Due to real life, paint, and the lack of a temporal creation apparatus, Age of Consent has been postponed, again. :::sob:::

Chakotay growled; he'd been postponing this particular batch of paperwork for too long. He reached over and picked up his cup of tea and took a sip. "This is cold," he muttered, knowing if he went to replicator, he wouldn't come back to the form.

"What are you working on?" Kathryn asked from her desk.

"Claim forms."

"Aren't you supposed to submit them in tomorrow's datastream?"

"Uh huh."

She shook her head. "Chakotay...What am I going to do with you?"

He smiled. "We can find out." He started to stand.

"Stay in that seat, mister," she barked. She walked over and grabbed the PADD. "Maybe between the two of us we can get it filled out." She read through it quickly.

"At least have your name on here. That's good." She continued to read. "Here we go. Name of ship--the Freedom."

"Actually, it's the Liberty."

"Excuse me? I thought it was the Freedom." She looked at him curiously. His smile grew.

"Long story. It was original Bantor. It's Bajoran: some of the crew translated that to be Freedom, others Liberty--we never agreed."

"You should put down Freedom. It'll match the official Starfleet records."

"But it's Liberty on her registration papers."

"Oh. That might be a problem." She read a bit further. "You do realize that the company doesn't pay claims for losses during an act of war."

"But she was lost as a direct result of the Caretaker seeking to procreate."

"True. But they may not see it that way."

"I know. I just need to file the claim. The ship belonged to Deep Space Import and Export."

"Ahh. I believe they fronted for the Bajoran resistance and later the Maquis."

He nodded twice. "I figure if I file a claim, they won't charge me for the loss of the ship."

"They would do this?"

"Yes. Ships lost in battles with the Cardassians were paid for by various Bajoran Freedom groups. For all others, the crew and captain were expected to cover the replacement costs." He handed her another PADD. "They notified me of this the last datastream."

"Oh." She didn't pick up the PADD. "Then I suppose this isn't the time to tell you that Starfleet has been counting the number of shuttles you wrecked?"

***

We hope, once again, that Age of Consent will be ready next week. (Those asking about the 2nd teaser...that will be the opening to Age...)