A big thank you to all the readers and a very special thank you to CajunBear73, A Plump Hutt, campy, Wanderer3, and MrDrP for taking the time to review. No pressure, huh? I'm very happy to see that people are enjoying this story even at a very early stage - some answers will take a while, others will come quickly.

I'd also like to shout out my friend, who shall for now remain anonymous, for beta reading.

The United Federation of Planets Department of Agriculture certifies that this chapter is entirely cruelty-free. No petty officers suffered in the making of this chapter. All production facilities conform to ISO 9001:2362 and ISO 14001:2361.

Chapter 3: Stoppable's Twelfth Labor

The briefing was going well. The senior staff had gathered in the observation lounge, as usual, and the presentation was, so far, light on surprises for a seasoned Starfleet crew.

"So, to summarize the technical aspects, all systems are nominal," Kim concluded before advancing her slide deck. "Moving on to what we've been able to glean from the ship's logs, it seems to have been based at a starbase, Deep Space 9, located in the Bajoran system…"

The officers at the table began exchanging confused looks, probably because no such starbase existed.

Kim advanced another slide. "…and to make things even more confusing, this is a photograph attached to the log."

Commander Riker, the First Officer, spoke up. "Lieutenant, that looks an awful lot like a Cardassian space station."

"I know, Sir. We don't have an explanation yet. We have looked at the maintenance log, and a quick examination has revealed a few interesting details." Kim pointed at the new slide being shown. "For several years, from 2369 to 2375, many maintenance activities were signed off by 'Miles O'Brien, Chief of Operations, Starbase Deep Space 9'. The signature matches 'our' Transporter Chief O'Brien's."

Captain Picard interrupted Kim's presentation: "Lieutenant, I appreciate the detail, but perhaps we should… postpone these discussions until we've heard more from our guest. This situation has 'Temporal Investigations' written all over it and I would rather we restrict dissemination of this information until we have a clearer picture."

"Aye, Sir."

The captain continued, "Doctor Crusher, what can you tell us about our guest?"

"He's a healthy human male, says he's 27, which is consistent with my scans. He has a most unusual pet, but the rat is also healthy, as far as I can tell. Transporter logs show no pathogens, either. What is also unusual is that he doesn't show up on any database I've queried. I did ask him if he'd ever been examined by a Starfleet doctor, and he said yes. He's been extremely cooperative, and surprisingly patient, given the circumstances…"

Kim took this as her cue to share the missing detail. "When we woke him up, he somehow recognized me, even though I do not think I'd ever met him before."

Lieutenant Yar, the Enterprise's head of Security, offered an explanation. "Could it be that he mistook you for someone else?"

"No Tasha, he knew my name. In fact, he practically jumped out of bed when he saw me."

"Are we sure he was asleep?" Riker interjected, "Maybe he was eavesdropping."

"Not likely, Commander, I'm pretty sure he was asleep," Doctor Crusher answered.

"Doctor, maybe Commander Riker is onto something," Kim was thinking back to the away mission, the man would have had a chance to hear her name called out. "I may have called Enterprise using my surname, and I think you called me 'Kim' at one point…"

"I can confirm at least the first part, Lieutenant." Data's memory was once again coming in handy. "It is possible that we are dealing with an elaborate attempt at deception, which would fit the broader pattern."

"Whatever the case may be, and with no disrespect for your medical opinion, Doctor, we must proceed with caution." The captain was eager to put a bottom line on the meeting. "Lieutenant Yar, I want to know this man's explanation for what we're dealing with. I want to know where he got a Starfleet runabout, how he got here, and what his intentions are. I want him confined to guest quarters when not escorted, until further notice.

"Mr. LaForge, are you satisfied that the ship is safe to bring aboard?"

The Enterprise's chief engineer replied with an unconcerned tone, "I still want to review the diagnostic results and cross-check the measurements against our sensors, but I think we'll be ready to bring her aboard in an hour or so."

"Very well," Captain Picard concluded, "once you're satisfied that it is safe to do so, I want that ship aboard so we can accelerate to Warp 8 and make up for lost time. If there are no further questions… Dismissed."

