back down on the table, Grabbed her Hasperat off of her plate, and took a sizeable bite of it.

Something suggested to M'rayr's inner mind that what he was about to say was cruel to a young security officer. Nevertheless, he maintained his usual sense of abstractness as he replied, "Executive Officer..."

At the mere mention of that statement, Leryssa nearly choked on another bite of her Hasperat. Shit! That means, I've just made a complete fool of myself infront of this Caitian, and he's a senior officer no less! She thought to herself without saying a word. As she coughed, She reached for her cup of tea to wash down the bits of Hasperat that was lodged in her throat -which was causing her to choke and cough- in attempt to clear her lungs, and took a long drink from it. When she was able to breathe again, She spoke, "By the prophets!" She cleared her throat, Stood at attention, and spoke more apologetically, "My apologies, Sir. I didn't realise the Executive Officer of the Katana would be here."

M'rayr heaved a gruff sigh. "There is nothing to apologize for, Ensign." He began, looking at her before reaching for his bowl. It had already gone luke-warm during the time between him taking care of the thugs and talking to her. He ignored the temperature, and focused instead on the taste during his first bite. It was reasonably good. Replicated... but good. "I, like you, was hungry."

"I see." Leryssa replied without really glancing at the Caitian Executive Officer; She then turned to finish off the last remaining portion of her Hasperat, and after she'd done that, She picked up her cup and drank the last remaining amount of her tea. "I guess I'll have to learn to change out of my uniform before I enter another bar again." Leryssa muttered aloud more to herself than to M'rayr. She didn't even bother with picking up the empty plate or cup from the table to return them to the bar. She'd figured some waiter would come by and remove them later.

"It would be a recommended course of action," M'rayr, with his acute sense of hearing, pointed out. "For one reason or another, Starfleet uniforms typically attract attention, frequently unwanted."

"So I've noticed." Leryssa commented without missing a beat, Despite not really paying much attention to the Caitian's point. Not that she was distracted or anything, She just felt suddenly stressed, and albeit, a tiny bit annoyed after that past ordeal with the thugs.

The Caitian didn't say anything further.

"Well, If you'll excuse me, I guess I better get the rest of my stuff from my quarters, and head to the transporter pad to beam over to the Katana." Leryssa replied as she started to head for the bar's exit, Though, She turned back around to face the Caitian Executive Officer once again, "Though, Thanks again for helping me out with those thugs earlier." She added shortly after a moment's silence.

ON

After finishing his work on the secondary Warp Relays, Will made his way out of the work alcove and secured the toolkit. He was unhappy after his conversation with the new Chief Engineer regarding the specs algorithms on the Borg Transwarp device and he was stewing. He knew a lot about his work and Borg Technology but he felt annoyed.

Knowing that he was off shift, Will headed to Sickbay to see if Val was free or finshing her shift. With all of the work recently, he'd missed her and wanted to catch up. He made his way through the ship before arriving at Sickbay and walking in looking for her.

Valerie had just hung up her lab-coat when she heard the doors open and Will stepping in. She looked over and smiled, "Hello stranger, how have you been?" she greeted as she walked up to him.

Will walked over to Val and gave her a kiss and a quick hug. "Hey you...All the better for seeing you. Are you finished?" He asked her, hoping the answer was yes. He really wanted to vent and calm himself, knowing Val was such a good listener and he loved being with her. "Its been a bad day," he admitted.

"Well, I am all yours." Val replied as she wrapped an arm around his. "What happened?" She asked.

As they started walking, Will explained what had happened earlier in the day. "The new Chief Engineer came by to get a second opinion from me on the workings and algorithms set on this Borg Transwarp device strapped to the ship. Now I'm as cautious as the next person when it comes to Borg Tech and I was recommended to him by Andy," Will explained, pausing for breath as they both entered the turbolift.

He then waited for the Turbolift to start and then called it to halt. "However he then made it clesr he was just there for a confirmation of would they work and nothing more than that before spouting his qualifications at me... So I told him to go consult with a Borg Drone next time he wanted an opinion on the Borg and he politely explained I should stick to repairing systems," Will finished, with a tear beginning to run down his face.

Valerie looked at Will as he told her what happened and when she saw that tear running down his cheek, she wrapped her arms around his neck and caressed the back of his head. "Don't shed any more tears he is not worth it." She whispers into his ear just before kissing the side of his head. She pulled back slightly and looked into his eyes. "You are just as qualified as he is, so never doubt yourself."

Looking back at her and hearing her words, Will smiled "I don't think its what he said though that touched me. I think its more what I went through to know what I do about this technology... I don't know if I came across as too cautious or weak," he explained to her.

"Andy knows more about this than I do but she also considers me one of the best in the field...maybe this whole matter is just hitting too close to home," he wondered.

Gently caressing his cheek with her hand, Val gave Will a small smile. "You are a lot stronger than you think, Will. And of course this would stir up old feelings. What you went through can't be easily forgotten or discarded, I wouldn't be surprised if Chief Carter is feeling the same way about the Borg device."

Will thought of Andy for a second and her own thoughts and feelings on the Borg and smiled for a moment. "Knowing Andy, she's probably just as upset as I am about this... I guess I just need to work through this time until we know the outcome," Will explained, holding Val closer to him.

"I'm sorry I haven't been around much of late. All of these modifications and work has had me occupied with work," he said quietly to her.

"Will, you have nothing to apologize for." She whispers as she looks into his eyes, "Besides, the time apart makes us cherish our time together even more."

Will smiled at her words. "Oh, I'm looking forward to spending some of that time together with you," he said as he heard his combadge beep for attention. "This is the Captain, all hands to your stations, prepare for TransWarp Flight..."

Valerie had to let out a frustrating laugh as she buried her head into his chest. "You should head to the bridge..." she whispers, before lifting her head up. "After the flight, come back to me."

Will smiled as she told him about coming back to him. "Yes ma'am, thats a promise," he responded before kissing her on her cheek and then ordering the turbolift to proceed again. Will knew that the wait to see Val again would feel like an eternity.

OFF

ON:

Mizuki sighed as the last PaDD hit the top of the pile on the desk on front of her. Jeez, this was so much. And yet, she felt accomplished. Her thoughts drift to someone in the next room over, the bridge...or at least, someone who might be there. After a long moment of hesitation, she gulped and tapped out a message to Lieutenant Collins.

Could you come by the Yeoman's office when you are free, please? It is the old briefing room on Deck 1.

Hayley got the message and seeing that the Katana was in open space without any immediate obstacles, she motioned for her relief to take over and headed for the Yeoman's officeTU.

She entered a moment later, wondering what Mizuki wanted. She wasn't sure what she should expect with how Hayley had felt the other day. "You wanted to see me?" Collins asked.

The Cadet looked a little tired, sitting there with one leg over the other. "Hey.." she trailed off. "I um..wanted to know if you were doing anything later? Cause if not...maybe we could do something." There was another request she wanted, but she hadn't quite mustered the courage to ask, yet.

Hayley shrugged. "Sure. Did you have anything in mind?"

Mizuki nodded softly. "Another holodeck outing? Followed by..." she gulped slightly. "something to eat in my quarters? While you're thinking about that, there is one other thing you could do.." she gently trails off, reaching one hand up to pat her shoulders, wondering if she'd get it.

Hayley hesitated, feeling uncomfortable at understanding what Mizuki wanted. "We're on duty...it's best not to. But sure, dinner sounds good," she grinned.

She pouted softly, but nodded. "Got'cha..I'm feeling rather tense though. All of these reports and not moving around much.." she chuckled. "Though I think once our shifts end we could go by the holodeck and see if its open before dinner.."

"What did you have in mind?" Hayley asked, crossing her arms.

Mizuki sighed a bit and rose to her feet. "How about bungee jumping followed by having a sunset dinner at the beach?" She made eye contact with Hayley and did not look away. "I've got something to say at that dinner, that I can't say now. Cause of the whole duty thing.." Inside she was shaking, but outwardly, she was standing almost regally, like the other figure might.

"Very well," Hayley said, nervous. She wasn't sure why she was agreeing with the dinner but she wanted to figure out why she was feeling the way she was towards the younger woman.

Her eyes locked with the other's, and after a long, pregnant pause the younger broke away first. "I will see you after our shifts end, then. One other thing. I'm tasked with finding a specialty aboard the ship. I was wondering if you would be okay with me splitting my time between flight control and diplomatic section?"

"That's up to you," Hayley replied.

"Okay. Then I'll contact you later on, when I'm off my shift, and we'll go from there. Thanks for coming in, Lieutenant." Mizuki gave with a bow of her head in respect.

[LATER]

They say that when someone stares into the mirror, they see the other side of them in the reflection after long enough. No one knows for sure whether this is true, but for Mizuki in that moment, she saw a person that had more confidence. Who wasn't beset by so many questions.. All she had to do right now..was breathe.

She'd said bungee jumping first, then the dinner. She knew her plan for the dinner part at least, with what she would wear but...what if it was off-putting? "Mou!" The girl pouted, stopping short of hitting something. Always the nagging what if. She just needed to go with the flow. Even if it meant wearing a dress to the beach that was usually done for formal functions.

The cadet was ready. And she was out the door in her jumping suit, all cinched up. As she walked, she tapped her combadge. =/\= "Cadet Masterson to Lieutenant Collins, I'll be awaiting your arrival in Holodeck 4." The one she had made a reservation of time on, at least.

Hayley entered the holodeck a minute later. "I haven't done this since I was younger," she commented with a smile.

"Then I'm glad I could share this with you." She gave, getting into position. "Ready?"

Hayley stepped into the position and attached the ropes to her ankles and nodded. "Yep."

She nodded, and made the jump, freefalling downward so the cord stretched to become taut, and then she was shot upwards, a loud scream and giggle coming from her as it happened. Thank goodness she'd read up on this beforehand.

Hayley waited until it was clear and followed suit. She had always enjoyed anything that gave her an adrenaline rush.

Mizuki made her landing back at the top and watched Hayley in the middle of her jump, feeling something clench in the pit of her stomach. so beautiful It made her zone out a little, thinking of the upcoming plans.

Hayley made her way back onto the platform after several minutes and noticed Mizuki was staring off. "You ok?" she asked as she began to undo her rope attachment.

"Oh! um, yeah." she chuckled. "I'm good." Giving her a cute thumbs-up, she takes a look over the side. "That was incredible." Mizuki added, referring to the jump. "Feeling hungry?"

"Sure, why not?" Hayley shrugged. "What's the location?"

"Quiet dinner on the beach? I have the program ready to switch.." Mizuki gave, making eye contact.

"That sounds perfect," Hayley replied with a grin.

"Un." She nods softly, before voicing out, "Computer, switch program." It beeped, and a quiet, sunset lit beach appeared, with a dinner that was comprised of both Mizuki and Hayley's favorite things. Clearly the younger had done some research. Candles were set at the four corners of the laid out blanket, and rendered immune from the wind and the like. There was only one thing missing. Mizuki.

And she would reveal herself soon after, wearing her purple dress with no straps, and having on silver leather short boots. Mizuki smiled, taking a seat on her side of the blanket. "What do you think?"

"Um, wow, you look great," she said, somewhat nervous. She was too sure about the feelings she was having but she wanted to see if they were genuine.

"So do you." The princess figure gave. "I had something I wanted to tell you. But it can wait until after we eat. So please enjoy, Hayley-chan."

"Thanks," she replied, as she sat down to eat.

"No problem. I hope it's to your liking." Mizuki gave, looking a bit nervous as she eats..

"It is," Hayley replied.

A few minutes later, Hayley had finished the food. "So what did you want to talk about?"

Mizuki took a deep breath. "You and me. I don't know if you've felt it at all but to me there's been a spark between us. The little things, butterflies in the stomach, elevated heartbeat, red face...you know what I mean right? I think I'm crushing on you...but do you feel anything similar? Or do I just need to shut up?"

"I don't know," Hayley spoke honestly. "I mean I do feel something...you are beautiful, but I don't know if I'm ready for this kind of relationship. Are you?"

"Mmm...something is the keyword, I think. Maybe I um...shouldn't have been so hasty." she bit her lip. "I think however..that we can be close friends, given some time. What do you think?"

"That sounds good," Hayley admitted.

"I'm happy to hear it.." She smiled a bit. "And um..one other thing. If you ..ever need someone to...experiment with...send me a private message.." she blushed and looked down at her food, eating a bit of it to cover her red face. She wasn't going to say it twice..

I'll remember that. Thank you," she commented as she picked up her fork and took a bite.

“Captain's Log Stardate...well, apparently stardate 67484.67 January 1st 2392, USS Katana, Kristopher N. Kerouac Commanding. I make this log with the understanding that it very well may be one of my last logs. I cannot imagine that Starfleet Command will be pleased to see a starship four years from the past. I have been Commanding Officer of the USS Katana for what should have been several months. However, given our most recent displacement in time. It would appear that by sense and purposes that I've been commanding this starship for a little over four years now.

We were in the Gamma Quadrant at the Federation's most recent establishment on the quadrant, the Ophinias colony. We received new orders to head to the Delta quadrant via use of reverse engineering Borg transwarp technology which my crew had previous recovered from the surface of Arboria, Shira's home world. My crew were under a great deal of pressure to meet the Federation and Starfleet's ridiculous deadlines, but they managed to do. Carter and our new Chief Engineer were amazing and I actually had high hopes that we would make this quadrant to quadrant transwarp jump. However, my delight and joy was evidently a bit premature.

We've been displaced. Something went wrong during our transwarp test jump and I was forced to abort. The starship suffered significant damage, but I have the utmost confidence in our Engineering and Operations personnel to get this ship ready any and rolling. Speaking of which, our tactical sensors indicated an engagement ahead of us. We're pretty dead in the water at the moment which is on the top of my long list of annoyances. It would appear as though a Federation starship is in battle with a Breen warship. I would like more than nothing to come to their aid, but at this time we do not have the means to get there. I am presently considering sending an away team via shuttle to the battle, or rather what is left of it.

I was baffled at first by the presence of Breen in this area, having believed that we were still in the Gamma quadrant. However, Lieutenant Verik and Shira have reported that we are in the Alpha quadrant rather than the Gamma. I can on surmise that we were also somehow flung across space. Borg technology...i'll never underestimate it at this debacle. Regardless, Verik and Shira have also expressed that they have additional information that I must be made aware of. Therefore, I have called for a small meeting with them and a few members of the senior staff in preparation for the away mission. I have decided to send Commander t'Dharvanek over to the Federation starship. She will be leading the team. I feel it necessary to send her due to her intelligence background in order to have a look at what 2392 technology exists that we do not have in the chance that anything could be of use to us. Additionally, I would like to contain and not contaminate anything, though how much difference can the past make on the future? Though I do believe M'rayr would be able to handle this mission himself, I feel more comfortable sending an officer with a career in Starfleet rather than an officer with provisional service” said Kris.

Making note of the time, he abruptly ended his log. “Computer, save log” he said and took a seat at the smaller conference table. Because, he had only selected a few members of the crew for this meeting, he was making use of one of the smaller briefing rooms. Typically, Kris entrusted whomever he had chosen to lead an away team with selecting their own members. In this case, however, Kris wanted to hand pick everyone himself.

Lieutenant Noxa was not on the Bridge when everything went down. She was in the Intelligence office, staying busy and trying to keep her mind off of Ivan for the most part. Though that was easier said than done. Their relationship was a bumpy one, and it was presently a bit strained due to recent actions. They had a 'disagreement' over the whole Pedian and Undine situation. Both having done and said some rather stupid things. Ivan having been tossed into the Brig for a while, and Noxa feeling as though he should remain their without her visitation until he was released...that caused problems.

They were not sharing quarters now, and Noxa had not apologized to Ivan. In fact, she had not spoken more than a few choice words to or rather at him. However, she did still have feelings for him. Their short but succulent time aboard the USS Black Hawk together had brought them closer, close enough that they both took reassignment to the Katana to be together. However, all the Katana had done thus far was tear them further and further apart. I need to fix this she thought to herself as she sat reflecting. The USS Katana was not in the best of shape anymore, their transwarp attempt had failed. Noxa was doing her best to figure out what had happened, but engineering and the sciences were not her thing.

Latest reports from Engineering, Operations, and Science departments seemed to indicate that the USS Katana was now four years into the future. The year 2392 to be more specific, and on top of that they had apparently traveled from the Gamma quadrant to the Alpha quadrant. Noxa was slaving away at her intelligence console when she received notification that she was being summoned to a meeting in ten minutes with the Captain and several other officers. Further information indicated that she was selected for an away mission. Noxa had been made aware of the situation ahead, a Breen warship and a Federation starship in an armed engagement.

Odd thought Noxa as she vacated her seat and headed out the door, heading to the briefing room specified in the request notification. She was used to her presence being aboard the USS Katana these days, ever since she made a switch from Security/Tactical to Intelligence. Though as she thought more about it, her being summoned and assigned to the away team made sense. Aboard the USS Black Hawk, she had been Security Chief/Chief Tactical Officer, a position that Lieutenant Tonkin held aboard the Katana. However, he had suffered an injury during the transwarp test. His mobility was presently hindered, and Captain Kerouac had no doubt wanted an experienced veteran security officer to accompany the away team, and with Tonkin injured, and his Assistant Chief filling in for him at the tactical station...I'm the most logical choice for this she told herself mentally.

She walked down the corridors, taking the last corner a bit sharply as she proceeded to the entrance of the briefing room. The doors parted and Lieutenant Noxa walked in, looking at the Captain and exchanging a slight nod with him before taking a seat at the table.

Jhu was just returning to the bridge after having the internal damage to her shoulder repaired with the page to report to one of the small briefing rooms came through. That's odd. Staff briefings usually took place in the larger conference room, so she wondered what was going on. The entire senior staff wouldn't fit in the smaller room, so it wasn't a huge stretch to determine that this was either a classified mission briefing or preparation for an away mission. Either possibility was intriguing, and she soon found herself wondering which it was as she headed to the briefing room.

Noxa was already there as she arrived, which suggested it was an away team briefing. Jhu was willing to bet at that point that she'd skimmed over the message too quickly and simply missed the purpose of the meeting. Giving Kris a brief nod, she took a seat at the table and waited for the others to arrive.

Owen had been reading up on Federation Security tech, trying to make himself more useful on the ship, when he received the request to report to a small briefing room. Because it was a smaller room, Owen could surmise that this wasn't a senior staff meeting, but what was it? As he entered the room, he examined the occupants. The Captain, Jhu, and another officer wearing an intelligence uniform. Nodding to the Captain, he sat down at the table, and nervously tapped his fingers against the table somewhat nervously. Whatever this was, it probably involved something dangerous.

Lia was rubbing her head as she made her way down the corridor. The transwarp debacle and now the revelation of temporal displacement for the crew, it didn't surprise her when she received notice from the Captain to report to a briefing. She entered the conference room and took one of the empty chairs.

Lieutenant Verak entered the room, he had previously served as Acting Chief Flight Controller before Collins had been welcomed aboard, and before his incident with Jhu. So, a meeting like this did not make him uncomfortable. He walked in and quickly took a seat, noting that Shira had not yet arrived and Chief Carter had not yet arrived either.

Shira hadn't been that far behind Verak and had tried to catch up to him before he entered, but no luck, the door closed on her before she could reach him, and as soon as it swung back open she was at his side. She was nervous about being in a staff meeting, but being near Verak helped her remain calm about it.

By the time Andy made her way down to the briefing room, she was able to push down the dejection and defeat she was still feeling in response to the epicness of their failed transwarp transit. She still felt like shit, but at least now she didn't look like shit. She found a seat at the table and plopped herself down, nursing a mug of coffee that might have been spiked.

Ryan made his way in and quickly took a seat.


Captain Kerouac looked around the table and addressed those he had called to gather. "Good evening, everyone. I believe that it goes without saying that our transwarp jump from the gamma quadrant to the delta quadrant did not go as planned" said Kris bluntly. "The starship is undergoing repairs as we speak to get our warp engines back online. However, we have made some discoveries that should be noted. Firstly, Lieutenant Verak and Shira were able to determine our location. We are in the Alpha quadrant and near Breen space. Thus, our readings of a Breen Warship ahead makes sense" added Kris.

Lieutenant Verak broke in and looked at Carter. "I am pretty certain of our location. However, I am not sure how we traveled from the gamma to the alpha. However, I am sure it had to due with the Borg transwarp technology we were using" he said calmly. Though in the back of his mind, he was thinking about the new information that he'd have to bring to light.

Kris nodded at Verak and then his eyes fell onto Andy. "Carter and our new Chief Engineer were able to determine that we've actually traveled more than simply across space. We've traveled through time" said Kris, looking around the room.

"You know?" said Verak a bit disappointed. "I'm sorry, Sir. I was just...that's what Shira and I discovered down in the astrometrics labs when She found Romulus and Remus" added the half-Vulcan.

"Romulus and Remus? They were destroyed" said Kris flatly. "Have they rebuilt and renamed new planets in 2392?" asked Kris.

Verak cocked his head and looked at the Commanding Officer. "I would not know, Sir. Romulus and Remas were indeed destroyed but not until the Hobus incident which hasn't happened yet. We traveled backwards in time."

"No. Verak, Carter and Lieutenant Zhuri have confirmed, we've traveled ahead in time. We're in 2392" countered Kris.

Verak shook his head. "If that is true. Then, explain this" said Verak, turning in his seat and directing attention to a display screen that illuminated at clearly showed Romulus and Remus. "They exist" said Verak firmly.

This revelation surprised Andy, but only mildly. "That ain't the only thing that's wrong..." Andy accessed the controls built into the table and pulled up the information she and Maica had found about themselves and displayed it on the display screen. "Maica was trying to do some work, chat with some of her contacts... you know, diplomacy stuff. Anyway, none of them knew who she was and her access codes weren't working. When she tried to access her personnel file to find out why, the only reference to herself she could find in Starfleet archives was that she had essentially died and her remains were sold to the Daystrom Institute. I knew this couldn't be right, so I tried to access the specs I filed with Starfleet when I made her new body. Those specs didn't exist and my codes weren't working either. According to my file, I'm MIA; Battle of Sector 001, I was confirmed assimilated but my body was never recovered afterwards..."

