Austen leaned over the opened panel. He'd been at this repair for an hour and still, no improvement. By all means, he loved a good project, but this was really testing his limits. His comm badge chirped. Surely, engineering wanted an update on the repair, Austen hit the comm badge. He was presently surprised by a familiar voice meeting his ears.

"Austen? I've been staring at the code for the ships computer all day looking for what's causing the latest bug, only to find a missing '2' in the region I'd checked six times. I can't wait for this rotation to be over. You want lunch?"

"More than life itself," Austen replied. "But I'm in the middle of a repair."

"Which deck, I'll meet you there and we'll get food once you're done."

"Deck 5," Austen replied and the connection went dead.

He turned back to his tedious task at hand. Now he really wanted this done. He started tracing the circuit in the panel looking for any damage he'd missed thus far. Still nothing. Whatever damage had occurred it wasn't big or external enough to be readily visible. He grabbed his tricorder now determined to check each section of the circuit for optimal voltage and current output. Voltage first he supposed. He ran the multimeter function on the tricorder and leaded back into the panel.

Then a sound so loud Austen almost couldn't hear it ripped through the air and the walls. Sections of the wall went flying as it broke away from its foundation. Then everything went black.

Austen woke up in his bed, sweating. His chest was heaving with his own heavy breathing. The accident had been years ago, the damage was done and aged. He got up, seeing the time displayed on the clock. His shift was in and hour and forty-five minutes, he could just take some extra time getting ready. 

He started the sonic shower and got in. His left ear pounded with the lopsided sound of the shower. He reached for his shower supply, grabbing an ear plug and putting it in his left ear, returning to the familiar silence he'd had moments ago. He could still feel the air moving past him, shaking the oil and dirt off of his body. He searched for extra dirt or oils on his body to expose to the shower. As always the burn scars covering the right side of his body were already dry from the sonic vibrations. When it came to maintenance, the easiest scar to handle was the surgical scar that ran down the center of his chest. He quickly finished the shower, now feeling properly shaken awake and dressed himself in his crisp science uniform.

Returning to the main room to gather his things for the day, Austen saw his cat sitting on the bed and staring at him with a sort of passive annoyance that meant he'd woken her up and now owed her food. He went to his cat food stores he replicated and fed her. Then grabbed his tricorder and attached it to his uniform belt. He grabbed his hearing aids and placed them in his ears, turning them on he was greeted by the sound of the cat chewing at her kibble. He grabbed his datapadd and headed to breakfast in the mess hall. He was looking forward to replicating some F'Krjke to start the morning.

It was a long breakfast that morning, mostly because Austen needed to kill time before his shift started. He filled that time with a rotation of people at his table. Kevin Jammer, a human whose name suited him. He was loud and confident in every regard, but he was good company and always checked in on people. Vani sh'Dani, an Andorian girl who'd recently joined the crew. She'd taken a liking to Austen and usually swung by in the morning to ask him some music question or another. Austen could tell she was the latest in the line of people trying to get him to join the crew's orchestra, but she seemed genuinely inspired to do so. Ta'Ka, Son of R'Oggrar, Klingon guy who always knew what the latest "news" was with the crew. T'Veil, a Vulcan women who seemed absolutely fixated on having an in with Ta'Ka. Who could blame her though? Geni Laun, a trill woman: bold, upfront, well-spoken. Definitely had an agenda behind getting into Austen's good graces, but he couldn't figure out what it was yet. Honestly, he'd just met the last two today and he was kind of distracted during those encounters. The new Cadet, Lorean Hale, had been occupying his mind... and time for that matter. But she, from what he gathered in two short days, was not a morning person and wouldn't be awake until just before her shift when she needed to rush to get ready. Maybe, if he was lucky, he'd get to see her for a few brief moments. But she must have really been pushing it today, because it appeared he wasn't lucky at all.

Finally, it was time for his shift. Austen, shook the dream he'd had out of his head once again and reported to duty in Science Station 12. He sat at his desk and opened his datapadd to work on his latest simulation, but found a command rewrite of his daily schedule for the week. Mission briefing in fifteen minutes. He got back up and started heading towards the secondary conference room.

