Love seeing JQ for the first time here. Chipper and good-natured as always, he provides a much needed since of grounding. Whereas there's clearly a secret being kept from him (and between Maren and Icheb), you can see how much it grates on her not to tell him.

And yet, whatever the secret is, it clearly isn't enough to NOT convince her to talk to Icheb as she finds him waiting outside her quarters. Whatever was there is still there.

Oh, man. This is fun. Decided this story deserved a good re-read (like any favorite book) and this first chapter is chock-full of one of Irina. She's shameless. She's flirty. She's fun. She knows what she wants and how to get it.

Looking back, I wonder how this scene would look from Icheb's point of view. His introduction here was quick, but covered all the basics (and a few extras thanks to Irina's fascination).

But the bigger question is whatever happened to Eric Bouchard? I'm curious to see if he gets mentioned ever again, because I can't remember his name coming up again ... so that means he either got redshirted or he's still around.

Seeing Adele and Icheb not see eye to eye is a very-- living response. Both of them have legitimate reasoning, and both of them have a good view of the situation. Though I'm tending to side with Adele for now.

I like the retired captains not being jerks. I don't know what they can do with Beckley around, but hopefully they can offer something good to Adele. She'll need it.

Beckley remains a scumbag. I thought John and Icheb's chat was cute, though, even if they were being spied upon. They do come across as being close, though with some rocky spots back there and ahead.

Icheb was an adult. Surely he could see to his own health needs.

Ha! Yeah, no. But kudos on Adele for not being overbearing. I'm totally with her on the whole children-on-starships business, too; yeah, it makes for a lonely life for officers, but it's tactically stupid on so many levels. I never got why TNG did that. It's institutionalized insanity.

I already like Keller, though, and I so sincerely hope nothing horrific befalls that family. But it almost has to, now that they've been introduced.

Holy Hell, Maren, way to ride him over the coals! It's funny, just how much they love each other, and yet with all of the hurt feelings flying around, there's such an awful mess of pain.

These subspace tears are something else, though. At the rate they're going, the whole universe might well end up in trouble, especially since no one's closing them. As far as I've researched (for reading this story), they aren't exactly self-healing. It seems sort of short-sighted to leave these indiscriminately all over the place.

You tell him, Adele! I like how she handles things candidly, honestly. It's really damned refreshing, and it cuts through a whole lot of bullshit. Chris Pike would like this woman a lot. Jim Kirk, maybe not so much.

And man, her line about angst-filled stares? Sheer genius. I'm interested to see where it goes when Icheb goes to deal with Maren. Lord knows, he cocked it up good and proper with that one, and I know from all you and others have said that it doesn't get resolved, but the mark of a good writer is that you so totally do make me wistfully want to click the next button to see if maybe, just maybe, it'll be somehow different in the next chapter.

That is a Hell of a send off. I love the little touch of the ad hoc social committee, and the fact that there will be awesome partying tonight, and the breathless anticipation. And Seven and Icheb's moment was so damn sweet. It's amazing how you write such two repressed individuals, keeping them so perfectly in character, and still conveying the love they have for one another clearly and brightly.

Yes, I'd say that was a wholly fair and measured response. I can't imagine what kind of-- actually, yes, I can. An emotional nightmare of being assigned to the same ship and crew as people you love. On one hand, it definitely has its benefits, especially on an extended mission like the Tesseract is going on. On the other hand, the potential to have to see and deal with heartbreak well beyond what the service should call for is so very high.

I think, though, that Adele's answer to it was elegant, thorough and she just keeps impressing me, this captain of yours.

I like how Adele handled that, including John's confession. I also liked John himself, and his sort of good-natured, professional and personal concern for Icheb, too. But man, the neural probe -- now that is particularly scary.

I'll be amazed if Maren O'Connor doesn't crack from the stress of this kind of thing. Icheb is stubborn to a fault, she's the only keeper of his secret, and she's also the Chief Engineer on a ship of 1500 people -- a position that weighs damn near as much as a captain's -- and on top of all of that, they're about to head off into the deep, dark unknown. Man, every chapter builds the tension. Well played, kes, well played.

Oh, the bane of bio-neural gel packs. I don't blame Maren, at all. But the reveal on what might just be wrong with them? Sheer genius. I love Irina's incredulous reply about someone mind-raping the computer. Absolutely brilliant, and I definitely continue to like her. I also love that Bashir was awkward and full of himself, before; it's oddly annoying and endearing, all at once.

Fascinating. And really, excellent writing, too. As a side note, I like your chapter lengths. They definitely keep the pace going.

Icheb really is quite charming as an XO. No wonder Pike took to him instantly; he is calm, efficient and good at it. I don't blame him for getting skittish about going out with less than a full compliment, but no doubt he'll acquit himself.

I'm having a hard time with their ages, though. It was something I've noted before, but the longer it goes on, the less it seems like they got their positions for any extraordinary means and more just for sheer intellect. Which hey, they more than deserve the accolades for that, and Icheb does have some experience... but even so, none of that experience really translates for me to the ranks they have. I mean, think about it: James T. Kirk in TOS was the youngest captain ever in Starfleet, at thirty-four years old. But here you have one XO and one division head in their what, mid-twenties? On Starfleet's best and newest ship, about to embark on an absolutely massive mission, into comparatively uncharted space. I honestly, no offense, have to wonder what lunacy actually infected the Admirals who approved it. It defies any sort of logic -- brilliance only carries a person so far; no amount of awards, no amount of test scores, no amount of innovation can possibly replace experience. And for a mission like this, particularly, you'd think they would have stacked the deck.

It honestly strikes me as a recipe for serious tragedy. Maren's experience is in a shipyard. John has at least more broad knowledge from his ship-hopping. Icheb has some from the Delta Quadrant (but not enough for the weight of that position, I don't personally think). Adele comes across as the most competent, as she should, but I can't help but wonder why even she wouldn't have said, "Sure, send me Icheb, but in a lower rank and bring me an XO who has a decade or two worth of experience."

I sort of worry for a Starfleet that awards intelligence over time, experience and hard grift. And I am absolutely fascinated to see if it pans out like it almost has to, and if Icheb and Maren are prepared for the exceptionally unforgiving lessons no amount of genius can teach you.

Oh, heavens, right into the fire they go. I like Adele still; her love of her husband, her thoughts on aging, and she seems to brook no bullshit from herself. But man, Maren's gonna be running ragged to deal with a ship that size and only half-staffed; talk about a nightmare, especially with comparatively untried tech. Somewhere, a hundred and some odd years earlier, Montgomery Scott shivers and doesn't know why.