[ Act One ]

Shrass hit the bell button on T’Sai’s quarters again. Finally, after what felt like an extra minute, she opened with an annoyed expression on her face, obviously indignant about the unannounced and unexpected interruption of her meditation exercises. “Yes, Ensign? What is so important you couldn’t just send a message?” She remarked as she pulled her dark green ornamented robes into place.

“We just hit the jackpot.” The Andorian officer whispered and pushed himself into her quarters.

“This is must unusual, Ensign. You better have a good explanation for your improper behavior.” She commented and glared at the Ensign.

“Tarik has resigned.” Shrass burst forth with a triumphant grin on his lips, just moments after the door to T’Sai’s quarters had closed.

It took the Vulcan Junior Lieutenant a moment to process those three words. “What? When? How?”

“Yes! I just heard it from Vossler. She came out of a staff meeting two hours ago, where the captain promoted her to acting chief engineer. From what she told me, he resigned three days ago over the fallout of the accident situation. The reason he apparently gave was something along the lines of being unable to do what everyone expected from him.”

“That is indeed good news. With [email protected] no longer being chief engineer and one of our own crew members promoted to head of that department, our situation did improve significantly. Does anyone else know about it yet?”

“Don’t think so, but I’m not sure. I know it from Vossler and only because I accidentally ran into her when grabbing a snack in the lounge while taking a short break from the lab just a few minutes ago. I don’t know who else was in that meeting, but I guess it won’t take long until the whole ship knows about it. I couldn’t reach Haroun or Duncan, so I came right to you.”

T’Sai nodded, already contemplating the possible outcomes from this unexpected development.

“What is it? Is something wrong?” The blue-skinned officer inquired when he noticed that his colleague didn’t seem to share his excitement.

“No, not at all. I’m just thinking about our next steps. The promotion of Junior Lieutenant Vossler to chief engineer will most likely be met with general approval. While many of our fellow officers didn’t particularly seem to mind Tarik, Vossler is quite popular with everyone and has been working in engineering for over a year already before our accident. I anticipate a primarily positive reaction to her promotion.”

She took a deep breath before she continued. “However, we still have to remain careful. Do you know what he’ll be doing now that he resigned? Will he remain on board or will he leave soon?”

“Vossler only said he’d stay as a technical expert and consultant for some time. Once the Synergy thinks we can handle their tech on our own he’d transfer to one of their vessels, but I don’t know how long we’re talking here.”

“I understand. But the time period doesn’t matter. The outlook of remaining in control of the Sidereal alone is enough for now. We should inform the others as quickly as possible but without rousing suspicion.” By now T’Sai’s expression had turned from annoyance to confidence and Shrass’ intrusion into her quarters were already forgiven considering the excellent news he had brought.

“Hmm… Haroun and Duncan will come off-shift in about four hours. Haroun will probably already know about the situation since he’s working in engineering today, so I think I’ll check with Duncan first.”

The Vulcan nodded in agreement. “Good suggestion, Ensign. I will keep an eye on Haroun to make sure he doesn’t act haphazardly. Further, this change of events provides me with the opportunity to refine my theory about the neurogenic fields given that Tarik’s movement profile will most likely change. If the field strengths and occurrences change accordingly, we have a non-trivial indicator that he is responsible for their existence.”

“And what do we do with that information, if it turns out to be true?” Shrass asked curiously. “Do you think it will be enough to confront the captain or the XO?”

“No. We still have to wait for more conclusive evidence. After all, correlation does not equal causation.” T’Sai explained to her colleague. “Without hard evidence that his implants are generating those fields after all and thus pose a danger to the rest of us, we can’t yet take action. We must bide our time before we make a move. For now, we should continue to observe and record our findings. The more data we gather and the stronger we can present our case in the end, the more likely we will get the desired result.”

“I understand.” The Andorian nodded as he turned towards the door, preparing to leave again. “I think I should return to the lab now; I’m already exceeding my break.”

“Yes, I think that would be best. No need for you to rouse any suspicion by missing your work.” The Vulcan glanced at her still burning meditation candle, sighing internally that she’d have to restart the whole exercise. “And thank you for informing me, Ensign. Even though your way of approaching it was quite unorthodox, it was prudent of you to come to me quickly with that new data.”

Before the astrophysicist could leave, she quickly added. “But the next time a personal message should suffice. After all, sharing gossip and rumors amongst the crew is considered normal onboard Starfleet vessels, so even if someone got a hold of these messages it shouldn’t cause us any problems.”

“Oh, yes.” Shrass looked a bit embarrassed. “Sorry. I guess I didn’t think about it properly. I’ll remember it for the future.” After a moment of awkward silence accompanied by T’Sai’s unyielding gaze, Shrass turned around and left her quarters, quickly returning to the astrometric lab to continue with his work.

The Andorian scientist spent the next almost four hours to work on his project, almost counting the minutes before he could tell Duncan the good news. Several times his mind wandered off his task and he did consider sending a message to his comrade’s station. But even after contemplating the advice given by T’Sai, he didn’t dare to do so. In his mind there was still a big difference between a private message sent to someone off-duty and a direct message to an active duty station, and he didn’t want to risk it.

So, in the end he had to return to his work and wait out the end of his shift. While his assignment was quite interesting, cross-referencing Synergy astrometric data with Federation records of known sectors, he would rather discuss their next steps with the Scotsman than sit in a lab and stare at stellar cartography entries scrolling by on the screen of his terminal.

Most of the work was done by the computer anyway, but the XO still asked for a personal review of any overlaps and matches in the records. Lieutenant Commander Heisenberg wanted Shrass to have a look at the data because he was the crew’s most experienced astrophysicist and would likely see things that others missed or filter out any false positives marked down by the computer. He should have been proud of that statement of confidence in his abilities, but nevertheless it felt like a distraction to him.

Still, some of the things he saw were quite curious to him as a scientist. Almost all naturally occurring stellar phenomena appeared to be congruent in both realities. Pulsars, nebulae, black holes, various non-gravity singularities, and lots of other points of interest came up identical or almost identical. The only significant deviations showed up in places where the Collective or the Synergy had done significant amounts of stellar engineering or harvesting. But aside from that, the two realities seemed pretty much identical, at least from an astrometric perspective.

Eventually the end of his shift came around and Ensign Th’akianas saved his work in a temporary report waiting to be continued tomorrow. After cleaning up the lab and restoring all consoles to their default settings, Shrass left deck twelve and quickly checked the various lounges for his colleague. He was hoping to catch the Scottish ops officer grab something for late dinner as well, but eventually he still ending up in front of Duncan’s quarters.

It took the Andorian only a single press of the bell button before the door opened. Duncan was sitting at his apartment’s terminal and munching away at a piece of replicated pineapple pizza, wondering who would come visit him so soon after the end of his shift. “Shrass! What’s up? Didn’t expect to see you around.”

“Good evening, sorry to bother you this late and interrupt your dinner, but I have excellent news.” The astrophysicist replied as he walked into the room, closer to his colleague.

The Scotsman took another bite on his food, gesturing towards one of the chairs next to the desk. “Have a seat. What’s the good news?”

“Tarik has resigned.”

Duncan registered the words and immediately choked on his pizza, coughing for several moments to clear his throat and dropping the half-chewed bite on the plate. “What? You’re kidding, right?”

“No, I’m not. I ran into Vossler during my break and she had had a meeting with the captain today where she was promoted to acting chief engineer. Apparently, Tarik stepped down three days ago over that incident with his nephew. He’s out of the command hierarchy now and will only work as a technical adviser or something like that for some time before transferring to a Synergy vessel. I already informed T’Sai of this development. We agreed that I should see you while she’ll keep an eye on Haroun.”

