Episode 37: Kordikar - Act 7

Game was 6/25/20.

As the only senior officer still awake and overseeing the repairs, Lieutenant K'tral adheres to Ssleestak's schedule but fobs off all administrative duty to Ensign Jetra Yaden, the former 'second' chief engineer under Ssleestak's predecessor Cidhela. K'tral swiftly realizes this was an excellent choice, as the Betazoid has absolutely no problems yelling at unfamiliar engineers who outrank her. K'tral is able to oversee the repair work much more efficiently, and once the EPS grid is locked down, she shifts the priority to repairing the hull breaches. This lasts until about 0630 hours, when Ensign Yaden approaches and says softly, "Lieutenant, I need your help. I've run into someone I can't intimidate."

Jetra leads K'tral out to the main diagnostic table and introduces her to Commander T'kora, the chief engineer of the USS Boston. K'tral notes the taller Vulcan's cool demeanor and shoulder-length hair. T'kora immediately raises issues with Ssleestak's schedule, as she's found three inefficiencies that if corrected could shave a full hour off of repair time. The two Vulcans get into a tiff as K'tral refuses to diverge from her friend's schedule and demands T'kora follow it. The older – and higher ranked – Vulcan resists, so K'tral taps her combadge and hails Mel. Mel jolts awake and replies blearily, "Yes, Lieutenant?" K'tral outlines the dispute and requests Mel intervene to ask Commander T'kora to obey the schedule.

In her cabin, Mel mutters "Goddamnit," under her breath but replies, "I'll be down shortly to review. Stand by." She cuts the channel and then hails Commander Shil'vala. The Andorian answers, equally bleary, and Mel asks for help. She summarizes the problem and Shil'vala groans and replies, "I believe the human expression here is irresistible object meets immovable force. No, wait, the other way around. Whatever. T'kora has decades of experience in bashing together incompatible technologies and keeping older systems running smoothly, captain. I would recommend you give whatever suggestions she has a fair hearing."

Mel replies, "I intended to. I just wanted your advice on how to approach her." Shil'vala grunts and states, "If they were males, this would be a… I think you call it a dick measuring contest? T'kora can fixate, I'll grant you that. Just give her a fair hearing and it should be fine. Did you want me to come down as well?" Mel assures her, "No, I'll handle it, thank you. Go back to sleep." Shil'vala muses, "An excellent idea. Your ship has a very comfortable carpet." Mel blinks in surprise and asks slowly, "Commander, where are you?" The Andorian grunts sleepily and replies, "I actually have no idea. Hail me if you need backup." Mel agrees and signs off.

Back in main engineering, K'tral and T'kora simply stare at each other, forcing several junior engineers to divert around them. K'tral stands with her hands behind her back to hide her burn scars but notices several micro-expressions on T'kora's face.¹⁾ K'tral asks suddenly, "Have you met Lieutenant Ssleestak?" T'kora replies in the negative, so K'tral continues, "I've known him since the Academy. He may be fragrant and frustrating, but when it comes to engineering, he is a genius. He is my friend and I trust him with my life. And this ship is very unorthodox." She shifts her posture so her burn scars are visible.

T'kora raises her eyebrow a millimeter and replies, "Your loyalty is admirable. And the crew of the USS Boston is also… unorthodox." K'tral asks suddenly, "Have you spoken to Sola about this?" T'kora says, "No. My understanding is your AI is… unpredictable and occasionally quarrelsome." In response, Sola immediately starts playing It's a Small World After All as recorded by the Federation's Children's Chorus. Mel walks in and mutters, "Someone's feeling better." Sola retorts quietly, "I have been informed I am occasionally unpredictable and quarrelsome. I'm just leaning into it." Mel shakes her head as she approaches the main table, but then notices the Bynars are singing along – and other than K'tral, she doesn't recognize a single engineer here.²⁾

K'tral calls out, "Captain, per Ssleestak's request, please don't touch anything." That visibly startles T'kora and she asks, "Why not?" Mel replies with an airy wave, "It's fine. You replace one power thingy upside down and you get a reputation." T'kora stares at her incredulously for a split-second before she silently hands Mel the padd with the schedule. Mel stares blankly at the padd as T'kora starts running down the inefficiencies, but the Vulcan stops when she realizes Mel has utterly no clue what she's looking at. Mel announces, "There's a lot of engineering… stuff." K'tral holds her hand out for the padd and skims T'kora's schedule – and stops when she realizes the other Vulcan has indeed found some inefficiencies.

