A/N: So I got my Chapters mixed up, apparently. It looks like 15 will be the aforementioned 'doozy'. Also, I'm not apologising for the length of this one - I hit one hell of a stride lately, and it was good to write so much! I hope you all enjoy it! Please comment and review, it's always helpful!


Azh returned to her quarters, sighing in resignation at the prospect of moving again. Not that her current quarters were particularly 'homey,' more that she hated moving at all. Indeed, with its random items of clothing strewn around the small space, yet another dying pot plant in one corner, and a replicator that never quite worked right, it was more of a space to sleep before her next shift...and sleep was something she did as little as possible.

She sat at the small desk for a moment and checked her messages, and was surprised to find two of some actual relevance (as opposed to the never-ending junk messages she could never quite get rid of.)

The first was a polite, friendly message from Admiral Zevil, and as she read it a weight seemed to lift from her shoulders. In it, the Admiral stated that he was going to personally arrange for all of her belongings to be moved, from her current quarters to her quarters on the Phoenix, while she was on leave. This was dependent on the docks actually doing their jobs, and he assured her that he would remind them whose ship it was and what her role had been, so that the massive ship was repaired to her own exacting standards. Lastly, he had arranged passage for her and her "chosen companion" on the USS Scimitar, whose captain was already dropping supplies off to Risa before heading out to support the Romulan Republic for a few months.

Azh smiled, sighing with relief, and made a mental note to personally thank Zevil when she next saw him. He wasn't forgiven just yet, but he was trying to make amends, and that meant a lot.

The second message was more formal, and came from someone called Lt. Commander Asouzi. She stated that she was the chief Intelligence officer on Zevil's crew, and that she had recently swept Azh's quarters for any bugs or listening devices that Lydana may have planted.

To Azh's immense displeasure, no fewer than five devices were found, for reasons the young captain couldn't begin to understand.

"Fucking Intelligence officers," Azh snarled quietly, at slammed her desk terminal closed. She took a deep, shaking breath, closed her eyes, and as she exhaled she thought of Risa. Warm sand, sunny beaches, no demands on her time, just...the chance to relax.

And, she reminded herself, to make things right between her and Elliott. She had been blocking herself off from other people - and her own emotions - for far too long. Perhaps this trip would finally rid her of that.

She re-opened the terminal, checking Zevil's message again for the time she needed to meet the Scimitar's captain at the docking bay, then nodded to herself. 1800 hours - there was even time for a small nap before she left.

With that thought in mind, she sent a quick message to Elliott letting him know where to meet and when, then crawled into her bunk fully clothed. She caught the stench of old sweat, still clinging to her sheets from the many nights she had woken up screaming in terror, and wondered when the last time she'd bothered to change them was.

That was the last thought that crossed her mind as she quickly dropped off to sleep, as the fatigue of the last few days finally caught up with her.


For once, she slept the entire four hours she'd planned, albeit fitfully - apparently even body-numbing fatigue wasn't enough to keep her nightmares completely at bay. However, she awoke with enough time to pack a bag for her trip, and she noticed a definite bounce in her step as she peeled off her uniform, shoved it unceremoniously into the replicator for recycling (minus her rank pips and commbadge,) and stepped into her sonic shower. She stepped out feeling refreshed, and then went to her small storage locker and pulled out the one non-uniform outfit she owned - a black T-shirt, with a design celebrating the Klingon rock band Sons of None, and a pair of dark, lightweight trousers. After pulling those on, she replicated a few extra clothes for the journey, including the skimpiest bikini she could encourage herself to wear and a light sarong, through in a PADD of her favourite book, and began humming softly to herself as she walked out of her quarters, dragging her small luggage behind her.

She finally reached the docking bay a few minutes ahead of schedule, and spent a few minutes gazing out at the Scimitar - a peculiar ship, one of the Shran-class escorts, it was essentially a saucer section sandwiched between two immense nacelles, and Azh had always wondered whose idea it had been to come up with it. She wasn't sure if she wanted to shake their hand or kick them in the teeth, but it was certainly an...interesting design. A shout caught her attention, and she turned to see Elliot coming down the concourse - and she couldn't help but laugh.

