"For Real"
By: Ensign Ainsley Chambers; Counselor
Ensign Mason Farrell; Operations Office

Location: USS Sulu, Chambers' quarters
Stardate: 57907.27 01h22

***

They snickered to each other, repeating snippets of jokes they had already laughed at a half-dozen times, and laughing again. They jostled against each other as they walked, more out of a desire to be close than a necessity of inebriation.

"Can you just see Espinoza's aunt knitting that goose a sweater?" Mason chortled. He put on a heavy accent, mocking, "Ah, mijo, here is a leetle cardigan sweater for your poor self."

Ainsley giggled and put her hand on his arm as they walked. "You're too funny."

They reached her door, and Mason let his chuckle fade. "Thank you for coming to see me tonight, Ainsley," he said gently. "I needed it."

He looked into her eyes, and she saw the realization finally dawn. "Why did you come to see me tonight? I've been a fool and haven't asked, have I?" He sighed then, a sound of self-disappointment. "And after everything I've done wrong tonight. I talked too much in front of Crewman Moreau, and listened to Espinoza and Hamilton talk all about talking too much all night. And I never asked you what you wanted. I--"

She put her hand on his chest. "Mason?"

"What?"

"Shut up," she said gently.

Mason stopped talking, scratched an eyebrow, and nodded with an embarrassed smile. He did talk too much.

"I want to talk to you about what happened between you and Amy the other night, and I want us to talk about what sort of relationship we're developing here." She looked up into his eyes. "Come in and talk with me for awhile?"

His eyes drifted along her jaw while he thought, then he met her gaze. "Okay," he said quietly.

She led him inside, and he took a seat on the couch.

"You've finally got me on a couch," he said, grinning, an obvious stall.

Ainsley gave Mason a patient smile. She assumed he must be feeling a little uncomfortable. She took a seat beside him on the couch and got comfortable. "Relax, Mason," she said. "I'm not going to bite."

He was grateful that she sat next to him. He enjoyed the proximity, and was glad he wouldn't have to look directly at her. With a good idea where this conversation was going, he didn't want to have to meet her eyes.

"I wanted to ask you about what really went on between you and Amy the other night. In our conversations Amy gave me the impression that it was a lot more then a 'Thank-You' hug. And Kit seemed to believe that him walking in was what stopped whatever was occurring between the two of you." She took a deep breath. "Now I'm not silly enough to take Kit's word on this as what really happened. But Amy said to me that when Kit came in you two were 'stopping.' What started, Mason, that needed to be stopped?" She knew that she might be overstepping here; they had never really discussed what they were to each other, and she needed to get that straightened out now.

He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "I'm going to start from the beginning. After we got back on board from the dive, I went to sickbay to get my eye looked at. Sickbay's a snakepit. You know my reputation on board, and so do the nurses in sickbay. One of the nurses in there started getting a little too friendly, and in order to shut her down I told her Amy'd turned me down for sex. Truth is, I've never propositioned Amy, but the line certainly got this particular nurse to leave me alone."

Ainsley nodded then. Not the best way to solve that problem but she would never mind about that for the time being.

"So I went back to my quarters in rough shape. I'd just come off the beach with you and just fended off a particularly amorous nurse, and frankly I needed a cold shower. And right into that mindset walked Amy. Apparently she'd overheard me 'defend' her in sickbay, and wanted to say thanks. It did start as just a hug, but you know Amy," he chuckled, but it was humorless.

She nodded again, not wanting to distract him at the moment. She certainly did know Amy.

"And I let it get out of hand. I won't insult your intelligence with an excuse. Amy was being Amy, and I let her get out of hand. As for what was actually happening, the answer is we were in a heavy hug and we were probably about to kiss. I want to say we weren't, but it was going that way."

She closed her eyes for a second, she didn't really want to hear this but knew it would be better to get it all out of the way for now.

"We were stopping. We both knew what we were doing was wrong, and we were actually trying to talk about it when Kit walked in. It was the weirdest thing. I have to believe it wouldn't have gone past the kiss. But we got stopped before we could stop it ourselves."

He closed his eyes. "I'm talking too much again, aren't I?"

Ainsley giggled softly then. "It's ok, I asked you to." She felt a little better knowing how he felt about what had gone on and that he had considered it wrong. She couldn't hope for anything beyond that, not yet. She hoped that after this discussion she would know one way or the other what to expect from him.

She leaned back against the arm of the couch and, turned slightly, she watched him. "Mason, I like you. I really like you. I want this to be more then a casual friendship, more then a casual anything really." She took a deep breath then. Here came the part she was worried about. "But for me to be able to do that it has to be exclusive."

