Ships Dance Across The Night Sky

by Huntingkiddo13

Joining Starfleet was not what Percy thought he'd do with his life. He definitely didn't expect to be stationed on the most talked about Califonia class ship in the fleet. On the Cerritos, Percy has to deal with problems on a daily basis, the biggest one though is his growing feelings for a fellow Ensign. But as they say, when in Rome do as the Romans do.

2. Job Fair

I am so sorry this took so long. I honestly expected to finish this sooner but life seemed to have other plans. I am also impressed by the response this has gotten so far, thank you all so much! On to the chapter

"Can you believe that the Captain is making me choose a department!"

Percy was in the lower hull of the ship moving crates to prepare for the day. He was joined by Beckett and her two friends, Rutherford and Tendi. Beckett had formally introduced them to him about a week ago on his second day. They were fairly nice, but there were some things that prevented him from connecting to them fully.

Rutherford was talkative and far smarter than Percy was. Once he had learned Percy had some minimal knowledge of ancient Greek architecture, he pestered him relentlessly until he knew everything he had to offer. Percy was comfortable with being surrounded by people smarter than him, but something about how enthusiastic he was for engineering struck a chord with him that brought up unpleasant memories.

Tendi was just as outgoing and smart as Rutherford was, causing her to ask a plethora of uncomfortable and personal questions Percy was uncomfortable answering. She stopped and apologized when he asked, but the experience had left him wary of her.

"Did you really think that the Captain would let you keep walking around in your all-grey cadet uniform?" Beckett shouted in response to Percy's outburst and pointed to his attire. "How did you get that uniform anyways? Cadet uniforms have a colored stripe at the top."

"I was wondering that too actually." Tendi added.

Percy sighed and put down the crate he was carrying.

"I couldn't decide, so they let me study for all the departments as long as I picked one when I started serving on a ship."

Tendi stopped what she was doing and turned to look at Percy.

"Wait, you studied all the departments? How did you graduate on time? Your grades must have been terrible, what was your class rank?"

Percy looked at the ground bashfully.

"Top of my class." He said quietly.

"Holy shit that was you?" Beckett yelled suddenly.

Percy looked further embarrassed.

"What's going on? Why are we yelling?" Rutherford asked, appearing from around a corner.

"I had friends who told me there was some sort of wiz-kid that was at the top of every class. We just found it was Percy here." Beckett answered incredulously.

"Calm down, it's not that big of a deal." Percy said in an attempt to placate Beckett.

He was regretting mentioning it at all. He knew it was abnormal, but he'd had enough people look to him like he was special to last several lifetimes.

"Dude, graduating top of your class is a big deal, but you did it for all the departments. How are you not more hyped about this."

"I don't want to talk about it ok. I know I brought it up but can we please just move on?" Percy said firmly.

"Ok we'll move on, but what are you going to do about picking a department?" Tendi said gently.

Percy sighed deeply and ran a hand through his hair. He was grateful for Tendi's willingness to comply with his wishes.

"I don't know really. The Captain set me up to work with all the heads today on the mission to find which one suited me best and told me to pick by the end of the day."

"Oh, your the person Billups mentioned would be coming in to help." Rutherford said happily. "Can't wait to see what you have to say."

"Same here, you'll be with me in the infirmary." Tendi added just as excitedly.

"Fun." Percy replied dryly.

Up until this point he had only interacted with the two together and alongside Beckett, but now he'd be working side by side with them individually for an undetermined amount of time.

"Ensign Jackson, please report to the bridge." His combadge said suddenly.

From across the room, Percy heard a similar message from Beckett's badge.

"Alright newbie, looks like your first trial run is with yours truly." Beckett walked over to him and attempted to sling an arm over his shoulder, only to fail due to his height.

"Hey, bud could you, like, bend down a little?" Beckett whispered.

Percy rolled his eyes and bent his knees slightly allowing Beckett to put her arm across his back.

"Let's go! We're going to rock this thing!"

Percy just smiled in agreement.

Beckett sat in her chair and picked at her fingernails.

