Star Trek: Primeval Civility

by LordWinter13

Arriving in a different universe, a different time, Ivan has been transported from a war torn alternate Earth to an alternate Star Trek Universe. Having past knowledge of the original Trek series, Ivan must manage the delicate line between trusting in his knowledge and try to adapt to this alien and yet familiar world. OC/SI hybrid.

2. 2- Once Awake

Once Awake:

'Well… shit.' Ivan thought as he slowly floated away from the exploding ruins of the starship. His rebreather was already out of air, his eyes ached even as he clenched his eyes as tightly as he could, the vacuum already beginning to sap his warmth from him. Would he suffocate before he froze to death? He risked opening his eyes, seeing the blurry, blocky light of the system's blue star, the atmosphere of the green world he had so recently visited was almost glowing, overwhelming his sight. As he closed his eyes, the lids stuck dryly and stopped him from closing his organs to the raw elements of the system once again, almost making him groan in pain, if he even had breath in his lungs to spare.

The terrible burning in his lungs forced him to squirm like a worm, moving every which way in the near zero gravity to try and alleviate, escape the internal agony. This pain was only alleviated after several hellish minutes.

In his last moments of awareness, he thought back to what led him to this little adventure and its end: that juvenile demand to no longer be bound to what is seen, heard and dreamt of but to land upon distant shores, smell its air and wonder. Turns out he's wondering whether his corpsicle will eventually be found by the Enterprise within the next goddamn century.

[Earlier]

Ivan was staring at the reports of the Borg's 'hivemind' signal. While he did convince the commanding officers not to go with the plan of tryin' to back track it, Ivan's thoughts swam over the eighteen people that may have lived if the plan went forward and was somehow successful. He suddenly felt very much like the people in charge of letting Coventry being bombed to bits in world war two.

"Excuse me, is this seat taken?"

Ivan, startled from his thoughts, looked up to see Data hovering near his table. Ten-Forward was slow at this time, and the android was as silent as the grave. "No, please." The machine sat at the opposing side, "What are you having?"

"I do not need any food or drink." Data replied plainly.

"Well, I don't need to eat breakfast but I'm tryin' to get back into the habit. What's someone like you doing in a place like this?" He smiled.

"I was curious if I can ask several questions."

"Sure, it'd really disrupt the monotony. Ask away."

"When you-"

"Wait ah- uh garçon? Get the man a drink of his choice on me." Ivan gestured to Data when he got a waitor's attention, "What are you having?"

"As I said, I have no need to-"

"You're tryin' to develop as a human right? Emotions? Social informality? Some such? Well, usually when someone sits at another man's table, it's the host's duty to get them something. Simple. I recommend the grapefruit juice. It's the strongest thing for the mornin' other than a cup of joe or booze."

Data took the recommendation and the waiter left. "When you speak casually, I've noticed you intentionally leave out certain inflections to your words and sometimes this aspect is lacking in other moments of conversation, why is this?"

"Yeah, I like to keep this bit o' lingo as part of my 'southern charm'. I like to think it's disarmin', cultured, and a way to give a little back to my father who was a neck-deep-hic."

"A what?"

"Red neck, southern simpleton, borderline hillbilly. Kinda a subculture in what was once the United States of America. Cultural identity 'n such." Ivan sipped at his orange juice and stared uncertainly at his long cold corn-beef hash.

Data pondered this a second, "Your identity is a choice? Is it not a matter of nurture or upbringing?"

"I think that's only half the battle. All things dealin' with a being's outlook on their existence can ultimately be decided by choice, ya know? Wait. Don't answer that."

Data seemed intrigued by this idea. Maybe it was all an imitation to make him less rude during conversations.

"You don't feel emotions at all right?"

Data looked back up and nodded, "That is correct."

"No, it's conjecture." Ivan sighed as he tried chewing on his breakfast. "You've been exposing yourself to stimulation rather then out right modification? Right. So, you know, or think, that what you have for hardware and software are more than capable of serving you to achieve your goals." Ivan omitted the emotion. "Have you ever considered that the core issue of you failing to reach this goal so far is due to choice? You've been told you can't experience emotions, you conclude you cannot 'cause of this and while you've been tryin' to get there, you've only been marching to the finishing line with one leg tied to the other?"

Data seemed genuinely uncertain at Ivan, not the facial expression he had before, but was staring directly at Ivan, unmoving and unflinching, not even his eyes moved. This seemed more like he was focused on computing power; social protocols being set to the back burner.

Data then turned his head slightly, "I will have to consider this."

"Listen pal, I don't know diddly about how you were made," Sorta a lie, "nor who made ya and why," Definitely a lie, "but at the end of the day, everythin' begins with choice. And I must question yours."

"What do you mean?"

"Humanity is overrated." Ivan drank the rest of his juice, "What the Federation done did with mankind's outlook is only skin deep. Makeup. Prancin' about declarin' how noble and pure it is. The human experience may not be worth it, considerin' all the baggage." Tapping a finger against the table. "We haven't grown out of infancy, we've merely entered another childhood."

Data tilted his head slightly. "This is an extremely pessimistic outlook, the kind I have been aiming to avoid."

"Pessimism is an eventuality. Your lifespan is technically indefinite, you'll be a cynic yet." Ivan smiled. "But it ain't all bad. You're happy to be wrong more often."

Data looked particularly perturbed by the idea of joy of any kind stemming from err. "For someone who does not seem to enjoy human nature, you have not taken steps away from its aspects."

"Old habits plus I'm too lazy. How's work treatin' ya?"

"Survey of the local stars has been completed." Data sipped his grapefruit juice both with no small amount of awkwardness and absolutely no reaction. "We have detected the possibility of another vessel in the area."

"Bad guys? Whodya think it is?"

"Several possibilities: Ferengi, Sheliak, Iruujin being the most probable."

"Ur-Quan? Silandro? Ilwrath? None of them?" Ivan smiled privately to himself.

"I am not familiar with those species."

"Yeah, I know. Just makin' a little joke. Which only I get. I'm getting' crazier by the day, I tell ya. Oh! That reminds me; would it be at all possible for me to visit one of these planets? None too far out of the way or anythin' just wanna go down to the surface and get some fresh air."

"For what purpose? There are no habitable planets in this system, we would have to use a shuttle craft to reach the nearest M class planet, three-point twenty-two light years from our current destination."

"Woof, how long would that take? Anyways, doesn't matter! Now, near future, I'd just like to visit one while I'm out here."

Data seemed curious about the reasoning this human brought, doing something just for the chance to do it. "I will forward your request."

