A/N: This was originally supposed to be a oneshot, but I decided it was taking too much space so it's going to be a short story. No more than two or three chapters. It's set between Star Trek: Into the Inferno and the sequel coming much later into the future, Star Trek: The Burning Earth.
Chapter One
“You that would judge me, do not judge alone
This book or that, come to this hallowed place
Where my friends' portraits hang and look thereon;
Ireland's history in their lineaments trace;
Think where man's glory most begins and ends
And say my glory was I had such friends.”
-William Butler Yeats, “The Municipal Gallery Revisited”
Sakeri Lee watched from the quarterdeck of the wooden ship as the orange disk of the sun rose over the horizon, illuminating the expanse of Kyoshi Island, the island that the full rigged merchantman he’d asked to carry he and his family to safety was approaching. Behind him he heard the watch crew work, listening to the sounds of men and women hauling on rigging and tying ropes to the stern.
“Mr. Long the lead if you please,” the all business sounding feminine voice that, and this was nothing unknown in the Fire Nation, sounded like it’s owner was seventeen if she was a day, said from behind him.
After a long moment, a deeper, male voice that sounded like its owner was in his thirties said, “By the mark, five fathoms.”
“Note that in the log,” the captain ordered back. After a moment, he heard footsteps walking up to behind him and the selfsame feminine voice remark. “Mr. Lee, we should be docking in Kyoshi in about thirty minutes.”
Sakeri nodded and turned around, meeting the eyes of the quite young ship’s master standing before him. The young captain of the Horn of Plenty was seventeen, slender, pretty, with brown skin and long black hair that came down to her shoulders and, surprisingly, golden eyes that suggested that she had noble blood in her, probably due to a nobleman having an affair with a commoner. She was wearing a brown woolen tunic and woolen pants that were died jet black.
“Thank you, Captain Leiko,” Sakeri said nodding. After a moment, he said, bowing low, “Forgive me please, for dragging you into this.”
“You were a good employer, sir,” Leiko said, bowing right back before releasing a heartfelt sigh. “But I’ve wanted to leave the Fire Nation for a long time now. They killed my father for refusing to return to the Navy after the Invasion, after all. It’s why I’m now Captain of this ship, and the least I owe my father’s memory is to use the ship he poured his heart and soul into to snub the bastards who killed him.”
Sakeri, suppressed an urge to chew the young woman’s head off. She knew the young captain before him hated the Fire Nation government, twelve hells that was why he went to her in the first place. The fact of the matter was, in his opinion, that the Fire Nation had turned against them was the fault of their daughter and her bizarre attack on the Fire Princess. The Fire Nation was still the greatest empire to exist on their world in the past millennia, and he didn’t like it referred to in that manner.
After a second, she said, a questioning look on her face. “Sir, if you don’t mind, I would like to ask why precisely you’re doing this. I mean, I’ve heard the rumors that have been swirling around your fall from grace, but I want to hear it straight from you, if you don’t mind me asking.”
Sakeri, after hearing her rip into the Fire Nation not thirty seconds ago, was tempted to refuse, but some part of him, the part that realized it was time to let go, said to tell her.
“It happened suddenly,” the disgraced Fire Nation merchant kingpin said quietly. “One morning I arrived at work to find it surrounded by what appeared to be half the Second Cavalry Division. Their tanks were surrounding our offices and soldiers were carrying away everything that was in the building. Enraged, I asked why they were doing this, and one of the soldiers, a young woman no more than your age, gave me an irritated look and continued her looting, even grabbing a wooden doll that belonged to one of my employees and pocketing it for herself, going so far to mutter,” and he pitched his voice up several octaves above normal, “‘Ooo, my daughter might like that.’ I asked a few more people and finally a Crown Representative walked up and informed me that my family’s holdings and assets were being confiscated on the direct order on the Crown Princess. That my Ty Lee had committed capital treason against the Fire Nation and that, as the parents of a traitor, my property was subject to confiscation.”
