Hello dear readers, hope you've had a nice week. I put off updating this for about a week out of respect to Liz from her appendectomy as where we left off, Jade wasn't in the best of shape. Since Liz is doing better, I feel comfortable posting this final chapter.
Guest: Rex is an android, but he's not a Soonge type android as Data or Lore or B4. Explaining what type he is or explaining how he came to be would be spoilers for any future stories I may have for this crew.
The USS Tori and a USS Vega come from the list of starships of the TOS Era from the famous Star Trek, Star Fleet Technical Manual by Franz Joseph from 1975. The USS Tori was proposed as a Constitution class ship as early as 1967 for the Series Bible by D.C. Fontana, writer and script editor on TOS as a way to show that the fleet was truly a united Earth having ships named for American, British, Russian and in case of the Tori, Japanese naval vessels. I just couldn't resist picking that ship and commenting on the Vega for a Victorious mesh up.
Trina is a Star Fleet officer and chief of security for the ship, more of a law enforcement role on the ship in the footsteps of her dad in being a cop. She's basically in charge of the military police on the ship. The Marines are a separate military branch and used to supplement the ship's security (the red shirts).
Fanfic-Reader-88: Rex clearly isn't a one woman man as we know how he liked to flirt with multiple girls in the series and it is the twenty-third century, so cultural etiquette isn't going to be the same as our present day etiquette. The visions are very haunting to the mind… We'll see if our heroes can get out of this situation.
Well, onto the story.
Rating: T Sci-Fi Violence
Chapter 7
Tori muttered in frustration as she typed away, "The system is locking me out of disengaging the docking clamps. It's like it's almost intelligent. It's an impressive adaptive defensive program."
Trina pointed out, "Maybe it is intelligent?
The younger brunette knotted her brow and glanced over her shoulder, "What?"
The security officer leaned between the science officer and helmsmen to point out, "Something is making us hear and see things and do you think an automotive system could be so precise? It made you and the rest of the team see Klingons—even have an imaginary firefight with them. It made Carter see a Wasp and it made Isabe see a Kzinti. Star Fleet has run into a few advance AIs. Chizz, Rex here is one. Who says they didn't make one?"
Tori looked over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow, suddenly feeling stupid as if the thought never occurred to her. The 'Old Kings' were at least as advance as the Federation hundreds of years ago and they were experimenting with artificial intelligence with the development of the M-Five by the famous Daystrom and they would soon be testing it in the field, so why not them?
Rex interrupted, "Hey, I'm not exactly artificial, just my body."
Trina shook her head and muttered, "Not now Rex."
Tori interrupted before they could get into an argument, "Okay, assume you're right; how do we out think a machine that can think faster than us and calculate all the possibilities?"
Rex started typing faster on his PADD and answered, "By overwhelming it. We'll double team it and if it's an adaptable program or a genuine A.I., let's see if it can keep up with both of us. I'll distract it while you get past the lockouts."
Tori nodded her head and started typing away to look for any openings Rex could make while his fingers flew across the keyboard almost at blinding speed and that she could exploit.
Trina watched in mild astonishment at the work the pair were attempting, but she had another brute force approach. "I'm going to try to find a more direct approach. Where's the security station? The ones they have on Klingon ships?"
Tori nodded her head back and answered, "Through that door. We thought it was the station administrator's office."
"Logical place to have it," Trina muttered as she approached the room. She was within a foot of it when she bumped into a force field that shimmered gold from her contact, throwing her back. Fortunately, Anderson was behind her and caught her. She straightened up and put on a fierce expression.
Isabe commented, "I guess it realized what you wanted to do."
"Well I'm not going to let a little force field get in my way…" She lifted her carbine and turned the phaser setting up to three-quarters, a high disruption setting that one wouldn't use on people unless one was particularly cruel.
The marines realized what she was doing and set their carbines to the same setting. They raised their phasers in unison and aimed at fairly that same spot.
