AQ/D99 - Other Locations

[Paul]

==

[Beno Velaul]

== The Office of the First Officer==

Entering the room people will see her desk closer to the back of the room, and a sofa that was directly to the right. There were pictures on the wall of Beno and people that meant a lot to her. People on the list that people would know Carley, and from the look of the pictures they were taken on multiple ships. there were a few pictures of ch'Alev, and her rank wasn't always the same.

As she was getting ready for the arrival of her people, Beno wasn't sure how to proceed. Part of her wanted to have some fun with it, the other knew not to over do it. These were awards that they were receiving, and they might be nervous enough as is.

==Tag==

[Kalli Thorn]

Feeling a bit like she was being called to the principle's office for a school grade scolding, Kalli gave a tug at her uniform before ringing the chime. When directed to enter, she followed text book procedure, as taught at the Academy, positioning herself front and center to the desk. She managed a passable form of coming to attention as she stated the mantra, "Lieutenant Thorn reports as ordered."

== Tag FO ==

[Beno Velaul]

When Kalli reported as ordered, she had forgotten that her request sounded very formal. Beno told her to stand easy while taking a black box out of her desk. This one was a little on the long side so it wouldn’t be confused for the box that carried an extra pip, and had a bit more of a shine to it. When Beno walked around the desk, it was planted firmly in the plan of her left hand. 

“I would like to start by stating your hard work and dedication to the crew hasn’t been unnoticed, as his last report Hoekstra gave you high praise. With this report the Captain put you in for a commendation.” Beno opened the box showing both medal and ribbon that goes with it. The small gold plaque with her name on it, and Star Fleet Commendation Medal with the date. Beno took the medal out of the box carefully placing it on her uniform. 

“It is my pleasure and privilege to award this to you, I have enjoyed watching you develop your skills as an Officer and see great things in your future,” Beno took a step back to see her reaction and time to respond, something like this gives people a bit of a pleasurable shock, and definitely better than a punishment. 

==Tag ==

[Kalli Thorn]

When the FO told her she could be at ease, she shifted to Parade rest, still thinking something negative might be coming and she was bracing for it. However, when the award was presented, Kalli's stoic composure dropped and her eyes went wide, a grin forming on her face.

Unsure of how to react at first, she fumbled, "Oh...um...Thank you, Commander! This...I...hmmm...didn't see that one coming."

She then giggled briefly, releasing a little nervous tension as she recalled to at least attempt the complete the Take-Shake-Salute routine when receiving such an award. Her brow then furrowed and she stopped to speak again, "Wait...you didn't say that as 'in his latest report', you stated 'as his last report'. Her eyes narrowed in an intensely questioning way, "Commander?"

== Tag FO ==

[Beno Velaul]

The reaction was understandable considering she had no idea what was going on, normally when someone is called like this it was punishment. Naturally that would mean they did something that might warrant such action, figuring out what was going to be fun. There was another matter on the floor right now, and that was the Chief Engineer, he was on another assignment. In Star Fleet this was more common than people would think, most of the time it was best for all involved.

"Yes it was his last report for us, he has been put onto another assignment. There isn't much I can talk about on the subject, other than to say he will be missed. We will get another Chief Engineer but we can never replace him, the crew who receives him are getting a quality Officer." She didn't work with him directly a lot, but when she did Beno will never forget.

"Captain Brooks and I are looking to fix the situation as fast as possible, we are going to talk about who the would be a suitable replacement." Even though the ship was pretty big, people will notice he was missing. Keeping it a secret will cause more of a problem than it would solve, full transparency would be best. 

"We are currently working on some more changes in the ship, some of them more noticeable than others, but that's just part of the life we chose." Changes like that were as common as they come, but its how they deal with it that makes the difference. 

"How are things in Engineering right now?" Sometimes when they go to the Star Base the repairs not as smooth as possible, and sometimes leaves the Chief Engineer annoyed.

==Tag ==

[Kalli Thorn]

The FO expertly managed to turn the conversation. For just a moment, Kalli felt bad that she had not gotten a chance to say goodbye to her supervisor. Quickly it was replaced by the idea that she was now going to need to learn how to work with someone new. Fortunately the FO then asked a magical question that caused Kalli to refocus in on the conversation with the precision of a dual phaser plasma injector.

