Star Trek Eclipse

Episode 5- Secrets

"You know, 'Non, if we broke up everyone's favorite couple, you could have yourself a boyfriend."

"Don't be stupid." Zenon retorted to her brother. "One; I'm not interested in Arik. Two; there would be no way to do it anyway."

Zeke grinned hugely. "Oh, I'm sure I could think of something," Glancing to his left and right, he leaned in closer to her, and spoke in a stage-whisper, "I could seduce Eve."

Talon had overheard and began laughing rather hard. "You, seducing Eve? What are you planning to do? Have Prince Charming killed? Along with just about every other guy in the galaxy?"

Zenon smiled at Talon, and stifled a giggle. She glanced at the redhead. "He's got you there, Zeke."

Zeke sniffed mock-indignantly. "I'll have you know, we use to date."

"Oh. Yeah." Talon nodded. "That's true."

"Ha!" Zeke countered, pointing a finger at Zenon, then at Talon.

"Mmmhmm. And you were real hot and heavy." Talon snorted, before breaking into laughter. "Eve Truan…" he shook his head, continuing to laugh.

"What's wrong with 'Eve Truan'?" Zeke asked, shooting a Look at Talon.

"It just doesn't have the same sound as 'Eve Gibson'" he chuckled, turning back to his console.

"I-"

"Everyone ready?" Kamii called, entering from the back room, Chell following behind her.

"Sure. No Prince Charming or Princess Look-at-Me." Talon grinned at his girlfriend.

"Leave them alone. They're nice are you know it." Kamii scolded. "Well, Arik's nice and Eve to a certain extent." She shrugged, sitting in her chair and keying a few things in. "Here we are."

Zeke yawned. "Anyone mind if I stay at the shuttle?"

They shook their heads in response. "Go ahead." Kamii called, as they other four exited. "But it better be in one piece when we get back, Commander."

****

Personal Log Zeke Truan

Eve and I use to date. And Talon's right, nothing much happened. I'm always so damn wary around her. I think I'll say the wrong thing and she'll cry, or get mad. Neither are ever good things.

Zenon seems to be adjusting, but sometimes she just looks so sad and I know she misses her friends. I wonder if she actually thinks of me as her brother? I know we're very different, the other Zeke and I, but I've got to count as something, I'd assume.

****

"Okay Chell, what do you need for supplies?" Kamii turned to the young cook, who shrugged.

"I need to look around…" he trailed off as the group entered the bustling city.

"So, who wants to go with Chell on a food hunt?" Talon asked.

Zenon had become temporarily distracted by a pretty display in a shop selling sculptures and other works of art. "I guess I'll" she began, turning back to the group. "go." She finished, realizing she and Talon were the only ones there. "Uh…" she blushed.

"Hi." He smiled. "I guess we get random request duty." He pulled a PADD from his knapsack. "Let's see… Eve says she needs something to put her hair up, Kelly Parish wants something about the local culture…" he trailed off. "Maybe a book?"

Zenon nodded. "I guess." She turned and looked down the street. "Let's get started."

"Ladies first." Talon announced, with a small gesture to allow her in front of him.

She giggled slightly. "So, what do we have to barter with?"

"Random stuff for random things." He sighed. "Let's go get hair stuff and that sort of thing. I mean, you're a girl, so that should be easy."

"Mmmhmm." She agreed, and pointed through a window. "What about those chopsticky things for Eve? Red? Or maybe a blue to go with her eyes?"

"Her eyes are blue?"

****

"Come on Chell. Make a decision." Kamii held up a strange dark green fruit, that appeared as if it was some horrible cross between an avocado and a banana.

Chell snatched the fruit from her, placing it back in its bin. He held up several other fruits, and gave her a serious look. "Which would you prefer with noodles?"

"Is that a trick question?" When Chell appeared to be slightly hurt, she sighed. "The red one, I guess."

He grinned. "Dot Dot Dash Pasta!" Chell announced. "Perfect."

She rolled her eyes. "What else do you need?"

"Not sure. Best to just keep looking."

