Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek, Wesley Crusher, the Enterprise, Starfleet Acadamey, or my own starbase, or blah blah blah copy right infringment stuff!

Sorry it took me so long people! There goes my one chapter a day record. Oh well! I had run into a bit of slump, not in terms of what to write, but more of whether or not I felt like writing. Sometimes laziness just takes over. Sad but true! ANYways, sorry! But here is the next chapter, all done!

For your reviews, special thanks to:

BlueFairyDust: While I thank you for your reviews, b.f.'s don't really count as reviewers (especially when they don't even like Startrek), but thankyou anyways for the compliments.

Itsonlyme: I surprised ya huh? Yeah! Good cuz that was the point. Glad you liked it and thanks for the support. (I know, I love Eddie too! His lines areSOO much fun to write!)

Starangel4eva: While I thank you for writing it would have been good for you to actual say SOMETHING about the story in the review section. If ya wanna contact me email is fine. Thanks anyways.

Chapter # 5: Brain Eating Monsters

"Dead!" both Jenna and Eddie exclaimed. Both cadets were shocked by Wesley's suddenly morbid change in perspective.

"Whoa, whoa, WHOA there! Don't you think that's taking things a little too extreme here? I mean all dead? That's a very big assumption to make." Eddie had had his worries before but the way Wesley had so bluntly voiced such a horrible possibility had deeply disturbed him. They had always told the cadets of the risks and dangers they would be facing in their duty, but only now was Eddie slowly starting to realize the true reality of it. It was the kind of thing you could never truly understand until you had experienced it. He now turned to Wesley with a new respect for his fellow cadet and a new understanding. He had never known Wesley very well and had always scoffed when hearing tales of his experiences on the Enterprise, which Wesley surprisingly bragged little of, but now he gained a new admiration for the ability Wesley would have needed to face such frightening dangers. He wondered if Wesley was frightened now. He really didn't want to be the only one.

"I have to agree with Eddie on this one," Jenna said. "What kind of creature could kill off an entire starbase crew?"

"I never said it was a creature that killed them," Wesley replied. "I'm not even saying they ARE dead. I'm just saying that the evidence so far makes it the most likely possibility. I mean think about it. They were conducting classified experiments. For all we know they could have been conducting medical research and accidentally released a deadly virus or toxin on the base. They wouldn't be able to send a long range transmission for help and they couldn't send anyone for help for risk of spreading the hypothetical disease. Everyone on the base gets sick and dies. No gun shots, no alien attack, just an unfortunately fatal accident. I've seen it happen before."

"I guess that makes sense. Plus, your theory could apply to any number of variations of their field of research. They take an already dangerous warp physics experiment a little too far and they blow themselves up."

"Well, actually we confirmed they didn't blow themselves up but I do still like your brain eating mutated monster theory from before," Eddie said with a smirk.

Jenna smacked Eddie up side ht head but actually let a smile crack at Eddie's remark. "Looks like it already ate your brain a long time ago," she said sending Eddie a sly smile.

Eddie grabbed is heart while giving an overdramatic look of pain on his face. "Oh! I'm wounded!"

"If only," Jenna replied rolling her eyes but looking amused none the less.

Wesley snickered at the bickering couple, relieved by their light hearted jesting. Mostly because it took his mind off the problem at hand which they unfortunately had to get back to work on.

"If you two are done, maybe we could continue?" Both nodded, relenting but each sending each other a challenging stare. "As I was saying, we just don't know what they were doing and we can't tell anything more from here." Wesley sighed. "So I guess we're back to our first two options. We can either head back to Starfleet with the information we've gathered so far and let someone else investigate the incident or we can take a chance and see what we can find on the base ourselves."

Wesley wasn't very sure of what he wanted to do. One part of him was telling him to head back to Starfleet and let some trained professionals handle it from here. It was the part of him that was telling him that he was just a cadet and he wasn't prepared to face the dangers that lay of him. It was also the part of him that was scared out of his mind. Another part of him actually wanted to go the base and was surprisingly excited at the prospect of solving such a great mystery. He had never considered himself much of an adventurer but he had always been a problem solver and that part of him was screaming at him, begging him for the chance to solve such an intriguing puzzle. Then there was a third part to Wesley which had a lot to do with pride and would essentially be the deciding factor in his struggle. It would decide where his logic started and his fear let off and if he could take not taking the risk. In the end his pride decided that he probably would be kicking himself for the rest of his life if he chose not to explore that base, but just as he was about to announce this conclusion, Eddie beat him to the punch.

"I say we go to the base. We've come this far and I personally never liked having other people finish what I started."

"Me too," Wesley replied. "We may regret this later but I'll regret this forever if we don't take this chance." They both then looked to Jenna. They would need a unanimous vote to take such a big risk. It wouldn't be fair to force her to take such a dangerous step against her wishes. Not when their very lives could be at risk. So they, in unison, decided to give her the puppy dog eyes.

Jenna sighed, "Do we have any bio suits? This isn't even an option if we don't."

"We do," Eddied replied eagerly. "Four of them. That's enough for all of us plus one spare."

"Hmm." After moments of contemplating Jenna finally gave in. "Fine, but at the first sign of trouble we leave. No arguments."

"Deal," Wesley and Eddie said in unison.

"That means the first mangled corpse, the first faulty system, the first unpredictable experiment we run into, we leave. No hero stuff. No unnecessary risk taking. If someone really wants to leave, we go, no convincing them to stay. We all agree or we don't go at all. Got it?"

"Got it," Eddie replied. "When we find your brain eating monster I swear I will scream like a girl and run away. Scouts honor," he grinningly said placing his right hand over his heart and raising his other in a salute.

Wesley gave a muffled snort of laughter, trying to restrain himself as he watched Jenna once again give Eddie a swift smack up side the head. Little did they know that this would be one of the last few times in their mission they would be able to enjoy such care free jesting before they ventured into the unknown dangers that awaited them on Starbase 41.

To be continued…

I know, it was a filler chapter but a necessary one! Don't worry! I've already started chapter 6 so it should be up in a day or two and SPOILER: They will actually be arriving at the starbase in this one. So the ball is FINALLY rolling! Sorry it took so long to get to this point but it wouldn't be real Trek without the techno bable and procedure!

As always, please review! Whether good or bad, fantastic or flaming, I don't care. Just be honest. I have no probs with flames if you really hate it that much, just tell me why and I'll keep that in mind for next time. I have no probs with critisism! It helps me improve my writing.

Thanks!