Short Story: - Illiterate Practices: - Part One
Disclaimer: The author of this story recognisers that Star Trek Enterprise and all characters therein are the creation and property of Paramount Pictures. The author only wishes to thank them for years of inspiration that Star Trek has given him through out his life. He wishes to repay them through these stories.
Captain Archer had barely woken up when a wet tongue licked its way across his face. A hot breath went down his neck, stimulating the hairs on it to stand up. He began, in his current dreamlike state to smile. It was not until an overwhelming stench met his nose that he realised that something was wrong. Very wrong. He began to open his eyes to survey his dimly lit quarters. Eyes still blurry it took Captain Archer time to realise that Porthos, his pet beagle had caused his rude awakening. Porthos was hungry. It was time for his breakfast.
"You're going to need a bath soon, very soon," said Archer in an annoyed, groggy tone. Clearly the Captain of the Starship Enterprise had not slept very well that night.
Archer pushed his standard issued Starfleet blanket aside as he sat up in his bed. He never liked the Starfleet issue bedding as it had occasionally given him a rash, nothing too serious but quite irritating. He checked the computer for the time. It was 0600 hours, a half an hour before he was meant to get up.
"My one chance to sleep in all week," he said making his way out of his bed.
Porthos stared at Archer with his puppy dog eyes and gave a whimper to indicate his eagerness to start the day with his usual course of cheese.
Archer went over to the cupboard near the porthole in his living quarters trying not to trip over his boots that he had taken off last night. "Alright I'll get it…"
"Bridge to Captain Archer," the comm interrupted.
Archer headed back towards his bed to reach the comm panel
"Yes, Ensign Kowalski?" replied Archer.
"Sorry to wake you sir but we are ten minutes away from the star system."
"No need Ensign. I'm on my way," said Archer as he tried to find his boots.
Captain's Personal Log February 13th 2155
We are finally back to our original mission of exploration. It's been a while. We are on our way to a planet which our sensors detect is Minshara class. The crew welcomes this change of pace. Hopefully this will be a peaceful mission as the past few months have been hectic. If only Travis was here. Unfortunately due to the trading dispute between Vulcan and Andoria under the new Coalition of Planets he has been called away temporarily. Officially he is advisor to Starfleet and the Cargo Authority in this matter however he will more likely become a referee between the two. Starfleet and the Cargo Authority are having some difficulties working together caused by the conflicting policies of the new coalition trading agreement. His experience of being raised on a cargo ship and his time as a Starfleet Officer should hopefully smooth over the rough edges.
On a personal note I'm concerned with T'Pol and Trip. They haven't been themselves since their daughter Elizabeth died during the Terra Prime incident. I hope this mission will help them recover as Trip has lately become increasingly aggressive and irritable while T'Pol has become quite reserved and unapproachable. They have both refused to take any time off despite my urgings. I hope they take time during this lull of activity to recover.
End Personal Log
"With all due respect Director Cole, Starfleet is not trying to take over the Cargo Authority", said Ensign Mayweather in a raised voice.
"Starfleet is considering putting their personal on our vessels" replied Director Cole, also beginning to raise his voice.
By this time the loud conversation which was hard to ignore had caught the attention of everyone in the Horizon's mess hall.
"By the request of the Cargo Authority Council!"
This was not the first time that week that the Ensign and the Director had come to blows however they had never done it in public. At this point the crewman in the mess hall all sat silently to observe the honour of the Cargo Authority verses the Horizon's favourite son.
"A decision which I objected to!" exclaimed the Director now rising from his seat. "First they steal my crewman away now they want to put their own people aboard to take over my freighters. Starfleet has never liked the way we do things. They're always butting in where they don't belong." The Director continued.
Travis also stood up from his chair to continue the argument.
"When?" Travis said loudly.
"Enterprises interference with the Fortunate incident for one", replied the Director.
"They held a Nausican aboard their ship and interrogated him for shield frequencies. That was a diplomatic crisis!"
At this point Travis realised that everyone was watching, so he began to lower his voice. "Look Director, I understand where you're coming from. I was born and raised on this freighter and my father wouldn't have liked Starfleet interfering as much as you do but these are different times. Earth is becoming more influential in interstellar matters. The cargo authority needs to change and change soon."
