Memories Part 2: Spreading The Hope

Ark Compound:

Suddenly a large group of boys, made up of every Clan member that was at the Clan Compound, appeared in the middle of the main control room at the Ark Compound.

"Alright everyone, welcome to the Ark Compound," Nyo said loudly. "This is System control. If I could just have you guys hang here for a second I gotta turn a few systems on. We haven't had a chance to turn a few systems back on after we got Ark back up and running after the unexpected standby."

<Nyo I will need you to look at a few of my memory modules again. I have about four in bay two that are not responding completely.>

"I got it Nyo," said Stepan as he ran over to the supply closest and grabbed his tool kit. "I doubt these guys want to watch you repair memory modules."

Nyo was busy at the main system panel entering commands, "Thanks Step."

"I would." Cory replied.

Nyo looked up, "I would what?"

"I'd like to see how Ark's insides are set up." Cory replied. Before Nyo could reply, Sean and Danny chimed in with "Me too."

"Step do you mind a few tagalongs?" Nyo asked Stepan before Stepan got to the door.

"No that's fine," replied Stepan. "Just be warned that you'll have to do some crawling."

"Not a problem!" Cory replied with a grin. "It can't be much worse than a Jeffries Tube."

"Alright let's go then," said Stepan as he started out of the side entrance to System control. "I suppose this will be a tour of a different kind."

Cory, Sean, and Danny followed Stepan through the doorway. "Now this is going to be kewl; I've never walked inside an AI's 'head' before." Cory giggled.

"Don't get any ideas, blondie." Danny giggled. "This will be your only chance! Marc and I are NOT letting you anywhere near the insides of our heads!"

"Good choice Danny!" Sean giggled.

Stepan turned around and started walking backwards while giving Danny a strange look, "You're an android?"

Danny stopped and replied softly. "Yeah. That's not a problem is it?"

Stepan smiled and shook his head, "Nah it's not a problem, I just never would have guessed is all. I'd imagine that you've faced a lot of persecution because of it though; humans are stupid like that, always attacking what they don't understand. Just because someone is created in a different way doesn't make them any less of a person, it doesn't mean they don't have a soul. If that was the case then where would Nyo be in all of this? I hate the thought that someone might think less of him because he was created to be an engineer and is a sub-species created by humans; he's still a person and I love him. I'd hate it just as much if someone thought less of you. If you weren't a good person then you probably wouldn't be with this group."

Cory put his arm around Danny. "That's great; this is my brother and anyone that don't like him has to deal with me."

"Thanks guys; that means a lot to me." Danny replied with a smile. "Sometimes even I forget it lately; it's nice being around guys who don't care what you are, just who you are."

"Ah here we are," Stepan said as he turned back around and walked up to the door at the end of the hallway. "Memory bay two. Ark has three of these things; each one is a cubical square mile." Stepan opened the door and walked in, "First piece of advice I have for you guys when you follow me in here is don't look up, you might fall over." Stepan walked over to a small cart that was against the wall and hopped in while motioning for them to follow him.

"Dude, this is like a roller coaster car." Cory commented. "Good thing Sean didn't just eat!"

"Bite me Cor!" Sean replied. "That was ONE stupid ride already!"

"Your wish is my command." Cory said as he leaned over and began nibbling on Sean's ear. Danny took one look at them and commented "Get a room you two! Jeeeze!"

Stepan quickly sat down inside the car. "Hold on to something," Stepan started to say but before he could finish his comment the car shot straight up in the air three fourths of a mile and then shot sideways another half mile. After that the car came to sudden halt.

Cory looked over at Danny. "KEWL! The Tower of Terror ain't got NOTHING on this thing!"

Danny had a huge grin on his face. "Oh yeah; I gotta get one of these! That was awesome!"

Sean groaned from between them. "Thank God at least there are walls in here! You two need to get your heads examined if you thought that was fun."

"I'm actually with Sean on that one," said Stepan as he slowly got up and crawled into the hole that they had stopped at. "First time I got in this thing Ark didn't warn me what it did. Alright let's get moving, it's a ways in here."

"Finally; someone with sense." Sean commented as he staggered out of the car to the accompaniment of Cory and Danny's giggles.

"To think that I was just in here yesterday fixing every single one of these damn things," said Stepan. "Ark which ones again?"

<Keep going, I will tell you when you get there. It is memory modules 89, 132, and 783.>

"Jeez, that's a long way," said Stepan. "Well while we're crawling is there anything that we forgot to talk about?"

"Yeah." Cory replied. "That thing on your arm."

"This is a Phasenmorph," said Stepan. "It's a living weapon that attaches itself and then ties itself into it's user's lower brain functions. That allows for the Phasenmorph to communicate with it's user for fast reactions and for instructions on how it should attack. The Phasenmorph emits electrical blasts from the user's palm and those blasts vary in intensity depending on what the user told the Phasenmorph for a setting." Stepan stopped as they reached a junction and pulled out his handheld, "We take a left here. Anyway back to the Fuzzymore."

<Phasenmorph.>

"Right the Phasenmorph," continued Stepan. "Anyway, it also has an area of effect attack for multiple targets, which can be adjusted to avoid friendly targets. The Phasenmorph can also create a shield and reflect not only any kind of projectile but mental activity as well. It is also undetectable by any kind of security device and it can hide itself from sight if the user wishes. And a small side feature if you stroke it down it's spine it purrs and allows it's user to feel how good it feels."

Cory tilted his head. "Those sound pretty kewl. I might talk to Nyo about getting one."

"Actually when Nyo was talking to Sarek your clan was given approval for them to be used," replied Stepan. "So as soon as you think you're ready for one we'll get you one and give you the training that goes with it. Ark, are we there yet?"

<You still have a quarter of a mile to go.>

"Ah well screw that, just teleport us there already," said Stepan. "My hands will be raw if I have to crawl that far again."

Suddenly all four of them found themselves sitting in front of four very large color-coded modules.

"Much better, now which color," said Stepan as he stood up.

<Blue.>

Stepan nodded as he walked over to the blue module and pulled open the service door. Stepan set his tool kit down and started to crawl into the module, "Okay I can have one of you in here with me if you want to see what I'm doing, the other two will get to hand me tools. Who wants to do what?"

Cory nodded to Danny. "You can have first view bro; I'll help Sean handle the tools."

Danny started to crawl in behind Stepan. "Thanks Cor; I know what tool you want Sean to handle though. Wait until AFTER we are done to do that!"

Cory slapped at Danny's butt as he was crawling away. "You're just jealous!" he giggled.

As soon as Danny was in next to Stepan he began scanning the smaller units in front of him with his handheld. "This is the indexing unit here," Stepan said as he pointed to the unit he was scanning. "The one on its left is the power modulator and the one on the right is the index shifter. Ark said it was having trouble accessing the units but there is power to the entire unit so I think the problem might be with one of these guys." Stepan pointed to the display on his handheld and continued, "See this fluctuation here? It looks like the index shifter has a fused matrix. Cory! Sean! I want one of you to find a large lever on the top of this unit. I'd say to look for the one labeled power but it's in Founder so you can't read it. Luckily it's the largest lever there though so it should be easy to find. When ya do, pull it down."

"Got it!" Sean yelled back in. "Okay it's down. Cory, that is NOT a lever you perv!"

"Told ya!" Danny giggled to Stepan.

"Thanks Sean," replied Stepan. "Cory, take your hands off of THAT lever; that one is suppose to be up. Instead I want you to look in the tool kit that's out there and find the tool that looks like a Hyperspanner and pass it in here please."

"Sure thing Stepan." Cory replied with a giggle. A few seconds later he passed a tool in. "You mean this one, right?"

"Yep that's the one," said Stepan as he handed Danny his handheld and took the tool. "Unlike a Hyperspanner, though, this thing is used for repairing a power matrix." Stepan started running the device over the damaged index shifter, "Danny I want you to use that handheld and continue scanning the unit." Stepan stopped for a moment, "Actually hang on, Ark can you change the language on the handheld from Founder to English please?"

<Of course.>

Stepan looked over at the handheld and nodded, "Much better, now when the thing stops looking like spaghetti and starts looking like a straight line with a power index of 1.8 let me know." Stepan then continued running the device over the damaged index shifter.

Danny watched the display. After a minute he told Stepan "Slow down; it looks like it's beginning to even out. Okay; power index is almost there ... got it."

Stepan stopped and grinned, "Awesome, thanks Danny. Okay Sean you can flip the power back on and Cory you can play with that other lever now, both should be up at this point."

"He don't need encouragement!" Sean yelled back in. "Cory; he meant AFTER the power is turned back on! Jeeze, you are such a horndog today babe!" A few seconds later Sean called back in "Power's on! Ohhhhhhhhhh!"

Danny groaned. "Dude; I think we better sit in here for a few minutes. You HAD to tell him that, didn't you!"

"Oh come on, that's the sound of a happy teen," giggled Stepan. "I'll give you guys two minutes before I tell Ark to teleport us to the next module. I'm going to just run a few more checks here." Stepan took the handheld back from Danny and started running a few different power checks on the index shifter, "Looks like the shifter is back to a hundred percent. Ark, try and access this module."

<This module is working again, thank you Stepan. And thank you Danny for helping him.>

"Any time Ark; it was sweet seeing how your memory is set up. It's not too much different than the way my matrix is set up to access my memory indexes; it kind of makes sense." Danny responded.

<That is nice of you to say Danny; I suppose we are similar in a small way. I use a very different memory allocation system as well as a very different programming language.>

"We'll have to sit down and talk about it sometime Ark; I'm always interested in advanced technology." Danny replied.

"Alright, times up!" said Stepan. "Ark teleport us to the next module."

Instantly all four of them found themselves standing in front of another set of color-coded modules.

"These things all look the same after a while," said Stepan as he looked around. Stepan then looked up at Cory and giggled, "Cory wipe your mouth, I think you're the next up to help me out and I don't want that stuff coming off on the equipment."

Cory blushed from head to toe as he quickly leaned over and wiped his mouth on Sean's shirt sleeve.

"HEY!" Sean exclaimed. "Use your own shirt!"

"It was YOUR mess!" Cory replied with a giggle. "Stop whining; it'll wash out." Cory then turned to Stepan. "Okay, ready when you are."

Stepan grinned and shook his head, "I'll have to try that whole lever thing with Nyo some time. Okay back to work, Ark give me a color!"

<Red.>

"Fantastic," replied Stepan as he walked up to the red module and pulled open the panel. "So what are we looking at with this one?"

<Every time I try and access this module there is a power drain. I would try checking the power modulator.>

"Cool," said Stepan as he climbed into the memory module. "Cory when you come in bring the tool that looks like a screwdriver but has no tip."

