"For the last time, Excel STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT!" Yorktown roared.
Since she'd docked at ESD yesterday, the larger starship hadn't stopped staring. Excelsior would be looking long and hard at something on Yorktown's saucer, just below her eyes. Then, when Yorktown noticed, she'd look away quickly and act like nothing had happened.
She did so now. "I don't know what you're talking about, ma'am." She replied, fidgeting with a small play toy she had on the dock. A sure sign she was nervous or lying. Possibly both.
Yorktown sighed, closing her eyes as she attempted to get a lid on her anger. Last night, her first night at ESD, was a restless one as she saw vivid dreams and nightmares of battle, danger, and death. Things she herself had never seen before, having never left Sol Sector and yet, she knew them. Knew them quite well. The confusion made her head pound and stomach churn and she wished Excelsior would just leave her alone. That wasn't happening.
"I'm not a ma'am Excel!" She growled. "I'm Yorktown."
Excelsior kept her gaze averted. "You really don't remember, do you?" She asked.
"Remember what? What the hell am I supposed to remember?!" As Yorktown's anger rose, her accent changed. Becoming deeper, its resonance stronger.
Excelsior actually backed up a step, stern colliding with the dock and Yorktown was surprised to see fear in her ice blue eyes. Yorktown felt ashamed of herself. The Constitution-class refit didn't understand why the larger ship was afraid but she knew that she was somehow responsible. She approached, forcing her body to take on a more relax stance. That didn't reassure Excelsior in the slightest. The prototype curled her nacelles under her belly, dropping her stern as her body arched along her secondary hull. Her saucer was respectfully lowered, never higher than Yorktown's. Her eyes remained trained to the floor. Yorktown wasn't sure what spurred her on. Instinct most likely. She knew a submissive position when she saw one. A part of her didn't understand why Excelsior was behaving like this. The other ship was older than her, larger, more powerful. But another part of her, the same part that had been driving her restless nights, said this was to be expected. It was standard for other ships to act like this around her.
"But why?!" Yorktown wanted to scream. What was so special about her? A newborn Constitution-class in an era which Constitutions were becoming obsolete.
Instinct driving her, Yorktown rested her saucer over Excelsior's, being as gentle as she could. She felt Excelsior lick her muzzle, submissive whines escaping her throat. Yorktown responded with a low purr, reassuring her fellow starship. It was only when she backed off that Excelsior relaxed but only slightly. She still kept her head down.
"Why do you do that?" Yorktown asked.
"You are superior." Excelsior replied.
"Look at me." Yorktown ordered quietly. Excelsior's head snapped up at once. The Constitution sighed. "I don't know what's causing you to act like this. And I don't know why. So why don't you enlighten me."
Excelsior opened her mouth to reply, but paused.
"Yes?" Yorktown encouraged her.
The larger ship shut her mouth, then gestured to the center of the spacedock. There, a special fountain had been erected, complete with its own gravity generators. It held a small pool which reflected the stars, meant as a gift and peace offering to the Ancients. Each time a ship left spacedock, it was required that they drink from it, and request they have safe passage across their ancestors domain. Excelsior halted beside it and gestured for Yorktown to approach.
"Look into it." She said. "And tell me what you see."
Yorktown did so and immediately reeled back in shock. "That's not me!" She said.
Excelsior steadied her. "Take a closer look." She ordered gently.
Yorktown wasn't sure she wanted to but curiosity drove her forward once more and she hung her saucer over the calm reflective surface. A Constitution-class refit stared back at her. But the similarities ended there. Yorktown had been born with hazel eyes, this ship's were silver-blue and luminous, glowing in the half darkness of spacedock. Scars marred her hull, scars that shouldn't even exist on a newborn. A few particularly nasty ones were placed along her secondary hull, two fresh burn marks were on her saucer and more on her nacelles.
"I-I don't understand." She whispered.
"Your registry. Read your registry." Excelsior encouraged.
Yorktown tilted her saucer down, the rim nearly touching the water's still surface as her breaths disturbed it only slightly. Yorktown's blue eyes tilted up as they read her name in standard English.
"NCC-1701-A." She pulled back, stunned. "I'm, Enterprise..."
"Your nightmares, do you remember?" Excelsior asked.
Enterprise thought for a moment, considering that. Her nightmares weren't just nightmares, but replays of the memories she gained in her previous life. Everything. Her countless battles with the Klingons and the Romulans. Crossing the Great Barrier. Discovering so many new and wondrous things. And at the center of it all, as always her deep and passionate love for Jim. These memories were her own and yet not her own. She was Enterprise and yet she was Yorktown at the same time. Not for the first time Enterprise struggled to find the right word for her situation. Reincarnation? Didn't quite fit as she was as different from her predecessor as she was the same.
The blue eyes closed and Enterprise breathed in deep. Stern still to Excelsior she asked "Is Jim alright?"
"Alive and well." Excelsior replied. "He's unaware of your existence but is on his way here now. We should be in our assigned berths for when he arrives."
This time Enterprise led the way back, her head held high, neck arched back against her nacelles. A sure sign of dominance. She was flagship. She was in command. And best be her fleet know it! Excelsior followed just off her port quarter at a respectful distance. The two ships docked and Excelsior was careful to keep her eyes off her companion.
"You can look at me, you know. I don't mind. I just didn't understand before." Enterprise said.
Excelsior brought her head up though it remained lower than Enterprise's.
"It always will." Enterprise reflected. "I am flagship. And no matter how close I become with my ships, they will always be subservient." It was a harsh reality and one that often brought more loneliness than it did joys. But Enterprise would rather live a thousand lives alone than just one surrounded by the same old gossip of her friends and family.
Both starships attention was diverted to an approaching shuttle craft. Enterprise knew it contained Jim among others. Her connection with her beloved captain had been severed following her death at Genesis but she knew he was there. And apparently he sensed something as well. Pity his crew wasn't as aware as he was.
"The darn physics of bureaucracy hasn't changed even in this century. We'll get a freighter." Bones said.
"I'm betting on Excelsior." Sulu said.
Scotty looked insulted. "Why in God's name would ye want that bucket of bolts?!" He asked.
Excelsior rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at the Chief Engineer who snorted in response. The shuttle craft flew straight for her and briefly everyone in it looked down at the massive ship.
Excelsior couldn't help but grin as her ice blue eyes turned up at them. "Oh no. Not me boys." She chuckled and nodded towards the far end of spacedock.
Due to the shuttle's trajectory, Enterprise didn't come into their view until after they'd cleared Excelsior. Kirk's eyes widened and he pressed his hands to the glass, as if he could just reach out and touch her. Enterprise smiled warmly at them, a warmth which spread to her blue eyes which looked more silver now than blue.
"Welcome home, Jim." She whispered.