“Anything from the Ho’Nng?” Indira hummed as she idly waved her hand through the wireframe hologram of the long-necked Klingon cruiser that bobbed over the astrometric’s console. Alongside the old yet imposing warship, the small arrowhead hull of Daedalus appeared uncomfortably fragile and delicate.

“We are pooling sensor data but their equipment is…” How tilted his head awkwardly as he considered the best description, causing his body to do a slow barrel roll in the lab’s microgravity.

“Old?” Maksha offered from his seat at the console, the half-Vulcan science officer was visibly frustrated by their lack of progress. “Useless?”

“Less advanced than our own,” How finished with a polite smile as his tail flicked lightly, steadying his body in the waterless pond.

Indira let out a frustrated sigh as she allowed herself to fall into the minute gravity of the astrometric lab, her body floating several feet from the deck plates. With a waft of her long arms, she propelled herself backwards away from the console, her golden bangles emitting a gentle ring.

“The warp trail?”

“Almost completely degraded, we’re working mostly with hypothesis and course prediction now.” Maksha’s tone was crisp and curt.

“If we had been allowed to pursue it quicker initially-” the man began.

“-We would most likely be in a Klingon holding cell. We are only in their territory by their good grace.” Indira wafted an arm backwards, attempting to propel herself towards the furry young astrometric officer who glided effortlessly amongst the plethora of stars above the lab’s large projector.

“You make it look so effortless,” she muttered in frustration as she twisted awkwardly to avoid the tip of a nearby unit that threatened to jab her ribs.

With surprising speed, the Lutrinae officer nimbly darted across the room, before coiling himself beneath the XO’s back and with the lightest touch altering her trajectory away from the threatening object.

“The secret is in the tail.” With a flourish of his whip-like appendage, he slipped around the woman, bringing her to rest in the centre of the holographic display with a press of his small paws.

“Though it makes finding pants difficult,” How confessed, his infectious positivity even eliciting a minor smile from the stoic science officer’s face across the room.

Indira had always loved visiting the Astrometrics lab, it was a rare chance to get a close-up view of otherwise untouchable things, a chance to witness the universe as Daedalus’ saw it. As she floated in the centre of the room, the small globes of nearby celestials continued their elegant waltz in slow looping circles around her, wandering endlessly in their aeons-old dance. Over her left shoulder, a small red orb twisted in rolling arcs, its strange gravimetric profile causing it to wobble and twist in its orbit. A few metres away a long streak of white marked the passing of a millenia-young comet as it raced through the system seeding the sector with water and precious metals. Its tail reached back millions of kilometres, and the comet itself was hundreds of metres wide, yet here in the safety of the lab she could pluck in from the sky as easily as an orange from the tree.

Her slender hand reached out towards the delicious interstellar fruit, her bangles ringing across the lab. An inexplicable urge to once again feel like the young girl that had been lifted into the small trees of their family farm to grab the juiciest fruit.

Her fingers stretched across a million miles, her dark-manicured nails a hair’s breadth from the comet. Tantalisingly out of reach, her mouth was almost watering.

With a lunge, she lept for the delicate orb. Only to find herself hurtling through nothingness as her body slipped through the photonic mirage. In a panic, her arms began to flail as the grey bulkhead began speeding towards her.

A serpentine swish of a brown body raced across her eyeline as How nimbly overtook her and with his arms outstretched attempted to cushion her impact, setting himself between the commander and the hard surface.

The pair hit the wall with a crack that rebounded off the walls of the lab, racing its way around the curvature of the grey-toned room.

“How!” Maksha called out, as with a practised push of his legs he launched himself towards the pair of bodies that hung rigidly in the air. With effortless grace, he swam through the busy spacescape to the pair; grabbing the XO’s waist to steady them before Newton’s third law took effect and sent them spinning back into the room.

“Are you okay?” His voice was measured, though tinged with worry.

“I’m fine, save for my pride.” Indira unwrapped her arms to reveal the coiled form of her mammalian colleague, sheltered in her long arms where at the last moment, she had enclosed him for safety. The pair hung in silence, hoping to hear the young lieutenant’s perky voice emerge from the ball of brown fur.

“How?”

From his sheltered coil, How’s short snout appeared, his long blonde whiskers unfurling into crooked lines like a twisted television ariel.

“I’m okay,” a pool of water began to form at the edge of his large brown eyes, threatening to burst its banks.

“But not everything made it.”

Slowly, a small paw reached out from his spiralled body, offering up a blue orb, its azure surface dancing with a rainbow shimmer in the glow of the nearby holo map. Across its equator a large crack cut across the delicate turquoise sphere like a wound, stubby tendrils painfully revealing the glittering dusty innards of the pebble.

“I think it cracked when we collided with the wall,” How whispered between the beginnings of his tears.

“I’m so sorry How. Was it particularly special?”

A visible shiver ran down the curve of How’s slim body as he cradled the cracked gemstone. A sniffle escaped his snout, as he attempted to hold back a tidal wave of tearful sobs.

“Commander Bib gave it to me when we first met on Deep Space 47.” He turned to look towards Indira. “He said it was for safekeeping.”

Maksha reached out with a spindly arm, plucking the azure orb from his hands and holding it up to his eye. Beneath the lustrous surface flecks of white danced in the light, a flurry of snow perpetually suspended in the precious stone’s heart.

“It’s an Andorian Ice Saphhire. Lex’usha is I believe how they pronounce it,” Maksha’s eye narrowed, scouring the depths of the small orb. “They’re quite rare I believe, coming from lava steams that erupt on the surface during the worst ice storms; the sudden exposure to the sub-zero temperature causes the rare elements to crystalise.”

Indira barely concealed the scowl that raced across her face as her brow furrowed at the young science officer’s insensitive comment.

“Supposedly the gem contains the wrath of the storm,” Maksha mused as he held the gem aloft. The light caught the delicate white flecks once again, remnants of the ancient ice storm seemingly wrestling to burst forth from the translucent surface.

“Is it ruined?” How whispered.

The man considered the gem carefully, rolling it in his palms before giving it a gentle bounce and allowing the blue orb to settle in the microgravity, another delicate treasure amongst the stars.

“Unfortunately I am not qualified to make that statement.”

Indira’s lips parted to chastise the man for his seeming lack of feeling for what was clearly an object of great import to the young Lutrinae. Before the breath could escape her lungs Maksha gave the gem a small nudge, sending it arcing over to How’s open palm.

“We shall add it to the questions we have to ask Commander Bib when we find him,” Maksha smiled, reaching out to close the junior officer’s small claws around the precious stone.

As the three hung in the weightless air, surrounded by the slowly spinning celestials charting their ancient journey across space, the warmth of new confidence swelled in Indira’s heart. This is what would find the fugitive trio and bring the wayward Bib home safely.

Family. One of a hundred voices and a thousand customs but family nonetheless.

Suddenly a high-pitched tone cut across the room, piercing their moment of comradery with an urgent call for attention. Maksha was already gliding across the room with swan-like grace before Indira had a chance to consider what motion would turn her in the correct direction, let alone move her to the console. He landed gracefully at the console, sliding his long skinny body into the seat as easily as if he had swum in zero gravity all his life.

“It’s the Ho’Nng. They’ve found something.”