Felicia had seen Sigma class space stations, but she'd never been aboard one, even as common as they were within Starfleet. She'd spent her career to this point on starships, great flying cities but dwarfed by even a space station of this size. She still wasn't entirely certain where everything was, but at least she had operations, her ready room, and her cabin figured out. The rest would come with time... at least, that's what she hoped. Shadow, on the other hand, had no trouble at all settling right in. The tiny fox took great pleasure in zooming down the long corridors and looping back to her as they walked. She knew she'd have to put him on a leash once the station's crew began to arrive in earnest, but for now she'd let him run and enjoy it.

Dalia, on the other hand, had not figured out her quarters. She was either at the wrong door or the locks were busted but she couldn't get in and her satchel was getting heavy. That's when she saw the strangest creature zoom by. Twice. "What the..." she muttered, giving up on her door for the moment and looking down the curved hallway towards the curious creature.

Felicia wasn't too far behind Shadow, and as he zoomed back she hear him making an excited squealing noise. Uh oh. "Shadow!" Following the sound, she found him jumping all over someone in the corridor. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize anyone was in this section." Grabbing Shadow in mid-air just as he was jumping, she scooped him up and held him tightly against her, stroking his back to calm him down.

Checking herself over, Dalia didn't seem injured but you never knew with some creatures. "It's not dangerous, is it?" she asked, eyeing the creature curiously. She wasn't fond of most animals, but then again she was used to animals that would sooner bite a chunk out of you than look at you. "I'm just worried it's going to try to make a meal out of me... or I suppose that you're going to make a meal out of it." She doubted it was this woman's lunch but she didn't know that much about Federation races.

"Shadow is only dangerous to his toys." Felicia grinned a bit, tousling Shadow's ears and getting a happy growl from him. Looking up at Dalia, she realized then that the woman she was speaking to was one of the Star Navy officers assigned to the station. "Felicia Quinn, commanding officer, and I'd shake your hand if my hands weren't full of this furry troublemaker."

"No apology necessary," Dalia said as she tried the door one more time, resulting in another negative beep from the controls. "I'm Dalia Rendal, your executive officer."

"Ah, that explains your problem. You're on the wrong deck.... your cabin is on deck 9, down the hall from mine." Felicia grinned a bit crookedly. "I'll show you where it is, if I can figure out how the heck to get back up there without getting us even more lost."

Dalia gently pressed her forehead to the wall next to the door. "Of course. Probably an error in translation." Recomposing herself, she stood up straight and smiled politely to her new boss. "Then by all means, please lead the way."

"Don't feel bad. I didn't even have the language problem and I still got lost." Felicia laughed a bit at her own expense, leading the way toward the closest turbolift. "As far as the translation matrix, it'll smooth out the longer you're here."

Following Felicia, Dalia nodded, not quite to the point of humor. "I don't expect I'll be here that long. This is a grandiose plan and the attempt is worthy of success, but there's a lot of history between our peoples. It'll take a lot to surmount it."

Fantastic. They'd send her a pessimist to serve as her first officer. Felicia had heard all of the reasons why the project wouldn't work, and she hadn't listened to any of them. That type of thinking would doom the project before it even got off the ground. "I think it can work," she said firmly, tapping a button to call the turbolift car.

"I hope it does," Dalia said as she waited as well. "Most are against interactions with other cultures but this is a chance to learn about things outside of Romulan space and I'd like to experience something new rather than reading endless surveillance reports."

"Well as you said, our peoples don't have the best history. But nothing can ever change if we don't put in the effort." The turbolift car arrived and opened its doors to them, and Felicia indicated that Dalia should enter first.

Stepping into the turbolift, Dalia turned to face the doors and waited for Felicia to enter before speaking. "I find it humorous how I expected our first conversation to be our expectations for the consummation of Romulan and Federation forces and that's exactly what we're discussing. I do wonder at your opinion of the placement though. Rather than in the neutral zone, this station is half a lightyear outside of it on the Federation side. One would say that it's in a perfect position to detect ships crossing the neutral zone as well."

"I suppose that would be accurate." As the doors closed behind her, Felicia paused in their conversation to direct the lift to deck nine. "But there was some disagreement over the station's placement. Something about us not being a border station because we aren't responsible for border security... and there was some trouble with placing the station directly in the neutral zone because a warbird commander wouldn't allow the construction there? I don't know... I didn't build the place. I just run it."

Dalia cracked a smile and chuckled lightly. "I think I could get to like you. If I spend enough time here, perhaps I can even grow to hope for the success of this station. I've heard that Federation optimism can be contagious so I hope there's a vaccine." This was her attempt at a poorly translated word play joke.

"Nope. No vaccine. You're doomed to catch it eventually." If Felicia could pull off a convincing maniacal laugh, she'd have done so, but she just smiled instead.

"Then I pray it takes its time." Dalia said with a smirk. "If they think you're rubbing off on me, High Command would have me reassigned immediately."

"I'll corrupt you as slowly as I can then," Felicia quipped cheerfully as the door opened. She went out into the corridor and looked both ways, trying to remember which direction they were supposed to go.

Dalia had no idea which way to go - everything looked the same to her. Glancing down at her PaDD, she couldn't even identify where on this stupid map they were. "I hope you have some idea where we are because this map is still useless."

"I'm having the engineers put up signs," Felicia said dryly, setting Shadow on the floor, knowing he'd go directly for the cabin where his food was. The little fox instantly took off to the left, yipping for them to keep up. "That way. Can't fool his nose."

Dalia's eyebrows shot up in surprise as she followed the two. "Fascinating. That animal of yours seems to know this station better than the both of us combined."

"Only on this deck because he can smell his dinner. If only it were that easy for those of us with two legs." Soon Felicia spotted Shadow sitting outside her cabin door, and she beckoned him back. "All right if that one down there is mine, this must be yours." She pointed at the door they were standing next to.

Dalia punched in the code and to her surprise, the door opened. "Thank goodness. Maybe I should have my door painted green so I can find it again."

"Whatever makes it easiest for you, I'll authorize it. Can't have my staff getting lost." Felicia smiled as she nudged Shadow back from the open door. "Please let me know if you need anything."

"I will, thank you," Dalia said with a tight smile as she slipped into her new quarters, hoping the shower was easy to figure out.

As Dalia disappeared into her cabin, Felicia and Shadow ventured just a bit further down the corridor, also returning home. As far as first meetings went... it had been a good one.

Things were moving fast. That realization hit Felicia like a rock over her head. A few short days ago, she'd been the commanding officer of the Valley Forge, and she still wasn't entirely certain how she'd made the jump from starship command to starbase command. It was a much bigger step than Starfleet Command seemed to think it was. Having never served on a starbase, she was at a distinct disadvantage, especially considering that she already knew that some of her officers were coming here from other space stations. That thought was simultaneously comforting and unsettling. She didn't want to be looking like a fool for being unfamiliar with the base she now commanded.

Only a few minutes ago, she'd sent a message out to her present officers and those who would be incoming within the next hour. Now she waited in the observation lounge for them to arrive, holding a cup of tea in both hands and trying very hard to look composed and professional when internally she felt anything but.

The first to arrive was the new XO - a Romulan woman just slightly taller than the Captain but seemingly able to look down on a giant if there was need for it. Unlike their initial meeting, she wore her Romulan Navy uniform and rank - not the bulky upholstery number that made most romulans look like a wall of couch but a much more slimmed down uniform that while still screaming 'Romulan!' was much more friendly to look at. Heading to the replicator, she punched up a glass of kali-fal and got... Lemonade? She'd have to discuss the Romulan menu selection with whomever the Operations Chief was. This would do at least. She also had a small package, which as she joined Felicia, before sitting down, she presented her new commanding officer with the gift.

"Captain, It's good to see you again," Dalia said with a seemingly genuine smile. "I wish this carefully planned gift was your first impression of me, but alas, it is not to be so." Offering the small box of mini ozol twists, she hoped they would be received well.

"We don't always get what we wish for, but I thought your first impression was fine. It's good to see you again too." Curious about the box, Felicia graciously accepted it and opened the lid just enough to see inside. What she saw there was the familiar Romulan confection, rumored to be so tart that most non-Romulans couldn't tolerate them. "Osol twists? Your second impression is even better than the first. I wish I had a gift to offer in return."

"No gift is necessary, Captain," Dalia said as she sat down, sipping at her... lemonade. "Not bad. Not kali-fal, but not bad either. Lemonade, the replicator said."

The doors parted revealing Crichton. This was his first official interaction with his regular colleagues and he was happy to see his two direct superiors already making friends. He couldn't yet tell what this entire task force would amount to, but he was optimistic for the future. It was high time two of the galactic superpowers worked together. He walked up and stood at attention. He calmly said, "Lieutenant Crichton, reporting in."

"Don't you start that. At ease, before someone sees you being all formal." Felicia grinned a bit, tucking her gift box under her arm. "Get yourself something from the replicator if you'd like... we're just getting to know each other here. As for the lemonade..." She shot Dalia an apologetic look. "I thought the replicators were ready for Romulan cuisine. I'll have someone look at them."

Crichton nodded and moved toward the replicator. He wasn't accustomed to being on a station. It was such a large area to be in charge of. Quite daunting, in all reality, but he was eager to get to work. Approaching the replicator, he ordered a coffee with one cream and two sugars. The replicators never seemed to get it right. As the beverage appeared, he eyed it cautiously. Taking hold of it, he took a sip. Not bad...

"If it's all the same, I think that may be more my responsibility as XO. I'd like to speak with them myself if possible." Dalia said with a smile before turning to the newest arrival. "Lieutenant Crichton, do you share the Federation's optimism for all things diplomatic and peaceful? What's your hope for the future of this station and the arrangement between our two peoples?"

Crichton moved to the other side of the table and took another sip of coffee. He sat down and listened to the question. "There has always been a lot of potential for our societies to work together. After all, the Federation and the Empire are two of the major players in this side of the galaxy." He looked at both of the women and continued, "I'm not a scientist, but its hard to deny the potential for advancements that could come from this collaboration."

"Spoken like a true member of the Federation," Dalia said with a grin. "Perhaps since I'm here, someone on Romulus agrees with that sentiment, but more likely, they just want us to spy on you. Either way, it would seem I have to agree that it's an excellent opportunity for optimistic outlooks to take hold, whatever the future may bring."

"I like to think that someone in the Romulan government must believe in this program, but I have to admit... you're probably right." Felicia grinned a bit, sitting down at the table and sliding her box of sweets aside for the moment. "Regardless of the outcome, it's worth seeing where this will go."

Crichton nodded. "So I only glossed over some of the crew bios during my trip here. I must confess, I took the opportunity to have the first vacation since graduating the Academy. What are your professional backgrounds?" he asked the two ladies.

"Data acquisition," Dalia said simply, not revealing any more than that.

"Science, but no real specialty. Every ship I've been on has had different needs... one commander wants a planetary scientist, the next was an astronomer. I learned to be flexible... and to read really fast." Felicia smirked just a bit, noting how short Dalia's answer had been and wondering just what it meant.

"I understand," Crichton said. "Adaptability is always helpful. My primary background is tactical work on the bridge, but I learned a lot about ground combat from the marines on my most recent assignment." He thought back to his time on Starbase 442, a much different station than this one. On that base, a fight was always on the horizon. He was actually looking forward to a different walk of life.

"I don't expect you'll see much ground combat here... Galorndon Core isn't the sort of planet people fight over." It was true. Felicia had rarely seen such an unwanted planet... the surface was too unpredictable for any sort of exploration or settlement. "And our garrison ship is a Sydney class transport, so I'm hoping we don't get into any fights just yet. Wouldn't be pretty."

"Then I hope my government responds positively to my request for an old T'varo warbird. It won't be much but it's better than an unarmed transport." Dalia said. She too was looking forward to something different here. Peace and relaxation and the lack of espionage everywhere. She wouldn't let her guard down, but at least here she didn't have to watch out for her life all the time.

Crichton said, "Every little bit helps, that's my motto." He looked out the viewport down at the planet. "What is down there?"

"Unarmed? Do Romulan tranports not carry weaponry?" As she waited for the answer, Felicia picked up a PaDD and pulled up the Fairchild's specifications, handing it to Dalia. "She's no Defiant, but she could get out of a scrap if she had to. As for what's down on the planet... mystery mostly. Not too many people have gone down there... the magnetic field basically melts your brain, to use a very unscientific term."

Peering at the PaDD, Dalia had to correct herself. "Ah yes. A nearly unarmed freighter."

"Quite unscientific" commented Petty Officer Jevalton as he walked into the room with a PaDD in hand. The man walked around the table giving a simple nod to the Captain and the others before taking a seat at the table, settling in as quietly and calmly as he possibly could. "Excuse my interruption, Captain. Petty Officer Lucca Jevalton, your Yeoman and station's Media Relations" said the man introducing himself.

"Media relations?" Inwardly, Felicia groaned. That meant the press was going to be on her station. "Glad you could join us, Lucca."

Lucca smiled at the Captain. "Thank you" he replied simply. His mind, however, was abuzz with thoughts as he got a sense of the indiviuduals he would be working with.

Crichton sat back in his chair sipping his coffee. Normally, he would get in on this conversation, but this time, he was going to sit it out and watch the festivities. In his experience, of course, he'd certainly never met an unarmed Romulan ship. But with that said, he believed that all ships should have the means in which to defend themselves.

"You be nice to my ship." Felicia chuckled just a little. "She's the best they could spare us... we aren't a border station, so no need for a more heavily armed ship, they said. I'm not saying I agree with them... I'll feel better when your requested T'varo gets here. But the Fairchild can hold her own in a fight, if need be."

Lucca looked at the two women who sounded as though they were in the middle of a territorial dance about ships and defenses. The Yeoman took some notes and looked up at the other man in the room who was being rather silent. Smart move thought Petty Officer Jevalton.

"And thankfully they thought to spare us enough weapons to defend this station if we need to." Dalia added.

"I may or may not have had something to do with that." Felicia grinned a bit. "I may be a scientist, but I'm not a fool. A station without ample weaponry doesn't last long."

The silvery-white haired Ullian cleared his throat as he went to work on his PaDD. "Shall I make a note of that, Captain?" he asked in regards to additional weaponry for the station.

"Make a note for Command that I still want my Sabre class escort that I asked for." Felicia winked at him. "And yes, by all means... if you can get them to send us a spare turret or three, do that. I want to be able to secure peace through superior firepower... if necessary. I believe our Romulan allies are fans of that approach."

The man raised a brow and cocked his head slightly as he took down the notes and began constructing the preamble for the request that the Captain could later sign off on. "Perhaps make a stop by Sickbay, Captain" replied Lucca jokingly. "A Doctor may want to look you over for some Klingon ridges, Romulan ears, or the ghostly Cardassian complexion" added the man, and shortly after quoted her 'secure peace through superior firepower' line.

"It's a very human attitude too, you know. Look at Earth's military history sometime... the greatest peace was often found when one or more powers had some massive arsenals." Felicia smirked a bit.

"Officer Jevalton, was it?" Dalia asked, intentionally mispronouncing the name as she glanced between him and Felicia. "Does the Federation see the Empire like that? That we enjoy superior firepower as a means to control the peace? While I agree that it's good to have the means to defend yourself, the Empire tends to prescribe stealth and espionage over brute Klingon force."

Don't look at me. I'm not the one who said it thought Lucca as he eyes wandered over to the Captain.

"Whoa!" Felicia held her hands up in mock surrender, heading Dalia off before things got out of hand. "It's just some good-natured teasing, and yes... some in the Federation see the Empire as nothing more than gun-toting crazies out to prove they have the most superior forces. I don't... it was just a joke, okay? I value the intelligence your people have... it's right on par with the Vulcans, sometimes better because you're not bound by the rules of logic and peace at all costs." Maybe it would ease the tension and maybe it wouldn't, but Felicia decided to throw all her cards on the table. "Starfleet wanted to place a Starfleet officer as my XO. I requested a Romulan officer instead because I admire those qualities. I want them available to me if I might need them."

"Well... One does need to uphold their honor in the face of a potentially hostile force... I admit that some commanders take that too far, but we do try to maintain a semblance of civility." Dalia said, nodding and thinking it over a bit. "And your request is sound. The logic behind it isn't exactly diplomatic, but it's honest and that does count for a lot with me. Most would think you a fool and you may think I'm lying, but I respect you for that, Captain. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Felicia let out a breath that she was sure was audible to everyone in the room. Thank the heavens for Romulan honor. She smiled a little, relieved to have resolved the issue before any real problems emerged from it. "I never claimed to be a diplomat... I can sweet talk my way into someone's heart sometimes, but sometimes it takes more than that."

Let's hope your diplomacy skills are strong enough and for the sake of public relations, that you have a good bluff thought Lucca

"I look forward to seeing what kind of man you chase after in your spare time then," the Romulan XO said with a slight grin.

Well, that was fun.. Crichton looked on intently, wondering where else this could go. Not that it hadn't been enjoyable. It was always fun watching women get into pissing contests about weapons. Always gave it an extra something special. Though with the XO's last comment, Crichton had to chime in. "Normally I instantly raise my hand indicating myself, but I still don't think I'm prepared to get involved yet," he said jokingly.

"I don't date my crew," Felicia remarked idly, not paying much attention to what else had been said on that matter.

"And the tens of thousands of civilians we're bound to have on a station like this?" Dalia prompted.

"Civilians are fair game." Felicia grinned at her. "I don't expect many of them to be directly under my authority, so I wouldn't turn one of them down."

Is this a staff meeting or let's make a date? pondered Lucca with a sigh. "How would you like me to word that request, Captain? I believe the route of we need it for defense of the innocent civilian lives aboard and to protect our allies, granting a sanctuary from hostile encounters may go over well with various news services."

"Hmm." Felicia thought about Lucca's question for a moment. "I think that wording will work, with heavy emphasis on ensuring safety for the civilians... and the option of evacuation in the event of an emergency."

He sat his PaDD down and pointed at her with a smile. "Oh that's good. Nicely worded, Captain."

"I thought you might like it. Hopefully, it gets the point across." Felicia glanced around the room. "Since this is an informal meeting, does anyone else have a topic they would like to discuss?"

It was at that point that a big man in Intelligence black stepped up to the table. "HOw about where I can get a decent cup of Raktajino? This stuff the replicator produced wouldn't even pass for the worst of Earth Coffee." he said jokingly, then inclinded his head slightly towards the other officers. "Captain, eerie'riov...Lieutenant Moran Intaro at your service." he bowed slightly, and grinned.

"You weren't supposed be here until tomorrow! Sneaking aboard like that could giving someone a heart attack." Felicia wrinkled her nose at the thought of anyone liking that intense Klingon brew. "There might be a Klingon restaurant on the civilian levels... haven't had much time to check yet."

"Unfortunately the one who applied for a shop on the station was turned down, so no Klingon restaurants here," Moran said, then just shrugged a bit and winked. "I like to be early, and I'm intel...sneaking is what I do best."

"You two are going to get along great." Felicia pointed at Moran and Dalia, grinning a bit wickedly. "Just no conspiring to take over my station and turn it into an intelligence post. I'd have too much explaining to do."

"We will endeavor to keep our discussions limited to the terrible programming in the replicators," Dalia assured Felicia with a smile. Looking up at Moran, she raised her glass and sipped from it. "Earth Lemonade is a poor substitute for kali-fal."

Moran smiled at that and sat down. "Indeed it is," he commented, "Kali-fal is quite good, we'll have to make sure the engineering crew programs it into the replicator's."

Tim paused in the doorway. He'd read what he could on the Sigma class station on the longer-than-expected trip to the Neutral Zone, ranging from technical specs to duty rosters and the crew manifests. He'd secretly hoped his first day aboard would be anything but eventful and avoid conversations disconnected from those magical wall slots that produced beverages and foodstuffs.

And as he heard what he presumed to be the command staff's displeasure for the replicators, Tim couldn't even be disappointed. He could only hope they wouldn't force him to fix it in their company. Spotting the woman with a red collar, Tim stepped inside and nodded his head. "Chief Parker reporting, Captain." He then eyes the room, noting the Romulan Commander, the Lieutenants and the seemingly odd silver-haired man with Petty Officer stripes. What an odd bunch this was.

"This is an informal meeting, Chief. Grab a drink, have a seat... get to know everyone." Felicia indicated those already gathered. "We've had a request for Romulan recipes to be loaded into the replicator system, once you're settled. Don't rush to do it now... that would ruin the point of us meeting to introduce ourselves." She glanced around the room, noting that the activity was showing no signs of slowing down, despite there being no official topic of conversation.

"I'll add it to the list," Tim simply replied. Because of the yellow collar, he'd already been stopped on the way to this meeting. Stuck doors, lighting too dim... A Zaldan was even demanding the shade of gray his quarters was painted was a hair too dark and pink. And to think Starfleet thought he was better off here than the shipyards. He fought back a sigh and moved to the replicator. Part of him wanted a simple glass of water to avoid the supposed trouble, but the engineer in him overruled and requested an Andorian tea, knowing that it's complex flavors were never right in any replicator, but the final composition would give him a hint on where to start with the unit.

"Sounds like you have quite a list already. Sorry to add to it, Chief. I know how overworked your department can be... and I intend for any such convenience requests to be limited. Maintenance on this place we call home is far more important, and you may feel free to tell people that when you they start trying to pile requests on you." Felicia gave him a bit of a sympathetic smile. "And please, if you have any requests, tell me or Erei'Riov Rendal. We'll try to make sure you get it. That goes for all of you. Feel free to linger and chat amongst yourselves... I have a few things to complete in my ready room." With that as her goodbye, Felicia gathered her box of sweets and PaDD before heading out.

ON:

An annoying and repeating buzzer went off just shy of Cohen's bed his eyes, still closed squinted in frustration at his misfortune. He'd have to wake up and he'd have to get ready for the day regardless of his thoughts on the matter. Timed to wake him up and force him out of bed, the blinds to his apartment opened to reveal the showery grayness that was the last days of his home.

Soft rain drops pelleted the display of downtown Grand Rapids as shuttle both big and small had already began to make their way across the skyline. Thunderstorms and heavier rain showers could be seen in the distance approaching city as a shirtless Cohen pushed off his covers and rocked himself out of bed.

Standing in his boxers, he walked over to the window and clenched his teeth at the thought of living the city he had come to call home for the pass few months.

“Computer, coffee, dark roast, three sugar cubes, 4 ounces of cream.”

