"You're leaving?!? Why are you leaving? You can't leave!"
"Please calm down, Francesca," said Benton. "It's just something I have to do." He stepped from his closet to his bed and placed a stack of neatly-folded shirts into the suitcase he was packing.
"You can't go back to live on New Kelva," insisted Francesca, removing the neatly-folded stack of shirts from the suitcase and dumping them on the bed.
"I was born there. I miss the open wilderness. I feel it calling me," explained Benton. He picked up one of the shirts and began refolding it.
"Look, I've been to New Kelva. Trust me, nothing can survive there; nothing's calling you."
Benton put down his shirt and looked at Francesca. He'd been pretty sure she wouldn't understand his decision to leave the Virgo, and had been dreading this encounter. He'd try to explain the situation one more time, although he was pretty sure it wouldn't sway the girl's attitude. In the end, she'd just have to learn to live with it.
"I have to go," he began again. "The Orion Syndicate has established a base of operations in the far northern latitudes of New Kelva. They're smuggling baby sealbird furs, and there's no one on New Kelva who can stop them. They need me. My Starfleet experience will prove invaluable."
"But...."
"No 'Buts', Francesca. The Virgo's mission is over. Our success was unprecedented. We ranged the length and breadth of the Gamma Quadrant. We encountered and overcame beings that shot laser beams out of their eyes; genetic relatives of the Founders, the Vorta and the Jem'Hadar; intergalactic Sirens; the Horde of Xenon III, not to mention the godlike Pharox; the parasitic Kullinari; Section 31; Kelvans from Andromeda; and the demonic T'rais. We went through spatial and temporal anomalies and survived. That's something to tell your kids about."
"Yeah, well, about that... I thought... Uh, that is...."
"But that's over," said Benton quickly, not allowing Francesca to change the subject. "We're on to new things. I'm off to New Kelva, and you've got your career in Starfleet to look after."
"Yeah... Well...," wavered Francesca.
Benton stepped around his bed and put an arm lightly about Francesca's shoulders. He steered her towards the cabin door. In placating tones, he continued talking as he walked, "Now, since the Virgo will be departing Jupiter Station shortly to return to Earth Spacedock, I'm sure you have a few things you have to attend to yourself."
"Well, sure...."
"Good. Why don't you see to those while I finish packing, and I'll see you later." The door to Benton's cabin parted, admitting the pair to the corridor outside.
"Okay," said Francesca quietly. She knew she'd lost. Standing in the middle of the corridor where she'd let herself be led, she hung her head and hunched her shoulders to keep Benton from seeing her face. Her back to Benton, Francesca sniffed softly, tried to wipe her nose and watering eyes as inconspicuously as she could. She tried to control her emotions, but the battle was lost even before it began.
Spinning around, she cried, "Oh, Benton!" and wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his broad chest. Surprised, Benton was momentarily frozen. After a second though, his arms came up instinctively and held the quietly sobbing woman close to him.
The doors to his cabin slid shut behind him, and Benton walked back over to the bed. Nonchalantly, he picked up one of the crumpled shirts and began folding it again.
From the corner of the small cabin, where he'd slouched, ignored, all throughout the previous interchange between his commanding officer and Francesca, Sitto Lan unfolded his arms from across his chest and stood up straight. Normally he would have razzed his boss unmercifully for his naiveté, but this wasn't the time. Instead, he said, softheartedly, "Rough, huh?"
Benton looked up from his folding and erected a perfectly puzzled expression on his face. "What do you mean, Sitto?" His emotional shield was apparently fully back in place.
Sitto snorted softly and took a step over to the bed. He understood perfectly. He picked up another one of the crumpled shirts and started trying to fold it. "Never mind," he said. Deciding to change the subject, he said, "So, you really going to leave Starfleet?"
Benton took the shirt Sitto was trying to fold from him and started to refold it himself, correctly. "Yes, Sitto."
Deprived of the shirt he was trying to fold, Sitto fiddled for a few seconds with his hands, then decided to clasp them behind his back. "Well, we'll all miss you around here, you big alien freak...."
Benton stopped folding. He thought for a moment, then turned to face Sitto and said, "Why don't you join me, Sitto!"
"Wha...?"
"Why not? I certainly could use a little extra help. Those Orion Syndicate members are pretty slippery."
Sitto took a step back -- the small cabin only allowed a single step -- and thought. The notion of leaving Starfleet had never occurred to him. He'd always assumed he'd stay in the service until they wrapped a flag around his coffin and shot him out a torpedo tube. But now his friend had offered an alternative, and he found, to his surprise, that it was not entirely unappealing. He wasn't too fond of cold climates, but still, something made him say, "Benny, I'm with you."
Planet: New Kelva, Northern Hemisphere, two weeks later....
Icy peaks loomed high above both to the left and to the right of the narrow mountain pass. Somewhere still to the north lay the secret Orion Syndicate hideout. Benton held tight to the handle bars of the snow-speeder he was driving. His lifelong companion Spot was quite comfortably clinging to his shoulder, obviously reveling in the sensation of wind whipping through his fur. Benton's other passenger seemed a little less comfortable. Sitto Lan was scrunched on the back of the sled, trying to keep from being bucked off and left behind in this god-forsaken wasteland.
"Where are we?" he shouted above the wind.
"An ice field!" shouted Benton over his shoulder.
"What's that?"
"A field of ice!"
Any further comments were cut off by the icy wind. Together, the three of them -- Benton, Sitto and Spot -- rode into the impenetrable north of New Kelva.
Ensign Francesca Milano was last seen trying to charter a spaceflight to New Kelva....