USS Galaxy Sim Log Stardate: 50108.12

"A Close Call"
by Lt. Cmdr. Rayna O'Grady, Security
and
Lt. Mike O'Grady, Counselor

Rayna had been on this case of hers working day and night. She had finally gotten to bed, fell asleep. Something woke her up and she felt the other side of the bed but Mike wasn't there. She had a doctor's appointment in an hour. Nikki was staying in someone else's quarters while they were both busy with their duties. Rayna got up, dressed and left for sickbay.

"You're lucky Lieutenant, a little more to the left and you'd would have more severe damage to the leg."

Rayna wasn't paying much attention inside the sickbay. She was more interested in knowing if Mike was going to make it. She hadn't heard anything about the away team being that she was investigating this case nonstop, almost 28 hours of no sleep. She was certain that she'd hear about that being pregnant and all.

The doctor looked up and smiled, "Well I see your wife is here, as I was telling the lieutenant, there will be no permanent damage to the leg and he'll be able to go back to normal duty tomorrow."

She felt as if she had just walked into the middle of a movie, "Damage? Leg? Excuse me but you've got me at a disadvantage here. I didn't even know he was back much less injured." She looked at Mike then the doctor.

"Uhmm." Mike sort of looked sheepish even though he still wore combat armor, "I kinda got wounded on the away mission, I was carrying a borg drone." He grinned, "I'm much better now though."

Rayna put her hand up in protest, "I really don't want to know right now. As long as you're still alive, that's what is important but don't think you are going to be off the hook mister. We ARE going to talk about this later." She was still tired from the lack of sleep lately.

Mike sighed and could tell right away Rayna was exhausted, "Yes we'll talk about this but you are also going to bed when we get home." "This isn't about me." The doctor kind of stepped away from them until Rayna was ready to be examined. She walked away, mumbling under her breath. Mike got up slowly and walked over to her, "You know I'm right that's why you're so cranky." Taking her hand he said, "Why don't we let the doctor take a look at you, see what he says ok?"

"I'm not cranky." She laid down on the biobed and waited for her doctor to examine her. "Besides, I wouldn't be cranky if you didn't give me reason to."

"How many times have I watched you go out and risk your life?" He asked her rhetorically as the doctor began his scans.

She looked over at Mike, "That's different, that's what I do." She looked back up at the ceiling, "I should have never taught you any of that stuff then this conversation wouldn't be happening right now." The doctor finally told her to hush. She was too agitated and it was affecting her and the babies.

"Hey you needed someone to spar with and that's what I'm here for." He looked at her, "Besides, I can't let my wife have all the fun on this ship can I?" If he was lucky she wouldn't slug him.

Rayna didn't consider her work fun, "Fun?" The doctor gave Mike a look of "that's enough" and continued his examination, shaking his head during the exam.

"Nothing is wrong...yet. Your wife needs to cut down on her work load. She's tired and if she isn't careful, she's going to be spending her last two months in here." Rayna spoke up, "Stop talking about me as if I'm not here. First of all, my work load is fine." She glances over at Mike, "It's not like I'm going on any away missions in the close future. As soon as this case I am working on is over, I'll stay on bedrest until the babies are born if that is what you want."

Mike knew this was their constant debate. He sighed his frustration becoming more evident, "Look, cut down your work schedule, you're not the only officer working on this case are you?"

"Well you could have fooled me. I seem to be the only one who believes her and with what I found, or let's say, what I didn't find, no one will." She had always been passionate about her work especially something that was hitting too close to home.

Mike nodded, "but we don't want to risk our babies too, look if I promise no more volunteering to stick my head in the lion's mouth can you promise me to work less hours."

"If it'll keep the both of you off my back, okay." She had already done most of the work. A trap to set was about the only thing left to do.

He looked at her, "Maybe I can help you out." Gently he brushed her hair out of her eyes.

Rayna hated compromise and had always been driven. But she knew that she was defeated here. Two against one were terrible odds even for her, "I'm counting on it."

Leaning down he gently kissed her lips, "Come on beautiful. I'll make you some hot tea and rub your feet."

The doctor interjected, looking at Rayna, "You're free to go but I need a moment with your husband. I need to discuss his injury but it's nothing big." Rayna didn't fight it and left. The doctor took him aside, "Look, I don't know her real well, only what I read on the psychological reports but I am worried about her. This thing she is working on is really having an effect on her. I can tell she hasn't been eating or sleeping these last few days and her blood pressure is slightly elevated. I know that she isn't going to back down from this case but at least, you can make sure that she takes care of herself better. And one more thing, no more away missions for you until these babies are born. Chances are as usual with twins, she won't carry them past her 8th month, especially if she stresses herself out like she's been."

Mike nodded, "I'll talk to her, and do the best I can to make sure she eats etceteras."

"That's all I can ask, I guess. She won't admit to you if anything is wrong so just keep an eye out...things like headaches, excessive thirst, excessive swelling in the hands or feet, things like that. If you do, get her in here ASAP." He didn't want to take any chances.

Mike nodded, "You got it." Then he left and caught up to Rayna. "Hey hon." She kept on walking at a slow pace, "So, what was so important that he needed to talk to you alone?"

Mike knew they would always be honest with each other, "Well actually he's worried about you. Apparently you haven't been eating regularly."

She looked forward, "Everyone is worried. It's not like I have never been pregnant before. Nikki is healthy so I must know something about having kids."

"Yes, you do, and you also weren't working long hours and not eating when you were pregnant with Nikki, now you are. He also told me no more away missions."

"Oh? I have to agree with him there. I suppose your the only one who got hurt too."

"No, we lost one, Jii lost his hand and Commander Thomas got hit in the arm." Mike looked at her, "I got off light." However he didn't let up on her meals, "When was the last time you ate?"

She didn't answer, "Maybe I should go back and see how he is doing. I'm sure that this is going to be hard on him. I know it would be on me." Mike was getting a little angry with her, she hadn't answered his question, but he wasn't going to yell at his wife in the corridor. If she didn't eat the babies wouldn't get nutrition and it would hurt them. "Last I checked he's fine you can see him later, right now you need to eat something."

"Okay Dr. O'Grady. I'll eat. Sheesh, stop being such the mother hen." She wasn't normally this way but a lot of the anger was the fact that no one believed the poor girl and if she didn't find evidence, that it would be swept under the rug and she would be victimized again, this time worse. The letters were just the start. Rayna would be damned if that was going to happen even if it meant them having a guest every night.

He looked at her with a sharp expression, he was already worried about the babies, scared of losing them and he was also mad at himself for being so macho to volunteer for a mission when it wasn't necessary for him to. They got back to their quarters. It looked as it did when he left, nothing was changed. Rayna hadn't been there except for the few hours she had before she left for sickbay. Rayna went into the bedroom to take a shower.

Mike immediately began to clean up, he pulled off the battle armor, the parts he hadn't gotten off in sickbay and piled them in a corner, then began to prepare a good sized meal for Rayna's enjoyment.

Rayna was thinking about this case 24/7 and she came up with the idea of luring the culprit somehow, make him play his hand. He was only after two things...either he wanted her for himself or he wanted her dead but make her life hell before he did. After she got out of the shower, she dressed into a tank top and shorts. She picked up two PADDS that contained interviews, evidence and her notes and a plan which she needed to figure out and sat on the couch, studying them.

Immediately he brought over the meal a good sized sandwich and fries with a large glass of milk for her enjoyment, "Hey I brought you a snack." "A snack? Looks more like a meal. I'd hate to see the main meal." She went back to looking at her stuff, talking softly to herself, "I'm going to get you, you s.o.b., just wait."

"I know you are babe. This guy's going down." He sat next to her and began to massage her shoulders.

"I mean it. I know what it is that drives them to do what they do. It's a control issue. They like to know that they are in control and if they can make the girl fearful, then he can just about make her do anything he wants. A big power trip." She picked up her drink but didn't take a sip. she was too busy thinking about this case.

"I know I can. I vowed that no one would ever get away mistreating a woman. If I didn't know better, I'd say that Nikki's dad was still alive. This is just his style."

"Similar personalities I guess." Mike said simply, noting she missed the 'we' again, he was trying to find a polite way to say dammit woman go to bed and get some sleep. She hadn't touched her meal or drink that he had made for her to help the baby.

She didn't get the clue but she did pick up her sandwich and nibbled at it but still her nose in her notes. She shifted in her seat, "I believe if we got her a new love interest, not a real one but a planted one. He'd get jealous and make his move. Only, when he did, he'd be dealing with me, not her."

"who would play the love interest?" He asked knowing that she would need back up in this one.

"It could be very dangerous so I really should consider getting someone who can take care of themselves, someone who can keep from getting themselves killed in case he goes after him." She looked at the fries that were left and scooted it away from her. "I'll have to think about this more." Looked like she wasn't going to budge from the couch. She started to punch in a few more things, more ideas and plans. Later, she'd have to play it out more ion her mind.

He sighed again, this time more irritated, he wanted her to go to bed get some rest but he couldn't just order her to bed, dammit it was tempting though. Immediately he began to clean up more this time he was silent, more so then normal.

She yawned. Her eyes started to burn but she continued to plan. Finally, looking up, she noticed that look she was familiar with, "Something wrong? You're doing that cleaning thing again."

"Is something wrong?" he asked a little sharper then he intended, "Why no dear nothing is wrong. I assure you, everything is fine."

"Uh huh. Look, if you're mad at yourself for getting hurt and Jii too, don't be. It comes with the territory. You accomplished your mission and that is a good thing. Dealing with the Borg isn't easy."

"That's part of it." He said then he was direct, "I'm also irritated with you too, you know what the doctor told me, you could miscarry our children if you don't get the rest you need or the nutrients you need. Yet you're ignoring your body, staying up to all hours, skipping more then one meal to get this guy."

She didn't have an excuse, "I didn't do it on purpose you know. But I'm not going to let this guy do to her what he did to me." She didn't realize what she just said.

He did and he pounced, "What he did to you, Rayna, how much of this is feeling that by doing this you're avenging what happened to you, a chance you never got in your mind."

"I didn't mean it that way. It was a slip of the tongue, that's all. I know that pig is dead. What I meant is that if I could help her to get him before he gets her, then she won't have to suffer like I did with all the humiliating stares, people talking about you behind your back and laughing at you when they think you aren't looking. I'm not looking for revenge but if I can keep this from happening to her, then so be it."

Mike could tell she was still focusing on one thing, even though she swore she wasn't. It was driving her and would be the death of their children if he didn't get her to see that. "Rayna hon, some times a slip of the tongue has more truth to it then we realize."

"Look, I'm not trying to avenge myself, I just don't want to see her suffer. That's all it is. Don't make more out of this than there is." She got up, "I don't want to talk about this anymore. I'm tired, I'm going to bed." He sighed and walked with her to bed, "Tell ya what, lay on your side and I'll rub your back."

At first, she didn't want to put her stuff down but her back was bothering her some so she complied. Laying on her side was all she could do at this point.

Mike began to massage her shoulders and back while she laid on her side. "Sorry I put you through this stress."

"You're not. You know me, when I get an idea in my head, no one can tell me different. If anything, I should be the one saying sorry. I know I can be pig headed at times." She wouldn't admit it but she was really tired and the massage was helping.

"Well that's one of the reasons." He smiled and found a knot just above her spine he began to massage out.

"Because you're so damned beautiful." Mike said as she fell asleep. Soon he fell asleep too. This mission had been hard on both of them.

Rayna had woken up early to go see Reece. When she got up, there was a message for her to meet Reece. Rayna quietly got dressed as to not wake up Mike and left. Rayna stopped over to her work to get the rest of the stuff she found out along with a plan. Rayna then proceeded to meet Reece or so she thought.

Mike woke up and began to go about his day, now was his after action report and information about the borg collective that he had collected, adding it to the list.

Rayna walked into the room that she was told to meet. There was a note saying that Reece was running late. So Rayna waited around for her not thinking anything of it. After an hour, Rayna had dozed off, still being really tired and not feeling quite well.

Rayna was working too hard and he had thought about getting a medical officer to remove her from duty for a while, but he would try again to talk to her tonight.

He finished his report about the collective, they were definitely more aggressive and violent in their attempts to assimilate or defend the collective.

One hour turned to two hours. Rayna was supposed to pick up Nikki about this time but when she wasn

't picked up, Ensign Smith got worried because she was supposed to be on duty in another hour. So she brought Nikki to their quarters. Nikki ran in, "Daddy?" Ensign Smith stood out side the door and waited.

Mike looked up, "Hey Nikki." He scooped the little girl up for a hug, "Was it my day to pick you up?"

"No, mommy said she was." Ensign Smith stuck her head in, "Excuse me sir for bringing her over. Your wife was supposed to pick her up an hour ago but she never showed up. I guess she forgot. I really need to go and relieve Lt. Reece on the bridge."

Nikki went over to the replicator and got herself a drink. When she sat down at the table, she started to fool around with the padd sitting there, telling Rayna to meet Reece. It fell on the floor. Nikki knew that she wasn't supposed to touch things that didn't belong to her, "I'm sorry."

"It's ok dear." Mike picked up the padd. Lt Reece was on the bridge, she wouldn't have sent this. This wasn't good.

Mike didn't panic, "Nikki, remember what we talked about earlier abbot when the babies come you would have more responsibility?"

"Well I'm going to go run and get mommy real fast and you're going to stay here for a bit. I'll be right back." He hoped she'd like the ability to be alone for a bit in their quarters.

Rayna woke up to the sound of the door opening, "Well it's about time, I thought you'd never...." Rayna didn't have time to turn around before she was grabbed from behind and physically pulled out of the chair. Rayna, being pregnant, didn't have the mobility that she'd normally have. She struggled but this guy was stronger and he was good. He shoved her against the wall, keeping his identity a secret and keeping his feet positioned so that she couldn't kick him. She knew that struggling was futile and that she needed to protect the babies she carried. He spoke in a very threatening manner, "You stay out of this or next time, I'll make sure you never stick your nose in anything again." Rayna tried to reason with him but he continued to use words to threaten her.

Mike had used the computer to locate her and headed to the small room to tell her that it was a trap. He walked in and saw the shadowy figure attempting to harm his wife. Jumping in to the Fray he pulled him back and punched him right in the face.

Rayna moved out of the way. She slid down the wall in the corner of the room. Pains began to form immediately and she was cramping up so badly that she could hardly speak at that moment. She knew that she was in trouble, tears ran down her face from such pain, "Mike, no."

He turned to her voice and broke off his attack, but he saw this person and as Mike ran to his wife's side the assailant got away.

"Mike," she winced, "oh god, this is it." She was obviously in a great deal of pain, "I'm so stupid."

Mike ran over to her, "Shh Shh, it's ok let's get you to sickbay right away." Tapping his combadge he called out, "medical emergency 2 to transport to sickbay immediately."

The doctors got her on the bed and gave her something to see if they could stop the contractions. Rayna had a tight grip on his hand, "I don't remember it hurting this bad." She was being quite calm, even with the pain she was in. The doctor pulled Mike aside, "All we can do is wait."

Mike nodded and watched the consoles. He kissed her forehead gently as they watched

Nurses were constantly watching her and monitoring her. The contractions were subsiding a little bit at a time. A half hour passed and Rayna was comfortable now. The doctor was going to be straight with them, "It worked, this time but next time you may not be so lucky. Rayna, you are going on complete bed rest, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Either that or you can stay here for the next 4 or 5 months."

A slight bruise had formed on her cheek where it came in contact with the wall. The doctor looked at both of them, "Anyone want to tell me what brought this on?" He was concerned.

Mike looked at the doctor, "Someone ambushed her earlier, I just caught the tail end of it."

She looks at Mike then the doctor, "I really don't want to stay here. Can I go home?" The doctor thought for a moment, "I usually like to keep my patients overnight for observation but in this case, I think you'd get more rest in your quarters. So, complete bed rest tonight and if you are feeling better tomorrow, modified bed rest and I will see you again in a few days."

Mike nodded, "I'll keep her off her feet no matter what." He added, "And if you should feel any pressure, anything, I want you in here ASAP got it?" Rayna agreed. She had come to a realization that she almost lost her babies and possibly her life and it scared her.

Mike helped her to her feet and they began to slowly move out of the bio bed, "Nikki's home alone."

Mike nodded, "I told her I was going to pick you up so you could come home." He smiled softly, "I didn't want to worry her."

"Oh good." They made their way to the turbolift and once inside, Rayna got very quiet.

Mike gently rubbed her shoulders, "I'm glad everything's ok." Leaning against him in his arm, she hugged him, "I'm sorry." He hugged her, "It's ok, let's get you better." Kissing her softly he said, "Right now getting you to bed is the important thing."

The lift doors opened up and they walked to their quarters. As soon as the door opened, Nikki came running, fortunately hugging her knees, "Mommy, you forgot to pick me up." She kissed Nikki, "I'm sorry. It won't happen again. Mike tousled Nikki's hair. Then walked to the replicator, "So does everyone want dinner?"

Nikki did and wasn't quiet about it. Rayna looked at him, "I'm going to take a quick shower."

Mike nodded, "Ok." Picking up the story he had been reading her Mike and Nikki sat on the couch and Mike read to her from the book. Rayna took a little longer shower than she planned. She just couldn't seem to feel clean and the memories of the past was coming back. Getting out, she dressed in her bed clothes and climbed into bed. She was still feeling quite not up to par.

Soon Nikki was feeling tired so Mike took her to bed then she tucked her self in he kissed her goodnight then went in to check on Rayna.

She handed him a PADD, "Can you send this too Reece and gather all of my notes and stuff and send it to her as well?" She had basically wrote, "I am sorry but I can no longer be on your case. He visited me today and threatened to kill me. It almost cost me two very important lives. My children need me more than ever now. You have your evidence now that he exists so you don't need me anymore. This is your official notice that I am no longer in charge of this investigation. Signed, Lt. Cmdr. Rayna O'Grady, Security."

Mike picked up the reports and soon he was back after dropping them off. Walking back he kissed her softly, "Honey, want something to drink?"

"Just iced water." It was obvious that she was bothered and upset. He got her some water and sat next to her, "Now, do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't know where to begin. I almost lost everything back there. I really thought with all this training I had, that I would never be caught offguard like I was." She rubbed her forehead, feeling a slight headache, "I'm never sticking my nose in anything like this again. I'll stick with Borg anytime.

Mike slipped his arms around her, "It's ok honey, look, you're driven when it comes to helping others, you didn't have to sink your teeth in to the reece case, but you did, because you care so much." He looked at her, "what happened to be honest could have happened if you had tripped or something."

"But I didn't trip and I wish I didn't care. Look where it got me." She shook her head, "Next time, remind me to walk away."

"I will." He kissed her gently, "For the next couple of days I'm gonna keep you in bed, the doc will make a housecall and we'll go from there."

She nodded, "Okay. You know, this really opened my eyes that I am not as invincible as I thought. I'm glad you came when you did. Who knows what would have happened."

"But it's the only thing I can think about right now." She was really tired and it showed. Maybe in the morning, things would look better.

Mike ran his hands along her forehead, "why don't you get some sleep. I'll make sure you don't have to worry one bit for the next week, I got some time off."

She finished settling in, closing her eyes and fell asleep. Her ordeal would have exhausted anyone out.

"Father/Mother this is my date, Borg"
by Commander Thomas
Lt. Elaithin Jii
Lt Mike O'Grady
W/Lt. Elaithin Lena, NPC

Commander Thomas had finished up on the bridge and decided that he should pay a visit upon Lt. Elaithin Jii and Lt. Mike O'Grady to see how they were faring from their experience on the away team. He very much wanted to find them and see how they were holding up for the mission.

The last he knew Jii was still in sickbay being treated for his arm and Mike probably was still there as well, but he wasn't for sure. He would start in sickbay as it was the logical place to look for them if not he could look elsewhere for them.

Elaithin looked up from where he was sitting at his biobed. "Ah, Commander Thomas." he said with a nod. The Lieutenant appeared to be speaking with Counselor O'Grady, as well as another Bajoran, also a Lieutenant in gold. One of his friends from Security, Thomas guessed, even though he didn't recognize her. "Commander," Jii said. "I'd like you to meet my sister, Lieutenant Elaithin Lena."

Thomas raised an eyebrow as he shook her hand. "Good to meet you, Lieutenant. Jii, I didn't know you had a sister." he commented.

Thomas noticed that the usually jovial Elaithin Jii was defiantly more...subdued."How are you, Lieutenant."

"Well, sir, I seem to be missing a hand. " Jii replied. "So I'm really not all that great, to be honest. Doc says they'll be able to clone me a replacement, but that'll take a couple of days. So they're going to slap me with a prosthetic for a few days." Jii replied.

"For what's it worth, you did a good job over there, Mr. Elaithin." Thomas said.

Chris smiled, "More then part of the service Lt." the first officer said. "Both you and O'Grady are to be commended for your work on this assignment. I plan to see to it that you both receive medals for your involvement."

Both Elaithins raised their eyebrows at that. "Well..thank you, sir. " Jii replied. "I'm ..not sure I know what to say. Like I said...I was just doing my job."

"I just came from speaking with the captain about the mission." Chris said. "I wanted to check up and see how you and Mike are holding up after this mission. I can see that you're up and it's good news that medical will be able to replace your hand for you, but losing it ....I can only imagine how much it's taking it's toll on you." Chris said.

The Commander glanced at his sister, smiled briefly and returned his attention to Jii. "I just want you to know I was proud of you over there."

"Lt. Mike O'Grady," Commander Thomas said turning his attention to the counselor. "Thank you for your help with the away mission, I will also be recommending you for a medal Lt." Chris said.

Mike was surprised by that and took a couple seconds to formulate a reply, "Thank you sir, I was just trying to stay alive there.

Chris smiled, "Staying alive can sometimes be the greatest motivator or the greatest miscalculation." Commander Thomas said. "In this case it worked and you, along three fourths of the away team managed to get alive."

"To be honest, that's better than I expected." Jii chimed in. He hadn't thought any of them would return....and Voght's loss was still affecting him deeply. It wasn't easy to deal with the death of an old friend...doubly so when you yourself were the one that ended that life.

"I'm glad for that." Mike said and meant it, then he had more memories about what had transpired, "Uhh sir, about giving you an order on the ship..."

"Don't worry about the incident between us Lt. I know you were only acting on impulse and not thinking things through." Chris said. "It won't affect my report to the captain about the performance of the away team or your own performance."

"I felt that it was important to drop by and talk with the both of you about the mission." Chris said as he addressed the two men.

Mike smiled, "well now for the most dangerous question who gets to tell my wife that I got clipped in the leg?"

"Tell your wife, I haven't told mine yet." Chris said as he grimaced at the thought. "While she knows and can accept the danger that comes with the job, I doubt she'll react very well to the news."

Mike nodded, "I know Rayna will not be amused but she is a security officer. So she knows some of the risks."

"However I would recommend you tell your wife, as if I show up at the door she might think your dead." Chris said with another grimace at the thought.

Mike grimaced back and then remembered something, "Well we have our prenatal check up today, after I get checked out I'll go surprise her."

"Prophets, I can't believe someone's going to be calling you Daddy. There's a frightening thought." Jii remarked.

Mike raised an eyebrow, "Jii somebody already calls me daddy, this is just 2 more little people calling me daddy."

Commander Thomas smiled, "Gentlemen if you'll excuse I want tour the ship before the next battle and make sure it's ready. However at some point we'll have to get together again after this is over and chat."

By Lt. Rose MacAllen
Counsellor Dallas RN
Dr Autumn Jamieson
Ensign Jessie Parry

After what happened in her room and the message Victor put on her mirror, she need to walk around a little before going back to bed, but now she felt something wasn't right.

Autumn stepped out of the med bay and headed home. She had left Malgin in charge and was looking for a long sleep without interruption she hoped. She walked past rooms and tried hard not to wake many people with her steps. Autumn stopped outside Rose's room, hearing movement. She tapped lightly on the door worried about Rose. "Rose?" She called softly. "Are you ok?"

Rose woke up from her sleep and answered the door, "Yes I'm alright, just....a nightmare." she lied to her friend.

Autumn looked at her and automatically reached for her pulse. After checking it she sighed. "Hmm... well ok but I would feel better if you got yourself checked out." She said quietly. She was about to let the subject drop when a figure dressed in black ran past her and pushed her towards Rose. Autumn dropped to her knees then back up again in a fluid movement. "HEY!" She yelled. "What's the hurry?" she

dusted off her uniform and shook her head. "I've decided that there are too many weirdoes on board this ship." She grumbled to Rose. "Suddenly I'm not so sleepy any more.. Wanna go for a walk Rose? It might help you get over your nightmare?"

Autumn smiled and led the way down the corridor towards a turbo lift. "Shall we check out a holoprogram Rose? I know of a nice calm program set in earth's 1920's. If you'd like to try it out?" Autumn led the way into the turbolift.

Jessie slowly opened her eyes. All she could see was darkness and all she could feel was pain. "Ow!" She winced as she moved ever so slightly. She could hear footsteps and she called out, hoping someone could hear her. "Help! Somebody please HELP!"

Rose walked around with her best friend Autumn while still wearing her Betazoid nightgown, suddenly feeling something...pain and darkness. "Autumn, something's wrong." said the young Betazoid.

Rose ran toward the holodeck doors, and they opened with an obliging swish. Rose saw Jessie laying there on the ground. "Autumn, I need help here!" she yelled, while trying to comfort Jessie.

"Rose!" Autumn took off towards the Holodeck and the doors opened at her approach. "OH SHIT! ROSE, CALL SECURITY FAST!" She knelt at Jessie's side as Jessie groaned.

Rose hit her combadge, "MacAllen to Security, we need some help in Holodeck Two, a woman is hurt." She looked at Jessie, "Oh damn, you're going to be fine Ensign."

Autumn began to work on the woman. "Better call Karyn as well Rose. She may have been raped. We don't know. Call Isabella as well."

Jessie tried hard to figure out who the second voice was... Autumn and ...Rose? She moaned again as hands moved in a precise manner over her body.

Karyn was awoken from a sound sleep when the startled voice of Rose MacAllen cut through the haze of her dreams. She was talking so fast that Karyn could hardly understand her. Rose's last two spoken words helped Karyn understand why she was so frantic. Ensign Jessie Parry had been found in Holodeck Two unconscious, possibly the victim of rape. She had most definitely been severely beaten. Immediately, Karyn sat upright in bed and motioned for her personal assistant, Julia, to help her into her grav-chair.

In mid transfer, Karyn was still asking questions. Not wanting to risk Rose losing control given her own brutal assault years earlier, she asked to speak to Rose's companion, Dr. Autumn Jamieson. "Doctor, how bad is she? Is she conscious? Has security been notified?"

She was asking a million questions, she knew, but from the sound of their voices, they were all in shock. Unfortunately, she had dealt with a similar situation two years ago, only then it had been Ronni Morris, the Assistant Chief Science Officer. Karyn grabbed her med kit, not sure if Autumn had hers with her or not. It sounded like she was off-duty with Rose.

"Well, she's pretty badly beaten and I think she has internal injuries. Rose has notified security and Jesse is semi-conscious." Autumn replied.

"Sounds to me like she needs to be beamed directly to sickbay. I'll notify the physician on call of the change in plans. Tell Rose to meet me in sickbay." The medical stuff she knew Autumn could handle, but it had all happened so fast that she doubted anyone was thinking about the logistics for something like this.

Closing the com with Autumn, Karyn notified the only female attending physician in sickbay, Dr. Isabella VonAmburg, who at that point had not been notified of the assault.

Julia looked concerned as Karyn made her way to the door. These cases always got the best of her. It was not easy given all she'd experienced as a child and then as an adult aboard the Galaxy. Sensing her friend's concern, Karyn looked back. "Don't worry, Jules, I'll be fine."

As the doors closed behind her and Karyn headed toward the turbolift, she wondered if the same could be said of Jesse Parry.

"Transporter Room, three to transport directly to med bay, NOW!" Autumn snapped into her comm badge. "Security, I am transporting patient to med bay. Holodeck Two is now clear for investigation." Lights shimmered around their forms and they appeared in med bay.

"Acknowledged." replied the security officer. This was not something that was supposed to Become commonplace, but unfortunately on the Galaxy, psychopaths seemed to have found a safe haven. The officer chuckled grimly, *Perhaps that's because they considered themselves among friends.*

Shinta got home after her shift in sickbay. It had been hard on her staying calm, and helping others to stay calm. Every free moment her mind kept shifting back to Bruce. Yet she was grateful for work, for at home there was nothing to take her mind of Bruce.

She dismissed her baby sitter, and looked in on her children. All three of them were sleeping. Shinta went back to the living room, and sat down. Suddenly the walls came at her, and she knew she could not be alone right now. Michala not available tonight, so she tried Karyn.

"I don't have anything special planned. I was thinking of eating a late dinner after getting caught up on some routine work. The situation with the Borg hasn't given me much time to do anything else. The tension here right now is electric. I really need the sleep, but I doubt I can get any right now. I could really use the company if you want to come over tonight. Nilani is working late."

The truth was she had spent the better part of the day assisting the medical and science teams in their study of their captured drone and the Janeway virus. Of course, it wasn't easy, especially when one was just trying to stay upright while the Galaxy battled warring Borg with its ever dwindling supply of multiphasic torpedoes. She'd been on the bridge when they exited the transwarp conduit near the Bolian homeworld. She had just begun to see the destruction when she was summoned to sickbay to help below deck by Dr. Maas. In hindsight, it was better she had stayed there. There was no use being a witness to chaos if you couldn't do a damn thing to stop it, and the only way she was ever going to be able to do that was if she was in sickbay. Unfortunately, she hadn't eaten all day, and when she started to feel dizzy and weak because of it, Jeral sent her to her quarters for food and rest. Karyn wasn't in much of a position to argue.

"Then go to bed early, and get all the sleep you can." Shinta said, trying to sound bright. "I think I will make it an early night too." No way would she be able to find a baby sitter tonight, and she really did not want to leave the children alone. Karyn sounded exhausted, she couldn't bother her now. She would just have to wing it herself tonight.

Karyn noticed the mock cheerfullness in Shinta's voice and was reminded just how stubborn the woman was. She didn't know why she kept expecting her to come out and say she didn't want to be alone, Karyn would have done the same thing most likely. Maybe Shinta felt awkward because she was her superior, but Karyn thought their relationship had moved beyond that. She decided to use a different approach. Honestly she wanted to see Shinta tonight but she hadn't want to bother her either. "Actually, I was hoping you could come by with the kids tonight. After seeing all that I saw today between the Galaxy and the Borg, I just need to hold the twins and see Gavin's face. I know this is going to sound crazy, but I need to connect with something other than grief right now. Besides, you and I haven't eaten and we have to look out for each other. You could stay overnight. I'm not going to be able to fall asleep alone tonight, I know it. Please, Shinta?"

Shinta felt relief wash over her, if she had been alone tonight, she would have gone crazy. "I would love that, Karyn, but do you have room for all the children? Now that Karyn was so honest, it was hard for her not to do the same. "I will be right over, I really need to talk Karyn. I am going crazy here."

Karyn chuckled, neither one of them could hide their emotions very well, but no one could say they never tried. "I figured as much, don't worry about the room. The twins can sleep in cribs in my room and you and Gavin can sleep in the two beds in my other spare room next to Nilani's room. I'll expect you in ten."

Shinta quickly woke Gavin. The boy was still half asleep, but he did not seem to mind going out. Then she packed a bag for the twins, slid it over her shoulder and took a baby on each arm. Then she quickly made the way over to Karyn's quarters.

Karyn was waiting in front of the door by the time Shinta and her brood arrived. Kissing her friend on the cheek as Shinta placed Baby Hope on her lap, Karyn cooed brushing the baby's cheek against her own. "Thanks so much for bringing everyone by, you have no idea how much I needed to feel this right now. Turning her attention to Gavin and the handsome baby boy, she asked,"So how are my favorite boys?" She ruffled Gavin's hair, while he tried to stifle a yawn. Karyn turned to Shinta, "I had Julia help me prepare the beds. Gavin can get back to bed whenever he needs to."

"Ok, you can play with your toys while I talk to your Mom for a few minutes." Karyn pointed in the direction of her spare bedroom. Gavin took one last look at his Mom, then entered what would be his lodging for the night.

Shinta sat back on the couch, suddenly tired, and not able to keep the tears in any longer. For no reason she just cried. Karyn went over to wrap her arms around Shinta. "I know my place is a wreck and it needs more homey touches, but is it really THAT bad?"

Shinta laughed through her tears. "It's not that. I... I am just feeling sorry for myself. Michala just told me that she is leaving, that together with Bruce missing was too much. I feel like I am losing everybody that means something to me. I am scared, I am confused, and I feel lonely." She looked at Karyn pleadingly, as if her boss would have all the answers.

Karyn smiled reassuringly. "You've got me and I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. I understand you're upset about Michala, I am too. As much as I don't want her to do this alone, we wouldn't be practicing what we preached if we tried to stop her from making her own decisions, now would we?" she smiled, "I think she's going to be happy on Bajor with your friends, I just am concerned about John. She hasn't told him anything yet, but I doubt he's going to resign his commission to go to Bajor because it would be asking a hell of a lot. Essentially, his relationship with her is going to take a major blow, and I'm not sure what's going to happen now. If I were John, I think I'd be confused as hell. Here she is agreeing to live with him, sleep with him while carrying another man's baby, and now she doesn't want any of it. I'm not saying we should expect her to be able to make mature decisions while she's still learning and taking in so much, but I can't help but think she doesn't understand what lies ahead, and the impact these decisions are going to have on her life. I mean, how is she going to feel after she gives birth on Bajor? Is she going to give the baby to Eric then after she bonds one second with the child in her arms? What about Eric, is he supposed to take a year leave of absence to emotionally support her and see the birth of his child?"

"I am going to see Eric soon. Michala asked me to tell them both, she could not do it herself. I don't know how they will take this, we must try to be there for them. But Karyn, in so many ways she is a small child, she has some growing up to do. I will write to my friends, I am sure they can help her. And I think that only then, can she make decisions for the rest of her life. Right now she doesn't need any of us. And those two men just have to be patient." Shinta appeared calm, talking as a professional helped to push the pain away a bit.

"I agree that she has some growing up to do, Shinta, and I think it has to start right now. How is your telling John and Eric what she can't tell them herself helping her to do that? She may be still a child in some ways, but she's made some pretty adult decisions and wants to be respected for them, but you and I both know that means she has to take responsibility for her actions, whenever and wherever she happens to be. From her behavior, I'd say she's acting like she needs all of us more than we want her to. I also think Eric and John have been patient. Eric's been doing all he can to help Michala through this and to be a good father, while John, as much as I felt another romantic entanglement was not the best so soon after Deiran, has been as gentle and patient with her as any of us. I don't think what she's doing is fair to them, and I think you being Michala's messenger will only make that more apparent to them. We help people make decisions and observations about themselves and their lives neutrally so they can be responsible, healthy people. We're not teenagers being asked to pass a note to someone in study hall here, we're adults. She slept with them and says she cares about both of them, so she needs to face the music. Telling them for her, I believe, is unprofessional and not even the best thing for her as a friend. I know you want to protect her, but I think you need to get her to tell them on her own."

"I agree with you boss. She should tell them herself. It will be hard on her, but after that we will have to give her the time she needs. And that will be hard enough." Shinta swallowed. "I am going to miss her. So badly."

"I know you'll miss her, I think we all will. We're going to have to accept that she wants to get away from here as soon as possible. She needs time and friends, yes, but it would seem that she doesn't wish those friends to be us. I spoke with her and she's still quite convinced that this is what she needs to do even if she hasn't worked out the details yet."

"She is staying with friends of mine on Bajor. They will take good care of her, she will be fine there." Shinta said, trying to ignore Karyn's words, but they had cut deeply. Not the friends she wanted to be with. Another friend lost, just like Bruce. Just like her parents, her family, when would she ever find somebody who would stay with her? She looked at the floor, trying to compose her face.

"I wouldn't take it so personally, Shinta, she's not leaving because she doesn't care about us or doesn't want to be with us, she just doesn't want to raise the baby on a starship. I think all of us can understand that, and the last thing we want to do is pressure her into doing something we know is not going to make her happy. I told her we would meet with her tomorrow to talk. I told her to tell John, and this is her last chance to do so before the USS Louis Pasteur takes off. We should eat something and get some rest, things should look better in the morning. *Things couldn't look any worse* Karyn added silently.

