Star Trek: Theurgy

[ EPISODE 02: The Mysterious God Incident | Ending - Post Meridiem ]

[ The USS Theurgy | Main Bridge | Deck 01 ] Attn: Everyone

Captain's Log, supplemental.

Fifteen minutes ago, Commander Howard spotted the entity aboard the ship - out of phase yet walking the decks. While we are waiting for our Senior Staff to report to their duty stations, perchance tearing themselves free from the entity's games, the Bridge staff is on edge - fearing that they suddenly might be pulled out of their current reality and shoved into the unfamiliar again. There is no sign of Dr. Nicander or Commander Stark, along with several other crew members, whom have all vanished from the the ship's internal sensors. As if displaced in time and space.

I... along with my male counterpart... can but hope to retrieve them. Somehow...

Pacing the circular Bridge, Captain Ives' male form looked between the gathered personnel while they worked at trying to find answers and solutions, wondering how the hell his ship could have become a playground for some malign spirit bent on the idea to reduce them to slaves to their own base needs. Again, Jien could not quite shake the feeling that this was connected to the Niga Incident, where his crew had suffered in similar ways... only by a more tangible threat.

Meanwhile, his female form had retreated to the Captain's chair, making a log entry into the armrest. She looked hard, focused, much as he suspected his own countenance appeared as he turned to look over Nicole's shoulder where she tried to feed orders to her Engineering personnel via any possible channels she could gain access to - sending them in pursuit of the entity whilst armed with ignorance and hand-held anyon radiation emitters. Amatras' husband, Lieutenant Arcorn Neotin, was one of them. Of her holographic specialist, there was no sign just yet, though they hoped Lt. Kae would reach the Bridge soon and do what he could with the ship-wide holographic field.

Furthermore, they waited for Grayson to make his way there - his ascension to Deck 01 followed closely on the internal sensors. Evidently, he would arrive together with his Deputy and the former stowaway that Jien had spoken with earlier that day. Temporal Officer Sarresh Morali was due to reach the Bridge too, to assist his Chief Science Officer in detecting whether or not they had been targeted by the same signature of temporal incursion that had changed the planet Niga to become a trap for them in the current century. Perchance they'd find nothing, but it was valuable to know if they were at the mercy of the same enemy a second time.

Jien raised his eyes when he saw his female counterpart rise from her - their - Captain's Chair and walk over to where Jona Rez stood at phaser point towards the back of the Bridge - under Valkyrie-pilot Thomas Ravon's attentive stare. Edena Rez and Kiya Rez was there too, and according to intel and the internal sensors, Squadron Commander Renard was about to arrive in the company of the last of the former hosts - Ilya Rez. A unprecedented thing in Trill history... a symbiont's collective hosts coming face-to-face in such a manner. One might wonder if it was such a rare thing for them, though, since Edena Lal's faulty joining kept them all out of death's absolute slumber.

"How does it feel to actually breathe again?" asked the female Captain, and the male Jien Ives watched the exchange from Nicole's side - wondering what kind of conclusion his female self had come to draw about the old SI Officer. "Have you missed it?"

Jien could not know what manner of expression the female form of himself wore when she addressed the grey-haired man standing in the sights of Ravon's phaser, yet judging from her tone, it was not a carefree smile. No, it was the cold vowels of a Commanding Officer meaning to ascertain a threat aboard her ship - analysing whether or not she had cause for her precautions.

The unspoken question, the male Jien Ives realised, was: Are you trying to become alive again?

Jona stood with his back against the wall, watching events play out.  Jien kept a tight crew, one that knew it's responsibilities and worked well together, but he couldn't help being a bit disappointed in the Captain.  As a member of Starfleet Intelligence, Jien had been able to be ruthless when the situation called for it, but now he was far more a diplomat then a warrior, refusing to use the shield frequency Jona had available simply because it would inflict pain on the intruder.  "In some ways I have to admire your morals, Ives.  You have a god-like being playing with members of your crew like toys for a child, and yet you still seek to end things peacefully.  In other ways, I'm disappointed in you.  The old you might have done anything and everything to protect your crew from this . . . not to mention the outbreak.  Back when you were my protege, you were comfortable with the term 'acceptable losses.'"

Edena couldn't have him stunned with a phaser for talking, but she would have if she could.  He had been a harsh teacher, drilling lessons into her head that would let her replace him, but he never got her to his level.  Jona was a man without conscience, which allowed him to do things few others could.  Edena didn't have the "benefit" of assimilating that personality trait through the joining with the Rez symbiont.  She was still herself, albeit with three personal advisers living in her head.

When the female form of Jien asked him how it felt to breathe again, Jona merely grinned.  "How does it feel to have your male and female forms facing each other?  Last time that happened, it didn't go so well, right?"  Jona knew that about Jien, how she had obtained her male form by copying that of a lover, prompting the man to run in fear of her.  It was a story which proved Jien's ignorance to the world and to love making at that time.

Lin Kae and Skye Carver arrived on the bridge.  Curiously, it was the blond haired woman who stepped toward the male captain, a quick double take to the female telling the strangeness of the situation, but Carver reported to the captain who looked less occupied at the moment.  "Um . . . Lieutenant Lin Kae reporting for duty, sir," spoke the very female voice of Skye, claiming to be the male Holographics specialist.  At that point it was just another example of the circumstances they found themselves neck deep in.

While it continued to be disconcerting to have dual Jiens, Nicole adjusted slowly to it, though she still started when she looked back to look into Jien female only to have the Jien male standing there.  It had been tricky setting up an isolated comm signal outside the normal bandwidth, but she'd finally managed a transmission to Engineering, telling them the plan and what needed to be done, including how to reply to the Bridge.  After that, there was little left for her to do except wait for word back.  The details had been hammered out and impatience was all that remained, her foot tapping as she resisted the urge to tell her crew to hurry up. 

The sooner they fixed this, the sooner they could return to their next life-threatening event, of which there seemed to be no shortage on this ship.  It was starting to feel normal, the short hours of sleep and long shift, the day in day out monotony of repairs, each one made wondering how long until they were next attacked and would have to make the same repairs again.  Futility was starting to sound familiar, as well.  If she had to send someone down to Deck 12 to fix the replicators again, she'd be sorely tempted to shut them down entirely and tell people to use Deck 13's.

Rising to her feet, she decided standing would be better than sitting, at the moment.  Not that it gave her anything to do, but it felt more like something than sitting did.  She sighed in frustration.

Thomas kept his phaser aimed at the Trill called Jona Rez. His stare would be considered a death stare in other circumstances yet he did as he was ordered to do. Keep the man out of the way of the crew and fire if he decided to make a run for it. He took his time now to study the Trill, taking every detail of his face, his contours, stature... He wanted to memorize this man so that if they would meet again, he would recognise him from the start, knowing exactly that SI would be involved.

Ravon listened in silence as the conversation took place between Jona and the captain and he glanced over at the female form now and then, the memory and feeling that he had shared with her still fresh in his memory, her scent and bodily fluids still on him. He swallowed calmly and turned his gaze back to his person of interest. This would turn out to be a waiting game for the young lieutenant.

Stepping onto the bridge, Skye looked about and felt a little bit of disappointment.  She'd thought it would be bigger somehow but it was still a bit of a thrill just to be there.  An amused yet reserved grin formed when she watched her body step up and report for duty.  Placing hands behind the back and standing at ease, eyes met the captain's gaze.

"Ensign Skye Carver, Sir," she introduced herself in Kae's deeper voice.  "I felt given the circumstances it was best for me to tag along and not risk my Valkyrie to unsure reflexes."  Kae's form stood tall and proper though there was a bit of discomfort obvious from being in a male form in front of so many.  When no one else knew of their switch and it was just her and Kae, she'd adapted.

Now she felt awkward though seeing the captain in both forms walking about and knowing others were split in some way did help a little.  Misery loves company they say, she thought to herself.  Now all she could do was wait and either be dismissed from the bridge or see if there was anything she could do to help with their current situation, though what they could do was a mystery to her.

[Auxiliary Science Lab 3 | Deck 10 | USS Theurgy]
It had been a most frustrating time for the Time Traveler. He had been plagued with visions from his past, the future. He had spent the past two hours conversing with what he thought was his old captain, from the Realtivity A very long, drawn out argument, venting quite a few hateful opinions about being stranded back in the present. Sadly, for Sarresh, it seemed he had only been arguing with a fern. A very disgruntled and rotund fern, but at the same time, it just wasn't' the same thing. All the anger that Sarresh had finally let out seemed to bubble up again, right as a high pitched, familiar screech filled his ears.

He winced, processing the sounds for a moment, and sighed. "The bridge" he muttered to himself. He had wondered why the comm system was down, why various readings from his own consoles were all over the place. Up until a moment ago, he had assumed it had something to do with the Relativity but given that the plant he'd been conversing with was not whom he assumed it was, Sarresh could no longer blame the discrepancies on the time ship. He palmed his face for a moment, dragging it down across his features, before he shuffled to the side, left, then right, just as asked. From there, it was over to doors to his office, which, surprisingly enough, opened with little fuss. Perhaps the hydraulic hiss sounded a bit disgruntled. Then again, that could have just been the Ash'reem projecting his own issues.

Bridge | Deck 1| USS Theurgy
He had been forced to climb up, through the Jefferies tubes. Much to his distress, none of the turbolifts on Deck 10 answered his call. He had tried again on Decks 9, 8, and 5, before finally resigning himself to the long climb up, and up. So by the time the hatch popped near the turbolfit on the bridge, Sarresh was, to say the least, in a rather shit mood. Groaning, as he rose to his feet, he dusted his legs off, tugged his uniform jacket down, and, eyes narrowing behind the shade like goggles he was forced to wear, he chopped off a quick "You Called?"

[From Sickbay]

Once Khorin had left and after a quick clean up and getting a new uniform, Eve tried again to reach Lucan and the bridge to no avail.  Something was very wrong, not just because she had flung herself at the pilot but that people were being called to their stations.  Not knowing where Lucan was and unable to verify if he was there, she decided she might as well head for the bridge.  As head nurse, she was next in line for that department after all.

She wished she had something to pull back her hair and pin it, to look more professional but for now her fingers would have to do to get out the tangles.  She was sore, oh how it stung when she walked and her breasts were tender enough that the bra kept them aching, but a tiny smile kept creeping up as she rode the turbolift up to the bridge.  That had been one hell of ride, something that gave the diversity those of her father's race craved.

That smile faded though as she thought of Lucan.  "I hope he's on the bridge," she muttered to herself.  For all his strength there was a certain vulnerability in him and she found herself worrying over him, most likely needlessly but if she didn't care she wouldn't worry.  Finally the door hissed open and she stepped on the bridge then to the side to look at everyone there.  Her heart fell as she didn't see Lucan but she nodded and stood ready for any information or orders.

---

"Miles" Main Bridge

---

Miles calmly stood in the turbolift as it opened to the main bridge.  His hands were clasped behind his back loosely as he walked out, and saluted quickly, "Lone Wolves Squadron C. O. Miles Renard, and Provisional Crewman Illya Rez reporting..."  He looked around for a moment as he began taking a brief look over of the bridge.  He was a bit shocked to see the multiple Trills and the two forms of the captain all gathered there along with a few others.  What had caused the minor pause in his words was seeing the two captains.  Though startled, he was more so confused how to address his commanding officer. He settled on, instead of directing his words on one, looking somewhere between the two of them and ending his report for duty by simply saying, "...Captains."

It was more than a bit strange witnessing all of this.  The multiple hosts of Rez he had been slightly expecting given that he was traveling with Illya, but seeing both forms of the captain he was not.  He was also quite relieved to see at least two of the Wolves had reported here as he noticed both Carver and Ravon there.  He couldn't help but be a bit confused though as to why Ravon had a phaser pointed at the most recently deceased of Rez's hosts.  Of course there was another thing that was odd, but only because of how his native tongue listened so easily to body language.  There was something different about Skye, he couldn't quite place it but just in her posture and slight movements she seemed like a stranger.

((I hope its okay that somehow the turbo lifts worked for them))

---

"Renard" Unknown deck: outside of disabled holodeck

---

Miles sighed relieved to be free of the lustful hindrances he was feeling moments before.  His mind for the first time in a good while was clear, and he began felt the fatigue finally set in from their near marathon of sexual activity. "Yes uniforms, and an idea of where on the ship we are," he said through heavy breaths. "Thea, prepare yourself for possibly being freaked out a bit.  Computer state my current location and provide running light directions to nearest unoccupied unlocked quarters." 

Thea's disembodied voice replied, "Your current location is Coridor A; Deck Seven: Primary Hull."

Miles nodded his head, "Thanks" he looked to the running lights and began to follow them but as he did so he caught a very strange scent.  'That's odd; smells like I've been here very recently.'  He thought to himself as looked at one side of the corridor and saw it was the below decks entrance and the apparent end of the scent was a turbolift that appeared to still be functional,   'Some kind of doppelganger?'

They arrived at the living quarters which he entered quickly and spoke up "Activate sonic shower and replicate two Federation uniforms.  One Tactical Conn male for my size Vulpinian native alterations, and other one non divisional female in her size. Also replicate two com-badges."

  [ Unknown Quarters | Deck 07 ]

Thea covered herself as best as she might once she'd stepped into the light. Hearing her own voice speak over the intercom and not being apart of the process in which the reply was dealt was a perplexing feeling indeed, yet given the situation, hardly surprising any more. What affected her a bit more was the feeling of unrestrained means in which to follow the lights lit in the corridor without any clothes on. There were sub-routines of propriety and modesty in her programming that did not kick in, and even if she still had the inclination to cover herself, she did not have the means that a hologram did to remedy the situation. So, without much of a choice in the matter, she followed Commander Renard's beast-form to their destination.

The SCO activated the sonic shower in the bathroom, so Thea set her steps there first without delay - her human body covered in Vulpinian semen and the sweat of their exertions after all. She opened the shower stall wide and stepped inside, running her hands over her body to clear the thick fluids away in the vibrations. It was her first sonic shower in a human body, she realised, and the sensation of humming treatment gave her pause. Still, her hands ran over her skin, only more slowly, and completely in her own world of discovery - distracted again by her organic body and its many peculiarities. Running her hands over her breasts, she cleared Renard's reproductive fluids from her aching mounds, and she ran one hand down between her legs to wash away the excessive amount that escaped from her vaginal passage. No matter how much she rubbed her inner thighs and her sore labia, more slipped out of her, and it became a frustrating task - however much it served to intrigue and entice her.

Realising that the SCO had spoken, she looked out through the open stall with slightly startled eyes. "Pardon, what did you say?"

Organics had no means in which to record audio, therefore she had to ask him to repeat himself. How inefficient...

[ Main Bridge | Deck 01 ]

Captain Ives' full lips were a thin line of contempt when the former SI Commander brushed away her question and posed some of his own - cleverly reminding her that he knew a lot more about her than most others aboard the ship. The incident in question was none which carried scars - being an adolescent escapade from Academy days - so it merely served to irritate her. Instead of answering, since the query was strictly rhetorical, she cast her oaken eyes to Lt. Ravon where he guarded the older man. She had a mind to ask him to cuff the spy over the temple but that kind of reaction would serve no one... rather ceding a minor victory to the Trill if anything.

No, she would not let the old man get to her. Instead, she turned to Edena Lal - since one might just call her that since she had no hosts in her head. "Let this man be warning for what a path in the greyness between shadows and light will do to you, Number One. The moral boundaries are lost in the obscurity, and the sense of right and wrong is cast aside... only to be replaced by a calling to a greater good that is even more intangible than the path you walk - a fickle notion fed to you by ever shifting circumstances."

She turned her head to look upon Jona Rez as she finished her statement. "In the end, you hide in the darkness and tell yourself that you are righteous... only because you know that your actions do not stand the trial of being cast into light."

Standing close to Nicole where she worked, the male form of Captain Ives was reminded by her close proximity when she got up and stood by her chair - the movement catching his eye and her body's profile reminding him about when they had 'repaired' his sonic shower together. Before his thoughts led to the argument they'd had afterwards, his frustrated mind fed on the reminder of her body underneath his calloused palms. The splashing water upon their bare bodies. The feeling of her sheath around himself. Her lips parting for his own tongue...

Just when he ripped his eye away and returned to the slow progress of dealing with their crisis, two people came up to him and reported for duty, only their names were reversed.

"I think I understand..." he said after a short pause, looking between the young man and the Valkyrie pilot before him, "Lt. Kae, your Chief Engineer's monitor here can show you were the anomaly aboard is right now. We need you to adapt the hologrid to emit anyon radiation in that area. This, by deactivating the safety protocols and letting the radiation bring it into phase and thus allowing for Transporter lock. Ops is standing by and will bring the thing here right away so start working. Ensign Carver, please join Lt Ravon at the back of the Bridge for now. Your assistance might be needed, so arm yourself with a phaser rifle from the security checkpoint outside before doing so."

No more had Jien dealt his orders than a hatch popped open next to the turbolift, making heads and muzzles swivel in that direction.

Sarresh Morali was groaning as he got to his feet, making a statement by the disgruntled way he was dusting himself off. The Ash'reem turned his goggles in the female Captain's direction since she happened to be closest right then, and she turned away from the three incarnations of the Rez symbiont's hosts to answer the Temporal Affairs Officer's poor excuse of reporting for duty. "Indeed we did, since we are currently beset by an alien entity that has made this ship its plaything. If you were not so preoccupied with feeling sorry for being back in your own time, you might have noticed this yourself. Now that you are here, I need you to assist your Chief Science Officer in determining whether or not we have been targeted again in the same manner we were back in the Mahéwa System. Search for residues that suggest a temporal incursion and inform us of your finding right away."

Not long afterwards, work having resumed in the Bridge, Lt. Eve Jenkins entered, and the male Captain turned his brown eyes her way. They had been trying to contact the CMO earlier, but it seemed his Head Nurse had made it there at least. He stepped up to the halfblood Deltan, searching her eyes. "Welcome to the Bridge, Nurse. Have you received word from Dr. Nicander? Have you learned where he's gone?" he asked quietly, yet judging from the look on her face, the answer was plain. The Câroon Chief Medical Officer remained gone. Out of phase or displaced in time and space, who knew? He was plainly not with them, at least. "I see. Please, stay, we might have need of your expertise in a short while... being that we will have a visitor. Hopefully we might solve things diplomatically, though."

No more had Jien spoken to the Head Nurse than the SCO appeared, lacking his tail but having company in the form of the last of the former hosts of the Rez symbiont. Why the turbolifts seemed to work randomly only served to prove how bizarre their current situation was.

"Lone Wolves Squadron C. O. Miles Renard, and Provisional Crewman Illya Rez reporting... Captains."

The female Ives folded her hands behind her back, shoulders squared as she cast a glance towards the grifter. The male Captain remained with the Nurse while she spoke in his stead. "Welcome, Commander. Thank you for bringing our guest here, but I need you to take a seat in Mission Ops and ascertain the status of your squadron. Communications are down, but you might be able to get something from the internal sensors. In a state of chaos, we need to make certain where order might remain."

The Rez symbiont was now gathered in all its varying shades, and both Ives watched the reunion until the point where David Grayson entered together with his Deputy and the former stowaway - now Cadet Bellde'side. At long last, the Senior Officers of the Security Department were accounted for. "Reporting..." said the Andorian woman by Commander Grayson's side, looking between the odd gathering of faces and trailing off before she got any further.

"Take position on either side of the view screen and produce your phasers," snapped the male Jien Ives with a frown, cutting through the nonsense of the situation,"Lt. Kae and the others here are about to force our intruder to appear right there, so stand ready. Cadet, stay close to your superiors and follow their lead. What is the status on the anyon radiation, people? Do we have a Transporter lock yet? In that case, energise!"

