DISCLAIMER: Star Trek and all related characters are the property of Paramount Pictures, Inc. No copyright infringement is intended. This work of fiction is for entertainment purposes only and no money has changed hands. The original characters and events are the sole property of the author and may not be used without permission.

STAR TREK:

THE GOD MACHINE

by Darrin Colbourne

Two weeks before Departure Day, as ordered, Enterprise's Science Department arrived at Jefferies Base to report aboard their ship. There were 24 people in all, led by the Science Officer, newly-minted Lieutenant Commander Isabel Montoya. There were seven other researcher/officers - including new Lieutenants Gwendolyn Flores and Benjamin Goren - and 16 research assistants with temporary enlisted ratings. There were a few stares as they made their way to the Eight-Ten Dock, since most people on the base had found out what was going on, but not as many stares as Montoya expected.

Each of the 24 space docks in Jefferies Base were constructed in the same manner. The entrance to Eight-Ten Dock was a massive set of pressure doors which opened onto a Departure Deck, a large open platform on the right side of the berth where crew members could greet or say goodbye to loved ones (depending, of course, on whether the ship was arriving or departing), where visiting dignitaries could sight-see in safety, etc. Near the opposite end of the platform from the pressure doors was the Gangway, the main acess tunnel that led from the platform into the ship. The pressure doors were normally kept open while the outer doors of the dock itself were closed, so once the Science Department reached the dock it was just a matter of walking onto the Departure Deck. As she did so, Montoya looked around, shifitng her gaze right and left.

When she looked left she stopped short, her gaze fixed on the berth itself, which was visible through a shield of heavy, transparent polymers. "My God." She said.

Her team gathered around her as she gawked. "There she is." Goren said.

Suspended in space inside the berth and anchored by rigid umbilicals and the gangway was the USS Enterprise. Even while standing still, the sweeping lines of the major structures and the sharp angles of the support struts made the Constitution-class starship look like she was breaking speed records.

"It's so big up close." Flores said.

"Don't let that fool you." Goren said. "It's cramped enough on the inside. Most of the living and working space is in the Command Section up front, which is also packed with short-range weapons and point-defenses and the sub-light engines. The Support Section is jammed mainly with cargo and munitions, plus the big sensors and the Smallcraft Bay."

They resumed walking, but Montoya's eyes never left the ship's blue-white hull. She was especially impressed with the large Space Warp engines, which looked like long, tapered cylinders embedded in giant knife blades. "Why so many sharp edges?" She asked.

"Scanner scattering." Goren said. "The fewer broad surfaces pointed toward the enemy, the less scanner energy gets sent back to his sensors. The amount of energy the ship reflects back from the stern is directly proportional to that of a ship a fraction of her size. Makes it difficult for anyone to get in a decent backshot."

More of the general structure of the ship became visible as they walked. The big, white registry number on the side of the starboard engine caught Flores's eye. "What do the letters mean?"

"'N' is just Starfleet's general designator for a spacecraft." Goren said. "The 'CC' denotes the type, in this case a heavy cruiser."

Flores was confused. "So, it's 'Spacecraft, Heavy Cruiser Number One Thousand, Seven Hundred and One?'"

Goren smiled. "Not quite. It's actually two numbers. The seventeen means it's from the Seventeenth Heavy Cruiser class, and the 'Oh-One' is it's unit number. In plain English, 'NCC-1701' actually reads 'Space Cruiser (Heavy) Model Seventeen, Unit One.'"

Now Montoya was confused. "Wait...I thought the class was named after the first ship. Why is this a Constitution?"

"Constitution was the first ship of the class and testbed for the design, so when she was commissioned she was given a 'Double-Zero' registry number, or, in essence, designated 'Unit Zero'. Enterprise was the first production unit delivered to Starfleet."

With those questions answered, the group moved on in silence as more of the Support Section came into view. The most eye-catching feature was the faceted hood at the base of the Command Section Support strut that housed the torpedo launch tubes. As everyone took in the view, someone finally broke the silence. "Hey…there are no windows!"