"Sleeping Beauty"
By Lieutenant jg Electra Reece
Acting Assistant Chief of Operations

Electra opened her eyes, only to slam them shut when the room reeled like a shuttle without inertial dampeners. She took a deep breath and released it. She slit her eyes open again and gazed around her surroundings. The lighting was very dim. She opened her mouth to ask for illumination from the computer but her lips would not respond. She realized that she couldn't move her head, either...or her arms or legs. Her eyes madly spun from one side to the other as she tried to make sense of her predicament. The last thing she remembered was heading to the OPS office from her bridge shift. She exited the turbolift and walked down the hall. Then...she couldn't remember. She gave a small moan and heard movement above her head, out of her line of vision.

She felt hands stroking her head, her hair which was spread out over what she was laying on, and her cheeks. She tried to strain her eyes upwards but the hands and their owner stayed out of sight. She felt a breeze...a breath...on her ear and a kiss on her earlobe. She wanted to pull away but her body wouldn't respond to her thoughts.

Then she felt a chill as her ears heard the whisper. "I told you we would be together soon, my love. Your friends have finally backed away. Rayna gave up on trying to find me after we talked and as for poor dear James...well, the Borg took care of him for me."

~ Rayna...I thought she would help me...she promised...and James...the Borg...I hope he was killed and not...oh God. ~

Electra moaned again. "Just be still, my darling. We have eternity. Don't try to talk. Or move. I had to give you a drug that would keep you from allowing your emotions to overcome you and hurt yourself."

"Just relax. I'll take care of you. You want this...you want me. We are soul mates, Lexa. I care about you. I love you and you love me. You can't let your fear control you and hold you back. Just believe in us. Believe in what you can be and what we can have together. Forever, we two, together through eternity. It's what you want."

Electra's mind reeled and screamed. ~ You bastard! Let me go! Let me go! I don't want your damn eternity. Fear isn't my problem, you jerk off. I hate you!!!! Let me go, please, stop this and let me go. ~

Hands ran down her face and traced her lips and chin. "You are so beautiful. Like the wild beauty that is a matter/anti-matter explosion against the backdrop of a black hole." Hands ran over her arms, still no face in the line of vision. "Your from is as graceful as the flow of deuterium to a warp core in breach." Fingers trailed over her stomach. "Your beauty has always taken my breath, as if I was thrust out an airlock into your vacuum of space."

A hand disappeared for a moment and then was felt at her neck. "I have to go, now. But I'll be back soon. You just go back to sleep, Lexa." Electra tensed in her mind as she felt the pressure at her neck and heard the hiss of a hypospray. She quickly fell into the darkness once more as "Poet" smiled and covered her with a blanket before leaving.

James walked towards his assigned quarters. carrying his bag, and his dragonhead Katana, which was dangling against his left thight in the black scabberd. He opened his door and throught his stuff on the ground.

He decided to practice his sword techniques on the holodeck, before he talked to Captain Price. He needed some holodeck time to take his mind off of his late friend, who was previously assigned onboard the Galaxy, Drake Tarsonis.

He entered and input his desired program off of a PADD. All of the sudden, men all around him stood with different kind of swords, and they were all enclosed in a ring of fire. He took off his shirt and his tunic and pulled the sword out of his scabberd.

He held the sword in both of his hands and deflected the first attacker. He immediately slashed at him, cutting his head off. The next man rushed at him and went for his head. James and the man fought for a little, but then James slashed his chest and stabbed him in the belly. The next man wielded a 2 handed sword. The man swung the sword at him, but James ducked and cut off his legs, then stabbed him in the chest. The last man wielded a Katana. They dueled for about 5 minutes, then James did a front flip over him and cut his head off.

The program disappeared and James put the sword back in his scabberd. He was sweating so he went to take a sonic shower before he reported to Captain Price. He went back to his quarters and did just that. He then removed the scabberd from his belt, with the sword in it, and put it back in the display case. He exited his room, to report to Captain Price.

Walkin to sickbay after receiving Doctor Dothan�s reply Todd felt confident that his plan would be the Galaxy�s savior. The doors slid open and he entered seeing some crewmembers on the beds being treated, he himself had treated various minor injuries with his standard skill. Dothan was next to the biobed display with a PADD

�Andree can I have a moment to discuss that theory of mine� He seemed busy and annoyed, Sansky could sense the stress and tension building in his senior officer.

�Todd I don�t think this idea of yours will work though it does have potential. I think u need to put more thought into it before we can seriously consider it�

�Sure use the office Todd� He walked into the CMO�s office and sat behind the desk tapping the viewer.

�Computer open channel� the view changed to that of a man recognized by Sansky as Captain William Riker of the USS Titan, Sansky�s mothers CO

=Im afraid I have some tragic news for you= Riker rubbed his forehead = your mother has been lost in the line of duty= All colour drained from Todd�s face. He just stared blankly at the view screen.

=Im sorry Ensign, she was lost on an away team to a Borg sphere, as her CO I felt it my responsibility to inform your family myself. I wanted you to know your mother served this ship with honour and commitment, my commiserations to you and your family.=

=Riker out= The viewer went blank as Todd dropped his head into his hands. Those bastard Borg assimilating everything in their path. Rising slowly Todd went back into the main sickbay where Dothan was stood, he was busy so Sansky just walked out the door.

In the corridor Todd could feel the anger boiling inside him he began to run to the turbo lift.

Entering his quarters he let out a low growl as he raised his fist and shattered the glass table and through his USS Voyager model against the wall. He then collapsed on the couch with a flood of emotion.

At the door was a lieutenant in red uniform with a puzzled expression on his face and a knife in his hand��

"Unacceptable"
By Lieutenant Commander Savat
Guest starring nearly everyone else.

Savat surveyed the crime scene in the holodeck, along with a team of gold shirts and medical officers. Though his demeanor was outwardly calm, he had reached the limits of his tolerance for the recent wave of crime aboard his ship. The Galaxy was his jurisdiction, and he had been negligent in protecting it. Between Bajor, Decilia, the Gamma Quadrant and now Bolarus, his time had been wrapped up in combat. But there was already a war being waged on the decks of the Galaxy herself, a terrorist campaign carried out by one or more individuals that had targeted members of the crew for intimidation and even death.

One such case would be unusual enough. There had now been at least four, and all remained unsolved.

"Seal off this room." Savat ordered. "We will continue the investigation for physical evidence shortly." He tapped his com-badge, setting in motion a call to action he should have instituted weeks earlier. The announcement went out to dozens of officers and senior staffers.

"This is Lieutenant Commander Savat. I am raising the internal security status to a priority one alert. The following officers are to assemble in the cargo bay in five minutes. All security officers not injured or assigned to mission critical duty. Representatives from Operations, Medical, Counseling, Engineering and Science. That is all."

Holodeck 2 was sealed and Savat motioned for the security detail to follow him to the cargo bay. It was an unusual location for a meeting, but the only one large enough to address the large contingent he had summoned without disrupting the operations against the Borg. As he was expecting, his comm-badge chirped while he was en-route.

[Mister Savat] the Captain spoke. [What's up, Mate. Was is the nature of the emergency?]

"There has been another series of assaults sir, as well as the murder of a security officer. The situation has reached a point where standard investigation techniques are inadequate."

"Sir, with full cooperation from the crew, I believe we can fully conduct the required security procedures with a minimum of disruption and within the bounds of our timetable to release the anti-virus."

[Well, you are within your right to call a priority one. Just make it snappy, Mate.]

It was a sea of gold collars, sprinkled with red and blue. Few of the gathered officers knew why the meeting was being called, but they would soon learn. Savat took center stage and cleared his throat, silencing the murmurs of the crowd.

"Thank you for your punctuality. I will get right to the point. Over the past weeks and months, the Galaxy has been plagued by a series of assaults and murders and acts of intimidation. In the past days, the rate of these incidents has accelerated. This is unacceptable, especially on a Starfleet vessel involved in combat operations. I will no longer tolerate this outbreak of crime under my watch. The end begins now.

"We have had murders in the science labs, attacks on the holodecks, stellar cartography and in personal quarters. The suspects in each case are still at large. Security personnel will be assigned to task forces with appropriate support personnel from other departments. I want each crime scene scoured for evidence. Operations will review all crew movement logs during the time of the incidents. The forensics expects will subject the crime scenes and the bodies to every possible scan for evidence, down to the molecular level. If there is even the smallest particle of DNA, if the suspect so much as breathed on a bulkhead near the crime scene, I want the data matched vs. our genetic archives for the crew and known criminals in the quadrant.

"I also want every person on this ship accounted for within the next thirty minutes. When this meeting ends, everyone on board will be instructed to report to their regular duty assignments, or in the case of civilians, report to Ten-Forward. Prisoners and our Romulan guests will stay where they are., as will the injured in sickbay. All transporters, shuttle bays and lifepods are to be locked out for the duration. At that point, everyone in this room will be issued a locator bracelet. You will put these on, under the observation of myself and the rest of security, and you will then be tracked by Operations from now until this exercise ends. Our teams will then fan out to every corner of the ship and issue these bracelets to every individual known to be on board the Galaxy

Savat continued. "At this point, operations will do a full census of personnel. Any officer, civilian or guest unaccounted for will be reported immediately and a search party will be sent. Any individual not reporting is subject to arrest until the reasons for their absence can be established.

"Immediately following the census, The Operations department, in coordination with Engineering and Sciences, will run a deep sensor and scanner sweep of the entire ship, looking for life forms. No method of detection, no matter how preposterous, is to be overlooked. If any unaccounted life forms are uncovered, security will immediately move to investigate and make an arrest as needed.

"While this is going on, I expect our counseling department to be interviewing the victims and monitoring the state of the crew. Members of this investigation possessed of telepathic or empathic abilities should work with the victims and possible witnesses to establish the identity of our suspects. Do not use your abilities on other crew members without first asking their consent, but be direct and forceful in encouraging them to cooperate and immediately report any crew members whose protests against such methods appear particularly intense.

Savat looked around the room, his eyes boring into the gathered officers. "This is not a planet, or even a city. It is a ship with less than two thousand individuals aboard, a ship with access to the best trained personnel and most advanced scientific equipment in the Federation. Unless the perpetrators turn out to be members of the Continuum, I will accept nothing less than the swift identification and capture of those involved in the crime spree. Is that understood?"

-Lieutenant Commander Savat
Chief of Security, USS Galaxy
AKA
David Friedland
ICQ# 5805168

"Change of Plans"
By Lieutenant jg Electra Reece
Acting Assistant Chief of Operations
With an except from "Unacceptable" by Savat

Electra blinked her eyes open and glanced down. She tested her muscles and still was unable to move. She listened closely to the silence around her and heard nothing. There was no sound of breathing other than her own. In her head, she released a sigh. She was alone. She strained her eyes as she gazed around, trying to establish where she was.

She was laying on a soft surface and there were muted lights above her head on the ceiling of the room. There was no window that she could see. At the very edge of her vision, she could see a control panel and what might be a door control. On the other side was paneling and what looked like seats or couches.

For ten minutes, she strained her mind, trying desperately to move. Her muscles remained unresponsive. Finally, she gave up and wished she could fall back into the unknowing of dark unconsciousness. But she was unable to find that release and she lay, trapped and terrified.

The man known to Electra only as Poet walked calmly down the hallway, performing his duties with normal efficiency, anticipating the end of his shift and return to his captive love. He smiled as he walked towards the turbolift, on his way to fix a problem in the holodecks. As he stepped into the empty lift, he stated his destination, "Deck 11." The doors shut and the lift began to move, as he hummed under his breath. Suddenly there was a blip on the comm system and a voice spoke to all hands.

He stood up straight and slammed a hand into the wall. "Override destination. New destination: Deck 10." The lift acknowledged his command and opened its doors onto the new deck. He swiftly strode down the corridor scowling until he reached the place he wanted. He pressed a sequence of buttons and walked through the opening into an escape pod. The opening closed behind him and he looked at Electra, laying on one of the couches.

Electra heard the door open and cringed inwardly. "Hello, Lexa. I'm afraid we have a problem with our plans thanks to that damned pointed-eared freak in charge of Security. He called a Priority One Security Alert. You put him up to it. You were bad. I told you not to let your fears get in the way of our love, darling. And you know what happens when you're bad, Lexa. You have to be punished. My plans were perfect before that freakish, green-blooded octogenaric Vulcan got it in his head that he was better than me. Well...he can't have you," he spat. "You're mine!"

He walked forward and smacked her across the face. "Mine!" He bunched his hand into a fist and hit her again. Her nose began bleeding and her lip split as his other fist joined the party. "Mine!" One hand continued to pummel her face as another began hitting her stomach and lower chest. Her body jolted under the force of his blows, but she couldn't move voluntarily. She felt a few ribs crack as he pounded on her. Her head reeled with the pain he inflicted. "Mine! Stop wanting them! Mine!! Mine!!!!!" Electra moaned in pain as he grabbed her uniform and began ripping it from her. He aimed another blow at her head and it caught her temple. The blow sent her instantly into unconsciousness as her attacker continued to claw and punch at her unresisting body screaming, "Mine!!!!!!!"

Captain Price emerged from the confines of his ready room carrying the data padd he'd been working on. It contained the names of the officers he would be taking over to the Borg cube once the anti-virus agent had been tested on the Borg drone that was captured earlier.

Walking over, the General stopped long enough to allow Commander Thomas to stand up from the command chair. Chris knew the Captain would be leading the next away mission, and that he'd be in command of the Galaxy while he was gone. Chris also knew the hell the Captain was preparing to beam into. He wasn't just trying to go over there and steal some data, or capture a defenseless, regenerating drone. He'd have to locate the queen and administer the anti-virus. Frankly, Chris didn't believe it was going to succeed.

"With your permission Captain, I'd like to take a walk around the ship. Sort of look things over and see that they are all in order." Commander Thomas requested.

Captain Price understood the request. Often the General, like most Captains, would walk the decks of the ship, mentally preparing for a coming battle. In Chris' case, it was something more then just what it appeared. There was a good likelihood that this attempt to reverse the Janeway virus was not going to work. That the Captain and the rest of the away team could be killed in the attempt. So in a way Chris was mentally preparing himself for that possibility. In case he was needed to assume command of the Galaxy and hold the fate of her crew, and the Federation, in his hands.

Lee gave a nod. "I understand 'mate. Carry on." the Captain said while taking his chair.

"Thank you Captain." Chris stated humbly, before turning on his heal and exiting the bridge for his walkabout.

When the General heard the doors swish shut to the turbolift, indicating the Commander's exit, he turned his attention to the main view screen. "What is 'Sly' up to Ensign?"

Ensign Parry called out from the tactical station with her report. "Not much sir. After eliminating the other two cubes, he seems to have backed off, leaving the other two damaged ones to fight between themselves."

"Well, keep an eye on him 'mate. I want to know where that cube is at all times."

Tapping his comm badge, the Captain hailed Lieutenant Commander Peterson for an update on the anti-virus. "Price to Peterson, come in 'Commander." Lee called out a moment after the chirp sound from his gold badge.

Besides the Captain, sitting in the counselor's chair, Counselor Dallas heard the Captain call out Peterson's name. Karyn was concerned for Kent since they had discussed his past experiences with the Borg. So the Commander listened with extra interest at the conversation about to take place.

["Peterson here Captain. What is it sir?"] Kent responded. Even over the communications channel it was easy to detect the stress and conflict in the scientist's voice.

"How is the testing of the anti-virus going on our friend 'Commander?" the Captain asked. The friend of course being the Borg drone Commander Thomas team had captured earlier.

["We are just preparing to test it Captain. I needed to take precautions before reviving the drone in order to test the anti-agent under real conditions."] Kent explained.

The Captain was a bit alarmed at this news. He must have expected that the anti-agent could be tested while the Borg drone was still locked in a continuous state of regeneration. "Is that really necessary 'mate? Do we have to wake the drone?"

["Yes sir. It's the only way to know if the anti-virus will penetrate the drone's adaptability or not. When the Borg are regenerating, a number of their more reactive systems shut down. Only by testing it on a fully 'awake' drone will we know if the anti-virus coding will penetrate their defenses and carry out it's task of purging the Janeway virus from their systems."] Kent explained. He must have sensed the tension in the Captain's query, because he followed on with, ["I have informed security and have erected the necessary force fields sir. I also have Mister Jensen standing by in the transporter room with a lock on the drone. We can't transport him off the vessel with the armor raised of course, but if their's trouble the chief can transport him and keep him suspended in the transport buffer until we are ready to handle the situation."]

Lee gave a reluctant nod. Though this was alarming news, the 'Commander had made sense of the need for it. The General thought Peterson had taken the necessary precautions. When it came to the Borg, he knew Kent was more qualified then anyone else on board in handling them. "Very well 'Commander. assuming the anti-agent works in neutralizing the Janeway virus, I suppose having the drone up and around will help facilitate our returning him to the Borg vessel when we beam over there to deliver the anti-virus to the rest of the hive."

Karyn's eyes widened at overhearing this. Even for a trained psychiatrist, it was difficult hiding her reaction to the news. Peterson was in no mental condition to be part of this or any other away team involving the Borg.

["Not long. Much like assimilation, the anti-virus should propagate through the billions of nanites within the drone in a matter of seconds. We should be ready to test it out in about ten minutes. I'm just waiting for additional security to arrive, just to be safe."] Kent explained.

Captain Price stood up from the command chair, grabbing his padd. When he did, Counselor Dallas moved her hoverchair forward too, though the General was already calling for the Operations Manager.

"Mister Surok, Can I have you notify the following personnel to assemble and meet in transporter room one?" the Captain asked holding out the padd.

The Vulcan Chief Operations Officer swiveled from his station and took the data padd from the Captain. "Yes Captain." Surok's eyebrow raised upon reading the names on the list when he saw he would be one of the officers going.

Commander - "Captain Price"
Science - "Lt.Commander Kent Peterson"
Security - "Lt.Commander Savat"
Ops - "Lt.Commander Surok"
Engineer - "Lt. Kahn Nilani"
Medical - "Lt. Dr. Andree Dothan"
and the Borg drone

"Captain..." Counselor Dallas injected with more then a touch of urgency in her voice. When Karyn had the Captain's eyes upon her, she continued, "...Sir, I would like to discuss the officers you have selected for this important mission."

Lee gave a nod. "Of course Counselor. If you'll step into my ready room?" The Captain motioned, while at the same time, giving Mister Surok a hand gesture to see to assembling the away team as he'd indicated earlier.

Lieutenant Commander Surok deactivated his station and began exiting the bridge to carry out the Captain's order. While exiting the command well area, Surok tapped his communicator badge. "Lieutenant' Reece, please report to the bridge." when the Vulcan actually entered the turbolift, his eyebrow raised again when no acknowledgment was received. "Curious." Surok stated to himself. He repeated the order as the turbolift doors began to close. Not having time to deal with the insubordination at the moment, the Vulcan finally ordered Ensign Elroi to report to the bridge and assume the Ops station in his absence.

Captain Price followed Commander Dallas towards his office. Pausing at the edge of the command well, Lee called back, Lieutenant Gustavson, the bridge is yours 'mate."

Ragnald replied, "Aye sir." and maintained his seat at the flight controls of the Galaxy.

Rayna was asleep, the day had been traumatic, for both of them. Nikki was awake and reading a book of some sort and he had heard the announcement of securty alert.

Officers would be by to check in on the crew soon enough. The alert status had risen the tension was up anyway.

Tired as he was he waited for the door chime. Soon it rang and Mike got up and walked over to it. The officer in question was a tall red head, who he had met a couple of times when he picked up Rayna. Lexana Ral.

"It's fine Lex thanks." Mike stepped aside to admit the officer, "what brings you by?"

"Well you know Commander Savat wants a hand audit of everyone on the ship, and civillains get this wrist band so I gotta count Nikki and put a wrist band on her."

"She's right over there." Nikki looked up and then smiled, "Lexie." Running over to her friend she hugged her tightly.

"Hey squirt." Lex hugged her back, she had taken on a 'big sister' role for Nikki and even babysat a time or two. "I got a gift for you, Cdr Savat wants everyone to get one that's ugly, but I got you a nicer one."

"Oooh." Nikki smiled, "Can I have it please?" Mike had to restrain himself from laughing.

"Sure." Lex smiled and clasped the necklace around her neck. "Now for the time being you can never take this off ok?"

Lex grinned, "the bracelets were rather ugly." Then she looked back in to the bedroom, "I'm gonna mark Rayna here, I don't want to disturb her."

Samthia glanced at her chronometer. Three hours and forty-seven minutes had passed since she left Ensign Faustine Margolis with her back up copy of her research concerning the Nexus.

Ensign Wej peeked over the side of the "crow�s nest" and sighed. She had anticipated this confrontation nearly twenty minutes ago. Stepping on to the platform that would descend automatically as the device registered her weight, Samthia steeled herself for what was likely going to be a game of twenty questions.

She hopped off the platform before it reached flush with the checkerplate flooring and faced one very irate ops officer. Fox was standing with feet shoulder apart, her fists firmly planted into each side of her petite waist. She was fairly seething.

Fox�s eyes narrowed into angry slits. "Do you mind telling me if this has anything to do with my boyfriend�s disappearance?" The pretty blond held up the PADD containing the theories Ensign Wej had developed.

"It was the late 60�s (nrpg: that�s 2460). Captain Picard�s ingress and egress had renewed interest in finding Utopia."

"He passed away during my second year." Samthia nodded. "He spearheaded the research. But he couldn�t get Starfleet to fund the project...so he assigned a couple of Academy students to do the skunk work."

"We thought we found a way to penetrate the Nexus." Samthia walked over to a tiny cabinet and removed a bottle of aqua coloured liquid. She poured two glasses and gave one to her room mate. "I told Professor Cleese that I was going to test the theory."

"You�re boyfriend..." Sam paused to swirl the potent spirit before taking a healthy swallow..."decided to be a hero. He knocked me out and tested the theory on himself."

With the Galaxy now on a priority one security alert, Doctors Maas and Dothan needed to institute an instant census, and attatch tamper-proof locator bracelets to all aboard, starfleet and civillian alike.

"Coming Sir," Andree yelled back, as he put down the Padd with a patient's records.

"Aye sir" Andree called from half way across Sickbay as he made a beeline for the door.

Andree was operating the retina scanner, a fool-proof biometric device, to insure that everyone was correctly identified. He also had a medical tricorder handy to scan vital signs, as an added precaution, to be doubly certain that no-one could impersonate someone else.

The Security forces had their hands full, dealing with the civillians aboard who were not exactly happy with the idea of the tracking bracelets, but comm-badges served the same purpose, and the bracelets were harder to reporgram, or to remove.

James and the Science teams had done all they could and turned over the anti-virus agent to 'Commander Peterson. His job done, he was feeling at a loss as to what to do for the time being, as the other members of the team had departed to their own duties as su

ch. The rooms were silent, and it made him ponder the reasons why an anti-virus would be introduced to a race who gave to regard to those it assimilated into their own culture.

The Borg. He wondered what their origins were. The first known contact with the Borg was in the mid 23rd century, when Earth was threatened by the V'Ger deep space probe. At the time, it was obvious the exploration module had encountered an as yet unknown race, but since then, it has been attributed to popular belief that it was the Borg who had modified its programming and given it new life. Maybe it was their own type of deep space probe then, not having established transwarp conduits to traverse the expanse of the quadrants. There was so much unknown, and really no way of knowing for sure, so it was simply left... assumed.

Yet, it persisted, nagged, and pushed the boundaries of the mind to go back through the eons of space and time to know exactly how the Borg came to be. Were they originally an ancient form of exploration techniques by a long-dead race? Were they a race that in its pursuit of higher being decided to push the thresholds of evolution and play God? Or was it simply the act of a culture creating an artificial intelligence that would enhance their lives, but instead were assimilated themselves by the very AI's that had been designed to augment them in the first place? It would never be known.

The Borg were a terrible species to those that were of independent thought. Losing your uniqueness and being absorbed into a culture that turned you into a number was a horrible fate. To lose your privacy, your thoughts, and be a party to assimilating entire planets, obliterating species by species; genocide.... it made a person shiver. Death was much more preferable.

Most of the research on the Borg had come from observation. The actual confirmed details of their race have been the rare occasions when a drone was captured or parts of a destroyed cube were analyzed, but the variety and differences between each cube, sphere, rectangle, scout.. they were numerous. The assimilation of so many cultures were utilized in many different ways, from stripping vessels and individuals to add to their vessels themselves, to absorbing their knowledge for use in other ways, such as the Picard/Locutus situation at Wolf 359 those many years ago.

With all those brave officers who had died at the battle, the Federation took a new direction. They began building warships to combat the Borg, create modulating weapons and shields, up the ratio of warships to exploration in the shipyards, and create a whole new division of Research and Development, of which James was a member of the Sciences Division.

Every member world of the Federation assigned a vast majority of its resources to developing ways to stop the Borg and protect its citizens, and now that they had the one thing that would annihilate the Borg and save the universe from oblivion, they were instead creating a viral agent to combat that. It would've been simple to add a gene, or alter a bacterial strand to prevent the anti-virus from taking effect, and he thought about it to a great extent. He'd even delayed the final product for as long as possible, but his loyalty won out. That didn't mean his mind was in turmoil, though.

He balanced one option with the other. Following orders, as he has always done, and he prevents the Borg from wiping themselves out and free to impose their will on other, less defensive species to add to their own numbers. Or disobeying orders, and be a party to genocide, and be no better than the Borg themselves. Either he lets the Borg die, or indirectly assist them in assimilating others.

Ironic. In creating a anti-virus to stop the Borg from killing each off in their Civil War, the Federation will still in turn, meet them on the battlefields of the cosmos to spill more blood in the drive to stop them from their methodical form of genocide.

He followed his orders in the end, even if it left a bad taste in his mouth. Being relieved of duty won't help anybody, least of all him. He'd had that happen once already - he had no intention of letting it happen again. If he didn't turn over the anti-virus, someone else would, and he can do the most from where he is now. Better to die an honorable death, following your principles, or turn your back oin fear, and live with the knowledge in that you assisted in the death of countless numbers, even if they were a terror. He only hoped the Federation, and hopefully he would have a part in it, will develop a vaccine of sorts that would break the Hive collective, and give back the individuality of those trillions it had assimilated.

With that sobering thought, James took a deep, shaky breath, and stood up. He looked about the empty lab, its consoles flashing, its computers humming in their ongoing diagnostics and examinations, and thought to himself that it doesn't look like anything special. It didn't look like what a Saviour should be from. It was a simple lab with simple equipment; nondescript. Nothing memorable.

"Security Log, Stardate 50092.23." James started his mandatory log, pausing for a moment to reflect on his thoughts. So much has happened during the last few days that they were hard to keep track. The Security Log always simplified them so that he could look at them in a clearer light. He continued, talking into his LCARS monitor as it switched to record mode.

Lieutenant Corgan kept on with his report, "Recently, I have been pulled away from brig duty to volunteer... for the second time, to board a Borg cube. I dropped my investigation into the 'Poet' case for the time being so that I could participate in the boarding party. While Commander Thomas and his away team beamed aboard the Borg cube in order to abduct a drone, Savat led a secondary away team in order to sabotage any targets of opportunity in hopes of drawing the collective's attention. In my opinion, the plan has worked, because as soon as we beamed aboard and hit our first targets we were surrounded by dozens of aggressive Borg drones. While we fought off the drones, Lieutenant Sanchez and I were split up from the group. From there, we avoided pursuing drones while destroying anything that looked important. Afterwards, we stumbled upon an area of the ship with hundreds of regenerative alcoves, and a Borg Queen as its centerpiece. Using an EM field to mask our signatures from their sensors, I took out the Queen with a shot of my phaser rifle. Just as we left, drones surrounded us, including a second Queen. We were lucky to be beamed out in time... or else I would be a drone and Lieutenant Sanchez would share my fate. Afterwards, all we did was wait during the battle of Bolia. There wasn't much I could do since the Borg did not board our ship and I wasn't called out to aid other ships being boarded. Later on, Savat chewed us out on the sudden influx of crime during the past couple of weeks in a large meeting.

Even though me and Sanchez survived the incident almost unscathed, many others in our away team were not so lucky. The casualty count is three officers, with I believe to be three wounded in various states. Since I was split up from the main party, I do not know the exact number of casualties. Commander Thomas's away team suffered at least two wounded, including Lieutenant Jii. Other than that, the mission was a success. The primary objective of capturing the drone worked, and the secondary objective of disrupting the ship worked well... except for my part. Killing the sleeping Borg Queen may have actually been a detriment to our mission, due to the fact that she controlled one of the two factions of Borg on board that ship. With that Queen dead, I wouldn't be surprised if the other Queen took complete control of the rest of the ship. That is not a problem anymore, considering the ship was destroyed by a multi-phasic torpedo.

For the record, my kill count for the day was thirty five drones, while Lieutenant Sanchez shot and killed at least the same amount. That's just the confirmed kills. More may have died when we used our grenades on important targets and clusters of the drones. In our destruction, twenty regenerative alcoves, five interplexing beacon controls, seven power distribution nodes, three subspace communications controls, fifteen various consoles and of course... the Borg Queen, were all destroyed, give or take a few. It's hard to keep track when you pass and shoot your targets.

On board the ship, crime has gone up a whopping three thousand percent. Deaths have gone on the rise from last month by one thousand one hundred percent, half of them being homicides. Assaults went up five hundred percent, minor infractions, including the waste of security's time, went up by an amazing one thousand fifty percent. Computer hacking and other electronic related crimes up by eight hundred percent from last month. Our once peaceful ship seems to have been hit hard by this wave of crime, and the incidents with the Borg cannot help us any bit. Savat has reminded us about the crime and it is my opinion that the chief of security is suffering from the strain of the mission... as much as a Vulcan can suffer anyways. We worked hard to have almost no crime during the last couple of months, and now it's going away, and Savat is taking it out on the whole department instead of the criminals themselves.

The 'Poet' investigation is going well. So far, I am one step closer to the source of that transmission he sent me. It originated from a panel on deck 39, section 2C. Finding the person's identity is another matter altogether. There is a computer algorithm that blocks me out from what looks like a random identity generator program. It not only slowed me down from getting an exact location on where the message was sent, but it is also keeping me from weeding out the various names used in each message. There is also a very sophisticated encryption code used to protect the message as it travels through the communications network. If I can somehow isolate that part of the program, I can make a special tracer program that'll hunt out these special encryption methods and maybe... I can go on from there. Even if programming isn't my specialty, I should be able to do enough to make such a simple program. Just hunt for certain patterns and it'll find the messages. Since we arrived in the Bolian system, I send a message to Ensign Gerald Morton, an encryption specialist that works in the Chin'toka VII sensor monitor station. He's a friend and he can hack with the best of them. If this doesn't help, then the investigation may be in trouble.

His computer screen blipped off into nothingness, the fading vertical line followed by a slowly fading dot of light showing the ebb of power to its monitor. Blackness reflected James Corgan's wearied and emotion damaged face. On looking deep into his own eyes and ignoring all else, he could tell that the life in his eyes were almost dead. His eyes were so gray, not the ocean blue that sparked before, but the eyes showed the desolation from all that he saw. Death, so much death, destruction and despair seen in those eyes that the sea of blue parted away, leaving only the ugly wasteland that was his psyche. The sea of life in him so dead inside that it couldn't even shed a tear.

"Might as well get this over with," Lieutenant Corgan sighed, "Computer, begin personal log."

His computer beeped in response, awaiting his voice to put into word the grief he felt.

~~"Where do I start?"~~ He thought over, ~~"So many things have happened as of late. Do I start with what I felt on the cube, the Poet case, what?!? How do I sort through it all....... pick one."~~

He had too many problems to count, and with only a limited amount of time to put them in a personal log, he had to be choosy. Talking about one of his troubles was the easy part. Over the years in Starfleet, they all accumulated to the point that all of them were too difficult to handle all at once. Each piece of emotional baggage weighed him down, slowing down the progress that was his life, crushing his spirit until only his instincts guided him, not his heart or his brain. The body was on autopilot, the mind gave up a long time ago, saying 'f**k it all, you can do whatever you want, leave me out of it'. Recently, Lieutenant Corgan found himself fighting out of this limbic torture for such causes as vengeance, love, loyalty, friendship, hatred, sadness, vain and envy. Emotions took control once again, and it was an unsettling feeling, like he didn't have control over what he felt and why he felt this way. It beat running on instinct, since that felt hollow and meaningless. Thinking of others and himself instead of doing for the sake of doing felt strange to him, especially since it involved dealing with his problems instead of avoiding them. This was the first step in everything, the time now that Corgan's heart took matters into its own hands. James can't just adjust to situations now, this time he had to take them on. It's the time that only the heart matters, and that heart needs healing. Dozens of wounds caused over the years blackened his soul, toughened up his skin and left festering wounds in his heart and mind. He didn't like how it turned him into the monster he is today, unable to do with the feelings of hate and love he felt today. The healing had to begin now.

"Lieutenant Jg...." James hesitated. Pouring out his heart, even on only a fraction of what he felt, make him step into this realm of possibility in a cautious manner. He was afraid of what he was to say, and how it would affect him. Would it make him rage like a bezerker? Cry like a child? Or maybe it won't work? The distraught Lieutenant reasoned that he went this far, so he continued, "...James Lionel Corgan, Personal Log, Stardate 50092.23."

He concentrated on what to say. Deciding that it was best to go freestyle, he just... let it flow. Whatever came up he would talk about. "When I arrived on that Borg Cube... I must admit that I was afraid, even more so than the rest of the away team. They didn't have an excuse to be afraid. I did. If they think they were afraid, then I dare them to look me in the eye and see what I see. It's not impossible, considering the eye is the window to the soul. Look at me, and they'll see death, both as a bringer and as a witness.

I noticed Lieutenant Darkstar wore his ceremonial... dress during the away mission. I wonder, did it bring comfort or bravery to him? I could have used that during the mission, because I was either running scared, running angry or too busy blowing up the next distribution node while a dozen Borg were on my ass. Yes, I was feeling all that in various stages at different points in the mission. When the away team was first attacked by the Borg drones, I almost panicked. In fact, if Savat knew the extent of all the sh*t I felt, he wouldn't have brought me along, but I had to prove that I could conquer my fear. During the firefight, the fear almost consumed me. I had such terrible flashbacks that I didn't realize I really was on a Borg cube, shooting drones for the life of me. I saw myself on the Thunderchild. I saw Ensign Sandi... that poor bastard, and Lieutenant Tannhauser. I even heard the shattering of bone when that drone hit Tannhauser in the head with that damn arm of his. The thing even grabbed me... it just grabbed me and I couldn't escape, not from the flashback, not from the cold grip of it's arm...nothing could save me until I realized the drones nearly overwhelmed my position. Sanchez snapped me out of it, god bless her, she brought me back out. That was when I felt angry instead of afraid. I didn't fear the drones anymore. Something in my mind snapped, made me realize that it wasn't my fault that I'm such a psychotic. It was many things... the death of my parents on the Odyssey, Lita Jovan, Sotek, and now Rebecca Von Erst... and then the mother of all things to f**k up my once peaceful life, the Borg. I reasoned that it was mostly their fault, and I had no choice but to make them pay for what they did to me. Me and Sanchez raged through that cube, destroying anything in sight. I enjoyed it for a moment, and I felt untouchable. The phasers weren't affected by their shielding for a long time, we had plenty of grenades, and the Borg didn't use disruptors very often. We cut a bloody swath through them all. I was the angel of death, the retribution for all the suffering the Borg caused... including mine. I especially did it for me, and it felt good to get the payback that was way overdue. I calmed down once I reached the EM field. Lucky me, it was the perfect snipering spot for a Borg Queen I spotted. In one, spiteful shot, I became the second starfleet officer to kill a Borg Queen up close. Only Captain Jean Luc Picard managed to do that in the Enterprise E's engineering room. I loved shooting that Queen... just like dear hunting on the holodeck. A lifetime of f**king things up, all put into one phaser blast, all my frustrations taken out on this one sleeping drone queen. After that, we were about to leave until another one of the Queens surrounded us. She pissed me off so much, but I didn't want to just outright die. Therefore, I did the only logical thing to do at the time. I became the first Starfleet Officer to wag my middle finger at a Borg Queen and say 'f**k you' right to her face... and live to tell about it. It's all in my battle armor's audio and visual records if anyone wants it. After that, I was ready to die, as long as that queen went with me. They transported me out, the bastards. I could have been an officer with the most confirmed Borg Queen kills. Dammit!

