-= Starbase Kinsi =- Gaalen stepped of the transport shuttle. He was lost in thought when he noticed that he was holding the line. He hurried past, bumping into a few fellow commuters to make it out into the station. He seriously disliked Ferengi operated transports, and this ship had taken it's time and all possible short cuts to make it to the station thirty six hours late. He sighed. He could not see one Andorian in sight. "You chose this lifestyle four years ago, now live by your descision." He said to himself. He straightened his hold on his shoulder bag and walked with a decisive step towards the first establishment that sold salvation by the glass. He enterred the establishment. There where a few people, mostly starfleet officers and seeing the size of the starbase, Gaalen guessed most where transiting to other location through this bar. He grabbed a stool, by the wall, on the other side of the room, adn sat his back to the wall, keeping a discreet eye on just about everyone in the bar. "What can I get you?" A voice asked him. He turned to the woman that stood behind the bar. She was good looking for human standards, but not to his. He was not into inter-species matting. "Andorian Ale, please." He said, half his attention a hundred thousand light years away. She nodded and moved away to get what she needed. He was not paying her attention anymore. He was lost deep in memories. He recalled the wide open spaces of the Andorian blue taiga, where he would hunt for weeks at a time, sometimes with bow and arrow, other times with spear. He could have used more conventional weapons, but his father had taught him the traditional way, the one that forged the hunter-child into a warrior. He recalled his time at the Andorian military institute going through training with new and life-long friends, a great community had forged in those halls, at the time, thought to be unbreakable. There he met his wife, Ph'ell Endilev, She was the most beutifull woman he'd seen in years and she had married him, three years into their relationship. The glass appeared on the bar, when he refocussed on his serroundings. He looked around once, as he grabbed the glass. The barmaid had been quite discreet, he appreciated the gesture. He downed half the glass and contemplated its content. Both he and Ph'ell served on the same ship, in their fourth year of training at the AMI. The is when they married. He faded again into dark memories as he recalled the explosion, the small restaurant where they where enjoying a quiet meal had been the target of an attack by the radicals of keth Ucalnath, those Andorians who where the most vocal and physical in their refusal to join the UFP back in the day. It still went on, but these attacks happened rather sporadically, they where at the wrong place, at the wrong time. Since he had crossed the street to buy something that caught his eye, while Ph'ell waited for him, he survived wounded, she did not. When he told his version of the facts, his own father did not believe him and branded him a coward for escaping a deadly situation, and leaving his wife to die to save his own worthless life. Gaalen had challenged his father, but he, with much more experience and his own clan's champion, beat him in a matter of seconds. But his father saw the courage in Gaalen's eyes and stopped at first blood, Instead he banned him from his clan. Gaalen did not know how but he was still alive today. He had left his homeworld with the determination to return one day and beat his father in a duel to clear his name and honor. He knew that deep down it was untrue, he knew Ph'ell was still with him, in spirit. He had joined starfleet and four years later, he had graduated and received an assignment on the USS Chimera, a SSF ship. He figured it could not be harder than the life style of an Andorian Defence Force soldier. He did not realize it but he was half way down his third drink when the sound of a broken glass broke him out of his reverie. He looked about, tensed up, and noticed nothing out of the usual. Somehow his warrior instincts where on high alert, he'd been caught off guard, during a hunt, it would certainly mean death, that's why he reacted as such. He forced himself to relax, certainly here nothing dangerous could happen to him... Ens Gaalen Idrani Engineer Officer USS Chimera _______________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Win 1 of 4,000 free domain names from Yahoo! Enter now. http://promotions.yahoo.com/goldrush