Star Trek: Surprise
Book One: A Private Little War
Historian's Note: The events of this book begin sequentially from Stardate 56732.8, or September 25, 2379
Chapter I
She has been wearing the same style of uniform about six years now and she still felt uncomfortable in it. It wasn't a matter of tailoring. Oh no, in that regard, Starfleet uniforms were the most well-fitted and ergonomic in the Alpha Quadrant. She just never felt comfortable looking like a soldier.
The new uniforms had always carried a darker tone to Kristen Ferris. Perhaps that had something to do with the Second Borg Invasion, which begun only days after the new uniforms were instituted fleet-wide. Or perhaps it was the two years of the devastating Dominion War that shortly followed. Perhaps it was simply a matter of the dullness of grey and black. Kristen didn't know, and wasn't particularly keen on figuring it out. She just wished Starfleet's figurative Department of Change would get off its sorry rump and design a new, more colourful uniform. One better suited for this new era of peace.
She didn't think it particularly likely, however. The epic scale of loss and the fear induced by the Dominion War had shaken Starfleet from its inertia, starting a new age of thinly-veiled militarism within the Federation's star navy. An organization dominated by scientists, engineers and philosophers only a decade before was largely replaced by a hierarchy of tacticians, quartermasters and soldiers. It was men and women like these who had distinguished themselves in the war and were now reaping the benefits of it.
For mild-mannered Kristen Ferris, a woman who joined Starfleet so that she could build state-of-the-art starships, and many other engineers and scientists in the fleet, these changes were as noticeable as they were distressing. Officers with more knowledge about the proper way to turn a flank than how to optimize efficiency of a class III deuterium-shielded graviton wake stabilizer were now commonplace in the staff at Starfleet Engineering, Starfleet Science and Starfleet Research and it was a constant source of frustration for the lieutenant.
That's why she was looking forward to the meeting she was on her way to that morning. Her mentor and supervisor, Felix Pavlik, was to meet with the lead designers on Starfleet's Transwarp Development Team. There seemed to be some interest in bringing him on as a senior advisor and she would likely be able to follow him in a junior position, seeing as how she had become his right hand on Project Pathways over the last few months.
The Transwarp Project was one of the few left in Starfleet Engineering that still got a great deal of leeway from Command. It was one of Starfleet's longest-running and ambitious projects and its team members carried a great deal of respect in the scientific community at large.
She turned a corner in one of the wide hallways of the fourth floor of Starfleet Engineering to find several officers in engineering gold standing outside of Conference Room B, the designated location of the meeting. Kristen stopped short of the crowd and paused, for the group of engineers was blocking the doorway. A middle-aged Tellarite eyed her up and down but didn't say anything, he just grunted at a balding human male and gestured slightly with his snout at her.
"What can I do for you, Lieutenant?" the man asked politely, but Kristen could tell the man was irritated from the look in his eyes.
"I'm here to sit in on the meeting," she told the man evenly, her clever brown eyes wide open and trying to get a read on the situation in front of her. "I'm with Captain Pavlik."
The volume of the Tellarite's snort caused Kristen to jump in surprise. She couldn't keep her jaw from dropping a little as she looked at the swine-like humanoid.
"Pavlik, that arrogant worm," he grumbled as he turned away from Kristen and the others. "Thinks he's too good to speak to us!"
"Pardon me, sir, but I don't think that's–"
"I'm surprised he didn't tell you," the human spoke up over the grumbling of his colleague. "He called off the meeting only a few minutes ago."
The Tellarite snorted again and stomped off to the north.
"Gral, take it easy," an Andorian chan called out as he followed the Tellarite down the hall. "Perhaps it really was a family emergency considering he didn't tell have a chance to tell his assistant."
"Wait, what do his mean 'really was'?" Kristen asked the human, whose rank pips indicated his rank of lieutenant commander.
The engineer paused for a second and pursed his lips. "It's a long story. But, we've had a bit of a falling out a few years ago, before the wars. You must know how he can get."
"Yes, sir," Kristen replied, even though she didn't really figure what he meant. Captain Pavlik was an agreeable man. She, and all of her teammates, thought highly of him. It was unusual for him to cancel a meeting on short notice. In the almost three years she worked with him, he never once had a family emergency. In fact, she wasn't sure what familial relations, if any, he had on Earth. He vacationed to Alpha Centauri every year, so she just assumed his roots were there.
