Snowmelt

It had taken some work. Even after the Captain's approval of her planned teaching sessions, Snowfire had had to work out where to hold them, when to hold them, get a firm idea on numbers that would be coming, set up at least half a dozen different lists and then fill out a number of forms that - if they had been hardcopy and placed together - certainly would have compressed under its own sheer mass and proceeded to ignite into a stellar body. A small stellar body perhaps, but when you were talking about stars, small was...a complicated term at the best of times. But it was - at last - done. She'd gotten copies of the Treaty of Khazet ready for download, as well as a couple of the orientation packages that had gotten creatively lost in the database her people had transferred. Sorting that mass of information into a format that would actually make sense to most Federation members was a project that had taken on a life of its own. It was going to take months, but she'd get it done.

Eventually.

She had invited the senior staff - although the invite to the Captain was likely scarcely needed, he knew where it would be - as well as putting out general announcements over the computer net, and now waited as the final few minutes ticked by towards 18:30. She'd initially asked for one of the smaller lounges, but the mass of responses she'd received over the two days since posting her announcement had led her to request part of the main lounge as a venue instead. Considering the response...she was honestly considering that the next sessions were going to force her to request the reconfiguration of one of the currently unused cargo areas. This was the big test though. To see if she could do, on a vastly larger scale, what she'd done in the Academy before being reassigned. It was also critically important. The Federation didn't know enough at present about the IDF to be able to help if - no, when - the inevitable occurred. No pressure of course.

She was going to open with some basic physiology, do a skim of post-Fall history and then move onto the Treaty of Khazet. She was planning on making clear at the start that questions would be allowed, but also that she could never answer all of them. So she'd split the subjects with time for her to take questions on them - which she was going to hold to religiously! And then after the treaty - if she managed to keep to the heavily amended timetable that she'd worked out - she'd take further related questions until they either ran out or it hit 9 pm ship time. She was honestly expecting the latter to happen before the former, and there was a reason that she was going to be emphasising the related in related questions. If she didn't they'd never stop. She'd learnt that at the first lecture she did at the Academy.

So it was with trepidation she waited, but happily. And far more in fear of curiosity then of malice.

Amazingly enough, the very first one to come into the room was Captain Kheren himself. Most commanding officers made a show of coming last or after things were ongoing, either so as not to intimidate lower ranks or to show any kind of favoritism to an officer, or sometimes just to make a show of rank or have people stop everything to make a show of saluting him. Kheren would have none of either. He was simply interested in the matter and Snowfire was among the highest ranking officers on board and a department head; she deserved recognition as much from that as from being the representative of a foreign people graciously contributing herself and her expertise to Starfleet. In this, he was as much acting as a starship captain with ambassadorial responsibilities as anything else.

And he did not come alone. Not only were his two wives with him, Chief Counselor Lyrya and tactical lieutenant Tyvya, but each and every one of the other ninety-seven Andorians on board came with him to take seats in the large meeting hall. They had not been ordered to follow their commanding officer's example; they simply showed the traditional communal attitude and curiosity of their people for non-ghelnoid species that were so different, yet seemingly so alike themselves in so many ways, according to the scarce data available on the Ilythiiri. 

There was some time before they would be called again to work on the next, more crucial phase of the ship's transwarp test. So, this was for them the best opportunity to do what they had all signed for in the first place; seek out and learn about new life and new civilizations.

Kheren chose to sit somewhere in the back middle of the seating rows, so that he would have a clear view without being himself in the field of vision of most other attendees. He wanted to focus on Snowfire's presentation and for everyone else to focus on her, without being concerned with his presence. This was to be about her, and her people, first and last.

Following the captain and a vast number of other Andorians, Lieutenant Elisha Leône was next to enter the lecture hall. The Orion operations officer knew virtually nothing about Lieutenant Commander Snowfire's species and was rather curious to learn something about their chief science officer and her people: the Ilythiiri.  Elisha knew only of the reputation of the science chief's accomplishments throughout the Azimuth Horizon Anomaly missions, and her work with the now captain of the Phoenix among others. Crew from among the entire fleet of starships along with those from the starbase had all worked together to accomplish what even to this day seems like an impossibility.

As she carefully scanned the room, Elisha selected a seat toward the front and center where she would be able to clearly see and hear everything that was presented. It was the same pattern that she had followed in the Academy: arrive early and choose an optimally positioned seat.

