Love by starlight:A slightly different twist on a Trek Story

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Author's note:
Not your typical trek story.

Chapter one:

Ensign Alexander Van der Beek stared out the transparent aluminum window of Starbase 1's docking section.
There was a bunch of ships out there.
He was being assigned to one of them.
He didn't know which.
He stared down at the ring he had spent so much on.
"I'm sorry, it's not you. It's me. I'm not ready for a commitment... blah blah blah blah blah"... That's all he heard in reply.
The little ring just sat there in his hands. Shimmering in the artificial light of the starbase.
It wasn't the ring's fault. He knew that.
It was his fault.
He was in starfleet.
But then again... that wasn't something he could control.
Anymore.
7 years ago... when he accidentally killed someone... that was when he could have controlled it.
Now he was in starfleet doing "community service".
And paying for a simple stumble.
Every.
Damn.
Day.
"Would the following personnel please report to shuttlebay four for transport to the USS Solaris; Commander Lauren Van den Hause, Lt. Commander Johnathon Little, the prototype of the Security Enforcement Holographic protocol, and Ensign Alexander Van der Beek." The intercomm yelled at him. Or so it seemed.
It always seemed that way.
Alex sighed, and walked towards the shuttlebay.
He walked in, and climbed aboard the shuttlecraft, and waited.
He watched as the petite Lauren Van den Hause walked into the shuttle.
She didn't even look at him.
Then came Lt. Commander Little. He was... well... Alex didn't really care. He was male. Alex didn't really pay much attention to them.
Lastly, there was a flickering individual.
He used the term "flickering" because her emitter didn't like the background artifact, and so she had a bad visual output signal.
She was the only "person" who didn't seem bothered by Alex's presence, and she even acknowledged him as she walked past.
Alex smiled.
The hologram "looked" at Lauren, although he wasn't sure if her visual sensors worked in a uni-directional manner or not, and whispered a few words.
Lauren looked at Alex, glared, and whispered something back to the hologram.
The hologram in turn, found this reaction disturbing, and moved to the other end of the shuttle as Lauren, where Alex was sitting.
"What was that all about?" Alex whispered to her.
"I asked her what your name was, and she told me to forget about you because you are worthless, and don't matter. She went as far as to say you shouldn't be here." The hologram replied.
Alex looked down.
"I probably shouldn't. I wouldn't, if I had my way with things." He replied.
She "looked" at him, and the expression on her face was startlingly human.
"So...exactly...what kind of protocol are you?" Alex asked.
"Well... I'm not really a protocol, much as Starfleet would like to think that. I'm actually a personality, which used to be part of an organic body, like you are, but... fate didn't like the organic body very much." she replied.
Alex instantly realized he had mis-judged this hologram. She wasn't a protocol. She was a person.
Alex smiled.
"It seems, young lady, that both of us are commonly mis-judged by others." Alex said with a smirk.
She looked up, and realized the intonations implied.
"Indeed. I'm commonly looked down upon, like EMH's are." She said, looking back down at the floor.
Alex frowned.
That wasn't the way I wanted that to come out. And certainly not the way I wanted her to take it.He thought to himself.
She stared down at the ground, as if the answer to all the questions in the universe were there.
"ETA To the USS Solaris is now 20 minutes." The pilot said.
"Confirmed." Commander Van den Hause said, but these were things that neither the hologram, nor alex were paying attention too.
Alex moved across the shuttle, and kneeled down next to the hologram.
"What's your name?" Alex asked her.
She looked up from her spot on the ground, and turned to him, finally realizing that he wasn't like everyone else. He wasn't judging her based on her emitter.
"Linda. Just Linda." She replied.
Alex nodded.
"I'm Ensign Van der Beek, but you can call me Alex. I'd prefer it, actually." Alex said quietly.
Linda nodded.
"Are you alright?" He asked her.
She looked at him again, this time looking for sincerity in his face, and when she found it there, she looked back down at her spot.
"All my life, the only person I thought was right, was Commander Van den Hause. And then she just proved me wrong. Just like that. Poof. Instantly. Everything I know, all my "programming", if you will, was gone." Linda replied quietly, making sure not to be heard by others onboard.
Alex frowned and looked down.
"Forgive my ignorance...but what is your connection with the Commander?" Alex asked, just as quietly.
"She was my mother at one point." Linda replied.
What an odd point of view, this woman has... but then again... She would probably have to... he thought to himself.
He sat down next to her, and put an arm around her shoulder.
"Everyone, at one point or another, discovers that thier' parents aren't what they make themselves out to be. You just have to grow with it, and accept it." Alex said, remembering that that was exactly what the gardener at Starfleet Academy had told him.
She looked at him.
"You ARE different. You are so far, the only person who realizes that I CAN grow, and learn to accept things, other then Lauren." Linda said quietly to him.
Alex nodded.
"You are a person, after all. That's what people do." Alex responded.
Linda looked at him, and smiled.
"Thank you for the compliment, ensign." She said in reply.
Alex blushed a little.
"All hands prepare to disembark. ETA is now 1 minute." The pilot said.
"Confirmed." everyone said, now that they were all paying attention.
Lauren glared at him, in her own way, and he knew exactly what was being said with that glare.
"You stay away from my little bear cub" said the momma bear.
And from what Alex had heard of the Commander, that probably wasn't that far off of an analogy.

[squiggy]

Chapter 2
USS SolarisSecurity Lounge
Linda frowned at the restrictive Security area.
Her tri-cordemitter was in for repairs, which meant that she could exactly three places on this ship.
The Security Office, where she worked, Sickbay, and the holodeck.
She frowned.
She had been trying to finish the paperwork all day, but her mind kept wandering. It shouldn't be able to do that, but it did.
It kept thinking back to that ensign...
She hoped her Tri-cordermitter would be repaired soon, because the infinite silence of this confined area was causing her to lose her holographic-personality-analogue of marbles.

USS SolarisEngineering, Jeferies' Tube 18
Alex was working alongside a Leiutenant who was talking mostly to himself about the work being done.
"Alright," Alex said quietly. "I've got the matrix re-aligned, and I'm ready to route power to you whenever you are ready."
The Leiutenant turned to him.
"Take it easy man. This is routine maintenance, and we've got half an hour still to relax down here. If I were you, I'd stop working so fast and enjoy it, considering the way most of the command crew views you." He replied.
Alex smirked a little.
"Man, I can't wait for my next shore leave." The Leiutenant said quietly.
"Oh?" Alex asked.
"My wife is on Earth... God I miss her." He replied.
Alex just looked down. His thoughts wondering to the confines of that shuttle.
Shaking his head of the thoughts, he quickly started paying attention to the job at hand.
"I'm Leiutenant Mathew Matheson, by the way. I know who you are, Ensign Van der Beek, so don't worry about it. Call me Matt." He said quietly.
Alex realized this man was trying to be friendly, and Alex could certainly use a friend.
"As long as you call me Alex." He replied quickly.
Matt smiled.
"Not a problem, Alex. I'm ready for that power-uplink now." Matt said with a smile.
Alex pressed a few keys, and the opposite wall hummed to life.
Alex and Matt stared at it.
"What is this thing for anyways?" Alex asked.
"It's part of the new Starfleet Regulation. All ships must be completely covered with Holo-emitters." Matt said.
Alex smiled.
"What?" Matt asked.
"Nothing. Just... " Alex trailed off.
"What is it, Alex?" Matt asked.
"Well...you know how you were talking about your wife?" Alex asked.
Matt nodded.
"Is she your 'perfect girl'?" Alex asked.
Matt smiled.
"Damn close." Matt replied.
Alex looked down.
"What would you think... if I told you that the closest thing I've found was a holographic woman." Alex asked.
Matt smirked.
"You, young man, are insane, if you fall for a hologram. But I can't blame you. You can taylor them to be whatever you want." Matt said with a grin.
Alex shook his head.
"Not a hologram. A holographic woman. An actual person who's brain wave patterns were transfered to a holo-emitter." Alex said quietly.
Matt stopped.
"Then, Young man, you are not insane, simply a better man then most. I know I personally would have more then a few issues with that kind of relationship." Matt said just as quietly.
Alex nodded.
Matt shrugged.
"To each thier' own. Now pass me the spanner. I've got to bridge this power relay. In the panel you were just working on, can you try to boost the power by 20% or so?" Matt asked.
Alex nodded.
He grabbed his own spanner, and quickly altered the protocols on the energy transfer system.
"There. That should do it." Alex said.
Matt turned around, and smiled.
"Your holographic woman will be happy now." Matt said, with a little smirk.
"Why is that?" Alex asked.
"She's not stuck in the Security lounge anymore. We've got holo-emitters ship-wide." Matt said, grinning.
Alex smiled.
"Now we have more routine maintenance to do." Alex said.
Matt nodded.
They climbed down a ladder close-by, and crawled into another jefferies' tube.
"Alright, this is for the tractor beam relays. Seems they aren't behaving properly. Running really slow lately." Matt said.
Alex looked at it.
He frowned.
Matt looked at him.
"What?" He asked Alex.
Alex pulled out his spanner, made a minor adjustment, and the machine's capacity came back to full.
Alex smirked.
"Seems that the starbase repair crew forgot to take our tractor beams out of thier' test cycle." Alex said.
Matt laughed.
"Well, I guess we had better get back to engineering." Matt said.
"5 minutes on shift left to spare." Alex said with a nod.