Junior Lieutenant Clark stared at his fellow officer while slowly a big grin was forming on his lips. “That saves us so much trouble. It’s utterly hilarious, because this is exactly what we needed. Shrass, that’s indeed excellent news! You’ve just made my evening that much better!”

Duncan kept working on his slice of pizza in between his conversation with Shrass. “Did T’Sai already have any idea what our next steps should look like?”

Ensign Th’akianas nodded. “Yes, but she thinks we should remain cautious. She’ll keep tracking those energy fields to see if their occurrences change with Tarik’s changed movement profile. If they did, it would be an indicator he was responsible for the fields. Also, she says we don’t have enough material yet to confront the command staff and should keep gathering data.”

Finishing the last piece of his dinner, the Scottish operations officer swallowed. “I see. She does have a point, even though I wished we could act sooner. The longer we wait the riskier the whole situation becomes for us and the longer we’ll have possibly to allow those fields to influence our colleagues. At least with Tarik no longer in a command position his direct influence is weakened, but we should still try to keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn’t try something.”

Duncan stood from his desk and walked over to the fabricator console to recycle his dinner plate. The tableware was quickly and completely disassembled in a cascade of silvery white streaks and its material reintegrated into the matter seed to serve for future fabrications.

He ordered a glass of orange juice and watched it being constructed by the fabricator, just as he had watched with the pizza a few minutes ago. Returning to the desk with his cool beverage in hand, he mockingly toasted to Shrass before taking a big gulp. “To Tarik’s early retirement. May he find new career opportunities far far away from us.”

The Andorian chuckled at his colleague’s words. “What are we doing now?”

“Well, we do what T’Sai suggested. We keep waiting and watching.” Duncan explained in between finishing his drink. “We’ve come this far, there’s no reason to screw this up now. Both our case and our data must be waterproof from top to bottom if we want it to go anywhere. I hope T’Sai also made some progress with Co-Yor, but that’s just an additional piece of the puzzle. The next gathering will be very interesting, I think, given today’s quite surprising development.”

“Good, good.” Shrass nodded. “But if there’s nothing else, I think I’ll return to my quarters now. I’ve been staring at the stupid screens in the lab the whole day long.”

“Yeah, sure. Get some rest.” The Human ops officer replied. “We still have lots of time before we make our move. And thanks for keeping me and T’Sai updated. If we want to clean up this whole mess, everyone should be as sharp as you.”

“Thanks. Good night, Duncan.” Shrass stood from his seat and quietly left Duncan’s rooms. He went directly to his own quarters with the firm intention of grabbing a dinner for himself in mind. Watching his colleague munch away at that slice of baked dough with toppings hadn’t helped his own hunger. What did the Humans call it? Pizza or something along those lines. He made a mental note to check out that dish.

The Andorian swiftly unlocked the door and entered his quarters. “Lights!” He said routinely to banish the darkness from his rooms, but before he had even made half the way to the fabricator, he heard his desk terminal chirp and the computer announce a new personal message.

Letting out a sigh he changed his steps and checked the terminal. There was a text-only message from T’Sai waiting for him. He quickly browsed the short note from his colleague. Seeing that it was just a reminder for their next “socializing,” he quickly switched off the terminal and returned his attention to getting dinner.

Shrass walked over to the fabricator console. “Computer, pizza.”

“Please specify size and type.”

“Uhm… a large slice of… what can I get on it?”

“There are 148 different types of pizza stored in the database. Please specify type or chose custom dough and toppings.”

“Show types on display.” Shrass ordered and started browsing through the list provided by the computer. But seeing the different toppings didn’t help at all, since he wasn’t familiar with most of the foodstuff shown to him. The Andorian’s antennae dropped slightly. He was simply hungry, not in the mood to having this conversation with the computer while trying to tell the damn thing to just give him something to eat. He shook his head and made another mental note to try pizza when he wasn’t as tired.

“Computer, change query. Just give me some roasted shaysha with a side of tuber root salad and some spice bread.”

The device acknowledged the changed order with a soft chirp. A split second later a large plate laden with the grilled beetle shells, the salad, and the bread materialized in a shower of silvery energy lines and sparks. Shrass took his dinner and went to sit at his dinner table, picking up the provided cutlery and starting to break open the shaysha shells.

While eating his meal, Shrass wondered loudly to himself. “Why do Humans always have to be so complicated? A hundred and fifty different versions of a single meal is just silly.”

[ Act Two ]

Sina, Niko, and Jeffrey were already sitting in the captain’s ready room when Co-Yor arrived. The CMO stepped in front of the CO’s desk and reported with his deep humming voice. “Reporting as ordered, captain. What do you need my assistance for?”

“Please, take a seat, Co-Yor.” The Romulan gestured towards the other empty seat next to the first officer and the counselor. She leaned back in her own chair, but it was obvious to everyone she wasn’t at all relaxed. Once the towering Kalonar was seated she took a deep breath before she continued. “You probably remember that one week ago we lost our chief engineer?”

“Yes, I do remember that [email protected] stepped down from his post. But I don’t know to which extend my medical abilities could be of service in this instance. I understand that [email protected] was displeased with what I attempted to do on your order. Was my intervention the cause for his resignation?” Co-Yor was highly conscious of what he had done and the understandably antagonistic reaction his deed had elicited from Tarik. For many hours he had wondered whether he should have refused his captain’s orders.

“No. Don’t worry, it wasn’t that. The reasons he gave were complex and quite compelling. But also frightening given our situation in this universe. I’ve been thinking long and hard about what Tarik said that day. About how our cultures are fundamentally different and that we will never be able to bridge this gap just by talking.”

Niko leaned forward in his seat, his elbows resting on his knees. “But you’ve got a plan that goes beyond talking, right? Do you think we can get Tarik back with whatever you’re up to?”

A weak sigh escaped Sina’s lips. “Yes, I do have a plan. One I wager none of you will particularly like. But I doubt it will get us Tarik back. I think the wounds just run too deep for that now. But it will hopefully help us with the rest of the Synergy, especially the Matriarch. If all goes according to my plan, a situation like the one with Y-T-1173 should never happen again.”

The German officer sat straight up and looked his CO right in the eyes. “Sounds good. So, what’s your plan?”

Sina swallowed. “I intend to let Tarik apply a temporary neural uplink to me and introduce me to the Synergy hive-mind.”

The XO’s eyes went wide. “What?! No! Please tell me you’re joking!”

“I’m not sure this is a good idea, captain.” Jeffrey remarked, his gaze jumping between Sina and Niko.

Co-Yor also protested upon hearing the suggestion. “Captain, I cannot recommend that. We know far too little about the consequences of the procedure. The consequences of exposure to their hive-mind are completely unknown to us.”

“I know.” Sina almost whispered. “But Tarik was right. Unless we start understanding each other we will always be outsiders to them, and they’ll always be strangers to us. And while I believe the Synergy is trying their best to get us home, we must consider the possibility of that being impossible. In that situation we can’t afford being estranged from the dominant galactic power.”

The Romulan stood from her chair and turned to look out the behind her desk, gazing into the darkness of space. “Last week has shown us all painfully that we have no idea who we’re really dealing with. For Tarik and the others, it was the right thing to do what he did, while to us it seemed abhorrent. I want to avoid repeating such incidents in the future because we shouldn’t assume that everyone will be understanding of our reaction.”

“Yes, Sina, but there has to be a different way!” Niko countered. “Giving them access to our computer was one thing, but I’m really not keen on giving them access to our minds.”

