Near the end of the day shift, Captain Picard was startled out of reading his report when the chime to his ready room rang. "Come," he replied automatically. The doors parted to reveal Commander LaForge. The engineer came to stand in front of his desk and shifted awkwardly.

"Do you have a moment, Captain?"

Picard frowned. "Certainly, Commander. Is there a problem?"

"I'm...actually not sure, sir. I had a little...incident with the new civilian specialist, T'Kara, down in engineering."

'Already?' he thought. Jean-Luc raised an eyebrow. "What kind of 'incident'?"

"Well, Ensign Rodinsky almost dropped a laser spanner. Kara caught it and told him to be more careful. He wasn't convinced that it was a problem, but she pointed out that it could have caused a chain of events that could have led to a core meltdown. I have to admit, sir...it looked like she COULD have been right. Anyway, she dropped it, but it seemed as if Ensign Rodinsky made a sexist slur of some sort. She berated him but she...also said something rather odd."

"How so?"

"She said that Rodinsky was under a lot of stress from his wife leaving him, but that was no excuse for his behavior. Only, Rodinsky approached me at the end of his shift. He said that his wife only called this morning and he hadn't mentioned it to anyone yet. I understand that Vulcans are touch-telepaths, but she never touched him. And even if she HAD, she doesn't seem like the kind of person to look at personal things like that."

Captain Picard was deep in thought. He glanced up. "Thank you, Geordie. Is either of them planning on filing an incident report against the other?"

"Not to my knowledge, no sir."

"Thank you. That is all."

"Yes sir." And with that, Geordie began to walk towards the door.

"Oh, and Geordie? Is there a recording of that conversation?"

"Well, we had the computer down for maintenance, so I don't think so...Oh! But Data was working that shift."

"Thank you, Commander."

"Aye-aye, sir."

0-0-0-0-0

Geordie walked out of the ready room and breathed a sigh. The captain hadn't seemed as startled as he'd expected. Geordie wondered in maybe Kara had already done something like that. He grimaced. She seemed like a nice person. He hoped that something wasn't wrong. For all he knew, she was actually a telepathic slug in a Vulcan suit. He chuckled at that thought as he stepped into the turbolift. With the track record of this ship, he shouldn't be surprised if the answer WAS something bizarre like that.

0-0-0-0-0

"Commander Data, report to my ready room." Data glanced up from the science station on the bridge. He patiently waited out the average response time of 1.47905 seconds while calculating the density of dark matter, then answered, "acknowledged, Captain." He stood up as the Beta shift officer, Melissa Holland Truman, took over. In the 7.844310985 seconds it took to walk across the bridge to the captain's ready room, Data composed 3 poems, 2 new melodies for the violin, and a broad statistical analysis of the possible reasons that the captain had called for him. Review of the engineering upgrades (37% probability), overview of a particular ship inhabitant (29% probability), statistical input in mission logs (12% probability), update on private work (11% probability), overall suggestions (5% probability), personal input (3% probability), and other (3% probability).

Data rang the chime. "Come," rang the captain's baritone voice from the other side. Data entered and came to stand in front of the captain's desk. The Captain Picard was deep in thought. He glanced up at Data.

"Commander, I heard that there was a confrontation in Engineering earlier today. Would you care to provide your viewpoint on it? You were in Engineering at that time, correct?"

"That is correct, sir."

"What happened?"

0-0-0-0-0

T'Kara sat on her couch, frowning at some random spot on the ground. Her behavior was unacceptable! How could she have been that brash? She was jeopardizing everything she had finally been given. And for what? Some cheap crack at a stressed ensign? Not only had she lost her control in a way that did not become her, but she let information slip. She had only realized afterward that it was impossible to know about Ensign Rodinsky's wife. So how did she?

T'Kara subconsciously recognized that a musical noise sounded from somewhere.

T'Kara sighed. She was not blind to the fact that this had happened before. However, it was pretty hard to recognize the moment when she knew something that she should not. It should not be possible to remember something that she was never present to learn in the first place!

The noise came again. And, once again, T'Kara failed to hear it.

T'Kara blew out an irritated huff at herself and returned to her original line of thought. She should not have acted so petty and ridiculous! She should at least attempt to have some modicum of self-control. T'Kara stood and began to pace the length of her cabin.