Trina ordered, "Fire."
Bridge
USS Tori
On the viewscreen, the bridge crew watched the station continued to slowly rotating as it sank deeper into the atmosphere, disappearing completely into the upper atmosphere with gases sliding over the top of the antigravity bubble.
Robbie was looking at the various monitors at his station and ordered without a second thought, "Stay with them."
André's hands remained steady on the helm controls, but answered, "If we go in there after them, we may have to raise the shields and if we do that…"
The science officer never sought command and if it was up to him, he'd only be the chief science officer and not doing double duty as executive officer because he knew deep down that he wasn't command material. However, Freddie had disagreed and encouraged him to be more, push to keep his unrestricted line officer status up-to-date to keep the option open of commanding a starship one day. After all, he rose through the science division for command while almost everyone else did it through the obvious command track of navigation, helm or tactical.
However, this was one of those times where had to step up to be worthy of taking the center seat and he wasn't going to let his friends down over his own insecurities.
He took a deep breath then ordered with as much confidence as he could muster, "Keep the shields down and turn navigational deflectors to full strength." He looked over his right shoulder and ordered, "Cat, sound evacuation from the outer section of the bow decks." He turned to look across the bridge and followed up, "Environmental control, once people are cleared of those sections, seal off those decks."
"Aye sir."
Robbie looked to the screen, seeing the swirling gases close enough to reach out and touch. He gave one last order, "Commander Harris… follow them in."
"Aye sir."
The mighty starship accelerated forward, diving into the clouds, her navigational deflector pushing against the thick and whirling atmosphere, clearing them a path until it reached the other edge of the station's gravitational field and regaining a visual on the slightly spinning station. The around them the torrent of gases whipped past and formed a teardrop shape around the ship, bracketing it on either side but she held her bearing.
Ops Center
The three blue beams hit the force field, causing it to shimmer over nearly the entire surface as it attempted to repeal the phaser fire and turning a greenish color at the point of contact.
Rex noticed one of the indicators for the power rise, so he called out, "Hey Trina, the station is drawing more power trying to hold the field, so… we're either sinking or we're about to get flooded with radiation."
"Cease fire," the security officer ordered as she released the trigger.
The marines ceased fire and the power levels dropped back down.
"Okay, if we can't get through the field…" She walked around Isabe and pointed her weapon at the right doorframe to her.
Isabe and Anderson understood her intention and pointed to the opposite side and above the door.
"Fire."
The blue beams lashed out again, striking the frame and the metal melting and exploding outwards in a spray of sparks. The force field shimmered for a moment then winked out.
Anderson pulled out his combat knife and walked to the door, knowing that they had to have destroyed the door sensor and the mechanism to pull them apart. He shoved the blade into the seam then worked the knife back and forth to pry the door open. Once he parted it enough, he got his fingers through and grabbed the left door. Isabe stood beside him and got her fingers inside to pull on the opposite door. They simultaneously pulled, pushing the doors aside and allowing entry into the office.
The three stepped inside the room, ready for anything to jump out at them, whether real or imaginary.
Tori grinned as she found her opening into the system and typed as fast as she could manage to exploit the opening. "I got it! I can disengage the cargo tubes."
"Stop!"
The Star Fleeters and marines turned to the sound of the voice. Trina, Tori and Anderson saw a being standing about two meters tall in the center of the room. It was grey with a slightly disproportional large head with two slanted almond black eyes. Isabe squinted, seeing a distorted blob of mess she couldn't quite comprehend.
The marines instantly raised their weapons, but refrained from firing as they didn't have a clear silhouette behind the creature to not hit the others.
It appeared to look directly at Tori and demanded without any apparent facial muscle movements, "You can't do that! You can't help them tear this station apart!"
Tori frowned at him and sharply retorted, "If you haven't noticed, we're plunging into the planet. We have to dump the cargo holds if we want the rest of the station to survive!" She turned her back to the image of the creature that had ruled over the Klingons for centuries.