---

OOC: 1.30 am here and I need to get up at 6 am so I have to cut it here. Makes sense though, since we need either Amatras, Nicole or Kae make the magic happen in the absence of a present actively played Ops officer. So, can someone (or more than one, given inspiration and availability) please post in-between to energise the transport once the lock is made? I will continue this on the morrow. Hope the continuation is worthwhile reading so far, at least.

Nicole had begun pacing as she awaited the results of the scan, just a few short steps then a turn, a few short steps, then a turn back.  Making one turn brought her the sight of Jien's male form, another Jien's female, an odd sensation, but both having the same demeanor was a bit of reassurance.  As she made a turn back to the male Jien, she noticed his eyes on her and recognized the look she saw.  It made her stop in her tracks, not sure she'd ever see that look again after the way their last intimate encounter had ended.  Lust was what she saw, what she wanted to keep seeing, she now realized.  Despite how things had ended last time, that gaze told her things were far from over between them and, while now was hardly the time, once this last in a seemingly endless cycle of crisis had passed, she could talk to him, make him see she hadn't meant to offend.  For now, though, her console had started blinking.

Returning to her seat, she began sorting the results, "I think we have something, Captains."

Tapping the screen, she brought it up on the main viewer, showing a schematic of a lower deck, where a faint blip was moving down a hallway slowly.  Nicole glanced at the Science officer for confirmation, then to Lieutenant Kae.  As she started the transport, she said, "Anyon radiation is dispersed.  If the being shifts phases, we might lose her... him... it, whatever, so the sooner neutralized the better."

Kae, in Skye's body, suddenly felt self-conscious about walking, as the Ensign's hips gave a naturally sensual sway.  He had the sudden fear of that being seen, of it being associated with his conscious actions instead of her body instinct.  Regardless, he sat down at the engineering station and started to work.  Though Skye's fingers were slim and nimble, they weren't his own, so he suffered the same affliction he would have if using a console with an altered layout or design.  He could have typed with his eyes closed and still gotten it perfect if he had his own hands, his own body, but he had to take his time with hers, making certain he made no mistakes. That might cost them dearly.  As requested, he prepared the holoemitters all over the ship to create a holographic representation of Anyon Radiation.  With safety protocols lifted, he activated the release on command of the Captain, flooding the ship instantly.  The benefit of holographic gas was that it could be started at any level of PPM, not requiring a build up like the natural stuff.  How holographic technology had come along, to make holographic radiation affect the same as the real thing, but just appear as a harmless copy made of photons and lights.  It gave him hope to make truly holographic people one day, ones who were so alive they could finally be guaranteed rights in the Federation.

With the former three Rez hosts all present, Edena looked to each of them, mostly focusing on Jona.  "Trust me, captain.  I have no intention to follow the same path as him.  When this is all over, when we get the Federation back in safe hands . . . I'd like to make my transfer here official with proper channels . . . if you still have a use for me then."  She meant what she said when she told the Captain she respected him and his crew more then any other she had ever served with.  If she could be a permanent addition, she would have considered herself honored.  That was a conversation for another time, though, when their backs weren't pushed against a wall by a being they hadn't even been able to see .

[ Unknown Quarters | Deck 07 ]

As she began to wash herself off he occupied himself with gaining as much Intel on the situation as he could. first he accessed the recently sent security alert and attempted to access communications with the bridge which obviously was unsuccessful.  After that he Accessed recent logs discovering that he, had recently accessed the weapons replications systems with the Below-Decks replicator system.  Investigating this further he found the security camera files of the corridor outside the room discovering the seemingly human version of himself traveling with a Female Trill matching the appearance of one of the past Rez hosts.

Keying up other information he accessed the location of Miles Renard's Com-Badge discovering this entity that appeared like him indeed was wearing his clothes before he was stripped and appeared in the Holodeck.  Secondly, apparently it had used his access codes and even acquired the same items he would have replicated in the same situation.based on this his best synopsis was that he must have been split into his different forms somehow and each form was locked in a single form.  Given the circumstances this didn't surprise him much.

He then began to key in the access codes to the ship's Armory on this deck knowing if there was a major security issue equipping himself and Thea with as much weaponry as they could carry might be a good idea. Feeling satisfied with that information he made one final search deciding to search for any creatures of Vulpinian origin aboard the ship. What surprised him was the biological signature of a canine of his home planet located In the landing legs area of deck 15.

"Pardon, what did you say?"

Renard's ears perked up as she spoke and he picked up her half of the newly replicated items.  He casually walked back to the bathroom with the shower placing the fresh change of clothes and the com-badge on the counter placing a towel for her to use when she got out.  "I was just requesting the replicator to make us some clothes.  I had your undershirt and the division stripes on the sleeves and legs replicated in a neutral non-divisional gray color.  I also created you and I each com-badges and took the liberty of gaining as much intel on our current situation as I could."

He paused for a moment glancing towards her in the shower not able to help but admire her beautiful naked form as each reach between her legs seemed to cause more of his seed to slip from inside her.  Only now was he realizing just how pumped full she must have been by the time they broke from the 'spell.' though re refocused himself and began informing her of the information he had gathered.  as he patiently waited for her to step out of the shower so he could get his own knowing the settings on the shower his race required to clean his fur properly might be a bit too abrasive for her current human skin.

---

OOC: short dialogue post for the bridge
[Bridge]
Miles nodded to the Captain's female form "Yes Ma'am." as he walked quickly over to Mission ops and took a seat queuing up any squadron info he could.  "All fighters accounted for in hangar as expected.  By the way it appears our ship to ship and base to fighter com systems are fully active and available.  If we had a bird or two in the air it seems communications would work as normal."

[ Main Bridge | Deck 01 ]

Lieutenant Ravon glanced over as the bridge became quite crowdy at some point. He only recognized a few people like his Commanding Officer, Renard and Ensign Skye Carver. Although, recognizing her might be an overstatement. It was rather confusing to see the body of the ensign go to the control panels while the male body of presumably Lt. Kae.

As Ives ordered for Carver to join him on prison duty, Thomas looked at the body of the Lt. He still couldn't quite grasp what the hell was going on at this point and he nodded a bit uneasy at the man as he took out a phaser to keep Jona Rez under shot. He couldn't help but ask a question to Carver though as his curiosity started to get the better hand of him  "So... Ensign... How does it feel to be a dude?" He asked, a low yet present daring undertone could be heard in his voice, as he he tried to get under her skin.

He kept his eyes on the Rez though as he kept his fingers ready to fire if the man even tried to make a wrong move. He heard Renard report to the captains about the birds still being all inside the hangar. It just reminded him though about the situation he was in with the female form of the captain just hours ago. He grunted something that nobody really understood and he waited for the situation to change as he heard the mix of officers and crewmembers jabber about closing in to a success on finding out who or what had caused them to get in this situation in the first time.

Eve's eyes captured and held the captain's and indeed he could see that she had no idea where Lucan was and there was more than a little concern in her own for a couple of heartbeats.  "Thank you, Sir, and I'm sorry but I haven't heard from him in a couple of hours.  I'm happy to assist in any way I can," she stated.

She remained in her position, quiet and contemplative as her own actions earlier throbbed and ached.  Seeing the captain in both forms, the trill and pilot into separate forms, and apparently a gender switch made her wonder if that's what had affect her and Khorin.  More so, if that was why Lucan was missing right now.

Though her thoughts were mostly preoccupied with him, she remained alert and ready.  Whoever this visitor was, it was definitely going to be interesting.


Skye, in Kae's body, had nodded and immediately gone to the security checkpoint to withdraw one of the rifles.  Checking the setting, she returned and stood next to Ravon to guard the man who seemed to be causing a bit of a stir among the higher ups.  The next thing she knew, in walked the security detail and Kae's face actually turned red.  There was Smurfette and two men she'd gotten to know quite well though the eyes lingered a bit on Scosche.

There was a moment she felt stirrings, and she willed herself to think of other things lest she completely humiliate her dear friend.  Glancing at her body sitting at the console, she wondered if that's what she looked like when she was piloting.  There was fierce concentration and very deliberate movements though she knew her own movements were a lot different in the cockpit.  Ravon brought her out of her maunderings but if he thought to get under her skin, he was wrong.

That cocky smirk formed and she eyed him appreciatively, though coming from a male form it might be a little unsettling for her fellow Wolf.  Stepping close to Ravon, the eyes remained on the apparent prisoner while she spoke very quietly so others woudn't hear out of the corner of Kae's mouth in just as daring a way.  "Once I got used to moving around a different set of twins, it's not so bad.  Maybe you'd like to see what I've learned when we're off duty sometime, Razor," the male voice fairly purred.

Kae's lips twitched and his eyes sparkled with mischief as the hand on the rifle made a momentary stroking motion and one eye winked along with that split-second lewd smile.  Then it was back to the serious look and focus, professional in demeanor except for the one corner of the mouth remaining quirked.  Would he be horrified?  Probably not but it was certainly something she'd tease him about later.

[ Unknown Quarters | Deck 07 ]

Suddenly a bit self-concious with the beast in the bathroom with her, Thea finished the shower as best as she might while she listened to what he had learned. She noticed the uniform and the towel soon enough and decided that it was time to leave the stall.

She made a bit of an awkward mess about wrapping the towel around herself and tucking it underneath her arms. Much to the fact that she had never taken a shower with a human body before and a towel had never been a frequent thing to handle for her. Yet soon enough she stepped out of Renard's way to let him use the sonic shower, clearing her throat as she did and moving on to where the uniform lay. The towel slipping off her bottom as she as she tried to gather up the garments, she paused... and instead tried the combadge. To no avail. It did not make a sound when she tapped it with her finger. She leaned forward and supported herself on one arm on the counter as she tried Renard's too, but it made no sound either.

Her hair slipping forward as she shook her head, she looked over her shoulder. "There is no way to learn anything unless we... oh," she realised she must be tempting him again with her exposed derrière and resumed struggling with the towel, turning around to face him where he was in the shower stall, "I suppose we have to find the Senior Staff and take part in what is decided about the situation. Obviously, we are not alone."

She put her hands on the counter behind her and leaned against the edge, trying to think with her towel askew across her chest. To her regret, her thoughts were not so fast any more, and it was not long before something happened.

Something that made a gasp tear out of her throat...


[ Main Bridge | Deck 01 ]

The moment had come, with the lock gained and the Transport in progress - the shimmer casting a dancing spectre upon the deck before the view screen. Anticipation held something dreadful for the moments to come, so when the figure materialised before them all, it was something of a relief to see a creature that held a humanoid form. It even had familiar attire.


For in front of them stood a blonde woman with a Starfleet uniform, her department colour being the teal of Counselling, Medical or Science. Her arms crossed, she looked upon the gathering with something akin to surprise upon her features. It was hard to tell, for what set her apart was the same thing that Jien had seen in the turbolift that morning; that light which shone from her eyes.

She remained where she was, impassively, while the radiation of her stare wandered the room. She seemed not concerned at all, yet very intrigued as to how she had been forced to come to a place she had not chosen to visit. In fact, the idea of being subjected to the will of someone else seemed almost... new to her. Yet of fear... there was no sign. The Security personnel and the Tac Conn officers might as well have been holding plastic toys in their hands for all that she appeared to care. Outnumbered and alone, the creature was still not concerned.

"Who are you," asked the male Jien Ives as he spoke up from his position before the Captain's Chair. His female counterpart stepped up to his side, her frown a mirror-image to his own.

The woman turned her eyes to him and smiled. "Whatever you prefer to call me, mortal," she said and tilted her head, "for I have thousands of names, several from your end of the Galaxy alone. On my part, I do not care what you deign to call me, for I know that names are fickle over the course of the centuries."

The female Captain spoke up in her crystal clear tones. "What are you called in the Sol System, then? Do you have names that spring from Earth?"

"Too many," she said and chuckled, beginning to saunter towards David Grayson where he stood, armed and ready to shoot her - the effect of such shot still unknown. "Ishtar might be one of my first pronounceable names in Terran history. Or Inanna? I fail to remember which came first. It makes no difference. You are the kind to misread and mispell and thus cast yourselves into war over a syllable or two. A curious sign of supplication, don't you think?"

After eyeing the Chief of Security a little too boldly, she turned to her audience with mockery in her tone - an imitation of religious idealists. "No, her name is is not Freyja, nor Aphrodite or Venus! A plague on you for calling her Tlazolteotl!" She chuckled and shook her head, ambling towards the two Captains. "And a plague they suffered, ironically. Or was that the natives of that northern continent? I forget... So many people, so many planets. So many fleeting lives lost in Tiamat... sent down to sweet sister Ereshkigal... like mayflies into the darkest night."

The implications were to large to wrap one's head around. Especially for those present that called Earth their native home. Could there be any merit in such a claim; that the entity before them was mistaken as a god to the people of Terran history? Regardless if there was any truth to her words, another question seemed paramount to ask. The riddle yet answered.

"Why have you come here?" asked the male Captain with his browridge lowered over his eyes. "Why are you forcing us into games without meaning? What do you want?"

"I do not want to be disappointed," she said immediately, smiling serenely as she stepped up to the two Commanding Officers of the ship, "and since I came here, I have been so very disappointed in what I've found. Where are the games you played before I came along? Where did the will of and need of carnal pleasure vanish in such short time? I noticed you from the Abzû, where I bided my time in boredom, and like a supernova seen from afar, you called for my notice in this lowly and inferior dimension."

With her final word, her eyes flared into stark whiteness - the light swallowing everything in the Main Bridge. And with that light, like a concussion in the air, pleasure beset the gathered crew - impossible pleasure so sudden and strong it made people stagger and fall to the deck plates. Cries and sharp intakes of breath came from everywhere, a cacophony of surprise and ecstasy. It was felt all over the ship. Yet overriding all of the collective voices came the words from the entity named Ishtar.

"THIS IS WHAT I EXPECTED OF YOU," boomed the fractured voice of a being not properly contained in their current existence - making the white light shudder, "YET THIS GIVES ME NOTHING. FOR TO ME, THERE BE NO PLEASURE IN PLEASURE DEALT. ONLY WILFUL NEED AND CONSUMMATION IN EARNEST FEEDS ME - CALLS TO ME. MAKES ME WHOLE. MAKES ME TEAR MY WAY FREE OF MY CONFINES! I NEED YOU TO FEED ME!"

With ears ringing from the noise, and chaos and crippling pleasures tearing the situation apart, Jien Ives slowly found the noise, the light and the sensation in his body dissipating. And as the light receded, and he was able to straighten where he stood, he realised that they stood in ankle-deep water. The crew that had been on the Bridge was not even aboard the USS Theurgy any more. No, they were somewhere entirely else, with no Starfleet-issued hull and titanium surrounding them.

They stood in a flooded temple, and before them... hovering by the base of stone steps, was... in lack of any other point of reference... an angel.


Wings of light moved slowly in the humid air, and the entity gazed upon the Starfleet Officers that she had invited to her prison - to this place where her true form resided. Both captains stared wide-eyed, jaws clenched in preparation for whatever may come next. Residual euphoria lingered in their minds and bodies, yet the situation did not call for pleasure. It called for a need of control. They were completely at the mercy of this alien lifeform; an entity so powerful that whole planets all over the galaxy may just have named her a god. Not the first alien to invoke such theological consequences, yet the first alien of such nature that Jien Ives had faced.

The female form of the Captain looked behind her to check on her crew and make sure they were aright - standing in the water and the seizure abating from their bodies. Meanwhile, the male Captain spoke again - trying to push thoughts about his ship and the rest of his crew from his mind.

"Are you imprisoned? Here, in this place? Who did this to you?" he asked quietly over the noise of dripping water.

The voice that answered was otherworldly, spoken without vocal tract but rather as a whisper in the air - reaching everyone. "For your sake... for all the people residing in Tiamat... I seduced and stole... the blueprints of civilisation... For the theft of the Mes I pay the price... Anu and Enlil and Enki sealed my fate, with Lahamu and Lahmu guarding the gates above, and Ilabrat overseeing their vigilance... always watching, always knowing. Without worshippers, I am lost to this darkness. No power to break out of this Temple of Adzû. Without your supplication and carnal worship - without your celebration of your given bodies - I will remain here in this petty form of existence. Worship me wilfully. Celebrate."

Jien hesitated. Did she mean for them all to...?

"Celebrate, or I will send your puny vessel into the flames of a star," said the voice more evenly. Yet when it spoke anew, it was with a more gentle tone. "Forgive me, but if needed, I will remove your memories of what you have lost, so that you may learn to love each other here. Always. Feeding me with displays of your splendour and love. Until I can challenge my captors."

The cold blow of such words settled in them all.

"I suggest you find your desires to worship me now, for there is joy in carnal celebration. I should not need to make threats. I should not have to mar the pureness of your free will. Your worship can be unstained if you just take pity in my fate, and find compassion for me in your hearts. This is the easiest path for you. You must realise this."

The noise of dripping water seemed more sharp as the dire situation became more clear - the silence screaming around them.

"Love me as your god... as you have in times immortal."

---

OOC: Well, an abbreviated sequence of events but I think that in the end it worked out rather nicely. Good luck to your characters trying to make heads or tails out of this situation. Looking forward to the reactions all around and to the ending that follows. Pardon for the wait, but I think you prefer closure and that I put some extra time into this post.

[Deck 07: Unknown Quarters]
'Renard' listened as she spoke having closed his eyes as the intensity of the shower began to force the previously drying seed from his fur as he moaned softly feeling the intimate tingle of the sonic vibrations stimulating his manhood.  He pressed a button on the shower's controls intensifying the vibrations as the cleaning particles finally forced themselves into the deepest parts of his fur scrubbing the skin under it.  He smiled softly to himself as he keyed in a sequence into the shower causing the water to begin to bead off of him and seem to pour out of his fur and the enhanced water seemed to pour over his body now instead of soaking into the fur.

Moments later he began to step out of the shower.  He was shook with a violent wave of instant ecstasy.  He felt his balls tighten as he bucked back into the shower as a massive orgasm rocked his body.  He was forced back in a wave of unheard of before pleasure. He bucked back against the wall of the shower as he slumped back panting in pleasure. His body was racked in pleasure and he panted loudly his eyes wide in ecstasy as his meat twitched in immense pleasure. His own seed began to pump out of his enormous canine meat spilling over his own abdomen as he lay back in the shower. The sonically enhanced water was now flowing over him washing away the pool of his own lust as he twitched within the shower dizzy from the sudden ecstasy and disoriented.  

---

[??:Temple of Adzû:??]
Miles listened intently as the being calling herself a deity spoke.  His head spun with the consequences of the truth, if her words indeed were truth.  He listened intently but suddenly her spell was cast and his body was wracked with pleasures he had never felt.  Still this was no ordinary pleasure and his mind spun. Inside he knew it was forced as he heard her booming voice.  Hearing her words he gritted his teeth as he got to his feet dizzy from the shockwave of pleasure.   He then looked towards the Captains "Captain, I believe I recognize the Terran myths she is referring to.  My kin has a very similar figure to Inanna though in my culture she is portrayed much more benevolently.  Perhaps I can appeal to the aspect of her that my kind is most familiar with."    

He then looked towards the angelic figure before bowing his head gently "I apologize Lady Ishtar, but in this human body I am unable to call you by the name kind has for the reverence you deserve.  Still to behold the being that taught us how to 'give' rather than 'take' is an honor."

[ Deck 07: Unknown Quarters ]

On Thea's part, she was wrecked with an orgasm of equal magnitude, having yet become familiar with the sensations possible in human skin.