One hour later...
USS SolarisMess hall.
Linda smiled. She had discovered that a ship-wide holographic network had just been set up. It made her happy.
As she walked into the messhall, she watched some of the people around her. None of them paid any attention to her... that she could see anyways.
She was used to that, though.
Then she saw a familiar face looking her way.
There was a Leiutenant from engineering sitting with him, but there he was.
She walked over to him.
"Alex." She said, with a smile.
Alex grinned.
"Lt. Matheson, meet Linda." Alex said with a smile.
Matt nodded.
"So are you the holo-woman that Alex wouldn't stop yapping about in the jefferies' tubes?" Matt asked.
Both Alex and Linda blushed a little.
"Apparently." Matt said, answering his own question.
Alex laughed a bit, and Linda smiled.
"Glad to see I'm not the only one who can't get the other out of my active protocol list." Linda said with a smirk.
Alex laughed at that even more.
"Well lovebirds, much as I'd love to sit and chat, I have to go make out with a tri-corder, and then write a letter to my wife about it." Matt said, as he got up.
Alex glared, in a manner that screamed I'll get you for that.
Matt shrugged, and walked off.
"Sorry about that." Alex said queitly.
"Not you that has to apolagize." Linda said quietly.
Alex looked down.
"I suck at all this stuff." He said, trying not to look at her.
"What stuff?" She asked.
"The whole romantic thing." He said, turning to look out the viewport.
"Ill-met by starlight? I doubt that's the case here." Linda said.
"I was just thinking something along those lines..." He replied, with a bit of a smirk.
"So was it you that helped install this glorious holo-emitter thing shipwide?" She asked.
"Wasn't my idea, it's new Fleet regs, now that they have sentient holographic beings serving on thier' ships. I was just lucky enough to be the one to flick the "on" switch." He replied.
She nodded, and sat down next to him.
It was right about then that Commander Van den Hause, and the Captain of the ship, who's name Alex didn't know, walked into the mess hall.
Lauren shot him a look, which caused the captain to look thier' way.
Alex looked down, he hadn't wanted this much attention.
The Captain said a few words to the Commander, and then they sat down at the other end.
"Uh-oh." Linda said quietly.
"What?" Alex asked.
"Lauren is complaining to Captain Francis about you being on-board, citing you as a 'bad influence' to those around you." Linda said, frowning.
Alex looked down.
"But you aren't. People just mis-judge you." Linda said quietly, and then she stood up.
Alex looked up at her, and watched her walk across the mess hall, and tap Commander Van den Hause's shoulder.
He looked really close, and had to move to an angle where he could read thier' lips properly.
"Lauren, don't misjudge him. You complain about people doing that to me all the time, and yet, you are just as bad as they are." Linda said to her.
The captain said something to Linda, which, from Alex's angle, he couldn't "hear".
Commander Van den Hause, frowned, and turned to Linda.
"I'm sure you are a great judge of character, but he KILLED someone." Commander Van den Hause said.
Alex frowned, and looked down.
"BY ACCIDENT," Linda said, and most of the Mess Hall could hear her by now. "You said that yourself."
Commander Van den Hause frowned.
The captain said something to Linda.
Linda frowned.
"I don't care, captain. All I want to make sure is that he doesn't get sent off this ship because someone judged him the wrong way." She replied, and walked away.
Lauren was clearly furious, as she followed Linda to Alex's table.
Linda sat down next to him, and put her head on his shoulder.
"Get off of him." Lauren told Linda.
"No. He brings me a feeling of safety and security." She replied.
Lauren was getting more and more furious by the minute.
She swung at Linda, forgetting that she was a hologram.
Not that it mattered. Considering that she was the chief of security, that swing was wild, and Alex not only blocked it, but knocked the commander off her balance, causing her to fall back, landing on some poor ensign's Fetuccini Alfredo.
With a few strands of Fetuccini still stuck in her hair, the Commander glared at him.
He glared right back.
"Do you ever actually listen to her, Commander? She is an amazing person, if you get to know her as a person, and not as a protocol." He said quietly.
She kept on glaring, refusing to comment, and stalked out of the mess hall.
The captain walked by.
"The Commander may have mis-judged you, Ensign, but I didn't. Why do you think I asked for you to be assigned to this ship? I knew you needed a second chance. Thank you for proving me right." He said quietly, as he walked by.
Alex smiled.
"Thank you sir." He said just as quietly.
The Captain nodded, and walked away.
"So Linda... tell me more about you." Alex said, almost in a whisper.
She looked up at him, and smiled.
"You could find everything you wanted to about me by reading my program. You are an engineer. You know how to read it." Linda said quietly.
"True, but I like listening to you. You have a beautiful voice." Alex replied.
Linda smiled.
"Alright. What do you want to know?" Linda asked.
"Do you have quarters assigned?" Alex asked.
Linda blinked a few times.
"No, not really. I just...stay in the security office. Usually." Linda said, frowning.
Alex smiled. "This ship has a small crew, So small, all the crew have thier' own quarters, but I get lonely in mine. I'm open for sharing if you don't mind." He said quietly.
She looked at him, and smiled.
"Ensign, you realize that I don't sleep, right?" She asked.
"Linda, I don't care. You should atleast have a place to keep your stuff, and have a "silent" place on the ship. Heck, I rarely ever sleep either." He replied.
She grinned.
"That's cause you intake enough coffee to kill 4 people." She taunted at him.
"Glad you noticed." He replied.
"So how about showing me to this nice "silent" place?" She asked.
He nodded.
"Probably not a bad idea, considering how hot the Commander is for both our' blood.... or whatever analogue you use." He said, taunting her back.
"I don't think you have any blood. It must be all purely coffee." She said, grinning.
"You are trouble. Enjoyable trouble, but still trouble." He said, now grinning, enjoying this taunting game.
"Not as much trouble as you, I understand." She said, trying to end the game.
He caught the reference pretty quick, and understood why she said it.
Nodding, he frowned a bit.
"Well, let's go. I'm getting tired of this place." He whispered to her.
She nodded, and they walked out of the messhall in the direction of thier' quarters.
"Do you know how to play chess?" He asked her.
She looked at him and grinned.
"I know a trick or two about it, yes." She replied.
He grinned back.
"Good. It'll be nice to have a Challenging opponent." He replied.

