Wren 283 was scrutinizing the isolinear chip array, trying to determine possible methods of rearranging the chips to more effectively process sensor data, when s/he became aware of someone standing behind hir. S/he craned hish neck around and saw, to hish surprise, Dr. Selar. The doctor was maintaining her customary resolve, but it seemed to Wren as if it was something of a strain for her.
"Do you have a moment," she asked.
Wren rose and brushed off hish hands---an old habit from the days when s/he would be up to hish elbows in various engine parts and have lubricant all over hish body. S/missed those days more than s/he liked to think about. "For you, Doctor---two moments. Perhaps even three."
"I need to speak with you. Privately." She paused. "Woman to woman."
"You sure know how to hurt a guy," said Wren. S/he gestured toward hish office. "After you."
Selar nodded and walked briskly to the office, Wren following. The door hissed shut behind them and Selar turned to face Wren. "I need to talk to you..."
"Woman to woman, I know. Doctor, you better than anyone should know I'm as much man as I am woman...."
"Yes, and you've made your 'manly' interest in me quite evident. And Zypoths are renowned for their rather cavalier approach to sexuality...."
"I wouldn't say 'cavalier,' " replied Wren. "We just see the opportunities inherent in..."
"Lieutenant commander." Selar raised a hand, palm up. "I am really not interested in discussing Zypoth philosophies right now, as endlessly interesting as I am sure they are. I desire you..."
Wren sat up straight, a grin on hish face. "You desire me?"
"No," Selar said quickly, "what I am trying to say is that I desire that you---cease your efforts to pursue me on an amorous basis. I am aware of.....indeed, impressed by----your remarkable affinity for pheromones. That you sense my---my interests. But I am asking you, as one officer to another, as...."
"One woman to another?" asked Wren with just a touch of annoyance.
"Yes. I am asking you not to pursue me. There are...." Selar put a hand to her head to steady herself. "There are solid medical reasons why it would not be a wise idea."
"Even though I know we could be great together."
"Even though I do not---desire a relationship. I have...." Selar cleared her throat, suddenly feeling as if she couldn't hear her own thoughts over the pounding of her pulse. "I have made a conscious decision to eliminate that part of my life. I am asking you to honor it."
"Eliminate it?" Wren could hardly believe what s/he was hearing. S/he leaned forward and, to Selar's surprise, took the doctor's hand firmly between hirs. Wren, for hish part, was surprised by the warmth. With the frosty, formal reserve of Vulcans, Wren had somehow always just assumed that their skin would likewise be cold to the touch. Such was definitely not the case. "Selar...."
"Doctor Selar."
"Doctor Selar, putting my own considerations aside---that's no way to live. Even Vulcans have mates. Where else would little Vulcans come from? What happened to you? Something must've happened to make you like this...."
Carefully Selar disengaged her hand from hish. "With all respect, Lieutenant Commander, it is none of your business. Nor is it any of your business why I am taking the time to ask you, specifically, to cease whatever amorous interests you have in me."
Wren took a deep, steady breath. And then, in an utterly formal tone, Wren said, "Of course, Doctor. You merely had to ask. As a suitor, you need not worry that I will pursue you, amorously or otherwise." S/he paused, and then added, "As a friend, I'm going to make the observation that you seem a very sad and lost individual, and keeping the world at arm's length your whole life will just give you a long and lonely life, and tired arms."
"Thank you for your astute psychological analysis, Lieutenant Commander," she said. "Maybe you missed your calling."
Ensign Catherina Leath knocked on the door to the office and Wren gestured for her to come in. Leath entered and immediately said, "Sir, there's a problem with the ion flux. Also, Lieutenant Greer is waiting outside. He says the ship is a little sluggish responding to the helm, and wanted to talk to you about it."
"I'm on it," Wren said briskly, coming around hish desk. As s/he did so, s/he said gamely to Selar, "On the other hand, perhaps I didn't miss my calling at that." And, in a gesture that could only be considered friendly, s/he patted Selar on the shoulder.
The merest touch of Wren's hand jolted Selar, filling her with a sense of electricity rampaging through her. It was all she could do to control herself. Wren didn't notice Selar's fingers gripping the edge of the desk. "Maybe not," Selar said, fighting to keep her voice even. It seemed to her as if she had barely managed to get the words out, and then Wren walked out of the office and Selar sagged with relief.