“That’s exactly why I will do it myself instead of asking anyone else.” Sina replied, turning around and facing her officers again. “I’m responsible for my crew and therefore I have to shoulder the burden and the risk.”

“Captain, I respectfully disagree. You are the commanding officer of this ship and its crew and I cannot allow you put yourself at risk.” The CMO spoke up now. His mind busy recalling what he knew about the Borg hive-mind and the changes they were aware of the Synergy made to that technology. “We need you. And we have no knowledge about the physiological and psychological details of the procedure. If any problems occurred during the process, I might not know how to help you. I strongly advise to reconsider your decision.”

“That’s exactly the reason why I wanted you involved, Co-Yor. It’s not only our best opportunity to bridge the cultural gap between Federation and Synergy, giving us the maybe only chance we’ll ever get to learn more about how to fit in with this reality. It’s also our perfect and maybe only chance to learn more about their uplink technology and the hive-mind. I will also only do it if Tarik agrees to your medical supervision.”

Co-Yor tilted his head slightly, his unmoving expression not betraying any of his emotions. “I understand, captain, but I still have severe concerns.” The Kalonar was diligently taking mental notes about the captain’s argument for the procedure and had to admit it carried some weight. Still, in his opinion the risks outweighed the benefits.

Jeffrey shook his head. “As do I. You can’t do this alone, much less force the issue. Understanding always requires time and we’ve only had a bit over one year. Of course, there will be difficulties and problems. But that happens in every relationship and the partners must adjust and learn to deal with each other. That is true for personal relationships but also for diplomatic ones. The incident with Tarik was unfortunate, but we shouldn’t be too hasty with decisions that have so many potentially far-reaching consequences.”

“I understand what you mean, Jeffrey, but I’m not sure we can afford further delays.” The Romulan said while sitting down at her desk again. “We’re out on our own now, traveling a foreign galaxy. What if the next ‘misunderstanding’ doesn’t happen with an allied engineer, but a neutral or non-aligned diplomat? We can’t count on everyone being lenient with our blunders. I fear it’s only a matter of time until we screw up a situation we couldn’t afford to screw up.”

Lieutenant Commander Heisenberg let out a frustrated sigh and rubbed his temples. He knew that Sina’s Romulan blood was sometimes… often… regularly making her as stubborn as an ox, but he realized the well familiar tone she used when she was almost certainly set on a decision.

“Sina, we both know you’re planning on doing this no matter what we say. I understand why you want to do it, but that doesn’t mean I have to agree with your decision. Still, I’m your first officer and will support you, no matter how grumpy I might be about this silly idea of yours. What do you need from us?”

Commander D’raxis smiled weakly at the words of her first officer. “Thank you, Niko. What about you two? Can I count on you to do this?”

The black-skinned counselor let out a deep sigh, shaking his head. “Yes. But for the record, I still object. But if you think it will help us…”

Co-Yor tilted his head in the other direction now. He understood the XO’s assessment of the situation was correct. The captain would go ahead even without his agreement, but with his support it would be much less risky. And they could gain important intelligence from the procedure. “I will provide whatever medical services I can render. But I still do not recommend this procedure without extensive previous research.”

“That’s good enough for me. I will note your objections in my log.” Sina noted. “As for what I need…” She took a deep breath before she continued.

“Niko, you’ll become my full substitute. Before I undergo the procedure, I’m going to grant you full access and privileges, so that you can take over the captain’s chair in case…” The Romulan hesitated for a split second. “…against all odds something goes wrong. I don’t want to leave the ship and crew behind without a properly set up successor. While I hope and expect that we won’t have to make use of this arrangement, it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

The XO pressed his lips together, his face an expression of sincere unhappiness, but after a short moment he nodded. Grimly, but he nodded. “I understand.”

“Jeffrey, I want you to create a detailed psychological profile of me. I’ll try and make space in my schedule, so we have enough time for it. I want you to keep this profile around as a benchmark for after the procedure. I want to be sure we have a way to find out if it negatively affected my personality mid to long term.”

“Aye, captain.” The counselor replied.

“And I want you to fabricate a Romulan mind probe and use it on me to generate the profile.”

“Captain? Those devices are illega-” He tried to protest, but Sina quickly cut him off.

“I’m aware of that, Jeffrey. But they’ll give you more data than any other method and we only have limited time. I fully expect you to keep all information you see while creating my profile strictly confidential. You will not speak about anything you learned with anyone and only draw on it when ordered by myself, Niko, or any higher-ranking officer in Starfleet Command, in case we make it home again. Aside from those situations you’ll take that information to your grave. Are we clear?”

Junior Lieutenant Brassfield stared at his CO, then looked at the XO in the next seat to see his reaction. After seeing that Niko wouldn’t object, Jeffrey let out a deep sigh. “Yes, captain. But you’ll have to note a second formal protest from me in your log.”

“I will do so.” Sina replied, before turning her gaze towards her CMO now.

“Co-Yor, you’ll perform a neurological analysis on me and create copies of all critical memory engrams relating to my command experiences and decision-making processes.” The Romulan explained. “I want to know if there are any physiological rather than psychological side effects of using the Synergy uplink. Like Jeffrey, you are under order to retain absolute confidentiality about anything you learn from the analysis and the engrams. The same restrictions as to when to bring it up also apply to you.”

The Kalonar hesitated for a second, then nodded. “Understood, captain.”

“Good. How long do you two think you’ll need to complete your assignments?” Sina asked.

Jeffrey glanced over to Co-Yor and spoke first. “With the mind probes…” He still didn’t like those things, and everyone could hear it in his voice. “…I’d say about four dozen sessions over the course of a few weeks. Shouldn’t take more than about fifty hours in total. But you need to be relaxed and refreshed for that to work, otherwise the profile would be distorted and not of much use. This means you can’t squeeze those hours in at the end of your typical extended shifts when you’re exhausted.”

The Commander nodded. “I acknowledge your subtle criticism and will see to having enough time for it. What about you Co-Yor?”

“Performing the necessary scans for a deep neurological analysis requires less than fifteen minutes. However, copying and processing the requested memory engrams will take approximately thirty hours in total.” The CMO explained calmly, recalling the information about the requested procedures and estimating the required times for them.

Sina let out a sigh. “So, eighty-one hours in total, give or take.” She nervously tapped her fingers against the surface of the desk. “It will take quite a bit longer than I would have liked, but that’s okay. We must do this properly. This may be our only chance to get a closer look at their hive-mind technology.”

The Commander leaned forward in her seat and looked at her senior officers. “I know I ask much of you. I know you don’t like it. I know you have your reservations. But please trust me in this matter. The Synergy is the dominant power in this galaxy, easily eclipsing the Dominion and the Krenim. We must learn how to play nice with our only ally or risk losing it all. I’m aware of the risks the uplink poses, but with your help I’m convinced we can manage.”

Sina drew a deep breath. “That’s all for now. You have your orders, dismissed.”

Co-Yor nodded and stood from his chair, turning to leave the captain’s ready room. He noticed that Jeffrey was following him, while Niko remained behind. The Kalonar could only imagine what exactly CO and XO were discussing but considering his observations of their couple-like social dynamics he was certain that Lieutenant Commander Heisenberg wasn’t going to be polite in expressing his thoughts.

The CMO returned directly to the sickbay, taking the shortest route through the ship’s gateway hubs. He was pleased to find the rooms empty and entered his private office. Co-Yor immediately activated the confidentiality screen. “Computer, activate EMH.”

A familiar chirp sounded and a moment later the female form of the Sidereal’s EMH materialized next to the desk. “Emergency Medical Hologram Mark Nine online. Please state the nature of the medical emergency.”