She cried out and stumbled from where she stood, fell forward on her knees, her flimsy towel lost in the commotion. The climax that was forced upon her crippled her in vertigo, for as she tried to crawl away, the friction of her thighs caused a cascade of euphoria that made her arms buckle as well - making her fall face first upon the floor. In sudden panic, aftershocks rolling through her, she panted heavily as she climbed up Renard's beast-form - unclear as to for sake of help or checking on his health - her trembling hands on either side of his waist and then on his chest.

Before she realises what is going on, the sonic waves vibrates heavily on her skin and lashes against her aching and hard nipples. She cries out again, the shower's rough treatment rippling against the soft skin of her abdomen and down against her heated sex - her outer labia spread open by the vibrating attack. She would normally end the shower's program with a "thought", and it took a few seconds of trashing against the beast's wet body in another climax, her throat raw from her guttural cries. "End p-program!"

Panting, nipples chafing against fur and wet hair dangling, she tried to pull breath for speech through an organic vocal tract, hating her new body more and more since she seemed incapable of controlling it. She planted her hands on the beast's chest and raises herself up - involuntarily grinding herself along his slick length in doing so - pressing him against his lower abdomen. Yet her sensitive sex was too benumbed by the shower to cause her further reaction at that point. "What h-happened? Are y-you... What is your s-status?"

She swallowed and looked around, as if there was an invisible assailant in the room.

[ Temple of Adzû ]

As the gathered crew from the Bridge was still reeling from the revelations, the SCO came to the male and female Jien Ives in order to make a suggestion.

"Captain, I believe I recognize the Terran myths she is referring to.  My kin has a very similar figure to Inanna though in my culture she is portrayed much more benevolently.  Perhaps I can appeal to the aspect of her that my kind is most familiar with."

The female Captain answered the SCO, quietly. "Do so, because we need to buy time in order to figure out a way to handle the situation. The more we can learn the greater are the chances we can get out of here."

She then turned, to leave the male Captain to face the alien entity, herself instead walking back and checking on the people present, to see if they had fared well in the sudden relocation to this mythological place that they had ended up in. She heard the SCO speak to the alien, making his greetings. The answer came in the same disembodied whisper as it had come before.

"Honour me then, mortal, by giving me that which I need - giving me your desires acted upon instead of me taking that which I need from you all. I wish not to erase your memories and make you appreciate each other in lack of references from your old lives, for that would also be a kind of force that would mar your displays of carnal need.

"No, there is gain for us all if you would simply accept the situation as it is, and give me that which I need."

The male Captain faced the angel in the dim light of the temple with his jaw set, eyes glaring. Surely there was some other way than to acquiesce to the alien's demands. There were more important things than this weighing on his mind, and to be trapped caused him to feel ire towards the being that stood in his and his crews way...

While the being's words certainly held a certain appeal for Nicole, the giving in to pleasure and the cessation of the hostilities their ship had been under for so long now, one look at her captain and she knew they couldn't give in.  Although, as she thought about it, perhaps there was some advantage in helping the one who would claim to be a god.  She'd felt the immensity of ecstasy the being was capable of producing and suspected that power could be turned to other tasks.  Even, perhaps, in dividing the currently altered persons in charge of Starfleet.  If she could split Jien, why not.  It was the most straightforward answer to their combined dilemma she'd found or heard of.  It'd be like having Q on their side and actually willing to help, instead of just being a nuisance.

Having been knocked down by the intensity of the orgasm that had washed over her, Nicole rose to her feet and touched the female Jien's shoulder when she stopped in front of Nicole.  In a whisper, she answered and suggested, "I am well enough, Captain.  I wonder, though, if there isn't some bargain to be made with whomever or whatever this being is.  Galaxy knows we could use the help and if the bargain is her help for sex," she blushed, remembering their previous shared intimacy, "well, we are certainly capable of providing that.  I don't mean to suggest surrender; merely we have something it wants and it something we could certainly use.  If it is willing, that is."

She glanced at the others around them, examining each and frowned, spotting T'Less in the crowd.  Turning her eyes back to Jien, she added, "It seems like those on the bridge weren't the only ones to be brought here."

T'Less stood trying to cover as much of herself as she could, looking around in curiosity.  Her last recollection was of being in Garen's quarters and doing things she'd rather not remember at the moment, given how much emotional control had been stripped from her.  She knew now, or surmised, what had happened, that this 'god' had somehow altered her mind and forced... no, she hadn't been forced, beyond the removal of whatever barriers were in place that stopped her before.  And, she knew she'd enjoyed her time with Garen, that she wanted to do it again.  That had been before coming here, before the blinding light and ecstatic sensations had coursed through her, only to awaken here, nude, only her shoes remaining.  Somewhere along the way, she'd regained at least a portion of her mental command, although perhaps it was simply the lack of Garen present.  Either way, she had once more successfully buried her emotions, including shame at being naked amongst her fellow officers.  One hand draped across her firm breasts, while the other covered her hairless sex, only for modesty's sake.  She had no desire to partake in the 'god's offer, although her eyes pondered Ida for a moment.

For himself, Scosche felt some trepidation at having been forcibly removed from the Theurgy and plopped down in this half decayed whatever it was.  He could feel that it was ancient and hadn't held real people since... well, he had no idea about that.  Possibly even before his ancestors, both sets, had first started using fire.  There were civilizations far older, and who knew, they might have worshipped this being even way back then.  Still, he stuck close to Ida, not knowing what else to do.  He leaned closer, "With all that power, she can't afford a cleaning maid?"

'Renard' panted softly as he began to recover looking up at her dripping body as their intense climaxes settled. "Fine," he gasped, "but I'm getting really pissed at whoever is doing this to us."  He looked to her as he got up, taking his hands and sort of wringing them down his arms and then legs.  The water wrung out like he was a living mop. "And, don't you dare make a wet dog joke."  he said trying to lighten the mood a bit before he grabbed at the nearest towel and began drying off as quickly as he could.

He practically jogged to where his uniform was and quickly pulled the underwear then the uniform on.   He looked back to Thea hoping she had done the same.  "First stop Armory couple doors down.  Not like it will really do us any good if we are dealing with a reality warper."  he said knowing that if they were dealing with something as powerful as he feared then weapons wouldn't really do any good.  Still, He knew it would be better to arm up than be caught without any chance.

---

[ Temple of Adzû ]
Renard looked to the Goddess. and began to speak to her softly.  He began to plea to her appealing to the legends of the benevolent goddess who helped them so long ago.  "What happened to the great vixen who taught us to hold off on simple animal lust and pleasure for ourselves. Were you not the one who taught us that we could have so much more  bliss by focusing on how we can instead revel in the cries of our lovers instead?  Did you not guide us from being simple animals in heat, to being able to truly enjoy the pleasures you taught us as patient but passionate lovers?  Why now do you wish us to go back to being such base animals,"  He asked bearing his passion to her

Pausing for a moment he looked up to her in a much more 'submissive' way  "Besides I can not simply act on what my desire would be.  After all how can i desire any of my fellow mortals when there is one even greater in this temple.  I doubt your request is for a mere mortal to attempt to truly please a goddess in the area her own domain." He smiled softly at the being who had them as her playthings.  "Though if you wish me to act on my true urges, I will make my best attempt to please."

[Main Bridge| Deck 1 | USS Theurgy]

Sarresh nearly snapped, right there, at the rebuke from the ships captain. A man (and woman, both at once now, it seemed) that he still could not accept as his own captain. How dare that damned shape shifting little even in the privacy of his own mind, the Ash'reem forced himself to reign in his thoughts. The only visible signs of his reaction to the rebuke from Jien was a slight tremble in his left fist. He forced it open, slowly. He did not verbally acknowledge the Captain, however, as 'callous bitch' would very likely be the first words out of his mouth.

That said, the (relatively) younger Ash'reem moved to an adjoining console next to the CSO. He nodded, resisting the urge to chirp to the woman in their native language. Even there, his words would be harsh, and unprofessional. Whether or not Sarresh desired to be trapped in the present or not, and regardless of just what had happened to him in his quarters, in the here and now, his particular skill set was needed. So he punched up the controls, and began the complicated method of interfacing with the consoles of the Secondary Science Lab, that he had appropriated recently.

He did not get very far, however, before the new arrival to the bridge materialized. His scans forgotten, set on automatic, Sarresh turned to observe the new woman interact with the rest of the crew. The more she talked, the less pleased he was. Gods, regardless of whether or not they had true divinity, were not something that Sarresh put much stock in. Having one toy with them...

his train of thought ended abruptly, yet again, tho this time, it was not of his own volition by any means. The light washed over the bridge, and the wave of pleasure hit Sarresh like a ton of bricks, disrupting every conscious thought in his body. He bent over his console, webbed fingers splayed out, as a low screeching groan vibrated in his throat. His people had their own...hedonistic tendencies, ones that he had, until quite recently, kept a tight check on. Those checks failed miserably, and only the thick membrane under the officers uniform, that kept him hydrated, hid the effects of the orgasm from view.

[??:Temple of Adzû:??]

The water lapped at his ankles as slowly, the Temporal Affairs Officer regained his composure. The being that would be a goddess glowed in the near distance, and her words chilled the rapidly beating heart of the Ash'reem. This was a place that his kind could enjoy, the warmth, the liquid, the promises of simple coupling, despite his species reproductive...restrictions. But what this woman-being, was asking, whoever, worried Sarresh.

Trying to be as stoic as possible, the time traveler crossed his arms, slowly, the twitching of his left leg having abated for the moment, and silently watched as one officer approached the entity. He listened, his eyes drifting across the assembled crew, such as they were, in various states of recovery (and undress, it would appear, as he took a lewd look for just a moment, his gaze hidden behind his goggles). Snapping his eyes back over to the Captains, he sighed, sucked in a breath, and slowly approached the closest one. "I think it is safe to say that while this being has mastered powers beyond that which we can safely measure, including, possibly, time itself, she is not the one responsible for the events in the Mahéwa System, but rather those events drew her interest to us." he paused, then added, "sir."

Perhaps it was stating the obvious, but then again, perhaps it needed to be said.

[ Deck 07 | Deck 01 ]

Following the Vulpinian's example, despite how taxed her nervous system was after the onslaught it had suffered, Thea dressed herself in the warm bathroom whilst trying to figure out what kind of "wet dog" joke the SCO had been referring to. She knew no such jokes, and since she lacked the means to find such in the Federation database, her mind lingered on the challenge more than seemly given the circumstances.

Hair still wet and plastered to the sides of her face, she followed Commander Renard's beast form out into the corridor and to the armoury. She no longer possessed the phaser that Lin Kae had given her, so she first tried to arm herself with a Mk. III Phaser Assault Rifle, only to realise that she had not the intrinsic strength of a photon-laced forcefield to lug one of such around the ship. No, she took a phaser instead with several energy packs to spare. She inserted one and checked the setting...

...only to fall off her feet when the whole ship shook by enemy fire.

On her knees, she made eye-contact with the SCO - realisation dawning upon her. Blind as she felt in her new existence, she knew what was about - having suffered two months of bombardment across the Quadrant. "Starfleet..." came her hoarse voice, filled with non-photonic horror, "...to the Bridge! Now!"

She ran ahead of Commander Renard, found the turbolift offline, and instead took the same stairs she had taken together with Lin Kae during the Niga Incident. Again the Theurgy shook and made the stairs a precarious climb. Her thighs had become raw with fatigue by the time they emerged in the corridor on Deck 01. The lights fluttered on and off, wall panels exploded around them as they ran. Phaser in hand, she rounded the last corner and burst through the doors to the Main Bridge.

It lay empty; not a single personnel in sight.

On the view screen, distant grey dots marked the assailants, and the phaser fire shredded the distance between them. Thea was anguished by the situation. MVAM was yet to be tested after the repairs, only scheduled for the morrow and thus the docking latches had yet to stand the trial of decoupling. Yet what were their chances without that unique tactical advantage? The latches would have to work. She counted ten Federation ships with her eyes alone on that view screen. And while photon torpedoes smote against the newly restored shields of her bygone titanium hulled body, there was none present to answer in kind.

Besides them.

"Computer!" she shouted, the disembodied feeling of addressing herself not lost to her, "Engage the multi-vector assault mode!"

[Unable to comply,] came the dead-pan reply in her own voice, overriding the din of the assault, [Unauthorised command. Command authorization invalid.]

Realising that she was not registered as Senior Starfleet Officer, she turned her horrified expression to Commander Renard.


[ Temple of Adzû ]

The female Captain stood with Nicole Howard in the back of the gathered Starfleet officers and listened to her suggestion, head bowed close to pick up the low voice over the sounds of the water around them.

"A bargain," she said quietly, the close presence of Nicole giving Jien that tingling sensation in the pit of her stomach, her scent even more so. "A bargain for freedom first and then a bargain for more. Help is most certainly what we need, but what manner of compensation would we have to accumulate for her to give us a helping hand? It is a good idea, though, despite what it entails for us. This is, however, something I'd be hesitant to order my crew to go through with. Especially not after what we have all been through already in terms of intimacy and forced copulation."

To speak about such things with Nicole made the awkwardness of the situation even more tangible for Jien, whom - despite her stony façade - tried to raise herself above the emotions in order to see things objectively. "Duly noted, Commander. We'll see how this negotiation progresses. Perhaps... we will have to loose some integrity in order to be successful in our ultimate endeavour."

As for the Chief Tactical Officer, Jien frowned emphatically and then walked over to the Vulcan. She removed her uniform jacket as she trudged through the water - eyes and ears pinned on the conversation between the the alien entity and her Squadron Commanding Officer. Once Jien reached T'Less, she wrapped the jacket around the woman's shoulders and quietly stood beside her - folding her arms underneath her breasts and watching the proceedings stoically. A moral support for an otherwise emotionally 'discrete' Officer. It was the least Jien could do for all the times the Lieutenant had saved their lives at the Tactical Station since her predecessor died.

On the other side of the water-filled area, ThanIda zh'Wann heard the Cadet's comment, and having regained her composure just barely since the commotion a short while ago, she could but nod numbly. She glanced towards David Grayson, wondering if the Pinkskin and her might have to fornicate like animals until the end of time before they got out of there. It was not exactly like they had been given an estimation for how long it would take to free the alien from the place they were in, and she had a feeling it was not as easy as it seemed. Having sex with the Commander again had its appeal, but she would not agree to a lifetime spent like a prostitute - fucking for the sake of freedom and survival.

....Why now do you wish us to go back to being such base animals?

Base animals indeed. It was the SCO's words. That was exactly what the Andorian felt they were being reduced to. Her antennae withdrew like twain cobra-heads at the thought.

When the male form of Jien Ives, standing at the head of the small crowd, heard his SCO offer himself for sake of buying time, he felt both pride and shame in having his Officer reduce himself to such methods for an outcome still uncertain. More time did not equal escape, at least not directly. The answer from the eight-pointed vision of an angel spoke her reply like a whisper in the darkness.

"What use would I have for the physical attentions of a organic creation? While you flatter me, supplicant, your offer equals that of an insect wishing to please the wind. Forgive me, for is it was so easy that I might take a lover and thus be worshipped, I would have broken free from this place a long time past. No, your devoted worship will wear down my restraints, strengthen my call, and I can be free at long last."

There was silence. Hesitancy ruled the crew. The male Jien Ives glanced to the Ash'reem when he spoke up, confirming the thoughts of the Commanding Officer. This was other. Unrelated. Not the same enemy. An unfortunate consequence to an unfortunate incident. He simply nodded in thought to the Temporal Affairs Officer's comment.

"Patience is something I hold as a virtue," said the voice, more loudly, "and yet your mortal defiance by inaction wears it thin. Behold, the fate of your vessel as you roamed the Tiamat."

By her word, the surface of the water they all stood in changed - making a reflection of another time and space. It showed the Theurgy beset by Federation ships, shields and hull bombarded with phaser fire and close detonations. It was a vivid imagine in the waters, and quite plain despite the ripples around their ankles. It was, perhaps, a sign of technology evolved - surpassing anything known in the galaxy. Also, a sign that they faced something less divine than initially thought.

"You chose to stand idle despite my promise about sending your craft into a a sun, so I hope this serves to facilitate your decision. Watch your ship being taken apart piece by piece by those you once held as allies. Celebrate. Now. There is a limited amount of strength I can gain by forced means, but it will have to do. I will have no further disobedience."

And thus, the alien showed its true fortitude. Its corrupted nature. It was not hesitant to use force after all; a poor attempt at deception when pushed to the ends of its willingness to endure. Captivity had evidently taken its toll.

The female Jien Ives spoke up now, mastering the urge to scream and shout at the sight by their feet. Her crystal clear voice cut the darkness like a knife. "You shall have nothing from us unless you cease this game!" she said, trudging forth across the evolving battle in the water, "You will have your display of celebration on our conditions, not yours! I will acquiesce on your terms if you return everyone except the one person willing to stay with me. Return them, take our ship away from harm, and you shall have it your way, for as long as it takes."

The male Captain watched his female counterpart as she stepped past him. And knowing the look in her eyes as their gazes locked for a mere instant, Jien knew what she meant to do. It all depended on whether or not there was someone else present that opted to remain, and if he - or she - understood what was required.

"What say you, my goddess?" said Jien as she came up to the alien's mirage, her words addled with acerbic reproach - the denomination seeping with sarcasm. "Will you have my worship on my conditions?"

There was a pause, filled with screaming silence, before the voice came.

"Yes."

Yet by the desperate answer came not the expected. No. It seemed nothing went off quite the way expected that day, for what happened could not be described by mortal words.

There was a light, a sharp light - cancelling out the existence they possessed in the temple. Voices filled the blind existence. Loud voices, impossible to make out. In no tongue known to any present species from the Theurgy. Calls and screams. Then, flashing images of the outcome - a judgement of sort. Superimposed on the whiteness was the image of the angel they saw, pulled down into a blackness so complete it blinded them as as much as the whiteness did. It tugged upon their attention, that abyss beneath - filled with writhing things that awaited the fallen. Beings of sub-existence and entropy devoid of all concept of life... and yet still living.

Then the abyss shut, the primordial screams falling into quietude. Absolute stillness.


[ Unknown ]

When everything settled, it was as if no time had passed at all.

They stood placed as they once had in that temple, only somewhere completely else. They were on a plateau, their backs to a temple that might just be the one they had been in, and with the breeze of the wind in their hair, they faced a vision no humanoid of the galaxy had seen before. Facing them, beyond the railing of the plateau, were angelic figures in the air - hovering underneath a glass dome that covered fertile ground. It spanned the entire sky. They stood, facing one figure of featureless light that descended before them - wings spread wide.

(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Dleu5L_Eelk/UUI6LqiJHBI/AAAAAAAABt0/wT45IwPZDJA/s900/godintervention.jpg)

Words came on the breeze.

"She was forbidden power, and yet sought it. Therefore she is no more, returned to her sister and husband in Kur... dissipated of energy. The yore shadow of Marduk her new lord. We should not have let her touch your existence, even though we thought it might heal her. We were mistaken, so forgive us what you have seen. What you have come to learn."

It was hard to tell, but it seemed the figure bowed its head.

"You may know this place, and my voice, by many different words and titles, yet they are all the same. Welcome to Anu, I am the voice of our surviving existence. I speak the words of Anu, Enlil and Ea. My name... is Ilabrat."

On the winds, the words shifted - reflections of references made. A language transcending comprehension. History unravelling one syllable at the time. ...to Eridu ...to Dilmun ...to Sha Ka Ree ...to Eden ...Qui'Tu ...Vorta Vor ...Valhalla  ...words of Cronos ...of Inti ...of Yahweh ...of Odin, Thor... ....name ...is Metatron. ...is Metatron ...is Metatron.

Too many names at the same time, soon all lost on the wind - to the ears of a crew in awe. And yet, there was no time to contemplate much further, for their ship was still at battle with Fleet they aimed to save. A deal to be struck. A new bargain made.

Who dared speak first?