K'tral immediately apologizes to T'kora and adjusts the schedule accordingly. She then apologizes to Mel for waking her and adds, "There are times when I require authority with height." T'kora mutters, "That explains why your engineers kept coming up to me from behind and saying, 'K'tral… oops, sorry, you're too tall.'" Mel stares at her and snaps, "You two look nothing alike!" T'kora offers a surprisingly expressive shrug and replies, "In their defense, they did survive a vicious battle and were run ragged trying to effect repairs." Mel grudgingly concedes the point and T'kora turns to K'tral and offers, "I have a home-brewed formula for a powerful solvent that will help break down some of the damaged components and ensure a stronger bond for the new components, if you would be interested."

K'tral immediately agrees, so T'kora downloads the formula to a spare padd. K'tral takes it and immediately fobs it off on an unfamiliar Bolian who happened to cross her line of sight. Mel looks at T'kora curiously, but the Vulcan says simply, "Sometimes, you had to be unorthodox in the Cardassian theater." Mel grunts in agreement and departs main engineering. She heads to the engineering mess hall to get a cup of coffee, but swiftly realizes the emergency force fields are in place and the mess hall is open to space. She reverses course and heads to the engineering briefing room for the coffee and then walks her ship.

Phillip wakes up when someone gently runs their fingers through his hair. He opens his eyes and breathes a sigh of relief when he sees it is Peel. She says softly, "As my experience with modern medicine is lacking, I have no idea if I was hallucinating from some drug I can't pronounce, or if I actually saw a Denobulan giving a Gorn a massage. On this ship, it could be either." Phillip replies firmly, "That happened. Block it out of your memory. Sometimes, things happen outside of your control and you can't do anything about it. That was one of those times."³⁾

Ssleestak lets out a loud snore as he wiggles slightly on the biobed, and Peel and Phillip both smell cinnamon. Phillip checks the readouts on Peel's monitor, but Dr. Vrax hustles over and runs down what happened; Peel was caught by an exploding panel and suffered extreme plasma burns. However, the burns have healed, and she will be fine after two days' light duty. Phillip sees Peel's face fall as she realizes she would be dead without proper medical care, but Dr. Vrax blithely discharges her into Phillip's custody. Phillip helps her back to their cabin and when they enter, they find a meal waiting for them in the replicator with a note from Sola: Eat me, goddamnit.

Fal wakes up on the floor and has no idea where he is. He muses, "I'm not on Bajor. I'm not on a Horta. Computer, location of Lieutenant Commander Fal Marik?" Sola sputters, "Are you kidding me? That throbbing you hear is the damned warp core!" Fal listen carefully and calculates, "I'm roughly ten meters from the warp core." Sola groans and replies, "You're in Ssleestak's office." She then adds with a calculated tone, "However, you could do me a favor." Fal asks, "What do you need?" Sola lowers her voice and growls, "Storm out of here, ranting and raving and looking insane – and get those damned Bynars out of my ass!" Fal replies, "OK," and doesn't bother asking for any context.

Fal stumbles out of the office but can't summon up the words for a true rant, so he sputters several words in a nonsensical order instead. Everyone turns to stare at him, and the Bynars ask, "Are you malfunctioning?" Fal demands, "Are you malfunctioning? If so, then I am functioning normally If not, then I may be malfunctioning." He continues babbling as T'kora turns to K'tral and says flatly, "You win." The Bynars decide Fal needs food, and they escort him to the engineering lounge and the replicator. Fal stumbles behind them and asks them about the computer cores they've interfaced with. They happily spout off, but Fal only gets about a third of what they're actually saying. However, he nods and muses, "Fascinating."

Ssleestak wakes up at 0715 hours, refreshed and limber. He rolls off the biobed and stretches happily, noting his fresh skin. He asks Sola, "Any updates while I slept?" Sola replies, "Commander T'kora of the USS Boston revised your schedule slightly for greater efficiency, shaving an hour off our estimated repair time." Ssleestak notes the changes and swiftly signs off on them, happy someone improved his work. Sola adds, "Fal is helping me by terrorizing Bynars. I'm recording it, and it's almost as good as the time he got kicked in the genitals by your predecessor." Ssleestak hisses with amusement but doesn't press for more information.

The senior officers gather at 0745 hours in the main conference room and K'tral notes, "I desire a Terran cinnamon bun, for some reason." Ssleestak realizes he still smells of cinnamon and replies, "That's me. It's a new cologne for Gorn." Jessa snickers but also craves a cinnamon bun. Jen Kras joins them silently as they note her eyes are flickering rapidly back and forth between brown and swirling blue. Mel sighs but is glad her senior officers are all in one place – and in one piece.

