Part Four

A starship was a place of mysteries.

The most obvious mystery being the space whose exploration it played such a vital part of. However, there were little enigmas and conundrums that lurked in very corridor, which whispered in the narrow conduits that ran behind the walls. For instance, why was it that Jeffrey's tube 3 always took a little longer to get its occupants where they were going than all the other turbo lift tubes. Or why the EPS relay on Deck 13 resonated with a low hum that sounded very much like a Klingon folk song. And of course, the possibility that two people who had served on a starship together for months had until one defining moment in time never laid eyes upon each other.

This was such a moment for Nathan Jackson.

He had heard about Transporter Chief Rain in discussion, had seen her files, had even assigned junior staff members to run physicals on her from time to time, however, the opportunity to actually meet her face to face had not eventuated. This was hardly unusual of course, in a ship full of people and his being the Chief Medical Officer, who aside from ensuring everyone's health on the Maverick was perfect, was also required to be the leading authorities in researching the Borg assimilation process to find a medical cure. This did not leave much time for socializing and other than a few holodeck visits with the senior staff and the dinner he shared at the Captain's table on a weekly basis, Nathan was more or less buried in his work.

He knew there was no reason to push himself so hard but that was the nature of him. Shattering the Borg ability to immediately assimilate life forms was the best protection they had against the Collective, if only the Herculean task of deciphering how it was done and devising a preventative measure could be achieved. Nathan knew how many lives could be saved by the discovery and thus it was excellent motivation as well as justification to push himself so hard. However, he came to realize that he was spending entirely too much time on his own when he saw the Transporter Chief, whose full name was Rain Nal, Nal being the appellation of the symbiote inside her, enter his SickBay.

"So what can I do for you?" He asked politely, trying not to notice the amazing length of her hair that fell around her shoulders. She did not wear it up and Nathan could not deny that he thought it would have been a crime against men everywhere if she did. He reminded himself that he was a doctor and he should not be thinking like this when it was a necessity that he remained professional.

"I am not entirely sure Doctor Jackson," she remarked as she walked to the examination table he was guiding her to. Like Nathan, this was the first time that Rain had ever seen the doctor since every time he was required to make the journey off the ship, it was always someone else at the transporter controls. She was mildly surprised by how young he looked and found herself thinking that he had nice eyes that made everyone who looked into them, compelled to trust him. "I was on my way to my quarters and I had this attack. A sharp stabbing pain in my head. I've never felt anything like it before."

A frown of concern crossed her lovely features and Nathan found himself involuntarily thinking that it had no business being there. "Well let's take a look shall we?" He said showing none of the personal interest he was feeling the moment he put his hand on the medical tricorder and began his work. He took his patients' health too seriously to be anything but single minded when working.

There was an awkward pause for a few seconds as he made his examination of her and Rain found herself observing him and found that he was rather self conscious about her close eye. His coloring made it difficult to see his embarrassment but Rain had enough experience to sense it and she could not deny that she found it rather endearing really. Suddenly, she had a picture of him confined in a laboratory most of the time, working in solitude and she found herself thinking that it was a state of affairs that would not at all do.

"Do I make you nervous doctor?" She asked suddenly.

"Why do you ask that?" Nathan responded coolly, quite amazed by his ability to not come unglued by that statement because he was very nervous around her, very nervous indeed.

"I just get that impression." She looked at him with a smile of mischief.

"I think you're a pretty multi-faceted guy," Rain gave him a wink. "You'll handle it."

Nathan burst into a grin and Rain decided she liked his smile just as much as the rest of him and chose to give him a moment's peace as he continued his scans. He was utterly confident when inside this room, of this she had no doubt but could be a little on the shy side once he was forced to venture out of its protection. For Chief Medical Officer, he was young and Rain was certain it was because he was very good at what he did. In any case, she made a professional note to see Nathan Jackson again and this time it would not be a professional visit either.

"So?" She looked at him when he had stepped away and was staring at the tricorder in interest. "Am I okay?" She waited for him to answer expectantly, not liking the pause that was stretching into more than a few seconds as he deliberated the readings he was seeing on the small device.

"It looks like you've had some kind of neural surge." Nathan replied, not understanding how such a thing was possible but then with so many alien physiology there were, it was not entirely impossible either.

"How is that possible?" She exclaimed with genuine shock.

"I don't know." Nathan shook his head clearly disturbed himself. "I may have to consult my medical database and see if this is perhaps a condition that is specific to your Trill physiology

"I can tell you its not." Rain started most firmly. "Misa Nal, three hosts back was a doctor and she doesn't feel it is. Besides, when it happened. We all felt it. Not just me but the other past hosts and it was sudden. I was just talking to Commander Styles and it just hit me out of nowhere."

"Commander Styles was with you at the time?" Nathan asked automatically although his mind was more focused on the cause for the attack she had suffered.

