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[Asyle 0]

::Standing outside of the Brig, Deck 27, at Camelot station's Main Security offices, just a few minutes after USS Union began disembarking::

 

"Would you please explain that to me again," Asyle told the guard who, in deference to her rank, physical stature, and curious choice of a red mini-skirted uniform from out of a museum, was patiently treating her with understanding.

 

"As I'm sure you are aware, your claim of being a 'Provisional' Ensign in Star Fleet is the issue. We've seen this before, and I'm sure if everything checks out with your ship's Security department, we can rectify the situation."

 

"Okay, what does that mean? Can't you just contact the Security Duty officer and he'll confirm that I am who I say I am?" She sat down, because she could tell that the guard was getting a little bit frustrated with the situation. There was more to this situation than he let on. Besides, she could use her long legs, crossed just so at the ankles, which seemed to ease his attitude towards her to her advantage.

 

He looked again at his data pad, which had Asyle's records she'd shown first to the Union's security people when she left the ship, and then to the Camelot's security people on her way into the station. "Please understand, these regulations we have to operate under on the station are more stringent than on the Excalibur. Your Provisional status applies for when you are under the command of your ship's personnel. A Provisional Status Reciprocal agreement has to be signed, especially since it says here that you have to have a security escort at all times."

 

She dropped almost all of her composure, disbelief overwhelming her previously joyful demeanor. "That's still in there?" The guard nodded, and turned the pad for her to see. She looked, and then her eyes closed, and her head dropped down to her chest.

 

"Furthermore, Provisional status is normally limited to six months. You were granted it, do you recall when?"

 

"I know that Mr. Garrison and Mr. Victria, our Security Officers...ah...interviewed me when I first was...brought to their attention." She remembered them playing 'Good Cop, Bad Cop' many months ago. "I remember getting a tracking chip implanted, as part of my being granted my being a Provisional Ensign, right back here," as she reached around and felt for it. It was gone.

 

Had it been so long ago, she wondered? The Satarimi and the peculiarly colored baby of the Zier's? She was remembering those days, when she had hated men on sight.

 

"Ms. Asyle, Star Fleet doesn't put tracking chips into our people permanently. They dissolve after six months." The guard was beginning to wonder what was going on here. Was this some attempt to plant a spy aboard the Camelot station by the Pakled? Come to think of it, he'd never seen a female Pakled. And her speech was nothing like the male Pakled's he'd heard.

 

The security console beeped, and the guard went over to check it. "A Security Report from DS9 has been found in your personnel file. It always takes a lot of time for these things to get through the firewalls and protocol converters. We've always had problems interfacing those Cardasian computer's with Federation. Do you know that they want to hold you for questioning?"

 

This was going from bad to worse. Her plans, long ago, had been join Star Fleet, not stow away on one of their ships. But things didn't turn out that way. So she went with the Guard into an interview room, and told her story about how she'd masqueraded as a male throughout her teens, entering and almost finishing engineering school, except for that damnable Ferengie's holosuite creating a male partner for her which exposed her being a female. She explained her being taken into captivity, and their subsequent attack by the Boganary, and how she used this opportunity to end her captivity and enable her escape.

 

The Ferengie and Pakled males, now there was a match. Their views of women were similar, up to a point. In 2375, Ishka, the mother of Quark, had become the wife of the Grand Nagus Zek, and that precipitated the reforms beginning the civil rights movement of women in Ferengi society. She'd followed them during her studies, always praying inwardly for a savior for 'her' people. Ishka was a hero unto the female Pakleds, if only they were half as good in business.

 

But they could be great engineers, and that would have to be their path to freedom. The guard interrupted her, "This is all very interesting, and from a personal point of view, I wish you the best for your gender in your home culture. But you know the Federation never gets involved in internal matters."

 

He continued, "All that matters now is what to do with you."

Edited August 31, 2009 by Asyle