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The men didn't move. Neither did Asher. Ruka stood behind the bar, arms
crossed placidly, and watched them as if such an occurrence was an everyday
event. From a quick moment of consideration, Asher decided that the three
Bajorans probably didn't have weapons after all. If they had, psychological
logic followed that their hands would impulsively move to where they'd hidden
them. No such motion had occurred. It was little reassurance to her, though.
From the looks of them, she figured they could do
quite a bit of damage with their bare hands.
"Ensign, I'm sure we could avoid an unpleasant scene..." Ruka spoke up
after a few seconds, that snaggle-toothed grin still plastered on his ugly
face.
Despite the situation, she managed an annoyed sigh. "It's just water."
"If I gave everyone a free glass of water, this establishment would be
bankrupt!" he protested.
She shifted from one foot to the other. "Then we seem to be at an
impasse."
Ruka snarled again, a disturbing, snake-like sound, and pounded his fist
onto the table. "Pay. Now. Or I have my security take the money from you." At
the mention of it, one of the Bajorans stepped towards her and grabbed her
arm roughly. Asher blinked, tried to shake his hand off, and a second Bajoran
pulled her wrist around behind her back, holding her that way.
She glowered silently, unable to move.
The Ferengi swiped a hand across his nose, sniffed, and stepped out from
behind the bar. Asher wondered briefly why no one was intervening, when she
decided that there wasn't anyone as stupid as to meddle with the Bajoran trio
that looked as if they lifted shuttlecraft for exercise.
"I don't have five slips of latinum," she attempted, nearly laughing at
the feeble attempt.
Ruka sneered. "A Starfleet officer? Too ridiculous to consider." When
there came no response, he nodded slightly. "Pjern, could you...convince her
of the unfortunate consequences resulting from failure to pay a bill?" he
asked placidly, returning his ugly glare to Asher.
The nearest Bajoran loomed forward ominously.


<tbc>

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"Wait!"
Ruka narrowed his eyes. "Yes, ensign?"
She glared up at the Bajoran—Pjern—and tried to jerk her hand free. "I'll
pay. Get the muscle men away from me before you cause a scene."
The Ferengi made a pleased, finally-she's-seeing-some-sense noise in the
back of his throat and motioned to Pjern. Reluctantly, it seemed, he released
his grip, and Asher yanked herself indignantly away from him.
"Five slips, please," Ruka repeated expectantly.
She was about to hand over the credits, unwilling as she was, when a blur
of gold uniforms flitted past her peripheral vision.
Asher stopped, tried not to look like she was staring. 'Security? I never
called them.' The Ferengi didn't seem to notice, nor did the three Bajorans.
"Ah, yes...just a minute..." she muttered distractedly, trying to figure
out if it had been station security she'd seen in the corner of her eye.
Ruka shifted impatiently. "Hurry up, I've got other customers."
"Just a minute..." ' There it is again!' she thought, catching the same
gold uniform again, this time closer. She wondered exactly when...or why, for
that matter...they'd been called, but at the moment was just thankful that
she would be able to save her dignity, and from being swindled out of her
money.
Asher made as if she was taking something from her vest pocket. "Here,
Ruka..."
The Ferengi smiled glitteringly and held out his hand.
Asher hesitated, and suddenly there were five, phaser-armed Security
officers surrounding Ruka and his thugs.
The Bajoran he'd called Pjern widened his eyes in alarm, and tried to
bolt. Unsuccessfully. An unimpressive bolt of phaser fire set on stun dropped
Pjern not one foot from where he'd stood. The other two Bajorans decided to
stay where they were for the moment.
Ruka gaped open-mouthed at the security men, his voice coming out in
mouse-like squeaks. "You...how..."
Asher stepped back slightly, unsure of what had just happened. Three of
the officers flanked the two Bajorans and escorted them calmly, at
phaser-point, out the back door of Zot's. The remaining two took hold of
Ruka's hands and pulled them behind his back.
She paused. "Sirs? Um...is there a problem?" ' Well, I knew there was a
problem...I'd just like to know what that was,' she corrected herself.
One of the Security officers glanced up slightly. "Did you give this man
any money?" he asked her.
"No...I didn't think I owed him anything." She raised an eyebrow. "Are
you from the Everest's security department?"
The man shook his head. "We're border patrol. Angara sector, alpha."
Asher paused thoughtfully. "*Angara* sector? That's about five parsecs
from here; what are you doing on the starbase?"
Ruka was struggling furiously against the mens' grip, swearing in some
chittery language that was probably Ferengi, and hissing like a cat. The man
who had answered her question was seemingly unconcerned. "This man is wanted
by the Federation for seven counts of fraud, embezzlement, and grand theft.
As are his three accomplices. We've been following him for over a month now."
She blinked, more than a little startled. "Oh," she replied eloquently.
"And now..." The man finished placing the Ferengi's wrists in
gravity-cuffs, and turned him around to the door "...we'll take him back to
the judicial corps and have him tried. Thank you, ensign, for keeping him in
one place."
"Uh, no problem." The only thing she could think of was, 'A major thief
and criminal wasted his career over five slips of latinum?'
God, these Ferengi were confusing.
With a terse nod, the men shoved Ruka towards the exit and disappeared
into the crowd. As Asher watched them leave, her eyes wandered to the
entrance, and had to smirk. The surprises never ended on this station.
The neon sign over the doorway: "Welcome to Zot's".

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::laying on Bunk while reading a book about the Dominion::
Computer start a Personnal log Kidman alpha 345
Computer>complied, log created and recording

My experince on this Starbase is a different one than on the Academy. People
seem to be a bit more open and diverse in attitudes. I have enjoyed my
experience so far, but am wondering if I will ever be truly accepted. I have
run ship simulators in the academy and never a starbase simulator. They seem
so much different. well I have a lot to learn. I knew my age would be a bit
much for others to accept.
Computer stop log
Computer>Log paused and saved

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Stardate 9704.21
The Commons

Stepping into the Commons, a man looked around. He appeared to be in his
early 30's, and other features about him were hidden by the hooded cloak he
wore. The ride to Starbase Everest had been a tiresome one, to say the very
least. Though he would've liked to go straight to bed onboard his private
shuttle, he had business to take care of. And he knew he didn't have much
time.

Annoyed, Traci Tage realized she had less than 45 minutes before her next
duty shift started. She had stayed up late last night, checking on Dana.
What happened in the holodeck really gave her a scare, and she sure Dana felt
the same way.
Sitting at her usual seat in the Replimat, Traci ordered a mug of hot
chocolate and a bagel. Pulling out four PADDs, she started reviewing the
reports with a sigh. No sooner had she started reading, a shadow fell over
her.
"You're standing in my light," Traci commented without looking up. "Move
before I seriously hurt you."
"Wouldn't be very smart to threaten a man while he's holding a disrupter,
now would it?"
Traci looked up at the hooded figure and raised an eyebrow at him. "You
know, most of the time when someone plans to kill someone else, they don't
usually do it in a public area."
The figure remove his hood and smiled. "Who said I was going to kill you?"
He tapped the empty chair across from her. "Uhh . . . may I?"
Traci nodded, placing her PADD on the table. "Mind telling me who you are?"
The figure put away his disrupter. Now that Traci got a closer looked at it,
she noticed the disrupter was of Romulan design. Examining the face of the
man, she realized that his ears were slightly pointed and his eyebrows were
slightly slanted. Under the table, she pulled out one of her hidden daggers
and tensed up . . . just in case this man was about to try anything stupid.
The man extended a hand.
"My name is Jason . . .," he paused for a moment and then added, ". . .
Tage." Traci blinked before the words sunk in.
"That's impossible," she snapped.
"Actually, it isn't," Jason countered. "Like it or not, Traci, you have
more living relatives than you care to realize. Most of them are in hiding
or working undercover for the Tal Shiar." Traci scowled.
"Ya saying that my human relatives are working for the Romulan government?
You be lucky if I don't kill ya were ya standin'," she growled. Jason
grinned.
"The infamous Tage temper at work. I've always loved it and I always will."
Jason's face turned thoughtful. "Traci, who were your parents? I'm still
trying to figure out if we're cousins or what."
"Matthew and Lisa Tage," she answered slowly, studying Jason's face
carefully. He blinked in surprised.
"Whoa . . .," he shook his head in disbelief. Softly, he said, "Hello,
Sis."

TBC
<< By Traci Tage >>

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Stardate 9704.21
The Commons

"No, see, that ain't right," Traci stood up and began gathering up her
PADDs. "You need to go to Sickbay or something and get your head checked."
"Hey!" Jason protested. "I know stubborness runs in the family in all, but
don't you think you're taking it a bit too far?"
Traci turned in glared. In a low voice that practically screamed that she
wasn't in the mood for nonsense, she stated coldly, "Until you get your DNA
checked in Sickbay, the Everest's Sickbay, you are not my brother. I don't
believe I had brother, I don't have a brother, and I doubt I ever did;
because my brother would've actually gave a damn about me when Mother and
Father died."
Jason blinked several times, letting the words sink in. "Where are you
going?" he asked in a soft voice, unable to meet Traci's eyes.
"I need to get to Ops and work. Later."

Traci hesistated before stepping out of the turbolift into Ops. She tapped
her combadge. "Tage to Toler."
"Toler here. Yes?"
"Hey, Kate. Do me a favor? There will be a man coming into Sickbay soon.
Run a DNA scan on him for me, will you?"
"Yeah, sure . . .," there was a hesistant tone in her voice. "What's this
man's name?"
"Jason Ta—," Traci cut herself off. "He's wearing a hooded cloak. If he's
not in Sickbay in 20 minutes, let me know."
There was a long pause. "No, Traci, he just walked through the door. Toler
out."
Traci let out a sigh. Now that's been taken care of, maybe she could
concentrate on her work. Noting that she was now 2 minutes late for her duty
shift, she hurried into Ops.