Kris shot a glare at Andy, his facial expression making him look a bit like a shar pei in the face. "Whatcha talkin' 'bout, Carter" said Captain Kerouac.

"Well, Maica is on record as being dead and I'm MIA and possibly still a Borg, but since we're here on Katana and clearly aren't dead or MIA... she thinks we're in an alternate timeline or something like that," Andy said numbly.

Noxa just shook her head at the Captain's response. I really hope that they don't have to have to paint things this bold and clearly for him all of the time thought the female Ferengi.

Captain Kerouac was taken aback by this information. He looked around for confirmation, and found himself looking to Verak.

"I cannot say without looking at everything myself. However, it is a reasonable and logical theory which such evidence would seem to support if we have indeed traveled to 2392 as you stated. We've traveled ahead in time and also into an alternate reality or universe" said Verak.

Kerouac shook his head. "Counselor, presently it does not appear we are going to be able to our own time...or reality for that matter. I will need you, the crew will need you" he said looking at the woman

"Y-yeah... um.. Yes. Yes." Lia nodded, trying to keep her mind straight after hearing everything. "I will do my best, sir."

"Jhu, we have a Federation starship ahead engaged in a skirmish with a Breen Warship. I would like to render assistance" said Kris.

Still in shock over the news of Romulus and Remus still intact, Jhu was staring at the projected image of the twin planets when Kris called her name. She didn't respond right away, her mind occupied with processing that information. She hadn't really accepted that they were gone, and now somehow she was in an universe where they weren't? It was a lot to take in. She blinked a few times before turning her attention back to Kris with an apologetic grin for her lapse in attention. "That might be difficult, given the situation. But I think we can manage."

"Not to sound callous, but we're hardly in any shape to be rendering aid," Andy pointed out. "Repairs are under way and progressing well, but the warp core is still so badly mucked up that we're one hiccup away from being dead in the water."

"We're obligated to try," Jhu remarked lightly, not wanting to agitate anyone any further. "Whether our ship is damaged or not, they're clearly in distress, and we can't sit here and watch them slug it out with the Breen. From the looks of what I've seen so far... the Breen are winning."

Owen nodded his head at what Jhu said. "Yes, we must do something, but how? With what?"

I cannot take the Katana to them, not for another several hours. We don't have warp thought Kris for a moment. "Commander t'Dharvanek," said Kris in a commanding and professional tone, something not often heard from him. "You will be leading the away team. Take one of the shuttles. Whichever has the best weapons in case you need them. Take Major Owens and Lieutenant Noxa for safety and security measures. Dr. Rose will go along to provide medical aid and Chief Carter to assess how extensive that damage is," said Kris firmly.

That was unusual, coming from Kris, but Jhu nodded without commenting on the strange nature of his sudden professional tone. "If I recall correctly, that would be the aeroshuttle, but I'll double check. I'll have the team ready to leave within ten minutes, maybe faster depending on how quickly Dr. Rose can pick up his away team kit."

He then looked over at his Chief Counselor. "Counselor, I would like if you went along as well. That crew will be pretty shaken up and could be quite tense. You may provide good insight into their emotional state. Also, if they ask any questions about who you are or what starship you came from...try your best to answer questions, keep them calm, but don't disclose too much."

Lia looked at Kris as if he was growing a second head. "Captain, don't you think it would be better if I..." her voice trailed off. She was originally going to object, citing the recent revelation the ship not only went ahead four years but to an alternate universe mean this crew needs her more but she didn't want to question the Captain's judgment. "...alright. I'll do my best when we get over there."

Kris looked at Lia. You are the ship's Counselor, Lia. I need you on this one he thought, trying to mentally encourage her. Captain Kerouac looked around the table. "You have your orders. Commander t'Dharvanek, you leave immediately. Assemble your team and take the aeroshuttle, do not hesitate properly arming yourselves. We do not know the present status aboard that starship. It is possible that they have Breen intruders aboard" cautioned Kris.

"I'll have us overarmed, just in case. This sounds like a good time for armor-piercing weaponry." Jhu knew that little was known of the Breen, beyond the heavy suits they wore to keep them protected from environments that were too warm for them. "We'll meet on board the shuttle. I suggest everyone pick weapons they're comfortable using."

Lieutenant Noxa snorted slightly at Jhu's comment. She stood up from her seat, and shot a look at the Chief Intelligence Officer. "Don't give me any ideas. I don't think I'd fit in well taking a Ferengi energy whip. I'll stick with a type-II phaser...would love to take a phaser riffle, but Starfleet hasn't been very accommodating for Ferengi. Those things are just about as tall as me" she added shaking her head.

Lia stood up but the Ferengi's comment drew her attention, "You can get a phaser rifle that works for you, you'll have to report to the armory for a custom fit out. A colleague of mine from Starbase 723 is about an inch shorter than you, and was able to get a rifle refitted for her size. Starfleet can be very accommodating when asked."

"No time for that, but I have a model that SI developed for a friend of mine... not sure how I ended up with it, but you can have it." Being close to six feet tall herself, Jhu had no use for the smaller rifle and usually fared well with the normal ones. "I'll have it waiting on board the Tenjin... and if it wasn't a Starfleet ship I'd let you bring that whip." Smirking slightly, Jhu got up from the table and headed for the door. "I'll be getting the shuttle ready."

"You mind if I take my bow?" Andy asked Jhu since the topic of unconventional weapons had come up. She had used her bow in the past with good result, but if it was gonna be an issue it would be good to get that out of the way now. "I can do armor piercing if that'll help."

Jhu paused, thinking about that for a moment. "I don't mind. Bring it along... and frankly, Noxa, as long as you have good control with the whip and it's not a hazard to anyone, you can bring that if you want it."

The female Ferengi let out a small chuckle, shaking her head and leaving the room after the Captain dismissed everyone.

Hayley let out a long sigh as she opened her eyes to take in the nude man laying next to her, asleep in the dimly lit quarters of the small assault ship. It was a ship of her own design. Carried a small crew capacity, fast, and packed a mean punch. Its total size was twice the size of a danube class runabout. She thought back to how she came here. It had all began with Daimon Qurk, who had abducted her after she had crashed into his vessel--he had used her, shamed her....and Starfleet had left her to rot as some ferengi sex slave. Until she killed him, took his money, and escaped. She had used that money to build the Black Dagger. Now she raged a war against Starfleet and the Ferengi.

The comm link to her quarters activated with a beep, rousing the sleeping man next to her. "Bartan to Collins."

"Go ahead," she replied, sitting up.

"We're getting a sensor contact on long range sensors. It appeats to be a Federation Starship--Intrepid Class."

"Engage the cloak. I'll be up in a bit," Hayley ordered. She closed the comm link and stood, pulling her clothes on. She turned to the man in her bunk. "Time to go to work, James."

The man grunted and sat up. "I heard. Another Federation target, huh?"

"Yep, so get dressed and get up top," she replied finishing pulling her shirt on and heading out the door.

A few seconds later, Haley entered the bridge which resembled more of a large shuttle cockpit. "Give me the details, Bartan," Hayley demanded t the Bolian sitting in the pilot's seat.

Bartan turned in his seat and grinned. "You're going to love this. The ship we've detected is the Katana, and she's damaged."

Hayley smiled. "Easy pickin's. Close distance to transporter range, and use the Katana's last known shield frequency. Hopefully they haven't changed them since I was aboatd her last. Place us near the cargo bays."

Bartan nodded and turned in his seat.

Hayley turned and headed to the transporter located just aft of the bridge, spotting James getting ready as well. She grabbed her gear out of a locker, donning a full face black helment, gloves, phaser rifle, and body armor.

"Ready?" she asked James, who was dressed similarly.

James nodded. "Ready."

Hayley activated the transporter and the two dematerialized in a swirl of red light.

Smoke lingered in the air, forcing a cough from Jenni's lungs. She tuned out the sound of the klaxons long ago, but now they were all she could hear as she staggered to her feet. Dazed, she brought her right hand to her forehead, a feeble attempt to stop it from throbbing. The skirmish lasted longer than anyone hoped. Katana had been holding her own quite well, until the Breen warship scored a lucky hit.

The Lieutenant grabbed the charred railing in front of her as the room began to spin. It didn't take long to realize it was not her spinning, but the ship itself. One look at the viewscreen in front of her showed the spinning stars and the lance of a disruptor blast. Though her thoughts were still hazy, instinct prompted her to hold tight to maintain her balance once the deckplates lurched.

No lurch came. The helmsman managed to avoid a critical hit.

Jenni could only imagine what was happening right now down in Engineering, other than doing their best to keep the ship alive. How she wished she was down there right now! This ship needed her Chief Engineer.

Thanks to the dumbass in the brig, that wouldn't be happening. Jenni had little choice in the matter a few days ago. As much as she enjoyed the engine room, the crew needed an adept and passionate individual as First Officer until a proper replacement could be found. It would look good in your personnel file, the Captain had told her. And now she felt stupid for believing him.

She started to hear voices over the klaxons. Orders, not information, were barking across the bridge. Jenni looked to Tactical, then to the helm, observing the Bolian tactician and the Vulcan argue. She stood there confused. The Captain ran a tight bridge, little tolerance for any outburst, especially in a critical situation.

The Captain!

Immediately all of Jenni's faculties returned to her. She looked around, still unnoticed by the bridge crew, hoping to spot their Captain.

He was nowhere to be found.

Jenni let go of the railing and took one step to her left, kicking something in the process. She looked down to see a man laying on his chest. Blood had soaked into the carpet and his uniform, pouring from several open wounds on his back. The uniform was badly burnt, even all the way to the skin. His back was also peppered with bits of shrapnel. Jenni knelt and reached to check for a pulse. As she held her fingers on the Captain's neck, she noticed blood of a different color on her own hand. Jenni felt her forehead with her free hand and noticed a small cut. The blood was tacky, and it was starting to dry.

That's right… she thought, turning to look at the Master Display. She was tracking battle damage as the Captain was moving past Ops on his way to Tactical when the Breen scored their lucky hit. The MSD exploded, taking her and the Captain both out.

Jenni looked back at the Captain, noticing what she was feeling. Actually, it was a lack of feeling that caused her to worry.

Great…

She was now the Katana’s reluctant Captain, whether she liked it or not.

A brief shower of sparks behind her called Jenni into action. She rose to her feet and took one step towards Ops. ”Report!”

In an instant, the bickering on the bridge ceased, permitting only klaxons and alarms from consoles to be heard. Ensign Whedon at Ops was the first to break the silence. "Main power’s offline. Ventral shields are out. Dorsal phasers are out. Buckling on the starboard nacelle. Hull breaches on Decks Eight, Twelve and Thirteen. Force fields are holding. Repair teams are doing what they can. Structural integrity and inertial dampeners are at sixty percent. Comms are down, we can receive, but not transmit.” The ship shuddered slightly. "Aft shields down to thirty percent. One direct hit and we could lose them.”

“And the Breen?” Jenni asked, stopping in the middle of the command platform, folding her arms and affixing her gaze on the Breen warship in front of her.

“Shields at sixty percent!” called back Lieutenant JG Gort at Tactical. “Minor damage only. No critical systems.”

“We should withdraw,” the helmsman immediately offered in a calm tone.

Jenni wanted to ask if Vulcans ever worried, but this was not the time. The helmsman's logic was right, but the Breen were too damn stubborn. If Katana ran, they'd be chased. With the buckling of the starboard nacelle, the Katana would never have a chance of outrunning the warship. One direct hit, they’d lose the warp drive and likely tear apart dropping out of warp.

No, leaving was not an option. Dying wasn’t an option either.

Her instincts pushed her to return to Engineering. Jenni was no tactician and ill equipped to lead this charge. She closed her eyes, fighting the urge. What remained of the ship and the crew needed her now to lead. And lead she would.

“Evasive pattern Zanaar Gamma Nine,” Jenni ordered, opening her eyes and withdrawing to the First Officer’s chair. Her console was already active, displaying readouts on the Breen vessel. She needed a plan, and fast. Options were limited, seeing how Katana’s only protected areas were without means of striking back.

Katana rocked from another blast and an announcement came that shields were losing strength. “Hold together,” Jenni muttered, stroking the console. A second’s worth of study showed her a small weak point in the Breen’s shields.

“Bring us to one-one-zero mark zero one five,” she ordered, still studying the display. “Assume a elliptical pattern and target here.” Jenni tapped a button to show the helmsman and tactical officer on their consoles what she was seeing. That would buy her enough time, she hoped, to formulate a real plan.

Jenni frowned as she studied further, lamenting the odd design of the warship. Every other species, including the Dominion and Tholians, possessed sleek and efficient designs. What the Breen lacked in design, however, they certainly made up with their shield grid. “How many torpedoes do we have left?”

“Eight quantums. Twenty Photons.”

Jenni winced. The Katana was outmatched and outgunned. If every single shot met their mark, they might be able to take down their shields, but what would be left to disable the warship? Putting aside the warship readouts for a moment, she analyzed the Breen’s attack pattern. As much as the helmsman was doing his best to avoid the weapons fire, all of the scored hits had been aimed at operational centers and junctions. That’s why they’d lost dorsal phasers so quickly and why the nacelle was buckling.

The Breen wanted Katana as a prize. Their aim was far from the warp core, and was getting closer and closer to the ventral phaser arrays.

If she was right, as soon as the Katana was defenseless, boarding parties would soon be on the way.

In fact, she was counting on it.

Jenni rose from her chair and moved towards the viewscreen. “Helm, standby to bring us around for a strafing run. Load all forward torpedo bays, prepare for rapid fire. Load also two quantum torpedoes into the aft launchers.”

“Lieu—“ the helmsman paused, catching himself. “Captain, what you’re suggesting will leave our secondary hull exposed—“

“I know,” Jenni replied, grinning as she clutched the railing in front of her. She purposely wanted to keep her distance from anything that could explode. The chain of command had seen too many hits today, and one more would be fatal to the entire crew. “Bridge to Engineering. Be ready to cut power on my command.”

=/\= “Jenni? You can’t be—“ =/\=

“You have to trust me!” Jenni shouted back. “I know what I’m doing.” She swore the grin on her face was slowly growing. Was this it? Was this her going completely insane?

“We’re about to play dead, everyone,” she announced, bracing against the railing. “Let’s hope this works. Helm…” Jenni watched the viewscreen as Katana prepared to reach the apex of her turn. A couple disruptor beams lanced out, narrowly missing the Katana. A soft shudder, however, informed everyone that the Breen weren’t happy about missing.

“Now! Bring us about.” She waited for the starship to swing around before giving the command to open fire. She watched as phaser fire squarely struck the Breen shields which shone brilliantly in response. Twelve torpedoes flew from the Katana’s belly, punching the Breen’s shields. At best, Jenni hoped this tactic would temporarily blind their sensors, giving Katana a chance to make its gambit.

It wasn’t long before the floor behaved as an earthquake, suffering from Breen return fire. Explosions rippled throughout the bridge. “Cut power!” she called out, just before losing her footing. Jenni tumbled on the floor, finally coming to a stop about the time the bridge stopped shaking. Slightly dazed, Jenni pulled herself off the floor, using the helm to steady herself. One glance at the viewscreen and she knew the ship was spinning almost out of control.

“Careful now,” she told the helmsman. “Use enough thrust to control our spin. We’ll need our backside to face the Breen in a moment.”

Jenni watched the screen, noticing almost immediately that the spin was not being controlled. “Lietuenant?” Jenni asked, touching the helmsman on the shoulder. The body slumped to the floor, the face burnt beyond recognition.

Damn. Jenni sat down at the helm and began to manipulate the parts of the console that were still working. “Whedon? Gort? Still with us?” Groggy responses came from the back of the bridge. “Be ready to fire those quantums.”

Gort, nursing a cut of his own, stood behind his console and confirmed the tubes were still loaded. He did not have control over the starboard tube, and he was quick to inform Jenni. Ops sounded off the damage, including notices that all other means of attack or defense were out of commission, as were the engines. Power would not be easily restored.

“Let’s hope one works,” Jenni muttered. “Our target is where the large crest meets the center pod.” She called up an aft view on the viewscreen and patiently watched as the Breen warship drew closer to Katana. As expected, the Breen latched onto the Federation ship with a tractor beam.

Jenni glanced back to Ops. “Secure critical areas. I don’t boarding parties near the bridge or Engineering.”

“Forcefields are non functional below deck seven,” Whedon announced before leaving her station. With Gort and Matthews both occupied, the duty of arming the bridge crew now fell to her.

“Security teams are already en route,” Grot announced as forcefields were erected around every one of the bridge’s entrances.

“Come on,” Jenni muttered, watching the Breen closely as Katana came to a stop . This would be their only shot. She looked down at her console where a readout of the Breen ship waited for her. A few more seconds passed, but each one seemed to last a year. Finally, she saw their shields start to drop. “Stand by!” she called out, her view still affixed to the helm. “Stand by…”

If she knew the Breen like she thought she did, they’d only drop the shields the moment they were ready to transport their boarding parties. It would take less than twelve seconds to commence and complete transport, and then raise their shields once again. And, hopefully, they didn’t see this coming.

Finally, their shields were completely down.

“Fire!” she ordered, snapping back up to the viewscreen. She watched the lone blue torpedo streak from the aft launcher, narrowly escaping the tractor beam in the process. It wasn’t long before it disappeared from her view, too small against the backdrop of the warship.

Its impact, however, was impossible to notice. Gort had struck the target dead center. Explosions rippled throughout the crest and the forward pod. The tractor beam disappeared, and Jenni instantly pushed Katana out of the way of the incoming debris.

“They’re dead in the water!” Gort announced, checking the readouts while Jenni piloted. “Critical damage.”

A few moments later, the explosions stopped and it was clear that the damage was irreparable.

Jenni wanted to sigh in relief. But, now was not the time, a fact that the intruder alarms coldly reminded her. She thanked Whedon for the phaser and stood to view the rear of the bridge. Until the last Breen was down, this fight would not be over.

The sound of an intruder alert could not have come soon enough for the small, nimble science officer as he peaked around the bulkhead of the corridor that he was on. The little Ferengi nearly let out a shriek, but quickly put a hand over his own mouth. He saw them. Two Breen rounding a corner and heading down the same corridor as him.

They had not seen him. My luck is worth my weight in latinum thought the ensign, breathing a small sigh of relief. However, his sigh of relief was short lived. Something had given his location behind a bulkhead away. Probably some sort of equivalent to a tricorder. The two Breen targeted their riffles at the bulkhead and opened fire. The yellow-green burst hit the bulkhead, barely missing the Ferengi.

I need to get out of here! thought the Ferengi. There was no where to go and the Breen were closing in on his position. He looked to his right and saw an opportunity. It was access to a jefferies tube. A small and narrow one of course, certainly not fit for a bulky Klingon. However, excellent for a Ferengi who wanted to live. Quickly, Ensign Quag opened the access and crawled in. He crawled as fast as he could and reached a point where he had two options. Up or down. In this case, he felt safer climbing up a ladder two decks and trying to exit out through a maintenance tunnel on the Bridge.

A few minutes later, the small male Ferengi opened the maintenance panel and tumbled out onto the Bridge. "Don't shoot!" he shouted, knowing his sudden arrival may draw Starfleet phasers in his direction. He stood up and looked around, noting a lifeless Captain. It looked as though Lieutenant Matthews, the Chief Engineer was in command.

Jenni and Ensign Whedon had been working on restoring the consoles on the starboard side of the bridge since the intruder alert sounded, leaving Lieutenant Gort to stand guard near the helm. The last thing any of them wanted was to be shot in the back while trying to make repairs. Gort immediately warned the ladies of movement at a maintenance panel. Jenni and Whedon, having just restored the science station one second before, aimed their phasers at the panel.

Alas, a heavily-clad Breen was not behind it, rather an innocent looking Ferengi. Rather than being grateful to seeing another friendly face, Jenni's concern was still the overall safety of the ship, something that could not be maintained with a barely functioning bridge. "Welcome to the bridge," Jenni said, wearing her trademark smile for the first time in a friendly manner that day. "Take the science station, Ensign..." Jenni was momentarily embarrassed. Any commander of a starship knew the names of every crewman on board, regardless of rank or position. It was really something she needed to take care of if help would be long in coming.

"Ensign Quag from Geophysics" he said announcing himself. He looked across the Bridge, noting the science station was vacant. "Reporting for duty and avoiding the Breen on deck three, ma'am" he said as he looked at Matthews. "They nearly shot my lobes off" he added shaking his head and proceeding to man the station.

"Secure the panel then," Jenni informed Whedon and Gort. Fortunately they'd disabled the turbolifts until the situation lapsed, but that wouldn't stop the Breen from using other methods to get to the bridge. "Ensign Quag, keep an eye on what's going on around us. I don't want Breen reinforcements to arrive without us knowing." Once Whedon and Gort finished with the panel, Gort returned to guard duty while the ladies moved to get the Engineering station online in hopes to restore communications.

The young Ferengi was not at the science station long before he caught something on the barely functional sensors. "Captain" he called out with a near squeal. "Long range sensors have detected a vessel...make that two vessels, Captain." The young Ferengi shook his head and would be crossing his fingers if he had the time. Though he was muttering a small sort of prayer under his breath. "They're Federation!" shouted the Ensign. "The larger vessel is stationary. She may be disabled. The smaller vessel is an Aeroshuttle and it's heading our way" added the science officer.

"Aeroshuttle?" Jenni asked, moving, nay, running across the bridge to see the readings for herself. They were far from clear, and impossible to accurately identify both ships. The larger ship was definitely a while out at warp speed. "Damn comm array," she muttered, wishing she could raise the Aeroshuttle. No matter what precautions she'd already taken, it wouldn't be long before the Breen were on the bridge, or in Engineering.

"Why us?" Jenni asked, considering the readings once more. "The other ship must be disabled. Otherwise, why wouldn't they be en route to help us? Any why would that Aeroshuttle choose to help us and not them?" Reports had confirmed a high level of Breen activity in this sector, and unless there was something she didn't know, that other vessel was a sitting duck, an ample target for another unexpected strike. They were probably going to need those engines very, very soon...

