Hello, everyone.
I wrote this story over eight years ago when I was involved with Star Trek: Citadel which was an original fan fiction collaboration. It was broken up and used for a story by the series' main author. We've broken contact since 2016 because of his political leanings. I won't go into that. Suffice it to say, I have dug up this old story and I've rewritten it. I don't know if it's the beginning of something new. I just needed something to get me out of my depression spiral.
Anyways, here it is. Please read and comment.
Thank you.
Star Trek: Espero
‘The Return of Hope’
By Jack D. Elmlinger
The loading of the supplies seemed to take longer than expected as Anax watched them being beamed about the Espero. A team of enlisted crew members hauled them away on anti-gravity carts to their assigned places. The little Defiant-class starship had finished with her repairs after a recent battle and she was preparing to leave Starbase Whiskey-Bravo. The Edoan Lieutenant was a new addition to the crew and he had big shoes to fill as the Chief Tactical Officer.
Behind him, the Cargo Bay doors opened and closed. Turning around, he didn’t see anyone there until he looked down and saw a green-skinned Roylan looking back at him with their eyestalks. With Captain’s gold pips on her crimson collar, she walked up to the console that he was standing behind him, taking a look at the cargo container before turning her attention towards him.
“Will the cargo loading be finished soon?,” she asked him with a kind look on her face.
Looking down at the PADD in the hand of his middle arm, Anax consulted it before he gave her an answer. Along with the regular supplies that were needed to run the ship, they would also be carrying additional supplies for a new installation on Naydeer. It was a Forward Operating Outpost set up to safeguard the lives of miners at dilithium and topaline facilities.
He nodded his orange head at her. “We should be done with this in another hour or so.”
“Good. I’d like to be under way soon.” This was their first meeting since he had reported aboard to Lieutenant Commander Andrew Murray, the First Officer, seven days ago. “I prefer being out in space, instead of docked to a station.”
“I never liked spending time around starbases much either. Give me a working replicator, a phaser, and the open road,” he said, agreeing with her. “Life can’t get any better than that.”
“You could be stranded for six days in an escape pod.”
Espero’s Captain became quiet after she said that. The Edoan was definitely a man after her own hearts. She had joined Starfleet, thirty years ago as an enlisted person because she felt that she had a destiny to explore the Galaxy like Humans did. She had only been promoted to the officer ranks when war had broken out between the Federation and the Dominion. Later on, her ship, the Athabaskan where she served as a junior-grade Lieutenant, had been lost at the Battle of Tyra.
“Ma’am?”
“Never mind. Carry on, Lieutenant,” she said before she turned back towards the door and gave him a final look. “When it’s convenient for you, you should join Mister Murray and I for dinner.”
“Dinner… uh…”
“Stand easy, Once a week, all of the ship’s officers dine together,” she assured him. “Tonight? In the Canteen at 1800 hours?”
“Um, uh, yes, yes, ma’am,” Anax said, surprised by the invitation.
* * * *
“Have you met the new guy yet, Skipper?,” Lieutenant Commander Andrew Murray asked his Captain once he saw her leave the Cargo Bay. He crossed over from an adjacent corridor and walked towards her. He was a tall man with short dark hair.
“I just left the Cargo Bay.”
“Did you invite him to dinner?”
“You’re surprised?”
“Not really. Captain Derajan used to do that,” he said, reminding her of his previous Commanding Officer. Before she had assumed command of the Espero, they had met aboard the USS Hindustan after the Athabaskan’s destruction at the hands of the Jem’Hadar. Despite the tragedy of her loss, they had become good friends over the last six years. In fact, Ikar had been in the middle of her officer qualification courses when they met. He had been a young Ensign that she had easily taken under her wing.
“He wasn’t a bad model.”
“Bridge to the Captain,” the voice of Ensign Meir sounded over her combadge. Like many members of the crew, the J’Naii was a new crew addition who had just graduated from Starfleet Academy. The Espero was her first assignment.
“This is Ikar.”
“Ma’am, Admiral Mernon is asking to speak with you.”
