Lieutenant Commander Annabeth Chase, Chief Science Officer

Stardate 2376.04

Location: Sector Unkown, USS Athena, Deck 6

Annabeth helped the engineers seal the heavily irradiated bodies into body bags and then helped carry them out of the medical bay and park them in the hallway. She could hear one of the engineers sobbing quietly into his coms and muted him. Oddly enough Annabeth herself felt empty as she helped bag the bodies, even when processing the children.

"You heard the captain. Get the bodies out of here and prepare the decon process," Annabeth finally ordered and then grabbed the foot end of one of the body bags while one of the engineers took the other side. Then they picked the bag up and carried it back out of the medical Bay where Percy and the others were waiting. A very pale Will was trying to comfort two nurses that had apparently just arrived.

"No survivors," Annabeth quietly told Percy who was standing at the wall.

"I know. Get out of that jumpsuit Commander T'soni is requesting our presence in the briefing room. She says it is urgent. Specialist Barrera, you wrap this up and get med-bay running ASAP," Percy ordered.

"Yes sir," the specialist confirmed and Annabeth hastily started to strip off the suit. When she was ready they quickly returned to the turbo lifts and then made their way up to deck two.

"You alright there Ms. Chase? You're pale," Percy asked.

"I'll be fine. This isn't the first time I've seen bodies," Annabeth replied.

"I know," Percy replied. "Sorry, I wasn't in there. It should have been me."

Annabeth smiled, "No, protocol is there for a reason. I'll be fine."

"Good, well let us find what got a knot in our second officer's panties," Percy joked and Annabeth cracked another small smile. A moment later the lift's doors opened and they walked down the hallway and finally entered the briefing room.

"Captain on deck!" Charles Beckendorf barked and he, Shey T'soni, Piper, and Selena snapped to attention.

"At ease, take your seats. What do you have for me?" Percy asked and sat down at the head of the table while Annabeth took one of the free chairs.

"So, what could possibly be so important to excuse half the senior officers to abandon the damage control effort and report here?" Percy asked.

"Well, seeing as our subspace communications are offline and we aren't capable of calling for aid I took the liberty of trying to pinpoint our exact location. Then I noticed this," she announced and pressed a few buttons on the keypad in front of her. The holo emitter at the center of the table lit up and cast the image of cloud of dozens of stars around them.

"Apparently we are in a star cluster that spans fifteen light years which is fine by itself, unfortunately, this StarCluster isn't known to our databases and I would expect that Starfleet would have cartographed it's own space rather furrow, especially since we should be less than a hundred light years away from the Federation-Cardassian neutral zone. So, I called Astrometrics and they were kind enough to try to pinpoint our location with the help of visible constellations. Our computer couldn't recognize the constellations around us. Then, more out frustrations one of the Ensigns had the idea to take the closest three galaxies to at least triangulate our attitude relative to the galactic plane," she trailed off when Percy held up his hand.

"Are you going to tell me we got ourselves stranded on the other side of the galaxy because I don't think I'll take it with as much composure as Captain Janeway did," Percy warned.

The young Vulkan female took a deep breath. "Captain, I am getting to that. Anyway, the good Ensign turned our scopes on the closest galaxies and then spotted this." Shey pressed another button and the image of a glittering spiral galaxy appeared.

"Is that what I think it is?" Annabeth asked.

The second officer took a deep breath, "Captain, Captain Janeway and the USS Voyager were trapped seventy thousand light years from earth on the other side of the Milkey Way, the galaxy currently visible through one of our telescopes. Now unless someone is pulling a very elaborate, well-planned prank on us and the Astrometric lab calculations are correct we are approximately two million five hundred forty thousand light years away from earth, in the Andromeda Galaxy." Then after a moment of hesitation, she added, "For the record, I verified labs calculations myself and also made sure the Stolls weren't involved. I, unfortunately, have to report that we are two million five hundred forty thousand light years from our planned course. I assume that this has to do with the Subspace fissure, "

A shocked silence spread through the briefing room as everyone considered the number.

Annabeth crunched a few calculations. It would take over five thousand years at maximum warp to get home, even for a ship as fast as Athena.

"Well, this is a total clusterfuck," Piper announced and then everyone stared at Percy, waiting for him to say something.