At least I knew how I felt during the whole experience. At first, I was scared, and then it was replaced by anger. I'm still ashamed of it, because fear almost got me and Sanchez assimilated. As for anger, I killed, and I killed, and I killed some more out of anger and vengeance. Somehow, I feel guilty about it. It's almost sadistic to kill in such a fashion. People say that humans have evolved beyond that. I don't believe in evolution, all I believe is self-control. I lost self-control that day... killing and killing and laughing about how the Borg had it coming a long time ago. I became something that Starfleet frowns upon. I became Adolf Hitler, Kahn Singh and Gul Dukat at the same time. I always told myself to kill in defense of yourself and what you hold dear; that was always the honorable way to take life. I didn't follow that code of conduct today and it makes me feel so damn rotten. How would Rebecca and Electra look at me now... now that I have blood on my hands and I actually enjoyed the feel of it coating my palms? What would the Captain say, knowing I do my job because I want to kill people for a reason that's not of their doing? Honestly, did that one drone really try to assimilate me? No, that drone has died a long time ago. I don't need to kill anymore drones because of how I feel! I have to go back to my old policy on killing. After all, in my job it's unavoidable. It's just that security doesn't need a sadistic mindf**k going gung-ho on their asses all the time. Hell, the only thing I don't feel guilty about is saying 'f**k you' to the Queen. Other than that, I went too far on my retribution. May god have mercy on my soul for all I have done...

I guess if I'm going to talk about why I feel so rotten today, I better mention Savat's little rant and rave about the escalating crime on the Galaxy. For some reason unknown to me, it seems that every psychotic in the Federation picked us as a target, and now Savat thinks we cannot do our job. If he didn't have confidence in us, he should fire us on the spot and get us transferred to other ships... maybe set himself up with Constable Odo for all I damn well care. I don't really appreciate his comments yesterday, because I bust my ass off to try to solve this case. I put my life on the line not once, not twice, but three fragging times during this mission, all against the Borg. I saved Ensign Kotobuki and Lieutenant Von Erst from potential suicide situations as well. I think I paid my dues, and still he asks for more, and worse, he has the audacity to suggest we should all beg for his help. That f**king bastard! I'm going to solve my case whether he likes it or not! Nobody messes with me, not on my watch! If I can't make Savat pay for trying such low tactics to get us... 'motivated' then I'm going to prove him and his theory of incompetence wrong.

Speaking of my cases... I wonder how the women are doing? I wish I could help Rebecca. I haven't heard from her in a long time, not since she tried to kiss me. As for Electra, I haven't heard from her since I boarded the Borg cube. Both friends are going through their own share of problems, and I feel powerless to do anything about it. Well, except for Lieutenant Reece. I'm actually making progress on her case. All I need to do is isolate one more console. Just one more... and I can not only help my friend but prove to Savat that there's at least one person in security that's doing his job. Rebecca's another matter. I still cannot understand why she wanted to... screw me. I'm not even that great of a boyfriend, but that wasn't what she wanted. She wanted to have sex like if she didn't, it wouldn't happen again. I'd be lying if I said no I didn't want to, but it was wrong. On one side, she a sweet woman with an innocence I find charming. On the other hand, I don't want to take away something that is meant for her true love, whoever that person is. There is nothing worse than losing your innocence. I remember losing mine back at the academy. After you lose innocence, everything else follows. Virginity, hope, happiness all follow in any order possible. She's so close to losing it all, and I can't seem to make her see that.

I can't help but think that poor excuse of a kiss actually affected me. Have I been charmed? That cannot happen. It will not. Just because I like the girl doesn't mean I'm going to turn into a lust filled zombie. Forget that. I must remain strong. I cannot live on instinct alone, and my instinct tells me to go ahead and sweep her away in a world of passion and pleasure... blah blah blah big fragging deal. What I want doesn't matter anymore. What I need and what my friends want is all that matters now. It's almost like I became their protector by accident. Can't say that I don't mind. At least this way I feel useful.

Today, I feel terrible. Right now, it's mostly sadness. Feeling guilty about killing all those Borg, my superior officer acting like a real dickhead, admitting that I actually liked the kiss for all it was worth and all this about Poet and Electra all combine together to officially make this the second worse mission in my entire life. What a coincidence, the worse one was a Borg mission too. Maybe they herald bad luck or something. I gotta go. The case isn't going to solve itself. I might also try going to the counselor's office willingly for a change, see if they can help me sort through all this mess, but I can't do that until Poet is caught. End log."

It has been awhile since the nagging voice in his head. Must mean James Corgan is getting better, or worse.

He felt better unloading all he felt during the past few days into a simple log recording. The ship could be destroyed, Lieutenant Corgan could be killed or assimilated, and somehow, telling his story before it was lost gave him re-assurance. Not only did he finally spill his heart, but he also assured that something of his would live. James tapped a few button, sealing his personal logs and sending the security log to the central computer.

Somehow, his logs would survive. Somebody had to learn of his tale. It didn't seem right for a person who's life was so tragic to be not noticed. The universe had a bad habit of forgetting people like that.

James got back to his investigation. It didn't dawn on him until he looked at the transmissions again that he went as far as he could. One of the main panels was the one on deck 39, section 2C. The last barrier in a chain of consoles, command relays and workstations that made the Poet's private communication system dwelled in the bottom recesses of the ship. It was ingenious how Poet wrote his own pathways in the ship's computer network, using the console on deck 39, section 2C as a fake main source in case somebody got too close to the truth. When his personal messages cruised through his network of computers, each one gave off false trails as a message passed through certain 'checkpoints'. Each false signal hit another console, affecting the tracer program into fooling it to believe that each console hit was actually a source console. To top it off, each false signal carried the name of a different member of the crew, creating up to hundreds of false sources with hundreds of false names. During the past few days, the messages only carried one name, Lieutenant Jg. Electra Reece.

"You're listening Poet, aren't you?" James whispered, "Come on, admit it. You are listening into what I am saying. I bet if it wasn't for the lockouts on my workstation, you'd know what I'm doing too. Admit that you're not the least surprised that I survived the cube. Now I'm back, and Savat has given us free reign to clean house. You have hurt her long enough. The punishments on her end right here, right now! You need not worry about her anymore. I'm the real threat now."

It gets boring as hell during my last shore leave at the monitoring station, so I passed the time working on the new album. You should listen to my new stuff. It will literally blow you away. I especially like 'Night' and 'Shooting the Breeze'. Check them out.

Ensign Morton, the sister of one of his guitarists in his old band, owed James a few favors, in the form of some computer expertise. In Ensign Morton's generally paranoid fashion, she hidden a custom made program in each audio file. One of them was a modified tracer program that searched out signals coming from the Poet network, while the other one located the main console once a message gets sent. To make it work, the console at deck 39 section 2C needed to be uploaded with the program.

"Time is of the essence..." James commented, "Computer, upload "Night' and "Shooting the Breeze' into my tricorder."

James activated the "Night" program on his tricorder. The improved version of his original tracer program worked effortlessly on the small security tricorder. The tricorder gave a warning when a message was sent. That left very little time to run all the way to deck 39 in order to upload the "Shooting the Breeze" spike program, as long as Poet stayed on the line.

The opportunity needed to present itself, and he knew how. He just had to wait for Poet to talk so that the "Night" program could do it's work.

Lt Eric Odin

Eric was working diligently on these modifications to make multi-phasic
torpedoes. he had also taken a recording with hsi tricorder to them so that
they could be built for his own ships. fter his extended shift in
engineering he uploaded them to his personal computer would send out the info
to his fleet and make sure they began making them as well. They would
consist of half of every ships torpedo compliment.

He then went to sleep since he was judst so blasted tired. His body was worn
ot form all the work on and off duty and his mind was tired from learning and
being so careful. He slept better than he ever had that night.

"I'll Have a Tuna Meld On Rye"
By Lieutenant Commander Savat
With An Appearance by
Lieutenant jg Raven Darkstar

Ten minutes had passed since Savat had instituted the priority one alert. So far, it had proceeded to the Vulcan's satisfaction. Security teams had quickly and efficiently distributed the tracking bracelets to every officer, crewman and civilian on the ship, allowing them to go about their business as usual once they were registered on the main operations board.

It was quickly discovered that more than half a dozen personnel were unaccounted for. Undoubtedly, Savat surmised, some of the cases would turn out to be nothing. But nevertheless, the hunt was on for those who were missing.

Meanwhile, investigators were scouring the crime scenes. Savat was on his way to the most recent murder. He had only seen the Cetacean labs in passing, during his routine patrols of the ship. He had never stopped to truly appreciate the majesty of the great mammals that swam within its tanks. It was unfortunate that a place that should have been reserved for scientific study had been sullied by a callous act of murder.

Lieutenant Darkstar was already on the scene and was in the process of having Ensign Kelly's body removed from the water while a forensics team took samples of the blood and hair plastered against the tank.

"Multiple blunt force trauma." Raven responded. Slipping on a pair of surgical gloves, he carefully rolled the waterlogged body over to reveal the head and neck injuries. "Someone got behind Kelly and smashed his head in against the side of the tank. There is not much sign of a struggle, meaning Kelly either knew the guy, or the murderer got the drop on him."

Savat examined the ground where the murder took place. Blood splats from the initial skull impact had hit the floor and had been smeared during the scuffle. Faint imprints from shoes were visible. "Have you run a spectral scan on the floor to see where these lead?" Savat asked.

Raven replied. "They lead to a replicator and then stop. We think the murderer recycled his boots."

"Clever." Savat stated. He carefully examined the glass of the tanks and saw his own reflection staring back at him. "Considering the reflective nature of this surface, it is doubtful that Ensign Kelly was unaware of the perpetrator. He must have known or been expecting the perp but not the sudden violent attack."

Raven picked up a discarded hairpiece. "That ties in with what we know." He said. "The murderer was disguised as Lieutenant Richy, whose body was just found below decks."

"So then, who are we looking for now?" Asked Savat. "Were there any witnesses at all?"

Raven gestured towards the whale tank. "Just those two." He said. "But I doubt there going to give us a statement."

Raven paused. "Well, no actually. I mean, they're whales, sir. The universal translators aren't designed to work in the ultra sonic range."

"I see." The Elder Vulcan stated. "Perhaps I can solicit an interview." Without another word, Savat stripped off his uniform jacket and his boots and made his way around the massive tanks until he found the ladder leading up to the observation platform. He stood on the edge, peering down into the bluish green waters. A forty foot long backside breached the surface and rolled over to one side. An eye the size of a grapefruit regarded Savat with a hesitant curiosity before vanishing beneath the surface.

Savat spotted a rack of re-breathers on the wall. He grabbed one of the palm sized units and placed it in his mouth and slipped quietly into the water. The tank was cold and salty and visibility wasn't perfect. At first, he did not see the creatures. He swam forward and down, peering into the depths.

Then all of a sudden, they were right next to him, the thirty ton bodies sliding gracefully through the water. They came within inches of Savat, their flippers passing right over his head, but they did not touch him. They circled slowly while Savat held his place, treading water. His sensitive ears picked up a series of low level clicks and whistles. He could not translate the sounds but sensed the intelligence behind them.

When the humpbacks next passed beside him, he held out his hand and allowed his fingertips to glide over the smooth skin of the leviathans. He didn't make contact at first, allowing the mated pair to get used to the stranger in their midst. Eventually, the pair drifted to a stop in front of him. As if sensing the Vulcan's intentions, they turned on their sides until they were eye to eye.

Savat extended his hands and made contact, leaning in close until his face and upper torso were pressed up against one of the pair. He closed his eyes and concentrated, reaching out with his mind, uncertain what to expect.

What he found went beyond all of his expectations. The humpback's mind was as clear and calm as a reflecting pool, and as venerable as the oldest of Vulcan masters. Savat's mind was flooded with memories of centuries gone by, some experienced by the whale himself and others were visual records of his pod's history, dating back further than anyone could have imagined. The thoughts were at once completely alien and completely comprehensive.

And permeating it all, a sense of welcome that filled Savat to the core with a tranquility normally reserved for his deepest meditations. He felt as is he could maintain the connection for hours, if not days.

Outside of the tank, Raven and the security team watched with a mix of fascination and trepidation. How long was a meld supposed to last? How did you tell if it was going well? Savat and the whales had not moved in over ten minutes. How long did one of the portable re-breathers last?

Raven was on the verge of calling the medical department and requesting assistance when Savat broke contact and kicked his way to the surface. He pulled himself out of the tank looking no worse for wear and climbed down the ladder. Without saying a word, he swiftly made his way to a bank of computer consoles and entered his security pass code.

"Active Identix program." Savat ordered. A holographic display brought up a featureless head that slowly rotated. "Human, male, early thirties, dark hair, higher cheekbones, reduce brow fifteen centimeters..." Savat continued to call out specifics as the imaged warped and molded itself into a unique face.

"They were most forthcoming." Savat answered. "They bore witness to the murder. It disturbed them greatly. To kill a member of ones own species is a foreign concept to them. It made them re-evaluate their assessment of humanoids as higher order mammals." Savat switched to the keyboard in order to enter specific facial details by hand.

"Yes. They prefer the Pacifica red krill to the North Atlantic variety they have been fed in the past few months. They wished for me to speak to their handler on their behalf." Savat's fingers flew over the console. A few more keystrokes and his task was complete. "There, that is the individual we are looking for, assuming he has not changed is appearance since the murder."

"He is unknown to me." Savat stated. "But if he has a criminal record, our data banks should be able to give us a positive ID."

Before the Vulcan Security Chief could run the search, his com-badge chirped. He stood up and retrieved it from his discarded duty jacket. "Savat here."

[Mr, Savat. We're ready to deliver the anti-virus.] Commander Thomas's voice spoke. [Report to the transporter room within ten minutes.]

"I must prepare for my departure." Savat said. "You have done a satisfactory job thus far, Lieutenant Darkstar. I am certain your continued investigation into this matter will be fruitful. We have a face. Now it for you to find the man aboard our ship that owns it."

Savat nodded. "Should I fail to return from the cube, please make certain our case files receive the attention they require."

"It is well within the realms of statistical probability for our mission to end in disaster." Savat answered calmly.

Raven caught the inflection in the Vulcan's voice. Outwardly, Savat was calm, but it was obvious he was not expecting to return. The Native American sympathized. He had not expected any of them to survive their last suicide mission. And here they were, still alive. "We have beaten the odds before."

"Quite so." Savat replied, slipping on his duty jacket. He turned on his heel and walked out the door.

Raven looked back at the humpbacks, who were hovering close to the glass, regarding him serenely.

"Thanks, buddies." He said. He turned his attention back to the image of the murderer. He thought of Tex and of Ensign Kelly and poor Rose and all of the others this man had terrorized. It was going to end, and soon.

Lieutenant Commander Savat
Chief Security Officer, USS Galaxy
AKA
David Friedland
ICQ# 5805168

The drone jerked his head as the chief scientist removed the feedback circuit from behind the right ear, just above the cortical node. The cybernetic devices along the length of his body began to emit a slight whaling sound as they processed information and moved about.

"Species 5618. Human. Planet of origin," the Borg unit said as it seemed to retrieve information from its memory banks, "Earth. Location found within Sector 001."

"Yes," Kent said as he monitored the progress of the futuristic virus circulating throughout its body. "Do you know where you are?"

"A Federation starship," it replied as it looked for some visual clues to provide a more specific answer. Noticing a console display he saw the registry number for the ship. "Processing ... USS Galaxy. Federation Galaxy-class starship. Registry number NCC-70637."

"There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the recognition protocols," James said as the Borg drone raised his hand and hit the forcefield that had activated only moments before. "What is your designation," he said, turning to the drone.

The Borg jerked his head slightly as though he were accessing that information from his memory banks. "Nine of Twelve, Quaternary adjunct to Unimatrix Two-Seven-Seven."

Kent continued to read the tricorder readings as he moved around their captive drone. He monitored the physiometric and mechanical aspects to see if the drone was working within what the Federation knew as Borg standards. "Everything checks out here," he concluded.

Mitchell nodded. "Good, at least then what results we get should reflect the effectiveness of the anti-virus when introduced to the hive. Is there any progress in determining how the virus will be transmitted?"

The lieutenant commander read through the readings, his silence speaking volumes to the lieutenant. "I've spoken with Captain Price."

"What did he say?" James asked. In his capacity as the exobiology department head, the scientist was interested in how they were planning to get around the simply problem of trillions of drones spread over nearly three quadrants of the galaxy.

"Species 5730. Bajoran," the drone said, interrupting the Chief Science Officer before he could elaborate any further. "Planet of origin, Bajor."

The disturbing accuracy of the drone's remarks seemed to suggest that the information of the entire Collective was common was retained by the hive that this drone originated from. It jerked its head one more, ever so slightly as it looked at the Vulcan security lieutenant standing ready to fire should the drone pose a threat. "Species 3259. Vulcan. Planet of origin ..."

"Vulcan," Peterson said as he moved towards to the drone with a hypospray containing a mixture of the anti-virus and an accelerant to assist the procedure. Turning to the Human security guard also standing what, "Ready when you are Lieutenant."

The forcefield came down and Peterson lunged forward with the hypospray, pressing it quickly against the neck of the drone before releasing the cocktail. Lieutenant Mitchell began to scan Nine of Twelve as Peterson moved away and the security officer reinitialized the forcefield that was containing the captive.

Kent turned away for a moment and took several deep breaths. Turning back towards the Bajoran scientist he awaited some indication as to whether or not the anitvirus was actually working.

James joined Doctor Dothan as he looked at the progress of the anti-virus through the drone. If the future Janeway's virus had move so quickly it would explain why the Borg civilization had been infected so rapidly after its introduction in to the Collective.

"The anti-virus is moving through the drone's body rapidly sir," the medical officer responded, "but the nanoprobes infected by the virus appear to be trying to adapt to their presence. That behavior is typical to foreign objects entering the drone's physiology, however, there is a 1.6 percent difference from what we anticipated."

'Commander Peterson walked up to James, "Could I speak with you for a moment Lieutenant?"

When both men reached the opposite side of the laboratory the thirty-three year old scientist turned to Mitchell, "If this works and we do end up going to the Borg cube as the Captain plans," Kent began, "I want you to look after things from this end."

The manner in which the lieutenant commander spoken seemed to sound as though he was expecting not to return. "Sir?"

"You've played the game before Lieutenant," Kent said, referring to James' former position as chief scientist to the USS Galaxy. "I need to know that not only the department has strong leadership, but that Commander Thomas has the best advice should anything happen over there."

"Excuse me 'Commander," Andre said as the real-time graphical display began to change more rapidly than before, "the anti-virus appears to be working."

"Is there any counteragent being produced within the drone?" James asked as the two men joined the medical officer Captain Price assigned to his away team.

"What about fluctuations in the transmission rate?" Peterson said as he looked at the graphical display being shown on the workstation console.

Dothan shook his head again. "That's the first thing I checked out. We may need to modify the accelerant a little, just to maximize its function, but there is nothing actually wrong with the anti-viral agent itself."

"Good," the lieutenant commander said as he reached across his chest and tapped his communicator, "Peterson to Price."

"Sir, the anti-virus appears to be working on our guest," he said, looking over at Nine of Twelve as he analyzed his surroundings from within the forcefield. "Doctor Dothan has suggested a few modifications to the accelerant, to make it more effective, but it seems to work."

["When will the modifications be completed?"] the Captain said with some relief in his voice. No doubt the proximity of the Borg to the Bolian homeworld had caused some tension, even for the starship commander who was adamant that his crew were not going to be responsible for the destruction of a civilization.

"Dothan here Captain," the medical officer announced, "I would estimate about fifteen to twenty minutes."

["Good,"] Lee said as the voice of Commander Thomas could be heard in the background, calling for the Captain's attention, ["Let me know as soon as you are both ready."]

With Lt. Victor Wilson* (NPC Homicidal Maniac)
and Lt. Rose Isis McAllen, Science
and a brief appearence by Lt.(jg) Raven Darkstar, Security

(Previously: For weeks, Victor had been masquarading as "Tex Richey" while he roamed freely about the Galaxy plotting how to kidnap Lt. McAllen. Spurred into revealing his true indentity, Victor killed James Kelly and now slithers through the ship plotting his next move.)

Victor Wilson hated wearing the rubber face pieces. He was counting the moments untill he could cast them aside with the ridiculous cowboy hat and the boots that hurt his feet from forcing himslef to walk bowl legged.

Soon it would be just he and Rose. His Imzadi. No more masks. Nothing between them. She would grow to love him. They would grow together, just the two of them and that made any temporary discomfort a small price to pay.

He could hear heavy footfalls thundering down the hallway. Raven Darkstar was leading a team of security officers who were going door to door with fist fulls of bright, orange wristbands.

Quickly he pressed himself into the nearest doorway. Raven and three large security officers walked through the intersection of hallways without even noticing him.

"What the hell are you people up to?" Victor asked himself. He was beginning to regret being unable to attend Savat's meeting. Everyone was acting wierd now. He couldnt put his finger on it.

It was a big risk, but he decided to carefully shadow the Indian. Just untill he knew what was going on. Careful to keep his distance and mindful to remain casual in his appearence he sauntered straining his senses to hear anything.

The doors next to him opened and a little brown haired toddler almost crashed into him. Her mother apologized profusly then asked: "Could you help her with her wristband? It seems to be stuck and we dont want to screw up the census."

Victor could feel his pulse quicken as he smiled and helped connect the little girls wristband.

What would they possibly be doing a census for now? - he thought. He paled as he heard Raven's commbadge just down the hall.

[We have a match on the suspect. You were right. It's Victor Wilson. Savat's image is nearly identical.]

He didnt wait for the large man's reply. He retraced his steps and broke into a full sprint.

It wasn't possible! He had been too careful and there were no witnesses! Unless those stupid whales can magiclly talk no one knew he was here! - he thought as he entered a turbolift.

He forced himself to calm down as the elevator moved. So what if they knew who he was. So what if they were counting crew members. What was that going to tell them? They'll be counting for hours. Just go to plan B.

A smile crossed his face as he neared the doors to the holodeck. That idiot Indian was no doubt scurrying to Rose's apartment right this very moment. What he didnt know was that once a week like clockwork, Rose came to the holodecks and meditated for 30 minutes in the reflecting pools of Demiadas, a holographic reconstruction of one of her favorite places back on her home world, sometimes just swimming in thier soothing warm waters.

"Thank you James." he said sarcasticlly and entered the holodeck while clearing his thoughts.

Rose was inside pulling a silk robe over her naked body, as the majestic pools faded from view leaving just the familiar black and yellow grid.. She turned to see the security officer standing behind her.

"Raven sent me, ma'am. I'm afraid you'll have to come with me." Victor said in his best Tex drawl.

"I'm afraid he didn't say. I'm supposed to just collect you and bring you to him right away. He said it isn't safe here alone."

"Ma'am, I'm afraid we have to move now. If somethin happens to ya, it'll be my hide he tans and i aint lookin to tangle with that ornery boy."

Urgently Victor rushed her out of the holodeck and back into the turbolift. The trickiest part of his plan had gone off flawlessly. He had to hope that as few people as possible saw them enter.

Rose stood quietly watching the deck numbers on the tiny LCD screen. Victor could feel her nervousness as he reached into his pocket and felt the hypospray he had stolen from James Kelly.

All he had to do was press it against her neck and she was his. He would have his Imzadi - he thought, then realized what a mistake he had made.

No sooner had he thought that word than did Rose spin around. In an instant he could feel the weight of her mental probes boring into his mind.

She screamed and side stepped his charge. Victor had known she had security training and anticipated her reaction. He turned abruptly and wrapped his arms around her waist and using his weight drove them both to the ground.

She brought her head back hard, slamming it into the side of his own causing him to loosen his grip enough that she could slither free. Reacting qucikly Victor grabbed a fist full of the silken robe and pulled her closer to him. he was holding the hypospray, waiting to strike.

Rose kicks him in the stomach, then she cut him across his face with her fingernails, "LET ME GO VICTOR NOW, YOU WILL NEVER HAVE ME!" she screamed clutching her robe shut. The hpyospray clattered and broke against the wall of the turbolift.

"I already do." he said, thrusting out his foot into Rose's shin, bringing her to her knees. He grabbed the fallen silk belt and wrapped it around her neck.

Again she tried to use her head as a weapon but Victor was ready. Keeping one hand gripped on the makeshift leash, he blocked her strike with the other wrapping it into her hair, immobilizing her head.

She reachecd up and raked her hands once again over his face, tearing open his wounds even further.

In a rage he drove roses face hard into the wall. He could feel her slacken in his grip. "I didnt want to do that, my darling...but you left me no choice."

Rose's head hit with a loud thump and she slumped down on he floor unconscious. Victor wiped the blood from his eyes on his shirt sleeve. He ordered the elevator to descend to the bottom of the shaft then locked it in place.

He knew that time was of the essense and once he was out of the turbolift he was safe for the time being.

Just like he practiced, he pulled back a corner of the rug on the floor. Underneath it was a hidden access panel. He released it and slid back the door.. Having done this before he knew that it was a three foot drop to the floor. He jumped down and grabbed Rose's limp arms and dragged her out of the turbolift and onto the cold floor.

Reaching back in, he unlocked the elevator, flopped the rug back into place and carefully slid the door panel back. He didnt have a chance to engage the lock before the turbolift rose back up into the ship leaving him alone.

Safe in a place where they would never think to look. Beneath the streets of the Galaxy.

Gently he carried the unconscious Betazoid women over to the elevator maintenence room underneath the shaft. He opened the little used door and entered the office.

Next: While Victor has his Imzadi, Raven and the Ops team begin the sensor sweeps!

"Doser"
by Captain Robert Edward Lee Price
based on "Working and Recording" by Lt Eric Odin

Eric was working diligently on the modifications to make multi-phasic torpedoes. He had also taken a recording with his tricorder of them so that they could be built for his own ships. After his extended shift in engineering, Eric uploaded them to his personal computer which sent out the info to his fleet. That way they could began making them as well. They would consist of half of every ships torpedo compliment.

Eric then went to sleep since he was just so blasted tired. His body was worn out from all the work on and off duty and his mind was tired from learning and being so careful. He slept better than he ever had that night.

Eric snapped his head up from the engineering console where he'd dosed off. "Wha..., what?"

"You fell asleep on duty Lieutenant!" Lieutenant' Kia informed the groggy eyed Engineer. "You are supposed to be preparing more torpedoes."

"Torpedoes? Oh yeah." Erik smiled, "I was about to fit them to all the ships in my fleet..."

"You don't have a fleet of ships." the Bajoran Engineer refuted, "You better quit screwing around and just be glad I found you here sleeping and not Lieutenant Commander T'Zaq. She'd of had your ass."

Eric wiped the sleep out of his eyes and let out a yawn. He'd pulled a double shift after all, it wasn't his fault it was way, way past his bedtime. "I'll try to do better Lieutenant'. Thanks for waking me."

"I'll get you some hot coffee to help keep you up. Suder is going to want a progress report soon so I suggest you get to it. Since the explosion in the engineering lab, torpedo production has been severely hampered. We need to keep producing as many as we can in case more Borg show up." Kia explained.

"Yeah, I know. I'm... just... so... tired..." Erik stated while yawning and stretching at the same time.

Looking both ways to be sure no one was listening, Winona leaned closer to Erik and whispered, "I wouldn't normally do this, but under the circumstances... I can give you something. A stimulant, that can help keep you awake."

"Galactic Disco: Part Two"
By. Ensign Heather Grant-Wellington, Lt Kira Murphy,
Lt Rose MacAllan, Lt jg Wilhem Quevvenson, Ensign
Autumn Jamieson

Wilhem led the two women back into the disco. He hoped that they could enjoy the time they had. Because sooner or later, the ship would exit the warp conduit and they would have to go to battle stations.

Autumn watched the party. It was in full swing. It was good to see everyone relaxing and getting out of the boredom that was this ship at the present time.

Wilhem looked over at Autumn, then smiled. He walked over to her, "Would you like to dance, milady?"

"Why thank you kind Sir." She smiled back and allowed him to lead her to the dance floor.

Still not completely used to this style of dancing, Wilhem began by following her lead. He was more used to the waltz and other dances of the Grabentod nobility. The closest dance to this style was the Pirat, a spirited dance style for youths of Grabentod. But they were still worlds apart.

Autumn smiled as Wil worked at dancing slowly she tried to show him again before saying "Computer: slow dance. Backstreet boys; one of their slow ones." She grinned at Wil, "Just so you can get the rythem right."

I don't know what he does to make you cry
but I'll be there to make you smile
I don't have a fancy car
to get to you I'd walk a thousand miles
I don't care if he buys you nice things
Does his gifts come from the heart ? - I don't know...
But if you were my girl...
I'd make it so we'd never be apart

Chorus
But my love is all I have to give
Without you I don't think I can live
I wish I could give the world to you... but
Love is all I have to give

When you talk, does it seem like he's not
even listening to a word you say ?
That's ok babe, just tell me your problems
I'll try my best to kiss them all away...
Does he leave when you need him the most?
Does his friends get all your time ?
Baby please, I'm on my knees
praying for the day that you'll be mine !!

Bridge
To you... Hey girl, I don't want you to cry no more -
inside All the money in the world could never add up
to the love I have inside...
I love you

Bass Break
And I will give it to you
All I can give, all I can give
Everything I have is for you
But love is all I have to give

But my love is all I have to give
without you I don't think I can live
I wish I could give the world to you... but
Love is all I have to give to you."

Wilhem smiled at her, as he got the rythem down pat. "Nice song selection. I wish I knew half the songs that you probably do."

"An old friend taught me about 20th century songs and the like." She smiled, "She use to drive me nuts listening to these groups all the time at the Academy." She noted that Wilhem was dancing well. "You look like you've been dancing your entire life."

Wilhem smiled again, "I was trained in certain forms of dance back in Grabentod. This is completely different, but I think I can get the hang of it."

"Ah the life of a noble," she said cracking a grin at him. "I bet even Pirates have to dance sometime, right?"

Wilhem's smile grew, "Something like that. All the nobles of the kingdom were supposed to learn to dance. As young children, we learned the waltz and the Pirat, and other dance forms. It was monotonous. Then I became a ranger, and did not dance for a long time."

"Well you must have a very good memory My friend." She glanced about to see how things were going then turned back to Wilhem. "So tell me about your life before here, Wil... if it doesn't hurt too much."

Wilhem looked surprised, "Before coming to the Terran universe?" Seeing her nod, he continued, "Well, I was born at point 0 of the Haelyn's Count calendar." Seeing her looking askance, he said, "That basically means I was born at Midnight sharp on the first day of the year 1 HC. I don't remember much of my early life.

"Then, in early 6 HC, when I was five, I was on vacation with my parents to a mountain preserve on the eastern border of Grabentod. There I met an old man whose dress intrigued me. He was surrounded by animals of all types. After a little coaxing my parents allowed me to train with him for the next ten years. I did not have much formal schooling, just the law of nature. Besides there was not much to learn in those days.

"In 16 HC, at 15, when I came of age, I left his side and joined up with a group of young adventurers, about my age. Their names were Raesene Hermedhie, an Andu paladin of Cuira�cen, Sigmund Tjorkil, a Rjurik ranger, Wilhem Redbedtehr, a Brecht guilder, Drago Mornoi, a Vos paladin of Haelyn, Rashid ibn Corina, a Basarji paladin of Avani, and Maltos Saria, a Masetian bard. For the next three years we adventured, eventually hooking up with Kaitryn Caelcorwynn, a half-elf fighter/mage and Quevven of Sielwode, an elven mage.

"Then in 19 HC, we travelled across the Straits of Aerele to the site of the Battle of Deismaar. There we got caught up in a temporal anomaly of some strength. We were flung across space and time, and seperated by the force of the blow."

"Whoa... sounds pretty cool, though. Your life. Nothing like my childhood. Sounds like a whole lot of fun."

Wilhem grimaced, "Well, it wasn't totally fun. Ther were wars that we got caught up in. Battles against awnsheghlien, and their dark forces. Fights with those that just had an evil bent to their lives." His eyes got distant, "I still have a divine bloodline of Brenna flowing through my veins. Not enough to casue me to have any special abilities. Except some skills related to telepathy or telekinesis."

Rose watched them with a few tears in her eyes, watching them is like the hurt was coming back to her like an open cut. She walked off into the small room were Rose was in a few seconds ago feeling like throwing something across the room, she was so mad at the Chief Helmsman for not loving her right and was mad at Eric for being a coward, not telling her that he wanted out of the relaionship. She started crying very hard.

Autumn was listening to wilhem but it didn't escape her notice that Rose had done a runner like she had not ten minutes earlier. Leaning closer to Wil, she whispered "Rose has done a runner!" Her eyes roamed the room looking for Rose or Eric. She spotted Eric but no Rose.

Wilhem nodded, then whispered, "We need to help cheer her up. We can dance later, I guess."

Autumn smiled and grabbed his hand "I am holding you to that!" She said as she pulled him off the dance floor and towards the many small rooms. "We can check here, first. Then if that doesn't work I'll try her quarters."

Autumn started checking doors the first 5 were empty the 6th held two ensigns that were mid grope when Autumn pushed open the door. "Opps sorry" she shut the door quickly giggling. The 7th door the hit the jackpot. Rose. Crying hard. And Autumn just sat beside her and hugged her.

Rose keeps crying and shaking, why is she doing this to herself, Rose Isis MacAllen on of

the best Science officer and a royal Countess of Betazed is crying like a weak woman.

Autumn looked up at Wil in a kinda helpless way. "Hey come on Rose. Spill it..What's happening with you? Shut the door Wil, please." She waited while he did that. "Now come on Rose whatever you say to us goes no further then this room ok... so tell us."

"I so sorry but when I saw you guys dancing it just open some scar alittle bit I want my boyfriend back, the Chief Helmsman one." Rose said trying to keep in control of herself.

Autumn closed her eyes for a second and sighed. "Rose..." she hugged her best friend close and glanced at Wil. 'Help' she thought to herself. Autumn was at a loss to help Rose.. she knew that there was something else bothering her friend and she couldn't pry it out of her.

Rose looks at her friends, "I so sorry I shouldn't have spoiled your fun please forgive me."

"Now you stop that Rose Iris MacAllan!" Autumn said. "Who was wrecking the fun before... me... so you are well within your rights to break down... don't let me ever hear you saying sorry for something that isn't your fault or that doesn't need an apology" Autumn turned Rose around to face her. "I have known for sometime that something wasn't right with you. Now I would like to know whats got you acting so jumpy and upset. You are not leaving this room until I find out what it is."

Rose looks at her, "I don't know really I don't, I miss my exboyfriend and I was thinking about see if I can get him back, not Eric his just a damn womanizer. If that don't help I can saw do my holonovel of Commander Chakotay of Voyager as the pirate and me as the helpless princess tied to the....hehe that private." she said with a smile while hugging her friend then she whisper in her ear, "I'm so happy that you found somebody."

Autumn whispered, "Haven't get him, yet." She hugged Rose again. Then she spoke at normal level "Anyway I think you need to get out more and ignore Eric... You are pretty and you have a lot of things going for you Rose and if Eric can't see that then he is a dumbass."

Rose was in a dream world about Commander Chakotay with is shirt off, "I have a pirate holonovel we must try out. So do you want me to sing again? Maybe that can make me feel better I can wear a leather outfit." Rose said with a grin.

Autumn grinned "Computer: one black leather Jumpsuit in Lt MacAllan's size please." It appeared and Autumn handed it to her friend. "There you go!"

"Now go out please I need to dress ok I don't want to get naked in front of you two." Rose told them as she unzip her dress, the scars where her boyfriend raped her and beat her at the academy was still there.

"Consider us gone!" Autumn grabbed Wil and dragged him out the door, "We'll wait outside for you, Rose," she called over her shoulder.

Wilhem nodded to Rose, then left the room with Autumn. "I hope she feels better soon," he told Autumn.

"She will be.. I hope. We'll be there to help her right?" Autumn smiled at Wilhem. "Don't worry I am sure its just stress..." 'I hope it is.'

