Standard Disclaimer: All characters and situations related to Star Trek are wholly owned by Paramount Pictures. All the characters from the "Magnificent Seven" TV series are property of Trilogy Entertainment, The Mirisch Group, MGM Worldwide.
Captain's Log Stardate 13.09.25.
The Dominion War is over.
Less than a week ago, the Founders signed the declaration of surrender on Cardassia Prime after fighting the largest military battle the Alpha Quadrant has ever seen. The allied forces of the Federation, the Klingon Empire and the Romulan Star Empire converged upon Cardassian space and fought their way back to Cardassia Prime and engaged the forces of the Dominion, consisting of the Jem Haddar, the Breen and the Cardassians. The Cardassians whom had been more slaves to the Dominion then they were allies, chose that moment to throw off the shackles of their oppressors and joined the fight on the side of the Alpha Quadrant. They paid a heavy price for their show of defection and out of sheer spite, the Founders ordered the orbital bombardment of Cardassia Prime.
Three thousand years of civilization and achievement was reduced to rubble in less than an hour.
The Alliance arrived on Cardassia Prime as the victors of the war but there was nothing to celebrate. Cardassia Prime was almost bombed back to the Stone Age. The Alliance fleet had lost a third of its ships and the casualty list was high. Good ships were lost and good people along with them. To my deep regret, my personal friend Captain Raphael Castille of the Venture was also lost at the battle of Cardassia with all hands. Personal regrets have been dispatched to his family and to his fiancée, Inez Recillos who is still on board the Maverick at this time, although understandably she has spent most of that time in her quarters, in mourning.
The Maverick came out of the battle well enough. We suffered minor damage, which was all but rectified at Deep Space Nine. There were casualties but fortunately, no fatal ones. We remained on DS9 for a few days following the surrender as Lieutenant Travis was recruited to aid the diplomatic core in the construction of the new treaty between the Dominion and the Alpha Quadrant. Most of the crew has requested shore leave and under Counselor Sanchez's recommendation, not to mention his endorsement, I have decided that a little detour to Pacifica might not be such a bad idea before we return to the Frontier.
Captains orders until then? Rest and relaxation.
"I don't know Alex," Mary Travis said dubiously as both women waited for the turbo lift to deliver them to the bridge of the Maverick. "I mean what about Billy? I wouldn't feel right about leaving him."
"Oh God not this again," Alex groaned, wondering why they were having this conversation yet again.
It seemed that ever since she had suggested it, they had been discussing their trip to the Tethys Tourist Resort on Pacifica continuously. Although Mary had agreed to go, she had been teetering backwards and forward from her decision as she wrestled for her desire to get some well needed rest and her responsibilities to Billy.
"Didn't you tell me that Audrey King is organizing a field trip to the Oceanic Reserve for his entire class?" Alex looked at her critically. "He'll be up to his ears in pink nosed leviathans and all kinds of marine life with kids his own age. Didn't you tell me you wanted him to make more friends? Well I can tell you that boys his age don't tend to appreciate their mothers hanging around when they're trying to do that. It's a sure way to get beaten up."
Mary's jaw dropped open in horror. "It is not! My son would never get into a fight!" She declared indignantly
"Is this the same child that tried to rewire the replicator to produce nothing but Rigellian triple fudge sundaes? The same child who caused that same replicator to malfunction creating a continuous flow of green goop into your quarters until the Chief Engineer had to shut it off manually?" Alex looked at Mary smugly.
"Don't remind me," Mary shook her head in embarrassment. "Julia had to take the panel off while it was still oozing all that stuff and let me tell you, she's got a temper on her when she's properly upset."
"Being covered in green goop will do that to you." Alex pointed out.
"Okay," Mary let out a sigh of defeat. "You're right, he'll be fine."
"Good," Alex replied with a smile, aware that she would have to tackle this issue again at least a dozen times before they actually reached the resort. "Besides," she continued speaking as the doors to the turbo lift slid open and they stepped. "Think of it, room service for five whole days. Half naked men bringing you drinks with those little umbrellas in it, massages, moonlight swims."
"Not to mention the midnight activities," Ezra Standish remarked playfully as he came up along side them and with a grin of pure mischief.
"We're going there to relax." Alex bristled, even though it was not entirely a lie.
"Sure you are." Buck Wilmington said with a completely straight face as he looked over his shoulder at them and then flashed a more knowing grin at Chris Larabee who sniggered in complete awareness of his meaning.
The entire senior staff was at present on the bridge as the Maverick closed the distance between itself and the pleasure world of Pacifica and the idea of rest and recreation had put everyone in a playful mood, quite understandably considering the trials they had faced recently. The view screen before them revealed the stars ahead and the ship was cruising towards it destination at a comfortable speed of Warp 7. At the rate they were travelling, they would arrive at Pacific in little more than a day. Although it was possible to get there faster, Chris saw no reason to push the ship to its limits. Besides, there were some that wished time to make their vacation arrangements and other details needed to be worked out, like crew rotations for one.
Even the atmosphere on the bridge seemed similarly relaxed as evidenced by the banter and the subject of conversation that was currently being bandied about. Tethys Resort like many others in Pacifica were being visited by almost everyone requesting shore leave. As almost 80 percent of Pacific was covered with water, virtually every piece of land on the surface of the planet was employed in the business of tourism. The main body of Pacifica's inhabitants lived beneath the surface of the water in large underwater domes called Pavilions. Next to Raisa, Pacifica was the Federation's most popular holiday venue.
"Mr Wilmington," Mary gave him a look as she and Alex split up. The science officer took her usual posting while Mary returned to her seat next to the command chair at Chris' side. "Unlike your last trip to Raisa, we are going to the Tethys Resort for a vacation, not a seven day orgy." She said with a hint of haughtiness in her voice.
"Hey," Buck shrugged with no sign of repentance having come away from that particular holiday very rested. "An orgy is an overstatement." He looked at Mary oozing pure innocence.
"Not according to the number of women who communicated with the ship to say goodbye when we went to get you." JD quipped from his place at navigation control.
"Shouldn't you be making sure we don't crash into a star or something?" Buck retorted giving the young man a glare of annoyance. However, JD appeared equally unrepentant and responded with an even more infuriating grin then he had when he made his earlier statement.
"Face it Buck," Chris Larabee who occupied the centre seat responded. "Your exploits are known far and wide throughout the ship."
"And written across bathroom walls in a dozen star systems." Alex chuckled.
"What can I say, its my animal magnetism." He grinned devilishly and exacted a groan from the women present and ripple of laughter from the men. "Women can't resist me."
The women in the room rolled their eyes in collective sarcasm before Alex found herself saying. "And that ranks up there with the mystery of Atlantis and riddle of the Sphinx."
Buck however, was not about to be put down so easily and added cockily. "Don't worry, one day it will come to you girls too."
"Unless you want to be cleaning EPS conduits for the rest of your term as my first officer, you better pray not." Chris drawled, giving Buck a look that bordered on mischief and menace that Buck had to think about it for a second as he tried to guess whether or not Chris was joking.
"Thank you for the vote of confidence." Mary gave Chris a look of mock hurt. "Do you not think I'll be able to resist Mr Wilmington's considerable charms?"
"Well..." Chris started to stammer.
"Come on Mary," Vin Tanner interjected, wishing to save his captain. "Its not that hard to resist Buck, all you need is a good flea collar."
"Hey!" Buck exclaimed.
"Nice save Mr Tanner," Mary returned her gaze to Chris, indicating that he was nowhere out of trouble yet and that they would discuss this later.
"So where are you and Julia going Ezra?" JD inquired, deciding that it was necessary to move to a less volatile subject in order to save his captain.
"Oh there's a nice romantic little inlet on the far side of the planet. Remote, luxurious and definitely made for two individuals who want to bask in each other's company." Ezra said with a grin, believing this time he had picked the perfect getaway for himself and the lovely Miss Pemberton.
"That's not all." Buck sniggered under his breath.
Ezra glared at him. "Unlike you Commander, the sole purpose in my life is not to bed Julia. Engineering took the brunt of the damage during our engagement in the last battle of the war and I believe she needs a perfectly restful place to recuperate."
"I'm sure," Buck said with a wicked glimmer and then rose from his chair. "Well since our able science officer is here, if you don't mind I'll make myself scarce."
"Please." Ezra remarked and shook his head in a mixture of resignation and amusement when Buck took himself off the bridge.
Mary was still staring after him like an unruly child making his escape before turning back to the conversation at hand. "I think it's a nice idea." Mary commented. "I know she's looking forward to it." In truth, Julia had speaking of nothing else since they had discovered that Pacifica had been their intended destination for some well needed shore leave. Ezra was correct in saying that Engineering staff had been pushed to their limits during the last few days, what with holding the ship together during the battle and putting everything together after it had ended.
"What about you Captain?" JD asked, always burning with curiosity over what was happening on the ship.
"We're going white water rafting on the Trident River." Vin answered automatically.
"I can never appreciate how you two willingly indulge any recreational time you have to such pursuits." Ezra frowned in disapproval, even more so than usual.
The Trident River had its origins from the only mountain on the planet, where three powerful rivers that converged into one and the result was a river that was one of the fiercest and most challenging venues for the activity of white water rafting. The force of the trio of waterways draining into one had created currents that were known to tear boats to kindling if one was inexperienced at the sport. Ezra felt the captain's safety was one of his principal responsibilities, whether on the ship or off it and unlike a holodeck program, there were no safety protocols in real life. Anything that went wrong could have uncomfortably permanent ramifications. However, Ezra had recognised the glimmer of anticipation in his Captain's eyes the moment Vin had suggested the idea and guessed that any objections he made was going to be duly noted, tabled and then rejected.
"Ezra," Chris wished he did not have to go through this every time he left the ship and went on vacation. He never had to worry about such things when he was first officer. Why was it such a big deal because he was now Captain? "We will have our com badges on us at all times."
"I still have reservations on how effective they will be if any misfortune should occur." Ezra persisted.
"Well you can always come with us," Vin grinned at him mischievously. "You know, keep an eye on Chris for yourself."
Ezra merely looked at the officer of the con and replied simply. "Have a good trip."
She should have gone home.
If she had been smart, she would have.
However, when the time had come to make that decision, Inez Recillos found that she could not. The pain inside her was still too raw and she did not want to face her family's condolences because all that would do was make her remember him. She was barely holding herself together, trapped inside this darkened room where she did not want to hear of or speak to anyone. How could she be expected to cope if she went home? They had grown up in the town of Val Verde together, every road, every building and tree in the place held some significance in her memories of him and going back there would force her to remember every torturous fragment of her world that was Raphael Castille.
There was this ache inside her breast that was so sharp that she could not breathe at times. The feeling would not go away and as Josiah had said when he came to visit her a day or more ago, she could not remember for sure because Inez seemed to have lost any sense of time. In space that was easy enough to do when there was no sun to mark the passage of the days. Outside the window of her quarters, there was only stars that seemed to pass by as the ship continued on its journey, speeding past with complete indifference to her pain.
She always knew it could happen. She had heard about the women who had suffered the loss. As a bartender, she had heard all the stories from men and women alike who had suffered the same tragedies, she thought then that if it came to it, Inez Recillos was capable of handling the possibility of a losing Raphael in the line of duty. What she thought and what was were too completely different realities. It was unlike any pain she had ever experienced in her entire life and it sapped away at her strength and her will to live like a hole in her soul that was letting that she was escape into oblivion.
