Jayme narrowed her eyes. “You serious?”

“Sure, why not? Die here, die down there–what’s the difference?”

She hardly believed him, but in their current situation, what choice did she have? “You better follow me,” she ordered. “Or I’llkill you.”

Bobbie Ray actually smiled at that. “Yes, sir!”

“Okay, breathe deep.” They both took deep, cleansing breaths, five or six each. “Ready? Then here we go–”

Jayme ducked underwater, but she heard the rumble and saw a bright light glinting through the water. When she broke surface, Bobbie Ray hadn’t even submerged. Instead, he was pointing to the side wall near the ceiling. A hole was opening up, and they were drawn along with the water pouring out of the cavern.

“Hello?” a frightened voice called.

“That’s Moll Enor!” Jayme cried out. “We’re here! Enor!”

They started swimming toward the hole and were easily sucked through with the water. Sitting on the rocks, hip‑deep in water, looking up at Moll Enor, Nev Reoh, Starsa, and Titus, all she could say was, “What took you so long?”

“Hey,” Titus said defensively. “I told you I’d take care of everything.”

“Well, at least you’re working together now,” Superintendent Brand told the Quad as they stood in a row in her office. “That’s some progress.”

Bobbie Ray and Starsa looked pleased with themselves. Even Reoh relaxed. But Jayme, Titus, and Moll knew better.

“You would be good cadets if only you could work toward something constructive,” Brand added. “Since T’Rees is on field assignment, he won’t receive the formal reprimand that will be placed on each of your records.”

Titus was glad to hear he wouldn’t have to explain this to their Vulcan quadmate. He thanked whatever gods there were that T’Rees was temporarily on field assignment at Starbase 175.

Brand’s severe tone eased somewhat. “Because you conscientiously notified the authorities about the cavern you discovered containing the calcified human bones, I have decided notto place you on probation.”

Titus finally began to breathe easier. They had just barely gotten off probation from their first Quad reprimand, and it felt like he’d been waiting forever for the next tryouts to join the Parrises Squares League.

Titus shifted. “Excuse me, Admiral?”

“Yes, Cadet?”

“I checked before we went down, but there are no rules against entering the access tunnels.”

Brand raised one brow. “No, but there are rules against doing something that can get yourself killed. You doadmit you nearly got yourselves killed?”

He swallowed. “Yes, sir.”

Brand turned to Moll Enor and Nev Reoh. “And you doadmit that taking a sonic cutter down there was dangerous? The maintenance workers have to shore up that region. You could have destabilized the entire fault zone.”

“Yes, sir!” they both answered immediately.

Brand considered them seriously for a few moments. “I won’t ask what possessed you to venture into the caverns in the first place, however it was a smart move to have a backup team ready.” Titus couldn’t look at the smirk on Starsa’s face. “But I warn you that another Quad reprimand will require that you re‑do this academic year–the same class, same Quad next year.”

“Oh, no!” Starsa exclaimed, then quickly put her hand over her mouth.

“Oh, yes,” Brand assured her. “In Starfleet, we either win together or fail as a group. Here at the Academy, when a group regularly fails together, then we find that it serves in the long run to give them additional time to work things out.” She actually smiled. “It saves wear and tear on your fellow officers later on down the line.”

All of the cadets looked a little queasy at the prospect of repeating their hard work. For the first‑year cadets had the hardest time. Rarely were field assignments given to unproven freshmen. They would be stuck at the Academy, stuck in their Quad, for another year. While everyone else they knew would venture into the galaxy, serving temporary duty on starships and starbases from here to the borders of the Romulan, Klingon, and Cardassian territories.

The others glanced at Titus more than they had in the beginning. He suddenly knew how Jayme must have felt the last time they stood in Brand’s office–like all the silent blame for their punishment was being heaped on herhead.

“We’ll do better,” Titus assured Admiral Brand, taking it on himself to speak for all of them.

She fixed her all‑seeing gaze on him. “Make sure that you do.”

Chapter Three

“BE SURE TO TELL ME what it’s really like,” Moll Enor insisted to Bobbie Ray. “Describe exactly what happens into a tricorder and send me a copy.”

Bobbie Ray rolled away, pulling a pillow over his face. “Come on, you’ve seen the holos like everyone else.”

“That’s not the same as being there.” Moll Enor crossed her arms, realizing it was impossible to make the spoiled Rex understand what a unique opportunity he had. By next month, Bobbie Ray and his parents would be visiting the Bajoran sector, where a stable wormhole had recently been discovered. Moll was absolutely certain that the view from the newly designated Starbase, DS9–watching the wormhole open to another part of the galaxy, millions of light‑years crossed in an instant–would be vastly different than merely looking at a holo‑image.

“You’re so lucky your parents are taking you,” Jayme told him enviously. “The Endeavorwill be leaving the Cardassian border and probably won’t get anywhere close to the Bajoran sector this summer. But my aunt is hoping we do get into Klingon territory while I’m visiting.”

“I wanted to go with friends,” Bobbie Ray said from under the protective shadow of the pillow. “But Mother keeps talking about ‘losing me’ and how we have to spend more time together.”

“I’ll take your place,” Nev Reoh offered. But his tentative joke had too much yearning in it to amuse anyone.

Moll bit her lip, ducking her head. It was Reoh who should go to Bajor now that the Cardassian occupation had ended–not Bobbie Ray but Reoh, the former Vedek who had never set foot on his own homeworld. From his tone, she could tell he hadn’t been able to arrange passage during the upcoming summer break. Yet he had been all smiles lately, too pleased with the liberation of his people from the Cardassian occupation to talk about his own thwarted desire. Moll liked him even better for that.

Titus stood up, his hands on his hips. “Are we here to finish our Quad project or gossip about our summer vacations?”

“We’ve only got to test it again and we’re through,” Moll Enor reminded him.

“Then we’re through for the year!” Starsa exclaimed, clapping her hands. “No more classes for two months!”

“Then let’s do it,” Jayme agreed, rocking forward on her knees to examine their proton chain‑maker one last time. “Where’s the sample?”

Even Bobbie Ray rolled over and watched their preparations. A limen stalk was placed in the receptacle where the target laser fell on a crosshair.

Moll moved closer to watch Jayme and Starsa, their resident engineers, work over the chain‑maker. Moll’s contribution had been the data on proton structure and characteristics. One of her specialties was astrophysics, and she had suggested using protons, the chief constituent of primary cosmic rays. Titus and Jayme had wanted to use an antiproton chain, figuring it would be more dramatic, but the others voted down the idea because of the large containment field that would be necessary to hold the chain‑maker and its fuel.

“Kind of simple, if you ask me,” Jayme grumbled, not for the first time.

“It’s brilliant!” Starsa contradicted, laughing. “It’s a variation on an old idea. Instead of a molecular beam, we’re narrowing the focus to protons. That means it can be used for ultrafine incisions.”

Titus held up another limen stalk, jabbing it at his neck as if the errant vegetable was attacking him. “The dreaded limen stalk! That’ll teach ‘em!”