****
Zeke had only been asleep a short while before a tall, purple humanoid entered the darkened shuttle. Two other figures followed close behind him. They looked around the shuttle, spotting Zeke, who rolled over in his sleep. Not a fan of being caught, the leader of the three intruders used a stun gun on the commander before he even knew they were there.

Within the hour, the Flyer had been successfully detained and impounded.

****

"I'm worried. The Flyer hasn't checked in yet." The Captain sighed, looking around the mess hall.

Arik wrapped his arms around Eve's waist. "Shh… you worry too much." He smiled, and unwrapped his arms, taking her tray. "Sit. Eat." He sat down, and waited for her to do the same. "Look, if a few more hours pass without them calling, I will personally go after them."

"Mind if I sit here?" Harry asked, interrupting the conversation.

"Go ahead." Eve smiled at him. "How are you, Harry?"

"Great." He returned her smile, and sighed slightly.

"Somebody have a date with the Delaney twins?" Arik asked with a grin.

"Who?"

Eve's eyes brightened. "Oooh, this is good! Who is it?"

Harry just smiled and shrugged.

"Oh, oh, I know who it is!" Eve clapped her hands. "It's 'Non!" she giggled. "That's sweet Harry, you two would look adorable together!"

Arik imitated Eve's giggle, but stopped when she playfully hit him. "Uh, but, seriously, Harry, Eve's right." He kissed Eve's cheek. "And I meant that mocking giggle in the nicest way possible."

"Uh-huh." She smiled at him, and then turned to Harry. "Come on, I want details!"

****

Kamii ran her fingers along the edge of brown vegetables, and sighed. "Got everything on your list yet, Chell?"

"Just about…" he paused, checking the PaDD. "Actually, that is everything."

"Good." She said, sounding slightly more cheerful. "So we can head back to the Flyer now, right?"

"Sure."

****

"All done!" Zenon announced.

"Finally. Next time, I'm not signing up to go shopping."

"Oh, it wasn't that bad." She smiled at him, as they began to walk back. "I mean, you could be on the ship. Now that would be boring."

****

"Don't dare drop that," Kamii growled a warning at Chell. "I am not about to go through that insane food shopping frenzy again."

"Right." Chell said, and they walked through the forest a bit more in silence. Kamii had become temporarily distracted with straightening her uniform when he made the discovery. "Lt. Davidson?"

"Yes?" She answered, not looking up.

"Didn't we leave the shuttle here?" He asked, motioning to the now empty clearing in which they stood.

"Unless you got-" Kamii looked up. "Shit." She looked around again. "Maybe we just took a wrong turn." She pulled out a tricorder, and scanned the area. "There's a dampening field. Great. It's just gone."

Chell set down the box of supplies. "Should we go find Flirty and Talon?"

"Flirty?" Kamii raised an eyebrow. "But yes, we should probably go find them. Maybe they know where the Flyer is."

"All right." Chell picked up the boxes again and sighed. "You wanna bet Zenon has a boyfriend by the time this mission is over?"

"Who?" Kamii snorted, as they headed back to town. "You?"

****

Personal Log- Kamii Davidson

I still can't help but wonder why I thought it would be all right to leave Zenon and Talon together. After all, in her dimension, she was dating Talon… but he is my boyfriend and would not do anything with her…would he?

****

Personal Log- Arik Gibson

Eve has been acting strange lately. She's been tired, moody. Moodier, actually. She's always been kind of moody. But like now, for example, she's napping. I don't think Eve has ever napped in her entire life, not ever when she was supposed to be.

Aside from that, The Flyer crew hasn't responded to hails. And Eve's slight paranoia about that has passed from her Harry. He's worried about Zenon, I guess.

****

"Ensign Kim to Lieutenant Gibson." Arik let out a small sigh of annoyance and set down the data padd he was reading. Eve moved in her sleep next to him, and he smiled slightly.

"Gibson here."

"Have they made contact yet?"

"No, Harry." Arik replied, with some forced politeness.

"Oh." There was a small pause, and then Harry's voice again. "Ask Eve if we can send a shuttle after them now."

"I can't."

"You said you'd take a shuttle down!"

"And I will. What I meant was I can't ask her. She's asleep."

Harry frowned slightly. "Wasn't she asleep an hour ago?"