Ivan smiled broadly, "Much obliged. Got any other questions?"

What was said after would most certainly be considered monotonous. Sure, Ivan liked Data, yes, he's more then willing to help him with his goals, no matter how misguided, but there are certain aspects of tedium when explaining why Ivan prefers vegetables over fruit, meats over sweets and then there was the awkward stuff: sexual orientation and how he feels toward his. 'I swear to cow, if these questions get weirder, I'd better charge him.' Soon after, Data had to leave to attend his duties, Ivan went on and on for hours in what can be considered a typical day for Ivan aboard the Federation's flagship; eat, read, and exercise, which leads to the current moment…

Ivan was sweating a storm, trying to get at least three one armed pull ups for today, and only managing the single. His arm felt like it was going to rip his bones from his flesh, as he tried and tried to force his right arm to do as it was told. He didn't even want to think how his left would react with this exercise. Finally relenting, Ivan dropped from the bar to the floor, took a nearby towel to relieve himself of his perspiration. "Next? Hmmm… dunno what to do. Bar. Yes, bar. Poor Guinan. Must be seek of looking at my mu- ah! Fucking cockgobbler!" Ivan screamed as he turned around to see Data staring at him not a meter away. He sighed, patting his chest to steady his heart, "Domo arigoto mister roboto. Please don't do this again, my drugs are makin' me a bit wacky… what's up?"

Data merely responded to the last mote of what he was muttering, "How long until you are ready to leave?"

Ivan's eyes widened, and he smiled, "We good to go planetside?"

Data nodded, "Yes." Simply.

"My man! I owe you!" Ivan would have hugged him if he was a hugger. Instead he placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed slightly. "How did you convi- doesn't matter! Who are we going with? What do I need to do? I can get ready in twenty minutes or less."

"Merely sampling some of the local ecology, which have proven to be anomalous due to the world's proximity to the O-class star and thriving species of both floral and fauna."

"Mhm… yeah… I know what some of them words mean! I'll get ready, which shuttlecraft are we using?"

Ivan nearly sprinted out of the gym, heading to the nearest sick-bay and hastily getting a crewman to see to his medication. "Alright, alight sir, just slow down. Now, you know that you shouldn't use this above the recommended dosage? You may be feeling only lighter symptoms, but this is an opioid and any higher and you risk complications."

"Yes, yes, yes! I'll take it every four hours and never more, I promise."

Taking his belongings, he rushed to his quarters, took what belongings he thought he needed and left for the shuttle bay.

Arriving a minute or two before his foretold twenty-minute rendezvous, Ivan must've looked far more eager then was kosher when he saw not only Lieutenant Commander Data, but two other officers, one from sciences he's never seen before and was possibly the first Andorians Ivan's ever seen, the other was an operations officer he's definitely seen before, a human woman with black hair and pale skin.

"Howdy!" Ivan greeted cheerfully, extending a hand to the Andorian to shake, "I'm Ivan!"

"Lieutenant Riv Ch'chyllohr." He looked more perturbed as he shook back, before leaving to enter the shuttle.

Ivan moved to the young woman, "Ivan, a pleasure!" Shaking her hand, whom returned it with a smile and equal gusto.

"Ensign Sonya Gomez!" She smiled. "Looking forward to working with you!"

Moving to Data, Ivan asked, "So what do you need me to do?"

"The shuttle's teleporter is currently inoperable. We will need you to redistribute equipment we will be using in our survey."

"Oh… pack muling… hey, that sounds good to me!" Ivan was at first insulted that he was to be used in such a menial fashion, but then he remembers he was going to visit an alien planet. 'Shit, I probably would have gargled his hog if it was the price, considering.'

[][]

The whole trip would take near twenty-eight hours to complete, Including the two then three hour travel time getting their and meet the Enterprise at an adjacent system. Ivan was so excited yet bored during the wait, he felt like that kid stuck in a family trip asking the parents 'are we there yet' repeatedly, just replace the later with 'how long' every twenty or so minutes to the poor Andorian who was stuck at the helm.

Of course, Ivan refrained from asking the alien a thousand and one questions, settling on watching the being's antennas quark erratically whenever the human looked over his padd. Turns out, not a lot of Andorians are in Starfleet, Ivan researched, in the recent half century due to increasing pressures on pacifism. The 'Blues' as they are referred to casually, are fairly militaristic culturally, and these ideals have only begun to disintegrate in the recent century but are still prevalent enough that many are turned off by current Starfleet doctrine, instead applying for local defense fleets.

'Andorians = Spartans?' Ivan wrote on his padd, making a large section of his founding species list.

'Tellarites = Porkish-Athenians

Humans = Macedonians?

Vulcans = Romans?'

The whole thing was bullshit, granted, but it was interesting to write a premise over these species that share several elements with human antiquity. There was only so much one can do on a shuttle going at warp-something. Which wasn't bad! At least he was confined in someplace new, Ivan was thinking he's so intimately aware of his own quarters on the Starship, he'd be able to walk around blind without bumping into much.

Besides eye-banging the Andorian, he also peeked at the ensign, trying desperately to remember where he saw her before. He's usually good with faces, but damnit he can't place where he's seen her. "Yo, Ensign, mind telling me if we've met before?"

She looked quickly to him, "I doubt it, I only transferred here a month ago. Unless you've been to main engineering…?"

"Woof, you bad to deal with the Borg practically first day then? Welll, apart from the one time I tried to sneak into place a stick of TNT on the warp-core, never been."

This earned a smile from her, "Funny."

"Ohhh… now I remember… you serve under Lieutenant La Forge. Spilled something on the captain?"

Suddenly mortified, her eyes bulged and raised her hands, "I-I didn't know he was going to engineering!"

This made both Ivan and Riv laugh, "That was you?" The later amusingly demanded.

Data was silent during the whole exchange, observing it obscurely. Conversation descended from embarrassment to common protocols when being in engineering, then Ivan needing to Segway this into some other topic, "So! Anyone see any good movies recently?"

"Movies? You mean holodeck programs, right?"

"Ah shit! I forgot about all ya'll and your lack o' television… wait, does that mean you've never seen Star Wars? Or, God forbid, the Wild Wild West?"

They all looked perplexed, Ivan continued with, "Star Wars is kinda like… I dunno… if a bit of Shakespeare had a love child with a Space Opera? I think. Oh, and the Wild Wild West is simply the best movie ever. Ya see, there was this actor called Will Smith…"

[][][

"[Commander! We have a contact in radius!]" The massive Uson declared, "[It has Federation warp-signature!]" The communication net seemed almost overwhelmed with translating the man's words while also inputting the massive degree of volume in order to exclaim the importance.