Sighing, he said, “I of course didn’t believe him and demanded to know what treason he was referring to. He said that Ty Lee had struck the Fire Princess down in an attempt to murder her and she had been thrown into the Boiling Rock for her crime. Without another word he then turned and walked away.”
“She attacked the Fire Princess?” Leiko asked, shock and a form of respect appearing on her face. “We’ve all heard the rumors about her, so I like this girl already. What happened then?”
Deciding to ignore Leiko’s comment in favor of her daughter’s actions, he opened his mouth to speak when a young woman from behind the two of them shouted, fear on her voice.
“Starboard bow contact, Captain! I don’t know what they are!”
Sakeri, shocked glanced up and saw four winged brown shapes cutting through the air like nothing human. As they grew larger he saw that they were made of a light brownish metal, with black domes in their tops that looked like some sort of window. As the ships got closer, the two in the front row glowed a bright red, and blood red streak flew over head and landed in the water behind them with a splash and the hiss of superheated water turning to steam.
“I think that was the warning shot across our bow,” Captain Leiko said. Turning to her panicked crew, she shouted, “Run up the white flag, we’re surrendering to the star people.” Turning back Sakeri she said, “Sir, I think it’s best if you get your wife and daughters up on deck. It’s time to present our request for asylum to the star people.”
Five minutes later, a group of five women and one little girl, barely six years old, were rushed by three of Captain Leiko’s crewmembers onto the deck of the Horn of Plenty. Her daughters, ranging in age from twenty-one to six all had looks of shock and horror on their faces at the ships that darted and weaved around the merchantman.
Finally one of the ships lowered itself until it was level with the water, and a hatch on the right side opened. Sticking his head out was a fair skinned man with short, well-combed brown hair and brown eyes in his mid-thirties. He was in a gray jacket with red stripes on both sides of the chest and blue trousers. In his right hand he grasped a strange device had a wide front opening and a narrow back with a handle on the bottom.
“This is Lieutenant Commander Malcolm Reed of the Starfleet vessel Enterprise, the man said, his tone, clearly enhanced by the device he carried. “You are a Fire Nation flag vessel and as such will state your business in this region.”
Leiko stepped up to the starboard bow and, leaning over the edge, shouted back. “This is Captain Leiko of the merchantman Horn of Plenty. I, my passengers, and my crew are here to request asylum.”
The older man withdrew from the hatch and disappeared from view, presumably to consult with someone onboard the strange ship he was one.
“Captain Leiko,” this Lieutenant Commander Reed said, appearing a moment later, strange device in hand. “You’re ship is now the property of United Earth. Prepare to be boarded. Any resistance will be dealt with severely.
“What about our asylum request?!” Leiko shouted.
“After your vessel is secured, you will be brought before my Captain to have you and your crew’s request granted a full hearing,” Reed said back, his bizarrely enhanced voice echoed across the waters. He waved his hand inside his ship and the ship moved forward. He heard the other ships move closer to the Horn and heard the sound of boots jumping and landing hard on the deck. As the ship in front of them got closer, Leiko stepped back and a heartbeat later the man who had identified himself as Malcolm Reed jumped onto the deck with a loud thump.
The man, he noticed had a strange silvery white device that he assumed was some sort of weapon slung over his back. His eyes glanced over the assembled crew of the merchantman before drifting back to Captain Leiko.
“Is this your entire crew?” The man asked a strange accent that had been hidden by whatever enhancement had been done to it by the device he had used clear on his cadences.
“Yes, Commander,” Leiko said. She then gestured behind her towards him and his family. “And this is Sakeri Lee and his family. They also request asylum.”
Reed turned and gave him a hard stare. He felt himself instinctively straighten, unwilling to appear weak before this man whom his fate and that of his wife and daughters now depended. He then glanced over at his family. The instant his eyes fell on his family, his brown eyes jolted wide in shock. The officer upon whom his fate now depended glanced back and forth between him and his family, giving him a look that in any other situation he would’ve sworn was recognition. He looked around, before his eyes alighted on the empty quarterdeck. Without another word he withdrew a silvery box from his pocket and pushed through the crowd of sailors. The sailors, not seeking to antagonize the armed soldiers that now surrounded them, quickly parted way. He watched as Reed walked up the two small stairs to the quarterdeck and, facing away from them, put the device to his lips. He heard him mutter words into the box, and could’ve sworn he heard a male voice responding.