Lieutenant Leône then placed her activated PADD before her and patiently waited for the lecture to begin. 

Outside, Commander Redding paced quietly near the door. What am I doing here? He asked himself yet again. He hated lectures and hearing about yet another race of people he didn't know existed until a week ago was enough to make him want to fake an injury to get out of it. You're doing it again, aren't you? You see a strong exotic woman and right away you start thinking about her. It was true of course, His first wife had been Klingon, later it was an Orion house 'slave' for a mistress and still later another Klingon ship commander. There was even a short fling with that Feringi girl.. and there were still others. ALL of them to a one landed him in trouble of one type or another.

He gave a sigh and straightened himself up Just go in there and show her the respect of a fellow officer.

Entering the room Redding gave her a quick acknowledgement nod then sat near Kheren and his party. "Captain, Lyrya, TYvya." and settled back into his seat.

Snowfire nodded to each of the senior staff in turn, granting Kheren's wives each one as well. She was not really surprised by the turnout of the Andorians. They were a good people. And searching in their past had shown a history very similar in some ways to hers. In some ways. And as to Kheren...there was no surprise there. He had said, after all.

Lieutenant Leone was a bit of a surprise in truth, but she could accept the idea of learning about a new race. It was to be expected really. Starfleet was a lot better about that, and any product of the academy - in retrospect - must have had at least some interest in her talk.

And then there was Commander Redding. He, at least, she was not surprised by when he entered. The mass of somewhat conflicting emotions he was radiating was quite unmistakable. And passive sensing was a skill that all members of Talya teams were trained in relentlessly. She was going to be quite interested to see how he reacted to certain parts of the physiology section.

After the few command staff though, there came others. Officers and enlisted both, mixed together as they flooded in across the minutes remaining. The entire diplomatic complement, even those currently on duty. Then again, what she was about to talk about could be considered good diplomatic training, so that made sense. At least half of her science department, all of her off-duty seconds among them, their blue shoulders milling with the similar ones of the - albeit lesser - horde of medical and technical department members. She was worried for about a minute that they would run out of chairs, but somehow there were enough despite the fact that the stream of personnel into the area seemed almost constant for a goodly number of seconds. But, eventually, the stream tapered off and ended, a few final crewmembers ducking through the door into seats as the last few seconds ticked by.

She gave it thirty seconds as courtesy to any late arrivals, then smiled and stood. It was time.

As she was standing, the Doctors 011 and 110 shuffled quietly in and took two seats in the back row in order not to divert anyone's attention. Of all the people present, it was most critical that they understood the race of the woman standing before them, as they were professionally responsible for her physiological well-being. Of course there was data in the ship's computers, but it never hurt to get information in a more personal manner, and her cursory physical before the launch of the Horizon was quite brief.

Directly following the Doctors, Lieutenant Commander Sisko slipped in and took a seat, also in the back row, directly across the aisle from them. Having a mother and father from two different races meant he knew how important it was to understand as much as possible about another race.

Snowfire stifled a smile as the CMO and CEO slipped into the meeting as she rose. Leave it to the doctor and engineer to be the late arrivals. Then again, it made a sort of sense really. The two professions that were perhaps most reliant on being precise were generally somehow also the tardiest where it came to meeting times. Not always of course, but often. She gave each a faint nod, and then cleared her throat quietly. Two hundred years on command track. Silence blanketed the room almost instantly.

"Thank you all for coming." She said, smiling faintly. "This is a rather larger audience then I've had before, so I hope you can all hear me. Now." She tapped her PADD, and the lights dimmed slightly, allowing her a degree of visual presence. "My name, as you likely know, is Snowfire K'Leysha. What you would call a surname is in fact a clan name, something that no doubt many of you are at least familiar with. My particular clan is the Clan of Spirit, founded and dedicated to keeping the spirit of our people. We are both its final keepers and its true shapers, and it is no accident that at least half of the exchange group to the Federation was made up of members of my clan. Physically and physiologically, there is no difference between us. Psychologically there are a few, but none more that the differences in psychological outlook that are common between two members of the same species from different worlds. I will cover the clan system in more depth later in this talk, but a comprehensive explanation will be the subject of a later group. For now, I will start with the basics. Physiology, history, and the Treaty of Khazet. After each topic, there will be a short time for related questions and then a longer section at the end for more. Now," she tapped another key and a hologram of an Ilythiiri female (herself, actually) popped up beside her.