Trina demanded, "Who the Hell are you?"
Rex squinted his eyes and demanded, "Who are you talking to?"
The marines and Trina turned their heads to see Rex giving them a perplexed gaze.
The security officer asked, "You can't see him?"
The helm officer shook his head. "You all look like crazy fools talking to thin air."
Isabe pointed out, "I just see a grey blob of mess. I don't know what I'm looking at."
Anderson rhetorically asked, "So he's just in our heads? Like the doctor said?"
Trina answered with a clearly impatient voice, putting the pieces together, "Jade said that something was stimulating our brains, the parts that process our visual and audio senses. It's making us think we're seeing it. It probably already knew how to influence Tori's brain because she's Klingon, learned about our brains from the survey team's stay over the last two weeks, but Isabe's brain is different from human and centauran brains, so it still hasn't gotten it quite right with her and Rex doesn't have one in the first place."
Rex shouted, clearly offended with the remark, "Hey!"
"I meant organic. It can't stimulate parts of the brain that aren't there." She looked to the others and ordered, "Ignore him and focus on keeping this station afloat while we blast this piece of chizz to Hell."
Tori and Rex turned back to the computer stations while Trina and the marines turned back into the office and raised their phaser carbines towards the computer station.
The grey figure shouted, "You can't ignore me! This is my station… I am the station!"
Trina snapped around and shouted, "Who wants to try to prevent us from saving you! You may not like us—Hell, you want to kill us all, but I didn't realize a computer could be suicidal in the process!"
The image of the A.I. looked stoic for a moment, as if he was trying to process her words and working out the logical conclusion. He answered in a curt voice, "I'd rather die than let a bunch of scavengers have this station."
"Okay, if you feel that way…" Trina flippantly answered and walked further into the office and saw the security station with lights blinking and actively humming, showing that it was active.
Trina called out to her sister, "Is this part of the main computer?"
"No, just connected to it. Disabling it shouldn't interfere with the other systems."
"Good, so I'm going to blast it to bits."
The grey figured approach them and demanded, "No! You can't do that!"
"You want to murder us! Watch me."
She and the marines turned to face the station, but the next moment to their eyes, a Kzinti and a Wasp formed in front of them: a seven foot muscular feline creature with human proportions stood on its hind legs and a fierce expression on its face; and an insect creature standing on two legs at about six feet.
Isabe flinched, but stood her ground. The image of the Wasp with all the stories signaled a primal reaction of flight or fight response for Trina and Anderson. However, all three were heavily armed, so they picked fight.
They raised their phasers, ready to blast through them to get to the station. They fired a rapid series of blue streams into the figures that were ready to charge them. The computer imprinted on them that the shots went through them, but it did no good as the shots went into the console, punching holes into the metal shell and causing it to internally blow apart.
"NOOOoooo…" the figure cried for a moment then ceased to exist.
Tori shouted out, "That did it! All the security protocols have just ceased."
Trina whipped around and walked back into the ops center, ordering in the process, "Then disconnect those pods."
Rex pulled out his communicator and flipped it open. "Tori, we're going to release a pod, so watch out."
Inside one of the pods, the lights switched to a soft green hue that blinked with a high pitch whine to warn anyone inside that the massive docking clamps were disconnecting from the station. The doors on the station and the pod sealed shut, maintaining atmosphere before the clamps disengaged at once and a short burst of unneeded thrusters to usually give it an impulse to move away from the station. However, the station's rotation gave the pod enough centripetal force to drift away and from the direction it was pointing and flung away from the planet. Whether it had enough momentum to escape orbit was in doubt, but of no concern as the station and the Tori flew past it.
Ops Center
Tori grinned as her fingertips glided across the control surface of the PADD. "Okay, that's one and…"
Everyone glanced up at the panoramic view screens and saw a sudden shift in the gases conforming around the antigravity bubble and the cargo cylinder with its attached cube holds floating away from the station and sinking. In actuality, they weren't so much sinking, but the station rising.