During the first few days, it was Mary who had been her most constant supporter, having lost her husband in the same manner during the last battle with the Borg over Earth. Inez had drawn comfort from the widow but eventually not even Mary's words of understanding could penetrate her grief and she had withdrawn, appreciating that Inez needed solitude to deal with her sorrow. Inez did not know whether time would be enough. Although friends dropped into see her, she could not seem to get her mind wrapped around their presence and their attempts to help had little or no effect.
She had emerged from her quarters long enough to be present at the memorial that was held for the Venture and all its crew. It was one of many such events that filled the calender at DS9 following the battle at Cardassia. Inez had gone through the ceremony in a stupor, barely aware of anything as her friend converged upon her, offering support even though she was too racked with guilt to be aware of very much. A part of Inez could not associate the cold surface of the torpedo tube he had been encased in for his burial as Raphael, not when it was little more than two weeks ago they had made love inside this room when he had come to see her.
All the plans they had made for after the war, how she was going to finally come on board the Venture. She understood his reasons for not wanting her on the front lines. In truth as risky a mission as it was to stand in the frontier between the alpha and delta quadrants, it could not possibly be as dangerous as one that the Venture had undertaken in maintaining the front lines of a war zone. Raphael knew that dying was a possibility. Too many starships had been destroyed during the war and it was a fate he would not allow her to risk and so he had asked her to take something out of the way.
Inez obeyed because she loved him, never really believing that he would die. Apart of her still refused to believe it and another part who knew better, was twisting up inside with despair.
She had been sitting in her quarters since then, doing nothing, moving through the set of rooms like some ghost, wallowing in sorrow, with no wish to do anything else when she heard the gentle trill of someone at her door. Inez groaned inwardly, having no wish for company and yet not possessing the lack of regard to ignore her caller. Dragging herself out of the bed she had been trying to hide in for as long as possible, Inez padded to the door, grabbing her silk robe at the same time and pulling it over herself.
Inez resolved to herself to get ride of whoever it was at the door as quickly as possible for she had no need for visitors or well meaning friends at this time. She did not wish to be rude or hurt anyone's feelings for simply trying to help but she had little tolerance for intrusion either. However, upon opening the door, Inez found herself faced with the one person she had least expected to see throughout all this.
"Buck?" Inez exclaimed with genuine surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"Hi Inez," he said with a sympathetic smile. "I came to see how you were doing."
Inez was still too astonished by his presence to do anything more than invite him in.
Her relationship with the first officer of the Maverick was strange to say the least. She knew he was interested in her romantically but then that was not saying much because there was not a single woman on board the Maverick that had not at one time been paid attention by Buck Wilmington. What made him different from most philanderers she supposed was the fact that he never considered his dalliances with the opposite sex as something to be discarded when his interest had waned. They always parted as friends and almost all the women whom she spoke to, talked about the relationship with affection. Which confused her immensely why he would be so determine to add her to his collection. While he had a shocking attitude to his relations with women, he was also surprisingly sensitive and genuine cared about how they felt and he was always careful not to hurt them. If she had not known this for a fact, Inez would have looked upon his presence here as being in the absolute worst taste.
"How have you been Inez?" Buck asked as the doors slid close behind him and he let his gaze sweep across the room. If it was not for the air recyclers, he was certain the room would smell stale. Looking at the uneaten food on the pile of plates on the side of her bed and the fact that almost everything else remained untouched except for that part of the room, Buck had a very good idea just how she was doing.
"My fiancee just died, how do you I think I feel." She did retorted and immediately regretted her words.
"I'm sorry," he immediately apologised wishing he had managed to put his question forward better. Of course she was not going to be feeling well. "I didn't mean"
"No, it's alright." She remarked, feeling more guilt than he did. "I'm not doing too great as you can see."
He could see but he refused to pass judgement. He had no idea how she felt but his experience with Chris years before had helped him understand the grieving process to some extent, enough to know that it was the people close by that made the difference. "You're entitled."
"Thanks." She smiled faintly at him, pleased that he was not unloading on her with advice and platitudes. "To tell you the truth I'm not really in the mood for company."
"I know," he answered making no move to enter the room any deeper than where he was. In truth, Buck was here more for his own sake than anyone else's. He was going crazy not knowing how she was faring and needed to see for himself that she was alright. Of course, this was not far removed from what he had expected. She was naturally going to be shattered following Raphael's death. He had seen how they had been when the captain of the Venture had come aboard enough to know that she had loved him deeply and perhaps always would. "I'm not going to stay long. I just wanted to see if you were alright and if you needed anything."
"Always the first officer huh?" She teased a little.
"Something like that." He remarked not meeting her gaze and averted his eyes so that she could not tell what was truly running through his heart. At this point, it would not be well received.
"Thank you." She said quietly. "I'll be okay in time." Inez confessed and surprised herself when she found herself believing it to be the truth.
"If you need anything.." he started to say, letting his emotions escape a little more than it should have. "I'll even listen."
Inez was touched by the sentiment even though she was unsure what motivated it. Before this point, she had been less than subtle in her belief about his conduct with so many women. There was no reason for Buck to bestow kindness upon her and yet she sensed it was not some tasteless effort to impress her.
Whatever else it might be was something she was not equipped to deal with right now, no matter how much the idea surprised her.
"Audrey!" Josiah Sanchez said with an exclamation of pleasant surprise upon seeing the suite of rooms he used as his office in the capacity as ship's counsellor. While the Counsellor was accustomed to seeing Lilith King dropping in at random intervals to see him, it was the first time he had ever seen her mother in these offices. Not that he did not mind seeing Audrey of course. Since meeting the lady in the thick of the recent Dominion attack on this ship, Josiah had occasion to run into her during their day to day existence on board the Maverick. "What a nice surprise. What can I do for you?"
Audrey seemed nervous and on a woman of her vintage, it seemed particularly endearing. Of course Audrey may have been in her early forties but she still looked every much the beauty with dark auburn hair and inquiring blue eyes that seemed to reach into the soul and grab you by the throat if you were not careful. Josiah as rather stunned by his description and had not realised that he thought so much of her before this point. Feeling somewhat unsettle by that thought, Josiah shook the notion out of his head and decided to focus his mind on why she was here.
"You know that I am organising a field trip to Pacifica for my class." Audrey said trying hard to force the words out and wondering why she ought to be so nervous about such a simple task.
"Yes," Josiah nodded. "Lilith mentioned something about it. I think it's a wonderful idea."
"Thank you," she smiled nervously and Josiah found himself admiring the way it seem to light up her face before being revisited with the same discourse that had impressed itself upon him earlier. "The problem is we've seemed to hit a little bit of a snag. Lieutenant Holden was going to assist me in chaperoning the children and it appears she's come down with a case of the Kaltorian flu and needs to be quarantined for the duration. I've tried the other teachers but they've organised outings of their own for their classes and I really did not want to disappoint the children. They had their heart set on going."
Josiah could attest to that. Lilith who was almost always accompanied by Billy Travis these days, had talked about nothing else and would be terribly disappointed if the trip were cancelled. "That's unfortunate, I know she was really looking forward to it."
Audrey cleared her throat and then got to the point of her visit to his office. "I was hoping that perhaps you would consent to coming in Lieutenant Holden's place."
"Me?" He exclaimed.
"Yes," Audrey replied. "You're wonderful with children and Lilith said you have been to Pacifica before."
"Yes," Josiah nodded, his mind whirling at the idea. In truth, he had no plans for the furlough and vacation was not something he had really given much thought since Ayla's passing. This was mostly due to the fact that time spent doing nothing would usually caused him to start thinking about his wife and by extension, remind him how much he missed her. "I used to vacation there with my wife and our children when they were young enough to appreciate it."
"I'm sorry," Audrey looked dismayed at being the reason for dredging that pain. "I understand if you don't want to do it. I just thought.."
"No, it's alright." Josiah moved quickly to allay any such fears she might have at bringing him pain. It had been a year since his wife had departed from this life and he could not avoid the places where they had been forever. After all, did he not tell his patients who suffered the same loss, when it was time to move on. This time the advice was for a patient closer to home. Physician, heal thyself. Josiah thought.
"I'll be happy to do it." Josiah announced taking a deep breath and deciding to let nothing hold him back.
"Really," she beamed radiantly at his acceptance. "The children will be so pleased. I know Lilith will be."
Somehow Josiah had a hard time trying to distinguish whether or not she was not a little happy herself that he was joining her and did not have time to ponder the issue before she had left his office again. However when she had gone, Josiah was suddenly struck with the idea that he was going to one of the most romantic places in the quadrant with a woman who unsettled him.
Physician, heal thyself suddenly meant very little.
The object floated it in space.
The vacuum of deep space had kept it perfectly preserved for the eternity that it had wandered through the void. A shape of geometric lines, fashioned out of a crystalline substance whose sculptors had long since passed the veil, it remained hurtling through the black with no destination to reach and no end in sight. It joined the throng of so many other like it, travelling the space between the stars in its nomadic existence, all the while waiting for its time. Sometimes the end would come abruptly when it became caught in the gravitational field belonging to a planet or a star and would remembered as nothing more than a shooting star in the night sky before it was burned up forever.
Over the centuries, ships had passed by it, some had paused long enough to look before continuing on again but none had decided to salvage it from the wilderness. It had seen all kinds travel by, some in ignorance and others in just plain indifference. It had watched them come and go, all the while waiting, hoping and in some instances, praying for salvation. Time lengthened, stretched and finally disappeared into the distance, leaving behind despair and more waiting. Hope had dwindled like patience even though the need was just as strong, just as fierce as the day it had begun its imprisonment. Those who desired immortality had no idea how long it could be when one was sentenced to wandering aimlessly through nothingness for all time.
Then one day, a ship appeared and instead of veering away as others before it had done time and time again, this one slowed and closed in on it.
"What is it?" Chris Larabee asked from the bridge of the Maverick.
The object was beautiful, whatever it was. On the viewer before him, it hurtled in silent grace through the void, almost invisible because it had been drifting between stars and there was no illumination to allow anyone to see it, let alone be able to admire its inherent beauty. Illumination was hardly a problem when several million tones of warship closed in on it. A thousand points of light from the numerous windows, portals, observation decks and other pexiglassed view stations on board bounced off the smooth, crystal surface. It hit the object like the light of sunrise, gradual but nonetheless breathtaking when silhouettes came into feature and facets of its crystal surface reflected it back at them. For an instant, it looked like the brightest star in the sky.
"Unknown," Alex shook her head in response, her eyes being the only one the bridge who was not focussed on the scene beyond the port bow of the Maverick. Across the bridge, activity had slowed to a crawl with only Alex working quickly to produce answers as to what it was they were all gaping at with such awe. For the present however, it still eluded her. "It could be a probe." She ventured a guess but the doubt in her voice was clear.
"I don't think so," Vin shook his head, his cobalt colored eyes fixed on the view screen, admiring the glimmer of light that illuminated off the surface of the thing each time it moved across the nose of the ship. He only needed to nudge the controls gently to keep the object at its constant position on the nose of the ship, using the ship's thruster control to maintain that slow speed. "Its drifting and I don't see anything that could be propulsion systems."
"Vin's right." Chris tended to agree with the helmsman statement and knew that in seconds, Alex would come up with a better description. With a little smile, he knew that his science officer hated puzzles and one she could not solve would occupy her time like her very own demon until she had cracked the mystery surrounding it. In that way, she was like every other science officer he had ever met and more to the heart of an explorer than anyone else on the ship.
