The door chime woke him from his meditation and he hurriedly packed his shrine away, stubbing his toe. "Computer, lights." He muttered something about Federation designers and hobbled over to the other room. "Come in."

The doors parted to reveal the form of a fit, but still slender young woman of about twenty-seven. Her black hair was cut short to her head in a practical, but not extremely becoming fashion. Her black eyes held intensity, and she paused a moment before entering. Her movements were of a natural dancer's grace, but one born of fighting skills, not of a more artistic endeavor. She only stepped in as far as it took to close the doors, and stood quite stiffly at attention. "Lieutenant Tyne?" she questioned, though she already knew it was him.

He regarded the woman coolly, a little surprised that someone would actually visit him. "Well, if I'm not I hope he doesn't mind me sleeping in his bed, eating his food, or spoiling his cat." He motioned to the sleeping silver tabby on the couch. "It's nice to see you again, Miss Keeves. Please, sit down. Can I get you something to drink?"

"Thank you, sir, but I'm not thirsty," she said, taking a seat as he requested, and as warned, keeping an eye out for the cat.

Remy opened one eye and looked Alara over somewhat disinterestedly and went back to sleep. "So Miss Keeves, what can I do for you today? And please, enough with the formalities. Call me Victor." He flashed her his award winning smile.

She nodded again, "I'm not sure if that would be appropriate..." she said with a slight shrug "but if that's your order..."

"Not an order, a request. As long as we're away from duty, please call me Victor." He kept smiling. "So what brings you here?"

Alara still sat bolt upright in her chair, but her manner was slightly more relaxed than when she entered. "As you ask... Victor." She said, not stumbling over his name, but saying it softly. "Commander Callen asked me to..." she tried to think of another way to put it, since most people usually took it badly "watch over you until the 'incident?' could be sorted out, she said you would know what she meant."

A look of understanding passed over his face, wiping clean the smile. "She sent you to guard me." He nodded, standing up. "Understandable, not totally unexpected." He shrugged. "Well here we go again..."

Some primal part of Alara told her that she had just stepped neck deep into something she really would be better off not traversing. But, she had her orders, and she was going to do her level best to carry them out. But at his 'here we go again' remark, she only raised her right eyebrow slightly, and brushed a strand of hair out of her face.

He closed his eyes and sighed. "I'm sorry, Miss Keeves, that's not fair to you..." He plopped down into the chair. "I suppose I've earned it. So tell me, what exactly are your orders concerning me?"

Alara looked at him, her face softening somewhat. Then she looked past him for a moment, unfocused. "Her words were... Keep him from harm to the best of your ability utilizing whatever measures you deem necessary until I personally tell you otherwise." Alara repeated, looking at him again.

He scratched his chin thoughtfully. "So you're guarding me from the rest of the crew rather than vice versa."

"Rest of the station, sir... um, excuse me, Victor. And anything else for that matter." She interjected, not rudely, simply matter of factly.

He allowed himself a small smile. "Well I have to say that's a new one on me!" He chuckled softly, smiling at her once again. "How much do you know about the 'incident' the commander was talking about?"

Alara's face was calm, but held a strange mixture of alertness and ease. "Not much. I stopped by security on the way here; they wouldn't release much information to me. I thought I might offer my assistance to them, but my primary duty was to you, so I continued here as quickly as I could. All I know is the location, that it was a bomb, no one was killed, though there were eight people injured."

He frowned a little. "Right, well if this is going to work you'll have to be as well-informed as I am. Earlier today someone made an attempt on either my life or the good commander's using a Ferengi locator bomb. Thanks to her reflexes it missed us and hit a wall." A look of worry passed over his face. "Does Commander Callen have anyone guarding her?"

The black-eyed woman shook her head "Not to my knowledge. Commander Callen prefers to move alone, something I have experienced first hand, though from my own experience I would judge this to be unwise. However, a situation such as this would be something that either the XO or the Chief of Security could approach her about, and I just happened to leave them both a little--" she cleared her throat "--note about it." Alara's expression turned slightly more personable for the first time since she stepped in the quarters, and the look on her face was almost sheepish.

Victor nodded, staring off into space. "Yes... do that..." He blinked and looked over at her, surprised at the look on her face and smiled in spite of himself. "So, Miss Keeves, how do you feel about giving me a tour of the station?"

