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Warning: certain parts of this chapter are a bit graphic, violent.

Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter. I've had it written for probably over a year, but I've really had trouble with the pictures. For some of them, I have an idea exactly how I want them to look, but don't know how to implement that in-game. I'm too much of a perfectionist. For others, I've really been lacking inspiration/motivation to take them. With 109 pictures, I bet you could guess why ...
Really, sorry it's so long I think 5,600-some words and 109 pictures. Anyone on a slow connection will probably hate me. Also, due to Photobucket's super-annoying over-compression of pictures, I've switched to a new image host and to png format, which means larger file sizes. Hopefully, it won't load too slowly.
Anyways, due to forum limit of 15 images per post, I've had to part the chapter up into multiple separate posts. I hope this will help your loading time. Just make sure you read all of them ...

A few notes on this chapter:
It leaves off where Chapter 3 ends ... department meetings have just begun, with Steve arriving late.
Solkan is both the Operations Manager and the Science Oficer, so he heads not only the science dept. meeting (blueshirts) and the operations dept. meeting (which is the dept. the Ops Manager would belong to), but also the command dept. meeting, because part of the Ops Mgr's job is these department meeting things.

A quick recap of Chapter 3:
* Olivia offers an advanced new surgical technique (that she developed herself) to cure T'Lea's epilepsy. They refuse.
* Olivia convinces T'Kara (the ship's chief counselor) to talk to T'Lea about having stopped taking her medication.
* Solkan contacts Jeremiah Hanson, saying that T'Lea and Kareb are ex-V'Shar agents and may have "potentially useful ties to Romulus." Hanson tells Solkan he's too concerned with the past. Hanson asks for Calais to contact him.
* Steve talks to Kareb - of his own accord - to try to convince him to accept Olivia's offer. He reveals that Olivia (at least in the past) has epilepsy herself, which may be the root of her intense interest in T'Lea's case.
* Olivia angrily informs Steve that he is late to their meeting.

Chapter 4: Cloak (Part One)

At department meetings that afternoon, Olivia had much on her mind. Too much.

Her thoughts were everywhere but on the matters at hand. Not that she felt the matters at hand were particularly important - mundane things like allocation of resources, staff scheduling, recent developments, and so on. However, as chief medical officer, her presence, and unfortunately, her input, was required.

"Dr Hernandez!" Solkan nearly shouted. "Do you have anything to add?"

Oh shoot. Add to what? She realized she'd hardly been paying attention to anything that was going on.

"Well?" For a Vulcan, he sure could sound irritated.

"No. I have nothing to add." She hated how he could make her feel like she was in school again, being chided by her teachers for thinking about science or math when she should have been reciting some unused grammatical rule of Federation Standard - for the millionth time.

Solkan and the rest of the blue shirts in the room continued their mindless drawl as Olivia planned her evening. She was off duty early today, and she had nearly as much to do as she had on her mind. She needed to talk to T'Kara, to Thelis - their first officer, and possibly to the Captain. She wanted to talk to Calais, their chief engineer, but she really didn't know what she would say. She was planning to have dinner with Staci LaVena, but didn't know if Staci would remember. And then, she had to deal with Steve. She thought she'd been a little harsh on him earlier for being late, but he still didn't seem to realize that his actions reflected on her ... and that reminded her, she needed to put a note in Dantarea's file. The biosciences intern had recently put some very promising effort into her research recently ...

Everyone around the table began to stand up. Finally, she thought, heading for the door as fast as she could.

Someone suddenly touched her shoulder. Startled, she stiffened and turned around, finding Steve. "What do you want?" she asked.

He sighed, looking sad or perhaps disappointed for a brief moment. But he smiled at her, and asked, "I was wondering, when you're off duty tonight, if you'd like to come see a holonovel with me, maybe have dinner afterwards?"

The reality of what he had just said slowly sank in.

"I'm really busy tonight, Steve," she finally said, shaking her head. "Maybe you can find someone else who can go with you?" Without waiting for any answer, she walked out of the room, leaving Steve standing there speechless.

Later that afternoon, Commander Thelis and Olivia were warming up in the ship's gym for their near-daily run together.

"So, apparently, T'Lea didn't take it well when T'Kara went to talk to her," Olivia told him.

"I can't imagine she would've, no," he replied, streching down to touch his feet.

"I think they're avoiding me, Thelis."

He sighed.

"I mean, we're on the same ship, and I haven't even seen them since -"

He cut her off. "Olivia."

"What?"

"Yes, of course they're avoiding you. Because you keep bugging them after they've declined your offer. Repeatedly."

She sighed, shook her head. "I know."

"Then just let it go. We'll be to Vulcan tommorrow morning. Then you won't have to worry about them any more."

The doors opened and they started jogging down the corridor.

"I can't just let them go like that!"

"Olivia, do you even hear yourself? If they refuse, they refuse. You can't just keep after them forever! You have to just let them go 'like that.'"

She shook her head. "Look, this isn't even what I need to talk to you about. It's about Solkan again."

"Okay." He nodded.

"Last night, he and Calais both contacted Hanson again, within an hour of each other."