"Hope you're not claustrophobic." Goren called back. "The designers who worked on the refit decided that windows were a liability in the design, so they took 'em out."

As they reached the gangway and stepped into it, Flores was struck by the sight of the Command Section. "It looks like a mushroom top." She said.

"It's even called 'Da 'Shroom'." Goren said with a smile. "The original design had a saucer-shaped Command Section, with a small peak above and below. It was one of the first things they got rid of when they designed the refit."

"Why?" Montoya asked.

"The Bridge was located at the top of the Upper Peak. During the war, the Klingons and Romulans got a few too many lucky hits on the 'Hood Ornament', so the Upper Peak was replaced with a short dome that covers the top of the saucer and command functions were moved to a Control Room in the center of the structure. The design is now standard in all new ship construction."

"My orders say I should report to the Captain when I get aboard. Will he be in the Control Room?"

"Not while the ship is In Port. That deck will be shut down while Enterprise is on external power. Don't worry. Someone will direct you to wherever the Captain is when we get aboard."

"You're a great help to me, Ben."

"Your wish is my command."

In a short time they reached the Main Access Hatch, the wide opening in the ship at the end of the gangway. As they reached it the guard standing off to the side noticed them and immediately stood in their path. Montoya noticed his Work Color was Green. That made him Starfleet Landing Force, a 'Lander', as they preferred to be called. "'Scuse Me." He said clearly. "No Unauthorized Personnel are allowed past this point."

Montoya walked right up to him, taking in his defiant stance and the sidearm clipped to his belt. obviously he meant business…but, she was authorized personnel. "I'm Lieutenant Commander Isabel Montoya. My people and I are supposed to report aboard today." She handed him a 'pad as she spoke. The Lander took it, examined the displayed orders, then checked Montoya's face and uniform against the displayed ID image.

"Beg Pardon, Sir." He said as he handed back the 'pad. "Welcome aboard the Enterprise." With that he stood aside to allow the party to board and saluted.

"Return it." Goren whispered to her as they stepped aboard. It caught her by surprise and the resulting salute was haphazard, but it was enough for the Lander, who lowered his salute. He used his other hand to key the headset he was wearing.

"Main Hatch." He said. "Science Officer and Science Department reporting aboard." He stood for a moment to listen to someone, then said "Aye, Aye." and turned to Montoya. "Sir, the Duty Officer is sending someone to get your people squared away. Captain sends his compliments and you are to report to the Wardroom, ASAP."

"Wardroom? Where is that?" She said.

"Command Section, Command Deck." He turned to the passageway that led further into the ship and pointed. "Go through here, then cut right, go all the way down and then left. The turbolift will be on your right. Take it to the Command Deck, then…"

"Um…could you just show me?" Montoya said, looking into the passageway and dreading having to find her way by herself.

"That's all right." Goren said. "I'll take her." Then to Montoya: "You can leave your bag here. Whoever's coming will make sure it gets to your quarters…right, Lander?"

The Lander returned to At Ease. "Yes, Sir."

Goren nodded to him and then said to Flores: "Just wait here until your guide shows up. I'll find out where they've got us situated after I get Isabel to the Wardroom."

"You got it." Flores said.

Montoya handed the Biologist her duffel bag, then she and Goren headed for the passageway and went deeper into the ship. When they were out of earshot of the Main Hatch, Montoya said: "Did I say something wrong back there?"

"He can't leave his post without relief," Goren said, "not even if you order him. You would just have ended up waiting for a guide anyway."

"Oh." She said. "Are you sure you know where you're going?"

"Well, he told us where the turbolift was." He said. "That will take us right to the Command Deck. I should be able to find my way from there."

"Oh." A pause. "Am I really getting annoying with the stupid questions?"

Goren laughed, and Montoya joined him a second later. When they recovered, he said: "Not really. I'm just glad if I remember half of it. I wouldn't want to go through Basic again. Besides, like you said, you don't want to step on any mines, so you might as well ask. Here we go."

