Xifel was sitting at his table nursing his meal and the coffee he had brought in from next door from Beans’d. As he pushed the food around on his plate, a voice cut into the silence from above.

“Mind if I join you?” asked the ship’s pilot.

“Go ahead. No one else is,” he said solemnly.

The young Asian woman pulled out the chair and took a seat. “Are you still down about Xifer leaving the ship?” she asked.

Xifer was Xifel’s identical, Bolian twin. They had always been together from the day they were born.

“I just can’t believe he transferred. We’ve never been apart before. I knew he was upset when I got promoted but enough to transfer. I just don’t know what to do without him.” replied Xifel.

“I’ll tell you what you’re gonna do,” answered Xi. “You’ll take some time, heal, and then buck up like the Starfleet officer that you are and carry on. It’s what he’d want you to do.”

“You’re right. Thank you for the talk,” he said. “That was exactly what I needed to hear,” he added as he smiled for the first time in days, stabbed his fork into his meal, and finally began eating.