“I’ll take it in my Ready Room.”
Murray raised an eyebrow as she tapped her combadge again to sever the connection with the Bridge. “What do you think he might have in store for us?”
“Knowing Admirals as I do, it’s probably trouble.”
* * * *
The transporter beam dissipated around Ensigns Derrick Lake and Kor lasch Gelek after they materialized aboard the Espero. As small as the ship looked on the outside, the Defiant-class vessel looked like it was bigger on the inside to the Human. This was his first time aboard such a ship and he looked around the small Transporter Bay to see a tall, brown-haired man standing behind the transporter controls.
“Welcome aboard the Espero,” the man wearing Lieutenant Commander’s pips on his red collar said while he stepped away from the controls. “I’m Andrew Murray, the First Officer.”
“Ensign Derrick Lake, reporting aboard for duty, sir,” Lake spit out, jumping to attention. He was visibly nervous in front of the First Officer.
The Tellarite standing beside him frowned deeply and sniffed the air around him. “This ship smells worse than a garbage scowl full of targ droppings,” he growled, snarling at his superior officer.
“This ship smells better than you did after your last bath, Mister Gelek.”
Gelek stepped down from the transporter pad and moved in close to the Lieutenant. “And you look like a partially-digested piece of gagh served with a side order of Denebian shell mouths that puked up an Orion sex worker.”
“Why, thank you,” Murray said, fake-gushing from the compliment. He looked down, straightening his sleeves. “You sure know how to make a guy blush, Ensign. Thankfully, I’m married.”
Gelek growled again. “Permission to come aboard?”
“Granted. Welcome aboard, gentlemen.”
“It’ll be a pleasure once I get my hands on the controls.”
“The controls?,” Lake asked him.
“The helm controls, you noodle knocker!,” Gelek shouted at him. “I’m a frakking pilot!”
“You’ll report to Lieutenant Neff for your cabin assignments and you’ll report for duty at 1800 hours, guys,” Murray told them while he held out two PADDs that he took off of a shelf near the transporter console. “Here’s a copy of the duty roster, a map of the ship, and any other orientation information that you’ll need.”
“Where’s the Medical Bay?,” Lake asked him after Gelek left him alone in the Transporter Bay with the Lieutenant Commander.
“I’ll show you,” he said, leading him out of the room.
* * * *
Captain Ikar walked into her Ready Room and she was surprised by a bouquet of Argelian red roses sitting in a vase on her desk. Inhaling the sweet essence of the decapitated plant life, she looked for a card and she didn’t find one. The gesture in itself was sweet but it was still a mystery. The rose bouquets had started appearing on her desk since their arrival at Starbase Whiskey-Bravo. At first, she thought that they came from an Espero crew member with a crush on her or a member of the Starbase crew. It was impossible. There weren’t too many non-Roylan species in the known Galaxy that wanted to mate with her.
The Espero’s Captain also didn’t think that it could be a member of her own species because of three reasons. The first reason was that she hadn’t been back home since she had left Royla to enlist in Starfleet. The second reason was that there weren’t many Roylans in Starfleet. And the third reason was that she didn’t really know any of them.
Not even the infamous Admiral Tattok or Captain Weynik of the Starsong.
“It’s a mystery wrapped in a conundrum,” she whispered to herself before she sat down behind her desk. The Roylan woman put her personal thoughts aside for the moment and turned her monitor on. Admiral Mernon, a Benzite, appeared on the small screen, one second after the Federation logo appeared and disappeared.
“Captain Ikar, how’re things on the Espero?”
“As well as it can be, sir. We’re proceeding on schedule and we should be departing at 0700 hours tomorrow,” she told him, picking a PADD up from her desktop.
“Good. All that you have to do is deliver your supplies to Naydeer and await instructions about your next assignment. Of course, you’ll remember to keep an eye out for any Tzenkethi ships.” The Tzenkethi, a former formidable foe of Starfleet, was rearing its head up again and looking with thoughts of expansion towards Federation space.
