Jenni had found a moment to slip away from the chaos of the moment. She hadn't known R'tame, but after what the crew of Katana had gone through losing Commander Tonkin, she could easily imagine what they were experiencing now.

Even now, she knew she could not stray far from the Away Team as they picked up the pieces from the battle and dealt with the Evoran authorities as the 15,000 Remans were gathered up. At best, she maybe had ten minutes before Commander t'Dharvanek started to look for her. It had been one thing to deal with a planet in crisis, but a crisis caused by an outside party pretending to be gods...

She shook her head. It was simply unfair. A world of millions torn to shambles for 15,000 to create a new refuge.

Jenni navigated the rocky path. Few indicators remained to tell the uninformed that this had once been a park, a save haven where children played and wildlife roamed free. Today, it was eerily quiet. Trees had fallen and landmarks were ruined. Jenni stood in the middle, her phaser rifle still slung over her shoulder, as she slowly turned around, taking in a full scope of what remained.

It was then that she'd spotted someone bent over behind a fallen trunk. She heard no cries for help, though a strange sound was coming from there. All of the fallen flora did their best to obscure and distort the sound. Jenni took in a quick survey of the ground to be sure there weren't any dangerous obstacles before heading in the figure's direction. The terrain was too jagged to run, but Jenni did her best to rush over. As she did, the sound began to clear. It was not one of distress at all.

It was... joyful...

Jenni came to the fallen trunk to see that the hunched figure belonged to an Evoran. The figure glanced up, revealing an aged, wrinkled face. Both of her hands were on the ground, extracting a pile of dirt from the ground.

"Come!" the Evoran said in an aged, confident voice and waved Jenni over.

The lieutenant wasn't entirely shocked. The woman seemed not just okay, but in a chipper mood as well. Curiosity is what drew Jenni to adjust the rifle's strap to keep it in place as she approached the woman.

Before the human could say a word, the elder asked Jenni to join her on the ground. "Here," she said as her fragile hands held out a small package. "Sprinkle this in the hole. Not too heavy, and not too light either."

Jenni accepted the item with a quizzical look. "Okay..." she said with an awkward smile. Jenni then knelt on the ground, then did as she was told, gently sprinkling the contents into the hole. It took her less than thirty seconds for Jenni to empty the package. When she looked up, she saw that the elderly woman had stood and retrieved a small tree from a wheelbarrow. Before the human had a chance to think about how the Evoran had pushed a wheelbarrow along this dangerous terrain over a long distance, the woman had returned to the spot just in time for Jenni to reach up and help place the tree into the hole.

And, before Jenni had a chance to speak, the Evoran instructed Jenni to hold the tree steady with one hand and use the other to push dirt back into the hole. Jenni obeyed, listening as the woman once more began to sing in her joyous, but unintelligible tone.

"You see," said the woman, stopping her song to recognize Jenni's uninformed expression. She gestured to the destruction around them. "It is easy to mourn what is lost. Even the sun can not stay in the sky forever. Our lives are but a fleeting blink of the eye in this universe, and death is nothing but a gateway for new life to enter. Like this tree."

The Evoran scooped a handful of dirt from the nearby shrinking pile and patted it down on the mound rising from the hole. "They say Evora has been around for millennia. Imagine if even this dirt could talk and share the wisdom gleamed from those who have walked this path before. And this same dirt will nourish a new life, to build a new landscape for future generations." She patted Jenni's hands with a smile, then stood and returned to her wheelbarrow. Jenni smiled, watching her lift the handles and walk away, likely to plant the other trees she was ferrying.

Jenni looked at the tree that helped plant and smiled again. She thought of the fabled phoenix, a bird that was born only from fire and ash. Whether it wanted the destruction or not, she could only imagine what would rise from Evora as it stood again and what effect this species would have on the future to come.

She rose from her spot, taking a close look at the trunk beside her as she did. The tree was unlike anything she'd seen before, and the more she studied it, the more she thought of the old woman's words.

A thought struck her. Jenni swung the rifle around and adjusted the intensity and the beam width. Eyeing the measurements, Jenni cut off a good portion of a mangled limb that seemed to be the perfect width and length of a stringed instrument. She had grown quite fond of the violin loaned to her by Andy and Maica, but the more she played it, the more she moaned the loss of her prized possession. This would be the start of a new story, one that she hoped she could pass on to a new family some day.

After a few moments, Jenni tapped her badge to have the wood sample beamed to her quarters. When this was all over, she'd approach Maica and take her up on her offer to build a new violin.

As the limb dematerialized, her badge chirped. The engineering detail was requesting her presence once more to do a final check on the stabilizer. It was nearly time to pull out, and they had to be sure the systems were indeed functional.

"On my way," she replied. Jenni stood, slung the rifle over her shoulder, and began to walk back towards the site. Hopefully this was all the death and destruction she'd see today.

[ON]

Captain M'rayr Eisovo glanced at the solitary PaDD on his desk. Others, consisting of personnel reports and damage repair assessments, had already been inventoried and cataloged by M'rayr's yeoman. The one left behind was something that the Caitian hadn't been able to dismiss so easily. He'd been Captain of a Starship for less than 24 hours, and already had lost a man.

From a surface examination, R'tame Evoss's service record seemed exceptionally brief. The Katana had been his first assignment since graduating from the academy, and it seemed that Mr. Evoss had come with a few other academy graduates -- Paige Bennett, and Valerie Circe.

M'rayr couldn't deny the young Caitian's bravery. Despite being under heavy fire from Reman forces, the engineer remained dedicated to his duties, somehow managing to restore the geological stabilizer grid before an errant disrupter round struck him from behind. Whether that discharge had been deliberate, or perhaps even just lucky, investigators on the ground had failed to determine.

The Caitian heaved an audible and heavy sigh. Part of him should feel relief in knowing that it was just one. Given the amount of ferocity that the Reman commander, Lidano, had committed to the battle, that number could have been much higher.

A chime at his doorway indicated an arrival. Given the communication he’d received a few minutes earlier, announcing that the criminal known as Lidano had beamed on board and was under escort to the bridge, he could easily anticipate who was on the other side of that door. The rest of the Remans had been taken under Evoran guard, although they would eventually be transferred to Starfleet custody now that the Diligent and her escorts had arrived in orbit.

Steeling himself in a way he hadn’t in many years, M’rayr pushed down the anger and emotion bristling inside of him. Lidano was his captive, and her safety was assured under Federation protocols and principles. Harming her in any way would be in defiance of the institution that R’tame Evoss died protecting.

“Enter.”

When the doors parted, Jenni entered first, leading Lidano and the brig officer on watch, Ensign th'Dazzn. Jenni, carrying a PADD with some of the prelimary reports from Commander t'Dharvanek and the Away Team as to Evora's condition, stepped to the side to allow th'Dazzn to escort the Reman Commander to the edge of M'rayr's desk. She eyed M'rayr, noticing something was different about him in this moment. He seemed focused, yet something seemed off...

"Captain," Lidano said simply as she stood there with her hands secured behind her. She was amazed she and many of her people were still alive, though she didn't feel particularly thankful. After a failure like that, she expected death to come swiftly and seeing her people shackled once more wasn't helping her mood.

M'rayr had to swallow. He wanted to throw the PaDD towards her, accuse her of doing something incredibly foolish that not only killed a member of his crew, but several from hers as well. Somehow, the Caitian thought such an expression would fall upon deaf ears. Best to stick to the facts, he thought, interlacing his paws together.

"Lidano, you are accused of ordering and leading acts of terrorism against the Federation," M'rayr began, sounding as though he were reciting from some invisible script. "Your crew is accused of following those orders, to the letter --" his voice became more tense. "--which resulted in an act of genocide against the Evoran people, along with the death of a member of Starfleet. Whether you and your crew will be judged in Federation court, or expedited to the Romulan Republic for hearing and sentencing, will be determined at an appropriate time and place in the near future. Until then, you are in the custody of the United Federation of Planets."

That was all expected. Lidano did want to know one thing though. When they had the upper hand, this furry being had decided to take her and her people captive rather than kill them. This was unexpected. She figured that at the very least they would be put to work in mines - especially when she saw a report of a possible shuttle ion trail going to the planet after they had agreed not to go to the planet. "Why did you not kill us all when you had the chance?" she asked simply, not expecting a very reasonable answer.

A tension that began at M'rayr's chest made its way down to his arms. He closed his fists over the desk, reminded once again of the young Caitian laying in the ship's morgue. M'rayr couldn't even begin to calculate the scale of funeral arrangements taking place on Evora itself. Why? He asked himself. After what they'd done, did the Remans deserve imprisonment over a quick death? Surely it had been within his power and rights to accommodate their demise. After the atrocity committed on Evora, would the Federation council have even blinked an eye at fifteen thousand more dead?

"Our respective governments have been at odds for a century and a half, Lidano," M'rayr said, keeping his voice neutral despite how much he wanted to growl at her. "How many more must die before our misplaced suspicions of one another ends?"

"The Reman people have no government. If we can't trust the Romulans, what makes you think we would trust you?" Lidano replied defiantly. "You know nothing of our history if you ever thought we would give you a chance to trick us into slavery like they did."

"And you know nothing of ours," Jenni quickly interjected, crossing her arms in front of her as she stood at the side of the desk, almost between Lidano and M'rayr. "The Federation does not practice or endorse slavery. Never has and never will."

Keep things moving, M'rayr reminded himself. It would be too easy to slip on philosophy and debate, arguing how wrong Lidano was for doing what she'd done, and decrying the millions of lives that were lost. The fact was that it was taking everything he had to maintain a Captain's composure. "A Federation relief force is enroute and will enter the system within the hour. The San Jacinto will take you aboard for transport once they arrive. Do you have any questions?"

"Yes," Lidano said, leaning in closer to the furry CO. "What do you call Federation slavery?" she asked, right before biting down hard on one of her teeth, triggering a small explosive device in her neck. It wasn't enough to do any real harm to M'Rayr, but it was enough to completely decapitate Lidano, spraying chunks of the Reman woman all over the room.

The sound of Lidano's skull popping into a mess of gore was remarkably light. But M'rayr had been around enough explosions in the course of his life and career to know to put as much space between him and said source of explosion as possible. The Caitian had lifted himself out of his chair and backed into a wall as bits of Lidano's skull and brain matter showered him and the rest of his ready room. "What the hell was that?" He asked, his voice no longer a mask of calm, but more of surprise. He looked to Jenni. She didn't appear to be harmed, and the more M'rayr thought about it, the more he realized that if Lidano had intended to kill them... they'd be dead.

Jenni flinched as she was bombarded by burnt and bloodied flesh, halfway regretting the decision to accompany the security detail to the room. She'd thought she'd seen the worst when the Breen systematically hunted and executed the crew of her Katana, but this really took things to a new level. Jenni couldn't help but look at the body that had slumped on the Captain's desk. After a moment, she tapped her badge, "Matthews to Commander t'Dharvanek. Report to the Ready Room."

As Jenni finished talking, the ready room door flew open and Jhu bounded inside, her phaser already drawn and ready to be fired at... nothing. Instead of an intruder who'd thrown a grenade - which she'd expected when she heard the explosion from outside on the bridge - she found a headless Reman and two of her own close friends covered in goopy remains. Suicide bomb, she concluded, quietly putting her phaser away. Another security failure, and this one had nearly killed the Katana's commanding officer. With a rather spectacular end result that left her wondering just why she'd accepted the transfer into security. "Fire and Ice..." For a moment, further words failed her. She couldn't explain how Lidano had gotten an explosive past the security scans in the transporter, nor could she think of a suitable way to search the other Remans for such devices. "Are the two of you okay?"

"I've had better moments," Jenni remarked while her eyes remained fixed on the body. She did however, start to shake the bloodied flesh off of her PADD, and wondered if the underside of her sleeve would be enough to wipe the device clean.

"How did that device get past the screens during transport?" M'rayr demanded to know, looking pointedly to his executive officer and chief of security. Lidano was many things, but she had been his prisoner as well. And he'd failed to secure her safety.

Jhu gave M'rayr a somewhat incredulous look, not quite believing he expected her to know that out of thin air without an investigation. "When I know, you'll know. And I won't know until I know what type of device it was, where she had it hidden, what the transporter settings were, and who was on duty in the transporter room," she replied coolly, trying not to let M'rayr's growling rattle her. "This is as much an operations problem as it is security... I don't program the transporter. I can't program the transporter... it's beyond my expertise. However, you can be sure I will find out how this happened, and it won't happen again."

"You won't be alone," Jenni pressed, letting Jhu know that she'd help with the investigation. "Explosives are automatically detected and removed or deactivated by the transporter. This has to be more chemical than mechanical, like baking soda and vinegar."

M'ryar was angry. But he had to keep his demeanor calm. "Learn how this was accomplished, and ensure that the remainder of the Reman crew do not possess... similar implants. Coordinate with Doctor Piccoletti if necessary." One glance back to Jenni, M'rayr had hoped to discuss another matter with her once Lidano was back in the brig. But now there was this mess. Standing up and straightening his uniform, M'rayr said, "I want a report in one hour. Notify the remainder of the relief force, along with Evoran security, of this..." he gesticulated with one hand at Lidano's remains. "... security threat. The last thing we need is a FNN report revealing how more than 15,000 Remans were killed while in Federation custody."

After nodding to the Captain, Jenni looked to the XO and asked. "Should we start in Transporter room in five minutes?" She didn't want to outright say it, but walking around the ship for a few more hours while wearing the remains of a dead person was more gruesome than she could stomach right now.

"I might need more than five." With M'rayr's anger redirected at the event and not directly at her, Jhu's focus drifted to the remains of the Reman woman, and she immediately regretted looking directly at that carnage. "Go take a shower if you want one. If I beat you there, I'll wait."

"Sounds great," she remarked, looking once more at the deceased. Then, without waiting for dismissal, Jenni left the ready room, bound to at least change her clothes. A shower could wait until they knew for sure that the rest of the Remans were harmless.

Deciding that M'rayr's last comments served well enough as a dismissal, Jhu quickly followed Jenni out of the ready room. She couldn't bear the thought of spending more time near Lidano's body right now.

M'rayr watched his two officers leave, and then turned his head back towards the body. "A fool. From beginning to end. A fool."

Jenni had known she would be waiting for a long time.

The sun was beginning to set outside of the window, bathing M'rayr's quarters in a red hue. In spite of everything that the planet had seen, the view was magnificent, much better than the sunset she'd witnessed twice on New Sydney. Of course, the atmosphere there had been quite polluted and one had to venture far far away from any of the mining colonies to get the clearest air. There was something just so... pure about the Evoran landscape.

It was not the view that had brought Jenni to stand alone in her unexpected husband's quarters. Outside the window, Evora had begun to pick up the pieces and rebuild, choosing to not let disaster derail their future. If anything, this event would rally more Federation support for the new entrant and speed up the culture's integration.

But could the same be said for her and M'rayr. Just a few days ago, their sudden marriage came as a shock to both of them. It had been a big enough step to take a short visit to a Turush hotel, but leaping this far forward had scared both of them. Of course, neither of them had expected M'rayr to inherit the captaincy of Katana either.

Jenni had been the first to take a step back from the relationship after New Sydney. But it was only when she saw M'rayr take several large steps back of her own was when she realized that she didn't want to lose him. She'd lost her Katana and over a hundred crew, several of whom were good friends. She'd lost her mother and item that testified to her life, as well as most of her family. Like M'rayr, she'd become a wandering soul. If she took anything away from today was that wandering souls did not survive. R'tame's death, no matter untimely, again told her this ship, this crew was a family. It was time for her to embrace those around her, regardless of circumstance.

She had no plans for how this would go, other than waiting for as long as necessary for M'rayr to come home. Jenni had thought about picking up a bottle of Nepata wine or some other form of Nepata from Maica, but decided ultimately against it. Jenni had to show M'rayr that she respected him in all of this, and that included having this conversation without any sort of outside influence.

So, for now, she'd wait for him to arrive and enjoy the setting sun in the process.

So this is what a Captaincy is like, M’rayr thought as he crossed the corridor towards the one door on this entire ship he was looking for. The last thirty-two hours since the Federation Starship Katana landed on Evora for repairs had been arduous for every member of its crew on board. There had been no time to recover, or even to mourn; orders had come down from Starfleet Command mandating that, despite present circumstances, the Katana was still expected to reach her new area of operations, the Delta Quadrant, as quickly as possible. New situations were developing, and Starfleet needed every ship it could muster.

It was either find a way to make Katana space worthy, or be towed back to Earth, at which point who knew what would happen to this ship or its crew. The Katana was still an unspecified element to the Federation of this universe, and the recent actions of its senior officers and crew had been less than endearing to those back on Earth.

Certainly, there were a few within the Admiralty who would like nothing more to disband the Katana’s compliment of officers and enlisted personnel if given the chance…

M’rayr wouldn’t permit that to happen. He wouldn’t allow it. Not after everything they’d been through. So after assuring Starfleet Command that Katana would be able to return to its mission, he’d forgone a day and a half worth of rest or nourishment in favor of supervising repairs and generally becoming a superimposing vexation to the Katana’s Chief Engineer – Arivek Zhuri.

And now, finally, the Katana’s situation looked promising enough for the Caitian to take a step away and let the crew do their job.

Entering his personal quarters, M’rayr was still in the process of massaging a knot on his shoulder that had worked its way into his one good eye. With his free hand, he’d just begun to pull at the zipper of his uniform when he realized that he wasn’t quite as alone as he’d intended on being.

There in front of him, was the other half of M’rayr was feeling overwhelmed – Jennifer Matthews. His accidental mate. M’rayr’s body tensed, not knowing whether it wanted him to feel delighted or apprehensive at seeing her. The answer to that question probably depended on why she was here.

After a moment, he decided to point the conversation in a more… preferable direction.

“Repairs are moving along at a satisfactory rate,” he said tiredly, undoing his jacket and laying on a chair. His sleeves had ridden up enough during the process of doing so that the almost bare patch of his wrist where the Turush had drawn up an intricate tattoo that supposedly symbolized his bonding with Jenni. “Lieutenant Commander Zhuri believes we should be able to depart by this time tomorrow.”

