I realised that I had the wrong episode name last time; this story will follow the events from Justice to Faith, and then branch out on it's own. OrionTheHunter, I appreciate your review.

Happy Reading

The Destiny Chronicles

Chapter Two

Tali sighed as she walked down the corridor to the apple core. She rarely had reason to enter the fruity control room, but Eli had failed to show up for his breakfast in the mess. This, being a rarity in itself, lent credence to the theory that he was short on caffeine, so the forensic scientist also had a steeming mug of the terran delicacy in her other hand.

Turning the corridor, she was surprised to hear shouting. So surprised that, at first, she didn't notice herself getting lighter and lighter. To be hearing Rush yelling at Eli (or anyone else, for that matter) had become common place on the Destiny, but to hear the younger mathematical genius shouting back was something else entirely. Stepping into the apple core, she would have laughed herself into oblivion at the sight before her, had she not started floating into the air.

"Eli! Get to your console!" Dr. Rush, apparently, didn't like floating around in zero gravity. Rush was floating around sideways, kicking and waving his arms, trying to create momentum. The doctor seemed to be failing miserably. Given Dr. Rush's usual sarcastic composure, this was a sight to see.

Eli on the other hand, was trying to reach a slowly drifting kino kontroller. Being that it was on the other side of the room, and Eli himself was completely upside down, he also was failing miserably.

This was too much to resist. Tali reached out and kicked the ground, sending herself speeding into the room. Twirling around, she started singing, "Da na nuh na nuh, NA NA, NUH NUH"

Eli was of the opinion that weightlessness was one of the coolest things in the universe, but didn't want to say it with Rush's current attitude. It was a great way to reduce stress, have fun, and just relax. They should have a zero gravity room.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a childish giggle. He didn't even know that Tali could giggle - she always just laughed right out.

Giggling maddly, Tali continued her activities.

"Well," Eli drawled, still upside down, "I'd say thanks for the food and coffee, but thanks for the food."

The forensic scientist had been having a blast making a smiley face in Eli's coffee, but now turned and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, but it's fun! Try it!"

Shrugging, Eli started work on an intricate design in the ration paste.

"What is that?"

"It's a kino."

"No, it's just a circle."

"Kinos are, in 2D, circles."

Rush just smacked his face in his hand. "Eli," he said, trying not to yell, "Please return the gravity to normal before I see my breakfast again."

Sighing in regret, Eli glanced at Tali, and she pushed the young man over to his console, and pressed a few buttons. While he was working, Tali hit the ceiling from pushing Eli, where she decided that the coffee and food would be best replaced in their proper containers, and just as she had done so, the gravity came back on, and she tumbled to the floor in a very dignified pile. Thankfully, the 'food' and hot beverage landed elsewhere. Eli snickered.

"Thanks for the warning, Eli."

"Anytime."

-O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O-

"I don't know how you do it, Talitha," TJ muttered to herself from her little office, "but you're already well on your way to becoming a fully qualified medic."

The woman in question did not appear to hear her, as she was rather busy taping up a small gash from some random crew member. TJ had never been so relieved to have help in her entire life; she had been getting way too stressed out, but having Tali here cut her work in half, and decreased her worry. Before, she'd always been worried about someone she cared about getting injured while she was stuck in here, but the two had arranged that Tali would start taking small patrols around the experimental parts of the ship, on the lookout for anyone that needed help. There had already been one incident where, if he had gotten help fast enough, a crewman would have survived. TJ didn't want that to ever happen, but at least one of them had to be where the majority of the people were - the infirmary was centrally located. It was two floors below the apple core, two floors above the gateroom, right in the middle of the quarters that had been discovered thus far, and on the same floor as the mess, kitchen, several research rooms, and the hydroponics lab.

Suddenly, their world gave a small lurch, as the now-familiar feeling of the ship dropping out of FTL A few minutes later, Colonel Young's gruff voice crackled over her radio.

"TJ, how's Tali doing? In her lessons, I mean?"

"Well, sir, she's definitely learning. And fast. I've set up the lessons so that she can learn at her own pace, but at this rate, she'll probably be graduating as a fully quallified field medic in about a week and a half, maybe two...which I can not believe. She can deal with minor breaks, moderate cuts, and low burns. So far the only roadblock is that she is quite literally sickened by the thought of stitches, but I believe that we'll be able to get past that in time."

