1332 HOURS
TWO DAYS LATER
Norma Schuller had made a decision several minutes ago. The force of conviction of that decision had been enough to propel her out of her quarters and all the way to the turbolift before she had her first bout of cold feet. It took a minute or two to make herself continue the mission, and the boost in conviction was enough to get her all the way to the door to Alenn’s quarters. That was where she stood.
It’s where she’d been standing for the past three minutes, feeling like an idiot.
Just do it! One inner voice, the Voice of Conviction, yelled at her. She needs your help!
The Captain will bust you for insubordination, another voice, that of Stone Cold Reason, countered, assuming you get that far. You’re much lighter than Leadbottom. Alenn would have no problem hauling you to the personnel airlock.
This unfortunate bit of indecision was the culmination of more than a day of thinking about what was going on behind this door and how she might alleviate the situation. She’d finally come up with a solution, and today, with a light work schedule, she’d decided to implement it. It wasn’t an elaborate solution, at least as far as getting into the quarters was concerned. All she needed to do was tell a lie. No, a half-truth really. It would get her in, and then she could see Alenn, and she could help Alenn. And maybe, after seeing her emotionally whole and healthy friend, the Captain might ignore the half-truth and the insubordination and not bust Schuller down to Crewman.
And maybe, just maybe, Alenn would be too well-adjusted to vent her into space.
Right, Stone Cold Reason said, and maybe the Earth really is a giant computer monitored by mice. Go back to your quarters and wait until it’s okay.
We can’t wait! Conviction shouted. It’s irresponsible!
In your eyes, but this is what Phua and Alenn want, and they don’t care what anyone else thinks about it. If you do this, there will be consequences. Maybe not to your life, but definitely to your career.
Something in Schuller’s head clicked, and Conviction said, Right...they don’t care about their careers, so why do you? What’s more important here?
The answer to that was obvious, and it helped her get back on mission. First, she would see what she was dealing with. She bent a little and looked at the display on the door control panel. It displayed the following:
SECURITY PROTOCOLS FULLY ENGAGED
It was fancy LCARS-speak for “Door locked.” Okay. Just to be thorough she tried the door chime. The computer beeped and the display showed:
VISITOR SIGNAL DISABLED
More fancy LCARS-speak for “No doorbell,” which meant - obviously - no guests. Okay. She’d done everything possible within boundaries.
Now it was time to cross a couple.
Ensign Norma Schuller looked up, cleared her throat and told her half-truth: “Computer, Medical Emergency. Disengage Security Protocols in Commander Alenn’s quarters, authorization Schuller One, Bravo-6-3-6-Echo-4.”
For a split-second she was worried that the Computer would refuse, but the fact was the Computer didn’t know the difference between the truth, a half-truth or an outright falsehood. All it knew was at that moment an emergency had been declared and it had been given a directive related to the emergency by a fully-authorized Life Sciences Officer...and no one had thought to tell it to ignore any of those things, so it complied.
Schuller started to breathe again when the control panel beeped and displayed a new message:
SECURITY PROTOCOLS DISENGAGED
Hard part’s over, Conviction said.
I can’t look, Reason whined.
Schuller touched a contact on the panel and the door slid open. It was dark in Alenn’s sitting room, with no light but starlight and what was coming in from the corridor. Schuller was tempted to call for the lights, but decided to work with what she had. She looked around when she caught the smell of old but not-rotten food. There were a few plates on the coffee table with half- or mostly-eaten survival rations on them. Alenn wasn’t replicating actual food to eat, and didn’t seem concerned about getting rid of her leavings.
Schuller walked into the room. Her first thought was to gather up the dishes and leftovers and take them to the replicator for disposal, but then she noticed Alenn’s uniform, tossed haphazardly on the sofa. Her commbadge was still attached. Seeing that, Schuller sniffed at the air again. This time there was a faint undercurrent of body odor, just enough to indicate Alenn hadn’t bathed this morning, and possibly not the previous day.
Not good, Conviction said. She’s giving herself over to grief.
Schuller gathered up the dishes. She was halfway to the replicator with them when a mournful wail shattered the silence in the quarters, followed by heavy, heartbreaking sobs. The sound was coming from the bedroom. It made Schuller hurry to complete her task. With the dishes gone, she approached the bedroom slowly and peeked in.
Alenn was kneeling on the floor by the still-made bed. If she’d slept on it at all, she hadn’t bothered to get under the covers (they were rumpled but still pulled up). She was in her underwear, and it was the first time Schuller had ever seen her without her tiara nestled in her long black braids. She was leaning on the edge of the bed and crying freely, with her head buried in her arms.
