INOSCULATION

Chapter One

T'Loran, or 'Lauren' as the rest of the crew called her, stood over her station in Engineering and studied the read-out calmly. Behind her, she could hear the Chief Engineer, Lt. B'Elanna Torres, berating herself and growing more and more frustrated at the cold, hard facts that were staring them all in the face. Anger, though, would change nothing. Unless they managed to find a source of deuterium soon, they were going to have to look for even more systems to shut down to save resources for propulsion and scanners.

"What in the name of Kahless am I supposed to do to keep us moving?" she growled. The rest of the crewmen and ensigns gave Torres a wide berth. T'Loran decided to tackle the targ, as it were, and give the woman the answers she seemed to be demanding.

"I would suggest diverting all power from crew and officers quarters to the cargo bays and common areas, shutting down replicators and the holodecks, and setting the lights in the ship's corridors to their lowest setting until we manage to find the components we need. We can recommend that comms, xenosciences, and other non-essential personnel be reassigned to ship's functions or assigned to scanning for what we need."

"Shut down life support in the living areas, Ensign? Are you insane?" Torres spat.

"It makes sense," Vorik said from across the room. "It would greatly conserve our power reserves."

"And everyone would die in their sleep."

"Not if they slept in one of the cargo bays or common areas as Ensign T'Loran is suggesting."

"Oh," the half-Klingon said, blushing slightly. "I still don't think that will go over well."

"All due respect, lieutenant, but unless our scans detect a large source of deuterium nearby within the next 72 hours, it will not matter how 'well' it will 'go over,'" T'Loran said calmly. "There will be little alternative but to implement those policies. However, if they were implemented immediately, we would conserve an estimated four weeks' worth of fuel."

"I can't say I'm looking forward to having all of you as my room-mates," Torres muttered. "I'll take your suggestions to the rest of the senior officers, Lauren. The rest of you, get back to work!"

T'Loran winced but bit her tongue. It would do her little good to correct the lieutenant. Her name was unusual enough on her home planet. It was a "gift" from her brother based on the story their grandfather had related of how she came to be part of their family. Off-worlders frequently mistook it to be the common Terran name "Lauren" so she was accustomed to answering to that name. It amused Yuris greatly to receive notices addressed to her by that name. Even worse were the few times she had received notices under her childhood nickname — Teresh-ka. Mitrani, her sister-in-law, had helped her correct those problems when they threatened to impede her entry into Starfleet. "It is 17:00 hours. Alpha shift is relieved," came the announcement throughout Engineering, pulling her out of her thoughts. She quickly finished up inputting the last few equations to try to wring a bit more efficiency out of the engines, gathered her PADDs, and then left Engineering. She nodded politely to crewman Lon Suder as she passed him in the corridor and made her way to the Mess Hall where Mr. Neelix had prepared food for the ship's personnel. She stopped by the quarters she shared with another Ensign and a crewman to pick up a workpad and pen before making her way to the large eating area. She set her things on one of the unoccupied tables in the far corner of the room before going over to the galley where Mr. Neelix was dishing out dinner and discourse with his usual exuberance.

"Good evening, Ensign," the Talaxian said with a bright smile. "I hope you're hungry because tonight we've got pot roast with all the trimmings!" He piled a plate with the fare he was serving the rest of the crew and she accepted it calmly. "Why the frown, Ensign? Even Mr. Paris said it was good," he asked.