Ensign C’Rren was still a little stunned as to how events over the last 48 hours had unfolded.   First of all he’d met a fellow Caitian, something he hadn’t done for a few months, in person at least.  He’d chatted with his parents via video link a few times.  Secondly; in his eyes at least, she looked amazing. He had worried that he’d been starring too much during the meeting on board the USS Cuyahoga Valley, no one seemed to have said anything about it though, so it couldn’t have been too obvious.  Then to cap it all off his commanding officer have volunteered him to head planet side with that very same individual, to do a supply run for a team of scientists on Vargus III.

So here he was, sitting in the cockpit of a Type 6A Shuttle; helping to go through final preparations before take-off.  Reading down the list on the Padd C’Rren was holding.  M’Niia checked and confirmed each system and piece of equipment was functioning correctly.  Satisfied everything was in order, she contacted the ships ‘Flight Controller’ 

“This is shuttle Teohari, requesting launch clearance.” She spoke with a sweet melodic voice.

“Shuttle Teohari, opening bay doors now.” Replied an older sounding female. The two Caitian watched in silence as the doors before them, slowly parted to reveal space and the stars beyond.  There was a faint thud as the doors locked into their fully open position and a green light came on above.  “Shuttle Teohari, you have a green light, launch when ready.” Came the voice again.

“Thank you control, taking off now.”  M’Niia replied back.

“Safe journey.” 

The shuttle craft lifted just half a metre off the hanger deck and moved slowly towards the opening.  The force field shimmered as first the angled nose then the rest of the shuttle, slowly past through it. Once clear of the vessel, M’Niia gently banked the craft until it curved round to face the planet they were heading for.  The barely noticeable hum of the engines picked up a notch as she increased speed to full impulse, before engaging auto-pilot.  Satisfied everything was working as it should, the female Caitain swung her seat round to face her male companion.  “Well we’ve got just over an hour.” She sang out. “What do you fancy doing?”  

The way she said it and the playful smile on her face made C’Rren gulp and look around the control panels in front of him; as if the answer would magically appear on one of the screens. “Erm, ah, oh.” Was all that really came out.

“Cat got your tongue?” She giggled.

He’d heard that phrase used during his training at the Academy, and had actually met two of these cat creatures.  They looked remarkably similar to his own kind, but seemed more content to laze around or sometimes if required chase after small rodents.  Lieutenant Stuart had one as a pet, called ‘Major Tom’ which was currently aboard her parents cargo ship.  Major Tom seemed to like him, allowing C’Rren the opportunity to stroke the cats’ fur and give him a scratch behind the ears.  The other cat, whose name he’d not discovered, was much less friendly and hissed rather loudly arching its back in a clear indication of hostility.  At no point had he figured out how these small furry creatures could take anyone’s tongue!  

C’Rren breathed a sigh of relief when it became clear M’Niia was thinking more along the lines of having a chat over a game of cards than actually starting a family!  He felt embarrassed for even letting those kinds of ideas enter his head in the first place. 

Neither of them seemed all that good at card games, and the pack was soon left to one side and forgotten about, it had only been an excuse by M’Niia to get the young Starfleet officer to open up.  They learned a lot about each other on the short trip to Vargus III; M’Niia was from the home world Cait, were as he was from the colony planet Hochlor IV.  Both of them came from fairly large families, but that was common for their race.  Her father was in the Defence Force, and could very well have served on a ship with C’Rren’s great-aunt before she retired. 

They shared a love of science and exploring, which is why they’d both taken the career paths they had. M’Niia wasn’t sure if she could ever be half as smart as Professor Yelavich; he had a brilliant mind and a vast knowledge that he was more than happy to share with anyone that cared to listen.  To some though, he came across as someone that didn’t care about people, just the work they did.  But she’d learned that wasn’t exactly the case.

C’Rren explained how he’d come to be on the Jaxartes as a replacement for an officer who’d gone missing, along with their Vulcan Commander who’d later escaped from those holding them captive.  They had plans to rescue the Bajoran Lieutenant, this current situation had put things like that on hold for the time being.  He wasn’t sure what would happen if Lieutenant Bolka came back to the ship, whether he’d be needed there or not.  The young Caitian liked working with the rest of the crew, and the opportunities that had come from it, even with the dangers they’d had to face. 

