No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Part Twenty-One: "Vermin and Humanoids"

Captain Darren M'Kantu - Captain of the USS Galaxy
Lieutenant Kimberly Burton - Chief Medical Officer
1st Lieutenant Branwen London - Furies Psychologist
Lieutenant Dhanishta Eshe - Chief Engineer
Ms Livana Ulani - FCO Internal Investigations Rep

***Holy City New Rhea***

"Then what are you going to do about it?" Dhani screamed back at him hooking on to his emotions and pushing back equally.

"Please." Branwen stepped between them. "Let's focus on what keeps us together; we are all good people, we have differences of opinion, Father." She turned to the priest. "On my planet in the past things like this happened. People were killed for their beliefs. But we have learned from the past, and we know it is wrong. We are now very sorry for killing people that were good people just not sharing our beliefs. It takes one or two righteous strong people to start changing the world. I believe you can be such a person. Help us, help our friend. Please, do the right thing; I know you know it in your heart."

"There are many different faiths out there in the galaxy beyond your skies Father." Dhani added in a softer tone. "Branwen is right. Persecution is a thing of the past on many worlds." She paused and smiled slyly, "Besides what do you think the Federation is going to do when they find out you have murdered one of their finest Doctors?" she added, "How is that going to look upon you and your 'off world' affairs?"

Pious looked from Branwen to Dhanishta and back again, a sinking feeling arose from the pit of his stomach.

*** USS Galaxy, Conference Room 3 ***

"Cardinal Pious was right to be concerned for himself." Dhanishta said in a somber tone. "As the morning sun rose to sit atop the horizon, the Order of the Protectorate arrived. They almost bashed the door down just by knocking on it. Myself and Lieutenant London were promptly escorted to our shuttle and told in no uncertain terms to leave and leave now. We were given a full minute to prep the shuttle and leave their planet and a further five minuets to leave their solar system before they started firing at us." Dhanishtas tone was serious as she detailed their 'leaving party'. To go from honored guests to hated heathens in the space of 24 hours was new to Dhanishta. She looked over to Kimberly and smiled apologetically. "Our rescue attempt was dashed. We had to find an alternative."

~ That you did. ~ Kimberly thought, recalling the imaginative and crazy idea the engineer had dreamed up.

"So what was your alternative?" Ulani asked her attention mainly devoted to the PADD she had been taking notes on throughout the entire recitation of events on New Rhea.

Dhani frowned slightly as she recalled her rather rushed and haphazard rescue operation. "Well," she began pensively, "as the situation was already tense; we complied with their demands for us to leave their system. However, there was no way that either of us," she indicated Branwen, "were about to leave a 'man' behind."

"We contacted the FCO and informed them of the situation and also sent a communication to the nearest Starship, but they were three days away at full warp. We were on our own." ~As always happens in a jam~ Dhani thought cynically.

She took a deep breath and licked her teeth, "Our options were to go back in guns blazing," she began ticking each option off on her fingers, "go in undercover, scan for the lieutenant and beam her out, pray that back up would arrive in time while we waited twiddling our thumbs, beg the Inquisitor to see sense." she trailed off and looked into the Captains unreadable face. Inwardly she wondered if he had fallen asleep with his eyes open. ~What is going on in his head?~ she asked herself, ~What would I be thinking if I were listening to all of this?~ Brushing her questions aside she continued. "Option one was impossible given the fact that, ahem," she coughed, "'someone'," she cast a dirty look towards Kimberly, "had removed all the weapons from the ship. The KittyKat was defenseless, no phaser banks, no weapon mounts, no torpedo tubes, no hand phasers.." she could have gone on but with the flatness of her tone and the role of her eyes she was sure that *everyone* in the room got the point that she was making.

Shifting uncomfortably a little at the look Dhani cast her way Kimberly felt the need to add something to that, Dhani was right, the lack of weapons had hindered their efforts. And although they had improvised beautifully the rescues could easily have turned sour if their deception had been found out. "We were heading for a civilian race," she explained, "and the idea was speed, not firepower. Arming a shuttle isn't standard procedure for a vacation, and it is my personal shuttle, so I hadn't even considered weapons when I logged my flight plan."

"You were however traversing a part of space that has only received a cursory survey," M'Kantu reminded her, the first words he had spoken in a while, up to now having been content to listen, "and while you are correct that weapons are not standard procedure for a vacation, traversing unknown space should have prompted some prudence."

~He's alive, by the hand of Kahless he's ALIVE!~ Dhani mused inwardly.

Flushing slightly at the mild rebuke Kimberly looked to Dhani to continue; after all, at this point in the narrative she had been otherwise occupied.

Dhanishta flashed Kim a vindictive smile: point made, received and rubbed in your face, ha! Turning back to the Captain and Ulani she pursed her lips. "Option two; going in undercover, required that we be creative. The New Rhean's were monitoring their sensor grid, and would be aware of our presence as soon as we entered their system. While they didn't have many space worthy ships, given the problems they had with their first warp flight, they did have a pretty good defense net. We managed to adjust our shields and sensors to mask us from their defense grid. Then we slipped back into orbit and hid in the planets magnetic field at the pole; that let us lower the shields and use the transporters without being detected. We tried scanning for the Lieutenant as soon as we were in orbit, we were going with a combination of option two and three ya see." she explained briefly. "But." she flashed them both a tired smile, "Kimberly's comm badge was left behind when she was taken, and we had no easy way to track her."

"So how did you locate her then?" Ulani asked, partially dreading the answer. When it came to first contacts, these three were a natural disaster.

"Well," Dhani took in another long breath, "We had to combine all our options. By this point in time Branwen had convinced Cardinal Pious to help us. The plan was for me to beam down, Pious would take me to where Kimberly was being held, he would help me sneak in, I would then tag Kimberly with a comm badge and call for a beam out."

Livana nodded as she jotted everything down but then paused and sighed loudly. Putting her stylus down she looked back up at the girls and smiled curtly, "That wasn't what happened though was it?" she asked already knowing the answer.

Dhani tried to conceal a smirk, "No." she replied. "It's that age old story isn't it, something about rodents and Terran's.?" she shook her head, "It probably looses something in the translation." she shrugged.

"I think the quote you're looking for is: 'The best laid plans of mice and men'." M'Kantu supplied helpfully, "A popular Terran saying adapted from a poem by Robert Burns. Basically, 'The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry', or more simply, no matter how carefully a project is planned, something may still go wrong with it. I take it things didn't go quite as planned then?"

"You could say that Sir." she nodded, inwardly questioning: ~'Carefully' planned?~

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Part Twenty-Two: "Misplaced Faith"

Captain Darren M'Kantu - Captain of the USS Galaxy
Lieutenant Kimberly Burton - Chief Medical Officer
1st Lieutenant Branwen London - Furies Psychologist
Lieutenant Dhanishta Eshe - Chief Engineer
Ms Livana Ulani - FCO Internal Investigations Rep

*** USS Galaxy, Conference Room 3 ***

"I think the quote you're looking for is: 'The best laid plans of mice and men'." M'Kantu supplied helpfully, "A popular Terran saying adapted from a poem by Robert Burns. Basically, 'The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry', or more simply, no matter how carefully a project is planned, something may still go wrong with it. I take it things didn't go quite as planned then?"

"You could say that Sir." she nodded, inwardly questioning: ~'Carefully' planned?~

**** Shuttle KittyKat, orbiting New Rhea ****

Looking at Bran Dhani swallowed hard and nodded, "Energize." As harebrained ideas went this had to be right up there with parachuting without a parachute! Personally she didn't trust the Cardinal as far as she could throw him, but she trusted Bran and Bran trusted the Cardinal. ~I just hope your faith is well placed~ Dhani thought to herself as the transporter beam came alive, shimmering around her in a sparkle of blue light disassembling her molecule by molecule and reassembling her upon alien soil.

Blinking several times she adjusted to the darkness of her surroundings. It was night fall and the wind had grown chilly. Pulling the cloak around her she turned east and began to walk across the due coated field. The meeting point was beyond the rise of the hill, next to the trail that ran from the town and out into the valley. Casting her eyes yonder she turned her mind briefly to the beauty of the planet. The pale moonlight illuminated the fields and highlighted its rises with a silver glow. The child explorer within her wanted nothing more than to cast the 'mission' aside and sprint across the ploughed dirt, to run out into the valley and hike up the tallest mountain, stand atop and look down upon the surrounding villages and towns with the eyes of a bird, let the winds lift her off her feet so she felt as if she were flying, let her cape out about her and hear it flutter, flap and whip in the raging wind. There was so much of this place that they hadn't seen, what was beyond the boarder of the town? How much of the planet had the 'New Rhea's populated? Was it just this small area or had they spread out over the centuries to create different cultures within pocket communities? Had their progression reflected that of Earth? Did they have many dialects, faiths, attitudes and .

"Miss Eshe?"

Dhani hadn't noticed the crossing of the field; stopping abruptly she looked for the Cardinal. "Yes?" she whispered.

Obviously uneasy the Cardinal looked around, his eyes flicking from one dark spot to another as he fidgeted. He was nervous and it was reflected in both his thoughts and his posture. "I received your message," he started unnecessarily; "you're determined to help your friend then, even after being ordered to leave?"

Dhanishta nodded slowly, watching him curiously. He was afraid and she could sense it, feel it, taste it. She could understand his fear given what they were about to do to Kimberly, but if he could find the strength of 'God' in his convictions to kill an innocent woman, why couldn't he find the strength in that same voice to do what was right and just?

"You realise Lieutenant, if you are caught you could well face the same punishment as Ms Burton?"

~I'm counting on it.~ Dhani thought sombrely. She nodded once more, "I understand Cardinal."

"They will show no compassion, the Inquisition has full authority in this matter and is determined to enforce the law, old as it is." Pulling his own cloak about him to ward off the chill Pious nodded toward the city. "They have not had to enact these laws in a long time but their zeal for law and order has flourished with this opportunity. I am ashamed to say their actions are driven not just by the letter of the law, but also by their devotion to the old laws they cherish so much." For a moment there was an almost tangible wave of sadness emanating from him, a moment of regret concerning the actions of the Inquisition.

~'They' cherish?~ Dhani questioned his wording silently. ~If he is referring to his own beliefs in the third person then perhaps.~ "I need you to tell me where they are keeping Kimberly. I am willing to travel alone, but I need to know where to go and what I can expect.?"

"I can get you in the city with ease, and into the Royal sector, but the Inquisition fortress is a place I have no access to." he admitted with some regret. "Do you have a plan?" He asked as he motioned Miss Eshe toward the city.

~I'm winging it!~ "Of course." Dhani replied as she came into step with him. She glanced behind her, frowning as she scanned the undergrowth. His paranoia was contagious. "They want to burn a witch don't they?" Dhani asked absently as she let her senses spread out to encompass the area around them. ~I'm going to give them one.~

Hesitating for a moment before replying Pious nodded regretfully, even though the gesture was mostly concealed by the darkness. "Yes, I am sorry to say they do. Witchcraft has long been outlawed, from the earliest days of our law. There has not been a Witch trial though in living memory nor for many centuries, so this will be a severe and very public reminder of the power of the Inquisition." Leading the way toward the city he sighed softly as his feet trod the well worn path, "From what I have been told they are planning a very public execution."

Dhanishta nodded, "I expected as much." she replied. "It's how they were carried out on Earth as well. It's surprising that not much has changed." She turned and looked at him, "You can take the Humans off Earth, but you can't take out their brutality. It seems that no matter where your kind are, they will find a way to cause hurt and pain to their fellow man."

"For centuries the Inquisition has just been a part of our lives," Pious said, "always there but never seen. Their power and mandate is to protect the Church, mainly from heresy which is fortunately almost unheard of. But also from the 'others'." At this enigmatic statement the Cardinals mind briefly recoiled and a wave of sheer terror flowed from him, a moment of panic that eclipsed even his present concerns. "Yet for all that the average citizen never sees them and is hardly aware of their existence. This will remind the whole population of just who they are, and the power they hold." Turning at a fork in the path Pious led Eshe ever closer to the city walls. With no lights on the exterior the tall granite walls loomed almost menacingly before them.

Dhanishta paused in her tracks and held out her hand to stop the Cardinal. "Pious," she began in a serious tone, "I know that it is hard for you, but you can change this world and its views." she frowned, "You do agree that Killing Kimberly is a crime, don't you?"

Hesitating once again, this time though from the novelty of the idea that 'he' could possibly have the capability to change this world. "Ms Eshe," he started slowly, "in order to change this world, it will take more than one simple Cardinal, it would take the office of the Pope himself. Yes I advise him, but I am one voice in the crowd." Turning to face Eshe he found her eyes even in the darkness and stared at them. "I cannot disagree though that killing your friend is wrong. If we wish to venture out into the galaxy we are going to have to learn to live with a lot of different ideas and beliefs, and this is not the way to begin our journey into the universe. Why else would I be here helping you?"

Dhanishta stared back at him. In all honesty she had no idea why he was helping them. She liked Bran a lot but she doubted that listening to her repeat several times over how sorry the Human race was 'now', for murdering its brethren over colour, creed, ethnicity, cultural and social differences was really the swaying factor. Maybe her comment about 'what will the Federation do when they find out' did it?

Motioning her to continue he walked slowly to a nearby gate inset into the wall, "All I can promise you for now is that I will try and be a voice of reason, but after this the Inquisition will be more alert, watchful of any who could be seen as 'tainted' by your friends heresy." Looking over his shoulder as he walked he spoke softer, "But please, ask your people not to give up on us, one day we may well be more amiable to further contact."

As they walked Dhanishta felt it; a wave of nausea pass through her. Her gaze settled upon Pious as he cautiously opened the gate in front of them. She searched the back of his head for an answer to her question - why? - But she already knew the answer. Just like she already knew what was behind that gate. "I understand." she said simply lowering her head and staring at the ground.

As the gates opened she began to play out the following scenes in her head, anticipating each and every move that was to come. But as the gates creaked open and the light unfolded from within its stone walls to shine upon her face with the fires and daggers from the masses of eyes therein, she nether bucked or ran: she stepped forward into their waiting arms and like a swarm of locusts they surrounded her, lifted her up and carted her swiftly to the waiting Inquisitor.

"One Little Slip"

Lt. Jg Faylin McAlister

Location: Fay's Personal Quarters

---------------------------

Defeated yet again, she sat silently on her sofa with her hands cradling her forehead. Raising her head and lowering her hands, Fay gently wiped the streaming tears away from her face. This was the only time she let herself morn her daughter. Alone. Safe from prying eyes and inquisitive questions, she could let the deafening grief she felt on a daily basis free.

The tears would help the pain for a little while, yet it would always find a way to sneak up on her. It manifested itself in several ways. Whether it be another romp in the bed with Baile, or getting snippy with several crew in her department, or just taking out aggression in the holodeck......her anger and sadness always found a way to manifest itself.

Glancing over to the right, she arched her eyebrows as she recalled her initial appointment in sickbay. Lately, she just felt a lack of energy, could not sleep well, and felt overly restless for some reason. Getting up, sniffing a few times and randomly checking her appearance in an ornate wall mirror; Fay headed out the door.

Entering the sickbay, she surrendered to the nurse with but a few quiet responses. Given a few moments, the doctor arrived and in a stiff manner, ran the usual tests for her symptoms. White blood cell count, and the usual other mundane tests.

"Lt. McAlister?" He smiled warmly, something that instantly set Fay ill at ease.

"Yes?" She questioned back with arched eyebrows.

"Your absolutely fine......except we found something. Don't worry, it's not to be concerned over.....quite the opposite!"

She sighed with relief, only to be distracted by the padd he held out for her to read. "Is this...accurate?" Fay mouthed in a hushed tone as she raised her eyes to his.

"Oh yes, very." He nodded.

"Are you sure?" She whispered, her voice cracking.

"Why...of course. You are indeed............pregnant."

BREEN INVASION: "Broken Arrow"

Featuring one of my favorite Federation foils, those frosty fiends: The Breen!!! (Try saying that one five times fast!)

And what I suspect will be the final appearances of various NPC members of the Corvallis colony world and the adjoining star base Deep Space 3.

Time: Occurs hours after my last post: Little Big Horn.

Location: Deep Space 3, Corvallis

"Well this certainly didn't turn out the way we expected, Number One." Admiral Marcus Holt said, wiping the blood from his face as he stared at the carnage outside the large bay window in the Operations room of DS3.

He knew the Commander would not reply.

Minutes ago the Admiral's flagship - the USS HENDERSON - had been hit with a volley of Breen torpedoes and exploded while still connected to a docking pylon. The concussive blast rippled through the station, buckling the deck plates and damaging the very infrastructure of the orbital platform rendering it dangerously unstable.

Deadly power surges arced from consoles throughout the station still sustaining power, crackling out, leaving charred bodies of the unfortunate crew in its wake. Commander Crabbs had given his life by braving the electrical currents dancing through OPS and ejected the station's power core. In doing so he had saved countless lives.

Now he lay still upon the charred deck plates, his skin blackened and cracked.

Admiral Holt fell back into his command chair, coughing. His eyes stung from the black smoke billowing throughout the station.

The station rocked again under the impact of the debris floating around the station like a man made asteroid field.

Corvallis' defense fleet had been virtually annihilated by the overwhelming number of Breen war ships. Holt hadn't seen such whole scale carnage since Wolf 359 and he regretted that history would see his command of this outpost in the same light.

Seeing the tide of battle shifting, after Commander Crabbs' sacrifice, Holt had ordered all crew to the escape pods. They worked independently on auxiliary power cells and could still be ejected from the station in times of duress.

He had then watched in horror as the Breen simply destroyed them.

Now the alien invaders hung in space silently and ominously. With the fleet shattered and the station dying, they neither pressed their attack nor retreated. They simply hung there in space while Deep Space 3 drew her last breaths.

Holt took stock of his options:

The station's power was offline.

Phasers were inoperable.

Torpedoes couldn't be launched.

The shield grid was also completely offline.

Life support was inoperable and what precious breathable air that was left in the station was either venting out into space from cracks in the station hull, or was being consumed by anyone still trapped aboard.

He couldn't even order the station to self destruct.

"Lt. Binners, send the following message to Starfleet: Broken Arrow. I repeat Broken Arrow" Admiral Holt commanded his communications officer.

Broken Arrow was the code phrase still used to indicate that an enemy had completely overrun a position. It also was a signal for massive air support from all available aircraft.

Holt knew that no such reinforcement would arrive.

There no ships in the vicinity of a timely response and even if they were, they wouldn't last more then a nanosecond against the Breen Armada. Stations communication were also down with the ejection of the power core.

Finally, Lt. Binner's was dead - her head twisted at an unnatural angle - after tumbling from her station during the earlier attack.

Holt was the only remaining person alive, trapped in a room with no power, unable to even open the door to his ready room.

He began to laugh uncontrollably - an insane cackle that swiftly turned into a wail of despair.

A large chunk of what had once been a star ship collided with the station again, cracking the bay window in OPS.

His cries were short lived as he could feel the air thinning as it seeped out of the damaged window. He also grew more buoyant as the emergency gravity generators began to wind down their power cells.

Gasping now he removed the phaser from his hip and suddenly found himself remembering a time ages ago when he had first enlisted in Starfleet in the hopes of making a history. His classmate, John Q Bhrode, had chuckled and told him that the only thing he would make would be "one hell of a stain on a deck plate".

He thumbed it to its highest setting and bounced over to the window thinking this was how man must have felt when first walking on the moon.

With great effort Admiral Marcus Holt straightened himself and raised the phaser.

**** ABOARD THE BREEN COMMAND SHIP ****

Aboard the Breen Command Craft, Thot Ekwo - the invading armada's general - studied the holographic representation of Deep Space Three. Tiny green lights that had been representing life forms still on the station had long ago turned red, then faded out of view as the enemy perished.

For the past few minutes, one light remained blazing green in what was believed to be the command nest of the station.

Now, that last light too changed from green to red and slowly faded into nothing as if it had never been.

The station had been rendered lifeless. The defense fleet destroyed.

With Phase One complete, Thot Ekwo gave the order and the Breen fleet plotted a new coarse.

Corvallis.

"Red and Green"

(Takes Place before 'Manslaughter: Revelations')

Principle Characters

1st Lieutenant Branwen London
Lt (JG) Victor Krieghoff

*****

USS Galaxy
Deck 34
Security Main
Victor Krieghoff's Office

Bran knocked on his office door and then with a smile walked into Victor's office. "Hiya, long time. How have you been, my friend?" She wondered if he had thought of a nickname already.

The fact that Victor, who was outranked by at least two other members of the Security Department staff had his own office was as much (and perhaps more) due to the fact that it removed him from the rest of the staff while he was working - making it possible for the rest of the security personnel on shift with him to work - than due to his position as Security Second, a position Commander Corgan had left him in even after both O'Rourke and T'lan were promoted to a higher rank. That said, Victor liked having his own office, and hadn't chosen to remind the Commander that there at least two individuals of higher rank that were not assigned one - just in case the Commander had forgotten.

Having his own office meant that he could work in quiet without the distraction of everyone else around him and their reactions to him. It also meant that he could do other things, like close his door when he wanted privacy, bring in a few plants to make the room feel calmer, listen to the soft jungle and forest sounds that he did in his cabin, and display the bright mosaic of green stones and crystals that Angelienia had made for him. It was, she'd told him, a prayer, asking her Thousand Gods to protect and care for him. He'd wondered about the color choice, and finally asked after it had been on his wall a few days, only to be told, somewhat mystifyingly, that 'green was his color.' Victor hadn't decided if that was a joke regarding his century-long life as a proto-Romulan, a comment about his liking for plants around him, or some other obscure reference that escaped him utterly; all that really mattered, he decided, was that Angelienia had made it for him.

Of course, having an office also meant that people could barge into it much the same as he, himself, had been known to do in the past. The members of his department weren't likely to do so, Crewman Jimsdottir notwithstanding, but there seemed to be an ever-increasing number of people outside the Department that would: Angelienia, Commander Rex, and now Lieutenant "No Nickname' London." Perhaps he out to put back up the sign that some enterprising young ensign had stuck on his door after the Hydran Invasion of Romulus and Lieutenant T'lan had taken down? Victor wasn't sure where the image of him with his arm jammed up to the elbow through the faceplate of a Hydran Marine's pressure armor, tearing out it's foot-long tongue by the roots as flames of burning methane jetted out around it had come from, but between it and the 'Beware! Here Abide Monsters!' label the sign-maker had neatly placed beneath the image, there had been a distinct lack of casual traffic into his office.

No, he decided, that wasn't a good idea. It reinforced too many negative images that people already had of him. Besides, he'd just been asked a question. "I've been as good as can be expected," he allowed. "I suppose that, given everything that the ship has gone through, I'm perhaps doing even better than I have a right to. What about you?"

"I am fine now. My holiday was not what I expected it to be, but I did manage to survive." She smiled. "And my boyfriend is still alive, and here on the Galaxy. That makes me very happy. But I guess you must be very worried about Ella."

"Worried that she'll be all right? No, she's survived worse than this - she'll make it though this just fine. Physically anyway," he clarified.

"I'm not qualified to judge how well she does mentally, that's more in your line." He frowned. "A better question would be 'Am I worried about what the individual that did that to her will do the next time?'"

"That is my job as I am her shrink." Bran said sitting down and wondering about the changes in his office. There were decorations now, a prayer mosaic and plants. All very unlike him. "Do you have a lead on this guy?"

"Right now, the attacker is defined pretty much entirely by my lack of knowledge, which is... frustrating. I can make assumptions based on experience, but after that," he shrugged, "I'm in the dark. For instance, he's most likely male, because most impulse attackers - and this bears all the hallmarks of an impulse assault - are male, as are most brute force attackers. Women - even strong ones like Klingons - tend to be neater and more precise; even the kinds of mutilation that they inflict in anger are different. He also doesn't register on any sensor I've tried to locate him with, which means he has a personal cloak at least a good as the ones the Jem'Hadar use, or some equivalent thereof. And... he's stupid."

"Why do you call him stupid? You haven't been able to catch him yet."

She interjected.

"Because he's here, on a starship, hemmed in by vacuum on all sides; if he'd stayed on planets to make his kills, he might have gone on for years, particularly if he'd stayed out on the Rim." Victor's expression grew grim, for the first time taking on the cold, stiff demeanor that Bran had grown used to seeing in the past - and making her blink as she realized that it had, in fact, been absent until that moment. "And because he's on **my** starship."

"Victor." Branwen said softly. "Do you realize yourself how much you are changing?"

Changing? Of course he was changing - had changed. He was a century older and a century wiser now. He'd lived, and loved and been a father and been a husband and a friend and all the other things Chulak had been - and they weren't vague memories or hints of memories like everyone else had; they were real, and vital... and his. He'd lived that time, not Chulak, and that had to have changed him. How could it not? "Everyone changes," he answered carefully. "We all change to one degree or another over the course of our lives, just like the people around us do; I'm no exception. I've changed since I met you, and you've changed since you met me. I've changed since I met Angelienia, and she's changed since she met me - both of us for the better, I think. So it's not surprising that I'm changing - or that you've noticed - as long as you realize that there are some things that don't change, because they can't. I'm still who and what I've always been at my core, you know; I'm still a hunter, a killer, and no matter how well I learn to smile, or how much easier conversation becomes for me, the part of you inside that instinctively knows that and reacts to it will always do so."

"You are right, everybody changes, and usually it happens gradually, over a long period of time. With you it seems almost overnight and that makes a therapist like me very curious, because you have changed a great deal, Victor. You talk more than I ever heard you, you smile and you show emotion. Just out of the blue."

That, Victor decided, was going to be a problem. He certainly was not going to sit through the hundreds or thousands of sessions with counselors and telepaths necessary for them to decide that his having a century's worth of life experience wasn't going to make him suddenly snap and start doing things that would be considered irrational and dangerous, even given his usual evaluations. Perhaps if he deflected her interest with something that seemed to be a good explanation for the change? He wouldn't lie to her, but if he talked about something that was a possible explanation for his change, it wasn't his fault if she assumed there weren't any other reasons. His eyes came to rest o the prayer mosaic, and he knew, in an instant, what to say: "No, not out of the blue, out of the green."

"Eh?" Branwen was not following him and still a bit shell-shocked by his behavior.

"Out of the green," he repeated. "Angelienia's eyes are green, you know. I've counted about a thousand different shades of green, and I'm still finding new ones. When I'm with her - **because** I'm with her - feel like... I feel like I've woken up. I'm not dead inside. I can look in her eyes and know that I'm not a monster, not the monster that people always assume I am from the way they react to me. She makes me feel... well, probably a lot like Mandarr makes you feel, I suppose. Except in a boy attracted to girl rather than in a girl attracted to by kind of way."

"I understand all that, Victor, but still.... Did anything happen to you while I was away?"

There were so many things that had happened in his century as Chulak - let alone living Chulak's life by itself - that Victor was boggled by them all. Finally, he decided on a simple, "Yes," since there didn't appear to be any way that he could answer otherwise.

"Tell me," she said softly.

"I realized what was happening between Angelienia and me," he offered.

"And what that meant, and what that would and could mean for me and for her and for us. And... I told her how I felt about her."

Branwen was silent for a little while also she realized she wanted to talk to Angelienia as well. Maybe his girlfriend had some idea what happened; that his transformation was so quick and so profound made her very suspicious, it just wasn't normal. It was too much, too soon. "And what did she say?"

"I can't tell you."

"Ah of course, I understand." Bran said nodding. "That is personal between you."

"No, I didn't promise not to or anything like that," Victor clarified.

"It's that I physically can't reproduce the sound she made. We were near the cetacean tank when I told her - she'd been tying to help me get over my problems with being around water I couldn't see the bottom of - and she made this... noise. Like a high-pitched shriek or squeal. I think it stunned one of the dolphins."

She giggled picturing the scene. "That almost sounds like the old Victor. I take it she was happy with the news?"

"She laughed. She cried a little. We kissed a lot." Victor reflected on the memory. "Well, more than a lot. Then we talked some more, and did it all over again. Except for the 'squee' part - I think the dolphins appreciated that. They cheered when we left, anyway."

"Victor," she said laughing. "You should hear yourself. If Commander Dallas ever hears you, you will end up a case study my friend," she teased him.

"I suspect that Commander Dallas has far better things to do than to make a case study out of the fact that I've got a girl and am stumbling around in the dark trying to put a relationship together with her."

Victor was fairly certain that Karyn Dallas wanted nothing whatsoever to do with his relations with women, provided he wasn't doing the sorts of things he'd done to her to them. Which, he supposed was both understandable, and unlikely to reoccur. At least the odds of his being tanked up on /tIq tlhup/ or 'Heart Whisper' - the Klingon issue painkiller, anticoagulant, and combat drug he'd been prescribed by a Klingon physician at the time - and then having an espionage android flood his system with synthetic lust-inducing pheromones were, in his estimates, pretty close to nonexistent.

Of course, he'd have considered them pretty close to nonexistent before it happened too.

"Or," he continued, "was it the whole dolphin-thing that you think she might want to study? Since that was the only time I've ever heard Angelienia make that sound, I'm not certain if the results are replicatable in the fashion necessary for a good case study."

Branwen laughed again. "You know what I mean, Victor. You are not stupid. I like this one a lot better than the old Victor." She gave him a cheeky look. "Has this one been able to come up with a nickname?"

He hadn't, but that was really more due to the fact that his old self had possessed such poor people skills that he'd had no experience in that sort of thing than any lack of desire to do so. His new self, bolstered by a century of interaction with people that weren't affected by his presence wasn't so hampered. So... what sort of nickname would suit the Lieutenant? They were usually based off of physical characteristics or personality traits.... He ran through several choices, discarded them all when he realized that they were based on memories from his life as Chulak, and started over. A nickname for a friend ought to not be or have derogatory connotations... red hair... inquisitive... clever... clever like a fox... not a vixen though, that had bad connotations... more like.... "Kit," he said quietly.

"Kit?" Branwen looked curious. "What kind of name is that?"

"From Vulpes vulpes; the Red Fox. Their young are called 'kits,'" he explained. "Your hair isn't the right sort of red, but it is red, and you're both curious and clever, so... 'Kit.'"

She laughed at Victor. "So you still see me as a child?"

"In some ways, yes. You're like a young fox: clever, innocent in many ways, and determined to poke your nose into things even when it might get bitten." He tilted his head to one side, an old, familiar gesture.

"But then, aren't we all children in some ways, no matter how old we are?"

"Wise words. I don't feel so young and innocent anymore." She sighed wistfully. "Too much has happened in the last couple of years; I have had to think about myself and the world a lot."

"That doesn't change your innocence; nothing that happens around you can do that unless you decide to let it. The trick to it, you see, is to only let the things that make you a better person change you - and to let the ones that won't slide off you and get lost behind you. It's hard, very hard - sometimes almost impossible - but it's the best way to keep the innocence everyone has as a child as you grow older."

"In the marine corps they urge you to lose the innocence. And I think I am on my way. Sometimes I regret it; sometimes I think it makes me stronger and wiser. There is so much I didn't know." She laughed. "Of course there is still is a lot I don't know. You know what I mean."

He nodded. "Yes, yes I do." More than anyone aboard the Galaxy knew except Angelienia. "Just don't let yourself stop thinking young. Remember, you're only as old as you feel." He frowned. "Or is that 'You're only as old as *the one* you feel'? I've always had trouble with that one." Victor wasn't certain that the joke would work, but the people he'd told it to as Chulak had thought it was hysterical.

"AS the one you feel?" She raised an eyebrow. "I am afraid I am not really following you there, Victor."

Either it wasn't working, or she was throwing it back at him. Was she too innocent to understand? "Hmmm... why don't you ask your boyfriend?" he suggested, figuring that would suffice either way. "I'm sure he'd be glad to explain it to you...."

She blushed. "If it is something to do with sex, we don't do that. It's not part of my religion, to do that before you are married."

"Nothing wrong with that, Kit," Victor observed, taking the opportunity to try out the nickname he'd just coined. "That doesn't mean that he can't explain it to you - it just means that he can't **show** you."