They were standing in front of the turbolift. When he saw there wasn't a car waiting, Goren pressed the call-button for it.

"Okay," Montoya said, "so why 'Sir'?"

"What?" Goren said. The lift door opened then and the two of them stepped in. Montoya spent a futile moment looking for the controls.

"The car is voice-activated. Watch…Command Deck. Now you."

Montoya looked up and said: "Command Deck."

The car began to move. Montoya was surprised when it moved sideways a few seconds before moving up with a soft hum.

"What were you saying?" Goren said.

"Why did he call me 'Sir'?"

He nodded in understanding. "It's just tradition. For a while they tried letting female officers be called 'Ma'am', but some old fart in Protocol thought that sounded silly, and he had the ear of the Chief Of Starfleet Operations, so eventually it was back to the Old Ways: All Officers are called 'Sir' or 'Mister'. No exceptions or modifications."

"And what's a 'Wardroom'?"

"That's where the Senior Officers have meals, get some R&R and hold strategy sessions. You'll be seeing a lot of it while we're underway."

The lift stopped then and opened up on the Command Deck. To Montoya the passageway looked just like the one they'd left in the Support Section, but Goren stepped out and immediately picked a direction and led off. She followed dutifully as he made his way along a few haze gray corridors. In one last corridor he slowed up and pointed. "That's it. Third door down. You should be able to just walk right in. Go on ahead. I'm figuring they converted a cargo bay to berthing for us, so I'm gonna head back to…"

"Wait! You can't leave me! You have to come in with me!"

"Oh, no, Sir. The one thing I don't have to do is come in with you. Captain's orders were for you to report to the Wardroom. He doesn't want to see me, and I want to keep it that way as long as possible."

"You don't understand! I didn't make the best first impression last week. He's probably going to want to tear me apart when I go in there. You have to come. Don't make me beg you." Then she had a sudden insight. "Don't make me order you."

Goren looked shocked for a moment, then resigned. "I knew I'd regret this." He said with a sigh. "All right…after you, Commander."

She smiled sweetly at him as she took the lead, walking the last few steps to the Wardroom. She felt rising fear with each step. She expected a rant. A tirade. What would the Captain do to her now that he had absolute authority over her?

All too soon she was standing in front of the Wardroom door. She'd wanted to pause to brace herself, but the door slid open almost immediately. Beyond was a space about the size of a medium-sized kitchen. It was dominated by a dark, wooden table in the center, which was surrounded by eight plain chairs. There was a counter on the left with a coffeemaker and food processor, along with a few mugs with the Starfleet Emblem on them. On the right was a nice-sized wall-mounted holovision screen, but Montoya couldn't tell if it was integral ship's equipment or simply an entertainment center. Painted on the wall directly across from the door was the Enterprise's Unit Emblem, which contained an image of the ship streaking through the stars. The Ship's Motto - "Going Boldly Into Harm's Way" - was inscribed on a ribbon under the image.

And sitting in the chair directly under the Emblem was Captain Christopher Pike. Their eyes met as soon as she focused on him, just as they had in the briefing. That time he'd looked like he might flirt with her. Now he was all business. Uh-oh.

There were two other officers in the room, occupying chairs on either side of Pike. To his right sat a handsome, clean-cut Black officer. To his left, a tan, slim brunette. The other male officer was wearing Engineer's Red, while Pike and the woman wore Gold.

Montoya had been just staring into the room for at least twenty seconds before she realized it. She gathered her wits about her, stepped in and came to - it turned out to be a combination of Attention and At Ease: standing straight, feet together, hands behind her back. Goren, who was busy trying to manage standing at Attention with his own bag weighing him down, tried not to look too embarrassed for her.

"Commander Montoya, reporting as ordered, Sir!" She said, proud of what she perceived as her military bearing. She even threw in a last-second salute to sweeten the pot (and further inspire Goren to wish he were very far away).