"The Ilythiiri are a race that, on the whole, fits the Vulcanoid subtype that has been ascribed to us rather well except for a few key differences. First is, of course, the visual difference." She indicated the hair, skin, and then eyes of the holo. "Every single Ilythiiri born since some point after the Fall has shared the same basic colourings. Black skin enabled us to more easily survive in the twilight that perpetuated the underground cities we fled to to escape extinction. Our eye colours follow similar evolutionary functions, being the result of a select group of chemical combinations that allow us to see perfectly in almost total darkness. There are a few, slight, differences in efficiency between the colours due to the exact nature of the changes to rod and cone groups within the retina, with red being generally accepted as the most efficient combination for night operations. Due to the nature of that change however, in that we are incapable of controlling it, almost all Ilythiiri wear thin - and extremely durable - lenses over our eyes to prevent us being partially blinded in what you would consider daylight." She gestured at the current, rather dim, light level.

"This degree of lighting is at about the edge of our comfort level without lenses. Standard ship lighting would be unbearable if I didn't wear them." She tapped another button, and PADDs across the room pinged softly as the technical data behind the basic explanation arrived. "The colour of our hair, however, is not something that we have any understanding of. As far as we can tell, our genetic code contains the genes for darker hair colours and they are actively present in close to forty percent of our people. They still have white hair. Our best theory is that the Ilythiiri gene for white hair colour is for some reason totally dominant if present. It smacks of extremely advanced genetic engineering on a massive scale, but our histories show no record of self-modification. Then again, we have very little knowledge of the majority of what took place before and shortly after the Fall. The outward physical appearances aside however, when it comes to what's inside Ilythiiri are very similar to the other humanoid races we have thus far encountered - at a genetic level at least." Another button press and the outer skin layer faded away to show the inner biological workings. "Our basic biology is closer to Human than Vulcan - although we use a different oxygen carrier that's slightly more efficient. Our bone structure is composed of an organic substance akin to high-strength ceramics which are lighter and slightly stronger, although with a tendency to shatter rather than break if you push them past their flex points.

"There is little else of note in the rest of our biological physiology barring four things." She held up a finger. "First, from all available evidence, Ilythiiri are biologically and genetically compatible with other species to a degree that surpasses almost all known species. Biological and genetic tests run by scientists back in Council space actually show that we would be theoretically capable of successfully - and safely - mating with all ancient humanoid descendants as expected, but also Andorians," she paused for a moment to let that sink in. "Studies are still being conducted back home into viability for other species - we're trying to see how far this adaptiveness extends, but they all seem to run into one very peculiar fact." A second finger rose.

This made quite a stir.

Not in the Human sense, but in the Andorian sense; because of the unusual number of them all present in the room, a deep, cold silence suddenly was felt, even if nobody had been making any noise during Snowfire's presentation. But now, it was as if the entire room had paralysed and sucked in it's breath and was starting to shiver with either fear or anger... or both.

Andorians never talked of reproduction with offworlders; not only because theirs was too complex and alien for all Humanoids to fully understand - after all, they were not humanoids but ghelnoids, both mammalian and insectoid - and not because of any shyness or prudish feeling, as they had none...  but because it was so ingrained in each and every aspect of their being, their behavior, their life, their culture, their history and their society that talking of it was nothing less than baring open their very soul. 

And even more in this day and age; because of it, some said, they were a dying species, less than thirty millions on the homeworld, barely ninety millions in the entire universe and their numbers dwindling at a perceptible rate as the birthrate was lower than it ever was in the entire existence of their kind. 

Now on top of that, there was Captain Kheren himself. A product of illegal, and on Andoria most controversial, genetic engineering to attempt to change this grim fate, he was the first and so far the only Andorian who could, with the aid of modern biogenetic crossbreeding of course, mate alone with someone of another species, as he had been made as a Thaan-Chan, a fusion of the two male-like genders of the Andorian species and therefore carrying alone all male chromosomes; hence why he had no male spouse and two wives, Tyvya being the ovulae-baring Shen and Lyrya being the gestating Zhen. To his kind, he was seen either as the first savior of their endangered species... or as a monstrous abomination that threatened the very essence of Andorian existence. Only those who had Starfleet discipline and served with him could go past either prejudices. Even the artificial creation of a Human hermaphrodite as the next step of Human evolution would have had barely scratched the surface of what Kheren's very existence did to the Andorian collective psyche.

