But she had slept – slept not being the best word – for five minutes when an unwelcome noise met her ears. She groaned and heaved herself to her feet, dragging herself to the door. She pressed the commpanel and it bleeped. On the other side, a voice announced, "Gina."

Her heart leapt; it could have jumped right from her mouth. She gasped, turned around, glanced in the mirror. Her hair was a bit awry and her make-up was looking a little worse-for-wear. But she suddenly found that she didn't care. She keyed in the 'open' command to the door without even thinking. The door slid open and there he was, standing on the other side.

"Alex!" she squealed, as if she were a delighted child. He held open his arms wide and she clambered into his embrace. He lent down and kissed her forehead, then her cheek, then her lips.

"I take it you've missed me?" he asked, a mischevious smile playing on his mouth.

She hit him playfully and rolled her eyes. "Of course I've missed you! Come in, come in. Here, sit down, and I'll get you something to drink."

It was then that she saw what he was holding. He proffered out the bunch of flowers. "I got these from the starbase."

"Aw, you didn't need to do that. So many light-years."

"If I had been in another galaxy, I would still have brought them."

She smiled wryly at him then and had the replicator make her a vase for the flowers. They were tall and had red stems, and the petals were bright pink.

"You know," he began as he reclined on the couch. "Jack wanted to come, too. He clung to me like a limpet, but I didn't think it good to have him travelling all that way. I think he was just confused. I mean, he's still so young. Going to Hypnos and then to the starbase and then back to Earth."

She felt her heart grow warm at the mention of her son. "But he was okay when you left him?" Nervously, she twiddled a strand of hair between her fingers.

"Oh, yes," he replied. "Eventually. My parents are looking after him."

"How long will you be here for?" She knew that if she asked that question, she would only be counting down the days until he was gone, until she would be alone again.

He shrugged. "Not long enough. Now, come here. I want to kiss my beautiful wife. And, have I ever told you what I think of that uniform?"

She folded her arms and pouted. "Yes, you have. And I don't think you need to repeat it." But she had missed him so much and she had been away from him for so long that she couldn't stop herself from going over to him, crouching on the floor as he sat on the couch. "You do know I'm on a break, don't you?"

He grinned and nodded, reaching for her, but she held up a restricting hand.

"And that break will be over in a few hours," she said.

"Have you never been late to a shift?"


Gina awoke slowly, gently, but as she sat up, it was with a start. It was dark outside, as it always was on a spaceship. The bright stars were an assault on her eyes. Her eyes narrowed in on the clock on the table, and she groaned. "Oh, no..." she moaned once the numbers displayed on the screen struck home with her.

Beside her, her husband stirred. He attempted to gather her to him, but she got out of the bed and got changed hurriedly. "How is that even possible?" she lamented. "I'm over an hour late. Oh, shit... Commander La Forge will kill me!"

"I'm sure he'll be very understanding if you simply tell him that you were spending some time with your husband," Alex muttered, his voice rather muffled against the pillow.

Gina raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, you've got a life outside of Starfleet, right?"

She huffed. He was right. It was true. She did have more to her life. But she had chosen to be in Starfleet, and that choice separated her from her family. That choice had also exposed her to a great deal of dangers and threats and perils, the worst of which had occured three years ago... No. No, not the worst.

"Yes, I do," she conceded. But then her expression hardened. "But I chose to be in Starfleet. Alex, you'll be here when I get back, won't you?"

He frowned, watching as she finished pulling on her uniform. And then he smiled. "Sure. Just don't be too long."

"And don't you go exploring on the ship."

He looked a bit indignant, so she elaborated for him. "See, civilians aren't allowed to. They, uh, tend to get in the way a bit."

"I'm hardly a civilian, am I?" he said pointedly. "I'm Earth's Ambassador to Vulcan!"

Gina rubbed her forehead and smiled. Then she kissed him on the forehead and made for the door. "Yes, but you're not on duty."


"You're late, Lieutenant."

Gina followed the origin of the sound and gave a sheepish smile, as well as a quiet "Sorry, Sir", by way of an apology.

"Nah," La Forge said dismissively. "I think doing overtime on your earlier shift – whether it was knowingly or not – more than makes up for being late this time." He smiled, and she returned the gesture.

"Thanks, Commander," she said gratefully. "I'm guessing I'm to analyse the output of the warp manifolds and then take up position at the console?"

Commander La Forge made a face of contemplation. "Not exactly."

She raised an eyebrow and then frowned. "Sir? I don't really follow." She glanced over at one of her comrades, who looked equally perplexed. Beside him, another engineer looked just as confused.

Geordi pursed his lips in thought, rubbed the back of his head and sighed. "Ah well... The Captain's cleared me to tell you, so I may as well." He himself had been told in the staff meeting in the conference room in the early hours of the morning, and now it was his responsibility to pass on the message.

Gina still looked very confused, and she still was very confused.

"Okay then, guys," Geordi continued, with a clap of his hands. "I want everyone here listening." And, once he had spoken, padds were put down, chair were turned in his direction and tricorders stopped scanning. "We've had a distress signal from a nearby planet. Now, the planet isn't too far. In fact, it's just... there," he added, pointing out of the window. It was a silly thing to do, of course, as there was no accurate way of physically pointing out the exact star in question.

