Lt. Janson walked slowly and cautiously down the deserted street, keeping close to the buildings, concentrating on the various sounds around him. Out of place sounds that might indicate the presence of the enemy. He reached an intersection, and noticing no movement, rounded a corner, phaser drawn and ready. All at once three Cardassians jumped out of a nearby alley, phaser pistols firing. Janson, with blinding speed, dropped to a knee, fired off three shots, and dove to the left, each of the blasts nailing a Cardassian in the chest. Janson rolled to his knees, spun to the left and tagged an oncoming Romulan neatly in the head.

Scanning the area and catching a flicker of movement to his extreme right, he unsheathed his Bowie knife and let it fly, simultaneously ducking another shot, and blowing another Romulan off his feet. The knife, flying straight and true, embedded itself into the neck of a very surprised Cardie, just as he cleared the door he came from. The hapless Cardassian fell to his knees, extracted the blade, and with a gurgle, fell over dead. Janson, impressed with his accuracy, failed to notice a Romulan pop out of the building behind him. A searing pain to his side forced him back to the here and now. Another phaser beam caught his own phaser, causing it to fly from his hand. Diving as his phaser exploded, Janson rolled with the blast, drew his pistol, and from the prone position, fired two shots into the Romulans head. Watching the back of the Romulan's head explode, Janson thought to himself, curse me for an amateur, and quickly wasted two more Romulan soldiers.

"Computer end program," he said disgustedly. At once the lifeless bodies that were once Cardassian and Romulan soldiers faded away, being replaced by a velvet black holodeck. Lt. Derit Janson looked down at the phaser burn on his side and cursed himself again.

"If you keep this up old boy," he told himself aloud, "you may as well reinstall the safety protocols."

This was the fourth time in as many days he'd been burned because of his loss of concentration. He ran a hand through his hair and retrieved his knife. Shaking his head while inspecting the remains of his phaser, he thought this will be a challenge to repair. Picking up the pieces and muttering one last curse, he exited the holodeck heading to sickbay.

Upon arriving at medbay, Lt. Janson poked his head in to make sure CMO Windweaver wasn't there. She'll make my life hell he thought, and undoubtedly report this fourth incident to the Captain. Not seeing Windeweaver, Janson ventured further in searching for a not so busy nurse to quickly patch him up.

"Back again Lieutenant?" came a calm, inquiring voice from behind.

Janson's back stiffened slightly, bet he turned around slowly. There, giving him a cool look, was Doctor Sornal. Sornal had been the one who treated his last two injuries.

"Look, Doc, it's not that bad", Janson began, but was cut short before he could say anymore.

"If you persist in continuing this daily habit of yours, Lieutenant, I will have to report you to Windweaver, and then she will have to inform the Captain. I know you do not want to follow that course."

Janson nodded. "I know Sornal, and you're right. I want to stay as far from that course as possible, but you have to understand. I need to train as realistically as possible. That means with safeties off. It keeps me focused and more alert, as I should be. I'm no good to the Captain, or this ship, if I'm not at my absolute best."

"And if you are killed in one of these so-called training exercises, what good will you be to the Captain then?" Sornal asked.

Janson let out an exasperated sigh, knowing full well Sornal had him dead in space.

"Now," Sornal continued, moving to tend Janson's injury. "I trust I have made my point Lieutenant, and for your sake I won't file this latest incident. I also want your assurance that this will not happen again."

Janson looked at Sornal. "Ok Doc, you got it."

Leaving medbay and walking to his quarters, Janson couldn't help but mutter, "Doctors!"

For his part though, Sornal had struck a nerve. Being dead, he would be of no use to the Empire. What he didn't need, however, was for Captain Blackfire to find out about his "incidents" and take away his holodeck privileges or something worse. Thinking about that put him into an even fouler mood. Maybe I'll take a trip to Ten-Forward and drink some of my misery away.

