Glad you're enjoying the children of the late Ensign John Sevork! Thanks!! rbsKind of like this story.
-Will
YES - Close to the Edge: Star Beagle Adventures episodes 12 - 19
- Thread starter Robert Bruce Scott
- Start date
The Star Beagle Adventures
Episode 15: Close to the Edge Part IV - Seasons of Man
Scene 6: His Outstretched Arm
Then according to the man who showed his outstretched arm to space…
15.6
His Outstretched Arm
His Outstretched Arm
John, Jr. was pointing, his long, spindly arm outstretched toward the aft and slightly starboard. He had been traveling off the U.S.S. Mako’s port stern, riding his own warp field at warp 3.5.
“What is he pointing at?” asked Lieutenant Commander Zizira Gross. The bolian was temporarily serving as first officer for the U.S.S. Mako. While Commander Jason Bates, whom she had officially relieved so that he could tend to the re-education and certification training for Commander Rhonda Carter and Captain Ronald Howard, XIV, seemed at first to be simply happy to take a vacation from his role as Commodore Yui Song’s first officer, in actuality he was watching her very closely. And, no doubt, reporting his observations to the commodore.
Lieutenant Commander Senek, recently reassigned as the Mako’s 2nd officer and science officer was also on the bridge, currently standing at the communications station. He looked mildly annoyed. “By your leave, Lieutenant Commander Gross?”
“By all means, Mr. Senek,” Gross replied.
“Hailing frequency open, communication established,” Senek reported.
Gross looked back at the vulcan 2nd officer in surprise, then turned her attention to the screen, which was now dominated by the large and oddly misshapen head of John, Jr., purple mohawk and all. The formula felt odd to her in this circumstance, but it made more sense than anything else she could think o to say. “John Jr., this is the U.S.S. Mako, Zizira Gross commanding.”
“Go ahead, Mako,” John Jr. responded, his rich west Texas accent filling the bridge with the sound of a region of a planet the strange alien had never been within a thousand lightyears of.
It took a moment for Gross to process that John Jr. had somehow learned both the response formula, the accent, and the language itself from the father he had never met. “John Jr., what are you pointing at?”
“The anointed. They have turned around and are now in pursuit of us,” John Jr. drawled.
“The U.S.S. Beagle has a probe in the area and is sharing telemetry now,” Lt. Cmdr. Senek reported. “I can confirm John Jr.’s observation.”
“How did you know?” Gross asked
“I can hear their song in my mind. Or, to be more precise, I can hear their song through my legs,” the mushroom-riding space shrimp replied.
It was about 20 minutes later that the conference was held in the U.S.S. Mako’s conference center, which was significantly larger than the more familiar setting of the U.S.S. Beagle’s conference room, if nowhere near as lavish. The large conference table was simple and largely made of high quality plastic, as opposed to the antique hardwood table in the Beagle’s conference room.
The chairs, on the other hand, while nowhere near as ornate, were far more comfortable. Instead of the vulcan-made chairs on the Beagle (which were designed exclusively for vulcans), the bolian-made chairs in Mako’s conference center were light, tough, easily anchored to the floor and designed to be easily adjusted to provide a comfortable, well-designed seat for more than 200 different species. Which was why these chairs had become standard-issue for Star Fleet vessels and installations. Which was, in turn, why the bolians had expanded their manufacturing to include a new factory in Bugrino on Kolguyev Island in the far north of Russia.
“Assuming we continue to travel at warp 3.5, and that they can maintain warp 7.2, the closest of the holy landers should catch up to us in just under 19 days.” Lieutenant Commander Senek was providing the analysis. Which was exceptionally distracting to the Mako’s female crew members.
“There is no way we can protect the godchildren at this rate,” Commodore Yui Song groused. “And we just received confirmation that the holy landers have destroyed our beacon at the in-door to the Jar Galaxy.”
“We have been in emergency response mode since Escort returned from the Jar Galaxy. We have really been in need of a better plan,” opined Captain Skip Howard. “So I asked my new science officer to come up with one… Lieutenant Commander Clark?”