"Well, because the Dock Chief seems to have gotten word about how I tend to go behind dock crews, I had DeeDee going through the ship and making complete scans of any and all work they've been doing. I haven't finished reviewing all of the figures yet, but so far most of their work is within the margins. I think the guy who was carrying their parts around was a little creepy, but I think that might have been because one of his things on the top of his head was shorter than the other. Don't worry though, I'll be sure to have a full report ready to in-brief whoever I need to tr...um..." She caught herself thinking out loud and blushed. She had stripped over a fine line of saying too much of a personal thought to a superior officer. She quickly tried to recover. "...Train to assist the new Department Head with settling in."

She looked to the side and was obviously thinking hard now, "Hmmm...I need to get ahead of this." She suddenly looked at Beno and her expression was all business, "Thank you for this, Commander, but if we're done here, I suddenly have lots of work to do. Did you have any other questions?"

== Tag FO ==

[Beno Velaul]

Beno couldn't help but to giggle a little. "Rookie mistakes." She started with while thinking back at her mistakes, she didn't have a tutor at her disposal. "In the future when we are docking in a new port find out what the Dock Chief likes, and send a case of time. Then again after you leave, after this you don't have to monitor them. He will monitor them to make sure your specs are correct, they want that case." It also makes them feel respected. and they want to keep that up. 

"Just remember they have to live with their Crew Chief, and they don't want to let him or her down. Us on the other hand we are here today gone tomorrow, the day after we are gone the Crew has put us behind them without a second thought." 

Beno knew that she had to get going, there was a lot to do before they got going again. "By all means, you have a busy schedule and I don't want to keep you." She still had another award to give, it was just waiting for her to get there.

==Tag==

[Jez Mala]

<<The Bridge.<<



Jez’s stomach had butterflies in her stomach. She stood outside Velaul’s Office, she checked her uniform to make sure she was presentable.

Relax Jez, relax,

Jez pressed the Door Chime and waited for the Commander to respond. Her nerves were jumping, she couldn’t imagine what the meeting was about.



== Tag ==

[Kalli Thorn]

== As this was happening prior to the meeting in the Observation Lounge, I'm going to ignore that confusing other posts...lol... ==

Kalli thanked the FO for the advice and would try to remember it in the future. She heard the door chime and took it as her chance to escape.

As the door swished open, Kalli smiled and said, "Hey Jez!" Then quickly made her exit, leaving Mala to conduct her own business she might have with the FO.

== Tags and I'm out for this timeline... ==

[Beno Velaul]

Happy to see Jez Beno had a smile of delight, it was a cheerful event that was about to happen. If it was some kind of punishment, the Chief of Security would be there. As she was the Second Officer it would just be standard operating procedure. 

“Good to see you Lieutenant.” Beno started with. “Your hard work to make our ship a safer place hasn’t gone unnoticed. Neither has the way you conducted yourself on our Away missions, you have been a great representative of our crew and the Federation as a whole.”

Pulling out another black box opening it up, and when it was open Jez would notice the medal and a plaque. The plaque had her name on it and the date. It was the Star Fleet Commendation medal. “Captain Brooks put you in for this award, and Star Fleet agreed you deserve this.” Beno took the medal from the case and pinned it on her carefully. 

“Congratulations Lieutenant you deserve this.” Beno said as she took a step back. “I am very proud to have you on our crew.” Beno gave her the opportunity to reply, and see how she reacted. 

==Tag==

[Jez Mala]

Jez was happy to see the Commander smiling,

Okay she’s smiling this is good, unless she is smiling because she is happy to see me go.

Jez lived her life by the theory of preparing for the worst, but hoping for the best. That way one could better manage one's expectations.

She watched as the Commander pulled out a black box, opened it up, and when it was open Jez noticed the medal and a plaque. The plaque had her name on it and the date. It was the Star Fleet Commendation medal. “Captain Brooks put you in for this award, and Star Fleet agreed you deserve this.” Said Beno as the Commander took the medal from the case and pinned it on Jez carefully.

“Congratulations Lieutenant you deserve this.” Beno said as she took a step back. “I am very proud to have you on our crew.” Beno gave her the opportunity to reply, and see how she reacted.

Jez suddenly felt relaxed, her fears of a reprimand or punishment was laid to rest She looked at the Plaque and the Medal, she was amazed, she didn’t know that just doing what you had been trained to do would get special recognition, after all Star Fleet trained it’s people to go above and beyond in everything they do on a daily basis.

“Oh ….oh…. Thank You , Commander, I wasn’t expecting this.” Said Jez, her voice filled with a mixture of pride and humility. “ I don’t know what to say.” Added Jez.

Jez was excited, she couldn’t wait to write to Teddy Bear and let him know of her medal.