Rex picked up as he manipulated the station keeping controls, "…we're stabilizing and leveling off. Great job sweet cheeks."
The computer science officer turned a curious look to Rex, feeling a hint of blush at what she assumed was a compliment. She shook it off then looked back at the monitor. "We just have to disconnect the other one and make sure you pick the right one. Just hold us steady so we can release."
Rex tapped the controls to maintain 'thrust' of the antigravity bubble, allowing them to keep the power level stable and not flood the compartment with radiation and keeping them level for a few more seconds.
Cargo Hold
Jade's eyes darted around then looked to Benson and asked, "Where did they go?"
Benson paused in bracing his shoulder under the bent metal slap to push with his knees to get the crate to lift just enough to shove one of the cut pieces of metal under it and the left hand crate. He glanced around to see that the image of his father-in-law had disappeared.
"I don't know and I don't care," Benson muttered as he started back pushing on the metal plate, getting the crate to lift enough to shove in one of the pieces he had cut. He sighed in satisfaction as he was able to get the piece between the lever and bottom crate. He took a breath then pushed up again, lifting the crate just a little more again then shoved another piece between it and the first metal piece. He repeated the process several more times, getting a piece of metal between the slaps of metals and taking a breath and starting it all over again.
After about a half a dozen pieces, he had lifted the crate about two inches off the bottom crate.
Jade sighed out, finding it a little easier to breath and the pressure off her hip.
Benson shifted on his knees to get above her shoulders and gripped under her armpits and started scooting back, dragging her out from under the crate.
The doctor closed her eyes and clenched her teeth as she felt a sharp pain in her hip and pricking feeling down her leg as the blood started flowing again, "Ugggh."
He moved back enough to clear her feet from the crate then dropped in his behind, pulling her further up to rest her back on his chest and cradle her in his arms, resting the back of her head on his left shoulder. She glanced up and huffed out several breaths then muttered, "Damn… damn… that hurt…"
He huffed out with a grin, "I thought you liked pain."
She struggled with a laugh, "Only the good kind… only the good kind…"
He lifted his left hand palmed over her forehead then kissed the side of her crown and her responding with a soft laugh and grinned.
His communicator beeped from behind his back. He removed his hand from over her abdomen and reached behind to grab the subspace transmitter/receiver. He pulled it out and flicked his wrist, opening the gold grill. "Benson?"
"Vega here. We blasted the station's A.I. that was messing with our brains and disconnected the other pods. We're clearing the atmosphere and we have enough thrust to break orbit and get out of the ion interference, but it's going to take a few minutes."
"Good. As soon as we're cleared of the atmosphere, get the Tori to beam us back."
"How's Jade?"
"She's—"
Jade reached up with her right hand, grabbing over the back of his hand holding the communicator.
Benson glanced down to her slightly fearful eyes.
"I don't want to transport like this. I don't want it to put me back together even worst."
"Can you wait that long to get back to the ship?"
"Depends on how fast you can get me back there," she snorted out with a pain filled laugh.
"Vega, I was able to pull Jade out from under the crates, but get down here with anything we can use for a stretcher. We're going to carry her back to the shuttle and fly her back."
"I'll be right down with Isabe and Anderson."
Benson answered, "Bring that medkit they have up there with you."
"Yeah… I need some drugs," Jade sardonically snorted out.
The captain rested his communicator gripped hand on Jade stomach and added, "Double time it Lieutenant, double time it."
Jade closed her eyes and snugged her crown against his cheek.
Sickbay
USS Tori
Extended orbit around gas
The patient ward of the starship Tori was fairly quiet with the lights turned down to indicate that it was night time, the only way to signify the change over from day to night aboard a starship. The only patient occupying the beds at the moment was Jade, resting comfortably in the bed furthest to the end of the ward as to give her as much privacy and quiet as the staff went about their duties. The only noise in that section was the soft peep of the bio-monitor above her head that displayed her vitals and her steady breathing, but she was beginning to stir. She snuggled back into the pillow and yawned then she started blinking as she returned to the waking world.
