The next morning, Captain Picard looked up when the chime to his ready room rang. "Enter," he called. In walked Deanna.
"Councilor," he acknowledged. "How did your meeting go with our new guest?"
She came to stand in front of his desk. "Enlightening."
He gave her a questioning look. "What can you tell me about her?"
Deanna looked apologetic. "Not much, Captain. Doctor-Patient Confidentiality. But I can say that I believe she's simply the victim of one of Q's games. She was in close contact with the Borg though. I believe she can be a valuable asset. However, I would like to see her at least once a month. She went through something rather painful and has only covered it up over the years."
Jean-Luc raised an amused eyebrow. "What makes you think I'll allow her to stay?"
Deanna smiled. "Multiple reasons: 1) You both share that drive to help when possible, 2) She could represent a breakthrough in FTL travel, and most importantly, 3) Captain, you love a good mystery." Jean-Luc fought a smile that threatened to slip through. "Thank you, Councilor. Dismissed."
Deanna nodded and walked out, a respectfully small smile playing at her lips.
The door closed and Captain Picard stopped fighting. The corners of his mouth twitched upward of their own accord. Deanna was right. He did love a mystery. This mystery, however, seems a tiny-bit more attractive than most.
0-0-0-0-0
T'Kara was sitting on her couch, quietly sketching a Borg uni-complex on her PADD. She blinked, looking back at what she had drawn, and shivered in a mixture of disgust and fear. It was just so wrong. She had an almost burning desire to delete the sketch. Better yet, she wanted to melt the PADD itself, or burn it, or disintegrate it, or freeze and shatter it. She was flexible as long as the drawing ceased to be. The Borg were terrible. They were awful. They were disgusting. As such, the picture had no right to exist. Not deleting the picture felt like some sort of silent agreement to put up with all that the Borg were. However, T'Kara's better judgement allowed her to hold off on slinging the PADD across the room in disgust. She finished the sketch and saved it to her computer alongside the dozens of other sketches she had done last night. They could be helpful to the Federation as blueprints or with intelligence reports. They depicted various Borg cubes, spheres, anatomical pieces, weapons, cybernetic implants, regeneration alcoves, and so-forth. She realized that a sketch of the Queen was missing from her collection. She grimaced, opened a new file on her PADD, and began to draw.
0-0-0-0-0
The com badge she had been given beeped. "Captain Picard to T'Kara."
She tapped it. "Yes Sir?"
"Report to my ready room."
She bit her lip and grinned. "Actually, Captain, as a civilian, I am on my way to the holodeck. Then I am going to the mess hall to have lunch. I believe I am free after that... No, sorry. How about tomorrow...Sir?"
She allowed just enough of teasing into her tone to remind him that she was not under his chain-of-command, but not enough to really offend him. She heard him huff.
"Please." He amended. He spit it out like the words were bitter.
She chuckled. "I will be there shortly, Sir."
Another huff. "Thank you. Picard out."
She shook her head and grinned. It seems that Picard had been a captain for far too long. He needed to loosen up a bit. And that was coming from a Vulcan! She had to admit to herself, though, that she was a bit atypical for a Vulcan. Still...irony.
She glanced down at the hideous picture in her hands and curled a lip. The Queen. Her whole body tensed at the sight and actually started to quiver in anger. Before she knew what she was doing, T'Kara had flung the PADD from her hands and against the furthest wall with as much strength as she could. The PADD shattered on impact. She glanced at it as she slipped on white flats. It sat there looking almost dejected—if shards of electronics could look dejected, that was. T'Kara scoffed at herself. It was just a PADD, after all. Now, of course, it was not even that. She would deal with that mess later.
0-0-0-0-0
The captain looked up when the door to his ready room announced a visitor. "Enter," he called out. And in she came. T'Kara was dressed simply in a white blouse and medium blue slacks. Her black hair fell over her shoulders, covering her pointed ears. He noticed that she must have trimmed her eyebrows, as they were less inclined. In fact, she looked almost human.
"Good morning, Captain Picard," she said.
He nodded. "Good morning. Have a seat."
As soon as she did he folded his hands and laid them on the desk. They sat there silently for a moment, studying each other. Finally, he sighed.
"The Enterprise isn't safe. We loose people—good, deserving people. The safest, most logical, place to be as a civilian specialist would be at Starfleet headquarters or even a starbase. Not here. So why do you want to stay onboard the Enterprise?"
She smiled, having apparently thought that over already. "On its most adventurous day, a starbase might rotate the opposite direction or move a few hundred meters. Even that can not be said about Starfleet headquarters. The people there get to read the reports made by the people here. This is where history happens. This is where alliances are forges, new civilizations are discovered, and new planets explored. Out here is where the questions are answered and new ones arise. Who wants to sit and read about all those amazing experiences if you have the chance to witness them firsthand? Let me tell you: I sat and read reports for ninety years. It is terrible."
