Star Trek: Cayuga
11 - ‘Stationary Lives’
By Jack Elmlinger
“I need a hand,” Aimee announced as her eyes darted around the room before they settled upon a small tree placed incongruously in the corner.
Sean rolled over in his bed, shielding his eyes from the light that spilled out into his quarters from the corridor. “What? Aimee, do you have any idea…?”
“What time is it? Yes, you have to be on duty in two hours.” She stepped inside and began rifling through his closest. “But I need help now.”
“What kind of help?,” he asked her as he freed himself from his bed sheets.
“Help help,” she said. “Isn’t that what friends do for each other?” She tossed a pile of clothes at him. “Hurry up already.”
Sean stumbled into his uniform and followed her into the corridor. Crouched next to an open Jefferies hatch was Crewman Fuller, clutching a wire cage. “Any luck?,” Aimee asked him as she squatted down next to him.
“No,” Fuller said in a quiet voice. “I’m sorry.”
“Trouble?,” Sean asked.
“Fuller’s vole got loose,” she explained to him,” and I was sitting here, working peacefully when the little rodent went roaring right past me and into the tube.”
“I’m really sorry,” the security officer said plaintively.
“Anyways, we need to pry the thing back out. I’ve locked down this section so it can’t run too far.” She crawled into the tube.
“Aimee, I’m not really in the mood for…” Sean said to her feet.
“Come on,” she interrupted him. “I don’t want that thing chewing through the ODN lines or breeding or something.” Sean sighed and crawled in after her. “Make sure to close the hatch behind you.”
They had crawled in silence for a few minutes when Aimee said,” So when did you start keeping shrubberries in your quarters?”
“Shrubbery?,” Sean repeated dumbly before understanding came to him. “It’s not shrubbery. It’s a Christmas tree. A small one and do you know how hard it is to get a full-sized evergreen in Cardassian space?”
“Why do you need one in the first place?,” she asked him as she twisted around a corner.
“It’s a tradition. A celebration of my faith.” Sean rounded the corner to see that she was much farther ahead of him.
“Your faith in trees?”
“It’s a symbol of the immortality of God and the hope that we can also achieve everlasting life.”
“I have my own hope for everlasting life,” revealed the Chief Engineer, glad that he couldn’t see her grin. “It involves eating well, exercising regularly, and avoiding Commander zh’Tali.” She regarded the narrow Jefferies tube stretched before her. “You know, I’m not getting paid enough for this.”
“We’ve had this conversation already,” Sean said, anger slipping into his voice. “You’re not getting paid at all.”
“You’re right!,” she exclaimed with astonishment. “I should write a letter. I should write several -- “
“I thought that we were supposed to respect other people’s beliefs, Aimee.”
“Oh, I respect them all right, but that just seems silly,” she replied and then pointed. “There’s the vole! I’m going to strangle Fuller with that thing!”
“I don’t see what’s so silly about it. My faith has helped me through a lot of tight spots and I’m serious about it.”
“And I’m serious about catching that damned vole! Come on, I think we’ve got it cornered.”
* * * * * * * * * * * *
“We can get the rest tomorrow,” Tetsuko Torushaga said as the last of the antimatter pods were ferried through the Patseyev’s engine room. “Unless you want to do another run today?”
Sean forced his eyes open. “Over to the Cayuga, back here and over there again? No, thank you. Nice to fly something different once in a while, though.”
“Need help finding the shuttle bay again?,” the Patseyev’s chief engineer asked him.
“Actually, I was going to stay aboard for a while,” the pilot answered him with a smile. “I’m sure that I’ll be able to find it later.”
He left the Patseyev’s cramped engine room in favor of her cramped corridors. The ship had been built long before the Cayuga but there were some subtle differences between a Saber class light cruiser and an Excelsior class battleship. A hit of blue where the Cayuga had silver, corners that turned less sharply and a ceiling that seemed even higher. Sean wandered around aimlessly for twenty minutes before an idea came to him.
“Computer, locate Ensign Tracy Royal.”