They had ostracized him, even killed his only sister at birth because of it.

And now, this Ilythiiri was now casually stating that her own entire species could allow easy interbreeding like no other could. Even if bio-engineering would still be needed - and one of each male Andorian gender for every one Ilythiiri female or one of each of the two Andorian female types for every Ilythiiri male... and that, during the short five years period of their lives when they were actually fertile - this meant that, if this was generally known, it could spur a mad race of mating for those desperate enough in a dying species who's most important goal in life was to have children... and further cause their species's alteration, dissolution and eventually their very extinction.

In short; validate the birth of others like Kheren Kalel Th'Ch'Leryll Keth Reiji... or equally monstrous hybrids like the half human, half Andorian Barile N'Arti... and their deepest fears.

And they were studying this?

To all the Andorians in the room, as she so casually spoke of it, this was nothing short of revealing that there was, somewhere out there, and all powerful race of immensely advanced spacefaring beings planning their genocide.

There was no comment, no further outward reaction at this dramatic revelation. Apart from Aenars and out of the mating bond, Andorians had no psionic ability whatsoever. But their emotions, feelings and passions were exceedingly intense, all the more because Starfleet discipline was containing them... for the moment. To an Ilythiiri, the mental shock of total disbelief, savage anger and deep fear must have felt like a tsunami on her sensitive mind.

But, they were not only a passionate, but also a violent race. Born and bred to fight and kill anything that threatened them, they could even kill without a second thought their own siblings, parents and children if need be; a most explosive mix, passion and aggressiveness, that most assuredly also explained their current downfall. And so, they all stayed there, quiet, intense, closely listening, watching, learning, exactly like predators studying prey.

A new, deadliest of all enemies had revealed itself.

Although the Orion Ops chief didn't fully grasp the full implications of the statements made about reproduction among the Ilythiiri species and the Andorians, Lieutenant Leône clearly sensed the immediate reaction from all of the Andorians present within the lecture hall. It was palpable and rather disturbing in that it physically gave her chills.

She began to cautiously look around at all of the crew members within the hall and yet no one actually moved. This was perplexing. She then looked down and added notes in her PADD to talk to the doctor about this incident and her reaction to see if he could determine what just occurred and why.   

Snowfire felt the wave of emotion burst from the Andorians in the room, the tightly controlled feelings erupting from them to loom above her like a titan. And whilst she might not understand, not properly, the reason for that reaction, she had expected that something like it might occur. And against this, as with all Empaths, she had been trained and tested. Even more so than most herself actually, for the Talya were far more strict and merciless in their training regime then the Academies. The Academies helped you find your limits. Talya training forced you to learn how to break them. So in this, Empath or no, Tri-Gifted or no, she had weathered the blows of such before.

Become one with the storm. She repeated the long-ago-spoken words in the depths of her mind. Let it toss and spin you about, it will not move you. For you choose your place within.

And so she did not flinch. The fingers held before her seemed to part the tidal bore of invisible rage and fear around her, her other catching much of it almost instinctively. And for a moment, she wavered on the edge of a conditioned retaliation. To her people, such an outpouring of emotion in concert - and of those emotions in particular - had distinctly unpleasant connotations. Linked to the times before the Reformation. But, but, these were not her people. They did not know, and they must have their reasons for such an explosive reaction. The disbelief and horror that she had caught was slipped away into a hidden place of her mind, and she continued with her words with only a fractional pause to show as reaction.

"Since contact was established between the Federation and the Council, younger members of our species have been - almost predictably - testing our compatibility practically." She chuckled wryly. "The interesting thing however, is that every single child resulting from these unions has been primarily Ilythiiri where it comes to genetics and physical looks. They share our life span and eye colours, but also things like skin and hair colour which makes very little sense to us. And this is a massive statistical anomaly when compared to recorded hybrids of other species. Every. Single. Child born as a result of sexual liaisons between our species and others within the UFP has black or very dark purple skin, white hair, and 90% of the time will share the eye colour of their Ilythiiri parent. It makes absolutely no sense." 