"Still it's out here and it's not natural, is it?" He mused once more and also looked over his shoulder at his science officer for confirmation on that fact. The wonder of space made it difficult to make any statement even one for such a simple question difficult to ascertain without scans, examination and theory. Too many times had they come across objects, life forms, spacial phenomenon's that by all rights should not exist, either in nature or man made but the fact was, they were there and the rules usually got thrown out the window at that point.
"Without more specific scans, to say otherwise, I'd say that thing is a construct of some kind." Alex was glad to be able to give the captain something more than a muted response telling them nothing and felt relieved that she had been put forward a question she could answer. Sometimes, people tended to confuse the science officer as being the fountain of all information regarding everything. Science officers were only as good as the data they were allowed to work with and the current situation did not give her little more than a meager portion. "The cut of the object is too precise to be a natural formation and judging by the measurements which are identical in some sections, I would say that it was cut to size, probably out of a single block of crystal."
"Amazing," Mary commended, her blue grey eyes sparkling with curiosity. The object was a tribute to craftsmanship and appeared like something that ought to be enjoyed by thousands, not left to languish in the frozen gaps of stellar space.
"It's so beautiful." She could not help but remark and though they were not as open with their opinions as she was, no one on the bridge could refute that statement. Mary's experience with space exploration was limited. While the others had prepared for life out in space and some had spent most of their career in it, Mary had spent her career in conference rooms, debating with diplomats and exploring new cultures as far as their traditions went not the space around their worlds. Being protocol officer for the Maverick had placed her at the heart of Starfleet's charter, to seek out and explore new life and was far away from what she had been accustomed to as one could possibly get. However, the advantage to being in this new environment was the fact that she was allowed to view every discovery with the fresh eyes of a child in a new playground.
The Maverick had been travelling to Pacifica as intended when sensors had detected the object that they were not viewing with such interest. At first, they thought it was merely a piece of space debris but Alex being the thorough officer that she was had discovered that there was more to the spacial flotsam then first glances might indicate. Although there was never any danger of a collision since proximity alerts would have screamed warning as soon as the object became dangerous, the nature of it demanded that they assess if there was any danger to other passing ships. It was never wise to assume that every vessel flying through the immediate vicinity was of the technological sophistication of a galaxy class starship and what may be a slight threat to them could kill someone else. In either way, Chris was not about to risk that.
"Could it be a weapon?" Ezra Standish asked, not at all taken by the beauty of the object as the rest of his crew and more capable of viewing it with an objective eye. Their reaction to the thing was half the reason for his concern and he wondered whether or not the object had been sculpted in such a way to engender the response he was seeing in his comrades right not. Ezra could think of nothing more disarming than masking something lethal around a veneer of something so captivating in order to draw in potential victims before attacking with ruthless efficiency when it was all said and done. The term flypaper seemed to apply in this instance.
"I don't think so," Alex glanced at Ezra and saw that he was deadly serious about the question. In all honesty, she could not blame him for he was after all, the security officer. "It appears to be a solid block of crystal. There is nothing inside it at all to make it anything, let alone a weapon." Still, as her eyes studied the readings on her console, she wished she could be entirely certain about that. "Unless they're using a kind of technology that is so far unknown to anything in the Alpha Quadrant."
"That is what I feared." Ezra let out a deep sigh, not at all willing to shake the belief that there was something amiss at the spectacle of debris they were so fascinated with.
"Actually," she said after a moment of studying the things. "If I did not know better I would say that its some kind of storage crystal, not unlike the ones used by the Cardassians."
"Cardassian security crystals are 30 centimetres long," Vin exclaimed. "That thing is almost 10 metres long and four across."
"Yeah but I think she's right," JD agreed, having come to the same conclusion. Although it was obvious that there were no signs of life on the object, Alex had instructed JD when the object had first come into their sights, to conduct such a frequency sweep. Being a crystal, Alex suspected that it was extremely sensitive to any kind of atmospheric changes even in an airless environment as this and might be capable of producing sound. "It's giving off some kind of resonate harmonic frequency the closer we get to it, like some kind of beacon."
"So what's it doing out here?" Chris asked out loud, not really expecting an answer. "As far as I know there is not space faring race in the immediate vicinity. It could have come from Pacifica but I know for a fact that their technology could not produce something like this."
"Captain," Alex said suddenly, the tone of her voice changing enough that Chris swiveled around in his chair to face her. She wore an expression on her face that could have been disbelief but mostly awe and that was an emotion Alex rarely displayed.
"What is it?" He demanded, wanting to know what she had discovered as her eyes darted from the screen to the console, her hands flying across the panel as she tried to reconfirm what she found.
After a moment however, Alex had no choice but to settle with the idea that what was before her was real. "According to my scans that thing is almost half million years old."
A low whistle escaped someone behind them. Chris thought it might be JD.
"My god!" Mary exclaimed, not so restrained with her own astonishment. "How long do you think it's been out here?"
"Its impossible to say without more detailed analysis," the science officer answered, still somewhat stunned by her discovery over the age of the thing. She raised her eyes to it as if a visual study would give her the answers that scans would not. "I need to be able to examine it with more specialised equipment that this."
"You want to bring it on board?" Ezra looked at her, not at all liking the idea of bringing the thing onto the Maverick, not when they did not have the slightest idea of what it was. The way it had captured the attention of everyone who saw it made Ezra very nervous and this had all the earmarks of a very bad idea. "Captain, that is unwise. As far as we know, that appears to be quite benign but we know very little about it, what its purpose was intended to be. With all due respect to Commander Styles, everything we know about it is speculation, not hard data. For all we know, it could still be a weapon that was left here for any unsuspecting person to find."
"Captain," Alex sighed, understanding Ezra's objections but disagreeing with him on the most basic level. "That is a significant piece of construction floating out there in space. Its never been encountered before by any Federation ship before now. We cannot just keep going and ignore it simply because we have no idea what it is. Granted, Ezra is right, we cannot determine exactly what purpose that object was originally intended but I believe it some kind of data storage device. The entire history of a civilization could be contained inside that crystal, perhaps stored because they wanted someone to know who they were. It seems terribly short sighted of us if we just ignored it and let their voices go unheard."
"Okay, okay," Chris conceded defeat and because he was a little moved by her impassioned plea. Sometimes Alex could be a hard-nosed, pain in the butt but she was a good officer and a true explorer, a trait Chris had to confess he shared with her. In all honesty, he did believe that object had been left behind by someone that wanted to be heard and he wanted to know what that object was as much as she did. "You convinced me commander. Transporter..."
"Captain....." Ezra interrupted quickly before he could carry out that order, still having a multitude of reservations over this course of action.
"Ezra its coming on board," Chris said firmly before adding in a more conciliatory note. "However, you will take full measures to see to it that the possibility of any danger to the ship is negated by putting that thing through its paces, Level 5 force field, the works. I want it cleared technologically, microscopically and any other way a talented security officer like yours can throw at it. Until we assess that there is no possible danger to the ship, no one gets near it. Is that understood?" Chris looked over his shoulder far enough to meet Alex's gaze to show her that he was absolutely resolute on this particular point.
Alex nodded and exchanged a glance with Ezra, indicating that she understood his authority in this matter and would adhere to whatever he decided would be the best way to proceed. Although she was a scientist by nature, she was also a Starfleet officer and the welfare of her crew had to come first.
"Transporter room," Chris spoke out loud.
"Transporter Chief Rain here Sir."
"There is an object on our port bow, science station is sending coordinates right now." Chris asked, confident that Alex was already moving to fulfil that order. "I want you to lock and transport to Cargo Bay 1. I want it placed in Level 5 containment."
"Aye Sir," the unseen voice of the Trill lieutenant responded.
All eyes turned to the screen as they watched the construct in the view screen, still tumbling through space with no particular agenda in mind, looking not unlike a Catherine wheel when the light bounced off its flawless surface against the jet colored sky behind it. As the transporter beam locked on to it, the objects spectrum of color changed all together as a shimmer of gold encompassed it in all totality before it vanished off the screen all together.
A moment later, Transporter Chief Rain's voice sang through the bridge in all its melodic tones. Those who were accustomed to her voice found it strangely reassuring for some unknown reason. "The object has been beamed directly to Cargo Bay 1 Captain, under Level 5 containment."
"Thank you Lieutenant." Chris smiled and then swiveled around in his chair to face Alex and Ezra again.
"She's all yours."
Ever since coming on board the Maverick, Josiah found that the one person he could truly call a professional colleague as well as a peer of equal was Nathan Jackson. It was not easy to get to know the doctor even though outwardly, he was a friendly sort. However, Nathan's personality, the one he hid away behind the stock standard facade of the Chief Medical Engineer was not so easy to discern. He was a man of surprising sensitivity, who would have been a more than able Counselor if it was not for the fact that healing was what he was born to do.
And he truly was born to it.
Josiah had watched him mend bones, cure ailments and regard patients with such care, it was almost a pleasure to see. Children coming in with scraped knees and teary eyes usually left with smiles that had little to do with Nathan's treatment of their wounds but rather how he had made them feel about the whole thing. Josiah's friendship with Nathan had been slow to form. Their offices were down the corridor for one another so it was inevitable they would see each other a great deal. Although they were senior staff, they were not required on the bridge. Thus, whenever the situation got tense, both men usually rode out the storm when there were no casualties of course, sharing a bottle of Romulan ale which apparently Nathan had a taste for and Josiah had contacts to acquire, since Romulan ale was contraband.
It was only after Josiah had to gotten to know Nathan very well did he understand why the man took his patients and his ability to heal so seriously. Until the age of seventeen, his only family had been his sister Rebecca. Growing up on one of the outer colony worlds where medical treatment was scarce, Rebecca had been struck by Andulusian Fever, an ailment whose symptoms were so slight they could be easily mistaken for the common flu. The doctor on the colony had dismissed it as such and despite Nathan's protests to the contrary that it was something worse because he knew his sister, treatment for the deadly disease was not forthcoming. The pathology of Andulusian flu may have had slight symptoms but when it flared, its effects were nothing less than devastating. Within a day, nearly all her body functions had shut down and in a little more time than that, she was gone.
It was a loss Josiah suspected Nathan had never recovered and it showed in his attitude to his patients. He never dismissed anyone out of hand and what made him truly an exceptional healer was his ability to diagnose with incredible accuracy was that same reason. It was difficult to say at what point Josiah and Nathan had become friends but their friendship soon reached a point where Josiah found that there were times when he needed counsel himself and Nathan had the same sensitive approach to his problem that the doctor had for his patients.
"So let me get this straight," Nathan said to Josiah inside the confines of the doctor's private office in sickbay. "She asked you to join her on this field trip."
"Yeah," Josiah nodded. "I said yes but I don't think I'm ready."
"To go on a field trip?" Nathan looked at him over the cup of ale in his hand of which he was about to take a sip.
Josiah who was sitting across his desk, nursing his own glance gave the doctor a look. "No, for a relationship." He growled
"Woah," Nathan said putting down the glass and staring at the Counselor. "When did we go from field trip to relationship?"
"Well I'm sure that's where its going." Josiah said somewhat annoyed that Nathan could not see anything so obvious. "I mean out of the people on the ship, she came to see me? Obviously, she wants me."
Nathan chose not to make too much comment about that and rubbed the bridge of his nose as had to consider his reply. "Obviously. What about you? Do you like Audrey?"
