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Stardate 54308

Dear Mezoti,

I sent you a letter a while ago from an uninhabited planet. We landed there to complete repairs to Voyager which Lieutenant Torres said were difficult to complete while traveling in space. I also sent you two letters after we left it, but I don't know if you received them. I haven't gotten any messages from you in return. I hope you get this one.

While we were making repairs, Seven and Ensign Kim accompanied Kraylor civilian medical staff on a humanitarian mission, delivering medicines to their people. The Kraylor are apparently engaged in a conflict with another local race, the Annari, who claimed the uninhabited planet we were on as part of their territory. The captain had negotiated a trade with the Annari for items we needed for our repairs. I was not told the full story about what happened, but when Ensign Kim and Seven provided assistance to the Kraylor, the Annari accused Captain Janeway of taking sides against them. We were ordered to leave the planet suddenly, and the Annari did not honor the trade agreement.

Fortunately, we had completed all the repairs Lieutenant Torres felt were critical for the ship's operation before we left. Two of the away teams had come back with sufficient deuterium and other materials to finish what we needed to do and to fuel the ship to travel out of Annari space. We will need to obtain some missing items from someone else.

My studies are going well. I have decided to concentrate on subjects other than engineering for the time being, but Lieutenant Paris says I'm a "natural" when it comes to flying.

Naomi and I went on three holodeck excursions with Lieutenant Paris and Lieutenant Torres recently. Tom programmed several hiking trail programs. Two are in national parks on Earth: the Grand Canyon and Yosemite Valley. Tom is very familiar with both of those trails. The other trail is located on Ktaria, Naomi's father's home planet. The scenery is beautiful in all three programs, although I liked the Yosemite one the best.

While Tom did most of the programming, Ensign Wildman was able to provide details from her memories of hiking the Ktarian Highlands Trail with Naomi's father, from their "courting days," as she put it. She also gave Tom some images that were not available to Tom through his regular research sources. That made our trip more authentic. Ensign Wildman walked with us when we did that one. Ensign Kim did, too. Seven accompanied us on the Yosemite trail program, but she said she would prefer to participate in other sporting activities in the future. She claimed the heels of her hiking boots were not built up enough for comfort.

Many people assume that Seven's high heels are something the Doctor gave her because it is attractive to look at pretty women wearing high heels. Actually, when he removed most of her implants, there is one along each of her Achilles tendons that could not be removed. Seven cannot put her heel down all the way to the floor without pain and her feet are bare. When the heels of her shoes are not elevated enough, her legs and back can hurt her after exercise. We are fortunate those implants never formed in us, Mezoti. I did suggest to Seven she could replicate boots that had the proper heel height, but she said she'd rather play sports such as Velocity with the captain. I thought the hiking programs were aesthetically pleasing, and not much rock climbing was involved in any of them. I've decided not to do any rock climbing on the holodeck for personal reasons I will not get into here.

I guess I'd better close this letter now. I hope we aren't out of range. If that's the problem, I guess I will not receive a response from you this time, either. I hope Seven, Ensign Kim, and Lieutenant Torres can adapt the Pathfinder Project's technology to keep in touch with you someday. Until then, take care of yourself.

Your brother, Icheb

P.S. (This stands for post-script): Naomi sends her best wishes to you, too. She sent you three letters, but she hasn't received an answer to any of them, either. We talk about you often. We miss you very much.

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Stardate 54310

"Did a letter come from Icheb or Naomi today, Mazani?"

"No, Mezoti. No letters today."

Mezoti sat in the chair in the corner of Mazani's studio, where she usually sat when she visited her while she was working. "It's been a long time since I heard from them."

For a few minutes, Mazani continued to work the clay on her table, shaping it into a form she was considering for a bronze casting. When she had prodded the clay into a shape that, for the moment, spoke to her aesthetically, she stood up and washed her hands at the sink near Mezoti's chair. As she was drying her hands, Mazani said quietly, "I spoke to Arebi about it this morning. Mezoti, dear, he believes Voyager is now out of range for recorded and text messages. He plotted the position of the planet where Voyager landed. He told me it's in the territory of the Annari. If he's right, they were out of range when they were on the planet's surface. You may have been lucky to get even one message from there. He does not believe Wysanti technology would have been capable of sending your letters to them if they were that far away."

"I see," Mezoti said. She felt like crying. If only her emotional inhibitor chip hadn't gone bad, she wouldn't have had to try so hard to keep a neutral expression on her face.

"Would you like to go out to dinner with Arebi and me to our special café tonight? Azan and Rebi will be visiting friends for their evening meal."

"That would be very nice. I believe I will go to my room now."

"Of course."

Mezoti heard Mazani's sigh when she left. Perhaps she should have remained and spoken to Mazani about her disappointment, but she didn't feel like doing that right now.

Once Mezoti arrived at her room, she put her feelings down in her diary. She always wrote her diary in Federation Standard. She used Federation Stardates for every entry. She wanted to remember the language and keep track of time the Starfleet way, the way Voyager did it. She needed to keep practicing, so she could remember how to use both, just in case she needed them again, someday.

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