[squiggy]

Chapter 3
Alex looked down, and frowned.
Linda beamed at him.
"Checkmate." She said softly.
He frowned.
"For the 27th time." She added, even more softly, trying to stifle a laugh.
Alex shook his head, and grinned.
"It's easy losing to such a pretty lady." Alex said, unable to keep from laughing anymore.
Linda frowned and looked down.
"What?" Alex asked, realizing he had tripped a wire somewhere.
She simply shook her head.
"Lauren is not happy; She's making an official complaint report to Starfleet about you." Linda said, frowning.
"They won't care; The Captain fought to hard to get me assigned to THIS rust bucket, instead of a rust bucket hauling ore." Alex said, looking out at the stars.
She looked at him, unsure what to make of that remark.
He turned back to her.
"I've been fixing subroutines and plasma leaks all day; It's nice to he around someone who doesn't require maintenance." He said, treading on dangerous ground now.
A human woman would have been upset.
Linda was not.
She smiled at him.
"It's nice to have a piece of hardware that instead of threatening your life, just beats you every time at chess, isn't it?" Linda asked.
Alex frowned.
"You aren't a piece of hardware... What I was saying was that this seems to require no effort; not talking about your emitters." Alex clarified.
Linda smiled.
"That's what I figured; I just had to rub the chess board in some more." Linda said, grinning.
Alex shook his head.
"RED ALERT! ALL HANDS TO BATTLE STATIONS! CAPTAIN FRANCIS TO THE BRIDGE!" Came a call on the ship-wide comms.
Linda frowned.
Alex shook his head.
She looked at him.
"What is it?" She asked.
"A few years ago... I would have given anything to be on a ship... but now, I find that the only comfort here isn't the ship, or even the crew, but a civilian. The irony is not escaping me right now." Alex said softly.
Linda simply nodded.
"Damage control team to deck 4 section 3!" Someone said over the comms.
Alex flew across the room as the deck shook with another blast.
He frowned.
She looked at him sitting on the floor, and then turned to see a romulan warbird outside the bedroom window.
She glared at it.
"Engineering to all off-duty engineering staff! Please report to Engineering for emergency damage control assignments." The all-call came.
Alex frowned.
Linda turned to him.
"Go; I'll be here when you get back." She whispered.
Alex nodded, and took off running for the turbolift.

USS SolarisEngineering
The Chief Engineer frowned.
He watched the group of four people left, and couldn't decide who would make the best 'captain' of this damage repair team.
Lt. Matheson looked from the Andorian to the Vulcan to Alex, and frowned.
"I nominate Ensign Van der Beek as team Captain." Matt said cautiously, testing the waters with the others.
No one objected, much to both the Chief Engineer, and Matt's surprise.
Alex simply nodded.
"Alright, You are team blue. Your priority is weapons. At current we've got no phasers, and our torpedoe compliment is limited; Take a shot at either one, but keep us firing." The Chief Engineer muttered, dismissing them.
"Blue team; Double time to the Primary Phaser banks; We've got work to do." Alex said in an almost drill-sargent like voice, which shocked both him, and most of his team.
They didn't really have the nerve to argue with him, but found themselves having problems keeping up.

USS SolarisPrimary Phaser bank((Main Hull)) 1
"No, Thomal! Stop! I said re-allign that phaser conduit! Stop tinkering with the power settings, you'll blow this whole deck if you mess up." Alex yelled, as he worked on an EPS Relay.
The andorian placed his ears sideways, giving him a very unamused look at taking orders from an ensign, but followed them.
Matt peeked out from under the inner-side of the phaser emitters.
"Alright Alex, once you've got that EPS Relay fixed, and T'pris gets that little mis-alignment on the outer hull fixed, we'll have phasers again." Matt said quietly.
Alex nodded.
"I could use a hand. Your arms are smaller than mine, and this last adjustment is in tight quarters." Alex said, still in 'command' mode.
Matt nodded, and quickly did the adjustment.
"T'pris to Blue team; I'm ready for you." The soft female voice came over the comms.
"Alright, get atleast 12 meters away from that emitter, then notify me, so I can tell the bridge we've got firing power." Alex said in return.
"Confirmed." T'pris replied.
"Bridge to blue team; thanks for getting our phasers back up!" The captain's voice said through a seperate comm link.
Just before the comm link disconnected, Alex heard a simple order.
"Fire phasers."
"No!" Alex yelled, but it had already been disconnected.
The phaser banks glowed orange on the outside, and tore into the Romulan Warbird.
Via T'pris.
"Bridge; All personnel are NOW clear of the emitters." Alex said through a comm link, staring out through the viewport, watching T'pris' spanner drift away from the ship.
"Blue team, this is the bridge; what do you mean by that?" The Captain's voice asked.
Alex's brows knitted, and Matt and Thomal stepped back.
"YOU COULDN'T WAIT THIRTEEN SECONDS FOR T'PRIS TO GET CLEAR?" Alex yelled into the comm badge.
Apparently the silence on the bridge was deafening, as Alex heard not a single voice reply.
"I'd like to know why someone up there violated protocols, and fired a phaser bank which hadn't been cleared from the engineering department as repaired." Alex said, after recollecting his attitude.
"What do you mean, Ensign?" The Captain's voice came back in reply, a bit shaken, apparently Alex's little outburst had the desired effect.
"T'pris was working EVA on that phaser bank! We had JUST LITERALLY got it up online, without even time to get her away, when you fired it! Your order, Captain, killed Lieutenant T'pris." Alex said into the comm, anger and fury comming through full blast.
"We had no choice! It was either fire then or not get that shot again!" Francis yelled at him through the comms.
"And for that, because you made a choice to abuse a lucky break, instead of being a tactician, and trying to avoid the loss of lives, Lt. T'pris is dead." Alex retorted.
"THAT IS ENOUGH ENSIGN." Francis replied.
"Why? Everyone treats me with this degree; I made a mistake 5 years ago, which I am reminded of daily. You made that same mistake. A simple error in judgement cost a brilliant, promising young officer her life. All because you couldn't wait 13 seconds." Alex retorted.
"Ensign, that is enough. If you persist this line of thought, I will have you arrested." Commander Van den Hause's voice came over the comms.
What happened next shocked everyone both on the bridge, and in the phaser array.
"No, Commander. The Ensign is right; I violated protocols." Captain Francis said softly.
The silence on the bridge was deathly now.
Matt shook his head, and softly said to himself something along the lines of 'lucky devil'.
Thomal was simply in shock.
The comm link disconnected, which was fine with Alex. He had enough with talking with bridge personnel.
He looked down.
Grabbing a small engraver, he walked over to the internal portion of the phaser bank.
He engraved a starfleet emblem there, and then:
Here lies Lt. T'pris.
Nobody knows how old she is, but she died on:
November 13th, 2407.
May her sacrifice forever be remembered by the crew of this ship.
Matt and Thomal looked at it once he was done.
They both looked up at him, but he was already packing up his tool kit.
Alex tapped his commbadge.
"Blue team to Engineering; Phasers are online. Awaiting new orders." He said, attempting to retain his command mode.
After all, he was the team leader.
Even if that's the last thing he wanted to be.
"Hull breach on deck 19! Sensor relay dish is now offline!" The all-call comm yelled.
"Cancel that Engineering, we're on our way to deck 19." Alex said, as if in reply.
"Deck 19, Section 17, Double time, blue team!" Alex said, attempting to put force behind his words.
Thomal and Matt stared at him.
"I gave you BOTH a direct order!" Alex yelled.
Without a word, they both nodded, and took off running for the turbolift.
Alex stared out, and watched the spanner hit the shields of the ship.
And dissolve.
Alex frowned at it.
"I will always remember." He said softly, trying hard not to let a single tear fall.
He grabbed the last of his gear, put it in his kit, and started running towards the turbolift.
He looked back at the etching one last time, and hoped he would never have to come back to this section again.

[squiggy]