“I understand your concerns, Admiral. Naydeer is close to the Tzenkethi border.” Ikar nodded with understanding. “It wouldn’t be unsurprising to engage them again. We stopped them at Naydeer before. We can stop them again.”
“If that kind of situation comes up, Starfleet will be looking into assigning more ships to this sector. According to Captain sh'Nahl, everything has been quiet out there.”
“There’s more to this than we think, isn’t there, sir?”
Mernon hesitated for a moment, taking a deep breath and exhaling it through his breathing mask. “Nothing that I can think of for now, Captain Ikar.”
“Then there’s nothing more to say, sir.”
Mernon’s frown couldn’t be seen but it was felt. “Good luck and have a safe journey. Mernon out.”
The Benzite Admiral’s image disappeared from the screen and Ikar rubbed her chin in deep thought. “Damn,” she breathed before she smacked the PADD down hard on the face of her desk. The concussion of her anger shook the desktop which sent the vase of roses crashing onto the floor below it.
* * * *
“Doctor, I have a patient for you,” Lieutenant Commander Murray said, addressing the Vulcan standing on the far side of the Medical Bay. His present task has involved the inventory of medical supplies. One of his senior medics was assisting him when the First Officer and Ensign Lake walked in.
Looking up from his PADD, Sovek stepped over to the biobed near them. “You are Lieutenant Lake?”
“Actually, it’s ‘Ensign’ now, Doctor…?”
“I am Sovek.”
The Espero’s Chief Medical Officer had once been a civilian medical practitioner and he had served aboard a Federation medical ship, the Samaritan during the war. After his son had been killed in action against the Jem’Hadar on MN-1274, he accepted a commission in Starfleet. He had come aboard the Espero with Captain Ikar.
“This is the guy that I talked to you yesterday about at lunch,” Andrew said, looking over his shoulder and pointing a thumb at Lake. “This is the guy who – “
“I am well aware of Ensign Lake’s history, Mister Murray. I have taken the time to review his records before his arrival,” Sovek said and the black man frowned at his arrogant tone. Though they had served together for close to three years, there were still moments of animosity between them. The Doctor couldn’t theorize why he displayed this kind of behavior towards him. He suspected that it was an inkling of a past life event that drove the cause of his moments of… emotionalism.
“Then see to his needs, Doctor,” Murray said, leaving the Medical Bay to return to his duties.
Seeing the First Officer leave, the Operations Officer became nervous again. It wasn’t often that he shared his personal problems with anyone. Not even a Counselor. However, with his particular problem, he required the services of a skilled physician. The man with the pointed ears switched his PADD for a medical tricorder that had been sitting on a nearby instrument tray.
“I guess you’re familiar with my medical history?,” Lake asked him.
“As I previously stated, I am,” he said. “According to your records, you abandoned your Starfleet commission in 2372 and you became a member of the Maquis movement. Before they were forcibly disbanded by the Jem’Hadar at the request of their Cardassian allies, you were on a mission to destroy a Cardassian biogenic weapons plant.”
“That sounds about right, Doctor.”
“The circumstances of the situation were reportedly disastrous. You were accidentally exposed to a genetically-modified strain of the Dystrum-B virus,” the Vulcan said, continuing his recitation from memory. He looked up from his tricorder which he had been using while they spoke and raised an eyebrow. “Your last physician, I believe, was treating your condition with injections of hallitene and inaprovaline?”
“That’s correct, Doctor. According to Starfleet Medical, they said that my exposure to the virus will take twenty years to cause me to lose complete autonomic control. I won’t be able to move, speak, or do much of anything except be a brain stuck inside of an empty shell.”
“As your malady has no known cure yet, why have you come to me, Ensign?”
“You’ve heard of the drug known as rosinstalis, right?”
“I have,” Sovek said, returning his tricorder to the instrument tray. He immediately recalled the article in a recent study by Doctor Beverly Crusher of the Enterprise. She had done some research on the Dystrum-B virus and its genetically-modified offshoots. She hypothesized that rosinstalis could remedy most of the effects of every viral strain on most humanoid species and make the victims capable members of galactic society.