It honestly took him longer to request the drink than to walk over and pick it up off the replicator. Leaning against it as he took the clear mug off and sipped from it, he closed his eyes for a moment, thinking about the day ahead of him and what he needed to do in order to be best prepared for it. Seconds later, a chime from his subspace communicator meant he was being called on.

Completely forgetting he was shirtless, he turned towards the display area in his bedroom and called for the computer to acknowledge. In a split second, the image of a women in a Starfleet uniform, sitting behind a desk was starting at a half-naked Cohen.

“Lieutenant Cohen...did I catch you at a bad time?”

Sipping from the coffee with a look of non-nonchalantness, he responded.

“Not really...I just got up, Ensign...”

“Messing, Jordan Messing Councilor...” She said with a smirk as Cohen looked around his bedroom while speaking.

“What can I do for you Ensign Messing?”

“Just reminding you that your expected to report to Deleth Station in the next 72 hours as Commander Rendal is expecting you.”

By this time, Cohen had found a shirt nodded to the display as he spoke. “Yeah, thank you for the reminder. I do have a question however.” Cohen was going through some information on his dresser as the officer starred at him for a moment before inquiring.

“Yes?”

“...never mind Ms. Messing, I'm sure it will be addressed later.”

“I understand you just got off a assignment with the USS Downing, sorry we weren't able to give you more of a break before arriving here.” Cohen smiled at the Ensign as he nodded as drank more of is coffee. “Of course, thanks anyway, I'll see you within the week.”

“Stay dry counselor.” She said with a smile.

“You do the same Ensign.” He replied with a double meaning, making her blush a smirk before the communication was cut. Cohen nodded as he looked once more around his room and decided it was time for a shower, then to get ready for his new assignment today.

OFF:

Kurt stepped off the shuttle craft and onto the deck of the station. A slight shiver ran through his body as he glanced around. Not his duty station of chose, he decided to make the best of this job. At lest he had been named CMO.

He set off to report in and get a room. He would come back later to get his belongings. Once he stepped into the hall he called out "Computer, locate Commander Quinn please."

"Commander Quinn is in main operations," the computer responded flatly, giving no further directions.

"Ok then..." Kurt said with a slight sigh. He stopped by a wall terminal to find his way

A few moments later Kurt stepped through the doors to main ops. He glanced around at the few people who were there, trying to catch a glimpse of collars to see rank. It was odd to not have a face to go with the name he was told to report into, but for what ever reason his file did not have a picture of the Commander. So for the while he stood out of the way and watched.

"Keep an eye on that," Felicia told one of the officers working a console, tapping a sensor reading that was mildly concerning. "It could be a ghost or it could be a cloaked ship... let me know if it changes." As the officer nodded an affirmative, she straightened and spotted a man in science teal near the tubolift, someone she hadn't met yet. "Can I help you?"

"Please." He said stepping up to her and glancing at her pips. "Commander Quinn?" He guessed. How many Commanders could there be on the station right now?

"That's me." Spotting the two golden pips on his collar, Felicia suddenly realized who he must be. "Oh, you must be Doctor Zunio! I'm sorry... I meant to have someone meet you when you came aboard."

'Oh thank god' Kurt though as he extended his hand to the Commander. " Yes Ma'am, I am officially reporting for duty. No need to say your sorry, finding my way around here is not too hard." He said with a smile.

"Either you've been on one of these labyrinths before or you're just trying to make me feel better." Felicia chuckled a bit, shaking his hand. "We can talk in my ready room if you have anything you want to discuss."

Kurt chuckled, " Ok, so I had to stop three times to look at a map and still happened to stumble across Op's when I was not expecting it. The only thing I really have to ask is, where are my crew files. Normally I have then well before my transfer so I have time to review them before I get to my station. But this time..." He shrugged.

"I swear, I thought I had them sent to you already." Puzzled, Felicia picked up an unused PaDD from a nearby console, looking to see if the files had been delivered. She found the request and her subsequent order to have them sent to Kurt, but there was no record of any sort of file exchange. "It seems our computer has a gremlin. All of the medical files are loaded into sickbay's computers, but the set I ordered sent to you never made it out of our data banks."

Kurt shook his head a little with a grim. " I love how our tech makes life so easy for us."

"I know, right? I hate computers sometimes." Felicia shook her head slightly, offering him the PaDD. "Well at least you can look them up semi-remotely now. I made sure all of the PaDDs in this place could link up to the main computer core."

Kurt took the PaDD. "Great! Ill go settle into my office and start looking them over right away!" He said with a slight nod. " Oh, but first, is there anything going on that I should be aware of? With so many new people coming and going it always seems some kind of flu or STD crops up."

"No medical concerns that I've been made aware of, other than a few cases of Romulan officers trying non-Romulan foods and making themselves sick because they rushed into it. And maybe a handful of Starfleet officers doing the same thing with the Romulan food." With all the food being replicated, Felicia suspected it was more a case of unfamiliar herbs and spices rather than food poisoning.

Kurt laughed, having done the exact same thing. "When I was at the academy getting my specialization in Romulan Physiology I did the same thing with Osol Twist's." He admitted. "Ill make sure to be aware of that. Would not want to send Op's on a wild goose chase."

Felicia's eyes sparkled a bit as she chuckled. "Can't blame you... the Osol Twists are fantastic. I really do suspect it's just they've found things they like and immediately overindulged. Like children the first time you give them pizza or cookies."

"I will keep on top of that and if it continues I will have Op's take a look at the replicators, but I agree with you. Its not uncommon for stomach issues to accompany new and exotic job's." Kurt glanced around a little. Did he really just call this place exotic?

"Exactly. We've all done exactly the same thing at least once." Felicia wasn't sure that the station really counted as 'exotic', but much of the food available certainly was. "Please, let me or Sub-commander Rendal know if you need anything. We'll try to make sure you get it."

"Yes Ma'am." Kurt said with a nod. "I have not meet the Sub-commander yet." he added.

"She is... not up here." That was odd. Felicia hadn't noticed that Dalia was 'missing' until Kurt mentioned not having met her. "You can't miss her though... she's the highest ranking Romulan on the station and she has massive... well. You know."

Kurt raised his eyebrow. He had several ideas of what a Romulan could have that was massive, sticks up their asses seemed to be the number one contender at the moment. But he opted for ignorance instead.

" I'm afraid I don't know Ma'am." Kurt said with a tilt of his head and a quizzical look on his face.

"Glandular and fatty tissue in the pectoral area." It was all Felicia could do to keep a straight face saying it that way, and eventually a bit of a grin broke through anyway. "You'll see when you meet her."

Kurt blinked a few times, then grinned himself as he realized what she was talking about. " I see." he said, not really sure what to say to that. " I uh...will make sure to retain eye contact."

"Good idea. I don't know how many weapons that woman carries, and I'd hate for you to be the first to find out." Felicia chuckled a little, dearly hoping Kurt wasn't going to repeat her comment to Dalia later when he met her.

"When I do her physical Ill keep a tally and report to Security if you like." Kurts tone showed that he was joking...maybe.

"That is between you, her, and security. I don't think I personally want to know." Felicia thought she might be better staying in the dark on that topic. "Why don't you get settled in and start sifting through those files? I don't know who all is due for a physical, but I'm sure we've got at least a few."

"Yes Ma'am." Kurt said with a nod. "If you need me ill be in sick bay." He said, unaware of the mess that awaited him in sickbay.

Having previously commanded a rather small starship, Felicia didn't have much experience with having Intelligence officers under her command. While she'd opted to try being disarmingly friendly rather than suspicious, the presence of an Intelligence operative on the station made her nervous. Knowing from experience that the best way to deal with this sort of anxiety was to become friendly with the person who scared you, she'd sent Moran a message to meet her in the ready room for a chat. She didn't expect him to reveal much information about himself or his assignment to the station, but perhaps talking to him would ease her mind a bit.

And Moran arrived at her office right on time, casual confidence exuding from him as he pressed the chime and waited for her call to bring him in. He had an inkling what was going on with Captain Quinn; hell, he'd seen it numerous times with other commanders, most especially starbase commanders. Tugging his uniform, he gave one girl a friendly smile as she tripped, and helped her pick her padds back up.

"Come in!" The man was certainly prompt, something Felicia appreciated. Picking up a warm cup of tea from her desk, she sipped from it and set it back down.

After giving the girl a friendly word, Moran entered at the Captain's call, tugging to straighten his uniform as he approached her desk. "You called Captain?" he said with a friendly smile.

"I did. Please, sit down." Felicia wanted this to be a friendly meeting, despite her nerves. "I'm going to be honest with you... I haven't worked with many Intelligence officers. Frankly, you guys kind of scare me."

Moran nodded his head, frankly he had expected as much. "I don't blame you Captain," he said, taking a seat in the chair across from her. "Intelligence Officers do not have a good reputation with standard Fleeters; however, I would like to change that."

That was certainly reassuring, and Felicia smiled a bit. "Glad to hear you plan to change it. I'm interested to know how you're going to do that."

"Honesty, Captain..pure and simple." Moran began, "Now, clearly there are going to be somethings that I cannot discuss, but I will give you everything I possibly can, including the premise of my assignment here to Deleth Station. Quite simply Captain, I am here to monitor the Romulans and keep my superiors and Fleet Command apprised of how well the project is going. Of course I am to be extra vigilant of any possible Tal'Shiar activity. " That was a given.

"I appreciate your honesty, Lieutenant." Felicia wouldn't admit it, at least not to him, but she hadn't expected such transparency from an intelligence officer. "And regarding the Tal Shiar... I fully expect them to try to pull some nonsense here. They've never supported the idea of cooperation between the Federation and the Star Empire, doesn't take an intelligence officer or a Romulan to be aware of that."

Moran nodded his head. "So does Star Fleet, that's why I am here." he said softly. "I have plenty of experience in...breaking Tal'Shiar encryption, as well as Klingon." What he wasn't telling yet, is there was possible trouble with the Klingons as well. Until he was sure about that, he wasn't going to say anything and worry Felicia unnecessarily."

"Klingon encryption is a joke. I can break it and I'm a scientist." Felicia chuckled a bit. "I'm glad to have your skills for the Tal Shiar's encryption though. Dalia's given me no reason not to trust her, but it helps to have two experts."

"Dalia does seem to be different," Moran agreed, "But it wouldn't surprise me if she is under surveillance and doesn't know it. That's just how that group of black-hearted maniacs work."

"Perhaps. I don't think I'd be surprised either." Felicia chuckled just a bit at the thought. "Well if we do find out about something like that, we'll handle it when it comes up."

He nodded, "Most definitely." Moran said with a nod. "I'll be praying that we don't come across anything like that."

"So will I, but I'll also be preparing." At least, she'd be preparing as much as she could. Felicia knew that the Fairchild would be no match for a warbird if one showed up.

He nodded a little bit at that. "If need be Captain, there is always an Intel ship within hollering distance of all Starbases this far out into space."

That was a surprise, and Felicia couldn't quite keep the feeling off her face. "Oh. I didn't know about that... I suppose Starfleet Intelligence didn't think I needed to know."

Moran snorted a little. "Starfleet Intelligence doesn't tell that to anyone except other Intelligence Officers. The ship is on other missions, but close enough if we need to send an SOS, we can and get a response."

"I see." Felicia wasn't quite sure how she felt about that, having an unknown and unseen ship so close by on some sort of mission. But if they were willing to render support if she needed it, she supposed that would be all right. It didn't mean she had to like them being so close. "Well, I hope we don't need their assistance, but if we do, it's good to know someone's out there."

He nodded his head, "As disconcerting as it is," he added, "That kind of secrecy is why the Fleet doesn't trust my department."

"I see you understand my point of view." Felicia sighed a bit. "Thank you for telling me about the ship. Your honesty may have saved us a few panic attacks when a starship suddenly appears out of nowhere to rescue us from certain doom."

Moran nodded his head, then sort of smiled. "NO problem Captain ,I believe in honesty..it's why I've never made a good undercover or spec ops agent."

"I think we'll get along just fine then. I can't stand unnecessary secrets... I understand that sometimes a secret has to be kept, but some of the secrets your bosses like to keep are just ridiculous." Like the ship. Felicia couldn't believe no one thought it was necessary to let her know there might be a ship out there!

"I agree," Moran said, "And when I get to the position of Intel Director, I'll change things...but for now I can only do what I can do here."

"I'll settle for what you can do here. Don't go rushing off to run things yet." Felicia grinned a bit. "You've eased a lot of my concerns, and I appreciate you being so willing to do so."

"It's the least I could do," Moran said with a friendly smile. "And now I'm afraid I need to go get some stuff down down in the recesses...I'm afraid I have to install my own consoles."

"Whatever lets you do your job effectively. Just make sure anything that needs to be removed goes into storage... we can use it somewhere else." Picking up a PaDD, Felicia put a note into the computer that Moran would be installing his own consoles in the intelligence section.

Moran shook his head, "No, I meant Im having to because engineering either hasn't had time, or they're scared to come near the intelligence section." he answered, somewhat amused and somewhat annoyed. "I'm sure I'm not the only chief that is having this problem."

Felicia stared blankly at him. "You've got to be kidding. Please tell me you're kidding."

"No Captain, I'm not." he said, "Intel is a mess, and the infirmary is worse, they don't even have bio-beds set up." He'd been by there earlier, the bio beds still weren't up....he would see when he went to get his physical if that had changed. "At least they weren't up when I walked by there earlier."

"Oy." There were no words to describe how Felicia felt about that, other than that it was ridiculous. "Well, I'll let you get to work then. Apparently I have a mess to sort out."

Moran nodded his head, getting to his feet. "Just don't be to hard on them Captain, they didn't have a commanding officer or department commander until just a few days ago." he said, then with a wink, exited her office.

ON:

The transportation to Deleth Station was uneventful as Cohen rested comfortably on a passenger transport which was now in the final stages of docking. The ride out to this slightly remote location took much longer than expect, mainly due to unforeseen travel restrictions imposed by Starfleet which this particular ship was in direct violation of. However, they were able to get it taken care of with ease as they now arrived at what would be a new home for many of them. Cohen walked with the rest of the passengers, striking up conversations with one of them as this was their first time onboard a Starbase.

As they passed through the small corridor connecting them to the various passage ways through the station, Cohen noticed the interesting coexistence between the Romulan’s and Federation. This would be a very interesting assignment for a counselor to say the least. What felt like a few miles of walking and several lift rides later landed him on level 13. His request for counseling offices was returned by the computer with,

“Please specify.”

When he requested the closest one, it took to Deck 13. Stepping off as not to hold up the others riding, he turned to the left and began to walk towards the medical facilities highlighted by the path indicator. Passing the officers mess, Cohen glanced in as the door opened to reveal two officers leaving and a host of officers currently inside. Walking towards the clearly marked medical facilities, Cohen entered, holding his bag and traveling PADD. He was greeted by an enlisted medical technician currently standing behind what appeared a reception desk.

“Hello Lieutenant, can I help you sir?”

“Yes, I’m Counselor Cohen, I’ll be reporting in tomorrow, I just wanted to stop by….” Cohen looks around the room for a moment “….and see where I’d be working out of…tell me, are these the only spaces for use by counselors onboard this station?” He was confused by the relative smallness of this particular medical facility, especially for a station of this size. Smiling the petty office responded. “No sir, you’re on deck 13, where there are several office spaces for your use, you also have spaces you can utilize on level’s 15 and 38.” Cohen sighed a little relieved to hear that news.

“Great, had me worried there for a second. I guess the Chief Counselor will assign me a official workstation and office when I meet them?”

Nodding, the petty officer added. “Do you know your quarters assignment?”

“Yeah…ah, Decckkk….23, looks like I’ll be staying with someone as well, my apartment assignment has just been updated.” He said looking at his orders and old travel itinerary. Nodding the petty officer added. “Welcome aboard Deleth Station Lieutenant…” “Cohen, and counselor is fine.” He said with a smile as he turned to exit the offices. Returning the smile, the petty office gave a slight shrug of his eyebrows at the attractiveness of the man. Cohen would eventual make his way to his apartment only to find that he was currently there alone. The other officer he was sharing it with, had yet to arrive. Simply picking the room to the left, he moved towards it, notified the computer that he was now onboard which would undoubtedly signal the command staff that yet another officer arrived and was in his quarters.

Flopping onto his bed, he looked around the room for a moment, dropping the PADD behind him as the chime for a message come in almost instantaneously.

=A= Operations to Counselor Cohen. =A=

=A= Go for Cohen. =A=

=A= Counselor please report to Commander Rendal in operations. =A=

=A= On my way, Cohen out. =A=

‘I couldn’t have got into trouble that fast, I just got on the station’, he thought to himself as he made his way out of his quarters and into the main living area and then into the hallway.

OFF:

Lieutenant (JG) Tylar Cohen
Counselor
Deleth Station

Dalia had had her last physical not long ago but since that was on a Romulan ship and she was now in Federation space, she had to do it again. She suspected it was for benign reasons on the Starfleet staff's part but likely due to her own government not having transmitted her own medical records yet. Either way, it would be good to meet the new CMO and this was as good of an excuse as any to pretend to socialize.

Heading into the sickbay area, she looked around cautiously. Everything was still being set up and though Dalia expected this, it was still disappointing to see a place of medicine in such disarray. This was very much not like the reports she was used to. The places she had imagined in those were wonderfully orderly and sterile. This was... not...

Kurt had just reported in for duty, been assigned a room and had secured his things from the cargo bay and dropped them off. Now it was time to see what his sick bay looked like.

Kurt quickly moved into the sick bay when the doors swooshed open and damn near walked right into the back of a woman who was standing in the door way. "WHOA!" He yelled out in shock, but his surprise was quickly washed away as his eyes fell over the sick bay. "Whoa..."

"Perhaps I should come back after you've sorted things out..." Dalia said, stepping out of the way of the newcomer. "It looks like you'll be busy for a little while just getting everything setup."

Kurt's eyes wandered around the room in disbelief, " I don't even know what to do about this...is that a bio bed?!" he asked pointing to a cargo box.

It was then that Kurt actually looked at the woman. He didn't need to see her pin on her collar, he knew exactly who she was from Quinn's Description. " My apologize Sub-commander, Ma'am. I am Doctor Kurt Zunio."

"Full Commander now, Doctor," Dalia said with a polite smile and a bow of her head. "Commander Dalia Rendal, at your service. I was hoping for a checkup since my medical records have been delayed, but it seems your sickbay is in no condition to treat a hangnail, let alone perform a physical. The joys of a new station, I suppose."

"I'm sorry again! Commander Qinn called you the sub-commander." Kurt bowed his head slightly. " Commander. Lucky for you Quinn just gave me the file with all the records. I had planed on settling in here and reviewing them. For unknown reasons the computer here on the station neglected to send the communication to me. So I'm a bit behind..." He glanced around the room again. " I don't see that changing any time soon." He looked back a the Commander again. "Think I could get a few guys from Op's to give me a hand in here?"

"As soon as they arrive on station, of course. And don't worry about the rank much. The Starfleet equivalent is Commander but the literal translation of my rank is Sub-Commander. Not to be confused with the Vulcan version of Sub-Commander, mind you..." Dalia trailed off as she continued looking around the array of boxes and crates. "It's confusing even for me."

"Then I will keep is simple and call you Commander." Kurt said, making sure to hold his eye contact like he was advised to by Quinn. " And wounderful, no op's guys yet..." He sighed a little. "I guess I had better get at lest one bio bed set up."

Looking back into his eyes, Dalia smiled again, this time in a much more friendly manner. "As far as I'm aware, we do have a skeleton crew of maintenance people but I'm sure they're working more on the power systems so far. They just uncrated the reactor for this station a few weeks ago so I'm sure it has the usual Federation built-in quirks that they have to work out. If you want, I can lend a hand for a few. I'm not due back at ops for a few hours."

"That would be great. Thank you." Kurt said moving over to a hypospray vials and opened it. He plucked out the shipping list and looked it over. "I hope there are more vials around here somewhere." He commented as he glanced around the room for a similar crate. "Not having an active sickbay is a hazard..." He idly commented.

Opening up another case and pulling out a few tricorders, Dalia had to agree. "This is true, but at least for now we have the SS Fairchild. I assume it has functional medical facilities. Sixteen medical tricorders here."

Kurt huffed a bit as he lifted up another crate and opened it. "I try not to make assumptions. I'm already figuring out how to make a triage center in a cargo bay if need be. Here are the actual hyposprays. Good start."

Dalia tucked the tricorders into a set of drawers nearby. it had cutouts in the foam for them so she assumed they'd be fine there before opening a second crate and holding up one of the glass cylinders while reading the shipping manifest. "Four liters of biomimetic gel... Ok, even I know this is a controlled substance in the Federation and that four liters is just too much."

Kurt looked up at her and the cylinder she held. "They sent me 4 liters? Be careful with that, if even a drop goes un-accounted for its my ass." he said stepping up beside her and looking at the packing slip. "This has got to be some kind of mistake... Lets lock that up in my office for now." He suggested. Frankly he was lucky no one had come snooping and found that. "Ill contact Star Fleet and find out why they sent me so much."

Tucking the cylinder back into the case with the other three, Dalia sealed it back up and headed to the next crate while Kurt handled that one. "PaDDs designed for remote biofunction monitoring and a mounting stand for them all... That seems strangely... Convenient..." Pulling out the stand assemblies, she began putting them together into a frame structure with mag-clips for the backs of the 2 dozen PaDDs. "Do you want this set up around the main nursing station?"

"That's perfect." He sad as e carefully lifted the crate of biometic gel." Even if you don't put them where they will ultimately go, off the floor is the biggest help right now." He said as he headed back into his office to look for a secure place for the crate. He found a locking cabinet and stored the crate, then went back out to look through another crate. He popped open the crate and scoffed. Looking over the slip he sad out load " Why do I need 6 dozen neural simulators? One, maybe two wold have done. It seems like a shuttle bay tech ordered the supply's for my sick bay. Someone should have contacted me..."

Finished with the rack, Dalia started sticking the PaDDs to it, turning each one on momentarily just to make sure it worked. Some had left hand controls so those she clipped to the left side of the rack. It just seemed more logical that way, but since they were randomly mixed into the crate, she suspected it was actually that the screens were put in upside down. "I think I saw a crate of dermal regenerators over here as well. From the size of it, there's probably a few dozen of those as well."

Kurt just shook his head. He didn't know what to say about all this. He was not from op's and her was certainly no engineer. How cold Star Fleet screw up this badly.

