S2-M1 Coming Together

[William Waring]

[Cargo ship.]
The light for the coaxial thrusters lit up for the third time today, even though Ardy had fixed the blasted part just last night. Whacking the dashboard, the light turned off briefly, before tauntingly flickering back on again five seconds later. Groaning, Ardy slumped back into the well-worn seat, near defeated. Ever since the court-martial, Ardy had been reassigned to one of the most BORING jobs this side of the Federation: flying this hunk of junk that could only scoot by on ¾ Impulse at max speed. There was no variation in the flight plan, nothing to do, as basically her only job was to take off and land, and let autopilot do the rest. Worst of all, she was left alone with her thoughts, and to add insult to injury, her new CO wouldn't even allow her to bring Steve to give her some company during the short trip from Earth to where the Shran was being rebuilt.

Ardy sighed as the Shran came into view at the Spacedock. She missed being at the helm of a fast, beautifully gleaming ship, with all the best tech, and her little raptor sitting on the nearby scratching post, purring and looking over the hustle of the bridge. thinking about it, it probably was the best that she sent Steve with T'Ra. He'd probably get into trouble much easier without someone to keep an eye on him. And with her baby on the way, T'Ra was going to need all the help she could get.
The sensor on the controls beeped, indicating she was almost there to the Spacedock. Taking manual controls, Ardy steered the old clunker inside the Spacedock and parked it in the nearest open hangar. Heading outside of the old ship, she thought she saw a familiar face in Ops from the Shran amongst the boxes. "Waring? That you, man?"

[Cargo Area]

Will had not been waiting for too long when he heard the distinct sound of a Cargo Freighter entering Load and Unloading. Moving between the boxes he closed the distance between him and Ardy.

"Sure is Ms. Jaeger" He said with a small smile "Welcome to your latest layover point I'm sure." Motioning for her to walk with him, he continued "So, how is the Freighter life treating you? I must admit it is a tad slower then Starfleet but you get plenty of time to relax."

[Ardyn Jaeger]

[Cargo Area]

Will had not been waiting for too long when he heard the distinct sound of a Cargo Freighter entering Load and Unloading. Moving between the boxes he closed the distance between him and Ardy.

"Sure is Ms. Jaeger," He said with a small smile "Welcome to your latest layover point I'm sure." Motioning for her to walk with him, he continued "So, how is the Freighter life treating you? I must admit it is a tad slower then Starfleet but you get plenty of time to relax."

[Cargo Area]
Ardyn smiled as her guess was verified and the young man turned around. "Please, call me Ardy. We're not on the bridge here, after all. " She said as Will caught up with her. "Man, I'm glad to see people again. This job's rough, that's for sure. I swear the reassignment officer is secretly some kind of sadist." She joked as they walked across the hangar.  "I kinda miss the hustle and bustle of the bridge, but that just might be me. I used to run the racing circuits, so going on the fast track is just a way of life for me. The relaxation time is nice and all, but since I can't share it with anyone, it's just me and my thoughts." She broke off. It was an uncomfortable reality, being forced to slow down after running for so long. "So what about you? I've heard you used to be a freighter kind of guy. How did you manage it?"

[guest1477]

"Have a seat; we haven't ordered yet, so you're just in time," Caelene told them, offering a slight smile as the others joined them at their table. Doing her best to put Lee's words out of her mind, the Trill instead looked over Callahan's specials for the day. Perhaps eating would distract her.

OFF: Tag Vance

Earth Spacedock, Main Promenade, Callahan's Pub

Vance had never been the kind of person to wear bright, vibrant clothes. He stuck to blacks and white, wearing a white shirt and a pair of black trousers. Once he had got a shower and got some clothes on, he set off to the pub.

Vance nodded towards the two who had already arrived as he was walking up. He saw them earlier getting cosy when he was further away, it seemed like Caelene wasn't ready for anything like that, but at least she'd found something to be happy about while she was stuck on land.

Vance sat down at the table and picked up the menu. He looked over it for a moment, placing it back down after a minute once he'd decided what he was going to have. Vance looked up at one of the view screens placed on the wall. The picture of James Hawke had been plastered everywhere recently. It had started to get old.

"Has there been any development in finding the suspect?" Vance asked them, trying to initiate a conversation while they were waiting for the waiter to come over to their table.