Chapter 4
USS SolarisEngineeringseveral hours later.
Alex stood there, infront of Thomal and Matt.
As the other 7 team captains stood before thier' teams.
Alex looked down.
The Captain walked into Engineering, but no one had noticed yet.
"Ensign Van der Beek; Where is Lt. T'pris?" The Chief Engineer asked.
"Why don't you ask the Captain, Commander Solin." Matt muttered.
"What was that, Lieutenant?" Solin asked...demanded...screamed.... all of them fit.
"WHY DON'T YOU ASK THE CAPTAIN, COMMANDER SOLIN." Matt yelled back.
"What do you mean by that Lieutenant?" Solin said, clearly shaken by this display of anger.
Alex put a hand up to the Lieutenant.
"T'pris was working EVA on the outer hull, fixing a mis-alignment in the emitter. Just as we finished, and got the phasers running, some hot-head on the bridge ordered a fire phasers order. T'pris... was too close to the emitter." Alex said calmly, restraining much of the emotion he felt.
Solin glared at him.
"You talk about her so calmly, Ensign, as if..." Solin started to say something, as the Captain neared the group, but none of them could see him yet.
Alex interrupted him.
"CALMLY? You should have heard what I told the Captain. I'm surprised I didn't land myself in the brig for that! She was one of few people who respected the fact that I actually am capable of my job, and don't just 'freeload'. She was also one of very few people on this ship who did not treat me with hostility. DO NOT EVER ACUSE ME OF TREATING SUCH INSTANCES CALMLY, I was merely giving a report in a calm manner, as you officers prefer." Alex yelled at him.
Solin stepped back, unexpecting this attribute to the Ensign that very few were aware of.
The Ensign himself was barely aware of it; it was something that had only developped recently.
At that exact moment, before Solin could start in on him, the Captain walked around the corner.
Solin almost opened his mouth.
Alex snapped to attention.
"Captain on deck!" He said in his 'command' tone he had used earlier.
Everyone snapped to attention.
"At ease." The Captain said softly.
Commander Solin turned to the Captain.
"So, Commander, have you chosen your assistant chief yet?" The Captain asked.
"I had chosen Lt. T'pris. This doesn't seem like a viable option." Solin said, calmly.
Alex did his best not to laugh at the tones implied.
"Then who would have been your next choice?" Francis asked the Vulcan.
"I have none." Solin replied.
Alex stood there, watching this, fascinated, as did most of the crew.
Matt looked at Alex, seeing how much the ensign had grown up over the past few days, and simply shook his head slightly.
"You have a suggestion, Lieutenant Matheson?" The Captain asked, noting the gesture.
"Yes. I do. Ensign Van der Beek has shown excellent leadership skills while commanding a team while he wasn't supposed to be onshift, he stood by his guns when it became apparent to him that regulations had been violated, and most importantly, he kept his team together, even if not his head, after losing a team member. My suggestion is Ensign Van der Beek, Sir." Matt said casually.
Solin's right eyebrow raised, and Alex simply held his breath.
Nobody had quite been expecting that.
The Captain looked from the Lieutenant, to Alex.
Solin turned to the Captain, a glint of mischief in his eyes, after seeing what both the Captain, and Matt saw in Alex, and realizing how much Matt's colleagues hated him for saying that.
Solin raised the other eyebrow.
"That is an excellent suggestion, Lt. Matheson, however we cannot have an assistant chief who is outranked by 9/10ths of the engineering staff." Solin said softly, much to the surprise of Alex, Lt. Matheson, and everyone but the Captain.
It was the Captain's turn now, to gain a glint of mischief in his eyes.
"Well then I guess we'll just have to promote the lad." Francis said to Solin.
There was a moment of slight whisper as people were shocked to hear this.
"Ensign Alexander Van der Beek; Until it can be properly authorized via Starfleet Command, you are hereby Acting Lt. Commander Van der Beek, with all ranks and priveleges attached." The Captain said, grinning at the look of shock and disbelief on both Alex, and most of the engineering crew.
Solin turned back to Alex.
"Seems like you are hired, Lt. Commander." Solin said, restraining a smile that both the Captain, and Alex saw quite plainly on his face.
Matt grinned from ear to ear, realizing that he had done much more then given his friend a slight break.
Alex smiled.
"Under two conditions; One, Thomal and Matt have to be on my team, I won't work with anyone else." Alex said softly.
Solin nodded.
"Of course, you three work well together." He said.
The captain raised his eyebrows.
"And the other?" The Captain asked.
Alex looked down for a moment.
"The other thing I ask is that a proper ceremony be held for Lt. T'pris." Alex said, trying not to appear weak infront of subordinates.
The Captain looked down briefly, then nodded.
"You will be in charge of it, Lt. Commander." Francis said softly.
Alex nodded.
Solin walked to the replicator, and then walked back, and handed him a yellow and a black pip.
Alex looked down at them.
"Where them proudly, Lt. Commander; You know wear your' rank, and that of Lt. T'pris. May you always remember her." Solin said softly.
Alex shook his head.
"I can never forget." He replied.
Solin nodded.
"Status report." Captain Francis said. It was a question, but he never phrased it that way.
"We've got repair teams on the last of the malfunctioning or damaged systems sir." Commander Solin said softly.
"Very well; Lt. Commander, I believe you are both off shift, and going to be very busy with some planning." The Captain said, as he turned and left the group.
Matt and Thomal smiled lightly, as they watched alex put one gold and one black pip on the right side of his collar, after removing his, and putting it on the left.
Alex looked down briefly.
"Dismissed." Commander Solin said.
Alex frowned, and walked out of the Engineering room.

[squiggy]

Chapter 5
USS SolarisLt. Commander Van der Beek's Quarters
Linda smiled at him as Alex walked in.
She noticed his bad mood, and she knew why, but she had something she knew would cheer him up.
He looked at her, and smiled.
She realized that she was enough to cheer him up, and that made her happy.
"Commander Van den Hause almost went core-breach when she found out." Linda said softly.
Alex grinned.
"Glad she found out." Alex said, laughing.
"So how does it feel?" Linda asked quietly.
"To be the most hated officer on the ship, or to be a Lt. Commander?" Alex asked, mischief in his voice.
"Both?" She asked simply.
"Bloody marvelous." Alex replied.
She smiled, and walked over to him.
And he grabbed her and kissed her.
Not that she argued the point.
"ummm...Wow. Where exactly did that come from?" Linda asked him.
Alex grinned.
"I've been waiting to do that for a few days now." He said, laughing a little.
She smiled.
"Coffee?" She asked him.
He simply grinned.
She got up and grabbed a cup, and poured him some.
He looked at her shocked.
"That is UNREPLICATED coffee!" Alex exclaimed.
"Some of Commander Van den Hause's personal supply." Linda said mischieviously.
"M'dear, you have sticky fingers." Alex said, waggling a finger at her.
She laughed.
As he took a sip, he smiled.
She looked at him.
"Things are finally going right." Alex said, wondering why it had taken so long.
She nodded.
"It's nice to have someone to hang around... but I get bored when you aren't here. And Lauren doesn't want me anywhere near the security office anymore." Linda said softly.
Alex looked down, frowning.
"Well... I could use an extra hand on my team..." Alex trailed off.
She looked up at him.
"Are you serious?" She asked.
He nodded.
"What's the point of having rank if you can't use it?" Alex asked, laughing.
She laughed with him.
"Red Alert! All hands to battle stations; Engineering prepare damage teams." Captain Francis' voice came from the all-call.
Alex got up, and walked towards the door, then looked back at Linda.
She flickered.
And then looked up at the emitter.
Alex cursed.
He grabbed a tri-corder out of his bag, and tossed it to her.
She transfered her program to it, and he brought it with him.
"Lt. Commander Van der Beek to Commander Van den Hause; Is there an issue with the holo-grid? Linda had to go play hide and seek in a tri-corder because the emitters almost killed her program." He asked through his commbadge.
"Heck if I know, En...Lt. Commander. You are the engineer." Lauren's voice came through.
"Whatever fine, be that way. She's safe... if you care." Alex said, as he cut the comm line.

USS SolarisEngineering
Alex looked down.
"As some of you may have noticed, our holo-emitters are down. Orange team, this is your priority. Without those emitters, we have no EMH, and Blue team is left one shy. Get them up, and Blue team will move that much faster. Green team, your prime focus is phasers. After the tragedy that befell Blue team, I will not send them back there. Blue team, you've got the IMPulse engines in the main hull; they're down, and we're moving like molasses. Snap to it." Solin said quietly.
Alex liked this Solin. He was a Vulcan... but he wasn't overly Vulcan about it with his non-Vulcan staff.
As the other teams slowly gathered into place, Alex looked towards Matt and Thomal, and an Ensign he didn't recognize.
"Blue team; Fall in. Double time to the IMPulse control." Alex said in his 'command' voice.
Matt and Thomal broke off jogging, and the Ensign followed them right behind.
Alex grabbed his tool kit, and took off after them.
Solin watched them leave, and shook his head.
"He would make an excellent academy instructor..." Solin said aloud, mostly to himself.