Jenni continued to stare out the window, though she nodded at M'rayr's update. She'd been perfectly aware of the repair situation, having spent a fair amount of time with the Engineering team. Katana only carried so much replicator materials, and for the first time, Katana had to receive raw matter from others. The difference in universal constants had proved to be a challenge for the replicators, and Jenni had led the team to work out the conversion process. They'd made enough progress to replicate the materials that were needed, but there was still a long way to go before Katana could accept replacement parts directly from Starfleet sources.

Still, she wasn't surprised that he'd gone straight to professional matters. Looking down at her arms that were crossed in front of her, Jenni studied the exposed tattoo on her wrist. She'd studied it well over the last few days, even to the point of either debating it's removal or having it modified. No memory remained of its application, and it would be her fear of needles that prompted her to not look further into the matter.

"That's good," Jenni replied, believing it would be best to not stand in silence for prolonged periods of time. She turned to face him, noting the raised sleeve exposing his tattoo. His fur had begun to grown over the symbol of their union, and hopefully it meant nothing more than what was seen on the surface.

She could feel the tension in the room, and she knew she'd started it by waiting in his quarters without notice. And now that he was here, there was no better approach. "We need to talk."

That phrase rarely ever meant anything good, M'rayr thought. And it didn't take a Warp Theorist to know exactly what it was that Jenni wanted to talk about. M'rayr felt a little guilty when his first instinct was to grab out for any mundane or irrelevant topic of conversation. It was then that he realized, truly realized, just how desperate he was to avoid discussion of their relationship… and marriage.

“Very well,” he said, making sure to take a seat across from her, steeling himself.

With a subtle nod, Jenni looked down at the floor, then back at up M'rayr. She'd debated to join him at the table, but perhaps not just yet. For a brief moment, she'd considered small talk, but that opportunity had passed. Her move had already been made and now it was time to follow through. It would be easy to ask for his feelings, though he'd already made that clear. Instead, she adjusted her arms, revealing her branded wrist to her husband.

"I'm not ready for this," she said simply, lowering her arms to her sides.

Without giving him a moment to truly react or say anything, Jenni added, "I know this isn't what either of us wanted." She smiled, almost foolhardy. "And, if anyone had what they'd wanted, you'd be in the Delta Quadrant in another universe and I'd be dead or held prisoner in a Breen Internment Camp. Hot weather and I don't really agree, you know?" The smile evaporated and Jenni sighed. "I thought I'd be single all my life, content to work in an engine room for as long as Starfleet allowed. And then I met you."

Jenni's eyes locked with M'rayr's, hoping for a reaction, a reciprocation of love and emotion at least. "This ship, this crew, you... You all have changed my life in ways I never considered or thought possible. Andy, Jhu, Maica, Ari... Hell, even Hayley, though something is truly off there. But none of them mean to me what you do."

She looked down at her wrist and brushed the marking with the thumb from the opposite hand. In doing so, she walked over and sat beside him. Jenni didn't have to reach far to hold his paw, the one with the tattoo embedded just below. "I've learned these past few months that you cannot prepare for everything, nor will things go as planned." Gripping the paw tightly, Jenni declared, "I don't want to walk away. And I don't want to be pushed away either. Let's do this."

There was a weight behind M’rayr’s exhalation. He was usually quite so deliberate, not a single act made without clear and concise intent. Almost everything about this marriage disobeyed the man he’d trained himself to be. Perhaps that was why he was having so much difficulty forming his thoughts. He was, for lack of a better term, in alien territory.

There was still so little that M’rayr and Jenni truly knew about one another, so many things that, if they decided to push ahead with things, they’d be finding out. M’rayr would be lying to himself if he said that, had he the chance to go back in time and undue their untimely wedding, that he wouldn’t. Particularly now that he was shouldered with the heavy weight of command. But this is where the road had brought them, whether they liked it or not. Jenni had made her case. Despite everything, she still wanted to be with him. If he were to back away now, the chances of him losing her forever would be good.

Now, perhaps, it was better to try and fail, than not to try at all.

But…

“Our circumstances are different now, Jenni,” M’rayr began, realizing that his words were the exact opposite of what he’d intended on saying as an altered line of thought interjected itself. “I am not just your… husband, anymore. When I ordered you to Evora, I was worried for you. I pondered on whether or not I’d just sent my mate to her death.” M’rayr’s body language stiffened as feelings of loyalty and duty took precedence, and he sighed again, this time more heavily. “As a Caitian, I sinned for not being able to ensure your safety. And as a Starfleet Officer, I allowed my personal feelings for you to momentarily interfere with my obligation to this ship and crew. Whether it was for a fraction of a second, or for a minute, such hesitation has no place on the mind of a Starfleet Captain.”

M'rayr closed his eye. His heart pleaded with him to take everything he'd just said back.

Jenni sat there in disbelief. Surely he hadn't meant every word of that. "Do you think Andy and Maica don't worry about each other?" She almost fired off Nathan and Jhu's names, but given how that ended... "Every day I put on this uniform, I know perfectly well what I'm getting myself into. I've been in your shoes before, and I've seen firsthand what happens when bad choices are made. Katana's sitting on one of those right now. We swore an oath to uphold the ideals of the Federation no matter what. And as much as the day sucked that I lost my home and everything that defined me, I'd do it all again."

She kept her gaze trained on him, though he'd yet to open his eye. "You sent me down there because you knew you could count on me. You trusted me." Jenni squeezed his paw, hoping he'd hear her say Trust in us now.

Before Jenni even finished, M’rayr was already preparing his counter argument. Chief Carter does not fall directly Lieutenant Commander Maica in the chain of command, he thought. As soon as she’d finished, he opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it, having realized the rest of what she’d said.

“I do trust you," M’rayr admitted. He brought a paw and stroked her cheek. It was the first tangible act of affection he’d given her all night, let alone at any time within the past thirty-two hours. I am not so sure that I trust myself. He stopped, thinking hard on the ramifications of any choice he made. The best thing he could do for them would be to resign as Captain. The best thing he could do for this crew meant staying in that chair. Anything else left either her career, her safety, and the fate of the Katana, to chance.

It was as unfair a choice as any.

M’rayr sighed with a deep reverberation that started in his chest before working its way to his throat. A Caitian’s sigh. He squeezed her hand again, and then let go, putting a degree of space between them. When he looked at her finally, his eye seemed glazed over with guilt and apology. "And as my Chief of Operations, I will continue to trust you."

Jenni remained still, completely stunned by his words. She fought a sniffle as tears welled behind her eyes. The single stroke rippled through her body instantly, leaving it to crave more, but not as much as holding his paw. Perhaps this wasn't the best idea at all.

The lieutenant looked away, towards the window where the sun was nearly set, leaving a dim purple glow on the horizon. She reached up, wiping a tear away before it had the chance to slide down her cheek. When she looked back, Jenni read his face, seeing not just his guilt, but the wall that he was reinforcing. As anger surged within her, she could not help but feel guilty herself. She had been the first to withdraw in this relationship. He was only following her suit.

She opened her mouth, only to close it a moment later when words would not emerge. In an impulse, Jenni rose from the couch, crossed her arms and walked over to the window just in time for the last bit of sun to disappear beyond the mountain range in the distance. A moment later, she turned to see M'rayr a final time. "Then I'll... I'll see you on the bridge." Before he could speak, Jenni crossed the room and exited into the corridor.

"Then I'll... I'll see you on the bridge."

The human female departed swiftly, as though she hadn’t wanted to give the Caitian time to respond. Sha’ha’lobae noted the tears in her eyes, and remained motionless as she passed. Type III sentients such as humans rarely had the necessary perceptual training to detect skilled Vjeemoquor operatives of Sha’ha’lobae’s level. The Caitian, however, was a different matter. With increased auditory and olfactory nodes, it might be able to detect even a subtle disturbance.

Sha’ha’lobae flushed more pheromones into the room as an extra measure, directing the Caitian’s attention further and further away from where he stood next to the replicator.

The Katana’s crew also consisted of several telepaths as well as a few with cybernetic augmentations. The telepaths were easily fooled; Vjeemoquor operatives went through years of mental conditioning in order to keep their thoughts and emotions contained. Cybernetics, however, were a trickier affair.

The Caitian, already identified as the Katana’s Commanding Officer, was called M’rayr Eisovo. He’d only recently come to being command of the Intrepid-class starship, and if even a fraction of the reports being received by other operatives were true, he was still not comfortable with his new position. Tapping on a data slate, Sha’ha’lobae made additional notes relating to the Caitian’s troubled relationship with the Chief of Operations – Lieutenant Jennifer Matthews.

While the Vjeemoquor were hoping to resolve this matter non-violently, if it took force, Sha’ha’lobae would not hesitate.

Bridge to Captain Eisovo,

The transmission came from the Caitian’s comm-badge. The Caitian sighed audibly, looking as though exhaustion was starting to win in its fight. Sha’ha’lobae noticed how this exhaustion, perhaps even combined with hunger, was causing the Caitian’s fur to shed at an abnormal rate. Caitians were known to shed when stressed. Could his breakup with the human have exacerbated this even further?

Reluctantly, M’rayr tapped his comm-badge. “Eisovo here, go ahead.”

”You’re needed sir. The Evoran Minister of Resources has questions regarding the amount of replicator matter we’re requisitioning from the Valkyrie. He thinks those resources needs to go to the capital, first.”

The Caitian sighed again, this time inaudibly, as he massaged the area around his eye. Sha’ha’lobae made yet another note – the Caitian had a headache.

“I’m on my way,” the Caitian said before disappearing through the door.

Bright light filled her vision. The beeps and humming of nearby computers seemed low and soft. Was this death? Fear filled her as she bolted upright, screaming from the intense pain in her chest. No, she wasn't dead? She doubted that the dead could feel pain. No, she was alive as her vision cleared. She looked down at her blue surgical gown. But where was she? One glance at the nearby computers told her she wasn't on a Starfleet Vessel.

She saw a man rush in. "Looks like you're awake. How are you feeling?"

"Who are you?" Hayley asked, as the pain in her chest began to dull.

"I'm Steve Hanley, the medic on the Black Dagger."

"Wait...Black Dagger? Th--that's my counterpart's ship. Is she here?"

"No," replied the bolian from the hatchway to the medical bay as he entered. "Your ...other self, is on board the Katana. Posing as you."

"What? Are you kidding me? Why in bloody hell would she do that?" Hayley asked, wondering what her other self was doing. Surely the crew wouldn't have fallen for it.

Bolar shook his head. "After your apparent death, she felt you were an example of what she could have been, so she posed as you. We haven't been able to communicate with her as of yet."

"Well, that's all fine and dandy, but I want to get back to my ship, now," Hayley said sternly.

Bolar let out a sigh. He wished to be left out of this temporal universe crap. He never really understood it all nor did he care to. Yet, he missed his Hayley. This wasn't right. "I'll see about getting a message to our Hayley."

Korg entered the medical bay. "We have a message from the boss."

Bolar activated a nearby terminal. Hayley's image appeared a moment later. "Good to see you boss. We have a situation."

"What is it?"

"Your temporal double is alive...and wants back on her ship," Bolar reported.

Hayley's eyes widened at the news. She looked past Bolar and saw her other self looking at her. A part of her was glad to see her other self alive. She had had enough of Starfleet's ignorance on the Katana. "Good, bring her to the Katana, we'll get her aboard. Come in cloaked as there are alot of Starfleet vessels in the area."

Bolar nodded. "Will do. It will be good to have you back, boss."

"Likewise. Collins, out."

Bolar deactivated the console and turned to Korg. "Cloak the ship and head for the Katana."

Korg grunted and left the med bay quickly. Bolar turned and looked at Hayley. "As for you, you should rest. I will let you know when we arrive at the Katana's position."

Hayley only nodded. She been kidnapped, killed and revived and yet the crew of the Katana apparently were clueless. As Bolar and Hanley left the med bay, the only sounds coming from Hayley were muffled sobs as she buried her face in her hands.

During the battle with the Remans, Paige had waited anxiously in her quarters, pacing around the room. She hadn't heard much about what was going on with the away mission and still couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. She had said good bye to R'tame before he left but it had felt so final. Now that the battle was done, she quickly made her way to the shuttle bay so she could reassure herself that the unsettled feeling that had been haunting her all day was only a figment of her imagination.

No one in the shuttle was aware that Paige was there waiting for them, and when Jhu popped the airlock open she froze upon seeing the other woman there. Oh, hell. This is going to suck. Swallowing, she motioned for everyone else to head out, leaving her alone with Paige. This was a message she'd never wanted to give anyone, and after losing Nathan on Talos IV, she truly dreaded this moment. Ignoring the deafness on her left side and the insistent spinning sensation in her head, she quietly approached Paige, though she was unsure of how to begin this conversation.

Paige watched anxiously as person after person walked by her. Finally, she saw Jhu begin to walk toward her. Her heart began to thud in her chest and she felt the blood drain from her face. She frantically tried to peer around Jhu's approaching figure to find Rev. He had to be there. He was her best friend. As Jhu drew up in front of her, she instinctively took a step backward. Her eyes pleading with Jhu for news that was anything but what she knew in her heart to be true.

Jhu knew that look well by now, just from looking in the mirror. Seeing it on Paige now felt like a knife in her chest, but she brushed it aside and reached to steady Paige before the other woman's retreat could turn into any sort of stumbling or reeling fall. "Paige..." She paused, uncertain of the words she should use. It was no secret that Paige and R'tame had been close, and she knew that nothing anyone had said made any difference after losing Nathan. "I'm sorry. R'tame... I told him to get down, but you know better than anyone how dedicated he was. How lost he could get in his work, deaf to the outside world until the job was done. I... don't think he heard me." Elements, it hurt to admit that she hadn't made sure she had the young Caitian's attention. In all the shooting that had followed that shouted order, she'd lost track of where the fuzzy engineer - and everyone else for that matter - was.

Even though she knew it to be true, Paige couldn't accept that her best friend and then boyfriend wouldn't be coming back. Wouldn't be having dinner with her again. She shook her head. "No." Fighting to control her breath, she stopped and gripped Jhu's arm tightly before continuing in a shaky voice, "He promised. He's my best friend and he promised..." She trailed off.

"Sometimes promises can't be kept," Jhu said quietly, barely flinching as Paige's grip on her arm tightened. She knew all too well how Paige was feeling, and offering any resistance to what was keeping the other woman grounded would be counterproductive.

Paige kept her grip on Jhu's arm as she felt her legs buckle under her. She had lost the only person who truly understood her and accepted her exactly as she was and whom she loved. She had lost her only friend. As the realization hit her, she felt a sob from deep within her being and hurriedly tried to struggle upright. She did not want this here.

Already prepared for Paige to wobble or even fall, Jhu swiftly steadied her and gently escorted her out of the shuttlebay and a few meters down the corridor to a small, nearly hidden alcove where she knew a few chairs had been placed. It wasn't the most private place on the ship, but most of those alcoves were relatively unused, and she knew it was better than the open shuttlebay. "I'm sorry. I know how much it sucks."

Paige nodded and backhanded the tears that had begun to collect. She needed to pull herself together until she could get back to her quarters. But, of all the people on this ship, Jhu would be the person who did understand. She took a deep breath to steady herself. "Thank you," she said, meaning it for much more than kind words. "I can get back to my quarters." As she stood, she tried not to think of how empty they would always be now.

"Are you sure?" Jhu asked gently, letting go of Paige but ready to catch her if the other woman started to fall. She personally had struggled to return home after losing Nathan; there were still days when she had to talk herself into opening the door.

"I think I would rather be there than here. Or anywhere, really," she replied. Although she didn't particularly feel like being anywhere on the ship, her quarters were still the best option. "Thank you," Paige repeated, still meaning it as much as before.

"You're welcome. Take whatever time you need." Jhu gently squeezed Paige's arm, giving her a bit of a bittersweet smile. "You know where to find me if you want to talk."

Paige nodded and turned to walk back to her quarters. She struggled to keep the tears at bay but a few trickled down her face. She wrapped her arms around herself and trudged back to her quarters.

Captain M’rayr Eisovo had been putting it off for too long. Wandering along the outer section of deck five, nodding to passing crewmen, and afraid to visit sickbay was not a behavior that the crew of the Katana would expect from her Captain. But at the same time, M’rayr felt reluctant, afraid even. He knew that, once in sickbay, he’d face an unwelcomed reality.

Of each of the ships he served on prior to the Katana, M'rayr had known and experienced loss. Tremendous loss. The kind of loss, in fact, that would make most Starfleet and Caitian officers alike resign their commissions in search of a life of solitude. In fact, that had been exactly what M’rayr had done at one point. He resigned his provisional command from Starfleet and entered into service on board an independent freighter – the Last Bastion.

A fitting title, considering it had been M’rayr’s last place of refuge since the Dominion War…

Turning a section for the eleventh time, the Caitian heaved an inaudible sigh and forced his body to bend to his will. It was time. He knew it. Jhu t’Dharvanek knew it. Even the late Ensign R’tame Evoss likely knew it.

It was time to face the expressionless mask of a person who’d followed M’rayr’s orders to his death.

R’tame Evoss.

Pivoting on his heel, M’rayr made his way towards sickbay.

As busy as he was trying to update charts from the recent battle, Stefano still found time for a large class of iced coffee, a particular vice that he had never bothered to try to curb. Too many injuries. Too much fighting, he thought.

As busy as he was, he didn't notice the Sickbay doors open.

Having already had her hearing repaired by Stefano and a small team of nurses, Jhu's only remaining injury was to her psyche. That and a subtle - but obvious - limp she'd developed off her right leg. Again. They hadn't found any damage, but she was definitely sore, both physically and mentally.

R'tame was dead. And Jhu was pretty sure it was her fault. She'd yelled at him to get behind cover, but she hadn't actually made sure he followed the order. She knew now that he hadn't; Evora's tectonic stabilizing grid was working again, at the cost of the young Caitian's life. Thinking about that, she didn't quite meet M'rayr's eye as he came into sickbay, where she'd been waiting for him to arrive.

