Moments later, the doors to engineering opened again. Two ensigns walked in carrying a large crate. Two magnetic clamps rested on top.

"Ah...good." Lieutenant Kelly motioned over to the two incoming crewmen. "Just set that crate down and open it. Each of you grab a pair and bring me one, too. Bring the clamps with you, too." Tom looked at everyone in the room. "Everyone, if you're part of the insertion team, get over here and grab a pair of boots. Everyone else, just sit tight and hold on to something." He looked at an inquisitive commander and chief systems officer. "We'll be turning off the artificial gravity in this section of the ship so we can put the computer core in. It's a heavy beast. Why don't you two grab a hold of the main console there and watch the show."

Stephen looked at Tony. "Good idea." They walked over to the console and grabbed the edge. "Good morrrning, Commanderrr." The catian ensign purred. She smiled to reveal small fangs.

"Good morning," Kirk struggled to remember her name. It finally came to him. "Ensign P'rr's, isn't it?"

Her face lit up. "Yes, Sirrr. I am honorrred you rrrememberrr." She closed her eyes and bowed slightly.

Kirk smiled warmly. "You're a difficult woman to forget." He was familiar with catian ways after a rather embarassing conversation he had a few years ago with a certain catian husband.

She smiled sweetly. "You arrre a handome perrrson yourrrself, Sirrr." she purred.

Kirk chuckled. "It runs in the family." Tony cleared his throat. Kirk rolled his eyes at the obvious sign. Subtlety was never one of Tony's strong suits. Come to think about it, he was about as subtle as a phaser rifle on full charge. "Ensign, allow me to introduce you to our chief system engineer, Lieutenant Tony Moreau."

She reached out her hand. "A pleasurrre to meet you, Lieutenant Morrreau." Her smile was warm.

He took her hand and shook it gently. "Believe me, Ensign, the pleasure is all mine. I love how you say my name."

"Oh, brother," Kirk remarked. "You and I need to talk later." He added with a knowing smile.

P'rr's picked it up immediately. "You arrre familiarrr with the catian people?" she asked hopefully.

"As a matter of fact, yes," he answered with a reassuring smile. "I served with a mated pair at my previous ship."

P'rr's seemed visibly relieved. "Thank goodness," she sighed. "Serrrving aboarrrd this ship was a good idea. I shall visit you frrrequently."

"You know," Tony commented, trying to recover some of his pride after being rejected for Steve. "we do have a non-fraternization law in Starfleet."

Stephen just shook his head. "Zip it, Moreau. I'll explain it later." he rebuked with a semi-authoritative tone.

"Sorry, Sir." All the feelings of being second best to his 'best friend' came flying back to him. Even though Steve needed him in order to pass all his systems classes... even though he passed the entrance exam and Steve didn't... even though he graduated higher than Steve... he usually got first choice at the girls, he got promoted faster, and now he's getting P'rr's. It just wasn't fair.

Six other people went over to the crate full of magnetic boots and put on a pair. With the boots securely fastened, the clanked over to the two meter tall, three hundred kilogram computer core and waited.

Tom put his pair of boots on as well. "P'rr's, turn off the gravity."

"Aye, aye, Sirrr." she replied. With a couple of quick keystrokes, the gravity turned off. Stephen and Tony kicked their legs up in the air to enjoy the weightlessness. Sure, it was childish, but it was fun. P'rr's couldn't help but follow suit. A few of the crewmen on the second floor decided to do some free floating in the zero G atomosphere, too.

"It seems we have a shipful of kids." Tom remarked, apparently not noticing the commander doing the same. Stephen shot him a friendly, sideways glance. "Well, okay... I'd be doing it myself if I didn't have work to do." The room of people chuckled. "Yeah, yeah, yeah... get those clamps on the computer core." They attached with a loud clang. "Alright, let's get around it and lift it very gently. This baby weighs well over three hundred kilos. If it starts moving too fast, our boots won't keep us on the floor. Here's what we'll do. On the count of three, everyone pull up as hard as you can for three seconds, then stop. We just need it off the floor by ten or fifteen centimeters. Ready? One... two... three."

Four people grabbed on the handles on the clamps and pulled as hard as they could. As Tom counted back from three, the core eventually came off the ground. As Tom predicted, the core had picked up a good head of steam. The core came off the ground. "Okay, everyone... push down." Also, as he predicted, they couldn't quite stop it. As his lifting crew tried to push the core to a stop, they came off the floor, their boots unable to secure them. His mind calculated quickly. "Okay, everyone else, get over on my left side... hurry!" The other eight people quickly clanked into position. "Now... let's pull this thing over to my left side. We'll use its inertia to our favor. Pull!" Instead of pushing it down, they grabbed the handles and knocked it over to one side. The top of the core came slowly down as the bottom continue to go up. The other eight, however, had enough strength to stop the core from hitting the ground. Eventually, the core was on its side.

Everyone let out a sigh of relief, especially Kirk and Moreau. Eventually, they maneuvered the core into the concave hole in the floor just below the floor plates. Slowly, the blue cylinder dropped into place. The engineers quickly connected the cables to the rest of the network wiring and sealed the opening in the floor. "P'rr's... go ahead and turn the gravity back on."

"Yes, Sirrr." She said happily. The gravity came on slowly, allowing people who were still floating the opportunity to land safely. Once gravity was back to normal, the entire room erupted with cheers and applause. "Alright!" Tom yelled to the people on the second floor. "Let's cut the umbilical connection to Spacedock and get this baby online!" There were more applause, especially from the bridge officers who were in the room.

Eventually, the cheers ended except for the claps from one person, whom no one saw enter the room. He continued clapping. He was a fairly tall man and appeared in his late fifties or early sixties. His peppered brown and white hair was neatly cut in timeless military fashion. His red uniform was equally as neatly pressed. His brown eyes squinted a bit and were fairly close together. By his midsection, it also seemed he didn't miss too many meals, either. "Well done, everybody." He said. His accent was mild, but definately Russian.

Stephen walked up to the middle aged man. On his collar, he counted four full pips... the rank of captain. "Can I help you, Captain?" Stephen asked. He had a sneaking suspicion what he was about to hear.

"Well," the captain began with a smile, "not any more. I was looking for my new first officer, but I seem to have found him."