Greg Clark took a deep breath. “We cannot tow Rhonda’s godchildren. But we could create a scow for them and tow that. But we need material to build one from. And there is nothing close. Theoretically, with just a small reduction in mass, the Beagle, with the Puppy onboard, could tow Escort at warp 7.5, which would allow Beagle to reach the Al Salemais star system in just under 26 days.”
“Even with enhanced structural integrity from the repurposed artificial gravity generators, Escort would fall apart under that kind of stress,” Commander Rhonda Carter objected.
“Yes,” Skip Howard agreed. "Trying to keep Escort in one piece seriously limits our speed…”
“So let’s stop trying,” Greg Clark concluded. “We need something to build a sled out of for John’s children and the nacelles are about to fall off Escort. So let’s take the nacelles off, repurpose them to serve as a sled. Beagle can then tow the remainder of Escort to Al Salemais, taking 26 days. Given the much smaller mass, once the godchildren are firmly embedded in the nacelles and taking their physiology into account, the Mako, with both the Arizona and the Bluebird docked in its shuttlebay, could tow them at warp 8.6, which would have Mako arriving at Al Salemais in just over 17 days.”
“Assuming the holy landers are determined to interact with us, and that they can maintain warp 7.2, they would not arrive at Al Salemais for at least 47 days,” Skip Howard observed.
“There is no way that Escort could be made space worthy in,” Lieutenant Ki Kresid, Escort’s director of engineering paused for a math break. “Um, 21 days. Much less battle ready.”
“So instead of trying to put Escort back together, we continue to take her apart,” said Greg Clark. “And use the pieces, along with native materials, to construct fortress Escort.”
“With General Krank riding with Mako, he could survey the system to identify the best defensive position for both John’s children and for fortress Escort,” Skip Howard continued.
During this discussion, Rhonda Carter turned bright pink. “I will not have my ship taken apart and turned into a…”
“It’s my ship, Commander Carter,” Captain Howard interrupted quietly.
Carter turned toward him in almost a blind fury, but something about the look in his eyes got through to her. She took a deep breath, then: “I apologize, Captain. It’s just…”
“I understand, Commander,” Howard said. “Believe me, I would feel very much the same way in your place. I don’t like the idea of disassembling a starship and turning it into, not even a space station but a defensive installation. I am under orders to make Escort fly again, but after reviewing all of the damage, I think once we do, we should rename it the U.S.S. Grandfather’s Axe.”
Carter was far from the only person confused by Howard.
“Your riddles aren’t always party favorites, Captain Howard,” Yui Song warned. “Please explain yourself.”
In response, Captain Skip Howard hefted an imaginary axe. “This is my grandfather’s axe. It has two pieces, the blade and the handle. After grandpa passed, dad replaced the handle. And I just replaced the blade.”
Commander Dutch Holland spoke up, his unique luchadore uniform causing Commodore Yui to reflect again on what a strange menagerie Captain Howard maintained on his ship. “To put it in plain English,” Holland started, the phrase sounding a little strange in his thick Mexican accent. “By the time we get finished rebuilding Escort, pretty much every part of that ship will have been recycled and rebuilt using the industrial replicators. Until the only part left will be those replicators. And those replicators were not original on that ship. There will be nothing left of the original Escort. Only the idea of Escort will remain. It will essentially be a new ship.”
“Can we actually accomplish that out here?” Carter asked.
“Not really,” Commodore Yui replied. “But I may have some very interesting and good news on that front. In a few days. I won’t announce it until I have confirmation.”
15.6
I have always liked grandfather's axe. You know he's had that axe since the Civil War. Grandfather, himself, has had all his parts replaced, twice. Even his brain is new, but he still thinks of himself as a lumberjack.
-Will
-Will
Fortress Escort. Love it.
In UK pop culture speak, grandfather's axe is referred to as Trigger's broom.
In UK pop culture speak, grandfather's axe is referred to as Trigger's broom.
The Star Beagle Adventures
Episode 15: Close to the Edge Part IV - Seasons of Man
Scene 7: All the Human Race
He turned around and pointed, revealing all the human race…
15.7
All the Human Race
All the Human Race
Commodore Yui Song concluded the meeting with: “Enact step one immediately. Captain Howard, get those nacelles off the Escort and build your sled. Commander Carter, you’re very probably the best person to explain the plan to your godchildren, obtain their input and let everyone know about any potential issues. The rest of you are excused. General, Captain, Commander Carter, please remain.”