"Great. Send her down to the gateroom with the proper supplies in five minutes. She's going on the away team down to the planet."

TJ was startled, ignoring the distant "SIR?!" from the over-protective, listening in brother. Not that Tali wasn't ready, but she was also defenseless. The girl couldn't aim a gun to save her life! Tamara Johansen had learned to care for another person, and she didn't want to see her hurt. Who knows what they would find on that planet? On the other hand though, she might end up being able to save people, and she knew that Matt wouldn't let anything happen to his little sis if at all possible.

"Yes sir. She'll be down in five minutes." the medic spoke quietly into the radio. "Tali!" she called, letting go of the radio button.

"Yes?" Tali somehow was right behind her. Hadn't she been working over by the main area a moment ago?

TJ resisted the urge to wrap the redhead in a hug. "Suit up. You're going on the away team to the planet."

Tali grinned excitedly. She had asked Young to be on an away team. "Really? What will I need?"

"Just bring a basic med pack. The Colonel wouldn't ask you to go on a team unless the planet seemed relatively safe when you're just starting. Go. You've got three minutes to meet Colonel Young in the gateroom."

Tali quickly gave her mentor a hug, surprising the elder woman. Grabbing a med pack, she swung it over her shoulders, and clipped her water bottle onto her belt loop. The young woman ran out of the Infirmary, wanting to make it on time but didn't leave without sending a quick wave to TJ.

-O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O-

"Sir, is it really necessary to send Tali with us?" Matthew Scott walked next to his superior, putting the rifle strap over his shoulder.

"TJ told me that she's nearly a full medic. It's time for her to get some field experience."

"But sir..."

"Enough, Lt. She's going, and that's final."

Matt's heart dropped at hearing that. Whenever they had had a game of darts, or played with water guns as kids, Tali couldn't hit the broad side of a barn even if it jumped out at her, and ran in front of the stream. Really, anything that required her to shoot something, Tali found some way to miss completely. This gave him a little worry for when she started giving out shots to people who needed them in her little medic gig. Suddenly, he felt oh so relieved to be the ranking second in command officer - it would allow him to go on the mission and look out for her. Normally, he hated the sudden strain and responsibility, but Chloe always helped him to relax. She would always sit with him while he just ranted on about this or that, and even if she wasn't listening most of the time, it was nice to have her there.

"I'm here sir!" Tali had arrived, excited and full of energy, and interrupting his train of thought. Matt sighed.

Young hid a smile. The girl was so green it was almost funny, but at the same time, her naivety was refreshing. He hated to quell her exuberance. "Tali, please remember that this a mission, not a trip to-"

"Sirs! You've got to see this!"

-O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O-

"What's going on?" Their commander barged into the apple core, only to see his two scientists staring at the viewscreen, dumbfounded.

"I-I don't know! It just appeared there!" Eli answered, looking away from the screen, and going to his console. He started reading some readings from the system. It was actually miraculously lucky for him that the ancient Ancient dialogue was remarkably similar to the dumbed down language that Rush had incorporated into the impossible to win game that he'd won.

"Can we communicate with it?"

"We do have broadcast capabilites, but"

"Wait," Rush intervened, "how do we know these aliens aren't hostile? How do we know that they would even understand us?"

"They could also be friendly, and wondering the exact same thing about us." Young countered. "Eli, send a message. Introduce us."

Eli, ever the optimist, wanted to believe that they could get some allies out of this mess. After all, didn't they deserve a break? After a small hesitation, Eli went to quickly type out a friendly message. Hi, we're humans from Earth. We're peaceful. Who are you?

"They're launching smaller ships." Rush announced. The viewscreen showed several little red dots emerging, like ants from sand.

Young turned to Eli. "What did you say to them?"

"Nothing that would make them attack!"

"Eli!"

"J-Just uh Hi, we're humans from Earth, we're peaceful, who're you?"

Young turned on his radio. "Scott, Greer, get in that shuttle now!"

-O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O-

"Scott, Greer, get in that shuttle now!"

Matt glanced at Ron, and they both left the observation room, where they had been gawking with several crewmembers. They waved to a shouted "Be careful!" and ran to the shuttle. Every second counts.