The Ferengi turned in his seat. "Well, it appears that the Aeroshuttle was launched from that starship, Captain. With communications down, I cannot be certain. However, they may be coming to render aid to us. The Breen appear to be disabled for the time being. Should I lower shields and allow it to dock?" asked the Ensign.

"Let them dock," Jenni replied, grateful to have some form of help. "Don't worry about the shields, there's nothing to lower."

She winced, thinking once again of Engineering. With comms and internal sensors down, she had no way of knowing who all was still alive. She could not leave the bridge, not with Breen wandering the ship. Her best hope was securing the ship.

"Whedon, let's focus on internal sensors!" she called out, looking across the bridge. Turning back to Quag, Jenni added, "Use the indicator lights to direct that team to the bridge. Once the bridge is fortified, we'll focus on repairs."

Or at least count the dead...

Ensign Quag smacked his skull with the palm of his hand. "Sorry, Captain" he said. "It just came natural to ask. Guess we're lucky it's a Ferderation vessel and not Breen, Orion, or Androssi for that matter" added the Ferengi. He looked at a notification from his station. "Captain, power failure reported in the Brig. Commander Kerouac is out of his holding cell" added Quag.

Jenni's grip on her phaser tightened. It had taken a lot for Captain Zanaar to finally toss Kerouac into the brig. The bastard was sneaky and knew how to hide well, but everyone knew it was a matter of time before he was caught in the act. There was no telling how this battle would have turned out had Kerouac inherited the chair. Well... that wasn't true. Katana would be in pieces and what remained of the crew left at the mercy of the Breen.

"At least we'll know where to find him," she muttered. The drunkard, likely just as shaken up as the rest of the crew, was probably headed for his cache of alcohol.

Still, she felt a little remorse for Kerouac. He was wandering a ship filled with Breen, lurking and waiting to claim Katana for their own.

The Ferengi nodded and shook his head. He had never had any contact with the man, didn't know him, but knew of him. He had been the First Officer, but was recently tossed in the Brig where he undoubtedly belonged. "Aeroshuttle approaching" announced the science officer.

"Flash the docking port running lights," Jenni commanded, standing erect and holstering her phaser. She paced the length of the bridge considering her next move. She didn't want to leave the bridge, but knowing there was at least one crew member wandering the ship, whether he was worth saving or not, he deserved his day in court. She had a duty now to the crew to clear the danger.

As much as she didn't want to, it was time to leave the bridge.

She looked to Lieutenant Gort. Jenni knew her limitations with the phaser, and Gort was the best chance for her survival as she trekked the ship. Gort was also the perfect choice to command the bridge, and would do what was necessary if it was compromised. Ensign Whedon had to remain focused on repairs, which in all honesty were limited by the damage they'd assessed. Engineering would be a better place for her to be right now. And Ensign Quag... well... surely he had better use than to stay at the sensors until this was over.

"Lieutenant Gort," Jenni said, straightening her posture, "Stand by to lower the bridge forcefields." She walked over to the XO's console to use the inherited command codes. After a few moments of entering commands, all of the consoles of the bridge went dark, save for a few screens displaying encrypted data with the bold letters, "COMPUTER LOCKOUT IN 60 SECONDS" plastered on top.

Rising back to her feet, she instructed the bridge crew to follow her. "We'll secure the ship from Engineering," she informed them all. "After we enlist our guests for some help." The lockout delay was deliberate, giving them time to vacate the bridge before it took full effect. As the crew filed out, phasers in hand, Jenni stood at the top of the ramp looking around the dark bridge, before finally stopping to see the Captain's broken body a final time. "Godspeed," she whispered, then turned and left the bridge.

It had been a week and Nathan had been using the device Lia had given him. Last night was the first night he had not used it and he was suppose to report in with Lia.

He pressed the call button on her door.

Lia was sitting behind her desk looking down at her hands as she rubbed them together trying to keep a tingling sensation at bay. When she heard the chime she almost jumped. "Come in!" she called out, pulling her hands apart and resting them flat on the desk.

Nathan stepper through the doors and smiled warmly to Lia. "Counselor, how are you?"

Lia composed herself and smiled, "Nathan. Good. I'm doing well. Please have a seat." she gestured to the chair in front of her desk. "How may I help you today?"

Nathan took a seat and set the dream suppressor on her desk. "Its been a week, we had an appointment...didn't we?" He asked looking a little confused.

"Right... apologies." She flashed him a smile as she straightened up her posture, "So what did you dream last night?"

"Nightmares as usual. Its to bad you can use that thing more often. I have slept better this last week then I have since I was a kid." Nathan said settling back into his seat.

Lia chuckled and picked up the device. "Yes this is a very helpful tool." She grinned and rested it back on the table, "Tell me about your nightmares."

"It was a nightmare..." Nathan was not interested in going into details. "Just a memory from my past."

Lia smirked, "You think I'm going to let the description of your nightmare end with that?" she asked him as she leaned back in her seat.

"A guy can hope." Nathan said with a chuckle. "To be honest with you I'm not sure how much of that dream I can share with you. The events I were apart of have been classified." He explained.

Lia's smirk faded as she nodded, "Alright well..." She looked down at the device and leaned forward and extended her hand to hand it back to him. "You can use this for the next few weeks."

Nathan looked at the device for a long moment, then shook his head. "No that's a bad idea, I can tell how quickly I could become dependent on something like that." Nathan leaned back in his seat.

"I'll be the judge of that." Lia spoke, and placed the device on the edge of the desk. She leaned back and pulled a blank data PADD from her desk drawer and placed it next to the device. "One month, make a tally on how often you used it. We will meet again, and then we will discuss it further."

"If you think that's best..." Nathan said looking at her questioningly. She had made such a big deal about how dangerous it was, and with him stating how easy he could become dependent on it he was shocked she would give it back so quickly.

Lia noticed the look and figured out what it was for, "I know what I told you before. You can easily become too dependent on this." She repeated her original warning but added, "However, your situation is unique. You can't have a true discussion over your experience or nightmares because the subject was classified and unless you have a severe mental breakdown, I would have no grounds to request clearance. You are also the Chief Security Officer of this vessel, a complete night's rest is vital for your performance in that duty." Lia leaned back in her chair, looking straight at Nathan. "This will be a controlled dependency, I will monitor your progress though. I want you to keep track of how often you use the device on a daily basis. Don't use the device for naps. When the ship is docked and you are on shore-leave, do not use the device."

Nathan nodded slowly. "You are the doctor." Nathan said. "But to be clear, the section 31 stuff was not classified. I went through something as a kid. That's what the dream was about."

Lia froze for a moment and mentally cursed herself. "Ah..." she muttered as she looked away for a moment, as her mind raced. What the hell is the matter with you, Lia? She turned back to Nathan, "How old were you in the dream?"

"10...are you ok councilor?" Not that Nathan was by any means a doctor, be he was trained to tell when someone was acting weird or trying to hide something. Clearly something was off about Lia from the moment he had walked in.

Lia was startled for a moment and then nodded her head, "My apologies Lieutenant. I'm fine." She smiled, as she started rubbing her hands, "Had a weird numbing of my hand right before you walked in, it through my focus off. I do intend to pay a visit to Sickbay when we're done here." She shivered at the thought, "and in all honesty, I don't like seeing Doctors..."

This caused Nathan to chuckle. " Please, just call me Nathan." he said to her. "Would you like to cut this short? I dont really feel like I have anything I want to get off my chest anyways. It would be an hour of you trying to get me to talk and me messing with you to see how far you will go to make me talk." Nathan said with a grin.

"I see what you're doing here, but I guess I'll let you off the hook this time." Lia smirked, "you're dismissed."

"Thank you." Nathan stood. "Would you like me to escort you to sick bay?"

Lia shook her head, "No thank you. If you need anything else, Nathan, don't hesitate to ask."

"Thank you." Nathan said as he stood And exited Lia's office.

ON:

Lia made her way to sickbay, almost grateful for a distraction from her duties and other personal matters. Her recent session with Nathan left her bothered, normally she's able to hide her discomforts but this recent session with hands have bothered her. For the past two years she has been feeling occasional instances of numbness throughout different parts of her body, the recent incident with her hands. The feeling returned just prior to her session with Nathan, but it threw her concentration off for the good Chief of Security.

After apologizing to him and explaining the incident partially to him, she decided to head to the very place she was stepping into now. She walked inside and looked around, not seeing anyone nearby, "Hello?" she called out.

Liam moved out from the small lab at the back of sickbay where he'd been recalibrating the sterilization gear. "Yes, Ah Miss Grae. What can I do for you today?"

"Hello Doctor... I am actually here for my annual physical. I'm due for a checkup." She smiled at the good Doctor.

"Very well, grab a seat on bed 3." He said, "It's weird this is the first assignment I've had where people actually come in for these on their own accord." He said with a chuckle. "So how are you feeling? Any problems I should be aware of?"

"Consider yourself lucky," she replied to his first part as she sat down on biobed 3, "I feel like I have to always make housecalls for a session." She stood up straight and looked at him, "Overall, good. I do get sporadic moments of numbness though... began a few years ago but previous examinations found nothing."

"Hmm, that's odd," He said, "Is it in the same area, triggered by anything, how severe is it?" He asked as he began to scan.

"It actually jumps around. For a while it was always my foot or leg, on rare occasions I feel my shoulder going numb but today I had a incident where both my hands were numb."

"Hmm, I'm going to run an neurological scan and take a sample of cerebral spinal fluid, you may feel a pinch." He said as carefully pressed a hypospray like device against the back of her neck.

Lia bit her lower lip as she felt the pinch Liam warned her about. "I hope you find something. Last time the tests came back negative and they suggested I speak with a counselor... you have any idea how infuriating that can be?"

"I can imagine, it will take a while to do the tests, unless you feel it's inhibiting your ability to do your duty I don't have any concerns with you continue to work. Other than that everyone looks good. Are there any other concerns?" He asked.

Lia shook her head and then looked at him, "How soon will you have the results?"

"The testing will take a couple hours, depending on what we find we may need to do some more tests. I'll contact you when I know more." He said.

Lia nodded, "So I'm free to go?"

"Yes you are, I'll let you know when I have the results." He replied.

OFF:

ON

Arivek Zhuri found himself wandering around deck two, searching for the new Executive Officer's quarters with a bottle of clear liquid in each hand. He sighed, looking at each door with frustration. He consulted the ship's database on the room's location, but apparently the database was wrong. He gave himself a mental reminder to reconfigure the internal sensors in case this was indicative of a bigger problem.

Rounding a corner, he finally found the room he was looking for and tapped the door's keypad alarm. Struggling with the bottles in his hand, Arivek pulled on his uniform to make sure it was sitting correctly. Hologram or not, his clothes still tended to shift while moving, something that was quite annoying. If there was anything he'd prefer by having a holographic body with holographic clothes, it would be easy of personal maintenance.

In his quarters, M'rayr had just blown out the small goblet of fire that, in Caitian custom, was used during each meal, when the chime at his door announced a visitor. Sniffing the air, the Caitian was satisfied that the odor of burnt meat and grain had dissipated through environmental system. He picked up the tray and placed it on a shelf, opening the floor to foot traffic, before tossing the remaining bits of his dinner back into the replicator for recycling. Once his quarters were considered clean, M'rayr stood near the door and pressed the opposite console, opening the doorway. He recognized the hybrid engineer immediately, but it was still disconcerting how Arivek Zhuri carried no smell. When M'rayr's eyes drifted to the two bottles in his hand, he withheld a grimace. Was everybody on this ship an alcoholic? he asked himself mentally. "Chief," M'rayr invited. "What can I do for you?"

"Good evening, Commander," Arivek stated, giving the man a smile. "I hope I'm not interrupting your evening. I was just wanting to stop by so that we could officially be introduced. I don't think our meeting in Main Engineering earlier counts."

M'rayr nodded curtly and gestured with one paw for the engineer to enter, closing the doors behind him. "Indeed it did not," the Caitian affirmed.

Arivek did exactly that and walked into the Commander's quarters. "I hope you don't mind, but I brought something to drink," he said, holding up the two bottles in his hands. "I just figured that it may be nice to share a beverage."

It wasn't an idea that the Caitian could argue with. And now that his mission on board the Katana had begun to change considerably, he was feeling a little more relaxed and at ease, both with the crew and with himself. A drink sounded nice. At least the ones that Arivek was holding onto didn't have nepata leaves that had certain... inhibiting effects on Caitians. "Please." M'rayr suggested a nearby seat. Since his meeting with Andy and Maica, he'd elected to have a small couch added to his quarters. M'rayr waited while Arivek poured the contents of a bottle into two glasses. "On the matter of our meeting in main engineering, what is your evaluation of the readiness of the Borg transwarp device?" M'rayr asked, trying to make his voice sound casual.

"Do we have to talk about work?" Arivek asked as he poured the drinks, one from one bottle, and the other from the other one. Ari handed one to the man and kept the other to himself. "It's a Betazoid juice made from berries that only ripen in the moonlight. Very exquisite and very hard to come by. Unfortunately it's non-alcoholic, if that's what you were expecting. I was never much of a drinker."

In fact, M'rayr wasn't. He, like many of his type of character -- (rigid and generally walking as though he were carrying a stick up his ass, prepared to beat any unfortunate crewman with it on a moments notice) -- rarely drank unless socially invited to, and even then, he usually preferred synthohol. "No," the Caitian answered, speaking to the engineer's first question. "I suppose we do not." He hardly seemed offended. Reaching for the glass and sniffing at its colorful contents, M'rayr easily caught the scent of berries. "In that case, how is your transition to the Katana progressing?" If it had occurred to M'rayr on whether he was asking a question he could ask any new member of the ship, or if this specific question was pointed to Arivek's holographic nature, he didn't indicate as much.

"It's been...interesting," Arivek stated in reply, taking a seat on the couch next to the Commander. It was then that he realized he had shown up in his duty uniform, and was suddenly uncomfortable. Now that his tactile interface was fully developed, he could now feel his clothing against his skin. "The Captain and I have gotten off on an odd start, but I feel that it'll work itself out in time. The few other crew members I've encountered have been pleasant. How about you?"

The Captain gets off to an odd start with most of the crew, M'rayr thought inwardly. As he contemplated Arivek's question, he took a sip of the beverage. Compared to Caitian blends, it was actually rather satisfying. The engineer had just gone up at least a few points in the first officer's personal opinion... at least when it came to drinks. Back to the question at hand, M'rayr wasn't sure what -- or rather if -- Arivek had been told or otherwise informed of M'rayr's rumored purpose on board the Katana. The Caitian decided to air on caution by deflecting the question altogether. "Are you able to consume food and liquid?" He asked, looking curiously at the glass in Arivek's hand.

Arivek's forehead scrunched in confusion. Someone of this man's rank and position shouldn't be avoiding questions unless he had something to hide. Though Ari couldn't figure out what it would be, he was simply trying to make small talk. But he decided to let it go. The last thing he wanted to do was get into yet another argument. "I'm not, actually. Hence the two bottles. One is organic, something I brought with me just in case. The second bottle, which I poured into my own glass, is holographic. It's merely for show and visual aesthetic," the man replied, almost a little sad at that last part.

That little detail seemed fascinating to M'rayr, and even after years of schooling his face to maintain a neutral passiveness, a tiny scrunch in his nose line indicated as such. "Your effort to maintain the illusion that you are instead flesh and blood is quite thorough, Lieutenant." the Caitian responded. He made a second glance of Arivek; had the Caitian not known better, he would have identified this man as part Bolian and part Trill; as unusual a parentage as Arivek came from, the fact that Arivek was also a hologram was difficult to discern. If there were instabilities in Arivek's holographic matrix, it wasn't apparent. M'rayr set the glass down. "I studied your service jacket," he noted with a sense of brusqueness. "After two duty stations that you stated in your logs to be dull, you were reassigned to Starfleet Intelligence."

"Is that supposed to be a question?" Arivek asked, becoming defensive over the man's lack of tact. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. He couldn't do this again. Just because someone asked doesn't mean they were judging. "My apologies, Commander. Yes, when I first graduated the Academy, I had zero interest in Starship Engineering. If those tours of duty weren't required, I would have bypassed them and gone straight into the Research and Development field like I wanted. As for being part of Starfleet Inteligence, don't worry, it was nothing covert. Consider it...a family business. Both of my parents were researchers on Twilight Station, it was only natural that I followed suit."

The hologram paused for a moment, "As for the illusion that I am flesh and blood, I prefer to think of it as a way to remind myself of who I am and who I once was. Eating, drinking and sleeping, while impossible in this form, are quite familiar to me. I still haven't figured out to cope without trying to keep some sort of semblance of my past life."

M'rayr nodded. It was easy to assume that Arivek lived like any other member of the crew. But when you took such simple commodities or experiences as eating, drinking, sleeping, or even making love into account, there truly was no parallel. Not wanting to delve into Arivek's personal feelings, however -- (considering that M'rayr rarely felt comfortable dealing with such issues) -- he continued to probe along the professional route. "I see," he began, giving a sense of account to the topic he'd rather avoid. M'rayr then tilted his head as his ears plopped up in a curious but distant expression. "What convinced you to become the Chief Engineer of this vessel?"

"I requested a transfer from the station but didn't exactly have this ship in mind. After the accident, I just wanted to get away and figure things out on my own." Arivek tilted his glass to his mouth and drank the liquid, or at least he hoped that's what it looked like. All these questions were starting to bother Ari, as they always seemed to come back to subjects he didn't want to talk about. "Tell me more about you, Commander. What brought you aboard the Katana?" he asked, hoping they could stop talking about him for a moment and focus on the other man.

Despite the fact that Arivek wasn't exactly flesh & blood, M'rayr took notice of the visual clues belying his discomfort. The Caitian agreed to relent. "I was assigned to the Katana after Starfleet's review of Captain Kerouac's command ability was concluded," he said, being quite honest, even though there was an overwhelming other side to that story. "Starfleet Command believed that an experienced first officer might... be of aid."

"Oh," was Ari's simple response. From what he could tell, the Captain wasn't exactly the typical Starfleet Commander he was used too. Though, incompetent may be a bit harsh. But without more working experience with the man, Ari couldn't give a firm professional evaluation of the Captain's character or Command style. So it was best that he not comment. "And what did you do before that?"

The Caitian grunted quietly. "I was the first officer on board another starship, the San Jacinto." His eyes seemed to dull over a bit, as if he were thinking back to an earlier time that he sorely missed. He caught himself, and schooled his facial features back to neutral before looking back to Arivek. "The San Jacinto was my first Starfleet posting after the war. I spent... nearly a decade with her and her crew."

"Why do you do that?" Arivek asked, ignoring the fact that he had follow up questions regarding the man's previous posting. What was more important was the fake poker-face that the man was presenting. "You avoided an earlier question, and now you're preparing your face to talk to me. Why can't you just...be honest?"

The question, particularly due to its bluntness, caught M'rayr Eisovo off guard. He paused long enough to take another slow sip from his glass while he thought about his answer. Why he was the way he was could be a question better suited for a counselor to explain. One could suggest it was a defensive mechanism, a way of avoiding closeness with others. Andy and Maica had zeroed in on that likelihood several days ago after somehow gaining access to his service jacket. But it wasn't information that he was willing to surrender voluntarily. M'rayr set the glass down on the table and prepared to address Arivek. "My demeanor bears no influence on my honesty, Chief." He answered plaintively. "Put simply, however, I am who I am. We do not possess the time, nor I the inclination, to provide a deeper explanation on the matter."

"I don't know if I believe that," the Engineer replied. "You seem to think and calculate every response you give me, as if you have to make sure you aren't revealing more than you want too. I'm not saying you have to spill your soul to this stranger you've just met, but I'm also not digging for specific information to cause you harm either."

"Perhaps I am merely a calculating individual," M'rayr added, trying to sound dismissive but not quite convincing enough. He interlaced his paws before laying them over his lap. "And provided how... eccentric... most of this crew is," he tilted his head in a curious expression. "Perhaps it is not a bad thing for at least one individual on this starship to be."

Arivek nodded. The Commander did have a point, but that still wasn't enough of an answer. "You're deflecting the conversation back to the crew. I'm asking about you." The hologram reached out and put a hand on the man's arm, "Why are you so guarded?"

M'rayr's initial impulse was to withdraw his arm, and, he had at least initially begun to before stopping. It wasn't even because Arivek had decided to touch him; it was because the sensation of pressure and weight, without the accompanying warmth of flesh -- holograms came close, but there were always telltale differences between human body heat and finely tuned electrostatic energy. But as M'rayr wrestled with his first instinct, Arivek's question swam into his head. Enough dodging, M'rayr told himself, knowing full well that if he continued to play with his words the engineer would never leave him alone. M'rayr finally withdrew his arm back into the fold of his lap, and straightened himself. When he spoke, his tone was very different and straightforward. "I have no desire to be friends with you, Zhuri. I am your first officer, and that is who I choose to be to you and the rest of this crew so long as I continue to wear this uniform."

As soon as M'rayr finished, he realized... and accepted... how harsh he must have sounded. For a brief moment he considered back peddling, but instead drew the resolve he needed to continue. "I do not wish to share my personal history with you, or get to know you, or allow you to get to know me better."

Ari sat there for a moment, staring at the man in front of him. He didn't need time to process what the man said, he understood him just fine. But to say he wasn't at least a little hurt by what he said would be wrong. Folding his hands in his own lap, Arivek cleared his throat. "Yes, sir," he said, softly. He stood and turned his back to the Commander before spinning around to face him again. "I think you're going to regret that. Being closed off from people who just want to get to know you may not be a good idea. I would know. But please, accept my apologies. I did not mean to intrude on you or your life. You will have my initial assessment of the Borg Transwarp device on your desk by 0900 tomorrow."

M'rayr sat silently, studying any one of the number of responses he could make. Arivek could have been right about anything he just said, but the Caitian wasn't willing to consider that option just yet. Finally, he nodded, and stood. Now was as likely a moment to end this visit as any. "Very good, Chief." he paused, reached for the bottle, corked it, and held it out to Arivek. "Thank you for the drink."