The three Starfleet officers merely took this all in. Pike looked at each of his subordinates in turn, then back at Montoya. The other two, who'd been looking at Montoya, suddenly shared a look with each other and smiled. "You owe me Fifty, John." The woman said. "I told you she'd bring help."

Montoya deflated a little at that, and the nervousness she'd been trying to hide was suddenly broadcasting loud and clear. Pike shook his head and chuckled. "Relax, Commander. Welcome aboard the Enterprise. I'd like you to meet my Executive Officer, Commander Mary McDonald, and my Chief Engineer, Commander John Adams." Each of the officers nodded, then Pike turned his attention to Goren. "And you're Goren, right?"

"Yes, Sir." Goren said.

Pike smiled. "You don't know how glad I was when I came across your file and realized that at least one of the scientists I was getting had some practical training. You left the Fleet a Crewman Two, right?"

"Yes, Sir."

"How do the silver bars feel?"

After a quick Glance at his right shoulder, Goren said: "Awkward, Sir."

"Well, don't worry. You'll be wearing 'em more than long enough to grow into them. Number One, would you give me a minute alone with the Commander?"

McDonald stood up. "Come on, John. We can go double-or-nothing on…that other thing we discussed." With that, Adams stood and the two officers started out of the room. As she got close, McDonald said: "You too, Leftenant. I'll see that you're squared away with the rest of your department."

Montoya turned her head toward Goren and was surprised to see him turn on his heel and head back into the passageway. She thought to protest, say something to get him to stay, but thought better of it when McDonald passed her and she caught a glimpse of her rank patch. According to Goren's lesson on rank, McDonald's silver oak leaf beat her gold one. Her friend managed to flash her a pair of crossed fingers before the door closed.

And then she was alone with Pike. "Have a seat, Dr. Montoya." He said.

She hesitated a moment, then took the seat at the table opposite from him.

"I figure we won't have all that many chances to talk like this," he said, "so we should clear up a few things."

"Captain," Montoya said, "if this is about the other day, I just want to say I Apologize. If I'd only known what Dr. Narain and Admiral Jellico were planning, I would never have…"

"I need to know where you stand, Doctor."

Montoya blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"As far as Starfleet is concerned. I need to know how you feel about the service." When she hesitated, he said, "Be honest."

"Well…being honest…it's nothing personal, Captain. I just don't have any particular love for what Starfleet does."

"And I can respect that. It's not an uncommon sentiment. Personally, I have no gripes against you or your profession, Doctor. But I do have a problem with myself or my people being judged as martinets just because of the profession we've chosen."

"Again, Captain, when I said what I said…"

Pike held up his hand. "At first I had my reservations about bringing you into my crew, but eventually I came to realize that this would be an opportunity to disabuse you of a few erroneous assumptions. You're in Starfleet now, Montoya, and an officer, and as long as that's the case I intend for you to understand perfectly what that really means."

He wasn't surprised when a hint of That Look appeared on her face, but to her credit she managed to huff unobtrusively. "Yes, Sir." She said petulantly.

Pike ignored the tone. "We have two weeks before we ship out. That's not much time to properly integrate you into the Command Staff, but we'll do our best. Heck, even actors can be trained to act like officers. Leave that to Commander McDonald. No offense to Goren, but he's been an officer about as long as you have - about five minutes - and what practical experience he has doesn't qualify him to give you the proper instruction. Now, is there anything else we need to discuss?"

"I'd like to have a tour of the ship."

"McDonald will take care of that as well. You're dismissed, Commander."

And, just that abruptly, their "discussion" was at an end. She hadn't really had a chance to say anything she'd planned to. Now she wanted to stay as much as she'd been dreading the meeting before. She wanted to say her piece, but Pike had spoken and she wasn't sure of what she had to say to get him to change his mind, so she got up, nodded to him and turned to leave.

McDonald and Adams were waiting in the passageway. They were talking to each other when Montoya came out, then they turned their attention to her. "Well," McDonald said, "none the worse for it, I see."

"I suppose not." Montoya said. "Where's Benjamin?"

"With your other officers, I should think. You'll have plenty of time to see them. For now, let's get you to your quarters."

