Magic

"Hail that vessel Lieutenant," said Captain Jean-luc Picard.

"Aye, sir. Hailing on all frequencies." Said Cassie.

"They appear to be damaged, Captain." Said Lieutenant Commander Data, the android.

"What the hell happened to them?" Said Commander William Riker, second in command of the Enterprise.

Captain Picard scratched his bald head.

"Very weak life signs on board." Said Data.

"Message coming through Captain, but it’s very distorted." Announced Cassie.

"On the view screen." Ordered Picard.

A snowy picture of the bridge of that ship came on the main viewer. A handsome man with long dark hair and with multiple cuts and bruises sat in the center seat. Smoke curled up from the instruments around him and several of his crew lay strewn about on the floor. Others of the crew were scurrying about attending to them and the ship. The man’s mouth moved but only gibberish came out.

Captain Picard turned to Cassie with a scowl and said, "What is that?"

"Trying to compensate, sir." Cassie adjusted this and that, and the picture came in clearer, the sound was sharper but it was still gibberish. Very clearly gibberish.

"The Universal Translator is not familiar with this language. It’s going to take some time before we’ll know what he’s saying."

"By the looks of things those people don’t have much time." Said Riker.

"Blah, blah, blah, attack, blah, blah, blah, blah, assistance, blah, blah, blah." Said the man on the view screen.

"Sir, I believe there were attacked and are requesting assistance." Said Data.

"I agree with him Captain." Said Deanna Troi, the BetaZed counselor.

"Blah, blah, blah, request blah, assistance. Blah, blah, blah, blah, failing, blah, blah blah, injured." Said the man on the view screen.

"Beam the survivors to sick bay and send an armed guard just in case." Ordered Picard.

"And get a tractor beam on that ship, we can tow it until the crew gets back."

The images on the ship sparkled and disappeared.

"Request permission to go to sick bay with a portable translator to try and speed up the translation process." Said Cassie.

"Good idea. Make it so." Said Picard.

Cassie left the bridge with a small device that looked like a scotch tape dispenser. On the turbo lift she could feel the excitement growing. During her time on the Enterprise she had encountered many different people, but without exception the Universal Translator was able to communicate with them. Her Senior Project at the Academy had been the original basic design for the device she carried with her. Its sole purpose was to facilitate communications between differing cultures. This would be the ultimate test.

The doors to sick bay opened with a whoosh. Inside, Cassie saw that many of the bio beds were full. The handsome man was hovering around the tables, refusing treatment until his crew was cared for. At least, that is how Chief Medical Officer, Beverly Crusher understood his gestures. As Cassie came closer to the man, his speech became more intelligible although there were still some gaps.

"How are they blah, blah? Blah, blah, blah, thank you."

"Hello." Said Cassie into the device very carefully and clearly. "Welcome to the USS Enterprise."

The man turned abruptly, recognizing at least part of his own language. "Hello?" He said.

Cassie smiled broadly and nodded enthusiastically.

"Why can I almost understand you?" He asked.

Cassie smiled mischievously and looked at the device she was holding. "Magic." She said.

The man laughed and shook his head, extending his hand, he said, "I am Marcus Cole."

Taking his hand she said, "I am Cassandra Johanson, but you can call me Cassie."

They smiled at each other for a long moment, until Dr. Crusher interrupted them.

"Lieutenant Johanson." The Doctor said with a sigh of relief, "boy am I glad to see you. Bring that thing over here, this person seems to have something wrong, but I can’t find out what."

Cassie followed the Doctor to a bio bed on which a small figure dressed in a brocade robe lay. Her bald head was encircled with bone, like over half of the crew. The rest of the crew was like Marcus, very human in appearance. Many wore shirts and trousers, Marcus had a long cloak over his. Each human crew member wore a blue green broach. The person on the bed clutched her midsection and was saying something, as Cassie drew near the woman on the bed, the device squeaked and groaned. Cassie tapped it and it emitted a high pitched whine. The woman on the bed grabbed her ears.

Marcus ran over to the woman, put his fist to her temple and said something to her,then turned to Cassie. "Can the Doctor help her?"

Cassie and Doctor Crusher looked at each other and shrugged.

"I don’t know what’s wrong with her." Said Doctor Crusher.

"I thought your magic device understood Mimbari." Said Marcus to Cassie.

"Mimbari?" Asked Cassie. "Is that were you’re from?"

"No," said Marcus matter-of-factly, "it’s where most of the crew is from. I’m from Earth."

Doctor Crusher gasped.

Cassie felt all the blood rush to her feet, suddenly she felt faint. "Where?" She managed to say.

