Chapter 6 – Collision Course

On Risa, Alexander was finishing up his impromptu vows to Tari, "And I promise to love you cherish you and be with you as long as I live"
They squeezed each other's hands and began grinning and blushing.
"Well? What are you waiting for?" Tari asked through here grin.
Alex moves forward to kiss her. The closer his head moved toward hers, the louder he could hear his father's words replaying in his ears. At one point, he could hear them clearly, although in a distinctly different voice.
"Alexander", the voice spoke, "Wherever you are, stop what you're doing. If you are with Tari, get away from her immediately! You are jeopardizing your own future."
This voice, however, was not coming form his own mind, but rather it was actually the voice of the leader of the Away Team calling for him, but they were too far from the cave and their words were muffled by the waves in the background and the echo in the caves, so Alexander thought they were just coming from his mind. However, that still convinced him to stop his proceedings.
"I can't do this it just doesn't seem right." Alexander said as he stepped back. "You have a precious gift, and it's something you should share with your husband."
"One day, I believe you will be my husband", Tari replied.
"Yes", Alexander continued, "so we should have faith and wait for that day".
Alexander walked outside of the cave, partly proud of himself, and partly disappointed that he didn't follow through with his own desire. He looked out into the sky and saw a two large ships heading towards them."What is that? Is that the Enterprise?"

Back on the Enterprise, Commander Data reported, "At this rate, we will collide with USS Chasity in 5 minutes"

:Picard:"How close are you to terminating the signal"

Data:"Still atleast two hours away, sir"

"We don't have that kind of time. This is Captain Picard to the Away team. Any sign of Alexander?"
:Away Team: "No sign of him yet sir."
:Obrien: "I've been able to analyze the last transport log of Alexander. He had a remote link device attached to him during his transport. It linked up to the ship by accident. Now the enterprise will follow him around."
:Laforge: "So, maybe the Enterprise will lead us to him."
:Obrien: "Hopefully. But here's the problem. The USS Chastity has sent me the transport data on graduate Tari, and she too came aboard her ship with a remote device. And her ship should be trying to follow her around. But instead, it's headed towards us."
Laforge: "This could mean that Alex and Tari are together, that's why our two ships are on a collision course."
:Picard: "We've got to find them and stop them, before they get too close for their own good."

Back on Risa, The love cave's lights begin to dim, and the sounds and smells began to damper. Tari joined Alexander as he stood outside the cave. She briefly enjoyed the breeze until she too noticed the two large ships slowly converging on their location.

:Tari: "What's going on? Is that my ship?"

Alexander replied, "I think so"

:Tari: "Are the coming for us?"

Alexander replied "I don't know"

Just then they heard a loud voice coming from one of the ships.
"Alexander!"
Alexander gasped at the sound

"Graduate Tari!" sounded the other ship

The two of them stood stunned and nervous.

"Separate immediately as far as you can! Now! That's an order!"
An away team leader on the ground spotted them and shouted, "Alexander, Tari, get away from each other and deactivate your wristbands. That's an order!" The two quickly walked away from each other and started deactivating their remote wristbands. Slowly the two ships began drifting apart. The two ships regained control and began rising back into orbit. The away teams from both ships met together with Tari and Alexander to make sure that everything was ok. After sometime, the away team leader grabbed Alexander,

"Come with me", demanded the Away Team leader.
"I'm sorry", Alexander whispered to Tari as they separated.
"No. Thank you." She quietly responded back, as she turned to follow her away team.

Alexander was in his quarter's making his nightly log report. "Starfleet Graduate's log, supplemental. I got a reprimand for disengaging my communications. The engineering team has successfully disengaged my remote link and we've returned them to their rightful owners. The captain explained to me that had Tari and I got any closer, the two ships would have collided, destroying everyone on board both ships. I only have one person to thank that this was avoided"
Alexander contacted his father, but was redirected to Worf's voicemail. "Hello, you've reached Worf. I'm sorry I'm not in right now, but if you leave your name after the beep, I'll be sure to return your message. -BEEP-"
Alexander started his message, "Hey Dad, it's me. I hope your assignment is going well. I'm done with my trip on Risa."
Alexander paused, filtering his thoughts of the day's events.
"I had fun..."
He paused again and then continued.
"I guess I wanted to say thanks for your talk earlier. You know, about waiting until marriage. It really saved my life and a lot of other lives as well. I'm sure you'll hear more about it. I'm glad that, even though I don't always want it, you're willing to steer me into the right direction. ...This first night-or rather this last night with my girlfriend has been like a ride on a hyper Ferris wheel, I'm was up, down, excited, and afraid all in one moment. But the only thing that was consistent, one thing I could count on, was your direction. Thanks Dad. ...By the way, I saw professor Noncents and he said that you owed him a- "
The computer interrupted, "-BEEP: TO replay your message say 'replay'. To re-record it say 're-record'. To exit.."
Alexander lets out a sigh.
The computer responded, "I'm sorry we did not understand that request. To replay your message say 'replay'. To re-record it say-"
Alexander then terminated the communication.