Captain Kheren held his breath. He knew better than anyone else how his kind would react to such a revelation; he had been at the butt end of it all his life. Fortunately, either Lieutenant Commander Snowfire didn't perceive it or she had enough good mental screens to shield her from the outpouring of violent emotions even he could perceive in every stare, every posture, every agressively pointed antennae in the large room. He was probably the only one of his kind not reacting like this, simply because he had turned his back on his homeworld and their way of thinking when Andoria had, violently, rejected what his own existence offered against such a threat; but he understood that, for the traditionalist majority back there, this was akin to choosing between Scylla and Charybdis, as Human myth said: choosing between badder and baddest... either alter forever the Andorian race... or see it disappear at the hands of an all powerful and technologically superior species. They would be like had been, on Earth, the Aztecs facing the Conquistadores... but this time, the Aztecs knew exactly what was coming.

This, he feared, was going to have far and wide repercussions and he could do nothing to prevent or avoid it. He could not order anyone not to feel or not to speak; Snowfire herself had plainly stated that this was no classified information and thus accessible to anyone within the Federation; the homeworld was most assuredly aware of it, or about to be... including the classified data and perhaps a lot more. After all, Andorians had been masters of infiltration and information gathering even centuries before the Federation came into being.

Kheren's mind was already foreseeing the next chain of events that would come. And that is what he felt most of all keenly.

And he started frantically to think about how to avoid it... if at all possible.

She took a breath, and then raised the third and final finger. This was the biggest one really.

"Third, and this will be the subject of an in-depth discussion at a later date, is what we refer to as Gifts. These are psionic abilities similar in many ways to those observed by the Federation in the Betazoid and Aenar populations to name but two, although half of our Gifts fall well outside of the ability of that species and sub-species respectively." Again a pause, then. "Firstly are the two abilities that the others aboard this ship are capable of. What we call Mindspeech - telepathy in general terms - and Empathy. These are quite self-explanatory in general, but due to the nature of our people we've learnt a lot more about how to use them than most other races seem to. As an example, I can sense the presence of everyone in this lounge well enough to identify them by name. If I concentrate, that awareness extends to most of the ship. The actual limits of my passive sensing are more limited by the number of presences I can cope with than by range. My ability as a Telepath has been tested over interplanetary distances, although projecting messages that far takes a great deal of energy. Groups of Mindspeakers with my level or higher of ability have been capable of interstellar communication when working together. The actual strength of those Gifts rarely progresses beyond the observed abilities of powerful Betazoids, but in general we have a great deal more practice and formal training.

"The other two Gifts, of which I only have one, are Fetching and Foresight. Fetching is, at base, nothing more nor less than what you would call Telekinesis. My own Fetching Gift is rather weak, although again well trained. At most, I could lift the weight of a terrestrial housecat for about ten seconds. Doing so would totally drain me however. Fetching is the most draining of all the Gifts when they are being used normally. And anyone with a strong Fetching gift is at least one in a billion. And then we come to Foresight, which is the one that a lot of people in the Federation are rather frightened of. Hopefully I can put that to rest.

"Foresight is not, despite what you might believe, a crystal ball allowing those with it as a Gift to see the future of any choice or event. Actual visions occur maybe three times in an Ilythiiri lifespan. And those are group efforts. When the Flashes of a Vision begin to form, a Gifted Circle vessel known as the Hidden Sight collects hundreds if not thousands of Foreseers from across the Council who then work together in piecing what the Flashes show into the Vision they will form. Visions always focus on something that will effect the future of the entire Ilythiiri people, and we have learnt from experience to follow them. They actually warned us of the Borg, allowing us to be ready to repulse their expansion into our space." She shuddered faintly. "I was in the Ilythiiri Defence Force when the Borg hit us the first time, and without what the Vision had pushed us to do, we would have lost. As it was, we managed to smash their invasion - albeit with heavy losses on our part. Our Fasset Drive is likely at least part of the reasons behind why the Borg were trying so hard to create the self-generating transwarp conduit system that the USS Voyager destroyed.

"Foresight Visions, are seen as absolute truth against which there can be no argument. This is something ingrained so deeply into our society - even more after the Borg Vision - that it is not something that we believe but something that we know. Those Gifted with Foresight are generally also no more than duo-Gifted, and most of the time their Foresight simply gives them a...feeling of what a situation might become.

