"Now class," Victoria Dietrich Reilly said, "I want you to tell me about the roles and responsibilities of the adults on board, as we are going to start splitting you off soon so that you can specialize." She glanced over. The oldest of the children on board were Steven MacKenzie who was almost twenty-two, and Hanna Rosen and Penny Curtis were also out of their teens. It was time to get truly serious. "We'll go around the room, and we'll start with the executive staff, all right?"
Several representatives from Engineering were present, as were the people from Food Service, the two areas they were focusing on that day. Tripp, Jenny, Michael and Judy Rostov, and Josh Rosen were all representing Engineering. Lili was there with her crew. José was not present as someone had to keep an eye on things.
Several eager hands shot up as the older ones sat back. Victoria looked around. "Steven, we'll start with you, and then go to your left."
"Our captain is Jonathan Archer. He runs, well, everything."
"Good. Jill?"
Jill Lattimer – who was much younger – stated, "Head of the MACOs is Major Julie McKenzie Mayweather."
"AG?" asked the teacher.
"Main pilot is Lieutenant Commander Travis Mayweather," replied Jonathan and Esilia's son, who was barely eighteen.
"Jeffrey?"
Jeffrey Woods, son of Mara Brodsky Woods and Walter Woods, added, "The Tactical Officer is Lieutenant Aidan MacKenzie."
"Right," praised Victoria, "Grace?"
Grace Phlox – she was Phlox and Amanda's third of what had become a brood of nine – responded, "The Communications Officer is Lieutenant Hoshi Sato Khan."
"Correct. Lorian?"
The half-Vulcan was fourteen. He replied, "My father, Charles Tucker III, is the Chief Engineer, with a rank of Commander. He is third in command on this vessel."
"Excellent," replied their teacher, "Maria Elena?"
"My mother, Lili O'Day Torres, is the chef."
"And her rank?" Victoria inquired.
"She's a Lieutenant Commander. Man oh man, there are a lotta Lieutenants!"
=/\=
In Engineering, José spent his time making sure the warp containment field was stable. It was close work, but he had been doing it, seemingly, forever. There was a lever which was designed to be a rough gauge of problems in the event of a full power outage. It was supposed to be all the way down, but it was maybe one-quarter raised. This was an indication of a possible issue with the warp containment field. Or it could have been a problem with the gauge itself. He enjoyed trying to figure out little puzzles like that. But even with that issue, he could still afford to let his mind wander a little bit.
"That looks monotonous."
He turned to the sound of the unexpected female voice, which belonged to Sandra Sloane Curtis. "'Scuse me?"
"I bet you're bored."
"What?" José was a little annoyed. It was his Zen moment, and she was ruining it.
"I said – it looks really boring." She came closer.
"Aren't you supposed to be helping Vicki with the schoolchildren? Maria Elena said you were supposed to be talking about careers and taking them on tours today – including here in Engineering."
"It got dull."
"Still, Sandra, you should be there," he insisted. He glanced around nervously. Everyone else was gone, to the Career Day talk he had just mentioned.
"Something wrong?"
"Engineering is a dangerous place," José was exaggerating a bit. "You could get hurt."
"Mike and Judy had Valleri in here when she was only a few months old," Sandra reminded him. "But if it's bad," she had gotten even closer, "I'm sure you can protect me."
"I am trying to work."
"Tell me, José. You're a tall guy. In fact, I do believe you're the tallest guy on the NX-o1. You're even taller than MacKenzie. So, uh, is it true? Is everything proportional?"
"You should be in the classroom."
"And I told you, it's boring."
"Then you could go to the surface of Speakeasy and work like you used to. Tristan is there."
"I am staying on board because of Penny."
"Penny's a big girl," José observed, "She could be left here for a few months. We would all watch out for her."
Sandra looked at him. "Penny isn't the only reason why I'm not on the surface."
"Oh?"
"Tris and I have separated."
"Oh. Well, I'm sorry to hear that."
"So tell me; is everything proportional?"
"There are still single guys on board. Go talk to them," he snapped.
=/\=
"Captain?" Aidan asked from the Tactical station on the Bridge.
"Yes?"
"I've got some energy signatures. Don't really know what to make of them. Could be anomalies, could be cloaked vessels – it's tough to tell."
"Well, keep them on your radar," Jonathan glanced over at T'Pol at the Science station. "Anything?"
"There is nothing coherent as of yet. I will continue monitoring."
"Thank you."
=/\=
Tripp had finished his spiel so now it was time for Lili to speak to the class. "Now, let me tell you a little bit about what working in Food Service is like." The kids grumbled a bit, so Lili added, "I know that there are those who feel that working in Food Service isn't terribly interesting. Those people think that we just push a few buttons on the replicator, and out pops dinner. Or we spend most of our time serving food, wiping down tables or emptying out and filling up the sanitizer. They feel that the work is mindless, and that maybe the people who work in Food Service aren't too bright."
Brian and Craig both shifted from foot to foot as they stood there. It was an uncomfortable revelation, but still a true one – there really were people who felt that way.
"Well," continued Lili, "I am here to tell you that nothing could be further from the truth. So let me tell you a bit about our department. First off," she gazed around the room, "I am a Lieutenant Commander, as Maria Elena mentioned. That's the same rank as most of the other department heads, except for the Tuckers, Doctor Phlox and of course Captain Archer. Did you know that I am eighth in command on the ship? I am right after Travis and right before Andrew. I'm sixty-eight and I bet I'll be retiring soon, so whoever works in Food Service could get some power pretty quickly. Oh, and I even keep the self-destruct codes." She grinned at them. The kids laughed nervously.
"We are related to Botany and Sick Bay, and to Engineering, too. And under the current circumstances, we are especially related to diplomacy and morale. Life would sure stink around here if the food was bad, eh?"
She paused a moment to let that sink in. "Yes, we serve food and wipe down tables and deal with the sanitizer a lot – too much, if you ask me. But we also program that replicator as much as we can, in an effort to give all of you more variety. We have a database chock full of recipes, and we add more all the time. We observe people, and we do our best to serve their preferences at least once per month, if not more frequently. So if you like almonds, and your roommate likes chocolate, we might make a dessert with both on one night, and for another night we might make an almond risotto and have procul with mole sauce. That's made with chocolate in case you didn't know. We are also a big part of celebrating every holiday, every wedding and every milestone. We keep track of dietary needs and religious restrictions. And we vary the menu as much as we can. If we're bored, we figure you are, too."