"The Captain said I should talk to you about having a tour of the ship."

"I'm afraid that will have to wait. With the crew rotating off for shore leave I have no one to spare for that right now, and I don't have the time myself…"

"Uh, Number One," Adams said, "I could show her around if you want."

"Aren't you scheduled to start your leave today?"

"My ride isn't scheduled to leave the base for another hour or so, and I'm already packed. I've got time."

McDonald looked at him a little suspiciously for a moment, but decided that she really did have better things to do, and if Adams felt like babysitting… "Very Well then. Commander Montoya, I leave you in ChEng's very capable hands." She flashed them both a grin then went off down the passageway.

Montoya waited until McDonald rounded the corner before she spoke. "I'm sorry, I thought Captain Pike said your name was Adams."

"It is." Adams said.

"But she just called you Chang."

Adams chuckled. "Actually, that's an abbreviation of my title, 'Chief Engineer'. C-h-E-n-g."

"Oh." Montoya said, flushing slightly. Then she looked down the passageway. "She probably did that on purpose."

"Most likely." Adams said. "Come on. I'll take you to your quarters."

"Why do you call her 'Number One'?" She asked as they started off.

"The Executive Officer is also known as the First Officer. Normally we'd just call her 'XO' - another abbreviation - but she prefers 'Number One'. I guess it's due to her upbringing."

"I noticed the accent. English?"

"Welsh-Irish. Don't make that mistake within earshot of her. She's tetchy about it."

"I'll remember that."

"I'm detecting a faint accent myself. Where are you from?"

"Venzuela. I grew up in Caracas. You?"

"Fort Worth, Texas."

"Oh…Wasn't John Adams a U.S. President?"

"Two of 'em, actually. Him and his son. My parents are kind of nuts about Presidential History. This is it."

They stopped in front of a rather nondescript door. There was a small control panel next to it. Adams started tapping contacts. "I'm using a master keycode now," he said, "but we'll get you your own code soon enough, and when you're inside you can control access with a voice command. Y'know, 'Come in', 'Don't come in'…?

"Got it." She said.

The door slid open on a cabin barely two-thirds as big as her bedroom in Stockholm. There was a rather spare-looking bed in the far right corner, a small desk to the right of the door, and a small wardrobe to the left. Montoya noticed that her bag was resting squarely on the bed.

"There's drawer space under the bunk." Adams said as they walked in. "If you don't have a deskcomputer with you we may have one in Stores you can use. There are connections by the desk for it, so you can access ShipNet, FleetNet and WorldNet. There's also an intercom panel by the desk."

"Where does this go?" Montoya said. She was looking at a door opposite the bed.

"That's the Head." Adams said. "The bathroom. You share it with Commander McDonald. Her quarters are just beyond it."

"I'm sharing the bathroom with Number One?" She said. They both tried not to laugh.

"These quarters are usually set aside for VIPs. It's traditional for the Exec to play host in one way or another. Consider yourself lucky. In a smaller ship, you'd be sharing the same room as well. In any case, once you get used to the watch schedule it's unlikely that you'll even see her on a daily basis. Okay, I'm not going to have time to show you the whole ship, but if you tell me what you're most interested in…"

"Mainly, I just want to see where my people are staying and where we'll all be working."

"First part's easy. We've got your senior officers, including Goren, in the Ops Department's officers' stateroom. That's here on Command Deck. We made up berthing for the rest of your people in the Support Section. We cleaned out a cargo bay."

"Benjamin said you'd do that."

"We're also going to have to put your lab down there. All of the space in the Command Section is dedicated."

"We need more than one lab."

"So I was told, but there's only so much cargo space we can do without. We're trying to work out some kind of all-purpose lab for you, but that will take the bulk of the next two weeks before we set out. Right now there's not much to show you besides empty space."

"Well, what can you show me?"

Adams smiled. "Follow me."