Josiah hesitated now, uncertain about his answer. "She's a nice woman. Reminds me a lot of...." he paused a moment as it became a little difficult to continue. He thought he had become used to Ayla being gone, that missing her was only natural. They had spent so many years together that it was natural her being gone was going to be with him for a long time but until Audrey came into his life, Josiah had never been as uncomfortable about her as he did now.
"Of your wife?" Nathan ventured a guess.
"A little." Josiah had to confess. "But its not just that she's like Ayla but there's something about her personally. I could care about her."
"Josiah," Nathan took a deep breath, knowing what exactly the problem was. "Its okay for you to go on with your life. I know you loved Ayla very much but ask yourself would she want you to carry on alone?"
"Of course not." Josiah said automatically even though he and Ayla had never even discussed the possibility, mostly because they could never imagine their lives without one another. Perhaps that had been too much of an assumption that he could not overcome now.
"You don't have to feel guilty about liking this woman Josiah." Nathan responded and wondered what it must be like to love someone nearly twenty-five years and then suddenly have her disappear. What kind of void did that leave behind? Nathan had relationships in his past but good relationships were hard to maintain when one was a doctor as dedicated as he. At what point did caring for one's patients take a backseat to a more personal love? Nathan always found he had difficulty making that choice which was why he was still alone.
"I know," Josiah agreed, having come to the same conclusion although it was nice to hear someone else tell him. "I guess I've been so happy on this ship the last few months that I started to forget how much I missed Ayla and all this just brought it back."
"Josiah," Nathan took a moment to consider what was the best thing to say to the man. "If you had a patient, someone who lost his wife a year ago and is now starting to feel as if he might be ready to care about someone else again, whom perhaps felt a little trepidation of taking such a step, what would you say to him?"
Josiah swallowed and let a wan smile curled the edge of his lips. "Probably that it is natural to feel this way. To take it one day at a time and see how he feels about it and not assume too much and just play it out, keeping in mind that life goes on and sometimes the past needs to take a backseat to the future."
"Well there you go," Nathan grinned. "Good advice coming from the best Counselor I know."
"Sneaky but helpful," Josiah let out a slight chuckle when suddenly, their conversation was interrupted by a message across the com system.
"Doctor Jackson please report to Cargo Bay 1 with full medical decontamination equipment."
"Looks like you're on." Josiah replied as Nathan sighed and put down his glass. Technically, he was off duty but Nathan like most CMO's tended to live inside their offices.
"The life of star." The doctor laughed as he stood up from his seat and started to walk towards the door.
"Hey Nathan," Josiah called out before the man could reach the door.
"Yeah?" He paused and met the Counselor's gaze.
"Thanks." Josiah said with heartfelt sincerity.
"Any time brother." Nathan grinned and kept going.
Ezra had been determined that the object be put through its paces as the captain had ordered and so it was a good few hours before he felt that it was safe to deactivate the Level 5-containment field that surrounded it since its arrival on board the Maverick. Ezra knew he was being overly cautious but while the unknown might sometimes translate into wonderful marvels awaiting discovery, to the Chief Security Officer it mean that they were stumbling onto something that was potentially dangerous. As much as he would like to be fascinated by this crystal sculpture, he could not do so and expect his objectivity to it to remain. The lives of one thousand people counted on his neutrality to it and so he was not about to fail them.
Julia's engineering team had gone over it micron by micron and confirmed what Alex had guessed when they had first viewed it from the bridge of the Maverick, that it was a solid block of crystal. The properties of the crystal seemed to indicate it was some of storage device although what it could contain was beyond their understanding since it had no mechanism that might allow such a thing to be. It was like a huge shard of crystal floating in space, shaped like a thin wedge apart of a larger object. Under the gleam of the cargo bay lights, the object lost much of its spectacular radiance but was nonetheless an oddity worthy of much interest.
After Julia had completed her work, Nathan had conducted the same strenuous examination, ensuring that no space borne microbes had penetrated the screening process of the transporter system to endanger the ship. His inspection of the object was just as laborious and he remarked that aside from it being nothing more than a solid block of crystal, the patterns of its molecular formation resembled those found in Ferengi thought makers, devices which apparently had the ability to supplant brainwaves with others. While that had given Ezra some cause for concern, Nathan had assured him that if this device was meant to be for the purpose of data storage, it would make complete sense.
"So can I get a crack at it now?" Alex asked hours later. By now, the only ones left in the room with the strange construct were herself and the chief security officer.
"I suppose." Ezra frowned. "I still believe this is a bad idea."
"Of course you do," Alex replied, rolling her eyes as she walked towards the object that was lying on its side in the middle of the cargo bay. "You're chief security officer, you have to be a pessimist."
"My dear lady," Ezra retorted, deciding that he had done all that he could and it was time to leave Alex to her new toy. "I am not a pessimist. I am merely being careful and saving those of you who are in the pursuit of scientific discovery from yourselves, as you require me to do on some occasion."
"And we all admire the way you handle the responsibility." She threw him a playful smile as she reached the object and started programming the tricorder in her hands.
"I think I shall leave you two alone." Ezra sighed and noticed that remark had not even raised the slightest bit of attention from her as her only response was a slight wave of her hands telling him to go while she continued her work. Without further comment, the security chief left the room.
Alex let out a sigh when he was gone and hoped that Julia would soon put the man out of his misery by consummating their relationship. The lack of sex was obviously driving Ezra up the wall and back since the man had been particularly testy lately. Fortunately for Ezra, Julia had told her and Mary that such was the plan when he whisked her away for this romantic vacation on Pacifica. What Alex did not mention at the time, was she was certain that was what Ezra had in mind too.
She put down her tricorder after she had programmed it and cast another meaningful gaze at the object before her, admiring the flawless finish of its polished surface. Instinctively, Alex placed her palm flat against the top of the crystal, feeling its cool bleed into her skin. When it had been brought on board, the object would have been freezing to touch because of the 250-° C temperatures of vacuumed space. The heat from the atmosphere inside the ship had gone a long way to warming it up but not fast enough because crystal was not the best conductor of such things.
Alex was suddenly about to remove her palm when suddenly, she felt the jolt of something that was not unlike electricity making contact with her skin. The overload to her senses was so powerful that it blinded all thought from her mind before she was enveloped in cool, comforting darkness.
When Mary Travis was summoned unexpectedly to Cargo Bay 1 at the request of Alexandra Styles, she confessed to finding the whole thing a little odd. After all, she was a protocol officer whose expertise lay in linguistics, xeno-anthropology, not to mention a healthy knowledge in Federation, Klingon and Romulan constitutional law. What contribution she could make to the study of the alien artifact that the Maverick had sighted floating in space would be minimal but she had to admit that her curiosity was more than a little piqued by the possibility. Besides, she could not lie that she would not mind a look at the object beyond the view she had garnered through the view screen earlier.
Mary could not deny that despite all the dangers she had faced during her time on the Maverick, there was something inherently fulfilling about the exploration of uncharted space. They had encountered more alien species last month with the Maverick initiating first contract protocols to a small dozen, then Mary would ever had come across after a year at the Vulcan Embassy where she had been posted. With the Borg attacks and the recent Dominion War, Starfleet had been struggling to find experienced officers and she could now understand the reasoning that saw her posted here. An officer of her experience could not be left to languish on a diplomatic posting when a starship was in need.
Despite her initial apprehension at accepting the post, Mary knew that she could not imagine being anywhere else now. She knew much of this had to do with Chris and with their relationship slowly inching towards apogee, she had also come to understand that he was going to be in a permanent fixture in her life. Chris was already taking the space left void in her son's life at the death of her husband Syan and even Mary had started calling her child Billy instead of William. Syan's family would never approve of course and Mary had this terrible premonition that one day, she was going to be faced with a situation where she would have to fight for Billy's right to grow up, as he should.
Mary continued her ruminations inside the turbo lift that was taking her to the cargo hold decks when it came to a comfortable stop on the engineering deck. As the doors slid open, Julia Pemberton stepped inside.
"Hi Mary," Julia greeted as the doors closed behind her. "Computer, Cargo Bay 1."
Mary stared at her. "You too?"
"You're headed there as well?" Julia reacted with a hint of surprise.
"Yes," Mary nodded, "Alex asked me to meet her down there. I assume it has something to do with that crystal artifact that they beamed on board earlier today."
"I heard we picked something up." Julia remarked. "Do we have any idea what it is?"
"Not really," the protocol officer answered with a shrug of her shoulders. "Alex claimed before we brought it on board that it was almost half a million years old. It is beautiful though," she said with a hint of awe still left over from when they had seen it on the view screen in all its resplendent beauty.
"So why does she need us?" The engineers brows knotted with confusion. "Lieutenant Potter is the archaeological expert on board."
"Who knows?" Mary responded. "Maybe it has nothing to do with the object at all. Perhaps she wanted to see us for something else. She and I are going to the Tethys Resort when we get to Pacifica but that still would not answer why she would ask for you too."
"Maybe she needs a neutral opinion on how to expend your time while you engage in your debauch down there." Julia teased.
"Very funny," Mary gave her a look. "I'll have you know that there will be no debauchery going on. I am there for the rest."
"Uh huh," the petite read head responded with a look of pure skepticism.
"I would not cast stones from my glass house," Mary replied with a glimmer of mischief in her own eyes as she regarded Julia in the narrow confines of the lift. "I mean you and Ezra in isolated resort away from the world and the ship. I seriously doubt you two would be needing any more than one room."
Julia blushed involuntarily and gave herself away completely. "Okay," she threw her hands up in a gesture of defeat. "I admit it, sex is on the agenda."
"Thank god," Mary let out a sigh of relief. "I think the man is about to snap."
"Well I wanted to take it slow!" Julia said exasperated. "He means a lot to me and I just don't want to go rushing into things. I mean Ezra is complex."
Mary gave her a sidelong glance. "That's one way to put it."
"You know what I mean." Julia retorted, finding nothing amusing about the situation.
"I know what you mean but you've been together for months now. I think its obvious how he feels about you. He can't help it if he just so happens to be the most cynical human being to ever emerge from the primordial soup." Mary declared.
"I know," Julia sighed. "But a man who wears a poker face like his is hard to read and I didn't want to get hurt."
"Unfortunately," Mary sighed, offering the younger women the benefits of her experience. "That's the risk you take with relationships. There is no way to play it safe, believe me I know."
Julia glanced at Mary and nodded in understanding. For a few seconds, a deep silence lapsed over the conversation until the turbo lift doors slid open and they emerged into the corridor where the cargo hold was situated.
"Maybe Alex cracked the thing open and found the body of a 20th century movie star, alive and well but completely brain dead and starving for female company." Julia joked in an attempt to move away from the somber subject they had touched upon earlier.
"You know," Mary looked at Julia with a wry smile. "I always had a thing for Michael Biehn myself."
She could sense the coming of the two.
She felt their life force, resonating down the hallway upon approach and was able to assess whether or not they were suitable to complete the triumvirate she would need to unseal the others. After so long, drifting in the nightmarish void of space, unable to do anything but watch helplessly as they were trapped in their prison, powerless to awake from the horror that they had been forced to endure, she was eager to begin. Every second of their long imprisonment was burned into their memory and held in abhorrence. She would never go back to it again and she would free the others so that they may know what it was to breathe air through lungs once again, to feel blood pumping through their hearts and souls and feel the passion of life surging through flesh and blood bodies. When she had first claimed this vassal as her own, her mind had swum with the sensations of touch, of sight and sound. After almost half a million years of existing as nothing but energy trapped in a glass coffin, the feelings were as close to ecstasy as one could imagine. She had to share it with the others.