"Class," Victoria explained, "we will divide into two groups. One group will tour Engineering; the other will tour the galley. Who would like to go where?"
The students divided themselves up. The split was uneven – more of them wanted to go to Engineering than the galley. Lili saw her daughter veer off to Engineering. "Really?" she asked Maria Elena.
"I'm thinking about it. 'Sides, I've seen the galley lotsa times, Mom."
"Okay." There was a tap on Lili's shoulder. She wheeled around quickly and was surprised to see AG Archer. "Yes?"
"I want to learn to do what you do."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah," he replied, "I, uh, I bet my Dad won't be too thrilled with it, but I want to do something artistic. And I get the feeling Food Service is about the only place where I can."
"Maybe Botany. You know, bouquets and stuff," Lili offered, "It's artistic, but Food Service is also a lot of physical labor – almost as much as the farming. But I don't wanna scare you off. Are you up for it?"
"I am," he asked, "could we make something today?"
"Something easy to start," Lili suggested as they walked to the galley. There were also some of the younger children in tow – Hoshi's daughter, Yoshiko, was one of them. "Maybe we'll put together a chef's salad; does that work for everyone?"
=/\=
In Engineering, Tripp and Judy led the way as Josh stepped in between with some of the children and Michael and Jennifer brought up the rear. They walked in on Sandra leaning over José. She was still trying to get him to notice her. She saw and heard them come in and, when she saw that Maria Elena was one of the students present, she grabbed José and planted a kiss on him.
Shocked, he staggered back and looked at all of them. "Huh?" He was more surprised than anything else. His jaw dropped and the only person he saw, the only eyes he looked into, were Maria Elena's. She ran out of there.
José was all set to run after his daughter, but Sandra beat him to it, as little Mettus Phlox got in the way and asked him a question about the engine.
"Hey!" Sandra yelled.
Maria Elena turned around. "What?"
"What you saw, it, it doesn't matter."
"Oh?" asked the teenager.
"Right," Sandra sneered, "it doesn't matter because your folks don't love each other."
José had finally caught up, and his jaw just dropped in shock again.
Maria Elena stared at the both of them, and ran out.
=/\=
She found herself at the galley, and barged in. "Ah, I see you changed your mind!" Lili enthused. "Go grab a dish towel and make sure to wash your hands. You can, um; you can help make the dressing." Phlox's youngest, Fenna, was supposed to be shredding the lettuce by hand, but half of it was hitting the floor. There was a new generation of dogs – Windy and her mate, Dudley – and they were not too terribly interested in the lettuce 'snowstorm' occurring around them.
"Mom!" Maria Elena called. AG also looked up as Craig and Brian supervised Yoshiko and the other kids. "Ma, I, uh …." Maria Elena's voice trailed off once she noticed AG and the others.
'I'll, uh, c'mere, Jeff, Fenna, Yoshiko, you, too. Let's, uh, let's go in the hall. I got a trick I wanna show you." AG shepherded the other kids out as Brian and Craig followed behind.
Once the door had shut, Maria Elena repeated, "Mom?"
"Yes?"
"I, I know you and Dad don't, don't love each other. I just, uh, I wanna know why you stay married."
"What? Who's been telling you this?"
"Mom, do you love Dad?"
"Who is telling you this?"
"Mom!"
Lili was about to answer when an alert klaxon went off. "We have to go to Sick Bay – all of us. C'mon."
=/\=
Unknown figures ran through D deck, one level above where the galley and Sick Bay were both located. Some of them made a few stray clicking sounds. They had but one destination in mind.
=/\=
Sick Bay was the battle station for the members of Food Service. The children were also supposed to go there in the event of an attack, as it was the best-shielded part of the Enterprise. Craig and Brian brought the kids over to an area near the imaging chamber. "Where are the other children?" asked Andy.
"We split up and they went to Engineering. If they're not here yet, oh God," Lili's jaw began trembling, "this is not right."
=/\=
It was as Lili feared. The emergency was in Engineering. Shadowy shapes beamed aboard and joined the others. They immediately knocked out the lights. The emergency power kicked on but they shot at panels until they could disable it as well.
Judy Kelly Rostov moved the kids over to her usual station, in the dark. She realized one of them was Lorian. "Get to the door and get yourselves out."
A shot rang out, nearby. Whoever the intruders were, they were following sounds in order to shoot, so it was likely that they could not see in the dark, but they certainly had acute hearing.
"Right," Lorian whispered back. There was another flash, another shot, and it was close.
The door opened, and MACOs Neil Kemper and Brad Moreno ran inside Engineering. The opened door temporarily provided some light, and the kids made a run for it as there was more shooting all around them.
At least one body fell. The door opened again and the MACOs got reinforcements – Major Julie McKenzie and Corporal Frank Todd. Then there was silence, occasionally interrupted by the hum of the engines. Whenever another sound was made, such as a tool dropping or someone stepping, everyone jumped. And then more shots would follow.
"Now you don't wanna be doin' that," came a voice out of the darkness – it belonged to Tripp Tucker, his Florida accent magnified with his stress. "You accidentally hit that warp core, and we're all gonna see heaven." His little speech drew more weapons fire.
Josh Rosen found himself next to a tall figure. "Torres?" he whispered. There was a shot.
"Yeah?" was the equally quiet reply. It, too, was met with a shot.
Josh put a finger in the taller man's palm, hoping he'd get it. He spelled out I-D-E-A-S.
José just scratched back in Josh's palm – N-O-N-E.
A few tense minutes passed as any slight sound – any cough, any heavy breath or any rattling tool – would unleash a volley of shots.
One of them blazed near José and he could see the warp containment field monitor for a second. The small level indicator was part-way up again. He figured maybe there really was a problem with containment. Too many fluctuations and anyone who was shooting at them would be the least of their worries, as the warp core would breach.
José didn't even think about what to say, whether he could warn Josh or anyone else somehow. He crouched down and heard his own knee crack softly, which brought forth another shot. He crawled over to the monitoring station.
There were more shots, but they were trying to hit someone over a meter in height. Once the shooting appeared to have subsided, he straightened up and pulled down the lever in order to temporarily better stabilize the field.
The door swished open again and it briefly illuminated the area. It was Aidan with Security Ensigns Deborah Haddon Masterson and Mark Reilly.
An intruder's face was illuminated for a split second, revealing it to be a Xindi Insectoid. There was someone hanging back, on the other side of the door's threshold. As the doors were closing, that person quickly fired a weapon, which felled the nearest Insectoid. Several screaming clicks were let out by the creature.