USS SolarisIMPulse Control, Main hull
Alex looked at his circuit board, frustrated.
"Thomal, you getting anything wrong?" Alex asked.
"Nope, how about you kid?" Thomal asked.
"Negative. I've got my seventh consecutive perfectly maintained board here." Alex replied.
"Hey blue, check the one above you there, I've got some messy readings comming from it." Matt said from off to the side.
Thomal nodded, and removed the plate in question.
"What the heck?" Thomal asked.
Matt and Alex moved towards Thomal, and the looked at the circuit board... there was a strange creature there, sapping energy, and messing up the wiring.
"A mimic? On a starship?" The ensign asked.
"Well young lady, None of us know your name, and I'm sure it's a mutual issue, however, you said this is a 'mimic'?" Alex asked.
"It's Ensign Robin Thompson, but that's not the point. There are creatures on my home planet, it's an earth colony planet near the starbase we left. We call them mimics, they don't have any real solid form, they are more gaseous than anything, but they can APPEAR to be any solid form they want. They love energy of any form." Robin said quietly.
Alex checked the tri-corder with Linda in it, making sure she was safe.
"Blue team, this is Orange team. We have the hologrid up." A voice came from his commbadge.
"Blue team confirms." Alex replied.
He transferred Linda to the Main Emitters, and watched her shimmer into form.
She looked around at the other three, and then at the creature.
She shrieked when she saw the creature, realizing what it was.
"I take it you know what mimics are, Miss." Ensign Thompson said softly.
Linda nodded.
"What exactly do we do with it?" Alex asked.
Linda looked at it for a moment.
"What about... using a vacuum sucker, and putting it in a jar?" Linda asked.
The four well trained engineers looked at her.
"Why didn't we think of that?" Matt asked.
"We're too technically inclined to think up simple answers." Robin said quietly.
Alex glared.
"Simple? It's freaking BRILLIANT." Alex said, a bit of a warning tone in her voice.
"Careful Robin, don't insult our technobabe here, she and the Lt. Commander are joined at the hip... or whatever analogue she uses for a hip." Matt said, in a whisper.
"I heard that, Lt. Matheson." Linda said, a bit of anger splashed in her voice.
"You were meant too." Matt replied.
"CAN WE STOP ARGUING ABOUT THIS AND JUST DO IT?" Thomal asked.
Alex nodded.
They went to the replicator, and looked up the necessary device.
"Linda, step back, if this doesn't work, it may attack you." Alex said.
Linda nodded, and turned herself off for a minute.
"That's a cool trick." Robin said softly.
"Not one I want to learn." Matt retorted.
Robin simply nodded.
Alex activated the vacuum, and the mimic was sucked into the holding jar.
He also sucked in a power pod for a tri-corder, so it wouldn't die.
"Emett is going to love that." Linda said as she re-activated.
"Emett?" Alex asked.
"The EMH. Lauren has a habit of naming them all emett." Linda replied with a laugh.
Alex nodded.
Quickly, Thomal re-ordered the board, and stuck it back in place.
The IMPulse engines came back to life beautifully.
"Bridge, this is blue team. Main IMPulse has been successfully restored." Alex said into his commbadge.
"Bridge confirms, blue team." Francis' voice replied.
"I'm due in for a physical, I'll bring our friend here to see the doctor." Alex said to the team.
He looked at Matt.
"Radio Solin, and tell him I stopped in at sickbay for my checkup. Ask him if he still needs blue team to stay active, if he does, drop me a message, if he doesn't, have a nice nap, lady, gentleman, gentlebug, and advanced protocol." Alex said, grabbing an amusing collection of looks from that remark.
"Keep it up kid, and she might not give you anything tonight." Matt replied.
Alex laughed.
Linda smirked at Matt.
"That's none of YOUR concern, though is it, Lieutenant?" She asked him.
He quickly cleared his throat, and decided to stay off that subject.
Alex shook his head, grabbed the bottled mimic, and headed for sickbay.

USS SolarisSickbay
Alex laughed as he walked into sickbay. The sight infront of him was kind of amusing.
The EMH was arguing with the chef over the nutritional content of Gagh, while the Chief Medical officer appeared to be hiding in his/her/it's office.
"Greetings, Lt. Commander." The CMO said quietly.
"Greetings, Commander." Alex returned.
"My name is hitch...or...atleast that's as close as your tongue is likely to get, and no, I have no gender. I'm just a big blob of protoplasm. Get used to it." The Commander replied.
"I've got no issues with it." Alex said, "I try not to judge people. I've dropped by for a couple reasons. I've got a new pet for you, and I need my 1000 mile oil check." he finished.
The Commander laughed, then looked at the bottled creature, sucking energy from the power pack.
"Fascinating that is." S/he said.
Alex nodded.
"No so fascinating when it's eating your IMPulse manifold control board... but fascinating still." Alex said, agreeing.
The Commander moved...which was a slightly nauseating thing to watch... closer to Alex, and grabbed the jar from him.
"Most people don't like having me around, I'll understand if you choose not to. The EMH does most of the physicals anyways." S/he said to him.
Alex took that as a dismissal, nodded, and walked up to the EMH.
"Doctor, if you are through, I need my physical before I can go back on duty." Alex said to it.
The EMH nodded.
"Later." The chef said, as he walked out.
"Thank you, Lt. Commander." The EMH said to him.
Alex laughed.
"Not a problem, Emmett." Alex replied, using Lauren's name for the being.
The EMH accepted this.
He did a quick scan, frowned, and tried again.
"What is it?" Alex asked.
The EMH shook his head.
"You have a strange organism melding with your nervous system." the EMH replied.
"A what?" Alex asked.
The EMH looked over at the CMO, and the CMO's new pet, and briefly scanned it.
"One of those things." The EMH said, pointing at it.
Alex frowned.
"They only like EPS conduits and circuit boards, not human nervous systems." Alex said quietly.
The EMH nodded.
"This one seems just to be hiding more then anything else, I'll get him out without much trouble." The EMH said quietly.
He grabbed a magnet, stuck it in an easy seal jar, and placed the magnet near Alex's back, and watched the being get drawn into the jar.
"There we go." The EMH replied.
Alex nodded.
"Thanks, Emett." Alex replied.
"Bridge to Lt. Commander Van der Beek, Alex, would you mind meeting me in my ready room?" Captain Francis asked, via commbadge.
"Not at all." Alex replied.
He nodded at the EMH.
"Thanks Emmett." Alex said, as he left.
The EMH nodded back to him, and went to work on another patient, after handing the other mimic to the CMO.

[squiggy]

Chapter 6
USS SolarisCaptain's Ready Room
Alex walked in to the Captain's ready room.
"You wanted to see me, Captain?" Alex asked.
The Captain nodded, and gestured for him to have a seat.
Alex nodded, and sat down.
"What's up?" Alex asked, now unsure of this.
"It's about T'pris. I'm sorry that... you were put in the position you were. And I'm rather amazed at how you've used it as almost a transformation tool... but you are harping on it too much. You even wear your' pips in a symbolic manner... it's disturbed a few crew members." The Captain said softly.
"You mean SPECIFICALLY Commander Van den Hause." Alex said, 'command' tone in place.
The Captain laughed, and nodded.
"Very perceptive, Lt. Commander." The Captain replied.
Alex looked down.
"She deserves to be remembered, sir." Alex said quietly.
The Captain frowned.
"While that IS true, you shouldn't harp on it." The Captain replied.
Alex shook his head.
"I'm NOT. I'm just having problems accepting the fact that MY orders put her in the line of danger, and My Captain's sealed her fate." Alex said, frustrated now.
The Captain looked down, and then out into space.
"And her sacrifice very likely saved our little ship." The Captain retorted.
"All the more reason to remember her." Alex's argument hit home.
The Captain let a single tear fall.
"Lt. Commander, I get the suspicion that if you don't leave this room, this argument may become a physical one." The Captain said quietly.
Alex nodded, and left the Ready room.
He frowned at the backside of Commander Van den Hause's head... there was something annoying about her arrogant manner.
He stepped into the turbolift.
"Level please." The Computer asked.
Alex frowned.
"Anywhere but here." He said softly.
"Unrecognized command." The Computer replied.
Alex put his fist into the turbolift controls.
"We're sorry; This lift is now out of service. Please take the alternate car on the opposite side of the bridge." The Computer said, after clearing it's audio circuits.
Alex walked out of the main turbolift, tapped his commbadge.
"Repair crew to turbolift 1." He said softly, walking past a rather amused Ensign at the Ops console.
Alex stepped into turbolift 2.
"Level please." The Computer asked.
"My quarters. And don't even start." Alex said, anger running in his voice.
The Computer cleared it's audio circuits again, and moved down several decks.
It came to a careful stop, and as Alex walked off, it cleared it's audio circuits.
"Thank you. Please come again." The computer said.
Alex turned, and punched the control console.
"We're sorry. This turbolift is now out of service." The computer said.
"Repair crew to turbolift 2." Alex said, tapping his commbadge again.
I need a Linda fix... I need someone who isn't so literal to talk to... Alex thought to himself, and left for his quarters.
And ensign walked past him, and he shook his head.
"You'll have to take the ladders. Both turbolifts are down." He informed her.
She looked down.
"Why?" She asked.
"Technology. Never reliable these days." Alex replied, trying to stiffle a laugh.
The computer cleared it's audio circuits again.
Alex burst out laughing.
"Something I missed?" The ensign asked him.
"Inside joke." Alex said, as he ducked into his quarters.

