Gaslight Hunter: The Adventures of Matt Maverick and Miss. Lynn Mei
Episode IV Interim II

The first thing I realized was that the music stopped playing. The second thing was that it was dark. I frowned and realized I had my eyes closed. I opened them.

Foster had a big silly grin on her face.

I closed my eyes again.

"Alright, Captain. Too late, I saw your pupils."

I said, "Wipe that silly grin off your face first. It's embarrassing enough that I momentarily lost consciousness."

Foster laughed, "You fainted, Chiita. The term is ‘fainted.’"

I opened my eyes again. Good grief! I saw holographic people staring down at me.

Foster smiled and said, "Hold still." She ran a biosensor over my head.

T'Irs was somewhere in the background. "Doctor --"

"Karen, T'Irs."

I could feel T'Irs mentally sighing. "Karen is my Husband, alright?"

Foster read the readings for a few seconds. "Nothing wrong, T'Irs. Unless you want to count the bruised ego and deflated pride?"

I looked over to T'Irs. Her face was expressionless to an untrained eye. I smiled and got up. "My ego is fine." I looked around. The holographic faces were still staring. I looked at them and said, "Do you mind?"

They all back away and went elsewhere.

"And your pride, is it okay?" Foster asked.

It wasn't. I'm not supposed to faint. Warriors don't faint we slip into unconsciousness. We enter into a trance. We regroup to strategize. But we never ever faint. "Still inflated. Thank you for asking though."

She saw through my bravado, chuckled, and started packing up her gear. She looked over at the table. "Then you two can finish -- your dinner."

I nodded as she stepped out the Holodeck. A second later we were alone again.

T'Irs stared at me for a few seconds.

"T'Irs, I am fine. Really."

She slowly sat down and on some unseen signal the music started back up again, this time 'Rhapsody in Blues'. A half dozen couples walked out onto the dance floor. The detail was great. Most of the couples were in their 60s, which is expected for a piece like Rhapsody.

I reached for my refilled glass and emptied it. "A date, huh?"

T'Irs nodded.

"And Starfleet Academy?"

She nodded again.

I drained the glass two more times. I was about to drain it a third time when I asked, "Any more surprises?"

"It can wait, My Husband."

T'Irs is not dumb, no, not by a long shot. Between the two of us I'm the mental midget here. "Maybe you should tell me now."

T'Irs thought about it for a moment, then said, "Did you receive anything from Starfleet Academy?"

I nodded. "It seems I'm an instructor. Particularly your instructor."

"I have a request to make."

I chuckled, "Really? You’re finally asking me for something?" I regretted that last remark the moment I said it. I sighed. “Sorry T’Irs. What’s the request?”

"Treat me like you would any other student."

"I don't even know what I am supposed to be teaching you. I'm a Captain, I'm not supposed to be brilliant in any one field --" and then it dawned on me. "T'Irs, I'm supposed to teach you Security?" Anything but that! I wished and if I was a religious man I would have prayed. I would have sacrificed Pok -- the thought almost made me laugh.

T'Irs said stoically, "Yes, My Husband."

I drained the glass again and buried my faces into my hands. I sighed deeply and tried to figure out what was happening.

T'Irs said with a bit of urgency in her voice, "My Husband, shall I call, Doc -- Karen again. Do you feel faint?"

I ran my fingers through my hair and then roughed it up. This was maddening and now I looked the part. I calmly said, "T'Irs, do you know what you’re asking?"

She nodded. "The incident on Daltopan was a determining factor in my final decision. I could do nothing but be a burden."

I said, "T'Irs, never!” And then I was out of my chair and on one knee. I put her hands into mine. “Don’t ever say that! Please. You will never be a burden to me. I love you with such intensity that I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you.”

T’Irs looked down at me. “Chiita,” she placed her hand on my cheek, “I – to feel the same way. However, logic reveals that I am a burden. I can not help you in a situation that requires swift and decisive action.”

“You did pretty well in that last adventure –“

“It was not real –“

“Are you’re doing this to prove something?”

“I’m doing this because it is logical. I want to be with my Husband when he is on a dangerous planet. I want to fight along side my Husband when he needs someone to protect that side.” Then I saw T’Irs get as exasperated as she has ever gotten. Anyone else would have missed it. They would not have noticed the small furrowing between her eyes as different then other times, or the earnest sound of her words that is almost never there. “My Husband, I do not want to be a burden and I want to be a contributing valuable member. I want you to be proud of me.”

Whoa! That hit me pretty hard. “T’Irs, I am proud of you.”

She stared into my eyes.

It took me long minutes to think about that. My wife, a security officer, “You know, T’Irs, you will have to follow orders. And one of those orders may require you to stay aboard the ship while I am on the surface.”

She continued to stare.

“You will be junior most on this ship, and that also means you will no longer have freedom.”

She hadn’t blinked yet.

“And I will have to treat you like any other crewmember on board the Johnson.”

She blinked once.

I stared back for several seconds. “And, one last thing, as an officer in Starfleet you may have to serve on a different ship one day. There is a chance that after you graduate you will be assigned off the Johnson, possibly on a ship halfway across the galaxy.”

That got her. She blinked several more times then said, “Chiita, parted from me and never parted. Never and always touching and touched. I will always be with you.”

I looked at T’Irs for a long time. I slowly got up and sat in my chair, suddenly tired. “T’Irs parted from me and never parted. Never and always touching and touched. I will always be with you.”

I did something I never thought I would do. I let a tear roll down my cheek. ‘Parted from me and never parted. Never and always touching and touched.’ I never understood that until that very moment.

The band played “Sentimental Journey” in the background and I was on a date with my Wife. What kind of neat fun was that?