The sounds of footfalls could be heard, as people apparently changed positions and sought to gain an advantage of some sort. As before, more shots accompanied these movements, but there was less firing as, perhaps, the intruders sought to conserve the charges on their weapons. The standoff continued.
=/\=
They had been hanging around in Sick Bay for a while, but the kids were a little underfoot. Craig and Brian brought as many of them into decon as could fit. Maria Elena, AG and Yoshiko stayed in the main part of Sick Bay, with Andrew, Lili and Phlox.
"Mom," Maria Elena began again, "I know what I saw, and what I heard."
Lili shepherded her daughter over to a side area. "Who was horrible enough to say such a thing?" she asked, realizing that she likely already knew.
"Mrs. Curtis said it. I saw her with Dad. She was the one who said it."
Lili fought to maintain her composure. "Mrs. Curtis is a very unhappy person."
The doors opened. It was Lorian Tucker with Steven MacKenzie and the remainder of the ship's thirty-seven children. "Is anybody hurt?" Andrew asked immediately.
"No, sir," answered Lorian, "but there are still adults in Engineering, with the intruders. And the intruders are armed; they are shooting at anything that makes a noise or moves."
"Oh, God, it's happening again," Lili whispered. She groped for her daughter's hand.
"Who do you know is in Engineering?" asked Phlox.
"Both of my parents," Steven reported, "Mr. and Mrs. Rostov, too. And Mr. Rosen is in there, and so are some of the MACOs and Security."
"My father, Mr. and Mrs. Reilly, Mrs. Masterson, they are all in there," Lorian added, "plus there's also Major Mayweather, Corporal Todd and Mr. Torres."
"Anybody else?" Andrew asked.
"I do not believe so," Lorian replied, "the night shift personnel, like Mrs. Ryan, they were not there."
"Very well," Phlox decided, "let us operate under the assumption that it is just the twelve mentioned who are there. But others could be sent in, such as my Amanda." He blanched.
"How many more can fit in decon?" Lili asked.
"Only maybe two more," Phlox decided, "It is already horribly crowded. Yoshiko, take one of the communicators and ten of the children with you and stay in the laundry on this deck. Lorian, take a communicator and another ten children and head to Cargo Bay Two for the duration. I will need for this space to be clear in the event of casualties."
"And there's another six in decon," Lili counted, "That still leaves eleven kids."
"Right," Andrew muttered, "huh, what about Cargo Bay One? Steven, get Mr. Willets. The two of you need to take the last of the kids and go there, all right?"
Steven nodded and did as he was told. Once the area was cleared of children, Phlox stated, "Lieutenant Commander Torres, you and Ensign Delacroix may need to assist with care."
"Assist?" Lili asked.
"Mainly to get any wounded on and off the beds," Andy explained.
"Wounded. Oh God, José!"
"Keep it together," Brian murmured quietly, "Maria Elena switched and she's now waiting in decon. The last thing she needs to see is her mother freaking out."
=/\=
There was a thirteenth person who Lorian and Steven had failed to account for – Sandra. She had been caught in Engineering, like the others, and was in the same pitch darkness they were in.
Mark Reilly carefully crept along, feeling for a wall. He made contact with a tall person. "Torres?" he whispered. But it was not José, and a shot was fired.
As before, the shot gave a millisecond of illumination. Jenny Crossman MacKenzie found the door and smacked a panel to get it open. She nimbly dodged to the side. There was still one MACO out there – Susie Money Lattimer. She saw a tall Imvari and fired.
Thinking quickly, Josh Rosen found himself almost tripping over a body. It was an Insectoid. He heaved it into the doorway, and the automatic door kept trying to close but was blocked by the alien corpse. This kept the area better lit as the sliding door added moving shadows to the mix.
There was clicking, and a fuzzy light showed a beam-out, and then a second one. "They're getting away!" yelled Julie McKenzie Mayweather.
There was more clicking and another quick shimmer confirmed a beam-out by an Insectoid. "Come out, come out, wherever you are," called Julie. Her call was met with a couple of shots, so Engineering was not yet clear of the intruders.
José heard a thud and a gasp as someone else hit the deck. He knelt down and felt around. He could feel longer hair, but also a wet, sticky face. It was a woman, and she was injured. He felt for a pulse and found one. "Hang on," he said softly.
There were more shots and another thud – another hit. Then there was more clicking, but it sounded mechanical, as if it were coming from a device or a weapon, rather than a sentient being. Julie tried again, "We know you're in there."
Whether the intruders understood or not was debatable, but a voice, speaking an unknown tongue, spoke into, evidently, an alien communicator, for the selfsame language answered. But it was apparently through the device's small speaker, for it sounded tinny.
There was another shimmer, and another beam-out. Julie called out again, "Any of you left?" Silence.
"I think we're clear," declared Deb Haddon Masterson.
"Somebody get me a flashlight, and I'll fix the lights." That was Jennifer's voice.
"I have an injured woman here," José called out.
"Two on the floor over here," Josh Rosen reported, "Seems like only one is alive."
"I've got a dead Insectoid here," Deb called out.
Frank Todd groped around until he could get to the door. "Feels like we lost track of some people."
Susie Money Lattimer was already speaking in the wall communicator. "Sick Bay! We've got wounded here in Engineering!"
=/\=
Lili dug her nails into Brian's arm as they heard the report. "I'll help with one of the stretchers," he told her. She mutely nodded.
"Mom?" Maria Elena, AG and the remaining kids had left decon.
"We won't have enough room to work efficiently," Andy told them.
"Mom," Maria Elena repeated, "it all feels weird, like everything's happening underwater, or something."
"You heard Andrew," Lili stated, "C'mon, we can't stay here. I'm guessing it's clear. We'll, we'll go back to the galley."
There was a little static as the shipwide intercom kicked on. "All hands, this is the captain. Stay at battle stations. Repeat – stay at your battle stations. The boarding party is gone but we've got a lock on their ship. Things could get nasty. Archer out." As if to punctuate his words, they felt a slight tug as the inertial dampers kicked in as the ship was pushed into some major maneuver, possibly a barrel roll.
=/\=
"I'll carry you," José told the unknown injured woman. He got her into the hallway. It was Sandra. She had a deep gash on her face and her breathing was irregular. "Meu deus ," he gasped.
Brian reached Engineering as others did – Diana Jones and Eddie Hamboyan were first. A stretcher was opened. Diana and Brian took Sandra away as Eddie ran to grab another stretcher and José went back into the darkened main section of Engineering in order to see who else he could help.
