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"Overactive Imagination"
(Cont. from "What")
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Setting: USS ANUBIS, Bridge
Stardate: 63073.1120

While she sat at the science station, Aki tried her best to better understand what had happened.  From having come face-to-face with the Monkey King and the Jade Emperor to having been an expected sacrifice for the Egyptian god Anubis, these last few moments had been rather difficult to accept as having been genuine events.  The aCSciO chuckled slightly as she silently wondered what other prominent mythological figure would grace them with a visit next.

Without even having consciously thought about it, images began to form in the Ensign's mind, images created from the aCSciO's limited knowledge of ancient Mythology and apparently overactive imagination. Suddenly a single image came into focus, as clear and precise as if it had been a physical object within the officer's grasp.

"Aki?" Eve called out with a great deal of uncertainty and surprise in her voice.

The aCSciO turned away from the science station and quickly discovered what had triggered the Cns' shock, a sight that instantly caught Aki's complete attention.  Standing in the middle of the bridge was a tall and handsome golden haired man with a perfectly sculpted body; his leather pants hugged his muscular legs and left little to the imagination.  The low cut of the weathered sleeveless shirt had given the three women present a delightful view of his strapping chest.  The size of a single of his biceps rivaled that of a normal humanoid's head, and appeared as hard as the strongest metal known to the Federation.

"Oh my," Aki said in complete astonishment before she forced her mouth closed and swallowed hard.  Had she truly been responsible for this? What, or more to the point who, had she been thinking about?  At that very moment the aCSciO could not recall anything or even think straight.

"And you would be?" Eve carefully asked, a delighted smile having crossed her lips.  Although the Cns had been born Cardassian and raised Bajoran, Ensign Dalziel had not been immune to the more than apparent charms of this prime specimen of the male gender that had appeared unannounced on the bridge of the ANUBIS.

"I am Hercules," the mighty muscled man replied in a strong yet gentle voice combined with a beaming smile, "Son of Zeus, Champion of man, and at your service fair maidens."

"Oh my," Aki repeated, swallowing hard once more, her heart pounding faster and faster with each passing moment.  "Can we keep him?" the aCSciO said, her thoughts having actually crossed her lips instead of having remained where they had been meant to be, hidden within her head.

"Aki!" Eve said in a stern, almost disciplinary manner.  "Send him back."

"Sorry," the aCSciO offered in regards to her first statement.  "What makes you think that he's *my* fault?"

"You mean aside from the fact that Hercules is from *EARTH's* mythology, that you have not been able to take your eyes off him even as we are talking, or that you seem ready and willing of resigning your commission so that you can leave the ship with him by your side on the first available craft?" The Cns pointed out with distinct amusement.

Aki had been ready to try and push the blame onto the Kzinti but when her eyes fell onto Hex, she noted the Sec/Tac's posture and twitching ear.  There had been little doubt that as handsome and charming as this mythical creation had been, he had not at all been Ensign Fanggot's 'dream man'.  The CSciO started to wonder what would have actually been her friend's dream man but quickly pushed the thought out of her mind for fear of summoning some large, furry beast.

"I'm sorry," the aCSciO offered, partly to Eve for having allowed her thoughts to once again stray, but mostly to this dreamy vision of a man whom she would have to will back to the realm of fantasy, in a not too distant future.  At least there had not been any urgency in sending him back as he obviously did not represent a threat to anyone.

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Dawn Bohr <serra.moon.angel@gmail.com>
Ensign Akira 'Aki' Mitshiba
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS ANUBIS