Alara sat quietly; dressed in her uniform and cross-legged on the couch with her elbow resting on a knee. She then shifted, pulling the other leg up to her chest and resting her chin on it, reading what was on the padd with great interest. She almost looked like a contortionist at that moment and seemed completely unaware of what was around her. Her black hair came loose from where it was tucked behind her ear, and hang forward, tickling her chin. Absently she brushed it back, her black eyes never moving from the padd.

Victor came out of the bedroom and wiped his eyes. "Good morning, Miss Keeves. May I ask what you're reading?"

She looked up "Hm?" her green eyes remained blank until she ran through what he had said again. "Oh, just spec upgrades for the Isannah."

"Hmm," He frowned a bit. "I've been over them myself a few times. Rather boring reading actually, I'm surprised you haven't fallen asleep already."

Alara looked faintly surprised. "Well... as one of our crewmates pointed out to me yesterday, a refit of our ship on a short-handed base isn't the time for leisure. And Lt. Johnson expected me to fill out the duty rosters for the next three shifts, which I still need to complete even if you were added to my duties."

He just smiled. "That's Johnson for you, always work, work work. Well you sit down and relax for a bit, Miss Keeves." He puffed up, seeming to fill himself with self-importance. "As Johnson's second-in-command I shall take this horrible burden off your shoulders."

She chuckled and sat back on the couch, stifling a slight yawn. "If you so wish... sir." She added, slightly teasing. "Did you sleep well?" Alara asked.

He smiled. "Oh, as well as can be expected. What about yourself? It doesn't look like you've slept much lately."

Alara shrugged "I would have been derelict in my duty if I had last night."

Victor frowned at her scoldingly. Alara seemed to be taking her duties too seriously. It was getting to the point where Victor was very seriously considering sedating her for a day. "You really should go and get some sleep, Miss Keeves. You can sleep here if you'd like, or I can try to access the station's computer and get you a site-to-site, since if I let you walk back to your quarters you'd probably fall asleep in the middle of the corridor!"

She shook her head. "No need... I'll catch a nap later if you're planning on being here for a few hours while you're not sleeping. I could use a shower though..." she said, trailing off.

He smiled and bowed. "My home is your home, Miss Keeves. Would you like me to send for a clean uniform from your quarters?"

Alara nodded, "That'd be helpful, or I could just replicate another here. My measurements file is in the station's database."

Victor watched as she went into the other room and out of sight, then walked over to his corner chest of personal belongings. He still had some time before he had to be on duty, so he thought he would take the opportunity to pull out an old project he had been working on as long as he could remember. After searching through the small drawers and boxes inside the chest, he took out a small bundle wrapped in a silk cloth and a pair of PADDs. Grabbing a ball of yarn as an afterthought he went the couch and unwound some of the yarn for Remy to play with as he uncovered the object in his hands.

The Betazoid woman walked out of the bathroom, still rubbing her hair with a towel. She looked over at Victor. His attention seemed to drift as he took to playing with her rather absently and instead turned his attention towards some small bit of medal that Alara could only guess was a pendant.

Alara tried not to be nosy and sat herself in the seat across from him, the shower helping immensely in keeping her awake. A good cup of coffee was next on the agenda, but not until her hair was dry. She tried to ignore what he was doing, but she stole a few glances towards what he held in his hand.

Victor chuckled softly, noticing her glances in his direction. He could understand her curiosity, and he knew she wouldn't say a single word on the matter. The silence dragged on, relieved only by the sound of Remy's claws digging into the fabric of the couch in her quest to seize the yarn. Finally, he spoke to her not looking up. "You know you're always welcome to join me over here on the couch, just in case your curiosity gets the better of you..."

She smiled, looking down at her padd, "I'm trying not to be nosy."

He smiled and waved her over. "Don't worry about it, I could use a fresh set of eyes."

"That, I can do." She smiled. Then, Alara less than reluctantly tossed her padd to the table and got up, sitting down next to him, leaving about a foot of distance between them. Then she leaned forward with interest as to what he had.

Victor was holding a small pendant, made of a metal that resembled raw iron. It appeared to be a series of concentric rings joined by rods that all pointed toward the pendant's center. Some of the rods themselves were tipped with rings of their own. In places, most notably all of the complete rings, there was a silvery inlay of strange designs and figures. "The inlay is some form of written language, I'm sure of it. I've been trying to decipher it for some time, but there's nothing even remotely like it in any computer bank I've had access to."

"Hmm..." Alara mused, looking at the object with interest, "I don't have much experience in this field, but details surrounding its discovery would certainly help with a search. I'm not the best person to ask... though." She ended, though eager to hear anything he had to say about it, she was being honest and trying not to serve her own curiosity.

He laid it out in his palm, tracing his finger along the script. The design was positively foreign to Alara, but it was nice in its asymmetry, almost beautiful. "There are seven separate lines of text. Each figure at what I can only assume as the beginning of each line is noticeably different from the rest. There are some other writing systems that use this continuous sort of script, so I can only guess that the figures set apart are proper names."

She tilted her head, looking thoughtful. "Hmm..." was all she could think to say, as her mind was working, but she couldn't understand how she could possibly be any help to him in this. He pointed to a figure on one of the connecting rods, one that looked similar to the figures that started the lines of script on the rings. "Now, here's where it gets interesting..." He traced the word written in that strange silver script with his finger. "I think this one is my name."

Alara's eyebrows shot up and she blinked once. "And you don't know what this is?"

He shook his head. "Not a clue. I've had it for as long as I can remember. I don't even know where I got it."

"Maybe a family heirloom? That you just don't remember when you first got it?" she asked, folding her legs up onto the couch beside her as seemed to be her customary way of sitting.

"I asked that, my mother couldn't tell me where I got it, like it just 'appeared' one day." He looked down at it. "A few people have said the language looks similar to something they know, but I haven't turned up any real leads."

"Sounds like you have a genuine family mystery on your hands." She said, stating the obvious.

He sighed deeply, rubbing it with his thumbs. "But I can't shake the feeling that it's really important..." he looked up at her and chuckled "Silly, no?"

Alara smiled gently, "Silly is in the eye of the beholder." She shrugged, "Intuition is usually right, emotions usually aren't. It's up to you to decide, I suppose."

He chuckled merrily and flipped the pendant like an oversized coin. "Well, whatever this is or does, I'm sure I won't find out till it actually happens."

Alara smiled, "Which makes an interesting puzzle in the meantime, but as for a really useful one... Yes, I'll help."

He smiled back warmly. "Thank you Miss Keeves. I really appreciate it." Then suddenly his eyes went wide and he pulled out his pocketwatch. "Oh no... I'm supposed to be on duty in five minutes! I've got to get ready!" He smiled apologetically. "So how about that dinner when I get back?"

Alara stood quickly, "I'm going with you, don't think you're going to be wandering around alone." She said, firmly with her lips set in a serious line.

He chuckled softly, snapping his fingers in mock defeat. "And I thought I could slip past you." He laughed out loud, slipping into the next room, quickly changing into his uniform. He stepped out, adjusting his armband, and offered her his arm. Victor figured the gesture would be at odds with her normal idea of guard duty. It would be good to shake the ensign up a bit, for her own good as well as Victor's. "Shall we?"

Alara looked at his arm, and blinked slightly, seeming a little unsure of herself. It was completely out of Keeves' range of guard duties for this sort of protocol, and she wasn't quite sure how to react. Finally she decided. Gently she took his arm, with all the regality and poise she could muster, and nodded, "Certainly."

Loaded: 06.28.2004