“Then you understand what I’m asking you for.”
“If I were Human, I would be flattered by such a request. However, as a Vulcan and as a practicing medical physician within Starfleet, I am obliged to deny you such a treatment. Rosinstalis hasn’t been cleared for release by Starfleet Medical because of some of the possible side effects.”
“I’ve taken rosinstalis before, Doctor, when I was assigned to the Celestris during the war. I was under the Chief Medical Officer’s care, the whole time, and – “
“And you believed that with your transfer to the Espero, I would be sympathetic to your plight that I would give you what you needed to treat your condition?”
“I came to you because I want to continue being useful. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in a hospital bed!,” Ensign Lake shouted before he remembered himself. Holding up a hand, he spoke in a gentler tone. “Look, Doctor, I’m not some kind of addict. So if you feel that you need to, report me to Starfleet Medical.”
Sovek released a deep breath that he had been holding before he considered the younger man’s words. After taking the Vulcan equivalent of the Hippocratic Oath to ‘do no harm’ before he joined Starfleet, he had been a medical professional for over seventy years. Despite the circumstances, a request for medical intervention couldn’t be ignored.
“I can synthesize the drug,” he agreed. “However, I will only prescribe it when it is absolutely necessary. I shall also be closely monitoring your medical condition. There may be a possibility that I might be able to devise a cure or an antidote.”
“It sounds like you have a plan, Doctor.”
* * * *
“Good morning, Skipper,” Lieutenant Commander Murray greeted his Captain, the next morning when she walked onto the Bridge. He was standing behind Lieutenant Anax who was seated at the tactical console. “Did you sleep well, last night?”
“I started reading ‘The Compass Rose’,” the Roylan said, referring to a piece of twenty-first-century fantasy fiction that had been written by Gail Dayton. Both officers had enjoyed a shared interest in the genre.
“Good book?”
“So far, so good.” Moving to the center of the Bridge, she looked around. “Are we ready to get underway, Mister Murray?”
“As far as I know from the department heads. All personnel are aboard and all systems are online.”
Ikar nodded at him. “Mister Lake,” she said, looking at the young officer who was sitting at one of the portside consoles,” clear all moorings.”
“Aye, ma’am.”
“Port and starboard thrusters are resting at station-keeping, Captain,” Ensign Gelek announced from the helm station, anticipating Ikar’s next command.
“Lake,” Murray said,” request departure clearance from Operations.”
“Aye, sir,” the operations officer acknowledged the order, typing commands into his panel. He shared the same enthusiasm that the other Bridge members had for getting underway and back out into space.
“Ikar to Engineering.”
“Engineering, Nillen here,” responded the Espero’s Haliian Chief Engineer over the intercom. “Everything’s shipshape down here, Skipper.”
“Incredible,” Murray said, walking over to stand beside Ikar’s command chair. “She said that it would take her and the Starbase engineers six months to get the ship up and running again. Then she gets us operational again in only two months.”
“Did you crack the whip, Andrew?” Ikar shared his grin before her eyestalks moved to observe the work of her crew.
“Tarahni’s from the old Scott School of Engineering, Skipper. They love to set their repair estimates by a factor of two. Of course, the engineers from Whiskey-Bravo were a godsend.”
“I have Operations on audio, Captain,” Lake reported from Ops.
“Starbase Operations, this is Espero, request departure clearance,” the Espero’s Captain said, sitting down in her command chair. She liked this chair. It was comfortable.
“Espero, this is Whiskey-Bravo Operations,” a disembodied voice announced over the Bridge speakers. “You are cleared for departure. Please follow course nine-seven-three, mark two-one until you reach the outer markers of the defense zone.”
“Acknowledged. Espero out.” She nodded ahead to the Tellarite sitting at the helm. “Plot course and proceed, Mister Gelek. Maximum impulse.”
“I do know how to fly a starship,” the Tellarite answered her with sarcasm.
“Excuse me, Ensign?,” Murray shot back at him, ready to issue him a verbal warning.
“Yes, ma’am. Course and speed set.”