The large Caitian entered quietly, almost without making any noticeable sound past that of the doors closing behind him. His eye first went to the bio beds, many of which were still occupied by the injured and wounded. Thankfully, there'd only been one death. That by itself was a minor miracle. He looked to Jhu and noticed how she'd averted her gaze; no doubt, she was hurting. First, Nathan. Now this. He'd have to talk to her privately to see how she was coping. So looking to Stefano, M'rayr said, "Report, doctor."

Stefano had been Chief of Medical for less than 96 hours. This was one hell of a sink or swim moment for him.

He looked at the Katana's Captain. "I am sorry about Evoss. There wasn't anything we could have done." He paused, allowing for a moment of silence before continuing. "Otherwise, we can through this in good shape. Everyone is stable, and the three criticals were downgraded to fair and discharged, as were the serious cases."

M'rayr listened, absorbing everything the doctor was telling him. As grateful as he was that the Katana's death toll had not been higher, he didn't feel much like celebrating, nor would it be appropriate for him to here and now. “You did well in the performance of your duties,” M’rayr admitted, finding that appointing Piccoletti as the Katana’s Chief of Medical hadn’t been such a bad idea after all. “There are many people on board who have you to thank for their lives today.”

Stefano lowered his head. "I wish that things had been different; that we hadn't lost anyone. Also," he said, now raising his head to look the large feline Captain in the eye, "my staff deserves much of the credit. A skilled practitioner is only as good as the assistance he or she has."

"You all did well. And I appreciate that you took the time to fix my ear when you could have told me to wait." Jhu had been quiet thus far, waiting for M'rayr's gaze to fall on her and become accusatory. "I wish things had gone differently. R'tame... I knew he was the type to get lost in his work..."

He didn't have much to say on the issue. He hadn't known Ensign Evoss, but it was clear that the young officer had meant quite a bit to the crew. Stefano just nodded his head slightly.

M'rayr just listened. He knew that letting Stefano and Jhu talk would be good sounding boards. t'Dharvanek was already struggling with the death of Nathan, plus several others who either followed her into combat, into a fire, or worse. He'd need to keep an eye on her, maybe even talk with her to see how she was doing... even if conversation wasn't exactly well suited to him.

Tilting his neck slightly so as to look more towards Stefano, however, M'rayr was still undecided on how well his new CMO would be able to handle the pressure that came with the job. True, saving lives was a team effort shared across the entire medical staff. But it would be Stefano's job to focused that energy in the right ways. So far, with only one crewmember lost... one body whom Stefano hadn't had access to until almost an hour later... M'rayr felt that the odds were in Stefano's favor.

"Is there any thing that you or your team require, Mr. Piccoletti?" M'rayr asked.

"No, sir," Stefano responded, shaking his head. "Bringing Lieutenant Cadwell onboard got me staffed out. He's been a great help. If there was anything, it would be less belligerence so we don't have to risk losing someone. Again."

M'rayr tilted his head to the side in an agreeing expression. "I will see what I can do." As he said that though, he knew that he probably wouldn't be able to deliver even if he wanted to. Starfleet Command's orders taking the Katana into the Delta Quadrant emphasized a certain urgency.

"Unfortunately Captain, I don't think there is much you can about it," Piccoletti intoned. "And not for lack of desire or effort on your part."

M'rayr nodded. "Perhaps so." He changed his body posture, making it evident that he decided that this conversation was at its end and that it was time for the Katana's Captain and Executive officer to proceed to their duties. "Keep us apprised of your patients, Lieutenant. And let Commander t'Dharvanek know if you require any additional resources or materials. Your job is unlikely to get any easier."

He knew that Eisovo was a good man. But as much as the feline Captain might want to avoid conflict, Stefano knew that such things were often out of the hands of the good men. It was a sad reality, but one that he knew first hand.

Austin Cadwell used his fork to push around some mac n’ cheese noodles around the metallic plate that seemed standard for the mess hall replicator. It was late, which meant the mess hall was mostly empty. A nearly empty mess hall meant he also had the pick of seating. When he gabbed the cheesy comfort food form the replicator, he picked a spot facing the forward view ports. It was dark on Evora now, but the stars started to dim as dawn was approaching. It was actually a nice contrast to the dim mess hall.

Logically, he knew he should have been sleeping. He needed the rest, especially after the battle, but sleep eluded him like a stowaway mouse. His body was tired, but he was never one to lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling, praying for sleep to come. If he wasn’t sleeping, he needed to be productive. But, being bone tired had brought him to the mess hall as opposed to the gym. He didn’t need a treadmill this time, he needed good ole comfort food.

However, he didn’t find comfort in the food on his plate.

The mac n’ cheese was in word: horrible. He wasn’t entirely sure how the replicator could screw up such a simple dish, but it did. Maybe the problem was that he had become a foodie. He had always loved food, the textures, and flavors. He learned to cook, and to his surprise was quite good at it. Now that he cooked, replicated food just seemed… off. He knew replicators were good in a pinch, but a few months back he had decided to make his own meals as often as possible. However, often as possible didn’t really go as planned. That was the problem being an officer in Starfleet. One who wore the uniform was always on the go.

The Forester being a Sovereign-class vessel had seen a lot of situations that caused him to work more than his fair share of standard duty shifts. There were battles, plagues, hostage situations, first contact’s gone awry, and the list went on and on. There was also a lot of downtime, but not as much down time as one might think in a galaxy that was vast. That was the issue, the galaxy was vast, but that meant you could peek around the corner and get punched in the face by some alien species that got pissed at you for stepping gingerly over their boundary.

He chuckled at his own thought.

Dork, he thought to himself as the chuckling died down and a small smile crossed his lips.

But, despite his experience with Starfleet and with nursing, melancholy always followed a battle. It was like a piece of him was always left in a battle. He certainly didn’t feel like his whole self after one, especially when there were people who were lost. Wearing the uniform meant knowing the risks, you put on that uniform, you lived and died for it if needed. Sometimes, that choice was taken over for you. Though, not everything in life was a choice. There were just some things that were out of ones own control. Battles were a perfect example of that. Sometimes, they happened, no matter how hard the CO tried to avoid it. Not everyone’s intentions were the same after all. There were, truly, nasty people in the galaxy.

Austin found himself sighing, quite loudly actually, which drew a couple of annoyed stares from the other two patrons that sat in the little seating area on the starboard side of the mess hall. Not that he cared what others thought, he was comfortable enough in his own skin to not care. It wasn’t like he was some green, wide-eyed ensign who cared what those around him did.

Deciding the mac n’ cheese was a lost cause, he pushed the plate away from him. He leaned back in his chair, and folded his arms over his broad chest. His blue eyes stayed fixated on the horizon, the trees in the distance were swaying gently in the breeze. It made him long to get outside. He loved the outdoors, especially in the evenings when it was nicer out. It was at that moment he thought of Stefano Piccoletti. He wondered if the chief medical officer would be willing to spend some time with him off the Katana.

The two had their first date as it were, but circumstances had forced the two not to really get together outside of the confines of sickbay. There was the battle, which required treating multiple individuals, but after, there was still treatment, reports to write, and just generally allowing things to settle back into normalcy. It took longer than most people thought for a sickbay to just settle itself back down into normalcy.

Especially when there was loss.

But… the point he was trying to make - to himself nonetheless - was that he wanted to spend more time with Stef. Since that was the conclusion he came to, he made the decision to cook the other man dinner. He did, after all, promise to cook for Stef. Besides, it would be a more private setting, a setting in which they could talk and get to know each other outside of their duties in sickbay,

So, that was settled, he would ask Stef the next time he saw the CMO, which would be in a few hours when he reported for his duty shift. They would be discussing the post battle reports, which would give him the chance to ask Stef to dinner. Now he would just need to think of a menu, which would be harder than it sounded. In a way, he wanted something simple, but something that would show off his talent as well. He wasn’t all talk after all.

With all that decided, Austin continued to just sit there. Sleep wasn’t going to happen, so he just went with it. He would be fine, he certainly had gone without sleep before. This was nothing new. He continued to stare out the large forward viewports, he knew the sun would be rising soon, and with a new day brought new hope.

Austin smiled at that thought.

Running scared, blood had trickled from the open wound and was leaving a trail. It had less time than it even knew or could dare comprehend. The tip of the spear which had lodged itself nicely in between two of its ribs had been lavishly dipped with one of the most debilitating toxins from the huntress' home world. The hunt was on and Nascha had no intentions on allowing her competition win. She had found a fully mature wild targ, a male by the looks of it's dangling jewels as it ran off. She had nicked him good. The toxins of her spear's tip was slowing the wild creature down, turning a once champion hunter into Nascha's prey.

This was a great hunt, a competition composed of equal amounts of aggression and cleverness. At least that was her thought on the matter. She would keep her opinions to herself however. Klingons never did care for anyone telling them that their competitions could be won through means other than aggression and brute force. She had been out in the woods for 13 hours straight, resting only when absolutely necessary. All hunters were allowed a party of four to join them to assist them in hunting the wild targ. However, being the lone 'human' in the hunt, no Klingon dared risk humiliation by joining her. There were several Klingon hunting parties out there in the woods around her, dozens of Klingon warriors and yet she was all alone.

The grand prize for killing and bringing back the corps of the greatest kill was some cherished artifact of Kahless and of course the glory of a great victory. None of that mattered to her. No, Nascha would win this competition and earn the artifact and glory, but would probably just take the artifact to a Ferengi pawnshop the first chance she got and cashed it in for some latinum. At least then, she could buy something useful or at least more attractive than the gnarly face (or rather a poor artistic representation) of Kahless glowering down upon her at night if she kept the trophy on a shelf in her quarters.

She could hear the snarling of the savage beasts in the woods. Targs? No. The Targs only snarled when cornered and when they were preparing to attack. The Klingons were the snarling beasts that she heard, and for the love of Sto'Vo'Kor...she would never be able to forget the smell of these Klingons. A normal Klingon was bad enough, but these Klingons had been out in the humidity for thirteen hours without a drop of water, and who the hell knew when the last time they had a bath or shower was. She was guessing sometime between the life of Jonathan Archer and today, but some of them smelt like they hadn't cleaned since the 18th century.

“All the modern advancements in the world these days and the one thing the Klingons avoid is a damn good soap or body wash” she muttered to herself. She shook her head and sighed. And I thought my people were absurd for trying to hold onto traditions she thought as she crouched down to the earthy ground beneath her feet and scooped up some soil. She played with it in her hand. It was not as dry as the soil should have been given the last good rain was over two weeks prior to her arrival. The soil was moist, but not from rain. Her hands were reddened. “Blood” she whispered with a confident look on her face. I knew I hit that targ thought the woman as she observed her surroundings and examined them closer.

She had adorned the hides of many Mugato in her day, ever since her first kill at age eight. In fact, it was her skills as an exceptional tracker and hunter of Mugato that had placed her in this position...tracking a wounded targ. Her spear tip was already poisonous, it was a large Mugato fang. She had further increased the toxicity by dipping it in a highly toxic mixture. She continued to track the creature's bloody trail for another half a mile until she came upon the creature. It was taking its last few breaths. It looked up at her and in a brief exchange, Nascha thanked the animal for its life and promised that it had been a worthy advisary to her. After she took it back to the judges, she would feed the Klingon village and use the targ's bones to make tools and weapons, and perhaps some jewelry for herself. She may have been a hunter, a warrior, and even a bit of spiritualist, but she was also a 'girly girl' when it came to looking good. “Huntress by day...Glamorous by night” she told herself with a small chuckle as she thought about how she was going to carry the large targ back on her own.

Shira fluttered shyly into Sickbay. She had a prenatal appointment scheduled, but she had been informed that Dr. Cohen had left the ship. Nervous about seeing a new doctor, she looked around hoping to see the familiar face of Dr. Hansen, but he did not seem to be about. A nurse guided her over to a biobed and left her to wait for the doctor to come around.

"Good afternoon," Stef said as he entered the ward and approached the biobed. "I'm Lieutenant Piccoletti." He smiled at the small woman. "What brings you here today?"

"I am here for a check up," Shira said with a shy smile. "The other doctor told me I had to come back from time to time to make sure everything is okay with the baby," she explained awkwardly, her speech pattern indicating that English was not her primary language.

"I see," he responded. He picked up a tricorder and opened it. "A couple of quick scans first," he explained. The tricorder made a few noises as he performed the scans. It only took about 30 seconds. He reviewed the results. "Let me bring up your records. Hold on a moment." Using the tricorder, he activated the wall display behind the biobed. He created a side-by-side of the new scan and the previous ones.

"If you look here," he began, "you'll see that things are progressing. Honestly, given your uniqueness, it is hard for me to say if this is normal progression or not. But neither you or your baby seem to be suffering from any maladies."

Shira looked at the display with a sense of wonder. She was still new to all this technology, so just the idea that he could know so much about her baby was simply amazing to her. She smiled as her wings lifted her off the biobed and brought her closer to the display. "This is my baby?" she asked, touching the small bean-like image displayed on the screen. It was far too soon for a heartbeat to be present, but just seeing image made it all that much more real to her.

Stefano smiled at Shira's fascination. "It is. As you can see, it is still quite small." Realizing that could be misunderstood, he followed up with, "Which is totally normal at this point." He watched the small woman flutter in front of the wall display. "Do you have any questions? I'll do the best I can to answer, but given how little we understand about you, I might not have a concrete answer for everything."

"What is concrete?" Shira asked, though she seemed to have an understanding that he was trying to convey that he may not have answers to her questions. "Actually, I wanted to know if you have any questions. My people do not reproduce like yours do, so I do not want anyone to be surprised."

Stefano suppressed a chuckle at Shira's confusion about concrete. It was then that he realized that he didn't know much about concrete either. "Very good of you to ask. I don't have any specific questions, but I am interested in any information that you think would be good for me to know."

"Your women carry their young inside for a long time, all of the time the baby needs. But not my kind. The baby stays inside for a time, then sleeps in a pod I am growing in hydroponics," Shira explained. "I am still getting used to the way you tell time, it is... 6 months? And then 6 more in the pod the baby needs. And the pod requires much attention, I cannot be far from it in case it needs care."

"Very interesting," Piccoletti said in response, the fingers of his left hand slowly stroking his beard. "Will the pod need continued outside attention, medical or otherwise, or will you be able to tend to its needs yourself?"

"The pod is like any other plant, it needs light and water. Anyone can see to this, but there are some things only I can do," Shira explained as best she could. And of course she knew its needs and how to keep it healthy where others didn't, but she planned to leave notes for anyone who might be helping out in hydroponics. "Verak said I should ask if it was okay to grow the pod in hydroponics before doing it, but I did not know this when I planted it. I can start a new one in here, but hydroponics has better light and humidity." It was clear she was very concerned about this detail; this was for her baby after all, she wanted what was best for it, but she also did not want to break any rules or upset anyone. She looked practically wilted, it was bothering her so much. "And I have it growing symbiotically with an apple tree to make it stronger; it will weaken the tree so it will not produce as much fruit. I do not want to deprive the crew of real fruit, but I do not have much of a choice, I do not know if I am strong enough to help my baby survive without my Forest or the help of my people."

He tapped a series of controls on a PADD. "There. I just put a note in a file that the Chief Medical Officer has granted you permission to use whatever space you need in hydroponics. I've forwarded it to the Captain as well."

Shira looked at him with a grateful smile. "Oh thank you!" she said excitedly. It really had been a big worry since Verak had mentioned permission, but now that was one less thing for her to worry about! "Is there anything else you would like to know?" she asked.

"As long as you continue to come in regularly, and fill me in important information when you do, I'm confident that you can handle this yourself. Is there anything else you think I should know?"

"I cannot think of anything important right now," Shira said, taking one more look at the image of her baby. Her heart was thumping wildly in her chest with excitement. "Thank you so much for being...." she had to pause to think of the right word, "accommodating. I am appreciative and grateful."

He smiled at the petite woman. "And I am grateful that you are willing to entrust me with your care," he said with a slight bow.

Jenni purposely chose not to take long to change. If this had involved only one Reman, she'd might have taken the liberty. However, with 15,000 Remans in captivity, there was no telling what else could be in store. Even if they possessed only enough firepower to terminate their own lives, she'd heard of situations where a single individual had turned himself into a walking bomb, just waiting for the right catalyst to destroy both himself and his surroundings.

With as much turmoil as Evora had just experienced, the last thing anyone wanted was to explain the deaths of 15,000 Remans.

The turbolift came to a stop just as Jenni finished zippering her uniform jacket. Pulling her hair back into a clip at the back of her head, Jenni exited the lift and soon found her way into the transporter room.

Having arrived only a minute or two before, Jhu looked up from where she was sitting on the edge of the transporter pad when she heard the door open. Seeing that it was Jenni, she got up, though she left her own uniform jacket open and hanging loosely. Despite switching to an 'early maternity' jacket, it was far too tight across her subtly rounded belly and now that she was off the bridge, she had no intention of closing it again.

"Commander," Jenni greeted with a smile, choosing not to address her senior officer by name as the transporter chief was already present. As she stood between the poor enlisted man and the pregnant hybrid, she could tell that not a single occupant in the room wanted to be there. Still, she stepped over to be within close earshot of Jhu as asked in a soft voice, "Are you okay?"

"Fine, just really lightheaded. And I can't get that image out of my head." That was unusual for Jhu, getting stuck on an image like that. Blood and gore didn't typically bother her, so she assumed it was because of the baby.

"At least you didn't watch it happen," Jenni countered, perfectly aware there were still bits on the Reman leader in her hair.

"I heard it happen and saw the aftermath. That is quite enough for me right now." Spying Reman blood streaked through Jennie's hair, Jhu looked away from her. "Let's focus on what we're doing here. Keep reminding me about the crazy suicide bomber, and I might hurl."

With that, Jenni promptly turned to face the Transporter Operator. "Petty Officer th'Dzoe," she addressed the Andorian behind the console. "When you beamed the Reman Commander aboard, did you notice anything out of the ordinary?"

The PO2 behind the console shook his head. "Biofilters and weapon scans showed negative. She was perfectly unarmed and harmless."