“Activate confidentiality protocols and load database Co-Yor-Two-Nine-Seven-Four. Authentication, Lieutenant Co-Yor-Turi-Kalur, Calypso-Seven-Eight-Epsilon-One.” The Kalonar ordered while sitting at his desk.

“Understood. Confidentiality protocols active. Database loaded; session parameters secured. Please state the nature of the medical emergency.” The soft and polite voice of the hologram sounded after the computer complied with Co-Yor’s request.

“Assume observation of the implantation and activation of a temporal neural uplink, as well as its operation while connected to the Synergy hive-mind. Would the data available from that suffice to determine whether any crew member has been influenced by the low-powered neurogenic fields?” The CMO asked, contemplating the new information available to him from the briefing a few minutes ago.

“Positive. A detailed observation of the stated events with appropriate encephalic and neurographic scans will yield a 100 percent accuracy of the requested diagnosis.”

He slightly tilted his head at the response. “Would it also suffice to create a more finely tuned desegranine derivate for inoculation against neurogenic fields?”

“Positive. Estimated increase of inoculation efficiency from 64.877 percent to 89.183 percent based on new data.”

The Kalonar nodded quietly to himself before he continued. “Create detailed list with required scan procedures and parameters and copy it to my personal files. Encrypt it with my public authentication key.”

“List copied.”

“Computer, end EMH.” Again, a soft chirp sounded and the EMH vanished in a flickering glimmer. Co-Yor now knew that his captain’s daring procedure was giving him the perfect opportunity to get the data he needs to validate or falsify Lieutenant T’Sai’s concerning observations. With his usual emotionless face, he started to create a schedule to plan the preparations requested by his CO.

[ Act Three ]

“What the HELL were you thinking?!” Captain K’Torr asked, his angry voice thundering in the observation lounge. He furiously threw the PADD down in front of Nadya, the display clearly showing her command code overrides on the computation quota management control. The device skittered across the table, coming to a stop just before tipping over the table’s edge.

“We’re at the brink of war with the Tholians and my chief engineer decides to cheat herself to more elevated private access to the Federation flagship’s computer core.” The Klingon was pacing back and forth in front of the lounge’s tall windows, while the Russian engineer stood stoically at the far end of the table. Nadya didn’t move a single muscle as she endured her Captain’s tirade.

The Enterprise’s female Bolian XO, Commander Yahis Chanar, and the male Vulcan senior operations officer, Lieutenant Commander Kedik, were also sitting in the room, right next to the ship’s counselor who looked as if he wanted to crawl under the carpet. All three remained silent, waiting for the Captain to give Nadya an opportunity to respond.

Finally, K’Torr turned around and stared right at the engineer. “Well? Do you have anything to say about this?” He wildly gestured towards the PADD.

Nadya swallowed and gathered all her courage. She had feared that this moment would come sooner or later, but she had hoped she’d be able to delay it a bit longer. The next minutes would decide her career, maybe even her future in Starfleet at all. “I had no other choice, Sir. My simulation reached the point where the personal quota was insufficient. I wouldn’t have needed that much computing power for long. Only for a single run. And I would have terminated my extended access afterwards.”

The Klingon stared at the chief engineer in utter disbelieve, an expression on his face as if she had just back handed him. “And therefore, you think you can simply take a slice of the computer core for yourself?! Have you considered the fact that the personal quotas exist for the reason to not endanger the ship in critical situations? You went a full ten percent above your limit. Your meddling could have killed some of your colleagues! Can you imagine what would happen if an emergency forcefield came up one-tenth of a second late?”

Nadya swallowed. “I am aware of that, but since we’re currently not in a contested region I thought it-”

“You thought you could get away with it.” The Captain let out a frustrated sigh that sounded more like a groan. “If you had just modified the quota, I would simply enter a reprimand in your record and not waste any more of anyone’s time on this matter. But you tried to hide it. You’ve used your privileged access levels to insert a fake subroutine, that made it seem as if the core was busy running a self-diagnostic. And that crosses the line to sabotage, Lieutenant Commander!”

“I’m sorry, Sir, but you must underst-”

“Understand what?” K’Torr immediately cut her off. “Understand that you’ve developed an unhealthy obsession regarding your attempts to find any trace of the Sidereal? Understand that you’ve chosen to abuse the trust we all placed in you for your own personal benefit? No, I must understand none of that. But there is something that you must learn to accept. The Sidereal is gone and nothing will bring the ship or its crew back. It’s been almost eight months and everyone besides you has moved on.”

“THEN YOU JUST DON’T WANT TO UNDERSTAND!” Nadya eventually lost her composure and shouted back, her sudden outburst taking the others by surprise. The Augment had built a reputation as being calm and collected, but now her gaze was as furious as the Captain’s and she leaned forward to pick up the PADD. “This is as close as we will ever get to know the Sidereal’s fate with certainty!”

She threw the device back towards the Klingon’s end of the table, her voice now laced with poison. “The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth, but apparently for most here a rough guess is good enough! It seems that neither you, nor SC, nor SIS have any interest in finding out what really happened to the Sidereal’s crew. You speak highly of not endangering other officers but abandoning them is apparently just fine with you.”

“You’re treading on very thin ice, Lieutenant Commander.” The first officer spoke, an obvious warning carrying in her voice. “You should consider your next words carefully, because you’re getting awfully close to insubordination.”

“Does it make any difference any more at this point?” Nadya asked with frustration and disappointment in her voice.

Lieutenant Commander Kedik raised an eyebrow before speaking up. “Your fatalism is illogical. There is still a path to an amicable outcome of this situation if we all cooperate.”

“And what would that cooperation look like? I will not stop searching for the Sidereal. I will not abandon my friends. Why don’t you want to understand that? I know I am so close to discovering the last necessary variable of the subspace tensor to find the fissure’s displacement signature. It’s only one more step!” Nadya challenge the Vulcan.

“I could relieve you of your post and have you placed in the brig. And I probably should, given the last few minutes.” Captain K’Torr remarked roughly, his arms impatiently crossed in front of his chest.

“You can throw me in the brig, Captain, but then I’ll just write the calculations on the walls in my own blood. I almost wished Admiral Kirk was in command instead of you.”

Counselor Bravis shook his head and stood from his seat, interrupting the scene before it could spiral completely out of control. “Please stop, everyone! This isn’t getting us anywhere! When did fatalism and threats become the way we solve our problems? Can we all just take a moment to calm down?” He intensely looked at Nadya, silently pleading with her to calm down, then focused his eyes on the Captain. But the Klingon threw his hands in the air in frustration with his chief engineer and started pacing along the window front again.

The XO looked at Nadya slightly confused. “What did you mean with your remark about Admiral Kirk?”

The Augment challenged the Bolian’s gaze, but eventually replied, her arms also crossed in front of her chest. “I expressed the wish for a CO that supported me in my endeavors, to the point of stealing the flagship to search for a lost comrade if necessary, instead of telling me at every possible step to give up and move on.”

Nadya turned around not wanting the others to see her eyes watering up from the emotional stress. “You can’t possibly imagine how hard it is to work on a solution that will help us find the Sidereal, when every single one of your supposed allies turns against you. Only my girlfriend is on my side, everyone else tells me to stop working on the simulation, that I was wasting my time, that I should just accept the loss and move on. If Admiral Kirk would have had that mindset, he’d have abandoned Commander Spock to his fate.”

Captain K’Torr’s frustrated growl was audible across the whole room.

“You are convinced of the correctness of your simulations?” The Vulcan ops officer asked, but the question was almost more of a statement.

