Red alert, and then orders that there was a Cardassian vessel in need of assistance, with Hina and Catherine being the two engineers sent to help. Because a self-aware AI and a damaged ship weren’t enough to deal with. Catherine sighed, absolutely not pleased with what was unfolding. 

“So.. Cardassians, huh…”, she started and looked at Hina, not sure how the woman would feel about all of this. “Do you have any personal experience with their species?” 

Hina shook her head.

“Professional experience? Some.” she said, shrugging.

“I’m just curious. Did you ever meet a Cardassian who… seemed okay?”, Cat asked cautiously. She was going somewhere with this, she just wasn’t ready to talk about it just yet.

“My old ship assisted a Galor-class once. Their engineers seemed ok… but its not like we were just hanging out.” she explained.

“Why?” she asked, glancing over at Catherine.

“So considering I really messed up about the B.L.A.D.E thing, I am going to try open communication. Just to be safe and because I don’t like it when you yell.”

Hina frowned slightly.

“I dont normally do that… situation just got to me is all…” she said sheepishly. What was supposed to just be a quick consult for a friend had spiraled far outside of her control.

“Cool. Anyway, here goes nothing. I am half Cardassian. Got cosmetic adjustments, its cleared with Seta and went through all the other red tape Starfleet puts on those things.”, Cat confessed eventually. 

 Hina nodded.

“Ok.” she said simply and without judgement. It was clear she wasnt bothered by what she had just learned. Cat seemed nice enough and was good at her job and seemed nice enough, no matter her racial make-up.

“You gonna be ok going over there?” she asked gently.

“Why are you asking?”

Hina shrugged.

“If not I can talk to the Captain about it.” she said, offering the other engineer a way out if she wanted it. Plus she was pretty sure that advising the Captian about away team complements was part of her temporary XO job. “Im sure Saffiya wouldnt want to send someone someplace they didnt want to be.” she added.

“I think I’ll be okay.”, nodded Cat. “But I appreciate the sentiment. I don’t think the Cardassians will care enough to even check what species we are. I just wanted you to know.”

“I appreciate it.” she said, nodding.

“Then I guess we should get going. I rather get this behind me.” 

“Yea… then we can get back to repairing our ship.” she added, chuckling.