Ignatius Sanchez closed the teak door to the forward berth with a sigh. The drunk had passed out and was contentedly snoring. Iggy ran a hand over his blonde crewcut and wandered into the galley to tidy up the mess.

"How did I get roped into this mess?" he wondered at the approaching dawn.

"Hey, Ig, you down there?" a voice wondered from on the dock.

Iggy slid back the cabin hatch and stepped into to the cockpit. The morning was cool and dewy. Iggy looked up to see the figure of his little brother standing alongside the sleek hull.

"Hey WeeBro! What brings you here to Honolulu?" Iggy wondered holding out his hand as Jesse leapt aboard like a cat.

"Actually I was at that party at Admiral Reardon's last night and I missed you."

"Ahh yes, Admiral Reardon," Iggy sighed clucking his tongue. "Cup of Java for ya?"

"Wouldn't pass it up." Jesse sighed.

"Admiral Reardon wants to charter this to San Francisco and give some visiting dignitary some geegaws." Iggy grumbled.

"Oh," Jesse grunted.

"I don't want to take it. Even if I am supposed to be heading to Seattle to discuss the Microsoft Cup entry. I just don't feel like babysitting some seasick--excuse me--nonhuman!" Iggy was feeling grumpy. Admiral Reardon's proposal and the party last night left him short on sleep and in a foul temper.

"Nothing changes does it?" Jesse wondered.

"No, I don't even know why I listened." Iggy wondered aloud. Wondering how he ever got stuck talking to Reardon in the first place. Or the drunk that he was going to have to roust and get rid of, what a night.

Jesse grunted, "Life's that way sometimes. I think Mum thought us a bad trait. I get caught listening to peoples confessions and problems as well."

"Yeah but you get to right the wrong.' Iggy scowled. "I just listen to drunks and over bearing pompous pains. No little bro, I like it better out on the open water, or in the yards with a new hull. So why are you here?"

"Leave," Jesse sighed. "Except for some business I had to conduct at the Admirals last night. I didn't want to go but my presence was required. Why were you there?"

"Being polite, which was a mistake."

"So are you going to tell him your going to blow that charter?"

"I probably will. I've got to get to Seattle." Iggy grunted. "I really don't have time for a side trip to SF."

"Why don't you just transport there?" Jesse wondered.

"Why? If I get underway Ill be there in three days. Weather control is favorable. Winds are good. why use a transporter when I can sail?" Iggy wondered. "You don't...Your on leave right? Wanna crew to Seattle?"

"I was hopin' you'd ask." Jesse smiled. "There's no place Id rather be then in the middle of the ocean with no cares and no...its been rough."

"Good. We'll sail with the tide, so if you want to get your gear and such, you've got some time."

Iggy watched his brother walk down the dock still in uniform. Yeah WeeBro needed a break form whatever it was. He was tense and edgy. Defiantly in an odd mood, not like him at all. But then Jesse had changed since he was a naive teenager. Jesse would not have asked to go sailing before. Maybe tuning thirty had made him take a more mature look at life. Probably not though.

Iggy wondered what it was going to be like having WeeBro on Board the Sea Witch One. Put him in the forward cabin, there was a little more headspace there. Iggy was comfortable in the aft cabin anyway. That was home by default. it was closest to the electronics, the galley replicator and the Engine closet. Iggy scampered below decks and put the coffee cups in sink. Checked the water level in the tanks and took the engine off dock umbilical and into standby cruise mode. He opened the hatch and checked the engine diagnostics and cycled the bilge pumps. He thought for a minute about how simple preparing to set sail was compared to the historical vessels he had studied and spent time on. He shook his head thinking about the logistic of prepping something like the Frigate Constitution was. Even taking out one of the America's Cup contenders was not simple, and those were day sailors.

*** Karla Thompson pulled her long brilliant copper-red hair into a scrunchie and meandered up the beach. She spotted Sanchez as he walked out of a condo door with a duffle thrown over a shoulder.

"You're leaving?" she wondered.

"Yeah," Jesse admitted slowly smoothing some sand with the toe of his shoe, often referred to a birkenstock, but he didn't know why.

"You're just walking out--" Karla snapped. She glared at him for a moment. It was no use, because he just glared back.

"I left ya a note on the comm terminal." he said sharply wishing fervently that she would just go away. It was bad enough without this.

"A note? you expect me to believe a note?" she asked indignantly.

"I'm going sailing with my brother, and I will be out of touch for a few days." He said turning away.

"Fine," she huffed.

Jesse watched her disappear into the condo and he turned down the path towards the docks. May this was better, maybe...

*** Iggy was up in the rigging watching his brothers slow progress along the dock. He saw the redhead storm off and started putting together two and two. It didn't take a genius to see that he was having female troubles. Iggy sighed and snickered to himself. There were some things that never changed about Jesse and one of them was women. He had a big soft spot and he would stumble over his feet trying to be nice. He never wanted to see anyone hurt, and he would paint himself into the darndest corners sometimes.