"Earth." Stated Marcus. "Can someone help my friend? She is having bad stomach cramps and feels feverish. A flu I suspect, she hasn’t felt well for a day or two."

Turning to Doctor Crusher, "Do you have any chamomile tea?"

"Did you say chamomile tea?" Asked Doctor Crusher.

"Yes."

"Cassie, go replicate some."

Cassie nodded and hurried to make tea. Marcus smiled after her, then turned his attention to his friend on the bed. He stroked her hand and said something to her that made the translator scream. Doctor Crusher moved the device out of range so Marcus could talk quietly to his crew member. Within the minute Cassie returned to Marcus’s side and handed him the tea. He helped his crew mate to sit up and try it. The little Mimbari took a drink and nodded to Cassie, Marcus winked at her.

"Now," said Doctor Crusher to Marcus, "you need to be looked at."

"I’m fine." Said Marcus.

"I’m the Doctor and I say you need to be looked at."

"Listen to her," said Captain Picard, coming up behind the doctor. "She can be very persuasive."

Marcus jumped and turned around. "Marcus Cole." He said, extending his hand.

"Captain Jean-luc Picard," said the Captain shaking Marcus’ hand. Turning to Cassie, he said, "Thank you for fixing that thing Lieutenant."

Cassie nodded. "May I use your computer terminal to update the language files with the data I have collected here?" She asked.

"By all means, Cassie. Please." Said the Doctor.

Cassie picked up the device and hurried to the computer terminal in the Doctor’s office. Marcus opened his mouth to speak, but Cassie put her finger to her lips and shook her head. Marcus nodded. Captain Picard smiled and everyone watched as Cassie plugged the device into the computer. A short moment later Cassie gave the okay sign to Captain Picard. He nodded.

"I want to welcome you and your crew aboard the Enterprise, Captain Cole." Began Picard.

"Please call me Marcus." He said.

"Marcus, are you from a planet around here?"

"No. We were thrown off course in the fight and when we exited the jump gate we ended up here. From the position of the stars it looks like we’re about seven thousand light years from where we were."

Picard raised an eyebrow and looked at Marcus very seriously, "If there is anything that the Enterprise can do to help you get home we’ll do it." He said.

"Thank you, Captain, I’ll keep that in mind."

Picard nodded and left sick bay.

"Your Captain is very kind." Said Marcus to Cassie.

"Yes," she said looking into Marcus’ eyes. "You’re a long way from home. How do you plan to get back?"

"Honestly, I don’t know. Right now my ship is so damaged it’s going to need to rest before we can even start back."

"Rest? The ship needs to rest?"

"Yes, it’s based on an organic technology that I really don’t understand. I do know that if we let it rest then it will heal itself enough that we can start home."

"Do you think Beverly could help your ship?"

"Maybe."

"An organic Starship," Beverly said, "I could try." Coming in on the conversation. "It should be a challenge. Maybe Jordi could help out," she muttered as she ran the sonic healer over a large gash on Marcus’ arm, "I need to talk to Jean-luc about this. You," pointing to a bio bed, "get in this bed and rest. You need rest too."

Marcus lowered his head and shuffled sadly toward the biobed, muttering.

"I heard that," said Doctor Crusher as she turned her attention to another patient.

Cassie turned to Marcus, who sat on the biobed rubbing the spot that was just healed. "There you go." She said. "Beverly is a good Doctor, she helped you, your crew and now she’s going to help your ship. Things are looking up."

"So it would seem." Said Marcus, "Thank you, I am forever in your debt."

Cassie blushed and began gathering her equipment.

"Are you leaving?" Asked Marcus.

"Yes," she said. "I’ve done all I can here. I need to fix my translator, maybe Jordi can look it over."

"Will you, umm, be coming back?"

Cassie smiled, "I’ll come by and check on you when I get off later. If that’s all right with you."

"Yes, sure, uhh, I’ll look forward to it."

"Me too, bye."

"Bye," Marcus sighed as he lay back on the biobed.

***********

Captain Picard sat at his desk reading his computer screen when the door bell chimed.

"Enter," he said, looking up to see Cassie coming through the door. "Oh, Lieutenant Johanson. I just wanted to say thank you for adjusting the Universal Translator to accommodate these new species."

Cassie stood at ease with her hands behind her back. "May I speak freely, sir?"

Picard nodded.

"Frankly, sir, it’s still not working right with the Mimbari language. I don’t know what’s wrong with it. Jordi and Data looked at it but they couldn’t find anything wrong. Right now, it’s running diagnostics."

"Good work Lieutenant. Is there something we can do in the interim. Doctor Crusher has expressed concern that she can’t adequately help the Mimbari patients unless Mr. Cole is awake to translate."

