It had been four days since Valentine's day and the crew of the Enterprise were enjoying a nice shore leave on a planet called Zinballa, it was part of the Federation and was a very technological planet. It was known for the vast amount of technology which its people created, but was also known for its friendly relations with anyone who came by. Lexie was enjoying herself and that was clear to see, her eyes glistened brightly as she gazed around at the stalls which were selling countless pieces of tech. In her spare time, Lexie could often be found sitting in a quiet corner of Engineering fiddling around with countless parts that she had just gathered from around the ship, not to mention on her shore leaves. Normally people came back off shore leave with small things, like a new hat or a bottle of alcohol. Which is the case with most of the Enterprise crew already, but not Lexie mainly since she wasn't old enough to buy or drink the stuff. Most of the time Lexie came back with a backpack full of bits of metal and other strange parts, it got to the point where Scotty gave her a section of Engineering to use as her own personal work shop, instead of making a mess in her quarters. "You seem happy?" Asked Kirk when he noticed his red haired Engineers gleaming smile, "I am Kirk, I just love new tech. Seeing all of this is filling my head with countless ideas of what I could invent next." Lexie replied happily as she moved her hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear.
Kirk couldn't help but smile at how excited Lexie sounded, after the hell she had been through in her young life it always made him happy to know she was now enjoying her life to the fullest, surrounded by the people she now called her family. "As long as none of those inventions turn out to be dangerous, then it's alright with me." Kirk stated, Lexie smiled happily at her Captain. "Don't worry Kirk, I would never do anything like that." Lexie could tell by the look which was on McCoy's face that he wasn't completely convinced, which he had every right to feel that way. Many of the things Lexie had invented ended up with her taking a trip to Sick Bay, alongside Kirk, Scotty, or Chekov. "Will any of those things be useful?" McCoy asked, "We'll just have to wait and see won't we." Lexie replied with a wink, to which McCoy just rolled his eyes. "Well, don't come crying to me if you end up hurting yourself." "Don't worry Doctor, I promise that none of my creations won't be dangerous In fact, they will mostly be practical and useful. So much so that they might actually help you." But McCoy didn't seemed very reassured by Lexie's statement, the CMO didn't even need to say anything for that message to be clear. "Come near me with any of your inventions and I'll hypo you into next week."
Lexie chuckled nervously at McCoy, "I think I'll keep that in mind." It was at that moment when Lexie had the sense that she was being watched, by something which wasn't good. This was an ability Lexie had gained from a very young age and it was one which had kept her alive for many, many years. Lexie relied on this 'sixth sense' throughout her time living with Kyle, she even still relied on it even if every time she sensed something all she could think of was Kyle. She turned around, but no one was there. "You alright Lex?" Asked Scotty concernedly, "Yeah I'm fine, thought I sensed something for a moment but I guess not." His young friend replied as she turned back around. Just as Lexie turned back to the stall she was previously browsing, someone walked towards them at some speed, it appeared to be a woman with short blond hair which was tipped with blue. "Excuse me miss, do you have a moment?" She asked politely, Lexie nodded slowly, for some reason she suddenly felt nervous. There was something about this woman which made her body shiver, "Yes, can I help you?" She felt Scotty move closer to her, he was just being protective.
After what has happened with Kyle, Scotty had every right to be protective of the woman he called his daughter. "Your little friend there, he's quite the masterpiece of technology." Lexie glanced over to see Delta almost shaking on her shoulder, clearly he was nervous or even scared. Memories flashed around in Delta's memory core, of what Roman did to him. That monster was the last person who took an interest in him and that didn't turn out well, "Um, thank you." This was strange, no one had ever complimented Lexie on her robotic friend before, not directly anyway. "Did you make him by any chance?" "Yes I did, some years ago." Kirk could tell that Lexie was growing more and more uncomfortable with this situation, not like he didn't understand why. The last time someone took a liking to Delta, they kidnapped him and brain washed him. Which in turn led to Delta almost being destroyed, "Sorry to interrupt but we must be going, we have reservations to keep." Kirk said quickly as he placed a hand on Lexie's shoulder, as if to make her feel a bit more comfortable. "My apologies, enjoy the rest of your day." The woman said with a little bow before walking off.
Scotty place a hand in Lexie's, "You OK?" He asked. "I'm fine Scotty, that was just odd. But no harm done." Lexie replied, but something in the back of her mind told her that this wouldn't be the only time that woman would pop up. She then turned her head to face Kirk, who just smiled softly at her. "Thanks." "No problem Lex, I could see that you were getting uncomfortable." The group then continued on their way, but Lexie couldn't stop thinking about what just happened. The woman seemed to be staring into her eyes as she spoke, as if she was examining them. Surely on a planet as advanced as Zinballa there were people with eyes like hers or even similar, right? The more Lexie thought about it, the more she realised that even she hadn't seen many people with eyes like hers. Sure she had seen people with multi-coloured eyes, but never a person with two different colours before. At that moment, Lexie was pulled out of her thoughts by Delta calling her name. "Sorry bud, did you say something?" She asked shyly, which seemed to worry her friend. "I asked if you were alright, are you thinking about that woman?" Lexie should have known that Delta would tell that something was bothering her, he always did and she could do the same with him, that was just part of their bond. "Yeah, I think she was using you as a way to just examine my eyes." By the look of the robots face, Lexie's statement had clearly confused the hell out of him.