His eyes flicked open and he looked at the far wall for a moment before turning to face her as well. That was the absolutely not the response he'd expected. And for the first time in a long time, he couldn't think of anything to say.

He took her in while his mind raced. She was a beautiful woman, no doubt about that. And she was calm and collected, and had accepted the truth about Amy without the hurt looks and wounded tone he'd expected, especially after Natalia. An odd thought crossed his mind then: She was mature. Ainsley was stable and mature, and was capable of handling a situation like this with grace and dignity. It occurred to him that he had never really associated with a woman like this before. It was more attractive than he would ever have imagined.

And more than a little frightening. He had spilled the complete truth to her without thinking about it, just because she asked. She had a way about her that just demanded honesty. Could he be in a relationship with a woman he couldn't lie to?

"Ainsley," he heard himself saying. Was he agreeing? Disagreeing? "I don't want to hurt you. Are you sure you want to get that close to me?"

"I do want to get close to you, Mason," Ainsley responded. "I'll be honest with you though. If we end up doing this, being in a relationship like this, then you can't be kissing anyone else. If you can't do that then that's fine too, but we'll only be friends, nothing more."

"I understand," Mason nodded. "Ainsley, I've never been one for this kind of commitment," he continued slowly. "I've never wanted it before, really, and I'm on new ground here. I want to just say 'Yes' and call it good, but I" --he shook his head slightly-- "I can't. Not with honesty. And I don't want to hurt you. Give me a couple of days to think?"

Ainsley grinned. "I figured that you're not one for commitment," she responded. "I probably would have been a little worried if you'd said 'Yes' right away." She reached over and took his hand. "Think about it all you need to. I want you to be sure."

He nodded, holding her hand and looking at their fingers, twined together. Raising her hand in his, he kissed it softly.

"I should go," he whispered. "I've kept you out late, and Alpha shift comes early." And I've got to get out of here before I start babbling or something, he added to himself.

Ainsley nodded. "Alright." She looked at his face to see if she could tell what he was thinking. She couldn't. "8 am comes real early."

He smiled at her then, and released her hand as he stood.

"You're entirely too patient with me, you know," he jibed, but gently.

She looked up at him and then got to her feet. "Sometimes the best things are worth waiting for."

He laughed softly. "Maybe Espinoza was right," he said as she walked him to the door. "Maybe some women do want a challenge."

Ainsley gave him a smile. "Maybe a little. At the beginning," she added. "Most of the rest of the stuff he said was just crap though."

Mason smiled and nodded, standing in the corridor outside her doorway. "Thank you for tonight. Get some sleep."

"I'll try," she answered. "And thank you for tonight, it was fun seeing what you crazy Ops people do when you're all alone."

He grinned that grin that made her weak, and let the door close.

After the door closed between them she stood there for a minute, thinking. She wondered if she had just scared him away for good, and then wondered as well how long it would be before she found out.

She sighed deeply and then turned to head to her bedroom. She wondered if she would be able to sleep at all.

---

"Gamma Quadrant Planning"
By: Captain Matthew Salinger
Commander Lyrr Tayla
Lieutenant M'Lira
Lieutenant Sam
Lieutenant Brennyn Scott
Lieutenant Mark Thaine
Lieutenant Benedict T'Kal
Lieutenant Xayella Tagliesh

Location: Conference Room, USS Sulu
Stardate 57907.27, 08h00

***

Matt Salinger looked up from the padd before him to Lyrr Tayla, still studying hers. In their hands, they had the Sulu's orders for the next six months, now made official. It would be a voyage into the Gamma Quadrant for a scientific survey, though they were also responsible for making any new contacts they could, as well as assessing the Dominion's strength in the region. Once they arrived at Deep Space Nine, they would take on new provisions and crew, as well as having remaining damage to the ship repaired. Lt. Nog of DS9 would be assisting with the repairs, but the Ferengi lieutenant's duties would only allow him sparse time to check in on Sulu's progress. With recent troubles on DS9, every department was busy, especially the engineers.

"I have reports from all our department heads with need assessments. I'll be transmitting those ahead so Colonel Kira will be ready for us. We won't have more time for shore leave, but off-duty time will be available on the station."

"I think that time should be spent running through tactical simulations and performing full diagnostics on all systems," Lyrr stated. She glanced up at those around the conference table. Her eyes caught T'Kal's for an instant, but they shifted quickly towards Lt. Thaine before T'Kal's gaze could induce a smile. "How much longer do you estimate repairs taking, Lieutenant?"

Thaine met Lyrr's eyes with his own brown ones, though the dark gaze seemed a little softer on the Commander. "Once we reach, Deep Space 9, no more than a week to get up to half-decent operating levels. Assuming I don't get any more surprises." There was a faint bitterness in that last remark. "Bringing everything up to where we were before we took the damage, probably another two weeks on top of that. There's a lot of fine adjustments to make."