"Ma'am..." he said dropping the lid on the crate he was looking into. " I need to be honest with you here. I can't handle all this. It's one thing to put away a few supplies, but this mess is a bit beyond me." Kurt's frustration with the situation was seeping into his words.

"Let's get what we can for now then," Dalia said as she finished up with the screens. Then she tapped her comm badge. "Rendal to Ops, can you spare some hands to help us out with getting these crates in sickbay unloaded and the biobeds installed? We need a functioning sickbay." After a few seconds a static filled reply came through. "We'll send someone as soon as we can, ma'am."

Kurt's head turned slowly to the Commander. " Whats up with the coms?" Everything seemed to be falling on this station. " Are we sure that we are safe up here?"

"Perfectly. Just you know... New station bugs to work out. I'm told most Federation stations go through this just after being built." Dalia said, hoping she was at least convincing Kurt, if not herself.

Kurt stood there for a moment and rolled the commanders words around in his mind for a moment. It was not like Star Fleet to place personnel on an unsafe station, but it was also not like Star Fleet to send a CMO to an un-built sick bay. "Well I will be sending a formal complaint about all this in my first report." He glanced to Rendal, " I hope you do the same Commander."

"Don't worry, I've already sent several reports on the seeming incompetence building this starbase back to Romulus," Dalia said as she cracked open another case to reveal half of a sub-quantum microscope. "The Captain has them as well, of course."

Kurt smiled and nodded, "I have a feeling that the crew are going to be the saving grace of this post."

"The people are always the most interesting part of any assignment, though here I suspect there are far fewer Tal Shiar agents than a normal Romulan station." Dalia said with a warm smile to Kurt. "So according to your records, your specialty is Romulan Physiology?" she asked, finding the other half of the microscope and setting both cases aside for now.

"I am. My disertation was on the affects of Vulcan pathogens on Romulan systems." Kurt explained as looked through the crate that held the biobed. "The next step in my studies is to introduce humans into the mix since we are so closely related on the genetic level."

"I don't recommend using anyone as a test subject, but I do hope that your studies go well," Dalia said as she joined him at the biobed crate. "I assume there are more of these crates in the main wardroom behind you. Otherwise, a single biobed will be a very small sickbay."

"I don't even want to look. With my luck so far that will have been the only one sent. I guess really I should just be glad I got anything at this point." Kurt said in a exasperated tone.

"Fair enough," Dalia said as she leaned into the crate to get some of the wall mounted panel items, squishing her boobs against the edge of the crate obscenely in the process.

Lucky for Kurt, Commander Quinn had already warned him about Dalia's obscene amount of chest. He noticed himself staring and quickly turned away to focus on something else.

"Is something wrong?" Dalia asked as she pulled the wall panel out of the crate and set it aside.

"Not at all." Kurt said as he rummaged through a crate containing random office supplies. "Why do you ask?"

"You seemed very intent on the contents of this crate until now." Dalia replied, working on getting the panel stuck to the wall.

"You seem capable. Or did I misjudge?" Kurt asked as he took up a side of the panel to help her attach it. " Anyways, I'm embarrassed on behalf of Starfleet Ma'am. Please know that I run a tight ship. Once I get this mess worked out this infirmary will be pristine, you have my word." He was embarrassed by this. No this was not his fault, but Starfleet Medical was usually better then this. Medical did not mess up this bad, and never I front of a representative from another organization.

"Relax," Dalia said as she got it hooked in. "You should have seen my first office. It was a bombed out replimat. Literally nothing worked but what we brought in and we had to take it back out again, afterwards."

"Well I suppose this is better then that." Kurt took a step back and looked at the wall panel, " But just slightly better."

Dalia chuckled slightly. "Yeah, maybe. I don't think I'll be much help with the rest of that biobed though. I really do need to get back to ops soon. Did you want to try and perform a physical first, or should it wait until later?"

"I would be happy to run a tricorder over you Ma'am." Kurt said as he selected from the crate what would be his tricorder for the entirety of he stay at the station. "Just take a seat on this crate." He offered, replacing the lid.

Sitting on the crate, Dalia slipped out of her uniform blouse, revealing some discolored skin along her left arm - the remains of a scar. "I know you haven't read my files yet and I doubt it's in there, but I've been rather harshly questioned earlier in my career. I'm sure you'll find some signs of it still."

Kurt's fingers gently traced along the scar. "Chemical burn?" He asked as he examined the site with his eyes and fingers, his tricorder forgoten for the moment.

"That and plasma on my back," Dalia replied softly, not entirely wanting to remember.

Kurt felt her body tense ever so slightly under his fingers. He knew when he was treading in dangerous water. "Well whats done is done right? As for the here and now..." He spoke as he flipped open his tricorder and ran the external probe over her body, "you seem as fit and healthy as one would expect." He snapped the tricorder shut and smiled.

"Can you detect any synaptic degeneration in my frontal lobes? Not all of the interrogation was physical..." Dalia asked quietly, knowing the Federation doctor would be discrete yet thorough.

Kurt focused his probe at the front od Dalia's head. It made a soft whirling noise as it scanned her brain. "No ma'am." He said. Kurt replaced the probe back into its slot at the front of the medical tricorder and closed it. "Your brain seems fine from a physical stand point, though I could do a more extensive scan once I get my infirmary put together if you like. I would also recommend talking with the counselor. I'm sure you need a psych evaluation anyways."

"It's on my list of things to do," Dalia said with a soft smile as she slipped her uniform top back on. "Thank you, Doctor."

"Very welcome Commander. Is there anything else I can do for you today?" Kurt ask, setting his tricorder on the crate behind Dalia.

"Just that you let me know if you need anything else. I'll be up in ops for a while and as soon as I can, I'll send hands down to help with all this." the Romulan woman said as she hopped off the crate and finished clasping the front of her blouse.

Kurt, ever the professional had turned his back to Dalia while she finished dressing. "Thank you Ma'am, as you well know I need it."

"If you need anything else, please let me know," Dalia said as she headed out of sickbay.

"I will make sure to do that." Kurt said as he watched her walk out. Once she was gone he tired to the crate Dalia had been sitting on and sighed. "Well, time to see if I can follow instructions." He opened the top and rummaged around for a moment. "Great...no instructions..."

After his meeting with the Captain, Moran decided to go get his physical taken care of, especially since he was freshly recovered from a projectile weapon injury; where in the blazes had a Klingon gotten a gun in the first place? Walking into sickbay, he looked around.

"Hello, doc?" he called out.

Sick bay was a mess. No, mess was being to kind. I seemed that no one from Op's had done anything in the bay so there were boxes of equipment and medicine everywhere. Kurt was in the process of trying to put together a Bio bed by himself. He heard a voice call out and looked up over the crates that blocked him from view. "Hey." he said as he stood.

The man was not in his uniform, picking out some casual clothes for the task of getting his sick bay in order. Kurt stepped out from behind the boxes and over to the man. He extended his hand "Doctor Zunio."

Blinking slightly in surprise, Moran looked around sickbay before looking back at the doc. "Lieutenant Intaro," he began, kind of glancing around again, then looking back at Zunio. "I was coming in for my physical...but I can see that you're not quite ready for business, so maybe I can lend you a helping hand?"

A thankful look washed over the mans face. " Could you? I have never been very good at this kind of thing. I can fix body's with my eyes closed, but mechanical things are lost on me." he said with a spread of his hands. He had already spent hours in here and the only thing he had really managed to do was pull all the parts of the bio bed out of the crate. " I hope I have not broken anything yet..." He added as he glanced around the room.

"Well i'm not engineer myself," Moran said with a nod, "But I work with enough equipment I can do a decent enough job getting stuff put together." Then he moved to where the biobed was set up and shook his head. "This should've been completed before the base ever opened." He began picking up the base and looked around for a tool kit.

So it would be clear to Kurt that his first major issue he had was that there was no tool kit. But for the moment he continued living in ignorance. He stepped up next to Intaro, " I agree, this should have been done before anyone stepped foot on this station. What would happen if there was an emergency right now?" Kurt picked up two pieces of the bed and worked at trying to affix them together.

"We would be screwed." Moran stated bluntly, then shook his head. "We need a tool kit, there's to many 'fix it' parts so to speak."

"Oh, tool kit. Duh." Kurt said with a shake of his head. "Man I need Op's in here."

Moran chuckled at that, "I'd say you need an engineer or two in here too."

"Commander Rendal and I were going through some of the supply's earlier, you should see some of the crap they sent me. Someone really screwed this shipment up." Kurt said as he stretched his back. "You know what, lets just call it a night. Ill replicate a cot later." He said with a chuckle. "What is there to do on this station?" He had been working since the second he had set foot on the station and had yet to really explore the place, and he really needed a break.

"Ya know, to be honest I'm not really sure," Moran answered, "Except or the impromptu social meeting with Captain Quinn and the XO, I've been stuck in my offices, installing consoles." He hadn't really had much of a chance to explore himself.

"Well this sick bay has pissed me off enough today. I need something to eat and to stretch." Kurt offered. " Do you know if there is a mess hall around here?"

Thinking about it, Moran answered, "There's the replimat where we had our 'social' gathering," he answered, "It's on the Promenade, they actually have some decent food."

"I only saw the promenade as I was walking through it to get to Op's and then my sick bay. Care to show me?" Kurt asked, he was eager to make a new friend, someone he could complain to about how bad Star Fleet had screwed him so far with this posting.

With a shrug and a smirk, Moran answered, "Sure why not." He then motioned to the door, thinking how much this assignment was resembling Nimbus at the moment. "So where did you come from Doctor?"

"Well, don't hate me." Kurt said with a grin as he stepped through the door. "I just spent the last three years with the medical corp. on Risa."

"Well weren't you the lucky one," Moran chuckled, walking down the corridor's now with the doctor. "I've never been that lucky."

"Yeah it was rough. But don't think there was a lack of work. It's not all rubbing lotion on sun burnt Trills." Kurt explained. But then a huge grin broke out over his face. "Though the sunburnt Trills made up for the cliff diving Klingons."

Giving Kurt an incredulous look, Moran said, "Cliff diving Klingons?"

Kurt chuckled a little. " Yeah, they always think that hard head of theirs can slam into the water harder then others. Turns out water is just as unforgiving to a Klingon as it is to a human. All joking aside, there are plenty of hazards around Risa. Most people tend to get caught up with how beautiful and pleasant the planet is, then they don't see the poison jelly fish on the beach, or trip over a sea wall."

Moran nodded his head. "I can see how it would be so easy to loose yourself in a place like Risa," he commented, having been there many times himself.

"Yeah..." Kurt said with a slight dreamy tone to his voice. "It's very easy to loose ones self on that planet..."

"That it is," Moran agreed, then smirked. "But ya know, Wrigley's has some advantages to." Boy did it.

Kurt glanced over at Moran as they walked along the corridor beside each other. "Wrigley? Never been there."

With a slight chuckle as some memories began to arise, Moran shook his head. "I've been there on assignment once or twice," he began, then smirked. "It's a fun place for singles...but I don't recommend it for couples." As they walked, he noticed a chapel was being added among the other religious worship centers. Good, he needed to take confession.

"In that case, I will have to make a point to visit it soon." Kurt said with a grin.

Moran chuckled a little at that. "Go for it, you'll have lots of fun, I know I did." he just sort of grinned. "There's one girl in particular...wowzers..."

Kurt looked over to Moran with a shit eating grin on his face, "There always is that one girl no matter where you go...wonder who she will be here on this station."

Moran just grinned in return. "Who knows, but there are lots of women here," he said with a slight laugh, glancing back at two women as they chuckled after over-hearing the two men. "Like those two."

Kurt watched the ladies for a moment then looked back at Moran. "Definitely top contenders I would say. So I'm sure you can't tell me, but I'm going to ask anyways. What's Intel doing on Deleth in the first place?"

Chuckling a little at the doctor's digging, Moran merely shrugged his shoulders. "Doing what Intel always does, keeping my eyes and ears open."

"I would expect nothing less..." Kurt said as the two walked up to the replimat. The place, as well as the promenade was almost totally empty.

OOC B: You wanna tag in someone else into this? Drag in one of the girls?

Moran: actually I think it is time to start a new one, this one is getting a little long.

The shuttle that Moran and his XO were flying approached their new assignment at a docking vector. They had been silent since leaving the [i]Minnow[/i], a small SI transport frigate that had brought them out here, but now his xo spoke up.

"Deleth Station, this is the S.S. Little Fish(YES I KNOW, SILLY) requesting docking clearance. Your Intelligence officers have arrived."

There was a moment of silence before the stations docking authority responded, "Little Fish, you are cleared or docking. Welcome to Deleth Station."

"Understood, thank you Deleth." the xo responded, then continued along the projected docking course and landed the shuttle.

"So what do you want me to do first Lieutenant?"

Already unbuckling, Moran glanced over to his xo. "Go to the HQ and give the quartermaster our assignment orders and get our housing assignment, then report to the offices." He was already busy getting up and moving to the back to get his gear. "I'm going to our offices to dump my stuff, and then report into Captain Quinn."

"Yes sir." the young man answered, and proceeded to gather everything he would need for his visit to the quartermaster.

Moran himself left the shuttle with his duffel slung carelessly over his shoulder, his locked case in his hand and he strode towards the hangar bay exit. He was stopped by a tiny little security guard, one he could easily break with one hand.

"Your orders sir?" the security guard demanded.

With a roll of his eyes, Moran set his duffel down to produce his credentials. "Lieutenant Moran Intaro, I'm here to take over as your Chief Intel Officer." He smirked, wondering if the guard would catch his little trick, it was something he did to test security.

Taking a look at his padd, then at the ID and then at the man, the officer gave him a dour look. "I'm sorry sir, but that ID is forged, I cannot let you pass."

And just as the officer was about to call for back-up to arrest Moran, Moran shook his head and pulled out his real ID and put away the one with Mickey Mouse's photo. "No need for that Ensign, I was just testing you." he commented, holding the real ID up.

The security officer was not happy, but said nothing as he double checked everything, and then waved Moran through with a dirty look. Oh how he hated intel officers, they thought they were the cock of the walk.

Moran laughed as he went on through, the look on the security guards face was priceless and Moran would get a chuckle over it for awhile. He headed down the corridor's in search of a turbolift, and found it and then headed for his offices, and then the promenade.

Kurt was not exactly happy about the situation his infirmary was in. It was time to make a formal complaint. He took a moment to remind himself that Commander Quinn was not the one responsible for the mess, just the one responsible for hearing his complaint and fixing it. Basically they were in the same boat.

Kurt taped his com badge. It crackled to life with a hiss of static. He shook his head as he spoke. "Commander Quinn, may I have a moment of your time?"

"Of course," Felicia answered promptly. "Shall I come to you or are you coming up here?"

"I would normally be more then happy to have you down here in my office, but I don't have anywhere for you to sit..." Kurt explained. "Actually, That's what I wanted to tell you about, so maybe you would like to see my mess first hand?" He asked as he stared at the Bio bed that he had managed to somehow get put together. At lest is looked right...Kurt thought. Yet the display kept flashing 'Calibrating' and Kurt had about 12 extra parts.

"It's... still... bloody hell, I'll be right down." The comm line cut off, but the exasperation in Felicia's voice was easily apparent.

It took her a few minutes to find the sickbay's location, but soon Felicia joined Kurt there, and she stared in dismay at the mess surrounding them both. "I don't... what... where the hell are the operations people who are supposed to be helping you with this?"

Kurt sighed and rubbed his temples, " I was going to ask you the same thing." He pointed to a very large crate. "Not having Op's to help me up together the most very basic of my equipment is only the start to my problem. This whole shipment is messed up. Commander, Star Fleet sent me four liters of bioimetic gel. That's a highly controlled substance and a extremely large quantity. Its was just sitting in a box on the floor. We are both very lucky no one decided to snoop around in here." He had more to show her but he thought he would give Quinn a moment to react.

"Biomimetic gel?! I didn't authorize any shipments of that!" What was going on aboard this station? Felicia had never seen such a mess, and now she was responsible for fixing this? She sighed, rubbing her temple. "I can tell by your tone that you have more surprises."

"I wish I was done." Kurt said pushing open a huge crate. "At lest six dozen neural simulators. I also have a huge crate of tissue re-generators. What am ever going to do with this many? I don't think I even have room to store all this here."

"Even if we split them between the station, the Fairchild, and the shuttles we won't use that many regenerators." The headache that was already settling in bloomed in intensity, but Felicia ignored it. She didn't have time to deal with it alongside straightening up this mess. "Okay. Command has a few screws loose. I'll fix it. Somehow."

Kurt nodded, "I know you will Commander." He laid his hand on her shoulder in a sing of solidarity. "What ever I can do to help I will. I already have started on a report and have made it clear that this mess up had nothing to do with anyone with their feet on this station. I was particularly clearly that this was a Fleet FUBAR and not the Star Empire. And that brings me to my next question." He waved his arm around the infirmary. "Everything in here is Star Fleet. I thought this was a joint effort." He had been looking forward to seeing what the Romulans would supply to his infirmary.

"I thought it was too. I guess Dalia and I will be calling the Star Navy too then... their tools will work better for Romulan crew, and I want to see those tools in action." Felicia filed that in her mental checklist.

"So do I." Kurt said, unable to hide the excitement from his voice at the though of getting his hands on new and different instruments. "It could bring a whole new level of understanding to my research."

"For me it is simple curiosity." Felicia smiled a bit. "Now before I go straighten this mess out, is there anything you can give me for this headache?"

Kurt nodded with a smile. "I have found it a good policy to keep a hypospray on me for just such requests." he said as he pulled said hypospray from his lab coat. " Command staff tends to get a lot of stress head aches." Kurt brushed Felicia's hair away from her neck ad gently pressed the spray against it. He depressed the unit's activator and a soft hiss let him know the medication had been administered.

"Thank you." Though it didn't hurt, Felicia rubbed the injection site as she contemplated her new set of problems. "I'll talk to Dalia. Hopefully we'll get this all straightened out."

Kurt watched his Commander leave sickbay and then back around the mess. He quietly set to work organizing thing so that he could establish some kind of infirmary.

Kurt was sitting at his desk when a a call came for him over his com badge. " Dr. Zunio, it's shuttle bay 2. We have a shipment down here for you from the Star Navy?"

Kurt jumped to his feet and grabbed his lab coat that he had draped over an extra chair. "Perfect! Ill be right there!" e said and taped his badge to close the line. He had been expecting this shipment. The Romulans had promised some medical supplies and equipment to aid when dealing with the Romulan crew, but had yet to follow through. Perhaps the shipment had merely been delayed like everything else on this station.

As Kurt headed out of sickbay he taped his badge. He knew someone who might be as interested in seeing what was sent as he was, "Doctor Zunio to Commander Rendal."

"Rendal here," she said over the still static filled comm line. "I assume you're calling about the Star Navy shipment. I just got word that it had arrived. Shall I meet you there?"

"At least we have some efficient people on this station. That's nice to hear." Kurt commented as he walked through the halls. "I figured you of all the people would be interested in seeing what was sent to me."

"Definitely. I want to see how old the tech is that they sent us. I'll be there in a few minutes." Dalia replied, already in the turbolift from Ops.

Moments later, Kurt stepped inside the shuttle bay where a cargo container sat in the middle of the room. It seemed a bit small to Kurt as he walked up to it, but he would wait to open it until the Commander was with him. He crossed his arms over his chest and waited, staring at the box.

Dalia arrived shortly after, entering briskly and stepping up to the small crate. "Looks a little small," she grumbled as she glanced to Kurt and kneeled down to unseal the case. Inside was a poorly packed case of questionable medical tools. "Neuralyte probe... Syntemic scanner... Neuro-stimulator... Tri-phasic brainwave stimulator... Kurt, I think they sent us mostly interrogation tools from the 2350s." Pulling out a PaDD, she clicked it on. "And the manuals to use them."

Kurt also kneeled down next to her. He picked a probe up and looked at it. Kurt's typical good nature drained from him as he slammed the probe back into the crate, stood and turned suddenly and said out loud, "Fucking Romulans..." after only a second he turned back to Dalia. "Present company is excluded from my outburst." he said, his voice already softening again. He walked back over to the crate and looked back inside it. "At lest they were kind enough to provide me with a manual for the highly out dated instruments that I wont be able to use." Kurt said shaking his head.

Dumping the box over to see if there was at least something in the bottom that might be of help, Dalia was surprised with what she found. "Kurt, look at this," she said, lifting a heavy case that had taken up the bottom half of the case. "It's a full portable field med unit. Brand new, as well." She added, pointing to the seal still on the latches.

Grateful that she had not been offended by his short sited out burst he moved right back to her side and looked at what she had found. "Field med units? Do you know anything about them?" He asked as he ran his finger over the seal.

"A fair bit. The current one was developed during the Dominion War and is normally stocked everywhere. Good for field medicine, but the tools are modern at least." Dalia replied, handing Kurt the pristine case. "And not designed for interrogation."

"Are they general use or for Romulan physiology only?" Kurt asked as he looked the case over.

"General use, though they're designed more towards use on the prominent races in the Empire." Dalia explained as she knelt back down and strted dumping the 'junk' back into the crate. "I'm sorry it's not a full medbay, but until we get that old warbird, that's the best I can get for now. And please pay no mind to the idiot talkative diagnostic system. It diagnoses everything as plasma burns and nausea. That part was made for children. and isn't actually linked to any scanners."

Kurt set the case aside and started helping Dalia replace the junk. Maybe he could use it for something. "Noted, and thanks for letting me know. I can see my going nuts trying to figure out whats wrong with them. They will make a really good addition to the field medic kits."

"I hope so." Dalia replied as the last of the items were scooped back into the crate. "Want me to carry this to sickbay for you? Or tossed out an airlock?"

"You never know when old junk could come in handy, especially when we are talking about medical junk. Lets take it to sick bay and Ill store it away for an emergency." Kurt said as he stood and looked down into the box. "Maybe Ill slit it up into the field kits. Often you need to improvise on away missions."

"Perhaps," Securing the lid back on the case, Dalia stood and lifted it with ease, slinging it over one shoulder and smiling to Kurt. "Shall we then, Doctor?"

Kurt smiled at the showing off, and lifted the case of med units. "Indeed, after you Commander."

Dalia turned and headed out of the cargo bay, heading towards the nearest turbolift. Stepping in, she turned around and as soon as Kurt was inside, she ordered their destination. "Sickbay please."

