It had been several days since Stephen had set foot onto the bridge. It hadn't changed, but he found he missed it dearly. Last night had been such a blur of emotions and knowledge, it was hard to sift through it. The one thing he had come away with, however, was the need to either prove or disprove her claims about the romulan warbirds. He had spent all morning pouring over his computer terminal. He was at a point where he needed help.

T'Nia was sitting in the captain's chair when he entered. M'ovara was sitting at tactical. Bristol was at navigation. Elaine was at communications and Tony was at his system station. They each greeted him warmly. "Good morning, Commander," T'Nia stated.

"Morning, Lieutenant Commander," Kirk replied, mimicking her official voice. "That chair fits you well.

"Yes, it does," she replied flatly. The smirk was barely discernable.

"Good to see you moving around, Steve," Tony commented happily. He was genuinely glad to see his friend recovering so quickly. It made him feel less guilty about the shot Kirk had taken for him.

"It feels good, Tone," Kirk replied with a smile. "I'm pleasantly surprised to see you haven't crashed anything lately."

Lietenant Moreau smiled evilly, "And you said I couldn't cover my tracks..." The bridge crew laughed.

"What brings you to the bridge, Commander," Lieutenant Davies said warmly. Regretfully, she hadn't had much opportunity to work with the commander, but she already could tell he wasn't like 'all the other guys'. For one thing, he never made a pass at her. For another thing, he always treated her with respect. She had truly missed his presence on the bridge.

He pointed to her. "Actually, you're the reason why I'm here. I need to ask you a few questions. It won't take long." He pulled out the retractable seat in the auxiliary engineering station next to hers.

She was mildly surprised. "Really?" Come to think of it, she felt proud. "What can I do for you?" Gradually, the bridge crew went back about their business.

Kirk lowered his voice a bit. "I need you to do me a favor... and don't broadcast it."

She was intrigued. She lowered her voice and moved closer to him. "What's up, Sir?"

He motioned with this thumb at the front viewscreen. "There's a shipyard on Romulus' moon. Is there any way you can check the transponder codes of the ships there?"

She cocked her head. "I can try, Sir. Why?"

Kirk shook his head. "I don't want to bother you with the details. Our captured romulan warbird was taken there. I just want to make sure it's still there."

Elaine shrugged. This was very mysterious. She wanted to get more information. Obviously, there was something more to this than simple curiosity. Perhaps she'd ask him later. "Okay... let me see what I can come up with." She turned back to her panel and began working her way through the controls. "Do you know which transponder code I'm looking for?"

Kirk nodded. "It's the code for the IRW Haakona." He turned to the monitoring screen, even though he didn't have the slightest clue what he was looking at.

"I guess we have that one in our computer..." she concluded. Because of the Dominion War, the Federation was given a rather long list of transponder codes for romulan ships, so they could be easily identified during joint missions. A few more taps on her panel brought up the code for the Haakona. She turned back to her monitoring display and shook her head. "There's some interference with that shipyard. Give me a few minutes... I think I can filter it out."

"Take you time," Stephen replied with a smile. "and thanks."

"Don't mention it, Sir," she replied with a smile. "I've been so bored here the past few days that I've been talking to one of the traffic controllers in the capital city just to improve my romulan."

Kirk chuckled and turned to face the front. "How you doing, Tyler?" he asked, his voice raised.

Tyler Bristol turned his head around to see Stephen. "I'm very excited to be flying around in a circle for five days, Sir." he remarked sarcastically. He rolled his eyes for added effect.

"Life on a starship can be really fun, can't it?" Kirk asked with a smirk. "Everyone hears about the starship combat that lasted for less than five minutes. They never hear about the weeks in between when nothing happens."

"They sure didn't list that on the enlistment brochure, Sir." He replied with a chuckle. Tyler couldn't wait for Commander Kirk to return to duty, either. Bolerov was very talented, but not one for small talk. Lieutenant Commander T'Nia was, well... vulcan. She wasn't much for talk of any kind.

"I've cleared the interference, Sir," Elaine said quietly. She was getting excited. If she got him the answer he wanted, maybe he'd share the mystery with her. Through the isolation matrix, she singled out thirteen separate codes.

Kirk turned back around. "What have you got, Lieutenant?"

"I've got a baker's dozen, Sir. I'm identifying them now." One by one, she singled out a wavelength pattern, then dismissed it. After several moments, she put his earpiece down and shook her head. "It's not there, Sir," she admitted.

Kirk raised an eyebrow. He had been half-expecting to hear that. It fit with what T'osa had said. "Are you sure?"

She nodded. "Yeah. There are five D'deridex ships in there, but none of them are the Haakona. Maybe they moved it?"

Stephen shook his head. "Over the past three days, eight ships have left that facility... four shuttles, one scout ship, one cargo ship and two warbirds. Neither of them was the Haakona. The transponders were wrong and they were in WAY too good a shape, considering what we did to it. That ship will be laid up for weeks."

Now Elaine was particularly intrigued. In addition to knowing a half dozen languages, she had also nearly memorized every Sherlock Holmes novel ever written. 'Something strange is afoot', she said to herself. "Well, it couldn't just disappear, Sir."

Kirk raised an eyebrow. "No, it couldn't, Lieutenant. But they could have changed the transponder code."

"Why would they do that?"

"THAT is a good question. Could you please pipe that list of warbirds in the moonbase to the terminal in my quarters?"

"Sure, Sir," she said with a sly look. "under one condition."

Kirk was surprised at her spirit. This was a side of her he had never seen before. "Oh? What?"

"You let me know what's going on," she said as she smiled. "I'm really good at mysteries. I can help."

He thought for a moment. The more he thought, the more he figured he would need her skills. "Okay," he relented. "As soon as I put a few more pieces together, I'll fill you in."

"Deal," she said proudly. With two button presses, she turned back to her commander. "The names are waiting for you, Sir."

"Thank you, Lieutenant," he replied with a simliar smile. She had spunk. As he stood to leave, he couldn't help but think she just might fit in well after all. He also wondered if she and Tony had patched things up yet.