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Old Friends

USS Nautilus, Senior Flight Controller Samantha Hayashi's Log, Stardate 81623.6:

Things have been busy my first two days aboard the Nautilus. Aside from all the settling in to do, there's a high-warp course to the Dragon's Head Nebula to chart and execute, hopefully while avoiding any unwanted attention from Klingon raiders that may be in the area. The Miranda-class is decently maneuverable and well-armed for a ship of her size, but still not a match for a Bird-of-Prey or two striking from ambush. With all the work, and the necessary avoidance of further contact with a certain Ferengi nuisance known as Doctor Mor, I haven't had a chance to really talk to Carlin yet. We've arranged to make up for it as soon as we get off-duty today, though, which is good, because I need to ask her if she'll join me on a double date with Mark and Jack Delaney, the dreamy-looking twins I couldn't help but notice in the Stellar Cartography department…

Lieutenant Samantha Hayashi, or Sam, as she liked to be called, brushed some strands of short, jet-black hair from her face as she set a quick pace through the corridors of the USS Nautilus. This was the first time since she'd come aboard that she and her old friend had found the time to get together, and she wanted to make sure she saw her friend before anything else came up and took that time away from them.

"Computer, locate Carlin Agran," she prompted, entering the turbolift.

"Lieutenant Carlin Agran is on Deck 4, Section 3, Senior Officer's Quarters," reported the Computer's female monotone.

"Take me there," said Sam.

The turbolift departed with a hum and arrived after just a few moments. Sam stepped out and came around a corner, only to stop short. Carlin was there, alright, but she wasn't alone. There was a Trill man with her: tall, blond, well-muscled, and wearing the red uniform jacket of a command-division officer with three solid silver rank pips on his chest. He was kissing Carlin, and she was obviously enjoying it. Sam smirked and turned away, deciding to pretend she'd arrived a little later, so as not to interrupt. But Carlin had already seen her.

"Wait, Sam!" Carlin called, motioning for her to come. Sam approached the couple, who were now standing slightly apart, and Carlin made introductions. "Sam, Antori Drel. Antori, this is Sam Hayashi. We were roommates back at the Academy," she said.

The Trill man shook Sam's hand. "A pleasure to finally meet you, after hearing so much about you."

"Only good things, I hope," said Sam, grinning.

Antori shrugged. "That depends on the source," he said, and pointed to Carlin. "Her, or the Admiralty." He smiled. "Fortunately, it seems all of the worst rumors were untrue."

"I hope I haven't disappointed you too much," said Sam.

"I have to admit, I was looking forward to that thing Carlin says you did to her tricorder in her Field Medicine class."

Sam laughed. "Sorry, but I solemnly swore never again to reprogram a tricorder to make inappropriate noises."

"Well, in that case, I imagine you two have a lot to catch up on," said Drel. "I'll leave you to it." He retreated into his quarters.

Sam and Carlin turned and made their way down the corridor back to the turbolift. "I'm sorry this is the first time we've had a chance to get together," Carlin said. "With all the preparations we've been making for this mission, and all the last-minute demands of Doctor Mor, I haven't even had a chance to give you a tour of the ship."

"Ugh, sorry you got stuck with that little Ferengi rodent," said Sam, shuddering.

"I'm sure not all Ferengi are that bad," said Carlin.

"Oh, they're not. My family works with plenty of them, which is why I can say with authority that Dr. Mor is a rodent."

"My xenobiology textbook would have disagreed."

Sam laughed. "Very funny." They stepped into the turbolift.

"Deck 2, Observation Lounge," Carlin ordered. It only took a moment for them to arrive at their destination. When they did, they stepped out onto a balcony overlooking the Mess Hall. Across from them a broad bank of windows offered a view out past the rear of the ship, where star-streaks retreated at high warp, framed by the secondary hull below and the Miranda-class's unique "weapons pod" above. "Best view on the ship, short of the Bridge or the Astrometrics Lab," Carlin said.

"No kidding." Sam leaned against the railing, looking out at the stars. She looked over as Carlin joined her. Her eyes landed on the two silver pips on Carlin's breast. She shook her head. "Drel was right, we do have a lot of catching up to do. A lot has changed. We're both lieutenants, I haven't been on report in almost a year, and you looked very comfortable with the Commander back there." Sam smiled. "I remember back in the Academy I had to practically drag you away from your studies so you could grab a drink with me down at the Quantum Café and check out all the cute young officers."

