The past two months hadn't been too exciting. Even though it was more difficult to sneak an entire shuttlecraft, even with a cloaking device, into Virgo than it had been to get herself in, it wasn't too demanding a task. She was able to route the necessary power from the LaForge to Virgo so that the power usage of the transporters was virtually undetectable.
That only took until late September. The next month was filled with boredom for Solacetta. Things were happening on the ship, granted, but as far as the shuttle bay was concerned, nothing. The only daily activity she had was making sure no one would detect the cloak in the shuttle bay. She had to also make sure that the power drain was hid well enough. She managed to only use 1% of the fusion reactor's power to keep the ship cloaked and attached to the shuttle bay ceiling. She hadn't yet had to worry about any crews coming near her since the shuttle bay was empty.
It gave Solacetta a little satisfaction that the Cochrane had been destroyed in order to kill her, and then she had turned around and stole the remaining shuttle. Sure, they had a few small shuttles and such, but nothing closely resembling a runabout. And, nothing, to say the least, with a cloaking device.
As the time went by, Solacetta watched the databases and reports to see if anything helpful happened. She could have easily stayed on Kirus, but she didn't want to leave without Valdago. Finally, her patience had paid off. She got her chance, but she had to work in the science labs for a few hours before she was ready for a visit.
Loran had come up with the idea for a new shuttlecraft shortly after he got the go ahead on his cloaking device theory. He had wanted to be able to make a test device for a shuttle, but all the remaining shuttles were not powerful enough. Also, he needed a shuttle with warp power so he could test how the power drain would effect the cloak so he could modify one for the Virgo. He asked the captain shortly after his return if he could build a new shuttlecraft. He said yes.
He had been running holographic test after test. Finally he had gotten the models to work, it was time to build the actual shuttle.
Of course, he was supposed to be in the shuttle bay in a few minutes to help K'Lara begin assembly, but he had gotten so intrigued by the fusion reactor that he was currently up to his ears in parts of the reactor. Ek'Ra had been working on it, and to get his mind clear he decided to put in some time on it. He decided to dismantle it and reassemble it to see what happened. He was just a little overzealous when he began to work on it with only one hour left.
"Thomas!" he yelled. The leader of the Alpha team was Thomas Galen. The man was very good. He had a wonderful knack for surprising Loran. Granted, they had completely different styles, but they both worked wonderfully. Whereas Loran was the kind of man that spent an hour cleaning out minor control panels and running tests and diagnostics to solve a problem, Galen usually just kicked the broken machine. Amazingly, it worked far more often than one would expect. And, it saved Loran lots of time. If kicking didn't work, and no other immediate quick-fix discovered the problem, then Loran took over. He could find any problem with enough time.
"Sir," the young Human asked.
"I want you to go to Shuttle Bay Two. I'm suppose to work with Lt. K'Lara on the Lambda Flier. I want there to be a little lambda, the Greek symbol, near the rear entrance to the shuttle, and 'Lt. Garek Loran' painted under the left and right windows of the shuttle. Unfortunately, I'm a bit busy and so is Ek'Ra."
"I told you to kick it." He smiled. "But, no, you decided to take the whole damn thing apart." The two got along great, that's why Loran and changed sides and joined Valdago's baseball team, he and Galen worked great together.
"Well, I think I'll have better luck this way." The truth was that he had tried to kick it, but just couldn't bring himself to do that. He treated the Virgo like a lady.
"No problem, how long will you be?"
"Not too long. But, if you don't stop bugging me I'll never finish." Thomas stood straight as a board and gave small salute. It was the salute of the old navies of many Terran cultures. Now it was simply a way of making a joke. As long as it was only between Galen and he, Loran had no problem with a little joke now and then. Galen had shown that he knew when it was time for play and time for work. Galen turned on his heel and marched out of Engineering.
Then Loran remembered he, himself had enough work to do. He got back to cleaning and reassembling the fusion reactor.
Security was just as busy. Lataro had a lot to do.
He was looking for someone to replace him. With his promotion to First Officer, he was in charge of choosing the replacement even if he didn't want to.
He was having trouble deciding. Lt. Garza was a very trustworthy man. He was very good at his job. But, he had his own style. Lataro didn't know if he wanted that to happen. He wanted a little more security. That's why he was looking at Sitto Lan. He had shown promise, but was very green. He could be trained to be more like Lataro had been.
He put the PADD down and rubbed his eyes. He looked at the chronometer at saw that he was due in Shuttle Bay Two shortly.
He decided that he would give each man a chance and see who worked the best.
"Lataro to Lt. Garza."
[Garza here. What can I do for you?]
"I need you to go Shuttle Bay Two for a bit. I'll be there to help construct the new shuttle in a little bit, but I'm overloaded with paperwork right now. Can you do that for me?"
[Of course I can. I'll go right now. Garza out.]
Now to get some of this work done. I think I'll talk to the captain about my replacement. He picked up another PADD and began to work.
K'Lara was in the shuttle bay. Jonathan had become more confident since the theft of the LaForge. Lt. JG M'Terrn walked into the shuttle bay with Thomas Galen and Garza. Thomas said, "I'm suppose to apologize for the absence of Lt. Loran. He's going to be a bit late. He's working on the fusion reactor, and he was right in the middle of putting it back together. He's really a fine tuner. He asked me to come down here until he arrived."