[squiggy]

Chapter 7
When Alex woke up several hours later, he felt MUCH better.
Mainly because as he got breakfast, and got ready for work, neither the shower, nor the replicator gave him ANY problems.
Linda, however, was no where to be found.
He tapped his commbadge.
"Alex to Linda. Are you active?" Alex asked.
The commbadge didn't find anyone to make a connection too.
Alex frowned.
"Lt. Commander Van der Beek to the bridge... is there a holo-emitter outage?" Alex asked.
"Negative Lt. Commander, is there a problem?" Captain Francis asked.
Alex looked around.
"Computer, locate Linda." Alex asked aloud, knowing that Francis would hear.
"Linda is not currently active." The computer stated.
"Then activate her." Alex retorted.
"Error; Linda's program is not currently on board the USS Solaris." The computer replied.
"That's odd indeed, Lt. Commander, I'll notify Commander Van den Hause, maybe she knows something about it..." Francis said, and the comms went dead.
Alex looked through all the PADDs and tri-corders in thier' quarters, but couldn't find Linda anywhere.
"Commander Van den Hause to Lt. Commander Van der beek." His Commbadge stated.
"Alex here." He replied.
"I'm worried now, Lt. Commander, I can't find her anywhere." Lauren's voice said softly, and slightly off it's normal beritone.
Alex frowned.
"I can't either. I'm sending out a search worm to see where she went." Alex replied.
"Very well, Keep me informed, Alex." Lauren replied, and again, the comms went quiet.
Alex nodded, and then left for engineering.
He didn't even notice that the Commander had called him by his first name. He didn't care.

USS SolarisEngineering
Alex frowned, as he stared at the work postings list.
Red Team: Replicator repairs
Green Team: Warp Core maintenance
Orange team: Forcefield Re-alignment
Blue Team: Shuttle Maintenance
Matt walked up behind him, followed by Thomal, and Robin.
"Alright Blue team... shuttle maintenance. The Solaris has a grand total of TWO shuttlecraft... Thomal and Matt, you take the Pollux, Robin and I will handle the Castor. We should be finished by lunch." Alex said softly, still frustrated at the posting.
Thomal and Matt nodded, and left the Engineering room.
Robin watched him grab his tool kit.
He turned to her.
"Something on your mind, sir?" The ensign asked.
Her demeanor reminded him of someone, although he hadn't the slightest clue who.
"I'm just worried; One of my friends is missing." Alex said softly.
"Funny, I didn't see an alert about it." Robin replied.
"She's a holo-person. It's hard for security to hunt down a deactivated holo-matrix." Alex said, dismissing the lack of alert.
His commbadge beeped, and Alex went to the nearest terminal.
Last record of Linda.hpp; Transferred off of USS Solaris to Starfleet Section 31 facility orbiting andor for unknown purposes. The terminal displayed, once he entered in his passcode.
He pressed the forward to: button, and typed in Commander Van den Hause's terminal ID, then grabbed his toolkit, frowned up at the ceiling, and left for the shuttlebay.

AndorSection 31 cloaked research facility.
Admiral James Morrow frowned at the Section 31 chief, Alexis Montage.
"Why did you steal Commander Van den Hause's protocols?" He asked her.
"I don't answer to you, Admiral." She replied.
He turned to look in the mirror, noting the Fleet Admiral rankings on his shoulder, then looked at the Commodore rankings on her's.
"Actually, COMMODORE Montage, as of last week, EVERYONE answers to me. I'm the newly assigned C&C of starfleet. Now answer my question. That is a private protocol, not starfleet property; AND it contains a sentient being. You have no right to abduct it from it's home network." Morrow said, anger in his voice.
"Look, Admiral, I don't care if you have a 'past' with the Commander; I don't answer to you." Alexis replied.
Morrow's eyebrows knitted, and he tapped his fleet commander pip.
Instantly, 6 armed security guards walked into the office.
"Arrest her for insubordination." Morrow said softly.
The hologram sat there, in her little 6 by 6 foot holo-prison.
Morrow walked up to her.
"What exactly does the Commodore want with you?" Morrow asked her.
"I don't know. I'm just scared." Linda replied.
Morrow frowned.
"I NEED INFORMATION, YOUNG LADY." Morrow yelled at her.
She cowered back.
"I want Alex. We can't all have what we want, now can we, Admiral?" Linda replied.
"Alex? Why not Commander Van den Hause?" Morrow asked.
"She frightens me. I miss Alex. Please let me go home!" She yelled at him.
He frowned.
This was getting him no where.
"What should we do with her?" One of the security guards asked.
"Deactivate her matrix. Schedule it for destruction... in about 40 hours or so. Unless I say otherwise." Morrow replied.

USS SolarisShuttlebay
Alex and Robin were carefully re-aligning the micro-warp core in the Castor.
"Sir?" Robin asked.
At first, Alex assumed she was talking to him.
Then he turned, and saw Commander Van den Hause behind him.
"Captain Francis has discovered that Linda is scheduled for destruction in a day or two. Section 31 took her for unknown reasons, and when Linda failed to co-operate when the C&C took over, he turned her off, and scheduled her termination." She said softly.
Alex frowned.
She looked at him.
"How much do you care about her?" Van den Hause asked.
Alex looked down.
Then back at the Commander.
"Let's get going." Alex said softly.
"Lt. Commander Van der Beek! We can't leave! We're on duty, we're only supposed to be doing maintenance." Ensign Thompson said.
Lauren looked at Alex.
Alex returned the knowing look.
At the same time, they both said, simply, "Shut up Ensign."
Alex sat down at the Comm controls.
Lauren sat down at the Helm controls.
Alex looked at Robin.
"Either make yourself useful, or get off this thing." Alex instructed her.
She nodded, and sat down at the Ops console.
"How are you going to get the door open?" Robin asked her.
Alex grinned.
He opened the comm link to the main computer.
"Computer, please open the Shuttlebay doors." Alex said softly.
"Officer-level clearance required." The computer replied.
Lauren grinned at Alex.
"Commander Van den Hause confirms, Clearance code 7-a-a-7." She said softly.
"Confirmed. Decompressing the shuttle deck, and opening Launch doors." The computer replied.
A transporter sparkle appeared behind them, and Commander Van den Hause grabbed her phaser.
"Relax, Commander." Lt. Matheson said softly.
Thomal grinned.
"We're on your' side." Thomal said, still grinning.
Alex nodded.
They grabbed a seat, and Lauren raised the shuttle's shields.
And they took off.

USS SolarisBridge
"Captain Francis! A group of 2 humans, 1 vulcan/hybrid, 1 Andorian, and... I'm assuming that's Ensign Thompson, she's the only Vraloran onboard... have commandeered a shuttlecraft, and are leaving the ship!" A lt. at Ops said softly.
Francis frowned.
He looked down and did the math.
"Alex... Robin...Mathew... Lauren... Thomal..." He said, mostly to himself.
"Probable destination?" He asked the Lieutenant.
"Unknown sir, but they are charging warp coils." The Lieutenant replied.
"Note it, get someone else on it. We've can't break our patrol route." Francis said softly.
"Sir? Subspace is being jammed!" The Lieutenant replied.
"Source?" Francis asked.
"The neutral zone! Dead ahead!" The Lieutenant replied.
SevenRomulan warbirds decloaked, in a rough circle around the Solaris.
"Heaven help us." The Lieutenant said softly.
"I'd take hell's help too." The Captain said softly.
And then... the Solaris was no more.