She blushed even more and fumbled with her communicator pin. Talking about sex made her very uncomfortable. "I so prefer the new you." Branwen changed the subject abruptly.

"It's pretty much the same as the old me, just not so... dead." Victor watched her toy with the combadge for a moment. "There's nothing wrong with waiting, you know," he added quietly. "Angelienia and I are. Sooner or later the right time and place will come together and we'll know that we're not supposed to wait any more. It just hasn't happened yet."

"I have afraid that I will disappoint him." Branwen looked at the ground. "I can't believe am talking to you about this. I have never been with a man, I have no idea...."

"If he's the One for you, then you can't disappoint him," Victor assured her. "And if it makes you feel any better, I feel pretty much the same way about Angelienia." Which, oddly, was true; even though he'd spend a century as Chulak, and had grown to both love and be a lover to, Sakonna, he was afraid that he'd somehow fail to please the woman he cared about in the real world. "I'm afraid that I'm going to be a disappointment to her when the moment does arrive. I've only done that the once, and it wasn't, well... let's just say it wasn't anything to brag about." Well, not from his perspective anyway. What the woman that had been his partner had chosen to do wasn't anything he could affect.

She watched him closely. "You know, one day I am going to try and find out what happened to you while I was gone. You are more intriguing than ever, and nice! How are people responding to you?"

"The same as always of course; were they supposed to stop?" He might have changed in some ways, but the part of him that affected people the way it always had was as strong as ever; it hadn't changed. "Some are terrified, some are merely uneasy, and the few that never seemed to notice still don't - unless I do something to remind them."

Her eyes widened. "You mean nobody notices? That is not possible! You are sooooo different. They still find you frightening?" Bran was flabbergasted.

Some things never seemed to change and weren't a problem, though. Like newly-nicknamed Kit's not always listening to what he was saying. "Just because I'm better able to articulate what I think and feel doesn't mean that I've changed in any fundamental way, Kit. It just means that it's easier for me to get along with the people that weren't bothered by me in the first place."

"Silly people" She shook her head. "I still don't understand that, you're more harmless than ever. I am so proud of you for changing."

"I might be - and am - many things," Victor replied. "I've certainly been called a lot of them over the years. But 'harmless' was never one of them."

"I think I have said it more than once." she smiled at him. "And I am sure your girlfriend agrees."

Of all the things that Victor had known about Angelienia and the myriad more that he now understood thanks to his life as Chulak, there were at least as many more that he didn't know or understand. The difference was that he understood that to be normal - even desirable - now. But out of all those things, known and unknown, he was certain of this one: Angelienia did not now, and had never in the past, consider him harmless. "Perhaps," he conceded even though he knew there was no truth to the idea, "but that's something that you'd need to ask her, isn't it?"

"I will. Do you know when she will be home?" She looked at her chrono. "I have to be in marine country in five minutes."

"Not for a bit; she's out on a patrol and won't get off-shift and re-board the ship for another six hours. She volunteered to pull double shifts until we catch this killer to free up personnel." But only after a long talk with him, though. She'd wanted to stay aboard and help Security with the searches, but he'd talked her out of that by explaining that he needed her to be safe so he could concentrate on catching the killer, and sitting alone in a cockpit in deep space was about the only place he could guarantee that the killer couldn't reach her.

"If you need help from the Marines just yell. But right now I really have to go." Branwen got out of her chair. "Take care, Victor."

"You too, Kit," he nodded. Nicknames, who'd have thought it? Next he'd be attending classes on how to do macrame. And wouldn't that freak his fellow security officers out?

~Brazilian Waffles*~

Lieutenant Nathan Everett, Starfleet Starfighter Corps.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Benedict Maxwell, Paramedic
Lieutenant Thyago Carneiro, Engineer

Five men were in a vertical air duct, one meter wide in both dimensions, as tall as DS5. Each hopped down from bulk headed section to bulk headed section, each one two meters apart, one man at a time. Phasers were slung over the backs of four of them.

It felt like they should be imagining themselves as the hero in a cheap paperback spy thriller or cat burglary caper, but instead, it sounded like the beginning of a riddle. And, the noise they made as they made their way down into the station was so loud, not even the deaf could miss them, no matter how desperately quiet they tried to be. It was like trying to hold drum line practice in a day care during nap time.

Yet, surprisingly, they encountered none of the many Hydrans that were rampaging through the station, slaughtering innocents, nor their metal piercing laser fire.

"So, what's with you two?" Thyago asked, looking up at the two crewmen whom he had not yet met. "You don't talk?"

One of them, the closer one shrugged. The other, the man bringing up the rear, shushed him as he jumped two meters down to the next bulkhead ledge, his boots clanging against the metal like a cymbal, the shaft resonating like rolling thunder.

Thyago also shrugged, giving up, and looked below him, at Max and Nate. "So, are you guys sure we're being attacked? 'Cause, it seems like we should've been shot by now."

Max looked up the shaft at Thyago incredulously. "Oh, I'm sorry. Maybe I just love to bathe myself in blood that 's obviously not human. Oh, even better, maybe the screams we heard a while back came from a holosuite or something, right? Maybe we just like carrying phaser rifles, Hydran fusion rifles, and hand phasers around just for shits and giggles, hmm?" He brandished his K-Bar, which in the dim light obviously had Hydran skin and blood on it. "This ain't convincing enough?"

"We heard those screams right after we entered this air duct," Thyago said. "I'm just saying, its weird. We're not the most inconspicuous bunch. If I was a Hydran shooting everyone I met, I would certainly shoot the obviously man made noises coming from the wall to my left."

Max paused before retorting. One minute, the engineer acted as if he were oblivious, the next making perfect sense. Not for the last time, Max shook his head.

"I'll agree that it seems to be the case that we're being allowed to make our way to the lower decks. But why? To have one place to contain us, or worse, exterminate us en masse?" A shudder went through Max at that moment. Not if I can help it, he thought.

Nathan, who was at the bottom of the pack, hopped down to the next bulkhead down and winced at the noise his landing made. "Ah don't lahk the sound of that," he said, looking up at Max as the medic took his place at the next bulkhead up.

"Ah mean, it makes perfect sense. If Ah were them, that's what Ah'd be doin'. Easier to wipe out a population when you've got 'em all together in the same place." The pilot looked down the airshaft, listening as Thyago and the rest of the group followed Max and himself down. "It'd be nice if we knew what exactly they were plannin', though," he muttered before hopping down to the next bulkhead below.

"Is there any way to find out, or at least prevent the worst case scenario?" Max knew he was reaching hard there, as he was not at all an Engineer.

"Depends. What's the worst case scenario?" Thyago asked.

Cowboy frowned as he tried to think of what he'd do were he in the Hydrans' position. "Ah dunno, what's the best way to mass exterminate the entire crew of a space station with as little fuss as possible?"

"Blow up the station," Thyago said, obviously.

"Ah said *without* any fuss, Thyago," Nathan replied. "If the Hydrans wanted to destroy DS5, they'd've done it already."

"Besides a deadly gas pumped through the environmental system?" Max thought aloud. "Venting all the decks where the people are gathered into space." Max had never felt so cold all of a sudden, the horror of the mere thought gripping him from the hairs on his bald pate to his feet.

No bodies, no mess...no muss, no fuss, the diabolical side of him thought. He shuddered harder, beginning to feel nauseous. He took a deep breath and got it under control.

"You can't vent all the decks to space," Thyago laughed. "Space stations aren't designed for that. There are a limited number of airlocks capable of opening the interior to vacuum and they're usually located on the upper decks near the docking facilities. There are usually a bunch of smaller airlocks for EVA-suited exterior maintenance all over the hull, but those are designed so that the airlock doors are joined. Its physically impossible to open the exterior hatch until the interior hatch is closed. You'd have to cut the doors' hard connect, or blow them. Oh, but that wouldn't work because there's always a third emergency door.

"If you wanted to vent a large portion of the station," Thyago continued, thinking aloud, "The best way to do it would be to override the emergency atmospheric systems, seal these primary air shafts at the desired deck and blow out the bottom of the station. All the air below your seals would blow out through these shafts into space, and then, later, you could come and close the lowest working hatches and you'll have full use of the station again. Sans the bottom deck or so, which you explodeded, of course. Explodeded? Explewed?"

Nathan looked up at Max, and the two of them frowned at one another. "We'd better hurry up," he said grimly. He looked at the next bulkhead and hopped down, grabbing hold of the bulkhead and grunting as his feet slammed into the plating. "Damn, if only we had some rocket boots..."

"You can go faster, you know," Thyago said. "Its just jump, land, crouch, grab. Jump, land, crouch, grab. Fluid movement. Here, squeeze against the side and I'll show you."

"Go ahead, Superman," Max invited to the Engineer. For his trouble, he got a blank look.

Nate and Max paused where they were at and pressed their bodies against the side of the shaft. Thyago hopped over to the diagonal ledge opposite of them. All four of the other men waited quietly as they watched Thyago get into position, waiting to see the supposedly better technique. In the silence, now that they weren't banging and clanging around, they could hear a sound echoing down from high up in the shaft.

It was a mechanical sound, the sound of hydraulic gears moving a large object into place. The sound of sliding concluded with a metallic thud, which resonated down the shaft and could be felt through their hands as the five men held themselves steady. Then they felt a lag in the air as it passed upwards by them, the back up caused by an atmospheric traffic jam, created when the space it could flow into was suddenly cut in half.

"Oh, shit," muttered Max, that feeling of dread, the message his sister gave him telepathically about a lot of people getting hurt, Thyago's theory, and just now, the sound of something latching shut. The door is closing..., an errant thought wailed.

The other two NCOs had expressions akin to someone who just wet and filled their pants...the hard way. "If they're gonna vent, how long before we find out how long we can hold our breaths," asked Max.

Nathan gulped. "Ah dunno, and Ah'd really rather not find out."

Thyago quickly looked up, beneath his left hand. There were numbers printed in the corner of the shaft, beneath each bulkhead. This one read '5A-213-2/87465-G64-H26-A100:' Shaft, section, replacement number and the part serial number. Seven sections of vertical shaft covered four decks, he remembered. That was thirty times four, deck 120, plus three sections. He was just above deck 122, and if he remembered correctly, there was a bulkhead diagnostics room every twenty decks, starting at ten. Eight decks down.

So, he jumped, and as he landed on the next ledge, crouched, tossed his feet off and then grabbed the ledge with his hands to control his speed, and then let go, repeating as his feet landed on the ledge below. In moments, he was past Nathan and in the front of the group. "Down here," he said quickly as he passed, and he continued his fluid movement, covering the next twelve sections surprisingly fast. On the last ledge, he kicked his feet out further than before, and pushed his body back with his arms into the shaft, redirecting his momentum laterally, but he didn't let go of the ledge. His feet swung below and he kicked, with the best angle he could achieve in the limited space, at the vent grating that led into the diagnostics room. He bounced back and the grating slammed open, and as his body pendulumed forward once more, he let go of the ledge and swung into the room.

Cowboy stared, blinking as he watched the Brazilian go. "Damn..."

"In here," Thyago said, poking his head back into the shaft, and waited to offer help into the room.

"Oh, right," Nathan said with a shake of his head. He maneuvered himself so that he could follow Thyago's path down to the room, albeit not nearly as gracefully. He climbed into the room with Thyago's help, then stepped forward and took a moment to examine it.

It was a very small room, Nathan noticed, barely larger than a walk in closet. On either side of him were Jeffries' tube access ways, both currently shut. On the far side of the room, a whole four feet away, was a computer terminal. On the screen was a soft blue cross-sectional diagram of a section station, covering about twenty five decks, the air duct system was highlighted in yellow. But what really caught his attention was the blinking message that was overlaid across the station schematic, "Warning: Emergency Systems Deactivated."

"What does all this mean," Max asked. He was clearly out of his element here, and knew it.

"Dude, I was totally right. They're totally going to blow the bottom of the station out," Thyago said, a little too excitedly, as he helped the second to last member of their group into the small room. Once the man was back on solid ground, Thyago started to close the grating, out of a habitual response.

"They have computer control. They deactivated all the decompression protocols--" he started, but stopped, startled, when the fifth and final member of the group angrily knocked against the grating.

"Oh, sorry. I forgot about you," Thyago said meekly, and opened the grating once more, holding it between he and the fifth man as a shield against his embarrassment. But before the man could fully climb out of the shaft, a series of loud booms shook through the station, eight in a row, like machine gun fire from the heavens. The man was thrown from his footing and his midsection landed on the grating frame. Nathan fell against the computer and Max and the fourth man were thrown up against the walls of the room. Thyago remained standing because of his grasp on the vent grating.

Then, a hot, fast burst of air raced up the shaft and into the diagnostics room, like a furnace blast, and then the wind switched directions. In an instant, a hurricane formed as perhaps seventy-five decks of air began to rush out into vacuum. The last man in the shaft had no chance of resisting such a storm. He was whisked away before he could make a sound.

Thyago was next. The vacuum sucked at him like he was nothing more than a dust bunny clinging to the carpet, but fortunately for him, the vent grating was in the way. His body pushed it shut as it was pulled towards the shaft opening. The air couldn't force him through one of the many square centimeter gaps, but it wasn't for lack of trying. The pressure had him glued to the wall like flypaper.

"Thyago!" Max shouted into the roar of rushing air. They had to find a way to rescue him, but they also needed to shut down the venting process.

"Agh," the Brazilian squeaked, "Can't... breathe..."

"Nate, you gotta help me work these controls!"

"No problem!" Nathan shouted against the furious roar. He maneuvered himself around the computer he'd fallen into and stood in front of the controls. "Uh...which button'm Ah s'posed to hit?!"

"Look for something like 'Vent Control'," Max said. He was furiously studying the schematics panel, trying to figure out which button Nate should push.

"Ah don't see anything lahk that!" Cowboy responded. "Ah got a buncha red blinkin' lights, some green blinkin' lights, and a couple'a yellow blinkin' lights, but there ain't a button lahk the one you just said!"

"Try one of the yellow blinking lights," offered Max, thinking that the color coding on the computer terminal matched the color coding on the schematic. "It might say 'Atmospheric Control' or 'Emergency Bulkhead Control'

"Oh, here it is!" Nathan said a moment later. He gave Max a weak smile, and then hit the button, wincing a little as he hoped he just reactivated the emergency decompression bulkheads, and didn't somehow manage to hit the self-destruct button.

An alarm sounded, followed by a series of dull heavy thuds. The sound and feeling of air rushing out slowed, then stopped as the atmospheric pressure was restored. Thyago collapsed onto the floor, no longer pushed against the wall by air pressure. From his vantage point, he looked up at the screen to see several blinking hatchmarks cut across the six air shafts on the schematic. The computer began testing which sections were safe, by filling it with a test amount of air and checking if the pressure held, and reported its findings in a running list of numbers and code on the screen. Then, it began to reopen the bulkheads that were unnecessary.

"Oww," he winced as Max reached down and helped him up. The grate's cross hatch pattern was still impressed into his shirt. He lifted it up to see it pressed into his skin as well.

Nathan looked back at the pair and whistled at the sight of Thyago. "Ah've heard of Belgian waffles, but yer the first Brazilian one Ah've seen..."

"Dude, cumpadi, I know, right?" Thyago replied, then looked at the medic of the group. "This'll go away, yes? I don't want to have to host the Federation Tic-Tac-Toe championship next year. Unless its the women's league."

Max gave Thyago a good visual exam, then palpated his skin where the grating impressed itself into his skin. "Well," he finally began, "besides the obvious pain you'll feel, and in the absence of a Tricorder to confirm any long lasting effects or lack thereof, you'll have a fairly bad skin contusion-" Max indicated the area of the markings "-for a while. At least until we can get to some decent medical equipment that I can treat you with. Otherwise for all of us, we'll have mild dulled hearing from the pressure change for about an hour."

Max got up and looked over Nate, and then the other NCO that had survived with them. "In conclusion, I can safely say that we'll all live to see another day...if we don't get whacked by the Hydrans, first."

Thyago walked over to the diagnostics console, checking on Nathan's actions. "Everything below deck 140 has been vented," he announced solemnly, "This console only controls the bulkheads down that far."

Cowboy frowned at Thyago before bowing his head. "Let's hope there wasn't anybody down there," the pilot said quietly. He doubted there weren't, but thinking otherwise didn't hurt as much.

He looked back up after a moment, glancing between the three other men in the room. "We need to find out if there're any other survivors," he told them, his jaw muscles working angrily. "The Hydrans won't leave the lower decks alone forever, so the longer we wait to hook up with whoever else is left, the less tahm we'll have to drive these sons of bitches back off our station."

"Agreed," replied Max. "We should keep moving. No doubt someone, somewhere, is monitoring the systems, and will know that someone stopped the venting process."

"I don't think so," Thyago said. "Hopalong, here, activated the local systems reboot. Normally, that would pop up an alert in the main computer, but it doesn't seem to be registering. Its still sending out an override signal, it hasn't received a counter signal. I think something in the system got fried, ta ligado? It may not be getting any feedback at all. They may not know there's still air down here until they come and check in person. Or in Hydran."

"Can you be absolutely certain?" Max asked. "Is there anyway to be sure? Maybe check the computer?"

Thyago shrugged. "Well, I don't really know. I don't know computers. You can't tell here, anyway. Its a specialized terminal. Its got a limited network connection."

"Then we need to focus on moving along, then," Max urged. "The longer we stay here trying to figure out the possibilities and maybes the Meth breather's will be doing the triple tap on our heads." He checked the power level on his hand phaser. "We need to make sure that there's no one else left, then figure out a way to either take back the station or fight our way off of it."

"Sounds lahk a plan," Nathan agreed as he checked his own phaser. "Let's find ourselves some survivors." He holstered the phaser and moved to exit the room, silently praying that there actually were still survivors to find.

Four men were in a horizontal Jeffries' tube, one meter wide in both dimensions, circling around DS5. Each crawled forward, head to end, each one less than a meter apart, in a line. Phasers were slung over the backs of three of them.

"How come I don't have a phaser?" Thyago suddenly asked.

And the Walls Come Crumblin' Down

By Commander James Lionel Corgan
Chief of Security, USS Galaxy

Time: After 'Manslaughter' arch and before the attack on DS5
Place: Holodeck, USS Galaxy
Soundtrack: ?My Friends? By The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

****

Chief Security Officer's Log, Supplimental:

Though we have had some delays with the last investigation and the crisis with the Romulan exile ship, the USS Galaxy is heading at a steady warp back to DS5, where myself and my staff look forward to a long awaited and richly earned shore leave followed by some desperately needed resupply and repair. I for one look forward to spending some more time with my girlfriend, and maybe a little free time with the few friends I do have on this ship. Most likely, I'll have to spend the time finishing my Command Training. Fuck, does that take a lot of time off my schedule...

As of late, security officers crew performance reviews have been going down. Significantly down, including my own. I am embarrassed to say this, but the constant emergencies that we have been thrust through have been stressing out the entire department. However, we pride ourselves in being ready under any circumstance, so those dropping reviews come to me as a smudge on our otherwise solid performance record. We are department used to hopping from one crisis to another, so... what the fuck is going on here? What the fuck am I missing?

Therefore I have taken it upon myself to find out.

Out of all my officers the one with the most drastic performance drop is T'lan. She is not one to slip, even by Vulcan standards, so I can only surmise that something is wrong with her. I will find out exactly what.

****

Idle time was always spent on damage control whenever one chose the vocation of the security chief.

Maybe in his heart, he didn't have the passion in his job to deal with the little things, and he would be right. As a security chief he had to be coach, tactician, armchair general and psychiatrist for his department staff. The first three were obvious, the last because of a security officer's disdain for the ship's counseling department (which of course, left the duty of mending broken souls with their fellow like minded security officers, which either was superior to any psychiatrist or about as irresponsible as giving the shiny red button linked to a tri-cobalt device to a five year old).

A lot of names were miscellaneous. Ensign Chavez in Omega formation? Rotated once he hit DS 5, so who could get worked up about him? Lieutenant Mortimer Butfuk of Alpha Tricolin? He had problems with his wife... who didn't when they get married, especially in a high risk job like a Starfleet Officer? The same panaceas was administered: a buck-up-or-you-die speech, the classic I-feel-your-pain argument, or the ever so lovely get-well-soon. Pick one out of three, toss down throat of ailing officer, call him or her in the morning.

It was hard to get worked up about such small, trifling troubles. It might have been coldhearted, but battle hardened James Corgan had seen so much in his life that regular life problems didn't seem so large anymore. It meant he could tackle those problems better.

But that was with regular, unexperienced officers. When one of his hardened vets was in trouble, it was a cause for concern, as if to ask, 'What was so bad that it took HER out of action?'.

Case in point was T'lan. When he saw that her performance came down, he made the investigation of his best secretary, sidekick and assistant to be his top priority.

T'lan wasn't one to slouch. If anything, she was the one responsible for James Corgan's drive and energy. The power behind the throne. The Spock to his Kirk, literally. She was the brains and organizational talent, which meant James was freed up to use what energy he did have to throw at his latest initiatives. It didn't help that T'lan followed the IDIC principal that 'No Vulcan should ever be ugly or flat chested', and that it was a pairing more born out of James' habit of surrounding himself with beautiful but oddball women.

The partnership worked on chemistry. T'lan didn't mind James' emotional outbursts, broodings or flights of fancy, and James didn't mind T'lan's detachment from emotions nor the odd why in which she choose to express them (and deny it). Both complimented each other's skills. What more was there to like?

And James dare thought it... he liked T'lan. A lot. She was a good friend, if a little drab in the emotion department. Her loyalty was unquestioned; even insubordination was really a warning when James was about to hit a forcefield at warp 9. That in turn made James work even harder to keep the Vulcan Lieutenant pleased with her position. The fact that they survived so much of the Galaxy's adventures through their partnership solidified the bond.

So when his 'partner' was in trouble, he had an actual emotional investment, spurring him on.

It beat hearing Lieutenant Butfuk talk about his divorce proceedings.

He rang T'lan's doorbell without a second though. There wasn't a response to let him in. It must have been really serious, for T'lan was usually very punctual, and the last James checked on the computer she was in her quarters.

?T'lan....? He impatiently rang her doorbell again, tapping his foot on the carpeted floor, ?...I know you're in there Lieutenant. We need to talk...?

He waited a full minute to hear something from T'lan. When he heard nothing, his patience cracked. ?T'lan...? He called to the door diplomatically, ?...did I do something to offend you? I'd apologize if I knew what it was... Lieutenant??

An eyebrow arched on James face in perfect mimicry of his favorite Vulcan. Something was wrong. ?T'lan, I kinda figured out that you don't want to talk. It's ok. I'd like to talk to you if something is wrong. Look... I know... I have a way of being a bit too forceful when I help, and you wouldn't be the first person to tell me this... in fact, that's probably why she left me too... but come on! Give me something to work with, T'lan. I'm not going to try and solve whatever it is that's eating you. Just... let me know if you need anything, ok? Please... I hate to see you down like this.?

Footsteps from the other side of the door, light. T'lan's footsteps, as if she never turned off her Vulcan austerity and Starfleet march training. ?Sir.? T'lan said loudly, but faintly once filtered by the door, ?I am well. There is no cause for concern. And as for something eating me, I can assure you that I have no predator or parasite problems and my doctor has cleared me of them on my last examination. All is well. You can go back to your quarters if you want to.?

?Heh heh...? James laughed in response, ?Still have that Vulcan sense of humour, eh T'lan??

Her reply was wounded. ?I am Vulcan. I don't have a sense of humour.?

?But you do derive satisfaction when using wordplay in a duel of wits. Come on T'lan. We're not just colleagues here. I'm your friend. Open up, lets talk.?

When the door did slide open, James was shocked to see T'lan still in a state of undress. Starfleet standard cotton overshirt (wifebeater for men, boybeater for women), Starfleet cotton underwear in a waist to upper calf configuration, all dull gray with Starfleet logo on the right chest and hip.

To put it all in perspective on just how much James was drinking in with his eyes, James Corgan is a respectable 6'0ft of spaceborne human. In his youth he was a stringy lad; as an adult he added some muscle to that string to make him look like a stringy lad that bulked up.

T'lan was 6'3ft of amazonian womanhood, impressive by any species standards. She was a Vulcan straight from her desert homeworld, which grew their species to be hearty and tough to survive their wilderness. It had heavier gravity than Earth, thinner air, a thinner atmosphere and violent weather system that could make even her kind balk. Therefore she had natural muscle superior to a humans, sparkling green eyes that could focus on a falcon from miles away (and a third inner eye), ruddy green tinged skin that could be soft, warm and malleable as silk, but was tough enough to take shotgun velocity sandstorms.

Take her female body. Hand it over to a perverted god that participated in too many holographic novels and comic book adventures. Do this to an entire race. Make the men hard and strong, and the women... hard and plush.

Then you added a punishing Starfleet marine physical regimen, Vulcan IDIC mental training and an education system that made geniuses or broke minds into gibbering slag.

That was T'lan. She was impressive when she was in her prime.

She was not in her prime.

James was always taken aback when he was around T'lan. He brushed it off as lechery, but the reality was he really cared about his assistant more than just her looks. She was smart, keen minded, and she saw things James missed. Perfect.

It pained him to see her in such ragged shape. Sweat beaded over her body, none of it from physical exertion. It was stress sweat, terror sweat. Somehow it had a different tang. Her bowl cut black Vulcan hair was limp and in ragged noodles. The eyes were tired, black bags hanging from a haggard face with green bloodshot veins. Her body language that usually irradiated confidence and self assurance twitched and fidgeted, as if T'lan was on a short circuit.

Corgan breathed, ?Jesus Christ T'lan... what happened to youuuurrrrrkkKK!.?

He was pulled into T'lan's quarters, where he swore his best officer let loose with her Vulcan strength and rearranged it into a cross between a temple and a shuttlecrash. She had strewn what few of her spartan belonging all over the floor. Her furniture was toppled and overturned, and in the center of the room was a circle made from the ragged remains of her bedsheets. Strips were torn to also coil into letters which James could easily identify as Vulcan. Candles were lit in every part of the room. He could smell the heady scent of incense and wax.

?Oh shit...? Corgan grumbled as T'lan let him go, closing the door behind him, ?Don't tell me your seven years are up again...?

Her ears perked and she turned to him, Vulcan control crumbling before offense and rage, ?It is not the time of the Pon'farr! It is something a lot more dire, James! Please, nobody must know of this!?

?Alright! Alright!? Corgan backed away, seeing the overturned sofa he righted it, ?It's ok! I won't tell a soul. I know how Vulcans can be a bit sensitive about these sort of things, so don't worry... you're safe with me. Just sit down and relax, ok? T'lan... are you ok??

The pieces were coming together, even if they were slowed down by T'lan's brusque treatment and the suddenness of the events. She took up his offer to sit on the sofa, huddled in a sitting position, her hands and knees drawn together to fit into a tight Vulcan ball. When he looked at her, T'lan's eyes would stare away from him and down to the floor. He then looked down. The circle and the strips.

?Why are you angry?? James asked.

She kept looking at the floor, at the circle.

One of his elective courses was Vulcan culture and language, so the words came easily. ?The parting of the waves. Emotions are the tsunami. Logic is the seawall. A combined force cannot destroy a prepared defense once maintained.... T'lan... are you saying you're losing your mind??

Then at once, she gushed without pretense of control. It was full of one emotion, panic! ?Not exactly, sir. It started happening after the Dithparu incident. The guilt... of using my abilities to dominate your mind... the others were not so bad... but you... my friend... how could I...?

?Hey...? James eased himself into the sofa, inching closer to the frightened Vulcan, ?You don't need to apologize for that. You fought it and won.?

?That is not just it, sir!? She screamed, and James jumped back. ?That was the beginning. The Dithparu bypassed my mental blocks and used my mind. It used emotions as a weapon. Vulcan neural patterns cannot handle emotions... its been evolved out of us. Even small doses of emotion have a degrading effect on our psyches. That was the start... then there was the exiles.?

?Yeah... you got one too, eh?? Nodded the security chief.

Her words tumbled like flowing grains, ?Sir, I was Tellan, you were Vennetir! I loved you like you loved my brother! I loved you! I cannot love you though, sir! We are partners! There is confusion... it was just as real as if I experienced it! Sir... the Dithparu weakened my mind and its defenses. The exiled souls destroyed the last of my defences! Sir... I am laid bare, I have nothing that can stop me from a total breakdown!? She shakily got off the couch and stumbled to the circle, ?I tried to bolster what I had left through meditation and ritual... but sir... I cannot do much more!?

James shot out of the couch, a reassuring hand on T'lan's shoulder, ?Then what can I do? I can't stand to see you like this. You're my friend...?

She spun about face, Corgan's weak hand nothing as he found himself in her grasp, both of his shoulders locked by her hands. The stare she gave him held such intensity, smoldering with hate not for him but for something she wanted from him. It wanted to slam James against the wall. It wanted to hold him tightly, not let him escape. It wanted death, love, murder.

James wanted to be scared, wanted to break the grip and run away, but he also wanted to help T'lan. ~?If I leave... she could lose it here and now.?~

T'lan then wanted to break down. Her eyes turned watery and her head sank to his shoulder. She started to regain the composure of her voice, but by resting on his shoulder she kept her crying eyes out of sight. ?You can't do anything for me. Even if I go to Vulcan, it may be too late.? She sniffed to keep the tears back, her knees buckling and her body weight sinking. James kept her propped up, his strength supporting hers.

~?By god she's warm...?~ James could only note. Vulcan's body heat ran hotter than humans. So too could their emotions when there was nothing left. James had to keep her stable, so he guided her to the sofa. He asked, ?You have to go to Vulcan??

?Yes.? She answered, letting go of James, back to normal, stable, haggard but still the bastion of logic T'lan, ?The soul of Tellan has emotions. I cannot handle them much longer. I have to go back to Vulcan to do what I have been delaying for so long. I have to reassert my logic, or else I could die.?

?It can't be done here?? James asked.

She replied, ?No, it cannot. It needs to be done by a grand master. They are only found on one planet.?

?Vulcan.?

?Correct, sir. It is Vulcan, or nowhere. My life depends on this ship coming to my planet.?

?Well... there are no worries.? James smiled, ?We're going to Vulcan as soon as we hit DS5. We'll get you home T'lan, trust me, or I'll rip the head off anything that gets in the way. Got it? You're priority to me. In the meantime, get some rest, try to do what you can to keep your mind together, and consider yourself off duty until it is. Take a vacation. It will be good for you.?

?Sir, no!? She pleaded, the emotion in her voice coming back, like a scared child, ?If you do, others will find out about my... affliction. If I stay on duty, and if I keep my performance within acceptable levels, they will not know. I don't want anybody to know, except for you. Please...? She begged, ?This is important to me that you do this. They must not know.?

?Alright...? He promised, ?They won't know. But I'm putting you on light duty. Think you can fake a massive migraine??

?Sir...? She said with the utmost certainty, ?Around emotional species, I do not need to fake a migraine headache.?

James snickered, ?Right on. Just take it easy until we get to Vulcan. Oh... and in the meantime... I do have an idea.?

?What is it?? She asked.

?Just out of curiosity... have you considered visiting Mika yet? She might help.?

This left T'lan feeling flabbergasted, ?Sir, I have meet her before and we are... acquaintances, but I hardly see why you would encourage a meeting between us, much less how such a rendezvous can be productive. Not to mention the animosity between our species...?

?Well... think about it.? James reasoned, ?She is an Andorian. The species as a whole tends to have hair trigger tempers, but if Mika was the first Andorian you have ever meet, you would think that her entire species is as unflappable as a duranium wall. Lieutenant, aren't you the least bit curious as to why and how??

T'lan wanted to respond in a typically pithy, Vulcan way, but lacked the words. James could see it, and he relished the first ever victory of a human versus a Vulcan in reasoning.

?You Vulcans are the best at suppressing emotions, but it takes an emotional creature to teach you how to deal with them. Go see her. Trust me.?

He left T'lan's quarters to ponder what he had said, and the more she thought, the more it made sense.