The next 24 hours went by in a blur. Sure Austen had read the schedule, memorized the schedule, made a plan, memorized the plan, and briefed his team on the plan, but he felt like he'd skipped the past couple hours entirely. Had he brushed his teeth this morning? Had he accidentally done so twice? Austen remembered going to breakfast, but he couldn't remember what he ate. He'd been so focused on reading everything there was to know about Illyrian and Illyria and their medical procedures and Dr. Harry Conners. Was that guy insane? Probably.

Austen's role in the plan was arguably simple: scan the air, aid if requested, and make sure no one died. That was all.

Rihaven was waiting at the shuttle already. Was he late? Austen checked his watch. No. He was thirty minutes early for flight checks.

"Good morning," Austen said to her as he approached.

She didn't reply, she just eyed him.

"Not a morning person?" He suggested. "I can't blame you for that, hardly anyone is and those who are prefer to be alone in the mornings anyway."

"There is no water involved in the showers," she cut in dryly.

"Yeah," Austen acknowledged, changing gears. "It takes a bit to get use to, but they make up for it by having actually good coffee."

"Coffee?"

"It's a hot morning beverage that wakes you up. It's got caffeine."

"I will have some," she stated.

"Oh, yeah, okay, let me just..." Austen put his stuff down in the shuttle and powered it up, going to the replicator and replicating two cups of coffee."

He brought her one and then sat down on a crate outside the shuttle and began to drink his own. Wordlessly, she took a small and cautious sip. By her face, it was hard to tell if she liked if, but Austen could sense the joy the taste had brought her. That plush her next drinks were basically gulps.

Austen laughed.

"I can make you another, you know?"

"That will not be necessary," she replied between gulps.

Austen sipped his own coffee and pondered what kind of conversation he would have with Rihaven. He couldn't, well wouldn't, exactly call himself fond of escorting around a Vorta diplomat, and he was even less fond of the idea of aiding her if needed.

"So what is your approach to the negotiations. I mean, I can guess which side you fall on, but -"

"You will not have to concern yourself with my approach," Rihaven cut in.

"Well, if you needed any help -"

That was the wrong thing to say apparently. Her eyes narrowed at him. He got the sudden chilling thought that she could easily kill him if she thought it necessary. Sure, she was made for diplomacy, but whose telling what else her modifications could allow her to do.

"I will not be needing help. Especially, from an untrained, washed-out, stuck-in-the-pitfalls-of-his-own-self-pitty person who thinks that they can do my job with no training and a bit of surface research."

"I wasn't -"

She held up a hand and Austen found himself obeying the gesture.

"I will hear no excuse, simply take your licks and go prepare the shuttle as you had planned. I find no need for further communication."

With that she turned and chose a seat on the shuttle, nestling in and ignoring his existence.

Austen could still feel her fuming and it didn't help that he was now a bit riled up as well. Who does she think she is? Also, what makes her feel entitled to judging him and his abilities. His research had been anything but surface level. He knew everything he needed to know for this mission and he'd planned it all out himself. Prep the shuttle? He was going to prep the shuttle, but not because she told him to.

He downed the rest of his coffee and got up, running through his pre-mission checklist. He made sure all his portable equipment was giving out appropriate readings and that the shuttle was reading similarly. Then he dropped his stuff in a seat, fished out the mission briefing packet he had prepared. He took a steadying breath before handing a copy of a rather thick packet to Rihaven.

"Here, I printed you out a copy so you'd know what we're working with. The schedule is on the last page."

Without so much as looking up at him, she took the packet and dropped it onto her pile of reading materials.

Austen left the ship to run through his packet without her irritable presence. He sat down on a crate ready to furry scan through the maps of the embassy, when he caught a wave of bubbly joy and the sweet scent of foreign, yet increasingly familiar, flower. Just as he did a playful pressure was put on his shoulders in the form of a mimed springing jump. It was all lovely, but it was her laugh that got him.