He’s talking to someone, he realized with a shock. He stood there, stunned. In less than five minutes, all the rumors he’d heard about these people had been confirmed, and then some.
After a second, he wheeled around and pushed back through the crowd.
“All right,” he said immediately. “You,” he said pointing at Leiko. He then gestured to all of them. “And all of you are to come with me immediately. You’re asylum request has just been fast-tracked.”
--------------
Ty Lee walked through the Klingon ship. Looking around her, she realized that the battle had done a number on the place. The walls were singed from phase rifle burns and several sections of bulkhead had been blown out, showering the place with burnt metal. It reminded her of the Boiling Rock after Starfleet went through the place.
All of that was utterly irrelevant to the newly minted commander of the Kyoshi Warriors. Right now, all she cared about was one thing.
I have to get to her, she thought to herself as she navigated the corridors of the Bortas, her fear running through her as though it was part of her blood. I can’t let her die alone.
Finally, she turned one corridor and saw a sight that stole the warmth of her blood away, and sent the mad, desperate hope that she would be found, whole and unhurt, crashing to the bottom of her stomach and shattering.
“No,” she said, looking at the body on the ground before her. “Oh, sweet gods, no.”
Lying there was a woman with brownish skin, hazel eyes, with brown hair matted almost black by shades of purple and red. Her hazel eyes were blank, staring lifelessly up at the ceiling. In her stomach was a huge gash where a Klingon blade had ripped her stomach open.
“I’m sorry, Michi,” she said, remembering the words she had said when she had tended her friends wounds after suffering the ministrations of Azula’s torturers in the Rock.
I won’t leave you, she’d said to the hurt and bleeding Kyoshi Warrior whose cot she’d given over to her. Not now, not ever again.
“Why, Ty?” a voice said from in front of her. Looking up, she gasped in shock as she saw Michiko sitting up and staring her, a pleading look in her eyes. “Why did you do it? Why did you leave me here to die?”
Unable to hold back the flow of her own tears, she said, “I’m sorry, Michi,” she said. “I was delayed.”
Michi’s shade shook her head, disappointment evident in her eyes. “That’s no excuse.”
Ty Lee bolted awake, ignoring the twinge of pain that ripped through her chest as she did so. She looked around, her breathing calming when she realized where she was. She was in her narrow quarters in the bowels of the Enterprise. She reached up and pressed the button that keyed on her lights, casting a white fluorescent glow around the room.
She was already starting to make herself truly at home onboard the Enterprise. Hanging on the wall across from her bed, facing down, was the bat’leth she’d taken off the first Klingon warrior she’d killed, back when they’d boarded the Enterprise. Less martial aspects of her taste were scattered about the room. There was a pink rug on the floor across from her bed, and a vase full of red flowers on her nightstand. However, in front of her nightstand was the object of her current attention. It was a framed photograph, amazing to her even after seeing it for a number of weeks, of the Kyoshi Warriors, standing together in one of Enterprise’s cargo bays.
She was about to reach for the photo on her nightstand when the intercom beeped to life on the wall above her head.
“Captain Archer to Major Lee,” the voice of Enterprise’s Captain said over the intercom, his tone suggesting what he was saying was imminently serious. “Report to the bridge immediately.”
She hastily slapped the intercom and said, “Understood.” The young commander of the Kyoshi Warrior and MACO detachments onboard Enterprise held the rank of Captain in the Kyoshi Warriors. However, as her rank was equivalent to a Lieutenant Commander in Starfleet or a Major in the Military Assault Command, and since there could only be one Captain on a ship, she was referred to as a Major, and was drawing a Major’s pay.
In addition as there were no officers of their own on board, she was by default the MACO commander as well.