Cory looked through the bag. "You mean the ultrasonic soldering iron Stepan?"

Stepan thought for a moment, "I suppose that would be it, the word I learned for it was Founder so that might be it's real name."

Cory pulled out the tool. "Okay; let's hit it." Cory replied as he grabbed the tool and followed Stepan into the bay.

Stepan took his handheld and began scanning a strange looking unit that seemed to be the central unit right in the middle of all the different units, "Yep, it's the power modulator; it's leaking energy actually. Sean, kill the power to this unit, same lever as last time just on this unit instead." Stepan traded Cory his handheld for the tool he asked for. "Cory I want you to keep track of the energy level, the power index, and the radiation level just to be safe. If any of them start to spike let me know right away. That'll let me know if there are more problems then I originally thought."

Cory looked over Stepan's shoulder as he opened the access door to the module. Cory followed his normal procedure and slowly swept the scanner over the area that was opened. As he reached the end of a sweep, the readings changed and he exclaimed "Stepan! Hold on a minute; step back, I think I found a secondary problem."

Stepan grinned, "Okay, what did you find?"

Cory slid up and zeroed in on the area which caused the errant readings. After taking readings from a few different angles he replied "It looks like a leaking waveguide; from what I can tell it's in the front column fourth row down. Ark; have you noticed any inconsistencies in the last month or so with the area that waveguide feeds?"

<That is hard to say, this is only one of over fifteen million memory modules in this bay. An inconsistency in just one would not cause enough of a problem to normally be noticed. With the amount of energy I use this could have been a problem for a while and there was no way for me to know until I tried to access this specific module.>

"Gee Ark, a simple yes or no might have worked better," giggled Stepan. "What do you recommend to fix this problem Cory?"

"Teach me Founder so I can read the label!" Cory giggled. "Seriously; the immediate problem is this waveguide. Fortunately it's a stub segment that can be removed to ease installation of a complete unit. We need to replace that before any other repairs have a chance of being successful. For long term, Ark needs some way to track power draw down each circuit so that a failure like this triggers a maintenance request before it breaks something else like this one did."

"For memory bay one it does actually," said Stepan. "But for memory bays two and three they never installed the needed equipment to track a power draw that far down."

<Nyo could not figure out how the Founders configured the original system, it is an amazing system but very hard to add anything to.>

"And be careful what you ask for or we really will teach you Founder," grinned Stepan. "Ark, go ahead and create a replacement part for us and get it in here. In the meantime I want you to set up the handheld so that when Cory hovers it over a label it reads in English. Later we can fix the problem of him not being able to read it on his own. Cory I'm going to switch places with you, I want you to do the repairs if that's okay with you."

<Stepan you have already replaced eighteen of these power modulators you are more...>

"Shut up Ark," Stepan quickly replied. "This way I get to see Cory work, he gets more hands on experience, and he's able to see how your systems integrate together better."

Cory switched places with Stepan. "Thanks bro." He looked at the label, which read 'aequus septem rus novem potentia exloco'. He held the scanner up to the label then announced "Ark; I need a stub waveguide for the level seven area nine power output feed from the power modulator."

<Very well Cory, standby.> Suddenly the part that Cory requested appeared in front of him. <Is there anything else?>

"If you have spare seals it would be a good idea to change them too." Cory replied seriously.

"We should already have a few extra seals in the tool kit," said Stepan. "Hey Sean or Danny, can you guys look in the tool kit and grab the divider that has a bunch of seals in it and then pass that in here please?"

"On its way." Sean replied. A few seconds later Danny passed the requested container into them.

Cory took the container and pulled out the proper seals. "Okay. Danny; get me the spanner for a three-inch nut."

Danny passed the spanner in, then Cory turned to Stepan. "We need to take the modulator completely down for this. Is that locally controlled or can Ark do it?"

"We need to do it actually," said Stepan. "Sean, behind you you'll see a large gray door that isn't part of a memory module. It's the main relay switch board. I want you to go over, pull the door open and look for the section that's colored red like this memory module. When you do look for the switch labeled 'obtineo' and switch it off. Let me know when you've done this."

It took a minute, but then Sean yelled back "It's off."

Cory took the scanner and went over the area. "Okay; that was it." he announced. He then proceeded to remove the old waveguide and seals; replacing them with the new parts. Once he was done double-checking the connections, he looked down the inside of the old waveguide. "Oh man!" he muttered. "Stepan; before we power up we need to replace the routing switch for this output. If it hasn't failed already it's gonna soon going by the arcs inside here." He then handed the waveguide to Stepan so he could look at it.

Stepan looked the waveguide over and agreed, "Yeah I think you're right. Ark can we get that part please." Again the part instantly appeared. "Thank you Ark."

<You are very welcome. Anything else?>

Cory took the part from Stepan and found its match in the left module rack. "Yes Ark; do you have the capability to run what I would consider a level three diagnostic on this entire circuit, including all connected equipment?"

<Not without Sean turning the main power back on. You can run that diagnostic through the handheld if you need it without the main being on.>

"Thanks Ark." Cory replied as he changed out the affected circuit. Once he was finished, he called to the boys outside. "Get ready to power us back up; but stand by the switch in case we need it shut off really fast." He then handed the scanner to Stepan. "Could you run the diagnostics real fast as soon as it comes up? I'm going to watch for anything that looks funny."

"Sure," said Stepan as he switched the mode on the handheld really quick. "Okay Sean, throw the switch."

Cory watched as the inputs came online. Once he was satisfied that nothing was visibly failing, he turned to Stepan. "It looks good physically; how are the readings?"

"It checks out one hundred percent," grinned, Stepan. "You did an awesome job Cory."

"I wouldn't speak yet." Cory responded as he closed up the unit. Once everything was buttoned up, he slid back. "Ark, please stand by to run diagnostics from your end as soon as it stabilizes. Sean, turn on the big switch; let's see how this baby does under load."

<Very well Cory, I am ready when you are.>

"Go for it Sean." Cory yelled.

<The module is functioning at one hundred percent. All systems are functioning like clockwork.>

"Thank you Ark" Cory replied with a smile. "I'll accept that compliment now, Stepan; thanks bro. I just don't trust anything until it is running. Ark, you might want to schedule this bank for daily diagnostics for the next couple of weeks just in case anything else was hurt. You might want to do a failure analysis on this part too to find out why it failed."

<Thank you for your help Cory. As to the reason, that I already know; it failed due to the power surge that occurred when I was forced into standby. I will keep an eye on it though as I have done for the last sixty thousand years. Now are we ready to move on to the last module?>

"Sure Ark," said Stepan. "Again, you did a really great job Cory and thanks so much for the help, I probably would have replaced the whole thing unless Ark wanted to walk me through all of that. I've only been an engineer for about a week."

<And he is learning fast I might add.>

"Well, you impressed me." Cory replied. "You can join me on projects any time you want; and if you get stuck on something give me a yell and I'll try to help you figure it out. The big secret to doing this kind of stuff is to know when you are in over your head and then finding someone or something to help you."

Stepan smiled, "Thanks Cory."

<Are we ready for the next module boys? I have work to do and I need that last module.>

"Ark, is someone going to die if you don't have it right now?" said Stepan.

<No.>

"Then chill, it will get fixed," replied Stepan. "And we're not Nyo. I've seen how fast he makes these repairs, please remember that I'm still learning and these guys are guests and can't read Founder."

<I am sorry for my impatience; I suppose I am not use to the activity that is going on elsewhere as it has been quiet here for a very long time. I just want to be prepared if I am needed. Now are you ready?>

"You know Ark; maybe you need to talk to Xain about a few rounds of three-d chess every once in a while as a diversion." Cory chuckled. "Let me put the tools away then we'll be ready."

<Now where would the fun in that be, I would always win. Now if you two took any longer to get out of that module then Nyo would be physically as old as me, please move faster.>

Stepan shook his head and climbed out of the memory module, "Yes mother."

Sean giggled as Cory was following Stepan out. "You know Ark; you wouldn't be so cranky if you got la..."

"SEAN!" Cory exclaimed with a giggle. "Don't even go there!"

<Are you offering Sean? By Dmitry standards you are very cute and after watching Stepan and Nyo try a few things last night I...>

"ARK!" shouted Stepan. "You're just as bad as he is! Teleport us already!"

<That was for the mother comment. And it also seemed to prompt you to finish getting ready.> Again all four of them found themselves standing in front of another set of memory modules. <The color this time is yellow.>

Stepan walked over to the yellow module and pulled open the panel, "Thanks Ark. Okay, Sean you're up."

"That's beside the point!" Sean giggled. "But if you mean it's my turn to share a little compartment with you then ..."

"SEAN! Unless you wanna sleep with the eagles get your mind outta the gutter and get to work!" Cory exclaimed.

"Jeeze Sean; you're worse than Cory" Danny muttered.

Stepan just rolled his eyes and, with his handheld in hand, climbed into the yellow module, "Kill the power before you come in here Sean."

Sean reached up and pulled the switch. "Okay; it's off and I'm coming in." Sean announced as he began to crawl into the chamber.

"Ark, what problem are you having with this one?" asked Stepan.

<I am having a problem accessing the...>

"Indexing unit," Stepan said completing Ark's answer.

<How did you know that?>

"Well umm this is kind of strange but Ark who was the last one to work on this module," said Stepan.

<You were actually.>

Stepan suddenly blushed, "Oh sorry, umm the reason you can't access the indexing unit is because I forgot to put it back in."

"And that is why blond engineers are so rare." Sean chuckled. "Seriously, that is the problem with rushing someone Ark; they make mistakes which can range from something simple like this to something that could get someone killed."

<Actually Sean, this is the unit that Stepan and Nyo were working on when I pulled the both of them away to inform them that the Clan members that were off planet were coming back a few days early. And in that sense I could blame you if I wanted to point fingers. But seeing that a memory module not working does not put anyone at risk it does not matter. Stepan I will give you the part, please place it back into the module.>

"I see your point Ark." Sean replied as he watched Stepan. "I was just making the same point that Cory has drilled into my head; if you have to make a repair in a hurry then someone needs to go back and verify everything was done either right away or as soon as possible."

<I would agree that it is a good policy to have.>

Stepan held the new unit in its place and asked, "Sean could you hold that in place for me while I attach this thing? After it's in place if you can help me with reattaching all of the input and output cables that would be great."

"Sure." Sean replied. "It looks like these are all keyed different; it should not be too bad hooking them all up." he added as he reached up with his free hand and started on the connections furthest from Stepan.

"Yeah, these Founders seemed to want to make replacing these things pretty easy," said Stepan. "So if Cory is into engineering, what are you into?"

"I'm pretty much the head pilot and the Clan Historian." Sean replied. "I seem to remember everything about the guy's history, so I'm the one who gets to fill in new guys."