"Keep it," Arivek stated as he headed for the door. "As you made quite obvious, I can't drink it anyway." He paused to take a deep breath. "Someone should enjoy it. Have a good evening, Commander." With that, he passed through the doors, leaving the large Caitian standing alone in his quarters.

Commander Kristopher Kerouac, disgraced First Officer of the USS Katana assigned to Starfleet's Theta Fleet was sitting on a hard bench as his starship shook wildly. It did not matter what that tall, blue skin Andorian asshole said or did. The Katana was Kris' starship. Sure, Tul had been promoted to Captain and named Commanding Officer by Starfleet Command, but Commander Kerouac wasn't having it. It was what lead him to being 'stripped' of his rank and position, tossed into a small holding cell in the Brig and held prisoner for the past week plus Kris had finally had enough of the Andorian and took a good swing at the Captain one evening.

The weeks of being stuck in a holding cell did nothing to help their relationship. All Kris had on his mind the last couple days was escaping and if he could manage to escape, he'd go right for Tul Zanaar again, only this time he'd end that miserable blue bastards life. The Katana's trip back to Federation space was only supposed to take no more than a couple of days, but a week had passed. Kris knew what Tul was doing. Delaying, stalling so that he could collect all the evidence he needed to put Kris away for a very long time on some damn prison colony.

That's what I get for saving our asses? Kris often asked himself. It was partially true. Kris did manage to perhaps save the starship, but at what cost? He had destroyed a planet booming with life, and as Tul put it 'Innocent life' though Kristopher saw no difference, he saw no innocence. He had destroyed a planet that was part of the Breen Confederacy. The consequences of his actions were being felt in full force by the shaking of his starship, the buckling of her hull. He'd shook the hornet's nest, and right now some Breen warships were acting like some very pissed off hornets. Kris, a veteran of the Dominion War had grown bitter over the years. His husband had divorced him and had custody of their son. When the Dominion had surrendered and a call to end the war had finally been made, Kris like many others had thought the war was over.

For some, perhaps it was. However, the Breen were relentless and though the Dominion had surrendered, the Breen continued the war efforts. Attacks on Federation starships and civilian vessels continued for years, and the tired and beaten allied forces had split apart, leaving the Federation to be the only ones dogging it out with the Breen. Now, it seemed like Katana herself was a war zone. The starship was being blown apart, Captain Zanaar was no longer in command, and Lieutenant Matthews was acting Captain.

Power fluctuated throughout the starship, and Kris waited impatiently in his holding cell. He knew that he would soon be free. “Oh honey, sit your sweet little ass down” said the security guard who was holding down the Brig. Kris glared at the woman, a gray haired enlisted woman, a bit heavy set. “Think going somewhere?” she asked, making it quite clear that she meant business, her handle standing idly by her holstered phaser.

The doors to the Brig suddenly came apart in one silent swooshing motion. A discharged beam of golden orange came into the Brig and knocked the older woman right off her feet as she stumbled backwards and slumped against her console. Oh great he thought to himself. The Breen are going to come in here and I can't even protect myself. However, there were no Breen and one male entered the Brig, his sandy blond hair was looking a little shaggy as pointed tips of his ears poked through the hair. “Commander” said the voice of the ship's Chief Flight Controller rather nonchalantly.

“Verak!” shouted Commander Kerouac, happy and mildly surprised. The half-Vulcan scurried over to the console and put in a series of commands that lowered the force field keeping Kris in his holding cell. Kris vacated his cell and picked up the woman's phaser. “Don't think you'll mind if I burrow this” he said looking down at the woman with some disgust.

Lieutenant Verak came around the console and looked up at the taller Commander. The two men came face to face and a smile shown through Kris' long and thick beard which had grown quite unkept while he was being held in the holding cell for over a week. The half-Vulcan looked at his former superior officer and arched his brow slightly. “Repulsive” commented the scrawny looking helmsmen.

“It itches” added Kris, his smile widening.

Verak nodded “That would be logical. You have not been permitted much time out of your cell, and you smell worse than a wet targ” replied the helmsmen as he holstered his phaser. “I'll shave you later. Right now we have other, more pressing concerns than how unattractive you look as the moment. The Breen are taking this ship deck by deck, but Lieutenant Matthews has locked out the Bridge. She's rerouted command to Main Engineering and is presently on her way to the Shuttlebay” briefed Lieutenant Verak.

“That bitch” said Kris sharply. “She's the last person we need in command right now. If she's locked Bridge command functions and transferred them to Engineering, then we are as good as fucked” added Kris, adjusting his phaser setting to a higher stun setting. “Breen or Matthews, I don't care which I see first...I'm shooting them.”

Verak calmly nodded and reached up, grabbing Kris' collar, pulling the Commander's head down towards his own and planting a passionate kiss on the lips of the bearded man. “Ye of little faith, Sir. If I can get to Engineering, I will get us control of the ship. Hell, get me anywhere with close to Engineering and I'll blow a console up in her face if I have to” said Verak.

Kris smirked and let out a small chuckle. “That's my helmsmen” he said gently brushing his hand down Verak's cheek and neck. “I'll thank you for this later. However, as you said...we gotta get the hell out of here. Why is she in the Shuttlebay?” asked Kris.

“A starship nearby. I think it was disabled by the Breen, but they were sending over a shuttle. I think medical aide and some security support” explained Verak.

Commander Kerouac nodded. “Right, then let's forget about taking Engineering. The Breen will probably be trying to get in there anyways. Not any concern to me if they kill some of Matthew's nerd herd or her” said Kris. “We'll make our way to the Shuttlebay. If we can just hijack a shuttle, we can get the hell out of here. No need to piss around trying to save this ship” Kris said firmly as he and Verak proceeded towards the doors.

Little time had passed since Jenni and the surviving bridge crew had departed Deck One. The emergency lighting in the corridors left a dark, eerie feeling as they carefully moved, nervously checking each junction as they passed by. Jenni hadn't seen a Breen yet, even as they arrived at Ensign Quag's earlier location, there was not a Breen to be seen.

Lieutenant Gort led the way, much to Jenni's chargrin, almost being melodramatic with his phaser rifle. He plastered his body at every turn, ducking out and looking down the scope before waving to the team that it was safe to move forward.

Jenni was about to say something when she noticed at a junction not far from the shuttlebay that Gort turned a corner and was suddenly more cautious than before. He motioned for the team to follow. Normally bold in following Gort, Jenni readied her phaser before turning the corner.

She lowered her phaser when she saw Gort kneeling on the floor, checking the pulse of two crewman. Both sported gold uniforms with tools scattered around them. Jenni instantly looked at the junction, expecting to see a blown EPS relay, but instead saw a half-finished project.

"Shot in the back," Gort reported, gesturing to one who had slumped to her side.

Jenni knelt beside the engineers. "Barnes and Gonzalez," she said softly. They were two of her finest, and had been aboard for more than a year. It was a hell of a way to go, ambushed while trying to get power back online. Other than being shot, nothing else looked amiss.

"We should get going," Gort pressed Jenni, lightly touching her shoulder. "We'll need to beat the Breen to the shuttlebay."

She nodded, halfheartedly. They hadn't seen a soul, Breen or otherwise, since leaving the bridge. Seeing her crew taken out so coldly gave her little hope that many were still alive. Jenni rose to her feet, tightening the grip on her phaser. She'd lead Katana's defense, but what was she really defending other than an empty home. "Let's go," she muttered, stepping in front of a resistant Gort to lead the team to the shuttlebay.

Just as she turned the corner just before the shuttlebay doors, a disruptor blast shot past her face. She felt the warmth of its energy and calmly raised her own phaser and fired off two shots in response. Gort grabbed Jenni, pushing her to cover on the other side of the corridor while Whedon provided cover fire.

"What're you thinking?" Gort demanded, firing off a volley of his own.

Jenni didn't answer him, and instead shot back, "We can't let them get into the shuttlebay!"

"As soon as I have a plan, I'll let you know!" Gort shouted, firing another shot at a Breen under cover.

Weapons fire was already audible beyond the shuttlebay door as Jhu led her team out of the shuttle. It had been a shock to them all to read the name on this starship as they approached, and she wasn't sure what to expect when they arrived. The distinctive sounds of disruptor and phaser fire, however, had not been high on her list. She also didn't quite know how to introduce the team, now that they knew what ship this was. She motioned her team forward, indicating they should pause at the door before exiting into the corridor. Giving them a silent count from three, she opened the door and immediately opened fire on the Breen on the other side, taking one of them down before she'd even cleared the doorway.

Lieutenant Noxa may have been short in stature, but she more than made up for her small size with energy and passion. She drew her phaser as soon she she exited the aeroshuttle and looked around the Shuttlebay of this starship, a USS Katana, but it wasn't her Katana. Breen had breached security measures and few were causing hell in the Shuttlebay. Jhu had picked one off already, and Noxa followed suit.

She looked at Commander t'Dharvanek with a look of concern. "Commander, this starship. You saw the name..." commented the female Ferengi slightly nervously.

"Yeah... I saw it. We're looking at a paradox about to happen," Jhu responded quietly, looking for more Breen infiltrators. "I don't much like that thought, but we're here now."

Noxa nodded. "Cross your fingers for no doppelgangers" added the Ferengi shaking her head. Noxa looked across the Shuttlebay and noticed a human woman with brown hair and looking to be someone of authority. Pointing, Noxa nudged Jhu. "That one looks to be in charge."

Jhu glanced over, blinking in surprise at who she saw. So much for no doppelgangers, but at least she's off our ship now. Trying not to give the impression that she knew the other woman, she waved and then headed over to her. "We thought you could use a little help. What's going on here?"

Andy stepped out of the shuttle to follow Jhu and Noxa, standing with her team to render assistance, but then she saw Lieutenant Matthews, or at least a woman who looked just like Jenni, and her eyes widened. "Fuck me..." the ex-Borg woman muttered under her breath.

Jenni, having just turned the corner and crossed over the threshold, lowered her phaser at the sight of some familiar uniforms. A Romulan with spots, she thought as she looked at each one of them, A Ferengi in intel. A woman with wild red hair and a bow? "What the hell kind of team is this?" she muttered to herself.

"Welcome aboard the Katana. I'm Lieu... Acting Captain Jennifer Matthews," Jenni said, her face quite serious. It was the first time having to introduce herself during this unfortunate situation, giving her just one more reason to be thankful when this mess was all over.

Replying to the Romulan with spots' question, Jenni stated, "The Breen really tore us up, and they were kind enough to send some friends over for dinner. They're taking out my crew, and other than spotting them in corridors, we have no way of finding them. We need to secure Engineering before the rest of the ship."

Jenni's response implied that she didn't know Jhu, and Jhu couldn't quite keep the bewildered expression off her face. She hoped that Jenni assumed that she was just surprised about the Breen taking over the ship. "Well we're here to send those dinner guests packing." She chose not to give her name, in case it triggered some sort of memory as to who she might be.

Something felt off about her mysterious rescuers, and Jenni couldn't quite pinpoint it. The Ferengi woman seemed to be fine, but not the ex-Borg and the Romulan with spots. Their faces seemed odd, and something about the Romulan was... Jenni shrugged off the thought for now. There'd be time for that later. Jenni nodded, trying to keep an inquisitive expression of her own at bay.

"Let's get moving, Commander." Now this was an odd feeling, giving orders to someone not just two steps higher in rank but more experienced as well. "It's likely the Breen have already taken Engineering. We'll have to act fast before they try something with the environmental controls."

"Your ship. You take lead." That was weird, deferring to a more junior officer, but Jhu wasn't about to start giving orders on someone else's ship, no matter how much it looked like the Katana she called home. Nor was she going to give the impression that she was familiar with this ship; the last thing they needed was for this Katana's crew to realize there was hinky alternate dimension insanity going on. They needed to stop the Breen before suspicion started setting in. "We'll follow and watch your back."

Jenni turned to see that her bridge crew had also arrived in the shuttlebay, and she motioned for Gort to take point. It wouldn't take long to reach Engineering, but even that would feel like an eternity. Gort seemed to take a different approach, not being nearly as expressive as he scouted junctions ahead of the group, while Jenni led everyone else with her phaser at the ready.

Lia gripped her phaser rifle as she followed from behind, everything she has witnessed from this universe's Katana made their recent predicament look like a walk in the park. She kept quiet, and focused on the task at hand, securing the vessel from the Breen.

Andy drew several arrows, keeping them in her draw hand to improve the speed of her draw should they come across any Breen along the way. She kept close to Lia since the Counselor seemed so out of her element that it was almost humorous. Almost; this was no time for humor... "Stay close, keep your eyes open," Andy said to Lia in a cautious tone.

"I know what to do..." She whispered as she glanced at Andy, "but thanks...I just wished I spent more time at the phaser range."

Jenni turned a corner beside Engineering only to see a handful of crew sprawled on the floor. The bulkheads showed no signs of exploded relays, but the crew did bear disruptor burns. Her frown grew worse, hearing the sounds of weapons fire just behind the closed Engineering doors.

"Dammit," Jenni muttered, readying her phaser and reaching for the manual override. She knew in the present company, she wasn't the best shot, and gestured to others to get in position. The sounds behind the door became silent. Who knew what was in store for them the moment she pulled the lever. "Ready?"

"Wait." Jhu looked at the doors and their positioning in the hallway. "Spread out, as many angles as possible aiming through the door. Try to keep clear of the doorway itself... don't make it easy for them to shoot you. And take this." Jhu pulled a concussion grenade from her belt, handing it to Jenni, who was closest to the door currently. "Arm and toss it as soon as the door opens. Should rattle them around a bit in those suits."

Jenni felt the weight of the grenade in her hand. It was the first time she'd held one since basic arms training at the academy. Her first thought was noting how ludicrous this day was continuing to get. Here she was, about to launch an explosive device near the most dangerous piece of machinery aboard the entire ship. She'd just fought so hard to save the ship, and a wrong move here would be of great consequence. "Watch your fire," she warned. "The warp core might not be active, but the coolant tank is the most deadly."

"Got it." Jhu knew all about the coolant tanks, but she just nodded as she took a position to the right of the door at an angle where she'd be able to fire through it. "Once everyone's situated, go for it."

Andy nodded to Jhu, flexing her grip on her bow as she took position in the corridor, fingering the fletchings on her arrows. She was ready whenever they were.

Lia took a position on the left side of the door and aimed her rifle. She glanced and gave a nod to Jhu signalling she's ready.

Jenni gripped the manual override and took a deep breath. Here goes nothing... She pulled the lever downward and the doors instantly parted. Jenni took one glance at a spot just a few feet from the warp core and tossed the grenade. Without watching it land, Jenni ducked back behind the bulkhead to shield herself from the blast.

Even outside the blast radius and protected by the bulkhead, the sound of the concussion grenade going off made Jhu's ears ring, and she shook her head slightly to clear the sensation as she brought her weapon to bear on the first Breen she saw inside Engineering. She fired one shot into its helmet, grinning as the armored hulk toppled over. She quickly set to work finding other targets, trusting her team and Jenni's to take out the ones she couldn't see.

Andy loosed a handful of arrows in rapid succession, the carbon fiber shafts whipping past the team's heads and into the Breen in Main Engineering, the speed of the arrows and their armor piercing tips penetrating deep into the Breen helmets. As an encore, each shaft was triggered on impact to detonate a small amount of explosive compounds within; just small little pops and suddenly there's a few Breen without heads.

They were making good progress, and just as Jhu thought they just might be able to clear the Breen off this Katana without too much difficulty, the sharp whine of a transporter reached her ears and she spun around just in time to see another group of Breen beaming into the corridor behind them.

A very large group of Breen.

"Fvadt! We've got more incoming!" Jhu yelled as that large group of Breen boarders was joined by a second one. Now they weren't just outnumbered... they were about to be slaughtered. Messily. Damn it, damn it, damn it... can't call the ship or Kerouac... how the everlasting fuck... As Jhu worked feverishly through that puzzle, she did her best to thin out the new boarders, but there was only so much she and her small team could do. As she paused to reload her pulse rifle with a fresh power pack, her eyes fell on the wrist-mounted mini panel she'd grabbed from her office. Of course! With no time for a detailed or lengthy message, she instead used it to send a very simple text only message to the aeroshuttle's computer, to forward onward to her Katana.

Send backup! was all she had time to say before overwhelming Breen fire demanded her attention.

Jenni glanced behind her to see the Breen arrive in force. They were surrounded, and the corridor was not the place to stay. The Romulan with spots and the rest of the new arrivals were doing their best to keep the pressure off, but if the Breen transporters were working, it was only a matter of time before the Katana was theirs.

She fired a couple shots into the thick of the enemy lines and ducked inside Engineering. Jenni quickly looked around, hiding behind a wall console, for any surviving Breen. Dead from both sides lay around the room, and not a soul seemed to be left. Jenni left her cover and motioned for a couple of others to come inside. She spotted a Breen on the top level and fired, sending his now dead body over the railing to fall by the warp core.

"Clear!" she shouted, moving over to her master console. The computer lockout was still in effect and she quickly disabled it. External sensors showed that partial power had been restored on the Breen vessel, and lifesigns were disappearing at a dramatic rate. "Looks like the Breen ship is going to have a core breach in a few minutes!" she called out, not sure who was listening.

Jenni remembered that there was still one aft launcher with an armed torpedo. If she could place it well enough, it would ignite the breach and stop more boarding parties. Sadly it didn't have power, and it couldn't be restored from the console. "I need a hand!" she shouted, grabbing a tool kit and slipping under a different console.

"Andy, help Matthews!" Jhu yelled over the deafening sound of weapons fire. Between the sounds of her team's variety of weapons and the Breen's polaron weaponry, the corridor was a mess of sound, so cacophonous that she missed the approaching footfalls of a Breen boarder flanking her until he was close enough to strike with the neural truncheon he carried. With a startled cry of pain, she crashed to the deck as the truncheon made contact and its electric charge overloaded her nerves, taking her out of the fight... for now.

Jenni was used to sounds rattling off around her while she worked, though the weapons fire was a bit unnerving. She kept her phaser on her stomach, and a spanner in her hand as she tried to figure out her options. Main power was out, and just about everything else. She didn't need much, just enough power to launch a torpedo and maybe erect a forcefield long enough for the team to regroup. Ten, maybe fifteen seconds...

The phaser! She'd only used it for maybe a half dozen shots, and dumping whatever raw energy it had left into the relays could be enough. But it would also mean that she'd be unarmed. Glancing out the doors, she saw the Romulan with spots fall. Jenni grabbed the phaser and reached up under the console. This would take a bit...

Forced to remain motionless on the deck, Jhu clenched her teeth as the paralysis slowly faded, then dragged herself toward where her rifle had fallen. She could almost reach it when the Breen noticed she was moving and slammed the neural truncheon into her ribs. It knocked all the wind out of her, leaving her able only to whimper feebly and put her arm up over her head before the overload rendered her helpless.

Andy ran over to Lieutenant Matthews, firing off a number of arrows to guard her from the Breen who had moved in to stop whatever she was doing. "What are you doing?" Andy asked when she saw Jenni stick the phaser under the console.

"It's a power cell," Jenni said, dropping parts of the phaser housing around her. "You know... Battery. Coppertop..." her voice trailed off as she finished extracting the phaser's energy chamber. "It's raw and combustible, I know, but it'll give us just enough time to buy us some breathing room." Jenni then tossed a glance at the ex-Borg who was standing over her. "Unless you have some other crazy idea."

It was about that time the cavalry arrived. Nathan and Vara, along with a handful of security Ensign stormed is with a volley of phaser fire. Nathan blasted his way through the Breen and over to Jhu who he helped up. "I understand you're in need of some saving."

Not fully recovered from the Breen's paralyzing weapon, Jhu swayed slightly as Nathan pulled her up off the deck. Unsteady as she was, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. "I have never been so happy to see you!"

"Hey you two, suck on each others' faces later when it ain't a matter of life and death!" Andy barked out as she shouldered her bow and knelt beside Jenni. "Vara, watch our backs," she added, reaching for her own phaser and yanking the power cell out of it. Even though she used her bow, she was required to at least carry a phaser in case she needed it and she was glad she had it now. "Here, use my power cell, it's fully charged and hasn't been used," she said to Jenni, handing her the power cell. "I'm an Engineer, so if you tell me what you're doing I can help."

"What kind of engineer carries a bow?" Jenni asked aloud, accepting the power cell and trying it into the conduits below. She wasn't a bit worried about the question, nor the answer that would have followed it. "See if you can lock down the EPS taps leaving Engineering. That way we can shunt the power directly to where we want it to go."

"On it," Andy replied and moved over to the panel containing the EPS taps in question. She didn't even need to ask where they were, she knew these conduits well from her own Katana. "Alright, where do you want me to redirect this?" she asked as she access the EPS taps.

"Keep it localized for now." Jenni finished attaching the cells and used the spanner to lock them in tight. She still wanted to fire that torpedo, but they might need that power elsewhere.

Noxa shook her head at the sappy reunion and looked at Andy. "Don't put images into my head" said the Ferengi with a bit of a shrill in her voice. "I'll guard the shuttles" said Noxa looking at Jhu and Lieutenant Tonkin. "And keep the Captain updated" added Noxa.

"You do that." Properly chastised, Jhu broke her enthusiastic embrace, but clinging to Nathan was about the only thing keeping her upright at the moment. It precluded firing the rifle, so she left it where it fell, drawing her hand phaser.

Finished with her work, Jenni slid out from under the console to take a look at the new arrivals. She noted the camaraderie between them all, and to her it felt... oddly familiar, though it was nothing she'd never experienced. Having served faithfully and quietly on Katana for the last four years, she'd seen many come and go. In fact, she was sure she was the last member standing from the senior staff from when the ship relaunched so long ago.

"Right," Jenni said, her tone slightly uncomfortable, especially since there wasn't anything to confirm. "Nice of you to bring in reinforcements," she addressed the Romulan with spots. "We need to start sweeping the ship if we can, funnel all survivors back to here." Survivors... What an odd thing to say. Where there even any? "Once the ship is secure, we can go about repairs."