There was a grunt, so he went in that direction. "Somebody help me, I got a wounded man," Josh Rosen reported. José got there and they hoisted the man out together. It was Michael Rostov.
There was more clicking and slight snapping sounds as Jennifer worked to restore power. "We'll get twenty percent power; it's the best I can do right now," she reported. The low-level illumination kicked on.
They could finally survey the carnage. There were seven beings on the floor. Two were clearly dead Insectoids.
José went to the first human he could spot on the ground. He touched a neck and was able to find a pulse. Deb had come over with a stretcher. "Get Josh to take the other end," José told her, "I can carry a smaller person by myself."
Josh came over and helped out. Once he and Deb got the stretcher out, they could see it was Aidan MacKenzie, and he was unconscious.
Brad Moreno and Neil Kemper ran in with another stretcher, but the first person they found was dead. Grimly, they moved to the second person, and found Tripp Tucker, clinging to life.
José found another woman, and brought her out – Judy Kelly Rostov. As Brian and Diana returned and carried her to Sick Bay, José was able to get out Victoria Dietrich Reilly, who was also barely among the living.
Another bit of repair work, and the lights were a little brighter, and Jenny and Julie found Mark Reilly, dead of his wounds.
=/\=
In Sick Bay, the kids returned to decon as quickly as they could. Lili was there as Sandra was brought in, and helped get the injured woman onto the scanner bed so that the stretcher could be freed up for someone else.
As Phlox worked the scanner bed's controls, Lili stood and fretted nearby, a little unsure of what to do, and terrified of what had happened.
=/\=
In decon, Maria Elena stood off to the side. AG came closer. "You okay?"
"I'm worried and I just feel like such a jerk," she sighed. The ship rocked a bit. They were clearly under attack.
"You're not a jerk. You thought you saw something. And maybe you did. But that all kinda doesn't matter right now. What do you think is happening out there?"
"I don't know," she looked at him, big brown eyes imploring. "I'm really scared, Aaron."
"It's, it's gonna be okay," he replied awkwardly. He put an arm around her. "I, uh, I know this isn't the time or the place."
Mettus and Fenna Phlox – who were both rather young – just stared. "Huh," Maria Elena replied, "uh, maybe later. And, uh," she nodded, and then whispered, "I like you that way."
"I like you that way, too," he whispered back.
=/\=
The stretchers were arriving – Aidan was put to the side in favor of getting Tripp onto the scanner bed as his wounds seemed to be far more extensive.
Lili suddenly realized she could be of help. She clicked open her communicator as the ship was rocked again. "Torres to T'Pol," she spoke into the device.
The communicator registered a repeating chime – they weren't answering.
=/\=
On the Bridge, they could hear the internal chime, but it was all they could do to keep everything in one piece. Karin Bernstein-Rosen had been put at Tactical the moment Aidan had left to help handle the mess in Engineering. "We're down to four torpedoes!" she yelled.
"Can you get us closer, Travis?" asked the captain. "Let's make every shot count."
T'Pol looked into a scope at her station. "Bearing nine four seven mark two. There is a fluctuating panel. I suggest you aim for it."
"Got it," Karin replied.
Hoshi adjusted her earpiece. "I'm getting an internal communications chime. It's urgent."
"Engineering," Jonathan whispered. He looked over at T'Pol. A slight quiver in her lower lip betrayed her inner turmoil. They were rocked again. There was no time to answer.
"I've got a lock on that panel!" Karin called out. The main viewer showed a Xindi Insectoid vessel. It shimmered a few times – a sign of a cloak that was too damaged to function.
"Fire!" yelled the captain.
Karin fired – a direct hit.
"The Insectoid ship is venting plasma," T'Pol reported.
"Do we finish them off, sir?" Karin asked.
"Check the logs for today and tomorrow," Captain Archer commanded Hoshi.
She scanned them quickly. "There's nothing about any attacks. Not Xindi and not Imvari, far as I can tell."
"I wish I knew if we're supposed to destroy them, or let them go," mused the captain.
There was a different chime. "They're hailing us," reported Hoshi. She got the visual image onto the main viewing screen.
"We meet again," the Insectoid captain said, "or at least you met my forebear in battle." But that wasn't strictly true – it had been the other version of the NX-01 that had done battle with that ship.
There were four Imvari standing on the Insectoid Bridge. "Do you work with the Imvari now?" inquired the captain.
"We do what we must," was the reply.
One of the Imvari interjected, "Your species has no business here. Sooner or later, you will all be enslaved."
"I don't think so." Jonathan motioned to have Hoshi cut the connection. He looked at Karin. "Target their engines. I want them to know they can't mess with any version of us – it's not without consequences."
"Aye, sir." She fired a phase cannon a few times and neatly knocked out their warp drive.
"Let's head back to the big anomaly field, and get back to Speakeasy. And answer that chime," commanded Archer.
"It's for you, Commander T'Pol," Hoshi stated.
"Go ahead," was the Vulcan response.
"Don't you want the privacy of the Ready Room?" asked the captain.
"It is all right."
"We've got people in Sick Bay," Lili reported, "It's, uh, Sandra, Judy, Michael, Aidan and, and Tripp."
"There were others in Engineering," the captain asked, "Know anything about them?" Karin waited on tenterhooks, as did Travis.
"I don't," Lili admitted, "I know the Reillys were both there, and Josh and Jenny and Vicki. Deb was there, too, according to Lorian. MACOs and Security went in; I'm not sure who but I'm assuming Julie was one of them. Also Frank was there and my, my José."
"Lorian?" asked the Vulcan, "Is my son injured as well?"
"No – at least, I don't think so. But T'Pol – Captain – you need to let her come here."
"Understood. Archer out." He turned to T'Pol. "Go." Then he turned to Hoshi, "Get Nyota Warren-Dane or Lemnestra up here to run the Science station."
"Right away, sir," Hoshi answered as T'Pol departed.
"Karin," the captain decided, "assuming Josh is all right, either you or Ethan Shapiro will run Tactical until Aidan can get back. Or it'll be just Ethan if Josh is hurt. I promise if we hear anything, then of course you'll go."
"Thank you for your confidence in me, sir. And, and, I hope Josh is all right. From your lips to God's ears."
=/\=
T'Pol ran to Sick Bay. The doors could not swish open fast enough.
The scene was grim. Phlox had already scrubbed up as Diana prepared Tripp for surgery. Sandra and Aidan waited on deck.