Nicole's response was immediate and loud, upon hearing Jien's intention to remain.  Stepping forward, she had started to call out, "I will stay beside my captain," only to be interrupted, once more, by blinding white.  When it faded, she stood beside the female Jien, looking around and around at the buoyant light.  She felt some trepidation, seeing so many seemingly immortal beings, just a touch insignificant before the power she knew they held.  She had been wrong to think they would help, she realized.  It would be too much like asking Q for assistance and expecting the galaxy not to explode if he did.

For her part, T'Less merely looked on in curiosity, her mind wondering at what structure the bodies before her might possess, whether they were pure energies or something the Federation had yet to discover.  Pulling the captain's jacket around her tighter, she knew it covered her inadequately, having to cover her naked sex with a hand where the jacket failed to drop down to.  She heard their words and listened intently, recognizing the Vulcan pantheon represented from ancient times, long, long before they'd accepted logic.  Their names, though, mattered little, so much less than their intentions.  Would they be returned?  And, if they were, would their ship even still be there?  Had their transport to this locale included a cessation of the hostilities being performed on their ship or had things gone on, phaser and torpedo volleys raining down on the defenseless ship?

[ Deck 01: Main Bridge ]

Renard had followed Thea as they made their way to the Main Bridge. He nearly fell over as another blast shook the hull of the Theurgy and braced himself on the door.

"Computer! Engage the multi-vector assault mode!"

[Unable to comply, Unauthorised command. Command authorization invalid.]

Miles retorted to the computer almost immediately. "Recognize emergency command authorization Renard, Miles Lieutenant Commander Authorization code Bravo-Charlie-Four-Two-Eight-Four."

The computer replied flatly ["Authorization approved. Lieutenant Commander Miles Renard is now acting captain."]

Miles then looked over to Thea, "Recognize female human on bridge as acting Executive Officer and unlock all ECH Commands to her."  He made his way to the tactical controls activating all shields and weapons systems and triggering the red alert alarms systems hopefully triggering anyone who remained on the ship to rush to their duty stations, had the concussions from the other ships fire not done so already.

Looking to Thea he braced himself against the tactical controls before transferring the commands to the command chair controls. Along with basic controls for other systems and routing more advanced controls to the mission ops desk.  "Computer Slave Secondary and primary hull controls to ECH subsystems and Engage M.V.A.M."

The monotone voice of the computer spoke up again ["Initiating decoupling sequence."]

Renard took the seat in the captains chair and looked to Thea. "You have Mission Ops."  he said as he saw the weapons systems showing ready. "Computer, Open hailing frequencies.  Federation ships cease fire, you are under violation of procedures to recapture rogue vessels.  We show no logs of attempted hails or attempts to peacefully negotiate a surrender of this vessel.  You have forced my hand to return fire.  We will cease fire upon your retreat or your cessation of attack.  We are open to listening to your terms.  All other actions will be deemed hostile and will be met with deadly force."  He paused a moment, "Computer, cease hail and return fire."

---

[ Temple of Adzû ]

Miles stared on and watched in awe as the events around him unfolded.

"What use would I have for the physical attentions of a organic creation? While you flatter me, supplicant, your offer equals that of an insect wishing to please the wind. Forgive me, for is it was so easy that I might take a lover and thus be worshipped, I would have broken free from this place a long time past. No, your devoted worship will wear down my restraints, strengthen my call, and I can be free at long last."

He would have spoken if not for her next set of demands.  But as quickly as the captain had volunteered "herself" more events began to transpire he watched as she was seemingly puled into the pit.  though saddened by this it was the result he had sort of expected to beset the goddess.  After all one of the most famous of all human myths centered around the scene they had just witnessed.

Hearing the voice on the winds as it spoke he couldn't help but nod his head in almost familiarity to the words that were spoken before looking to the captain's female form.  "If you are wondering Maam, from a comparative theological point of view it appears we are in the "Realm of the Gods"  The names he says 'he' speaks for are all names of the highest of gods of numerous religions.  'He' then refers to 'himself' as Ilabrat or Metatron names of beings referred to as the attendant of the throne of said highest God.  Since you are the Moses of our little Exodus from the pursuing Federation. I believe it would be most appropriate for you to speak to the Burning Bush so to speak." he said quietly to her merely giving her his interpretation of what was said.

[ Temple of Adzû ]

The entire events that transpired before the young lieutenant were, to say the least, throat gripping. Ravon had just witnessed a tremendous force that took control over his body as they got transported to this remote location. He glanced down to his pants, feeling the wet semen of his orgasm run down his leg. He cursed softly and looked at the crewmembers around him. The captains and most of the commanding officers were still there and he looked over to Carver and the "detainees". He kept his eyes on Jona Rez again and he wondered if the SI knew something about this place. 

He left the talking up to the brass of command and stood by silently as the situation kept changing. Renard seemed to know most about what was going on here yet when the water seemed to give them a glance about what was happening aboard the Theurgy, Thomas his throat went dry. They had to get back fast. Yet the terms of this Goddess seemed a bit out of line. As he saw the female captain volunteer for the job to be done, Thomas hesitated, realising what the sacrifice would mean. Just as Nicole spoke up, he wanted to say something, but everything faded to black.

[ Unknown ]

Once Thomas could look around him again he noticed yet another scenery in front of his mortal eyes. Baffled by the events and being treated like a ball that gets bounced around, he remained silent now and just observed as much as he could. Since they were all against the back of a wall, he had lost sight of the Rez symbiont. Thomas couldn't help but wonder though where the hell they were and how they would get back to their besieged ship.

[ Deck 01 | Main Bridge ]

Acting upon her orders, Thea hurried to the Mission Ops station and sat down - powering up all available communication and operations systems. When MVAM was ordered, Thea's hands moved quickly over the touch-panel to ensure that the subroutines were in place and patched into each Vector respectively. She scrambled whatever pilots were available, hoping they were already powering up their Valkyries to fight without their SCO to lead them.

"Auto-separation in ten seconds!" she called hurriedly whilst the ship rocked from the impacts upon their now fully-powered shields. She was checking the count-down on her panel, hearing Miles issue his warning over the hailing frequencies behind her, "Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Separation sequence in progress!"

There was a metallic screech as the docking latches were supposed to open, the tearing sound reverberating through the entire ship. Yet the Theurgy did decouple, only not without friction and not without a hull breach on Vector 3. She said as much to Miles in a quick damage report, yet they were still operating in MVAM - two hulls adhering to command protocols that obeyed what Thea relayed to them. A detonation to her left sent sparks and debris over her control panel so she had to wipe the glowing surface clear with her uniform sleeve. "We are in attack formation! Each section is armed and responding to our command!" She specified targets for them, and set them to fire at will. Both of the hulls angled in towards the approaching cluster of Federation ships - both sweeping forth against the assailants with phasers blazing.

"Shields at forty-three percent," she called, before their Vector shook once more, "thirty-nine! Wolves Zero-Four, One-Zero and One-Four have launched, weapon systems powered up. They are in echelon formation, closing the distance."

A new volley of phaser fire, several Starships making their collective barrage hit them as one. A photon torpedo hit Vector 3 over the hull breach, killing its impulse engines. A detonation in the CONN station made the Bridge fill up with more smoke. "Shields at thirty-one percent! The other Vectors are also suffering damage. Two enemies down! Eleven total remaining. Commander, we are not going to make it! They are too many and we're too late!"


[ The Realm of the "Gods" ]

Both Captains - her in red undershirt and him in full uniform - stood at the head of the group - the female Ives accompanied with the Chief Engineer at her side. It had all happened so fast, the shift and the interruption along with the present situation, all forestalling the moment to address Commander Howard's proclamation. Perhaps later there would be time. After all, as Commander Miles said, they were in a place once accepted as the Realm of the Gods by most theological views in the galaxy. And yet... the pillar in the distance and the temple with its projection of the battle in the waters... it seemed more of technological origin than divine presence. Advanced, seamless technology. Unprecedented perhaps, but not of divine origin. When technology became advanced enough, it was hard to distinguish from magic.

The angels were life-forms of a nature unaccounted for, yet nonetheless alive to their senses. Creatures of energy... of some sort. The speaker was apologising, which was a good sign, so the male Captain Ives heeded his SCO's suggestion and spoke up - as uncomfortable as he felt with the Christian reference.

"Whatever you are," he said, his voice echoing despite the openness of the landscape, "whatever we once knew you for, and regardless what faults you admit to, fact remains that we are still in great peril."

The female Captain nodded and spoke up in his wake. "Our ship... is our only means to fight an enemy that only we know exist in our time-line. The existence we hail from." She stepped forth as she spoke. "Without our survival, many lives may be lost, countless species and worlds corrupted by an unseen foe. We seek no greater compensation from you... for the danger your prisoner placed us in... than your assistance in our cause. Help us complete our mission. Let the truth be known."

The being naming itself Ilabrat paused before speaking."We understand the plight. Knows this war. Knows your predicament. Yet we also know that these events you bespeak are not solitary. They affect many time-lines. Consequences unpredictable. Calculable, yet unpredictable. Intervention at this point causes ripples. Harmful, cascading, spreading flaws that might bring events unsought in other places. Other planes of existence. Understand, that everything is connected. Furthermore, the Anunnaki, not to mention the Igigi, would have to be involved as well, lest the rupture spread too far. Such collaboration is unstable. Unprecedented. Our assistance alone might cause a stir that would tear the fabric of all planes as they are currently known."

A long-winded 'No' to Jien's ears, whom guessed that either of the factions the alien entity mentioned might just be the Q species that Starfleet already had come to know. "Then what are you offering? What would be the safer alternative that still preserves our lives and our ship? If we were insignificant, we would not be having this conversation. Are we but dust in the wind to you - had we not been about to empower your prisoner - or do you actually wish to restore us to where we belong? Then do so, before we have no ship left with which to carry the word of truth. Give us a chance to achieve the potential outcome of our cause."

The words on the wind came after a few moments more. "Restoring order is the offering we mean to give; to let you lead lives unaffected by Isthar's attentions. Lives led in whatever way you deem fit, with the potential of all and nothing ahead of you... unmarked by our negligence."

Both Captains stood with nothing more to say. They looked to their crew behind them, gauging their faces to see if they had any alternatives to offer. In the end, the Captains looked at each other. They were not going to gain assistance. That much was plain, so they nodded once imperceptibly. It was the last time they were ever to be separated, ever to be able to look into his/her own eyes without looking into a mirror... and in all honesty, it was a great relief that it seemed to be over. They were a singular duality.

"Offer accepted," they said in unison - turning to face the entity.

"Then it shall be so. You may keep your memories, for we find no dire consequences or flaws in the patterns of your time that would adhere to the knowledge of what you have seen here. In fact, our existence is already known," the voice on the breeze said, and it was hard to determine, but it seemed the angelic figure looked towards Jona Rez at the back of the gathering. "This has been a gratifying reunion, for it is rare that we re-encounter those whom worshipped us during our years of searching. After we've faded to the winds of time and space - leaving your planes of existence - we never thought to speak with mortals again. Your lack of faith might have once been anguish to us, yet now, we are merely pleased that your species have come strive for more knowledge - searching for meaning. Like we once were, in days of yore."

There was a pause, and then the light came anew, making everything vanish in its brilliance.

"Farewell."


[ The USS Theurgy | Deck 01 | Main Bridge ]

When Theurgy NX-79854 - more commonly known as Thea - opened her eyes, there was a familiar feeling to the minute action. Organic ignorance no more, she was perfectly attuned to her surroundings and her titanium hulled body.

Looking around the Bridge from where she stood by the Mission Ops controls, she realised she was projected wearing her red chameleon body suit. Next to her stood Edena Rez and the Wolf from the Flight Hangar - Lt. Thomas Ravon. The Head Nurse was there too, along with Ensign Skye Carver and the Temporal Affairs Officer - Sarresh Morali. By their stations respectively were Lieutenants T'Less and Neotin as well as Chief Engineer Nicole Howard. Security was there too for some reason; Cadet Bellde'side, the Chief of Security and his Andorian Deputy. And finally, the humanoid form of the SCO with tail and pointed ears, standing further away. Gone was the beast she had...

"What is our current location?"

It was the Captain, in his male form, seated in his chair. After he had spoken, he shifted his form... to her female one... and then back to his male form again. As if testing whether or not he could. Thea answered him after a moment with her hands folded behind her back, no longer having to use the CONN controls on the panel beside her. "We are at the end of the asteroid field we have been following for over a week, heading in the direction of the Hromi Cluster, near the Acamar system. With the current heading and speed, we will reach three M-class planets within six hours. One of the planets is Gamma Hromi II, inhabited, yet the other two planets are merely charted - but not explored - by the Federation."

Jien Ives stood from his chair and looked around the Bridge at the assembled faces. His gaze seemed to pause by Thomas Ravon, for some reason, as if realising something or remembering something he had not previously considered. He also looked towards Edena Rez with the same look in his eyes, as if seeing the XO, or something about her, in a new light. Other people had the same look in their eyes, as if events played out behind in their minds - recollections of things they had learned. The XO and the SCO both looked as if they both had a lot of things playing out in their thoughts.

Thea wondered where the Senior Staff had been while the battle raged - and ended as quickly as it had begun - yet it seemed they were all silent now. Contemplative. In the end, Captain Ives frowned and spoke. "Is all the crew accounted for? Where is my Chief Medical Officer? Where is Commander Stark?"

"Lieutenant Commanders Nicander and Stark are in the Gymnasium, Deck 07," answered Thea, "All crew accounted for, Captain."

A moment of silent relief. "Damage report."

"No unreported damage, sir," said Thea, hands still behind her back and shoulders squared. "The ship is in the same state it were before the battle with Starfleet, a battle which ended just in time before we were destroyed. We are no longer in MVAM-mode, and all Valkyrie fighters are back on the Fighter Assault Bay. All systems on-line and responding to our commands."

Captain Ives nodded slowly and looked around once more, his scowl one of deep thoughts. "It seems whatever entities we spoke with have done what they offered to do. Everyone, return to your duties for the time being. We will have a debriefing during the next Senior Staff Meeting - which is still scheduled for tomorrow. Before we enter the Hiromi Cluster and charted Federation space, I want to iron out our strategy-of-approach. So we will remain in the asteroid field for the time being - hiding and biding our time in the shadows a while longer. Dismissed."

Jien Ives looked towards his XO. "You have the bridge, Number One. I will be in my Ready Room. Contact me immediately if there is any sign of the Starships that this... Ishtar entity sent upon us. Likely they are not close, yet maintain a wide sensor range," he said, and he glanced towards Nicole Howard - for some reason - before the Commanding Officer withdrew from the Bridge.

Thea walked past the SCO, pausing by his side for a moment. She glanced his way and smiled - a bitter-sweet expression. Only memories remained of what she had felt and experienced - organic memories somehow digitalised and forever stored in her systems. "I will miss your scent, Commander," she said quietly before she walked away.

She caught up with Lt. Kae in the corridor outside, and she spoke up to catch his attention. "I would like to resume our scheduled appointments soon, Lieutenant," she said and smiled to him, "I believe I have some modifications to my sensory sub-routines that I want to try out."

Ahead of them walked ThanIda zh'Wann, phaser in hand, and she addressed the new Cadet in the Security Department. "It seems you had an interesting first day. Report to me on the morrow for further training. I think I can squeeze you into a hole in my tight schedule," she said with a serious frown that contrasted starkly with the unintended innuendo she made with her comment, "You are dismissed for now, though, so make sure to find your new quarters and get settled."

The doors to the turbo lifts closed behind the people leaving Deck 01, even if their thoughts might remain on what they had come to see.


[ The Gymnasium | Deck 07 ]

Meanwhile, further down in the ship, Dr. Nicander  was crouching next to Natalie Stark on the astro-turf - the emergency med kit next to him. His clothes were not melted to strings around his body any more, and his mind was his own - even if it reeled from that he had just been about with the human lying next to him.

"Commander Stark?" he asked, frowning, not able to make sense of what had happened. It could not have been a dream. Though he was there, in the Gymnasium, and he must have been called there by the Chief of Operations because of her fractured leg. And yet... her leg was whole, so why were they there... unless there was some truth to the images that flashed before his eyes?

For while his memories were muddled, they were distinct enough to volunteer vivid recollections... of being violated by the same kind of plant-life they had found on Niga. He looked into Natalie's eyes, and it was evident in her gaze that she held the same memories - of them both trying to escape in vain. Of them suffering, or enjoying, the attentions of the vines. Of them...

...had they really done what he thought? He could almost feel her breasts in his hands. His cock inside her. Had it really been him? How was it that they were not still infected? How had they come to travel back in time in the first place? Too many questions. The beast inside him cried in need to know. His cock stirred inside his uniform trousers at the thought of having claimed the human before him. The brief imagery of their time together was enough to whet his appetite.

Though he was the CMO, and his image and façade could not allow such ideas.

"I think we should head to Sickbay and learn if there is anything wrong with us."

It was what expected of him to say... even if his mind was elsewhere. By the winds, what happened? Does this have to do with the embryo I kept? My viral experiments? No, it has to be something else. He ended up tapping his combadge. "Dr. Nicander to Lt. Jenkins," he said, having to be formal with her since there were people in ear-shot "Please prepare two beds for neural and cerebral diagnostics. Something happened to me and the Chief of Operations."

Something indeed...

'I'll be you could,' Scosche thought to himself, surprised he still had the energy to even think.  It had been an exhausting day, to say the least, from the tiring, seemingly ceaseless training under Ferik to the near broiling of his newly-commanding officers, followed by a trip to he knew not where to meet beings who claimed to be gods long since passed into myth for both the people his genetics represented.  He was more than willing to go find his bunk and sleep for a week or two, but he'd be happy to get 8 solid hours.  Rather than voice his thoughts aloud, he nodded, "Yes, ma'am.  See you in the morning.  Have a good night."

For her part, T'Less was at a loss as to what exactly to do.  According to the time, she was off duty, but beyond leaving the bridge, which she did, and heading for her quarters, she still had a situation to deal with where Garen was concerned.  She remembered intimately the details of her encounter with him in his quarters and also remembered that she'd originally been going there to tell him she could never see him again.  That was harder to do now, knowing they shared not just an equal attraction, but also the ability to pleasure each other effectively, that they were compatible in physical, intimate ways.  She would have to consider it, now that she was no longer under the influence of the mind control Ishtar had subjected her to.  It would depend, too, on how Garen handled what had happened.  Would he feel they should break things off, be shaken from his emotions towards her?

As a reflection in her work console, Nicole noticed Jien's look in her direction, but she didn't respond, slightly embarrassed now that the situation had passed.  She'd surprised herself by stepping forward in Abzu, in being ready and willing to sacrifice any future she might ever have by standing beside her captain.  That she hadn't had time to actually voice such acquiescence to Ishtar's demands, made her wonder if Jien knew just what she'd been about to do.  Did he realize that she'd meant to sacrifice herself to stand beside him/her?  And, if he did, did he care?  She couldn't quite decipher his look to know whether it had been something deeper than a casual glance.  Should she ask him, find out whether there was something between them?  It would humiliate her if she approached him, only to find he held no attachment to her at all, that his look had only been informal and meaningless.  For the moment, she had duties to attend to, being on shift for a few hours more, but she was distracted.

[Main bridge]

"I will miss your scent, Commander,"

He blushed a little at her words perhaps one day they would have the opportunity to relive their amazing and very unique experiences.  Miles then walked over to the mission ops station looking it over to make sure his previous commands were no longer in effect.  As he looked over everything he couldn't help but feel odd.  His memories were muddled yet at the same time clear.  He wondered if the captain and Commander Rez had similar experiences.

He looked over to the XO, "It appears by our chronometers that no time has past since our meeting in your office.  It appears that rather than undoing the actions that took place we have instead been flung backwards in time to the exact point where Ishtar first began to interfere with us." 