Shuttlecraft CastorEnroute to Andor
"Sir!" Robin yelled from the shuttlecraft's Ops position.
Alex turned to her.
"What is it, Robin?" He asked.
"The Solaris! It's under attack!" Robin exclaimed.
"WHAT?" He yelled at her.
"SEVEN Romulan Warbirds just decloaked...and...woah...the Solaris...is gone." Robin said, a tear in her left eye.
Lauren looked down.
Matt looked at the rear entry, as if he could see right through it, at the Solaris' debris.
Thomal fell to his knees.
Alex stared at the viewport ahead.
"Notify Starfleet; Don't inform them of why we aren't onboard... No, Not you Lauren, Let Robin do it. If Morrow thinks you and I are dead, he won't be expecting us. If you need a ranking officer for the Admiral to talk to, let him chat with Matt." Alex instructed.
"I don't take orders from you, Lt. Commander." Lauren said softly.
"*beep* ORDERS. This is COMMON SENSE. You want to save Linda or not?" Alex yelled at her.
Lauren nodded, and went back to her controls.
"Attention Starfleet Command, this is the Federation Shuttlecraft Castor. We are calling in a Mayday for the USS Solaris." Robin said softly.
Matt looked at the science station.
"From out here, it'll take about 5 hours for that message to reach starfleet command... let's just leave it at that for now, Robin." Matt said softly.
She nodded.
Thomal looked down.
"Bounce a graviton particle beam..." He started singing a song he remembered from Academy.
Alex grinned.
"Off the main deflector dish..." Alex continued.
Robin looked at the two of them.
"That's the way we do things, lad, we make stuff up as we wish..." She continued.
Matt turned, and grinned.
"The Klingons and The Romulans pose no threat to us, if we find ourselves in a bind..." He sang the next verse.
"We'll just make some stuff up." Lauren finished.
Alex laughed.
"I haven't heard that in years." Lauren said softly.
Alex looked down at the controls.
"We're being shadowed... or atleast the Solaris was." He said.
"What do you mean?" Lauren asked.
Alex pointed at the Science station.
Matt got up, and sat down at the station.
"Neutrino emissions. A cloaked ship?" Matt asked.
Alex frowned.
"The Romulans all took off back over the border..." Robin said softly.
Lauren looked down.
"The Monitor." She said softly.
All four junior officers looked up at her.
"The WHAT?" Alex asked.
"It's a defiant class InOps ship... it's got a cloak, and it's completely under Section 31 control." She said softly.
Alex looked down.
"We're gonna die. Yup." Robin said.
"Shut up ensign." Alex said, frowning.
"They are following us." Robin retorted.
"I know. I can't think when you are whining." Alex retorted.
"As ranking officer..." Commander Van den Hause started.
"Shut up." Matt said.
"Excuse me lieutenant?" She asked him.
"Look, Alex is my Squad leader. He deserves to be. He's Thomal's, and Robin's too. So be quiet about rank. He's got our trust, which you don't. I know why HE wants Linda back, but you, I don't trust at all." Matt said softly.
Thomal nodded.
"He knows how to keep us on our toes." Robin said softly.
Thomal got up, and stood next to Alex at the Comm station.
Commander Van den Hause frowned.
Alex stood up, and Thomal took the station.
Alex looked at the center seat.
Commander Van den Hause nodded to him.
"Take it." She said softly.
Alex nodded, and sat down.
"Umm... Alex..." Matt said, looking down at the science station.
"What?" Alex asked.
Matt frowned.
"Aren't high Tachyons associated with Temporal transports?" He asked.
Alex frowned.
"TACHYONS? TEMPORAL?" Lauren yelled at him.
He nodded.
They all looked out the portal that Matt was looking out.
A small bird of Prey sat there.
"It's... a derelict?" Matt asked.
Alex got up, and stared down at the science readings.
"No power, no life signs..." He said to himself.
Thomal frowned.
"I just intercepted something... it's highly encrypted...from roughly 12-14 lightyears behind us... nothing appears to be there... it's a fleet code, though." Thomal said softly.
"Nice catch, Blue." Alex replied.
"I caught the encrypted version, it'll take some time to crack." Thomal said softly.
Alex nodded.
"Does that thing have a shuttlebay?" Alex asked Matt.
Matt nodded.
He grabbed a phaser.
"I'll go open the door." Alex said softly.
Matt raised an eyebrow, and nodded.
End of Chapter series 1, 'new beginnings'. Start of Chapter series 2, 'ghost ship'.

[squiggy]

Chapter Series 2
Unknown ShipShuttlebay Control room
Alex appeared in the ship's shuttle control center.
He noted, with interest, that the controls were in both English and Klingon.
He opened the bay doors, and watched the shuttle land softly in the shuttle bay.
There was only one other vessel in the bay, and it wasn't a shuttle.... it looked like an orbital fighter, more than anything.
Alex frowned, as he quickly accessed the ship's logs.

August 25th, 2577
The fleet's got us running a milk run. Seems we have to transport a bunch of diplomats to go visit the Romulan Empire again... is there EVER going to be a solid peace contract with these idiots?
Sometimes I wish I could just resign... *sighs*
Anyways, it seems that I'm needed on the bridge... must be those multi-phasic shields giving us trouble again...
end log

Lauren walked up to Alex, at the control terminal for the shuttlebay.
"What do you make of this?" Alex asked.
"I don't know. But this ship... even the ship's sensors state there's no one else onboard." Lauren said quietly
Alex nodded.
Thomal ran up.
"Sir... I was just checking out the ship's engineering room... I should point out this ship is 2 decks high, and has a maximum crew capacity of... woah... according to the ship's roster... 17?" He said softly.
"How many...can run this thing?" Alex asked.
"We'll need two in engineering, and three on the bridge. The ship lists as having a skeleton crew capacity of 3." Thomal said softly.
Alex frowned.
"Good." He said softly.
"Sir...there's something else." Matt said quietly.
"What is it, Matt?" Alex asked.
"While I was... in the turbolift...comming back..." Matt trailed off.
Alex and Lauren stared at him expectantly.
"Sir... I heard... someone talking...but everyone else was nowhere near." Matt said softly.
Alex nodded.
"Don't discard anything... Keep your wits about you. We have no clue what this thing can do...or what it's programmed to do..." Alex said quietly, now slightly disturbed by his surroundings.
Lauren looked down.
Then her eyes opened wide.
"Someone...else is here." Lauren whispered.
Robin shook his head.
"There's no one else onboard." Robin said softly.
Thomal frowned, as he looked at the main computer matrix.
"This machine... is very complex... it talks to itself... it even jitters at itself. It has... Alex? I think we had best be going to see the engineering room." Thomal said softly.

Unknown ShipEngineering
Alex looked at the 'main computer'.
"What the hell is that?" Alex asked.
"It's... a human brain. It's wired into the computer systems... it's not an Artificial Intelligence. It's a real Intelligence." Thomal said softly.
"Is that you?" A familiar voice asked.
Thomal, Robin, and Alex looked up.
"It's... Lauren?" Alex asked.
Lauren looked at it.
"Welcome aboard, Alexander Van der Beek, Welcome aboard Thomal, Welcome aboard, Mathew Matheson, Welcome aboard, Robin Thompson, Welcome aboard, Lauren Van den Hause." Lauren's voice said softly.
Lauren looked up, mystified.
"If you are curious about why this ship is here... it's something...that's hard to explain." The computer-lauren said softly.
Lauren looked up.
"This ship's trans-temporal shielding was hit by a large tachyon-based weapon. Tachyons on Tachyons... messy messy thing. I don't...know where the crew went... we were under attack, and I lost sensor ability. I lost control of everything... they had to do it manually. I feel lonely. I miss them all...." Lauren's voice said softly.
Lauren looked up.
"Look...we need your help." Alex said to the brain.
"I remember...this. Sort of. In 'my' timestream, this mission failed horribly. We never encountered a ship like this one... and... Linda was deleted." Lauren-computer said softly.
"You mean.. just by being here... you altered the timestream?" Lauren asked herself.
Alex frowned.
"So we are all violating general order number one?" Alex asked.
"We're going to get in so much trouble." Thomal said softly.
Lauren frowned.
"What exactly ARE we going to get into so much trouble for?" Lauren asked.
Alex looked down.
"We're going to save her. I don't care if I have to pilot this ship myself." Alex said.
From the look on his face, no one was going to stop them.
"You are going to want to get to the bridge then. I've got the power restored... but I have no shields, and no weapons, only a cloak. And there is a ship closing at old warp speed 7." Computer-Lauren said softly.
"I'll stay." Thomal said.
"I will too." Matt said.
"Counter that." Alex said.
"What?" Matt asked.
"Ensign Thomal, you are staying. Ensign Thompson, you are staying. We need the highest ranking people on the bridge." Alex said, 'command' voice in place.
Thomal and Robin nodded.
Alex, Lauren and Matt walked up to the bridge.
"Red Alert; Cloaked ship is activating weaponry." Computer-Lauren said softly.
Alex frowned.
"Fun." Matt said grinning.