Nathan addressed Andy. "You are welcome to come give me a 'that's for saving my ass' kiss too." He joked as he pulled Jhu over to where Andy and..."Captain Mathews? Well that's different."

As Andy stood, she strode over to Nathan and grabbed him by the hair, pulling him into a kiss. And this wasn't a quick peck, she went for some serious tongue action! "There, happy now? Jackass..." she grumbled when she let him go. "Now stop playing around, we got a ship to save."

"Agreed," Jenni added, moving over to them, not because she wanted to listen in, but they were near her master console. Several alarms awaited the next person to look at the displays, including a brief damage report. Jenni pushed that aside for now and looked up at the others. "Let's figure out how bad it is. We need communications and internal sensors. Chief, can you give me a hand with that?"

Watching Andy kiss Nathan like that, Jhu felt a brief surge of jealousy, though she wasn't sure if it was because Andy shouldn't be kissing Nathan or because Andy kissed Nathan and not her. She laughed a little. "Andy, you're a hypocrite. Go see if you can help get this bucket of bolts moving. Major Russell, help Lieutenant Tonkin and Ensign Cho'ren keep this area secure until we're ready to move." She wasn't sure what she'd be doing, but it wasn't fixing this ship... or anything that would require her to be mobile just yet.

Much to Jenni's dismay, it didn't take long to discover that their options in Engineering were beyond limited. The damage from the battle was more extensive than they thought. Repairs would only be possible at a starbase, and since they were still in Breen territory, it was starting to look like the Katana would never make it home. Communications were restored, but nothing more could be done. The priority then shifted to keeping the shuttlebay secure in preparation for evacuation. With little fanfare, Engineering was abandoned and the surviving crew and Away Team relocated to the shuttlebay.

The doors leading into the Shuttlebay parted ways, exposing the sight of two shuttles that Verak knew were foreign to the Katana. Well, at least the Katana he had been serving aboard. One was an aeroshuttle from an Intrepid-class but it wasn't theirs. Their's was still attached underneath the saucer portion of the starship. The other shuttle was Federation in design, but not one that he was familiar with. Experimental? thought Verak. He quickly shook the thought when the man he had just freed from the Brig and storming in beside him.

Verak raised his phaser and pointed towards a Commander in a black and grey uniform. Intelligence? pondered the half-Vulcan. "Be logical and don't make any quick moves" his said as he slowly walked towards the peculiar Mustang-class shuttle that Tonkin had arrived on.

The long bearded Commander Kerouac was looking like a crazed hermit brandishing a phaser. He pointed his sights right at Matthews' head, adjusting the setting once more. "He's the generous one...I'm the pissed off one" he announced. His phaser was set to kill.

Jenni regretted sacrificing her phaser earlier. Now she wished she even had a simple rock to lob at the bearded idiot. How both Starfleet and Captain Zanaar let him remain in charge of Katana as long as he did, she'd never know. For now, she was tired, unwilling to attempt to survive at gunpoint, but Jenni would be damned if this was how she was meant to go. Slowly she inched towards the Romulan and her supposed mate, all the while cursing the Captain's decision to take so long getting out of Breen space. "Go ahead, Kris," she warned, "add the murder of a Starfleet officer to that long list of charges. The Captain would be proud."

Oh great. They have a crazy Vulcan child and an insane version of Kris. Still leaning on Nathan for support, Jhu tightened her grip on her phaser as the alternate versions of Kris and Verak came closer. "We're here to help."

"Oh shut it, Spotty" quipped Kris, looking at the Commander. "Help all you want. We're taking that shuttle and getting out of here" added Commander Kerouac.

"Afraid I can't let you do that." Oh yeah, Jhu sounded really threatening when she was barely standing on her own. "You see, that shuttle belongs to a friend of mine, and he'd be really pissed off if I let someone steal it."

Andy stood still, her fingers itching to grab her bow and draw on either of the crazed men. As fast as her draw was, she knew she could only take out one of them before the other one could inflict harm on either Jenni or Jhu. She flashed a glance to Nathan and Vara. She had to hope that either of them had something in mind, and whatever it was she would follow their lead.

Nathan was extremely fast for a man his size. He sure hoped someone would take care of Verak because this was the perfect opportunity to vent some frustrations with Kris. Nathan took a quick step, pulling Jhu out of the line of fire while his robotic arm moved so fast it was almost a blur. Before anyone could register that Nathans arm was moving it was already on Kris's for arm. With little effort Nathan bent the arm at half way between the wrist and elbow at a ninety degree angle with a sickening snap. But Nathan was not done there. Let Jhu go, he brought a left hook around into the side of Kris's head. The next hit felt like Kris had just been hit by a shuttle going maximum impulse as Nathans right hand uppercut the man, sending him flying to the far end of the bay.

Jenni flinched at the sudden sight, but quickly regained her composure. She reached down, snatched a Breen rifle and aimed it at Verak. "Don't even think about it."

"And don't you, Ma'am" replied Verak, lowering his phaser and holstering it. He proceeded over to Commander Kerouac and checked on him, kneeling at his side. "Captain, just let us go. I'll take one of our shuttles and Commander Kerouac."

"The hell you will," Andy said, drawing her bow on Verak.

"And go where exactly?" Jenni kept her rifle trained on Verak. Her gaze floated to Kris as he laid in agony. She hadn't longed for this day and certainly would not proceed to take pleasure in this moment. "The Breen. The Borg. Even with you at the helm, you wouldn't last a day out there. You both might rot in prison, but at least you'll live."

Without Nathan's support, Jhu discovered very quickly that the effects of the neural truncheon had not quite run their course, as she found herself on the deck again, looking up at the fight just in time to see Vara charge forward and slap Verak's face with the back of her hand, hard enough that the young Vulcan ought to be seeing stars, if not completely knocked out.

Jenni remained stationary. Seeing Kris and his cohort was certainly no surprise to her, and while she thought about how many of the crew still had a chance of being alive if these two assholes had made it, she was more dumbfounded at how this Away Team had just reacted to the situation. What she just saw was more brutal than how quickly the reinforcements had cut down the Breen invaders. Had she been in their shoes and with the opportunity, she might have done the same. But she wasn't them.

Collecting herself, Jenni lowered her rifle and turned to face the others. "What the hell was that?" she asked simply.

"What? They ain't dead. Yet..." Andy said, lowering her bow and putting the drawn arrow back into her quiver.

"Lovely." Jenni walked over to help the Romulan back to her feet. "Get those two in restraints. And watch Kris... He's damn slippy with his hands."

Verak, holding a hand to his face as the stinging slowly subsided. "Do that and we're all going to die" said Verak firmly. "The Breen will be the least of your problems if you stay here much longer" added Verak.

The Captain may have helped Jhu up, but Nathan could see she was still not able to stand on her own so he scooped her up and held her, not unlike when she had a panic attack very early in their relationship. He could not help but smile at the memories as Jhu settled into his arms.

Jenni was glad to be free to focus on Verak. Back and forth the last couple hours had seemed like. Perhaps this was how a ping pong ball felt. She raised her rifle slightly and moved close to Verak, not next to him but close enough to fire a shot if she needed. "And why is that?" What did the pesky little Vulcan know that she didn't?

"I was not going to allow Federation technology fall into the hands of the Breen" said Verak. "I've rigged to Katana to explode. There are several explosive devices throughout the ship" explained Verak. "Commander Kerouac and I walk out of here" demanded Verak.

Jenni hoped the butt of the rifle tasted bitter when it collided with Verak's mouth. "Dammit!" she shouted, flipping the rifle around and burying it in his neck. "This isn't your ship! That's not your call!" She was not a vengeful person, but this was not how she'd lose Katana. Too many people had died today. She was no tactician, no captain, but the duty was hers now to save the rest.

No matter what.

That little shit stain! Andy had no idea that Kris or Verak were capable of this kind of thing! It was one thing to self destruct a ship to ensure the technology wouldn't make it into the hands of the enemy, but for the Captain to flee while the rest of the crew remained helpless on board was a new kind of low. The ex-Borg woman was seriously reconsidering her opinions of both counterparts on her Katana. "How much time until the ship blows?" Andy asked, not making any attempt to hide the disgust in her voice.

"It would be not only illogical but also quite stupid of me to tell any of you" said Verak, spitting blood after taking the riffle to the face. "It could be in a minute...it could be now...or maybe it is five or fifteen minutes from now. The only way you're finding out is by dying here with the Breen or letting Kerouac and I go."

"Yeah, well, you're not taking either of my shuttles," Jhu growled, finding it quite impossible to sound fierce while Nathan held her in his arms. "I'll give you a different choice... come with us or Andy puts an arrow in your head. I might even consider forgetting you held a phaser on me."

"Guess what else is rigged to explode," Andy said as she grew a wide grin, drawing an arrow and aiming it down at Verak.

"Tell you what," Jenni said, pushing the muzzle a little deeper. "We all leave. You. Me. Kris." Jenni nodded her head backwards as an indication, "These crazy people. And everyone else that's still alive." She tightened her grip on the trigger. "What do you say?"

Lia felt like the world just stopped long enough for her to finally focus on what was going on. Everything for the past several minutes was a blur and she doesn't even remember Nathan and his team arriving but when adrenaline kicks in and left to run on pure instincts Lia usually has memory gaps. I need a drink She thought as she witnessed everyone trying to coerce the Vulcan in revealing a timeframe. "Why are you even wasting your time with him?" She asked to the female Captain. "Considering he doesn't seem to be in any hurry to share his information means he has enough time for us to waste before the Breen regroups and gives him the necessary distraction to leave in a shuttle. Hell he most likely has a remote detonator on him rather than setting up timed explosives considering it's only logical to go that route when there are so many variables that can hinder time." Lia sighed and shrugged her shoulders, "but then what the fuck do I know, I'm just a Counselor."

"You know, under normal circumstances I'd rather stab myself in the eye with a rusty fork than agree with a Counselor, but she's right," Andy said as she lowered her bow and put her arrow away. "I say we hog tie the son of a bitch and get the fuck out of here. Between the shuttles and the transporters, we can get the survivors to safety."

"Agreed." Jhu didn't often agree with counselors either, but Lia was right. They had to leave.

Verak looked at the woman who identified herself as a Counselor. "You're not like any Counselor that I'm used to" commented Verak as he touched Kris' body. "He needs a doctor" added the helmsmen. "However, I am afraid that I must bid you adieu" commented Verak as he retrieved a small device from his ankle. The shimmering effect of a transporter encompassing his body and with that the half-Vulcan was gone, not how he had wanted to make his exit but he came prepared for the possibility he wouldn't get to ride off with Kris.

Ensign Quag with a tricorder opened advanced on the position. "Emergency transport unit" said the Ferengi science officer shaking his head. "Small, portable devices providing one-way transport in emergency situations. They were in production by the Federation for Starfleet use in 2379 and have been used over the years" explained Quag. "There's no telling where he went. He could still be on the ship, though I'd highly doubt it."

"No, he'd have to be on the ship," Andy said as she stared at the spot on the floor where Verak had been, studying the residual energy patterns left behind in the transporter's wake. "Those emergency transporters aren't meant to go far. If he got off this ship then he got rematerialized inside out."

Jenni hovered for a moment, looking down at Kerouac's broken body. How many years had she served him aboard this ship and this was how it was doomed to end. Verak, though Vulcan, was just as crazed as Kris. This wasn't over, not in the slightest. She turned to look at the ragtag Away Team one by one. This ship may have been doomed, but there was another that could carry them to safety.

Slinging the rifle over her shoulder, Jenni tapped her combadge. "All hands, this is Captain Matthews." Bloody hell, she hated that title. "Prepare to abandon ship. Remain tight and await transport. Matthews out." To the others, she added, "Let's go." And she moved towards a nearby console, waiting for the others to board the shuttles first. Jenni would board the shuttles momentarily, but first she would have all of the logs she could transferred to the Aeroshuttle. Starfleet Command would know what Kristopher Kerouac had done here. She at least owed Captain Zanaar that much.

It was no sooner that the aeroshuttle had disembarked from the USS Katana that Captain Kristopher N. Kerouac had felt a sinking feeling in his gut. He had made a decision, a command decision, and it was not one that was sitting well with him afterwards, and had clearly caused some stir around the ship already. He had dispatched an away team under the leadership of his Second Officer, Commander t'Dharvanek. Kris felt fine with that decision, but shortly thereafter, he questioned sending her with such a light protective team. Opting, not to send his Chief of Security along, Kris sent the Katana's Marine CO and Lieutenant Noxa. It would be something that would haunt him for the next several minutes.

When the aeroshuttle arrived, reports were coming in and they were not what Kris was anticipating. The other starship had been identified as the USS Katana...the Katana that was native to this place in time and space. Of all the damn starships in the Federation, I render aide to our alternate counterparts thought the Captain upon receiving this data. Now, more than ever, he was sure in his call to have his Chief Intelligence Officer lead this team. Between her and the Ship's Counselor, they should be able to maintain themselves, and keep everyone calm. Andy, however, was another story. Truthfully, if he could have sent the Chief Engineer, he would have. This situation was getting out of hand, and matters only worsened when the away team requested additional security support ASAP. The alternate USS Katana was being overrun by Breen boarding parties, and Kris' Katana was still dead in the water.

Jhu Captain Kerouac thought, his heart beating strongly, his hands gripping the arm rests of his chair firmly. It was then that he noticed the pale ghostly white complexion of the man who took a seat beside him in the XO's chair. Kris looked over, cold dark obsidian black eyes pierced through his skin. The hateful glare of an unhappy and quite pissed Cardassian could not be escaped easily, especially not when said Cardassian was a superior, a Commodore. “I'll hold you responsible for this, Kerouac. If your stupidity and negligence costs her her life...so help me” whispered the Cardassian sharply, leaning over into Kris' ear.

When the new reports and Jhu's request showed up on the display between the CO and XO's seats, the Cardassian's fist smashed through the small console. His head shot up and his eyes locked onto Captain Kerouac's eyes as though they were heat seeking devices, weapons of mass destruction. “You may not be to blame for getting us into this shit hole of a mess, Captain Kerouac, but your command actions have placed the lives of several of your crew in serious peril. Breaches in protocol, your lack luster upholding of regulations are enough grounds for me to have you removed of command” said Commodore Larkon firmly.

“However, I believe strongly in being allowed to rectify ones mistakes” the Commodore said, standing up from the chair and looking at Kris. “Bring that away team back alive, Captain” added the Cardassian before proceeding back to the turbolift.

Kris did not need any more budging than that. He was practically shaking in his seat after the Commodore's kind miniature lecture on Starfleet regulations and command conduct. Kris stood up and made his way towards his Ready Room, but stopped momentarily. “Lieutenant Tonkin” called out Captain Kerouac. “My Ready Room” he added as he stepped into his office and took a seat behind his desk. He would not forgive himself if Jhu or anyone else on the away team was killed. He knew what had to be done, and if he could take his starship there, he would. However, dead in the water meant dead in the water. They were not moving until Engineering felt the warp core was safe and stable.


Sinking into his chair behind his desk awaiting the arrival of his Security Chief, Kris mentally braced himself. He knew that Tonkin probably had some strong feelings about Kris latest decisions as Ship's Captain. Nathan was not someone that Kris expected to get into a heated argument with. No, Tonkin was more civil than that, more in control and respectful, but still Kris was prepared for the man to say something. Fortunately, Kris was dealing with Nathan and not Jhu. Had their positions been reversed and Jhu was Security Chief, Kris would have half anticipated Jhu to just come in swinging and maybe knock his jaw out of place.

Nathan stepped into the ready room and up to the desk with a icey glare. It took every single bit of willpower he had not to knock Kris out of his chair and on his ass, and with his new arm he could with out much effort at all. But he would control himself. "Sir..." he said smoothly. "would I be correct in guessing that you now need me to pull your's and the away teams ass out of the fire?" It had been hard not to over hear the Commodore and side with him.

Kris looked up at the Chief of Security and shot him a spent glare. "Commander t'Dharvanek is quite suited at facing odds stacked against her. I am confident that she can pull her own ass out of fire" replied Captain Kerouac a bit sharply. "My concern is with the others and the survivors aboard that damaged starship" added Kris flatly. My ass is always on fire thought the Captain as he nodded.

"As for my own ass...yes, I seem to be in need of your assistance in getting my ass away from the flames" commented Kris. "Engineering still doesn't feel safe putting our engines to use. Lieutenant, assemble your best security team and take our Mustang-class runabout over to the other...."Katana thought Kris, having a difficult time saying it. "Starship" he finished.

Nathan might be mad at Kris for excluding his team in the first place, but Kris was still his Captain. One who just had to admit he was wrong. Nathan could respect that. "Let's never make this mistake again sir. I will get our people back and secure the...other Katana." It just felt weird coming out if his mouth. "Is there anything else sir?"

"Don't lose anymore limbs, Lieutenant" quipped Kris with a small smirk. "Take whoever you feel comfortable with and do be careful. From my own past experience with the Breen...I know how ruthless they can be, and at all costs do not get captured."

The last fifteen minutes passed faster than she could've imagined. The shuttles' sensors could only find seventeen lifesigns aboard Katana. Jenni had wished for the surviving members of the senior staff to pilot the only two undamaged shuttles from Katana, but strangely those orders were countermanded. She didn't understand it at all. Perhaps there was little space aboard the other stranded starship.

Yeah, she thought. It could be that simple.

After seeing the team that had rescued them, however, Jenni had a hard time believing that. There was more to the story than what was being told.

Jenni watched the sensors as the shuttle jumped to warp. When she saw Katana explode, Jenni didn't know what to feel. The ship had been her home for four years. Four unbelievable years under the command of a bearded idiot just waiting to crack. She wished that she'd been smart enough to transfer when she had the chance.

Now she did. Looking out at the viewport in front of her, she realized she was finally free. No longer did she have to protect anyone or keep Kris on track. Maybe she should look into assignments closer to Earth or Alpha Centuri. Maybe a furlough to Risa was in order. The sky's the limit after all.

Until her crew was safe on the other side of the Breen border, she was still their Acting Captain. Soon she'd be back to just being a Lieutenant. Jenni couldn't wait.

Next to her in the pilot's seat was the Romulan with spots. Jenni, now having time to think, studied her face for a few moments. She'd seen it once before. A Romulan with Trill spots was as unique as anyone came, and Jenni rarely forgot a face.

Until now.

"So what's the deal with your ship anyway?" Jenni asked, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair. "It's a sitting duck and yet you come to our aid. What're are you even doing behind Breen lines anyway?"

"We're here by accident," Jhu answered simply, trying to keep her focus on flying the shuttle back to 'her' Katana. Even as unsteady as she might be on her feet, her hands worked just fine and out of the group on the aeroshuttle, she was the best qualified pilot. Besides, it gave her something to do rather than wonder about when her legs and spine were going to recover from that blasted weapon. "Standard Starfleet operating procedure is to assist starships in distress, regardless of your own ship's condition... and no one was shooting at us. So while engineering teams worked on the ship, my captain sent me to help you. Granted, he wasn't planning on some crazy idiot blowing your ship up." They were difficult questions to answer without giving away details that would have to be explained, so she stuck with the simplest explanation she could get away with.

"Must've been some accident," Jenni mused, thinking about all of the possibilities. Intrepid-class ships weren't prone to failures. Her Katana had been well maintained, as were most in the fleet. "On behalf of my crew, we owe you and your captain a debt of gratitude." Looking over to the Romulan, she said, "Thanks." It was the first time she felt a genuine smile on her face in a long time.

If only you knew just how crazy an accident it was. Jhu smiled a little. "You're welcome. But it would have been more impressive if my team hadn't needed rescuing. That was a little embarrassing."

That smile... In an instant, the woman sitting beside Jenni looked more familiar. She still couldn't place it. Jenni's smile faded as she stared at the Romulan. It seemed like a minute had passed, and Jenni was sure this was now getting uncomfortable. "I'm sorry," she said at last, still staring, "we've met before, haven't we?"

"You and I? No." Jhu had known this conversation was coming, and there wasn't much she could do to hide the truth for much longer. The closer they got to 'her' Katana, the more likely it was that Jenni was going to see the ship's registry number. "Before I say anything, I'm going to remind you of something that James Kirk sometimes said.... 'weird is part of our business.' That being said..." Jhu slowed the shuttle's approach toward the ship, looking over at Jenni. "I assume you've heard the theory of parallel realities by now."

"Parallel...?" Jenni asked, her eyes narrowing. Her peripheral vision informed her of the shuttle's speed change, but her confusion at the Romulan's remark was enough to render her speechless. Even the Romulan's expression left little to the imagination. Slowly she turned to look out the front viewport. She expected to see an Intrepid sitting there, and she did.

Jenni was about to make another remark when she spotted something oddly familiar about the ship in front of her. She couldn't read the name, but the large, bold registry numbers were crystal clear. Her heart leaped, and so did her body from her seat. Instantly her arms unfolded and braced to support her leaning frame over the console as she stretched for a closer look. The Katana looked just like she remembered, free of the blackened pits left behind from weapons fire, and fully illuminated, smoothly highlighting the ship's graceful curves.

"How... What... How..." she stammered, blinking quickly as she studied the ship they were sailing towards. Her mind started to quickly process not just the recent statements, but even review the events aboard her Katana. Jenni didn't move when she finally delivered a full sentence. "That must've been one hell of an accident."

"I'll spare you the details for now since I don't understand a lot of the technical nonsense. Basically... we used a salvaged Borg transwarp device, trying to get to the Delta Quadrant. Something weird happened, it ripped a hole in the fabric of reality, and here we are." Somehow, Jhu said that with a straight face and completely level tone. "You asked if we knew each other. I did know a Jennifer Matthews, but she left the Katana some time ago. As for myself... I do not know if we have met in this reality or not."