Entering the Ancient contraption, they strapped themselves in and set off.

-O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O-

Tali was worried about them, but knew that they were the most trained for this job. She couldn't help yelling for them to be careful, as if they wouldn't. But she still felt better when Matt and Ron waved back, or briefly looked back at her, in Ron's case.

The group in the observation room watched in horrible fascination and awe as the lone shuttle went off to face the many others. From what they could see of the battle, the shuttle was much more durable, but the aliens had numbers on their side. Finally, the congregation of people figured out that standing in front of a giant window during a battle was not their most brilliant idea. Tali and Vanessa started herding people towards the door, as they heard a small explosion and shout.

Turning around, Tali grabbed the med pack that she still carried for the mission, and immediately began treating the writhing man in the hallway. He had severe burns, but she quickly gave him a small amount of morphine, and began treating the burns that she could.

Unfortunately, getting the dying man to the infirmary was impossible, as the electrical surges through the hallway were completely unpredictable. All Tali could do is try her best, take away the pain, and reassure the man.

"I'm not gonna live, aren't I?" he rasped, blood coming up and spilling from the side of his mouth. It didn't make much difference in his appearance, with the bloody burns on his face.

"Not with that attitude."

"When we get home, could you tell my wife and kids that I love them? I love them so much..."

"You'll be able to tell them yourself." Don't cry Tal, don't cry.

After coughing, the man laughed. Actually smiled. "Tell them..." his eyes closed.

A tear made it's way down the almost-medics face. "I will" she choked out. He took his final breath, and was still.

"Tali, I need help down here - some of the others are trying to help, but I need you in the infirmary now!" TJ's voice crackled over the radio. Tali had been so engrossed in her patient, she hadn't noticed Vanessa turning the power off so people could cross.

"I'll be right down."

-O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O-

TJ frowned at the voice on the radio - she sounded different, was she okay? Unfortunately, the infirmary was quickly errupting into meyham, and she had no time to ponder her student's voice.

-O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O-

Chloe Armstrong gasped as the ship around her took a horrible lurch. She decided to go investigate the disturbance, despite her unarmed state, and complete lack of self-defense skills. Walking confidently out of her door, she turned and walked down the hall. Nodding importantly at an airman as she passed, she stopped and looked around as she heard a hissing sound. When seeing nothing coming from any of the other halls, it occured to her that the only other direction was to look up. Doing so, she jumped back as a large, circular chunk of the hull nearly crushed her. So very nearly.

Deciding that it couldn't possibly be anything dangerous, she stepped onto the chunk of hull, and looked up, even though she couldn't see anything with the bright, blinding light in her face.

-O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O-

Opening a hatch, Tali's breath left her. Literally. For the second time that day, her feet involuntarily left the floor, but with more of a pulling motion. Looking towards the source she stretched out her arms in horror as the abysmal depths of space leered back at her through a gaping hole in the hull. A second before she would have spent her next few moments of life drifting aimlessly, the ships shields came into affect.

Crashing to the floor, Tali shook her head. She had no time to collect herself - she had heard a small thump. Shakilly getting to her feet, feeling a slight sting in her ankle, she made her way to the collapsed airman, and quickly woke him up. He wasn't hurt, just low on oxygen.

"Airman! What happened here?" she lightly shook his arm.

He coughed. "Aliens cut a hole...*cough* took Chloe..."

Eyes widening, she grabbed her radio. "Eli, tell them to stop firing! The aliens have Chloe."

"What!"

"I'm here with Airman" Tali glanced at the man, who said his name, " Airman Brooks, and he saw the whole thing. The aliens cut a hole in the hull and grabbed her. I have to get to the infirmary, though, so stop firing."

-O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O-

As if things weren't already bad enough, now Chloe is also captured. Manning Rush's console with one hand was tricky, but was working thus far. The elder genius had dragged Eli over to a console in a smaller auxilliary control room, jokingly deemed by Eli as the apple seed, to be able to access some weapons, when a hole was cut in the hull. Two aliens dropped down, grabbed the stunned Rush, and fired some sort of rifle at Eli. The wavering light blue beam had hit the Math Boy's arm, which he had thrown up to cover his face. After being blasted back, he held on for dear life as the ship left, decompressing the room as he went. Since the apple seed's door had been open, everyone in the core saw the happenings and felt the evacuating oxygen.