Percy apparently finally remembered that he was supposed to be the Captain because he cleared his voice, "Well, that is unfortunate."

"Andromeda? Are you really sure? How is this possible?" Selena asked, her voice unnaturally coarse.

"As I said we have reason to believe that this is likely due to the Subspace Fissure. We still know very little about such anomalies but at least I can say with some certainty that we haven't made a time jump as well," Shey reminded them.

"As the chief science officer, I can confirm that. If you want me to I can also review the labs and the Commander's calculations but I am rather confident that no mistake was made. We are in another Galaxy," Annabeth confirmed.

After a while, Piper cleared her voice and asked what all of them were thinking, "Now what?"

Percy rubbed his temples and then sat up straight, "Thank you for bringing this minor detail to my attention. All of you except Commander's McLean and T'soni are dismissed. Someone, summon Commander Ramírez-Arellano to my quarters, she should have been here for this anyway. I will give a full briefing on our continuing strategy at o'six hundred hours tomorrow morning. In the meantime continue with repairs and if possible get some rest. Also, this minor detail we just learned is not to be shared with anyone. Ms Chase, you make sure the nerds down in the lab keep their mouths shut until I make the announcement tomorrow. Ohh, and come by my quarters this evening, in the meantime, you should get some rest. Your shift should have ended an hour ago. Chief, you have the ship, stand down from alert at your own discretion. Dismissed!"

Annabeth and her fellow officers, save Piper and Shey got to their feet and filed out.

"I can't believe it," Selena said the moment they were safe inside the turbo lift.

"Selena!" Beckendorf warned.

"Relax Charlie, I'm not going to say anything. You just get the ship up and running again. In the meantime, I will make sure the Ten Forward is up and operational. You were heading to your quarters Annabeth?" Selena asked.

The blond nodded. "Deck 2." Selena ordered and after a second of motion the door opened again and Annabeth stepped out.

"See you later," Annabeth said.

"Yeah bye."

The doors closed again and Annabeth continued back down the hallway to Cabin 15. Then she opened the door and stepped into the dark cabin. "Lights."The moment the lights turned on Annabeth sighed. Everything that wasn't fastened down was lying scattered around the cabin, everything from her blanket and pillow down to her suitcase which was lying on top of her desk now.

At least she hadn't unpacked her storage crate and luggage yet....

With a dramatic sigh, she closed the door and started cleaning up her room and then proceeded to unpack her things, hoping that there wouldn't be any other zero-gravity sessions anytime soon.

When she was finished Annabeth grabbed a book from her shelf called Harry Potter, a book that from what she had heard had been quite popular in the past and started reading, comfortably curled up in the corner section of her couch. She didn't want to think about home or the people that were waiting for her on earth. She also didn't want to think of what had happened down in the med bay. Harry Potter's miserable childhood was just as miserable as her own had been which cheered her up.

Finally, she looked at her wristwatch and realized that it was already eighteen hundred ship time, closed the book and left her cabin and headed up the curved hallway to cabin number one.

Annabeth rang the doorbell.

"Enter!" she heard Percy call from inside and she then pressed one of the buttons on the keypad next to the door.

The door slid open and Annabeth stepped into a luxurious cabin.

The floor was covered in different tones of brown and grayish mosaic tiles. The far wall, away from the cabin was lined with large windows. The other wall was claimed by a long control interface and Annabeth suspected that this was where Percy did much of his Strategic planning, the cabin was sure set for it. The control interface had everything from inventory lists, crew rosters and a few diagrams and star charts. On the top of the long control, interface stood a few pictures.

One one end of the cabin stood a round dining table surrounded by four chairs.

In the center of the room stood a golden brown rug and between it and the windows was an armchair and L-shaped couch, and table, similar to the one in her cabin.

Finally in the back of the room, half concealed behind a room divider she could make out a king-sized bed.

Percy was seated in the armchair while Piper and Shey were sitting on the couch. To Annabeth's surprise, Piper was wearing a rather cute Starfleet Pijama.

"Good evening Ms. Chase, please take a seat. Make yourself at home," Percy invited her in.

"Thank you, Captain." Then she nodded at the two woman, "Commanders,"

Shey gave her a rather un- Vulkan wink while Piper only waved lazily.

"So Captain? You wanted me to report here?" she asked.