It took a few minutes for about 20 other people, most of them civilian experts who were resident on the U.S.S. Beagle, to exit the U.S.S. Mako’s conference center. As large as the conference table was, it was rather lost in the middle of a very large room that took up a large part of deck 3.
“Rhonda, I know you feel an obligation toward your godchildren. And according to Pel, that might very well be by their mother’s design.” Commodore Yui settled back down at the table and gestured to Carter, Howard and Krank to resume their seats. “But once we get them to the Al Salemais system, do you not feel that your obligation will have been fulfilled? Ronald’s plan seems to really involve hunkering the task force into that system for the long term.” She gestured toward all three of them. “Convince me that this is the best option.”
“You’re talking to the wrong recently demoted captain, sir,” Rhonda Carter replied. “I hate every part of this plan.” She raised her hands in a frustrated gesture. “Okay, taking the nacelles off and using them as sleds is brilliant. It’s the only way to keep both John’s children and Escort’s technology out of the hands of the holy landers. But bedding down in that system… And we would be bedding hard. Once Escort is sufficiently dismantled to make for any workable defensive installation, we are stuck until help arrives. And we don’t know when that will be.”
Carter looked at Captain Skip Howard. “By all means, speak your mind, Rhonda,” Howard said.
“It’s always better to maintain mobility. An aggressive stance gives you the option to run away. But if Escort is in pieces, we can’t run away. The last thing we want is for the holy landers to get their hands on Federation technology. They have been aboard Escort. They know its value.”
“She has a point, Ronald,” Yui observed.
“I would like to hear General Krank’s assessment,” said Howard.
Yui Song gestured toward the elderly klingon general.
“Tactically, Commander Carter is correct,” Krank opined. “She is a fighter after my own heart. The klingon way is to take an aggressive stance and to attack first when conflict appears imminent. Captain Howard appears to be thinking more strategically. I believe he is hoping that a strong enough strategic position, coupled with the holy landers’ evident respect for the capabilities of the, as Rhonda named the species, lepreshrooms, could be sufficient to convince these holy landers to attempt to negotiate. A very Federation strategy.”
“And the flaw in that strategy?” Yui asked.
“We do not know enough about the holy landers or the depth of their enmity with the lepreshrooms,” Krank continued. “While the holy landers are a formidable force, we have never seen them engaged in serious hostilities. With the exception of the odd battle we observed in the, um, as Rhonda named it, the Valentine system.”
General Krank paused to clear his throat and take a drink of something dark and strong smelling. “We saw them fire warning shots from their ships at pursuing lepreshrooms, but the only pitched battle we observed did not involve any guns, knives or hand-to-hand combat.”
Rhonda Carter nodded. “They were singing at… some big dark thing in the sky.”
“We could not tell whether it was in earnest, or if it was some sort of ritual,” Krank opined.
“I reviewed the reports in detail,” said Skip Howard. “And also interviewed our resident experts on all things holy lander, the various personalities of the purple known variously as Shadow, Sheeux Vosq Nala, and Ben Urri Urri. Their ships are bristling with weapons, but no one in her culture has ever observed them using any weapons. Only singing.”
“You think they specialize in ritual combat?” Yui song asked. “What does that mean?”
“They have an immensely complex and ritualistic culture, and they greatly value demonstrations of strength,” Captain Howard observed. “And they have demonstrated a preference for non-violent forms of combat. I have a team of cultural experts going over every detail and continuing to interview Shadow and combing through the vast catalogue of the writings of Ben Urri Urri…”
Commodore Yui was barely holding her impatience in check. “Sum this up for us, Ronald.”
Captain Ronald Howard, XIV smiled. “A show of strength and a ritual welcome, combined with protection against their singing and we might be able to do better than avoid battle. We might be able to negotiate, if not an alliance, possibly a peace treaty?”
“And that is the Federation way of doing things,” General Krank concluded.
15.7
Hard to tell if Krank meant that as a compliment or an insult. 
The answer is, of course, yes.Hard to tell if Krank meant that as a compliment or an insult.