"I’ve been working on that sir, and it’s slow going. I’m trying to cross reference words we have recorded from Mr. Cole’s conversations with the Mimbari, with words we know. It’s going to take a while, but it can be done."

"Would it be easier if Mr. Cole worked with you?"

Cassie blushed, "Um, well, yes, sir, with his knowledge and everything. Yes, it would be great."

"Good, get started as soon as Doctor Crusher will let him work."

"Yes, sir! Thank you, sir."

"One other thing, Lieutenant. In your report you mentioned that these people were from Earth, what does that mean?"

"Well, sir, I think that’s how they refer to their planet. We most likely call it something else. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to pursue the subject, I hope that we will in the future."

"Why don’t you take him to Stellar Cartography."

"I’ll do that, sir."

"You must remember, Lieutenant, if these people are from Earth, be it past or future, this could pose temporal problems. Be careful not to disturb a timeline."

"Yes, sir."

"Also remember the Prime Directive, if they aren’t from Earth, do not interfere in the natural progression of a culture."

"Yes, sir, I’m aware of that."

"Fine, keep up the good work. Dismissed."

Cassie snapped to attention and walked briskly out of the ready room. Her mind was reeling with the thought of learning more about Marcus and his Mimbari friends. This is what she had joined Starfleet for. She wanted to meet new races and learn about new cultures. It was all so exciting and Marcus Cole made it all worthwhile. She couldn’t help but wonder if Captain Picard was right, she made a mental note to find out.

*************

Cassie bounced onto the turbo lift wearing a simple tan dress, that showed off her legs. This dress made her five foot six inch body look taller. She had spent nearly an hour deciding what to wear. She wanted to look nice, but didn’t want to appear she was doing it for Marcus (which she was and she knew it). When she finally settled on the tan dress, she knew it would have the desired effect, especially since she had let her wavy brown hair fall about her shoulders.

"Deck four," She said flipping her hair back. She did not even look at the other passenger on the lift.

"You look nice tonight, Cassie." Said Commander Riker, who was dressed in a wetsuit, carrying scuba gear and standing in a puddle of water.

"Thank you, Will." She said smiling broadly at him. "Snake River program?"

Riker nodded. "You want to meet me at Ten Forward later for a drink?" He asked.

"No, thank you. I have work to do." She said absently.

"Not dressed like that," he said as he looked at her up and down. She got off the lift when it stopped and did not say anything more to Riker. The stunned Commander shook his head as the turbo lift resumed its journey.

Just outside sick bay, Cassie nodded to the guard and paused to straighten her dress and take a deep breath. She centered herself, and walked over to Marcus’s bed. He was lying on his side, with his back to her. She touched his shoulder gently, he jumped and turned over. He looked up at her and smiled broadly. Quietly she sat down beside the bed and put her hand in his.

"I’ve been waiting for you." He said.

"I’m sorry, I had some things to do." She said.

"I understand, it’s just so bloody boring here."

"I know."

"You look so nice." He said as he squeezed her hand.

"I’m going to ask Doctor Crusher if you can have dinner with me. That is, if you haven’t had dinner all ready."

"I haven’t and I’d be delighted." He said as Cassie went to find the Doctor.

Cassie returned, after speaking to Dr. Crusher, with Marcus’ clothing cleaned and folded. "Beverly said that we can go eat, but we have to come back by 21:00." She said.

"I can live with that." Said Marcus pulling on his trousers.

"Oh, excuse me." Cassie said as she quickly turned her back, to give him some privacy, while he dressed. She could see a reflection on one of the medscreens of a well-built man, very human, in his mid-thirties she would guess. Cassie liked what she saw, his dark hair falling on his muscular shoulders. His well-defined chest and cute buttocks. She had to close her eyes and breath deeply for a moment, since her knees felt very weak.

"I’m ready." Marcus said. "Lieutenant Johanson, you can turn around."

"Oh," said Cassie turning around. "I didn’t mean. . ."

"It’s all right. Let’s go eat, I’m famished."

"I’m sure you are." She said taking his arm and guiding him out of sick bay.

********

Marcus and Cassie sat on the couch in her quarters and contentedly looked out at the stars. Remnants of dinner sat about on the kitchen table and tea cups sat on the table in front of them. Cassie sat close to Marcus, shyly, trying not to be obvious. Marcus was a little nervous, so Cassie started the conversation.

"The stars are so beautiful." She said with a sigh. "Even here," said Marcus.

"You miss your home don’t you?"

"Yes." Marcus said sadly. "My navigator predicts it will take two years to get back home, even at optimal speed."