[James A. Hawke]

[James' Aparment]

James looked at Donna as she entered the hallway and nodded to her when she heard he did not have a need to apologize.  In reality, the who thing was starting to affect him emotionally.  He was not able to leave his apartment, he was not able to do what he wanted which was to explore space.

He made a drink to Donna first, mixing some ingredients.  He heard her statement.

Yes I would love one and I'm not here about some data I have no clue about, me and Damon saw the news and I'm here as a friend and former colleague".

As she finished her statement, James stopped preparing his drink. And took a moment to think.  He looked down and felt like a jerk.  The paranoia that it could be anyone was starting to affect his judgment.  As much as he wanted to trust people, he needed to stay the course.   James continued silent, and he wondered what to say.  If she was genuinely coming here as his friend, he was a poor host.  However, at the same time how could, he know if she was not a Tal'Shiar agent.

James instinct was to trust her, but he needed to make sure.  He needed to act like everything was normal for a second.

He finished preparing the drinks and approached Donna and handed her a glass.  James then took the seat across from her and looked at her.  He began with an appropriate apology.  "I'm sorry.  I have been on edge lately.  I don't know who to turn to"

James looked down as he was reflective "I don't know if I got betrayed by someone that practically raised me or that people were trying to do their jobs.  The end result is the same the President died, and we failed to stop it."

James then gave a fake smiled trying to change the tone into something more lighthearted or his attempt to stay clear of the conversation.   "So what's new in your life?  I haven't seen you in years I hope everything is well with you and Damon."

[Katheryn Brighton]

[James' Aparment]

James looked at Donna as she entered the hallway and nodded to her when she heard he did not have a need to apologize.  In reality, the who thing was starting to affect him emotionally.  He was not able to leave his apartment, he was not able to do what he wanted which was to explore space.

He made a drink to Donna first, mixing some ingredients.  He heard her statement.
As she finished her statement, James stopped preparing his drink. And took a moment to think.  He looked down and felt like a jerk.  The paranoia that it could be anyone was starting to affect his judgment.  As much as he wanted to trust people, he needed to stay the course.   James continued silent, and he wondered what to say.  If she was genuinely coming here as his friend, he was a poor host.  However, at the same time how could, he know if she was not a Tal'Shiar agent.

James instinct was to trust her, but he needed to make sure.  He needed to act like everything was normal for a second.

He finished preparing the drinks and approached Donna and handed her a glass.  James then took the seat across from her and looked at her.  He began with an appropriate apology.  "I'm sorry.  I have been on edge lately.  I don't know who to turn to"

James looked down as he was reflective "I don't know if I got betrayed by someone that practically raised me or that people were trying to do their jobs.  The end result is the same the President died, and we failed to stop it."

James then gave a fake smiled trying to change the tone into something more lighthearted or his attempt to stay clear of the conversation.   "So what's new in your life?  I haven't seen you in years I hope everything is well with you and Damon."

[James's Apartment]

NPC - Commander Donna Booth

Donna stayed where she was for a moment watching him without saying anything as he went over to prepare their drinks and even though she hadn't seen him for some time could only imagine what he was going through at the moment and how he must be feeling. Not taking her gaze away from him as he finished and approached her, accepting the drink from him before sitting down.

" Thanks James " she replied wrapping her fingers tightly around the glass, listening as he apologised and explained some of what happened and understood how difficult it must be to not know who he could and couldn't trust. " It's okay you have every reason to be on edge and I understand your doubts and mistrust if you don't know who to turn to and that's one of the reasons I'm here " she said reassuringly. " I know you James and Damon agrees with me that you didn't do this".

Then when he changed the subject she had no problem with them catching up as it had been some time since they had last seen each other. " Things are great with me and Damon and life is pretty good, I'm now teaching at the Academy but at the moment I'm on maternity leave after giving birth to our daughter Emily, James our son is now 3 and Jack is 10".

[Kyle Bytes]

I gets worse

Starfleet had tried to get Bytes to work for them to get in the information in secret data that Captain James Hawke. They claimed it was a wonder how he was transferred from the USS Athena. They said they would investigate his foot steps on that ship. They believe it had to be some involved within the two ships because Kirok was mentioned. He was not sure who was this Kirok. The Starfleet politics was bigger then he could wrap his head around.

New Zealand, Starfleet penal colony, the young man was in the maximum area of the colony. They had him work. They had swipe thee Ensign's memory and blocked his cybernetic implants. He has been spending days and nights working and not knowing who he was. They just told him he is 2356 and he was a criminal. They never answered him. He was heavy guarded. Every day was like that. Heck he had no access to what the date was. He was feeling terrible and lonely. Because he had no idea who he was, and why he was here. To him this was a very inhuman way.