[squiggy]

Chapter Series 2; Chapter 2
Unknown ShipEngineering
Thomal yelled at Robin, something unintelligible. It was in an odd Andorian dialect.
"Say that again in English?" She asked him.
"I'd rather not, it doesn't translate nicely." Thomal retorted.
Robin nodded.
"Phasers have been re-activated. Thank you." Computer-Lauren said in her soft computer voice.
"She is alot easier to put up with this way." Robin whispered.
Thomal simply nodded.

Unknown ShipBridge
Alex, Matt, and Lauren ran onto the tiny bridge, and stopped dead in thier tracks.
For just a wee second, she thought she saw someone.
But they were gone.
Alex looked at her, curiously.
"Did you see that?" Matt asked.
Alex nodded.
Lauren shook her head.
"Just our imagination?" Alex asked her.
"Hopefully." Lauren replied.
Lauren sat dow at the navigation console, mystified.
The ship's piloting and firing protocols were controlled from the same console. It was beautifully simple.
Matt sat down at the Communications and Scientific studies console, mystified by some of the readings.
Alex sat down in the command seat.
And grinned.
"Phasers are online." the computer-Lauren said softly.
Alex nodded.
"Raise cloak, revoke red-alert; Plot course for Andor. If the Monitor wants to give us trouble, we should be able to handle them." Alex said softly.
Lauren nodded.
"Cloak's up. Standing down from Red Alert." Lauren said, in acknowledgement.
"The Monitor seems confused now, they are firing in the dark, looking for us." Matt said softly.
Alex nodded.
"Good. I want them to be confused." He said, then turned to Lauren. "Best speed for Andor." He said softly.
"Uh... That should take roughly... 9.7 minutes." She said, examining the ship's speed ratings.
"WHAT?" Alex asked, "Andor is 17,000 Lightyears from here!"
"And this ship is capable of what would be on our charts, roughly warp 45." Lauren replied, simply, as she pushed the levers up as high as they would go.
"That would put the Monitor...what.... about... 2 months or so behind us?" Alex asked.
Lauren nodded.
"67 days, 14 hours, 12 minutes, and 53 seconds, aproximately." Lauren replied, with a smile.
They sat there, getting familiar with some of the ship's abilities.
"Computer," Lauren said, refraining from referring to the machine as herself, "What is the 'inclusion' aparatus for?"
"The Inclusion aparatus is designed for trans-universal transport, in the event that 'mirror' universes either come for a visit, or require one." Computer-Lauren replied.
Lauren nodded.
Alex was reading the history recorded in this ship.
"Computer... The Talaxians... are part of the federation?" Alex asked her.
"Not currently; In roughly 107 years, the Federation-Klingon Alliance will finally master the art of warp 10+ travel, resorting in roughly the triple size federation resulted roughly 150 years from now." The computer replied.
Alex frowned.
"Red Alert. Temporal Federation Timeship located off of the port bow." The computer replied.
"I knew this wasn't going to come very easily." Matt said softly.
"Never does." Alex replied.
"We are being hailed." Computer-Lauren said softly.
"Onscreen." Alex said, nodding.
"Attention to the crew that has commandeered future technology; You are violating the Temporal Directive. Stand down immediately, and prepare to be boarded." A british-sounding voice informed them.
"Arm phasers, Bridge to Engineering, Get those damn trans-temporal shield thingys up." Alex said into the comm system microphone.
"Multi-phasic shielding has been activated." Computer-Lauren replied.
"Computer, does this ship have a name?" Alex asked.
"It is called the USS Solaris-J" Computer-Lauren said.
"Hail them." Alex said softly.
"Channel Open." Matt responded.
"This is Lt. Commander Alex Van der Beek, currently in command of the USS Solaris-J; You are currently violating Federation Space. Stand down, lower your shields and prepare to be boarded." Alex said, rephrasing the British Voice's demands.
Lauren laughed a little.
"Negative. You will stand down, lower YOUR shields, and prepare to be boarded." The british voice replied.
Alex nodded to Lauren.
"Fire the best thing in the arsenal. Whatever it is." Alex instructed her.
Lauren nodded.
Then she grinned.
"A Tachyon Particle Cannon." She said softly.
"Bounce a Tachyon Particle beam off the main deflector dish..." Matt started singing, causing both Alex and Lauren to laugh at this.
"Fire it." Alex instructed her again.
She nodded, and fired.
Alex remembered something Computer-Lauren had said.
Tachyons on Tachyons. Messy Messy thing.
"Sir...the ship... just 'de-phased' out of our time stream." Matt said softly.
Alex nodded.
"Approaching Andor. Dropping from Turbo-Warp." Lauren said softly.
Alex smiled.
"Locate that base." Alex instructed Matt.
Matt looked at the map of the solar system.
"Found it. It's the big cloaked starbase." Matt said, sarcasticly, causing Alex laughed.
"How do we get Linda off of that thing?" Lauren asked.
Alex walked over to a cabinet on the side of the bridge, and opened it.
He pulled out what appeared to be a small tri-corder, but upon further examination, he noted it had emitter-like functions.
Grinning, he turned to Lauren, as he grabbed a phaser-like device.
"Lock and Load." Alex said softly.
Lauren looked at him, shocked.
Alex turned back to the cabinet.
"What the hell?" He asked softly.
He picked up a small device, which clipped onto the side of his shirt.
Placing it there, he activated it.
And disappeared.
"A portable mini-cloak?" Matt asked.
Alex's voice came from nowhere.
"So it seems." He said.
Lauren looked in the general direction that she sensed his thoughts.
"Be careful." She whispered.
Alex nodded, not that she could see it.
"Computer, beam me onto that base." Alex said softly.

Starbase 31Docking Ring
"Alert; Unexplained Transport Signature was just noticed in this area; Security has been notified." The base's computer said softly.
Alex frowned, and then, hearing bootsteps running towards him, he quickly stepped out of the way, so no one would brush against him.
Watching the security team walk right past him, Alex looked down at the tri-corder.
"Damn." He whispered to himself, cursing. Linda wasn't active, so he'd have to find the actual terminal Linda was stored in.
He turned to the Computer Terminal set in the wall, and plugged the tri-corder into its port.
He did a quick scan of the Base's terminals, and found something of interest.
In the director's office, there was a 6x6 holo-emitter equipped cell, with it's own computer terminal.
Alex frowned.
He wandered the hallways, doing his best to not touch anyone.
He bumped into a few people, who looked around oddly, and just shook it off, with a bit of confusion.
Alex slipped into the administrative hallway, and watched Morrow walk into the Director's office, which Alex assumed, was now his office.
Alex slipped in behind him.
Morrow frowned, looking around.
"Computer, is there anyone else in this room?" Morrow asked.
"Negative." The computer replied, not being able to read Alex.
Morrow sat down at the Director's desk.
Alex snuck behind him, and made sure he wasn't paying attention to the terminal behind him.
Alex quietly plugged the tri-corder into the computer terminal.
Come on Linda, where are you? He thought to himself, then smiled.
Gotcha.
He unplugged the tri-corder, and smiled.
As he walked over to the door, he remembered it wouldn't open for him; he'd have to wait for Morrow to leave.
Morrow looked around, frowning.
"Computer, Activate that holographic woman." Morrow said softly.
Alex frowned.
Oh crap. he thought to himself.
"Error; Holographic Personality Protocol 'Linda' was downloaded off of our network 1.1 minutes ago." The Computer informed him.
Oh bloody hell. Alex said frowning.
Morrow tapped his commbadge.
"RED ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! Security checkpoints, keep your scanners up. We've got an Intruder aboard." Morrow said softly.
Alex frowned.
Morrow walked towards the door, and made it open.
Alex closely followed him out the door, and Morrow turned, and looked right through him.
Alex tapped a few commands into the tri-corder, and then downloaded them to the terminal near Morrow.
"Sorry Admiral; Seems Love triumphs over evil again." The terminal displayed.
Alex tapped his commbadge, and disappeared.

[buffyscrubs]

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