Without power and with the lighting half-dimmed, the Enterprise's Control Room/Attack Center seemed eerily quiet. Two different passageways on the Command Deck led directly into this space in the center of the Command Section. Adams and Montoya entered from the portside passage. "Here we go. This is where you'll spend one-fourth of your time on the ship."

Montoya looked around. The Control Room was a large, rectangular space. Directly across from the entrances was a viewscreen that took up most of the opposite wall. There were eight stand-alone control stations, three along either side and two centered a few meters from the viewscreen. All the stations were facing toward the screen. There were smaller screens mounted on the walls above the stations on the left and right. In the center of the space, looking quite lonely by comparison, was a large, cushioned, revolving chair with controls set in the armrests.

"Okay," Adams said, "The forward stations are Helm and Navigation. To your left, from aft to forward are Countermeasures, Weapons and Fire Control." Adams led Montoya to the starboard side of the room. "On the right, from aft to forward, you have Communications, Sensors and Operations." He led her to the Operations Station. "Have a seat."

Montoya looked at him, then at the control console, then sat down in the station chair. It was of typical military design: just comfortable enough to keep the back from breaking during long stretches. The console itself was a nonstandard workstation. There was one large display screen flanked by two smaller ones and host of digital readout displays. The large screen was bordered with a series of small contacts marked with abbreviations Montoya couldn't guess the meaning of. The short desk under the screens sported a standard English keyboard, a trackpoint pad and another small cluster of contacts marked with abbreviations.

"From here you have access to data from all of the ship's information gathering technology; Sensors, Scanners, Off-board probes. You can also exercise direct control over them when necessary, so you don't have to give targeting commands to the Sensor station and wait for what you want to be done second-hand. We figure this will help you with long-range planet surveys. That screen above you" - he pointed to the wall screen above the station - "repeats everything on your center multifunction display, so that the Captain or Watch Officer can see what you see from the center seat."

"I hope you don't expect me to figure this out by trial and error." Montoya said.

"'Course not." Adams said. "We'll give you as much training as we can over the next couple of weeks."

"What did you mean when you said I'd spend a fourth of my time here?"

"Enterprise operates 24 hours a day. There are four watches - shifts - of six hours. You stand watches four-hours-on, two-off, meaning for at least four hours out of the six, your butt has to be in your chair at your station. The rest of the time is for crew rest; meals, bathroom breaks, etc. If you're the Watch Officer, you can use the Watch Officer's Ready Room for that." He pointed to a door on the left of the main viewscreen.

"And that one?" Montoya said, pointing to the door on the right of the screen.

"Captain's Ready Room. Only he uses that."

"Okay. So, I'm going to be a Watch Officer as well?"

"You're replacing the Operations Officer, so you take over his duties. You take the third watch. We call it Midwatch. 2200 to 0400 hours - that's 10 PM to 4 AM."

"That much I get." Montoya said. "So which watch do you take?"

"I stand the Forenoon Watch with the Captain, 1000 to 1600."

"So you don't get to sit in the center seat?"

"Not usually. Just when the normal watch officers are unavailable. I stand watch in the Engineering Section."

"Where's that?"

Adams pointed aft. Montoya looked and saw another part of the Control Room not visible from the entrances. A large opening in the center of the aft wall opened on another darkened room.

Montoya got up and Adams led her into the Section. Installed in the wall to starboard was a bank of four workstations, each one with a small screen in the center. The rest of the wall was taken up by a huge master display.

"Damage Control, Propulsion and Power, Structural Integrity and Systems." Adams said, pointing to each workstation in turn. "Engineering Watch Officer stands behind the stations and watches the whole picture, coordinates damage control efforts, the standard stuff. When you're on watch, one of my senior officers will be on watch in here, and he or she will be able to tell you instantly if there's a problem with the ship."

Montoya nodded absently, then turned and walked slowly out of the section. She stopped walking when she was behind the center chair. She was lost in thought.

"What's wrong?" Adams said.

