Points of Interest
by Astra <astraplain@yahoo.com 

"Captain" Kathryn Janeway stood in the middle of 
chaos; red alert sirens blaring and emergency 
lighting casting a hellish glow over her crew.  
Before her on the main view screen was a nightmare - 
four Romulan ships, fully armed and firing on her 
ship.

"Get those shields up, Mr Kharal, *NOW*!.  
Engineering, I need those phasers back online.  
Geller, bring us about to heading..."

A shrill buzzer cut her off, mid-command.  Seconds 
later, the Romulan ships, consoles, and even the 
seats disappeared leaving nothing but a yellow on 
black grid and a group of unhappy young men and 
women.

Lt. Commander Veris strode forward, smirking, miming 
applause.  "Oh, very good Cadet Janeway  It only took 
20 minutes to get yourself and your ship hopelessly 
out gunned, out maneuvered and out classed.  You may 
just have set a new record."  He turned away, 
dismissing the Starfleet cadets with a wave.  "I see 
no reason to continue this.  Mr Paulson, next class 
we'll start over with you in command.  Dismissed."

Janeway stood rigidly, waiting for her classmates to 
leave before speaking, "Sir,..."

Veris turned towards her, annoyed, "Little wonder you 
can't get through the battle simulation, Cadet, when 
you apparently don't understand a simple command like 
dismissed."  He eyed her coldly, arms crossed and 
foot tapping until she turned and fled the holodeck.

Janeway barreled down the corridor muttering every 
foul name and curse she knew.  She never saw the 
woman in science blue until they collided in a shower 
of padds.

"Whoa, did someone get the ID of that freighter?"

Janeway pulled back, disentangling herself from the 
mess.  The other woman scrambled for her belongings, 
and it finally registered with Janeway that this 
redhead was a cadet too.  Jarred out of her anger, 
she joined in the retrieval of her padds.

Overhead, the warning bell sounded telling cadets 
there were 3 minutes left to report to class.  The 
redhead cursed and scrambled faster.  

"I'm sorry..." Janeway started to apologize.  The 
other cadet stopped her.  

"Save it, I've got to get to class.  Just try not to 
do it again.  Okay?"  She shoved one of the padds at 
Janeway.  "Here, I think this is yours."  And then 
she was gone, long-legged strides carrying her 
quickly down the hall.

*****

"Hey Kath, how'd the battlesim class go?"

Janeway dropped her padds on the desk and groaned, 
"Don't ask."

"Yeah, I heard Veris ripped into you today."

Janeway shook her head, freeing her long hair from 
the uncomfortably tight bun she always wore.  "No, he 
didn't seem to think I was worth that kind of effort.  
He just *dismissed* me.  He's not even going to let 
me finish the sim." 

"How could ...oh, that man's a ... a..."

Despite herself, Janeway had to laugh at her lanky 
blonde roommate.  Once Sylvie got herself riled about 
something she was an unstoppable force, but Katherine 
just didn't have the energy to deal with that right 
now.  Not with all this homework.  Instead, she 
straightened her back, ran a hand through her hair 
and sighed.

"Save it, Syl.  You'll need that energy for Drejaan's 
class."

Sylvie snorted indelicately.  "That's not until 
tomorrow, Kath."

Janeway shot her a warning look.

"Ok, ok, so you don't want to talk about it.  Fine.  
Can I at least borrow your notes from Housemann's 
class?"

"Why?  I thought you...Syl!"  Katherine rolled her 
eyes.  "Never mind, I don't even want to think about 
it.  Here."  She tossed a padd to her friend.  "Make 
it quick, I've got a spaceload of homework tonight."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, welcome to Starfleet Academy First 
Year Cadet Janeway."

"Syl."

"Yes Kath?"

"Shut up."

Sylvie stuck out her tongue.  "Is that an order 
future captain Janeway?"

"Yes it is future ensign in charge of turbolifts."

Sylvie clutched her heart dramatically and fell back 
onto the bed, blonde hair haloing her pretty face.  
"Run through by my roomie's rapier wit.  Alas, I'm 
done for."

Janeway cast a glare at the sprawled form across the 
room and muttered, "Well thank the stars for that.  
Maybe now I can study."

And it was quiet - for about 10 minutes, when Janeway 
determined what that sound was.  Sylvie was laughing 
- snickering actually, but very, very quietly.

"I had no idea that the History of Federation Trade 
Relations was so funny."