The Olg commander of the expedition flipped open his tricorder and saw what he saw. 'Small vessel. Possibly a scout or a patrol team.' "Decrease camp power emissions. They will undoubtedly be attracted to the Satolum deposit. Prepare a twenty latar zone. Let us give these barbarians a warm welcome." His jaws unsheathed from the anticipation of digging into flesh.

[][][]

"So, this is all after the American civil war right? This man who was literally half the man he was plus a traitor, decided to recruit not only another Confederate and his men but kidnap the best scientists in the nation to build a giant, massive, mechanical spi-"

"We have arrived near the gravity well of Exter-Five!" Riv announced almost joyously. "Entering atmosphere in twelve minutes at a… was there already a survey team out here? Detecting artificial structures."

Data looked at the readings, "Negative, no buoys, no beacons and no signals of recognition. Let us head down to this location."

"Sir, that's not a kilometer from the structures, wouldn't it be against the prime directive? It could be intelligent life."

"The shuttle cannot detect anything else on the surface that suggests a native intelligence."

Riv sighed, "With all due respect sir, they could be subterranean, in hibernation, or any number of factors."

Data considered this for a moment, but then nodded, "We shall do an extra series of scans. Even subterranean species would leave a trace we can read given time."

Ivan groaned, "Well, ya'll better be quick. I gotta pee and I can't just roll down a window and let the guy behind us worry about it."

The damn process took nearly another hour. Sure, it was a pressure on the bladder, yes, it was a terrible tease to have that world hanging out right there the whole time, but Ivan didn't know a damn thing about what may go tits up if the officers didn't do their shit before heading down. He didn't want a repeat of that one Enterprise episode where the away team was going crazy from something in the air, or worse, there actually being natives down there. Getting chunked by a wooden spear or something is so much more complicated than not getting chunked.

Data confirmed that, other then the small cluster of artificial structures, there was indeed no sign of intelligent life. 'Shit, what if its Pitch Black? And we got the blessing of good timing to get munched on by some crazy weird predators?' Ivan pondered this for a second, 'Going to an alien planet. Worth it!'

[][]

The shuttle didn't meet any epic heat-shield event from coming into contact with the atmosphere, nor was there a lot of effort into actually landing the vehicle. Ivan suspected it was due to the deflector shields mitigating or even removing this element entirely.

In orbit, the world looked mostly green and brown, not like Earth's green and brown, but similar enough he thought it'd be nearly a spitting image when they got to the surface. Wooooboy, was he wrong. The trees, the grass, everything that looked like it performed photosynthesis on some level was more orange then than a tangerine. It was like the universe demanded that this is the origin world of all things orange, the Holy-Land of apricot, master and mistress of peachy tones everywhere. As he hefted the hiking bag of equipment alongside the shuttle's other crew, Ivan couldn't help but comically shout out, "How the hell can there be something this orange!?"

This startled the otherwise professional Starfleet personnel, looking back at the shit-eating-grin Ivan as he quickly rushed past them and headed to the structures apace. "C'mon! We only have less than a day to spend here! Gotta see all we can!"

Riv rolled his eyes, "He's easily impressed."

"It's kinda cute, like kid's reaction." Gomez smiled.

Data didn't respond, only watching the man run as he took out his tricorder and began to scan nearby. Detecting a disturbance in the flora, he paced over, knelt down and ran a hand over the disturbed patch of grass. 'Whatever had made this was over half a ton.' He concluded, thinking at first it was some solitary predator, or the outskirt tracks of herd animals. "These tracks aren't more than a half hour old, we should be weary in case the creature that made them is using the structures as shelter."

"Good thing we got phasers then." Rev remarked, "I'll volunteer to watch over the primitive."

[]

"Whoever made this has a serious boner for Mayan architecture. Or Aztec. Honestly can't tell them apart."

"Mhm." Rev ignored the human.

"I mean, it looks like stone, but then ya actually touch the stuff and its like steel met sand-paper."

"Mhm."

"This is bananas. I mean, who made this? And just up and left it all?"

"Mhm."

"We got any idea who's this is?"

"Umhm."

"Well, good thing you're a science officer. Was worried you wouldn't be able to do your job and talk my ear off all at the same time."

Rev glared at the man, "I've been doing all I can with the information at hand while you've been doing nothing but talking."

Ivan scoffed, "The hell else am I gunna do? I've been hauling equipment since minute one, you've been a terrible conversation partner, and that was a fuckin' joke, Jesus Christ man!"

"Here's to thinking that talking to Councilor Troi would actually increase the thinky-thinky parts of that brain to a point of sapience and actually be useful in anything else! I will have to send a complaint to Command over her performance, she's made you slower somehow!"

"Hey! She's not that bad at her job!"

Almost like a spin on a Twister dial, Riv looked absurdly angered by Ivan, then started a genuine belly laugh. The human swore he saw a tear too.

"That was funny." Riv pointed at Ivan.

"I aim to please." The later replied plainly.

Riv sucked air through his teeth then bowed his head slightly, "I regret my mood. Survey duty really isn't an exactly joyful activity."

"Ya kiddin'? I'd give an arm, a leg and go down on the lieutenant-commander if it meant doing this as my job." Ivan gestured around him, "Look about and smell the goddamn tangerines, this is amazing!"

"The first couple of planets? Sure." The Andorian shook his head and huffed, "The fiftieth? The magic wanes some."

Ivan could understand that slightly. To Riv, this was just another day in the office, more so, it was the job apparently unwanted at the work-place. 'Like cleaning dishes.' Ivan tried to guess. "I 'spose that makes sense. Need anything? I'm about to check on the others."

The Andorian looked up at the sky, "Something to make the sun colder would be simply marvelous."

"Oh, sorry, left that in my other pants."

The Andorian sighed and rolled his head around, "Actually, I may join you. Need shade." Rubbing thin strands of sweat off his brow.

[][]

The ambush was set. The intruders had yet detect their presence on the surface, nor the Brawler hiding behind this world's moon. "Kolark, status?"

"Intruders have begun to gather in the furthest east quadrant closest to camp."

"This area is highly forested…" The Olg hissed lowly in concern, running a finger under his chin, "We may not have the numbers to pursue if one or two gets away… have a couple warriors at their shuttle, just in case."

"That would only leave three to the ambush…"

"I don't need numbers when I have an Uson." The Olg smiled broadly when he heard the double click of said creature's translator unit over the coms. "We'll begin at nightfall. Stealth-Move to the treeline."

