<html><head></head><body><div class="yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:13px;"><div style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;color:#26282a;"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="en-NL">Mission:
Prelude</span><br><div><div id="ydp2de90d5dyiv1207519974"><div><div style="font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:13px;" class="ydp2de90d5dyiv1207519974yahoo-style-wrap"><div dir="ltr"><div><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="en-NL"></span><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="en-NL">Day: </span>8<span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="en-NL"></span><br><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="en-NL"></span><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="en-NL">Stardate: 2446.03.</span>30<p style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:normal;" class="ydp2de90d5dyiv1207519974ydp80f58300MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="EN-US">(USS Illuminar – Dyson’s Quarters – ACONN Alexander Dyson – 0405)</span>
</p><p style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:normal;" class="ydp2de90d5dyiv1207519974ydp80f58300MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="EN-US">After he had gone into his cabin, Alex had eaten and then gone to bed. His
next shift would be the 0600-1400 one for Conn, followed by the 1400-2200 at
the Rec Room. And after several days of this, he needed to ‘sleep in’ to be
sharp for his next rotation through the mill. At Santa Maria, he had gotten
used to short nights, with the exception of Saturday. That was the one day he
had been able to sleep as long as he wanted. So he was treating today as if his
private little Saturday. </span>
</p><p style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:normal;" class="ydp2de90d5dyiv1207519974ydp80f58300MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="EN-US">Alex was dreaming of playing his violin when a loud thud woke him. He
opened his eyes and looked around, but everything was in its place. It was only
then that he realized that the thud had come from the cabin next door. Alex
ignored the fact that he was in his nighties and grabbed his combadge. That
done, he had headed out and rang the bell.</span>
</p><p style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:normal;" class="ydp2de90d5dyiv1207519974ydp80f58300MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="EN-US">“Hello. You okay in there ?”</span>
</p><p style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:normal;" class="ydp2de90d5dyiv1207519974ydp80f58300MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="EN-US">=^=I’m fine.=^= But from the sound of her voice, she was far from it.</span>
</p><p style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:normal;" class="ydp2de90d5dyiv1207519974ydp80f58300MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="EN-US"> </span><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="EN-US">“Are you sure ?”</span>
</p><p style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:normal;" class="ydp2de90d5dyiv1207519974ydp80f58300MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="EN-US">There was a pause and then the door opened. Long was sitting on her bed,
having clearly been crying. She was wrapped in a her bedsheet and clearly
nothing else. ~Now is not the time, Shep.~ He sat down next to her. Long was African-American,
young and fit.</span>
</p><p style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:normal;" class="ydp2de90d5dyiv1207519974ydp80f58300MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="EN-US">“Hi, I’m Alex Dyson, Ensign and Flyboy.”</span>
</p><p style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:normal;" class="ydp2de90d5dyiv1207519974ydp80f58300MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="EN-US"> </span><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="EN-US">“Kelly Long, Ensign, Security.”</span>
</p><p style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:normal;" class="ydp2de90d5dyiv1207519974ydp80f58300MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="EN-US"> </span><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="EN-US">“Hello, Kelly,” He paused, while realized that the thud he had heard was
her falling out of bed. And based on the tears, he suspected that she had been having
some kind of nightmare. But he didn’t want to push too hard. “So, you want to
talk about it ?”</span>
</p><p style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:normal;" class="ydp2de90d5dyiv1207519974ydp80f58300MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="EN-US">“No, not really.”</span>
</p><p style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:normal;" class="ydp2de90d5dyiv1207519974ydp80f58300MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="EN-US">“Okay. But I was hoping to get at least a snide remark about my nighties.”
She looked at him and only now seemed to notice that he was wearing blue pajamas,
broken by pictures of strawberries. Despite herself and the situation, she
couldn’t help chuckling. “Feeling better ?”</span>
</p><p style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:normal;" class="ydp2de90d5dyiv1207519974ydp80f58300MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="EN-US">“Yeah, feeling better. Where did you get those ?”</span>
</p><p style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:normal;" class="ydp2de90d5dyiv1207519974ydp80f58300MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="EN-US">“It’s a long story,” He smiled at her. “Is there anything else I can do
for you ?”</span>
</p><p style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:normal;" class="ydp2de90d5dyiv1207519974ydp80f58300MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="EN-US">“Well…”</span>
</p><p style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:normal;" class="ydp2de90d5dyiv1207519974ydp80f58300MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="EN-US">She seemed to think about it, then threw the bedsheet fall to the floor.
~Whoa.~ Before he could say anything, she put her arms around him and his
kissed him. He told the computer to turn off the lights and went with it. </span>
</p><p style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:normal;" class="ydp2de90d5dyiv1207519974ydp80f58300MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="EN-US">(USS Illuminar – Holodeck One – ACONN Alexander Dyson – 0605)</span>
</p><p style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:normal;" class="ydp2de90d5dyiv1207519974ydp80f58300MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="EN-US">Alex was whistling as he walked into the holodeck. ~Kelly Long, wow !~
He had been on time for his shift, but the simulators were in a dissembled state.
Apparently, the engineering folks had decided it was time to give them some
TLC. Which Alex agreed with, but it meant that he would have to log his hours on
the holodeck instead. </span>
</p><p style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:normal;" class="ydp2de90d5dyiv1207519974ydp80f58300MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="EN-US">As he approached the holodeck, he noticed Dano Vermyx working on….something.
He had heard about Vermyx in the Rec Room and the Iotian’s unique look made it impossible
to mistake him for anybody else. </span>
</p><p style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:normal;" class="ydp2de90d5dyiv1207519974ydp80f58300MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="EN-US">“Morning.”</span>
</p><p style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:normal;" class="ydp2de90d5dyiv1207519974ydp80f58300MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="EN-US">(Reply Vermyx)</span>
</p><p style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:normal;" class="ydp2de90d5dyiv1207519974ydp80f58300MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="EN-US">“I’m Alex Dyson, Flyboy. I’m about get some holodeck hours flying, you
wanna come ?”</span>
</p><div style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:normal;" class="ydp2de90d5dyiv1207519974ydp80f58300MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="EN-US"><br></span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:normal;" class="ydp2de90d5dyiv1207519974ydp80f58300MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="EN-US">(Reply Vermyx)</span></div><div style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:normal;" class="ydp2de90d5dyiv1207519974ydp80f58300MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:New serif;" lang="EN-US">(Posted by Ruben)</span></div>
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