Conviction couldn’t stand to see her that way. Help her!
Schuller stepped inside the door and said softly, “Alenn...Commander Alenn...”
Alenn’s sobbing ended in a sharp gasp and her head shot up. There was shock on her tear-streaked face. “What are you doing here?” She rasped.
Schuller had stopped in her tracks. “I came to help,” she said. “You shouldn’t be alone at a time like this, so I...”
The look on Alenn’s face transformed to one of pure rage. She rose menacingly. “Get out!” She growled through her teeth.
Reason had a frightening vision of floating away from the ship as Schuller took a step backward. “Wait, Commander, you don’t understand! I just want to...”
Alenn started toward her with her fists clenched. “GET OUT!” Now it was a roar. “GET OUT, DAMN YOU!!”
Schuller retreated as quickly as she could without turning her back on Alenn. “Okay! Okay, I’m sorry! I’ll go, just please don’t...”
Alenn wasn’t listening. “GET OUT!!!” A final roar, accompanied by a fist swung in Schuller’s direction. It wasn’t close enough to connect, but Schuller held up her arms anyway. She managed to avoid tripping over anything as she backed all the way out of the quarters. In the corridor, she wondered idly if Alenn would let her put on a spacesuit first, but the First Officer stopped just inside the threshold, glared at Schuller for a moment, then closed the door.
Schuller closed her eyes and tried to slow her heartbeat. That didn’t go at all like I planned, Conviction said.
It went better than we deserve, Reason scolded. Now all we have to worry about is a court martial.
Schuller took a final calming breath and opened her eyes, then she turned and headed back to her quarters. She noticed that her cheek was wet when she got to the turbolift. She brushed the wetness with her fingertips. She hadn’t been crying. Alenn’s tears?
She wiped away the wetness with her hand and put it out of her mind. She had more important things to worry about.
1600 HOURS
TWO DAYS LATER
“I relieve you, sir,” McCann heard. He looked up from the PADD he was working on to see Alenn standing in front of the First Officer’s seat on the Bridge. She looked well-rested and immaculate, and as commanding a presence as he expected her to be.
He stood immediately and smiled at her. “I stand relieved. Welcome back, Commander.”
Alenn smiled back. “Thank you, Lieutenant.”
He handed her the PADD. “I was just finishing up the watch report. There were a couple of maintenance issues with the main deflector. The Engineer’s got someone on them. The Cap’n’s been working in Stellar Cartography on the material flow rate aspects of the survey.”
“Oh, no. You didn’t let her start a science project without me, did you?”
McCann chuckled. “She said she would take the opportunity to have some fun without being chaperoned.”
Alenn smirked. “Well, have Security stand by. If she really gets into it I’ll need help dragging her off the observation platform.” Both officers chuckled, but Alenn was only half-joking. Phua had enjoyed being a Science Officer back when more than she liked being a Captain now, and she could get lost in things like this survey without a strong Number One to remind her of her responsibilities.
Well, I’m back now. “Anything else?”
“The Ops officer got a complaint about the distribution of Holodeck time. Nothing serious. It’s taken care of. Good to have you back, Commander.” With that he left the Bridge with the rest of the Afternoon watchstanders as the Evening Watch took over.
When everyone had settled in, Alenn sat down in the First Officer’s seat and got her bottom used to it again. It had only been a few days, but she found she had missed it. She smiled discreetly, then settled in and reviewed the details of McCann’s watch report. She was just getting into it when her commbadge emitted the Doctor’s voice. “Langkowski to Alenn.”
Alenn tapped her ‘badge. “Go ahead, Doctor.”
“Alenn, have you seen Ensign Schuller?”
Alenn huffed. “I’ve had this conversation with the Captain already, Doctor, and I will make an appointment with the Counselor once I’ve...”
“I don’t mean it that way, Alenn. I mean, do you know where she is?”
“Barring any changes to her schedule I would assume she’s finishing up her appointments for the day.”
“Shame on you for assuming. The fact is she canceled all her appointments for today, and seemed distracted during all her appointments yesterday...or so I’m told. And no one has seen her since dinner last night.”
“And has anyone bothered to check her quarters?”
“I’m standing in front of her door right now. She’s not answering.”
“Stand by, Doctor.” Alenn looked up. “Computer, locate Ensign Schuller.”
The computer beeped and responded, “Ensign Schuller is in her quarters.”
“The computer says she’s in there, Doctor.”
“Yes, that’s what the computer told me as well...yet here we are.”
Alenn scowled, but Langkowski had a point. “All right...computer, disregard the location of her commbadge and lock on to Ensign Schuller’s bio-signs.”