Sitting up in bed she swung her legs out, ignoring the pain that shot through them both. She grabbed the metal crutch with the black handle that was next to her bed, and leaning hard into it, stood up unsteadily and moved towards her door, not even changing out of the pink nightgown she was wearing, as Archer said to get up to the bridge immediately. A heartbeat later the door slid open with a dragon’s hiss and she stepped out into the corridor.
“Attention on deck!” A male voice shouted, and a team of engineers led by petty officer second class came to attention
“As you were,” she retorted quickly as she made her way towards the turbolift at the end of the hall. An agonizing few moments later, she slid open the door and walked into the small lift, allowing it to close behind her.
One minute later, the door slid open to reveal the bridge of the Enterprise. As soon as the turbolift door opened, Captain Archer swiveled in his command chair to face her. His face immediately took on a look of curious disapproval as she was out of uniform.
Ty Lee, her face already reddening with embarrassment came to attention as best she could and said, “Major Ty Lee reporting as ordered, sir. Forgive me for being out of uniform but you said it was urgent.”
“You can say that again,” Archer said, nodding and swiveling back to face the viewscreen, which showed its usual placeholder image of the planet below. “Hoshi,” he ordered. “Replay Commander Reed’s last transmission.”
“Aye,sir,” Lieutenant Hoshi Sato said immediately, the brown skinned woman’s hands played over her board.
An instant later, the accented voice of Lieutenant Commander Malcolm Reed filled the air.
“You’re not going to believe it, sir. I think Major Lee’s family has shown up and is requesting asylum, I swear to God. I got a look at their daughters and they all are dead ringers for her and each other. It’s actually quite freakish.
Ty Lee stood there, rooted to the spot after the transmission ceased.
“My parents,” she said, shock coursing through her. “And my siblings. Gods.”
“They and the captain of the ship that took them in are on their way up as we speak,” Archer said immediately.
“I’ll take the Captain, directly. I’ll let you handle the asylum request from your parents and siblings.”
“Yes, sir,” Ty Lee said immediately, at the same time thinking. This isn’t going to end well.
“Dismissed,” Archer said. A sly smile appeared on his face.“Oh,” he said, half mockingly, “sand you’ll make a better impression on them if you’re in uniform.”
Ty Lee nodded and ambled back into the turbolift.
------
Chapter One
“You that would judge me, do not judge alone
This book or that, come to this hallowed place
Where my friends' portraits hang and look thereon;
Ireland's history in their lineaments trace;
Think where man's glory most begins and ends
And say my glory was I had such friends.”
-William Butler Yeats, “The Municipal Gallery Revisited”
Sakeri Lee watched from the quarterdeck of the wooden ship as the orange disk of the sun rose over the horizon, illuminating the expanse of Kyoshi Island, the island that the full rigged merchantman he’d asked to carry he and his family to safety was approaching. Behind him he heard the watch crew work, listening to the sounds of men and women hauling on rigging and tying ropes to the stern.
“Mr. Long the lead if you please,” the all business sounding feminine voice that, and this was nothing unknown in the Fire Nation, sounded like it’s owner was seventeen if she was a day, said from behind him.
After a long moment, a deeper, male voice that sounded like its owner was in his thirties said, “By the mark, five fathoms.”
“Note that in the log,” the captain ordered back. After a moment, he heard footsteps walking up to behind him and the selfsame feminine voice remark. “Mr. Lee, we should be docking in Kyoshi in about thirty minutes.”
Sakeri nodded and turned around, meeting the eyes of the quite young ship’s master standing before him. The young captain of the Horn of Plenty was seventeen, slender, pretty, with brown skin and long black hair that came down to her shoulders and, surprisingly, golden eyes that suggested that she had noble blood in her, probably due to a nobleman having an affair with a commoner. She was wearing a brown woolen tunic and woolen pants that were died jet black.
“Thank you, Captain Leiko,” Sakeri said nodding. After a moment, he said, bowing low, “Forgive me please, for dragging you into this.”
“You were a good employer, sir,” Leiko said, bowing right back before releasing a heartfelt sigh. “But I’ve wanted to leave the Fire Nation for a long time now. They killed my father for refusing to return to the Navy after the Invasion, after all. It’s why I’m now Captain of this ship, and the least I owe my father’s memory is to use the ship he poured his heart and soul into to snub the bastards who killed him.”