Where her own travel attire was fairly tame, Elliott had opted for the full tourist look - baggy, brightly-coloured shorts, flip-flops, a type of shirt called a 'Hawaiian' that he hadn't bothered buttoning up, even a ridiculously oversized straw hat. He greeted her with a small wave when he met up with her, and Azh just gave him a hug, still chuckling.

"Thank you for the best laugh I've had in a long time," she told him, smiling warmly.

"I thought I looked alright, actually," he said with mock disappointment, before laughing with her. "It's nice to see you out of uniform," he told her, once the laughter subsided. "You look…" he paused, unsure of how enthusiastic to be with his compliments. "You look great," he finished diplomatically.

"You've already seen me out of uniform," Azh reminded him, her tone light and teasing, and Elliott blushed slightly.

"Yeah, I know, but...I mean, I meant...you know...out of uniform, but in, you know...clothes."

Azh laughed again, linking her arm with his and heading towards the boarding tube.

"Come on, Elliott, before you die of embarrassment."


Once on board, they were greeted by an Asian woman of average height, her auburn hair trimmed at shoulder length and framing a narrow face.

"Welcome aboard, I'm Commander Evelyn Savea," she told them, her voice firm and authoritative, but not hostile. "The captain has invited you to dine with her at 1930 hours, followed by a brief tour, if that would please you?" Both Azh and Elliott agreed, and Evelyn continued. "You've been assigned some quarters for the duration of the journey, the best we could do at short notice was a single cabin - I trust this will not be too much of an issue?"

Azh grimaced slightly, since she wasn't ready for something as intimate as sharing a bed, but before she could answer Elliott chimed in.

"It'll be fine, Commander," he told her cheerfully. "We understand that your captain is already making an exception by taking us to Risa, and the least we can do is cause as little trouble as possible while we are guests on her ship."

This seemed to satisfy Savea, who nodded and tapped something onto a PADD, before handing it off to a young Lieutenant next to her.

"Very good. Lieutenant Marler here will escort you to your quarters, and the captain will see you both at 1930 sharp. Welcome to the Scimitar."

As she left to tend to her other duties, Elliott and Azh fell in behind the Lieutenant as he led them towards a turbolift.

"What the hell was that about?" Azh whispered. "What do you mean, 'cause as little trouble as possible'?"

"We don't want to annoy a captain who is already annoyed at taking passengers," Elliot whispered back. "If you're not comfortable, then we can just...make our own sleeping arrangements. Whatever suits you, Azh, I don't mind."

Azh let out a soft sigh, resting her head on his shoulder momentarily.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For caring about how I feel."

Elliott gave her a gentle kiss on the top of her head and put an arm around her shoulder, and she relaxed at the silent touch.

They remained like that until they reached the turbolift, but even then Azh held onto Elliott's hand, and they remained that way until they finally reached their temporary quarters.


After getting settled in their room - and a quick change of clothes for Elliott - they relaxed for the remaining hour until Commander Savea came to escort them.

"I apologise if I seemed...distant, earlier," she told them, as they walked towards the captain's quarters. "We've been busy ever since the war with the Klingons ended and we wound up fighting everybody else, instead." She chuckled humourlessly. "The more things change…"

"Believe me, I can understand," Azh answered. "I think we all can. Certainly the docks have been an unending hive of activity, and then sometimes you get asshole admirals coming along and ruining everything."

Savea snorted derisively.

"I can't say I know about admirals in particular, but we've definitely had our share of asshole characters," she said bitterly.

Before either Azh or Elliott could answer, they arrived at their destination - the Scimitar was not a particularly large ship, and certainly much smaller than Azh's own Phoenix.

"I hope you enjoy your meal," Savea said with a smirk, before leaving them both at the door.

"Well that was weird," Elliott said, as Savea disappeared from view.

"Not just me, then," Azh answered with a chuckle, hitting the door chime key.

After a moment the door hissed open, revealing Captain Q'oriss,

Azh's first thought when meeting the alien captain was "tall." Her second thought was "purple," and after that her mind didn't get much further.