"Intelligence, Idiocy, and Insanity" ~ Part One - Interview with a Cyborg

Lieutenant Saul Bental
Lieutenant (JG) Zev Raynor
Lieutenant (JG) Eve

~~~~~~~~

Zev was annoyed... this would be the second visit to sickbay in the same day to see two different people... Annoyed that all the other officers in his department seemed to keep running into this guy but not him... he was also annoyed at the undeniable proof that this Angosian was a real threat and that his physical prowess was superior to that of Eve's. Eve being in the hospital was testament to that...

Of course he was also annoyed at a certain Angosian Marshall for being so incompetent... apparently they make their officers fast and dumb in that Military...

So with all this annoyance building up inside of him he walked into sickbay with a smile and a wave of hello to his favorite Cyborg sidekick.

For recovering from explosive decompression Eve actually didn't look that bad. She sported multiple bruises across her face and neck, the only visible, real flesh. Hands and arms pristine, eyes perfect. "Trust me, I feel like shit compared to how I look." Her voice was ragged, though much better than when she'd first arrived.

"You got your ass beaten by a psychopathic killer with a few mental tricks..." Raynor joked. "Trust me when I say you've been demoted to my sidekick and will be covered in much shit over the next few weeks to make you look as shitty as you feel... but first what's the guys style?"

"I seriously doubt you'd fare much better. Brute force, blinding speed, extreme strength." She lifted up her right arm ... the elbow joint was bent much to far past it's usually locked out stopping point. "Trust me, if it hadn't been for my cybernetics being such high quality, he would have ripped my arm off and beat me to death with it."

"Speed could be an issue... brute force and extreme strength not so much... there are enough martial arts out there designed to turn an opponents strength against them. A easy concept... a hard thing to pull off, but possible," Raynor argued. "Plus I wouldn't be so foolish as to go into an area from which there was no possible escape without a thorough understanding of my enemy... otherwise I risk being... well you... and I've grown used to having my balls so you know..."

Eve rolled her eyes. "Cut with the humor Raynor, it's not working." She reached over with her left hand to grab her right wrist, and with a vicious screech of .... something .... her elbow was put back into it's proper alignment. "I'm going to need something with a little more leverage for the lower arm alignment, but other than that .... "the radius and ulna of her left arm had obviously been bent as well. She looked back up from her limbs. "If it pleases you any, I probably would have had him if the Marshal hadn't barged in with hand cannon blazing. As it stands, I figured out what Mann did with that combadge."

"Well okay... the Marshall is a moron... I give you that much..."

"He may be a basket case but he's still smart, armed with a technical repertoire equal to Starfleet engineers. Gray's voice box, cutter's combadge, and Saul's phaser were cobbled together. That and a tampered transporter allowed him to escape from the anticipated mode of capture - ejection into space." She looked over at Saul on the next biobed. "He's a lot more dangerous than anyone thinks, even more than the Marshal let on."

"So smarter than some of his former superiors..." Raynor stated. "I know the feeling..." Thinking of Proctor. And Graham.

"Good morning subordinates."

Saul Bental, who seemed to be sound asleep since Eve was brought into the hall for recovery, straightened in his bed. He was, of course, awake long before Raynor bustled into the room. You don't take long naps when there's an insane murderer on board who failed to finish you off.

"I'm glad to see that you're collaborating." The Chief of Intelligence added cynically.

"Sometimes I wonder whose more nuts, him or Mann." OK, bad humor but at least she was half serious. "He's hurt, Sir. Badly. I'm not suffering from half of what he is both due to my cybernetics and receiving medical care in Sickbay." She slowly sat up, hissing in discomfort as her raw flesh was rubbed wrong. "I don't know how fast his amped up physiology heals, but I'm betting it's not fast enough for his personal taste." Saul's face remained carved in flint as he glared at Raynor.

"Oh, I'm more nuts for sure..." Raynor replied. "Mann is just more... insane..."

"I gave both of you more credit that you deserve." Saul stated icily. "Eve, do you think that this is a game? Perhaps a holodeck training simulation?"

She shook her head, knowing better than do try and say anything. When Bentals got pissed ... she didn't want to be the focus.

"Then why did you engage Mann in hand-to-hand combat?! And you--" He looked back at Zev, imitating his ominous voice, " 'there are enough martial arts out there'... I thought you were only ACTING like a clown, Raynor. Got too carried away, perhaps?"

Saul fist landed on the mattress. "Why engage him hand to hand? Why engage him at all? To check how good he is? To fight fairly? We DO NOT fight fair. We DO NOT give him a chance to escape. Have any of you seen the Terran 20th. century movie 'Raiders of the Lost Arc'?"

Eve hadn't, it was nearly a foregone conclusion. The lost expression at the mention of that movie choreographed it plainly

"There's a scene where some Egyptian approaches Indiana Jones skillfully waving a scimitar. You said you like skills, Zev. Well, Indy just shoots him with a pistol and goes on. THAT is what we're going to do. We are DONE playing around with the Angosian toy."

Raynor tapped his commbadge creating an anti-sound barrier so that no one outside of 2 metres could hear a word they were saying. "Sir who said anything about fighting fair? I have already devised a sonic frequency that will disrupt his Angosian telepathy for approximately 7 to 8 minutes... I figured out which chemicals will effect him and if I give those to him in a high enough dosage he will go down... I have spotted about fifteen pressure points on the enhanced Angosian body that can be used for various effects... I know his space training is minimal at best and that in theory Zero-Gravity might give anyone a keen advantage... I have created a holographic mask that will make anyone who wears it look like his dead friend from his old unit... I'm studying all available information on his background so I can understand his psychology and maybe talk him out of his insanity... Trust me when I say I've researched Mann heavily, and I am pursuing all options at this point. With no intention of fighting fair. Just to subdue and capture."

He paused to let that information sink in.

"As for the hand to hand questions... Sir all I'm doing... is addressing is the reality of his speed. I don't think there is anyway to keep at a distance long enough to put him down at range and most of the corridors on his ship are curved to avoid anyone from firing at another person beyond a five meter distance. Luring him into a trap he can't escape with a lot of room has proven..." Raynor turned to Eve for a split second. "Ineffective at best. Plus there is the possibility that he would turn and ambush us in which case I will have to go hand to hand. That's where all the primary information is on Mann in all of his attacks sir. His hand-to-hand combat."

"Good. You're heading in the right direction." Saul's tone didn't lose its edge, "But you're giving up on traps too easily. And I still don't think anything you said justifies any further Kong-Fu practice." The last part was clearly directed at Eve.

"With all due respect. Phasers have as much effect on him as they do me. The Marshal's Hand Cannon isn't something I'm terribly fond of out in deep space for obvious reasons, though I'll be the first to admit I pushed Mann out the window." Eve sighed, then flexed her arms. The torn hole in the muscles of her left arm had repaired themselves well. "I take it subduing is no longer out objective, given I'm the only one I know who can stand up to the prick short of the Marshal."

"That you know of..." Raynor stated quietly.

"Who said anything about shooting him?" Saul shot back, "The Marshall was an idiot. He took a chance. So one time it worked and the other it didn't. And I agree with Zev - put someone in Mann's line of sight, and he'll get in close quarters range quickly. As for subduing..."

The intelligence chief narrowed his eyes.

"Subduing is a luxury. One which we can no longer afford. We have exactly one objective now, which is, by any means necessary, to slay Manslaughter."

At that exact moment, the artificial gravity failed. Hyposprays, medical tricorders, nurses and Intelligence officers began floating around.

"Crap." Saul added.

"Intelligence, Idiocy, and Insanity" ~ Part Two - Zev of the Damned

Lieutenant Saul Bental
Lieutenant (JG) Zev Raynor
Lieutenant (JG) Eve

~~~~~~~~

The intelligence chief narrowed his eyes.

"Subduing is a luxury. One which we can no longer afford. We have exactly one objective now, which is, by any means necessary, to slay Manslaughter."

At that exact moment, the artificial gravity failed. Hyposprays, medical tricorders, nurses and Intelligence officers began floating around.

"Crap." Saul added.

Eve sighed and closed her eyes, doing little to arrest her own inertia. Saul was the only one NOT floating, thanks to his left arm still locked down to the biobed in it's preservative casing. "Termination Protocols altered and activated." When she opened her eyes, they had more of a red tint to them. Pushing off from the bed she rose to the ceiling then rebounded, headed for the door.

Raynor sensing the suddenly lack of gravity kicked off biobed next to him heading straight for the door timing it carefully. He knew he would make the door about a second before Eve and knew that wouldn't be enough time to block the door. "Eve stand down you're not in 100% operational capacity. Do not engage Mann at this point... Eve? EVE!"

"Stop right there, Eve." Saul ordered.

When she got to the door Eve simply floated through the open portal, knowing Zev would keep it open. Upon contact with the corridor wall outside sickbay she ... well, she stuck to it. Hands and knees pressed to the bulkhead, specialized field emitters in her fingers, palms, and shins anchoring her to the wall. Looking back to Zev and Saul her eyes were disturbingly blank. "Of all Starfleet personnel to engage the Termination Objective on board USS Galaxy, NCC 70637 I am the only individual capable of effective Termination with minimal casualties and collateral damage.. Cybernetic systems are at 87%, within optimal parameters. Biological functions are partially impaired. Chances of success of engaging Mann in combat: 60% I am a target, and an Equal. Based upon psychological data files he is searching for me. I do not wish to be in a facility where others could potentially be harmed."

"First off unlikely he's searching for you because last he saw you were dying in space..." Raynor argued. "Second if he was... this would be the first place he would come to... then engineering based on his information. And if I recall you lost last time..."

She cocked her head to the side, her expression still blank. "Previous engagements did not include Termination Authority." With that she launched herself off of the wall down the corridor.

Eve was gone.

Saul glanced at Raynor, exasperated. "She wasn't paying attention, was she?"

"I believe its called auto-pilot..." Raynor replied. "Lock and Key are going to be the words hanging around her head when this is all over..."

The Dutchman hesitated. He knew that what he was about to say next may doom Eve even if she prevails over Mann.

"Zev, contact Corgan and Captian M'Kantu. We don't have much time to put your plans to use, and your best shot would be to coordinate it with them.

And... notify the Captain that Eve has gone on her own accords and may interfere with whatever counter-offensive he'll be mounting."

"On it... this day keeps getting better and better..." Raynor said tapping his commbadge as he jetted out the door. "Also going to ask for a security detail to come here... you know in case she's right."

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Part Twenty-Three: "Trade"

Captain Darren M'Kantu - Captain of the USS Galaxy
Lieutenant Kimberly Burton - Chief Medical Officer
1st Lieutenant Branwen London - Furies Psychologist
Lieutenant Dhanishta Eshe - Chief Engineer
Ms Livana Ulani - FCO Internal Investigations Rep

**** New Rhea - Office of the Holy Inquisition ****

As the gates opened she began to play out the following scenes in her head, anticipating each and every move that was to come. But as the gates creaked open and the light unfolded from within its stone walls to shine upon her face with the fires and daggers from the masses of eyes therein, she nether bucked or ran: she stepped forward into their waiting arms and like a swarm of locusts they surrounded her, lifted her up and carted her swiftly to the waiting Inquisitor.

Having expected trouble the Church Knights had come prepared. Plasma launchers, huge projectile weapons and other implements of destruction festooned their amour as they sat in wait for the rescue attempt they had been forewarned about. When it did come it was something of an anti-climax for them. One solitary woman with no weapons whatsoever!

Having captured Dhanishta by the simplest method available; picking her up! They carried her swiftly through the streets of the city until they reached the office of the High Inquisitor. All the way, various weapons were trained on Dhanishta at all times but their prisoner showed no inclination to escape what so ever, she did not even struggle. Believing she had simply resigned herself to whatever was to follow none of the Knights gave a thought to why someone who could traverse the stars would allow herself to be captured so easily. To them it was simply logical that once the Inquisition got you, resistance was futile.

Depositing their captive on the floor once they reached their destination, one knight thumped the wall beside the door, and as the door opened from within, propelled Dhanishta forward with a rough shove of a massive armored fist. "No fun these off-worlders." she heard as the door closed behind her.

Frowning at the comment she steadied herself, regaining her balance without too much effort, and looked around. Inside the room was lit by a single reading lamp; on a desk which was situated in the middle of the room. At the desk a robed figure sat, with the cowl pulled so far forward his face was lost in the dark recesses of his hood. On the desk a variety of tomes and electronic devices sat some open or active, while others were stacked neatly at the sides. The solitary light illuminated the desk, but little else.

"Lieutenant Eshe." The figure greeted her without rising. "Welcome back to New Rhea."

Dhanishta smiled politely, "What, no welcome wagon this time?" she questioned facetiously.

"No Lieutenant. Your kind are not welcome here anymore, and I would have thought that would have been fairly obvious even to one of your evidently limited intelligence." Sounding arrogantly superior the Inquisitor sat as motionless as he had previously with Kimberly. "I assume you are here on some foolhardy and desperate attempt to single-handedly rescue the Witch?"

Dhanishta looked round the room once more in a lazy manor. "No." she replied flatly as she eyed the corners of the room slowly. Finally turning to face him she smiled curtly and sat down in front of him. Staring into the darkness that was his face she lent forward and rested her elbows on his desk. "I have come here to offer you a trade."

Though his expression was a mystery, the tone of his voice conveyed a whole host of emotions, from humour to surprise and more, "Trade?" he asked, somewhat perplexed, this was not quite what he had expected. "The Witch is to burn and be purified according to our holy laws, to release her would be to defy our law. What could you possibly offer us to consider releasing the Witch?"

Dhanishta lent back in the chair, "What would you want in trade?" she queried as she let herself relax in the seat and once more release her senses.

"She is a Witch, and the Witch shall be cleansed in fire." He stated firmly. "Unless you can prove to the satisfaction of the inquisition that the heresy within her has been purged and she willingly accepts the love of the one true God, then nothing you have to offer could be acceptable. And since she has been judged irredeemable, then I would have to say that I do not see what you can possibly offer."

"I can offer you quite a lot." Dhani stated flatly staring through the darkness and into his eyes. Taking a deep breath she broke eye contact, "Tell me, exactly what my colleague has confessed to? From my understanding she has declared herself to be a witch, which under your law is punishable by death. But your laws are flawed for the simple fact that she is not a witch by your definition. You are murdering an innocent woman that has committed no crime. She has told you that she is a Wicca, that's not a witch. This is simply a case of misunderstanding." she leaned forward, "Release her, show good faith to your neighbours. Really Sir, this is not how you wish to start relations with other species." Dhanishta implored shaking her head.

Shaking his own head in reply the Inquisitor spoke softly, but firmly. "Relations with other 'species'" he started, his disdain evident as he said species, "is irrelevant, what lesser species think of us is not an issue. As for the Witch, Witch or Wicca it does not matter for they are one and the same. 'Thou shall not suffer a witch to live', Exodus 22:18," he quoted. "She has spoken of things not of the Lord, and such 'wisdom' does not come down from heaven but is earthly, un-spiritual, and therefore of the devil. James 3:15. These holy passages clearly give us no other choice. She is no innocent; she has spoken of past evil deeds and of a belief in unholy rites and rituals. Her death will light the way for our people to understand that we alone remain faithful."

"What evil deeds?" Dhani asked perplexed and curious, cursing herself for getting off topic.

"If you do not know of the actions and depravations of your friend I suggest you choose more wisely those you associate with." He cautioned Dhanishta, sounding as if he were talking down to her. "Though at the least you will not have to worry about the Witch for long, once the sun rises she shall cease to be a concern for anyone. You on the other hand, what will become of you is a matter for mortal law. At the least I would expect you to be sent to the slave mines for several years for your impudence."

Dhanishta laughed a little too heartily, "Inquisitor," she began a broad smile lighting up her face, side not she asked; "is there anything else that I can call you, Inquisitor is far too cumbersome?"

"I am the Lord High Inquisitor General." He stated. "Inquisitor will suffice as I do not expect you to respect the title I have earned through years of devotion. Any other name I possess you are not permitted to know, let alone utter. You are already in sufficient trouble without adding to your woes."

"If you think that threat is going to scare me, you really need to do your research." Dhani told him flatly chucking at his touchiness. "You have absolutely no comprehension of what lies beyond your solar system. You don't have the first clue of what to expect, nor do you have the power or knowledge to confront it."

She shrugged, "I can tell you everything you need to know." She paused for a moment, waiting for that comment to sink in and for him to begin to dismiss it before she continued.

"Your first warp flight was a failure. I can tell you what went wrong, not only that but I can give you the technology that will fix it." she eyed him again. "You don't know anything about the species in the galaxy; I can tell you all about them. I can be your guide, I can help you. All you have to do is accept me as a trade. Let Kimberly go, take me in her place." Dhani pleaded subtly.

Appearing thoughtful for a moment, well as thoughtful as a cloaked figure could, the Inquisitor appeared to contemplate this for a moment. "Should you possess such information then it can be extracted, with or without your co-operation. You are here under our jurisdiction in clear violation of the edict banishing you from our world so therefore whatever punishment we choose is our decision." Shaking his head, "you have forgotten perhaps that though we lack advancement in certain technologies you possess we can still hamper their use. Your transporters can be scrambled, your shuttle can be located and destroyed. You have nothing to bargain with and no power to stop us!"

Dhanishta bit her tongue, for a second. ~To hell with it!~ she thought, ~fanatics can't be talked round.~ The only way she was going to get what she wanted would be to make it happen, and that would take a lot of explaining, more than her job was worth. She paused a moment contemplating the outcome if she were to change his mind for him. How would anyone find out? ~It's not the way Nish~ an inner voice told her gently. ~Why not? It would save a lot of trouble, not to mention Kimberlys life. But then I would end up locked up too, with no way out.~

"Inquisitor General, do you know what I am?" Dhanishta asked simply.

"An alien." he replied simply. "Not of this world and not of the Faith."

She shook her head, "If you agreed to the trade you would know." she said, pausing for a moment to see if that changed his mind at all.

"I see no reason for a trade, as I have said; anything you know can be extracted."

"I am a telepath." she told him staring into his eyes. "I know your every thought, your desires, your life. Everything you think and feel; I hear. Wanna try it out?"

For a moment the Inquisitor froze, rigid and silent, then his head shook slowly from side to side. "Such myths are the tales of the heathens, sent to frighten. If you had such demonic ways you would not be here now talking to me!"

Closing her eyes for a moment Dhani used this time to re think her plan. She had to see Kimberly, and she knew he wouldn't allow it. By coming back here he believed that he had power over her, that his laws could contain her. She suppressed a chuckle at that. If only he knew. There was only one sure fire way to see Kimberly, and that was to get locked up with her.. But he wants to send me to the mines. Dhani opened her eyes and once more found his gaze.

"I know what you think of me and of other species in the Galaxy." she told him his surface thoughts, "I know that you wish for us all to be cleansed. I know that you feel it is your duty to make sure that everyone follows the word of God, but it is more to you than that, you want, you need, for them all to 'believe' in your god." She tilted her head to one side, searching deeper within him.

"It is more to you than just a calling. you are afraid.?" she questioned aloud perplexed. Frowning she looked closer, pushed away all her own worries and concerns and really let herself sink into his mind.

Her eyes darkened as she pushed through his thoughts and right to the heart of his fears. Like roots of a tree she spread out inside his mind into every dark corner, upturning stones to find answers to questions that he had never even asked himself, desires that had long bee buried by duty and honour, corrupted by power, greed, lust and fury.

"You fear God and all that he stands for." she continued in a dark voice with her eyes closed, "The arrival of me and my friends scares you. We are proof that there are others out there in the great beyond and that means that everything changes for you. It means that your faith will be tested. And as much as you want to believe with your whole heart, you can't, because you can't explain everything with the word of God alone and it terrifies you more than you would ever admit to yourself because it means that you may well be wrong. Your life's work could have been for nothing. Your God could be just as much of an alien as the ones that brought your forefathers here and you can't stand the fact that your entire existence is possibly founded on a lie." she opened her eyes and looked at him.

Staring at the twin pools of darkness that now looked back at him the Inquisitor 'felt' at some level the intrusion into his mind, but was utterly powerless to do anything about it. For an instant he tried to call out, summon help, even get up, but found himself immobilised in his chair, staring into the darkness before him.

"I can tell you the future too." she jested in a menacing tone, "I foretell that you will fail in your mission to cleanse the universe, you do know it's kinda big and there are more than one as well." she added in a patronising tone.

~Now who's the teacher?~ she thought vindictively. "I also predict that you will be letting me see my friend in, oh about five minutes." she added as an after thought.

Hearing the thought in his head the inquisitor felt the compulsion that had been insinuated into his mind and at the same time saw the small computer on his desk erupt a shower of sparks that landed on his robes and smouldered for a moment before fading out of existence, much as his free will had just done, though he knew less of that than he did the sparks.

"Cause of that." Dhani replied smiling with satisfaction.

"Captain!" The Inquisitor called out suddenly in a loud and forceful voice. Behind Dhanishta the door slid open and two armoured figured thumped their way into the room and took up positions either side of her.

"Take this creature away!" he ordered sharply. "Place this Witch with the other in the south cell and let them make their peace. We shall have two heretics on the pyre this day!"

Dhanishta smiled with satisfaction, ~My work here is done.~ she declare her victory silently. As the guards moved in to drag her away she turned back to him sharply, "You have so much to learn." she warned him in a low voice. Her smile faded instantly, replaced with a dark expression, "If you really think that killing me and Kimberly is going to do you any good you have another thing coming my friend. The Federation doesn't take kindly to its officers being murdered. And for that fact, neither to I. You expect all and sundry to conform to your laws? In hand with that you have to conform to our laws. You are committing murder Inquisitor, and you will be punished for that. In more way than one. Lord Inquisitor General, you ain't seen nothing yet." she promised him, "Nor for that matter have you ever seen a Witch. Believe me when I tell you that time is coming sooner than you thought!!"

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Part Twenty-Four: "Fire Starters"

Captain Darren M'Kantu - Captain of the USS Galaxy
Lieutenant Kimberly Burton - Chief Medical Officer
1st Lieutenant Branwen London - Furies Psychologist
Lieutenant Dhanishta Eshe - Chief Engineer
Ms Livana Ulani - FCO Internal Investigations Rep

**** New Rhea - Office of the Holy Inquisition ****

Dhanishta smiled with satisfaction, ~My work here is done.~ she declare her victory silently. As the guards moved in to drag her away she turned back to him sharply, "You have so much to learn." she warned him in a low voice. Her smile faded instantly, replaced with a dark expression, "If you really think that killing me and Kimberly is going to do you any good you have another thing coming my friend. The Federation doesn't take kindly to its officers being murdered. And for that fact, neither to I. You expect all and sundry to conform to your laws? In hand with that you have to conform to our laws. You are committing murder Inquisitor, and you will be punished for that. In more way than one. Lord Inquisitor General, you ain't seen nothing yet." she promised him, "Nor for that matter have you ever seen a Witch. Believe me when I tell you that time is coming sooner than you thought!!"

~~***~~

Unable to sleep, pace around or even get comfortable Kimberly sat on the floor of the shoe box sized cell and stared at the tiny crack of light that slipped under the door, watching the occasional shadow as it wandered back and forth before her door.

Her afternoon in the hands of the Inquisition had to rank as one of her more unpleasant experiences to date; their 'investigative' procedures were to say the least archaic. Her back ached from hours of sitting in the cold and uncomfortable cell, her arms felt as if someone had tried to yank them out of their sockets and her bare feet had been trodden on so many times during the day they were black and blue.

"All in all, ouch!" she muttered to the darkness as she tried to formulate a plan, any plan that might get her out of here. As she considered her (short) list of assets, one ripped t-shirt and a pair of thin cotton shorts, and her own capabilities, limited when faced with a nine foot tall armoured behemoth, she found any plan she formed had one major flaw. They all depended on her being on the other side of the six inch thick metal door before her with a galaxy class starship in her pocket!

Her attention snapped back to her surroundings as several deep and resounding metal clangs came from the door and it opened to reveal the ever present titans stood outside. Squinting at the sudden assault on her eyes she carefully extracted herself from the small room at the beckon of one of her guards and fell into step between them. A short walk later and she was unceremoniously pushed into a different room, one as unadorned as her previous lodgings but slightly larger and with two features she very much appreciated.

One was a small window high on the far wall that finally let her know it was early morning, the sun was rising and the sky was a beautiful shade of blue. The second sight was more agreeable and infinitely more welcome.

"Dhani!" she exclaimed as she flattened her friend against the wall with a fierce hug. "What in the name of the Goddess are you 'doing' here? I was told you were given order to leave the planet? Did you manage to talk them around? What's going on?" Her rapid fire stream of questions burst out as she held on to her friend and tried to hold back the tears that she had held onto all day.

"Easy now." Dhani replied gagging for breath. As Kimberly relinquished her hold Dhani looked her over with a critical eye. She was a little thinner than the last time she saw her. Her face was pale and drawn, black bags circled her eyes and her hair looked like straw. There were several bruises and cuts, minor scrapes, but all in all she looked to be in good health. It appeared that she hadn't been badly mistreated. Never the less she had been imprisoned and the tests they had run on her were not particularly pleasant but at least they weren't too invasive. ~Small mercies~ she though scathingly.

Flicking back to the string of questions Dhani briefly smiled, "I am here to rescue you." she announced with faux pride. "We were ordered to leave, and we did, and we came back. and," she hesitated for a moment letting her words linger longer than necessary, "it depends on exactly what 'talking them round' means." she said quickly flashing another smile. "Did I convince them to let you go. no." she pouted, "Did I inadvertently convince him to burn me along side you while trying to convince him to trade my life for yours, yes." she finished giving Kimberly another blunt short smile.

Frowning, Kimberly raised her eyebrows and gave Dhani a confused look, "A trade?" she said in a slightly confused and embarrassed voice. "You offered to trade? Why? It's not like I don't appreciate the gesture or you trying to get me out of here," she admitted gratefully, "but they planned on having a barbeque tomorrow with me as the firelighter, and it looks like their fire just got more fuel." Running a hand through her tangled and knotted hair she sighed, "Let me get this straight, you were ordered to leave and yet here you are now locked up with me in what is probably the most secure facility on the planet, we have no weapons, no way to beam out of here and no hope of negotiation. By all the Elements Dhani what were you thinking?"

"The lack of weapons is not my fault!" Dhani replied defensively, "And do you really think that me and Bran would just leave you here to burn? Crikey Kimberly what sort of friends do you think we are?" Dhani harrumphed. Indicating for Kimberly to watch the door Dhani turned away from her and rolled up her sleeve. Pulling back a flap of fake skin she removed a tracer crystal from beneath it. "I can't believe you," she continued to moan while Kimberly was distracted, "I come here to help you and all I get is grief. Nothing satisfies you does it?" she asked rhetorically. "Personally I would have loved to come back armed to the teeth with the arsenal of a Starship at my disposal," she said stepping up behind her friend and quickly inserting the crystal into her upper arm, "but the nearest one is three days away and your KittyKat is a de-clawed pussy cat!" she huffed.

"Owww! Well excuse me," she replied sounding both hurt and confused as she rubbed her arm where Dhani had inserted the small rubidium crystal while she wasn't looking. "The reason there's no weapons or mounts is that we were 'supposed' to be running a race." Looking at the small puncture where the crystal had been forced under her skin she shrugged, with all the cuts and bruises she had no one would notice another.

"Weapons aren't fitted on the KittyKat as standard unless ordered by the XO," she explained, "and I had the mounts and power relays removed to so all main power was re-routed to the engines to increase speed, I was hoping to actually try and 'win' the race." she added, sounding very disappointed that she had not even had the opportunity to try. "I didn't exactly anticipate needing to wage a prison break during our vacation!"

"Granted." Dhanishta agreed, "I didn't expect to be here either. And your reasoning is sound; streamline the ship for the race. However there *is* a request from the XO to arm your vessel. Your ship was armed and you authorized for the mounts to be removed along with the weapons, and that was months before you even mentioned the race to me, frankly your argument doesn't hold up Kim!" Dhani retorted angered, "And even if you had heard about the race back then, that doesn't excuse the fact that you don't even have hand weapons on the shuttle, does it?" she retuned exasperated.

"I know, I know," Kimberly muttered, sounding like it was something she had heard so many times before, "My 'archaic' beliefs may get me killed one day."

"I didn't say that." Dhani retorted her anger subsiding. "Been thinking it all day mind!" she added with a fleeting smile nudging her friend.

"I'm not surprised somehow," she muttered softly, "Look, let's have this argument 'after' we get ourselves out of here please. Though how the frell we're gonna do that I have no K'hest'n idea!"

Dhani smiled, "You think just cause I'm locked up in here with you that I don't have a plan?" she jested, "What kind of engineer do you take me for?!"

"A miracle worker actually, like most Starfleet engineers. Though whatever miracle you have up your sleeve is gonna have to rank right up there with Captain Kirk and Ambassador Spock!" Thinking back briefly to reading about them at the academy, those two had to be among the most accomplished jail breakers of all time. Their files had an impressive list of incarcerations and subsequent breakouts. ~ Note to self, ~ she thought, ~ Read their logs for more pointers in jail breaks! ~

Dhanishta shook her head, "If I was an evil mastermind then this would be the moment to divulge my entire evil plan." she said looking around for somewhere, make that - something - to sit on. "But I'm one of the good guy's, and we're smarter than that!"

~ Okay, I'll take your word for that, but as for smarter, well we are the one's locked up! ~ Debating on whether to keep her cynicism to herself Kimberly simply raised an eyebrow again, "Smarter? Can I get back to you on that?" she asked with a wry grin.

Dhani looked up quickly as she squat on the floor, "Watch it you." her eyes narrowed on Kimberly forestalling any more comments with an accusing wag of her finger.

"Yes boss," setting sarcasm aside Kimberlys face took on a serious look, "What can I do?"

"Just watch the door okay." Dhani replied curtly. Sitting down she pulled off her boot and removed the heel to reveal a secret compartment. Pulling out several items she went to work on phase two of her deranged plan.

"You know, I had the strangest conversation with one of their priests earlier," Kimberly began as she stared at the door, "he asked me if I'd made peace with God. So I told him I'd never quarrelled with his God, or any of mine. To which he replied `But aren't you concerned about the next world?' So I told him I worry about one world at a time." smiling broadly she laughed, "He then accused me of being beyond redemption and also of being sarcastic. What do you think?" she asked her friend.

Dhani shrugged slightly, "I think he is right." she replied flatly concentrating on what she was doing, "You are sarcastic."

Looking out the window Kimberly sighed after a moment, "Well, it looks like it's going to be a nice day. I wonder what the plan for the day is?" she wondered aloud.

"Death by, what did you call it," Dhani asked glancing up, "barbeque?"

Turning from the window Kimberly smirked, "Die? Dhani my friend, that's the last thing I'll do!"

~Exactly!~ Dhanishta thought sombrely.

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Part Twenty-Five: "The Finale: Part One"

Captain Darren M'Kantu - Captain of the USS Galaxy
Lieutenant Kimberly Burton - Chief Medical Officer
1st Lieutenant Branwen London - Furies Psychologist
Lieutenant Dhanishta Eshe - Chief Engineer
Ms Livana Ulani - FCO Internal Investigations Rep

**** New Rhea - Central Plaza ****

Looking out over the assembled crowds that had gathered in the massive plaza, Kimberly paused, heedless of the prodding of the Inquisitor behind her. The main plaza was a wide open area in the centre of the city capable of holding thousands of people comfortably. Today it was packed, a veritable sea of humanity had gathered to witness the execution of the heretic.

"Wow." she muttered in awe. "All these people here just to see us off." Acceding to the shove at the small of her back she stepped down into the plaza and walked carefully through the throng that parted before her, Dhani and the half dozen knights that surrounded them.

~See 'you' off, ya mean.~ Dhani thought scathingly, ~I'm just the follow up act that the audience gets to throw their old vegetables at! I hate being upstaged!~ Dhanishta moaned inwardly.

"Kinda makes you feel appreciated doesn't it." Kimberly muttered sarcastically as they walked.

"Suppose." Dhani replied noncommittal. "As ways to go, this wasn't what I had envisioned for the next time, ya know?" she said without thinking as she looked into the faces of the crowd as they passed by.