Once inside the lift, Kurt looked at Dalia. "Thank you for getting me that Operations team. I'm not sure what I would have done without them. They explained what I did wrong with the Bio-bed but it sounded like they were talking Klingon to me."

"As long as everything is set up, that's what matters." Dalia replied. "Is there anything else you need?"

"I suppose not." Kurt said with a shrug as the turbolift doors slid open to the hall just outside of sickbay. "Well maybe just one thing. You said earlier about getting an old warbird?"

"I put a request in for one, yes. An older ship but somewhat modernized. It's been sitting in a scrapyard for a few weeks now, scheduled for scrapping in a year or so." Dalia said, confirming the information as they stepped out of the turbolift and headed to sickbay. "Why do you ask?"

"I have never had the opportunity to be inside of one." Kurt said, a bit of an excited grin on his face. "Will I be able to get a tour?" There was a glimmer of hope in the back of his head that maybe that sickbay as well would be his.

"I'll make sure of it. The bad part will be that they won't be sending any crew with her." Dalia replied with a smile. "Just going to tow her in and moor her where we can get to her. With any luck, the forms will be processed in a couple weeks."

"Bad part?" Kurt said as he entered sickbay. "All I heard you say was that there was another sick bay for me to play in." He said as he set his case down on a bio-bed and returned Dalia's smile. "I look forward to you getting your new toy Commander."

"As do I," she said as she set the crate next to the med kit. If you'll excuse me, I need to get back to Ops." Nodding politely, Dalia made her exit.

"Have a good day Commander." Kurt said to her back as the doors slid shut with a shrug. He liked Dalia, but there was something about her... He looked back at the boxes before him. He grabbed the med kits and ripped the seal off.

Tim, having left the "Meet and Greet" or whatever that was behind, entered his quarters. Normally, he would have checked in with the Operations and Engineering personnel, but after seeing and hearing several things since coming aboard, he wanted to be sure his personal effects had arrived safely. The doors to his quarters parted, revealing a stack of crates in the middle of the room. A quick look through his belongings assured him that everything was accounted for.

Leaving the items there for now, he crossed the room to the desk and activated the computer terminal. As he anticipated, a flood of repair and maintenance requests flooded the screen. Tim frowned, knowing he'd be up all night reviewing them. A glance at the clock told him a shift change was about to happen, and that it would be best to make his presence known to his department first thing in the morning.

For now, however, he would deal with what he learned in the meeting. He didn't know anyone in the senior staff other than the recent reception, so he really didn't know what to expect from any of them. In his experience, he wouldn't put it past anyone to make a late night service call. Or an early morning one either. And while he wanted to focus on the monumental task at hand, Tim decided upon a preemptive strike. He picked up his tool kit and a PADD and left his quarters. It wasn't long before he was standing outside the quarters of the Romulan XO and pressing the door chime.

Having just settled in to a dinner of something the replicator called 'supreme pizza', Dalia looked up at the door, wondering who it could be at this hour. Standing, she headed to the door and pressed the actuator controls, a polite smile already on her face. "Ah, Chief Parker, was it? What can I do for you so late at night?"

Tim could smell the pizza from inside the doorway. The scent triggered a sensation from his empty stomach. He hadn't eaten much all day, and now it seemed he'd pay for it. "I didn't think Romulans had a taste for pizza," he commented, realizing that he did not answer her question.

Glancing back at the table with the food on it, Dalia couldn't help but grimace. "I ordered a Romulan baked vegetable and noodle flatbread dish. The replicator assures me that it's a suitable substitute, but I'm not convinced."

A small smirk formed on his face, though he was certain his beard concealed it. Just the smell of pizza reminded Tim of the last time he'd had it, which felt like ages ago. "That's what brings me," he said, tapping his tool kit against his leg. "Time to get your replicator up to par."

"By all means then," Dalia said motioning towards the offending device. "I have a database of our foods for Romulan replicators, but I found them obstinately incompatible with these systems. I can get the data rods if you like."

His smirk became a scowl as he entered the room, and he was sure a soft grunt escaped his mouth. Data rods were tricky and not as versatile as isolinear chips. This only confirmed what Tim already knew. He'd be rebuilding the replicator, not providing a simple reprogramming. Then there would be the replicator in the Operations Center, the Briefing Rooms, Lounges... "I'll need a reading device as well, if you have one." His mind started to think about how he could do this quickly.

"I have the backup parts to my communications console. Romulan espionage and all that, you know. Can't have Starfleet accessing all our secrets." Dalia said teasingly as she opened a case in a stack of cases still yet to be unpacked and pulled out a data rod reader array. "I assume that once you get it all converted over, you can upload it to the main replicator database so others can enjoy it?"

"As long as there's no little surprises that try to sneak out," Tim replied, accepting the array. "And if we don't have to do a major rebuild." He sincerely hoped it wouldn't be more than a couple simple tweaks. Maybe it would come down to a firmware update he could push through the system overnight. He pulled out a spanner and started to remove the back of the array. "So, the Federation and the Star Empire thought a station near the Neutral Zone was a good idea?"

"Someone thought a joint effort at a peaceful cooperative endeavor was worth it." Dalia said, pulling a case of about 20 rods out of her satchel on the couch and setting them aside. "As for me, I'm hopeful this lasts a while, though I do expect things to break down eventually. There are many in my government that only see this as an information gathering possibility."

Tim's eyes narrowed. 20 rods? With a tap to the nearby replicator, Tim ordered a mug of coffee. Here in a moment, he'd have to shut off the replicator to integrate the array, and he'd need to have something to drink in the meantime. He wasn't much for conversation, but maintaining one at this point would keep this from becoming awkward. "So you don't think this will last either," he commented.

"As the humans say, all good things must come to an end. With the differences between our governments, I doubt it'll take long for them to piss each other off." Dalia said as she sat down and looked at her 'pizza' again. Maybe it tasted better than it smelled...

Tim powered off the replicator and disconnected the ODN feeds to the main computer. He had to be sure that none of these 20 rods contained a trojan that would cause havoc on the system. "Then again," Tim said, preparing to connect the array, "they might find a common ground. You might find yourself out of a job if that happens."

Glancing at the Romulan and her uncertain gaze upon the pizza, he smiled. "You look at that as if it could be poison."

"I'm not used to sweet smelling foods, is all." Dalia replied, her stomach making a slight noise to punctuate it's discomfort as well. "As for a job, I'm sure I'll always find myself useful. I have some skills in data acquisition that I'm sure would still be marketable." Picking up the pizza, she took a small bite of it.

Though his hands were collecting the first batch of data rods to insert into the array before he powered up the replicator, Tim kept an eye on the Commander, hoping to catch her reaction to the very human dish.

Which was guarded at best. It was far spicier than the smell had led her to believe. Setting it back down on the plate, she stared at it a while longer, a look of consternation on her face as she tried to figure out if she liked it or not. It was just so alien to her... "This isn't a subverted method of poisoning people, is it?"

Tim grunted as a genuine smile conquered his face. "If it is," Tim said, enjoying her expression as he used his spanner to bring the replicator back online, "At least you'd go out with a good meal in your stomach." He picked up the nearby mug of coffee for a sip and then turned his attention back to the controls. "The kind with cheese in the crust is worth trying," he commented, loading the first set of rods. The computer made a quick work of translating the Romulan data and displaying it on the main screen. Tim began studying the patterns stored and saw that it wouldn't take much to tweak the replicator system after all.

"Well, as they say, I'll have to try it three times to know if I enjoy it or not." Dalia said as she turned back to look over at the Chief working on the replicator.

A few taps of the controls later and Tim integrated a few of the Romulan patterns into the replicator. Within a few moments, each pattern appeared as a selectable button. Tim picked one at random and a glass of blue-tinted liquid appeared in the slot below. Handing it to Rendal, Tim asked, "Look familiar?"

The aroma of decently replicated kali-fal met her nose and a smile spread across Dalia's features as she took the glass, breathing in the aroma deeply. "Now this is decent kali-fal. The real stuff can clear your sinuses with a single whiff, but this.... This is much closer than... Lemon Aid."

Taking that as an approval, Tim returned his attention to the replicator, purposely choosing not to engage in conversation. The next batch of patterns appeared to be complicated, and it looked like this was the first round of adjustments to the matter condensers he'd have to make. Leaving the replicator online, he knelt down and stuck a hand into the open hatch with a tool and began to work.

Sipping her drink and immediately being refreshed, Dalia turned back to that pizza thing and decided to give it another taste.

Tim did not find the momentary silence to be uncomfortable. Rather, he felt it enabled him to do his work quickly. He shut off his tool and returned to the interface above. With a few quick taps, he integrated several more patterns. These took some time as they appeared to be some complicated fruits and dishes. Finally, he was able to replicate what appeared to be some sort of soup. "How's this?" he asked, placing it beside the pizza.

"Ah, Tayleea Cheecha. That's a favorite among many of my people. It's a meat and fruit stew." Dalia slid the pizza aside and took a sip of the stew, checking the flavor. "It's a bit flat, but a very good recreation, none the less. Better than most of our own replicators can do."

He didn't show it, but Tim was grateful for the compliment. As he moved back over to the replicator to cycle out some of the rods, he asked, "Can you think of a particular recipe that would be problematic? I know what I've brought in so far gets you going, but I don't like to leave a job half-done."

"There's a bitter fruit and meat roll topped with a green sauce... I think it's on that batch of data rods. It's similar to your Mexi-con foods but much more tart." Dalia said as she stood and moved towards the replicator, punching the request for it in and not finding it yet. "Well, there's the request for it when you get it loaded at least."

It didn't take long to load the next batch of rods, but Tim did not find what she desired among the expanded menu. "Looks like you'll have to suffer with pizza and soup for a bit longer," he commented, beginning the switch out the rods for the last batch. The first two rods went in normally, but an error message flashed after inserting the third. "What the...?" Tim frowned. It looked like there were a few corrupted files on the rod. He removed the rod and inspected it, finding several scratches on the surface. Tim tossed it back at Dalia before loading the rest of the batch. "Hope that's not important."

Dalia took it and looked it over, heading to her own comm terminal and inserting it there. After a few seconds she found out why it was scratched... "Those scratches are from a lazy programmer that didn't use a case. I'm seeing scraps of malicious code on this one. Good thing it didn't load, right? As for the patterns... I think we can do without a library of puff pastries and candies."

"If you say so," Tim commented, still loading batches of patterns. As luck would have it, the fruit and meat roll the XO was looking for was on the very last rod. After several minutes, the patterns were secure in the computer's memory, and Tim performed a quick diagnostic on the replicator. Satisfied, he replicated the roll and presented the plate to Rendal. The smell seemed to be pleasant, but until today, Tim possessed little knowledge of Romulan dishes. The Romulan would have to be the judge.

Dalia took the plate and picked up the fork, savoring the scent for just a moment before taking a big bite of the food item in question. "Mmm... Delicious." she said while chewing. "Almost identical to how my mom used to make it. Even has a touch too much spice in the sauce. It's perfect, thank you." Sitting back down at the table, she dug into the Romulan dish, all but devouring it whole.

Tim nodded to the Romulan and began to pack up his tools. He left the datarods in a nearby and neat pile for the Romulan to do as she pleased. "Some of the adjustments may vary as the replicator's library syncs with the main computer," he said, not looking up at her as he continued to close up shop. "But if you experience anything unusual, let me know." Wouldn't want to ignite a fire with a Romulan this early into the assignment.

"I will, Chief, thank you very much. Is there anything I can do for you?" Dalia said before stuffing the last bite of it into her mouth. Apparently she hadn't had much in the way of decent Romulan food in a long time.

"Not today," Tim simply replied, closing his tool kit. He lifted it off the table and held it by his side. "Have a good evening, erei..." his voice paused, trying to pronounce the Romulan rank.

Dalia waved off the attempt to pronounce her rank in Romulan. It was a noble effort, but she didn't expect most people to get it the first time anyway. "Just Commander is fine. That's the Starfleet equivalent."

IC:

Marek and Khaiel stood at the office door to the second most important person on the station, the Executive Officer, who was and thankfully to the two men's relief also still in the Romulan Navy like them. Marek tapped the chime before anything remotely similar to fear or the urge to leave overwhelmed them both, he and Khai had their fair share of bad encounters with women. Sometimes together and while they did have intimate moments it often was witnessed when they thought they were alone.

The women immediately cursed at them or even got a little physical while shoving them away as fast as possible. Though most had been friends, they knew that that friendship meant something as none of them turned them in to the authorities. Marek and Khaiel had given gifts and done things for each of them. The gestures had mended the friendships to be stronger but there was still disgust from the women at the homosexuality, just not as strong.

"Come in," Dalia called, looking up from her desk terminals to see the door open and reveal 2 of her fellow Star Navy members. "What can I do for the two of you?"

"We wanted to report in ma'am," Marek said giving a respectful half bow, once he straightened to his full height again he had a neutral expression. "erei'Riov, why is the Empire and the Federation doing this station?" He asked.

Khai nudged him with his elbow. "Marek," he whispered, "what are you doing?"

"Shush," Marek whispered back with a quick glare thrown downwards back slightly towards Khai before he faced Dalia.

Dalia looked between the suspicious pair for a few seconds. She knew some of her people would have misgivings, but these two seemed different somehow. Not the 'pleasant' hatred of all things not Romulan that she had come to know. Pressing a control on her Federation comm panel, she knew the sound of the doors locking, shields activating around her office, and the sensor scrambler would alarm the two, but she suspected they'd appreciate the privacy later. "The Federation hopes for a mutually beneficial relationship. The Romulan Empire officially hopes for the same thing. I think all three of us know what the Senate wants of us. My turn to ask a question." Dalia said as she leaned back in her chair, seemingly relaxing. "What are you two doing here in my office?"

The door locking sound made Marek jump a little, Khaiel had put himself in front of Marek in seconds. The action put Marek into a slight panic as it was now clear the two men were in a relationship and Khai was the protective type, which Marek hadn't been able to even change in the slightest since the two had become an item.

Marek's fear of what the erei'Riov now thought of her subordinates was now on his face as he stepped to the right a little, enough to see Dalia. Khai was a little puffed up but only to show he would fight if confronted. It touched Marek's heart as he stole a glance at the Uhlan's face before looking at the erei'Riov.

"As erei'Arrain Lovok said, we wanted to report in with the First Officer as per regulations. Only department chiefs report to the Riov." Khaiel said, then thought it best to get it out now but in a lower voice. "And to 1 be as invisible as possible to the Tal Shiar and 2 understand the Senate's purpose for this... collaboration."

It was an impulse for Marek as he placed a hand on Khai's shoulder to show he was there for his lover and that he understood that honesty to a superior who could make their life hell or heaven here on Deleth is a wise move. He watched Dalia with a war in his eyes of fear and calm, the battle not yet declared.

Dalia nodded, leaning back in her chair and relaxing some in an attempt to ease the tensions in the room. "Welcome aboard then. You'll find very little love for the Tal Shiar aboard this station and if you do see it, please report it. As for what the senate wants... I believe that to be a mix of espionage and peaceful cooperation with the Federation. As for the Star Navy, as long as I continue providing some form of data acquisition services, I believe they'll be happy. May I assume you two are close?"

Crunch time, Marek thought. After several internal debates and a few glances between the two, they slowly nodded.

Khai was more relaxed since learning that the Tal Shiar wasn't loved here but that didn't mean same-sex relationships were okay openly on the station as well. They'd find out soon, as he knew Marek was thinking the same thing for the Investigations officer's hand did a reassuring squeeze of his shoulder.

"Then you should already know that though the administration of this facility is a joint endeavor, as the highest ranking Star Navy officer aboard, I plan to hold everyone to the Federation's standards of living." Dalia explained, her political mindedness showing through as she spoke. "Compared to the Romulan Empire, they're very... Liberal... and open minded. Please feel free to explore these liberties as you wish while we have them."

Marek smiled but it faded. "Though I don't want to make any of my fellow officers uncomfortable if they themselves not approve of our relationship."

"They can walk away or avoid us Marek, but of course anything that shouldn't be done in public should be is what the Commander was referring to I think?" Khai glanced at Dalia for confirmation.

Dalia nodded with a soft smile. "In essence, it's now completely up to your discretion where and how you do it. I myself am hoping to explore a few things while I'm here."

Both men smiled broadly but Marek began chuckling and Khai joined in. Once they were done Marek spoke up, "and has someone caught your eye erei'Riov?" He grinned knowingly.

"Not yet," Dalia said, returning the grin. "I said I was hoping, though I must admit that Commander Quinn has a very enticing scent."

Marek raised an eyebrow. "I hope you know what you are doing erei'Riov and be careful." He said in all the earnest concern.

"You be careful as well," Dalia said as she released the security lockdown on her office. "If you need anything else, please let me know."

Khai had slipped his hand around Marek's arm with the intention of extracting him quickly but Marek didn't move. He huffed in annoyance at his lover's stubbornness.

"Um one more thing, I can't seem to find the Chief Security Officer. The computer keeps giving me incorrect information." Marek said worried.

"How do you mean?" Dalia asked, wondering if this was another glitch in the station's systems or something worse. "Have you been able to contact him at all?"

"We tried just before reporting to you erei'Riov." Khai replied with a frown. "The Security officers haven't seen the chief either."

"Normally missing persons would be reported to security but if the chief is missing... is there anything else you can tell me?" Dalia said as she punched up the reported location of the security chief on her monitor.

Marek frowned. "Nothing I'm afraid."

"I'll look into it then. For now, report security matters to the LE desk and let them route it." Dalia said, punching up what information she could on her desk terminal with a worried look.

"The what desk?" Khai asked.

"The Law Enforcement desk. It's an old Federation term, as I understand." Dalia explained.

"Oh," Khai chuckled, his cheeks went slightly green in embarrassment. "Right."

The two gave a salute. "We better get out of your hair," Marek said with a smile.

"See you around," Dalia said, returning the salute.

They left the office and headed to the law enforcement office.

Off

Will add signatures later unless you could do it? Can't do it on my iPad lol

"Marek you are not going to get out of this." Uhlan Khaiel Rennoll said jabbing a manicured somewhat longer black painted nailed finger at his lover's chest. "All crew members must report for a physical."

erei'Arrain Marek Lovok smirked as Khai had pinned him against the wall in the corridor a few doors down from the Infirmary, he opened his mouth but Khai cut him off.

"No, don't even," Khai said with a semi playful glare that he knew Marek would take it as it was given. The Uhlan smiled as he leaned in for a kiss, which was a full minute, and then stepped back pulling Marek with him. "Now we are late thanks to you."

"What! You're the who kissed me and took at least a minute," Marek said in mock indignation before leaning back for he was now being pushed into the Infirmary by Khai. "Which was heavenly by the way." He winked as he was now facing the many medical beds and staff. He gulped then sighed. "erei'Arrain Marek Lovok, Security Investigations Officer reporting in."

"Uhlan Khaiel Rennoll, Brig officer reporting in." Khai said a moment later.

Many biobeds and medical staff might have been what was expected when they walked into the infirmary, but the sad truth that awaited them was not what was expected.

Doctor Zunio was alone, having only just arrived himself he had no staff yet. He hardly had a sick bay really. Most of the supply's had been put away, Kurt could handle that much, but putting together the larger more technical pieces of his trade were beyond him. He had managed to muddle a bio bed together, but it was not working properly. The display continued to flash "Calibrate" no matter what he did to it. Kurt was sure it had something to do with the hand full of parts that he had left over when done.

Kurt had also moved the shipping crates around, grouping the other biobeds together where there should go when put together. He had decided it best to wait for op's to get to them.

Yet the Doctor still approached them with a smile, "Welcome, I'm Doctor Zunio. Here for your physicals?"

Khaiel spoke up. "Yes Doctor," and added a weak smile in return. He didn't like Doctors but that was something he had developed while working for the Tal Shiar, they just loved being in your face and dispassionate about causing pain. He saw Marek beside him flinch and was about to take a step back when he reached out and placed a hand on his lover's shoulder. "It's okay Marek," he said now looking at the other Romulan with concern. "We are safe here." Though he shouldn't have said it, especially around a Starfleet officer as they were nosy and overly curious race.

He hoped that Zunio wouldn't push for answers as he saw Marek relax slightly.

"Yes," Marek said a little unease betraying his calm exterior.

Kurt knew that look, he had been seeing it since he started practicing. But Kurt knew how to put patients at ease. "Well I'm not exactly open for business yet as you can see. I plan on getting the torcher room together next week. Until then how about a simple tricorder scan?" he joked with an easy smile.

The two stared at the Doctor in shock.

"Or you two are always welcome to come back once the rack is set up." Kurt quipped

Khai blinked several times as Marek raised an eyebrow then took two steps closer. "Don't joke about torture Doctor, it is not something any species should be proud of but no a simple tricorder scan is great thank you."

Kurt also raised his eyebrows but his smile never left his face. He also did not back down to the approaching man. He stood his ground and cocked his head to the side slightly. " Most species find seeing a doctor something the the akin of torture, and biased on the look on both your faces I would say the feeling hold true. But if you don't want bed side manor..." Kurt turned sharply and walked over to the bio bed. When he turned back his kind smile was gone. He took up his tricorder and pointed a the bio bed. "I can accommodate. First."

That threw both the Romulans as they approached the Doctor but kept their distance, Marek however continued walking around the biobed and stood opposite Zunio. He swallowed audibly and a pained expression flashed across his face as he could see some of what the Doctor had meant but not all of it. "Doctor," he began slowly. "Not all medical practitioners are akin to torture, the ones that are have no morals or conscience. I know of some and so does Khaiel, we have had experience with them." He closed his eyes in pain at flashbacks before he quickly shoved them away as he opened them again. He offered his hand. "I know the Federation has had it's fair share of them but you are not."

Khaiel came up to stand next to Zunio. "I agree."

"Thank you." Kurt said with a nod. "I also understand that not everyone enjoys their doctor making jokes and having fun. Some people like cold and clinical. I never know at first so I always approach a new patient is a smile and a laugh. If you two are more comfortable with a more professional route I am willing and able to provide that experience for you." He explained.

Marek kept his hand out wondering why the Doctor had not accepted it yet, he wondered again if he should quickly put his hand by his side but he knew it was human customs to shake hands at first greeting. Though it did continue to future meetings as well.

Khai rounded the bed and climbed on. "I'll go first, though," he glanced over at Zunio. "We aren't really sure about what kind of experience we want while under your care, I may need to request house-calls. If that is okay with you?" He asked with a tentative smile.

It hit Kurt up side the head that the reason Marek was holding his hand out was in greating. He chuckled and shook his head as he grabbed the mans hand and gave it a good shake.