Judy and Michael were in chairs, but they were a lot more stable. Lili was pressed into service and got them each a blanket.
Before T'Pol could say anything, the doors opened again. It was José, carrying Vicki. "She is very badly off," he reported. He gently placed her on the only unoccupied bed – the scanner bed. The front of his uniform was fairly well drenched with her blood. He looked up, a little lost, the full enormity of the situation finally hitting him.
Lili came over immediately. "Are you hurt?" She was crying.
"I'm all right. I know Sandra was also badly injured. Are you and Maria Elena okay?" Lili nodded. He shepherded her out of the way and put his arms around her. He whispered, "I only thought of the two of you."
Phlox looked around. "Are there any more casualties?"
"I am unsure," José said, "there were bodies on the floor. I, I don't think they were just the intruders."
"Andrew," Phlox commanded, "standard triage rules apply. Commander Tucker first, then Crewman Reilly, then Crewman Sloane, and then we'll work on Lieutenant MacKenzie. Ensign Jones, you will work to stabilize Reilly and Sloane first. Get, uh, four Ikaarans in here. Perhaps they can heal some of these injuries so we won't have to."
"Yes, Doctor," she replied.
"We should get everybody unnecessary out of here," Lili declared. She and José opened up decon and found AG and Maria Elena tentatively holding hands as the other children sat there with them. There was no time to discuss it or process it. "C'mon, kids," Lili beckoned, "we'll go to the Observation Lounge or something."
=/\=
Tripp was looking terrible, with numerous bruises and bloody wounds. He flitted in and out of consciousness as Phlox got ready for surgery – but the patient was mostly out of consciousness.
"What manner of surgery will be performed?" T'Pol inquired.
"Many of his internal organs were badly damaged, and their functioning has been impaired," replied the Denobulan as he washed his hands again, "I will place Commander Tucker on life support and will assess the damage. A functioning kidney I can get from another crew member, if absolutely necessary. Lung or liver tissue would have to be grown, and might take too long. There is a limit; after all, to the amount of time anyone can remain on full life support without suffering permanent damage. As for a heart, I suppose there is a slender possibility of obtaining a donor if there have been any fatalities among the crew. But if they have been dead for too long, it would be too late. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to begin."
"A moment, please," T'Pol requested. She held Tripp's hand."T'hy'la, you will rest now. I, I," she only hesitated for a moment, realizing that she had an audience, "I love you."
"I, I love you," he gasped, "It's," he replied, speaking slowly, and with great effort, "it's the, the Wild West out here. And we're on the wagon train to the stars."
T'Pol lingered, looking. The doors opened up, and it was Lorian, returning with his charges. "Mother, what is happening?" he inquired.
"The doctor will be performing surgery on your father."
Lorian came closer. "Father, have you any needs?"
Tripp looked up, seemingly beyond the two of them. "It'll be dawn soon. Make sure your mother makes it to, to see herself. Promise me, Lorian Cyrus."
"I, I promise, F–, uh, Dad."
"I must proceed," the doctor insisted. "I will let you know when I am finished."
As they departed with the remaining children, Kerna and Esilia arrived. "Here, let's see if you can make any repairs during Tucker's surgery," Andy suggested.
Esilia flipped open her communicator. "Izquilla, Dakiza, Lemnestra, Timinka! Come to Sick Bay and help. We must see if we can heal anyone."
=/\=
While under, Tripp heard a voice. "There's somethin', eh? To be born when you really are, but to be livin' in ole Grandpappy Cyrus's time, now, that's pretty dang slick." The voice was female, and it was familiar.
"Lizzie?"
"Yes," was the reply, "I've come to take you home."
A stone bridge appeared under his feet and, as if by magic, he was guided to a green and lush land not unlike Florida before the Xindi attack.
There were fields and swamps – everglades – and the area was punctuated with dozens of half-finished homes.
He saw a familiar face. It was Chris Harris, the pilot who had died with Jay and Malcolm. He had a very old-fashioned manual hand drill, and was also carrying a crescent wrench. He handed the wrench to Tripp. "Here ya go."
The land was suddenly populated – Lizzie, their parents, everyone, even a somewhat bewildered Mark Reilly who was clearly another new arrival.
Old versions of Tripp merged, to show that time would, at some point, be repaired. A shadow of T'Pol appeared, but she seemed different, with longer hair, as if she were from some other place. And she was arm in arm with a scarred version of him, as were, oddly, two versions of Crewman Liz Cutler.
"How?" he asked no one in particular. And the reply came from Brooks Haynem, who had also passed on when Malcolm and Jay had. "You have crossed over. And now you will see."
=/\=
In Sick Bay, they tried cardiostimulators, but there was nothing to stop the flatlining.
Phlox looked up and into Esilia and Andrew's anxious faces. "I have never seen anything like it. The affected organs were essentially pulverized. Their weapons must deliver some sort of energy shock, a kind of remote pulse, I suppose. Death came at fourteen thirty-two hours."
"It appears the Imvari have – and perhaps the Xindi Insectoid race as well," opined Esilia, "they have created a weapon which inflicts wounds that are somewhat impervious to Ikaaran empathic healing techniques."
"Then it was developed to go specifically after this ship," Andrew concluded.
"Doctor?" Diana parted the curtain and entered the operating area.
"Yes?"
"I think Sandra has worsened. I believe she should be next."
"Very well," agreed the Denobulan, "and we will try again. Have Kerna and Izquilla had any luck with healing her?"
Diana shook her head as she went to prepare sterilized instruments for the next surgery.
=/\=
Lili and José got the children over to the Observation Lounge. "Don't look now," Lili whispered quietly to her husband, "but I think Maria Elena and AG are, well, look anyway." She nodded over to where the teenagers were standing, looking a little lost. But they were still hand in hand.
José approached. "Are you certain?" he asked his daughter. She nodded. "Very well," he decided, "we will talk about this at a later time. For now, let us put aside our own concerns and concentrate on these children. There are still unknowns, and there is fear."
Maria Elena nodded and dropped AG's hand. "Here, uh," she suggested, "let's sit in a circle and maybe play a game, all right? I spy, with my little eye …"
Lili turned away from them and toward José, "She was thinking of Engineering, but maybe she'll be a teacher, eh? José, I, I want you to know, I was so, so afraid today." She put a hand on his face.
"The two of you were the only ones I could think of," José admitted, "You must know, Lili, Sandra, she kissed me today, and she made certain she had Maria Elena for an audience. I, I did not want Sandra to, to do that. And now, well," he sighed, "she may die. I know Mark Reilly already has."
