Chapter Text
Stardate 55173.40
5 March 2378, 07:00
“Cheng Yu.”
“It’s Cheng Jiang now. The Yu Symboit is lost.”
“Silence. We are here to discuss the events of the Borg attack on Outpost Sigma 9 near Tohvun III.”
The inquisition floor was vast and the lights were bright, Cheng could barely see the faces of the other Trill and a few off-world Starfleet brass. He swore he could feel Jiang shift in his abdominal cavity, as if the symboit was also nervous. How many times did he have to do this? How many times did he have to tell this story?
The memories, his own and Ying's, mingled in his head, from the initial attack, the first drone to beam down to the planet, to the first fire of a phaser. Their memories lined up like well fitting puzzles. And for a moment. It was like watching a side by side of the same action holo, but shot from different angles. If his professors from the academy could see what he saw they’d have realized just how well their training had meshed and just how well he and Ying fought together. They read each other with a simple signal. A sense of pride swelled in him at the thought of him and his brother. They joked about being the Twin Heroes of Yunmeng, especially during the war, that they would have been able to take any Changeling or Cardassian in hand to hand combat and come out victorious; and seeing this all play out in his head, for a moment he was sure that was true.
“Lt. Yu.”
“It’s Jiang.” Cheng growled as he was pulled out of his own head by a superior officer calling to him.
“Admiral, we will have to update your paperwork, but per our society, it would be correct to call the Lieutenant by Cheng Jiang now,” a softer spoken woman said, Cheng recognizing her from the Joining Commission board.
“Lt. Jiang,” the Admiral groused, “Once again, let's start from the beginning. What happened at the Outpost?”
Cheng sighed to himself and slowly recanted the story; Just the facts, as they would say at the Academy.
He could see the turning point of this whole story now, “Ying had turned to cover my flank. I was trying to get a phase blaster back operational by adjusting the frequency in hopes of overcoming the borg’s adaptivity. Except another drone beamed in at that moment. They were aiming at Ying. I dove to intercept the blast. The drone hit me here.” He touched his chest, motioning to the spot just under his sternum where the symboit sat in the host. “At that time, I blacked out.”
“What happened then Lt. Jiang?”
Yings memories flooded in, his dual movie now cut to one focus.
The air was bitter, tasting of metal and electricity, Ying hated that taste. The weight of Cheng on his shoulder was heavy and he worried about his brother. The Borg attack had, like all Borg attacks, been a complete surprise. With only a ‘Resistance is Futile’ message over all compound com systems, somehow the two of them had gotten out of the compound and out into the forest near the colony. Not without a fire fight with a few drones. Cheng had taken a direct hit to his chest by a phaser. The burn was atrocious and stank of burnt flesh. But Cheng breathed and for now that was enough.
So much for a lesson in botany and how it related to terraforming. Maybe others would get lucky, get out. Maybe they would get a communication out to Starfleet. He doubted it, but he hoped.
Ying wound his way through the forest, Jiang provided him with flashes of his previous hosts' survival abilities and he was thankful for Zhuocheng’s love for hiking and camping. Combine it with Starfleet training and Ying was indestructible. At least that’s what he wanted to think. Kept him from panicking. That’s what being a joined trill was all about! New life experiences, overcoming the impossible! He finally spotted a cave and drug his half alive brother into it.
There was a little collection of moss, it reminded him of a mattress and he quickly laid the other man down.
It was here that Cheng and Ying's memories realigned and he was watching the scene unfold from two viewpoints. “I woke up in a cave with Ying W… with Ying.” Best to not bring up the new Symboit. Something about that made the commission jumpy.
“Where are we?”
“Some cave. I’ve got some medical things and a communicator. Once I’m sure the cube is gone I’ll set it up and help will be here in no time! Can’t believe you took that phaser for me, you idiot!”
“Yeah well, Yanli would have my spots if you came back legless.”
