Edra entered the Ready Room when the doors opened, carrying a PADD in her hands.  She’d written up her Duty Logs from the Motaba exposure.  Thank the Prophets it hadn’t been any worse, but that didn’t mean the progress it had made wasn’t bad enough.  “Reporting as ordered, Captain,” she said with a grin as the doors closed.  There was something amusing about the formality, but she did also attempt to lead by example when the crew was in view and/or a listening radius.

“Everything settling down? I had a few very anxious parents, not that I blame them.” He leaned back in the chair, still trying to shrug off his doubts about coincidences.

“It sounds like it, with some promises to keep them up to date on anything we find–relative to their kid’s health, I mean.”  She had made sure they all understood the nature of the virus, and how there was only so much she could say.  Most of them had close enough connections to intel to know how the game was played.  “Never been so glad that Karina was off on her school visit instead of here.”

He nodded in agreement, but sobered. “This galaxy is just too big for us, of all ships, of all fleets, of all times, to just happen upon a ship carrying motaba. I can’t shake it as an impossibility. So why now?”

She sat down, thinking about an answer as she did so.  “Has there been a shake-up in the organization?”  She paused before her next guess, knowing there was no answer with any surety, which made it more ominous.  “An attempt to get rid of everyone who knew anything?”

“That was my first thought. Someone cleaning up loose ends. That also means if it was intended to be us, someone knows we didn’t go up with the Volta.”

She considered his worry before answering.  “Well, as Captain, they probably knew you’d have no reason to be on the Volta.  But maybe they expected the virus to make the jump to here.”  An idea hit.  “We could feign being adrift to see if anyone shows up.  If you think we do have a target on our backs.”

His eyes rose to meet her and a small grin formed but he shook his head. “That sounds great and fun but we have kids onboard and I don’t want to invite more trouble for them. We need to be extra cautious for a while though.”

She nodded, only too ready to agree.  But what if they were the intended target?  No, she knew she had to stop herself going down that rabbit hole.  There wasn’t evidence that they had done anything more than come across an incident unrelated to them.  It was all circumstantial.  While the coincidence was hard to ignore, it wasn’t a certainty.  To escape the spiral her current thought process could easily take, she changed the subject, somewhat.  “I got a report from Medical.  Seals indicated that his testing found a significantly faster rate of incidence and development in the children than what had been known in adults.  It explains why they seemed to be the only victims, but there’s no indication currently that it was developed purposely for that result.  They are still doing some testing to see if that can be determined, though.”

“When he passes that final report to you, classify it and bury it on your desk, don’t report it up the chain.”

Her eyes slowly slipped from the PADD up to him.  “You either?”  It wasn’t that the report wasn’t disturbing.  It was.  But she had assumed he’d want to be kept abreast of anything that was found.

He considered it for a long silent moment. “Tell me about it, but don’t submit it to me.”

She nodded once, understanding his intent.  “Chance also reports that all the kids are back to 100%, and all other check-ups are clear.  There were only 2 cases in adults, and they were caught before any symptoms even showed up.”  She slipped a PADD to him, this one without any classified data.  “It appears as if one of the kids came into Sickbay at the same time as the samples.  We should have Engineering look at our containment fields.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. This could have been a hell of a lot worse but I’ll take a little dumb luck once in a while.” He stood and moved to the replicator to get a refill, glancing at her to see if she wanted something.

She absently watched him move across the room, jarred from her thoughts when she realized he was looking to her.  “Oh, ice water, please.”  Raktajino was probably the last thing she needed right now.  “Anything else about this on your mind?”

He filled their drinks and walked over to hand her the glass. “When will it end?” Slowly he sunk into the chair next to her. “It’s been awhile since we had to tangle with them, I almost thought I was out. And now it brings it all back to our doorstep.”

She nodded, having had the same thoughts since she saw the molecular structure on the PADD.  “Do you think this is a calling card?” she asked, looking over at him.  “Bringing you in for a job?  I’d have hoped they’d rather find some younger agent who feels the need to prove themself.”  She didn’t even care about the age inference in her comment.  Not when they were talking about missions that could mean life and death.

“I made it clear to them a long time ago that I was not interested. Right now, I’d rather assume this was targeted at us and keep our head on a swivel than disregard it and get blindsided. Unless there is a reason for us to drop them, I want shields up at all times. Let’s look at those containment fields like you mentioned. Security needs to be drilling more than usual. Better safe than sorry…or dead.”

She made some notes on her PADD.  “I’ll pass that on.  On a more normal note, some of our newest crew will be up for first-term reviews–Bowman, Seals, and Edwards.  I’ll be meeting with them soon.”

“I’ve been impressed with them thus far. Emma is also working out better than I’d hoped at OPS. Meet with her too if you have time. When I talked to her she wanted to be treated like everyone else.”

More notes on her PADD.  “You got it.”  She looked up.  “Anything else?”

He shook his head as he took a long sip of his drink. “I’ll let you know when I eventually remember something. That’s what happens when you get old.” His callback to her earlier statement about a more youthful agent was clearly teasing.

She grinned, picking up on his tone, and stood up to face him, propping herself against the desk but leaning forward.  “I…think Statzia can hold down the Bridge for a bit longer.  Don’t you?”  She raised a brow, with a slight mischievous light in her eyes.

“She’s very capable.” He set his glass down and closed the gap between them. “Computer, do not disturb.”