== Tag ==

[Beno Velaul]

Beno enjoyed times like this, the genuine shock that turns into surprise. People are first going to think they are being punished for something, and not being awarded for their hard work. Both Jez and Kali thought they were in trouble, it made Beno rethink the location of future awards. People work hard on their duties without really thinking about it, blowing off some steam afterwards is normally what comes to the front of their mind.

"No one really knows what to say during this time, we do our duties without really thinking about it. Then we blow off some steam to balance ourselves out, and when we get called into a meeting like this its all we can think about. You have been a great asset to our Security team, this award is a reflection on how proud the Command staff has been of you." Beno knew at times that everyone needed recognition for the work they did, and the personal touches that they add.

"Again congratulations on your well deserved award, this is your day that you should be proud of." Times like this were enjoyable for everyone who was part of it, and no one really wants it to end. 

==Tag ==

[Jez Mala]

Jez was a bit overwhelmed by getting a medal, she didn’t understand what she had done that warranted her getting a medal, but who was she to second guess the higher ups. Suddenly The Commander's voice broke through Jez’s thoughts.

"Again congratulations on your well deserved award, this is your day that you should be proud of." Said Velaul.

“Oh Commander Thank you, this is just unexpected. What do you say we go to Ten Forward for a drink to celebrate.? “ Said Jez



== Tag ==

[Beno Velaul]

Having a drink to celebrate the award was the best idea she had heard, and if this kind of circumstances happen again she knows a better place to go. In her career it was extremely rare not to have a big celebration, but now the idea of having a smaller scale celebration would be more appropriate. If they were to be called to Ten Forward, no one would think about being in trouble. At first they might think it was a little strange, until they notice a trend.

"I think that's a great idea Jez, from now on if this comes up again it will start there." Jez had a great idea about going to Ten Forward, it was their time to celebrate and have their time. "Your tab is on me today." Beno said while getting ready to leave as well, this was the last thing she needed to do before other ships business.

==Tag - This should end this time line, separate from the current mission timeline ==

[Jez Mala]

Jez was excited to spend some quality time with the Commander. Jez had heard that the Commander had built her career on her terms, rumors said that Commander Velaul was a brilliant officer, honest, hardworking, down to earth, level-headed, in other words, the perfect officer. Jez hoped that the Commander could be a mentor, if not a total friend, but Jez wasn’t sure if drinking with the First Officer would send the wrong message to the rest of the crew, would they think of her as a suck-up?

Do you care what others think? What would Teddy Bear do? He would have a drink and enjoy himself.

“How about we play a round of darts to see who pays?” Suggested Jez.

== Tag we can pick this up later if you wish. ==

[Beno Velaul]

==F.O. Office==
<<<Quarters<<<

Getting to her Office Beno had a report to make, there was a lot of information that had to be packaged for Star Fleet Command. They were in deeper than they thought was possible, it started off as one of the more easier missions turned complicated. The more they find out it seemed the deeper they were into it, if they got into it deeper they were going to have to swim. Between the two Ambassadors she wasn't sure what one made things worse than they should have, the only thing clear was there was a lot of blame to go around. What they needed was a solution to get everyone out of this, none were going to get out clean.

While the information was being gathered for the report, Beno was doing everything in her power not to pace watching the kettle boil. For the full picture there were a few things she needed to talk over with Talion, he had a vantage point that she couldn't have. Her full attention was on the General and the President, it didn't exactly give her the opportunity to observe more. The written part of Benos report started with Ambassador Weisbrantz status is alive and well, she isn't kidnapped and being treated for injuries. To get a better idea of what to add to the report, she waited for the Commander.

[Alexander Talion]

At hearing the comm for him to report to the FO, he wasted no time. He acknowledged the call and within only a minute or two was at her door.

Once inside, he asked, "What can I do for you Commander?"

== Tag  Velaul ==

[Beno Velaul]

==FO Office.==

Seeing Talion come so swiftly there was a few things o go over, and Beno didn't have much time before the deadline.

"Yes Thank you for coming so swiftly." Beno started while organizing her notes. What she was looking for was what he observed during the time the Away Team was on the surface.

"What I need from you Commander is some information, I am putting together that report for the Admiral, what I need from you is what you observed. Starting from before I arrived for starters, was there something that you observed that would suggest that they are hiding something from us?" The things she was looking for was if they had a hidden agenda, it was possible that he would have noticed something she wouldn't have.