She rose from the chair and walked toward the door with unsteady legs. As she crossed the engine room, she saw Wren chatting with Greer. No...not just chatting. Laughing. Something had struck the two of them as funny, and they were laughing about it.
And Selar felt jealous. She couldn't help it. She also couldn't believe it. Here she had come down to Engineering in order to put an end to Wren's interest in her....and apparently she'd succeeded, if one could take Wren at hish word. Yet now, even seeing Wren engaged in a casual conversation with someone else was enough to upset Selar.
"This is insane," she murmured, and she headed immediately to life station, hoping and praying that there would be someone sick up there to whom she could attend. When there wasn't, she felt like going out and breaking someone's leg so that she would have something to occupy her time and her mind.
Still, at least she was back in "her" place. Her home ground. Selar drew strength from life station. If she were prone to dwell on the irony of such things, she would have mused on the inappropriateness of garnering strength from a place of illness. But she wasn't feeling particularly philosophical at that moment.
What she was feeling was the drive of Farr'Pon, and it infuriated her that she could not get that image of Wren out of her head.
At that moment her comm badge beeped. She tapped it and said, "Dr. Selar here."
"Doctor?" It was the captain, and he sounded momentarily puzzled. She couldn't blame him, really, because she realized that her own voice was deeper and throatier than usual, as if she had too much blood in her body.
"Yes, Captain," she said, reacquiring her customary tone of voice with effort.
"I just wanted to alert you to have life station ready. We'll be approaching the science ship Ilhiolcian Eagle shortly. Although at last report everyone there is fine, there may be some who need medical assistance. At the very least, we'll want you to check them out and give them a clean bill of health."
"I shall be ready for them, sir."
"I expected no less. Rush out."
She leaned back and let out something that was very unusual for her: a sigh of relief. There would be something for her to do other than dwell on her problems. Maybe this would not be such a bad day after all!
On the telescreen before them, there was nothing but assorted scraps.511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfuGdn75BTZ
Rush rose from his chair, staring with sinking heart at the remains in front of them. "Are you sure we're in the right place, Greer?"
Greer nodded briskly. As was always the case with Greer, while he seemed easily distracted or otherwise occupied mentally when matters were proceeding routinely, he was one hundred percent focused when there was any kind of problem. Indeed, one could almost take a cue as to the seriousness of a situation by how Greer was reacting to it. Considering his no-nonsense demeanor at the moment, it was a serious situation indeed. "Yes, sir," he said. "Absolutely positive. This was the last point at which we heard from Thul and Turhi."
"What the hell happened?" demanded Rush.
"Scanning remains," Soleta said from her science station.
"Remains. Remains of the Ilhiolcian Eagle---or of the Prennia?" asked Johansen.
It took Soleta a few moments, and then she said, "Both."
"Any signs of bodies?" Rush wanted to know.
"Yes. Mixed in with the wreckage. I am detecting two fingers---what appears to be a leg----a piece of bone---from the length a thigh bone, I should th....."
"Soleta!" Rush said sharply.
She looked at him blandly. "I thought you'd want to know details."
"What I want to know is, is it our people?"
"Impossible to say at this time. I can have them brought aboard and analyzed...."
"Do it," Rush said briskly. "James, oversee the operation. I want enough parts of the wreckage and the bodies brought aboard so that we know just what it is we're dealing with. Soleta, coordinate with Wren. Go over the remains millimeter by millimeter if you have to. I want to know what happened here. Bridge to life station."
"Life station. Dr. Selar here."
"Doctor, we're going to have need of your services."
"As per your request, Captain, I am prepared to handle whatever personnel are..."
"There's no personnel, Doctor," he said flatly. "I'm going to need you to perform autopsies. Actually, that might be too conservative a word. I'm going to send you puzzle pieces and you're going to have to assemble them for me so I can get the whole picture."
Rush had a feeling that if he'd been face-to-face with Selar, she would not have blinked an eye. For what it's worth, he'd have been right. "Very well, sir. I will be ready."
"Captain," James suddenly said, "There was another ship here. I'm detecting an ion trail."