“Engage.”
I wrote this story over eight years ago when I was involved with Star Trek: Citadel which was an original fan fiction collaboration. It was broken up and used for a story by the series' main author. We've broken contact since 2016 because of his political leanings. I won't go into that. Suffice it to say, I have dug up this old story and I've rewritten it. I don't know if it's the beginning of something new. I just needed something to get me out of my depression spiral.
Anyways, here it is. Please read and comment.
Thank you.
Star Trek: Espero
‘The Return of Hope’
By Jack D. Elmlinger
The loading of the supplies seemed to take longer than expected as Anax watched them being beamed about the Espero. A team of enlisted crew members hauled them away on anti-gravity carts to their assigned places. The little Defiant-class starship had finished with her repairs after a recent battle and she was preparing to leave Starbase Whiskey-Bravo. The Edoan Lieutenant was a new addition to the crew and he had big shoes to fill as the Chief Tactical Officer.
Behind him, the Cargo Bay doors opened and closed. Turning around, he didn’t see anyone there until he looked down and saw a green-skinned Roylan looking back at him with their eyestalks. With Captain’s gold pips on her crimson collar, she walked up to the console that he was standing behind him, taking a look at the cargo container before turning her attention towards him.
“Will the cargo loading be finished soon?,” she asked him with a kind look on her face.
Looking down at the PADD in the hand of his middle arm, Anax consulted it before he gave her an answer. Along with the regular supplies that were needed to run the ship, they would also be carrying additional supplies for a new installation on Naydeer. It was a Forward Operating Outpost set up to safeguard the lives of miners at dilithium and topaline facilities.
He nodded his orange head at her. “We should be done with this in another hour or so.”
“Good. I’d like to be under way soon.” This was their first meeting since he had reported aboard to Lieutenant Commander Andrew Murray, the First Officer, seven days ago. “I prefer being out in space, instead of docked to a station.”
“I never liked spending time around starbases much either. Give me a working replicator, a phaser, and the open road,” he said, agreeing with her. “Life can’t get any better than that.”
“You could be stranded for six days in an escape pod.”
Espero’s Captain became quiet after she said that. The Edoan was definitely a man after her own hearts. She had joined Starfleet, thirty years ago as an enlisted person because she felt that she had a destiny to explore the Galaxy like Humans did. She had only been promoted to the officer ranks when war had broken out between the Federation and the Dominion. Later on, her ship, the Athabaskan where she served as a junior-grade Lieutenant, had been lost at the Battle of Tyra.
“Ma’am?”
“Never mind. Carry on, Lieutenant,” she said before she turned back towards the door and gave him a final look. “When it’s convenient for you, you should join Mister Murray and I for dinner.”
“Dinner… uh…”
“Stand easy, Once a week, all of the ship’s officers dine together,” she assured him. “Tonight? In the Canteen at 1800 hours?”
“Um, uh, yes, yes, ma’am,” Anax said, surprised by the invitation.
* * * *
“Have you met the new guy yet, Skipper?,” Lieutenant Commander Andrew Murray asked his Captain once he saw her leave the Cargo Bay. He crossed over from an adjacent corridor and walked towards her. He was a tall man with short dark hair.
“I just left the Cargo Bay.”
“Did you invite him to dinner?”
“You’re surprised?”
“Not really. Captain Derajan used to do that,” he said, reminding her of his previous Commanding Officer. Before she had assumed command of the Espero, they had met aboard the USS Hindustan after the Athabaskan’s destruction at the hands of the Jem’Hadar. Despite the tragedy of her loss, they had become good friends over the last six years. In fact, Ikar had been in the middle of her officer qualification courses when they met. He had been a young Ensign that she had easily taken under her wing.
“He wasn’t a bad model.”
“Bridge to the Captain,” the voice of Ensign Meir sounded over her combadge. Like many members of the crew, the J’Naii was a new crew addition who had just graduated from Starfleet Academy. The Espero was her first assignment.
“This is Ikar.”
“Ma’am, Admiral Mernon is asking to speak with you.”