Contrary to unofficial tradition, this time Saval takes the reins of the meeting and runs down the most extensive damage after noting the engineering teams have completed repairs to the EPS grids satisfactory. She notes the three major breaches and how they destroyed the phaser turret on the dorsal hull and the transceiver room and part of the bridge on deck one, and exposed Two-Forward, the arboretum, and stellar cartography on deck two – killing everything in the arboretum. Fal grumps, and many of the senior officers take the loss of the arboretum hard. Saval then covers how cabins 406, 407, and 408 were destroyed by the breach on deck four, leaving Lieutenant Evan Kras, Doctor Vrax, Ensign Thal'tirian, Ensign Jetra Yaden, and Ensign Aurora Lo'vak homeless. And finally, the breach on deck seven destroyed the engineering mess hall and damaged the long-range sensors and starboard landing strut, although that is low on the list of priorities.

Saval then explains, "We have a recording of the battle in space, supplemented by some Tizit footage. Captain, if I may?" Mel nods and Saval taps a command. The senior officers then watch the battle from last night, as the Solstice took the brunt of fire from the Krenim cruisers as other vessels were outright destroyed by the Krenim temporal torpedoes. The battle becomes a race as the Solstice fights to keep her makeshift temporal shields intact while the Krenim bracket her with fire. Captain Kras and Saval coordinate the battle smoothly, until Captain Kras calls out, "Attack pattern Shinzon-Gamma!" and gets several confused stares in response. Captain Kras mutters, "Right, not used to being this far downtime."⁴⁾

The battle continues as best it can until the Krenim deliberately target the bridge. The hull breaches, and Captain Kras grabs Saval and holds on to her before she can go flying out into the void; thankfully the rest of the crew were in their harnesses! The emergency force field snaps into place and they continue coordinating the battle, although this is when Saval hails Mel. However, the Solstice is now crippled as the Krenim weapon-ship reaches Kordikar and prepares to fire her main temporal cannon. Captain Kras grimly orders, "All available power to the temporal shields. Conn, get us right in front of that damned thing and set a collision course." Thri'shayn sneaks a look back to Saval, who nods once. Thri'shayn complies, and the senior officers watch as the Solstice plows forward towards the Krenim weapon-ship, which opens fire. The Solstice is caught square in the blast, but her temporal shields last long enough to scatter the temporal beam, thus sparing Kordikar for a few more minutes.

The senior officers watch in horror as the temporal shields finally collapse and the Solstice simply disintegrates as she is erased from history! The feed then switches to the Tizit planetary defense sensors, and the crew stares as a brace of quantum torpedoes suddenly sprays from the Solstice's former location! The Krenim weapon-ship takes heavy damage as an Akira-class starship suddenly surges forward, firing torpedoes the entire time! Saval freezes the playback to show a clear view of the Akira's hull, which reads NCC-72409-A USS Solstice! The Solstice-A is still outmatched by the Krenim cruisers, but she holds her own long enough for multiple unfamiliar ships to suddenly appear in the system, at which point the Tizit sensors collapse into static and a useless garble of nonsense

The playback ands and Saval says softly, "We presume that is when the Timefleet arrived from the 29th century. All we know for sure is that we were suddenly in Kordikar near-space with no sign of the Krenim and a three-minute gap in our sensors." Ssleestak says honestly, "That was most disturbing to watch. However, everyone on this ship did a good job." Mel agrees wholeheartedly and says, "Ssleestak sums it up nicely." Ssleestak looks innocent as he asks, "So… can we get an Akira?" Mel sighs and grumbles, "I want to fix this one first. And get my phaser turret back." Shan'taar takes over the playback and focuses on the Solstice-A; he points out, "I think they have one, actually."

The senior officers carefully study the images of the Solstice-A and realize there is a phaser turret attached above the bridge; Phillip declares, "Sold!" Mel grumbles but as they continue studying their Akira-class successor, they all realize that the warp nacelles look different than the standard; Phillip mutters, "I think their engines might be faster than ours." Ssleestak excitedly takes notes, but his slight increase in body temperature triggers an even stronger scent of cinnamon; Jessa declares, "Now all I want is a cinnamon bun." Sola snaps irritably, "There's this neat invention called a replicator."