"That sounds like a pretty daunting task," said Stepan. "But everyone's history is important, after all it's what defines us and helps to mold us into who we are. While I can say there are a few weeks from my past I'd rather just omit, if I had to give up what I learned from it and everything else I got out of it in the end then I think I'd rather live with that past. I like who I am and how my life has turned out now."

Sean nodded. "A lot of the guys can say the same thing; there have been nights Cory had to just hold me until I finally fell asleep after hearing what they went through. There are times I've wished I had a button I could push to make anyone who abuses or tortures a kid just disappear forever."

"If you ever find that button then push it and set a rock on it to keep it pressed," replied Stepan. "Okay I think I have everything on this side secure. How is your side looking?"

"Last one." Sean replied. "Let me make sure none of them popped loose, then this side is ready."

Stepan took his handheld and began scanning the half that he worked on, "This sides ready to go."

"Same here." Sean answered. "Let's get this thing online."

Stepan quickly ran his handheld over Sean's half before calling out, "Cory or Danny, could one of you turn the power back on?"

"Sure thing Stepan; it's Danny's move at chess anyways!" Cory giggled. "Power on!" he announced a few seconds later.

"Awesome, everything looks good," said Stepan. "Ark what do you say?"

<The module is running at one hundred percent.>

"Cool," grinned, Stepan. "Okay, we're done Sean." Stepan carefully climbed back out of the module and gave Cory a funny look, "Chess?"

Cory giggled. "Yeah; Danny and I have a running game going. We keep it on our Padds and sync them after each move."

"So who's winning?" asked Stepan.

Danny chuckled. "Me. Fourteen games to twelve; Cory's actually a pretty decent player."

"Well good, he's doing his part to make us blonds look better," replied Stepan. "So do you guys want the half baked Stepan tour or would you like to just go meet up with everyone else?"

Cory looked over to Sean and Danny. Their looks told him they were thinking the same as him. "Let's take the tour; if the guys need us Ark will know where we are at."

"Okay, I'll do my best then," said Stepan. "Ark can you take us to..."

<I will only take you to just outside of memory bay two, which is where you came in at. You must walk the rest of the way; that is why you have legs after all.>

Stepan giggled, "That would be fine Ark, actually that puts us not too far from the core so we can start there."

Suddenly the boys found themselves standing in the hall just outside of memory bay two.

"Well don't waste any time or anything Ark," grinned, Stepan as he started off down the hall. "Okay guys, this way. I'm going to give you a bit of a work out and walk faster then I normally would or we'll never get there."

"No problem." Cory replied. "I need some exercise anyways."

"I'm going to take you guys to the core first, then we'll hit the System control room, the Security room, Medical bay, and then the Phasenmorph room is the last one room that I've visited myself other then the living area," said Stepan. "If you want to see the other areas we'll have to have Nyo finish up later."

"Sounds good; let's hit it." Cory said with a grin.

 

A half hour later:

Cory came to a sudden stop as they finished the tour and entered the Phasenmorph Room. The sounds of giggles echoed through the room as he saw every kid under the age of eight had climbed into one of the pools. "It sounds like the little guys are having fun!" he said to Stepan.

Suddenly Stepan looked worried, "Where's Nyo? Is anyone watching this zoo?"

"This isn't a zoo Stepan!" shouted Dmitry. "It's the Fuzzymore room and we're keeping all the Fuzzymores happy!"

"Stepan? Is that you?" said Dominic. "Help me! Dmitry's bouncing all over the place! I can't keep him still!"

Danny giggled. "Good luck; if that's not a sugar high I'm losing my memory. I'd say he's got a really good one going too!"

Nyo walked over from the side of the Phasenmorph pool, "Hey guys, welcome to the 'morph room. I hope you guys weren't bored to tears helping Step with repairs."

"Not at all." Cory replied. "You might want to plan on some extra work though; from what Ark said a recent shutdown is what took out one of the power modulators. Stepan and I found one of the stub waveguides arced through either on the shutdown or on powerup."

"He means to say that HE found it and repaired it," said Stepan. "I just supervised."

Nyo gave Stepan a 'yeah right' look before turning back to Cory, "Actually I'm not surprised that you found something like that, this equipment is meant to never be shut down. And if it is shut down then it has to be drained of its energy first. We will probably start running scans on memory bays two and three manually as soon as we get the time and I actually already have memory bay one doing a self scan."

"That particular circuit should be stable." Cory added. "We replaced the routing switch just in case it was damaged by the surge."

<Nyo, Cory really did do the repairs. Stepan just assisted him. I am actually very impressed that he knew enough to look for such problems.>

"Well Cory is an engineer, and a really good one from what I've read so I guess I shouldn't be surprised," said Nyo as he spotted something on Sean's shirt. "Sean did you get something on your shirt? You got a small spot of something on your sleeve."

"You don't wanna know!" Danny giggled as both Sean and Cory blushed deeply. "Just remember not to leave these two alone together outside a memory bay while you are working!"

"What do you mea...oh...OHH," Nyo said almost in shock but then he grinned as he realized what Danny meant. "Sounds like you guys need more practice if you leave any trace behind."

"What are the kids doing?" Cory quickly asked in an attempt to change the subject.

"They're petting Phasenmorphs," replied Nyo. "I don't know who's having more fun, the kids or the Phasenmorphs. I just hope we'll be able to get them out of the pool later."

"Yeah I want to see you try attempting that Nyo," said Stepan.

"Whys that?" Sean asked.

"Matty was down here earlier when Tyne and Rusty came down for the Vifer procedure," replied Stepan. "Every time I tried to get him out of the pool he wouldn't stop petting them so they didn't want to let him go. I had to wait till they were all distracted."

"Most of the kids better remember that they can't take one home," Nyo said seriously. "Only the older kids that are ready can have one, and they'll need training before they leave."

"I think the one you need to worry about most is Timmy; even if one don't attach to him he's gonna want to take one home anyways." Cory said with a grin. "I'll bet ya before we leave he's begging you to put a Phasenmorph pool in at CIC."

"That's not a bad idea." Nyo replied. "Considering how many you are going to have there, it could be useful."

Suddenly Tyne, Rusty, Kyle, and Tyler appeared a few feet away from Nyo.

"Hey guys," said Nyo. "Did everything go okay?"

Tyne grinned, "Kyle's a very fast learner, he picked up on most of the techniques ten times faster then I did when I was his age. Although I have a sneaky suspicion that having Tyler there may have helped him a little. Kyle shouldn't have any trouble focusing now, and the problem he was having before shouldn't ever be an issue again."

"Awesome," replied Nyo. "Well come on in and join the fun. The Fuzzymores are having a blast."

<They are Phasenmorphs; how many times do I have to say it?>

Kyle walked over to the pool where the boys were playing. "Hey guys, you having fun?"

Timmy looked over and grinned. "Yeah Unca Kyle; these Fuzzymores are kewl!"

Kyle stuck his arm in the water to see if one would come over so that he could pet it. Suddenly all the Phasenmorphs squealed and quickly swam to the back of the pool as far away from Kyle's arm as they could get.

"Don't take it personal Kyle," said Tyne as he came over to stand next to Kyle. "They don't like Founders, we scare them."

"How did you get one then?" Kyle replied as he tried to avoid the dirty looks all of the little ones were giving him.

"Let me try something," Tyne said has he stuck his arm, Phasenmorph and all, into the pool. "I'll see if I can get them to calm down. Squirmy should be able to let them know that we won't hurt them." After a few seconds the Phasenmorphs carefully came away from the back of the pool and swam up to Tyne's arm. They rubbed against Squirmy a few times and then very cautiously swam up to Kyle's arm and started rubbing against it. "There, that's better."

"What are they doing?" Kyle asked.

"They're getting to know you," replied Tyne. "Normally they'll do that to get a sense of what kind of person you are and then they decide which one of them would be best suited for you. It's up to Nyo though if you're allowed to have one though. You can pet them if you want to now."

As Kyle was getting to know the Phasenmorphs, Cory and Nyo walked up behind them. "What do you think, Nyo?" Cory asked. "It's up to you if Kyle gets a Phasenmorph; I don't have any objections, especially seeing as he is a Founder."

"You know him better then I do," said Nyo. "Do you think he is responsible enough to have one? It's not a pet, it is a weapon. Let me put it this way, would you trust him to keep a Phaser? If you can honestly say yes and mean it then he can have one."

"I know I do." Cory replied. "But if you put it that way there is only one person on my side who can make that call." Cory looked around the room until he found who he was looking for. "JJ! I need you a minute bro!"

JJ came running over. "What's up Cor?"

Cory nodded at Nyo. "Nyo makes the decisions regarding issuing Phasenmorphs. He just set a condition of us having to be comfortable giving someone a phaser to carry before he'll consider it. That is your area, so I'll let you be responsible for the final approval from now on. Is Kyle ready to handle carrying a deadly weapon safely?"

JJ smiled. "He's fully qualified; I just was waiting until we got back home to issue him one. He's a crack shot too; especially with randomly moving targets. I approve him Nyo."

"Well then he can have one, but you have to ask him if wants one," said Nyo. "It's not a weapon you can just set down when you go to bed; it stays on your arm unless you have a pool for it."

"I DO have ears guys!" Kyle announced. "Yes, I would like one! Jeeeze, you think next time you could at least TRY to get out of hearing before you discuss someone!"

Nyo giggled, "Sorry Kyle."

"Kyle," Tyne whispered softly as he pointed towards the water. "Look, I think that one likes you. He keeps coming back up to you and hanging around for a long time."

"Okay! What do I do?" Kyle replied with a grin.

"Just a second, he keeps asking Squirmy if it's okay," said Tyne. "They know that Nyo needs to give the okay first. Do you want me to tell him it's okay? If I do he's gonna crawl up your arm."

"Sure!" Kyle replied.

JJ leaned over to Nyo and asked softly. "Since you're going to have to train Kyle, what do you think about Cory, Sean, Danny, and me getting ours now? I know I'd sleep better knowing Cory had one."

"We can't do Danny but you, Cory, and Sean can get one now if you'd like," replied Nyo. "A Phasenmorph wouldn't be compatible with Danny; they would end up hurting each other. I'll have to get with someone that knows Danny's systems better then I do and work out maybe making a special 'morph for him."

"That makes sense." Danny commented. "Marc has the specs for my interface saved on the terminals at the house in South Carolina; Ark can get them for you from there and we can sit down later and sort it out."

"That would work for me." JJ replied. "We'll wait until Kyle is done though; this is his day to be special."

Cory reached down and squeezed Kyle's shoulder. "Yeah; today I found out that my little bro is even more special than any of us thought. Someday I think we'll all look back on this day and smile knowing that it was the day Kyle finally saw his purpose in life."

