Ah, Kieran, such a masochist... *grin*
Grim, your words
do warm my heart. *smile*
Nameless Klingon #2, *wicked grin* I hardly think ragging on a Miranda with a Defiant is a fair fight! And I don't remember anyone called Nash from the Highlander movies. To my shame, I have indeed seen all three... *hides face*
I'm glad my own efforts have spurred you on, it's always a huge compliment to be someone's motivation or inspiration. As for the junior officers, I think it a great idea to tell the story from their perspective.
"The Lower Decks" was one of the best ever TNG episodes, and I've always loved L.A. Graf's books as she concentrates on the Chekov/Uhura/Sulu Troika as well as keeping up the Kirk/Spock/McCoy plot lines.
Anyway, speaking of my own efforts, here's the next part of the story. Keep commenting!
Chapter Three
Date: 11th July 2272
Time: 0230 hours.
Stardate: 7427.7
Location: Recreation Deck, USS Illustrious. "Have you gone
nuts?" Markus asked again.
Andrea grinned at her companion and motioned for him to be quiet.
Markus Bertschinger, the Beta-shift science officer, rolled his eyes but complied nonetheless.
The last occupant of the room finally left and Andie turned to her reluctant accomplice. "Okay, now we use the spiral staircase and get down there. It shouldn’t take more than half-an-hour before we’re done."
She started sneaking towards the far corner of the Rec Deck’s upper level, but was overtaken by Markus walking normally.
"I mean
really, Andie. If there's no one there, why sneak? And if someone should actually see us, how will you explain that ridiculous pose?"
Markus’ scolding was delivered in a playful tone and Andrea could tell that he was grinning. She flushed pink as she caught sight of herself reflected in a viewport and immediately straightened to a normal walk.
"You’re right, that did look silly," she acknowledged, bobbing her head in embarrassment and wearing a rueful smile as they descended the staircase to E Deck.
"Of course I’m right. I’m a science officer," Markus explained patiently. "I’m paid to be right," he finished with another grin full of perfectly straight, brilliantly white teeth.
Andrea rolled her eyes at him and quoted a line from an old movie she’d watched a few nights ago. " ‘You may be sellin’, but I ‘ain’t buyin’.’ "
Markus didn’t answer directly, but muttered something under his breath about her "obsession with the past".
Having made their way past all obstacles--both living and not--the pair now confronted the objective of this excursion in the middle of the night.
The light cube that Garn always used.
"Okay, we need to get the access panel off and pull chip..." She paused and looked at the diagnostic tricorder Markus had brought with him from the science lab. "Chip D4710-FFGZ2A. That’ll hold the personal settings of the individual users."
"Right. Give me a hand with this, then," he said and they both got down to the fairly simple task of dismembering a games console.
Andie stifled another yawn and knew that she’d be tired for her shift that afternoon unless she slept late, but it’d be worth it to see the look on her navigator’s face the next time he played his favourite game.
Ten minutes later and they had the chip they sought. Now it was Markus’ show, as he had to hack through the game’s not inconsequential safeguards and implant the code script Andie had written herself. As all she could do at this point was wait, she mentally retraced the steps she’s taken to get here.
There was finding out two days ago that it was her Tellarite navigator’s birthday today, and the subsequent urge to spring a surprise birthday message on him. How the urge had been given into upon learning that yes, Tellarite birthdays were celebrated with family and friends, be it private or public, and that there were no taboos attached.
That little research session had also revealed the correct birthday message to use for Garn, regarding his caste, rank, position, and relationship to the well-wisher.
Next came the delivery method. Announcing it over the ship’s PA would be very tacky, but neither could she have it appear on the main viewscreen of the bridge. Numerous ideas kept popping into her head and were summarily dismissed as too overdone, too understated, or just plain too inappropriate. That was when Andrea’s own love of the
Illustrious’ Recreation Deck gave her the perfect idea.
It was less than two months since Andrea boarded her new ship, but she loved the Rec Deck more than the bridge. It had helped keep her sane through the bug-hunt and was now the only thing holding off her boredom during this transit to Starbase Twelve for trials and testing.
She had made a lot of friends here from people sharing some of her interests, but it wasn’t until she paid attention to what her shift-mate did while he was here that a plan sprung fully-formed into her head.
She had only started paying attention two days ago, after finally weaselling some personal information out of the Tellarite himself. He had displayed the infamous Tellarite prickliness, but she had persisted and finally got him to tell a bit about himself.