“Ensign Royal is in her quarters.”
“And where is that?,” he asked with a grin
Minutes later, and Royal opened the door to her quarters. “Lieutenant,” she said with a slight smile,” what brings you here?”
He swallowed at the sight of her long red hair, freed from its braids and flowing over the curves of her shoulders. His gaze swept down the rest of her body before he belatedly croaked,” I’m off-duty?” He forced a cough. “I was hoping that you’d call me Sean.”
“Sean,” Tracy agreed as she stepped aside.
He sat down carefully at her desk. “I just brought over a load of antimatter from the Cayuga,” he said to find in the silence,” and I didn’t feel like going home yet.”
“You’re more than welcome here,” Tracy assured him, sitting gracefully on her bed.
As her gaze on him intensified, Sean glanced anxiously around the room before finally fixing his eyes on the flash of gold hanging by the bathroom door. “Is that a cross?,” he asked her.
She followed his gaze to the necklace. “An heirloom. It’s the only tangible memory that I have of my father.”
Sean nodded, missing the sorrow that shuffled through her eyes. “I had a heck of a time finding an evergreen for Christmas. The Cardassians don’t terraform environments where they can grow.”
“You mean a tree?”
“Malstrom to Royal.”
Frowning, Tracy crossed over to the dresser and she dug into it for a second before coming up with her combadge. “Go ahead, Kimberly.”
“Are you up for poker tonight? I’ve got Laker and Doctor Mohammed but we need a fourth.”
Tracy shook her head. “Not tonight. Why don’t you ask Torushaga or Martinez?”
“Torushaga wins too often. Catch you later.”
Sean watched her return to the bed. “You didn’t use your console,” he observed, gesturing behind him.
“Oh,” she said, waving dismissively at it. “That thing hasn’t worked in months. It’s just some wiring gone bad or something. I haven’t had time to repair it.”
“You shouldn’t have to do that. Why don’t I take care of it for you?”
Tracy’s eyebrows rose just slightly. “That would be kind of you.”
Sean smiled.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
“Go away!,” Aimee bellowed.
“Do you know what time it is?,” Sean asked brightly as he leaned over her bed.
Blearily, she twisted in her sheets and sat up. “Looks like it’s half past… oh, forget it.” She rolled out of bed and Sean quickly turned away. “What?,” she demanded as he studiously watched the wall. “Oh.” She looked down. “Oh, fine.” She pulled on a robe and scowled at him. “How the hell did you expect me to be dressed?”
“I just got back from the Patseyev,” he said, perching himself on her desk.
“Damn, I was hoping you’d gotten lost.” Aimee pushed her hair out of her eyes. “You left thirteen hours ago. What took you so long?”
Sean grinned at her. “I ran into Tracy Royal and chatted with her for a bit. Fixed her console.”
“Is that a euphemism?”
“What?”
“For the sex that you obviously went to have with her.”
“It’s not like that,” he insisted before sighing. “I can’t help myself, Aimee. I’m,” -- his hands gestured impotently -- ,” fascinated by the woman. Her poise, her manner… I’m awestruck.”
“Okay, fine” Aimee rubbed her forehead. “Look, I know that the woman’s attractive and maybe you had a decent conversation. But what about Alice?”
“What about her?”
“Don’t you two have a puppy love thing going on? Isn’t Royal going to get in the way of that?”
“I told you that I’m not acting inappropriately towards Tracy.”
“Do you think that Alice would agree with that?”
Sean stood up from the desk chair. “I’m not you,” he spat back at her. “I’m not going to get bored with Alice and then drop her.”
Aimee shook her head and crawled back into bed. “It sounds like you already have.”
* * * * * * * * * * * *
A lack of sleep made flying very difficult, Sean reflected. He forced his tired eyes to focus on the Patseyev’s shuttle doors. He was met in the bay by Commander Torushaga and Ensign Royal.
“Give Captain Pozach our thanks,” the engineer said.