TBC
<< By Traci Tage >>

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Stardate 9704.22
Holodeck Two

Dressed in a ki, Traci Tage faced her holodeck created opponent. Suddenly,
he crouched, and side swiped his foot under Traci. Blinking, she jumped back
and kicked him in the side of his head.
"Don't we feel pretty stupid now?!" glowered Traci, feeling slightly stupid
talking to a holo-character, but it was a good way to blow off steam. Behind
her, she could hear the doors of the holodeck open. Jason paused at the
arch, not wanting to disturb Traci. Angrily, Traci put her hands on her hips
not bothering to turn around. "Did I say you could come in here?! I don't
think so because I was there when I didn't say it!" She whirled around to
look at him. Jason smirked.
"You have an odd sense of humor, Sis."
"Hey, what did I say? Didn't I tell you not to call me that, especially
since I have no proof you're my brother. And I know I said that, because I
was standing there when I said it!"
Jason rolled his eyes and tossed a PADD at Traci. She caught it and began
reading it over. "DNA checks out."
Traci lowered the PADD and slowly walked over. Suddenly, she drew back her
fist and gave him a right hook in the jaw. Jason took a step back, but
refused to give into the pain.
"What was that for?" he asked, more hurt than angry.
"That was for not coming to me when Mother and Father died!" Traci yelled,
hot tears in her eyes now. She was about to punch him in the stomach, but
Jason caught her by the wrist. Angered, she pulled out her staff and hit him
hard in the chest. Jason dropped to the floor, clutching his chest. He
coughed a bit before looking up at her.
"Dang, girl, I can't believe they let you carry that thang around." Dispite
her mix of emotions, Traci let a smile take shape on her lips. She leaned
down and offered a hand. Jason looked up with an impish grin and grabbed her
wrist. In one quick, smooth motion, Traci landed on her back, staring at the
ceiling.
"Never mess with a Tage!" Jason exclaimed in triumph. He picked himself up,
still coughing. Traci smirked, still looking up at the ceiling.
"I hate you." She reached up with one hand and raised her eyebrow
expectantly. Jason started to reach down, but then paused.
"See now . . . I don't trust you," he said with a smirk. Traci grinned.
"You either help me up or get killed when I pick myself up." Jason grinned
at that, and helped Traci up.
"Come on, Sis . . . we have a lot to talk about."

TBC
<< By Traci Tage >>

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Stardate 9704.23
The Replimat

"Actually," Jason took a sip of his coffee, "I was kinda surprised I was
able to find you, Sis. I've been search for a while now, and well, our
relatives make one heck of an effort not to be found. Tell me, have you meet
any of our relatives since Mother and Father died . . .?"
"Oh, yeah," Traci replied dryly. "Tons."
Jason raised an eyebrow. "What's that tone in your voice suppose to mean?"
"I never looked for any relatives, Jason. They always looked for me." Her
voice started to have an angry edge to it. "And you know what they did once
they found me?!"
"What?" Jason asked cautiously.
"They tried to kill me! I have lost count how many disrupters were fired at
me, how many bombs were set, and oh, yeah; can't forget the crowbar!"
"Whoa." Jason blinked, setting down his mug of coffee. "Exactly which one
of our relatives?"
"Gee, so many, I can't remember," Traci sneered. She paused. "There was
one cousin, though. T'skas . . . and I nearly got kicked out of Starfleet
because of that piece of trash!" Traci smiled thinly. "She's spending a
life sentence in a Federation Penal Colony."
"I'm sorry to hear this, Sis," Jason said softly. He gazed off to the
distance, as if remembering something.
"Why weren't you there, Jason?" Traci felt her emotions building up again.
She didn't care. "You do not know how many letters I got that started out
with, 'we regret to inform you . . .'! You did not know what it was like
watch Grandfather get shot down like an animal! And that Rejenka Five
massacre was pure brutal! You weren't there! Where the hell were you all
this time when our family was being torn apart?!"
Jason looked at her. "I was working for Starfleet Intelligence, on Romulus.
I was there when Grandfather died, and unfortunately, there was nothing I
could do about it. Next time you see the recording, look for me off to the
side. The Rejenka Five massacre, I knew about. It was me who informed
Starfleet Headquarters. But it was too late to stop the USS Stanley."
"Since your schedule is so busy and all, why are you here?! Huh?! You
could've just waited until I got killed and say, 'there was nothing I can do
about it'!"
Jason looked her straight in the eye. "Traci, I was sent here under orders.
Whatever Headquarters wanted me to investigate, you're in the center of it—"
"Oh, no!" Traci jumped angrily. "No, see, you didn't go there! You did not
just say that! So, don't even go there!"
"Traci, LISTEN TO ME!"
"See, see, this ain't funny no more! I am totally outta here." Traci
snatched up her things and angrily stomped away. Jason tried to go after
her, but lost sight of her in the crowd. He sighed. This was going to be
harder than he thought.

TBC
<< By Traci Tage >>

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Stardate 9711.17
Cargo Bay Four

Traci paused to take a breath during her early morning jog. She was just
about to start again when she heard the distinct sound of metal smacking into
a warm body. There was a loud, high-pitched yelp and the clattering of metal
on the ground. And then . . .
Silence.
Unfortunately, Traci would know that yelp anywhere. That yelp was . . .
"West," she breathed, eyes widening. Already headed towards the source,
numbers and figures raced through Traci's head. Yes, it was his shift . . .
and yes, this was part of his regular patrol route . . . Traci clenched her
jaw, her piercing blue eyes flashing furiously. If any harm had come to West
. . .
She stepped into Cargo Bay 4. "Hello?" she called cautiously, staff in
hand. She smiled suddenly. An insane, giddy, little smile. "This is uhh,
one of Zot's waiters. He told me that someone wanted breakfast delivered.
He's going to be awfully mad if I don't get paid for this, you know."
A man stepped out from behind a pile of crates, not looking up just yet. He
was too busy tapping on a PADD. "Hey, I'm not paying for anything I didn't—"
Traci lunged forward and slammed the butt end of her staff into the man's
face. He fell backwards with her standing onto of him.
"Hey!" The man struggled to get up. "This is abuse! I demand to see your
superior! You have no right to barge in here and attack me!" Traci smirked
and leaned down to whisper in his ear.
"Kill now, ask questions later." With a sudden flick of her wrist, she
brought her K-Bar down on him. The man reached up and grabbed her wrist just
before the blade pierced his flesh. He used his position as a leverage and
pushed Traci off of him.
"You are psycho," the man panted, picking himself up. "Oh, I'm definitely
going to report you. I want your commission for this!"
"Where's Ensign West?" Traci demanded fiercely, ignoring his last comment.
"I swear to everything holy that if he's injuried, you won't have to wait for
a trial, Mister. You're going to find my knife up where the sun don't shine
and it's gonna HURT."
The man glared. "I don't know what you're talking about. There hasn't been
anyone around here except some mangy street dog."
Traci's eyes widened and something in the back of her mind exploded. She
ran forward and rammed her body up against his, slamming him into a wall.
She pulled back just enough to elbow him in the temple. The man slumped to
the ground, clutching his head.
"That 'mangy street dog' IS Ensign West!" she snarled angrily at him. She
stood there for a few moments, just glaring at him. And that insane little
smile formed right back on her face. "And time to cough up my end of the
bargain." She flicked her wrist again and her trusty K-Bar reappeared in her
hand. Her eyes glinted evilly as she started towards him. "This is . . .
going to hurt."
And she laughed.
Traci started to bring the K-Bar down when the familiar hum of a phaser
blast struck her in the shoulder. She whirled around with a startled cry.
"What the . . ."
Jason Tage lowered the phaser and casually looked around. "Now, see, I was
returning Runabout Sherman as promised when I thought, 'oh, wait, Sis is
going to be mad if I don't stop to talk to her', and so I was just walking
along and then I find you. Here. About to kill some man." He shook his
head in disbelief. "I'm gone for a month and look what happens." Traci
growled and stormed towards him.
"You had no right!"
"I had every right," Jason shot back, matching her angry tone. "What the
hell did you think you are going to accomplish anyways?!"
Traci snarled in frustration. "He killed West!"
There was a rustle from behind a crate and a cute chocolate lab poked his
head out and lolled his tongue. (He killed . . . who?)
Traci's jaw dropped. "But . . . but . . ."
"Exactly," Jason confirmed, reaching over to take the K-Bar from Traci's
hand. "You assumed, and you jumped to conclusions."
"But . . . I could've sworn I heard West cry out-"
West sat down and scratched behind his ear with one of his hind legs. (I
don't know if that was me or not, but you know my translator does have a
range limit . . .)
Traci folded her arms and looked away with a scowl. "Yeah, I'm sure."
Jason stepped forward and took Traci's chin in his hand to force her to look
him in the eye.
"You know what would've happened if you killed that man?" Jason demanded
angrily. "You wouldn't just be given a court martial, you'd be thrown in
prison!" Traci jerked herself from his grasp.
"How do you know that's not what I wanted?" Jason stared at her,
dumbfounded. She jeered at him with an odd satisfaction. "Now look who's
assuming."

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Stardate 9704.24
The Commons

Jason Tage gazed up at the second level for what seemed like the thousandth
time. The man standing there, hidden by a hooded cloak, very much like the
one he was wearing, probably was watching someone else on the first level.
Jason followed the man's gaze, when out of the corner of his eye, the man
pulled something out from his cloak. Jason quickly whirled around, seeing
Traci Tage stepped out of one of the shops. He ran towards her, tackling her
to the floor just as a disrupter was fired. Jason
pulled out a phaser, and leveled it. It was too late, the man was gone.
Growling something unintelligible, he picked himself up.
"Mind telling me what that was all about?" snapped Traci, brushing herself
off.
"Classified," Jason replied, absently. He scanned the second level. Still
no sign of the man. Checking his chrono, he swore silently. His time table
was seriously being pushed. Traci raised an eyebrow.
"Classified? Have fun explaining to station Security," Traci let out a
snort of laughter and started to walk away. Jason grabbed her by the arm.
"Where do you think you're going? Someone just tried to take your life!"
Traci shrugged. "Been there, done that," she sneered. "I can take care of
myself." She jerked her arm free. Then she gave him a huge, incredibly fake
smile, "Besides, if this is classified . . . wasn't here, didn't see it,
couldn't have stopped ya. Later, Bro."
Jason scowled. Security officers had started to push their way through the
crowd towards him. Noticing that, Jason's scowl deepened. The admiral told
him not to draw attention to himself, and he blew that part of his orders.
Sighing in resignation, he waited for Security to do it's job.

Traci stepped into a secluded part of the station. It was her own private
short cut, but she paused. Today wasn't exactly one of those days where one
would want to be away from the crowds and protection of other people.
Listening intently, Traci soon found her fear was right. A loud whine had
started, following a series of rapid clicks. Whirling around, Traci saw a
device embedded into the panel; it's lights blinking rapidly.
Swearing under her breath, Traci could only bring up her arm for protection
when the device exploded.

