Having cut their conversation short in the corridor on the day she’d arrived, Tello remembered her suggestion to Cmdr Nightstalker that they meet for a drink and she would explain more about her unusual telepathic assaults. After her shift on the bridge, she headed for the lounge to decompress. Now was as good a time as any if the Caitian was free.

=/\=Anaar to Nightstalker. Cmdr, I am off duty and headed for the Parthenon. Would you care to join me?=/\=

—Anaar, XO

=/\= I am in the corner booth to the back right Commander, may I order you anything while I await your arrival? =/\=

Stark Nightstalker CIO

His response brought a smile to her face. =/\=Coffee, cream and sugar.=/\= She wanted to be completely sober to tell the tale. Alcohol had a way of influencing the way it happened and she wanted the CIO to have every detail to the best of her memory. She’d decided to trust him with this one very odd aspect of her development. Further into the room now, she spotted him just where he said he was. With an ease she didn’t feel with everyone, Tello slipped into the cushioned seat and looked across the table at the Caitian. “Thank you for meeting me on short notice—this is—unusual to say the least.”

—Anaar, XO

Stark smiled and raised one eyebrow slightly, “No thanks necessary,” he slid over the beverage she had asked for and continued, “I excel at “unusual”“.

An ensign came into the Parthenon, looked around, spotted Anaar and strode purposefully toward the booth. Tensing slightly Stark moved side ways in the booth and nailed the hapless ensign with a stare that had them pause for less than a second, and then leave the way they had come if not slightly quicker than the speed at which they had arrived. Stark relaxed again.

He leaned forward slightly, “So how can I help?”.

Stark Nightstalker CIO

Several servers had cruised by but politely ignored the two as if they had been instructed to. A few seconds later Marishka herself walked by with an elaborate bouquet of flowers for a table near them. A trained eye would have caught her nod towards Stark but few others would have been the wiser.

• Marishka

A flicker of his eyes was all he did in return, but he knew Marishka was there if needed and his acknowledgment was as much of a thank you as any of them would ever need to give the other.

Stark Nightstalker CIO

Tello took a sip of the coffee and lay her arms around it on the table. “Before I tell you about Salar…I want to ask you something. I’m sure in your line of work the phrase ‘trust your gut’ comes into play, doesn’t it? Or ‘trust your instincts’ or something that means the same thing?”

“Well, my gut is telling me to trust you. So what I want to ask you is if you will be the one to respond if I get lost in someone else’s emotions and can’t get back on my own?”

—Anaar, XO