She would share it with the others.
The doors to the cargo hold bay slid open and the two remaining for there to be three, entered the room. They saw the vassal and found nothing amiss as they advanced deeper into the room, making comments as to the beauty of the object that she could see as nothing but the coffin for innocents who had been buried alive. They called it beautiful; she would have snorted in derision if it did not mean shedding the façade she had to maintain until the joining was complete.
"So what's up?" Julia asked as she approached Alex who was standing next to the artifact. As Julia approached it, she had to admit that Mary's description of it being beautiful did not do it justice. The engineering that had taken to shape this block of crystal did not exist even in this time and Julia wondered what race had inspired its creation. She was almost eager to take an engineering tricorder to it herself and make a study of the artifact. She could understand why Alex had insisted this be brought on board since it did certainly appear to be an astonishing find.
"I needed you both to see something." Alex said stiffly.
"Its even more beautiful up close," Mary exclaimed, already crossing the space between herself and the artifact. "Its amazing that it's remained intact as it had."
"Space is a big place," Julia remarked joining her advance. "Its not like it could not drift indefinitely. There are probably objects like this scattered throughout the quadrant, waiting for someone to pick them up as we did for this one."
"Yes," Alex said giving them an enigmatic smile. "It was fortunate."
"So what is it?" Julia questioned again.
"There is something I require your opinion on," Alex answered stiffly, placing her hand on the smooth surface of the artifact, her palm resting flat against it. "I believe it is warm."
"Warm?" Julia looked at her incredulously as she regarded the artifact with astonishment. "How can it have a temperature? It's been out in a vacuum?"
"I do not know," the science officer replied. "It just does."
"And why am I here?" Mary inquired, starting to wonder if there was not something odd about Alex's behaviour. The science officer could be detached at times. That was the nature of her personality that it had taken her crew mates time to accustom themselves to. It was an effort that was well worth the trouble for beneath her somewhat mercurial and dry nature was a woman who was softer in the centre than she would have most believe.
"I thought you might like to see it close up." Alex replied. "Touch it," she urged keeping her hand against the crystal surface. "You'll see why."
Mary and Julia exchanged a curious glance and decided there had to be something extraordinary for Alex to make such an effort for them to experience it. Usually whenever the science officer stumbled onto such oddities, she could not broke the interference of anyone in her investigation and was absolutely relentless in protecting what she called the scientific integrity of the study.
"This had better be good." Julia said with mock annoyance and put her hand against the artifact as the same time that Mary did.
The effect was almost instantaneous with tendrils of energy surging away from the crystal, enveloping all three in brilliant white globe. It did not effect Alex as much as it did Mary and Julia who jerked in uncontrollable spasms as their bodies were bombarded with alien power. Alex seemed more prepared for it since she had already undergone the process and she watched dispassionately as her friends went through the same trial although her mind was not present to be able to offer any feelings or sympathy or even prevent it for that matter. The dance of light and body took place for only a moment and the glow that had turned the artefact into a brilliant spectrum of colour soon darkened, its energies now sapped out of the many facets in its crystalline form.
Mary and Julia tumbled to the ground soundlessly, boneless as they impacted on the cold floor of the deck. As Alex stood and continued to watch, she felt no fear about their well being. The process was no good if the vassals that were required to carry the many were to die. There was so much to do and the patience, which had borne the many through the years in space, had dwindled to almost nothingness. For the first time in too long, they lived and breathed again. The chance for the accomplishment of what was left undone was too good to waste and they wanted to move quickly before the ones like those who had done this to them became aware of their presence and tried to interfere.
Mary stirred first; groaning first in pain as her body became accustomed to itself after what had transpired. She pushed her self onto her hands and knees and then stretched languidly, like a cat that had been curled into a ball of sleep for hours. Groans of aches quickly dissipating soon evaporated into the laughter of delight.
"Lords," Mary laughed out loud in a voice very much like the vassal's but full of playful mischief. " It has been too long!"
"We have been trapped in this prison," Alex glared viciously at the crystal artifact with obvious hatred. "For almost half a million of years!"
"Half a million!" The exultation of being alive drained from Mary's face. "I thought it might have been long but not for so long."
"We must return home immediately," Alex declared firmly.
"Yes," Julia, who was the last to recover, spoke in a low voice, colder and far harsher than that of her normal self. "We must go home and find out what it is those animals who did this to us have done to the home world, if there is one even left for us to return to."
"We have no other choice but to try." Mary responded, agreeing completely with that statement. "We have no where else to go."
"We have more immediate problems to deal with." Alex replied, staring at both of them. "We must free the others. This knowledge of my vassal indicates that there are more than enough on board this ship to play host to the others."
"This ship is governed by the hated ones." Mary declared, her eyes narrowing into slits as if the words were so distasteful and the hatred she felt for them was something tangible they could see and touch as opposed to just a feeling inside her breast. "They will not take us home." She almost spat the words.
"The combined knowledge of the vassals we now inhabit and the ones that we will soon take will not make that a problem." Julia said coldly.
"We must keep them occupied." Mary added her voice to the discussion.
"With the hated ones, the usual way will suffice." The entity residing inside the Chief Engineer responded with clear of derision in her voice. The seemingly eternity of time had robbed her of whatever compassion that might have existed once. Years of praying and futility had driven everything that cared and felt into the oblivion of vengeance. It was that way for many of them and until they saw the familiar skies of home, there would be nothing that could assuage that terrible rage at the injustice that had been done to them.
"The knowledge of my vassal tells me much about these species," Julia continued to speak. "They are no different from the ones we knew from our time. They claim benevolence, these Federations, but their kind always dominates, always seeks to remain above those like us. They will underestimate us in the beginning but by the time their complacency is shed, it will be too late. We will have this ship."
They left the cargo bay hold at the same time, fanning out to different parts of the ship, like soldiers extending the battle lines as they moved off the cargo hold deck and entered the general population of the Maverick's complement. Once the triumvirate had been completed and the essence of self had been sucked dry from its crystal confinement, the accumulation of new vassals would be nowhere as spectacular as it had been when the three had been taken. From this point on, it would be require nothing more than a touch and the vassal would be filled with the souls of the many.
Julia made her appearance in Engineering and acquired everyone there that was useful for the purpose. Upon passing the many to them, they were able to do the same as they expanded the scope of conquest beyond the walls of Maverick's heart and spread out even further like a cancer in its most virulent phase of devouring. The hated ones suspected nothing and went about their business as always, so confident that nothing was going on, unaware that the seeds for their surrender was being laid as they continued down the corridors of the ship, thinking that those in submission would always remain that way.
Mary Travis went to visit her son at school and in the process made everyone there, vassals for the many. The many did not wish to inhabit children but there were many of the kind that was acceptable to them and so their numbers grew yet again. A pat on the back, a brush of fingertips against skin, its passage through the ranks of the crew went completely unnoticed and there would be other forms of attack as well, not just the possession of bodies. The enemy was hated but he was not stupid and the oldest of the arts had to be employed most fully in order to give the conqueror the advantage. The many were not prepared to take any chances and as they continued their silent revolution, they gave no indication of their existence.
Alexandra Styles did not go to the bridge, for at the moment the cause was still too vulnerable for her to attempt infiltrating that vital system of the ship. The battle there would be fought soon enough; instead she traveled through the ranks of the science department, acquiring new soldiers to the cause from the selection to be had in astrophysics, stellar cartography and astrometics. By the time she had set her sights for Four Corners, almost half the ship had fallen to the invasion without anyone being the least bit aware of it.
It was time to put their plan into motion for there was nothing on board that could stop them now.
There was something very strange going on.
Upon concluding her duty shift, Transporter Chief Rain had decided upon a very definitive course of action. She would go to her quarters and soak in her bath and should anyone chose to interfere with that plan, which she had decided most strongly was a good plan, she would simply have to beam them onto the bridge nude when they were not looking. She was not joking. She had done that before. Anyone who heard the threat and wanted to verify the truth had only need to read her service record to know that she had done it to an instructor at the Academy who would never sleep easily again. Rain suspected that she had gained the posting to the Maverick despite that official reprimand in her service record, was because Captain Larabee believed that anyone who could manage to beam someone out of their bed and plant them in the middle of the Academy mess hall could most likely beam his crew anywhere and back again.
Whatever the reason, Rain did not care and she cared nothing about the blight on her service record either. There was something about being a Trill that was intensely liberating. Perhaps it was the fact that having a symbiote inside her body which allowed her to remember the past lives of everyone who had played host to it, always gave her a bright perspective on things. Not even death frightened her really because when she passed on, what she was would remain alive in the symbiote, alive in someone else and to whom she could transpose all her eccentricities. The other advantage of having the memories of all those people and their life experiences was being able to call on those images to shape her present life.
At the moment, the Trill named Rain was finding that experience did not quite cover this. She was not telepathic and other then the memories of those before her, Rain had nothing extraordinary to recommend herself, however, she could sense that something was wrong. People walked past her, looking no different than they did everyday and yet, there was something about them that was not right. She could not place what it is but it was there, lying in wait like the stink of dank water at the bottom of an old well.
She saw friends and colleagues walking past her in the corridors, as she made her way to the saucer section of the starship where the living quarters were situated, in particular for that bath she was willing to go any lengths to enjoy. They looked at her but did not see her. If anything, they seemed somewhat glazed and detached. The same look was worn by those who wore Starfleet uniforms, by maintenance staff and even to the civilians who were family members of officers and crew. Rain wondered if it was just her as she approached the turbo lift that would take her to her quarters. Having so many experiences to draw upon could sometimes be confusing and mixed signals from too many voices was not uncommon.
However, Rain's gut instinct told her that it was not so.
She tried not to ignore the gut instinct especially when it was the one thing in her mind that was truly unique to she who was Rain not the symbiote or the lives it had shared but herself. She relied upon it like the Captain relied upon its ship and when it said something bad was going down, Rain believed wholeheartedly.
"Rain." A voice said behind her as the doors to the turbo lift slid open and Rain found herself jumping a little, startled easily because of the chill that ran down her spine from her observations and this creeping sensation that something sinister was a foot.
"Commander Styles," Rain turned to Alexandra Styles and was glad to see the science officer. "I'm glad to see you." She let out a sigh of relief. Alex Styles was the most formidable intellect on the ship as far as Rain was concerned.
Well, the Captain and Commander Wilmington didn't really count. They were men.
"Something wrong?" Alex asked somewhat icily and Rain decided that the commander must not be having a good day. Considering that she herself was having an odd one, she supposed they could almost have something in common but chose not to mention that.
"Do you notice people behaving strangely?" Rain asked looking at some of the faces passing them by in the corridor.
"No," Alex shook her head, her expression looking stonier than ever. "Perhaps it is just you." With that, Alex placed her hand on Rain's shoulder just as the door to the turbo lift opened.
Rain felt the contact of skin and then felt something pass through the fabric of her clothes to strike at her with the sharpness of an icicle being driven straight into her mind. The young woman staggered forward, unaware that Alex did not follow her into the turbo lift and watched dispassionately as the doors closed behind her. The agony was so intense Rain could feel the others who shared her thoughts scream with the same excruciating pain and she fell to her knees, clutching her head and trying not to scream.
The tendrils of fire resonated through her mind, like someone had struck a tuning fork inside her head and the effects of it was vibrating itself into exhaustion. She did not know how long she remained on the floor of the turbo lift, gasping out in pain, trying not to let those strained groans become shrieks, until the torture had finally dissipated to tolerable levels. When she finally felt it ease and then recede all together, Rain was still breathing hard unable to understand what had happened to her.
