I'm not too sure about the last part... the whole, well you'll see what I mean, it's iffy though / Ah well, the next chapter should be better Enjoy and let me know what you think... remember I will take suggestions for anything in the story, or you can let me know if you want a character of yours to appear in it with a nice little cameo... who knows I may already add people I know
Disclaimer: Lt. Enye Kaydence (Chief of Security), Lt. Sahe Daemnh (Chief Engineer), Cmdr. Garfield Rey(First Officer), Dr. Rouge Seiko(Chief Medical Officer), Counselor Kari Skye(Counselor), Lt. Bendera Washington (Science Officer), Capt. Jade Shaya (Captain) and the USS Maelstrom are all copyrighted to me... as with the story itself. The Dominion Wars, USS Defiant, Capt. Sisko, and all other things mentioned in story not stated above are copyrighted to Paramount and Star Trek's creators.
The bridge controls buzzed a whirred as the Chief of Security stepped onto the bridge. She scanned the room and let her eyes settle on the view screen; at the touch of a button it came alive and she looked out at the still starscape. She sighed and someplace inside her wished that they were out there fighting too, she wanted nothing more than bring this terrible war to an end. The problem was Maelstrom hadn't been officially commissioned yet; they were waiting on some last minute crew members.
"Working overtime again Enye?" came the smooth alto voice of the Chief Engineer. The security officer turned to see her human friend and smiled; her scales twisting into a smirk, an expression that was inherent to her race.
"I could ask the same of you, Sahe." she commented, still smiling. With a chuckle the half Vulcan switched off the view screen and leaned on the tactical station. "Have you heard about our new captain yet?" she asked and Sahe shook her head.
"Not yet, I haven't heard much either." Enye scrunched her scaled nose up at that, if there was anything to know Sahe would know it… this wasn't promising. "What about our First Officer?" she decided to press her friend for info.
The blonde only shook her head in response. Enye rolled her shoulders forward and pushed herself off the console. "Well I guess we'll know soon enough, right?" Sahe nodded and started to say something when her com badge beeped.
"Lieutenant Daemnh to Engineering." Sahe sighed and tapped her combadge. "On my way." she shook her head and looked at Enye. "An engineer's work is never done, I'll catch up with you later on base." she gave a nod and departed.
The half Vulcan sighed again and followed her friend out and few moments later. She stepped into the turbolift and decided to go see how things were going on base. She was sure she was late for something. "Lieutenant Kaydence, your presence is required in the medical wing."
"On my way." Kaydence scowled as she responded and once on base, headed that direction. What could they possibly want this time; she had already spent hours on end in there. Careful to hide her annoyed expression, she strode into the main area of the medical wing to find their new Chief Medical Officer and a fair-skinned male. Weary of the other, the alien stepped in and looked between the two. "What can I do for you Dr. Seiko?" she asked kindly, despite the blatant suspicious look on her face.
"I just thought that you would like to meet our First Officer, he asked to meet you before the other staff first… all things considered." mumbling the last part under her breath.
"Nonsense Doctor." he chimed in and flashed Kaydence a boyish grin. Yup, he was human alright. "I always enjoy meeting my Senior Staff members separately… now if you don't mind." he moved away from the doctor.
"No, go right ahead." she smiled and gave an encouraging smile to Kaydence. The weary alien half smiled, err smirked, and followed her new commanding officer out. The doors to the large room opened as the pair exited and a wounded patient and a crewmember entered; Dr. Seiko went right back to work with the base's medical team.
"I'm Garfield Rey, pleasure to meet you." he smiled to her and Kaydence snorted.
"Sure you are, you're just fascinated by the fact that you'll have a half Cardassian serving on your Senior Staff. How is it Dr. Seiko knows you, but Lieutenant Daemnh—who might I point out knows all news as far as Maelstrom is concerned—doesn't?" she gave another defiant snort. "Believe me, if you're gonna give me this attitude the entire mission I'll ask for a transfer to the Defiant in a snap." she hissed like a true Cardassian, sneer and all.
"Oh like Sisko would want a spoonhead on his ship." he sneered right back at her. Kaydence used every ounce of strength that she had to keep from smacking him; instead she spun on her heel and marched off to the turbolift that would take her to the Administrations level of the base. Rey shook his head as the hot headed Cardassian departed, so much for that Vulcan control he had heard so much about. He would have to look into this. "Commander Rey to Counselor Skye."
"Yes Commander?"
"Can you meet me in the Rec Center?"
"Be right there, Sir."
"Good, Rey out." he shook his head again and went in the opposite direction.
"The nerve of him! I can't believe some humans! They are so raciest… and to use that slur in my face!" Kaydence fumed, pacing back and forth across the deck. She had changed her mind and gone back to the Maelstrom, and she was now venting to Sahe.
"Calm down Enye, he's probably never encountered a Cardassian like you before and just doesn't know how to cope… who knows, maybe he was actually trying to be nice to you, and perhaps you just jumped on him too soon." Sahe offered to her long time friend.
Kaydence sighed and slumped to the floor of engineering, leaning against a bulkhead. "Maybe you're right, I'm just sick of everyone judging me for the scales that run my body." she breathed out quietly.
Daemnh kneeled down to her friend and put a strong hand on the alien's shoulder. "It'll be fine, I promise… why don't you just go to your quarters and lie down for a time, think about it—maybe even meditate. It doesn't matter, just clear your head and get that Vulcan control back and show him you are nothing like the Cardassians that we are fighting now." Sahe smiled warmly to her friend and rose.