"Yes she was." Rain recalled the incident and upon examining the encounter, wondered if there was not something a little odd about the entire situation. "It was funny," she mused, recounting to the doctor what had happened as she played it over in her mind. "We were talking and I mentioned that I thought people were behaving a little strangely."

"Behaving strangely?" Nathan looked at her sharply. He had been working in his lab for most of today and either than a visit from Josiah, he had not really been outside or met anyone else other than his own staff to be aware of abnormalities in the crew's behavior.

"The women mostly." Rain continued to explain, still unsure of that what she had seen were not her perceptions clouded by a bad day instead of something genuine. "It was like…." She hesitated, unable to explain a feeling even one as strong as this. "They were there but not."

"Well," Nathan did not wish to say this to her but he believed in being honest with his patients. "You did suffer something of an episode. Perhaps your view of things was only the initial symptom of the more physical attack." He pointed out.

"You mean that I was thinking that way because of what was wrong with me was preparing to manifest itself in that hell I went through in the turbo lift?" She looked at him; not so fragile that such a thing would offend her. The doctor that existed inside her was not about to discount the possibility even if Rain had trouble believing that it was all to do with her, although it was the second time today she was told that her suspicions were in her head.

"What do you think?" Nathan looked at her.

"I think that despite the fact that my gut instincts tell me that something is odd is going on around here," Rain said with a visible huff. "I have to at least consider the possibility that what you say might be possible."

"Good," Nathan offered her a smile. "Now that a side," he replied. "I would like to conduct a few more deeper scans and see if we can work out what happened to you in the turbo lift."

Still, despite her outward agreement that the episode in the lift might be due to some problem she was suffering personally, the gnawing feeling that more was at work still lingered in the back of her mind. How was it that she had collapsed inside the lift without Commander Styles lifting a finger to help her? She and Alex were almost friends even though as the third ranking officer, there was much that kept their worlds apart but not so much that Alex would just leave her there.

"Only on one condition," Rain replied, not about to admit that she was entirely wrong about her assertions just yet. "When we're done, you come out of here with me and take a look for yourself."

"I thought you said you were open to the possibility." He regarded her with a little smile, admitting secretly that he thought she had too much spirit to let it go so easily.

"I am," she stated with a hint of defiance in her voice as she spoke. "Just as long as you are open to the possibility that people are acting strangely."

"Okay," he nodded, conceding that much if it meant she would allow him to run his tests because he did want to know if there was something seriously wrong with her. Neural surges of the type she had were not common and if allowed to continue without treatment, damaging over long periods of time. "You got a deal."

"And perhaps if after all that investigation, we decide that perhaps we might stop at Four Corners for some dinner, it might be even be more worth the effort." She flashed him a radiant smile. One that he could not resist.

"You always this forward?" He looked at her.

"You always this shy?" Rain returned just as quickly.

"Touché." He cried defeat and decided that even if there was nothing going on beyond the walls of his sick bay, he would not mind having dinner with her.

To begin with.

"We have a problem." Alexandra Styles or the entity that possessed her body announced upon entering the inner sanctum of Julia Pemberton's workroom in the Engineering deck. The room was small and contained a workbench and an engineering terminal, which gave the master of the deck full access to all systems on the ship. Julia could be found in the confines of this small space whenever she was not out of the main floor of the Engineering Deck, supervising things and used this room whenever she needed a little bit of peace and quiet.

When Alex arrived, Julia and Mary were already waiting for her. It was late in the day and all three women had skillfully navigated the Maverick avoiding all the command officers other than themselves as they converged to decide upon their next course of action. By her reckoning the disbursement of all the many through the chosen of the Maverick was complete and all their number seemed to have found new hosts and were awaiting their instructions. The new inductees were ingrained in every part of the ship now, laying in wait for the moment when it was time to move against the hated ones.

Once the door closed behind Alex, sealing them inside the room and away from the listening ears of those who might pose some threat to their plans to the Maverick, could the conversation resume after Alex's startling announcement. She joined her sisters in the center of the room as they stood before each other, like the triumvirate that they were who had set into motion the instrument for their revenge. Like of stones circling a place of counsel in times past, they stood facing each other like soldiers taking instructions for the battle ahead.

The analogy was not all that preposterous.

"What sort of problem?" The Julia entity returned sharply. Her emerald colored eyes narrowed in calculation and suspicion. Among their number it was she who was guardian and protector, the one who saw suspicion everywhere and kept them one step ahead of the enemy. She was the thinker.

