"What's this?" Chris asked softly, placing his PADD down onto the sofa he was on, sitting up as Michael came in and sat herself down, a small flat box in hand.
Michael suppressed her smile though she felt….nervous to present it to him. Of course, it wasn't what it was, but what it represented that made her nervous, even if it was illogical to feel such a way when she knew him.
At her non-answer, he curiously took it from her then opened it up, eyebrow drew in though tilted it carefully, allowing it to catch in the light to see it's design fully. "A badge?"
Michael nodded. "We've assigned all clan members to…wear one. Even if they're human."
Chris's eyes rose from the badge, his frown vanishing and replaced with a soft smile. "When I wear this, the whole ship will figure out why."
Michael nodded, "I know." She'd rather have that than…speculation that she had been hearing between her and the captain. Rumours had the tendency to grow and better confirm something than end up in an awkward situation, plus, she felt ready for more people than her little circle of friends to know about. "I know it's only been a few days since…it's back, but I feel ready to let people know. Sooner or later, someone's gonna speculate."
Chris nodded, plucking off his normal badge and replaced it inside the box, flipping the circular one around, reading his name on the back.
"I did originally have a spare but it was a blank, no name or rank pips. I did have its template for replicators" She spoke, smiling as he placed it onto his chest. The plain was… didn't have the same worth to it, if she hadn't put the effort into it.
"Thank you." Chris lent forwards, kissing her softly before pulling back and rose to his feet, zipping up his jacket. "We should probably get to the bridge, as…much as I want to spend my day in my quarters with you, work-life calls."
Michael chuckled, "Of course, Saru and the others might have found a new signal."
"And without telling us? Oh, I'm so offended." Chris teased, feigning such an expression with a sense of humour that made their bond feel light.
Michael though was forced to depart from Chris as she noticed a familiar scent down the hallway, recalling the notice Pike had on this PADD so she followed her nose and hearing the low voices before she turned the corner to see Nhan and Ash at the end of it; reviewing, from what she could see, were the vampire systems. She flittered closer but maintained a reasonable distance before Nhan picked up on her presence before Ash by a few seconds
"Commander Burnham, what can we do for you?" Nhan asked curiously.
"I was hoping to talk to Specialist Tyler, though I was also hoping about an update on those systems," nodding to her PADD. "I know the sphere's virus did a lot of damage."
"Just about there. Hopefully…they shouldn't activate without call again."
"Hopefully." The last thing she wanted was that again. She was just glad that…Chris had been there to catch her.
"I'll catch up with you later," Nhan added to Ash before she headed away.
Michael's eyes turned to Ash though smiled softly. "How've you settled? I'm surprised it took section 31 so long to get you here. Sorry I didn't meet up with you earlier."
"There…was a few delays, but Leland thought given my previous station here, it'd be easier on the crew."
Or, Michael could tell that because they knew him before, It'd give them a sense of trust. While she didn't not trust him, she could feel it would make telling him things much harder…
"I heard you imprinted, so, congratulations on that, I suppose. I hear Pike's a good man so…I'm happy for you." Ash spoke.
"Georgiou?" There were few that knew, but it didn't escape her that another vampire might pick up those signals.
"She's not subtle." Ash admitted, "How's it going?"
Michael smiled, "Good. It's… been a ride but we're good." They felt comfortable now, and…she wanted to see how it'd grow, how they'd grow as a couple… "How about you?"
Ash shrugged, though after a second began to move along "It's been interesting."
She followed in pace. "Yeah, but hanging around with section 31 and the Terran Emperor… I'd say that's much more questionable."
Ash tisked softly with displeasure, "Please don't judge me on that, Michael."
"I'm not, but…I can't see why you'd choose Section 31 over Starfleet, hell, even the chance to help the VL."
Ash sighed, "What was done to me, Michael… it's left me in a grey area. If I'm to do good, why can't I achieve that with other means?"
"Like…supplying Section 31 with insider vampire Intel?"
"Michael." He stopped, his arms dropping, "Is that why you think I went there? To spill all your secrets?"
"Not intentionally, but… I can't be fully honest when there's a slight you'll squeal back to Leland on everything we do. I know enough about section 31 to be concerned and more so when they recruited one of us into it and the fact it was Georgiou, of all vampires—"
"Georgiou volunteered, you were there."
"Yes, I was but that doesn't mean I think it's a good idea. We've bent over backwards to help Starfleet adjust but that shouldn't mean selling everything out—"
"Burnham, I am not going to spill everything about what happens here," Ash spoke, tone gruffer as annoyance washed through his blood. "I'm still your friend here, aren't I?"