Thanks!! rbs
The Star Beagle Adventures
Episode 15: Close to the Edge Part IV - Seasons of Man
Scene 8: Smiled Whisper
I shook my head and smiled a whisper, knowing all about the place…
15.8
Smiled Whisper
Smiled Whisper
John Jr. was the oldest (by a few seconds), and the largest (both in mass and height) of Ensign John Sevork’s children by Stephanie, the space shrimp, and Rocky, the rock-encrusted, spacefaring mushroom. His siblings looked to him for leadership.
Once the nacelles had been removed from the U.S.S. Escort, John Jr. arranged his siblings, spacing them out along the two nacelles to distribute and balance their mass - 5 of them on one nacelle, 6 on the other.
Each of the siblings was embedded in its own rock-thorn, with as few as one or as many as 6 legs projecting through the rocky table-top, down into a portion of the mushroom that had been Rocky, whose living tissue had been divided to provide housing and nutrients for each of the siblings.
They had been traveling under their own power at warp 3.5, but could not move much faster than that. And it was doubtful they could have travelled even at that speed all the way to the Al Salemais system.
The bottom tip of each rock-encrusted mushroom was the transition point between its expression in relative spacetime and subspace. Exactly how a mushroom was capable of producing a warp field was still a mystery, even though all of the scientists of the task force had been carefully studying every reading that they could take of these odd creatures.
It did not work on the same principle as warp engine to nacelles. Instead, the mushroom appeared to exist in relative space and subspace simultaneously. The warp field was generated by the subspace expression of these creatures that Rhonda Carter had dubbed lepreshrooms (by eliding the words “leprechaun” and “mushroom.”)
No one had come up with a name for whatever John Sevork’s children were. Their mother had been referred to as a “space shrimp.” Their father was a hybrid of vulcan and human. And they also carried DNA from the lepreshroom in which they had been born. Warrant Officer Seprek Harrison had referred to them as “vulcan-human-mushroom-shrimp babies.” They were most commonly referred to now as "Rhonda's godchildren" or simply "the godchildren."
In appearance they were so radically different from one another that they hardly seemed to admit of being characterized as a species. Some of them looked disturbingly humanoid. Others had ribbon-like bodies, or appeared to be rock formations.
No two were alike, and yet their presence sitting atop their individual land-thorns with only a bubble of atmosphere between them and the cold of interstellar space marked their similarity. A bubble of atmosphere generated and projected by the mushroom living inside the thorn-shaped rock that each of John Sevork’s children were riding atop.
Commodore Yui Song, Captain Skip Howard, Commanders Rhonda Carter and Jason Bates, and Lieutenant Commanders Gregg Clark and Zizira Gross were watching from the U.S.S. Mako’s caudal lounge, the rear-most room in the Mako’s secondary engineering hull. The caudal lounge’s windows were the rearward surface of the ship, further back than even the aft end of the nacelles.
Pel and Shadow were also present, watching as each of the strange, mushroom riding orphans intersected the point of their individual land-thorns with one of the U.S.S. Escort’s liberated nacelles. As the point of each thorn intersected the surface of a nacelle, the rock and mushroom partly phased into subspace, allowing them to become first mingled with, then firmly anchored into the nacelle.
This was a difficult process for Rhonda Carter to watch, so Commodore Yui felt rum would be in order. She had initially planned to use baijiu, until some research found that the powerful Chinese drink would be poison for the bolian, ferengi and probably the purple as well. Most uninitiated humans would also consider the drink probably poisonous given how close its pungent aroma was to that of pure rocket fuel.
Rhonda Carter was, understandably, nearly in tears given the tremendous damage the nacelles were taking. This damage alone guaranteed that the rebuild of Escort would be a process of several months as the nacelles would have to be largely rebuilt from scratch.
“Here, get this down you,” Skip Howard said, handing a glass of rum to Carter.
Carter knocked back the rum with a single swallow and handed the glass back to him.
Captain Howard and Commodore Yui exchanged glances. Yui shook her head. “Keep them coming, Captain.”
In response, Pel handed one of the bottles of rum to Captain Howard. He looked at the glass, then looked at the bottle. Howard raised his eyebrows, set the glass aside, uncorked the bottle and handed it to Rhonda Carter, who drank from it without hesitation.