A small noise rang in the back of T'Kara's awareness, but she brushed it aside—so deep she was in thought.

At that moment, she remembered the haughty looks on every face of every Vulcan child that taunted her, she remembered the looks of resentment worn by nearly every healer charged with her well-being, she remembered the ill-disguised horror on her father's face and the disgust on T'Pov's features. T'Kara's face crumpled. She could have easily hurt Leon Rodinsky. A small, dark part of her had wanted to. She shivered from disgust at herself.

There was a whooshing sound behind her, but she was to caught up in her misplaced self-loathing.

She glanced at her shattered PADD that sat dejectedly in the corner and grimaced. "I am not a bad person," she whispered to herself. "Am I?"

"No. I don't think so," a voice said from behind her. T'Kara jumped and spun around.

0-0-0-0-0 EARLIER

Captain Jean-Luc Picard sat at his desk frowning off into space. He shook his head, knowing he had some serious questions that could not be delayed any longer.

Pressing his COMM badge, he said, "Captain Picard to Doctor Pulaski."

After a moment, her voice came though the channel, "Yes, Captain. Can I help you?"

"Doctor, have you received the paternal results of your blood testson civilian specialist T'Kara?"

"Yes, Captain. But I haven't been able to look at him yet."

"Doctor, please have those, and any other relevant medical reports on Specialist T'Kara, sent to my ready room."

"Understood, sir. Pulaski out."

0-0-0-0-0

It wasn't too long before a blue-wearing young man entered the Captain's ready room and handed him a PADD.

"Thank you, Ensign. You are dismissed."

"Yes, sir." The lad walked out.

Captain Picard glanced through the report. His frow deepened. "Just as I suspected," he whispered to himself.

After a couple minutes, the computer alerted Captain Picard that the shift was over. He stood and made his way off the bridge, riding the turbolift down to the guest quarters. In the hallway, he passed a few crew members before coming to stand outside the door of the Enterprise's latest mystery. Jean-Luc sent a last glance toward the PADD he held in his hands and rang the bell. He waited a few moments. No response. Perhaps she hadn't heard. He rang again. Pause. No response.

Jean-Luc frowned. "Computer," he asked, "where is Civilian Specialist T'Kara?"

A nondescript female voice resonnded, "Civilian Specialist T'Kara is in her quarters."

Odd. If she was indeed in her quarters, why had she not responded? He waited another minute before ringing again. Still, no Vulcan woman showed up to allow him entrance or attempt to shoo him away. A gut-feeling told Captain Picard that something was wrong.

"Comand override: Picard-Zeta-0-3-8-2."

The door slid open with a whoosh.

Cautiously, Jean-Luc set foot inside. He saw Kara standing with her back to him. She had her arms tucked around her in an un-Vulcanlike display of vulnerability. She glanced towards the corner of the room at what looked much like the remains of a PADD and winced involuntarily.

"I am not a bad person," he heard her whisper. Though, it did seem like she had trouble believing her own words.

Jean-Luc frowned. 'What? Why would she think that she was?' The captain had heard Data's testimony. It seems like Kara was justified in her reaction, though she may have overreacted. As for everything else: bad people don't show remorse when they believe that they're alone. She felt guilty about something, but only good people regretted bad actions.

T'Kara whispered, "Am I?"

Jean-Luc decided that this was the time to make his presence known. "No," he said quietly. "I don't think so."

0-0-0-0-0

Kara gasped, jumped, and turned to face him. Her surprise was a testament to how focused she had been on her emotions. She rarely, if ever, found herself caught off guard by a person. Until now, she had always been able to sense another's presence near, sans Commander Data of course.

T'Kara recovered as quickly as possible. "Captain, I...how long have you been standing there?" Her face was flushed green from embarrassment and she found herself unable to meet his questioning gaze.

"Not long," he replied.

An awkard silence descended. Although it lasted less than a minute, both parties felt it acutely. T'Kara was the first to speak.

"Is there a reason for your visit?" She had not intended to be rude, but was rather anxious to be out from under his assessing gaze.

"Yes, actually," he replied. "I wanted to ask a few more questions of you. I apologize for...intruding." He cast an uncertain look at the broken PADD in the corner.

"You were not," she stated quickly. The green that had been fading from her checks returned in vengeance when she saw him look at the rather damaged PADD. "I am only here due to your kindness. If you have questions: ask away." She gesured to the couch, where they both then took a seat.