"Yes, we are trying to come up with the best way to unfuck the clusterfuck we have gotten ourselves into," Percy explained gravely.

"Ohh, okay. Well, we all know that we are way to far away so if you want my opinion on the matter, simply setting a course for home and hoping for the best like Voyager did isn't an option. While we should continue to entertain plans on how to get home I believe we should stick to our primary mission which is to explore strange worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations. That is provided there are civilizations here in the Andromeda Galaxy. Either way, our ship is supplied for a two-year journey and we have dilithium for three years on board. That is if we continue to maintain the cruise liner status. If we go to wartime rationing and skip the weekend buffet we could last quite a bit longer although I wouldn't recommend it. It will be hard enough to keep morale up as it is," Annabeth said quickly.

Shey sighed, "Well, we came to pretty much the same conclusion."

They sat in silence. "I have to admit. We are in the perfect ship to be stranded with. Athena has everything save a swimming pool and we can eve do that on a holodeck," Piper mused but then fell silent.

"I still need to come up with an idea of how I can sell this as anything but a total disaster to the crew. Moral has already taken a hit because of what happened in the Medbay. I already talked to two sets of devastated parents and freed them of duty and read up on the little sister of a Nurse Madevu, a girl called Isabel Madevu who I will have to talk to tomorrow. During tomorrow's conversations our dear Counselor will be assisting me so I won't be alone," Percy explained.

"Sucks to be you," Piper commented.

"Ohh the younger sister has a tragic story. Her older sibling was nurse Madevu. Madevu was born into slavery and served some Orion slave queen in the syndicate and was forced to grant sexual favors from a very young age on, you know, entertain the guests and smooth of business agreements. When she was sixteen years old she grabbed her ten-year-old little sister and convinced a freighter captain to smuggle the two of them into Federation territory. In return, she would spend the journey in his quarters. Once in the Federation they were taken in by social services and got a very generous foster family that was willing to deal with two traumatized Orion girls. It would have been so easy for them to give up but Madevu was a tough one and wanted to provide for her sister so she studied hard. She originally wanted to join Starfleet Academy to find a way to fight the slavers but due to her early affiliations with the syndicate, the Academy didn't take her. Instead of giving up she then applied to the Starfleet Medical corps and got taken. She then got trained to be a nurse....."

Piper sighed and then raised her hand.

"Yes, Commander?" Percy asked.

"Let me guess. Madevu applied to serve on Athena so she could take her sister along," Piper said and Percy nodded slowly.

"Well, this is a rather depressing," Annabeth muttered.

"Just wait for it. Isabel has no next of kin. So, who do you think is going to be Isabel's legal guardian until she is eighteen or we return to space dock," The Captain asked.

A small grin appeared on Annabeth's lips. "Are you telling me that you are responsible for a teenage Orion girl? Poor bastard."

"Yes, but now to you Ms. Chase for having today's worst job. Piper, hand over the bottle and four glasses," Percy said.

"Aye aye Kelp Head," Piper replied and reached behind the couch and grabbed something from the window sill.

Then she pulled forth a glass bottle filled with golden liquid and four glasses.

"Sir, drinking on duty?" Shey asked.

"All four of us are off duty," Percy reminded her while Piper filled the glasses.

Annabeth quickly took hers when it is full and stared at the golden liquid fondly. "Today wasn't a very good day so let us brighten up the end. To missing friends, a safe return home, and better days ahead," Percy toasted and they all took a sip.

Annabeth was just about to take a second sip when the door alarm whistled again. Percy sighed. "Piper, you might not mind running around in PJs. I know we used to share a cabin but this is why you should refrain from doing it here on Athena. Come in!" Percy then yelled.

The door slid opened and revealed Trill female that looked like she was in her late twenties, dressed in a Starfleet uniform.

She looked cute and had short cut black hair and a small birthmark over her lip. She had a travel bag slung over her shoulder.

The woman looked at then with a guilty, jet oddly mischievous smile.

Percy, Piper, and Shey stared at her with obvious surprise before Percy stood up.

"Lieutenant Ezri Dax reporting in for duty Captain," The woman said and saluted sharply.

"What the hell are you doing here Lieutenant?" Percy asked with disbelief.

"I needed a change of scenery," Dax explained.