She rolled her head to the left, seeing that Benson in casual shirt and blue jeans sitting in a chair next to the bed and lazily reading off a PADD.
She licked her lips and whispered, "Hey."
Benson lowered the pad on his lap and answered in a quiet voice not to disturb the quietness of the room, "Hey."
"You look comfortable."
He lazily shrugged his shoulder and answered, "Well, I didn't know how long you'd be sleeping. You had me a little worry. You slept longer than they expected."
"How long have I been asleep?"
He casually answered, "The last day and a half."
She sat up and asked with a stunned expression, "What?"
"I guess you needed the rest. Your staff tells me that your hip has mended fine and there wasn't any internal injuries they couldn't handle."
Jade lifted the reddish and golden stitched cover, looking under it to her patient's gown and bashfully asked, "So, I'm ah… intact inside."
Benson bashfully cleared his throat then answered, "You're alright. You're going to be able to have little Wests when the time comes."
She dropped the cover and embarrassingly looked to him, not wanting to have to come out and say she was concerned about future reproduction.
The captain tightened his smile and continued, "You should be out of here tomorrow, well out of here as a patient, but back here to work."
She nodded then lifted her chin so she could meet his eyes. She sardonically asked, "So what have I missed?"
"Other than New Years?"
Jade rolled her eyes, groaning in mild disappointment in missing the party.
"Don't worry, some of us were here with you to celebrate quietly…" He added with a boyish smirk, "I made sure you had a New Year's kiss."
She cracked a smile, not exactly sure how he managed that, and asked, "Thanks… what else?"
Freddie sighed then answered, "We were able to get the station into an extended orbit and waiting for a squadron of ships from the Corp of Engineers. Star Fleet decided that the station—what's left of it after jettison two of the pods—was far too valuable to abandon. They're going to probably some top secret facility."
"So command was good with what happened? We lost two-thirds of the station."
He nodded his head to the side and answered, "I had a commodore chew me out for losing two of the cargo pods. I told them the alternative was to lose the entire station and the only reason why I saved what I did was because you were trapped."
"Oh, so blame me?"
"No, I gave you credit in a way. I expect Star Fleet Intelligence to push to give you a commendation."
The doctor rolled her eyes and flippantly replied, "Thanks… so how did he take it?"
"He wasn't happy, but he called back and he was a lot more agreeable and commended me for my actions."
"Why do think he did that?"
"Because… Cat accidentally sent a copy of my report to… your dad. I guess someone called someone to call him and told him that he needed to see the upside of the situation."
Jade sighed, perhaps a little embarrassed by the situation and having to ask, "So mom and dad know what happened?"
He gave a tired smile as he asked, "Do you really think I wasn't going to call?"
"No, but did he chew you out much?"
"Not at all… He knows the dangers of being in Star Fleet. Your mother on the other hand… I'm not looking forward to the message I'm expecting to get from her."
She turned sympathetic smile on him and nodded, muttering, "Never approved of me going into the service…"
"Never really understood why you did either…"
Jade turned a look to him and she could pick up in an instant in his eyes that he was lying, but discussing the truth right now wasn't the time or place. She took a deep breath and forced a smile to asked, "What about the others?"
"The others are fine. After the destruction of the security station—it was an AI that was sending those signals into our brains—our brain chemistry evened out fairly quickly."
"So no more visions of my dad… of Carly?"
"Nope, not since Trina blasted it… she's only in my dreams," he finished with a tired smile.
She glanced away for a second then asked, "Wait, what about Carter? Did you find his body?"
Freddie rubbed his chin and chuckled, "Actually… that's a bit of a mystery… he's alright."
"What?"