Now, he had a very annoying, stinging burn on his right arm.

"Uh, Colonel? Tali called, and C-Chloe's been taken too."

Young's eyes widened, and quickly told Eli to call Scott. "Lt, cease fire! Rush and Chloe are on one of those ships!"

-O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O-

The infirmary was a mess. TJ was working her hardest, but had to leave the majority of the patients up to the 'nurses' who had volunteered, and were sloppily patching up wounds, many with just basic first aid skills. Tali entered, and was very soon bogged down with patients and correcting the mistakes.

Finally, things seemed to slow down.

Talitha decided that time would be well spent reassuring patients. With that in mind, she grabbed her radio from her belt loop. "Eli, it's Tali. What's going on up there?"

His voice seemed strained. "They've ceased fire for the moment. Colonel Young's going to try and use the communication stones to save Chloe and Rush. I plan to watch from the kino."

Tali frowned. "Are you in pain, Eli?"

"It's nothing..."

"Eli!" she said warningly.

"I-I might've gotten shot by an alien ray gun!"

-O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O-

"I-I might've gotten shot by an alien ray gun!" Eli yanked the radio away as a very mad female voice erupted.

"ELI WALLACE GET YOUR MATHY ASS DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT!!!"

"Yes ma'am." Eli muttered quickly. Riley, beside him, snickered.

-O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O-

If TJ had ever been surprised by anything, it would be by Tali's hidden yelling skills. "You know Tali," she said, rubbing her ears, "I think the whole ship heard you."

Eli showed up in less than two minutes, impressive, and remained there for another sixteen minutes and forty-eight seconds, listening to Tali angrilly lecture him on never waiting to get medical treatment ever again, or else he would find himself being hung by his own intestines, his enormously stupid brain being dragged out through his ears, yadda yadda yadda, being surgically unnable to have children, ect. ect.

He snuck out when Tali went to go and get something for his brand new sling, not waiting for her to come back. He would recieve hell for it later, but he had promised pretty much everyone around that he would be in the apple core after twenty minutes. Whenever Eli Wallace said the words "I promise" he meant them. He hadn't promised to stay in the infirmary.

Having watched on the kino kontroller, recieving even more flak for not paying attention to Tal's slightly scary, but very creative threats, Eli knew exactly what had happened thus far, and raced to the apple core to hear the results.

Unfortunately, the enemy chose this moment to resume it's attack, presumably having discovered the Colonel's presence. The young genius could only hope that this meant he had at least been able to free her. The ship lurched, and Eli dragged his attention back to getting weapons online. Young's voice crackled over his radio.

"Eli, get the main weapon online! Fire on the big ship!"

-O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O-

Matt, supporting most of Chloe's weight, made his way to the infirmary. The ship had jumped away, much to the surprise of absolutely everyone. The aliens hardly had any damage, so there would be a lot of speculation of why they would leave when they were about to win. Matt himself was curious - perhaps they had a limited power source, like the Destiny? However, when he entered the sterile room, he had something else to occupy his mind.

"...WALLACE HOW DARE YOU SNEAK AWAY FROM ME? YOU REQUIRE MEDICAL ATTENTION YOU ... YOU ... YOU STUPID MALE! 'OH, I MIGHT'VE GOTTEN HIT BY AN ALIEN RAY GUN', DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THE SIDE EFFECTS OF THAT SHOT COULD'VE BEEN? NO, YOU DON'T! FOR ALL ANY OF US KNOW YOU COULD'VE GOTTEN AN INFECTION AND DIED! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED I WAS - I TURN AROUND FOR ONE SECOND, AND POOF, THERE'S GOES THE IDIOT MATH BOY -"

Unable to keep his laughter to himself anymore, when taking into account Eli's hand-in-the-cookie-jar expression, and the quiet snickers of the infirmary's population, Matt started laughing uproarously. Eli's attention snapped over to him, and he said, "Chloe, are you ok?"

-O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O-

"Eli?"

The genius cringed, expecting another tirade. After leaving the infirmary, he had gone to his quarters to hide. He must have missed the screen that would have shown her - he had begun to set up his surveillance system.

Tali grimmaced when she saw him cringe. "I'm sorry."