Now way not knowing if he had a family. Was he married? He figured he has done something very terrible. The implant on the side of his head makes him worried. Was he? Should he see he could bleed. So man questions and nobody was answering his questions. So he was simply cleaning some kind of rocks. He was in the chain gain.

[Fala Awen]

[Earth Spacedock, Main Promenade, Callahan's Pub]

Caelene nodded to Vance as he joined them and took a seat. Following his gaze, she saw James' image on the screen and frowned. Arol (NPC) had paused by the table, also watching the viewscreen before sliding into the booth as well. The Bajoran shook his head as he met her eyes.

"Has there been any development in finding the suspect?" Vance asked them, trying to initiate a conversation while they were waiting for the waiter to come over to their table.

"Other than Captain Hawke? No," Caelene replied, her expression grim. "Honestly, though, I don't think they're actually looking for someone else. They just want to pin it on the captain and that's that. They're looking for something too; probably the information he had that pointed him to the assassination attempt."

Perhaps that was why her team had mainly been tasked with fixing the saucer section parts of the Shran - maybe someone was hoping they'd find the data and try to sneak it back to James. It was interesting thought. Of course, she had no idea where he would have put it.

Arol nodded, "The whole situation is ridiculous. Something more is going on here, or they wouldn't have felt the need to split up the crew as much as they have. Granted, the Shran was in bad shape and needed to be fixed, but from what you've told us, some of the reassignments don't make much sense. Ardy, for instance."

"Well, what we really need is a way to clear the captain's name as well as our own. I just don't know where we can get that kind of evidence. Perhaps if we did have the data that Captain Hawke had, we could help. With a conspiracy this big there should be more evidence elsewhere as well, but we'll have a difficult time proving it even if we can find it," Caelene replied. Glancing over at Lee (NPC), she remembered him telling her earlier that he had some potentially useful information. Could he have somehow found something?

Lee met her gaze and gave a very slight, nearly imperceptible nod before saying, "I'm sure it will get sorted out. It has to. I'll do what I can to help. I did have a conversation with the dockyard supervisor - we're scheduled to work in Main Engineering starting tomorrow. I finally convinced them that they needed us...of course, it helps with three other teams fail to fix the problems."

One of the waitresses that had served them several times before made her way over to the table and smiled, preparing to take their orders. She glanced over at Caelene and waited.

"I'll have my usual, please, Laura (NPC)," the Trill replied quickly. As the others gave their orders and began discussing their situation further, her mind wandered a bit. She was dreadfully curious as to what Lee might have found and how. In addition to being a bit mysterious, he seemed surprisingly well connected. Maybe it was a coincidence...maybe it was due to how long he'd been working at the shipyard...or maybe it was something else...

OFF: Tag Vance

[guest1477]

[Earth Spacedock, Main Promenade, Callahan's Pub]

Caelene nodded to Vance as he joined them and took a seat. Following his gaze, she saw James' image on the screen and frowned. Arol (NPC) had paused by the table, also watching the viewscreen before sliding into the booth as well. The Bajoran shook his head as he met her eyes.

"Other than Captain Hawke? No," Caelene replied, her expression grim. "Honestly, though, I don't think they're actually looking for someone else. They just want to pin it on the captain and that's that. They're looking for something too; probably the information he had that pointed him to the assassination attempt."

Perhaps that was why her team had mainly been tasked with fixing the saucer section parts of the Shran - maybe someone was hoping they'd find the data and try to sneak it back to James. It was interesting thought. Of course, she had no idea where he would have put it.

Arol nodded, "The whole situation is ridiculous. Something more is going on here, or they wouldn't have felt the need to split up the crew as much as they have. Granted, the Shran was in bad shape and needed to be fixed, but from what you've told us, some of the reassignments don't make much sense. Ardy, for instance."

"Well, what we really need is a way to clear the captain's name as well as our own. I just don't know where we can get that kind of evidence. Perhaps if we did have the data that Captain Hawke had, we could help. With a conspiracy this big there should be more evidence elsewhere as well, but we'll have a difficult time proving it even if we can find it," Caelene replied. Glancing over at Lee (NPC), she remembered him telling her earlier that he had some potentially useful information. Could he have somehow found something?