Foxfor Thovahdi Q'oriss was tall - over seven feet tall, in fact - and almost painfully slender. Her skin was a deep, dark purple in colour, and completely hairless. Instead of eyebrows, four cartilaginous quills performed the same function, set above wide, feline eyes, and dark red markings curled around her face, from her forehead down to just under her lips, in an abstract jaw shape.

She looked terrifying.

"Hello Captain Pezhal, Lieutenant Commander Womers," she said, her voice soft with a buzzing undertone. "Welcome to the Scimitar, and my quarters. Please come in."

She stepped aside and gestured for Azh and Elliott to join her, her movements slow, precise, and graceful.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Captain," Elliott said as he took his seat, seemingly unfazed by Q'oriss' appearance. "We understand it can't be easy, having to ferry passengers around."

"The admiral suggested that it was 'imperative' that you arrived on Risa safely," Q'oriss answered, sitting in her own chair around the small table, "and we were already heading that way. It is no great pain to add a pair of Starfleet passengers. Now, civilians, they are annoying."

"Or diplomats," Elliott offered, eliciting a chuckle from Q'oriss.

"Indeed. Andorian brandy, anyone?"

Both guests accepted the offer, and Q'oriss poured them a small measure of brandy from a glass decanter, before moving to her replicator and generating meals for all three of them.

"I apologise that it is replicated, not fresh,"she said, placing Elliott and Azh's plates first, "but our ship is small, and a functioning galley is simply not viable."

"Space is at a premium, we understand," Azh assured her, smiling. "So, what are we eating?"

"A little taste of home," Q'oriss answered, gesturing with too-long fingers. "Qitorian dalar flan, a side of layoqi root salad, and a tari berry sauce."

"Dalar?" Elliott asked, and Q'oriss gave him a slow nod.

"Dalar are an amphibious creature on Qitoria, quite the delicacy," the captain explained, picking up her utensils. "Please, do eat."

The guests began eating at Q'oriss' insistence, finding the food surprisingly tasty. Conversation was light-hearted and free-flowing, and the three officers found they got along well. Even after they had finished their meal, they were still content to drink and talk, and even Elliott was more talkative than Azh had known him to be in the time she'd known him.

"I have to say though, ma'am," Azh started, diverting from a conversation about most embarrassing missions, and Q'oriss raised a hand to stop her.

"Foxfor, please," she said, with a needle-toothed smile. "You are not on duty, and even if you were we are of the same rank, are we not? Let us not stand on unnecessary ceremony."

"Okay, uh, Foxfor," Azh continued hesitantly. "If you don't mind my saying so, I haven't seen many of your species in Starfleet before."

"Why would I mind you speaking facts?" Foxfor asked with a shrug of her slender shoulders. "In truth, my kind were not frequent applicants to Starfleet even in my own time. I had hoped that might have changed, but it seems that was not the case."

Azh narrowed her eyes in confusion, trying to place what was so odd about Foxfor's choice of words, when she suddenly put the pieces together - a painting of a binary star system, a 2250-era Klingon bat'leth mounted on her back wall, the model of the Magee-class ship that was the predecessor to Foxfor's own…

"Fuck me...you were there, weren't you?" Azh breathed. "The Battle of the Binary Stars. The day a century of tentative peace with the Klingons was shattered."

Foxfor smiled softly, her feline eyes showing a hint of remembered pain.

"Not quite. I was still at the academy the day the war broke out, but I graduated not long after that."

"'The more things change,'" Elliott said, leaning back in his and looking over at Azh. "What Commander Savea said to us in the corridor, remember? It makes sense now...we were at war with the Klingons a few months ago, and we were at war with them then."

"Indeed," Foxfor answered. "Evelyn is one of my original crew, a former classmate, and a dear friend. Without her, I may not have handled the time jump quite so well."

Silence reigned for a few moments, as Elliott and Azh took in the enormity of who their host really was, when Foxfor downed the last of her drink and slammed the glass back down on the table.