“Considering we are about to divide the task force, I was thinking about sending Commander Bates with you, along with Commander Carter,” Yui said.
“With respect, I think we have overriding priorities, Commodore,” Howard opined. “I would recommend Commander Carter work with General Krank to identify the best defensive installation. Krank is as qualified as any military adviser, but fortresses are not his forte and Rhonda has a talent for identifying vulnerabilities. You’re going to need her to keep shooting down every Krank plan until you can identify the best defensive option.”
Yui Song sighed heavily. “I suppose there will be plenty of time to complete your joint re-education once we’re bedded down in the Al Salemais system.”
“Either that or no time,” Howard replied. “I also want to swap out Lieutenant Commander Clark for Lieutenant Commander Gross.”
Commodore Yui’s reaction to this suggestion was strong enough to elicit additional response from Gregg Clark, who had been hovering at the edge of this conversation.
“We talked this move over and Captain Howard is right,” Clark said. “He needs Gross to help his science teams develop a defense against the song of the holy lander. And I have been working with Lieutenant Ki Kresid on ways to weaponize as many of Escort’s normal operational systems as possible, since they won’t be required to support normal ship functions. General Krank and Commander Carter need that information for their planning.”
“Why not send Lieutenant Kresid?” Yui Song asked.
“She will be busy holding Escort together until it gets to Al Salemais and at the same time, preparing it to be dismantled and repurposed once the Beagle gets it there,” Clark replied.
“Meanwhile, Zizira Gross was the only member of Escort’s crew who could actually hear the words of the holy lander whose song had that crew enthralled,” Howard added. “She has agreed to allow the more talented among the vulcans on my ship to engage in extended mind melds with her and pick her memory clean. It appears those ultra low-frequency songs have lyrics and while we can’t hear them, the universal translator can. And, apparently, at its default setting, the UT was translating those lyrics and reproducing the translation at the same, sub-sonic frequency. Which, apparently only a bolian could hear…”
15.8
Ritualistic combat only? Have they never encountered Klingons? I think it wouldn't take long before their ritual combat was replaced with real, and very deadly combat. Unless there was more to their singing than liturgy.
Tell 'em General Krank!
Oh, what? Did I just break the fourth wall from the other side?
-Will
Tell 'em General Krank!
Oh, what? Did I just break the fourth wall from the other side?
-Will
Not to repeat myself... but it gets weirder from here... Thanks!! rbsRitualistic combat only? Have they never encountered Klingons? I think it wouldn't take long before their ritual combat was replaced with real, and very deadly combat. Unless there was more to their singing than liturgy.
Tell 'em General Krank!
Oh, what? Did I just break the fourth wall from the other side?
-Will
The Star Beagle Adventures
Episode 15: Close to the Edge Part IV - Seasons of Man
Scene 9: Silence of the Valley
On the hill we viewed the silence of the valley...
15.9
Silence of the Valley
Silence of the Valley
“While you were talking with the frost giants aboard their space station and Commodore Yui and her first contact team were getting a tour of the purple station, Captain Carter and her team were aboard the blue space station getting their brains warped by a holy lander who was on that station.”
Lieutenant Commander Zizira Gross was holding forth in the U.S.S. Beagle’s conference room, explaining to a large team of scientists just how the holy landers had taken control of the U.S.S. Escort nearly a month ago, kicking off a chain of events that led to the Escort’s misadventures in the Jar Galaxy, which had, in turn, resulted in the death of Ensign John Sevork and the birth of his 12 children by a creature from another galaxy. A creature currently referred to as a “giant space shrimp.”
The interdisciplinary team included the Tellerite Biological Survey, the United Federation of Planets Expeditionary Diplomatic Corps, archeologists Fish Head and Arizona Kind, the trill oceanographer Akri Dexx, and the signals unit from the 1st of the 1st of the 54th, an elite reconnaissance and signals detail from the United States Marine Corps, known as the Space Hounds, their brown and grey camouflage uniforms featuring a beagle shoulder patch. Also joining this group were the U.S.S. Beagle’s Dean of Ship, Sakura Nakamura Holland, the task force’s new executive consultant, Pel and the purple known as Shadow.
It was Shadow who spoke up in surprise. “The blue worship the holy landers? What about the purple?”