[][]

After several gulps from his canteen, Riv pointed at Data, "Sir, we got anything special?"

"Clarify." The android spoke as he continued on his tricorder.

"I don't know really… I'm confused why I asked in the first place."

"Melting brain probably. Starting to feel the effects myself."

Riv scoffed, "You have a brain? Didn't think you neoperthals had one."

Ivan laughed, "Neanderthals. But that was good!"

Riv retorted with a smile. "Still, lieutenant-commander, can't we just say we collected enough data? I mean, it looked like the whole planet had similar enough biology."

Gomez shrugged, "Well, its only two hours until night. You two can rest, set up camp while Data and I continue to analyze nocturnal activity."

"Shit, I'm more then happy to go with you guys." Ivan spoke cheerfully.

Riv smirked, "Yes, please. It's time you two took custody of our child."

Ivan smiled back, "Please pal, don't sound so… blue."

Riv's smile dropped, "I would doubly recommend you getting him away from me now. Don't worry about camp, I'll take care of it."

Ivan passed his pack of equipment to the Andorian, who took it off his hands maybe a little too eagerly, whom in return plopped his own Tricorder in Ivan's hands. The human stared at with both awe and near complete ignorance. "My man, I dunno how to use this."

"Well. You volunteered. Learn fast."

[][[

"Shit… you guys seeing this?" Ivan asked aloud as he looked down and saw the goddamn soil start to light up in thin, straw like rivers.

Ensign Gomez scanned the event, "Somekind of… bioluminescent roots?"

While she was doing that, Ivan began muttering out of ear shot, "Please no Avatar planet, please no Avatar planet…"

"Huh, colonies of somekind of quasi-Lumbricus are starting to gather under the trees for… amino discharge… yes, the ejection is a waste byproduct of its metabolism producing a protective sap over much of the bark to either dissuade predators or maybe even to reflect solar radiation."

"A likely hypothesis, ensign." Data nodded.

"Yeeaaahh… what he said." Ivan pulled out the bottom end of the tricorder out and was surprised by what he saw. Instead of a tight grouping of flashing lights and buttons, he saw what could very much be compared to a small touch screen, like the Iphone his mother got when he was fourteen. Still, he couldn't tell eyes from asshole from the words on its screen or the buttons along the screen's side.

"Can you do a focused scan of the tree?" The ensign requested.

"Hun, I don't even have a high-school diploma. I don't know how to scan with this thing, plus I don't think I'm even qualified." Ivan shrugged with one arm.

She then moved to his side, "Hold it out where I can see it… you see the most top right button? Yes, push that, that's the scanner, point it towards the tree's base," Taking his hand and guiding it to the trunk, the tricorder then proceeded to scan in varying spectrums and showed several results on the screen, "and there you go! Simple. Now, you push… this one… the microscopic analysis from the computer concludes something similar… the aminos aren't strictly nutrients, they act as a kind of biological trigger for the colonies of worms to reproduce in an environment which protects the offspring from the solar radiation."

"Ah, protectin' the youngin's from sunburn. Why are the worms all glowly glowy then?"

"Well, why don't you find out?" She smiled, "I'll head to camp and get some food." She patted his hand once before departing.

Ivan smiled back, leaving only him and Data in the forest. After doing the same thing with worms with the tricorder… turns out they're like a ground-bound species of Glowbugs, they're less like worms and more like caterpillars or centipedes, having two genders and use the glow to communicate with each other in a courtly manner. They would only do it near night due to most predators retreating from lack of light-sorces to hunt.

Grinning from ear to ear, Ivan looked back up to see Data looming nearby, staring at him, "Jumping Dragon Jesus! Stop that." He jumped then seethed at the android. "Is there something wrong? Do you need something?"

"I believe ensign Gomez is attracted to you. I have questions, if you don't mind."

Ivan blinked, "… fucking what?"

Data looked abashed at the use of obscenity, "She has made several requests to know more about you while we were surveying, then while you were here has gone out of her way to make physical contact."

"Oh… I haven't really… noticed." The human wasn't certain to any degree whether Data's observations were an accurate one or she was just friendly plus touchy. "Pal, I ain't really a doyen when it comes to women, I can't say for sure she is. N-not that I'm not flattered by the idea, she's a lovely little lady but we haven't said more then ten words to each other."

Data turned his head, "That is incorrect, you've both exchange ninety-two words in direct conversation."

"No man, I mean I don't know her and she don't know me too good."

Data nodded slightly, "Yes, she seems more physically inclined rather than impressed due to personable elements of a less tangible nature."

Ivan grimaced, "Thanks?" He spoke quizzingly. "What're the questions, man?"

"So, you had no inclination of possible attraction on her part? Is this due to body language miscommunication or are you lacking an element of biological reception making such subtle forms of sexual communication compatible?"

Ivan stared at a moment before he said, "I like women, if that's what you're asking. And probably the first one… I've only really been with one woman and that was nearly seven years ago. It was… awkward, uncomfortable and filled with no small amount of questions on my own part as well."

Data looked at the ground from side to side for a moment, "I see. Thank you, Ivan." Looking back up and nodding.

Ivan chuckled, "Might as well call me Ivy at this point."

Data looked confused, "Ivy? Why?"

"It's what my buds call me. It started at boot-camp and then it kinda stuck from there."

Data nodded, "A nick-name then? How did such a sobriquet come to pass?"

"Well, my friends and I were talkin' about villains from comics, it moved down to favorites which meant, which one got your dick harder, someone happened to mention a character called Poison Ivy. It kinda clicked from my name being Ivan, so it was an easy switch that stuck worse than herpes."

"But you feel no aggravation or frustration towards it?"

"I did at first, but it just… I dunno, I felt more comfortable with it after a while. People called me it due to familiarity rather then as a joke, where they felt cozy enough with me to use it and that it was a sign I can be homely with them too."

Data nodded, "Thank you Ivy."

Ivan smiled, "Say, I'm gunna get some chow too. You good here?"

"Yes, I will come to camp soon as well."

Ivan walked back to camp, which had a small, warm yellow glowing device about the size of a mini-refrigerator. Instead of producing heat, waves of cool arm were felt emanating from the machine, making him sigh contenfully. Riv and Gomez were sitting at a fallen tree trunk not too far from the device, holding tin foil covered bars of food while talking.

"Yo! Got anything taco flavored?" Ivan rose a hand.

Gomez smiled confusingly, "What's a 'taco'?"

"You don't know how much that hurts." Despite the mention, Ivan smiled as he reached into the box of rations, and read the label "Lamb chops? Hmm…" Taking a seat with the others on the tree, he ripped open the foil and asked, "How are ya guys? Riv, you pass out any?"