"I attempted to pass one of the many to the chosen and the transference was halted. I had not encountered this before. We are able to pass the many to numerous species, far more different that the one with whom I attempt to bond one us. Its is unprecedented." Alex answered immediately, aware that the Julia entity would broke no delay in the expectation of an explanation. Despite herself, she felt some concern about the incident. Information was what she craved. It was the reason she had selected the host that she had. In the past she had always gone first, to seek out information and gather intelligence in order to determine whether or not it was safe for other. Half a million years after the fact and it was still the same. She did not like that she had no answers, even for something unprecedented.

"It is." Julia agreed. "Explain why this might be so."

Once again, she did not expect to be kept waiting.

The gatherer considered the information stored in the memory of the host mind and searched for an answer. "I am uncertain of why this might be so but the species of the subject was Trill. As a race they are something of a curiosity. There are divided into two distinct species, host and symbiote. The symbiote, which is a larval life form, lives within the host. Their physiology is composed almost entirely of neural matter and this allows them to imprint upon themselves, the memory of all hosts previous inhabited. Therefore while the host might day, the essence of what they are remains alive in the symbiote, which is apparently very long lived. Perhaps the rejection was caused because of the numerous personalities already inhabiting the subject." Alex finally came to a conclusion. "In any case, we should take steps to neutralize her. She may notice what is happening to the others of her kind and may bring undue attention to us before we are ready for it"

The Julia entity nodded slowly in agreement with her recommendation. "We must attended to that matter before all else. However, we can delegate that task to our sisters on the ship."

"Yes," The Mary entity, the infiltrator of the group declared. It was always her task to keep watch upon the enemy, to learn its ways and exploit. In truth, the choice of host for her was also equally suitable since the host mind had much knowledge on the customs and traditions of the races that they were now forced to walk amongst.

"We are the three senior most female officers on board this vessel and we have not reported to our superiors in some time. You," Mary glanced at Alex. "Are meant to be studying our prison, the captain will expect a report of some kind from you and no doubt they will be wondering where we are. At some point we must face them."

"She is correct." Julia agreed begrudgingly, deciding the time had come to deal with that particular situation. It had been avoided long enough and the time was fast approaching when such evasion would not longer be possible. "We must make things ready for the trip home and we need to do it sooner rather than later so we must take appropriate measures to deal with the command staff of this vessel. From the memories I hold, I am in a perfect position to deal with the one who maintains security. He has feelings towards the host." She said the word 'feelings' as if it left a bitter taste in her mouth. After so many years of confinement, belief in the fact that such emotions may exist between two such different creatures was not something she could readily accept.

"I had forgotten what it was like to have such emotions," the Alex entity mused in something that was akin to regret and similar dislike. She could feel the warmth that the host felt for one of the hated and though she understood what it was like, she could not condone it. It was a folly that had destroyed too many. It was a fate she would spare the mind that shared this body with her.

"Do not dwell on them too much." Julia hissed. "Its what the enemy uses to make you bleed inside. It held us in chains for too long and allowed them to imprison us for an eon."

"I know," Alex said brushing away the conflict inside because there was no time for such reflection when there was so much to be done. "My vassal has her closest links to the officer of the con, unfortunately the usual methods will not apply with him." She stated firmly, shrugging the thoughts that had been in her mind a short time ago.

"Why is that?" The infiltrator inquired with curiosity.

"It appears that he is of a species that matures differently from the others on board. They are called Vulcan they are long lived as well but not to the same extent as the Trill. He is as measured by the inhabitants of his world, in the pre-adolescent stage of development. Although he has deep feelings for this host, we will not be able to distracting him using the usual methods of coercion. He does not have the sexual maturity to understand it and our attempt to use it will only provoke his suspicion." The entity using Alexandra Styles intellect responded, proving that it was quite capable of using all that knowledge against the Maverick as she was now displaying most spectacularly. "However," she turned to Mary. "I think it should be you that approaches him."

"Why me?" Mary countered. "I had believed my relationship with the Captain would make me more useful in that regard. He has deep feelings for my host, that makes him extremely susceptible to manipulation."

"That may be so but you are required for the Vulcan." Alex returned promptly. "Your vassal possesses minor psi-ability, barely passable by any standards but enough to effect him if necessary. He has very limited understanding of his own psi ability even though by nature the species tends to be highly telepathic. Your vassal has been teaching him how to build shields but even that is rudimentary. You should be able to interfere with him very easily."

"And that will leave you free to deal with the First Officer." Julia nodded in understanding of Alex's reasoning.

"He desires the vassal I inhabit," Alex responded with more than obvious dislike on her face at the possibility of having to indulge the hated one with her favors. "In fact, judging by the vassal's memories of him, he would desires any woman he lays his eyes upon which will make it exceedingly easy to neutralize him. Once we have the bridge crew, we should be able to take control of the ship easily."

"What about the captain?" Mary asked again. "He has authorization codes to lock us out of the ship. If we do not deal with him first, this situation may escalate."

"Do not trouble yourself." Julia said with a little smile. "The captain is being dealt with."