She smiled slightly, "Only as long as I get to make a sweep of your quarters when we get back." She held up the case she brought along with her, then she took out one of the devices and strapped it onto her waist. It was a continuous scanner, meant to detect suspicious substances and alert the wearer to their presence. Of course, most good assassins simply used materials that weren't detectable, so it didn't do much good, but on the off chance someone got lazy... it might save one's life.

He smiled back warmly. "Of course, that's good thinking Miss Keeves." He gave a short whistle and Remy bounded up into his arms. "I think we'd better take her with us... just incase." He held Remy up in front of his face. "We're not going to leave you here all alone while the crazy bomber man is still out there. No we're not." He kissed the cat square on the top of the head then cradled her in his arms. "Well then, where are we going?"

Alara forced back a smile, dropping her gaze as he baby talked the cat. She had a Betazoid cat once, a black one named Sootfoot, but with a myriad nicknames. But she certainly never babied her... more often than not, they would pretty much completely ignore each other until mealtime, or when Sooty wanted some attention, which Alara, of course, had to provide. It always amused her how people baby talked their pets. She returned her attention to him when she was quite sure the amusement was off her face. "It depends on what your interests are and what you wish to see," she responded, standing.

He thought for a moment. "Well, anything really. I don't really know what's on the station and I was hoping we could just stroll along and talk for a while."

She nodded. "Certainly. We'll head first to the commercial sector... in case anyone tries to follow, that would be the easiest place to lose them." she said, more speaking a strategy aloud than anything else. She met his eyes and then walked towards the door, leading the way.

He chuckled to himself. "Always practical." He followed her out the door and walked up beside her, following her through the corridor. "So tell me Miss Keeves, how long have you known Commander Callen?"

Keeves set out at a gentle pace, staying alert to the goings on around them. "I have known her for a few years, I don't rightly recall the date. I served with her for a few months before actually meeting her in any substantial way, she was a Lieutenant at that time."

"Hmmm... and you two are close then?" He scratched Remy's head absently, trying to be as charming as possible. Maybe the young ensign would tell him something useful about the Commander... maybe something that could lead to explaining all the odd feelings he had when he was around her. No one he'd ever known had made him so nervous, yet had his complete trust.

She shook her head as they stepped into a Turbolift. "No, sir... sorry, Victor. But I do appear to have her trust... in some fashion at least." Alara turned around and stood a healthy distance from the door, her posture still as straight as it had been when she first appeared in his quarters. "Commercial Sector, lower deck." She called to the computer and the lift started moving.

He watched her, smiling warmly as he remembered his life before he defected from Starfleet, remembering the bright-eyed cadet he used to be when a thought hit him. "What about 'Buck'? What was he like?"

"Ah... Doctor Gear, he's a different story entirely... Fine officer, good leader, but something... reserved in him; not like there isn't in her, but something seemed to be unsettled... quite a shame though. They had the ship grapevine a-buzz for the longest time before they announced their engagement. I think he's the only person Commander Callen really trusted... at least among the crew." She ended, in thought.

He sighed softly, lowering his voice respectfully. "Can you tell me what happened to him?"

Alara looked over at him "I'm afraid not... the last mission record was sealed. It is not to be discussed, even among ourselves. He died from the interaction of an existing medical condition and something we found... that's really all I can tell you." She said, her black eyes showing the finality of her words. There was no way she'd be pushed to give more on this topic.

He nodded, rolling the words over in his mind. 'Why does it seem like everyone has lost someone these days...' He just stood there, scratching a purring Remy and staring off into space even as the door opened.

"I don't know," Alara answered as she stepped out of the lift. She looked back at him and waited for him to join her.

He snapped to, turning bright red. Yet again one of this crew had caused him to drop his guard for just long enough to get inside his head. He kicked himself inwardly and pushed all the thoughts out of his head, adjusting his armband defiantly as he stepped out of the lift.

She noticed his reaction and lowered her gaze. "I'm sorry, Victor, I meant no offense..." she said softly, her head bowed slightly in respect.

He chewed on lip and sighed, just deciding to let the whole matter drop. "No, it's ok. I'm still not used to trusting another with my thoughts like most Federation telepaths. I usually have better control over what I'm thinking..."

Alara smiled softly "Then I will work better at maintaining my walls... It will not happen again." she said, mentally removing the "sir" from the entire line just as she started walking again. The buzz of a crowd became more apparent as they moved out into a wide walkway, more like a street on the busy space station.

