There are two?

“There are two of him?” Illyan questioned in shocked amazement and a tinge of horror.

“Seelowe is not just Seelowe.” Arado said when he tried to explain to her why the man who had given them this Defiant Class ship was now no longer around. “There are two of him that we know of. One of him is from our time, our reality. The other, the one you met, is some sort of clone from the 29^th century.”

“Feel lucky you’ve only known two. “ Colonel Serp Auer muttered from the helm where he was piloting the ship towards the docking bay of the supply station that was their next destination on this seemingly foolish mission.

“The one you’ve met, the time travelling one,” continued Arado, “he’s not our captain, but he’s not that bad when you get to know him.”

“Yeah and when he isn’t suffering delusions of grandeur,” came another mutter from the helm, “or trying to get us killed on some death-wish mission of his.” The ship lurched as the Colonel tried to line up the docking clamps.

“I’m not sure I want to get to know him as well has he intends,” said Illyan as she began to wonder exactly what she had gotten herself into by joining this crew. “And what is this Carolina you keep talking about?”

“Carolina is a very special ship…our ship. She has disappeared,” replied Arado. “and the crew is scattered and stranded throughout space…. and time. You fill her in Serp”

The armoured mercenary seated at the helm controls locked the last docking clamp then swivelled in his seat and faced Illyan.

“The Carolina is an Intrepid Class ship that is sentient,” he said.

“Sentient?” said Illyan as she rubbed her temples. “Oh great, just what I need.”

“But that’s half the fun,” chuckled Auer. “She’s as likely to kill you as Bekkers, but she will do it in your sleep.” There was a whine of servos and the squeak of metal against metal as the cyborg man stood. “Let’s go get our pilot,” he said heading for the door. “I’m much better at killing than flying,” he chuckled again.

Auer led the way on to Supply Station 359 and straight to the bar with the confidence of one who had done this many times before.

“Well, well, well,” he bellowed as he strode across the almost empty bar room, “there’s an Andoran monkey I haven’t seen for some time.”

The blue-skinned woman at the bar stood and turned as the hulking cyborg approached.

“Colonel Auer? You are a sight for sore eyes,” she said with at grin.

“You are a hard person to track Miral. Yes it is me and I have brought another old friend.” Auer stepped to one side and revealed Arado who was frozen to the spot staring at the woman with his mouth slightly agape.

“Lieutenant Arado!” she said happily. “You’ve changed a bit,” she indicated the Bajoran nose ridges, “but I’d recognise you anywhere.”

“Miral! Is that really you?” Arado reached out a hand hesitating whether to touch her or not.

“The one and only,” Miral grinned, grabbed his arm and pulled him into a hug.

“But… how?” stammered Arado as he took a step back and looked at her, “I mean…last I heard you were…dead”

“I was, but some ‘friends’ brought me back to life,” she said cryptically. “It’s a long story…” she went quiet for a moment but then she brightened, “…and look, they gave me back my own legs into the bargain.” She danced a little jig showing off her new, non-cyborg legs.

“That is just….amazing,” beamed Arado as he gave her another hug.

Miral hugged him back, “I’ll tell you all about it one day,” she whispered in his ear.

Illyan watched the whole episode with growing incredulity while running through a quick mental check list.

“A time-travelling clone,” she thought. “A sentient ship, a cyborg mercenary, a Bajoran who isn’t, a Vulcan who is a Romulan, and now a dead Andoran with new legs.” She shook her head. “I must be either dreaming or loosing my mind.”

Colonel Auer’s booming cybernetic laugh broke her thoughts.

“So Miral, are you up to joining us on a possibly lethal mission looking for the Carolina?”

“You bet I am, how could I refuse,” answered the Andoran cheerily, “but where is Captain Seelowe?”

“With the Carolina most likely,” said Auer.

“Right then,” said Miral. “Let’s get down to business. What Kind of ship do you have at the moment?”

“Defiant Class,” chimed in Arado. “Can you handle a Defiant’s helm?”

“Better than I can, I’ll bet,” muttered Auer.

“Haven’t sat at a helm yet that I couldn’t master,” said Miral confidently.

“I need to warn you,” said Arado, “this is not an official Starfleet mission…they’ll be after us, and so will half the rest of the galaxy who want to lay their hands on the Carolina.”

Miral nodded, “Under stood,” she said solemnly

“That’s why we need the best pilot we can get,” said Arado looking at her meaningfully.

Miral grinned. “Well I guess you are in luck. You’ve got the best right here,” she said cheekily.

Arado grinned back and under the armour plating Auer was grinning too.

Illyan felt a little excluded and pointedly cleared her throat.

“Oh,” said Arado as he turned and introduced her to Miral. “This is the newest addition to the crew. Doctor Illyan. Seelowe hired her… but he seems to have disappeared again.”

“Greetings Doctor, it’s nice to meet you,” said Miral

“A pleasure as well,” replied Illyan.

“And I’ll help you find Seelowe,” added Miral.

“I don’t understand,” said Illyan to Arado, “This woman knows this Seelowe and she still wants to find him?”

“Illyan, the Seelowe you have met is not our captain…he’s…different,” said Arado. “It’s difficult to explain, but you’ll see.”

Illyan frowned and looked unconvinced, “Can’t wait,” she muttered.

Miral looked from one to the other, “Is this all there is? Where is the rest of the crew?”

“I’ve been searching for them and I’ve got leads on a few,” said Arado. “But I just can’t find any reference to Hlad anywhere. I’m not even sure if he is in this time line.”

Auer’s servo’s groaned a bit as he shifted position at the bar. “I know where Bekkers is, Arado,” he said as he downed a drink. “As for the goat,” he was referring to their cloven hoofed Megan engineer, “I’ve had the occasional sniffs of where he is.”

Illyan added another name to her mental checklist.

“This Bekkers you speak of,” she said cautiously, almost afraid to ask. “Who is he?”

“Put simply,” growled Auer, “he is five homicidal personalities in a heavy armoured cybernetic shell.” He swallowed another drink. “And that is on a good day.”

“But he’s a real kitten when you get to know him,” added Arado, “…unless your name is Seelowe.”

“Yeah, with Seelowe it is love, hate,” continued Auer. “One moment he loves his captain to death and will protect him with his life, next he’s trying to murder him as violently as possible.”

“And you are going to put this Bekkers and Seelowe together,” said Illyan with disbelief. “On our ship?”

“It’s a risk we have to take,” said Arado wryly. “His loyalty to the Carolina and her captain has been proven beyond question. We need his muscle to protect us while we search, and we have Auer here to keep the muscle from ending the search prematurely.”

“So, Bekkers is to protect us, and Auer is here to protect Seelowe from Bekkers,” said Illyan.

“A delicate balance,” smiled Arado.

Illyan crossed her arms and gave Arado a sour look. “Who is going to protect ME from Seelowe?”

Auer let out a loud booming laugh and slammed another empty on the bar, “Bekkers will.”

Illyan looked around at her fellow crewmates. “I think I’m going to like this Bekkers,” she said, and smiled for the first time that day.