Most of the senior officers then notice as Jen Kras's eyes flash blue and her head pitches forward to hit the table! Fal immediately reaches for a medkit while Ssleestak immediately slaps Fal – gently. Jen declares, "Ow. So, we have had – and will apparently continue to have for another twenty-five goddamn years – this conversation about the concept of 'now.' And when I need to know things in the 'now.' So… anyone know how long it takes to get a subspace message to Starbase 375 from here?" Caught completely off guard, Mel replies, "Six days, I think?" Shan'taar adds, "Five days if we push it, but that requires dedicated communications resources."

Jen groans, her head still on the table, and then she calls out tentatively, "Sola?" The AI cheerfully replies, "Already primed and ready. Send it today and it will arrive Monday night." Jen mutters something under her breath as she lifts her head to stare directly at Phillip. She says firmly, "Phillip, you need to send a message to your parents. Now. Tell them to call in sick Tuesday. Please." Taken aback, Phillip simply nods. Jen turns to Mel next and days, "So… we need to get back to Starbase 212. Within five days."

Mel sighs but doesn't question it, other than to say, "What can you tell us?" Jen confesses, "Nothing. It's frustrating. Anybody ever have to examine sixteen different timelines simultaneously?" Everyone in the room shakes their heads and Jen continues, "I really, really don't recommend it. All I know is that something is going to happen in the next five days, and we need to be back there." K'tral asks, "Just the crew, or do we need the Solstice as well?" Jen says sadly, "The ship. I'm sorry."

Mel stands up and says, "Engineering has top priority. We need to get back as quickly as possible, and that means getting towed out here today. Do everything you can to make it happen." The senior officers quickly disperse, and Fal follows Jen to the bridge. She slumps at Science II, so he takes Science I to keep an eye on her and to start repairing the long-range sensors. K'tral realizes she's reached the end of her endurance and informs Ssleestak, "I need rest." He excuses her immediately and she heads to her cabin to catch a nap.

Phillip realizes Jessa is eyeing him for counseling, so he quickly beats feet to the main shuttlebay, estimating he's got a twenty-minute head start. He quickly reviews the shuttle schedule and revises it so one is always fueled and ready to go, with a pilot on standby. He then volunteers for a repair team and ends up several minutes later in a Workbee, welding temporary plates over the breach on deck one. A few engineers from the other ships look askance, but the Solstice engineers make it clear he knows what he is doing.

Jessa ambles down to Two-Forward and gets a cinnamon bun from the replicator. She eyes the intoxicated pile of Wabai on the floor and Zug and Galan'naar slurring drunkenly at each other, both having long lost the power of speech. She settles down to plot and looks up to see the emergence forcefield keeping the atmosphere in – and smiles wickedly when she recognizes Phillip directly above her! Phillip freezes like a prey animal, and then tries to surreptitiously scoot out of her line of sight. She stares at him the entire time and then revises her evil plots accordingly.

Mel heads to her ready room and hails the Boston to speak to Captain Englyss. She hears some giggling as she's patched through, and then she hears Aaron groggily declares, "We're not at red alert, so why are you calling me?" Suddenly realizing the joke his crew played on him, Mel replies sweetly, "Good morning, captain! Did I wake you?" Aaron groans and grumbles, "How are you so perky?" Mel smirks but says, "There was a bit of a confrontation last night between my chief of ops, Lieutenant K'tral, and your chief engineer, Commander T'kora."

Aaron retorts, "Anybody dead?" Mel snickers and replies, "Not this time, no. I was able to baffle them with my lack of engineering knowledge." Aaron snorts and mutters, "I wonder if that would work with Shil'vala and Hel-Torin?" Mel asks, "What?" And Aaron says, "My apologies, my CMO is Efrosian." Mel dimly recalls the species but has never had any interactions with any, so she's lost. She asks, "How can you still be in bed?" Aaron retorts, "Captain's prerogative. We can sleep in sometimes." That completely fails to register with Mel, so Aaron mutters, "Yeah, you really did come from security, didn't you?"

Mel concedes the point and gets to the heart of the matter; she says, "We've received a warning from a Prophet." Aaron asks, "Like Muhammad, or Bajoran?" Mel replies, "Bajoran. We have to get back to Starbase 212 within the next five days." Aaron sighs but states, "I'll talk to T'kora. Does this have anything to do with a certain Jennifer Kras?" Mel hesitates, and Aaron deadpans, "Your silence is telling. I'll see what I can do. Boston out."