When she was called to the bridge with Percy, she had been expecting something exciting prepared. Instead, she discovered all that they'd be doing was helping fix the filtration systems for an aquatic planet. It was a boring mission that required almost no involvement from any of the crew besides engineering.

She looked over to where Percy stood in the center of the room. He had been tasked by Ransom to navigate the ship through a small asteroid field and land it on the planet's surface. He was doing an incredible job, but something about the way he was doing it felt off.

First, he stood perfectly still with his arms behind his back. Beckett wouldn't claim she knew Percy super well, but in the time she had spent with him, he was never still. He was always tapping his fingers or bouncing his knee. He claimed it was ADHD, yet here he was like a statue. It felt wrong.

Second, was the way he gave his orders with cold precision. Gone was the warm and casual feel his words usually had, something that Beckett thoroughly enjoyed. She hated it.

The final thing that was bothering her was that when he looked at her, she swore that one of his eyes was a deep gray. She'd stare-looked at his eyes a lot, so she knew for a fact that they were a vibrant sea green.

All of these factors combined made her feel that the Percy she was looking at was a completely different person.

"Ensign Mariner, scan the planet's surface for an adequate landing site, one that disturbs the local flora the least." Percy said suddenly, his eyes locked on Beckett's form.

"Aye aye, Captain." Beckett responded seriously, her brain telling her now was not the time to be flippant.

Beckett tapped away at the screen in front of her, trying to find a place that matched Percy's request. As she worked, Beckett resisted the urge to shiver. Not once had Percy called her Mariner, it was always just Beckett. It showed how well they got along, something she was ecstatic about. Hearing her last name out of his mouth felt wrong.

"I found a site, two kilometers from where we agreed to meet the Oct-Pangia leaders. The impact on the environment is minimal." Beckett said after a minute, her words stiff and emotionless.

"Acceptable. Please inform the engineering team that I will be joining them shortly." Percy said to Beckett, his tone conveying his expectation for his order to be followed immediately.

Beckett sighed and was about to carry out her order when a brave Ensign spoke in protest.

"Sir, wouldn't it be more efficient to teleport the engineers to the planet's surface? Why should we waste the fuel to arrive by shuttle." The Ensign said with a shaky voice.

Percy turned his head quickly and his eyes locked on to the Ensign's face instantly.

"While it would be more efficient, the Oct-Pangia is a very territorial species. Starfleet's first interaction with them was disastrous and almost resulted in the death of the crew. The relationship we have with them is tentative at best." The temperature of the room seemed to drop. "Given that fact it would do us no good to appear on their planet without warning. If we arrive by shuttle it will give them time to prepare for our arrival and reduce the chances of them attacking us on sight."

"Don't they know we're coming?" Beckett asked loudly, trying to take some heat off the poor Ensign that questioned Percy. "They were the ones to send out a call for assistance."

"Yes, they did ask for our assistance, but the request was sent over a week ago. They could have easily changed their mind in that time and forgotten to inform us. Or it just as easily could be a trap. If we land on the planet's surface and approach them, they can deal with us on their term." He replied without looking at Beckett. "Now, if everything is clear, I will be joining the engineering team."

Percy walked out of the room without another word.

"What the fuck was that!" Beckett exclaimed once Percy was gone.

"I have no clue, that was scary." Ransom said in response. "But you have to admit he was effective."

"Yeah he was effective, but he was uptight and an asshole about it. Even my mom makes a joke sometimes, I didn't even see him crack a smile."

Beckett looked back down at the screen in front of her, trying to figure out what was going on with her friend.

"You've exercised with him a few times, what was he like during your workouts?" Beckett asked directly, forgetting other people were in the room.

"My relationship with Ensign Jackson is none of your concern." Ransom snapped before his expression softened slightly. "But I have noticed that when we're lifting, he's aggressive but knowledgable about form and technique. During spars, however, he's calculating, light on his feet, and seems unhappy to be in my presence. I think he called me 'male scum' once, but I can't be sure." Ransom cleared his throat and straightened his back. "I only divulged that information as it was relevant to the topic of Ensign Jackson's health. Now get back to work,"

Beckett gave a lazy nod of understanding and went back to work, though her thoughts were on Percy the entire time. He was gentle, caring, and heavy-footed. He was friendly with Ransom and looked forward to working out with him. He wasn't the muscle head and agile fighter described.