Wilhem nodded, "I'm sure it is, too." But he could sense old pain from the room behind him, so he was not that sure.

Autumn leaned up against the wall and shut her eyes for a moment as she listened to the music. 'This is fun' she thought to herself. But she couldn't shake the feeling that Rose had something that she wasn't telling. She also knew that a Klinon in full rage would be able to get it out of her. She kept her eyes closed and let her thoughts go.

Rose walks out wearing a very tight black leather outfit and some highheel shoes, her long brown hair down and some newly makeup put on her face and her shirt was backless.

Autumn opened her eyes and smiled at Rose. "Wow, wish I had your figure when it comes to clothes like those," she said with a smile. "Any guy worth his salt will be drooling after you Rose. You look like... WOW!"

After a fair amount of dancing and numerous drinks, Kira was feeling quite tipsy, thanks to numerous glasses of vodka & lime cordial mixes.

Moving to the microphone, which had just been vacated by an ensign who had an excellent voice, Kira called out,

After directing the computer to start with the background sound from a song she heard at the Academy, Kira adjusted the microphone volume to max and started singing,

Lover, I'm on the street
Gonna go where the bright lights
And the big city meet
With a red guitar...on fire
Desire

She's a candle burning in my room
Yeah I'm like the needle, needle and spoon
Over the counter with a shotgun
Pretty soon everybody got one
And the fever when I'm beside her
Desire, desire...

She's the dollars
She's my protection
Yeah she's a promise
In the year of election
Oh sister, I can't let you go
Like a preacher stealing hearts
At a traveling show
For love or money money money
money money money money money
money money money
And the fever, getting higher
Desire, desire, desire, desire
Desire, desire "

Finally, she stopped and smiled when she noticed that she had managed to attract everyone's attention.

It had being some time since she dragged out the party wardrobe. Seductively, she strolled onto the holodeck where the party was being held, wearing a very short grey skirt with splits up both sides and a very tight, long sleeve silk pearl blouse button once between her large bossums. Her long, red hair was harshly pinned back and her eyes heavy with contours of black eyeliner and dark purple eyeshadow. Echoing her stride, where thin strapped stilletos that could of easily pierce the flesh of any opponent, that dared to control her physically. Stopping a metre in, Heather Grant-Wellington scanned the other party goers and frowned sourly at the selection of music.

Across the room, she could see Autumn and a male officer checking to the doors of some kind arrangement of dressing rooms to the side, while there were a small handful of goers consuming the dance floor. Sighing, she went to another corner of the room to grab a stiff drink and poundered over whether to stay or attempt to mingle. It was a serious problem of her�s. Not knowing many people. To date, Heather had kept very much to herself while being absorbed by her work as a group counsellor and a helmsman. After her lousy day and the stress of being trapped in a transwarp conduit, Heather craved the beats of latino or celtic rhythms and plenty of strong drinks. She had even decided that if any guy offered to take her back to the sleeping quarters section, she would followed on the grounds that what ever followed would be a one off.

Then, taking centre stage was Kira Murphy. Grant-Wellington turned to listen to the song she had chosen to sing, discovering almost instantly it�s familiarity even though she could not pinpoint the song�s title, nor why exactly it was familiar.

Wilhem nodded, then watched as Rose approached the stage. He hoped that she would do well. He called out, "Go get them, Rose!"

Rose smiles, "Hey with this song I made a music video to go along with it I did this video while I was on the Yorktown so I hope you like the song and the video.

Lyrics: Stronger
hey, yeah
Hush, just stop
There�s nothing you can do or say, baby
I�ve had enough
I�m not your property as from today, baby
You might think that I won't make it on my own
But now I�m?
Chorus:
Stronger than yesterday
Now it�s nothing but my way
My lonliness ain�t killing me no more
I�m stronger

That I ever thought that I could be, baby
I used to go with the flow
Didn�t really care �bout me
You might think that I can�t take it, but you�re wrong
�Cause now I�m?
CHORUS:
Stronger than yesterday
Now it�s nothing but my way
My lonliness ain�t killing me no more
I�m stronger

Here I go, on my own
I don�t need nobody, better off alone
Here I go, on my own now
I don�t need nobody, not anybody
Here I go, alright, here I go

Stronger than yesterday
Now it�s nothing but my way
My lonliness ain�t killing me no more
I�m stronger

Wilhem watched Rose come towards them. He hoped that she felt better now. He thought to himself, ~She loks good. I hope she is okay with herself. She needs to get over Eric fast. He is a nothing type of person, always thinking of himself first.~

If Wilhem could read minds he would have seen that Autumn's thoughts followed the same vein but with a bit more venom. Autumn stretched her arms above her head and waved to a waiter. When he came over Autumn smiled and said. "Your largest and best vintage of Betazed Wine. Three glasses as well." The man nodded and went back to the bar. Autumn smiled as Rose reached them.

Rose smiles at then while thinking, *Damn I sing great* "Can I have something to drink?"

Wilhem nodded to Rose, then said, "It is coming. We ordered three glasses of the best vintage of Betazed Wine."

Heather placed her drink down and made her way on to the dance floor by the beginning of the second verse. Rose was performing one of her favourite pick me up songs and it got her into the mood to dance along. At the moment, she was using the song to sooth her deep emotions over the Indiana situation. She was basically saying she was going to continue on seeing him as friend, even though yesterday she had weakened her emotion hold to the verge she was considering going to him. It felt good to dance, as it was a passion of her�s she rarely had time for and something she knew she was good at...

Autumn smiled at the others as she glanced at her Chrono. "Guys. It is now 0500." She didn't even stop to think about what she was doing she reached out took her full glass off the tray. Downing the glass in one mouth full she knew what it looked like. "I am in the mood to get a bit more 'happy.'" she said at their astonished faces. 'Yeah and I need to still shake the feeling that something bad has happened.'

When Rose finished singing, Heather returned to her corner to grab her drink. She quickly gulped it down and prepared another, prior to making her way over to where Autumn was. By the time she reached the group, Autumn was skulling her first wine. �I agree, but I didn�t know you were a Betazoid, Autumn.?She remarked, then turned to Rose. �Hi, I�m Grant-Wellington. I loved the song you chose. You sang it with such passion.?

Wilhem nodded to her, then turned to Autumn. "You really should not drink that quickly. It leads to bad situations."

Autumn raised an eyebrow at Wilhem. "What type of bad situation?" She asked him with a grin on her face.

Rose smiles at Heather, "Thank you Heather I hope we can be good friends, my name is Lt Rose Isis MacAllen if you don't know." she said while drinking down her wine fast.

Wilhem shrugged, and took his wine glass. He sipped his drink carefully. It was a nice vintage. Not like the vintages of Everquist on Aebrynnis, but it was a good wine.

Autumn had always loved Wine of any sort but Betazed Wine to her mind was on par with French Bordeaux.

"How's about someone I do know?" Autumn asked while pouring herself another Glass. She smirked back at Wil.

Wilhem laughed, "Well, that could have repercussions in and of itself. For one thing if I am right in who you are thinking of, he has a code of honor that he lives by. And one of them is not to go around impregnating unwilling young women, who don't know what they're in for. And another is to marry the first nubile young woman he impregnates."

With a slight blush staining her cheeks Autumn drained her glass. "I'll try and remember that," she muttered after replacing the glass on the bar. Turning to Wilhem. "And if they knew exactly what they were doing?"

Wilhem smiled warmly, "Then he would have to marry her first. Rules of the lower nobility and all. And normally she would have to be of the lower nobility. But I don't think those rules apply anymore. Something about being a ranger, and living a lonely life." He thought back to his previous words and said, "I hope I did not offend you, earlier. I was just speaking the truth of the matter."

Autumn shook her head. "No you didn't offend me... just shocked me. I wasn't expecting you to say that. Anyway life alone could be very boring. Besides what classifies as lower noblity?"

Wilhem thought a moment, "In Grabentod, lower nobility means that you are the workers of the nobility. You do most of the preparations for the raids the whole nobility goes on. You do most of the fighting, too. It is signified by the Anuirean terms Baronet and Knight. I was a part of the lower nobility. But then I became a ranger, and I became an outcast, sort of. Rangers don't care about titles and pretty much lives in the woods surrounded by animals. That does not mean you can't socialize with the rest of your birth class. It just means that your interests are different."

"Well your life must have been very exciting." Autumn signaled the waiter again and ordered a drink. "Just a water please." She smiled back at Wilhem. "About my getting drunk... I'll have you know that I have never gotten drunk in my life on Wine of anysort. I find it bad taste to throw up good wine." She flashed a grin when the waiter returned with a tall glass of ice water.

Wilhem smiled, "I have gotten drunk on wine before. It was not a pleasant experience. And it was not good wine. Led to some repercussions in my life. Including my being banished from Grabentod for a time." He nodded to the waiter, "I don't know about exciting. I have had some excitement, yes. But not all the times were exciting. Some were downright horrible. And others frightening. Fighting undead will do that to a ranger."

Rose is so close to being drunk, because she has been drunk before, "Well this is the best fun I had in years. On my 16th birthday at my royal castle I threw up all over Ms. Troi, Deanna Troi's mother dress."

Autumn giggled at the image of the Esteemed Ambasssador Troi's dress ruined by a sixteen year-old Rose.

Wilhem looked at her warily, gauging how drunk she was, "Sounds like you had some fun times yourself. Hopefully you will remember them."

"Ok I'm drunk. Please my friends get me some coffee please, Betazoid coffee with some cream and sugar please. I know when to stop drinking." she said with a smile on her face.

Wilhem ordered the drink for Rose, then stood back to let it arrive. Once it did, he said, "Here it is, Rose. Now be careful. There are a lot of predators around these days."

Wilhem smiled, "No I am not. But we have already met one of those predators here tonight.

Heather began to giggle a little and almost fell over in the process. Prior to leaving her quarters, she had squandered a couple of drinks of the replicator�s finest scotch. Since her arrival on the holodeck, she had had two more and was finally beginning to feel the affects. Her mood had gone from depression over the issue of men in her life to free spirited. As the music carried on in the background, Heather could feel herself swaying her hips slightly. Beside her, Rose held her Betazoid coffee like a trophy and tapped to the beat, all the while maintaining her relaxed smile.

Growing akward with Autumn and Wilhelm�s comments about predators, Heather began to look around the room. In a way, she hoped to find Indiana approaching from the crowd with his warm smile, while offering her his gentle hand to take her to a place far away from reality. Sadly, she was still sober enough to realise that her wish would not come true.

Finishing her psychological scanning of the room, Heather turned her attention back to Rose, who was still holding her coffee and tuning into the others� conversation. She was about to spark up a conversation, when a young male stepped up to the group. Addressing Heather, he said in an accented voice, �Excuse me, but I couldn�t help, but notice you dancing before on your own. May I say you dance very well.� Heather glanced side ways and looked the officer up and down. �Why thank-you sir, but really, you should be thanking Rose here who provided me her passionate voice to dance to.� She indicated to Rose. The new arrival held his hand out to shake hands with Rose. Rose couldn�t help but smile and simply said hello in a thankful tone. Heather finished her latest glass and went to order another. Indicating to Autumn, she introduced her to the new commer, then realised she had not learnt the name of Autumn�s friend.

�And I�m Ensign Heather Grant-Wellington, the helmsman not worthy enough to serve on the bridge during combat.�

�Well, you are surely worthy enough to dance. My name is Ensign Jose Antonio San Diego.� He paused to solely recapture the attention of Heather.

�May we dance Se�ora?� Heather glanced at Autumn with an expression of being impressed. Gazing back, she responded with, �Me encantar�a. But a word of warning, I think I might have had a little too much to drink.� San Diego smiled polietly and held out his hand for her to take, which she did, and he lead her onto the dance floor assuring her she would be fine. Gently, he held her steady momentarily before carefully taking the first step in a waltzing kind of dance, mindful of her present condition of intoxication.

Here you are in a darken room
And you�re all alone looking out the window
You�re heart is cold
And lost the will to love.
Like a broken arrow.

Chorus
Nobody wants to be lonely
Nobody wants to cry
My body�s longing to hold you
So bad, it hurts inside.
Time is precious and its slipping away.
And I�ve being waiting for you all of my life.
Nobody wants to be lonely. Tonight. Why, why don�t
let me love you.

Do hear my voice
Do hear my soul
It�s a seronade so your heart gets by me, no.
And suddenly you�re flying down the stairs in a
mindless way.

So I start going crazy. Going crazy. Come to me.
Come to me. Can�t you see I�m dying.

I want to feel you near me
Just like the air you�re breathen
I need you here in my life
Don�t walk away. Don�t walk away. Don�t walk away,
walk away. No.

When the song finished, Heather needed to desprately sit down. Towards the end, she began to experience serious dizziness and felt like fainting. San Diego summoned a barman and ordered some water. Concerned, he knelt down to look up at her buried face praying at the same time that she wouldn�t vomit on him. �I�m sorry. I shouldn�t of dragged you onto the floor.� �It�s not your fault. I�ll be right shortly. Thanks anyway.� San Diego side glanced her to see what had come of the water. The barman was quick to return and suggested for San Diego to take the junior officer back to her quarters. San Diego gently handed Grant-Wellington the glass and assisted her in sipping the fluid slowly.

After about half a glass, Heather had had enough and wanted to get up dance some more. Unfortunately, her legs did not agree and gave way under her. Jose Antonio managed to take hold of her as she collapsed to the floor semi-conscious. Laying her legs out from under her, he mustered his strength and picked her up in his arms. Struggling at first, he finally managed to balance the weight on both his well toned arms and proceeded to carry her up to her quarters.

Autumn watched with not so hidden amusement as Heather was swept off her feet. "Go for it Heather!" 'Lucky girl.' She thought as she abandoned the water idea again. Picking up her wine glass she shot Wil a devilish look and refilled it.

Wilhem shook his head laughing. It looked like Autumn really wanted to drink herself into his arms. But besides helping her back to her quarters, he had no intention of going any farther. He might help her into her quarters, but he would not sleep with her. Better to keep her honor intact, as well.

Autumn was happy to get drunk. She knew that nothing was going to happen... but hey a girl could wish right?. Autumn turned back to Rose who was still drinking her coffee. Rose looked like she felt. As in totally trashed. Autumn knew it didn't take much for her to get drunk. "The first time I ever got totally drunk was at my Aunt's 5th wedding. I was 17. I was bridesmaid for the third time though default and had decided to get totally drunk on Klingon beer. Woke up the next morning with a regimental band playing in my head, And believe me it was Klingon music they were playing."

Wilhem laughed, "Sounds like a party. But are you intent on repeating the experience tonight?"

Autumn felt like sticking her tongue out and did so. �And what if I am... It's only going to be my fault when I turn up for shift duty.� She said calmly. �It's not like it's never happened before.� she looked at him silently daring him to argue with her. Her eyes alight with mischief.

Wilhem chuckled again, "That is true. But as we might be at red alert soon, I suggest you sober up soon."

�Spoil sport,� she muttered as she drained her glass again. �And who said I was drunk?� She pushed herself away from where she had been leaning on the bar and to disguise her dizziness she kept her hands behind her on the bar. She flashed a grin at Rose while doing so.

Wilhem caught the move, and shook his head, "I say you are drunk now. You've got your hands on the bar behind you. Just like I did that one time."

�See what I mean.. Spoil sport.� �Now what did Riana say about what to do when drunk and the guy out ranks you?� She searched her mind and tried hard to think. �Something about� Oh bother,� se tried to straighten up and even before she tried it she knew she was going to fail. �Oops,� she giggled as she tripped over her own two feet. �Such a clutz,� She couldn�t help her giggles as she landed on her knees on the carpet. �Maybe... the Lt. is right.� She said as she tried to control her giggles.

Wilhem laughed, "See what I mean. It is amazing that you can even see straight."

Rose laughs along too then helps her friend off the carpet, "Do you need some Betazoid coffee it's so strong it can knock a horse out but it's good, come on have some you have duty soon you know."

�You know my shift is Gamma Shift and it is a good thing... I�ve still got time to... how did Wil put it Sober up?� She said with a smile. �Well at least I don�t feel sick.� �Touch wood,� she thought as she felt herself being helped up. �Oh well if I hear Klingons in the morning I will be most impressed.� She couldn�t stop the giggles coming from her mouth but by all that was holy she was certainly trying. �Tomorrow I am going to be oh so embarrassed.� She thought.

Wilhem smiled at Autumn, then said, "Then start with the Betazoid Coffee. I will be trying it after I am done with this glass of wine."

Autumn shook her head. �No thanks... Water will be fine... I think I should be going back to my quarters though.� �Did I just say that?� she shook her head as if trying to clear it. �I think when my brain starts telling me to do things I most likely shouldn�t then I should be getting home.� She finished.

Wilhem's eyes widened, then he said, "Sure thing. I cna escort you back to your quarters, if you like. I have to be getting to bed soon, anyway."

Autumn smiled carefully and nodded. �Go girl.. oh shut up brain!� �Rose... Want us to walk you home as well?� Autumn asked remembering that her friend was in rather a fragile state at the moment.

Rose fell asleep on the table, now she in a peaceful dream. She started dreaming about her future and what her life is doing to be like in the future.

Wilhem looked over at her, then said, "I think she's asleep. She seems so peaceful in that state." He looked at Autumn, "Should we wake her?"

�Well I am not leaving her here� Autumn said. �She can bunk down in my room.� Autumn moved closer to Rose and tapped her arm. �Rose?� When she got no answer she glanced helplessly at Wilhem. �OK so we can�t wake her. I am not leaving her here, not in the state she�s been in lately and not with all those madmen running around.� She thought about it for a moment. �We could transport her to my quarters.� she shook her head again. �Come on, Autumn think clearly.�

Wilhem thought a moment, and said, "I can carry her to your quarters. Though I don't know if I can support you at the same time. Dang, I wish I had that old Teleport without Error ring. If it worked in this universe."

Autumn sniffed. �I can walk fine if there�s a wall to support me. Anyway I was kind of referring to you know Starfleets tried and true Transporters... you know Beam me up Scotty? And besides I am not that drunk... just a bit unsteady thats all.� She smiled again. �But anyway let's get her to bed... She�s worse then me.�

Wilhem nodded, "Agreed." He picked up Rose and slung her across his broad shoulders. The same way he had carried many a person in his homeland.

Autumn smiled and led the way out of the holodeck. She led the way into the turbolift and said "Deck Three." 'I think.'

Wilhem smiled at the notion that just came into his head. He was wondering what to do to make the night memorable for Autumn. As he was a romantic at heart, he thought he knew a gesture that just might stick in her mind.

Watching as Autumn led the way to her quarters. There, he let her enter first, and put Rose down on the couch, where it was thought she might get a little, much needed rest. Then turning to Autumn, he took her right hand, kneeled and kissed it lightly, saying, "It was a good night, milady. Hopefully one of many to come."

Autumn blushed and nodded. "Um, thanks Wil." 'Whoa!' She thought. Dazed she let her hand drop to her side.

Wilhem smiled warmly, "You are most welcome." He turned to leave the young woman's quarters.

She watched him leave and as the door slid shut she turned to Rose and sighed. "You know Rose you have just missed seeing me speechless." She said to the sleeping woman. She went and got a pillow and a couple of blankets from her room and covered Rose up and supported her head. Turning back she went and locked the door. "Computer wake Lt MacAllan in time for her shift please and me for mine." with that she dimmed the lights and went to bed. "Pleasant Dreams, Rose" she called over her shoulder. 'Cause mine will be very pleasant.'

Wilhem walked down the corridors of the Galaxy, slightly tipsy, but then he had learned to hold his liquor. He was thinking about Autumn, and knew that his dreams were going to be filled with interesting things. He wondered if the previous heartaches had been meant to make him stronger for when the time was right.

After he reached his quarters, and disrobed, he fingered the ring that was on his desk. The ring that he and Quarra Fr�schen had been engaged by. She had sent it back to him, after they had been seperated for the second time. They had been sent across the Federation from one another. And that was a difficult thing to accept.

He thought, ~Maybe now, I've finally found the one for me. I hope so. This loneliness is killing me. I think that she may be the one. But I am not sure. Help me Erik to find the right way to do this. It may be my last chance.~

=====
William Bolitho aka
Lt. (j.g.) Wilhem Quevvenson - U.S.S. Galaxy; Science Officer

Karyn entered the Captain's Ready Room and waited patiently for him to come in behind her. She had been to the Ready Room only a handful of times in her three years aboard the USS Galaxy, and in the majority of those cases she had been the summoner with some very important issues to discuss.

Today was no different. Now that it looked like they were one step closer to the antidote for the Janeway virus, as expected, there was going to be a third Away Team to distribute it among the other drones so the Collective could be restored to its place as the most feared enemy in the galaxy. She did not want Lt. Commander Peterson on that team given his emotional state, and she was here to make the Captain aware of her recommendation.

"You have some concerns about the people I've selected for this Away Team, 'mate?" Karyn had only been to see him a few times in the Ready Room since she'd come aboard over three years ago. Most of the time, Karyn was busy handling personnell issues behind the scenes, so that he never had to worry about whether his crew was psychologically and emotionally prepared to handle the demands that could be placed upon from one moment to the next. He was grateful for that, but knew that if Karyn was here now, it was because there was something going on that needed his immediate attention.

"Captain, I'm concerned about Lt. Commander Peterson's state of mind. As I informed you earlier today, he finally opened up to me about his traumatic past experiences regarding the Borg, but that was only after I pushed him to open up after observing his erratic behavior from the last few days. He's been avoiding sleep so he can avoid nightmares, he's been irritable and generally overemotional since this mission began, but especially since he returned from the first away mission. He broke down today and is taking the first steps toward dealing with all that he hasn't dealt with, but he's still very much in denial and not thinking clearly enough to make rational decisions about the Borg. I practically had to order him to go off duty. He's been plagued by flashbacks and I'm afraid his guilt over what he didn't do in the past is going to push him to take unnecessary risks this time around, or at the worst cause him to freeze completely. I realize he's our resident Borg expert, but his presence on the team puts everyone else in further danger, and this is not the kind of situation you can afford to worry about whether the people with you can handle the stress. Kent's at a disadvantage in that he has previous unresolved emotions regarding the Borg, he's already been confronted by those demons once, and his lack of sleep and breakdown this morning have worn him down emotionally and opened up old wounds. I can't be sure he won't suffer another emotional break while on the Borg cube and I can't be sure he'll recover at all if we send him into this toxic environment."

Captain Price moved over and sat on the edge of his desk with facing Counselor Dallas. He understood her concern for Kent's mental welfare, and he agreed, it would be better for Kent if he didn't have to go. But this was a serious situation that required someone with Lieutenant Commander Peterson's knowledge of the Borg. There was more at stake here then the mental health of one person. The lives of billions laid in the balance if the Borg's behavior couldn't be corrected.

"I'm aware of Mister Peterson's past experiences with the Borg, Counselor. That is a large part of the reason why he is so valuable to the mission's success. What we are attempting to do here is something..., is something that has never been done before. There is no one better suited to understanding how the Borg will behave or react than 'Commander Peterson. That experience will be vital if we are to quickly determine if the anti-agent is working in its task of neutralizing the Janeway virus. Granted, Mister Peterson may not be in the best frame of mind with regards to the Borg, and I'm not saying this mission will be easy on anyone on the team. But I believe Peterson can handle it. He understands all too well what is at stake here regarding humanity and the Borg."

Karyn understood all too well what was at stake with this mission and under the circumstances with Kent being their resident Borg "expert" (it was unfortunate for Kent that being around at the time of Wolf 359 and nearly getting killed while watching your crewmates get assimilated earned him the title of unofficial expert), he would seem to be the most knowledgeable man for the job, but the only reality Karyn knew was what she witnessed. Based on what she saw, there was was no way in hell she was going to feel comfortable with him on this Away Team.

"With all due respect, Captain, you didn't see him break down, I did. I cannot in good conscience feel comfortable with sending him over there. Saying that Mr. Peterson is not in the best frame of mind, I believe, is a gross understatement. You're operating on the assumption that his experiences with the Borg have given him knowledge that he will be able to apply objectively, and I'm saying based on what I've observed of his behavior and state of mind as of late, I don't know that to be true. You know that he has been adamant about not assisting the Borg from the beginning, and given how things have escalated for him emotionally these last few days, my biggest concern is that, however strong his loyalty to the Federation and your orders, it will not give him pause to consider the consequences of his actions. For far too many of us, the Borg elicit strong feelings of rage, and though it will be emotionally taxing for all involved, I have no reason to think the other officers you have selected will be unable to handle what's being asked of them. Unfortunately, I can't say the same of Mr. Peterson. These encounters have stirred up very painful and very fresh memories for him, and it's apparent to me that Kent has taken this far more personally then any of us can dare. Knowing what I know, I have no other choice but to say to you honestly that Kent Peterson is a liability to this very important mission."

Captain Price took in what Karyn had said. It was obvious how much she cared for Kent's well being, but that didn't change his position on needing his Chief Science Officer on this important and dangerous mission. Lee was aware that Kent hated the Borg, but also felt that he could channel that anger well enough to avoid freezing up on the mission. With a sigh, Lee stated, "Thank you for voicing your concerns Counselor. I will keep them in mind, however my selection stands. Peterson, for whatever psychological impact the Borg have on him, has the most experience with dealing with them. He's a team player and I trust that he will be able to keep it together long enough to get us through this mission. As to the others, Mister Savat and Surok are both Vulcans. They can keep their emotions in check. Doctor,... that is, Lieutenant Kahn is a one woman platoon who has seen lots of combat situations in her career. I'd have selected Doctor Maas over Doctor Dothan, but right now, I need to keep our Chief Medical Officer here to treat the wounded. But of the entire team, myself included, only Peterson has the skills and the knowledge to truly determine if the anti-virus is working. He's vital to the mission, and unfortunately it means he will have to push his personal demons aside for a little while longer. I believe he has the capability of doing that Counselor." The General explained looking at Karyn, "He deserves a chance to face his fears, and conquer them."

The pessimistic little voice inside Karyn immediately answered him. *This 'chance' could be the last one you all ever get. I have to consider the very real possibility that he won't succeed in conquering his fears and then what comes next for him, assuming you all manage to survive, of course* Karyn could have faith in him and the rest of the team, but she had learned the hard way that faith wasn't always enough. Was it so wrong for her to fight so hard to prevent people from needing her services in the first place? She had always taken the attitude that she was doing what she could for people because she had no way of knowing how to prevent the demons in the first place, but here, when she was taking proactive steps to prevent what she felt was inevitable for Kent, she still felt reduced to running emotional damage control 'after the fact' aboard the Galaxy.

While she couldn't help but feel the dull ache of frustration and weariness roil within her, as a professional she knew she couldn't afford to allow her personal feelings to affect her Captain's emotional well-being. The truth was there was a tremendous amount of pressure on both of them, but especially the Captain, and whatever the decision, someone was going to end up losing. Karyn could see in his eyes that this fact was not lost on Lee, and even though they didn't agree, for a long moment there was complete but silent understanding, as if they had managed to change perspectives for a brief time. 'What choice do I have?' was the ultimately unanswered question which remained on their lips and in their eyes. It was Karyn who eventually broke the silence.

"Please understand Captain that I understand the quandary you are in, and I also know that under the circumstances you believe him to be the best resource you have, but as I believe you know by now, I would never make these serious concerns known if I didn't believe they posed a great threat to the successful completion of the mission. I can accept that Kent is willing to put his life and emotional well-being on the line for Starfleet, but I am concerned about how his emotional state will impact the team as a functional unit. If he loses control over there, you lose your expert and you lose your cohesion, something I don't have to tell you is essential in a situation like this, and I see that possibility as more than likely. I can never give you a sure thing, Captain, and I know that at any moment we can lose our lives out here, but the best thing I can do to ensure that this crew is ready to take on that risk is by preventing as many problems as possible by making sure you have healthy officers under your command. I'd like to think you've come to trust me sir, and if that's true, you need to know that if Kent goes on this mission, I can't assure you that those obligations have been met, not like you've come to expect from me or any other Chief Counselor you've served with."

She smiled slightly, and in a joking tone that was characteristically Karyn she added, "I'd like it noted in the logs that it was not for lack of trying."

"I will make a note of your concerns in my log 'mate. And Karyn, I appreciate your bringing this to my attention. I'll make sure that Mister Surok and Savat are made aware of the situation. Their influence in logic may be enough to assist Kent in keeping it together on the mission."

"Under the circumstances, sir, I believe that's the best alternative." Karyn was still not completely satisfied, but there was a hopeful note in his voice that she could not bring herself to take away from him, and for that matter, she wasn't sure she should or needed to. Attitude was half the battle in many cases and every little bit of positive thought couldn't hurt. Who knew? Maybe a little positive faith could affect the balance of the universe? Naturally, the pessimist in her had to chime in. *Careful Kar, I don't have to convince you of the detriments of false hope...* Smiling with a touch more sparkle after considering her inner voice's latest comment, she added, "It's my jo-...the emotional well-being of these people matters to me a great deal, Captain." She had started to give the standard 'it's my job' reply, but this was more than a job to either of them. Instead, she took the opportunity to speak openly and from her heart. Apparently it was something Lee understood without her needing to say a word.

"Fair dinkum Counselor. If that is all, I have a few things to attend to before the away mission."

"I understand, sir, and that is all I needed to discuss with you. We'll all be waiting for your return." Kent was going, and now it was time for her to move on, which meant she needed to exude the confidence that the crew would be looking to her to project. They were coming home and from that moment on, it was the only attitude that was acceptable, no ifs, ands or buts.

"G'day 'mate. And thank you." Lee smiled appreciatively. He was proud to have one of the best Counselors in all of Starfleet looking out for his 'mates.

Karyn nodded, and then turned her hoverchair around to exit the Captain's ready room.

Commander Thomas had been occupying the captain's chair ever since he'd went off to his ready room to work on something. Chris was tired, he needed sleep, but the current situation had only granted him a quick nap since their return to normal space.

The captain was likely working on his away team make-up, as he'd made the decision to lead the next away team to the Borg cube. It was always a tough decision and required time to think about the make-up of an away team that might not becoming back. It was logical to assume that none of them would return and if that was case he would have to assume command of the ship and decide their next move.

Everything would come to rest on his own shoulders, his experience in command and Starfleet. What a burden he would be faced with, one that he was of course trained for and ready for, but never prepared for at times like this. Life was full of mystery, twist and turns that could cause one to rethink their own lives.

"With your permission Captain, I'd like to take a walk around the ship. Sort of look things over and see that they are all in order." Commander Thomas requested.

Engineering was where he decided to stop from and work his way back to the bridge. While he might consider going further down or towards the aft section of the ship, it just seemed logical for him to start in engineering. After all that was were the heart of the ship was and he wanted to make sure engineering was ready to control the ship if required.

He wanted to tour the ship, walk it for the first time as he might well become it's captain in the very near future. While he wouldn't lie to anyone, that he would love to have his own command one day, once again. He would prefer to get command of a ship or even this ship, by promotion not because it's captain was killed.

Could he truly handle the role, with every passing moment he considered the risk the weight that would be placed on his shoulder, should the captain fail. Everything would then be in his lap, and what would he decide.

Chris stepped out of the turbolift and headed for engineering which was only a few footfalls away. He would start there, check on some systems and see how the chief engineering was making out with the continuation to convert the existing torpedoes into multi-phasic ones. He would of course have to make a decision about what their next move would be if the something failed.

Why was he so preoccupied with the outcome that the captain would fail, the new counteragent developed by the chief science officer to fix things wrong with the Borg should succeed. Yet his mind continued to dwell on the unsettling feeling that something was going to go wrong with the mission. Chris shook his head trying to shake off the feeling.

Engineering was very busy as they milled about repairing or replacing some hardware, but for the general status of the ship, everything was good to go. His trip through engineering was a very short trip as they were busy and he decided it would be better to continue is walk through the ship.

The ship was familiar to him, but in a way it might become something more and the responsibility would go from just being the first officer to the captain. He had every reason to believe the captain's plan would succeed. However at the same time he couldn't help, but think about the worst.

Form engineering, Chris headed out to start walking the decks. He just hoped he wouldn't end up having to walk the plank, before his career was done.

Commander Thomas walked the halls of the ship and wondered what would be the outcome. Everything so far suggested they had to act or else the Borg's civil war as it was becoming known by would take every quadrant down the same road, death and destruction.

The sudden whisper from the shadows startle you briefly, and you quickly scan the interior of the passageway to locate its origin, but to no avail as the corridor is quite empty.

"No no you dense Academy knothead," the voice calls again, "Look down here on the floor by your feet."

Jumping back slightly in alarm, you look down to notice a rather cute pair of Fuzzy Bunny slippers studying you intently with little plastic beady eyes.

"Thats it sport...yeah its the bunny slippers talking to yah" the footwear announces with a guttural 'New Joi-zee' accent.

Eyes widening in alarm you begin to make a surreptitious grab for your hand phaser, but the slippers are one step ahead of you.

"Don't even think of it pal....You draw that phaser and we'll have the psych-guys on you so fast it'll make your head spin. How many years of therapy do ya figure you get for disintegrating -Talking bunny slippers- That'll look good in your career jacket."

With a start you realize the bunnys are right. When reviewing applicants for transferal to the Enterprise, old Jean Luc probably frowns on officers with histories of wholesale slaughter of innocent footwear.

The bunny slippers fidget impatiently. "Look pal...you here for the tour or not? Because we can always find other...."

"No no no!" you assure the slippers quickly, "I'm here for the private tour.��.if it's as good as you say it is."

"A good as we say it s?" the slippers look insulted., "Look pal, we're talking an up close and personal tour of the inner life of Rebecca von Ernst, you better believe its worth it!"

"Well alright," you say suspiciously as you pull out a few slips of gold pressed latinum to cover the expenses.

Quickly counting the money before secreting it away in some hidden fuzzy pocket, the bunnies motion you to follow them down the hall.

As silently s possible you tip-toe behind the little hopping slippers, wondering briefly if a psych evaluation wouldn't be a good idea afterall.

Pausing at an intersection, the bunnies glance both ways before motioning you to follow. Carefully and silently, you do so until you find yourself standing outside a nondescript door on Deck five.

The slippers turn to face you and clearing their collective throats, they began the -TOUR-

"Ahem, we'd like to thank you good folks for signing on with Bunny Slipper tours for our inaugural season of sightseeing into the USS Galaxy's more interesting locales. We here at Bunny Tours want to give you folks the -inside dirt- on what goes on around here, and thus we cant think of a more appropriate place to start than here.....The Private Quarters of Lt (j/g) Rebecca von Ernst!"

"Ahem, well then shall we begin then?" they ask and eagerly you nod and motion them to continue.

"Very well....we find ourselves her out side Cabin 5330 located on the outer port-quarter of Deck 5 of the USS Galaxy. These cabins are typically Junior officer quarters, single and double occupancy with a style reminiscent of 2360's Utopia Planatia architecture��Note the beige metallic door set into the beige bulkhead stylishly decorated with the black racing stripe down the middle of the wall. The black stripe is in actuality a series of wall mounted computer consoles that.��"

Interrupting the bunnies, you inform them that you are well aware of what the passageway on a starship looks like, and the function of the wall mounted LCARS displays.

"Yes well then," the bunnies fidget a little chagrined, "Lets just move onto the -meat- of the tour shall we? Step lively now."

The aforementioned doors to 5330 hiss open, and the Bunnies hop through moving backwards intoning "We're walking,... we're walking....we're walking."

Stepping inside quickly you realize suddenly that you truly are....Where no MAN has gone before.....(except for a brief visit by James Corgan)

Rebecca's quarters were to be quite blunt, a terrible mess. Never really fastidious about the tidiness of her living space, the freedom provided by a private cabin had allowed the young Minnesotan to lapse out of her Academy habits and back into a more 'homey' atmosphere.

Various articles of clothing were flung over the backs of chairs and on the couch. A few un-recycled dishes sat near the replicator, and towering stacks of PADDs covered almost every available surface in the place.

"Ahem," the bunnies continued, "We are now in the midst of the main living area of cabin 5330. Note that while roomy, it is not the spacious accommodation typical of Senior Officers up on Deck 2. We at Bunny Tours hope that a future promotion will allow us to expand our services to a more suitable cabin."

Nodding you glance around the place. You had heard Tim Richeson (in sickbay) was still occupying the Deck 2 Senior Officers quarters thus preventing Rebecca from moving in.

