Her senses struggled to adjust to the transport, and she felt the coiled focus of Lieutenant Tran and the tense determination of another person before her vision could discern the tall, alert Andorian peering at her over his raised phaser. He stood protectively between her and the transporter officer who was focused intently on the console. As the golden veil of the transport faded, the transporter officer said something to Tran which Juliette couldn't quite hear, and Tran relaxed.

"Welcome back to civilization, Lieutenant Commander," he said as he holstered his phaser, his pale eyes and deep blue antenna focused on her. "It's alright; we weren't sure you were coming back alone. No need to be alarmed."

She stepped off the transporter pad and immediately turned to the turbo lift. "I'm not alarmed. I'm fine."

"Then why are you shaking?" His eyes cut to her hands.

Juliette looked down at her trembling hands, her fingers twitching.

"It's just adrenaline. Where are my gloves?"

Tran held out a pair of dark blue gloves. Neither the climate nor Uwda society permitted them.

I am master of my mind and body, she thought as she slid the long gloves halfway to her elbow. The trembling in her hands subsided.

"I don't think I've ever seen you without them," Tran said.

"They prevent inadvertent contact."

Tran's antenna slightly dipped as Juliette felt him distracted by his confusion, but only for a moment before he refocused. "You're to report to sickbay. Commander Syvok's orders."

Juliette sighed and asked with a sullen look, "Couldn't you just beam me back down to the Uwda?"

"Dr. Fenna isn't that bad," Tran said lightheartedly as they proceeded to the turbo lift.

She felt a surge of anger and dread. "She isn't? Then why does my staff wait until she's off watch to report to sickbay?"

Tran's thick eyebrows knit in thought, "Mine too." He shrugged. "Honestly, so do I. Okay, you're right. She is that bad."

As they walked, Juliette asked, "Lieutenant, why did the captain know my family is trying to contact me?"

"They set up a priority one channel -"

"Priority one?" Juliette asked with alarm, "Why wasn't I told?"

Tran chuckled. "Because there was no emergency. Your sister thought her messages were not getting to you, so she used the priority one channel to make sure someone responded."

"What?" she asked as her worry dissolve into anger as Tran continued to chuckle. "It's not funny, or do you want all two thousand families sending false emergency messages just because they feel ignored?"

Tran hid his smile, but his antenna maintained an amused position. "Of course not, Lieutenant Commander."

ooOOoo

Dr. Fenna snapped her medical tricorder shut with an irritating snap with enough force to cause her ornamental earring to bounce wildly.

"The good news…" She let her words trail off as she opened her tricorder again, looking concerned at the readout. Juliette followed the deep lines along the Bajoran's eyes and neck with her gaze and grudgingly reminded herself that elders were to be respected.

"The good news is…" Juliette prompted.

She snapped the tricorder shut again. "It isn't lupus."

It was a test of will not to roll her eyes. "It never is. May I go now? It's very important I report what happened with the Uwda."

"Have you forgotten your com badge and tricorder were set into a passive mode to record your oh-so-very stimulating conversation with the governor as he made a play for those ears of yours? I told you that dying your hair was going to get you treated like some-"

Juliette recalled. "Oh, that's right, So the captain is-"

"-sitting down with Commander Syvok right now and pouring over every bit of data. It beats having to suffer through that squeaky voice of yours. The good captain will have his metrics, and you will be measured, like it or not. So sit! Besides, you have a large contusion on your leg."

Juliette frowned, having barely noticed the angry red bruise on her thigh. She prodded at it and winced slightly. "I must have run into something while trying to get out of sight."

"Brave and graceful," Dr. Fenna said dryly as she ran a dermal regenerator over the area. The angry tangle of purple faded to a less tender green. Dr. Fenna snatched Juliette's arm firmly to stop her descent off the bio-bed. "Hold on, I need to get you out of your Uwda get up and back to your plain self."

Juliette shook her head. "Leave it, I'll be going back down."

Dr. Fenna narrowed her eyes at her. "Haven't you had enough of a planet of primitive yahoos and testing the limits of the Prime Directive?"

She bit back a retort about finding plenty of primitive yahoos on Bajor. "There's another species down there. One that's telepathically aware."

"So?"

"So," she said in a patient tone, "This is a species on a planet that we've been studying for quite some time – a species that is advanced enough to have planet-wide information networks - and yet this second species doesn't appear at all in their entertainment videos or in their newsprint or their history. It's- It's a sentient species the supposedly dominant species of the planet knows nothing about."

Dr. Fenna's earring jingled slightly as she shook her head. "Even if there is, we should just record their presence and leave it at that. You reported yourself that you think they might be too self-absorbed and incurious about the galaxy to even develop space flight, let alone warp drives."

"But perhaps we shouldn't just look at the Prime Directive regarding warp drive, and take other factors into consideration – things like medical technology –"

Dr. Fenna waved her off with a snort. "I've seen their medical technology. The cardassians had instruments of torture with more therapeutic value."

"—or psionic talent."

"So, you want to have first contact with every species that tickles your cerebellum?"

"Telepathic ability is located in the—"

"I know where it's located, you black-eyed know it all," Fenna snapped. "Speaking of such, I want to check your psiloynine levels." She consulted the tricorder again after making some adjustments. "You did have uninvited psionic contact after all." She brought the probe around Juliette's head muttering, "I hope they bought you dinner first."

Juliette maintained a deadpan stare. "My levels are always elevated. The Uwda are a rather self-absorbed people, which are not as much of a strain…"

Dr. Fenna snapped the tricorder shut again, her voice taking a hurried, authoritative tone "Need I remind you who is the doctor here? Oh, that would be me, in the white uniform. See, you are the science officer, who babbles about phase-."