Then the Doctor turned to the man sitting on the bed. "Well then, I am Doctor Zunio and its nice to meet you...both of you." Kurt took up a PaDD. He looked back to the man on the bed. "He said your name was Khai, correct?" as he asked he brought up the mans medical records. As he did, he made a mental note to use kid gloves with the Romulans on the station. This would most likely be the first time dealing with Star Fleet and he needed to remember that. Not only that but these two were clearly a couple, something he knew would not have gone over well with the Star Empire. Either they were really good at keeping the relationship quiet, or they have both been through hell. Most likely the latter.

"Khai-el Ren-noll, Doctor." Khai smiled and nodded.

"Ma-rek Lo-vok," Marek said with a smile as well after he put his hand by his side following the handshake.

Once he had the chart up, or what was there of the chart, he set the PaDD off to the side and took up his tricorder. " Your chart is limited at best. Is there anything medically that I should be aware of?" It seemed the Empire had stripped down the Romulan's information before sending over medical records. How kind of them... Kurt thought to himself.

"I am sorry, what you got from the Empire is what I believe is what they are willing to let you see." Marek blinked a few times assessing what he had said for any errors in sentence structure. It sounded okay the third time he replayed it in his head.

Khai frowned up at Zunio. "In any case all you have to do is scan me for any recent injures." He could still feel most of them as the medical treatments he had prior to Deleth wasn't done correctly.

Marek placed a hand on Khai's chest as if his mere touch could heal his lover's old wounds, there was so much pain in his eyes if anyone looked. Khai didn't as he already knew about it as he was focused on Zunio.

Kurt ran the scanner over Khai's body. "I don't see anything recent, but some of the old injuries you have were clearly never correctly healed." He spoke as he watched his tricorder. "With some minor surgery and physically therapy I might be able to help with some of the pain and difficulty with movement." He offered while placing the external probe back into his tricorder.

"No." Khai said a little too quickly.

Marek's eyes widened in surprise and a little whimper escaped his lips.

"Sorry," Khai said softer and glanced away from both of them. "I, I need them to remember." He said with pain in his voice. "But thank you for the offer." He added with a shy glance back at the Doctor.

Kurt didn't flinch, people declined his help all the time. He never took it personal. " You are welcome, and its an open offer." Kurt then looked up at Marek. "Your turn, if you like." Kurt offered with a small smile.

Marek would deal with that later but playfully smacked Khai. "Oi get up you lazy," he smiled.

Khai snorted and swung his legs down hitting Marek's, he grinned. "Oh I'm sorry," he said and hopped off the bed.

Marek turned around and slid onto bed but kicked Khai before lying down with a word.

Kurt smirked slightly at the kick but said nothing. Quietly he ran the tricorder of Marek.

Once done with the scan, Kurt looked at the reading and raised an eyebrow. "Something's interesting about your blood. May I take a sample?" He asked, glancing up from his tricorder to Marek.

Marek eyed Kurt with an expression of fear but nodded.

Kurt was very aware of the fear. "I'll tell you what." he said as he set his tri-corder down. "What do you say we call it good for the day and when your feeling a little more adventurous you can come back and we will explore the mystery of your blood together. All three of us if you like. What do you say?"

"Alright, sounds ok." Marek said still very hostile to the idea, though his fear is irrational he understood that but it was one that defied personal will.

"Till then doctor," Khai said helping Marek off the bed and holding his lover in a one arm embrace, "it's okay now," he soothed Marek as he patted the other Romulan on the shoulder while he offered his other hand to Kurt. "Thanks, see you around," he smiled.

ON

It was Nathans first official time as the ranking officer on the station in main operations, and of course it was the late shift. Main Op's was dead, with only a skeleton crew of 4 other officers to hold down the fort. It was well into the shift, they had already had the getting to know each other conversation and now there was a lot of eye rubbing and yawning going on. Nathan leaned back and stretched in his seat. Only four more hours he though as a yawn crept into his stretch.

"Commander..." an Ensign called from up front. " My senors are picking up what looks like a ship whose cloak is failing."

Nathan sat forward in his seat. "What? On screen." What showed up on screen caused Nathan to stand. It was clearly a Klingon Bird-of-Prey who's cloak had indeed failed. Only about a quarter of the ship was visible. "Oh shit..." Nathan said under his breath, then a bit louder "Hail them!"

"Channel open sir." The ensign reported.

"To the cloaked ship off the port side of the station. I am Lieutenant Commander Nathan Tonkin of Deleth Station. Please state your intentions." Then he waited. It was dead quiet in Op's while everyone watched the screen and waited for a response.

But instead of a face showing up on the view screen, the Bird-of-prey decloaked, along with two other Bird's-of-prey. "Oh my god." Nathan said a little louder then he would have liked to. He slapped his comm badge. "Commander Rendal and Lieutenant Intaro please come to Op's immediately, and I need someone from security up here too." Then he addressed his crew, "Yellow alert, shields up." The lights in Op's dimmed and wall panels started flashing Yellow. All incoming and out going traffic was halted.

Intaro had just lain down for a good sleep when the call came through from Ops that he was needed on the bridge; and with a tired yawn, he hauled his big body out of the bed and put on his uniform, then gave himself an injection of an 8 hour stimulant(8 hour energy), made quick work of shaving and then headed for main ops. When he arrived, he was still rubbing the blur out of his eyes, and he stopped when he saw the three ships on the screen. "Holy hell." he muttered, blinking before moving quickly to the intel station and booting it up.

Commander Rendal wasn't far behind, having been meditating in her quarters at the time of the call. Stepping out of the next turbolift, she surveyed the situation as she made her way to the central console. Klingons here? Wasn't there somewhat of an alliance? "What's the situation?"

"You are looking at it..." Nathan said to Dalia as his fingers moved over his station. "Lieutenant," He asked Moran, "please man tactical until security get here." Then he took a moment to turn to the Commander. " Apologies, about 5 min ago we detected a ship of the port side that had its cloak failing. Upon visual inspection I determined it was a Klingon Bird-of-Prey. When I hailed them they dropped there cloak and two other Birds also dropped their cloak. They have yet to answer our hails. I sent a priority one message to Starfleet and just received word back from them, the closest ship is just over a day out. We are on our own unless you can get your people to help us."

Tapping away at one of the consoles for a few seconds, Dalia shook her head. "No, they're even further away. We're on our own for now. Scan them and check the status of their weapons and shields." Pressing a communications control panel, she addressed the birds of prey. "Klingon vessels, this is erei'Riov Rendal of Deleth Station, please state your intentions."

Moran nodded his head as Dalia spoke and began running scans of the klingon vessels, frowning slightly. "Weapons and shields of the first BOP are non-functional, the second and third are armed and ready." he said, turning with a frown towards Dalia. "At least that's what sensor's are saying, I don't like this, it smells like a trap to allow them to dock."

"If they want to dock, they can open a hail and request it. No need to lay a trap when we're not at war with them." Dalia replied, still uneasy.

-=Brig=-

Marek and Khai were at the main console and tapping at it, although not really doing anything it was clear they were occasionally looking at each other. Marek had to tend to a brief training session for a junior investigator that was a regular security officer, but it wasn't in another hour.

-=Ops=-

Nathan walked over next to Lieutenant Moran. It was not lost on him how huge this man was. It was not often that another human could make Nathan feel small. But the thought was fleeting. "If it is a trap, its a very odd and convincing one." he said as the damaged ship began leaking a large amount of plasma. Nathan taped his com-badge. "This is Lieutenant Commander Tonkin to any on duty security personnel with tactical station training. You are required in op's."

-=Brig=-

"Well?" Khai asked after the announcement.

"Well what?" Marek replied with a quizzical expression.

Khai raised one eyebrow Vulcan like. "You're needed in Ops." He said in a duh-you-idiot tone.

"I don't have any tactical training," Marek replied with a small smile.

Khai blinked at his lover. "You don't?"

Marek nodded. "That's correct, now you better leg it to Ops or you will get spanked." A devilish grin appeared then when Khai glared back, then it turned playful.

"What we do in our quarters is no one else's business." Khai was trying not to smile as he had to be serious, it was a very equally fought war which neither side won and so his expression was in between. He left before anything else could be said though he did hear Marek giggling behind. Oh you will pay for that, he thought, ideas already developing in his mind.

-=Ops=-

Khai left the turbolift and manned tactical. "I take it the Chief is still missing?" He asked the command team before did a check of the Bird of Prey incoming. "I assume you all think it's a possible trap? But why."

"Your Chief is missing?" Nathan asked down to the Ensign that had just maned the tactical station.

But there was no time for that conversation. Suddenly the screen changed to the face of a surly looking Klingon. "Deleth station!" the man barked.

"This is Commander Rendal of Deleth Station. State your intentions." Dalia said to the Klingon on the screen.

"I am Captain Kroth," the Klingon on the view screen snarled. "I demand to know why you have interfered with our operations!"

"Your operations be damned. I have no idea why you're here but you're in Romulan and Federation joint operations space now. Unless I'm mistaken, the word Klingon isn't involved in that. State your intentions now. I will not repeat myself again." Dalia replied aggressively. She wasn't about to let some Klingon charge in here and bully her into anything.

"You and your Federation have tampered with my ship and sabotaged our cloak!" Kroth roared at Dalia. " And you dare threaten us with your piddly station?"

"He's bluffing, if he actually thought we had done anything to his ship he would not have contacted us or hesitated to open fire." Nathan said quietly to Lieutenant Intaro and Ensign Renoll, "Keep scanning Ensign, be alert to any changes. Something strange is happening here."

"Charge weapons. Tactical alert. Target the lead vessel and stand by." Dalia said, the lighting turning red around them. "Captain Kroth, If you and your toDSaH crew want a one way trip to Grethor, go ahead and piss me off a little more." Pressing a control on the console in front of her, she closed the comm channel, changing the view back to that of the three ships. Typing in some numbers, she continued. "Prepare a low level ionic pulse at this frequency matrix, just in case."

Moran was well aware of what he'd just been told, but he nodded his head and began running his hands over the consoles, accessing the intel database and then he began monitoring station communications. "Initiating transport inhibitor as a precaution," Moran said, not liking the way the Klingon's were behaving. "And I'm picking up encrypted communications...but so far I have not been able to break it."

Nathan moved over to another panel and began chuckling. "She wants to force the cloak back on." he said as he got the ionic pulse set up. He glanced back up to Dalila with a smirk. "Your ionic pulse is ready Commander."

Khai went about the prefire sequence for all station phaser arrays, switched on the Alert klaxons, initiated the torpedo tubes loading program and of course nodded when the shields activated when he put the station on Red Alert. It was something that could be reprogrammed if ordered to do so but otherwise was automatic.

As if on queue, a large green mass began to materialize on the view screen. As soon as the Romulan war bird was fully de-cloaked is fired two phasers and two torpedoes into the defenseless bird of prey. Operations light up orange as the Klingon ship was engulfed in a fire ball.

Almost as fast as the first Bird of Prey exploded, the other two turned and set off at maximum warp.

The brig officer was glad that the Lieutenant Commander took initiative of the ionic pulse, as Khai was not that familiar with it. "Weapons primed Commander." Khai reported but blinked a few times at the explosions, it was too late.

"Fire and ice... as if we didn't have enough issues. Someone identify that ship." Dalia said, staring at the newcomer on the viewscreen.

"On it," Moran began, his fingers dancing over his consoles as he compared the Romulan ships registry to those of known vessels. He frowned as the computer searched through it's database for Moran's request and finally came back with a name. "It is the IRS Shadow Blade, what is a Galae ship doing out here..."

Nathan watched the orange of the fireball fade, all that was left of the Klingon ship where pieces. He was sure that he was watching the start of a new war right in front of them.

"Life signs?" Nathan asked. He didn't actually expect there to be any but it was protocol to confirm.

"None sir." a Lieutenant from the Op's panel answered.

"Commander," Ensign Brown; a short red headed human at the communication station said. "the Romulan ship is hailing us."

"On screen," Dalia demanded, still staring at the viewscreen in disbelief. "This is Commander Rendal of Deleth Station."

The screen changed to the face of a stoic Romulan woman. "Deleth Station, I am erei'Riov Isha t'Maelrok of the Shadow Blade." She introduced herself.

"Do you mind telling me why you just did that?" Dalia requested, referring to the destruction of the Klingon ship. "And what you're doing out here?"

"Of course..." Isha squinted a little. " erei'Riov?" she asked cocking her head slightly to the left in a questioning manner. Her expression continued to stay emotionless and professional, regardless of her question.

Dalia nodded. "Yes, but I use the Federation equivalent for now. Your explanation, if you will."

"Then I will assume that you are the erei'Riov Rendal I have been ordered to contact." Isha said. " Permission to dock with the station, this situation is already being considered classified and I have strict orders to speak with only you, Commander Quinn and a short list of Star fleet personnel." She explained.

Checking her terminal and seeing they had received the Romulan ship's clearance code already, Dalia nodded. "I'd be happy to allow you to dock for now," she replied, not entirely sure she trusted this woman. "And please have a good reason for destroying that Klingon ship."

"As you know erei'Riov, the Empire always has a good reason for its actions. You and your staff will be provided with information. t'Maelrok out." and with that the screen turned back to the view of the Shadow Blade, it now maneuvering into position to dock.

Nathan turned and looked at Dalia. "If the info is anything like the rest of the info the Star Empire has given us, then were are about to be stone walled here." he said while crossing his arms across his chest. "Would you like me to greet our guests?"

"Stand down from alert status," Dalia ordered as she looked up at the taller human. "Thanks for volunteering, but I think it would be best if we both went. Something about this strikes me as odd."

Khai switched the alert status of the station back to green and voiced a quick 'aye'.

"I could not agree more. Intaro, your with us." Nathan said to the man at Tactical. "I'm sure having Intel with us will be useful." he added in case Dalia had any reservations.

Dalia nodded as she turned towards the turbolift. "Have a mixed crew security detail meet us as well, just in case. If nothing more, it'll show that we're getting along wonderfully and can all piss on the same target."

With a simple nod of his head to acknowledge Nathan, Moran quickly shut down his console and locked it, then slowly got to his feet and turned and followed Nathan and Dalia to the lift. He remained silent for the moment, deciding that now was the best time for observation from him.

"Rennoll," Nathan called out. "Your ranking security officer at the moment since your chief is MIA. Your in charge of that. Get a security team down there on the double."

"Aye," Khai had his concerns but tapped his combadge and called for team 3, since all security teams were mixed Starfleet and Star Navy personnel he wondered if the command and other senior officers actually knew that. He smiled as he accompanied Nathan, Dalia and Moran into the turbolift.

OFF

It had been a very long day, it seemed to Kurt that over the last week he had seen every single person from Op's and Engineering come through his infirmary at lest once. Several of them were already on a first name basis with the Doctor. Not that he was complaining, at lest some members of the crew were already becoming comfortable with him.

He waited for the turbo lift the was located just outside of his sick bay, and when the doors parted for him to enter he entered and leaned heavy against the back wall. "Deck 8." Kurt called out and leaned his head back against the walk he was leaning on and closed his eye.

They popped open again as the lift slowed and came to a stop far to early to have already made the requested trip. He watched the doors to see who they would reveal.

Dalia nodded and smiled to Kurt as she stepped into the turbolift. "Deck fourteen," she said as she leaned against the wall, clearly exhausted. "Good evening, Doctor. Long day?"

Kurt nodded his head slowly. "Very, commander. How about yourself?"

"Still going, sadly. Got any stimulants or anything for a headache on you?" Dalia asked hopefully.

"No Commander, I only ever carry a mild pain killer. But if you need to you can stop by..." Kurt's words were cut off at the turbo lift jerked a bit three times. The lights flickered a few times then the whole things came to a sudden stop. For a moment the two were in complete darkness, but then the lift light up in red, the same that would normally identify the station was placed under red alert.

"Oh for fuck sake!" Kurt exclaimed and threw his hands up in the air.

Dalia just hung her head in defeat. "I was going to turbolift control to sort this out. I guess I should have known better."

I was going to hit the holodecks and get some cardio in..." Kurt said with a slight grumble. "Guess I had better just start running in place." He smacked his com badge with irritation and got a look of horror on his face as it emitted a tiny squeak, but made no other sound. " Uh oh...um...Computer?" he asked, with only silence answering him.

Opening the nearby access panel, Dalia sighed and closed it back up. "No power here. I'm betting it's that intermittent plasma ionization we've been seeing in the turbolift relay system all day. So... do you know any good 'stuck in a turbolift' games?"

Kurt chuckled a little despite the situation. "No, unfortunately I skipped that class at the academy." He started pushing on the top of the lift, searching for an access hatch. "How about you Commander, got any bright ideas?" He said as he found the hatch and started to push on it. The thing didn't budge as if it had been welded shut. "Son of a bitch..." he grunted as he pushed with all his might.

"Hide the meatroll..." Dalia muttered, looking over the access hatch as he pushed on it. "I'm betting that without power, the seal on that is locked out too. We might have to wait until we're rescued."

Kurt stopped for a moment, letting the first statement roll through his head for a second. "What did you just say?" he asked before he could stop the question from tumbling out of his mouth.

"I said we might have to wait for rescue," Dalia said, her cheeks flushing slightly green.

Kurt saw the flush, and now knew exactly what she had said. This smug little smirk crossed his face. He stopped pushing on the access hatch and leaned back against the wall. "It could take hours, they might not even know we are stuck yet." he offered though that smirk.

"Hopefully, when I don't show up in turbolift control, they'll come looking for us. You're right though - it might take hours." Tapping her comm badge 3 times, it chirruped for a few seconds and went silent. "And now we at least have a distress signal if anyone is looking."

"If anyone is looking." Kurt repeated with a sigh. The smirk quickly faded from his face. Had it been anyone else in the lift with him he might had flirted more, but this was his boss. One of them anyways. He figured it might not be best to push it.

Dalia leaned against the wall next to Kurt, her shoulder pressing into his lightly as she took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Was that scent from him? she wondered, enjoying his freshness even after a long day of work.

"So..." Kurt said "How long you been in the service of the empire?"

"About thirty-seven years now, I suppose. How about you? How long have you been in Starfleet?" Dalia replied innocently, her youthful looks hiding her true age.

A fact that might have caught most humans off guard, but Kurt was not most humans. He nodded his head, silently acknowledging that he had been about right at guessing how long she had been in considering her rank. He Figured that put her right around 50. " A fraction of the time you have put in." Kurt chuckled. "Only 6 years. But I had to go to med school first." he explained.

"My first four years were training and I've spent over thirty-three years in Intel as a data aquisition specialist, as I'm sure you already know." Dalia replied. "How long was your training?"

"Four years of med school at UCSF and then two years at Star Fleet getting my specialization." Kurt explained. "Two years dedicated to Romulan Physiology." He added, shifting his weight so his shoulder pressed a little more into Dalia's.

Dalia relaxed into Kurt's shoulder just a bit more as she replied. "Not too different from our doctors then. I'm curious though... How did you specialize in Romulan physiology? I don't suppose you spent a couple years on Romulus."

"Do you really think they would let a Human do that?" Kurt said with a chuckle. " One of the professors at UCSF was a Romulan and a specialist herself...we had a bit of a thing for a while. I know I know, student and teacher right? But had it not been for her I would have never discovered what I love to do. She made sure that Star Fleet would be able to provide me with proper training and actually volunteered one summer to teach a class and tutor me... that was one hell of a summer." Kurt explained. As he finished he had quite the wistful look on his face at he stared off into another time.

"Sounds like she was your first love," Dalia commented idly. "I suppose this assignment will give you ample opportunity to find love like that again, if you so desire. Lots of single Romulans are being stationed here - most of them without betrothals or anything."

"Love is not exactly a priority of mine." Kurt explained. "But yes, I would say she was my first love. Risa on the other hand, is my second love." He said with a huge grin on his face. His last station had been a dream for a young man to say the least.

"Ah yes, Risa. I hope we can find reason to send an away team there." Dalia had read reports on the pleasure planet but had never been near it and thus it was a point of curiosity for her. "What about sexual gratification, then? My reports indicated that that's a very high priority for younger humans."

Kurt grinned and turned to Dalia. "You could say that I suppose. Is it not a priority for Romulan women?" He teased her.

"Maybe in another twenty or thirty years," Dalia said, looking over at Kurt with a hint of a teasing grin on her face.

"That's a long time to wait..." Kurt said, edging slightly closer to Dalia. "You know us humans, we prefer to live more in the moment."

"Is that so?" Dalia asked, her voice gaining a softness to it. "As it happens, we seem to have a very long moment to live in."

"Have you ever been with a human before?" Kurt boldly asked Dalia.

"Never," she replied softly. "As my attending physician, is there anything I should know if i were to?"

Kurt chuckled. "Try and relax and enjoy the ride." He said, and steped up aginst her. He slid his arms.around her waist and pulled her into a deep kiss.

-= An Hour Later =-

Ensign Brown worked tirelessly at the turbolift control panel. "Almost..." she said up to the other two with her. Then the door popped and hissed open revealing the scene inside.

Dalia quickly finished pulling her uniform on and pointed out some lipstick still on Kurt's neck. "Thank you for getting the turbolift repaired, Ensign."

Kurt adjusted his lab coat and wiped at his neck. "Thank you Ensign." He said and quickly stepped past the snickering officers.

Nathan had meet Commander Quinn already, and had gotten himself settled into his room. It was actually a bit bigger then the one he shared with Jhu on the ship. A small bonus. But it was time to report for duty. He had a meet and great scheduled with his direct supervisor, Commander Rendal.

Nathan had asked the computer where she was, and had been directed to Operations. He stopped just outside the door and took a moment to take a deep breath and brush some lint from his uniform. Then he entered the one department that actually seemed to be up and running. Lost in a sea of gold uniforms, Nathan searched for the Romulan woman that he would answer too here on Deleth.

She wasn't hard to find. Her uniform stuck out easily among the sea and she seemed to be yelling something into an earpiece in untranslated Romulan. Whatever it was, she didn't seem one bit happy, her cheeks flush with her frustration. With a final exclamation, she pulled the earpiece out and smashed it against the communications console she was standing at before storming off to the replicator. "Kali-fal, extra strong." Taking the drink almost before it finished materializing, she took a deep breath and calmed herself. That was not a side of herself she had wanted to show anyone, let alone the Federation crewmembers under her but command insisted she take the call immediately and what they had to say wasn't in any way good.