"As mentioned, the cabin is typical of Deck 5 architecture." The slippers drone onwards, " Centrally located living space with couch, chairs and small table. To the left we find the replicator unit and a small Computer access port. On the right we find entrances to the sonic shower, storage closet and Master bedroom."

"We see here," the bunnies continued motioning towards the general clutter, "The place is decorated in typical von Ernst stylings from her late teenage years. We at Bunny Tours have been with Rebecca since her 14th birthday, and have been careful to note the general decline in housekeeping abilities. Back in Minnesota, only the constant attention of her Mother, Holli von Ernst, forced her to keep her room in a semblance of order. At the Academy, the Dorm Sergeants provided the suitable motivation for tidiness�." The slippers paused. "Obviously here that influence is no longer present."

Curious you begin to slowly wander about the place taking in the sights while the bunnies drone on pointing out various details.

"....on the floor near the couch you can see the white headband made famous in the attempted seduction of Security Officer James Corgan recently. Ms. von Ernst employed a standard female tactic she had seen on several holo-movies and pulled the band from her hair allowing in to billow free about her head. It was then casually tossed to the floor where you see it there."

Excited at witnessing an artifact from such a rare event you hurriedly take up your camera and snap some pictures of the famous headband.

"Over here we see sweat pants from a recent run with Lt. Heather Sanchez, and just beyond that an empty bowel of what once contained soggy Corn Flakes, the breakfast of choice here in the von Ernst household."

Ignoring the cereal bowel, you move over towards something else that has caught your eye....Approaching cautiously you note a small innocent looking white bra carelessly discarded by the bathroom sink.

"Hey!!!!! geez pal get away from there!!!!!!" The bunnies suddenly shout hopping over quickly to intercept you. "Get away from that thing, you want to lose a finger!?!"

Backing off you try to explain your curiosity, but the bunnies are clearly agitated.

"Look pal, don't go messing with the bra okay? Its got a nasty inferiority complex you understand. Gets real short tempered at times, what with doubting the purpose of its existence and all." The slippers are clearly upset over this whole ordeal.

A quizzical expression passes over your face and the bunnies sigh of exasperation

"Okay pal, here's the inside scoop....Old Ms. von Ernst never was too gifted in the bosom department you understand. Heck I remember it was at least until her 16th birthday before her mom forced her to wear a bra of any sorts...not that it was necessary mind you. You figure what you see before you today is a typical size 28 AAA bra okay? Now if your purpose in life was to lift and support....and there ain't anything to lift or support.....would you get a little peeved? Especially when every other dame on this starship walks around sporting 38 DD's and the like."

"At any rate," the bunnies continue, "Over her by the Comm unit we find your basic assorted data texts on Multi-dimensional mathematics, Chaos theory, and the collected war-tactics of Klingon General Korrd.....The last one being a gift from Admiral Hoth back at Starfleet." the bunnies explain.

Nodding you leisurely peruse the various documents which ranged from the totally incomprehensible (in the case of the Math texts), to the totally unthinkable (being the Klingon strategy guides)

---WHY TORTURE PRISONERS IN THE GLOOM AND SOLITUDE OF SOME DARK ISSOLATED DUNGEON...---- reads one of General Korrds maxims, ---INSTEAD MAKE IT A PUBLIC AFFAIR AND COMBINE THE NECESSITIES OF PAINFUL INTERROGATION WITH THE WARMTH AND RELAXATION OF FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY---

"Okay, we're walking, we're walking..." the bunnies continue as they head back towards the bedroom. "We're approaching the end of our tour and we at Bunny Tours ask for the next phase you refrain from any form of flash photography."

Hesitantly putting away your camera, you follow the bunny slippers through the doors into the darkened bedroom beyond.

Waiting a few moments to allow your eyes to adjust to the darkness you slowly become aware of the small lumpy shape of a body in bed.

Plush azure blue blankets are heaped about the small still form of a human female in the depths of dreamless slumber. All that can be seen of her, is the peaceful freckled face framed with crimson red hair resting on thick pillows, and ten tiny pale toes just sticking out from the bottom of the covers.

"Well then," the bunny slippers began, gesturing towards the sleeping girl, "We have here before you, a prime example of the 'North American Rebecca.' A fascinating species in all respects, coming in all shapes and sizes, the American Rebecca appears primarily alone or in pairs on rare occasions. Rebecca's in the wild tend to be almost exclusively female, with the exception of some very confused men��"

The slippers pause. "Our specimen here is a rather undersized one, approximately 24 standard years of age, five foot even, and 95 lbs. That�s short and skinny for you Metric types�"

You kind of raise your eyebrow at the Bunnies Wild-Kingdom appraisal of the girl, and glance around in order to take in the remainder of the bedroom with its scattered clutter, wishing you could take pictures to show the folks back home.

"Okay, " The Bunnies continue," Home-schooled by her mother, showed early aptitude in mathematics and spatial reasoning. Advanced correspondence courses from University of Minnesota starting from age 14 or so, this specimen, one Rebecca Katarina von Ernst was noticed and recruited by Starfleet Academy, enrolling in the fall of 2370."

The Bunny slipper paused to take a breath. "Ms. von Ernst proved to be quite a popular subject of hazing for her fellows students who invented such memorable games such as Pin the Freshman on the Donkey, and Spin the Ferengi. They also dubbed her with clever nick-names like Cadet Cloaking Device and such. This specimen Graduated 2374 with mixed grades...high scholastic achievement with dismally low application of said knowledge. Popularity-wise she ranked somewhere between the Ferengi cadets and the cafeteria cockroaches, although that may be giving her too much credit. Following Graduation, she served out the last year of the Dominion War in a quiet corner of the Federation aboard Starbase 108��.."

At this point during the Slipper's rambling speech, the small girl sifted in her sleep and her eyelids, heavy with sleep, half opened in a dreamlike state. Briefly taking in the strange view of the Fuzzy Bunny slippers conducting a tour group through her bedroom, she dismissed the vision and squirmed to sink deeper into the thick covers. The girl half mumbles in her sleep, "mmmm...nastybad..evil bunny slippers....g'way....sleeping...silly tourists...."

And with that she lapsed back into deep slumber, her breathing becoming slow and regular.

The slippers continued unabated. '��.followed by a disastrous tour aboard the DEFIANT class USS VICTORY during which she was found negligent in her duties as Chief Helmsman resulting in the deaths of the entire colonial population of Nar Hallas, and the Starship USS Courageous��..Needless to say, wholesale slaughter of innocents is bad for Starfleet's public image��Following a year at The Starfleet Looney bin, here she is today as the newly elected Chief Tactical Officer of the USS Galaxy.....Don't you feel safer already?" The Bunnies finished sarcastically.

Nodding you agree and surreptitiously snap a picture despite the Bunny's tour-rules. After all�..who really obeys the 'no-video' taping rules at Disney world anyways?

Glaring at you the bunny's finish up the lecture and hustle you back out the front door where a quaint little Gift Shop awaits. Touristy garbage such as 'Rebecca-Coffee Mugs' and Little plush 'Rebecca-Dolls' sit ready and willing to separate the unwary shopper from his vacation dollar.

Briefly you consider buying the 'Rebecca Anorexia Weight Loss Program' but you pass it over in favor of a T-Shirt reading 'Rebecca's Bedroom�Where No MAN has gone before' .

Happily ringing up your $35.00 purchase you drift off into a daze, already cherishing the warm memories of your Fun filled Vacation-Tour.

Passers by could hear music blaring from Dr Jamieson's quarters and some gave the door strange looks.

******Inside Autumn's Quarters******
Baby, I see your future and it's tied to mine
I look in your eyes and see you searching for a sign
But you'll never fall till you let go
Don't be so scared of what you don't know

(Chorus:)
True to your heart
You must be true to your heart
That's when the heavens will part
And baby, shower you with my love
Open your eyes
Your heart can tell you no lies
And when you're true to your heart
I know it's going to lead you straight to me

Someone ya know is on your side, can set you free
I can do that for you if you believe in me
Why second-guess what feels so right
Just trust your heart
And you'll see the light

Your heart knows what's good for you
Let your heart show you the way
It'll see you through

Girl, my heart is driving me to where you are
You can take both hands off the wheel and still get far
Be swept away
Enjoy the ride
You won't get lost
With your heart to guide you

When things are getting' crazy
And you don't know where to start
Keep on believing', baby
Just be true to your heart
When all the world around you
It seems to fall apart
Keep on believing', baby
Just be true to your heart

Autumn woke to the song blaring from her speakers and groaned. "Man I forgot that song is my wake up call." She moaned.Sitting up she groaned again. "OK next time Wil tells you to stop drinking.. your doing it." Autumn rolled out of bed and headed for the shower. Rose was gone off the couch and Autumn smiled hoping that she didn't freak to much when she woke in Autumn's packed to the roof lounge room. Full of statues and the like. Looking at her self in the mirror Autumn could feel the Memories of the night before rushing to the for front of her mind.

"Oh I didn't.." She moaned as she hit the jets for hot water. Flinging off her long tee-shirt she stepped under the steaming hot water and let it bash down on her. She knew that she had three hours until her shift and she planded on spending at least one of them under the shower.

"Man i Know i can hold my alcohol but do i have to have such a good memory? She muttered as she dried off an hour later. Wraping her black silk robe around her she padded barefoot to the computer console.

Dear Wil,
Thanks for seeing me home last night. I am sorry if I said or did anthing that might have insulted you in anyway.
Your Friend
Autumn.

Autumn stood up and went to the replicator.'hmm food.. not entirely the best thing but if I don't eat I'll fall flat "Computer One Hot choclate and scrambled eggs and bacon please"

A small wiring and there in the alcove was her breakfast. Taking it she sat down and ate. As she ate she went over what had happened in her mind. 'True to your heart huh?' she thought 'I can do that.. just pity about the whole honor thing' a smile spread across her face. 'But im pretty sure that could be overcome.'

Getting up and placing her plate and mug in the replicator, her thoughts went to the shift ahead.

Autumn dressed in her uniform walked out of her room. She was early for her shift but that didn't matter. Her mind wadering she entered the turbolift and said. "Med Bay" when she got there she was going to get some painkillers for the headache she had.

Wilhem awoke to find his wake-up call blaring. After turning it off, he showered and got ready to eat breakfast. He remembered the night before, and the gesture he had given to Autumn.

As he exited the shower, he heard the incessant beeping of the computer terminal. Apparently he had a message. Accessing it, he read:

Thanks for seeing me home last night. I am sorry if I said or did anthing that might have insulted you in anyway.

Wilhem smiled warmly, thinking over what Autumn ahd done the night before. Nothing too offensive. He called out, "Computer: Compose Message." As soon as the computer acknowledged the request, Wilhem proceeded:

Don't worry. You didn't do anything offensive to me. Trust me when I say, I've seen much worse. And you are welcome. It was an honor to dance with you last night, and hope to do so again soon.

He then ate breakfast, and strode down the corridors to his station in the Science Labs. He knew that he would have some work to do. The warp conduit was closing, and they were now entering a strange system, that was soon identified as the Bolian system. Soon they got to work on the cure of the Borg nano-virus.

James walked into Ten-Forward after he finished practicing with his Katana in his quarters. He went to get something to drink at Ten Forward to relax. He went to the Bartender and ordered Synthale. He then looked around for a table.

Jessie sat at a table by one of the large windows her green eyes gazing out at the stars of the Bolian system. Movement off to her right made her turn her head. She saw a man wandering about looking for a table. She studied him and then realized that it was one of the Tactical department. The newest member. Lt jg. Kincaid. Standing she waved him over. "Lt?"

James looked over and walked over there, and noticed she was part of the tactical department also. He smiled and extended his hand.

"Ensign Jessie Parry. Have a seat Lt. you look as if you need one." She flashed a smile.

�Well, I just finished practicing with my katana, so I�m taking a break. I recently transferred here from the USS Monitor. I was planning on transferring to the USS Repulse, under the command of Captain Wolfe, but I decided to come here. Also, my friend went here.�

Jessie smiled. �Well you�ve started to try and even up the male female ratio in Tactical,� She said with a grin. �We were starting to think that all the guys were scared of us tactical gals.�

�I�ve been in the tactical department for all of my career. I was even the Strategic Operations Officer onboard the USS Monitor. I love tactical. What convinced you to join tactical?�

Jessie paused and then shrugged her shoulder. �Guess I have always liked the idea of being part of the brains of a starship. I love the mental guesswork and the maths involved with the tactical Department. Oh I am not as good as our head of department� now there�s brains, but I do my best�

�I still haven�t even met our head yet,� said James as he sipped his drink. �Things have been going downhill lately, so that�s why I came to this ship, to try and start over and rediscover my tactical roots. Then, I might stay, or I might take up Captain Wolfe�s offer about becoming the Strategic Operations officer. But, I like where I am, so I will probably stay.�

Jessie smiled knowing about Rebecca�s fear of meeting people. �Oh when you see her she is about this big with short red hair and brown eyes. She is also very thin and looks like a light breeze could blow her away. But she is very shy and she kind of stammers a bit when she doesn�t know you.� She paused. �You should like Galaxy. It�s a very good ship. Tactical department is fun.. oh and by the way.. did you know that all tactical personnel have to carry phasers while on duty and we have to do 5 mile runs every morning.� She shook her head with a rueful smile.

�Only 5 miles!?!?� questioned James in an exclaiming tone. �Why only 5?!�

�Five miles over very rough terrain. And why.. I have no idea why just five. With Lt Sanchez from Security leading the charge and insulting us every step of the way. Believe me if Peter Lockhart hadn�t left when he did.. Well tactical would have sent him home in a plastic bag, It was all his idea.�Jessie said.

�Well, from the sounds of it, I wish I had known Peter. Well, Jessie, or would you like me to call you Ensign Parry? Tell me some things about yourself. What sort of things do you like to do?�

�Jessie is fine. Me? I come from Mars. Nothing unusual about that really. I like reading and studying Egyptology. I also like camping.. its something I rarely got to do back on Mars. Other then that nothing much else.. I am really boring. what about you?�

�I don�t find you boring. You can call me James, but most people call me Kincaid. I really love swordplay, as you probably have already figured out. I like archery, writing, flying, and bare-knuckle boxing. My sword is probably my most treasured thing of mine. It�s an antique Dragonhead Katana, but I don�t want to bore you with that.�

Jessie smiled and shook her head. �My meal should be on its way soon. I ordered it as soon as I came in. Thanks for the offer though.� Pausing she said. �I would like to hear more about your sword fighting if your willing.. it sounds interesting.�

James walked over and grabbed some Chinese food, consisting of various different things, and chopsticks. He also managed to intercept the waiter, so he grabbed Jessie�s plate of food, saving the waiter an extra trip. He was surprised at the fact that Jessie actually wanted to hear more about his swordplay. Usually people didn�t want to hear anything about it. James gave Jessie her plate and placed his on the table.

�So, you actually want to hear more about my swordplay?� asked James as he picked up the chopsticks.

Jessie smiled as she looked down at her meal of grilled chicken breast and Caesar salad. Most of which she most likely wouldn�t eat anyway. �Surprised?� She asked �It sounds rather interesting and like a good way to keep fit and to learn how to defend yourself.� A small shadow flickered across her eyes but she hid it rather quickly. Picking up her cutlery she slowly cut off a bit of her meal.

James noticed something quick about her eyes, but he didn�t say anything, thinking it was his imagination. He opened his chopsticks and ate a piece of egg roll.

�Well, it really takes discipline. That�s the main part of it. It�s good to have strength, but that�s not at all a major part of it. You should also have balance and good dexterity. Also, it�s good to be agile.�

�If you�re that interested, I can teach you how to use one if you�d like,� said James.

Jessie smiled and nodded. �Sounds like fun. I could use another hobby.� She eat another part of her meal.

�What kind of sword would you like to use? Katana? Short sword? Bastard sword? Saber?...� asked James as he took another bite of his egg roll. He caught a quick glimpse of her eyes, and looked for as long as he can, hoping that she wouldn�t notice.

Jessie Smiled �I have really no idea.. I Have never used a sword before Which one do you recommend?� Her green eyes flickered about nervously before returning to her plate.

James grabbed a PADD from his pocket and showed her pictures of the different kind of swords.

�Notice that the short sword and the bastard sword both have blades on each side, whereas a katana and a saber just have a blade on one side.�

�Those with the double blade sound nasty, but then I guess they all could be just as nasty if used correctly� Jessie said examining the Swords. �You use the Katana right? So is it easy to handle?�

�Yes I use the Katana, and if you are skilled, you can use it quite well. I can teach you how to use any sword, but I specialize in the katana.�

Jessie grinned. �Katana it is then.� She ate another bit of her meal. � So tell me what got you into the sword fighting?�

�I don�t know. I always had a fascination with swords as a child. I guess, it was just fate that got me into it.�

He looked into her eyes again, realizing to himself that he liked her, more than a friend. He quickly turned away, and for some odd reason, Drake popped into his head, and he immediately bowed his head down and ate a shrimp.

Jessie smiled and glanced at the chrono. �When�s your shift?� She asked casually. �Mines the �Beta Bridge� Shift. Much better then what it was.� She cracked another grin.

�Hey what�s wrong?� Jessie asked reaching out her hand slowly and a touch nervously to tap his shoulder. �James? You ok?�

James stood up, nodded his head and walked to his room. He grabbed his Katana and went for holodeck 3. There, he activated the Ring of Fire program, only this time the enemies being at a level 4. The took off his shirt and his tunic and began fighting the difficult warriors.

Jessie watched his departure in fascination then ignoring the rest of her dinner ran back to her quarters and got changed into a pair of jeans and a baggy jumper. Then moving quickly she headed to holodeck 3. Passing holodeck 2 she stopped and looked in , shivered then proceeded on to holodeck 3. Upon entering she stood at the back of the room and watched James fight. �Wow what�s gotten into him?� she wondered.

James could think of nothing to get rid of his depression except sword fighting until the point of exhaustion. It wasn�t Drake he was thinking about, it was everything. It felt to him as if everything was caving in on him.

Man after man, warrior after warrior, he slaughtered them. He wouldn�t do such a thing in his own life, but on the holodeck, it was a good way to strengthen a man. The program was finished.

�I�m sorry you had to see all of that...� said James looking into her green eyes yet again.

Jessie gave a brief smile, gritting her teeth without being seen to, hiding the shock. �all I can say is man the Borg should watch out for you.� She said moving further into the room. �Do that often do you?� flashing a tight smile.

�For practice, yes I do. I try my best. Would you...err, would you like to come to dinner with me tomorrow night?� questioned James, while putting his sword back into his black scabberd and putting his tunic and his shirt back on.

Jessie smiled. �Sure what time� I have an appointment with security tomorrow after my shift so anytime after 21h is fine.� �How about 21:30?� asked James said with a smile.

�Get a grip Kincaid, it�s probably just for friendship, even though you like her more than that,� James thought.

�Ummm, well, how about Ten-Forward? Mess Hall? Or I could attempt to cook you food in my quarters,� said James chuckling a little.

Jessie schooled her features carefully, knowing he was a friend. �You chose.. I am not really one for Ten Forward or the Mess hall but it�s your choice.�

�Well, since you aren�t really one for the Mess Hall or Ten-Forward, how about Teriyaki Chicken with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables, in my room, if you don�t mind. Unfortunately, I�ll have to replicate it though...�

Jessie smiled. �OK sure. Sounds delightful.� she said. Looking around the holodeck. �I don�t mind replicated food.. isn�t that what we all eat anyway?�

Jessie nodded. �I�ll see you later then.� She waved and left the holodeck as quietly as she had arrived.

James went into the holodeck after catching a new glimpse of his new friend. He smiled, then went into the holodeck.

- - - - - - -
~Sean Keohane
ICQ~ 100238118
Lieutenant j/g James Edward Kincaid
Tactical Officer, USS Galaxy

Autumn watched as the sercurity officer tagged Alica and the children. Their names were taken down and Autumn gave her name for the crew roster. The scanner scanned her and she smiled as the young Sercurity officer mumbled about things checking out. Nodding to him as he left the room she made sure they all had their bracelets on and then she left for a session in the gym.

Looking around she couldn't see Rose anywhere. 'Thats strange' she thought Rose is normally here in the gym after her shift and sometimes even before it. And as it was before her shift Autumn had been hoping to speak to her. Hitting her com badge. "Ensign Jamieson to Lt MacAllan. Rose you reciving this?" No answer. "Computer Locate Lt MacAllan"

Autumn backed out of the gym and took off running towards the turbolift. People saw the doctor running and moved quickly out of the way for her. Once inside the turbolift Autumn contacted Wil.

"Ensign Jamieson to Lt Quevvenson. Wil Rose is Missing. Can you alert security for me please. Autumn out." she finished before Wilhem could reply and when the doors opened she pelted hell for leather down to Rose's room. Skidding to a stop she banged on the door. "Rose! Rose!" No answer. "Damm." She stopped and looked about. she could open the door but she didn't want to. invasion of privacy and all that. Moving quickly she thought about all the places where Rose might be. Holodeck. Science lab.. with out her com? Doubt it. Holodeck. Autumn headed for the holodeck. 'I hope she is alright.' At the holodeck she stared around. No Rose.

"Lt Quevvenson this is Ensign Jamieson. Care to lend a hand Sir?" she asked and then she waited.

"Hurrying Along"
by, Lt. (j.g.) Wilhem Quevvenson
-----------------------------------

Wilhem was receiving his tag for the next several weeks, and was hoping to see Autumn soon. Then just as he left the area, his communicator beeped, =^=Ensign Jamieson to Lt Quevvenson. Wil, Rose is Missing. Can you alert security for me please. Autumn out.=^= She finished before Wilhem could reply.

Wilhem cursed softly, then went searching for a Security officer. He found one, Ensign Walter Johnson, and reported the missing person. He commed it in, then set off after Wilhem towards the Holodecks, where people could hide for hours without knowing they needed to be monitored. As he was appraoching the area, his comm beeped again, =^=Lt Quevvenson this is Ensign Jamieson. Care to lend a hand Sir?=^=

=^=At the Holodecks.=^= That was a good piece of luck, so Wilhem and Mr. Johnson quickly joined up with Autumn.

With the Poet."
By Lieutenant James Lionel Corgan
Security Officer, USS Galaxy
Time: 14:00 hours
Location: Deck 16

Shadows and darkness hung around the enigmatic figure like a shroud. Coiled wires snaked around the walls and rafters. The room was like a pit of snakes. Wires, lines, and the darkness that clung to its corners like the last bastions away from the glaring monitors. Snaking lines, slither around the room. Keeping a hacker connected to the ship.

His silhouette drew the dark to him. A face, like almost everything else in the mess of a room, hid from the all revealing light. His face stared into a gathering of monitors, a half dozen lined up in two rows of three, one row on top of the other. From here, this became the all seeing eye of the ship. The darkness dweller laughed to himself, ~~"Much easier to watch my enemies when security is monitoring everything. Poor Savat, with all the ship monitors on high scan, they reveal so much more to me, and those bracelets keep track of everybody."~~

~~�I just hate leaving my Lexa behind��~~ He thought. Every second away from her sent knots of sickening anguish coursing through his body. He was addicted to her like a Jem�Hadar on ketracel white, but like any other drug habit, this habit involves many tracks to cover. His quarters served to cover his tracks well.

One of the monitors showed a scanner shot of the security officer. In Savat's main office, the Vulcan chief of security raised an eyebrow to a curious piece of information on his LCARS computer.

The security camera on screen one revealed another angle of Savat, the one of his back.

The camera brought up an instantaneous close up to Savat's PADD. He had to make sure this wasn't what he thought it was. He punished Lexa so many times. When will she learn?

Much to his relief, the PADD read out a report about a murder of an officer in the marine biology lab's whale tanks. Gruesome details described the crime scene. The watcher didn't care after that. Savat was too busy with the other cases, so he left the Vulcan at that. He touched a button on monitor one, and a small message right by Savat's head blipped "recording in progress". Just to be on the save side, or in case Savat took an interest in him, the recording would catch him in the act. The last problem he needed was the Chief of Security trying to find him, as well as the meddlesome Lt. Commander O'Grady. It was hard enough to be rid of Lt. Corgan.

Screen five turned to the O'Grady quarters. He had to sneak in that sensor himself, since it was against Federation law to put security camera's in personal quarters. So far, it kept track of Lieutenant Commander O'Grady well, without the family becoming the wiser. It also helped him keep track of his main objective.

Nothing in the O'Grady household, except the Lieutenant Commander and her daughter Nikki. She played happily with a teddy bear while her mother talked to her. The conversation didn't interest him. He didn't like what he considered 'the semi-mindless prattling of children'.

On screen number one, Savat switched PADD's to look at the Borg casualty list. Poet ignored that screen for a second. He could always look at it later.

"Keep your enemies closer..." Poet whispered, then rose to a maniacal cackle, "And your soulmates closer! Computer, Lexa, all monitors!"

All six of the monitors flickered on to different angles of her prison. Lieutenant Electra Reece, drugged in a limbotic stupor, stared at the walls in a pacified manner. Her hair spilled over her face, shielding her eyes and covering the welts on the upper side of her face. Dried blood speckled her tender cheeks and left a trail that lined the right side of her lip, and joined with the dried blood from her nose. Her uniforn was torn, the gray and black tunic ripped from the chest, her red undershirt speckled with small drops of crimson blood. She turned her face slightly and moaned. Some of her hair parted away, revealing a black eye. She raised her head slightly, and with another groan her head slumped back down.

"Now now, my dear. I know your punishment was harsh, but I did it for you. You know I did it for you..." He susurrated, "Please understand that I do it all for you. Computer... record on screen 3 and reset the others to their original locations."

=/\="Warning,"=/\= Screen number 1 flashed, zeroing in on Savat's PADD with the casualty list, =/\="Keyword 'Corgan' not found on mission casualty list. Message found, from Ensign Megan Morton to Lieutenant Junior Grade James Lionel Corgan."=/\=

Another one of Poet's specialty programs searched out people's names based on the ship's messaging system. A mind boggling amount of messages went through the system, were rooted out and then narrowed down to a few selected messages. The two messages on screen two showed first the casualty list of the latest away mission, minus one James Corgan. The second message talked about music files. He ignored the second file and focused intensely on the first.

He balled his fists into a tight wad and pounded the desk with his pent up fury.

*WHAM**WHAM*! Twice again he slammed the desk with his fists. Many officers volunteered for the suicide mission, including Corgan, but Poet knew James' worse fears came in the form of assimilation. It was impossible for James to survive that encounter, and still he made it.

=/\="Lieutenant Junior Grade James Lionel Corgan is currently on deck 24, turbolift."=/\=

~~"Good."~~ Poet thought, ~~"Because I need to have a little chat with him. Don't worry my dear, he will bother us no more."~~

The tricorder vibrated on Lieutenant Corgan's hip. A special function that allowed for discrete warnings, it allowed for James to be notified whenever the 'Night' program was activated without the use of voice commands in case Poet was watching. It also slowed down Poet's transmission by a couple of seconds. Since communications were instantaneous on the ship, he purposely put up a few protective firewalls to give him a few seconds to prepare. Something was going through the network, and it just went by the console on deck 36, section 2C, or as the Lieutenant called it 'the staging area' for Poet's electronic attacks.

"Computer, deck 36...." He commanded, until the chirp of his comm-badge interrupted his command. The familiar, if scrambled and spooky, voice of Poet screeched through the tiny comm-badge's microspeaker.

=/\="You..."=/\= Poet growled, =/\="You meddlesome son of a bitch. You're supposed to be..."=/\=

=/\="That's right! Dead, dead, FREAKING DEAD! How can you possibly survive?"=/\=

The turbolift came to a stop. Walking out casually, James stepped into deck thirty six. Nobody was around, except for the voice of Poet and the calmly striding security officer. The console he needed to reach was still at on the other side of the deck.

=/\="Because, I saw you get sent on that infernal cube. I know how afraid you are of the Borg."=/\=

=/\="You were at the Typhon Expanse, and the results of your run in with the Borg fill a whole freaking psychological file! You have enough fears to drown in."=/\=

James grew in nervousness and excitement. ~~"I'm so fragging close."~~ he thought, trolling down the corridors like it was nobody's business. The halls were empty, giving him an uneasy feeling. With all the murders that took place on the ship, deck thirty six looked like the most convenient place to kill a man. Death didn't worry Lieutenant Corgan at the moment, just missing the chance to catch Poet's whereabouts was concern enough.

=/\="I noticed that, much to my surprise."=/\= Poet's mechanical voice scratched out of Corgan's comm-badge, =/\="It seems to me that even in the face of destiny, one has to encounter a few setbacks on the way."=/\=

=/\="Have you buried your head in the sand? You stand between me and my love, that's what the setback is! I work so hard to make Lexa mine, and you undermine me every chance you get! Or... you try to undermine me to no avail. Let's face it, your attempts to stop me from taking what is mine away from you have all failed, without me lifting a finger. Rebecca is gone somewhere, and even if you could find her she wouldn't help you, not after rejecting her. She'll hate you even less now that you want my Lexa."=/\=

Feeling miffed, James replied, "Well, she is kind of cute for a woman nearly as tall as me, but want her? No way! She's a giant FREAK!"

The opening has been made in Poet. James sensed the weakness, and exploiting it to his advantage, he decided to give Poet what he didn't want. For a moment, he felt concerned about how Electra would respond to his insult and he even felt guilty for calling her a freak. Then again, his conscience reasoned that if you don't really believe it, there's nothing to feel guilty about.

"That's right," Lieutenant Corgan grinned, "she's a giant Amazonian freak. I mean... dear god (~~"She's going to hate me for this"~~) I don't even need to kneel down to kiss her ass!"

~~"It's working like clockwork!"~~ James thought as he walked down the halls. He still had a fair distance to cover. Doing a quick calculation with his head, he estimated that he would reach the console in one minute. Keeping Poet distracted was easier than he thought, just had to stimulate his lust.

"Sure, I didn�t mind doing the old rod rodeo on her, but I had to climb her like a mountain first!" He snapped viciously. Each barb stung Poet horribly.

"You're right, and you�re wrong. At this moment, I cannot have her... now, especially when I had her over, and over, and over again. Then maybe I can have her again the next night for twice as long!"

James Corgan poured it on. His plan worked with devastating effect. "And you... look at you, laying on that sappy melodrama on me. No wonder you are the Poet, you lay down such poetic crap on me it makes me want to projectile vomit. Do you honestly believe that talking and acting the way you do will charm Miss Reece? Why, if I didn't know better, I'd think that you're actually in love. Love is a weakness, and it's making you sloppy, slow and stupid!"

"Why should I stop. Don't you want to know about how much I have Lexa and Rebecca wrapped around my thumb?"

"Don't I know it. They're right you know, that two's much better than one. Here, I have poor little Rebecca Von Erst. She is so vulnerable right now that she'll sack anyone, including me. You should have seen her try to kiss me; it was hilarious. I don't think she realized that I fooled her into believing that I didn't want her right there and now. I just bided my time, because I wanted a challenge. Did you know she doesn't even know how to tilt her nose a little bit so that it doesn't bump into mine? No matter, I will show her all that she needs to know. As for Lexa, she's is so repulsed by you that she literally fell into my arms and begged for mercy. I didn't even need to do anything to her but say yes. They are so weak you know, and not only does virginity make them weaker to defend themselves from my charms, I happen to know from experience that virgins are the most fun! I love to charm these girls, and it is so easy. All you do is find a damsel in distress..."

A stunned silence filled the room. Corgan's newly gained confidence took an impact like a wall being breached. He didn't expect Poet to be this angry. The security officer collected himself again and continued towards the console. ~~"Only a dozen more meters."~~

"Dare? Who said anything about daring? I fully admit to you that I play her like a guitar. Did you know that guitars give you soooooo much sex appeal? I bet she liked how phallic my guitar was."

=/\="You disgust me, Lieutenant Corgan. I cannot possibly believe that you are crazy enough to go for what is mine. We are meant to be together, and you are not. How can you treat such an angel this way? She is the heaven and the earth to me, and to you she is the equivalent of a love slave! You are dirt. No, you are an incubus. You rape the souls of others and leave them with nothing! No wonder your heart is so bitter and cold."=/\=

In the corner of his eye, he spotted a black console, unlit due to current neglect. The markings confirmed that it was console 2C of deck thirty six. He activated the console, tapped a few buttons to bring up the communications system. Lockouts prevented him from accessing the system.

"Computer... security override Corgan gamma epsilon black." Lieutenant Corgan grinned a wolfish smile. ~~"Got him by the gonads now."~~

=/\="It must be hard to admit I got your catch before you did, Corgan. Oh, and you can't trace me from there. I know all the systems off by heart, and you are just a dumb thug. Stick to soldiering, Corgan. You were much better at that than investigating."=/\=

"No thank you. My specialty is hot, steamy, tantric, athletic and very orgasmic sex. She knows. So does Sanchez, Lao, Von Erst, M'ketha and Renaldi. That's why she wants me so badly instead of you. You see, I'm a �gentleman� on this tin terror of a ship. All the girls know that I'm the man to see when they want to feel more than special on certain nights. Lexa is my latest sexual conquest, and the only thing standing between me and some more of that sweet, sweet loving is you. I won't let you get in the way of what's mine."

"But she wants me so badly. This is why she resists your charms, if you had any."

=/\="LIER! She will be punished for this the likes that even you have never seen!"=/\=

"So? I have you by the balls, mister. I know that while you were raving on about how much of a pervert I am compared to you has left you open to be surprised. Oh, I tell people that lust is the most blinding force in nature, but I never had someone prove it to me so well. You could have stopped me at any time, and I knew that you could, only I also knew you couldn't as long as I kept you thinking about Miss Reece. By the way... Janeway said it best when she said 'scorpion'."

His hand deftly brushed beside the tricorder on his hip. He tapped a button with his middle finger, activating the 'Shooting the Breeze' program. The tracer works almost instantaneously, except for the same firewalls that kept Poet slowed down also slowed down the deadly trace. A few seconds later, the console flickered back to life, showing the screen of somebody's dark quarters.

The face, still darkened by the inky blackness, looked at his other screens. Even the dark couldn't hide his face from the panic that ensued. In the corner of Corgan's screen, a small text box showed off the location of the enemy signal. It read...

Location: Deck 15, Cabin 93, Console unknown.
Programs Run: STI Encryptohack V3.1, Unknown tracer program, unknown protective program, STI Encryptoshroud V22.9.
Name: Unknown
Rank: Unknown
Serial Number: Unknown

"Smart of you not to leave your name on your console, but I know where you are..." James warned in a sing song voice, "Computer, site to site transport to deck 16, cabin 93, authorization Corgan gamma epsilon black."

=/\="I'm not that stupid. I can lock out your command codes so that you can't catch me. By the time you get all the way up to my quarters, I'll be long gone. You may have surprised me, but you will not catch me. Good day, if you survive it."=/\=

Poet tore off something from his wrist and flashed it in front of his face. It was a security location bracelet.

=/\="Tell Savat he can do better than play big brother against me! It's effortless to give a false signal."=/\=

Then, the screen flickered off, just as it went online, it became offline once more. James tried again for the site to site transport. The computer once again rejected it. His impatience got the better of him, since he knew that Electra's life could even be in danger. With a 'no on board this ship message' he received earlier, he wouldn't be surprised if Poet masked her signal, or blasted her out of a plasma vent. He didn't have time to look all over the ship for her. Action more drastic had to be taken.

~~"Corgan to security. I have found one of the perpetrator's quarters. Deck 15, Cabin 93. Have a security team meet me there."~~

James had quickly grabbed his katana before he went to investigate the disturbance he had heard. He rang the chime and a man answered the door wearing a medical tunic.

'Who the hell are you and why are you armed' Todd stared at the mysterious man in red. Feeling embarrassed at the state of his quarters after his outburst he stood up and started to pick up pieces of glass from the carpet. 'Well whoever you are you wont need to stab me'

�Alright then, I wasn�t going to stab you, I just came to see what was wrong. Lieutenant j/g James Edward Kincaid, Tactical Officer, and you are?� said Kincaid as he put his Katana back in its black scabbard.

� Ensign Todd Sansky sir, I�m sorry I didn�t mean to be rude. Things have just been getting me down lately� Todd walked to the door and shook hands with Kincaid. He then walked over to his replicater with the pieces of broken glass.