The USS Cuyahoga Valley had missed such things as the ‘Lost Fleet’ and had been completely unaffected by and Borg/Changeling plot.  If C’Rren was honest, he couldn’t bare the idea of anything bad happening to his new found friend.  So he was glad she had avoided those two horrible events. 

M’Niia could see he was troubled by something and placed her own paw like hand atop his. “Whatever you’ve had to go through in the past?” She said sweetly. “I’m glad you’re here right now.”  She learned forward, giving him a quick kiss on the lips.  The stars could have exploded at that point and the young ensign wouldn’t have noticed, wouldn’t have cared either, this moment was beyond magical.  But it was a moment cut short by the bleeping of the shuttles warning system. 

Swinging her chair back to face the controls, M’Niia disengaged the auto-pilot and took control of the small vessel once more.  They were almost a Vargus III and would be making entry into the upper atmosphere shortly, indications of a storm forming on their planned flight path meant they’d have to skirt round it, just to be safe. 

“Those reading look rather odd for a storm.” Commented C’Rren as he looked at a duplicate set of data to the information his companion could see. 

“Your right, they do seem a bit off.” She answered him with concern.  “Send the data back to the ‘Valley’, they can analyse it and if the survey team is in any danger from this, we’ll have to help get them moved.” 

M’Niia backed the shuttle away from the storm; the two Caitain could see the dark ominous clouds and flashes of lightning in the distance.  The whole thing seemed to swirl like a hurricane on its side, the eye of the newly formed storm pointing towards them like a giant eye.  

Two attempts to raise the camp site resulted in only silence; it could have just meant no one was close by to realise anyone was contacting them, what it did mean was something rather different. 

            **********

Professor of Geology at Massachusetts MIT; Harry Spalding had published a number of papers on the subject over the years, but didn’t get the opportunity to go out in the field as much as he once did.  So when this chance had come about he’d seized it with both hands.  Now however he was starting to regret that choice, as he looked once more over his shoulder at the humanoid figure with bone ridges around the top of his eyes and another on the forehead.  As if the look of him wasn’t intimidating enough, the weapon pointing at the small of his back, a weapon that had already caused the death of one individual in his team.

“Who’s coming in that shuttle?” Asked Assistant Inspector Koryl of the Devore Imperium.

“Just M’Niia with fresh supplies.” Replied Spalding trying to sound calm. “She’ll be alone and unarmed.  If that’s whats worrying you?”

“Nothing worries an officer of the Devore Imperium.” Koryl spat back.  He was worried though, he just couldn’t afford to show it; not to his prisoners and certainly not to the few remaining men under him command.  

He’d taken a shuttle craft to examine a side tunnel within Underspace, in the hope of discovering a way out; so hadn’t been aboard when the warship had exploded.  He’d clearly seen the Federation vessel racing away seconds before and could only assume, as unbelievable as it was to comprehend, that the smaller craft had somehow managed to destroy it. 

The shuttle had been badly damaged by the shockwave and thrust back into normal space right above this planet.  The pilot had managed to hold the broken craft long enough for the Assistant Inspector and five others to transport off.  The pilot and two others would have most certainly died in the crash that followed soon after, as the shuttle hit the side of a mountain range.  It had taken them the best part of two days to walk here, having spotted the campsite on the ships scanners. 

            **********

M’Niia had realised something was wrong as she brought the Type 6A Shuttle in for final approach, but by then in was too late for an abort.  “You’d better get your head down, we’ve got unexpected company.” She announced.  To the untrained eye it just looked like three members of the science team standing to one side awaiting her arrival.  The point was; three people never waited, it was always just one; these professors never liked too many standing around doing nothing.

“If there is any danger I need to protect you.” The young ensign informed her.

“No one knows you on the shuttle. They’ll only be expecting to see me.” She replied. 

“But!” She silenced C’Rren with another quick kiss. 

 “If you get captured or killed, who’s going to rescue me?” She smiled sweetly.

He knew what she meant, and realised M’Niia was right; he had no weapons and neither did the ship, it was just the idea of hiding away whilst someone took her captive, which really stung. “I love you.” He said softly before exiting the cockpit.

From a hiding spot he hoped was good enough, C’Rren felt the shuttle craft touch down and the hum of it engines wind down to silence.  He heard the whir of the door opening and then a male voice asking if his Caitian companion was alone.  Even from where he was, it was a voice the ensign recognised.  But how could Assistant Inspector Koryl have gotten to this planet?