The Other Torres | A Star Trek Fanfiction *Book 1*

Emanations-Chapter 26

[Amanda's quarters]

Amanda was tossing and turning, she couldn't sleep, she was still excited over what happened in Sandrine's, she was going to tell Tom Paris she was in love with him, but Tom beat her to the punch as the old expression goes. The two had agreed to talk about what happened on the holodeck. After realising she wasn't going to be able to sleep, Amanda put on her uniform.

[Holodeck]

Amanda walked onto the holodeck, Tom it seemed had the same idea as she did, because Tom was already sitting there, waiting for her, Amanda sat down across from him at one of the tables. "So what are we now?" Tom asked getting straight to the point. "I don't know, what do you want?" Amanda asked. 

"Personally, I'd rather we were dating but-" Amanda cut Tom off mid-sentence with a kiss. "Then that's what we are" said Amanda, when her and Tom's combadges chirped. 

"Amanda, Tom get off the Holodeck, you're needed on the Bridge" said Harry. Amanda and Tom looked at each other, wondering how Harry knew where they were and then remembered, he could see the life signs on the holodeck, that and he probably just asked the Computer where the two were.

The two sighed and walked to out the door and to the turbolift. 

[Turbolift]

"Can we agree to keep this between us?" asked Amanda. 

"At least for now" said Tom. " Now? Sounds like you see a future in this." said Amanda. "I would never be so presumptuous" said Tom. "Smooth recovery, Lieutenant." said Amanda amused.

[Janeway's log]

"Captain's log, stardate 48623.5. There are two hundred forty six elements known to Federation science. We believe we have just discovered the two hundred forty seventh inside the ring system of a Class D planet." said Janeway in her log.

[Bridge]

Gathered around the Science station. "The element has an unusually large atomic mass, over five hundred and fifty nucleons. And the readings are constant. The element appears to be stable." said Harry. "A stable transuranic element inside a natural environment. This is a first." said Amanda. "Can you imagine what we could make with this stuff? Probe casings that could go into the core of a sun, ultra-thin reactor shielding." said B'Elanna.

"That's assuming we can mine it. Ensign, try and locate the highest concentration of the element." said Janeway. "The element is present in most of the asteroids that comprise the rings. I can isolate a sample and beam it aboard." said Harry. "Or better yet, maybe we could get a firsthand look at this element in its natural environment. It looks like most of these asteroids support Class M atmospheres." said Amanda tapping the screen. "Good idea. Commander, you're in charge." said Janeway to Amanda. "Aye, Captain. Mister Kim, would you like to join us?" asked Amanda. "I wouldn't miss it, ma'am." said Harry.

It was still odd for the two friends to refer to each other as anything other than 'Harry' or 'Amanda/Mandy'.

[Asteroid tunnel]

"The highest concentration is about thirty metres directly ahead." said Harry. "I'm picking up a large cavern in there. The readings are-" Amanda began before she encounters a large cobweb. "What the hell is this?" Amanda asked. "It's organic. Some kind of biopolymer residue." said B'Elanna scanning the cobweb. "I want to see what's ahead." said Amanda.

[Cavern]

"The readings are higher over here, but I still can't find the source of the. Mandy? Class five humanoid. It appears to be dead." said B'Elanna. They move onto a ledge overlooking a large area where there are more cobweb covered shapes, then go down to investigate more closely. "Captain, there are eighteen bodies here, all humanoid. Eleven male, seven female. From what we can tell they're in various stages of decomposition. Some have been here for years." said Amanda tapping her combadge.