Ssleestak heads to his office in main engineering and does a quick check of last night's progress before he hails the Montgomery Scott to speak with their chief engineer. He then meets Commander Tor, a male Tellarite who's grumpy – even by the standards of his species. Ssleestak outlines their need to leave and Tor explodes, "What? You can't leave now without reinforcing your spaceframe! Does your captain have any understanding of the laws of physics?" Ssleestak replies, "No, and she doesn't care." Tor snarls for a few seconds before a calculating gleam appears in his eyes and he says roughly, "How slapdash are we talking here?"

Ssleestak admits, "We genuinely don't care how we look; we just need to get there safely." Tor cackles loudly and exclaims, "Perfect! I've been wanting to try this for years! The Montgomery Scott carries large sheets of tritanium to cut apart for patch jobs, follow?" Ssleestak nods and Tor continues, "So here's what I got. We cut a few sheets to cover your breaches and take them out via tractor beam, which we also use to curve them into shape to fit, and then the Montgomery Scott uses her phasers at low level to weld them in place!"

Ssleestak considers the insane idea for a split-second before replying, "Send me what you've got; I'll get everyone ready over here." He starts running basic simulations for a few moments until Sola asks, "So, why am I being targeted with phasers?" Ssleestak quickly hails Mel and tells her, "So don't worry, but we might take some light phaser fire soon." Mel exclaims, "What?!" and Ssleestak quickly explains the basic theory. Sola announces, "I do not approve of this harebrained idea." Before Ssleestak can push, his panel beeps as Tor's simulations and data come through – and it's a large bloc of information.

Ssleestak realizes Tor has been working on this idea for quite some time, so he quickly shares it with Mel and Sola and asks, "Take a look at this, please?" The information means nothing to Mel, but Sola eyes it and grumbles, "Taking more phaser fire versus less time naked. On the plus side, the welding crews will have to come inside, and that means Phillip will be Jessa's prey. Alright, do it." Mel snorts but reluctantly concurs. Ssleestak passes their approval to Tor and the Montgomery Scott shifts position and starts approaching the Solstice to get into firing position.

Out on the hull, one of the welding technicians incredulously warns the others, "The Montgomery Scott is targeting us with phasers!" That causes an outcry, but Phillip looks out to see the Montgomery Scott maneuvering into position. However, he opines, "Relax, everyone. If it were important, they'd let us know." A few second later the crews get the recall order, so they head for the nearest airlock. The Montgomery Scott gets into position and powers up their phasers, only for the Tizit defense grid to target her!

Mel quickly hails Zivan using the MSD panel at the rear of the bridge and assures her, "It's alright, they're helping us make emergency repairs." Zivan retorts incredulously, "With their energy weapons?" Mel admits, "Yes. Something has come up and we need to get back to our starbase as soon as possible." Zivan stares at her and grumbles, "You Federation people are insane." Mel shrugs and Zivan continues, "Please return my son and the Wabai spies before you depart." Mel remains impassive but surreptitiously texts Jessa, "Where is Zug?" Mel then talks to Zivan, explaining she's getting her son for her, and expertly dodges the questions swirling about the Wabai. Thankfully, some of the damage to the ship is affecting the communications channels, giving her an excuse.

Ssleestak asks Sola, "Can you alert K'tral of the incoming fire? No, wait, I'll do it." He taps his combadge and hails K'tral. She blearily answers and he tells her, "So, you're going to hear heavy phaser fire. Don't worry about it, we're conducting repairs." K'tral isn't awake enough to process the ridiculousness of his statement, until the Montgomery Scott uses her tractor beam to shape a strip of tritanium into shape and uses her phasers to conduct a crude weld. Ssleestak hisses with happiness as the procedure works, while K'tral decides if the ship's not at red alert, she's gong back to sleep.

Down in Two-Forward, Jessa texts back, "In a Wabai drunk cuddle pile in Two-Forward." Mel taps her response, "His mother wants him home, and the Wabai." Jessa sighs and heads over to Zug and Galan'naar. She overhears them agree on one salient point, "These Federation types are fucking insane." Jessa sidles up and blithely agrees before telling Zug, "Your mother wants you to come home." Zug blinks as he processes her arrival and statement before plaintively whining, "But I don't want to go home. If I'm here, I don't have to perform sexual acts."

Jessa freezes as she immediately realizes the political grenade Zug just tossed her. Zug frowns as more of his brain cells attempt to engage and he murmurs, "What about the Wabai?" Jessa says softly, "She wants them too." Galan'naar frowns as he realizes the implications immediately, but Zug lapses back into silence as he struggles to think. Galan'naar leans in and whispers, "They're a reincarnationist culture, he has no clue." Jessa nods as a few cultural idiosyncrasies fall into place, although she has no idea what Galan'naar is referring to.