This halted Eli's thought processes. "Uh - what?"

Tali spoke up quietly. "I'm sorry for being so hard on you earlier. You're a grown man, and responsible enough to make your own decisions regarding medical care. I was being disrespectful to you, and I'm sorry."

"Sit down, Tal." the forensic scientist walked over, head down, and sat on the bed across from him. Eli quickly checked his console, and saw nobody coming. "First of all, I'm not mad. I know you meant the best."

"That makes me feel better. Thanks, and I am sorry."

"Don't be. Secondly, I'm wondering what made you react so ... extremely. You're usually pretty cheerful."

Tali briefly glanced at Eli's console, and he shook his head to show that no one was coming. "I've had a hard day. I thought I was finally going to see another planet in this galaxy, and then some nasty aliens come up and attack. Then, I'm unable to help someone when it really counts, and they end up dying because of my lack of ability, then my blood brother and my virtual brother nearly get themselves killed in the shuttle while I can just watch, and then finally you go and get yourself shot!"

Eli started to get worried when tears pooled in her eyes. "Hey, hey, don't cry on me," he immediately moved to sit beside her and wrapped his good arm around her, "there'll be other days! Let's see... if Colonel Young thought you were good enough to go on an away mission, then you'll get another chance! Hell, if I can go on a mission, a medic in training can. I bet you'll go to the next planet we come to. Now, what's this about a lack of ability?"

Sobbing lightly, Tali leaned her head on Eli's shoulder. "I was leaving the observation room with some others, when a surge electrocuted one woman, and badly burned the airman. I could only reach the airman, so I went to try and help. He... didn't make it. I did everything I could, but I just wasn't good enough. I didn't know how to treat burns of that magnitude. If I had known, maybe he would've made it! He had a wife and kids, and now they don't have a husband or father, all because I wasn't good enough!"

"Tal, you're in training. It's not your fault, and at least you gave that man some comfort before he died. Talk to TJ about this. She'll probably turn it into one of her psyche evals, but I think she'd be able to help you more than I can. Just remember that it's not your fault."

The woman sighed, and nodded, not wanting to bother to speak. "Now, what else was there ... oh yes, Matt and Greer jumping onto the shuttle. You know that they're the most qualified, if any of us can be called qualified for the jobs we're doing. Besides, can you imagine what they would feel like trapped on this ship? A lot of the military were unable to do anything but excort people to their quarters, and patrol. Their both perfectly capable of making their own decisions. I don't mean to be a downer, but there's nothing you can do about that. Right now, you are training to be able to patch them up when they come home. It's great that you were able to take the initiative and ask TJ for lessons. Yes, there will be a lot of people depending on you, but I'm confident you're up to the task."

This got him a small grin from the distraught Tali. "And, of course, I'll have the eternally infamous Math Boy supporting me."

"Always." he gave her shoulder a friendly squeeze. "Now, I'm cautious about getting on the topic, but what's this about me getting shot? There's no way that that was your fault."

"No, that one was the Andorian knock-off's fault."

"There skin was clear, not blue. And I didn't see any antenae."

"They looked blueish enough to warrant the knock-off, and who says the don't have antenae elsewhere on their bodies?"

Eli scoffed. "Everyone knows that if an alien has antenae, they have to be on top of the head. If they're anywhere else they're called feelers."

"No, they're not."

"Yes they are."

"No they're not."

"Yes they are."

Tali narrowed her eyes. "We'll settle this the real way ... with the internet when we get home." she laughed.

-O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O--O-

Eli sighed, satisfied as the final kino floated into place. He know had 54 of the floating camera balls hidden in strategic places throughout the known public places of the ship - quarters and showers had been neglected for fear of repercussions if they were caught. Even experimental areas had been included, them being the perfect place for someone to have a chat. If anyone saw a kino floating around in the room they were in, it would just appear to be in search mode, and merely try to delete the footage in that one kino.

Thinking of, Eli went into the password corrected files, and called Colonel Young. He and Tali had discussed not informing the Colonel, but eventually they decided that it would put Eli in an even higher confidence with the gruff man, which they might need someday, more than blackmail against those conspiring with Wraythness. After all, they would both rather get their way through more peaceful means. Also, Tali wanted to stay in favour of the military - she didn't want Matt and Ron to have to choose sides.