“I’ll take it in my Ready Room.”
Murray raised an eyebrow as she tapped her combadge again to sever the connection with the Bridge. “What do you think he might have in store for us?”
“Knowing Admirals as I do, it’s probably trouble.”
* * * *
The transporter beam dissipated around Ensigns Derrick Lake and Kor lasch Gelek after they materialized aboard the Espero. As small as the ship looked on the outside, the Defiant-class vessel looked like it was bigger on the inside to the Human. This was his first time aboard such a ship and he looked around the small Transporter Bay to see a tall, brown-haired man standing behind the transporter controls.
“Welcome aboard the Espero,” the man wearing Lieutenant Commander’s pips on his red collar said while he stepped away from the controls. “I’m Andrew Murray, the First Officer.”
“Ensign Derrick Lake, reporting aboard for duty, sir,” Lake spit out, jumping to attention. He was visibly nervous in front of the First Officer.
The Tellarite standing beside him frowned deeply and sniffed the air around him. “This ship smells worse than a garbage scowl full of targ droppings,” he growled, snarling at his superior officer.
“This ship smells better than you did after your last bath, Mister Gelek.”
Gelek stepped down from the transporter pad and moved in close to the Lieutenant. “And you look like a partially-digested piece of gagh served with a side order of Denebian shell mouths that puked up an Orion sex worker.”
“Why, thank you,” Murray said, fake-gushing from the compliment. He looked down, straightening his sleeves. “You sure know how to make a guy blush, Ensign. Thankfully, I’m married.”
Gelek growled again. “Permission to come aboard?”
“Granted. Welcome aboard, gentlemen.”
“It’ll be a pleasure once I get my hands on the controls.”
“The controls?,” Lake asked him.
“The helm controls, you noodle knocker!,” Gelek shouted at him. “I’m a frakking pilot!”
“You’ll report to Lieutenant Neff for your cabin assignments and you’ll report for duty at 1800 hours, guys,” Murray told them while he held out two PADDs that he took off of a shelf near the transporter console. “Here’s a copy of the duty roster, a map of the ship, and any other orientation information that you’ll need.”
“Where’s the Medical Bay?,” Lake asked him after Gelek left him alone in the Transporter Bay with the Lieutenant Commander.
“I’ll show you,” he said, leading him out of the room.
* * * *
Captain Ikar walked into her Ready Room and she was surprised by a bouquet of Argelian red roses sitting in a vase on her desk. Inhaling the sweet essence of the decapitated plant life, she looked for a card and she didn’t find one. The gesture in itself was sweet but it was still a mystery. The rose bouquets had started appearing on her desk since their arrival at Starbase Whiskey-Bravo. At first, she thought that they came from an Espero crew member with a crush on her or a member of the Starbase crew. It was impossible. There weren’t too many non-Roylan species in the known Galaxy that wanted to mate with her.
The Espero’s Captain also didn’t think that it could be a member of her own species because of three reasons. The first reason was that she hadn’t been back home since she had left Royla to enlist in Starfleet. The second reason was that there weren’t many Roylans in Starfleet. And the third reason was that she didn’t really know any of them.
Not even the infamous Admiral Tattok or Captain Weynik of the Starsong.
“It’s a mystery wrapped in a conundrum,” she whispered to herself before she sat down behind her desk. The Roylan woman put her personal thoughts aside for the moment and turned her monitor on. Admiral Mernon, a Benzite, appeared on the small screen, one second after the Federation logo appeared and disappeared.
“Captain Ikar, how’re things on the Espero?”
“As well as it can be, sir. We’re proceeding on schedule and we should be departing at 0700 hours tomorrow,” she told him, picking a PADD up from her desktop.
“Good. All that you have to do is deliver your supplies to Naydeer and await instructions about your next assignment. Of course, you’ll remember to keep an eye out for any Tzenkethi ships.” The Tzenkethi, a former formidable foe of Starfleet, was rearing its head up again and looking with thoughts of expansion towards Federation space.