Captain Picard hoped that he would gain some insight if he knocked T'Kara off her game by asking bluntly, "Who are you—or better yet: what are you?"

She blinked. Some small part of her registered that her mouth had fallen open in surprise. She blinked again.

"I...am...sorry? What are you asking me? My name is T'Karavandurngtkhatnagn—shortened to T'Kara for Standard English—and am Vulcan. I was born—"

"—No," Jean-Luc Picard interrupted harshly. "You are not Vulcan. I'll ask again: who are you?"

T'Kara was gaping—jaw-sweeping-the-floor gaping. She blinked, again. She had a feeling that she would be laughing at that moment if she had not been able to tell that Jean-Luc was serious. As it was though, she was gaping. She took a breath, collecting herself.

"What do you mean?"

He handed her a PADD. "Here are your medical results. I suggest you consider how to proceed carefully. If I believe that you represent a danger to this ship or her crew—"

"—No," Kara whispered in answer, her face not coming unglued to the screen. She didn't even glance up to look at him, so involved as she was in attempting to reconcile herself with the information. "It is not my intention to hurt anyone," she continued. Her face was scrunched in confusion and disbelief at the data.

They were both silent for a moment or two. T'Kara was absorbing the information Suddenly, she cried out.

"This..this is not possible!" With her outbreak, she finally looked up at Jean-Luc. He could see confusion and fear battling in her eyes. It seemed like fear won as the dominant emotion.

"Please believe me: I do not know what this means."

Captain Jean-Luc Picard sat back and sighed. Was she telling the truth? Yes, he thought so. He had never seen someone fake that level of fear before—even the best actors lacked something that was present in her gaze.

"So where does that leave us?" he asked.

T'Kara shook her head, tears coming to her eyes. "I have no idea."

Jean-Luc fidgeted and stood. He was never good with crying women. He bid Kara good evening, though she didn't respond. Feeling a little guilty, and quite a bit confused as to why he was feeling a little bit guilty, he stepped out of her quarters.

0-0-0-0-0 HOURS LATER

T'Kara was curled up in a ball on her couch. She had lond-since run out of tears. In fact, she knew that it was probably early morning by now. She had spent the whole night wide awake, having found herself unable to think about anything but the information on the PADD. It just...it was far too much to have to take in at once.

The first results were suprising, but almost understandable. It was startling to see how psi strong she was, but then again, she had always known that she was more telepathic than the average Vulcan. When she could sense someone's presence a distance away, or sense emphatically, it was a hint that she was powerf ul. Still...that powerful? That level of power was simply...frightening.

Then had come the DNA results, chilling by themselves. Although the data was rather self-explanatory, the story behind it was not. She glanced down at the PADD.

It read:

GENETIC SPECIES RESULTS:

SPECIES: Vulcan-full

GENETIC ANCESTORIAL RESULTS:

MATERNAL: None

PATERNAL: None

The test solved the internal debate that had waged for decades. T'Kara, though emotional as she was, was full Vulcan. That meant that her mother, whoever the woman was, was a full Vulcan genetically. However, Kara shivered. The results made no sense! It was never debated if she was related to Starok. She looked like him! Did she not? Part of her whispered that did it make sense. She had never seen holograms of her mother. Starok had never spoken to her of her mother...No! He had nothing to hide. Starok was simply a private man that preferred not to speak about his lost bondmate. 'End of story,' as humans would say.

But even that knowledge did not hold a candle to the last piece of evidence, for that is what it was—evidence. It was this that sent her into a fit of shuddering tears as soon as Captain Pucard had stepped out of her quarters. The PADD displayed the synapses in her brain. No. No, out of all the life-altering bits of information, this was hardest for her to reconcile to herself. As she thought about it, the tears began to well up yet again. There were too many synapses in her brain for a single individual. There were even too many for one-hundred individuals, or one-thousand. There were, however, just the right amount of synapses for a Borg Collective.

Ummm, Hi everybody,

Please don't kill me. I'm am SOOOO incredibly sorry for getting this out so late. I'm on fall break finally but my wi-fi's been acting up. I'd love to hear any thoughts you may have. Even if it's hatemail. I probably deserve hatemail. You guys have been great putting up with me, so thank you. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. The plot's going to pick up soon.

-De Bre Layn