He leaned back and smiled wistfully. That sounded familiar. How could he deny her the opportunity to experience that which they both craved? Deanna said that she wasn't a danger, and Deanna, of all people, should be able to tell.
"If you stayed onboard, you would need to make yourself useful to Starfleet by supplying them with information and working on transwarp theory, like you promised."
She nodded. "I would."
He smiled and stood, offering a hand to shake. "Then welcome to the U.S.S. Enterprise."
He was caught off guard when she jumped up and, rather than shaking his hand, hugged him with glee. He went stiff. He noted absent-mindedly that her hair had a faint, pleasant aroma to it. She moved back with a grin.
"It is okay that you were surprised, Captain. That was my first hug ever as well." she teased. He straitened up and smoothed out his uniform.
"Yes, well..." He wasn't quite sure how to respond.
She chuckled. "Relax, Picard. Being a little less of a brick wall when your subordinates are not watching does, in no way, lessen your credibility as a captain."
He sighed again and shook his head before beginning to chuckle. She joined in.
When they stopped, Picard regarded T'Kara curiously. She didn't flinch under his gaze and even returned it.
"T'Kara—" he began.
She corrected, "—just Kara."
He sighed. "If you insist that I call you Kara, then you must call me Jean-Luc."
She smiled and raised an eyebrow. "Why else do you think I insisted that you call me Kara? "Captain", by itself, is a dehumanizing term. I do not want it to become difficult to see the man behind the rank. Oh, and thank you."
He shook his head. "Are you going to be this much trouble for everyone on my ship?"
"Only if I feel like it."
"Perhaps your acceptance was premature."
Kara mock-gasped. "You would not dare."
He leaned forward and raised an eyebrow. "Try me."
She returned his stare for a heartbeat before letting up and chuckling. "So there is a human being behind that title. Now, I should leave before you make good on your threat and ship me off to Deep Space 7 or someplace equally horrid. Good day...Jean-Luc."
He nodded. "And you, Kara."
The door whooshed closed behind T'Kara and Captain Picard sighed and sat down again. He started going through a report Will brought him earlier. About halfway through it, his eyes widened and his face went pale. Had he just been flirting with her...and enjoying it? He heaved a sigh and whispered, "Merde."
0-0-0-0-0
T'Kara wandered into an observation room absent-mindedly. If she was being honest with herself, she would have admitted that she was drawing out the return to her quarters. She did not want to face the monsters she had drawn on her PADD and saved to her computer. Part of her wished that they had been destroyed when her PADD had been, but no such luck. It was if not looking at them meant that they were not still there lying in wait for her. She shivered at the thought, despite the pleasant temperature. She looked out at the stars and realized that she did not even know where the Enterprise was headed. She was simply along for the ride.
She heard the door open behind her and recognized the presence that entered the room. It was Georgie. She suppressed a sigh and turned to face him.
"The computer said I'd find you here. Listen: I want to apologize for the other night. I kind of put you on the spot."
She smiled, somewhat relieved. "There is no need to apologize, Geordie. Honestly, there were many ways I could have handled that conversation better. I hope I have not ended our chance of being friends."
He beamed. "What? No! I'm just glad you're still okay with hanging out with me!"
She chuckled, then a thought hit her. "Oh! Captain Picard officially decided to allow me to stay onboard."
His eyes widened. "That's terrific!"
She nodded. "Now that I have clearance, do you believe that you could give me that tour of Engineering?"
Geordie nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, you bet. Glad you're staying."
The duo stepped out into the corridor.
"Well, it's actually not my shift so I'm not quite sure who's working. I do know that we're in the process of trying to get an extra four percent of efficiency from the ship's dilithium matrix, so it'll be a mess."
She raised an amused eyebrow as they headed to turbolift three.
"Four percent?"
Geordie shrugged. "You never can be too efficient."
She conceded. "True... Commander Data is Ship's Officer, right?"
He frowned. That was a bit random. "Yeah...Why?"
She sidestepped the question. "Nothing, really. I simply need the Ship's Officer's, and therefore his, permission to create a project in the holodeck matrix."
"Oh, yeah. Personal project?"
"No. Work."
Geordie frowned internally. It was odd. As soon as they started talking about whatever 'project' T'Kara was planning on working on, she had tensed up. First, she had sidestepped his first question and then she answered his second rather shortly.
"Hey, Kara. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable."
She smiled, but it seemed sad somehow. "You have done nothing wrong, Geordie. It is all on me."
Her shoulders sagged a little and she started looking out at something far away. Geordie wondered if what she said had some sort of double-meaning. But, it's possible that getting sad randomly was just something that came with being a specialist on such a horrendous species, such as the Borg. Maybe there was more to her than there seemed, but he had to admit that he hadn't seen her file, so he wasn't sure.