First impressions they say. Well this was nothing new for Nathan. He walked right up to the Commander and didn't even bat an eye at the outburst. "erei'Riov Rendal?" Nathan asked with perfect inflection.

That was unusual. A human pronouncing her rank perfectly. Dalia smiled as politely as she could. "Yes, how may I help you?"

"Lieutenant Commander Nathan Tonkin reporting for duty. I was lead to believe that you would be expecting me?" Clearly she was not.

"Right, of course!" Dalia remembered now, though a bit late. She stiffly extended her hand in the traditional human handshake, still not having gotten comfortable with the motion. "You're our new second officer. Welcome aboard. How are you settling in so far?"

Nathan watched the awkward movement of her offered hand and took it. "Please don't feel the need to cater to my human nature. I have more then enough Romulan in my family tree." He released her hand and smiled. "Quite well thank you. It's different being on a station. Sometimes I fell closed in on star ships. But here on Deleth...it's kind of like I can breath." He explained. It was true, he was feeling better about this posting with ever moment her was here. "Thank you for asking. Is there anything I need to be brought up to speed on?"

Dalia was curious about him having Romulan in his family tree, but she could investigate that later. "In my office, there's a stack of PaDDs a meter tall with things you should be made aware of. For now, though, let's just summarize it as a lack of manpower and half the station wasn't built right. Three launch bay doors are jammed shut, we haven't gotten much from the Empire at all, deck 43 environmentals are stuck at three degrees centigrade. The comm system seems to finally be working right at least. Half the promenade is just empty rooms without even any power hookups but sickbay is finally up and running. I don't recommend dining at the Klingon restaurant that's already opened up." Pausing, she tried to think of some other things.

Oh man, what had Star Fleet done to him. "Well, ok then... uh. I guess we need to prioritize and tackle the problems one at a time. I'm not much of an operations guy. I don't fit well in crawl spaces and I'm not very good at fixing thing, but I will help how ever I can. I'm really good at following directing."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll spend most of your time in this room doing just that." Dalia motioned over at the central Ops station with several frustrated people around it as she sipped her drink. "And most of it will be coordinating station activities from there. You said you had some Romulan lineage. May I inquire?"

"Fiance is half and mother-in-law is full blooded." Nathan said as he followed her to the station. He brought up a log in screen and punched in his authorization codes. Nathan frowned and looked up at Dalia as a red screen flashed an error. "My fiance's mother seems to genuinely like me so far. I think the speaks well for me. My codes have not been uploaded. Got an override?"

"My condolences then. I'm betting it's not easy." Dalia said as she set her glass down long enough to punch in the override and load Nathan into the system. "That should do it. Did you understand much of my conversation on the comms earlier?"

"I heard you say something that I'm not going to repeat right now," Nathan said while glancing around at all the crew, "and then you smashed your ear piece. Before that I was not able to hear over the room. Is there something I can help with?"

"Not unless you can get the Empire to send us some real equipment. We've gotten mostly just volunteers to come to this assignment and laughable support. i'm waiting on a request for an antique warbird to use as a support ship and while that's wrapped up in red tape, We're waiting on more personnel, real medical supplies, weapons... Even uniforms are on backorder. Thankfully the station's replicators are fully functional now so we can at least replicate the necessities. I was trying to get more replicator patterns sent, but apparently they're all suddenly classified." Dalia rambled on only pausing for breath and to sip at her drink a few times. The frustration washing off of her was almost palpable.

"Classified?" Nathan said as he tapped on the stations screen bringing up information about what the Op's team was doing. "Sounds like maybe we should just make our own." Nathan joked but then turned to Dalia and looked at her uniform. "Wait, why cant we just make our own patterns? It cant take that long for a holodeck to scan in a copy of your uniform."

"That's supposedly not allowed but we've been doing it." Dalia replied looking up at the taller man, his scent finally wafting into her nostrils. She inhaled deeply through her nose, enjoying the pleasant scent. His fiance was very lucky if she got to smell that all the time. "Tools and other supplies will take longer but at least we're clothed and fed for now, right?"

"And holding air for the time being." Nathan smiled. "I wont tell if you don't. We can just recycle the counterfeit uniforms once we get the real deal. What do they think, you are all going to walk around naked in the mean time?" Nathan knew all to well how suborn Romulans could be, even to their own kind. "I guess they most likely do expect you to go nude."

"Probably. I'd get chilly pretty quick though, And where would I pin my rank and communicator?" Dalia said somewhat absently as she pulled up the status of an incoming transport. "Great, Another shipment of foodstuffs. Manifest is for the main restaurant so they should be able to take immediate delivery." Approving their clearance for immediate exterior docking, she cleared the screen for the next issue to crop up.

Nathan tapped at his screen and brought up the enviro readout for deck 43. "How about I grab a team and get to work on on this?" He said pointing a the read outs.

"There's already a team on it. Welcome to management. We get to sit on our asses and direct those teams. Wonderful, isn't it?" Dalia replied sourly. "Besides, if you're not up here, how can I go around the station and tell people they're doing a good job?"

"Gotcha Commander, I hear you loud and clear. You need a break." Nathan turned back to his screen and stared fielding requests and issuing orders to the teams about the station. "I can handle it for the rest of the day. Just come check on me in the morning ok?"

"I don't think I'll be gone that long, but I do need to closely look at some PaDDs on my desk for about an hour or so. If you need anything, let me know, ok?" Dalia spoke with a soft smile, grateful that he understood.

"Commander, I am not able to issue you orders. But I look at myself as more of your assistant then an underling." Nathan explained as he worked at the station. "It is with that in mind that I offer you advice. I can see how busy it is. You have not had a break at all since getting here, have you? Take the opportunity." He turned and looked over his shoulder at Dalia. " Take the rest of the night. I really can handle this." He spoke with an air of confidence.

"Not an assistant. A colleague. And thank you. You are right in that I've not had much rest, but neither has anyone else on the station." Dalia didn't object too heavily though as she smiled and headed towards her office. "In a few hours there should be a few freighters coming in. I've heard that Tellarites are difficult to work with so good luck."

Still looking over at her he nodded. " I have learned from one of the best diplomats in Starfleet, though it was not formal training. I'm sure I can handle it Commander. If I have questions or need help you will be the first person to hear about it." He turned back to his station as a small alarm started to beep at him. " Find out who that shuttle is." He said addressing a small human red head that was across from him.

Dalia smiled softly as she turned and entered her office for a much needed nap, content that Ops would be in good hands while she was out.

Kurt sat at the bar at the only open place on the station that had alcohol. He had a fresh glass of Romulan ale sitting in front of him. He took a long drink from the glass and glanced around the compleatly empty room. He smiled down into his drink, this was very very different from his last posting.

Not long after, Dalia showed up. She was finally off duty long enough to get a drink and she didn't feel like drinking alone - hence why she entered the nearly empty bar. "Romulan ale," she ordered as she sat next to Kurt, the bartender quickly pouring her a glass and setting it in front of her. "Evening, Doctor. Interesting day?"

As Dalia slid into her seat next to him, Kurt let out a laugh involuntarily. "Commander." He said with an easy grin. "My day was fairly typical. I know the entire op's department by name now, they all come see me so often. "How have you been since last we saw each other." He mused, purposefully hinting at their time in the turbolift.

"Dreadfully tedious. You have no idea how hard it was for me to restrain myself during my inspection of turbolift control. I just hope repairs are made soon or more people will be stuck in turbolifts like we were." Dalia said with a sour look before taking a big swig of her drink.

"Well on the plus side, if people keep getting stuck like us we will have a very de-stressed crew and my prenatal skills will get more practice." Kurt said and tilted his drink to Dalila.

"We could convert part of deck seventeen to a maternity ward and daycare." Dalia replied, with a tip of her own glass.

"I had better put in an extra order of prophylactics." Kurt said with a much more serious tone, then he took a long drink from his glass.

"The replicators should be able to handle that at least." Dalia replied before taking a drink from her own glass.

"You had better find something wooden and give it a knock." Kurt said the old human phrase with a chuckle.

"Will that help the replicators?" Dalia asked, confused at the reference.

"Oh," Kurt laughed. "It's a human saying. I don't even honestly know why but it means to not tempt fate. You brought up something that is working well. It tempts fate to change that." He explained.

"Ah, of course," Dalia said before finishing her drink. "So what about us then? What do you intend?"

"Intend?" Kurt asked, cocking his head in a questioning manner.

Dalia nodded, looking to Kurt expectantly. "After what happened in the turbolift."

"Oh, well I intend to continue to treat you with respect and completely professionally." Kurt said, dodging to question and hiding in his ale glass.

"I see," Dalia said simply. She should have expected that he'd avoid it.

Kurt sighed a little into his glass and set it down. "Ok so honestly, I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that it happened. Not that I regret it, just didn't expect it is all. What are you thinking?" He asked her.

"Well, to promote cooperation on this station, among other reasons, I'd like to try it again a few times, if you're willing. It was quite enjoyable for me and perhaps I might enjoy being seen with you in public as well. If you're willing, that is." Dalia explained, hoping his reaction would be positive.

Kurt nodded his head. " Very willing on both accounts. Do you expect exclusivity from me?" He asked her.

"Though I would appreciate it, I'll understand if you want to see someone else." Dalia replied with a hint of a grin.

"No, that's ok. It's been a while since I had a girlfriend... is it OK that I call you that?" Kurt ask, his own grin matching hers.

Dalia nodded slightly. "If that's the customary term for a mate, then yes."

"Ok then." Kurt said and took the last of his drink. "So what now?" He asked Dalia.

"I think now we plan our next rendezvous," Dalia replied. "How about my quarters for lunch tomorrow?"

" I think I have a better idea..." Kurt said as he stood from the stool and grabbed Dalia's hand. "Trust me, you're going to love this."

Dalia stood as well, letting him lead her wherever, curiosity nibbling at her. She remained silent though, patiently waiting to see what he'd do next.

Kurt lead her out of the bar and out onto the promenade. He didn't explain, just lead her to where the holodecks where. "Computer, run program Zunio 6." He grinned to Dalia while he waited for the program to load.

"Program loaded, enter when ready." The computer said.

"Ready?" Kurt asked Dalia.

Dalia simply nodded, unsure of what to expect but looking forward to finding out.

As Kurt lead her up to the door, they parted to reveal a sandy beach on what could only be Risa. "I know it's not actually Risa..." Kurt said as the door shut behind them and disappeared.

"But it's as close as we can get without leaving the station," Dalia finished, squinting in the bright light. "Is it always this sunny?"

"Good idea. Computer move time forward to sunset." Kurt called out. "Risa's sunsets can melt even a Klingons heart." He said as the time changed around them. The sunset would be nice, but he watched her instead.

Dalia was much more comfortable with the sunset. Watching the colors streak across the sky and shift from warm to cool hues fascinated her, a contented smile spreading across her face as she wrapped an arm around Kurt's and pulled him in close.

Kurt's arms slid around her waist as he stepped up aginst her. His eye never left her face though.

As the sun slipped past the horizon, Dalia leaned against Kurt tenderly, enjoying the peaceful scenery. Once the sunlight had finished vanishing, she looked into his eyes and smiled contentedly. "You're right. I do love this."

"I thought you would." Kurt said. "The sunset was only the second most beautiful thing on this beach."

Dalia smiled wider at that implied compliment. "Oh? And what's the first?"

"You..." Kurt said simply.

The Romulan woman blushed a slightly greener tint that she hoped the night would disguise as she leaned in to kiss Kurt softly.

Kurt saw the flush, but when her lips pressed into his he didn't care. While they kissed, Kurt gently guided her to turn in his arms so they were facing each other. Then he pulled her back in tight aginst him.

Doctor Kurt Zunio stood in the middle of his sick bay. The last of the wall mounted monitors had just been finished being installed and he looked around his fully functioning sick bay with a smile. It had been a hard few weeks, but now he was ready to get to work. He turned and walked into his office and stuck a data stick into his desk top. His research started to upload into the stations database. Soon he would be able to begin his research again in his down time.

As if this was not good news, Commander Rendal's news about an old Warbird showing up with out crew, well this posting was turning out to be much better then he could have hoped for. Now, all he needed was patients.

As if on cue, Nathan and Jhu walked through the door together, Kurt could not help but chuckle a bit as he walked from his office. "Welcome, how may I help you Commanders?"

Well the doctor certainly seemed friendly. Jhu smiled just a bit. "I'm visiting Nathan for a few days, and I haven't been feeling well. I think it's just from the baby, but we wanted to make sure."

"Baby?" Kurt asked. The Commander did not look pregnant yet. "Well I am Doctor Zunio, its a pleasure to meet you both...Commander?" While he spoke he walked over to the closest Bio-bed and indicated that Jhu should take a seat.

"Lieutenant Commander Nathan Tonkin, and this is my fiance Commander Jhu t'Dharvanek." Nathan introduced the two of them. "Nice to meet you Doctor." He held his hand out to the man.

Kurt took Nathans hand and shook it. "Well then, let get started with the basic info..." He said and picked up a PaDD. "Do you currently have a primary doctor you are seeing?" He asked as he sent the request to the data base for Jhu's file. Even if the sick bay was in working order, the computer system was still dreadfully slow. While waiting for the file to upload Kurt started a new page for today's visit.

"I'm assigned to the Katana, so either Liam Cohen or Chandra Hansen, depending on who's working and what sort of mood I'm in." Even though she didn't look very pregnant, Jhu felt the extra weight, and it was readily apparent as she sat on the edge of the indicated bed.

Kurt sighed as the computer continued to struggle uploading her file. But just as he was about to say something the file popped up. He too a moment to read over her last check up. " It says here you last saw Dr. Hansen, but he did not put himself down as your prenatal Doctor." Kurt looked up at her. "It's up you Commander. You can even pick a Doctor on a different ship if you like. That Doctor will have the final say over anything to do with your pregnancy." He explained.

"So..." Nathan spoke up, clearly an idea forming in his head. " If you were her prenatal doctor, she would be required to come to the station on a regular basis for care?"

Kurt chuckled seeing what Nathan had just put together. " Yes, I would require her to make frequent visits to the station and when it came closer to time for her to give birth she would be required to come here for delivery and recovery." He said and turned to look at Jhu expectantly. " But it is completely up to you."

"Personally I'd prefer a doctor with some background in Romulan physiology, which hasn't really been an option. Until now, of course." Jhu grinned a bit, realizing they'd found the perfect excuse for her to visit Nathan on a fairly regular basis.

Kurt nodded. "Well your in luck then Though I do need to warn you. This will be my first pregnancy. I am fully qualified and not worried myself, just thought you two should know."

"That's okay. It's my first too," Jhu quipped, grinning a bit.

Kurt chuckled a bit as he ran the tri-corder probe over Jhu, the focused on her lower stomach. He looked at his Tri-corder.

"Ok, so first off..." Doctor Zunio said as he walked over to the replicator. "Water, cold." he said to the computer and took up the glass once it was ready. He brought it to Jhu. "Extremely dehydrated. Been having headaches and dizzy spells I would bet?"

Jhu nodded slightly, carefully sipping the frigid water. "But I drink a lot of water already. And then I pee a lot, like I'm not using the water I drink at all."

"Well your drinking for two now, and eating also. Something to keep in mind, the more suborn races; Romulans, Klingons and Humans for example, have an extremely high miscarriage rate because we tend to think we are more intelligent then our body's. We think we know better. The fact is, your body is the best at knowing when its time to take a break. My point is, if your Trill side starts screaming for a rest, it would be a very good idea to tell your Romulan side to shut up and take that break." Kurt explained in the softest tone he could. He didn't want Jhu to think he was scolding her.

"Yes, Doctor," Jhu replied with a small smirk of a grin. That was a lecture she'd heard before in other contexts. "I'll be careful."

"Other then being very dehydrated you look good. Development is moving along at a expected rate. I do want to take some blood just to keep an eye on your immune system, with half of the genetics in there being human and the other half a mix of Romulan and Trill it will become essential to make sure your body does not think the human DNA is an invading pathogen. Its very common in mixed breed parings and sounds a lot scarier then it actually is." Kurt rambled on.

At the mention of taking blood, Jhu slid slightly backwards away from him. Too many doctors had been rough with her in their attempts to get blood samples, and the thought of it quickly put her on edge. "Is... is that necessary?"

"Extremely... you have a fear of hyposprays?" Kurt asked with a note of concern.

"Not exactly." There weren't words to explain to Kurt what it actually was that scared her, and Jhu wasn't ready to dive into that story with a stranger yet anyway.

Nathan quickly stepped up to Jhu's side to defend her, "We have both been through...stuff."

Kurt nodded his understanding. "All I can do is promise to be as gentle as possible. Will you give me the chance to earn your trust?" He asked.

Instinctively seeking shelter at Nathan's side, Jhu bit her lip as she considered Kurt's question. After what felt like a very long time, she nodded a bit tightly. "Okay. I can do that."

"I'll be quick too." Kurt promissed. He took a hypospray and set it to extract, then inserted an empty vial. "Alright, here we go." Kurt took Jhu's arm in his hand and once she was pressed into Nathan's side wither her eyes closed he said. "All done." One of his many tricks, do the deed while the patient was distracted preparing for the deed itself.

Jhu peeked out at him with one eye, looking more like a child than a grown woman at the moment. "Already? That was... fast." It had also been rather painless, but hyposprays weren't supposed to hurt. "I'm sorry. I know it's stupid. I... can't really explain."

Kurt shrugged "You would be suprised how common it is." He poppedal the vial out and set it aside. Then he turned to the couple. "Now the fun part. Would you like to know the gender?"

"I don't know." With a bit of an excited grin, Jhu looked at Nathan. "Do we?"

Nathan smiled at Jhu. "I do. But I'll wait for yoy if that's what you want."

"No, let's find out! I've been dying to find out... Maica and I were trying to think of names!" Jhu giggled a little. "This will make that so much easier!"

"Ok." Kurt said with a nod. "Well you two, your going to have a daughter." Kurt said with a big grin. He had never had the oppertunity to tell expacting parents news like that before, it was fun!

"A daughter?" Jhu's eyes sparkled a bit as a very proud grin rapidly took over her face and she practically pounced on Nathan, hugging him fiercely. "A little girl! We can teach her how to beat up boys!"

Nathan caught Jhu in an embrace with a laugh. His own smile matched Jhu's. "If shes half the woman her mother is I doubt there will be much training needed." He said to her. "Thank you Doctor."

Jhu giggled at him. "Maybe. And yes, thank you, Doctor."

"Happy to be the one." Kurt said. " 4 weeks Commander and I expect you back on the station. I will send security to collect you if there are any issues." He said with a knowing smile. "I will over look the fact that you, sir, have yet to get your physical. I'll let you two celebrate, but I expect you back very soon." he said to Nathan.

"Yes Doctor, I will come in tomorrow before my first shift." Nathan said over Jhu's shoulder.

"Four weeks... might be tight, but I can do it." Jhu didn't think it would be too hard to convince M'rayr that she needed to see her personal obstetrician.

"If you can't, I can." Kurt said. "Now go on you two, I have a file to set up."

Nathan walked into his room, the doors swooshing open and closed behind him. He moved right over to the couch and flopped himself down onto the cushion. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. He was tired, had been on his feet all day and was pushed to his limits mentally. He was not an Op's officer, but today he got a crash course in being one.

Jhu had been asleep on Nathan's bed, but the swish of the door followed by the soft creak of a Starfleet issue couch woke her, and she wandered out to sit next to him. "Long day?"

Nathan opened his eyes to look over at Jhu. "I have a new found respect for Andy. This station is only healed together by a couple of screws and some chewing gum. One of the deck is frozen solid. Why? I don't know and no one can figure it out." He grinned at her. "How was your day e'lev?"

"I think I slept through most of it." Rubbing her eyes, Jhu checked the time. "Didn't mean to, but Whiskers keeps me so damned busy..."

"Captain Whiskers now." He reminded her and jumped to his feet. "Wanna help me unpack?" Nathan didn't have much, just the two boxes Jhu had put away in storage of the things she didn't intend to keep of his. Anything she had set aside to remind her of him when she believed he had died he had left for her. This also included his beloved bonsai tree. But he had talked her through the delicate care and entrusted it to her. Though he did notice that quite a few of his plant had made the trip. "Or, we could go get something to eat...or..." He shrugged.

"Sure, I'll help. Know where you want everything?"

"No." Nathan said as he pushed himself from the couch. "Before I lived with you I just filled my shelves with plants and shoved everything else in the closet." He admitted. Jhu had never really seen much of Nathans room before they had decided to share one together. Jhu, being a ranking officer at the time had the larger quarters so it made sense to move into her's. "Though I do want that picture of us at the ball on my desk. I love that picture, always reminds me of the trouble I had to go throuhg to get you that ring. Seriously, you would have been proud at my sneakiness. Its hard to keep things from an intel officer." He spoke as he opened one of the boxes that had been left in his room.

Jhu chuckled at him as she got up to help him. "Oh, I'm proud of your sneakiness. I had no idea the ring even existed until it fell out of your field jacket. I mean, we hadn't even really talked about it. Just joked about babies and how much of a terror I would be when I got pregnant."

Nathan turned to look at Jhu. "Three weeks in and I knew you were it." He said with a big grin. " I knew I had found the one. I just wanted to hang onto the ring until Andy and Maica had their day. I didn't want to take away from them and I wanted you to have your own time. I was going to ask you that night after the ball but then they announced they were getting married and I decided to wait. Then I had to die and all that shit." Nathan shrugged. "But is does not matter now, cause we are here and it is your time."

"Yeah, dying kind of ruined your surprise." Jhu picked up one of the plants and tucked it neatly onto a shelf, delicately arranging its trailing vines so that they draped over the shelf's edge.

Nathan shrugged a bit, "Didn't seem to change the outcome. That's the important part right?" Nathan scooped an armful of clothes from a crate and took it all into his bedroom. He just dumped the lot on his bed for now and joined Jhu again.

"Your plants look kind of lonely without the bonsai tree," Jhu mused quietly, remembering the tree that graced her desk back on the Katana.

"It will survive. I want you to have it. Its like a part of me that I can leave there with you." He said as he rummaged around in the box some more, pulling out a stack of pictures he didn't recognize. "Did you put these in here?" He asked Jhu as he flipped through the memories from his time on Katana and his family there.

"Yep." Abandoning her work with the plants, Jhu joined him to look at the pictures. "I thought you might want them."

