— Opaka Station —

Cadet Jura Ibile watched the wormhole flare to life as another ship entered it. Since arriving on the Gamma Quadrant side of the aperture, she’d been fascinated watching the wormhole. She’d never been out of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants and never so far from home. She wondered what it must have been like, the first people thrown across the galaxy. The first people who’d found themselves so many light years from where they had started. 

The station was in good shape. The entry into a new series of worlds that they would be exploring. After spending the first part of her Starfleet work semester on Klingon and Romulan issues it would be nice to face something new. Even just seeing the few Cardassian faces on the station was enough to suggest that they were no longer in the Triangle fighting gagsters and smugglers. After the Andromeda had been beaten to hell by the Vaadwaur it was nice to get away from the violence and from what the rumours were go on a tour of the Gamma Quadrant. She sat at a cafe by the large promenade windows, watching the ships from the other side of the wormhole float by.

“I have found you,” the mater of fact tone came from behind where fellow cadet Sol the Vulcan was standing. She regarded Ibile and said nothing further for a moment, but when Ibile remained similarly silent staring at the star field beyond the station she added, “You have seen stars before.”

“Not these ones,” Ibile said, which struck Sol as being both true and also missing the point. Ibile has seen stars that she had not previously seen often, they had served aboard ships in the Triangle and elsewhere where neither of them had been before. She supposed her fellow cadet was impressed with the transversal of the worm hole, but that was simply a juncture through space time, and not that difficult to fathom. 

“We have only three hours and forty six minutes left on the station before we must return. Correction three hours and forty five minutes,” Sol said, updating her time statement to remain accurate. She was not impatient, but was also not as taken with the sight of stars as her younger fellow student.

“I was hoping some of the boys would join us,” Ibile said, referring to their fellow cadets, many of whom happened to be male. Her relationship status with her fellow cadets was something that Ibile spent as much time considering as her coursework, in Sol’s opinion.

“They have not,” observed Sol as a simple matter of fact. She glanced at Ibile and added, “You had said that we would visit the station. We are only at the windows, we have windows on the Andromeda.”

Ibile sighed, and stood just as a male Vulcan and male human in Starfleet uniforms approached. They were a bit older, though Ibile was still not sure what Sol’s age was, and the Vulcan was a commander and the human a lieutenant. They were not from the Andromeda, as they had both met all the commanders aboard their ship. The fact that there were only a small handful meant that all the commanders had managed to be guest lectures in their classes. So another ship then.

“If you’re looking for company touring the station my friend here has been on it for a few weeks,” the human said, “he could show you around.”

“I believe that the station’s public directory should be sufficient for the purpose,” the male Vulcan said.

His companion made a disappointed face, and then forced a smile, “What he means is that he is happy to be a local guide for you Miss…”

The human made a small circle with his hand which Sol looked at quizzically, Ibile however picked up on the meaning, “Sol, her name is Sol.”

“Beautiful name, isn’t it a beautiful name Stos?” the human coaxed his companion.

“Names are not inherently beautiful though it running counter to traditional Vulcan naming conventions of male names beginning with S and female names beginning with T followed by an apostrophe is notable,” Stos said.

“My parents were quite radical,” Sol said, “My mother was given to nodding approvingly when I was younger.”

“Fascinating, such behaviour is unusual,” the male Vulcan said thoughtfully.

“Sounds like a crazy household to grow up in what with all the nodding happening. I’m sure you two will have so much to talk about,” the human male said.

“He is attempting to isolate your human companion so that he can make a romantic pass at her,” Stos said.

“She is a Beazoid, and it is clear his intentions even to me,” Sol nodded.

“Wait you’re a Betazoid?” The human male asked, adding, “So you…”

“Know exactly what’s going on, yes,” Ibile said nodding and smiling. She gestured at the two Vulcans, “Except these two, I can’t read Vulcans. Are they getting along or having a fight, it’s hard to tell.”

“Do you wish to continue looking at the stars as if the Andromeda does not have windows?” Sol asked, “And would you be resentful of me in an illogical way if I accompanied Sok on a tour of the station?”

“Go have fun, make little Vulcan babies,” Ibile said waving her hand to dismiss her friend.

“I worry about your friend’s understanding of Vulcan biology,” Sok said.

“I believe she is attempting to suggest that we have a romantic date,” Sol replied evenly.

“I see. Would that be an acceptable outcome to you?” Sok asked.

“It would be, though I am not stationed here, and longer term activities would be curtailed,” Sol said.

“I am also not stationed here, and will be on my assigned ship in a week or less.”

Sol nodded, “To confirm that is not the USS Andromeda?”

“No, given your question may I assume you are assigned to the ship?”

“Yes.”

“Good, if we were on the same ship it would be inappropriate for engage in activities of a romantic nature.”

Sok nodded, “Indeed as I am a senior officer to you, such a notion is highly inappropriate and unlikely.”

The human man sighed, “And they say romance is dead, go on you two crazy kids I’ll stay here with Betazoidy and keep her company.”

Sol nodded and turned to leave, “Your friend is illogical. Many of my friends are as well. I am surprised that  their people discovered warp travel.”

“Their achievements do seem incongruous to the amount of time they spend worrying about their biological functions,” Sok noted.

Watching them leave Jura Ibile sighed, “A perfect couple. And yes I know you didn’t know I was a cadet when you came over here to hit on me.”

“I wouldn’t call hitting on you,” the man said.

“Yes you would, you have a memory of telling your Vulcan friend, ‘hey let’s go hit on those two women come on one of them’s a Vulcan’,” Ibile pointed out.

The man rubbed the bridge of his nose in stress, “Betazoids…”

“Yes, your ex-girlfriend was a Betazoid, and that thing she did in’t a Betazoid thing, it’s just kind of mean,” Ibile said, reading his thoughts like an open book. He had clearly been around Betazoids to long enough to know that he couldn’t hide things from them so going through the process of trying to hide his thoughts was pointless.

“Look,” the man began.

Ibile stood and straightened her uniform, “Come on, you can get me that ice cream you were going to offer me. Best in the Gamma Quadrant. You think it’s good, so I’m sure it will be.”