Kim followed the senior staff out onto the bridge. Not too bad, a bit on the awkward side, but nothing too horrible, she thought, then heard a voice that snapped her mind back into her environment.

"Kim."

Lieutenant Yar was standing close to her, just about the most private a conversation could get on the busy bridge.

"Good job in there."

Kim put on her best nonchalant voice, "It was no big, Tasha. We have more questions than answers at this point, anyway…"

Lieutenant Yar nodded in agreement. "Can you interview the guy?"

Kim's thoughts were far from positive. She had plenty of experience chewing out misbehaving crew, breaking up fights, and even occasionally dealing with Klingons in hand-to-hand combat… But 'people skills' were not part of her reputation. Some circles called her the Dragon Lady and, to drive home the point, fellow officers had to convince her not to give credence to that nickname by hunting down the wise guy who had come up with it.

Her boss did not take long to catch on to Kim's reluctance. "It's fine, don't worry, he seems to be comfortable around you. Besides, I have too much going on to deal with it myself, and I don't want to take Yori off Beta shift. And I'm definitely not giving this one to the juniors."

"I can do anything bites me in the ass again…"

"Don't worry, Kim, you'll do fine. Take it at your own pace and don't overthink it." Tasha Yar walked over to the Tactical console to resume her duties on the bridge.

Kim took a deep breath and brought her hand to her face. Remind me not to complain about endless paperwork… She made her way to the turbolift and asked for Deck 10. This task was not one to be done on an empty stomach – for either of them really, and she figured Ron might appreciate some food after being brusquely woken up.

Ten Forward was the social hub for Starfleet personnel aboard Enterprise. The MACOs, for whatever reason, tended to frequent other spots. The room was small enough that this was a blessing more than anything else, it was crowded enough without an extra few thousand potential patrons. It was rumored to have been intended as practically a restaurant. Guess the dilithium rationing put an end to that idea. Kim walked up to the bar, politely nodding when she moved past a group of engineering officers from Gamma shift, and called out to the figure in the elaborate blue outfit behind the counter.

"Hey Guinan."

The bartender turned around and greeted Kim. "Hey Kim, busy shift, huh?"

"Tell me about, and I still have hours of work ahead of me. I just came here to grab two TKLs."

"Any menu preference?" Guinan's voice lent even this simple question a certain gravitas Kim could not explain, but respected.

Kim shrugged. "Whatever's handy." Sure, some menus were better, but most were edible enough now that the infamous Menu number 4 had been discontinued.

"I think your new friend will enjoy Menu 16." Curiously, Guinan had clearly set two ration packs aside, which she immediately produced from under the counter.

"Word travels fast, huh?"

"It's a small ship…"

Funny, it's the largest in the fleet.

"But what matters is that you can trust him."

Guinan's remark caught Kim by surprise, but before she could follow-up, Guinan had already moved on to some other task. It was not unusual for conversations with Guinan to veer into deeply enigmatic territory, and nobody ever seemed to get an explanation out of her. Still, her closeness to Captain Picard and generally her aura meant that her advice was generally taken at face value. Even when it seemed unconventional, somehow things seemed to work out.

Trust him…

Guinan's words barely left Kim's thoughts as she made her way towards Sickbay.

How would that even come up?

The turbolift hummed along down to Deck 12.

Trust him with what?

As Kim approached the entrance to Sickbay, she stopped abruptly.

Nervous. Not 'unpleasant task' nervous, 'it's happening' nervous. Head in the game, it's been more than a decade since that incident.

She took the plunge and entered Sickbay. Looking around, she noticed Doctor Crusher coming out of a door a few meters away.

"Doctor," Kim called out.

She took notice of Kim.

"Ah, Lieutenant, are you here for Mr. Stoppable?"

"Yes, I'll be asking him some questions, have there been any developments?"

"No, he's been waiting patiently. We've tried to give him some privacy, given his unusual arrival. If you'll follow me…"

The doctor led Kim to a private room and rang the door chime. Soon the door opened to show Ron getting up from the bed.

"Let me know if you need anything, you can have the room for as long as you need it," the Doctor told Kim.

"That's okay, Doctor, we're going to my office," she answered.