"Oh, poor Vicki," Lili fretted, "I don't think she's regained consciousness. She probably doesn't even know yet." She shivered and José put his arms around her. "I've been horrible," she admitted.
"You? No, of course not."
"I have," Lili insisted. "I swore to be, to be fair to you, and I have been anything but. José, you need to know this, this, what I have to tell you."
"Oh?"
"I, I was so, so scared. And it wasn't just because, well, because of what's happened before. It was because of you. Because I, I didn't want to lose you."
"You didn't."
"I know," she looked down, "and I am eternally grateful. Because, because José, you, you have been my constant. My rock, my, my North Star. You have been the one. You have been here. I guess I know what things would have been like if, if they had survived," she didn't have to specify who they were, "but they didn't. They aren't here. You are. And you always have been."
"And I always will be."
"My North Star," she called softly, whispering and he had to bend down in order to hear her, he was so much taller than she was, "I didn't understand it, and I didn't know it, and sometimes I didn't want it to be so, but, José?"
"Yes, Lili?"
"I love you."
=/\=
They worked for hours in Sick Bay, past the evening meal and into the night. Brian came over with covered dishes and sandwiches but Diana, Andrew, Esilia, Phlox and the others barely touched them, they were so incredibly busy.
But it was a horrid day, and it was only continuing. Tripp and Mark were already dead, and Sandra and Vicki soon followed. Only Aidan remained of the most serious cases.
As for Judy and Michael Rostov, the Ikaarans were able to effectively heal them, but they were weakened and Phlox made sure they would stay at least overnight.
Diana found herself managing everyone's grief and fear. Captain Archer would tell people of the deaths, but it was Diana who often would offer a shoulder or a hug. Sandra's daughter, Penny, was beside herself. But T'Pol and Lorian were, in many ways, even more affected, for they allowed themselves far more open expressions of grief and sorrow than would have normally been expected. At least the Reillys had not had any children.
And Michael and Judy's daughter, Valleri, sat with her parents and refused to leave their sides.
The captain contacted Tristan, still on the surface of Speakeasy, and told him of Sandra's death. Shaken, even though they were separated, he offered to return once they were within range, in order to be with Penny. Permission was immediately and fully granted for this request.
Jenny stayed nearby, frightened. Lili was torn between helping her friend and being with her husband – for this had been the first time, ever, that she had admitted love for José. But he was a generous soul, and he had urged her to return to Sick Bay and support Jenny. Brian and Craig handled most of dinner and clean up so that Lili could do just that. The two of them sat in decon so as to stay out of the way.
"Jenny, can I ask you to do something for me?" Lili asked, thinking of something, anything, to get Jennifer's mind off what was happening.
"Uh, sure, anything."
"When I die …"
"What?!"
"I just, you know, I'm sixty-eight years old. You're forty-seven. It's, uh, it seems pretty likely I'll go before you, Jenn."
"Just, uh, that's kinda morbid, especially considering today."
"I know," Lili admitted, "and I guess my sense of timing is really, really screwed up. But something came up today and, and I gotta at least ask this. I need to know that this will be; will be taken care of."
"What are you saying?"
"Jenny," Lili asked, "when I die, I want you to do something for me. It's a last request and those have to be honored, right?"
"I guess so."
"I want you to destroy my logs."
"What?"
"All of them, from not only this kick back in time, but anything from before and anything from the earlier kick back, too. Same with Malcolm and Jay's logs and the logs for our kids from the first kick back in time."
"That's a lot of destruction. But, but why? Why would you leave so many missing pieces, Lili?"
"Earlier today, Sandra, she, well, she came onto José. And Maria Elena saw it all, and Sandra told her it was okay because, sheesh, because she claimed José and I don't love each other. And I guess up until tonight, until I thought I might really lose him, she'd've been right about me."
"Oh, Roomie."
"We haven't been roomies for maybe two decades. It amuses me that you still call me that sometimes. But, really, Sandra was on the right track there. Jenny, I need for those logs to be gone, because Maria Elena doesn't need to be reading any of that. I'm sure she realizes that things have been kinda frosty. But she doesn't need to read all of the specifics. She does not need to know that I was that miserable, and that unfair and that clingy when it came to the past, and what could not be. I loved them. I really did. But it wasn't until today that I finally, truly, accepted that they're really gone. And I saw my one true constant, my North Star, is – and always has been – José. I love him, Jenny. I finally, really do."
"Can't you destroy those logs yourself?"
"I guess I could get rid of the others'. But my own? I just, you know, I can't take the chance."
"I'll do it, okay?" Jenny consented, "But it'll be a long, long time from now."
"Thanks, Jenn."
There was a communications chime. It was Phlox. "Jennifer, Aidan is asking to see you."
"Great! Crossman MacKenzie out." She got up. "Uh, I need to get Steven in here, too."
"I'll get him," Lili volunteered, "I think he was given a communicator today. Or I'll get someone to find him. Now go talk to Aidan!"
=/\=
The day had been long, and it had been harsh, but once Lili knew that Aidan was going to be all right, she got back to the shared cabin as soon as she could. José was already there. "I talked to Maria Elena a little," he said by way of greeting, "and she is serious about Aaron. And he seems to be serious about her as well. Of course they are both very young. She also thinks she would like to teach. She can see it is a hole in the ship and she wants to fill it. Like, like me, she wants to fix things. And I can see that in her, yanno?"
"I know what you mean," Lili asked, "José?"
"Hmm?"
"About earlier."
"Oh?" He was a little scared, concerned that maybe she wanted to take it all back.
"We, we haven't tried in quite a while. But I, I want to. Can we try my, my North Star?"
He smiled a little at the sound of that. "So you want to make love?"
"I do."
"I have no objections." He smiled more broadly. "Come, and I will help you." He was sitting on their bed and she stood in front of him. He peeled off her chef's whites, leaving her in just a bra, panties and socks. "You were right, you know."
"I was?"
"Yes – to undress you – it is very stimulating." She leaned forward and kissed him. "So I am Polaris?"
"Yes, you are." He was only wearing sweat pants. She tried to remove them but he pushed her hands away gently.
"A moment." He unhooked her bra and it fell to the floor. Wordlessly, he kissed her breasts and then removed her panties. They kissed and he moved back, pulling her along with him and onto the bed.
She lay back, and he concentrated on her. In all their years together, he had never been experimental. After all, for him, things had been working, and Lili had hidden much of her frustration and distress. But he made the effort that night, and listened to her for any changes or indications, one way or the other.