“We were just as surprised as you are,” Lt. Cmdr. Gross replied. “We had been reading the screeds of Ben Urri Urri, um, your writings…” Gross paused in mild confusion, then pressed on. “So we were expecting to find the purple worshipping the holy landers and the blue to be extremely skeptical of them. What we found was the reverse.”
“According to our research, your people are divided, purple and blue, at every system you have colonized. Separate, but not equal,” opined Erok Gruex, the assistant director of the UFP Expeditionary Diplomatic Delegation. “The holy landers take advantage of the first population to fall prey to their song and, perhaps just out of spite, the other color is immediately skeptical. And thanks to your work,” the vrish diplomat angled the feathers along his arm toward the small purple at the table, “they quickly discover their suspicions are well justified.”
Dean Sakura Nakamura Holland picked up the thread. “So, apparently, this strange separation of your species into two populations has given both of your populations something they can rely on for resilience and resistance against holy lander domination: Each other.”
“How long can this division continue until genetic drift takes over and the purple and the blue speciate?” asked Lt. Cmdr. Gross.
“For two distinct populations, there is a lot of mingling according to the genetic signatures we’ve been able to access,” Drisk javWalrish advised. The enormous tellerite gestured toward Shadow. “Some of you furry beasts have been coloring outside the lines…”
“There are always a small number of purples born among the blues,” said Shadow. “Blues born among the purples. And a fair number of people in between who aren’t really purple or blue. They find their place. Black markets. Smuggling. Negotiating peace treaties. Other even less reputable activities.”
“I think we’ve lost the thread,” came the dry, but sultry voice of the trill oceanographer, Akri Dexx. “Our purpose is to come up with a defense against the song of the holy warriors. So please, how did they take control of Escort?”
“Right,” said Lt. Cmdr. Gross. “From the top…” The bolian officer took a deep breath. “When Captain Howard was on the frost giant space station and Commodore Yui was on the purple space station, Captain Carter, Lieutenant Singleterry, Warrant Officer Harrison and a few others were on the blue space station, where they encountered a number of holy warriors. They weren’t even aware that they were singing and experimenting with the frequencies they needed to control humans. Once they had humanity dialed in, one of them boarded Escort with Captain Carter and ordered us to land Escort near their compound, where we picked up another.”
“One of them was a warrior. The other was an engineering specialist. Apparently the frequencies that worked on the humans and the vulcan/human hybrids worked even better on me.” The bolian officer paused to squeeze the back of her neck, a sign of agitation among bolians. “Their song was painful for our engineering director, Lieutenant Kresid, and completely incapacitating for Lieutenant Commander zh’Kathar. Some of our crew members recall that the holy warriors helped Kresid and zh’Kathar into the escape pod. It seems they didn’t want to hurt them, just get them off the ship. Their entire purpose was to use us to help them get safely to the surface of a planet in the Jar Galaxy so they could, as Rhonda put it, sing at some big scary dark thing in the sky…”
“I have examined the frequencies of the songs of the holy warriors from Escort’s security recordings,” said Akri Dexx. “Their song is not entirely unrelated to whale song. It can be propagated through any fluid medium, whether liquid, gaseous, or even solids such as deck plating or soil. And there is evidence the holy warriors adjust their singing based not only on the species they want to control, but also on the available media for promulgation. They sing differently on land than they do on a ship.”
“I was wondering what an oceanographer would have to contribute to this discussion,” Major Janet Carter mused.
“On Trillus Prime there is a carnivore you might call a sirenfish. Divers who do not take adequate precautions quickly become prey. They live in salt-water marshes and can adjust their song either for deep ocean prey or to draw animals from the shoreline into the water. Trill fishers learned how to turn these predators into prey by using water drums to counter their frequencies. The drums could be used to drive the sirens off, attract them for easy harvesting or simply incapacitate them based on the type of drum and the way it is played.”
“So are you suggesting we start up a drum circle?” asked Sergeant Tommy Richards.