But Gina had a feeling that she knew which star and planet Geordi was intent on pointing out. She shook her head in disbelief; it seemed that her talk of Pompeii had been correct.

Geordi cleared his throat to regain her attention. "Turns out, there's been a massive seismic shift on the planet's surface, and it's resulted in volcanic activity, tsunamis and widespread devastation."

"Which planet is it, Sir?" a zealous engineer inquired. He had been drumming his fingers on his computer console.

Geordi looked down at him. "Hypnos, the only planet in the system other than its twin Thanatos to be M-Class. But if we don't get out there soon, it won't be M-Class for too long."

"Excuse me, Commander," Gina piped up. "When did the disaster happen?"

La Forge pinched his nose. "Ah... about ten hours ago." Registering the looks of shock on the crew members' faces, he explained further. "I know what you're all thinking: If it happened ten hours ago, why the heck are we still up here? Why aren't we down there helping them? Well, there's one simple answer to those questions. Put simply, Hypnos still isn't a part of the Federation and so we're under no obligation to help them. As such, they don't even want Federation help. It's taken these nine or ten hours to sort out some sort of negotiation with the Hypnite people."

"Commander, what about the planet Thanatos? Are they sending aid or something?" Gina asked. She had many other questions ready to ask.

Geordi looked at her for a long while. "No... they are not." He sighed.

She sighed and shook her head. No doubt old wounds are being opened.

"Look, Lieutenant," he sad quietly to her alone. "I know that this planet means something to you. And I also know that you hung up on me when I hailed you last month while you were on Hypnos. So I don't want you getting too involved."

When La Forge had elaborated more about the disaster on Hypnos, the crew members were each given their respective tasks in response to the crisis. Gina managed to catch up with La Forge as he was exiting Engineering.

Before the door could close behind him, Geordi felt a hand on his arm. He looked behind and saw Gina looking at him. "Lieutenant Monroe, what are you doing?"

Gina caught her breath. "I'm sorry, Commander. I know that you've already given us our tasks, but you must realise that negotiations probably aren't going to work. I mean, we've known about this for a while," she added quietly. "There must have been some sort of plan or system in place?"

Behind his visor, he frowned.

"Please, listen. What I mean is that they've obviously been going on for hours. And..." She quietened when someone walked past. "And, I know what the Hypnite people are like. I've been to that planet and I've met its people. They're proud and loyal only to their own. They won't want us interfering, even if their lives depend on it."

Geordi nodded. "I understand your meaing, Lieutenant, and I know that you only mean well. But, I don't see what else we can do. You'll have to take it up with the Captain."

And so that was what she did. She sped down the corridors, almost tripping up and walking into people, coming to a stop at a turbolift. She bent down and caught her breath; the ship definitely was huge, and with that size came lengthy corridors. She ordered that the turbolift take her to the bridge, only to realise that she did not have bridge clearance that day. Under her breath, she cursed herself.

The computer beeped at her, waiting for her instruction. Without the ability to enter the bridge, she resorted to stepping out of the turbolift, with a heavy sigh.

What am I going to do now? I can't speak to the Captain now; he's on he bridge! I'll have to wait until he's left the bridge and is in his quarters. But how long will that take? And I can't access the crew manifests. She shook her head and looked around herself, as if that might help. But then she caught sight of a black and blue blur. Squinting, she realised what it was.

"Counsellor Troi!" she called down the corridor, and Deanna Troi turned her head, momentarily confused about who had called her name.

"Counsellor!" she called once more, before she had gotten the counsellor's full attention.

"Lieutenant," Troi acknowledged her; she raised an eyebrow. "Oh, Lieutenant Monroe, isn't it?"

Gina nodded sheepishly. "Yes, Commander."

"What is wrong? You seem preoccupied."

"Well... you know the disaster on Hypnos...?"

Troi looked grave. She nodded. "Yes. I believe that the Captain is doing everything in his power to help the situation."

Gina rubbed the back of her neck and bit her lip, thinking. "I'm sure of that, too, Counsellor. But I was wondering if I would be able to speak to Captain Picard directly."

Deanna Troi seemed to assess the situation. "I see. And you wish for me to speak to the Captain on your behalf?"

Gina suddenly became aware that they were conversing in the middle of a corridor. She glanced out at the stars; she could've sworn that she saw the little red dwarf twinkling in the distance. "You see... I've had dealings with the Hypnite people. I know that other people on the ship have met with Hypnites, too. But you know how... how close I got to those people. I believe that I know how their minds work, how they think, how they act. That's why I think that it would be worthwhile for me to talk formally with Captain Picard. I believe that I can help."

Deanna nodded slowly, taking in her argument. "And I agree with you, Lieutenant. You've proved yourself to be extremely capable, able to respond to tricky and even dangerous situations, just as a member of Starfleet should."

"So, you'll speak with the Captain?"

Troi smiled, her black eyes glittering. "Yes, I'll speak with him. You'll likely get a summons to his ready room."

"Thank you, Counsellor," Gina said wholeheartedly.