The turbolift arrived at Engineering and Geordie noticed how Kara snapped back to the present. She was immediately alert. The doors opened, not to a frenzy of activity, but rather to about ten crewmen smoothly going about their business. The only one of the personnel he knew that she had met previously was Commander Data. Little did he know that she had read the other's files her first evening onboard, so he pointed a few of the key personnel out. The consoles around this section of Engineering were lit up like Christmas. Geordie smiled a little at their efficiency. He liked to show off how well his people worked.
T'Kara walked through Engineering with her hands behind her back. The crew were working efficiently...for humans. For Vulcans, it would be more like sufficiently. However, it seemed like Geordie was proud so she tried to look impressed. She had to admit, though, the technology was impressive, and she said as much to Geordie.
"Thanks," he said. "State of the art." He patted a console lovingly and T'Kara raised an amused eyebrow.
"Am I intruding, Geordie?"
He grinned sheepishly. "Na. I'll share. Now, over here we have the..."
But T'Kara had stopped listening. She was fixated on an ensign who was carrying mechanical parts. He had a few boxes balanced precariously. On top of the stack was a laser spanner. It was wobbling precariously on the top box. Her eyes widened. The device fell. She dived for it and groaned when her shoulder hit the deck hard. She stood quickly as everyone turned toward her. The man, who had now set down his pile grinned at her in amusement.
"Thanks, but that wasn't necessary."
She raised an eyebrow in askance. "Oh? This laser spanner is set to the frequency of isolinear chips. If I had not been here to catch it, it would have fallen and gone off accidentally. Furthermore, it was pointed toward that console," she gestured, "which happens to control the flow of the warp core coolant. If the isolinear chips in that circuitry had been damaged, this ship could have had a warp core meltdown. So do try to be more focused in the future."
She turned back to Geordie and smiled politely. "Sorry. Now, where were we?"
He stared at her, frowning in puzzlement, as they continued walking.
Behind her, she heard the man whisper to a fellow engineer, "I might have been more focused if she hadn't distracted me with that tiny little ass of hers." Indignation flared within her just as Geordie began to speak.
"How did you—?"
"Excuse me again," she ground out.
She whirled around and marched back up to the man. "Leon Rodinsky, you would do well to remember that Vulcans have superior hearing to that of humans. Next time you desire to make a comment on how distracting my "ass" is, I strongly suggest that you keep it to yourself! I understand that your wife announced her plans to separate frobm you, but that, sad though it may be, is no excuse for your behavior! Is that clear?"
The wide-eyed ensign looked like he had soiled himself a little. "Ye...Yes ma'am." Then he scrunched up his face in thought. "But how did—?"
She held up a finger to silence him. "Unless you want to wind up in sickbay with a broken nose, I suggest you get back to work." He nodded vigorously.
T'Kara sighed, turned back to Geordie, who now was gaping, and closed her eyes. She took a calming breath and then opened her eyes, seeming to have return
ed to normal. Of course, only she knew that she would have to double her meditation time that evening.
"My apologies, Geordie. I will not interrupt you again."
Geordie still looked surprised, glancing repeatedly between Kara and Rodinsky, but he shook it off. "Ooookay. Now...over here we have the..."
0-0-0-0-0
Data stood in the corner, still mulling over the previous scene and subsequent conversation. Most everyone, it seemed was too shocked by the concept of an angry Vulcan to actually process what had taken place. Her original assessment of the consequences of dropping that laser spanner were accurate. Far more accurate and efficient than the capabilities of any other living creature he knew. That, in itself, was odd. What was even more odd was the conversation that had taken place after she and Geordie had left the room. The man Rodinsky was confiding with earlier had leaned towards the shocked ensign.
"Man, Shelly's leaving you?"
Rodinsky had sighed and responded, "Yeah. But here's what's weird: Shelly only called this morning. I haven't even told anyone yet. How'd that freak-of-a-Vulcan know?"
'Yes', pondered Data. 'That was "weird". Very "weird" indeed'.
Hello, Everybody!
Good news: I'm not dead. It WAS hard to tell, but I have returned. If you were wondering about the whole "T'Kara" vs "Kara" thing, let me explain: only her genuine friends will use "Kara". It will be a bit of a cheating way to tell who is who, in the future. Also, this story will be a LOT like the movie Groundhog Day when it comes to scene development. I will write in the important parts, but sometimes I'll be brief in the backstory, sometimes I'll leave the rest to your imagination, and sometimes the backstory will be something I had already written. Don't worry, that is still WAY in the future and I'll make it clearer when we get there. But basically, there's just too much in-between stuff for you not to get bored. And I got off on a tangent. Oops! So basically: I didn't drop off the face of the Earth, I AM actually going somewhere with her name vs nickname, and questions or comments? PLEASE REVIEW!
-De Bre Layn
