Through the Looking Glass

conversations made up for it.
"I'm telling you there's something crab-sided about that accident in the bay," said an unknown
crewman.
"Who are you telling?" said his companion.
"More coffee?" Rayna smiled at them sweetly, and moved on when they declined.
"-I'll bet its one of them." A new table…a new topic. "Those Equinox guys should never have
been allowed on board after what they pulled."
Equinox? The name was unfamiliar to her, unless it was a seasonal time reference.
"I hear the captain spent the night with her." A male ensign whispered across a different table.
Rayna didn't need to see the blue of his skin or the roundedness of his shape to identify him as
Bolian. Their blood had a base of muriatic acid which gave them interesting properties in both
their eating and digestive habits - and had the additional byproduct of causing queasiness in
Deltans.
"Can you blame her?" the human with him replied. "She's flamin' gorgeous. I'd like to run my
hands down her -"
Rayna passed by before she could discern where his fingers were roaming, and replenished the
container of coffee she carried. The atmosphere was a veritable soup of chemical messengers,
and it was difficult to navigate with equanimity.
"The naked stars can see you."
Out of habit, her mind spun a diversion, this time in the form of Dreadnaught, a Klingon deathmetal
group. Raucous rifts and angry shouts punctuated their lyrics.
"Only the naked stars can free you.
You can never hide (you fucking coward)
Don't try to lie (tear down the tower)
Time to fight
Beneath their sight"
"Coffee?" she asked Lt. Paris, and filled his cup when he nodded.
"Today is a good day…a very good day…a very good fucking day…to die."
The helmsman gave her an appraising glance that his companion fortunately did not see. Rayna
had no desire to deal with a jealous Klingon, and from what Neelix said Paris and Torres were
very much an item.