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The following story takes place after "Home Again

Forms of Life

Written by Chris Stephenson

1

The strange looking group entered the main engineering bay of the starship Maximillian as they had moved for the last ten minutes, which had made the turbolift ride up a bit interesting. Squirrelly led the makeshift parade, his grey tail swishing behind him as he moved gracefully, walking purposefully to his destination where he could continue his work uninterrupted. Behind him came a group of floating cameras, small yet undeniably there, whirring and working in tandem with each other, sending the results of their taping back to some central office somewhere, where the final show would be edited together. Behind the cameras were a mix of operators and show hosts, the operators making corrections and staring at padds which revealed the screens that the technicians would get back at the office, and they focused and tweaked the displays until they were as good as they were going to get, and then they were

tweaked still. The show hosts were silent, for once, as they allowed the strange alien to be observed working in his natural habitat. Finally, behind all of them, and far enough back that he had to take a separate turbolift to reach engineering, was Skrit, more than a bit perturbed at the situation's change, and eager to return to the original plan, which was his tour of the ship. He kept clearing his throat and tapping at the operators' arms, trying to get their attention without interrupting the show and proving himself to the audience to be an annoyance, something he desperately wanted to avoid.

At this point, he definitely wasn't an annoyance to anyone. Indeed, he wasn't even on the radar of the operators, busily trying to get the cameras to the best vantage point to show the known galaxy and whoever else was receiving the transmissions this strange creature that had quietly been elevated to the prestigious position of chief engineering officer. The upright walking six foot tall squirrel glanced around the bay in front of him, noting his officers and where they were, and moved to a panel, hitting several tabs with his large, furry fingers.

For their parts, the officers in engineering adapted quickly to their new chief, not acting with any kind of derision at all, having been accustomed to strange new species that were either unheard of or unknown to most of the galaxy. They knew little of Squirrelly, only that he had some history with Captain Kelvok that he preferred not to discuss, which had led to his being advanced through the academy and related courses much faster than the usual cadet. Even that wasn't rare here on the Max, where many of the crewmembers were special cases, such as LCDR Starblade, the android who had went through the schooling quickly mainly because of his advanced technology. Since he already knew everything there was to know about the subjects he went for, and vast stores of others he didn't, there had been no need for him to remain in the academy. He privately joked they were tired of his winning the Starfleet Academy twice in as many years, even with his abilities toned down to more human-like levels. So there were no evil looks, no snide comments, only officers doing their job for their chief, who had filled the position left vacant by the Maximillian's first officer, who had only recently began to devote more time in command aspects, and following the latest developments throughout the galaxy, particularly the Romulan situation that was overwhelming the standard news channels, not to mention the classified communications that were winging from admirals to ships and back again.

Squirrelly looked with not a small amount of pride at his crew as they worked diligently at their padds and stations, marveling that this ship had welcomed him so readily and easily. While he had heard of the Maximillian's reputation as a "Different" kind of starship, it still came as a shock to him that he wasn't treated as anything special, but instead just as another member, as though he was human or Vulcan, or some other common species. Though as he thought about it, humans were pretty rare on the Mighty Max. The only thing that was making him nervous at this point was this obtrusive camera crew that had begun following him everywhere. He didn't care that they were there so much as that they were a potential distraction to his people, not to mention that because there were so many of them if there was a problem he couldn't guarantee they would all be able to escape. It was hard enough watching out for his crew, let alone the controllers with their expensive equipment. He swallowed his angst, thankful that after so long of nothing happening, and then two crisises in so short a time, things had quieted down again, allowing him to get back to his work without worrying about death and...plants, he thought with an involuntary shudder. Maybe, he thought, if he threw these people a bone or two, they'd be satisfied, and go back to taping... whatever they had been taping before.

He began to turn his attention to the cameras and the programmers, starting to put on a little bit of a show for them. He gestured toward certain parts of the bay, the warp core first and foremost. He used a small amount of scientific words to describe what he was showing them, not wanting to overwhelm them, or whoever was still watching this out there in the galaxy.

"This is, of course, the engineering bay of the Maximillian. It holds the most up-to-date technology available to Starfleet and the Federation, and trust me, it's used more often than you think.

"Over here you can find the controls, overrides, and panels for the warp core, along with the core itself, though I'm guessing you've already noticed that." The controllers of the camera chuckled a bit. The warp core, with its sharp blues and grays, and multiple moving parts inside the chamber, easily was the first thing anyone saw when they walked through the immense bay. Extending up and down several floors, the core was fairly unwieldy to work on, but it was relaxing to watch, and Squirrelly, along with many others throughout the ship, often came to Engineering on their break periods or their off shifts just to gaze at the core. Lieutenant Babs had made an interesting comment about it, calling it a 'really big lava lamp." It seemed to fit, though there really weren't any blobs moving around in it. Its light shone brightly enough to attract many, however.