Beckett buried her face in her hands and groaned. Her friend had shown three distinct conflicting personalities and she wanted to know why.

"Beckett! Stop slacking and get back to work." Ransom shouted.

Beckett sighed and aimlessly tapped the screen before her.

She'd get to the bottom of whatever was going on with her friend.

Rutherford was ecstatic.

He finally had the opportunity to work on filtration systems for an aquatic planet. Sure he had worked on water filtration systems before but never had he worked ones the size or complexity of the filters used by the Oct-Pangi. He was excited to see how the system handled such large quantities of water. He couldn't wait to get lost in the complexity of the machine.

Another thing he was excited about was the opportunity to work with Percy. He'd seen some of Percy's projects that he'd done for the academy and was blown away. Some of the techniques used were foreign to Rutherford, something that only enhanced his excitement.

Checking over his equipment one last time, Rutherford made his way onto the shuttle the engineers were taking to the plant's surface and took a seat across from Percy.

"Are you ready to experience a mission with the best department Percy?" Rutherford asked excitedly, the fellow ensign's name feeling strange on his lips.

He'd been taught to refer to fellow crew members by their surname, so when Percy requested he be called by his first name, it took him some time to adjust.

"I guess." Percy said with a slight chuckle. "Engineering was one of the more fun subjects back at the academy, so it should be interesting to work with you guys."

Rutherford smiled widely.

"Awesome! What kind of piping do you think we'll use?" He asked happily, pulling up his tablet to show what he was talking about."Standard piping is a lot easier to work with, but using piping with rifling-"

Percy held put his hand up and caught Rutherford off.

"Slow down a bit bud, I'm not in the right mindset to talk machine with you at the moment." Percy said calmly. "Once we actually start working on stuff, I'd be more than happy to talk with you."

Rutherford nodded and looked down at his tablet, a smile still on his face.

He understood Percy's reluctance to talk engineering, his crewmates were the same. Rutherford was just happy that he agreed to talk to him later, a courtesy his fellow Ensigns often denied him.

The flight to the planet's surface was quick and unloading the equipment went by fairly fast. Soon the group of engineers were making their way toward the meeting point.

Walking to where they needed to be was usually Rutherford's least favorite part of missions. It was boring and he was able to work on anything. However, he found himself thoroughly enjoying the walk this time around due to Percy's presence. The entire time they were moving Percy provided facts about the local flora and fauna, getting especially excited whenever the wildlife was aquatic in nature. He seemed to have infinite knowledge on the matter, something Rutherford greatly appreciated.

Eventually, they came to an area along the coast where the group of Oct-Pangia leaders was waiting. They were fairly tall and humanoid bodies, the most startling thing about them though was their heads, which looked like the underside of an octopus with tentacles wrapping around the back of their heads. They had small beady eyes and a beak where their mouth would be

"Hello, we are with Starfleet and here regarding your call for help." Billups said, stepping forward. "What exactly seems to be the problem?"

"Starfish, water spike no go." One of the Oct-Pangia chittered in broken english, making it almost impossible to understand.

Rutherford frowned. The Oct-Pangia were relatively new to the Federation, as such, had not had their language programmed into the universal translators yet. In addition, their lack of real mouths made it hard to communicate.

"Uh, what?" Billups said in confusion. "Could you repeat that?"

Rutherford saw the tentacles on the Oct-Pangia start writhing, seeming to indicate their frustration, but before they had a chance to reply to Billups's question, Percy stepped forward.

"Sir can I have the chance to try and talk to them, I believe I'll be able to avoid a confrontation from happening." Percy asked quietly.

Billups looked at him for a second before nodding.

Rutherford watched curiously as Percy walked up to the Oct-Pangi leaders and started talking with them, his voice coming out in the form of mixed clicks and unknown words.

