Kassia sat on the couch, intently reading the PADD in her hand. This was the last of a bunch that had been given her to study. She reviewed everything in it carefully, losing herself in the information. The other PADDs she had reviewed sat stacked up on her desk in the corner. There were about 40 or so there. Suddenly the door sensor sounded.
"Enter," she called out, not lifting her head from the PADD.
Someone entered. As she focused her mind, she sensed it was Captain Wallace. Immediately, she stood up and put the PADD down. She smiled, but sensed there was something wrong.
"Captain," she said with surprise, "Hello. I'm glad you're here, I was actually going to contact you later about more study materials. I've already gone through what you and the other senior staff assigned me . . . What brings you here?" She asked, her green eyes flickering with the images she picked up from him. There was a new threat.
"Civilians are being evacuated from the station in two days," he said. "I wanted to bring you the news myself, before it went through regular channels . . . I also think its best that you are evacuated with the rest of the civilians. You're not a Starfleet Officer yet and this won't be pretty."
"Oh, please, Captain, don't send me . . . I've already learned a lot . . Maybe . . . Maybe I know enough to be of some use . . ." she said.
"In one month's time?" he questioned, skeptically.
"Yes," she replied. "I've read everything you've given me. I have taken instruction from most of your senior staff . . ."
"But in one month what could you have learned."
"Everything there," she said, motioning to the stacked PADDs, "And everything your officers have taught me."
He gazed at her, his skepticism still in tact. He walked to the PADDs and pulled one at random. "You don't mind if I give you a quick quiz, do you?" he asked.
"Not at all, Captain," she said, as a smile spread across her face once more, "In fact, I would love the chance to show you what I know."
He nodded and reviewed the PADD looking for something to ask her about.
Wallace retrieved a PADD and noted the title: "Liver Function In The Adult Klingon." "That's strange. I didn't think you had this level of medical reading outlined for you by Dr. Cherrin. Very well. What functions does the liver serve in an adult Klingon? How is this different from the function of a juvenile Klingon?" Wallace asked, wondering for himself what the difference was.
Kassia cleared her throat, and steadied her nerves. "In an adult Klingon, the liver is the primary organ in both the endocrine and lymphatic systems, providing both the majority of all hormones needed for survival and interstitial fluid needed to support cellular structures. With the exception of reproduction, nearly every major glandular function in Klingons is handled by the liver. Early Klingon physicians noted this and as a result the liver plays as prominent a role in their figurative speech as the brain and heart play in human expression. In juvenile Klingons, the liver is also responsible for producing growth hormones. After the liver itself reaches a certain size, puberty is triggered."
Wallace read the PADD for a moment. "That was a thumbnail sketch, but essentially you're correct according to this. Now, let's try another one," he said, producing a PADD entitled "Tellarite Ceremonial Rites."
"Here's a cultural question: what is the Crossing in Tellarite culture, and what does it represent?"
Kassia thought for a moment. "The Crossing is the principal Tellarite funerary rite, representing both the transition of the Tellarite soul to the afterlife and the naming of a replacement to fill the deceased's role in society. The replacement may be specified by the deceased's superior, who usually conducts the ceremony. More commonly the replacement is specified in a will or by the deceased's family and is usually a mate, a younger sibling, or a cousin."
Wallace was stunned. "Well, you probably knew that from your business," he said. He searched through the PADDs. I need to find something that she doesn't know already, and that she couldn't have scanned Tarik for. Ah--here! he said, producing another PADD: "Introductory Biochemistry"
"Name the four nucleic acids common to human DNA, and their pairings."
Kassia rattled them off quickly. "Adenine, cytosne, guanine, and thymine. Adenine links via hydrogen bonding with thymine, and cytosine links via hydrogen bonding with guanine. The nucleic acids are held together by sugar-phospate chains; hydrogen bonds and electron repulsion between the base pairs and the sugar-phosphate chains form the DNA double helix."
Wallace's jaw dropped. "Okay, one final question," he said, pulling up a PADD entitled "Starfleet Procurement Procedures V.2.5.1" "What form must be used for the procurement of weaponry, controlled substances, or items with a sale value over 1500 credits? How must it be processed?"
"Form SF-393, with amendment 393a providing justification for purchase. It must be countersigned by the component quartermaster, the requesting official's commanding officer, and the component commanding officer if the two are not one and the same."
Wallace still wasn't satisfied. "Maintenance cycle for a runabout?" he asked as he looked at an Engineering PADD.
"30 days' sustained operation at Warp 4 or greater," Kassia answered.
"Chukiov's rule for close-quarters combat?" Wallace asked, drawing a PADD on infantry tactics.
"No advance must proceed any farther than 30 meters, or the distance a grenade can be thrown, whichever is greater," Kassia responded.
Finally, after a dozen more questions, Wallace relented. "Congratulations, Kassia. You're now a Lieutenant Junior Grade. As the station's counselor, you'll be responsible for coordinating the evacuation. Once that's done, I'm detailing you to Sickbay. They'll need all the help they can get!"
Wallace shook his head, still not believing it, as he gazed at her. She had literally absorbed several years worth of learning, if not more, in just about a month. He had no doubt that if he had been able to have her tested, she would have passed . . . No question about it . . . The pride of accomplishment shined in her green eyes. He was pleased with her performance, she sensed . . . More than pleased! And that was very important to her. She had exceeded his expectations.
