Tag

Departure from DS9 was due within a few hours, so the crew of the station and of the Aurora made use of the time they had.

The Lookout's bar was loaded with the dishes emerging from the kitchen, where the assembled from both groups were quick to parcel it all out. It didn't go unnoticed when Sisko, clad in a chef's uniform and apron, emerged with Hargert, clad similarly, each with a jambalaya dish in their potholder-clad hands. They set their work down at the middle of the bara. "Alright everyone, the main course is ready!" Sisko proclaimed.

"And quite the course it is," Hargert added. He smiled and bowed his head toward Sisko. "It's been quite an education, Captain. My understanding of New Orleans cuisine was always a little lacking."

That brought a grin to the commander of DS9. "It's always important to remember the distinction between Creole and Cajun. My father taught me that early. I suggest you stop in at his restaurant if you're ever at our Earth," Sisko said. "And bring that leika spice when you do, Dad'll find a lot of uses for it."

Hargert nodded at the reference to one of the Dorei spices he was familiar with. "Of course. Once you showed me your recipes I thought it might complement the flavor."

This was overheard by the others. "I suppose we're about to find out," said Bashir.

"Oh, I think it'll work," Jarod said, waiting patiently to take his own share.

Cat was getting her own fairly small tidbits while in conversation with Dax on the subject of T'Vral Distortions. "...saw the report, and I was surprised by the intensity of the gravimetric distortion," the raven-haired Trill woman said.

Cat restrained a sigh: Dax was as pretty as ever, but Cat already knew from Angel she was spoken for. Briefly she wondered if the symbiotes had any influence on the sexual orientation of the host, since even if they were always in straight hosts the odds were good of experiencing both genders over time.

"And what about the expanse of the subspace effect?" Dax asked, bringing Cat's attention back to the subject. "Did that conform to Doctor T'Vral's theory?"

"The first one did," Cat answered, recalling the example she saw and the later ones explored by other ships. "A few months later the Kitana found a field with three times the projected volume for the star type. We think it was Betelgeuse, although with the Fracture's messed up space-time we can't be sure. And the Maimonides found other new ones in their recent mission."

"I'll have to look into those reports." There was a passionate curiosity in Dax's voice. "It fascinates me to hear this. Back in Starfleet Academy, before I was Joined, I did a paper in my junior year on T'Vral's theory and the necessary conditions for it."

"I'd like to think Doctor T'Vral would appreciate seeing her work confirmed," Cat said, recognizing that whatever the Dax part of her was, the host Jadzia was at least somewhat a fellow soul on the matter of science. Being an older woman she didn't have the same youthful enthusiasm - and that didn't count having a centuries-old being in her body, sharing a personality and memory - but Cat could see that being her in a decade or so.

The thought came roaring through her without warning. If I live that long. She saw her own death-dulled eyes again, in that slightly different uniform, in her chair on the broken Aurora bridge.

"Is everything okay?"

"Hrm?" Cat blinked and noticed the worried look on Dax's face. "What?"

"You went a little pale there," Dax said.

"Oh. I just… a thought. Just a thought." They sat down at a table where Tom and O'Brien were already present, talking about the damage that NEUROM's agents had done to the station. O'Brien recognized their presence with a quick "Commanders".

After responding with "Chief" and "Tom", Cat dug her fork and spoon into the jambalaya, curious about it. She'd had some spicy food before, and she'd heard good things about Sisko's cooking. Combined with Hargert, she imagined it would be great.

It was.

While she enjoyed eating it, Cat found herself looking over the assembled. Lucy was the only one not present, given her injuries still had her in the medbay, but everyone else, even Gina, was digging in. Her eyes tracked through the room to where Sisko and Kaveri were seated with Zack and General Martok. The latter stood out given the metal mug in his hand, but he seemed content to attempt the Human cuisine as well.

"So, what more can you tell me about the Fracture?" Dax asked.

That drew Cat's attention back. But even as she spoke on the subject, her mind kept wandering back to Kaveri.

Gina was mostly by herself at a corner table of the Lookout, and that suited her. With her portion of the meal finished she was still hard at work over a translation that now seemed hopeless. As much as she tried, she couldn't make sense of much of the message.

"Everything going well?" Robert sat down beside her. "Or do you want to be alone?"

Gina sensed the genuine warmth in Robert. It was annoying in that it was a distraction, but it was also something she couldn't help but appreciate. "I'm… well, I'm still occupied." Gina held up a paper she'd scribbled her translation attempts on. Robert took it and looked over the flowing Gersallian characters. "I've tried to transliterate into modern Gersallian and even your Latin alphabet, but nothing works."

Robert furled his brow. The first line made actual sense. "By my name the way to the truth will be open." But the rest was a random assortment of Gersallian characters. They didn't make sense. "Maybe it's a cipher," Robert suggested. "We should run it through some conventional Gersallian ciphering techniques."

"That's my next step."

"Good." Robert took her papers before Gina could stop him and set them in a chair. She looked at him like he was insane. He grinned. "Now, how about you go and get a second helping, because it's really good, and find some people to talk to? Personally I'm interested in asking Major Kira more about Bajoran spirituality."

Gina sighed. "We need to get this finished."

"We do," he agreed. "But we need to tend to ourselves first. I think Mastrash Ledosh would prefer it that way."

She almost protested that, but sensed Robert wouldn't yield. With a sigh she stood up, plates in hand, and followed Robert out of the corner.

They were an hour out from DS9 when Cat arrived on the bridge. Beta Shift's watches were standing now with Lieutenant Tinashe Takawira as the Officer of the Watch. He'd been moved from his usual position on Gamma Shift by Kaveri as one of her small changes to the running of the ship. He noted her presence with a nod. "Commander."

"Lieutenant. Just here to see the Captain."

"She's in the ready office," he replied, his accented English from his homeworld Nkomo, a Zimbabwean-founded colony.

"Thanks. And congratulations, I heard you're due for the promotion at the start of next month."

He smiled. "Thank you." The smile turned a little bitter. "Captain Andreys signed the recommendation to the Promotion Board. I wish she could be here to see it."

"So do I," Cat said. She missed Julia too. "I'm sure she'll be happy when she hears it."

There was nothing more to say on the subject so Cat approached the ready office door. She took in a breath to steady herself and hit the door chime. A part of her didn't want to do this, was worried the others would still find out…

...but she had to. For her own sake of mind, her own sanity, she needed to tell someone. Needed to have some advice.

"Come in," came from the other side, aided by the speaker system. The door slid open and Cat entered. Kaveri was at her desk, a digital reader in one hand and a cup of hot chai in the other. Cat stood at attention and Kaveri let her relax, replying with "At ease. Take a seat, Commander."

She did so. "I… I've thought about what you said, Captain." Cat settled her hands in her lap and used them to brush at the uniform skirt that went to her knees. She made herself look back up and focus on Kaveri. "It's true that I've let things go, and I'm going to fix that. I… I've had something that just... " She pursed her lips in thought. "Can I explain it to you? It's a lot to take in, and it's a little scary."

Kaveri set the digital reader down. "Go ahead," she said. "Given all I have survived, I can handle scary, Commander."

Cat nodded. "Okay." She felt one last counter-push, one last urge to break this off, but she forced it away. She was committed. She had to do this to keep Captain Varma's respect, and given how much Tra'dur respected her "Mother-Ka", she felt like she wanted it. "A little over a year ago, after the Canary Wharf incident in W8R4, I traveled with the being we encountered there, the Time Lord called the Doctor. For everyone else I was only gone for a few minutes, but for me it was almost a year."

"And something happened to you on this journey?"

Cat nodded. "You could say that..."