Almost immediately the Oct-Pangi calmed down and spoke back with enthusiasm, gesturing toward the water wildly. Percy nodded along as they spoke before exchanging a few more words with them and walking back over to the group.

Rutherford was stunned. He knew Percy was smart, his grades at the academy reelected that, but this was something else.

"Percy, how did you do that!" Rutherford asked excitedly as soon as Percy was next to him. "How were you able to talk to them? Is there a pattern in the clicks that only you have discovered or frequency you recognize?"

Percy blinked once slowly and stared at him with wide eyes.

"What frequ- no, no." Percy said with a slight shake of his head after a moment. "I'm fluent in their language, I'm fluent in all aquatic species' language, you guys know this, it's in my file."

Rutherford and the rest of the engineers stared at him. After a few seconds of silence, Billups cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention.

"No, it's not in your file" He said, slightly flustered before regaining his composure. "We can worry about it later. What did the leaders say?"

A look of frustration passed across Percy's face and he cursed under his breath in what Rutherford's internal translator identified as Ancient Greek.

"They said that the filters that need to be repaired are over there." He pointed to a spot further down the coast. "And are completely submerged."

Rutherford grimaced. Working with filtration systems was easy, but being underwater made things difficult. Glancing over to Billups, Rutherford saw that he shared his thoughts.

"Ok, we'll head over there and see what we can do." Billups said hesitantly. "Did they give any specific details about what needed to be fixed?

"No, they just said, and I'm quoting them here, 'Water no good, fix'." Percy said with a grin. "Even in their own language, they're not the most articulated."

"No, they are not." Billups said with a sigh before turning to address the rest of the engineers. "Here's what we're going to do. First, we're moving all our gear to the point Ensign Jackson indicated." He paused briefly to let the group collectively groan. " Second, once we get there, the engineers capable of working underwater will do the repairs, and the rest will be support. Is that clear?"

The engineers voiced their understanding before going to prepare the gear for transport. Rutherford was about to join them when he was stopped by Billups.

"Rutherford, can I trust you to take the lead on this? You're one of my best guys and your implant should be helpful down there." Billups asked seriously.

"Of course! You can count on me!" Rutherford replied happily.

He knew he was good, but hearing he was one of the best made him feel good.

"Perfect, you'll be working with Ensign Jackson. He finished top of his class with an emphasis on underwater repairs, so he should be helpful."

Rutherford smiled, he knew Percy was top of his class, but specializing in underwater repairs was rare due to the perceived difficulty. He couldn't wait to start working.

"At least they have something in my file." Percy said with a scoff. "Why do these guys even need a water filter, aren't they like meant to live in the water?"

Rutherford perked up, it was something he was wondering too, he just didn't feel the need to ask.

"Apparently they have horrid natural immune systems, so bad that they could only live in a few lakes around the planet." Billups said with a shrug. "Eventually overpopulation set in and they started killing each other. The filtration systems we put in allow them to live in areas they couldn't previously. Now enough daddling, we gotta catch up with the rest of the group.

Finding the broken filters was easy, the tall metal towers were visible from a decent distance. Setting up was quick and soon Rutherford found himself geared up in a diving suit along with Percy and a handful of other engineers.

"Alright, before we start, does anyone have any questions?" Rutherford asked the group.

He knew they'd be able to communicate via comms, but he knew he'd get so engrossed in his work that he would be unlikely to answer.

"I got one." Percy said loudly. "Can I stay behind for a moment when you guys go in? I got this little ritual thing I do before I work on any project."

Rutherford saw no reason to say no, he had hundreds of small things he did throughout the day.

"I don't see what not, just be quick." He replied, earning a nod and smile from Percy. "If no one else has any questions, let's go."

Rutherford guided the small group of engineers, save for Percy, into the water and over to the large filter systems. It was dark enough that the group needed to turn on their helmet lights, but soon enough the group was at work.