"Trade Relations my foot.  You get on me for being, 
ah, distracted in class then you drag around a padd 
filled with gooey love letters from some guy named 
Jack."  Sylvie sat up and waved the padd accusingly 
towards Katherine.  "You been holding out on me 
Kath?"

Janeway was off the bed and across the room at warp 
speed.  "What are you... give me that."  She snatched 
the padd away from her roommate and started tapping 
through the contents, her face growing paler.

Sylvie stood, laying a tentative hand Janeway's arm.  
"Kath?"

Janeway looked up, dropping the hand holding the padd 
to her side where it hung limply.  "I was so mad, 
after Veris gave me that dressing down.  I never saw 
her until we collided.  Padds went everywhere.  This 
must be hers.  Sylvie, how am I ever going to find 
her?"

"And more importantly. How will you get your notes 
back?"

The feeble joke lay there for a moment before Janeway 
turned and started frantically pacing.  "Okay, she 
was a cadet, sciences, second, maybe third year."

"Kath."

"Red hair, skinny, tall."

"Kath"

"Shouldn't be too hard to find."

"Janeway."

Kathryn stopped her frantic pacing.  "What?"

"Check the padd.  There's got to be an ID of some 
kind on there."

"But...that would be violating her privacy."

"Violating nothing.  Look, Kath, you don't have to 
read the sloppy stuff, just scan for a name or some 
means of identifying who this belongs to."

"Well..."

"Look, Kath, there's no espers at the Academy, and 
you wouldn't want to explain that little collision 
even if there were.  You need your notes.  And she, 
for some reason I couldn't begin to fathom, probably 
wants the bad poetry back."

Janeway looked down at the padd clutched in her 
hands.  This was the last thing she needed - having 
to read someone else's personal love letters to find 
the padd's owner.  Breathing a frustrated, "I do not 
have time for this." She settled into a chair and 
started to read.

*****

"Russ.  Russ?.  What kind of name is that?"  Janeway 
dropped the padd into her lap with a snort of 
disgust.  She'd scanned every file on the padd, 
desperately trying not to read anything and finding 
it almost impossible.  In the last 53 minutes she'd 
learned far more about this Russ and her would-be 
poet than she knew about most of her friends.  The 
only thing she hadn't learned was the woman's name.  

Abandoning that method of detection, she rose and 
went to her computer terminal.  She was paging 
through the database frowning at the number of red 
haired female science cadets when Sylvie breezed back 
into the room and tossed a padd onto Katherine's 
desk.

"What *would* you do without me?"

Kath spared the padd a glance.  "What's that?"

Syl dropped into her desk chair and wheeled it across 
to Kath's desk.  "I've only just saved your sorry 
hide."

"My hide thanks you.  What is it?"

"Kath."  Syl purred dangerously.  "I just exercised 
my considerable charms on the most attractive Cadet 
Harrison.  The poor man couldn't offer me a copy of 
Horsemann's notes fast enough."

"And what kind of sacrifice will you be making to 
repay Harris's kindness?  Dinner at a fine 
restaurant?  Dancing?"

"Both, thank you.  This Saturday.  Don't plan on 
waiting up."

Katherine rolled her eyes and turned back to the 
computer terminal.  "I wouldn't dream of it."

*****

The red alert sirens were first followed by lights at 
full daytime illumination.  Katherine Janeway was on 
her feet instantly and fully dressed in just over 1 
minute.  She'd practiced.  

Moving with confidence, she strode down the corridor 
towards her duty station.  Around her other cadets 
moved just as quickly, deftly avoiding collisions as 
people moved in and out of the side corridors.  One 
right turn, then a left and she was at her designated 
turbolift.  A brief descent then a quick exit and 
down two more corridors into the depths of the 
research area.    Unlike the crowded corridors above, 
these floor seemed deserted.  

Fifteen meters away from her destination the deck 
rocked beneath her feet.  Just ahead, down a side 
corridor, smoke poured from one of the research labs.  
Picking up her pace she hurried to the pair of cadets 
lying in the hall.  A tap to her communicator brought 
a disquieting *blip* meaning that, for the moment, 
cadet Janeway was on her own.

Kneeling beside the first person, she took his pulse.  
Strong and steady.  A visual exam revealed nothing 
more serious than a few cuts and scrapes.  A meter 
away was the other cadet, a woman, her leg twisted 
beneath her body at an odd angle.  