"It's a shame if we don't get a chance to reschedule," the man continued. "We are getting close, and some of the things he's been publishing from Starfleet Research seem to be up our alley. Can you please tell him that Captain Gral is very interested in his work and would like very much to set up another meeting?"
"Can do, sir," Kristen replied with a polite smile. Not feeling a particular need to ask to be dismissed, she simply nodded and headed back the way she came.
Once she was back outside in sunny San Francisco and a few paces from the main entrance of the sprawling Starfleet Engineering Building, she hit her communicator.
"Ferris to Captain Pavlik," she called as she walked east, back towards the Starfleet Research Complex. She didn't get a response, which was when it occurred to her that maybe Gral was onto something.
She cut the channel to Pavlik and instead established a link to her office computer in the SRC. She commanded it to interface with the Global Communication Network and triangulate Pavlik's combadge location. The computer gave her latitude and longitude of approximately 45°25′15″N 75°41′24″W, which would be the city of Ottawa, Canada. More specifically, he was sitting on a patio for a bistro overlooking the Rideau Canal. The nearest transporter station was a couple of blocks away, near the seat of the old Canadian government.
Kristen immediately went to the transporter hub located just off the main lobby of the SRC and was whisked across to the country to the heart of the former northern nation. As she left the station, across the road she saw what the locals called the "Eternal Flame" and somewhat further behind it, the Canadian Parliament Buildings. She hung a right and strode off to Vanier Bistro.
A heavy sigh passed through his lips the same time his hand combed through his shaggy brown hair. With his other hand, he raised a cup of coffee to his lips and sipped it tentatively. The cool fall wind had done its intended job and made the hot beverage drinkable.
"No," he said after a short gulp. "Just no."
"Oh come on!" the tall, pretty brunette sitting across the table exclaimed. She slapped her left hand on the table for emphasis as she held her cup in her right. "I was the one who set you two up, but you don't tell me anything. How is that fair?"
"Sis, this is a lesson I don't suppose people who live on a paradise like Earth always learn, so allow me: life isn't fair."
His sister frowned at him for a second, then slowly lowered her cup and placed it on the table. "It's been a year–"
"Eight months," he corrected.
"Whatever. My point is that you're at the age where–"
"Jesus Christ, we are not going there," he interrupted again, rolling his eyes his hands now fiddling with his cuffs. His hazel eyes stared intently at his younger sibling. It might have been intimidating, had they not been so close. "I'm only thirty seven. She's a full ten years younger than me. There's absolutely no rush."
"Fair enough, I'll drop it."
The brother grinned. "Good. Besides, you know that I'm looking for doing another tour off-world."
That comment caused the younger sister to raise an eyebrow as a surprising question occurred to her. "Does she?"
The brother paled at the question. And this time, it was the sister's turn to interrupt his blustered response.
"Uh huh, right," she replied, her expression evening out. She placed a hand on his wrist. "I'm starting to see what's going on. You know, Emily is really smart and sweet and for some reason she's falling in love with you, even though you still haven't fully opened up to her. I get that I have no idea just how tough it was to lose Lara, but that was seven years ago. I think it's getting to the point where you're using the fact that you were bon–"
"Captain Pavlik!"
Pavlik's sister looked over her shoulder at the source of the voice. It belonged to a uniformed Starfleet officer in engineering gold. Starfleet officers were a rare sight in Ottawa, where it was more likely for you to spot an RCMP officer in a traditional red dress uniform than a member of Starfleet. Yet, here were two of them. The only difference was that Pavlik wore science blue.
"Kristen!" he stuttered, poorly hiding his surprise. "How did you find me?"
She stopped walking when she was standing just next to the table, and put her hands on her hips.
"I'm an engineer, sir," she replied simply, as if that was enough in terms of explanation. Felix's sister cracked a smile. "So, this is your family emergency?"
"My sister didn't have anyone to lunch with," he replied, gaining some composure. "If you knew her and her busy schedule, you would appreciate how that can be considered an emergency. Kristen, this is my sister Natalie. Natalie, this is Kristen. She's a technical specialist on Project Pathways."
Natalie took Kristen's hand and shook it without standing up.
"I'm sorry," Natalie told her with an apologetic smile. "I did ask Felix if he wanted to get lunch with me today, but I had no idea he had a meeting. Since when do you skip out on work?"
"Since I made captain," he quipped, now looking relaxed. He sipped his coffee and looked at Kristen. "Did Dr. Invar ask you to talk to me?"
"No, I was at the meeting."
Felix looked confused. He expressed this feeling succinctly: "Why?"
