One of the downsides of being Andorian was that your eyes never shut, at least, not in the way a human, Vulcan or Tellarite might experience it. The antennae which Tw'eak had on her head were an extension of her nervous system and sensory system, capable of detecting electromagnetic fields, whether organic or synthetic, perceiving a greater depth of colour and light refraction, thus better depth perception, than her eyes could alone, and a greater depth of sound than her ears could by themselves. Even changes in air density and pressure could be sensed by them, a fact that Tw'eak reminded herself she had to ask Doc Ellington about after her decompression experience.

She could sense the room around her, a typically trapezoidal configuration running from the door outwards, with a seating area to her left and a small shelf on the wall next to a small door at right, which led to a room with a replicator, and an adjacent restroom facility. Aurora had done a typically efficient job of arranging everything as she remembered it. She could sense the resonance of the kut'luch which had nearly killed her, and which she had gotten mounted on a wood backing. She had kept it in her quarters until her promotion to captain, and now it was here, as a reminder of her fallibility. She could sense the unique signature of the one example of plasmonic sculpture she kept around, a blue-yellow effort that resembled a plume of fire, and she could vaguely sense the ongoing life in the two or three plants which she kept in the room. If she concentrated, she could tell which ones most needed watering.

The sound of her communicator startled her attention away from her plants. She opened her eyes. "Come in."

"I am in transporter room two, captain." It was T'uni's voice. "I am not at your door. I wanted to advise you that Captain Shon has arrived, and I will be escorting him up."

"Yes, of course." She took a brief look around, realizing that the door had not chimed. "Please do." She wanted to get up, to be standing when he came through the door. It became an unavoidable desire, but one she could not resolve herself to do - at least, not yet. Her tactical training had given her a sense of timing which, outside of combat, was little use other than planning surprise birthday parties and making wisecracks. She considered the timing involved, if T'uni and Shon proceeded directly from the turbolift, then it would take them approximately three and a half minutes to arrive on the bridge. However, at least thirty seconds had elapsed. Perhaps she should wait before they arrived to stand, as if by courtesy? But what if she stumbled? It would never do for the two of them to find her on the floor.

The door chime sounded, and Tw'eak deliberately pulled herself upwards by using the far edge of the desk. She gritted her teeth to keep from making a noise as she did so, conscious of the chime initiating voice communication with the awaiting guest on the opposite side. Once she was reasonably certain of her stability - and here again she appreciated the beneficial effects of having a pair of antennae with which to balance herself - she cleared her throat and said, "come in."

Into the room stepped T'uni, followed closely by a broad-shouldered, shaven-headed Andorian captain in a red Starfleet uniform tunic and split-tapered slacks. Va'kel Shon looked so different from the last time she had seen him. His hair was gone, for one thing - for another, his face appeared older, more care-worn. He was no longer the ambitious, idealistic cadet whom she had once knew, no longer the driven, dashing lieutenant whom she had kept in touch with distantly, then not at all.

"I believe you two know each other," T'uni said by way of introduction. She then looked at Tw'eak, clearly trying to read every last response on her face, from the tips of her antennae to the way she held her jaw. Tw'eak, for her part, kept a perfect poker-face in place, and looked at T'uni. "That was what humans know as an 'icebreaker'. I felt it would be an appropriate place for humour."

"We're Andorians, T'uni," Tw'eak responded. "We're the ones to ask about icebreakers."

Shon smiled, stepping forward, and extended his right hand. "It's good to see you again, Tw'eak."

Tw'eak shook Shon's hand. "Likewise, Captain." She said a quiet thank-you to him for having extended an arm she could reply with in kind, then looked over his shoulder at T'uni.

"Oh. I will be on the bridge, should you require anything." T'uni headed towards the doorway, leaving an awkward moment of silence between the two captains, before she turned back. "And I took the liberty of notifying Services that Captain Shon would be on board, in the event that the two of you wish to dine together."

Tw'eak's expression finally broke for an instance, her eyes opening wide, her antennae flaring, before she cleared her throat once again, catching herself. "Thank you, Counselor, that will be all." Staring at T'uni, Tw'eak narrowed her eyes slightly. For her part, T'uni arched an eyebrow, that vaguely impish look returning to her face, as she left the room.

"Well," Shon ventured, "you look like you've held up better than I've heard."

"That may depend on what you've heard," Tw'eak replied.

"T'uni didn't give me many details. Just that you'd nearly leapt from an airlock trying to save one of your officers."

"As it turned out, yeah, that's about it. I try not to think about it." Tw'eak tried to sit, but found that she couldn't move her hips without considerable pain. She remained standing as Shon sat down. "It'll be a couple more days before Doc Ellington thinks I'll be able to regain full mobility, then a good while before I'm ready for ground combat again."

"Ah, Doc. Still onboard, is she. That's good." Shon smiled as he made himself comfortable in the chair, then looked up at the still-standing Tw'eak, confused. "Um, you okay?"

"I don't suppose you could help me into my chair," she responded meekly.