Michael's lips pursed, pausing because… she didn't know. He had been part of the security of the VL orbital station when it was still under Starfleet's full control but now he had left. Personally, she could understand that hadn't changed, but their professional lives…that made things complicated. "Not when we both wear our badges."
Ash's face dropped before he nodded stiffly, a hand washing through his short beard. "Great. Thanks" With that, he quickly thudded off and around the corner but she didn't follow.
Michael sighed heavily… she probably did that wrong but… she felt right in this instance. Once he understood her meaning, there was a chance to fix this. It didn't exactly escape her that they should have stayed in more contact…kept somewhat closer… She had missed him.
"Commander Burnham, to the bridge." Pike's voice called over though Michael felt herself bright up at hearing his voice.
Michael slipped out the Jefferies tube and dusted herself off before heading over to her monitor where Tilly was, feeling the few ebs of amusement from her choice of entry from Chris but he said nothing.
"We've got a new signal!" Tilly spoke. "We've just started to pinpoint it's location, it's far from us but… on the very edge of federation space."
Michael's eyes went to the data coming in.
"Starbase 174, I thought that was destroyed in the war."
"It was, at least, it was supposed to." Pike spoke, "It's out of position, so most likely caught into an orbit of another object but there's a possibility that there are some Starfleet officers on it."
"Like the asteroid." Michael could see the train of thoughts in the air. "Are we jumping there?"
"No, Lieutenant Stamets is running a few adjustments, the drive has to be offline for the time being." Tilly spoke brightly, "I came up here to help recalibrate the bridge systems for it. Then the ping went off for a signal."
"We're a few hours out. See what you can find out." Pike requested.
"Life signs"
"Two. At least two. One is…very faint. But we can confirm another one is a Vulcan bio sign." Michael spoke, flicking through the data on the PADD, now in his ready room.
"We should get medical to stand by."
"Indeed," Saru spoke. "The faint one, we can't determine specifics which is unusual. Smaller life signs indicate an adolescent or younger but we can't confirm anything with sensors alone."
Michael nodded with his assessment. "Scans show that that there is structural damage but, there is a Starfleet shuttle docked. Scans indicate it's been there a while. About 14 months"
"Wait, so the Vulcan can escape at any time?" Pike questioned, "Not a lot of sense, or logic for a Vulcan."
"The station itself was a research station. It's likely the Vulcan could be out here running assessments of the neutral zone."
"Not likely, Burnham. Our scans do show that the station's sensor array is… well, gone. Unless they're using the shuttles but it's unlikely given the low power reserves. The shuttle now is simply an emergency pod." Saru input lightly, "I've also been looking at all Vulcan science teams that are in Starfleet and their location."
"And?" Pike asked
"Still waiting on the results but I fear that…this little trip isn't accidental."
Michael looked to Saur sharply. "You think the Vulcan is here running an illegal investigation?"
"It's…logical." Saru spoke, "There's no reason for a Vulcan to be here, let alone out of contact with Starfleet, but with a way out. There's nothing of value to study in this area beyond the Romulan's red marker."
"And now we're about to investigate." Pike mused, his tone quietening. "If that's the case, we shouldn't expect a warm welcome. We'll hold back any hails. We risk them destroying their work and evidence."
"Do you think that's why the signal brought us here, Captain?" Michael questioned, while she didn't doubt the facts, the belief that they were brought somewhere for a reason meant nothing without the context, they couldn't assume anything based on scans. "For something as…small as this? The last two involved two separate aroids, one a rescue operation and the other was to prevent an extinction-level event."
Pike hummed, not fully disagreeing, "We don't know what we'll find, Burnham, but it has to be big for a signal to be here. I doubt it's without good reason if the last two are any indication."
"Sir, three minutes out, Captain"
"Copy that."
All three of them moved out of the ready room though she flittered back to her monitor, Tilly-free and revised the data.
"Bryce, hold back any hails. Owo, run scans of the structure for any possible weapons or weapons' fire."
"Aye, Sir." They both replied.
They dropped out of warp to see a very run-down station, damages and caught into the orbit of a D-class Moon, debris floating around though there were clear signs of it being functional by the spots of lights. It was clearly not a large station to have started but most of it, from what she could tell, was exposed to the vacuum of space, leaving two entire labs as the only habitable areas.
