Thanks to the remote nature of their destination, there had only been a few dozen passengers on the transport that departed Starbase 80, which afforded Crewman Hunter Kincaid a cabin of his own—a luxury he definitely wouldn’t have when he reached his new assignment, which he currently had displayed on his monitor. During the last two weeks onboard the transport, with no duties to attend to, he had started reading up on everything he could about his new ship, the U.S.S. Starjammer.
The first in a new line of supply ships that had been in service for fifteen years, so she had more than a few light-years on the clock, and had more than proven the need for a ship like her. Unlike the Ptolemy-Class tugs, Great Lakes-Class freighters or cargo drones the Starjammer-Class was much smaller, less than a hundred meters in length and four decks high, as such her carrying capacity was significantly less, though she made up for it thanks to her speed meaning they could be deployed quickly to get emergency aid or supplies delivered much quicker—this also made the class ideal to act as a courier (which they routinely did near the Neutral Zones). The Starjammer however wasn’t anywhere close to the Klingon or Romulan Empires.
Another use for the supply ship was to operate in tandem with two or three others to run regular deliveries among more remote regions, the sort of places that didn’t warrant larger freighters or tugs, this was the assignment Kincaid had volunteered for. Exactly why he’d felty compelled to leave his post on Earth for some quiet remote backwater cargo runner still perplexed even himself, but there was no turning back now.
Almost on cue (just to hammer home the point), the ship’s intercom whistled to life. “Attention all passengers, we will be docking at Sigma Station in thirty minutes. We ask that all personnel transferring to the U.S.S. Starjammer proceed to transporter room B for beam out in ten minutes. That’s all personnel destined for the U.S.S. Starjammer, please report to transporter room B.”
It seems we’re needed in a hurry, he mused to himself as he pulled the diskette from the terminal and dropped on the top of his neatly packed clothing. Closing his case, he quickly surveyed his temporary accommodation once more, triple checking he hadn’t left anything behind, nodded to himself and slung the hard-cased duffel bag over his shoulder.
He’d known that he wasn’t the only one transferring to the Starjammer onboard, though he’d quickly learned than he was the only enlisted member, the others were a full lieutenant who always wore a face like thunder and three ensigns who he assumed were straight out of the Academy (if the fresh-faced appearance of the petite red-headed human was anything to go by). Despite the fact they would all be serving together in close quarters very soon, the lieutenant had barely left his cabin and the ensigns always seemed to be together, so he’d opted not to bother any of them and prepare himself for his first shipboard posting.
As he stepped into the transporter room he found the ship’s transporter operate checking the system and the stiff figure of Lieutenant Kobe Natsuo, whose eyes were locked ahead of him at the platform. Kincaid immediately snapped to attention.
“Sir,” he said by way of greeting.
Natsuo glanced at him out the corner of his eye. “Crewman,” he replied.
Kincaid suppressed a shiver, suddenly feeling as though all the warmth had been drained from the room. No other words were spoken and Kincaid was starting to wish he was anywhere else, when the doors parted and a croaking cackle preceded the arrival of Ensigns Ingrid Yates, Atax Na Vesh, and Tohlan Raal. As soon as they saw their superior officer, the laugh died in Atax’s thin throat as the Edosian and his two former classmates stood at attention.
“Sir,” they replied in unison.
This time he turned his head slightly at the new arrivals. “Ensigns.” But once again he offered nothing more than the one word acknowledgement.
And so they stood that way for the remaining five minutes, straight and rigid in stance (so much so he began to wonder if it was possible to sprain something just by standing), without another word being spoken, just the hum of the impulse engines and the operator tapping on the control panel being the only sounds that filled the room.
After what felt like far longer, the transports transporter operator finally broke the unbearable silence. “We’re in range and the Starjammer reports they are ready to receive you, sir.”
The Lieutenant nodded. “Understood. Ensigns, Crewman,” he said simply before stepping up onto the dais, his tone telling them to follow his lead. Quickly they took their place on the pad.
