Questions Always Follows

Posted on Thu Aug 20th, 2026 @ 7:09pm by Lieutenant Evy McCauley & Commodore Elias McEntyre

947 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Prologue
Location: Ready Room
Timeline: 2388, A Couple Days after 'Coming Aboard'

Evy had managed to get her family situated and settled on the ship. Arun had an easy enough time turning his transfer orders in and reported to Engineering to get started there, back with everything. The day prior had both of them dropping off Oriana at the school room. Though, they knew that this time was limited before the refit for the ship. There was plenty of things that needed to be done prior said refit, through it and post it that both of them were quite ready with their intended work loads.

The call had come through that she knew that was coming. It was always just a matter of time before her commanding officer read the classified part of her jacket that was only a part of the hand carried transfer orders, thanks to intelligence making sure that their species always had a bit more privacy to them. She had seen her daughter off and left the operations hub and headed to the bridge, a bit of trepidation lingered in her step. She could never tell how things would go before someone read it. Most had intrigue, some had some distain which made things a bit difficult of course, and others just really didn't care.

She pressed the chime on the ready room door, knowing it was now or never.

"Yeah, Come in" Elias called as the chime rang. He was in the middle of a working lunch. A (rather large) Italian Hero with a side salad of various greens and cheeses and a (impressive) jug of water near by. He was wiping off his mouth as Evy came in.

"El-Tee, I got the list of what's being refitted and swapped if ya want to take a look at it." Elias said, holding up a PADD as he took a drink of water from the jug.

"Didn't mean to disturb lunch," she commented, as she stepped forwards to grab the PADD from the Commodore. "I can, however, get started in reviewing the retrofitting and swaps to ensure most efficiency during the process after reviewing everything." She smiled after she took the PADD from him.

"Excellent." Elias said, picking up another PADD.

"Also," Elias started, holding the PADD with her file. "Give me just a second, I didn't get a chance to read over the...." Elias stopped, looking intensely at the padd.

And the deck just dropped with the furrowed brow that showed up on the Commodore's face. 'And here it comes....' she thought to herself. "...Sir?" she hesitantly asked. While she tried to tell herself it could be something else, it wasn't the first time she had seen that look and knew more than well, it wouldn't be the last.

Elias tossed the PADD onto the desk and looked at Evy. "How much is Borg?" was the only question he had.

"None," she replied. Her people had been mistaken as Borg due to the cybernetic enhancements, but it was an easy leap after the things that she had heard and seen about the Borg since joining Starfleet. "We hail from the Gamma Quadrant, have no affiliation to them. We are not a hive mind, all individual wills and personalities like the other Federation races. We are more alike to Humans than we are their organic machine intelligence," she commented. "The Federation does outfit their injured with cybernetic and non-cybernetic prothesis." There were historical figures that were much akin to the Ekahl than anything remotely Borg. "While some of us contain nanites, they only function inside of our bodies and cannot function outside, rendering them destroyed," she commented, pausing slightly before adding the important distinction, "not inert or still active like the Borg."

Elias still didn't like the sounds of that, giving Evy a long look of concern. She could see him giving her this thousand yard stare. One that came from trauma and internal fear even if his logical mind told him she was not a Borg.

"I can understand the level of discomfort. I know that the Borg have had a sortied history with the Federation, even though I have never come across them personally, myself, but I do understand the concern. I bleed blue and can die if my blood is exposed to too much oxygen," she offered him the secret that she carried deep within, leaving him a bit of her vulnerability. "My species are limited and few unlike the expansive Borg. What we didn't do to ourselves, the Jem'Hadar did. There's less than two thousand of us left. I think the humans classify us as an Endangered Species. While we may be longer lived, we'll not have the genetic diversity to change our course towards extinction; we'll just be able to prolong the inevitable."

Elias' ears drooped. That was never good to hear.

"Lieutenant. I am one for giving anyone a fair shake, I would not have asked for you if I didn't. I thank you for being honest with me."

She bowed her head slightly. "I appreciate being given a chance. Some people react badly just because while I appear human, I'm far from it. Most of my species remain home due to xenophobia thanks to the Jem'Hadar. I rather see the universe before my time is over," Evy replied.

“You’ll get every opportunity to see the universe while you’re here. Thank you for clarifying my questions. Let me know if operations needs any more resources.” Elias nods.

"Thank you, sir, and I will," Evy said as she bowed lightly in respect and left back to her duties.

—————
Commodore Elias McEntyre
Commanding Officer
USS Guinevere NCC-80518

Lt. Evy McCauley
Chief Operations Officer
USS Guinevere NCC-80518

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