Kyle giggled. "Thanks bro; but do me a favor. Don't go trying to predict the future; that job goes to Tyne and me!"

"Tyne go ahead and tell the Phasenmorph that it's ok," grinned, Nyo. "Kyle when the Phasenmorph is finally on your arm, lift your arm out of the water and hold it level so he doesn't have a hard time attaching. He'll make your arm a little numb first before he does."

"A little numb?" said Tyne. "Yeah what he means is that you won't feel your arm for about ten minutes."

"He's just still angry that he was the test subject," said Nyo.

"Maybe," said Tyne as he tilted his head, "Okay, hold still for a second Kyle."

Suddenly the Phasenmorph that had been waiting at Kyle's arm slowly began to wrap its arms and legs around his arm and lift itself out of the pool.

Kyle giggled. "That looks soooo weird!" Kyle lifted his arm, then commented "Dude! My arm's going as numb as Sean's head before breakfast!"

"Watch it munchkin; I know your tickle spots!" Sean replied with a smile.

The Phasenmorph continued rubbing the tips of its arms and legs on Kyle's arm and then after a few seconds its tips became sharp and it plunged its arms, legs, and tail into Kyle's arm quickly securing itself as fast as it could.

"Well now he has a different kinda tickle spot," mumbled Dmitry. "Pet a guys 'morph and they go all funny on ya."

"Let's test that theory," said Dominic as he picked up Dmitry's arm and quickly began stroking his Phasenmorph down its spine.

Dmitry sighed contently, "Tha...tha...that feels gooood."

Adam joined them and giggled at the look on Dmitry's face. "Dude! I can't wait to make you make faces like that JJ!"

JJ turned to Nyo. "You know, I think my life partner is asking for one too, don't you?"

"Yeah, in fact why don't you go next Adam," grinned, Nyo.

Adam looked around the group in shock. "Whaaa..."

Cory smiled. "You heard Nyo. You're next Bro; if him and JJ agree then it's a done deal."

Adam came to his senses enough to respond. "Cory and JJ need to go before me; what if I get the one they were supposed to get?"

"Adam, the only thing that'll happen if you go first is you'll get the Phasenmorph that YOU are supposed to get," said Nyo. "Don't worry about Cory and JJ, or Sean for that matter, getting the right one because only the 'morphs know who should go to who and they don't know until you stick your arm in what kind of person you are anyway."

"C'mon Adam; hurry up. It's kewl; Fuzzy don't hurt at all!" Kyle urged.

"Fuzzy?" Adam asked in confusion.

Kyle giggled. "My Phasenmorph silly. His full name is Fuzzy More Richardson. Hurry up, really it don't hurt bro."

<The names that all of you come up with baffle me sometimes. I think Nyo has the most normal name for his Phasenmorph out of all of them and even that name still confuses me.>

"Hey Phil is a normal name," said Nyo.

<That is what confuses me.>

"Tyne; by any chance was Ark's base personality based on a blond?" Sean giggled. "HEY, I was just kidding!" he exclaimed as he was attacked from multiple sides.

<Say Sean, go ahead and stick your arm into pool five instead of pool six.>

"Hey that's not funny Ark," said Nyo. "Adam, go ahead and stick your arm into the pool already."

Adam gave Sean one extra slap for good measure then stuck his arm into the pool. As the Phasenmorphs were trying to sort out which one was most fitting, Sean asked "What would happen if I had done what Ark said?"

"The original Phasenmorph didn't have a very powerful numbing agent," replied Nyo. "If you stick your arm into one of the other tanks you'll get a Phasenmorph but you'll be able to feel most of what he does when he attaches himself. I currently have a special chemical in the other tanks that is changing that so we'll be able to use them later but for now they aren't ready unless you want the pain."

Sean shook his head. "No thanks; I carry enough pain up here." he replied while pointing to his head. "Every single thing I know about everyone in the Clan before they were rescued."

"That's why I didn't want any of you near the other tanks," said Nyo. "All of you have been through enough as it is; you don't need any more memories of pain."

<Now that one is climbing your arm Adam, lift your arm out of the water please.>

"Thanks Ark." Adam replied as he lifted his arm. "This ain't that bad; my arm just feels like it's asleep. I'm used to that when one of the munchkins falls asleep on it."

Adam's Phasenmorph then quickly attached itself and got comfortable.

"Oh hey I recognize that 'morph," said Nyo as he stepped up to Adam and show him his Phasenmorph. "See how your 'morph has very similar markings to Phil here? You have Phil's brother!"

Adam grinned. "Awesome! You know; he's kinda marked like a cat I had when I was a little kid. Mom named the cat 'Chuck' because it was always chasing woodchucks. I think I'll call him Chuck."

"Cool name," said Nyo. "And it makes sense."

<Nyo, please go check on tank number three, the pH levels are off.>

Nyo frowned and hurried over to tank three, "Thanks Ark. Do you know why the levels are off?"

<I was not watching the tank but the mass of one of them decreased and another smaller mass entered the pool.>

Nyo looked over the Phasenmorphs in the tank and when he found what he was looking for he grinned, "Everything's fine Ark, it's just a baby 'morph. I didn't know any of them were due yet, must just be a little early."

<Make sure you keep him away from the younger children please.>

"I will Ark," said Nyo as he stuck his arm into the tank and had Phil send out a signal. Instantly the baby Phasenmorph came swimming over to Nyo's arm and rubbed up against Phil, "Hey little guy, how are ya doing?" Nyo tilted his head and a few seconds later the baby Phasenmorph crawled up onto Phil's back. Nyo lifted his arm out of the water and then pulled out his handheld, "Let me just check your numbing agent levels." Nyo ran his handheld over the baby Phasenmorph and then smiled, "You check out just fine little guy. Let's go show you off." Nyo walked back over to the group grinning like a mad man, "Look everyone, it's a baby 'morph!"

"Awwww!" was the unanimous response as everyone inspected the little creature. Matty climbed out of the pool, a Phasenmorph resting securely on his arm as he petted it. "He's a cute baby. Can he come in and play with us too?" Matty asked as he looked over the new arrival.

"I'm sorry Matty but I can't let him in the pool with you," replied Nyo. "He's young enough that he might decide he likes one of you younger guys too much. You guys can pet him if you want to but he has to stay on my arm on Phil's back."

Cory giggled as the kids started lining up behind Matty to see the new arrival. "Hey Nyo; since the other 'morphs are taking a break from being petted, would it confuse them if all three of us put our arms in at once?"

"Nah, that's fine Cory; go ahead." said Nyo. "The 'morphs can take it."

Cory, Sean and JJ all leaned over the pool and stuck an arm in. Timmy sat on the edge watching carefully as each of them was selected by a Phasenmorph. "Wow; that's awesome!" he whispered.

"Yeah;" Matty replied as he took a seat by Timmy. "When I'm a big boy I'm gonna get one too." Matty added as he petted the Phasenmorph cradled in his lap.

<I do not see how you boys can think that a Phasenmorph is cute or fun. They are slimy when in water, rubbery when dry, and most of them are different shades of gray.>

"Actually Ark, I think that one Cory's got mounting him has a very pretty streak of blue in it," commented Tyne.

"You're right; he's awesome looking!" Cory replied. "It looks like he's got a goatee! I think he's gonna be called 'Bluebeard'."

<That poor Phasenmorph.>

"Hey, be quiet Ark," said Nyo. "If you could wear a Fuzzymore you'd name yours too!"

<P-h-a-s-e-n-m-o-r-p-h, say it with me, Phasenmorph.>

"Fuzzy More Richardson!" Kyle managed to get out with a straight face before breaking into giggles.

JJ shook his head. "You're a nut little bro!" He then looked over the Phasenmorph attaching itself to his arm. "Mine is marked like he snuck into the hair gel! I'm gonna call him Spike."

Sean smiled. "Kewl name; mine's not marked weird but he's still sweet. I'm just gonna call him Mick."

<Mick?>

"Yeah." Sean replied. "It's another nickname for Michael; I picked it up visiting Australia. It's kinda in memory of our brother."

<That is a good name then. Finally a name I can agree on for meaning and reason behind it.>

"Awesome names guys," said Nyo. "You know, if this little 'morph was purring any more then it is right now I think it would vibrate right off my arm."

Timmy stood up and moved to stand behind 'Roo, who was the last one of the boys other than Timmy to greet the new Phasenmorph. As 'Roo finished, Timmy stepped forward and began petting the little Phasenmorph. "He's cute!"

"Isn't he? He's one of the few I've seen that has a little bit of a faded red in him," grinned, Nyo "I think that's a little bit of teal around the edges of the red too."

<Phasenmorphs do not normally have teal or red in them unless they have higher brain functions then most other Phasenmorphs. Back when they were first created they would actually kill off these ones because they thought it was over stepping its role as a weapon by having these higher brain functions and the soldier at the time didn't want a weapon that they could hold a conversation with.>

Nyo whispered, "Don't tell anyone but Phil says to tell you that this little guy really likes you Timmy. He says that you're much gentler then some of the other boys, you have a good heart, and a good sense of right and wrong." Then Nyo got even quieter, "I think he's made up his mind that if he can't have you now then he'll wait for you."

Timmy smiled. "It's okay Kitisci Lhaamin; when the time is right we will be joined."

<Red one? Well that makes two names that fit its intended Phasenmorph in one day. That is a record.>

JJ looked at Timmy, then thought for a minute. "Soaring Eagle; what message has the Great Spirit put in your heart?"

Timmy faced JJ as he replied seriously. "The Silver one is wise. In his heart he knows the answer."

JJ nodded then turned to Nyo. "I'm pretty sure I don't need to fill you in about Timmy, Nyo. You have the ball; do whatever you think is right in your heart."

Nyo looked around to make sure none of the other younger kids were watching before he replied softly, "Timmy if I give him to you will you take care of him? He's not like normal animals, he's a weapon; you have to be careful how you use him. Also, this 'morph is special. Like Ark just said, 'morphs with these colors tend to have more brain functions and can actually think. I can tell you after my quick scan that it's true for this little guy as he was aware of what I was doing to him without me telling Phil to let him know." Nyo paused for a moment and thought, "If I give him to you I need you to promise me that you'll take good care of him because he is young, just like you are. I also want you to promise me that you won't try and make the others that can't have a 'morph yet jealous. If you can make those two promises then I'll let you have him now, if you don't think you can then I'll save him for you for later."

Timmy glanced over to where Ricky was talking to the new kids. He closed his eyes for a second, and then smiled as he re-opened them. "Ricky is explaining to the new guys about him and me. He's tellin' them about how William and Duke picked us to be braves and that Red would be like my bow and arrow I would have carried a long time ago. Ricky says not to worry about him; when it is his time to get one it'll appear. I promise to take care of Kitisci Lhaamin; he is a gift of the Great Spirit, one that I must take care of out of respect."

