“Um Styxx,” O’Neill looked at the Marine Lt and adjusted his hat. “You know I am all about religion,” he said in his slightly southern twang. The humor of his statement was not lost on anyone that could hear his comment. O’Neill only showed up for the holy trinity because Mrs. O’Neill had stated his presence was expected each week. Normally his presence included a few snores and jabs in the ribs during the hour service but like all husbands and fathers, he endured it. “But we got at least a team of three loose on this ship that started this whole rigmarole. We have two down on the bridge that you took out and the one in medical Peter escorted out. The standard procedure says that the team should be six so where are the other three?”

Adjusting his hat he turned his head slightly as if not wanting Jessa to overhear the conversation. “My guess is two are in security and one in engineering. Someone just beamed two people off the ship before Nash was able to shut down the transporters. Care to help me out in finding where these people are and then accidentally blow them out of the airlock?”

Jessa stared at Styxx with daggers in her eyes. “So was the offer to help me with the funeral just an empty platitude to get me to do what you wanted?”

Jessa Novar