TBC
<< By Traci Tage >>

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Stardate 9704.25
Everest's Sickbay

Traci Tage cough and sputtered, making the mistake of opening her eyes.
Bright white light seared into her skull, forcing her to squeeze her eyes
shut again.
"2 cc's of cortrazine!"
"No, Nurse, the one on the left!"
"How's her neural activity?!"
Suddenly she was aware that people were scrambling about her, shouting
orders in some weird medical language. Traci opened her eyes again and
realized her uniform was a sickly murkish color. Her eyes widened when she
knew that smell of burned flesh was coming from her. "Dang," Traci tried to
curse in order to define the mess she currently was, but coughed up blood
instead.
"It's going to be okay," Ashley Fox leaned down, trying to read Traci's
face. Her own face was etched with concern and worry.
"I never said it wasn't," Traci managed to croak. "Eesh."
"She concise!" Kate Toler yelped. "Get her sedated again!"
"D'oh," Traci mentally winced. "Whaaat? Wake up at a bad time?" She
looked at herself again. "Dang, I got a hole in my chest . . ." Traci
coughed, wincing as she choked up more blood.
As one of the nurses pressed the hypo against Traci's neck, her world faded
into blackness again . . .

Security Office, Brig

There was a muffled yell. Jason Tage jumped to his feet, immediately
alerted. Soon, a cloak figure stepped into view.
"Whoops, there goes the guard on duty," he said, acting apologetic. With a
fake smile, he asked, "How are you, Jason? I'm sure you ain't too well since
I just killed your sister." He laughed.
"You sick son of a—," Jason lunged himself at the figure, only to be stopped
by the Brig's security field. "If I ever get out of here, you're dead! Who
do you think you are, you big pile of—"
The man took off his hood and smiled. Jason stumbled backwards in
disbelief.
"Father?!"

TBC
<< By Traci Tage >>

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Stardate 9704.25
Everest's Sickbay

Traci Tage opened her eyes groggily, realizing that she was all healed, but
sore all over. The didn't give her a high enough dosage when they sedated
her, Traci realized with some amusement. She laid there for a second when a
horrible thought came to her. Jason was in the Brig for having a weapon in
the Commons and the man who tried to kill her would probably be after Traci.
One luxury about having a tech whiz for a daughter is being able to have all
kinds of knick knacks on hand. Slipping a device
out of her sleeve, she initiated a sight to sight transport.

Jason Tage stared at what looked liked his father in utter disbelief.
"Father?!"
"What's the matter, sonny boy?" He laughed cruelly. "Not taking a liking in
seeing your old man again?"
"YOU SICK SON OF A-," Jason screamed, lunging himself at his father again.
The Brig's force field flickered slightly, forcing Jason back. The man
smirked.
"Stop talking about your Grandmother, sonny boy."
Snarling, Jason looked around his holding cell. "I'm gonna to rip you apart
piece by piece!"
"Can't do it very well from there, can we? Here, let old pop help." His
smile faded and he turned off the force field. Slowly, he leveled his
disrupter at Jason. "Say 'good-night' to your old man."

TBC
<< By Traci Tage >>

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Stardate 9704.25
Security Office

Traci walked into the Security office to see the guard unconcise. Running
to the doorway, she looked down the hall, and saw what looked like her
father. Shocked for a moment, she soon realized that the man had a disrupter
out, pointed at Jason. Still sore from her injuries, she pulled out her
staff. Taking a deep breath, she leaped into the air. "AY-YI-YI-YI!!" She
landed right behind the man, her feet touching the ground without a sound.
"What the hell was that?" the man asked, refusing to break eye contact with
Jason. "Nice try, sonny boy. See, I'm going to set this on the lowest
setting, and bring it up higher every two seconds. I want you to FEEL the
pain." Jason, seeing Traci, tried to discreetly motion for Traci to hurry
up. Unfortunately, Traci was still feeling weak, nearly dropping the staff.
The man eyed Jason. "What are you doing?"
"Look behind you," Jason said with a grin. The man's eyes didn't even
shift.
"Nice try."
Traci took a deep breath and balanced her weight. "You better listen to
him, Father."
The man finally whirled around. As he did so, Traci swung her staff,
hitting his arm. He dropped the disrupter. Annoyed, the man grabbed Traci
and flung her across the room. She landed with a loud thud, and didn't get
up. Jason glanced at his sister before picking up the disrupter.
"Don't make me use this."
The man grinned and started toward Jason. Wincing, Jason fired. The man
collapsed in a heap, with a hole in his chest. Running over to his sister,
he knelt next her.
"Where you hurt, Sis?"
Coughing, Traci tried to pull herself up. "My ego, my pride . . .," Traci
tried to grin, but it felt like her face was cracking into a thousand pieces.

In Sickbay, Traci was listening to a lecture about why one should not
transport out of Sickbay immediately after surgery. Finally, Jason stepped
in saying that she had learned her lesson, et cetera. Traci rolled her eyes.
Lilly Beltre stepped into the room.
"Guys, we finished to autopsy on the man. I got good news and bad news.
Which do you want to hear first?"
"Good," answered both Traci and Jason at the same time.
Lilly pulled out a mask. "He was wearing this." Jason grabbed the mask,
turning it around in his hands.
"He's not Matthew Tage?" Traci asked, overwhelmed with relief. Even though
she knew that there was so little of a chance of her father surviving the
Rejenka Five massacre. Lilly shook her head.
"Bad news is . . . we ran a DNA check on him. And," Lilly hesitated. "He's
related. Maybe a brother, half-brother, second cousin, we're not sure. But
close in your immediate family."
Jason punched his fist lightly into his palm. "Damn." That word described
the situation perfectly.

<< The End. Log series by Traci Tage. >>

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Starting Over: A Drink Between Friends
Joint Log: Ashley and Tianna
Ashley leaned against the bar in Zot's, looking around at the half drunk
patrons. She watched Zot out of the corner of her eye, just waiting for him
to throw her out. The waiters threw nasty looks her way, but no one said a
thing to her as she ordered for her second drink.
She looked up at the door as Tianna wandered in, her black dress
sweeping the floor. Tianna stopped a waiter, who dashed off after a few
words with her. He came back a moment later with a tall glass for her.
Tianna looked over then, locking eyes with Ashley.
Ashley smiled, then made her way over.
"Tianna! How are you?"
She said nothing for a second, then answered quickly. "I'm fine. You?"
Ash nodded. "I'm here."
Tianna laughed. "Now you're going to be better than I am at avoiding a
question."
"I'm the counselor. I'm supposed to be." She smiled, then motioned
toward a table. "It's getting kind of crowded. Let's go sit."
Tianna nodded, and headed for an empty table. She pulled out a chair,
and sat down, Ashley taking the seat across from her.
Ashley took a long sip from her drink while Tianna looked to her own
drink.
Ashe raised the glass, looking at it's contents. "I've never had
Klingon Bloodwyne before. It's quite good."
Tianna looked at her, smiling thinly. "It's also very potent."
Ashley laughed quietly. "Yes, and considering I've not had an
intoxicating beverage for more than a year, I'll have my headache in the
morning."
"A year? My gods.." Her eyes widen as she takes a sip of her own drink.
Ashley nodded. "I really couldn't. I needed to maintain absolute
control. That was when I had started developing my mentall abilites."
~~Telepathy? Telekinesis? Empathic abilities?~~ Tianna asked.
Ashley went on sadly. "But I don't have to worry about that anymore."
Tianna stopped the telepathic thoughts and switched focus. "That's
good."
Ash looked at Tianna. She frowned at what 'that's good' was supposed to
mean, but brushed it off. It didn't matter. "It's too damn quiet in
here..."
Tianna looked at Ashley, knowing full well that Zot's was extremely
noisy for that hour of the night. She peers at Ash over the rim of her
glass.
"I like it though." Ash continued to speak about the mental silence.
"It's different."
She realized she was trying to convince herself of that, and quickly
changed topics. "You seem to be all dressed up tonight. Meeting anyone?"
"Not that I know of, but sometimes fate can twist."
"That it can." Ash smiled.
Tianna set her glass down, looking at her. "How long have you been
Counselor of Everest?"
"Not that long actually. Only about a month or so. I used to work in
R&D." She smiled fondly. "It was quite an adventure sometimes."
Tianna nodded. "That's quite a switch."
"Yes, but I needed a change of pace."
Tianna nodded.
"So, how do you like it here?"
Tianna averted her gaze. "Everest is very well run..."
Ash took a quiet sip from her drink. "It is. We have the best Captain
and First Officer in Starfleet."
Tianna smiled.
"But how do *you* like it?" Ashley prodded.
"I.... I should like it.. it's the steadiest post I've had in months."
"Should. But something is wrong, isn't it?"
"I'm in a good department, work with great officers... and for some
reason i'm not happy."
"Is it the work?"
"The work is fine." Tianna said after a pause. "I'm doing a lot of
things right now."
Ashley silently waits for Tianna to continue, taking another sip of her
bloodwyne.
"But no....i'm not satisfied with what i'm doing."
"Have you told anyone in your department about this?"
"I've talked to micheal....we've known each other for a long time.."
Ash tilted her head to the side in thought. "Micheal? St Croix?"
** TBC **

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Ash tilted her head to the side in thought. "Micheal? St Croix?"
"Yes."
Ash nodded. "I've only spoken to him in passing....has he given you any
advice?"
Tianna laughed. "Besides getting drunk or married? Actually, Michael
is very happy for the first time in a long time."
"I'm glad to hear that about him." She smiled.
"Michael is a doll, he truly is."
"I knew something was bothering him, but he never said anything about
it."
"That nasty little dog of his is another story." Tianna's thoughts took
her back to a time when the critter bit her while she was feeding him.
"Troublemaker?" Ash asked.
"No, just overly protective...I guess I''ve never been a dog person.."
"I'm not one for dogs myself. I prefer cats."
"They are nice." Tianna smiled. "Although, I'm partial to earth
ferrets."
"Ferrets." Ashley smiled fondly. "I had one as a child."
"As did I." Tianna responds, her eyes distant.
Ashley leaned forward. "Are you okay?"
Shaking her head, Tianna focused back on Ashley. "Lo siento."
"Don't be..." She answered quietly. Ashley perked up suddenly. "Say,
would you like to help me with something?"
Tianna tilted her head and looked at Ashley. "All right."
Ash leaned forward excitedly. "I'm working on a new holodeck
program.... it takes place during medievil times on earth..."
The two women leaned toward each other discussing their plans in the
midst of Zot's noisy bar. Shortly after, they left, parting in pleasant
company.
Ashley smiled as she stepped out of the turbolift near her quarters. "I
don't need my mental abilities in order to live day to day. I'm learning to
live without them. I'm starting over."