"He should be dead, but… the crates landed just right and trapped him in a doom of debris… it seems a bit unbelievable, but… he's alive."
Jade thought about the amazing stroke of luck with the loud mouth marine surviving an avalanche of cargo. She snorted out a laugh and joked, "Maybe the station is haunted?"
Freddie cocked an eyebrow and asked, "And it saved him?"
The bed bound doctor shrugged a shoulder and answered, "Organians saved us…"
The captain didn't give it much credence to the idea with what happened to the survey team.
"What about the survey team? Have you recovered the bodies?"
Freddie took a deep breath then answered, "The engineer trapped in the core, but we're still looking for the last member because we can't account for her."
"Could she have been in the other pods?"
"It's an unfortunate possibility and wouldn't have remains to return to the family. The pods didn't have enough velocity to escape the planet, so they were crushed."
Jade glanced away, only imagining what horrors her fellow Star Fleet officer had to suffer and if she had been alive and trapped in one of those pods as it plummeted into the gas giant. Those thoughts turned to another obvious question and turned her head to meet her friend and captain's eyes.
"If they couldn't have pulled that trick off with dumping more than half the station to save it and… they couldn't have beamed me out… would you have really stayed with me?"
Benson took a deep breath and wore a stoic expression. He answered in a slow, calm and deliberate voice, "Of course I would have stayed."
Jade struggled with a smile and nodded her head then quickly turned it away to avoid his gaze. She tightened her fingers around his fingers for a gentle squeeze.
The pair sat in silence for perhaps a minute, just holding hands and the bio-bed monitor beeping just a little faster to indicate that her heart rate had risen.
The doctor cleared her throat and looked to him with a forced smile, flicking her brow up. "Don't you have a starship to run?"
He got the message that she was trying to shoo him off and he wasn't going to argue with her. "It's Beta shift and Gamma starts in about two hours, so… I guess I should head off and get some sleep. Morning will be here before we know it."
She teasingly smiled, pleased that she won without an argument.
He stood up then leaned over, placing a kiss on her forehead and gave her hand another squeeze. He straightened up and they shared a sweet smile.
He let go of her hand and took a step back. He reached over to the monitor pushed back on the hinged arm and pulled it out to partially wrap around her right side and turning the display to her direction. He softly smile and told her, "Call your parents. Let them know you're awake and okay… and convince your mom not to kill me next time I see her."
Jade rolled her eyes and half smirked before answering, "Okay. You go get some sleep. Doctor's orders."
"You're not cleared for medical duty yet, but… I'll take your suggestion."
"Good, 'night."
"For you, good morning."
They shared a soft laugh then Benson turned and headed out of sickbay.
"Hey, tell them to send me some food! And some coffee!"
He waved over shoulder and answered, "Gotcha."
"And I mean the real stuff from the cooks, not that replicator chizz."
"You can't tell the difference…" he answered while walking out of the room.
"Yes I can," she shouted with a laugh as he disappeared around the corner.
Captain's Quarters
USS Tori
Benson entered his quarters, the standard arrangement for each Constitution-Class ship with a portion divided into a small office with a partition wall behind the captain's chair with a grill partition running from about shoulder height seated to the ceiling, the bedroom/living room and a bathroom behind a closed door.
He took a seat at his desk and pressed the stud under the computer monitor on the desk and called to the bridge, "Bridge, this is Benson, is Commander Shapiro still on duty?"
"He's in science lab two," the officer of the deck answered him.
"Patch me through."
"Aye sir."
A few moments later the speaker whined and Robbie's voice came over the speaker, "Captain?"
"I wanted to let you know that Jade's awake."
"Great, I'll wrap up here and go see her."
"She's eating by now and I wouldn't want to be in your shoes if I were you."
"Good point," he answered with an audible sigh.
"Can you swing by and give me a short briefing before I hit my bunk?"
"Yes sir. Tori and I will be there in a few minutes."