“It’s nothing,” he yawned while carefully affixing antigravity units to the blue antimatter containers. Patseyev engineers began to cautiously remove them and in a few minutes, he and Tracy were alone in the shuttle bay.
“Have you eaten lunch yet?,” she asked him.
“No, actually.” Tracy motioned him towards the door and she led the way to the turbolift. They traveled in silence with Sean anxiously examining every aspect of the turbolift while she waited sedately.
The Patseyev’s Mess Hall was similar to the Cayuga’s Mess Hall, only it was slightly larger and missing the piano. Sean found a table while Tracy ordered their food from the bank of replicators sitting against one wall. “I’m still getting used to smaller ships than these older ships,” he told her. “My last posting was aboard the Venture which has a lot more legroom.”
“Galaxy class?,” she asked him as she arranged her salad.
Sean nodded at her. “Flying the Cayuga is nothing like the Venture. Back then, I didn’t make maneuvers as much as slow turns.”
“I know what you mean. I was assigned to the Lexington out of the Academy. The Nebula class is every bit as sluggish as the Galaxy class.”
“You started out aboard the Lexington?,” he asked her incredulously. “I spent a year and a half, bouncing around different assignments before I settled on the Venture.” He shook his head. “Man, it’s too bad that you ruined it.”
Tracy’s fork slowed inches above her plate. The polite smile was gone. “Excuse me?”
“You had a great career ahead of you,” Sean continued blithely. “I mean, you were assigned to a major starship right out of the Academy. Then you wasted all of that potential with the Maquis.”
“My time with the Maquis was hardly a ‘waste’, Lieutenant,” Royal said coldly. “I found a way to free my home.”
“Oh, yeah, I’ve been really impressed by the Maquis commitment to high morality,” he returned with a little bit of sarcasm. “Stealing medical supplies, hijacking Federation starships, poisoning a planet, and let’s not forget wiping out the entire Laiat Prime colony.”
“I cannot defend the actions of all Maquis.”
“Of course, you can’t.”
“But I did what I thought that I had to do,” she finished. “You find murder objectionable, Lieutenant? The crew complement of a Galor class warship is over five hundred. How many of those lives have you helped to destroy?”
“That was during the war.”
“Yes… yes, it was.”
Her stare bored into him and Pasko shifted under it. “I’ve got to get back to the Cayuga,” he muttered, walking away to the door before he paused to glance over his shoulder. From Royal’s quietly enraged expression, he knew that they would share no more lunches. The realization only brought him relief.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The blinking console grabbed Sean’s attention the moment that he walked into his quarters and he raced towards it. Almost missing the seat as he sat down, he pawed at the activation pad. The Federation emblem appeared for a moment before it disappeared.
“Aaron! Aaron, knock it off!,” Alice’s voice bubbled up from the console. “Sayvok, can you read him a poem or something?” Laughter rose up from behind her and she turned to face the screen. “Hi, Sean. I’m sorry that I haven’t written in so long but we’ve been busy here. I got assigned to the Jovian run! I got my very own shuttle and I’ve learned how to fly by gesturing emphatically.” She laughed, leaning back in her chair.
“I got to see my brothers and my parents,” she continued. “They’re done, being mad at me for joining Starfleet and I think they’re just happy that I’m alive. And they’re proud of me.” Alice preened for a moment before she became more serious. “They'd really like to meet you too. I told them that the Cayuga is a long ways away but I thought that maybe if you got some shore leave, we could…” Her voice trailed off and Sean felt his heart go through contortions, contracting at the sorrow on her face and expanding because he knew that she missed him.
“Sam says that he’s had Doc Moru’s dad for requisite Understanding the Dominion class. Isn’t that weird?” She paused for a moment and then confessed. “I’m going to drop in on him tomorrow, just to say hello.” Alice glanced furtively left and right before she planted a kiss on the monitor. “Soon, Joe, soon.”
Sean Pasko stared at the screen long enough after her image disappeared, then lying down to sleep. He dreamed that she was with him during the entire sleep cycle.
