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Wynter Quarters 2200
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Jasmine reached over and picked up her personal communicator. “So much for surfing Bang,” she groaned taking a sip of her coffee. At this time of night, it had to be either her mother or Max’s. They tended to take turns every other night or so to call and check in with their kids. Unfortunately, Max was in the shower after getting off the evening shift so it was up to her to answer. If she didn’t then they would both be calling in the morning assuming they were dead or assimilated by the Borg. Mintaran’s mother’s worry always gone from worse to ten feet underground if their kids tended to ignore them. Once Jasmine saw the caller, however, Jasmine wished it was her mother.

“Darn it,” she cursed under her breath as she looked over her shoulder to see if Max was anywhere near her. Jasmine debated on whether or not she should take the call.
The problem was the caller would not stop. If she didn’t answer it now they would call when she was on duty or when Max was around. Taking a deep breath she finally answered the call. “Hello. Long time no hear from” she said in a friendly tone. Ten seconds into the call Jasmine’s face grew more somber and she again glanced over her shoulder. “Look I would really like to help. Really but I told you I am out,” she said in a firm but low tone.

=/\=No one is ever out. No one with a conscious,=/\= the voice replied. The tone was firm and authoritative. It had a hardness to it that did not fit the physical characteristics of the owner. No one thought the person was capable of doing the things they did until you spent time with them. By then it was too late. You were in too deep both morally and legally.

“I am married now. Max is not going to,” Jasmine cracked her fingers on one hand as she spoke showing her tension increasing.

=/\=What understand=/\= the voice was harsh and condescending. =/\= If he can’t understand then you have a real winner, there Jasmine =/\=

“Stop you don’t know him. He is a good guy,” Jasmine’s tone was laced with frustration and getting angrier by the sentence.

=/\=I’m sure he is a regular peach. Just do your job and then you can go back to your life. I would not ask you but finding someone to do the work is hard to come by. You know that it as well as I do. So stop your witching and do your job. The job you swore an oath to or close your eyes and bury yourself in the sanitary life you have that others don’t =/\= the voice said icily on the other end of the call.

“That is not fair,” Jasmine said in a heated tone. Her volume had risen just loud enough to make Jasmine look over her shoulder. If Max came out now it would be too late to end this anyway and him being privy to the call would do nothing more than problems. Sometimes things tipped past the point of return.

=/\=Life’s not fair. Just pick up the box and do your job. Then I won’t bother you again. Agreed,=/\= the voice said in a firm but slightly nicer tone.

Jasmine bit her lip hard trying to physically hold back al the things she wanted to say. The list was long but at the end of the day, there was only one thing to say. “Agreed,” Jasmine replied and ended the call.

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0600 hours
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“Hey baby,” Jasmine pulled her hair to one side as she leaned down to kiss Max’s cheek. The chief was dead asleep but she felt weird just leaving a note on the table. “Baby I am heading to the starbase to meet with Melandra,” Jasmine sat on the edge of the bed. “You remember that girl I went to school with at the Academy. Turns out she got married a few years back and she and her husband are at the Starbase transferring off the Lexington to some other ship. I won’t be too long but probably all day. Stay out of trouble and don’t get hurt,” Jasmine said standing up. “The last thing I need is you getting busted up and me not here to fix it. Love you,” she said bending down one last time and kissing him. She stopped a few inches from his face after breaking the kiss and looked at Max lying on his back in bed.

“I do. Love you,” she said softly. “More than you know. More than that stupid test said. Okay,” she said leaning in and laying her head on his chest for a second for an impromptu awkward hug.

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Mundai Colony
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Jasmine forgot how thorough Shan was when it came to her missions. Starfleet intelligence had nothing on the 5‘4” dark-haired doctor. She paid the right people, blackmailed the bad people, and guilted the good people to get what she wanted. Stepping off the shuttle that she had taken from the starbase to the small moon world of Mundai Colony, Jasmine pulled the collar of the black leather coat tighter around her neck. The wind had a bite to it whipping lose strands of hair about her face. No matter how many times she swept it out of her eyes, several more lose strands seem to find their way back to blur her vision.

The surface was a dark twilight even though it was late morning. The small amount of filtered light cast shadows in areas that on other worlds would be brightly lit. The sky did not hold clouds but more a gray fog where the brightest stars could be seen at all times of the day. Today there was a slight drizzle making the day seem even bleaker. A misting rain made Jasmine feel wet but not able to actually slough any water from her body. It would eventually soak through her clothes but hopefully, she would be off world and back in her uniform before then.

The colony itself was exactly as she expected it would be: Sleek modern buildings with clean streets that were well lit with plenty of food and lodging places around the spaceport. As she drove further out in the rented vehicle the buildings would become prefab, the streets would become a mix of half paved and half hard-packed dirt as the colonists worked to expand their city. This was still not where Jasmine would stop. Her spot was specific and found on the outskirts of every glistening city in the galaxy. No one spoke of it yet everyone in power knew it existed. The place past the polite pedestrians and officers on every corner was where she stopped the vehicle. Jasmine glanced at the clock and let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. Missions never took long. Usually only a couple hours. Then this would be over and she would be out of the job for the rest of her life. She could support the cause in other ways. Ways that wouldn’t ruin her life if she was ever discovered.

Lt. Jasmine Wynter CMO