“Energise.”
For a brief moment in the matter stream between the two pattern buffers Kincaid felt…something. Given his state of dematerialisation, he couldn’t quite determine exactly what, but every time he was transported there was something that felt odd, like a faint voice on the wind he could hear but couldn’t make out a word being said. Like before it passed in barely a second as he found himself enveloped in a shimmering haze, followed by the familiar whine before he found himself standing in an almost identical transporter room.
This time however, the atmosphere was more relaxed and warmer, helped by the welcoming smile on the face of the statuesque Efrosian in front of them. She wore a yellow uniform tunic, hands clasped loosely before her so her lieutenant commander stripes were quickly evident, her tan face belayed her age, whilst her long silvery-white hair fell around her shoulders giving her an almost radiant appearance.
“Welcome to the Starjammer. I’m Jita Na-Gheneii, your new CO,” she began and then turned to the two others in the room—Kincaid had been so drawn in by her that he’d barely registered the others present. “This is my science officer, Lieutenant Kalee,” she gestured to a Deian junior lieutenant who definitely lived up to his peoples reputation for beauty, “and Chief Thex, our head jack-of-all-trades.
“I apologise for the urgency in getting you aboard,” she continued, looking back at each of the new arrivals in turn, “the Araba has suffered some unexpected problems with her environmental systems, so we had to cut our time in port short to take her place. Unfortunately for all of you that means you’ll have to hit the ground running, as we’ll be departing in just a couple hours, so you won’t have the chance to get properly settled in.”
Kincaid suddenly felt so much better having spent the last fortnight reading up on his new ship and crewmates, at least he’d know where he was going.
“Understood, sir,” Natsuo replied on their behalf.
Na-Gheneii smiled at them all again. “You’ll quickly find out though that between loading and offloading cargo, there will be plenty of time to get a feel for this old girl,” she told them with genuine affection. “Ensigns Atax, Raal and Yates, Mr Kalee will show you to your quarters and brief you. Lieutenant, if you’ll come with me I’ll get you up to speed on the bridge and introduce you to the XO. Crewman Kincaid, follow the Chief, he’ll keep you right.”
With that she gestured to the door, which Natsuo headed for, the ship’s captain falling into step beside him out into the corridor and out of view.
“Shall we?” Kalee asked the remaining officer, all of whom were clearly staring intently at the blue skinned lieutenant, though it was understandable why, he really was breathtaking. Quickly they all hurried out after him and deeper into the ship.
That just left Kincaid and the burly Denobulan at the controls. The senior non-com gave him a slight scowl as he eyed him up and down, scratched his beard absently then nodded to himself, all of which made Kincaid want to be anywhere else but in that transporter room.
“This way,” he directed and headed for the exit. Kincaid scurried after him, making sure to stay close but not invade the Denobulans personal space—not that the species had much of a concept of that. They headed through the narrow corridors in silence for a moment before the chief petty officer spoke again.
“So you’re the amnesiac from Jupiter Station.”
“I guess you could say that, sir.”
Thex stopped in his track and spun to face him. “It’s ‘Chief’, Crewman, save the ‘sir’ for the officers.”
“Understood, Chief.”
A faint smirk made the corners of his lips twitch. “So you don’t seem to have any issues remembering things now.”
“No Chief. In the last eighteen months I haven’t had any further losses of memory, though everything before waking up on Jupiter Station that day is still a blank.”
“Not entirely, at least if that’s what all the test results showed.”
Kincaid’s eyebrows shot up on his forehead. He hadn’t expected his new superior to be so up to speed on his file, though as something of an oddity in the fleet it was probably wise for others to read up on, just in case.
“Correct, Chief. I could work a computer, understood what a warp drive was, knew the early history of the Federation, all the sorts of everyday knowledge and skills anyone would typically know, but when it came to anything personal about who I was, where I grew up, or anything similar it was just blank.”
“That must be…unsettling.”
Kincaid gave a single laugh. “Yeah, you could say that, though since I have no frame of reference to draw on it’s just normal for me.”
