Security Breach

Security was a big deal when living and working on a starship. It seemed to Se'tak that more often then not a peaceful diplomatic mission would quickly sour, or an 'uninhabited' planet would be populated by violent people, and when the tables turned against you you had to be able to defend yourself. But more then that there was the matter of personal security that everyone had to take into account too, especially when you were a part of the Enterprise crew (or a family member). They were celebrities, all of them, for their service in the Battle for Vulcan and beyond—and that came of fame tended to attract the crazies.

He remembered when he was about 2.5 years old and visiting Kenya for the first time. Mama had carried him over to the open air market and he couldn't get over all the strange new sights and sounds and smells. She set him down on his feet for a minute to get a better look at some fabrics for sale when a woman came over and crouched down beside him. Se'tak thought she looked nice enough and was smiling back at her but then she tried to pick him up and cart him off. He started screaming and Mama tried to grab him but the woman wouldn't let go; she kept talking and talking about Sa-mekh—next thing Se'tak knew the woman was on the ground and Sa-mekh was there holding him and Mama.

Apparently the woman had been stalking Sa-mekh from afar for some time and somehow got a hold of their shore leave schedule. Mama and Sa-mekh hovered over both him and T until they got back on the ship. It was scary to think how easily something bad could've happened and it was why Sa-mekh drilled them all so relentlessly in self-defense; his parents even had procedures in place should anyone breach their family security like that ever again…not that Se'tak had ever had to use them.

U.S.S. Enterprise, 2280.113, 1448 hours. The robotics club meeting was cancelled so he got home early that Tuesday and heard the comm. ring the minute he walked through the front door. Dropping his bags by the couch he rushed to the office and hit the receiver without checking the address of the person calling. A pretty blond human was on the other end of the line and she was all smiles until he popped up on-screen and surprised her. "Oh! Hi!"

Se'tak froze up a second then mentally cursed himself out. He didn't know how she did it but somehow this fan girl got their home number. Back when he was really little they'd had to change the number so often he didn't even know his own comm code until he was six.

"Is Commander Uhura ho—?" His hand snaked out and hit the End Call button before she could even finish the question, while he reached into his pocket with the other and pulled out the personal comm device, punching in their family emergency code. Mama would back trace the call and put a block on it and Sa-mekh would have to file an incident report. Before he could complete any of that though the comm rang out again, making him flinch. Se'tak glanced up from his work expecting to see the unknown address of the wild-haired girl when T'Alora's number scrolled by.

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Hey T, you're never gonna guess…"

But instead of his sister the human girl popped up again. He started to panic. This girl was in his sister's dorm room!

"Se'tak, please don't hang up on me."

Of course she knew his name; they all did. The hardcore nut jobs even knew his height, weight and favorite holo programs. They knew every detail the press ever published about them and would say anything to get a piece of his parents. But this…this was a MAJOR breach of security and he needed to get a hold of Sa-mekh NOW! With fumbling hands he tried to hit the button only to have his badge fall to the floor. Diving out of his chair he made a grab for it, hitting his head on the desk on his way back up before setting the page off.

Mama was on the line within seconds. "What's wrong?"

"There's a girl in T's room!"

The blond on the other end of the line spoke up as Mama gasped. "Look, I'm not just…"

"You mean there's an intruder on the ship?!"

"No!" he snapped at both of them, "In her dorm room!" Se'tak took another close look at the girl and the room beyond. The dresser drawers were a bit messed up (half-open and with clothes spilling out of them, completely atypical for his sister) AND the purple scarf around the blond's neck was definitely the one he gave his sister for her last birthday. "And she's wearing T's clothes!"

"Tik Tak, will you just shut up and listen to me for one second?! I'm your sister's roommate!"

"Is that Casey?"

Oh. Did he really just flip out AND freak his parents out for nothing? Still somewhat shocked he stared quizzically at the screen and tried to reconcile the image of the girl before him with what little he'd remembered from T'Alora talking about her college roommates. He'd heard T mention Casey from time to time but he must've missed the part where she said she was human.

As he was taking all this in Mama and Casey began a conversation. "Oh man, Ms. Uhura, you should've seen his face! It was priceless! And he was getting all hysterical too! Did you know he hung up on me?"

"You're kidding!"

Were they seriously talking about him like he wasn't even in the room? This was just insulting! And still he sat there dumbly, unable to put a word in edgewise.

"And what was that you called him a minute ago? Tik Tak?" Mama asked.

Casey laughed harder. "I don't know what I said, I was just trying to get him to calm down and listen to me!"

"Well I like it. Se'tak, Sweetie, you still there?"

He rolled his eyes, making Casey snort. "Oh, am I allowed to speak now?"

He could hear the huff of annoyance in Mama's voice. "Not with that attitude you're not. Never mind. Casey, I'm sorry to cut this short, but we'll have to talk later, this diagnostic I'm running is almost finished."

"That's fine, I didn't mean to bother you at work. Talk to you later, Ms. Uhura!"

His personal comm. cut out and it was just him and Casey staring at each other, his cheeks burning in embarrassment, not knowing what to say.

"I think I'm going to call you Tik Tak from now on. It suits you."

Se'tak groaned and palm-smacked his forehead. "You mean you're going to call here again?"

"Yep!" Behind him he heard the doors open and Sa-mekh's heavy foot-falls as he stepped into the room. "Hi Commander!" Casey called out rather cheerfully. Se'tak groaned again and slumped forward in his seat.

"Good afternoon, Casey."

The girl looked from him to his sa-mekh and back again. "I uh, know this isn't a good time, so I guess I'll call back later." She terminated the connection before either of them could say anything. His back still turned to his sa-mekh, Se'tak winced, dreading the coming lecture on the do's and don'ts of using the emergency page.

He wasn't disappointed.

A/N: This chapter was a little weird, I know, but I just always thought that Se'tak and Casey's first meeting would be all kinds of awkward and embarrassing.

On a completely unrelated note, today's my birthday! No really, it is. Now I know a bunch of you usually send me the love anyway but could you take a minute out to write a review and let me know what you thought of this chapter? It'd be greater than any other present I could get! Thanks! = D