As Squirrelly talked, he moved, and without realizing it he had begun a tour of engineering. Hanging on every word, the camera operators followed him up and down the lifts, a seething Skrit walking behind

them. More than once Skrit had thought about just using his energy form to shut down, or fry the cameras, ending the program and Squirrelly's little ego-trip before it really had a chance to begin. But he supposed that wouldn't be very becoming of a Maximillian officer, so he held his tongue and kept his emotions inside, save for shooting a dirty look at the oblivious Squirrelly every few moments. He remembered he had brought the tour down here once. Not knowing the ins and outs of Engineering, although he himself was only kept corporeal by the same equipment designed by the people who had designed this bay, and all the working systems in it, he couldn't give a very detailed explanation of the systems around him. But he tried, and that had to count for something. He really didn't have to do much, anyway, because the group had seemed to be impressed just by merely gazing at the technological wonders that surrounded them. And if it was good enough for them, it certainly was good enough for him. He knew he had done a better job than the squirrel anyway. He looked up at Squirrelly just as he stuttered on a word. Though he recovered quickly, it was enough for Skrit to feel superior about what he had accomplished already, and would continue to accomplish once this charade had reached a conclusion. Which it would, hopefully, in just a few minutes.

Skrit's hopes faded with each passing moment. The operators were now satisfied with setting up shots throughout the bay, so they could continue to watch Squirrelly, who by this point had stopped leading the

group and had returned to his work, seemingly ignoring the crew as he did so. Skrit shook his head, knowing that the squirrel was wasting what short time he had in the limelight, his fifteen minutes of fame disappearing into the ether as time moved. Skrit could feel his own time moving away just as much, and knew he had to act quickly, lest the squirrel ended up inadvertently closing out both of their careers before they began. He quickly moved from where he had been waiting, kind of leaning up against the outer barrier of the warp core, not the safest place to stay radiation-wise, but radiation of any kind would never be a problem for him, and made his way back to the chief operator of the camera

crew, obviously on a break, by the way he was sitting at a previously unoccupied chair.

"Hey, uh, sir...?"

"Ah, Lieutenant Commander Skrit. What can I do for you?" The operator spun around on the chair to face him.

"I was just wondering when we were going to get back to taping the show."

"Yeah...about that..." He stood up, and put an arm around Skrit, leading him around. "Look, I'll be blunt. The main reason we're here is because of the nature of this ship's personnel. We want some pizzazz on this show, something to make people jump up and take notice. Our first choice was Admiral Blobbin, of course, nothing plays better than shape shifters...but he was too busy back on Earth. Your abilities made you an easy choice to continue on in his stead..."

Skrit shook his head. "What changed?"

"Well...He did." He gestured towards Squirrelly. "I've never seen anything like him. Closest thing would probably be the Kaitians, but the tail and everything here...I'm not saying anything bad about your abilities, Skrit, they are most impressive. But it could only last for so long, we have to move on sometime. I apologize...maybe we can do something small with you later, maybe with the rest of the crew." He walked away from Skrit then, who was getting angrier by the moment. He seethed in Squirrelly's general direction, who had noticed Skrit standing there, but not noticing his emotions. He rode the lift down, passing the operator on the way, and met up with the energy being.

"Hey, Commander, what's up?" Squirrelly asked inquisitively.

"Ah, Lieutenant Squirrelly. Just the person I wanted to talk to...." Skrit spoke, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Squirrelly didn't catch it.

"Are you here for your checkup? You know I need to go over your specs with you...can't have you fading out on us."

"Not exactly...You took my show."

"Excuse me?" Squirrelly took a step back.

"They don't want me to lead their little group ever since they saw you swishing your tail around like you own the place."

"Wait...hold on, I don't even want them!"

"Well, they want you, so be happy with it. You have to get them back to me, so I can finish."

"Skrit...see...They don't want to, though, you said it yourself. They want to stay here...I can't just kick them out!"

"It's easier than you think."

"I can't do that, you know why. We're under orders not to cause any problems while they're on board, we're trying to sell this ship. If I throw them out of Engineering, they might just decide not to come

back!"

"They won't leave the ship. Trust me."

"I'm sorry, Skrit, I can't do that."

Squirrelly turned, and moved away from the angry being. Skrit was breathing shortly, angrily, more out of habit than an actual need to breathe. He would take this up with the others...Yes, this is what he would do. This would be taken care of quickly, with no problems at all. Time to get things back to normal, he thought to himself, as he left sickbay, whistling all the while.