That answered a question floating in her mind, whether or not she'd meet a version of herself over on that Katana. Other thoughts raced in her mind. Were her parents alive in their reality? Her brother? Jenni shook her head. No, it was best not to know. "It's funny," Jenni said, sitting back down and looking at the Romulan. "You saved my life back there. I don't even know your name. Just Commander."

"Jhu t'Dharvanek." At this point, Jhu was no longer worried about contaminating Jenni's timeline; it was plenty contaminated by the realization that the Katana was here. "Chief of intelligence, but 'your' Jhu was in security. I don't know what happened to her yet."

Jenni's eyes widened. "That's right!" she exclaimed, snapping her fingers. Smiling, she said, "I remember now." Before she recited her memory, Jenni paused, checking her facts one last time. As her smile slowly faded, Jenni said, "You were assigned shortly before I was. You and Kris didn't quite see eye to eye. Zanaar, when he was XO, absolutely hated you. No idea why. All I remember though was that you and Zanaar went on an away mission once. Only Zanaar came back."

Jhu managed not to wince at that news, barely maintaining her even composure. "Some things aren't so different then. Kris and I don't always agree, but we're good friends now. And Zanaar... he hated me at first. Just when he was starting to come around, we got boarded by Dominion forces and he was killed." She shook her head slightly, sighing a bit. "I can guess what happened... and before you start freaking out on me, 'my' Kris isn't the insane babbling idiot that yours was. He quit drinking shortly after he took command of the Katana... and he sure as hell isn't have sex with Verak. Verak's not gay on our ship... and Kris is shagging the doctor."

"Wait. What?" Jenni was almost appalled at the news. She nodded towards the Katana they were about to dock with. "Kristopher Kerouac is in command of your Katana? " She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. "One thing's for sure. The 'me' from your universe is certainly smarter than the one sitting right here. I've been under Kerouac's command for four years, and it's been nothing but hell. I have a hard time seeing how yours would be that different."

"My Kerouac has had an Intelligence officer who won't take any bullshit as his second officer for the last six months. We've also come forward in time, so whatever triggered his insanity just might not have happened yet." Jhu didn't like Jenni's judgement of a Kris she hadn't even met yet, but she kept her tone in check. Barely. "And with Zanaar gone, he doesn't have a first officer who questions every decision for no reason."

Jenni's opinions changed very little in spite of Jhu's defense, but it was hard to ignore that slight inflection on the Romulan's tongue. The engineer remained still, trying to recognize why she'd remained on the Katana all of those years. Of course the whole crew knew how much Zanaar and Kris hated each other. Jenni was witness to some of those encounters herself. It was hard to remember the good years before their personal war nearly destroyed the ship. Perhaps there was a chance for redemption after all.

So, for now, she nodded, looking back out the front window, watching as the Aeroshuttle began the docking process. "I would like to meet your Captain," she said softly. Jenni honestly had no idea what she'd say to him, but she did have to complete her duty and report what happened behind Breen lines, and figure out the next step. "And," she said, looking back to Jhu, "I know my way around a warp core, especially on ships named Katana. I'd be more than happy to help, as a way to say thanks for the rescue."

"I'm sure we have a place for you and all the other survivors. I can't guarantee you'll get into engineering though... that seems to be the one department where we actually have enough people, if you can imagine that." Jhu chuckled a little weakly, leaning against the console as she signaled for Katana to open the shuttle bay doors for the Mustang-class shuttle and prepare the ventral docking area for the aeroshuttle's return.

"That's all right," Jenni confessed, a little disappointed. As much as she preferred to work with a tricorder and a spanner in her hand, she'd be grateful for a chance at something new. If there was anything positive about the last few days was that Jenni had aptitudes outside of the engine room. Maybe she would enjoy them.

Sickbay had been busy since the incident, they'd lost more than three dozen crew, including several members of Liam's medical staff. The main EPS tap in the secondary sickbay had overloaded, the ensuing plasma fire had not only claimed the lives of the five medical staff stationed there and six patients but it had rendered the facility useless for the seeable future. It also meant sickbay was now over run.

Finally though, things were beginning to stabilize, Liam found himself in his office, the rarely used doors closed and windows tinted, offering some semblance of privacy and calm. He was filling out death certificates, though given the current situation they remained unfilled, he wasn't even sure of protocol here. Ensign Marlo had been killed, but that was the Ensign Marlo from their universe, what about the Ensign Marlo in this universe, he wasn't dead, or maybe he was, for all Liam know. Maybe he'd never existed in this universe.

Time travel and alternate realities gave him a headache, and in his career he did his best to avoid them. He'd half hoped some advanced starship from the future would show up, and sweep them back to their time, their place, before any of this had occurred and he would have had to write 34 death certificates. He ran his hand through his hair, sweat and dirt and traces of blood had left it hard and clumped together. He frowned as he pushed himself back from the desk and rose to his feet.

Entering the main ward he looked to Lieutenant Rose and with a wordless nod indicated he was in charge as he moved towards the door and out into the corridor. The ship was a mess, the signs of damage apparent on almost every meter of the ship. He roamed aimless for a moment, until he realized where his feet had been taking him.

Jenni hadn't been the only one to realize what had happened. By the time the Aeroshuttle and the runabout docked, the Katana survivors all knew not just the name of the ship, but also who was in charge. The consensus was far from friendly, but all knew the options were none.

While the survivors were lead to sickbay for treatment, Jenni chose a different course of action, though she'd been reminded about that cut on her head. She stopped by the head to wash her face before finally arriving on Deck One. The bridge looked like all other Intrepid-class bridges, but as she stood on the rear platform, Jenni found it impossible to not see the damage that nearly claimed her life just an hour before. She looked down to the floor, and for a moment saw the corpse of Captain Zanaar.

Jenni closed her eyes for a moment, then opened the to find everything has returned to normal.

Everything, that is, except for a few confused glances from the bridge crew. She'd seen several of them as she made her way to the bridge. Apparently, her doppleganger's time aboard this Katana had ended a short while ago, and her memory was still fresh.

It made her uncomfortable, knowing that many looked at her expecting to see someone that didn't exist. She hoped the other Jenni's reputation had been positive, otherwise the next few days would find a new intensity of awkwardness.

But that was not her concern. Nervously, she crossed the bridge, just as she had many times before over the last four years, to tap the chime button on the ready room door. It was time to get this over with.

Do I still have to file a mission report? Kris asked himself as he sat at his desk. It was not as if Starfleet Command...his Starfleet Command would receive his reports any time soon. If ever added Kris as he thought about what had just happened to him and his crew. No, I have to carry on as usual. I have to keep up on reports and the crew must continue to perform as they normally would he determined.

The door chime rang and Kris broke his attention away from starting work on his report. "It's open" he responded, reaching over to a panel, pressing an operation that caused the door to part way, revealing the visitor as Jennifer Matthews. Kris had been made aware of who was in command of the other Katana, but still seeing her there before him caused a stir of happiness. His Matthews she was not, but it was the closest he would get to her if he were to never get his starship home.

"Jenni" he said with a warm smile sweeping across his clean shaven face. His brown eyes full of subtle delight as he sprung up from his chair. Kris proceeded to navigate around his desk and walked towards the woman as the doors closed behind her. Seeing a familiar albeit dually foreign face was a bitter sweet reminder of what his crew had left behind. Friends, family, and loved ones. It was a compromising moment as he felt his rank and position peel away. For just a moment, he was not thinking about being Captain Kerouac and Lieutenant (Acting Captain) Matthews. It was Kris and Jenni for him, former colleagues who had grown to a developing friendship before she left his crew.

He approached her, throwing his arms around her and squeezing her firmly with affection and warmth. "I've missed you" he said as the reality of the temporal differences momentarily faded for him. However, he quickly let go as reality shocked him back to the here and now. He backed away a few inches and looked at her apologetically. "I'm sorry. You remind me of her" he said with a small smile.

Jenni was unsure how to feel. Just a few minutes before, her Kris had an armed phaser pointed at her head, ready to kill her. Jhu had told her that this Kris was different. In a way, she recognized the man standing in front of her. She was a skilled engineer when Jenni first boarded Katana, but it was her Commander Kerouac that first instilled confidence in her.

The events that unfolded over the last year, however, had transformed him into a madman. It was honestly refreshing to see a side she once knew. But it did little to ease her own discomfort. "I've been getting that a lot today," Jenni replied at last. It wasn't going to be easy on this ship to be compared with not just anyone, but herself.

"I wanted to thank you," she said, fiddling with her hands, "for sending a rescue team. Were it not for that, I'm sure the Katana would've..." Jenni looked away, and even took a couple steps as her gaze went out through the window. Had it not been for her Kris, the crew would have never been in danger in the first place. Looking down, she saw her hands and realizing that her earlier feeble attempt at cleaning had failed. Andorian blood -- Zanaar's blood -- still stained her hands, as did grease and grime from the battle and its fallout. Even the red cuffs (that she disgusted) of her uniform had been charred and torn. She could only imagine how she looked.

Kris nodded in response to what Matthews had been saying. "I know that it cannot be the least bit easy to be aboard my starship, the way the crew look at you expecting to see an old friend or former superior in the case of Engineering personnel" commented Kris. "Nor is it easy for me to walk around this ship seeing faces that I do not know, but receiving glares and looks of disgust hidden behind forced smiles. It is quite evident that I...the Kristopher Kerouac they knew was not a man worth admiring" said Captain Kerouac shaking his head.

"The Breen certainly had their way with your starship" added Kris as he joined her at Jenni's side. "Captain Tul Zanaar would no doubt be proud of how you handled matters, how you continued to fight and defend the Katana. I am sorry for the losses you've experienced. Our Tul died in a similar manner, a nasty situation with Jem Hadar. He was on the Bridge with me at the time and was killed in the line of duty defending the Bridge" explained Kris. "In a way, his death helped force me to be a better Captain and a better man than I was" added Kris.

He placed a hand upon her shoulder and looked at her. "I'm glad that we could be of some assistance to you and your crew. Though as you are now clearly aware, my crew and I...this starship...we do not belong here. I do not know if there's a way to get us home or not. However, right now I need to focus on getting you and your crew back to the nearest Federation starbase. No doubt you and I both have some explaining to do to your superiors at Starfleet Command."

"Hmm." Jenni closed her eyes and smiled at the remark. She didn't even know where to begin with reports or explanations. Jenni turned to get another look at Kris. It was incredible, seeing how just one event or one decision could make such a drastic difference in a person's development. The proof was standing right in front of her. Maybe the name Kristopher Kerouac deserved a chance at redemption.

"I can't speak for everyone, Captain..." she said slowly, then pausing to think again for a moment. Though their version of Jennifer Matthews may have been friendly, as she had once been, Jenni no longer recognized herself. Perhaps the best location to heal from wounds suffered aboard the Katana was none other than an identical ship with an identical captain. "I'm sure most of my crew will want to get off as soon as possible. And, I don't know how long you plan to stay, or if you can even go home, but I would like to help in any way I can." Jenni smiled. It was a weak smile, but it was a start.

"Your assistance...any help that you could provide would be greatly appreciated, Jennifer" replied Kris with a broad smile. "Engineering is pretty well stocked and Operations is well managed for the most part. Andrea Carter can be a handful, but I'm please with her as Chief of Operations" added Kris. "If we are stuck here...even if just for a while...I'm lost out here. The Breen were sometimes problematic back home for us. However, it seems they are more of problem here. It doesn't seem like you have much support from the Romulans or Klingons. Things are different here, and if my ship is going to last out here...we need to be brought up to speed on practically everything."

Jenni nodded. She didn't know what she was hoping for when she offered to help. But the denied opportunity to return her uniform color to engineering gold was met with slight disappointment. "Of course," she replied. Given the differential between the two realities, it would take a lot to bring this Katana up to speed. "It's been lonely over the last ten years," Jenni offered, remembering some history even from the Academy. "The Federation has been on its own for a while, ever since the war. And, to the Breen... well, they haven't recognized that the war is over."

Nodding, her mind began to process just the basic information, and that was clearly more than she could recite for this setting. "One thing is certain, Captain," she said, trying to be lighthearted in her delivery, "the Breen certainly don't care for starships named Katana, nor Captains named Kerouac."

"I don't suppose changing my name would do any good" replied Kris with a small scoff and sigh. It would be important for him to avoid Breen space and Breen ships at all cost. "Perhaps, I should consider undergoing surgical operations to alter my appearance. I think that I would make an interesting Bolian...though I am quite found of my hair and I'm not sure if Bolian blue would match my eyes" joked the Captain though he tried to recompose himself shortly thereafter.

He shook his head. "Hiding just isn't in my nature. However, as soon as we get our engines working, I'm hauling ass out of here and putting distance been my starship and Breen space" added Kris. "I know that Engineering is probably your home. The Matthews that I knew would hardly leave it unless she took the station on the Bridge. It is no doubt going to be a change for you but if you do wish to remain with us, I would like for you fill a vacancy in our manifest. Assistant Chief Intelligence Officer."

"Intelligence?" she mused. It would be hard for her to live a life outside of Engineering, something it sounded like she had in common with the Jennifer this crew knew. Jenni was no stranger to helping wayward souls, and if this what was required for now, she would do it. She nodded in reply to the Captain. "Sounds like fun."

Then she smiled, and a joyful one at that. Maybe she could be like Q from those old James Bond movies. Engineering on a whole new level! "I make no promise to keep from tinkering once in a while."

"Fun?" replied Kris with a wolfish smile and then let out a small sigh. "I suppose that fun is a potential adjective to use. However, you haven't had much experience or exposure to Commander t'Dharvanek. You may enjoy your time with her, or you may want to strangle her. Some days I experience both" joked Kris. "By all means, tinker. We could use upgrades and adjustments to our personal weapons and as for the starship herself, we had a Cyber security expert in the Intelligence department for a short time. However, he attempted to assassinate me" added Kris.

Jenni kept her smile, but considered that for a moment. Either that expert was crazed, or there were hints of her Kris in this Kerouac. Only time will tell. "Thank you, Captain. With as many differences as I've seen in between our Katanas, I'm sure I have my work cut out for me." There was also an unpleasant series of reports she'd have to file with Starfleet Command. Casualties, mission reports, and more. Until then, she was still an Acting Captain. The sooner that was done, the better off they'd all be.

Kris nodded and returned to his desk, parting ways with the woman. "We both have our reports to make" said Kris with a small smile. "Go see about getting yourself a new uniform, and stop by and let Commander t'Dharvaek know that I'm placing you in her department" added Kris as he picked up a PADD and quickly put in a few words in a message. Sliding the PADD over towards the woman. "Official orders from me in case she gives you a hard time."

Jenni exited the turbolift, stepping out into the corridor only to catch the gaze of a crewman in gold. The lieutenant offered a friendly smile, but only because this crewman had a momentary look of excitement on his face. Once again, she'd been recognized, and Jenni had no idea who this person was. Of course, the crewman realized his own mistake and carried on with a hint of embarrassment, but it was Jenni who'd been left the most uncomfortable.

Despite that, she elected to remain focused. Though she still bore two full pips on her collar, they still carried the weight of a lost command. Until that forsaken paperwork was complete, she still had the well-being of a crew to keep abreast, not to mention her own health.

She was the last survivor of her Katana to enter sickbay for treatment (at least for that gash on her forehead), and she was thankful to see some familiar faces at last. Jenni offered a smile, and checked on each one of them before even thinking about seeing the ship's doctor. As she walked around sickbay, she got to see the extent this Katana had suffered, seeing wounded lying around in varying stages of triage, giving her a clearer idea of the extent of the damage.

"Yes Lieu—, Lieutenant Matthews." He said pausing at the familiar face, "Grab a seat lets get you checked out."

She fought the urge to sigh. Was there anyone on this ship who didn't know her? "Not much to choose from is there?" she quipped. Jenni looked around and found a vacant chair.

He began the main bio scan, "Looks like your injuries are pretty minor, we should be able to get you patched up and going in short order."

Jenni nodded, glancing down at the tricorder. She noticed it was a slightly older model. Tricoder technology hadn't changed much in the last few years, except the models had gotten slimmer and a tad longer. She still preferred the folding models, and managed to snag one a few years ago for a personal collection.

Well... until the events from earlier that day...

"How's the rest of the crew?" she asked the doctor, wincing just after she asked the question. "My Katana, I mean." She smiled halfheartedly, thinking of the hundred or so people who she'd never see again.

"They're mostly stable, it's certainly an interesting situation for lack of a better word." He took a dermalregentorator and treated the several minor scrapes and cuts, before quickly treating the hairline fracture to a rib with an osteoregenerator.

"I'm curious, what happened to me in your timeline, was I still on the Katana? Was I ever on the Katana?" He asked.

It was at that moment that Jenni realized that she hadn't seen the face of the Doctor. She looked up and nearly did a double take. "Liam?" Until this moment, the only "familiar" face she'd seen belonged to Kris. In fact, she was completely unable to resist the urge that followed, jumping out of the chair and embracing the doctor. Refusing to let go, she remained there and softly said, "It's good to see you."

And then she remembered that this was not her Liam. Awkwardly, she pulled back, but did not sit down. "I'm... I'm sorry. Um... no. You weren't on board when we fought the Breen. In fact, I haven't seen you in months."

He nodded, "I heard you had a Kris on your ship too, but that he wasn't the Captain." He said, he stopped for, "Sorry, I shouldn't be asking you this stuff, Temporal Prime Directive, although I'm not sure that applies since we're apparently in a different reality, not just a different timeline." He looked back at the readings, "Well that takes care of the worse of it, if there's any pain I can give you something but I'd prefer you let your body tell you if there are any more problems."

Jenni nodded, halfheartedly. "It's okay, really," she told him. "Even if you all manage to return to your reality, it doesn't matter what I tell you. This isn't one of those "dark and dreary futures." Seems like most everyone here has had different lives completely." She hadn't heard too many stories, but judging the drastic differences from Verak, Kris and Jhu, the "other" universe seemed quite cheery.

"Thanks for the help, Liam... Doctor." Jenni smiled, enjoying that of all the familiar faces on board, not all reminded her of maniacs.

"Anytime," He said, as she got to her feet, "Is there anything else you need?"

"I guess not." Jenni looked around sickbay a final time, again seeing both crews intermingled among the bio beds. She resisted the urge of a Captain to have the doctor attend to them, but it was evident that they were doing just fine. Looking back at Liam, she asked, "See you around?"

Liam awkward nodded, he still wasn't sure how to response, he and his Jenni hadn't been close but it was still a lot to process with it being a different person.

"Doctor we need you over here." Called a voice from the other side of sickbay and when he glanced back Jenni was already gone.

The half-Klingon was unusually quiet. She went about her work with a feeling of dread. After looking at the notes, something about this was wrong. Dead wrong. But as it happened, something snapped within her. She didn't know it, but when she awakened next, she'd be different. Her hold on the console loosened, her knuckles whitening as literal chaos unfolded around her. Was this Sto'vo'kor? No...and that was even a foolish notion to think. This was hell, as her human parent would say. Hell. And her ticket was punched squarely into the wall, her entire body feeling the full force of the impact. Including her head. She blacked out, almost instantly.

There were several times that she tried to cross the river to the Underworld. But each time, something held her back. One side wanted to go, the other side didn't. The two sides fought a mental, silent battle..a dream-like vision within the confines of being blacked out. If anyone was monitoring her vital signs, they would spike and then return to normal. Assuming the rhythm of a heartbeat. Her condition remained unchanged. Out like a light, but not dead...

He lay there on the biobed..still collecting his thoughts. Focused within himself. He'd blacked out during the exfiltration..and had awakened briefly to find that his armor had been neatly removed and stacked nearby. With the myriad of scars that he had, the few that were sure to be added on from the fight against the Breen boarding op garnered attention.

You see, fighting a Breen wasn't like fighting any of the other indigenous forces in the galaxy. Klingons were hard-headed, tough. But a well-placed blade or kinetic energy burst would render them powerless. Romulans were sneaky, but so was he. Incapacitating one was very simple. Blow to the back of the head, solar plexus, so on. The Vulcan nerve pinch required a bare hand, but it served reasonably well against most species, except for the Borg...and the Breen. Their suits were tough. And at best, his armor and augmentations had given him equal footing. In the end it boiled down to who was more skilled.

Or well, that was how it usually went. But his brothers and sister..had given all against overwhelming odds. So others might live. Noble and honorable warriors...snuffed out. Because the Admiralty of the "Federation" decided that "we don't experiment on our own. We don't use test subjects." Some moral code was more important than giving them a fighting chance. And he hated that. in the end, he wasn't fighting to defend a Federation starship. He was fighting to defend his home. The one person that might be able to help him heal...and vice versa.

There was something noble. Almost romantic, about being the last of something. A number of examples from Earth lore, the Last Samurai, the Last of the Mohicans, a then-science fiction character known as the Master Chief. He had scoffed at that. Poor bastards on Earth, never knew how close they were to actually realizing that life was out there. Being a living example of the topic..there was nothing romantic about it. Just pain, a determination to survive, and an instinct that could come into play if he believed there to be a threat.

He was a weapon. A sniper, hand to hand specialist, historian and charismatic charmer. And he was also a person that had been seen for his assets...and not himself.

They say history is written by the victor...but the situation is unclear, the sides undefined. Who are the friendlies that have helped us? What kind of people are they? What stories can they tell? In order to find out...I must blend in. And protect her if I can.

With this, he descended into blackness again, falling asleep, hopefully to have a nightmare-free rest.

This is degrading thought Kris as he looked around his and Liam's quarters as he found himself down on his knees. Why am I even doing this? the Captain thought as he closed it eyes for a moment and opened his mouth, struggling. He loved Liam and he loved his crew as much as he did not want to openly admit the latter. On his knees and contemplating doing something so filthy, and looked up groaned. I have to he told himself, egging himself on to push away any personal feelings he had, to lower his guard and just do it for the sake of the crew. This puts new meaning in taking one for the team he thought as he prepared.

“Look, I know you do not like us, and I sure the hell do care for any of you” said Kris, trying his best not to toss out a few vulgar insults. “But damn it already. We do not belong here...you know this. We know this. This starship and its crew are not meant to be here. This is not our home, not our universe, and not our time” said Kris, on his knees and looking upward though part of him felt as though he more properly should be looking downward based on the past encounters Starship Captains have had with said beings.