==Tag==

[Alexander Talion]

Talion's eyebrows raised a bit as he tried to find the best words, "Well, you didn't miss a great deal. I can say that the entire planet seems to be deeply paranoid and conducting themselves in secret felt very common. They were able to defeat some communication devices, but I detected lots of listening and monitoring devices in most places. I allowed them to use their own jamming techniques and kept mine in reserve, not wishing to tip our hand in the event that I needed to depend on it later."

He relaxed a little more and after letting out a small sigh, he continued, "Cindy assisted the surgical team and Jonas now has an artificial heart of my design. If she's discovered anything else through her conversations with him, she's not said so. I was a little surprised that the President decided to come to the ship, but that could be a good thing. It is a decisive sort of move that might keep momentum on her side in dealing with the other factions. It will attract allies who are looking for strength while it will anger those in favor of isolationism."

He made a point to locking eye contact with the FO, "You did very well down there. These people are quite the minefield, so I don't envy your position in this. Their atmosphere of secrecy and subterfuge is so prevalent that it is hard to trust anyone at any given moment, yet I didn't pick up on any overt efforts to lie or manipulate us. It seems that they are more the sort to do so through what is NOT said, thus not actually lying while remaining allowing presumptions through omission."

Alex paused and then added, "Something does bother me though. The ship that was shot down. It should have been on an approved approach vector that aligned with a landing area. It is common enough to have emergencies and malfunctions, even possible failures of flight control. Had the ship lost control, it would have still been on a trajectory that instead of allowing an emergency landing, it would have fallen where it did, into what was considered hostile territory. THAT doesn't feel like an accident. We can dismiss the communication failure, which may or may not have been natural causes. We can forgive an overly trigger-happy military for firing on a diplomatic ship. What remains is that they were heading in a known unsafe direction where these unfortunate events caused such a valuable ship to crash. Someone made a choice that they should be approaching on that course, heading and speed. That decision was either incompetent or on purpose. For them to be incompetent, in conjunction with the other factors...it just doesn't feel right. Given how paranoid they are about everything else, why wouldn't they have been just as paranoid about this? The problem is that there are so many players and so much distrust, we can't know who to point a finger at. If I were to begin speculating, I would ask, who benefited? The people with the technology are the first suspects. Beyond that, I don't know what breadcrumbs to follow. Why was Jonas as deep into association with crime families as he was? Why was the new Ambassador coming across as almost passionate about all of this, when Vulcans are rarely passionate about anything and especially a trained Ambassador?"

He shook his head slowly, "This is exactly why I went into science instead of getting into the political arena that my parents wanted me to follow them into. These people seem to view the Federation as one step shy of an empire, so I think we should be prepared to be the opposite. We should be prepared to walk away from this. The federation has little to gain by them joining, but they have much to gain from the Federation. Unfortunately, some will gain more than others, so those looking to lose their grip on power are most threatened by us."

Alex finally fell silent, hoping that some of his words had contained something of value for Beno. It was easier talking to her, now that she was back in uniform. The outfit she had been wearing had certainly been...distracting.

== Tag Beno ==

[Beno Velaul]

Listening very closely there should be something he observed that she could use, his abilities could add a little more too it. "Well, you didn't miss a great deal. I can say that the entire planet seems to be deeply paranoid and conducting themselves in secret felt very common. They were able to defeat some communication devices, but I detected lots of listening and monitoring devices in most places. I allowed them to use their own jamming techniques and kept mine in reserve, not wishing to tip our hand in the event that I needed to depend on it later." At this point Beno understood a little more about the Presidents reaction, it wasn't every day that she would hear the truth from anyone. In this case Beno had the feeling that she should give it to her strait, and leave the coded talk for a different day.

"Cindy assisted the surgical team and Jonas now has an artificial heart of my design. If she's discovered anything else through her conversations with him, she's not said so. I was a little surprised that the President decided to come to the ship, but that could be a good thing. It is a decisive sort of move that might keep momentum on her side in dealing with the other factions. It will attract allies who are looking for strength while it will anger those in favor of isolationism."

When Cindy's name was mentioned there was still a bit of paranoia when it came to her, Beno had a bit of a fear that she would be targeted for her technology. There was information from the President that would suggest it was still a possibility, but the motive would be out of fear and not gain.

He made a point to locking eye contact with the FO, "You did very well down there. These people are quite the minefield, so I don't envy your position in this. Their atmosphere of secrecy and subterfuge is so prevalent that it is hard to trust anyone at any given moment, yet I didn't pick up on any overt efforts to lie or manipulate us. It seems that they are more the sort to do so through what is NOT said, thus not actually lying while remaining allowing presumptions through omission." He had some valid points in hind sight she did feel like the minefield was present, at the time she was doing it Beno wasn't thinking about it.  

