Star Trek: Odyssey: His Sister's Keeper

The Alexandria moved slowly through space as if it was on patrol. In fact, its current mission was to patrol near the Typhon Expanse. Starfleet had noticed a lot of activity in neutrino emissions as well as Romulan ships leaving their own territory, going around Federation space and entering the Typhon Expanse on more than one occasion. The Alexandria was ordered to causally move through that sector to see if there was anything out of the ordinary.

"You have the bridge." Merriell ordered as he rose from the captain's chair and nodded to the officer assigned to the evening duty shift.

"Thank you, Commander." Doctor Plumley replied, who stood between the navigation and ops consoles, while bridge personnel transitioned their duties to the officers relieving them. As Merriell moved out of the command center of the bridge, Plumley took her place in the center seat. "Computer, begin night watch." The overhead lighting dimmed in response to her command.

Standing at the tactical station was Lieutenant Julia McKenzie who forced her expression to remain neutral, focusing her attention on her workstation.

Here we go. She thought.

"Have fun." Merriell said over his shoulder as he walked to the turbolift. Looking at McKenzie, he gave one of his signature smiles, something that he and Lieutenant Commander Dustin Zofchak had a habit of doing that gave them both the appearance of mischievous adolescent than the second in command and chief engineer respectively of the USS Alexandria. "That means you too, Lieutenant."

He's really enjoying this. She thought as she watched him step into the turbolift. "I'll wait until I conduct my next aikido class to have fun, sir." She said offering a respectful nod and smile of her own. "See you there?"

"Wouldn't miss it for anything." Merriell replied before the doors closed, his expression conveying that he looked forward to any revenge she might plot in response to this new bit of chaos he had tossed into what should be an uneventful duty shift. She began her usual routine of running a series diagnostics on the ship's weapons and defensive systems.

"You don't usually take the night shift, do you, Lieutenant?" Plumley asked.

"Not usually, but I like to rotate my people's duty assignments to keep things fresh, and I got caught up in my own master plan." McKenzie said.

Plumley smiled. She heard a hint of annoyance in the security chief's tone. "Something on your mind, Lieutenant." She pretty much knew what it was but she decided to ask just to be sure.

"My apologies, Doctor." McKenzie said. "Don't misunderstand me. I wish there were more crew members interested in expanding their skills beyond their primary specialties. But when it comes to the bridge, I suppose I'm just not comfortable with it being overseen by someone who's not in the operation chain of command."

McKenzie had come aboard the Alexandria a few months after the ship's first voyage while the Alexandria was stuck in an alternate past. She was new to the 24th century but adapted well. Despite the confidence that McKenzie had in Plumley and her chose profession, she had learned of the doctor taking charge of the night shift and she had taken her concerns to Commander Sparhawk at the time and even now to Commander Merriell. The doubts had lingered despite her own review of Plumley's service record and both commanders' reassurances that she possessed both the qualifications and the experience to serve in that capacity.

To McKenzie's surprise, Plumley nodded at the admission. "You're not the first to raise the issue. One of the reasons I volunteer to stand watch only during the night shift is that it tends to rattle fewer people the first time I do it on a ship. Besides, I like the peace and quiet.

As if in response to her statement, the communications station emitted an abrupt series of high pitched beeps. M'Ress keyed in a string of instructions to answer the beeping. She reviewed the console's display and swiveled in her chair and faced Doctor Plumley.

"It's a message coming from Jupiter Station." She said in her almost purr like voice.

"For the captain?" Plumley asked.

M'Ress shook her head. "Actually, it's for you, Doctor."

"For me?" She said slightly confused. "I'll take it in the observation lounge."

She walked towards the aft section of the bridge heading for the observation lounge. She could have taken the message in the captain's ready room but to her it was called the captain's ready room for a reason. She walked into the lounge and pressed a button on the display screen that was mounted inside the wall. She lightly leaned back against the chair that Captain Allensworth sat in during their mission briefings.

The Starfleet logo appeared for a few seconds before switching to a man in Operations gold Starfleet uniform with no rank. The man was balding at the top and had dark hair that wrapped around the back of his head from one ear to the other. She recognized the man as the creator and template of the Emergency Medical Hologram, which starships use to help the medical staff, or in the case of the USS Voyager, become the medical staff. She rarely used the EMH but during the Mirror War, things did get a bit out of hand and she had to use it, much to her annoyance.

"Doctor Plumley." The man asked.

"Speaking." Plumley replied.

"I'm Lewis Zimmerman, director of holographic imaging and programming at the Jupiter Research Station."

"I know who you are, Mister Zimmerman. What can I do for you?" Plumley asked.

"Doctor Zimmerman." Zimmerman said sounding slightly annoyed. "Starfleet medical has chosen you as the new template for the LMH."

"LMH?"

"Long term Medical Hologram." Zimmerman replied.

Doctor Plumley's eyes widened as the thought of an extraordinary opportunity began to set in.

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Commander Dustin Zofchak slightly moved his head back and forth while he slept. Then his eyes shot open suddenly. He looked around the room to gather himself as he tried to slow his heavy breathing. He sat up, continuing to get his bearing straight, and looked at the sleeping form of his wife, Lieutenant Commander Hoshi Sato.

He silently and carefully got out of bed, so not to disturb Hoshi, and headed into the other room. He sat down at the computer terminal and clicked it on.

"Computer, connect me to Counselor Deanna Troi aboard the USS Titan." Zofchak said.

A duo of beeps sounded letting Dustin know the computer acknowledged his request. Seconds later, the image of a dark haired woman appeared on the screen. She was out of uniform which suggested that she was either in bed or just off duty. Considering the hour, Dustin assumed the former instead of the latter. Dustin could see that she was holding her daughter, who was about the same age as the twins, Natasha.

"I'm sorry to disturb you at this hour, Counselor." Dustin said, his tone sounding sincerely apologetic.

"Not at all, Dustin, Natasha had kept me up so I haven't been to sleep yet. What can I do for you?" She said. Dustin always found her tone to be sincere no matter the instance.

"The dreams have started again." Dustin said.