The End...
11 - ‘Stationary Lives’
By Jack Elmlinger
“I need a hand,” Aimee announced as her eyes darted around the room before they settled upon a small tree placed incongruously in the corner.
Sean rolled over in his bed, shielding his eyes from the light that spilled out into his quarters from the corridor. “What? Aimee, do you have any idea…?”
“What time is it? Yes, you have to be on duty in two hours.” She stepped inside and began rifling through his closest. “But I need help now.”
“What kind of help?,” he asked her as he freed himself from his bed sheets.
“Help help,” she said. “Isn’t that what friends do for each other?” She tossed a pile of clothes at him. “Hurry up already.”
Sean stumbled into his uniform and followed her into the corridor. Crouched next to an open Jefferies hatch was Crewman Fuller, clutching a wire cage. “Any luck?,” Aimee asked him as she squatted down next to him.
“No,” Fuller said in a quiet voice. “I’m sorry.”
“Trouble?,” Sean asked.
“Fuller’s vole got loose,” she explained to him,” and I was sitting here, working peacefully when the little rodent went roaring right past me and into the tube.”
“I’m really sorry,” the security officer said plaintively.
“Anyways, we need to pry the thing back out. I’ve locked down this section so it can’t run too far.” She crawled into the tube.
“Aimee, I’m not really in the mood for…” Sean said to her feet.
“Come on,” she interrupted him. “I don’t want that thing chewing through the ODN lines or breeding or something.” Sean sighed and crawled in after her. “Make sure to close the hatch behind you.”
They had crawled in silence for a few minutes when Aimee said,” So when did you start keeping shrubberries in your quarters?”
“Shrubbery?,” Sean repeated dumbly before understanding came to him. “It’s not shrubbery. It’s a Christmas tree. A small one and do you know how hard it is to get a full-sized evergreen in Cardassian space?”
“Why do you need one in the first place?,” she asked him as she twisted around a corner.
“It’s a tradition. A celebration of my faith.” Sean rounded the corner to see that she was much farther ahead of him.
“Your faith in trees?”
“It’s a symbol of the immortality of God and the hope that we can also achieve everlasting life.”
“I have my own hope for everlasting life,” revealed the Chief Engineer, glad that he couldn’t see her grin. “It involves eating well, exercising regularly, and avoiding Commander zh’Tali.” She regarded the narrow Jefferies tube stretched before her. “You know, I’m not getting paid enough for this.”
“We’ve had this conversation already,” Sean said, anger slipping into his voice. “You’re not getting paid at all.”
“You’re right!,” she exclaimed with astonishment. “I should write a letter. I should write several -- “
“I thought that we were supposed to respect other people’s beliefs, Aimee.”
“Oh, I respect them all right, but that just seems silly,” she replied and then pointed. “There’s the vole! I’m going to strangle Fuller with that thing!”
“I don’t see what’s so silly about it. My faith has helped me through a lot of tight spots and I’m serious about it.”
“And I’m serious about catching that damned vole! Come on, I think we’ve got it cornered.”
* * * * * * * * * * * *
“We can get the rest tomorrow,” Tetsuko Torushaga said as the last of the antimatter pods were ferried through the Patseyev’s engine room. “Unless you want to do another run today?”
Sean forced his eyes open. “Over to the Cayuga, back here and over there again? No, thank you. Nice to fly something different once in a while, though.”
“Need help finding the shuttle bay again?,” the Patseyev’s chief engineer asked him.
“Actually, I was going to stay aboard for a while,” the pilot answered him with a smile. “I’m sure that I’ll be able to find it later.”
He left the Patseyev’s cramped engine room in favor of her cramped corridors. The ship had been built long before the Cayuga but there were some subtle differences between a Saber class light cruiser and an Excelsior class battleship. A hit of blue where the Cayuga had silver, corners that turned less sharply and a ceiling that seemed even higher. Sean wandered around aimlessly for twenty minutes before an idea came to him.
“Computer, locate Ensign Tracy Royal.”