"The night is young." The Andorian scoffed.

"Hell, the night's pre-born."

"Very young..." Taking a bite of a lime-green ration bar.

"What do ya two got?"

"Salmon." "Mashed-Shaysha." They spoke in turn.

"Oh… those sound good." 'God, I hate fish.'

Before too long, Data came back, making Ivan wave a hand, "Hey LC! Pop a chair! I'd offer a beer if I had any."

"We did not bring any deployable furniture."

"No, but we do have a lovely bit of dying foliage we're on. C'mon! What kinda food would you like?"

Data was going to restate he doesn't require sustenance, but remembering earlier today, he reached inside the box and took out a ration, sitting at the end of tree.

"This place ain't too bad. Wouldn't mind plopping a cabin somewhere upstream, or near a large body of water. Something that'd cool the air." Ivan broke the silence after several moments of silence.

"Someone has to like it." Riv chuckled.

"All I need to know if there's any game around worth eating and I'm sold."

"Game? As in hunting?" Gomez asked confused, "Why would you hunt anything here? A replicator would make food just as well without any cruelty."

"It's fun! Waiting for the right moment, all the while you've been tracking the beast for a while, maybe even hours, then you line up your sights, then bang! The animal either starts running from the wound or the sound, or you hit at just the right spot where you kill it quickly, painlessly. Then you take the corpse back to camp, skin it and section it off… okay, I'll stop right there, you look like you're about to throw up." Ivan looked at Gomez who was becoming increasingly pastel as he spoke.

Riv spoke up, "I liked the story!"

Gomez shuttered, "You would, you're Andorian!"

Riv shrugged, "Hunting is a natural instinct, it turns out our races might not be too dissimilar after all, look at it that way, human." He spoke to the ensign in a condescending manner.

"Some of our instincts are only useful when we were evolving! They have no place in us now."

"They are fun though." Ivan chuckled.

"Perhaps, but that-"

Data suddenly stood up, "Be quiet." The android ordered, staring over the trees, "… I heard something."

"Probably just an animal." Riv suggested. "Curious about us."

Data didn't respond, instead taking out a tricorder, and began scanning the area. His eyes momentarily flashed with what could be shock, quickly taking out a phaser, "Cov-!" Just as he began to order, a red beam shot out of a nearby tree and struck the android square in the chest, sending him flying back.

Ivan quickly pushed Gomez behind the tree trunk as another bolt of red flashed past them, and just when Riv started returning fire with his phaser, another beam from behind their cover hissed into the Andorian, the weapon blast striking his head and Ivan watched in horror as a large chunk of his head from his right eye to his ear was nothing by a smoking crater.

Instinctively, Ivan took the phaser from his fallen friend, and started pushing the weapon's buttons wildly, only for a large section of the clearing in front of him to be coned in phaser-light, seeing the nearby tree frying at its base and being to tumble over.

Before he reacted, Ivan heard a mighty roar from where the attack originally began and as he turned, a massive bear, coated from head to toe in metal, and carrying a massive bazooka like gun on its shoulder, swung its massive paw, grasped Ivan by his left arm, and damn near almost lifted him as it wretched his arm from its socket, and before the human could even yell out, the crunch of breaking bones shook his body in pain as it squeezed, "AHHHH!"

A beam struck the bear in the chest, forcing it to drop Ivan as he began to backpeddle away. Ivan shook his head, trying to focus, and saw Gomez pointing the phaser, frozen where she laid. Reacting without thinking, he scooped Gomez up with his good arm, carrying her in what could be described as a half assed fireman, he ran as far and as fast as he could into the forest even as he heard the sharp barks of weapons fire behind him.

By the time he felt like his lungs burned so hot they'd turn to ash, Ivan faltered, dropping Gomez as he fell to his knees.

Ivan wheezed, every breath was like feeling a knife being dug into his chest. He flopped his useless left arm in front of him, the pain… far way. He knew it'd hit him like a freight train soon enough. "Gomez?"

Gomez was sitting up by a boulder. Just staring ahead.

"Ensign, you hit?!"

She didn't respond.

Ivan shook his head and growled, crawling over on his hand and knees. Kneeling he said, "I am truly sorry." Before swinging his palm against her face and seeing her sputter as she cupped her face and hissed in pain.

Suddenly cognizant, Gomez began sputtering, "T-t-the commander… lieutenant Riv…" Tears began streaming down her face.

"Okay, I need you to show me how to fire this." Ivan's borrowed phaser was sweaty at the handle and he nearly fumbled showing its back to her. "We need to get a signal to the Enterprise, get the lieutenant-commander."

"You saw him! He's dead!" She cried out.

"No, he's a machine, he can be fixed. But first, we need the shuttle. Show me how."

Gomez shook her head trying to focus, taking out her tricorder and began typing away, before setting the device down, "T-this should cover our life-signs, at least for a while."

"Okay, that's good, that's very good, now show me how to use the phaser."

Gomez starred at the weapon, "Isn't this effecting you at all? How are you so calm?"

Ivan sighed, "This is old hat with me. Except the fucking bear, that was new. And I might be in shock from…" He waved his left arm and laughed when the odd movements forced her to look away in disgust. "I might need to up my meds." He continued to laugh.

"That… the bear, it was an Uson, they're a member race of the Iruujin Principalities." She started to shake, "We're fighting the Iruujin… they're probably dismembering Riv as we speak…" Gomez started to sob, either from fear or hopelessness, Ivan couldn't tell.

Ivan stared at her. Feeling a kind of… guilt? Was that the right feeling? He knew he wasn't responsible, but he's regretful of the fact, in order to survive, she will have to be a killer as terrible as the ones that hunt them, as ruthless as he himself was on Earth.

"Listen to me Sonya, cut your heart from this." He placed a hand on her shoulder, "Feel nothing. Say it."

She shook her head, "But I can't…"

"Do it."

"Feel nothing." She said after a moment.

"Again."

"Feel nothing."

They repeated this process for several minutes, where she was originally chaotic and nearly deranged, she spoke calmly, cooly, closing her eyes as she focused on doing what Ivan's mantra demanded.

"I need you to show me how to use this. I'm not a good pistol shot, but I need at least know how to fire it without killing you or me."

The ensign nodded, showing him what the three digits did, decreasing power, until stun, then increasing until it can act like a mining laser or disintegrate a lifeform, then the large button, running the finger fore or back increasing or decreasing area focus from a large dispersal cone to a focused beam. The trigger was on the bottom. "Pull the casing forward and back to activiate and deactivate the phaser. It also shows the powercell, if it needs replacement."

