Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek or any of the characters created therein.

A/N: Each of the characters in this story is representative of something I particularly like or find important in the Star Trek universe. Mirista is another character last seen on TNG in the episode First Contact. I love her character: to me she represents the fascination we all have with the possibility of space flight—of seeing what's out there. I always wondered what happened to her after that episode. Since no one else seemed to mind, I decided to continue her adventures into the unknown!

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First Impression, Chapter 4: Get to Know Me Over Drinks

USS Temura, Observation Deck

"You would have liked the transports, I think they ran on some kind of thermally-generated power. The reminded me of the ground transport on Vulcan a little. Do you want another drink?" Una motioned to Taurik's nearly empty glass with her own.

"No," he told her, adding, "thank you," after a slight hesitation. It was not Vulcan to offer pleasantries such as "please" and "thank you" but many years spent on a deep space science station and various planets had taught him that many species used them. Humans, in particular, seemed to put a lot of stock in "politeness". As Una was both a human and a friend, he was careful not to do something that would be considered a slight. She was the only person on the ship he really knew, having transferred over with him from the Enterprise less than 4 days earlier.

"Suit yourself." She left the table and headed for the bar at the front of the room.

They were seated in the Temura's Observation Deck enjoying their first break in over 8 hours. Taurik had been working with Japel and Vesta on the bridge, trying to figure out where the next attack might be while Una had been compiling the data from the away mission.

"I am more interested in the description of the transporter that was used in the attacks," Taurik said once she had replenished her drink and sat across from him once more.

She shrugged and gazed out the window at the slowly passing stars. The Observation Deck was a half-moon shaped room that appeared to be all curving windows opposite a lush, recessed bar. It was dark but comfortable, burnished metal and polished wood throughout. Exotic plants accented many of the surface, giving it the feel of a dense forest. Una liked it—she suspected its décor was a holdover from the ships former status as a diplomatic vessel.

"You know as much about it as we do. Here's what I can't figure out: why were they so sloppy here? Vesta's report said that the flashes were only reported in a few cases out of the total, but almost every one on Dukinar seems to have had it. That's why there were so many witnesses there, it was hard not to notice those lights!"

"It's a very valid question," rumbled a voice behind her.

Una turned and looked up. And up and up and up. Above her towered the science officer, Japel.

Taurik nodded to the huge man, indicating that he should join them.

"Especially," he continued, "since I've been working on identifying those engine signatures." He handed Taurik a PADD. "Since you're the resident propulsion genius, I'd like to get your opinion on it before I bring it to the Captain."

Taurik took the PADD and studied it intensely for a few moments.

"The frequency output of their engines is at first glance erratic, however on further investigation you have found that this is not the case." Taurik tapped the PADD's screen, scrolling through Japel's work. "These emissions are actually quite complex. Whoever was created them went to a lot of trouble to cover up their warp signature."

"I wonder why?" Una asked.

"I cannot speculate as to their motivation beyond the obvious: they did not wish to get caught."

Vulcans, Japel thought. "Yeah, but look at these readings." He pointed to one of the graphs on the small screen. "This is short-burst Kovlar radiation. Here it's been used to create the appearance of the kind of general reactor decay you might find on an older ship, but it's incredibly difficult to reproduce. Why go to that much trouble to leave behind a false clue? If you have that kind of technology you can probably leave behind no clues."

Taurik was silent for a moment, digesting the information. He stared at the computer readout with fresh eyes, looking for anything else that might be out of place. "There is nothing here to suggest cloaking technology of any kind was used, which would have been an easy way to mask their presence from the planet," he offered. "This entire scenario is illogical."

Japel didn't look happy about this. "That was my conclusion too. Every way I look at this I end up with more questions than answers."

Una grinned. "It's a mystery all right."

"I will never understand the human preoccupation with unexplained phenomena," Taurik shook his head.

"It's not the unexplained part that bothers us," she shook her index finger at him, "it's the finding the answers part we get obsessed with."

"In this case, then, it appears that your excitement is premature."