He came over to her, leaning over her station. "You think it's whoever destroyed the science station and the shuttle?"
"Possibly. By the same token, if we're going to be optimistic about it, they might have saved the lives of whoever was on the science station and the runabout."
"That is definitely optimistic, I'll give you that. Can you identify the type?"
"Not at this time."
"Can you track it?"
She nodded briskly. "Yes, I can do that."
"Do it, then." He rose and turned to face his crew. "I want answers, people. I want to know what happened, so that when we catch up with whoever was the last person here, we know whether we're dealing with a potential ally---or avenging the death of two crewmen."511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzD25R4VwQL
In the conference lounge, Rush said at the head of the table. Grouped around him were Johansen, Soleta, Wren, Greer, and Selar. "So the ships were destroyed in two different manners?" he asked.511Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5XtiPqnGbL
Soleta nodded, glancing at the computer upon which her analyses were appearing on the screen. "Yes, sir. The scorch marks on the remains of the Prennial indicate that they were destroyed by high-intensity firepower, although it's impossible to determine whether the science station itself was the origin of the attack. Now the Ilhiolcian Eagle, Chief Wren believes---and I concur, with 89% certainty---that the ship was destroyed by a bomb."
"A bomb?" Rush couldn't quite believe it.
"Yes, sir," Wren spoke up. "A superheated thermite bomb, if I'm not mistaken, judging by the blast radius and chemical traces. I saw what one of those things did once to a surveying ship that wandered into Scarran territory."
"So someone fired on the Prennial and then blew up the Ilhiolcian Eagle. Any guesses as to why or wherefores?"
"I dislike the notion of 'guesses,'" said Soleta. "If I had to reconstruct a scenario, I would say that the Prennial was ambushed within range of the science station....and then the station was subsequently destroyed, either to leave no clues as to what happened----or to kill whatever survivors there might have been aboard the station."
"Speaking of survivors," and Rush turned his attention to Selar, "what do the remains of the bodies tell us?"
"I have run DNA analysis. They are definitely Centauri."
There was silence for a moment. "Turhi?" Johansen finally asked.
But Selar shook her head. "I do not think so. Nor am I able to determine just what the cause of death was. Whether they were killed by a blast or before it is not possible to say."
"Any remains of a Malon?"
"No, Captain. Not from what was presented to me."
Looks were exchanged around the room. Johansen asked, "Considering the density of Malon hide---what are the odds that there would have been nothing detectable left of him?"
"If I had to estimate," and she considered it a moment, "seven thousand twenty-nine to one."
"That's impressive," Rush said slowly. "All right, Greer," said Rush. "Have you got any bead on where we're heading? Where this 'mystery ship' has gone?"
"Obviously I don't know for sure where the trail ends until we get there," said Greer. "But I tracked it ahead and, assuming that it didn't change course---we're heading straight for Centauri Prime."
"Centauri Prime? Are you sure?"
Greer nodded with conviction. "Yes, sir. I don't make mistakes."
"You don't?" Wren said with amusement. "How very nice for you. I've never met anyone who doesn't make mistakes."
"I made a mistake once," Greer said, but then he frowned and said, "No---wait. That time wasn't my fault. Sorry, my mistake. I was right the first time."
Wisely, nobody commented.
"Well, we were supposed to go to Centauri Prime," Johansen said after a moment. "Seems that we're getting there sooner rather than later."
"Indeed. Mr. Wren, let's crank up the warp speed, shall we?"
"Your wish is my command, sir."
"Greer," said Rush, "best speed to Centauri Prime."
"Yes, sir."
"And let's hope to Hell that Thul and Turhi are there." He rose and clearly the meeting was over.
As they were heading out, Wren said to Greer, "By the way, I think I've got that little problem taken care of. Let me know how she handles."
"Great. Thanks," said Greer.
Selar looked at the two of them, realized that there were more unwelcome thoughts going through her head, and said in a low voice to Soleta, "I need to speak to you. Alone."
Soleta looked at her with mild surprise, but then nodded. "At my first opportunity," she said.
"Thank you." Selar looked around the now-empty conference lounge, and then said, "Soleta----I have never needed a friend before. But I need one now. I hope you will....indulge me." And she walked out quickly before Soleta could respond.
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