“God damn it already” he muttered shaking his head. “I know you're listening wherever the hell you are. You are probably getting some sick enjoyment and amusement out watching me do this, seeing a human...a mortal gravel like this to you” added Kris, a bitterness of the tip of his tongue, but as much as he wanted to spit out how he truly felt, he swallowed hard and pressed on. “Oh for pete's sake, show yourself damn it. Give me some sign that you are actually listening to me” Kris grumbled.

He was growing tiresome of this and he never in a million years would have thought that he'd ever resort to this. “Come on now. Don't act like you're all high and mighty. Immortal pieces of shit!” shouted Kris. “You're not above this. You've interfered before. I know you're listening!” he continued shouted, his throat becoming quite dry and rough. “Some worship you as Gods. If you were truly Gods, one of you would come down here right now, snap your damn finger and send us on our merry way. It's all I'm asking...all we want. One snap. Send my crew home” pleaded Kris, choking back the sorrow and pain in his heart.

They had not been trapped in this alternate universe for more than a dozen days, but Kris was already seeing the emotional wear and tear it was having on the crew. They were facing an eternity of forever being displaced, never seeing their friends, family, and loved ones again. How much longer could they endure those thoughts. The crew of the USS Voyager had lasted 7 years away from home, cut off from the Alpha quadrant. Their journey was expected to take about 75 years. Sure, they lasted, but they had Captain Janeway to lead them. This poor crew has me. I'm not even half the leader she was thought Kris. They at least were in their proper universe and time. I've royally fucked us over.

Nearly sobbing, his watery eyes looked up once more, tears slowly streaking down Captain Kerouac's cheeks and falling to the floor below. He knees buckled and he collapsed to sitting on his back folded legs, his ass touching the arches in his feet. He let out a sigh. “Please” he said somberly. “I know what you can do. You've done this before. The USS Enterprise-D, Captain Jean-Luc Picard. You sent that ship spiraling through space and forced the Federation to encounter the Borg. USS Voyager, Captain Kathryn Janeway, she helped one of you and you cut time off her travel back home. Please, just help us get home” added Kris, begging for assistance. However, his pleads and cries for help were not answered.

He shook his head and tried to collect his thoughts. He wiped the tears from his eyes, and wetness from his face. “Some Gods you are” he said bitterly. He of course did not view them as Gods. The only thing godly about them aside from their astounding powers and abilities were their troublesome and meddlesome ways, often reminding Kris of the ancient Gods and Goddesses from polytheistic pagan times on Earth. “FINE” he said sharply. “If one set of Gods aren't going to help me, I'll try another” he said, pulling himself to his feet and headed to exit his quarters.

[ON]

Commander M'rayr Eisovo stalked the corridors. He'd been aware that two Caitians were brought on board a few days ago, but had yet to met either one. Frankly, he was anxious. It had been years since he'd seen another one of his kind, let alone speak to one. And there was always the fact that, compared to the dozen or so races serving aboard the Katana, it was likely that any Caitian would recognize his family name. How they reacted to that name was an entirely different matter.

Approaching an unmarked door, M'rayr recognized the alphanumerics as belonging to one of the Caitians - a woman going by the name of K'larri. Unlike M'rayr, who came from C’tokh province where most Caitians closely resembled the Terran lion, K'larri's holo-image, leopard-like, indicated that she was from one of the southern continents.

That made her intriguing for a few reasons.

Filling his lungs with air before exhaling, the First Officer of the Katana pressed an index against the console, initiating an electronic chime in the room on the other side of the doorway.

No one had been to visit her since she'd come aboard, which wasn't surprising given how much shaking the ship had been doing. Not expecting a visitor now either, K'larri cast a somewhat suspicious look toward the door. Who on this ship would want to talk to her? She debated for a few minutes whether or not to answer, finally purring, "Come in."

The doors pulled open and M'rayr stepped through. The two studied one another carefully before M'rayr finally spoke. "I am M'rayr," he said... deliberately keeping his last name unvoiced. "I am the Katana's first officer. Welcome aboard. Are your needs being met?"

K'larri gave the more lion-like Caitain a curious look, noting his even coloring and lack of any sort of mane. He was from a more northern region of Cait, that much was obvious from his appearance alone. "I have food and a place to sleep. More than I had in the streets of Cait, so I can't complain."

M'rayr nodded rather curtly, then gestured to one of the couches. "May we sit down?"

"Oh, right. Of course." K'larri paused before sitting down. "I don't have any nepata or other such things to offer, but I can offer you a drink from the replicator."

"Water will suffice, thank you." M'rayr indicated as he sat down at the couch and laid his paws over his lap, continuing to watch K'larri closely. How long had it been since he'd last seen a Caitian? Let alone a woman? Caitians generally saw beauty in all things, and even someone as emotionally repressed as M'rayr wasn't completely oblivious to such matters. The patterns of K'larri's fur was decorative and appealed to him. But M'rayr was too well trained in personal discipline to let that attention surface. "If you wouldn't mind discussing how it was that you managed to stow aboard our vessel, and why, I would be interested in hearing your explanation."

"That is an unpleasant story." K'larri's fur bristled just slightly at the thought of telling it again, but she recognized M'rayr's request as one of curiosity, not necessarily a sign that he disapproved. She knew it was obvious looking at her that she had not exactly been well-fed. "Water, cold. Two glasses," she said carefully to the replicator, giving the order slowly to account for its earlier misunderstandings of her requests. When the two glasses appeared, she took them to the couch and handed one to M'rayr as she sat down. "I escaped a Ferengi vessel after killing its Daimon." She was not proud of that fact. Like most modern Caitians, she preferred not to fight, let alone kill another sentient being. "Your ship was in orbit of that... ice planet. So I came aboard with some of your cargo."

M'rayr let a moment of silence pass between them before he resumed his questioning. There were a lot of directions he could go. "Then you are seeking asylum?" He asked. K'larri was fortunate that the Katana had inadvertently translated into another universe; had they still occupied their universe, it was likely that the Ferengi Consortium would be able to pressure the Federation to return K'larri into their custody in order to stand trial for her acts. But M'rayr knew all too well the fascination that most species had with the Caitian people, particularly its females who regularly aroused fantasies of one sort or another.

"If your captain will grant it. I certainly can't go back to Cait... there's nothing left for me there." Not that she'd had much there to begin with, give how she'd grown up. Since he hadn't asked, K'larri wasn't offering that information. Instead, she took a few sips from her water glass. "I understand killing the Ferengi goes against everything we believe in. But that little troll had me cornered and was trying to tie me up like some sort of pet. He intended to make me a slave."

Nodding, the older Caitian set his glass down unsipped. He was reluctant to morally justify her actions on the Ferengi vessel, even though her testimony indicated that her actions had been warranted. There were, as they say, always two sides to a story. He also didn't want to vouch one way or the other as to whether Kerouac would accept her petition for asylum. That would be a conversation for later. But the way she suggested that returning to her homeworld wasn't an option made him wonder if she was aware that her Cait was now unreachable. "What do you know of our present situation?"

"Nothing. No one has visited me or told me anything, not that I expect them to. I'm not supposed to be here, after all." Still, K'larri was intrigued by the question. "Why?"

M'rayr heaved an audible sigh. It was difficult enough when people knew about what had happened; he was going to have to explain it to someone had no idea whatsoever. "Returning to Cait... at least the Cait that you and I are aware of... is no longer possible. We were employing an experimental superluminal drive technology in order to reach the Delta Quadrant faster than what is possible with conventional means. This technology malfunctioned, and we instead emerged within what we are presently regarding as an alternate universe, four years ahead of our own time." M'rayr gave K'larri a moment to absorb what she'd heard. "We have moved through both time and space."

We are still determining exactly how much this universe diverges from our own, but there are already distinct differences," M'rayr finished.

K'larri stared at him for what felt like a very long time, not entirely certain that she understood just what had happened. Time travel, alternate universes, transluminal drives... it all sounded like nonsense, and yet it also sounded plausible. She thought about it for a few moments, her ears twitching slightly as she processed the information. Even with no formal education, she found it wasn't as hard to figure out as it had first appeared. "That explains the shaking then. And why no one has come to talk to me yet. You have all been too busy trying to sort out what happened and where to go from here."

M'rayr nodded wordlessly. "I can arrange for you to have access to a terminal and the subspace extranet if you would like to examine the information we've recovered if you'd like. I am sure it will help you to make a more informed decision, whether you choose to remain on board or not."

Instantly, K'larri's eyes seemed to light up. "Would you? Please? I appreciate that I have a cabin rather than sleeping in the brig, but there is so little to do in here."

"I will make the necessary arrangements," M'rayr said, standing up to his full height and brushing his trousers. "I will also see that you have limited access to the unrestricted portion of this ship - the mess hall, holo-decks, and other recreational facilities. Your movements and activity will be monitored, but you will at least be able to stretch your legs." As a Caitian, M'rayr knew how detrimental to one's morale being confined to a small space could be. It was the reason why Caitian vessels were built to be as spacious as possible. "In the mean time, I will also discuss your... request... for at least temporary asylum."

He decided not to mention the fact that they had little other choice; they couldn't very well just release her into an alternate universe.

"You're very kind, thank you." K'larri couldn't help grinning a bit. She hadn't expected much kindness on the Katana, especially not from its Caitian first officer. She knew that her history didn't sit well with other Caitians; the way she'd had to live wasn't 'right' to a lot of them.

Bowing slightly at the neck, M'rayr turned to leave. She was young and, for her age, attractive. K'larri also possessed a certain youthful enthusiasm that he'd likely lost many years ago. Despite her past. "Thank you for your hospitality, K'larri. I will send word to you shortly." But something stopped him - a nagging question that he'd avoided asking for most of their conversation. M'rayr pointed to her collar. "If you don't mind one last question, what is the purpose of that?"

Oh, right. Most Caitians these days didn't wear collars. "Protection," K'larri said hesitantly after a tense moment or three. She wanted to like M'rayr and trust him, but it was a difficult subject to approach. "When you live on the streets, you do things others wouldn't to keep yourself alive. It keeps predators of all sorts away from my throat... there are dark and dangerous places on Cait, and those were the places I had to live in."

Ah, M'rayr thought, having assumed that the collar had been placed upon her by her Ferengi imprisoners. "Indeed there are," he said simply, sensing that it was not a topic that she desired to divulge too heavily. He nodded curtly. "Well. I will leave you now. If you require anything, you may contact Cadet Masterson using that terminal," he said, pointing to the console above her replicator.

K'larri looked at the indicated terminal, having not noticed it until M'rayr pointed out what it was. "I will remember that, thank you. And thank you for visiting... it has been lonely and quiet since I was assigned to this cabin."

Bowing again, M'rayr turned and retreated the way he came.

[ON]

Maybe this was the same Katana that M'rayr knew. Then again, he couldn't shake the feeling that, even though it was the outside universe that had changed, that the Katana had changed as well. He walked the same corridor he traveled dozens of times before, and couldn't help but to feel like he was exploring a new location of the ship. Perhaps the Katana was different, now? As if its traveling through the Borg-induced singularity had some how changed it.

There were certainly several new faces - survivors from the alternate-Katana destroyed in this new cold war against the Breen. One of these new faces - a young woman whom, in his universe, had served on the Katana before M'rayr even came aboard - had just turned the opposite corner and was now approaching. He searched the list of survivors kept within his mind and found her name just in time.

"Lieutenant Matthews, is it not?" He asked, slowing his stride and then stopping altogether once she appeared to register his question. The Caitian touched a paw to his chest. "I am Commander M'rayr Eisovo, ship's first officer. Welcome aboard the Katana."

Jenni had been wandering the ship. Katana it was, but not one she recognized. It was hard enough to not wander into Engineering, and as much as she wanted to, it was no longer her domain. Eventually, she'd meet the Chief Engineer, but for a ship that knew her well, keeping distance from the engine room would be healthier for the crew than it would be for her.

In fact, as she wandered, she paid little attention to those she passed, other than offering a weak yet friendly smile to those who obviously knew the 'other' Jennifer. The face of this Caitian, however, did not bear a sense of familiarity. For the first time all day, she was pleased to not have a reputation to compete with. "Jennifer," she replied with a smile as she came to a stop next to the first officer. "Most call me Jenni."

For a brief moment, M'rayr looked as though he were regarding whether or not to turn this into a first-name based conversation. There was a fine line between being a first officer and a friend. And, although several of his predecessors preferred to flirt on the more liberal side of that line, M'rayr was typically formal if nothing else. But as this was a new universe. Who knew how it would change him.

M'rayr grunted an audible reply - a sound that reverberated deep in his throat. "I understand that Doctor Cohen has signed off on your return to duty status." He let those words sink in for a moment. "Have you made a decision on whether you will remain aboard the Katana? Despite our origins, this is still a Federation Starship. And I am aware that many members of the crew were... aware... of your alternate."

"Ah..." Jenni sighed, allowing her smile to fade. "It's strange, really," she confessed. "So many people looking at you and expecting to see someone else." Jenni hoped that the crew wouldn't hold her to standards her predecessor had set, and alas, only time would tell.

Falling into sync with Commander Eisovo's stride, she continued, "I've made no plans to leave Katana. This one certainly isn't what I've come to love over the last four years." It was true. Everywhere she'd walked, she couldn't help but notice that the two ships were actually quite different beyond the surface levels. Colors were brighter, newer, and scars she'd been familiar with for years were nowhere to be seen. Several conduits she'd peeked inside even looked completely different.

"I'm not even sure why I agreed to stay." Jenni shrugged, walking slowly in tandem with the first officer. "The Captain... he's not the man..." looking at the Caitian, she explained, "the alternate I knew. Somehow, I just... want to help him."

Nodding, the Caitian could only understand Jennifer's reluctance to stay on board a starship where most of the crew had memories of the other Jennifer Matthews. As official as he made his words sound, he respected the courage that it must have taken in order for her to make the decision she had. "I did not know your alternate self," he added after a protracted silence. A few weeks ago and he might have asked her what she meant about Kerouac. Then again, a few weeks ago he'd been conducting an investigation of the man. Not that any of that matters now. Kerouac was who he was. The man that Matthews knew mattered little to M'rayr. "But based on the after action reports from the away team, the you of this universe manage to accomplish a great deal, despite the fact that you had few resources at your disposal, and were unfamiliar with the degree of command you were thrust with."

Jenni didn't know if she should thank her superior officer or brush the comment away. The incident had left her with a myriad of feelings, and, if anything, she was as confused as ever. "Nineteen," she declared with a sigh. "Nineteen people plus myself are all that get to see tomorrow." She brought a hand up to rub the back of her neck, feeling stress reverberate at the base of her skull. "Nineteen people out of a hundred and fifty, none of whom should have even been in this lousy sector to begin with!"

She wanted to scream. Obscenities flooded her mind, and it took every fiber of her being to hold them at bay. "I should have never been in that chair," Jenni told Eisovo. "I was perfectly content where I was, and someone selfishly decided our collective fate. Someone else could have done better." Jenni shook her head. "Someone could have saved us all."

Jenni sighed. "I'm... I'm sorry," she added, her tone now softer. Where were these emotions coming from? "I shouldn't have... I'm..."

"Your reaction is understandable... and anticipated of any person in your position," M'rayr pointed out after a long second of pause. His mind began to drift back to the San Jacinto and his own experiences with extreme loss, but he fought his way back into the present. He continued, maintaining a casualness in his voice as he did so, as if the topic could have just as easily been about some sport or recent event. At the same time, his words carried weight. "And perhaps you are correct; maybe more might have been saved had someone else been in command. Then again, it is also possible for the opposite scenario to be true, as well. Had it not been for your actions, your Katana might have been a graveyard for all one hundred and fifty men and women. I know it will be difficult to live with the results of your melee, perhaps impossible. But regardless of what could or might have been, there are nineteen people who have you to thank for their lives. If anything, accept that."

Jenni would likely find it hard to do so. "Perhaps you're right," she replied, her tone feeble. "I faced death once before." Jenni paused for a moment, wondering if she really wanted to recount this story. "It's one thing to not be on a bridge during an engagement, knowing there's someone in the other room fighting for your life, and not knowing what the result will be. It's another entirely to be the one making the call. I just... I guess I thought that person would never be me." She looked down at her uniform, still soiled and torn. As much as she wanted to be done with Command Red, she could not bring herself to enter her quarters and begin the process that would liberate her.

While M'rayr was hardly a telepath or empathy, he was very attuned to his senses. He decided not to press her any further on reconciling with her doubts and feelings - that would take time, and she would work on it at her own pace. Should Jennifer not demonstrate the progress he'd expect to see from someone in a similar situation, he could always encourage... or even mandate that she visit with Doctor Grae. He turned his attention to her uniform. "Has Cadet Masterson arranged new quarters for you?" He asked after almost half a stretch through corridors.

"Someone has," Jenni replied. She hadn't met any cadets so far, but she really hadn't met more than a few dozen of the ship's crew either. "This is it," she added with a soft chuckle. It was the tenth time actually that Jenni had passed by the doors and the first time she stopped in front of them. "I guess it's kind of a, uh..." Jenni locked up from her downcast gaze to face the Caitian. "Katana was, is... whatever you want to call it, everything to me. My home, my family." She thought about what she'd left behind in her quarters before the ship exploded: pictures, heirlooms, her favorite black dress. Even her mother's violin. Now they were simply dust. What she wore was all she had left, despite how much she hated it. Nodding to the set of doors, she said, "I know I have to start over, and by walking through those doors, a new journey begins. Some things are just hard to let go, I guess."

M'rayr nodded, understanding completely. After all, as grateful as he was to finally have some resolution over whether or not he'd ever be allowed to return to his tribe -- this tribe was not, nor would it ever be his -- it was also difficult knowing, let alone accepting that he'd never have the opportunity to. He couldn't even begin to think about all of his personal possessions he hadn't brought on board the Katana that he'd never see again. Then there was his comrades on the San Jacinto which he'd never see again. Reluctantly, he stretched his face into a sympathetic smile. "Change is never meant to be easy. But a new journey is beginning for each of us, Lieutenant." In a most un-M'rayr like fashion, he put one of his large paws on her shoulder. "But as someone told me once, this ship is a family. You are a part of that family now."

Family. Jenni offered a smile, one with a hint of feeling behind it. Family was something that evaded her for more than a decade, and a feeling that was now foreign to her. Yet, those smiles from the crew she encountered aboard this ship, and even the emotions expressed by the rescue team and even Captain Kerouac, all had something in common.

Love.

The kind of love that only came from family. She knew there was something very different about this Katana the moment she'd come on board, and now she had a word for it. "Something tells me I always have been." Maybe she shouldn't fight it and rather accept it. Jenni took in a deep breath and reached out to press the door controls. She wasn't sure what to expect, but was quick to notice that the lights were on, and the room appeared fully furnished. It wasn't the same room she'd lived in for the last four years, but the fresh, clean look represented a blank canvas on which to paint the next stage of her life. "One step at a time, I guess." She looked back to Commander Eisovo with a little more strength behind her smile. "Thank you, Commander. I look forward to serving with you and this... family."

M'rayr nodded, feeling a little beside himself. He wasn't accustomed to being so compassionate or personal. Hell, there were several dozen members of the Katana's crew who'd agree. Steeling his face, he decided to give Jennifer the time she needed to decompress and clean up using the equipment and provisions of her new quarters. "Have a good evening, Lieutenant. The Katana will be here in the morning."

Jenni nodded in reply, then turned to look at the inside of her new quarters. One step at a time... her voice echoed in her head. With a deep breath, Jenni took a step forward, entering the room.

Jenni stood still, slowly shifting her gaze, starting from the right side of the room and moving to the left. The quarters may have been on a different deck than what she’d been used to for the last four years, but they looked exactly the same.

Standard Starfleet couch.

Standard Starfleet desk.

Standard Starfleet welcoming flowers on the standard table.

She couldn’t see the bedroom, but she could assume the bed was standard as well.

Jenni sighed, crossing her arms and remaining stationary. And that’s when she spotted the mirror by the door. That wasn’t standard, in fact, it was always one of the first things she hung whenever she was assigned new accommodations.

“How did they…?” she muttered, only to pause when she remembered. Apparently she was more like their Jennifer than she thought.

She caught a glance at herself in the mirror, prompting her to approach it. She’d dropped by a washroom earlier, but she did not care to look at herself then. Her brown air was matted, stained with blood. Her uniform jacket was torn in several places, as was the red shirt underneath. It, too, was spotted with blood and stained with grease and burns.

The command uniform she hated, but it was all she owned. And it was not worth keeping. Jenni walked over to the desk and removed her combadge and pips. She then withdrew three isolinear chips from her pocket and set them nearby.

As she removed the jacket, accidentally tearing it once more in the process, Jenni requested a robe for when she was finished. Depositing the entire uniform into the replicator for recycling, Jenni moved into the washroom and stepped into the sonic shower.

She stood still for at least fifteen minutes, allowing the pulses of sound cascade over her body as it liberated grime, grease and stain. The timer finished, leaving Jenni to wish the shower could have washed away the last few hours as well. Jenni stepped out and wrapped the robe around her body, tying the cloth belt to secure it.

Walking out into her bedroom, she noticed a small crate had been placed on her bed. Curious, she approached it and noticed her name had been affixed to the label. “Personal Effects” it read. Clearly these were not hers, items that had rather been left behind by her counterpart instead.

Nevertheless, her curiosity had been peaked. Carefully, she opened the box, only to find it half full. Inside were several books, none of them she recognized, nor the author. A few articles of clothing were also there, a nice scarf, and a few random items of makeup.

She froze, lifting out a picture in a frame. Two men flanked a woman in the middle — her. She recognized both men as her brothers, and judging by the age of each in the photo, it was recent. Jenni wondered if her other self had a similar habit. The frame was pure glass, so rather than removing the photo, she turned the item around and saw her handwriting affixed to the back.

“San Francisco December ’87”

“2387?” Jenni asked, though no one would answer.