Despite a large number of Tellarites onboard, Garn was lonely. During his Academy years it hadn’t mattered as he still had his own friends to talk to. Here on the
Illustrious for only two months, with his friends posted to different ships and being somewhat antisocial even for a Tellarite, Garn felt as if he had been set adrift. He hadn’t went into detail, but said that the feeling was brought on more strongly by his approaching birthday and having no one to share it with.
Andrea had almost laughed it off with a joke about Garn’s public persona, but held off and merely agreed that it was sad. Since then she'd said nothing more about it, letting her tentative new friend think she’d forgotten their little talk.
She was, however, determined to cheer the little bugger up and offer a huge conversation starter to whoever wanted to take it up among the Rec Deck’s population. So, after observing him while he was there and having her plan formed, she discovered that she couldn’t reprogram the games cube herself. She had written the sub-program that would have the cube display a huge 3D holographic Tellarite equivalent of "Happy Birthday, you miserable git!" three feet high in the air directly above it, which also happened to be in the centre of the room.
Andrea grinned to herself again, a grin that turned into another yawn. She’d stayed up late past the end of her shift--which ended at midnight--to do this, then had to wait an extra forty minutes for some rabid European football fans to finally go to bed.
The live broadcast of France versus Greece in the Euro Cup Final had went into injury time, and ended with a thrilling 2-1 victory for Greece as they blasted a second goal past the befuddled French goal keeper to win the coveted Cup for another four years.
Much noise, much backslapping, and much heckling of post-match commentary later, they all finally left.
During that time she’d had to listen to a proud, patriotic, but wounded Swiss science officer expound on his theories as to why all referees should be Vulcan and so questionable decisions would be a thing of the past. Like the one that put his beloved team out of the tournament in the quarterfinals.
She'd never liked football, and even if she had done Scotland’s national team still revelled in snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. The centuries may have restored Scotland’s culture from the doldrums of the late twentieth century but they’d done nothing for her football players.
So, Andrea had been caught between grinning and bearing it or punching his lights out. Since she needed him for tonight, and that otherwise Markus was a normal, pleasant guy to be around, she’d opted for the former.
Plus, she’d dragged him away from his research project an hour ago--after he’d refused to help when she asked nicely at the end of their shift. If they were caught at it, he’d said, they’d be in trouble for unauthorised computer tampering.
It was a measure of how good a guy he was that even after that, when later confronted with an Andrea determined to do something nice for someone she thought needed it, he gave in to the spirit of the moment and tagged along.
Andie shook her head and grinned at her Swiss friend. He was concentrating on cracking the game so he could implant her birthday message and so was unaware of her regard. She took the time to size up her companion for the first time.
He was quite handsome with his short black hair and Abraham Lincoln-style beard trimmed short and with military precision. His brows furrowed over piercing ice-blue eyes, he had a habit of sticking the tip of his tongue out of the right corner of his mouth when he was intent on something that was incredibly endearing. He also had an easy-going, open, and friendly manner that put you instantly at your ease with him.
Although not so inclined, Andrea had no problem admitting that he’d make quite a catch.
Maybe I can set him up with Ensign Alicia Rio from Engineering, Andrea thought, running through a mental list of her unattached female friends.
Or perhaps my fellow JG, Melissa Guzzman from Medical. Guys love a nurse, after all, she smiled.
"Are you space-happy?" Markus suddenly asked, breaking her out of her reverie. "You’re grinning like an idiot," he added, and Andrea noticed that even his accent was cute, now that she was paying attention to it.
Andrea waved him off with a "Never mind."
"Nearly done. Then we can put this back together and get to our beds."
"Great. Thanks Markus. It is very good of you to do this, and I really appreciate it."
Markus smiled, almost shyly, and said, "Uh, no problem. If you are free, maybe we could have lunch together tomorr--later today?" the science officer asked hopefully.
Andrea cringed mentally, but scolded herself for it.
It could just be an innocent offer, a voice in her head said.
What harm could it do to say yes? She knew fine well what harm it could do but shrugged it off. Not putting too much enthusiasm in her voice she replied, "Sure, why not?"
"Great!" he said, and looked straight into her eyes.
Oh yeah. What harm could it do? Andrea thought sourly. Aloud, she said, "I’ll...go keep watch until you’re ready to put it back together."
They were safe from this deck as people had to come in through the gymnasium and swimming pool areas and she'd see them coming through the translucent divider. However, with three huge holes in the ceiling as viewing areas for the upper deck, they had nothing to keep in the sound. If someone came into the upper level, Markus' activities might be heard and that someone might come to investigate. That would not be good.