Lee met her gaze and gave a very slight, nearly imperceptible nod before saying, "I'm sure it will get sorted out. It has to. I'll do what I can to help. I did have a conversation with the dockyard supervisor - we're scheduled to work in Main Engineering starting tomorrow. I finally convinced them that they needed us...of course, it helps with three other teams fail to fix the problems."

One of the waitresses that had served them several times before made her way over to the table and smiled, preparing to take their orders. She glanced over at Caelene and waited.

"I'll have my usual, please, Laura (NPC)," the Trill replied quickly. As the others gave their orders and began discussing their situation further, her mind wandered a bit. She was dreadfully curious as to what Lee might have found and how. In addition to being a bit mysterious, he seemed surprisingly well connected. Maybe it was a coincidence...maybe it was due to how long he'd been working at the shipyard...or maybe it was something else...

OFF: Tag Vance

Earth Spacedock, Main Promenade, Callahan's Pub

Vance nodded in agreement when Caelene said the whole situation was ridiculous. It seemed to be pretty clear to Vance, they needed someone to pin it on and the perfect man was Hawke. However, Vance hadn't met any other members of the crew so he couldn't give his opinion about anyone else, maybe one of them did have a hand in it and they just didn't know that.

"He hid the information? Does he think one of the admiral's had something to do with it?" Vance asked, frowning slightly in confusion. If the man wasn't guilty, why was he hiding the information?

Axe's attention turned to Lee as he begun to speak. He was glad they had finally been given permission to go into engineering; they'd been made to wait long enough, he was intrigued to see the main engineering on a ship that big. It would sure beat a freighters main engineering room.

Axe turned to look at the waitress as she arrived to the booth. He looked at her and nodded in greeting, waiting for the others to give their meal choices and then speaking himself. "I'll have the pulled pork burrito." He paused for a moment before looking back at the group as the waitress left.

"It's about time they let us have a look at the main engineering. We've been the best team for the past two months. It feels as though we had to prove ourselves to them." Vance knew that it was most likely because Arol and Caelene had been on the Shran, but if the captain had told everyone where the information was it would've most likely already have been found. There was no reason to keep them away from main engineering. Not anymore.

[William Waring]

[Cargo Area]
Ardyn smiled as her guess was verified and the young man turned around. "Please, call me Ardy. We're not on the bridge here, after all. " She said as Will caught up with her. "Man, I'm glad to see people again. This job's rough, that's for sure. I swear the reassignment officer is secretly some kind of sadist." She joked as they walked across the hangar.  "I kinda miss the hustle and bustle of the bridge, but that just might be me. I used to run the racing circuits, so going on the fast track is just a way of life for me. The relaxation time is nice and all, but since I can't share it with anyone, it's just me and my thoughts." She broke off. It was an uncomfortable reality, being forced to slow down after running for so long. "So what about you? I've heard you used to be a freighter kind of guy. How did you manage it?"

[Cargo Bay -> Corridor]

"Oy! That Reassignment Officer happens to a yellow shirt so I take that as a personal attack!" He said in jest as he walked along listening to Ardy's account of running cargo before being caught off guard at the question.

"Oh..." He said, hesitating slightly "Well I was quite young...well younger and I was just looking for somewhere to belong. A sixteen year old doesn't have many places to go to when his parents are even less so when they pasted as suddenly as mine did." He took a moment to collect himself before continuing "I found a Freighter that needed an Engineer and joined up. Guess these counted as previous job experience" he said rolling his right sleeve up to expose faint burn marks on his upper arm "Plasma fires are nasty ya know. Anyway, it wasn't any one thing that kept me from going insane. Rather it was the constant action from either trade drops of some less then legal goods or being drunk with women on each arm." He finished the sentence quite sheepishly, admittedly embarrassed at his ways.

[James A. Hawke]

[James' Aparment]

James looked at Donna as he picked up his drink and listened to Donna.

" It's okay you have every reason to be on edge and I understand your doubts and mistrust if you don't know who to turn to and that's one of the reasons I'm here " she said reassuringly. " I know you James and Damon agrees with me that you didn't do this".

James remained silent for a second and thought of his options.  Explaining to her what happened might be necessary.  She was still his friend,  and he trusted her.  James thought of strategy.