"Yes, and it was only a half hour ago when you last called." Arik glanced at his girlfriend as he spoke. Her blonde hair had fallen across her face, but he could tell she was sound asleep.

"Oh." Another pause. "When is she getting up?"

"Harry, this the first day off we've have together for about a month and a half." Arik said, sounding slightly agitated.

"Oh." Harry paused yet again. "Will you tell me when she-."

"Yes, Harry." Arik interrupted.

"So, why is she so tired? Stay up late last night?"

"Not any later than usual."

"Guess she's got a cold or something."

"Yeah."

"Talk to you later. Kim out."

Arik sighed again, and looked at Eve. "At least we're together, right?" he said softly, and brushed the hair out of her face.

****

"Could there possibly be a larger crowd?" Zenon mumbled to herself as they made their way through the masses of people. "Oof!" she added as someone shoved her. Talon managed to catch her before she hit the ground and he helped her back up.

"Careful, I don't think Zeke would like it if I brought his sister back squashed." He stopped and looked around. "Weren't we in this exact spot a few minutes ago?"

"I don't know." She sighed, "I'm terrible with directions. You know the survival thing at the academy?"

Talon nodded.

"Yeah. I was gone after ten minutes. Got lost." She pointed to a little park. "Let's go sit over there."

"Might as well, maybe Kamii and Chell will find us. Or we could try con--."

"Come on." Zenon grabbed his wrist, dragging him to the park.

"All right, coming, jeez." He said as she dragged him along.

"Better?" she asked, as they sat.

"I guess."

****

Zeke woke up, and blinked at his surroundings. "Great. Something's wrong; of course." He was on semi-comfortable cot, and the room was small and dim. A small sliver of bright light shone through a slit in the door, and again through a slit that he assumed must be a window. "Am I ever going to get it when I get back to Duo…" he sat up, and leaned against the wall as he let his eyes adjust to the dark. He hoped to find some clue to where he was, but only discovered that the small, dark room was also nearly empty.

****

****

"Eve." Arik said impatiently, "Eve, wake up. Time to do Captain stuff." He shook her shoulder gently.

She groaned and shoved him away. "What for?"

"So you can help with the shuttle."

That woke Eve up. "It's not back yet?" she sat up and frowned. "How long have I been asleep?"

"About fours hours, ever since we got back from lunch." Arik smiled and kissed her cheek.

"Whoa." She reflected, and the hugged him. "I'm sorry. You were probably bored to dead."

He shrugged. "It's okay."

She smiled, before continuing on with business. "But anyway, the Flyer. I suppose now is the time to send someone after them."

Arik nodded enthusiastically. "Please! So Harry will. Shut. Up."

Eve shot him a questioning glance as she stood and straightened her uniform.

"Don't ask. I had to basically threaten him to get him to stop asking me questions every ten minutes."

She grinned. "I guess someone really likes Z', huh?"

"I would say so."

"All right. Let's go." Eve hit her Comm-badge. "Bryce to all senior staff. Meet me in the Eclipse briefing room." She paused. "Bryce out."

Before she could turn to leave, Arik took her hand and pulled her towards him. "I love you. Even if you do sleep all day."

****

"Great. Tom will kill us. The Flyer is his baby and it was stolen." Kamii growled, kicking the ground in frustration.

"Maybe not." Chell said hopefully.

"Do you think it grew legs and went for a walk?"

"Maybe Zeke took it for a lap around the planet."

Kamii shook her head. "Zeke got a 'C' in basic piloting. And he didn't get much sleep last night, or so it seems."

"Probably got more that me."

"Zeke practically sleeps through shift. He even falls asleep reading reports."

"You know this…how?" Chell coughed.

"My boyfriend shared a room with him." She explained. "Back when the crew quarters were damaged in a fight."

"And your boyfriend is…?"

Kamii raised an eyebrow as his question. "Talon." She said slowly, after a moment.

"Oh." He said, sounding more than a bit surprised.

Kamii narrowed her eyes. "What do you me 'oh'?"

"I thought he and Zenon…."

"No! No no no!" Kamii shook her head. "They don't even talk much."

"Um. Oh." Chell paused. "I guess we should contact Duo before we go off and find them."