The doctor nodded and went about her duties, leaving Kim alone with the stranger.

"You don't know who I am, do you?" His words had a distinct melancholic ring to them.

"No, I don't think I ever met you before today…"

Kim found herself saddened by her own words, but then the unexpected happened. Ron was… smiling?

"I knew this might happen, but I'll take what I can get, even if it means starting from scratch!"

"Mr. Stoppable, -"

"Please, call me Ron."

"Ron, I'd like you to accompany me to my office so I can ask you a few questions and help us clear up this sitch."

His eyes seemed to widen for a second when Kim finished her sentence, he looked over at Rufus as if to ask the rat a question, then turned his head back after Rufus seemed to nod in agreement… Kim did not know what to make of that interaction.

"Of course, KP, lead the way!"

As Kim led the guest to her office, eight decks up, past several corridors, she noticed that he was reacting like he was surprised by what he was seeing – particularly when a group of MACOs walked past.

"Everything okay, Ron?"

"Yeah, I guess…" His answer was not particularly convincing, but perhaps he would be more forthcoming in private.

They would not have to wait much longer, as soon they arrived at the Security offices, where Kim shared a private office with Yori, also assistant department head for Security. Two large desks took up much of the floor area in what was otherwise a decently sized office. Kim pulled up an extra office chair and brought it over to her desk.

"Please, Ron, have a seat," she said as she placed the two ration packs on the desk, taking her own seat once he had sat down. "I took the liberty of getting us some lunch… I mean…" Her words started coming out at a furious pace. "I know it's like six in the morning, and who the hell would have lunch at that hour, but I can't really call this breakfast because I've been up for 12 hours already and I had breakfast last night and the whole night shift thing is ferociously confusing the more you think about it so I just try to lead my normal life as I would if I had a different shift because otherwise I'd go crazy and sometimes forget that most people don't have these crazy hours I do…"

"Woah, slow down Kim!" Her guest gestured something that mimicked his words. "The Ronman is all about the snackage, breakfast, lunch or dinner!"

Kim relaxed a bit.

"So, what are we having?" He asked, rotating one of the packages slightly, to read the label. "TKL, Menu 16 – Chicken Burrito Bowl. Ooh, sounds perfect! Uh… What's a TKL?"

"Transitional Kit Lunch. They've been transitional for a decade now. Standard ready-to-eat ration packs. Replicator usage is rationed because of the war –"

Ron's expression quickly went from cheerful to terrified. "War? What war?"

"With the Klingons? It's been going on for 20 years…"

"Not where I'm from! We were at peace with the Klingons, even fought with them and later the Romulans against the Dominion!"

It was Kim's turn to act surprised. "The Federation… Allied with the Klingons and the Romulans?"

Before Ron could answer, his Naked Mole Rat seemed to do so for him, nodding energetically: "Uh huh."

She dropped her head on her left hand. Oh boy, she thought, this is going to be a long one… "Maybe we should get started with the food… Excuse me, I'll get these out onto some trays…" She grabbed a pair of metal trays and laid out the smaller components of the TKL bags. "Do you want your cinnamon pastry heated, too?"

"Uh, sure."

Kim grabbed the small stack of pouches that held much of their meal and placed it in the replicator, pressing a button on its control panel. The device whirred for a few seconds, and she removed the now heated meals, placing them on the trays. The packages made a nice hiss when opened.

"What can I get you to drink? Basic drinks like water or coffee are available without restrictions…"

"I guess I'll have one of each."

Kim pressed a few more controls and the replicator produced the requested drinks, which she put on her desk before sitting back in her chair. Ron was emptying his food onto his tray. He gave out a small chuckle.

"What's up, Ron?"

"You said you don't remember me, but the choice of meal is exactly on point, this thing even comes with hot sauce! It's like we're back in our booth at Bueno Nacho…"

Kim pressed the controls on her console, and the computer's synthesized voice was heard: "Audio recording has started."

"Well, I guess that's as good a place as any to start. Where do you know me from?"

A/N: Kim's informal title of the Dragon Lady is secret-borrowed straight from MrDrP's Nacho Boy and the Dragon Lady. If the title does not ring a bell, you really should go read it, it's excellent.