—- USS Luna, Stellar Cartography Lab —-

Astrometrics Officer Lieutenant Eshita Das nodded at Assistant Chief Astrometrics Officer Lieutenant Akane Sone. The two women were busy interpreting the data that the USS Luna had been collecting, a significant amount more on the past few missions than they’d managed to collect before. The Luna had a robust section dedicated to the study, since it so often went where no one had gone before, but with underspace now that was increasing. The last two missions they’d found themselves where no Starfleet vessel had been before, all in a matter or hours.

It was an exciting time to be assigned to the Luna, Das reflected. It seemed like rather than patrolling space lanes the universe had opened up now, and they’d be going off to far flung regions of space. Given that Das had only been off of the planet Earth a few times in the past, and never out of the Sol system, this time on the Luna was exciting.

If there was confusion about Stellar Cartography and Astrometrics outside of the department, and there was, the fact was that inside they understood quite well what each of their duties were. Stellar Cartography offered immediate and actionable data to the captain (or in this case commander) and charted the stars. Astrometrics dug deeper into questions of what was going on out there. About what they were seeing and what it was that they were likely to encounter. If Stellar Cartography asked and answered “What’s around us” then Astrometrics asked and answered “What’s over there next mountain.”

Right now with the ship at maximum warp they were running like a Klingon from a tribble and not stopping to ask what they might find. While there was still plenty of data being collected, their roles were much more narrow in a fight of flight situation like the Luna found itself in at the moment.

“So you get up to anything this week?” Sone asked, though they were running the Luna at full speed the crew still socialized and while they had not had away teams, or shore leave she was interested in knowing how Das was getting on socially. She woman seemed to have workaholic tendencies, and though she was not her supervisor she wanted to make sure that everyone was getting enough R&R on top of their shifts.

“Hmm,” Das said dodging the question as she studied a map of a section of space that they’d come through shortly after arriving in the Delta Quadrant from the Triangle. A gaseous anomaly had blocked their scans leaving more of that area of space blacked out on their maps.

Das pulled up the map on a larger wall mounted screen, “What do you think that is?”

“If we had more time we could check it out, but it could be anything,” Sone said.

“Awful good place to hide ships,” suggested Das, “If we bombard it with something we can scan like neutrons then we could get a ‘sonar’ like image.”

“We could reallocate some of the resources for the main deflector dish,” Sone said, “I’d need to get Lieutenant Scchhttt’aaakkk’s approval,” Sone said, “But it’s worth a look.”

—- USS Luna, Tranquility Base Lounge —-

Doctor Thomas Elordi spotted the Indian woman across the bar. He remembered her from the physical exam that he’d done on her back at Starbase 86 when she come aboard, but other than in passing he’d not had occasion to see her since. He found that mostly people avoid medical bay unless they had reason to be there, and so he spent most of his time with the nurses and the Chief Medical Officer T’Rala.

“May I sit here?” he asked, gesturing to one of the many open seats at her table.

Das looked up and then at the seats, setting down the PADD that she had been reading, while it would be at least another hour before their scans provided any usable data she was reading what could block long range sensors like that.

“I suppose,” she said shrugging as if she did not care either way, “I’m just reading.”

“Something interesting I hope,” Elordi said as he sat with his drink.

“Doctor Brewer’s thesis on interference in long range sensors,” Lieutenant Eshita Das answered.

Dr. Elordi nodded, “I haven’t read anything that interesting since the Academy.”

Das made a sound, and looked back at her PADD taking a drink of her tea. Elordi stood and got food from the replicator and sat down with a bowl of ramen noodles in broth and a pair of chopsticks. Not wanting ton interrupt her work flow he said nothing, but he slurped his noodles a bit distracting Das and causing her to put her PADD down and eye him.

“Sorry I’m not good with chopsticks,” he apologized.

“It’s fine, the Japanese slurp their noodles, I was stationed in Tokyo for a few years before the Luna,” Das said explaining, “So you a doctor first or a Starfleet Officer first?”

Elordi shrugged, “I don’t know if I understand the distinction.”

“Being in Starfleet, getting on a ship like the Luna, that was my goal,” Das said, “Astrometrics was just a way to get to that goal, and I turned out to be good at it. Some people know they want to be doctors and then end up going into the fleet just to pursue that, other people know they want to be in the fleet then they find that being a doctor is their way in.”

“My parents were both doctors,” Elordi said, “I was a doctor first I guess. But this way I can do that and talk to beautiful women in the lounge too.”

Das snorted, “That line ever work for you?”

Elordi shrugged, “I don’t know did it?”

“You like Bollywood?” Das asked.

“I don’t know what that is?” Elordi admitted.

“Old movies, dancing singing,” Das explained moving both of her hands.

“You mean Hollywood?” the doctor asked.

“No,” Das said, “I don’t actually mean Hollywood.”

“Sorry, not a clue,” Elordi said.

Das rolled her eyes, “Lieutenant Acharya and myself are going to start doing some Bollywood inspired exercises. We’re both from India. She’s bringing the Chief Engineer…”

“Lieutenant Commander Young,” Elordi said.

“Sure, him,” Das said, “Come workout with us.”

“Like a date?” the doctor asked confused.

“I have some readings to go over, holodeck 2 in two hours,” Das said standing taking her PADD with her. She did not answer the doctor’s lingering question.