Iggy climbed out of the rigging and looked at his brothers glum face. "So," Iggy wondered. "Tell me what that was all about."

"Its not what you think." Jesse said with an unusual terseness.

"Ohhoho I beg to differ. I think I know my little brother pretty well. Who was it that always came for advice, tail tucked?"

"Do you know what its like to not be with the one you want to be with?" Jesse said with a note of bitterness.

"Yeah it hurts like a kick in the nuts. Takes all the wind right out of ya." Iggy studied him for a minute trying to figure what was going on in his brother's head. He turned his attention to one of the tensioning bolts on a winch. He changed the subject, "Hey did you hear that Ferry finally got his Holo-engineering degree?"

"No I haven't spoken to Mum. You know how it is, the less Ferry and I talk the better."

"Yeah ," Iggy nodded remembering his to middle brothers were not all that close. In fact sibling rivalry ran fierce between them, still. He continued his thought,"and Babsie is going to some place called Xanor II, she's gotten into biomedical engineering! She wants to be a doctor specializing in orthopedics." Iggy finished tightening the bolt and stood up. "Apparently there is a real need for personal to help out a bunch of refugees. Know anything about that?"

"No, " Jesse sighed.

"Yeah, Dad was laughing about how he's led a whole generation astray. All of us are engineers or in the Fleet." Iggy squinted and looked about. It was time to get going he could feel it in the wind. He glanced at his brother slouching against the lazarette. Something about his tone and flat denial about the refugees struck him as odd, but then again, everything was odd. This wasn't like Jesse, and it seemed like that was a brooding anger beneath his normally personable exterior. He didn't push the issue, afraid that the situation would explode into an ugly feud.

*** Jesse was mesmerized by the bow wake. Memory flooded back like the tide...it was out it, was in. Relentless.

He knew that thinking through the situation was what he needed, and the funerals and the limp back to Earth's safe haven had not filled the voids that undermined his thoughts and actions. He let his mind wander over the memory of the first few days after the battle, instead of suppressing the associations. He lit a cigar and let his mind drift to the horizon..

*** He watched the well oiled machine that was Endeavour Security. Teams ran hither and yon collecting equipment and munitions.

The blonde head of Lt. Cmdr. Vanessa Remington came into view. She nodded at Sanchez, her icy blue eyes taking in the tableau before her. "It looks as if things are well at hand."

"The drills are paying off," Jesse nodded looking at a padd in his hand. "I would say that we are nearly ready to shove off. I have the point teams sitting on go. That includes Darh'ina in charge of team one. Team two headed by Whitebear. I'll be with team three. Then there are the secondary teams that are going, Carstairs, Fletcher, Bae, T'Kora, and Pickworth will all be working in tandem with the Med teams."

"Good hunting Sanchez." Remington nodded in satisfaction.

Jesse nodded in return and turned away. "Everley!" he hollered at his teammate. "You got those tricorders?"

"Sanchez," Remington interrupted.

"Yes, sir?" Jesse turned frowning slightly.

"Get me one," she said coldly. "Alive."

"Gladly," he nodded, catching her meaning. Everley sprinted up and handed him a tricorder.

Jesse glanced at Vanessa and snapped off an old fashioned salute, in the vain of the RAF.

*** The drink was cool and sweet as it ran down his parched throat. He drained the container and tossed it aside. He ceased leaning on the security console of the brig and glanced at the Khynah behind the force field.

"Hold still Sanchez or you'll have a scar," the med tech admonished him. He was busy closing the gash in Sanchez's upper arm and shoulder. Jesse's squirming with his drink and the ants in his pants were making the job difficult. He made the Assistant Security Chief take a seat.

Jesse sighed and glanced at Everley. Both of them were covered in nameless grime; Both still had the gleam of adrenaline rush in their eyes. Sitting still was not Jesse's idea of something to do at this point. He was feeling restless. He ached all over and moving helped his bruises and over-used muscle to keep from stiffening too much. His fidgeting was calmed with another scowl from the tech.

They had beamed directly into the brig where the prisoner was settled into the cell. The Med tech had come at the call of Ens. Hannover who was caught by the sight of Sanchez wrestling and blood spilling over his uniform sleeve.

The anesthetic took the sting out of the knife wound in his shoulder. Jesse studied the blade and studied his captive. A wicked weapon matched to a wicked fighter.

"If she had waited a second longer, you would have joined Mouser, " Everley commented, seeming to read the lieutenants thoughts in his expression.

"Yeah, and you would have scrapped me up with a shovel. Lucky McKay energized when she did." Jesse lit the cigar he had stashed in his kit when the tech finished and had turned to Everley. He let the smoke trickle through his lips and calm himself. The act of lighting up had become a mantra, a calming ritual. His mind settled when his fingers held the firm brown wrapper.