Thex thought about it for a moment and nodded again, before resuming his steady pace. “I understand you were under medical supervision for a while.”
“Three months, Chief. All the while being interviewed by Starfleet Security and the Federation Special Investigations Directorate, though they couldn’t find out anything about my past either. After being locked up at Starfleet Medical for ‘observation’ for the summer, I was finally deemed to neither a medical or security risk and was allowed to go free.”
“However, with no one or where to go home to you opted to enlist into Starfleet,” Thex finished for him.
Kincaid shrugged. “Seemed like a sensible idea to me. I’d have some stability in my life for a time as I tried to figure out what to do, plus if my condition suddenly did take a turn for the worst then at least there would always be a medical specialist close at hand.”
The Chief chuckled softly. “So you’re a pragmatist it would seem.”
“So it would seem, Chief.”
“That will come in handy, especially given your assignment onboard—especially after your predecessor left so abruptly.”
Kincaid frowned. “Why did they leave?”
Thex stopped and turned to him again, suddenly seeming far larger and taller than he already was. Frak! “Sorry, Chief. It’s not my place to ask.”
“Crewman, if I’m the ranking person in the room you can always speak freely. I’m just surprised you felt you had to ask.”
“Chief?”
“Surely everyone told you about this assignment when your transfer request was approved.”
Kincaid felt his stomach tighten. As soon as the approval had come through he’d told his roommate and colleagues, all of whom had reacted the same way, starting with hysterical laughter until the realised he wasn’t joking, then there was shock and dismay, quickly followed by pleas for him to rescind his request and stay at Starfleet Operations on Earth. Supply ships that looked after remote regions, like the Starjammer, were always seen as a dumping ground for rookies, rejects, reprobates and soon-to-be-retirees from the rest of the fleet; officers and crew who couldn’t cut it on other ships but weren’t so bad that they could be kicked out. These backwater assignments were always their last chance to make something of themselves.
So why did I take this assignment again?
He blushed as he reached up and scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah, you could say that.”
“Well there’s your answer. Our motley little supply ship triumvirate has a pretty high turnover of crew, with people resigning or retiring—hell even a couple just went AWOL. Most of the time it’s obvious just who will go next, but not Evelyn, she seemed to be doing well, improved her performance and looked set to get back on track in the wider fleet. Then next we know she resigns, effective immediately. She even left Sigma Station within a couple of days, nothing more said on why.”
“I have no plans to take off like that, Chief.”
“I may hold you to that, Mr Kincaid, a good yeoman is worth their weight in gold on a supply ship, we’ve just been very fortunately to have had one and then find a replacement so quickly.”
“I’ll do my best to keep everything shipshape.”
Thex chuckled again, a warm throaty sound. He led them through the corridors once more, quickly coming to a stop at a doorway where he tapped in a code and the panels opened.
“Here we are, crewmen bunk room two. Bunk room one is there,” he said pointing to the next door on the left, “with your shared head in between. Probably not what you’ll be used to after a posting on Earth.”
Kincaid stepped inside as Thex remained in the doorway. Looking over the deck plans, he’d already known that as a crewman he’d be sharing with a number of his peers, though actually seeing it was very different to lines on a blueprint. On the bulkhead opposite the entrance were three sets of double bunks jutting out into the middle of the room all with lockers beside them, a compact workstation tucked in a corner and a small round table with a couple of chairs beside the doorway. It was definitely smaller than he’d expected, especially for six people, however this was what he’d agreed to when he’d accepted.
“As the Captain said, we’ll be departing the station in just under two hours and you’re scheduled to be on beta shift which begins at eighteen hundred.”
He nodded. “Understood.”
“I like to operate an open door policy, so if there’s anything you need, any questions you have, don’t hesitate to ask.”
“Thank you, Chief, I’ll remember that.”
Thex gave him a smile. “I’m sure I’ll see you around, Yeoman Kincaid.”
* * * * *