"Harmless?!" If looks could kill, the petty officer would be a spot on the wall with how Jhu looked at him. "Does her head exploding next to your commanding officer sound harmless to you?"

He calmly shook his head. "The scans did not detect anything. It's not possible for her head to explode."

Jenni took down her hair and pushed it into his view. "It's certainly possible, Petty Officer. This is our guest now."

The Andorian returned a quizzical look. "That can't be possible."

"Well it is," Jhu growled, glancing away from the bits of Reman gore in Jenni's hair. "I'd offer to show you the security footage, but frankly I don't think my stomach can handle that. Either help us figure it out or get the hell out of our way."

The Andorian considered both women for a moment. He tapped a couple buttons on the console to lock the panel as it was standard procedure before stepping away even though he knew either one would override it the moment they stepped around and withdrew from his station.

"Thank you," Jenni said, sliding around and entering her access code to unlock the panel. Within a moment, she pulled up the readouts from Lidano's transport. "Bioscans, material scans, buffer redundancies..." she said, skimming through the data. "Everything checks out. Any idea where to start for chemicals?" she asked the Commander.

"Not a clue on the actual chemicals, but I have an idea for the delivery device." Joining Jenni behind the console, Jhu tapped in search parameters for a capsule with two chambers. "Assuming we're only looking for two chemicals, if we find a fake tooth or imbedded capsule with a fragile center wall that would break under pressure..."

Jenni scanned through the data and began to cross reference with known Reman biology. "These levels here," Jenni said, looking at some trace chemicals, "seem to be highly elevated. I didn't think this was lethal even in this dosage."

"I don't know enough about Remans to say for sure, but I do know those chemicals shouldn't explode even when mixed together." Jhu might not have come up through security, but she'd done enough research to know explosive compounds by now. Before she continued, the console beeped, popping up a scanned image of a false tooth with two chambers. "No reading on what was in it, but I think I found how she got it on board."

"This might do it," Jenni said, finding something unusual in the tooth's readouts. "The tooth is lined with a thin metallic compound, like a bad cavity filling. That could have been the catalyst when it punched through the tooth and the chemicals."

"Could also explain why scans didn't pick up what the chemical is. It's blocked the signal, kind of like how kelbonite blocks transporters." For all Jhu knew, it could be a kelbonite alloy. The stuff only registered as 'metallic compound' with no details.

"I don't think we're going to learn too much more here," Jenni said, taking a final look at the scan. "Not without repeating the scan at a higher intensity which, well, isn't possible anymore." Sighing, she said, "I'll have Andi whip up some modifications to the sensor grid to target kelbonite and these chemicals. If there's any more in the Reman camp, we'll find it."

"Yeah, that should work. Andy knows her stuff. I have a meeting with Whiskers in ten minutes anyway." It wasn't a meeting that Jhu was particularly looking forward to, but that didn't mean she was going to try skipping it.

"Sounds good," Jenni said, logging off of the console, mentally groaning at the Captain's nickname. She'd be fine not hearing it for a while, though her follow up on this would eventually run her back to the bridge and yet again near his presence. "I'll let you know if we find anything."

Austin rolled up the sleeves of his plaid button down shirt. He took a hold of the navy blue apron he kept on a hook and slipped it over his, and then took a hold of the apron strings and tied them around his slim waist. A smile crossed his lips as he looked at the man who sat on the other side of the counter. “I’m glad we can do this again,” he said to Stefano Piccoletti. They already had their first date, but due to circumstances, weren’t able to schedule a second date… until now. “And as promised, I am going to cook for you.”

"I've been looking forward to this," Stef said with a smile. Ever since hosting the Katana's head nurse for dinner, the Italian Chief Medical Officer had found his mind wandering to thoughts of Austin Cadwell. Cadwell's sparkling blue eyes had been permanently emblazoned upon his memory. Sitting now in Austin's quarters, Stef watched him begin to cook dinner for the two of them. He admired Austin's exposed forearms, the muscles defined and strong. "What's on the menu? Or do I have to guess?"

Reaching for a medium sized pot, Austin smirked. "I could make you guess," he said, "but that might be unfair." He filled the pot with water, and set it on the stove top. His kitchen set up wasn't fancy, it was small really but efficient. It cut into his dining space a bit, but it was well worth it. From under the counter, he drew from a metal shelf a container of orzo. When he was transferred on board, he had several cargo containers full food items that had not been replicated. The orzo that he was now going to cook up was one such item. "I just hope you like grilled tilapia, as much as I do." Which he really did hope. It took him a couple of days to decide on a menu, he wanted something filling but light.

For a moment he paused as he kept his gaze on Stefano. "Has anyone ever told you that you have an amazing smile?" Austin almost chided himself for such a cheesy comment, but how could it be cheesy if it was true.

He was certain his cheeks were flushed. An involuntary smile forced its way onto his abashed face. "You don't need to say that," Stef replied sheepishly.

"Why?" Austin queried. He measured out the amount of orzo he needed and dumped it into the boiling water. "You do have an amazing smile, Stef. Why shouldn't you be complimented on it?" He took out the ingredients for the lemon basil vinaigrette, he began to whisk when he said, "Oh and by the way, the blushing? It's adorable."

This just made Stefano more embarrassed, and, therefore, his blushing deepened. He had never taken compliments very well. It stemmed from long-standing self-esteem issues. He attempted to change the subject, hoping to avoid further conversation about himself. "Tilapia sounds good."

Austin nodded at the statement. The hint was loud and clear, change the topic, though he hoped that Stef would eventually take the compliments he was given. Stefano was attractive with an amazing smile, but he was so much more than that: he was kind, compassionate, hard-working, but he seemed to have been hurt deeply in his past. Stef just needed to realize how wonderful of a man he truly was, and Austin hoped he could help Stef with that. He took out the tilapia from the refrigeration unit and poured the vinaigrette over the white fish. Everything started to come together, and the flavors of lemon and basil filled the air. He put his hands into the bowl and moved the fish fillets around to get them nice and coated. "I just hope you like it, I wouldn't want to lose you... to another chef." He winked.

"Little chance of that happening," Piccoletti retorted. In just the short time since Austin had come aboard, Stef had been drawn to the good-looking Cadwell. The man's gentle strength, his tenderness, those eyes... But he was hesitant to let himself get too invested. He didn't want to get hurt again. "Where did you learn to cook?"

"Self taught," Austin answered. He cleaned up his hands, and picked up a pair of tongs. "Despite the healthy lifestyle I insist upon myself, I've always liked food. I've always liked everything about it, the taste, the flavors, the textures, presentation, and well... the list goes on and on. So, instead of admiring others for the talent, I decided to pick it up as a hobby. I thought for sure I would stumble with it, I mean if you think about it, we live in a society that has replicators," as he spoke, he picked up each tilapia fillet and laid it gently on the grill pan, "but I found I have a natural talent for it. Or as natural as someone who isn't trained in it." He laid the last fillet down onto the pain, it would only take a mere few minutes to grill the white fish. "Now, I try to cook whenever possible, though being on a starship makes that difficult most times."

As the fish grilled, he grabbed a couple of plates and placed them on the small counter. "Maybe we could cook together sometime," he added.

"I wouldn't want to insult you with how bad my cooking is. It is rather embarrassing," Stef admitted. "I come from a family of great cooks, but I have none of their skill in the kitchen." His voice trailed off. "Can I ask you a question?"

Austin nodded. "Sure, anything," he replied.

"I think I'm getting certain vibes from you, but I've been wrong about such things before. Is there something between us?"

He didn't even hesitant, and said simply, "Yes." Austin went to flip over the fish, the grill marks were perfect. Grabbing a hot pad, he took a hold of the handle of the pot that contained the orzo, and began to strain it into a strainer that sat in a small sink. He set the pot on the counter, took a hold of the strainer to shake the excess water. "You aren't wrong," he said smiling, "you are definitely getting vibes from me." From the refrigeration unit he pulled out a bowl full of mixed greens. "I really like you, Stef, and I know we haven't known each other that long but sometimes," he shrugged, "you just know these things right off the bat." Which was the truth for Austin, the moment he stepped into Stefano's office it felt like a brick to the head. He remembered the moment clearly, it was a memory he would never forget. It was the first time, in a long time, that he felt that little flutter in his stomach when he found he liked someone.

Stefano was relieved. He often misread people's behaviors and saw them as romantic cues. He was, in his core, a hopeless romantic. As a result, his heart tended to rush into relationships. Sometimes it worked out. Other times it did not. Since his last relationship had ended several years previous, he had sworn off dating for a while. An occasional one-nighter was the limit of his love life. He filled up his free time with platonic friends, more education, and hobbies.

Then Austin Cadwell had walked into his office. Since that moment, Stefano had felt a strong pull towards the fit blond man whose quarters he was now in.

"I'm glad that I wasn't wrong," Stef said softly. "What I mean is, I like you too. I was attracted to you when you first walked into my office. But I've learned to tread lightly, lest I end up hurt. I'm sorry."

Shaking his head, Austin said, "There is no need to be sorry, Stef." He picked up a plate, heaped a pile or orzo on it, and laid the tilapia gently over the orzo, and followed the same procedure for the second plate. "I completely understand, more than you know," he picked up the other plate, rounded the counter and set them both down on the table. He grabbed the salad bowl next and placed that on the table as well. He removed his apron and laid it on the small counter. "Dinner is served." He picked up the wine bottle and began to uncork it.

He picked up a fork and used the side of it to cut a piece off of his tilapia filet. He scooped it up with his fork, getting some of the orzo also, and placed it in his mouth. His lips wrapped over the metallic tines of the utensil and and pulled the fork from his mouth, the food remaining behind. He let the flavors rest on his tongue, just long enough to get a sense for the perfection of the seasoning. He savored the morsel.

"Austin, this is amazing," Stef said, his first bite resting comfortably in his stomach.

After the white wine was poured, Austin settled himself across from Stef. The table wasn't a large one, so there wasn't a huge table gap between the two. At the compliment, Austin found himself smiling. "Thank you, I'm glad you like it," he said. He took his first bite, and savored it for a few extra moments. He didn't want to toot his own horn, but the fish was amazing.

Stefano watched the other man eat. He found Austin to be a breath of fresh air, which he so desperately needed in his personal life.

"So," he started, using the edge of his fork to cut off another piece of fish, "where do we go from here?" He placed the morsel of food in his mouth and chewed.

"I know it's important to take things slow," Austin said, "but for me at least, I'd like to be exclusive with you. I would like to see where things go." He knew it was only the second date, but his gut was telling him that the man who sat across from him was someone very special. "With that said, we can take things as slow, or as fast as you like Stef."

"I appreciate that," the Italian man replied softly. He was unsure of what to tell Austin. Ever since his last relationship ended, Stefano had been very hesitant to connect with someone romantically. Now that he'd found someone who reciprocated his feelings, he was having trouble opening up. "I...I'm afraid of being vulnerable," he admitted after several quiet minutes. "I'm sorry if I make this a slow and difficult process."

"Stef," Austin got up from his chair, and moved to the chair that was adjacent to the other man. He reached out, a hand laying gently on Stefano's forearm. The touch was tender. "Stef, you don't need to be sorry or apologize or anything like that," he said, "it's okay to be vulnerable, and it's okay to be cautious and take things slow." His hand moved to Stef's hand, and he grasped it. "I will never push, I will never judge, I will never play games with your emotions. Whatever you need, or want, I will try my damndest to get it for you." He squeezed Stef's hand gently. "I promise you."

Arivek Zhuri found himself standing on the second floor of Main Engineering, a large PADD in his hand that listed the current list of repairs in progress. He mentally ticked off the damage he knew of and sighed as he realized they were less than a quarter through the work that had to be done. As much as he wanted to push his team to work faster, he knew that rushed work led to mistakes. And when it came to a ship's hardware, mistakes were often deadly.

The PADD dinged as another repair ticket entered the queue. He tapped the notification and saw that it was a request for a calibration of a sonic shower. Without a word, he deleted the request and continued with what he was doing before. The entire department was working as hard as they could and most were pulling double shifts to help as much as they could. He wouldn't disrespect their efforts by allowing such a frivolous request to be taken seriously. When the ship was functioning to standards, then he would allow such repairs to be considered.

He looked up, scrunching his forehead as he looked to his right. From the corner of his eye, he could have sworn he saw someone walking towards him. But now it was obvious he was still alone. Shrugging it off, he locked the PADD's interface and slid it into the pocket of his uniform jacket as he walked over to the ladder and slid down to the first floor.

Jenni had entered Main Engineering a moment ago. After an unfortunate experience on the holodeck and not wanting to spend her single "off" shift drowning her sorrows in bed, Jenni had elected to make herself useful. Perhaps if Katana got off the ground earlier, the sooner she'd be able to put this nightmare behind her.

What she hadn't expected was the blue-skinned Chief Engineer using the ladder like a fireman sliding down a pole. Especially since it happened right in front of her, nearly knocking her off balance. It didn't stop her, however, from jumping with a tiny yelp.

"Sorry about that, Jen," Arivek stated, putting a hand on her shoulder to make sure she was stable. "You ok?"

Jenni shrugged it off. "It's been a hell of a day," she stated. "Don't suppose you could use an extra pair of hands down here, could you?"

"I could use twelve," he stated, walking past the woman and towards the console he was aiming for earlier. "The list of repairs continues to grow and my team is working as hard as they can. Unfortunately, I can't work them more than just double shifts."

"I'll shift some Operations assets your way," Jenni offered. The Operations staff was small, but at this point, every little bit counted. "And I don't mind pitching in either. Just give me a screwdriver and point me in a direction."

Arivek laughed, "I appreciate the help but if you come near my ship with that ancient device I might throw a hissy fit."

"Oh?" Jenni said with a smile. Her depressed mind was now considering walking over to a replicator just to have one made. "Depends on the screwdriver though. I hear there are ones that buzz and can do just about anything your mind can think of. Well, anything but build a cabinet."

The hologram's eyes squinted in suspicion. "Can do anything?" he asked, unsure of what the woman was talking about.

"Sounds like science fiction, I know. And, it is." Jenni kept her smile bright. "Seriously though, what can I help with? The Warp Nacelle still giving you trouble?"

"So far the nacelle is staying powered," Arivek stated as he pulled off the front panel from he console he was at. "I threatened that I would replace it with a new one if it couldn't do it's job. Luckily it's started working. But now the EPS relays keep trying to overload and I can't figure out why. I keep reloading the stabilizing algorithms to keep them from blowing, but it seems to be a temporary fix." He looked at the woman, "Honestly what I need most is just an ear to bounce ideas off of. My crew is taking care of the dirty work, as long as I can figure out what needs to be fixed."

"That I can do," Jenni said, crossing her arms in front of her. "Fire away."

The hologram picked up a cylindrical tool and began to wave it slowly over a conduit under the console. "So my first thought was that the relay had a critical error in the markup code. But after the first algorithm reload, it kept happening. So my next thought was that one of the ship systems was overloading the circuits. So we first tried to move all non-essential systems to the secondary relay system, but it happened again. The next day we moved all ship systems to the secondary relay system, and yet again." Arivek sighed in frustration. "So we know the issue is with the relay system itself, but I can't figure out why it's happening. It's like the system wants to overload."

"Is there a particular instance where the relay begin to overload?" Jenni asked, taking a look at the readouts for herself. "Say, a couple hours into the system reset? Or is there some sort of positron imbalance that could be slowly building over time?"

"So I thought about an imbalance, but I don't see any evidence to support that," Ari said as he stood up to look at the readings with her. "What's most baffling is that it happens at exactly the same time every day. 1324 hours."

"1324 hours?" Jenni thought about that for a moment. "Nothing happens in automation cycles that I know of from 1300 to 1430. You sure no one's tampering with this?"

"That's why I'm so confused!" Arivek stated, throwing up his hands in frustration. He looks around, realizing he was louder than he meant to be. "And there's nothing in the logs that suggest tampering. I've picked through every bit of data and they're clean."

Jenni stared at the readouts for a moment. "Maybe it's not tampering," she muttered. Her fingers began to fly across the console, checking and cross checking various systems. "Yesterday, I heard that the sensor array had a slight glitch, a minor phase variance. Caused me an extra two hours of work last night to get it all back into alignment." The computer beeped as it spat out the results of her diagnostic.

"Right there," Jenni said, overlapping the timeframes of the phase variance and the beginning of the overload. "1324 hours. Same time."

Arivek stared at the data, dumbfounded. "How long has the phase variance been occurring?" he asked. "This is too coincidental to be random. But now we have to figure out which one is causing which."

"Since we landed on Evora," Jenni replied. "Not long enough to be a bother, but enough to say something could be wrong."

"Exactly the same as the EPS system."

Jenni looked up at the blue engineer, caution echoing in her eyes. "We didn't pick up any strays in orbit, did we?" Even before Arivek had a chance to answer, Jenni began thinking of possible boarding and sabotage scenarios. This certainly was no coincidence. "Could there be a Reman lurking about making contact to a higher power?"

If Arivek had a real stomach, it would have turned over. Though his holographic version did a fine job at producing the same pain. "The internal sensors aren't considered a essential system. They've been glitchy lately, producing weird error logs. Right now, I have them being dumped into a folder for me to look at when I have time..." Arivek began to walk towards his office, which sat near the entrance of Main Engineering. "Maybe they aren't errors at all? I read the first few and didn't see anything alarming, but that doesn't mean that this isn't sabotage as well."

"Could also be a ghost," Jenni joked with a shrug as she followed him into the office. "If a Reman was aboard, he couldn't stay hidden for long. Not with these repairs going on and security moving about whenever the Evorans were near." Sighing, she added, "The more I think about it, the more absurd this gets."

"Do you have any other ideas?" Arivek asked, raising his eyebrows as he pulled up the error logs. He scrunched his lips as he looked at them. Nothing seemed to point to intruders.

"We could always set a trap," Jenni suggested, taking a look over his shoulder at the logs as well. "These glitches, whatever they are, are like clockwork. We need to let the next one happen and watch it closely."

"I like the way you think, Matthews," Arivek stated as he leaned back in the chair. "What did you have in mind?"