"I was deluding myself." Montoya said without turning. "I thought it would be just like at Daedalus." Then she turned. "Whenever I went out on a research ship, there was a clear division of responsibility. The captain would be responsible for the ship and its crew, I would be responsible for the scientists and the research. It was a partnership, one where we each handled our own responsibilities and didn't involve ourselves in the other's. I let myself think that's what it would be like this time."

"Well, it might have been if this were a normal Starfleet-sponsored research stint. A couple of weeks or so in deep space…we're going to be out five years. There has to be a single chain of command in a situation like that. It just makes sense."

"Maybe…but doesn't it make sense that I be higher up in that chain since it is a scientific endeavor? Shouldn't I be First Officer at least, or have equal status with her?"

Adams gave her a confused look, then held back a chuckle, then erupted in a laughing fit that lasted about fifteen seconds, as he recovered, he said: "Listen…don't let Number One hear you say that either. I like you. I don't want to see you go out an airlock." With that he motioned her to follow him and led her out of Control through the portside exit.

Twenty minutes later, the door of the Ops Officers' Stateroom chimed. "Come in!" Gwendolyn Flores called out.

The door slid open to reveal Isabel Montoya and John Adams. "Thank you." Montoya said to him.

"No problem. I'll see you later ." Adams said, then left her at the door.

Montoya took a moment to look at the room. It was the size of her stateroom, but here there were four beds mounted in the right wall, in two stacks of two. There were two small desks along the left wall, and the door to the head was just inside and to the left of the front door. Benjamin Goren was sitting in one of the desk chairs. Flores was leaning against the wall near the bunks. "They put four of you in here?" Montoya said, incredulous.

"Yep," Benjamin Goren said. "Me, Wendy, Jim and Constance."

"I'm sharing a room and bathroom with three other people." Flores muttered. "It's like college…only everything's gray."

"I consider this a step up. Enlisteds are quartered 16 to a stateroom…which means all our research assistants can be found in one spot now, By The Way."

"I know," Montoya said as she stepped in and the door closed. "Commander Adams took me to see their quarters in the Support Section, along with the big empty space where our labs are supposed to be."

"I guess you did all right after I left." Goren said.

"You certainly did." Flores said with a smile. "Who's the hottie?"

"That was Commander Adams, the Chief Engineer." Montoya said.

"Don't even think about it." Goren said to Flores. "You're a Lieutenant. That's Unlawful Fraternization."

"Well, what're they gonna do, kick me outta Starfleet?"

"Uh…yeah. And in this case that means No Project For You."

"Oh. Well, it's not unlawful for Belle, is it?" She turned to Montoya. "Are your quarters near his?"

"Actually, they're closer to the First Officer's."

"Talk about hotties…" Goren muttered.

"Hey!" Flores said. "How come you can think about it but I can't?"

"What're they gonna do, kick me outta Starfleet?"

"Yes!"

"Good! I'd leave happily! Project Be Damned!"

Montoya smiled. "Well, don't get your hopes up, Ben. From what I've seen of her she's probably the type that sleeps with her regulation book."

"Ah, that's just Her Job. I can still dream."

They all chuckled a little at that, then quieted down as Montoya avoided their gazes. When she lifted her head back up, she was dead serious. "Is either of you having second thoughts?"

"Are you, boss?" Goren said.

"I just think I'm taking on more than I can handle. I won't be able to just do my research. I'll have just as much administrative work and outside responsibilities as anything else. I…thought it would be different."

"You mean like the old days when the captain handled all the piddling little details involved with keeping everybody alive and working and you were free to think Big Thoughts and concentrate on The BIG Theory?"

"Actually...yes."

"Join Starfleet, see Real Life. Welcome to reality, Commander."

"Yeah, Belle. I mean, you said yourself this was voluntary. We all signed up because we thought the ultimate goal was worth it. We can't just back out ten minutes after we board the ship."

There was a moment of silence, then Montoya said: "I guess we can't, can we?"

Flores and Goren shook their heads. With that, Montoya went to sit in the other desk chair.

"Then I guess we should talk about how we're going to do things around here." The Science Oficer said, and she and her senior staff began hashing out a research program.