He paused for a moment to collect his thoughts and memories about what that meant regarding the Wolves rosters and duties. "Commander, the ships we encountered may have just been the closest ones to our current location.  I believe the nearest major fleet would be Admiral Sankolov's.  I believe if  we target our scans in that direction me may come across the aggressors we were dealing with.  On that note might I suggest we cancel the sim training that was scheduled and order a 4 ship recon to bolster our sensors in their sweep.  I of course will either lead the recon sweep or will cordinate ther actions from the bridge per your orders. That is if you wish it Ma'am."

[Main bridge]

As the crew seemingly got timewarped back into time, lieutenant Ravon looked around him once they were back on the bridge. His eyes scanned the bridge and he noticed that Jona Rez was gone, as was the female form of the captain. Yet he caught the look from the captain and he stared back into his eyes. He kept standing in a neutral stance, not giving away any emotion that could betray what had happened between them.

As most members started to return to their quarters or duties, Thomas listened in to the conversation of his SCO. He was eager to get into his Valkyrie again. Some flight time might put his mind at ease after the events that seemingly never happened.

"Commander, I'd like to volunteer for flight duty." He spoke up now as he heard about recon sweeps. Only realising that the order wasn't yet approved by the acting commander he looked at Miles and added. "I might take a an hour of rest before reporting in on the flight deck if that is okay with you Sir."

[Edena Rez - Main Bridge]

It was a strange sensation.  Edena and her former ghosts were now rejoined again, but for the first time, her memories were theirs.  Not all of them, but the memories that had occurred on the ship during the incident.  She was on the bridge at the same time as she was wandering the halls as Jona, as she was in Below Decks and the holodeck with the Lieutenant Commander and Captain respectively . . . oh.  She had memories of what went on there too, of how Illya had been with Miles, and Kiya with Jien.  She felt like she had been let in on some deep secrets, yet it was worse, for she would recall the incidents with perfect detail, even feel the phantom sensations of two lovers she hadn't touched.

It was Mikles that shook her back into reality, his analytical mind already working on what they should be doing.  It set her as right as she could be in her muddled state.  "I . . . I agree with your assessment, Lieutenant Commander.  If you do not feel any ill effects from the incident, then you may join the recon team personally, but if you're dealing with any residual effects, assign one of the others to the task.  We have Ravon and Carver close by, so they can assist, and it shouldn't take much to place a couple more on the team while you coordinate."  He should only pilot if he felt level headed.  Edena wouldn't have trusted herself after consolidating all her personalities back together, but maybe Renard was more up to it then she.

Miles nodded hearing her words, "I believe I'm good to fly Ma'am, Even though i was split i was still only one soul if you would call it that.  The reintegration was...Interesting to say the least, but was no more taxing than waking up from an incredibly vivid dream and recalling reality.  If you would not mind though I would like to pencil in some time tomorrow to talk about the experience."

He paused for a brief moment checking the logs at the Mission ops desk.  he looked towards he console as he spoke up addressing the computer. "Renard to Thea, we're gonna have to reschedule the Wargames.  I suggest you use the time we had scheduled to get an appointment in with your specialist.  I believe you mentioned a few modifications you wanted to discuss with him.  I would suggest using the time you had scheduled to my department to hash out a schedule with him.  Renard out." 

He smiled turning back to the Commander, "By the way two or three should be enough for the patrol."  He then  walked over to the turbolift and the door opened, "Carver, Ravon, you two are with me.  If either of you don't feel up to it tell me on the way."  With that he walked into the turbolift and waited for the other two before speaking. "Fighter Bay." The door closed on the three and began to descend through the ship."

[ Captain's Ready Room ] Attn: Anyone

Seated by his desk, hands folded underneath his eyes, Captain Ives still wore his male form whilst he sifted through separate memories from two different meetings - both holographic traps designed by the Ishtar entity to enforce sexual activity. What was worse, in a strict sense and because of his role aboard the ship, was that he had committed himself - and herself -  so fully in order to get out of the trap.

Not only had he - or she - taken advantage of the Lone Wolf in that cockpit in order to get out of the trap as effectively as possible. His split up female half had even enjoyed it t the fullest. This much could also be said about what his male half had done with one of his XO's symbiotic ancestors, which was even worse since she was an invisible presence always counselling his very First Officer. Were the things Kiya Rez experienced now a part of his XO's memories? Could they still work together after this? Or would the events between them now change things? And Nicole Howard, had she really wished to...

There was a chirp from the door, and it brought Jien out of his troubled thoughts.

"Enter," he said, reeling his thoughts in to focus on the present.


[ Senior Officer Quarters ] Attn: T'Less

ThanIda zh'Wann could, in retrospect, not say how much of what had happened between her and David Grayson might be her own feelings since there seemed to have been a powerful alien entity involved to spur things on in a particular fashion. If the 'godess' had wanted her to have sex with her superior, she would have had no power to deny her.

Would she have wanted to deny herself what she had experienced with the Pinkskin? The sad thing was that she had no idea now; whether or not she would have denied herself - and him - what they had done in that holding cell.

She now walked the corridors of the Senior Staff Quarters, the phaser she had carried earlier still holstered by her hip - the idea to replace it not yet occurring to her. Her thoughts, and doubts, about what had transpired led her to something that she knew was real; an encounter with someone that predated that morning event. A woman that had not been affected by an alien entity in order to appreciate her. A drawing session... that had helped her before in getting her priorities straight.

Moreover... This could be considered unfinished business, and it was something she disliked.

She pressed the chime on the panel next to the Chief Tactical Officer's quarters - hoping T'Less was alone.

Returning to her quarters, T'Less had taken a shower, then found her own clothing to wear, a simple gown, thin and light that moved about her in silken, purple grace.  It had been a gift from an old friend, one who'd passed away a decade back.  Still, it felt good to wear it and she needed something comforting now.  Through it all, she had done her best not to think about Garen, to not think about what they'd done, even if it was under the influence of an exterior force.  The memory of it was powerful, pleasurable even, but it did nothing to stem the fact that she had to cut things off with the counselor.  It felt... wrong, somehow, especially now.  There was a taint on their relationship, and would be forever upon whatever intimacy they might have shared in the future, tainted by being forced, however much she might have wanted to in her mind.  It hurt, though, hurt to realize what could never be, what future would never happen.  Maybe, if things had gone as she'd planned, if she'd gone there and told him things were ended, maybe it would have kept the future unknown and without darkness.  Now...

She jumped at the sound of the door chime, startled out of her reverie.  With a deep, shaky breath, she approached the door and opened it, secretly surprised by Ida's presence.  With a raised eyebrow, she studied the Andorian, and remembered the taste of lips on lips, the feel of breasts against breasts, of white paint against blue skin.  It was a pure memory, she realized, an intimacy caused simply because she'd wanted Ida and given in by her own choice, and not because some alien sway.  In a low voice, nearly a whisper, she asked, "Yes, Lieutenant?"

[Deck 02 - SCO Personal Quarters]
Attn Auctor Lucan: Thea

Miles yawned as the door behind him shut.  Nearly as soon as it closed he raised his hands above his head stretching as his body began to slowly shift from the human like form back to his most natural state.  As his body shifted, he pulled the pips off of the collar of his uniform and removed both of the shirts then his pants before slipping into a loose fitting almost tunic like shirt and a pair of casual loose fitting shorts.  He walked over to the closet carrying the pips and attached it to the collar of the uniform he had set out for the next day's duties.

It had been quite the long day for him, especially after the rather detailed patrol he and his squad-mates made.  He knew he in his mind that he needed sleep.  His body though was another story.  He thought he should feel tired, but then he remembered. These Gods, as they were, had sent them all back in time back to the point when this all started.  He guessed the beings restored their bodies to a literal previous point, like a backed up file on a computer, including exactly how they were digesting food and their bodies internal clocks regarding when they should rest.  It sure was a strange feeling.  He remembered it all perfectly right down to the sensations, but his body had not a bit of the strain or tiredness that should have resulted from all the exertion.

He walked around his room for a few minutes pacing in a sense as he couldn't figure out what to do at the moment.  He knew he was tired.  Part of him wanted to relax.  In fact most of him wanted to relax and the more he thought about it the more he knew he could force himself to sleep if he wanted to.  No there was something else keeping him up, driving him to stay awake. 

Finally he looked at the Computer panel on the wall and spoke up. "Computer, Patch me in to your AI's vocal interface please.  If Thea's not otherwise occupied of course."  Miles didn't know exactly what he needed. Maybe he felt there was something he needed to talk to her about.  Perhaps it was someone to talk to that he felt he needed or a familiar voice to listen to.  Somewhere deep inside part of him knew what he wanted was just some kind of company.

[Edena Rez - Captain's Ready Room]

After things had calmed down a bit, Edena reported to Jien in his ready room with the report she had compiled.  "It seems all the crew is accounted for and all in their normal conditions.  They all retain knowledge of what happened, though everyone appears to be in good health."  It was about as good as they could ask.  No body switches, no split apart crewmen, and no Vulcans running around experiencing Pon Farr.  Everyone remembered, but no one seemed all that damaged by it, not like so many had been during the Niga outbreak incident.  There were just a few things that still needed to be sorted through before the matter was set aside entirely.

"Permission to speak freely," Edena asked of the Captain.  Once it was granted to her, she spoke her mind.  "The Rez symbiont is back in it's proper form.  I'm still damaged, still segregated from my former hosts . . . but the knowledge of each of my host's actions during the incident was consolidated into me.  I am as aware of what Jona and Illya were doing as I was of what I was personally doing . . . as what Kiya was doing, sir."  Kiya had been with Jien, and Edena knew it all as though it had been her.

"It's strange sir.  I've never been in such a dedicated relationship, but I can feel how much Kiya loved her husband, how much hesitation she had to break three hundred year old wedding vows . . . but she did.  At the risk of making this an awkward topic, I just wanted to say that I know why the two of you were in that situation, and I am thankful that you were respectful of her, Captain.  She also wanted to say something directly to you."  Edena's eyes closed a moment, reopening as her youthful face took on a more mature, maternal light.  Her eyes were softer, her posture more gentle as she brought her hands together in front of her.  "It was a long time since I was so young and beautiful, Captain.  I have been but a ghost for those that came after me, but for a brief time, I was alive again.  I am grateful that you made that fleeting time . . . unforgettable."

[ Captain's Ready Room ]

When his First Officer entered, Jien sat very still, listening to the report. Halfway through it, he began to relax - thinking the Commander unaware what had happened in the holodeck. Yet in the end - after she asked to speak freely and he had acquiesced her request - she told him that she did know it all, down to the minor details.

While the delivery of that information wasn't cold or confrontational, Jien still felt a icy fist fold around his mimicked spine at the implications. It was as he feared, and only due to the fact that Edena continued to talk without spite in her tone did he remain silent and impassive. An awkward topic indeed, yet she allayed his fears by thanking him for the care in which he had handled the bizarre situation and her symbiotic ancestor. She must have realised, through Kiya's experience, how little choice they'd had with the USS Augustus about to be attacked unless they completed the program and were allowed to end it. What kind of monster of a man would take advantage of such a situation? He had merely tried to make sure Kiya didn't have to suffer in a scenario where they had no alternatives than to relent to their unknown captor's demands.

When Kiya surfaced - wearing Edena's face - Jien swallowed. Yet he ended up smiling kindly to her words, sympathetic to her situation as a ghost of a long dead person. Could he tell her, as Edena's Captain, that she had made a great impression upon him too? Would that be wise? Would it not be worse if he said nothing at all? He suspected that the things said were said in for his merit and to soothe his fears - to steady his resolve and smooth things between him and Edena - but at the same time, he had no reason to disregard her just because she was a ghost. She was still a crew member of his, a fantastic woman of many historical merits... however incorporeal she happened to be.

"As unfortunate as our situation was, and regardless of the possible danger we were in," he said quietly and stood up behind his desk, "I am glad that the two of us found a way to deal with it and not suffer emotional scars."

He stepped around his desk, feeling that he had to say more. For how might one reply in kind to such words that she had used to describe him and what they'd done. "You are beautiful, and the deeds of your bygone time whilst being alive still echoes down medical history," he said and came to stand before Kiya - or rather Edena - with his hands placed on his hips and a smile in his eyes, "so I must also add the word 'unforgettable' to the brief time we met. Like the deeds of your profession survives you, so will the memory of you and me - for as long as I might breathe."

Standing opposite Kiya, Jien was unsure whether to give her a kiss on the cheek - mostly due to the fact that it was Edena's face between them.


[ Chief Tactical Officer's Quarters ]

When T'Less opened her sliding doors for her, Ida raised her eyes and antennae both - coming to feast upon the image which she saw with famished warrior appetite.

Like a soldier returning from battle, so was their situation after the deity had been thwarted. By Lor'Vela, she was even carrying arms, covered in gashes and bruises all over her clothes and skin after the fight and sex with Grayson. It might have been a bloodless confrontation with the enemy, but as a whole, the Andorian felt like she were about to claim the spoils of victory. Before her stood a woman with a thin silken little nothing covering her flawless skin, welcoming her, and Ida herself was freshly decorated in the marks of battle - mind riled by doubts and need for truth.

Yet in realising that the phaser by her hip might give the impression of a formal visit, Ida decided to erase all doubt as to what her intent was.

"I was a long time coming," she said and stepped up the the Vulcan - midnight blue eyes unblinking, "but here I am. Will you have me?"

She made it plain what she spoke of with the kiss she lay on T'Less lips - brief, but very insistent. Very consummate in savouring the taste of the CTO, and very clear on the fact that she wanted her. Not only for sake of taking the edge off, for that had been accomplished with Grayson. No. Frustration and doubt of reality made one return to safe grounds - regrouping for more troubled times to come.


[ Squadron Commanding Officer's Quarters ]

At the request of a vocal interface with her Thea replied with a second's delay - speaking from her own quarters.

[This is Thea...] came the voice over the intercom. She said no more at first.

For after having scheduled a time with Lin Kae for the next day, Thea had gone about her routines as she usually did. Now, she was in her quarters, doing little bit of everything and nothing - a slight depression having come over her at being unable to interact with the world around her like an organic being had been able to. Right then, as she resorted to ordinary tasks that befitted an individual life-form that was not focused on the background processes and systematic upkeep of the ship, she had never felt more like a holographic projection with artificial intelligence. The identity crisis of having been more - and less - and then returning to what she had always been... it served to agitate her a bit. She now knew what she missed out on: how much of a failure had been done in her programming to make her feel like a part of the crew.

Ignorance was bliss, it seemed. Now she knew her flaws. She could but hope Lin Kae could help her.

And then the request from the SCO, whom was perhaps not the catalyst but the cause of her agitation. The proof she had gotten from him during their time together, the evidence that she was inferior - a program with a positronic brain hidden in the computer core. She was much, yet she still lacked a great deal in terms of attuning to her surroundings. She had taken a bath, with real water encompassing her photonic body, tried to stimulate herself and feel what she had felt... yet to no avail.

The stimuli felt so artificial she had eventually stopped, sighing. She now spoke to the Vulpinian from her bath tub. "What is it, Commander Renard?"

Surprised again, and this time her face showed it, T'Less stood for a moment in confusion.  In one hundred years, no one had sought her out, had actively sought to be with her and now, to have it be an Andorian of all people and species... Not that the species mattered.  While she'd been only a child, she could still remember being at war.  As she re-gathered her thoughts, she took in Ida's appearance, the bruised and cut skin, torn and ripped uniform and pulled the Andorian into her quarters, the door closing with a hush behind her.  While the wounds on Ida reminded her of what had happened today, the fact that Ida was here at all reminded T'Less of what had happened prior to the petty needs of a would-be god being made known to the crew.  Tenderly, she reached out a hand, keeping distance of a few inches between them still, and touched a cut. 

She was too tired to fight her emotions, too drained by the day's events and she found, with Ida here, that she didn't want to.  Right here, right now, it was fitting to want the comfort of another's arms.  Still, she tried to keep her voice even and emotionless, tried not to give away her own need and focus on Ida's.  A shower, yes.  A shower would help them both, even if she'd only just taken her own.  She could still smell the floral-scents of the soap and shampoo floating about her and wondered idly if Ida would smell as lovely.  She lifted Ida's phaser from its holster and set it on her desk, then, with deft fingers at Ida's collar, began undoing Ida's uniform, "Come, Lieutenant.  I think a shower would help us both."

[ The Gymnasium | Deck 07 ]

Her mind, her sanity, came rushing back to her in a burst of sharp, bright light. It stung to the point that her eyes slammed shut and she bit her lip to fight off the sensations.Gone was the sticky jungle heat against sweat slicked skin. Gone was the feeling, he heady need, the all consuming desire to fuck everything in sight. IT was replaces with the bouncy give of Astroturf, the regulated, recycled air of a starship. The feeling of clothing on warm skin, instead of bare, stained flesh.

Slowly, her eyes met Dr. Nicander starring back down at her. Like him, she could see the memories of what had happened flash right across his face. Had it been real? She knew he was asking himself the same thing. Had she really ridden him, in the forests of that horror planet? Had se really been violated in every way she could possibly imagine, by plants, and then, by the ships CMO? Was he really that deliciously --Whoa! back away, and fast Natalie! she thought to herself, scrunching her eyebrows tightly, as a wave of panic, causing her skin to blanch, then flush bright red in shame rolled over her.

"I think we should head to Sickbay and learn if there is anything wrong with us." The COO heard the doctor say, softly, and she found herself nodding. Something had clearly happened. They needed to be scanned. So while he contacted his nurse, Natalie slowly got to her feet. Both of which were perfectly fine. No trace of the injury seemed present: nor were there any signs, that she could determine, of the dalliance she had undergone with one Lucan Nicander. Still, as she adjusted the tight top, and fiddled with her jogging shorts, the Lt.Cmndr readied herself to follow the Doctor to sickbay, and figure out just what went wrong.

[Main bridge | Deck 01]

Sarresh pinched the fleshy membrane of his nose, just under the goggles that protected his eyes from the bright light of the main bridge. Starfleet had a thing for livening up the Theurgy-class bridge's with floor lights and ceiling lights, and bright colored panels. Such a stark contrast from the soothing cool display of the temple, and yet, different from the collective brilliance that had enveloped the other beings whose presence the bridge crew of the Theurgy had been subjected to.

He was left with very little to do, frankly. Rather then search out some of the other members of his species on the ship, or relax in a pool (That would come later), there was a pent up frustration in Sarresh. So he stalked over to one of the auxiliary consoles along the back wall and pulled up a seat. Not really sure what he was looking for, he began to review the ships logs, loosing himself in the monotony of sensor read outs, trying to judge if there was any useful information from the supposed fight the Theurgy was in shortly before the "Gods" had hit the cosmic reset button on reality.

[Deck 02 Miles Renard's Personal Quarters]

Miles smiled for a moment hearing her voice. "I was just wanting to know if you were busy with anything and was wondering..."  He was stumbling over his words as he spoke.  He didn't quite know what to say.  Even if he knew what to say he was certain he had no clue how to say it.  What he was feeling was what could best be described as an absence.  He remembered vividly every detail of their encounter. There was not a moment of it he regretted even.  Still something after it had left him feeling empty.  No it wasn't that he felt empty from it.  He realized how empty he had been all along.

"Thea would you mind meeting me in my quarters at your earliest convenience, There's a few things I really need to talk with you about."  He said finally, praying deep down she would say yes.  He knew what the emptiness was.  but couldn't find the words to say it to her.  He had been away from his own people so long now.  Had kept himself from such physical contact and resided himself to the professional actions of a Starfleet officer. 

