"Dr. Rush?"

The thoughtful frown turned into a scowl of annoyance as the scientist was turned away from what he was doing by the person calling his name. He didn't immediately recognize her, seeing a large angry looking purple bump on her forehead above her right eye. She had a heart shaped face, long, wavy brown hair in desperate need of grooming after their rough initial start, and was wearing clothes that put her decidedly outside of the military. Her skirt fell to her knees and the top had short, capped sleeves. Neither disguised the muscles defined in her arms and legs. Maybe she was military…

"What is it?"

"Well, we've been on the ship for a few days now. I don't think we're going to be going home any time soon but no one's given me anything to do. I want to help."

"Were you with the Senator?"

"No."

"Military, then?" Though that seemed impossible considering he knew everyone at the Icarus base. Her records had never popped up. He would have seen them as he hand picked everyone on his team at the base and looked at any potential hindrances to the name of progress in the rest of the base. She hadn't come up, he would have remembered her face. Those eyes, he turned his attention away from those. They looked nothing like Gloria's...

Why was he even thinking about Gloria?

"No, I'm not military."

"Then who are you? What's your name?" He was in charge here and needed to know everyone on his ship!

"Melanie Holtz."

Holtz. "Major Holtz's daughter?"

"Guilty."

No wonder none of the military had tried to give her a task. Few dared to cross top brass like the Major, even in situations like this. It was likely no one knew what to do with her; she had no discernible skills that they knew about. All they saw was another daughter of another higher up. They only trotted out the old officer on special occasions when they wanted everyone to be intimidated. Still, the government allocated his funds for the project but it was Majors like Holtz that decided how much of that money he got. Not that it meant much at the moment but staying on her good side, should they return to Earth, might be to his advantage. That also meant at the moment masking his obvious contempt for being interrupted to spend a few moments talking to this girl that seemed to have no real reason to be on his ship or even in this room.

"Well, what can you do? Do you have any skills that can help us? You appear muscular."

"I'm a gymnast."

That wasn't the most pertinent skill to have in a ship like this but maybe she could make herself useful by being flexible or climbing...something. He shook his head, an alert pulling him back toward his monitor. He studied the readings while she waited, playing a little with the hem of her blouse while he made a few adjustments, pressing buttons and generally ignoring the fact that she was there. When he looked up again he started at the sight of her, not knowing how much time passed between their last statements and then. He cursed, but that was for several reasons.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing I could make you understand in enough time to be useful."

"I can try to help. I'm an extra pair of hands if nothing else, Doctor."

"Your hands would be better offered to the Colonel."

"I asked him! He told me to go back to quarters. I can't just sit there or I'll go stir crazy!"

He looked up, mildly annoyed that he had not been her first choice to ask for some direction, but also knowing that she was of little use to him during his work. There was still too much about Destiny that they didn't understand. He was working double, triple time just to try to keep up with it all. It was equal parts exhausting and exhilarating. He would forever love this falling apart rust bucket, instantly in love from the first moment they met.

"Miss Holtz," he was trying to sound patient when he had no patience to really offer. "As you can see I have no need for you at the moment. When I discover something you can be of assistance with, I'll be sure to let you know."

Her smile fell when he dismissed her, turning back to his console screen. She nodded slowly, backing up a step or two before turning around. She left the room and was pretty sure he didn't even notice she was gone and would promptly forget he was ever there. She moved down the corridor and saw Eli walking with Chloe toward the mess hall. Greer was walking toward the Gate room and barely looked sideways as she passed. Not many people tended to notice her since she didn't know anyone to begin with. Truthfully, she shouldn't have been there on the base to begin with but it was a little too late to dwell on that now.

She moved to sit in front of one of the large picture windows that showed the universe flashing by faster than light. Everything was a blur or light and color but it was somehow soothing as she watched it flying by. This was never where she would have imagined herself in a million years. Sure, she'd done a lot of things in her life that other people wouldn't, or couldn't, but somehow ending up on a spaceship that was thousands of years old was not what she pictured. A gold medal, maybe, but a view like this?

She smiled out the window, reaching out to touch the pane of glass with one hand, musing about the irony of it. The military was treating her like glass, as they did with Chloe, only her father didn't make a noble sacrifice. He didn't even know his daughter was gone and she was scared to tell him. He would be so angry with her and stir up fire and brimstone on a ship already full of scared, panicked people trying to get her back. She was his legacy and she was raised hard by a man that knew no other life than the military. She grew up among the corps of soldiers who saluted and followed orders but she never felt a part of them, just as she didn't now. It was hard for her to reach out to them even with her familiarity of their ranks.

"Hello there."

She whipped her head around to see TJ approaching.

"Hi."

"I've seen you around but in the confusion I don't think I got your name. It looks like you could use the company, if you don't mind it."

There had been other people to tend to with worse conditions than a nasty bruise. She hadn't stuck around long enough to do a lot of talking once she was no longer dazed by being thrown into the gate room. She didn't want to be a bother to the already overworked medic. Their supplies were limited. Their time was limited. She was raised to be helpful, be useful, and try to stay the hell out of the way. She didn't have a lot of experience with other girls growing up, except for her fellow athletes and that life didn't allow for a lot of personal time. She was always in the gym, always working, disciplined as a soldier when it came to practice. Her father expected the best, so she tried to become the best.