Everley exchanged a sharp glance with the tech. Both looked at Sanchez with an air of contempt.

"Didn't that become illegal?"

"It did, but you never know when dirty filthy habits will resurface. Like drinking and prohibition." Jesse challenged in a soft voice. He wandered over to the force field away from Everley and the tech. He studied the warrior before him, looked at his eyes, his armor.

"Remember those Borg simulations we had to run?" he wondered.

"I try and forget." Everley huffed.

Jesse turned back to the brig monitoring station, "Well I have a new training scenario" he jerked his head in the Khynah's direction. "Resistance is futile."

"Report, Lieutenant." Remington stepped into the brig area instantly eyeing her lieutenant and the prisoner.

"Prisoner is secure," Jesse replied crisply.

"Stow it Sanchez," Remington ordered softly as she walked by her assistant.

Jesse glanced up and saw that Marcus Forrester had stepped in as well. He quickly slid the cigar into a humitube and put it away.

Remington listened carefully to Sanchez's report on the type of weapons and tactic encountered on the station. She watched the Khynah as the Assistant spoke. The Khynah seemed to resemble a caged targ, and the impression didn't sit well with her; A targ was rarely caged for long.

"Your impressions, Lieutenant?" Forrester asked his blue eyes resembling the glow of warp plasma. The Australian's words punctuated by intercessions by his enthusiastic ensign, made the burn seem brighter and etch the determination deeper into the elegant features of the Captain.

"They are single minded in determination sir. Intense." Jesse searched for words to explain his impressions to his captain.

"Place that in your report Lieutenant. I will need that as soon as possible to relay to command. No one except myself, Commander Remington and Commander Sinclair shall have access to this area. Any exceptions will be cleared by myself." Forrester ordered, glancing coldly at the Khynah before he stepped out with Remington. Everley glanced after the Caption and sighed.

"Get cleaned up Morgan, " Jesse urged him with a swat on the arm with a padd. He turned to the officer in charge of the brig, "Ens. Hannover I want this place under double guard, and I expect a full report at shift change. Nothing moves, not even a bloody cockroach. You herd the Cap'in"

"Do you think that there might be trouble?" Morgan wondered as they left.

"Expect the unexpected," Jesse said softly, glancing at Everley.

"I didn't expect that." Morgan said as he stepped on the 'lift.

"I don't know if anyone damn well did. I'm going to check the situation in sickbay, just so I know what gives. Get a shower, man."

"Yes sir." Morgan smiled softly.

*** He climbed through the interior of the conduits, deep into sections of the ship few had ever seen. Finally he reached the end of his visual inspection and dropped to the floor of the auxiliary phaser control room. With a tired sigh he put the tricorder down on the console and called up the diagnostics on the status panel.

"I think you'll find that there's a level three disruption in the feedback modifier, Lieutenant."

Jesse glanced up at the sound of the slightly sultry voice. He looked into the most incredible pair of emerald eyes that he had ever seen. She sauntered over to the panel and called up her own data. Her long brilliant red hair was pulled neatly into a french braid but a stray tendril curved its way down her thin neck to ... Jesse blinked and took a breath. Her presence was utterly unexpected and he found himself captivated by her scent and the looks she shot him.

"Its all in this report, I was about to forward it to Engineering." She smiled.

"Well I'm glad that these problems are being tracked down and properly documented.," He huffed in reply trying to think clearly.

She smiled again, "You don't happen to enjoy null-gee gymnastics do you? Its a great way to relieve stress."

"Yeah, why?"

"After I'm done here how about a trip to the gym?"

"Yeah, sure " he shrugged, not realizing what would happen later.

*** Jesse sat in Remington's office as she went through some padds. He had a similar set in front of himself, they covered the normally orderly desk.

"Jesse," she looked at him seriously, setting aside the padds for a moment.

"Umm, yeah?" He blinked. He was exhausted but after seeing what was in sickbay, the carnage, he managed to drag himself into the office to get the reports filed. The situation made him angry and the anger was driving him. It had driven him into the arms of a stranger, then into a fight with a friend It had been a week since the actual battle but the waves were still radiating from the disturbance. Nothing was normal, nerves were frayed, emotions within the surviving crew raw and untempored.

"I want you to listen carefully," as if he needed to be told THAT. Her tone of voice pulled his attention into sharp focus. "You must keep in mind that your duty is to be the Captain's right hand. I know you are capable. You have proven that on several occasions. You must learn to think several steps ahead. I want you to read his file again. Then reflect upon it and re-read it again. You must completely understand him. You must anticipate his thoughts, be able to offer him viable solutions and alternatives. You must also bear in mind that the crew places their complete trust in you including Max Taggert. You have a unique responsibility to the crew and to the passengers of this ship."