Ying laughed a little too loud, a little too quickly, shit they were in over their heads. Just two ensigns out on their first assignment. He couldn’t admit he was scared; had to be brave for Cheng. That’s what brothers did right? Protect each other.
“What about me! You don’t think she won’t have mine now that you’ve got a permanent hole in your chest!” Ying protested.
“Shut up and give me a fucking hypospray, are you trying to torture me?”
“R-Right.” Ying fumbled with the medical tricorder and did a scan. They both heard the little chirping alarms, and Ying lifted his eyes to his brother's deep brown ones.
“C-Cheng… Its… it’s Yu… can… can you sense it?”
“Ying reported to me that the life signs of the Yu symboit were weak, likely due to the phaser blast I had sustained. He worked to stabilize us. What neither of us failed to realize was that the moss I was laying on was also host to a native insect of the outpost.” he motioned to a screen off to his left showing a multi-legged horror with very nasty looking pinsars.
“It bit me.” he watched as every Trill in the room shivered, it wasn’t that Trill didn’t have insects or even that as a species Trill’s didn’t like insects, but a joined Trill’s worst nightmare was to be bitten by an insect. The chemicals that any biting insect released could cause issues with the chemical balance that was needed to maintain the join between host and symboit.
“Why is an insect biting you of significance?” the admiral asked. Ah, Non-Trill, human most likely.
“A joined Trill’s connection to its Symboit can be weakened when at their most healthy… here most likely it was the last wound that ended the Yu Symboit.” Another voice joined in, judging from the name placard Cheng could barely see, a medical doctor of some kind. Something with a ‘B.’
“Continue Lt. Y… Jiang.”
Cheng drew his shoulders back and continued with the story.
“The fuck is that thing!” Ying jumped and swatted the creature off Cheng’s exposed flesh. He watched as Cheng’s eyes rolled back in his head, he fumbled with the tricorder and then with the hypospray. The tale-tell hiss sounded and Cheng relaxed a margin. It took a moment before Cheng blinked back to a state of semi-consciousness.
“Y-Ying… it… Yu… I can’t feel Yu!!” Both men stared at each other in horror. Ying’s skin danced with goose-bumbs as a chill fell over him.
“It… it can’t be…”
“Fucking scan it!!” Cheng roared.
Ying pushed his hair from his face and performed a scan, his face going white. He scanned his brother again, beat the tricorder with his palm, and then tried one more time before he lifted his grey eyes and gave a small shake of his head.
“Ying confirmed what I had felt, the Yu Symboit had died,” Cheng was proud of himself, even with the taste of fear, both his and Ying’s, in his throat, his voice didn’t waiver. It was at this point the movie in his head diverged into two separate but equally horrific scenes. One of them had 23 hours to live if the phaser wound didn’t kill him first and the other pinned under the knowledge that his brother would be dead. The weight of Ying’s guilt and pain hung on his shoulders and he hated how much he wished the other man was in front of him so he could hug him and tell him that he was sorry and that he was loved. But he wasn't, Ying was in another room, just like this, telling his story again. The inquisition board was silent for a moment before Cheng continued on.
“We both knew what that meant for me. If I didn’t receive medical treatment and a new symboit, I would be dead in 23 hours or less. My memories after about an hour from the bug bite rapidly become disjointed.”
“What can you tell us about those hours from the Jiang Symboit?”
“You can ask Ying. He is alive.”
“You have a reputation of being very honest, and straightforward, we would like you to tell us as well.”
His jaw clenched, fucking assholes, why did it matter. He tried to keep his face impassive, slowly speaking.
Ying was in a full blown panic, without a symboit, Cheng was as good as dead, and what would Cheng’s parents think of him then? Their only son dead to save a worthless pile of shit like him? He could only imagine the beating Ziyuan would give him. The thought of Yanli crying over Cheng’s grave drove him mad. He paced the cave, thinking, chewing his lip raw. He could give them 40 hours at least of being alive… but… it would require him taking the Jiang Symboit and severing his own joining and giving it to Cheng. Then the time would start all over again. It was the best he had. He turned and started working on the communicator, occasionally popping out to look into the sky to see if the cube had left. Seeing the ominous green and black shadow still over the sky, he would retreat back into the cave to continue to work. He even hit himself with a few pain suppressants in preparation for the self surgery he was going to have to perform, but his mind was made and his path seemed absolute before him.