“I understand your concerns, Admiral. Naydeer is close to the Tzenkethi border.” Ikar nodded with understanding. “It wouldn’t be unsurprising to engage them again. We stopped them at Naydeer before. We can stop them again.”
“If that kind of situation comes up, Starfleet will be looking into assigning more ships to this sector. According to Captain sh'Nahl, everything has been quiet out there.”
“There’s more to this than we think, isn’t there, sir?”
Mernon hesitated for a moment, taking a deep breath and exhaling it through his breathing mask. “Nothing that I can think of for now, Captain Ikar.”
“Then there’s nothing more to say, sir.”
Mernon’s frown couldn’t be seen but it was felt. “Good luck and have a safe journey. Mernon out.”
The Benzite Admiral’s image disappeared from the screen and Ikar rubbed her chin in deep thought. “Damn,” she breathed before she smacked the PADD down hard on the face of her desk. The concussion of her anger shook the desktop which sent the vase of roses crashing onto the floor below it.
* * * *
“Doctor, I have a patient for you,” Lieutenant Commander Murray said, addressing the Vulcan standing on the far side of the Medical Bay. His present task has involved the inventory of medical supplies. One of his senior medics was assisting him when the First Officer and Ensign Lake walked in.
Looking up from his PADD, Sovek stepped over to the biobed near them. “You are Lieutenant Lake?”
“Actually, it’s ‘Ensign’ now, Doctor…?”
“I am Sovek.”
The Espero’s Chief Medical Officer had once been a civilian medical practitioner and he had served aboard a Federation medical ship, the Samaritan during the war. After his son had been killed in action against the Jem’Hadar on MN-1274, he accepted a commission in Starfleet. He had come aboard the Espero with Captain Ikar.
“This is the guy that I talked to you yesterday about at lunch,” Andrew said, looking over his shoulder and pointing a thumb at Lake. “This is the guy who – “
“I am well aware of Ensign Lake’s history, Mister Murray. I have taken the time to review his records before his arrival,” Sovek said and the black man frowned at his arrogant tone. Though they had served together for close to three years, there were still moments of animosity between them. The Doctor couldn’t theorize why he displayed this kind of behavior towards him. He suspected that it was an inkling of a past life event that drove the cause of his moments of… emotionalism.
“Then see to his needs, Doctor,” Murray said, leaving the Medical Bay to return to his duties.
Seeing the First Officer leave, the Operations Officer became nervous again. It wasn’t often that he shared his personal problems with anyone. Not even a Counselor. However, with his particular problem, he required the services of a skilled physician. The man with the pointed ears switched his PADD for a medical tricorder that had been sitting on a nearby instrument tray.
“I guess you’re familiar with my medical history?,” Lake asked him.
“As I previously stated, I am,” he said. “According to your records, you abandoned your Starfleet commission in 2372 and you became a member of the Maquis movement. Before they were forcibly disbanded by the Jem’Hadar at the request of their Cardassian allies, you were on a mission to destroy a Cardassian biogenic weapons plant.”
“That sounds about right, Doctor.”
“The circumstances of the situation were reportedly disastrous. You were accidentally exposed to a genetically-modified strain of the Dystrum-B virus,” the Vulcan said, continuing his recitation from memory. He looked up from his tricorder which he had been using while they spoke and raised an eyebrow. “Your last physician, I believe, was treating your condition with injections of hallitene and inaprovaline?”
“That’s correct, Doctor. According to Starfleet Medical, they said that my exposure to the virus will take twenty years to cause me to lose complete autonomic control. I won’t be able to move, speak, or do much of anything except be a brain stuck inside of an empty shell.”
“As your malady has no known cure yet, why have you come to me, Ensign?”
“You’ve heard of the drug known as rosinstalis, right?”
“I have,” Sovek said, returning his tricorder to the instrument tray. He immediately recalled the article in a recent study by Doctor Beverly Crusher of the Enterprise. She had done some research on the Dystrum-B virus and its genetically-modified offshoots. She hypothesized that rosinstalis could remedy most of the effects of every viral strain on most humanoid species and make the victims capable members of galactic society.