As Benedict had listened intently to the Chief Engineer talk, he made a point of keeping his eyes upon the man. When it was over he looked back at Salinger rather than Lyrr, waiting for his opportunity to address the meeting. He had a padd with his departmental reports and requisitions sitting in front of him.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Matt said. "Mr. T'Kal, what is your assessment of our readiness for what we'll most likely meet in the Gamma Quadrant?"

Benedict sat up more erect in his chair as the Captain addressed him. He nodded at the man and looked down the table momentarily as all eyes turned his way. "Once the repairs are finalised, sir, tactical will be fully operational. I'll need to replace personnel to cover the losses on Risa - and a transfer or two between departments will cover the assets I'll need in the Gamma Quadrant. Personnel issues I'll go over further with Commander Lyrr at a more appropriate time." He cast a momentary look her way and back to the Captain.

"As we'll be operating alone for six months, I'd like to run up some readiness exercises. I've been planning an intruder scenario as a ship-wide security exercise. I anticipate that being in Dominion territory, that would be the most likely danger to us. Tactical scenarios are also on the roster." He folded his fingers together on the conference table. "I'd like permission to access more holodeck time for my people to train." He looked Sam's way. "I understand the constraints of four holodecks and a hundred and forty crew, but I think it's warranted." He looked back at the Captain. "I need to assess the detail, sir - I need to know before we leave Deep Space Nine and lose the opportunity for transfers."

"I understand," Salinger said with a nod. "Work with Lieutenant Sam to come up with a schedule that won't impact morale on the ship too greatly. After all, we will be out six months and performance and morale are closely linked. And, on that subject, Counsellor, what is your assessment of the crew's mental fitness?"

Bree smiled what she hoped was a confident smile and bit back any number of sarcastic responses regarding the status of the ship's crew. Six months! Are you trying to kill me, sir? Do you honestly expect me to be the glue that keeps this bucket o' angst together? My God, man! There aren't enough therapists in the entire quadrant who can keep us operating at a functional level! Why, Mason alone... Outwardly, however, she appeared as cool as a cucumber. "While the experiences on Risa and your subsequent attack have left the crew feeling anxious and a few people unsure, I believe once we are underway, the crew will begin to settle into a more comfortable and efficient routine. Ainsley and I have been dealing with our fair share of personnel issues, but she and I feel it's nothing we can't handle or that merits immediate transfers. Still, I would like the opportunity to coordinate with our regular senior medical officer before making my final recommendations."

She refused to comment on Dr. Ilan's arrival. She'd found him to be an entertaining professor, but had failed to see his value as a crew counselor. If the doctor was anything like she remembered, Bree was certain she would spend half her time wondering if the man should be committed himself.

"Thank you, Counselor," Matt said with a nod. "Our new Chief Medical Officer will join us once we arrive at DS9." He looked over to Xayella. "Lieutenant Tagliesh, what is your assessment of the Sulu's science readiness for our trip into the Gamma Quadrant?"

"Aside from some issues within the department" --Ai'Pal and his deranged filing system came to mind, then Rax's inability to focus on anything but Tchalla Mel'Chir-- "I believe we're ready for a full scientific survey of whatever we may encounter. I've compiled a list of supplies we'll require, and replacements for those things lost on Dorvali 449." Xayella raised the PADD containing the itemization of supplies, then slid it over to Matt with a surreptitious smile. "I'll be holding a departmental meeting to ensure each of my officers know their responsibilities and obligations during the course of the voyage." She shrugged. "I don't doubt they'll perform adequately."

Matt nodded. "Thank you, Lieutenant," he said. "If you need any additional equipment, make sure to get a request in to Lieutenant Sam before we reach Deep Space Nine. We will have limited time to utilize DS9's industrial replicators, so if your department requires anything, now's the time. We'll have another staff meeting before going through the wormhole. Does anyone have any thoughts or concerns before we close this meeting?"

Scott shook her head, catching T'Kal's violet gaze. He returned her glance with a brief smile and looked away. There was more going on with him than meets the eye, but she had nothing tangible to confront him with.

Thaine also responded to the negative, shaking his head. "I've got a list of needed parts for the ship that we can't handle, which I'll pass onto Lieutenant Sam. Other than that, nothing else."

"Thank you, Mr. Thaine," Matt answered. "Very well then. That's all for now. Get your requests in to Sam, and prepare your departments for Deep Space Nine. We'll be heading into the Gamma Quadrant in less than a week. It's the Sulu's first time up on the trapeze without a net. Any questions, comments, or concerns, direct them to Commander Lyrr or myself. We all know our jobs, so let's go find something new for the Federation. Dismissed."

---