Sakeri, suppressed an urge to chew the young woman’s head off. She knew the young captain before him hated the Fire Nation government, twelve hells that was why he went to her in the first place. The fact of the matter was, in his opinion, that the Fire Nation had turned against them was the fault of their daughter and her bizarre attack on the Fire Princess. The Fire Nation was still the greatest empire to exist on their world in the past millennia, and he didn’t like it referred to in that manner.
After a second, she said, a questioning look on her face. “Sir, if you don’t mind, I would like to ask why precisely you’re doing this. I mean, I’ve heard the rumors that have been swirling around your fall from grace, but I want to hear it straight from you, if you don’t mind me asking.”
Sakeri, after hearing her rip into the Fire Nation not thirty seconds ago, was tempted to refuse, but some part of him, the part that realized it was time to let go, said to tell her.
“It happened suddenly,” the disgraced Fire Nation merchant kingpin said quietly. “One morning I arrived at work to find it surrounded by what appeared to be half the Second Cavalry Division. Their tanks were surrounding our offices and soldiers were carrying away everything that was in the building. Enraged, I asked why they were doing this, and one of the soldiers, a young woman no more than your age, gave me an irritated look and continued her looting, even grabbing a wooden doll that belonged to one of my employees and pocketing it for herself, going so far to mutter,” and he pitched his voice up several octaves above normal, “‘Ooo, my daughter might like that.’ I asked a few more people and finally a Crown Representative walked up and informed me that my family’s holdings and assets were being confiscated on the direct order on the Crown Princess. That my Ty Lee had committed capital treason against the Fire Nation and that, as the parents of a traitor, my property was subject to confiscation.”
Sighing, he said, “I of course didn’t believe him and demanded to know what treason he was referring to. He said that Ty Lee had struck the Fire Princess down in an attempt to murder her and she had been thrown into the Boiling Rock for her crime. Without another word he then turned and walked away.”
“She attacked the Fire Princess?” Leiko asked, shock and a form of respect appearing on her face. “We’ve all heard the rumors about her, so I like this girl already. What happened then?”
Deciding to ignore Leiko’s comment in favor of her daughter’s actions, he opened his mouth to speak when a young woman from behind the two of them shouted, fear on her voice.
“Starboard bow contact, Captain! I don’t know what they are!”
Sakeri, shocked glanced up and saw four winged brown shapes cutting through the air like nothing human. As they grew larger he saw that they were made of a light brownish metal, with black domes in their tops that looked like some sort of window. As the ships got closer, the two in the front row glowed a bright red, and blood red streak flew over head and landed in the water behind them with a splash and the hiss of superheated water turning to steam.
“I think that was the warning shot across our bow,” Captain Leiko said. Turning to her panicked crew, she shouted, “Run up the white flag, we’re surrendering to the star people.” Turning back Sakeri she said, “Sir, I think it’s best if you get your wife and daughters up on deck. It’s time to present our request for asylum to the star people.”
Five minutes later, a group of five women and one little girl, barely six years old, were rushed by three of Captain Leiko’s crewmembers onto the deck of the Horn of Plenty. Her daughters, ranging in age from twenty-one to six all had looks of shock and horror on their faces at the ships that darted and weaved around the merchantman.
Finally one of the ships lowered itself until it was level with the water, and a hatch on the right side opened. Sticking his head out was a fair skinned man with short, well-combed brown hair and brown eyes in his mid-thirties. He was in a gray jacket with red stripes on both sides of the chest and blue trousers. In his right hand he grasped a strange device had a wide front opening and a narrow back with a handle on the bottom.
“This is Lieutenant Commander Malcolm Reed of the Starfleet vessel Enterprise, the man said, his tone, clearly enhanced by the device he carried. “You are a Fire Nation flag vessel and as such will state your business in this region.”
Leiko stepped up to the starboard bow and, leaning over the edge, shouted back. “This is Captain Leiko of the merchantman Horn of Plenty. I, my passengers, and my crew are here to request asylum.”