Shon got to his feet and moved behind the desk, standing to Tw'eak's right and placing his left arm on Tw'eak's back while holding her right hand in his. "Slowly now. Steady. There we go." She sighed, relieved, as she sank into the chair. "Same old Tw'eak. Nothing's ever easy."

Tw'eak gave Shon a sly look and a flirty smirk. "That's twice lately you've had to come to my rescue."

Shon returned to his chair. "Not exactly. I had no idea you were engaged until we came in-system. The fact that the Bonaventure was the ship we were moving to assist was unknown to us - just the code words you were going to transmit."

"Yeah, and I almost believe that. Admit it, you had a little thrill run through you to see it was my ship that the Belfast was protecting."

"Nothing I wouldn't do for any fellow officer. You weren't even really in distress. As it was, you were able to get home under your own power. Your ship, I should say." Tw'eak chuckled at this, and Shon added, "I don't even know why we were all needed, to be honest."

"A precaution my first officer recommended. We were striking along with elements of a 'pirate' force - not really pirates, more like a liberation force that likes to hit slavers and free their crews. They would have been in way over their heads against a Hirogen force that size without us." Tw'eak thought for a moment. "As it is, by helping us stop the Hirogen from gaining a stronger hold in the Beta Quadrant, those 'pirates' did a lot more good than they would have by raiding another Orion war barge."

"Tell that to the captives on the war barge," Shon retorted.

"Yeah, fair point, but those Hirogen are a menace. Taking relics from the dead, trophies from the hunt..." Tw'eak suppressed a shudder. "No one should have to live in fear of that."

"I agree." Shon smiled. "And now we'll hopefully not have to worry about them again anytime soon."

Tw'eak could appreciate the sentiment. "You're probably right. I just... it's been quite difficult aboard ship lately. My tactical officer was killed on a mission just before we started our latest patrol. My first officer and sensor officer are both down for extended medical leaves, and will probably be reassigned. Two of my other senior officers were injured when the bridge decompressed. I don't know how that number wasn't greater." She sighed. "I feel like I'm cursed lately."

"The fortunes of war. Even the greatest warriors have periodic setbacks."

Tw'eak considered this for a moment, realizing she wasn't saying what she meant. "Do you ever get that feeling like you're afraid to get close to anyone?"

"Yes. It's lonely at the top of the command hierarchy onboard ship. It has to be. You can't risk it otherwise."

"I just feel like I put people at risk by finding them interesting, or caring about them. As soon as that happens... bam, tragedy. I was just starting to appreciate my tactical officer's ability on a ground mission, and he gets himself killed needlessly. I finally realize my first officer isn't just being disagreeable for the sake of it, and he's nearly a wall-mount for a Hirogen hunter."

"And what about... what was her name, your other officer?"

"Dazz?" Tw'eak found herself choking up a bit at the thought of it. "Dazz reminded me of my sister."

Shon searched his memory. "Sassil, right?" He shook his head. "No, you mean the other one. I thought HER name was Dazz."

"Dashii. I just talked to her the other day - she reminded me to listen to the ice while I was hunting."

Shon smiled, as he knew the phrase well. "Something I always try to do before engaging in anything - conflict or conversation."

Tw'eak found herself curious. "Oh? And what does the ice tell you in here?"

"That an exceptional captain with nearly the good tactical sense of my own ability is in a bit of a vulnerable state right now. That she's lost a lot of good people, and being good people herself, she wonders if she's next. And, of course, that she's got even more good people still on board who think very highly of their captain, and are probably hovering on the other side of that door hoping to find out 'how it went' as soon as I head back to the Belfast." Shon offered a friendly smile. "How am I doing so far?"

"Not bad." She returned his smile. "You always had the best situational awareness scores in the Academy, after all."

"And you were always the best at marksmanship."

Tw'eak nodded appreciatively. "I almost didn't recognize you. Your hair's so short."

"Yours is so much longer. We used to get mistaken for siblings, remember?"

Tw'eak laughed. "All the time. Like they thought all Andorians came from the same family or something."

"Well, those blue people all look the same," Shon joked. "Now if they'd only stop turning down the temperature controls in this room..."

"That's one good thing about having your own ready room, isn't it? It's always just the right temperature."

Shon laughed. "Absolutely."

Tw'eak looked at Shon, gave a serious thought to a rather desperate maneuver, and decided to go for it. "Va'kel... I know what happened to the Vega colony, and I wanted to say..."

"Don't." Shon looked a bit pained at the mention of the colony. "I know. I've heard it from everyone."

"But I understand it. I... you remember, how I don't have a bond group of my own."

"I thought of that, every now and then, after Vega. It might have been easier for me that way."

"No." Tw'eak wanted to stand up, but her attempt simply left her off-balance in her chair. "Don't talk like that. You don't know what it's like to have to live without a bond, to have a life that's not Whole."

"But I do, Tw'eak. I've been living it ever since that day."