"What we need is information," Jenni said, crossing her arms and leaning against his desk. Looking at him, she continued, "All we have is a random spike in the sensors and an energy surge in the EPS grid. We don't know how or why. Let's find out how. I'll devote some monitoring resources to both the sensors and the EPS grid. If we can pinpoint the exact source, we can start getting some clues."

"I'll remove the safeguards I've put in place as well. So far, they haven't worked well, but I don't want to skew the results."

"Sounds like we're stuck until 1324 tomorrow then," Jenni said with a smile.

Arivek nodded. "How about we get together ten minutes before and we can watch together?"

"It's a date." Jenni brandished a confident smile.

Captain M’rayr Eisovo felt the subtle shift of artificial gravity generators kicking on. The suddenness caused him to nearly stumble as he crossed the space between his desk towards the large view pane in his ready room, but once he realized what had caused it, he was happier for it. With essential repairs now finished, the Katana was less than an hour from returning to orbit. Away from this battered world, he thought, hoping that whatever awaited the Katana in the Delta Quadrant, that it would involve more exploration and less conflict.

Presuming clear skies, as was the case this morning, the Evoran capital was just visible beyond the horizon. But what had once been a bristling skyline of towering skyscrapers and even an orbital elevator was now ruins. The elevator was still intact, although no longer safe to use, so the Evorans were now heavily dependent on Federation transporter technology for the bringing in of supplies and relief.

It would take decades… perhaps… before the Evorans were ready to truly rejoin the intergalactic community of races.

“Computer, tea, hot.” The Caitian ordered from across the room. An audible ringing indicated that his beverage was being prepared, but when M’rayr reached the replicator, he realized that the cup wasn’t holding tea at all. Instead, a putrid black globule of something very burnt greeted him. Reaching for his comm-badge, M’rayr was about to ask for Arivek, before stopping. Even with repairs nearly completed, the Katana’s Chief Engineer was still undoubtedly very busy. And it wouldn’t do M’rayr any good to ask for the Chief of Operations – and his now-estranged mate – Jennifer Matthews.

It could wait… M’rayr thought finally as he hit the recycle button on the replicator console. The abomination vanished in a shimmer of blue-white energy. The next thing to happen was a chime at M’rayr’s door.

“Come in.” He announced, his voice hollow.

The doors opened with a swish as the blue-skinned hologram stepped through. "Good morning, Captain," the man said, not sounding very enthused. He held out a PADD towards the Caitian. "We are now considered sea-worthy. Essential repairs are completed, but there's still a lot of work that needs to be done." The man paused as his head snapped towards the side of the room. He could have sworn he saw something, but there was obviously nothing there.

With a shake of his head, he looked back at the other man. "We can begin repairs on the ship's secondary systems, but I'd like to extend the expected repair timeline. My staff has been pulling doubles since we landed and they need a slower schedule for at least a week. Repairs can continue, just not as quickly. If you approve the request, of course."

M'rayr didn't respond right away. He didn't even give off any sort of indication that he'd heard anything Arivek had even said. After a moment, however, the tall Caitian nodded. "Starfleet expects us to reach the Jenolan sphere in three weeks. Your teams will have between now and then to finalize repair efforts." It sounded harsh, but M'rayr knew how hard the engineering teams had been working -- he'd been there for at least a part of it.

"How compatible is the technology of this universe with our own system?" M'rayr asked next, deliberately trying to keep Arivek on his toes. The fact of the matter was that he viewed this crew as his family, but tradition of command mandated -- at least in his view -- that the Captain of a Starship always maintain a certain distance with his or her crew.

"All testing has failed so far," Arivek stated in reply. "There appears to be a piece of the core isoliniar processing chip software that doesn't allow integration in our system. Also, when we try to install any piece of technology, the bioneural gelpaks perceive the device as hostile and begins to..." he trailed off as he tried to find the words to explain exactly what was happening. "They're basically attacking the software on a digital level. The data packages become corrupted from the attack and it renders the piece of technology useless. To be able to integrate anything, we'd have to take the entire bioneural gelpak system offline. But we'd still have a critical issue with the core chip software."

Ari spread his legs to shoulder width as he clasped his hands behind his back. "Honestly, I'm not optimistic that we can get it to work, but we haven't exhausted all options yet, so I'd like to continue with the testing." He stopped for a moment before he added this last part. Even though the original projected repair timeline slated them to finish repairs in five weeks, he was just informed that he needed to have them done two weeks early, despite his obvious request for an extension. But he pushed his frustration aside and kept a calm demeanor. M'rayr was the Captain now and he had his own superiors to answer to. Most likely this wasn't a decision he had control over. "As for the repairs, they will be completed before we reach our destination."

M'rayr drummed his fingers over the desk. The fact that Theta-technology was incompatible with their own would probe a serious problem. Katana would need to replicate its own materials using its own technology, and while that was a possibility in certain cases, it wasn't a possibility in all of them. "What is stopping you from reformatting the processing chip, then installing from our own datastores?" he asked without so much as missing a beat. A hardware issue was one thing, but software could generally be adapted.

"We've thought about that," Arivek replied with a nod. "The problem is, when they try to do the reformatting, the code decompiles. I'm not sure if it's a security measure or if it's the incompatibility. I've removed the Analytics team from repair duty and they're still working on that full-time."

"Without a resolution, our ability to effectively maintain this ship will be in doubt. Particularly in the Delta Quadrant," M'rayr pointed out. True, Voyager was able to assimilate large amounts of technology during its transit out of the Delta Quadrant, but sometimes those resources were stretched so dangerously thin that it had been up to the ingenuity of its senior officers to make it through. M'rayr had the upmost confidence in his staff, but taking those kinds of risks wasn't an option. "Make finding a solution your top priority, Lieutenant Commander. Forward your information to Starfleet if you think it will be necessary. Lieutenant Matthews will be at your disposal for maintaining any day to day operations in Main Engineering as well."

"Understood," was Arivek's only response.

“And do not hesitate to notify me or Commander t’Dharvanek should you require additional supplies or resources,” M’rayr said after nodding. “But I have every degree of confidence in your abilities.” He couldn’t afford to be too hard on the Andorian/Trill hologram. The fact of the matter was that short of duplicating himself, Arivek was already working harder than any other member of this crew… M’rayr included. “Do you have anything else to report?” M’rayr asked, unable to bring himself to the level of openness needed to speak that last thought.

Arivek shook his head, silently. He could again see the cloud of movement in his peripheral and it was driving him crazy. Maybe he needed to get Andy to tune-up his Matrix. It probably wasn't helping that he was practically working 24 hours a day at this point. But that was the price you paid when you were the boss and you no longer required sleep to function. "I don't believe so," he said finally after an awkwardly long pause.

This time, M'rayr even glanced in the direction of Arivek's gaze, wondering exactly what his Chief Engineer had seen... or not seen. There was nothing there. "Is something the matter, Commander?" M'rayr asked next, wondering if it was possible for a hologram to get tired.

"Nothing at all, Sir," Arivek stated.

Nodding, M'rayr shrugged. "Then if there's nothing else, you are dismissed."

Maica had done a 'little' research and had PaDDs scattered everywhere on wedding ceremonies and vows and rituals... It was to the point there were almost more PaDDs in their quarters than bottles. In fact, many of the PaDDs were perched on top of bottles. Each one had something she wanted to bring up with Andy when she got home, but most of them would likely never get discussed simply because there was so much to cover.

Looking over a handful of PaDDs, Maica mumbled something about writing their own vows as she set most of them aside.

Andy carefully limped around a few PaDDs scattered on the floor, hobbling her way over to her the sofa where she was about to kick her feet up on the coffee table only to find more PaDDs preventing her from doing so. For fuck's sake, this was getting ridiculous! But Andy didn't have the heart to tell Maica to stop... She leaned forward to stack a few PaDDs to make room for her feet, then she leaned back on the couch and carefully rested her feet on the table, watching with a slight grin as Maica worked on a PaDD doing who knows what, but whatever it was Maica had this sexy intense look of concentration as she did it.

"Have you decided on a date?" Maica asked, still in deep concentration. "I narrowed it down pretty far as it is and if you pick one of the dates we're still planetside, it'll give us a few extra options rather than the holodeck."

"How about 'not today'," Andy answered, suddenly wishing she had a beer. "Babe, you know me, just give me a date to show up and I'll be there," Andy continued, rubbing at the sore spot on her leg where she'd been shot. She really didn't have much preference when it came to the specifics of this shindig and she'd told Maica that. So far, the only conditions Andy had laid down was that she would wear white but she wouldn't wear a dress, but Maica could wear whatever she wanted, even if that meant the busty Android wanted to observe the Betazoid wedding traditions, though if that were the case, Andy was still wearing something white. Other than that, Andy had pretty much given Maica carte blanche with the words 'Whatever makes you happy, love'. Oh, and Andy wanted at least one tier of their cake to be rum cake.

"Then... In about a week. That'll give us the time we need and everything will still be fresh in our minds." Maica had already planned most of it out, but there were so any alternatives and possibilities... "I've arranged for you to wear a white pants suit and I'll be in a black dress with purple trim and lace so that's taken care of. The cake I've narrowed down to one of eight, the only common factor being that each layer is based around a different alcohol. Punch will not be served but instead, a medley of fruit juices and synthehol. Real alcohol and water will be available. I decided to make an open invitation to the whole ship, but personal invitations are only being sent to a select few. And we need to write our own Vows and talk Whiskers into performing the ceremony."

"Already know what I'm gonna say," Andy said with a grin that spoke nothing but trouble. "Actually, I got an idea about the ceremony itself, I could talk to Whiskers about it if you want."

"I found an old Rigelian practice where both parties are hooded and are walked to the altar unable to see and the hoods are taken off at the start of the ceremony. There was also something about firearms, but I think party poppers will suffice." Maica replied as she moved to the couch and sat down with Andy. "What's your idea? And yes, please speak with him. I think since his marriage he's been somewhat avoiding me."

"Nope, my idea is much better," Andy insisted proudly. "I'm telling ya, you'll love it." Andy hefted herself off the couch to hobble over to the replicator to get a beer, popping the top off and taking a swig. "Oh, and I finished those recordings you asked me to do for the wedding march. You wanted Pachelbel, right?"

"Right, with full instrumental. What's your idea then?" Maica asked, setting aside the PaDDs she was looking at.

"No, I think I'll keep this idea to myself for a while," Andy said slyly, grinning to her soon-to-be wife. Andy didn't know why she suddenly wanted to make this a surprise, but she had a feeling it would be worth it. "But I can promise that you'll love it."

"In that case, I'll leave that part of the ceremony to you." Maica replied, picking up another set of PaDDs. She'd find out soon enough what her fiance was planning and if she knew Andy at all, she knew she'd love it. "In that case, do you think we should release Earth doves or Trill waterfowl or skip the birds and go with a rain of wrapped candies?"

"Do we have to involve animals in the wedding? And if you've got a sweet tooth, why not something fun, like jello wrestling?" Andy asked, just to be difficult. Though she strode over to Maica and grabbed a PaDD, finding a picture of a purple hummingbird from Betazed that she thought Maica might like better than doves.

Maica looked confused for a moment. "Jello wrestling? I'm not sure I've come across that... Oh, What do you think of a variety of cheeseburgers, finger foods, and other similar fare for the reception? I think we can get some real food ingredients while here so I was wondering what you thought of using real ingredients rather than replicated."

"Damn, I love you," Andy said with a grin, leaning in to kiss Maica. This woman knew Andy so well; who else would want burgers at a wedding?! It made And wonder how she got so lucky.

Kissing back softly, Maica had to smile widely. "I love you too, my dearest." She still had a lot of planning to do, but there was time for most of it. "Cheeseburgers are a go then. Excellent. What about a bible of some sort? I've read that it's traditional in most cultures."

Andy grimaced at the mention of a bible. "Okay, another condition, no bible," she mumbled, handing Maica the PaDD with the purple hummingbird. "And if you're gonna be releasing wildlife at our wedding, do something like this. I'd be worried doves or waterfowl might crap on us while they're flying away."

"No bible..." Maica muttered as she typed that into her main PaDD. "I figured we'd use holographic avians. Though the idea of programming them to poo all over the audience had crossed my mind." Looking over the purple hummingbird, Maica nodded in agreement. "I thought you might like those."

"I just know how much you like purple. And they're small," Andy said, giving Maica one more quick peck before limping back over to the couch to kick back with her beer. "And don't make the critters crap on us. As amusing as that might be to watch, I'd rather that not be the highlight of our wedding."

"Works for me. I'll program them to pop out from under the chairs when we kiss then." Maica replied, tapping away on a typewriter like keypad on the PaDD she was looking at.

For a long while, Andy just watched with a grin as Maica worked, then she took a sip of her beer before speaking up again. "How'd I get so lucky to end up getting married to you?" Andy asked, not really expecting an answer. "I mean, I am such a pain in the ass to put up with! And you... You're serving burgers and beer-cake!" Andy was in awe of her lover and just how amazing Maica was.

Leaning against Andy, Maica rested her head against her soon to be wife. "Because you have the most beautiful soul and are the most alive person I know. That and somehow I fell in love with you. I'm still trying to wrap my head around that as well, you know."

Vara had gotten a transfer request. Orders to a space station. Normally that wouldn't be too surprising but the name on the orders... It was written by someone she thought was dead and signed off on by a Romulan. This was part of why she was standing in front of Andy's door. The other half was to let her know she was leaving. Glancing at the PaDD once more, she pressed the door chime, expecting Andy to either be asleep or to already know she was there.

Andy was curled up with Maica, both blissfully asleep. As soon as Andy heard the chime, she jolted awake. "Computer, mute chime," she stated quietly, hoping to not wake her lover. After the scare on Evora, Maica had been emotionally tense, so Andy had worked her magic and afterwards the green skinned Android was content and sleeping happily. And right now, Andy didn't want to disturb that happy feeling, so quiet as could be, she climbed out of bed and put on some clothes. When she finally made it to the door to answer it, she was surprised to see Vara holding a PaDD. Holding a finger to her lips to indicate silence, Andy let Vara in, then headed for the replicator for some coffee.

As Andy got up, Mica latched onto the pillows they had been snuggling with tighter but she stayed asleep.

Vara nodded at the indication of needed silence and followed Andy to the replicator, changing that order to 2 as soon as Andy had finished. Taking one of the materializing mugs, she sat at the table as quietly as possible and set the PaDD in front of Andy.

Confused, Andy took the PaDD and gave it a glance as she took a sip of her coffee. "You're leaving?" Andy asked quietly, fixing her friend with a concerned gaze. "Vara, if you get hurt, it would be better to have someone on hand who understands your technology! Are you sure this is the right thing to do?"

Sipping the coffee and twisting her face up at the taste, Vara was definitely not used to how pungent it was. "I haven't decided if i'll accept it or not but look who the transfer request is from." she whispered, pointing to the requester's name. Lieutenant Commander Nathan Tonkin. "How could I turn him down?"

Andy kept reading, then her eyes widened. "H-how is this possible?!" No, it couldn't be Nathan! The Nathan of this universe was missing from a Borg attack, and the Nathan from their universe, their crew, was dead on Talos IV. But they never had the chance to recover the body...

"That was my reaction too," Vara said, bringing the cup of coffee to her lips again. The scent alone drove her to set it back down though.

"Have you talked to him? Oh god, Jhu, does she know?!" There were a million more questions in her mind, but they all seemed to be scattered in her mind, fighting over over which one should be answered first.

"I'd ask her, but she's on the station this came from at the moment for pre-natal care." Vara said quietly. "And all I've gotten so far is this request for a Tactical Officer Shadow."

Andy's mouth opened and closed a few times, but words were not immediately forthcoming. After a moment, she rose and began pacing, fighting so hard to decide what to do or say, but it was like she just couldn't think! Everything in her head had come to such a sudden and abrupt halt. It took a moment of pacing for coherent thought to resume, and when it did she went to the wall where her bow was mounted. A second bow was there as well. She removed it from the wall and returned to Vara. "I'll get a case for this, but you need to take this with you. I made it for Nathan, but I never got a chance to give it to him..." She had replicated a bow for him before, but she had given that to his impostor and it had become damaged in the scuffle, but this bow was handmade and designed specifically for Nathan. "If it's him, our Nathan, then give this to him..."

Taking the bow gingerly in her fingertips, Vara studied the hand tooled wood for several seconds before looking back up at Andy, handing it back. "I will. I'll make sure it's him and then give it to him." Vara knew what it meant for someone to hand craft such an item and she'd do her best to care for it while it was in her custody.

"Find out what happened to him," Andy said in an almost pleading tone. "It's been eating at Maica what happened back on Talos IV. I think she's finally coming to terms with it, but... she still feels responsible. But if he's still alive... I think we all need to know if it's really him."

"Don't worry, I will." Var headed back to the table and sat back down, eyeing that coffee thing. "I did want to talk with you about maintenance though. I can do most of it myself but you're the only one in this universe that knows me inside and out. It's a station but if something should happen..."

"I don't think I can have any back-up parts ready by the time you leave, but I'll start manufacturing them right away and ship them to you to store for a rainy day. And if it ever starts raining, I'll drop everything to come help you," Andy said without a second though.

"Thank you," Vara finally cracked a smile, thankful that Andy would still be available, if not readily. "I'll need you to forward my records to the resident doctor there as well, if you don't mind. Since you're still technically my primary care manager and all."

"I'll do that first thing in the morning," Andy said with a nod. "I'll wanna talk with your doctor, make sure they got someone who knows what they're doing." Then she offered Vara a weak smile. "Take care of yourself out there, and Nathan."

"I will," Vara smiled back softly - not a normal facial expression for her at all, but she did her best. "And if either of you need me to take down a fortress or anything, just let me know. I'll be on the next shuttle your way." she said, nodding towards the still sleeping Maica.

"Thanks," Andy said, looking at Maica then back at Vara. "Hey, I know things didn't work out between us, but I'll always care about you. If you need anything, I'll be there."

"And you will always be family to me. Just be sure to invite me to your wedding, ok?" Vara said.

