One hundred and one steps, one hundred steps, ninety-nine steps... Jesa was counting the ones to get to her quarters. It was almost like counting the small dot of red that was mismatched in the pattern every three point oh four three nine meters in the rug, but not quite as knit picking and annoying. Eighty-one steps... eighty steps... seventy-nine steps...

Jesa sighed slowly---more than three-quarters of the way there and no one had come running to call her to alert because of some disaster or emergency. Maybe, just maybe, it would last all the way there. And if she was especially blessed, it would last for another few hours so she could sleep. Jesa's eyes closed tiredly, seeming to hang almost with weights on them. She always found it amazing how her changeling-tiredness manifested itself in quite humanoid ways; it wasn't something she really trained herself to do. It was just natural.

Twenty... nineteen... eighteen... the count continued in her tired mind as she played the game to keep herself from collapsing right then and there. The doorway was in sight, now if she could just get that far. Five... four... three... Her hand reached for the panel and quickly tapped in the code to enter. Unlike the Isannah, everything on the starbase was secured all the time. There was so much more traffic of those who could be dangerous, that extra measures were necessary.

Her hand fell to her side as the door slid open to reveal the dim interior of the room. Jesa walked over to the replicator tiredly, without looking around much. All she noticed was a large pile of boxes and a couch, obviously this room was large, and two doors led off to what she could only presume were bedrooms. The red-haired woman yawned, holding her hand over her mouth.

"Peppermint tea, hot." Jesa spoke tiredly.

The replicator quickly whirred to life, assembling the beverage on the molecular scale for Jesa's consumption. She winced slightly as she took the cup of tea in her hands, as it was still quite hot. The woman gently held it; taking one sip and feeling the beverage renew some ounce of energy to her system.

She turned and realized that she could see a head sticking up over the back of the couch. Jesa's eyebrow raised and she walked around to the other side, she had to stop herself from chuckling. There, on the couch, curled up were Terah Callen and Stephi. A book lay on Terah's thigh, obviously what was supposed to be a bedtime story. Jesa's sister had her arm around the child, and Stephi looked perfectly content to be there.

Jesa shook her head slightly with a smile, and walked over. She touched Terah's hair gently, whispering. "I always thought you were an angel in this life, dear sister." And leaned over to kiss her sister on the forehead, something she probably wouldn't have done if the Betazoid woman was awake, as close as they were. Then she touched Stephi's small shoulder, smiling at the lost child... this was something else Jesa needed to chase up, she leaned over and kissed Stephi's head gently.

Looking at the both of them, she picked up her tea again and moved away, leaving them in peace. She then remembered the last thing she needed to do tonight. Jesa hunted about for a few moments until she found a padd. Then she tapped out a quick message on it, being careful not to put his name down there anywhere. He'd understand why she didn't get terribly personal with it, she hoped. It read:

"Found quarters for you. Down the hall, to the first right, at the end of the corridor. It's the most out-of-the-way section in what we've been assigned. Though you'd appreciate that.

--------------

Didn't know if you wanted to be known.

Glad you're around.

I love you.

Dinner?

- Jesa

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Knowing he would find it if he was looking, she laid it on top of the boxes from his quarters, as they were still stacked in the main living area. After checking out the room Terah had already moved her things into, Jesa located her bedroom. She contemplated for a moment about taking a shower, but her body decided against it for her.

Then she realized she had to go hunting for a nightgown, Jesa sighed and rolled her eyes, deciding it wasn't worth the effort. She stripped out of her clothes and crawled beneath the sheets. Wishing she had been able to speak to Buck again, she kept telling herself she was just too tired. She fell asleep, the last few thoughts being about her love... wondering where he was and what he was doing, but most of all, glad he was truly alive.

:: Jesa's Room, Callen's Quarters

"Preeeetty person, pretty, pretty, pretty person." Jesa heard being spoken a few inches from her ear. The woman jerked back, her hair a tangled mess as her bleary eyes picked up a large bundle of something red that moved. Jesa's surprise overtook her and she rolled over suddenly, falling off the bed and taking a mess of sheets and blankets with her.

"Whoa! Goin' down with the ship!" the something squawked, flapping to recover its balance. Jesa groaned, but didn't move from her position where she fell. She relaxed her neck and rested her head back on the floor. Mornings never got any better... or maybe they did, in an... alternate reality. To make it worse, Peeko had waddled over to this side of the bed and was looking at her with the most clownish stare.

"Sure. As if you don't know what happened." Jesa said, glaring up at the bird. A low whistle was heard and Jesa flipped over, pulling the blanket adequately up over her chest. Peeko, in a mass of red feathers passing over Jesa, flew over to the door, which was standing open. A short shadow was cast into the room, and a giggle was heard. Jesa was too asleep to really have any kind of reaction besides lying there wrapped in blankets with her hair a mess and blinking. Of course, if she had thought herself in any danger, she could have woken up five times faster.

Stephi, with Peeko at her heels, departed from the doorway, allowing the split doors to resume their closed state. She yawned, and blinked, still not coming fully to terms with her rather rude introduction to consciousness. Now that Jesa had finally made herself believe she was awake... maybe, she ran a hand through her tangled tresses that she normally called hair and stretched. A blast of cold air hit her back and made her shiver violently. 'Clothing would be good. Hot shower, better.' She thought to herself, starting to unfold herself from the tangle of covers.

"Computer, half lights." She said, then paused, "Oh, and secure the door."