It only took Rutherford a minute or so to figure out what was wrong. The water intake was covered in small particles that blocked the vent, reducing how fast the system could work. Additionally, the filter was overheating due to the strain the blocked vent was putting on the system. It was an easy fix overall, just requiring him to clean the vent and find a way to keep debris off it. Rutherford got to work and tuned the rest of the world out.

A few minutes passed before Rutherford felt someone tapping on his shoulder. He wanted to ignore it, but he figured he'd be able to get back to work faster if he didn't. Turning around Rutherford was met by the form of Percy in a scuba suit, his face expressionless.

"Where do you want me?" Percy asked plainly, his voice noticeably gruffer than usual.

"Oh, just find the nearest filter without anybody working on it." Rutherford replied happily.

Percy simply nodded and swam off faster than Rutherford had ever seen. He ignored the oddity and went back to work.

Rutherford finished fixing his filter quickly and took the opportunity to check on the other engineers. He was happy with the work the others were doing and swam over to check on Percy, only to freeze in shock when he saw the state of his filter.

Pieces of pipes and metal were scattered everywhere, yet somehow stationary in the water, and in the middle of the mess was Percy quietly working on the filter. He was mumbling to himself and would occasionally rip something out of the machine, and look at it for a moment, before throwing it with the rest of the scarped pieces.

"P-Percy! What are you doing!" Rutherford exclaimed over the comms as he swam closer to Percy, the water around him getting warmer the closer he got.

Percy didn't look up from what he was doing and simply waved Rutherford off.

"This thing's structure is subpar, I'm fixing it. Go away."

"What do you mean subpar? It was made by Starfleet's best engineers!" Rutherford replied angrily, the water around him becoming uncomfortably warm.

"It's shotty work. The wiring is a mess and the piping is wrong." Percy said gruffly. "I'm almost done fixing it."

Rutherford tried to get closer to Percy to try and stop him from ripping apart the filter anymore, but the temperature became unbearable hot, forcing him to swim back.

He watched helplessly as Percy continued to fiddle with the machinery before he saw him put something in and move back. He braced for impact, waiting for the filter to blow up due to a series of failures, but the blast never came.

Opening his eyes, Rutherford saw Percy messing with the control panel, the water no longer hot. Swimming closer he saw Percy was checking the diagnostic. He peeked at the screen to see how badly the filter was messed up only to recoil in shock.

"One hundred and fifteen percent efficiency? One hundred and fifty percent structural integrity?" Rutherford shouted into the comms, causing the other engineers to recoil. "What did you do to this thing? These numbers shouldn't be possible."

Percy grunted.

"I reconfigured the pipes so they'd flow next to the areas that got the hottest to cool them down." Percy replied, his voice void of any emotion. "The particles that were getting stuck in the vent are also sucked up and used as a fuel source."

"Why though? They should just clog everything up." Rutherford replied, confusion lacing his voice.

"When they burn they release energy similar to a warp core, just on a much smaller level." Percy said before a look of frustration crossed his face. "Now if you're done asking dumb questions, I'd like to fix the other filters now."

"Don't let me stop you, this is incredible." Rutherford responded excitedly.

He was impressed. He was expecting great things from Percy, but this blew Rutherford's expectations out of the water.

"This is still mediocre work." Percy said with a scoff. "If I had the proper tools I could do much better, but this will work for now."

Percy tried to swim off, but Rutherford stopped him again.

"Wait, let me help you!" He exclaimed.

Rutherford had to see what Percy had done to get the filters functioning beyond their limits while still remaining stable. He could already imagine the improvements he could make to the Cerritos.

"You'll get in my way." Percy said as if were a fact.

"Then at least let me watch." Rutherford asked desperately, refusing to miss the chance to see a master at work. "I'll be silent, I promise."

Percy stared at him for a moment before bringing his hand to his helmet and a way reminiscent of pinching his nose.

"Fine, just don't say anything." Percy said sounding frustrated, before swimming off.

Rutherford followed after him eagerly.

He couldn't wait to learn

Tendi was having a very confusing shift.