He walked beside her, looking around at all the people as they passed by. Remy shifted nervously in the crook of his arm. "So, ah, where are we now?"

"This is the commercial area of the station, located just beneath the main bay, it includes mostly semi-permanent to permanent shops and businesses. Spanning three decks, and extending completely around the perimeter of the station, there are approximately twelve hundred slots, though that number varies from week to week with expanding and closing, and so on... It's basically one big 'mall', as Terrans call it." Alara said, quite off the cuff.

"Hmmm interesting." He paused next to a shop selling a wide variety of seafood and leaned in for a closer look. Remy's ears pricked up and her whiskers twitched excitedly. "What do you think, Princess?" He held a small pufferfish in front of her nose and laughed when she turned away. "Alright, alright!! We'll come back later and see if we can't get us some decent eats." He kissed her on the tip of her nose and turned back to Alara. "How many people are on the station Miss Keeves?"

She tilted her head and looked him in the eye. "Including, or excluding the Isannah crew?"

"Hmmm... without the Isannah crew..." He kept looking around, a little amazed at just how big the station was, especially for a person who spent the last ten years of his life aboard a starship.

"Truthfully..." she smiled "I don't know exactly... I've been too busy to monitor the ships coming and going over the last two days, so my numbers could be a couple thousand off, depending on the ships docked. Usually about twelve thousand." Alara replied.

He sighed wistfully. To have so many people aboard a station was completely beyond him. He looked around, somewhat in awe, marveling at the sheer size of it all. He thought that he probably looked rather foolish, but he didn't much care.

Alara smiled slightly, standing and looking at him "It is amazing... I never do get over it, either. I sometimes wonder how there could actually be so many people... and sometimes I just sit and wonder what their stories are. Who they are, where they are going, what they've seen and experienced..."

He stopped and shook his head, smiling in spite of himself, then just looked at her. "What about you, Miss Keeves? What about your own story?"

She looked down with that slight smile across her lips. "My story is quite boring... about keeping duty, honor, and loyalty, as drilled into me by my father. There's not much to tell." She said, with a slight shake of her head.

"Duty, honor, and loyalty. Good qualities in any person." He said as if toasting her. "And certainly good qualities to have in one's 'bodyguard' wouldn't you say?"

Alara half-smiled, one corner of her lip rising more than the other. "Only if you know... duty to what, loyalty to whom, and from where the person is drawing their sense of honor... If all of those hold good and laudable, then yes."

"Ah, how true, how true." He thought about asking where her loyalties lied, then thought better of it and looked around for an environment better suited to this kind of conversation, spying a small alcove tucked away between two larger shops.

She, of course, was watching him (and everything else) carefully, and began to head towards the place his eyes pointed out as if she had read his mind, though she was being quite careful not to do so.

He moved up past her and pulled out a chair for her, smiling charmingly as he motioned for her to sit. "But be sure to keep an eye out for more of those little bombs..." he cautioned with a wink.

Alara moved to the offered chair, scooting it slightly to give her a better view. As she heard his words, her face became serious for a second as she looked at him "I assure you that I'm keeping watch to the best of my ability."

He sat down opposite her, frowning a bit. "Oh come now, do you really think someone would be foolish enough to try something twice in one day? And we don't even know if it was me they were after. It could quite as easily have been the commander." he pointed out, waving to a passing cart vendor, looking at Alara. "Can I get you anything?"

"You're correct about our not knowing who was the target. I still think it's better to be alert and expect the unexpected..." she smiled slightly, "A coffee with cream and sugar would be nice."

He nodded to the man, holding up two fingers and forming the word with his mouth, smiling as he set two cups in front of them. "Now where were we? Ah yes, 'expect the unexpected'. Now that's something I believe in whole-heartedly." He rested an elbow on the table and stirred his coffee; Remy still cradled in his other arm.

She watched him until he stopped stirring and looked like he was about to take a sip. She then extended a hand and pointed to his cup. "May I?" she asked.

He sighed softly. "Yes, of course Miss Keeves." he said, slightly annoyed and held the cup out to her.

The woman took the glass and held it gently, taking a small sip from the side. Setting it back in front of him, she just watched him a moment until he took a sip, while she returned to hers. Then she smiled slightly, "Maybe I should have told you before you drank that, about that particular strain of the Regellian flu that I picked up a few days ago..."

