As slowly worked against him the life sought from others what it could not find in him

(A/N: This chapter is longer. Also, a lot of the upcoming writings will be primarily for expository purposes, although it's very useful to be able to weave them into a fictional narrative. PM me if there's anything you aren't clear on, or generally if there's anything about any Star Trek culture that you want my opinion on, my (non-canon) additions to, or my interpretation of.)

As slowly worked against him the life sought from others what it could not find in him

As when did the fire leap from the rocks and the cavern and soar through the sky, searching for its home like a vaala for its nest

As it looked, and though could not find, found, in the expanse of the cavern, one mind

The mind opened its thoughts to the life, thinking the thoughts of the life and knowing that the end would never come

For the life was now immortal, searching deep for its meaning as it explored the mind, finding compassion and hatred, lust and lies

The life sought in the mind to find a place for to reside, for one but the mind rejected it as it came to know for what looked the life

The mind tried to fight the life, but the life was too strong for the mind and the mind soon lost, buried within the life and the will of life

The mind had lost to the life, but now began to find that within the life, there was compassion for the agents of darkness

The life told the mind the truth, as the mind accepted did its patterns form of the darkness of life

As the mind and the life became not two, not one, the life did tell the mind of the darkness within it that never surfaced

Lenzet Dukat put down her padd and stylus, saving a draft copy of her poem and leaning back against the headboard of her bed on the top floor of Bamarren Military Provisional Housing. As usual, there was a quote scrolling across the ceiling from a 2D projector programmed to display quotes from 2nd-Millennium-Era Earth - this one claimed that "Every religion is right about one thing, and that is that all the others are completely wrong". She smiled. Obviously some people from 2000-E Earth had intelligent things to say.

Her temporary quarters weren't exactly spacious, but 2 rooms and no roommate was much better than 1 room and 9 roommates. She missed having a roommate - her poetry, piano, strength training, and meditation could only keep her occupied for so long, and by the early evening she would usually have to go down to the gardens at some school or embassy and find someone to talk with.

Mentally, Lenzet put 'gardens' in quotes because the gardens were never actually gardens - they tended to be large mounds of dirt and debris rather than open plains covered in grass and flowers - but people still congregated there, and one of the things she loved most about her native city was that people were usually intelligent and outspoken. Her expectations were slowly lowering with the massive influx of aliens from around the galaxy, who were generally not very smart, since they were just here to offer "humanitarian aid". But of course, whatever that meant to the aliens was very different from what it meant to her.

The Federation seemed to view "humanitarian aid" as help rebuilding streets, buildings, and giving massive quantities of food and water to anyone who tugged on their jacket sleeves asking for it. The Klingons, now believing the Cardassians to be their allies, wanted to give them weapons and ships, but the Federation denied that level of aid. But, all those things that the Federation was doing weren't really helping - the streets were already passable even moments after the attack, the buildings could be rebuilt later, and if the people on the streets weren't resourceful enough to find their own food and water, then that was their problem, not the Federation's. Lenzet could hardly believe it, but for once, she agreed with the Klingons.

Her padd chimed - she reached over and picked it up so she could read the headline of the message. It said, "Notification by way of SAAAB - Admission application to Starfleet Academy accepted. Please note information below:" and went on like that for some time, a jumble of lists and dates. There was a list of mandatory classes for all first year students, and all of the classes were about subjects that she had already covered in varying amounts of detail: Chemistry/Biology, Engineering/Warp Physics, Hand-to-Hand Combat/Starfleet Tactical Interfaces, Interculture Ethics/Interspecies Protocols, Precalculus/Calculus, Psychology/Tactical Analysis, Robotics/AI, and Stellar Cartography/Astrophysics. There was also a list of optional classes that included (among many other, less useful subjects) Ancient Philosophies/Anthropology, Creative Writing/Poetry, Formal Logic/Statistical Analyses, Temporal Mechanics/Parallel Universes, and Transporter Theory/Quantum Mechanics - this was a required course for graduation, but wasn't usually taken until 3rd year. Lenzet absentmindedly made a note on the application to sign her up for all five of those additional classes; they looked interesting. Plus, if she had as much homework as possible, there was a good chance it would give her an excuse to avoid any meaningful interactions with the other students.

She sent the message to Starfleet - they'd get it within a few days, and probably be quite bewildered at the amount of work she chose to take on. They'd get over it, though.

Once she had sent the message, her padd screen returned to the display of the poem she'd been working on. It asked, "return to work on draft?". She clicked "yes" and added the final line:

As the mind accepted the life, it saw the darkness inherent in the light it had come to hold so close and the mind finally died.

She smiled. It was done.

(A/N: I know, it seems like Starfleet Academy has an insanely intense curriculum. But, hey - the cadets there are the people who are going to be in Starfleet eventually, and the Federation only wants the best of the best.)