"Thank you for your belief in me.  It's hard to trust people, and it's not because they are not trustworthy.  The data that they are looking for is a list and a coded operation by the Tal'Shiar.  For Months the Tal'Shiar has been manipulating upper levels individuals in the Government of the United Federation of Planet, the Admiralty, the civilian government anyone could be compromised and not know it." James explained

Things are great with me and Damon and life is pretty good, I'm now teaching at the Academy but at the moment I'm on maternity leave after giving birth to our daughter Emily, James, our son is now 3 and Jack is 10".

James stopped for a second and pondered.  "That's it!"

He placed his drink down and began walking.  Probably his habit of command.

He continued "You can't be an agent because of your Maternity Leave, you would not be in office at the time that you might be potentially compromised to be compromised.  The timelines don't match up. Who would have thought Emily, might be the biggest blessing for all of us."

James then said "I need to get out of here and steal a ship.  I guess if I am going to be a court-martial, why not add extra charges for the hell of it.  Don't worry the Data is not here, the Data is right under their noses"  James smiled at Donna as he thought of the place that he hid it.

He looked at Donna and said "You have a family, the priorities are different.  I can't ask you to do anything."

[Katheryn Brighton]

[James' Aparment]

James looked at Donna as he picked up his drink and listened to Donna.

James remained silent for a second and thought of his options.  Explaining to her what happened might be necessary.  She was still his friend,  and he trusted her.  James thought of strategy.

"Thank you for your belief in me.  It's hard to trust people, and it's not because they are not trustworthy.  The data that they are looking for is a list and a coded operation by the Tal'Shiar.  For Months the Tal'Shiar has been manipulating upper levels individuals in the Government of the United Federation of Planet, the Admiralty, the civilian government anyone could be compromised and not know it."  James explained
James stopped for a second and pondered.  "That's it!"

He placed his drink down and began walking.  Probably his habit of command.

He continued "You can't be an agent because of your Maternity Leave, you would not be in office at the time that you might be potentially compromised to be compromised.  The timelines don't match up. Who would have thought Emily, might be the biggest blessing for all of us."

James then said "I need to get out of here and steal a ship.  I guess if I am going to be a court-martial, why not add extra charges for the hell of it.  Don't worry the Data is not here, the Data is right under their noses"  James smiled at Donna as he thought of the place that he hid it.

He looked at Donna and said "You have a family, the priorities are different.  I can't ask you to do anything."

[James's Apartment]

NPC - Commander  Donna Booth

Donna paused for a moment to take a sip of her drink before returning her attention back to James as he looked at her and smiled as he thanked her before he began explaining more about this data that the higher ups were after. Now she understood a little more about why he was finding it hard to trust people. " No need to thank me James, I've always believed in you and trusted you ever since we met and you walked me down the aisle at mine and Damon's wedding " she replied as he then stopped for a moment and declared " That's it".

She was slightly confused at first as he began walking until he spoke about how Donna couldn't of been compromised due to her maternity leave and that Emily's arrival had been a blessing for them all. Again she couldn't help but smile at this statement and seeing the way he was acting reminded her of the times they had served together when he used to get an idea that usually always worked out for them in whatever situation they found themselves in.

Then when he looked at her after sharing his plan with her and said that he can't ask her to do anything because of her family and new priorities, she looked him straight in the eye as she answered him.

" I know you can't ask me James but I'm offering to help you " she said " Like I said earlier Damon and I talked about it before I came here and we both want to help and if that means stealing a ship and clearing your name then that's what we'll do".

[Michael Ferdinand]

[Starfleet Academy- San Francisco]
After a few hours at the park with Stephan and Anthony, Alyssa parted ways with them and made her way to the Academy. She wasn't sure if it was some cruel act or if it was the universe trying to poke fun at her, but someone in command thought that she would better be suited for a teaching position than one on an actual starship. Be that as it may, Alyssa wasn't too thrilled that she was only lecturing on basic anatomy to a bunch of first years.

The first day of the new lecture, Alyssa had laid down her expectations in her syllabus: No outside conversations, no distractions, no disrespect. Breaking any of these rules would invoke the wrath of Alyssa. There would be three exams, each one would be harder than the next. Every question on the exam would be either short answer or essay. There was a possibility to earn negative points, up to a negative 100%, if she felt like the students were wasting her time.

Today was the first exam.

"You have an hour to complete this exam. There are five questions. I will not be answering questions- any questions you have should have been asked during class or office hours. If you don't know the answer to a question, skip it. It's better to get zero points than to get negative points. Time starts....now"

The room went silent as the students flipped over their exams and began working. She watched them like a hawk as the next hour passed. She could see the discomfort on some of their faces. She had not made an easy exam, in fact, she made it as tricky as possible to see if she could weed any of them out. The fewer the students she had to deal with, the better.