She nodded. "We'll try every ten yards."

****

Personal Log- Kamii Davidson

I cannot believe this. Chell was genuinely surprised that I going out with Talon, and Zenon wasn't. Why does everyone think there's something between them? Maybe they're right and I'm too dim to see it.

****

"Kamii to Talon!" the Comm fuzzed and crackled.

Talon sat up straighter and hit his badge. "Talon here."

"Ha- you heard –om Z-?"

He glanced at Zenon, truly perplexed. "Kamii, you're breaking up. I can't hear you."

"Fly- gone, you- -act- d-?"

"Kamii!" he said firmly. "I can't understand you. Where are you?"

"Wh- forest look- Zeke?"

"Isn't Zeke with you?" Talon asked, wondering if that had been the question posed to him.

"No, Fly- gone. Think it –s –len."

"Len?"

"St- not –stu-!"

"I think the Flyer's been stolen." Zenon translated.

"-at's w—t I –ad." Kamii sounded slightly irritated.

"Damn." Talon muttered, before speaking to Kamii and Chell again. "Do you us to find you or do you want to find us?"

"Us- you." Came the shattered reply.

"We're in some sort of park in the downtown area."

"Wh--? Rep—" there was a silence, and then screaming.

"Kamii? Kamii!" Talon face showed he was more than a little worried.

"Let's go find them." Zenon suggested.

****

Personal Log- Talon Haradon

Shit. Shit. Shit. Kamii, Zeke, and Chell are gone. Now it's just me and Zenon. No offense intended, but I just don't like her in the same way my counterpart did. Now I have to work with her to find my girlfriend and her brother. I Just wish we knew what happened to them.

****

"They might be hurt." Harry urged.

"Better hurry up before he busts an artery." Tom mused as he seated himself in the shuttle.

"He's just," Arik made a swooning gesture, "worried about Zenon." He grinned, and Eve hit him lightly.

"Don't be mean. It's sweet." She looked up at him. "You'd be worried about me, wouldn't you?" she asked, then smiled sweetly waiting for his response.

"Oh, uh, yes. Of course. Very worried. Very extremely worried." He put on a large grin and nodded, and Eve rolled her eyes in response.

"Good. You have two days then Duo's coming after you." Eve backed away from the shuttled slowly as she gave the directions. "Get back here on time or I will personally hunt you down. Understood?"

"Yes Sir!" Tom saluted, before turning back to his console as he waited for Eve to exit the shuttle bay.

"Hey, one sec." Arik darted from the shuttle, and ran to Eve. "Until we meet again, fair lady." He dipped her back in his arms and kissed her.

"Arik!" she scolded him after a moment.

"Hunt me down anytime." He winked before sauntering back to the shuttle.

Eve shook her head and laughed as she left, pleased by his sudden display of affection.

*

"Hey, it's the knight in shining armor." Tom teased Arik as he sat down in his seat again. "Come to save us?"

"Not unless you turn into a woman." Arik retorted.

"Okay, enough games." Harry interrupted. "call for departure clearance."

Tom rolled his eyes, and hit the Comm that linked them to Voyager. "Safari to Voyager, requesting permission to launch."

"Permission granted."

"And so we're off to rescue Harry's latest crush." Tom grinned at his friend.

"Ha." He grumbled in response.

"You laugh now, but you won't be if you upset Zenon." Arik warned.

"Huh?"

"Zeke. He may seem harmless, but he's got a lot of time to make up to be her protective brother." Arik shrugged. "But he's usually protective of females in general. He was pretty protective of Eve.. but I guess she kind of needed it sometimes."

"How so?" Tom asked.

"Tom…" Harry warned. "You know what Eve will do if she discovers he was talking about her."

"But she won't. So do tell, Arik."

"Well…uh…" he hesitated. "Well, you know Eve. She has a temper. She use to do things and wind up in trouble and it was just a big mess." He shook his head. "Like I said, you know Eve."

"Ah. A juvenile delinquent." Tom nodded as he adjusted the shuttle speed. "How long have you known each other?"

"Since we were three. But we've only been dating since partway through Junior year." He smiled. "Our parents, or mothers, actually, had been friends a long time. And so when we moved from Colombia, my parents picked a house nearby the Bryce's."

