Disclaimer: If you recognize them, I don't own them. If you don't, then I made them up.

A/N: This story is a spin-off of Jeri Taylor's novel Pathways. If you haven't read it, I recommend it. I plan to explore the lives of crewman through this story.

THE OTHER HARRY

"Hey, look who finally decided to show up!" said Ralph Nester. "It's Telfenni!"

"Harry, you are the one with the boards," chided Riya Kalay.

"Sorry, I was helping Tuvok test the phaser rifles." Crewman Harold Telfenni was a young ambitious human, well liked among Voyager's crew. Shaking his head slightly to move a lock of dark hair, he placed the two cribbage boards on the table in a far corner of the mess hall.

"You know, they aren't going to promote you even if you do work overtime." Ralph liked his job, but he much preferred cribbage.

"He's young. By the time we get home, he could be an ensign. Maybe even a lieutenant j.g." Kelly Herof piped in.

"Sure. You're using that Betazoid telepathy, and Janeway's going to promote him two days from now."

"Only a quarter Betazoid, genius, and I'm hardly even empathic." Ralph and Kelly had had this discussion before.

"So, how am I feeling right now?"

"You're in a good mood. That doesn't require any skills at all, because you're always in a good mood on cribbage night."

Kalay, a petite Bajoran, looked at her friend thoughtfully. "You are really young, Harry. How old are you?"

"Twenty-one last month, in Terran years."

"What? Your birthday was last month? I can't believe I missed a chance to embarrass you!" Ralph picked up a deck of cards and began to shuffle. "Well, I'll just have to embarrass you now. You can even go first."

"How'd you end up out here?" asked Kelly as she shuffled the other deck. "You couldn't have even been twenty when we got stuck out here."

Ralph feigned indignation. "They're letting teenagers into Security now? What is this universe coming to?" He himself was the ripe old age of twenty-six.

"So that's why you didn't ask Melanie Carson out," mused Kelly. "You're afraid you're too young."

"She knows this because she's telepathic," accused Ralph, at the same time Harry protested, "Teador beat me to it! Anyway, she really likes him."

"It worries me that we entrust our engines to someone who doesn't know the difference between telepathy and empathy. And Harry, you never know. You'll meet the right woman yet."

"Engines? I'm lucky if I even see the engines! I scrub plasma conduits. I check the coolant. I replace bio-gel packs. When I'm lucky, I do routine maintenance like fixing doors and sonic showers. One thing I don't do is touch the engines. Torres would have my head." He paused to frown. "But we weren't talking about me. How come you joined up so young?"

Harry pushed the thought of his recent disappointment out of his mind. "I grew up on Reolis V. Have you ever heard of it?" When all his friends shook their heads, Harry went on, "It's a colony nearly in the Beta Quadrant. Mostly humans, although one continent has a large Tellarite population. Anyway, the settlers rejected all stellar exploration and sophisticated technology generations ago. I'd never heard of a transporter until I joined the 'Fleet. Once we graduate from high school, we are expected to get a job and settle down into a life like our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents before us. I just wasn't ready for that.

"The U.S.S Sarek came to Reolis just after I graduated. Every eighteen months the planetary leaders meet with Starfleet, formalities they do because it's one of those inactive member planets. So I saw a couple of security guards buying presents for family members in the market, and I asked them what they did. It sounded a lot better than my prospects at home."

"Why didn't you go to the Academy?"

"I'd just finished twelve years of school, and I was never a big intellectual powerhouse. The idea of four more years of school didn't appeal to me."

"Oh."

"What I want to know is why you picked security. I'm only in security because that was the only place for me." Kalay didn't really mind being in security, but when she was younger- before the Cardassians smashed her dreams- she had wanted to be a doctor, and she thought that if she hadn't decided to fight the spoonheads she would've studied medicine.

"What, they didn't offer any other choices at Maquis boot camp?"

"It's strictly on-the-job training to get you better at what you're already good at."

"Well, I went through the five weeks of basic. I ran a lot at home, so I was in decent shape. We studied all the duties that come with the Starfleet uniform, all that stuff. When they asked us to choose a specialty, I couldn't think of anything else. I get queasy at the sight of blood, so medical and life sciences were out. I'm no good at math, so physical sciences and engineering were out. Security was the only thing I could think of that I'd be good at. Five weeks of security training, and I was assigned to the U.S.S. Ikarlaea."

"Eye-ka-what?"

"I-K-A-R-L-A-E-A is the Federation Standard spelling. It's named after a great Andorian scientist. He discovered that the reserves of natural gas could be used as fuel and started their Industrial Century. It's a very small, old science vessel. They were studying binary stars when I was on board. As far as I know, they still are."

"It doesn't sound like they needed many security personnel."

"They didn't. That's why I was transferred to Voyager, and here I am. It's not a very exciting life story."

"You've got years ahead of you to make it exciting."

"Ah, says the seasoned veteran. So Nester, what about you?"

"Nothing much. Are we going to play cribbage or what? I owe you an embarrassment, remember?"

"Right. And I get to go first."

"Kelly, ready to play? We can leave the embarrassing to the guys and play our own game."

"Sure." The story Harry had just told was interesting. She liked learning about people. We all have a story or two to tell, I guess.