He stayed with her and suddenly her body seemed to change a bit – it was almost hotter, as if it were over a decade earlier and she was having a hot flash. But this was something else entirely.
His persistence paid off, and she erupted with a rather loud cry as a climax rolled over her body in waves. She was panting and gasping. He quickly doffed his sweatpants and merged with her. And then he did another thing he had never done before. Usually, he would hold himself up on his arms or his elbows. But this time, her left arm was back, raised above her head. On an impulse, he took her hand and leaned much more on his elbows.
As they moved together, they held hands, and kissed and kissed. Her palm was sweaty as she squeezed his hand, signaling if a particular movement was somehow better. Her loud cries did it for him, and they climaxed as one, for the first time in all their years of marriage.
He kissed her neck repeatedly, not budging from where he was. "I know now," he told her once he had caught his breath and was able to speak again.
She looked up at him and smiled. "Yes?"
"You never made noise before."
"And we never held hands like this before, either," she pointed out. "It feels really good."
"I wish we had gotten to this point a lot sooner. I know you have quietly suffered, and you have been rather frustrated."
"Better late than never," she countered. "I love you, my North Star."
"And I love you, too, my loud one."
They broke apart, and she nestled into his arms. He kissed the side of her face. "Will I hear you talk in your sleep tonight?"
"Don't I do that every night?"
"All too true."
"What do I say, José?"
"Sometimes, it seems random. You even speak of them, sometimes."
"Really?"
"Yes, and it is often to some man named Ian. You call him by name at times."
"I don't know anyone named Ian. How very odd."
"You should go to sleep," José joked, "so you can entertain this young stud, Ian."
"Maybe Ian's some strange guy, or maybe he's hopelessly ugly or something."
"I don't think so. When you speak to him, it never seems to be harshly."
"What is it, exactly, that I'm saying to this, this Ian character?"
"I don't hear complete sentences," José assured her.
"I don't want to say anything, even unconsciously, that would ever hurt or distress you."
"Don't worry. It is but a dream, and I assure you that I am made of sterner stuff. I love you. G'night."
"G'night, my love," Lili finally, truly, meant it.
=/\=
"Ian?"
"This is an important day," he told her, "You know that we have new arrivals – Mark and Victoria, Sandra and, of course, Tripp."
"I hope they live near you."
"Everyone is close. But it is also a red-letter day because of you and your own, personal breakthrough. And we are here to celebrate it with you."
The pitch darkness turned to a grey, misty fog, and they came out of the shadows.
Lili could see all four of them somewhat more clearly than she had. "I think I know what this clarity means. You – I won't be seeing you."
"Not until it is your day."
"My dying day, you mean. When is it?"
"Over twenty years from now. You and your North Star will shine together for a long time, Lili."
"Thank you – all of you – for everything. You made it so that I could get through all of this. I would have fallen apart without you."
"And now you'll be kept together in a diff'rent way," Ian assured her.
She approached the less familiar of the two taller men. "Doug?"
"Yes," he answered her, his voice just like Jay's.
"So I can hear all of you as well."
"The next time you hear us," Doug told her, "it'll be after you've fully crossed over."
"I see."
"Today – for it's past midnight – is October the twenty-ninth. In 2157 – just a short ninety-seven years from now – you and I will meet in a dream that'll be a lot like this."
"And I will love you," Lili stated, "for I already do. I know I will." They kissed, and he held her close as her heart skipped a beat. When they broke apart, he looked down at her and smiled, and she could see a bit of a grey film about his face, but he seemed kind and warm.
She moved onto one of the two shorter men. "Malcolm," she stated, "You said it was right. And I agreed with you then, just as I agree with you right now. And I loved you then, and I love you now."
"White-hot flame," he smiled, "this is still right." They, too, kissed. And again, he had a face obscured a little with a kind of greyish grime.
She moved onto Jay, who smiled a still-cautious lopsided half-smile at her. "Sparrow," he breathed, "I was carving one for you. That's what you found in my quarters." He touched his own heart.
"I know I love you," she declared, "for you are the Blue Jay." Their kiss was no less passionate than the first two had been, even as it was their first kiss and she had never spoken words of love to him in life. He, too, had the grey film.
"Ian," she turned, "all you have done has been out of love, and I have followed you because I love you."
"I have never merited such a gift before," he replied before they, too, shared a kiss. As he pulled back, she saw that he was also covered with a greyish veil of a film on his face.
"I believe there is one more," Lili asked, "Is there not?"
"Yes," Ian confirmed, "But he isn't exactly ready. But we will call on him just the same." The mists parted a little, and a tall, bald figure groped along, moving tentatively in the shadows.
"José," Lili called, "or I guess you are his counterpart, from the same place as Ian and Doug."
The big man's face was thoroughly obscured. Where the others were grey, his features were covered with a black, opaque substance. With effort, he spoke. "Why am I here? And why the hell can't I see?"
"Your sins, Torres," Doug explained, "They, they blind you to all that's good. Your vision begins to return as you work your sins off, you atone for your crimes and your wrongs, and you start to understand just who – and what – you were in life."
"And your vision is better clarified the more you help others," Ian explained. "It can be the living, such as Lili here. Or it can be the dead – people you have wronged, whoever they may be."
"When we all arrived," Jay clarified, "We were all given a symbolic white cloth. And our faces were as blackened as yours is right now. But as you gain understandings and obtain forgiveness, you can start to wipe away your sins with the cloth. It gets dirty; it eventually falls apart and then down into nothing. That's when you know you're fully forgiven."
Malcolm nodded, and he and the other three sighted men took out their own cloths, all dirty. Lili approached José's counterpart. "Can you lend me your cloth?" she asked. "I wanna use it."
"Who are you?" he asked, and he flinched when she gently placed the cloth on his face to try to wipe away the evidence of his sins. He seemed almost like a wounded animal rather than a man, but he did stand still as she touched and wiped at him.
"Someone who loves you."
And in their bed, among the living, José heard her say that last sentence. He smiled to himself and kissed the top of her head, and then went back to sleep.
=/\=
Jonathan Archer's Personal Log, October twenty-eighth, 2060
It has been an impossibly horrible day. Four crew members are dead. Sandra Sloane Curtis, who was difficult and worked in Communications, and sometimes in Tactical, and sometimes on the surface doing farming, is gone. Her estranged husband, Tristan Curtis, will return to be with their daughter, Penny. Someone else – I don't know who yet – will take his place for farming.
