Flashback - Diane Carey [23]
She looked toward the tea.
Tuvok stood, clean as a whistle and fresh as a morning shower, over a hotplate on which he was feeding herbs into a teapot. A row of bunks lined one wall.
Junior officers' sleeping quarters.
So what was a lieutenant doing hanging around here-suddenly Janeway recognized the lieutenant.
A moment ago he had been lying crusty and smoldering on the deck of the bridge.
Valtane-alive!
There were two other junior officers moving about here too, polishing their boots, chatting casually, doing routine chores.
For a moment Janeway lost herself in the secure scene and wished for a moment to be a junior officer again, to have other people making the life-or-death decisions. This was one of the most heavily shielded bunkers on a starship, and she felt particularly safe here.
How long had it been since she'd even visited the J.O. quarters on board Voyager?
Janeway moved quickly to Tuvok's side. "Give me a quick summary of this ship's mission history."
Tuvok didn't raise his eyes, and kept his voice low. "Captain Sulu has been in command of Excelsior for three years. Valtane is a xenogeologist," he added, glancing at the other young man. "Relations between the Federation and the Klingons are presently strained, after the Kudao massacre-"
"I don't want that much detail. Just the overview."
"Very well. The ship's current assignment is to conduct scientific research near the Klingon Neutral Zone and provide a strong presence in the Beta Quadrant. Tension is high. One more attack from either side will result in confrontation."
"But that didn't happen," Janeway pointed out, vowing to keep Tuvok from slipping too deeply into this illusion.
"To mask the military purpose of our being here, we involved ourselves in scientific analysis and mapping-"
"All right, gamma shift! It's time to defend the Federation against gaseous anomalies!"
Janeway spun to see a clean-cut blond female lieutenant commander stride in the entrance. She looked like . . . yes, she was the same officer who had also been on the bridge. Could she be the connection?
The young officers dropped what they were doing, jumped to attention, and began to file out the door.
"Gaseous anomalies," she repeated, keeping her voice down by reflex. "We were charting a gaseous anomaly on Voyager."
Tuvok hurried to finish the tea he was brewing. "And that is when my problems began," he murmured. He evidently had a real reason to keep his voice down, since these people could hear him.
"That's more than a coincidence," Janeway uttered. "Who's the woman?"
"Commander Janice Rand. Communications. Long career. She is nearing retirement and very happy about that, as I recall. She has an easygoing manner and has taken a particular interest in-"
He stopped as Rand vectored and came around to him and the teapot he was feeding.
"How are you this morning, Ensign?" the woman asked.
"I am well, Commander," Tuvok answered. "Thank you."
"I thought you might like to see some of this morning's comm traffic before you go on duty."
She handed him a PADD.
"There's a message from the Yorktown that I thought you might be interested in," she added. "It's from your parents."
As he continued to stir his tea, Tuvok eyed the PADD. "Thank you."
Rand grinned and nodded at the tea. "You're not going to have time to drink that, you know. You're due on the bridge in five minutes."
"It is not for me," he told her. "It is for the captain. I have observed that Captain Sulu drinks a cup of tea each morning. I thought he might enjoy a Vulcan blend."
"Oh, I see." Rand's grin widened into a smile, and she eyed him cagily. "Trying to make lieutenant in your first month? I wish I'd thought of that when I was your age. It took me three years just to make ensign."
Janeway grinned, too, when Tuvok seemed suddenly desperate to be understood correctly.
"I assure you," he insisted with a tinge of protest, "I have no ulterior motive."
Rand narrowed