"Oh gawd, don't remind me..." Andy said, flopping onto the couch and running a hand over her face. "She's been not so subtly hinting me to set a date. Is it bad that I kinda hoped we'd be one of those couples who was perpetually engaged but never married?"

Vara chuckled softly. "No, that sounds just like you. You should do it for her though. She deserves that foundation right now, I think."

"Oh I will," Andy said right away. "Just setting a date... Dunno, makes it kinda more real. Not that I'm getting cold feet or nothing, but it's like 'whoa...'"

"The first time is always like that," Vara said reassuringly.

"Well, I'm kinda hoping it's the only time, but thanks," Andy said with a snicker. "As soon as we set a date, you'll get an invitation. Nathan too."

"Thank you." Picking up her PaDD, Vara headed towards the door. "I'll be heading out on a shuttle tomorrow so... yeah..."

"Come by my lab before you go. I'll need a scan to catalogue all the tech I gotta manufacture for back ups," Andy said, rising to see Vara to the door.

"I'll do that on my last shift. Thank you." Vara wasn't sure what else to say at this point. She was fairly sure she'd see Andy again someday but it still felt like she was letting go of one of her dearest friends.

Andy reached out and hugged Vara, as if sensing that she needed it. There was no way she'd let them drift apart now that they'd reconnected...

Hugging back, Vara felt a tightening in her chest and a moistness forming in her eyes. Her inner emotions were bubbling to the surface. "I still love you, Andy. I always have and I always will."

"I know," Andy said softly. "My heart belongs to Maica now, but there will always be a place in it for you, Qíngrén"

Vara softly kissed Andy on the cheek and seperated from the hug, stepping backwards through the now open door.

Andy waited until the door was closed before she turned to walk away. She picked up the coffee, ran it back through the replicator, then shed her clothes and returned to bed, stealing away the pillow that Maica was hugging. Andy chuckled softly as Maica immediately latched onto her. Andy was tempted to wake her and tell her that Nathan was alive, but she would wait until either Jhu or Vara could confirm it. For now, she would let Maica sleep...

Jenni stood in the turbolift, leaning against the back wall. Beside her on the floor was a black hard case that contained the piece of wood she'd acquired earlier on Evora. As the lift's hum kept the silence at bay, Jenni mindless stared at the closed doors in front of her.

It had been more than a day since she last spoke with the Captain. Jenni hadn't cried, nor was there a reason to. She blamed herself more than M'rayr. Jenni had pushed him away first, making it easier for him to withdraw into his role as Katana's new Captain. It was weird though, feeling alone. She'd made a life out of being single, and it hadn't been until M'rayr that she thought life with someone else was possible.

It took a soft chime from the turbolift to tell her that the doors had open for several seconds. Jenni blinked, realizing this. She reached down to pick up the case and step out into the corridor. It wasn't fair that his quarters were right next to this turbolift, and Jenni forced herself to not turn her head at the closed door as she walked by. She couldn't let recent disappointment derail the life she'd begun to rebuild. Hopefully, what was in her hand would become a symbol of that rebirth as well.

Jenni stopped in front of another familiar door and tapped the chime, hoping that Maica was around.

"Come in," Maica called, looking up towards the door from a mountain of PaDDs. "How can I help you?"

"Hi," Jenni said, somehow attempting to be casual. "Did I catch you at a bad time?" she asked, taking note of the unhealthy pile of paperwork.

"Not at all. Just planning a wedding is all." Maica said with a smile as she leaned back on the couch. "What can I help you with?"

"Oh?" A smile appeared on her face. "When's the special day?"

"Ten days away. Lots of planning left to do, but I think the major stuff is decided upon." Maica replied with her brightest smile.

Jenni nodded and brushed back a lock of hair over her ear. Her eyes took another look at the pile of PADDs as her hand tightened on the grip of the case's handle. She wouldn't ask about the violin today; it'd be rude to. Instead, she continued to smile and asked, "Anything I can do to help? I'd be happy to."

"Find something to distract me so I don't over plan everything." Maica replied as she toggled a few PaDDs off. "Can I get you a drink or anything? And what's with the case? Finally moving in with M'Rayr?"

The smile slowly evaporated from her face. Even as she felt it leave, Jenni tried to reinforce it. She had no desire to sour Maica's moment, even if it were ten days away. The way the question was asked however gave her the ability to avoid talking about her own marriage. "It's a souvenir actually," Jenni said, shifting the case ever so slightly. "I was hoping to cash in on that promise to fashion a violin."

"Ah, excellent! Let's see what you've got then." Maica replied somewhat excitedly, reminding herself to ask further about Jenn's own relations later as she cleared enough PaDDs away to set the case on the coffee table.

Jenni couldn't help but enjoy Maica's interest. She often forgot how well her green-skinned friend could multi-task. Jenni lifted and set the case on the table before opening it. "It's got an interesting story," Jenni said as she sat beside Maica on the couch. "I found it on Evora when I helped this old lady plant a new tree. It might not be the perfect kind of wood for a violin, but when I hold it, I think of both the past and the future. The good... and the bad times." Jenni's smile had weakened by this point and she made a bad attempt at forcing it back in place.

"That's what's important in an instrument." Maica said as she ran her fingers over the block of wood. Yes, there was just enough here to make a full violin. There might not even be many scraps leftover. "How soon do you want it finished?" she asked, eyeing that obviously forced smile. She thought she could also smell sadness tears on the horizon, but she'd ask about that once this was settled.

"Certainly not before your special day," Jenni replied. "No matter how good you are with multitasking, it's not fair to Andy. Whenever you have time after the honeymoon."

"Ah the honeymoon!" Maica exclaimed, leaning back on the couch and putting a hand over her eyes for a moment. "I haven't even got a plan for that at all."

"I hear the Delta Quadrant has a few interesting places," Jenni offered. "Where we're going, I think there's a Talaxian Resort. Might be nice. Just make sure there aren't any hidden rules or customs first."

"That'll get us off the ship and holodecks as well." Maica replied, re.axing a bit more. "What about you and M'Rayr then? Any honeymoon planned? And why do you look unhappy when I mention him?"

Jenni sighed. "I..." She closed her eyes and paused for a moment, keeping whatever frustration that was building inside of her at bay. "I think we're done. M'rayr and I."

Maica didn't really have much to say about that, but it explained a few things so she just pulled her friend in for a tender hug. "What can I do to help?"

She didn't know what it was. Maybe it was the hug, or just the loving touch, but Jenni could not stop her eyes from watering. "I'm not sure," she confessed, her voice wavering. "I don't even know what to think."

"Want me to take him by the scruff and shake some sense into him?" Maica asked, half serious.

Jenni couldn't help but smile at the question, but that smile didn't last long. "He's pulled back. I know I pushed him away first. I mean, it's not every day you go accidentally elope. I'm not ready for marriage, but I don't want "us" to not be "us." Jenni sat back up. "But he's not pushing away because I did. He wants to be a captain first, and he thinks me being there...."

"He thinks his personal feelings will get in the way. They already have, it seems. I know plenty of ship captains that have been married to a subordinate and not let effect their work performance. It's why families are allowed on so many ships now." Maica replied, huggling Jenni a bit tighter and softly running a hand over her hair in a soothing fashion.

Jenni melted into the hug. A tear fell down her cheek, and it took everything Jenni had to not let loose. "I'm sorry," Jenni whispered, looking at the wedding plans scattered on the table. "I didn't mean to ruin your day."

"It's not my day yet, hon." Maica replied reassuringly. "It's 10 days away... And then we might be taking up the Daystrom Institutes offer as a sort of vacation."

Jenni withdrew from the embrace to give Maica a strange look. "Daystrom...?" she asked, fearing the worst. As an engineer, Jenni knew full well what Daystrom encompassed and what it could mean.

"They've asked myself and Andy for help with some research and in return they're going to help us get things cleared up with our status. Since our counterparts in this universe are either dead or missing, paperwork has been an issue as well as just logging into systems not on this ship." Maica replied innocently.

Jenni looked at Maica for a moment before smiling. She'd been so afraid of changes in her life that she'd forgotten what it was like for her newfound friends aboard this ship. They'd been through the biggest changes of them all, unwillingly moved between universes, never able to return. It really put her views in perspective. "It's not going to be the same around here without you. Without both of you."

"Yeah, I know..." Maica said, nodding slightly with a grin on her face. She was obviously about to say something she thought was funny. "The crew will be sober. Seriously though, I will miss everyone."

Wiping a tear from her face while sharing a laugh. "Sober? This crew? I ought to check your programming."

"They'll need another supplier then." Maica replied, motioning to the hundreds of bottles scattered around the room.

"I'm sure that can be arranged." Jenni smiled again, this one bearing hints of excitement of the unknown.

Maica smiled equally brightly, seeing a hint of the Jenni she knew from her old universe shining through. Indeed, people are people wherever you go. "I'll leave a few crates here for you then. Nothing with too much sentimental value though. Oh, and the Captain's ready room has a secret room full of alcohols as well. Kris never knew it, but I regularly scan the ship for large stashes of booze and easily found his."

Jenni embraced Maica yet again, though this was the first time she'd ever initiated it. After what felt like an appropriate amount of time, Jenni released and looked at Maica. "Thank you," she said. "For everything."

Returning the hug tenderly, Maica nodded happily. "Any time. And if you ever need anything else, just let me know, ok?"

Jenni replied with a simple nod. "Well... I really should let you get back to it." Jenni rose from the couch. "Take care, Maica."

Rising as well, Maica smiled warmly. "You as well. I'll have your violin made in three days so I'll see you then, ok?"

Smiling once more, Jenni thanked Maica again and left Maica's quarters. Change was certainly in the air, and Jenni didn't yet know how she felt about it all. Time would tell.

Maica had a lot to do and not much time to do it in... Picking up a PaDD and poking it in her pocket, she looked around the room again, then headed out to see a certain furry captain.

Since returning from the away mission, Annette hadn't been able to focus very well and it had begun to affect her work. Lieutenant Commander Maica had given her the task of reporting to star fleet the events of what happened on Evora's surface and providing them with updates on the aid that they were providing to the Evorians. But every time she tried to start writing the report, Annette couldn't stay focused. Whenever she closed eyes all she could see was that Reman pointing that phaser at her. It wasn't even the Reman trying to kill her that was bothering her but it was her decision to aim to wound and not kill that worried her the most. Her life and maybe the lives of her colleagues were in danger and she couldn't bring herself to kill the Reman. Annette worried something was wrong with her, she had killed in the past without hesitation but that seemed so long ago, it was almost like she couldn't believe that was her. "Enough" Annette said as she stood up from her desk, "I need to get out of this room". As she headed for the door Annette hoped a change of scenery would do her some good, because she sure wasn't getting anything accomplished sitting at her desk.

Paige was sitting at her desk, fiddling with the edges of some papers listlessly. Her mind kept replaying the events of the past few days over and over. Like the old reruns Earth used to play. She knew she had some paperwork to complete but couldn't bring herself to do it. It was Friday; normally the day she and R'tame would have dinner together. Stopping that thought in its track, she stood up shaking her head and looked around her irresolutely. She needed a walk.

She absentmindedly strolled through corridor, not really paying attention to the people around her. Until she almost ran smack dab into other ensign. "Oh, I'm sorry," she mumbled, not fully making eye contact.

"Not a problem, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going either." Annette replied reaching out to shake the ensign's hand "I don't think we have met yet, my name is Annette I'm the new diplomatic officer."

Paige gave a small smile and shook Annette's hand. "I'm Paige," she said. "I'm one of the counselors on board." She looked at Annette for a moment longer. "You were on the away mission, weren't you?"

"Yes" Annette replied quietly looking away from Paige, "But I wasn't much help, I did more hiding than fighting and when I had a chance to kill a Reman I couldn't even take the shot."

"From what I have heard, the away team wasn't prepared to deal with any Remans at all let alone the number that did turn up. I'm impressed you were able to think quickly enough to get a shot off," said Paige. "Unless you are disappointed you didn't kill the Reman you had aimed for?" Paige looked at Annette searchingly as they fell in to step. She could tell that the woman needed someone to talk to, and the counselor in her was struggling to turn off the part of her brain that couldn't stop thinking about R'tame and what might have been if he had been prepared. With a slight shake of her head she waited quietly.

As Annette walked beside Paige, she found it difficult to put into words how she was feeling. "I guess I don't understand why I couldn't kill the Reman, I know he meant to kill me, but when I pointed my weapon at him I couldn't kill him, I aimed to wound," said Annette. "By not killing the Reman I think I put the away team in danger, I'm worried that if I am in a similar situation again I will still make the same decision."

Paige thought for awhile before asking, "If you could go back and change your decision and subsequent actions, would you?"

Annette had asked herself that same question over the last few days and she always came back to the same answer. "I think I would make the same decision. But I just don't know if it was the right call" Annette said turning to look at Paige "What would you have done if you were in my place".

"I don't know," Paige answered honestly. "As a counselor, I don't have many opportunities to go on away missions let alone be involved in any kind of fire fight. I don't have any frame of reference for that. Do you?"

As they rounded the corner Annette kept returning to a piece of advice she received at the academy, "I guess the only frame of reference I really have is a piece of advice from one of my professors at star-fleet" recalled Annette "His is advice was something like 'Just remember when you are out on a mission you will be making decisions that not only impacts you but also will effect your whole crew, so whatever decisions you make, be damn sure you can live with it for the rest of your life.'" "I can live with not killing the Reman" Annette answered truthfully, "So I guess I made the right choice."

"Then I guess you found the solution to your own problem," Paige smiled. "It's easy to second-guess ourselves but we also have to remember that we respond in a certain way for a reason. At least that's my belief," she added.

"I have the bad habit of seconding guess myself a lot" Annette replied "Hopefully I can break myself of the habit soon."

"I think that is a normal reaction for a lot of people; especially after decisions that have such a large impact on our lives," said Paige. She often agonized over past conversations, meetings, and interactions. I really ought to take my own advice she thought ruefully.

"Thank you for letting me talk this out with you" Annette said as they reached her quarters. "Being new on the ship I haven't had the pleasure of meeting a lot of the crew, hopefully I will soon."

Paige nodded. "Glad to be of help. I'm sure you'll quickly meet the rest of the crew," she said with a smile. As she turned away she struggled to keep the smile on her face. There was an old saying, "fake it until you make it", that she was desperately hoping would hold true."I'm glad to have met you, anyway," she said in parting.

"Likewise" Annette said with a smile.

Maica wasn't upset. She wasn't pissed off. She wasn't furious... Ok, she was a little of those... But she was more worried. Was Whiskers up to this? And what about his relationship with Jenni? This is what brought her to his quarters door. She didn't have a bottle of anything in her hands. This wasn't one of those visits. This was more to make sure he was doing ok. If she wanted to get him drunk or high, that was easy, but would he come out of his shell even then? No, if she couldn't do it without her usual bag of tricks, he'd never open up. Pressing the door chime, she waited.

The Caitian on the other side of the doorway was tired. But not merely because he hadn't slept well the last few days. With a glass of tea on one corner of the desk, and a small library of PaDDs arranged messily elsewhere, M’rayr Eisovo had realized for the second time in two days that his attention span was sliding along a downward slope. The chime at the door startled him. He looked to the chronometer, then back to the door, and wondered who was waiting on the other side. Perhaps Jenni had come to make a second chance of rekindling their relationship? Or perhaps Arivek had finally managed to draw up those energy reports?

The fact of the matter was that M’rayr would have no answer to his question without first inviting his guest inside. “Enter,” He said stoically, although a hint of irritability was visible in the slight reverberation of his speech.

Stepping through the door as it opened, Maica waited for it to close before speaking. "What's going on? I can tell you're not ok and neither is Jenn."

M’rayr cleared his throat unpleasantly. He figured something like this would come up. Actually, he was rather surprised that it had taken Maica this long to catch the scent of M’rayr’s recent… troubles… with Jenni. Interlacing his paws over his desk, the Caitian firmed up his posture, giving an unmistakable impression that he was in charge. “Good Evening, Commander,” he said, his tone stoic and professional.

"'Good evening, Commander...' as if nothing is wrong..." Maica replied, somewhat disgusted. Straightening herself out to her full height, she was nowhere near as tall as the Caitian, but at least she put up an imposing 'front' and standing verses his sitting, they were almost eye to eye. "Fine, we'll play it your way for the moment, and then you'll tell me why our Ops chief reeks of sorrow." Pausing a moment to bow her head respectfully, she spoke sincerely. "Good evening, Captain. I require a moment of your time." After saying it, she stared back into the cat's good eye unrelentingly.

Even though he had a general idea as to why Maica was here, he tensed after he heard Jenni's name. Nor did it seem like Maica would allow him to side step the matter easily. She looked genuinely furious. Why, he wasn't sure. It wasn't as though his being or not being with Jenni had to do anything with her. "If you are here to discuss personal decisions that Lieutenant Matthews and I have made, then you are wasting your time." He said pointedly.

Maica was not dissuaded easily. "On the contrary, I'm here to discuss the mental health and wellness of a fellow crew member as well as how your actions can and will affect the entire crew - your family that you are now the head of. I've been staying out of your personal life, hoping you could work things out for yourself, but I see now that you need a motherly paw on your scruff to shake some sense into you so you don't drive everyone away. Now are you willing to listen to reason? Or am I all around wasting my time and energy?"

It was a curious standoff, one that he let stew in silence while he gave himself time to contemplate an answer. He couldn’t very easily dismiss Maica without first giving her some degree of appeasement. But he wanted to resolve this quickly just as well. He couldn’t have his cake and eat it, too.

Pushing his paws against the desk so he could lean forward slightly, M’rayr said, “Say what you’ve come to say.”

For a moment Maica was about to launch into a tirade berating him scornfully. Then she had second thoughts. If Whiskers preferred it this way, so be it. She'd still say a short piece though. "You're all but ignoring your own feelings for the member of this crew. You're not Vulcan. Let them in. You can still be Captain and be a couple with Jenni. Married or not, that doesn't matter to me at the moment, but the way you've pushed each other apart is unhealthy for the crew."