"And finally," she held up finger number four, "is our lifespan." Another tap, another ring of pings as data flowed into the PADDs. "Ilythiiri children grow to the age of nine in the same amount of time it takes for a human child to do so. Following that, our aging process beings to progressively slow. We attain physical maturity - what would be considered a human age of 21 - at the age of 27. And from that point on, our aging process has been calculated to be approximately a thirtieth of human normal." She indicated herself. "In physical terms, I am approaching thirty four years old. I will be celebrating my four hundred and sixth birthday this year." She stopped again for a moment to let that sink in. "Our average lifespan is currently eighteen hundred human years, and that is likely to increase as the generations like my own - which have grown with all the miracles of modern medical technology - begin to reach their later years. That, however, is still at least a millennia down the line."

"And that finishes the section on physiology. I would welcome any questions." She said, spreading her hands wide.

Oseno Jureth had been standing silently, in a back corner of the room having slipped in just as the class was beginning. There were many things on his mind the least of which was the simulations being run by his team regarding launching the USS Polaris at transwarp speeds. Still, despite that he was curious about his colleague Lieutenant Commander K'Leysha. He had met the highly intelligent woman albeit briefly during and after Operation Horizon and knew as the other senior officers in Lotus Fleet did that she had been behind the containment of the Azimuth Horizon. So, when he saw the invitation from the commander to attend a class about her species he made it a point to find the time for it...even if he was late. Standing with Jureth was his second in command in Lt. T'lana. The vulcan had been naturally curious about K'Leysha's species and even a vulcan security officer couldn't resist an opportunity to absorb knowledge. When Snowfire opened the floor to questions Jureth thought for a moment and then spoke up with a question that only a former security officer could raise

"Commander, how do standard energy weapons effect your species? By that I mean do you have any specific inherent resistance to phasers, or disruptors, or the other various types of weapons known to be in use?"

All numerous antennaes in the vast room focused with even more intensity and interest... if it was even possible. 

Snowfire nodded approvingly at Oseno's question. She'd only vaguely noticed him and his second enter, but his question brought her full attention across and on to the Commander. It was a question that she would have expected from one of her own people, and that pleased her in a faint way. Something to put in the dispatches at some point perhaps. Would probably buy some more breathing room. But for now, she chuckled and responded.

"An excellent question, Commander." She replied courteously, thinking on her feet to work out what she could say. "We have no inherent resistances to phaser or disruptor weapons. In practice, there are those among us who do have resistances to most forms of directed energy weapons, but those resistances are not a product of Ilythiiri physiology. You might note that we shared a border with the Borg for most of two centuries."

Redding wasn't overly fond of telepaths and empaths in general, over the years there seemed to be a growing number of them coming out of the woodwork. This annoyance was the main reason he disliked Vulcans, even before he had joined Star Fleet. With the help of his long time friend Felez, he could easily block out an empath simply by thinking about food. With a few years of practice it worked every time.

"Lt. Commander, I was curious, what would be your species' venerable age?" This was of particular interest to him as the reality of watching his friends slowly dying off in just a couple hundred years at best bothered him greatly, whereas Ilythiiri could be expected to be around for more than a millennia before one of them would die of old age. As for her being older than he was.. well, she was little more than half the age of Vela, an El-Aurian he dated once 13 years ago.

"By venerable...you would mean the age at which we begin to show our years? Or something more complex?" Snowfire replied, confused by the use of a term that she didn't quite understand. "If the former...it depends. But in general, we only really begin to show and feel our age in the last few years of our lives. Our twilight years come suddenly and very swiftly - to us at least. We call them the Vaen Huela. The Last Five. There is a great deal of cultural meaning behind those years, a holdover from times when very few of us would ever reach such an age. But that is straying into culture and pieces of history that will be covered later. I hope that that answers your question, however." She held her attention on the misplaced human for a few moments, violet eyes dancing with a faint, respectful, amusement.

Sensing that her answer was sufficient for the Commander, the doctors rose together in order to get Lieutenant Commander Snowfire's attention, and spoke in turns as usual, saying, "Would you please explain the... medical explanation behind telekinesis... in your species? Is it based upon the... manipulation of the psionic field... like telepathy?"

"I'm honestly not sure, Doctors." Snowfire replied. "The technicalities of our psionic ability was never a study point for me. The practicalities were far more important for those in my line of work. However," she dug into one of her pockets and extracted a small container. "Would an example that you could scan help?"