"Which arm?" asked Nyo. "Which arm do you want him on?"

Timmy thought seriously. "My left arm; the right side is William's."

Nyo nodded as he lifted the little Phasenmorph off of Phil's back, gently took hold of Timmy's left arm, and carefully set it on Timmy's arm. "Be careful with him little Red," Nyo said to the Phasenmorph. "He's little too." The Phasenmorph gave a short, soft purr as it got comfortable on Timmy's arm and began rubbing its arms and legs on several spots on Timmy's arm. As soon as it was sure Timmy's arm was numb it quickly attached itself and began purring contently.

Timmy giggled a few seconds later. "Red likes his name!" He then softly petted his new friend as he sat down on the edge of the pool.

<Nyo, you just gave a biological energy weapon to a six year old human; have you lost your sanity?>

"I think everything will be fine Ark, just relax," said Nyo. "Timmy is responsible enough and really does have a good sense of right and wrong. And as a safety net with his Phasenmorph being able to think on its own that means it has the ability to say no if it doesn't think Timmy's decision is the right one."

<Very well but I want this brought up to the Council when we are done reforming it.>

"Reforming it?" Tyne said when he heard the Council mentioned.

<Well it seems like the right action to take. You are the Seer, Nyo is the Archivist, now you just need to fill in the other positions.>

"I want Rusty and Kyle on it if they'll agree," Tyne said almost instantly. "And if Cyna will take his post as Hand of the Seer then I want him on it too."

<Actually Cyna was the one that suggested the Council being reformed so I expect him to take his old position. And if he does not then I will give him what for. You should ask the other two yourself though.>

Rusty leaned over and planted a wet kiss on Tyne's lips. "You better believe it cutie; I'll do almost anything you want. Just let me know what to do."

Kyle just nodded. "I guess since you, me and Cyna are the only Founders left it makes sense that the three of us be on the Council. I accept."

<May I suggest positions for them?>

"Sure Ark, suggest away and I'll tell you if I agree," replied Tyne.

<I suggest making Kyle the Council Nitor and making Rusty the Council Cautela.>

"Give Kyle Intelligence and give Rusty Security, huh?" said Tyne. "What do you guys think? Is that okay with you?"

"Only if it means I can 'frisk' you for a 'weapon'." Rusty whispered suggestively to Tyne. He then raised his voice so everyone else could hear. "That sounds great Babe."

Kyle giggled at Rusty's antics. "Works for me, Tyne."

Tyne grinned and pulled Rusty into a hug, "You can frisk me any time you want...unless your parents are in the room."

"Hey Tyne, do you have a position on the Council for an engineer?" asked Stepan.

<There is a position for Council Crafter but you are not qualified to be a Crafter Stepan.>

"Gee Ark, when did you change your name to Tyne?" giggled Stepan. "I just meant that I have someone that I'd like to nominate for the position is all." Stepan turned to Cory and grinned.

Cory smiled. "Thanks for the offer Stepan, but I'm not a Crafter either."

Suddenly a few feet away one of the computer consoles that was used for mapping genetics came to life and a holographic image of a fourteen year old boy with bright purple hair and teal robes appeared floating just above the controls.

"There that's better," said Cyna. "You wouldn't believe what one has to go through to re-sequence this thing to display me instead of models of DNA."

Tyne took one look at Cyna's hair and bust out laughing, "Purple!"

"It matches my eyes...sort of. Hi everyone I don't really know, I'm Cyna," grinned Cyna. "Now to the reason that I did this; Cory do you know what a Crafter is?"

"Not really." Cory replied. "But I do know that I want some of that hair dye; that looks awesome!"

"Thanks," said Cyna. "Tyne doesn't really like it that much but it keeps me entertained. Anyway, a Crafter is a mix between what you know as an engineer and a programmer. Now from what I understand for a while in the last forty years the two separated again in your world but as you get into things like starships the two once again become one. A Crafter is a master of hardware and software and knows how they interact like the back of his own hand. Now Stepan got to see you at work but what Stepan and Tyne don't know is what record you have and exactly what position you hold outside of all of this with Starfleet. If you can qualify as an engineer in Starfleet at such a young age then you can easily qualify as a Crafter."

"Thanks Cyna; I guess I am then going by that." Cory replied. "The thing about that is I'm just doing stuff I have fun with. Hey; have you ever thought about trying some of those glitter sparkles? I think the red pearl ones would look sweet with that purple."

"Hey! Stop that!" said Tyne. "He doesn't need glitter sparkles! You know I miss when his hair was brown, now it's every color in the rainbow depending on the day or hour."

Cory giggled. "It's a Crafter thing; you wouldn't understand."

Sean groaned. "See what I gotta live with Tyne?"

"Well if he's agreeing with Cyna on hair then I know what you're living with," replied Tyne. "Cyna was my Socius. At least he didn't do the hair thing when he still had a body."

"Well someone was keeping my body busy when I had free time," grinned, Cyna. "I don't remember ever having the time to dye my hair."

"I know what you mean." Cory giggled. "If Tyne was half as good as Sean your free time was very well spent."

Tyne blushed, "No comment."

"Hey look Rusty, Tyne matches your hair now!" smiled Cyna. "Anyway, so we have most of the Council figured out. We still need people for Ambassador, Medicus, Scientia, Ingenium, and Logistics. They don't need to all be filled at once though; we have enough that a Council can be held if it needs to be."

Cory smiled. "I might have an answer for one of them. I know of a trained Diplomat who would make the perfect Ambassador; Xain. That's him over there with Justy discussing work when they are supposed to be relaxing."

"He's a Vulcan right? I've read about them," said Cyna. "So brilliant. So logical. So pointy."

"He's working!" said Nyo. "We can't have that, someone go pounce Xain and then bring the remains over here. We'll see if he's interested in the position."

Cory laughed as the little kids scrambled from their seats by the pool and pounced both Xain and Justy en masse. "That was mean, Nyo. Effective; but still mean!"

"Well that'll teach them to work when they're supposed to be relaxing," giggled Nyo.

"I'll remember that Nyo," Dmitry said with an evil grin.

Stepan glared at Nyo, "If he ever goes to pounce you and gets me then I'll blame you."

"You're in for it Nyo." Sean giggled. "If Dmitry aims his pounces like he aims his pee he'll miss you totally! I used the bathroom right after him and needed hip waders!"

"Hey! I've never missed when it's important!" said Dmitry. "Just ask Dominic!"

Dominic blushed and poked Dmitry in the side making him yelp, "Use a different example next time DT."

Cory chuckled. "You ain't got much room to talk Hon. Remember the lighted toilet target that Mom had when you were his age?"

"Gran'ma's still got it!" Timmy giggled. "Ricky and I use it for target practice in the mornings when we stay over there."

"So how's YOUR aim Sean, did having a target help you?" grinned Dmitry.

Cory put his arm around his blushing partner. "I have no complaints Dmitry. He hits the target whenever he needs to now without a light to help him."

Rusty grinned up at Tyne. "Hmmm; did someone say 'target practice' babe?"

"Okay guys let Xain up so we can talk to him now!" Tyne called across the room while doing his best to keep from blushing.

Xain staggered over a minute later with a giggling Matty hanging from his arm. "Look Wusty!" Matty announced. "I'm a Fuzzymowe!"

Rusty giggled at Matty's antics. "If Xain pets your back, are you gonna purr and let him talk with us?"

Matty nodded madly. "Uh huh!"

"Hiya Xain," said Dmitry as he waved wildly and then went over to pet Matty's back to see if he'd really purr. "Tyne's got a question for ya!"

Tyne grinned, "Right, well we are reforming the Founder Council and we have a position that we wanted to know if you would be willing to take. It's the Council Ambassador; you'd be the head of International and possibly Interplanetary Affairs for the Council."

Xain looked at Cory with raised eyebrows. Cory nodded his head then replied "I've noted your efficiency in performing the tasks which have befallen you as a member of the Clan. Due to your performance I have recommended this position as an additional duty above your functions as Head of Clan Short Diplomatic Corps. If you accept this position it shall be noted in the Clan Records and if approved by the Council Solak will be informed of your additional responsibilities."

Xain nodded. "Understood, my Patriarch. You honor me with your nomination; I shall endeavor to fulfill the expectations you have implied by this offer."

Cory nodded. "Your approval is noted. Your immediate duty is to cease discussion of all work related items until such time as we return to Florida."

Xain nodded as he quickly reached around and gave Cory a wedgie. "Justin was correct; you do hit an amazing high note when your boxers are manually elevated." Xain commented with a small smile when he heard Cory's yelp.

"Good thing I don't wear underwear," commented Dmitry. "No matter how many red faces I cause no one can ever get me back with a wedgie."

Dominic looked Dmitry up and down; then he grabbed a hold of the back of Dmitry's jumpsuit and pulled up causing Dmitry to yelp just as loud. "You sure about that DT?" giggled Dominic.

Dmitry frowned at Dominic as he pulled his jumpsuit out of his crack, "I didn't mean try and give me one."

In no time flat, the room was full of giggling boys as almost everyone joined in on the fun. Rusty and Tyne stood off to the side watching; Rusty giggled as he pointed towards Matty. "Watch this Babe; I think Matty's gonna try to get Andy." Sure enough, Matty quietly snuck up behind Andrew and grabbed hold of the waistband of Andrew's underwear. Matty broke into a fit of giggles at Andrew's high pitched yelp of surprise.

Andrew spun around and picked Matty; pulling him into a hug. "Good one lil' guy! You got me good!"

<I will never understand why people think giving a 'wedgie' is funny.>

"They think it's fun," said Cyna. "Good thing we can't get involved though, I'd hate to have to pick my pants out of my backside. So Ark do you think we can open the Council Chambers now?"

<Maybe after Phasenmorph training. I do not want children running around without knowing how to use their Phasenmorph.>

"Do you think any of them will want to become Vifer?" Cyna asked softly.

<That would be up to them and ultimately the Council I would imagine. Also, we have the go ahead for performing the Socius if anyone so wishes to. I am not sure if Nyo has told Cory that or not but I will ask him later, he seems busy right now.>

Rusty looked over at Nyo. "You might say he's busy!" he commented to Tyne as he watched Nyo giving Stepan dirty looks while rearranging the lower half of his uniform.

Tyne pulled Rusty into a hug, gave him a quick kiss, and then grabbed two handfuls of Rusty's butt. "See now this is more fun then giving a wedgie." Tyne said while wagging his eyebrows.