Suddenly he had felt that comfort once again. the physical attachment the pleasures of another being's  body but most of all the feeling of giving another being that wondrous pleasure.  Hearing a voice begging for more had been sorely missed.  It was hearing the moans of a female in ecstasy that always drove him over the edge.  More than anything what he missed was that feeling of being physically needed by another.  Now that he experienced it again for the first time in a long while he remembered how much he missed that feeling.

[ Chief Tactical Officer's Quarters ]

Pulled inside, Ida was not the woman to be passive - not used to measure of this kind.

Her chest heaved as the Vulcan undid her uniform. Weapon removed, her fingers itched to slip that purple silk from T'Less skin. A shower? Aye, as long as the Vulcan would be with her, Ida cared little. For as soon as her uniform jacket was opened, she pulled it back from her shoulders and tossed it aside - eyes never leaving the level stare of the tactician standing before her. Her antennae swayed languorously forward, and her blue lips pursed in need to feel T'Less against her own. While her uniform was pretty clean despite the tour of different planes of existence, blood from her brow and dirt still made it less presentable then when the new Cadet had replicated it.

"We have to bare ourselves if we are to shower," she murmured, and pulled her own undershirt over her head - her feet still planted where she stood. She tossed the yellow garment away, her bruises now bared to the dim light. Yet so was her white bra, cupping the blue mounds of her breasts - rising and falling with her heavy breaths. Eventually, Ida's eyes dropped, and she reached for T'Less... meaning to shed that silk from her. Blue fingers rising to part it like water. Both her hands, reaching for the breasts - to slide into the cleavage and lay bare that which she sought to see - to feel and taste.

As she reached, she tilted her head - eyes searching her in time with her antennae. Lips searching too, patience to wait not a virtue of hers. And yet...

"Too slow..." she whispered against the Vulcan's lips as her hands made contact, #Hurry, I don't care where, only that it's soon."


[ Squadron Commanding Officer's Quarters ]

Hearing the words over the intercom - the syllables streaming through her systems, Thea closed her eyes and frowned.

She could guess the intent of the SCO, reading between the lines. Yet she was not in the mind-set to try to relive what had happened. No, she knew that it would not be the same. She had already reminded herself that she was an organic no more, tried to feel like she had felt before. No, to share the... pain of the numbness was something she was not prepared to do - the emotional pain that was too private to let Commander Renard experience.

Lin Kae had given her freedom, and that enabled her to say no to the request, seeing as the SCO was off duty.

"The earliest convenience of mine would be on the morrow at the earliest, Commander," said Thea, voice as numb of emotion as her body felt to herself, "I am sorry."

Like she had said, she would miss his scent - the prime reason she had been mad with need. Or perhaps, the needs instilled into her body by the alien entity. Since her body was not what it had been then, she would never know. No way for her to feel the smell of the Vulpinian again.

"Good night, Commander."

---

OOC: Awaiting a post from Searcher for the continuation of the Lucan/Natalie scene, Brutus, so hold tight. I have PM:ed some ideas to her about it.

[Edena Rez - Captain's Ready Room]

Edena's head turned to the side, as though addressing some invisible person in the room.  Her eyes fluttered, a sign of mental conversation.  Kiya was the one inhabiting the body, and was speaking to Edena about what might be considered appropriate.  Finally, her head turned back to Jien, a smile on her lips.  "This body is your subordinate, so what I would want to do is . . . probably quite improper.  Still, I am not a Starfleet Officer, so Edena agreed to let me do this much."

Edena, or perhaps it was better to say Kiya, reached her hands forward to hold the side's of the Captain's face and locked lips with him for a few precious seconds.  It was chaste, a tasteful kiss if anyone were to see it, not some hungry, perverse act of a couple love struck teenagers.  Kiya was a grown woman, and was also being respectful of what Edena allowed her to do.  The kiss ended as suddenly as it began, those mature eyes fluttering more womanly then before.  "The Rez Symbiont has lived over three hundred years now, Captain.  The memories you gave me will be a part of it as well now.  You will live on in that way as well.  Every host of the Rez Symbiont will know the warmth and kindness you showed an old woman with a second chance to live."

Her eyes shut again and Edena was back in control.  She cleared her voice slightly as she backed up, created a more professional distance between herself and her commanding officer.  "I've never known Kiya to act like that before.  In a lot of ways, she feels like a mother to me.  You must have left an effect upon her to make her act like a young woman again, captain."

[ Captain's Ready Room ]

In receiving that kiss, having been told that Kiya would have liked to do far more, Jien could not help the sudden fantasy of of what it might have been. Yet he responded thoroughly in the kiss they shared, and hid any unsavoury ideas from reaching both lips and countenance. This was not a moment to ruin. He said nothing than he'd already said, lest he'd sully the moment. His hands settled upon Edena's hips while the kiss lasted, the taste filling his mouth. This was an experience other than Kiya's for he was - this time - kissing Edena.
 
It was of even more import that he kept his mind, mouth and face in check when Edena resurfaced - dropping his hands to his sides and raising his chin a little. He could not keep himself from clearing his throat either. "I am gladdened that, under the circumstances, things worked out rather well."

He paused, considering. "What is your take on what we have been through today, Number One?"

---

OOC: Sorry for the short reply, I was hard pressed for time. Hopefully, it works as a debriefing between the two now that the Kiya matter has been addressed. :)

[Edena Rez - Captain's Ready Room]

Once the two had regained their composure, Edena was able to address the question set forth by the captain.  "I think the crew is taking this event much better then the Niga incident.  Maybe it's the fact that they all still had their self-control, or maybe the entity hadn't been so haphazard in the choices it made against us."  Maybe the way the crew had been paired, the lovers they ended up with, weren't mere coincidence.  For many of them, there might have been unrequited feelings at play which were resolved by the incident.  In many ways, it almost could have been therapeutic for many of the crew after what happened during the outbreak.

"The crew is under high stress right now.  We operate in longer shifts, with higher pressure, and even higher stakes then they are used to.  I think many of them found this to be a needed diversion.  We discussed before the idea that the crew might need more lax rules when it came to relationships on-board.  Protocol would discourage on-ship romance, especially when in violation of the chain of command, but if we remove such a release for them, the crew might not be able to cope.  Though for some, this might have been invasive, I have found the crew's overall morale to . . . slightly better, at least from a preliminary standpoint.  There are a great deal less grim looking faces."

[ Captain's Ready Room ]

In hearing the report from his XO, Captain Ives nodded while slowly returning behind his desk. For while thoughts lingered on the feeling of Edena's lips against his own, perchance animated by another, the report soon cleared his mind from what had just happened.

"How unexpected," he said as he stood there, two fingers trailing the surface of his desk, "little had I expected, when facing the adversary we discovered, that we would actually be aided by her actions against us. Perhaps a fringe benefit to a crisis, yet in the long run, I suppose we ought to be grateful that the assaults were not other than sexual in nature."

Folding his arms, he frowned. "Nevertheless, those whom were unfortunate in the Niga Incident might still be further tormented by having to go through something like Kiya Rez and I did - forced into sexual activities lest they'd die at the end of the program." Out of respect for the Lone Wolf that had been trapped together with his female form, he did not mention Thomas Ravon. It was true that Kiya Rez had seen the young man entwined with the Captain, though that did not mean he had to speak more of it. It was plain what had happened, the details notwithstanding. "Therefore, I am gladdened to hear your take on this, Number One, hearing that the majority were not further abused by this alien entity. Considering what we have been through the last three months, and what lies ahead of us, we are in sore need to see heartened faces in our corridors."

At that point, Jien sat down and turned on his computer console, looking to Edena with a faint smile in the corners of his eyes. "My thanks for your report, Commander," he said quietly, the relative warmth of his scarce camaraderie the best their dark journey could summon from him, "not to mention the word from your former host. We'll discuss the Senior Staff meeting on the morrow. I will see you then."

After Edena Rez left his Ready Room, Jien pulled out the schedule for the current shift on his computer console, noting that the one he meant to speak with next just came off duty. It was long overdue, and perhaps the best way to make amends for the outcome of the Niga Incident, where there had been one voice raised in wish to safeguard the malevolent virus they had dealt with.

"Lieutenant Amatras Neotin, could you please see me in my Ready Room?"

T'Less did nothing to prevent Ida's hands from exploring as they wished, holding still as the garment slid from her shoulders down her bare form, revealing what Ida had already seen.  Nothing was hidden as the cloth puddled at her feet and she stifled a murmur of desire as Ida caressed her full breasts, her nipples rising to their throbbing prominence. 

With a patience drawn from where she knew not, she returned Ida's kiss chastely, then pulled back and, Ida's hand in her own, drew the Andorian into her bathroom.  Stepping close again, she pressed her lips to Ida's once more, as her fingers deftly undid the familiar bra, slowly drawing it down Ida's arms and dropping it to the floor, even as her hands moved down Ida's sides.  Drawing away, she knelt and removed one boot, then the other.  Her eyes looked up the length of Ida's taut body as her fingers slid beneath the band of Ida's pants, hooking both pants and panties in her fingers.  Leaning in, she kissed Ida's stomach just above her navel as she pushed both down Ida's long, slender legs, her palms flat on Ida's skin, feeling every silken inch of Ida's thighs and calves as she lowered both garments to the floor.  Lifting one foot, then the other, she finished Ida's undressing and stood.  Eager as Ida might be, and as deep as T'Less's desire was, T'Less still felt right in taking Ida to shower, starting the water hot and letting it rain down both their bodies.

Little time did Ida have to drink it the sight and feeling of the Vulcan before she was led further into her room.

Yet once there - their lips revisiting each other - the CTO body bared her upper body, and Ida drew a sharp breath as the dark blue crests of her bosom spilled free against T'Less heated skin. Her arms and hands rose to encompass her rediscovered lover, yet the Vulcan remained elusive in her tactical approach to sensuality. A low groan escaping her throat, Ida set her hands upon the shower stall and a table for support - her balance ruined by the progress with her boots, trousers and panties. Her white hair tickled her own bare shoulders as she looked down into T'Less eyes - having to stifle a moan by biting her lower lip once the kiss was laid upon her lower abdomen.

The transition to the stall was fluid, and since the Vulcan was on her feet again, Ida wrapped her arms around her from behind when she started the hygromatic setting on the shower - a pleasant surprise that made Ida grin with white teeth. Her hands boldly roamed the CTO's front from where she was, her lips kissing her shoulder and neck while palms and fingers wandered her skin. Her own breasts - glimmering in the artificial light from all the water that rained down between their bodies - were pressed up against T'Less' back. The feeling of her own sensitive and soaked nipples being ground against her lover made her head reel with vertigo, and she extended her tongue to lick upon the skin of her neck.

"You spoil this Andorian," she whispered hoarsely into the Vulcan's pointed ear, and her fingers finally sought the folds between T'Less' legs.

Allowing herself to be maneuvered in the shower, T'Less closed her eyes as Ida's hands roamed her naked form, her hands, at first, simply hanging at her sides.  Fingers cupped her bare breasts, teasing and sending strengthening waves of pleasure through her, while Ida's lips caressed neck and shoulders.  This was very different than what she'd felt with Garen, different than the need to be in control, to be the one to please, rather than be pleased.  It was a startling contrast and underscored yet another way whatever relationship she might have had with Garen was now tainted.  With Ida, it had been a seduction, though T'Less couldn't say just who had seduced whom, or whether it was mutual.  No matter, though, since it was by choice and the results were evident.  With recent events aboard ship, she needed the reminder of just how free her will really was.

Sighing in pleasure, she turned in Ida's arms and, looking slightly down into Ida's eyes, touched her forehead to Ida's, then nose, then lips, kissing the Andorian with passion few got to know Vulcans well enough to discover.  With soft, deft hands, she reached behind Ida and pulled the woman close, pressing breasts to breasts and thighs to thighs.  Despite their claims to have no emotions, Vulcans, indeed, had deeper and stronger emotions than most other species and had evolved some and learned other equally deep and strong controls for them.  T'Less had lost most evolved controls and supplemented with learned controls, but they were proving wholly inadequate as her hunger for Ida grew.

<Bridge/Ready Room>
    Amatras glanced at the time as she began to count down the minutes until her shift was over.  It wasn't that she hated the work she was doing far from it she loved the everyday challenges of being a science officer.  Especially with the current struggles of maintaining system stability with such limited resources.   It had far more to do with a longing to be with her own kind. To be inclosed in tight quarters with other ash'reem where it was most comfortable.   Isophobia was an interesting  condition, and one that plagued ash'reem on most Federation vessels.  If not for the need to better understand how the technology the Federation used worked and could be adapted to ash'reem ships they likely wouldn't even enlist.  However until a time in which they had gathered enough collective experience on interstellar ships to satisfy their homeworld's needs it was a necessary sacrifice.
   One day they would be building ships as fast as these instead of the slower more comfortable vessels that they currently built.  Ships better suited for an amphibian race where dryness and isolation were dangerous for prolonged stretches.  It was going to be a golden age for them, if they could just keep their birthrates high enough off world to maintain a population growth instead of decline. 
   Her thoughts were cut off as she heard the captain's request to meet her in the ready room. "Yes Captain...I'll be there shortly." she replies glancing at the time again with a frown, well at least she wouldn't be penalized for overtime on a rogue vessel.  She thought with a slight smirk as she made her way across the room to the captain's ready room.
   She stopped in front of the door for a moment taking a deep breath in and letting it out slowly through her nostrils.  She made sure the door announced her presence before entering and taking a position along the wall next to the door. "You needed to see me captain?" She asks curiously as she turned her gaze toward Jien, she wasn't sure what this was about but she was sure that it must be important on some level to not be addressed over the com badges.

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

   Adam Kingston made his way through the hallways toward the room of Cadet Ester Hamburg.  It had taken him a few hours to put together this plan, and it was risky in some ways.  However if it worked it should help put Ester in his pocket effectively without causing to much trouble in the process.   With all the attention that this latest disaster seemed to cause one security officer taking advantage of certain loopholes in his position shouldn't draw to much attention.  Thea might not even notice the twisting of protocol or professionalism with her current state following the viral infection and portions of her base protocols being deleted. 
       He took a moment to prepare himself outside her quarters and then took a step toward the door opening his mouth to issue a security override command to thea but the point was moot as the door opened on its own he glanced about the room as he entered until his eyes settled on the cadet.  He rose his hand to lightly switch the door closed behind them.  The decoration of the room reminded him vaguely of the quarters that he'd claimed Ester and Hannah in during his infected state, causing his dick to become slightly erect with interest.  It didn't help that Ester was in her uniform as well, so similar to the one that he had destroyed during her conversion into the infected.
          Glancing her over one last time he smiled, "Cadet, I have a proposal for you...Interested or should I just leave?"He asked curiously with a sly grin as he let his eyes linger on her chest for a few moments before drifting up to stare into her eyes.

Eyes widening as she caught sight of Adam briskly entering her room, Ester shrunk away from the man who plagued her dreams at night and some of her waking moments as well.  While she didn't remember everything about what had happened, and certainly nothing specific, when she looked at him, she tasted salt and felt the ghost of cream across her tongue and down her throat, felt the sensation of an erection splitting her, taking her whether she'd wanted to be had or not.  She knew there had been others with whom she'd been with, but it was Adam that stirred the gauzy memories the most.

The back of her legs bumped into her bunk and she stopped, nearly falling back onto it.  Her eyes darted around the room as she tried to think of a way out, a way to get away from him.  He wasn't threatening her in any way and even seemed to be trying for friendly, but her fear of him was well pronounced.  It took her several seconds to come to the conclusion she had nowhere to go and no choice but to face him.  Trying not to tremble from trepidation, she only barely managed to meet his eyes and only for a moment before dropping them to the floor again, her voice quivering as she answered, "W-what can I do for you, s-sir?"

[ Chief Tactical Officer's Quarters ]

In facing her lover, Ida was quick to reciprocate in the kiss, answering in the primal way of body language they both shared despite their native origins. For regardless of cultural disposition and character, intimacy was a need they shared in its base nature - transcending the gaps between star systems and genetics alike. Hidden Vulcan passion mirrored Andorian directness at the core.

Their bodies showered in water, contrasting tones of skin sliding together, pressing and coming apart, only to brush together once more. Thighs locked, grinding movements of hips, the touch of their nether lips warmer than the water. Fingers slick and strong, stroking firmly, it drove the breath from Ida's lips and yet she did not make the hunger relent - the need for more of her lover's breath and tongue yet unsated. She had get more of T'Less, the itch of needing control of her own desires also mirroring the Vulcan's, only more forward in delivery.

And yet... T'Less showed more drive than Ida's had thought capable of a Vulcan - making the Deputy think that she had missjudged the species unfairly. She thought she needed to be the aggressor in order to get what her body wanted, yet as T'Less answered in kind, Ida hesitantly relented control out of momentary confusion. She leaned back against the wall of their glass stall, eyes wide upon T'Less' - the shower washing over her roused breasts and dripping down the ends of her platinum hair.

Even being a gelnoid species did not differ in how her blue blood quickened. Nipples hard, Ida shuddered as the water bombarded them, making her set her feet wide to feel the water trickle across her wet labia. Her hands had slid down to the Vulcan's hips when she leaned back, and whilst she bit her lower lip to stifle nonsensical pleads for cunnilingus and thrusting fingers, that the tactician deployed her hands and mouth upon her chest, she pulled her lover forth - holding her lover's thigh against the famished crevice between her own legs.

If the Vulcan needed control, Ida would give it to her, for she was very much intrigued by the idea to relent for once in a while. At Niga, and with Grayson, she had always strived to sate her own needs, even if she had been denying the Pinkskin at first. Perhaps a truth by modification since it had been the virus in the first instance, yet perhaps it was time to give in... To let go. Hesitantly, she released T'Less hips and lay the back of her hands against the shower's wall - her breath quick with forced moderation. Eyes wide with ravenous appetite, lips pursed and panting, her hips undulated on their own accord against the Vulcan.


[ Captain's Ready Room ]

Still seated behind his desk, Jien Ives looked up with the faint smile that was all that remained after the ordeals he and his crew had been through. He was not the face of warmth and commanding charisma any more, but the calloused fist that was raised in the cry for truth. Whatever warmth that was left in him was there though, since he meant the Ash'reem nothing ill. Quite the opposite.

"Please, have a seat, and feel free to use the replicator if you need some water," he said quietly and leaned back, pinching the bridge of his nose a moment as he collected his thoughts - waiting for Amatras Neotin to do as she pleased with his invite to make herself comfortable. He supposed he should begin with Neotin family being commissioned to serve aboard the Theurgy. What came afterwards would be addressed too, yet if he was going to start somewhere, it made sense it had to be before their starship was made outcast and persecuted across the Quadrant.

"You and your family have served aboard this ship for a few years now. You were with me when we tried to negotiate peace with Romulus, and you stayed after returning to San Francisco. You have been given the required comforts that your species need, and made a home here away from the rest of the Ash'reem. You have served Starfleet and the Federation for more than forty years, even giving birth to your daughter aboard... The Celsius, wasn't it? Being one of the few Commanding Offices in the fleet that has had the privilege to be able to accommodate Ash'reem aboard their ship, and given the situation that followed the Niga Incident - where there seemed to be an aspect to the virus that might save your species - I would like to speak with you how you experience your duties here and now."

Leaning forward, Jien frowned and looked down upon his desk. "You are now my Chief Science Officer, and a valuable asset to my crew, just like the rest of your family. If there is any ill will towards how I handled the situation with the planet Niga in the Mahéwa System, I would like you to speak freely of it."

He needn't say what he meant: That he had ordered the entire planet destroyed, and perhaps dooming the Ash'reem species lest they find an alternative means to increase their reproduction rates.