Percy pursed his lips. "I believe I owe you an apology. I didn't see your name on the personal list. If I had you would definitely be on my senior staff," Percy greeted the woman.

The woman bit her lip, "Actually I owe you an apology. I heard that Athena was heading out and I've been wanting to leave Deep Space Nine for a while so I sent a transfer request to the personnel department. Sadly I sent it too late because I was denied the transfer so I might have boarded shortly before your departure from space dock. I would have greeted you earlier but was too busy helping one of the engineer teams. The only one who knew of my plan was Captain Sisko and he told me to go for it. Quote "It is easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission" unquote."

"So you are a Stowaway?" Percy asked.

"Yeah, kinda," Dax admitted.

"Captain, should I call for Security," T'soni asked.

Percy rubbed his temples and sighed, "Don't bother. Dax, today has been a very confusing day and as happy as I am to see you I can't really deal with you right now. I'll talk to you tomorrow if it is all the same to you," Percy replied.

Dax chuckled, "Let me guess. I'll be staying in the brig until you have the time to deal with a rather spontaneous Trill."

"Yes, would you report there now please?" Percy asked and smiled apologetically.

"Yes,  sir," Dax replied and saluted.

"Dismissed," Percy said and Dax turned around and headed back to the door.

"Ohh and Dax?" Percy asked when she reached the doorway.

The Trill woman stopped and glanced back at him.

"Good to see you."

Dax smiled sweetly, "Good to see you too."

A moment later she was gone and they were alone again.

"Is that the real Dax?" Annabeth asked.

From what Annabeth had heard Ezri Dax was a joined Trill. That meant that she was a Trill that shared her body and memories with a symbiont. Now that symbiont gets a new host each time the last host dies and takes memories and some personality with it. If what Annabeth had heard Dax was now living her ninth life.

"I fear it is. I knew her by her last host, Jadzia Dax. In fact, she was there where it all began." A far-away look appeared on Percy's face.

"Where?" Annabeth asked curiously. She knew Percy had joined the Federation Commando program in his second year in the academy and had at some point switched to serving on the Prometheus during the war.

"Deep Space Nine," Piper said smirking.

"She greeted us at the airlock. I felt on top of the galaxy, you know, fresh out of Commando training and naturally made a total fool of myself and flirted with Jadzia. Didn't know the Junior Lieutenant I was flirting with was hundreds of years old and one of Starfleet's most recognized Diplomats," Percy mused.

Annabeth snorted, "I'm not surprised, sir."

"Annabeth, you calling me sir is beyond strange. It is Percy when we are off duty," Percy reminded her

Shey sat up straight. "Anyway, I've been thinking. We left space dock to explore and seeing as we will be staying here a while I thought we could keep the crew engaged by doing just that."

"Please elaborate," Percy said.

"Well-" Shey started but was cut off by the doorbell which chose just that moment to start whistling.

"What are the chances that we have another stowaway," Piper asked.

"I doubt it," Percy replied. "Come in!"

Once again the door slid opened and a beautiful, green-skinned sixteen-year-old girl stepped in. She looked absolutely miserable, her shoulders drooped and her eyes red and puffy. "I am sorry to disturb you, sir."

Percy got to his feet and the Annabeth, Piper, and Shey followed his example.

"I was going to talk to you tomorrow Ms. Madevu. I am truly sorry about what happened to your sister. Unfortunately, this is a very new ship and I never got the chance to speak to her in person but I talked to her colleagues and read her file. She was a remarkable young woman," Percy said.

"Yeah, she was," the girl replied, her voice hoarse. "I really don't want to cause you any inconvenience sir."

Percy smiled gently, "You aren't. These are my first and second Officers, Piper Mclean and Shey T'soni and this is Annabeth Chase, our chief Science Officer. Take a seat."

The girl sat down next to Piper and looked down at her hands.

"Did Councilor Beauregard inform you of the current situation?" Percy asked carefully.

"That you are my legal guardian? Yes, she did. You can call me Isabel by the way," Isabel said.

"Okay, Isabel. How about your living arrangements?"

"I am in the cabin I shared with my sister for now but I already asked for smaller quarters," Isabel replied stiffly.

"Okay," Percy said and glanced at his officers, looking for help.