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One Problem After Another
joing log- Mars and Fox
Ashley sat in her office, reading over some memos from the medical
department. She had some people she needed to set up for counseling, and she
needed to get them in before they could report back to duty.
She heard the door open, and looked up to see JC Mars walk in.
"Ashley..." He smiled as he walked over to her.
"Hi, John." She smiled as he took her in his arms for a hug.
"I missed you." He said.
"Me, too." She said, sighing quietly. She pulled away from his arms,
moving silently to the couch.
He watched as she sat down in her usual seat.
She sighed, then looked up at him. "I've got a problem."
"What's wrong?" JC asked as he moved toward the couch.
"Do you remember when I told you my parents were planning to come?"
He nodded. "Yes."
"Um....... They're on their way. As we speak. They should be here
tomorrow."
JC let out a sharp breath.
"Exactly." She bit her lip before going on. "They heard about what
happened."
"About your abilites?" He asked.
She nodded as she leaned back onto the soft cushions.
He sat down next to her, placing a comforting hand on her knee.
Her next words came in a whisper. "They want me to go home."
"What?!" He turned his head to meet her gaze.
Ashley shook her head. "I'm not going back with them. I already told
them that."
He smiled at her, somewhat apprehensively.
She looked at him. "I can't leave here. That would be too much to
lose."
He hugged her silently.
She leaned against him, trying to relax.
"I'm looking forward to meeting them." John said.
Ashley let out a quick rush of air. "I'm not so sure about that, John."
He looked at her. "W-what do you mean?"
"They are very straightforward. They demand instead of asking. I love
them, but they can be pretty hard to beat in a fight... and that's what
they're coming here to do..... "
"With you or with me?"
"With me.....but be warned..." She looked him in the eye. "You're one
of the reasons I told them I'm not leaving Everest."
He hugged her then, at a loss for words.
She laid her head back on his shoulder. "They mean well enough."
John nodded. "Most parents do."
"Yes, well..." She chuckled. "You're going to find out how tough they
really are."
"I'm up for the challenge." He shrugged. "I'm not going to lose you;
you mean too much to me."
Ashley smiled softly. "I love you John."
"I love you too, AJ." He grinned.
She leaned up, kissing him lightly on the cheek.
They sat there for a while, savoring the silence until a low grumbling
was heard.
"Um....... are you hungry?" Ashley asked as he asked her, "Would you
like to get something to eat?"
They turned to each other laughing.
John stood up, taking her hand. "Any preferences?"
Ashley grinned rebelliously. "Let's go to Zots."
"You think that they'll us in?" He grinned at her playfully.
"We could always threaten them."
They linked arms as they headed for the door.

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- Liem O’Hare -
Personal Log
Stardate 9705.04

::I tiredly said:: Computer end log
::Bleep::
::Pause::
::Half- Asleep I say again:: Computer begin recording Personal Log for
Stardate 9705.04
::Bleep::

I had a good time on this mission.. Ever since I moved from my home land of
Ireland I wanted to become an officer in the sky. In Ireland of course
everyone knows about the leprechauns. So when I was about 3; I went out to
catch me self one of my own. I heard from my father that the leprechauns hid
in the trees of the deep woods at the end of the rainbow. I was looking up
for quite a while and then I tripped on a stump and fell into what seemed to
me, an everlasting pit. When I reached the bottom
with a sore bum, I stood up and saw the most amazing thing. At least 500
piles and pots of gold were sitting in every nook and cranny of the little
underground apartment. After a look around and a little taking, I saw the
leprechaun sleeping on top of a pile of gold. He was wearing a little green
outfit with a four leaf clover in his hat. I immediately ran over and
grabbed him because everyone knows that if you catch a leprechaun you get one
wish. He awakened at my touch and started screaming for
his mommy. He said, "Ooh, it seems I had something of a bad dream." "And
who might you be", he said again. I said, "My name’s Liem O’Hare; and I want
my wish." "Well what is it" he softly said. I said, "I want to fly high
above the birds and the sky. To see what’s out there." "Well if that is
what you want, go to San Francisco and go to Star Fleet Academy. Then you’ll
be in the stars forever. Well I did and here I am today. As proud as one
could be. I hope I’ll enjoy Everest as much as I enjoy
life.

::More enlightened and awake I said:: Computer end Personal Log
::Bleep::

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First Lieutenant Wes C'Rusher
Operations Manager
Starbase Everest
Personal Log sdd9705.11

*OPEN LOG*

I spent ALL of my time cleaning up my office, after someone broke in and
tore everything up. Many valuable things were stolen, but luckily, with the
help of Mr Pack, and Mr Blake, I was able to get them back. We found them
scattered in several different, and odd places.
After getting everything back, and cleaning up most of the stuff that was
messed up, we began running pherensic scans on everything, along with
reviewing sensors logs, and computer logs. I found nothing. I don't really
care who did it, I just want to know why.

*CLOSE LOG*

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:: tianna was in her quarters, silently packing what she actually valued into
a small bag ::

:: after slinging it across her shoulder she sighed before heading out into
the hall and walking toward the empty, forgotten guest dock 3 ::

:: the tiny box was there. just like she knew it would be ::

:: lifting it she threw the lid aside and grabbed the cynlinder, placing it
in an unseen pocket of her generic black uniform ::

:: gregor's words rang in her mind and she brushed them off ::

loyalty to pacifica...as if it were in danger....talk about melodramatic....

:: leaving the dock she walked toward the infinity for the upcoming mission,
this time her mind turning to the one aspect of the data concerning the
biological targeting system she had left out of her reports on the status of
star base 230 ::

:: the advanced technology would be very dangerous....yet it would also be
the one component of any weapon that could destory the borg without question
::

:: the physics were thought to be impossible, and the cardassians and
romulans had been battling over tantalizing bits of information....neither
party had what they needed ::

:: yet the maquis did....and they had successfully integrated the advanced
weapons into their systems....it was almost ready ::

:: tianna glanced down at the chip in her hand, the tiny piece of "disruptor
trigger" that she had retrieved from the pre-industrial world ::

:: that chip held the pathways for the biological scanners, and she had it ::

:: tianna checked the portable beacon slipped into her uniform and walked
along ::

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:: she lifted a weak arm and unclenched her fist, revealing the chip ::

:: gingerly she removed the hidden beacon, placing the chip inside and
activating it ::

"lo siento....but it must be stopped....."

:: tianna hit the activation button and the beacon shimmered away ::

:: the el aurian closed her eyes and sighed ::

"almost a century...."

:: tianna stopped breathing, her no color going to ashen and her arm sliding
off the table ::

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* this is my last log and sim.....please remove me from your email string and
roster

thank you -
tianna

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Challenging Zot
-LtCdrMars, LtAshley-

Ashley Fox and JC Mars enter Zot's Bar, arm in arm.
The waiters freeze as they walk in. They watch as Fox and Mars walk over
to a table as if in slow motion.
A short ferengi walks over to them. "I hope you're here to pay the bill
from last time."
John pulls out a chair for Ashley, and she sits down slowly.
John takes a seat opposite her, and looks up at the ferengi. "And I
hope that you're here to bring the menu." He smiled innocently.
The ferengi stared at them. "You're supposed to pay up. AND you're not
allowed to eat in here."
Ashley leaned forward, glaring at him. "Listen, I just had a bad
day.... I'm hungry. and I'm not leaving."
John nodded. "My words exactly."
"I'm going to get Zot. Don't go anywhere unless you plan on leaving."
He runs off, dropping the menus on the floor.
Ashley laughed. "Here's where the fun starts."
John chuckled along with her . "Maybe we should call Tage in."
"Nah. He'd enjoy the beating with her staff."
John shuddered. "Yuck... you're right."
Zot runs over, latinum signs shining in his eyes.
John looked over at Ashley as she leaned back in her chair. She crossed
one leg over the other casually as she looked up at Zot.
"Well, well..... didn't I tell you two not to come back here?"
Ashley smiled sweetly. "Oh? When was this?"
He glares at them. "This was the time you wrecked my bar, ruined my
chocolate, and destroyed all my glasses."
Ashley perked up. "Chocolate sounds good right now."
"Yes, it does? A sundae, maybe?" John suggested.
"Yes, with whipped cream.... lots of hot fudge too." Ashley grinned.
Zot turned to Mars. "Are you going to take her out of here?"
"No... the only person who's going to be taken out of here is you... on
a stretcher, I might add..."
Zot sighs heavily. "Are you threatneing me, Commander?"
John shook his head. "Whatever are you talking about, Zot?!"
Zot grumbles under his breathe, then speaks up. "I don't want you in
here. You can't stay here. I can't make any pofit while the two of you are
together! You drink nothing but water.." as he glares at ashley, "And cause
all kinds of damage."
Zot looks quickly back at Ashley. "Wait a sec."
He looks very closely at her. "You were in here last night." He
crosses his arms. "Yes, you were."
"Me?" She grinned as she winked at JC. "Why would I be in here ? I
thought I was banned from here.
"Yes, I didn't recognize you..... because you ordered the bloodwyne
instead of your usual." He glares. "No one respects a ferengi." He shakes
his head. "I give up. You hu-mans are too annoying."
Ashley grins victoriously at JC.
John turns his gaze to Zot. "You're a real pal, Zot."
"No problem. Anytime. Yeah. whatever." He walks away, his head low.
Ashley frowned as he walked away. "He forgot to take our order."