"Groovy." Ivan nodded, placing the handle in his mouth after he deactived it, using his only hand to reach for the tricorder at his hip. "The shuttle is a kilometer and a half west of us. Detecting two lifeforms. Also… getting some weird stuff from the shuttle… can you tell me what this is?"

Gomez looked and plainly stated, "Subspace signature fluctuations… that looks like a transport signature."

"They fixed the transporter on the shuttle?"

"I doubt it, the Iruujin are famous for their antiquated transport techniques, they are likely just trying to figure out how it works for reverse engineering."

Ivan nodded, "Okay. Plan: we head to the shuttle, use its sensor to track down the position and numbers, rescue Data, and get the hell out of here. I'd recommend a pincer-ambush, but I'm not sure if they're also masking their life-signs and are baiting us to a trap. We go in together… here. But we go in slow and quiet."

"The night… it's going to be hard to navigate."

"Unless they have equipment to handle night-time, they'll likely have the same problem."

"What about using this river down to the shuttle and-"

"No, too obvious, they'll have a look out."

"How do you know?"

"That's what I'd do. We keep to the forest, and we keep hidden." Ivan began to take off his shirt, a clumsy effort with only one usable arm, but then he asked, "Can you help me make a sling out of this? I can't have my arm flopping around."

Sonya helped him with tying the arms together and using the body to cradle the broken limb. As he stood up, took the phaser out of his mouth and asked, "Are you ready?"

Gomez nodded showloly and then sighed. "I… I haven't killed anyone."

Ivan looked at her, "To survive tonight, you'll have to kill." He spoke grimly. "Let's get moving and keep an eye out."

[][]

Data fidgeted his head from one side to another, the rest of his body unable to receive commands. Looking about, he saw a single bright blue source of light from a device that seemed to hover around the room randomly. When near he was going to ask if anyone was near, a voice, choppy and with an accent that seemed high toned yet remarkably blunt. "Ah, the machine lives."

"I am lieutenant-commander Data, of the Starship Enterprise, serial code-"

"Enough! I already have what I need from you." The being came into view and the first object that gained Data's attention of the humanoid was the odd, tall feather like arrangement of hair at the front of the scalp, bursting with yellows, blues and reds. Then the humanoid lifted one of Data's arms into view and waved it about, "Tough meat, but I assure you, the price I will send you for will be sweeter than any flesh."

"You are Iruujin?" Data inquired without tone of panic or hate.

"Yes! I am of the Olg caste." He spoke with enthusiasm.

"You are violating the Treaty of Altair, by what reason are you here?"

"We are not bound to a Principality, we are freelance, scouting neutral territory for mining rights. Then low and behold, the Federation delivers us a priceless gem of robotics! We owe our future wealth to you, my friend. I am Den'vere, by the way." He spoke as he took up Data's head with both hands.

The mouth of the Iruujin was extended to the sides, past lips, with sharp, dagger like teeth extending along the crest where the jaw would be hidden by cheeks. "Are all my crewmen dead?" Data asked.

The Iruujin gave of face of coyness or humored timidity, "Every single one."

Data looked down for a moment and said nothing.

"Please tell me a machine is vindictive over its lost crew. I'm in the mood for a joke!" He jested with demonic delight as he took Data's head outside. "What does this do for you, construct?!" Den'vere demanded as he pointed his head, face out.

Data saw Riv, strung up to a building's side with ropes attached to the roof, hanging by his neck as his entrails piled at his feet's edge. "Historical records from troops encountering your people during the Iruujin-Human war stated that you used psychological warfare to dissuade and demoralize."

"Only half a truth, Federation." The Iruujin teased.

[][]

"What's the range on these things?" Ivan whispered as they crawled up on their hands and knees through the dirt, seeing the shuttle and two humanoids nearly thirty meters from each other. Thanking God that there weren't more bears If they miss one, they could call in help and royally fuck up the plan. The third member, experimenting inside of the shuttle itself, he really wasn't sure how to take out without notifying the locals.

"Stun to kill; nearly seventy meters, vaporize; twenty."

"Okay… alright… I'll climb the tree line for the farthest douche-bag and hopefully get a clear shot of the one inside. I'll use my tricorder to send your combadge a signal when it's time. Can you do this?"

"I-I have to."

Without a word, Ivan began his slow pace left, across the trees for the optimum position, but kept a steady eye out for any movement to his flanks, unable to use his tricorder to scan for other lifeforms from it being too busy keep his own presence masked. Finally managing to see into the shuttle, he spotted the third combatant, fiddling with one doodad or another.

Taking up as close a position as possible, Ivan knelt and placed his tricorder down, he held the phaser as he pressed the symbol to send the signal with his palm. Holding his arm as steady as he could, he focused on the armed guard to the left, and fire.

"Oh that's not good…" Ivan mumbled out as his beam missed.

The alien quickly turned and began to return fire on his position, at first very chaotically, but he must've saw Ivan move as his fire became a lot more focused near him. He turned his head to see that Sonya's target was down and was glad for little miracles, and using himself as a distraction, stood slightly and fired into the shuttle wildly and without a target.

After two bolts, he must've struck the one inside, as he saw something fall to the floor. "Take him out!" He tried to yell out for the ensign, shooting at the rifleman himself and missing.

Soon, her bolt joined his in trying to find gain on the ambiguous target, only finding it after it tried to move to the shuttle for cover.

Sprinting to the shuttle, Ivan yelled out, "Clear!"

Sonya soon joined the man aboard, carefully avoiding the clutter of dissected equipment as well as the recently made cadaver. The ensign took to the controls and smacked it, yelling, "A phaser bolt hit tactical! Even if we repair the weapons, we won't be able to operate them with fried controls!"

"Send a message to the Enterprise!" Ivan ordered, "Then we worry about the other stuff, hurry!"

Gomez quickly began typing away at the screen, then yelled out, "Damnit! They started jamming the shuttle! I don't know if they stopped the signal to Enterprise!"

Ivan nearly yelled out, "Time to go! Time to go!" Firing out of the shuttle as he spotted intruders, "Oh shit! There's the fucking bear again!"

The ensign used the scanner to wave through nearby space only for her to sigh in defeat, "They have a ship in orbit. It's not much bigger then a Runabout, but it's armed to the teeth!"

As Sonya turned, Ivan tackled her to the ground, slamming into the Iruujin corpse. "Wh-?!"