She flipped the picture back around, taking note of both of her brothers. Charles, the one on the left, was a doctor on Betazed. Jameson, on the right, had died while being transported aboard the USS Hood en route on a medical relief assignment.

In 2384.

Her heart swelled, and so did her smile. She knew she’d never see him again, but he was alive and well in another universe.

Jenni left the rest of the items in the crate and moved to the desk where a terminal awaited her. She set the picture beside the terminal and sat down. “Computer,” Jenni said, inserting the three chips into slots beside the terminal, “create new incident report and access logbook. Authorization Matthews Tango Nine Foxtrot Gamma.”

The computer buzzed in immediate reply. “Authorization invalid.”

Jenni’s smile amazingly held on. The frustration was indeed minimal, knowing that the computer did recognize her, but her authorization did not match what was left on record. “Recognize Lieutenant Matthews, Jennifer Abigail. Reset authorization code.”

She could hear the computer process the request and waited for the opportunity to input the new code. With that resolved, she accessed the chips and had their unique code structure override this Katana’s protocols. A Lieutenant’s authorization alone would not enable her to file this report, but the computer had to recognize her as a Commanding Officer. Though twenty people survived the destruction of her Katana, very little of her technology did.

These three isolinear chips were all that survived of the ship’s records. Without them, this ship and her crew would be at the complete mercy of Starfleet Command and the Department of Temporal Investigations.

And one Captain in particular would be very quickly hauled away in handcuffs.

Despite her feelings for this universe’s Kerouac, the Kris she met an hour ago seemed to be nothing like the one she knew for four years.

Jenni dropped her smile and let her head fall into her hand. Confusion resulting from keeping the two different realities straight was beginning to take its toll.

Looking up, Jenni accessed the logs contained on the isolinear chips, reviewing every detail recorded by Captains Zanaar and Kerouac, leading up to and just past the destruction of the Breen-occupied planet. The last recorded entry in the ship’s log was the announcement of Captain Kerouac’s arrest, Captain Zanaar’s promotion and Lieutenant Matthews’ reassignment. A quick check revealed that the sensor logs of the battle had also been fully recovered.

“Computer,” she ordered, “begin report.”

For the next two hours, Jenni sat behind the desk, paced the room, stretched, and stared out the window, reciting every detail of the past few days. From the moment the Breen first fired on the Katana, racing at maximum warp towards the Federation border, to the moment Zanaar was killed, to the moment where Jenni nearly sacrificed the ship on a daft maneuver to disable the Breen ship, to the boarding parties, and then finally to the abnormality that provided rescue to twenty surviving souls.

Jenni then returned to the desk, knowing the rest of the report she’d have to complete by hand, signing death certificates for one hundred and twenty nine people she’d come to know and befriend. Starting at the bottom of the manifest, one by one she had to declare who had survived and who hadn’t. When the time came, she listed Lieutenant Verak as missing, and then had to revisit the entire experience in the shuttle bay, including Kris and Verak’s final actions.

Listing each member of the crew one by one as deceased did little to phase Jennifer. She had decided earlier, and then constantly reminded herself throughout the course of the evening that this was a mere duty to perform, and emotion had little place here. It had been difficult commenting on members of her top-level engineering staff, remembering Barnes and Gonzalez who had been shot in the back while trying to save the Katana. And then it came time for Lieutenant Volok, who had relieved Verak from the helm. It was impossible to force the image of his burned and scarred face out of her mind.

The same went for the doctor who she’d heard died in an explosion that had taken out all of sickbay.

And for the science chief who had died on the bridge.

The Acting Chief Engineer who’d been slaughtered by the Breen in a hostile takeover of Engineering.

And Captain Zanaar, killed by a lucky first shot from the Breen warship.

Jenni held back tears, but was able to heave a sigh of relief knowing there was only one person left to report.

That relief immediately turned into a frown when she read the name: Kristopher Kerouac.

In a flash, she was back in the shuttle bay, standing unarmed with a phaser pointed at her forehead. One by one, the rescue team, the short Ferengi in black, the Romulan with spots, the man with the mechanical arm, the wild ex-Borg with a bow, the woman with the strange red eyes…

All disappeared, leaving just Kris and Jenni alone in the bay. Quickly, the gap between the two shrunk, and the phaser’s glowing emitter dug into her forehead.

Suddenly, the phaser was gone. The man, feral man in front of Jenni embraced her.

Jenni remained seated, greatly confused by the memory. Or was it a vision of sorts?

The name remained for her on the screen.

Kristopher Kerouac

The man she knew was a friendly face in the beginning, slowly one day at a time, growing into a madman. She could not help but think of all the chances she’d had to stop him over the years. Today, she wished she had.

Her Katana because of her inaction and Zanaar’s slowness to strike was now but dust, slowly spreading throughout the sector. Along with what little remained of one hundred and twenty nine people.

This Katana was indeed different.

But it would not matter to Starfleet or the Breen Confederacy that a different Katana existed and a Captain with the same name. The Breen would want someone to hang for the destruction of a planet.

Kristopher Kerouac

Jenni’s hands hovered over the keyboard, waiting for direction on what to type.

Kristopher Kerouac

She tapped one button.

Then another.

And another.

Kristopher Kerouac

Killed in Action

The Captain of this ship was different. He deserved every chance at redeeming a name soiled for him by someone else.

Just as she now had the chance to prove herself anew in the fading light of her namesake.

A final tap of the keyboard prompted the computer to complete the report and transmit it to Starfleet Command. She stood up and walked into the bedroom, not noticing that an error message had fired back, stating all communications to Starfleet were pending action by the command staff.

Jenni set the crate on the floor, then planted herself on the bed. She heaved another sigh of relief, the very action wavering with conflicting emotions. At last, her duty as an Acting First Officer and Commanding was now complete. Tomorrow she would not report to an engine room for duty, but an office as an analyst.

Her eyes stared off into nothingness as she reached for the violin she kept on her nightstand. Confusion once again controlled her face, turning to see where the violin had disappeared to. Instantly, she vaulted out of bed and began to search under every clean surface and empty drawer.

Jenni’s heart froze, remembering once more this ship wasn’t her own.

And that her mother’s violin had now fallen in her mother’s footsteps, turned to dust by the explosives armed by Verak.

A tear fell from her eye, sliding down her cheek and dropping to the floor with a soft plop. Another followed suit, as did a few more. Jenni fell onto the bed, her diaphragm spasing. Up until now, she had remained calm, cool, collected. And now, it was real.

Katana gone.

Her friends and colleagues… gone.

And her last heirloom from her mother…

Gone.

Jenni’s determination and willpower had abandoned her, leaving Jenni to sob uncontrollably on her bed. There she would remain until her energy subsided, and sleep took hold.

Her and James materialized outside the cargo bay. "I'm not reading any alarms," James reported, looking at the readout on his tricorder.

"Good. Lets move," Hayley replied, entering the cargo bay.

James spotted a crewman in a gold colored uniform, raised his wapon and fired.

"No!" Hayley shouted as the crewman hit the deck. "Dammit! That shot probably just alerted the ship to our presence, ya numbnuts!" Hayley knew that any phaser fire aboard would be recorded by internal sensors and relayed to the tactical station on the bridge. "Quick! Tag these crates and activate personal sensor scramblers!" The personal sensor scramblers were a tool she had acquired through the Orion Black Market that made it impossible for a ship's transporter to lock on.


[Jhu and Nathan's quarters]

Nathan and Jhu had not gotten a lot of time together lately. So the first chance they had they locked themselves into their room for some alone time. So it was no surprise that it took Ensign Johns 3 tries to get him on the com.

"Tonkin..." Nathan said breathing hard. "This had better be really fucking important."

"Sir, I'm sorry but I have a report of phaser fire down by cargo bay 2." Johns said.

Nathan rolled his eyes and looked over at Jhu who was in bed next to him. "Great...Report to the cargo bay and I'll be right there." The Nathan pressed his com badge and dropped his uniform back to the floor where it had been tossed. "I just wanted an hour..."

Jhu groaned, flopping onto the pillow a bit more theatrically than the situation really warranted. "Fvadt. That boy and his timing." She rolled her eyes, sitting up and looking around for her discarded uniform. "Is it really too much to ask for people to leave us alone for one hour? I mean, come on." It really wasn't fair; this was the first chance they'd had to be alone in weeks. And she'd been enjoying it. "Couldn't you have ignored him for a few more minutes?"

"This is the problem with our positions on this ship, we are never really off duty...and who the hell has a phaser out of weapons lockup anyways?" Nathan said as he dressed. He was not in a hurry.

"I don't know, but I'm about to make them scrub the hull with a toothbrush. And no EV suit," Jhu grumbled, climbing off the bed to get dressed.


[Cargo Bay 2]

Hayley and James worked as fast as they could, planting transporter tags on shipments of parts and medical supplies. James grinned. "These supplies will bring us a fortune on the black market, " James stated.

Hayley nodded in agreement when something odd caught her eye. She looked at the expiration date on one of the medical gel packs. "This medical gel expired two years aago, " she stated. "Starfleet runs a tight ship when it comes to things like this."

James knew what Hayley was saying was true. His time as a crewman in Starfleet had taught him how uptight Starfleet was about their cargo and inventory keeping before being kicked out. "So we leave it. Let's get out of here."

Hayley nodded, closing the lid just as the cargo bays doors opened. Hayley instinctively snapped off a shot from her phaser rifle.


[Jhu and Nathan's quarters]

Dressed except for her jacket, Jhu waited until Nathan was at least mostly dressed then pushed him up against the bulkhead, pinning him there and kissing him with a fiery passion. She held him there for a moment longer, dearly wanting to pull him back into their bed, but with reports of phaser fire that just wasn't an option. "I am not done with you," she whispered silkily into his ear, pressing up against him.

Nathan pressed himself back aginst her. "Good, you better not be cause..."

Nathan was cut off by the emergency channel on his com bag going off followed by the voice of Ensign Johns.

"Sir! Intruder alert! We are under attack in the cargo bay!"

Nathan reacted, slipping around Jhu and grabbing his phaser off the night stand. "Computer, intruder alert!" He called out placing the ship on yellow alert at his command. This also raised the shields making it impossible to beam in or out.

"Damn it," Jhu growled, picking up her jacket from the floor and slipping it on before retrieving her own phaser from its designated spot in the drawer of her nightstand.

[Cargo Bay 2]

Hayley saw that the man she shot in the doorway was also wearing a gold colored uniform but no weapon. 'Engineer, ' Hayley concluded to herself. She was certain the next person coming through would be Security.

"The ship's shields have been raised, " James reported, checking his tricorder.

Hayley knew she couldn't break out nor communicate with the Black Dagger without revealing its location to the Katana. Engineering was too far and would be too well defended. She knew Cargo Bay Two was on the outer section of the ship near the outer hull. "We blast our way out. Set your phasers to maximum output."

She fired her rifle at the bulkhead which began to give way as the beams cut through the hull.

Nathan entered the cargo bay with Jhu right on his heels. He took cover behind a crate and started talking before Jhu could just start shooting. "Stop right there or we will fire!" He yelled over the phaser fire as a dozen security officers filed into the room behind him all armed with rifles.

"I'm a fan of shooting them anyway," Jhu muttered under her breath, ducking down behind another nearby crate.

"Bloody hell," Hayley commented. "The goon squad has arrived." She spun on her heel and fired a shot at the officers. "Keep firing, " she told James. "I'll keep the boy scouts busy. "

A phaser shot streaked by where Jhu was hiding, and out of reflex she fired back without really thinking about it. "This would be a lot easier on you if you just gave up!"

"Well if it isn't Lieutenant t'Jharvanik? I think I'll enjoy killing you!" Hayley fired a shot from where the sound of the voice came from.

What the hell is going on here? Jhu peeked around the crate. "It's Commander and my name is t'Dharvanek! The hell are you doing, Collins?"

"I'm running out of energy here. We weren't prepared for a prolonged engagement," James stated. "I'm not sure we have enough energy to cut through the hull. "

"Tell the Black Dagger to open fire," Hayley ordered.

James nodded and tried to establish a connection but failed. There was no receiver in range...which only meant the Black Dagger had withdrawn. "I'm not getting a signal. They must have left!"

"I'll kill Bartan with my bare hands!" Hayley said through clinched teeth.

Nathan poped up and placed an expert shot in the center of the mans back who was trying to cut through the haul. Lucky for him Nathan kept his phaser on stun. "Hayley! Are you mad? What are you doing?"

Hayley was furious at the comments from the two officers speaking with her. As if they had been her friends. "If I am mad, it is because Starfleet abandoned me! " she stood and fired several shots, hitting two guards, as a phaser beam struck her. Thanks to her armor, she remained standing and continued to lay down a steady volume of fire. The phaser hits stung, but her armor were dissipating the shots well. The armor was state of the art in energy dampening technology that dissapated energy hits into a fraction of their desired damage.

"I don't know what the hell you're on about, but we haven't abandoned anyone, you idiot!" Jhu wasn't as good a shot as some more trained officers, but she popped off a well-aimed phaser blast at the apparently crazed younger officer. "Stop trying to shoot me!"

Jhu's shot hit struck Hayley center mass in her chest plate and dropped her to one knee. The hit stung like hell but anger kept her going as she stood back up and aimed her rifle. "Then stay still and I'll end you quickly. "

Just then, a phaser from a security guard ripped through her right shoulder as the phaser setting was switched to lethal. Haley dropped the rifle just as a beam from another officer struck her in the chest. Hayley only saw blackness before hitting the deck injured and stunned heavily.

Nathan jumped up and grabbed the officer who had switched his phaser to kill. "What the fuck do you think your doing?!"

He ripped the phaser from the man's hand and handed it to Ensign Johns. "Take him to the brig... it's my call if we are going to kill or stun, not your's!" He said with venom has he released the officer to the other then slapped his com badge. "Medical emergency in cargo bay two."

"She's wearing armor, hon." Still, her concern for Hayley's well-being won out over her desire to drag Nathan back home, and Jhu left her hiding place to check the other woman's pulse. "She's alive, armor took most of the blast, I think."

In the corridor, the other Hayley was on her way back from the gym with a towel thrown over her shoulder as she downed some water in her water bottle. She spotted some guards near the cargo bay doors. "So what's the fuss about, mates? "

The guards at the door eyes grew at seeing Hayley . One guard took a step inside the cargo bay. "Excuse me, commander, lieutenant, um, Lt. Collins is outside in the corridor," said the petty officer.

"No, she's not. She's--" Jhu looked at the doorway, seeing Hayley just beyond it in the corridor. Well that explains things. Rolling her eyes, she sat back on her heels. "Once we're sure this one's okay, we'll put her in the brig until we can sort this nonsense out."

[ON]

For the past several decades, M'rayr Eisovo was the only Caitian on board his previous assignments leading up to the Katana. And now, on board the Katana, there were not one, not two, but three other Caitians serving either as a Starfleet officer or in a civilian capacity. He'd already met one of the Caitian females, a stowaway called K'larri. Young, attractive even as far as M'rayr's eyes were concerned, she was spending much of her time enjoying the sophisticated jungle environments created inside the holodeck after he ended her internment. After Commander Maica made the suggestion that M'rayr consider visiting with the other Caitian female - (M'rayr had the distinct impression that she was still working on getting him to open up) -- he agreed, and made his way to the mess hall, which was the place the computer indicated she was.

The doors hissed open to either side of him, allowing the tall Caitian to step through. Considering the hour, he wasn't surprised that it was mostly empty except for a few officers on the far end, and a single noticeable Caitian, orange coat and yellow eyes, occupying a table nearest to the stars. His tail waggled lazily to the side as he studied her for a brief moment. Even sitting, he could tell that she was tall... maybe only a few inches shorter than he. She looked young, but not quite as young as K'larri perhaps.

Physically speaking, she certainly filled out more than the usual Caitian woman. Not that M'rayr had the curiosity or sense to notice.

He ordered a mug of Raktajino before heading over to join her. "Ms. Shusoe, I assume." M'rayr began, both announcing his presence and making sure that there wasn't an additional Caitian on board that he didn't know about yet. "My name is M'rayr," he said, keeping his last name out of the conversation lest she recognize it. The Eisovo tribe was well known back on Cait, but not for good reasons. "I am the first officer on board this vessel." He gestured towards the empty chair across from her. "May I join you?"

Gazing up at the one-eyed male Caitian, Dekusa took a moment to reply. It wasn't that she didn't know what to do, she was just out of it after all that had happened. Finally moving, she motioned to the seat M'rayr had motioned to before sliding the plate of sushi fish pieces between the 2 sears. "Please, feel free. And please call me Dekusa."

M'rayr nodded, scrunching his face into a loose approximation of a smile before sitting. He then realized that such niceties that he'd become so accustomed to imitating amongst non-Caitians were completely unnecessary; she could no more easily smile like humans did than he could. The sushi looked incredibly tempting, but he opted to stay with his Klingon coffee. "Dekusa," M'rayr replied, usually not using first names, particularly amongst Starfleet Officers or personnel. But she was a civilian, so protocol could be ignored for the time being. He took a sip from his mug of hot Raktajino. "Commander Maica suggested I meet with you, to see how your transition and recovery has progressed."

Picking up a piece of the sushi fish, Dekusa popped it into her mouth and chewed for a moment. "Is it destroyed? I wasn't on board that long so to my eyes, this is the same ship. I expect this will all be a very interesting story once all the facts are discovered. Tragic loss of life aside, there's almost nothing to show for the loss of the ship itself. By the way, Your Commander May-ka? She doesn't smell like an Orion. You know she's not what she appears to be, right?"

The barrage of statements and questions, relatively absent of emotion, startled M'rayr's insides, although he was too well schooled at concealing his emotions to let it show. Dekusa had expertly moved past the destruction of the Katana, the death of a stark majority of its crew, and entered into personal questions regarding Maica's origins and identity. Her response hardly reminded him of how Jennifer Matthews was handling recent events. Then again, Matthews was a Starfleet Officer and this woman was some sort of archive indexer. "Commander Maica," M'rayr began, emphasizing precisely how the Orion-bot's name was pronounced, "- is of artificial manifestation; she is an android. Not flesh and blood."

It didn't seem to register for a moment to Dekusa, the wheels in her mind spinning but not quite clicking together. "I see." She said simply. She'd have to figure that out later as well. "May I ask the origins of this ship then? I doubt Starfleet has a habit of clandestinely creating duplicates of all of it's ships in the case of a catastrophic disaster. Commander Maica tried to explain it and though I do have a science background, my duties as a chronicler have led me more towards writing. Hence, I didn't quite understand her." She wasn't dealing with the shock of the incident well at all, reverting back to the wordiness of her youth. She had barely even recognized that the male sitting across from her was Caitian at first. Hence why she once again sought out a line of questioning avoiding what had happened aboard the ship she was on.

"Indeed they do not," M'rayr agreed. But he was having some difficulty finding out exactly how to explain their present situation to Dekusa. He was an engineer, and by no means a scientist. The Caitian wondered exactly where Maica had begun and where she ended; it would help to know what sort of reference he was dealing with. He decided to move one step at a time. "Did Commander Maica explain to you that we are from a parallel universe?"

"She did," Dekusa said, gazing back out the window. "There was something about a failed borg engine, jumping through the time-space continuum from the gamma quadrant and you're from a parallel universe somehow. Not her words exactly, but I assumed that's what she meant. It's not a very efficient means of replicating ships, but who knows."

M'rayr took a long sip from his Raktajino. "You misunderstand our purpose for being here. We were intending to arrive in the Delta Quadrant of our universe; not to jump across space and time into yours." Exactly how circumstances had arranged themselves so that this Katana traveled across light years and time without being destroyed was still a question in his mind. "Our being here is an accident. Nevertheless, it was fortuitous, given that if not for our timely arrival, you and the rest of the surviving crew of the vessel you were on board would be dead by now."

"I personally doubt true accidents happen like that, but whatever. Thank you for being here." Dekusa picked up another piece of fish and popped it in her mouth, chewing thoughtfully for a moment. "So where does this leave you now? are you going to try to get back to your universe? It's unlikely you could reproduce the events that led to you being here in the first place..."

"Those are all answers that we have yet to determine answers for, unfortunately." M'rayr admitted. "For now, we will contact the Starfleet of this universe and inform them of our being here. Undoubtedly, Captain Kerouac will want to find a way to return this crew to our rightful place, but whether we can recreate the necessary variables to accomplish that has yet to be established by our Chief Engineer and Science Officer." M'rayr paused, finally reaching for a piece of sushi and chewing a part off. Even replicated, it was quite good.

"Fair enough. Mind if i start recording all of this for a novel? I'll need some limited access to reports and logs. I might even need to interview some of the responsible parties." Dekusa said as she looked back at M'rayr. "And what was your name again?"

M'rayr's brows furrowed. For a Caitian that was nearly killed less than 48 hours ago, Dekusa was certainly handling the matter with a detached curiosity. Perhaps it was her way of dealing with severe trauma; and who was he to judge her for it? There was also the matter that she was asking for his last name. Just yesterday, K'larri had done the same, and her response to hearing that he was part of a xenophobic and zealous tribe had been better than he might have expected. Then again, she also had a very valid point. What Eisovo would serve in Starfleet unless he (or she) did so in revolt of parental beliefs. "My name is M'rayr Eisovo," M'rayr said finally, not answering her first question.

"From the Eisovo tribe? My condolences on your tribe. The way they fell out of power during the Dominion war was a diplomatic tragedy." Dekusa said, bowing her head respectfully. In her universe, she knew them to have had a very different path from M'rayr's universe but she assumed they were the same out of habit.

"Then they have reaped what they sewn," M'rayr said, his tone dismissive after a moment. "I do not know what the Eisovo tribe's relationship with my predecessor was. I however have accepted my ties with them as severed for many decades now." With that M'rayr felt that his stay had been long enough. He stood up, but not before making a mental note to speak with Lia Grae about Dekusa. The woman seemed off, somehow. But he was not a therapist, and had no idea where to begin. "I am afraid I must leave; I have duties to attend to."

"It's been a pleasure meeting you," Dekusa said absently as she gazed out the window once again.

[OFF]