“Ensign Royal is in her quarters.”
“And where is that?,” he asked with a grin
Minutes later, and Royal opened the door to her quarters. “Lieutenant,” she said with a slight smile,” what brings you here?”
He swallowed at the sight of her long red hair, freed from its braids and flowing over the curves of her shoulders. His gaze swept down the rest of her body before he belatedly croaked,” I’m off-duty?” He forced a cough. “I was hoping that you’d call me Sean.”
“Sean,” Tracy agreed as she stepped aside.
He sat down carefully at her desk. “I just brought over a load of antimatter from the Cayuga,” he said to find in the silence,” and I didn’t feel like going home yet.”
“You’re more than welcome here,” Tracy assured him, sitting gracefully on her bed.
As her gaze on him intensified, Sean glanced anxiously around the room before finally fixing his eyes on the flash of gold hanging by the bathroom door. “Is that a cross?,” he asked her.
She followed his gaze to the necklace. “An heirloom. It’s the only tangible memory that I have of my father.”
Sean nodded, missing the sorrow that shuffled through her eyes. “I had a heck of a time finding an evergreen for Christmas. The Cardassians don’t terraform environments where they can grow.”
“You mean a tree?”
“Malstrom to Royal.”
Frowning, Tracy crossed over to the dresser and she dug into it for a second before coming up with her combadge. “Go ahead, Kimberly.”
“Are you up for poker tonight? I’ve got Laker and Doctor Mohammed but we need a fourth.”
Tracy shook her head. “Not tonight. Why don’t you ask Torushaga or Martinez?”
“Torushaga wins too often. Catch you later.”
Sean watched her return to the bed. “You didn’t use your console,” he observed, gesturing behind him.
“Oh,” she said, waving dismissively at it. “That thing hasn’t worked in months. It’s just some wiring gone bad or something. I haven’t had time to repair it.”
“You shouldn’t have to do that. Why don’t I take care of it for you?”
Tracy’s eyebrows rose just slightly. “That would be kind of you.”
Sean smiled.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
“Go away!,” Aimee bellowed.
“Do you know what time it is?,” Sean asked brightly as he leaned over her bed.
Blearily, she twisted in her sheets and sat up. “Looks like it’s half past… oh, forget it.” She rolled out of bed and Sean quickly turned away. “What?,” she demanded as he studiously watched the wall. “Oh.” She looked down. “Oh, fine.” She pulled on a robe and scowled at him. “How the hell did you expect me to be dressed?”
“I just got back from the Patseyev,” he said, perching himself on her desk.
“Damn, I was hoping you’d gotten lost.” Aimee pushed her hair out of her eyes. “You left thirteen hours ago. What took you so long?”
Sean grinned at her. “I ran into Tracy Royal and chatted with her for a bit. Fixed her console.”
“Is that a euphemism?”
“What?”
“For the sex that you obviously went to have with her.”
“It’s not like that,” he insisted before sighing. “I can’t help myself, Aimee. I’m,” -- his hands gestured impotently -- ,” fascinated by the woman. Her poise, her manner… I’m awestruck.”
“Okay, fine” Aimee rubbed her forehead. “Look, I know that the woman’s attractive and maybe you had a decent conversation. But what about Alice?”
“What about her?”
“Don’t you two have a puppy love thing going on? Isn’t Royal going to get in the way of that?”
“I told you that I’m not acting inappropriately towards Tracy.”
“Do you think that Alice would agree with that?”
Sean stood up from the desk chair. “I’m not you,” he spat back at her. “I’m not going to get bored with Alice and then drop her.”
Aimee shook her head and crawled back into bed. “It sounds like you already have.”
* * * * * * * * * * * *
A lack of sleep made flying very difficult, Sean reflected. He forced his tired eyes to focus on the Patseyev’s shuttle doors. He was met in the bay by Commander Torushaga and Ensign Royal.
“Give Captain Pozach our thanks,” the engineer said.