The shuttle shook as the Uson fired its weapon at them, tearing a hole into the shuttle's hull, the heat from the impact scorching hot as whatever it fired began to steadily cool off. Ivan quickly jumped up, firing his phaser at the beast, only for it to roar as it hit its armored form. "C'mon you sonofabitch! Get some!"

Sonya quickly rushed forward, increasing her phaser to maximum, the Uson so close, she saw the whites of its eyes. The phaser fired and struck the alien in the chest, seeing the armor turn white hot but not penetrate it. Dazing it, the beast lumbered backward in pain, and before it recovered, Ivan launched forward, shoving his whole body into it, and with its imbalance fell onto its back unsteadily.

Ivan roared with bloodlust, climbing onto the Uson, pointing its phaser directly at its face, and that movement before he fired, Ivan saw a sliver of familiarity, of fear in its crude, animal like features. Then he fired. Again. Then again. The top jaw and a large portion of its head being burned off as it beat through its armor.

Ivan fell off of it, scrambling for the beast's fallen weapon, only for him to struggle, "Jesus! This thing weighs a ton! Help me drag it to the shuttle!"

"Why!?"

"I gotta plan! You said they had a ship right?! Can you check out that transporter? It only has to work once."

[][]

"Uson! Report!" Den'vere demanded as he pressed his palm to the com-unit on his wrist.

An Olg ran up to him, short of breath, "The two humans have secured the shuttle, the Uson was defeated."

"And why are you here?!"

"I got out before they started using that Brute's weapon. I've not been paid enough for that shrak."

Den'vere looked agitatingly from side to side. "Have the Brawler target the shuttle, we can't give them the opportunity to leave this system."

"But we dissected their warp capability! They-!"

"Never underestimate the skills of Federation's Starfleet, they'll bang a couple of stones together and somehow forge a warp-coil."

[][

"That blast compromised structural integrity, we won't survive space let alone warp-travel." Gomez shook her head at the prospect.

"We won't have to go far, just enough to clear their jamming signal, making sure that we can reach Enterprise."

Gomez stopped, "But… the ship? We'd be shot out of orbit."

"That's what the transport's for."

"But what about the camp? Saving Data?"

"One kidney-stone at a time. We know there are at least three left at the camp, but we can only play Russian-roulette so many times. Besides, we won't last long with that ship in orbit at all. They're probably targeting us as we speak, so we get to that camp with the transport and try to find him."

"But what about the cannon you dragged on board?"

"Uhhh… ignore it! Get a rebreather, get aboard and get a phaser rifle!"

"Why don't you have o- broken arm… alright, rebreather…" She wasn't sure how she was going with this plan. It was damn near suicide. She placed the rebreather over her mouth, feeling it suction close, its small air tank working alongside its recycling system.

As she piloted the shuttle up, Ivan opened the shuttle's rear doors, causing her to yell out, "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Trust me! Okay! I'm sending the signal now! They'll be able to hear us from here to River-Nile!"

The Iruujin vessel came into sensor view, its needle-like main hull was surrounded by a shell of somekind that glowed faintly. 'Those look like… Vulcan ships from Enterprise just different…' "Alright, time to go Sonya!"

Sonya quickly stood up and rushed to the transport pad, "Okay, so do we jump in at once?"

"Not exactly." Ivan ran behind Gomez, ripped off her rebreather, and slammed into her body with his shoulder. "Adios, babe." He sighed when the transporter did its thing and sent the woman back to the surface. "Computer: deactivate artificial gravity."

[][]

"-of a bitch!" Ensign Gomez cursed as she reenergized on the surface of Exter-Five near the Iruujin camp. She gasped and quickly looked up just in time to see a tiny explosion, barely visible against the alien night sky of stars.

[][]

"Are humans resistant to Nadions? Seems the Federation shuttle has a survivor." The Iruujin helmsman spoke up as they passed the wreckage.

"No matter, realign ourselves to orbit the camp. We'll soon have to evacua-"

"Energy spike off port!"

[][]

Ivan kept on smacking the giant key on the side of the bear-zooka, rounds of red-light firing from the barrel. While this thing was heavier then an aircraft-carrier on the planet, but damn did it feel good to fire it in zero-gee! He wasn't sure if this was a plasma cannon or shoots goddamn micro-photon torpedoes, but when this hits the Iruujin ship, the explosions rocked it to the core. Burning eyes could not pry his gaze from launching just over a dozen shots from the stolen weapon until it failed. Whatever damage it did, didn't just disable it like intended, but the shell that covered the starship began to glow bright yellow, Ivan covered his eyes just as the tiny warp core breached final containment and the explosion was so intense that Ivan thought he felt the entirety of the front of his body was scorched skinless from the heat. 'Or maybe that was just the radiation?' He thought gratingly. 'There goes having kids.'

He spared a looked back at the drifting wreckage of not only his own shuttle but the small starship that the Iruujin had. Ivan let the bear-zooka drift from his body. Maybe as a way to go as painlessly as he could or maybe if he put enough opioid in his system it'd relieve some of his respiratory pressures, Ivan took out the hypospray of tetrahamizadane and injected himself of all its remaining contents.

Even as the medication took hold in its comforting, fluffy warmth, the finality of the situation started to creep into his mind. Gratingly, he surrendered to the extremely minute possibility that he'll live past the next ten minutes, let alone get rescue in how long it would take for the Enterprise to get here and beam his ass to sickbay. 'Well… shit.'

[][]

As Ivan peeled his eyes open, and saw the huge, circular light at the center of the room, he concluded a singular fact, "God, I hate sickbay…" He rasped then coughed loudly.

"Don't try to move!" Beverly Crusher quickly ordered as she paced to his biobed. "You've recently suffered some heavy trauma, you will lay here and sleep and you will not talk. Let your body repair."

"En… Ensi…" He coughed.

She understood, smiling, "Ensign Gomez is fine, she was released from sickbay only with the odd bruise and cut the hour she arrived."

"Data?" He manages.

"Lieutenant La Forge is repairing him as we speak. Now, get some rest mister."

Ivan nodded, letting his head fall back and drift back to sleep.

'How often will I return to this room?' Ivan wondered. 'Once was enough, twice was uncomfortable, but six different damn times?'

His body ached, skin burned, the weird techno limb brace made his left arm pang, twitch and groan. After another night's rest, he had to at least see an officer or someone who can tell me what happened after he blew up that Iruujin Skiff. Eventually, in the middle of the nap, he was visited by a haggard looking Ensign Gomez who looked like she wasn't exactly having her share of restful nights. After she roused him to consciousness, Ivan smiled, "Hey, how are ya doin'?"