"Hmmm, I think I like how Tyne thinks," Dmitry said when he overheard Tyne. He then looked over at Dominic and started circling him.

"DT, what are you doing?" Dominic asked as he started to back up to the wall.

"Nothing," grinned Dmitry. "I'm just gonna..."

<Dmitry, I think you should go ahead and lead everyone into the Training room and get them ready.>

"Awww Ark, you're no fun," groaned Dmitry as he settled for just grabbing Dominic's hand and dragging him along to go collect those that received a Phasenmorph.

It didn't take long to gather everyone; as soon as Matty heard what was happening he screamed as loud as he could from his perch in Andrew's arms. "Evewybody! Follow Deemeetee; we getta see the Fuzzymowes wowkin!"

Andrew rubbed his ear with his free hand as he giggled "Next time warn me munchkin; it hurts when you yell that loud, okay?"

Matty nodded. "Okay. Sowwy Andwew."

"It's okay Matty. Now you know so that you won't accidentally hurt someone." Andy replied as he gave Matty a squeeze and started following Dmitry.

Once everyone was in the training room Nyo pulled the trainees to the front along with everyone that already knew how to use a Phasenmorph.

"Okay, Dmitry I'm putting you with Cory," said Nyo.

"Yes! I get a cute one!" shouted Dmitry.

"You think they're all cute," said Dominic.

"Well they are," replied Dmitry. "I mean if ya go look up the word cute I think everyone in here would be listed."

Nyo grinned and then continued, "Dominic you will be training JJ; Stepan will train Adam, Tyne will train Kyle, Rusty will take Sean, and I'll train Timmy. Once everyone knows the basics we can run through a few exercise and then we should be done for now. If any of you want more training feel free to use the training room later."

Cory nodded his head. "That sounds like a plan; let's see how our new friends work."

Under the direction of their instructors, everyone took their places along the firing line. Once Ark ensured the observers were in a safe location and protected, the classes began.

Nyo took Timmy off to the side, "Now your training is going to be a little different. You have a very special Fuzzymore and we're going to have to go over what makes him different then the others when it comes to how to use him. Are you ready to get started?"

Timmy nodded and then gave Nyo a big hug. "Red says thank you Uncle Nyo." Timmy commented.

"Uncle huh? I like that," grinned, Nyo. "Okay, now first you need to understand that because Red can think for himself you'll need to respect if he refuses to let you kill, if you are ever in that situation. He will want to look out for your well being, even if that means protecting you from yourself. Unlike other Fuzzymores, Red might also want to actually actively talk to you. If you don't talk to him he might get lonely and he'll not be as responsive as he's supposed to be. Now other then that there aren't too many other differences. Red will listen to what you tell him as far as intensity of blasts, what kind of area of effects you want him to do, and what kind of telepathic activity you want to block. You can also tell him to shield others if you want him to but he can only shield up to three other people. If Red doesn't have enough energy to do something then, where most Fuzzymores will just take that energy from you, Red will let you know that he needs help and ask you first if he can borrow energy."

"You guys can't talk to your fuzzymores?" Timmy asked in awe. "Red and I's been talkin ever since he got on my arm! We agreed he can talk to me whenever he wants to. We're havin fun!"

Nyo grinned, "I'm glad to hear that Timmy. A happy Fuzzy is a healthy Fuzzy. As to the rest of us, we can talk to ours but it's not the same. I can only tell Phil limited stuff and he can only tell me limited stuff too. He can say more to his fellow Fuzzymores then I can but then the Fuzzy's have their own little simple world. They don't need communication much outside of electrical signals." Nyo then pointed at a little target about fifty feet away, "Now I want you to aim as best you can at that target with Red and see if you can get enough communication across between the two of you to hit that target. It takes just a little more thought then the kinda weapons you've seen before. You have to think about hitting the target, not just aim and pull a trigger. Go ahead and give it a try."

**** Author's note: Text in brackets {....} is Red communicating with Timmy. ****

{Timmy, can I make a smiley face?}

Timmy giggled. 'Sure Red!' he responded in thought. He then told Nyo "Okay, we're ready; here it goes!"

"Just don't think too hard about it," whispered Nyo as Timmy took aim. "Pretend like you're going to breath, or blink, Red will act as an extension of yourself you just need to think about hitting the target and how hard."

Timmy furrowed his brow in thought as he concentrated on what the target would look like with a smiley face.

{I got it Timmy!} Red announced as three quick flashes of energy sprung from Timmy's arm.

Nyo looked at the Target after the smoke cleared from the blasts and then busted out laughing, "Oh my God, I've NEVER seen someone do that before! I think that's the most creative first shot I've ever seen!"

Timmy giggled as he petted Red. "It was Red's idea; that was fun, can we do it again?"

"Sure take a few more shots," replied Nyo. "Try adjusting the strength of the blast and see what you get."

{Can we keep that target?}

Timmy giggled. "Red wants to keep that target. Can I have a new one so it don't get hurt?"

"Umm, would you settle for us keeping it in the memory buffer?" asked Nyo. "It's actually a holographic image so it's hard to keep it outside of the computer."

<We could print it on paper for him. I will just take a two-dimensional shot of the target and send it to the Clan Computer I am tied to in CIC. There they can print it out for him.>

Nyo grinned, "What do you think Timmy, will that work better?"

"Uh huh! That'll be kewl! Thanks Ark; thanks Uncle Nyo." Timmy replied.

<The image has been saved Timmy.>

"Thank you." Timmy replied. 'Hey Red; do you wanna see how much damage you can do?' he then thought as he watched the target change.

{Okay. Tell Uncle Nyo we are ready.}

"We're ready Uncle Nyo." Timmy announced.

Nyo stepped back a little to give Timmy room, "Okay Timmy, go for it."

Timmy pointed his arm at the target. 'Okay Red, fry it!'

{Brace yourself. Here I go.}

Suddenly a white ball of energy shot out of Timmy's arm with an audible sizzle as it streaked through the air. Within microseconds it arrived at the target, disintegrating it on contact.

Nyo smiled, "Well it looks like you have the max setting worked out. How do the two of you feel about having that kind of power?"

{Can we use it just on targets? That scares me.}

'Uh huh. I don't wanna see what that does to a real guy.' Timmy thought in reply. "Uncle Nyo; would you be mad if we never use it that strong? It scares us."

"That's fine Timmy," said Nyo. "Using that on someone isn't undoable and being afraid of that actually shows that you're a good person. I'd be afraid if you did like using that kind of power. And if your Fuzzymore agrees then that's even better."

<For the last time, it is a Phasenmorph.>

"If it's the last time then I won't hear you complain about it again will I?" replied Nyo.

<Smartass.>

"Ark; Uncle Nyo's butt is cute, but his brain is in his head so his butt can't be smart!" Timmy giggled as Red purred in agreement.

<It was just a figure of speech; I was...oh never mind. The two of you are too much for me.>

Nyo grinned, "Timmy one, Ark zero. So Red, what's with the random purr?"

"He thought it was funny too, he was laughing!" Timmy replied.

"Laughing!" chuckled Nyo. "Now that's a first, I didn't know they could do that. Well I'm glad that Red has a sense of humor, I'm sure the two of you will get along great."

{Hey T; sorry, is it okay if I just call you 'T', it takes to long to say 'Timmy'.}

'Sure! You're a part of me now, so we might as well make it easy Red!'

{Thanks T! I just figured out a better way to use your eyes than you concentrating to aim. You wanna try it? I think I know what stun strength is, so I'll use it.}

'Okay Red; what do we need to do?'

{When I say 'go', spin around really fast with your face pointing the same way you have me pointing. Spin three times so I can see if I can hit the target all three.}

'Okay, I'm ready'

{Go!}

Without saying a word to Nyo, Timmy suddenly spun around three times, his Phasenmorph firing each time.

"What the heck!?" exclaimed Nyo as he took a few steps back. "Careful Timmy, you could hit someone."

"Red wouldn't do that." Timmy replied with certainty. "How'd he do?"

<The target was hit with every blast. Although that was very irresponsible not to inform the person training you of your intentions before performing such a move. Had you been off you could have hit someone and if that had been the case then this training would be over. Nothing risky should be performed without approval when you have others in the room while training. Also, giving your Phasenmorph that much control can be dangerous if you are not careful.>

"Ark calm down," Nyo said softly. "Timmy you did fine, or as it seems you stated, Red did fine but please let me know next time before you do something like that. Even on stun that can be dangerous. What if you had hit Matty? Even just stunning can still make others afraid."

"I'm sorry Uncle Nyo. Red was using my eyes and had my okay to fire when he saw the target." Timmy replied softly.

{I wasn't going to fire if I didn't think it would hit.}

Timmy nodded at his arm. "Reds says he wasn't gonna fire unless he was sure it'd hit the target."

"Right, I figured as much," said Nyo. "But Red needs to remember that he's only about thirty minutes old and his complete coordination control is only sketchy at this time. It'll take two weeks for all of his bios to be at full strength, until then he's still a baby Fuzzy and he needs to remember that he has limitations. It's okay this time but for the next two weeks even he can make mistakes. Do you guys have any other questions or do you want to move on to shielding?"

{Did I get the stun right?}

"Did Red get the stun right Uncle Nyo?"

"Yes he did," said Nyo as he pointed at the target. "See how the blast marks on the target look green? Well if it wasn't a stun then it would have been either yellow or red. Yellow is between stun and kill and of course red is well; you did red a little while ago. If there was anything left of that target it would have been very red. But since it's green that means you stunned."

"Kewl!" Timmy exclaimed as Red gave a squeal of accomplishment. "WE DID IT! Okay Uncle Nyo; we're ready to learn more stuff!"

As Timmy and Nyo moved out into the training area for the next phase, Timmy turned and watched his parent's still learning control. "Daddy and Poppa's Fuzzymores can't help them learn like Red helps me can they?" he asked Nyo softly.

"Yes and no," said Nyo. "Cory and Sean have normal Phasenmorphs; well at least I think Cory's is normal. His has some blue in him but I don't think that means anything since nothing came up on its scan when it was born. But you have to understand that their Fuzzymores are just weapons and not much more then that. They can't talk to theirs like you talk to yours. They can only tell theirs simple stuff."

Timmy nodded. He spoke to Red out loud for Nyo's benefit. "Red, you gotta be careful you don't brag about stuff we can do but they can't. I want you to have Fuzzymore friends too."

{Okay T. That would make them mad at me wouldn't it?}

'Yeah. After you know what they can do just talk about that stuff.'

{Okay, I'll be careful.}

"Red promises he'll be careful not to make the other Fuzzymores mad." Timmy relayed.

"You two are awesome," grinned, Nyo. "Does Red know that he already has a friend?"

"He does?" Timmy asked as Red gave a quick squeak of surprise.