Pausing a moment, Maica took a deep breath as she took out a small PaDD and handed it to the Caitian. "Also, the Daystrom Institute has asked Andy and I for some help and offered theirs. We're accepting it. Do you prefer if we leave before our wedding or after?" Leaving that up to him was her last straw.

As much as M'rayr had been ready to take the conversation in a new direction, as he took the PaDD from her green hands, he realized that it hadn't been in this direction. A glance through the specifics told him that this was not some temporary project; Andy Carter and Maica were planning on leaving the Katana. Ever since Kerouac was taken away, this family got smaller and smaller. He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it, realizing that he hadn't so much as formed an appropriate response. It took seconds more before he could. "You and Ms. Carter are leaving the Katana?" He said, although the tone sounded more like a statement of fact than a question.

"Yes." Maica replied bluntly. "We were hoping to hold our wedding ceremony here, but with so many getting orders and leaving before or on the planned date... It might be best if we do it on Earth."

M'rayr nodded after a long moment. Andy and Maica had been the first two people to reach out to him. Losing them was hard, even though he wasn't willing to admit it even to Maica. "Perhaps you are right," he agreed. Standing up to his full height, he studied the Maddox-Orion thoughtfully. "The least I can do is take you there. The Katana has received orders. We are to put in to dry dock for a refit. It seems most of our technology is incompatible with that of this universe." Internally, M'rayr understood the need for the refit. But he worried about how many more of his people he'd lose while the Intrepid-class starship occupied a dock.

"Yeah I've heard rumors about that. Vara came to see me as her double in this universe was rather upsetting. Not only is she saying that our power flows backwards in most cases, she's claimed that our Vara's heritage is an aberration of history. You might want to keep an eye on that one." Maica spoke as if she were tired, a weariness of these situations rising to the surface of her personality for the first time. "Thank you M'rayr. For everything. If you're ever in the area, please let us know. We'll have to get together again."

"Agreed," M'rayr said, trying to smile even though it felt forced.

Dee preferred the bigger ships. Over the last year, he'd become accustomed to the Galaxy-class USS Stormshaman, especially since his sister, Jessie, had just been assigned to the Starbase the ship operated out of.

All the more reason for this lunch to be bittersweet. As much as he loved his sister, and as much as he'd put his life on the line growing up, it tore his heart out knowing he could no longer be her protector. It was a reality he'd faced for years, the moment he was first assigned out of Starfleet Academy and she was looking to apply. Today would likely be the last time he'd see her in person for months, if not years to come.

He wished he could stay aboard this ship. It was the Andorian Lieutenant Commander in charge that had absolutely no intention of leaving that had railroaded him. Daniel Ellis liked to lead. He could follow orders just as well as anyone else, but advancement opportunities on this ship had just run dry.

The lieutenant entered Ten Forward to find it already suffering from the lunch rush. He couldn't help but smile as he stood inside the entrance, hoping the Mess Hall of the USS Katana would be just as busy, despite the fact that it contained nearly eighty percent less crew. It'd be odd being in charge of a security team the size of the Stormshaman's ordinance crew. In fact, he'd bet that Katana's crew would fit inside this very room.

His eyes quickly targeted his sister across the room. Beginning to walk towards her, he smiled. Leave it to Jessie to find a window seat. Dee could tell something was instantly different about her. Her smile was more radiant than ever, as was the shine behind her eyes. As he approached the table, Jessie jumped up and ran to her brother, wrapping him in a warm embrace.

Dee instantly looked to the left and right of him. Several of his fellow officers noticed the event and had begun to watch, though most of the room kept to their own business. He returned the embrace, not as eager of course, but just as tender. "Jessie, I've missed you!"

Jessie giggled at the remark. "We saw each other two days ago, you lump." After separating from the embrace and swatting him on the shoulder, she continued to stand and smile.

"What's up with you, Jess?" he asked, his expression now replaced with a hesitant frown. Of course, the thin goatee he wore made any expression look negative except a smile.

She raised her left hand high to show her taller brother. Somehow, her smile grew to break any human standard. "Richard asked me last night!"

"That's great!" Dee exclaimed, immediately wrapping her in an embrace of his own.

"Somehow," Jessie said when the embrace was over and they'd sat down, "I don't think you're as excited as you should be."

"I'm not the one getting married to him," Dee fired back.

"Of course not. Any idea how awkward that would be?"

"For you or me?" Daniel chuckled. "Or Richard?"

"He could take it. You..." Jessie smiled. "Well, you enjoy the touch of a woman too much."

Dee smiled. No topic had ever been off limits for her, especially now that she fully possessed the mind of a shrink. "Richard and I talked about two weeks ago," he told her. "I know how much he makes you happy." He reached across the table and squeezed her hand. "I'm more than happy for you, Jessie."

Thankful for his touch, Jessie couldn't help but feel that there was another topic on his mind. After all, he'd been the one that asked for the lunch date. "You're leaving, aren't you."

Dee's smile faded. She'd always been able to read him like a book. He'd be foolish to think that today would be any different. "I'm transferring off the Stormshaman, Jess. Well, being promoted actually."

"Really?" Jess asked, still beaming, though this was more for her brother's sake. "Close by, I hope!"

"The USS Katana."

It was time for Jessie to lose her smile. Stories of the USS Katana and her origins had spread throughout the sector. Jess actually had a few patients come her way as the crew had spread out among the stars.

"The upside is, I'll be Chief of Security." Dee smiled, trying to reassure her. "The downside is that I hear we're not coming back for a while."

Jessie smiled again anyway and squeezed her brother's hand. "You don't have to worry about me," she said, trying to reassure him. "I have Richard now. You don't have to keep an eye on me any more. Daniel Ellis can finally be his own man."

"Let's just hope I can be that man." Dee looked out the window to catch a striking view of the Pacific Ocean and Starbase 001. "I just hope when I meet him, I'll like him."

"You've been discovering who he is ever since you graduated and left Earth, Dee. And I'm looking right at him. He's a good man."

A waiter came by, depositing two plates of food at the table. Dee was not surprised in the slightest that his sister had ordered for him. "I hope so. Do me a favor though. Wait a couple years before making me an uncle. Don't give me a reason to..." Dee's voice trailed off, seeing another awkward smile on Jessie's face. "You're kidding."

"Nine weeks," she confessed. "I didn't want to tell you until we knew for sure."

Dee squeezed her hand and looked her in the eye. "Don't you worry," he said with a confident smile. "That kid's gonna have an uncle, even if subspace is the only way to know him for a while."

"You better." Jessie said with a smile. "Mom and dad would be proud, you know."

Dee nodded. "They'd be proud of both of us." He had a better memory of their parents than she did, and he hoped she was right. "One day we'll find them."

"When you do," Jessie said, smiling, "Don't you dare let them catch you single. Stay safe out there, Dee."

The blue glow of the warp core bathed the Engineering Bay as the lights remained dim. The last few months had been a grueling experience for the entire Engineering department. Every hardware system from the main computer down to the energy conduits that powered the sonic showered had been ripped out of the ship’s hull and replaced with the corresponding technology from this universe. The frequency of the hum given off by this new equipment was just slightly different from the original. To say this was an annoyance to the Chief Engineer was a gross understatement.

Arivek glanced at the chronometer on the wall and sighed when he saw the 0236 digits. Four and a half hours to go on this shift. The heels of his shoes clacked against the floor panels as he walked across the entry hall that led into the large room. His crew had been working harder than he’d ever asked them to before with the major overhaul and as a result, he had given them a month shore leave. They weren’t set to return for another two weeks. One positive side of not needing to eat or sleep was the ability to be on duty 24/7. It was the least he could do to give his department the rest they deserved and earned.

He arrived at the device he was looking for. A device he had been avoiding since its installation about a month ago. When the overhaul project manager asked M’rayr if he wanted the device installed, he of course deferred to Arivek’s expertise on technological needs. But against Arivek’s wishes, the overbearing Vulcan had the device installed regardless.

According to the documentation, the device was a holographic control interface used to service, maintain and control all “holographic technological modules” that have been “installed” in the starship. Arivek laughed to control the anger the device caused in him. To be referred to as a module was one thing, but to consider him an installed piece of technology into the ship’s system was the worst.

What made it even worse were the attitudes towards him during the overhaul. Being Chief Engineer was apparently not impressive enough. His recent promotion to Commander and Second Officer also didn’t seem to make a difference either. In this universe, it was apparent that holographic entities were considered on a lower tier than their biological counterparts. Starfleet clearly had no issues with employing holograms, but they were required to be registered in the holographic control interface. This is where the crew could manage their holographic underlings and make changes to their matrix as they saw fit. One of Arivek’s propulsion engineers was even taught how to disable or deactivate him if the need arose.

Needless to say, Arivek placed the interface behind lock and key that only he had access to. He still hadn’t registered and downloaded himself into the interface, despite constant messages that he was required to do so. The project manager refused to allow him to download into the main computer as he was previously, so his matrix was currently residing on a PADD that he kept on his person at all times.

So he stood there, staring at the interface, as he had been doing every night for the past month without fail. The constant reminder that in this universe he was nobody. He was finally able to track down his theta version six weeks ago. The man was last seen at a homeless shelter on the planet Arithema and hadn’t been heard from since.

All those published essays… All his research… All of his accomplishments… Gone. Like they never happened. The only thing he had left was his memories and the compressed backup of the old Computer Core that held all of his work from the previous universe.

And he just found out today that a lot of his colleagues were being transferred away from the Katana. As if there wasn’t enough change, the Starfleet of this universe felt they were entitled to this Katana’s crew as a replacement for their own and would do with them as they pleased.

Another sigh, and Arivek turned away from the interface and walked back towards his office. He was currently sifting through all of the Computer backup data and exporting it to the appropriate owner for them to deal with. That certainly was an important task and wouldn’t do itself.

“See you tomorrow,” he said to the interface as he walked back into his office and closed the door.

M’rayr Eisovo had no idea what brought him to this point. Up until about an hour ago, he’d been busy behind a desk, transitioning between various administrative tasks as the Katana’s Commanding Officer, either approving commendation orders, reading up on Evora’s restoration efforts, or studying the inter-political affiliation and dynamics of the Delta Quadrant’s major powers. And then suddenly, and very unexpectedly, the Caitian set his PaDD down, stood up as though something had struck him decisively across the head before going to the bedroom to change.

He emerged moments later, dressed in a tan garment that closely resembled robes – but was considered casual throughout most of Caitian society – before exiting his quarters.

The truth of the matter was that M’rayr made a mistake: one that involved one Jennifer Matthews.

Or was it Jennifer Eisovo? Or Jennifer Matthews-Eisovo?

The fact of the matter was that neither he nor Jenni had discussed the finer details of how they’d make their relationship together work, let alone figure out what her would-be surname might become. They couldn’t have, because he’d ended their relationship as unceremoniously as it had begun. With that memory coming back to bear, armed with teeth of regret, the Caitian heaved an audible sigh. At the time, it had felt like the right decision to make. After all, he needed to be focused on his duties and to this ship and its crew. But now, the decision felt so wrong.

Either way, changing out of his uniform had been a deliberate decision. Once already, M’rayr had allowed rank, title, and duty to come between him and Jenni before. This time had to be different, and it was better for him to remove the temptation altogether. Besides, it was important for Jenni to see that he was coming not as her commanding officer, but as something… someone… else.

Reaching Jenni’s quarters wasn’t difficult. They weren’t that far from his own. And M’rayr refused to allow time for him to begin second guessing his decision to come here. He pressed the chime. For all he knew, Jenni could be asleep. Or she might even still be on duty. It was late – well past midnight. But repairs to the ship were ongoing. He hadn’t bothered to check or even ask the computer where she was.

Jenni sat on her couch, clothed in a white cami and yoga pants. Her glazed-over eyes remained fixed on a lone PADD that rested on her coffee table. Though the time was considerably shorter, it had felt like days since she and M'rayr had last spoke to each other. As Chief Operations Officer, she'd submitted several reports to him over the last few days while her shifts had kept her off the bridge assisting Engineering with the repair efforts.

She'd returned to her habits she'd developed when first coming aboard this Katana. Long hours on duty and using time in her quarters just for sleep. Today had been the first time she'd forced herself to do something otherwise. A replicated sweatband covered her wrist, though what it concealed was the only thing on her mind. Jenni had spent the last hour reviewing Turush law. The marriage was indeed binding, and if M'rayr wanted nothing to do with this, neither would she. Turush law, however, made it pretty difficult to dissolve the union and soon Jenni would have to speak with Maica about helping with it.

Then again, Maica wouldn't be too helpful for a while. What would she say to her? "Congratulations on your marriage! Mine's gone kaput, help me get out," just didn't sound like something you'd say to a future newlywed.

Her ears barely picked up the door chime and she, dazed, looked over to the closed doorway. It was an unusual sound. She was the outgoing one, always going to someone else's room. Who finally worked up the courage to come visit her?

Jenni opened her mouth to approve an entrance, but her eyes darted back to the active PADD on the coffee table. Very few people aboard knew about her situation. Well, that likely was no longer true as secrets were hard to keep on this ship. Still, there was part of her that wanted to keep this uncomfortable aspect of her life out of view, so she stood and picked up the PADD. She thumbed the power switch to the off position, and while her back was to the door as she walked into her bedroom to set the PADD beside her bed, Jenni called out, "Come in."

On voice activation, the doors parted in a hiss, allowing M’rayr the room he needed to step through. Suddenly, he felt strange, as though he should have brought something with him – roses, perhaps? He knew very little about as to how to court a human, let alone apologize to one. But he’d seen enough ego-bruised human males carry flowers to know that such offered gifts had meaning. It was too late now, though. He looked around for Jenni, not finding her in the main living area. Hearing noises coming from the bedroom, the Caitian swallowed. Was going in there really a good idea? Perhaps he should wait –

His feet started moving him towards the bedroom before the rest of him realized what was going on, and in no time at all, he found himself face to face with Jenni. Everything he'd planned on saying went blank in his mind, and he was left for a long moment dumbfounded. “Hi,” he said, finally, the typical baritone of his voice absent.

Jenni had noticed the absence of a simple "Hello" when she'd disappeared into the bedroom to drop off her PADD. It was a bit odd, but then again, she wasn't used to visitors. As she stepped through the open doorway from the bedroom to find a non-uniformed M'rayr there. Confusion and anxiety rippled through her blood stream. And while she had to resist the urge to slap him, another reaction escaped her lips, "You have some nerve, you know that?"

M'rayr deliberated on his response, which took a moment. Even then, he couldn't find the words to say what he wanted to, what that did come to mind felt... inadequate. "Perhaps so," he said after a moment. Can we talk? entered his throat next, but for some reason, no sound came out, making for an brief and awkward movement of his jaw.

She folded her arms in front of her while she stared at him through narrow eyes. With the initial shock worn off, she wasn't quite sure how she felt, or what she should be feeling period. Still, the very fact that he was here and that he came to her meant something. "You made it pretty clear the last time we were together. So, what brings a Captain to the quarters of a Senior Officer that can't wait until morning?"

M'rayr flopped his arms to his sides, but he never took his gaze off of Jenni. "I'm not here as your Captain, Jenni." When it seemed like that wasn't going to be enough for her, he added, "The last time we were together... I made the wrong decision. If it is possible to, I would like to correct for that mistake."

A fire surged within her. As she remained with her arms crossed, Jenni looked into his good eye and could tell he was being genuine. Part of her wanted to remain angry, yet she still blamed herself. Jenni had backed away instantly when the Turush had revealed what had transpired. It was such a large leap she'd never expected, much less even thought possible. He'd only reacted in kind. That was what kept her from navigating further down a path that would divide them even more. She hadn't known what to do with herself since their last encounter.

Whatever happened now would bring clarity to both parties, no matter if that clarity was positive or negative.

"How?" Jenni asked with a simple word, knowing that the methods or implications were anything but. "How would you like to correct it?"

It wasn’t until then that M’rayr grasped just how rigid his own bearing had been. He was standing nearly as stiff as a board, his arms at his side. Then again, Jenni’s demeanor wasn’t making it easy for him to feel like he could afford to be more relaxed. She was angry, and rightfully so. Coming to her so late and so suddenly hadn’t helped the matter. And he’d been a fool for coming to her without so much as an idea on how to answer a question that should have been obvious. He felt a hastily constructed retort start to make its way up to this throat, but stopped it at the last moment, and then commanded the muscles in his back, shoulders, and arms, to slacken. The effort was only moderately fruitful.

They just weren’t there anymore… as they’d been when they woke up in that hotel room what now seemed years ago. Being with Jenni had simply been easy back then, as though her mere presence could take down any wall M’rayr had ever held up in his life. Now, he was on guard, barriers up, picking and choosing his words to her, even his body language, calculatingly.

There had to be a way to change this.

Whether he had any right to, M’rayr reached out with his paw and took her hand in it. Knowing that she could pull away at any moment, he drew up the sweatband away from the part of her wrist she was concealing, brushing the tattoo softly with one of his digits as though he were seeing it for the first time.

Jenni looked down as he lifted the sweatband. She made no effort to withdraw from his touch or his revealing of the unexpected marking. Her eyes, however, looked at the exposed tattoo on his wrist, though the fur continued to regrow around it, beginning to obscure its existence.

“I have been a fool,” M’rayr started. “Perhaps I’ve been nothing more than a Starfleet Officer for so long that I’ve completely forgotten how to be anything else. To believe that I would never require friendship, or companionship, again. That my loyalty to the Federation would always be enough. But this ship and its crew changed the colors which I see my universe in. Then, suddenly, you became its epicenter. And after I thought I knew who I was, that made me afraid. I thought that, perhaps by forcing myself to see old colors again, that I would no longer be so afraid. But instead, it made me feel… alone, hollow.”

“I want to be more than the sum of a service record. I want to feel joy.” M’rayr looked up to Jenni. “And while I do not know how to do any of this, I do know that if I am to succeed, you must be the center of my universe.”

Jenni met his gaze, recognizing it as completely and utterly sincere. Emotions continued to surge within her, though the negative ones were starting to lose the war. Still, her senses maintained control and her face kept her position neutral.

