Commander Thaustin pushed his curly strawberry-blonde hair back after rematerialising on the transporter platform and gave a boyish smirk to the transporter operator as a gesture of thanks. Then, he swaggered across the room towards the door and threw his uniform jacket over his shoulder. The doors parted, and he entered the corridor, heading towards the nearest turbolift.

Seconds later, he entered the cart and saw Doctor Uknare resting against the back of the lift. “Kamra, you finally calling it a night?”

The chief medical officer nodded slowly; she was exhausted from her work on the Borg drones. “I really don’t want to see another nanoprobe,” The Haliian doctor shared. She looked at the undressed state of the first officer, and with them being friends, she knew what he had been up to. “Visiting the Odyssey, again?”

Showing the same smirk he used earlier, Thaustin shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe.” 

Uknaure shook her head in disbelief and chuckled a little. “Thaustin, I don’t think I’ve ever known you to be so committed.”

“Calm down, Kamra, it’s only our third date,” He whispered.

“I’m impressed; you rarely get past the second one,” Uknare said as she crossed her arms. “So, does this mean he’s the one?” 

The Xindi-Primate rolled his eyes and shook his head. “We are not having this conversation late at night. I’m tired-”

“I bet you are,” She snapped back, still snickering. 

Thaustin glanced back at her and shook his head again. “I really can’t get anything past you, can I?”

“Absolutely not,” Uknare answered back. She was enjoying this moment. “He is cute, though.”

“He is,” Thuastin agreed. “Though I found out his ex is now married to the first officer of the Odyssey.” 

Shrugging at that comment, Uknare couldn’t see the problem he was trying to state. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Well, it might be a bit awkward,” He said sheepishly.

“How?” Uknare probed.

“I don’t know; I just suppose it might be. Maybe, I should date him. There are plenty of others in the squadron. Odyssey’s chief diplomat is kinda hot, and so is their third officer. That said, Bellerophon’s security chief is pretty gorgeous, and their science officer is cute.” He answered.

“You are hopeless, Thaustin. Don’t spoil what you have right now.” She advised. 

“Sickbay to Doctor Uknare,” spoke Lieutenant Lonar over the intercom.

Uknare suppressed her smile at Thaustin before replying. “Go ahead, Natima.”

“Sorry to disturb you, ma’am, but do you know where our Sikarian guest has gone?” The Cardassian woman asked.

Confused by that question, Uknare had treated the Sikarian man only hours ago, and he should have been in sickbay recovering. “He was resting on bio-bed four before I left. What’s happened, lieutenant?”

“He’s gone missing.”  

Both Thaustin and Uknare looked at one another. Startled to hear that. He pulled his jacket back on and immediately told Lonar to put the ship on red alert, lockdown the rest of their guests, and begin searching for the Sikarian immediately.

Slithering around the controls of the Hark, Ensign Andar was running the final diagnostics on the type-fourteen shuttlecraft. Pleased that the new shuttle didn’t require any maintenance, they were preparing to switch off the main power to the Hark when Andar sensed something near them. 

Twisting their fuzzy artichoke-shaped head towards the noise coming from the ramp aft of the shuttle, Andar’s scarlet-eye stems moved to see a figure standing before them.

“Hello, may I help you?” Andar asked.

Walking into the light, the stranger revealed themselves to the Phylosian pilot. The Sikarian man didn’t move any further.

“Can I help you?” Andar asked inquisitively.

Their visitor said nothing.

The red alert siren went off, followed by Commander Thaustin’s voice over the intercom ordering all crew to look out for their missing guest.

“You seem to be lost,” Andar stated, slowly moving one of their vines towards the phaser that was strapped to their side. “Commander Thaustin is concerned for your wellbeing. Perhaps, I should escort you back to sickbay.”

The Sikarian remained silent.

Raising their phaser towards them, Andar insisted again, and the ex-B ignored the comment. Then, firing their weapon at them, Andar was surprised to see the drone’s shields were active. Tapping their combadge, Andar called for the bridge but was stopped by the ex-B, who had pushed them against the ground, inserted two injection tubules into one of the nearest consoles, and began taking control of the Hark. Unable to move, Andar reached out to their phaser (that was on the deck) with another vine. Noticing the movement, the ex-B picked up the weapon before Andar could and fired it straight at the Phylosian’s chest. 

Andar was out cold. 

The ex-B then piloted the shuttle out of Triton’s shuttle bay after destroying the doors with a volley of phaser fire.