A/N: Hello friends! I hope you enjoy this fic. I have no end in sight, just the hopes of updates at least once a week alongside my LotR fics. The focus of Through the Night is to highlight three OCs (Two Female, One Male) in how they integrate into life aboard Voyager. They are Starfleet Academy aged (18-20 or so). Title comes as a combination of the episode: Night, which will feature heavily in the beginning, and the idea of a long emotional night that Voyager's crew is suffering from.
Enjoy!
Silz
"Welcome to Xenil 5!" a short, stout alien man with green and pink skin said loudly and proudly to the newcomers. "What can we do for you?"
Fiona found herself looking on in curiosity and wonder from behind the door. She peeped through the keyhole at the newcomers and listened in. Behind and beside her, her fellow servants pushed and shoved as they tried to catch glimpses of this new crew.
"Thank you for your hospitality, Prefect Grinshaw," said a woman with red hair who was seemingly in charge. "Our ship requires a lot of repairs and we were hoping you and your people would be able to assist us."
Grinshaw nodded enthusiastically. "Of course! Of course! How many of you are there? I hope we can give your crew some shore leave on our beautiful planet!"
"One hundred and fifty. I'll send them here in groups," smiled the Captain. "Thank you again."
Scrambling away from the door went all the servants, including Fi. She hid herself behind a column as the door opened and the woman left alongside Grinshaw, her master.
As masters went, Grinshaw was actually quite a kind and gentle one. Fiona was paid for her work, granted living quarters, and fed half her meals. Plus, she got to do what she loved: fix starships.
Ever since her parents had crash landed on Xenil 5 when she was but three years old, Grinshaw had employed her and raised her. She didn't know what species she was, only that the vessel she's been on had been an exploratory ship from something called the Federation of Planets.
Now, Fiona spent her days working on starships for Grinshaw. It was hard but rewarding work. She was a decent pilot and a good engineer now, despite what her fellow servants would say. For she was weaker than they, perhaps due to her species.
Xenilians were notoriously strong despite their moderate height and oftentimes wide girth. That made her lanky stature stand out more than she would've liked. True, there were other aliens on Xenil 5, especially at their space port, but she was the only one of her kind.
"Fi!"
Fiona was dragged from her ruminations by the shout. She spun around and sent her brown hair spinning, looking in the direction of the call. She found herself facing Second Prefect Dural.
"Yes sir?" asked Fiona quickly.
Dural nodded. "The new ship is waiting for repairs. Report to Hangar 7 with the rest of the engineers to begin the work."
"Of course, sir." Fi scuttled away with a bow and took off running.
She had a new ship to explore. This new ship was rumored to be the largest one yet and she was eager to get on board. But first she needed her tools.
Rushing through the hallways of Grinshaw's building, she dodged other servants carrying food and drink and clothing for the various patrons who lived there. At one point she nearly bowled over a blue skinned boy with antennae in her hurry. That was Shara, her best friend. His parents had been aboard the vessel she had come on.
Fiona finally reached the hatch which led down a level to where the servants had their quarters. She scrambled down the ladder and jumped the last few feet. Down here was not as nice as the patrons' rooms above, but it wasn't bad. Each servant had a three room living space: one bedroom, one entry room, and one bathroom. The walls were grey and brown metals but they were allowed to hang keepsakes and decorate as they wished.
Fi's room was sparse except for the multitude of tools, scraps, and electronics lying around. The only picture in her room was one of her parents holding a dedication plaque to their ship, the U.S.S. Shenandoah, NCC-5592. Grinshaw had told her he managed to salvage it from the wreckage where he found Fiona.
She tore herself away from the image and grabbed the bag of tools she'd collected over the years. She changed from her servant's dress into her tunic and pants to work in. They were brown and white, but the white had turned grey long ago from the dirt that came with the job.
Within ten minutes, Fiona was outside the palace and walking in the light of the binary stars to the docking port where the new ship was located.
Elsewhere...
"It's such a mess," B'elanna sighed as she surveyed the destruction. "So much mess."
"Hey! We're on shore leave, remember?" Tom Paris poked the half Klingon woman in the arm and prodded her to keep walking past the destroyed sections. "Harry's meeting us for lunch so let's hurry up."
The recent occupation by the Hirogens had taken its toll on the crew, especially the bridge officers. As head of engineering, B'elanna had been working overtime on repairs.
As they walked through the corridors, they noticed workers from the planet space port boarding and beginning repairs. Most were Xenilians, but there were a few other species that neither could identify. They paid little attention.
When at last they left the ship, Tom and B'elanna were happy to smell fresh air of an M-Class planet. Xenil was beautiful; it was the Risa of the Delta Quadrant, some said. The sky was a beautiful swirling mix of light blue and pale pink, with white puffy clouds floating across it softly. The grass was green and the water, clear.
"Where are we meeting Harry?" asked B'elanna.
Tom pointed across the way to a large covered area. "Right there. Ensign Watson recommended it to me. He took Ensign Siegfried there earlier."
"Sounds good to me," she nodded.
Harry was there waiting for them when they walked through the doorway. He had on a fresh uniform and had cleaned himself up, though his bruises were still visible from the Hirogen.
"'Bout time you two got here," he grinned. "I'm starving!"
"What are the chances this place serves anything Earth like?" Tom asked them with a chuckle. "Ten to one odds?"
"I'll take that," B'elanna nodded. "They'll have fish."
Harry agreed with her. "Thats pretty much a staple food."
With a huff, Tom led them inside the restaurant. As they waited near what they assumed was the host desk, they looked around. It was well populated with various species, especially the native Xenilians.
At last a short female Xenilian walked up to them and beckoned. "Right this way!"
She led the trio to a table and sat them down with electronic menus. Each of the Starfleet officers was quite glad there were pictures included because they could not understand the written language of the Xenilians. Only the universal translator allowed for speech as it was.
"Look!" B'elanna smirked. "Fish!"
"That's not fish," Tom protested and crossed his arms defiantly. "That's some sort of aquatic alien creature."
"Fish." B'elanna said again, dryly.
Harry laughed. "She's right, Tom."
Their waiter came up moments later. "What can I get for you?"
Harry looked up first and gaped. "You're Andorian?"
The waiter froze and looked at them in surprise as well. Before him sat two humans, and a Klingon hybrid.
"You know what I am?" He asked them in surprise. "How?"
B'elanna spoke first. "We're from the Alpha Quadrant. Are you? How is there an Andorian out this far?"
"The ship my parents were on crashed here after exploring the Delta Quadrant. I was born in this Quadrant." He paused and bowed his head. "My name is Shara."
"What ship were your parents on?" Tom asked. "Was it Federation?"
"It was called the U.S.S. Shenandoah." Shara sighed. "I do not know if it was Federation."
"Sounds Federation," Harry said to the other two. "We should take you to our Captain. She might want to speak to you."
"I cannot go right now," Shara protested. "I have work."
"Fine." B'elanna nodded. "What time do you finish?"
Shara looked at his 28 hour watch. "8 o'clock my time."
"We'll be sure to meet you outside then," she told him.
"In the meantime," Tom grinned, "can we get some of this aquatic alien to eat?"
"You mean the fish?" asked Shara in confusion.
Harry and B'elanna smiled. "The fish."