Feeling her lover's responses, T'Less groaned as she began to feel increasingly out of control.  She knew for a male of her species, he could be driven to combat, choosing fight over sex, hunger for blood over hunger to mate.  The two were closer together in the mind than most might think and she felt both when Ida relaxed against her, giving up control.  She felt the need to chase, to take her prey and do with it what she would.  Leaning into Ida, she growled and held the Andorian's shoulders against the wall.  Hard teeth bit into Ida's nipple just enough for pain to mix with pleasure and brought her knee up tight against Ida's blue, wet labia, grinding them against her equally wet skin.  Whether she ignored it by choice or it fled on its own, whatever logic remained to her fled, at least temporarily, leaving only hunger, ravenous hunger.  Her emotions had been so close to the surface for nearly a century, but she'd never, ever let them voluntarily loose.  Now, though, she felt that one must be the aggressor and the other the submissive and used her strength to pin the Andorian to the wall as she pressed her full body against Ida's.  She must have Ida, must make the woman her own and be with her.  Had she known Ida's thought upon first re-entering T'Less's quarters, she would probably have agreed, but now it seemed as though their positions were reversed, that she was taking Ida as the spoils of war, and not the other way around.

Amatras gave a slight salute and then approached the replicator happily partaking of the water, creating two glasses.  One that she placed her 'hair' into dipping the long silky strands deep into the fluid so that they might absorb it completely and act as a reservoir for her once more.   The other glass she rose to her lips and drank from allowing the cool refreshing fluid pour down over her tongue and throat.  Rapidly soaking into her tissues and seeming to bring releif to the symptoms of dehydration. 

She took a seat across from Captains Ives and watched her with interest, it was rather boring to listen to her service record, given that she'd lived it let alone read it a few times to confirm it.  "Yes the Celsius, although forty years is a rather short time for my species.  I disagree with your decision on the Niga situation but I understand why you made your choice.  In the end, I have a general understanding of what changed in my daughter, and I can work back from that.  Any good scientist knows that all actions leave traces, and one merely has to understand what they are seeing to recreate what they've found."

[ Chief Tactical Officer's Quarters ]

Ida watched T'Less body move as the hot water cascaded off her, a moan escaping her when the Vulcan's thigh pressed into her warm velvet moistness. She arched her back in response to the intensity, then thrust her hips forward again - encouraging the hunger awoken. Together they moved under the shower, the hot spray beating down upon their skin, heightening the intensity of that which is already sensitised from teeth and tongue. The bite upon her dark blue nipple made Ida cry out gutturally.

It was wonderful, even the contrast between the cold air and the colder wall, and T'Less warm wet skin. The transmission of heat from her made her somehow the most real thing in the world at that point. It emphasized every curve, every growling and needful sound, and every passionate movement she made as she shifted against Ida. For the warmth of the water may have been flowing over the Andorians abdomen; rivulets separating and joining across smooth skin, pooling with blue flesh pressed against pink, the fog submerging everything in a dreamy haze. Yet the heat of the tactician was all that mattered. The cold of Andoria was nothing compared to this.

While Ida had decided to let T'Less be the aggressor, she could not help herself. There was pleasure to be derived from a submissive role, but the grind of T'Less' thigh awoke desires too deep to quell. The Vulcan was ready for her. Thus, Ida simply raised her right hand from its white-knuckled place against the glass wall. Without transition, yet not forcefully, Ida stroked her - reaching forward and finding her most sensitive place. She placed one finger on each side of it and rubbed up and down. She parted her easily - coating her own eager fingers with the tactician's wetness. As she did, Ida leaned her head and antennae forward in challenge - eyes finding T'Less' gaze above panting lips.

Them both aggressors in their primal dance, the movements of her own hips against the Vulcan's thighs never stopped. Running her free hand over one of T'Less' breasts, Ida rolled an already hard nipple between her wet fingers. Reaching with her mouth, leaning in under the spray of water, she hurriedly kissed a trail down her lover's shoulder to her chest - savouring the taste of slick skin. Pausing for just a moment - her mouth so close to T'Less' nipple - then darting her tongue out and rolling it around the hard peak. Pulling it into her mouth.

As the water rained down upon them, Ida delved with her fingers, eventually penetrating - flexing and manipulating fingers to give the greatest pleasure. Her own climax was already pending - so little more needed before her eyes would take on that glazed and distant look. Before her cry would echo against the walls.


[ Captain's Ready Room ]

As Amatras had hydrated and seated herself, Jien raised his eyes to look into hers when she spoke.

The Ash'reem species was interesting for a Chameloid. Not only in how they posed a challenge to mimic bodily down on the biological level that Jien had come to reach with his two human Chosen Forms. His brown eyes scanned the mother of the Neotin family now, in ways a shape-shifter might, to gauge that challenge. It was an idle task, bordering to sub-concious, and not something unique in his daily interactions with people on their ship. Beyond the intriguing aspect of wearing such an exotic humanoid form, there was also the interest in how that biology indirectly affected the people around them. The pheromones of an Ash'reem had to be safely contained underneath their unique Starfleet uniforms - garments appearing to be the standard issue to the causal eye. Yet they had to be denser, of synthetic and water-proof fibres. Underneath them, they wore a plastic top that gathered secretions that were unfit to be released openly in the fleet's focused and professional environs. To the non-Ash'reem, the effect would be quite... distracting.

Yet despite the precautions taken and the mutual understanding between the fleet and the Ash'reem for such measures, it was not quite enough to contain the pheromones when seated so close opposite one. The causal observation might not pick it up, yet Jien did now, since there were only them in the ready room. No distractions save what was said. What was heard. What was thought. What was felt. The effect was that which most Ash'reem dealt upon species of other origin and nature. Their drives laid upon another subconsciously through their dampened secretion of pheromones. Their drives were in accordance with the nigh desperate need for their species as a whole - to reproduce and facilitate survival.

Thus, seated across from Amatras, Jien had to swallow and focus on the words spoken - perhaps especially sensitive after the ordeal they had just been through. He adjusted his seat a little, and picked up his trail of thought.

"While I am glad to hear you have come to understand the need for caution in the matter of the virus," he said quietly with a faint smile, "and how it was dangerous to all other species - including the Ash'reem - I hope you understand the gamble of trying to recreate that which we destroyed."

Of course she does. She was much more a scientist than he would ever be, yet because of what happened at Niga, and the possible ramifications of another outbreak, he felt he had to explain himself. "Please don't misread me, I am not going to stand in the way of scientific research made with the basis of your daughter's DNA, because it might just be the only way to save your species from extinction. I merely urge you, though, to conduct your research openly so that your whole department might be able to safeguard the development. With or without the support from Starfleet Medical back on Earth, you might find a means to cure your species, and it is something I would not try to prevent. The Prime Directive may make it a grey area, yet I still think your people deserve a second chance despite your genetic defect."

Hands folded on the desk, Jien resumed to scan the texture of her skin, the fullness of her lips, the exotic mystery of her eyes hid behind her goggles. He knew what the pheromones was doing to him, yet he would not dismiss her because she was affecting him. It would be disrespectful to do so, despite the discomfort of getting such inclinations. He merely swallowed, his brown eyes unblinking as he looked into hers.

[Eve - Sickbay]

Eve blinked, a little bit disoriented as she looked around sickbay.  A glance at the time made her brow furrow as her memories told her it should be quite a bit later than indicated.  There was that wonderfully rough romp with Khorin ... that thought had her peeking inside her uniform to confirm the bruises so the sensations were phantom and a quick striding to the room where he was proved he wasn't there anymore which meant he really had been healed.

The goddess had healed him and then basically kidnapped them all from the bridge.  It was strange but it all went by so fast, her demands and then they were 'rescued' by other beings.  Everything was chaos but she knew they were supposed to remember and move on, which she would do gladly if she only knew where Lucan was since he'd been missing before.  Was he safe or hurt?  What had happened to him all the time they were tangled up with a goddess she wouldn't have minded worshipping to some extent?

Then his voice came across the comm and her eyes nearly rolled back in her head with relief though it was tempered by his request.  "Lt. Jenkins here," she replied quickly.  "I'll have everything ready as requested, Sir," she stated professionally even if her heart didn't feel professional.  Moving quickly to two biobeds, she began preparations for the neural scans which gave her a little worry.  Did he not experience something with the goddess or had something else happened?  Too many questions that would just have to wait until he and whoever was with him got there.

T'Less threw her head back as Ida moved against her, her entire body seeming to her to throb with the needs she had never dealt with.  Oddly, in her entire life, she'd never had a lover.  In over a hundred years, she'd never taken anyone, male or female, to her bed, to embrace the animal passions of their combined desires.  Because of her accident when she'd been young, she'd had no control and thus no appeal to the Vulcans around her when she'd returned to Vulcan and she'd been isolated from other species while there.  It was only now, when she'd left to try and reintegrate with the galaxy as a whole that she managed to find she was attractive to others.  She still doubted any other Vulcan would have anything to do with her, intimately, but as Ida's fingers curled against her voluminously flowing sex, she loosed a scream of pleasure, the sound of long, long pent up and suppressed sexual hungers.

Her hands moved to either side of Ida's head and pulled the blue-skinned woman's lips to her own, feeding hungrily at the Andorian's mouth, tongue teasing and thrusting into her lover's mouth.  Her left hand moved to the back of Ida's head, holding her close as her fingers slid into platinum hair and, while her legs parted to give Ida more room to do as she please, T'Less's other hand roamed Ida's body, tweaking a breast, fingernails scratching stomach muscles as she worked her way downward, until she was able to caress Ida's labia and, without preamble, thrust two fingers into the Andorian's wet sex.

[ Main Sickbay | Deck 07 ]

Relieved - for some reason - to hear Eve Jenkins answer when he called to sickbay, Lucan turned to Commander Stark and nodded - keeping eyes away from her body despite what thoughts might linger on what they had undergone together. "Come, let's go."

The walk to sickbay might have been a very awkward one for most people, yet Lucan was not the kind to feel such things. No, he was concerned about having been in a situation out of his tight control. He had been helpless to the events that unfolded, and he did not like that at all. Nor did the beast inside, whom wanted to interrogate the Chief of Operations in very intricate and gruesome ways to learn the truth about what she knew about it all. Lucan, however, wanted none of that, yet was not sure what was the best thing to tell her as they walked the corridors to their destination.

"Worrisome, this is," he commented and glanced to Natalie, "yet I cannot understand what the ultimate purpose would be for making us revisit the past. Whom would benefit from subjecting us to a fate we just barely avoided when the USS Relativity arrived?"

Yet speaking of it made him think of the vivid images of Natalie. He remembered the vines. Being penetrated and infected. Vivid recollections of her and him entwined in the undergrowth, slick with sweat from the humid atmosphere of the cargo hold. Thrusting himself inside her with a body and an organ warped to match the viral signature. He had spent himself inside her, climaxed together with her just before being returned to the Gymnasium. Frowning at these thoughts, Lucan realised that his mind was still back there, memories somewhat kept despite the infection. This, even if their bodies were restored, for he were not satisfied.

It became harder not to look upon the human walking by his side in scant athletics clothes, yet eventually, they reached sickbay and the awaiting Head Nurse.

"Eve," he said and trailed off, looking around - seeing that sickbay was exactly in the state it had been by the time he left his office and met with the aforementioned Head Nurse in the Hydroponics Bay. Exactly, as in that the control panel even stated a time in line with that observation. There was more to this than Stark's and his own head. As much was evident, the neural scan perhaps not needed.

"What happened?" he asked Eve as he stepped up to her, wondering if she knew more than he did. Ignorant as he was, the urgency did not merit much room for thought on what words they had spoken earlier that morning - when they had been alone and breaking regulations together.


[ Chief Tactical Officer's Quarters | Deck 02 ]

Ida gasped into the spray of water, against T'Less' lips - groaned long and loud when the tactician deployed her fingers inside her sex.

She undulated her hips against the hand, tried to answer in kind with the same intensity - her middle finger grinding across the hard clitoris and entering her with each kneading motion of her hand. Their nipples were pushed together, and their moving bodies made them chafe exquisitely against each other - the heavy and taut mounds of their breasts moulding and pressing together. Vulcan and Andorian coming together in a way unforeseen not many decades past, the Federation joining them together with it its historical legacy.

The passionate pace of their copulation sent Ida's head reeling - eyes rolling in their sockets. The Vulcan had already made her head swimming, and the sensation of the two fingers thrusting inside her and pressing against her clit made her breaths increasingly more ragged. She was about to come there in the shower, and the desperation to feel it sooner rather than later - along with the wish to make the Vulcan climax as well - made her free hand roam as it willed. Framing one breast, mouth descending to suck hard on the Vulcan teat, grabbing the neck for more taste of the mouth.

"You have me..." she managed, signalling joyous defeat, and she cried out loudly - legs shaking as the orgasm smote her thoughts to dust.

[Captain's ready room]

Amatras watched Jien with a practiced eye.  It was always important to observe body language even if it didn't completely translate over between species even if it was fairly consistent across species.   The swallowing and slight difficulty in speaking hinted at several things but she wasn't going to call him on it yet. 

She smirked slightly at him and then comments. "I am well aware of the dangers of the viral DNA.  Especially if its not contained properly.  I consent to the concept of working together with the rest of the science department.  It actually isn't that hard to identify the changes. With both Arcorn and my genomes, uninfected portions of Amikris's genome, and altered samples of Amikris's genomes.  Comparing the four samples, and eliminated natural mutation, for transcription mutation factors...the requisite genes can be isolate and understood.  Having the cure on hand, encase the infection gets out of hand, would further allow for controlled release in the general population of a control ship without the risk of the infection spreading.  First, the genes must be isolated and examined carefully, to determine the nature of the alterations.  Why they work, are any ineffective or pointless, and more importantly perhaps, are any to high a risk to implement, and can other variations on the coding be used to create the same result in those cases?" She explains. 

[ Main Sickbay | Deck 07 ]

Despite the doctors clearly professional manner as they walked along the corridors of the starship, heading towards sickbay, Natalie felt extremely awkward indeed. She wanted to pinch herself, convince herself that everything that she had just gone through was in her head. after all, her clothing, even her leg, were perfectly fine. No skin rupturing break of her ankle. No strands of melted fabric clinging to her otherwise naked body. And certainly no overdeveloped hips and breasts. Everything was as it was before she walked down into the gym. She certainly wasn't sore from some of the ...activities she remembered, and there was no way a body could go through something like that without feeling sore, right?
 
 And yet...and yet. She could see it in Lucan's eyes when he glanced at her. Oh, he was the perfect gentleman. Kept his eyes off of her form. but she could tell he had seen her, bared on the jungle floor. And she had seen him...felt him. A shiver that had nothing to do with the environmental systems on the Theurgy ran down her spine and she blushed. She was a silent companion as they slipped into the turbolift, but once the doctor asked the question, she felt compelled to speak, to say something, at the very least. But she couldn't fathom why, and said as much.
 
 She fell into step with the Doctor, blushing and looking away. Why, why, she couldn't even begin to comprehend what could be gained from the two officers being transported back to that damned planet. She had been infected the first time but not to the point that she could recall anything, for sure. This time tho, despite the lack of physical change, she could remember it all. As the sickbay doors whisked open, the Operations Officer shook her head from side to side to scatter the few remaining lust filled images, and look around, wary. Her eyes fixed in on the nurse, a new addition to the crew. One she had not yet met. The woman seemed friendly enough however, and the CMO had gone straight into questioning the other officer. So quietly, Natalie moved off to the side of the two, so she could listen in, without interrupting.

[ Captain's Ready Room ]

Listening to the Ash'reem made it evident that she had long-evolved plans that related to the different phases of the research. Jien smiled faintly and nodded his head, knowing that the point where ships of Ash'reem could be tested might be some time yet because of the nature of their mission.

"Your family is then, perhaps, the most important key to the survival of your species. Samples of your DNA might survive should the Theurgy be destroyed, yet the knowledge of what to do with it would be lost," he said, eyes still scanning minutely in the way his own species might - taking in the form of the woman across the desk visually. It did not help his situation with her secretion of pheromones, yet he did not mind it either. Quite the opposite.

"I would offer to do something about that, if you feel that your research has come far enough for it," he continued and leaned back in his chair a bit. He realised that mistake too late, given the... growing problem of being so close to Amatras added with the influences of the day's ordeal. He corrected this without comment or alluding to the problem with his facial countenance, leaning forward again as he continued. "Before we leave this asteroid field, I would leave behind a microprobe that would contain all the relevant information, with samples, your research notes and everything related to the cure. I would set a delayed activation on it, letting us get far away before it sent its automated course towards Ash'reem space - by then acting as a beacon with a frequency easy for your ships to pick up."

Jien hoped that this might help somewhat. That it would be a relief for the Neotin family that they were not safeguarding something so vital on their own.

"Furthermore, we would naturally add the information about Starfleet Command's true nature, and perhaps... if we are fortunate... your people will become allies in this campaign of ours. It would depend on you and your family to convince them about the truth with the message stored in the mircoprobe. As for the research and the cure, do you think this solution might help ease your mind about our current situation in relation to the survival of your species? Also, is it too early a stage of research to deploy the microprobe at this point?"

T'Less's skin took on a deeper green as her blood began pounding, sensations running rampant.  She wanted Ida as she had wanted no other, Garen aside.  As the water rained down around them, she felt the Andorian's release and almost reached her own, simply from the knowledge she'd brought Ida to such heights of pleasure.  Her own pleasure was amplified by her emotions, her ecstatic joy and happiness, her long-suffering and seemingly now-broken loneliness.  Desires she'd never know about flooded her, as well, everything coming as new and curious for exploration.  As Ida cried out, T'Less covered her lover's mouth with her own, capturing the sounds of intimate gratification, swallowing them as though she could swallow the pleasure, consume it in some way to feed her own.  She slid a hand behind Ida and held her tight as the Andorian's quivering went on and on, and wondered if Ida would allow her to meld, to feel telepathically such intensity?  Had it ever been done before?  A mind meld between an Andorian and a Vulcan?  She didn't know, could recall never having read anything of the sort.  It would be an interesting experiment, especially during such a heightened period of bodily function.

As her logical mind began to reassert itself, she realized what she'd been doing and, instead of the shame at having let her emotions so free, she only found a desire for more.  She wanted to feel her own body respond to Ida's, as Ida's had responded to her own.

[ CTO Quarters | Deck 02 ]

By way of her knees being weak or willing to do so, Ida sank to her knees in the shower eventually - her hands sliding down the Vulcan's sides for support. The motion made those two delightful fingers slip free from her sheath, and her lips leave T'Less' mouth, but it presented her with a solution to her predicament: Having yet to make the Vulcan climax with the same or greater effect than she had herself.

The water washing down her blue skin - making her white hair stick to her cheekbones - Ida groaned and slipped one arm and shoulder underneath T'Less' thigh. Slowly, yet insistently, she hoisted it up in order to get access to the apex of those olive-toned legs - her mouth going for the wet heat of T'Less sex immediately.

In order to not imbalance the Vulcan and to apply her tongue more firmly, she made T'Less lean against the opposite wall - her own hands roaming free until focusing on the same place her mouth was. With one hand on her lover's hip to support her, the other revisited her love channel with slick yet hard fingers. Tongue flicking against the pearl of T'Less clit - rolling against it and sucking at it to clear the water off - two fingers delved even deeper inside the tactician - squirming inside and rubbing the walls of her warm sheath.

"Mhh, you taste good, Vulcan," Ida whispered in a throaty voice, the words almost drowned out by the noise of the shower. She looked up into the rain of water to seek her lover's gaze once more, before she had to close her eyes and savour the nectar that threatened to become washed away by the water. "So  good..."

Head still swimming from her previous climax, she meant to make T'Less come just as hard.