Carlin blushed and studied the railing. "Antori and I…we've been dating a while," she said when she looked up.

"How long's that?"

"Next week will be our two year anniversary…of dating that is." Carlin pulled her auburn pony tail over her shoulder.

Sam let out a slow whistle. "I take it you're serious then."

"Serious enough that I've been thinking of just how and when I should ask a certain question."

Sam eyed her askance.

"In Trill society, the man typically begins a relationship by asking the woman out, but it's the woman who proposes," Carlin explained.

"Ah. Well, I suppose that means it's a no on the double date I was going to ask you on tonight: me and Mark Delaney, you and Jack."

Carlin laughed and released her ponytail. "Yes, I think we can safely say a double date with the Delaney brothers from Stellar Cartography is out of the question. You can still go out with Mark, though."

Sam shook her head. "Apparently the twins do everything together, so it's a double date or no date." She pursed her lips thoughtfully. "But my chances aren't totally ruined. I bet I could talk Alex McKensey into a double date with me, you, and Antori."

Carlin snorted. "You, and Ensign McKensey?" She shook her head.

"And why not?"

"Let me put it this way: you date for fun, McKensey dates only to find someone to share his last name."

Sam made a face. "I guess you're right. He sounds a bit too serious for my tastes. I've changed some since the Academy, but not that much."

"Speaking of which, I haven't heard any reports of prank-related disturbances since you came aboard…and did you say you hadn't been put on report in almost a year?" Carlin shook her head. "The Sam Hayashi I knew would have been doing good to stay off report for a whole week!"

"I owe that to Captain Ramsey's influence, and some experiences of my own." Sam shrugged. "What can I say? The ghosts of Starfleet past, present, and future visited me in a shuttlecraft one night and taught me the true meaning of Christmas."

Carlin gave her a weird look. "What did you say?"

Sam laughed. "Nevermind. It's a human culture reference."

"Japanese?"

"English, actually. Charles Dickens."

"Never heard of him," said Carlin. "I didn't get very far in Classic Literature of the Federation."

Sam shrugged. "It was a dumb joke anyway. Shall we go down and grab something to—" Before she could say eat, something caught her eye. She glanced up to see the starfield behind the ship had gone still, its stars no longer distorted by warp speed.

At that moment, both lieutenants' combadges chirped. "Attention all hands," said the dry voice of Captain Sokar. "We have reached the Dragon's Head Nebula. Senior Staff, please report to your duty stations and prepare your analysis and recommendations. There will be a mission briefing at 20:00 hours. Doctor Mor, your presence is requested at the briefing tonight. Sokar out."

"I guess that settles my problem of figuring out what I'm doing tonight," said Sam.

"You and me both," said Carlin. "Personally, I'd rather date a Borg drone than spend the night working with Dr. Mor."

Sam giggled. "I told you he was a rodent." Carlin made no response but to roll her eyes. Then the friends turned from the balcony and together headed to the Bridge.

Author's Note: Credits for the ship layout, and the Observation Lounge in particular belong to Cygnus-x1 .net and Tim "Suricata" Davies for the cutaways of the original and refit Miranda-class respectively provided on their sites.

As mentioned at the end of "Airborne" many of the STO Federation uniforms place rank insignia on the chest instead of the collar, and my uniform variants color them silver for better in-game visibility.

I played a little with Earth-vs-Trill culture here. The bit about gender roles on Trill is completely made up, but since we never see Jadzia and Worf's proposal, I think it's at least plausible. Also, it's always been strange to me how everyone in Starfleet seems to get references to even the most obscure Earth culture trivia—things that viewers would logically know, but Klingons, for instance, probably wouldn't. I decided to subvert that trope here by having Carlin miss the reference to Charles Dickens. After all, Sam would hardly know a 19th Century Trill author either.

There are a couple of shout-outs here to Voyager. The Quantum Café was a bar included in Species 8472's recreation of Starfleet Headquarters in the episode "In the Flesh." There's also a bit of Sam and Carlin channeling the spirits of their Voyager counterparts: Tom Paris (the mischievous pilot) and Harry Kim (the serious young officer). Tom tried and failed to get Harry to go on a double date with the Delaney sisters from stellar cartography in "Time and Again," saying it was "a double date or no date." Tom also explained his past to Harry in "Caretaker" with an off-color reference to Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol. Finally, of course, Harry was the first person on Voyager to develop a crush on former-Borg-drone Seven—which, given his hilariously bad luck with relationships, ended badly for him.