"You lived in Colombia? South America, right?" Harry asked.

Arik nodded. "My mom's originally from there, but my dad's American."

"Cool." Harry glanced over at Arik. "So, you ever figure out what was wrong with Eve?"

No," he shrugged. "I eventually just woke her up. But she still seemed tired then."

"She probably just been working too hard. You know our Captains, they overwork themselves 99% of the time." Harry chuckled.

"Yeah, sounds like typical Eve."

****

"Hey!" Zeke yelled. "Anyone out there?" there was no immediate response, and he sighed, sinking down against the wall. "Do I get dinner, at least?"

The door swung open, and two people we shoved in, tripping over themselves and each other in the momentary chaos.

"Do you have my dinner?" Zeke asked sarcastically.

"Zeke?" replied a familiar female voice.

"Kamii?" he blinked. "And Chell? Are you guys all right?" Even in the dim light, Zeke could tell he was being glared at. "No?"

Kamii muttered something to herself in French as she inspected the room.

"That's not fair." Zeke protested. "If you're going to complain about me, at least let me know what you're saying."

Kamii added something else to her previous comments before crossed the room in somewhat off a huff and inspecting the window-slit. She stood for a moment, before jumping and catching the edge with her fingers. "Someone want to help?" she snapped, and Chell walked over to where she hung.

"Now what?"

"Just push my feet up so I can get a look out this window." He did so, and she reported on her discoveries. "We are underground, and it appears also that we are on the edge of the city." She glanced down at Chell. "You may let go now."

She dropped to the floor, and turned her gaze to Zeke. "So, what in the galaxy did you do?"

"Took a nap." He said, somewhat sheepishly.

"You took a nap." She repeated coldly. "Remind again how is it that you came to be Executive Officer?"

He gave her a grin. "My dashing good looks?"

She gritted her teeth. "You are impossible."

"You don't think I'm cute?" he feigned hurt. "Am I ever upset." He sighed. "You've ruined my day, Miss Davidson."

"Zeke…" she said in a warning tone.

"Yes, Lieutenant?"

"I hate you."

"Same to you." He smirked.

"Do you even realize what you done?" she asked, crossing to where he sat.

"Oh yeah!" he nodded, sounding more 'fake nice' by the second. "I took a nap, our ship was stolen, and now we're stuck here until someone rescues us!"

"You violated the Prime Directive!" she fumed. "Because you 'took a nap', unknown aliens accessed technology they obviously didn't have or they WOULDN'T HAVE TAKEN IT!"

"But-."

"No buts, Zeke! It's done! Over with! You. Can't. Change. It. If Eve was here, I would tell her you need a rank reduction for your immature…" she paused, searching for the right words. "Immature, irresponsible actions! You. Are. Not. Fit. To. Command! Not if this is how you are going to act, what if it had been the Eclipse stolen. Not the Flyer? What if someone died because you were 'taking a nap'? Hell Zeke, I don't even know if we are going to live through this!" She stormed across the room, and slammed her fist into the door, recoiling in pain.

****

Personal Log- Zeke Truan

Where's this holier than thou attitude coming from? I've seen her screw up. Damn, I'm only human. And it's not as if it's possible to stop someone once you've been knocked out. Forget her. She's too self-absorbed to matter.

****

"Ha!" Talon grinned. "Contact with Duo!"

"Very nice." Zenon approved.

"Talon?" a voice crackled through the comm.

"Yes. Listen, Paris. We have a bit of a situation on our hands here."

"You don't say?"

"We don't know where the others are." Zenon piped up, and Talon gave her a Look.

"Zenon," a worried voice began. "are you okay?"

"Yes, Harry."

**

Meanwhile, in the shuttle, Arik batted his eyelashes. "Hiiiii, Haarrrry!" he cooed, and then grinned.

"Lieutenant Gibson…" Tom warned, and then turned back to the comm. "Where are you two?"

"At some sort of park." Zenon said, sounding hesitant.

"Just follow our signal." Talon 'corrected' Zenon.

"Will do. Keep us updated. Safari out." Tom turned to look at Arik. "Don't make fun of Harry. That's my job."