Chapter Text
The conference room on the habitat ring smelled faintly of the catering Quark had insisted on providing: something with cardamom, kept warm under a stasis lid that hummed at a slightly lower pitch than the room's environmental system. Two notes that didn't quite agree.
Kira stood at the head of the table with her hands clasped behind her back. Reeve was a half-step to her left, PADD held flat against his chest, the corner of it tapping a slow rhythm against his uniform. Julian and Miles flanked the opposite side. Ezri had taken the chair near the door, present but not centered, angled toward the exit.
The chime sounded.
The Calevian delegation entered in a loose triangle. Three of them: a tall woman in slate-grey diplomatic robes with a small silver pin at the collar, a shorter man behind her left shoulder, and a third figure, younger and slighter, carrying a sealed case.
The tall woman's smile arrived a half-second after her gaze did. The eyes first; then the smile. Across the room, Ezri's head turned.
VESHAN: Captain Bashir. Colonel Kira. Thank you for receiving us.
KIRA: Delegate Veshan. (inclines her head) Welcome to Deep Space Nine.
VESHAN: It's a remarkable facility.
Veshan's gaze moved over the room. Her eyes were a pale, clear blue.
VESHAN: Cardassian architecture. We don't have much occasion to study it. The proportions are… distinctive.
KIRA: They take getting used to.
VESHAN: I imagine they do. Though one adapts.
Miles's jaw shifted, very slightly. Ezri, from her chair, watched the small movement and did not react to it.
Julian stepped forward.
JULIAN: Delegate, may I introduce Commander O'Brien, our Chief Engineer and First Officer aboard the Curiosity. Commander Reeve, Colonel Kira's first officer. And Lieutenant Commander Dax, our counselor.
VESHAN: A pleasure.
Veshan turned her attention to each of them in turn: a brief, evaluating glance, then on to the next. When she reached Ezri her gaze lingered a beat longer than it had on the others, and Ezri held the look without inflection.
VESHAN: We've read the project briefs. The Curiosity mandate is (searching, finding it) ambitious. Federation science doesn't often consolidate disciplines this way. We were curious to see what came of it.
JULIAN: (pleasantly) That's the idea. Curiosity.
She did not acknowledge it.
VESHAN: May I present Aide Doren, and Junior Attaché Veth?
The man behind her gave a small bow. The younger one, Veth, adjusted the case in their arms and offered a quick, careful nod. Their eyes were green, brighter than Veshan's blue, and they kept them mostly on the floor. Ezri's eyes went to Veth, then back.
KIRA: (gesturing) Please. Sit. We have water, tea, and a few Bajoran options Quark assured us were appropriate.
VESHAN: How thoughtful.
Veshan moved to the indicated chair. She did not sit immediately; she looked at it for a fractional moment first, then lowered herself into it.
VESHAN: I should say at the outset that we're grateful for the access arrangement. It's a small thing in itself, but it represents… well. It represents goodwill. Which is not nothing.
KIRA: It's a cultural exchange. Goodwill goes both ways.
VESHAN: Of course.
Reeve set his PADD on the table and slid it forward an inch.
REEVE: The system you'll be working with is the environmental modeling suite, the atmospheric prediction layer specifically. Beta deployment, station-side. You'll have read-access to the modeling outputs and the documentation for the inference framework. Not the underlying architecture. The boundary is documented in your packet, page seven.
DOREN: Page seven. Yes. (taps his PADD once) We have it.
REEVE: The access window is three days, station time. Lieutenant Sevek will be your liaison. Any questions about the framework go through her; she'll route what she can't answer.
DOREN: Understood.
REEVE: If there's a system anomaly during your work, you stop, you flag her, you wait. You don't troubleshoot.
VESHAN: Of course.
The second of course carried a small, pleased inflection. Reeve's PADD-tap paused for a fraction of a second. Then resumed. Ezri's eyes flicked to the PADD, then away.
VESHAN: Commander Reeve, I assure you, we have no interest in your architecture. We have our own atmospheric modeling. We were curious about the inference layer because the published results were (a small, pleased gesture) surprising. We thought there might be something to learn.
JULIAN: That's what the access is for.
VESHAN: Yes. Captain Bashir, I understand you led the framework design personally.
JULIAN: With a team.
VESHAN: Modestly put. We've read your medical work as well. The cellular regeneration paper from… was it 2374? An elegant approach.
JULIAN: Thank you.
VESHAN: It's unusual for a physician to translate so successfully into systems work. The cognitive flexibility required is… well. It's unusual.
Julian's head tilted a quarter-degree, and his answer arrived a beat slower. Miles glanced at Julian. So did Ezri.
JULIAN: It's a project I enjoy. The translation is less of a leap than it appears. Both domains reward the same kind of attention.
VESHAN: How interesting.
JULIAN: I think so.
Veshan smiled. Across the room, Ezri's fingers, folded in her lap, went a little more still.
Kira stepped in.
KIRA: Delegate, we'll let you get settled. Lieutenant Sevek will be by in twenty minutes with your access credentials and a tour of the modeling lab. If you need anything in the meantime, the comm panel is at your right hand. The replicator is calibrated to your dietary specifications; if anything's off, please let us know and we'll have it adjusted.
VESHAN: Thank you, Colonel. You've all been very gracious.
KIRA: Welcome to the station.
The five Starfleet officers withdrew. The door cycled closed behind them.
They walked three paces down the corridor before Miles spoke, quietly.
MILES: Gracious.
REEVE: (without looking up from his PADD) Mm.
MILES: Did you hear the bit about cognitive flexibility? I thought she was going to pat him on the head.
EZRI: (mild) She did, more or less.
Julian glanced at her.
JULIAN: The phrasing was a bit much, yes. I assumed it was a translation artifact.
Miles made a sound that wasn't quite a laugh.
MILES: Aye. Translation.
EZRI: It wasn't a translation artifact.
MILES: No?
EZRI: No.
Kira slowed at the junction.
KIRA: I want a word before you all scatter. Briefing room?
REEVE: Briefing room.
They turned the corner. Miles fell in beside Julian, hands loose behind his back.
MILES: I'll tell you what. I don't trust people who smile like that.
JULIAN: Like what?
MILES: Like they're doing you a favor by being in the room.
Julian's mouth tugged.
JULIAN: I'll take your word for it.
MILES: That's the right answer.
JULIAN: Is it?
MILES: It is.
They walked the rest of the way in silence. Behind them, in the conference room, the stasis lid on the catering tray hummed at its slightly lower pitch, and Veshan's hands stayed folded on the table, very still, while the door cycled closed.