< Ensigns Quarters Area - DS10 arrival T minus 5.25 hours >

Roberto went to his quarters he shared with another ensign, he hadn't
even learned the other guys name yet. The young man didn't offer it
just closed his locker and stood with his back to it when Roberto
entered. Like the guy thinks I'm some sort of criminal, thought
Roberto... he's not far from wrong. They exchanged greetings,
Roberto changed out of his blood stained uniform and into a clean
one, putting on some shorts underneath it. He didn't really have any
possessions as he had had nothing when taken to DS10 except some
civilian clothes.

the doctor wanted him to rest and then see him in almost 10 hours, he
hope Dr. Malari notified Lieutenant Kavek that O'Kay wasn't going to
be on the bridge when they arrived at DS10 in a bit more than 5
hours. He headed to the Hydroponics Gardens, he needed to try to
relax and rest. His metal barriers where up at full strength and he
was incredibly tense, he knew he needed to do something about it. He
kept telling himself it wasn't Roka Zantor he had seen, that it
couldn't be, but he was having a lot of trouble convincing himself.

< Hydroponics Gardens - DS10 arrival T minus 4.25 hours >

Roberto sat in a lotus position in the middle of the Gardens wearing
nothing but the shorts he had put on. The artificial sunlight for
the real plants always felt more comfortable to him than the entirely
artificial environments in the holodecks. He had sat that way with
his uniform folded besides him for almost an hour, meditating and
allowing his body to absorb the light.

He had actually started to relax, the barriers within his own mind
had slowly began to come down. He stretched both physically and
mentally, physically that felt better than it had, the doctor must
have removed some of the scarring of the muscles that the Syndicates
ships doctors never bothered with. It had been a long time since he
could relax like this, a long time.

But in this time and place he had no enemies hunting him, no causes
to stand up for, no responsibilities... no allies, no one to guard
his back, no need for them... the only problem was he had no love
either. What had happened to Takhisis, he figured he would have
known if she had died but he couldn't feel anything. Unless he had
locked that away from himself not wanting to know.

He stretched out his mind searchingly not really expecting to find
anything yet, in a technique taught to him by Takhisis. That's when
Tempest fell. Roberto didn't noticed until she let out her psychic
scream for help, it was directed of course, to who it had always been
directed at but Roberto had just spent an hour convincing himself
that man was no where close enough to help and he could ignore her
being in danger she was his Commanding Officer once again. Roberto's
mind snap back into itself and he staggered as he jumped to his feet.

He grabbed for his uniform and began pulling it on as he moved for
the exit. He fell on his face as he tried pulling on a boot and
running at the same time, this got some odd glances from a couple of
other people that had entered the gardens. Roberto got up finishing
pulling his boots on and ran for the Holodeck he now knew Tempest was
in.

< Maintenance Access Port 43F - DS10 arrival T minus 10 minutes >

Roberto had arrived at the Holodeck chamber just as the sickbay
response team was beaming directly to sickbay. It was out of his
hands now but he needed to know what was going on. He found an out
of the way maintenance access port to the ships computer.

It took a bit of hacking but he was able to access the holo receivers
in sickbay and watch the surgery on the ports screen. His desire to
know what was going on had caused him to also try psychically
monitoring what was going on. That's when he learned the man
operating on Tempest indeed Roka Zantor... and the same one he knew
not this realty and times Roka.

He had just barely touched Tempests mind it had been wild and
panicked until the Obdassian had contacted her. Roberto had
immediately withdrawn and once again his psychic shield was up at
full strength. It was the Roka he knew but there was something
wrong, as if parts were missing, Roberto couldn't put his mental
finger on exactly what it was but he would have to be incredible
careful from now on.
Ensign Roberto O'Kay
operations officer
USS Scoperta