"Translation Protocol"
written by Cyndi Fryar, David Moody, and Charles Ross
Commander Rhea Kennit, Captain Lenti Utex, and Lieutenant TogHa

Finally, with the sun starting to set now on the holographic beach Rhea rested on the surfboard for a while. She just leaned back on the board, legs dangling down over the sides in the cool water as she felt the motion of the sea beneath her rise and fall with the passing of the waves. Lifting her heads up over her head in a back cracking stretch, Kennit finally began to survey the incoming waves and selected which would be the final ride for the night.

Padding strongly, she caught the upswell of the wave and returned all the way to the beach. Walking up from the surf, she shook her head sending a spray of salt water from her wet hair. Turning to look out over the ocean at the setting sun, Rhea sighed. Almost ruefully she said, "Computer..end program."

With a chirp, the image of the sun setting over the beach faded away to be replaced by the bland grid of the holodeck. Still wet, Kennit changed into more comfortable and appropriate attire in which to walk back to her quarters. Somehow, she had a feeling that the sight of the ship's Executive Officer dressed in a two-peice swim suit and still wet from swimming might .. disturb a few people.

So, because she didn't feel like changing fully back to her own uniform she instead simply programed a pair of tan shorts, and a tee shirt which she then tugged on over the wet swim suit. Slipping her feet into a pair of sandals she ran a brush through her semi-dry hair and smoothed the long, dark red mass back into a ponytail then finally headed back towards her own quarters. A few crewmen smiled at her, taking in the sight of the XO wearing tee shirt, shorts and sandals with her sun bronzed skin set off against the light shirt as she left the holodeck.

Kennit walked down the corridor, her thoughts more on getting back to her quarters and taking a shower to clean away the feel of the salt water from her skin. Holodeck or not, the water had been real thanks to replicator technology. Odd really.. if you thought too hard about it. The lights flickered a little, and she paused a moment ready to contact the bridge if need be however the momentary flicker lasted only for a second before the power fluxuation recovered. Deciding to check with engineering in the morning since it didn't appear to be a major problem, the XO continued on her way after a moment longer in which she waited to see if the power flux would occur again.

Nearing the White Star lounge, Kennit half thought that the doors looked like they were just slightly ajar. That was odd.. Nearing the lounge she was about to tap her comm badge which she wore pinned to the front of her shirt and contact engineering when the doors suddenly slid open with a hiss and spilled Lieutenant Sito out into the corridor.

Drawing up short, Rhea gazed at the bajoran helm officer in some concern as she tried to decide just what to make of this somewhat unusual happening. Behind Sito came Lenti, apparently also wondering if the Bajoran officer was all right. Giving them both a somewhat curious look, Kennit cleared her throat slightly and then said "Is everything all right here? I noticed a momentary minor power flux just a minute ago.."

Utex said nothing. Lenti saw legs. Utex saw hair. Lenti saw breasts. Utex saw concern. Lenti sparked back to reality. “Um,” he stammered. “Sure, um, Rhea.” He caught himself, noticing Sito looking at him as she dusted absolutely nothing off of her uniform as an excuse to stick around, presumably, and perhaps a bit out of force of habit. “Commander Kennit,” he recovered, quite too late.

Rhea held back a wry smile and continued on her way.

Utex said nothing. Lenti waved like an idiot. Utex saw legs. Lenti watched her from behind, as it were. Utex saw her towel. Sito cleared her throat.

“Um,” he stammered, his attention focusing back on the Bajoran helm officer. “Sorry about that, Rhea,” he told the bajoran woman. Noticing Sito’s open stare, he covered with, “I mean, Commander Sexo,” he blanched, and corrected himself, “I mean Saxa, lieutenant. Helm. Officer. Sito,” he said, shaking his head free of the haze caused by the apparant action of visual human pheremones on Trill ocular sensory input. “Are you alright, Lieutenant,” he sighed, leaning against the wall. Staring at the opposite bulkhead, he rolled his head to her, “Sickbay?”

Sito looked as if the captain had simply flatulated in the passageway, “No,” she balked. “You?”

“Fine, fine,” Utex assured her lightly, staring once more at the doors into the lounge. As Sito quietly slipped away, Utex moved back into the lounge. “Think I might have some water,” he called to Novikov. “Is it hot in here?”

Smiling to herself as she continued on her way to her quarters, Rhea managed to keep from laughing until she reached her own quarters. Once safely inside, she let the laugh ring out softly in her rooms as her dog came trotting out of the bedroom with tail a'wag. "Hello Bear.. have you been a good boy while I was gone?" she asked the little dog while walking towards her bedroom.

Stripping, she left her clothing in a pile on the floor and entered the shower to get clean.

Meanwhile:
Utex walked back out of the lounge before Novikov could even put the glass down. Drawn by an unseen, unknown force, Utex was heading to his quarters but somehow ended up on deck two.

He found himself about to place his hand on the pad to announce his presence at Rhea's door, then thought the better of it.

What if someone were to . . .

Uncertain as to why, Utex turned and headed up to the Bridge.

Back in Kennit's Quarters:
Once she'd showered, with her hair cleaned and dry and dressed in a comfortable pair of pajamas, Kennit settled down on her bed to read for a bit. Patting the quilt by her side, she whistled once. That was all he'd been waiting for, Bear jumped from the floor by the bed to settle himself down comfortably by his human's side. Rubbing the dog's belly as she read, eventually Kennit fell asleep.



Meanwhile, on the bridge, TogHa was running some diagnostics on the sensors. Something didn't seam right about their readings. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he knew it was there. "Diagnostic complete" Came the computers voice. "Was there anything?", "Negative, no faults detected." "Computer, what time is it?" requested TogHa, who was now feeling slightly fatiqued. "It is now 0213 Hours." He shook his head. He couldn't go to bed with this on his mind. Unable to think of anything else, TogHa got up and walked to one of the turbolifts. "Holodeck 1 please." Slowley, the turbolift took him to his destination. This was odd! "Engineering," TogHa tapped his combadge. "TogHa here." "Yes sir," came the reply, "What is it?"

"Is there a problem with the turbolifts?"

"Not that we are aware of. Why?"

"They're running a little slow. Can you check them out." He was about to mention the sensors, but without a reason, he decided against it. He was new here and didn't want the crew thinking him mad. "Sure thing sir. Engineering out."

finally, the turbolift reached Holodeck 1. TogHa walked up to the holodeck pannel and pressed a few buttons, calling up a Klingon training program. Maybe dissemboweling a few Hirogen or Borg would relieve his apprehension. He entered the holodeck, causing the doors to make their usual greeting. Immidiatly, from his left, a phaser blast shot past him, scorching his uniform. Perhaps he should have changed! Quickly catching on to his situation, he grapped the batleth supplied ny the computer and returned fire.

Hours later, after much blood and gore, TogHa left the Holodeck felling exausted, and having forgotten about the sensor glitch, decided to turn in.

After making his way to his quaters, he undressed and made a mental note to replicate a new uniform before tomorrows shift. Quietly, he sat down and went to sleep.