"Commander," Jesse paused and rubbed his eyes. "Why are you giving me this lecture?"

Vanessa let a whisper of a smile cross her mouth. "Why am I giving you the senior-year Security Officer lecture? Because," she paused. "This isn't the Kobashi Maru test. This is reality. And reality what it is, Starfleet is calling me away. I don't know when I will be back, or if I am coming back. Until that time you are Chief of Security."

Jesse absorbed the words in silence.

"It is not official yet, You have a meeting with the Captain and Cmdr Sinclair in fifteen minutes."

"Commander?" he asked with a blink. He felt numb and thick with the words.

"Yes?" She looked up with her pale blue eyes.

"Why is Starfleet calling you away?" He wondered with a puzzled frown. He normally didn't question orders, but the situation bothered him in such a way that coupled with his being tired, he spoke out.

She spoke softly, "What we learned , what we need to learn and understand. But that is between you and I."

Jesse remained silent for a long moment.

"You'll need this for your briefing, " she remarked as means of dismal, handing him a padd with her final report on the suicide of the Khynah that they had held so briefly.

He took the padd with a terse nod and walked quietly out of the office to the ready room where the meeting was being held.

*** Sunset on the Pacific was a wonder to behold. Iggy stood at the wheel admiring the glow of tangerine and rose over one shoulder, then would glance up at his brother who had perched himself on the pulpit. The musty stench of smoke drifted back to the cockpit. Iggy secured the wheel to hold their course and scrambled forward.

He looked at Jesse with a discouraged frown. "You have scarcely put three sentences together," he admonished the younger Sanchez.

"I've had a lot on my mind, that's all." Jesse replied slowly.

"Women?" Iggy wondered settling beside him.

"No, other matters this time." He admitted dousing the stub in the wake.

Iggy glanced at him for a moment, and sighed with a soft snort. "Such as?" he squinted and rubbed his blonde hair.

"Such as...battles...duty...responsibility,"

"Heavy stuff little brother," Iggy nodded. "Anything you can tell me specifically or is it classified? Dad said there are things that are just too classified to banter around the family dinner table."

"We were involved with an altercation with, "Jesse hesitated for a moment, choosing his words carefully. He finally found them in something of a euphemism,"an unruly emerging culture."

"Then you know about these refugees that Barbara is going to help." Iggy injected remembering the recant news stories that had filtered through the rumor mill and later confirmed in sketchy reports. "You just chose to say--"

"I didn't choose." Jesse spoke bitterly,' "I didn't know there were refugees. I doubted that...Never mind." He paused stemming the torrent that threatened to spill forth if he wasn't careful. There were things that as a civilian Iggy just didn't need to know about. He changed the subject, "Anyway they want to field promote me into security chef."

"Oh," Iggy grunted in reply. "Reward for good behavior?"

"I don't know if I'm ready. I've got some training to go to , and I was hoping that I'd understand what was going on a bit better," Jesse thought aloud.

"Umm what makes me think your just...you know you came to me with the very same argument after you rescued those people in the Gamma quadrant!" Iggy found himself laughing. "What did I tell you then?"

"Take it or I'm shot."

"That's what Dad always said, to get anywhere the turtle has to stick his neck out." Iggy grinned, "As to your love life, she probably isn't worth the aggravation."

"How do you know?"

"Who needs women? Cant live with them--"

"--and you cant live without them." Jesse replied harshly.

Iggy glanced over twisting his mouth and blinking. He suddenly grinned, "Touche'!"

*** "You'll be in San Francisco then?" Iggy wondered as they pulled up to the Gates Municipal dock two days later. Jesse had deftly jumped to the wooden dock to tie off the Witch. He was now handling the lines as if he had been doing it all his life.

"And wherever else they plan on sending me." Jesse sighed not particularly relishing reporting in for his training rotation. It was work and challenge after three days of loafing in the sun with no interruptions.

"Well, the wind does blow brother. I think the public transporter is up at Pike's Market." Iggy pointed up the hill to the old part of town.

"Thanks, Ig. " Jesse nodded.

"Remember what I said about Karla, and that Cam. " Iggy emphasized as he pulled on his windbreaker and shoes.

"How can I forget? Good Luck with the Cup."

"Yeah thanks. Ill let you know how it goes. Hey maybe if you get a chance you could come along."

"Someday," Jesse nodded.

"Yeah? Just like someday you were going to replace that rudder on the Jet?"

"I did." Jesse protested.

"No you didn't. Ferry did, or Dad." Iggy snorted. "Never mind about that now. Ill let you know how the race goes."

Iggy watched his little brother walk away with a mix of wonder and uneasiness. It seemed as if a lot of responsibility, and dumb bad luck, had fallen on those broad shoulders.