When Percy had come into the sick bay to start his time shadowing, he immediately made Tendi wonder if he was actually some sort of shapeshifter and if the real Percy was tied up somewhere else. He was overly optimistic and flirty, and when he looked at Tendi, he seemed to have one bright blue eye.

Tendi wouldn't say she knew Percy very well, she'd only interacted with him a few times since Mariner introduced him, but she knew he wasn't the playboy with heterochromia that was currently prancing around the med bay.

Even more confusing for her was how much his attitude shifted when it came to working on patients. While he was still dropping cheesy pick uplines left and right, he was caring for the injured crew members with a practiced ease Tendi had only seen in professionals with decades of experience.

The whole situation felt off to her like there was something more going on, but she knew it wasn't any of her business. There were only a handful of prodigies in Starfleet and she wasn't going to mess up the chance to work with one by asking stupid questions.

Tendi shook her head and focused on the patient in front of her. It would do her no good to mess up someone's treatment because she was distracted by errant thoughts.

"Hey beautiful, what's got you so stressed?" The smooth voice of Percy said from behind her.

Tendi groaned. He was a genius, but god was he annoying to deal with.

"Nothing Percy, I'm just trying to help this patient so he doesn't die." Tendi replied shortly.

"Wait! I'm going to die?!" The panicked patient said. "I have so much left to see! Like Orion boobs or Andorian boobs!"

Tendi looked down at the man in disgust.

"You know what, take this patient for me, he's making me stressed." Tendi said to Percy, stepping away from the bed as fast as possible.

"Gladly gorgeous." Percy replied with a wink as he took her place and started operating on the perverted man.

Tendi sighed and walked to one of the wall computers to check and update patient files.

"Do not station with Andorians." Tendi mumbled under her breath as she input info into her previous patient's record.

"Tendi!" A scratchy voice shouted from the other side of the room. "Get over here now!"

Tendi finished what she was working on quickly and walked to where Dr. T'ana was working on a screaming man with a knarled-looking stump in the place of his hand.

"I need you to help me, this fucking idiot stuck his hand into the replicator for some stupid bet." The doctor said as soon as she arrived. "Shut him up while I fit on a prosthetic."

"Aye aye Doctor." Tendi said with a salute before turning her attention to the distressed man. "Hey bud, it's going to be fine, we'll get you fixed up in no time."

"But I don't want a prosthetic! That was my favorite hand! How am I supposed to hand model with only one real hand." The man wailed desperately. "They only put full sets on the cover of 'Hands Monthly'."

"I'm sure they'll make an exception for you." Tendi lied with a smile. "You have a very nice hand."

The man stopped crying and looked at Tendi with wide eyes.

"You mean it?"

"Of course, I do, why would I lie to you?" Tendi said softly.

"Thanks that me-AHHHHHHHH!"

The man was cut off by Doctor T'ana grabbing his arm and shoving a bulking prosthetic onto the man's stump.

"There ya go! Good as new." The Doctor said with a smile.

The patient passed out from the pain.

Tendi shook her head. She loved working with the Doctor, but sometimes she felt her tactics were a bit extreme.

"Huh, what a loser." Doctor T'ana said with a snort. "Anyways, Ensign take care of him."

"Yes, Ma'am. Can I ask a quick question?" Tendi asked slightly nervously.

The Doctor sighed.

"Be quick Ensign."

"What do you think of Ensign Jackson?" Tendi said quickly.

"I think he's good at what he does. His attitude could use a little adjustment, but he is very competent and would be a great addition to the med bay." The Doctor said plainly. "Why do you care?"

"I was just curious, that's all." Tendi responded unconvincingly.

Doctor T'ana gave her a look that told Tendi her lie had failed.

"Whatever, I don't care. Now I have-"

The Doctor was cut off by the med bay door opening and two female crew members stumbling in. One of the women was babbling nonsensically and was leaning on the other.

Immediately Tendi rushed over to help support the babbling woman and guide her over to a bed.

"What happened here!" She asked the woman supporting the other.

"I don't know!" She exclaimed frantically. "We-we just doing thing ritual that was supposed to be a fast track to enlightenment when she started saying nonsense!"