Rounding the corner to the turbolift, a familiar voice from behind called out.

"Hey Lieutenant, I heard the holodeck's been mistreating you lately."

Janson, waiting for the turbolift, replied calmly, "You know Dutch, just because you're old and half blind doesn't mean I won't toss you out the nearest airlock if it makes me happy."

Coming up to stand beside the Lieutenant, Dutch muttered "Ever heard the phrase 'respect your elders'?"

Chuckling quietly, Janson shook his head. "Join me for a drink, O' Old One?"

"Why, I'd be most honored sir," replied Dutch giving a mock bow.

The doors to the lift opened at that moment and both men stepped inside.

"Honored to drink in the company of someone as insufferable as yourself," he added quietly.

"Ten-Forward," Janson told the computer and turned to Dutch with an evil grin.

"Care to lose the other eye?" he asked with mock politeness. "It'd be funny hearing the other soldiers call you 'No-Eyes' instead of 'One-Eye'."

For added affect, Janson drew his knife, which got a nervous glance from one of the other occupants. Dutch, tapping the eyepatch over his missing eye, appeared to be deep in thought.

"Mind if I get back to you on that sir?" he asked.

"Of course," replied Janson still grinning, but putting his knife away.

The lift doors opened again and Janson and Dutch filed out into the corridor, making their way to Ten-Forward. Upon entering they placed their orders at the bar and found an empty table to sit. Dutch immediately struck up a conversation with a young female Ensign at the next table. He may be old, but he sure hasn't lost that fire, Janson mused.

He sat back and stared at his one-eyed friend. Dutch Drayson, or "One-Eye" as the rest of the soldiers called him, was a veteran of countless battles against the Cardsassian Union. He was almost forty and, despite the loss of an eye and other minor injuries, the man was still running around like a young pup fresh out of the academy. Dutch had lost his eye at the Battle of Altera II, near the Cardassian border, nearly ten years ago. It was one of the worst defeats for the Empire, and up until two years ago the planet remained in Cardassian hands. Lt. Janson had participated in the liberation of Altera II while serving aboard the Renegade. Dutch had refused to be fitted with a prosthetic eye, and because of this, would never attain a rank higher than private. He may only be a private, but his experience was a highly valuable commodity to the younger soldiers, as well as to the Lieutenant. Janson couldn't even think about going into battle without the old man at his side.

"Hey Dutch," Janson said slowly, not really wanting to disrupt Dutch's conversation.

Dutch turned around. "Yes sir?"

"I have an idea I want to pass by you."

"Go ahead sir," Dutch said.

"I've been thinking of forming a special operations group," Janson started. "A commando team dedicated solely to covert, behind the lines operations. We could go in and soften up planetary targets for invasion, end small uprisings quietly, basic search and destroy/rescue missions and any other missions that the Captain may not want to draw attention to. The team would consist of no more than 20 soldiers, with at least infiltration and survival skills," he paused, taking a long, slow drink of his ale. "I'll also make a more detailed list of other skills that may be of use."

Dutch leaned back with a wide smile. "Ah, the exuberance of youth. Always coming up with ways to take over the galaxy." After a slight chuckle and a long pull of his own drink, he added "Seriously sir, it sounds like a terrific idea. And I hope you're not thinking of leaving me out of it."

A genuine smile played across the face of Lt. Janson. A very rare occurrence. "If the Captain approves, old man, you'll be the first to know."

Nodding, Dutch asked "Say you do get the green light for this little project, what's the plan on assembling the team?"

"Well, based on certain criteria from the list, I'll have to do a complete background check on all Marines on board, then immediately reassign them to me."

"That, sir, is a lot of records," Dutch noted. "It could take a few days."

"Then I hope you have no plans, because if this project is given a go, guess who'll be at my side helping me go though all those records."

Dutch let loose an audible sigh. "Ah, thank you sir. The adventures of Dutch Drayson, Ace Statician."