"Yeah, I forgot, you've done the 'death' thing before haven't you." Kimberly said, remembering at last what had prompted this little trip in the first place, ~ Another chat missed! ~ she reminded herself. "So how did you think the 'next' time was gonna go?" she asked curiously.

Dhani shrugged, "I had dreamt that the Brethren killed me. HEY!" she almost shouted turning sharply to the guards behind her. "I'm walking to my death here, what more do you want, huh?" she screamed at him.

"Keep moving Witch!" The Knight uttered in a metallic monotone, prodding Dhanishta yet again, "We can always shoot your legs off and carry you if we have to!" he threatened.

~ Brethren? ~ Kimberly wondered curiously.

~Just give me one reason not to go postal on this entire planet!~ Dhani prayed as she walked on in silence. ~Come on Branwen.~ she pleaded silently glancing up at the sky.

As they walked Kimberly assessed the mood of the people around them, for the most part they were quiet and sombre, their faces reflecting a mixture of anticipation, confusion or uncertainty. The walk to the podium that had been set up took several minutes, and during the whole walk not a word was said by anyone in the crowd, the only sounds to be heard was of the wind above, the mechanical sounds of the knights around them, and the occasional bird oblivious to the scene unfolding below them.

As they approached the neat pile of wood that was to be their pyre Kimberly looked to Dhani, "Any inspirational or philosophical last words for the masses?" she asked, her own mind attempting to come up with something for them to remember.

Dhani thought for a moment and then smiled, "Sixth Commandment: 'Thou shalt not kill'." Dhani mused, "Or how about; do unto others as you would have them do to you?" she questioned facetiously.

Smiling as she climbed up onto the podium Kimberly tried not to laugh out loud, Dhani's sense of humour and timing was beautiful, and just what she needed right now. Scanning the sky she looked around, wondering when the remaining footwear would plummet.

"What about you?" Dhani queried as she ascended the steps, "You got anything to add, as a heretic n' all, I'm sure there is something that you can say to the masses down there that will be forever etched into their minds, hopefully something more potent than anything the Inquisitor has to say."

Hearing a noise in the distance Kimberly looked around and saw a familiar shape in the sky growing larger very rapidly. "Me, well, right now if I had to say anything all I'd say really is 'Duck!'" Emphasizing the last word she dropped to the floor, closing her eyes covering her ears and opening her mouth to try and lessen the effect of what was about to happen.

"Huh?" Dhani retorted. Looking up at the sky a broad smile replaced the glum expression that had adorned her features for the last half hour. "That's my girl." Dhani praised grinning.

Coming in low over the city the KittyKat slowed rapidly as it approached and underneath it the sparkle of a transporter effect shimmered in the morning air. As per the plan Dhani had orchestrated with Branwen, the marine flew the shuttle in and triggered a pre-programmed transporter sequence, one that beamed out a few molecules of anti-matter into the air at selected points.

The air in the plaza was suddenly rent by the sounds of a series of massive concussive explosions that spread out over the city in an expanding wave. People all over the plaza were thrown to the ground by the force of the blasts and most if not all were temporarily deafened by the enormous wave of noise that burst over their heads.

People for miles around heard the noise and anyone unfortunate enough to be looking, at the explosions as the happened were briefly blinded by the brilliant flash. Glass throughout the city shattered and the roofs on nearby buildings were stripped of tiles that flew through the air like tissue paper.

Briefly stunned by the noise and the effect of the blasts that had occurred around the edges of the plaza Kimberly shook her head to try and clear the fuzziness and the ringing in her ears.

Dhanishta groaned gently as she felt someone role her over. Squinting through the smoke she looked up from where she had stumbled and frowned. "Cardinal Pious?" she questioned.

"Stay down." he ordered her. "Did Miss London get hold of you?" he asked as he pulled out a knife from within his robes.

"For what?" Dhani asked wide eyed, staring at the blade as it glinted in the dappled sun light.

He sighed as he leaned over her. "I told her to tell you, about the 'betrayal'." he said cutting her bindings. "I had to make it look like I was on their side. I was being watched." he explained.

Nodding slowly Dhani eyed him suspiciously.

"Are you alright?" he asked concerned at the bleeding cuts that crisscrossed her face.

"I'm fine." She replied dabbing her face with her sleeve, "Kimberly!" she prompted him before checking herself for anything more serious.

Nodding sharply Pious stood and searched the crowd for Kimberly, spying her underneath the podium he rushed to her side. "Hold still." he ordered her as he rolled her on to her side so he could untie her hands before assessing her wounds.

"Time to leave?" Kimberly asked slightly sarcastically as she watched the people in the plaza start to pick themselves up, the effects of the blast still being felt. Slowly at first then with ever increasing numbers the crowd began a panicked exodus from the plaza, cries and lamentations flowed from then as they beat a hasty retreat in ever increasing numbers from the plaza.

"You bet ya." Dhani replied sliding to Kimberly's side.

"Thanks." Kimberly absently said to the Cardinal with a nod, grateful that not everyone here was as fanatical as the Inquisitor, ~ Speaking of which. ~ Looking around for the aforementioned lunatic she spied him on the other side of the podium, still clad in his midnight robes between two knights, pointing and shouting at the KittyKat.

"Are you alright?" Dhani asked her friend as she helped her to her feet.

Kimberly nodded. "What about those guys?" she said indicating the armoured Knights that still surrounded them, all of whom, however, were intently watching the KittyKat which was heading directly for the podium.

"I'll deal with them." Dhani assured her.

"No need." The Cardinal told her. "Just get to your shuttle and go. Leave everything else to me." he instructed firmly.

With a questioning look Dhani nodded and grabbed Kimberlys arm, wrapping it round her shoulder she half carried her friend towards the shuttle that was now hovering just behind the podium.

"GUARDS!" A resonating voice somehow cut through the din to be heard above the rising panic. "They are getting away, Stop them!"

Casting a look over her shoulder Dhani felt a twinge of panic. Breaking out into a half jog she steered Kimberly towards the KittyKat just as the cargo bay doors opened to reveal Branwen sat atop the hugest, noisiest gun they had ever seen.

~Just gotta love that poker face~ Dhani mused as she caught Brans eye. Nodding to her unspoken command Dhani instantly thrust Kimberly to the ground and threw herself over her.

With the girls out of the way London had a clear shot. Three more loud and ferrous explosions vibrated the land and screamed through the air, knocking the advancing guards to the ground and any one else that had managed to make it to their feet.

The Inquisitor General blinked in disbelief, "Where did they get that weapon from?" he questioned aloud. Their scans of the shuttle as it had arrived had shown no weapons, yet as he rose to his feet he found himself looking down the twin barrels of an evil looking device that coughed black smoke and purred with a low but ominous sound that sent a chill down his spine.

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Part Twenty-Six: "The Finale: Part Two"

Captain Darren M'Kantu - Captain of the USS Galaxy
Lieutenant Kimberly Burton - Chief Medical Officer
1st Lieutenant Branwen London - Furies Psychologist
Lieutenant Dhanishta Eshe - Chief Engineer
Ms Livana Ulani - FCO Internal Investigations Rep

**** New Rhea - Central Plaza ****

The Inquisitor General blinked in disbelief, "Where did they get that weapon from?" he questioned aloud. Their scans of the shuttle as it had arrived had shown no weapons, yet as he rose to his feet he found himself looking down the twin barrels of an evil looking device that coughed black smoke and purred with a low but ominous sound that sent a chill down his spine.

*** Conference room three USS Galaxy***

"That's exactly what I want to know!" Ulani broke in the narrative of their escape looking somewhat shocked, "You said that the shuttle had no weapons!"

Dhanishta frowned and sighed, just when she was on a roll and getting to the good part! "We didn't." she replied simply.

"Then. what?" Ulani asked exasperated.

Dhani smiled and looked towards Branwen. "We had little resources," she shrugged, "so we improvised, we took creativity to another level." she said nodding with unbridled pride.

"Define another level." Ulani ordered through clenched teeth.

Having seen the 'weapon' as she boarded her ship Kimberly had herself wondered where the device had come from, but at the time escaping had been on the forefront of her mind, thinking back now her face took on a confused and thoughtful expression, ~ Yeah, where 'did' they get that thing? ~

"Well," Dhani began hesitating slightly. Through the hubbub she hadn't mentioned to Kimberly *exactly* what she had done to one of the items in the cargo bay. She wasn't sure how the Doctor would have taken it at the time, still being in shock from her ordeal 'n' all. She may have some degree of security mentioning it now in front of the Captain and the inspector for the simple fact that Kimberly couldn't kill her in front of either of them.

"Ya see I found this most peculiar item in the cargo hold of the KittyKat, it was a twenty-first century Terran motor vehicle," she looked to Branwen, "what was it called again?"

"A Harley Davidson." she replied.

"My bike!" Kimberly broke in suddenly, "Wha'dya do to my bike?" she asked suddenly aware just what the 'barrel' of the weapon had been.

Ignoring Kimberly's outburst Dhani continued, "It was the exhaust on the vehicle that caught my attention, it looked just like the barrel of an old chemical propelled weapon. With a bit, make that a lot of rearranging; I made it appear to look like a weapon. The engine was still intact so we used that to our advantage as well, it's a noisy beast." Dhani commented wryly.

"You took my Harley to pieces?" Knowing full well the bluff had saved their lives she nonetheless had a moments concern over the antique she had put together over several years of scrounging parts.

Dhani tried to pull off her 'innocent' look but failed miserably as she couldn't hide her smirk. "I er, just rearranged it a little bit." she replied.

"Did you put it back together again?" she asked as she turned to face Dhani.

Dhani shook her head, "Not exactly." she replied gently, "It's always easier to take something apart rather than put it back together." she was cut off.

"Then you and me are heading down to the shuttlebay later to fix it." Kimberly decided firmly, "I know it saved our lives, and again I'll say a very heartfelt thanks, but you can't take a girls bike apart and not fix it after!"

Coughing gently M'Kantu gently got everyone's attention and looked to Burton with a stern gaze, "Perhaps that is a discussion the two of you can have 'later'." He suggested firmly. "In the meantime perhaps you can explain just how the 'weapon' actually discharged anything harmful when it was just a collection of parts?"

Dhani nodded, "Of course." she replied to both the Captain and Kimberly. "We had to improvise as we were defenceless and we both knew that even with the best poker face in the universe, a bluff alone, wasn't going to save us if they called it."

"The Cardinals apparent 'betrayal' earlier on had been arranged with the Lieutenant, without my knowledge." Dhani cast an irritated look towards Branwen. "Apparently after their initial talks the Cardinal realised that he was being watched. Branwen managed to get him on a secure communication just before I beamed down and together they arranged my capture. After that Branwen coordinated with Pious to lay small charges around the Plaza and at the podium."

"The idea was to give the impression of actual weaponry. All London had to do was aim, and as she 'fired', the Cardinal remotely triggered the charge, the choreography was flawless." Dhani added with admiration

Nodding at the explanation M'Kantu's eyes narrowed though as he looked at Dhanishta, "Very well that was a bluff, however you released anti-matter directly into the atmosphere, without a containment field." Wanting to make sure he had heard that correctly.

"Yes Sir," Dhani replied, "It was only a few molecules, just enough for a distraction. Insufficient to cause any real harm, but enough to give us some cover, if London's plan with the Cardinal fell through."

"And what if you'd lost containment when your transporter beamed out the sample?" He replied, "What then?"

"Unlikely Sir," Dhani countered, "the safety interlocks and systems are set to ensure that does not happen. Which it didn't."

"And what about all those people in the Plaza? Surely they reacted?" Ulani asked.

"Oh they reacted," Kimberly confirmed, "last I saw they were panicking nicely and running away as fast as they could. I guess they thought the wrath of their God had fallen on them." Unable to resist the wording she smiled slightly but sobered up at the look she received from Ulani.

"And then what?" Looking down at her PADD Ulani continued scribbling notes as the three Lieutenants continued their report.

"Then Ma'am, we left." Kimberly added simply, "as fast as the KittyKat would allow. Once I got to the cockpit and Branwen had closed the aft cargo hatch I put the shields up and headed for orbit. As we pulled away Lieutenant Eshe checked the sensors and realised we were being targeted by their planetary defence systems. Now they weren't terribly advanced, but a multi megaton nuclear warhead was enough to give us a bad day if one had gotten close enough, plus they had some sublight vessels in orbit, and scans indicated they had weaponry aboard."

"And then.?" Almost dreading the answer Ulani kept her eyes on her PADD, though the Captain had been right when he said at the outset that this wasn't the most disastrous first contact in history, and yes, there was no declaration of war from New Rhea, but it was a diplomatic nightmare. Agreed, the circumstances had been difficult and there had been next to no advance preparation that might have headed some of this off, but still. 'Anti-Matter!'

"Well, considering the array of weapons they had, and that some could have hurt us I climbed as fast as I could and as soon as the atmosphere started thinning, we warped out of there." Sounding matter of fact Kimberly glossed over a little just where they were when she hit the warp drive. The shields had been up, and though the thermal effect from passage through the rarefied air had collapsed the main shields they had survived. She just didn't want to think of the possible ecological damage she had caused by activating even a properly balanced warp drive within the gravity well of the planet. Let alone just inside the atmosphere.

"You activated the warp drive while still 'inside' the atmosphere?" M'Kantu asked. The New Rheans had reported this of course, and their sensor logs had shown the warp out, including the after effects. Though a rapid escape may well have been advisable, it was still dangerous.

"Well, 'just' inside." Kimberly confirmed.

Dhanishta cringed and tried to suppress an ironic laugh. All they had done was help a ship in distress, they had tried to be polite and conform to the wishes of those that they helped by attending the dinner and what thanks did they get for it? They were up on charges of improper first contact procedure, not to mention charges regarding using anti-matter and going to warp inside a solar system, she eyed Kimberly. This was going to be a permanent black mark on their records, and for what? All because they tried to help?! Dhani shook her head. At the end of the day they were the victims, not the New Rheas, but still they were the ones getting their arses chewed over it. In hind sight Dhani would have preferred that the containment had destabilised or that warping out of there had caused damage to the solar system, preferably blow the entire damn thing up!

"Is there anything else anyone would like to add?" The Captain asked, looking at the three Lieutenants in turn.

When no replies were forthcoming he turned to Ulani and began conversing in low tones for a moment. The conversation bounced back and forth between them and while they spoke not once did either cast a glance at the three who still stood before them. Throughout the long and detailed explanation of the near disastrous events on new Rhea the Captain and Ms Ulani had rarely interrupted, allowing the three to explain things at their own pace. Now the Lieutenants waited for their decision. After several long moments the two ceased talking and looked back to Dhanishta, Kimberly and Branwen.

"If I may?" Ulani asked, looking to the Captain. At his nod she stood and faced the three, looking for a moment like a judge about to pass sentence. "Thank you Captain," she acknowledged. "This debriefing is standard procedure, after any first contact the crew or personnel involved are asked to explain every facet of their contact, good and bad so we can start to build up a picture of the world and people in question. It is not a formal inquiry, though the FCO does have the authority to instigate such an investigation."

"As the Captain stated at the outset, this is by no means the worst first contact on record, though it has its share of disasters. My report to the First Contact Office will determine whether there are to be any formal proceedings regarding New Rhea, and the committee there will make the final determination. However, I think I can assure you with some certainty that in this instance there will be no formal proceedings against anyone." Not pausing to allow anyone to breathe to deep a sigh of relief she continued. "Though there may very well be several follow up interviews. However, the council of New Rhea has lodged several formal complaints, mainly against yourself Lieutenant Burton. Some regarding your piloting in their system and several other complaints regarding your escape from their 'legal' custody and disregard for their due process."

"Now, considering the circumstances I do not foresee anyone attempting to complain about your treatment and subsequent escape from their custody, the entire matter will be reviewed by I think I can say with some certainty that there were extenuating circumstances. Their complaints regarding your piloting and disregard for their environment however I believe may warrant a suitable response."

~ You're bitching about my 'flying'? ~ Kimberly wondered, confused and pissed at the same time.

"Pending a review by the FCO, the Captain has suggested a formal reprimand for hazardous piloting and ecological damage to the New Rheans environment. It appears that their atmosphere has suffered from the warp out you performed, an understandable action as you were running away but it despite that it was irresponsible to warp out so close to the planet. You are of course free to lodge an appeal, but for now I would suggest awaiting the decision of the review board."

"Ladies," the Captain said as he stood, forestalling any response from the three, "I think we have spent enough time on this for today, I would ask you all to complete your reports on this matter and have them on my desk by oh eight hundred tomorrow. If any of you wish to discuss this further Ms Ulani will be aboard for several more days and my door is always open. I realise you may have something to say on the decision, but I would recommend we do as Ms Ulani says and await the FCO committees findings."

"Thank you, and dismissed."

"Choices"

Lieutenant Dhanishta Eshe - Chief Engineer
Lieutenant Kimberly Burton - Chief Medical Officer

(Set directly after No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Pt 27.)

***USS Galaxy, outside conference room 3***

Walking out of the conference room, Kimberly looked neither left nor right as she made for the nearest turbolift. She had been half expecting the meeting to end up with a formal inquiry into recent events, full board hearings and the whole nine yards. The outcome, while less than she had expected, still stung. Not even noticing, or hearing Branwen as she veered off in a different direction, nor even noticing that Dhanishta was following she slapped the turbolift call, not caring the doors were already opening.

Entering the lift she turned to face the door, finally noticing Dhani. "Deck eleven." she said wearily. "Go ahead, say it." she said to Dhani, seeing a look on her face, figuring she had 'something' on her mind.

Dhani frowned tilting her head to regarded Kimberly. She had actually been fantasying about reuniting with Michael after two weeks apart. For a moment she contemplated just what part of her daydream Kimberly wanted her to share. Strike that, she thought, all of it is too rude! "Say what exactly?" Dhani questioned, "Deck eight." she added informing the computer of her destination. ~Wonder if Mikey is in?~ she smiled as her imagination continued where it had left off.

She could see his face now as the doors opened; that sly grin of his as she just posed in the open doorway, silhouetted by the light from the hall. Now, should she just saunter in, or, run and jump into his arms wrap her legs round his waist and.? Her smile broadened as she recalled her last moments with him prior to leaving for their doomed shuttle race. Three hours of alone time, three hours of intertwining her body with his, joining her mind to his, feeling his emotions, feeling her own touch across his naked skin on her skin. she flushed red and cast her face towards the floor.

Michael wasn't drop dead, he was quite a looker, but he didn't turn many heads; Dhani had noted due to his pervious lack of companionship. His conversations centered round work and he could babble on for hours in techno speak, that was swiftly becoming a language in its own right in their household, what with three engineers under the same roof n' all! He had a slightly geeky air to him at times, too consumed with technology and preoccupied with work, but boy did he have some moves!

He was shy and backwards in large groups but when they were alone, it was a totally different story. He knew. just knew what made her toes curl and that spark, that connection between their hearts and minds grew every time they were together. It was very different from what she had had with Chang. That relationship, though close just didn't compare. She connected mentally to Chang, she could feel him and he her, but with Michel it went so much deeper. When they were together, neither one had the upper hand, neither one of them dominated the other. It was an equal union both of them laying their souls to bear as vulnerable as they were, both accepting the other. She folded her arms across her chest and giggled softly. Feeling a set of cold eyes upon her she looked up. "What?" she asked Kimberly confused, "Sorry did you say something?"

"Yes, I did. I said go ahead, say it. If I hadn't been so stubborn, or if I'd kept my mouth shut, we'd have got out of there peacefully. Or if I'd had a weapon or two aboard things would have been easier." Sounding like she was repeating something that had been said to her before she raised both eyebrows and focussed on Dhani, "I stick to what I believe though, if I have the choice I will stay true to what I believe if I can. It's not always possible, but I'll be damned if I let some over grown moron try and add me to his harem."

Dhani nodded slowly. Truth be told she could say a lot to the woman standing next to her. Yes, if she had kept her mouth shut and left her prejudice back on the Galaxy and simply declined the proposal things might have been okay, hell she could have told a white lie to save herself; the Prince's feelings and the political mess that they ended up in. But no, beliefs, beliefs, beliefs! Dhani sighed, religion of any sort is stupid, she decided.

Unzipping her jacket Kimberly roughly rubbed the back of her neck and left shoulder which still ached from the less that gentle handling she had received, "What would you have done?" she asked ignoring the look on Dhani's face now and focussing on the knot in her shoulder muscles, "would you have married him?"

~Weapons! Weapons would have been grand!~ "No." Dhani replied softly. ~If the bloody shuttle had some phasers that would have been a start, but nooooo! Nothing! Kimberly was damn set on getting herself killed in the name of pacifism!~ Dhani rolled her eyes. She was in agreement with the principle of asking questions first before shooting and that violence should be a last resort. But to not even arm yourself for the 'just in-case' scenario aggravated her. Did this woman learn nothing from her years at the Academy? And what was worse was the maddening fact that Kimberly 'was' going to get someone killed with her beliefs.

Dhani had listened to her for hours now about how Witches had been burned at the stake for their beliefs, how they were persecuted for centuries and how frustrating it had been to find out that someone in the Fleet still held such archaic perceptions. She had gone into specific detail about what Wicca was all about; life, death the celebration of the seasons, living from the land and all that jazz. But the most prolific statement she had uttered was 'an it harm non do what ye will.' It was a good sentiment, but did Kimberly realise that she was continuing the cycle of ignorance herself by allowing her beliefs to stand in the way of basic Starfleet regulations? She respected Kimberly's right to believe in whatever she wanted to, hell she could worship the god of pink spots and celebrate naked Thursdays if she wanted to. But where Dhani drew the line was when religion interfered with the obligations of a Starfleet Officer.

Dhani of course realised that the Hippocratic Oath also played a part in Kimberly's reluctance to harm another living being, but what if it was a child, an innocent? Someone that could not fend for themselves, would she really let a child be slaughtered just so she didn't have to handle a weapon? And what if she had passengers on her shuttle, well in fact she did; Dhani and Bran. What about their safety? Their lives had been compromised the moment they had stepped on that ship. Neither of them knew that the KittyKat didn't have any defences. Granted they weren't expecting to get into a combat situation, but that is exactly why she should have installed phaser banks on the damn thing, for events JUST LIKE THAT! Dhani took a deep breath and let the anger pass.

It was done with now. No one got hurt, well aside from their pride and reputations. It was all over with and dwelling on it was just going to entice an argument and it wasn't needed. She looked down at the floor for a moment and smiled softly. "At least you still have your boots." Dhani said by way of defusing Kimberly's tension and self berating.

Oblivious to the train of thought floating through Dhani's mind, and probably for the best, Kimberly looked down at her feet and reflected briefly on a previous mission that had gone south, costing her not only a lot of confidence, but also a damn comfortable pair of boots. "Thanks for reminding me," she said sourly, not really wanting to be reminded of 'that' particular fouled up mission. "Any other words of wisdom?" she asked slightly acerbically. "Cause that's one mission I really don't need reminding of thanks." There were occasional nights that particular foul-up kept her awake, something she had yet to share with her friend, mainly centred around a certain dead body. She still wondered to this day just what exactly did happen, but the events were so vague. Asking Dhani again would be pointless though, no matter how many times she had been told what had happened her own mind refused to supply specifics, just vague memories.

Dhani shook her head eyeing Kimberly for a second, ~Nope,~ she replied inwardly, ~no more words of wisdom will be falling from my lips with that attitude!~ she sighed. There wasn't going to be any way in the short term to cheer Kimberly up, she resigned. The woman was pissed and until she dealt with it she wasn't going to be good company either. Dhani shrugged to herself, she would check in on Kimberly later, let her cool off and burry this mission in the recess of her mind.

~ And speaking of reminders! ~ Kimberly thought to herself as the lift started slowing at deck eight, "By the way," she said in a deceptively soft tone, "you and I still need to sit and talk," she reminded Dhanishta. Taking a step closer to her friend she frowned, "don't think I've forgotten what happened before we left, nor the fact that the main reason I invited you along to the race was so we'd have some quiet time away to talk privately. You and I need to sit down, and very soon!"

"Sure." Dhani replied smiling softly thinking about Michael still, "Go ahead and set that up." She smiled once more and made for the door of the lift as it came to a stop. "I'll talk to you later, yeah?" she asked stepping out of the turbo lift.

Putting an arm out, Kimberly grabbed Dhanishta, "No," she said flatly, "how about now? This is something we've put off, been interrupted or prevented from doing by one thing or another for months. Before we left something serious happened, and I'm damn sure that's just the icing on the cake." Pulling Dhani back with a sudden tug she raised her voice, "Deck fourteen." she ordered the lift. Looking at Dhani she raised a finger to forestall any objections, "Did you have something more important to do?" she asked.

Bewildered Dhani gasped. ~We've put off?~ she questioned staring at Kimberly startled and confused she opened her mouth to protest, yet while she could think of a thousand things more important to do nothing came out of her mouth. Words just refused to form. She blinked several times forcing words, any words out; "Engineering." she stammered, "Michael.."

"No. Good." Kimberly said, ignoring the reply completely. As the turbolift slowed she indicated the door, "Are you gonna come with me?" she asked, "or do we have to argue?"

Blinking again Dhani just stared; words failed her completely as did forward motion. Kimberly was never this assertive; in fact she was down right passive, about everything! Her eyes widened slightly, ~Trust me,~ she mused silently, ~I grumble about her being too passive and now she's demanding and I'm still whining. Though it would be better if the sudden change in attitude was about something other than me!~

She had a choice before her, go with Kim willingly or face an all out war right here in the turbo lift. Dhani weighed the options up in her mind chewing on her lip slightly as she did. But before she replied she felt herself being tugged and then simply hauled out of the lift but the scruff of her cuff.

"Hey, hey." she called out pulling back slightly, only to be yanked harder, "HEY!" Staring at the back of Kimberly's head as she was literally dragged down the corridor Dhani sighed inwardly, so there wasn't really a choice after all! She cast her eyes over her shoulder and took a longing look towards the turbo lift, ~Mikey would just have to wait.~ she sighed heavily.

"Outed" Part One

Commander Brian Elessidil - Chief Counselor
Lieutenant Dhanishta Eshe - Chief Engineer
Lieutenant Kimberly Burton - Chief Medical Officer

* * * * * Chief Counselor's Office * * * * *

(Set directly after "Choices")

Hand firmly clenched around Dhanishtas' wrist, Kimberly tugged her friend a short way through the corridors of deck fourteen, without a sideways glance or a word she led the way. It wasn't long before the destination became apparent to Dhanishta. The outer office door of the Chief Counselor loomed before them briefly, only to vanish as they both made a rapid left turn into the ante room. For Kimberly the turn was smooth and planned, for Dhani however the sudden shift in direction was like having her arm yanked out of its socket.

Yelping slightly Dhani stumbled, her feet tangling beneath her. The rapid momentum kept her from falling over completely and she quick-stepped in order not to. Having been a gymnast back in her academy years paid off she mused silently. "What exactly are we doing here?" Dhani asked, though her only response was another tug as she once more pulled back against the destination.

Ignoring Dhani's comments Kimberly looked to Commander Elessidil's aide, only slowing to talk, never loosing all her momentum. "Is he in?" she asked sharply.

"Kimberly!" Dhani protested, yet once more on deaf ears. Rolling her eyes Dhani bit back on the frustration that was rapidly turning into anger.

"Yes Doct." she started only to be brusquely cut off.

"Is anyone with him?" Kimberly said sounding more irritable by the moment.

"No Doctor, but." she tried to say faster.

Dhanishta smiled softly, pleading with her eyes for her to interject, but was once more yanked away before she could make her request verbally.

Ignoring the NCO seated behind the desk Kimberly continued into Brian's office. Dragging Dhani into the Chief Counselor's room she pulled her friend around her once inside so they stood side by side.

"Sit." She commanded the Chief Engineer, realizing that, for a second, she sounded like she was ordering some recalcitrant pet to obey her orders. ~ Headstrong, obstinate, damn true! ~ She muttered to herself as she spied the Commander sat behind his desk, relaxing and reading.

"Commander," Kimberly started as she aimed Dhani to a chair well away from the door, "Got a moment?" she said, not sounding like she was asking at all.

Dhani raised her eyebrows at the order, although she could do nothing else but comply as she was forced by a steady hand into the chair. Heavily she sat, having no where else to go but down!

The urge to stand back up and walk out, no - run out - tempted her. But she couldn't escape the bizarreness of the situation, and like a bystander caught in the dazzling lights of an accident she stopped to watch. The Chief Medical officer had just dragged her in here, and right now she looked to be the 'crazy' one. Dhani smiled inwardly, wondering how this would play out. In part she was intrigued to see just what exactly the CMO would do next. Settling herself in the chair she leaned back, resting her elbows on the arm rests. With a slight curl of amusement upturning the corners of her lips she relaxed slightly, head tilting to one side as she watched with curiosity.

Brian had watched the peculiar scene as it instantaneously unfolded before him. One minute he was enjoying a precious moment of free time between appointments, catching up on some insights from Kate North's latest book (he still felt a wave of affection tinged with sadness wash over him whenever he thought of her); the next he was watching two of his fellow department heads burst into his office as if neither they nor the universe could stand to see him in a free moment. It was a sentiment the universe had been expressing far too much lately.

For a moment he said nothing, his eyes darting from Kimberly's sternly set features to Dhani's bemused curiosity. In a sense, it wasn't unheard of for people to have to be dragged in to see him, though the fact that it wasn't him doing the dragging this time was somewhat unprecedented.

"I looks like I do now," he replied, surrendering his book to the surface of his desk. "Which of you would like to go first?" he asked with the slightest hint of facetiousness. The question was hardly necessary, as the obvious dynamics of the situation and his own telepathic impressions made it clear that Kimberly was here to recommend therapy, not to partake in it.

Dhani gestured to Kimberly, "Please Doctor." she said scathingly, "go ahead." she added with fake sincerity, clasping her hands over her knee as she crossed her legs, leaning forward; feigning interest.

"Thank you," she said, accepting the remark as carte-blanch to speak her mind. Turning to face Brian Kimberly started pacing slowly. "Commander, this must look a little odd, but I assure you I have my reasons." still pacing slowly she looked at Dhanishta and frowned. "Ever since I came aboard, Dhanishta and I have been getting to know each other, and ever since that started I've been meaning, no, needing, to sit down and have a chat with her about a few things. I have a list," looking to Brian and frowning, "and I mean a 'long' list of things that, as her friend and Doctor, I've picked up or noticed that need to be discussed, and yet every time we try, 'something' interrupts us, or it's not convenient, or the topic of conversation miraculously gets changed. Well, not this time." she added firmly.

Dhanishtas eyebrows rose, yet she refrained from saying anything. Letting out a breath of tension slowly she plastered a smile on her face and tried to ignore her rising ire.

Looking to Dhani the serious look on her face relaxed and Kimberly tried to smile at her friend, "I'm just worried, as your friend mainly, and it started right back when we first met, what was it you said to me?" Looking thoughtful for a moment she thought back to that conversation, and those disturbing words. "Your nine month nap, that more or less ended when your mother pulled the plug on your life support?" she enquired. "I'm going to assume the 'I'm a psychopathic murderer' comment in the same conversation was a bizarre attempt at levity, though we can come back to that in a moment."

Dhanishta managed to cover up her emotions from Kimberly as the woman breezed over her mothers recent actions without so much as a thought to how brining up that minor detail would effect her. However keeping a poker face in front of Brain did nothing to hide her feelings on the topic. The sudden urge to strike Kimberly for even mentioning it was quashed simply by the counselor's presence. Dhanishta forced herself to smile graciously at Kimberly, forced her eyes to display nothing but sincerity rather than the cold daggers that could kill her where she stood and not only that, but had to force herself to stay calm in front of Brian. She flashed him a small and brief smile before plastering a neutral expression across her face and returning her attention to Kimberly.

Perching on the edge of Brians desk Kimberly stared now at Dhani, watching her reaction as she spoke, now more or less ignoring the third person in the office, "That was also the first, but by no means the last time you've walked into sickbay and not let me finish my job. Your aversion to sickbay and the associated equipment has meant some difficulties, not in the least replacing or repairing equipment that has a habit of shorting out when your mind is anywhere near it," looking pained now she shuddered slightly as she remembered another thing, "oh, and yeah, let's not forget when you were unconscious one time and your telekinetics kicked in, I vividly remember that one due to the surgical scalpel that imbedded itself in my rib cage."