"You idiots!" Doctor yelled suddenly, appearing next to Tendi to help her move the now screaming woman onto a bed. "You can't fast-track that! It takes years to prepare the mind for enlightenment!"

"We didn't know!" The sane woman yelled, tears running down her face.

"Of course, you didn't! If you did this wouldn't be happening right now!"

While the Doctor and woman were arguing, Tendi was trying and failing to secure the raving woman to the bed.

"Stop moving so much!" She said through gritted teeth when the smell of grapes filled her nose.

"Here let me help." Percy said as he came up next to her and grabbed the other arm of the thrashing woman.

With the extra help, Tendi was able to secure the woman and start running diagnostics.

"What's wrong with her?" Percy asked, his voice calm and level.

"She's suffering from an overload of knowledge, her brain is physically unable to comprehend what she has learned." Tendi replied after a moment.

"Is there anything we can do?" Percy asked.

Tendi shook her head and looked up at Percy, briefly noticing his previously blue eye was now a deep purple.

"No, cases like these either end up with the person just learning to live with their new knowledge or going into a coma." Tendi replied sadly.

Percy's eyebrows furrowed before he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Tendi watched as he jerked back and forth as if he were arguing with someone for several moments before he opened his eyes and looked at her seriously.

"Let me try something."

He put his hands on the sides of the woman's face, causing her to stop moving and stare directly at him with hazy eyes

"Tendi what is her name?" He asked without looking at her, his eyes seeing to glow.

"Uh, it's Janet." Tendi replied, her expression conveying her confusion.

"Thank you." Percy said quickly before speaking to the woman. "Janet you are on the Cerritos, I am Percy and I'm here to help, do you understand?"

Janet nodded slightly.

"Good, now I am going to count down from ten, I want you to count with me. Do you understand?" Percy said firmly.

Janey nodded again, this time more surely.

"Ok count with me. Ten, nine…."

For the first few numbers Janet barely responded, but by the time Percy got to zero, she was counting along with him.

"Janet, how do you feel?" Percy asked, his voice much gentler now.

"I-I feel fine, t-thank you." The woman replied quietly.

"Good." Percy said before letting go of Janet's head. "Rest up."

Tendi was in shock. She watched someone take care of a situation every medical text considered a lost cause by counting backward. She didn't know what to say.

"How did you do that?" Tendi asked Percy. "Everything I've read or seen said there's no way to help someone having a cosmic realization."

Percy looked at her and had the audacity to shrug.

"I just grounded her in reality. I told her who I was and where she was." He replied lamely. "I counted backward to help calm her down."

"You're telling me all it takes is counting?"

"And a bit of luck, it won't always work." Percy said while checking his nails. "Now if we're done here, I need to go report to the Captain and find a way to get a glass of wine, that synthehol shit doesn't cut in."

Before Tendi had the chance to say anything else, Percy walked away from the bed and out the door.

"Wow, what a douche, I think I preferred him when he was trying to get into my pants." Doctor T'ans said suddenly.

All Tendi could do was nod in agreement.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CHOSE TO BE A SCIENCE OFFICER?." Becket yelled from her spot in the booth, drawing the attention of everyone in the cantina.

Percy had just come back from his meeting with Captain about his job position and delivered, in Beckett's correct opinion, awful news.

"Can you not yell please." Percy asked tiredly as he tried hiding under his arms. "It's not that big of a deal."

"Are you kidding me?" Beckett responded savagely. "You willing chose to be a science officer, one for aquatics no less. I mean can you get more boring than that?"

"I'm a science officer too you know." Tendi said quietly with a pout.

"Yeah, but you're like a cool one. You save people. This dork on the other hand." Beckett gestured toward Percy. "Is going to study rocks a shit."

"Why'd you choose science ops?" Rutherford asked. "Nothing against it, but you were incredible at engineering."

"Yeah, same with medicine." Tendi added.

"What possessed you to make such a lame decision?" Beckett asked out of genuine curiosity.