Alex paused and then added, "Something does bother me though. The ship that was shot down. It should have been on an approved approach vector that aligned with a landing area. It is common enough to have emergencies and malfunctions, even possible failures of flight control. Had the ship lost control, it would have still been on a trajectory that instead of allowing an emergency landing, it would have fallen where it did, into what was considered hostile territory. THAT doesn't feel like an accident. We can dismiss the communication failure, which may or may not have been natural causes. We can forgive an overly trigger-happy military for firing on a diplomatic ship. What remains is that they were heading in a known unsafe direction where these unfortunate events caused such a valuable ship to crash. Someone made a choice that they should be approaching on that course, heading and speed. That decision was either incompetent or on purpose. For them to be incompetent, in conjunction with the other factors...it just doesn't feel right. Given how paranoid they are about everything else, why wouldn't they have been just as paranoid about this? The problem is that there are so many players and so much distrust, we can't know who to point a finger at. If I were to begin speculating, I would ask, who benefited? The people with the technology are the first suspects. Beyond that, I don't know what breadcrumbs to follow. Why was Jonas as deep into association with crime families as he was? Why was the new Ambassador coming across as almost passionate about all of this, when Vulcans are rarely passionate about anything and especially a trained Ambassador?" Those were more valid points that Beno also thought of, if they were to have followed proper instructions they wouldn't be in this situation. It would also add more to her report, the Admiral will have a lot of information when she was done with the report.  

He shook his head slowly, "This is exactly why I went into science instead of getting into the political arena that my parents wanted me to follow them into. These people seem to view the Federation as one step shy of an empire, so I think we should be prepared to be the opposite. We should be prepared to walk away from this. The federation has little to gain by them joining, but they have much to gain from the Federation. Unfortunately, some will gain more than others, so those looking to lose their grip on power are most threatened by us."

Again with the valid points Science by comparison was easier, there was no grey areas just black and white. If it was going to work they would know right away, or it would explode in one way or another. "That was very insightful, and I agree with all of it. This is long over due, he should have been replaced years before now." Beno took a second to think things through a little more.

"Star Fleet finally got him to rotate out because they were made aware of his activities, and promised not to look too closely at his activities or he could be up for criminal charges. I am certain that if we were to transport his family up here, next thing we know he is arrested placed into our finest of cells. Being a Federation Ambassador having a family here is illegal, there are certain procedures to go through. As for Jonas that's a picture I can't get out of my brain, I seen people shot before just not when I was that close before." 

"I also believe you are right about the shuttle, if this was Earth I am sure that we would be doing the same thing. This is going to be part of my report, I hope it is enough to stop the chain reaction." There was something that Beno was reluctant to share with him, but knew the value of being open to people who might be able to help. "The Admiral I spoke to about our findings she wanted to wage war if the Ambassador was killed, fortunately she wasn't killed and neither was Jonas. It doesn't add fuel to her fire, after all no one wants to be responsible for waging war against someone who isn't the enemy." This strengthened his point about not being in politics.

"As for Cindy I have to admit I was a bit paranoid about her being on the surface, my fear was she would be targeted for her technology. I am glad for her efforts up here, I just hope in the end he will be able to join his family again." It couldn't be easy living there at time, it was almost like living on Cardassia.

She thought about his question about being involved with the Crime family, it might also be part of the investigate. "It is entirely possible that he got involved with them in order to aide in peace talks, they could be an obstacle in the peace process. I am thinking that by making friends with the family, it might be a way to smooth things over and make the peace process easier. You are right as well about another thing, we don't have much to gain from them. Other than possibly being to gain a better position in trade."

"Also thank you for the compliment, it felt more draining than everything I have ever done combined. It feels like I can go to bed for a week." It would be a nice sleep for that long, but the most she ever managed to sleep for was two nights and days in a row. "I think that by talking in a way she wasn't accustom to helped the navigation, she seemed to be shocked by it. Now that we are going to have her up here, we have home field advantage. With the extra added bonus, while we were away there was a guest beamed up here. They are investigating how to make their dilithiam safe, and as you know they are sensitive about this subject. We should figure out how to defuse the future bomb that is going to go off, and bang its all over." Hopefully this was going to be one of those times that fortune favored the bold, right now it just felt like dancing with the Devil in the pale moon light.