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Seheb and Malana were heading for the airlock, when Seheb's commbadge
beeped, "Seheb, this is Pack, we need some help down here in Zots, another
fight has broken out."
They kept walking as if nothing ever happened when it beeped again,
"Seheb! Get down to Zots immediately."
"Aren't you going to answer that?" Malana asked looking at his commbadge.
Seheb glared at her, "Do you think I am going to stop a stupid fight when
our children are at stake? I think not."
Malana nodded and continued walking.
As they reached the airlock, they saw two security officers standing in
front of it. Seheb and Malana looked at each other and approached them.
"We need to get through," Seheb said as looked at the young officer's
pips and glared at him, "Ensign."
The Ensign stuttered, "I'm sorry si- si- sir, but I've been er... umm...
instructed by Commander Pack to not let you through."
Seheb started to get angry but kept calm, "Please Ensign, we need to
leave the station right away. I would appreciate it if you would stand out
of the way."
"Let me contact Commander Pack," he said.
The Ensign tapped his commbadge and started to talk quietly with Pack.
Seheb and Malana stood there and looked at each other. Their patience was
wearing thin. Malana looked at Seheb with imploring eyes. "Do something,"
she hissed.
"Commander Pack, this is Seheb, we need to leave the station."
"I'm sorry," he began, "but things are just way too hectic now down in
Security. I cannot let you off duty. Maybe next week, but not now," came
the reply.
Seheb took a deep breath and said, "Sir, please, our children are gone.
A few days is all I need. We have waited far too long for these so called
"investigators" to find our children. Malana and I are going to leave
whether we are off duty or not, so I suggest that you please let me go."
"Seheb, you are not to leave this station unless I say so. Now, please
get back to duty," Pack said with the hint that it was final.
Malana looked at Seheb. Seheb looked back and understood what had to be
done.
"Aye, sir," Seheb said reluctantly.
Malana glared at the Ensign, "Ensign, you are to move out of our way, or
we WILL force our way through."
The Ensign began to muster up courage, "I CANNOT let you through."
Seheb stepped up to the Ensign, glaring down on him, "Ensign, do NOT make
us hurt you."
His voice started to get louder, "Do NOT THREATEN ME!!"
Malana and Seheb each took one of the officers and pushed them aside.
They entered the airlock and started up the Engines of the USS Boyington.
They began to pull away from the Everest when a voice came over the comm,
"USS Boyington, you are not cleared for departure. Please wait."
Seheb put all power into the thrusters and headed forward. Suddenly,
both of them slammed forward as a tractor beam hooked onto them.
"I'm going to shut down everything but life support and give it to the
engines," Malana told Seheb.
Another jolt hit the ship as they began to get out of the tractor beam.
Malana slowly put more power into the engines and they pulled out of the beam
and went into warp.

TBC
<<Joint log between you know who....yup you guessed it LtnSeheb and
LtMalana>>

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Malana looked over at Seheb. Seheb felt her eyes on him and turned to her.
Malana gave a weak smile and took Seheb's hand. Seheb squeezed her hand
reassuringly and continued to look out the viewscreen. A comfortable silence
continued.
Seheb relaxed a bit and began to hum to a tune in his head. "Hmm..
hmm... hmm..." He turned to Malana and smiled at her.
"You're so silly," she said.
"Just trying to relieve some tension," he replied.
Malana sat and looked out the viewscreen. Suddenly she said, "When we
get Jonas and Daria back I just know I'm going to spoil them senseless." She
turned and grinned at Seheb, "And you better do the same daddy."
Seheb chuckled, "You bet I will."
The happy mood was interupted with a zap of static on the comm. The
crackle continued to build up from the sound of a burning match to a forest
fire. Malana winced at the awful noise and said to Seheb, "What's with this
comm?"
"I dunno," he said looking at the comm with curiousity. He began to
fiddle with the controls.
"So you're coming I see," came a deep and scratchy voice from the comm.
Seheb jumped slightly and glanced up at Malana. Fear had ripped through
Malana's mind. She froze in her chair and stared, horrified at the voice
from the comm.
The voice started up again, "Heeelllo? I know you're there, so don't try
to hide... Malana!"
Seheb, filled with anger, answered back, "Dorsema!!"
"You bet your life... And this must be the lucky husband. Good catch you
got there Malana," the voice said menacingly.
Malana stood up, with primal rage deep within her, gave a desperate
scream, "WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM US?!?!" She began to pound her fist against
the comm. Seheb put his hand down on her fist and gave her a gentle look.
She looked back at him and gave a tired sigh and sat back down.
Dorsema laughed cruely, "Muhahahaha..." he continued, "getting a little
mad I see, Malana? That's what I always liked about you. Your short-temper
was perfect in getting shipments in on time. Pity you still don't work for
me."
Taking a deep breath, Malana said, "Believe me, buddy, I'm glad I don't
work for you any more. I would rather walk through phaser fire before
working for some low life sleaze ball like you."
"Tsk tsk tsk, now Malana, is that the way you are gonna treat me?
Especially, might I add, since I got your adorable kids here," Dorsema
replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Seheb turned and whispered to his wife, "Look honey, we can't get him
mad, just ignore his comments and see if we can find something out about
Daria and Jonas."
Malana nodded and glanced back down at the comm.
Seheb turned to the comm and spoke into it, "Is there a reason that you
contacted us Dorsema, or was it just to taunt us?"
Laughing, Dorsema spoke again, "Oh yes, contrary to popular belief, I
have contacted you for a reason. I have a proposition for you. Well,
actually, its not really a proposition, but oh well. I can have a ship come
to your coordinates, and pick you up. They will take you to me, and you
might have a chance of getting your children back. Or, you can turn around
and head back to your puny little starbase and never have a chance of even
talking to your children again. So whats it gonna be?"
Malana spoke quickly, "Well what do you think, you slimy little wor--er I
mean Dorsema? OF COURSE we are going to let you pick us up. We will stay
here and wait."
"My ship will be there shortly," he grumbled.

TBC
<<Joint log by hmm.....who could have done this? Right again LtnSeheb and
LtMalana>>

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First Lieutenant Wes C'Rusher
Operations Manager
Starbase Everest
Personal Log sd9705.12

*OPEN LOG*

After returning to Everest after the mission to Iconian, we began the minor
repairs that were need on the Infinity. I then went to Zot's with Mars, and
some other crew members to have a drink. We talked over the mission, trying
to compile the report for Captain Zier. It took us a while, since there was
so much to cover, and the team was so spread out. So we talked to the
different team members to see what happened. After about 45 minutes, we had
it finished, and we both left to our seperate quarters.
After going to my quarter for a few minutes, I decided to go to my office to
get some stuff done, so I left.

*CLOSE LOG*

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LtCdr Dr. Nicholi Devin Smile, MD
Chief Medical Officer
Starbase Everest

::In Sickbay::

Nick> ::looking at guy on Bio bed:: Just calm down, sir.

Man> ::shaking:: You must help me! There after me!

Nick> ::gives man a hypo in the neck:: You got to calm down, sir.

Man> ::falls asleep::

::In docking ring 7::

Pack> I dont know what happended. I came to check their cargo and they were
all crazy.

Nick> Crazy? In what way?

Pack> Well, after they docked, I went to check their cargo. Then this guy
came and pushed me out of the way saying he was the leader of the klingon
empire. Then, the Helmsman said he was a bird and was going nuts. To tell you
the truth, I think theirs a virus on that ship.

Nick> Ok, I'll check it out. In the mean time, make sure nobody gets in this
ship. I think their is a virus in here.

Pack> Right.

::In the Cargo ship::

As I was walking in the cargo ship, I heard something comming
from down one of the halls. I ran to see what was going on and I found from
strange brown goo on one of the doors. I looked at the door and pulled out my
tricorder. I scaned the goo and kept a distance from it. The readouts I got
were not good. The strange brown goo was somekind of virus that I never seen
before. I looked at the door and read what it said, it read, "Cargo Hold 4".
Now was a time to panic. I went to reach the
controls to open the door, but the controls were covered with goo. I then
went to open the door with my hands. The doors opened with no dificulty, I
was suprised. I looked around in the cargo hold and saw brown goo all over
the all the cargo containers. Then I heard that noise agian, it was from
somebody. I looked on the ground and saw I man on the floor covered in brown
goo. I scaned him with my tricorder but it was to late. The man was dead. The
virus went through him like nothing else.

::In the Captains Office::

Zier> Interesting report, Doctor.

Nick> Yes, sir. I know what the virus looks like and I know the symptoms are.

Zier> Tell me about the symptoms?

Nick> Well sir, these symtoms make you go crazy. Its that simple. Once you
are infected by this virus, you get these symtoms of crazyness and then the
brown goo, as I call it, comes out of your mouth, nose and ears and just
covers you.

Zier> Then?

Nick> Your dead.

Zier> I see. What do you think we should do?

Nick> May I have permission to quarantine the cargo vessel and send in some
of my men to investigate this virus, so we know more about it?

Zier> Permission granted, Doctor. Continue with your work.

Nick> Yes, sir.

TBC

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LtCdr Dr. Nicholi Devin Smile, MD
Chief Medical Officer
Starbase Everest

::In Docking Ring 7::

Pack, Some Medical Ensigns, and Myself are standing in front of
docking ring 7 getting ready to investigate the brown goo that is in the
cargo ship.

Nick> Pack, you stay on guard out here while the Ensigns and I go
investigate.

Pack> Right.

::In the Cargo ship::

In the ship, I split everyone up in teams of 2. I went with
Ensign Caroline, and someothers went with others. On the otherside of the
ship, Ensign James and Ensign Asher were doing their medical studies when
they ran into some diffuculty.

James> ::scans a person covered in goo:: Asher, I found another. This one has
been dead for a while. The tricorder reads he died 3 hours ago.

Asher> Hmm. Strange.

James> ::get off of floor and looks down at the goo covered body:: I wonder
where it came from.

Asher> Doctor Smile said it came from some cargo they had. The cargo was
Space rocks. This ship was to carry these rocks to starbase 211 for
investigating. I guess these rocks weren't the ones they were supposed to
get.

James> You got that right. ::puts his hand on wall and touches goo:: Uhoh.
::brushes his hands on his pants:: I hope that goo didn't effect me.

Asher> ::scans James with Tricorder:: James, your running a fever. The goo
effected you to much. ::looks at James:: James? Are you listening? James?

James> ::smiles:: Hi Asher. How are you doing?

Asher> James, this is no time for games, lets go to....

James> ::puts hands on Ashers throat:: This is not a game my friend. You will
die.

Asher> ::chocking:: H..Help......

James> Stop struggling! ::chokes her more::

Asher> ::knees him were it hurts::

James> ::On floor:: Asher, that wasn't nice.