“It’s nothing,” he yawned while carefully affixing antigravity units to the blue antimatter containers. Patseyev engineers began to cautiously remove them and in a few minutes, he and Tracy were alone in the shuttle bay.
“Have you eaten lunch yet?,” she asked him.
“No, actually.” Tracy motioned him towards the door and she led the way to the turbolift. They traveled in silence with Sean anxiously examining every aspect of the turbolift while she waited sedately.
The Patseyev’s Mess Hall was similar to the Cayuga’s Mess Hall, only it was slightly larger and missing the piano. Sean found a table while Tracy ordered their food from the bank of replicators sitting against one wall. “I’m still getting used to smaller ships than these older ships,” he told her. “My last posting was aboard the Venture which has a lot more legroom.”
“Galaxy class?,” she asked him as she arranged her salad.
Sean nodded at her. “Flying the Cayuga is nothing like the Venture. Back then, I didn’t make maneuvers as much as slow turns.”
“I know what you mean. I was assigned to the Lexington out of the Academy. The Nebula class is every bit as sluggish as the Galaxy class.”
“You started out aboard the Lexington?,” he asked her incredulously. “I spent a year and a half, bouncing around different assignments before I settled on the Venture.” He shook his head. “Man, it’s too bad that you ruined it.”
Tracy’s fork slowed inches above her plate. The polite smile was gone. “Excuse me?”
“You had a great career ahead of you,” Sean continued blithely. “I mean, you were assigned to a major starship right out of the Academy. Then you wasted all of that potential with the Maquis.”
“My time with the Maquis was hardly a ‘waste’, Lieutenant,” Royal said coldly. “I found a way to free my home.”
“Oh, yeah, I’ve been really impressed by the Maquis commitment to high morality,” he returned with a little bit of sarcasm. “Stealing medical supplies, hijacking Federation starships, poisoning a planet, and let’s not forget wiping out the entire Laiat Prime colony.”
“I cannot defend the actions of all Maquis.”
“Of course, you can’t.”
“But I did what I thought that I had to do,” she finished. “You find murder objectionable, Lieutenant? The crew complement of a Galor class warship is over five hundred. How many of those lives have you helped to destroy?”
“That was during the war.”
“Yes… yes, it was.”
Her stare bored into him and Pasko shifted under it. “I’ve got to get back to the Cayuga,” he muttered, walking away to the door before he paused to glance over his shoulder. From Royal’s quietly enraged expression, he knew that they would share no more lunches. The realization only brought him relief.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The blinking console grabbed Sean’s attention the moment that he walked into his quarters and he raced towards it. Almost missing the seat as he sat down, he pawed at the activation pad. The Federation emblem appeared for a moment before it disappeared.
“Aaron! Aaron, knock it off!,” Alice’s voice bubbled up from the console. “Sayvok, can you read him a poem or something?” Laughter rose up from behind her and she turned to face the screen. “Hi, Sean. I’m sorry that I haven’t written in so long but we’ve been busy here. I got assigned to the Jovian run! I got my very own shuttle and I’ve learned how to fly by gesturing emphatically.” She laughed, leaning back in her chair.
“I got to see my brothers and my parents,” she continued. “They’re done, being mad at me for joining Starfleet and I think they’re just happy that I’m alive. And they’re proud of me.” Alice preened for a moment before she became more serious. “They'd really like to meet you too. I told them that the Cayuga is a long ways away but I thought that maybe if you got some shore leave, we could…” Her voice trailed off and Sean felt his heart go through contortions, contracting at the sorrow on her face and expanding because he knew that she missed him.
“Sam says that he’s had Doc Moru’s dad for requisite Understanding the Dominion class. Isn’t that weird?” She paused for a moment and then confessed. “I’m going to drop in on him tomorrow, just to say hello.” Alice glanced furtively left and right before she planted a kiss on the monitor. “Soon, Joe, soon.”
Sean Pasko stared at the screen long enough after her image disappeared, then lying down to sleep. He dreamed that she was with him during the entire sleep cycle.
The End...
