The Final Frontier
by JulieGee
Chapter 2
The Captain headed for the holodeck. He seldom exercised the privilege of rank, but it had been a very long week. He had bumped the volleyball team's practice to later in the day. He needed to relax and he needed it badly. The team recognized his stress and surrendered the time slot quite happily. An unhappy captain did not made for a happy starship, and they had to spend nearly all their time in that reality, not on the holodeck!
"Computer, run program Camelot-One."
"That program is currently running. Reset or continue?" the computer's clear voice asked.
The Captain raised an eyebrow. No one else had run the program in years. Most found it boring, but it had always comforted him. The towers of Camelot with their brightly coloured pennants felt like home.
"Continue program," he said.
The large doors opened with their distinctive whooshing sound. As he walked through the Arch and onto the holodeck he took a deep breath. There was a slightly humid quality to the air on the sunlit summer day. White cotton clouds dotted the sky. A light breeze rippled the grass in waves, drawing attention to the mounds of purple heather peppering the field.
The captain smiled as a white ferret popped out of a hole in the ground about a metre from him and hopped onto his shoe. It glanced up at him, gracing him with an irritated glance and a brief chittering lecture. He flicked his foot, sending the indignant creature bouncing across the grass. The lecture briefly intensified. He laughed and tapped his shoulder. The chittering was replaced with a soft purring sound as it skittered up his armour and sat there, clearly enjoying the elevated view. He wasn't worried about her falling off. His little friend was tenacious. His little friend was also noisy! Ferrets didn't usually make sounds, but the computer knew he enjoyed it, so this one did.
He had taken her program with him from ship to ship for years. He hadn't named her until last year, though. "Kathryn" sounded like an odd name for a ferret, but she lectured him so often she came to remind him of a certain Admiral who seemed to take great pleasure in it. He called her "Kathy," just in case the real one ever found out. He was sure she'd promote him to Admiral out of sheer spite!
The computer knew what no one else did. The Captain was fond of small animals. He had owned a miniature Cardassian vole as a child, and loved it dearly. It was quite bright. It often escaped its cage and slept under his arm. Eventually it escaped once too often and was attacked by a cat. The cat had recoiled in horror at the alien taste, but it was too late. He still felt a bit wistful when he thought of it. If he had a choice his little white friend would live with him outside the holodeck, but that wasn't possible yet.
Science officers had stated that such a thing would never be possible. They did that a lot. They were wrong a lot, too. One would think breaking the sound barrier, the light speed barrier and then a hundred other barriers would have convinced them otherwise. In fact, one had stated it as she disappeared in a glitter of a transporter beam. Yet another thing thought impossible a century before. He expected the problem lied in their instant fascination with such a success. It never gave them time to reflect on their previous lack of faith.
The call of a gull drew his attention back to the environment. He went looking for the visitor to what he had thought was his private world. He could have asked the computer for directions, but they weren't necessary. The snoring led him there.
"Good afternoon, Ensign," the Captain said as he nudged the young man with his foot.
"Go away, prat," the young man muttered in reply, refusing to awaken from his pleasant nap.
Prat? The Captain didn't know what that was, but he was fairly certain it wasn't a term of respect!
"Not likely, Ensign!" he replied as he put the snap of command into his voice. The tone he had perfected over the years.
Merlin yawned and squinted, trying to see the backlit man clearly. He shaded his eyes with his hand and gasped.
"I'm so sorry, Captain! I fell asleep. I'm eating into your holodeck time. I'll leave at once."
The captain was amused as his ferret scampered down his armour. It hopped over to the prone man before nuzzling into the red scarf he was wearing. It surprised the ensign, but he smiled and laughed as a little head stuck out from above the scarf. He clearly enjoyed the creature, too. Not everyone did.
He remembered his Vulcan science officer, T'lar, running in the opposite direction as fast as she could for several seconds before realizing just how silly it was trying to escape a holocritter. Once over her almost invisible embarrassment, she explained that similar looking creatures existed on Vulcan, but they preferred to nap inside their unlucky victim. The Captain had decided to visit the deserts of Vulcan as little as possible after that revelation!
The ferret was purring softly as she licked the ensign's neck. Well, if the company was good enough for his little friend...