Elessidil turned an intrigued look in Kimberly's direction at the reference. Telekinetics? He didn't recall ever seeing anything about that in the lieutenant's file.

"Outfoxed"

Ensign Artim Shivar Science Officer, USS Galaxy

With

Pilot Elrin "Vixen" Kit'ari

Deep Space 5
The Hanging Noose

Vacation.

Since he had joined Starfleet Artim hadn't had what one might call a real vacation. Every time he'd managed to line up some leave or arrange for accommodations something had always come up. The last time he'd tried he ended off getting shipped off to Cheron. He'd only recently learned from her uncle that Valera, his Romulan "girlfriend" had planned to propose to him that night. Of course by the time he'd gotten back from Cheron she'd been shipped out herself and soon after had been killed in the battle with the Hydrans. It was a pity how the universe worked sometimes. In a couple days Artim was supposed to meet a transport that was to take him to a Romulan resort planet where he'd also just recently learned Valera had bought a beach house for the two of him that she'd left him in his will. He had no plans to keep it but he'd figured he'd spend a month there while looking for a buyer. It was supposed to be pretty this time of year. That and he had more then his fair share of leave accrued.

For now though he thought he'd spend his time sitting in one of DS5's bars trying his best to hide from Admiral Proctor. When he was here last he'd been kidnapped at her birthday party and worse accosted by fans of one of the holoproductions he starred in many many years ago. Since Proctor was , it seemed, one of his fans and seeing how she felt the need to annoy anyone having the slightest thing to do with the Galaxy, Artim decided to keep a low a profile as he could manage. As he walked to the bar to get another drink not really minding where he was going he promptly found himself with a face full of orange fur and a moment later flat on his back. As he shook off the fall he saw an orange and white hand?or was it a paw reaching down at him and a pair of onyx black eyes looking down at him.

"Sorry, need a hand there lad?"

Artim blinked a couple of times and then realized what he was looking at. There was a person?well?not quite a person but rather a meter and a half tall upright walking?fox. All the usual hallmarks were there, tufty orange ears, an elongated snout ending in a rounded black nose, and a bushy orange tail that ended in a white tip. What was stranger is that he seemed to be in the uniform of a Starfleet fighter pilot aside from the brightly colored maroon and silver ribbon around his upper arm. He hadn't recalled hearing about any foxpeople in Starfleet before. The ancient child sat there staring for a few seconds as he mentally added to his list of strange beings he'd encountered and then took the outstretched hand-paw and replied to the vulpinoid's inquiry.

"I'm ok. Thanks for the hand though. "

"You're welcome, and it really was my fault. I don't know what it's doing half the time. My tail that is." , the vulpinoid replied.

"Eh, don't worry about it. Isn't the first time I've been whacked by a tail." , Artim replied.

"I see, well, um, I don't mean to be rude but I was under the impression that human children weren't allowed in places like this."

"And I wasn't aware there were foxes that walked upright until about 5 seconds ago. And I'm no kid. Name's Artim, I'm on leave right now but I'm assigned to the Galaxy.", the Miran offered his own hand to the orange furred pilot as his black eyes nearly jumped out of their sockets. It took him a moment to realize who and what Artim was.

"Oh, you're one of those 'kids' Captain Kirk found. Most interesting. I'm Elrin by the way. Oh, I should get you a drink for knocking you over. Um?what do you drink?"

"Relax Elrin, I'm not an admiral or anything. Why don't you come over to?", Artim didn't even have time to finish his invitation before the station rocked with a series of explosions. Most of the people in the lounge had been knocked to the ground with the first shock, by the time they were done Artim and Elrin were the only ones still on their feet as they had braced against the bar. Elrin was the first to notice the veritable swarm of fighters that were visible from the window on the other side of the room.

"We're under attack!" , someone screamed as the red alert klaxons sounded.

"Damned Hydrans, that's the second vacation of mine they've ruined. Come on Elrin, we should get to work. "

"I concur. Let's go.", Elrin replied as he raced for the exit with Artim close behind as the Miran fumbled in his civilian jacket for the phaser that he always kept with him. Just as they made it to the nearest turbolift, which several officers were cursing at as it appeared to be deactivated, a dozen Hydrans beamed in and started sending disruptor blasts into the crowd.

"Damn, too many of them", Artim yelled as he shot wildly in the general direction of the armored Hydrans.

"Agreed. Lifts are down too. Any ideas?", Elrin replied.

"Just one?run."

"On The Move Again..."

Captain Jaal Jaxom (Cliff)
Cmdr. Arel Smith (Mek)
Cadet Aina Mason (Trev)
Petty Officer 3rd Class David Howe (Chris)
&
USS Carthage's Crew

==Somewhere On DS5==

Aina shrugged, "I don't have my hacking padd or the software. That would make life a lot easier. That rogue ice on the sensors is good."

He didn't know what Aina's fascination with ice was, but he gave up trying to understand most officers a long time ago. David looked to Jaal, despite his red collar he had little 'actual' experience in these situations outside the holodeck. (Little being none.) "What do we do now, sir?"

"We go two levels down and set booby traps along the way," the Trill hoisted a rifle onto his shoulder making sure the strap held it secure. He grabbed another rifle and a hand phaser from the weapons locker. "The Hydrans will start at the command levels and work their way down. I doubt they'll be taking prisoners. We have to get to main engineering and attempt to shut the station down and send a signal to the rest of the fleet. I got a hunch this sneak attack was well hidden... I just wish I knew how they did it." Next he buckled a belt of spare hand-weapon power packs to his waist.

"All right people," he addressed what was left of his crew, "Lock and load. If we run into Hydran forces don't stop shooting until they stop moving. Aim for the joints in their armor if you can. Net'wa, Stovok, take point. Smith, you're next. Mason, you're with me."

Jaal then divided up the rest into three groups. Two would go between the pointpeople and Smith, followed by Jaxom and Mason, then the third group would bring up the rear. "The rest of you bring keep your eyes out for station personnel that may need help. Once we're moving we'll use hand signals only unless we know an area is secure."

Next the Carthage's former captain gave the signal to move out...

Aina screwed up her nose, this was starting to feel like Gyndine - and that was not something that she wanted to be a part of again -defintely not this soon. She took the phaser pistol and while she knew where how to change it to level four and how to make it safe or ready to fire, she had the same feelings come up that she had on Gyndine -could she pull the trigger? On Gyndine, there were the others, they seemed confident in the fighting, to her, it seemed that a cold hand had gripped her heart and her legs and arms wouldn't, couldn't move. She hoped that it wouldn't happen here.

Jaal jogged down the hall following his crew and Aina. He became acutely aware of the other's feelings whether it was instinct or some other sense he didn't know he had. They all knew what they were up against and failure was not an option. If it came down to it, could he really set the station's self destruct sequence?

'Best not worry about that now,' he thought. They were un-captured and armed so there was still a chance. After diving down a jeffries tube that would take them two levels down as Aina indicated, they emerged, one by one ready to fight. The signals from the scouts came back that the coast was clear. Apparently none of the Hydran boarding parties had made it that far down yet.

"The terminal we need is in that room," Jaal told them quietly looking up from his tricorder. He indicated with his finger a door about twenty meters down the corridor.

Once inside the room, which was someone's office, he ordered two teams to scout the deck and check for other Starfleet personnel or civilians. Then the Trill set Aina to work.

=== A little while later ===

It wasn't long before one of the scouts returned with one civilian survivor and a report that a small group of Hydrans weren't far behind. Arel looked over at Aina and smiled. "I can give you a couple of minutes."

Aina grimaced, it wasn't enough time, "It's not enough time," she called out.

"We're doing the best we can, make do," Jaal called from the door. He was watching the corridor with his phaser rifle at the ready just in case.

Aina rubbed the ridges on her nose, she had barely started the compiling of the sensor control suite here on the Engineering Sub-Node. And there was no way she could make it go any faster... Furiously trying to think, suddenly the light panel flickered for a few seconds above her head, as she had an idea.

"I need a little more time, I can set up a remote service to the sensor suite here on the node. The hard part will be hiding it from anybody who looks," called out Aina.

"How long do you need?" Jaal asked anxiously.

"Couple of minutes, I can do it," Aina was trying to convince herself more than anyone.

The two minutes seem to elapse as if seconds and as Aina was setting up the last command sequence, as the sounds of phaser fire came down the corridor.

"We need another Sub Node, they'll be further into the core of the station," called out Aina.

"Then that's where we go," Jaal told her determinedly, "We have to get to engineering which is further down in the core anyway," he told the youngster. Looking to Arel he said, "Cover us. We're going on the move again. Once we're out, toss a few grenades down there to keep'em off our backs."

Aina packed up her things and went out behind Jaal. He'd recalled the two groups he'd sent around the deck to check things out. Now they moved as a cohesive group again down the corridors keeping track of each other with tricorder set to passive scan. The people bringing up the rear were leaving booby traps for any Hydrans that might follow.

Instead of taking turbolifts, everyone started ducking down a jeffries tube.

They would meet at the next terminal Aina needed to continue her work.

"Outed" Part Two

Commander Brian Elessidil - Chief Counselor
Lieutenant Dhanishta Eshe - Chief Engineer
Lieutenant Kimberly Burton - Chief Medical Officer

* * * * * Chief Counselor's Office * * * * *

Elessidil turned an intrigued look in Kimberly's direction at the reference. Telekinetics? He didn't recall ever seeing anything about that in the lieutenant's file.

Dhani averted her gaze from Kimberly. Her foot began to tap in the air as she stared out across the floor, her lips tightening as her body stiffened. ~Why here?~ she questioned silently, ~Why now?~ she chewed on the inside of her lip, ~And why the hell with him?~ She couldn't help but cast an accusing glance towards Brian. She looked away quickly, not wanting to focus on him, not wanting him to sense her, but she was sure he caught her glance, felt the anger and hatred it conveyed towards him. ~Kimberly, SHUT UP!~ Dhani shouted inside her mind her jaw setting.

It was more than a glance that the Betazoid counselor caught. Dhani's angry questions came through loud and clear to him, punctuated by the unspoken demand that the doctor end her "outing" now.

"What is it with you and sickbay equipment?" Kimberly asked sounding exasperated, I mean, every time you visit now I'm tempted to pre-warn ops and have a damage control team on standby."

Dhani swallowed hard, moistening her lips as if to speak, yet she refrained once more. She could feel her skin prickle and her spots pucker as a fine sweat began to break out across her skin. She felt something plummet into her stomach, like someone had dropped a penny in a well; she felt it go through her, into her, and her stomach reacted like a thick sludge. The sensations emanated from the pit of her gut, a sudden rush of warmth, arose like a mist; she could feel it all around her and within her.

"And on the subject of telekinetics, let's not forget poor Jiiles who found himself thrown six feet against the wall when all he wanted to do was talk? And you didn't lay a hand on him!" Recalling the staggered engineer she'd had to peel off the floor, Kimberly shook her head and continued, now she was on a roll she wasn't about to stop until she had finished what she wanted to say.

"Can we talk about this telekinetics business a little more?" Brian asked, though it seemed not to register with either of the women.

~Jiiles!....JIILES?!~ Dhani screamed inside, ~You're bringing up Jiiles.? You have no idea what happened there...~ Dhanis mind felt aflame now, the ire rose, it filled her. She no longer hid the anger from her face, or felt tipped the daggers that flew from her eyes. Her face flushed and then the color drained. She felt the sweat ooze from the pores of her hands chilling them more than usual in the gentle breeze created by the environmental controls.

Again, the counselor tried vainly to intervene, this time to allow Dhani to express out loud what she was keeping -- or so she thought -- to herself. "Lieutenant, why don't-----"

"Then after an enlightening chat with the aforementioned Jiiles I looked up Quentin. Ring a bell? Hope so, 'cause your conversation with Captain Stuart at that point saying that everyone should be dead was the highlight of the Bridge Video Log that day." Frowning Kimberly thought briefly just how to best phrase the next piece of her rant, ~ Ah the hell with it! ~ "By the way, just how many times 'have' you died? Or nearly died in the line of duty?" she asked bluntly, "because for most people, one, maybe two near death experiences are enough to warrant concern, what are you up to, four? Five!?!?"

"Six." Dhanishta replied curtly through clenched teeth with a slight twitch of her head as she stared venomously at Kimberly.

"Oh yeah," as if remembering something Kimberly leaned forward slightly, "what happened with you and Lieutenant Suder? There's lots of log entries and some notes about EPS conduits and new procedures, but what was going on there? And what's with the notes that you tried to kill him once???"

Again, Brian could recall seeing no such reference in Eshe's file. "Doctor, wh---"

Dhani eyes lit up with anger at the incorrect details. She had told Kimberly that before they left, "There are no such 'notes' 'Doctor'." she spat angrily, "I told you that in con." she visibly shook with anger now, and even more so at being cut off.

"And." interrupting any potential comments made by either person she fixed her gaze on Dhanishta, "speaking of that scalpel moment, I just remembered, what was all that about little girls and blood?" she asked? "How'd you put it? . 'So much blood! How can a child bleed so much? It's so small!', or how about 'So easy. They never see it coming. Shame he was a screamer, these two had far to go.'.? You feel like enlightening me? Because they have me worried, they sorta slipped my mind after that scalpel incident and then that ass Jackson from engineering who chased you down and screamed at me, like it was my fault you collapsed!" ~ Frelnik! ~ She thought, though had to smile inwardly after she remembered what Arrietty had put him through during his yearly injections.

A very slight smile upturned the corners of Dhanis lips then, evil and cruel. For a moment it looked as if she were about to break out into laughter, if Brian was 'listening' to her inner voice he would hear it. Her eyes rolled upwards in their sockets briefly and her demeanor changed, in a split second her ire almost evaporated, but it was replaced with something much darker. Refocusing on Kimberly Dhanishtas body relaxed a smidge. She leaned back in the chair her face upturned towards Kim, still sporting a look of contempt, but there was something else there too, something more sinister.

Brian had indeed observed the change in Lieutenant Eshe both visually and telepathically. What had started as an odd encounter was rapidly becoming more disconcerting by the minute, and while there were still so many questions he wanted to ask, he decided to watch and listen for a just a little longer.

Taking a deep breath again she ploughed on, ignoring the looks she was getting from Dhani and not giving the Commander a chance to speak, finally, she was getting the chance to put all the questions on the table. That Dhanishta hadn't walked out, or pasted her to the far wall via telekinetic express was to her a good sign, but she couldn't keep this up for long before her patience beamed out entirely.

"You remember the Luau?" Kimberly asked, seeing the look she got in return for the non-sequitur she continued on, "you remember what you said to me then, I may have been a little drunk but I still remember you saying, 'Kimberly, there's something in me', but you never told me what, or why you thought that?" she said, her voice full of concern.

"I promised then I wouldn't push, but I can't, not anymore. There's too much! And look at what happened just before we left for the race!" biting her tongue at the look on Dhani's face she left 'that' comment as it was, Dhani had her reasons for not wanting it discussed, ~ Fine! ~ but that didn't mean she was going to forget it, or at least mention it because it was definitely worry worthy!

Dhanishta nodded slowly, extremely slowing as if she were only half listening and felt like now was the appropriate time to show that she was still paying attention.

"I have spent months talking to you, listening to your tales of life aboard this ship, and I'm worried okay! You keep telling me these things and the list grows and grows. For instance, ch'Rihan, you were down there almost the entire occupation, and when you came back the state you were in frankly scared me, then you promptly collapse in my office. Then while I'm treating you and trying to find out what was wrong you short out another biobed, blow up my tricorder, wake up, yell at me and walk out! Like being worried about a friend who's just fainted before me is a crime or something!"

>From a professional standpoint, Brian found it troubling that Kimberly had never mentioned any of this to him or as far as he knew, to Karyn, given the extraordinary nature of what the doctor had just outlined, but he still held off on interrupting just yet. There was obviously more she wanted to say, and likely more reaction on Dhani's part, and he wanted as much of it as possible to come out.

"Outed" Part Three

Commander Brian Elessidil - Chief Counselor
Lieutenant Dhanishta Eshe - Chief Engineer
Lieutenant Kimberly Burton - Chief Medical Officer

* * * * * Chief Counselor's Office * * * * *

From a professional standpoint, Brian found it troubling that Kimberly had never mentioned any of this to him or as far as he knew, to Karyn, given the extraordinary nature of what the doctor had just outlined, but he still held off on interrupting just yet. There was obviously more she wanted to say, and likely more reaction on Dhani's part, and he wanted as much of it as possible to come out.

Sounding indignant now Kimberly pushed away from the desk and headed for the replicator, ordering some water for herself she continued talking as she watched the drink materialize, "Every time you're in sickbay it's something different to worry about, and you've a file most people at Starfleet medical would consider a novel in itself."

"How very. interesting. Doctor." Dhanishta remarked coldly staring out across the floor.

Picking up her drink she took a swift sip and turned to face Dhani again, "Oh, and let's not forget the time you took a swing at 'me' when all I was doing was swearing about someone else. Granted, I shouldn't have been using phrases I didn't know anything about, and yes agreed if I'd used that in front of a Klingon I'd probably be dead right now, I looked it up," she explained to Dhani, a confused look passing over her own face, something she also needed to discuss with her friend if they were still on speaking terms after this, even though she understood the words now the implication was obviously cultural, "I know you spent time there when you were young, but you're not Klingon? So why?"

Dhanishta remained silent, knowing now that while Kimberly paused briefly in her narrative she did not intend for Dhanishta to reply at all. She had made that point perfectly clear.

"And. I would like to point out one other thing; I'm not the only one who's worried. You have more friends around here, all of whom are worried, as friends!" she emphasized, trying not to make it sound like people were bitching behind her back. "And their concern I think goes back further than the time you walked into sickbay with slit wrists!"

"Doctor, why wasn't I informed about this?" Brian asked in a forthright tone.

Dhani closed her eyes and fully reclined into the chair. ~Great, just. great.~ she sighed. Her head turned towards Brian now, regarding his reactions to that little tit bit of information. Once more she smiled at him, factiously. Raising her eyebrows at him she half shrugged and then lazily rolled her head back towards Kimberly.

The counselor wasn't particularly amused with either of them at the moment.

"And then there's the Dithparu, something you've mentioned once or twice as well. I only came aboard after that incident so I don't know the specifics, only what I read in the reports, but you've made references to them several times," sipping her drink again Kimberly leant against the replicator and sighed, "Dhanishta, I could go on, you know I could, I could stand here and regurgitate a whole host of things, ranging from your weight," ~ Okay, I'm not one to talk there! ~ she realized, but continued on anyway, "to your PSI abilities, to scary references, to midnight calls, near death. or death. experiences and on and on."

Wanting to say so much more Kimberly paused a second, there were some things she could not say, unfortunately, covered as they were by Doctor patient confidentiality. Commander Elessidil could request to see her medical files in the course of counseling, as was his privilege, but until he actually made that request she found herself holding her tongue about a few points on her list. Wishing she'd had the foresight to speak to him first and get his request beforehand she shrugged mentally, ~ Ah well, next time! ~ she decided.

Brian held his tongue again for now, but regardless of where this all went with Eshe, he and Kimberly were going to have a talk.

Dumping the half drunk glass in the wall slot she disposed of it and ordered a strong coffee instead, "By all rights I should report you unfit for duty at least on the grounds I don't have an up to date medical on you, something that keeps getting interrupted by Hydrans, Borg, destroyed biobeds or exploding tricorders, but I haven't. Why? Because you're my friend, and because I want to help, and also because your work doesn't seem to be suffering because of any of this. Yet. But, you can't keep this up; you can't keep holding everything in. Because sooner or later something will snap and then I will have to report this whether I want to or not."

Dhani actually felt herself move forward, into an upright position ready to perhaps reply, snorting she let herself fall back into the seat and turned a questioning gaze to Brian, silently asking him with a look 'so ya think she might let me speak now?' she scoffed knowing full well that even if Kimberly was done, no doubt Brian would want his turn now. So she sat back and took a deep breath and closed her eyes, waiting his verdict.

For his part, the counselor had had enough of the theatrics. Some very serious allegations had been made and there was more than enough to cause him concern on a professional level. He wasn't at all happy about how it had all come up, nor with seemingly having been kept in the dark by a colleague and fellow officer on matters that were clearly within his professional purview. He stood, a grave seriousness etched on his face. "Lieutenant, *Doctor*," he began, emphasizing the second as it was with Kimberly that he was more irritated at the moment. "I think enough's been said here to keep us all busy for quite some time, and believe me, I intend to find out as much as I can now that it's been brought to my attention. But I'm a counselor, not a referee, so I'm calling an end to this three-way discussion right now." He continued, his tone clearly indicating that he wasn't simply making suggestions. "Lieutenant, I want to see you here again in one hour. For now, you're dismissed. Doctor, please stay for a few minutes."

Dhanishta pivoted in her seat, her eyebrows rose so high on her head; she could be wearing them as a top hat. "Hell no!" she almost shouted at the pair of them. Standing up swiftly, she glared at them, "A three way discussion was it? From where I was sitting it was more like a damn execution and only the prosecution has had its say! I am 'not' leaving." she told them flatly her nostrils flaring.

The anger within was simmering, bubbling, having passed boiling several minutes ago, it did not however take much to rise the temperature. The engineer was about ready to explode right here, right now. Her body shook so much that she thought it might just vibrate itself through the deck plates. She could feel her heart pounding against her rib cage as her breath came in shallow.

Taking a few steps back from them shaking her head Dhani just stared unable to think straight. ~What the hell just happened here?~ the question repeated over and over, galloping though her mind. Stuck in a perpetual nightmare, unable to even begin to answer her own question as it repeated, louder and louder until she thought that her ears would bleed.

She felt her nose twitch and her eyes sting. ~I'll be dammed if that's tears~ Dhani chided. But she couldn't escape the pain, the hurt and the utter betrayal she felt. Unable to put her emotions into words, unable to comprehend them for this was the first time she had ever encountered such duplicity she just kept back-stepping, shaking her head slowly.

Then she stopped. Her eyes on the floor, unable to look at either of them, she knew that no matter what she did, how she tried to hide, he could see her, and she hated that. How ironic, a Betazoid that hated Betazoids! Her jaw set, her eyes darkened; she lifted her gaze, pinning Kimberly with a look of utter contempt, "HOW DARE YOU?" she literally screamed, her body reeling from the force of her own words. Her eyes wide, boring holes into the woman that visibly flinched and balked at the ferocity expressed.

"A Galaxy Full of Adventure"

Ensign Sharzhevashi zh'Rin

*** DS5, Temporary Quarters ***

Sharzhevashi zh'Rin chewed at her lip as she watched the display before her. On the screen, a list of her recent subspace messages, some still showing they hadn't been accessed. She wasn't quite ready for that yet, facing the correspondance from home.

Turning away, the replicator suddenly seemed much more interesting. Padding across the temporary quarters she'd been given when coming aboard the station, she contemplated the various options available to her. The replicator could reproduce many things, for certain, but she was hesitant to attempt consuming some. Some of the dishes she'd requested, specifically cuisine from home, had turned out less than she'd expected.

"Tea," she instructed the replicator. "Jasmine. Hot."

She took the cup and saucer once it had materialized and returned to the desk where her messages waited. Where there had only been one taunting her and inflaming her guilt when she'd boarded the Cheyenne, now there were six. Messages from home, from her bondmates, and from zhavey.

"Computer, play message from, Kora."

The list of messages dissolved into the face of Korazei ch'Vesh. He was as beautiful as ever, with his smooth skin and delicate features. Just gazing at his likeness on the screen, she could feel her heart beginning to race.

"Zh'yi, I hope you are well. Our time together before your departure was pleasant. I am happy that we were able to have that. I know that it will be some time before we see one another again." He sighed and smiled. "It is warm today. I stopped by the strand where we spent that day. Do you remember it? I thought I spied another couple beneath the boardwalk, but I left them to their time alone. I knew I had to send this to you afterwards. I miss you, Sharzhevashi, and I hope to hear from you very soon. All of my love to you, zh'yi."

Shi was near to tears as the recording ended. "Oh ch'te," she murmured. The memories were so very pleasant, but they brought a pain with them as well. She growled something in Andorii at the computer in her native tongue and the display returned to the Federation logo. She felt bad for the computer, since her own personal issues were none of its fault. She should not take out her frustrations on it. A part of her mind found amusement in her own anthropomorphizing the computer. In truth, she suspected her tone would have made no difference in how she'd told it to exit from her personal messages.

She had not received word on the status of the Galaxy in the last six hours, but its arrival was not expected soon. Her adventure would have to wait a little longer before it began. Since it appeared her stay on the station would extend for a little longer and there were neither starships nor shuttles to fly, she had changed out of her uniform into more comfortable attire.

She had almost put on one of her cearas, but instead chose a lightweight gown she'd picked up on Pacifia. It fell loose about her body while leaving her left shoulder and arm bare. She picked up her teacup and moved to sit on the edge of her bed.

Just as she was about to sit, as fate would have it, outside of her quarters, all hell broke loose. It seemed fate may have had a bit of adventure planned before the Galaxy even arrived after all.

"Outed" Part Four

Commander Brian Elessidil - Chief Counselor
Lieutenant Dhanishta Eshe - Chief Engineer
Lieutenant Kimberly Burton - Chief Medical Officer

* * * * * Chief Counselor's Office * * * * *

Then she stopped. Her eyes on the floor, unable to look at either of them, she knew that no matter what she did, how she tried to hide, he could see her, and she hated that. How ironic, a Betazoid that hated Betazoids! Her jaw set, her eyes darkened; she lifted her gaze, pinning Kimberly with a look of utter contempt, "HOW DARE YOU?" she literally screamed, her body reeling from the force of her own words. Her eyes wide, boring holes into the woman that visibly flinched and balked at the ferocity expressed.

"I'm sorry that this latest excursion did not go according to your plans." she began sarcastically, "I'm sorry that I intentionally scuppered your desires to interrogate me for two weeks straight, that is, in part at least, why I asked Branwen to come. No offence Doc' but two weeks alone in a shuttle with you and I would have topped myself." she said scathingly.

Flashing a look to Brian, "Make no mistake counselor, I have never tried to kill myself." she paused suddenly and laughed at that - that wasn't quite right. Her eyes turned upwards as she sought out a memory, smiling wryly at it, "I 'have' killed myself." she stated flatly with a small amount of surprise at the realization.

"Three times in effect." she added with a cold dead-ahead stare. "I would add that I have never committed suicide, but whilst I haven't wished to, I had to, for the greater good." She frowned, not only was she getting off topic she wasn't making much sense either. Damned temporal mechanics. Whilst she had no intention of killing herself, she was not depressed and had not wanted to end her life, events transpired where she had to. "Four times actually." she added absently calculating the other version of herself and the accident that was self inflicted yet not intentional. Breezing on.

"You claim that you have been wanting to 'talk' to me for months?" she asked Kimberly rhetorically, "Ya know, that was exactly what Jiiles said *after* he stalked me for three months *Doctor*!" she emphasized her 'friends' designation, for she was rapidly falling into the unwelcome camp. "Did you know that? Did you even ask? Oh noooo!" Dhani's voice began to rise as she gestured wildly, "You saw what you wanted to see. Completely ignored the fact that 'he' assaulted 'me' first, cornered 'me', 'harassed' me!" Dhani stated exasperated.

"You assume that because he wanted to talk that ultimately means I have to? Why the hell should I have to listen to anything that he had to say? He wasn't there. Do you understand that?" she inquired staring at Kimberly intently, "NINE MONTHS!" she screamed at the woman, "Nine bloody months, and not once." Dhanis voice wavered as the unexpected emotion caught her off guard. She pushed against it, rose above it, choked back the tears and the lump that swiftly lodged itself in her wind pipe. "..he wasn't there." she tried to say again with some force but trailed off in a trembling whisper.

Taking a deep breath to steady herself she continued, "You say that you want to talk about all this," she made a circular gesture with her arms, encapsulating the conversation that was more like an attack, "well that's just great for you. Talk all you bloody like. What do you have, a photographic memory or something?" she added ridiculously, annoyed at herself.

"Yes, I do actually." Kimberly replied softly, even though Dhanishta probably didn't hear her. Her memory and recall were pretty damn good, one reason she had sailed through classes, though it wasn't something she showed off or advertised, it was just who she was.

She knew, right from the start where this relationship would go. She knew, in fact she had told Kimberly that she didn't want to be friends because anything she ever said to her in confidence would be regurgitated and used against her in the future. Kimberly had sworn blind that would not happen, that she could separate her personal life from her professional, that she would leave her 'counselors hat' on the doorstep, well that was a pile of bullshit. Why hadn't she seen it? Why the hell had she believed a single word that fell from that Fay-Fay duh Pee-yen? She should have listened to her gut and not got involved with the lying petaQ. "What in the name of Kahless makes you think that I would even want to talk to you about any of this? You have one oversized ego Doctor if you think that."

She frowned, "And what gives you the right to sit there and tell me how to conduct my business when you haven't dealt with yours? You pass yourself off as all high and mighty, waving around that 'chief medical officer's card' like its some sort of VIP pass. Well its not. And you have no right to sit in judgment over me when you have not confronted your own demons."

Blinking Kimberly looked at Dhani and felt her throat tighten; she should have expected this really. The knee jerk reaction to bring Dhani here had seemed like a good idea that the time, however it seemed Dhanishta was about to give her some of her own medicine. "My demons?" she asked, wondering just what she was going to bring up, "I know 'my demons' as you call them," she answered quietly, feeling more than a little upset at the comment Dhani had made about the two weeks away. That hadn't been the overall intent, two weeks away had simply sounded like a nice idea for a break. "I don't see the relevance really though."

Dhani chuckled bitterly, "Oh so you want to play 'that' game then hey?" She nodded curtly, "Okay then." she said with a malicious glint in her eyes. Sitting down opposite Kimberly she leaned forward, forearms resting on her knees, "Did you know she is an extremist?" Dhani asked casting her gaze over Kimberly shoulder to the extremely aggravated Brian.

"No?" she questioned at his peeved look, blinking innocently as if she didn't know that he was about three steps from chucking them both out the nearest air lock. "Our Doctor here is an extreme pacifist." she informed him with a twisted smile.

"She refuses to arm herself, even in a combat situation. Refuses to install weapons of any sort on her personal shuttle. Has frequently been reprimanded for failure to maintain *minimum*," Dhani emphasized, "Starfleet training requirements of hand to hand recertification. She won't even attempt to save herself by taking up arms and you can count on your last strip of latinum that she won't do anything to save your butt when the proverbial hits the fan." Dhani cast a look to Kimberly, inwardly she smiled with satisfaction as the wave of hurt crossed the woman's face. ~Now how do you like it?~ Dhani questioned silently.

"No offence to either of you, but I don't have to be a psychologist to figure out why she has passed the line of reason on this matter. It's text book!" She paused briefly allowing Kimberly to make some sort of reply.

~ Text book? ~ Kimberly thought, ~ She has no idea why... Unless! ~ Feeling a growing anger and trepidation at what Dhani was going to say her eyes narrowed, this was something she had never discussed with Dhanishta, or anyone else for that matter. The past in this case was most definitely best left dead and buried. "Just what..." she started to ask.

But then she cut her off, "You killed someone." Dhani stated flatly. ~Oh how the tables turned.~ She openly smiled now, that smile of satisfaction in causing another suffering. It was twisted and immoral, but vengeance was and is all these things and more, oh so much more.

"Self defense, miss-diagnosis, combat action, accidental." Dhani trailed off the possible reasons. It didn't really matter why. Her point was made and from the look on Brian's and Kimberly's face: point received.

"Awww," Dhani mocked the Doctors shame. Sliding out of her chair she shuffled across the floor coming to kneel in front of Kimberly taking her hands in a gesture of support, however she was far from comforting, "is the ickle Kimmie feewing gwilty?" she said sardonically.