The older man withdrew from the hatch and disappeared from view, presumably to consult with someone onboard the strange ship he was one.
“Captain Leiko,” this Lieutenant Commander Reed said, appearing a moment later, strange device in hand. “You’re ship is now the property of United Earth. Prepare to be boarded. Any resistance will be dealt with severely.
“What about our asylum request?!” Leiko shouted.
“After your vessel is secured, you will be brought before my Captain to have you and your crew’s request granted a full hearing,” Reed said back, his bizarrely enhanced voice echoed across the waters. He waved his hand inside his ship and the ship moved forward. He heard the other ships move closer to the Horn and heard the sound of boots jumping and landing hard on the deck. As the ship in front of them got closer, Leiko stepped back and a heartbeat later the man who had identified himself as Malcolm Reed jumped onto the deck with a loud thump.
The man, he noticed had a strange silvery white device that he assumed was some sort of weapon slung over his back. His eyes glanced over the assembled crew of the merchantman before drifting back to Captain Leiko.
“Is this your entire crew?” The man asked a strange accent that had been hidden by whatever enhancement had been done to it by the device he had used clear on his cadences.
“Yes, Commander,” Leiko said. She then gestured behind her towards him and his family. “And this is Sakeri Lee and his family. They also request asylum.”
Reed turned and gave him a hard stare. He felt himself instinctively straighten, unwilling to appear weak before this man whom his fate and that of his wife and daughters now depended. He then glanced over at his family. The instant his eyes fell on his family, his brown eyes jolted wide in shock. The officer upon whom his fate now depended glanced back and forth between him and his family, giving him a look that in any other situation he would’ve sworn was recognition. He looked around, before his eyes alighted on the empty quarterdeck. Without another word he withdrew a silvery box from his pocket and pushed through the crowd of sailors. The sailors, not seeking to antagonize the armed soldiers that now surrounded them, quickly parted way. He watched as Reed walked up the two small stairs to the quarterdeck and, facing away from them, put the device to his lips. He heard him mutter words into the box, and could’ve sworn he heard a male voice responding.
He’s talking to someone, he realized with a shock. He stood there, stunned. In less than five minutes, all the rumors he’d heard about these people had been confirmed, and then some.
After a second, he wheeled around and pushed back through the crowd.
“All right,” he said immediately. “You,” he said pointing at Leiko. He then gestured to all of them. “And all of you are to come with me immediately. You’re asylum request has just been fast-tracked.”
--------------
Ty Lee walked through the Klingon ship. Looking around her, she realized that the battle had done a number on the place. The walls were singed from phase rifle burns and several sections of bulkhead had been blown out, showering the place with burnt metal. It reminded her of the Boiling Rock after Starfleet went through the place.
All of that was utterly irrelevant to the newly minted commander of the Kyoshi Warriors. Right now, all she cared about was one thing.
I have to get to her, she thought to herself as she navigated the corridors of the Bortas, her fear running through her as though it was part of her blood. I can’t let her die alone.
Finally, she turned one corridor and saw a sight that stole the warmth of her blood away, and sent the mad, desperate hope that she would be found, whole and unhurt, crashing to the bottom of her stomach and shattering.
“No,” she said, looking at the body on the ground before her. “Oh, sweet gods, no.”
Lying there was a woman with brownish skin, hazel eyes, with brown hair matted almost black by shades of purple and red. Her hazel eyes were blank, staring lifelessly up at the ceiling. In her stomach was a huge gash where a Klingon blade had ripped her stomach open.
“I’m sorry, Michi,” she said, remembering the words she had said when she had tended her friends wounds after suffering the ministrations of Azula’s torturers in the Rock.
I won’t leave you, she’d said to the hurt and bleeding Kyoshi Warrior whose cot she’d given over to her. Not now, not ever again.
“Why, Ty?” a voice said from in front of her. Looking up, she gasped in shock as she saw Michiko sitting up and staring her, a pleading look in her eyes. “Why did you do it? Why did you leave me here to die?”