"No, that's all right. Don't leave. May I join you?"
"Um, yes. Please," the ensign said, clearly not entirely comfortable with his high-ranking guest.
"What do you have there?" the Captain asked. It looked like a picnic basket. It had never occurred to him to request a snack. He was usually too busy fighting. He lay down on the brightly coloured patchwork quilt beside the ensign and tried to get comfortable. He failed. His mirror-bright armour didn't have much give. Merlin saw him struggling.
"Let me help you out of whatever you're wearing, sir."
The captain furrowed his brows. "You don't recognize battle armour, Ensign? I just assumed you had used this program before."
"I had. I do. Often. I use it more than any other program. I just like the picnic thing. For some reason, Camelot feels like home. Ensign Gwen tried it out once, but she got irritated. Something about an even lower rank than ensign. Um, you're probably the wrong person to tell this to, but I'm not really fond of battles."
"I like battles in holodecks, Emrys. In fact I love them. Swords, phasers, bathlets, I love it all. Real life is a very different matter. I lose members of my crew in real life. It's the thing every captain hates most. If they don't, they shouldn't be sitting in the centre seat."
"I think I just got a lot more comfortable around you, Sir," Merlin said as he smiled and stood up. "Please tell me what to do with all this metal you're wearing," he asked. The Captain rose to his feet again.
"Start with the straps on the shoulder. I'll give you directions as you go."
Merlin tugged on the leather straps. They loosened slowly. The shoulder piece lifted off easily. As he lifted it, his hand brushed lightly across the Captain's cheek.
The touch surprised them both. The ensign's brush was a bit more than a touch. Emrys was only part Romulan, but it must be enough. He had clearly inherited the telepathy of his distant Vulcan cousins.
The Captain had heard a soft voice in his head at the contact. A very excited soft voice.
"shinyherowantnow!"
He nearly rolled his eyes at the "hero" part, but he was well aware that most people viewed him that way. He tried to ignore it. In his opinion, doing one's duty hardly made one a hero. He refocused on the more pressing issue.
Both men had frozen at the light contact. They were still standing close to one another. Merlin was holding the shoulder plate, frozen in position as they stared into each other's eyes. He wondered if the young man had heard something from him, as well. He tried to remember what he had been thinking at the time. He winced. It had been a long time since he had been with anyone and their close proximity hadn't been entirely unwelcome. To his surprise, it hadn't been entirely chaste, either.
The Captain had never felt attracted to a man before. It was disconcerting. He tried to dismiss it. They were about to start on a five-year mission of exploration. The last thing he needed was to add THAT kind of exploration to everything else.
It had been a stressful few months preparing for their voyage and tearing out the computer core hadn't helped. The Excalibur had been inoperable during the period. It was safe in Spacedock, but the captain hadn't been happy when his ship had her mind removed. They had upgraded the computer significantly, but it didn't make up for the fact that she had been helpless for what felt like an eternity. He had felt that way as well. He did NOT like feeling helpless. He never had, and he never would. He subconsciously touched the sword hilt on his hip. It made him feel more secure immediately.
"I can remove the rest myself, Ensign. Thank you for helping me," he said as he slowly stripped off the remaining metal.
The Captain considered leaving the holodeck. The mental brush had thrown him, but after a moment's thought he decided to stay. He had occasionally taken the luxury of sleeping with a fellow officer, but nothing serious had ever come of it. He would never let it.
His first love had been a senior officer. They had worked together on a Starship, and in his opinion even the largest ships were entirely too small for such a relationship. She had died from a disruptor wound a few months later. For years, every deck he walked on, every meal he ate in the mess hall, almost everything on the ship reminded him of her. He wouldn't let anyone go through what he had gone through.
Your first love was always special, for good or ill. Her death nearly broke his heart. In fact, as he thought about it, he realized it probably had. There had been a lot of sex since then, but he hadn't fallen in love. He had sworn he never would again. When the terrible loneliness of command that permeated his life became nearly unbearable, he reminded himself of what he had accomplished. He sat in the "big chair" saving others so they could feel what he couldn't. The ends justified his pain.