Asher> ::running down hall of ship::

James> ::chasing after Asher:: Come here! Im going to kill you!

Pack> ::walks in hall and runs into Asher:: Hey, sorry Asher. Why are you
running?

Asher> ::points down the hall:: James is trying to kill me! He put his hands
on the wall and got enfected by the goo!

James> ::running:: Come here, Asher! ::a little bit a goo come out of his
ear::

Pack> ::stuns James with phaser::

James> ::falls::

::In Sickbay::

"Asher, you ok?" I asked. "Yes sir, Im fine." she said still
scared. I looked at her neck and saw some goo dripping. "Asher, Im going to
have to put you in a Bio Bed. You have been effected by the goo. I guess when
James choked you, he still had a little goo on his hands" Asher went calmly
to her Bio Bed and layed down. Tarkin went over to her and put a sleeping
hypo in her. She fell asleep in an instance. Next, I went to James' Bio Bed.
He looked Pale and he was running a very high fever
that was not going down. I had to do something, and I had to do it quick. I
had to find a cure, if I dont, Asher, James, and the surving crew of the
cargo ship would die. Thats when I went to work.

TBC

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LtCdr Dr. Nicholi Devin Smile, MD
Chief Medical Officer
Starbase Everest

::In Sickbay::

Nick> Computer, put in 25cc of Hetopinicline and 20cc of Occent in with the
other stuff.

Computer> Processing Data.

Nick> ::waits::

Computer> No effect. The Brown substance is still intact.

Nick> ::slams fist on armrest of chair:: Computer, tell me the medicines that
are effecting the Brown substance.

Computer> Processing Data. ::scans:: Scans Complete, only Medicines effecting
the brown substance are 20cc of Decocine and 35cc of Treopic.

Nick> Computer, give me 20cc of Decocine and 35cc of Treopic and mix it with
the brown substance.

Computer> Processing Data. ::scans:: Scans Complete. Little Effect. Brown
substance went down 11%.

Nick> Computer, is the substance droping at all?

Computer> Processing Data. ::scans:: Scans Complete. Brown Substance just
went down 9%.

Nick> ::puts his hands behind his head:: I think we found a cure.

Computer> Substance is now comming back. ::scans:: Brown substance is now
back to 100%. Medicine had no effect.

Nick> ::gets out of chair and leans up agianst wall and looks at Asher:: Dont
worry Ash, I'll find that cure.

Tarkin> ::walks to Nick:: Sir, may I try on the computer to find a cure? You
have been on the computer for hours. You need to get some rest, sir.

Nick> Ok, Tarkin. Try to find the cure.

Tarkin> Any Medicines I should use?

Nick> I've tried Decocine and Trepoic. You may want to use those. The helped
some.

Tarkin> Right, sir. I'll get right on it.

TBC

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LtCdr Dr. Nicholi Devin Smile, MD
Chief Medical Officer
Starbase Everest

::In the cargo ship::

Nick> ::in a bio suit:: Be careful, people.

Ensign> Yes, sir. ::walks down a hall::

Nick> ::runs a tricorder over some brown goo:: Facinating. This goo seems to
live off of organs of a living being.

Brown goo starts to flow together right behind me. I didnt know it
at first, but when I turned around, it was tall and dripping with goo. It
jumped at me and I ducked out of the way. It fell splat on the floor and goo
went everywhere. I looked at the goo on the floor to see if it would form
back and try another attack, but it just stayed there.

Nick> ::scans goo:: It seems to be that this goo just died from lack of food.
Or, should I say, organs.

::In Sickbay::

Nick> Anything new, Tarkin?

Tarkin> ::looks away from computer:: Not yet, sir. Im getting real close to a
cure. Theres just a few more things I need to add.

Nick> Keep searching Tarkin.

Tarkin> ::looks back at the computer:: Eye, sir.

Cargo Pilot> ::coughs::

Nick> ::turns around::

Cargo Pilot> ::goo comes out of his mouth and ears and it starts covering his
body::

Nick> My god! Nurse, this man is dying!

Nurse> ::looks at his pulse:: Sir, he has no pulse.

Nick> ::looks at goo covered Pilot::

Nurse> Hes dead, sir.

TBC

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LtCdr Dr. Nicholi Devin Smile, MD
Chief Medical Officer
Starbase Everest

::In Captain Zier's Ready Room::

Zier> Report, Mr. Smile?

Nick> ::looks at padd:: Sir, I've done some recent reasearch on the brown goo
and found some interetsing facts.

Zier> Tell me about these facts.

Nick> Well sir, the goo seems to go into the host, attach itself in you
inside organs and live off of it. After its done, it come out of your ears,
mouth, or nose. Then it covers the outside of your body in goo and stays
there forever.

Zier> Can we cure the people that have the goo on the outside of their body?

Nick> Not that I can tell ,sir. It seems to attach itself strong on the
outside.

Zier> So the only way we can cure this virus is from the inside of the body.

Nick> Correct, sir.

Zier> ::looks down at desk:: How is the cure comming along?

Nick> Slow. Tarkin and I have been running tests and we were only able to get
a few medicines that could come to a cure.

Zier> I see. I want you to find a cure and find it fast. I dont want this goo
to go into another docking ring.

Nick> Dont worry, sir. ::walks out of Captains Ready Room::

Yes, the cure was develpoing slowly but we worked our butts
off all the time. Medicines comming in, and medicines going out. It was
getting scary than ever before. As I felt a tap on my shoulder, I looked back
and saw Tarkin with a tricorder in his hand. "Doctor Smile, Asher is getting
worse. It seems I found her symptom." I looked at Tarkin puzzled. "What is
the symptom?" Tarkin looked down at the tricorder, "Fear, sir. When we get
close to her to take some tests, she shows sign of
fear. She yells, screams, and some times hides under the covers." I rubed my
chin and looked at the sick people on the bio beds infected by this virus.
"Sir, I stablized her condition right now." I looked down at the floor and
then it came to me. I said in a soft voice, "Redzine." Tarkin looked at me
puzzled. "Redzine, sir?" I looked up in a flash and hurried to the computer.
I sat in the chair and started the process.

Nick> Computer, please mix Redzine iwth the other medicines that I have
picked out.

Computer> Redzine is now with other medicines.

Nick> Computer, use the medicines and mix it in with the brown substance.

Computer> Processing Data. ::scans:: Scans complete. Brown substance has went
down 43% and droping.

Nick> Its working so far.

Computer> Brown substance has went down 33% more.

Tarkin> ::smiles:: Its working, sir!

Computer> Brown substance has went down 24%. Brown substance has now been
disolved.

TBC

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LtCdr Dr. Nicholi Devin Smile, MD
Chief Medical Officer
Starbase Everest

::In Sickbay 2 days later::

Nick> Asher, can you tell me more what happended when you were infected by
this virus.

Asher> How do you mean, sir?

Nick> I mean like, how did you feel? Were you seeing things?

Asher> Well, I did feel kind of sick in the chest. And I had a bad headache.
And I didnt see things.

Nick> When I gave you the cure, did you feel any different?

Asher> Yes, the sick feeling in my chest dissaperaed and so did my headache.

Nick> ::pressing buttons on padd:: Ok.

Asher> Sir, are all the other people alright?

Nick> Yes, I gave them the cure and they now seem fine. I went aboard the
cargo vessel and got rid of all the brown goo that was left.

Asher> Can I go now, sir?

Nick> Sure.

Asher> ::gets up and leaves::

Yep. It was over. The brown goo was never heard of agian. The people
that got covered with the goo from the outside were already dead. The cure
had no effect on them. It was a shame, if only we could of found a cure
earlier, we could of saved them. The good part is, Asher and the surviving
crew of the cargo vessel made it safe.
As I went to my office, I went to the replicator and got a cold glass
of milk and then I sat down in my chair. I leaned back and streached. Looked
at my desk and smiled. I took a big gulp of milk and closed my eyes.