[Fala Awen]

[Earth Spacedock, Main Promenade, Callahan's Pub]

Caelene listened as the others joined in on the discussion. Glancing around, she looked to see if Kay (NPC) was joining them, albeit late. She didn't see the El-Aurian, so perhaps Kay had had other things to do. As Vance responded, the Trill's attention turned back to her teammates.

"He hid the information? Does he think one of the admiral's had something to do with it?" Vance asked, frowning slightly in confusion. If the man wasn't guilty, why was he hiding the information?

Briefly, Caelene looked over at Lee (NPC), meeting his eyes for a moment before responding, "I've served with Captain Hawke long enough to know that what he does may not always make sense right away, but he has good reasons for doing so. Plus, consider this... If you were told that someone had evidence that the Federation President was going to be assassinated, what would you do? Personally, I would first increase the President's security and then I would look into the evidence."

"Instead, they sent two Sovereign-class vessels to see if we were the threat, didn't bother to do anything further to protect the President, and basically did what they could to prevent us from helping. And the President got assassinated, as Captain Hawke warned them. Doesn't that sound a little suspicious to you?" Caelene frowned; the whole thing was rather frustrating. And now here they were.

Caelene took a deep breath and felt Lee's hand gently squeezing her own. Usually she didn't get so worked up about things, but perhaps more of Milara's passion was coming through. Calming down, she listened as Lee changed the subject.

"It's about time they let us have a look at the main engineering. We've been the best team for the past two months. It feels as though we had to prove ourselves to them." Vance knew that it was most likely because Arol and Caelene had been on the Shran, but if the captain had told everyone where the information was it would've most likely already have been found. There was no reason to keep them away from main engineering. Not anymore.

"Well, we'll have our chance at it tomorrow. I'm sure we'll show them why they were wrong to keep us from Main Engineering for so long," the Trill replied with a smile. They were a good team, she had to admit. If she ever got posted back to a ship, Caelene only wished she could take them all with her.

[Caelene's temporary quarters, couple hours later]

After a nice meal and conversation with her team, her friends, they parted ways for the evening. Caelene had gone straight back to her quarters and, not long after, Lee joined her. For the past week or two, it had become their ritual. One that she had to admit she rather enjoyed.

Curled up in a corner of the loveseat, Caelene watched him with her dark eyes as he took a sip of wine. Her glass sat on the small end table, mostly ignored. It certainly wasn't the largest set of quarters she'd stayed in, but it was cozy and certainly better than other alternatives.

Lee's eyes were on her and he smiled. "So you were saying earlier that Hawke doesn't always make sense, hmm? How so?"

"He just has his own way of doing things. As far as I can tell, he does always have a plan, but he doesn't want an enemy to know it and I suppose that if some of us realized what it was, our reactions could give it away. Once he had us plot a course to Risa, just to redirect some ships that might have been following us," Caelene explained, thinking back to one of their previous missions.

Lee nodded as he took another drink from the glass. "Risa? Why would an enemy find that believable? Wouldn't it make more sense to plot a course to a starbase or something? Does he just really like Risa and thought it would make the most sense? Perhaps someone special for him there?"

"I can't say I particularly considered that," Caelene admitted, watching Lee a little more closely. "Doesn't everyone like Risa?"

"Well, I suppose they do. I guess I just wonder if he has some obvious hobbies or likes or dislikes - ones obvious enough that enemies would know about them - that Hawke might use as misdirection," Lee said, shrugging slightly.

"You mean some kind of clue as to where he hid the data," Caelene said matter-of-factly as she stared directly at Lee. "You're pumping me for information. I know you've shown some interest in this situation, but what's really going on here? A normal person would have simply come out and asked me. Are you some kind of government spy or something?" If he was, he was a really bad one if even she could tell what he was attempting.

Lee sighed quietly and looked away a moment before meeting her gaze. "I'm not a spy. Not the kind you think anyway; I'm not working for the people who set up your CO and your crew. I'm just trying to get to the truth to help sort this all out. And I'm getting close, but I need that data that Hawke hid. Can you help me?"