"Well of course he does," said Nyo. "Phil likes Red; he wouldn't have let me carry Red on his back if he wasn't."

{Hold me up against Phil please T.}

Timmy smiled. "Red wants to be held against Phil Uncle Nyo. Is that okay?"

"Sure," Nyo said has he held up his arm. "I don't think Phil will mind."

Timmy reached his arm up and placed the two Phasenmorphs together. Once they were touching, Red began purring so loud it'd make a Harley blush with shame.

"Aww isn't that cute," giggled Nyo. "Phil says to tell you 'thank you', if he could purr back I'm sure he would."

Timmy smiled. "Tell Phil that Red and I say 'you're welcome'."

"I will," replied Nyo. "You know, you're probably one of the most polite six year olds I've ever meet. I know ten year olds that aren't that polite."

"Nyo I know you're not talking about me!" Dmitry shouted from where he was working with Cory.

"No, never!" Nyo shouted back as he looked at Timmy and nodded yes. "So how about we get back to your training. I'm sorry to say but the rest of it isn't as exciting as the first part."

"That's okay Uncle Nyo; it's fun just finding out what Red can do. Daddy says people who can't be polite hurt other people in their heads. I don't wanna hurt anyone like my Uncle Ty was hurt." Timmy replied seriously.

"See Ark, and you were worried about me giving him a Fuzzymore," smiled Nyo. "Timmy, you are a good person and anyone that meets you is lucky to have gotten to do so, don't ever change."

"Thanks Uncle Nyo." Timmy replied as he gave Nyo a huge hug. "You're the greatest."

 

Founder Council Chamber a Little Later:

Stepan finished helping Nyo set up a holographic projector next to the Seer's chair, "I think that will do it. Do you need me for anything else?"

Nyo stood up and pulled Stepan into a hug, "I will later, but I think that'll be it for the moment."

"Okay, I'll see you then," said Stepan as he returned the hug and then started out of the room. "Cyna go ahead and access the projector, it's ready for you."

As Stepan left the chamber the projector became active and an image of Cyna appeared floating above it. Cyna looked around at the chamber and whistled, "Dang this place is dusty. Hey did you guys know that this is the only other round room in the Ark Compound other then Ark's core?"

"Yeah but the hole in this ones floor only goes down a half a foot instead of a mile and it has chairs around it rather then circuits," said Nyo. "Okay where do we sit?"

"Pick a seat," said Tyne. "You guys can sit anywhere but the chair that Cyna is next to."

Cory took a seat near the one Cyna was 'standing' by. He motioned Danny to sit next to him. Kyle sat by Danny and Xain chose the next chair in line. Rusty looked over at Cyna. "Is that chair reserved for the cutest Founder on Earth?" he asked, pointing at the chair Tyne had indicated.

"Oh yeah," giggled Cyna. "But the cutest and newest Vifer should be sitting next to him on his other side if you ask me."

"Only if the cutest Virtual Founder promises to always sit on the other side!" Rusty responded with a smile.

"You two are nuts," said Tyne as he took his seat.

Nyo took the seat next to a giggling Rusty.

<Tyne everyone that is currently in the Council is here.>

"Alright, thanks Ark," said Tyne as he cleared his throat. "I suppose the Council is now in session, this will be the first session that's been held here in a really long time but let's start off with any questions that any of you might have first. Then we can move on to what we need to address."

Cory thought for a second. "Yeah; what is Kyle's status. I know you think he's got Founder in him; but exactly what does it mean for him?"

"Kyle is entitled to all the rights and privileges of any Founder," replied Tyne. "Somehow he ended up being almost ninety percent Founder and only about ten percent human. We think that he's from what's left of the Founders that made it through the Faction War. According to the records that Ark has, in which Ark was able to only track them up to the Faction War of the Third Cycle, the Founders were doing their best to stay together and keep their blood strong. Now we're not going to go into any kind of inbreeding or anything like that but if they were still following the last few laws that the Council made before the Ark project was finished then every first born child has to have two Founder parents. That's the only way that Kyle can have as strong of a bloodline as he has. His heritage is strong enough that we can clearly see who his ancestors are and track him all the way back to Cyna's house. In fact it's very possible that he is a direct descendant of Cyna and not just his family. All male Founders were required to give samples back then if we married someone that we could not reproduce with. Kyle is as close to a full blooded Founder as you'll be able to find besides myself and he should be able to have all the same abilities that I have with the right training; his mind has the right set up for it and his human heritage doesn't seem to have messed with it at all."

Cory tilted his head. "Okay; with the way his skills were growing, what would have happened if you had not been here to train him? Sorry lil' bro; but I kinda need to know what you were up against."

"Well he wouldn't have ever had a problem with his Seer skill, that one would have just stayed dormant," said Tyne. "But without some way to learn to control his telepathic skills he would have probably lost himself to all the voices in his head. You would have had to have him committed and he would eventually have gone brain dead."

Cory nodded. "That's what I thought. Ark; were there any signs that you could use to find any others like Kyle out there? I'd hate to have more kids going through what he did."

<I would have to do a tag search but the satellite that I would use for that kind of detailed task fell out of orbit about the time that the Faction War ended. That is why I can no longer track them.>

"Easy problem." Cory replied. "If you can provide the receiver, I'll get it in orbit for you. Sean's always looking for an excuse to go into the stratosphere anyways."

"I can get Ark the original blue prints for that satellite," said Cyna. "Me and one of my teams helped build it so I know exactly where to look."

<Well if I have that satellite back then it will take me about four hours to search the planet for any other Founder tags.>

"If the tags are still traceable of course," added Cyna.

<Yes that too. If they are not related to the Founders that lived in this compound then I will not have record of their tags.>

"Let's do it then if everyone agrees." Cory suggested. "If there's even one more kid like Kyle out there it is worth it."

"We can get on that as soon as possible then," replied Cyna.

"Do we have any other questions?" asked Tyne. He looked around and didn't get any other questions, so he continued. "Okay then, let's start with what Ark has lined up for us. Ark, what do we have first on the list?"

<Well the first two topics all of you need to discuss are Socius and filling the other council positions.>

Rusty leaned over and gave Tyne a long kiss. "Yes sweetie, I accept! Okay, next topic?"

<Right topic, wrong meaning. Tyne did not ask you anything but seeing that you are so willing to discuss that topic let us start there...after Tyne comes back to earth that is.>

Cory giggled at Tyne's expression of bliss. "Cyna; is he like this often?"

"Only when you kiss him like Rusty just did," smiled Cyna. "But only Rusty is allowed to do that so don't get any ideas Cory."

"I got my teddy bear, don't worry. Tyne's got his hands full with you two anyways!" Cory giggled in reply. "It looks like he's gonna be a while Ark; why don't you fill us in on what 'Socius' is?"

"Actually Ark doesn't need to explain that one," said Cyna. "Quite plainly, it's what you'd call marriage. The ceremony is a little different but most of the rules are the same."

<One large change is that it can not be undone unless one of the people involved dies.>

"Right," continued Cyna. "The only other differences are how Founder law affects it. The most important of these is that no one under Founder law can have children unless they are married."

"So you are saying legal marriage; not that 'civil union' crap, right?" Cory replied.

Tyne tilted his head, "Civil union?"

"It's a crap way of dealing with couples of the same sex wanting to get married," said Cyna. "I'll explain it more for you later if you want, Tyne."

"Okay, thanks Cyna," smiled Tyne.

"Well I talked to Sarek earlier today and he said that Vulcan will recognize a Socius as a legal marriage," added Nyo. "So any current day legal problems will not stop us in any way."

"And who's to say that I'm willing to recognize any other Earth government as valid?" Tyne said as he sat back in his chair. "The way I see it we predate them so our laws take priory and override theirs. It will help to have another planet recognize our form of marriage as legal though and also helps to prove that ours override any other laws on Earth as far as this matter is concerned."

Xain stood up. "If I may, I believe I might have some insight into that matter. Despite current thought patterns among the human governments, the precedents set by interplanetary law recognize the oldest body of government as the primary contact for any given planetary system. Despite being inactive over the previous cycles, due to the fact Ark was continuously monitoring current affairs with Cyna as a Founder representative present the Founder governing body is considered active by interstellar law. Recognition by Ambassador Sarek has solidified that ruling; it would be illogical for the Federation Council to deny a petition by the Founder Council to reinstate governmental rights over Terra. At such time as this Council declares sovereignty over Terra I shall approach the Federation Council with Vulcan's backing."

"Only one problem with that Xain," said Tyne. "Humanity threw the Founders out of power, they choose that and we're supposed to respect that. The Founder Council, when I was put into cryo-sleep, was only governing its own people and without a people left to govern we can't claim much."

Xain raised an eyebrow. "Ark; please calculate based on available information the percentage of the current population which can claim more than .05 percent of their genetic makeup comes from the surviving Founder stock which survived the cycle changes. Assume Founder descendants having a higher percentage of surviving cyclic changes compared to non-Founder stock."

"Xain sit down please, we're not in any position to want to establish ourselves in any position of power," said Tyne. "Unless you feel like taking on the responsibility of a planet entirely by yourself. We are in no position to need control of anything and will not notify any of the Earth governments of our existence at this time. And as I am leading this Council I would currently refuse any attempt to place us in a position to replace any government. Your suggestion is noted but is not relevant at this time."

Xain sat before he replied. "That is understood Tyne. The basis of my query was concerning your statement regarding the amount of Founders left. It is an assumption without data; the data collected from other cultures has shown a trend which has the peaceful segments of a population surviving their warlike brethren an average of 78.5274 percent of the time. If Terra has followed that trend over the various cycles my data shows that approximately 64.8 percent of the population is able to be genetically traced to a Founder descendant."

Tyne frowned, "You're right, I am making an assumption without data but that's still part of my nature Xain. I may be Founder but even Founders came from humans. But then you're making the assumption that I'm making my assumption without data are you not? What's to say that I didn't look over the Founder records the last time I was in the interactive chamber and was interfaced with the Ark's database? Regardless I can't see how staring at numbers makes any difference or how it is related to the topic we are supposed to be discussing."

"Good point," Cyna said quickly. "We are way off topic; we are talking about Socius not Founder governmental relations. Let's stay on topic."

Before Tyne or Xain could say anything Cory spoke up. "Xain; I think you should wait until information is needed before making requests like that. While I'm curious about those numbers myself, it's something that can wait for some time when there is nothing else going on. Thanks for your input; while it's not applicable immediately you have gave us something to consider when we all decide it is logical to proceed in that direction. Cyna is right; we need to get back on subject. Tyne; you just got a taste of the Vulcan thirst for information. Please don't take it personally; while it takes getting used to, after you adjust to it you'll find it can be fun digging around for whatever has sparked Xain's interest. You definitely have earned respect if you have a Vulcan willing to spar with you for information!"