Unable to hold back the flow of her own tears, she said, “I’m sorry, Michi,” she said. “I was delayed.”
Michi’s shade shook her head, disappointment evident in her eyes. “That’s no excuse.”
Ty Lee bolted awake, ignoring the twinge of pain that ripped through her chest as she did so. She looked around, her breathing calming when she realized where she was. She was in her narrow quarters in the bowels of the Enterprise. She reached up and pressed the button that keyed on her lights, casting a white fluorescent glow around the room.
She was already starting to make herself truly at home onboard the Enterprise. Hanging on the wall across from her bed, facing down, was the bat’leth she’d taken off the first Klingon warrior she’d killed, back when they’d boarded the Enterprise. Less martial aspects of her taste were scattered about the room. There was a pink rug on the floor across from her bed, and a vase full of red flowers on her nightstand. However, in front of her nightstand was the object of her current attention. It was a framed photograph, amazing to her even after seeing it for a number of weeks, of the Kyoshi Warriors, standing together in one of Enterprise’s cargo bays.
She was about to reach for the photo on her nightstand when the intercom beeped to life on the wall above her head.
“Captain Archer to Major Lee,” the voice of Enterprise’s Captain said over the intercom, his tone suggesting what he was saying was imminently serious. “Report to the bridge immediately.”
She hastily slapped the intercom and said, “Understood.” The young commander of the Kyoshi Warrior and MACO detachments onboard Enterprise held the rank of Captain in the Kyoshi Warriors. However, as her rank was equivalent to a Lieutenant Commander in Starfleet or a Major in the Military Assault Command, and since there could only be one Captain on a ship, she was referred to as a Major, and was drawing a Major’s pay.
In addition as there were no officers of their own on board, she was by default the MACO commander as well.
Sitting up in bed she swung her legs out, ignoring the pain that shot through them both. She grabbed the metal crutch with the black handle that was next to her bed, and leaning hard into it, stood up unsteadily and moved towards her door, not even changing out of the pink nightgown she was wearing, as Archer said to get up to the bridge immediately. A heartbeat later the door slid open with a dragon’s hiss and she stepped out into the corridor.
“Attention on deck!” A male voice shouted, and a team of engineers led by petty officer second class came to attention
“As you were,” she retorted quickly as she made her way towards the turbolift at the end of the hall. An agonizing few moments later, she slid open the door and walked into the small lift, allowing it to close behind her.
One minute later, the door slid open to reveal the bridge of the Enterprise. As soon as the turbolift door opened, Captain Archer swiveled in his command chair to face her. His face immediately took on a look of curious disapproval as she was out of uniform.
Ty Lee, her face already reddening with embarrassment came to attention as best she could and said, “Major Ty Lee reporting as ordered, sir. Forgive me for being out of uniform but you said it was urgent.”
“You can say that again,” Archer said, nodding and swiveling back to face the viewscreen, which showed its usual placeholder image of the planet below. “Hoshi,” he ordered. “Replay Commander Reed’s last transmission.”
“Aye,sir,” Lieutenant Hoshi Sato said immediately, the brown skinned woman’s hands played over her board.
An instant later, the accented voice of Lieutenant Commander Malcolm Reed filled the air.
“You’re not going to believe it, sir. I think Major Lee’s family has shown up and is requesting asylum, I swear to God. I got a look at their daughters and they all are dead ringers for her and each other. It’s actually quite freakish.
Ty Lee stood there, rooted to the spot after the transmission ceased.
“My parents,” she said, shock coursing through her. “And my siblings. Gods.”
“They and the captain of the ship that took them in are on their way up as we speak,” Archer said immediately.
“I’ll take the Captain, directly. I’ll let you handle the asylum request from your parents and siblings.”
“Yes, sir,” Ty Lee said immediately, at the same time thinking. This isn’t going to end well.
“Dismissed,” Archer said. A sly smile appeared on his face.“Oh,” he said, half mockingly, “sand you’ll make a better impression on them if you’re in uniform.”
Ty Lee nodded and ambled back into the turbolift.
------
