Chester: The World Tour "
By: Chester, The Captains cat, [NPC]
Patia Zoei, Chief Counselor, [PC]
Ian Hunter, Commanding Officer, [PC]

Stardate: 58204.17 1600

Chester was bored. Captain had been gone all day and he was not happy about it. Chester jumped onto Captain's bed and began licking his front right leg. This made him feel better so he began working on the left front leg. Chester had almost forgotten he was mad at Captain when the doors hissed open. "Captain," Chester thought as he jumped off the bed and made his way to the door. The doors closed again but Chester did not

see Captain anywhere.

The doors opened again and this time there was a strange thing there. It

was shaped like a human thing but it floated instead of using it's paws.

Chester did not know what it was but is was *not* Captain. Chester hissed at it and crouched low to the floor. Slowly Chester slunk out the

open door and into the hallway. Suddenly Chester realized he was outside. He happily padded down the hallway until he found a magic room that went to other places. He waited quietly until the doors opened and he got on. When he got off again he found himself in a big room. It had plants in it and much to his delight he found a big box of sand. Chester

jumped into the sand and began rolling around in to. This was so much fun he could not help but purr. Eventually the sand got boring and Chester had to go. Chester finished his business in the sand and very carefully covered it up and then went back to the magic box.

When he got back on the magic box he found a person was already using it. She looked friendly enough so Chester brushed up against her legs and purred.

As the doors slid open, Zoei leaned back against the wall of the turbo lift. The short walk around deck had stretched her legs and relaxed her mind. Since the docking at Qul Tuq, her office had been a flurry of final reports and tranfers of information onto the station.

Sensing something small entering the turbolift, she glanced down as the cat began twining around her ankles. He was a handsome animal, she had to admit. Betazids, among their other idiosyncracies, often had issues with small creatures. Their feelings and impressions could be overwhelming. Zoei didn't have a lot of experience with the little mites, but this one seemed friendly enough. Crouching to the floor, she laid her hand, palm down, across her foot. She waited patiently for the cat to approach her.

Chester cautiously sniffed her hand. She smelled nice. Getting bolder he brushed her hand with the left side of his head and then again with the right. As she rubbed his fur with her hand Chester purred and rolled onto his back and closed his eyes.

Chester has to open his eyes again because she had stopped rubbing his furr. When he did he wished he had not. The lights in the box flickered and there it was again that floating thing that he had seen at home. It was floating near the top of the box. Chester hissed loudly and got to his feet. This had gone on far enough He arched his back an puffed out his fur. He hissed again, stood on his hind legs ans tried to hit at it with his front claws. It was no use he could not reach it.

The cat she had been gently petting moments before became a hissing ball of fur. The low growl rumbled through the turbo lift, startling Zoei with its intensity. The fear and uncertaintity were so intense, she felt she could reach out and touch the tension in the air. Zoei tilted her head back, glancing at the ceiling. She wasn't sure what was there, but the cat was reacting to something in the lift.

As quickly as it appeared the thing left. Chester was pleased as he obviously scared it off and protected the nice human in the box. Chester was starting to miss Captain. He looked at the human hoping he would take him back to Captain. This was enough adventure for one day.

"Should we find you your home, little one?" She softly stroked the cat's back.

The doors opened and Chester left the magic box followed by the human. He was pleased to see the box had taken him home. He went to Captain's doors. Standing up on his hind legs he began scratching the door.

Zoei approached the door from behind the cat. She pressed the door chime and waited for the Captain to answer.

Hunter came to the door, as it opened Chester stepped in and mewed loudly. He looked up at the counselor with a shrug, "I don't know how he could have gotten out, my door was locked, thanks for bringing him back though."

"He really brought himself back, I just rang the door chime, Sir. We ran into each other on the turbo lift. If I might say so, Sir, his behavior was a little odd."

The cat squirmed as Hunter picked him up. "Odd? how so?"

"While on the turbo lift, he appeared to have seen something near the ceiling. I couldn't see anything myself, but the cat definitely had his eye on something. He was growling and batting at the ceiling with his paws. I do not mean to make mountains out of molehills, but from the children that were on board, I heard several stories of your gentle kitty. This behavior did not meet their description."

"Hmm..." said Hunter curiously, "His heart is beating quite fast and he isn't purring. This is unusual for him. Do you sense anything with him?"

"Please remember that animals are different than people, so it is a little more challenging to accurately sense what they are feeling. The emotions I am picking up are primarily fear, tinged with anxiety. Whatever he is seeing is not something he feels is friendly or welcoming to him and he wants to not only be away from it, but for it to leave."

"He wants 'it' to 'leave'? Sounds like he's seeing ghosts?" said Hunter with a chuckle of amusement, "Would you like to come in counselor?"

"Captain, as silly as it sounds, that is the impression I am getting. I appreciate the invitation, Sir, but I have a few more reports to finish. If I don't get back and get working on them, they probably won't be done today." With a smile and a nod, Zoei took one step backward, pivoted on her right heel, and strode down the corridor back to the turbolift.

Hunter set Chester down and stepped to the replicator and got a bowl of cream for him. He set it down and watched Chester lap up the cream while starring back intently. Suddenly the door opened, Hunter turned around startled. There was nothing there. When he turned back to Chester was walking sideways toward the bedroom, as if he were mirroring the movements of a rival cat, His fur stood straight up on his arched back and straight up tail. He hissed as steadily, and his eyes were fixated. "Chester!" said the Captain, not getting a response he picked up a phaser and a tricorder walked in the direction the cat was facing. He was in the middle of the room, across from the door when suddenly the tricorder went dead and the phaser powered down.

He felt a slight breeze which was cold enough to make the hair on his arm stand on end, He spun around, but there was nothing there.

Hunter tapped his combadge, it too was dead. He went to the desk and tapped the intercom, "Security, to my quarters immediately, activate a level 5 containment field."