"Oh girl," Rain swallowed as she struggled to her feet. "I think its about time you made a trip to see a doctor."
A starship was a place of mysteries.
The most obvious mystery being the space whose exploration it played such a vital part of. However, there were little enigmas and conundrums that lurked in very corridor, which whispered in the narrow conduits that ran behind the walls. For instance, why was it that Jeffrey's tube 3 always took a little longer to get its occupants where they were going than all the other turbo lift tubes. Or why the EPS relay on Deck 13 resonated with a low hum that sounded very much like a Klingon folk song. And of course, the possibility that two people who had served on a starship together for months had until one defining moment in time never laid eyes upon each other.
This was such a moment for Nathan Jackson.
He had heard about Transporter Chief Rain in discussion, had seen her files, had even assigned junior staff members to run physicals on her from time to time, however, the opportunity to actually meet her face to face had not eventuated. This was hardly unusual of course, in a ship full of people and his being the Chief Medical Officer, who aside from ensuring everyone's health on the Maverick was perfect, was also required to be the leading authorities in researching the Borg assimilation process to find a medical cure. This did not leave much time for socialising and other than a few holodeck visits with the senior staff and the dinner he shared at the Captain's table on a weekly basis, Nathan was more or less buried in his work.
He knew there was no reason to push himself so hard but that was the nature of him. Shattering the Borg ability to immediately assimilate life forms was the best protection they had against the Collective, if only the herculean task of deciphering how it was done and devising a preventative measure could be achieved. Nathan knew how many lives could be saved by the discovery and thus it was excellent motivation as well as justification to push himself so hard. However, he came to realise that he was spending entirely too much time on his own when he saw the Transporter Chief, whose full name was Rain Nal, Nal being the appellation of the symbiote inside her, enter his SickBay.
"So what can I do for you?" He asked politely, trying not to notice the amazing length of her hair that fell around her shoulders. She did not wear it up and Nathan could not deny that he thought it would have been a crime against men everywhere if she did. He reminded himself that he was a doctor and he should not be thinking like this when it was a necessity that he remained professional.
"I am not entirely sure Doctor Jackson," she remarked as she walked to the examination table he was guiding her to. Like Nathan, this was the first time that Rain had ever seen the doctor since every time he was required to make the journey off the ship, it was always someone else at the transporter controls. She was mildly surprised by how young he looked and found herself thinking that he had nice eyes that made everyone who looked into them, compelled to trust him. "I was on my way to my quarters and I had this attack. A sharp stabbing pain in my head. I've never felt anything like it before."
A frown of concern crossed her lovely features and Nathan found himself involuntarily thinking that it had no business being there. "Well let's take a look shall we?" He said showing none of the personal interest he was feeling the moment he put his hand on the medical tricorder and began his work. He took his patients' health too seriously to be anything but single minded when working.
There was an awkward pause for a few seconds as he made his examination of her and Rain found herself observing him and found that he was rather self conscious about her close eye. His colouring made it difficult to see his embarrassment but Rain had enough experience to sense it and she could not deny that she found it rather endearing really. Suddenly, she had a picture of him confined in a laboratory most of the time, working in solitude and she found herself thinking that it was a state of affairs that would not at all do.
"Do I make you nervous doctor?" She asked suddenly.
"Why do you ask that?" Nathan responded coolly, quite amazed by his ability to not come unglued by that statement because he was very nervous around her, very nervous indeed.
"I just get that impression." She looked at him with a smile of mischief.
"Its not nice to interrupt the doctor when he's trying to work you know," Nathan responded, starting to feel the anxiety he felt drain a little when he realised she was having some fun at his expense.
"I think you're a pretty multi-faceted guy," Rain gave him a wink. "You'll handle it."
Nathan burst into a grin and Rain decided she liked his smile just as much as the rest of him and chose to give him a moment's peace as he continued his scans. He was utterly confident when inside this room, of this she had no doubt but could be a little on the shy side once he was forced to venture out of its protection. For Chief Medical Officer, he was young and Rain was certain it was because he was very good at what he did. In any case, she made a professional note to see Nathan Jackson again and this time it would not be a professional visit either.
"So?" She looked at him when he had stepped away and was staring at the tricorder in interest. "Am I okay?" She waited for him to answer expectantly, not liking the pause that was stretching into more than a few seconds as he deliberated the readings he was seeing on the small device.
"It looks like you've had some kind of neural surge." Nathan replied, not understanding how such a thing was possible but then with so many alien physiology there were, it was not entirely impossible either.
"How is that possible?" She exclaimed with genuine shock.
"I don't know." Nathan shook his head clearly disturbed himself. "I may have to consult my medical database and see if this is perhaps a condition that is specific to your Trill physiology
"I can tell you its not." Rain started most firmly. "Misa Nal, three hosts back was a doctor and she doesn't feel it is. Besides, when it happened. We all felt it. Not just me but the other past hosts and it was sudden. I was just talking to Commander Styles and it just hit me out of nowhere."
"Commander Styles was with you at the time?" Nathan asked automatically although his mind was more focussed on the cause for the attack she had suffered.
"Yes she was." Rain recalled the incident and upon examining the encounter, wondered if there was not something a little odd about the entire situation. "It was funny," she mused, recounting to the doctor what had happened as she played it over in her mind. "We were talking and I mentioned that I thought people were behaving a little strangely."
"Behaving strangely?" Nathan looked at her sharply. He had been working in his lab for most of today and either than a visit from Josiah, he had not really been outside or met anyone else other than his own staff to be aware of abnormalities in the crews behaviour.
"The women mostly." Rain continued to explain, still unsure of that what she had seen were not her perceptions clouded by a bad day instead of something genuine. "It was like." She hesitated, unable to explain a feeling even one as strong as this. "They were there but not."
"Well," Nathan did not wish to say this to her but he believed in being honest with his patients. "You did suffer something of an episode. Perhaps your view of things was only the initial symptom of the more physical attack." He pointed out.
"You mean that I was thinking that way because of what was wrong with me was preparing to manifest itself in that hell I went through in the turbo lift?" She looked at him; not so fragile that such a thing would offend her. The doctor that existed inside her was not about to discount the possibility even if Rain had trouble believing that it was all to do with her, although it was the second time today she was told that her suspicions were in her head.
"What do you think?" Nathan looked at her.
"I think that despite the fact that my gut instincts tell me that something is odd is going on around here," Rain said with a visible huff. "I have to at least consider the possibility that what you say might be possible."
"Good," Nathan offered her a smile. "Now that a side," he replied. "I would like to conduct a few more deeper scans and see if we can work out what happened to you in the turbo lift."
Still, despite her outward agreement that the episode in the lift might be due to some problem she was suffering personally, the gnawing feeling that more was at work still lingered in the back of her mind. How was it that she had collapsed inside the lift without Commander Styles lifting a finger to help her? She and Alex were almost friends even though as the third ranking officer, there was much that kept their worlds apart but not so much that Alex would just leave her there.
"Only on one condition," Rain replied, not about to admit that she was entirely wrong about her assertions just yet. "When we're done, you come out of here with me and take a look for yourself."
"I thought you said you were open to the possibility." He regarded her with a little smile, admitting secretly that he thought she had too much spirit to let it go so easily.
"I am," she stated with a hint of defiance in her voice as she spoke. "Just as long as you are open to the possibility that people are acting strangely."
"Okay," he nodded, conceding that much if it meant she would allow him to run his tests because he did want to know if there was something seriously wrong with her. Neural surges of the type she had were not common and if allowed to continue without treatment, damaging over long periods of time. "You got a deal."
"And perhaps if after all that investigation, we decide that perhaps we might stop at Four Corners for some dinner, it might be even be more worth the effort." She flashed him a radiant smile. One that he could not resist.
"You always this forward?" He looked at her.
"You always this shy?" Rain returned just as quickly.
"Touche." He cried defeat and decided that even if there was nothing going on beyond the walls of his sick bay, he would not mind having dinner with her.
To begin with.
"We have a problem." Alexandra Styles or the entity that possessed her body announced upon entering the inner sanctum of Julia Pemberton's workroom in the Engineering deck. The room was small and contained a workbench and an engineering terminal, which gave the master of the deck full access to all systems on the ship. Julia could be found in the confines of this small space whenever she was not out of the main floor of the Engineering Deck, supervising things and used this room whenever she needed a little bit of peace and quiet.
When Alex arrived, Julia and Mary were already waiting for her. It was late in the day and all three women had skilfully navigated the Maverick avoiding all the command officers other than themselves as they converged to decide upon their next course of action. By her reckoning the disbursement of all the many through the chosen of the Maverick was complete and all their number seemed to have found new hosts and were awaiting their instructions. The new inductees were ingrained in every part of the ship now, laying in wait for the moment when it was time to move against the hated ones.
Once the door closed behind Alex, sealing them inside the room and away from the listening ears of those who might pose some threat to their plans to the Maverick, could the conversation resume after Alex's startling announcement. She joined her sisters in the center of the room as they stood before each other, like the triumvirate that they were who had set into motion the instrument for their revenge. Like of stones circling a place of counsel in times past, they stood facing each other like soldiers taking instructions for the battle ahead.
The analogy was not all that preposterous.
"What sort of problem?" The Julia entity returned sharply. Her emerald coloured eyes narrowed in calculation and suspicion. Among their number it was she who was guardian and protector, the one who saw suspicion everywhere and kept them one step ahead of the enemy. She was the thinker.
"I attempted to pass one of the many to the chosen and the transference was halted. I had not encountered this before. We are able to pass the many to numerous species, far more different that the one with whom I attempt to bond one us. Its is unprecedented." Alex answered immediately, aware that the Julia entity would broke no delay in the expectation of an explanation. Despite herself, she felt some concern about the incident. Information was what she craved. It was the reason she had selected the host that she had. In the past she had always gone first, to seek out information and gather intelligence in order to determine whether or not it was safe for other. Half a million years after the fact and it was still the same. She did not like that she had no answers, even for something unprecedented.
"It is." Julia agreed. "Explain why this might be so."
Once again, she did not expect to be kept waiting.
The gatherer considered the information stored in the memory of the host mind and searched for an answer. "I am uncertain of why this might be so but the species of the subject was Trill. As a race they are something of a curiosity. There are divided into two distinct species, host and symbiote. The symbiote, which is a larval life form, lives within the host. Their physiology is composed almost entirely of neural matter and this allows them to imprint upon themselves, the memory of all hosts previous inhabited. Therefore while the host might day, the essence of what they are remains alive in the symbiote, which is apparently very long lived. Perhaps the rejection was caused because of the numerous personalities already inhabiting the subject." Alex finally came to a conclusion. "In any case, we should take steps to neutralise her. She may notice what is happening to the others of her kind and may bring undue attention to us before we are ready for it"
The Julia entity nodded slowly in agreement with her recommendation. "We must attended to that matter before all else. However, we can delegate that task to our sisters on the ship."
"Yes," The Mary entity, the infiltrator of the group declared. It was always her task to keep watch upon the enemy, to learn its ways and exploit. In truth, the choice of host for her was also equally suitable since the host mind had much knowledge on the customs and traditions of the races that they were now forced to walk amongst.
"We are the three senior most female officers on board this vessel and we have not reported to our superiors in some time. You," Mary glanced at Alex. "Are meant to be studying our prison, the captain will expect a report of some kind from you and no doubt they will be wondering where we are. At some point we must face them."