“Absolutely. I would have only needed this last simulation to isolate the final variable. After that, we would have had the quantum signature to which the Sidereal was displaced, as well as the subspace tensor connected to the fissure. With that data we could have started thinking about using an appropriately phased subspace differential pulse to scan the area of the fissure for sensor echoes with a matching displacement signature.”

Now the Klingon turned around to face Nadya and the others again. “How high are the chances of success for any of that?”

Lieutenant Commander Kedik turned his chair to face the Captain. “I don’t know, Captain. I have briefly studied the simulation when I investigated the unexpected computer core usage, but I am unable to fully understand it. The formulas contained in the framework describe extremely advanced quantum dynamics and theoretical subspace mechanics, far exceeding my own knowledge in those fields. For a proper analysis we would need to consult experts for fields of study.”

“Do we have qualified personnel on board?” The XO inquired from the ops officer.

“No, Sir.” The Vulcan immediately replied. “Like I said, the material is far more advanced than topics most people are ever exposed to. We would need actual researchers in those fields. Someone with the expertise and knowledge of, for example, professor Ishikawa, who teaches Advanced Subspace Mechanics at Starfleet Academy, or professor Van der Meer, who works at the Quantum Slipstream Research Institute of the SCE.”

“I see.” Captain K’Torr said flatly, the expression on his face readily shifting as he was thinking about how to proceed in this case.

“But what if the simulation failed?” Commander Chanar asked, directed at Nadya. “You say you’re convinced it will work, but what if it doesn’t?”

The question hit the Russian harder than she would want to admit. “In that case…” Nadya quickly wiped the wetness from her eyes and cheeks with her sleeve, then turned back to face the others. She took a deep breath before she continued, more to calm her nerves than anything else. “If the simulation fails to… yield the complete tensor, it means my assumptions have been incorrect.”

“Which assumptions?” Kedik inquired.

“That the fissure that displaced the Sidereal was coexistent only with one other quantum reality. If there were more than one aperture, the ship… is almost certain to have been destroyed, torn apart and distributed equally between all existing end points. In such a scenario the estimated chances for the crew’s survival would be well below thirty percent, dropping rapidly as the number of connected parallel realities increased.”

“Then it’s nothing more than a gamble.” The Bolian XO remarked flatly.

“Are the lives of eighty-two fellow officers, colleagues, and friends not worth taking a gamble, Commander?” Nadya asked back right on the spot. “Is it not worth to at least try and roll the dice, instead of giving up before the game even started? If we’ve become so frightened of chance, what are we even doing out here?”

Captain K’Torr had stopped pacing back and forth in front of the lounge windows and took a long moment to gaze into the black emptiness of space. “Don’t mistake being careful for being afraid.” He took a deep breath and turned back to the other officers, holding his hands behind his back. “Nevertheless, I am willing to consider giving you one more chance, Lieutenant Commander.”

Nadya’s eyes lightened up with cautious optimism hearing those words from her CO. “Sir?”

“I am willing to allow you to run your simulation under four conditions.”

The chief engineer swallowed and answered carefully. “I understand, Sir. Which conditions?”

The Klingon focused his gaze on the Russian, while picking up the PADD that lay haphazardly across the table’s built in console. “First, you will coordinate with Lieutenant Commander Kedik to prevent your simulation from putting the ship at risk again. Second, you will provide a full and extensive report with all details about your work so far. Third, you will fully cooperate with whatever researchers we deem necessary to ascertain your experiment’s validity. And fourth…”

He stepped around the long conference table and walked up to the engineer. The CO looked Nadya right in the eyes as he continued, a gleam of sympathy and worry in his gaze. “…I need you to promise me to let it go if the simulation fails. I cannot allow my chief engineer to continue being so distracted and torn between two goals. While on duty I need you to focus your attention on your job and your job is not this side project. And I can’t allow you to continue down this path of abuse and self-destruction.”

Lieutenant Commander Lebedeva hesitated to answer, her thoughts racing about the last demand.

Captain K’Torr took a step back and gazed at his CE. “You’re an outstanding officer and I would hate to lose you. Your record, until now, has been exemplary. I understand your desire, and your frustration, to help your friends, but you can’t throw your life away on nothing but a faint guess. We need reliable proof. If your simulation works, we will figure out the next steps together as a team. No more going it alone. But if it fails, we must accept that there is nothing more we can do. What do you say?”

Nadya took a deep breath and then slowly nodded. “I… I agree to the conditions, Captain. And I’m willing to hand in my resignation for my transgression at your request, Sir.”

“I hope that will not be necessary. I’ve clearly laid out the rules how we will approach this matter from now on and I expect you to follow them. But there are two things that will be necessary. One is that I will have to enter a reprimand into your record. I simply cannot overlook what you’ve done.” The Klingon slowly walked back to his seat at the far end of the table. “And the other is that you are temporarily relieved of duty. Lieutenant Sakar will stand in for you until further notice.”

“Sir, I-”

“No, Lieutenant Commander.” The Captain cut off the engineer. “I know what you want to say, but no. I don’t want you sitting between two chairs. Focus on your simulation and get it done properly. I don’t want it to fail and the whole situation to drag on because of incorrect data entry or some other oversight. Coordinate the simulation run with ops. Confirm the experiment’s validity with external specialists. Is that understood?”

The Russian drew in a sharp breath. “Yes, Sir.” She hesitated for a second, but then continued. “And thank you, Captain. I know I broke your trust. I promise you that will not happen again.”

“Good. Everyone, dismissed.” The Klingon turned to leave the observation lounge, but Nadya quickly spoke up before he had taken another step or any of the others had stood from their seats.

“Sir, one more thing.”

The CO stopped and turned to face his chief engineer. “Yes?”

“I want to apologize for insinuating that you’d easily abandon fellow officers. That was highly inappropriate and uncalled for. I am sorry about that, Sir.”

A weak smile raced over the Klingon’s lips, but he quickly managed to bury it beneath his strict-captain-mask. Still, he nodded and replied with a firm voice. “Apology accepted. I think we can all consider this incident a valuable lesson in trust and… compassion.”

Captain K’Torr nodded, then turned away and left the observation lounge with swift steps. Commander Chanar and Lieutenant Commander Kedik quickly followed. Nadya took a deep breath, pulled her uniform jacket straight, and left the lounge to return to her quarters.

At last, counselor Bravis remained in the observation lounge, slumped into his chair. He took a deep breath before slowly standing from his seat, mumbling. “This is doing nothing for my nerves. Who counsels the counselors?” Shaking his head, he pushed his chair under the table and headed towards the door.

[ Act Four ]

Tarik looked at the PADD in his hands while the door to his private quarters closed with its typical gentle hiss. He wasn’t quite sure what to make of the last few minutes yet, but Sina had made her point crystal clear. She wanted to undergo a temporary uplink and connect to the hive-mind, but only on the condition that her medical staff was allowed close observation of the whole procedure.

Before she had left, she handed him a list with all the scans and observations her crew would have to be allowed of the temporary neural transceiver he’d suggested some months ago and told him to inquire with his government whether those conditions were acceptable. Now he stood here, a little dumbfounded at her sudden change of mind combined with the overly assertive tone she’d shown, quirking his brows while trying to sort his thoughts.

Eventually, he let out a deep sigh and focused his attention onto the hive-mind to formulate an appropriately worded query.

[[email protected] requesting high-level policy decision. Keywords: USS Sidereal, hive-mind technology. Subject: inquiry about neutral party observation.]

His thoughts raced across the Synergy’s vast interstellar network and within the blink of an eye he received a response. A familiar melodic voice, carrying the power and authority of the whole Synergy Empire, echoed in his own thoughts.