"Melanie. Friends call me Mel." What few of those there were.

"TJ."

"I know. Thanks for doing what you could for this," she motioned to her head.

"No problem. There wasn't much I could do but observe you. You ran out too quickly for me to do that."

"Colonel Young needed you more than I did."

"He was pretty bad off," she agreed. "Still, I wish you had let me help you out longer."

"I'm fine. I'm used to bumps and bruises. It's the nature of the beast."

"What beast?"

"The beast is the nickname of the gym I used to train at. I had dreams of the Olympics when I was younger. I got close but I never made it. I had hoped to try again before I retired but, well, here I am."

"What was your event?"

"Gymnastics. I preferred the floor exercise. Anyway, I've fallen and hurt myself plenty. That's mostly what the sport is, for people that don't know."

She grinned. The medic grinned back. There was a companionable moment of silence between them. TJ needed a break as much as anyone else on board, more so. Only Rush managed to work himself nearly to collapse pushing himself for hours without sleep. It almost wasn't human the way he focused and wouldn't relent.

"I didn't see you at Icarus before. How did you end up here?"

"I, ah, that's sort of a long story."

"I've got time."

"My dad is a Major, Major Holtz. He helped organize the Icarus project. I kind of stole his clearance in order to transport to the base the day of the attack." She held up the small, innocuous looking keycard. It had her father's picture on it and a code to scan to get into anywhere he had clearance to go which, she found in her years of exploration, was quite a lot of places. She was sure she saw things she was not allowed to see but somehow he always smoothed over her mischief making and she never really got in trouble for it. Her early signs of teenage rebellion were when he decided it was time she get serious in the gym, pushing her to work long hours to keep her out of his and the military's collective hair.

"Why? To meet the Senator?"

"No! I didn't even know he was going to be there."

"I don't understand. Why did you come to the base? You had to have known you'd be caught."

"You'd be surprised." It wasn't her first time sneaking off with her father's credentials. "Anyway, I didn't go there for the Senator. I came for Dr. Rush."

"Rush?" Her eyes widened and she looked genuinely surprised.

"When the project was first proposed he brought home all this paperwork, reports and such, and a lot of it was about Dr. Rush. I didn't understand half of it, but the things he talked about, the Ancients, sounded so interesting I was engrossed in every paper dad brought home. I'd spent hours reading them, looking up what I could to understand half of what he wrote. I'm still not sure I understand it all, but I taught myself bits and pieces of Ancient and I...I guess I wanted to meet the man that made me so interested in his research."

"So you beamed to Icarus to meet him?"

"Yeah. I was there a full day trying to find a way to talk to him but everyone was so busy about the Senator's arrival I couldn't get close. Then the attack happened and, well, here I am."

TJ never thought in all her days that she would see someone who appeared to be a fan of Dr. Rush's, let alone someone that read his research for fun. It was almost enough to make her want to laugh since she was almost certain that the scientist wouldn't welcome the attention if he had it and if he knew he had an honest to God fan it would inflate his ego past any tolerable level. But the young woman seemed sincere.

"Have you spoken to him yet?"

"I tried. He was busy, understandably. I couldn't interrupt him too much. I tried to offer to help him-"

The blond scoffed. "Good luck with that."

"He said no. Apparently gymnasts aren't too useful to his work."

"He's a tough nut to crack. We're all stressed. I'm sure it's nothing personal. He grumps at everybody."

More than one person had been at the end of his angry bursts and no one liked getting caught by them. He'd had no more pleasant a temper in Icarus and it was worse now that he was stressed and cut off from anyone that could be remotely useful to him. If he wasn't so brilliant or literally the best chance they had at understanding the ship and going home surely no one would have put up with it the way they did. Even so, there were moments that he did get what was coming to him by speaking to someone that wasn't prepared to take it. In those cases TJ patched him up and sent him back smarting, but no less belligerent.

"I know. I mean, I didn't know before I got here but it's pretty easy to see once you've been around him a few days."

"Maybe if things calm down you can try to talk to him about his research. He'll be condescending as hell, but that's just part of his charm."

"It seems like everyone has someone to talk to here. I feel a little bit like the odd man out. You're the first person that's really talked to me since we got on board."

Not that she'd made much of an effort on that front. To her, it always felt like intruding which may not have been true, but it wasn't something she could change, either.

"Give it time. Chloe's about your age, I think, and Eli, too."

"I think so. I'm terrible with people's ages. Most gymnasts look twelve but at actually in their twenties."

"Well, if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here."

"Thanks. I think I'm probably gonna go back to my quarters."

"Alright. It was nice to meet you, Mel."

"You, too. Thanks." She smoothed her skirt with her hands. "Thanks for talking to me."

"I mean it. Anytime you want to talk I'm here."

"I know." The medic got a bright grin for her efforts. "Goodnight, TJ."