"Do you know what was said?"

"No, unfortunately. I just know that there was contact. The data stream was encrypted, as usual. I still haven't been able to break through, even though it seems they've used the same group of encryption codes each time."

"That's alright. Just keep at it, Olivia."

"Problem is, I'm a neurologist, not a spy. I need someone who's good at this kind of stuff on our side."

"Well, I'll try to reconstruct whatever I can from the data logs, see if I can figure anything out."

"Don't bother. Solkan wiped everything."

"From both him and Calais?"

"Yes. Everything."

"Great. They always have to cover their tracks, don't they? Maybe I should see what the Captain can do. I can have him alerted next time they make contact ..."

"You can try, but don't expect much. I think they're using diplomatic encryption codes, so even the Captain's codes won't override them. They know he's on our side."

"Great."

They broke into a full run.

"You know," Olivia said between breaths, "I think Solkan's onto us."

"He has been for a while." Thelis' antennae relaxed. "Really, you don't make things any better by aggravating him."

"He complained?"

"To Andersen."

"Who else?" she asked sarcastically.

"Even after three years, he still won't do what he's suppposed to and come to me about stuff like that."

"Of course not!" She laughed, panting.

"You'd think a Vulcan wouldn't hold a grudge ... being un-emotional and all." He paused to breathe. "Really, though, you need to pay attention during department meetings, Olivia."

"You know what Steve did?"

"Other than show up late? You told me that already."

"I think ... he tried to ask me on a date!"

"You sound annoyed. You didn't turn him down, did you?"

"Of course I did!"

"Wha ... Olivia!" He stopped in his tracks, shaking his head.

She slowed and turned back towards him. "I'm not interested in him, so I turned him down. Okay? I'm already taken!"

"By a man who died ten years ago, Olivia! Ten years ago! It's time to move on!"

She turned away, tears unexplicably threatening to come. She squeezed her eyes shut, then sprinted as fast as she could away from Thelis. Away from her problems. Away from everything she still couldn't face.

When she was not far down the hall, her combadge beeped. "LaVena to Hernandez," Staci's voice said.

Not wanting Thelis to catch up to her, she slowed only to a fast jog and answered. "Go ahead, Staci."

"Hey, I've got a question."

"Yeah?" She was feeling pretty out of breath now.

"I'm wondering if we can cancel our dinner for tonight? Steve asked me to dinner and a holonovel with him."

What?! She was shocked, she hadn't expected this. "Um, sure. Go ahead."

"Are you sure?" Staci asked. "I mean, you sound a little ..."

"Yeah. Should be fine. Gotta go."

"Okay. Thanks, Olivia."

"No problem." She picked up her pace again, her head filled with all kinds of unexpected emotions. But, strangely, what prevailed was jealosy for Staci and an anger towards Steve.

She couldn't be falling for him, she decided. All this confusion was simply beacuse she hadn't slept well the past few nights, and she was letting herself get too wrapped up in all these emotions.

After all, she was already taken. And no one could ever take his place. Ever.

Leaving the Operations department meeting in a crowd of people, Ensign Newlin felt like someone was following her.

It was silly, of course, that she would feel that way with so many people leaving at once, and each of them going their own way ... but she still couldn't shake the feeling.

It had been this way ever since she'd been recruited by Section 31. She'd accepted their offer for the action, the excitement, but all she ever did now was look over her shoulder to ensure no one was watching her.

As she rounded the bend by Sickbay, she thought she heard footsteps behind her.

It was quite unlikely, she reasoned, that anyone was truly behind her, because she was taking the long route to her room, taking the turbolift down by senior officers' quarters, going past Sickbay ... they'd have to be taking the same indirect path to wherever they were going, too.

A large, male hand suddenly grasped her shoulder. She gasped, but didn't turn around. She felt the familiar sensation that the being who touched her was at least marginally telepathic.

Commander Solkan, she thought. She finally looked, and found she was right.

"Tommorrow morning, we will arrive at Vulcan," he said, hushed and in a deep voice. "I noticed you are on duty in the transporter room at that time."

"Yes, sir," she said uneasily.

"Our guests, T'Lea and Kareb, will be departing." His volume dropped a few levels, and, one hand still on her shoulder, leaned closer to her face. "I want you to delay them with some 'routine maintenance.'"

"I'll be informed of their departure ahead of time, sir." She fought to keep her voice from wavering. "Any routine maintenance will be expected to wait."

"You will detect a problem in your normal daily scans, something that requires attention before they can transport. It will necessitate the scheduled procedure to not be put off, but be performed immediately. The data logs will support this if anyone cares to question it." He fingered a lock of her hair.

"How long before their departure will this 'problem' appear?"

"One hour."

She could feel his warm breath on her ear.

"The nature of the problem will make itself known to you tommorrow morning," he said. She wondered if he had sensed telepathically what she was about to ask. "It is not necessary for you to know tonight."

She nodded, and just as abruptly as he had come up behind her and grabbed her shoulder, his hand fell back to his side and he walked away, facing straight ahead, as if nothing at all had just happened.

She sighed, having more questions than answers.

Such was life in Section 31.

(continued) ....