"Well in my opinion Ensign, we are moving too fast too quickly. The new Alpha Class Freighters failed to get past initial tests. It is not possible at this time to use them to trade between Earth, Vulcan or Andoria. Hauling hundreds of metric tonnes of cargo at warp 3.5 is not an easy task. Starfleet has high hopes," explained Cole with an expression of conviction." If Starfleet feels that it is so important to trade, they can do it themselves with their own ships."
Archer was making his way to the bridge on the turbolift. "Whatever chef was making this morning sure smelled nice, I'm starving," thought Archer as he made his way through the decks of the ship. With a sudden halt the turbolift made it onto the bridge. Archer stepped out rubbing his eyes as if he was still seeing a blur.
"Are you alright Captain?" said T'Pol in her very Vulcan, flat tone of voice. It did not seem to those observing that she was actually concerned with the Captain.
"Yeah, alright commander," Captain Archer muttered, trying to clear his mind of its fog.. "What's our status?"
"We've entered the star system sir", said Ensign Kowalski.
"Drop out of warp," Archer ordered in his usual gentle tone as he sat down in the captain's chair. "What's on the sensors T'Pol?"
"I'm detecting lifesigns on the fourth planet Captain," stated T'Pol while looking through her viewer. "Fascinating." Something on the viewer had caught T'Pol's attention though she wasn't letting her fellow crewmates know. Most of the bridge crew halted their duties to find out what T'Pol found so intriguing.
"Are you keeping it to yourself commander?" asked Archer in a slightly impatient voice. "Or would you like to share it with the rest of us?"
"I apologise Captain. I had to confirm my readings," T'pol said as she realised that the rest of the bridge crew was watching her with looks of anticipation.
Captain Archer made his way to Commander T'Pol's station, eager to find out what was going on. "Well Commander?"
"I'm not detecting any warp signatures, however I am detecting wideband EM signatures from an array of satellites in orbit of the planet and evidence of antimatter reactions," stated T'Pol. This was an uncommon event as most of the time antimatter reactions were found either on warp ships or weapons.
"Any ships in orbit?" said Archer curiously.
"No Captain however….." T'Pol was suddenly interrupted by the comm station.
"Sir, I'm receiving a hail," Ensign Sato said in surprise.
"On screen Hoshi," ordered Archer.
Three women who looked remarkably human suddenly appeared on the screen. The woman on the left was wearing a green almost kimono like dress and wearing her long auburn hair in a beehive style. The woman on the right was wearing a white silk-like dress which seemed to perfectly fit her full-bodied appearance and the woman in the centre wore a red flowing, surprising uniform-like dress. She wore her hair in the manner of French twist. The bridge crew were startled, especially the male crew members, by the sheer beauty of the three women on the viewscreen.
"Good Morning Captain Archer. Welcome to Betazed," spoke the woman in the red dress.
"How did they know my name?" thought Archer who was taken aback by their presence.
"I am Ambassador Fulan. Holder of the Chalace of Rixx," continued the same woman.
"I like the women on the right. She looks 'very' nice if I do say so myself," thought Lieutenant Reed who was now leaning over the tactical station to get a better view of the screen.
The woman on the right giggled slightly and was now looking at Lieutenant Reed.
"Thank you Lieutenant Reed," the women in white began to say. "I think you're very attractive as well."
Reed's face resembled a red giant star as the crew started to look at him. An expression of sheer embarrassment with a touch of confusion came over him.
"Mr Reed?" Archer inquired with a very obvious smile to his face.
Malcolm couldn't say a thing.
"I apologise Captain," Fulan began to say, "We are telepaths. We are sensitive to strong emotion. We invite you and your crew to the surface so you can learn all about us."
"I would like to know more about you Lieutenant, a lot more," said the woman in white.
Malcolm all of a sudden fell out of his chair and the crew began to snigger and snort.
"Captain we request however that you leave your weapons aboard your ship."
"Sounds perfectly fine," Archer responded.
"Thankyou Captain. Your welcome to bring Porthos down to our planet, it's perfectly safe." Fulan paused for a moment. A wider smile appeared on her face, "Captain those aren't appropriate thoughts for a Starfleet officer." She continued. "We look foward to your visit."
The viewscreen returned to the orbit view of the blue and green planet. If one didn't look closely it might be mistaken for Earth. Archer's face was as bright red as a Lieutenant Reed's.