That’s when he heard a rustle in the woods. He grabbed his phaser and ducked behind the lip of the cave and looked out into the foliage. He spotted the red dot of a scope before the Borg, but soon a lone drone came wandering out. It moved clunkier than normal, and it looked like it had sustained some sort of damage. Ying stayed still and waited. He had to kill this fucker.
The drone stopped and seemed to look around, now that it turned its head, it looked like half of its head had been blown off, how it was still MOVING was strange. It started to shamble on and Ying launched himself at it, he tackled it and managed to pin the arm that had a drill attached to it and then executed a neck snap. He rolled away and waited poised to strike again if needed.
The drone didn’t move, expect it did speak.
“You are a Trill?”
“The fuck?”
“This one will repeat the question, are you a Trill?”
“You’re a Borg, aren’t you supposed to be able to tell these things?”
“This body was assimilated, but that which is speaking to you is not the body. You may call this one Wei. This one remembers a planet called Trill, a humanoid species called Trill. This one seeks a host to carry on. This one does not wish to die.”
Wei fell on his ass in shock, “W-Wait… are… are you a symbiote?”
He approached the Borg and rolled it onto it’s back and poked at it looking over its exposed skin. The skin was milky white, but he could make out, just barely, spots traversing from the creature's temple down to its feet. Ying pulled out his medical tricorder and sure enough a soft pulse lit up on the tricorder when he scanned over the abdominal cavity.
“This one remembers being called that. This body was this one’s first host.”
“Fuck… this is wild… are you… controling this? Wait… The Cube will find us now!”
“This body has been considered dead and the device used to communicate with the others was damaged and is no longer functional. This one has gained some functionality through the parts integrated into this body.”
“You’re really… a Symboit from Trill?”
“This one is fairly certain the answer is yes. When the optical receptors noted your spots This one found hope in that perhaps This one can go home.”
Wei grunted and pulled the drone into the cave with his brother. He checked over Cheng’s vitals, he wasn’t too far gone, but the mental distortions were probably taking their toll.
“How much control over that body do you have and how much knowledge do you have of communication devices?”
“You mean to tell me that the Symboit Wei used a dead body to speak to Ying?”
“That is what Jiang recalls, yes.” Cheng answered. “With the Wei Symboit’s help Ying was able to repair the communication array and then performed the surgery on the two of us transplanting Jiang into me after removing Yu, and then took the Wei Symbiote into himself. Presumably he did not start the communication array until after the Borg Cube left the Outpost. That was his original plan. The next thing I recall is waking up on the USS Constellation.”
“Why didn’t he start the communication array immediately?”
“As I am sure he will tell you, it was to keep any other star ship that came to us from getting assimilated by the Borg. We could survive and he didn’t want to risk any other lives for our rescue.”
“Starfleet protocol -”
“We are aware of Starfleet protocol Admiral, but with all due respect, unless you have some fancy constitution class ship armed with munitions that can over take a borg cube, you failed to inform us lowly ensigns. Isn’t one of Starfleet's protocols for the greater good? The good of the many over the good of the few?”
“You’re out of line Lieutenant!”
Cheng scowled, “The decision is made Admiral, and you asked why, that is why.”
The man huffed as others around him started talking. What had Ying gotten them into?