"She is correct." Julia agreed begrudgingly, deciding the time had come to deal with that particular situation. It had been avoided long enough and the time was fast approaching when such evasion would not longer be possible. "We must make things ready for the trip home and we need to do it sooner rather than later so we must take appropriate measures to deal with the command staff of this vessel. From the memories I hold, I am in a perfect position to deal with the one who maintains security. He has feelings towards the host." She said the word 'feelings' as if it left a bitter taste in her mouth. After so many years of confinement, belief in the fact that such emotions may exist between two such different creatures was not something she could readily accept.
"I had forgotten what it was like to have such emotions," the Alex entity mused in something that was akin to regret and similar dislike. She could feel the warmth that the host felt for one of the hated and though she understood what it was like, she could not condone it. It was a folly that had destroyed too many. It was a fate she would spare the mind that shared this body with her.
"Do not dwell on them too much." Julia hissed. "Its what the enemy uses to make you bleed inside. It held us in chains for too long and allowed them to imprison us for an eon."
"I know," Alex said brushing away the conflict inside because there was no time for such reflection when there was so much to be done. "My vassal has her closest links to the officer of the con, unfortunately the usual methods will not apply with him." She stated firmly, shrugging the thoughts that had been in her mind a short time ago.
"Why is that?" The infiltrator inquired with curiosity.
"It appears that he is of a species that matures differently from the others on board. They are called Vulcan they are long lived as well but not to the same extent as the Trill. He is as measured by the inhabitants of his world, in the pre-adolescent stage of development. Although he has deep feelings for this host, we will not be able to distracting him using the usual methods of coercion. He does not have the sexual maturity to understand it and our attempt to use it will only provoke his suspicion." The entity using Alexandra Styles intellect responded, proving that it was quite capable of using all that knowledge against the Maverick as she was now displaying most spectacularly. "However," she turned to Mary. "I think it should be you that approaches him."
"Why me?" Mary countered. "I had believed my relationship with the Captain would make me more useful in that regard. He has deep feelings for my host, that makes him extremely susceptible to manipulation."
"That may be so but you are required for the Vulcan." Alex returned promptly. "Your vassal possesses minor psi-ability, barely passable by any standards but enough to effect him if necessary. He has very limited understanding of his own psi ability even though by nature the species tends to be highly telepathic. Your vassal has been teaching him how to build shields but even that is rudimentary. You should be able to interfere with him very easily."
"And that will leave you free to deal with the First Officer." Julia nodded in understanding of Alex's reasoning.
"He desires the vassal I inhabit," Alex responded with more than obvious dislike on her face at the possibility of having to indulge the hated one with her favours. "In fact, judging by the vassal's memories of him, he would desires any woman he lays his eyes upon which will make it exceedingly easy to neutralise him. Once we have the bridge crew, we should be able to take control of the ship easily."
"What about the captain?" Mary asked again. "He has authorisation codes to lock us out of the ship. If we do not deal with him first, this situation may escalate."
"Do not trouble yourself." Julia said with a little smile. "The captain is being dealt with."
Chris Larabee hated paperwork.
He hated it with a passion. The only drawback to being the Captain of a starship was the fact that the bureaucracy and paperwork that came with the job seemed to expand exponentially. He remembered the carefree days when a report of duty was all the paperwork he was required to do because his responsibility ended the moment he submitted it to his immediate superior. Now that he was at the top of the food chain so to speak, there was no one to whom he could do the same since he was about as superior as one could get on a starship. Worse than that, he did not just have to write the things himself, he also had to make sense out of the reports, sub-reports, addendum's, memorandums that were submitted by all department heads in order to create an analysis from all of the above to make his log entries.
Personally, he would rather be facing the Borg.
Although the paper was technically digital data on a console screen, that did not make the tedium any less and he wondered where Casey was since it was her job to keep him from going insane while doing this. He knew that he was over reacting a little because his paperwork was only this prolific because of their involvement in the recent Dominion battle and the influx of shore leave requests now that they were approaching Pacifica. Deciding that this was a task that could only be accomplished with coffee and lots of it, Chris went to the replicator in his Ready Room and programmed himself a cup of hot Jamaican blend. With a little smile, he gave Casey silent note of thanks for programming it in for him as well as the presence of several of his favorite foods stored in the replicator memory banks amongst the stock standard fare of the replicator menu.
For a Yeoman and girl of her age, she was extremely capable even though there were times when she showed her age. Casey was not content with living the hard military life of a career Starfleet officer but she still wanted to be apart of the exploration of unknown space. She had been somewhat reflective of late, no doubt because of the Maverick's recent stopover in Deep Space Nine. Casey had returned to Bajor for the first time since she was an infant. Although she made no mention of her feelings upon her return to the ship, Chris was certain the trip had affected her on some level emotionally. After all, this was the home that she and her parents had fled during the occupation and while they had not survived the trip, the Starfleet Captain who had rescued her on the other hand had adopted her. The captain who was then known as Annette Wells but was now more familiar to most as Admiral Nettie Wells.
Chris returned to his desk once he had the steaming cup of aromatic coffee in his hand and nestled into his chair once again, resolved to put a sizeable dent in the workload facing him in the form of data pads with its columns upon columns of statistical information. He was just to reach for the first pad when he heard the gentle trill of someone at his door.
"Come in." Chris grumbled with a frowned, wishing that if he was set to do a job he loathed, the least fate could do was let him get on with it uninterrupted.
The door slid open and Casey walked into the room. Inwardly, Chris let out a sigh of relief knowing that she could probably sort through this mess in a hot second and he was not above admitting that he needed help. "Just in time," he said with a rare smile. "I could use your help working through this."
"No problem captain," she smiled and Chris noticed that instead of wearing her hair up like she often did, the long sheeny brown hair was hanging loosely over her shoulders. She came along side of his desk and looked over his shoulder as he went shuffling through the pile of data pads in front of him, trying to decide where they could start first.
"I've got all these forms to fill and a dozen reports to get together." He said quickly.
"Don't worry Captain," Casey leaned over his shoulder until he could feel her breath in his ear, soft and uncertain, everything a young woman was. "We'll get through it."
Chris shook the thought out of his head, knowing that he was mistaken by her tone of voice. What it sounded like could not possibly be and told himself not to start fabricating excuses in order to avoid getting this work done. Shaking the memory of that pleasant sensation against his skin out of his head, he turned back to the pads once again. "Okay, first up we have at least a dozen requests for personnel from stellar cartography, Sick Bay and Engineering. I have the replacements in mind but I need help filling out these forms or they're never going to get here."
"Captain," Casey put her hand on his as he was about to pick up a data pad, her soft palm enclosing his. "Let's forget about this today."
"Excuse me?" Chris managed to respond while turning to look at her in nothing less than astonishment.
"Captain I can't help it." She said breathlessly, dropping into his lap. Her arms encircled his neck and Chris did nothing to stop it because his mind was still stupefied from shock at what was happening to him at this moment. "I want you."
That did it. Like a splash of cold water against his face, Chris stood up abruptly almost toppling her off him and took a good long step backwards when he was on his feet. "Yeoman," Chris stuttered in something that could have been language or gibberish, he was not quite sure. "I think we need to talk."
"We don't need to talk Chris," she retorted and closed the space between them once more, wrapping her arms around his neck and crushing his lips against hers in a kiss of passion. For a moment Chris was so stunned that she had actually crossed that line between them, that she had dared to breach a thousand protocols not to mention the fact that he was old enough to be her father, that he could do nothing but stand there dumbfounded. However, as her tongue demanded entrance into his mouth, Chris senses returned to him and he grabbed her arms from around his neck and pulled Casey away from him.
"Yeoman," he said in his most authoritative voice so that she would be reminded of the fact that he was her commanding officer. Chris still had trouble believing what just had happened. How had he been so dense that he had not even the slightest inclination that Casey was harboring such heated passions about him? It was incomprehensible how this could be when she was supposedly in a relationship with JD Dunne. Oh Jesus! JD! Chris groaned inwardly. What would the kid say to all this if he found out! This was getting worse by the minute. "I am very flattered by your affections but this is not the way I expect you to behave. I am your commanding officer." He tried to assert himself, searching for the voice normally reserved for the Jem Haddar and Cardassian Guls who had a penchant for commanding rape camps.
"Don't you think I'm pretty Chris?" She asked, her voice girlish as her lips curled into a seductive pout. Her eyes looking at him with that youthful innocence, while biting her lip in the most erotic way she could possibly manage that had the effect of making Chris actually considering taking her as she wanted to be taken until one word stopped him dead in his tracks.
Mary.
What are you thinking? He blinked and asked himself in exasperation, cursing at his body's lustful reflexes, which had nothing to do with the turmoil taking place inside his head. He was not going to take advantage of a child and she was a child still. He cared about Mary a great deal and though Casey was young and unsure of herself and coming onto him so strongly that it was near impossible to resist, Chris was not about to allow her or himself, for that matter, to make a terrible mistake.
"Casey," Chris placed his hands on her shoulders and made her look at him. "I think you are very pretty and if you were ten years older, I wouldn't be able to say no to you as I am doing now. You need someone your own age, someone who can share the years with you, not watch you experience it from the sidelines."
"I love you Chris." She gushed breathlessly, obviously having heard nothing that he had said in the last few minutes and moved towards him again.
Chris rolled his eyes in exasperation, wondering if slamming his head on a brick wall would engender more reaction, since this was doing squat. "You don't love me Casey!" He exclaimed.
"I do Chris!" She came towards him and Chris found himself doing a quick step in order to keep out of her reach. He had not thought he was that agile.
"Well you stop saying that!" He growled before his back slammed into a wall. The obstruction gave her all the time she needed to close the distance between them again and press her body against his. Giving him no time to protest, Casey slid her arms quickly around his neck once again and craned her neck to match his height to kiss him, now that he was resisting so forcefully.
"Casey!" Chris pushed her away as she tried to kiss him.
Suddenly, the door slid open and Ezra Standish entered the room before stopping short in mid stride at the sight of his Captain with his back against the wall and his yeoman attempting to do what Ezra was certain was not in the Yeoman's job description. As always, the security chief managed to wear the perfect poker face even though he saw relief drained into Chris eyes at his appearance. Casey, who seemed more amused than any thing as she pulled away, gave Chris a coquettish look.
"Am I interrupting something?" Ezra asked with absolute indifference in his voice.
"NO!" Chris barked, wondering if things could get any worse and then it occurred to him that it could have been Mary that walked in and started becoming very religious as he thanked and any other deity that might be listening. "Yeoman," he turned a sharp eye on Casey, hoping Ezra's presence would cool her ardor for the moment. "You are dismissed."
Casey delivered upon him a truly devious look before she responded. "I'll see you later Chris." Casey sauntered out of the room, oblivious to the awkwardness of the moment. She left her captain with an expression on his face that clearly bespoke a desire for the floor to open up and swallow him whole, while Ezra hid behind his neutral façade as always, betraying nothing of the urge to break down and start laughing like a loon.
When the doors slid close, Chris finally willed himself to move before he dropped into his chair heavily, breathing a sigh of relief. "Commander, there are no words to describe how grateful I am to you at this moment."
"Captain," Ezra said with a perfectly straight face. "There are no words to describe this moment."
Chris glared at him with one of those patented Larabee's stares but after what Ezra had just seen, its power to incinerate him on the spot was not quite up to scratch today. "I have no idea what just happened." He replied with bewilderment on his face.