==Tag and I loved the ending of your post.==

[Alexander Talion]

Alex could feel the small internal struggle in Beno, though it was a brief one. When she opened up and told him about someone willing to go to war over this, he was a bit surprised. Beno then expressed her concerns about Cindy's safety, which made him fight back a grin. As she continued to speak, his mind brought up images, reminding him of things about the FO.

Sometimes, when his mind and emotional state were in the right state, the universe felt like it stopped. He understood the cause for it on a medical level and even used it in some of his technology, but it was rare that it happened to him spontaneously. This was one of those times. His mind recalled that he and Beno had a great deal in common. He didn't recall all of the details, but many came to the front of his thoughts. They were both the same age. He had graduated from the Academy only 6 months before she did. They were both in Science, had both been assigned to roughly the same number of ships and he had also been an FO at one time. Apparently, she was a widow, which matched to him being a widower. To both be so young and having both lost a spouse was rather unusual. His wife had been in Science, but had been a few years younger than him. Time was standing still as he was looking at Beno, her face in perfect clarity. The Trill spots reminding him that she was a joined Trill, something he knew very little about. However, his wife had originally been a Human and Ferengi hybrid, who was turned into a human through accidental exposure to a substance that had never been clearly explained. His mind came back to the fact that she was looking directly into his eyes as she was talking to him. She had blue eyes, which reminded him of his daughter, Reyna, who also had blue eyes, just like her mother had.

That was what did it. Sooner or later, there was always some small thing that eventually brought his mind back to reality. It had happened in the blink of an eye, but if Beno had been paying attention, his pupils would have appeared to go from normal to a much wider state. Time resumed to feel normal to him, but his heart had skipped a beat, as it sometimes did in these moments. She was thanking him for the compliment and continued talking about the President and the dilithium. While he listened, he took a slow breath in and let it out just as slowly, quickly regaining control of his thoughts. He wasn't sure why his mind had gone where it had, but he knew better than to try and explain it, so he did his best to simply keep it to himself. It had at least served to remind him that they were not so different. He considered saying something about Jonas being shot in front of them, but couldn't think of doing so in a way that would help in any way. Ever since he had gotten himself shot in his brief facing off with a couple of Borg, his fear response had never been the same, but he had lived through it, so there was that. To bring it up would only feel like he was making it about him, and he actually had no desire to discuss such things about himself. There were lots of things going on, but none of them were about him right now.

Finally, she seemed to be looking for a response from him, so he gave a single understanding nod. Alex had become very calm, as a result of his flash of inner-sight and he felt that perhaps  he should pass that on in his own small way. Without thinking about it, he reached out with both hands and placed them on her shoulders. Although he looked more like he belonged in Security, for all his size he was a very gentle man most of the time. When he spoke, his voice was more quiet and personal, "Listen, you've been going hard for a while now. If you're going to keep this up, be sure to grab a quick bite of something. I know how it can be when the Captain is counting on you to help them get things done. Don't let yourself run out of energy before you hit that finish line. I'm sorry if I didn't always seem to be doing what you expected, but I'm right there to support you both, no matter what mission it is we're facing."

He seemed to notice that he had placed his hands on her shoulders like he did and caught himself. He tactfully dropped his hands slowly and looked down to gather his thoughts for a second before looking back to her to resume, "This dithium thing could be very important. Perhaps I should take a look at what has been done so far and see if there's something I can add to the conversation. If this is part of what this is all about, we might be able to help defuse it. You're right, we've seen plenty of worlds fighting about control over such resources or the technology surrounding it."

Alex was half a head taller than she was and he had slowly tried to take a small step back from her. He realized that he had briefly fallen from his normal professionally well practiced mannerisms to a personal one. He had stepped into her personal space, forgetting himself in the process. Easing back from the edge of that proverbial cliff, he didn't want her needing to look up at him. Maybe she wouldn't notice the change in his voice. Maybe...no...he heard the voice of his dead wife in his mind, telling him that Beno was smart, observant and experienced. he should not fool himself. The question was if he should own it or try to ignore it. Owning it only served a purpose if he meant to do it again, but as far as he could tell, this was just another example of why his life was less complicated by keeping it simple whenever possible. Right now, as so often was the case, the mission was where his focus belonged.

Covering the moment with a hint of a grin, he added, "Um...sorry...Let me see if I can give you something to work with by the time you and the Captain have that meeting."

== Tag...There, I added a bit more thought and subtext to the moment. Let me know if you want to leave it here or continue the conversation. ==