[That’s an interesting query, Tarik. What do you want to know?] Matriarch Chiaxi replied.

A little surprised that [email protected] would directly respond to his question herself, Tarik explained his request. [Sina just approached me with a… quite strange request. She expressed the willingness to undergo a temporary uplink, but only on the condition that her chief medical officer could perform detailed scans during the whole procedure. Given what we know about their medical and sensor technology, especially after augmenting it for them, they would learn several facts about our hive-mind we haven’t shared with them yet.]

[Are you worried they’d use that knowledge against us?]

The question gave [email protected] pause. After a moment of consideration, he responded. [I don’t know. Most likely they won’t. However, it would still be an exceptional situation to allow that kind of knowledge into the hands of a non-allied entity.]

He could almost feel the Matriarch’s soft chuckle. [Well, the whole situation with the Sidereal is exceptional, don’t you think? From my perspective the potential benefits of that little experiment far outweigh the possible risks. Having Sina, and by extend the rest of her crew, become more favorable towards the Synergy would be a great boon. Therefore, you have my permission to perform the procedure under the stated conditions.]

[I understand, Matriarch.]

[However, this is not an order, Tarik. Carefully evaluate whether the Sidereal’s crew could pose any significant threat to the Synergy with that knowledge. We certainly don’t need to hand them a way to really harm us in case the diplomatic relationships with them should sour. Proceed at your own discretion.] Chiaxi advised her recent favorite engineer.

Tarik nodded in agreement. [I certainly will do so, Matriarch. Thank you for taking the time to answer my query.]

[No problem, Tarik. You know that we all take great interest in the Sidereal and everything relating to our most curious new arrivals to this galaxy. But speaking of Sina, have you changed your mind about your decision?]

The engineer let out a depressed sigh. He had hoped especially to not have to discuss that topic, but it seems he was out of luck. [No, Matriarch. The reasons for it have not changed. And I do remember you agreeing with them.]

Chiaxi swiftly responded, her voice like a gentle but firm caress on Tarik’s thoughts. [That is correct. Logically your reasoning is firm and sound, and that’s the level on which I agree with your decision. But there’s something else. Something I can feel inside you. Something that you appear to want to banish instead of embrace. I sense your conflict, Tarik.]

[Matriarch…] He began his response but then stopped. He knew exactly what his empress was talking about. From the very first moment he had laid eyes on Sina he had felt a strange attraction towards her. He’d never forget the determination on her face when they first met over a year ago, the fierce Romulan woman ready to vaporize his head with her phaser pistol. At first, he’d just ascribed it to physical appeal, but as they spent more time with each other he knew that it was something more building inside him.

But he had always put his duties first. The Synergy was his family, his home, and he would make any sacrifice to advance and protect it. He gathered his thoughts and tried once more to formulate an answer. [My emotional state is irrelevant compared to the wellbeing of the Synergy. I cannot and will not allow my personal feelings to detract from advancing our society and the matters of the Galactic Council.]

[email protected] sensed he hadn’t finished his train of thought yet, so she waited patiently for him to continue.

[I could have attempted to pursue a relationship with Sina, but how would her crew have reacted to me? I’m the designated Synergy liaison to the Sidereal, they would have considered it an attempt to influence their commanding officer. Several of them already don’t like me. It would only have made matters worse. And even if the relationship would have worked, which I highly doubt because of the fundamental cultural differences, where could it have possibly gone?]

Tarik sighed, physically and mentally.

[If we find a way to send them back to their reality, I could not follow her. And she has family on the other side, so asking her to stay is unreasonable. Even if they needed to stay here, it would have been exploitative by me to pursue that relationship since they are at a disadvantage in our galaxy.]

Matriarch Chiaxi smiled at her engineer’s words. Again, he had surprised her by his ability to see the big picture instead of the immediate situation, something she was used to only from her data processing adjuncts that filtered and prepared the unimaginable information stream pouring in from all over the Milky Way every single minute. But he had evaded the one sore point she tried to put pressure on.

[I appreciate your foresight, Tarik, and all of what you’ve said are valid concerns. But for all your wisdom you’re missing the most obvious.]

[I… I don’t understand, Matriarch.]

[Your pride, Tarik. You’re a perfectionist. You always give 101 percent on everything you do. You’ve spent over nine years tuning Sphere 272-Theta-8’s propulsion systems to equal efficiency as the most recently constructed Prism’s. You’ve never failed to answer even a single emergency call, and you’ve invested far more of your lifetime than anyone could have expected into teaching other engineers and helping our research wherever you could.]

She let her words sink in for a moment, but continued before he could respond, driving the point home.

[But despite all your achievements you’re scared of being with Sina. You’re afraid of failing that endeavor and that any failure in that regard would harm the Synergy. You put yourself through this misery, avoiding taking the risk that your heart seeks since months. I know it to be true. And if you search your feelings you also will.]

[email protected] didn’t respond. Having his personal emotional battlefield laid bare in front of him by the Matriarch was hard to stomach for him. But no matter how hard he tried to find a reason to tell his empress she was wrong, he only found more evidence of her being correct. In his perfectionist pride he had forced this distance upon himself.

It was this moment when his mind recalled the various emotions that he and Sina had shared. The confusion when he showed her Earth in the astral observatory. The happy smile when he took her to the material workshop as her birthday gift. The utter devastation when he told her he’d resign and leave. He had wrapped his heart in an iron coffin, which Chiaxi just broke wide open. A single tear ran down his cheek as he realized how much he had hurt the one person he’d wanted to embrace so much.

[Tarik?] The melodic voice called out to him.

[Yes… Matriarch?] He reluctantly replied, still struggling with the revelation forced upon him.

[We trust you. Your whole life you’ve done exemplary work for the Synergy. But you’re not an emotionless drone. If you think it would be a worthwhile endeavor trying to court Sina, then go ahead. Chase her, if you dare. We both know that her request would be the perfect opportunity for it.] A wave of encouragement echoed through his thoughts as he continued to listen to the Matriarch. [The very first link lays bare both minds in front of each other. Remember your own uplinking, Tarik…]

He did remember. He clearly remembered as if it was yesterday, when his neural transceiver was first activated. It was just a few days after his sixth birthday, almost 176 years ago. The Synergy had quickly learned that introducing an individual to the whole hive-mind at once can easily cause irreparable damage to their psyche. Thus, one already uplinked person becomes the link partner and is tasked with the responsibility of gradually showing the virtual aspect of their empire to its newest member.

In his case it had been his mother. He did remember how scared, but also curious, he was as he waited to fall asleep on the biobed. And how wonderful it was when his personality awoke again in the hive-mind and he felt his mother’s love in a way unlike any he had felt before, unlike any he could ever describe in mere words. He felt what she felt, he thought what she thought. They were one, in the most perfect way possible.

The first link to the hive-mind is the most defining moment of any Synergy member’s life. Even more than the first kiss or the first intimate encounter with a person one loves, someone’s uplinking will forever change that individual’s outlook on the Synergy, on the galaxy, and on life itself.

[If you want to take the risk, be Sina’s link partner. Be the one to show her the glory and wonder of the hive-mind. She will then know how you feel about her. If she responds in kind, you can simply laugh at how silly you’ve been in the past and maybe start something new. And if she doesn’t, you can still laugh at your own pride and finally move on.]

The Human engineer swallowed hard. The thought of being Sina’s link partner was intriguing and embarrassing at the same time. He knew she trusted him, but he was anxious about his innermost feelings being laid bare in front of her. She’d instantly and irrevocably know how strongly he felt about her and that his resignation that hurt her so much came from a false sense of duty and pride.