The Trill stared him for several moments before standing and beginning to pace. Did she believe him? She certainly wanted to believe that he just wanted to help, but it could all be a trick. All of it. Caelene turned back towards Lee, looking into his eyes. Was all of it a lie? His affection towards her?

Lee must have noticed the look in her eyes because he stood and joined her, his eyes looking into hers as he took her face in his hands. "I know what you must be thinking, but it's not true. Well, perhaps that was part of my assignment initially, to get close to you...but the more I got to know you, the more I wanted to be close to you, to be with you, Caelene. Honestly, all I want to do is help put things right. Can you help me?"

Her heart fluttered as she felt him near her, touching her. Caelene searched his eyes, looking for the truth. If he was some kind of spy or agent, he would surely be able to fake his feelings. Maybe she was being naive, but she believed him. "I don't know where he would have hid the data, Lee. If I did, I would've gotten it already and would have been looking for ways to clear his name."

Nodding, Lee told her, "I need to go and make contact with someone else who might be able to help. It might be something, or it might be a waste of time. If it does pan out, we may have some real evidence to go on, though. I'll be back in a few hours, hopefully with good news."

"I'll wait for you. And I do want to believe... This is a lot to process at once. Please...be careful," Caelene said, frowning slightly. She wasn't sure how to feel or what exactly to believe, but she wanted to believe him.

Reaching down, he tilted her chin towards him and said quietly, "Listen to me Caelene... I care about you. These past couple months have been some of the best I've had while on assignment. My feelings for you are real; they've grown and developed, particularly these last few weeks. I... I love you, Caelene."

She watched him closely and stood, speechless. As he leaned down towards her, she felt his lips press against hers gently at first, and then more passionately as the kiss deepened. Caelene slipped her arms around his neck and kissed him back until he pulled away slowly, smiling at her.

Taking one of her hands in his, he kissed the back of it, "I have to go now, but I'll be back. I promise. I'll see you soon." Lee moved back to the love seat to pick up his jacket, then smiled and walked out the door.

Emotions coursing through her like a storm, the Trill nodded, taking a moment to catch her breath before practically collapsing on the love seat. She still wasn't completely sure if she could believe him or not, but she truly hoped she could. She didn't want to believe these feelings were all lie.

And what if he could get evidence to clear James? Would anyone listen?

OFF: Tag Vance in part 1

[Ardyn Jaeger]

[Cargo Bay -> Corridor]

"Oy! That Reassignment Officer happens to a yellow shirt so I take that as a personal attack!" He said in jest as he walked along listening to Ardy's account of running cargo before being caught off guard at the question.

"Oh..." He said, hesitating slightly "Well I was quite young...well younger and I was just looking for somewhere to belong. A sixteen year old doesn't have many places to go to when his parents are even less so when they pasted as suddenly as mine did." He took a moment to collect himself before continuing "I found a Freighter that needed an Engineer and joined up. Guess these counted as previous job experience" he said rolling his right sleeve up to expose faint burn marks on his upper arm "Plasma fires are nasty ya know. Anyway, it wasn't any one thing that kept me from going insane. Rather it was the constant action from either trade drops of some less then legal goods or being drunk with women on each arm." He finished the sentence quite sheepishly, admittedly embarrassed at his ways.

[Cargo area -> Corridor]
Ardyn nodded as she listened to Will's story, understanding perhaps all too well his pain. There's no need to be embarrassed about that around me." She said, nodding "I actually do know." She said as she pulled up her sleeve, revealing the still-angry red scars crisscrossing her forearm. "I actually ran away from my home when I was 16, because my dad was killed on duty while arresting this dude for illegal Ketracel-White smuggling. My dad was really the only reason I stayed at home. I joined the shuttle-racing circuits and for a while, I made my living being the poster girl for the gamblers." She said, with a slight glance at her scars. "That ended though when the engine flap on my flyer failed and sent me careening into a barrier. My copilot was killed on impact." She sighed. "I guess we both were screwed by life, eh?"

[T'Ra Jones]

[Earth - Stevenson, WA]

As her father-in-law began to search in earnest for Steve, T'Ra snuggled up under her fleece blanket, between that and the roaring fire, she was quite warm and content. Though it was nothing in comparison to Vulcan, the heat helped make her feel at home.

"Wie zum Teufel..." T'Ra opened her eyes to find Henrik staring up at the ceiling. She followed his gaze. Sure enough, there was Steve, sitting calmly on the blade of a ceiling fan as it slowly spun in circles. "How the devil did he get up there?"