A year and half later …
Cheng Jiang walked into his family home on Trill, a new Pip on his star fleet uniform. Five years after accepting his commission, he was a fresh new Lieutenant. Down side, he was now chasing his brother Ying Wei, apparently the promotion came with the responsibilities. He’d thought about turning down the assignment, but apparently his lack of emotion towards Ying meant someone believed he didn’t care of familial ties. The joke was on them. Sometimes he could still feel the bug bite that had changed the course of his life. He wondered if Ying could still taste the metal and electricity from that day. Probably. It was probably burned into Ying’s memory as much as it was his. Sometimes he wondered what it was like for Ying to have seen the prior Wei host chase him as a borg.
He forced a smile to his face as Yanli bounced over and hugged him.
“Ah! Look at you in uniform! Two pretty golden pips!” she poked the golden nubs on his collar.
He chuckled softly and flicked his nose in embarrassment, “Lay off Yanli, it’s not that big a deal.”
“Yes it is! You’re a Lieutenant!”
“You said that when I became a Lieutenant Junior Grade.”
“Well that was important too!”
He just hugged his sister and looked up when his father and mother joined their daughter.
“Cheng! We’re both so proud of you!” his mother, Ziyuan beamed at him, “You’ve really become something.”
Unlike Ying, the words went unsaid but he heard them nonetheless. How many times had she called Ying useless, good for nothing? Jiang could give him PLENTY of examples from Ying’s memory. And his smile soured a little. He’d never understood his brother's desire to avoid his adoptive mother, but it was becoming very abundant in the months since his joining with Jiang.
“When do you ship out?” his father, Fengmian asked.
“In a week, The commander is finalizing his selection for the main crew. My rank will make me a second officer and I’ll be at Tactical and Security.”
“Oh, that sounds important.”
He nodded, “if the captain and first officer are incapacitated I will be in charge.”
She just smiled at him, “Wow! That is important!”
“What is your assignment?” Ziyuan asked.
“I am not at liberty to say, Starfleet and Trill interests are at stake.”
“Ohh-hoo.” His father pat his shoulder, “We really are so proud of you.”
“Thank you.”
“Comeon! I made your favorite soup.”
He briefly wondered if that was Rotesh Soup or Nnshet Soup. Nnshet was CHENG’s favorite, Rotesh was Ying’s, he had to keep their personalities separate, this was ‘first joined 101’ stuff. Do not let the past hosts dominate your personality. But his brother was a force of joy, smiles and wild creativity. One of the reasons Jiang has been chosen for Ying was one of it’s previous hosts had been a lead in the development of warp drives which had propelled their people into the stars. But Jiang was Cheng’s symboit now, and he was amazed at the knowledge stored, the wealth of star charts, formulas, and logical leaps. He had a hard time keeping up, but he was trying.
They had a nice dinner and for a moment he was able to forget the… what was the human euphemism… the elephant in the room. (truly massive creatures - how even did evolution on the Human home world work) And they talked about Racquetball, about the current weather and the vacation that they were all planning on taking. Yanli could only talk excitedly about the Trill Open racquetball tournament that was being held in a month. She claimed that some off-world competitors were coming.
“Oh? Who are you rooting for?”
“Um… I’ve heard he’s very good, so,” she looked down, “Zixuan Jin.”
“Is he an off worlder?” Ziyuan asked.
“Yes. Rising act from Cardassia.”
Both his parents stopped and stared at her.
“They’re letting a spoon head on our planet?!”
“Father!” Yanli snapped, “That is so rude!”
“They’re conniving thieves! Have you heard of the atrocities on Bajor! And then the bastards joined in trying to dominate the rest of the quadrant by teaming up with those faceless freaks… what were they called? ” he challenged.
“The Dominion and the Changelings? The Treaty of Bajor is signed and there is peace. There is no active hostilities with the Cardassians and they are recompensing, not to mention rebuilding, they lost eight million citizens in the bombs of their capital.” Cheng said slowly.
“But it’s a Cardassian!”
“And not all cardassian’s are responsible for the actions of their government.” Yanli huffed.
“It is the federation's way.” Cheng confirmed.
“It’s ridiculous,” Fengmian crossed his arms.