Gomez returned the grin, but it looked a bit sad, "Not… too well, to be honest."

"You're having an ethical dilemma? Good. Means you're not a monster."

Gomez looked down skeptically at the man as she pulled up a chair, "How long are you going to be stuck here?"

"Dunno." He tried to shrug but whatever was holding his left arm in place felt like it was snagged directly onto the bone and made his face irk, "How did everything on the surface pull out?"

Gomez looked to the side, "When you blew up their transport, the last three Iruujin at the camp surrendered. They were terrified, thought that a larger vessel was in the system and knew they wouldn't make it without their ship. They were right twelve minutes before the Enterprise arrived, we've got two prisoners in thebrig."

Ivan blinked, "Wait, two? What happened to the little piggy that had roast beef?"

Gomez wasn't smiling anymore, and not staring at Ivan so much as staring past him. "I uh found Riv… they had strung him up, and… and something happened then I just…" She looked to the side, wiping a tear off her face, "I shot the one that said was in charge. The other two told Commander Riker, and I accepted full responsibility."

Ivan grimaced, "Your superiors? How are they…?"

Sonya frowned in turn but didn't seem distraught, "They want to say that it was due to the stress of both a combat situation and the impact of seeing the Lieutenant in… the state he was. I'm seeing Councilor Troi everyday now and depending on her verdict, I might be Court-Martialed."

Ivan nodded, understanding even if he disagreed with the CO's decision. She did violate conventions of war by killing a POW. "I'm sorry, Sonya."

She nodded hollowly, forcing a smile, "We got out alive." She looked close to breaking down and crying again but shook her head and sighed, "So, was blowing the ship up then dying your plan from the beginning?"

Ivan thought back at it all and steadily started laughing, "Oh… that got so goddamn out of hand…" His laughing started to hurt his chest, but he ignored it, "It seemed like such a good idea in my head at the time."

Sonya wasn't amused and asked, "So you used me to pilot the shuttle for a suicide run on a ship we had no information on and possibly wouldn't have been disable if they kept their deflectors up? What would have happened if anything in this idiotic plan went wrong?"

"Idiotic plans usually work out, I'm lucky like that."

Sonya suddenly felt the laughter turn contagious and she started sputtering, trying to force herself not to cackle, looking down, biting her bottom lip harshly. "That… that's not funny."

Ivan suddenly looked very serious, "Not one bit." Then continue to titter.

It really wasn't funny. So why couldn't she stop herself from laughing?

"Hahaha-oh ow! Ow!" Ivan used his free hand to rub his ribs. "You see Data yet?"

"Only half of him. That phaser did some heavy damage to his torso, but he should be out and about pretty soon." She was smiling earnestly now, the laughter feeling oddly therapeutic.

"Good. That man can take a beating that'd make Rocky Balboa blush."

"Rocky who?"

"Jesus Christ; get the Doc in here, the pain's unbearable." He clutched at his heart but was smiling.

[][][

"Listen, lieutenant, I don't know why they were down there. They started shooting and we reacted, simple. Even if we had violated their territory, the goddamn ranked officer I was with in those the camp with me, who is dead, mutilated and resting in the morgue now by the way, would have, I dunno, recognized somekinda Iruujin sign, signal or beacon that tells us to get the fuck off their property."

Lieutenant Barnaby's jaw tightened, "Keep the language professional, Murphy, please."

"Keep the point of this little talk productive, oh wait, there isn't even a point in this conversation. We were attacked, we defended ourselves, end of story." Ivan swiped his hand to the side.

"The prisoners say some-"

"Those 'prisoners' can lick the slime off my taint!" Ivan roared, standing up from the chair.

"Sit down!" Barnaby stood up and leaned over the desk.

"Suck a cock!"

"That's it! Ensign! Confine him to quarters, now!"

"Well, that's lunch." Ivan looked to the security officer, "Send me to jail, my man!"

"The brig can be arranged!" Barnaby threatened.

"Well you better send some flowers to the families of my Iruujin cell buddies, 'cause I'm gunna test if the bed sheets can hold the weight of 'em for about six or seven minutes!"

Just when the lieutenant was about to retort, in marched Worf followed by Troi, the Klingon took one look and ordered, "You are dismissed, Mister Barnaby."

The man looked like he was going argue, but then he stiffened his spine so much, Ivan thought the pole was going to fall out his ass. "Aye, sir." Nodding to the ensign in the room who followed him out of the room.

After the door closed, the bridge officers turned to Ivan, with the councilor began with, "Was everything alright?"

"Good thing you guys came in when ya did, I think he was close to pulling out his willy to start measuring. What are you two doing here?"

Worf looked to the Betazoid before stating, "To offer our gratitude."

"… I'd like a pony, a rocket-ship, and maybe a baby brother if you can manage it."

Ignoring the banter, Troi smiled, "We are forever thankful that you were able to save not only Ensign Gomez from certain death but securing Commander Data before the Iruujin took him to their ship and escaped."

"Listen, just make sure Ensign Gomez gets help. She's at a tipping point, she's tasted blood now. I don't want her to end up like… like, I dunno…"

"Like you?" Troi finished.

Ivan was suddenly silenced. The words she spoke hit home harder then any threat of internment on part of his previous company. He nodded numbly as his only response. Eventually he gathered up the will to say, "She was just acting on nerves, what happened to that one Iruujin, it's regretful, but she can't be fully held responsible."

Worf shook his head, "She was cleared of any possible charges."

Ivan sighed, "Good. What about the Iruujin?"

"We're filing an official protest, while they may not have been official members of any principality, they will be convicted by a Federation court." Troi informed.

"Without the death penalty I presume?"

"That is correct."

"Shit." Ivan started rubbing his face harshly with both hands. "Well… I uh, thanks? It wasn't nothin' but a thing. Just doin' what I've been doin'."

"Still, the crew owe you a debt." Worf affirmed.

"A debt? Can you let me have maybe five to ten minutes with the Iruujin?"

"Absolutely not!" The councilor objected, but did catch the wind of dark humor on Ivan's.

"Well, will it be possible to get some Holodeck time then?"

[END]

Howdy! Introducing my OC empire in the form of the Iruujin Principalties! They'll take the place as the 'northern rival empire' that was previously taken by the Romulans. They're nowhere near as xenophobic and are arguably more Roman then the frikin' Romulans were, incorporating conquered races and 'civilizing' them in their own culture, rather then just being a homogenous empire. But! They don't take up the 'sneaky, sneak, cunnining' niche the vulcanoids also had, but I'll leave that for another chapter!

Adios, until next time!