Bug Hunt – What next?
by Soghla' Terri (Tell) Hope

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Title   What next?
Mission   Bug Hunt
Author(s)   Soghla' Terri (Tell) Hope
Posted   Sat May 04, 2013 @ 1:32pm
Tell lay in her bunk reading the book that had once belonged to her friend who once shared the room with her. She still found it hard to believe that Marla had gone. Part of Tell really wished she was here, Marla was the only one the engineer could really be her self with. The room was quiet with out her and her chat, Tell missed her very much.

The book was called Romeo and Juliet and was about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately reconcile their feuding families. It was not the easiest of reads but Tell had promised herself that she would read it just to find out what Marla had seen in it. Tell herself wasn't a book reader. A few chapters in and Tell thought it a little boring but was determined to persevere with it.

A few more paragraphs into the next chapter and Tell reluctantly put the book back on the shelf. A little bit at a time she thought She closed her eyes hoping that sleep would come quickly but it evaded her and she lay with her eyes open for sometime.

She thought about her brother Jamie and her so called husband Maxx. They were still missing. Tell had tried to find them but all her searches had failed to turn up anything. Starfleet couldn't or wouldn't tell her anything more than she knew. They just said that they were still looking for them but they couldn't promise anything. Tell still held onto a feint hope that they would be found and when they were she would give them a right rollicking and never let them out of her sight again.

This isn't doing me any good at all the engineer thought as she reluctantly gave up hope of ever getting any sleep at all. She made her way to her workroom next to the engine room perhaps she would find something there to occupy her mind. Of course she had a list of things to do, there is always things to fix on this bucket of bolts but she wasn't in the mood for anything like that.

She called in at the mess first for coffee. Tell had recently given into the Klingon brew, Raktajino. Mainly because it reminded her of her friend and partly because she had run out of her own special blend. It would do for now Tell thought as she made her way to engineering. All was quiet on board the ship for once, no yelling or running anywhere. So like the calm before the storm they all suffer from.

She sat at her work top. Everything was tidied away, everything had its place. She couldn't bear an untidy workplace. She put her empty coffee mug down and idly flicked a beer mat off the edge of the table, catching it all the time. Without blinking and staring into space thinking back to that time at the Shebeen on the Klingon home world and all that had happened after that. Tell wanted to keep the memory alive because she was afraid that she would forget all that happened.

With a sigh she pushed herself away and stood up. From the shelf above her work surface she reached for a case and took out her skeletal violin and plugged it into an amp. No one was ever quite sure what type of skeleton it was made from, some had guessed, but its sound was clear and beautiful.

She'd had the violin altered and now it had eight strings instead of four, each string was in direct harmony with the other underneath. She lifted the instrument, closed her eyes and played a haunting melody of love and loss, changing then to strength, unity and flight. Such was the ballad of the Fhew.

She brought the song to its final end, the last chord echoing through the hold and she felt more at peace with herself, if only for a little while, such was the power of music.

"All Officers report to the Bridge." boomed Ro's voice into the hold

Tell put the instrument back and turned to walk out of the engine room. Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw Marla laughing, probably at one of their old jokes they shared so many times.

Tell left for the Bridge.