Pulling her hands back from her 'friends' she stood up abruptly the flame alight once more, "You think you're clever dragging me in here, parading me in front of that?" she shouted pointing at Brian, her eyes narrowing on Kim, her voice low and strained as she battled against the rage. "But you forget, 'Kimmie'. He can read 'you' just as easily as he can read me."

"No matter the circumstances the outcome was still the same, and you can't stand the guilt, so instead of doing the 'logical' thing and seeking 'counseling', you have bottled it all up inside and in reaction have taken it to its extremes. Pot, kettle - BLACK!" Dhani shouted.

"You haul me up in here and you have the audacity to tell 'me' that you are considering relieving me of duty when my 'issues' that you have so tenderly laid out to bare have not effected my work, and yet you sit there while your issues dictate your every action!" Dhanishtas voice pitched, and continued to rise.

"Your guilt over that death has lead you to a DERELICTION OF DUTY. *You* knowingly risked the lives of two fellow officers by taking them into a situation with NO defenses whatsoever. You knowingly withheld that information, do you really think me and Bran would have come if we had known that the KittyKat was unarmed? Given that anything could have happened - and inevitably it did? If the New Rhean's had called our bluff, you'd be charcoal. DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT? YOUR IGNORANCE COULD HAVE GOT US ALL KILLED."

She paused to let her words sink and then said in a much darker voice, "Mark my words you WILL get someone killed one day. And yet still, you have the audacity to tell me that I am a liability. *I* have sacrificed myself for this ship and this crew and you . you put others at risk!" she snarled, "YOU should be the one relieved of duty!" ~Put that in your pipe and smoke it!~ Dhani finished triumphantly, folding her arms across her puffed out chest. If she was rotten to the core she would have felt extreamly proud of that 'If I'm going down, I'm taking everybody with me' mentality, but fire ultimately consumes everything, leaving only ashes in its wake.

"That's enough! I said you were dismissed, Lieutenant!" Brian finally shouted. "Be back here in an hour or I'll have security escort you back, is that understood?"

"Bite me!" Dhani instantly spat back unable to control the anger from spilling out in all directions.

Stood there listening to Dhanishta detail things she shouldn't, no - couldn't know Kimberly barely heard Brian order Dhani out of the room, her mind frozen on the words Dhanishta had thrown at her, her mind making links and assumptions in a flash. There was no way, unless... Staring at Dhanishta now with undisguised anger she realized just what Dhani had done, and therefore what she knew. Literally shaking with barely controlled anger and shame she felt her stomach churn and her head spin as the words echoed around her mind, turning away, feeling as if she had been violated in a way she could not begin to accurately describe she felt her whole body tremble as tears formed behind her closed eyes.

Misguided perhaps but her intent had been good she felt. Dhani, though had not heard that, or read it somewhere, no one had passed the information to her, and no one would. The trust she had betrayed there was not just personal, it was moral and ethical. She had to have taken that thought from her mind, and then thrown it out before another. Still shaking she leant on the wall.

~ No wonder she hates me! ~ she thought despairingly.

The room filled quickly with a thick choking smog of electric tension as Dhanishta defied Brian's orders. With nostrils flaring, she stood, staring at him intently as if she were purposely testing him.

She could feel the anger inside slowly subside. She knew Brian was not the person to be angry with, but she couldn't help the ferocity of emotions that came over her. ~It was just like what happened with Suder,~ she heard an inner voice chide, ~its happening all over again.~ Dhani looked away from him, wondering who's emotions these were this time, willing herself to calm down before she took things to a level she could not escape from.

As her blood rate and pressure returned to a healthier simmer she slowly relinquished. Taking a step back from the counselor with poignant discord she withdrew. With a slight incline of her head, a small signature of respect, but one none the less, she turned round and walked to the door.

Passing Kimberly she held the woman's gaze with her own, "Chur ni-duh." she said with a snarl knowing full well that Kimberly was the only person in the room that could intemperate that sentiment.

Wincing at the epitaph Kimberly didn't need to be a telepath to feel the anger emanating from Dhanishta, watching her leave without saying a word she turned to Brian and without saying a anything collapsed into a chair. ~ Well as bright ideas go, that's right up there with volunteering for a close approach nova patrol! ~ she decided.

"The Last Word"

Commander Brian Elessidil - Chief Counsellor
Lieutenant Kimberly Burton - Chief Medical Officer

(Occurs immediately after 'Outed Part 5')

* * * * * Chief Counsellor's Office * * * * *

Wincing at the epitaph Kimberly didn't need to be a telepath to feel the anger emanating from Dhanishta, quietly watching her friend leave she turned to Brian and without saying a word collapsed into a chair. ~ Well as bright ideas go, that was right up there with volunteering for a close approach nova patrol! ~ she decided.

After a moment she looked up to Brian, "You wanted a word before I go?" she asked without much enthusiasm.

"You're damn right I want a word," he snapped back, taking a deep breath in a vain attempt to rein in his anger. "You knew for months that our chief engineer has been experiencing drastic personality shifts, suicidal thoughts and has been a potential danger to the rest of crew and you never reported any of it to me?!! What the hell were you thinking? How would you react if I knew a crew member was exhibiting symptoms of Tyrellian plague or some other dangerous disease but never told you about it?"

"I'd be just as angry as you are now," she shot back, "however Sir, might I point out a few things. One," she started holding a finger up, "Almost all of what I said here has happened 'well' before I assumed my post on the Galaxy! Some of it going up to just before I came aboard," holding up another finger she continued without pausing to allow for interruptions, "Two, the counselling department has been aware that Lieutenant Eshe has been troubled for some time now, she has spoken briefly with Counsellor Dallas, and has missed many subsequent appointments which I might point out were never followed up on by the department. She was even relieved of duty if I recall, or at least placed on light duty after one visit but nothing ever came of that either."

"Three, Lieutenant Miramon has also spoken to Ms Eshe and even filed a report, it's one of the things that brought much of this to my attention," grabbing a PADD at random she accessed her logs and pulled up a note filed to her some time back, "it was this report that made me scan the ships logs, medical files and counselling files for further information." Bringing the report up on the PADD she tossed it onto the desk near the Commander, "Have a read," she offered.

"Computer, begin Counsellor's Log, using standard confidentiality protections."

"Lacking an appointment, Lieutenant Dhanishta Eshe arrived at my quarters earlier this evening, clearly in distress. After some time, she confided in me that she felt she was responsible for the murder of an individual she could not recognise as anything other than 'a child'. Despite this obvious gap in what she believes to be her memory, she nonetheless felt that she had killed the aforementioned child and seemed unable to cope with the reality of it. However, on further discussion, it seems clear to me that the images she was perceiving mentally are, in fact, not originating within her own psyche, but perhaps the result of external interference - possibly the result of her empathic or telepathic capabilities."

"In light of this possibility, there are several points I feel the need to address. Firstly, she seemed to consider my original prognosis, mentioning an event that occurred under the supervision of Lieutenant Ethan Suder, her commanding officer at the time of said occurrence. Medical records and a further analysis by Commander Karyn Dallas indicate that Eshe was influenced by an empathic echo, falling into unconsciousness, though not physically injured. Further search of her file indicate that the aforementioned Lieutenant Suder was also present during another incident in which a similar issue occurred, this time resulting in a coma that lasted 9 months and in her once being declared dead by the Trill medical officers treating her at the time. I can only conclude, therefore, that it is possible that Mr Suder has had some effect on Lieutenant Eshe's psyche, the totality of which may yet not have been realised.

However, I also cannot rule out the possibility that the Lieutenant may have been responsible for the actions that appear to be haunting her through images which would, therefore, be memories that are now having a marked effect on her present psychological state. If this is not true, it also is possible that the images are a thus-far undocumented result of her exposure to the Dithparu during the incident with them aboard the USS Galaxy. Regardless of the cause, however, I am absolutely convinced that if she is not responsible for the murder of the child to whom she referred, the images she is perceiving have been transmitted to her telepathically, though she is unable to distinguish them from true memories.

Given the number of variables, all of which fail to lead to a single definitive conclusion, I am therefore recommending further observation of the client, as well as a full medical and psychological evaluation by the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Counselling Officer respectively. I feel further investigation into these possibilities is also necessary, and I will continue to pursue these avenues of thought in consultation both with Lieutenant Eshe and with the CMO and CCO. It may also be necessary to determine whether these images are having any effect on the performance of her duties, so it may become necessary to involve the Chief Engineering Officer, dependent on her continued psychological state.

End log, save and copy to both Commander Karyn Dallas and Lieutenant Kimberly Burton."

"Now, granted I haven't spoken to you regarding this and yes that was an oversight on my part, however the Lieutenant and I were forming a personal friendship and I chose to respect her request to keep our conversations between us. Up until now that is. When she said she had spoken to someone in your department I assumed that as head of department you would have been made aware of her situation when you became Chief Counsellor." Pausing now for breath she got up and headed for the replicator again, "be pissed by all means Commander, but not just at me. I was trying to be a friend, but when I realised feth all was happening that's what prompted this little visit, because I finally figured out nothing was going to happen otherwise."

The revelation of Miramon's report did assuage the counsellor's anger a little. Obviously, some things had fallen through the cracks during his transition to chief counsellor, but there were too many variables in play to simply assign blame to any one source. As much as it irritated him, along with everything else, he would have to accept his own contribution to his ignorance of Eshe's condition.

"Alright, alright. Point taken, Doctor," he said, holding up a hand to signal his own acquiescence and to halt any debate. He sighed, what was left of his anger focused more on the situation than on anything else. "Now that I've already heard your personal views on Lieutenant Eshe's condition, what can you add from a professional perspective? Is there any reason to believe there's anything physically in play here?"

"How the frell should I know!" Obviously still agitated herself Kimberly thumped an order into the replicator for coffee as she talked, "every time I try and scan her my equipment either gets thrown across the room or completely fused by her mind!" Picking up her coffee she sipped it tentatively, "I have over the last few months got a little information but her file is incomplete. However, I don't have a current complete physical on file."

"After she fried a bio-bed a while back I managed to salvage some information from it, but the little I have just tells me I need to finish her physical. If she doesn't let me do this soon, I may have to report her unfit for duty on the grounds of insufficient information to the contrary." Looking unhappy at the prospect she returned to a chair and sat carefully, cradling her hot drink in her hands and sipping occasionally.

"We're going to have to keep working together on this," Brian said, as much to himself as to the doctor. "But to be honest, I am a little concerned with how this has obviously affected you. I'm sure I don't need to remind you that if you're going to be her physician, you're going to have maintain some personal objectivity."

"You're damn right it's affecting me, I drag my best friend in here because I'm worried about her and now I think I've just lost my best friend, so I'd agree it's affecting me! And it's all because no one has followed up on the information that's been right in front of their eyes all this K'hesting time! Previous medical and counselling chiefs and their staff have let this sit unnoticed for far too long!"

Visibly angry and upset Kimberly continued, trying not to let the shaking she felt in her stomach show, "Look at it from her medical files, within the first six months of her being aboard she went from someone described as almost Vulcan like in personality and attitude to someone brought into sickbay at one point with multiple injuries, possibly self inflicted. And damn near fatal! That time she needed to be resuscitated after being brought in with a cardiac arrest, multiple lacerations, fractured or broken ribs, a punctured lung and other broken bones. To date there's been no satisfactory answer to what happened and this was 'NEVER'" she almost shouted, "followed up on! Answer me this, what's been going on in this floating asylum!"

"I'm wondering the very same question," Elessidil responded, maintaining his cool in the face of the doctor's less-than-even tone. "But I'm more interested in finding out what's going on with her and to a lesser extent, what's in play for you with all this. I understand she's your best friend, but your reaction is far beyond what's professionally appropriate, even under the circumstances. If you're really going to help her, you're going to have to get ahold of yourself or get out of the way, Doctor, because practically kidnapping her to counselling in a rant and launching into extended diatribes isn't going to work, at least not in my department."

"Due respect Sir," Kimberly replied, her tone becoming flat in reply, "if this isn't going to work I'd like to know what will, because right now nothing seems to be working regarding Dhani. Yes, my reaction is perhaps above normal professionalism, but right now I'm frustrated and more than a little angry, so you'll forgive me if I want to see something done rather than left and ignored as has happened before."

Brian fixed his gaze on her for a moment. "I think it's time to separate out what's going on for her and what's going on for you. I suggest you turn her physical care over to someone else on your staff, someone who can be a little more objective; and in the meantime, I'm *strongly* suggesting -- call it an order if you like -- that you talk to someone to help you regain some control yourself. You can make an appointment with anyone on the counselling staff except me. I'll be working with Lieutenant Eshe myself and I want to put some distance between her issues and yours wherever possible. Clear enough?"

"Again, due respect Sir, I'll deal with my department and my objectivity. I'll also deal with Dhanishta should she require assistance, if she wants me to help." She added in a softer tone. Standing she nodded to Brian, "I'll make an appointment with someone after I check my schedule, and in the meantime I will keep you appraised of anything regarding Lieutenant Eshe should it arise. If there's anything else?" she asked, obviously ready and willing to bolt as quickly as possible.

"No, Doctor, I think that's enough for now," he answered. There was no point in pushing the issue further; what was necessary had been said. "Keep me informed of how Lieutenant Eshe is doing from your perspective, and I'll do the same."

Nodding as she turned Kimberly left the office without another word. She couldn't disagree with him though, she was taking this personally, but then this had gone unchecked for far too long. To let one or two things slip by the wayside was one thing, to almost ignore someone for this long offended her both personally and professionally. Dhanishta was her friend, or at least used to be, the jury was definitely out on that one right now and it would take time for that verdict to come back, but she still cared. Professionally it rankled both in her capacity as Chief Medical Officer, and also as a former Chief Counsellor herself. ~ I guess that makes me a professional busybody then. ~

Turning to the turbolift she headed for Angel Moon, ~ I need a drink. ~ she decided.

"Calling the Commanders Bluff" Part One

Commander Brian Elessidil - Chief Counselor
Lieutenant Dhanishta Eshe - Chief Engineer

***USS Galaxy, Chief Counselor's office***

Yanking her arm away from the security ensign yet again Dhani scowled, these chaps believed that if they didn't have a hold on you that you were gonna bail. The thought had crossed her mind more than once in the last five minutes, along with the notion of swatting him like a bug, strangling him where he stood or causing him to have an aneurism, however she had resisted those; so why the hell was he still groping her arm? Pulling away she twisted her head round to give him a venomous stare as he motioned her into the Counseling offices. Rolling her eyes as she was prodded forward once more she smiled briefly at the receptionist.

"Lieutenant Eshe, here to see Commander Elessidil." the Ensign said in a somber tone. His idea of ship wide security was 'not' escorting a reluctant counseling patient to a session.

"He's expecting her." the woman replied, not having forgotten their previous encounter. "Three hours ago." she added peeved staring directly at Eshe.

~Oh so I 'am' here!~ Dhani thought as the woman glared at her. She was beginning to feel like she was invisible by the way people kept talking about her right in front of her.

"There were a few problems in tracking the Lieutenant down." The Ensign replied in a bored tone as he flashed an irritated glance towards his charge. He had better things to do with his time, since the woman had turned off her com badge, and had opted to 'work' in a part of the ship where sensors couldn't penetrate easily, he had spent better part of three hours manually scanning each deck.

Tapping the intercom the receptionist announced Eshe's presence to Elessidil. Looking up she gestured for Dhanishta to proceed.

Rolling her eyes again Dhani sighed and stepped through the door as it opened. So she had called the Commanders bluff, and it wasn't a bluff. shrugging she crossed her arms across her chest, making no other attempt at greeting as she noticed the security guard step in behind her, no doubt he would do it for her.

"Commander." the ensign nodded respectfully. "Will there be anything else?" he asked, praying that there wasn't.

"No, thank you." Brian crisply replied. As the other man exited the office, the counselor simply sat at his desk, silently reviewing some notes on his terminal. "Have a seat, Lieutenant." he said, his eyes not moving from the information in front of him. He'd waited patiently during Eshe's four hour absence, occupying himself with other things; he knew one way or another, she'd be here. The fact that she'd chosen the more difficult route didn't really surprise him.

Dhanishta glanced round the room for a moment, her eyes focusing on nothing as her anger and hurt was still the main focus of her conscious mind. After several minutes of silence with little acknowledgment other than the order to sit, Dhani finally conceded and did so, huffing greatly as she lowered herself into the padded chair.

Crossing her legs she folded her arms across her chest, elbows resting on the arm-rests, she began to bounce her leg gently to pass the time. As the Counselor was engrossed with what he was reading she started to examine her nails, picking the dirt from beneath them. She had spent the last four hours cursing Kimberly in a variety of languages, to a variety of gods and quickly coming to the persuasion that neither gods nor curses existed. Although if they did, boy was Kimberly in for a world of pain!

"After Doctor Burton's speech," Brian began for lack of a better word, "I get the impression impatience is something you're pretty familiar with." He looked up from his terminal, an inquisitive look on his face. "Am I right?"

Dhanishta shrugged in reply, eying the corner of his desk suspiciously.

Brian shut down the display on his terminal and rose from his chair. "Something wrong, Lieutenant?" he asked, following her glance.

"No." Dhanishta replied shortly rolling her eyes and taking an exaggerated breath. She went to say something else but shook her head quickly dismissing her own train of thought. Leaning back in the chair with resignation she let her eyes roam across the floor. She felt like some naughty school child brought in front of the Head-Master to answer for her crimes. But she had done nothing wrong, and she didn't have such a childhood to draw experience upon. So she just sat there. Annoyed, angered, bored, tired... oh boy was she tired of this!

Kimberly was like a rottweiler with a bone, she just couldn't let it go could she? ~So I'm not fond of medical, perhaps leaving me alone would be good but noooo, lets push and push and push some more till I flip out and kill ag...~ Dhani paused in her inner monologue realizing that Brian was probably taking notes, though before she could pause the thoughts were there, the realization that he was listening to what she didn't verbally communicate more than what she did, and before she could curb herself she was fantasizing about chucking him out the air lock too! ~Or perhaps stick him in quarantine with Kimberly and a mutating virus....~ she smiled softly at her own joke and eyed the door.

Brian had indeed been "listening" a little more actively than he otherwise might have. He knew Eshe was not just another officer here for a chat, and it was obvious that there was more on her mind than what she let on. ~~So you really don't understand why she insisted on bringing you here?~~ he sent telepathically, just to let her know he was there. ~~You've hurt others before, you're even contemplating it now. And why? Because you're bored? Because you want to make sure no one sees any more than what you want them to see? Do you really have control over your emotions, Dhani, or do they control you?~~

Dhanis gaze flicked in a nano second to Brians form. Her eyes narrowed on him, ~~What do you know about it?~~ she questioned aggressively, ~~Who 'exactly' do you believe that I have hurt?~~ she stood up abruptly vexed by his accusations, ~~You know absolutely nothing about me! How dare you of all people judge me?~~ She stared at him, anger flowing from every pore. ~~I'll tell you this now, once and only once; stay out of my head. Do you understand that?~~

"And I'll tell you this now," he began, speaking out loud again but still very calmly, "some very serious concerns have been raised by our chief medical officer and it's my duty to make sure everything is alright, mostly for your sake but also for the rest of the crew. Until I'm satisfied that that is the case. I'm not going to try to go delving into your deepest thoughts, but I will monitor your general mental state however is necessary. If you aren't willing to be open and honest and work with me, you leave me little choice."

"Fine!" Dhanishta spat back. Slumping back into the chair she pouted. Never before had she been to a Betazoid counselor, she despised them. It was strange and slightly hypocritical given her latest experience but they had a habit of listening too much to what wasn't said. They knew when you were lying and more often than not called you up on it. Casting Brian another set of daggers she chided herself, standing up she walked to the replicator and just stood there staring at her reflection in the paneling.

For a moment she could see Larimar's face staring back at her. ~Yet another memory that's not mine.~ Dhani thought scathingly as she stared into the silver eyes. ~What do you want?~ she asked the image before her.

"Water." she ordered softly shaking her head, ~no I'm not going to tell him about you.~ she told Larimar gently, ~It's not my place. Your not my demon.~ Turning her back to the replicator Dhani smiled softly as she looked out across the floor.

Larimar was probably the only 'ghost' that didn't haunt her. The circumstance that she acquired Larimar's memory still did. The perpetual fear was something that plagued her nightmares; the death, the killing, the blood shed, the stench... all of it left a permanent mark on her soul, left her questioning. But Larimar... as tragic as her fate had been, as horrific as her death was. and as much as Dhani felt her death and all the others and knew with a wavering certainty that she would suffer that same fate unless she took 'him' out. still they didn't haunt her. She felt them once, in that moment of terror, but now. now they were distant. Larimar and her kin were just a memory, painful yes, wrong yes, something that should have never happened, something that could never be undone. Learnt from perhaps. ~oh is that why your looking at me?~ Dhanishta asked silently, ~reminding me of what they did and why.? ~ she sighed, she supposed there was some similarity to it. Dhanishta really shouldn't be fighting her own kind. Shouldn't hate what she was. But she did. For such a long time telepathy had been evil, for so many years she had refrained. and then there was Suder. His name sent a shiver up her spine.

~Suder..~ she let his name role about her mind, into every corner and crevice that was there, wiping over Larimars image with another, hiding any trace of the woman, the genocide, all those painful memories from Galena, Phenacite, Kunzite, Shattukite. she paused as his face sprung from the depths of her subconscious. How quickly Shattukite's face replaced Suders with just the utterance of his mane. She pushed him aside, calling out Suder's name over and over until his face, the memory of him and all that had happened between them smothered Larimar and her kin and most of all - the man who had given her those memories.

That was something Kimberly could never understand. The need and the urge to protect what her mind held the knowledge that it contained that it simply shouldn't. Chang's secrets, Suder's violation.. she swallowed hard. Larimars genocide, Romulus and the death. Kimberly thought that by making Dhani address all these things she hid from, that it would help her, that it would ease her guilt, her pain, her suffering. But it would only cause more. So many secrets, so many . deaths, so many cover ups.

Would telling Brian about Suder change what had happened? Would telling Brian about Larimar change anything? Would telling Brian about Chang change what he did? NO! Talking about things was a human trait, it wasn't Trill and it wasn't Betazoid. ~Those that do not say what they feel fight a war inside, isn't that the saying?~ Dhanishta thought solemnly, ~Then I am fighting a war.~ she resigned, ~But its mine.~ she added defiantly, ~Not his, not Kimberlys - MINE. It's my war to fight, my war to win and I will win.~

Dhanishta looked about the room drinking everything in through her eyes, the grey of the walls; the pot plant in the corner, the couch that still had an imprint of its last occupant. The chair that she had been sitting in, still warm no doubt. The desk, Starfleet standard, she had one just like it - until she revamped her office that was, the terminal sat atop and the man behind. The man that was staring at her intently, watching her conscious thoughts unfold.

~Mirror~ an inner voice cried out. Nodding to it Dhani smiled softly to herself and began the process of erecting the mental barrier. The fact that she couldn't recall how she knew this defensive mental procedure didn't bother her. Erecting the walls in her mind was just as natural as breathing, just as natural as killing. killing the Hydran.

"Calling the Commanders Bluff" Part Two

Commander Brian Elessidil - Chief Counselor
Lieutenant Dhanishta Eshe - Chief Engineer

***USS Galaxy, Chief Counselor's office***

~Mirror~ an inner voice cried out. Nodding to it Dhani smiled softly to herself and began the process of erecting the mental barrier. The fact that she couldn't recall how she knew this defensive mental procedure didn't bother her. Erecting the walls in her mind was just as natural as breathing, just as natural as killing. killing the Hydran.

"You think I pose a threat to this crew." she stated rather than questioned, noting the expression of concentration wash over his face as he tried to listen to her inner voice that had suddenly silenced. "I guess the fact that I died for this crew levies nothing in my favor or to counter that opinion." Again it was a statement, not a question. "You say Kimb... Doctor Burton raises serious allegations against me. You're not going to be satisfied until I have quashed those concerns. So let's do it." she demanded flatly. "I, unlike Ms Burton, have a life and a job to get back to. This crew depends upon me to keep this ship in one piece and 'that' I do well." She returned to the chair before Brian, though she pulled it away from him before reclaiming it. "So counselor, what do you want to know?"

It was obvious this was going to be neither easy nor uncomplicated. Already, he could tell from the mental blocks she was raising that Eshe was not interested in talking about any of it. Brian was pretty certain he could get around them if he really wanted to, but he did say he wouldn't read deeply into her mind if she would be open. He at least owed her the chance to hold up her end of the bargain.

"For starters, how about we talk about what you feel you have to hide? Doctor Burton seems to think there's a lot that's been going on for you and I'm inclined to agree. Yet you're fiercely protecting every bit of it. Why?"

"Why not?" Dhanishta countered seriously.

"I can think of several reasons, not the least of which being that some serious concerns have been raised that if true could have implications for your career in Starfleet. But that's not even what I'm most concerned about," Brian added. "I'm more interested in making sure you're addressing what's going on for you before it's completely out of your control." He looked at her for a moment, thinking. "At least one person has at least tried to show some concern for you as a friend; wouldn't it make some sense to take advantage of the opportunity for some help rather than continue to try to block everyone out all the time?"

"That's assuming I need help counselor." Dhani replied soberly. "What your definition of normal and my definition of normal is, are most likely worlds apart." She paused for a moment in contemplation. Sitting back in the chair she relaxed some as she came to realize something, something that she believed was important.

"Tell me counselor, what was it like to be raised on Betazed. What were the fundamental beliefs installed to you. What does it mean to be a Betazoid?"

"Do you have a point to make?" Brian calmly inquired, not interested in turning this into a session about him.

"Indeed." Dhanishta replied. "You wish for me to be open and honest with you, what, does that not work both ways Commander?" she asked with sincerity. "I expected your reply to be brief and for you to withhold on personal and irrelevant details, but to evade the question completely." She smiled slightly, it wasn't the way she wished to make her point but none the less she would take advantage of it.

"Because this isn't a session for me. I'll be happy to discuss my life if I see a reason that it's relevant; otherwise, we're focusing on you."

"That's where you're wrong Commander. This session isn't 'for' me either." she said shaking her head, "I didn't come here asking for your help, Doctor Burton did." Turning her head to the door she waved in a come hither motion, "Maybe we should get her back in here, after all it's her questions, not yours, it's her concern that needs to be addressed not yours." She narrowed her eyes on him, "Tell me Commander, do you like being a tool? Are you hand stuffed and stitched or machine?" she asked factiously narrowing her eyes on him.

Pausing a moment slightly amused as she watched the expression on his face change from hearing the comment to realizing what she had said and how exactly to formulate a reply, one that wouldn't involve throwing her in the brig for insubordination! After all this was a counseling session, as impromptu as it had been, and whilst here Dhani intended to take every advantage that gave, being a snotty nosed cow without repercussions being one of them. If she hadn't been so enraged by Kimberly's betrayal she may have accepted the sincere help that had been offered graciously, however Dhani never responded well to force.

Waving her hand and there for the comment aside she continued her own line of questioning. "I ask the question because I feel that it is relevant. Not because I wish to turn this session around, I may not be comfortable or happy with the fact that I have been forced here against my will, been threatened several times and had to listen while my 'friend' and colleague slandered me, those facts in themselves I feel should be addressed," she told him flatly, "but as usual my needs are never addressed, oh no, Kimberly has a bee in her bonnet so lets grill Dhani. as always - the scapegoat." she muttered more to the universe than to the man before her. Gathering breath she lent forward and eyed the counselor, "Would you agree that where a person comes from is relevant to their perspective of life?"

"Yes, in most cases I would," Brian replied, letting Dhani continue. Her reaction to this whole situation was in itself an opportunity to see into what lay beneath the surface and he was willing to let her retain control while he observed.

Nodding she continued, "Would you also agree that the way in which a child is raised is fundamental to their personality traits later in life?"

"Also yes."

Dhani smiled briefly with satisfaction. "I was born in Raal, on Vulcan, Counselor. I was raised *by* a Vulcan. Everything I know was taught by him. Tell me Counselor, how many Vulcans have you known have asked for help?"

"Personally, only one, and it was a very unusual situation."

Dhanishta nodded again, "Even under great duress a Vulcan will always rely on his or herself. Very seldom will they request help from an outsider. They are extremely private people Counselor." having said that she paused once more to let him digest that information before she continued.

"I spent my formative years with Vulcans. Till the age of eight." she added for his reference, "From the ages of eleven to eighteen I lived on Qono'S, the Klingon home world. I lived and breathed everything it meant to be a Klingon Warrior." she told him with reverence, "I was schooled with them, I trained with them, I fought with them, I was accepted by them and branded to show my alliance to my House and the culture I was raised in." she said indicating the scared flesh of her upper right arm beneath her duty jacket. There was a note of pride in her tone as she recalled the details of her childhood, as well as a touch of sadness. She missed that life terribly, if it hadn't been for the war she may have joined the Klingon Defense Force.

Standing up she began to pace, "By your own admission we are all affected by the circumstance in which we were raised, we take on the ideals of those that teach us, that nurture our development. I get extremely vexed when people tell me that I am not a Vulcan or a Klingon. I get angered that they question why I uphold some of their beliefs and traditions. Because I have spots I must act like a typical Trill?" she questioned pitch rising, "Because I am Betazoid I must be understanding and sympathetic?" she raised her arms in a gesture of ridiculousness, "Because my mother's a mute I should be too?" her arms flapped back to her sides.

"Stereotypes Commander, all of them." she told him angered. "I am not a Vulcan, no. I am not a Klingon either. But I am not a Trill or a Betazoid. I am all of them. And all of them are me." Sliding back into the chair in front of him she leaned forward holding his gaze, "When I say I performed a species specific ritual, I mean just that. A ritual that is specific to me. My species." she said emphatically slapping a hand on her chest. "You won't find them in a text book. Starfleet hasn't researched the practices of hybrids. So does that make it wrong? Does that make me wrong Counselor? Just because I don't conform to what you typically expect?" she asked him seriously.

"Do you want to be judged as wrong or right?" he asked in return, holding her gaze. "Nature, nurture...it all affects who we are and the things we do, regardless of the specific cultures involved, but so do the choices we make and actions that derive from those choices. I'm not requiring you to conform to anything yet, and I'm not interested in being your confessor or your executioner, Lieutenant; but I *am* interested in understanding what's been driving you mentally and emotionally, and how your actions have impacted you and others. I may not be in Security, but I have just as much a responsibility to protect the welfare of the ship and its crew. Now, if you want to see that as me being a 'tool' to baseless slander or as an indiscriminate reactionary to stereotyping that's your decision, but there's far more to what I do than that, and I'll remind you that Security would have little interest in hearing you out and working to understand your perspective or your well-being in the face of serious accusations. I am. Think long and hard before you decide to permanently brand me as the enemy."

"Calling the Commanders Bluff" Part Three

Commander Brian Elessidil - Chief Counselor
Lieutenant Dhanishta Eshe - Chief Engineer

***USS Galaxy, Chief Counselor's office***

"Do you want to be judged as wrong or right?" he asked in return, holding her gaze. "Nature, nurture...it all affects who we are and the things we do, regardless of the specific cultures involved, but so do the choices we make and actions that derive from those choices. I'm not requiring you to conform to anything yet, and I'm not interested in being your confessor or your executioner, Lieutenant; but I *am* interested in understanding what's been driving you mentally and emotionally, and how your actions have impacted you and others. I may not be in Security, but I have just as much a responsibility to protect the welfare of the ship and its crew. Now, if you want to see that as me being a 'tool' to baseless slander or as an indiscriminate reactionary to stereotyping that's your decision, but there's far more to what I do than that, and I'll remind you that Security would have little interest in hearing you out and working to understand your perspective or your well-being in the face of serious accusations. I am. Think long and hard before you decide to permanently brand me as the enemy."

She stared right back into his eyes, "What about me Commander?" she asked, "You request that I do not regard you as the enemy, but isn't that what you are doing to me? Kimberly has come barging in here declaring all sorts and you instantly take her word for it. You instantly assume that everything she is telling you is true. You have judged me already Counselor. Personally I would prefer to be sitting in front of Corgan, at least he shows compassion and understanding. At least then I might have someone fighting my corner." she turned her gaze from him. The sadness built behind her eyes. How could Kimberly do this? What sort of friend was she? Dhani shook her head and slowly let her gaze return to Brians. Swallowing hard she pushed back her tears. "Counselor Elessidil, who do you believe I have hurt? And what crimes do you believe that I have committed?"

