[snip]

Cross was still pacing but on hearing what the doctor had suggested she stopped ‘’Know what Hunter ? We have nothing more except hypotheses ,let him deal with it with an open mind ....Vulcans are excellent and highly skilled at that ‘’Cross retorted back ‘’ Beside I cannot just go and leave the bridge alone can I’‘.

Hunter stepped on the bridge once more ,he looked at the few crew doing whatever they were doing At least the bridge is still in one piece.
Moving towards Cross he found her tapping her fingers on the Captain’s chair ‘’ Is everything in order? ‘’ the male doctor asked, she responded by a side way glance then went back to look at some imaginary spot in front of her .

Hunter persisted ‘’Any news ?’’ to which the CMO responded ‘’ I have been informed about some kind of energy in the conference room, most probably from the ascended..so I guess ‘they ’ came ‘’.

The doctor nodded ‘’ Cross , Lt Verity is now our new Cmdr but maybe you already knew ?’’ the female doctor shook her head from side to side ‘’No I did not ‘’ after a few minutes of silence and still looking straight ahead she spoke in a neutral tone’’ I’ll shall congratulate her once I see her ‘’ and with that she started tapping her fingers out of restlessness and boredom .

‘’Doctor shouldn’t you be in sickbay by now and do keep an eye on the Captain ’ were Cross’s last words to Hunter before he exited the bridge. She did wonder what was going on in the conference room, cause until now the CMO had been left completely in the dark .

Cross was fed up looking at the black screen with tiny white dots scattered around,she thought about leaving before going crazy but still thought it was best to stay put just in case something happened .

Her thoughts now turned to the ascended and trying to figure out the reason that they so desperately wanted to research .Sure they had been studying the inhabitants for quiet some time , yet she wondered if or how in dept that study of learning or attaining knowledge had been.

The power of the mind to think, understand, and form judgments logically. The doctor knew full well that it was not just the biological body but the fact of not just existing. The very nature and essence of a person ............taking into account the psychological , emotional ,maybe even spiritual of that being. At that point she stopped stood up and thought * Have I been mislead by my own thinking ....was it the other way round, they had been organic before ascending to an energy form? *.

If so what is it that they so desperately needed to know ?.

Cara arrived on the Bridge from Sickbay. At first, she didn’t notice Cross sitting in the dark with no one else on the Bridge. She hadn’t heard the announcement about the Conference Room meeting of Department Heads.

“Computer! Raise lighting 30%!” Cara instructed. As the lights came up, she finally saw the CMO in the Captain’s Chair, deep in her own thoughts.

“Oh! Sorry! I thought no one was here,” Cara said. “Though that would be odd, leaving no one in charge. Say, where is everyone anyway?”

Cross took a deep breath before replying ‘’The Captain, Cmdr and all D’H’s are in the conference room ..a meeting of sorts with an ascended I guess ‘’ and with a slight lift of her eyebrows went on ‘’The few that were left I send them away to take a break ,say why raised the lights ? ‘’ the doctor asked ‘’ I thought you can see better in the dark then us mere humans ‘’ .

“Well, you’re the doctor,” Cara replied, “Yeah, apparently I have more light sensitive receptors in my eyes my pupils expand wider to allow in more light, but honestly, I still walk into things in the dark!”

‘’Hunter told me the good news about your immune system destroying the bacteria ,one less problem to worry about ‘’.

“Yes, but I kinda liked having a super strong tail,” Cara replied. “I felt like a MARVEL character from those ancient books! After being bitten by a radioactive child, I develop superpowers!”

And again Cross jumped from one conversation to another ‘’ I’m wondering why nobody has given me any hint about what’s going on, guess I’m irrelevant ,of little importance and inappreciable ‘’ Cara could see her most remarkable feature .....her red eyes glowed with a savage inner fire.

“I can’t help you there, I don’t know either,” Cara said, “but I heard a rumor that these people wiped out a whole Klingon fleet, just by snapping their fingers, so the best thing Starfleet could do is slap a new General Order on this system, that no vessel under any condition, emergency or otherwise, is to visit this planet. Of course, there is Dilithium here, so that changes things. It’s always about the planetary resources rather than about health and safety, or security!”

“The Federation doesn’t know quite how to deal with a dominant partner like these Ascended beings. I’m sure that the Captain will be finding that out, right about now. I’ve seen it before with the Klingons, and a little less so with the Xindi, the Tholians, and the Gorn. The galling bottom line is that Starfleet always wants it both ways – to stand up for the values of the UFP while still trading with partners who do not – torn between security and commerce – and as a result they will continue to send mixed signals from their inconsistency and short-termism, and ultimately they fail to advance either objective. But, I guess that is a subject for my future public roving lecture series!”

• Cara Meow