THE END

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FsLtObrien walked into his quarters, exhausted. He had had a very busy day,
and catching up on his messages was something he sometimes feared would
worsen it. He didn't believe the messages would ruin this day, however;
despite the amount of work he'd done, he was still pleased with the way the
day turned out. A highlight had been the R&D meeting, when he found out that
he would be able to continue working on the intercept (R&D project), which he
had thought was discontinued.
He sat down behind his desk, and turned on his computer monitor. The screen
flashed "Messages Waiting". He opened the correct directory, and found that
the weeks crew roster had been sent to the crew. He eagerly opened the file
and began reading. He found that he'd received a "Single Lynx", which he'd
assumed he wasn't going to get, since he had been trapped in the jeffries
tube after doing maintenance on the waste systems, and wasn't able to do any
work for several days.
He then scrolled to the top of the message again, and began reading the
important stuff (he had a habit of first checking for a ^,,^ next to his name
before he did so). After reading the status of the current fiasco with an
Iconian, he noticed some sad news: they had lost four officers. Baxter, who
had just begun to know well; Tianna, who he had been on only a few missions
with, but had begun to think of her as a friend; Data, who he really hadn't
gotten to know; and Beltre, who had started her
commission on Everest only a week or so before he took his leave of absence.
He scrolled down a little more, and found no promotions to cheer him up.
Even though he knew he wasn't promoted, and was there for the mission to know
no one else was, it still would have changed the news.
~~Chicken would be fine~~
The thought entered his head like an arrow with no visible origin. He
looked around, to see where the voice had come from, as if the speaker was in
the quarters with him.
~~Great, I know this delicious new Terran restaurant~~
He tried to stop the thoughts and speech from entering his head, but the
voices echoed with no end. The voices had seemed to be a rock dropping in
pond, and he was continuing to feel the ripples in the water.
~~~Sounds good to me~~~
Obrien seemed relieved, the sentence seemed to be a conversation ender, but
the ripples of all the sentences were still in his head.
He had had to cope with these same episodes ever since he discovered his
telepathy on an away mission to Aris. He had been able to block some of it,
but not all. The episodes had got him thinking. Why am I hearing two parts
to a conversation, when thought is the only thing I should hear? If someone
had thought "Chicken would be fine," then he shouldn't have heard "Great, I
know this delicious new Terran restaurant." He then realized what had been
going on. Most people think what they'll say before
they say it. The episodes had quickly been dismissed.
Now, they were more frequent; as he worked, during meetings, on planets,
almost everywhere.
He got up from his chair, and decided he would see Counselor Ashley. He
then realized it was too late, she had already left on her vacation to a
place called Florida. He had never been there, but by the talk of cadets at
the Academy, it was very beautiful. He hated himself for not trying to fix
the problem earlier. He had had plenty of time to talk to her about it
before she left, but he had procrastinated. He just kept telling himself he
would talk to her the tomorrow, over and over.
After mentally beating himself up for a moment, he remembered Ashley wasn't
the only telepath (former telepath). He could talk to Kirmina.
He sat back down in his chair and began going through his messages again.
He noticed something was missing, but it was fairly unimportant.
As he scrolled down farther, he realized the voices had stopped. He smiled,
and opened up a message on the computer monitor.
Tomorrow, I'll go see Kirmina.

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Long Time No See -2- (part 1 is in the Stealth folders under FstLtJade)
-Joint Log: FstLtJade, LtAshley-

Donna Jade ran down the commons searching for a tiny redhaired Trill.
"Cyna!" She called.
She felt like kicking herself for being so careless as to let the girl
get lost. How could she do that?! She sighed, furious, and continued
searching for her daughter.
Ashley moved down the commons the other way, angry at herself for losing
the child in the first place. Had she still possessed her telepathic skills,
she'd be able to locate the child quite easily.
Ashley sighed.
She knew that Donna was probably blaming herself at this moment, angry
that she brought the child on board the station. Ash knew that she was going
to have to talk to Donna about that. If she didn't, Donna would end up
keeping the girl under lock and key for the rest of her childhood years.
"Cyna!" Ashley called out.
She heard a familiar giggle, and she turned around to see Cyna talking
to Zot.
She ran over quickly, snatching up the little girl. "Cyna! I'm so glad
I found you!"
"Ashley!" Cyna squealed. "Zot's funny! He's showing me magic tricks!"
Zot glared at Ashley. "Do you think I'd let anything happen to Jade's
daughter?"
Ash looked at him. "You know Jade?"
Zot snickered. "Do I know her? I'll tell you how well I know her." He
leaned forward, whispering. "After watching her break that hu-man's arm so
easily, I know to stay on her good side. I don't ever want that Trill coming
after me!"
Ashley held back a laugh, as she took Cyna's arm. "Come on, let's go
get your mom."
Cyna giggled. "I want more magic tricks! I like the one where he pulls
the latinum out of his---"
"ZOT!" Ashley spun to face him, thinking the worst. "Tell me you
didn't!"
"Actually, counselor, I didn't. Ask her where I pulled it from." Zot
smiled smugly.
"Go on, Cyna. Finish telling me about the magic trick." Ash glared at
Zot, but then turned to Cyna.
The little girl's blue eyes glimmered with excitement. "He pulled it
from behind my ears!!! Wait till I show Mommy what I can do!"
Cyna put her finger behind her ear, and tried to pull away a slip of
latinum. She frowned as she looked at her empty hand. "It didn't work."
Zot laughed. "That's because it's my latinum." He turned and walked
away.
Cyna looked up at Ashley ready to cry. "I can't do the magic trick."
"It's all right, why don't we go do something else for a while?" Ashley
lifted the girl into her arms, determined not to lose her again.
"Can I get a lollipop?"
"Sure! What flavor do you like?"
"I want a big one with lots of different flavors in it! Grandmother used
to get me those all the time!" Cyna grinned.
"Let's go see if we can find them." Ashley walked up the commons toward
a large candy store. She tapped her comm badge as they neared the door.
"Fox to Jade. I found her..... we're by the candy shop."
"Wonderful!" Jade's voice came through. "I'm on my way."
A few moments later, Jade came jogging up, dodging people as they glared
at her.
"Cyna!" She smiled as she saw the girl. She swept her up into her
arms, nearly swinging her through the air. "I'm so glad you're all right!"
"Of course I am, Mommy. I saw you talking to that man with the big
ears, so I went to say hi to him. He showed me magic tricks." Cyna smiled,
then licked her lollipop.
"Big ears?" She turned her head to Ash. "Is she talking about that
sniveling ferengi in there?"
Ashley nodded.
** TBC **

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Jade took a deep breath.
"Donna." Ash looked at her. "As much as I'd love to blame Zot, thisis
something that happens to everyone." Ash smiled. "At least it turned out
positively."
"True." Donna nodded. "It could have been a lot worse. But I have one
question for you."
"What's that?" Ash looked up at the taller woman.
"Don't you ever go off duty, Counselor?"
Without hesitation, Ashley answered, "Do you?"
"Never mind." Jade laughed. "I see we're more alike than I thought!"
Cyna laughed with them, not sure what she was laughing at. "Mommy, can
we get a puppy?"
Cyna pointed in through the window of the pet shop.
Ashley and Donna looked at each other.
Donna looked at Cyna. "Let's talk about this later, okay honey?"
"Um....... okay." Cyna frowned.
Donna hugged her daughter. "I won't forget honey. We will talk about
it later."
"Okay, Mommy." Cyna smiled as she hugged her mom.
Ashley started telling them about a medevil holoprogram she was working
on. "Maybe Cyna might want to help me with it?"
"Yes!!!!" Cyna perked up.
"All right then." Donna smiled. "Let's go."

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Spinning
FsLtObrien laid in his bed. Starbase Everest seemed to float around him as
if he were on a merry-go-round. Faces, voices, objects, were all in spin
with Everest. He could not distinguish one thing from another, they all
blurred together like the colors of a sunset.
Sleep would not come. Sleep was the only thing that would take him from
this endlessly spinning place, and it would not come. He would close his
eyes, and the blending rainbow of the spinning Starbase Everest would
penetrate his eyelids like they weren't even there. He would blink, and the
images would remain forever in his sight.
The spinning slowed, but barely so. He sat up, his bed that held him up
from the "spinning place" was the only thing rotating with him. It was the
only thing he could discern from the surrounding colors.
He tried to reach onto into it, but his arm retracted; an invisible force
and pushed it back.
The spinning abruptly stopped, and he could see he was in his quarters, but
only for an instant. The spinning started again, but in the opposite
direction.
The rainbow of colors began to darken as he began to spin faster and faster.
The blues turned to black, along with the most of the other colors. The rest
just slowly darkened, until they too were consumed by the black hole of
darkness.
White spots appeared, bulbs of light burning endlessly. He was in space,
but he continued to spin.
The stars continued to appear, until they seemed to completely cover up
space's black backdrop.
A green object appeared, then a large orange circular one. The shapes
continued change shape, and color, until they were distinguishable. A concave
two-dimentional version of Starbase Everest and the planet Hemeria spun
around him.
The spinning slowed, but continued. It brought him closer to Hemeria now.
He was now in the atmosphere of the planet. Starbase Everest could no longer
be seen, no matter which way we looked.
The strangeness of sitting on a bed while floating through clouds of gas and
dust seemed almost familiar, yet he wasn't sure why. A past experience, a
dream? He then remembered. Before he had been sent away by the Founders, he
had had Jem'Hadar training, including how to survive on a planet with high
pressures, low pressures, high temperatures, low temperatures etc.. He
wasn't exactly on a bed then, but the simulator had made him feel somewhat
safe, knowing that he really wasn't in the middle of
some planets atmosphere. The bed seemed to give him the same protection.
The gases so far hadn't touched him. Something had formed a bubble around
him, protecting him from all outside forces.
In the distance, we could see something traveling through the gases. It got
closer and closer. The gases swirled as it past through. He knew he
couldn't possibly be in the atmosphere of Hemerian anymore.
The gases disappeared, and he was in space. He turned to look, and the
gases were still behind him.
The ship got closer, and closer, and closer. He could now almost touch it
as it flew by. Unfortunately, he couldn't see it's registry.
His bed turned, and followed it. Together, the bed and the starship entered
the cloud of gases. They continued to fly for several minutes, until the
blackness of space could be spotted a short distance away.
He looked back and saw the swirling gases behind the starship and the bed.
They cleared the gases, and re-entered the starscape. Ahead was Everest,
and behind was Hemeria. They got closer and closer to Starbase Everest.
The spinning has stopped he suddenly thought as he watched the massive
starbase stay in one place as they approached.
They entered Pyra G. He could see the Infinity within it, and several other
slips for smaller craft.
The ship docked. He could hear the click as they umbilicles attached.
His bed pulled away, and turned so he was now in front of the ship. He
stood up to get a good view of its title. It read:

U.S.S. STEALTH

<Welcome to Starbase Everest, crew of the USS Stealth

Mel>

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Homeward Bound
-1-
Ashley walked along the corridor, making her way to Pyra B where the USS
Centaurian was docking at that very moment. She forced herself to remain
calm, battling her anxiety at dealing with the parental forces that were on
that ship. She was also very excited to see them as they had not been
together since her graduation from the academy.
She stopped walking, and leaned against the bulkhead as the people began
to file out from the ship.
She scanned the moving the crowd for her parents faces, trying to catch
sight of them before they saw her.
Unconsciously she tugged at her uniform, smoothing the shirt. She stood