"They could still be alive. They'd be Borg but that's not a permanent outcome anymore. Look at my operations officer. How many people have been liberated? There's still hope for you. There's none for me."

"The odds of that are astronomical."

"I know that, but..." Tw'eak stopped herself. "There's no sense arguing about which one of us is less Whole, is there?"

"I appreciate what you're trying to do. It's what I was trying to do for you, too." Shon's expression softened. "It's what we always do for each other."

"Yeah, but I do it better," Tw'eak joked. Shon laughed, and the tension left the room. "I don't suppose you'd actually be interested in having dinner." Her eyes twinkled. "I keep a supply of katheka for rare occasions - the genuine stuff, not replicated."

"I've developed a pretty strong fix for raktajino lately. It'd be nice to have an Andorian coffee instead of a Klingon one. Doesn't feel treasonous that way."

"Belfast to Shon!" Shon's commbadge suddenly came to life.

"Shon here. Go ahead, Kyona."

"Sir, we've received an urgent message from Starfleet Command. All available ships are requested to rendez-vous in the Dewa system."

"That's a long way from here."

"It's also where the new Romulan homeworld is," Tw'eak added.

"The Romulan Republic has received intelligence indicating that Dewa III is about to be attacked in force by an alien combatant. Starfleet wants to make a good showing."

"Will the Klingons be there, Kyona?"

"You can bet on it, sir." The growl in Kyona's alto Caitian timbre was unmistakable. "I've already laid in a course, we just need to beam you back."

"Inform Starfleet that the Belfast is en route. Lock onto my commbadge and prepare to beam me back."

"Aye, sir. Belfast out."

"Sorry I can't stay for dinner," Shon said after a disappointing moment.

Tw'eak tried to stand up, but faltered. Shon stood and moved to her side, helping her to her feet. For a moment she shifted, but it was a tactical shift, forcing him to save her. "There you go again," she said with a smile.

"You don't have to get up."

"But I wanted to." She looked up into his eyes. "For a while, back in the Academy, I wanted to believe there was something between us."

"I know." Shon's demeanour grew suddenly more distant. "I've always known... how you feel. I only wish things were different."

"You have someone else," Tw'eak inferred.

"It's not as simple as that. If I believe... if I really believe that they're still out there, enslaved to the Collective... then I have to fight for them."

"And that means not taking another as your own." Tw'eak straightened herself up, feeling intensely embarrassed.

"No. It's like you said before, about being close to people, about it being dangerous. My time is going to come, just as theirs did. One of these days, a storm will come, and I'll be... swept away in it. I've made it through many storms before, and will, to be sure, make it through many more. But sooner or later it'll be more than I can handle." He reached out a hand and caressed her cheek. "My bond group expected me to face the storm, but it swept them away instead. Some day it'll be my time. When it comes, I don't want anyone standing, as I have stood... alone, wondering if I made it through."

"There's a lot of time between those storms, though, Va'kel. We can face each storm together. When the time comes, maybe we..."

Shon looked into Tw'eak's eyes, as tears, of pain, of embarrassment, of longing, of all the loneliness and desperation she felt, cascaded down her cheeks. He put his arms around her, but instead of drawing her towards him as she'd hoped, he escorted her back to her chair. "I'll probably regret not taking you up on this, Tw'eak." She fought back, putting her good arm around him, trying to hold on, but he gently let her down and took a step backwards. Kneeling at her side, he continued. "I haven't let myself feel this much for a long time. Seeing you again brought it all out in me. Thank you. But I'm sorry. The storm is rising again." He stood up and stepped back from Tw'eak.

"Wait-"

He tapped his commbadge. "Shon to Belfast. Energize."

She reached out through the transporter beam. His eyes did not meet hers as he returned to his ship. For a long moment, lingering there, she could make out his electromagnetic silhouette with her antennae, or at least thought she could. She put her head in her hand and wept for a minute longer, before being slowly overcome by anger, frustration, rejection and loss. She wiped her face with her right hand, blinked a few times, shook her head, and made a combat decision.

"Sh'abbas to Octavia," she requested, her voice full of fury.

"Octavia here. Do you need anything?"

"Yes. Set a course for Dewa III and engage once we've cleared the yard."

"I'm sorry... did you say...?"

"Captain Shon has just departed. The Belfast is en route to join a Starfleet task force defending mol'Rihan. And so are we."

"We are not yet in an optimal condition for a return to combat duty-"

"You have my orders, Commander." Tw'eak's antennae flared, her voice clipped, her tone sharp. For the moment, her emotions were in command. "Maximum warp as soon as we're clear. Understood?"

"Very well. It will take some time to finalize all repair tasks, but I will see it done."

The door chimed, undoubtedly T'uni looking to talk. Tw'eak ignored it. "Thank you," she practically whispered into her commbadge. "Out." She lowered her head onto her desk, resting upon her right arm and cheek as she did so. The door chime sounded once, then twice more. Tw'eak continued to rest her head in her arm, tears still flowing down, until well after the ship's warp engines had engaged on a course for New Romulus.