Stardate: 73713.8 [I was in error with the year of the start of the sim. I had written 2353. It should be 2373. I may have the idea of stardates wrong, if so, please correct me]

<<Captains Ready Room>>

"Lieutenant Commander R'Laurent, Chief Science Officer, reporting as ordered, sir."

So shaken by the palpable dread that radiated from R'Laurent, Epic felt his whole body sag. Why? The question was screamed at him by a decidedly female voice in the back of his mind. Why, indeed?

He intended to ask that same question himself.

But before he could speak, R'Laurent shook her head.

"No.", she commanded. "Look Commander. In a rash moment, I took extreme measures to save your life. While I do not regret it..."

She paused. Epic stared at her, holding his breath.

She exhaled. He did not. "I think it is best we go our separate ways."

Epic felt only the slightest bubbles of a tired rage inside his chest. That passion was cooled by a reasoning voice in his mind. A voice that belonged to R'Laurent herself. He exhaled slowly, and took another deep breath. He let that out slowly. Then, he spoke.

"If that is your genuine desire, then I must respect your wishes, of course."

R'Laurent relaxed visibly, but she tightened again immediately when she saw that familiar flash in his eye. She prepared herself to be confronted by Epic Terrakians truths.

"However....", his voice was not quite smooth. "I do not think it is your genuine desire.

"If, as you say, you ONLY took `extreme measures to save my life', I could accept that. I would find it difficult to believe that you would sacrifice a part of your SOUL for someone you did not love, but I could accept that."

The strength that had left him when she had rebuffed him was returning, and then some. She stood her ground as he moved closer to her. He stood close enough to strike.

"But that is not all you did, my pretty." Epic felt R'Laurent's anger swell with his intentional objectification of her, and he savored it. And took strength from it.

"As the Nova was being torn apart, as Arda Kaje straddled life and death, as the souls of hundreds of the dead clamored for the chance to be reborn in Arda's child.....", he paused and leaned his face close enough for her to bite. "At that moment, you admitted to yourself your love for me.

"And that was not all you did. No.

"In the wake of the death of my own souls freedom, in the aftermath of my damned spiritual resurrection....!!!" Epic shouted the words as if he, himself, cursed that day. But, his voice became suddenly low as he spoke.

"In yet another sacrifice to me, for your love of me, you stole from me some of the darksome burden of my own tortured soul. You drank my rage and despair and hate in a great draught. And you smiled at my inadequate efforts to stop you."

R'Laurent remained rigid and impassive, but her emotions were churning like magma.

"And so it is, my love, that in me, is a part of you. A part that you gave me without asking. And within you, is a part of me. A part of me that you took without asking. And when you did these things, you did them because you love me. And when you did them, I felt it. I felt your love."

Epic said nothing for a long moment after that. He simply stood there, so close, it was as if he were daring her to bite him. But, then, he moved away and returned to stand before his chair. Where he had been standing when she entered.

"So, Lt. Comm. R'Laurent, Chief Science Officer....", his voice returned to the low burn that was his normal conversational voice. "You can make me keep my distance from you. You can tell me you do not love me, but I will not believe it. And you can avoid me for the next ten years, though I doubt either of us will survive it..."

He sat with an almost professional attitude.

"But, you cannot make me stop loving you. We own one another's souls, R'Laurent. All of Gods Creation is not big enough to hide that. We cannot go our separate ways. We go one way. Together. Into the heart of the darkest enemy the galaxy has ever seen."

It seemed as if Epic had more to say, but the last of his `borrowed' strength left him. But he did speak.

"So, unless you have something to add to that.....", he let the sentence hang for a long moment.

"Dismissed."