For Lieutenant Jason Devron this was just a chance get himself lost in the sprawl and chaos of a large alien city; or at least as lost as anyone could get with a com-badge which meant your location could be pinpointed at a moment’s notice.  Not that he expected anyone would want him that was.  His ship, the little Raven class corvette USS Jaxartes was in a mess thanks to an encounter with a Jem’Hadar Fighter.  The hull plating could be replaced, the holo-deck repaired and the aft crew quarters reconstructed those thing where relatively simple on the grand scheme of things.  The replacement of a main support beam however was far from simple. It would require heavy lifting equipment to remove the old beam and bring in the new one.  Equipment that was currently all in use working night and day to fix other vessels from the Fourth  Fleets major Dominion engagement.  Also none of it was anywhere near where his ship had been forced to dock; after an attempted pull by tractor beam had only worsened the damage further.

How some of the other starships had survived was a miracle and a testament to the skill and determination on the part of their officers and crew.  On the way in after the battle was over, he’d seen one ship with a huge chunk of her saucer section ripped out, another with a hole; three decks high and at least sixty meter’s wide.  Jason tried not to think of the lives lost, just in those two instances, along with countless others.

So here he was alone sitting at a quiet little coffee shop in a side street which he’d simple stumbled across after meandering through the city for half an hour.  Third left, first right, second left, fourth right and third left; if he’d bothered tracking his own route along the way from the shuttle port.  Though to class this place as a coffee shop was a bit of a stretch.  The liquid was warm and brown, yes.  Rather pleasant tasting to.  But to call it coffee was taking a lot of liberties.  He couldn’t recall what the Bandi waiter had called it; just that it was well liked by both locals and Starfleet personnel.  Which meant Jason wasn’t the first one to have found this place. Though may be the ‘Frontier Day’ flags and bunting across the window should have been a bit of a giveaway.

He was half way through the mug sized drink when someone asked if the seat opposite him was taken; a rather odd request as two other tables outside in the street where he sat were both empty. He looked up. “Doctor Andrianakis, what a surprise. Fancy seeing you hear!”  The surprise was very genuine and he felt a slight mix of annoyance that he’d been found and happiness that it was at least someone he got along with well.  Not that he had problems with any of the crew.  Jason indicated the other chair. “Please.”

The young Greek woman was dressed in a simple pale green summer dress; something far removed from what she’d been wearing the vast majority of the last few days.  She pulled back the chair, scrapping it across the square brick pavement. “Just call me Phoebe.” She replied sitting down. “At least whilst I’m not working at any rate.”

“What brings you all the way out to this particular coffee shop?” Jason asked her sincerely. “I only found it by accident.”

“Same really I guess.” She drew the attention of the waiter. “I’m on another shift later, but I have a couple hours spare.”  The waiter took her order and went back inside.  Andrianakis had been helping out at the main hospital were roughly a hundred Starfleet personal; one of those being the Valkyrie pilot they’d rescued during the battle.  Plus a dozen Cardassian’s had been sent for treatment.

“How is Lieutenant Beaufort getting along?” Jason asked having learnt the man’s name some time later after the injured man had regained consciousness.

“Fine, fine. Considering that stupid EMH on your ship told me he was dead soon after we beamed him into sickbay.”  She paused as the waiter placed her drink down, smiled and withdrew.  “I mean ok I couldn’t save his right leg, but the man is alive.”

Jason had noticed that about the doctor; if there was a problem or something wrong, it was his ship.  When good things happened it was theirs.  He tried not to smile at that thought.  “What’s happening to him and the rest that are down here?”

“Most will be transferring to the USS Chapel when she arrives in two days’ time.” Phoebe answered. “A few will be back on their own ships once space is freed up and the Cardassian’s have made their own arrangements.”

“Isn’t the Chapel where Dinari’s brother is?”

“Of cause, yes your right.  I hadn’t thought of that.”

“He hasn’t really spoken to any of his family other than his Grandmother since he joined the Academy.”

“Pity that.  I saw his mother once at a conference whilst I was with the World Health Organisation.  Though at eight rows back I wasn’t all that close to her.”

“Talking of mothers Phoebe, have you been in touch with yours?”

“Last night.  Asked me how I’d got mixed up in a minor boarder skirmish half way across the Alpha Quadrant from where I should have been!” She took a sip of the blue liquid in her glass.  “Mother was just repeating most of what everyone’s heard on the news.  I can’t believe Earth is so blind these days!”

Devron was about to reply, when his attention was caught by an elderly man dressed all in black with silvery grey hair.  No; surely not! It couldn’t have been him, could it?  The man who; back on Earth had helped give him a second chance.  But what was he doing here of all places?  Jason made his apologies and got up to follow the man who’d just rounded the corner of the street.  He ran quickly to the junction and spotted the man again turning another corner. But when Jason reached that point moments later, he couldn’t see the man anywhere.  Just a dozen other people and aliens going about their daily business.

He stood there a moment, before nearly jumping out of his skin when a hand touched his shoulder. “What’s the matter?” Asked the doctor.

“A face from my past, or at least I think it was.” He replied putting his own hand on hers a moment.  Before they both broke contact.

“The past you hardly talk about?”  She enquired.

He turned towards her with half a smile on his face. “Are you a doctor or a detective miss Andrianakis?”

“In my line of work, sometimes I need to be both.” Phoebe turned towards the direction they’d come. “Any way let’s get back to those drinks before the waiter notices we’ve both disappeared and not paid.”

He agreed and the two walked back towards the coffee shop.  They sat back down, thankful that the drinks were still on the table where they’d left them. “I will find out you know.” The Greek woman announced.

“Find out what?” Devron replied even though he knew what she meant already.

“You’re secret.” Phoebe responded. “The real Jason Devron.”

“I am the real me.” He made a show of tapping his left cheek and back of his left hand. “See all real.”

“After having a Changeling on board; that’s not funny.” She scowled at him, before snatching up her glass and taking a long gulp.

He placed both his hands on top of her other hand that remained on the table. “Look I’m sorry.  That was stupid of me.”

“Very.” The tone was a little softer this time. “Look if your father was an assassin or grandfather was an Admiral, you can tell me.” She sighed. “Look I don’t even know who my father is or was.”  She thudding the glass down, sloshing around the small amount of blue liquid that still remained inside.  “Who the heck doesn’t have at least some knowledge of their father in this day and age?”

“Hasn’t your mother ever said anything about him?  And what about DNA?” Jason asked still with his hand over hers.

“Talks about him like it were a dream.” Phoebe closed her eyes a moment before opening them again.  “As for DNA, there isn’t any.  None that isn’t a direct link to my mother and her side of the family.”

Jason was no scientist, but he felt that shouldn’t be the case.  In fact shouldn’t it be medically impossible?  He was starting to wonder who out of the pair of them the biggest mystery was.