"Oh. Uh, sure thing. I won’t be long now," Markus replied, sounding suddenly self-conscious.
Andrea nodded at him, then got up and headed back to the staircase to the upper level, her thoughts in turmoil.
Damn! A perfectly good guy--looks like he’s better than most, actually--and he’s interested in me. And I can’t do a damned thing about it! What a waste. She groaned silently.
Why did I have to be the different one? Why me? The Gods--or whoever--failed to answer, just as he, she, it, or they always did. Andie leaned up against the far wall, the weight of her ‘cherry’ pressing down on her shoulders, and waited.
For many things.
Commander Donally had had a hard day and it was only now over, a fact that wasn’t sitting very well with her. For the third time that minute she glanced at her wrist chronometer, and again mentally scolded herself for it. She’d be tired as hell for her duty shift--
which begins in just over five hours! she grumbled silently--but she’d had one final task to complete before she’d let herself turn in for the night.
Eileen walked along the deserted night-time corridors of the
Illustrious, heading for the fastest turbolift route home from the aeronautics and aquanautics lab on D Deck to take her to her quarters on E Deck. Any other person might have drooped a little, had their uniform rumpled slightly from such a long day, or muttered mild curses or grumbles at a workload that caused them to be up so late.
Not Commander Eileen Donally, though.
Most people wouldn’t have set themselves such a high workload of tasks that simply
had to be done, or would have called a halt at 80% and said, "the rest can wait until tomorrow."
Donally was not "most people". The Regulations and General Orders of Starfleet Command and her own adherence to her word dictated her whole life. If she said she’d have something done by a certain time--even if only to herself--then it would be done. Period.
Eileen was also saddled with two jobs: that of First Officer and Chief Science Officer. Science officers were much in demand for exploratory vessels and science/survey ships, but border patrol vessels came fairly low on the list for experienced science personnel. So, while
Illustrious did have a full science complement, none of the fresh-faced young ensigns and lieutenants had the seniority, experience, or rank for the Chief Science Officer’s billet.
So, Eileen had stepped into the role. During the Alpha shift, while Captain Bates was on the bridge Donally assumed the science station. When he wasn’t, Donally had Lieutenant Bertschinger stand in for her while she took the command chair. Markus was the most promising of the science department for promotion into the billet.
Until that happy day, however, Commander Donally not only had to oversee all personnel issues, ship operations aspects, and the massive amount of paperwork that involved. Oh, no. She also got to oversee, requisition supplies for, allocate ship’s resources to, and approve all scientific studies and research projects to be run on the
Illustrious.
Mr. Spock may have been able to handle all this work with no problems, conflicts, or exhaustion, but Mr. Spock was a Vulcan. As a mere Human, Donally had almost no free time to herself. However, being the kind of person she was it did not bother her too much. Had she the time to consider a social life, she may actually have tried to have one. As it was, however...
It was the many and varied tasks from both her duties that had kept her up so late, but now that was finally taken care of. Eileen was looking forwards to just getting into bed and grabbing four hours’ sleep.
And there it was: the Rec Deck, home to Turboshaft Nine.
Andrea ears suddenly pricked up, bringing her out of her morose reverie. She thought she heard...
Damnit! Yes, a sliding door opening and closing. Then, definitely footsteps traversing the upper deck. She hurried back to the game cube where Markus was methodically reassembling the processor.
"Markus!" she hissed. "Hurry up, someone’s coming!"
The Swiss’ eyes widened in alarm and he jammed the processor back into its place. Both of them threw finesse to the wind and started slamming cover plates closed and tidying up tools and debris.
Donally’s instincts jabbed her out of her tired state as she heard hushed voices and furtive movement in the room below. Since it
was the Rec Deck it was not unusual for people to be in there at all hours. However, the nature of the sounds coming from the lower level immediately suggested "suspicious activity" to her.
She quickened her pace until she reached the open viewing area, then ordered, "Computer, lights, 100%!"
Being prepared for it, Donally’s eyes adapted quickly to the sudden increase. Not so the occupants of the lower room, who were huddled over a games cube and blinking furiously through splayed fingers. A quick look around revealed only the two people in the centre of the room. "Stay where you are," she ordered them as she made her way over to the spiral staircase.
Donally had immediately recognised Lieutenant Bertschinger, but it was a few seconds before she could place the female officer.
Brown, she thought as she decended to the lower deck.
