<OOC: I tried sending this out earlier but it's taking forever to go anywhere, so I'm resending this and doing so with only the addresses. Hopefully this will get somewhere today.>

"Silence and Noise"

Everyone proceeded out of the observation lounge, most heading towards Ten-Forward and some going to their quarters. The thoughts and emotions were far less synchronous than normal. It was as if these people were off in their own little world, or more like they had their own, different issues to deal with. The thing that was most apparent among the small crowd was that each one had their different motivations and intentions about their post to the USS Grail.

It was difficult to describe the feeling that emanated from them. Maybe it was varying personal backgrounds or varying approaches to life. The causes for the distinct feel of these people could be from anything, perhaps; it wasn't really important.

Then it became obvious. There was not quite so much disparity among these Starfleet officers. They were all following the same path now, and no matter what the reasons, they had all chosen this life. And there was something else, too; something that the Captain may have noticed: everyone seemed to carry their own secrets, their own burdens of emotional baggage.

The feeling had gone away since the group had loaded into the turbolift and thereby ceased their previously intimate contact, but it had not stopped her attempts to describe the feeling she got by listening to them, at least not right away.

The doors to the turbolift opened. Kait glanced around, looking for her fellow engineer, Janice Hargen. The reports had not been combined yet, and there were still a few things they needed to discuss eventually, such as personnel. Kait absent-mindedly walked out of the turbolift once the doors opened, and she followed the group's lead into what she realized was Ten-Forward. They all found their place to sit soon but Kait broke her

group mentality and continued on walking until she reached a table all the way in the back yet still in front of a window.

Kait slumped down into the chair and rested her head on the table. Fatigue took over and she began to wonder if she should return to her quarters to get some sleep, instead. Then again, if she fell asleep, there was no guarantee that she'd wake up before 'nightfall'. Being here, she was forced into a sitting position, which made sleep impossible for her. This way she could enjoy every minute of rest and if she got lucky, find the initiative

to go find Hargen sometime while sitting there.

Minutes upon minutes passed by. Kait's mind wandered freely, if not erratically, as if she were already dreaming. It was comfortable and interesting, except for the occasional paranoid notion that there were eyes looking upon her back.

Her thoughts were so erratic, like never before, that she began to consider that maybe the presence of so many other people were the root cause of it. Some of her thoughts were about her past: her childhood, the personal relationships at the Academy, a certain long-lost friend, but most were simply creative scenarios on any topic of interest, which is what made it entertaining for a person who had nothing better to do. Her sense of time

was later lost and she began to wonder if she had actually fallen asleep by accident. Ten-Forward was still noisy, in more ways than one. It was a steady bustle of activity which could be heard.

Then something broke that steadiness. A fierce anger pierced the incessant 'noise' so sharply that everything else in the background became muted in comparison. Kait jerked her head up in response to this. She looked around the public room, hoping to find what person the seething anger was coming from. Then she noticed a man at the bar. He had lightly tanned skin and his facial features were harsh and angular. His eyes, dark as the night, and mind, sharp as a knife, were focused intently on something, or someone. Following his eyes, she discovered what had caught the man's attention: a Cardassian officer, outfitted in a yellow uniform. The Cardassian did not seem to be affected by the other man's biting glare, or maybe he didn't even take notice.

Kait considered walking up to the man to initiate conversation as a distraction, but feared that she would be ignored by him in favor of his source of hatred. She didn't want to go up to him, say hello, and then watch him push right by her.

"You murdering Cardie bastard!" The man lunged at the Cardassian, and the room became more clamorous as people began shouting at the newly-begun fighting match. The confrontation developed into a deafening commotion.

In a sudden change of temperament, from indifference to unadulterated hostility, the Cardassian, with the base of his hand, threw a swift punch into the man's nose. It was a dangerous shot since her grandfather once told her that such a punch was an effective way of killing a person by driving the bone at the bridge of the nose up into the brain.

A short, female security officer grabbed the assaulting man, restraining him while he bled from the nose profusely. At first he fought against being held back, but he soon slumped in the other officer's grasp. The Cardassian looked down at him, exhibiting an air of condescension.

"Get him out of here," the Cardassian officer demanded.

The security officer tapped her comm. badge and said resolutely, "Ten-Forward to Sickbay, one to beam directly to Sickbay."

After the man was beamed out of Ten-Forward, the security officer stood up and pushed past the Cardassian, walking out of Ten-Forward entirely. She was probably heading up to Sickbay to see the assaulting officer, then to interrogate him.

Kait recognized Lieutenant Castle as he approached the Cardassian officer, and said, "Follow me."

They both proceeded out of Ten-Forward, and there was an astonished hush among those present in Ten-Forward. Kait walked out of Ten-Forward, too, but she did not follow them; instead, she made her way to her quarters. Yet she waited long enough to be sure that the turbolift would be free before entering it and requesting "Deck 10."

When Kait finally entered her quarters, a blinking message on the computer console caught her eye. She pressed the button to receive it, and got a short message reading:

"Listen to the unbroken, non-existing drone, | Silent like the sound of a proceeding cyclone."

It was at that moment which Kait took immediate notice of the silence present in her quarters. The message gave the silence a sort of eeriness.

Kait pressed a button to retrieve the source of the sender but it was, for some reason, showing herself as being the sender.

"I didn't send that," she said aloud, utterly confused.

It not only showed her name as the sender, but also showed it being sent from this very console. What did the message mean, anyway?

The confusion of this quickly dissipated as one worry came to mind: when did the staff meeting begin again, anyway? Kait didn't linger inside her quarters for very long; instead, she walked down the halls aimlessly till she reached the turbolift and decided to head to the Main Bridge to ask an officer there what to do. Hopefully, she wouldn't be told that the staff meeting was yesterday and that she must've slept through it all!