Benson raised an eyebrow, a little surprised that she was still working. "I'll see you in a few minutes." He turned off the comm then turned to the small food replicator enclave and tapped one of the preset buttons. A few moments later, the protective screen rose to reveal a cup of warm milk. He reached inside to pick up the glass then took a few sips and just relaxed, waiting for his first officer to arrive.
He didn't have but a few minutes to relax as the door chimed and he called out, "Enter."
The doors parted and Robbie and Tori entered the quarters. Benson stood up from his seat and greeted them with a pleasant smile, "Commanders."
Tori bashfully nodded her head and answered with a grateful tone before they got to business, "I wanted to say thank you for coming to get me Captain."
He motioned for them to have a seat in front of the desk as he sat down. "You don't have to thank me Commander. We're Star Fleet… we'll always come and get you."
She nodded her thanks as the three sat down.
Benson started off, "It's my understanding that you were critical in getting the station out of danger and your computer skills are bar none."
Tori bashfully answered, "I think it was more to do with Trina blasting the A.I. that got us over that last hurdle."
"She is very good at her job," Benson answered with a grin.
"So, what progress have you made?"
Robbie answered, "We believe that we have access to all the memory banks of the station. Fortunately it looks like they were in too big a hurry to wipe them clean before abandoning the station."
Tori followed up, "Or simply activate a self-destruct or simple plow the station into the planet."
"Any idea why they didn't? What made them leave so suddenly?"
"Not yet. It's going to take a while to go through their logs. It should be a treasure trove of information on their culture and people and hopefully we can find out why they left."
"I'm sure Star Fleet Intelligence and the GIA will want to take over that, but… until we meet up with them, learn all you can…" He turned his look specifically toward Tori and added, "…and I'm sure that your sister will enjoy a little of your time for a reunion."
Tori nodded her head and replied, "Thank you captain."
"I appreciate the update and I don't want to keep you any longer than I have to and—" He motioned his head to Shapiro. "—and I need to speak with Commander Shapiro about some ship's business, so go ahead and call it an evening. They'll just have to manage without you."
"Thank you again captain," she replied as she got up from her seat. She turned and headed out of the quarters, the hissing of the door opening and closing signaling her exit.
Robbie joked once the doors closed, "She might be better than you with computers."
"I wouldn't doubt it. She's specialized in it while I was only self-taught. I didn't major in it at WI. So you're impressed?"
Robbie chuckled and nodded his head. "Yeah, very impressed. I knew she was good at science, but I didn't know she had those skills at school."
Freddie teased his old friend, "Careful, Cat might get a little jealous."
Robbie straightened up and cleared his throat, fighting a bit of blush that wanted to form on his cheeks. "I wasn't talking about that. I'm talking about her… you know, skills and stuff…"
Benson grinned, enjoying the camaraderie, then answered, "Robbie, she's very pretty, so much so you forget she's a Klingon."
The senior science officer raised a curious eyebrow over the rim of his glasses, unsure what his friend was implying.
The captain rested his forearms on the desk and got to the point, "Are you impressed enough to think she could have activated the A.I. on purpose and covered her tracks?"
The science officer's easy going expression vanished and quickly asked, "Wait what?"
Benson nodded his head to the side, letting the question sink in for the curly haired science officer.
The science officer slumped back in his seat and asked, "You think she's a traitor?"
The captain relaxed back in his seat and casually answered, "I'm asking the same questions that a board of inquiry, command or the JAG core is going to ask, but in a far less subtle manner."
Robbie bowed his head and looked at the desk, thinking on his words then lifted his chin and asked, "Isn't that kind of… bigoted thinking that because she's Klingon?"
Benson raised an eyebrow and rhetorically asked, "That a Klingon could be a Klingon agent? That's a reasonable caution."
"But she's Trina's sister. She was raised Centurean… human, she doesn't even follow their customs. She's Catholic after her father. I've known her for years."