His face lit up in mild alarm and he wondered why she waited until that exact moment to... "Funny. I think the man put too much cream in mine." He smiled and took another sip.

Alara smiled, holding up hers. "I don't think mine has enough." The woman laughed, "Want to switch?"

He chuckled and held his cup out to her. "Sure." He blinked and just stared for a moment. "You know that's the first time I've heard you laugh, Miss Keeves. Makes for an interesting contrast." He smiled and sipped his drink.

The black-eyed woman simply smiled, and nodded her head slightly to him. "Glad you approve," she chuckled. After a moment she tilted her head quizzically. "May I ask you about something?"

Victor smiled and leaned back in his chair, shifting Remy in his arms. "Oh, I think it's only fair, as I've been picking your brain clean for the past hour or so."

She nodded, her face returning mostly to seriousness. "I know. That's what I wanted to ask about... why so much interest in the Commander, or in Doctor Gear?"

He furrowed his brow. "I don't suppose I could convince you it's just a passing interest in one's commanding officer?" He smiled as she shook her head. "No I thought not. Romantic interest? No, don't suppose I could slip that one by you either. Though her sister..." He smiled teasingly, letting the comment hang in the air for a moment before continuing. "I suppose it's because we're so much alike... I sort of identify with her."

Keeves nodded. "I understand... I also think that's a good thing."

He tilted his head to one side. "Oh?"

Alara thought for a moment, wondering if what she was about to say was even an allowable comment on her part, in her position. She sipped her coffee then ran her finger around the rim of the glass, seeming slightly uncomfortable, like she was treading on shaky ground. "The commander is a strong woman, but I don't think even she... has weathered what life has thrown at her lately without some damage." She took a breath.

"I know she hasn't many friends, for who can the Captain of the ship turn to when she needs a shoulder? I know she doesn't trust Counselors, and is wary of telepaths..." Alara shrugged. "She seems comfortable with you. It is unusual. And if she could find a friend in another... that would be a good thing, I think," she ended, not looking up.

He muttered under his breath. "...yes. Friends seem to be in short supply these days..."

Alara looked at him, stared rather... her eyes seemed to contain many things, many feelings, but none of them seemed to stand out among the mixture. Almost like white noise, in emotions, so that no one could be seen clearly in the cacophony.

He looked up and caught her gaze. His eyes, once piercing green, seemed dull and faded, looking to be older than their bearer did. He sighed sadly and looked down again.

She broke the stare, and looked down, embarrassed. "I'm sorry," she said softly.

He shook his head. "It's not your fault." 'nobody's but my own' he thought to himself as he pushed his chair back and stood up.

Pain resonated off her being, something she tried, but couldn't shut out. No thought, but just this deep despair and misery. Taking care not to catch his eyes, she also stood. Alara spoke softly, keeping her voice a neutral calm, not looking up until she was sure she had hid the recognition in her eyes. "Where would you like to go?"

He looked up and stared off into space. "Back to my quarters. I have things that need finishing." He started to walk away from her and stopped, forcing himself to remain polite.

Alara caught up to him; she frowned slightly wondering why people around her were hurting so much. She quickly fell into step beside him, and 'accidentally' touched his elbow briefly, focusing one thought to him, one word, 'Hope.'

He recoiled from her mental touch and whispered to her hoarsely. "Hope is for fools and invalids."

She whispered back, her eyes hiding all feeling. "Then I hope we all are fools and invalids." Her pose went back to its formal nature, completely on duty.

He sneered. "I will be neither." He lengthened his stride, eager to return to his quarters, kicking himself inside thinking 'Gods! What do these people have that allows them to get under my skin and know me so completely?'

Alara hurried her pace and caught up with him, her stride was long, but not enough to match his and her pace became a slow jog to keep up. An anger crept up inside her, something she couldn't explain. Silently she kept it beneath the cool and calm exterior. She kept right by his side, only slightly behind him, as if flanking him.

He walked up to the door of his quarters and opened the door, turning around to speak to Alara, returning to his voice some of the natural tone, but speaking rather hurriedly. "Nice to meet you, Miss Keeves I'm sure we'll 'work' well together." He closed the door on her before she could respond and there, alone in his quarters, proud, dignified Victor Tyne wept until no more tears would come.

Loaded: 05.24.2004