He smiled and turned to see Lorean Hale smiling back at him. Her long blonde hair pulled up in a tight bun for work and her sparkling green eyes standing out strong against her grey uniform.

"You know... there's such a thing as being over prepared. You read that packet twice through last night."

"What are you doing here?" he smiled, ignoring her little jab. "Shouldn't you be in engineering?"

"Repairs are needed all across the ship," she stated proudly. "Besides, I figured you'd be stressing yourself out."

"Yeah, well, there's no need for me to do that. Our escort-ee does that part of the job for me."

"Oh? Is there someone in this galaxy who you don't get along with?"

"Plenty, but this one's making a real effort on that."

"You'll do fine," she said in a reassuring tone. "As for me, I have to get back to being the world's least educated engineer. I just wanted to wish you luck on your mission. Oh and you know, remind you not to breathe the air or anything."

"I won't," Austen smiled. "It's kind of the whole reason I'm going along at this point: air quality control."

She smiled at him and kissed his cheek. "I'll see you at dinner tonight?"

"Yeah."

"Good, and I want a rock from the planet, so don't you dare disappoint."

With that she stood up and walked out the shuttle bay door. Austen watched until she was gone, then brought himself back to his work, now in a significantly better mood.

Two hours later they landed on Illyria.

“All clear,” Harcrow called out from the pilot’s seat. “Should I open the hatch, sir?”

“No!” All three of them called out.

“Oh, right, toxic air. Sorry about that.” Harcrow blushed pulling his finger back from the almost pressed hatch button.

“Let’s equip our masks and sensors. Meanwhile, I’ll set the shuttle to take preliminary scans of the atmosphere and then we can set off.”

Each person started equipping their mask. Austen went around stuck a small device with a barely visible needle to the arm of each person. It was a bit invasive but it was the easiest and most reliable way to get a constant read on their oxygen levels.

Once again, he made sure each connected to his tricorder and showed typical readings before releasing them.

Austen went over to the ship’s sensor panels and calibrated the masks to account for the exterior’s toxicity.

"Alright, Harcrow, now you can open the hatch."

"Yes, sir."

With a push of a button the hatch opened revealing a bustling city of of skyscrapers, one of which they were on top on. The city had levels to it, leading all the way to the ground. Up here the wind was so loud that it they couldn't communicate. Austen reached around to his ears and switched off his hearing aids.

The wind went silent, still whipping all their hair and Rihaven's clothes around in themselves. Austen could feel it pushing at him, requiring a cautious effort to move in a straight line.

They made their way to a small door on the roof which led to an elevator. Solari summoned the lift and they all boarded. When the doors closed, Austen turned his hearing aid's back on and the world filled with sound once again.

"Damn, wind," Rihaven said smoothing out her hair and clothes, her voice sounding digitized by the amplification system of her mask.

Austen hated that they had to use amplification systems, they never worked quite as well as you wanted them to with other radio systems. But it was definitely better than dying to the air.

They went down two levels of skywalks then walked over to the embassy, which was the neighboring building. All-in-all it was a low risk mission. They spent very little time outside and the embassy had detoxicating entrances that kept the air inside the building pure enough for non-modified species to breath.

Honestly, the mission might benefit more from another security detail that kind of knew their way around these instruments rather than a scientist who had training in them. From what he'd read on Rihaven last night and the tensions, he would rate her as a medium-high target for anyone who didn't want to see the federation take up this particular medical approach.

Rihaven had been an apprentice for one of the lead Dominion Ambassadors. One who was known for getting his way through blackmail and espionage. Chances are Rihaven had done a lot of the investigation work for him and chances are she continued it now for herself. Austen was willing to bet that she had dirt on multiple delegates and scientists that would be attending this summit. Something he was sure people would rather not have in the hands of their political enemy. Probably a white collared crime, or a breach of procedure, or if the stories were true a light yet efficient threat to their way of life wouldn't be out of the picture.