Why anyone would stay here, Michael couldn't fathom. But she could detect that there was a smaller life form….very small that…didn't fit with full grown life-forms. There was only one viable option that suddenly appalled her as it did surprise her.
"Sir, I think there's a baby on that station."
The bridge suddenly dropped a few degrees, feeling the burning eyes on her but more so was the sudden upheave of concern that suddenly filtered through his mind, tainting through their bond at an astounding pace and was almost overwhelming. Michael didn't fight the emotion that came from him.
"A baby?" Pike was out of his seat. "Are you sure?"
Her head bobbed solemnly. "This life sign is too small for anything bigger than a loaf of bread, and I can't tell of what species, it's humanoid but… it's similar to a human baby."
His face had lost some colour and she could feel his mind start to flood with more emotions but none crossed his face.
"Burnham, get commander Nhan and Dr Culber to go over with you, secure the Vulcan and—"
"Sir, there's been weapons fire."
"On what?" Pike immediately spun around to Owosekun.
Sensing the pressure, Owosekun quickly tapped along the screen before her posture relaxed. "The Vulcan' life sign's gone."
Pike let out a short, quiet breath. "Okay. Burnham," he turned to him, "Get to the station and secure the child."
"Yes, Sir."
By her estimation, she knew Chris wanted to go to the station as well, but knew better than to allow that. She could understand his position. Clearly anyone would be distressed about an infant being onboard a station in general, and one in the middle of nowhere, on a station that looked to about to kick it, only raised the stakes. Someone as empathic as Chris, he knew how to keep himself professional. Which meant having someone else lead it, like her.
Michael knew she wasn't strictly a baby person, mostly due to the fact that handing her own emotions were hard, the fact she was a literal stone-cold monster didn't help. Humans were fragile full-grown, mishandling their offspring was triple the risk. She just had to leave the baby up to the other two to handle
Dr Culber fixed on his EV, fidgeting with his medical bag, Nhan too kitted up but Michael chose not to wear one before they transported over to the station.
Inside, Michael was even less impressed with it. From the smell, mostly copper blood that was freshly spilt, it smelt like the Vulcan had been here a while. A male Vulcan if she wasn't mistaken. In the air, hung a spray that was somewhat familiar with the stuff used to help sterilise surfaces.
But, there was a new scent. Clearly not a human scent, nor a Vulcan. It was sweet enough to pass close to human but no appealing edge that triggered any thirst from her. But she had fed recently so she put that thought aside. Clearly some sort of human hybrid.
There was not a lot of sounds that echoed, mostly high pitched sounds of a few relays out of alignment and a pipe leak, there was the small, slow heartbeat of the baby as well as it's breathing from the other room.
Her eyes swiped around to see most of the side was clattered in personal items of a Vulcan, medication Lamp, a gurney that had been fashioned into a low bed and covered in a lot of blankets that bulked it out; no doubt to make it more comfortable.
Her eyes dropped to the floor behind a workbench, there she could see a small green pool of blood. Michael headed towards the pool, Dr Culber quickly moving out towards the other door.
She knew the Vulcan was dead; lying face down on the floor, the phaser was still in his hand and she could feel the lingering warmth of his body slowly slipping away. She turned him around, though she didn't recognise his face, she plucked the silver Starfleet badge from his blue jacket.
Lieutenant Commander Dvir
There was no last name listed, nor was she surprised by that. Vulcan's last names didn't translate to English well and even if it was, the pronunciations never were fluent to those not exposed to Vulcan from a young age.
"Commander."
It was Culber's tone that caught her attention more. His body flushing with a sense of heat that she could feel and his heart picked up; he was worried.
Michael darted immediately to the other room, where both he and Nhan were bent over a small table, crudely fashioned into some sort of crib.
Inside, she could see tiny feet in little socks, but Nhan stepped away that exposed the rest of the infant and Michael froze up at what she saw…
The baby looked new. Hours old by the curled posture and air-exposed skin that looked papery thin. It was a girl, the little pink hat said as much as the scent that emanated from her; hints of baby-powder and bubble bath also layered around it.
The infant's skin was dark, like her own with dark black hair was a small mass of dark, curls that peeked out from under the knitted pink hat. Her little hands were curled up into fists and large chocolate-brown eyes stared up at them widely at all of their faces. The tiny hands went to her mouth, exposing a nanosecond-flash of a small row of tiny, pointed teeth within the gums, sucking softly but the pull of baby's eyebrows made the child look almost angry at their intrusion.
"She's a vampire-human hybrid."