Cheng shook his head and focused on his meal. With dinner done he stood, “I should report back in at the barracks.”
“Already?” Yanli pouted.
“Yeah, they keep us lowly officers on a short leash.”
She hugged her brother tightly and for a moment it was like they were the joined ones, he could feel her thoughts. Fear, apprehension flowed through her limbs. He squeezed her tightly, “I’ll come back to you Yanli. Always.”
“Bring him home? Please?” she whispered in his ear, “Bring Ying home.”
He kissed her cheek, “I plan on it.” Now more than ever he believed with all his heart that Ying was on the run from something big. Something that he wasn’t sure he could trust anyone else with. Something he was afraid of, that, if he told Cheng, he too would be compromised. With Ying’s memories in his head, he knew his brother was no turn coat. He was protective of Yanli and him, more than anything else in this life. Occasionally when Cheng’s thoughts turned to Ying and his motivations there was a blank in the memories. It was clear that Jiang was hiding something and Cheng wasn’t about to chase that rabbit. He didn’t need to know his brother’s most intimate thoughts and memories.
She pulled away and smiled her dazzling smile, “Be careful out there, write me okay!”
“I will, I’m just a subspace communique away.” He turned to his parents and gave brief hugs before stepping back to the door, “Mom, Dad. See you all soon.”
With a few more waves and hugs from Yanli he managed to get out the door and started walking down the street. He had to bring Ying home and get to the bottom of whatever nonsense was going on behind closed doors.
Transporters were harmless, he’d heard it so many times, yet, every time the first sensation of your body being suspended, compressed and sent across space his stomach clenched and he felt like his symboit roiled in his chest. There were cases of nausea after transporting, and he had upchucked once before on his first time. Now it was just the anticipation of feeling your every fiber becoming suspended, even your thoughts stop as your matter was taken apart, sent across space as a beam of highly coded information and then reimagined and constituted in another place. It was like day dreaming, except you blink and suddenly you’re in a new place. As he was given the all clear to step away from the transporter pad he looked around. Dry dock at Utopia Planitia was one of his favorite things from a technical standpoint. He’d never been here before but he’d spent many an adolescent year talking ship stats with Ying, which ship would have been out matched against this one, who could last longest and go farthest, before they were officers they dreamed of the stars as boys. He smirked to himself at those memories, dual feelings of fuzzy warmth circled in his belly. He found more and more he missed his brother, having some of his memories to fall back on only made his absence that more noticeable. He walked forward to one of the main Observation bulkheads and let childlike wonder bubble up in his chest. There were galaxy class ships, constitution class ships, shuttles and transport ships and many other state of the art Federation ships. Sparks of light danced across the surface of the hulls highlighted by the ebony expanse beyond as workers welded and worked over the hulls. He looked down and gasped, from here you could see the surface of the planet Mars, he'd never been to another celestial body that wasn’t an M-class planet. What was the temperature like, or the gravity? What kind of atmosphere was there? He let his eyes dance over the red dues as solar winds tossed the planet's soil around.
“Is this your first time at Utopia Planitia?” A smooth voice came from his left, he turned and found himself shoulder to shoulder with his superior officer, L’Zhan.
“Commander!” Cheng snapped into attention.
“At ease, Lieutenant, we are both off duty.”
Cheng relaxed a little, he hadn’t changed that much since he’d seen the Vulcan at the Academy six years ago. He had been a class ahead of them, but they still encountered him and his peers when the various classes had to do combat drills. He was built tall, with a thin face and his pointed ears curved gracefully back along his skull. He knew the elegant Vulcan was a powerhouse, having been on several receiving ends of a few hip tosses. His eyes were an unusual amber color for a Vulcan and sometimes even expressive. Beautiful. The thought came fast, hard and with such passion he was sure a look of confusion passed over his face since the Vulcan quirked an eyebrow at him. “Ah.. no.. I mean yes!” He let out a long breath as he came to identify the stray thought. Damnit Ying. Why did he.. nope. No, he did not want to know!