Lieutenant JG Andrea Jane Brown, recently graduated the Academy and on her first posting. Various other details from her personnel file sprang to mind, but Donally dismissed them to give Bertschinger an irritated look.
"What are you doing here, Lieutenants?" the commander asked, volunteering no details as to what she thought they might be up to as the pair stood together.
Brown immediately spoke up, while the science officer--to whom her question had really been directed--just looked back blankly.
"Commander Donally! We, ah, we were just... spending some time alone, Sir!"
It was painfully obvious to Eileen that Brown had just picked that thought from whatever passing cloud had carried it. Looking around the room again revealed nothing amiss, however, and both officers were still properly dressed for duty.
What Donally couldn’t see from her position by the staircase was the little pouch of tools and the diagnostic tricorder tucked in behind the game cube, which was taking all of Andrea’s concentration not to look at or try to nudge further out of sight.
The reason for Eileen’s irritation surfaced as she demanded of Markus, "Lieutenant Bertschinger, what of your research project? I was led to believe it was fairly urgent that
now was the best time to perform it, and I spent some considerable time juggling the other demands on ship’s resources to accommodate it--and you.
"If
now was the best time for it, why are you here ‘spending time’ with your girlfriend?" she asked pointedly.
Donally noted that Brown seemed to relax slightly at that.
Probably because she’s not the one under the spotlight, Eileen thought. Markus, however, coloured quite red as he stammered out his response.
"Ah, C-Commander, the project proceeds as planned, but we are in preliminary data collation for the first set of test results. The computer is crunching that data now, and I..." The embarrassed Swiss officer hesitated for noticeable seconds, groping for something else to say, before finishing lamely, "I decided to take a short break with Lieutenant Brown, who... happened past at the right... time."
Donally was about to nod her acceptance, thinking the hesitation the pair were displaying was due to their embarrassment at getting ‘caught’, when Brown spoke up again.
"We were hoping to be alone, Sir."
Eileen looked sharply at her for that and had the satisfaction of seeing her confidence slip a little as she swallowed hard. Brown’s words could have been taken as a none-too-subtle dismissal and disrespect to a superior officer. From the lieutenant’s reaction Donally decided she’d got the point and satisfied herself with a parting remark.
"This room being the most public area on the ship, Lieutenant Brown, next time you may want to consider either of your quarters if it's privacy you desire."
"Yes, Sir!"
"Aye, Sir!"
"Very well. Computer, reduce lights to previous levels." The computer chirped its compliance. "Good night, Lieutenants," she said, climbing back up the stairs.
"Goodnight, Ma’am."
"Ah, goodnight, Sir."
Donally's footsteps receded across the upper level to the turbolift alcove and then the turbolift doors closed, whisking away the ship’s second-in-command. Only then did the pair of them relax.
Andie stared up through the viewing area and said, "I was so sure we were busted there..."
Markus sat down heavily and held his face in his hands. "Oh,
mein Gott..."
Unheeding, Andrea went on. "She is just so... so..." Struggling for the right word, she tried a few out. "Officious... no. Well,
yes, but... hide-bound... no, not quite... Arrgh! It’s too damn late at night to be a dictionary!"
"Andie..."
"What the hell was that, anyway?" she continued. "What if you and I
were here, ‘spending time’ snuggling, what business is it of
hers? And calling you on the carpet for leaving an experiment to ‘spend time’ with your girlfriend--"
"Damnit woman, will you shut up a minute?" Markus demanded.
Andrea turned to him in surprise. "You don’t agree?"
"No. Well, yes, sort of.
Ach, you’re both right, but as usual you’re at extremes. And what the hell was that, telling her to get out? She was all set to leave then you sound off and could have gotten us brought up on charges!"
"What? You’ve got to be joking! And I didn’t tell her--"
"Andrea, you obviously don’t know Commander Donally. I do, I work with her all the time. Trust me when I say that if you had been any more insolent or pushy with her then she’d have charged you with disrespecting a senior officer!"
Andrea made to speak but Markus cut her off. "I’m too tired to explain it all now, we an discuss it at lunch tomorrow. Just let it be so I can go check up on my project and then get to bed. It’s all but three in the morning now!"
Andrea sighed grumpily, not wanting to give it up but relenting nonetheless. "Okay, Markus. You’re right, it is late and we each want our beds. Let’s wrap this up and call it a night."
And I cannot wait
to hear this explanation! she added silently.
They resumed their tidy-up operation in silence.
Topic: First Steps (Read 18829 times)