"Wow. We’ve been out for two years this time and I’ve kind of gotten over the homesickness. Although, I don’t have anything back on Earth."

"Earth?" Said Marcus blinking and staring at Cassie. "How?"

Cassie smiled. "I was going to ask you the same thing yesterday."

Marcus laughed. "Obviously your translation device interprets my name for my planet as the same name you have for your planet. I should have known, the Centrari call our planet Beta 12."

"Ours is Sol 3 to more of our neighbors."

Marcus breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed some.

Cassie got up to get more tea and Marcus watched her the whole way. She brought the cup to the table and handed it to him, he took it from her and gently touched her hand in the process. She looked at him and smiled with her eyes. He smiled awkwardly. She sat down again, this time somewhat closer. He did not object.

"The tea is very good." Said Marcus.

"Yes, it is." Said Cassie looking into her cup, trying to formulate what to say next. "Is there a Mrs. Cole waiting for you at home?" She finally said into her cup.

"No." Marcus said sadly. "What about you?"

"I have no one at home any more, since the Borg attacked. In fact the last dateI had was a complete disaster. I’m not even seeing anyone."

"I’m not either."

They both laughed nervously. Cassie put her hand on his knee and he put his on hers.

They looked into each other’s eyes.

After a moment Marcus said, "The view is very beautiful here."

Cassie turned her head away and blushed. Marcus touched her cheek with his hand and she turned back to look at him. They leaned closer to each other. Cassie closed her eyes as Marcus’ lips gently touched hers. She felt her heart race as they began to caress and kiss.

Suddenly, the computer chirped.

"What?" Said Cassie, still kissing Marcus.

"Doctor Crusher to Lieutenant Johanson," came a voice from the ceiling.

Cassie stopped kissing and Marcus jumped as though her father had just walked in on them. "Yes, Doctor." She said.

"It’s twenty one fifteen, Marcus is late for bed. He needs his rest."

"Yes, sir. I’ll bring him home right now. We just lost track of time."

"I’m sure you did," said Beverly laughing, "Crusher out."

"Johanson, out." Said Cassie as she looked at Marcus apologetically, "Let’s get you home before Mom Crusher gets mad at you." She stood up next to the couch.

Marcus rose to his feet as well and said, "It was a very nice dinner. Thank you."

"Thank you for coming." She said as they slowly made their way toward the door.

********

Cassie bounced into Ten Forward after leaving Marcus in sick bay. She went straight to the bar and ordered her usual Tequila Sunrise. From behind the bar Gynon looked at her and said, "You like him don’t you?"

Startled Cassie tried to deny it, "What are you talking about?" She said.

"Our visitor, Marcus Cole. You like him don’t you?"

"Well, yes. He’s a likable person."

"You know what I mean. You LIKE him."

Cassie sighed, "I can never hide anything from you Gynon. Yes, I do like him." She said and quickly added, "But it’s purely professional interest."

"Yes, professional."

"I see Will is still here," said Cassie changing the subject.

"Yes, he’s been here for awhile. He looks rather distant, you may want to talk to him. He hasn’t been the same since, you know."

"I know all too well, but as his friend, I’ll go talk to him." She picked her drink up and walked across the now almost empty lounge to where Commander Riker sat staring into the emptiness of space. "They’re pretty in this part space aren’t they." She offered.

"I guess so." Riker said without looking at her.

Cassie took a seat across the table from him. "Will," she began, "I know. . ."

"No, you don’t know." He interrupted. "No one really knows."

"Not even Deanna?"

He glared at her. "Especially not Deanna."

"Look that was a long time ago, how many times can I say I’m sorry and how long can you keep beating yourself up about this."

"Cassie," he said looking into her eyes, "I loved Deanna and Worf stole her from me." Cassie opened her mouth to speak but Riker shook his head. "I thought I loved you and I was going to tell you, but it was too late. Worf had stolen you too. Now, Worf is gone and neither of you will give me the time of day."

Cassie looked at him in disgust and sighed. "Will," she said, "the best thing that came out of this is that you have two very good friends. We would lay down our lives for you."

"That’s nice, but sometimes I wish you would just lay down." Riker said with an evil smile. Cassie punched his arm, smiling back at him. They both laughed.

Cassie looked at him and sighed, "What am I going to do with you?"

Riker raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "Tell me about Mr. Cole." He said.

Cassie shrugged, "What’s to tell. I took him to dinner and Beverly made me bring him back early."

"You know, where is he from? What about his friends? That sort of thing."

"He says he’s from Earth, but he also says that the stars are very different here from the ones he’s used to. He said his navigator figures that it will take five years for them to get home at optimal speed."