Japel laughed, a deep rumble in a cavernous chest. It reverberated through the Observation Deck, causing its few other occupants to turn and stare out of curiosity. "You two argue like married humans," he said, shaking his head.

Una's grin widened. "Don't let his father hear you say that, he'd keel over dead from an aneurysm at the very thought."

Taurik was impressive in his emotional control. He had been around Una and other humans enough to understand that jibes of this sort were meant to indicate friendship. "We are not involved in any way," he told Japel before turning back to Una. "My father would be open-minded about any relationship I would have with a non-Vulcan," he informed her solemnly. "As long as the other party fully understood the undertaking."

Una and Japel broke up into laughter at his serious answer to their jest.

-

Vesta, entering the room in search of her investigative partners, watched the scene with a great deal of interest. She didn't like the Vulcan and she wasn't sure about the human—they were clearly friends—but now even Japel seemed to like him. Taurik was the first to notice her and nodded coolly to her from across the room. Caught, she headed for their table.

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Taurik saw the Andorian and nodded to her. A look of annoyance crossed her face before she approached. He wondered again why she did not seem to like him. At the conference earlier her distaste had been obvious—she had done nothing to school her antennae responses to his suggestions or analysis of her work. As his father had been the ambassador to her homeworld for many years, Taurik had grown up alongside Andorians as a boy. He knew their subtle and intriguing silent language, though Vesta's choice of…vocabulary surprised him. He wondered if he should tell her that he understood Andorian body language but decided that this might only serve to anger her further, as though he had been spying on her. For a fleeting moment he considered telling her that he thought her mapping scheme was brilliant—he would not have taken the time to comment on it had he not thought so—but dismissed it hurriedly. That smacked of a kind of sentimentalism that he could not bring himself to voice.

"I think I've narrowed down the area they're in," she began without preamble, "however, my model predicts," she glared at Taurik, "that they may not attack again for another two weeks or more."

-
USS Temura, Bridge

"We don't have time to wait two weeks," Bohemir said as he paced the bridge, though it hardly needed to be said. Vesta's model showed that they would hit a ship and a planet in quick succession, then wait a few weeks until the next strike.

"Then, obviously, we must find a way to track them before then." Sovak examined the readings on the science station computer, arms folded across his chest. "This Kovlar radiation, you said it would be difficult to reproduce. How might one go about it?"

Japel had been thinking about this too. "It would take a huge reactor—honestly, one so big that I can't see how it would launch, much less go unnoticed as it flew through space." The giant man's face crinkled as he thought. "The reactor has to create a gravitational field strong enough to control the radiation in a very small space, otherwise it would seep out into the ship and cause it to literally fall apart in minutes."

"So they would need an extremely powerful warp reactor for a ship of normal size," Bohemir stated. "Where would they get one?"

Taurik spoke up from a computer station nearby. "Sir, I believe the Romulans were working on a type of reactor that might have been able to contain such radiation," he said evenly. "They were working on reactor that could contain the solar equivalent to the energy of a sun and harness it for their engines."

"The experiments on that technology failed—they caused a rift in the temporal fabric of space, if I recall correctly," Japel interjected.

"Yes, I was on board the Enterprise when we came across one of their ships caught in a such a rift. Though it was not originally intended to house Kovlar radiation I believe this warp core could be modified to do so. The core would not necessarily leave a trail in normal space, but it would likely change the quantum signature of subspace particles in the wake of the ship. These changes would be more numerous around charged areas of space, such as ion fields or nebulae. We would need to recalibrate the sensors to pick up the minute traces. "

"The Romulans…" Bohemir looked at his captain. "What did they say when you asked them about attacks in their space?"

"They did not say anything. I was informed that no one had time to speak to me about a matter as petty as a few attacks that I could not say for certain were related. The Klingons said much the same thing, though they agreed to scan the security logs of starbases and planets within the affected region of space." Sovak turned to Taurik and Japel. "How long to modify the sensors?"

Japel did some quick calculations in his mind. "Two hours."

Sovak nodded. "Get to work."