Captain’s Log, supplemental

It’s over.

By all accounts from Fourth Fleet Command, the Underspace apertures and corridors across the Alpha and Beta Quadrants have collapsed. Gul Khem was no outlier; the Cardassian Union was successful in its coordinated attack to protect its borders by removing the threat of Underspace. We don’t know if the original Underspace corridors in the Delta Quadrant have survived or if only the new extensions were lost.

I may never find out for myself.

The Constellation needs repairs from the damage we took in Underspace.  The continuation of our exploratory mission across the Delta Quadrant has come into question.  Our repairs may not be complete in time for the next opening of the Barzan wormhole.  Given the shifting politics of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, while we were gone, there have been whispers in Fourth Fleet Operations of a different mission for USS Constellation.  Whispers that our joint exploration mission with the Romulan Free State could use additional partners.

In the meantime, I have brought the crew to my homeworld, Delta IV, for much-needed shore leave on its largest moon, Cinera.  It’s been long months since we could enjoy the Federation’s luxuries, and I don’t intend to waste a moment of it.

Condensation dripped from overhead, but none of those water droplets offered relief when they kissed her skin.  Even though she was only covered by a thin towel, the magnitude of the heat weighed on Taes oppressively.  The heat radiated in waves from the pink crystals that protruded from every surface of the cavern sauna.  Each time she thought it couldn’t get hotter, another wave would roll over her.

She sat on one of three benches, gathered in a triangle formation.  One for her, one for Yuulik, and one for Kellin, gathered in a triangle formation.

“What am I thinking?” Taes asked.

Yuulik responded with an exasperated sigh that she punctuated by a slap on her thigh.

“How’m I supposed to know?” Yuulik shot back.

Taes shook her head mildly in disappointment, but she still smiled fondly.

“Have you been practicing the meditation I showed you at all?” Taes asked.  “Between the crystal lattice of this cave, my empathic abilities, Kellin’s isoboromine receptors, and even the potential for telepathy in Arcadians, we should be capable of expression without words.

Taes went on to say emphatically, “Our lives depend on one another aboard Constellation, doubly so when we’re beyond Federation space. We would benefit from attunement between our thoughts, like the choruses of Ramatis.”

After sucking in a breath, Yuulik huffed, and she closed her eyes.  She crossed her arms over her abdomen, and her brow furrowed with no small intensity.

In a broadly mocking tone, Yuulik offered, “Taes, you’re thinking: Oh dear, oh no, oh my, Yuulik has done it again.  She raised her voice to her staff and bullied them into a mind-meld of questionable morality, and even though she saved all our lives, I’m going to demote her to ensign.  …How’s that?”

Taes swallowed hard, hurt by Yuulik’s limited view of her.  She wiped a slick of sweat from her forehead.

“That’s not what I’m thinking,” Taes said.

Perched on his bench like a young student in time-out, Kellin opened one eye.

“Isn’t it?” he asked, his voice going up at the end.  “Maybe you heard my thoughts, Yuu.  Dolan tells me you keep using his recent promotion as leverage to get more out of him.  Like he owes you or something?”

Yuulik scoffed again.  “That’s what you told me to do: get to know my team.  Find out what’s important to them.  Motivate them with what they want to get what I want.”

Kellin shook his head and said, “We never told you to manipulate them.”

“Isn’t that what you both do?” Yuulik said with a dramatic shrug.  “With your sultry voices and your too-tight uniforms.  Plying the bridge crew with their favourite foods.  It’s all motivation.  It’s all manipulation.”

“It’s not the same,” Taes said, and she restrained herself from debating Yuulik point-by-point. That was always a path to pain and confusion.

“Maybe my mistake wasn’t in bullying Dolan,” Yuulik remarked, “maybe it was in trying to lead by your example.  I’ll grant you, I want to inspire my team.  I see the benefits.  That doesn’t mean I need to mimic the two of you.  Just because of the third pip, I won’t grow past my beliefs and priorities.  I’m growing from them.”