�Computer recycle� the glass dematerialized into nothing. Todd then turned to face his guest.

�Please come in, mind the mess, I had some, erm, personal problems� he said as he picked his model of Voyager off the floor minus a primary hull.

�Just checking out what might be wrong here. Personal problems eh? I know how those feel...�

James walked into Todd�s room looking at the mess and reminding him of his former room at the Academy. James loved those days.

�Yeah my problems are mounting and the senior officers on this ship aren�t helping my problems, but what�s an Ensign to do. My proposals are not acknowledged by my CO.� Todd stood pondering for a moment, he gestured for James to sit on the couch which he did. Todd opened his mouth in order to say something then stopped

�No, thanks, I�m not thirsty. I haven�t even met Captain Price yet. I spoke briefly with Commander Thomas though. What kind of things do you like to do?�

�Oh I don�t have much time for recreation, im so tied up with work at the moment and these damned Borg, on top of all that my CO doesn�t even know im alive despite my efforts and I have just found off from my mothers CO that she is now Borg, assimilated in a battle aboard the Titan� So im angry, hence the broken table. I would however like to meet you for a drink or something in Ten Forward later. Perhaps we could work together in combating this Borg virus, with your knowledge as a tactician and my medical background, you never know, we may make a break through. The sooner we get away from these cubes the better.�

Todd turned away from James so that he wouldn�t see the tears building in his eyes

�I want to go home and see my family, but this isn�t the time to grieve.� James stood up as if ready to leave.

�Well Todd I have to go now, maybe cya around later� Todd nodded and smiled as the doors opened and James left.

Todd turned to his console �Computer begin message to my father, Malcolm Sansky.��.

With Lt.(jg) Raven Darkstar (Security),
Lt. Rose McAllen (Science, and current helpless captiave),
Victor Wilson (NPC homicidal HUNTED maniac)
and a few members of the Ops and Security staff assisting in unauthorized cameos.

(Previously:The new security precautions forcing his hand, Victor finally kidnapped Rose McAllen and whisked her away to the little used maintenence room under the turbolifts while Raven and the rest of the ship await the begining of the sensor sweeps.)

Time: Just after the completion of phase one of the security protocols. (Continuity note: Fit this puppy in whatever time frame coincides with Corgans posts. Savat did order everyone to thier departments so I used that as 'Cannon'. If it doesnt fit just dont worry about it. At one point or another, nearly everyone on this ship has been walking contradictions of time, appearing in many places at once.)

Ensign Salt hustled into the security office where a sea of gold shirts had been waiting for her.

"Done! " Ensign Smith shouted then looked back at Harry, the slightly over weight desk Sergeant, who was manning his usual station behind the switchboard and adjoining computer console.

"29 minutes, thirty-seven seconds," he said smiling, "we beat the boss's deadline by 23 seconds."

A cheer rang out through the department. Lt. Commander Savat had ordered them to distribute orange locator bracelets to every crewmember on the ship and be done in thirty minutes.

Lt. Darkstar didn't feel the need to cheer. All he wanted to do was unite his hands with Victor Wilson's neck. The man had made a mockery of Security. He even had played himself as Raven's own partner. There would be a reckoning -- he had vowed. James Kelly and the others wouldn't go unavenged.

"With Lt. Commander Savat on an away team and with Lt. Elithian and the others in sickbay, you two are the senior officers." she said pointing to Raven and Corgan.

Corgan and Darkstar exchanged glances then took several steps backwards to talk privately.

"Break something. " Raven grumbled, barely able to contain his bad mood. "Yourself?"

"Nice to see that we're on the same page." Raven said as the duo returned to the crowd.

He looked out at the assembled officers and asked: " Have the transporters been locked out?"

"Engineering reports transporters, shuttlebays and all lifepods are frozen solid." Harry said from his desk.

Corgan was entertaining similar thoughts. He looked back at Harry. " Have the sensor sweeps begun yet?"

"By all means, Sergeant. Light 'em up." Corgan ordered. They stood and waited as Harry communicated with Ensign Margolis in Ops.

"Copy, Ops. Standing by........' Harry said as they waited. The ships sensors were being trained inward scanning for any lifeform not wearing a locator bracelet.

Pets and the like would be filtered out. Any other crewmembers wearing id bracelets were also deleted leaving any unregistered humanoids revealed.

Security teams would then be dispatched to the location to secure the area and if nessicary any unregistered hostiles.

Ensign's Smith and Foreshaw stiffened to attention. They would be the first team to go out.

[Reading Lt. Rose McAllen...no bracelet, and ...a Betezoid male, no bracelet. DNA identification: one Victor Wilson...a priority red alert is attached to Wilson's name.]

"I'll take this one." Raven said shooting a glance at Foreshaw and Smith. From the tone in his voice, nobody was going to argue.

[Location...this is a bit unbelievable...the two are underneath turbolifts 4 through 6.]

Harry nodded and relayed the message to engineering. On one of the screens before him, pictorials of the turbolift shafts changed color from green to red. He looked at Darkstar and gave him a thumbs up as he continued to monitor Op's progress.

"Salt, your with me. And someone tell the brig to prep cell number four and have a nurse ready. I'll be there shortly with a new tenant."

He had stripped the room of nearly everything but the big battered metel desk rose was currently bound across in a crude revealing fashion.

She moaned as she fought to regain her consciousness. Her eyes took in the hundreds of candles in the dark, dank room before Victor's face was inches before her. Reflexively she jerked at the cables fastened to her wrists and ankles but found them unyielding.

Victor pressed his lips against hers. She bit down on his lip causing him to recoil in pain.

"Why do you fight me, Imzadi?" he said as he rubbed his lip. "I love you, rose petals. I always have."

His eyes fell to her soft cream colored flesh barely hidden by the flimsy silk robe.

Heather slowly woke up, her stomach churning from over drinking and her head felt light. For a moment, the room seem to spin in all different directions before finally settling back to normal. In front of her was a vase of freshly bloomed Dutch Iris seated on the bedside table, with a PADD placed neatly beside it. Gaining perspective, she realised she was in her quarters with no clear knowledge of how she got there. Wanting to see if she was alone, Heather attempted to push herself up. Half way up, her body cringed, forcing her to flop back down. Annoyed and slightly disorientated, she rolled over. Her bed was empty apart from herself, though the covers looked mangled.

Lying flat on her back, she placed the palms of her hands over her light sensitive eyes and forced herself to focus. The last thing she remembered was dancing on the dance floor with some guy, who had just picked her up. Although she talked to him, for the life her, she drew blank on his name. �Man this sucks.� She continue to pursue her memory of the events that occurred during the night, before gathering all the her energy reserves and headed for the bathroom.

As Heather dragged her tired body across the shared quarters to the bathroom, Marina exited the shower towel drying her hair.

�Jo�e Antonio said he�d be back later to check in on you. What a lovely guy.�

�He�s just some guy who picked me up at the bar. Body so firm, it was pity I was so pissed.� She paused. �Do you know if..�

�Unless he�s a two mintue man, then no.� reading her distraught friend�s mind.

Heather managed a smile of appreciation and continued on. While the water rushed over her tight, lightly tanned skin and down the stranes of her red hair, Heather allowed her mind to wonder over the possibility of a relationship forming with San Diego. Afterall, there was little chance of her and Indiana being more than friends, while they served apart. Although her memory was shot by the intoxication, she did however remembered the Hispanic with a great arse, nice smile and can dance with the air of a romantic. The more she thought, the more she wanted to see him again just to reassure herself that she was not dreaming. �Why don�t you let me love you?� She sang to herself, remembering the expression he gave her when ever that phase came up. It seemed passionate at the time, yet it failed to peak with romance. This didn�t truly bother her, but it did make that damm song go round and around her aching mind.

Courtney Elizabeth Moran
a.k.a Ensign Heather Grant-Wellington, Helmsman, USS Galaxy

Captain Price sat at the foot of his bed. In his hands he held a small wooden display box, lined in padded silk. The case held the medals that Starfleet had awarded him for the many years of service and missions too many to number. Lee ran a hand over the various decorations, admiring the bright blue, yellow, red and gold colors. Finally he closed the case and returned it to the storage locker. When he placed the case back in the cupboard, he saw a small, crystal holo-portrait in there. Taking it out, the General placed it in his hand and activated it. It was a recording of Yeoman Jamie York that was taken just prior to their trip to Risa. Lee smiled at the way the flirtatious beauty played with her flowered summer wrap. The bright yellow and white floral print really brought out her tan and contrasted well against her long, dark hair. Deactivating the holo-portrait, the Captain returned his only remembrance of his dead lover back to his locker.

Letting out a sigh, the Captain wondered why it was he kept the portrait of Jamie. She was gone and there was nothing he could do to get her back. Glancing down at his waist, Lee removed the Klingon d'k tahg that

his friend K'Ral from the house of Kras gave him. Like Jamie, K'Ral too had died. The Captain found it ironic how his most prized possessions were all remembrances of friends that had past on.

Re-sheathing the lucky blade, the General stood up and gave his quarters one last look over. Everything seemed to be tidy enough. It was odd that he cared about such a thing, but some how he didn't want things to be totally disheveled should the worse happen on this mission to the Borg cube. Satisfied, Lee turned and exited he quarters, heading for the bridge.

The halls were somewhat sparse of crew members. No doubt a result of the security alert the Chief Security Officer had ordered during this crisis situation. The Captain walked soberly to the turbolift, turned and called out, "Bridge."

A short ride later, the lift's doors swished open and Captain Price exited on the command deck. Commander Thomas was already back and stood from the Captain's chair when he saw the General enter.

"I hear that the anti-agent worked as expected in the lab and on the captured drone." Chris greeted with a positive tone.

Captain Price nodded while walking down the command ramp and towards his ready room. "Aye. The away team will be meeting in the transporter room in a few minutes. I just have a couple of things to take care of before I go."

Lee entered his office and let the doors close behind him. He knew exactly what he needed to get, so there was no hesitation. Walking over to the desk that sat in front of the colorful wall adorned in flags from the Federation of Planets, Australia and the Confederate Union Jack, the General punched in his access code and opened the locked drawer to the desk. Sliding the drawer open, he ran a finger over the isolinear chips until he identified the one he was looking for. It was a bright orange storage chip that had been labeled, "Final orders." Clutching his fist around the recorded message like it was a valuable coin, Lee slid the drawer closed and then headed back out to the bridge.

The General got a few steps outside his office before he stopped and took a look around at the bridge and the people on duty there. A sense of accomplishment and pride filled his heart as he realized what a fortunate commanding officer he was to be able to serve with such a talented, devoted crew. After a moment of taking everything in, the Captain walked over to Commander Thomas.

"Yes sir. I still don't know what happened to von Ernst, but Ensign Parry has been doing well in her absence." Chris pointed out. From his tone, it was obvious that he was mostly making 'small talk' rather then complaining.

"Well no worries then Commander. I'm sure things will be all apples over there 'mate, but in case they aren't I've recorded this." Lee stated handing it to the First Officer.

Chris took the chip and read the label. Looking back at the Captain he was quick to respond, "I'm sure we wont need this sir."

Lee smiled his boyish grin. "I certainly hope not. But just in case, you'll have it just the same."

Commander Thomas asked, "Do you know which Borg vessel you'll be beaming onto sir?"

Lee glanced back at Commander Thomas. "Probably that one there." He pointed. "It's damaged and shouldn't be too hard to get onboard."

"A good choice Captain." Chris concurred. "I'll have Lieutenant Gustavson get us closer within transporter range." Commander Thomas stated motioning to Ragnald to make it so.

The ship soon broke out of all stop and began moving at sublight speed towards one of the two damaged Borg cubes. The ship hadn't traveled more then a hundred kilometers before Ensign Parry called out from tactical, "Sly is on the move sir!"

Chris stood from the command chair and glared at the screen along with Captain Price. "Magnify." Commander Thomas ordered.

The view screen showed the one clever Borg cube moving toward the two badly damaged cubes that remained. Something had triggered a reaction in the cube; most likely the USS Galaxy moving towards them. Captain Price and Commander Thomas watched as the cube Ensign Parry had dubbed "Sly" closed and opened fire on the cube closest to the Galaxy.

"They must be activating their predatorial algorithms again. They must figure that the Galaxy wants that cube because we moved towards it." Commander Thomas hypothesized.

"And now they intend to deny us our prize. Well let's take them out before they destroy the other one Commander." Price insisted.

"Ensign Parry, lock onto 'Sly' with a multiphasic torpedo and blow him away." Chris ordered.

The bridge crew watched as once again one of the futuristic super torpedoes that Janeway had been kind enough to deliver from the future streaked across space and headed right for the Borg cube known as 'Sly'. It was all rather routine to watch at this point. No more goose bumps at the shear power of the explosion the torpedo caused. Or the flash-bang of the exploding Borg cube as it ripped itself apart from the inside. Everyone knew exactly what to expect. It was amazing how quickly they had adjusted to weapon technology that rightly the Federation shouldn't posses for another two decades.

"The cube is emitting some sort of an inverse-tetryon beam sir..." the Tactical Officer informed.

It was true. The Borg cube was waiting for the Galaxy to attack, because when it did, it emitted a tetryon beam which quickly created an anti-tetryon field in the path of the incoming multiphasic torpedo. It all happened so quickly. The bridge crew held their breath and watched as the multiphasic super torpedo seemed to simply disappear into the forming anomaly.

Jessie complied with the order, and a second torpedo shot out from the Galaxy towards the healthy Borg cube. It's inverse tetryon beam changed trajectory to intercept the warhead, and like the other, it simply vanished too.

"They have adapted." Lee stated flatly. "Lieutenant, let's not make it easy on them. Attack course Epsilon one." the Captain ordered. On screen the weak Borg cube exploded in a bright flash of light, causing the General to shield his eyes. When the explosion faded, it was easy to see that the 'Sly' Borg vessel was moving to destroy the last remaining cube. "Quickly 'mate, while we still have time."

"Aye sir." Ragnald replied from the helm. Soon the Galaxy was on an attack vector, in a sort of spiraling, pretzel maneuver to keep the enemy off balance.

The Galaxy swung around, even as the Borg cube opened fire on the last, heavily damaged cube.

At the science station, Lieutenant' Quevvenson was running what scans he could on the anomaly the Borg were creating with the tetryon beam. It was difficult to get accurate readings, since the ship's regenerative ablative armor was raised, but Wilhem did the best that he could. "From what I can tell, the inverse tetryon beam is creating some sort of field that is interacting with the multiphasic field about the torpedoes. Near as I can tell, it must send the torpedoes to a different phase reality or something."

"Wait for it..." Lee held up a hand, "wait for it... NOW! Fire aft torpedoes Ensign."

Two multiphasic torpedoes raced towards the Borg cube, which was turning to keep the USS Galaxy targeted in it's sights. Unfortunately the cube managed to reorientate itself in time and lay down another inverse tetryon field which promptly swallowed up the super torpedoes into oblivion.

"DAMN!" Chris cursed in frustration. They had just managed to waste four of the remaining seven multiphasic torpedoes on this "Sly" Borg cube, and had yet to score any hits against it.

"They have adapted in a big way Commander." Captain Price stated. "We will have to change our tactics."

The Captain barely finished his sentence before the last Borg cube, other then "Sly", was destroyed. That just left the USS Galaxy, and this one, practically undamaged Borg cube.

"We only have three multiphasic torpedoes remaining Captain, until engineering can manufacture some more, and that will be some time yet." Commander Thomas reminded.

The Captain was well aware of the number of torpedoes that remained. But there was a larger concern now. "It doesn't matter 'mate. We can't use the super torpedoes any more. Destroying this last cube will leave us without a way of introducing the anti-virus to the collective. If we destroy this cube, we are screwed. We have to disable it."

"A series of quantum torpedoes, coupled with precise phaser strikes should be enough to do it sir. At least enough to get you and the away team on board." Commander Thomas suggested. Starfleet had compiled enough intel on the Borg, thanks to Voyager's return and Seven of Nine's input, to know just were to strike to most effectively damage key systems on the Borg vessel. They would be able to regenerate of course, but all they needed to do was get them to lower their defenses long enough to get the away team over there.

The Captain didn't have to point that out, Chris was already well aware of that. "No guts, no glory sir."

Lee nodded while starting towards the turbolift. "I'll get to the transporter room. The away team will be standing by for transport. Good luck Commander."

When Captain Price exited the bridge, Commander Thomas' attention returned to the "Sly" Borg cube that they needed to disable without destroying it.

"Load all tubes with quantum torpedoes Miss Parry, and charge phasers to maximum. We will be dropping armor and raising shields on my command..." Chris ordered while sitting back down in the command chair.

"Come and Help Me"
By Lt Rose Isis MacAllen, Science Officer
Lt. Victor Wilson (NPC, Formely Medical Officer, USS Yorktown)

Now Rose was in hell and in her mind Victor was some Betaziod/Human devil trying to claim her as his, she was looking around while trying to pull on the cable ropes hard thinking when is somebody going to save her. She can feel she friends and fellow crewmembers coming to look for her but it going to take some time before they find her. Victor was very clever hiding her down where mostly nobody came.

"You got a beauiful body." Victor said while cutting her rode off of her body, now she can feel the coldness of the table and the warmness of Victor's body who is also naked as well as he climbs on top of her.

Victor grins at her prize, findly after almost 2 years he found Rose, him Imzadi.

"I hope you burn in hell, my friends will look for me Victor and they will put your ass in jail where you belong with sicko like you." Rose said trying to keep brave, calm, and praying to the gods that she friends will come soon.

Victor slaps her across her very hard, she can feel blood pouring down her ruby lips, then Victor get up and tight the ropes tighter around her legs and arm. Rose yells alittle but now loud to show Victor she was scared then blood begun to pour from her legs and wrists.

Victor grins at Rose when touchs her face gentle, "I love you very much Rose but you only wanted to be friends while you was on the Yorktown and you didn't give me the time of day."

Rose can feel the anger build up in Victor, then Victor hit Rose across the face giving Rose a very bad blackeye on her right eye.

Victor started to walk around very upset, "I would have loved you, took care of you but NO just friends you told me. But now your mind and right here and right now were going to start a family together."

Victor gets on top of her, then enter her very fast and painful then started to go in and out.

Rose started crying alittle but she have to be brave and believe that Darkstar and the others will be here soon.

Victor was moan while he was going in and out of Rose, "After about two to three time of doing this Rose, you will be prenancy. Oh Rose just think alittle girl and boy who will be 75% Betazoid and 25% Human the child will be so lovely."

Rose closes her eyes and trying to dream about something more beauiful and pure while Victor was talking about their future plans together, she blocked him out of her mind so she can easly blackout but for some reason she couldn't right now.

After Victor raped her twice, he got off of his prize with a grin. Rose have passed out not too long ago.

"Oh Imzadi you were wonderful, it won't be long now until your prenancy with our first child." Victor said to Rose that was out cold and she will be for a while.

Rose's body was all beat up and brusied badly from Victor's hands and fists digging deep into her beauiful flesh. She arms and legs bleeding from the tight ropes, her mouth was gaged with the silk belt from her robe. Victor gaged her after the second bit Rose gave him on lips, which he was still bleeding from.

Victor sits on the floor with a big bottle of wine in his hand drinking it, and vows after the Galaxy get back into normal space him and his Imzadi was off to there to there private place on an unknown planet that he had picked out.

Hell must have a special room set aside for the inventor of the alarm clock, Rebecca decided grumpily as the offending device ricocheted off the opposite bulkhead and fell to the bedroom floor still buzzing annoyingly.

--Darn Duranium-alloy casings-- she thought blearily as she rubbed her sleepy eyes and wished she had a phaser handy to eliminate the fiendishly noisy device.

Clumsily groping for the first item at-hand, the sleepy young girl selected a random PADD from her bedside table and whizzed it across the room with deadly accuracy scoring a hit on the wailing clock. Somehow actually managing to trip the snooze alarm, she thus purchasing herself an additional ten minutes of blissful slumber. Flopping back into the plush blue covers of her bed Rebecca was sorely tempted to drift back off to sleep, to ignore the call of duty and responsibility, and to just..drift..off...to.sleep.

A moment later she shook herself back to alertness, retreating back from the edge of unconsciousness escaping from the haunting lure of the Sandman's call.

As she lay there...not yet willing (or ale) to move, Rebecca contemplated the Bulkhead supports that arched over her bed, and recalled the strange dream from the night before. ~~~My Bunny Slippers?~~~ she thought, ~~~ Conducting tours? ~~~

She scrunched nose in amusement over the absurdity of it all, yawning again from weariness. From her bed she could see the aforementioned Fuzzy Footwear staring at her innocently from the corner of the room. No tour guides there.

~~~No more Peppermint Milkshakes right before bed for you.~~~ she chastised herself sleepily ~~~Its giving you weird dreams.~~~

Just then the alarm from hell renewed its banshee-like wailing and Rebecca's hand flailed about desperately for any else to fling at it. Alas to no avail.

Grumbling, and with eyes still half closed in slumber, the petite redhead threw off her thick covers and hung her legs down to sit quietly on the edge of the bed. Silently, and with all her mental powers, she willed the clock to DIE. Again alas, the buzzing continued, cutting her to the bone with its incessant wail.

The 24 year old human sat there contemplating the Clock's untimely demise for several minutes, while the trilling alarm bore deeper and deeper into her poor sleepy head.

Not wanting to actually get UP and walk the six feet required to reach and deactivate the Buzzing, Rebecca silently made a deal with the Devil in order for HIM to shut the stupid alarm off for her.

Unfortunately, The Prince of Darkness (Crafty Devil that he is) failed to live up to his part of the bargain, and Rebecca was left quite alone with the noise. (sans eternal soul of course)

At length however the incessant wail finally triggered a deep-rooted survival instinct buried somewhere in the Human Psyche, and the Pajama-clad girl stood and walked over to her tormentor personally in order to flip the thrice-cursed Off-Switch herself.

��At least she would have seen it if she hadn't been standing with eyes closed in the middle of the room, slightly swaying in half-consciousness.

She stood there in her scruffy P-Jays for several minutes gathering the brain-power necessary for independent mobility, and at length shuffled her way over to the Bathroom sink just outside her bedroom.

Eyes still closed she filled the basin with a small pool of clear cool water and following a small pause for prayer��dunked her entire head into the sink!!!

Icy needles of awareness stabbed intot he heart of her still slumbering nervous system bringing systems online with a violent shock. She screamed underwater from the cold shock, blowing noisy bubbles of early-morning-anguish into the sink.

Like a liquid-slap in the face, the water brought the poor girl to full awareness and she straightened suddenly with a gasp, icy rivulets of water running off her soaked red hair and chilling down between her shoulder-blades.

Squirming slightly from the cold, she brushed the crimson mop of wet hair back from her freckled face and considered her image in the mirror.

A quick second dunk in the sink, and another disapproving appraisal in the mirror, and Rebecca padded slowly across the living area, pulling her wet hair back into a rubber band as she walked.

Stopping before the Replicator, she grunted out an order, which the machine (after much practice) had learned to interpret as "Corn Flakes in Skim Milk�slightly soggy"

The bowl of mush was quickly dispensed with a soft hum, and Rebecca collected it clumsily and made her way to the nearby Comm Unit.

Slurping the Corn Flakes noisily, she flipped the screen on, and called up her morning mail. Things had been backlogged for awhile whilst in the Warp Conduit, but with their arrival over Bolia, the ever-dependable Postal Service quickly caught up.

Cradling her Corn Flakes in her arms, Rebecca flopped down in a nearby chair, and stretched out with her slender legs, plopping them carelessly up on the Desk while she listened to the messages play. One of the good thing about being short, she figured, was the ability to curl up and sit in almost any posture she desired.

The Comm droned onwards cutting through the usual Bureaucratic garbage that Starfleet seemed to live for��.Efficiency Reports��.Supply Status��..Equipment Inspections��.Personnel Transfers��.

Rebecca listened with half an ear, wiggling her propped up toes as she did so, debating whether or not to repaint her toenails�..Maybe tomorrow.

>>> ��..FROM HOTH, ADMIRAL JERGAN R�.CHIEF ADVISOR, STARFLEET 359 ADVANCED TACTICAL SCHOOL��.TO VON ERNST, LIEUTENANT JUNIOR GRADE REBECCA K��ACTING CHIEF TACTICAL OFFICER USS GALAXY��REGARDING��..<<<<<<

~~~Ah Noodles~~~ Rebecca grumped to herself upon hearing who the next message was from. ~~~Didn�t take Hoth long to find out where the Galaxy turned up.~~~

She slurped her cereal without savor as the Admiral's message continued to play��

>>>>>>��..and so Rebecca we were all quite excited to hear of your recent assignment as CTO aboard the Galaxy. Only aboard 6 months and you already have Price eating out of your hand! Well done! That�s my girl!��<<<<<<

>>>>��..so of course we'll have to see if we can grease the wheels for you for a promotion to full Lieutenant. Old Price is a stubborn S O B when he wants to be, especially wher his ship is concerned, but we'll see what I can arrange for you��..<<<<<

Rebecca groaned inwardly. Admiral Hoth, the head of Starfleets newest Advanced Tactical Training School set in the midst of the old Wolf 359 graveyard, had been micro-managing her career since before she graduated the Academy.

First he had kept her out of the line of fire during the violent final year of the Dominion War by shuffling her off to remote Starbase 108, and then, once the dust had settled, put her in the Chief Helman's spot aboard a DEFIANT class Destroyer��..hardly a ship of peace.

He'd kept her in the fleet after countless psychologists had argued for her discharge on grounds of social incompetence and cowardice, and it seemed he was still trying to build her up into his private 'super-weapon' by taking on Captain Price and his Promotion policies.

>>>>>>��..FROM SMITH, ENSIGN JIMMY LEE�.TACTICAL MAINTENANCE BAYS��REGARDING��MULTI-PHASIC TORPEDO STATUS��.<<<<<<

Rebecca finished up her Cereal while the details of the frustrating efforts to modify the tricky new High-Yield Torpedoes played out over the screen.

Stretching and yawning whilst the final few messages played out, At length Rebecca stood and stretched, going up on tip-toes as she flexed her lean limbs, her Pajama top pulling free of her wait-band revealing a flat pale belly.

That done she closed down the Comm and padded off towards the sonic shower�..It was going to be a busy day.

Hope and James had been uneasy all through the night. Shinta did not feel right about this. Michala had told her to go and see Dr. Dothan, if anything went wrong. She felt uncomfortable seeing another doctor, but Shinta knew she had to do that sooner or later. So now was a good time. Shinta called him from her office.

"Doctor, it's counselor Navarre here. My children and I were patients of Dr. Lynn, we would like to transfer to you. And I was wondering if you have time to see us today."

"I have several openings, near the end of Beta, or I could stay a little later into Gamma shift" Andree said, checking his appointment book on a PADD"

"No Really, It's not a problem, I don't have any plans for this evening" Andree replied.

"That would be wonderful, I will be there at the end of beta shift." She said grateful.

Later Shinta had arranged for the baby sitter to stay longer with Gavin. Then she collected the two babies. Hope was still crying all the time, and running a temperature. Carrying two children, she stumbled into sick bay, Shinta was very tired. She worked hard to try to forget Bruce, and at night she got very little sleep because hope kept crying.

"Here we are doctor." She said mock cheerfully. "Thank you for making the time."

Andree observed as the two infants were placed on a bio bed. Pulling a tricorder from his smock, Andree tossed it over his head, and caught it behind his back, before bringing it around, and opening it in one smooth motion. The smaller of the two, Hope, was her name, was running a slight temperature. "Hmm," he muttered as he looked at the readings.

"reasonably well. They are not big eaters." Shinta shivered, it was to cold for her in sick bay. "Maybe you can turn the heat on, hope and I are very

sensitive to warmth, I'm sure Michala told you that." she hoped the doctor would not notice how exhausted she was.

"As Long as there havn't been any significant changes they should be fine." Andree replied. "I would reccommend that you use a weighted blanket, to help them sleep. and go ahead and keep your quarters warm if need be. I can also get a stuffed animal with medical sensors in it to alert you and I if Hope's fever goes any higher, as well."

"I would like that very much, Dr." Shinta said smiling. "Thank you for your help, you have been very kind." when she leaned over to pick up her little daughter, Shinta faltered, all her strength left her. "Would you mind if I rested here for five minutes before I leave?" She asked. She slept very little because the kids kept her awake, and every waking minute she thought of her missing husband. And it was getting to be to much.

Andree saw the counselor falter, and said, "That won't be a problem, but don't leave your quarters tomorrow unless you've had a full 8 hours of sleep. Doctors orders. I'll be right back with the monitoring device."

Andree activated the restraining field on the Bio-bet the twins were on, (It was the closest thing it had to a guard rail, and he set it to give the twins room to crawl around inside it) before walking to the replicator in the back of the main sickbay ward.

Calling up a profile for a cute grey and white lop-eared rabbit he replicated the toy, and stuffed an omnidirectional medical scanner inside. Closing the velcro across the belly, he returned to check on the twins. James had rolled over on his side and had gone to sleep. Hope was whimpering a little. Andree picked her up, and placed her on his left shoulder, and began to pat her back. That seemed to calm her down.

"Would you like me to carry the twins?" Andree asked, as he passed the stuffed rabbit to Shinta

"If you would be so kind, please." She said grateful, and followed him to her quarters.

"Remember, 8 hours. No less," Andree said, as he placed the twins in their crib.

"Thank you, for everything. Can I get you anything, something to eat or drink." She hesitated, because she slept so badly, she almost asked the doctor for something to help her sleep. But if she did that, she would not hear her children when they were in trouble. No eight hours laying in bed would have to do.

"No thanks, I'll get something in my own quarters, You look like you really need your rest." Andree said, placing the 1 pound blanket on the twins, (Roughly 10% of body weight)

James roled over onto his side again, and placing his thumb in his mouth, drifted off to sleep. Hope's eyes gradually became heavy as she succumbed to the same fate. Stroking both twins' hair with either hand, he then placed the stuffed rabbit in the crib, and giving it's soft fur a few strokes, he turned to Shinta, and made a Shh gesture, before tip-toeing out of her quarters.

"Thanks again." She whispered and then went to bed herself, hoping she would sleep at least a little.

Ethan returned to Engineerng at last. The trip in the turbolift seemed to take longer than usual. Still, at least he was finally around. Things looked really busy. Engineers running around, working on their own tasks that had been assigned to them.

Near a work station, there was quite a bit of damage, as if a massive explosion had ripped away from Engineering like a small tornado. Several consoles were completely smashed and debris lay across the deck.

Seeing an Ensign walk by with several clothes, Ethan called out to the Ensign and took one of the clothes from him and held it to the back of his head. Walking over to T'zaq who was clearly busy, Ethan cleared his throat.

"Well, once upon a time, there were multiphasic torpedoes. And several Engineers knew they were unstable and warned the others about it. But the order was given to make more of these torpedoes, but then they became too unstable." T'Zaq explained, clearly annoyed. They all were. "Some of us tried to keep them contained, we even raised a field around it to contain the explosion, but as you can see, it didn't work." she said waving her arm towards the debris wreckage.

"Interesting story." Ethan said looking at the blood soaked cloth. "How does it end?" he asked.

"We tidy up down here, finsih off the torpedoes we're working on, file a protest with the Captain or whoever will listen and get rid of the damned things!" T'Zaq snapped.

"I like it." Ethan said as he once again looked at the wreckage. "Any casulties?" he asked.

"Lieutenant Giles' arm was slashed with debris, Sickbay said he should be ready again for duty in a few hours."

Ethan gave a nod. "We can use every hand. I've given the order to move all equipment related to the multiphasic torpedoes to the Cargo bay." he said, knowing that it was too late, the damage had been done.

"We could have made a lot of torpedoes with the generators we had down here." Ensign Garcia said who was scanning the debris.

"Too bad there were no Borg onboard when these things went off." the Ensign said.

"That's not a bad idea." Ethan said, deep in thought. "Ensign, when you have a moment, bring down two of the generators from the Cargo Bay, but keep them away from the core, and the people too." Ethan ordred.

"Borg." Ethan replied simply before walking off to replace the cloth that was dripping with blood.

Ethan snapped out of his thoughts and turned around to give a nod to the Ensign. His mind was full of negative thoughts. All about the Borg. He hated everything about this situation. The Borg, the way they were acting, the way the Federation was at war with the Borg. The Federation shouldn't be at war with anyone. But here the Galaxy was, on the brink of helping the Borg.

"These torpedoes maybe unstable, but looks like they were created by smart people." Ensign Garcia explained as she approached Suder with the two generators he had asked for.

"A smart person would have found a way to prevent or avoid war." Ethan replied. "I hate the Borg as much as the next person, maybe even more, but the Borg are still life, and we've spent years destroying it."

"One moment, you hate the Borg and agree that they should be destroyed, then the next moment, you think they should be allowed to live."

"True. My mind is at war with itself. Part of me says they're just another species, and that other part of me says to kill them all. Finding that fine line between the two is not an easy task." Ethan explained looking back at the warp core and rubbing his chin in deep thought.

"The Captain and the others are about to beam over to the Borg cube. We only have several torpedoes left." Garcia said giving Ethan an update.

"Hmmm, well, let's make sure the Galaxy is ready for that big battle I can smell coming up." Ethan replied with a smile. "I've got the best people on the ship working on those torpedoes, we should have some more hopefully, soon."

"'Commander." T'Zaq called from one of the Engineering consoles. Ethan gave Garcia a nod to continue her duties and then strolled over to 'Commander T'Zaq who was looking at the Engineering console witha very slight look of concern. "They have adapted."

Ethan stood up straight and looked around Engineering. For a few seconds, everything seemed to become very quiet.

"I'll be on the Bridge." he replied as he then walked off to speak with the First Officer.

Carson angrily crawled through the shafts from his quarters to the escape pod on Deck 10. He was so angry he could have gone one on one with a Klingon targ and won. His thoughts were chaotic and uncontrolled.

~ That wimp! How could he survive the Borg? He should be a wimpy drone submitting to the Queen by now. Damn him! Borg drone lover! Lexa is NOT a freak. She's beautiful. I only taunt her because she needs correction. She loves me but she has been acting so...Corgan will pay for his audacity. How could he track me? He's too dim. I'll find out who helped him and they'll be sorry. Maybe it was that freakish girl Rebecca. I wonder what he would do if I told her that he just used her. Though why he would want that child when he could have my Lexa...NO...he can't have Lexa...he can't...she's mine. Lexa loves me. She is just confused. But she was bad. Corgan! Corgan! She'll be sorry for taking up with Corgan. She should have waited for me. She knew I was coming soon. I just had to be ready. I would have waited until it was perfect except for the mood of the ship. But we'll be together once she learns how evil it was of her to spread her long legs for that drone boy. She is mine! And she'll learn that lesson well. Mine! Mine! Mine! ~

Carson slid open the door to the pod and looked down at Lexa, unable to move from the drug raging through her system.

"I told you not to be bad. You should have listened to me. I'll show you who really loves you," he said softly as he grabbed her remaining clothing and ripped it from her.

"Quarters (Hideous Fantasy Re-mix)"
By Lieutenant JG James Lionel Corgan
Security Officer, USS Galaxy
Location, Security

By the time he reached security, James knew that Poet was long gone. It didn't take long for a computer expert such as Poet to mask his signal, lock James out of the transporter system and speed off into the bowels of his ship. Corgan knew how hard it was to find a person on the Galaxy; he lived on the Odyssey for a year. The slow, ungainly and sometimes fragile ships had a lot of room.

~~"Oh no..."~~ James thought, ~~"The bracelets! I hope Savat won't be pissed to find out I wasn't distributing them and instead looking for Poet."~~

Lieutenant Corgan ran into the security office, blending in with the dark suited guards. Hopefully, nobody would notice him and his faux pas. "29 minutes, thirty-seven seconds," Ensign Smith said smiling, "we beat the boss's deadline by 23 seconds."

Everyone started to cheer. It was a great accomplishment to beat any of Savat's strict guidelines. To James's Corgan's attention, he noticed another guideline that Savat didn't set out, to capture the two major criminals on the ship before he got back!

"Excuse me?" Corgan asked, slightly suprised. A Borg drone transporting in front of him and sticking his neck with assimilation tubules couldn't stun him even more. He felt all the eyes of the people in the office focus on him, like he actually knew the answers.