What if she wouldn’t return his feelings? He’d make a fool of himself… no, he’d already done that. He’d just more clearly show just how foolish he had been. But would it change anything? Tarik wondered for a moment, then concluded it wouldn’t matter. There was nothing more to lose for him. If she felt the same way, maybe he wouldn’t have to leave after all. And if she didn’t feel like he did, then he could just leave as he intended to do anyway.

The engineer gathered his thoughts for a response. [And what if I ruin our maybe only chance for diplomatic contact with their Federation?]

[Then it will be my duty to tell them how silly they are to throw away this unique opportunity over a single personal dispute.] The Matriarch’s thoughts hummed with confidence. [I’ve studied their records. They wouldn’t dare to break with us over a potential relationship between you and their captain. Their Federation has agreed to so many utterly ridiculous treaties and made so many outright stupid concessions just for the sake of peace, anything you could possibly cause would literally never even register on their sensors.]

Tarik let out a deep sigh. He had never considered himself a coward, at least until this moment. He would wade into a destabilized OSR without hesitation to save his ship and friends, but right now he wouldn’t dare to talk with Sina about his emotions? He chastised himself for being so ridiculous. But the Matriarch was right. After listening to her words, he realized that she had shown him a way to salvage the mess he created by his own hands.

After a few more moments of consideration [email protected] nodded. [I will do as you suggest, Matriarch. I will be Sina’s link partner. And I apologize for being so-]

[Human? Don’t worry about it, Tarik. Despite all our technology, we’re not perfect. We all accept that individuality will always come with flaws. Our ancestors tried to eradicate those flaws in a futile pursuit of ‘perfection’ and caused so much misery in their wake. We swore to never repeat their mistake. Also, how boring would life be if every single aspect of it was completely controlled and without flaws? Sometimes it’s the imperfections that improve the whole.]

[email protected] could feel the Matriarch’s warm and reassuring smile from thousands of light-years away. He knew that she’d closely monitor his progress. But after sharing her thoughts, he could also say with confidence that she trusted him and would support him, even if his attempt to court Sina would sour their diplomatic relationship.

[Thank you for your advice, Matriarch.] He relayed his last thoughts and felt how the communication channel terminated. His attention returned to his current location and he noticed that he was still standing in his private quarters, staring at the PADD in his hands. Tarik interfaced with the Sidereal’s internal communication system and started to compose a message to Sina to inform her of the Matriarch’s approval of her request.

[ Act Five ]

Lieutenant Commander Lebedeva and Commander Chanar stood in transporter room two, ready for professor Van der Meer’s arrival. The Bolian tapped her combadge. “Chanar to bridge. We’re ready, Captain.”

Captain K’Torr’s strong voice replied. “Understood, Number One. Fleet ops just signaled the professor was ready for transport. Commence at your discretion. Bridge out.”

“We’re good to go.” The Commander nodded at Nadya and then at the transporter chief. “Energize.”

The platform was briefly illuminated by the blue shimmer of the Enterprise’s transporter beam and a couple seconds later an elderly Caitian stood in front of them. The male scientist’s fur was a dark brown, with several spots of gray betraying his age. He wore a dark-green suit, with a mostly white plaid shirt underneath and a yellow scarf wrapped around his neck. His golden eyes had lost the ferocious gaze of youth, but still carried the signs of an incredibly sharp wit behind them.

Nadya looked at her XO in confusion and the Bolian looked back with an equally surprised expression on her face.

“Professor Van der Meer?” The first officer finally spoke, just in time to not letting the silence get too awkward.

“Yes, yes. That’s me, Muuri Van der Meer.” The Caitian replied, descending from the transporter pad with somewhat stiff steps. “I can see you didn’t expect me. Don’t worry, I get this pretty much every time.”

“My apologies, professor. We weren’t aware. I am Commander Chanar, first officer. Welcome to the Enterprise.” Commander Chanar explained, while offering her hand to welcome the quantum mechanics expert on board the Federation flagship. “I have to admit your name is quite exceptional for a Caitian.”

The scientist smirked. “Heh, thank you. You have no idea how many people get confused by that. I took on the name of my dear wife, which seems to throw everyone for a loop. But I’m sure you haven’t asked me here to talk about my surname, right? I reviewed the documents you sent me, and I would really like to meet the person behind those formulas. We have so much to discuss!”

The XO nodded in agreement. “Of course.” She turned towards Nadya. “Professor, this is Lieutenant Commander Lebedeva, our chief engineer. She discovered those formulas.”

Nadya stepped closer and offered her hand. “Professor.”

Muuri took the Russian’s hand, shaking it firmly. “Exceptional work, Ms. Lebedeva. Very impressive. Say, how did you get the idea to isolate the Hilbert-Sevak eigenvalues with a Schroedinger integral from the surroundin-”

“Professor, please. I don’t think the transporter room is the appropriate place to discuss the topic.” Commander Chanar interrupted. “Besides, Captain K’Torr wants to see you.”

“Yes, of course. It’s just so rare that I find something that challenges me on the same level as the data you sent me. I might get a bit carried away, Ms. Chanar. But please, go ahead.” The professor pulled his suit’s jacket straight and gestured for the Starfleet officers to lead the way. “I’m just not as light on my feet as I used to be some decades ago, so please bear with me.”

“Of course, professor. If you need any medical support, please let me know immediately.” The Bolian replied while holding out her arm for the elderly Caitian.

“Ah, it’s fine. It’s just my age finally catching up with me. Heh, managed to cheat out a couple more years than anyone expected.” Muuri chuckled and grinned, while following along the officers.

“If I may ask, professor, how old are you?” Nadya inquired curiously. She knew that Caitians aged differently than Humans, so seeing a Caitian with such strong signs of age was very uncommon away from their homeworld.

“Only 132 years, Ms. Lebedeva. But I hope to eke out at least one more decade.” Muuri replied with a sheepish grin on his face.

The first officer and chief engineer casually escorted professor Van der Meer towards the observation lounge. A short walk and a quick turbolift ride later they entered the room where their Klingon CO was already waiting. As they stepped into the room, Captain K’Torr stood from his chair and quickly put down the PADD in his hand, moving to meet their guest. “Welcome on board, professor. We’re glad you could make it on such short notice.”

“Heh, don’t mention it. You had a very effective carrot to lure me out of my laboratory. I’ve never before seen quite such a fascinating and intriguing material as the one from Ms. Lebedeva.” The scientist smirked, glancing at Nadya from the corner of his eye, while shaking the Captain’s hand. “But what exactly do you need from me? She seems to have an excellent grasp on the topic already.”

The Klingon gestured towards the chairs, urging everyone to take a seat, before he replied. “I’ll get straight to the point, professor. We need your help. Lieutenant Commander Lebedeva has been working on an experiment that she thinks will allow us to find the Sidereal. This experiment is extremely complicated, and we want to ascertain its validity before spending a significant amount of time and resources on it. I’m sure you’re aware of the delicate political situation regarding the Tholian Assembly. Without confirmation by experts that the experiment has the chance to succeed we cannot justify doing something that will lower the ship’s readiness.”

Professor Van der Meer quietly followed the CO’s explanation, now and then nodding his head in agreement. “Ah yes, the Sidereal.” He breathed a deep sigh. “I remember that name. What a terrible tragedy. But you think you can find the ship, even after all that time? How?”

The Russian engineer cleared her throat, as the Captain and first officer were both looking at her to answer the question. “I’ve extended a simulation framework initially designed by Lieutenant Yamamoto, the Newton’s science officer who was one of the first to investigate the Sidereal’s disappearance. The formulas we’ve sent you are part of my extensions and I think the simulation will be able to find the last remaining variable for the subspace tensor describing the quantum fissure. This in turn will provide us with the quantum signature to which the Sidereal was displaced.”