"That's fine and I'll try not to take it personally. But it needs to be noted that that kind of 'sparring' is not appropriate in a council session. If this happens again I will just dismiss the offender for insubordination, failing to recognize my position as Seer, and showing disrespect to the rest of the Council present."

As Xain nodded his understanding, Danny stood up. "Okay; back on subject. It does not matter what local 'laws' say if I understand right; Socius is legally recognized. Now on to the real matter; Founder law states the ceremony must be performed before a couple is allowed to have children. If we are going to enforce that law, then I believe that the members of the Council need to be in compliance before we tell anyone else to do it. That should apply to Clan officers too; we are the examples the rest of the guys look to follow." Danny then took his seat to await a reply.

"I agree but not only to show structure and compliance but for the benefit of the children as well," said Cyna. "It lets the children know that their parent's relationship is something that will always be a constant in their lives. It helps with their emotional stability. That was why the law was written in the first place."

Tyne nodded and then looked over at Cory, "Seeing that this directly affects you how do you feel about this Cory?"

Cory thought for a second. "Before we get to me personally, how is compatibility decided before the ceremony is performed?"

"Is there a prerequisite for love?" asked Tyne. "The only reasons the Council would not allow the ceremony to be performed would be if the couple was not mentally mature enough to handle the relationship and if they were not in love. Maturity and love are the only requirements."

Cory nodded. "Sean and I have been researching being married under Vulcan law. While they do not recognize 'love', they do recognize mental maturity and compatibility. I personally can vouch that all of the couples who have children meet both requirements. I personally agree to it; but it would be irresponsible for me to answer for Sean even though I know he would agree to it. With that in mind, I agree with Danny's statements one hundred percent."

"I really don't care about compatibility Cory, that's not what I asked of a couple considering Socius," replied Tyne. "Love has compatibility but compatibility doesn't have to have love. If they don't fall under love before compatibility then I don't care if they're compatible I won't approve anything. Compatibility can mean many things, I can be compatible with someone else but that might just mean that I would work well with that person; it doesn't mean I love them."

"Cory recognizing that you can't speak for Sean shows that you are ready mentally on some level," added Cyna. "There would still be a review of your relationship before the Council or Ceremony Committee."

Cory nodded. "That's fair. I don't want any different treatment than the rest of the guys."

Xain held up his hand once Cory was done. "I have been in communication with my bond-mate. Jake is in agreement that it would be logical to proceed with the joining under Founder law. Additional communication with he-who-is-my-father will be required to verify if we will also be required to proceed with the Vulcan ceremony."

"Then the review for any Socius will be done at the request of the individual couples," said Tyne. "Any other questions on this topic?"

Kyle held up his hand. "Tyne; will it be taken into consideration the limits to mental development placed on those under eighteen by the current culture?"

"Any Socius is considered an adult under Founder law," replied Tyne. "If they are mature enough to handle a relationship of that commitment then they are ready for anything else you can throw at them."

Danny looked around the room. "I move that Socius be reactivated as of now and that Council members with children be reviewed at the earliest opportunity for their readiness to perform the ceremony."

Xain nodded. "I second the motion."

"Two Council members have motioned for Socius reactivation. Are there any objections to reactivation of this status and ceremony?" asked Cyna as he looked around the room. Seeing that no one objected he continued, "No objections."

"Very well, motion granted," said Tyne. "Moving on to the next topic then..."

<Seer, forgive my interruption but there is an issue that needs addressing immediately.>

"Go ahead and continue Ark," replied Tyne.

<I was reviewing communication logs from an unknown source within Starfleet to a secret organization that I have been keeping tabs on. The organization is called Metronome and was created some time back as an assassination team. Its assassins are Augments, genetically enhanced humans, who by those that have seen them refer to them as the blind killers. They see energy patterns when they close their eyes; this is how they track and kill their targets.>

"What is the relevance?" asked Tyne.

<They were given a very specific target and we can not let their assassin carry out his task. The message that I just monitored to Metronome requested the termination of the Patriarch of Clan Short and his immediate family.>

"What the FUCK!" Cory screamed as he shot to his feet. "That's utter BULLSHIT! Whoever that bastard is that ordered that I'm gonna hang him by the balls! I'm gonna ...."

Danny came over to try to calm Cory. "Bro, calm down so we can figure out how to stop them ...."

Cory looked at Danny with fire in his eyes. "I AM fucking calm! It's one thing to go after me; that bastard crossed the line when he involved my family. As far as I'm concerned Starfleet can go to Hell; I refuse to put my family in danger from some assassin that works for the people I'm helping. They've got a lot of fucking explaining to do; and they better do it damn quick."

<It is not Starfleet specifically; it is a rogue agency that branched off from Starfleet called Section 31. You rattled their cage and they do not know whether to count you as friend or foe. So they plan to avoid finding out first by sending a very harsh warning to your entire Clan to stay out of their way.>

"No! I made a promise that I would see Clan Short succeed and it needs all of its family to do that!" hissed Tyne. "Ark, I want everything you have on this Metronome group down to the very energy patterns they've been given for Cory and his family. Cyna I want you to come up with a way to block or mask Cory and his family's real patterns to keep them safe. Nyo organize the task force and come up with several plans of attack to stop that assassin. Cory and his family mean too much to too many people. We can't let this happen; Nyo, I release you from this session. Cyna, when you have something figured out anyone you need is at your fingertips."

A low growl from Tyne's side got his attention. He looked over at Rusty and had his first look at his partner when really mad. Rusty's fists were clenched so tight his knuckles were ghost white; the rest of his visible body was as red as his hair with not a single one of his numerous freckles visible. "Get JJ in here." Rusty stated through clenched teeth.

Without even waiting for a prompt Ark teleported JJ right into the middle of the Council Chamber. Timmy arrived with JJ, sitting on JJ's lap in full warpaint. As soon as Timmy saw where they were, he jumped up and ran to Cory. JJ looked around the room and stated "Two kids in warpaint and now I'm somewhere I was told I'm not supposed to go into. Whatever is happening is pretty serious; fill me in."

"There's an assassin out for Cory and his family's lives," said Nyo as he got up from his seat. "And considering the nature of the assassin those that dispatched him are not playing by our rules."

"But if they can cheat then so can we," said Cyna. "I think I know a way to easily mask their energy patterns, I'll take any help I can get building the stuff though."

JJ looked over at Cory, who was holding Timmy tightly with tears running down his face. He then turned to Tyne and spoke in a controlled voice despite his very apparent rage. "Sir; due to the situation my Patriarch is indisposed so I am required to speak for him. The full resources and all Clan personnel are hereby at your disposal for any and all assistance you require. I hereby concede command to the person you designate."

"Nyo is heading the task force and considering the situation I want your Clan members to stay away from your compound until this issue is dealt with," replied Tyne. "No one goes anywhere without a sub-vocal and protection of some kind. If you want to help us right now JJ then for tonight, until we have a plan, I want you to do crowd control. Make sure everyone knows that they're cared for and loved and keep the peace. If Nyo needs your help then he'll let you know."

 

Fifteen minutes later:

Alec walked over to Tyne with a worried look on his face. "Tyne, is there somewhere we can talk?"

Tyne nodded and then motioned Alec to follow him. Tyne walked down the hallway and then took a left at the entrance to Ark's core and led Alec into the core, "Is this good enough?"

"Yeah, thanks." Alec replied. "I've got a couple of things that I thought it was best the rest of the guys did not overhear. The big thing is Cory; this crap has hit him hard and he's barely holding on. I think the biggest problem is he feels helpless; the very people he thought he could count on to help him when things got too heavy are the ones he can't turn to because they are the problem. I think he needs to be able to do something to take his mind off of it; something not related to the attack on his family. That leads into the other issue; Danny had us hunt down the man who claimed to be Kyle's father. We have him located, but I don't know how long he'll stay there. I assume you know more about Kyle's past than I do from being in the twin's heads and seeing what they had stored about him; from what I get though this is something Kyle needs to resolve personally for his own mental health."

Tyne sighed, "You're asking for permission to take a group of people out of this compound then. I agree that Cory does need to get his mind off of all of this but I'd rather he stay out of harms way. If what you just mentioned, though, didn't involve Kyle then I would say no. But Kyle is a member of my family through Cyna and I want to see that he is able to close out that part of his life for good. It will cause more harm then good if he isn't able to. And considering Kyle's history with Cory, he needs to go with Kyle. Just as long as certain things are done to protect them before they leave then I don't think there will be a problem with them leaving. I'd like to know who will be going with Kyle though."

Alec thought for a second. "If I know Cory, we're gonna have to be sneaky to get him out of here. I can fill Danny in on the plan. I think if we send Cory, Sean, Timmy, CD, Calen, and Danny out first then fake Kyle 'finding' the info Cory will fall for it. After that happens send JJ, Kyle, Jamie, and Jacob to join them. Something to consider is have Danny pilot the shuttle from headquarters to the AI compound as a diversion; have him be the only one to board the shuttle while Ark teleports the rest inside just before takeoff. When they are ready to leave for Chicago just have Ark teleport them there, leaving the shuttle as a decoy."

"It sounds like you're put a lot of thought into this," said Tyne. "You'll be lying to Cory but it sounds like your plan would work well. The decoy shuttle is a nice touch just in case they're somehow tracked that far. Everyone that's going will be required to wear a sub-vocal and since a good number of you that will be going will have Phasenmorphs I think protection will be well handled. It'll be hard getting Cory to leave in the first place though don't you think? Giving up a secure place for a less secure one?"

"Not as hard as you might think." Alec replied. "Cory has a new son at the AI compound. I'll bet not knowing how Austin is doing is not helping matters any. I'll deal with how Cory feels about being lied to later; it's for his own good."

"Okay, I think you might be able to pull it off then," Tyne said slowly. "Any resources we have will be available for you and we will watch as much as we can from here. Nyo will take care of that assassin while you're gone; he said that he's thinking we'll set a decoy back at the Clan Compound that should attract the assassin there."

<Cyna has an idea that he is having Stepan work on for masking signals. If it works we should have enough done by morning that they can leave then.>

Alec nodded. "Thanks. That sounds like a good schedule to me; if it's okay with you Tyne I'll start setting the plan in motion."

"Alright, that sounds good," replied Tyne. "Good luck with Cory. And if anyone has trouble sleeping tonight, have them see Nyo and he'll get something for them. I'm going to be in the IIM for the next few hours so I may not see you before bed. If I don't I hope you get some sleep Alec."

"Not likely." Alec replied seriously. "I'm probably not going to sleep worth crap until these bastards are taken down."