He cleared his throat, “To answer your question, yes, it is the first time I’ve ever been here.”
L’Zhan nodded and there was a pause before he spoke again, “Would you like to see our ship?”
“Is it ready?”
“It will be tomorrow at 07:30. The crew quarters are ready if you would like to put away your belongings.”
“Early tour? Sure sounds good.”
L’Zhan didn’t say anything else as he walked off, Cheng following on his heels.
“Anyone else already here?” He asked into the silence.
A nod. Cheng sighed, he’d forgotten how chatty Vulcans could be, NOT.
“Anyone from our Academy days?
“Currently no, I believe our Doctor has already laid claim to sick bay.”
“Oh? What’s their qualifications?”
“Did you not read the dossier I sent you?”
“…when did you send it?”
“Three hours ago.”
“I was hoping Transporters and transports three hours ago.”
Silence again before a nod, “forgive me, I forget that others do not read while traveling as I do.”
Why did that sound like an insult? Fucking Vulcans. This was going to be fun.
“So can you give me a hint?”
“Dr. Xiao Xingchen, received his medical degree on Denobula and then expanded his studies into Psychology at the Academy while also studying Xenobiology.”
“Sounds like a hell of a guy.”
“He will be an asset to our assignment. He was top of his class.”
Cheng nodded. They rounded the corner and were up on a platform, opposite of where he stood was a large observation window and outside was the USS Bichen. A Nebula class vessel with a complement of 750. Its saucer was polished and new and he could almost make out the registry code; NCC-1031WX. He’d read that even for a science vessel it was warp capable up to Warp 9 and had a very large selection of weapons, particularly torpedo bays and multiple Phaser Banks. And he would be in charge of every single missile and phaser that got shot.
L’Zhan noticed that he’d stopped and turned to look back and then noticed his gaze, the Vulcan turned his own gaze back to the ship and seemed to consider, “it is aesthetically pleasing.”
Cheng laughed, “she’s a real beauty.”
“It is a ship. Ships do not have a gender or sex.”
cheng just sighed, “Let’s go.”
L’Zhan nodded and continued to lead on, they entered the umbilical runway leading to the ship and two security officers stopped them. They presented their credentials and were waved inside with a salute. Cheng was taking it all in, “the halls aren’t too narrow. I was expecting it to feel cramped.”
“The doctor said much the same thing.”
They stepped into the lift and L’Zhan spoke, “Deck 5”
The lift leapt to life, “Deck 5 is officer quarters, decks 6 and 7 are crew and staff quarters.”
“I’ll remember that, the rest of the crew will be here tomorrow?”
“Correct, the remaining bridge officers are to report to me by 0630. We will have a brief meeting to discuss our mission, then remaining Crew are to report in for assignments at 0700, once final systems checks are completed by the spaceport staff we will begin our own pre-flight checks. The pre-flight should be completed by 0830 at the latest.”
“Sounds like you’ve got us on a tight time table captain.”
“My title is Commander.”
“Yeah, well get used to it hot shot, you’ll probably be addressed as captain pretty frequently.”
“That is illogical, my pips clearly denote my station at Commander.”
“Won’t stop anyone.”
The lift came to a stop and the doors hissed open. They two resumed walking before stopping not far from the lift at a set of doors. His name was on a plaque just to the left of the door under the call button.
“Your quarters Lieutenant.”
“Thank you Commander. I appreciate you showing me around.”
“I would suggest you familiarize yourself with the dossiers of our peers and the ship’s layout. If you wish to speak with the doctor, the medical bay is located on Deck 9.”
“Aye-aye captain.”
If looks could kill, he was fairly certain L’Zhan would have struck him down. He waved his hand, “I know, I know.. Commander.”
“Have a pleasant evening Lieutenant.”