"Might I remind the doctor that I too am a doctor and that psionic sciences –"

Dr. Fenna gave her voice a spooky quality, "You bend spoons with your mind."

"That's telekinesis. I'm primarily telepathic."

"An out of control telepath."

"Are we done now?" she asked, her voice taking on an andorian chill. She clenched her jaw slightly and sensed Dr. Fenna's satisfaction that she'd broken Juliette's emotionless veneer.

Dr. Fenna snapped the tricorder shut in triumph, her bony fingers tight around the case. "Yes, now we're done. The captain wants all senior staff at the briefing. Don't be late."

Juliette brooded quietly all the way to the staff meeting and quietly took her seat. Captain Tilmana sat at the head of the table, the benzite's exoskeleton nearly as blue as her uniform. Commander Syvok was on his right. Lieutenant Tran was early, busy with reports on his PADD. Only Chief Engineer Bridgeway flashed her an easy grin she quietly took her seat.

"It seems Lieutenant Commander, " Captain Tilmana said, pausing to inhale from his breather, "that the presence you sensed turned out to be something after all. Top marks. I expect your full report by the end of your watch."

Juliette smiled faintly. "Thank you, sir. I'd like to propose that we request from Starfleet command to extend our survey mission so that we can learn more about this other species."

Syvok said, "We already have orders to proceed to Defera, lieutenant commander. Another survey team will be able to pick up where you left off."

"Sir, it could be months before a qualified team could be put together when the Oppenheimer is fortunately suited to the task."

Syvok and Tilmana exchanged a look. "Explain."

"This other species seems to be able to cloak itself from non-telepathic species. Another survey team might miss them just as the first did."

"They can use the readings we got from your tricorder to calibrate their own," Syvok said with finality. "How were you able to detect these creatures? It is unusual that you were able to detect this entity while I did not. I have spent a similar amount of time around the Uwda as you."

She was grateful the Uwda modifications to her face helped hide her initial reaction to Syvok's question, and responded in a cool, direct tone she had used many times on Vulcan. "Is it so unusual that I would detect something you did not, commander? Vulcan telepathy is strongest through physical contact. My own range and sensitivity is far greater than yours."

Syvok arched a brow at her. Juliette tilted her head slightly.

"Our passive scans with the tricorder," The chief engineer interrupted, "gave us general biological readings of this other species. The tricorder wasn't put into active mode because we didn't want to trigger any of the Uwda's security measures. While we might be able to calibrate it to detect this other, it could only do so at close range."

Lieutenant. Tran added, "-and get shot by any number of Uwda ranged weapons."

Bridgeway nodded to Tran. "If we had an active scan, calibrated to avoid detection by the Uwda, it would allow for even a non-telepathic away team to get a closer look."

"There is logic to your reasoning," Syvok conceded.

Captain Tilmana leaned forward on the table, regarding her. "Lieutenant Commander, you had telepathic contact beyond simply detecting these creatures?"

She nodded. "Yes, sir. It was brief, but it was a definite moment of contact."

"And? What did you learn?"

"I have not fully processed the experience, sir. I had planned on meditating after this meeting to recall all that I could. I suppose I could concentrate and recall what I can right now."

Syvok said, "I would be able to assist—"

Juliette flinched back quickly. "Thank you, that will not be necessary."

As Syvok regarded her curiously, she felt Lieutenant Tran's stare bore into her over a long, uncomfortable moment. He shifted in his chair slightly as his antenna slowly angled toward her, and his surprise become pointed suspicion as he asked, "Doctor, did you examine the lieutenant commander for psychic trauma?"

The suspicion spread across the table and Captain Tilmana eased back in his seat. Even Syvok slid his chair back slightly. She felt their tension as a thin wire at the back of her mind, whining out a sharp pitch as it stretched to the breaking point. After a pause that seemed to last hours, Dr. Fenna said, "I did. She had elevated levels, but nothing outside the norm for her."

She felt the wire slacken, and herself added, "I'm fine, really. I've already had one unwelcome contact today. I would be more comfortable doing this myself." It was a half lie, and only Syvok's arched eyebrow indicated he had caught the insinuation.

"Proceed, Lieutenant Commander." Tilmana said.

She rolled her neck and forced herself to deepen her breathing. She let her eyes relax, then close, and for a moment held herself at the edge of dozing as her head drooped. She didn't force the words, but let them come as they would, tumbling as freshly remembered memories.

"Go away. This one is mine. No, wait, you're not. Who are you? So cold and slick, wait, What are you? You're not Uwda, you're not s-Sklan. You're not Sklan." She was quiet for several moments, then scrunched her eyes slightly, then opened them, lifting her head back. "There's nothing more to learn at this level, I'm afraid." As she looked to her fellow officers, only Syvok was unperturbed.

"Did these 'Sklan' get similar information?"

Juliette thought for a moment before she answered, "I do not think so. These Sklan seemed to look at me as just another Uwda. They were much more surprised at the contact. But I'm very concerned about the sense of ownership I felt, and how easily the governor was being manipulated."

"Clearly they are strong telepaths."

She shook her head. "Not necessarily, sir. The Uwda seem to have few defenses against telepathic influence. Taking advantage of that – it's cruel." She felt an angry edge creep into her voice.

Syvok said, "It may simply be the nature of the relationship between the Uwda and Sklan, and it indeed may be cruel, but it is not our place to right what is possibly simply an evolutionary wrong."

"Be that as it may," Captain Tilmana said, "I'll put in a request to Starfleet."