"I do believe we should go down Captain. They are obviously non-hostile" said T'Pol. Though T'Pol was Vulcan, Archer identified the sniggering tone in her voice. He wasn't very impressed.
"T'Pol report to shuttle pod one. Kowalski you're driving," Captain Archer paused for a moment as he made his way to the tactical station. With a huge smile on his face and in a humorous tone, he asked, "Mr Reed, would you like to come with us?"
The maintenance crew were finishing the pre-launch checklist on shuttlepod one when Lieutenant Reed and Ensign Kowalski entered.
"They're not very big on privacy, are they Ensign?" said Reed whose complexion was only a lighter shade of red now.
"Yes sir, however they don't seem to be very threatening. In fact they seem to be the exact opposite," replied Kowalski with an obvious smile on his face.
"True Ensign, however what worries me is their ability to read someone's mind without their permission. Especially over great distances. They could be a security threat."
"They don't seem to be the kind of people who are going to steal Starfleet military secrets, sir," Kowalski said with a tone of disbelief at the Lieutenant's suggestion. "Anyway you'll probably want to impress them with your knowledge," he thought to himself.
"Remember, we said that about the Orion women and were nearly prisoners of the Orion Syndicate," Reed reminded Kowalski.
It had been several months ago when the Orions nearly captured Enterprise. Kowalski remembered those few days very well as at one point he was under the influence of their potent pheromones. He had almost attacked Ensign Mayweather in an attempt to take the helm station. If it had not been for Commander Tucker, who knocked him out with a phaser set on stun, he may have attacked a senior officer which he thought would not have been a good mark on his record.
"T'Pol, I can assure you that I won't do anything inappropriate down there. The ambassador was over exaggerating." Archer spoke in a very defensive voice as they entered the shuttle bay.
"Try to keep those thoughts to a minimal Captain. We don't want to offend them."
Archer rolled his eyes when T'Pol started down stairs into the top entrance of the shuttle pod. Kowalski and Reed looked at each and tried not laugh, however Archer caught the two of them and was not impressed. Keeping an eye on his two officers he bent down to pick up Porthos. "Come on Porthos. The Betazoids are expecting us."
Travis sat on his bed in his old bedroom on the Horizon. The current occupants had allowed him to stay in here for the current trip. The room appeared just as it was when he was growing up, including the star-chart he mapped for over a month. This however did not make him feel better. He was concerned that he was not up to the task, this negotiation. At that moment the door chimed beeped. Travis ignored it.
"Travis?" his mother said as she entered the room. Her mother's intuition could tell there was something wrong. She had heard what happen in the mess hall however she knew that was not the whole reason.
"Travis, I can tell your feeling pressured by this assignment but hanging around in your quarters will not help," she said as she sat next to them.
"Well what am I supposed to do? I've been no help so far, in fact I've seemed to make more of a mess of them than anything else," he exclaimed." I'm no use at all!"
"Don't say that, you're here to strengthen the coalition of planets with your unique…"
Unexpectedly a rumble went through the Horizon's hull. Then another and another.
"What's going on?" Travis said as he picked himself off the floor. The rumbles continued.
Over the comm, "Red Alert! All crew members to their post immediately. We are being boarded by…." The power was cut off.
Koroth hid behind the window of the bedroom of Mila Fulan, one of the Ambassadors daughters', as he tried to disguise his seven foot Klingon apperance. He had been waiting behind the large oak-like trees for over an hour staring into the room, waiting for Mila to appear. At that moment the door opened and Mila walked through. Her green kimono-like dress was swayed by the breeze. Koroth surveyed the area, checking around to see if the coast is clear. It was. He quickly made it to the window.
"Mila, Mila, over here," he whispered.
"I know my love. I heard your thoughts," she replied in the same whisper quiet voice. "You shouldn't be here. We have guests coming around, some humans."
"Humans!" Koroth had raised his voice.
"Keep your voice down Koroth," he heard in his mind. "What is the problem?"
"Humans cannot be trusted. They are dangerous. They spread a disease through the Klingon Empire," he murmured in his deep Klingon voice.
"I'm sure they are not that bad. They seem alright."
"Believe me they are not Mila. Scan them thoroughly, I assure you they are dangerous."
"I believe your wrong, but I will be careful."
He face began to tighten as his jaw clenched. "If they lay one hand on you, I'll pull out their heart and eat it raw."
End of Part One