"Until I came aboard this ship," Jenni began, "I was just an engineer, the Chief Engineer of the USS Katana. I'd lost Jenni Matthews somewhere along the way. Jhu, Maica, Andy, even Kris helped me find her again. But you did what none of them ever could, show me that life has meaning when it's shared."

With her free hand, Jenni reached up to brush his face. She felt her eyes quiver and dampen as she looked him in the eye. This was it for her, her olive branch extended. She'd follow him to hell and back, just as long as he was willing. Jenni had to know. "If you want this, if you want me, then it's gotta be all in."

M'rayr took her hand in his and held it to his chest, letting her feel not just the warmth of his fur, but the beating of his heart. There were still so many questions beating in that heart. While he knew that Jenni was far too tenacious to let even him ground her from her duties, he still had absolutely no idea how he could move on if she were hurt… or worse, killed, following one of his orders. But if the last few days had told him anything, it was that she was his family, and that he could not move forward not knowing that she was at his side.

“I promise.” He said.

Like a flood, Jenni's emotions immediately overran her. Her free hand left his face and the one he held escaped his clutch. Jenni instantly wrapped both of her arms around his torso in a warm embrace. Tears trickled down her cheeks, but no sobs accompanied them. She buried her face in his chest and made no other movements. Jenni remained there, and though she had no plan or no other assurances that this would be an easy road, she knew that everything was going to be okay.

Even with less than two weeks before the crew of the Federation Starship USS Katana were expected to end their leave of absences and return to the ship, the mess hall on deck two was unsurprisingly empty. There was still a scattering of engineers from Starbase 001, presumably the same ones who’d been busy working on getting the Katana ready during its dry dock. M’rayr had been tempted to go off-ship himself, but there was something about being back on board the Katana that he found favorable.

Even if he was just ordering from a replicator…

“Computer, one order of ramufta, and a glass of Nepata tea.”

Obligingly, the replicator coalesced atoms together until a finished looking meal materialized near the tray. M’rayr took the tray, found his familiar spot in the mess hall from when he was still the Katana’s First Officer, and sat down to eat.

Just Arriving from his off shore leave Starfleet had given him after his transfer off the USS Polar, Shrol decided to see how well the replicators where on the ship that he would be living on for the next few months or years.

Walking into the mess hall he expected the presence of more then a group of engineers and a Catain. Shrugging the fact aside Shrol walked toward the replicator pondering what he wanted for his meal, ramufta maybe? No that just wouldn't do, pondering through his wide array of foods he kept going back to one meal, Gagh. Even though he hated the Klingons for what they did to his family and to his body he couldn't argue the fact the had great food.

"Computer, one order of Gagh, and a glass of Klingon Blood Wine."

Grabbing the food for the replicator Shrol looked around the room looking for ideal spots to sit, He really had only three choices, The Catain, or the engineers, or eat alone. Oh how he hated rowdy engineers, so Shrol walked over and sat on the opposite side of the Catain nodding a greeting before eyeing the captain buttons on his collar as he rose to attention after his tray was set down.

"Good Day Captain."

M'rayr glanced up at the Andorian. Out of Katana's entire compliment of one-hundred and fifty-one, there were only six Andorians, and only one of those Andorians wore the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade. Recognizing his newest Chief of Operations from Shrol Ch'ziqis's service jacket, the Caitian nodded. There was a time when M'rayr rarely ever desired company during his meals, particularly since prayers to Mraownr were required to be conducted in the privacy of his quarters. But times had changed, and M'rayr had already performed his prayers. "Lieutenant Ch'ziqis," M'rayr greeted in return. With a moment of silence ensuing, M'rayr then gestured to the table. "Welcome on board. You are early."

Shrol nodded and sat across from the captain looking at his tray seeing what the captain liked to eat. "Captain Eisovo, It's good to finally meet you sir." Shrol started eating his Gagh listening to the M'rayr, "My Mother always told me, 'On time is late', and the shore leave was killing me i couldn't wait to get back to the Operations console." Shrol stated continuing his consumption of the Gagh, finishing it quickly. Shrol looked at the Captain, "I expected to meet you in your office but I've learned it's always better to meet someone over food then over paper."

For Caitians, dining was a relatively private matter. Then again, it was the ship's captain who chose to eat in the very-public mess hall. "Wise words," M'rayr remarked while he broke off a conservative portion of his ramufta.

Shrol noticing the Caitians averting the conversation stopped his talking picking up his data PaDD looking at some things for his new Operations role. His eyes scan through the data PaDD his Antenne twitching a little as he keeps reading through the PaDD silently as he takes a few sips of his Blood Wine. "So, Who else will be on the bridge with me?"

"The Katana will have several new senior officers on board," M'rayr indicated plaintively.

Shrol nodded looking at his PaDD re-reading it slightly making sure he got everything, "Sounds good, it will nice to finally meet all of them"

M'rayr nodded back. "You will have a chance to between now and our departure date. A senior officer briefing will be scheduled as well, giving you the opportunity to meet them in a more... official, capacity."

Shrol nodded to the captain. "Sounds good it's always good to meet formally in a more formal environment as well as a more urban one."

It was likely that everybody else preferred to eat their meals on the Starbase, where there were a litany of restaurants and shops able to cater to even

M'rayr opened his mouth to speak, but a chirp of his comm-badge interrupted him. Withholding a sigh, the Caitian tapped his comm-badge. "Eisovo, here."

"Captain, there is a Commander Simpson here to see you, the voice on the other side of the comm link told him.

M'rayr looked to Shrol. "I'm on my way," he tapped his comm-badge again. "Apologies, Lieutenant. But it is time for me to go."

Shrol nodded at the Catain. "It's fine Captain, a mans got to do what a mans got to do. We'll be seeing a lot of each other on the bridge so it should be no rush."

"Enjoy the rest of your meal," M'rayr said, leaving.

Captain M’rayr Eisovo was in his quarters on board the Federation Starship Katana, watching as his personal belongings from the Starbase materialized in a shimmer of blue-white energy. Starbase 001 had, for the better part of the last several months, had been his home away from home whenever he and Jenni weren’t exploring some part of earth. Now, a transporter officer somewhere on the station was meticulously beaming his belongings and property from his quarters on the station, to his quarters on board the Katana.

After several final boxes finished materializing, a chirp on his comm-badge informed M’rayr that someone on the other side was trying to contact him. Tapping the insignia on his chest, M’rayr accepted the communique. “This is Captain Eisovo.”

”Sir, this is transporter room thirteen. All your belongings have been beamed to your personal quarters on board the Katana. Is there anything else I can do for you, sir?”

M’rayr took a moment to see if anything appeared to be missing. It had always been much easier to keep stock when he’d only had a few personal belongings. Once upon a time, he’d been able to put his entire life into a box or two, and yet now there were dozens of boxes laid out across the living area. And before Katana reported to Earth Space Dock for its refit, his quarters had only been sparsely furnished, within minimal decorations. It had been one of the first things that Jenni had encouraged him to ‘change’ while they were together, so instead of just a desk with a terminal, he now had a full sized couch, several sofas, and a coffee table. Even his bed had been upgraded.

“No, Chief. Thank you for your work.”

”Have a good day, Sir.” the comm-link cut out soon after.

M’rayr took another moment to study his surroundings. It would take at least several hours for him to unpack and organize. A very real temptation to shove everything out the airlock instead came to mind, but even though M’rayr chuckled inwardly at the thought, he knew that living under sparse conditions just wasn’t for him anymore.

Unexpectedly, there was a chime at his doorway. Someone on the other side had found him, but for the life of him, M’rayr couldn’t imagine who that would be. Most of the crew and his senior staff were still on Earth, enjoying what little was left of their extended leave of absence. So who could be wanting to see him?

“Enter,” M’rayr said, picking up a holo-picture of him and Jenni overlooking the Tower of Pisa. In the picture, he was smiling. He’d been smiling a lot lately, even now that Jenni was off to her own assignment on board the USS Camelot.

Upon hearing the word 'Enter', Ashley entered the Captain's quarters with purpose and headed directly towards him. Her eyes fixed on his large frame, the Caitian standing at least a foot taller than her, dwarfing her. "Apologises for the intrusion, Sir," Ashley explained confidently, "I'm Lieutenant Ashley Hunter, transferring from the USS Lake Louise as your new Chief Counsellor..." extending her hand as she held out a padd detailing confirmation of her transfer to the Katana.

It took M'rayr a moment to realize that, for all intents and purposes, Ashley was reporting in. Setting the photograph down on the container, he permitted a small smile to part his lips as he turned to face her. Taking the PaDD, he pretended to skim through it. But the fact of the matter was that there wouldn't be anything in it that he hadn't read already. "Welcome aboard, Lieutenant. Although, it wasn't necessary for you to do so quite so early..." looking up to the chronometer, he corrected himself. "...or late." M'rayr knew that he was an imposing man, and the sealed and scarred eyelid didn't help. He made sure to expose another slight smile to assure her that he wasn't offended.

Nonetheless, Ashley felt as though she had to apologise, "I must apologise, Sir... I got wrapped up with things.... didn't realise the time..." She had to force herself to stop there. "Maybe... we could catch up later..." Ashley started to back away from the Captain.

M'rayr shook his head, smiling on the inside. "No apologies are necessary, Lieutenant. I appreciate your... initiative." He pointed over to one of the free sofas. "Please, sit down."

Looking back at the sofa he was pointing at, Ashley took a moment before finally taking a seat on the sofa. The sofa was harder than she thought is was going to be, it look so warm and inviting. However, the reality was different, it was as though no one had actually had sat there before. There were a couple of questions that she wanted to ask, mainly around his expectation for her department and probably more importantly, of her in terms from the Captain's point of view and his crew. Some captain's like regular feedback on their senior staff, and others it was a fight to show the importance of the counselling service.

Ashley, decided to observe and see what developed.

M'rayr recognized the tact. It was the tact of a Counselor. The best way to gain insight into someone is to sit there and let him talk, because nobody ever liked those long silences. He'd been through enough counselors in his time, between his exile from Cait during the Dominion war, and the aftermath of that bloody conflict, to know better than to acquiesce. "You served on the Saint Louise prior to accepting your assignment on board the Katana, correct?" He didn't give her enough of a pause to answer. "What made you request a transfer?"

"Yes Sir, on the Lake Louise..." Ashley replied correcting him, although in a tone that didn't portray that, more in confirmation. "I served on the Lake Louise for four years, and I needed a fresh challenge. Plus the opportunity to head my own department on such a renowned ship as the Katana was too good to miss..." she explained, trying to determine what ego he had, if anyone. Ashley wasn't lying about her motivations for leaving the USS Lake Louise, but that wasn't the whole truth.

"Ah, yes... my mistake," M'rayr corrected himself, realizing his error. He laid his paws out over his lap, studying Ashley. "Four years is a considerable amount of time to serve on a starship, particularly for a Chief Counselor. I am sure that it was a considerable experience for you. Do you have any expectations for yourself now that you are on the Katana?"

Ashley was a little confused by the Captains response, she paused for a moment. "I graduated Starfleet, and the USS Lake Louise was my first posting," she replied observing every twitch, movement and expression. "...I worked my way up to to assistant Chief Counsellor, and learn a lot during my time aboard. However, Sir, I still have a lot to learn especially from yourself, and I look at this as a new chapter... you could say a fresh..." she stopped herself and asked, "If you don't mind me asking, Sir. What are your expectations of your Counsellor service? and me?" it was a good opportunity to start at the same page after all.

M'rayr chided himself, heaving an audible sigh as he realized he'd incorrectly stated her credentials twice now. Perhaps that extra cup of raktajino wouldn't have been such a bad thing after all? Then again, it could have had nothing to do with caffeine whatsoever, and more about the fact that he was talking to a trained counselor. Smiling, M'rayr forced himself to take a much needed moment to consolidate his thoughts. "The Katana has a rather storied history. As you know, nearly two-third of our crew did not originate from this universe. We were brought here against our desires. While I think that most of the crew has accepted our fate, there may still be a few who harbor resentment over what happened. Your expertise in helping to monitor crew mental health will be an important step in keeping us at our best."

Nodding in a agreement as the Captain spoke, "Without question, Sir..." replied Ashley with a half smile before cupping one hand on top of the other she glanced down briefly. "You know Sir... my door is always open. If you need someone to talk too.. fresh respective or just a sounding board. I have no motive... with expectation of what you just said, monitor the mental health of the crew..."

M'rayr nodded approvingly. "I appreciate it, Counselor."

It's smaller than I thought.

Dee wasn't impressed by the Katana. He's always thought the design was lacking, now even more so coming off the tails of a Galaxy-class starship. He'd heard of her history, and studied everything he could find, including how this ship was a near duplicate of the one originally constructed in this universe.

Regardless of how he felt, the Katana would be his new home. Even as he watched through the shuttle window as it approached the rear shuttlebay, Dee found himself counting the visible phaser strips and looking for blind spots. He may not care for the design, but it was now his home to defend. And defend her to his dying breath he would.

His eyes quietly inventoried the shuttlebay as the shuttle landed. He also took careful mental notes as he navigated the corridors to a turbolift that would take him to the bridge. There was much for him to do. Meet the crew, take stock of what was available, check the weapons manifests, and train the security staff on his routines. By the time he finished, Katana would be one tightly secured ship, ready to handle anything thrown her way.

The turbolift came to a stop, and its parting doors revealed the Intrepid-class bridge. He was looking for a tall Caitian, according to the ship's manifest, and his visual search of the diverse species on the bridge turned up empty. There was one place left to look, so Dee found himself swiftly stepping down the stairs and tapping the door chime beside the Ready Room door.

On the other side of that door was a Caitian whom was still reeling from the infestation of Andorian mud fleas. When, or even how he'd been infected by them, was as of yet a mystery. During their final travels together, M'rayr and Jenni had visited a number of hotels across Europe, some more reputable than others. It could have come from anywhere. With the knowledge that Mr. Cadwell's injection would have the desired effect of killing the fleas before they could fully hatch -- (a hatching which would cause the Katana to undergo intensive sterilization) -- in mind, M'rayr at least took comfort in that the irritation would soon go away.

"Enter," the Caitian said, setting a PaDD that listed several visited hotels aside. The doors separated, and M'rayr recognized his visitor from the service jacket he'd read back when he was trying to select a new Chief of Tactical & Security. "Mr. Ellis," M'rayr said, standing up. "Welcome on board the Katana."

Daniel had been recognized before he had the chance to stand at attention. This would be his first time working directly with a ship's commanding officer, and he was already pleased to see he was one with attention to detail. Daniel would have to remember that. "Thank you, sir," he said as he stepped ahead of the door's sensors, permitting the doors to reunite. "I've heard many stories about this ship, Captain. I look forward to being a part of them."

Stories of the Katana were certainly going around. M'rayr was at least glad that Daniel had heard the better of them; that, or he was simply being courteous. "I am pleased to know that," M'rayr said, unable to decide between the likeliest off the two. "Have a seat, Lieutenant." Once the two had returned to the table, M'rayr felt compelled to continue. If there was one thing he still preferred to do with his senior officers, particularly new ones, it was to keep them off balance. "I have spoken to Captain th'Lill aboard the USS Stormshaman." As M'rayr continued, he interlaced his paws and inclined in his seat. "He has spoken quite highly of you."

Daniel cocked his head slightly to the left. He'd only spoken to Captain th'Lill once or twice, and usually only when he had to fill in for the ship's Chief of Security. "That's good to hear," he replied. "I didn't realize I'd made an such an impression on him."

M'rayr pursed his lips. "Word travels up the chain of command, it appears."

Dee nodded. "Then I hope to make the same, if not better, impression on you, Captain."

Daniel was eager at least, and his record practically spoke for itself. M'rayr had also noticed, but hardly paid any reservation towards selecting him as his new Chief of Security and Tactical because of his turbulent past. Everybody came with a past, some darker than others. It was what Daniel had made of himself in the past several years since joining Starfleet that mattered most to M'rayr. "We are expected to depart in another two weeks. Before that, Admiral Janeway will be conducting a full inspection to assess our readiness to depart. While I do not anticipate any security issues, we should be prepared for any none the less."

It wasn't as though Janeway had any problem bringing unwanted trouble with her.

Daniel's left eyebrow shot up at the news of Admiral Janeway. It wasn't every day the Admiralty personally inspected a starship before heading out into the unknown. "We're not coming back for a while, are we, Captain?" Daniel asked. He might be a young lieutenant, but you didn't have to be a senior officer to read between the lines.

The fact was that M'rayr hadn't received his official orders just yet. But there were a lot of rumors circulating through Captaincy. The Gamma Quadrant; the Delta Quadrant. It was even possible that Starfleet Command would order Katana to explore deeper within the as-of-yet still unexplored quadrants of Alpha and Beta. Either way, it didn't take a master to know that, given how extensively Katana was expected to be stocked, that an early return was unlikely. "I assure you, Lieutenant Ellis, that when I know the answer to that question, you and the rest of the senior officer team will know as well."

Nodding, Daniel thought for a moment. "I haven't the chance to check in with my department, much less review the manifest. Are there any particulars of which I should be aware?" He prided himself in being prepared for anything, and he'd be certain his team would be.

"You have time," M'rayr admitted. Most of the crew was still on Earth or on Starbase 001, with several even finishing out on some of the core worlds. Even if the Katana were ready to depart tomorrow, it would take at least a week before everybody was back at their stations. "Until then, until we know more about our next mission, I am confidence that you will perform your duties well."

"I will certainly do my best." It was evident Daniel would not find any more answers, at least not from the Captain. Only the ship itself and the crew could help fill in those blanks. "If there's nothing else, sir, I'd like to go ahead and get started." Week or no week, there was a lot to do before launch.

M'rayr wouldn't have much more information to provide until some Admiral gave him his orders, and apart from 'getting to know' Daniel better, M'rayr couldn't think of a valid reason to keep him here. With a wave of his paw, M'rayr gestured politely for the door. "Understood, lieutenant. You are dismissed."

"Thank you, sir." Daniel rose from his chair and nodded at the Caitian before leaving. This certainly would be an interesting assignment.