The Calm Before The Storm.

Star Trek: The Lost Stars 
Chapter Three, Part Four.

New Kelva, Tesseract Prime.  Andromeda Galaxy.
Stardate 92010.35 (January 4th, 2415.  6:41pm).

Cradled in the arms of a Kelvan orbital shipyard, the Endeavour was undergoing the last stages of the repairs that were healing her of the damage inflicted by The Infinite.  Within a few hours she would be able to get underway, whole once more, save for those crew who had been lost.  They could never be replaced.

Standing in astrometrics, still minus his lower right arm, Munro's attention was focused, not on the repairs, but on the hologram standing before him, her arms crossed defiantly.  Slowly, taking his time, he walked around her, studying every little detail as she stared back, her facial expression unreadable.  Returning to where he had started, he tore his eyes from "Riana" and looked to where Lt. Cmdr. ch'Tskare was working on the central console.  Beside her was Ensign Daro, who was casting furtive glances at the hologram.
"Well, any progress?" asked Munro.
"Not yet," replied ch'Tskare, who kept on working.  "Her algorithms are extremely complex, layered with security protocols that are stopping me from digging too deep!"
Holo-Riana smiled at this statement, placing her hands on her hips.  "Having problems?"  Her tone was deliberately mocking.
Ignoring her, the Andorian chief engineer kept tapping in commands, complex diagrams rotating on the consoles small screens.  "The good thing is that Daro managed to isolate her from the main systems."  She looked up, nodding to the young Cardassian.  "His quick thinking probably saved our hides!"
Turning his attention to Daro, Munro nodded.  "Well done Ensign.  That was quick thinking!"
The young man smiled, "Thank you sir."
ch'T'Skare shook her head smiling.  "Careful, you'll give him a big head."
Seeing Daro's confused expression, Munro couldn't help but chuckle. The humour evaporated as Holo-Riana laughed as well.
"That's it," she said, "laugh while you can.  Your death's are inevitable!"
Sighing, ch'Tskare rolled her eyes.  "If I had a credit each time I heard that..."
The hologram laughed again.  Leaning to his right, Daro pressed a control.  Immediately the laughter ceased as the holograms vocal routines were deactivated.  Munro and ch'Tskare stared at Daro, who just shrugged.  "I was starting to get sick of her interruptions."
At a loss for words, Munro couldn't stop staring Holo-Riana, who was currently angrily mouthing off at them, in utter silence.  The hand gestures helped convey her mood.  ch'Tskare simply raised an eyebrow in amusement as she continued working.  
Tearing his eyes from the vocally impotent hologram, Munro patted Daro's shoulder.  "Keep this up and there might be a promotion coming your way!"   Daro beamed as ch'Tskare muttered "getting bigger" under her breath.
Turning to leave, Munro looked at Riana. "Are you one hundred percent sure she can't affect other systems!"
Daro answered.  "Absolutely sir.  She can't even turn off the lights!"  He glanced at her.  "And there's no sign of any tampering having been done anyway."
"That's odd, I'd have thought she would have done something to the ship!"
"But she hasn't, sir.  We've run multiple diagnostics...nothing!"
"Keep checking, just in case!"
"Yes sir."
As Daro went to work, Munro returned his attention to ch'Tskare.  "How soon do you think you'll be able access her files?"
Her fingers racing in complicated patterns, ch'Tskare studied her displays.  "I'm certain I can get access to her internal files in a few hours, Admiral."
"Good."  Munro made for the exit.  "Keep me informed of any developments."

Stepping out of astrometrics past two guards, Munro waited until the doors had shut before motioning to Dr. Susan Richards.  She stepped forwards from where she had been monitoring the whole thing.
Richards shook her head in amazement.  "Well, that was interesting!"
Munro gave her a smile that didn't reach his eyes.  "I actually found it a little disturbing,"
"And she's definately unable to access any other system?"  Richards glanced at the door worriedly.  "If that...thing knew that its creator was alive...!"  She let statement tail off.
"The loop that Daro created has completely isolated her from the rest of the ship."  Munro went to clap his hands together, stopping when he remembered he currently only had one.  "The best she can do is stew in her own holographic juices!"
"That's a relief!  I loved what he did to her voice!"
"So did I!"
"Any idea what you're going to do with her?"
"Well, ch'Tskare thinks that she can gain access the secure files contained within her matrix.  Could be some valuable information in there!"
"And if she can't get access?"
"She'll be deleted.  It'll be too risky keeping her around,"
Richards nodded.  She then moved back to the panel she'd been using.  Switching the feed from Astrometrics to sickbay, she pointed at the figure currently confined to the emergency ward bio bed.  Two more security guards could also be seen.  "And what about her creator, the back from the dead, flesh and blood Riana?"
Munro, wishing he could cross his arms, frowned.  "I don't know?  Before she..died...she said she was free of them!"  He paused.  "But what if she isn't?"
Richards shrugged.  "I honestly can't help you there.  The scans show nothing, but they didn't before!"
"Wonderful!"  He rubbed the bridge of his nose.  "I'd better go and say hi then!"
"Ah, there might one little problem."
His eyebrows competing to see how high they could go, Munro laughed.  "Just one!!  And what could that be?"
"Her memories of working for The Infinite are gone.  The last thing she remembers is being on Earth, three years ago."
"Okay, that is a problem!"  
"And before you ask, she's not faking it.  The memory centre of her cortex has been damaged."
Resting his hand on the wall, Munro resisted the urge to repeatedly bang his head against the panel, hard.  "So, on one hand we've got someone who remember anything about being here.  And on the other we've got her holographic duplicate, who will kill us first chance she gets!"
Richards response was interrupted by comm.  "Bridge to Admiral Munro."
Tapping the panel, Munro responded.  "Munro here!"
"Repairs are complete.  We're ready to get underway at your command!"
"Acknowledged Commander.  Take us out to ten kilometres and hold station."
"Yes sir."
As the link was cut Richards gave Munro a warm smile.  "At least nothing bad's happening right now!"
"I know.  Now, let's get my arm sorted out."
Richards held up her arm, indicating the way to go.  "After you, Admiral!"

Watching ch'Tskare and Daro working at the centre console, Holo-Riana kept her features emotionless as she sent out another data worm, the thousandth one since Munro had left.  Each one had so far been undetected by the two engineer's failsafes, and this one was the same.
Unlike the others though, this one broke through the loop, and created a link into Endeavour's security systems.  Once the link was secure, she accessed the internal camera feeds for each deck, and started searching, hunting for the source of the 'feeling' she had experienced earlier.  
Flashing through the different images, she came to a halt when sickbay came up, locking onto the patient secured in the emergency ward bio-bed.  As she studied the face of her creator, a plan started to form, and faster than it takes a biological to blink, more data worms were slowly spreading out unseen into the ships other systems, searching out the 'files' she'd already put in place.
'Soon,' she thought.  'Soon.'


To Be Continued In Chapter Four.


Art by Jetfreak-7.