—- USS Luna, Holodeck 2 —-

Doctor Elordi was grateful to see Lieutenant Commander James Young the Luna’s Chief Engineer seemed to have as little idea about Bollywood dancing as he did. For however graceful the two women were following the steps that the holographic instructor gave them, the men were clumsy and after Young poked himself in the eye with a stick he was meant to spin around they had to take a break as Elordi examined him.

“This is not going well is it?” Elordi asked as Young followed his finger with his eyes.

“What I wouldn’t give for a warp core emergency right now,” Young joked.

“See I was hoping you’d need surgery,” the doctor grinned and stood, “He’s fine. I think he needs some more of that jumping.”

Das rolled her eyes, “I should have invited that Orion woman.”

“Crewman Vanuoma Vedda,” Elordi said, he had the advantage of knowing pretty much everyone on the ship, since he was in charge of their entry medical exams. It also helped being a doctor, and familiar with your patients.

Das shrugged, “Orions know how to dance, you two are just kind of flailing about stabbing each other.”

Lieutenant Acharya snorted a laugh. She was enjoying having a second Indian woman on the ship. As much as human culture seemed like a monolithic thing to other races in reality it remained quite diverse, though Starfleet had a tendency to assume that all humanity lived in San Francisco within walking distance of the Academy. While they likely would not have been friends back in India, here on the Luna they were growing close.

“Computer replay beginner course 1A,” Acharya said, ever the diplomat she wanted the men to feel as if they were making progress.

A handsome man in loose fitting garments appeared, “Welcome to introduction to historic dance in the Indian Cinema.”

“He’d retired now,” Das observed.

“What the hologram retired?” Elordi asked.

“No the dancer who they based the hologram on,” Das said, “Keep up this time.”

“Raise your hands parallel with your head and step forwards like this,” the hologram said, moving gracefully. The women followed suit and the men managed not to stab themselves this time. However as the lesson progressed Elordi fell doing a complicated step.

“I’m okay,” he assured everyone.

Das helped him to his feet, reaching down, “I think we should start more complicated, if this isn’t working.”

“Young almost died at this level,” Elordi observed.

“I did not,” Young protested.

“But neither of you have seen actual dancing. We’re just stepping about and waving our hands. Computer, end program and start program Bollywood 23 Das,” Lieutenant Das ordered.

The dance instructor vanished as did the mats and other bits of the dance studio were they had been learning, replaced by a temple and stairs that looked hard if one fell. A dozen men and women in loose fitting clothing were on the steps.

“We’re supposed to be having a workout and all we’ve done is watch you two fall over,” Acharya observed.

“You two sit down,” Das ordered though obviously the Lieutenant Commander outranked everyone else there, “Diya, let’s dance.”

“I thought you’d never ask Eshita,” Acharya said.

Doctor Elordi did not know much about dancing, and even less about Bollywood, but it seemed to him that when he tried it it was as if his arms and legs were separate things that he had to control. He was good at surgery and the fine movements there, but once on the dance floor he had to think about each motion he took, and could barely keep one limb from colliding with the other. The two Lieutenants were, however, capable to motion that he was pretty sure was impossible for a human though since they were both human he knew it was not. Their arms moved in patterns and stances that they seemed to have already memorized and their legs followed the complicated steps of the holographic people behind them. Dozens of people, mostly computer generated, dancing in unison as if they were one organism.

“No wonder we almost died,” Young said under his breath, though the doctor nodded along in sympathy and understanding.

When it was done the two women were covered in sweat. They might not have been perfect at the dance, unlike the computer dancers, but they had certainly managed better than either of their male compatriots.

Acharya guided Young to his feet, “Come on we’ll get you washed up.”

Young kissed her, “You’re getting sweat all over my uniform.”

“You don’t need to be back in engineering for a bit,” Acharya said, heading for the door to the hallway.

The pair disappeared down the hall and towards the Chief Engineer’s quarters. Doctor Elordi looked at Lieutenant Das, “So that was fun.”

“I have scans to read,” Das said, letting him know that she was not going to get affectionate with him the way that Acharya was with her boyfriend.

“Okay, cool. I have umm, doctor stuff,” Doctor Elordi said, “Dinner maybe.”

“We’ll see,” Das said ending the program and heading towards her lab still in the loose fitting clothing that she’d been dancing in.

—- USS Luna, Captain’s Ready Room —-

“Lieutenant Das has found something,” said her section chief Chief Science Officer Gabriella Miller. The discovery had to go through three different people before she had been able to present it to the captain, or in this case Commander Carrillo.

Carrillo nodded, making a welcome gesture to the officer that she’d never met, “Lieutenant Das what did you find?”

“We have this blind spot, which we didn’t see past when she raced past here the first time,” she said gesturing to the region of space they were about to pass though, “Likely it’s stellar gas, magnetized and interfering with our scanners. I did a closer look. Radiated the area of space with neutrons. And we have a ‘sonar’ type image. Seeing the way that Earth bats do.”

“Okay, I follow the science I guess,” Carrillo said, “What do we have.”

“Ten Devore Imperium warships,” Das said, showing the images they’d gathered.

“Ten?” Carrillo said alarmed, they’d handled two but that had been a run and gun exercise.

“They likely know it’s a dead spot, and given how we’ve disabled their previous ships…” Das began.

“They gathered a fleet here to intercept us,” Carrillo said, “As a demonstration not to resist.”

The Commander swore, “How long until we get there?”

Miller shrugged, “At current speed we have ten hours. They will need to move out in front of us, so maybe more like eight.”

“Okay, alert all departments, I need options in six hours,” Carrillo said, adding, “Good job Das.”