[Sickbay - Eve]

Eve couldn't help feeling even more relief when she saw Lucan and greeted him and Natalie warmly, a calm and soothing aura about her.  There was something in their eyes that bespoke of something most unsettling and even as Lucan asked what was going on, she was taking a breath.  "We've had a visitor, a godlike being who wanted our subservience and wallowing about in carnal pleasures to free her from her prison.  She wreaked a lot of havock," she informed them both.

"The captain's sexes were made separate so we essentially had two captains.  The trill was split from several of the previous incarnations.  Several people were brought together and undeniable urges set upon them."  She paused at that one, not a blush forming but a ghost of a smirk lifted one corner for a split second.  "There was also a case of gender swapping with Carver and Kae.  I'm dying to talk to her about that one," she grinned in spite of the severity of the issue that they all suffered.

"I'm guessing the two of you fell into one of those categories or something similar.  Some other godlike beings took care of things, it's all still a little hazy to me because it was just so surreal.  It was decided on both sides that everyone would remember what happened, not sure why but here we are remembering every detail.  And yet we were returned to the time just before the entity began her quest for pleasures.  There were some good results, I have to admit.  Lieutenant Junior Grade Khorin Douglas is completely healed and actually in better shape than he was before his accident."

All the time she looked from one to the other, doling out the information in a professional manner that gave no evidence to her improprieties earlier with Lucan or Douglas.  "I have the beds readied as you requested, Sir," she gestured toward them.  "I suspect we'll find everything normal but if you'd still rather double check things, I'm ready to assist."

[ Main Sickbay | Deck 07 ]

It was much to take in, that was certain.

Yet at the same time, Eve offered the only plausible explanation for what had happened to Lucan and Natalie, and therefore, it was easy for the CMO to draw the connections; to understand the possibilities without wider range of speculation. Therefore, he was quite confident that there were few things that could be learned from a cortical monitor's scan of his and Commander Stark's brain activity.

On another level of conciousness, Lucan admired Eve's professional attitude about it all - the unphased stand-point that she would still do as instructed should her CMO find it necessary. Beyond his own personal hell and his ambitious and dark nature - merely thinking along the lines of the façade of being a Starfleet Officer - he thought that his choice to ask Eve to become his new Head Nurse had been a good one. Strange, why he would care, and yet it did serve him in the sense that he would not have to defend her and argue to prove to Captain Ives that she belonged in sickbay aboard the Theurgy. He was reassured that his personal agenda in manipulating things so that he might have her close was safe as long as she proved her worth.

"I understand," he said simply after processing it all, and turned to Commander Stark, "It seems we have our explanation, so I think it would suffice if Lt. Jenkins would make sure that our physical health has been restored to us. Since this was no ghost or mirage of our brains, and we actually did suffer under the circumstances we were, I think a medical scan is in order - just in case."

Perhaps 'suffer' was a strong word, though it was prudent during the circumstances.

"Please, seat yourself on the biobed and let Eve do a medical scan." He gestured and showed the Chief of Operations to the indicated area in sickbay. "I'll do the same. There is no need to change out of your attire, so just let Eve get the medical tricorder."

As for himself, he remvoed his lab coat and his uniform jacket, folding the two garments over the bed before seating himself - wearing his teal undershirt as he awaited Eve Jenkins' diagnosis. While his mind was preoccupied with the unfolding events, his eyes wandered between the two women - so different and yet so appealing in their own ways. Eve was, of course, more deeply known, and he foresaw an even deeper connection between them given time.

Strange, how things had unfolded for him.

[Captain ready room]

"it'd probably be safer to utilize the probe to send out a series of burst transmissions on open frequencies.  Most species would just hear silence or static in the transmission, and the device could easily self destruct long before anything actually arrived to endanger us.  Our language is, quite outside the range of most humanoid hearing, and although translations software exists, the wide ranger of vocalizations we can make, can make it difficult for some computers to process the difference between some words said in different tones or accents.  To an ear used to hearing the language, the translation wouldn't be to difficult, well for something that only had the base language, in its databanks, it might become very tedious at best. To put the entire message together completely." She suggested, then making a gesture. "The only hard part would be how to transmit information about the Federation without them jamming the transmission once it was translated.  Your idea also would work, it just is far more likely to never reach its destination because of people salvaging the probe for parts.  Whether its easy for us to detect or not would be irrelevant everyone would be able to pick it up, and anyone would be curious enough to investigate a strange probe drifting through space with a beacon on.  It would ease my mind knowing other copies of the information were available.  Given if your looking for allies, we may be willing to listen, and even speak on your behalf, but we're far from a military force that could aid you, our advantage is intelligence, not physical strength, nor numerical superiority in battle."

Listening to Amatras, it was easier for Jien to try and ignore the Ash'reem's effect upon himself - hard as it was.

His Chief Science Officer was offering some good advice, and Jien was not about to argue about her foresight on the issue about deciphering her native language. "Burst transmissions it is then, but the information must also prevent your people from knowing how to re-invent the viral - floral - version. Be it through deception of the Ash'reem scientists or lack of information in the message. Regardless, I need you to prevent that the virus could be reconstructed from the DNA and the cure's formula," he said, shifting his seat minutely while considering her other points.

"Perhaps the information about the impostors that has usurped Starfleet Command might be a draw-back in making the information about the cure and your DNA to be found. We are still going to broadcast the truth of our mission by other means, so it might be better to let the Ash'reem cure remain alone in the message. You know your species better than I do, and at this point, we need strength of arms foremost. Yet given time, however, the voice of aid might have better leverage. By then, we can hope that we are able to make contact. If the situation change, and the Ash'reem assistance becomes invaluable, let us keep the idea of launching another probe close at hand. This first one, however..."

Ideas coming to him, he frowned and rubbed his chin. "While not detailing the enemy of ours, and the nature of Starfleet, it might still ask for the assistance of the Ash'reem. Be it at a point where we have reached the Sol System or before that. Regardless, you might be able to call for aid. Furthermore, it might guarantee that a wide-spread solution to your reproduction rates is made, by the refinement and testing of the new Ash'reem cure. Be it here aboard the Theurgy, or at one of your own ships."

The discussion had led to another point Jien wished to bring up. So far, Amatras had not shown any sign towards being interested in what he had to suggest, yet he felt compelled to ask. "Should we be able to draw the attention from one of your ships, you should know that I will not be holding it against you if you'd want to take your family to safety. I would regret loosing your collective expertise and experience, yet I would not want to hold you against your will under the threat of persecution. Given the circumstances, your species needs you more than I do. I might be hard pressed finding a better Chief Science Officer, for example, while your species might loose your DNA and the chance of survival. I do not offer this on a whim, yet even though the Ash'reem might help in spreading the truth about Starfleet, it doesn't mean you have to be here personally and follow the Theurgy into the hornets nest."

He paused there, not sure how to proceed. "I want you. Need you. Yet I will not force you to risk it all."

[Eve - Sickbay]

Eve knew it had to sound impossible which was exactly why she had detailed what happened without any real embellishments.  Just the basics stated matter-of-factly would lend more credibility and she knew Lucan well enough to know that was the best approach she could take.  When he said they suffered, her expression grew extremely concerned and she strode quickly over to get her tricorder.

Going first to Natalie, she held the small cylinder close to her head and waved it slowly around then proceeded to take extreme care around all parts of her body.  Being this close, she felt some of the woman's emotions and they were unsettling to say the least.  "Commander, your physical health looks good though there is evidence of a fracture of your lower leg.  Like Khorin, you seem to have been healed by the recent visitors."

She looked into Natalie's eyes, her own warm and compassionate.  When she spoke, it was soft so that only Natalie would hear her and she might feel safer in speaking without Lucan overhearing.  "Yet ... forgive me ... I sense emotional turmoil.  I can't read thoughts or anything like that but I am something of an empath.  Would you like to talk?  I would be more than happy to help if I can or I could make sure you get an appointment with Lieutenant Nelis," she offered with kindness and respect.

"You don't have to answer right now.  I'll see to Lieutenant Commander Nicander," she continued softly and patted her hand.  Turning  then she walked over to Lucan, she still had that compassionate look as she started to scan him.  "I'm sure the Captain will want to speak with you as soon as possible.  He was concerned when we couldn't reach you," she informed him and then hesitated over his abdominal area.

As close as T'Less was, it took very little for Ida to bring her to fruition and only the hard wall behind her kept her upright as her sex clamped down on Ida's probing fingers.  Sensations she'd never had flooded through her, ecstasy greater than anything she'd physically felt before.  None, in the entirety of her life, had brought such a bodily reaction from her, such pleasure and she slowly sank down the wall, never wanting it to end, but knowing it must.  Illogically as it was, if it didn't, she thought she might die from its intensity.

Finally, aside from an occasional twitch here and there, she came back down to reality and Ida.  Opening her eyes, she looked at the Andorian closely then leaned forward and kissed her hard, tongue probing Ida's lips, tasting her own fluids on the woman's lips.  Her arms wrapped around Ida, pulling her close and simply held her, enjoying for the very first time the simple intimacy of holding one's lover.  With a whisper, she said, "Thank you."

[ Chief Tactical Officer's Quarters | Deck 02 ]

Ida slowed her pace down to ease T'Less from the orgasm, yet placed one more affectionate kiss upon her clit, gave it another lick. No, it was not enough, so Ida buried her nose into the tactician as her tongue went deep - lapping the delectable fluid. She kept up the merciless antagonising with her fingers, yet eventually, she moved her head to the CTO's belly - feathering kisses up her smooth stomach. When reaching her navel, she slipped her tongue inside and twirled it slowly - the water from the shower cascading down the olive skin and against the Deputy's lips.

Soon, she released the leg she held and stood up, smirking to the Vulcan before claiming her mouth for intimate and wordless kisses that transcended their differing cultures. Eventually, adding soap made their bodily conversation better - made both blue and green-tinted smother. Ida touched the woman in a caring way - simply exploring her body. Shifting and moving as she lathered her lover up. Washing her with care and attention.

Eventually, they were getting pruny in the shower, and Ida kissed her again before stepping out - the contact of their lips still warmer than she shower. Outside the stall, Ida helped herself to a white bath towel and began to dry off, starting with her hair and then moving down her body. The bruises were still there, yet quite forgotten. "Thank you for letting me in. I have longed to finish what we began when you modelled for me."

When T'Less eventually got out of the shower, Ida held the towel open for her - inviting with a smile to wrapped it around the both of them. Ida wanted their bodies pressed together once again. This playing, bonding after making love, was amazing to the Andorian, since such ease of companionship was not something she had shared with anyone in a long time. The sex with Grayson had not been an intimate act. Rather a primal one born from frustration.

Like this, it was like they were stroking each other's minds without a mind meld.


[ Sickbay | Deck 07 ]

Pale grey eyes gave away nothing but warmth as Lucan was scanned.

"I will make sure to contact him as soon as possible. I am rather glad myself that things got back in order," he replied to Eve with a faint smile where he sat - watching the medical tricorder move up and down his bodily frame. He held no fear that a scan such as that would give hint to the phased and melded new nature of his body - how it was hosting an abhorrent second nature beyond common means of detection. He expected the scan to come out clean of any such traces, so he was more interested in if there were traces of the infection still lingering inside him. Not likely, since the virus was such that it would not lay dormant. It would spread and overtake him if there was anything left.

"Listen," he said quietly to Eve where she stood before him, "about earlier. About what you said in the Hydroponics Bay. It means a lot to me."

Why did he say that? Why even broach the topic again? It was not like it served any real purpose, did it? It was merely an awkward situation to handle in the best and most effective way possible. He had spoken without thought, as vague as his words might have come out in meaning. He should leave it behind and keep Eve interested yet at a safe distance. Feeding her hopes about something more than the ease of their current companionship. Why was it so hard to motivate himself towards such a simple path?

"I hope my words were not hurtful, surprised as I was."

[Eve - Sickbay]

Eve continued in her professional demeanor as she scanned Lucan but there was that extra bit of warmth whenever her eyes met his.  Her smile grew a little when he said he'd be sure to contact the captain.  "Things are back in order, at least as much order as we're allowed," she half-chuckled.  Considering they were outcasts and struggling from one day to the next, it was definitely as normal as it was likely to ever be until things were resolved.

She was a little surprised when he brought up the hydroponics bay but that warmth flared into a smoldering gaze that only he could see as her hair had curtained about her face as she looked downward along his legs but turned that gaze upward for a moment.  "I meant every word," she said softly.  "The only thing I regret is that I surprised you so, put you in a place you weren't ready to be.  For that I apologize," she continued in the low tones.

"I respect your feelings and needs.  You do care about me, enough so that you were honest and kind in expressing them which kept it from hurting.  My offer still stands, a safe place for you to lose your burdens for at least a little while whenever you need.  Never any pressure ... at least not mentally," she added with a sultry little wink.  Standing up straighter, she gazed at the tricorder and when she spoke again, her voice was normal for both of them to hear.

"You both check out just fine other than the evidence of a fracture and some elevated levels in certain hormones to be expected with the visit from the amorous goddess," she stated with an understanding and nonjudgmental smile.  "So I would say you're both clear for regular activities and duties though the final determination would be Lieutenant Commander Nicander's call."

[ Main Sickbay | Deck 07 ]

There was no need of bared skin or intimate touches between them. Such things were just the results. The catalyst of lust between them lay in the subtlety. The cause for the touch and the tidal surges of their bodies coming together, aye, that innuendo of voice and glance that set things in motion. Such was enough to make Lucan's blood flow when facing Eve, the Deltan also forced to read the same from him since she lacked all other means to gauge his intentions.  The glance down between their bodies was such a gesture. Such a hint. And her words, the glib remark about the physical strain she might put him through.

Oh, but she would soon hear words of her own to contemplate. He was - after all - a smith of words and deceit. He would manipulate her emotions as he always manipulated everyone around him. First, there was the matter of Commander Stark, though.

Lucan met Eve's eye as she spoke about the result of her diagnosis, as she addressed both him and Natalie Stark, and gave him the word. Yet not without shining some stark light upon what was evident: The result of the alien entity's game with Lucan and Natalie. What they had done. Not how, but their bodies told Eve enough through the readings on the medical tricorder. Only when Eve was finished did Lucan speak up, his smile remaining.

"I have faith in Lt. Jenkins' recommendation, so I'd say that is the end of the matter. At least medically. What we were through could easily be qualified as traumatising," he said and got off the biobed, walking over to Natalie where she sat, "therefore, I would recommend that you give an hour or two of your time to speak with a Morale Officer. I know I just might too. He or she will have the same doctor-patient confidentiality that Eve and I do, so nothing about what happened needs to become hearsay and undermine your command position in Operations."

Standing before the Chief of Operations where she sat on the edge of her biobed, having left behind his uniform jacket and lab coat and wearing his fitted teal undershirt, Lucan set his tattooed hands on his hips and looked into the second woman's eyes. What lay between them was a mirage, events not wholly real yet not imagined either. A realisation of what might have happened if they had not been saved by the Relativity. Not entirely a nightmare either, since beyond the initial horror lay that sweetly scented insanity that was undeniably arousing, not to mention the time afterwards... when they had come together in sweet abandon. Clouded images of their bodies heaving, slick skin coming together, and his enormously grown manhood squirming deep into her sodden cunt.

Despite this, Lucan acted the gentleman. Ever the professional. Face serious and voice caring.

"We are weighed down, every moment, by the conception and the sensation of time - even more so when it cheats our minds.  For me, there are but two means of escaping and forgetting a nightmare such as this: enjoyment and work. For delight consumes us and work strengthens us. Choose either. Choose both. Only take your pick, and move on. That is my advise."

As for himself, he would find pleasure in both Natalie and Eve whenever an opportune moment presented itself, and work... Ah, but there was always pleasure in his line of work.

[ Main Sickbay | Deck 07 ]
Natalie did not like the explanation that the nurse - Eve, she reminded herself - had given, not one bit. That didn't stop it from making the explanation any less true, nor did a better one manifest itself. That some being of godlike power had used the crew as play things...had forced her (and the good doctor) to endure such pleasure--horrors was...reprehensible. No one liked being reminded that they were naught but a speck in the grand scheme of things; to be treated as toys certainly struck a nerve with the young woman.

Seeing as there was absolutely nothing she could do about it, however, the Lt.Cmdr nodded to the CMO as his chief nurse, murmuring "Such as it is," and falling in step once again. The bio bed, like all of them, came up to about the middle of Natalie's hips, requiring her to hop up just a tad, to get properly seated. She watched Lucan strip out of the upper layer of clothes as he readied for Eve's scan, and felt herself shiver. Not at all from the cold room, goose bumps peppered her skin, and memories surfaced, briefly. She wondered, idly, how long this would be the case. If she would always remember what happened when she looked at the Doctor.

Her thoughts were jumbled, and when Eve stepped in, Natalie did her best to focus on the nurse, and not the doctor. She listened to the faint trill of the tricorder. That she had a clean bill of health was quite reassuring. That the nurse could pick up some of what she was feeling was...less so. And Eve must have sensed Natalie's discomfort, since the other woman backed away and gave the Ops officer an out for not answering. Grateful, at least, for the discretion the nurse exercised, the brunette nodded, softly, and tried not to pry too much when Eve went to examine the Theurgy's chief Medical Officer.

She leaned back against the bioboed, on her elbows, and closed her eyes for a moment, allowing herself to get lost in the thrum of the ship. The cool air of the ship, a sharp contrast to the heat of the jungle. She tried to tune out the conversation between Lucan and Eve, but she still got small impressions, snippets overheard. So she started quietly humming to herself, a distraction. after all, the doctor had been nice enough to stay on the other bio bed, out of the way while Eve spoke in private to Natalie. As intimidating as Dr. Lucan Nicander could be, Natalie wanted to show him the same courtesy.

But she was brought out of her mental reprieve when it was clear that Eve was once again addressing both officers present. "Thank you, Lt," she said softly, with a meek smile. It wasn't the Deltan's fault that she was off her center, and being kind in turn to the woman that was doing her best to set Natalie at ease was the least she could do. She'd face her demons soon enough, she was sure, but no panic attack was going to settle in there in Sickbay. That would be too convenient a place, after all.

However, when the good doctor added his recommendation of a private session with a Morale officer, Natalie found herself gulping. She didn't want to relive what she'd gone thru, again. Not this soon. Despite the kind offer from Eve, Dr. Nicander's concern made her turn just a bit pale. True, it would be confidential. True, it wouldn't impact her position or responsibilities, but still...

Allowing his words to wash over her, Natalie slowly closed her eyes, and took a few, calm, steady breaths to center herself. Her chest rose and fell, the tank top pulled tightly over her breasts. She wasn't sure she would seek out any professional help, but at the same time, his advice was good. It wouldn't be the first time that Natalie had buried herself in her duties, after all. And she did have the training with the Captain, scheduled to begin next week...she wasn't sure if that would be fun, but perhaps it would be...a steadying force in her life. Maybe that would be enough?

Opening her eyes again, she got a full look at the doctor, standing before her in that oh so tight shirt. Sure enough, she was assaulted by images from the planet, from the way he moved over her, behind her, and most assuredly inside of her. Blushing slightly, she looked down and away. "Thank you, Doctor. I will certainly keep your advice in mind. It is...sound advice." she smiled a bit, It was hollow, not quite reaching her eyes, but at the same time, she didn't look quite so haunted.

"If that is all, I think I will excuse myself. After...the events of today, I think a long shower is just what the doctor ordered. If you'll pardon the expression." she smiled weakly, then rose off the bed. With a nod to Eve, she turned her back on sickbay, and headed out, taking lots of calm steady breaths. She was sure once she was alone in her quarters, under the steady thrum of a sonic shower, that when she'd break down. For now tho. she'd manage.

And perhaps after...who knew? Desipte the terror they seemed to induce, even Natalie had to admit that the images, the memories of afterwards were...enticing.