“Hmmm… that sounds quite fascinating, but what would you gain from knowing the tensor and the signature?” The professor inquired, leaning forward in his chair, his elbows resting on the surface of the lounge’s long table.

“Well, that is still open for discussion.” Nadya admitted. “Theoretically, we should be able to use a subspace differential pulse to generate quantum fluctuations in spacetime, which we could then pick up with our sensors. If we do that at the fissure’s coordinates, we might be able to see what happened on the other side, so to speak. But it really depends on the simulation’s success whether and how we move forward.”

The Caitian stared at the Russian for a moment before his eyes started to widen and his mouth turned into a grin showing the tips of his canines. “Oh… now that’s an interesting idea. But you know that this only works in theory. The LaPointe non-association principle clearly states that the other side of the quantum barrier can’t be observed by anything with a non-associated signature.”

“I think I can work around it.”

“Work around it?” Muuri stared at Nadya dumbfounded. “Do you know how much energy that would take? I doubt even this vessel could-”

“Can’t those details wait for later? Our first task should be to validate the simulation before we go off to speculate about… subsequent opportunities.” Captain K’Torr interjected, quickly getting weary of the highly theoretical discussion between the engineer and the researcher in front of him.

“Sorry, Captain.” Nadya apologized. She had tried to keep it together, but staying calm was getting more and more difficult for her. She wanted to show the framework to the professor, introduce him to the detailed formulas she’d devised in many a sleepless night. She wanted to discuss the form of the tensor and the variables she’d already managed to find. She was in this exhausting superposition of being nervous and excited at the same time, and she would be so glad to get home to her significant other.

“Yes, yes. Of course.” The Caitian mumbled, leaning back into the chair.

“There’s only one problem.” The Klingon continued. “We can’t stay in the solar system for long. We’ve already got a list of assignments starting tomorrow. I hope you understand that I can’t leave my chief engineer behind. Even though the Lieutenant Commander is currently focused only on that experiment, her expertise and knowledge are essential in case of an emergency. Therefore, I would like to invite you to stay on the Enterprise for as long as necessary to complete the validation.”

Commander Chanar spoke up, adding to her CO’s statement without pause. “We can arrange to beam on board any of your possessions at your request. A VIP quarter will be prepared for you and we will reserve a separate laboratory for your personal use. Fleet Ops has already signaled willingness to grant you leave of absence for as long as necessary.”

“You know, this is very tempting. Oh, so tempting and I really wished I could immediately jump on the problem. Reminds me of the adventures I went on in my youth. But you see, I’m an old married man now. I can’t just up and leave for weeks without considering my darling wife. I need to make a call to discuss your invitation with my better half.”

Captain K’Torr nodded. “Of course, professor. I’ll show you to my ready room, where you can make your call.” The Klingon stood from his seat, gesturing with an outstretched arm to the Caitian to follow him. With his slightly stiff step Muuri followed the CO out of the observation lounge to make his call.

The professor and the Captain had barely left the room, when Nadya breathed a sigh of relieve. The XO slightly tilted her head, looking at the chief engineer curiously. “Are you all right, Lieutenant Commander?”

The Russian quickly nodded, shaking her arms to ease the tension in her shoulders. “Yes, Sir. It’s just that I’m nervous and anxious. One part of me wants to drag the professor into the laboratory and throw him at my simulation, while another part wants to crawl into a corner afraid that he could refuse to stay.”

“Don’t worry. Professor Van der Meer is certainly one of the more distinguished experts in this field, but he’s not the only one. We will find someone who is able and willing to work on this with you, even if it might take just a little more time. Don’t forget, we’re in this together now.” Commander Chanar reassured Nadya, making the Russian smile softly in return.

“Of course, Commander.”

“And who knows, if this really works the way you think it does you might be on the direct road towards a Daystrom or J. Bruce award. Maybe both, probably some others as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if the SCE would fight tooth and nail to get their hands on you and offer you the position of department head of their quantum or subspace research divisions.” The Bolian woman smiled at the Russian as they stood at arm’s length and waited for any sign how their guest had decided.

The moments turned to minutes until eventually the doors slid open and professor Van der Meer and Captain K’Torr returned to the observation lounge. Both men didn’t return to their seats but remained standing in front of the two women.

The Klingon spoke with a slight expression of satisfaction in his face. “Professor Van der Meer has agreed to stay with us. Number One, see that all necessary accommodations are prepared for our guest. Lieutenant Commander, would you mind staying with the professor and escorting him to his quarters once they are prepared?”

“Of course not, Captain. It would be an honor.” Nadya replied without hesitation.

“Good. I guess you have much to discuss.” The CO noted with a slight smile on his lips. “Professor, again thank you for your help. We will make sure your stay on the Enterprise will be as comfortable as possible. If you have any questions or requests, please don’t hesitate to contact my first officer or the Lieutenant Commander.”

“Ah, I’m low-maintenance, Mr. K’Torr. At least my dear wife always says that. I will work with Ms. Lebedeva on that experiment of hers and stay out of your way otherwise. Don’t trouble yourself on my account.” The elderly scientist replied with a smirk.

“You’re our guest and we will make sure your stay with us is comfortable. But now I have to return to the bridge.” The CO replied before turning towards his fellow senior officers. “You have your orders.” The Captain nodded and turned to leave the observation lounge with swift steps, quickly followed by Commander Chanar.

Nadya and Muuri looked at each other for a moment, before the professor burst out. “When can I look at the whole experiment? Don’t think I didn’t notice that the formulas you people sent me were missing a crucial piece of the puzzle. Is this a Starfleet Intelligence operation? Be honest with me, Ms. Lebedeva!”

The engineer chuckled softly. “No, professor. I can assure you this whole situation is my fault and mine alone. No secret agencies or spies involved whatsoever.”

“Are you sure?” The Caitian asked as he sat down at the long table again.

“Absolutely. Why are you asking?”

“Well, let’s just say that it’s hard to believe that a single engineer could come up with material like this. This is highly advanced stuff. I could easily see a whole research team throw themselves at this topic for a year and not get anywhere near what you’ve done. Some of the… shortcuts you’ve taken are quite creative, I have to admit.”

Nadya walked over to where the professor was sitting and sat next to him. “Professor, I’ve spent more time of my life than I’m comfortable admitting on this over the last eight months. I’ve jeopardized the relationship with my girlfriend and sabotaged the Enterprise’s computer core in a desperate attempt to run the simulation without anyone noticing.”

The Russian smiled softly, then quickly added. “You can imagine that Captain K’Torr wasn’t amused about what I’ve done.”

“Oh.” Muuri replied. “Yes, I can imagine. But still, you’ve done all this alone? In secret? In your free time? That’s incredulous!”

“I had a lot of luck and you have to consider that I’m not a normal human.”

“Half-Vulcan? Wait… no. You don’t have the ears for that. Hmmm…”

The Russian smiled some more and shook her head. “I’m an Augment. But don’t worry, the only ambition I have right now is finding my friends on the Sidereal.”

The researcher’s eyes went wide and he was about to say something, when the chirp of a direct message and Commander Chanar’s voice interrupted him. “Chanar to Lebedeva. The professor’s quarters are ready. Deck nine, section two, room ten.”

The Lieutenant Commander shot a brief reply, before the channel was closed with another soft chirp. “Understood, Commander. I’ll show the professor to his accommodation. Lebedeva out.”

Nadya stood and offered her arm to the elderly Caitian. “Professor, shall we?”