Whatever the dirt was, the idea of aiding her in her quest to blackmail her way through negotiations, simply as a show of faith to the Dominion sicken Austen's stomach. He tried to focus on something else as they stepped into the quarantine hatch and the air began it's filtration process before letting them in the building.

A rock. He needed a rock. He'd have to find time to slip away and take the lift to the bottom of the building. That didn't seem like something he'd be likely to have time for. But there were no rocks on these skywalks. The city was basically metal and glass as far as the eye could see. Something that Austen didn't exactly enjoy for security purposes, but that he definitely could change. Maybe he could find a supplement for a rock, something else Lorean would enjoy.

There was a tone, indicating the purity of the air, then the interior door clicked open. The four of them walked into the large hall of the embassy. The glass ceiling bubbled into the sky above with trees and plants reaching up from various planters in the room. The quarantine door shut behind them and they removed their masks.

"Alright," Rihaven began, plopping her large bag of ledgers into Austen's arms. "Ensign Ryen, you will serve as my assistant for the day seeing as your part of the job is done."

"I'm still -"

"Harcrow and Solari, I will be meeting several people in the next few hours. I don't intend for you to analyze each one for a threat level, merely note that if I offer my hand to shake with them, they are a possible threat in some way. Now, let's go."

Harcrow and Solari followed and Austen was left to the knowledge that his leading role on the mission had just been highjacked.

It was four hours of pure networking. Rihaven, true to her word shook hands with countless people, but only offered her hand to five. She was also, unafraid to snap her fingers and require a bit of information or a ledger from Austen, who about twenty snaps in gave up his dismissed attempts to protest and started simply hand her the book or supplying whatever knowledge she required him to have at that moment. She appeared to have at least skimmed the briefing Austen had given her because she never made a request Austen couldn't fulfill.

After the four hours had thoroughly bored Austen, everyone began to shuffle into the main meeting room. It had the layout of a large lecture hall. No stage, but a singular podium with ascending seats going on for three stories. The backdrop wall for the podium had a large screen in the center framed by windows which allowed for a grand view of the exterior courtyard where one could visibly see the two sides of the public support for the summit. They took their seats in a quit respectable 15th row of the room, not in the center, but off to the right side. Rihaven had Austen sit on her right and Harcrow to his right and Solari sat on the left side of the group.

Everything outside seemed docile at the moment, picketers hoisting signs Austen couldn't read from here. The distant roar of a crowd, the occasional synchronized chant. The room slowly became full of people and then a human woman came out to the podium. The room fell silent to the echoing sound of her steps.

"Hello, everyone and welcome to this meeting. I trust you all have found your way to your proper seats. As you know we are here to discuss the potential for a new type of medicinal treatment in the federation. This treatment would fall under the category of genetic engineering and thus is currently illegal. However, there is reason to believe that this approach would be temporary and allow the patient to receive quick and revolutionary treatment for their conditions, with the trade off of temporary edits being made to the genes. This theoretical treatment was developed by Dr. Harry Connors of Starfleet. The first thing we want to do, if provide you with a thorough explanation of treatment, so that we all have the same baseline facts to work with. Here to present his work is Dr. Connors."

A thin Trill man with an impish demeanor and lab coat came walking out to the podium. The human woman shook his hand and retreated out of the center of the room.

"Eh-em. H-Hello," stammered Dr. Connors. "So, I'm here to talk about a theoretical study I've done and the proofs I have devised for temporary gene editing for the purpose of physical trauma recovery. If you would all please turn your attention to the screen or one of your personal screens in the back."

The room began to dim as the glass of the windows became polarized allowing the screen to be seen across most of the large room. Austen took his last look at the outside courtyard for a while. But something caught his eye. A small bird that was flying towards the embassy. Only Austen couldn't make out it's wings.

The bird didn't detour from it's path, but it became clear that it's trajectory was an arc. Someone else must have had the same thought as Austen because they let out a scream. Then the glass shattered and a grenade soared over the heads of several people and landed just four rows in front of them before a loud bang filled the room followed by screams and shattering glass.