"Well if I may be permitted to comment." Ezra spoke up before Chris gave him a ferocious glare and this time, it penetrated enough for Ezra to discontinue his intention to voice that remark.
"The girl just about attacked me!" Chris declared. "I haven't felt that fearful for my life since I was captured by the C'kaia!"
"I was under the impression that Miss Wells was quite smitten with our Mr Dunne." Ezra responded seriously this time. Amusement aside, the Captain had a rather explosive situation on his hands and this could be a serious problem if left to escalate any further than it already had.
"So was I but then she start sticking her tongue down my throat and telling me she loves me!" Chris exclaimed with confusion as well as something Ezra never thought he would ever see in his captain who had once bluffed a Romulan war bird into being blown to smithereens.
Panic.
"Well young ladies at her age are flighty," Ezra volunteered, genuinely trying to help before the absurdity of the situation got the better of him and no amount of restraint could keep it in check. "Perhaps it was your good looks and masculine charm." The security chief's amusement with the whole situation began to crumble and he could not hold the mask of indifference any longer. A snort and a snigger escape him as he fought to keep his lips from expressing a smile and the loud guffaws that were sure to follow.
"OUT!" Chris roared.
"I apologize Captain," Ezra began to laugh. "I am certain that being the resourceful commander that you are, you will extricate yourself from this situation without loss of limb or," he added with a devious snort. "Virtue."
"GET OUT AND STAY OUT!" Chris growled, smoldering as Ezra walked out of the room with that damnable smirk on his face.
"Do you see it?" Rain asked as they sat inside the dimly illuminated confines of Four Corners. The lighting was purposely set low in order to afford its patrons a panoramic view beyond the plexiglass windows of the establishment. Four Corners usually busy at this time of the day but even Nathan had to confess to being somewhat surprised by the larger than normal volume of people inside the place. As he and Rain shared a table, trying to enjoy a meal together, he started to see what she found so difficult to dismiss when he noticed the behavior of the women in the room with them.
Every darkened corner of the place seemed filled with couples who were, well a little more than amorous. Females were lavishing all kinds of tender care on the males in their company, regardless of species. Nathan spied kisses being traded, earlobes being nibbled and men who completely enthralled by the lady in their presence who was adorning them with sensual delights that almost bordered on scandalous. Yet despite all the affection being bandied about and Nathan could not deny that he was starting to feel a little cheated being the odd man out, he noticed that there was something very mechanical about the entire situation.
"It's hard to miss." He remarked, his eyes sweeping across the room once again before he turned to her once more. "Its not Valentine's Day is it?" He joked and saw the stern expression on her face before deciding that it probably was not the best time for humor.
"I knew that there was something wrong but it was not this bad before." Rain explained, now that he was a little more open to believing that something was afoot and not some side effect of the mental attack she had suffered earlier.
"Exactly what was it like before?" He asked firmly not as her dinner date but as the Chief Medical Officer. The doctor in him had all but eradicated the shy, somewhat reserved man he had been a short time ago.
Rain considered the question and knew that to her it had been little more than a feeling really but if she had to put a definitive answer forward, she had to say those around her looked somewhat disconnected. "I can't really explain it," she spoke after a moment. "But it felt like the women were there but not quite there. I guess if I have to be specific, I would say they looked very detached, almost indifferent to everything going on around them. I mean I see Alex Styles walk into the room and I can tell when she has had a bad day. Julia Pemberton always wears a smile, even a little one. You can feel it when she's happy. Mary is harder to read but she always looks cool but you can see things dancing in her eyes which tell you exactly what sort of mood she's in. I'm looking at people and I can't tell what's going on with them. There's nothing in their eyes that tell me what's going on inside them and I know it's not me. I've always been able to do it. It comes with being Trill, living so many lives and observing behavior that becomes second nature to you."
Nathan nodded in understanding not about to discount the opinions of someone who had the knowledge of dozen life times inside her head. However, he did know what she was talking about to a slight degree. One could sense the mood of people one associated with on a daily basis and on a starship where the thousand people on board had only each as company for periods that extended as much as months at a time, it was even more intense.
"Okay," Nathan nodded contemplatively, trying to decide what was the best course of action to get a definitive answer. "Let's just say that you're right and something strange is going on. Why wouldn't it effect you?"
"Well it seems to be only the women." Rain remarked.
"For the moment," Nathan retorted. "It might simply be that it takes longer to effect them although whatever it is, does not look dangerous." He could not help saying that with a little smile but Rain did not find the remark all that amusing. Nathan faced her to see the darkened expression on her face before gulping visibly. "Sorry."
"I don't like it" She answered, her eyes studying the actions of women trying to distract the men with sexual camouflage and had this feeling pressing up against her spine that something else was on the horizon. "The number of females officers on board the Maverick is about 350 compared to the some five hundred men, not including the civilians. If something is affecting them then you count on the Maverick's manpower being halved. If we're under attack, we're going to notice those absences."
Suddenly Nathan understood the enormity of what she was suggesting. If this was an illness or an attack of some form, then she was right. The Maverick would be seriously undermanned and with 350 officers who played a vital part of the ship's operation being out of commission, it would be difficult to maintain shipboard functions at all. It was time to do something.
"Alright," Nathan stood up and looked at her. "You finished?" He gestured to the meal in front of her.
In truth, Rain was not that hungry and she had been picking on the contents of the dish for most of the evening anyway. Besides, she did not want to leave him mostly because there was this fear inside of her that perhaps if she were alone, whatever happened to the women on board the Maverick would also happen to her. "I'm done." She lifted herself off her chair and looked at him. "What do you have in mind?"
Nathan, who had the same idea in mind about Rain being alone, quickly responded. "I want you to come with me." He replied. "We're going to Sick Bay and I'm going to get someone from in here to undergo a physical. If there is something wrong with everyone else on this ship, I want to know what it is."
Rain was not about to argue with him, especially when Nathan was starting to believe that this was more than just a figment of her suspicious mind. Judging by the cautious look in his eyes, it appeared as if she had succeeded in convincing him that something was wrong and his instincts as a senior officer of the Maverick had taken hold of him. They left Four Corners as the debauchery-taking place in the room climbed steadily towards apogee. Couples were becoming more involved with each other and while the men were not affected as the female members of the crew, they could not help respond to the stimulus offered the opposite sex.
Nathan and Rain stepped out into the corridor, noticing that things were no different in the hallways either. Female crewmembers were affecting their male counterparts with seductive smiles and touches. It would have almost be funny if Nathan did not know that this was forced and the women were most likely unaware of what they were doing while the men had no knowledge that they were being manipulated.
"This is starting to get scary." Rain remarked as they moved through the corridor, suddenly very self- conscious that she and Nathan were the only ones not affected. A shudder of concern ran through her at the thought of what the others would do if they suddenly noticed this little detail As it was, the women's eye strayed from the men they were attempting to seduce each time Nathan and Rain passed by.
Nathan tended to agree and suddenly the idea that this was an affliction became more and more distant. This was too rapid and coordinated to be a disease and no viral agent he knew of had communicability so specific to include every species but one gender only. Tapping his com badge, he spoke out loud. "Doctor to the bridge."
There was no response.
Nathan swore under his breath and repeated to himself. "Doctor to the bridge, come in."
"Let me try," Rain said apprehensively and repeated the same action on her com badge. "Lieutenant Nal to Bridge, please respond."
Once again, the same silence greeted her.. "Lieutenant Nal to the bridge. Please come in."
"They can't hear you." A voice declared behind them causing both Rain and Nathan to swing around.
Inez stood before them. Next to Inez were Lieutenant Charlotte Richmond and some other officers they had seen around the ship but did not know by name. Without even one of them making a threatening move, Nathan and Rain knew that they were both in a lot of trouble. Nathan unconsciously took Rain's hand in his as a signal for her to be ready. She did not have to hear the words to know that his signal would be to run.
"You girls don't look well." Nathan remarked first, hoping the conversation would distract them as he tensed and prepared to move. "How about one of you joining me in Sick Bay?" He asked slowly, sounding very much like the doctor trying to coax a difficult patient into cooperating.
"We are fine Doctor." Inez answered with a little smile. "However, you and your companion." Inez turned her attention to Rain with narrowed eyes. "Seem unwell. Perhaps we may assist you?"
"Oh no," Nathan shook his head with a self depreciating smile. "I have staff that will handle that quite well."
"I think we would like to try." Charlotte added her voice and Nathan saw her hands clenching into fists. It was not a solitary reaction on her part. He saw the same action by the others as well and knew that he and Rain were out of time.
"RUN!" He ordered and bolted, dragging Rain along as the group rumbled into motion, falling into pursuit as they tore down the corridor at top speed. Someone leapt out at them when the duo came to a junction and Rain was forced to shove the woman aside hard, causing her to fall backwards while Nathan braced himself to repeat the same maneuver on anyone in front of them. He slammed into a crewman and threw her into the wall, sparing enough time to see Inez and the others gaining on himself and Rain, their eyes cold with rage. Nathan did not doubt that both of them were in mortal danger.
"Nathan!" Rain shouted as they neared the end of the corridor where the turbo lift waiting was the only way she could see to escaping this insane mob of friends who would tear them to pieces otherwise.
Accelerating at fast they could to gain a few more second of space in order to reach the turbo lift, Rain and Nathan were panting by the time they got to the control panel that activated the doors. He slammed his palm against it and the door slid open soundlessly. Thankfully, the turbo lift was empty as they tumbled into its confines. Rain stumbled to the floor as Nathan immediately activated the voice command.
"Computer, bridge!"
The doors closed as the mob were less than a foot away from them and Rain let out a sigh of relief as those indignant and enraged faces disappeared when the turbo lift started on its way. She could hear their fists pounding against steel further down the tube as the lift spirited them away from that particular deck. For a minute, neither spoke as they regarded what had just happened.
"I think we are in a lot of trouble." Rain announced in what was the understatement of the year.
Nathan looked at her. "I think you're right."
"Where are they?" The thinker who inhabited Julia Pemberton's body asked when she was told that the two hostiles that the rest of the Many had attempted to apprehend had escaped.
"They're making their way to the bridge." Inez's voice spoke quietly through Julia's com badge as the Chief Engineer listened within the confines of her work room.
"I'll handle it." Julia said firmly. "Continue as planned."
There was no further comment needed because Julia knew her orders would be carried out without question. Instead, she had to deal with the problem at hand. Ever since the Alex entity had told her about the possibility of danger in the shape of the Transporter Chief, the woman had been watched by the Many. Unfortunately, it now appeared as if she had involved the Chief Medical Officer in the truth and thus more extreme measures needed to be taken. She had already taken the liberty of disrupting the signal from both their com badges to keep them from contacting the bridge.
"Chano." Julia spoke to her second in command as she stepped out into the main deck of Engineering. "Turbo lift 3 on Deck 34 is showing a systems malfunction. Shut it down."
Chano who was at his station immediately move to comply when he noticed something that made him object. "Lieutenant. It reads as being occupied." He looked at her with question.
"Its unoccupied." Julia responded coolly. "Security is going mad trying to figure if there is some kind of intruder alert so shut it down until we can assign someone to take a look at it."
Sensors were prone to give off false readings in event of a systems failure so her explanation was plausible and Chano was not about to question the Chief Engineer of the Maverick. "Okay," he nodded. "I'm shutting it down. It won't be going anywhere for awhile."
"Good." Julia answered. "That will do very nicely for now."