Mark Reilly and Victoria Dietrich Reilly are also gone. They are people who didn't take their instant replay, for he was with Ingrid Nyqvist last time, and she was with Robert Slater. Slater and Nyqvist are together this time around. At least the Reillys had no children, but there is the matter of the schoolchildren. Of course they are affected.
And the fourth of the dead is Tripp Tucker, my good friend. I wonder and worry about his family. T'Pol, as always, keeps it together, but I cannot imagine that she can do that forever.
Aidan MacKenzie and Judy Kelly Rostov and Michael Rostov were all injured, and are all in Sick Bay. I'm not sure of how long it will take to get them back. For the weapon that killed our colleagues and hurt them was clearly designed to counteract against Ikaaran empathic healing. Internal organs are decimated. Phlox and Andrew say that they have to get to someone before too much time has elapsed. And so, now, that is yet another thing for them to research.
The children were talking about careers today, but no one dreamed that there would suddenly be openings. Yet now, of course, there are. It's not just the Chief Engineer role, a Security crewman, the teacher and, well, I guess Sandra was a kind of utility infielder.
T'Pol has told me that she no longer wishes to be the First Officer. I can't honestly say that I blame her. Aidan is badly hurt; he feels he should resign, or at least be out indefinitely. Jennifer, his wife, is determined to stay with him during rehabilitation. She won't be available to run Engineering.
And so I will promote others. And here is what I will do, assuming they are all in agreement.
Hoshi Sato Khan will become a full Commander and will be the First Officer. Travis Mayweather will become a Commander. Essentially, they will replace T'Pol and Tripp. Travis's duties will not change, but of course Hoshi's will. Therefore, Chandler Masterson will be promoted to Lieutenant Commander and will be the head of the Communications Department. José Torres will also be promoted to Lieutenant Commander and he will run Engineering.
As for a teacher, there is currently no one, so various personnel will rotate. Maria Elena Torres has expressed an interest in teaching but of course she will need to complete her own education first. To start, Ingrid Nyqvist Slater will teach, and Tristan Curtis has volunteered to assist.
It is all changing, irrevocably, as I also, to top it all off, I am seeing my Esilia starting to truly suffer from the decline. It seems Doctor Phlox's treatments are now failing, and there are no alternatives.
In many ways, this is now the ship of death, even as we need to survive another ninety-plus years. The only thing, right now, that keeps me going is knowing that, not even born yet, there will be living versions of Victoria, Mark, Tripp, and even Sandra. And even back further, to Chris Harris, and Brooks Haynem, Dan Chang and, of course, Jay Hayes and Malcolm Reed. They all will live.
This is a second iteration, and we are being given a second chance to get everything right.
=/\=
Maria Elena Torres's Personal Log, October twenty-eighth, 2060
A million things happened today. A few are pretty direct impacts on my future. The good news is very, very good. And the bad news is very, very bad.
The good news is that AG and I are together. I have loved Aaron, and have had a huge crush on him, ever since I was, like, five. And today he kissed me for the first time, and he even told Dad that he was serious about me.
And then there's Dad. Mrs. Curtis said that Mom didn't love him, but she was wrong, 'cause Mom definitely does. And now Mrs. Curtis is dead, and so are the Reillys and even Mr. Tucker. I understand my Aunt Jenny will mainly spend time helping Uncle Aidan to get better. Someone will run Engineering. It might even be Dad.
Aaron says he wants to learn to cook. I had thought I wanted to go into Engineering, but all of the horror of the day tells me that what we really need is a new teacher. And I want to be her; I told the captain as much. Others like Jill Lattimer and Toru Khan – I bet they'll go into Science or Medicine. Our enemies had new weapons today, and that's a big reason why so many died. So we need to be ready for that. Suddenly there will be all these openings there.
I feel bad about everything that happened today, but I really can't stop thinking about Aaron.
I love him.
=/\=
T'Pol's Personal Log, October twenty-eighth, 2060
It is a silence and a sadness. My life, and Lorian's, they are forever altered. For Tripp is dead, and it is even earlier than in the previous iteration. My widowhood has begun, and it is far earlier than expected.
No one can ever know what I am experiencing. It is my burden, mine alone. I will bear it quietly. Even Lorian will not be permitted entry into my thoughts, my Holy of Holies.
I have informed the captain that I am, as of today, resigning my commission. He asked that I think it over, but my mind has been made up. But I did promise to assist the Medical staff in finding a means of better handling attacks by the new Insectoid-Imvari weapon. We are referring to it as a Shock Particle weapon, for it appears to shoot the victim with not only phase-modulated particles, such as is the case with our phase rifles, but also with a form of percussive shock. This shock seems to pulverize the victim's internal organs.
For that is what happened to my T'hy'la, my Tripp. They could not save him.
The structure of command is changing, and my understanding is that Aaron Gregory Archer does not wish for a command.
And so, I am certain, the burden will fall to Lorian. I will be there to groom and guide him, but he is his father's son. And so I do not necessarily anticipate the fullest degree of cooperation.
I suspect he will survive long enough to be able to attempt to stop the Xindi weapon. In the earlier iteration, that crew felt they did not have sufficient power and weaponry to stop the attack. For the one who takes over for Aidan MacKenzie at Tactical – and my understanding is that it is Karin Bernstein-Rosen – a major priority for her will be to assure that, for the next ninety-three years, the NX-01 remains fully armed and ready.
The new Chief Engineer, most likely José Torres, will need to assure that the ship remains at full power and peak efficiency until then.
And I will work, but I will also mourn, in my own silent way and in my own time. I am tired of death and good-byes. And, a little bit, I suppose, I am seeing what life was like for others who have had bereavements. It is so very hard.
=/\=
José Torres's Personal Log, October twenty-eighth, 2060
For the first time, ever, Lili had told me that she loves me. She called me her North Star, her one constant in life.
A message from the captain says I will be promoted to Chief Engineer, with a Lieutenant Commander's rank, just like my beloved Lili. I will tell her in the morning, and surprise her.
Maria Elena and Aaron Gregory seem to be together, and they seem to be serious. She is so very young – not quite seventeen yet. But I can see it in her eyes and in his as well. They are committed to being together. And, let's face it; their generation will have to get moving in that area a lot faster than mine did.
We have had horrific losses today; this is not how I wished to be promoted. But we are now the same rank. And we are equal in every other respect now, too. I feel that, finally, our life together can begin.
I love my family more than anyone, or anything. I am truly blessed.