"Why do you think that?" "To be honest Delta, I don't know. She was just staring intensely at them, like you do when you're interested in something." The more Lexie tried to explain to Delta, the more worried he seemed to be getting. "Forget I said anything bud, I'm most likely just over thinking." Lexie didn't want to worry her friend, she just wanted to enjoy their time on Zinballa. She soon came to a small stall which was littered with parts, Lexie looked closely at them to see if any of them would come in handy. But Lexie couldn't really concentrate on browsing that well, the stall holder seemed to be staring at her which was making her feel slightly nervous. "Can I help you?" Lexie finally asked, "No thanks, I was just admiring your eyes." The woman answered, her eyes seem so fearsome and scary. Lexie didn't really know how to reply to that, "Is one of them a contact?" The woman questioned suddenly. "Umm, no. These are just my natural eyes." Lexie stuttered nervously, why did everyone in this market seem so fascinated by her eyes. It was really starting to scare her, "Why do you ask?" Lexie wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to know the answer to that. "I've just never seen eyes quite like them before, I'm sorry if I offended you miss." "No its alright, I'm use to people asking questions about my eyes." Lexie was just trying not to make the situation more awkward than it already was, but it was about to get way stranger.
The woman reached under the table and lifted up a small pillow, on which sat an odd looking bracelet. It was just a blue ring which seem to glow, it looked very futuristic. "Here, please take this." Lexie just blinked, "What? I can't do that!" But it seemed like the woman wasn't going to take no as an answer, since she basically shoved the bracelet into Lexie's hand. "No please, I insist." At this point Lexie would do anything just to get away from this situation, so she just took it. "Umm, thank you. I best be off, my friends are waiting." The woman smiled and said good bye, which Lexie didn't really stick around to hear. "Well that was strange." Stated Delta, "Too strange if you ask me Delta, I think I'll be happy to leave this planet." Lexie replied as she hurried off to find Scotty and the others. She couldn't help but feel like something bad was going to happen, which wasn't a surprise. Something always happened while the Enterprise crew was on shore leave, trouble just seemed to follow them where ever they go.
When Lexie did finally locate the others, she walked straight into a heated discussion between Scotty, Kirk and none other than the blonde haired woman. "How many times does my Captain need to state that she's not for sale! She's a human being, not an object!" Cried Scotty angrily, "But I would pay a hefty price for her." Stated the woman smugly. "None of my crew are for sale, how dare you even consider thinking they are. Now I suggest you leave, before I report you to the authorities!" Kirk yelled, his eyes burning with anger, the woman didn't reply instead she just slugged away. "What was that all about?" Asked Lexie as she walked closer to them, "That woman wanted to buy you." Scotty said abruptly. Lexie just stared, "She what?" Kirk placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, no one is buying anyone. You're not an object to be traded Lex, you're part of our family." Her Captain's words reassured her, which Lexie was grateful for. "I think we should head back to the hotel, we have a table booked for dinner." McCoy said, "Good plan Bones." Kirk replied.
When they got back to the hotel, Keenser was waiting for them in the lobby. "Hey there lad, have a nice walk around?" Scotty asked as he patted his friend on the shoulder, Keenser just grunted in reply which of course Scotty and Lexie could understand. "Well our table is booked for two hours from now, so we best start to get ready." Kirk stated as he walked towards the elevator, "How long do you think it takes us to get ready Jim?" Questioned McCoy. "I know for a fact that it takes you ages to get dress Bones, plus we are all sharing rooms after all." Kirk did have a point about that, originally they were all going to have their own rooms but sadly they just couldn't. So in the end, McCoy had to share with Kirk and Scotty, which left Lexie to share with Chekov and Keenser, not forgetting Delta too. Lexie didn't mind sharing a room, it was almost like they were having a sleep over which was really fun. "OK Lex, bathrooms all yours." Call Chekov as he walked towards his bed, in a clean set of PJ's. "Thanks Pavel." Lexie grabbed her towel from her bed, along with a blue and white dress before heading off into the bathroom. It didn't take Lexie long to be ready, according to Chekov she was the fastest girl he knew at doing that.
As she sat at the vanity brushing her hair, Lexie couldn't help but think about what that woman had asked Kirk. "Why would she want to buy me? Surely she knows better than to ask to buy a Star Fleet Officer?" That was all Lexie kept on asking herself, she was so deep in thought that she didn't even hear her name being called, a total of six times. It was only when a hand touched her on the shoulder did she snap back to reality, she turned to see Chekov standing beside her with Delta hovering next to him. "Are you alright Lexie?" The Navigator asked, "Yeah I'm fine Pavel, let's get going." Lexie leapt up from the vanity quickly and headed towards the door, closely followed by the others. When they got down to the lobby, the guys were waiting for them. The place they had reservations for was inside the hotel, so they didn't need to walk very far. When they were shown to their table, Lexie noticed something which made her heart skip a beat. Sat at the very back of the restaurant was that same woman from earlier that day, "Why is that woman following me?" Lexie asked herself as she sat down at the table. She wasn't going to let that bother her, Lexie was use to people staring at her mainly due to her eyes. But no matter how many times it happened, it still made her feel slightly nervous.