Jesa yawned again as she stepped out of the shower, feeling a hell of a lot better than she did twenty minutes ago. Still tiredness was riding heavy in her eyelids as she wandered over to the replicator, dressed in exactly two towels. "Standard duty uniform, red, Jesa Callen's measurements." She said, wishing she had asked for the hot tea first. It took the next five minutes to order the rest of her clothing, and then the hot tea, which she immediately took a long swallow of, trying not to wince too much as it burned going down.

As she sat down the cup reluctantly, she shivered, taking off the towel about her body. Her hair still was wet, and wrapped up in the "beehive" structure the towel made. She pulled her clothing on; still feeling somewhat exposed for an odd and unknown reason. Once dressed she wrapped her hands around the mug again, which was still quite warm.

"Brrrr.... Did someone change the environmental settings in here?" she asked, half rhetorically, but realizing halfway through that the computer could answer her question. "The environmental settings are at pre-programmed standards."

"Yeah, for a Breen, maybe!" Jesa exclaimed.

"Negative. Breen settings have not been entered into this console. Do you wish to specify a new list of settings saved to the preference standard titled 'Breen'?" The computer replied.

Jesa rolled her eyes. "No." she said simply, with more than an ounce of annoyance in her voice. She stood and bent over, rubbing the towel vigorously about her hair. Standing up, she brushed the hair back into its place. Then she went back into the bathroom to throw the towels in the textile recycling unit. She caught her reflection in the mirror; her face with the slicked back wet hair. Jesa smiled at herself. 'Buck is back,' she thought simply.

That made her smile grow wider, and the tiredness melt completely away. There seemed to be a slight spring in her step as she quickly pulled a brush through her hair and then continued across her room out into the main room. The doors opened, and Stephi was at the table with Terah, eating breakfast. The large stack of Federation-standard boxes still cluttered up the walkway, most of it was Jesa's, but there was about a third of the boxes gone---the ones from Buck's room.

'Good. He has reclaimed them.' she thought with a nod of approval.

"Hello, sleepy head." Terah said with a smile hidden behind a steaming cup of tea.

Jesa's smile was definitely humoring Terah. "You would be too if you were managing a Starship refit and your officers kept you up until all ungodly hours of the night." She ran her fingers through her wet hair as she practically attacked the replicator for another cup of steaming tea.

"You had a box delivered here earlier, while you were still asleep. Must be some box you neglected on the Isannah." Terah said, ignoring Jesa's snippiness. "Want some breakfast? I replicated some extra."

'Box?' Jesa mentally queried before hearing the last of Terah's words. "No, no thanks... I'm not hungry... Where is the box?"

Terah chuckled. "On the other side of the couch. You almost tripped over it walking in here, I'm surprised you didn't see it."

Jesa turned around, she was surprised she didn't notice something like that. Then she saw the box, standard starfleet issue like all the rest, and simply moved to another location.

"It's just like all the rest of them, thought it was just one moved for Buck's convenience," she explained, grumbling to herself. She walked over and knelt by the box; it wasn't quite like all the rest, this one had a locking mechanism attached to it. Jesa tilted her head and then looked at it, it seemed to be a handprint lock. With a great deal of skepticism Jesa pressed the palm of her hand against the plate.

The sound of a mechanism clicking in the container echoed throughout the quarters, something that aroused Terah's interest as she wandered over. "Signature Accepted," flashed across the screen. Jesa curled her fingers around the edge of the lid and lifted it off, peering inside with interest. It took only a minute before both of Jesa's eyebrows shot straight up, and a thought sped unhindered in mind.

'Oh dear... is there anyone on my crew who doesn't have a deep dark past and hidden ties to who knows what black organization?' she thought, then realized that Terah was also looking at the contents of the box and noting her sister's reaction very carefully. Her voice was dead serious as she spoke. "Jesa, what is this stuff?"

Jesa didn't answer, and lifted out two padds from the top of the box; placing the lid back over the top just as Stephi grew curious enough to wander over. The red-haired woman turned the padds over and looked at the first line. "Terah... this one is for you," she said, handing it to her sister.

--------------

Hi Terah,

The birdstand is yours, so feel free to take it.

Might see you soon.

Alex Drake.

--------------

Terah seemed surprised, but took the padd and read it over. She smiled, she already had the bird-stand and at this very moment Peeko was atop it, having her breakfast. Then she looked over at Jesa, who had just finished reading the contents of her letter---there was no smile on her face.

--------------

Commander,

If you're reading this, then I might be dead. I only say might, because I've got plenty of tricks up my sleeve, as I am sure you've guessed from the rest of the contents of this box. Please deliver the other note to your sister, and give her the bird-stand, I never got round to delivering it myself.

In any case, if I am alive, then rest assured that I will contact you, as if this "JAG" woman has killed me, then I don't want you risking life and limb trying to find out if I am properly dead.

I've got a few allies, so don't write me off yet. I will try to get word to you as soon as "humanly" possible. Although either way, I'm going to have my hands full dealing with Niederst, so you might want to reassign the other case to someone else.

If I haven't already given them back to you, the PADD's you wanted me to do are contained within, they are all finished at time of writing this.

Ensign Alexander Drake.

--------------

'Well, at least he doesn't slack on the paperwork,' Jesa thought, leaning her back against the wall. Glancing over at the bottom of the box, she noted there was a stack of padds, along with other things she didn't want Terah wondering about too much. Removing the padds, Jesa closed the box again and reengaged the lock. She'd figure out what to do with the rest of the stuff later. Her expression was thoughtful, but concerned. Terah's eyes searched her sister's face, looking for some more information than could be readily ascertained from her expression. "Jesa, what does this mean about Alex?" she asked, getting that no-nonsense stubborn tone in her voice.

The commander looked up at her sister, who was kneeling on the edge of the couch. "It means... life just got a lot more complicated."

Loaded: 04.23.2004