The hatch to the dining room turned briefing room opened and a stunned looking Andorian Captain stepped out, pretty swiftly followed by the very pale and white haired Commander.

“I had no idea such treachery was taking place under my watch,” Captain Saro Sh’iqaalran breathed out, once the hatch had closed behind the petite Commander.

Kachiko gestured towards the hatch leading to her quarters aboard the Sitacus, “I understand, Captain. Perhaps it would be better to discuss anything further in private?”

Captains Quarters

Once seated at the small Kotatsu, her bare feet happily warmed under the table, Kachiko smiled across the table at the lovely Andorian lady, “I appreciate the position you are in, Saro. Trust that unless the investigation uncovers your involvement in these matters, Command isn’t after you at all for any of this.”

“All that aside,” Kachikos smile softened as she gazed up at the much taller Andorian. “Once this assignment has reached its conclusion, we can explore your desires?”

“My desires?” Saro looked surprised.

“Indeed,” Kachiko remarked, looking serious now. “I have known since we first met in your office in the Capitol. My dear Captain, I am a high-level telepath and your thoughts are neither guarded nor secret around any telepath. Your mind broadcasts every thought quite loudly. Were she in the room, my Medical Officer could likewise ‘hear’ those thoughts.”

“You are Betazoid, then?” Saro asked.

“No ma’am. I am very human,” Kachiko replied wryly. “I am likewise attracted to you as you are to me. I don’t know how we could carry on a relationship, given that my duties have me all over the Federation. However, I am closing in on my retirement and…”

“Retirement?” Saro interrupted. “But you’re still so young!”

“I only look young, Saro,” Kachiko explained. “I have been in the service since shortly after the Battle of Wolf 359.” Unsaid was the very sensitive information about how a temporal event brought the small woman forward in time quite a few years. Had she remained in her past, Kachiko would be north of age 50 now. Also unsaid was the unusual way her body reacted to Chroniton exposure. Kachiko’s physical age had regressed more than a decade in the temporal event and she had found herself on a completely different world than the one she had been on, out on the unexplored galactic rim.

“This all said,” Kachiko set her PADD down, “I just discovered that Starfleet Intelligence will be taking over the investigation. The Sitacus has just been reassigned elsewhere. We depart in the morning.”

“If you would like, you could remain aboard tonight and I could properly bid you adieu?” Kachiko smirked, one of her bare feet exploring the bare skin of Saro’s left shin, under the table in the heated pit.

“I think that I would like that, little one,” Saro grinned with a look of want.

“Very well, darling,” Kachiko hadn’t smiled this much in months. The taller Captain had captured the Intelligence Agents fancy since she hadn’t detected the woman’s thoughts. Even if nothing came of it, at least Kachiko could give Saro memories to enjoy. “So what is it about me that caught your fancy?”

“I like small women and you’re cuter than most,” Saro responded.

Then the lovely Andorian reached across the table and grasped Kachiko by the collar of her uniform, pulling her over the table for the first embrace of their lips. There promised to be many more throughout the day and the night to follow.