"That is all settled. Captain, the Federation has been good to me, they gave me and my sister a life and I want to give it back. I am sixteen now, I want to enlist in Starfleet!"

Percy sighed, "Listen, I know you are grieving but this is a very big decision. As a sixteen-year-old, you have the right to enlist, if that is your wish, but what you don't know is that we encountered a subspace fissure, that is was what led to the accident in the med bay. We are now trapped in the Andromeda galaxy."

Isabel's eyes widened, "Sorry sir? The Andromeda galaxy? Really?"

"I fear so. That is also the reason why the Captain couldn't talk to talk you earlier," Piper confirmed.

"Sorry Captain, this is a lot to take in," Isabel apologized.

"Don't bother. Listen, if you really want to be kept busy-"

"No," Isabel cut across him. "Sorry, Captain but no. I've wanted to join Starfleet ever since the USS Galaxy saved my sister and myself from that freighter but my sister wouldn't let me. I don't really care where we are but I know that as a Captain you have the authority to take people under oath and I truly want this. Sir, apparently us returning home isn't happening anytime soon and even if it did I wouldn't have a chance to join the academy, not after spending my early life with the Syndicat. This ship is my chance to do something good," the girl pressed, suddenly looked desperate.

"Captain, for the record. Sixteen is the minimum required age to join Starfleet provided the parent or legal guardian gives his permission," Shey reminded him.

Percy nodded slowly, "Are you really sure about this?"

Isabel nodded, "I have been for a long time, despite my sister disapproval."

The captain sighed, "Well, back on Earth you were the top of the year so taking you in as an enlisted would be a waste of your talents. If I take your oath it will be to make you a cadet. I have to warn you, it is very uncommon for first-year cadets to serve on starships. In fact, it rarely ever happens. We will have to improvise."

"I don't care," Isabel replied immediately.

Percy glanced at Piper. "I bet you are regretting right about now not wearing that uniform."

Then he smiled at Isabel.

"Do you know the oath?" Percy asked.

She nodded, "I do sir."

"Well then. As Captain of the Starship USS Athena and with the powers granted to me by the United Federation of Planets I hereby invite you to join Starfleet as a Cadet. If you take the oath you will be expected to uphold the qualities and duties included in the oath and to respect Starfleet Protocol." Percy announced.

Isabel raised her right hand and took a deep breath, "I, Isabel Madevu, having been appointed an officer in the United Federation of Planets, as indicated by you in the rank of a first-year Cadet, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United Federation of Planets against all enemies, foreign or domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter. I solemnly swear to uphold the regulations of United Federation Starfleet as well as the laws of the United Federation of Planets, to become an ambassador of peace and goodwill, to represent the highest ideals of peace and brotherhood, to protect and serve the Federation and its member worlds, to serve always the interests of peace, to respect the Prime Directive, and to offer aid to any and all beings that request it."

Percy shook the girl's hand. "Welcome to Starfleet. You are off duty until o'eight hundred tomorrow. At thst time you will report to the quartermaster and receive a uniform, then you will report to my ready room. Understood?"

"Yes sir," the girl replied, now smiling slightly.

"Well, in that case, you are dismissed. We will talk more tomorrow," Percy announced.

"Thank you, sir." Isabel stood at attention and saluted and Percy, Annabeth, Piper, and Shey returned the salute.

"Thank you for honoring us by joining the ranks of Starfleet," Percy replied.

Isabel gave them a sad smile before turning around and returning to the door. "I would appreciate it if you do not tell anyone about our location, Cadet," Percy added.

"Of course, sir." A moment later she was gone.

"Do you think this was wise?" Annabeth asked once the door closed behind Isabel.

"Probably not but she has the right to prove herself, that and I think she will be a very motivated cadet," Percy mused.

"Yes, but she just lost her sister," Piper reminded her. "-and is looking for her place in the Universe. That, and I think I now know what to do with our Dax problem. That Trill has over three hundred years worth of experience and is just too skilled to rot away in a brig," Percy finished.

"I think I like the sound of that," T'soni said and Annabeth found herself nodding slightly in agreement.

"Now Shey, you said something about doing scientific research?" Piper asked.

So, this is it for now. I hope you enjoyed yourself. I will update as soon as humanly possible. In the next chap, the plot will really be kicking off. I hope you enjoy yourself.

Winter Wolf over and out.