Not long after Wallace had finished his examination of Kassia, Tarik stopped by. He was in full armor minus his helmet, a rifle slung over his back and a hand phaser at his waist. "Captain, our deployments are complete. I have a reserve force of two platoons in case you wish to board the intruding vessels. But between us and Security this station is ready for whatever they've got coming. We're not going to get caught flat-footed this time!"
"Very good," Wallace said. "Notify the construction crew on the planet to prepare to receive our civilians and other noncombatants," he said. The base on the planet was just beginning construction; a camp for construction workers was still only half-full and would be used to accommodate many of the evacuees and a dirt landing field had been graded out.
"Aye, sir." Business having been attended to, Wallace left, leaving Tarik with Kassia. "I suppose you'll be headed down to the planet. Let me know how it turns out," he said.
"I'm not going," she replied quietly, a hint of a smile on her face, her green eyes shining.
"You're not?" Tarik asked, surprised. Then it dawned on him. "Congratulations!" he said as he embraced her gently--the armor couldn't be any more comfortable pressed up against Kassia than it was for him to wear it.
She laughed softly as he gently released her. "Yeah, Captain Wallace gave me a little review and made me an officer. I'm to coordinate the evacuation and then report to sickbay . . . I guess I'm here for the long-haul." She was happy, but her previous excitement was dying down a bit. "I can't believe it . . . I'm actually a Starfleet Officer . . . A Lieutenant Junior Grade at that . . ."
"Welcome to Hell," Tarik said. "Trust me--this is not going to be easy, but I have every confidence that you will do well. Do you realize that you're only one grade lower than I was when I first came on board the station? Keep it up, and I'll be saluting you!" he laughed.
"Yeah, right," she laughed. "It just doesn't feel real yet . . ." She looked at the armor he wore. "Can you get out of that yet? Or do you have more simulations to run?" She asked.
"I'd love to, but we're officially at yellow alert," Tarik said. "The enemy could come at any moment. We've both got a lot of work to do! When we get through this," Tarik continued, carefully avoiding use of the word if, "we'll make up for it. I promise you!"
"Well, I need to tell Troy about this also . . ." she said. "He won't be thrilled, I'm sure, but I guess he'll deal with it okay . . . At least I hope so . . . And I found out about Paul being in the Brig and why . . . " she said, quietly. "Captain Wallace thinks he's responsible for what's going on . . ."
"Paul brings a lot of his problems upon himself. But something doesn't sound quite right about this latest one. This goes beyond the usual legendary Deveraux lechery and debauchery. Not even Paul would do something this stupid--certainly not if he knew it would put the colony in danger!" Tarik said.
"And that's just it . . . " she said, as she went through the images she had gotten from the Captain's mind. "I KNOW Paul didn't do it . . . I mean, I can't say anything . . . Whose going to simply take my word for it? But I know he didn't . . . " This obviously was concerning her, and what made it worse was there was nothing she could do about it.
"When this clears up, I think this situation will bear some more looking into," Tarik said. "I find it hard to believe that the enemy took Morristown without a single casualty if the colonists had as much hardware as we're led to believe. This sounds like a set-up."
"Which also means its most likely one of the officers here . . ." she replied. "Eventually I'll come into contact with most everyone who could have possibly pulled this off . . . When I do, maybe I'll know . . . Maybe then, I can do something . . ."
"Don't do anything on your own," Tarik warned. "You've advanced quite a bit, but whoever it is is very likely much more experienced than you. If you suspect anything, contact me or Captain Wallace, whoever's available. I'm pretty sure it's not him; he knows your capabilities and he wouldn't put you in a position to discover his culpability if he were the perpetrator."
"Its definitely not Wallace," she replied. "I felt his emotions as I read his memory on what exactly happened . . . At first I just picked up a couple of random images and . . . Well, sometimes my gifts take control of themselves . . . That's how I know what happened." She smiled softly. "I promise I won't do anything stupid." Her green eyes met his dark.
"Good. Stick to that--I don't feel like losing you," Tarik said. "May I use your comm channel? Without my helmet on I can't use my own communicator right now," he explained. Kassia nodded. Tarik stepped up to the comm panel in Kassia's quarters and activated a channel to thesurface.
An older civilian picked up. "Construction shack--Higgins," he said.
"Mr. Higgins, this is Lieutenant Colonel Tarik on the station. We're going to be evacuating the station very shortly and we'll need to use the site. How ready is everything?"
[We've just finished surfacing the landing pad. A lot of your people are going to have to stay in tents, or be put up in town, but I think we can handle the traffic.]
"Very good. I would be expecting the first arrivals in about an hour. We'll also be sending down security forces should the enemy break through our line here. Thank you for your help, Mr. Higgins."
[After all you guys have done for us, it's the least we can do! If you'll excuse me, I've got some work to do if you're sending your people down so soon!]
"Very good. Tarik out." The screen flicked off. "Okay, that's taken care of. When this is over with, there are some other issues I want to discuss with you," Tarik told Kassia. "Some new responsibilities of mine, and something that's come up for me personally. Don't worry about it now," he said, noting the concern in her eyes. "Right now we both have a job to do!"
She nodded. "Okay," she replied, "I do need to get to coordinating, so that everyone gets out of here safely . . ." She was happy that the Captain believed in her enough to give her this responsibility and she was certainly going to see to it that everyone would leave and be safe . . .
Tarik embraced Kassia once again, then gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "Whatever you do, don't panic! People are counting on you now. I know you'll do just fine!" he said.
She smiled. "Thank you . . ."
"Now, on with the show!" he said as he left Kassia's quarters, almost running. Kassia could sense the fever pitch of emotions combining joy, excitement, fear, and outright anger. She knew Tarik would be all right.