Sienna and Selara had moved to the CMO office for privacy. After all, what was spy craft if everyone knew about it? Selara sat across from Sienna and studied the woman’s face, neither of them quite paid attention to Rynn’s approach. The woman had been informed by the Captain that she was to meet up with the two doctors, but was perfectly content with simply observing for the time being.

“All right… come up with some appropriate disguises,” Selara mused. “I have a few things that will work.” She began laying out different makeups and hypospray vials. “When I’m done with you, your mother won’t recognize you,” she chuckled at Sienna.

Frisco raised one eyebrow.  Her mother was dead, and it had been long enough for her to ignore the attempt at humor.  She was mildly amused that Selara hadn’t done some of her homework on her senior officer.

“You already have some nice Vulcan-like features, so I’ll use that for a base.” Selara took two vials, shook them up, and loaded them into the hypospray. “This mixture was originally designed to treat baldness in Tellarites. She pressed the hypospray to Sienna’s neck, injecting it into her. “It’ll make your hair curlier and change its color.” She frowned, “To what color, I’m not sure.” She chuckled, “It can also act as an aphrodisiac in some species of Betazed marmosets.”

Frisco fought the urge to give her deputy chief a severe glance and instead turned, taking notice of Rynn.

Rynn cleared her throat. She hailed from Betazed, and wondered if she would be affected by this particular sideffect. “I do hope that part of your medication only extends to marmosets. I would rather not develop any unwanted feelings towards a criminal.”

Closing her eyes, Selara fought the urge to jump and ruin her delicate work. She turned to the woman, “I gave instructions not to be disturbed. Who would you be?”

Sienna ran down the woman’s information in her head: “She’s not Starfleet Intelligence, so that’s a bonus.” The XO was thankful that they had rated someone from diplomatic operations. The Valkyrie was a big ship, and the chances of them running into big things increased the longer they were out here.

“Tala Rynn, Diplomatic Corps.”, she introduced herself.

Frisco noted, “She’s the one who reminds us to care, think, and not to reference Kirk’s numerous books on diplomacy.”

The Betazoid gave a brief nod. “The Captain informed me about the worry regarding the away team. It’s my first undercover mission – but then, much about diplomatic work is playing the required part. I am sure I can manage.”

“Have a seat; I’ll work on your disguise next,” Selara said, returning to her work. “And to answer your question, it’s only shown… results with marmosets. Hopefully, you don’t have any recessive genes,” she chuckled. “It also has been field tested extensively by intelligence agents.”

Sienna found a chair to sit in. “Thankfully, Rynn is not my type.” She glanced in a mirror. “Well, Selara, it looks like I’m going to be a curly-haired ginger.”  She felt fine but attached a vital monitor to her arm as a precaution.  Always be prepared…or at least know what’s going on so you can make preparations was her thought process.  She asked Rynn, “What disguise would you be comfortable wearing?”

“Oh, I don’t mind either,” Rynn shrugged.

Selara sat across from Rynn and studied her face. “You have some nice Kazon features. Unfortunately, they don’t travel past the Delta Quadrant.” She checked her makeup kit, tested a few colors, and applied them to Rynn’s face. “Given your reservations with the disguise tonic, I’ll be more conventional in my approach.” She smiled, and paused to examine her work, “I have some other ideas.”

Taking skin clay from her kit, she contoured Rynn’s nose, adhering it with a spray. “I dated a makeup artist named Choshas Jortolo at the Academy. He returned home to Bajor after the war ended and started a special effects company.” She sighed in memory, “Gosh, I haven’t thought about Jor in a while.” She continued working. “What about you Dr. Frisco?”

Frisco replied,  “I was born on Vulcan and lived most of my childhood and young adult hood there.  I learned a lot.  I can act like a Vulcan…but I can’t live like one.  I like my emotions too much.”

Selara chuckled, “I understand. I enjoy reading their medical journals and their objectivity. But they can be drier than the Vulcan deserts sometimes.” She completed the finishing touches on Rynn’s face. “There,” she took a step back and admired her work, “Has anyone thought about our cover? It hasn’t been discussed very much.”

“I think whatever the lie is, it needs to be close enough to the truth to be sold convincingly.”, Rynn said. “Getting to our location alone is going to be tricky, not to mention finding our away team, and leaving with them.”

“Do we have any more information on the location? It can’t be as easy as putting on disguises and walking in,” Selara chuckled. She didn’t have experience with stealth missions, but that seemed too easy.

“From what I have gotten from intel, we will use the same way the others used to get in – that we still get regular feedback from one of the teams makes them sure enough that this avenue inside hasn’t been compromised.”, Rynn explained. “The shuttle should bring us to the freighter. But from there on…”

Frisco finished the thought, “We’re on our own.”

Rynn looked at her disguise, giving a light shrug. “I am a tad uncomfortable with the whole situation – I’m not sure why the Ensigns were sent in the first place, but I don’t have enough information to question the decision-making on this.”

“I agree, but what do I know? There has to be a better understanding than what we’re privy to,” Selara said, injecting herself with a hypospray and working on her disguise in the mirror. “From what I understand, getting in is hard, but navigating our way through the freighter… not so easy.” Selara practiced facial expressions in the mirror, she smiled as found one she liked. She looked at Rynn in the mirror, “You’re used to dealing with tense and impossible situations; what is your proposed strategy once we board the freighter?”

“A backup plan,” Rynn said. “It’s fine to go in disguised and look for our missing crew members, but if we are discovered, we either need a very quick way out or a secondary lie.”

She thought for a moment. “We could say the three of them are working for us. And that we want them back. If we have to negotiate our way to their freedom, we could also use some… leeway. As in, latinum.”

Frisco held up a bag, “We got the shiny stuff…not a lot, but enough to grease some warp drives if needs must.

“Then, I think it’s best to get going.”

Selara nodded at Rynn in the mirror, “Agreed. The longer we sit here, the more dangerous the situation becomes. I have to stop by the quartermaster, I’ll meet you in the shuttle bay.” She turned and walked out of the office.

Sienna turned to Rynn, “You ready for this?”

“As ready as we’ll ever be.”