a little straighter as two admirals passed by, looking past her, through her,
and kept going.
She frowned, wondering why it was taking them so long to come out.
She was about to contact the ship, to find out if the Foxes had indeed
booked passage on the Centaurian, when she heard a familiar voice.
"Ashley!" Her father stood behind a behemoth of a Klingon as he walked
slowly down the corridor.
The klingon finally passed, allowing Ashton and Judith Fox to approach
their daughter.
"Mom! Dad!" Ashley smiled, opening her arms to greet them.
After a warm family hug, they pulled apart, and the trio moved back down
the corridor.
"I'll bet you two are hungry after that trip. There's a nice Bajoran
restaurant on the Commons......" She smiled, and tried to relax.
"Actually, dear, we ate on the way over." Ashton answered gruffly.
"All right." Ashley said, undaunted. "How would you like to see your
quarters? We've put you on deck----"
"Honey, we don't need any of that." Judith Fox cut in. "We just want
to talk to you. We aren't staying long."
Ashley frowned as she noticed they carried no luggage.
"All right, Mom, Dad.... would you like to pass by my office?" She
asked, more than slightly nervous.
"Yes, that would be perfect." Her father smiled this time. "We can
discuss your arrangements to come back home with us."

** TBC **

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Homeward Bound
-2-
Ashley paused, sighing. "Mom, Dad, I told you, I'm not leaving
Everest."
Ashton Fox shook his head. "You're going to have to if you ever want
your telepathy back."
She whirled around to face him. "Excuse me? What do you know about my
condition right now? You just got here."
Judith Fox stepped between her daughter and husband. "We shouldn't
discuss this here."
Ashton nodded. "You are right. Ashley, let's continue this when we get
to your office."
"Damn right we will." She glared at them, angry for their all knowing
attitude.
She led the way in tense silence, her anger consuming her thoughts.
She stepped into her office briskly, stepping aside to let her parents
enter.
"Oh, how lovely." Judith smiled. "I love that painting over your
desk."
"Thank you, Mom.... a friend of mine sent it for me." Ash moved over to
the counseling area.
She motioned with her hands to the empty couch and chairs. "Have a
seat, please. And make yourself comfortable, because I'm not going to leave
this office until you both understand that I am not leaving this starbase."
Judith stared at her, frowning. "I don't see why you're being so
stubborn, Ashley. We only want to help you."
"I know, Mom." Ashley sighed. "But I just need you to understand that I
can't abandon my responsibilities here for a personal matter. If they didn't
need a counselor on the starbase, I wouldn't be here to begin with."
She sat down on the white couch, looking up at them.
Judith took a seat next to her daughter, and her father sat across from
the both of them.
"Now, you have to tell me how you knew about my problem." Ash crossed
her arms.
"That doesn't matter." Ashton answered quickly. "What matters is that
we believe we can help you get them back."
"Dad, I apreciate your concern, but the doctors have told me that even
IF I can get them back, it's goign to take a while. I have to relearn how to
use everything, IF I can even tap into it." She leaned back, a small frown
crossing her face. "My telepathy. The telekenesis. The pyrokenesis. The
healing abilites. They're gone. I accept that."
"Ashely." Her father began. "There's something we have to tell you."
"Dad, I know about the Betazoid scientists you've worked with in the
past. There's nothing they could do either. Can you please let it be?"
Judith put a hand on Ashley's shoulder. "Ashley, you can get them back."
"HOW?!" Ashely looked up quickly, her blue eyes flashing. "What are you
going to do, wave a magic wand over me?!"
She rose to her feet, yelling. "Don't you think this bothers me?! Don't
you think that if there was any chance of getting them back I'd do it? Do
you have any idea how helpless I feel?! For god's sake, I wake up in the
middle of the night with nightmares that I forgot how to breathe because I
thought I needed my telekenesis to bring the air to me! It's terrifying!
And I'm handling it, Mom, Dad, alone! And I'm doing fine. And if I had a
half a cahnce of getting them back, I'd go in an instant.
But there's nothing the two of you can do for me. You can't just drag me
into a lab and plug me into some fancy equipment and say "all better
honey"!!!!"
** TBC **

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"That's where you're wrong Ashley." Her father rose to meet her gaze.
"We gave you those abilities, and we can give them back to you."
"Dad. I know darn well you gave them to me, and Amber, and Andrew. You
don't even have them yourself. There's no way you can teach me again."
Judith stepped forward. "That's not what he means, Ashley. We want to
take you back to the labs under the London House, where we began the research
twenty six years ago."
"Yes, we can take care of it there." Ashton agreed.
"What are you talking about?" Ashley asked quietly. "What research?
I'm twenty six, how am I supposed to remember something from when I was a
baby?"
Ashton glanced at his wife. "Judith, we have to tell her the truth."
Judith nodded. "Yes, it's time."
"Stop talking to each other and talk to me, please!" Ashley sighed.
"Whatever it is, just say it!"
"Fine." Her father answered. He fixed his ice blue eyes on hers before
speaking. "Ashley, you weren't born with your mental abilites. Nor were
your brother or sister. Your mother and I gave them to you based upon our
research. We created your mental abilites ourselves."

** TBC **

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Homeward Bound
-3-

Ashley stared at them as she clenched her fists. "You CREATED me? You
MADE my abilities? Theyr'e not real?!"
"No, they are as real as your sense of smell, Ashely, as real as your
sense of hearing. We just heightened them." Ashton said quietly.
"Let me explain Ashley." Her mother moved closer to her, placing both
hands on her shoulders. "Your father and I share the belief that all people
are capable of certain mental abilites. It's just a matter of tapping into
it, learning how to use it. We studied with some Betazoid scientists on
Betazoid neruology. We learned which areas of the brain activated such
abilites, and we took that research and applied it. We stimulated those
areas of your brain in various ways. We gave you those mental
abilities."
"Let me get this straight." Ashley hissed. "You experiemented on me?
To see if you could make me telepathic? How?! What did you do? Did you put
chemicals into my body?! Did you give send electric shocks into my brain?!
Did you punish me when I couldn't read your mind?! Did you train me like
Pavlor trained his dogs?!"
"No, Ash, of course not!" Her father shouted. "We only-----"
" 'no ash of course not' " She repeated, her face red with the fury
that lay within her. "What lies are you going to spew out at me?! What
story are you going to make up this time! For once in my life, tell me the
truth!"
Judith looked at her husband, her eyes wide. "She's overreacting. We
knew this would happen."
Ashton nodded. "Get the kit, Jud."
Judith nodded, then reached into her handbag.
"Whoa, wait a sec, what's going on here?!" Ashley back away from them.
"I'm overreacting? Don't you think I have a right to?!"
She paused as she watched her mother pull out a long tipped hypo.
"This isn't going to hurt, Ashley. We're just going to make this easier
on you." Judith moved toward her daughter.
Ashton grabbed Ashley by the shoulders.
"NO!" She stepped backward, stumbling over the potted plant and falling
against the wall.
Her mother loomed closer. "Come on, honey. Just relax now."
"Fox to Security!!!!"

** TBC **

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Homeward Bound
-4-

Ashley held her breath as her mother approached with the hypo,
whispering. "Mom..... don't do this."
"Ashley, we only want to help." She repeated as she knelt down next to
her daughter.
The door to the office hissed open, and a golden blur whizzed in.
The blur barked and leapt over the table. It ran toward Judith, leaping
onto her back.
Judith fell to the floor, the hypo flying into the corner.
Ash slid up from her position, and dashed to retreive the fallen hypo.
"Great job, West! Thanks for coming!"
Everest's Security Dog barked, his paws still on Judith Fox's back. (No
problem, Ashley.)
Ash smiled. "Let's let her get up now, okay? And would you mind
sticking around for a short while so we can straighten this up?"
(Sure.) West seemed to smile at her and glare at the two other Foxes at
the same time. He moved over next to the couch, and climbed up on it.
Ashton Fox just stared. "That dog talks?!"
Judith groaned. "Ashley, you really need to get off this station."
"Don't even start that again." Ashley said quietly. "I can't believe
you were going to do this. What's in this hypo anyway? Were you going to
kidnap me?"
"No, Ash, that was just a sedative, to calm you down. So we could talk
without yelling." Her father said calmly as he sat down far away from the
glaring security dog. "We'd never do anything to hurt you."
"You already did." Ashley whispered, tears in her blue eyes. "You
failed me. You made me into something I was not. You punished me as a child
because I couldn't do what Amber and Andrew could."
"That was supposed to encourage you, dear."
"No, Mom. That was punishement. Don't you think it hurt that my
brother and sister could communicate telepathically since before they could
even talk? I didn't develope mine until a year ago. You made me believe
that there was something WRONG with me. I felt useless. I felt ashamed."
"We never realized we made you feel that way." Ashton spoke quietly.
"We only wanted to help you achieve what you were capable of."
"I don't agree with your methods, but there's nothing I can do about it
now." Ashley's voice was flat, the anger drained. All that remained was a
whisper that slipped through the room. "Just go home."
"But Ashley, we just---" Her mother pleaded.
"No. Just leave. I don't want to see you two anymore." Ashley turned
away from them, and walked toward the door opening it for them.
Ashton walked toward her. "I lost one daughter already Ashley." He
whispered. "Please don't make me lose another because I was a foolish
scientist."
Ashley looked at him, her face blank.
"Ashley." Her mother frowned. "Surely you can forgive us. We only
wanted life to be easier for you."
"I can forgive you because I love you." Ashley said, her voice
quivering. "but I won't ever forget."
She turned on her heel and walked out the door.
Ashton turned to Judith. "Come on dear. We've overstayed our welcome.
It's time to go home."
With heavy hearts, the Foxes walked toward their shuttle, knowing they
had lost a daughter that day.
They took one last look at the station, locating Ashley at one of the
viewports, standing with a security officer and West by her side.
"Don't worry, Ashley." Her father sighed. "This shuttle is homeward
bound."
** The End **

(NOTE: It's never the end..... stay tuned for another series real soon.)

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Lieutenant Ashley Judith Fox
Counselor
Starbase Everest

Personal Log SD9705.25

Ashley walked slowly back to her office after making sure that her
parents booked passage off the station. West walked besider her, glancing up
at her every now and then as if worried about her.
She paused, then looked back down at him.
"Thanks for your help, West." She knelt down and hugged him. "I'll be
okay. You go home and eat, you must be hungry by now."
(Hungry's not the word for it.) He flashed a row of sharp teeth in a
smile, and dashed off down the corridor.
Ashley moved inside her office, sitting down at the chair behind her
desk.
"Computer, begin personal log."
"Log open; you may begin."
"All these years, I've wondered where my brother and sister got their
abilites from. I cried myself to sleep for years, angry that I didn't have
them." Ashley leaned back in the chair, closing her eyes.
"Little did I know, that I carried the ability. I just didn't know how
to use it. The experiments my parents did must have stimulated the neural
tissues, but had a longer response time."
She opened her eyes, then rose from the chair. She walked slowly around
the office, her arms wrapped around her stomach.
Though the room was not cold, she could not stop shivering.
"I just find it so difficult to believe that my parents would use their
own children to conduct their research on. It is so cruel and heartless. I
wish I wasn't their daughter right now. I wish I could be someone else.
Anyone else."
She sat down on the white couch, the spot where her mother had sat a
short while ago.
She brought her knees up to her chest, the tears slipping from her eyes.
She laid her arms on her knees, and rested her head on them. Silent sobs
wracked her body, the pain ripping her heart in half.
Betrayal.
Lies.
Cold scientific research.
That's what it was. It was never concern for the kids.
Ashley looked up. She wanted to believe that very badly, but for some
reason, she couldn't.
She knew, deep inside, that her parents did love her. They just had a
funny way of showing it.