Katherine knelt beside her, smoothing the woman's 
hair away from her face, as she checked her pulse.  
Spying a tricorder lying near the woman, Katherine 
retrieved it and ran a medical scan.  Broken leg, 
some cuts and bruises, possible head trauma but 
overall she was stable enough to wait while Katherine 
checked the lab for other wounded crew.

The doors controls were fused, but the manual hand 
crank still worked, although it was very stiff.  By 
the time the doors were opened enough for Katherine's 
slim form to enter, enough of the smoke had cleared 
to allow her to make shapes in the dimly lit room.

A quick survey revealed the room to be empty.  Well 
that's something at least, Kath told herself.  
Returning to the corridor, she tried her communicator 
again, then the comm panel on the wall both with no 
result.  

Hearing a groan, she turned to the woman and realized 
for the first time that she was looking at the red 
head she'd been searching for.  Two days of combing 
the database with no success and now she was here.  
Katherine really wished she had the padd with her.  
She'd be glad to be rid of the thing.

The red head opened her eyes slowly, then coughed.  
"What happened?"  she gasped.

"Explosion in the research lab."  Kath responded, 
then wished she hadn't when the other cadet tried to 
rise.  Catching her arm, Janeway restrained the other 
woman.  "Hold it.  You may have a concussion."

"Ahhh."  the red head lay back down again, the sudden 
dizziness and nausea much more persuasive than the 
cadet tending her.  Getting herself under control, 
the science cadet turned to look at the man laying 
near her.  "Is he?"

"He's fine.  I did a visual scan.  No serious 
injuries."

"Visual?  What about a tricorder scan?"

Katherine's face reddened.  "Running one now."  She 
waved the scanner at the man, then studied the 
results.  "Nothing.  He's fine."

"Ok, then, wake him up.  And what about the lab?"

"There was no one in the lab and why should I wake 
him up?"

"Because if there's nothing wrong with him, he should 
be conscious."  There was a moment of consideration 
then Katherine moved away to wake the man.  The red 
head studied her.  "Do I know you?"

"What?  Oh, um, not really.  I just sort of ran into 
you in the hall between classes the other day."

"Oh, you're the one.  You didn't happen to find a 
extra padd did you?"

"Ah, yes I did.  But I couldn't find your name on it.  
I didn't know how to get it back to you.  He's not 
waking up."

"Here, help me over to him."

Katherine stood, placed her hands under the woman's 
arms and dragged until she was within arm's reach of 
the unconscious man, then helped her sit up.  "Sorry, 
I know that must have hurt."

"I'm okay."  She pushed a strand of red hair away 
from her face and looked at  the younger woman.  "The 
name's Beverly Howard.  Third year medical."

"Katherine Janeway, first year command."  Kate smiled 
and shook the woman's outstretched hand.  "Sorry 
about running into you the other day."

Beverly smiled.  "Don't worry about it.  It's hardly 
the worst thing that's happened to me.  But I would 
like that padd back."  The whole time she talked, 
Beverly ran scans of the man beside her.  "That's 
odd." she announced at last.

"What?"

"He's reading as Betazed, but his vitals are more 
Kelborian.  That could explain why he's unconscious."  
She tapped another command into the tricorder and 
took another reading.  "Did you call for help?"

"Communications were down.  I'll try again."

"Don't bother.  Look, my leg needs attention soon, 
and this fellow needs a full diagnostic.  He's got so 
many conflicting readings, I can't begin to determine 
his condition.  Can you get to the turbolift?  See if 
it's working and go get some help."

As soon as Janeway left, Beverly set the tricorder 
down and braced herself upright with both hands.  
Willing away the surge of pain, she reached out and 
touched the wounded man's wrist, looking for a pulse.  
She needed to touch the patient, to have contact with 
him to help block out her own injuries.  Nana had 
told her that, and Beverly Howard never disputed any 
medical advice her Nana 
dispensed.

"The turbolift isn't functioning, and the access 
hatch to the Jeffries tube is fused.  I tried the 
communicator and comm panel again - nothing.  But,"  
her voice rose with excitement, "I did find a first 
aid kit."

"Good."  Beverly said, almost snatching the kit out 
of the cadet's hand.  Then, realizing her mistake, 
she looked up at the woman and smiled.  "Thank you."

