. Eventually, the Turbolift doors slid open revealing Zak, along with Tabby and Carshel, within. Carshel was rubbing his chin where a new beard had started growing. "Why is my face so itchy?"
. Tabby rubbed his own stubble and muttered, "Yeah, now that I think about it, mine's itchy too."
. The Captain stood at the doors a moment and took a deep breath, but Carshel immediately strode towards the primary Science station, saying as he did, "Wow, it looks like hell up here."
. Relok glanced at him. "You were not the only one having adventures, Lieutenant."
. "Relok!" Carshel exclaimed, rushing to give the Vulcan a hug and then stopping himself short. "Right, Vulcan, no touchy."
. Relok smiled at him. "I am pleased to see you are not badly injured, Lt."
. Carshel touched one of his ears and said, "Oh, no, I was. My ears are fubared, beyond all recognition." He moved so Relok could see his new hearing aids. "If I didn't have these, I wouldn't hear a damn thing ... sir."
. Relok looked at the hearing aids and then commented, "Well ... it's not so bad as Borg cybernetics, so ...," he trailed off with a slight shrug.
. Tabby strolled down from the Turbolift. Filler stood and moved away from the Operations console, surrendering it to his Chief. Tabby flopped into the chair, visibly exhausted. "That," he sighed, "Sucked!" He quickly studied the console and muttered, "Filler, you changed my console again!" The young Ensign quickly moved to another station.
. Zak started down towards his seat. "So, Mr. Carter, if we have our engines, how about we give them a short test. Out around the local sun and back?"
. Carter spun around with a smirk on his face. "You wanna slingshot the star on a brand-new, scrap-built nacelle?"
. Zak settled into his seat and said with a grin, "Well, Carter, I wouldn't do it at Warp 7 or anything, but ... full impulse, maybe?" The grin evaporated as he added, "I just have the need to get away from this planet for a little while."