Zug exclaims, "I have an idea!" He suddenly dashes off and Galan'naar looks at Jessa. She shrugs and replies, "Follow him, I guess." They follow him to the turbolift, and he crows, "Deck one! Please." The lift takes them up and Zug charges out to the bridge. Mel says smoothly, "See, he's fine," to Zivan. Jessa and Galan'naar follow him in and Zivan's eyes narrow as she studies the Wabai. Jessa tells Mel, "He has an idea, apparently." Mel mutters, "How enervating." Zug staggers to the makeshift viewscreen but stands up straight and informs his mother, "Unfortunately, we have encountered a diplomatic morass. The Wabai have requested political asylum with the Federation!"

Zivan's eyes narrow to slits as Galan'naar mumbles, "We did?" Jessa elbows him in the gut to shut him up. Zug rambles a bit until he states, "And I'm staying with them too. If we're opening diplomatic relations, we need an ambassador, right? Well, I'm a skilled negotiator and I've spent the most time amongst these people. Although all the colors are muted. Why is that?" Mel blinks in surprise but replies, "I'd chalk it up to evolution, honestly. You evolved from a world with less natural light." Zivan hisses, "I do not think that is a good idea."

Zug stares at his mother for a second before stating firmly, albeit drunkenly, "I do. And as I am of age, I am declaring my independence. Just like the Fundamental Declarations of the Martian colonies! Where is Martian, anyway?" Jessa replies, "It's Mars, and it's the Terran system along with Earth, the human homeworld." Zug nods stupidly before continuing, "As for the Wabai, mother, did you know they've been blacklisted and exiled by the Wabai Intelligence Bureau? Because they had a shred of honor and helped Starfleet against the Dai'Loq attack, the one where the entire Consortium braced for war!"

Zivan opens her mouth to counter his argument, but Zug plows forward, blatantly cutting her off, "They helped us in that ziggurat. They killed Krenim soldiers waiting to ambush us. I'd be dead if it weren't for them. Kordikar would be dead. Erased from history. So yes, they're leaving, and so am I. I can be an ambassador. Will I get a robe by being an ambassador?" Mel replies, "Uh, sure. You can wear whatever you want." Zug looks at her with total wonder and whispers, "I… I could wear pants? With pockets?" Mel freezes as she processes his statement, and notices Jessa give a subtle nod behind Zug. She replies, "If that's what you want, sure."

Zivan hisses in rage and Mel adds, "Why don't you head to sickbay with Counselor Tyr and Captain Galan'naar to get an anti-intoxicant?" Zug nods and follows Jessa and Galan'naar to the turbolift. Once the doors close, Galan'naar rumbles, "Did we actually request asylum, or did he lie straight to his mother's face?" Zug slumps against the turbolift wall, totally spent, as Jessa replies, "He lied. I want to see what he can do sober." Galan'naar mutters, "Good luck with that. You have a lot of alcohol on this ship. We really enjoyed something called Romulan ale." Jessa replies, "I enjoy it too, but it's hard to get in the Federation." Galan'naar eyes her and says approvingly, "I like you." Jessa smirks and leads them to sickbay to get the anti-intoxicants – and to have them file the asylum paperwork.

Back on the bridge, Zivan insists her son cannot possibly mean what he said, as he is a lowly male. Mel says firmly, "The Federation believes in total equality between genders." Zivan scoffs, "Yet your ship's command crew is female." Mel replies, "This one is. Other ships are a different story. The captain of the Boston is male, for example." Zivan sputters, completely incredulous at the idea of a male captain,⁵⁾ but Mel interjects, "We are leaving with the Wabai. Zug is a different issue, however." Zivan says frostily, "I want to speak with my son when he's sober." She then cuts the channel.

There is a moment of grim silence on the bridge, until Shan'taar interjects, "Captain, I know I'm only a lowly male, but I do wish to report our hull repairs are fifty percent completed in only ten minutes. We should be tow-capable in ninety minutes." Mel snorts but nods. Meanwhile, Phillip spends some time repairing the minor breaches in the Solstice and then ducks away to send the message to his parents. Fal remains on the bridge, trying – and failing – to ignore the diplomatic crisis. As the last tritanium plate is sealed in place, Ssleestak finds Commander T'kora to thank her and to kibosh a bit. He apologizes for the cinnamon smell, but T'kora replies cryptically, "At least it's not Terran lavender."