Saridin Prime was full of billions of people loving each other because of his skill. Many were disliking each other intensely, as well. All were feeling something they wouldn't have otherwise. All of them were still feeling. His quick thinking had destroyed the Borg cube bearing down on their planet, it's broadcast of "You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile" striking terror into the Saridins before he succeeded. He was certain he could count the number of Captains who might have had the skill to do the same on one hand. He was among the best captains in the fleet. He didn't think of it as arrogance. It was reality.
It certainly didn't change the fact that he had been mortified when he found out the Saridins had designated the fourth day of the month of Rajic, "Pendragon Day." The ensign's next query spared him the embarrassment of further reflection.
"Would you like an apple, Captain?" Emrys asked. He hunted through the picnic basket as his metal-free Captain returned to the blanket. He found one and offered it to him.
Why the basket? Why didn't the young man just ask for one? The captain was amused again! The ensign must be one of those people who preferred actual food to the replicated variety. Every science officer he had ever asked assured him they were essentially identical. He was pretty sure knowing the apple was real was the only thing that made it taste better to the ensign. All in all, a pretty harmless quirk.
"No, that's fine ensign, but thank you. Computer, one hot dog, please. Mustard and relish, too." He held out his hand. One of his favourite foods materialized in his palm an instant later.
The ensign made the mistake of sitting the apple down on the blanket. He gasped as a flash of white shot from his scarf and leapt on the unfortunate piece of fruit. The Captain had often wondered if the holodeck made a mistake in the subroutines when it created his four-legged companion. His little friend could eat ten times her weight in the space of an hour. She was already half-buried in the rare genuine apple, Merlin watching in irritation.
"Computer. One cat. Big. Hungry..."
"Don't you dare, ensign!" the Captain said as he laughed. His laughter was infectious. Both men were chuckling in seconds.
"Fine. No cat. The little fuzzhead can stay," he snickered.
The Captain took a bite of the hot dog and studied it closely. "You know, there's a lot to be said for relaxing in the holodeck. The food tastes good, and it doesn't show up as part of my daily rations. The nasty calories and fat Commander Gaius is always lecturing me about don't appear on his reports. I swear, Chief Medical Officers are selected based on their ability to irritate Captains." He raised his other hand and found it empty.
"Oh yes, computer. A beer, too. Synthehol, please." He didn't want to get tipsy. He smiled as a frosty stein appeared as if by magic. "Thank you."
Merlin laughed. "You said 'please' and 'thank you' to the computer. I thought I was the only one who did that. They used to tease me at the academy."
"I'm always polite when I'm talking to my ship. She's a lady and I don't want to offend her," he said with a smile. The captain knew how ridiculous that sounded, but he knew a lot of other Captains who felt the same.
Merlin made a face as he looked at the hot dog. Then he relaxed. "That's right. It's not real meat, is it?" He was one of the strict vegetarians that didn't even eat replicated meat. He found it distasteful.
"No, and this isn't beer and we're not in Camelot, but that's fine. You're real, and that's enough for me," the Captain replied.
He blinked in surprise. He had been around the ensign for less than a week, but he already felt completely relaxed with him. He never felt that way around anyone. Even his relationship with Morgana was quite formal, and they had served together for over ten years.
He looked at Merlin closely. The flecks of gold in the ensign's eyes were almost intoxicating. In a moment of rare impulsiveness, the Captain started to lean towards him.
The opportunity was quickly forgotten as the unmistakable sound of a Red Alert screamed through the ship. He leapt to his feet.
The Captain took the luxury of pausing for two seconds to grab another bite of the hotdog and take a gulp of beer. His mouth was full as he headed towards the door.
"Compuher. Enn Pwogwam."
The lovely summer day started to fade, leaving his sword, his armour, and a half-eaten apple on the deck. His fuzzy friend popped her head out of the apple and let out an indignant squeak as her meal was interrupted. She preferred real food, too! In moments, cut off in mid lecture, she disappeared into the ether along with the rest of Camelot as the holodeck doors whooshed shut.
The two men ran towards the turbolift together.
.
A/N: OK, having lots of fun writing this! Lots of backstory in this chapter. I plan more action for the next one. I suppose the Red Alert at the end is a pretty good indicator! Hope you're enjoying it so far. If the 'Treknical" descriptions get too much, just let me know and I'll tone it back a bit.