"At warp nine it would only take us five months to get home. Unless his top speed is much slower. They can’t be from Earth."

"We came to that conclusion, too. So I’m going to take him to Stellar Cartography tomorrow, to see if he recognizes anything."

"Good idea. What about his friends?"

"I mentioned the Captain’s idea about using him to help translate their language, over dinner and he seemed receptive. So as soon as Beverly clears it we’ll get started."

"Good. Now," Riker began with a tone of jealousy in his voice. "What about you? Everyone thinks you’re getting awfully close to this alien."

"Everyone, meaning you right?"

"Well, uh, yes. But that doesn’t matter."

"Will, it was only dinner."

"Right."

"It’s purely professional interest."

"Cultural enlightenment?"

"Yes." Cassie said.

"Right," said Riker slyly, "I’ve used that excuse before. You really like him don’t you?"

"Will, that’s none of your business."

"I was right! You do!"

"I don’t want to talk about it!"

"Cassie," he said very seriously, "I still care about you and I don’t want to see you hurt. You know this guy has to go back and you can’t go with him."

"I know, Will, but I find him intriguing. I would like to get to know him better."

"I respect that, and remember if you ever need someone to talk to, I’m here."

"Thank you, Will." She said leaning over the table and kissing him on the forehead.

"See you tomorrow."

Riker said "Tomorrow," as he watched Cassie leave Ten Forward.

*********

Cassie bounced into sick bay a full two hours before her shift started the next day. She had not slept well the night before, so she decided to get up and visit Marcus. He was sitting on the edge of his bed when she arrived.

"Good morning, Marcus." She said cheerfully.

Marcus smiled broadly at her, "Good morning, Cassie." He said, "You're early."

"Doctor Crusher said that we could begin work this morning, so I thought I’d take you to breakfast before we got started."

"I’d be delighted." He said as he pulled his boots on and stood up. "Did you sleep well last night?" He asked.

"Like a log." Cassie lied.

"Yeah, me too." Marcus lied too.

Beverly watched the two leave sick bay arm in arm and shook her head slowly from side to side.

*********

Marcus sat next to Cassie in the observation area of Stellar Cartography. They were surrounded by a starfield map. She started them out where they currently were, just as a reference point. Then she broadened the view to the sector. Marcus shook his head. Then the quadrant. Marcus shook his head and explained that he was sure his planet was not in this quadrant. Cassie raised an eyebrow and slyly programmed a picture of the night sky as seen from Earth in the middle of winter.

Marcus smiled, "That’s beautiful." He said, "I wish I lived there. You can see so many different constellations."

"How did you know where this was taken?"

"Just a guess. But, if I were you, in order to prove my point I would have done the same thing. Do I pass the test?"

Cassie kissed his forehead, "With flying colors." She said and programmed a map of the galaxy. Marcus studied it, studied the star patterns, and did some mental calculations. Cassie watched his expression turn from hopeful to very sad.

"There it is." He said, pointing to a section of the view screen way in the far left corner.

"Computer," said Cassie, "enhance grid Gamma 125." The computer beeped and the requested area popped on the screen. There were many areas that were flashing.

"What does the flashing mean?" Asked Marcus.

"It means," said Cassie, "that the computer is extrapolating based on radio astronomy and unmanned probes sent into the area."

"No one has ever been there from here?"

"No. It is a relatively unexplored area of space."

"I can help you with that. See that flashing one right there," Marcus said as he pointed to a particular star a little to the left of the center of the screen, "that’s Epsilon. Babylon 5, which is the space station I am assigned to, orbits the third planet in that system."

"Wow."

Then Marcus pointed to another star closer to the bottom of the screen and more to the right. "See that one, you have it labeled Y-2743."

"Yes. That’s one that we have seen with long range scanners from the edge of Dominion space."

"That’s where Z’ha’Dum is located. It’s the homeworld of the Shadows. We have been fighting them for several months now. My ship was about two light years from there when we opened a jumpgate to escape the attacking Shadows and were blasted by them."

"Oh my. What happened to them?"

"The gate collapsed, the Shadow vessel exploded and we were blown out of hyperspace right here."

"That appears to be more than half way across the galaxy."

"Yes, it does."

"Where is your home planet?"

"Not on this map."

"Down from here?"

"Yes."

"Computer display Gamma 124." The computer beeped and the requested area popped on the screen.

Marcus sighed, "You don’t know much about this part of the galaxy do you?"

Cassie shook her head.

Marcus pointed to a blinking star right in the middle of the screen. "That’s where I’m from, the third planet out. My Commander was born on the fourth planet out."

Cassie sat there with her mouth open.

Part 2
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