“Our communicator pins should be able to produce the frequencies needed and store a number of different programs that can render the holy warrior’s songs ineffective, confuse them, and, at need, possibly even incapacitate them,” Dexx replied. A rather predatory smile crept across her features. “I think we might be able to give them a taste of their own medicine…”
15.9
-Will
The Star Beagle Adventures
Episode 15: Close to the Edge Part IV - Seasons of Man
Scene 10: Cycles of the Past
Called to witness cycles only of the past…
15.10
Cycles of the Past
Cycles of the Past
“John, Jr., Steve, Steph, Jr., Sevrock, Rohn, Key, Jephan, K’Lon, Rock, Ork, and Rider…”
Commodore Yui Song was in the caudal lounge with her current first and second officers, Lieutenant Commander Gregg Clark and Lieutenant Commander Senek. Clark was stealing side-long glances at the gorgeous vulcan, who appeared somewhat more mournful and annoyed than usual, if that was possible.
Oddly, the vulcan’s beauty and sex-appeal seemed quite impactful among not only her human and vulcan crew members, but also with bolians, who were generally not attracted to anyone who wasn’t blue. And they weren’t particularly impressed with hair. Or faces that didn’t have bifurcating ridges.
She hated to admit it, but Yui Song was increasingly of the opinion that moving this walking aphrodisiac to her ship was probably a bad idea. The spike in pheromone production and the increased sexual activity among her crew were annoying enough. But it was all the giggling that was driving her crazy. It was in this moment Yui suddenly understood the morose, annoyed vulcan.
The unbearable weight of all that attention would be enough to drive most people mad.
“And Commander Rhonda Carter,” Senek observed.
Yui Song was shaken out of her reverie. She looked out the back windows again at John Sevork’s odd, mushroom-shrimp children, riding embedded in the U.S.S. Escort’s detached nacelles, themselves enveloped in a tractor beam. And, using an EVA suit equipped with gravity boots, Rhonda Carter was walking among them, taking time to talk to each one.
“I’m reasonably certain no one has ever tractor surfed a pair of nacelle skis,” Gregg Clark quipped.
“No one ever accused Rhonda Carter of cowardice,” Senek observed. He turned toward Commodore Yui. “Captain Howard knows why you demoted her. You did it to protect her.”
“Is that what he told you?” Yui asked.
“He didn’t need to. I figured it out. I have known him long enough to know if I deduce something, he has already done so. Particularly when it comes to Star Fleet politics.”
“Star Fleet politics is the Howard family business,” Gregg Clark observed. “But do you care to share with the class? I hadn’t figured this one as a protective move for Carter.”
Senek turned his large, deep green, mournful eyes on his first officer. “I read the order. The commodore buried the important information in the middle of several paragraphs of blistering criticisms and harsh rebukes. You have to read carefully as the different words are scattered across various paragraphs throughout the memorandum: It is a brevet reduction in rank for administrative purposes.”
“Ah…” Clark prevaricated.
“You should know this one, Gregg,” Yui chided. “Meaning that if I determine her rank is to be restored, because her reduction in rank is brevet and for administrative purposes, it will not require Commandant Star Fleet to approve my decision as it would not be a promotion. Her promotion to captain has already been approved.”
“Wouldn’t restoring her rank increase the chances of a court martial?” Clark asked.
“There will be no court martial,” Senek opined.
“It would re-open her first court martial,” Yui agreed. “Political dynamite. All of those nasty secrets that the V’Shar, the vulcan intelligence agency, was so desperate to bury… All those skeletons would be out of the closet and dancing in the sunlight. My inquest will be sufficient and my ruling on this matter will stand. Star Fleet needs a Captain Rhonda Carter. But I need her to be a real Star Fleet captain. Not just a glorified gunboat commander.”
“So how do we get her there?” asked Clark.
“We cannot,” Senek responded. “She has to get there on her own. Because she wants to.”
Commodore Yui gestured to the space-suited Carter, confidently hopping from one towed nacelle to the other, as if these weren’t being towed at greater than warp 8. Just to make sure she spent at least a half hour with each of the strange children of John Sevork.
“She wants it,” Yui observed. “That is an entirely new Rhonda Carter out there. She just turned 51 and she is completely reinventing herself. She has been spending more time out there on those nacelles than inside this ship. Getting to know her new godchildren. At the end of the day, that’s what being a Star Fleet captain is all about. Caring. For all of life. In all of its bizarre diversity.”
15.10
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