Now Kristen looked confused. "Sir, you invited me. Two weeks ago?"
Felix nearly spat out his coffee. "Huh? What? No I didn't." He paused and pondered for a moment. "Oh, wait a minute. Are you talking about the time you asked me if you could come and I said something along the lines of: 'Uh, I guess. But you probably should find something better to do instead.'? Jesus, Kristen, that's not an invitation."
Kristen's cheeks reddened at that realization, but she rallied. "I suppose not, sir. Still, you said that I could come."
"And I also said you should find something better to do," Felix replied, looking at Kristen as if he thought she were a bit strange. "I still think that applies, frankly."
"You should listen to my brother," Natalie chimed in cheerily. "He didn't make captain for nothing."
Natalie caught Kristen quickly suppressing a look of horror, and it nearly caused her to break out laughing. Lieutenant Ferris wasn't used to being teased like this, and she certainly didn't realize she was being teased. That made it funnier.
"Look, Kristen, the rest of the team is enjoying a day off," Felix said, sensing that Natalie was just warming up. "Why don't you go and enjoy it, too? I am."
"Um, yes sir," the brunette replied infirmly. She wasn't exactly sure what she was aiming to accomplish when she was coming here, but now she was certain she wasn't going to accomplish whatever it was. "Good day, sir. Nice to meet you, Natalie."
"Likewise," Natalie beamed. She watched Kristen turn around and walk away the same direction she had come from.
"You're such a bad influence on me," Felix said as soon his subordinate was out of ear shot.
"Why? Don't you joke around with your colleagues?"
"Sure, but I generally don't do it at their expense. That's something you tend to bring out of me."
"Uh huh," she nodded. "So, what's this about missing a meeting?"
"Oh, it's nothing," Felix said dismissively. "I was having some fun at the expense of the boys in the TDT."
"Damn it, really Felix?" Natalie asked, exasperated, shaking her head. "It's been over ten years, are you ever going to let that drop?"
"No, I don't plan on it."
"It's so childish!"
"Nat, they fired me. This is the God-damn twenty-fourth century, and they fired me over a difference of opinion. Hell, it wouldn't bother me so much if I was wrong," he replied, slapping his hand on the table. "I kept up with their progress, and they hit every snag I predicted they would. And it's one thing if it meant they were stuck on the drawing board for another year or two, but it was their fault we lost the Daring. With all two hundred and sixty four hands, I might add."
"Well, maybe they've realized their mistakes and are willing to move on," Natalie offered, naively, in Felix's opinion. He snorted.
"Oh please. The team is virtually unchanged since they recruited me back in '68. They're parasites, the lot of them. While I took up a rifle and shipped out straight to Archanis at the start of hostilities with the Klingons, they sat on their duffs back here on Earth. While I kept fighting on the front line for three years and didn't come home until a year after we defeated the Dominion, not once did they offer to waive their special exemptions and help relieve the officer shortage in the active service," he said, contempt dripping from his voice. "They're due to come up for review in November at Starfleet Command. They're hoping to bring someone on will look like they're doing something of value, when the reality is this: the project is a failure. It has been since the shakedown of the Excelsior, nearly a century ago."
Natalie rapped her fingers on the table and raised an eyebrow. "Is that all?"
"Also, if I joined the team, they'd make me wear gold in my uniform."
"Now that's unforgivable."
"I thought you'd be on my side if I chose the right tact," he said and took the lull in the conversation to change the subject. "So, what are you up to today?"
"I have to get back to Paris in about forty-five minutes. I have a meeting with the boss about the new legislation we're introducing. Real dull stuff. What about you?"
"I'm meeting with Admiral Zhukov in an hour."
"Oh, Zhukov? Isn't Admiral Mikpa your supervisor at Starfleet Research?"
"Sure is. Zhukov's commander of the Second Fleet."
A huge grin grew across Natalie's face. "You don't mean to say that...?"
"Who knows?" Felix shrugged nonchalantly. "I've had my name on the list for four months now and I haven't been interviewed yet. I'm trying not to get my hopes up. I can be a lot of use to him without leaving Earth, too. It might be that. He probably could use a good staff officer or two."
"Do you really want to be a paper-pusher, though?"
"I don't think so, but a year or two working with Zhukov could put me in a position to be given a command of my own, at least. I'll talk to the man and see how it goes."
"Fair enough," Natalie said after she finished her coffee. She crossed her arms on the table and leaned forward. "So, did you tell Emily about this meeting?"