Both the doctors seemed taken aback, their confused faces turning toward one another before conferring very briefly in their high-pitched language that was unintelligible to other humanoids. As doctors they were very used to having to scan various fluids to monitor the health of their patients, but as far as they knew, the act of telekinesis would not exude any sort of substance that they could scan.

When they were done they said, "An example... of what, exactly?"

Snowfire smiled. "The psionic field you spoke of is presumably within the capability of this ship's internal sensors to monitor." She half-explained, half-asked. "If so, an example of my own telekinetic ability here and now should be able to answer your question, yes?"

The Doctors simultaneously thought, It must be something entirely unheard of within our current understanding of psionic physics, as the psi field is an energy wave outputted at the time of the act of telepathy or empathy. This substance, whatever it is, must be physical matter and energy somehow combined to produce the telekinetic effect.

Out loud they simply said, "Yes, we would appreciate... taking a look."

Lieutenant Elisha Leône listened attentively to the exchanges that occurred among the staff and Lieutenant Commander Snowfire K'Leysha. It was a rather engaging series of conversations; especially  as the dialogue continued between Snowfire and Doctors 011 and 110.

Between her pheromone issue and this Ilythiiri's physiology, Elisha contemplated that these Bynar doctors must certainly have their hands full with who knows how many other unique conditions, abilities, sensitivities and such lurking among this crew of several thousand aboard the USS Horizon.

Elisha recognized that she had more than enough responsibilities to contend within her own position; she certainly wouldn't want to trade places and exchange these very diverse medical responsibilities with the Bynar doctors.

Snowfire nodded to the Doctor's in acknowledgement, and flipped the container she was holding open to reveal a what looked like several dozen neatly packed needles. Picking out nine of them, she stepped back a pace to give herself space from the front rows of seats. She didn't want to startle anyone with one the Sar going zipping by under their nose. That...wouldn't be good.

"Computer, configure internal sensors for this compartment to monitor activity in the psionic field and display the results on a hologrid centered on me."

"Configuring. Sensors online. Holo standing by." The Horizon's computer responded. One side of the black skinned CSO's lips quirked upwards - almost as if she was smiling again - and then she tossed the needles up into the air in front of her. She reached out with her Gift, seeing each Sar in her mind as it touched them, and then concentrated. Due to her requests to the main computer however, the audience saw rather a lot more. As Snowfire reached out with her gift, the sensors detected - and displayed through the holo - thin ribbons of faint psionic emission reaching up from the Ilythiiri's head, wrapping completely around each needle, and then flared with sudden power. Snowfire didn't see it, her eyes were closed as she concentrated on the feel of the Sar, where they were in relation to herself, their vectors and velocity. But to the crew, it was like nothing they had ever seen. The needles wove above Snowfire's head, the holographic representations of her Fetching gift crossing and criss-crossing in an ever-changing pattern. And then Snowfire moved to the second stage of the Alure, bringing the Sar spinning down around her.

Even without the ribbons of coloured light showing the psionic field holding them, this part of the Sar-Alure was one she knew and expected to be impressive. Nine needles, spinning about her and reflecting the compartment's lights all around. With the holo though, it was more than simply impressive. There was a beauty to it, something that she hadn't really intended in this, but might be glad of later, and it was easy for those watching to see how calming this was for her. This was something of her people, something that she still practiced, and the light spinning about her seemed to wrap her in an ethereal aura of pale blue.

She kept her eyes closed throughout, focusing on her Sar, making sure everything went right, and then brought all nine of them spinning up above her as fast as she could. They wove into a column above and before her, whirling about each other, and then she released them. The field flared brighter still, the green of a stronger field flashing across it for a moment as she brought each needle to a sudden stop, then vanished, and the needles dropped into her once again outstretched hand. Opening her eyes, she looked to the Doctors, for the moment not seeing the reactions of the rest of her audience.

"Is that enough, Doctors?"

Everyone in the room was impressed with the display of mental capacity coming from the Ilythiiri before them, and it did not fail to extend to the Doctors. Despite not being able to express their astonishment the way other species might, using certain facial muscles, it was clear that their eyes were slightly wider and their mouths were turned up slightly on each corner in a slight smile. They had just discovered an ability that they could study in depth, using the sensor readings Snowfire was gracious enough to provide for them.

So of course, their brief answer before letting her continue her presentation was, "Yes, quite sufficient... thank you Commander."