“Then you understand what I’m asking you for.”
“If I were Human, I would be flattered by such a request. However, as a Vulcan and as a practicing medical physician within Starfleet, I am obliged to deny you such a treatment. Rosinstalis hasn’t been cleared for release by Starfleet Medical because of some of the possible side effects.”
“I’ve taken rosinstalis before, Doctor, when I was assigned to the Celestris during the war. I was under the Chief Medical Officer’s care, the whole time, and – “
“And you believed that with your transfer to the Espero, I would be sympathetic to your plight that I would give you what you needed to treat your condition?”
“I came to you because I want to continue being useful. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in a hospital bed!,” Ensign Lake shouted before he remembered himself. Holding up a hand, he spoke in a gentler tone. “Look, Doctor, I’m not some kind of addict. So if you feel that you need to, report me to Starfleet Medical.”
Sovek released a deep breath that he had been holding before he considered the younger man’s words. After taking the Vulcan equivalent of the Hippocratic Oath to ‘do no harm’ before he joined Starfleet, he had been a medical professional for over seventy years. Despite the circumstances, a request for medical intervention couldn’t be ignored.
“I can synthesize the drug,” he agreed. “However, I will only prescribe it when it is absolutely necessary. I shall also be closely monitoring your medical condition. There may be a possibility that I might be able to devise a cure or an antidote.”
“It sounds like you have a plan, Doctor.”
* * * *
“Good morning, Skipper,” Lieutenant Commander Murray greeted his Captain, the next morning when she walked onto the Bridge. He was standing behind Lieutenant Anax who was seated at the tactical console. “Did you sleep well, last night?”
“I started reading ‘The Compass Rose’,” the Roylan said, referring to a piece of twenty-first-century fantasy fiction that had been written by Gail Dayton. Both officers had enjoyed a shared interest in the genre.
“Good book?”
“So far, so good.” Moving to the center of the Bridge, she looked around. “Are we ready to get underway, Mister Murray?”
“As far as I know from the department heads. All personnel are aboard and all systems are online.”
Ikar nodded at him. “Mister Lake,” she said, looking at the young officer who was sitting at one of the portside consoles,” clear all moorings.”
“Aye, ma’am.”
“Port and starboard thrusters are resting at station-keeping, Captain,” Ensign Gelek announced from the helm station, anticipating Ikar’s next command.
“Lake,” Murray said,” request departure clearance from Operations.”
“Aye, sir,” the operations officer acknowledged the order, typing commands into his panel. He shared the same enthusiasm that the other Bridge members had for getting underway and back out into space.
“Ikar to Engineering.”
“Engineering, Nillen here,” responded the Espero’s Haliian Chief Engineer over the intercom. “Everything’s shipshape down here, Skipper.”
“Incredible,” Murray said, walking over to stand beside Ikar’s command chair. “She said that it would take her and the Starbase engineers six months to get the ship up and running again. Then she gets us operational again in only two months.”
“Did you crack the whip, Andrew?” Ikar shared his grin before her eyestalks moved to observe the work of her crew.
“Tarahni’s from the old Scott School of Engineering, Skipper. They love to set their repair estimates by a factor of two. Of course, the engineers from Whiskey-Bravo were a godsend.”
“I have Operations on audio, Captain,” Lake reported from Ops.
“Starbase Operations, this is Espero, request departure clearance,” the Espero’s Captain said, sitting down in her command chair. She liked this chair. It was comfortable.
“Espero, this is Whiskey-Bravo Operations,” a disembodied voice announced over the Bridge speakers. “You are cleared for departure. Please follow course nine-seven-three, mark two-one until you reach the outer markers of the defense zone.”
“Acknowledged. Espero out.” She nodded ahead to the Tellarite sitting at the helm. “Plot course and proceed, Mister Gelek. Maximum impulse.”
“I do know how to fly a starship,” the Tellarite answered her with sarcasm.
“Excuse me, Ensign?,” Murray shot back at him, ready to issue him a verbal warning.
“Yes, ma’am. Course and speed set.”
“Engage.”
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