"Because I love the water ok!" Percy exclaimed defensively. "I love everything about it and I want to work in a field that lets me interact with it as much as possible."

Beckett was surprised, she didn't know Percy was so passionate about anything. It was kinda cute.

"Oh, that makes sense. I'm the exact same way with medicine." Tendi said reassuringly.

"Same for engineering." Rutherford added, a large smile on his face. "I'm glad you picked something you love, that being said I would not say no to you stopping by to help every once in a while."

"Thanks, guys." Percy said with a grin before standing up. "Hope you guys don't mind, but I'm going to turn in early, it's been a long day."

"No problem dude, go to bed. You need as much rest as possible if you're going to be studying that algae." Beckett replied with a smug smile.

She respected and understood his reasons for choosing the job he did, but that doesn't mean she wouldn't give him shit for every opportunity she got.

Percy rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Whatever Beckett, goodnight." Percy said before walking off.

"Night nerd." Beckett yelled at his retreating form.

As soon as she saw Percy leave the cantina she turned around to face Tendi and Rutherford.

"Alright now that he's gone did you guys notice anything weird with him today?"

"Oh my god yes." Tendi replied immediately. "He was acting super weird in the sick bay. At first, he was weirdly flirty, then he just got kinda douchey."

Beckett's eyebrows furrowed, that wasn't right.

"What are you talking about?" Rutherford said. "Sure he was a bit critical of Starfleet's engineers, but I would hardly call him douchey."

"No, Tendi's right. He was kinda a dick on the bridge, but I have no idea where she got flirty from." Beckett added with a chuckle. "I mean I don't think I've seen him talk to anybody with intentions other than doing his job."

Beckett was getting concerned now. Her interactions with Percy during her shift were already contradictory to how he usually was, and now her friends were telling her he was acting contradictory to her contradiction. It was giving her a headache. She was about to drop the subject all together when another detail of the day came to her mind.

"Hey, did either of you notice anything odd about his eyes?"

Tendi perked up immediately.

"Yeah, I was wondering about that. Has he always had heterochromia?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean like when he was acting all flirty one of his eyes was blue, but when he was being kinda a dick, it was purple." Tendi said. "Oh, and when his eye was purple, the room smelled like grapes for some reason. Why?"

Beckett massaged her temples.

"I thought I was going crazy, but I swear when he was on the bridge, one of his eyes was grey." Beckett replied tiredly.

"Oh that's weird, what do you think is going on?" Rutherford asked.

"I have no clue, but whatever it is, I don't have the energy for tonight. I'm going to bed, goodnight" Beckett said as she followed Percy's example and started walking out of the cantina.

"Night Mariner, sleep well." Tendi yelled after her.

"Goodnight." Rutherford added.

Beckett simply threw up a peace sign in response.

She was even more confused now about what was going on with Percy and she wanted to know why she cared so much.

Percy opened his eyes to find himself seated in the middle of a wooden cabin.

Sunlight filtered through the windows, giving the place a soft and comforting glow. Looking down, Percy saw he was dressed in a faded flannel and a pair of worn jeans. In his hands were a small blade and a half-finished carving. The whole place smelled of freshly baked bread.

"No, no, no." Percy mumbled under his breath as his pulse started to increase. "You guys were supposed to block this memory!"

"Like we've told you in the past, we can't do it one hundred percent of the time, it'll slip through sometimes." A stern feminine voice said from nowhere.

"I don't care! I don't want to be here!" Percy yelled, his breathing becoming erratic.

"Percy calm down!" A strong male voice said. "This is just a dream."

"I'm trying dad." Percy said desperately, his voice full of tears. "You know it's not that easy."

"I know but you need to try." The voice of Posideon replied. "Breath in-"

"Percy? Are you coming or are you going to make me do all the work?" A feminine voice said, cutting Posideon off.

Percy looked up to see a beautiful woman. She had short black hair and pointed ears. Her eyes were a deep brown and she had the faintest hint of a smile.

"What are you doing just sitting there?" She asked gently. "The food is ready."

Percy started sobbing.