The USS Grus had by now been docked at its home port of Starbase 86 for the last 8 days.  Of the 70 officers and crew currently assigned to her; around four fifths of them had decided to head home for a few days or at least take some leave on whatever planet took their fancy.

Of the dozen left behind, only one individual, remained on the ship.  For Ensign Skova Tholakath; the ships Cardassian Tactical Officer it was out of necessity and a favour to his Caitian friend and bunkmate.

Ensign Maasl C’Rren was off spending his leave with his girlfriend; another Caitian by the name of M’Niia; who he’d meet at the beginning of last September, soon after the ‘Jax’ had exited the Underspace Corridors.

Tholakath wasn’t sure where the two Caitian had gone, other than it wasn’t back home.  Neither of them appeared ready to face a big family gathering.  In Caitian society, there was no such thing as a small family.  It would involve them making everything more official and right now, the two of them just wanted fun.

Tholakath didn’t envy them, even if a part of him wished he had a companion in his life.  He was still young, and handsome; for a Cardassian, at least.  So may be something or someone would come along.  For now, however, he was alone, looking after their other roommate.

Crewman Houdini was currently lying on C’Rren’s pillow, a favourite spot for the small coppery furred Tribble.  The creature was emitting a low purring noise, which usually indicated it was asleep. But with Tribbles, like basically everything about them, it was hard to tell.

The young Cardassian grabbed his Ensigns jacket off the top bunk and slipped it on, before turned towards the door.  It opened with the usually swish; apparently just load enough to elicit a response from Houdini. “Oh, you’re awake, fancy some breakfast?” There was what could be described as an enthusiastic squeak. “How about we try out the Starboard Crew Mess?”

There wasn’t much difference between the various areas set aside for meals; other than the Officers Mess had much better seating, just don’t tell the crew that.  But with everyone else off the ship; Tholakath could go and eat anywhere.  If he wanted to he could go sit on the Bridge, getting crumbs on the Captain’s chair, or leave sticky finger prints in Engineering.  But neither of those ideas currently appealed to him.

Carefully placing the furry creature into a small open box, Tholakath headed for the Crew Mess situated on the starboard side of the ship.  The only thing he passed on the way; was one of the ships Cleaning Dots or it could be one from the Station, he assumed that may be some people could tell the difference, but to him, they all looked alike.

The Mess was empty, and spotlessly clean; just like he’d expected.  He did however understand how the word Mess had come about, so had never been fooling into thinking the room was usually in a state of disarray unlike his Caitian friend.

The grabbed breakfast from the replicator and sat at a table by one of the windows; there wasn’t much to look at right now, due to the position the ship was docked in, but never the less he sat the Tribble down with its own specially formulated nutritional supplement.

Between bites of toast and mouthfuls of scrambled egg; a food combination he’d discovered as a Cadet; the young Cardassian chatted away to his small fury companion, as if it could understand every word he was saying.  The occasional chirp or warble helped add to the illusion.

Taking a last sip of apple juice, Tholakath carried his plate and the glass back over to the replicator; where their component elements could be broken down, ready to create something new in the future.  Standing by the table, he looked down at the Tribble. “Right it’s off to the gym then. I don’t suppose I could interest you in a quick sparring match, or do you fancy trying out the weights this morning?”

The response, if it was possible to translate, would probably have been, ‘Are you stupid?’ or words to that effect.

**********

At the gym, Tholakath took a few minutes to stretch and warm up; before he instructed the computer to create a holographic partner inside the boxing ring, with which he would spend the next hour sparring with.  The hologram was of an athletic looking human in his late twenties, it was probably based on a real individual from some point along Earths history; it was often much easier for the system to follow a template of a real person than conjure up something from scratch.

The first part of the session involved hitting a pair of pads on the holograms hands, then after that he had a proper boxing match against it.

**********

“I believe you should have either blocked the right hook or ducked.” The EMH announced as it ran a medical tricorder scan over the Cardassian’s right temple.

“Thanks for the tip doc.” Tholakath replied.

“Other than a slight swelling and the bruising, both of which are easily dealt with, you should be fine.”  The EMH continued.  “I had no idea a Tribble could be so dangerous.”.

“I wasn’t fight the Trib…oh very funny.” Tholakath looked up at the holographic doctor. “I’m not sure which version of you is worse.”

“You mean the abrasive, grumpy, sarcastic factory fresh variant, or the polite, friendly, extremely sarcastic current version?”

“Exactly!”

“In either case, I’m created for the purpose of treating the sick and injured. Not my sparkling wit.”

Whilst this EMH had not developed as independent nature as its counterpart from the USS Voyager, it was certainly heading in that direction.  During its time on the USS Jaxartes, this particular EMH had been programmed with the knowledge to fly a shuttle by an ex Borg drone.  After losing that knowledge the EMH had taken to relearning that skill in the Holo-suite.

After the treatment was finished, Tholakath stood up from the bio-bed.  “Well thank you doctor, I’ll be out of you way.”

“I’m glad of the distraction.” The EMH replied.  “There isn’t exactly much to do right now.”

It was something that the Cardassian hadn’t previously given much thought to; what do holograms do when they aren’t working?  He shook his head and picked up Houdini from the other bed and walked to the door.  “We’ll come on then, let’s see what we can find for lunch.”