"With Lt. Commander Savat on an away team and with Lt. Elithian and the others in sickbay, you two are the senior officers." she said pointing to Raven and Corgan.

"What about O'Grady?" Corgan asked, in more of a defensive measure than anything else.

James saw the emergency in all this. The highest ranking security officers on board the ship were either gone messing with the Borg (something James didn't really want to do at this time) or were injured. That left Darkstar and Corgan. James looked at Raven, trying to gauge anything from the stone faced native. To the more gangly security officer, Raven looked just as surprised as Lieutenant Corgan. Lieutenant Darkstar signaled for the two to move away from the main group, and James followed. Both men went into a close huddle.

"Break something. " Raven grumbled, barely able to contain his bad mood. "Yourself?"

"Nice to see that we're on the same page." Raven said as the duo returned to the crowd. Lieutenant Corgan couldn't help but like Raven Darkstar's 'hands on approach' to beating the stuffing out of criminals. James was more of the 'set up my trap and pick the little bastard off while he's stuck in it' sort of man, a contrast to Darkstar's simple and effective technique.

"Engineering reports transporters, shuttlebays and all lifepods are frozen solid." Harry said from his desk.

~~"Good."~~ Lieutenant James Corgan thought. He heard of too many stories at the academy of such famous ships as the Enterprise being foiled time and time again by men with the proper know how and the ship's own shuttlepods or escape pods. One time, a person tried to escape the ship by using the waste extraction pipes. Needless to say, that didn't work well, but the other ideas worked with appalling effectiveness.

Corgan was entertaining similar thoughts. He looked back at Harry. "Have the sensor sweeps begun yet?"

"By all means, Sergeant. Light 'em up." Corgan ordered. They stood and waited as Harry communicated with Ensign Margolis in Ops.

Ensign's Smith and Foreshaw stiffened to attention. They would be the first team to go out.

[Reading Lt. Rose McAllen...no bracelet, and ...a Betezoid male, no bracelet. DNA identification: one Victor Wilson...a priority red alert is attached to Wilson's name.]

"I'll take this one." Raven said shooting a glance at Foreshaw and Smith. From the tone in his voice, nobody was going to argue. James sure didn't want to. He had his mind on Poet, the sorry bastard that first decided he should be born and then decided to cross James Corgan's path. He would even tear through the much larger indian himself just to get his hands on the stalker.

[Location...this is a bit unbelievable...the two are underneath turbolifts 4 through 6.]

"Salt, your with me. And someone tell the brig to prep cell number four and have a nurse ready. I'll be there shortly with a new tenant."

As Darkstar and Salt left the office, Lieutenant Corgan still couldn't find any other anomalous signals in the sensor readings. Poet was a crafty one, probably either put a program to disrupt the sensors reading his signal, or using some kind of personal dampening field on himself.

A pit of dread filled up Lieutenant Corgan's stomach. Did Poet really do the ultimate punishment on her? Or was she still alive, and protected (somewhat) by Poet's devices? He didn't have time to sweep the entire ship, but he did know where to start looking. To find the Poet, he needed to put a name to that dark face of his. The location of his last transmission pointed to some quarters, which while James was walking back to security before, conveniently didn't reveal the owner of the cabin to the computer. He had to go there himself. James walked over to the far wall to pick up an investigative kit, then pointed to Ensign K'vada and Lt.Jg Brightspot to-Srallansre.

"K'vada, Brightspot, come with me. We're going to deck 15 to check out somebody's quarters. I suggest you all pack some heat while you're at it."

"Well then, with that settled, let's get over there. I sure as hell ain't going to let the ship get run down to hell, not on my watch!"

K'vada, Brightspot and James Corgan stood in front of Cabin 93, deck 15. For a master criminal and a hacker with almost no equal, his quarters sure didn't look that significant. A small door blocked them from entering the person's quarters, and a computer search didn't reveal the resident.

"Computer, open this cabin door, authorization Corgan beta omega gray." He requested. The computer thought of the command for a bit with a *bee doooo bleep*, then allowed the doors to swish freely open. A pit of darkness awaited the three officers.

"This is it, folks. The first step towards busting his ass." Corgan grinned, "Just be careful. He might still be around."

All three officer armed themselves with phasers. While James held a phaser on one hand, he brought out his tricorder and scanned for lifesigns. So far, nothing, but James wasn't going to leave that to chance. Who knew what other electronic tricks he had up his sleeve. Cautiously, the three security officers talked into the darkness ahead.

The lights flashed on brilliantly, revealing the quarters in all of its dark depravity. It was a sight so surprising that it shocked all three officers to the core. They all put away their phasers.

"Nobody's home," Brightspot announced, "Or else I could smell him even through this stink."

"Very well then, let's start searching. K'vada, take some holorecordings of the crime scene while me and Brightspot search for evidence."

"Aye, sir." The growling Klingon said. He opened up an investigative kit and pulled out a small holorecorder. Brightspot and James each took a pair of evidence gathering gloves. While he was doing this, James took in his disturbing surroundings.

The first thing he noticed was how messy and disorganized the Poet's cabin was. Wires, cables and electronic gadgets were strewn around the living room like a dark network. Some of the gadgets looked familiar, such as various scanning equipment, computer processor units, data storage modules and LCARS display screens. That was just the Starfleet standard issue items. Most of the other pieces of techno wizardry didn't match Starfleet specs. One alien item he recognized was an Orion encryption-decoding machine. With all the technology laying around, it also mingled with other small and unimportant items too numerous to count, as well as soiled clothes and dirty dishes from the replicator. A smell permeated in the air, as if the smell of sweaty secretions and semen mixed into one.

It looked like the Poet's main computer was placed in a dark corner of his living room. It consisted of six monitor screens, now black from being switched off. Besides the monitor screens, five boxes laid on the floor beside the computer desk, as well as two datadrives. The first one was a Cardassian design, it's round hole and amber casing showing it to be compatible with Isolinear datarods. The other was standard federation design for Isolinear chips. The boxes right beside the computer screens were each labeled 'Recordings' and a person's name. Two boxes alone were labeled 'Lexa', while James had a box of his very own. A boxlike component of the machine, the size of a LCARS station without the screen, sat off to the side beside a tall pile of moldy dinner plates. A keypad finished off the large and impressive workstation. More wires trailed away from the computer. One of them reached a large monitor suspended on the roof, above Poet's ruffled up and horribly unkempt bed. Another wire went straight to the bathroom. Looking at the bed, he thought the aweful smell of human secretions came from that area. He looked at the giant bed monitor again, and then the bed, and after placing the two together, he concluded that Poet was also a pervert.

~~"Ewwww... that sick bastard. He must have gotten his jollies watching her. Probably watched me just to make sure I didn't catch him."~~

The walls scared James Corgan even more. Almost everywhere he looked, pictures covered the room like a hideous wallpaper of obsession. Every picture showed Lieutenant Electra Reece in various situations. Most involved her regular life on board the Galaxy, since there were pictures of her on the Ops console in the bridge, her working in her office and quarters, various shots of her walking down the Galaxy's corridors, a few large pictures of her eating at Ten Forward and a large poster showing Electra playing the violin. Everywhere he turned, he saw the pictures staring back at him with an ironic innocence, as if the person in the pictures didn't know that she was being watched. Looking back at another wall, the pictures seemed to change in their intensity. The new pictures showed Electra in a more revealing light. Most of the shots came from her quarters, and they involved Electra dressed up in her more revealing undergarments and sleepwear. James blushed as he saw the statuesque (Literally! She's freaking tall!) beauty.

~~"If this wasn't so depraved, I would have thought she was beautiful."~~ James noted.

In a far corner of the living room sat at least a dozen plastic boxes and crates. He took a few steps to reach the boxes. They too were labeled in the same fashion as the 'recordings' boxes. One of them read 'Lexa's Items'. He opened the small, medkit sized box to reveal more items. There was a lock of hair that the tricorder identified as Electra's. A hairbrush laid beside the hair, as well as a communicator badge, a few old toothbrushes, a white hairband that looked familiar and pieces of cheap jewelry. He swept the tricorder over the items, and fingerprint analysis revealed Electra's prints, and nobody else's. The Lieutenant closed the box and looked at the other one; a real medkit. He checked inside the medkit and found a hypospray with a few empty vials. Another wave of the tricorder found it to be anesthizine. A third box an old 20th century wooden trunk, opened easy with little effort. It held clothes, women's clothes inside. A civilian shirt laid on top of a bundle of bras and panties. As he rummaged through the clothes, James found a sleeping gown, a pair of socks and even an old uniform. The uniform was the standard Starfleet black and gray, with a red undershirt that held two pips on its neck. The pips indicated a Lieutenant J/G wore the uniform. On the center of the outfit, a large spaghetti sauce splatter stained the uniform and the still attached comm.-badge. Once more, the tricorder identified the clothes with Electra Reece's DNA.

In retrospect, Lieutenant Corgan was flabbergasted. Never in his life did he experience something like this, and he had enough weird experiences for a dozen lifetimes. He couldn't comprehend the level of obsession that Poet showed he had for Lieutenant Reece. To him, it seemed so impossible to be blinded this badly by a crush with one person. To go this far, make a person's quarters into a living shrine of the one he loved and track the movements of her and everyone that was in his way didn't register in his head. He asked himself, ~~"Why did he go this far? How did he go this far?"~~

It was then that Lieutenant Corgan made a silent vow. Poet would go no farther than this. The next time they meet, he would be in either a jail cell, or staring down the barrel of his phaser.

But first, he needed a name. He looked at the bed, remembering the rank smell that wafted towards his nose. While Poet covered his tracks electronically, his overwhelming lust made him poorly inefficient when it came to disguising his DNA evidence. Poet left his signature all over the bed, as well as the dirty dinner plates. When all James needed was a close scan of one DNA strand, Poet left a treasure trove to look at.

James walked to the bed. Careful not to touch it out of loathing and disgust, he scanned with his tricorder by switching it to scan for genetic material. With a beep, the tricorder revealed it's answer to the Lieutenant.

In a microsecond, all of Poet's meticulous track covering and hiding unraveled in front of James' eyes, again! The name of the perpetrator flashed on the tricorder's tiny screen like a warning. Quickly, Lieutenant Corgan tapped his comm.-badge.

"Corgan to security," He announced, "Put out a ship wide alert for an Ensign Carson Pratt. Have security teams assemble in twos and search the whole ship for him. Make sure all the non essential consoles on this ship show his face."

Game. Match. Set. Carson 'Poet' Pratt was finally revealed. It didn't matter if the sensors couldn't find him, he had nowhere to go and a whole ship ready to grab him at a moment's notice. The hunt was on for the Poet.

Michael had been assigned to Deck 10 on patrol. He must have paced up and down the deck twenty or thirty times. There was nothing happening and Michael wanted to be on the bridge where all the action was. During his boredom he counted thirty doors on this deck. He started to count how many feet it would take him to get from one end to the other end of the corridor. "One....two...three... four..." he started counting out loud. He heard two loud thumps, so he stopped in his tracks. He listened like a bird stalking his prey. He heard nothing. He continued his walk this time not counting but just listening.

There it was again and he was getting closer. He got closer to the wall and put his ear up against the panels. Then another one, this time he had pinpointed where it was coming from. It was a escape pod. He approached it and pressed the panel. An annoying sound alerted him that access denied. He pulled down the panel and tried to over-ride the lock. His fingers raced over buttons. Finally he did it. The hatch hissed as it made it's descent downwards. He pulled out his phaser and headed into the pod. What he saw stunned him and he stood there frozen, his mind just blank. A small red haired man in a gold engineer's uniform was beating savagely a defenseless naked girl.

"Raise that hand once more and it will be the last time you will ever raise any part of your anatomy," Michael said with vengeance going through his words.

Carson Pratt looked up as the words filtered through the anger filling his mind. He saw a tall, young, bald man in a Security uniform aiming a phaser at him.

~ How dare he!?! How dare he interrupt my time with Lexa? Like Corgan. Stupid Security monkeys. Lexa is mine and he isn't going to interfere. I'll teach him to try to take her away from me. She's mine, mine, mine. I love her and she loves me. ~

Carson stared at the Security officer and his eyes narrowed as his thoughts raced. His brilliant mind judged distances and estimated the response time of his attacker. His lip curled and he lunged forward, dodging to the right as he saw the finger tightening on the trigger button.

Carson leapt and knocked the phaser out of Michael's hand. It fired a shot which flew into the roof, scattering sparks everywhere. Michael turned to Carson. "You wanna peice of me?" he asked and lunged for him.

Carson landed an elbow into the midsection and Michael bent over a bit winded. "Stupid monkey. You don't know who you're dealing with." Carson then proceed to kick him into the stomach, each kick giving him great pleasure as he imagined it was Corgan below him. "That is for Lexa! You'll never have her! She's mine, you Borg lover!"

Michael fell onto the floor, his face wreathed in pain. Michael could hear Carson shouting at him but he was dazed and couldn't understand.

Carson stood over him and looked into his face, spitting at him. Michael reached up and grabbed his neck, putting him into a headlock, and wrestling him to the ground. Carson tried to break free hitting bodyshot after bodyshot back towards the Security officer. Michael was lucky he didn't have hair as Carson tried to grab something a couple of times.

Finally, Carson got to his feet and threw Michael against the wall. He then hit him with a couple of forearms to the face. Blood flowed from Michael's lip and nose. Just as he threw another dig, Michael ducked and Carson's hand hit the wall. Michael stepped up behind him and joined his fists and struck him with a vicious blow to the back of the head. His eyes rolling upwards in his head, Carson hit the floor. Michael kicked him into the midsection four or five times. "I don't like it when I am bleeding," he said as he gave one more kick.

Michael looked around and saw Electra on the floor. He made his way over picking up the phaser he had dropped on the ground. He bent over her.

Then he heard something drop behind him. He drew his phaser and jumped left firing a shot into Carson's stomach. Carson would have drilled a piece of conduit through Michael's body, if a bit of falling metal hadn't alerted him. Michael stood up and took a deep breath.

He tapped his comm badge. "McCarthy to transporter room three, emergency medical transport directly to sickbay. Lock on to the female directly in front of me."

He watched as the girl dematerialized and turned to the maniac. "McCarthy to Security. I think I have found one of the stalkers. He is unconscious from a phaser blast. Transport him directly to the brig."

[ Security here. Scanning. You've got Ensign Carson Pratt there. Lieutenant Corgan will be happy about this. Beaming the sucker directly to the brig. Stand by. ]

As the man dematerialized, Michael turned to the exit and thought about getting his cuts and scrapes tended.

Rebecca was just putting the finishing touches on her uniform, and was about to tuck her shoulder length red hair back into a simple white headband, when the RED ALERT sounded.

The Claxon was more muted and mellow than the blaring alarms of Starfleet's early days, but the telltale glow of the crimson warning lights was enough to chill the young officer's blood in an instant.

[ALL HANDS RED ALERT�..BORG FLEET OFF THE STARBOARD BOW] Commander Thomas's stern announcement reached every deck of the Galaxy within seconds aleerting the 1000 man crew of the exact nature of their dangerous nemesis.

~~~Dear Noodles in Heaven!~~~ Rebecca thought, her mouth dropping open in shock. ~~~A Borg FLEET!?!~~~

The newly Appointed Chief Tactical Officer remained frozen in front of her Bathroom mirror for several seconds. Somewhere in the back of her mind she noted how her already pale freckled face seemed to quickly drain of what little color it did have. Raw naked fear beamed out from her eyes, much like a hapless Deer frozen in the headlights of an oncoming vehicle.

She had faced the Borg before��.Triumphed over them even, but this time was different. This time she had relatively few of the new Multi-Phasic Torpedoes, the only weapon of real value against the Cybernetic Monsters. This time the Galaxy was forced to go into battle with its weapons nearly impotent with uselessness. And more importantly, so far as the terrified young officer was concerned��This time SHE was in charge.

The sudden overwhelming feeling of sheer fear and nausea threatened to batter the poor girl to her knees, and she barely made it to the Toilet before loosing her Corn Flakes in a series of painful regurgitative spasms.

Commander Thomas's overhead announcement rang out again�..not yet concerned by her absence, but curious nonetheless. A minute and a half should be ample time for a well trained officer to reach her assigned battlestation.

Rebecca knelt for several minutes before the porcelain god, praying for any respite from both her fear and her quavering bowels. The remnants of breakfast whooshed out of sight with a simple touch to the flush button, but she dared not move quite yet, preferring to remain close to this cool Ceramic Sanctuary.

The deck beneath the nauseated young girl seemed to heave and twist violently, and for a moment she thought that it was a side-effect of her fear. However as the shaking and shuddering of the floor continued, she quickly realized that the GALAXY was in fact maneuvering violently in space, caught in the midst of a violent Battle. The barely perceptible whooshes of Torpedoes firing could be sensed in the deck's vibrations.

~~~Got�.to�..get�.to Bridge.~~~ her mind shouted. ~~~My�.duty�..my responsibility! ~~~

Pulling her feet shakily underneath her, Rebecca stood carefully and regained her composure.

The consequences of her Duties pounded loudly in her ears. This time SHE was responsible!! If Tactical goofed�it was HER fault!!! She needed to be on the Bridge!!

Warily sipping a bit of water from the bathroom faucet, Rebecca spat to clear the foul taste in her mouth, and wiped the cold sweat from her forehead with a nearby hand-towel.

Every bone in her body screamed for her to run and hide, but somehow she stumbled towards the door.

Rayna had spent most of her time in bed via the doctor's orders. She was sitting on the floor with Nikki, playing a game. She was really bored and had hoped to return to work to help with the search but she was also hesitant to go back. She would have to depend on what the doctor felt was best.

Mike had taken time off too, to basically wait on her hand and foot, to help her get better, Nikki loved the necklace/trackign device that Lt Ral had given her.

She laughed, "Mommy keeps losing." Rayna smiled, "What can I say? You are just too smart for me Nikki."

Mike chuckled and kissed Nikki on the forehead and then Rayna on the lips. He wanted to ask how she was feeling, but he didn't want to worry Nikki.

Rayna lost her seventh game. She just couldn't concentrate on it, "Oh darn, lost again." Nikki laughed again. "Nikki, mommy's a little tired now. Why don't you go play on your computer and we'll play it again later, okay?" Nikki nodded and left to her room, kissing Rayna for playing a game with her which wasn't too often.

Mike smiled and touseled her hair on the way out as she scampered to her room. Once they were alone Mike placed his hand on her belly, "how are the twins behaving."

"So far so good. I haven't felt them complain yet." She put away the game and picked up the deck of cards to put them away, "Gin Rummy?"

Shaking his head Mike laid next to her, "Actually the doctor is going to stop by in a few mintues for a check up. Figured it would be better then dragging you in to sickbay."

"Well, while we're waiting, how about a game of 52 pick up? I'll throw the cards in the air and watch you retrieve them." She was bored.

"Howbout we skip that for now." Mike teased her a bit then got serious, "I know you're bored out of your skull, you don't want to be in bed. But today the doc will release you to duty."

"He'd better. I hear that Security has this big search going on. I'd like to help out, earn my pips."

"Yeah." Mike had gotten reports, "Apparantly all hell is breaking loose over there."

"Everything always seems to happen when I can't be there." She got back off the floor, "I feel like a caged animal here."

He put his hand on her shoudler and bit off his urge to tell her that if she had've gone in to the fray they could have lost their children.

She walked over to the replicator, getting her own drink, "I mean, it's not like walking around the ship is going to hurt me, it's just a search for goodness sake."

He exhaled, again not experssing his opinion, because he knows she will not like to hear what he has to say. Inhale exhale inhale exhale. "True, but what if you get ambushed again." And this time you miscarry, and then what.

"Maybe you're right. Maybe I should stick with staying here and guard the family instead. With that maniac lose, he could come back here any time." She took a sip of her water, "In fact, maybe I should just forget about my job until after the babies are born or better yet, change my god damn occupation." She walked past him back to the bedroom.

He turned back to follow, "that's not what I said and you know it, dammit Rayna when you were cramping it scared the hell out of me, the only reason I didn't break down right there was I had to get you help, what if you had've lost the babies. What if he had've hurt you, or worse.. you think I want to go on without you?"

"Oh and a Counselor going on a Borg retrieval mission was safe? If we think like that, then we have no business in Starfleet." She got back into bed.

"It wasn't the sharpest thing I did by far." He looked at her, "but they needed volunteers so I volunteered."

There, you said it...YOU VOLUNTEERED but security is my job, my duty. That is what I was hired to do. What do you want me to do? Be a stay home wife and mother? Give up a job that I am damn good at?"

Mike was getting frustrated, he had never said that, he never ever told her to give up her job, he just expressed his fears to her. Exhaling he knew yelling would be bad, "No I didn't say that."

Rayna rubbed her now throbbing temples, "Look, I still have a few more months before they force me to take medical leave. Let me feel useful until then. There is someone out there that is doing god knows what and I need to know that I helped look."

Mike nodded, "I never would step in the way of you working, if the doctor says you can, go back to work."

"That's all I'm asking." She had made her point. She could never just back down from a fight.

He walked over to her and sat down, Looking at the floor she could tell he was nervous about it, "just... be careful."

Now if the doctor would get here so I can convince him." patrickb01: He looked at her, she could tell he was serious, and all her assurances aside he was terrified.

She may have seemed sure of herself on the outside but she still was trying to convince herself on the inside. If she had learned anything form the rape, she knew that she needed to get back up on that horse. Finally, the doctor arrived.

Mike left to give them privacy for the exam and paced outside while it went on. Nikki was oblivious actually.

The doctor smiled, "So how are we feeling today?" She answered, "WE are feeling fine. I'm quite anxious to get back to work." His silence was kind of nerve wracking, "You're blood pressure is slightly elevated. Anything going on you want to tell me?" Rayna told him about the argument they had, "I have to agree with him. I really think you should consider taking an early medical leave but I can't force you...yet." She gave him a disapproving look, "All I want is to help out finding this guy. I'm not planning to go hand to hand with this guy, just find him." The doctor still disagreed but went with her on it, "Well, I don't see anything here keeping you so you're free to work but only half duty shifts but next month, I'm making you go on forced medical leave, no ifs, ands, or butts about it."

Mike walked to the door and saw the doctor putting his kit away, "So doctor, how is she?"

"She's fine and there seems to be no signs of danger to the babies. She can go back to work, that is if she wants to...half shifts."

Mike nodded, he would be watching her a bit more carefully now, "I'm sure she wants to go back to work." his expression told the doc what he felt about it

He puts his hand on Mike's shoulder, lowering his voice, "You're wife can be very convincing." He spoke louder again, "Well, just remember, if either of you need anything, give me a call. I'll be glad to make another housecall."

He nodded, "We will indeed doctor." Walking over to her he sat next to her, "So Commander, get on your uniform and report to security." Damned doctors, he had hoped he'd back him up, maybe he should go with her.

Now that she had permission, the second thoughts came rushing in. She laid there for what seemed to be an eternity, "The doctor still needs to get the report to Savat and Price before I can get back to work." She got up to take a shower, maybe a long one.

Mike wanted to say something wanted to yell to beg to plead to do anyting to get her to stay here, not to go out to the ship where psycos were around and they would not hesitate in hurting people. He wanted to get one of those old earth shotguns, bar the door and keep his family safe. Laying down he sighed, wishing he had the answers.

Rayna seemed to be taking her own sweet time. She put on a new uniform and pips and was soon ready. She waited for another argument from Mike.

He wouldn't argue, it did no good, what was he going to do yell at her, order her to stay, yea right, like she'd listen, he couldn't do a thing, and if she lost the babies because some psyco got in a lucky shot, well he couldn't do a thing about that either.

Rayna knew that he was not happy with her decision but she needed to feel like she helped. She gave one more attempt to convince him, "I'll be extra careful, okay?"

"Ok." He said tonelessly. Standing up he looked at her, "I can't exactly command you not to go can I? You have a duty to the ship, and you're going to do it. All I can do is pray that you come home, and pray that the babies don't get hurt."

She kissed him and then walked out the door, "Kiss Nikki for me." She went off to report to security.

Rayna reported back after standing by the entrance to Security. Once in, it took her a while to convince them that she still had a good month to go before she needed to take maternity leave. Finally, she was assigned to look for another missing person. She reported to the one heading that search.

After a few hours, she was informed that they might have caught the one who was named "The Poet." Rayna went to the brig where he was being held and she walked to his cell. She sat there until he gained conciousness. His voice was the first thing she noticed. After all, she never saw his face but now, she would get to see who almost caused her to lose the babies.

She wasn't sure if she should just leave or stay and tell him off. She sat there, not saying a word, just thinking how she'd like to kill him for making herself look weak.

Karyn left the Captain's Ready Room and decided to see if she could catch Kent before he left for the transporter room, maybe even take the opportunity to see him off. Into what? was simply not an answer she would let herself search for. She had to stay focused on everything that came next, even with those nagging questions threatening to overtake her professional mental resolve.

Maybe the Captain was right, maybe this was an opportunity for Kent to face his demons and overcome them, and maybe Karyn was the one person blocking his way... A counselor wasn't supposed to interfere with a person's life, force their lives to take a path just because it was what the counselor thought best.

Hadn't Kent made his choice? He was a dedicated officer who would not think to put his own well-being before that of someone else's. His duty as a Starfleet Officer was clear, in this case a decision had been made and his Captain and the Federation expected him to carry it out, despite his own feelings.

Perhaps therein lie the problem. Karyn dealt with feelings all the time. She was expected to dig deep into people's psyches and to come up with answers to the personal whys and whats that could not be handled like a simple computer might. There were no one size fits all solutions, no 'for the greater good' notions that got the job done. She could not do her job without looking at people's lives as more than just a number or series of random events and people, and yet, when the time came, she had to accept the idea that all of them were expendable. Dig just enough to find the efficiency problem and then pull back so they could carry out what they were programmed to do. To her own mind, she sounded no better than the Borg.

It pained her to think of herself as just another quality control person in the cog that was Starfleet, but in the final analysis, what more was she? Was what she invested, what she had come to feel for these people, nothing more than another demanded expectation?

In Kent's case, it felt more like an occupational hazard. She had a name and a face to put to the situation she might find if they returned... She had concerns and issues that she'd started to delve a bit into during their talk that would haunt her until they returned. The rational part of her reminded her that she had done what she felt best to protect the mission and Kent, and unfortunately it was a risk that she was going to have to deal with.

Come to think of it, maybe the thing that bothered her the most was that she was unable to think with emotionless logic like the Borg after all...

She rang the chime to Kent's door and it opened before she had really thought about what she was going to say. Despite that, Kent seemed to understand, or at least did not feel the need to object to her being there, and he stepped back to allow her entry into his quarters. It was the second time she'd been there, and nothing had really changed, except...was it her imagination or did things seem even more disheveled than they were the last time she'd been here?

"Counselor," Peterson said with a polite nod. Somehow he had expected to see her once she was made aware of the away team Captain Price had selected. "So what brings you to these parts?"

She finally decided to break the silence. "I wanted to come by and see how you were. I've been worried about you since we last spoke and thought the least I could do was see you off. To be honest, I spoke with the Captain about not sending you over there, but he seems to think you can face your fears if given this opportunity. I agree that you can face your fears, but the location was entirely his choice." Her voice carried with it a matter of fact attitude she didn't really feel, but she saw no reason to hide her feelings. Somehow she knew he'd see through them.

Without saying anything else he turned towards the windows. They were filled by the tranquil blue planetscape of Bolarus IX, a planet that only hours before had been threatened with assimilation. A part of him was angered - it was a guy thing - because he did not want to appear weak. He had opened up to her and already felt some embarrassment, regardless of the fact that it gave him a false sense of having dealt with his past. The anger faded as quickly as it had arrived. Kent realized that as Ship's Counselor it was her responsibility to advise the Captain as to whether members of his crew were fit, in her opinion, to handle the situations they faced.

"Well I'll be honest ... I haven't been this nervous since I received my first posting after graduating from the Academy," he said with a smile, fondly remembering that night. "It seemed like the longest night ever. Then the day came and I arrived that day at the starbase for transfer to the Roosevelt. It all seems silly now."

"I bet it did," Karyn remarked as she recalled how she felt with her first assignment, "but this situation is very different." There was no sense glossing over his emotions now,helping him to get into a 'tough zone' mentally just before his trial by fire seemed artificial.

"You make it sound as though you believe you won't get back." Why did it bother her so much to hear him speak with a candor that she was trying to deal with herself, but never the less knew she had to prepare herself for?

"I'd be a liar to say the thought hadn't crossed my mind. I've been lucky son of a gun. I managed to survive Wolf 359," he said, wondering how the nightmares and insecurities from that even could be considered a true survival, "the encounter in the Typhon Sector," he said' before guestering towards the planet below, "and now this. When you've been through all of that, you have to wonder how long that luck is going to last."

An awkward pause hung around them for the next few moments. As he waited for some words of wisdom from Karyn, he glanced over at the bookshelf, something catching his eye, prompting him to turn back to the Ship's Counselor. "But you could do me one favour while I'm gone ..."

Karyn was a bit annoyed that she was as relieved as she was that he changed the subject. Where was her pep talk? Where were her assurances? She couldn't bring herself to do it, it was not her style to offer false hope, even if in this case, she thought it would do him some good as his counselor. She hadn't wanted him to go, and besides she wasn't sure she disagreed with him.

Kent walked over to the bookshelf and picked up a round piece of vulcanized rubbed from the display stand. Karyn tried to see what it was, but he was unintentionally blocking her field of view. The Chief Science Officer turned back around and walked towards Counselor Dallas and her anti-grav chair. Reaching out he handed her the hockey puck.

"... hold on to this until I get back," he said, still thinking about the amazing game that won the San Fransisco campus the championship for that year. In a way it symbolized the part of him that the Borg had not managed to touch. "Academy Ice Hockey Champions for 2363."

Karyn took the hockey puck from him and swallowed the lump in her throat that she hadn't known was there until she tried to speak. She wanted to refuse. She wasn't sure why he was giving her this to hang onto, and while she had thought all this time she was being objectively rational about the entire situation despite having been overruled earlier by Captain Price, the seriousness of the gesture wasn't lost on Karyn no matter how much she wanted to ignore it. Fortunately, she didn't have to find the right words that kept her on the fine line between optimism and not buying all the crap that had become too easy for her to say the past three years. She was interrupted by the comm.

["Surok to Peterson,"] the Galaxy's Second Officer, interrupting the conversation as he travelled en route to the transporter room, ["your presence is required in Transporter Room Three."]

Kent reached across his chest and tapped his communicator, "Understood 'Commander. Peterson out." Looking down at the counselor, "Looks like we're ready to go."

Karyn nodded. The 'we are' in that stament didn't at all mean that he was ready, but as so often happened when the group mission became more important than the individual, it didn't matter. One person spoke for the entire team, told them what was, and he was expected to accept it as fact.

Peterson stood there, unsure how he should react. Acting before he had the chance to do anything, he reached down and gave Karyn a kiss. He pulled back after a few moments, not believing that he had just invaded her personal space like that.

Dallas too was left unsure of how to react. "What was that for?" Her question did not come out of surprise so much as she didn't want to think that he was doing so simply because he felt like he was about to lose everything worth having. She wanted him to fight, wanted him to focus on coming home, and she was sure that if he were to come back, this was the last thing he'd want interfering with their professional relationship. She was so wrapped up in what the simple brush with her lips revealed about him, that she refused to think about how she felt about it. It wasn't important.

"At least then, if I do go down, people can say I got the girl too," he said jokingly, making an obscure reference to an old Wild West story his father told him as a boy. "Seriously though, I should go. I've still got to organize transporting the Borg we have in Science Lab Three as well."

All business once more, Karyn nodded, "I understand, and thank you for this," she said, holding up the puck, "I'm just borrowing it until you get back." She added with a touch more assuredness, "besides, what's the joy in getting the girl if you aren't around to tell people yourself?" With that, Karyn turned her chair on a dime, and left Kent to his thoughts.

James immediately got onto thr Battle Bridge for his duty, and manned the Tactical station. He began monitoring the Bridge Tactical Station and it had shown that there were multiphasic torpedoes fired. He activated the screen on the Battle Bridge and saw a Borg Fleet headed right for the Galaxy. His eyes widened to see this.

He saw the others scramble to their positions just in case of an emergency, like it was ever going to happen since the ship had multiphasic torpedoes.

"As if these Borg Cubes could kick our ass with these multiphasic torpdoes. We're invincible," stated an ensign while on his duty.

"Don't be too confident, Ensign, anything could go wrong," said Kincaid in response.

"Feeling my ass, this is THE USS Galaxy with Special Ablative Armor and Multiphasic torpedoes," said the ensign in a louder voice.

James watched as another torpedo was off, and the Borg adapted by generating some sort of tachyon field. They did adapt to the Multiphasic Torpedo after all. James sighed and leaned his hands on the edge of the Tactical station. He had confidence that the Main Bridge had everything under control, but he had a feeling that he actually might see some action, one way or the other...

- - - - - - -
~Sean Keohane
ICQ~ 100238118
Lieutenant j/g James Edward Kincaid
Tactical Officer, USS Galaxy

"Light Limited Duty"
by Lieutenant Elaithin Jii, Asst. Chief of Security

Lieutenant Elaithin watched as Doctor Torsag (why oh why do I keep getting
the Klingon Doctor, he thought) finished attatching the temporary prosthetic
hand to his left arm. This is the price of your lab rat, 'Commander Peterson.
My hand and a good man's life. I hope it was worth it, the Bajoran thought to
himself, fighting down the anger and bitterness, drawing heavily on his faith
in the Prophets to do so.

"Allright, move your fingers." the amazonian klingon woman instructed.

Smartly, Elaithin did as he was told. The robotic fingers responded
remarkably, allowing the young Bajoran full use of where his left hand used
to be.

"All right, Lieutenant." the Doctor informed him. "We're in a crisis
situation, so there's no reason I can't authorize you for light limited duty.
I would not keep a warrior from honorable combat. Report back to security,
but no away teams or chasing down stalkers until we get your new hand cloned
and attatched. Till then you're on Light Limited Duty."

"Button pusher, eh?" Elaithin quipped. For some reason, the Doctor's
forthright attidue was beginnng to grow on him.

"Exactly. Now get out of my sickbay"

"Aye aye, Doc." Elaithin replied, and headed back for Deck 38. He needed to
catch up on things. Mentally (and avoiding thinking of the fake hand) he
tried to run everything that was going on in his mind. Undoubtedly by now,
Peterson and his science boys and girls had figured out the reason for the
Borg's insanity. Commander Thomas would probably be leading another away team
- which 'Commander will probably be on , which means I'll be in charge of
Security. There was the Poet incident that Corgan and Lamar were working on,
the man who'd been pretending to be Tex Richey, who'd killed someone, Ensign
Kelly, he thought it was - a shame, too, bastard had me fooled - and was
stalking Rose McAllen. She's a good kid, Jii thought. I hope she's allright
and that Raven finds her unharmed. And to top it all off, Savat had called a
Security Alert One, giving everyone monitor bracelets - not unexpected - and
the Romulans were still tucked in thier quarters, seemingly behaving.

Damn, it's going to be busy.

I just hope the Borg don't try to invade the ship. LLD or not, I hope Medical
doesn't think I'm going to just sit by and let that happen.I'd rather spend
enternity in the Fire Caves with the Pah Wraiths than let that happen. What
was the human expression? It'll be a cold day in hell before I don't try to
defend this ship.

It should be noted that Starfleet Psychologists have often attempted to
explain the curious attatchment that certain personell will form with a ship
after a number of years aboard the same vessel. A ship that one serves on for
six months is just a ship. But stay on one for several years and it becomes
much more than that. A living, thinking, breathing entity in it's own right.
It becomes Home with a capital H.

And to people like Lieutenant Elaithin Jii, who'd never had much of a normal
home on the wartorn world of occupation and post-occupation Bajor.....it was
the only real home they'd ever known.

So it was really no surprise that the young man would fight to his last
breath to defend that home, and it's crew - his family.

Then the Lieutenant walked into the hub of Security - the offices on Deck 38
- and didn't see Savat, Lamar, Corgan or Darkstar around. He turned to the
first warm body he could find. Unconsciously, he flexed his prosthetic hand.

"Report." he said.