Kaydence returned the smile and rose as well, wiping a small tear that had formed. "Thanks Sahe, you're the best friend that anyone could ask for." she hugged her friend and departed quietly to let her friend get back to work. The blonde smiled and watched as the alien left, knowing that it wouldn't take her friend long to cool off.
"I just want to know if I can trust her is all… I mean…" Commander Rey was cut short by the counselor's hand.
"I think you were too hard on her, she's been on a short fuse lately with this war going on and I feel you could have approached her better." Skye spoke wisely. Rey looked at the calm Betazoid, about to make a quick come-back, but was disarmed by her soft, yet stern look. He slumped in his seat and rubbed his temples with his right hand and sighed heavily.
"This war has taken a toll on all of us Counselor." He rasped like a man twice his age. "Somehow I think that it is harder on one whose other half we are fighting." the alien counselor observed. He sucked in a deep breath and grinned at her, as he had to Kaydence.
"Well it seems I can't argue with a Betazoid." he grinned at her and rose, "Thank you Counselor." She nodded to him as the first officer departed from the rec center.
As the doors closed quietly behind him, Rey hesitated for a moment. His hand hovered above his combadge, he was going to call Kaydence and make amends for his previous comments. In that moments hesitation he decided to make it less formal than he had originally planned and inquired the computer instead of the alien.
"Computer, location of Lieutenant Commander Enye Kaydence."
"Lieutenant Commander Kaydence is located on the USS Maelstrom deck 7." Rey took a deep breath and headed off to the concourse, and ultimately his newest assignment, the Maelstrom.
The Cardassian lieutenant sighed as she sat in her quarters, sipping at a small glass of kanar. It wasn't like her to drink like this, but meditating hadn't helped ease her mind and she couldn't sleep—in her mind, this was all she had left. Her friends were all busy, well friend, but she still had no one to talk to. She would just have to deal on her own and hope that something would come up to distract her; that was unlikely though, being the Chief of Security had its perks… but having something to do while the ship was in space dock left no options unless suddenly they were invaded—those odds were twelve hundred to one. Lost in her thoughts of how best to distract herself other than the bitter drink, the door chimed. "Enter." Kaydence answered its annoying beep flatly. The alien didn't look up at first, but when she did her mood went even more sour than it had already been.
"What do you want now Commander? To criticize me further than you already have?" the slowly weakening alien girl spat.
It was clear that the drink was starting to take its effects, she ignored this and poured another glass; she soon realized that she might have to explain why she had a decently dated full bottle of kanar… but that didn't look to be why he was here.
"No…" he said shockingly soft. "I wanted to apologize, it was wrong of me to judge you so quickly… I'm not used to having a cardassian in my command though." he got right to the point.
The half cadassian's eyes softened with his words and she gestured to an open chair nearby for him to sit down.
"Thanks." he murmured softly and took a seat. "I'd like to start over." he continued, watching the alien as she got more and more drunk. All Kaydence did was nod to him and he gave a weak smile.
"So… I'm Garfield Rey, you can call me whatever you like though." he added and gave her that same boyish grin.
"Ight Gar…" Kaydence drawled out, surprising Rey at how receptive to this she was; he concluded it was the kanar in the glass next to her. "Just call me Kaydence or Kay, whichever you prefer." she nodded and slumped a little. He gave a small nod and studied her, she was strong… not one to mess with, that was for certain.
"Okay Kaydence…" he stated, savoring her name in his mouth. "Well I should be leaving, there's probably some problem that needs my attention… I just wanted to make amends to my previous statements." he flashed a smile and rose. "You should probably sleep that off." With a final nod he turned and headed toward the door out of her quarters.
"Wait." came her drunken command as the door slide open. Rey halted and looked back at her, quirking an eyebrow. "Please stay… want a glass?" she continued, wobbling to her legs. The alien moved across the floor, rather unsteadily, toward the replicator. Kaydence's hand hovered over a small panel near the replicator and the small panel slid open. She removed another glass, revealing a second bottle of something behind it. Rey watched her movements carefully and had approached her, incase she lost balance.
"I'll pass on the liquor, unless you have Spring Wine." he smirked a little.
She returned it, sloppily, but still returned the grin. She pulled out the other bottle and poured its contents into the small glass she held in the other hand. A scaled arm held out the now full glass and he took it graciously from her, his hand gently brushing hers. He was startled by how warm her reptilian hand was. The drunken officer didn't seem to notice and went back to her seat on the couch. Rey followed her and sat next to the Chief of Security.
"Thanks for the wine." he smiled and got comfortable. It was hot in the room, but he understood why. Being of Vulcan and Cardassian heritage, she must love the heat. He mused to himself and looked about the room. Not much, but Maelstrom had only been at the starbase for a day now. They would depart in two more days following the arrival of last minute crew members.
The alien sighed next to him and when Rey looked over at her, she had fallen asleep with the empty glass in her hand. He shook his head and stood up, taking the glass away from her and setting gently on the table next to where she sat. He collected the items on the table and put it all away in the compartment that she had left open. It closed and Rey turned back to the sleeping cardassian. The commander approached her and gently slid his arms under her form and lifted her up. With a grunt, the human walked over to the alcove where her bed was and laid her down gently.
"Dream well my Cardassian friend." he spoke softly and departed from her quarters without another word.