"Anyway, there has been far too much misery in the galaxy lately," she said cheerfully, "and I will not spoil your upcoming leave by tainting it with melancholy before we even make Risa. What say we have that tour you were offered?"

Azh smiled as she finished her own drink, and nodded firmly.

"Yes, I think that would be a great idea, Cap- uh, Foxfor."

"If it's not too much of a problem, Captain, may I visit your Engineering section?"

Foxfor offered him a quizzical look, before nodding once.

"You will not find anything there that is not in any other modern starship, but I see no problem with it," she answered, and tapped her commbadge. "Q'oriss to Lieutenant Zirlet."

"Zirlet here," a feminine voice answered, sounding strained by work.

"Can you report to my quarters promptly, please, I would like you to give a guest a tour of the engine room."

"Right away, ma'am," Zirlet replied, and as the signal closed Foxfor rose and began to gather the plates.

As Foxfor cleared away, Azh leaned over and whispered to Elliott.

"No flirting with the cute lieutenant while I'm gone," she joked, before patting his shoulder and standing up, helping Foxfor by recycling the glasses until the tall captain was ready.


"Is that normal?"

Azh looked up at Foxfor's question, shortly after they had left her quarters.

"Sorry, what?"

"Your companion, asking to visit the engine room - is that normal?"

"Oh yeah, he loves engine rooms," Azh said with a smile. "Put him in there, he'll be content for hours. If he starts getting uppity you can just let him run a maintenance cycle, calms him right down." She laughed at her own humour, although Foxfor chuckled as well.

"You and he have...rather an odd relationship," she mused. "I admit that I am often more than a little confused by other humanoids, but I have not seen a courting couple act like you two. Is this a mating ritual of your species, or- no?" She was cut off mid-sentence by Azh vigorously shaking her head, an uncharacteristic blush colouring her cheeks.

"No, no, um...it's...difficult to explain," Azh said, faltering. "It's...I've had a lot of...personal demons to face, that have stopped me from pursuing any...romantic interests I might have had."

"And now you don't?"

"No, it's more...I'm trying to work through them, but I...well, I feel like I want him to be a part of the process."

"So he is a therapy aid?"

"What? No, I mean-" Azh sighed in exasperation, and Foxfor's brow furrowed.

"Forgive me, as I said I am rarely good with other humanoids," she re-stated.

"It's just...well, for one thing, I'm not good at talking about...you know, emotions, and the like," Azh explained, gazing at the surrounding corridor. "I never was at the best of times, but then I...things took a bad turn for me," she managed, "and I just sort of...walled myself off from everyone. Emotionally, not physically."

"Yes, I do understand metaphor, thank you."

"Well, that's what I'm trying to break through. Too many walls of my own making."

Foxfor thought about this for a moment.

"You know, some people have likened my people to 'a cross between the Klingons and Vulcans,' and while there is merit to the analogy it is not entirely accurate. While Vulcans and the Qitorians share the concept of personal discipline, we do not take that as far as restraining all of our emotions."

"Well, there are reasons-"

"Yes, I am aware there are reasons for Vulcans, both real and imagined," Foxfor said firmly, "but my point is, I am not a stranger to the concepts you mentioned...when you finally mentioned them."

"So what's your take on it?"

Foxfor stopped in the corridor, turning to face Azh and resting both hands on her shoulders.

"You have suffered much, that I can tell," she said quietly, "a fair amount at your own hand, but also from whatever you suffered in the past. Do not let suffering make you think you are unworthy of love - what little I have seen of your 'Elliott' suggests he is very much keen on standing at your side, no matter what."

"But what right do I have to expect him to go through my issues with me?" Azh asked weakly, looking up into the large yellow eyes of her host.

"More to the point, what right have you to stop him?" Foxfor countered. "It is clear that, despite your pain, you care about him. He clearly cares about you too. Do not let your suffering keep you apart, when he wants to be there for you."

Azh cleared her throat and looked away, stunned by the intensity of Foxfor's words.

"Let's, uh...let's have this tour, then, shall we?"

Foxfor gave her a soft smile, hoping she had at least given Azh something to think about, before leading her through the ship.