"That's why we're here," he said gently. "Like it or not, Kimberly's our Chief Medical Officer and I've not known her to start hurling outrageous lies for no reason, so I have to give her allegations at least some consideration. I don't know who you've hurt, if anyone, so contrary to how it may seem, I haven't judged you as guilty or the enemy or anything of the sort. I want to hear your perspective, but I want to hear everything out in the open. No hiding behind riddles or self-righteous anger. If there's nothing to anything she said, then what's your take on why she said it? And if there is something to any of it, then we need to talk about it."

Dhanishta nodded slowly, thinking. Tilting her head she regarded what he had said. "Kimberly has just come back from being held prisoner for what she believes in Commander. She was going to be burnt at the stake for being a witch. No doubt her brief incarceration was traumatic. I don't doubt for a moment that she is angry, hurt and upset. She is in denial, and to take the attention off herself she is throwing accusations else where."

"An interesting theory, but based on my own personal and professional observation, I'm not convinced that's her motivation. Her own issues notwithstanding -- and she and I will work together on those as necessary -- her accusations weren't hollow or intentionally misdirected."

~Damn!~ an inner voice moaned. Dhanishta sighed. "Her accusations weren't hollow." she mumbled leaning back in the chair defeated. "Her cries were full of worry and concern." she said with a dismissing wave of her hand. "Her accusations are incredibly inaccurate and over dramatized though."

She sighed again wanting nothing more than to leave, but she knew that she had to somehow dismiss each and every thing that Kimberly had brought up. It was quite a list she realized as she tried to recall them. Resting her head against the back of the chair she looked up at the ceiling trying to recall each topic in order. "I was in a coma. It lasted nine months. My mother did turn off the ventilators and the other machinery that was keeping me alive, I was declared dead several hours later. However I wasn't." ~Check one~ she called out inside her mind, "I don't like sick bay, not many people do." she shrugged. "I am telekinetic, have been my whole life." again she shrugged not sure what else to say about that. "Me and Jiiles have had our differences, they are personal and quite frankly none of your business nor the 'good Doctors'!" ~Quentin.~ she rolled her eyes, ~crikey how the hell does one wrap that story up in a nut shell?~

"Quentin is classified." she decided, still staring at the ceiling. She wasn't sure if it really was but she had been told to keep her mouth shut after her 'moment' on the bridge. She concealed a low chuckle at the memory. In all honesty Kimberly had a right to be concerned, and she didn't know the half of it. Naught, Turan. Kimberly knew nothing about either of them. She didn't know how it had affected her, or how she had felt, or what she had done. what she had tried to do, or what she was made to do. All they saw was the after effects, the 'slit wrists' incident in sick bay. But there was so much more to it, but to explain all of it, fifty years of pain and anguish. Dhani would rather forget about it. It was all in the past now, non of it happened, not really. Dhani shook her head it was too confusing, even now.

It was annoying how each event was linked to another and how it all came back to one person: Ethan Suder. Dhani shook her head and closed her eyes. "I have died, or had a 'near death' experience, whatever you want to call it, several times." she added another dismissing flick of her wrist. "And as for the 'scalpel' incident that Kimberly refers to, I really in all honestly have no idea what she is talking about. I was high at the time, myself and several other members of the engineering crew had ingested intoxicating fruit and I don't really remember much about that incident." She remembered more than she let on, but found it to be highly embarrassing. And to this day she still had no idea where that beach ball had appeared from, or the pink bean bag, or the blue blow up arm chair, or The Dude's hat. Dhani shook the images from her mind and rolled her head towards Brian hoping that her brief explanations would clear everything up. The only topic that she hadn't touched upon was Suder, hopefully Brian wouldn't notice that because she had absolutely no intention of going into any details right now, if ever.

"Oh," she exclaimed remembering something else, "the Dithparu incident, ya know where we were all made to murder each other.?" she queried his memory.

Brian thought briefly of his own horrific experience with the Dithparu. He found it ironic that while it was his job to help others work through those kinds of experiences, even after all this time he wasn't entirely sure he'd gotten over his own. Before he could comment, Eshe was once again ready to move on.

"Yeah, I don't remember any of that either." She smiled briefly, "Did I miss anything?" she asked moving to stand up.

"You know we're not done," the counselor non-chalantly stated. "Since this was a last-minute meeting, I won't detain you much longer, but I think we have a lot more to talk about. The question is; are you going to try to trust me and be a willing participant, or will this always be a verbal tug-of-war?"

Already standing Dhanishta paused and shrugged. She thought though, before dismissing him completely, "I only pretend to know the future." she replied cryptically.

As she reached the door she turned back to him before it opened. Pensively she stared at the carpet. "I'd suggest that before you summon me back in here that you get your facts straight." She looked up and locked on to his eyes, "If you think it was 'difficult' this time." she let the threat hang there. "If I have committed a crime, I expect to be brought in for questioning, if you happen to direct that then I will cooperate, but next time you want a 'little chat'," she said in a patronizing tone, "I would be extremely grateful that you have something to chat about. Because I don't intend to ever call upon your services personally. Quite frankly Commander your operation here is a sham, patient doctor confidentiality?" she questioned indigently, "Expect a strongly worded letter of complaint!"

"Do whatever you feel necessary, Lieutenant," Elessidil calmly replied. She could complain all the way up to the chief counselor of Starfleet; he would do his job and act on his concerns whenever he felt it was necessary.

"Oh and one last thing, Counselor," Dhani said turning in the open doorway, "Trust is earned, don't ever forget that," she smiled factiously.

"Indeed it is." he agreed.

"Don't call me now, I'll call you." she called out as she left his office. With a curious smirk, Brian watched her leave. "Don't bet on it," he said to himself.

"Spiritus Ex Machina"

(Follows immediately after 'On The Move Again')

Midshipman Aina Mason, Communications Officer
Captain Jaal Jaxom, former CO of USS Carthage
Dr. June M'Kantu

****

==Some where in Brown Sector - The Lower Decks==

The group from the Carthage had holed up farther into the core of the lower station. They had already very little in the way of real resistance, which had nearly everybody very jumpy.

As if to underline everything, to make the situation seem more hopeless, every phaser in the group and around the station suddenly gave a soft beep and the status display on all of the Federation phasers on DS5 suddenly went from Armed to Safe.

Jaal frantically started adjusting his phaser settings to no avail. "This is NOT good." He kept trying to rearm it but nothing worked. "Mason, ya gotta do something! If we can't shoot were all gonna be dead!"

Aina was in a slight panic, the communications that she had been able to intercept had the invading forces moving around and killing anyone who was in their sight. It was a slaughter and the resistance had so far been returning as good as they got.

But the loss of phasers had changed everything. Someone on the Hydran side had finally gotten to the starbase's central security system and activated the central security override for all Starfleet-issue weapons onboard the station, rendering them inert and unable to fire. Someone had either had given the invaders the code, or they had a really good hacker.

Aina was in a slight panic, not only could she die from this, but she had no idea on even how to begin...ignoring the doubt in her mind, she activated the node that had become an ersatz camp, and using some of the software that she had 'acquired' from another person's software data vault, entered the commands to enter the system.

As pages of the system asking for entry codes and authorization appeared, Aina kept her attention on the scrolling code, that surrounded the pages, using them, watching for the shapes and colors in her mind's eye.

Her data miners came up with some possible passwords and voice authorizations that had been cached. There was a reason why password caching was not allowed on system, but people continued to do it. Linking them to the scrolling code, Aina was able to move up through the system, closer to allow her to access the encoded algorithm that would mean she could turn the phasers back on.

She had a decrypter on one of the phasers and was trying to unlock the command that had remote safed it, but that was a brute force approach, for that to work, it would have to be pure luck, but right now, if she needed anything - it was luck.

***

Dr. June M'Kantu was an unhappy woman.

That wasn't an uncommon feeling, at least, not since she arrived on DS5 and had her work interfered with by Admiral Proctor in an act of spiteful revenge against someone close to Daren. June had long since figured out what the Admiral's real motivations were, knew that they were so delusional that they didn't bear repeating, and simply worked around the interference as best she could.

It was hard to work around an invasion force of trilaterally-symmetrical methane-breathers with genocidal intent, though.

Since June had no desire to be the subject of said genocidal intent - or worse, have her brain picked for every scrap of technical information that she possessed - she'd started off her day with exercise. First there was running a bit more briskly than she normally did. Then there had been the dodging fusion beams on the Promenade, which entailed some quite passable cartwheels and at least one triple-roll that would have made her old floor gymnastics coach proud. After that she'd followed up with some brisk calisthenics and yoga as she abandoned the corridors to crawl into the maintenance ducts and seek safety there.

The bumps, bruises, and strains from all that exercise weren't doing anything to help her mood, which had just darkened considerably as she realized that the Hydrans had traitors working in the station - traitors with access codes that meant that they were placed as high as Livia Proctor's personal staff.

She glared at the code rolling across her PADD - the only thing she'd held onto in her mad exercise routine - and then glared at the improvised cables hooking it to the main trunk line connecting the station's main computer core to the secondary core. Then, for good measure, she glared at the accessway's walls, floor, ceiling, and in all three directions she could see down it from her perch on a juncture ladder.

When nothing in her line of sight provided a likely target up which to vent her unhappiness, she turned back to the PADD and stopped as a line of code that held a familiar command caught her eye. "Oh no, you don't," she snapped. "Like hell you're turning everyone's weapons off!"

As the phaser deactivation command cycled through the system she leaned over the PADD and started to work. "I don't know who you are, traitor," she murmured to herself. "But you've picked the wrong woman to mess with today."

A few short minutes and one command-code string that she wasn't supposed to possess later, she leaned back and pressed a final key. "All right, let's see how you like that, then. Your access codes can't alter a diplomatic-mandate sequence; only a command from Commander Starfleet or the Diplomatic Branch Chief can do that."

****

A diagnostic routine, bleeped for Aina's attention and scanning the scrolling code, Aina face started to show her disbelief, before she could turn to Captain Jaxom, he was calling out that the phasers were back on line, "Good work Mason!"

"That wasn't me," returned Aina.

Jaal moved closer to where Aina sat on the floor, next to the ODN port of the node, "What? What are you talking about?"

"That wasn't me, Captain," Aina repeated as she tapped in commands and using the rewired engineering status screen brought up a listing of code that had been sent by the comms systems - station wide!

Jaal looked, "What have we here?" he asked curiously.

"This is the command sent to the phasers; it reauthorized all small-arm phasers on the station as diplomatic security team weapons, like the ones foreign ambassador's guards carry. This is a diplomatic level sequence, only a Sector Ambassador or better, or Commander Starfleet has the authorization to do that..." started Aina.

"Or another hacker," commented Jaal. "Who ever they are, be it ambassador or hacker - best to find them and make sure they are safe. Tell me where they are?"

Aina nodded, "Yes Captain."

***

"So, what's this?" June mused as she watched commands and codes roll across her PADD's screen as the traitors in station command tred to countermand her work, or figure out where she was to stop further interference. "Someone else is looking for me now... hmmm... Not a stationary terminal, those queries are from a PADD or something like it... That's no Hydran, that's for sure - those keystrokes are being made by ten fingers, not six - or nine."

She considered her options. If it was a team sent by the station's traitors, she didn't want to make contact with them. On the other hand, if they were fellow survivors she certainly *did* want to meet them, before her position was compromised. What to do?

"All right," she decided, talking to herself as she started typing again. "They haven't turned off the internal location beacons, since they Hydrans seem to be using them, so I'll use them. Let's see who you are...."

****

Aina was following the trace of who ever gave the command, it wasn't that easy, but it was possible, every data router in the comms system had received it and had passed it on. What made it not easy was the fact that the data routers were not being cooperative in letting her in, to look over what it would consider highly secure information - they wouldn't release that information with out a fight.

Aina was getting closer, she was in the main data lines, and she wasn't far from the computer core when a zebra, a very surrealistic looking zebra, appeared on the status display and on her padd. It was something she hadn't seen in years - Ze'eva the Zebra from Sesame Street, the same Ze'eva she used to have on her bed on the Miranda, before she went to the Academy. To add to the surrealistic feel, Ze'eva tapped on the screen with a hoof.

Surprise and annoyance went to panic - someone had traced her and had sent back a spike trace, and quickly. Who ever was doing it had greater access to the network than she did. Dropping the padd, she turned to another screen; this showed a real-time view on the processes running on her small hacking system.

The process that Ze'eva was using was very small, too small to carry any real dangerous payload, nothing even remotely similar. Aina smiled, Ze'eva was sending active control and data back to the person who had sent her and Aina was going to find where they were and...

Aina hit a brick wall, the data router kept on telling her there was no data stream - nothing to follow. Glaring at the offending message on her screen, she called over Jaal.

"Captain?"

"Whatcha got?" Jaxom asked trying not to sound stressed. There seemed to be other forces at work besides just the Hydrans. Until they could all be identified there was no way to know who was a friend... or foe.

"I think the hacker wants to meet us," Aina showed him the cartoon zebra, who kept on walking to the upper right side of the padd. "Who ever they are, they aren't hostile - well I don't think so. They've got access to infrastructure that I can't and with that level, they could do a lot more, than send Ze'eva the Zebra. Umm...I think we should follow her."

Jaal stared at the icon on the screen. It certainly seemed harmless enough. Unfortunately it had been the Trill's experience that sometimes big, bad things came in small packages. At the very least this should be investigated. If they 'were' friendly they'd be a welcome addition. If they were enemies, they'd be dead. If it was a trap... well, Jaal figured they'd deal with that when they found out. "Can you tell her to come to us? I'm sure you remember your tactical training from the Academy. I'd really rather have the high ground in this case."

"Not sure, I can't follow the data stream back and..." Aina saw the look in Jaal's eyes, now wasn't the time for 'I can't.' "Ummm, I uhhh," she thought furiously for an option, "...can start hacking into the control data stream of Ze'eva and give them your message, captain."

"Good idea," returned Jaal as he headed back to his position and Aina returned to her console. Ze'eva wasn't well protected, so it wasn't difficult to find out the data port that Ze'eva was using and send her own messages along it. Aina quickly checked the closest data router, and it kept on telling her that there was no such data stream being sent. Who ever the person was, they had very high access to the network and no ambassador would be doing this level of technomancy. Aina could only think it was the Operations Chief or the Communications Chief for the station, or someone like that.

So while Ze'eva the Zebra kept on looking out from the padd and knocking on the screen and then walking up the padd, Aina was sending the message through Ze'eva that "We want to meet you. Brown Section, Level 3 - We'll find you."

****

A smirk crossed June's face. "You'll find me? Not if you're looking in Brown Section, no matter what level you're on - but I can grab a sensor node there and check you out." She leaned forward and typed a few more lines of code in on the fly, altering the instructions to the zebra icon - it had been Bahiyah's favorite as a child and June had memorized the codes because of that - she'd already sent. "There, now you have a guide... and we can see just who you are."

She hummed tuneless to herself - stopping when she realized it was the theme to the show where she'd spent years watching Ze'eva and her friends with her daughter - and then shrugged and continued working, sending out the commands necessary to hijack a sensor node and reroute it's feed to her location so she could see who was trying to find her.

"Tora Tora Tora"

(Takes place the day after the end of the 'Manslaughter' arc)

Captain Daren M'Kantu
Admiral R.E.L. Price

****

USS Galaxy
Deck 1
Captain's Quarters

It was never good when an admiral called you before breakfast.

It was a definite downturn when that admiral was the former CO of the Galaxy - and the current Chief of Starfleet Operations.

It was even less heartening when he used command codes that meant the message couldn't wait.

And there was no room left for doubt that there was a disaster brewing when he had himself patched into your cabin, knowing that you were in the shower, and didn't care that you were standing there wearing nothing more than a washcloth, some strategically-placed soapsuds, and a frown, while he delivered his message.

"No time for niceties, mate," Admiral Price said, his accent clipped and his face drawn. "I authenticate Code Tora Tora Tora."

Daren dropped the washcloth. Code Tora Tora Tora was one of the emergency plans that that you got to learn about once you were made a Captain in Starfleet; part of the array of contingency plans that everyone in command knew were out there, but universally hoped would never be used. Officers below the rank of Captain were only to learn about it if the Code was authenticated... which it had.

The Federation had been invaded without warning.

They were at war.

"At approximately 0600 this morning, we were invaded on three fronts. The Breen struck at Corvallis, the T'Kith'Kin at Cardassia... and the Hydrans at DS5." He paused. "I'm sorry, Daren. Initial reports indicate there were no survivors at DS5."

Of course he was sorry. Daren had lost friends there, as well as new crew transfers and his supply and C&C support. Daren was sorry to - but that didn't mean that he was going to let him paralyze him. The Borg hadn't done that at Wolf 359, and the Triad weren't going to do it now. "That's not important now, Admiral. Just tell me where I'm needed," he replied.

"Corvallis, mate," Price answered, a sad expression on his face. "I need you at Corvallis."

"Then we're on the way." Daren reached for a towel. "I'll report back in... one hour. It'll take me that long to get everyone briefed."

"One hour, then." Price started to add something else, but just shook his head. "Price out."

War.

Daren had had enough of war. Enough of death. Enough of killing. Enough of watching friends and allies die without being able to save them. Enough and more than enough... but that wasn't important. Not any more. The Federation needed a warrior now, and, as he had each time they had called, a warrior would answer. Still half-wet, he tossed the towel aside and began to gird his ship for war, even as he girded his body to wage it.

=/\= "M'Kantu to Bridge. Take us to Red Alert and lay in a course for the Corvallis system immediately at maximum emergency warp. Bridge Duty Officer will implement Code Tora Tora Tora immediately; I repeat, the code is Tora Tora Tora. Implement all first tier procedures at this time. All major Department Heads to my briefing room in twenty minutes." =/\= He paused, took a breath, and added, =/\= "As of 0600 this date, the Federation is officially at war." =/\=

"Auld Lang Syne"

Lt. Jarajen Quaaliu, CAG
Lt. Robert Mathieson, MD

Ten Forward
=========

"To the past" the Nassari pilot toasted, raising a glass of the midnight black wines of his homeworld. "May it cease to haunt us as it has these past days."

Robert Joseph Mathieson, feeling all his fifty-eight solar years, raised his warmed B&B. "To th' past" he said quietly, but the new inner voice in his mind seethed and boiled with powerful remorse and anger. ~Traitor~, it fumed at Lieutenant Quaaliu, knowing full well which chakra had dwelled in the pilot's mind. The memories of Centurion Ejiul Tei were now almost a faded dream to the Nassari, something the older human both envied... and pitied.

Very much contrary to the wishes and logical suggestions of the numerous disciples on Vulcan, and much against the grain of his own common sense, Mathieson had chosen to keep the chakra of Lord Talvath Raal. Leader and tyrant, father and friend, the doctor felt to close to the memories to abandon them and too aware of the ramifications of letting them become part of the Vulcan identity.

Talvath Raal, for all his virtues as a leader, a parent, a husband and a friend, was a mass murderer of a scope that the Vulcans of today had no place for. A contemporary of Surak, Talvath had seen the pacifist followers of the philosopher drive his own followers from their homeworld at a price bought with the blood of millions. Vulcan's barren landscape was still dominated by the scars inflicted by atomic fires of Talvath Raal and his like. If they had the chakra of others, so be it... they certainly didn't need this one.

Quaaliu, like the doctor before him, was haunted by the alien memories inflicted upon them. While he had chosen to have the man's chakra removed from his psyche, he was still significantly changed by the experience. Tei was a soldier of deep loyalty and honor, much like himself - but had chosen to betray his sworn liege to follow his conscience. The concept was alien... and unforgettable despite the reassurances of the Vulcan savants. Such a betrayal of the Nassari Kej was unthinkable to the younger man, and the dim memory of the act shadowed his dreams.

"Are you alright Doctor?"

Seeing the physician lost in his own thoughts, Jarajen couldn't help but prod the old man from his reverie. The Englishman's eyes were slow to rise from his untouched liqueur. "'Suppose lad. Been a pile o' pony th' last few days. Be glad t' hit th' grindstone fer a change. You?"

Jarajen nodded slightly, but offered no smile at his prospects. "This Vulcan madness has left me... unfocused. The Vanguards are woefully unprepared for action, and I fear the fault is mine. There are interesting times ahead, and I must reapply myself to my duties."

Part of Robert Mathieson's mind howled in laughter at the mention of 'Vulcan madness', hearing the bitter irony of the Nassari's words. "Interestin' times. Heh... ye've got that righ' mate. T'Kith'Kin an' Hydrans an' Breen - oh my! We're bearin' down fer the biggest clusterfuck this side 'o th' Dominion Wars. Ye remember them?"

"Oh yes... I remember." Jarajen remembered the faces of dozens of pilots on the Miranda-A, each a memory and a statistic to Jem'Hadar effectiveness. Now his squadron wouldn't face Dominion fast-attack ships, but rather effective and experienced wings of Hydran fightercraft. The dogfight, so long forgotten in space combat, had come back with a vengeance. "But there are parts I would prefer to forget."

~I'm sure you would, Traitor~ the old man's mind thundered, sending a painful throbbing in his temple. He managed a grimmacing smile and raised his small glass to his lips. "There's lots on this ship folk's 'd like t' ferget lad - yer in fine company."

He drained the glass in a single draught, feeling the warm brandy and Benedictine liqueur burn his esophagus and settle comfortably upon his soul. Raal's needling voice grew quieter, as if unsettled by the new sensations and experience.

Jarajen was about to ask what experiences the physician had faced against the Dominion when his communicator came to life.

"Quaaliu here - go ahead."

=^=Lieutenant, this is Yeoman Sandhu. The Captain would like to see all Senior Staff in his ready room in twenty.=^=

"Understood Yeoman, Quaaliu out."

Mathieson grimmaced and knew what was about to happen, perhaps more than the warrior before him. "Like ye said lad - interestin' times. Ye'd best be off."

"Agreed Doctor - perhaps we can continue this another time?" The Nassari rose from the table spiderlike, his four arms carefully moving as to not to jostle the other patrons. Other staff were making similar departures to the summons.

"Sure. I'm always aroun' lad - good luck", the Doctor muttered as the pilot left, leaving him alone with his thoughts. They were far from pleasant.

~You will see, human. War is like a tide on a great ocean~ the voice of Talvath Raal prodded. ~It ebbs and surges, but it always returns. Always. Thousands of years removed from my own, but I can still see the pattern if you cannot. It comes, and the seas will be forceful and merciless.~

"Shut yer gob ye stinkin' ghoul", Mathieson growled, drawing stares and whispers from the remaining patrons.

~You will see, human. You will see.~

General Kz'Grotz
T'Kith'Kin Ground Assault Commander

with...
Prime Minister Alon Ghemor, Chief Executive
Elim Garak, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister
Attache Alibeth Jesowet, Assistant to the Federation

****
In orbit over Cardassia Prime

This was what Kz'Grotz lived for. Battle and bloodshed. Death and destruction. Rape, pillage, and other terms were alien to his mind - he wasn't bred for reproduction, pleasure, or greed. He was bred to destroy, conquer, totally and unequivocally. gr'Chinick could take his fleet and shove it where the stars never shined for all he cared: One can't subjugate a species from orbit. It takes true warriors to do that job. Warriors to fight, destroy, and decimate the enemy, whomever it was for the battlefield of the day. And today's battlefield was Cardassia Prime herself. The Jewel of the Dominion War's Alpha Quadrant front. Her people were so proud, a militant race for so long. It would be delicious to crush them, pop their flesh-bag bodies underfoot, and ultimately make them all dead. Well, not all.

Their females were to be preserved, for other purposes

Kz'Grotz cared little. If they got in his way, he would slaughter them like cattle, insignificant pests. A blight upon the face of the Galaxy. Yes. A blight, the t'Kith'Kin being the cure. Excise the cancer, remove the flawed humanoids to make room for healthier, superior organisms. There was no denying them. Much as there would be no denying his dominance on the field of battle. The Queen would have to allow him into her Chosen after today. Only too bad that he would have to share the glory with gr'Chinick.

~General,~the Admiral's mental voice cut into his thoughts, bringing him back to the present. ~The first wave of mycetic spores are launching now.~ Hmph.

~Very well. Inform me when the third wave is prepared. I will join the ground assault then,~ Kr'Grotz replied through the communal link.

Mycetic Spores were something relatively new to the t'Kith'Kin arsenal. It's origins were unnecessary, all that mattered was that they worked, and horrifically well. A fleshy pod ten meters in diameter, it's sole purpose was to descend through a planet's atmosphere and impact with the ground. Deep within it's core it contained fluid filled membranes encasing a dozen or more t'Kith'Kin warriors, safely ensconced within the layers of flesh and cushioning gel. The spore itself would ablate away it's outer layers upon decent, the fluid protecting the warriors within from the shock of impact - the kinetic energy would be dissipated by the pod literally popping open like an overripe fruit and spilling it's deadly cargo into the fresh air.

The first four waves consisted almost exclusively of the standard sized mycetic spore pod, but there were larger versions. Great beetle like beasts, little more than half-wits compared to the drones. Their carapaces could deflect most small arms their enemies could send, and it was large enough to absorb a considerable amount of internal damage before realizing it should be dead. Armed with naught but thick heavy armor plating and impressive strength, these beasts, Titans amongst the army, were most useful in breaching fortifications. Their spores would be dropped in later waves, precision guided to make the most of their short lifespans.

Yes. The glory would run like the blood today. The weak would fall and the strong would take what remained.

Queen's Chosen Kz'Grotz. It sounded glorious indeed.

****
Federation Embassy, Cardassia Prime

"No, Mr. Ambassador, there simply isn't time to empty the shuttle. The T'Kith'Kin have already breached the doors," Alibeth Jesowet shouted over the deafening noise that filled the entire Federation Embassy. Screams as the marine guards, hopelessly outmatched and pitifully few to begin with, sold their lives for Ambassador th'Quevhen to escape. "Any further delay will only lessen the chance of breaking through the attacking army and warning the Federation."

The ambassador was set on removing unnecessary items from the shuttle so that more of his staff, including Alibeth, could fit. He opened his mouth to reply, only to be cold-cocked by his five foot six, hundred and fifteen pounds assistant. Rubbing her injured fist, Alibeth shoulder checked him backwards into the shuttle, slamming the passenger compartment shut behind him.

"No way... no way are you going to kill yourself on my watch, Sevos th'Quevhen. Arvin!" she shouted, trying not to let the gnawing knowledge of her own impending death color the commanding tone of her voice. There simply wasn't time for it. Rounding on the Ambassador's Chief of Staff, she pulled him against her and kissed him fiercely, then shoved him toward the copilot's entry hatch.

"Alibeth!" Arvin started, indecisively.

"No," she shouted back, "Just survive, and remember me. Stay low over the city and get out over the countryside. If you have to, crash somewhere remote and go underground. Now go!"

Arvin looked as if he was about to say something, but she had already turned away, gesturing to the last few marines, who had turned over the Ambassador's desk and rigged the door with blasting charges. Unable to find words (and knowing that his life depended on leaving) he slammed the cockpit shut behind him.

As the shuttle pulled away, a marine shoved a phaser rifle into Alibeth's hands, not even bothering to explain how to use it. She leveled it at the door and whispered a final prayer.

It was only a scant fifteen seconds before the door exploded, and the lives of all involved ended senselessly in a flurry of phaser blasts, fire, and blood.

****
Union Building, Cardassia Prime

When the flashes in the sky ceased, everyone planet side knew who had won - it was further cemented by the lack of proclamation of a victory against the ultra-biological invaders. Everyone knew what was coming. Occupation. Again. Calmly and quietly, Elim Garak, Prime Minister Alon Ghemor and a handful of other government and military officials headed for a bunker designed specifically for such an occurrence. Within was a small vessel, barely able to fit the dozen who were departing.

As it rose on it's thrusters it vanished - cloaking device engaged. Ghemor was grateful he had deemed the expense to be necessary. What had initially seemed wasteful now saved his life. He would have to thank Garak for that, when things calmed down.

Turning his thoughts to his people, Ghemor despaired for the future. Certainly, already scores of his fellow Cardassians had made their escapes. But it would be mostly traders, the wealthy, and the military. The common citizens, with so much to lose, were left behind. Left to fend for themselves.

As he fled, a rain of death heralded his departure from the city.

Imagine an overripe grape falling to the ground. It bursts upon impact, spilling out the meaty wetness within, it's seeds protected by the surrounding mass. Take that grape, multiply it by the hundreds, and rain it down upon a thriving metropolis. Take those hundreds and make them meters wide, the seeds spilling forth being hive warriors, cleaving hapless citizens to pieces whilst still dripping embryonic goo from their spore. Take such a scene of carnage and destruction and spread it across the face of a planet.

This is what it means to be a Cardassian, Ghemor thought. Now? Forever? It had taken eight long years to rebuild from the Federation, and they had been far gentler in their invasion.

How many years would it be this time? Alon Ghemor wept as his shuttle made orbit. Prime Minister of nothing.

****
Location Unknown, Cardassia Prime

Squashed like a pest underfoot, slaughtered by the numbers. Man and woman, adult and child. The warrior caste was "equal opportunity" - no one was different, no one bore special attention, unless directed to by their leaders. Kz'Grotz was their General, and he had made such a distinction. Females. Easily identifiable by the pair of mammary glands on the upper abdomen. Take as many alive and as undamaged as possible, that was the directive. Casualties happened, this was war.

Yes, he thought to himself as he strode through the capitol. His blades licked out, slicing soldiers and civilians apart with ease. "Die, milk suckers!" he bellowed, a group of terrified citizens cowering in fear. Puddles of yellow fluid spread around their feet as they clutched to each other. He promptly tore them to shreds, basking in their death screams, bathing in their spraying showers of arterial blood.

This was war. This was life!

This was what Kz'Grotz lived for.

"The Power of Diversity in the Work Place."

Occurs before gravity problem.

Faylin McAlister
Lieutenant J.G., JAG Corps
Department Head and Staff Judge Advocate

John C. Richardson, Ph.D
Ensign, Liaison Corps
Diplomatic Officer

Warrant Officer Gaius Vorkalen, Diplomatic Security Specialist (Risan)
Chief Yeoman Talvan, Leading Chief Petty Officer (Vulcan)
Legalman 2nd Class Igrilan Kival, JAG Aide (Andorian)
Diplomatic Specialist 2nd Class Mary-Grace Stuart, Diplomatic Aide (Terran)
Crewmember Ilista Tomali, Research Assistant (Bajoran)
Crewmember Diloz, Research Assistant (Denobulan)
Margaret Bethune, Ph.D & Ed.D, Civilian Liaison (Terran)

Location: Liaison Department Conference Room

----

Although small, the duties of the Liaison department were important. Not only was the department responsible for legal issues, but were concerned with diplomacy and overall morale of the crew on board.

Pee ding timidly into the conference room, Igrilan Kival sighed with relief. 'She' wasn't here yet. The Petty Officer silently stepped into the area, planting is Andorian bottom into a chair that was located the farthest away from the Chief's seat. Lt. McAlister frightened the hell out of him, as did most evil creatures. Placing his hands in his lap, he nervously kept his gaze locked onto the smooth table below him. Sighing sheepishly, he made a mental note to have his anti-anxiety medication re-filled.

Illista Tomali and her partner in crime came bounding into the room next. Research assistants and both in their twenties, the girls were energetic, adorable, and complete nerds who had fun spouting off useless weird facts about the universe around them. They were referred to as "The Bobsy girls, the Dynamic Duo, or the Wonder Twins.' If you needed information, or even if you did not, they would offer it to you with titanium braces gleaming by the artificial illumination of their display screens.

"Hi Talvan!" The girls sang cheerfully in unison as the eighteen year Fleet Veteran made his dull presence known.

Nodding at the girls, who giggled with light snorts at his acknowledgement, the Vulcan took a seat to the left of Fay's chair. Placing his breakfast bowl of soy and tofu bran flakes cereal in front of him, he proceeded to eat his fiber in silence.