"You didn't know she was Klingon, how well do you really know her?"
Robbie sucked in a sharp breath through his nose, feeling as if he had been slapped.
Freddie continued before his first officer could recovered, "I don't have any contention about her background. She could be as loyal as anyone else, but… you don't take a second look at every Vulcan now wondering if maybe, just maybe they could be a Romulan agent after what happened at the end of last year? Wondering if the Vulcan government—heck, that the rest of the original Federation members—knew that the Romulans were a Vulcan breakaway group since the war a hundred years ago and kept it secret from us just to prevent us from wondering that?"
Robbie opened his mouth and was about to retort, but he quickly shut his mouth. He couldn't argue with the question as finding out the Romulans were simply a parallel group to Vulcans as Humans and Centureans were to one another had sent a ripple effect through the Federation. There were those, some in very prominent positions, accusing the Vulcan government and other ones of knowing the relation between the two peoples for the last century and keeping it secret for nefarious purposes, particularly the most stinging one that the Vulcans had used Humans and Andorians to fight their lost cousins as they leant very little support to the war effort. The revelation put every alphabet soup intelligence agency in a near state of panic wondering who could be a Romulan agent within Star Fleet and in positions of authority within the Federation since there had been no compelling reason to suspect Vulcans of espionage any more than any other person that could be bought off by a foreign power.
The science officer sighed and grasped at straws, pointing out, "But we know her?"
Benson sighed out, "We know Trina, but we don't know Tori. Did you ever really know her if she was hiding this from you?"
Robbie shook his head and took a few moments to think on his words. He glanced up and reluctantly asked, "So what do you want to do?"
"I want you to double-check that she didn't intentionally activate the A.I. to get rid of the survey team so that the Klingons could have the station or sent any messages to anyone else without her knowing."
The reluctant young man nodded and answered with a reluctant tone, "Yes sir."
The captain struggled with a smile and replied, "Good, in the meantime… do you think you have a position in your department for her?"
Robbie blinked then knotted his brow. "Wait? You want to keep her on the ship? After you think she could be an agent?"
"I need to know either way before I let her out of my sight, for the safety of others ot… to make sure her career isn't over."
"Captain… Freddie, I'm not in the spook business. I don't know if I can pull off acting like I'm… not spying on her."
Benson nodded, understanding throwing someone into a task they may not be equipped to handle. "Just act… bashfully goofy as you are most of the time with Cat in public. She'll just think she's intimidating you with her beauty."
Robbie coughed, feeling a smidge embarrassed and replied, "Cat might think I'm flirting with her or I'm really attracted to her."
"It's a hazard of the job."
The response could be described as cold and most likely it was an accurate description about where the importance of Robbie's relationship with Cat fell in relation to Federation security and the question about the loss of four fellow Star Fleet officers.
The blue shirt wearing young man reluctantly nodded and answered, "I understand, but… when this is done, you're the one that is going to explain it to Cat."
"Deal," Freddie answered with a smirk.
An awkward silence fell between the old friends for several seconds before Robbie offered, "I guess I'll see you in the morning."
Benson responded with a half smirk, "It depends on how much longer you stay on duty and someone else has to do your duty shift. I can't have you falling asleep on the job."
Robbie chuckled as he stood up, "Right. Night Freddie."
"Night Robbie," he called out as his friend exited his quarters.
The door closed and Freddie relaxed back in his seat. He glanced over to his right to look at a picture on his desk, seeing the smiling face of his beautiful late wife. He let a sad smile form on his face then closed his eyes, letting his thoughts drift to happier times with her than the twisted images of a long gone people.
Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this piece… that took way longer to publish then intended with life getting in the way. Honestly, a good chunk of this was finished in October except the very end with some editing for earlier parts. I do have a few ideas that I've been working on for some future stories in this universe that I hope you'll enjoy and perhaps resolves some of the interpersonal conflicts created in this piece. Thanks again for reading, OneHorseShay.