TAG - anyone in Security

-Pat Weber
GM, Admiral Victor Murdock, CO/USS Miranda
http://ussmiranda.s5.com
CGM, Cpt. Westmoreland, USS Titanic
Lt. Elaithin , ACOS, USS Galaxy

After James� departure Todd decided to get some rest. He slipped out of his uniform and once more admired his body in the mirror and gave a little smile. There was no doubt that he was proud of his appearance. He pulled back his covers on the bed and sat down

�Computer, dim the lights.� The lights faded into a low glow, just as he wanted it. While just about to settle down for the night he heard the comm. Come to live

�Doctor Sansky report to sickbay, inbound wounded.� The computers voice was harsh on Todd�s tired head. Nevertheless he quickly set lights to full illumination and after quickly getting back into uniform he marched out of his quarters, down to the turbolift.

The doors opened onto the sickbay deck as he jogged down to the main sickbay doors. Entering sickbay he saw the transporter beaming someone onto the bio bed. Todd grabbed his medical tricorder and stood by for the person to fully materialize.

Seconds later a young woman was lying naked on the bed unconscious, she was bleeding from various areas of her body. He scanned her with his tricorder and frowned

With Lt.(jg) Raven Darkstar (Security), Lt. Rose McAllen (Science),
Victor Wilson* (Homocidal psychopath NPC) and Ensign Salt (Security NPC)

Previously: After shipwide sensor sweeps discovered the missing Rose and her captor, Raven headed out to the turbolift shafts to both rescue Rose and arrest her captor.

Time: Moments after the sensors located his targets.
Location: The shaft of turbolift 6.

She peered down the seemingly bottomless turbolift shaft. Waves of vertigo washed over her. "Can't we just use the jefferies tubes? Or even just beam down there? And what about the turbolift?" she said pointing to the locked elevator car hovering several floors above them. " Is that thing gonna squish us?"

"You have nothing to be nervous about. Hold this." the Indian said as he pulled a length of cable from the odd shaped black, metal box and handed it to the Ensign.

He hefted the box and slammed it into place above the door frame on the inside of the shaft. He keyed in a series of numbers and the box began to hum as powerful electromagnets bonded it to the metal.

"What is that? What does it do?" she said. Raven shot her a glance. "Im sorry. All my questions are bothering you, aren't they?"

"They're having an impact, yes." he said as he took the end of the rope she was holding and connected it with a clamp to his harness. He tested it to make sure it was secure.

"This is a decelerator. Its programmed to slow my decent the closer the sensors in the harness get to the bottom of the shaft. If this number right here doesn't change in ten seconds, you hit the manual override right here. If you don't, I'll die."

"No pressure or anything, right?" Salt said with a nervous laugh as Raven continued.

"That's it." Raven said as he peered down the shaft. "I'll take care of the rest."

With that he leapt into the shaft. He could barely make out Ensign Salt wishing him good luck before the wind and adrenaline coursing through his own body drowned out all noise.

Exactly ten seconds into his descent, he felt his momentum begin to slow. Another ten after that and his feet gracefully touched the bottom of the shaft as gently as a child set down by a loving parent.

The bottom of the shaft was nearly dark. The bits of glass under foot told him that the light bulbs had been broken. It smelled slightly damp with hints of the scent of machines in the air.

The only other thing at the bottom of the shaft was a small man door to his left and a grime smeared window next to it.

He walked slowly to the window and peered in unable to see through the black glass. He leaned closer and pressed his ear against the cold surface and strained to hear any sounds of movement.

He tried the handle of the door and found it locked. From a small pouch on his harness he removed small charges and fixed them around the lock and at the doors hinge points. In the center of the door he attached a pressure detonator and wired it to the charges.

Taking several steps backward, he took a few deep breaths and charged at the door driving his foot into the detonator. Almost instantaneously the charges exploded sending metal splinters flying with a disorienting flash. The door crashed to the ground and as the smoke settled, Raven looked into the suprised face of Victor Wilson.

The man was naked and smelled of alcohol. Raven noticed an empty wine bottle lay at his feet. Off behind him bound to a table ringed by candles was the also naked, and unconscious Rose McAllen. One glance at her battered condition and it was apparent what had happened to her.

Victor seemed to be weighing his options. He glanced side to side, desperately looking for anything that could be used as a weapon. He still couldn't believe that he had been found.

He grabbed the small dagger he had used to slice off Rose's clothing and brandished it at the large Indian who was steadily advancing from the smoke and debris.

The Betazoid man's mind raced, computing probabilities. There was no way he could overpower the Security officer. The only route of escape was behind the man, and even if he did manage to get by him, he would have no way to get back up the shaft undetected.

"Eventually." Darkstar said as his right fist shot out and connected squarely with the man's forehead. He fell backwards, his head landing painfully against the wall. He fought to clear his vision as he was hauled back to his feet.

"YOU...YOU CAN..CANT DO THIS! YOUR A STARFLEET SECURITY OFFICER!!" Victor cried as Raven hit him again.

"Consider yourself secured." he said wryly. Victor scurried for cover as the Indian stalked him.

"YOU HAVE...THERES ..A CODE OF CONDUCT!! I SURRENDER!!! DAMMIT!!" Victor yelled, blood flying from his mouth. "YOU"LL BE PUNISHED FOR THIS!! ILL TELL THE CAPTAIN!!"

"And there's a stay in the brig. As if I cared." Raven said looking down on the battered and bloody nearly unconscious man. He turned to Rose and began to untie the ropes. He tapped his commbadge.

Rose had just began to fade when Raven felt the wine bottle shatter against the back of his head.

Darkstar just shook off the blow and turned to face the now terrified Victor who just realized what he had done.

"That was for Rose. This.." he said hoisting the man up over his head in a brilliant display of raw power," this is for James."

Seconds later Victor Wilson crashed through the blackened window. Darkstar dragged him over to the shaft opening by his ankles. He removed his harness and secured it on the unconscious man, then connected it to the dangling cable.then gripped the harness himself and shouted: "Salt! Up! NOW!

Ensign Salt walked rapidly into the brig. A crowd of security officers had gathered. Some were there to take a look at the Poet, who had apparently been captured.

Others were eager to see if Raven would return with his criminal in tow like he had stated.

"Hey Salt! Did you get 'em?" Ensign Smith asked. Salt shot him a quick glance, shook her head rapidly and pointed at the doorway. All eyes watched as seconds later Raven entered the brig dragging an unconscious naked man by his left ankle.

The nurse, waiting in cell number four as ordered, just stood there stunned like everyone else, as the big man dragged Victor directly into the cell, leaving him in a heap in the corner.

"What...What happened?" the nurse asked as she looked at the battered man in the cell.

"Then its a good thing your here, isn't it?" Raven grumbled as he looked at the crowd in the brig.

Ethan shrugged off yet another headache. They were becoming more and more common now. He'd no doubt drop by Sickbay after this mission was over, hell, maybe even take a few days off, which would be a first for Ethan.

As he walked dwn the corridor, he slowed his pace when he heard what he thought were voices. They were distant, as if in a near by room. But before he could decide where the noise was coming from, his mind was overloaded with emotions and feeligns of the worse kind. Flash after flash of lights swept across his brain, bringing with them many images.

Ethan lost control for a second and fell against the wall of the corridor. He slid down it as the images and feelings continued to wash his mind. And for a split second, everything was silent. He looked around the corridor. There was no one around, and the only sign of movement at all was the flashing red lights on the walls. He looked from side to side of the corridor and was about to stand up when he got his second attack.

Once again, images and feelings ran through his head. Stronger feelings this time. The images were running through his mind too fast to see what was going on, but he picked out someone taking a bit of pleasure from beating someone else senseless for their actions on someone else. He saw blood, cuts and bruises, rope and shattered glass from a glass or bottle maybe. The feelings were strong that his mind had a hard time keeping up. He once again fell to the floor clentched his teeth as the experience became painful. His heart was racing, the veins nearly popping out of his head. Then everything went quiet again. He took deep breaths to slow down his heart rate and think about what had just happened. He rubbed the side of his head as he sat up against the wall.

He looked around again, still, no one around. After a few more moments of gathering his thoughts, he took one more deep breath and stood up. Straightening his uniform, he strolled a little further down the corridor and stepped into the turbolift nearby.

"Bridge." he called out. As the turbolift complied and moved across and up towards the Bridge, Ethan tapped his communicator. "Suder to Security, is everything all right?" he asked, thinking how odd it must sound the Chief Engineer asking if everything was ok in Security.

"As far as I know, 'Commander, no technical faults have been reported." a security officer replied after a slight delay.

"Oh, yes sir, Lieutenant Darkstar just brought in one of the, uh, intruders that we've been looking for." the security officer replied.

"Yes, sir. From what I can tell, the guy put up a fight with Lieutenant Darkstar. Looks like he picked the wrong guy."

"Darkstar..." he repeated quietly. Ethan's mind began unlocking past events in his head. Wasn't he the one who had a thing for.. He shook the thought out of his head, he wanted to forget that part of the past.

"Thank you, Suder out." he quietly said. In fact, just about everything he said these days was quiet. "Engineering." he called out when he realised that he'd forgotten his data padd with the information on the torpedoes. Odd, it wasn't like him to forget anything. Again, he shook it off and waited as the turbolift took him back to Engineering...

Rayna decided to leave the brig because she was afraid that she might kill him. She returned home and found a PADD waiting for her. She hadn't realized that the two girls were found. Rayna held the report in her hand, a cold PADD that delivered the awful news......

"Victim 1, Lt Rose Isis MacAllen-raped-beaten and Victim 2, Ensign Electra Reece-possibly raped-beaten."

Both victims of rape...Rayna read the reports and fell to her knees in tears. She couldn't believe it. How could this happen on this ship? She felt so bad being in security and not being able to do anything about it...all because of this damn pregnancy. She suddenly felt nauseaus and got up, puking her stomach contents out.

She knew what was in store for these woman. It was something that took a long time for her to get over. She remembered how much the touch of a man made her cringe and the guilt thinking it was her fault and something that she could have prevented. If only she had done things differently...those were the feelings that she carried with her for years. She laid down by the toilet, the room spinning and she felt weak. She couldn't get up.

More memories flooded in. Her wrist could feel the bruises that once plagued them and the bruising of her inner thighs from the powerful hips of the man who raped her, the pain she felt inside of her as he forced himself into her. Last but not least, the bruising around her mouth where he held it tight so she couldn't scream. She grabbed onto her wrist, trying to stop the fanthom pain. She couldn't stop crying.

Fortunately, Nikki wasn't home to see this. Time no longer moved or so it seemed. All of the sudden, a tightness in her abdomen began, the same feeling she had right before she went into labor.

He got the same reports, assault, definate rape, possible rape. This was going to be hard on them and it was going to be hard on everyone who was involved.

Normally he'd be all over this one, to try and assist as best he could, but he was a man odds were women wouldn't want to share about rape and abuse to a male counselor, so he'd be shunting Electra Reece and Rose McAllan off to Karyn and SHinta.

It was his night to make dinner, though he would stop by and check on Electra Reece later on, just to make sure she was ok.

Getting up he put pressure on his leg, it still protested, I guess it would keep protesting untill it got better, the doctors told him it would just take time. It was getting better but a couple of days were necessary to get it better.

"Illicit Investigations"
by, Lt. (j.g.) Wilhem Quevvenson,
and
Ens. Autumn Jamieson
----------------------------------------

Autumn glanced up as Wilhem and the security officer ran towards her. "Hey! I can't find her anywhere. She's not in her room and she isn't answering her com. I am starting to get worried... what with after Jessie getting bashed and all that.?I am really worried about Rose. I knew that there was something bugging her the other day... I should have pushed it." She ran her hands across her face.

Wilhem did not know what to do, so he went to the old standby, soothing ruffled feathers. "It'll be okay, Autumn. We'll find her."

"I know that security is starting their sweeps soon.. I just hope that they find her when they sweep." She shook her head to clear the thoughts. "If they don't I don't want to be the one to tell her Mother and Father." She glanced about again, and then looked back at Wilhem. "Any ideas?"

Wilhem shook his head, "No ideas. Just that if anything happens to her, I'll cut the disreputable Elfe's appendage off and shove it down his throat."

"Nice Idea," Autumn gave a brief smile. "But with all that's been happening on this ship, I think there will be a huge line up for the perp's/perps' body parts." She turned to the security officer and gave him a look of 'Well, what is security doing about this?' and she waited for an answer.

Ensign Walter Johnson said, "Security is doing all it can do in situations like this. We are searching for the missing, and whoever may have kidnapped her. Now, what we need for you to do is stay calm, and tell us where she would normally be. We will start there and branch out from there. Now, we also need for you to leave the investigating to us. You will only get in the way of the authorities. And if you were to find the possible perp, we would not want you to get hurt by him."

"I have no idea where she'd be at this hour. I had thought sleeping... catching up on the sleep she missed two nights ago.. but no answer at her room... she isn't due on duty yet... she wasn't in the Gym..." Autumn trailed off starting to get agitated, 'Come on think Autumn! Think!'

Wilhem stood there quite confused as to what to say. He was a warrior from another time, not really a person that wanted to do anything untoward and uncivilized in this next time period. "I think she checked the Holodecks, and she wasn't there. So we don't have a clue where she might be."

"I called her com and got no answer. I then checked with the computer it gave me 'Location uncertain.' Tell me how a state of the art computer that is supposedly able to know everything can give that type of response." Autumn leaned up against the wall and tried to relax. "Something's up and I can feel it."

Wilhem was perplexed, then he realized what that probably meant. "She's not in a location readable by the computer. And she might not have that tag thing on her, yet. She definitely does not have her communicator on. That means..."

Ens. Johnson spoke up, "That it is time for you to go home, and let the Security personnel work on this. You will do no good by yourselves. So give up trying to be detectives. That's our job."

Autumn pushed herself off the wall and turned to the security officer. "Now wait just a minute!" she said loudly. "If you think that I am going to just sit back and wait for you guys to find her then you can think again!"

Johnson shrugged, "Or I can put you into the brig for the time it takes to find her. For your own protection, of course."

Wilhem quickly moved beside Autumn, "No, no, that won't be necessary. We'll go home. You can be sure of that." Then he looked at Autumn, and placed this into her mind, ~We can search for her when Mr. Johnson is gone. But we can't fight the law.~

Autumn opened her mouth to protest and then shut it again. Moving closer to Wil she nodded. "OK. Home it is, then." She lowered her head and glared at the floor.

Johnson nodded, "Good. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to get to work tracking this officer." He then left and walked off towards the security offices.

Wilhem watched him go, then in a low voice to Autumn, said, "You know, he could have had extra help if he just understood what we are like. But my tracking skills are a little rusty, and he does not know us that well."

"Leave the detective work to us," Autumn mimiced under her breath. "Who did he think did a lot of work on the madame Kiye case? So do we risk time in the brig?"

Wilhem looked around a moment, then said softly, "Why not? She is, after all, our friend. Besides we can be like those teenage detectives the Hardys and Nancy Drew. Solve a case all on our own."

"OK," pulling out a PADD she hooked it into the ship's computer. "Lets check out Rose's Bio and lets for sneakiness sake hack into security's surveillence cameras," she glanced around and grinned. "Always be prepared."

Wilhem looked askance, "The security cameras? Isn't that cutting it quite close." He looked around, and said, "How can we be sure we aren't being watched right now?"

"Oh that we can be certain of... but if I reroute the track and use multiple conections I can make it seem as if it is the normal security survalience and then they will take a while to track us down... There, all they are seeing is a empty hallway," she then downloaded the files on Rose. "Nothing special here." She pressed a key and brought up the scans.

Wilhem shrugged, "I hope you now what you're doing. What with the increased security patrols and awareness as we approach the Borg."

Autumn grinned. "If they can catch me and this code then I guess I deserve to be caught. This code is to my mind fool proof. If the Reliant's security officers couldn't track it, well then I have to hope Savat and his minons can't." She brought up the scans so he could see them clearly as they jumped from room to room. "But then the Reliant's entire crew were brain dead idiots who couldn't tell a warp nacelle from a hypospray."

Wilhem shook his head, "I'm going to regret this," he muttered under his breath. He watched the screen for some time, not seeing Rose. When it began to replay scenes of places before, he looked around to see if they were still alone.

Autumn caught that and shot him a look. "YOU ARE GOING to regret this?" She hissed. "I am the one looking down the throat of a court marshall... your just standing there. Besides if we get caught... you were trying to stop me," she added with her normal grin.

Wilhem smiled, "Knowing the normal range of Security, I'm willing to bet with a little detective work that they'll see that you are trying to protect me. Besides my honor would insist I state that I coersed you into doing this."

"Oh and you do it so well, Wilhem" She murmurred as she brought up a screen. "Bingo." She brought up the location. "Turbolifts 4 5 and 6. Underneath. How in the gods..." She trailed off.

Wilhem was confused, too. "Beneath the Turbolifts? That's going to be difficult to get to."

Autumn studied the screen, "Doubly so because if we have seen it you can be sure that security has as well. And if I know Corgan, O'Grady and Darkstar... they'll be on their way to get her out. We won't get within 10 meters of them without being caught... unless..."

Wilhem shook his head in amusement, "Never. They always go on the worst missions. And their casualty rates are really bad. Kind of like the classic redshirts. I also don't know if we can pass as Security. It is a tricky thing to do."

"Spoil Sport. Hmmm, ok we could sneak through the tubes... but I have a slight problem with that. Called Claustrophobia. Not to crash hot with them. You got any ideas?"

Wilhem nodded, "Yeah. Stay away from the Security forces doing their jobs. And try to help out where we can."

Rolling her eyes Autumn disconected the PADD and made sure everything was back the way it was ment to be and then sighed. "How are we going to do that without getting in the security's way?" she asked, replacing the PADD in her pocket.

Wilhem smiled grimly, "That I don't know. But it does not matter anyway. I expect that we will be picked up by Security for our roles in a break-in on their feeds, and spend the rest of this mission in the brig."

"You know you have this bad habit of being a voice of reason. Why do I hang around with you?" She asked with a smile. Sighing she rested her back agaisnt the wall again. "So now what?"

Wilhem smiled warmly, "Because opposities attract?" He then thought a moment, "May as well go home, I guess. Or maybe we should turn ourselves in? Seriously, I think we should lend a hand where we may be needed most." Suddenly, the Red Alert sirens went off, "Which is at our duty stations. Should I escort you to yours?"

Autumn glared as the red lights flashed. "No. I can make it. Knowing my luck I am needed really fast. As you most likely are. Man, the Borg, they sure know how to make a day worse." She pushed herself off the wall. "We can't use turbolifts 4to 6 as security has shut them down. So I know that we both have long walks ahead of us. Well your's is longer then mine." She grinned and moved off down the hall with him.

Wilhem nodded, "Okay. Let's go, then." He walked off towards the far turbolifts as fast as he could. time was of the essence after all.

The doors to the small Tactical Office on Deck 3 hissed open with a barely audible sigh. A thin pixie of a girl entered slowly shoulders stooped and head hanging low.

Lt (j/g) Rebecca von Ernst was just now returning from her headlong dash for the bridge in response to the latest Red Alert Warning.

Unfortunately for the young girl, her arrival at duty-station was negligently late, and Captain Price had locked her in a steely cold gaze that froze the blood in her veins.

"We are at Alert Status Lieutenant, and have been for some time now." He had began in an emotionlessly cool voice. "We're there some unusual circumstances that prevented you from reporting to Battlestations promptly?"

The tiny girl fidgeted nervously, feeling quite alone and exposed on the upper level near the Turbolift. In reality, the fact that she had been puking up her Breakfast out of sudden fear was the main reason for her tardiness, but she didn�t think that excuse would fly with the grim-faced Australian.

"N�.n�.no�.uh�..Sir." she had answered in her characteristic whispery voice. "I�I�.I�.apologize for�"

"Belay that Lieutenant." Price had cut her off disapprovingly. He was in fact quite disappointed with his new Department Chief, but not to the point of Upbraiding her in public, especially in the midst of Red Alert. "Please clear the bridge Lieutenant." He continued, "Ensign Parry is performing admirably, and I prefer to keep her on watch for the moment. I suggest you take this time to familiarize yourself more closely with the duties and responsibilities of your TEMPORARY position."

Rebecca half turned her head to glance over towards the slim woman standing at Tactical. Jessie bit her bottom lip and gave her Chief an apologetic shrug. She didn�t like seeing Rebecca humiliated any more than the rest of them, but there was no arguing with the Captain.

Nodding imperceptibly towards Jessie, Rebecca had muttered an "Aye sir," and spun on her heel, back into the Turbolift where she fought the welling up of tears until the doors safely hissed shut behind her.

Now seated back in the aforementioned Office, Rebecca scrolled down on the screen of her desktop PADD examining her day's appointments without relish. Since her assignment as (acting) Chief Tactical Officer her days seemed to be a random blur of paperwork and reports intermingled with forms that needed to be filled out.

The Tactical office in and of itself was not large, no more than a simple desk, a few chairs and a Computer Terminal. A single flat-screen wall display unit sat behind Rebecca's troubled head for use during various briefings and/or technical reports. A teetering tower of PADDS on the corner of her desk attested to the sheer volume of Bureaucratic fluff that she was forced to wade through, and a scattered collection of empty Hot Cocoa mugs attested to the long nights that she had been putting in to get it done.

Unfortunately the midnight paperwork combined with the early morning workouts with Lt. Sanchez were combining to leave poor Rebecca feeling rather frayed at the edges.

Every single weapon system and subsystem aboard the Galaxy demanded two copies of a weekly Maintenance report. The first went to Starfleet Command's QuarterMaster division, while the second was forwarded on to the respective Corporate Contractors who built the system in the first place. For instance, the Vendors from CHAROLETTE SYSTEMS on Earth were understandably curious as the performance statistics regarding its Type FSQ Deflector Shield Systems , while the Andorian firm, Loraxial Corp was notoriously pushy about getting updates on the efficiency of its Photon And Quantum Torpedo Launchers.

Add onto this the veritable mountain of research studies and shakedown reports relating to the newly installed Ablative Armor and Multi-Phasic torpedo systems, which were as of yet still highly experimental, and you begin to see her problem.

In addition to the Equipment, Rebecca was now also required to go over the various personnel files for the 100 or so members of the GALAXY's Tactical Department. As a matter of fact she had a meeting scheduled today with one of its newest recruits�..she dug through the considerable amount of desk clutter in order to find the correct PADD��.ah yes. A Lieutenant j/g James Kincaid, newly transferred over from the USS MONITOR.

========================================================== James walked down the corridor walking to meet the Department head, with a PADD of his bio and his service record. He was anxious and nervous at the same time. He was wondering if the information on the PADD was good enough.

He walked up to the officer and pressed the chime button. At that point, his heart raced. He was nervous as hell, wondering what she was like, wondering where she'd assign him.

The sound of the door chime interrupted Rebecca before she could even begin to peruse Kincaid's BIO. She froze momentarily in nervousness unsure of what to do next. Always afraid of social situations, she was also acutely aware of how messy the cluttered office appeared.

Hastily shoving a pile of PADDS into a nearby drawer, and kicking it shut she cleared her throat before asking the new arrival to enter.

James walked in an introduced himself, "Lt. j/g James Edward Kincaid, reporting as ordered, ma'am."

Rebecca's first thought when the brooding dark-haired man entered and announced himself, was ~~~Whoa�..Noodles, I KNOW this guy's face.~~~

Indeed she did. James Kincaid had been a Senior At Starfleet Academy in 2372, when little Rebecca was still a Sophomore. The grim-faced Kincaid had in fact been a Squad Leader in several Tactical Exercises undertaken by the new Cadets, and shy Rebecca was one of many underclassmen assigned to his group. She didn�t think he'd remember her, seeing as his 4th Year Activities and Graduation preparations had kept him much busier than she was.

Besides, the trembling jumble of flesh and bones that was Cadet von Ernst was easily (and quite often) overlooked�..especially by the male cadets.

James did in fact recognize her. He was in junior year when she first joined Starfleet and now had already outranked her. James knew that this Tactical Officer was smart and obviously good. James also remembered that the other cadets tormented her. He had felt sorry for her at the time, but already she had risen to become Chief Tactical Officer.

"Hello, ma'am. I was wondering what my assignment was, and if you have read my bio?"

Lost briefly in School-Days memories, it took a second for the question to register with Rebecca. "Hmmm?�..Oh�..what?�.oh your Bio?" she glanced down awkwardly at the PADD she had only just now picked up. "Oh�.uh��sure�.sorta."

James smiled, hoping that he wouldn't make a wrong move, then he had realized that he had left his Katana in the sheath on his left hip. 'Dumbass Kincaid! Very smart of you to forget to take off your katana before meeting the head!'

"So�.um�..Lieutenant�..uh I mean James have a �.uh seat." Rebecca babbled incoherently, quite intimidated by the tall man's piercing gaze.

James really preferred to stand. His mentor, Commander Reikan, now CO of the Citadel Station located near the Romulan Border, had told him that it was always best to stand while meeting his department head. He had said that some, not most but some, department heads would see this as a sign of weakness and an absence of discipline.

Kincaid glanced towards the indicated chair and raised a questioning eyebrow�.the seat was completely buried under various piles of Rebecca's Departmental Regulation Manuals and Data PADDS.

"Oh hey�.oops." Rebecca blushed horribly, rising at the same time in order to clear a spot for him, but Kincaid waved her off with a polite smile. As mentioned, he preferred standing anyways�..just in case he needed to pull his cherished Katana in a hurry. You never knew at these Staff Meetings when things could get out of hand.

"Oh, sorry about my katana, ma'am, I must've forgot to remove the blade," James said with a calm face, but he was still nervous on the inside.

Rebecca eyed the big sword anxiously, not quite sure what a 'katana' was, but figured it was probably a Klingon word for 'Big-Pointy-Sharp-Thing-To-Stick-People-With'.

"So�.um�..its been awhile Lieutenant." Rebecca continued haltingly, "I don�t suppose�you��uh��remember me from Fourth Year Tactical Sims��uh�..you know. I was�in your Squad. THE IMMORTALS right?"

The tall man allowed a small look of surprise pass over his face. It had been years since he thought about his old Academy Squad�..the Dorm 6 IMMORTALS. Narrowing his eyes to consider the slim form of the young girl before him her tried to place her face��.Nope, no real recollection of her, although there was that one Girl on his Team that was always getting sent to the Infirmary for School-related injuries. Tripping over her feet�.�Stunning herself during Phaser practice��.Landing the Academy Shuttle in the Plaza Water Fountain��Things like that.

"Rebecca von Ernst wasn't it? You were assigned to the Administrative Support Squad. Your Organizational Skills were quite impressive, ma'am."

Rebecca blushed, first from the fact that he actually remembered, and second from being reminded of how her early years at the Academy had seen her assigned to mundane paper-pushing positions. Nobody really wanted old Cadet Cloaking device on their team. Best thing to get her out of the way and stick her in an office somewhere��.

'I hope she doesn't interpret that as sucking up...' James was thinking. He did remember, though she was a quiet and shy girl, and wondered how in the world she had landed a plum assignment like the GALAXY. He'd have to watch her more closely. He was good at that�.Watching. As a mater of fact you could say he was what one called a 'WATCHER'�..One who watches.

Then James thought about his own promotion offers. 'I'd be Lieutenant Commander by now, but at Starfleet HQ, a very boring post��Now I can actually eventually get promoted without going to HQ, but it'll take a while. If I'm lucky, I'll actually make Assistant Chief of Tactical, not likely though.'

Rebecca broke out of her own reverie, and fumbled about for a few moments to find her Duty Roster, buried somewhere in her desk.

While she looked, she lamely made an attempt at conversation, "So�.uh�.w�.where you from originally�.uh Lieutenant? Accent sounds�..uh�..oh�." Rebecca cut herself off, realizing she had no clue what his accent sounded like.

"South Eastern Actually." He corrected. "The North is primarily hills and mountains. Have you ever been to the Mountains Ma'am?"

"The mountains?" Rebecca mused dreamily, "Actually no I have not. I grew up in Minnesota��er �..North America. Its really a rather flat state. NO hills, no Mountains�..just Flat-Land."

"Flat-Land eh?" Kincaid repeated. "Too bad, but there's nothing wrong with being a Flat-Lander�what about anything else daring or exciting?"

"Well," Rebecca admitted ruefully. "There was the time during the Ursid Mission where I unknowingly imbibed a bit too much from the local Pipe-weed. Turns out the stuff was a local hallucinogenic of sorts, and this Flat-Lander ended up a bit on the��er��.tipsy side."

Rebecca blushed, "Well�high�..uh yeah�.this Flat-Lander got a bit high��You could say I was a little bit of a HIGH-LANDER."

There was an awkward silence before Rebecca at last located her buried schedule. "Oh��ummm�.here it is�..ah I think your going to be replacing Ensign Parry during Alpha shift as a member of the Secondary Tactical Support Team. You're �.ah�..going to be required to monitor and support the actions of the Primary Team, and provide whatever assistance possible in the form of Computer Tasking, Weapon Cycling, and Torpedo Loadout status." Rebecca shrugged, "Your duty station will be on the Battle Bridge, with a direct hardlink to the Main Bridge, so as to be aware of all activities. Needless to say in the result of�..uh��.disaster, you will immediately assume all Tactical duties from Deck 8."

Kincaid frowned. A support position? Not exactly the glamorous job he was expecting. The dull monitoring duty from the Battle Bridge would make the entire shift seem like a Lifetime�..Several Endless lifetimes in fact. And WHO WANTS TO LIVE FOREVER?

"Well ma'am," Kincaid answered truthfully, "I was hoping for a Primary crew Shift if possible."

~~~~I'd give you mine if I could~~~~ Rebecca thought sadly, thinking back to the days when she first arrived aboard the Galaxy and had managed to avoid Bridge Duty for a full 2 months before being reassigned.

James was upset. He was hoping for a bridge shift, but he guessed that it was going to be a LONG time until he would get a position.

"I understand, ma'am. What about the position of Assistant Chief of Tactical? Would it be possible for me to fill that in?" questioned Kincaid.

Rebecca was caught off guard with that one��.She hadn't even thought about the ACTO position. Heck, she was too busty figuring out what She was supposed to be doing, let alone everybody else. "Er�..hang onto that thought," she said, "I�uh�.have to check into some�..um��things�.and some stuff first."

~~~Oh that�s brilliant~~~ her mind rolled its eyes in disbelief, ~~~'Things and stuff'�..great one Rebecca~~~

Kincaid didn�t allow his disappointment to show. "As you wish Ma'am�..but I do ask you might reconsider on the Bridge assignments."

"Well," Rebecca said at last, "Unfortunately they are all filled currently. We have ten crewmembers applying for every one opening we have on the Bridge. I'm sure all of you are totally qualified and capable, but remember�IN THE END, THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE."

Captain Price hurried to get to transporter room three. The last surviving Borg cube, the one Ensign Parry had named "Sly", had destroyed the damaged cubes the General was hoping to board to try and introduce the anti-virus to the collective. Now it meant that the Galaxy would have to battle a fresh Borg cube, and do enough damage to it to allow the away team to beam on board for the mission.

Running through the corridor after exiting the turbolift, Lee soon found himself entering the transporter room. Most of the officers were already standing by. Lieutenant Commanders Savat and Surok were there, along with Lieutenant Kahn Nilani and Doctor Dothan.

"Lieutenant Commander Peterson has yet to arrive Captain." Mister Savat answered. "I have inquired as to his presence once already. If you like I can hail him again." The Vulcan Chief of Security responded evenly.

Captain Price shook his head while reaching for his own comm badge and tapping it. "Price to Peterson. Come in 'Commander."

"Where are you 'mate? The away team is standing by in transporter room three for your arrival with the drone." Captain Price inquired with a sense of urgency. Lee didn't see a point it explaining that the ship would be going to battle and they may only have a narrow window of opportunity to beam over to the cube.

["Sorry sir. I was delayed by Counselor Dallas. I'm getting Nine of Twelve now. We should be there directly."] Kent explained.

Captain Price gave a nod. He knew how persistent Karyn could be, having just spoken to her a few minutes earlier about Peterson's state of mind. The counselor certainly got around the ship when one of the crew needed her assistance. "No worries 'mate. Just shake a leg and get up here as fast as you can. Price out."

Lee nodded. "Aye. Mister Peterson is dealing with his past experiences with the Borg. Counselor Dallas believes this mission is an unnecessary risk for him to take right now. However he's the best person we have when it comes to the Borg."

Lee looked at the Chief Security Officer and asked, "I'd like you to keep an eye out for Peterson while we are over there 'mate. Karyn was concerned that Peterson might freeze up if he should experience any flash backs from the Typhon Sector. I think Kent can handle it, but just in case it doesn't hurt to keep a watch on him."

"I concur with your logic Captain." Savat nodded sagely. "I will do my best to stay appraised of Mister Peterson's actions and behavior."

Lee placed a hand on Savat's shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze. "Thanks 'mate. I knew I could count on your assistance."

A short time later the doors to the corridor swished open. Everyone turned to see if it was Lieutenant Commander Peterson and the Borg Drone, but it was Chief Jensen.

"Didn't think I'd miss out on the fun, did you sir?" Jensen asked candidly of the Captain.

Jensen walked over to the transporter controls and relieved the officer on duty there. Activating the console, Thomas began running some quick diagnostics to verify everything was in tip-top shape for the critical mission transport over to the Borg cube. "Well, things look to be working perfectly. I should be able to maintain a transporter lock on the away team if you like Captain."

Finally, Lieutenant Commander Peterson entered the transporter room. He was escorting the Borg drone, Nine of Twelve. Somehow the scientist's entrance needed no introduction. His cybernetic companion was all that was required to remind everyone on the team who they were about to deal with and where they were going.

"No worries 'mate." Captain Price stated walking over and looking at the Borg drone. "So this is the Borg?"

"Captain, this is Nine of Twelve. Nine of Twelve, this is Captain Price." Kent introduced.

Nine of Twelve jerked his head mechanically as he spoke. "Captain Robert Edward Lee Price. Commanding officer, USS Galaxy. Starfleet registry NCC-70637. Galaxy class. Species 5618. Human. You will be assimilated." The drone stated while twitching it's head around in jerky fashion, like a parrot would do while looking at the various things contained in the room.

Since the drone made no action deemed hostile, or no effort to inject the Captain with it's assimilation nano-probes, Captain Price wasn't frightened, though rightly he probably should have been. This was a real Borg drone. And other then having treated it with the anti-virus to rectify the damage Janeway had done, they hadn't altered it mechanically or programmatically at all. But somehow Lee must have thought that having Lieutenant Commander Peterson there somehow afforded the away team protection from this drone. For surely the Chief Science Officer wouldn't allow it to roam freely on board the ship if it posed an immediate threat to the crew. Since the Janeway virus had knocked out the organized collective consciousness over any sort of long range distances, it could be that this virus free drone was effectively cut off from the collective. Basically alone, at least until the team beamed over to the Borg cube. What would happen then was anyone's guess.

Glancing over to Peterson, the Captain half sarcastically commented, "That's gratitude for you. We go to all this trouble to create an anti-agent to the virus that infects the collective, and what thanks do we get? A threat of assimilation."

The Borg drone jerked it's head slightly at the Captain's observation, but didn't utter any response. Peterson shrugged his shoulders. The Captain knew what his position was on the Borg.

"You may be right." Lee admitted looking back at the drone. "But let's try to avoid that if at all possible..." the Captain added, motioning towards the transporter pads.

Lieutenant Commander Peterson assisted the drone in stepping onto the transporter pad and standing in the proper location. Captain Price watched, still not believing what it was they were attempting to do. If one thought of the scope of it too long, it would be easy to loose one's nerve. Motioning to the others on the team, the General waited for each to step into the transporter and get into their positions.

As expected, Lieutenant Kahn looked like a commando. She had weapons slung over each shoulder and a back pack filled with lord knew what. Each of the Vulcans were sensibly armed with phaser riffles and side arms. Doctor Dothan had a med-kit and a phaser riffle. When the away team was all in position, Captain Price was the last to take his place at the front of the team. Removing his hand phaser, Lee adjusted the setting and then looked over at Chief Jensen at the controls.

Jensen gave a nod. "I've located a good spot to beam you in sir. Once Commander Thomas gives the signal I should be able to set you down nice and gently."

Captain Price gave a nod. Glancing over his shoulder he could see the other members of the away team checking their weapons and mentally preparing for what was about to happen. All were silent as they waited for the green light signal to come down from the bridge.