"How odd, I'm here for Lataro for the same reason," said Garza.
"Really?" questioned Galen. "Commander Lataro is putting a fusion reactor back together too?" Galen smiled. Garza rolled his eyes.
"All right, let's get to work," K'Lara interrupted. She walked over to a nearby piece of tritanium and began to haul it to the center of the shuttle bay. Hopefully they could finish in the next month.
Ensign Julia Yosh was finishing up a few things in Sickbay before her relief came in. She had taken a seat at Dr. Nori's desk and was working on an experiment she was supervising. Lt. Richardson was due any second now. The doors opened. Julia began to shut down the monitor.
"Not much to do I'm afraid. Valdago's sleeping and there aren't any other patients. Dana said she was going to try and make it in here at..." she stepped out of the office. She suddenly remembered that she had to get her PADD off the desk. She turned around to get it.
A phaser fired. Julia laid on the unconscious on the floor in the now empty sickbay.
Lataro was headed the the bridge to talk to Maruu. He had decided that he would present both men's profiles and see what he thought. He had grown to respect the captain's decisians very highly. He was sure that whatever Stephen thought would be best would be best.
The klaxon sounded as Lataro entered the bridge.
Maruu turned in his seat after hearing the report from Tara. He stood up and nodded at Lataro. "Good to see you, Jon. Now turn around and get to sickbay. Our favorite Kirusan is missing."
"Never a dull moment. Is there, Sir?"
"Not aboard this ship."
When Lataro entered sickbay, he noticed Dr. Nori and her patient Ensign Yosh. Nori was healing the wound on Yosh's arm. Evidently she had been shot by a phaser. Lt. Richardson had been discovered in his quarters. His neck had been broken.
"Dr. Richardson was dead when we found him. Whoever snapped his neck knew exactly what they were doing." She felt a slight embarrassment at her unemotional report of the death of a co-worker. "I'm sorry if I seem a little inconsiderate, but as a doctor I've tried as hard as I can to repress the regret of a death."
"Understandable. I've tried to do the same. Is there any other information you can give me?"
Ensign Yosh jumped down off the table. She looked a bit nervous. Of course, she had just been shot. Fright wasn't an odd feeling after that type of occurrence. "Not anything more than Lt. Valdago is gone and his com badge is sitting right here." She handed the badge to Lataro.
"Thank you. I'll be sure to keep you posted." He went to his office.
Valdago slowly began to wake up. He had a slight feeling of disorientation when he opened his eyes. He was onboard a shuttlecraft. It was the LaForge. "What the hell?"
"I see you've awoken. I guess we can start," the android said.
"Start what. Dismantling you?"
Solacetta shook her head. "After all I've done for you, and this is how you treat me."
"All you've done for me? Like try to kill me?"
"Oh," said the android, "that wasn't personal. I was going through a lot of hard time and emotions. The weapon was only going to stun you so that I could do what I'm going to do now. I don't have any worries that you'll come around. It's time to start your restructuring."
"You want to make me Human too. Do I threaten you or something?"
"You think so small. You don't understand what we have. My positronic brain was enhanced when I was transformed. You received a fraction of the physical abilities that you could have. Together we are one. I posses the strength naturally but was given Kirusan emotions. You had the emotions and was give the Kirusan physiology. We are each half-Kirusan, neither of us is whole."
Valdago looked back into the blank stare of his ex-crewmate. "As you said before, I'm not even half-Kirusan."
"That's what we're going to fix. I can make you fully Kirusan. Fulfil your destiny." She held up a hypospray. "This is all you need. I know what Dr. Nori has planned for you. And, I can tell by your reaction that you weren't very fond of that plan either. You don't want to loose your new status."
"Bull sh..."
"No. You enjoy the power. The respect. Tell me, how did you feel when Lt. Commander Lataro apologized to you. You saw the fear in his eyes, didn't you. I saw it too. I was watching. You people went on with you lives not knowing that I was onboard the whole time. I was only cloaked outside of the ship for a few days."
"You mean, we're still onboard?"
"Yes. We are not ready to leave yet. I need to wait to be sure the transmogrification goes correctly before I leave. Or, before WE leave."
"I will not go with you."
The two shared a silence before Solacetta spoke up again. "I do not understand your rebellion. But, either way, I will not force you to go. I simply wish to fulfill your destiny. You have to either become fully Kirusan, or revert to your puny Human state. Don't you want to know what it's like to shoot with those eyes. They have the ability, you know. You just can't do it. Maybe if you had been allowed to convert for one more minute? Who knows. You know the way people look at you now. With respect. With fear. Do you want to go back to that worthless state you were in before? Do you think Garza would have turned you in when you tried to leave the ship if you had that body? No, he wouldn't dare. You can not go back now."
"Maybe I don't have to. Dr. Nori says it may be possible to fix me without changing my current status."
"You know that is not possible as much as I do. Her theory is a...a fantasy. Remember how hard he pushed her to discover a cure? Do you really think she would waste her time on another option? The truth is that you don't have much time. You're getting sicker, sicker than even Rendex Geor can fix." Valdago looked at Solacetta, and she could see his thoughts in those slits for eyes. She had opened his mind. "I will let you think about it. We will talk again in a few hours. I have some more surprises that may help you change your mind."