Logan Castle woke to the hissing sting of a hypospray just below his jawline at his neck. The nurse, Maxwell, Castle believed his name was, ran a scanner over his forehead and nodded. "You should feel no other effects of the nuerotoxin that incapacitated you." Castle nodded groggily and sat up, disliking the taste of his mouth after his ‘nap’. He popped a breath sterilizer, sucking air trying to dilute the overpowering mint flavor.

He looked at the chronometer at his wrist, a device that very few wore these days, grimacing. He had been ‘out’ for over an hour. Who had activated the Security Measures? What happened to Eve? And Blake? Obviously, Blake was not the culprit.

He hopped down off the biobed, and straightened his uniform. He stopped his hand in mid-‘smooth’. Lying on the bed next to his, was someone he hadn’t expected to see ever again.

"Well...", he smiled to himself. "With a Lt. Major on board, I guess I am no longer responsible for the ‘Sleeping Beauties’.’ Castle could see that she was already coming to wakefulness. He crossed his arms over his chest and waited for her to open her eyes.

Athalya Anne became aware of the presence of Logan Castle before she even opened her eyes. "Oh Christ.", she laughed. ‘This is going to be so much fun!’, she sarcastically thought. Athalya Anne opened her eyes and saw, not one, but two Castles.

"Jesus Christ!", she screamed. Two Castles were simply too much for her to handle. She blinked twice. They merged into one. "Oh." she breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank God!"

A med. tech ran a scanner over her. "Well Major. You look good to go."

Athalya Anne nodded, "Thank you.", then to the Lieutenant. "Hey, Logan."

He, however, didn’t look surprised. Apparently he had time to adjust to the fact that she was on board. Castle grinned. "Well, Major. What are you doing here?"

Athalya Anne slapped him. "That’s for cheating on me." She slapped him again. "And that’s for selling out the Marines to wear that monkey suit."

If the assault had any more than a comical affect on Castle, it certainly didn’t show. The crisp red outline of the woman’s hand DID show though. Red and clear.

"You forgot about how I staked your saber at dice and lost it.", he said with an amused grin.

"Oh, yeah.", she nodded, and slapped him again. After all, it had been an old family heirloom.

Nodding and looking at his feet, he became a little more serious. "And for the record, I didn’t sell out anyone.", he said. "It was they who failed me. They wanted me to give up the names of the insurgents who supported them on Deneb VII. Those ‘rebels’ made the success of that mission possible. I wasn’t going to sell THEM out just to satisfy the Corp. Call me what you will, but I ain’t no ‘snitch’." Athalya Anne shot a piercing glance at Logan. She resisted the very tempting urge to lecture him about things like loyalty to the Corp. They needed those names. Badly. Athalya Anne shrugged, playing down the incident. "A monkey suit," she began, "Is a monkey suit, is a monkey suit. Regardless of how good the monkey who wears it looks." They both laughed.

"And just so we can start again with a clean slate...", he said with the hint of a challenge. "It was me that stole your clothes at that clearwater spring on Leviticus."

Athalya Anne’s eyes widened and fell with a chagrined smile. "You asshole! I had to walk 12 clicks buck naked to get back to base camp." He snorted a small laugh. "I know."

Then a light came on in Athalya Anne’s eyes. "No biggie." She shrugged, "Who do you think cut all the important parts out of all your pants and underclothes the next day?"

He laughed again. "It’s good to see you again, Athalya."

"Yeah. That’s what they all said." she grinned crookedly. Nurse Maxwell stood nearby, holding his hypospray, in case Castle needed reviving again.

Athalya Anne eyed the nurse and then Logan. If the past was anything to judge by, they both wanted to get the hell out of there. "Well," Athalya Anne began dressing. "I expect that you have a job to do." she grinned. "And there has got to be a steak with my name on it around here somewhere." A thought occurred to her. "What’s the date?" Logan obliged her. Mien Gott! I haven’t eaten in months!* Time to explain just why she was here. And how. That would be fun. After the steak.* She nodded to Logan. There were more important things to do than sitting in sickbay.