NOTE: I am not the biggest expert on Deep Space Nine, but I love the show, always have since I was like, ten years old. I read a fanfic once where someone had put himself in one of his favorite games, so I thought I'd try that out with DS9. The character Marina Richardson is entirely based upon myself (except for the mind powers part).

Chapter One

The Promenade was busy, as usual, and everyone was going about their normal business.

Jake Sisko stood on the upper level, looking down at the people below, trying to get ideas and characters for his latest story. Nothing was giving him inspiration.

"Same old, same old," he muttered to himself, leaning lazily on the railing.

Then, something caught his eye. Five Starfleet officers whom he had never seen before were walking into the Promenade. Then her remembered his father saying something about some new officers coming to the station. Jake leaned further over the rail to get a better look at the newcomers.

Four of them grouped together, talking and laughing as they walked to the middle of the floor. The fifth stood apart, a girl, walking with her eyes downcast. Jake turned his attention to her and smiled. She would make a perfect character for his new story!

The girl was tall and slim with a curvaceous figure and long blonde hair tied back in a braid. She looked down as she walked, but there was a feminine grace in her movements. Her ears were delicately pointed, but she looked neither Vulcan nor Romulan in any other way. She was by no means gorgeous, but she was pretty, and there was something fascinating about the way she moved, the way she glanced around. She suddenly stopped walking and looked up--straight at Jake, as if she realized he was watching her.

He smiled sheepishly and waved.

The girl's face broke into a smile, her former air of sadness lifting. She gave him a small, almost shy, wave.

"Come on, Marina!" one of the young men she had arrived with called.

Giving Jake an apologetic smile, she hurried to catch up with the others.

Jake straightened, smiling. "Marina…" he said quietly. "Now there's a heroine for my next novel." And he left the Promenade, hoping to get a chance to speak with the young officer later that day.

(LINE)

"Have any of you seen the new kids?"

Miles O'Brien frowned and gave his friend a sideways glance. "New kids? What are you talking about?"

Dr. Julian Bashir leaned back in his chair and glanced around Quark's bar, looking for the subjects of his query. "The new officers. The Starfleet graduates. They were supposed to arrive today."

"Oh, yes. Those. I'm not getting a new engineer, so I didn't pay much attention to that report."

"I hear that one of them writes programs for holo-suites," Jadzia Dax spoke up. "That should get your attention."

Miles sat up straight. "It did. How do you know this?"

"I have ways of finding things out." She took a sip of her drink.

Major Kira Nerys slipped into the chair next to Dax. "So… has anyone met the new officers?"

"No," everyone replied.

"Oh. Well, here comes Odo, and he certainly has." She nodded towards the bar's entrance.

"We shall have to question him," Julian said, resting his elbows on the table.

Odo walked slowly to the table, his eyes cautiously scanning the room for any signs of trouble.

"We hear you've talked to the newcomers," Dax blurted out as soon as he had reached them.

Miles pulled out a chair beside of him. "Yes, why don't you sit down and tell us about them?"

Odo looked dubiously at the others. "I do have a job to do, you know, and it does not involve gossip."

"Oh, it won't be gossip," Julian spoke up. "It will be for the security of the station if you inform us, the core group, what to watch for from the new officers."

Kira smiled at Odo. "Please."

"Oh, all right." The changeling settled himself in the chair and looked around at his friends. "What is it that you are dying to know?"

"Names, ages, ranks, areas of work--everything," said Dax.

"Everything?" Odo sighed. "All right. There are five of them, as you should know. Three males and two females. All humans, except one--and she is mostly human, anyway."

"Mostly?" Julian asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Lieutenant Marina Richardson, science officer. She is half human, one fourth Vulcan, and one fourth Betazoid," Odo explained. "She is the youngest of the officers, at twenty-two. She has a spotless record, no crimes committed, not even a traffic violation on Earth, which is where she is from."

"Betazoid and Vulcan? What a combination," Kira remarked.

"If I'm not mistaken, such mixtures of blood have been known to affect the brain," Julian said, frowning. "Such people as this Lt. Richardson are often know to have, well, 'mind powers.'"

"She does have a condition," Odo said. "What did she call it? Psychogena… something that starts like that."

"Psychogenotrosis," Julian said quickly. "Mind powers caused by a volatile mixture of blood. The Vulcan mindmeld meets Betazoid empathy."

"Why don't you use her condition as an excuse to talk to her?" Dax suggested.

"Yes, and then you could bring everything you learn back to us," Miles added.

"Here's your chance, Dr. Bashir," Odo spoke up, standing. "Here she comes now."

Julian turned in his seat and looked. A group of young officers was walking into the bar. He immediately found Lt. Richardson--the tall, blonde girl with the pointed ears. That had to be her. "Well, here I go." He stood slowly.

"You aren't really going to go question the girl, are you!" Kira exclaimed. "You'll scare her to death!"

"Don't worry, major," Miles said. "He knows how to handle the ladies."

Julian smiled. "Watch this."

(LINE HERE)

Marina paused for a moment and looked around the bar, taking in everything. There were so many voices, so much movement, so many thoughts… She shut it all off and tried to concentrate on walking to the table with the others.

"What's the matter, Marina?" asked security officer Tom Barnett.

"You know I don't drink," Marina said quietly, following him and the others to the table and sitting down. "And all this… noise…"

"Is is your condition?" asked the other girl, a tiny brunette girl named Hannah West.

"Maybe… I don't know." Marina was quiet as her fellow newcomers began chatting. She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes.

"Lt. Richardson?"

Her green eyes flew opened and she sat up straight. Standing beside her chair was a dark, handsome man in medical colors. "Yes. That's me."

"I'm Dr. Julian Bashir, chief medical officer." He held out his hand, smiling crookedly. "But you can just call me Julian."

"And you can call me Marina." She shook his hand and smiled at him, feeling nervous, but at the same time happy. Someone actually wanted to meet her! She suddenly noticed that everyone else at her table had gone silent. They were all staring at her and the doctor.

Julian must have noticed. "Come with me," he said quietly. His big, dark eyes were kind. "There are some people who would like to meet you."

Marina stood, still holding his hand. "All right." She smiled brightly. "Lead the way."