The computer searched again and said, “Ensign Schuller is on the Holodeck.”
Alenn blinked at that. What had McCann said? “Doctor, go to the Holodeck and wait for me there. I’ll be with you shortly. Alenn out.” She tapped her commbadge and got up and walked to the Operations station. “Check your logs,” she said to the Ops officer on-duty. “What was the nature of the Holodeck time dispute last watch?”
Dr. Langkowski was pacing in front of the Holodeck arch when Alenn walked up. “She’s been in here since 1200 hours,” Alenn said.
Langkowski’s eyebrows went up. “Who? Schuller?! What could she be doing in there for four hours?”
“That’s what I’d like to know,” Alenn muttered. She walked toward the hatch and found it wouldn’t open for her. “She reserved the deck for six hours.”
“Well that’s not possible...unless she’s having a party...”
“She is,” Alenn said as she examined the control panel on the arch. “It’s a welcome back party for me.”
Langkowski saw her face when she said that. “I guess ‘How nice of her’ would be an inappropriate thing to say?”
“It was merely what she told Lt. McCann to get him to approve the block of time,” Alenn said. She pressed some contacts. “He in turn informed the Ops officer on watch, who further passed the story along to someone who wanted to reserve the deck for 1700.”
“And you’re sure she’s not actually in there waiting to surprise you because...?”
“Because would you throw a surprise party for me and not invite the Captain? Dian is down in Stellar Cartography mooning over Barrier Gas emissions.” She touched a final contact and the Holodeck hatch opened to reveal...
...the door to Alenn’s quarters.
“Suspicious...” Langkowski muttered. Alenn tried to open the door, but couldn’t. Security Protocols had been engaged. Alenn entered her passcode, wondering if Schuller had been smart enough not to tell the computer to just copy the real door controls.
She hadn’t been. The door slid open, revealing a sitting room lit by candlelight and decorated with flowers.
“Incredible...” Langkowski breathed as they stepped inside. Along with the flowers, a buffet table was set up. “What kinds of food are these?” Langkowski asked. They smelled delicious, but she didn’t recognize them.
“They’re Elasian finger foods,” Alenn said. “The flowers are Elasian as well.” An Earth saying Dian had taught her, about “hackles” being raised on one’s neck, came back to her. Now she truly understood its meaning.
As they stepped further into the sitting room, the smells of the flowers and the foods engulfing them, they heard a faint moaning coming from the bedroom that seemed to increase in intensity by the second.
“Alenn,” Langkowski said, “that sounds like you. In pain or...”
Alenn was already moving. She took three strides to get to the bedroom door and stopped dead just inside. Langkowski was next to her a second later, and the Doctor gasped at the sight that greeted them.
There were two female figures on Alenn’s bed, one with light coffee skin, one with peaches-and-cream complexion. Both figures were nude, surrounded by haphazardly discarded bits of Starfleet uniforms and related undergarments. The dark figure was indeed Alenn, or at least a holographic copy of same, and she was indeed the one moaning, and obviously not from pain...unless the black-haired head trapped between Holo-Alenn’s thighs was engaged in rougher activity than its current position suggested.
Langkowski risked a sidelong glance at Alenn. The First Officer’s countenance was decidedly grim. “Now, Alenn...”
“Computer,” Alenn hissed, “Terminate and delete program! Authorization: Alenn, Alpha 444 Delta 4!”
The computer acknowledged with beeps just before Alenn’s quarters and everything in them disappeared, leaving only Ensign Schuller and her clothes laying on the deck. “NOOOO!” Schuller screamed as she levered herself up. “Bring her back! Computer! Bring her back!!”
“Unable to comply,” The computer said. “Program is deleted.”
“Prepare to...” Whatever command she was going to give was lost, because at that moment her big blue eyes locked on the real Alenn. “It’s you...” Schuller said, “...it’s really you. You’ve ended your isolation and found your way to me.”
Alenn and Langkowski traded quick glances. Schuller looked giddy at the sight of Alenn.
“I tried to wait,” Schuller said, “tried to be patient, but it had been so long since I’d seen you, and I missed you so much, I just had to find a way to be with you, so I came here. But I don’t need the holodeck anymore. You’re here, and now we can be together!” Schuller came at them at a trot with her arms outstretched, ready to wrap them around Alenn and never let go.
That made the impact of Alenn’s fist in her gut all the more jarring, and Schuller doubled over just a split-second before that same fist backhanded her against her right jaw, twisting her head around and sending her back to the floor unconscious.
Alenn stared down at her for a moment, then turned to Langkowski. “Doctor, we have a problem.”
Langkowski, totally deadpan, said, “Ya think?”
