A/N: A big "thank you", a hug and a chocolate Destiny to Ladypredator, my wonderful beta-reader. She is exceptionally patient and helpful!

If you find any mistakes left, they are all mine, she did a wonderful job!

Wonders and Secrets

Part One

The view through the large glass windows of the observation deck was breathtaking. The star, Destiny was recently passing by, filled the entire view field of any observer who cared to take a look. No one did of course, everyone was busy minding their own issues. Everyone, except the one man who was standing there, staring out into the endless emptiness that was now filled with the beautiful light of the star.

The colour, the brightness, the incalculable eruptions of the corona were so powerful, it made him feel small and insignificant. Not a feeling Rush was used to; not at all. Yet it was so majestic in all its beauty that he almost felt tears in his eyes.

There was no sound besides the constant humming vibration of the ships engine that he could sense; which had become so familiar in the past weeks.

Knowing about the absolute silence out there in space, the sight grew even more fascinating and as if that was too much to bear, the melody of an aria came to his mind.

Without noticing, he raised his arm as if he wanted to touch the star, completely lost in the view that was spread before his eyes. It wasn't the beauty and greatness alone that touched him so deeply, it was knowing that there were wonders and secrets waiting out there. And he was here, right in the middle of it all.

It was a perfect moment and like all perfect moments it vanished like sand slipping through the fingers.

Slowly he lowered his arm, dragged himself away from the mesmerizing sight and left the observation deck. There was work to do and he was the only one who was capable of doing it. Besides there were enough mysteries and secrets concerning this ship to keep him busy for a lifetime.

Destiny was a challenge itself, an enigma, much like the puzzles he loved when he was a kid. The librarian of his school used to read a monthly scientific magazine and on the last page of it was always a science puzzle. Sometimes it was mathematics, sometimes it was physics. But it always required a straight, logical thought to solve it.

He solved each and every one of them. In the beginning it took some time, but later he was quicker.

Destiny was just like these puzzles and he wanted to learn, wanted to understand; he was sure, it would reveal all its secrets and wonders to him if he only understood.

Back in the control room he returned to the console he had left, when a sudden impulse had drawn him to the large glass-front of the observation deck. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, evaluating the information he gathered. There was only one option: he decided to try it. Slowly he moved his hand to a button, ready to press it. The data on the monitor was not exactly clear about the effect and he read through it once more hopefully to come to a better result. But eventually there was no other way than trying it.

Concentrating on the symbols rapidly moving over the monitor he saw something from the corner of his eyes.

Just a vague impression of something moving, where nothing should have been.

His heart pounded when he suddenly heard a soft female voice: "It is strongly recommended not to proceed."

His hand froze in midair, only millimetres away from the button he had intended to press.

An unknown female voice. Nothing uncommon here, there were many unknown voices among the marooned people trapped here with him. But usually they didn't care to address him. And they certainly didn't dare to offer advice.

He slowly turned around towards the direction of the voice, a strange mixture of anger and curiosity running through him.

He saw a flickering, bright, white light, almost too bright to look at it. He blinked and there she was. A tall female figure with long brown hair, dressed in a white robe, bright and shining like an angel. Like a ghost. Like a … holographic projection.

She looked at him with a curious expression on her face. "You are not supposed to be here."

Rush frowned. "But we are", he said slightly annoyed. There were so much more important things to ask, he hated discussing the obvious.

"Yes, you are. And so am I."

Crossing his arms over his chest he inquired "Who are you?"

"I am here to help."

The hologram was flickering, irritating his eyes and disturbing his thoughts. She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them and looked at him. "There is a major power failure in the core system of …" With another flicker she vanished into thin air.

Rush stared at the empty space she left behind, thoughts dashing through his brilliant mind. "Who are you?" he muttered under his breath, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

He tried everything to bring the hologram back; he even took the time to repeat every single step of what he did before she had appeared. Nothing would do. His last option was to push the button she recommended not to use, but he hesitated.

Hours later he had achieved nothing but a pounding headache and burning thirst. He realized that it was late at night and he should probably try to catch a few hours of sleep before proceeding.

~~~***~~~

The next day and a half passed by without any results and Rush became even more insufferable than before. After a few attempts to talk to him everyone who could afford to avoid his presence did so.

Nevertheless Eli dashed into the control room beaming at Rush. "We found the infirmary! It's great, it's so exciting!" he exclaimed.

"Yes, I can see that. Apart from the excitement, where and precisely how did you find it," Rush asked with raised eyebrows.

"Funny you ask that. I don't know. Well, I know where it is, it's in corridor 17, but I have no idea how we could have missed it before. I swear that door was locked. Honestly, I tried it several times … well, every time I went through that corridor, because it's the only door there and it looked important. And today it opened. It just opened. No idea why today, no idea why at all."

'I am here to help.'

"I think you had a little help," Rush replied with a tiny smile. "Is it operational?"

"T.J. is settling in right now, but as far as I understand, there is not enough power to run all the systems and she seemes to be overwhelmed with all the instruments. But it's a start, isn't it?"

"It certainly is. I will look over the power issues," Rush promised and Eli left to bring T.J. the good news.

Unfortunately the discovery of the sick-bay had a most unwanted side-effect. Colonel Young took the opportunity and sent out groups of his people to find more useful rooms and systems.

~~~***~~~

-tbc