“You too, Commander.” Cheng entered the room and looked around. Nice! A room with a window! The bed was tucked behind a small dividing wall and behind that a small closet and his washroom. Near the door was his desk, a replicator and several chairs. Apparently the desk was also supposed to serve as a table should Cheng have guests. It was bigger than the barracks he was used to, so he wasn’t going to complain.
He started unpacking and took a shower before sitting down with a cup of tea to read over these personnel reports.
First up, First Officer Lieutenant Commander Song Lan. From his picture he looked like a stern fellow, with dark eyes and a down turned mouth, what was it that Ying had called it? Resting Bitch Face. He snickered, he did not need that running through his head tomorrow. He was not that old for a Human, in his early 30s and had already done two deep space missions on the USS Denver and the USS Baixue. He came with high recommendations from his previous captains; ‘as logical as a Vulcan.’ Was one comment. Two stern, logic loving men helming them? There was going to be no fun on this ship. Even with the destruction of the Baixue under his command , Song Lan was well liked and respected it appeared. Cheng pushed the data to another display screen on the desk and moved to the next Officer for review.
Third Officer Lieutenant Zong Hui, another human, it appeared he and Song Lan knew each other having graduated from the same class at the Academy. He was another dark-haired, stern-faced fellow, and while Lt. Commander Song was praised for his decisive actions, Lt. Zong was praised as being loyal and unwavering. Apparently he’d also been on the USS Baixue when it had faced off against an Orion Interceptor running raiding missions on Federation colonies during the Dominion War. His willingness to follow Song Lan's orders without question was hailed as one of the many reasons the Baixue had held off long enough for rescue to come and their mission to succeed even if the ship itself was lost. Cheng sighed, the USS Bichen was shaping up to be a real fun place.
Next up was proverbial whiplash, as the next dossier was a fresh faced and very young Andorian. Ensign and Helmsman Jingyi. Straight out of the academy too. The young man grinned broadly in his picture, his blue skin was bright like the earth sky and his white hair was pulled back into a tight knot in the top of his head, reminding him of the mountains that were snow capped year round that were near his home town of Yunmeng. He’d never met many Andorians, but he had heard they could be very stubborn and argumentative. However, regardless of the young man’s personality, his qualifications were excellent. Cheng was beginning to think L’Zhan had gotten to hand pick his crew. Jingyi’s flight training ranked him in the top percentile of his class and his combat skills weren’t shabby either. The young man also had a knack for command, but he lacked the maturity at the moment. Perhaps L’Zhan wished to provide him with that chance. He flicked the dossier away to join the others and moved on.
He flipped to the next dossier and shook his head, another young ensign fresh from the academy. Ouyang Zizhe was a soft faced youth, with an easy smile and a warmth about him. He was Ensign Jingyi’s Navigator. Apparently his knowledge of the stars was unmatched. His family had a long history of being naval officers, navigators being in their blood. He looked more deeply at the transcripts and realized that the Andorian and Human had made fast friends in the academy. Probably the reason L’Zhan chose them together. They had been paired together in many of the flight simulations, and while Jingyi could maneuver a thread through a pinhead, Zizhe knew their exact location to the nth degree. They made a dynamite team. He was curious to see them perform.
Next name was Meng Yao, Lieutenant Jr. Grade. Cheng rubbed his eyes as he stared at the photo of the other man. A cardassian! No - wait… not quite. The nose ridges marked him as Bejaorian and his neck ridges weren’t nearly as defined as many of the holo photos he’d seen of full bloodied cardassians. So half Bajorian and half Cardassian. So he was some Gul or Legets bastard, and clearly had no love for the Cardassians as he had fought in the resistance that drove Cardassia out. He must have a winning personality. Meng Yao was, according to these records, hand picked to be a representative of the newly hopeful federation candidate within Starfleet. Odd that they picked a half Cardassian. But… he squinted - huh, he was sponsored by not only a well respected Starfleet Captain, Benjamin Sisko, but also by a top ranking Bajoran military official, Major Kira Nerys. His credentials from the Academy weren’t bad either. ‘Well spoken, mild mannered, personable’ were many of his professors' notations on him, ‘Smart and quick witted’ were others. So not as blood thirsty as Cheng had feared. His course work reflected that too, studying Leadership, command and control, Diplomacy, Interspecies ethics and protocol.