Janeway relaxed a little and dropped to the floor, 
kneeling on the other side of the wounded man, 
carefully watching the medical cadet's every move.  
Emergency first aid was not one of her strongest 
skills.  

An intense period of time later, Janeway leaned back, 
breathing easier.  Beverly had discovered the 
problem, a slight concussion masked by his atypical 
readings, and administered the proper medication.  
Studying the improved tricorder readings, Beverly 
pronounced the man stable.

Katherine noticed the other woman's pallor and 
reached out to take the hypospray.  Moving as if to 
study it, she switched it's setting for a pain 
killer, then, before Beverly could react, Kath 
gripped her arm and gave the injection.  Fire blazed 
in the red head's eyes for about 30 seconds.  Then 
the medicine took effect and she was suddenly too 
tired to do anything but lay down.

Katherine was ready and helped Beverly lay down, 
careful not to jar her wounded leg.  Looking up 
groggily, Beverly frowned.  "You used too much."

"No, I used enough to let you rest.  So be quiet."

"I don't take orders from tin-plated little 
commandettes."

"And I don't take abuse from wannabe quacks who don't 
understand..." Janeway's tirade drifted away as the 
medical cadet stretched out beside her fell asleep.

*****

"Pathetic, pathetic, pathetic."  Lt. Veris walked 
down the line of cadets rating their performance on 
the latest emergency procedures simulation.  Coming 
abreast of Janeway he paused, then turned to look 
directly at her.  He was frowning.  "Janeway, would 
you care to explain to me why it took you so long to 
determine the turbolifts were not functioning?  And 
why it took you significantly longer to try the comm 
panel in the research lab?  And why the stars you 
overdosed the med cadet on pain killer?  She slept 
through the entire rest of the simulation."

Janeway opened her mouth to respond, knowing she 
really had nothing to say, but Veris interrupted.

"I'll tell you why.  You were overly concerned for 
the health of a crewman who was not seriously 
injured.  Pathetic.  I can only assume you'll do 
better on the next sim as there is no conceivable way 
you can do worse."

Turning away with a sneer, Veris waved his hand in 
dismissal of the entire room.  "Dismissed.  Get out 
of here and review emergency medical procedures.  
There will be a test.  Soon."

*****

Katherine Janeway didn't have the energy to storm 
down the hall again.  Once was enough.  Instead, she 
practiced counting backwards in as many languages as 
she knew.  Coming up to the intersecting corridor, 
she was nearly run over by a slender red head.  

"Beverly."

The red head turned, startled.  "Katherine?"  Then 
they got a look at each other's expression.  "I take 
it you got picked apart over the sim?"

"Lt. Veris strikes again."

"Veris?  Oh he hates everybody.  I got shredded by 
the Dragonlady herself."

"Sounds painful."

"Not as bad as pretending I had a broken leg for an 
hour.  Those injury simulators they use hurt. My 
muscles are still sore.  I won't be dancing for a 
week."

"You dance?"

"Mmmhmm, tap and jazz with a little ballet."  She 
caught the cadet's expression.  "You too?"

Kath shrugged, "Not since I got here.  No time or 
place."

"I can fix that."  Beverly assured her.  "I've got 
class in about 1 minute and I really can't be late 
again.  Not after the other day.  Can we meet for 
dinner?"  She lowered her voice.  "I'll give you some 
dirt on Veris."

Janeway smiled.  "I wouldn't miss it.  Today at 1700 
in the main cafeteria? I can return that padd."

Bev smiled.  "Yeah, I missed all that bad poetry.  
Jack's been asking what I thought of it.  I've had to 
stall him."

"Jack?  Is that Mr Bad Poetry?"

"The one and only.  "Beverly and Katherine had been 
moving down the hall as they talked, and Beverly 
stopped in front of a classroom door.  "Hey, Jack 
will probably join us for dinner tonight.  I'll ask 
Jean-Luc to come too.  He's always like a third wheel 
when we go out, but this way there'll be four of us."

Katherine shook her head vigorously.  "No.  I 
don't..."

Beverly kept talking as if she hadn't heard.  
Lowering her voice and leaning close to Katherine, 
she said.  "Oh it'll be great.  Jean-Luc is 
wonderful.  I'd take him myself I didn't already have 
Jack.  Besides," she added in a whisper, "He's got a 
great butt."

And with that, Beverly Howard smiled, did a graceful 
half turn, and disappeared into the classroom.

:::end:::