Nathan turned to look at Jhu. "Are you kidding? This is great! Thank you Angel." he said as he set the stack of photos aside. He had been so busy both at work and play on Katana that he had never took the time to document his memories. The fact that Jhu had taken the time to do such a thing for him truly touched him and it showed on his face.

Nathan turned from the table where he had set the photos and slid his arms around Jhu's waist, gently pulling her into an embrace. For a moment he just held her, relishing the feeling of her body against his. Something he had thought he would never be able to do again.

"You know... this reminds me of something..." Jhu snickered a bit, hoping he understood what she meant.

Nathan chuckled a little into her shoulder. Screw this unpacking crap, not like he or the boxes were going anywhere.

"I have no idea what you could be talking about love." Nathan said, but as he spoke he started walking backwards into the bed room, pulling Jhu along with him by her hips.

"Final approach." The shuttle pilot said over his shoulder to the two sitting in the back together.

Nathan took a long deep breath, his hand was entwined in Jhu's who sat next to him. His had clasped onto hers tightly, Nathan was not good at this change thing. It had been a long road back to this point. Its a good thing Jhu and Nathan's father had meet or no one would have believed her that he was still alive. One very top secret rescue mission later and a long 'rehab' that mainly consisted of a two week long debriefing and Nathan and Jhu had been reunited.

But the bad news was not over yet, because when Nathan had died and the Captain of the USS Katana was court marshaled and locked away; maybe even executed, the command was restructured. Even though the now current Captain M'Rayr had said to Star fleet that he would make room for Nathan, the Fleet had insisted on promoting and moving Nathan to this new station. Something in the back of Nathan's mind told him that this move had more to do with who was sitting next to him then himself.

But, this was Star fleet and being moved around was part of the game. Nathan just never thought it would happen while he had a child on the way. But at least here on Deleth Jhu and the baby could visit him. That was better then Talos.

His time on Katana had done wonders for him, he had broken out of his shell a bit and made friends, fell in love and had found a family. But this was Deleth. New station with new people. New Commander and new layouts to learn. New command styles to adapt to. Nathan was not a fan of new.

Nathan swallowed hard and glanced at Jhu, she didn't need to be telepathic to know all the thoughts and fears running through Nathan's head right now.

Picking up on how nervous he was, Jhu squeezed Nathan's hand and kissed his cheek. "Relax. She's going to take one look at you and think it was you who spent half the trip in the bathroom."

"I just always hate this part. Remember what I was like when I asked you out?" Nathan gave a nervous chuckle remembering himself. "I have never been good at fresh starts. I never thought coming back would mean we would be split up again. It's like we just got reunited and..." Nathan sighed and closed his eyes. He knew rehashing this again would not change anything. "It could be worse." He said with a nod. "At least here you can come visit me."

"And I'm not a huge fan of shuttles right now. I get it, e'lev. And I can visit pretty much whenever I want, yeah." Jhu squeezed his hand again. "We'll get through it. I promise."

Nathan turned slightly in his seat so he was facing Jhu a little more. "Jhu, us not making it through this has never crossed my mind. You are my future and the being living inside of you right now is evidence of that. I just need to be with you to protec..." Nathan stopped mid-sentince. He knew exactly what that was. Jhu being pregnant was releasing hormones that makes men want to protect her and the baby. He smiled to her to let her know he understood what just happend and instead spoke the truth. "I'm just complaining."

Jhu grinned at him. When Nathan fell victim to the pheromone, it was sweet and kind of funny. Not annoying, like it could be with other men. "Complaining is okay."

"Touchdown in 5" the shuttle pilot called to the back, the proceed contacting the station and getting clearance to land.

"I'll try not to do to much of it." Nathan offered with a little shrug and a small chuckle. Honestly he was glad to be here, back with Jhu. Even if she was going to be off with her, no their family having adventures and he was going to be stuck on a station. Heck, he even got the SO position, not something he could have attired on Katana. So this was a good move carer wise.

Nathan turned and looked over his shoulder as the shuttle approache'd the station. "I'm told it's brand new, and one of the staffers at Star Fleet told me that there was a mix up in the paper work." He turned back to Jhu. "They started staffing thus station be for it was even done." He said laughing.

"No way! Who does that?" Jhu snickered a bit. "Starfleet in this reality seems less... organized."

"Yeah they do..." Nathan said, looking back and watching the shuttle slip into the bay and gently set down.

"Commander, Lieutenant Commander it's been a pleasure." The pilot said as he popped the side hatch. "I'll beam your stuff into the bay."

Nathan stood and held his hand out for Jhu.

Grateful for his help, Jhu took Nathan's hand and let him help her to her feet. Even still she swayed ever so slightly, the now familiar lightheaded feeling no longer enough to send her back to her seat.

Nathans hand immediately went to the small of Jhu's back to steady her, even if she was not about to fall. "Is this typical?" He asked her with a look of concern. Being new to all this he had no idea if it normal or if maybe something was wrong. "I have been told that the doctor here is a Romulan specialist. Would you like to see him?"

"Been pretty typical for me, but I don't know how normal it is. I'm kind of used to it." Jhu hadn't given much thought to whether it was concerning or not; she'd just accepted it when it kept happening for no known reason. "Maybe seeing the doctor here might be a good idea."

"And if he just happens to become your prenatal doctor then you would have to be granted shore leave to come see him!" Nathan said with a little smirk on his face. Star fleet be damned, they were not going to keep them apart. He lead Jhu out of the shuttle and into the shuttle bay. "Well at lest they have the wall paneling up in here," Nathan said quietly to Jhu.

"Surely it wasn't that bad," Jhu whispered back, trying not to giggle at the thought of the station not having walls. "I mean, it couldn't have been. That would be crazy."

Nathan chuckled. "I don't know. I read a very scathing report from the Doctor, sick bay was not put together at all and everything coming from Op's is just requests for more building supplies." But he didn't lead Jhu any farther then just out side of the shuttle. Once out of the shuttle and sure that Jhu was not about to fall over, Nathan got a very serious look on his face. "You have something of mine that I need back."

"You must mean this." Jhu carefully removed the delicate chain from her neck, holding it out to him so that the ring she'd found dangled freely and caught the light, sparkling brightly. "I couldn't bring myself to wear it properly."

Nathan took the ring from her and slid it off the chain. "Well what if I ask you properly?" And with that, he took one knee and held the ring out to her. "Jhu t'Dharvanek, I want to be with you for the rest of my life. Will you please marry me?"

"You know the answer to that question," Jhu replied softly, a cheerful glimmer in her eyes visible even as tears of overwhelming joy threatened to fall free. "I will."

Nathan stood and took Jhu's left hand. He slid the ring over her ring finger. He then took her hand in his and looked her in the eyes, "I love you Jhu."

"I love you too." None too mindful of anyone who might wander in, Jhu cheerfully pulled him into an embrace.

Nathan gave way to the hug, but people watching be damned. He maneuvered himself to intercept Jhu's lips with his and pulled her into a deep kiss.

Okay, that works even better. Trying not to grin too broadly, Jhu gleefully returned his kiss.

Slowly, Nathan broke the kiss and pulled back from her slightly. " Ok, lets go find this Commander Quinn now that I know how to introduce you."

"You mean I have to go with you?" Jhu snickered a bit. "Okay, let's do that."

"You are the great Commander t'Dharvanek, Executive officer of the USS Katana." Nathan said with a bit of a mocking tone. "How rude it would be to snub a fellow Commander." He teased her as he lead her from the bay. "Computer, Locate Commander Quinn please."

"Commander Quinn is in her office," the computer replied as Jhu giggled at Nathan's response to her.

"Now how do we get to her office..." Nathan muttered as he stoped at a wall terminal and brought up the stations layout. " Oh nice! They have all the rooms listed as numbers and not descriptions.

A few frustrating moments later Nathan and Jhu arrived out side of Commander Quinn's office. Nathan took a long deep break and hit the door chime. "Here we go..." He whispered.

"Come in," Felicia called through the door. She knew a new officer was coming in today, so hearing the chime was no surprise to her.

Nathan stepped up to the door to activate it, but the stood to the side so that Jhu could enter first. After they had both entered Nathan stopped just in front of Commander Quinn's desk. " Commander, Lieutenant Commander Nathan Tonkin reporting for duty." and he snapped a quick salute to he new CO.

"At ease." Curious, Felicia looked at the woman who had accompanied Nathan into her office. "And you are...?"

"Commander Jhu t'Dharvanek." Jhu paused for a moment, not sure if Felicia would recognize her. "From the Katana. I'm just... visiting."

"My gir..." Nathan paused and shot a grin at Jhu, this was the first time he would be introducing her as anything other then his girlfriend. " my fiance." he corrected himself as he stood aside so the two could great each other.

Her second officer was going to marry a woman who was half Romulan? Felicia had to grin at that as she offered Jhu her hand. "You're both very lucky people. I can barely get this crew to cooperate, let alone like each other enough for dating."

"Oh it gets better." Jhu grinned broadly as she shook Felicia's hand. "We're already expecting a baby."

"Already? That's quick." Felicia chuckled, pointing Jhu to a chair. "Please, sit down."

Nathan stood to the side quietly while the women said there hellos to each other, taking note of that look everyone always gave him when they found out him and Jhu were a couple. He could not contain his smile when the topic of their baby was brought up.

"Thanks." Smiling gratefully, Jhu picked out a chair and dropped rather heavily into it, relaxing with a bit of a sigh. Even before they were born, babies were such hard work!

"Any time." Felicia might not have any children, but she was familiar enough with the weary look of an expectant mother. Too often she'd seen Starfleet push these women until they were ready to collapse. "Rest while I get to know your fiance."

Rest? That was a magic word as far as Jhu was concerned. With no further prompting, she cheerfully curled up in the chair to get warm and comfortable.

Nathan watched the two women with a smile on his face. "What would you like to know ma'am?"

"Oh, you know. All the silly things commanders ask you about. Why you're here, what you hope to achieve, whether you have any input on our situation." Felicia's tone betrayed how little she actually cared for those questions, as did her slightly crooked smile. "And anything you care to share."

"Well then instead if the typical answered I'll be...bold." he shot Jhu a quick grin then looked back to Felicia. "Honestly in here because this is where Star Fleet stuck me. No offense Commander but I would prefer to still be on my ship with my family. But that aside, I don't get a chouse in that and I know neither did you." Nathan took an even breath the continued.

"The concept of this station is genus, the aplication has been lack luster to say the lest. From the reports I have read this has been a fine example of what happens when two major entities drop the ball at the same time. Your lucky to be holding air."

"As for anything else I would like to share, well I came here by being pulled through a transwarp tunnel that was poorly contained and spit us out four years in the future is a different dimension. Then while trying to find a way back I was killed in a super classified mission, turns out I was not actually dead, had to be rescued through another super classified mission and then after a long interrogation I was ripped from my ship and sent here." Nathan took a deep breath to steady himself. He had not really had the chance to get that all off his chest yet.

Felicia blinked at him, not entirely certain she'd asked for all of that. "Well," she said slowly. "It might surprise you that I agree with your assessment of the station. The engineers did a terrible job. As for the rest..." She trailed off, not really having an opinion.

Nathan shook his head. "Don't worry, I just needed to get that off my chest. Thank you Ma'am for providing an opportunity for me. Anything else you would like to ask?"

Felicia also shook her head, smiling a bit. She liked Nathan. "No, and it's quite all right. I understand." Gesturing at Jhu, who was obliviously half asleep in the chair, she added, "You should take her back to your cabin and let her sleep. She needs it."

Nathan turned and looked down at Jhu. "This whole experience has been very hard on her, even if she wont admit it." Nathan turned back to Felicia. "I had the easy part, sit around and wait. She had to do all the leg work and go through thinking I was dead and she was pregnant." He shook his head slowly. "I don't know how she keeps going sometimes."

"She loves you, and she's half Romulan. Romulans aren't known for melting into puddles and refusing to carry on when bad things happen, you know." Felicia smirked a bit. "Maybe someday she'll tell you the secret. For now though, I think she needs a nap."

"Yes Ma'am." Nathan said and knelt down nest to Jhu. "Angel..." He said softly as he gently rubbed her leg.

"Huh?" Jhu opened one eye to look at him, not entirely aware that she'd fallen asleep.

"Need me to carry you?" Nathan asked.

"What? Oh... no, I can walk. Just... tired, is all." Feeling a bit sheepish, Jhu sat up and rubbed her eyes.

Nathan was a little disappointed, but he stood and held his hand out to her. "Thank you Commander for the chair, clearly it was needed." He said to Felicia.

"But I won't object to being carried either," Jhu continued with a smirk and a sparkle in her eye.

Felicia chuckled at them. "You're welcome."

That put a smile on Nathans face. Since he had been back he had made every excuse to touch, smell or just be near Jhu. He leaned down and sweeped her off her feet with ease. "Have a good evening Commander." he said to Felicia.

"The same to you. Enjoy your time together." As they left, Felicia couldn't help chuckling a bit more. If those two could get along so well, perhaps there really was hope for this crazy crew.

Kurt stood in a turbo lift bouncing a PaDD off his leg in a nervous fashion. Part of his anxiety was the hopes that the turbo lift would get him to where he needed to go. Hell even close to it would be ok with him. Being stuck in a turbo lift alone for an hour was not his idea of a good time.

And not being stuck alone was the other half of his nerves right now. Last time he had been stuck in the lift he had been with Dalia, and they had found a very nice way to kill the time. But after that she had confronted him about the fling. Now they were dating. This alone was not enough to cause Kurt anxiety, but he had never dated someone higher in command, let alone someone from a different organization that was trying to play nice with Star Fleet. It occurred to him how cautious he would need to be with this relationship.

If that was not enough to twist his gut, She had called him to her office to go over Romulan medical supplies. Not something out of the ordinary, but she had also hinted at getting together for lunch in her office a few days ago, so he didn't know what to expect when he walked into that room. Since he was questioning the purpose of this meeting, he had decided to come prepared for actual work and let her surprise him if she had other intentions.

The lift came to a stop and the doors parted. Correct floor. As soon as he stepped out of the lift he felt a good amount of the tension lift. He took a deep breath and walked up to Dalia's office door and his the chime.

"Come in," Dalia called, looking up from her desk terminals, several Romulan medical scanners scattered across her desk.

Kurt stepped up to the door and into the room once the door slid away from him. " Commander..." He said with a smile as he stepped up to her desk. By the looks of her desk, this was no social call and he was immediately glad he had come prepared. "Did we receive another shipment that I was not aware of?" he asked as his eyes slid over the equipment on her desk.

"No, these are replicated. I got the pattern and the programming from an old colleague." Dalia stood and handed him one, picking up a second and popping the device open and starting a scan of herself. "But I think they need to be calibrated. Either that or I'm dead."

Kurt took the one handed to him and set the PaDD down. "In my professional opinion I think you're doing just fine...unless we are both dead." He said to Dalia as he scanned himself. " And if this is the afterlife I got stuck with I wanna know who I complain to."

"I don't know... seems nice enough to me," Dalia said, setting her scanner aside and pulling Kurt in for a passionate kiss. After a few seconds, she broke free and grinned widely. "What complaints did you have?"

Kurt was first shocked, but the kiss lasted long enough for him to ease himself into the kiss. When it broke he grinned at Dalia. "No complaints about that at all. More the setting then the company." he explained. "I never imagined the afterlife to be set on a half built space station."

"Must be a stop on the way to the next life." Dalia replied, picking her scanner back up. "Any idea what's wrong with these?"

Kurt popped an access hatch on the back of the scanner. "So what are Romulan Medical scanners called exactly?" He asked as he looked inside the scanner, trying to get his bearing with the unfamiliar tech. "and where is the calibration port?" he said more to himself then Dalia.

"Umm... Medical scanners?" Dalia shrugged, sliding the side cover off of the device. "It's in here," she said, pointing to a circular port that was hiding under the cover. "The back panel hides the test contacts and expansion slots. These can be reprogrammed for anything from opening doors to hacking systems, to diagnosing the cause of a chill. Supposedly."

"Wow," Kurt said as he looked at what Dalia was showing him. "Versatile. I know our tricorders can be reprogrammed as well, but the medical ones are for the most part limited in what they can do beyond what they were designed for. Hence the two designs. On for general use and one for medical." He explained as he pulled a tool from his lab coat and started messing with the calibration of the scanner.

"Well... When you get the designs from an espionage specialist... I'm sure there are some with less versatility but I've not seen them." Dalia said, pulling out an obviously custom scanner from her pocket and scanning the faulty scanner she held with it. "Mine, on the other hand, is purely an intel scanner."

"Intel scanner?" Kurt said, glancing at the devise Dalia had just pulled out. " Never heard of one...do you think Star Fleet has intel tricorders??"

"It would be a logical assumption, though with the versatility of your standard tricorder and the lack of evidence of anything more specialized..." Dalia clicked a few more buttons on her personal scanner, the lights blinking in rapid sequence on both scanners for a moment. Closing hers up and stashing it back away, she scanned herself with the new medical scanner. "And now I'm a perfectly living, breathing... Gorn..."

Kurt laughed as he worked at the calibration of his own. " You are definitely not a Gorn. I can say that both professionally and personally." he said as he turned his scanner over and scanned himself. "Now I'm a tribble who is having a heart attack...interesting."

"Sounds like the database is corrupted. Think you can copy the one from the med unit we got into these? Without that awful personal interface, of course." Dalia requested, closing up and setting her scanner aside for the moment.

"I can try, but that might be a bit over my head. I simple data dump I can handle but if you want things added or removed from the programming..." Kurt shrugged. " I am just a Doctor after all." It was odd to think of himself as 'just' a Doctor, and when it came to general maintenance of the equipment he used, he was a pro. But beyond that, he was clueless. Bring him a Tribble that was actually having a heart attack and he could fix that, but ask him to set up a biobed and sync it to the station computers and he was very very lost.

"Then I guess I'll see if I can find another database. Do your best in the mean time though." Dalia said, moving closer to Kurt, her eyes looking deep into his. "Which brings me to the second order of business. Help me set up a dinner party with our Second Officer and his Fiance? And maybe be my date?"

"We are dating remember? One of the benefits to such a relationship is that I will always be your date." Kurt said gazing back into her eyes with a smile. " I will be more then happy to help you set up a reception for our new Second. I had the honor of examining his fiance and she named me her primary prenatal physician. It my first baby." He said. a glint of excitement flashed in his eyes. " I got to tell them the gender of the baby. Being a surgeon you don't get to deliver exciting news very often."

"That is awesome!" Dalia exclaimed, slipping her arms around Kurt in an embrace. "Onto our third order of business then..."

This was a trip. Getting to see the two very different sides of this woman. While she was working she seemed so cold and calculating. Extreamly smart, but she seemed to hid that beind a curtain of ice. But a curtain none the less, one she seemed to throw aside when alone and spending personal time with Kurt. It was almost like night and day, but he was thrilled to get to see this other side of her.

Kurt embraced her as she did him. "It was refreshing." he said as he returned the embrace. " And what exactly would be the third order of business?" he asked with a grin, guessing in his mind at what it might be.

"Computer, lock the doors," she said simply, pulling him with her to rest her butt on her desk. Her hot and fiery side was out now. "I have a medical emergency and I need your help," she said sweetly.

Kurt stepped up to the edge of her desk, and between her legs. "Good thing I'm a Doctor huh?" he said and pressed his lips against hers.

Nathan stepped out if the turbo lift. He walked over to a wall panel and checked what deck he was on. "Ah? Third times a charm I see." He said as he made his way down the corridor to met with Commander Rendal and deliver his report on the departments. Considering what he had to say, both good and bad, he decided to deliver it in person.

He stopped in front of her door and hit the chime.

"Come in," Dalia called, looking up from yet another equipment failure report. When the door opened to reveal the station's second officer, she smiled politely and motioned to the seat across from her. "Commander, please have a seat. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Nathan took the offered seat and slid one of the many PaDDs he brought with him over to her. "My reports on the departments. I thought it might be best to discuss them with you, I certainly have some questions."

Taking the offered PaDD, Dalia looked over it quickly. "Not only is this station built half backwards, but our personnel issues are backwards too now. What would you like to ask?"

"Actually I wanted to start with our Engineering and Op's departments. They have been doing an incredible job if they were on a normal station or ship. All things considered I truly think we have some miracle workers." Nathan said. The PaDD Dalia had was that exact report. "I made a point in highlighting some of the superstars, officers and crewmen to keep an eye on come promotion time."

"I agree - this station would have fallen out of orbit without some of these people. I'll add their names to the recognition roster I keep." Dalia replied, setting the PaDD aside for the moment as she looked for one of hers.

"Unfortunately not all departments are faring as well." Nathan slid another PaDD over to her. "The most important question I have for you is this. Who is Crichton and where is he?"

"Ah, our missing security chief," Dalia took the PaDD and looked it over as well. "It seems Starfleet recalled him for family reasons. Or so I've been told." She left unsaid what she really thought - that he was secretly an undercover intel agent.

"Interesting, I could not find any records of his departure." Nathan said as he took up a PaDD and started looking through logs again.

"Neither could I," Dalia replied, looking deep into Nathan's eyes. "And you should have a few guesses as to why that would be. But since Starfleet has an alibi for him, the matter is out of our hands for now."

"I have a few guesses. But your right. Now we are just left high and dry. But this is one problem I can fix for you." Nathan said as he slid the transfer request that was on another PaDD over to her. "While on Katana she was my second, not in rank or position, but she was always at my side. She's saved more people that I have personally witnessed then any other officer. And when I was taken prisoners she was the only reason the rescue team and myself made it out." He tone was dead serious, he be level every word he was saying to his core. "You could not ever hope to find a more faithful and dedicated officer then you will find in Vara."

Dalia looked over the request, making note of some odd data in the file. "Who are these Lagashi? Augmented genes? And implants? Isn't tech like that illegal in the Federation?"

Nathan started trying to remember if there little trip through time and space was classified or not. "Um well. That's a long story. Do you know of the Katana?" He asked feeling it out. She was not Star Fleet so he was not sure how much to share.

"The one that blew up or the one that was pulled from another universe?" Dalia asked distractedly, still reading the file.

"The one from the other universe, we are from that ship." Nathan said bluntly. "Cybernetics were not as illegal in our Star Fleet." He rolled his right sleeve up a bit and popped the access hatch on the underside of his wrist. He leaned across Dalia's desk so she could see his own cybernetic prosthetic.