His work as an Ensign reflected his competency as well, apparently he had graduated the Academy around the time the Dominion War wrapped up. He had gone back to DS9 and served as part of the force that helped with the initial relief efforts on Cardassian Prime. The boy.. No man, he was Cheng’s age, was truly trying to keep a bright image of himself. He focused back on his picture and studied him, seeing his face not just the dusky grey skin and neck ridges, his eyes were bright and his smile equally demure and he had dimples. His hair was worn short and he finally noticed the Bajoran ear piece. Most starfleet vessels didn’t allow personal jewelry to be worn while in uniform but that was now mostly left to commanding officers to decide if they followed through with the regulation. Well, Lieutenant Meng Yao, let's see if all your work in studying the power of words would make you a good Communications officer.
The next was their Chief Medical Officer, Dr. XingChen Xiao, rank of Lieutenant Commander. He was easily the oddest individual in the senior staff. Older than their Commanding Officer and of mixed heritage. He was half Denobulan and half Betazed and for all intents and purposes, he looked Denobulan, although perhaps his facial ridges and protuberances were softened due to Betazeds’ not having much in the form of distinct bodily ridges, humps or bumps like, Denobulans, Cardassians, Klingons, Etc. His hair was of an auburn brown that was silky and long. His eyes were bright and gentle, but also a little haunted, yet he still exuded the poise of a man to be trusted. Like L’Zhan had stated in their walk, Dr. Xiao was a well studied man, having hit top marks on his home planet and then proceeding to master the training courses and medical exams of Star Fleet Medical. Upon graduating, he was shipped off to the front lines of the war, where he earned distinction upon distinction in service to the ships he served on. He had been injured in the line of duty several times, showing a few blips where he’d been forced into R&R so he didn’t kill himself trying to save his fellow officers. He’d worked with other notorious Star Fleet Doctors, such as Dr. Beverly Crusher and Dr. Julian Bashir to pioneer medical treatments that had become standard in the field for triage use. After the war, he had taken a leave of absence apparently returning to be with his family on Denobula. Thankfully the Beta Quantrant hadn’t faced much in the form of the war, beyond the delay of traded goods. This was his first mission after returning from his leave of absence.
Last but not least was lieutenant Lou Qingyang, Science Officer. Looks like she was in the Academy at the same time as him and Ying, except she stayed on two more years after he and his brother graduated. She was top of her class, Xenobiology, Botany, Exobiology, every chemistry class you can take, anything and everything to do with cultures and society present and past, she had studied it and mastered it all. She was the fourth human to join the ranks on the bridge. She was an attractive woman even by Trill standards. Round face and dark sharp eyes. Her hair was also a deep brown and pulled back in a braid. The lack of spots still got him, but he was here to work not to find a girlfriend. Although his mother certainly wouldn’t mind having grandkids, but, he was fairly certain his sister was satisfied with home making and would love to have kids of her own. It suddenly occurred to him that Qingyang had been teased endlessly by Ying at the academy and hoped she didn’t have a vendetta against his brother and that was why she’d joined this crew.
He sat back and stared at all the faces. He hoped that these people were open to reason. The Wei symbiote was important for some reason, but Ying was not unreasonable so there had to be a reason he ran. His sister was counting on him to bring their brother home. In one piece. He’d attempted to lay down his life for his brother once, he’d do it again. Just like Ying had. He stood and walked to the window and looked out into the black vast emptiness and contemplated it all. Something about realizing just how much life existed out past his window made him feel so small and yet, so energized to do all he could to protect those who weren’t as lucky as him. He’d leave this galaxy better than he found it, and it would be with his brother at his side. Or else he’d die trying.