"Very nutritious Talvan." Margie stated as she placed a silver tray of crewmen filled donuts on the table.

"Oh...cool! Sugar!" Illista cooed as she yanked two creme maple sticks off the tray.

The doors to the Liaison department's conference room slid open and Diplomatic Specialist 2nd Class Mary-Grace Stuart dramatically marched in and popped to attention. The other Liaison department staff in the room looked at her quizzically.

"Attention on deck!" Stuart barked loudly, and the staff immediately rose from their chairs to the position of attention.

Dr. John Richardson entered the room shot a look of subtle annoyance to his assistant. "God, that was so unnecessary, Petty Officer. I hate having people come to attention on my behalf." But regardless of how archaic the protocol was, he responded to this mandatory sign of respect by snapping to attention himself and saying, "Carry on!" Everyone in the room returned to their seats.

Stuart smiled broadly as she sat down in a chair next to Chief Talvan. "It's a new workday, sir, and I figured there was no better way to get it started than having people stand up for you."

Richardson remained standing near the doorway as he addressed DS2 Stuart. "See, I have two problems with that line of thought, Mary-Grace. Problem A is that I simply dislike making people up for no real reason, and I really don't think our staff enjoys it much."

"That's a fact, sir!" Illista blurted happily, although she slouched back into her seat when met with a cold stare from Stuart.

"The second reason is, of course, I feel like there are people far more deserving of such honors than I." Richardson paused and starred off for a moment. "Hmm, that was a great transition on my part. ATTENTION ON DECK!"

Everyone in the room snapped back to attention, not so much by will than simply by the force of Richardson's command. The doors slid open and two individuals walked inside.

"Stand easy. Ladies and gentleman, I would like to introduce two new members of our team before Lieutenant McAlister arrives. The elegant looking lady to my left is Professor Margaret Bethune, former Starfleet Lieutenant and the former Undersecretary of Education on Earth. The doctor is going to be working with us as a sociological specialist."

Professor Bethune wore a beautiful dress from her native country of Ghana, and she looked perhaps half her 80 years of age. She said simply, "Good morning, everyone", and took a seat at the end of the table. All eyes then shifted back towards Richardson and the 6'4 giant standing at attention next to him.

"And the impressive-looking fellow to my right is Warrant Officer Gaius Vorkalen, our new Diplomatic Security Specialist. WO Vorkalen and I served together briefly during the Dominion War-"

"-Where your hair was much shorter, sir." Interrupted Vorkalen. He removed himself from attention and gave Richardson a hearty slap on the back. "But we can tell sea stories later, Right Gunny? When is this meeting going to start, anyway?"

John smiled at Vorkalen, and sat next to the Risan soldier at the end of the table. Richardson glanced down at his antique Panerai watch and shook his head. "The Lieutenant should be here any minute now."

And indeed, Fay was the last to arrive was Fay. Her footsteps were solid, steady, and purposeful until she tripped on Krival's man purse he had left behind his chair.

"I...I....I'm Sorry!" He stuttered at her glare.

Taking a moment to finish the rest of his cereal, Talvan cleared his throat before offering an arched eyebrow at his boss. He knew, that he was in for it in a very illogical manner.

"What have I said about consuming an over abundance of fiber in a conference room full of replicated air Tal?"

"To quote you exactly Sir, 'The combination is explosive.' However, biologically speaking...................." He evenly retorted, but was cut off before he could conclude his thought.

"It wouldn't matter much Lt. McAlister." Illista spoke up. "It's a proven fact that Vulcans are anally retentive."

Her partner spoke up next. "They might be by nature, but they still have assh......"

"Okay.....Ladies....let's discuss body cavities at another time please...thank you." Fay stated calmly.

"Well, it's true...they do." Illista whispered with her friend nodding in agreement.

Richardson smiled broadly and shook his head in disbelief. "So Lieutenant, what's on the docket for today?"

Puffing out her cheeks as another wave of nausea hit her, McAlister steadied her gaze around the table full of those in her command. Sitting down with unsteady legs, she offered a weak and fake smile. "Officially, I'm Lt. Faylin McAlister. Many of you know me....many of you do not." Finishing her phrase, her eyebrow shot up at the newcomer next to Richardson. "The purpose of this 'gathering' is to get to know each other and review general protocol. I'm positive that all of you received the memo I sent concerning the way I expect this department to run."

Fay observed the round of nods as she nodded in satisfaction. "Good. If there are any questions, you can bring them up now, or come see me at a later time."

"Now, I'm not one for cheery department gatherings. We are all too busy to sit around and chit chat concerning our personal lives. However." Her face remained deadpanned. "I want you to introduce yourself, and say something 'unique' about you. The more shocking, the better......I need some excitement in my life." Fay snorted as the eyes rolled. "Let's start with Chief Talvan....and Chief? We all know how you enjoy your fiber.....so......offer us another tidbit of information."

"I will experience Pon Farr in two weeks, four days, and fifteen hours." He stated with a stoic expression.

Flipping her padd over, Faylin made a note of it on her calendar.

"Here's wishing you get laid!" Illista cooed out.

"Here here!" Her partner responded.

"Girls...." McAlister growled....before glancing over at Richardson. "John....something interesting about you please."

John looked around the room with a crooked smile on his face, and opened his mouth once or twice before closing it again.

"Well, I...ummm....-"

But before Richardson could even begin to formulate his sentences, the lighting in the office dimmed and the "Red Alert" signals began to blare loudly.

"Get out!" She bellowed softly before quickly gathering her padds. Looking up as those around the table looked to her for guidance, she spat rapidly...."Richardson's in charge....follow guidelines for Red Alert!" Nodding, Faylin rushed from the room, heading to her designated station.

"Playing the Waiting Game"

Featuring:
Lieutenant Junior Grade Eve
An unnamed Medical officer
Other shamelessly exploited NPC's

****
USS Galaxy
Deck 39
Maximum Security Detention Cell
****

The brig is cold, lifeless. Someone from medical is brought down to tend to my wounds while a dozen security officers stand just outside, phaser rifles trained and the safeties off. The physician patches up the organic damage, but nothing can be done about my bionics. My left arm is almost completly trashed this time, laying limply at my side where I lay on the cell's bed. My right arm isn't much better - half the muscle fibers are damaged or severed at one point or another. My legs remain largely unscathed; the ankle joints are overstressed from the sudden return of gravity and my subsequent arrival to the deck 10 feet below me. I thank my Makers for incorporating augmetics to my organic muscles and bones - none of them broke, though my hips and groin will be sore for the next month, give or take.

When the doctor leaves I'm still hurting. The serious damage has been repaired. I guess they weren't given the time to fix the superficial stuff.

I won't be surprised when the book is thrown at me. I expect it, welcome it even. I hate waiting, and Saul knows that this is a self imposed wait. He alone knows I'm capable of escaping this cell at any time. I can escape every 4 hours if I wanted to. I won't expect that to play a factor in my favor. It can't when no one knows about it. The waiting and the questions are always the most painful because the human mind is a creative, imaginitive organ. Mine is no less equal to the task as any other when coming up with the possibilities I face. I hate waiting, but I have to. Right now, waiting is the only job I'm authorized.

"The Odd Couple"

Ensign Larkin Kelley
Intelligence Officer

Lieutenant Commander Chen Lin (NPC, Oded)
Liaison to civilian community, DS5

The station rocked violently, bringing Lieutenant Commander Chen Lin's mind back to the present.

Like on every other day, he sat behind the desk that occupied most of his crowded and badly ventilated office, stalling and stretching the free moment as much as possible before summoning the next client. The line outside his office was always endless. It seems that the station had an infinite supply of dubious residents whose single purpose in life is to bypass the laws of the UFP and still retain legitimacy. And how do you achieve such a feat? Simply, by harassing the community liaison until he yields and gives you what you want.

He was daydreaming about a transfer request again. He didn't dare to even load the transfer form into his console, as Proctor probably had those monitored. He used to think that joining an Admiral staff would be a launching pad to a successful career, and for a while it seemed so. But as days came and went on this hell-forsaken station, he realized that it was a dead end. Proctor didn't want her men promoted; she wanted a flock of servants.

On top of that, Chen had friends in intelligence like Larisa Puderskaia and Saul Bental who told him how close the war was in their opinion. Chen rubbed his wrist as he recalled his Dutch friend from the Galaxy, who assisted him so much in achieving that third pip; He'd give the pip back for a comfortable assignment on Earth right now.

He stood up, circled his desk and then opened the door. Instead of being stampeded by a horde of impatient merchants, he was only met by another shake of the station. The corridor was otherwise empty.

Then, the station shook so fiercely he was tossed to the ground, and there was a deafening hiss. Chen realized that, somewhere in this section of the station, there was a hull breach.

He grasped the door, fighting the pull of the vented air with all his strength, and dragged himself into the office. The door closed behind him, sealing him inside before the floor trembled again.

Chen wanted the station to explode and the Admiral to be slaughtered, but not like this. Not while he was still in it.

Without thinking, he did what many other officers must've done right now - he located the entrance to a Jefferies tube located in the back of his office, removed the grate, and slipped inside. The tunnel, he knew, was connected to a different section of the station, one which was hopefully still intact.

He swore in Chinese, and began to crawl.

Meanwhile, Larkin Kelley was doing the same thing. Eventually came to a junction and was able to stand. Bringing his large human frame up to its full height, he let out a small sound of satisfaction as he looked around. He stood silent for a moment to listen to see if he could detect any signs of movement.

~Wish I had a tricorder.~

His thought was gone now and he wiped the sweat from his forehead. He hadn't even realized until now that he was still in his exercise outfit. Then the thought hit him that he also didn't have his comm badge.

~Probably wouldn't work anyway~ he thought. The Hydrans would've taken control of the vital systems by now he surmised. His thoughts came back to the realization that he hadn't heard anything from the other side of the maintenance hatch, so he carefully removed it and entered the corridor. It was quiet, almost too quiet he thought.

He turned off the emergency light and walked slowly now. There was enough illumination from the station's emergency lighting for him to see ahead, though not very far. It was still shadowy, but he needed to conserve the hand light, and it would also keep him from giving away his position to the enemy.

He rounded a corner and stopped dead in his tracks, noticing three Hydrans standing in the intersection of hallways. He backed up and crouched while he listened. He needed a distraction to separate them. Where was a rock when he needed one? After a minute or two he realized that the Hydrans weren't going anywhere soon, so he decided to turn around and try another way.

Larkin had made it about two hundred feet when he heard another commotion. He stopped and crouched again, maintaining a defensive fighting stance. He drew his Bowie knife and waited.

He didn't have to wait long.

The shadowy figure came down the corridor. Larkin waited in the door frame of the nearest hatch with his knife at the ready. The figure passed by and Larkin sprang out and pulled his knife right up under the neck of the unknown humanoid.

"Please!" the man squeaked out as he shook in obvious fear.

"Who are you?" Kelley demanded.

"Lieutenant Commander Chen Lin, station civic and community relations liaison."

Kelley lowered his knife and let the rather diminutive officer turn around. "Flippin paper pusher" he mumbled under his breath as he sheathed the knife.

"What was that?" Chen inquired.

"Nothing? sir" Kelley replied. "Listen, we have to get out of here. There are Hydrans just up the way. We need to get to the lower decks. Do you know how?"

The word 'sir' didn't escape Lin's ears, and frightened as he was, it still boost his feeling.

"That depends on where the Hydrans are spread, but I think I know a relatively safe route", He said. "Why the lower decks?"

Kelley realized that this officer didn't have a clue about opposing force (OPFOR) tactics and strategies. He would have to try to enlighten him as they made their way to find friendly forces and join up in a defense of the station.

"The command deck is the first place an enemy boarding party tries to secure..." he began. He turned and started walking. "We really need to get going. There are Hydrans just up the way, and I can't fight more than one at a time with just this" he said as he patted his Bowie knife. "Care to lead the way?"

"Yes." With renewed resolution, Lin continued to move in his original direction. He paused for a moment to turn off his commbadge - if the other officer is right and Command was breached, then he could be located easily with the badge.

"What's your name?", He asked quietly

Kelley figured all he needed to give was a name. One of the things about being an intel officer was that one could get away with using many aliases and not think twice of it. Larkin also had the luxury of not having his uniform on, so that made it even easier. "I'm Lieutenant Dave Parsons. I'm waiting for my next assignment."

A Lieutenant - that explains the way he carried himself, Chen thought. It was a good thing he stumbled upon this man and not some wet-behind-the-ears Ensign who would just be a liability.

"Lieutenant, do you have any idea what happened?"

"I saw a Hydran ship fly past a viewport during the attack. Those degenerate animals have started a war..." his words trailed off as he walked. Commander Lin quickly followed him, sending concerned glares over his shoulders every now and then.

He should have filed that bloody transfer request.

MANSLAUGHTER : Requiem for a Hero

(Being the Final part of the Manslaughter miniseries)

Lt (JG) Eve
Lt (JG) Victor Krieghoff
Lieutenant Ella Grey
Lt Commander Corran Rex

and
Sgt. Sleitor Mann, ret. (Manslaughter)

****
USS Galaxy
Ella Grey's quarters

Given all that had happened - the psycho, her unscheduled tracheotomy, the guilt about her "relationship" with Saul Bental - Ella was surprised that she was able to fall asleep at all and so quickly at that. She was even more surprised when she woke up kissing the ceiling a few seconds before the alarms went off.

"Mrupmh?" Ella squeaked and then turned her face so her nose would stop being flattened.

It took a few minutes before she was able to flip herself over and navigate towards a computer panel. Although she could clearly read that the gravity on the ship had been altered, she couldn't help send a quick message to Victor that it had been years since she'd worked on her butterfly stroke.

****
USS Galaxy
Deck 27
Turbolift 3

Turbolifts were designed to start and stop quickly and inertialessly, thus preventing their passengers from becoming, as one of Victor's Academy instructors had long ago put it, 'Strawberry Jam on Toast.'

That, of course, presupposed that the ships internal gravity was working. When it wasn't, and when something - or someone - had overridden the turbolift's own internal gravity, the results of a turbolift in operation tended to make a passenger look - and feel - like a metal ball in an old Terran pinball game.

Victor supposed that it could have been worse. He hadn't been riding in the turbolift with the ship's Horta crewman for example. Or a pack of rabid weasels. Or a troupe of knife-wielding midgets fresh from one of Leo Streeley's cheese-whiz parties. On the other hand, he reflected, as a panicked elbow from one of the four crewmen that were all trying to get away from their close physical contact with him on the roof of the lift car jabbed perilously close to his groin, perhaps his current situation wasn't that far off.

This, of course, was only made better by his PADD beeping to signal an incoming message.

Sixteen floors, a sudden stop, and some more panicked flailing on the part of his fellow passengers later, he escaped to a corridor and sent a response: =/\=GO TO SOMEPLACE WITH OTHER PEOPLE. MANN MAY REVISIT SURVIVORS.=/\=

Corran's eyes flicked down to the response he saw Victor sending. "He will." the Trill confirmed, knowing all too well.

***
USS Galaxy
Ella Grey's quarters

Ella looked down at her blue camisole and matching pajama pants, calculated the effort it would take to change into uniform mid-flight, and sighed. At least it wasn't a towel, she figured.

She managed to put slip on some shoes and grabbed her computer PADD and comm badge. The hall had a few people but not enough to make her comfortable, plus she realized that she had nothing for a weapon. Ella frowned as she clung to her doorway and sent a message back to Victor asking what he recommended.

****
USS Galaxy
Secondary Hull Deck 11
Outside the Tactical Analysis Offices

A frantic flurry of messages from his communicator prevented Victor from answering Ella quickly, but after dealing with them, the information that they contained, and placing a BOLO order on one of Lt. Bental's intelligence officers, he managed to type out: =/\=GO SOMEWHERE WITH AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN FIND. AVOID TURBOLIFTS - TOO EASY TO BE TRAPPED IN THEM. IF YOU SEE THE CYBORG FROM INTELLIGENCE, REPORT HER WHEREABOUTS - SHE'S DISOBEYED DIRECT ORDERS AND GONE LOOKING FOR MANN - AND THEN RUN AWAY FROM HER IN CASE SHE FINDS HIM.=/\=

There wasn't anything for it now; he was going to have to go after Mann himself.

Victor and Corran commandeered a channel to the nearest Transporter Room and arranged a site-to-site transport to Kreighoff's quarters, already stripping out of his uniform as he materialized. His Hazard team suit was waiting on the bed, where it had been since this had started, the internal pattern buffer charged and holding everything that he'd need.

Corran just settled for taking a phaser.

As Kreighoff changed, he tried to think of where Mann would go, and what he'd do - and realized that he needed to know that Angelienia was safe before he could do anything. A fast check of her schedule told him that she was off-ship, in her fighter, and he felt something inside him relax. She was safe, and he could do what he had to now.

The two men perhaps should have been speaking, planning, but when it came down to it - they didn't really need to.

****
USS Galaxy
Deck 10
Corridor A

There was a sighting of Mann and whether it was real or not, people panicked and Ella found herself at the end of an unintentional back kick to the face. She came to a few minutes later in dead man's float with a whopper of a headache and a bloody nose.

Of course, the hall was empty.

"Of course," Ella mouthed. She tried to get her bearings and realized her computer PADD had been knocked (or she'd dropped it) out of her hands. She stared at it a moment as it drifted back towards the way she had come from and then quickly started to make her way again, leaving it behind.

****
USS Galaxy
Deck 4
Main Shuttle Bay
Sleitor Mann

The main shuttlebay of a Galaxy class Starship is an almost unimaginably huge place.

These were not the tiny secondary square-like shuttlebays so often portrayed in holodramas, but rather was a huge multi-deck facility that encompassed almost a quarter of the entire interior of the upper saucer section.

More than three football fields in length, it was also two football fields across at its widest part, with more than twenty shuttlecraft of various sizes snuggled in their various docking bays.

Of course now that the artificial gravity had been cut all across the USS Galaxy for several hours, the Main Shuttlebay was similar to an ancient snow-globe that someone had shaken up......

.....except instead of snowflakes, the air was filled with tumbling ten ton shuttlepods that careened of each other and the bulkheads with mind-numbing crashes.

Every nut....bolt ....and hydrospanner that had been misplaced over the years had also come out to play, filling the bay with a sliver cloud of spinner washers, and tumbling cargo pallets.

Deckhands were hard at work, clomping around in their magnetic boots attempting to rig up portable tractor beams to nudge the huge shuttles back to ground, tethering them where they couldn't do anymore damage.

It was hard dangerous work. Already several workers had been injured by errant pieces of flotsam that bounced around the bay like so many BB's in a rattlecan.

Despite the Zero G, the rules of physics implied that a 500lb cargo barrel still struck with the force of 500lbs.

Already Captain M'Kantu was considering venting the entire mess out into space and starting over by tractoring it back in once gravity had been restored.

It was into this jumbled environment of twisting islands of metal that the slim form of Manslaughter floated.

Entering from a ventilator grate high above the floor, the redheaded ex-soldier glided his way expertly to a Type 6 shuttle that hung serenely in mid air, and grabbed onto the rooftop handholds.

****
USS Galaxy
Deck 4
Main Shuttle Bay
Lt (JG) Eve

I'm hunted as much as hunting. How I found him I can't quite say, though it's due in no way to the Galaxy crew. They slow me down every time I'm about to catch him. Zipping lances of phaser fire swat at me at random whenever I encounter a security team. They all forget that I'm Immune to stun. Well, I KNOW I'm not immune. It hurts like hell even though it doesn't do much. Enough is enough, however, gotta let the built up charge dissipate.

I make sure none of them die, though that requires far too much time.

No one trusts me.

All the more reason to continue my current course. His trail leads into the shuttlebay and I follow him eagerly.

****
USS Galaxy
Deck 4
Main Shuttlebay
Sleitor Mann

Spinning.....the world is spinning all twisty-tumbly upside down. Upside down and inside out like my thoughts......

Oh how did it come to this?

Is this my final hell.....

A never-ending staircase where there is no up or down? A nightmare from Escher?

My island of metal is turning slowly in the breeze.....in the breeze? In the air conditioning more likely.

So many ants.....ants clomp clomp clomping across the floor.

Clomping with their little ant boots, sticking to the walls.....

walls....floors.....ceilings.......its all the same in here.

Floating in my skull.

I claw at my skin......my head......wishing it all away.

Oh why is there so much pain?

My arm hurts, my head hurts.....my lungs burn like black fire.

A cough sends bubbles of blood floating out into space......dancing their liquid dance.

I just need to catch my breath......

But they won't let me.

****
USS Galaxy
Deck 4
Main Shuttle Bay
Lt (JG) Eve

I stride in through one of the functional bay doors, deck hands gaping in awe. Few of the crew know anything near what the extent of my cyberware is. To them I'm walking on the decks in defiance of the lack of gravity. I nimbly keep out of their way as they clumsily work to bring the mess back to the deck. That's their job, not mine. Mine is taking care of Sleitor.

Stepping over to a bulkhead wall I start crawling up it, again to the astonishment of the deck hands. One of them is crushed due to his lack of attention - tons of metal don't stop just because you wish it to. He pops like a cherry. I ignore his gurgling death.

****
USS Galaxy
Deck 4
Main Shuttlebay
Sleitor Mann

I just need to catch my breath....I'll be okay in a minute Major.

The concerned face of Major Bin Hux looks down on me, his face sweaty and mud streaked under his thick battle helmet.

"Rest easy Sleitor." he tells me, hand firm on my shoulder, "That was a pretty nasty mortar blast you took there."

I nod coughing......blood spatters across my cheek.....overpressure damage form the explosion no doubt.

I'm okay boss, just help me to my feet......I need my rifle.

He hands me my carbine hesitantly.......its warm metal is comforting.

Did we take the hill sir?

Did we take Hill 103?

Major Hux looks grim......the sound of laser blasts and screams echo somewhere behind him.

"Look soldier.........."

****
USS Galaxy
Deck 7
Victor Krieghoff's Quarters

Some people found waiting difficult, nearly impossible. They had to pace, or fidget, or do something to occupy their time while waiting. Victor had never understood that; if there was nothing to do, well then you did nothing.

With Angelienia safely out of the way, and security teams under the command of Lieutenant T'lan in pursuit of the wayward Intelligence officer, there was nothing for him to actively supervise. His presence would be more likely to degrade performance than enhance it, anyway.

=/\="They've spotted him, sir. Main Shuttlebay."=/\=

Good.

Victor and Corran locked eyes. Corran saw the silent question in his face, and grunted. "Just *try* to keep me out of it, Vic."

Victor stood up, hand already on his combadge. =/\= "All security teams to Main Shuttlebay. Get Engineering to activate the emergency forcefields to seal it off: Jeffries tubes, air vents, corridors, even the plumbing fixtures. I don't want him going anywhere unless it's out into space. Put the Marines on standby; if we start taking casualties, I'm going to call them in. Put the transporters on lockdown ? have them hold anyone calling for a beam-out in the buffer until they scan them and make certain that they've actually got the person that called for transport." =/\= He considered for a moment if he needed anything else. =/\= "Assign one transporter room to scan the shuttlebay and start pulling noncombatants out, they'll likely not get him that way because of his shielding, but have them run the buffer check anyway." =/\=

=/\= "Anything else, sir?" =/\=

=/\= "Yes. Get me a site-to-site transport for two to the Shuttlebay. Now." =/\=

****
USS Galaxy
Deck 4
Main Shuttlebay
Sleitor Mann

"LOOK.......There he is!"

I snap out of my reverie almost losing my grip on the shuttlecraft.

Where am I?

Oh yes......the floating hell.

I peer over the side of my metal island looking down on the group of figures pointing up at me.

How did they see me?

Oh yes........The lady Marshal with her esper blindness.......I can't peer into her brain....its closed to me......cant rewire her eyesight.

Eyes.....

There is another set of eyes over on the far wall .......

The electric eyes of violet.

Robogirl

The cyborg lady who blew me out into space.

A snarl is already rising from my tortured lungs.

****
USS Galaxy
Deck 4
Main Shuttlebay
Lt (JG) Eve

I spy with my unreal eye... Sleitor. And he sees me.

I push off from the wall where I'm crouching, winding my way through the maze of debris and flotsam. He might still be in a world of hurt but Sleitor's apparently feeling good enough to pick a fight again.

****
USS Galaxy
Deck 4
Main Shuttlebay
Sleitor Mann

Combat in Zero G is all about angles, leverage, and above all not losing your momentum. In the Superbowl sized arena that is the Main Shuttlebay its all too easy to go floundering off into nothingness, at the mercy of the airconditioning currents.

This then is my tactic.

Bouncing from shuttle to shuttle....from wall to wall, I try to draw the cyborg into a position of vulnerability. She's already injured me once, so I dont want to graple with her.

Surprising....the pain clears my head in a way it hadnt for years.

I muse over this whilst plucking a hapless technician from the deck and sending him hurtling through the space at my robotic enemy.

SMACK!!

Running into her metal arms probably hurt him alot more than her, but at least it kncked her off her perch.

Her roboarms go flailing barely catching onto a floating cargo container to regain her footing.

Crap.

****
USS Galaxy
Deck 4
Main Shuttlebay
Lt (JG) Eve

This fight is fierce, desperate. There's a look in his eyes, something odd and primal, beyond the rage and hate and twisted mind confusion I've seen before.

We break apart after a nasty exchange of blows; I'm standing on top of a type 9 shuttle, my field emitters anchoring me in place on the slowly wheeling mass. I look him in the eyes, taking in the full view as he regains his labored breath on the side of an Argo shuttle. He's cute, I'll admit. Cute for a psycho, anyways. Not that I've met many.

He sails towards me; Flexing my legs I deactivate my magnetic anchors and spring, flying towards him. There's a crowd gathered, an occasional zip of a phaser beam sears past as some security officer draws what they thought was a good enough bead. They aren't good enough.

There's that look again ... We collide, out relative velocities interacting and merging amidst a tangle of limbs, our legs locking around each other. My hands on the scruff of his shirt, his frostbitten digits scrabbling for my waist. We lock eyes.

Yanking him to me, heedless of the startled gasps around us, careless of the marshal drawing a bead with his Hand Cannon of Doom, I kiss him. This wasn't a peck. No merging of lips for a few seconds and that's it. Full fledged choke your partner with your tongue while doing other naughty things to them kiss. Surprise, surprise, he doesn't fight it, but embraces it, embraces me as a lover would.

Damn but it's been too long since I've been laid.

****
USS Galaxy
Deck 4
Main Shuttlebay
Sleitor Mann

She kissed me!

'She did what Sergeant?' Major Hux is looking down at me again, a look of concern on his face.

I shake my head of the cobwebs. Artillery echoing in my memories.

Ah....sorry sir......uh

who was I talking about?

Who kissed me?

I hadnt been kissed since R&R last week.......

That was before....before Hill 103.

I jump to my feet shouldering my Carbine.

Lets Rock and Roll Major.....lets get those Tarsian bastards!

As I charge up Hill I dimly hear a handgun booming in the background.......

****
USS Galaxy
Deck 4
Main Shuttlebay

Marshal Bin Hux's hand cannon was booming! The echoing crash of the huge shells echoing loudly across the open spaces of the shuttlebay. He wasnt aiming AT Mann per se........part of him still wanted him captured....not necesarily with huge holes in him. Unfortunately the Cybernetic crewman was making it difficult, getting in his line of fire and all. That and the fact that firing a huge projectile weapon in Zero G presented its own difficulties. Bracing himself against the bulkhead he squinted up at the floating combatants. "Damn Mel.....Did that bitch just kiss him?" Next to him the female Marshal shrugged, her long blond hair a spray of fire in the zero g.

"Fleeties." she replied......"Long time no shore leave I suppose...."

Victor and Corran transported in just in time to see the aformentioned kiss. With an odd look, the Tactical Chief looked at the Security officer and the Marshall. "You know.." the Trill observed. "That's not a tactic I'd have considered."

Victor snorted, and the two of them added their fire to Hux's.

****
USS Galaxy
Deck 4
Main Shuttlebay
Lt (JG) Eve

A searing tingle erupts behind my eyes, Sleitor is screaming too. We've just been peppered with... sheer pain. People are getting close, too close, swimming like floundering fish through the mess. We're safe again for a moment, and I look in his eyes. We bump into a shuttlepod and settle between the nacelles for a moment's respite from the attacks.

Though my eyes are artificial, tear ducts remained, probably for my eyelids. Why am I thinking about my bionics? Shaking my head I look back to Sleitor. Recognition flares in his eyes, he knows what is about to be done. He knows he can't to a damned thing. Laying my hands on the sides of his head I lean in, kissing him once again. "I'm sorry."

****
USS Galaxy
Deck 4
Main Shuttlebay
Sleitor Mann

Screaming......

Burning.......

Blood flowing and floating.......

I swim amongst the floating garbage a ballet dancer of devastation.

Lazily I avoid their clumsy shellfire, clutching a slim female form next to mine.

Her lips are warm.....

Her arms are cold metal.....

Both burn me terribly.

Tossing her aside, a dive into the midst of Security agents, scattering them like a cueball.

Security agents.....

Tarsian Soldiers......

I cant tell anymore

Major Hux is here....

Urging me to the top of 103.

Shooting at me with that damn gun of his.

Marshal/Major

Enemy/Friend

Who can tell.

Whats the diference

Blood swims into my vision, dancing in the air currents.....

Im covered in it.....not all of it is mine.

Bodies float rag-doll in the bay......

I float too....

So little effort....

So little pain.....except the pain that screams behind my eyes.

Damn Tarsians

Damn Starfleet.

Major/Marshal Hux my dear old Freind/enemy.....

I reach him and pummel him with all my hate.

He returns the favor.

The echo of our blows reverberate across the shuttlebay.

We spin in the midst of devastation 50 feet above the floor...........

.

.

.

And then the gravity comes back on.

****
USS Galaxy
Deck 4
Main Shuttlebay

The thunder of a thousand tons of metal blasts across the shuttlebay as the floating junkyard falls in a rain of twisted steel.

Men die smashed to jelly amidst the carnage.

Blood ceases its dancing and falls wetly to the floor a crimson shower death.

The twin juggernauts of Mann and Hux slam hard into the deck followed lightly by the cybernetic litheness of EVE.

Bones break.

Blood flows as it should.

A crowd gathers.

The juggernauts reach for each other, seeking perhaps to return to their struggle...broken limbs and all.

Hux reaches for Manslaughter, pulling his way painfully up to his shattered form.

Eve is not far behind, trailing twisted metal and sizzling circuitry.

He grabs the Manslaughter by the collar, pulling him up to look into those eyes.

"Sleitor?"

****
USS Galaxy
Deck 4
Main Shuttlebay
Sleitor Mann

"Sleitor?"

"Sleitor?"

Retreating from the orchestra of pain that is my body, I climb back into the light of that voice.

Major?

Major?

My eyes open.......at least the one not swollen shut.

Major Hux.

No....Marshal Hux.

Jeez Bin........when did you get so old.

I laugh.....oh gods that hurts.

'Rest Easy soldier......we got you.' thats what he says.

Or maybe its something about being 'under arrest'

I cant tell.

I dont care.

Robogirl is there....love...lust in her eyes.

What difference to a lonely soldier?

The attention of a girl.

Bin?

Bin? I call out as my vision is fading.....

"Yes Sleitor?"

Did........did we take Hill 103?

****
USS Galaxy
Deck 4
Main Shuttlebay
Lt (JG) Eve

"Yes sergeant," The Marshal replies to the shattered man. "Kicked their asses."

Mann should be out by now, but the light in his one open eye is skewed. He touches my tears, surprised, before finally fading away into unconsciousness. I don't fight when restraints are clamped around my wrists, I allow myself to be beamed to the Brig. I'm still crying when the field snaps on. Why am I crying?

****
USS Galaxy
Deck 4
Main Shuttlebay

Corran watched as the Marshall comforted the murderer, and felt sick inside. "He really was just crazy, wasn't he?" he asked to no one in particular. Rex didn't know if he really wanted an answer.

Maybe there was no answer.

FINIS

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