"Oh... I see." Dalia was honestly surprised. She'd never seen anyone other than a Borg with a prosthetic limb. Normally a new arm would have been grown from the person's DNA and attached. Setting the PaDD aside for now, she studied Nathan's face. She had had no idea he was from another universe. There were no real tell-tale signs until now.

Nathan sat back and closed the hatch on his arm. "Everyone who finds out I'm from another dimension looks at me like that." He said slightly uncomfortable under the gaze. "Romulans in our universe bleed green to. That typically the next question, just exchange your race with the race of the person asking."

"Actually, my next question would have been if the Tal Shiar and Section 31 were still at odds after the Dominion War, but I suppose you wouldn't know that." Dalia said, still not sure what to think.

At the mention of the two, especially Section 31 his face grew cold and a frown crossed his face as he looked down at his right arm. "Something like that..."

"I take it they weren't disassembled then. That must be a big plus for this universe at least." Dalia said, understanding that look fairly well.

"I would have spent the rest of my life hunting them down after what they had done to Jhu and I." Nathan nodded his head. "Yeah, it's a huge plus."

"Then I'm glad you're here." Dalia said, looking back at the transfer request. "I'll approve the transfer then. Officially as a Tactical Officer though. You'll have to get her consent on becoming a department head. In the mean time, the Captain and I will clear out the old chief's belongings."

"I'm sure I can get that. She's always got my back. I count on her." Exactly what they need in a security chief in his opponion.

"The rest of the departments are doing well. Zunio and Intaro don't have staff yet so really as long as they show up and do there job..." Nathan shrugged. "And they both do almost religiously."

"That's good. We should be getting more staff in about a week from both the Federation and the Empire so hopefully they'll get some help soon." Dalia replied, pushing another PaDD across her desk towards Nathan. "Almost a hundred people in total."

Nathan took the PaDD and looked through the names quickly. "I'm glad to see more Romulans on here. We were really starting to outnumber you guys." He glanced up. "Once we are fully staffed and mostly operational we should have some sort of a...social thing." God was he really suggesting that? This command thing was getting to him.

"A good idea. Perhaps a station wide annual celebration?" Dalia suggested, a sly grin briefly gracing her features. "Interested in heading that up?"

"Let's call it the inauguration. I'll get in contact with my dad and have him round up some brass to come. You think you could convince some high ranking officials to join us?" It would be important for the powers that be to see how well things were going.

"Sounds good to me. I should be able to get a few Senators to visit us as well." Dalia replied.

"Sounds good." Nathan gathered a few of the PaDD's he brought and stood to leave, stopping just before exiting. "Oh one more thing. I took me three tries in the turbolift to get to the correct deck. I guess I'm just lucky I didn't get stuck. Just thought you would want to know." He said with a shrug and then stepped out into the hall.

Dalia shook her head in disgust. Those faulty turbolifts would be the death of them yet...

The transfer request had come suddenly and unexpectedly. Vara wasn't sure what to think, though she was pretty sure that her Nathan had died and that the Nathan of this universe was also likely dead. But here she was, standing outside the office of one Commander Nathan Tonkin with orders in hand to report to him. Pressing the door chime, Vara waited for the doors to open.

Nathan knew exactly who this was, he had been waiting. So he didn't ask her to come in, oh no. Instead in met her at the door and before she could say anything he had her wrapped up in his huge arms and lifting her off the ground. "I found my Shadow." Was all he said.

"Oof..." Yeah, this was her Nathan. Vara smiled and tried to hug back as best she could, now nearly a foot off the deck plating. "It's good to see you again, boss. How is it you're alive though?"

Nathan set her back down with a grin. He stood aside to let her in. "Well that's super classified." He said to her with a laugh as the door closed. "Ginger tea? The short of it is I never died, just got left behind. Believe me, I'll never leave you behind on an away mission again." Vara would have never been tricked into thinking he was dead or to leave him behind anywhere.

Vara nodded at the ginger tea, moving into the office. "And I don't intend to ever let you go on one without me again. I... I'd rather not lose you again." Vara was blushing slightly now, looking around the room and feigning disinterest.

Nathan chuckled at her blush. He actually already had a pot with two glasses replicated and waiting for them. He took the tray holding everything over to the small coffee table in front of the couch. "Well Star Fleet wants me to stay put also, clearly they don't want to lose me again. Have a seat." He said as he poured them both a cup. It was the only tea he drank and he only drank it with her.

Vara sat and took one of the cups, cradling it in both hands as she sipped at the ginger tea. "Delicious and refreshing. Will you tell me about this station and my new assignment? I know it's a joint Federation and Romulan venture, though most of what I've seen has been Federation so far."

"The Star Empire has been fairly generous actually. There is a rumor that we might be getting an old war bird to play with." Nathan said. He sounded genuine. "I'm most shocked that they were willing to station personnel." He had been wearing an easy smile, but now that slipped as he leaned forward. "Vara, our security is a mess. Good people on the team but the chief has gone AWOL. The department needs good leadership and you're the best I know." He picked up his own cup and leaned back in his seat. "I'm pushing for you to be chief if you'll have it."

Well that was a lot to take in. Vara wasn't sure what to say, simply nodding as she looked into her teacup. Security Chief of an entire station? that was a big leap from training and security on a starship. "If you have faith in my abilities and ask me like that, then I suppose I have no choice but to accept."

"Faith? Vara I requested you personally. The only person who might be more qualified that I know is Jhu, and how many times have you saved her ass?" Nathan said to her, his smile returning. "I don't need faith Vara. I have facts to back this decision up. Not to mention that I have been pushing for your promotion since I took Chief on Katana. That whole thing with Jhu?"

Vara nodded a bit more, looking up at Nathan. "Yes but saving lives isn't the same as running a department. I mean, yes I did a lot of your paperwork for you... And managed the shift rotations... And took care of inspections... But this station must have hundreds of security team members. It's a big leap going from assisting in leading a dozen people to actually managing a station's security."

"You don't really think I'm just going to hang you out there do you? I'm still your friend, I'll help you." Nathan paused just long enough to take a sip of the tea. "I got your back still."

"Thanks, boss." Vara said, sipping her tea again. "I'll do it then, thank you."

Nathan let out a long sigh. That was a lot of stress of his back. "You know your the only one I have ever got to bat for right? I never felt like anyone else really deserved it. I don't know why Kris never took my request to promote you."

"I didn't have the time in grade for it. Also, most people distrust people with implants." Vara shrugged it off, not worried about that anymore. "Besides, i was a bit of a disciplinary issue at the academy. I destroyed a lot of equipment while training, as I'm sure you can guess."

Nathan decided to let it drop. "Well that's in the past now. They don't even have your record here." But that fact brought another fact to his mind. "How are you holding up?" Her family had always been a tough topic, and now that she was gone...

Vara was silent for a few seconds, formulating a response. "I suppose... I'm getting used to things. I have no true ambitions to work towards anymore since my homeworld never existed here. Then losing you... Supporting the crew of the Katana was all I had left and the closest to family I had left. But since you're alive..."

Nathan just smiled for a moment at Vara. Then he said "God its good to see you again. While being held I focused my attention on getting word to Jhu but you were also always in my thoughts. Most kicking myself for not insisting you come. Biggest mistake of my life so far."

But his smile grew much bigger and he prepared to deliver this next bit. "It's a girl." And he just left it like that.

"Congratulations," Vara said, her smile widening and trying to brighten, but it was obvious her face muscles weren't use to the facial contortions she was trying to put them through. "And don't worry, we won't be making that mistake again."

"No we shall not..." Nathan nodded his head very matter of factly. "Anyways. Anything exciting happen while I was dead?"

"Other than a fight with a Scimitar class Reman ship, not really." Vara replied before finishing her tea and setting her cup back on the tray. "We won, naturally."

"Clearly." Nathan said. "But how? If Scimitars here are anything like back home if should have swatted Katana like a bug."

"Normally it would but this one was not only a half built and partially disassembled prototype, but crewed by civilians that knew nothing of war." Vara said with a lopsided grin. "It turned into a lopsided fight in our favor."

Nathan shook his head. "Luck of the Katana. Lets hope some of that rubs of on Deleth."

"With the two of us, it just might." Vara replied.

Dalia was at the main operations table, monitoring some traffic past the station when suddenly she noticed something unusual. A blip indicating a cloaked warbird was entering the system. It was even sending an IFF signal to the station on a tightband carrier. The IRW Arix, and she was requesting to deliver large cargo. Signing off on the request, she sent a return message for them to decloak at their convenience and to hold station at 500 meters off of platform three. What kind of cargo could this be?

"Commander Tonkin, we have a large cargo delivery from the Empire," Dalia said as she looked over the amazingly short cargo manifest before looking up at him, mild astonishment apparent on her face. "They've sent us a T'varo class warbird. Please find a place to dock her."

Nathan turned from his station and gave Dalia a look of disbelief, "They sent us a what?" he asked in shock. "Docking arm 3 just cleared out." He said turning back to his controls, he sent the information to Dalia so she could relay the instructions to the ship and crew.

Relaying the information to the inbound ship, sensors showed that it was decloaking so she punched it up on the main screen. "Would you look at that..." Just finishing it's shimmer from cloak was a D'deridex warbird with a T'varo warbird held in its open center area by tractor beams.

Nathan glanced up at the screen, then at Dalia then the screen again. " You know, you had better meet them at the docking arm." He said casting her a smile.

"I should. Have Kurt... Doctor Zunio meet me down there. And Lieutenant Cho... Something... How do you pronounce her name again?" Dalia was a bit distracted as the smaller warbird swung out and around the head of the larger ship. Soon it would be slipped into place, the docking arm securing the smaller ship.

"Cho'ren." Nathan said as he taped his com badge "Zunio and Cho'ren to docking arm 3. This is not a medical or security emergency." Then he looked to Dalia who was transfixed on the view screen. He said quietly so the rest of the op's staff could not hear him. "Go check out your new toy, I'll cover for ya here."

"Thank you, Commander. If you need me, you know where I'll be." Dalia finally tore her gaze away from the viewscreen, moving into the turbolift. "Docking arm three." She ordered, the doors not even having closed. It was only a few minutes before she arrived at her destination... Or close enough anyway. The turbolift dropped her off one junction away but at least on the same deck. After a brief walk, she arrived just in time to watch the final seals latching onto the T'varo and the pressure equalizing. Nodding to the crewman manning the airlock, she waited.

Kurt was right behind her. He stepped up beside her and watched the ship dock. "Oh its here finally?" he said watching out the view port.

"It is," Dalia said excitedly as Vara came up behind them. "Lieutenant, I'll want you to do a security sweep while we head to the bridge. Doctor, we'll head to the bridge and do a systems check. This is a vintage ship so let's do our best to respect her, ok?"

"Aye Commander," Vara said crisply. She wasn't expecting much, but she'd certainly keep her eyes open. "I'll head to engineering and start my sweep there."

"Good thinking," Dalia said just as the doors finally opened. With a nod and a polite smile she greeted the command crew that rode along in the T'varo as it was towed. "Welcome to Deleth Station, gentlemen. Is there anything we can do for you during your stay?"

The first man, obviously an engineer by trade, handed Dalia a PaDD. "Sign here for receipt please, erei'Riov. And please point out the nearest refresher. The waste management system on her is shut down with most of her other systems."

Placing her thumbprint in all three places, Dalia handed the PaDD back and pointed down the gangway. "Third door on the left."


"Thank you, Ma'am." he said, scurrying off with his other two engineers.

Chuckling slightly after the three, Dalia turned back to the open docking hatch and stepped through it. "Welcome aboard the IRW Sistius."

Kurt could not help but laugh also. "Step one, get the bathrooms up and running." He pulled a PaDD from his lab coat and actually made a note of it. Funny as it might be here and now, it was an actual priority.

He followed the two ladies through the portal and looked around.

As Vara excused herself and headed deeper into the ship, Dalia headed to the nearest turbolift. Thankfully they were online and soon they were on their way to the bridge. "The paint is fading and chipping in most places. We might need to strip and repaint everything. Thankfully the turbolifts are modern so with any luck, more of her will be as well. What do you think so far, Doctor?"

"Honestly I don't have much of an opinion." Kurt took a long deep breath. "Environmental seems to be working so...I cant wait to see the sick bay." He said with a smile.

"That'll be our next stop, e'lev." Dalia said as the doors parted to reveal the bridge. Most of it looked older than she expected, but the two forward consoles had been stripped out and replaced with modern variants. Presumedly the whole ship could be controlled from them. Then she saw the dedication plaque. Running her fingers over it, she read the date. "This ship is over three hundred years old. Are there people on your world that restore antiques like this?"

As she stepped out of the lift, Kurt looked around the bridge. "There are people on earth who still recover and restore the old land biased vehicles we use to use pre warp." The laugh and head shaking made it clear, Kurt was not one of those people. He wiped the dust from what looked like the tactical station.

"She's going to need a lot of work," Dalia said as she slipped into the antique captain's chair and looked around at the various consoles. "Power readouts look a little low but that's not surprising. I honestly expected them to rip out the singularity core." Standing and moving to the computer and science console, she whistled softly as she looked over the readouts. "There's a Mark 19 distributed quantum computational core. I doubt even the ship that brought her here had one that nice."

Kurt was working on the tactical station. He knew exactly what Star Fleet was hoping to get a look at. " Damn..." He said more to himself. Though not exactly shocked he said, "They took the cloak."

"I expected that. I'm sure we can figure something out though. She's supposed to have a couple plasma turrets and a couple plasma beam banks as well as a single plasma torpedo launcher. Did they leave those in place?" Dalia asked as she accessed the sensor pallets. All 13 of them registered as offline and only internal sensors were working. What they showed however, was a mix of ancient and modern technology. It almost looked like they did an emergency refit of her while en route.

Kurt punched up the tactical report. "Yeah...but this says two torpedo launchers Dalia." He said looking up at her. "Tactical is fully functional and ready, though we have no torpedos in stock." That was a simple fix.

"That's a surprise," Dalia said, looking over at Kurt before heading over to the turboloft. "Shall we see what sickbay looks like, then?"

Now she was talking. He shut the tactical panel off and steped into the life with her. "You know I do."

With a quick command the turbolift was off, the doors opening mere seconds after. Stepping out, Dalia looked one way, then the other down a curved hallway, then headed off to the left. Thankfully she chose correctly because soon they came upon a large double door entry way leading into one of the most modern sickbays she had seen. "Doctor, Your sickbay..." She mumbled, running her hands over a few brand new silver trimmed consoles, The plastic film still on most of the screens and the deep earth tones to the walls in sharp contrast to the brighter earthy tones of the equipment.

Kurt didn't have words. It was all he could do to pick his jaw off the floor. This was better then his sick bay on the station, and that was very new also. He walked slowly around the room just looking at everything.

"Is that a new sub micron DNA scanner?" Dalia mused looking over one of the scopes. "I believe the term is merry birthday. Is there anything you might need added to this?" she asked as she opened a drawer to reveal a dozen medical scanners, the inspection seals still on them.

"Happy birthday..." Kurt said still in a bit of a daze, but the question snapped him out a little. "How would I even know?" He walked across the infrmary to the office. He powered on the desk top computer and a full inventory came right up. "Who do I thank for this?"

"Senator Atris said she had the engineers add a few surprises, though I didn't expect anything this nice." Dalia said, following him into the office with a medical scanner aimed at herself. "And this says I'm a healthy, living... Romulan. With a lineage from a southern continent and a genetic propensity for Kroehns disease. Spot on." Handing him the scanner, she looked around the office, deeply impressed.

"I will be preparing a personal thank you." Kurt said, mentally noting the name. "Now I'm curious to see the rest of this baby."

Dalia's reply was cut short by the chirp of her comm badge. "Commander, this is Lt Cho'ren. I think you'll want to see engineering. Most of it is... Missing."

Tapping her badge, Dalia replied, her brow shooting skyward. "Roger that. We're on our way."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Great. I guess all the suprises can't be good right?"

"I suppose not," Dalia said, heading out of sickbay and heading to the other end of that curved hallway. There were the double doors for engineering and as she entered with Kurt and looked around the larger, dimly lit round room she noticed several things. First, Vara was standing at where the singularity control equipment should have been. Second, the large open pit in the middle had no singularity. Third, the power relay systems along the walls had all been stripped out and wired to a single micro-fusion generator. Shaking her head in disgust, she headed over to stand next to Vara and looked down into the open pit. "And this is why the power levels looked low."

Kurt had no idea what he was looking at. "Is that where the warp core goes?" He asked.

"The singularity core, yeah. It's a big spinning ball of space-time colliding with itself that would normally float in that pit with collectors all around it." Dalia said as she looked around for the warp engine control consoles. Spotting what looked like them, she punched up a status display of the drives. "That's good at least. The nacelles report fully functional and with less than a dozen light years logged since their last refit. Unfortunately, we'll be lucky to do warp 2 with these power levels."

Kurt just shrugged and wandered over to the generator was. He really felt like a fish out of water here. Really he was just glad his sick bay was not in this condition.

Vara cleared her throat, getting Dalia's attention." Commander, I couldn't find main engineering at first but I ran across a pair of cargobays looking for it, both are full of crates of equipment. Everything so far seems safe as far as I can tell."

"That'll do for now then. Let's get a few engineering teams over here. I want a security escort for each of them, just in case. Have them keep their eyes open for anything unusual." After Vara nodded her acknowledgement, Dalia headed over to look at the portable generator with Kurt. "Something you may not have noticed is that triangular floor array in the middle of sickbay. Have you ever seen a dedicated medical transporter?"

Kurt looked at Dalia. "No, what would be the point?" He asked.

"Navy protocol has sickbay running on its own power systems. If the rest of the ship loses power, then sickbay is an island of safety, as it were. But if the ship's transporters don't have power, how to you do an emergency medical transport?" Dalia posed to Kurt. "There's also an emergency communications relay in there just for that reason."

Kurt was impressed. That was indeed a very good point. "I think we should consider some modifications to the station's sickbay." He suggested. "After the station is actually operating." He added.

"I agree. It's something I would expect the Federation would have done some time ago. Shall we go look at the intel offices real quick while Lieutenant Cho'ren gets some more people working on her?" Dalia said, holding her hand out for Kurt.

Kurt grasped her hand, his fingers intertwining with hers. "Yeah, let's find it."

Dalia led him back to the turbolift nd after a quick command they were on another deck of the ship, searching door to door for the intwl offices. Soon they came to it and stepping inside, Dalia wasn't sure if she should be delighted or dispointed. All of the old original equipment was there and it was obvious the room hadn't been touched in nearly a hundred years. "Very... vintage."

Kurt chuckled as he entered the room. "This has got to be the srangest mesueum of Romulan tech that I have ever seen." He walked over the tapped on a terminal, it didn't light up. "Think there is any old spy teck?" He pulled open a drawer and started looking through the contents.

"That's what this room is for. Listening devices and espionage gear and perhaps even poison." Opening a drawer as well, Dalia immediately found an old away mission kit - a plasma bolt pistol and a scanner - both antiques beyond measure.

"Oh those look cool." Kurt said walking up behind her and looking over her shoulder. "What is that?"

"A first generation plasma bolt pistol and a portable scanner." Dalia picked up the scanner and tried turning it on to no avail before handing it off to Kurt. "And what do we have here?" She said, picking up another device that was hiding further in the drawer. It looked like a screen mounted on a pistol grip. "This... I believe... Is a through wall visual scanner. They were banned over two hundred years ago because they gave people cancer."

"So...like you can see through walls?" Kurt asked with a grin. He pressed himself aginst her and slid his arms around her waits. "You know, I have the cure for cancer back on the station."

"I know, e'lev," Dalia replied, wrapping an arm around him and giving him a quick kiss. "Who do you think we stole it from?"

"Why does that not shock me?" He said with a grin. "Is there an inventory of this stuff?" He doubted it.

"There might be in one of these terminals but i doubt it. They're so old they use control boards and switches rather than voice or touch." Dalia replied. "Interesting stuff, but in the end, we're likely to just put a lot of this into display cases back on the station."

"So, if this..." Kurt said while snagging the scanner. " Got lost for a few days it would not be a big deal. Right?" He asked with a coy grin.

"I wouldn't miss it," Dalia replied coyly. "And since you're the only other person that's seen it..."

Kurt slid it into his lab coat. He often carried PaDD's and other equipment in his coat so it would not look odd. " I'm sure we can find some way to have fun with this. Meet me in my quarters tonight?"

"Only if you can find a way to prevent everyone within a hundred meters from getting cancer." Dalia said seriously. "I'll be there either way... but if it's not safe..."

"A hundred meters!" Kurt exclamed, then lowered his voice. "I want to have fun, not kill people. If it's you and I I can bring hyposprays and we will be fine but others..." Kurt's was a healer plain and simple. "Maybe we can figure out why it caused cancer."

"I think it was lepton radiation and lack of shielding," Dalia replied, moving towards the exit with Kurt. "For now how about we call this inspection complete and head back?"

Kurt walked along with Dalia. "Yeah, sounds good. I'm sure Quinn and Tonkin will want to hear about all this anyways."

"And they'll want to inspect it themselves, I'm sure." Dalia guided them back to the turbolift where an engineering team and security escort were just exiting.

Kurt didn't even put the two together. Here he and Dalia were wandering the halls tangled in each others arms and two full teams from different departments. "Leave sickbay to me guys."

Dalia tensed at the sight of the teams but did't remove herself from Kurt. She simply nodded to the teams as they nodded and passed by the two. Pulling Kurt into the now empty turbolift, Dalia sighed heavily as soon as the doors closed.

Well he felt her tense up for sure. "Sorry." Kurt said once the doors closed. "If you want we can be more careful."

"I'd appreciate it. I want to promote peaceful relations but if word got back to my xenophobic mother..." Dalia shook her head as she leaned against the turbolift wall. "I might have need to use that honor blade on my wall."

"Just know that I don't have hang ups like that. I have no problem with people seeing us together. I actually like it. But more importantly I want you to be comfortable." Kurt said as they rode along together. "I'm sorry your mother has problems with humans. I wanted to ask you about your family but a good opportunity has not come up yet. By the looks of that blade, it's not going to be a quick chat."

"Yeah, it's complicated. Though it's not that you're human. It's that you're neither Romulan nor betrothed to me." Dalia said just before the turbolift doors opened. "How about we discuss it this evening?" she asked as she headed towards the docking port. "I'll answer any of your questions."

As they left the lift Kurt made good on his word and pulled himself from her. He still walked beside her, but made sure to maintain a resonance distance. "That sounds like a plan." He was not liking that whole betrothed part.